Hey, guys. If you're still reading this, then that means the first chapter was okay! Thank you! I'm sorry for the insanely long period of not updating. But thanks for reading!

Please review! : )

Disclaimer: I don't own D. Gray Man. That is a tragedy all by itself, isn't it?

First, thanks for viewing this story again. Lol.

Second, this is an AU in modern times. Kanda is a surgeon/doctor thingy and he's 24. Lavi will be the same age. Allen and Lenalee come in later.

Third, this is a KandaXLavi fanfic. I don't know why, but I love this pairing because with all the name calling and fake death threats, they're pretty close. If you don't like this pairing or dislike yaoi, then uh, this is probably not meant for you.

Warnings: Mentions of rape. Vulgar language, courtesy of Kanda, of course. Yaoi, boyXboy. I think that's about it, but ratings may change.

Chapter 2: Verdant

Kanda trudged down the street to his apartment with the redhead wrapped around in the bed sheet within his arms, shooting glares at anyone who stared at him. Only half of the redhead's face was allowed to stick out to allow him to breathe and prevent any unwanted attention. But that didn't stop the pedestrians from wondering what he was carrying. Now that it was slightly later in the morning, the amount of people walking around had increased, and the young doctor had been attracting more curious pairs of eyes as he continued heading to his apartment.

His first instinct when people started staring was to drop the man and run, but some strange force kept him grasping onto the bundle. Too bad that he couldn't just pull the body along his side as he walked forward. That would probably look even stranger though. Lugging the bundle in his arms, Kanda completely regretted not bringing his car.

But at least the redhead was light, extremely light for someone as tall as Kanda, maybe even taller. If he was heavy, Kanda would've probably dumped him on the road for someone else to find.

Kanda's apartment building had seven floors, and he was on the third. It was a nice complex, standing in front of one of the main roads with efficient access to most facilities, and surrounded by trees and other flowery plants. The building was relatively new and was originally bought for Kanda by Tiedoll, but once Kanda began earning his own wages, he paid the sappy old man back and became completely independent. And the only reason why the landlady did not kick him out for his terrible attitude was because of his Frenchy foster father and Kanda's face. Or the glare. Which were both very hot. But he was a good tenant since he always paid the rent on time and ignored most of the other residents. They were also quiet and did not cause him much trouble, except for one. Sad to say, he lived right above a ten-year old with white hair, whom he swore that he would never acknowledge as a human being.

More like a human bean.

He stopped in front of the apartment complex, opened the main entrance's door, and began to walk up the stairs.

When he was stopped by an unmistakably screechy, girly voice.

"Hey! Kanda!"

Kanda whipped his head around quickly and came face to face with a vegetable.

Standing in front of the doorway of the second floor, it was the stupid beansprout, still wearing pajamas and sporting a bed head with all its morning glory.

"What, stupid beansprout?" he growled out, eyes dark and murderous. He hated being caught unguarded. Covering up the red head's face, Kanda hurriedly wrapped the sheet tighter around the body.

Allen looked affronted. "It's Allen! Six in the morning and you're already crabby? You sound like a hormonal teenage girl."

"At least my voice doesn't sound like a girl."

"Well at least I don't look like a girl!"

Kanda's glare immediately hardened. If someone tried hard enough, they could probably see millions of arrows aimed for Allen's head. "You better tread your steps carefully, bean. Maybe one day you'll be found dead in the bath tub, with scalpel marks all over your skin."

The white haired boy rolled his eyes. "I've already heard that one before. Have some creativity, will you?"

"How 'bout I grab Mugen, skin you alive, pour alcohol over your skin, and then set you under the sun? Now get the fuck out and quit talking to me. I don't want to hear your voice so early. It ruins my hearing."

"Sorry for ruining the princess's beauty sleep," he said sarcastically. "Why're you up so early, anyway?"

