Chapter 14: Love, Lust, Life Lessons

"You want to what?" said Kanda with a look of disgust.

"I don't want it," said Cross wearily. "It was Mikk's idea. He said to drop the collaboration between you three and instead enact some sort of contest between all of you, with female models. I'll establish a theme, and you guys portray it to the best of your ability."

"Where exactly is he going with this?"

"He said it be a better experience for you."

"Bullshit," retorted Kanda. "There's no way Mikk has his best intentions in mind when it comes to helping me."

"I dunno," sighed Cross. "Bookman's all for it—he thinks it'll be a good and relatively fun idea—but I figured I should let you know. Would you rather work against them or with them?"

Kanda paused in his answer. He could not deny that he didn't want to work with Mikk—period—but something seemed slightly fishy about the whole plan…

"Who would be our partners?" he said suspiciously.

Cross shrugged. "I thought I'd leave that up to you. Lavi wants to work with Kate Schrödlich—you know, the one you worked with before—and Mikk's not fessing up who he wants to work with. Though I'm going to find out sooner or later anyway…I'm guessing you would work with Lenalee Lee?"

"…I guess so," he scowled, though lately Lenalee had gotten a bit too clingy for his liking. "You don't know who Mikk's working with?"

"Nah…but I'm guessing you've okayed this whole thing?"

"It's pretty obvious that Mikk's challenging me," said Kanda. "I'll be more than willing to beat him at his own game."

Cross smirked. "You know, if this is going to put a sense of good competition between you three, I'm not going to mind this at all. I have high expectations from you all…this will be a good show."

"Of course."

"But you know, Kanda, you have lots of work to do; I still feel like the set that I shot for Mikk on the Mediterranean is the best that I've ever shot. You going to be up to par?"

Kanda's blue eyes narrowed. "Definitely."

"And here I was, thinking that Rei-chan had dropped off the face of the earth, but no, she's working for Mikk now!" Lavi grinned as Rei climbed in the car. "You like your models, dontcha?"

"Of course," she answered. "What's Bookman doing here, Tyki?"

"Just giving him a ride," the Portuguese model replied. "No biggie."

"Yes, biggie," she said with a roll of her eyes. "Bookman, get out of my seat…"

"His house is two minutes away, Rei," said Tyki. "You can reclaim your throne then."

"Hm, you sure get along better with Tyki than with Kanda," remarked Lavi. "Does he know about this?"

"No, he now thinks I'm working at a fast food restaurant," said Rei lightly.

"Any idiot would be able to tell that's a lie," the Brit said, surveying Rei up and down. "Who the hell wears Burberry to a fast food stop?"

"Shut up. And don't tell Kanda I'm working for Tyki," Rei said warningly.

"Hm…what's in it for me?"

"Just don't," said Tyki. "We have our reasons."

"You're paying for our next meal," said Lavi.

"Fine."

"Deal," said Lavi, content. "So Kanda doesn't know, eh? C'mon, you two, let me in on some secrets, would ya?"

"Next time," said Tyki. "We're here."

"Aw man…well, I guess I'll be seeing ya around then, Rei."

"Yeah," she said, unbuckling her seatbelt and preparing to climb over. "Bye, Bookman."

"Later, guys."

Lavi alighted the car and shut the door firmly behind him with an easy smile before ascending the stairs to his house.

"Rei," Tyki said as he pulled back out onto the roads.

"Yes?"

"You okay?"

She climbed into the shotgun seat and fastened her seatbelt before turning to look at him.

"I'm fine. What makes you think otherwise?"

A faint smile played at his lips.

"Well…you saw Kanda, right?"

"And what of it?" she said calmly, her eyes closing as she leaned back on the headrest.

"…Jeez, women…so prideful."

"Okay, fine," she snapped, opening her eyes. Tyki could see the inner Rei who had been suppressed ever since Rei had accepted the deal suddenly resurface. "I'm an idiot!"

"…You know, I think I've had enough of your self-deprecation as of late…"

"No, seriously!" she whined, propping her feet up on the dashboard. "I acted like such a bitch to him! I was supposed to something nice, get back on his good side, but no—the moment I saw his face, my inner bitch surfaced and I just—"

"Good," said Tyki happily.

