Once again, another 4 months? Maybe I should keep it as a update date or something. D8 I'm trying not to make it a habit, but it seems as though the muses only comes out after 4 months. bah. I'll be trying to update this story monthly, it seems like it will go on longer than I expected. Well, I hope you enjoy reading this chapter as I enjoyed dragging the muses out of the closet! XD

Unbeta-d. Feel free to point out grammar mistakes.

Disclaimer: DGM no belong to me.

Warnings: Noah!Exorcist. Yaoi. Shounen ai.

14. Unexpected

The darkness of the new tower seemed to get to her more nowadays, the Chinese girl thought to herself as she walked through the many hallways to reach her brother's office. Ever since Lavi vanished without a trace, they hadn't been able to contact Bookman. Miranda, who was also on a mission together with Bookman, had not been heard from either. Linali feared the worst for the two exorcists, knowing that Allen, despite being Allen, was hunting down the remaining exorcists. She just wished she knew what was running in his head. Were the others really dead?

Just as she reached the office, she heard her brother's voice.

"Did you…really kill all those people?"

Her head snapped up, and she pulled back her hand from pushing the door open. Instead, she peeked through the crack where the door was not shut properly, and almost gasp when she saw a familiar white haired teen and her brother. Allen was not facing Komui, but she saw the tired expression on the teen's face as he sighed.

"Have a good evening, Supervisor."

And then he was gone.

She saw her brother slumped down onto the chair, his eyes full of anguish and she resisted bursting into the office to comfort him. Linali was certain no one knew about Allen's presence in the Headquarters, and she wasn't about to alert her brother to the fact that she knew.

"Dear God, fate was never kind to him."

Clenching her fist, she agreed to the statement, and steeled herself to enter the room.

"Good morning, Niisan. I brought your coffee…"

"And here are the rest of the reports." The man said, dropping a stack of documents onto the desk in front of him. "Honestly Allen, I don't see why you needed these reports though. We could have easily just gone through verbal reports."

Allen sighed heavily, reaching out and snatching a few pieces of the papers to browse through. "I know, but sometimes things could just slip your mind, not that I'm saying you're not capable."

"Why can't we station a golem at that side, so there's a contact method?" The man, who was at least a head taller than Allen questioned, setting himself down on the opposite chair after dropping the documents. "I mean, wouldn't that be easier on everyone, especially you?"

Allen smiled slightly. "Golems basically belong to the Order, what if they can trace it? Then it'll blow the cover for the other side."

"That's true, I never thought about it that way."

"It looks like the search for Innocence is going well." Allen mused, looking through the reports. Almost each one stating that an Innocence had been found and was well kept, so that the Order would not find it. "I think without pressure from the higher ups, they're doing a much better job."

"Or maybe it's just-"

"Oi Allen, I was wondering if…" Lavi burst into the room, his grin sliding off his face when he took in the appearance of the person in front of Allen.

"Oh, hello, Lavi." Krory smiled, waving a hand.

The redhead was so shocked that all he could do was gap.

"Honestly? I wasn't expecting that brat to send you two to me." Cross Marian stated, taking a sip from the glass of wine he held. "I wasn't expecting him to send anyone at all."

"I wasn't expecting to see you." Bookman shot back, making himself comfortable on the chair. "He just told us to come here, and apparently you made yourself quite at home in this cave."

Cross smirked. "Yeah, what with all the paper work that brat has got me doing, at least he provided a comfortable place for me to do it."

Kanda groaned mentally. They had been here for a full day and all the two had been talking about was how they did not expect to meet each other out here. When Allen had specifically stated he needed Kanda and Bookman to carry out this job, he did not imagine facing Cross Marian. All in all, he actually despised the General for letting Allen go through all the torture under Leverrier. After all, Cross was supposed to be Allen's guardian, didn't that mean he at least had to look out for his well being?

"What's that she-man suppose to be doing here anyway?" Cross asked, pointing towards Kanda.

Kanda twitched, but remained silent. He was good at that.

Bookman shrugged. "We're supposed to assist you."

"Ah." Cross said. Reaching into the drawers beside him, he pulled out a stack of papers. "Since the other one is currently headed towards Allen, or maybe already there, I guess he wanted you to pick this up."

