Huzzah! I bring you the next chapter!!

Talking of chapters, chapter 187 wasn't as good as I thought it'd be. Here I am, thinking we'd get some info on Kanda's backstory and he only appears in it for like ONE PAGE! The ef?! But, still, can't complain. All the Noah and everything; it was so cool!! And we finally saw the human form of the Earl, huh? That was him right, the dude on the last page? He looks like Shunsui Kyouraku from Bleach XD

Enjoy this people! There's a bath scene XXD though it's not that good :(

That night, the Head Nurse came to check up on him once more. Feeling along the site of the injury, she nodded in satisfaction and straightened up.

"Looks like it's all but healed." she said.

"So can I go?" Kanda asked.

"No. The fracture has closed up but you might want to give it another night. You can leave in the morning."

"Why do I have to do that?" the dark-haired man grumbled.

"Because your foot is still numb, no? It might take a while for everything to start working normally again. Just rest here until morning and I'll see how it is and then you can leave."

"Tch. Whatever."

She left him alone after that. Kanda sighed and laid himself down beside his already sleeping charge. I can finally leave.

Morning couldn't come quickly enough.

When he opened his eyes, he found Lavi sitting up and combing his hair. Or…trying to, although his hold on the comb wasn't right. Kanda buried his face in his pillow to stifle the sudden snicker that climbed up his throat. Great start to the day, he thought.

"Papa!" Lavi cried out, realising he was awake.

Kanda sat up, stretching as he did so. "Morning."

"Morning! Papa leave here today!"

Kanda frowned. "How d'you know?"

Lavi grinned. "Lavi a magician!"

The man rolled his eyes. "Is that so? Then, magic us some breakfast, would you?"

The boy's grin grew. "It already here." he pointed towards the doorway, where Lenalee had just come in, carrying a tray of food.

"Morning!" she called out.

"Yo."
"Hey, Lenalee! Hey, hey, is Lily coming today?" Lavi asked eagerly.

Lenalee laughed as she came to a stop and handed the tray over. "I wanted to talk to you about that. It seems Lily had a nice time yesterday and she wants to come to play again. Morgan called and said she was going to bring Lily over…but only if the weather's good."
"Yay!"

They ate breakfast and then the Head Nurse came and checked Kanda's injury. They were allowed to leave. Kanda got the few things they'd brought with them and headed out the infirmary. The first thing he wanted to do was have a shower. He absently gazed down at Lavi and the thought crossed his mind that, in the week since Lavi had changed into a kid, he'd not had a bath.

Huh…? WHAT?! He thought, shocked. Lavi had not had a bath in a week! That was disgusting! Back when they'd still had missions to go to, on very rare occasions, it had been understandable when they didn't get to wash for days when trekking through places far from any kind of civilisation. But those days were long gone so nobody really had an excuse to stay dirty like that.

And, the one at fault here was Kanda because he'd not really thought to give the child a bath. Disgusting! What kind of a guardian are you?! He though, appalled. "Oi, hurry up! You're gonna have a bath!"

"Wha…?" Lavi didn't get to finish whatever he'd been saying as Kanda took a hold of one of his hands and dragged him off down the passageway as fast as his newly healed leg would allow. And that was pretty fast. Lavi was reeling by the end of it.

When Kanda got to his room, he found a pile of clean clothes folded neatly at the foot of his bed. Picking out an outfit for Lavi, as well as a towel and a bar of unopened soap, he ran out again with Lavi at his side.

"Papa?"

"What?"

"Lavi have bath?"

"Yeah. It's been more than a week since you've had one." There was no more talk as they got to the bathroom.

Kanda hardly ever used the bathtubs in the individual cubicles in the bathroom. It was much quicker and more convenient to use the showers instead. But he couldn't have Lavi take a shower because the child wouldn't be able to wash himself properly and Kanda didn't want to have a shower with the boy because…that was just weird.