Rei shot him a glare.

"Not good."

"Good for me," he grinned. "I hope your inner bitch comes out whenever he's around…"

Rei sighed and retracted her legs from the dashboard.

"Tyki, I don't understand you sometimes…" she murmured, looking at him as he drove.

"I'm very easy to understand, sweet. What's complicated about me?"

"I never know what you're thinking," she said quietly. "Are you thinking the best for me? Or are you scheming something just so you can get back at Kanda because you don't like him?"

"Both. He's not healthy for you."

"And you are?"

Tyki didn't answer. Rei sighed again.

"You have another appointment tonight?" she asked casually.

She would ask the question that would make her win the argument…

"Yeah," he said, his tone lined with a hard edge.

"I see…are you going to be home by midnight? I'll leave the door open if you are…"

"No, you can leave it locked," he replied. "I'll try to get back early though…don't want to disturb your beauty sleep…"

Rei had been living with Tyki for the last two weeks. Tyki had been unwilling to let her go back to her old apartment, which was right next to Kanda's, and had instead offered her a room at his place, seeing as the apartment was big enough for five people. They hadn't done anything—of course not—and even though Tyki had joked around about sleeping with her, he had controlled himself very well and not laid a hand on her.

Of course, that was all facilitated by his nightly "appointments." Tyki knew very well that Rei knew what exactly the "appointments" consisted of. She didn't bother stopping him, which irritated him slightly, but he did not stop with his nightly engagements—really, she couldn't say anything about it, especially since she voiced nothing against it.

"My beauty sleep," she snorted. "I still think this whole model business is way outta my league."

Her speech only dropped back to its normal crass "Rei" speech whenever she was around him. Tyki had noticed a significant refinement in her entire persona ever since she'd started her job, though he could also tell how much effort it cost her. Only around him did she return to being the old Rei, which made Tyki feel…special. Only slightly though.

"You're doing very well," he said encouragingly. "The Ralph Lauren photographer said you matched me extremely well."

"That's only because you were whispering instructions out of the corner of your mouth the entire time," she muttered, shifting uneasily in her seat.

"Rei," he said exasperatedly, "stop deprecating yourself already! Have you looked at yourself in the mirror lately?!"

"But I feel like that's not…me," she said quietly. "Doesn't seem quite…right."

Tyki exhaled as he pulled up in front of his apartment. Before the valet came around to collect his keys, Tyki leaned over and cupped Rei's chin in his hand, forcing her to look at him.

"What was Kanda's reaction today?" he asked softly, his golden eyes probing into her green ones.

"He…er…asked who was picking me up."

"I'm not asking what he said—I'm asking what he did."

"I'm…not understanding you."

"What did he look at?" Tyki said patiently. "He checked you out, didn't he?"

Rei's eyes flashed in alarm.

"Oh…shit, yeah, he did look me up and down…but that's not really checking me out, that's just…"

"Checking you out," said Tyki pointedly. "And he didn't insult your appearance, did he? Which means…you were presentable. Attractive in his eyes."

"That's a bit of a stretch, Tyki," Rei said doubtfully as he let her go and tossed his keys to the valet.

"Whatever," he said, walking over to her side and opening the door for her. "After you, m'lady."

"Sometimes, I wonder why the paparazzi aren't on our tail, trying to find me…"

"You want them to? And it's because I'm not that well-known in Japan—you were an exception—which also shows how much working with you is going to be beneficial for my image. Of course, if you want to be well-known as well, all we have to do is step into the park and make out intensely. And I assure you, that would be very eye-catching; I'm quite the fantastic kisser, if I may say so myself. But then again, you remember, right?"

"You dolt," she said, blushing as he took her hand and escorted her inside. "So…how did it go with Cross?"

"I don't think anyone suspects you're going to be my partner," he said comfortingly. "Which is good, of course. I'm going to ask him to keep all our personal shoots in private. And for him to shut up on who my partner is."

"Tyki, I can't help but feel…unworthy of this position—"

"Shut up already about that!" he said irritably. "I chose you—Rei, you need to understand that you're very much worthy of working alongside me."

