Breakfast progressed with Allen slowly getting his appetite back and making good work of his food, while Kanda eventually refilled his wine glass and slowly took sips of it.

They didn't talk again at all until they were both finished but it wasn't . . . bad. If anything, it felt really good. Allen was used to his interactions with Kanda being, if not confrontational, then emotionally taxing.

Although this last conversation was leagues better than anything he'd been expecting, it was still a lot for him to process. Maybe living with a demon was just a lot, the other having needs that were so strange to him and all?

The quiet following their talk was just the cool down Allen needed to orient himself again. It was actually weird in its own way; he'd been becoming used to not getting that deep sense of relaxation when he wasn't alone.

Even being around Lavi, who was much more mild-mannered when compared to Kanda, didn't make him feel safe enough to decompress. He wasn't used to this . . . this silent comfort. Because that's what it was.

Kanda was the kind of person who could make you feel his disappointment without even needing to look at you. It seemed to Allen now that he could also project a sense of quiet acceptance when he wanted to, as well.

Quiet acceptance . . . it had Allen almost lulled into a meditative state by the time breakfast was over. And by that time, Allen was ready to talk again. "Isn't this food a little strange to eat for breakfast? Shouldn't soup and meat be more like dinner and replaced with something else in the morning?" The silver haired boy found himself asking.

Kanda looked up from his glass with an eyebrow raised. "In favor of what?" His tone sounded in part incredulous and partly curious.

Allen opened his mouth to reply, only for the non-existent words to get caught in his throat. He supposed . . . he didn't know. It was something that just felt right to say, but he didn't know why.

Kanda took a few seconds of his silence before inquiring, "What's wrong, got an Aswang tongue?"

"An Aswang wha-? No, I ju-I just don't know how to answer." Allen replied, confused.

"Isn't that what I said?" Kanda idly replied, sounding vaguely amused for a moment. He continued without waiting. "Why can you not answer?"

"Well, I suppose that when I said that, I didn't actually have an idea of something else in mind." Allen answered with more confidence this time. "I get these feelings sometimes. I say or feel something and I think there's a reason, but I don't know it."

"Hmm." Kanda let out a contemplative hum. "Does this have anything to do with your past life? The one you were wondering if you should pursue last night? If you're done eating, then let's go."

"Oh, uh yeah! Let's go." It took Allen a second to follow Kanda's thought process before agreeing and standing from his chair. "Uh, shouldn't we clean up?" Allen asked when he saw Kanda move to leave the table with the plates and glasses still on it.

"Of course not, that's the Rabbit's job. He'll clean it up when he wakes." Kanda peered over his shoulder at the shorter boy. ". . . Don't tell me you've been cleaning up after yourself this whole time, even when he cooks for you?"

"Um . . . yes . . . was I not supposed to?" Allen asked, confused.

"You weren't." Kanda answered, mildly. "But I'm sure the Rabbit doesn't care, regardless. For future reference, know that you don't have to do that. He's the servant, it's his job to keep the place tidy, not yours."

"Oh, okay . . . I'm not sure how comfortable I am with that, though. What if I want to do it?" He asked.

Kanda huffed. "You can do whatever you want with your free time. I only care about what you do when you're with me." The demon replied as they exited the room.

"And when I'm with you?" He pushed.

"Act like a lover." Was the short reply from the demon.

Act like a lover, huh? Allen thought, moving his hand. The boy began to wrap his hand around one of the demon's, but Kanda snatched it away before the action was completed.

"What do you think you're doing?" Kanda demanded while looking at him, sounding both irritated and surprised.

Allen stared back at him steadily, feeling far more comfortable with the other man now. "Act like a lover, you said? Don't they do things like this?"

It was all Allen knew about this sort of thing. He suspected he hadn't enough experience or knowledge of it in his previous life, either. It still felt right, though. Natural. Like something he should be doing, if a lover was what he wanted to be. Maybe Kanda didn't know much about it, too.

The demon watched him closely for a moment and Allen returned it. He watched as the look in the demon's eyes changed from one that was sizing him up to something different. He didn't know how to explain the new look in those dark blue eyes, except that they had more give in them.

It felt like permission and that feeling was validated when, without giving him a chance to move, the other man slightly held his hand out with his palm slightly open. Allen slowly but happily reached for it and wrapped his hand as firmly as he could around Kanda's hand and felt the long, thin fingers of the other.

"Thank you." Allen said, feeling thankful although he couldn't say what for. Evidently, the feeling was mutual.

"What exactly are you thanking me for, Beansprout?" Kanda asked as they started walking again.

"I really don't know." Allen shared his thoughts calmly. "Why do you keep calling me that?"

"Beansprout?"

"Yeah, my name is Allen." The boy would deny to his second dying day that his voice took on a whiny note there.