Rolling his sleeves up, Kanda placed Lavi's fresh clothes and the towel in a pile at the corner of the bath and then started filling up the tub, after which he turned to undress the little boy. "I-it…cold," Lavi shivered.

"You'll get warm soon," Kanda responded as he picked the boy up and lowered him into the tub.

As soon as Lavi's feet touched the water he jerked them away again, causing Kanda to nearly drop him. "Water too hot!"

Kanda held the boy against him with one arm and then twisted the other faucet too, causing cold water to gush out. Lavi didn't protest this time when he stepped into the water. "Sit down or you'll slip."

"Ok."

He began to have fun after a while, dunking his arms in and out sending water splashing everywhere. "Oi, Lavi, stop that!" Kanda protested, wiping a trail of water away from his eyes.

Lavi giggled. "Sorry papa."

"Uh-huh, well, if you're sorry, then stop doing it, idiot!"

Lavi only laughed in response. Kanda grumbled something about "ungrateful little runts" and poured some water over the child's head. "All right, close your eyes tight, okay?" with that, he lathered his hands and ran them through Lavi's hair as gently as he could.

"Ow!" when the child cried out, it was his ruined eye which he turned towards Kanda. The eye patch had been removed and put to the side so Kanda could see the scared skin clearly.

"What is it? You get soap in your eye? I told you to shut em tight."

"L-Lavi can't…it won't…shut properly," Lavi mumbled. It was still the ruined eye which was turned towards Kanda, because the other one was hidden behind soaking wet strands of red hair. Kanda didn't really like looking at it…it made him feel pity…and disgust too, and he didn't want to direct those kinds of feelings towards the child.

Kanda heaved a mighty sigh. "All right, tilt your head back. I'll wash the soap out as soon as possible."

"O-ok." Lavi agreed as he tilted his head back as far as it would go.

After washing the hair, Kanda rinsed the little body…but he left the little bit between Lavi's legs because that was just…too awkward. He felt like a pervert for just doing this so no way he was going to take it any further.

It soon came to an end. "We're done." Kanda said with a sigh of relief. It hadn't been long but the way he was sitting wasn't very comfortable and his legs were falling asleep.

But Lavi didn't want to get out. "Lavi, come on, you're done." Kanda repeated. "You're gonna start to feel cold again." He reached out to pick the towel up from the pile at the corner of the bath but, as he did so, Lavi's clean clothes, folded up underneath the towel, slipped off and fell into the water. "Great," Kanda snorted as he picked them up and wrung them out as best he could before putting them back at the side of the tub. He turned back to the joyous little boy. "Oi, Lavi, stand up."

"B-but, papa!" Lavi protested, still splashing. "It warm here."

He looks ridiculously happy, Kanda thought. He didn't want to spoil the child's fun but things were starting to wear on his nerves a little. "It'll be warm when you get dried up and get dressed. Come on."

"Lavi don't wanna!" Lavi pouted.

Massaging his temple, Kanda tried hard not to yell at the boy. "You can have another one tomorrow, okay?" he said. He was quite impressed with his self-restraint so far; it had been ages since he'd really gotten angry at Lavi. Well…these past few days, Lavi hadn't really given him a reason to get angry. But whatever the cause of this equilibrium, he was losing his control now.

"But Lavi wanna play!"

Trying hard to not let his anger show, Kanda took in a deep breath and said, "Get up."

If Lavi heard the different tone in his guardian's voice, he didn't show it because he continued to splash around. "Just a little while, please?" he asked, looking up at Kanda. The expression on Kanda's face made him stop splashing. It was utterly blank, even the eyes. "Pa…pa…?"

"Stand up," Kanda said in the same tone as before.

"O-okay…" Lavi stammered as he stood up without another word.

Kanda wrapped the towel around him and lifted him out of the bathtub. He pulled the plug to send the water whirling down the drain and then picked up Lavi's wet clothes. Setting everything that he'd brought with him in an orderly pile, he then picked the pile up and held it out to Lavi. Lavi looked from the items to Kanda's face, his expression one of confusion.

