Allen slowly turned another page in the novel he was reading, eyes listlessly skimming over the lines. He had been trying to read the same paragraph for the past few minutes, but had given up when he realized that he didn't actually remember a word of it. So now he was just...staring at the novel, at the words that blended into a smear on the page, trying to make sense out of them and failing miserably.

Kanda wasn't home from his job yet, wouldn't be home for another couple of hours. The samurai had been picking up as many extra hours as he could lately, probably to avoid the gloomy atmosphere that had descended over the entire household.

And Lavi…

Lavi hadn't left his room for the past two days, except to the go the bathroom. Allen had been leaving food outside his door, hoping that the redhead would actually eat something, but nothing had been touched. He had been planning on giving Lavi some space for a bit to recover, to let him gather himself a little before forcing him to deal with people again, but…

Now Allen was just getting worried.

Allen let out a deep sigh and finally closed his book, putting his bookmark back where he'd started. He sunk his elbow onto the table and folded his hand under his chin, simply resting his head there for a moment. He was so tired. Tired of losing people he cared about, tired of his friends losing people they cared about. Tired of war, and the people it left ruined in its wake.

His heart ached for Lavi, ached to spare him from the pain of losing someone who had been akin to a father.

Allen didn't...know what to do, though. His own coping methods when Mana had died had been less than normal, he knew, and Cross had not been the biggest support during that time. Was he supposed to offer sympathy? Express sorrow with Lavi? Throw him off the balcony and tell him to get over it? He didn't know.

This wasn't an issue he could solve by stabbing it with his Innocence. Not...that he had his Innocence anymore.

Running his hand over his face, Allen sighed again and got to his feet, carelessly tossing his novel onto the pile of books next to the couch. He wasn't going to get any reading done today. Maybe a walk would clear his head.

He was just debating whether or not he should take the wheelchair with him-he was feeling a lot better lately, and he might be able to get by without it-when there was a knock on the door.

Allen jumped, and looked over at the clock. Four p.m., far too late for mail. Who could possibly be at the door?

His mind jumped to the latest report from Komui, sent just a day ago, addressing the death of the Bookman. Bookman's death had led to the appointment of a new senior Bookman, and as Kanda had speculated, it had been Bao Lei's Bookman. While the European branch and its exorcists hadn't reacted yet, it was only a matter of time before the new Bookman's stance against Allen shook their support of him.

Allen reached for one of Kanda's wooden practice swords, which he always left lying around the apartment. For once, he was glad that the samurai hadn't cleaned up like Allen had asked him to.

Then, he realized his oversight; while he was holding the sword, he could not also open the door.

Sighing in exasperation-this was ridiculous, honestly-Allen set the bokken against the wall, within easy reach, and opened the door.

Allen wasn't sure what he'd been expecting. An angry mob, come to attack him or possibly drag him to Bao Lei? The new Bookman, here to actually get the facts straight instead of mindlessly following Bao Lei's orders? The mailman, here with a package or a telegram?

He stared in surprise at what appeared to be two...teenagers, their faces hidden behind their hoods. They were wearing what appeared to be finders cloaks, but the clothes were so big that Allen couldn't tell what gender they were. The one on the left was about six inches taller than the one on the right, but other than that, they were basically indistinguishable.

"Uh…" Allen began, but then his gaze tracked up and over them, for just a moment, and he caught sight of their neighbor Gladdice. She had her door cracked open, and was watching the duo with a suspicious glare.

He glanced between Gladdice, the duo, and Gladdice again, and hesitantly raised one hand to wave at her. "Hello Ms. Gladdice!" He chirped, and immediately winced when the door slammed shut. "Oh dear." He muttered, and shook his head as the...finders?...whipped around to stare at the door across from them. "Why don't you two come inside? Sorry, my neighbor is very paranoid."

"Thank you." Said the one one on the right in a stiff, feminine voice, and Allen moved out of their way to let them inside.

He fussed over the table for a second, grimacing at the sorry state of their kitchen-they were in no condition to entertain guests-before making a sweeping gesture toward the chairs. "Would you two like something to drink?" He checked his mental inventory of the ice box, "Something to eat, perhaps?"

After a moment of hesitation, the two finders settled into the offered chairs, every movement tense. The shorter one, the one who had spoken earlier, said, "Tea is fine, if you have it."

"Aisha!" The taller one said, aghast, in a low baritone.

The newly named Aisha let out a scoff and threw back her hood, revealing dark skin and shiny, thick black hair. She was beautiful, in a careless sort of way; her hair was tied haphazardly around a multitude of braids, and her face was devoid of makeup. "He's crippled and weak, Naeem, does it look like he can do anything right now?"

