Disclaimer: I own nothing (:I wonder what I should wear. I don't want Lavi thinking the wrong things – if I wear something too revealing and slutty he might think I'm out to catch him. If I wear something too girly… who knows what he might think. And anyway, I don't have girly clothes. I need something casual; I don't want him getting any ideas. But I've nothing casual here that would fit a girl, really. Heck, I'm just going to wear my usual boyish apparel. Where is my vest? Oh damn it, they stink. How long have I not washed them?

Allen rummaged through her wardrobe, unable to find anything suitable for a tomboyish girl to wear to the cinema. Unfortunately, her normal clothes stank a little, for reasons unknown to her. To Allen's surprise, though, Lenalee chose that moment to enter the room. By doing so, she changed Allen's fate forever. In after days Allen was eternally grateful for Lenalee's interference, but at that exact moment, she could have killed Lenalee then and there.

Lenalee was trying to force her into a dress. A dress that, the Chinese girl claimed, would bring out Allen's curves and hug her body in all the right places. And hide any flaws that she wanted to hide. But Allen was horrified, really. She knew that Lenalee was quite the fashionista, of course, but she was good old boyish Allen, and good old boyish Allen did not wear frilly blue numbers like the clingy fabric Lenalee was holding out.

"NO, Lenalee, I'm NOT wearing that… thing. It looks like a nightie." Allen whined. Why is my life so sad that I have to resort to wearing nighties?

Lenalee shook her head in mock anger. "No, Allen you have to wear this. Please? This dress will look really good on you. Plus it sort of accentuates the colour of your eyes."

"No, it won't."

"Okay, Allen, stop sulking. Why don't you just go try it? If it really doesn't fit you, or if it you really detest it that much, then I won't force you."

This exchange resulted in Allen going off to try the dress, even though she didn't feel like it. When Allen finally emerged from her toilet, Lenalee clapped.

"You do look good in it!" Lenalee spun Allen around so the girl could look at herself in the mirror.

Allen had a shock; a huge, huge shock. She'd never been praised for her looks before. She had lived most of her young life before Mana came along in an orphanage where boys and girls alike were all dressed in similar patchy overalls. Everyone had their hair cropped short, and the carers never had the time to stop and look properly at any one child. Mana had been nice and sweet to her; he had bought her dresses, and given her frilly ribbons with which to decorate her growing hair, but he had never commented on her looks. Instead, he'd often smiled and praised her for being a good girl, which was nice in itself, but not entirely encouraging looks-wise.

Cross was worse. As her guardian, he should have been like Mana. Instead, he bought her second-hand (sometimes even third-hand) clothings, usually of the shirts and shorts-or-jeans variety, but never a dress. That pretty much explained how she had landed in this dress-less state. Moreover, he had commented quite frequently on her white hair, and how males would be repelled by it, and her scar, which he suggested she use concealer to well, conceal, and her deformed arm, which he suggested she amputate, and her lack of height, for which he recommended a boutique store that sold pretty heels. Sometimes he criticised her figure – or lack of it. It had severely damaged her self esteem at first, as it would have crumbled that of any other teenage girl on the cusp of adulthood. But she had steeled herself and lived through it, and could now ignore his stinging barbs targeted at her relatively flat chest and straight figure pretty well.

So it was somewhat surprising to see herself looking good for once. Revolving in front of her mirror, she could have congratulated herself on growing a feminine body overnight. Or maybe Lenalee was right – the dress did have magical properties that boosted her proportions.

"Now for makeup." Lenalee's voice pulled her back to reality.

"No, no, please no. I'd rather not. I don't want Lavi thinking that I'm out to snare him or anything…" Allen pleaded with her now stern-looking friend.

"You must have makeup. Any self-respecting girl won't go out without putting some makeup on." Allen quavered under Lenalee's fierce glare. "At least, concealer is a must."

"Okay."

"Don't worry, trust me. I'll just play up your features, nothing more."

......

"Hey, Yu, what should I wear?" Lavi asked Kanda in the chirpiest voice he could summon.

Lavi found himself staring into Mugen's bright eyes again, for the fourth time that day. "Don't call me Yu."

The redhead nodded rather shakily. He didn't want to be killed, at least not right before the date he had looked forward to for so long.

"As I was saying, what should I wear?" Lavi fixed Kanda with a raised eyebrow.

"Che. Does it matter?"

"Yes it does! I want Allen to know that I'm serious about her. Though maybe she wouldn't notice, what with her being so dense and all. But still, I'm going to try. Should I wear a dress shirt? Or would it be better to wear a full tuxedo? Or maybe it would be best to dress down in my casual clothes? What do you think, Kanda?"

"Just wear whatever you want, baka usagi. And shut up. I'm trying to meditate."

"Kanda, I – "

Kanda was rather surprised by the sudden thud. And he was rather surprised that the stupid rabbit had finally managed to shut up. So he opened one eye and directed it towards where he knew Lavi to be. Lavi was lying on the floor, clutching his abdomen. Where does all that pain come from? It feels like a dozen little needles are drilling into me, without any consideration for my feelings. Ants are biting my insides, and my stomach is groaning. I can't get up.

Kanda was by Lavi's side in two quick strides. "Che, Lavi, you okay?"

"I – my stomach aches! I can't stand it!" Lavi continued clutching at his abdomen.

"Do you need me to call a doctor?"

"No. I can deal with it. But my date with Allen – I don't want to keep her waiting."

"Che. You can't go anywhere like this, baka usagi."

"Oh. Right. But I can't let Allen down like this!"

"Che."

"Kanda, would you mind if you went in my place? Please?"

"No. I won't go. She can go with Lenalee or something."