"Tyki…" It was amazing how alluring she could make his name sound.

"Say my name like that again and I'm ravaging you as soon as we get into the room," he said sourly.

She shut up.

Tyki led her into the apartment and shut the door after her.

"Rei," he said suddenly.

She turned around to meet his eyes. Those green orbs…too captivating. He looked away.

"Don't just call my name and look away, idiot," she scowled. "What?"

"Nothing."

Rei arched an eyebrow, her green eyes glinting, perplexed. She then walked slowly up to him, stopping right in front of him. He was suddenly aware of the great disparity in their heights.

"Tyki…"

"I told you that if you kept saying my name like that, I'd end up losing control."

She ignored his warning. "Thank you."

Rei gave a very brief smile and began to walk off; he abruptly reached forward, catching her by the wrist, and leaned forward, desire rising up in his chest like an uncontrollable monster…he wanted to kiss her so badly…

It was Tyki who stopped himself. He could not lose. He needed to make Rei head over heels for him, not the other way around. Exhaling slightly, he straightened back up.

"…Lock the door tonight."

"Tyki?"

"I'm going out. I'll be back tomorrow to pick you up for work."

He wanted her to stop him, to reach out, grab him by his wrist and pull him back; he wanted to kiss her, to taste that sweetness that he only got to taste for a short moment on Christmas…

But Rei did not stop him. He heard her sigh very quietly behind him as he opened the door.

"Bye, Tyki."

He smiled as he turned back to her, but his liquid gold eyes did not quite meet the same emotion as his lips dictated.

"Bye."

And he shut the door.

Tyki arrived the next day at Cross's studio early, for once in his lifetime. He'd dropped Rei off at Ralph Lauren earlier that morning, seeing as it was her last day working for them for her individual shots. She'd done a reasonably good job—a very good job, actually, seeing as she was a rookie. The photographer, though subpar to Marian, was nevertheless rather well-esteemed, and he had commented that there was something about Rei that made her captivating, whether it was her bold eyes, daring aura, or simple flexibility. The biggest problem Rei had was expressing emotions; her smile did not quite reach her eyes (well, honestly, Tyki's didn't either), and her smirk seemed unnatural on her face. It hadn't been hard for her to play it sexy though; Tyki assumed that it was his influence that had caused her to master that particular field easily.

"The Apocalypse must be near," Cross said dryly as Tyki walked in. "For once in your damn life, you're early."

"I have to talk about something with you."

"Oh," the photographer said with a roll of his eyes, "that's why you're early. Always having an ulterior motive…" He spun around in his seat and stood up to face him. "Hang on a moment—WALKER!"

Tyki winced; he had forgotten that the white-haired boy worked here. Well, this was going to be awkward…and what he was about to say would certainly elicit some sort of unwelcome response from the high school assistant…

"Yes?" said Allen, poking his head in the doorway. His face immediately fell upon seeing Tyki. "Oh. G'afternoon, Mikk."

"Hello, boy."

Allen scowled at the degrading address but approached Cross instead.

"Something you need, Shishou?"

"Yeah, clean this up and sort these out," yawned Cross, tossing a file at him. "And tell the others to get the set ready; the shoot starts in half an hour."

Allen nodded and remained in the room, spreading the pictures out over another table. Tyki was aware that he was keenly listening.

"Out, Walker," said Cross.

"No, it's fine," said Tyki soothingly. "I'd rather him hear it now than find out later."

"Find out what?" inquired Allen icily.

Tyki took a deep breath.

"My partner for the photoshoot," he said slowly. "I want it to be Rei."

There was a stunned silence. Allen whipped around.

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!" he shouted.

Tyki winced again. "No, I'm not."

"SHE'S A NORMAL GIRL!"

"Look, she's obviously not. She was a bodyguard—that's nowhere near normal."

"You can't just wrap her up in your world—it's just wrong!"

"She chose it herself. I offered her the choice; she took it."

Allen looked defeated.

"She…said she chose it herself?" he said weakly.

"Yeah. I'm assuming she told you of what happened with Kanda Yuu. Right after the party, she came to me."

