"Damn it they saw us." Kanda said through clenched teeth. Allen gave the group an annoyed glance before turning back to Kanda. "What do we do? Won't they think we're dating if they see us here together." Kanda's face soured at the idea of that group spreading rumors about them. To him rumors were a waste of time, and pointlessly used up energy.

"They will and there's no way to get out of here but that entrance, too. Damn." Kanda growled. "Maybe we should just go." Allen said thoughtfully. Kanda glared at her for a moment before she continued. "I mean since they're clearly about to walk by us we might as well leave. And if they have brain cells to ask us what we're doing here before just out right gossiping then we just tell. I'm sure they understand the concept of a 'Thank you' meal."

Kanda had to admit she had a valid point. If they were going to make it out of here they there was no other way than to face off against the clique. He sighed heavily before grabbing the bags filled with presents and standing. "Let's go then." Allen nodded and followed with her own bags.

They ended up being seated in the booth right next to them, their waitress already gone. Lenalee spotted them first, more specifically Allen. "Oh hey Kanda! Allen, what are you guys doing here?" She said with false cheerfulness. the entire clique turned to look at the duo, Allen smiled back.

Her smile, however, hid all the anger she was feeling and the urge to punch the pigtailed girl into a coma. "Oh so you are the new prodigy student I've heard so much." Bak said and stood from the table to give his hand to Allen to shake. "I'd like to welcome you to the Black Order."

Allen's smile never faltered as she gave the older student a firm handshake. Which surprised him, as he thought she was frail based on her looks alone. He gave a side glance and nodded at the student samurai behind her.

"It was nice to meet you Bak, Lenalee." Allen said her smile still in place but her eyes closed as she bowed slightly to the group. Had her eyes been open you would be able to see the utter disgust and malice at showing respect to people who deserved none of it. Kanda and Allen promptly left after the silence had appeared.

Halfway through the mall when they were headed to Kanda's car the silence was broken. "You don't like them, do you?" Allen asked the silent Japanese man beside her. Kanda smirked as her observation was spot on. "Were you watching me?" Allen nodded. "It's something that I learned to do when I was younger. I watch how people interact with others, it's how I figure out if someone is genuine or not." "I see, and what have you learned from watching me?"

"That you genuinely don't like anybody, and your practically an introvert." A vein popped slightly. "How exactly did you come to that conclusion?" "When you talk to people like Lavi,Mr. Tiedoll, Marie, Daisya and sometimes Link you grunt and might say enough words to make two sentences. But with people like Lenalee, Bak, Tyki and people like them all you do is glare and sometimes growl. Believe it or not but it's not hard to hear if really think about it."

Kanda stared at her. "It's fine though. I think I would do the same thing too." She said with a smile that didn't reach her eyes. but then it turned sad, even her eyes "I dislike people like that, it makes it hard to find people that can be real friends. Like you and Lavi." "What part of my relationship with that rabbit says that we are friends!" Kanda exclaimed.

Allen actually laughed at his outburst. "Wow, you're more dense than I thought." Kanda growled at her, but she continued anyway. "Out of all the people I've seen around you, your mask cracks the most when you're around him. Don't tell me you haven't noticed it yourself?" Kanda thought about it and she was right. He never showed that much emotion to anyone, not even his family.

"You seem to be well informed." Kanda said bored "You've gotten quite a bit of information just by watching me. I guess you rather adept at reading body language. But for future reference try not to sound like a know-it-all when you explain things to people. It makes you sound like a bitch and we wouldn't want you making anymore enemies now would we?"

Allen gave him a challenging smile, "Is that so? Well of all the things I've been called that's the first time anyone's referred to me as a bitch. I'll take that into consideration, but I can't guarantee that I'll change." She gave him a smirk, to which Kanda returned with one of his own. "Fair enough Moyashi." "Its Allen, Bakanda!"

On the other side of the food court, three pairs of eyes followed the two teens as they exited the area. "Oh boy, Tyki's not going to like this." said the only female of the three, she had a large lollipop in her hand and a mischievous glint in her gold eyes. "This is gonna be so much fun!" she squealed and ran off.

Sunday came around rather quickly for those who stayed in the Cross-Walker household. They didn't do much until Allen suggested that they go outside. "What for, Moyashi?" Kanda said from the floor in his meditation stance. Allen kicked him in the shoulder making him tilt and almost fall over. "Its Allen, Bakanda. And I thought you'd want to go practice, Mr. Kendo Captain." Cross had training dummies set up outside along with a small obstacle course for Allen to train on when she was younger. Before the dummies were added she would use the course to practice her gymnastics. But things changed after that night.

Kanda 'hmed' and stood up, indicating that he was interested. Narain who was sitting in the chair followed as well. Allen led them through the back part of the mansion into the large open area. It could have passed for a small field if it weren't for the obvious training materials set up and scattered around.

Allen moved forward and picked up the small pouch of what appeared to be throwing knives. "I knew left these out here." she mumbled to herself. Kanda continued to examine the area, "You train Moyashi?" "Allen, and yes. Cross insists that I'm able to defend myself should he not be here and something happens." She said with pain hidden within the depths of her eyes. Her back was towards the two so they couldn't tell.

"Allen is this how you kept up with your acrobatics before you came to India?" Narain asked as he eyed the course. Allen answered "Yes I was out here everyday before we started traveling. I used to love it, but it became tiring because of the reason for doing it." "Regardless of your reasons, there's nothing wrong with learning self-defense and maybe even some offense." Kanda said silently admiring the craftsmanship of the training ground and the wooden dummies. "You never know when it could come in handy."

A/N: I'm getting there guys, things will get more interesting cause it's almost Allen's birthday.