A/N: Well it's a week late, but here it is. But you get four thousand words, so don't be too mad at me. ;)

Also: In case you've missed it, I post updates on my profile. If a chapter's going to be late, or different, or whatever, you can find the information there.

.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.

Allen talking himself to sleep was probably the most amusing thing I'd ever seen him do. I had known he was tired, but I hadn't expected him to be that tired.

In a way it was sad that he didn't finish his story. Marie was one of the few people in the Order I actually liked and respected. I truly thought of him like a brother. It was nice to hear the man I loved speak so highly of him.

I slept really well despite it not being my own bed, something I chalked up to the closeness of my Moyashi. And when it came time to get up to go meditate, I found myself wanting to stay beside him, just like I had every morning since we had gotten together. That morning I caved to that desire. After our conversation the night before, I wanted to be there when he woke up, even though I knew he'd most likely still be asleep if I left and came back.

I was also still hiding from Teidoll.

So I pulled Allen closer, and lost myself in the smell of the neko's hair. It reminded me of all those times I'd watch him sleep when we were on missions together. He was just so beautiful that I couldn't help myself. I wondered how I never noticed that he cared for me. It seemed so obvious in retrospect. He was so quick with the insults because, like I had, he thought I hated him, and the harsh words protected him.

.x.x.

I woke up the same way I had fallen asleep, in Kanda's arms. His hair had come loose from its braid and was falling around us. From the way his breath fell on my shoulders he was awake and had been for some time. It was really weird after having gotten used to waking up alone. "What are you doing here?"

It came out harsher than I intended. He snickered. "Really, Moyashi? That's how you greet me? No 'good morning'?"

I knew from the expression on his face that I was blushing. "Sorry. It's just... you always go meditate in the morning. I didn't expect you to still be here. Aren't you worried about being bitchier than normal?"

Kanda snickered again, and I elbowed him in the stomach. "I'm serious, Bakanda. We all know you're even more of a pain to deal with when your routine gets messed up."

His hand on my hip slipped under my shirt, and I gasped when his fingers began rubbing up and down my side. "I had something else in mind for relaxing me..."

I sighed and pulled his hand away. "I should have known that all that stuff you said last night was a lie."

Kanda laughed and kissed my neck. "I was joking, Moyashi. I just wanted to get a reaction out of you."

"What does that mean?"

I was rolled over so that I was lying on my back. Kanda knelt over me, his long hair creating a curtain that blocked out everything but his beautiful face. "I meant every word I said last night, Allen. Sex isn't the only thing I want from you. I love you."

So much for getting him to stop touching me, those three words made it impossible for me to stop touching him. I tangled my fingers in his hair and pulled him close. Our lips met roughly. I could feel him laughing at me as we kissed, but I didn't care.

I lost myself in the kiss, in the taste of him. Our tongues tangled as we fought for dominance, and it wasn't long before we were grinding our hips together.

And that's when everything went to hell.

I missed the knocking on the door. And someone calling my name. And the rattling of the doorknob. The next thing I was aware of was Miranda screeching.

It was very startling, I hadn't heard her freak out like that since she married Marie. Kanda and I bolted apart. I sat up and swiftly smoothed out my hair. Miranda threw her hands over her face and turned around. "I didn't see anything! I swear!"

I knew I was beet red, but I didn't dare look at Kanda to see his reaction. Internally I was screaming as loudly as Miranda was; I had just been caught in bed with Kanda. This was going to be bad.

The tense atmosphere was broken by deep laughter. I turned from Miranda to see Marie in the doorway. "Being blind, I truly didn't see anything, but if it was anything like how it sounded..."

Kanda swore. I squeaked. Marie pulled Miranda close to him and whispered soothing words to stop her screeching. I collapsed back on the bed with a groan. "If you're not going to leave then can you at least close the door? I'd prefer not to let everyone see this."

Marie laughed as he complied. Kanda finally snapped out of his stupor. He swore a few times. "What the fuck are you doing here, Marie?"

"That's not a nice way to talk, Kanda. I think the real question is: what are you doing here? This is Allen's room, isn't it?" Marie laughed as Kanda swore some more. I buried my face in my hands, tempted to swear myself. "Don't you 'hate him more than you've ever hated anyone'?"

The last sentence was said like he knew it wasn't true; I also knew that it was something that Kanda had actually said to Marie about me. I groaned and spoke over Kanda's swearing. "What exactly did you hear, Marie?"

He laughed some more. "Oh nothing much, just the two of you doing a bit more than making out, which Miranda appears to have gotten a full view of."

I groaned again, and Kanda swore yet again, but Marie kept talking. His smirk was obvious even if I couldn't see it. "I also heard Kanda say the words 'I love you'..."

