I'm not too happy about this chapter... But when you're writing something with the flu, you don't really tend to like much of anything.

Lavi waved as Kanda ducked out, giving him a reminder of his warning about scratching his car, and entered the hotel. Lavi took off so that cars behind him could move. He pulled out onto the main road and began driving. Immediately, he came to a red light and stopped. He tapped on the steering wheel a few times and looked over to the sidewalk, watching people pass. He spaced out until he heard someone honk behind him. He quickly pressed the gas pedal and turned.

The house wasn't what he had expected. It was smaller than he thought, quaint, and it seemed very warm. A dog barked in the backyard as he stepped out of the car. A Labrador bounded up and jumped up, getting his wet, muddy paws all over Lavi's orange shirt. A little girl ran over to catch the dog but saw Lavi and froze. She looked at him doubtfully and backed away. Lavi smiled at her. She frowned.

"What do you want?" she asked in a light voice. Her eyes went straight for the firearm nestling along his waistline. Lavi pulled his coat over himself to cover it. The dog's tail had stopped wagging, and it sat down between the girl and Lavi, confused.

"I would like to speak with your mother," Lavi replied politely with a smile. "Don't worry, she's not in trouble. I just want to ask her a few questions."

The girl hesitated, examining him, before she turned around and started walking towards the front of the house. The dog followed, and Lavi took it as an invitation to come join her. He followed the girl up to the steps and walked into the warm house with the cold air nipping at his neck. He made sure the headband was secured in place; he had yet to replace the mutilated eye patch.

"Momma!" she called through the house. "Momma! Someone wants to see you!" She paused. "He has a gun!"

"Mari! Don't speak like that!" A blonde woman stalked quickly into the living room to scold Mari when she stopped. Her eyes widened as she inspected Lavi. Then her eyes narrowed. "Oh, it's you."

"By the tone of your voice, Kanna, I guess I'm not welcome," Lavi joked with a laugh. Kanna only scowled and folded her arm, hitting a whisk against her forearm. "Look, I just want to talk for a few minutes. I was in town and I thought I would say hi. You don't mind that, do you?"

"Actually, I do mind it. A lot." Her frown turned into a glower. "Why are you here? You better not be here for any custody issues…"

"No, nothing like that," Lavi said quickly, waving. He smiled. "I just wanted to check in on how you are doing."

"How did you get my address?" She shifted her position.

"Records. I'm a police officer. I just wanted to see how my son was doing." He stopped and looked around. "Where is he?"

"He was stillborn," Kanna replied. There were no tears in her eyes. Lavi felt something tug at his heart, but he blinked back his tears. "I married soon after and had a daughter." She nodded back towards Mari, who was rolling around on the floor with the Labrador. "I see he jumped you, by the way."

"Huh? Oh, yeah." Lavi pulled out his shirt. "He's cute. What's his name?"

"You should be leaving now, Lavi," Kanna spat. "You said you wanted to see how you're son was doing; well, he's dead. Now get out of here before my husband gets home."

"Why should I? I can't even meet the bastard?" Lavi cocked his brow at Kanna's glower. "I would love to meet the man you left me for. Was he the one you were having an affair with?" Kanna's eyes widened and her face paled. Lavi nodded. "I was hoping what your dad was saying would be a lie. Ah well, the old man has his ways."

"Get out!" Kanna yelled before she could stop herself. Mari halted in playing with the dog. The canine cowered away from Kanna's voice. She closed her eyes and took a deep, shaking breath. "Get out of here, Lavi. I don't like seeing you here. Get out, just get out."

Lavi didn't move. He was surprised. That was the first time Kanna had ever yelled at him. She had never raised her voice, no matter what they were doing. She seemed to have surprised herself.

"Sorry to cause such a ruckus," he said quietly, trying not to startle himself. "I guess I better get going. Kanda's waiting for me. He'll get antsy if I don't get his car back to him soon." Kanna jumped when he finally spoke louder.

"Kanda…?"

"Yeah. Well, at least I finally know what happened to my kid." He smiled sadly. "Farewell, Kanna. I hope you have a happy marriage." He turned around and walked outside, not bothering to close the door on his way out. He slipped into the car and stuck the keys into the ignition, cranking it up. He backed out of the driveway and started the long drive to the hotel.

"So, my kid's a stillborn," he said to himself. "Well, it happens to the best of us, right?"

He was expecting a sarcastic answer, but nothing came. Then he remembered that Kanda was asleep at the hotel. He almost jumped out of his skin when his phone vibrated in his pocket. He fished it out and said, "Hello?"

"Hey, Lavi. You wanna hear something strange?"

Kanda stretched under the blankets, groaning, and flipped over, burying his face in pillows and hair. His body was tired, sore, and something told him that letting Lavi go off by himself was dangerous. He could get himself hurt. Maybe he'd trip on a ladybug. The thought of that made Kanda laugh.

"It's too hot in here," he complained, throwing the blankets off of his legs. He was sweating and his hair stuck to his back. He walked over to the thermostat and turned it down two degrees before pulling a button-up shirt over his chest. He pulled his hair out from between it and didn't bother to button it. He yawned loudly.

"Might as well get something to eat." He walked towards the door when his phone rang. He rushed over and picked it up.

"Hello?" he greeted. He couldn't stop his voice from sound groggy. He heard the laugh on the other end, and he suddenly wasn't tired anymore. "What do you want, Tomitake?"