"Hold these." Kanda instructed.

From beneath the much-too-large towel, Lavi held out his little arms and Kanda put down the items. He then rose to his feet. "I don't suppose you'll walk back?"

"Pick up." The boy looked glum, staring down intently at the items in his hands.

"All right."

Kanda reached down and scooped the boy up in his arms and then left the bathroom.

After Lavi's bath, Kanda went to have a shower and had to leave his charge with Lenalee, which made the already upset boy even sadder. About half an hour later, when Kanda went to retrieve him from Lenalee's room, Lavi was throwing a tantrum and wouldn't shut up.

There weren't any tears coming out of his eye but he was making a god-awful racket and rolling around on the floor. When Lenalee tried to pick him up, he wriggled out of her grasp and proceeded to continue kicking about on the floor.

The door was open so Kanda went in. He'd heard the wailing from all the way down the corridor. He'd never seen the boy like this before. "Lavi?"

Lavi didn't hear over the sound of his own cries but Lenalee did. She breathed a sigh of relief when she looked up at him. "He's been like this since a while after you left." she said. "Did something happen earlier?"

Kanda shrugged. "I don't know. He didn't want to get out of the bath…maybe that's why."

Lenalee nodded understandingly and looked back at the boy, still lost in his tantrum. Kanda stopped before the boy. "Lavi."

Lavi heard him this time as he shut up and stopped rolling around. "P-pa…pa…?"

Kanda exhaled deeply and, falling to one knee, he motioned the child closer. Lavi stood up, wiping at his eye, and came to stand before Kanda. "What's the matter?"

Looking down, Lavi shrugged. "Lavi…miss papa…"

"I was only gone for about half an hour. I did say I'd say I'd come get you after I was done. Was there really a need to make that racket? Lenalee was looking after you; you should have been grateful."

"Sorry."

"It's not me you should apologise to."

Turning a little to the side, Lavi spoke to the floor. "Sorry, Lenalee."

Lenalee smiled. "That's okay! I know you missed Kanda a lot." Her next words were directed at Kanda, "don't be too hard on him."

Kanda pulled the child close. Lavi's little arms twined about his neck. "Of course I won't." He heaved himself up, with the child still clinging onto him. "Thanks, Lenalee. We'll see you at lunch." he said over his shoulder as he exited the room.

"No problem." Lenalee called after him.

By the time Kanda got back to his room, Lavi was falling asleep. So, maybe he'd been cranky because he'd needed his nap. Who knew when he'd been awake since? When Kanda had asked earlier, Lavi had said he'd gotten up at five but the man wasn't too sure whether Lavi could read a clock or not…but he since he was a super baby, of a sort, Kanda didn't see any reason to doubt it.

He put the child to bed and, staring around the room, he wondered what to do. There was quite a bit of time to go before lunch. He didn't feel like meditating. He didn't feel like doing anything, really, because he…he was feeling guilty.

He realised this as he spared Lavi another glance. It had been going so well these past couple of days; Kanda had tried his best to be more temperate and it had worked. Showing a child a completely nonchalant, cold attitude was probably worse than shouting at him.

Kanda had been trying his best to be calm and, although he'd managed not to snap, he hadn't meant for Lavi to feel so distanced. The kid had been gloomy ever since then. He'd said little as Kanda had gotten him dressed and took him over to Lenalee.

And that was another thing; although he openly showed that he didn't like being away from Kanda, he was usually all right if he was with Lenalee (all the more so if Kanda was still around). He'd never had a fiasco like the one with her just now.

Kanda sighed and sat down at the edge of the bed, looking down at the child's sleeping face. He stroked one smooth, chubby cheek with the back of his finger, once again quite astounded at how little Lavi was. Kanda had never had any interactions with such small kids before.

