AN: Wtf is this chapter, I don't even know. More noncon later, three more chapters left. Please review!

Darkest Before the Dawn

Kanda was pissed. Again.

He'd been pleased to the point that the anger marks on his forehead had disappeared briefly when it seemed that he could sleep without having the white-haired freak staring at him. It had thankfully occurred to him that even though Innocence was now shielding his internal organs, it wouldn't stop Tyki from using all the normal means to penetrate him if he let his guard down. Wait, normal? This relative morality thing didn't have much going for it.

So he'd decided to regain his peace with some much needed meditation. He settled lotus style on his bed, palms upward, his attention encompassing the stillness of the room. His awareness spread, not confined within or without, creating a field in which he felt at ease, until he sensed the anticipated disturbance in the form of a Noah.

Outwardly, he gave no indication, not a single furrow of his brow, or nearly inaudible growl. Having mentally activated his Innocence, he would only act when his stalker became truly unbearable. Even without opening his eyes, he could feel a familiar golden gaze upon him, and the smell of cigarette smoke, as it lazily curled through the room.

He wouldn't give in. This was his space, and nothing would disturb him within it, regardless of the unwelcome regard. He kept his peace, keeping his breathing even while attempting to monitor his enemy's movements. Eventually, the smell of smoke dissipated, and the silence continued.

Kanda held his position. The seconds ticked by, and he repressed the urge to sneeze. He had to check.

He cracked one eye open slowly. Nothing. Had the bastard lost interest? He wanted to kick something, if it was really that easy to lose that guy's interest. Both eyes scanned the room aggressively, glaring at the unseen.

"Looking for me?"

Kanda's head whipped around so quickly that his hair would have lashed someone, had they been close enough. Tyki was sitting on the edge of his bed, which had been empty a second before, facing away. As Kanda glared, he turned his torso, leaning back on his arm to smile creepily or sexily, depending on interpretation, at his favorite expression on the exorcist's face.

Their eyes met, and Kanda huffed, turning away to his original orientation, staring at the blank wall.

"Now, now, don't be like that. Look." Tyki held his hands up and faced away, waiting for Kanda to give in and take notice.

Blue eyes unwillingly stole to the side to take in the Noah's gesture, then quickly darted back to center. The meditation would continue, and the nuisance would abate. He released the tension from his muscles, including the overworked ones holding the scowl on his face, and allowed his eyelids to lower once again.

He breathed, in and out, ignoring the little stirrings of air where Tyki moved on his right. At least the asshole was intelligent enough to give up phasing since it was no longer effective against him. It was a little distracting that in order to attain tranquility, he had to make peace with his surroundings, which meant that on some level, he had to accept that abominable presence.

Still trying to reason his way out of it, he froze when something soft and curly brushed his forearm, then immediately jerked his forearm out of the way. A gentle weight settled on his thigh, and his eyes flew open as he stared in shock.

Tyki gazed up at him, amused. His long fingers rested intertwined against a bare chest, which laid toned and smooth beneath the open shirt, directly the unsuspecting gaze naturally downwards. Or in this case, horizontally to the right. He slowly raised an arm to move some errant locks to rest behind his head, so that they would no longer obscure his view of his obsession.

Pools of amber below him. Kanda shook his head. The eyes of a sociopathic, sadistic, creep. Maybe he could poke them out.

Tyki languidly closed his eyes, then reopened them. "You don't have to move, I won't do anything." Returning his hands to rest on his chest, he closed his eyes to demonstrate. Slowly, his breathing deepened to match Kanda's - or rather what Kanda's had been, when he had been at peace.

Was he - was he actually asleep? The swordsman contemplated knocking him off of his leg, but that would raise the energy of the room again. If it stayed at this level, he could easily monitor all movements, and then react accordingly. He growled a little, missing Tyki's tiny smirk at the rumbling coming from his new pet, and closed his eyes. His displaced arm had nowhere to go, so he just lowered it, palm upward, onto Tyki. He kept it there, even though the direct contact was causing his skin to prickle, reasoning that he would be doubly certain to sense any movement.

And they remained in the freeze frame for the entire night.

Every hour, the exorcist would wonder whether the Noah was truly asleep, and if this was really happening, and his attacker was actually resting comfortably on his lap. And as he grew sleepier, his mind murmured to his subconscious about reaching his hand higher to rest upon that sculptural column of a throat, pressing in and down and choking the air out of him. Lethargy filled his limbs, and though he would never admit it, he slept a few hours, sitting up, providing a headrest for his nemesis.

