A/N: I don't think there's an official color for Lenalee's hair. It's green in the anime, black in the manga, and purple in the colored manga pages. So confusing -_- I think I'll just stick to anime green.

Disclaimer: I don't own D. Gray - Man D:

Of Black Cats and Demons

Chapter 3

A week later...

Kanda was idly reading a book laying down on the small couch in his room, but he felt something land on the hand that was resting on his stomach. The familiar black and purple tinted butterfly relayed a message; when the message was finished, it flew back outside the window.

Kanda felt anger bubble in the back of his throat. "Che."

For the second time that week, Kanda stormed into the Court of Black Cats in his usual attire with his ears and tail visible. His untied hair billowed behind him. He ran up the steps, two at a time and kicked open the grand wooden double doors. His face donned a teeth-baring sneer.

"Komui!" Kanda yelled. "What is the meaning of this mission? Hm?"

"Now, Kanda, don't get your knickers in a twi-"

"You know what? I will get my knickers in a twist! You know why? I'll tell you why! 'Kill Lavi'. What is this, Komui?" Kanda hollered with exaggerated arm and hand movements.

"Kanda. Calm down and listen to what I have to say," the purple haired man demanded.

Kanda mustered up the greatest death glare he could ever achieve and looked at Komui directly in the eye.

Slightly disturbed, Komui explained, "The angels are on the move, Kanda. We need to get to the Headband before they do."

"What the hell? Angels are in this now?" Kanda let the sneer drop to replace it with a deep scowl. He crossed his arms across his chest.

"Yes, angels. However, from the intel I gathered, there is only one, and he brought a bonded fox with him."

"Bonded?" Kanda asked, eyebrow quirking.

"Yeah. You know when you cut your palm and handshake?" Komui explained has he motioned out the sentence.

"I know what it is, but they've bonded?"

"Kanda, I just said that they did, why repeat me?"

"Che."

"Yes, Kanda, they bonded. Is there any reason why you don't understand?"

"I understand, but why?"

"You don't know what happens when they bond," Komui deadpanned.

"I know, but I don't see why they've bonded. Angels and demons have gotten stronger over the past ten years, anyways. Why bond?"

"Well, they still get that power boost."

Kanda rolled his eyes. "I know, but still, why would they bond?"

"Well, it has something to do with the Headband," Komui hinted, making a rolling motion with his hands.

"So they're boosting up their power for a better chance at getting the Headband!" Kanda realized.

"Ding, ding, ding! We have a winner!" Komui sarcastically congratulated. "Now, go off an complete your mission. We need this Headband, Kanda."

"You better have that bounty, Komui."

"Don't worry, Kanda. Just be a good little kitten and go off and complete that mission," Komui ushered.

"I'm not a kitten, dang it!" Kanda barked.

"Oh? What happened to your potty mouth habits, Kanda?" Komui asked, quirking an eyebrow.

"Eh?" Kanda gulped. "Well, you see..."

"Whatever, just go an complete the mission," Komui said, waving him off.

After Kanda left the room and was out of earshot, Komui mumbled to himself, "Now, how am I going to get the nine grand?"

Lavi sat in his school desk, clad in the academy's uniform. His chin rested on his palm that was propped up on his elbow.

It's been a week, Lavi thought.

The redhead was currently in English, one of the most boring classes he's ever had to endure - one reason being the teacher lecturing about nouns and adverb clauses the whole time. But he still makes the required grades, if not, exceeding - albeit the fact he almost never pays attention.

He turned his head back to the blackboard, smeared with chalk dust and scribbled with more chalk.

From the corner of eye, Lavi caught a smudge of purple and red. He turned his head back out the window, recognizing the smudge was a portal from the Underworld.

Lavi couldn't help but feel a smirk stretch across his lips.

So he's back?

Kanda stood at the door to the real world at the Hall of Worlds. The familiar white marble door had a wonderfully crafted gold handle - not that the violinist would care.

