Allen was woken early by the noise coming from Komui's office. Thanks to his enhanced hearing, he could hear every word clearly from his bedroom: the generals, Klaud and Teidoll to be specific, were arguing over who would get to train Camilla. It made him a little angry: if this had happened just a few weeks later, she would have unarguably been his apprentice. It didn't help that he was in a bad mood from not being able to meet up with Kanda the night before. So after a quick breakfast, Allen dragged Camilla out to the garden: neither of them needed to be around to overhear that argument.

He climbed a tree, letting his inner cat out, and she wandered among the plants, trying to figure out what they all were when they were blooming. Aside from a brief explanation of what was going on, which included why Allen was upset, neither of them said much of anything. Lenalee joined them when she finished her morning routine, but she didn't stay long as she had a mission to go on. The Chinese woman was a little dejected to have to leave so soon; there was finally another female exorcist her age, and she wanted to stay and get to know her better.

It was a pleasant way to spend the morning, or at least it would have been if they both weren't thinking about what was happening in Komui's office.

When Camilla got bored of looking at the hibernating plants, she went and sat under Allen's tree. The outdoorsy part of her wanted to climb it and join him in the branches, but she settled for staying on the ground. They had figured out that as long as the neko stayed a few feet away she wouldn't start sneezing, so she opted for keeping her distance. She liked Allen; it was really unfair that she was allergic to him. On the other hand, from where she was sitting she could see his tail wave and curl as it hung off the branch, and that was very amusing, especially since the white fur was streaked with pink stains from the spilled party punch. "Hey, Allen? What are the generals like?"

Allen sighed; he knew she was really asking which she should hope to be placed with. "Well, I don't know General Sokalo very well, but he's a strong fighter. I've heard he can be ...harsh towards his apprentices. General Klaud has a rather rough exterior, but from what I've seen with Timothy, she's a good person at heart. General Teidoll is a little crazy, but he's really nice, and he spends a lot of time drawing and painting. He treats his apprentices like they're his kids. Then there's General Cross... I trained under him, and well... let's just say that it's a good thing for you that he's not around."

Camilla nodded as she processed all that, and she wondered what happened to make Allen dislike this Cross; from what she'd seen of him, the neko was a very kindhearted person. "There are five generals, right? So what about the fifth?"

Allen laughed from his perch. "That's Kanda. You've already met him."

"I have?"

"Yeah, at the party last night. He's the guy with the long hair that pushed me into the punch bowl." Allen chose his words carefully, making sure he didn't give away any of his true feelings for the samurai.

Camilla blanched. "Oh. The attractive angry guy. He was not nice."

Allen laughed to hide the uncomfortable feeling that welled up inside him at hearing someone else call his lover 'attractive'. "That was just because of me. We started out on the wrong foot when I first got here, and things just spiraled out of control from there. Believe it or not, but he actually used to be worse."

"I think I'll go with not."

Her tone made Allen laugh a little. "He's mellowed out since he made general, and he's always respectful to women, so he's far from the worst general you could end up with."

She raised an eyebrow as she looked up at him. "So who is the worst then?"

"Cross." Allen answered without any hesitation. "Don't get me wrong, he was good for me, and he's good at what he does. He's just definitely wrong for you."

They fell silent for a while as Camilla worked up the nerve to ask the question that was really bothering her. "Hey Allen?"

"Yeah?"

"You're gay, right?"

Allen nearly fell out of the tree at the unexpected topic change. He kept his voice calm as he responded. "What makes you think that?"

Camilla giggled a little; she'd caught enough of a reaction to know that her suspicion was true. "You're too nice to be straight."

That made Allen laugh. "That's interesting logic. It doesn't work like that in real life though."

He had hoped that would throw her off, but it didn't. "Meaning that your boyfriend isn't nice?"

Allen remained silent, so after a moment Camilla caved and explained for real. "I knew a gay couple back home. You remind me a lot of them. It wasn't too hard to figure out why. Anyway, you don't need to worry; I grew up in a very Catholic town. I know better than to say anything. So you can trust me to keep this a secret."

When the neko continued to say nothing, Camilla smiled and started to tease him. Everything Lavi and the others had said about Allen being their innocent little brother was starting to make sense. "Ok, I'll play along. Lenalee's a really pretty girl, and she's got quite a crush on you. Are you going to do something about it?"