The choking sound Kanda made was really odd. If I was embarrassed, then he was mortified out of his mind. He growled at Marie. "So what?"

"I didn't think you would know what love was, much less admit out loud to feeling it. That's quite a step for you Kanda. Congratulations."

The comment was sincere, but Kanda just growled at Marie more. The blind man laughed again. "On the other hand, to hear you say that to a man... And not just any man, but Allen Walker..."

"Hey!"

"Sorry, Allen." Marie smiled gently. "I didn't mean it like that. But didn't the two of you once demolish a hotel room in one of your many attempts to kill each other? How exactly did you get from that to sleeping in the same bed?"

Kanda lunged for Mugen, but I was between him and his sword, so when he moved, I rolled over and pinned him to the bed. "You're not wearing clothes, Bakanda. Maybe it's best if you stay put..."

"Get off me, Moyashi."

Miranda giggled nervously. I blushed fiercely and moved off of Kanda. Marie laughed briefly, but then it faded. "In all seriousness, what's going on with you two?"

"We've been together for two weeks." It was Kanda who spoke, my tongue wasn't working.

"'Together' as in...?"

I expected an angry or sarcastic response from Kanda, not the pleasant, honest one he gave. "So far it's just been talking and sleeping together. The Moyashi's not allowed to leave headquarters, so until he recovers that's all we get."

Marie nodded like he was agreeing with the statement. "Of course. You don't want to broadcast to everyone that you're gay."

His face suddenly broke out in a devious smirk, and I knew it was aimed at Kanda. "Speaking of which, do you care to explain how that happened, Kanda? Don't you hate all forms of human contact?"

"I don't have to explain myself to you." That was the kind of response I expected from Kanda.

I felt like I should interrupt, but I didn't know what to say. I settled for smiling sheepishly at Miranda, who had calmed down but still looked incredibly nervous.

"Yes, you do. Or rather, if you want this affair with Allen to remain a secret, you do. I might just spill everything to Teidoll if you don't." I caught the slight hitch in Marie's heartbeat. The blind man had no intention of saying anything, he was just pushing Kanda's buttons. "So... Since when are you interested in sex?"

The scowling pout Kanda made was adorable, which wasn't a word I would have ever thought of associating with the samurai. I had to look away to keep my body from reacting. He grumbled a few curse words before giving in.

"That's his fault." To emphasize his point, Kanda poked me sharply in the shoulder. "I didn't care about any of that before he showed up."

Marie nodded a couple times. "And what about you, Allen?"

I was startled to suddenly be pulled into their conversation. "What about me?"

Kanda snickered. Miranda giggled just a little. Marie laughed outright. The blush returned to my face. They were waiting for my side of the story. I sat up, unaware that I had pulled my tail into my lap and was fiddling with the tip. "Oh, right, umm... Well, I knew I was gay long before I came here, but there wasn't anyone specific until I met Kanda."

"But wasn't that two years ago?" Miranda finally found her voice. She looked really confused on top of her nervousness. "Noise and I got together as soon as we realized our feelings, we didn't want to waste any time. So what took you two so long?"

I smiled gently at her, but it was Kanda who spoke. It was another honest response that surprised me. "We were too good at pretending to hate each other. If General Cross hadn't intervened and told me the Moyashi's feelings, we'd still be fighting."

Marie started to speak, but the question was drowned out by my stomach growling. He laughed. "Right, we should probably let you get ready for breakfast. The questions can wait for another time."

"Thanks." I gave him an embarrassed smile.

They were halfway out the door when Kanda suddenly addressed them. "Wait. Why'd you come here in the first place?"

"Oh! Sorry!" Miranda stopped in her tracks and turned back to face me. "General Teidoll heard about your cat curse, Allen. He wants to talk with you over breakfast."

"Wonderful." I fell back on the bed and groaned. I wasn't sure that I wanted to have all of that man's attention on me. "Thanks for the warning."

"No problem." Marie smiled as he wrapped an arm around Miranda's shoulders and led her out of the room. "And don't worry, we'll keep this morning's events to ourselves."

.x.x.

When we were done arguing over who left the door unlocked in the middle of the night, Allen and I decided that it was good that someone knew about us. It would ease the pressure of sneaking around, not that we'd had any problems with that yet. Personally I was just thankful that that someone wasn't Lavi, the redhead couldn't keep a secret for anything.

Breakfast with Teidoll joining our little group was annoying. He pestered Allen with questions that I was tired of hearing, and it showed on the Moyashi's face that he too was tired of the repetition. It irritated me that none of the others could see through the neko's mask. I was also already frustrated after my attempt to have sex with him was interrupted, so overall my mood was really crappy. Maybe skipping my meditation wasn't a good idea.