"Why not me?" said Allen furiously. "I'm her best friend!"

"You were at the party. She needed to get away from it. And you like Lenalee Lee."

Allen blushed. "That's besides the point."

"Well, Rei doesn't like her. So she came to me. Her home base," Tyki said with a wry smile.

"This is all very nice and such," said Cross acidly, "but I'm completely against this. Charming as Rei is, she's a bodyguard, not a model. No experience. You can't just drag a girl in and say she's your partner, Mikk—I'm expecting a lot of you in this shoot, and you can't have a subpar counterpart—"

Tyki cut him off by tossing a manila folder at him.

"The last two weeks, Rei's been working with me," explained Tyki. "The Ralph Lauren shoots. She's been my co-model. And she's not half-bad."

"Seriously?" said Allen faintly, abandoning his work and walking over to Cross to peer at the pictures as well.

Cross laid them out on the desk in front of them. The first picture of the pile was rather eye-catching. Rei was dressed in a loose oxford shirt, the Ralph Lauren insignia apparent above her breast pocket. The first few buttons were popped open, though a tie was wound around her neck. Tyki stood at her left side; Rei's arm was wrapped his neck, her lips open slightly as her emboldened jade eyes looked at the camera. In order to put Rei into prominence, Tyki himself was looking away from the lens, instead staring at Rei herself. He had refrained from telling her that he was looking down on her, and thus could see everything under her open shirt; nice as it was, he kept his sights and thoughts personal in order to avoid getting punched.

"Hm…" pondered Cross aloud, looking through them. "Well, she's gotten quite pretty. She's definitely better than I thought she could be…but I assume you see her faults as well, Mikk. They're quite obvious."

"She can't smile," said Allen shortly. "Rei never has been the smiley-smiley type; she's almost always frowning and such…well, at least naturally. Now that I think about it, she and Kanda were somewhat similar in that aspect…"

"Well, opposites attract and similarities repel," said Tyki in a steely tone. "No matter what you say, Cross, Rei's going to be my partner."

Cross gave a sigh.

"She's not that bad, true, but she might end up dragging you down."

"She'll learn. I'm her…personal coach."

Allen's eyes were so narrowed that they looked like slits.

"Is…Rei living with you?" he said cautiously.

Tyki smirked. "Yes."

"YOU—"

"We're not sleeping together, if that's what you're assuming," chortled Tyki. "No, Rei's quite reserved…and very inexperienced, I might add. I've been kind enough to lay off…"

"Good," Allen said feverishly. "And you better make it stay that way—Rei's not like your other—"

"Chill, boy," said Tyki, golden eyes gleaming. "I know."

"About that inexperienced part…you'll have to change that," said Cross, thinking.

"She's been working for two weeks, Marian," said Tyki exasperatedly. "Of course she's inexperienced."

"I meant about love."

Tyki paused.

"What?"

"Cheesy, cliché, and ridiculous as it sounds, love's the theme I want you three—well, six, now—to portray." Cross pulled a pack of cigarettes out of a drawer and took a stick out. "Damn…don't have a light."

"Here," said Tyki, tossing his own lighter over. "You want us to portray love? Seriously, how old-school is that? Definitely not what I expected…"

"Let me finish, all right?" said Cross sourly. "I've never actually shot a set on that theme…and love is multi-faceted. I'm going to have a few subthemes that can be categorized under the overarching idea of love: physical intimacy, desperation, magnetic attraction…stuff like that."

"You're not making a lot of sense," Allen said.

"Shut up, boy."

"No," said Tyki with a dry grin, "you're really not."

"You all are idiots and can't see the genius of my plan. Forget it—I didn't expect you to. We'll wrap up the group shots today, I'll explain the overarching theme to the rest of your colleagues, and we'll start the new shoot in a week. Just know that the first subtheme will be physical intimacy. Discuss it with Rei on what you want to portray it as—wipe that disgusted look off your face, Walker, it's not that big of a deal—"

"Rei's not going to be all touchy-feely in front of everyone, I assure you," he said wryly.

"Which reminds me," said Tyki. "I want Rei and my shoots to be kept private. No onlookers, except for the shooting crew. Nor do I want Bookman or Kanda finding out who my partner is."

