Hello, filler chapter! I hope the first wasn't too disappointing, but I admit it's probably the best out of the handful that make up the story. ^^; I needed something to make a transition to chapter 3 (which will be up soon).

Again, I don't own -Man or these characters, etc.

Chapter 2

"I'm awake," Kanda muttered when Allen moved to touch his shoulder.

The train had just pulled into their stop as evening approached. As the boys stepped out onto the platform, they were met by a finder who appeared to be larger than Allen and Kanda combined. Beneath the plain cream-colored uniform, they couldn't tell whether that was from muscle or if he was just really big.

"Hello, exorcists," he said in a deep, yet very cheerful voice, bowing before the two. "My name is Harol, and I was instructed to meet you here and make sure the rest of your journey is a safe one. It is an honor to escort you."

"Thank you, it's nice to meet you," Allen said cordially. "My name is Allen Walker, and that's Kanda." He gestured to his right, only to find that Kanda had continued walking before Harol had finished speaking. He was almost out of sight within the thickening crowd.

Allen ran to catch up with him, Harol close behind. "You can't just walk off while someone's talking to you!" Allen chastised. "He was kind enough to meet us here and you act like he's not there."

"He might as well not be," Kanda growled, perpetual frown etched on his face. "Why would we want a finder now when we've made it through the entire mission without one? That doesn't make sense. Komui's wasting everyone's time."

"That's not very nice of you," Allen said, becoming frustrated himself.

"Che." Kanda ignored the comment and strode forward again.

"I'm sorry about him," Allen said to Harol. Harol only smiled kindly and walked with Allen the rest of the way to the Order.

In Komui's office, Kanda's bad attitude only seemed to worsen. Just the supervisor's scattered personality was enough to tip Kanda over the edge.

"I'll need your reports by tomorrow, since you were late returning from the mission," Komui prattled on. "If Kanda hadn't been injured, you would've been back at least a few days before now, right? You really should take better care of yourself, Kanda, so don't become useless and make Allen do all the work—"

"Shut the hell up," Kanda fumed, keeping a white-knuckled grip on the hilt of his sword. Before Komui could utter so much as one more syllable, Kanda began a tirade of his own. "I was injured because I had to protect that weak Bean Sprout over there while the akuma knocked him unconscious. If you're going to lecture someone about taking better care of himself, make it the right person."

"But Allen didn't hinder your mission," Komui said placidly, a mischievous gleam in his eyes.

Kanda trembled with fury, resisting the impulse to cut both men in the room with him to pieces. "He was the cause of this!" Kanda spat, slamming both hands on Komui's desk.

"He wasn't hurt."

Kanda's patience had run out. There was no point arguing with an idiot like Komui. He brought his fist down on the desk hard enough to splinter the wood and bring an avalanche of paperwork crashing to the floor. It buried Komui as Allen watched Kanda stalk out of the room.

"A-Allen…" Komui choked from beneath the mountain.

"Ah! I'm sorry!" He immediately dug into the mess.

Eventually Komui wriggled out from beneath the stack of neglected work. "Well, that produced the desired result."

"Supervisor?" Allen questioned.

"Allen, believe it or not, Kanda has a passion for more than just his work," Komui explained. "I wanted to gauge how deep that passion went, and how far he'd go in order to defend himself. Your presence made more difference than you're aware of, considering you're the one he protected from the akuma."

"I don't understand," Allen said.

Of course he understood. He'd known this well before Komui tried his experiment, and it was obvious where he was going with it.

"Kanda isn't angry with you," Komui said. "Nor is he angry with me. He might think he is, at least in part, but he's more frustrated with himself. Before you arrived here, he didn't have much of a rival, no one to compete with. In some strange way, he cares about you, Allen."

Allen chuckled uneasily. "I suppose."

"Really, though," Komui said. "You should be more careful on missions. If Kanda hadn't been there to save you, you might not have come back."

"Y-yes sir," Allen stammered, bowing politely.

Komui dusted off his coat and motioned for Allen to leave. "Don't forget the report!"

"I won't," he promised, making a hasty exit.