Since it was impossible to rise without awakening the curly-haired bastard, who looked so unacceptably beautific as he laid on Kanda, the samurai had settled for rising fluidly and quickly, hoping to tumble Tyki roughly onto the floor. Unfortunately, his reflexes were quick, and he saved himself from an incongruous fall, sitting up and squinting at his blue-haired beloved before managing to achieve complete wakefulness. Then he'd happily started to accompany his favorite exorcist as he began his day.

So it was no wonder that Kanda was in an absolutely delightful mood this morning. Each nameless Finder he had come across had taken one look at his expression and scurried in the opposite direction, pride notwithstanding.

By lunchtime, his fury had abated enough that both the very brave and the very foolish dared to approach him.

Lavi winked at him, but Kanda didn't care. The idiot rabbit could've just blinked at him and it would've looked the same to him.

He winked harder, and Kanda gave him the glare he normally reserved for Allen.

"What." He growled.

Lavi laughed a little nervously, putting a hand behind his head. "Ah, nevermind. Nothing, nothing at all."

Kanda was already back to staring stonily at his cold noodles.

Lavi sighed a bit, and left Kanda to figure it out.

Eventually, lunch had to end, and with it, Kanda's alone time. It wasn't really alone time, more like Tyki-free time. But it didn't matter, because that was all he had. At the very least, he had decided to simply regain as much normalcy as possible, with a rather powerful stalker stalking him. Cancel that mental description: he meant with a completely annoying and solidity-challenged sociopath stalking him.

So he headed off to the salle, intending to spend some quality time with Mugen, disregarding the pair of golden eyes that followed him everywhere.

He usually didn't practice with his Innocence activated, but since it was always activated now because of Tyki, no one wanted to be anywhere near an accidental blow, so they left the whole area to him. He noted this, and considered always coming in with his Innocence activated, just so that he wouldn't have to deal with others in his space.

He went through the preliminary stretches, and flowed through some basic forms, working up a slight sweat before stripping down for the bulk of his exercises.

"Mm, a show and a striptease? It must be my lucky day," Tyki drawled, from the one corner of the room Kanda had pretended didn't exist.

"Please, continue. I just needed to express my appreciation for your choice of activities, darling."

Kanda snarled, but then angrily stripped off his shirt anyway, having paused in the middle to get his ears raped. No more distractions, he promised himself.

He began going through the two handed exercises, flowing from one form to the next, curving the blade around his body in a defensive series of movements. Serene and graceful, he leapt and whirled, his hair following his actions. The only thing he lacked was a perpetual shower of Japanese petals in order to be completely picturesque.

Tyki was completely enraptured, until he felt Kanda shift his stance into an attack sequence, and begin battling an imaginary enemy.

"Stop, stop," he pleaded, though the swordsman gave no indication of heeding his plea. "Let me be your partner."

Kanda paused, assessing the Noah.

"I'll play fair. No hands, I promise."

"Fine."

The exorcist backed up, and faced the other side expectantly, as Tyki strolled into the emptied space. Kanda raised the hilt, letting the blade cleave the void diagonally in front of him.

Their eyes met, and by unspoken agreement, they began.

Kanda surged forward, pressing his attack instantly, pouring the frustration he felt at the proper object, for once. Tyki had materialized what looked like giant shuriken, and was fighting him with a some sort of dual-wielding technique. It was certainly more interesting than sparring with Lavi, Kanda had to admit. That hammer of his was really kind of ridiculous. At least the Noah's weapon was sharp.

Back and forth they went, completely focused on their adversary. As they fought, their tempo increased, and each panted breath came quicker as Kanda would spin away from the leading edge of a blade, or as Tyki would narrowly dodge the slash that had nothing held back. Part of Kanda was enjoying the fight, even while hoping that the asshole would slip and that Mugen would cleave through in a glorious arterial spray. But that would have been a letdown in a match that was so far even; more so than fighting Innocence reliant compatriots, and much more so than fighting that cheating beansprout.

When the tip of Mugen lacerated Tyki's shirt, Kanda expected the sexual harassment to continue. But his sparring partner said nothing, reining himself in after looking down and giving his opponent an inviting look that made the exorcist long to sheathe his sword inside the curly-haired bastard, preferably through some vital organs.

Besides that, the match was a good workout for them both. They learned to read each other's movements, each counter coming more naturally than the last, until they were both executing some seriously fancy techniques that they hadn't had the chance to use for ages. Kanda found himself wishing that the world ran on pure physicality, and that he could fight this war using pure skill rather than his obscure power based on Innocence, against arcane Noah abilities.