Cross's eyes flickered.
"Is there something more…personal behind all of this?"

"No," lied Tyki smoothly. "Rei's just a newbie—I don't want her getting flustered with everyone looking at her. And I don't want anyone knowing that I've chosen her for my partner—it'll be a surprise."

"Well, that's going to be a bit difficult to arrange," said Cross. "We'll have to have separate shoots and stuff…"

"I'll make it worth your time," promised Tyki.

"Fine," the photographer groaned. "And you better not be half-assed about this, Mikk."

"Of course not," Tyki said with a fleeting smile. "When it comes to Rei, I'm not half-assed about anything."

"He wants what?!" said Rei, shocked, once Tyki finished explaining what had happened earlier that day.

They were in Tyki's Lotus. Night was falling, as Rei's photoshoot had been her last one and there had been a small party afterwards. Tyki had joined in for the last half hour, but once all the champagne was gone, he'd decided to take Rei and leave.

"Jeez, chill," he said, turning into the leftmost lane and speeding up. "It's not a big deal."

"I thought Cross wouldn't do something stupid like love!" she said indignantly.

Tyki chuckled. "Why would you be the one saying that love is stupid? Not when it was the thing that drove you to do all this to begin with…"

"And physical intimacy at that," she moaned, not paying attention to Tyki. "I've only been kissed twice…"

"We can work on that."

"No," she said sharply.

They arrived at his apartment after a few minutes of silence; Tyki handed over his keys and escorted Rei back to their lodging, like always. He didn't speak until they were in the confinements on his home.

"We…should really work on it," he said quietly, leaning against the closed door as Rei took off her heels. "If you do it for the first time in front of the camera, you'll definitely freeze up—"

"No," she said again, her green eyes glinting. "I'm not going to do some practice make-out session, Tyki—"

"Why?"

She sputtered. "Well, obviously, it's because I'm not that kind of person—there are plenty of ways you can display physical intimacy without…eating each other—"

"Eating," he laughed. "Of course. And you're also apprehensive because you don't want to be kissing me."

Rei fell silent.

"Well…obviously," she mumbled, running a finger through her hair. "Because…well, we've kissed before, and—"

"Let me put your feelings into words," he said bluntly, taking a step towards her. "You think you're in love with Kanda—"

"I don't think, I know—"

"Fine," he said somewhat snappishly. "You know you're in love with Kanda, so kissing me like crazy would leave a bad taste in your mouth, would make you feel like…a two-timer, to put it nicely. In addition, you can't deny that there's some sort of attraction between us—don't shake your head, you idiot, why else would you have come to me, even though we didn't know each other all that well? So if I, being the fantastic kisser I am, were to be kissing you, you're afraid that your…lust would override your emotions, and you'd actually get in to it. Right?"

Rei's cheeks flushed. How quaint…such innocence. He almost felt bad for corrupting it.

"Maybe," she muttered.

"Rei, come with me."

Tyki led her to his bedroom; her eyes watched his every movement warily as he shut the door behind her.

"Don't look at me like that," he said dryly. "I'm not going to do anything. Trust me."

He noticed her shoulders relax as she looked around his room. This was the first time she'd been in it; Tyki liked to follow a "stay out of my room and I'll stay out of yours" policy. He could see her eyes travel to the family photos lining the walls, the occasional paintings, the oaken wardrobes…

"Sit down," he said.

A daring move, really. The only place to sit was on his bed.

Rei scowled and obeyed, sitting down very tentatively at the corner of the mattress.

"Love and lust," he began, not sitting down beside her but instead leaning against the wall, "are two completely different things that are often blended into one conception. Love is, well, what you think you feel for Kanda."

"Again with the 'thinking,'" she said monotonously with feigned boredom.

Tyki rolled his eyes.

"Fine, know. Lust, on the other hand, is purely physical. It's when the desire to touch someone, to, putting it blandly, screw someone without having any reservations."

Tyki opened a drawer beside him and unwrapped a new pack of cigarettes. He lit one easily before continuing.

"Models, actors, actresses, they learn to separate lust from love; body over heart. Everything you see on T.V., in pictures…especially with celebrities that aren't a couple, it's real, but it's not true."