He'd thought this whole incident would prove to be burdensome but he'd grown to like looking after the child. Maybe it was because the mixture that had been dropped on Lavi caused the redhead to be so trusting of Kanda; Lavi listened to what Kanda said (most of the time), he didn't go to anyone else, and he relied so much on Kanda. So it surely would have been a totally different story if Kanda had had to take care of an actual child.

But, he wouldn't want to take care of another child; this one was perfect. A small smile graced the man's lips as he lay down beside the boy. He didn't mind that this had happened. He didn't mind pretending to be the father of this boy. He didn't mind the assortment of warm feelings he felt whenever the child wanted to show him something, or ran up to him, or twined his tiny little arms around Kanda's neck, or when he smiled.

He didn't mind all those things, he realised; he really liked all those things.

"Papa…papa…hey, papa…"

Kanda stirred and slowly woke to find Lavi shaking his shoulder. "Wh-what is it?" he asked as he suppressed a yawn and sat up.

"Lavi hungry."

"It must be about lunchtime anyway. Let's go." Kanda said, still half asleep. He yawned as he slipped off the bed and stood up. "Put your shoes on."

"Ok."

He yawned again. He was still tired and wouldn't have minded resting a bit more but if the kid was hungry, they had to deal with that.

As he walked towards the door, he left a tug at his pant leg. "Papa?" Lavi looked up at him hopefully.

"What is it?"

He held his arms up. "Pick up?"

Kanda grumbled but lifted the boy up anyway. "Better?"

Lavi nodded as he slumped against Kanda with his arms twined about the man's neck. As Kanda walked, the silence got to him. Usually, Lavi was never this quiet.

"What's wrong, Lavi?"

Lavi pulled back to gaze at Kanda with a furrowed brow. "Huh?"

"You've been kind of down today. What's wrong?" Kanda repeated, looking at the child intently.

Lavi looked away. "Um…nothing." he mumbled with a little shrug of the shoulders.

"I don't buy that. C'mon, tell me. Is it because of what I said during bath time?"

"Um…" he didn't say anything more than that, just another shrug.

Kanda sighed. "If you don't tell me, I'll make you walk."

"No, Lavi don't wanna walk." the boy muttered gloomily.

"So, spill it."

Lavi sighed. It was kind of amusing to Kanda since the boy was so small and he made it look like he was bearing such a big burden…maybe he'd learnt it off Kanda, because Kanda sighed in irritation a lot. Kanda tried hard to keep the smile off his face (because he was being serious here), but it failed. Lavi blinked. "Why…papa smiling?"

"Cuz you're like a little old man. Forget that now, tell me what's wrong."

"Why papa so persistent?"

Did he even know what persistent meant? He was only a three year old kid! But then again…it was only to be expected of a super-baby.

"Because I wanna know."

"Why?"

"There's no 'why' about it; I just do. Now stop quizzing and tell me."

"But Lavi okay now." and, as if to prove it, he smiled his usual, bright, carefree smile.

So what was wrong?"

Lavi shrugged as he laid his head against Kanda's shoulder. "Lavi thought…papa mad…"

"I always get irritated; you shouldn't take it personally."

"But…Lavi can't help it…cuz papa gets mad because of Lavi."

"I don't get mad. I just get a tiny little bit irritated when someone doesn't listen to me."

Lavi pulled back again to look at Kanda quizzically. "Someone?"

Kanda grinned and touched his forehead to the little boy's. "A small someone with red hair."

Lavi pointed a finger at himself. "Lavi?"

"Exactly."

He looked sad. "Sorry papa."

Kanda rolled his eyes. "I was kidding."

"Kidding…?" Lavi's eye went wide. "S-since when?"

"Hey, what're you trying to say? Is it a crime for me to joke around?"

Lavi smiled once more. "Nope."

Kanda ruffled the boy's hair. "Glad to hear it."

When they got to the kitchen, everybody was already eating so there wasn't that big a queue at the hatch. Kanda stepped up with Lavi still in his arms.

"Hi, Lavi~!" Jerry cooed as soon as he saw them.