Kanda shot another glare. Why was he still talking to him? Allen did not have the right to talk to him. Ah, it was Lenalee. Why was Lenalee friends with this. . . weird-looking pedophile? Ah, it was his rule of respecting women. Kanda always had some stupid policy of respecting girls. He should've gotten rid of the policy long ago. Now it was coming back to haunt him. "Well, why the fuck are you up so early?"

Allen rolled his eyes. "I always wake up at five. You know, so I can have some peace before you wake up."

"Are you saying I disturb the peace in this building, bean? Because you're the only one who disrupts the peace here with your fucking high-pitched girly voice that's high even compared to a girl's. I'm a doctor, I know all my shit."

"Doctor who knows all their shit, please," he said indignantly.

"You wanna die, beansprout?" Kanda growled.

"First, my name is Allen. Second, some people develop later, doctor. Third, you seem even crabbier than on most mornings. Since you're probably on one of your PMS days, I'll be the mature one and let the argument go."

"Mature, my ass," Kanda muttered.

"Anyway, whatcha got there?" he asked pointing at the bundle of the white silk sheet. Of course he would ask. It wasn't any normal day that Kanda carried something of such size to his apartment.

"Tch. Mind your own fucking business."

Kanda was this close to dropping the bundle, running inside, grabbing Mugen so he could cut the vegetable up and feed it to a cat. He knew enough about pathology and forensics to figure out the ideal place to hide a body. Scowling intensely at the white-haired boy, Kanda began tapping his feet impatiently.

But the stupid boy didn't seem to get the hint.

Allen glanced at the parcel again. "It's pretty large. Do you need help?"

"What makes you think I need your help?" Kanda seriously needed the kid to leave.

The boy raised his hands in mock surrender. "Jeez, I was just offering my help! Fine if you don't need it."

"You're damn right I don't need it."

"What's in there anyway?"

"Didn't I tell you to mind your own fucking business already?"

Allen ignored him. "Is it a plant?"

Kanda sniggered. What the hell, the beansprout was more stupid than he thought.

"Fuck no. I'm not some gay ass old man like you that gardens his stupid flowers."

"Well, at least I know how to keep something alive!" Allen huffed. "Is it a new weapon?"

"I would never use anything except for Mugen," Kanda turned up his nose. "It's dedicated solely to slice up stupid people that should go back to elementary school and take naps with preschoolers, like YOU."

"Yeah, yeah. Get off your high ass throne. Preschoolers could put you to shame."

Kanda prepared to lunge forward, but at the same time, something under the sheets moved. Allen's eyes widened by a fraction. "D-did you see that?"

The young doctor gulped. Oh shit. Hiding his surprise and guilt behind his usual introverted demeanor, he mocked, "What the hell beansprout. You're more retarded than I thought."

"N-no! I swear something moved under that!"

"Get bent. Do you seriously think I would take home something that moved?"

Allen laughed nervously. "N-no, I didn't think so. Besides, even if it was alive, it'd probably die in the first few days with you as its owner."

"What's that supposed to mean!?"

"What is was supposed to mean."

"Shut the fuck up and move out of my way already."

"Whatever." Allen huffed and walked back into his room on the second floor. A loud slam was heard from the door closing heavily.

Kanda sighed in annoyance. The stupid kid was finally off his case. Kanda hurried up the stairs, sprinting three at a time where he finally arrived at his door. He was quite sure he had choked the boy under the sheets by now. Opening the door to his apartment, he laid the redhead, still insulated under the sheet, on the couch and sprinted to the bathroom to run a bath for the freezing body.

When the water grew warm enough, Kanda untangled the blanket off the thin limbs, and slowly lifted the fragile body into the tub, leaving the white shirt still hanging off the boy's pale, bruised shoulders, ashen and anemic from the cold and hours of lying outside. It floated around in the water slowly and gracefully, like a long white cloak, while his hair appeared as strands of deep red blood, swirling in the water.

Kanda fumbled for the man's wrist and paused to feel the pulse. It was like a quiet fluttering, inconstant and weak, but nonetheless still existent. The pressure of the surrounding water on the body would act, in a small way, like anti-shock trousers, while the warmness of the water would slowly bring the body temperature up.