"You're making no sense."

"They're kissing—that's real, that's right in front of you, that's unavoidable. They're really kissing, really touching. But the emotions that are between them are nothing compared to what could be felt through making out—they let lust override their emotions; lust controls them, if not for just a few, brief moments, where they feel nothing but physical desire. Of course, that doesn't mean they're in love, they're just in lust. By request."

Tyki blew out a breath of smoke, watching Rei as she absorbed all the information sullenly.

"So, what you're saying is that I need to learn how to control and bring lust over love in order to be a good model?" she said finally.

"Pretty much. Even Kanda has that, to some degree, Rei. You watched him shoot with Kate Schrödlich, right? There's nothing for you to worry about. Unnecessary to have qualms."

"Even so…why can't we just do something…equally innocent and powerful?" she said desperately.

"You could," admitted Tyki, "but I can assure you that Kanda and Bookman will be leaning towards the 'innocent and seemingly powerful' type as well, especially Kanda. Bookman, maybe not, but he'll probably do something middle ground. We want to be different, Rei."

"But—" she said worriedly.

"You're that against kissing me?"

"Well, it sure would be easier for me," she said edgily. "Besides, Tyki…"

"What?"

"Never mind."

"Just spit it out—I'm not going to get offended."

"Well…all those women you meet with…you don't feel anything but lust for them, right?"

"Are you trying to say that I've never been in love?"

"Well, you sure as hell can't be in love with every woman you meet," she said resentfully.

Tyki sighed, dousing his cigarette in a nearby ashtray and walking a few steps towards her.

"You're right—I don't feel anything but lust for my…nightly appointments," he said. "Even the one last night—right now, I'm simply feeling…apathetic. She's calling me, wanting to see me again. But what's the point? My lust has been satiated."

Rei's eyes narrowed at his bluntness, but she said nothing.

"But just because I'm displaying my lust so frivolously doesn't mean I've never been in love, Rei."

"How many times?" she asked, her voice soft.

"Once," he said with an unrealistic smile.

"…With who?"

"That's a story for another time, Rei."

"…I want to know…"

"I'll tell you if you agree to the practice sessions. Twice a day, each lasting on hour. The shoot starts in a week; neither of us have work until then. Physical intimacy for two hours—the rest of the day will be left strictly to modeling."

He saw her lips move, her tongue moistening her mouth. Tyki felt an insane pool of desire form in his chest, but he controlled himself.

"I…don't know," she said softly.

"Lust over love. You don't have to love me. Kiss me, touch me…you will feel nothing except for lust. Your natural bodily instincts. And I will do nothing inappropriate; we won't have sex, I can guarantee you that."

"All…the same…"

"Do you want to win?" Tyki said quietly, kneeling down before her and bringing a hand up to her cheek.

"Yes…"

"Against Kanda, right? You want to overshadow him—make him jealous, make him realize who you are, your capabilities, correct?"

"Yes."

"Then this should be nothing. Purely work, Rei."

An odd, contorted smirk appeared on her lips.

"Models have those kinds of shoots all the time—it would've just been practice or something similar," she said quietly, as if quoting something.

"…What?"

"Kanda said that to me once…I suppose it's really not a big deal, is it?"

"No," Tyki said encouragingly, though feeling slightly annoyed that Kanda would be popping into her mind, word for word, at the moment.

"…All right."

Tyki grinned and pushed her down on the bed, scooting her over so that her head rested on the pillows. He crawled over her, his legs pressed down at either side of her hips.

"Hm," he mused, pulling out his cell phone. "Well…let's see…it's 10:10 right now…an hour, eh? So let's make it until 11:10…"

"Tyki," she said as Tyki set his phone aside.

"Damn, you need to stop saying my name with whatever you say it with—I'm not going to be able to control myself if you do—"

"…I have a question."

"What is it?" he said patiently, trailing a finger over her lips.

"When you were in love…what happened?"

"…Nothing good."

"Did you…lose?"

Tyki smirked.

"Obviously."

There was a pain in Rei's eyes.

"It was a long time ago, Rei. No need to fret about it."