Lavi's hands balled into tight fists clutching Kanda's shirt. "Two of the usual, please." Kanda said.

"Ok~!"

He put Lavi down when their food was ready. Turning with the tray, he heard someone shout his name from a nearby table. "Hey, Kanda! Over here!"

Looking over, he saw that Lenalee and the others were still having lunch. As usual, he didn't particularly care for sitting with the group but he went anyway, seeing as though Lavi was already making his way towards them.

"Yo!" Allen greeted Lavi as the child clambered up onto the bench.

"Hi, bean sprout!" Lavi snickered.

"Oi, it's Allen! I told you not to listen to what Kanda says!" Allen cried indignantly.

Kanda set down his load and sat down next to his charge. "Shut up, bean sprout."

"Don't fight! We should all get along! It's such a nice day today!" Surprisingly, this utterance came from Miranda. Kanda turned to look at the German woman to find that she wore a brilliant smile and…the very air around her seemed to be charged with a positive energy.

"That reminds me, isn't Marie here yet?" he asked.

Miranda's smile didn't abate a bit as she replied, "his train got delayed but he'll be here within the hour!"

"Must be nice knowing you're going to see someone you love," Krory answered glumly, picking at the food on his plate.

"Ah, don't worry, Krory! I'm sure you'll find someone one day!" Allen supplied, patting the man's shoulder.

"But I don't want to find "someone"," the vampire-like man responded.

"Ah…um…" not knowing what to say to that, Allen just patted Krory's shoulder again.

"Rather, we should all be happy for Miranda," Lenalee smiled. "She's not often like this."

Miranda flushed. "S-sorry…I'm getting carried away, aren't I? I'm sorry!" She bowed, almost banging her head on the tabletop.

"Ah, no, no! That's not what I meant at all!" Lenalee cried, waving her hands to ward off incorrect assumptions. "We're really very happy for you! You should be happy!"

"R-really? You don't think I'm…being too proud…?" the German woman mumbled. "I don't want everyone to think "ugh, here she goes again"…I'm sorry!"

Allen laughed. "We don't think that. And I don't think the word "proud" fits in with you at all. And besides, if you have something to be happy about, then be happy, no? There shouldn't be any questions about what kind of opinions others have of you."

"Then bean sprout and Lenalee not care what others think too?" Lavi suddenly quipped. Up until now, Kanda had been feeding Lavi quietly, watching as the little boy listened intently to the conversation that was going on.

Five pairs of eyes stared hard at the little child. "Um…wh-why am I being told something like that from…from a child?" Allen stammered, trying hard to hide his sudden embarrassment. Lenalee looked a little uncomfortable too. They didn't often talk about their relationship in the company of others so it must be a little awkward being told something like that, especially from a little boy.

"That's pretty amazing. Does he even know what Allen was talking about?" Miranda wondered.

Kanda snorted. "He does."

"Really?! That's incredible!"

A small smile curved the corner of Kanda's mouth. "It really is." he mumbled, just loud enough for Lavi to hear. Lavi grinned, looking very proud of himself.

Lenalee sighed. "Well…it's all well and good not caring what others think but…brother would create a big ruckus."

"That's putting it lightly." Allen said morosely. "I'd get murdered if he found out."

"In such an event, good riddance," Kanda grunted.

"Oi, shut up, Kanda! No one asked you!"

"Tch. Whatever."

Lenalee changed the subject and asked Miranda about the future, of all things. The moment Kanda was done with his own dinner, he stood up. "Come on, Lavi."

"Hey, you just got out the infirmary today; why don't you guys hang around awhile?" Allen offered.

Kanda scoffed as he turned around and made to leave. "No thanks."

"Bye, bean sprout!" Lavi called back.

"Oi, I told you it's Allen!"

Lavi only giggled as he went after Kanda. "Papa, can we go outside?" he asked, taking a hold of Kanda's hand.

"Sure." Kanda replied.

