Kieran was doing some warm up in the training room when Allen, his two friends from last night and the moody samurai walked in. The samurai stalked off into an isolated section of the room and started to meditate while Allen and the others stared at him.

"How can you do that Kieran? Isn't it really hard to balance?" Lavi gaped.

Kieran was doing pushups with his thumb as his body was straight up from the floor. It was much like how Allen balanced a chair on 2 legs and did his pushups on that but Kieran had a loop of rope secured to the ceiling that reached down to about a foot from the ground. Kieran had one thumb in the loop and was pushing up from that. Moving as the rope swayed back and forth from his weight yet he stayed perfectly balanced.

"Huh? Oh yeah it took me a while to get enough balance but I can do it pretty easily now. It helps your balance and your muscles because you use them all to stay upright." Kieran said easily as he finished his fifth cycle of hundred. He leaned slightly and brought his feet under him quickly. He stood upright, his shirt sticking to his torso from his sweat, showing the definition in his muscles.

Lavi POV

Lavi felt weird again, like he had that first day Kieran came. His heart seemed to beat too fast and he felt strangely hot. Kieran bent down so their heads were next to each other and breathed into his ear, "Are you alright Lavi?" The sound of Kieran's deep voice almost whispered into his ear made his legs suddenly feel weak. He almost fell before Kieran caught his arm, holding him upright.

"Lavi are you okay?" Lenalee asked worriedly seeing his flushed face. Lavi instantly snapped out of it and stood on his own, giving Kieran an embarrassed face.

"Sorry Kieran. I'm fine Lenalee." He grinned at her before moving on to his own exercises.

Kanda POV

Kanda had seen the whole strange exchange between the rabbit and the stranger. How Lavi seemed to get lightheaded after seeing Kieran sweat and being near him. Maybe there was something about this new exorcist's sweat? He scowled at the newcomer as he tried to make sense of what he'd seen.

He felt someone standing over him and looked up to scowl into the face of Kieran who seemed rather pleased with himself. "Trying to figure out what I did to your little red friend?" He smiled at the scowling young man.

"Che. I don't give a damn about what you did to the baka usagi."

"Stupid rabbit? That's not very nice to your friend is it? You should try being nicer. It might help your relationships." Kanda's eyes widened and Kieran only smiled as he waltzed out of the training hall.

Okay. Now I know for sure that he knows about me liking Allen. What am I going to do? Damn this sucks.

He glared at the door as if the man was still there, wondering what to do about Allen.

Allen's POV

Allen seemed to be getting confused a lot. It was getting annoying. He still had no idea why Lavi had acted so weird after seeing Kieran sweating though he has felt a little weird himself, warm and tingly. But why had he gone over and talked to Kanda after? Does he like Kanda? Kanda just looked pissed off at him but Kieran wasn't intimidated at all. What's going on with those two? Allen liked Kieran, he seemed to know much more about parasite innocence than anyone else and he was pretty friendly apart from those weird moments when his aura seemed to change but Allen didn't want him to take Kanda. He liked Kanda a lot and didn't want anyone else to get him before he could at least admit to his feelings. He was gonna go and talk to Kieran when he had a chance.

His stomach rumbled loudly. After dinner.

He couldn't find Kieran at all in the dining hall and Jerry said that he had already eaten and left. He must have gone to bed already. He's probably still tired from the trip over here. It is a long trip, anyone would be exhausted. He would try and find Kieran tomorrow.

Allen had been looking for Kieran all day and couldn't find even a trace of the man's presence. The only one who had seen Kieran had been Jerry when he came to eat and leave as soon as he was done. He went out the gatekeeper who had seen Kieran. The man had apparently left for the nearest town after breakfast hours were over. It was already past noon and Kieran wasn't back yet. Allen was starting to worry when he saw Kieran come in the gate, on the way to his room with large bags.

Allen ran over to him, glad that he was alright. "Where have you been all day Kieran?"

"Just doing some shopping in the town a few miles away. I went to the closest one but they didn't have what I wanted so I went the next town over."

"But that's like twenty miles away! Did you walk the whole way? No wonder it took you so long to get back." Allen was amazed. It would have taken several hours just to get to the next town over much less there and back.