Meanwhile, Kanda continued brooding in his room, relishing the first solitary moments he'd had in several days. Allen was an exhausting person, and he thought that at first purely in terms of personality. He was such a submissive person, almost never really complaining, and it was terribly difficult to deal with. Kanda wasn't one to spend a lot of time reading people, so Allen was far from ideal

And then there were the arguments. Those, Kanda could deal with from everyone else, considering he usually incited them to begin with. Why was Allen any different? Even Kanda couldn't figure that one out.

He pounded the wall with the side of his fist. It wasn't right! He stripped off his thick exorcist coat, laying Mugen on top of it. He always forgot how warm the uniform was. While it was made of a lighter material, it was designed to be water resistant and protect against the elements. In the warmer months, even in England, it was a little much.

Kanda sat on the edge of his bed, staring up at the lotus on the dresser before him. Cursing it, he rubbed his slightly aching temples. He had no intention of writing any sort of report for Komui. Let Allen do that if he felt it necessary, but they had brought back the Innocence safely and that's all that mattered to Kanda.

Just as he was getting ready to lay down and sleep just a little more before getting some food, a knock sounded at his door. Assuming it was Lavi already aware of his return, he ignored it until it came again. This time it was a little more timid.

"What?" Kanda answered shortly.

"Kanda…" It was Allen, of course.

Reluctantly, Kanda rose to open the door. In front of him stood someone who looked like Allen, but whose demeanor were all wrong. Determination radiated from the boy, eyes locked with Kanda's.

"What do you—" Kanda began before Allen let himself into the room, closing the door behind him. "Don't think you can just let yourself in."

Allen sat down beside Mugen, intending to make himself comfortable. He didn't quite know what he was doing in Kanda's bedroom, but a mindless walk of the Order Headquarters had led him here.

"Do you dislike me?" he said suddenly and without thinking. Luckily, it sounded like a mere curiosity.

Caught off guard, Kanda opened his mouth, hoping to speak an instant "yes". However, his voice wouldn't make a sound and his lips wouldn't move into the right word. Instead, he said simply, "No."

It didn't sound right to Allen's ears. It was a forced answer, spoken around something else which should have taken the place of that word. But who was he to question Kanda's response?

His face brightened nevertheless and Kanda noticed.

"What's that look for?" he asked.

"I'm glad," the younger replied cheerfully. "You've been really distant, so I didn't know."

Looking back, Kanda realized it was true. Ever since the first kiss they'd shared, he'd avoided Allen even more often than when their rivalry was just that.

Kanda made his way to the bed in two steps, startling the fifteen-year-old boy enough to make him back against the cold stone wall. Kanda tilted the boy's chin up, preventing him from looking away.

A surprised Allen found a set of cobalt eyes penetrating his own, reading him more completely than anyone ever had before. Was Kanda aware of this?

Out of nowhere, Kanda's body moved in closer and closer until bare centimeters existed between them. Those, too, were closed after a slight pause, as if the ponytailed exorcist were generously giving Allen a brief moment to absorb the situation.

And then their lips brushed, softly at first, the lightest touch Kanda had ever allowed between them.

Apparently making out wasn't what the older boy had in mind anyway. Before he got past that point, he drew Allen into a tender embrace, one cheek resting atop his head. Allen felt Kanda's shallow breath ruffling his hair with each exhale.

"That should be answer enough," Kanda whispered, barely audible over his heart beating in Allen's ear. Even so, the younger male nodded slightly.

"I'm sorry for troubling you," Allen muttered, moving to get up.

"Hey," Kanda said, loosening his grip, but not quite letting him go. "Your debt isn't repaid yet."

Allen went rigid in Kanda's arms. A dark aura surrounded him, spreading quickly to each corner of the room and chilling Kanda to the marrow. Allen's head was lowered as if he were staring at the ground. A few malicious chuckles – almost giggles – escaped his mouth.

"Debt?" he repeated.

Kanda nearly catapulted himself off the bed, but the transformation paralyzed him on the spot.

It was Allen who now resembled the predator.

Thank you for reading! If you have time, please review, I'd love to hear what you think! Critique is welcomed and received openly. I hope you're enjoying it thus far, or at least don't think it's the most awful thing you've ever read. XD