He had the violin strapped to his shoulder, his hands in his pockets, and his tail and ears showing. His tail idly flicked back and forth in mild anticipation.

Wait a minute.

Anticipation for what, exactly? Kanda contemplated.

He shrugged and stepped into the mass of swirling reds and purples. He instinctively immediately bent his knees, and as expected, he softly landed on his heels with a slight thump. The black-headed teen dusted off any dirt that clouded beneath his feet got onto his clothes, and spotted the school building to his left. His eyes drifted across the white brick wall of the academy that had clean and clear windows perfectly lined up and across the wall; Kanda spotted a bright green eye and a smirk staring at him from the window on the second floor. Recognizing who the emerald orb belonged to, Kanda sent a smirk back.

"Waiting for me?" he mouthed.

Lavi gave a knee-buckling grin and shook his head, red trusses gleaming in the sunlight through the window.

"...vi-san! Lavi-san!" the teacher called.

"Huh, yes?" Lavi reluctantly peeled his eyes away from Kanda and looked towards the teacher.

Kanda felt a little piece of himself wilt a bit when Lavi looked away. He tried shrugging the feeling off, but he had an inkling it wouldn't go away. He shrugged his shoulders and jumped onto a tree.

From there, he jumped from tree to tree or hopped onto different ledges of various fences or rooftops.

Kanda was at a cafe, sipping on an icy mocha frappuccino. The sweetness didn't appeal to him, but it left a satisfying bitter taste. He sat cross-legged in the chair, earning occasional glances of weariness or as if he was something to eat. But the teen was used to it by now; he knew he looked good.

His thin phone suddenly vibrated in his pocket, slightly startling him. Kanda reached into his pocket and fished out his phone, flipping it open and holding it up to his ear. "Moshi moshi?"

"Hey," a familiar voice greeted.

Kanda quirked an eyebrow, "Lavi? How did you get my phone number...?"

He could picture the redhead shrugging. "When you're a top ranked demon, you know people."

"I'm sure you do," Kanda said, rolling his eyes.

"Oh, by the way, could you get me something at the cafe? I'm kinda hungry." Kanda could hear his sheepish tone and see him scratching the back of his neck.

"How did you...?" Kanda trailed off as he looked around the cafe and out the windows.

"Like I said, I know people," Lavi said. The black cat could picture the redhead with a cocky smirk.

Kanda gave a frustrated groan, rubbed his face, and grumbled a, "Fine."

"I knew I could count on yo-"

"But don't complain about whatever I decide to get you," Kanda deadpanned.

Lavi groaned. "Fine."

"Good."

Kanda snapped his phone shut and called the waitress over, blandly asking her for a slice of the green tea cake and a slice of the mocha. The girl immediately complied, bringing the cakes over quickly. Kanda muttered a thanks, earning a stuttered, "You're welcome."

The black-headed teen grabbed his phone, that sat on the table, and began looking for Lavi's foreign number in his phone. But before pressing the call button, someone sat in the chair in front of him. Kanda was ready to glare at whoever it was, but realizing it was none other than the redhead, he settled for a slight scowl.

"It took you a while," Kanda commented.

Lavi shrugged. "I was at school when I called you. It's quite the distance from there to here, you know?" Lavi explained as he put a piece of the pastel green cake into his mouth via fork.

Kanda stuck his fork into the mocha cake, reluctant to try it, due to it being a sweet pastry. He swiftly stuck the cake into his mouth, screwing his eyes shut. The sweetness spread out in his mouth, making him almost gag; he swallowed the cake and had a sour look on his face. Kanda pushed the plate of cake to an amused Lavi. "You can have it," he deadpanned.

Lavi blinked. Once, twice, thrice, before shrugging and eating the cake. "Hey, Yuu, why didn't you get anything for me to drink?"

Kanda shrugged. "I didn't feel like it."

"Oh." Lavi grabbed Kanda's icy mocha frappuccino, and took a sip from the straw. His nose wrinkled. "That's really cold and bitter, Yuu," Lavi said as he examined the brown drink.