"I know that." Kanda returned with annoyance. "How dull do you believe me to be-don't answer that question." The demon added the last order almost before he'd finished the previous sentence and Allen had to stop himself cracking a smile.

Which wasn't easy to do, by the way. Unlike Kanda, he didn't seem to be naturally very good at hiding what he was thinking or feeling at any given time. He wondered if it was a learned behavior.

"So . . ." Allen drew the word out, now in better spirits. "Why do you keep calling me that . . . thing?"

Kanda scoffed. "Bean sprouts are a type of food from my homeland. They are as they sound, sprouted beans."

"Oh, so you are saying I'm tasty, then?" The silver haired boy asked, wondering if the demon thought of him, in some small way, as food and also what relationship a flesh-eating demon with bean sprouts anyway.

A brief choking sound brought Allen's attention to Kanda's face and he blinked in astonishment. The demon wore an expression of shock on his suddenly now very expressive features . . . and a light dusting of pink on each of his high cheekbones. It would have been barely perceptible if not for the almost white pallor of Kanda's skin, making the very light color stand out brightly.

"Kanda?" Allen questioned, worried. "What's wrong?"

Kanda cleared his throat and shook his head. 'Nothing, it's nothing. Let's keep going." He insisted, tightening his loosened grip on Allen's hand and using it to tug the boy along.

Allen wasn't sure what it was he said, but it seemed to make Kanda uncomfortable as well as surprised him, and so Allen would take a break from it, whatever it was. On the bright side, the demon's residual embarrassment meant that, for a time, he stared determinedly ahead at the hallways as they walked, refusing to look at Allen's face.

This gave said boy a nice grace period to watch Kanda's face.

His features were oddly peaceful in spite of his obvious leftover discomfort and while not completely calm, it was an already astounding expression given who it was being worn by. Even when not apparently angry at anying, Kanda's eyebrows were nearly always deeply furrowed, giving off the impression that he was glaring at the floor or furniture.

It was strange . . . but nice. Very nice. He liked Kanda when he looked like this-His cheeks felt hot. He turned away from the thought before the nervous feeling in his chest got worse.

It was a short walk to the front door of the mansion, considering that the dining area was on the first floor. It was at the point that they were approaching the door that Allen thought to ask, "Where are we going? What are we going to be doing there?"

Maybe they were going back to the forest.

While a spark of concern went through him at the thought as he remembered the frighteningly desolate forest and vicious attack, he felt more excitement at the concept than anything. He actually liked the idea that he could go back to the forest and take another, better look around. This time, with Kanda.

"We're just going out to the front yard, don't get excited." Kanda replied, reaching his hand out and swinging the door open.

"What's in the front yard?" Allen asked curiously. He's pretty sure he didn't see anything special there when he'd walked through it on the way to the forest the day before.

"We'll be, in a second. Other than that, nothing." The demon replied nimbly, not looking at him.

"Then why are we going there?" Allen insistently asked, slightly exasperated by the roundabout answers from his . . . lover.

"We're going to meditate. It's what I do each morning after breakfast." Kanda replied, stepping out onto the lawn. The crisp grass crunched underneath his boots.

"Meditate?" Allen inquired, the unfamiliar to him.

"Yes, for at least an hour." Kanda replied, misunderstanding him.

Allen laughed lightly to hide his nervousness. "I actually meant . . . what is that, exactly?"

Kanda slid a brief look at him before tugging him over to a spacious piece of grass that had a decent distance between it and the mansion walls but wasn't farther than the pathway to the forest. Kanda sat on the ground then, crossing his legs and straightening his back.

"It's a practice from my homeland that involves sitting on the ground almost motionlessly and taking deep, steady breaths. It's a time to let go of all your thoughts and cleanse your mind." When Allen just looked at him in bewilderment, Kanda raised an eyebrow at him and gave him a look until he did.

The boy tried to mimic the way the demon positioned himself, crossing his legs and straightening his back as much as he could. Glancing over, he saw that Kanda's eyes were closed. Allen tried to match the rhythmic breathing, but didn't close his eyes instead choosing to stare at the silent forest entrance a short ways off.

The two spent a short half-minute like this, with Kanda seemingly drifting away to a far-off place and Allen being unsure how to follow him there. Then, surprise of surprises, Kanda suddenly spoke.

It was a quiet and peaceful tone coming from the other man, but it still came so much out of nowhere that Allen nearly yelped loudly and toppled over.

"It's a good way to start the morning." Kanda had said.

"W-What is?" Allen stuttered out in the midst of the aftershocks of his surprise.

A short pause. Kanda slowly slid one of his eyes open, gave Allen a look that told him to stop being an idiot, and then slid it back closed as he deigned to reply.

"The meditation." He stated, like Allen should have known that without asking and . . . oh, well yes, he probably should have guessed that. Too late by then, though.