Several hours later, the two were dripping with sweat and Tyki was looking rather ruffled, since his daily attire didn't allow for as much vigorous movement as Kanda's. Of course, he was also less liable to fly off into a rage and threaten hapless individuals with murder every other exchange, so it wasn't an unreasonable choice, on his part. As the fight had increased in difficulty but not hostility, the participants eventually began slowing, and seeing that, they had somehow agreed to stop, having exercised their bodies properly.

Kanda restrained the urge to acknowledge him for a good match; instead, he turned on his heel with Tyki beside him, striding off to indulge in a well-earned shower.

He chose a stall and locked the door, letting the water sluice off the worst of the sweat before adding more hot water, causing steam to rise around him. Relaxing a bit, he rolled his shoulders, reveling in the pressure of the heat pounding into sore muscles. Letting his hair down, he tilted his head back, allowing the rivulets of water to work their way down to his scalp before breaking out the soap.

It was his practice to leave conditioner in his hair while he cleansed his body, so he ran the bar over every inch of his frame, so that he could avoid being as horribly filthy as that cursed Walker kid. As the water rinsed even the traces of the soap off, he kept his eyes closed, in case the hair products were near.

He heard someone sigh in disappointment. Who was he kidding, he knew exactly who would be watching; the question was, how?

He spun around, intending to rinse out his hair so that he could open his eyes.

"As lovely as you are, all wet and slick, and ready, aren't you going to finish the show, Kanda dear?" Tyki's voice was right next to him, low and wanting.

He growled. "I have no idea what you're talking about. Get out of my shower."

"I'm talking about all those mornings while you were in recovery, when I would touch you every night," he demonstrated, fingers trailing lightly over a muscled thigh, heading upwards. "While you squirmed quietly so you wouldn't wake the other patients and you dreamed about me, didn't you, and then in the morning, you would wake up, and stroke yourself in this shower, saying, 'H-aah, unnh,' while leaning against the wall." He twirled his fingers around the stirring cock, while moving closer, causing Kanda to reflexively back away into the wall behind him. "Why don't you show me again, lover boy?"

At last, the conditioner was more or less gone, and he snapped his eyes open to glare at - nothing. Even though he could feel Tyki's hands on his cock - on his fucking cock - he couldn't see him. "Wait, what?"

A soft laugh against his ear, causing his head to whip around and his hair to wrap around an invisible figure. His hand slowly reached up to the place where Tyki's throat would be, eventually meeting resistance - smooth, warm flesh against his grip.

He tightened his grip, feeling a rumble through his palm as Tyki attempted to laugh, before finally phasing back into sight. He loosened it slightly since the man seemed to be offering him an explanation, which went something like this:

"As you know, I have the ability to reject anything except Innocence. Usually, I just reject basic matter, like walls, floors, or beds," he said, "but if I choose to, I can reject not that, but air, sound waves, or light partic-"

"Photons." Crap. Kanda expressed his displeasure by resuming his grip on the Noah's throat, hoping to stop the hand that hadn't stopped stroking him to full hardness ever since this damned conversation began. He shook him a little, and the hand obediently fell away.

"You're telling me that you've been watching me shower every day? Do you have ANY sense of personal space?" He roared.

"Well, not just shower," Tyki corrected, "As I was saying, I do like watching you -"

"I will NOT do that in your presence! Do you understand? That is never, ever, going to happen."

"Ah, but it already has, Kanda-kun. You're so sexy when think about me, or dream about me- "

"I was not dreaming about you, because you were there. It wasn't a dream, it was a godforsaken nightmare of a reality and this is not fucking happening right now." He stepped forward, dragging Tyki who was beginning to suffer from asphyxiation, before he made the mistake of looking slightly down.

Down, not to where he was embarrassingly erect, but to an even worse realization: so was Tyki. Having taken solid form, the white shirt was completely plastered against an undeniably chiseled torso, and those black pants were clinging desperately to an erection that seemed determined to defy gravity.

Instantly he dropped Tyki in disgust, wishing that there was a way he could get cleaner than he already was.

Tyki was catching his breath on the ground, hair dripping all around him, but when he looked up, a smile still curved his lips as he crawled forward, somehow still predatory.

Kanda backed away. He was naked and he was aroused, and this was simply not happening.

The damn European drew closer; close enough to run his hands up towards Kanda's groin, and to lower his lips over the engorged phallus. Ignoring the overall stiffening of his pet's body, he sucked gently, enjoying the feel of his lover filling his mouth, greedily consuming the generous length.