"What are these?" Bookman asked, accepting them. "Reports?"

"His plans." Cross waved his hand. "Confidential stuff that gets passed around."

"If it's confidential, shouldn't it be kept…confidential?" Kanda asked, taking the reports from Bookman. "Innocence?"

"He's collecting Innocence, God knows for what." Cross replied, taking a drag from the long pipe he held. "They just file in reports on places they investigate and whether it's successful or not. Then someone delivers them to me and I hand them to the person he sends."

"Why not just use golems or something?" Kanda muttered.

"HQ can tap into them, as they invented those things anyway. With the exception of Timcanpy, of course." Cross replied, placing another document into a box beside him. "Besides, it's healthier for them to walk."

"Suffer, you mean." Kanda muttered, putting the stack of papers into his backpack. "Is that all that we're here for?"

"Allen mentioned something about sending Bookman on to the next location with a letter." The General grumbled, pulling out another piece of paper. "And says to send the Japanese back to the house."

"I see this is where we part ways then." Bookman said, turning to Kanda. "You remember the way back?"

"Che." Kanda snorted, grabbing his coat, he started walking out of the well decorated cave. "I'm not direction blind like that bean."

"True, true."

Thinking he had been dismissed, he continued on, until Cross threw something that hit him square on the head. Irritated, he turned around and glared at the redhead General, wishing he could just slice him up with Mugen, activated or not. Cross smirked, it was just too easy to rile up the pretty boy.

"Here's something you almost forgot." He tossed a small package at Kanda, and the Japanese youth frowned when the sounds of metal hit his ears as the package landed in his hands.

"What's this?"

"A little souvenir Allen requested." Cross replied with a wave of his hand. "Now, get. The sun will set soon."

Growling, Kanda stuffed it into his pocket before turning away, glad to finally be able to walk away from the overbearing General. He only hoped he would get back to the mansion fast enough.

"K-Kuro-chan!" Lavi stuttered, his eye still as wide as a plate. "B-but…you…Allen…!" The redhead glanced at where Allen was seated, and the younger boy had a very amused expression on his face, despite the fatigue that was lined with it.

"Krory, are you staying the night?" Allen asked, pulling the ex-exorcists' attention back to him. "It would make little difference if you were to head back to camp at this time anyway."

The Romanian nodded his agreement. "The camp is safe anyway, so I'll be staying."

"You know where your room is." Allen continued. "And tell Miranda that she'll be following you tomorrow. You can brief her the details after."

Krory nodded again. "I understand, Allen-kun."

Deciding that it would be best to talk to Lavi when he wasn't staring like he saw a ghost, Krory patted the redhead on the shoulder on his way out. "I'll see you at dinner, Lavi."

Lavi could only stare as the older man walked out of the room, before turning back his gaze to Allen, who still had the amused look on his face. "Yes, Lavi?"

Apparently, that managed to shake him out of his stupor.

"But you had his button, and you threw it on the ground when you attacked the Order!" Lavi burst out, taking big steps to reach the front of Allen's desk. "I saw it!"

"Well, yes, of course you did." Allen agreed. "I did see you there together with the rest of the Order."

"Then…what?" Lavi was at a loss for words.

"I merely returned the button to the Order, how they chose to interpret it however, is none of my business." Allen replied, smiling up at Lavi. "Now, did I ever said that I killed him?"

Lavi opened his mouth to argue that anyone would have thought that, but then after a moment's hesitation, he closed his mouth again. "I…guess not."

"You see, the Order likes to jump to conclusions, and pinning blame on others is their favourite game." Allen said, pushing away a few piece of papers that was on his desk. "By returning the silver button I proved it, I only wonder how many of you thought of it though."

"Tyki had a habit of taking the buttons of exorcists he killed." Lavi said hesitantly. "And by doing that, you probably reminded them of that."

"Ah, yes." Allen shrugged. "That's what we call stereotyping."

Lavi frowned. "But you did it on purpose, to prove your point?"

Allen waved his hand. "Forget it, Lavi. The main point is I did not kill Krory."

"What about the others?" Lavi challenged.

Silence greeted his question, and all Allen did was smile softly at the redhead. Turning away from his friend, Allen pulled out a few more reports to read through. "I see you've been getting closer to Tyki." Allen commented casually, looking back at Lavi through his bangs. "Is everything going well then?"