Allen took a step away from her, suddenly feeling wary.

The other finder let out a growl and also flipped back his hood, a scowl twining across tanned, freckled skin. He had curly brown hair and bright brown eyes, and the sort of face that looked suited to smiling and laughing. Except right now, it was twisted into a dark frown.

"He's an ex-Noah," Naeem said. "We can't let our guard down, and you know it."

Allen swallowed harshly, taking another step away from them, only to find his back trapped by the counter. It seemed as though he had let enemies into his home, but-what enemies? Why were they here, what did they want?

Aisha turned back to Allen, startling him a little, and said in a more demanding tone, "Tea is fine, if you have it."

He nodded slowly, licking his lips, before turning to Naeem. Even as he did so, though, he became twice as aware of his current weakness; the training with Kanda had been helping, but he was still in no condition to fight. These two could pummel him into the ground without breaking a sweat, if they so wished.

Naeem glared at Aisha for another second, before sighing deeply and turning to Allen. "Just water."

As Allen set about preparing their drinks, questions swirled around in his mind. Why were they here? Were they after Allen's head, were they planning to take him to Bao Lei? What was their game?

But fear kept his voice silent, kept him from saying a word.

He had a sudden image of Lavi appearing from his room, his eye bright and intelligent, ready to talk the duo out of whatever they were planning on doing. Allen glanced toward the hall, biting his lip, but Lavi's door remained firmly shut. It seemed as though Allen was on his own in this situation.

"Thank you." Aisha said as her cup of tea was set down in front of her. Naeem grunted quietly, but said nothing.

Unwilling to be any closer than necessary, Allen backed away from the two of them and leaned up against the counter again. He internally debated whether or not he could escape from the apartment before they caught him, and decided that it was too much of a risk. Especially considering that he really had no idea what they wanted.

Besides, he thought, they probably won't kill me.

He didn't know that, though. He didn't know who they were.

"Ah…" Allen began softly, and two suspicious glares turned to look at him. "Um...I was just wondering…"

"Get on with it." Naeem said impatiently.

"Who are you two?" He blurted out, folding his arm across his chest. "Why are you here?"

The duo glanced at each other, communicating silently amongst themselves for a moment. Then Aisha turned to him, "This is where Kanda-sensei lives, isn't it?"

"Oh!" Allen said, surprised. Kanda-sensei? Maybe this wasn't as bad as he thought it was, if they were friends with Kanda. He suddenly remembered his and Kanda's conversation so long ago, about Komui giving him the child finders to take care of. "Oh. Um, yes?"

"We worked with Kanda-sensei during the war." Aisha said softly, and Allen stared, a little horrified. They didn't look older than sixteen. "He kept us safe."

"I still think it's ridiculous that they're forcing Kanda-sensei to live with this Noah." Naeem spat under his breath, and Allen flinched away from his poisonous words, his tentative hope dying in his chest.

Allen abruptly shifted his weight back to his shaky legs, and muttered a quiet, "Excuse me." The two finders watched him as he walked as quickly as he could to Lavi's room, and knocked on the door. He needed Lavi in here, now, or someone. Anyone. He felt unsafe, and panic was beginning to blossom in his chest; he could be killed, right now, and he could do nothing to stop it.

"Who's in there?" Aisha asked sharply, and there was a creaking sound as the two shifted threateningly in their seats.

The scrutiny only made Allen's panic ratchet up a little more, but he forced himself to say, "The Bookman Jr. is in here." He waited a few seconds, focusing his gaze on the floor, trying to force some calm into him. There was no response, however, and he felt a burning begin in the back of his eyes. "I-" He took a shuddering breath. "I guess he's still...working."

He felt...trapped, for lack of a better word. He had let two unknowns into his house, and even if they knew Kanda, it was clear that they definitely hated Allen. For something he hadn't even done!

For a moment, his fear was interrupted by a small note of frustration, because what had he done to deserve this? First he got his mind ripped apart by a fucking Noah, then he had to go through that damn trial, and for what? So he could get torn down and despised by every person who had been involved in the war?

How was that fair?

But then the frustration quieted, because there were people here, now, who wanted him dead, even if they hadn't done anything yet. However one thing was clear; Allen was not going wait two hours for Kanda to get home in this room. Kanda might come home to a corpse if he did that.

Though his instincts as a host were screaming at him for abandoning two guests, his self-preservation instincts were screaming for him to leave. Right now.