"Taking a cat nap, Yu?" he asked. Kanda balled his fists as if he was about to punch him.

"I was relaxed until you called me," he spat, running a hand through his hair. "What is it you want, Tomitake? I'm busy."

"Well, just that we continued to talk to the slut. Would you believe that my wife came in and asked her a question out of pure whim, and she answered to her!" Tomitake sighed. Kanda's brow rose. "My wife asked her, 'So, how was the business last night?,' and the girl answered, 'I only got one customer, but someone ran me off.'" Kanda's eyes widened. "Isn't that just weird? When one of the policemen asked her a question, she snapped at them."

"Wait a minute," Kanda said. "She won't answer to any policemen, but she'll answer to a normal person?"

"That's right." Kanda could almost see the bemused expression on his face. He had one on his own. "I think someone who's good at getting into people's mind or subconscious might be behind this, like a hypnotist or a therapist."

"A hypnotist doesn't really hypnotize people, and a therapist doesn't do that shit in the first place," Kanda said matter-of-factly. He jumped when something slammed against his door. He dropped his phone. When he retrieved it, Tomitake asked:

"Butterfingers much?"

"Shut up. Listen, I'll call you back."

"Ah, but Kanda…!"

Tomitake didn't have time to finish his sentence. Kanda closed his phone and rushed to the door. He immediately regretted opening the stupid door because he was hit straight in the face by a bloody bat. Cursing at the top of his lungs, he grabbed the half-dead mammal and threw it to the ground. It squeaked in protest to the abuse. He gasped after a few moments of holding his breath.

"Shit, again?" he asked, fingering the sticky blood on his cheek. It had already started to coagulate. "What is it with people throwing bats at me?" He picked up the carcass and threw it away in a nearby trashcan. He quickly walked into the bathroom and started scrubbing away at the blood in an attempt to get it off his skin. He managed to do it, but he had rubbed his cheek to the point where it was red, raw, and burned when he touched it.

Kanda place the wet, soapy rag onto the counter, not bothering to clean it up, and collapsed onto the bed. Ever since he started this case, strange things were happening. The bats that seemed to attract themselves to him like flies to honey, the random murders that appeared all over the map, the tingling feeling he got when he thought of Lavi….

Wait, what was that last thought?

Kanda shook his head vigorously, trying to work the thought out of his head. It was so random and weird that he felt he needed to hit himself in the head as hard as he could to see if the thought would come out. But he couldn't. The thought of Lavi's grin stuck in his head and made his face hot.

"Alright, fine, I'll admit it," he said sarcastically. "I like Lavi. A lot." His cheeks burned. Even the sarcasm in his voice didn't mask the true emotion he felt for his idiot companion. But…gay? Bisexual was a better word. He still liked women. (Some of them were such whores, though, he could hardly think of them as human.)

"I need fresh air," Kanda said to himself. "I'm losing it. I think I might actually need professional help." He buttoned the shirt up and threw a coat on. He stopped, contemplating on whether or not he should actually leave a note for Lavi. A smart-ass remark popped into his head and he smirked, but he refrained from saying it aloud.

His stomach growled at him audibly. He didn't feel like ordering cheap room service. He remembered Lavi passing a restaurant

He opened the guestbook and wrote down, Gone out to get something to eat. Be back later. After making sure his writing was legible, he opened the door and walked out into the cold night. It had been barely over a week since the case first started, and there were very few people out in the streets. Prostitutes were still hanging around their usual corners, waiting for someone to come along and pay them for service. A few batted their eyelashes at Kanda, but he didn't even glance at them.

Someone walked past him. He wouldn't have given them a second glance, except he noticed something strange about them. He lashed out, grabbing the person's shoulder. They turned around. Silver eyes examined his face, and white hair fell down over his shoulders.

"You…!" Kanda gasped. The boy cocked his head slightly. "You're the one who murdered those people in the café!" He felt stupid stating the obvious. However, when the boy recognized him, his eyes narrowed dangerously.

"Kanda," he said intently, making the older man pull his hand away. "Yu Kanda. You're the one taking down Master Larn's signs aren't you?" Kanda began backing away as the boy advanced. He tried thinking of a way to get out. Running would just be too stupid, because the boy could chase after him, and he could get killed. He could fight back, but his gun was back in the hotel room and so was Mugen. There were zero-to-no options for Kanda's escape.

"That's not me, specifically," Kanda explained, his hands behind him feeling for any walls in case he got trapped. "It's more of the investigation teams. But I do inspect the bodies, and I'm planning on capturing this Larn guy. He's a murderer and must be stopped." Kanda saw anger flash in the boy's silver eyes. "And I'm guessing that you're an accomplice, meaning I need to take you in as well."

"You won't touch Master Larn. I'll kill you if I have to keep you from doing so." The boy's hand convulsed before it turned into the inhuman weapon that had murdered the people in the video. Kanda examined it as he backed away.

The boy didn't give any warning before he appeared right in front of Kanda's face, nearly an inch apart. Kanda felt the claws digging into him before he felt any pain. The boy ripped his claws out, blood dripping thickly from the nails onto the pavement. Kanda fell on his knees and caught himself with his hands before he hit the ground. Blood ran from his mouth and abdomen. No one had seen what had happened.

Kanda was dead.