"It didn't take that long. I ran the whole way back. It only took around an hour." Kieran shrugged, opening the door to his room. "Care to come in?"

Allen didn't respond, just followed the man into the customized room. The first thing he noticed was the bed as it was the room's main feature. The bed was king sized and possibly a bit longer than that. It was absolutely huge, easily twice the width of the normal beds and several feet longer. Kieran pulled fabric out of his bags and began making the bed. The sheets were silk in gorgeous jewel tones with a nice soft blanket for cold nights.

There was also the usual dresser and closet that all rooms had, there was a mirror hanging over the dresser and Kieran glanced at his expression only to pause, noticing how sweaty and dirty he was.

"Hey Allen do you want to go take a quick bath before dinner? I feel gross." He looked back at Allen who was looking at him.

"Sure. I was going to take one later but if we go now the baths are less crowded." He nodded.

"After you then. I don't know where they are." He gestured to the door and followed the boy out.

Kieran watched Allen's cute little ass as he led the way to the baths, oblivious to where Kieran's attention was honed in on.

He saw a glimpse of long black hair and turned to grin wolfishly at the scowling samurai, his eyes flashing. The young man simply "Che'd" and slammed the door to his room.

Allen had looked back after seeing Kanda and hearing the door slam, could only sigh.

"Something wrong Allen? That samurai seems to hang around you a lot but doesn't look like he gets along with you." Kieran faked a concerned face. He knew exactly why the man avoided the small teen.

Allen looked down sadly. "Kanda and I are friends. Kind of anyway. He and I are always fighting over the littlest things. It's quite sad if you think about it. I want to get along better but it doesn't seem to work with him."

Kieran's face was blank as he moved towards Allen, slowly pushing the boy back until he was up against one of the columns supporting the ceiling. He leaned down close to Allen's face and whispered in his ear. "You want to be more than friends with Kanda don't you Allen?" Seeing Allen's shocked face he chuckled. "It is very easy to see from my perspective. I am very good at reading people you see. You want to tell him how you feel but are too nervous and afraid he will reject you."

Allen could only stare at Kieran. Was he that obvious? But he had known exactly what Allen was afraid of. "Do you have experience with unrequited love Kieran? You seem very knowledgeable about this sort of thing."

Kieran chuckled darkly into Allen's ear, making him shiver. Kieran's voice made him feel strangely warm inside, his breath coming in pants. "I used to, little lamb. Before I became comfortable with myself. Then I decided I didn't give a damn what others thought and just did what I wanted."

"Little lamb?" Allen sputtered. "I'm not that little! And don't call me a lamb! You're just as bad as Kanda!"

"As Kanda? What does he call you Lamb?" He was interested in what that closet case called his secret love interest.

"He calls me Moyashi." Allen sulked.

"Bean Sprout huh? Not nearly as fitting as my name for you." Kieran grinned.

"How am I a lamb?" Seriously upset. He didn't like how people commented on his height.

"You are white and soft. Sweet and almost too pure for your own good." Allen flushed and twiddled his thumbs. Kieran grabbed his hands in one of his, his other against the pillar blocking Allen's escape. "Makes you look delicious. A big bad wolf could just come and eat you up."

Allen jerked his head up to retort when he noticed how close their faces were. Kieran's emerald eyes burned into his silver and he swallowed. Kieran moved forward, almost touching before snickering. Allen looked at him, shocked. Kieran smiled at him, mischief dancing in his eyes. He bent forward to breathe into Allen's ear. "I won't be the one to taste you, little lamb. You have another in mind, I won't stop him from claiming what he's had his eyes on for so long. But if he takes too long to do so I might change my mind. You keep that in mind Lamb, if you want some loving my door is usually open."

He grinned at Allen's embarrassed face and strode down the hall in the direction of the bath, leaving Allen to try and figure out what just happened. Wait, someone likes me? They've liked me for a while? He said the person I like has his eyes on me. Kanda? No way. But he said he might change his mind…. Kieran is a very different person than I thought he was. He was so close he could still feel Kieran's breath on his neck. Allen blushed a deep scarlet before heading after Kieran to the baths, not aware that Kanda had been watching the whole exchange from a shadowed hallway.