A/N: Hello, everyone! -sweatdrop- Sorry for the long, long, LONG overdue update. I'm sure I could make up some kind of excuse for the huge gap between updates, but I won't bother. XD Here is chapter four, though! Enjoy! :D

Moody Kanda

"Here we are!" The old man called back to the three tired, boiling hot exorcists. The wagon came to a halt, and the old man jumped out from his seat. "So, where're you young men heading now?" he asked, walking around to the side of the wagon.

Lavi was first to jump out of the back, knocking out a few apples while doing so. "We're heading towards a particular cafe, the one that sells ice cream..." the redhead explained, brushing some dirt off of the rear of his pants as he talked.

"And pie and lemonade and roasted potatoes and mitarashi dango..." Allen trailed off, hopping out of the wagon and walking up to Lavi's side. Lavi grinned at him.

"We're gonna put the Order in the poor house if we try and satisfy your appetite while we're out, Allen-kun."

"Moyashi is a gluttonous pig with a bottomless pit for a stomach..." Kanda muttered while stepping out of the wagon.

Allen turned and frowned at his dark-haired comrade. "I'm not a gluttonous pig..."

The old man chuckled and shook his head. "You three are sure something else. But in regards to what you're looking for, there's several cafe's in town that sell ice cream. I'm not quite sure which you fella's are looking for."

"The one we're looking for is owned by a brunette middle-aged woman," Lavi explained. "Long hair, slim figure..." Lavi smiled. "You know?"

Allen rolled his eyes and bopped Lavi in the side of the head.

"Ow."

The old man laughed again. "Oh, Irene. She owns the Silver Cross Cafe on Main Street." The old man turned slightly and pointed down a side street. "Go straight down that way and you'll see the cafe to your right after a few blocks. I gotta keep moving straight ahead to my apple buyer."

Lavi smiled widely and nodded. "Thanks a lot for the lift!"

"And the directions!" Allen added.

The two looked back at Kanda, who was leaning against the wagon, and stared at him expectantly.

"...Yes, thank you." Kanda said to the old man, staring off in the direction they had just come from.

"It was no problem at all," The old man said happily as he got back into his seat on his wagon. "You boys have a good afternoon. And try not to overheat!" he added, just as the horse began to trot away.

"You too!" Lavi called, waving to the back of the wagon. Allen grabbed one last apple before the wagon rolled out of his reach.

"Yay! We know where the cafe is, now," Allen said happily, shining his apple on his sleeve and looking at Lavi. He frowned when he saw Lavi staring with an eyebrow arched at Kanda, though. "Lavi?"

Kanda was standing stiffly in the direction he and his comrades had just come from. Lavi walked up behind him and tapped him on the top of his head.

"Hey, Yuu!" Lavi said loudly. "What's with giving us all the cold shoulder all of a sudden?" Lavi asked.

Kanda glanced at Lavi and sighed. "You two are just embarrassing. And pathetic."

Lavi and Allen both stared at Kanda, obviously offended.

"Eh??" Allen said, with a mouth full of apple.

"How's that?" Lavi asked, crossing his bare arms and adjusting his stance.

"You two raping that apple tree for all it's got like a couple of uncouth vagabonds!" Kanda barked in Lavi's face, who in turn raised his eyebrows in alarm. "Neither of you have any grace or manners."

"Hey! We we're ju-" Lavi started.

"And then asking that old guy for a ride, when I TOLD you it would only be a sixteen minute walk," Kanda interrupted, his face closer to Lavi's now. "How lazy ARE YOU?" He asked, with a bitter expression on his face and his nose almost touching the redheads. Lavi swallowed uncomfortably.

"Is it possible you just have too much fucking pride, Kanda?" Lavi shot back, without moving away from Kanda's face. "What does it matter? The old guy was nice, and we provided a service for HIS service!" he said, defending his actions.