He leaned closer to her, so close that her emerald eyes were all he could see in his line of vision…

"Tyki…" she said softly again, in that way that made him go insane.

"What?" he answered in a whisper, trying to calm himself down.

"…Are you…in love with me?"

There was a low chuckle forming in the base of his throat. What an arrogant question.

"Don't ask unnecessary questions, dear," he replied, though he badly wanted to answer 'no,' knowing that it was partially a lie. "Let's start."

And his lips met hers.

"Uh…Kanda-san?" said Reever meekly when the Japanese model entered his apartment.

"Find another bodyguard," he said angrily, sitting down on the couch without another word.

"…You, er…managed to contact Rei-san?"

"Don't even say her name," Kanda said dangerously, his blue eyes flashing. "Just get another damn bodyguard. Better yet, just don't, and let me handle things myself."

"You know that that's not a possibility," said Reever seriously. "Attacks on you have not died down, even though the last two weeks have been virtually attack-less, but all the same…"

"I don't give a damn," said Kanda harshly. "Get another one then. And don't even bother sending her the paycheck."

"Well, we should, seeing as she did save your life a couple of times—"

"What did I say, Reever?!"

"Okay, okay!" Reever said anxiously, crouching away from Kanda's horrible mood. "Well, then, I'm going to be on my way then. I'll be here to pick you up tomorrow morning."

"Fine."

Noticing his dismissal, the manager disappeared as fast as he could, leaving Kanda in his apartment by himself. He let out a sigh, lying down on the couch and massaging his temples. His head hurt…his mind could not stop thinking about the thing he wanted to think about the least—Matsumomo Rei. The way she talked, the way she looked…they constantly echoed in his ears, his eyes…her venomous smile, and her deliberate ignorance of his being there…

Kanda's eyes snapped open. The first thing he saw was the collage in the picture frame that Rei had given him for Christmas. An incredible wave of annoyance and anger washed over him as he saw it, once again reminded of her empty presence, and he reached over, picked it up, and hurled it across the room. It smashed into a wall. He could hear the tinkling of breaking glass, then a thud as the frame itself hit the ground.

He brought a hand up to his head, tired…a few minutes passed, and he started regretting what he'd just done. Stupid thing, really. Why was he acting like an immature fool? It was just a collage…of himself, incidentally…

He let out another breath and stood up, walking over to where the shattered frame laid. Picking it up from among the glass gingerly, he flipped it over. Perhaps a bit too quickly, because the back of it suddenly fell off. He scowled. Cheap thing…

He bent down and flipped the back of it over, eyes widening at what he saw.

It was a picture that he hadn't seen before, one of Rei and him. Judging from the poor quality of the photo, it had been taken as a spur-of-the-moment thing, probably on Rei's camera. He was sleeping on her shoulder, his face smoothed out and without his constant scowl. His eyes flickered as he studied Rei's face. She was smiling, brilliantly, really, her eyes winking as she looked up at the camera. Snowflakes were falling down around them, against the unfamiliar setting…she must've taken it that day where he'd fallen asleep on her shoulder at school…

There was a strange feeling in his chest. Like a sharp, jabbing pain. Regret. Sorrow. His blue eyes were fixated on the picture as he thought, thought back to the random banter that they often had, to Christmas night, where he had kissed her almost on a whim but had felt something much stronger than that…to the time where she'd opened the door on New Year's, her green eyes flashing with hurt, with fury, with betrayal. What had happened on New Year's was his fault—he knew that—but he wouldn't, no, couldn't apologize for it, because the fact remained that he was dating Lenalee…

His cell phone rang. Jolted out of his stupor, Kanda picked it up after looking at the caller. Speak of the devil…

"Hey," he said with false normality.

"Hi!" she said excitedly. "Miranda just told me what happened—can I really work with you under Cross?!"

"Yeah," he said, making his way over to the couch again, picture in hand. "The shoot starts in a week, I'll let you know about more of the details later…"

"With Lavi-san and Mikk-san too!" she said cheerfully. "Who are they working with?"

"Mikk was all secretive with his partner, so I have no idea…probably some European chick who's worked with him before. And Bookman's working with Schrödlich."