Rushing around the bathroom, Kanda pulled out all sorts of medicines and bandages from the cabinets and placed it on the marble counter top of the sink. He would be needing them later for bandaging up the redhead's injuries and for whatever other illnesses he had. Then he rushed into a guest bedroom and yanked out a night shirt that hadn't been used before, then set it on the bed.

Grabbing an immaculate towel from the rack in his closet, Kanda shut his eyes tightly and began peeling off the shirt from the redhead's body. When the shirt was completely off, he lifted the boy from the rectangular shaped tub with the now slightly pinkish colored water and wrapped the fluffy towel around him. Then picking him up altogether, Kanda carried him to the guest room and placed him on the bed. He walked to the window to close the dark curtains and shut the glass panes previously opened to let air in.

It was silent until suddenly, the sound of hitched breathing caught his ears. He whipped around and dashed to the man laying on the bed.

He fumbled around with the towel and panicked. He didn't have medical equipment or any of the machines found in the hospital located around his house. Obviously, because Kanda had the grace of a swan, duh. He did not get hurt like that. The bandages were reserved for only Daisya or Tiedoll when they visited and were stupid enough to get injured in a tiny apartment with three rooms, excluding bathrooms. Grabbing the thin wrist, Kanda's annoyance level shot up as he searched frantically for a pulse, or for any signs of breathing.

There was none.

Kanda's mind whirred for possible solutions to what was happening. He didn't have an oxygen machine, or an electric cardioversian machine to shock the heart back into beating. Fuck, he wasn't a cardiac surgeon or whatever, what did they expect of him! What the hell was he supposed to do? Kanda did not have an extensive knowledge on everything related to the heart.

Now what? He had to resort to CPR. Great.

Kanda placed the heel of one hand over the center of the man's chest, and put his other hand on top of the first hand. Using his upper body weight, he began compressing and pushing down over and over in that area, harder and harder as the seconds ticked by. There were still no signs of breathing. He growled in frustration.

Only one option left. Mouth to mouth resuscitation. Kanda glanced at the man's lips, thin and chapped. They were paling rather quickly, and developing into a rather unhealthy shade of blue. Then he looked at himself in the mirror and brought his hand to touch his own lips, contemplating whether this was completely necessary or not.

It was not, he tried to convince himself.

It was.

"Fuck this shit," he muttered, and without any further thinking, he held onto the redhead and pressed his warm lips to the pale ones of the boy beneath him. If anyone found out about this, he swore that he would kill someone. And Kanda always kept his promises. He blew in two quick breaths and waited for the reaction. Nothing. Then again. Another two breaths. No reaction. Kanda itched to call the ambulance, but it would be too late before they could do anything. Plus, he would have to explain everything, and damn it, he was an extremely proficient doctor and he couldn't save a person during a life or death situation? Bullshit.

Kanda breathed into the redhead's mouth once more. A trembling movement stirred below him, and the doctor stopped. Slowly, there was a soft fluttering of the dark eyelashes. The body beneath him twitched, and in one unforgettable moment, Kanda found himself staring into one mysterious, hazy emerald green eye. Time was at a standstill.

Of course, Kanda instinctively scowled. What was he supposed to do now?

The inconceivably green eye gradually slipped into focus and met with Kanda's dark blue ones. The young surgeon peered into that one, eerie green eye jumbled with emotions. They were filled with anxiety and fear, with some underlying hint of unspeakable emptiness and sorrow. That look of desperation, framed by the thin, sharp, red-brown eyebrows, held a sort of gaze Kanda had never seen before. It was innocent and lonely, and somehow, it had touched Kanda's icy heart, as he towered over the frame of the boy.

Pupil wide and quavering, the redhead took a sharp breath once he finally noticed Kanda above him. He inched back hastily, slipping on the bed cover and limbs trembling with cold and overexertion. In the midst of the movement, the large towel had fallen off his shoulders and slid down to his bruised chest, streaked with droplets of water and raw, reddish cuts. All Kanda could do was stare back at the single eye awkwardly. He pursed his lips and raised his eyebrows. Now that he was awake and seemed to be doing fine, what was next? Check his pulse? Che. Sounds like a plan.