Blue eyes widened, frozen in shock, broken by waves of pleasure as Tyki milked a long, rippling orgasm from him, leaving him to ride the aftershocks in a haze of denial and bliss.

Even the amused murmur that Tyki gave against his cock vibrated pleasingly, and he couldn't bring himself to pry the Noah off his privates in order to kick or kill him. He thought it was lucky that he'd chosen a private stall, until he realized that none of this was lucky. None of it.

"See, Kanda dear, I apologize. I promise not to force you to get yourself off again," Tyki said good-naturedly. Not while I'm around to do it for you, they both heard.

Kanda snarled and pushed him out of the shower, wrapping a towel around himself and shutting off the water before stomping off to his room, grabbing his clothing without even bothering to get dressed.

Somehow they both survived the transition to his room, and even the change from towel to pajamas, which for Kanda was simply a softer, looser variation on the usual. The fact that he had not wanted both of them to survive the experience was driving up his irritation quotient very sharply.

At least, at the very, fucking least, he hadn't seen that idiot moyashi around today, and would still be able to keep watch by himself, restricting the number of people in his bedroom to two, which was still one too many.

As if thinking about the incompetent clown were enough to bring him here uninvited, a knock sounded against his door. He rejected the urge to bang his head against it in reply, and instead opened it without ripping it off its hinges. Some might have even said it was a polite greeting for Kanda, regardless of the murderous facial expression.

There was only a small golden golem hovering in the air in front of his face. Thank god. The little thing started throwing something up, so Kanda held out his hand for whatever it was going to disgorge.

A tiny vial of liquid with a note wrapped around it dropped onto his palm. He unrolled it.

Dear BaKanda,

Lavi attempted to give you this earlier today, but you were being uncooperative. If you would just learn some social skills, your life would be so much easier. Komui sends you this potion, along with his love. Apparently it will cause your lover to phase out for 24 hours, whether he likes it or not, so just mix it into his coffee or something.

ALLEN WALKER

Coffee? Kanda snorted. That would mean that he would have to wait until tomorrow morning. That was much too long, and he'd still have to deal with the asshole tonight. No, he was going to take care of this now.

He gave the slip back to Timcanpy, then uncorked the vial and held it unobtrusively in his palm. Closing the door, he turned back to where Tyki had invited himself to sit on his bed. Ugh.

Well, compared to what happened earlier today, this is nothing. He took a breath in preparation.

"Tyki."

"Are you ready for bed, sweetheart?" He turned sideways so that he could lay upside down, looking up at Kanda. "Did you finally decide to accept my apology?" Obviously, the bastard was in an extremely good mood, after finally getting his mouth on Kanda.

He nearly gagged at the thought of the 'apology,' even though he had just thought of it himself a moment earlier. Still, having it mentioned and acknowledged between them was disturbing.

He came forward anyway, and set a knee down near the Noah, so that he could position himself over him. A playful Tyki seemed to be restraining a giggle or two, but he didn't care. He would do anything to get a good night's sleep. Alone.

He forced a fake smile. "Yes. Close your eyes."

An elegant eyebrow arched upwards as Tyki complied. "Yes, dearest."

He took the fastest swig he'd ever taken in his whole life, holding the liquid in his mouth before lowering his lips down to brush against that ever-present smirk, parting them before slipping his tongue through, and allowing Tyki's arms to wrap around his lower back, pressing them closer.

He let the liquid flow between them, expecting the Noah to relinquish his grasp when he noticed, but nothing of the sort happened. In fact, he just swallowed and leaned upwards, deepening the kiss while his hands decided to roam down to the exorcist's ass.

Kanda nearly choked. He pushed upwards, tearing himself away, sputtering, "Oh, hell no, get the fuck off me, " while shoving Tyki down with his other hand.

"You're so cold, even after I drank whatever that was." Tyki pouted, just to piss him off more. After all, no one could match the fire in his eyes, and he was pretty sure it only burned like that for him.

"Ugh. It should make you incorporeal for the next 24 hours. Good fucking bye."

Tyki sat up and sidled closer, licking his lips as if he wanted to devour Kanda. Blue eyes tracked his movement warily. "You know something?" He murmured softly, giving his exorcist a sidelong glance. "It was worth it."

Then he left.

Kanda could barely stop the massive grin that threatened to split his face. Hell, there was no reason for him to. He grabbed a pillow and exulted silently into it, then plopped back into his gloriously vacated bed, stretching out all four limbs luxuriantly.

Totally worth it.