"How exciting…" he heard her say somewhat whimsically.

Kanda's eyes were still fixated on the little scrap of cardboard in his hand as he sat down on the couch, phone at his ear.

"Say…" said Lenalee suddenly. Simply from the way she said that one word, Kanda's stomach tightened, and he knew the real reason behind her call. He also knew that he didn't want to talk about it.

"What?" he said gruffly.

"…Matsumomo-san…I haven't seen her around lately."

"Oh, her. She quit."

There was a sharp intake of breath. Or a relieved exhale. He couldn't tell.

"…Really? Why?"

"No idea," he said curtly, though he knew very much why.

"…Could it be because of New Year's?" said Lenalee hesitatingly.

"Even if it was, it's none of my business," he said bluntly. "I told her before—if she ever fell in love with me, I'd fire her because I can't stand having a fangirl around—"

"But she's not really the fangirl type, Kanda-kun—"

"Why are you defending her?!" said Kanda angrily.

A pause on the other end of the line.

"I'm not," said Lenalee. "Selfish as this sounds, I'm glad she quit. I didn't really…like the idea of you having another girl around you so constantly…"

"Yeah, whatever," scoffed Kanda. "As if she could attract me in anyway—"

"But didn't you guys kiss?"

It was Kanda who paused this time.

"That was an accident," he lied.

"…Really?" There was skepticism in her voice.

"Yeah. And it doesn't matter anymore, Lenalee. I'm probably never going to see her again—she dropped out of school."

"Really?" This time, there was worry.

"Yeah, she came today to tell your brother that she was leaving. I could tell your brother was pretty worried about it—you should talk to him…"

"Yeah, I will," said Lenalee anxiously. "But wow…that's sudden. Do you know why?"

"Probably because she can't afford to stay there any longer," he said, suddenly remembering that he had told Reever not to send Rei the paycheck. Another twinge of guilt. "I think she's working fulltime at some random fast food chain or something…"

"Oh…" Lenalee's voice was deflated. "I feel…sort of…bad, for some reason."

"What in the world for?"

"I…don't know. Oh!"

Kanda could hear a beeping sound.

"My brother's calling me!" explained Lenalee. "I have to go now."

"Yeah, I'll call you tomorrow."

"Okay," she said merrily. "I'm looking forward to working with you!"

"Me too…"

"Bye, Kanda-kun!"

"Bye."

Kanda hung up, still staring at the picture in his hands. With a long, drawn-out sigh, he set it down across from him on the coffee table. He'd probably never see her again. She had just been a short part of his life—coming in, then leaving. Not a big deal. All his bodyguards did that.

And while he couldn't deny that she really had saved his life more than once, Kanda knew ruefully that as long as he didn't see her again, as long as she stayed out of his life, these strange feelings would go away.

And he'd be left to his quiet life once more.

Free Talk:

So, relatively long chapter, and pretty fast update? :) I hope you guys liked it!

I know there wasn't any Rei and Kanda interaction--I felt like it was necessary to go by a chapter without them snapping at each other. That'll change. Don't worry. This is still a KandaxReixTyki fic. :) And...actually, I just realized, none of this was in Rei's point of view. Most of it was in Tyki's, and the other parts were in Kanda's. I think that'll give you guys a good idea of where each of them stands concerning their relationship with Rei. Tyki has half-admitted that he's in love, but not quite. Kanda, on the other hand, realized that he was at fault for Rei quitting, but being the stubborn, stuck-up guy he is (and we love him for it), he's not going to apologize; he's just going to move on. Of course, he doesn't know that Rei really hasn't walked out of his life, so he's in for a nice surprise. :)

Tyki's still winning on the poll! Which is a bit surprising--most of the people that review are people who are Kanda-supporters. :O And some have come with threats, which do wonders in convincing me with which pairing I should go with...x) Of course, they're jokes...at least...I hope so? Haha. Tyki fans, step it up! Or I shall be forcibly made to write this in KandaxOC, haha~

Please review! :) That'd be greatly, infinitely appreciated. Like...seriously. You guys don't understand how each individual review is so crucially important.

Love, -m.n-