"And we weren't raping the apple tree, Kanda," Allen said, tossing his apple (now apple core) to the side of the road. "We we're hungry and dehydrated. We we're simply-"

"I don't care," Kanda huffed, and began walking down the street the old man had directed them. "Let's just get what we came here for and GO HOME."

Lavi and Allen stood, watching the dark haired teen storm away. They looked at each other.

"What the hell is up HIS ass?!" Lavi complained, wiping his forehead. He stared upwards and squinted at the sunlight.

Allen dug through the pockets of his black pants and pulled out a hair tie, which he proceeded to pull his hair back with into a short ponytail. "Maybe the heat is just making him more bitter than usual..."

"You've got THAT right, Moyashi..." Lavi said, following Kanda slowly.

"It's ALLEN!" Allen complained, following Lavi.

--

"YUU!" Lavi yelled, after a few blocks of walking. He and Allen were about a block behind Kanda at this point.

"Kanda!" Allen called. "Why don't you wait for us?"

"Maybe you two should walk faster!" Kanda yelled back.

Lavi and Allen huffed. "Who does that guy think he is?" Lavi complained. "Right, Allen?" The Jr. Bookman turned to his right when Allen didn't reply, just to see the shorter white-haired teen jogging down a different street.

"A-Allen! Hey!" Lavi called, chasing after him. "What do you think you're doing?!"

"I saw a dog chasing a stray cat, and the cat was bleeding!" Allen called over his shoulder. "I wanna help it!"

Lavi grinned to himself and continued to chase Allen. "Stop being so damn nice all the time and come back! We're gonna get lost!"

Allen stopped momentarily and looked around, before taking off again down an alley. "This way, Lavi!"

"ALLEN!"

--

"What are you two idiots yelling abou-" Kanda began, turning around. He stopped. "Huh?"

He looked around before walking back the way he came. Lavi and Allen had disappeared.

"Moyashi? Baka Usagi?" Kanda called, stopping at a deserted intersection. He looked down each road, to no avail. "Where the fuck...?"

--

"Bark! BARK!"

"Stay back!" Allen said to the angry canine, with a fat cat wrapped around his neck.

"Mrooowwww..." the cat groaned, pawing at Allen's ponytail.

At that moment Lavi came tearing around the corner, and stopped when he found Allen. "You finally stopped!" Lavi panted. His eye darted between the cat around Allen's neck and the dog.

"Grrr!" the dog growled. "Bark!" It barked, before leaping towards Allen's neck.

"No!" Allen said, lifting up his left arm in defence.

Before the dog could reach the cat around Allen's neck, it reached the front of Lavi's hammer instead.

The dog cried after it had leapt accidentally into Lavi's outstretched hammer and ran away, whimpering.

Lavi stood next to Allen and lifted his hammer away, resting the long handle on his shoulder. "Well, that was close." He looked at Allen with his green eye. "I don't really recommend keeping a stray, bleeding feline on your neck, Allen."

Allen looked at Lavi and then to the cat, which he had pried away from his neck. It meowed loudly at him. "I didn't put him there, he jumped up there. Cat's always do that to me..." Allen commented as the cat squirmed in his hands.

Lavi raised an eyebrow and inspected Allen's neck. "Really? Why?" he asked, running his hand behind the shorter one's neck. "There's nothing special about it... besides the fact it's sweaty..."

Allen blushed and stared at Lavi with wide eyes. "I don't know! Stop touching me, Lavi!" he said, flustered and pushing Lavi's hand away.

Lavi laughed and rested his hand on Allen's head. "Don't be so uptight, Allen!"

"Mroooowwwww!!" the cat complained. Allen lifted the cat to his face and inspected it.

"Do you think its hurt badly?" he asked Lavi. The cat pawed at his scar.

Lavi looked away. "Uh... does Yuu know that we took off on him...?" he asked back at Allen.

A/N: Hurr hurr, Kanda got ditched... XD Sorry again for the very late update! Please reviews my darlings! :D