The boy gathered himself up another question that might not make him sound like a dullard and slid a look over at the close-eyed man. "I see. Do you do meditation every morning?" He asked.

"Nearly so." Kanda replied. "I meditate every morning after breakfast, so long as it hasn't rained previously."

"Oh." Allen muttered, looking down at the grass beneath him. Yes, this position on the ground would likely be far more annoying if the grass rubbing against him was damp and he had to worry about water soaking through his clothing. "Why-"

The boy started to ask his next question, but when he looked back up at the other man as he spoke, he forcefully stopped himself.

Kanda looked so calm . . . that's right. This was his meditation time. His moment to use the quiet to clear his thoughts or something. He shouldn't keep disturbing him with all of these constant questions.

Allen turned his head back in the direction of the forest, this time closing his eyes, and focused his attention on pulling in a deep breath. He tried to pull it in slowly and let it out in the same manner, that was the way Kanda had appeared to be doing it, but he was having some difficulty.

He could breathe just fine normally, but when he had to take control of his breaths in this weirdly precise way, he found his breaths coming up short and coming out too quick, like puffs. Nothing like the steady rhythm Kanda had quickly produced. "What were you going to say?" Kanda's voice distracted him.

It was again unexpected, but less of a surprise this time and Allen opened his light blue eyes to meet the demon's. "It's nothing." Allen insisted lightly as he shifted uncomfortably. "I don't want to bother you now." Kanda let out an annoyed huff. Allen winced, thinking he had already managed to do just that.

Until, "Your questions are not a bother." Kanda stated surely and Allen found himself looking at the older man in surprise.

"Are you sure?" Allen asked, himself unsure of what to do with this information.

Kanda looked vaguely uncomfortable with where this conversation was heading, not unlike just after breakfast, but still proceeded to roll his eyes and answer him. "Yes, I'm sure. For some reasons, I actually find your incessant questions pleasant." He glanced towards the opposite direction of Allen then with what the boy could only describe as a pout on his lips.

Given that it was Kanda, the pout was still more intimidating than if it was being worn by someone else, but it was still cute. Allen thought it was cute. He let out a very small snicker, which he hurriedly choked off into coughs when Kanda's eyes snapped back towards him with a look of warning in them.

"So . . ." Allen drew off, clearing his throat and trying not to crack a smile again. He was sure the man's eagle-eyes would see the slightest twitch of his lips if he did. "Why do you find my questions entertaining?" What better way to entertain his lover than with more questions?

"I don't know." Kanda huffed in irritation, his cheeks were slightly brighter again.

The man thought for a second. "I suppose it's the process, as well as the freshness of it that I like so much. There aren't many new individuals near me who can ask questions. I haven't had to answer many questions in my whole life.

As for the process of it, well . . . it's not an unpleasant feeling: Being asked questions, providing answers, being confronted with your genuine curiosity about it. As I said, not unpleasant."

Allen soaked up this explanation, blinking at him. Well, that was one way of looking at it. The demon apparently grew uncomfortable with this stare and looked away. Allen blinked and then smiled brightly. "So what do you do with your mornings when it's rained and you don't meditate?"

Kanda hummed lowly as he thought. "I'll usually stay in my quarters and look out the window in contemplation, but it does the same job." He answered.

"And what do you do afterwards?" Allen asked readily. "What does the rest of your day look like? I don't normally see you, even though we're awake during about the same times. Though I admit I do mostly inhabit my room, the library, and the kitchen. If you aren't normally in those places, I'm not surprised I don't see you."

"I do a good deal of reading." Kanda answered. "But mostly books I've brought back to my quarters. I don't spend hours inside the library reading and researching books like I'm given to understand you do. Other than that, I hunt."

Allen felt uneasy with how long he ended up waiting for Kanda to continue before he realized he wasn't going to. "You mean . . . that is all you do with your days? There's not anything else?" He couldn't understand this!

And he thought his days felt empty.

"There are some other small things I may do some days, but that is mostly it. Nothing else requires my attention." Kanda replied calmly, as if he couldn't understand what else he would want to do.

"But surely you don't need to hunt for food every day? By . . . By how much you ate at breakfast, I don't think you could possibly eat so much each day that would require hunting!" Allen found himself horrified by the idea that Kanda might not even do both of the two things he listed per day.

Kanda shook his head. "It's true, I don't hunt humans that often, but I do hunt for creatures in the surrounding area. This includes trespassing humans every now and again, but it is mostly monsters. The act ensures none of them get too bold and it keeps my skills sharp." He informed Allen of this nonchalantly and when he saw that Allen was deep in thought about it, Kanda closed his eyes and went back to his meditation.

Allen stayed sitting beside him, not feeling tranquil in the least. Still . . . Allen thought, watching the other man with unseen sadness in his eyes.

You may at least hunt every day but still . . . it still feels - it sounds . . . so lonely.