But, when they arrived at the entrance and threw open the door, Kanda realised that going outside with their current attire would probably result in catching a cold; the wind was blowing steadily and rain was falling to the ground in a never-ending stream. The clouds were an angry blackish-grey, rumbling ominously, threatening thunder.

"Papa, we still go outside?" Lavi asked.

Kanda sighed and turned around. "I don't know. Do you want to?"

"Yeah! Yeah! Lavi splash in the rain!" Lavi exclaimed excitedly and did a demonstration of jumping into a puddle.

"You might catch a cold."

"Then papa catch cold too!" Lavi giggled.

"Oi, that's not funny, you know. I just recovered."

Lavi looked up with a hopeful expression on his face. Did all kids like the rain? Normal Lavi wasn't particularly fond of it; he said it was impossible to read outside when it was raining because the drops of water made the ink run and ruined books. Kanda wondered why anyone would attempt to read outside during a downpour in the first place.

He sighed again. "All right, if you're that desperate, we'll go. But it's your fault if we both catch a cold."
"Eh?! That not fair! If Lavi decide…papa no catch a cold!"

He wasn't sure he understood that fully. Lavi faltered sometimes when he couldn't find the right words to say what he felt, which Kanda found a little odd; wasn't the boy able to read pretty well for his age? His vocabulary was amazing at this early stage in development. And he had a lot more understanding of his surroundings than normal kids his age so why couldn't he speak in full sentences? Well, he can't have everything, Kanda thought.

"If you say so. All right, we'll go get a jacket or something for you and then we'll go outside, okay?"

"Ok!"

Sometimes when it rained, Kanda wished they were back in the old HQ; back there, he'd been able to go up to the roof sometimes and it had felt so serene, especially when it had rained. It was like the shower washed away his anxieties (which he'd always had a lot of).

Back in Kanda's room, he realised there was a problem. The child had received a little jacket from Lenalee the day they'd all gone to town but it was thin. He didn't have a proper coat to wear. Oh, well, better than nothing, Kanda thought as he helped the boy into the little black jacket.

He then donned his own coat.

"Can we go now?" Lavi asked eagerly.

"Sure, c'mon," Kanda held his hand out and Lavi took it and they left the room and made their way to the big doors which would take them outside into the dull grey afternoon.

"You sure you wanna play in this? You might really catch a cold, you know," Kanda said, looking outside with a displeased expression.

"Yup! Yup! Lavi play with papa!" and so, taking one of Kanda's hands in both his own, the child ran backwards into the rain – which had gotten considerably worse in the past few minutes – pulling his guardian along with him.

The two of them got wet instantly. Kanda didn't really care because he'd been stuck walking through more treacherous weather than this many times in the past. And Lavi appeared not to be bothered either as he hopped into big puddles that he saw, making quick work of wetting his shoes, socks, and pants. He'd have to get changed when they went inside.

But Kanda didn't have the heart to take Lavi back inside because the boy was having so much fun. "Papa, papa! Papa splash too!"

"No." Kanda replied. "I don't wanna get wetter than I am already."

Lavi pouted up at him. "Papa a thpoilthport."

"What the hell's a 'thpoilthport'? Since when do you have a lisp?"

The boy grinned cheekily. "Papa thaid thpoilthport! Papa thaid thpoilthport!"

Kanda rolled his eyes. "Am I thupposed to find that offensive?"

Lavi pointed at the man and giggled. "Papa thaid 'thupposed'!"

Realising his mistake, Kanda affected a look of rage. "Why, you little…! I'll get you for this!"

Still laughing, Lavi began to run as Kanda started after him. He caught up with the boy easily and, swooping down, he lifted him up. "It'll be a long time before you outrun me, kid." he said.

"Lavi outrun papa one day," Lavi said determinedly.

Kanda raised an eyebrow. "Really? We'll see about that."

Lavi grinned. "Yup." He wriggled around in Kanda's arm, which meant he wanted to get down so Kanda set him on his feet. He whizzed away. "Papa play?" he called back.

