Sorry this is so late! But Saya was at her friend's house, and she only gets to see said friend every once in a while, so yeah... Sorry, once again!

Saya owns the play but not the actors, they belong to Hoshino-ka.

Rated T... Because a kiss doesn't call for an M rating. Rating will get higher with the chapters.

12. Lucky Number Seven

Kanda moved swiftly through the halls, trying to get to the science department as soon as possible. Anyone in the halls would've thought he was going to decimate the science department, because he looked downright pissed. They all made way for him, as they always did; Kanda never realized how crowded the halls were, because he never had any trouble getting through them.

He wasn't angry at anyone though, he was just annoyed with himself, why on earth had he gone to see Lavi first thing in the morning?! The beauty of this day was supposed to be in the fact that he wouldn't have to see Lavi at all! So why? Kanda was sure that Lavi didn't have a death wish, despite how Lavi seemed desperate to be run through with Mugen, he surely didn't need to tell Lavi not to get himself killed.

"Komui," Kanda started, bursting into the Scientist's office. "I need to speak with you. Alone." The way Kanda said "Alone" was more like a cue for Johnny and Reever to rush out of the room and hide on the other side of the door to find out what was going on. "And if anyone eavesdrops, I will shove Mugen hilt-deep down their throats." the two scientists decided that their lives weren't worth hearing whatever it was Kanda needed to say.

"Um...what is it, Kanda?" Komui asked, slightly taken aback by how urgent Kanda seemed. "It's...about my leg."

"Is there something wrong with it?" Komui could think of quite a few things that could go wrong when one's healing happened so much faster than it should. There wouldn't be much time for the bones to return to their normal positions, for instance; if it the healed wrong they would have to be re-broken.

"No...I wanted to discuss how fast it healed...and why."

"But you said that was a normal thing."

"I lied."

"Why would you bother if you were just going to tell me anyways?" Really, Komui couldn''t see why Kanda would go through all the trouble of lying if he was just going to spill his guts later. Besides, Kanda seemed like a rather honest child, it seemed strange that he would lie.

"Because...Bookman was here before. I don't want them knowing..."

Them?

"You mean Bookman and ...Lavi?" Kanda looked to the side with a huff, as though he couldn't care less about what Lavi knew. Komui took that as a yes. He couldn't help the silly grin that was slowly spreading over his face.

"And why wouldn't you want him to know about it?"

"BECAUSE! I...He just....really...doesn't need to know. I don't even want to tell you, but I figured...you might be able to ...help me." There was something in the way Kanda said that which made Komui realize there was a serious reason behind Kanda's decision, and he immediately slipped back into his more professional persona. Kanda was here to ask for help with something, and in the short time since he'd met Kanda, he knew the child was one of the most proud beings on the Earth. For him to seek help was quite a shock.

"Well, you came here to tell me what happened, so when you're ready, you can start anytime."

Kanda took a moment to ready himself, he would be speaking for the longest amount of time he ever had in his life, he was sure, it was quite a story after all. And he really sucked at telling stories, too. "Ok, it started like this..."

.:flash back:.

"You poor child, your friend is going to die."

Kanda looked up to see who was talking to him, to see who could sound so calm even as he was trying to stop Lavi from dying. With a small amount of surprise he saw it was the woman from the train, the one who had been burning holes into him the entire time they were on the train. Now that he heard her voice, she sounded quite young, her voice still a little girlish. Even at his current angle on the ground, he could only see her smile, it was creepy, almost, how it seemed like that was all that comprised her face, just that smile.

"His heart has been damaged, it cannot work properly in this state. Even if I were to save it, he's lost so much blood already, there wouldn't be much for it to pump through him. His heart would die then too, and I would've wasted my time and efforts."

"You're wasting my time! If you can do something then just do it!"

Even though he couldn't see her eyes, he could feel it, he could feel a glare that seemed to place him in a frozen hell. "You're just a little boy, so I'll let you off this time. But I warn you, I don't take orders from men."

The feeling of being encased in burning ice faded, and he expelled a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. Kanda realized that he would have to swallow his pride and actually ask this woman to help, if he wanted Lavi to live.

"Wait- So let me get this straight. Some woman you had only seen on the train earlier was in the wreckage with you, and you asked her for help? Didn't anyone ever tell you not to talk to strangers?!" Komui was horrified; The Earl was a tricky being, with many agents, Komui wouldn't be surprised it this woman was one of them. Obviously she had done something bad to Kanda, Komui was worried about just how bad this could've been.

"Well I didn't think that would really matter in this situation! I just wanted someone to help, that was all!"

"Anyways, moving on..." Komui urged, though a small part of his mind was smiling just a bit at this; Kanda might not act like it, but he definitely cared about Lavi a little more than he was letting on. Which, considering how Kanda acted like he hated Lavi, may or may not have been very significant.

"Well, after that She decided to help us. She told me that she needed to replace his heart, it was ridiculous because I couldn't think of where she would get another heart from except from me, and I wasn't willing to die for this, because then what was the point of Lavi almost dying, right?" Komui looked at Kanda wide-eyed, a heart transplant with no sterile tools in the middle of a battle field with only one person to take the replacement heart from, who happened to be living? He couldn't think of any way for a heart transplant to take place between two live people without one of them dying. "She said I wouldn't die though, so I accepted her offer. I wasn't thinking right then though, I should've realized people like her don't just pop up and save people for nothing."

and she was sure from the beginning that neither of them would die? This woman was either a medical genius or a scientist more mad than myself...