"Listen." Allen began, a little shaky, keeping his eyes fixed on the floor. He licked his lips, took a fortifying breath, and continued, "Listen, uh, we weren't really expecting guests today, and Kanda won't be home for another few hours."

Naeem's eyebrows shot up. "Are you asking us to leave?"

"N-No, of course not!" He turned to them and waved his hand placatingly, sweat trickling down his back. "I just meant...I need to go. To the store. To pick up some...you know. Food." He relaxed his face as much as he could. "Do you two mind waiting here on your own?"

They glanced at each other, and for a second Allen thought they might tell him not to go. He wondered if they were debating whether or not to keep him where they could see him; after all, that's what he would do if he had a known enemy in front of him.

"We'll be fine." Aisha said eventually.

Allen was so relieved he almost started crying; he walked as quickly as he casually could to the door, unhooking his wheelchair from its hook. He opened the door, and after a second thought turned around and bowed deeply to them. "Excuse me."

Then he shut the door.

Allen couldn't move for a second, his relief at having a barrier between him and them overwhelming. He rested his forehead against the grainy wood of the door, breathing deeply, trying to calm the panic in his chest. He couldn't freak out now, not when he still had to get downstairs, to put more distance between them.

Sighing softly, Allen drew away, finally opening his eyes and taking in the silent, empty hallway around him. Only then did he finally force himself to move.

An hour and a half later, Kanda found Allen at the bottom of the stairs, curled up and dozing against the wall.

Allen looked up when he heard footsteps approaching, all the tension leaving his body at the sight of his friend. Everything will be okay now, he thought, rising to his feet. "Kanda." He said.

"Beansprout?" Kanda asked, confused, the visible part of his face sweaty and smeared with dirt. The other half of his face was hidden behind his pristine white face mask. "What are you doing here?"

Having had the whole two hours to consider it, Allen was beginning to feel a little silly about his reaction to the whole situation. Yes the two finders had shown their distaste for Allen, and yes they had made a few disparaging comments about him. But that didn't mean that they were planning on hurting him, or even killing him, necessarily. It certainly hadn't been enough to warrant the panic he'd gone through.

So, shuffling his feet and hunching his shoulders guiltily, Allen said, "It's, um. Nothing, really I'm just being silly. It's just, there are some finders in our apartment, and they said they know you…"

"What?" Kanda asked, narrowing his eyes. "Did you get their names?"

"Naeem and Aisha." Allen said.

Kanda's eyes widened a little bit, and he began heading up the stairs past Allen, obviously eager to get to their apartment. Before he could get very far, however, he stopped, and looked back down at Allen.

Allen hadn't moved; in fact, his hand was hovering over the railing, and he was just trying to force himself to go back up. His paranoia was ridiculous, he knew that; besides, Kanda was here, so nothing could happen anyway. It was fine….

"What did they do to you?" Kanda asked quietly.

Allen jumped at the sound of his voice, and looked up at the samurai. "W-What?" And then the question registered. "Oh, nothing!"

Kanda took a menacing step down toward him. "Don't give me that bullshit. Why are you waiting at the bottom of the stairs? What did they do?"

"Like I said, I'm being silly!" Allen shouted back, harsher than he meant to. He reeled himself back in, attempting to moderate his tone, before saying, "Honestly, Kanda. They just….made their distaste of my being a Noah known."

Kanda's brow darkened at that, oddly enough. "They made you feel unsafe." He said. It wasn't a question.

Allen opened his mouth to disagree, to say no they hadn't made him feel unsafe, he had just overreacted, and...but he closed his mouth, and looked away. Because that would be lying. He had felt unsafe, and he had panicked and left.

"I overreacted." Allen whispered feebly instead.

When he looked up again, Kanda was already halfway to their apartment, his long legs eating up the distance in seconds. He had no idea what Kanda was planning on doing, but the storm cloud that followed him up the stairs made Allen very nervous.

"Kanda!" Allen shouted as he followed the samurai as quickly as he could. "Kanda, wait!"

As he neared the top his traitorous legs gave out on him; he winced when his knees banged up against sharp corners, nearly causing him to tumble back down. He paused for a moment to catch his breath, silently cursing the fine trembling of his legs. Then he forced himself back to his feet, and hobbled up the rest of the stairs.

By the time he had finally reached the apartment, Kanda hadn't yet begun to tear into Naeem and Aisha. The two of them were standing in front of him, chattering excitedly, not seeming to notice that something was wrong.

"Kanda," Allen wheezed, "Kanda, wait."

Naeem looked over Kanda's shoulder, eyebrows furrowed in confusion at the sound of the unfamiliar voice; then his face darkened when he realized who it was. "You damn Noah, I knew you weren't-"

"Shut the fuck up." Kanda said very softly, very controlled.