"What d'you wanna play?" Kanda asked, sounding weary. Why did he have to run around in this kind of weather? And he was feeling pretty lazy right now too.

"Tag!"

"Lemme guess; I'm it, right?"

Lavi nodded enthusiastically.

"And then what?"

He paused, looking thoughtful. He stood there for a few seconds, lost in thought. "And then papa hug!" he finally cried.

Kanda frowned. "Hmm? I catch you and you get a hug? How's that work?"

Lavi lapsed into his thoughts again. He cupped his chin with his hand and tapped the side of his jaw with his index finger. Kanda wanted to laugh. He's too cute, he thought.

The redhead emerged out of his thoughts with another bright grin on his face. "Then…Lavi give papa hug?"

"Are you sure? Sounds like a pretty big prize to me."

Lavi nodded. "Yup! Then…Lavi go?"

"All right. Go."

Lavi took off. Kanda held back, waiting to give the boy a decent head start. He couldn't keep the smirk off his face as he watched the child run. It was like how ninjas ran, with his arms out behind him. He looked back to see if he was being chased and Kanda decided it was about as fair an advantage as he could give so he set off too, careful to keep his pace measured so he didn't catch up immediately. No sense in spoiling the boy's fun.

But, as the distance between them began to grow less, Lavi slipped on the wet grass and fell. Without meaning to, Kanda cried out, "Lavi!" He should have told him to stay on the pavement; he would have had a less chance of slipping then! But then if he'd slipped and fallen on the pavement, he'd have been hurt even worse!

He stopped in front of the child and knelt down. "Hey, are you okay?"

Lavi sat up. His features were scrunched up, ready to start bawling any second. But, for about a minute, he just sat there, staring at the wet grass that he'd fallen on. Just like yesterday when he'd fallen off the bed and hurt his knee.

"Lavi?" Kanda asked, reaching a hand out to the boy.

Lavi surprised him by looking up and breaking into a shaky smile. "L-Lavi…Lavi…okay!" he said in a strained voice.

Kanda sighed and pulled the child into an embrace. "What're you trying to be brave for? If it hurts, then tell me."

Lavi's small arms twined about the man's neck and he held on tight. "I-it…hurts…a little…but Lavi strong…Lavi no cry…"

For some reason, Kanda found that remarkably admirable. He patted the boy's soaking red hair. "You're getting strong, kid."

Lavi pulled back at gaze at Kanda with a wide eye. "R-really, papa?"

Kanda smiled. "Yeah."

Lavi hugged him again. "Thank you, papa."

Lavi's grip began to loosen after a while, but he didn't let go so Kanda didn't push him away. His knee was probably still hurting but he was trying to be courageous so Kanda could spoil him a little.

They stayed like that awhile, kneeling amid the rain, a picture of serenity. The soil under them was turning into mud and Kanda's pants below the knee and the edges of his coat were getting dirtied but he didn't mind. He felt peaceful, providing comfort for this little child in his arms. This could easily rival those times when he'd escaped to the roof in the old HQ to be alone in the rain.

"Papa?"

"Hmm?"

"Lavi need to use bathroom."

Kanda groaned and let the boy go. Trust the kid to ruin the moment. "All right, let's go inside then." He rose to his feet and reached for Lavi's hand.

"Papa?"

"Hmm?"

"Pick up?"

"All right."

Lavi settled against his shoulder as Kanda picked the boy up. "We come back outside?"

"No, I think we should get cleaned up now. How about another bath instead?"

"Yay! Really?!"

"Only if you listen when I tell you it's time to come out."

"Okay!"

Haha, Lavi always ruins the moment cuz he needs to use the bathroom XD

I read a review some time ago that said the fights between Allen and Kanda were too serious; lighten up! It's just for comic relief. I mean, I know I'm not that great at writing comedy and comedic situations often turn serious when it comes to me but, still, LIGHTEN UP, PLEASE! :(