"Then you shouldn't have drunken it," Kanda said, glaring at the redhead.

"Hey, Yuu, guess what?" Lavi said, a mischievous smirk spreading across his face.

Kanda ignored the fact Lavi had called him by his first name numerous times, and answered with an exasperated, "What?"

"We just had an indirect kiss~" the redhead teased.

The heat immediately rushed to his face as he crossed his arms and turned his head. "Che."

"Anyways, what're you doing back after you left for the underworld last week?" Lavi asked before sipping the icy beverage.

"I was assigned a new mission," the older answered as he laid his chin in his palm, scowl tugging the corner of his lips. It wasn't a lie; the mission itself was unpleasant.

"Oh."

Awkward silence filled the lack of communication.

Kanda stared out the window and at the drifting clouds. The sky was a wonderfully crisp blue and the clouds looked like white cotton candy.

The familiar bloodthirsty feeling swirled in the pit of Lavi's stomach, causing the emerald orb to darken into a blood red. He stood and made a beeline to the door in a zombie-like state; Kanda's eyes inquisitively following his figure - the latter didn't notice Lavi's eye dye ruby.

The redhead felt his body move on its own; although at first, he had made it a personal mission to mass collect souls, but right now, he didn't want to. He didn't want to kill the pitiful human sitting in the alleyway just a few meters from him. He felt the blood drain out of his face as the familiar feelings of excitement and ecstasy, imagining the blood splattering on his face and clothes, rushed in his demon veins. Lavi just wanted to go back to that cafe and enjoy a cold, sweet frappuccino with Kanda.

Wait, Kanda?

Lavi just brushed it off, deciding the situation at hand preceded the thought. The redhead pulled the familiar pocket switch in his pocket; the deep blue hilt felt smooth in his hand, but it felt unusually cold. The knife would normally have at least a little warmth from the body heat, but not today. The familiar blade flipped out of the handle, sending the usual slight tremor throughout his hand. Lavi's other hand shook in involuntary excitement. Lavi felt his own lips pull up in the sick grin; it was as if he was taken over by another person.

Suddenly, a hand grabbed his shoulder in a bone-crushing grip.

"Don't do it."

The familiar voice filled the dark alleyway. The human ran off by now, and it was just Kanda and Lavi.

The latter stopped in his tracks, his eye swirling into the normal green; the adrenaline was flushed out, causing the unpleasant excitement rush back. He pulled the knife back into its case and put the switch back into the holster on his thigh.

The grip tightened. "Let's go."

"Yeah."

The two headed for Lavi's apartment with the redhead lecturing almost the entire time because Kanda didn't have a place to spend the night - "What do you mean you don't have a place to stay? You come on a long-term mission, right?" Nod. "Then you're supposed to get a place to stay!" "Whatever, just let me stay."

They spent the remaining hours playing card games, rock, paper, scissors, naming foods that started with a particular letter, naming random colors, and watching The Notebook.

The credits rolled up the screen in white letters with the black background. The two beings from the underworld were in a tangle of limbs, blankets, and two considerably fluffy pillows.

Lavi had been reduced to a sniveling mess, and the once clean living room was littered with half-used tissues that soaked tears and two tissue boxes, a third sitting next to Lavi.

Kanda gave a sniff and blinked back tears.

Do not cry. Do not sniffle. Do not blink often. Do not cry. Do not try to wipe a tear. DO. NOT. CRY. Kanda repeated to himself.

Lavi breathed in a deep breath through his nose and said, "It's kind of late, so we should get to bed."

"How many bedrooms do you have?"

"...One."

"And how many beds do you have...?"

Lavi waited a while, contemplating whether or not to stay silent or answer.

"Just, um...one." He braced himself, having an expectation of a violent rampage of some sort.

"Do you want to die, or are you serious," Kanda deadpanned.

"The second one?" Lavi questioned.

And it was decided Lavi would sleep on the floor.