But on the other hand, it was a relief to not be the center of Teidoll's focus. He could force his "fatherly love" on someone else for a change. I felt a little bad that that someone else was my Moyashi, but it was only for one meal. I had put up with Teidoll for over a decade, Allen could handle him for an hour.

Halfway through the meal it occurred to me that it wasn't just going to be just an hour. If that man ever learned that Allen and I were together, we'd never hear the end of his crazy side. Because, like Marie that morning, Teidoll wouldn't care that my lover was a male. He'd be too overjoyed that I had a lover for that. Which meant that he'd start treating Allen like the daughter-in-law in his little family fantasy, and he'd take it to even more of an extreme than he did with Miranda.

So hopefully Marie would keep his promise and keep his mouth shut. But I knew he would. Marie could keep a secret. Miranda on the other hand... Well, Allen was her favorite person, she wouldn't do anything to hurt him. That would have to be a good enough reason to trust her with this.

I tried to leave for my duties when I was done with breakfast, but Teidoll and Lenalee wouldn't have it. So I was dragged down to the training room. Apparently the whole group was going to watch Marie train Allen; it was supposed to be "fun". Personally, I didn't see what the big deal was, I trained blindfolded all the time.

I ended up sitting in a corner and watching. And even though the others mostly left me alone, it definitely wasn't what I would call fun. While it was somewhat amusing watching the Moyashi stumble around blindfolded, I found the whole ordeal annoying. The others were too loud for me to tune out. Especially that redheaded idiot Lavi, he didn't seem to have learned his lesson about pushing Allen's buttons.

But worst of all: I couldn't keep my eyes off that white haired neko.

Every move Allen made sent tingles down my spine. Each twist of his body emphasized just how strong and flexible he was. It was driving me crazy. And the cat ears and tail weren't helping.

I was serious about toning things down if it was what he wanted, but he had yet to make up his mind, and I desperately hoped it wasn't what he would decide to do. If he made me wait, I wasn't too sure I'd be able to keep my promise of not raping him.

The training session was halted at lunchtime. Teidoll wanted to get back to work, and Allen was hungry. I was thankful for it; I don't think I could have taken any more. I took advantage of the chaos and escaped to my bedroom.

.x.x.

Claiming to need a nap, I slipped away after lunch. Training that morning had been a bit of a fiasco. I was expecting it to be just me and Marie, and maybe Miranda, not all the exorcists currently at headquarters. Even Bookman had joined us. And to top it all off, the others had dragged Kanda along.

His presence was distracting. When I was blindfolded, I could always sense where he was. And when I wasn't, I could see him giving me that one specific look. It used to make me want to hit him, back before I knew that he was undressing me with his eyes. And damn it, I would have much rather been where he could actually undress me.

Which was why I went straight for Kanda's bedroom. I picked the lock, not wanting to be seen waiting for him to open the door. He was giving me a weird look from where he was laying on the bed. "What?"

"What are you doing here?" He looked away from me and up at the ceiling. "I thought you'd go back to training."

"I told them I needed a nap. I don't think it fooled Marie, but it bought me some time." I climbed on the bed and knelt on top of him, sitting back on my heels.

"Time for what?" He was smirking and giving me that look again.

I stuck my tongue out at him. "You know exactly what I want."

He sat up and kissed me, running his fingers through my hair and caressing my ears. "What about you wanting to slow things down?"

I laughed as I pulled my ribbon off my neck. "I was talking about not having sex every day, not stopping it altogether. Besides, I think I'd go crazy if I had to give you up completely. I need you."

Those were the last words spoken for quite some time. We kissed passionately as we undressed. No time was wasted on foreplay, we went straight for the main event. It went without saying that it was my turn to top; we were short on time, and for the sake of appearances, I needed to not be sore.

When we were done, I lay beside him, breathing heavily. Kanda kissed the spot above my jaw where my ear used to be. I swatted him away. "Don't do that. It's creepy."

He laughed and shoved me towards the edge of the bed. "Either shut up or leave. I'm not in the mood to deal with your whiney ass right now."

I rolled my eyes as I slid off the bed and began hunting down my clothes. "Of course you're not. You never are."

"Che. Just go back to your training." The annoyed tone would have been more effective if he wasn't staring at me in a way that said 'come back to bed'.

I laughed as I adjusted my last piece of clothing. "See you at dinner, Bakanda."

.x.x.

Allen seemed much more relaxed when he returned from his nap. He'd been on edge all morning, it was nice see him loosen up a little.

There were less people around that afternoon which probably helped too. General Teidoll had left, Bookman and Lavi were at a mission briefing in my brother's office, and Kanda had disappeared to who knows where; he was probably off pouting over missing a day of work. It was much less chaotic with only four of us.