Getting off the bed, Kanda reached over to take the man's wrist. When he did so, the desolate redhead flinched and scooted back some more, drawing the towel up to his chest and scrunching it in his hands. "P-please," he whispered desperately. "D-don't come c-closer."

Kanda immediately froze and promptly straightened up, trying to reduce the scowl on his face into a look of apathy. He rolled his eyes impatiently. Oh great. He had scared the person. Trust him to deal with the situation at hand.

"Tch," he grunted in annoyance. This was getting nowhere. "Look here, if you want to stay here, let me check if you're alright," he reasoned. His reprimanding was met with a timid shaking of the head.

"N-no. . . just d-don't, just don't t-touch me. . ." the redhead pleaded, lips trembling as he spoke.

"I brought you here, I need to check your pulse."

"NO!" the man protested frantically. "No, I-I can't."

Kanda huffed angrily. Why was this man so persistent? He was just going to touch him. Is this how all rape victims act? "I need to make sure you're not going to die," he said dryly. "Understand?"

If anything, the redhead just appeared even more frightened than before, pressing his back against the bed's backboard.

"P-please. . .j-j-just leave it a-alone."

Kanda blandly said, "This is my house. I make the rules."

The man shook his head again, red locks tumbling over the white face and covering the injured eye.

"I brought you here," the young doctor glared.

"I never asked to be brought here," the boy whispered, surprisingly without any chattering. His voice shook, but there was no stutter or uncertainty.

Kanda scowled. Seriously? Ungrateful idiot. "Then you would've died. If you want to die so bad-"

The redhead sighed and buried his head in his arms. "Dying seems like a nice option right now," his voice sounded forlorn and far away, muffled by the towel.

That straightforward admittance of abandoning his life set Kanda off. How could he just give up on life like that? Life wasn't simple or easy, no one said it was. You had to fight to live, to stay alive. He hated people who had never fallen or stumbled. Their virtue was lifeless and of little value. To want to die like that? "Che. Then you can just leave-"

"Fine," came the quiet answer.

The redhead retracted his limbs and slowly slid to the edge of the bed with the bath towel held around his waist. Unbuttoning the long night shirt Kanda had set out, the man slipped the shirt on shakily, wincing as it brushed against his bruises and cuts. He coughed into his arm harshly.

All Kanda did was stare and step back to make way for the boy. He was sure there was someone out there searching, waiting for the redhead, unlike Kanda had been, when he was left alone and unwanted. He didn't understand how this boy could just give up so easily. It infuriated him.

Now finished dressing, the redhead prepared to stand. Holding the edges of the bed to steady himself, the man managed to push himself up, while clutching at a dresser nearby for stability, not bothering to check his appearance in the mirror. Kanda raised his eyebrows. Others would probably deem him as a ghost if he walked outside like that, but he made no attempt to stop the man from leaving. The green-eyed boy would stop soon enough; probably wouldn't make it very far in that condition.

When the redhead didn't stop trying to walk forward, Kanda got a bit concerned. . . no, it was more of. . . inconvenienced. If the man collapsed and died at his house, then Kanda would be in a huge shitload of trouble. The redhead was now almost at the doorway of the room, preparing to enter into the hallway. He was breathing heavily, long legs trembling with a pained look on his face. It was now flushed instead of pale. Kanda was certain he had developed a fever.

Slowly, the man took another tentative step forward, grasping the door frame tightly. He swayed for a while on the spot and shut his eye, as if trying to gain his bearings again.

Suddenly, heavy coughs racked the thin frame. The grip on the door frame slipped, and the redhead's legs gave out from beneath him. In a second, he was tilting forward and crashing headfirst toward the sharp corners of the book shelf in the hallway. Kanda's eyes widened. If his blood gets stained on the carpet, he would do something drastic. Well, he also knew his duties to. . . ahem, save peope as a doctor. Dipping down, he swerved and dashed to the falling body in a mad attempt to catch him.

