AN/

About the pantry… It's huge. What did you expect? It's Jeryy's – who feeds ALLEN. Of course it's got to be big!

And sorry about not updating in a while.

BEWARE: BREAKDOWN AHEAD!

Chapter Thirteen –

Nadeshiko glared at the locked pantry door for a couple minutes, before hesitantly turning her head to look at Lavi.

"…Any idea what's going on?"

"Nope..."

The brunette sighed and stood up, Lavi doing the same.

"What happened to you?"

The red head shook his head. "I came to ask Jeryy a question, and he suddenly grabbed me and shoved me in here…"

Nadeshiko deadpanned. "Why didn't you bang on the door or shout, or something, to let someone know you were in here?"

"I did, but Jeryy must've told the other kitchen staff to ignore me or something since no one came."

"You weren't doing anything when I came. Why?"

"…I was listening to what you were saying…" Lavi admitted hesitantly, a sheepish smile on his face.

"…Why?"

The emerald-eyed eighteen year old leaned casually against one of the pantry's bare walls, eyes trained on the door, and seemed to think the question over for a moment. "I dunno; guess I was just curious what you had to say." He shrugged.

Nadeshiko sighed quietly and leaned against the wall opposite of Lavi, eyes scanning over all the food stocked on the shelves to her left. The lengthy silence between the two was thick.

"…Nadeshiko."

The hazel-eyed teen looked at the other out of the corner of her eye at the usage of her full name. "Hm?"

"Are you mad at me?"

At this, the brunette turned her face fully around to look at him directly. "Why do you ask?"

The red head noticed she hadn't answered his question. "Because you haven't really spoken to me ever since I tried to kiss you."

"It's only been a day."

"It's enough time for me to notice you're avoiding me."

"…Why did you try to kiss me?"

"Huh?" Lavi was caught off guard by her sudden question. "Oh, I guess I just… How do I explain this…?" He muttered the last part more to himself than her, but she still heard none the less.

"Did you think it'd be fun to mess with me?"

Lavi's head snapped over to look at his companion. Her head was lowered so that her eyes were shadowed by her hair, and her hands were clenched into fists at her sides.

"Maybe you thought you'd toy around with me for a little before Bookman took you away?" She continued on, voice deadly quiet.

"N-"

"Thought you'd see if I could fall for you?"

"Nadeshiko –"

"Or maybe… You were trying to use me."

Lavi snapped at this. It wasn't because she kept interrupting him, but because she actually thought he would do those things to her. He crossed the rather large pantry (that was actually like a medium-small room) and stopped straight in front of her, grabbing her chin and lifting it so she was looking at him.

It caught him off guard when he saw her glare.

But it wasn't a glare of hatred, rather one of hurt.

His eyes softened at this. "Nade…–"

The brunette swung her already-clenched fist and hit him in the chest, but it wasn't hard. "Just leave me alone, Junior."

Lavi visibly winced at the name. It was bad enough that Bookman was calling him that, and now she was too? Seems he really pissed them off – or hurt them in Nadeshiko's case.

The red head grabbed both her wrists, preventing her from trying to, or succeeding, to hit him again. "No, Nade."

The brunette clenched her jaw and squeezed her eyes shut, lowering her head again since Lavi's grip had been moved.

"Just…" Her voice shook slightly. "Why? Why did you try to kiss me? Give me a real reason."

"Can't it be because I like you?"

"No, no it can't." She muttered. "You're not supposed to have any attachments… You'll get in trouble…" She lowered herself to sit on the floor, taking Lavi – who still hadn't released her wrists and was actually unwilling to do so – with her. She sat with her knees pulled up to her chest, and her face turned away from him.

"So? The panda's already pissed." He replied as he sat beside the hazel-eyed girl. "And quite frankly, I don't really care what he thinks."

"Liar." She muttered, fighting to keep her voice from wavering.

"Nadeshiko… Are you… crying?"

"No! Don't be stupid!"

"Then look at me." The emerald-eyed teen released her wrists and put one hand on her left shoulder while the other hand gently turned her face towards him.

Despite her words, there were little wet trails on the brunette's cheeks. Using her now free hands, she wiped the tell-tale tears away quickly.

"See, I'm not crying."

Lavi laughed lightly, despite the current situation. "I swear, Nade, you have more pride than some of the guys I know." He pulled her into a gentle embrace, holding her head in place against his chest.

Though Nadeshiko stiffened for a moment, she didn't pull away.

"So, now that I answered you question, are you gonna answer mine?"

"What was your question again?"

The red head smiled faintly as he played with a strand of her auburn hair. "Are you mad at me?"

The hazel-eyed seventeen year old shook her head. "No." She mumbled. "I'm not. Are you mad at me?"

"Why would I be?"

"I avoided you."

"So you admit it!" Lavi smiled wider when he saw a small smile on Nadeshiko's face. "And no, no I'm not."

She looked up at him then, hands against his chest so that she could lift her head. "Really? I'm glad." A small smile was on her face, but the happiness in her eyes was so clear that the emerald-eyed teen full out grinned.

"Me too."

Then he leaned in and captured her lips with his own, his arms slipping down to wrap around her waist as he pulled her closer to him.

"L-Lavi–!" The brunette's exclamation was muffled, and somewhat cut off as said red head used the opportunity to slip his tongue into her mouth.

Nadeshiko stiffened, eyes widening further than they already were, a heavy blush forming on her cheeks. Eventually though, she forced herself to relax and her eyes to fall shut as she cautiously wound her arms around Lavi's neck, gently pulling off his bandana with one hand.

Maybe they could have a relationship?

AN/

*Curled up in a ball, rocking back and forth in a corner*

ARGH! I'M NO GOOD AT KISS SCENES! . If I didn't read FanFics with kissing like that, I wouldn't have written something like that...

I'm too wimpy to go into a MAKE OUT SCENCE. Lame... -_-|| I had to end the chapter there. I'm sorry!

…But was it acceptable?

I'm really paranoid that people are going to hate the kiss… I don't know why though… -_-|

…Anyways… Review please? (: