Guilt was Kanda's companion when he woke up in the morning. The words that he had half-heartedly flung as Sara burned his mind. He tried to cover it up as he got dressed. They fought all the time. They called each other names. They got pissed at each other. So why did it hurt this time around?

The samurai shambled off to train in the arenas. His sweaty activity kept him occupied for a while, but it wasn't long until he ran into the source of his guilt. Poor Kanda had forgotten that Sara trains in the morning as well. She looked radiant, if one could appear radiant in training attire, and fierce. Her short hair had been coaxed into a stub of a ponytail, a few strands already escaping from the bands hold. The female exorcist passed by the swordsman without a second glance.

There was no opening up a conversation with her.

Kanda became irritated. She had taken his words seriously. They had been fighting, and he had been . . . well, nervous. That arrogant child took everything he had said to heart, and now she was angry with him. Guilt found Kanda again. It drove him to turn around and follow the exorcist to her selected area.

"Sara," he started.

"I don't want to talk to you," she snapped sharply.

Kanda frowned. Her communication skills were worse than his.

"I just want to a-"

"Apologize," she finished as she climbed into her ring. "That's nice. I feel tons better."

She flicked a wooden board into the air. Her pale designs glowed on command, spreading like a wild fire down from her shoulders to her arms. She landed a solid punch in the center of the block of wood with an Innocence covered fist, and it shattered into the wall a few second later.

"I feel bad about what I said," Kanda continued on roughly.

"You should," Sara hissed.

Kanda's dark eyes narrowed.

"You're not going to let this go, are you," he grumbled.

"Give it a few days," she snorted. "A hot burn needs time to cool."

Another block splintered into the wall. Kanda sighed, folding his arms over his chest.

"I'll see you later then," he replied and headed out of the arena.

Kanda stormed down the hall, his mind racing. What did he see in that brat? How in the world did he fall for such a pain in the butt? She was twice as stubborn as he was and had three times the attitude. They had nothing in common, or so he thought, and they couldn't even hold a decent conversation without fighting.

"Kanda," a voice caught his attention.

The samurai look up long enough to spot Kamui running over to him. Kanda didn't feel like talking to mentally deranged man at the moment. But that didn't stop Kamui from walking right up to him.

"Thank goodness I found you," he gasped.

Kanda rolled his eyes and snorted his disapproval.

"What do you want," he snapped.

Kamui rustled a few papers around on his clipboard before looking back up at Kanda.

"I need someone to go with Johnny to get some more supplies from a town in the East," he replied. "So far nobody is able to go."

"What about Beansprout," Kanda asked.

"Allen said that he was helping out the Science Division with Sara," Kamui answered, flipping through more papers.

Kanda swore under his breath. Of course that squirt would try to stay as close as he could to Sara. The swordsman shifted his weight and sighed.

"I guess I'll go then," he grumbled. It would help to clear his head.

Kamui nodded then scribbled something down on another piece of paper.

"Fantastic," he grinned. "Be packed and ready to go in an hour or so."

"Hey Kanda, everything is just about ready to go," Johnny announced from across the room.

"Alright," Kanda sighed. "I'll be there in a minute."

It had already been an entire day, and the exorcist still hadn't gotten Sara out of his head. If anything he missed her even more. Kanda rose to his feet and walked over to his companion. The two young men checked the supplies and the carts. Kamui had only given them enough money for a few wagons and horses. Needless to say, Kanda was going to chew his superior out when he got back.

As they walked down the road, Johnny approached Kanda gingerly. He had already been too nosy, asking about Allen and Sara. Getting under Kanda's skin seemed to be his specialty right now. Oddly enough, the Science Division member looked a little nervous.

"Hey Kanda," he started out slowly. "Have you ever noticed how long it takes different exorcists to get used to each other?"

Kanda threw him a glance.

"No," he said.

Johnny played with his fingers timidly.

"Well, it's just that Sara has been acting funny for the past few days," he admitted. "When it's just the two of us, she seems so nice and warm; kind of like a big sister. But when Allen or Kanda come over, she gets . . . I don't know . . . stiff? At first, I thought it was because I was with her, but nowadays she looks kind of skittish."

The shy man glanced over at the samurai.

"You don't think something's wrong with her do you," he asked worriedly.

Kanda let out a sigh, his eyes adjusting to the road ahead.

"I honestly never know what that girl is thinking," he grumbled. "One minute, she's happy to see me; the next, she doesn't want anything to do with me."

The swordsman swore under his breath.

"There are moments when she smiles so gently at people," he mumbled. "And then something comes over her, and it's painful for her to see everyone. She looks like she's going to break apart into pieces."

"Sara is so nice," Johnny suddenly blurt out. "She may be hurting on the inside, but she only sees everyone else's pain. I once heard her tell Allen that she doesn't want to see anyone else suffer the way she's suffered. It makes me feel cherished."

The silly boy smiled up at Kanda.

"She wants me to be the best I can be," he grinned. "She cares about me and believes in me."

Something inside of Kanda clicked. It all made sense. The reason why he was always looking for that spunky, careless child; she knew him better than anyone else. She could see when he needed to be uplifted. She wasn't afraid to kick him and tell him to get back to work. Because that's just what he needed.

"Kanda?"

Johnny stared at the samurai. Kanda was frozen in his tracks, blinking at the ground.

"I get it," he muttered. "I understand why I always want to see her."

Kanda glanced over at his companion.

"I love her," he breathed. "I love everything about her, from her determined eyes to her pale arms."

Poor Johnny looked confused, unable to comprehend the epiphany his partner just had. The swords man gave him a sympathetic smile.
"I'm sorry, Johnny, but I'm leaving this to you," he said. "I have to see her."