He reached out his arms to the redhead and circled them around the waist of the boy, then clutched him close to his chest. With a thump, they both landed down on the fluffy carpet, slightly winded but otherwise physically fine. But once Kanda noticed the uncompromising position they were in, it was no use anymore. Immediately, the redhead began thrashing, limbs shaking uncontrollably and tears flowing out of both eyes as the apparently intimate position had probably reminded him of what had happened before. Scenes of the bruising grips, painful kisses, tightened, burning ropes around his wrists flashed through his mind. He tried pulling away, tearing away from the raven-haired man's arms.

"Let go! P-please, leave me alone!" he thrashed and screamed.

Though Kanda was surprised at the emphatic reaction, he paid no heed to the yells and waited for the redhead to calm down. "Stop thrashing," he said in a commanding tone.

"N-NO! No, I don't want to, they're going to-"

"What?" he cut off impatiently. "Rape you? That isn't an uncommon thing. So shut up and calm. Down. Damnit. Understand?" he glared.

The redhead flinched from the cold tone in the young doctor's words, but paused in his wild attempt to escape, only allowing silent tears to slip out of his eyes.

Kanda breathed out in relief as he managed to get the boy to stop. At least his neighbors wouldn't think he was murdering someone now. Good. Now explain slowly.

"I'm not the person who did whatever they did to you, and I won't hurt you. I don't know the circumstances, but I assure you I am not going to cause you any harm. Comprehending?" he stated, switching to his professional tone used when speaking to patients. The redhead nodded shakily and calmed down his ragged breathing, eyelashes fluttering close on that one jade-colored eye. Kanda put a cool hand on the forehead. It was burning up. He rolled his eyes angrily. More work. He had figured that much out.

As Kanda continued holding the young man, he gradually relaxed and slowly fell asleep. The raven-haired man stood up and carried the light body back to the guestroom bed. Yanking the covers open, he dropped the boy within the blankets and left him there after leaving a bottle of pills and a glass of water on the nightstand. It seemed best to leave the redhead to rest, and he'd check up on the eye and the injuries later; none of them seemed life-threatening at the current moment.

Kanda quietly walked to the doorway. But before he left, a soft "Thank you," was muttered from the pile of blankets. It was almost inaudible, but his sharp ears from all those years of training with his sword had picked it up. He glanced at the sleeping bundle of covers. A rustle, and another mumble. "Thank you."

"Che. Whatever." And he exited the room.

Maybe God was punishing him for being so cold to everyone.

Maybe it was just God giving him a new experience to deal with in his monotonous, orderly life.

Fuck whatever it was, whether it was God or not, he certainly didn't like it.

And he most certainly did not like the foreign feeling of care for another person spilling into his heart.

A/N: That's it for right now. I am really sorry for not updating so long. But I tried to make up for it with a longer chapter. Kinda longer. This chapter was really annoying cause I had to keep changing man, to redhead, to boy, to body, to green-eyed boy just to describe Lavi. It'll be so much later with the names actually going on next chapter.

Also, uh, I have no real medical knowledge, all this stuff from above was obtained by school and Google (hooray for Google!), so if you see anything inaccurate, please point that out. I totally want to be a doctor though. Yeah, I'm a fail doctor.

To Erihan: I made Kanda take the sheet with him to cover Lavi with. Or else it would be super awkward with everyone staring at Kanda carrying this bruised up, not to mention almost naked redhead. Although that would totally be adorable. 3 But don't worry, there will be more plot coming. Thank you for reviewing!

YuKanda: Thanks for pointing that out! I don't really research stuff before writing it, but I tried to make sure this time. And it is so cool that you are Italian! Thank you for reviewing!

To Toph Hitsugaya, lacie, Guess w.h.o., TranquilZenith, bm313: Thank you for reading and reviewing! I'm glad to know that you enjoyed the story.

Thanks for reading. Please review, fav, or follow! XOXO (just kidding)