"She put one hand on either of our chests, and for a second, I could feel it, there was nothing there, my heart was gone, it felt like I was dead for a second. Then, it was back again, my heart, but it wasn't mine. It hurt, blood wasn't moving through it right, it was just clenching and unclenching so painfully that I couldn't do anything for a while. but when I looked over to Lavi after the pain went down enough, I saw that the hole in him was gone, except for the exit and entrance wounds. He looked like he was ok, just sleeping, I could even see him breathing. Now it was me with the dying heart."

Komui wasn't sure what to make of that, had it been magic of some sort? How could someone make something like that happen, just because they willed it?

Kanda was almost convulsing from the pain that ran through him, burning at the ends of his nerves the same way his lungs burnt because he couldn't get enough air into his lungs like this. The woman knelt over him, deftly undoing the buttons of his uniform and the shirt underneath. His first instinct was to move away, but he couldn't do that.

"Relax, I won't hurt you, I'm just finishing our deal," She said, pointing one finger to his chest, before digging her long, pointed nail into his skin, bringing it over and through the skin in unusually smooth lines. Kanda looked down at what she was doing, the pain in his body was subsiding quickly even as she created the flesh wound. She was making the outline of a symbol, he didn't know what it was. What was strange though was that as he bled, his blood wasn't the dark crimson that seeped from his other wounds, it was black, with the consistency of ink, not a bodily fluid.

"I've made this curse just for you, Kanda Yuu," He was surprised to find she knew his name, he was sure they'd never had an introduction. "I've known for a long time that I would be saving you like this, I just didn't know when. Imagine my surprise when I saw you on the train!

"Well, back to the point, you'll become a great exorcist one day, and after a few more missions and a lot more training, your sword will reveal a third level to you, but this third level of activation will only be possible because of our meeting."

Kanda couldn't understand why she knew this, or what she was talking about, but his head was pounding and it was hard to concentrate of her talking. When she finished with drawing her symbol on him, she leaned down, placing a soft kiss in the center of it. All at once, a powerful energy pulsed through his body, and though he didn't know how he knew, he was sure it was life energy. The ink-blood that had been spilling over his shoulder and chest ran back up him, completely ignoring gravity and piling into the outline, sinking back into his flesh, the black symbol was now prominent on his chest. The pain was all but a memory now, he could easily sit up without problems, which he did. By then though, the woman was already leaving, and he realized for the first time that there was an hour glass by his head.

"Wait––please." a smirk graced her lips, he'd caught himself just in time. "Why did you do all of this? And what were you talking about, when you mentioned Mugen's third level of invocation?"

"Haven't you ever heard tales of those evil women who steal the hearts of men? I just prefer to be more literal about it. However, since I couldn't have your heart, I've taken the next best thing. You're third level of invocation will be very powerful, but that power won't be your own, nor will it be Mugen's, it will be mine. In exchange for this power, you''l forfeit some of your life. I wouldn't suggest using it often. And of course, for saving your friend, I've already taken a portion of your soul."

Kanda looked to the hour glass again, to watch as one petal fell to the bottom.

Komui was dumbstruck; he was a scientist, and a bit of an occultist, but this was going straight over his head. Though there was one thing he did understand, but was having a hard time actually accepting: Had Kanda-in essence- sold his life energy? His soul? Did the kid even realize that himself? The look on Kanda's face said he did.

"I'm...Sorry, Kanda, but I don't know of any way to reverse this. You made a deal, so you're bound to that woman for life."

"Well can you at least do something about the whole me-feeling-Lavi's-pain thing? 'Cause I'm pretty sure that was just a random side effect." Kanda seemed to already be over the upset of finding that there was no helping his situation, and he was moving onto the next problem. Komui wasn't sure whether he should admire Kanda's resolve to move forward or pity him for how little he seemed to care about his own soul.

"What? You never mentioned that."

"Whenever Lavi get's hurt my––his...the heart currently residing in my body stops, and it hurts. Do you think there's any way to stop that...?"

"I'll need to run some tests first, if you think you're up to that." Kanda shuttered, he had heard horrid things about this man and his "tests" and "treatments"...

If you can fight akuma you can handle this mad scientist!

000

"So, what do you think?" Kanda asked, dropping off of the examination table. Komui had been kind enough to drug him to sleep while he poked and prodded at Kanda's current heart, so he didn't know what he'd found.

"Well, Lavi's heart must've been severely damaged when it was given to you, and it's still healing, cells are still regenerating. Though I do have a theory about it, so tell me, have you hurt Lavi recently?"

"Yes."

"And did your heart hurt as much as it did the first time he was harmed?"

Kanda thought this over for a moment, now that he thought about it, no, not really, but he'd figured it was because he didn't hurt Lavi as much, or because he didn't draw blood.

"...No."

"Then I'm probably correct. My theory is, that as long as his cells exist in your body, you will experience pain when he does, but as more and more of them die and are replaced by your own, the pain will eventually go away. This problem will take care of itself."

"How long will that take?"

"Well it takes seven years for your body to replace all of its cells..."

Kanda groaned. Yeah, this problem would fix itself, in seven years...

Oh, poor Kanda-pon... but at least it will get better...right? Geh...this chapter didn't have any Lavi in it, so Kanda is sad. Even as he kills Saya for saying that, let her assure you, it is because he is just that upset over his loss-of-Lavi.