"Kanda? Please? I promise not to touch Mugen for a month." Lavi's sincerity rang in every syllabus. "Lenalee isn't free this evening!"

Finally, eyes mostly closed, Kanda nodded.

"Make it two months." Just for Mugen.

......

Allen stepped onto the polished parquet floor and sighed. She'd never been rich enough to walk into such a sprawling cineplex as this one was. Cross had barely given her enough leisure time, and Mana hadn't had much money as a circus performer either. Her heels went click-clack over the floor, and self-consciousness crept over her. I shouldn't have let Lenalee do all this to me. What will Lavi think? I hope he doesn't get any funny ideas.

Over at the snack counter, Kanda tapped his feet impatiently. Where was the Moyashi? He hadn't come here just so he could be ogled by various teenaged girls in the vicinity. Lavi had better keep to his end of the promise, or Kanda would have to resort to physical violence to get his reward.

Allen first saw the blue hair before anything else. She wondered who could ever have blue hair, until her memory told her she knew a certain Kanda who did. Lavi and Kanda are always together, so Lavi should be near Kanda, so she reasoned to herself. She took faltering steps towards the guy she thought was Kanda, somewhat nervous. She and Kanda had gotten off to a bad start, and their friendship wasn't exactly strong. In fact, she wouldn't dare call it a friendship; it was more of a show of tolerance that they kept between them.

She reached put to tap the blue-haired male on the shoulder when he turned and saw her –

Kanda first smelled the scent of cherry blossoms before anything else. The fragrance came wafting up to him, sneaking under his unsuspecting nose before unleashing its full aroma on him. With remarkable curiosity he turned around to see if someone had miraculously planted a cherry tree just behind him.

He turned to sniff out the source of the cherry blossoms and his –

– her eyes met those deep inscrutable eyes of his.

– his eyes took in the small petite blue-clad form before him.

Both gasped.

"You scared me!" Allen was the first to recover.

"Che. No one asked you to sneak up on me like that." Kanda huffed.

"Where's Lavi, baKanda?"

"Che, Moyashi, your boyfriend's sick and got me to come accompany you instead."

"He's NOT my boyfriend!"

"Whatever. Now go in already." Kanda used a long thin finger to prod Allen into the dark theatre.

"What are we watching, anyway?"

"Che, do I look like I know? Stop talking and just watch."

"The movie hasn't started, Kanda."

"Che."

To tell the truth, Kanda hadn't meant to be so rude and offensive when talking to Allen. It was just that he had been taken aback by the strange feeling roaring in his breast. It sent a tingle up his spine, and caused pink spots to appear on his smooth, pale cheeks. And Kanda was apt to be at his most indifferent and uncaring whenever he had to deal with a new emotion that he didn't already know.

It all started with that damned scent. The faint, somewhat fruity fragrance had addled his brains and made him a little woozy, especially around the knees. For no particular reason, it had reminded him of a time in his native Japan where he had run around his mother's backyard, making friends with all the cherry blossom trees. And when he'd turned around he'd been met by a most surprising sight. The moyashi in a dress. She looked quite good in it too. What am I thinking? But really, the girl did look quite nice. Kanda shifted his head slightly to look at her side profile. On a normal day she could be passed off as a normal girl. She wasn't ugly. But she wasn't the most attractive girl, or the girl with the greatest body. Kanda did notice such things; it was just that he didn't make a point of announcing his observations and thoughts to the world the way Lavi did.

It wasn't everyday that Allen could be caught in a dress though, and this surprise might just explain the funny feeling that was rising in his chest and constricting his breathing. The moment he had turned around outside the movie theatre, his eyes had landed on the blue dress wrapped around Allen. It hugged her body with great finesse, and gave her curves he'd never thought she had. His eyes had travelled upward, resting for a moment along her slender neck, and then met her eyes. The colour of her eyes and dress match! Kanda shook his head at his own absurdity. What nonsense was he thinking?

He took a deep breathe. His heart was still racing.

In the next seat, Allen had closed her eyes. She needed a moment of peace to sort out her thoughts. Her pulsating heartbeat made her feel like she'd just completed a marathon of sorts, where the distance was the length of carpeted floor between the snack counter and her seat. That instance of looking into Kanda's empty eyes had given her a shock. A shock that felt good. What was wrong with her? But she had to admit, Kanda was quite a lady-killer. Or at least, he could be, if he'd tried. A simple dress-shirt and jeans more than played up his buffed body. Which girl could resist that? His hair was pretty, too. Prettier than her own hair, she thought, fingering the silky folds of her loaned dress nervously. Honestly, she had to calm down. Lenalee probably wouldn't like it if Allen left sweat stains on the pretty dress - but how could she calm down, when her heart wouldn't listen to her?

She tried her best to watch the horror flick. He did the same. But somehow, neither remembered the plot when they exited the movie theatre two hours later.

Kanda did walk Allen back to her hall after that. But they didn't speak much – because Kanda was still processing and analysing his newfound feelings. Allen, though, thought she knew what had happened.

She'd developed a crush on Kanda.

A/N: Heh, Kanda and Allen (female) went on a date to the cinema. Finally the two end up together hahaha. I'm sorry there's near to zero mention of the film they were watching, but it's really because the film isn't central to the plot. Wow I am amazed at myself - this chapter is some 2000 words long. I've never written such a long oneshot before, or a chapter this long, for that matter. As usual, reviews are much appreciated, and if you have any constructive comments, i'd be glad to hear them (: Thanks for reading!

Before I go – thank you plasticfries, Astaline Nihtingale, RedLining and Kichou for reviewing, and thanks also to hawktakesflight and M. Cutie for bothering to read and review this :D