Lavi raised his eyebrow. "I don't get your meaning."

Allen chuckled tiredly. "Deny it all you want, but I can see it." He laughed slightly louder upon seeing the blush that graced the redhead's cheeks. "Send him to see me, will you?"

"You can send for him yourself." Lavi muttered.

"Oh, but it's much more…convenient if you went instead, since you're going to look for him anyways." Allen replied with a hint of amusement in his voice.

Deciding that he couldn't win the game that Allen was playing, Lavi groaned and gave in, heading towards the door. "I swear you're out to get me, moyashi-chan!" Lavi whined as he pushed the door. "And next thing I know, Yuu will be-"

Before he could finish his sentence, a silver blade came and embedded itself in the wood right beside him, and Lavi gulped as he felt the piercing glare directed at him.

"I told you…Don't. Call. Me. That." Kanda's murderous voice made Lavi swallow again, and he hastily bade both goodbye before fleeing towards his room, no doubt in search of a certain Portuguese.

"My, I think you really scared him this time, Yuu." Allen joked, while Kanda replaced the blade into its sheath.

"Che. That idiot will never learn." Kanda remarked, settling himself down in the chair that Krory previously occupied. "He'll be back to calling me that in the morning." He grumbled, setting his pack on the table. "The documents are in there."

Allen smiled gratefully. "Thank you, I appreciate it."

"Hn." He pulled out the small package from his pocket and tossed it at the British boy, who caught it easily. "Marian also said to give you that."

"Ah."

Raising an eyebrow, he nodded at the package that was now in Allen's hands. "What is it?"

"Nothing much." Allen said, emptying out the contents into his palm. "Just a little…souvenir for the Order."

Noting that Allen did not bother to elaborate, Kanda dropped the subject. After all, Allen would talk when he wanted to , and Kanda was not the type to pry, even if he was curious.

"Well, you had a long day." Allen said, once he put everything away. "Aren't you heading back to the room yet?"

Kanda snorted. "If that's a subtle way of telling me to get lost, you're doing a bad job at it."

Allen laughed sheepishly. "It's not! I'm just worried that you might be tired after the trip."

"Isn't it more tiring for you to maintain the Ark door for us? I didn't exactly have to travel by foot all the way." Kanda shot back, glaring at the boy before him. Allen was practically dead on his feet, yet he continued to push his body to work, and Kanda was pretty sure the younger boy was ready to collapse anytime soon.

"I just need to see Tyki, and then I'm done for the day."

"Screw that, you're going to rest. Now."

Allen glared at his lover, if he could even call Kanda that. They didn't exactly have a discussion after that kiss, though they did confirm their feelings for each other. Despite that, he felt that their relationship had not changed much at all. They still bickered and fought like cats and dogs, and Kanda rarely showed him any affection since that day, so what was Allen supposed to think?

"And why should I listen to you?" Allen retorted. "You're not my nanny."

Kanda's glare hardened, and he stood up abruptly. "No I am not your fucking nanny, but for the love of all that's not holy, I do care about your health and I'd hate to carry your sorry ass back to the rooms when you collapse!" He hissed, anger clearly lacing his words.

Allen blinked, processing the words slowly as usual when Kanda spoke so much at one go. He still had a hard time getting used to hearing so much from Kanda when it concerned him. "Er…right. But really, Yuu, I just need to see Tyki, plus I told Lavi to-"

Kanda rolled his eyes, and grabbed Allen's hand, effectively pulling him out of the chair. "H-Hey, Yuu! What are you doing!"

"Tell Lulubell to send Tyki tomorrow or something, because you're not available." Kanda said, as he continued to pull the younger boy towards their room. "You hear that?" The Japanese youth turned, seeing bright yellow eyes that stared up at him. It gave a soft 'mew' and padded away, its tail swishing in its wake.

"There, done." Kanda told Allen while he gave the older man a glare, complaining under his breath about 'idiots who suddenly cares too much'. All Kanda did was give him a smirk.

They say that God always gave something that was like a curse, but really is a blessing in disguise. Was it true? Or is God just playing with them once again?

Please review! :)