It was fascinating watching Allen maneuver the training area using only his hearing to guide him. And he improved greatly as time went on. He was nowhere near as good as Marie, but as the blind man had pointed out: he'd had a decade of practice, Allen was doing spectacular for his first day trying. He tripped a lot, but he had actually managed to avoid walking into any walls.

It was nearing dinner time when Allen suddenly stopped in the middle of what he was doing and sat down with us. Miranda beat me to the worried question. "What's wrong, Allen?"

He adjusted the blindfold like he wanted to take it off. "Nothing bad, I'm just a little dizzy. Can we be done now?"

Marie said something to Allen that I couldn't hear, but from the way the neko blushed I really wished I had. Allen spluttered a little before he found his voice. "C-Come on, Marie. Don't joke about that."

The blind man laughed and Miranda giggled; I guess I was the only one not in on the joke. Allen frowned at them. Marie whispered something else that caused Allen's frown and blush to deepen. "If I say yes, will you drop it?"

"Fine, fine." Marie laughed. "There's one more thing I want you to try and then you can be done for the day."

Allen's ears perked up. "And what is it?"

"I want you to leave the blindfold on while you walk to the cafeteria."

I laughed when the excitement fell from Allen's face. "It'll be fun, Allen. We've always joked that you could find your way to the cafeteria blindfolded, I want to see if you can actually do it."

Allen grumbled as he stood up. "Fine, let's get this over with."

He started to walk away. I caught up with him quickly, but Marie and Miranda stayed behind. When we reached the training room doors Allen paused and looked back. Marie smiled at us, clearly sensing Allen's unasked question. "You can go on ahead, Allen. Miranda and I would like some time alone. Lenalee, you can make sure he leaves the blindfold on. Oh, and don't let him use the wall as a guide; this is an exercise in hearing, not touch."

Allen huffed. "Are you sure you don't want to tie my hands behind my back?"

Marie laughed at the sarcasm. "If you think it would help, go for it."

I followed Allen out into the hall. From my perspective things got tense almost immediately; it was the first time we'd been alone since I approached him the previous night. He had smiled when he sent me away, but that didn't make me any less self-conscious about what I'd done.

As predicted, the neko had no trouble finding the way to the cafeteria. The boy was too obsessed with food to fail in that task. I stopped him before we got too close to other people. I couldn't take the awkwardness anymore. "Umm, Allen? Can we talk about last night?"

I felt my cheeks burn red when Allen cocked his head at me. It helped that he was blindfolded and I couldn't see his eyes. "What for?"

"I ...umm... I wanted to ... apologize for my behavior. I shouldn't have acted like I did."

"Thank you, Lenalee." He smiled gently at me. "And I understand that you were depressed, so stop worrying about it, and let's go eat."

Allen turned back around and promptly tripped over an uneven spot in the stone floor. I moved to help him, but he turned the fall into a somersault and ended back on his feet. The whole thing eased the tension I felt and made me smile.

"It's true what they say about cats always landing on their feet." Lavi laughed from where he had just come around the corner. He stopped and waited for us to catch up to him. "Are you sure it's ok to let him loose like that?"

I laughed over Allen's grumbling. "We're heading to the cafeteria, Marie wanted him to do it blindfolded."

Lavi nodded and fell in step with us, keeping well away from Allen when he saw how angry his comments had made the neko. More than once I caught him adjusting the bandage on his nose. I wondered if it was uncomfortable or if he was scared of Allen.

The moment he stepped through the cafeteria doors, Allen yanked the blindfold off. His first few steps were unsteady, but then he found his footing. By the time I caught up to him, he was already at the window telling Jerry everything he wanted to eat.

When he was done, he went straight for the table where Kanda was sitting. It was proof that the pair were now somewhat friends, the samurai didn't immediately get up and leave when Allen sat down. Lavi and I joined them when we had ordered our food.

Dinner passed much like usual, though Allen seemed a little distracted. Kanda called him 'Moyashi' half a dozen times, but the neko never did more than make a face at the samurai. Whenever we asked what was wrong he'd say he was still feeling a little dizzy from training and it wasn't anything to worry about. I didn't buy it. It was typical for Allen: he could have been severely injured and would have passed it off as nothing just to keep us from worrying about him. It was both irritating and endearing, but I let it slide. Pestering him wouldn't accomplish anything.

We were discussing Lavi's upcoming mission when Allen suddenly dropped his silverware and bolted from the table. It was extremely out of character for that boy to abandon his food. (Unless there was an akuma, but he would have said something if that was the case.) The rest of us didn't know what to do, we just sat there dumbstruck as we watched Allen run from the cafeteria.