Naeem looked up, surprised, and next to him, Aisha jerked. "What?"

"Are you deaf as well as stupid?" Kanda demanded, his voice rising. "I said shut the fuck up."

Allen looked over nervously at Gladdice's door; it hadn't yet opened yet, but that didn't mean anything. They were standing in the hall, shouting at each other; it wouldn't be very difficult for Gladdice to hear them.

"Kanda, let's go inside." Allen begged, grasping Kanda's elbow.

Kanda's glare was as sharp as it was deadly. But after a second, he let out a growl and stalked forward into the apartment. Allen followed quickly after him, carefully shutting the door behind them.

There was a pause, where the entire room held its breath. Naeem and Aisha stared at Kanda, wide-eyed, and the samurai stared-or more like glared-back at them, unreadable.

"You two are an embarrassment." Kanda finally growled at the duo, seemingly unswayed from his desire to let them have his anger.

"Kanda-sensei, I don't understand." Aisha responded, her beautiful face twisting into a confused moue. "Aren't you happy to see Naeem and I? It took us a long time to find you."

Kanda abruptly turned away from them and, in a movement as quick as lightning, withdrew his sword and slashed through one of their chairs. Even Allen flinched away from the movement, even though that fury wasn't being directed at him. For the first time, Naeem and Aisha seemed to understand that something was really wrong, because their skin went ashen.

Still holding the sword, Kanda turned back to them. "What did I tell you?"

"Kanda-sensei…" Naeem whispered.

"During the war, what did I tell you?" Kanda demanded, even more fiercely.

"We don't know what you're talking about!" Aisha cried, and there was a slight shakiness in her hands.

Allen was beginning to feel sick to his stomach. He wished he had never said a word to Kanda.

"Do you really think," The samurai hissed, his voice low and venomous, "I would live in a house with my enemy? Are you so blind?"

The two blinked; first at Kanda, then at each other, and finally over at Allen. They clearly hadn't realized that this really had something to do with the supposed Noah. For Allen, however, the sudden unwanted attention just made him shrink away.

"Kanda," He murmured, "That's enough. It's fine."

But his words had gone unheard; now Naeem's face was darkening, and he said, "Sensei, that is a Noah, he is our sworn enemy. You seem to have been fooled by his-"

"If you say one more word, you will become just like that chair." Kanda's voice was clipped, shaking with the force of his rage. Then he pointed the sword in Allen's direction, "Look at this stupid fucking beansprout, really look at him!"

"Please don't." Allen said, and looked away when two scared, hesitant gazes were directed toward him. He instinctively wrapped his arm around his middle, like it could protect him from the wrath swirling around the room.

But Kanda wasn't finished. "Do you really think a Noah would walk around with one arm? One eye? Muscle atrophy? A busted memory?" Each phrase felt like someone was ripping holes in Allen's chest; he had never felt so vulnerable in his entire life. He wanted to leap forward and shake Kanda, tell him to stop spilling all his weaknesses to these strangers. "How could you possibly fucking think that this is a Noah? I found Allen Walker-"

Allen's breath hitched in his throat. He couldn't remember the last time Kanda had said his name.

"-at the bottom of the fucking stairs because he was scared you two were going to kill him."

With that, Allen found the strength to raise his voice. "Kanda, that's enough!"

His voice rang like a whip crack in the tiny apartment; the silence that followed was stunned, horrified, terrible. The two finders were pale and frightened; Kanda was rigid and cold, frozen in the middle of his anger. And Allen couldn't take it anymore, because they were just children; they were children, they were scared. Their only crime was that they had been scared, and it had made them lash out.

Allen let out a bone deep sigh, suddenly feeling twice as old as he usually did. He slumped over and looked away, unable to meet anyone else's gaze. "You've said enough." His breath shuddered in his chest. "I'm going...I'm going to…go."

"Beansprout-" Kanda said, taking a step toward him.

"No!" Allen said, covering his face and backing away. "Don't-don't shout at them anymore. I-I'll be back."

He wasn't so certain about that, actually, but he didn't say that.

No one moved to stop him when he yanked his wheelchair from the hook and wrestled with the door, his numb fingers unable to find purchase on the smooth metal. He needed to leave, right now, right now, before the people in this room ate him alive.

Someone took his fingers from the knob, and gently opened the door for him. Allen looked up, but flinched back violently when he saw Aisha staring back at him with big, young eyes.

"Thank you." He said, stepping away from her, out the door. "Excuse me."

And then he ran.