Allen snorted, his annoyance over that particular situation helping him find his voice. "She's had that crush on me since I first came here. It comes and goes, and whenever she has it, she gets really annoying. It's such a pain having to constantly explain to her that I'm not interested in her."

"Because you like men."

"Will you drop that already?!"

"Not until you admit to it."

Allen let out a low hiss. Damn this girl is stubborn, maybe it's a good thing I'm not the one who's going to be stuck with her... "Fine. It's true. Now change the subject."

Camilla, on the other hand, was thinking that it was a shame she wouldn't be able to train under Allen. She already held a lot of respect for him and enjoyed being in his company. He was making this transition easy on her. And the fact that he was gay would have made it even better; there wouldn't be as many awkward situations. "Sure. ... Tell me again why you're not a general?"

"Because I'm not eighteen yet."

Camilla frowned. Given what little she knew about Allen and the exorcists, that seemed like a really odd reason. She'd already met several exorcists who were older than Allen, and none of them were worried about being promoted like he was. "So how does one become a general?"

Allen didn't want to talk about this, but he got the feeling that if he didn't Camilla would change the subject back to his sexual orientation. "Last night you were examined by Hevlaska and she told you what your synchro rate with your Innocence is. It was like seventy five percent, right?"

"Eighty one."

"Right. Anyway, when your synchro rate passes one hundred percent, we call that breaking critical. Generals are those of us who have broken critical and fully synchronized with their Innocence."

"So then you...?"

"I broke critical when I was fifteen, just a few months after I came here." Allen sighed briefly before he continued. Camilla would hear the story eventually, so she may as well hear it from him.

The Italian woman played with her long dark braid as she listened to Allen tell a watered down version of everything that had happened to him since he joined the Order. It was a lot for her to take in.

When he was done talking, Allen looked down from his perch and smiled at the look on Camilla's face. "Sorry. That was probably hard for you to handle so soon. But it was the best way to answer your question."

The young woman shook her head, but before she could speak, they were interrupted. "Oi! Baka Moyashi! You out here?"

"My name is Allen, Bakanda! Get it right for once!" Now that they had found a rhythm in their relationship, those words had become their code: if Allen fussed over his nickname then it meant there were other people around.

"Che." Kanda scoffed as he stepped into view. But from the way he was looking around it was obvious he hadn't spotted them yet. "You and the new girl are wanted down in Komui's office."

"'New girl'? I have a name you know." Offended, Camilla stood from her spot and scowled at the samurai.

But Kanda wasn't interested in arguing with a girl. He was much more interested in watching his Moyashi try to get out of the tree he was in. "Che. I know that. But I can't use it if one's told me what it is."

"Oh right." Allen paused halfway down the tree as he realized that the two hadn't been introduced. "Umm, Kanda this is Camilla Messina. Camilla this is General Kanda Yuu."

Neither of them moved to greet the other, instead Kanda scoffed at Allen. "Hurry up and get down, Moyashi. Or is the cat stuck in the tree?"

Allen made a face at Kanda's smug smirk. Then he launched himself out of the branches and onto his lover. The samurai fell to the ground under the unexpected weight of his Moyashi landing on top of him. It was a position they both would have loved to enjoy, but they weren't alone. Allen immediately pushed himself off Kanda and smirked down at the fallen samurai. "Bakanda."

"What the fuck was that for?" Kanda glared at Allen as he got to his feet, but then he recalled that he was on a mission. "Never mind. I've already wasted enough time looking for you. Hurry up and get your ass inside."

Allen pouted as he led the way out of the garden. "What do they even need me for? It's not like I'm relevant to what's going on."

"Che." Kanda shoved him through the door. "How the fuck should I know? I was only told to come find you."

.x.x.

Kanda pulled me to a stop in an empty hallway. I knew he had something to say, so I didn't protest. There was clearly something bothering him, and I was pleased that he was actually coming to me with the problem instead of holding it in. The samurai waited until Camilla had gone ahead before he spoke, his voice low and borderline angry. "You're spending a lot of time with the new girl. Should I be jealous?"

I stuck my tongue out at him, slightly peeved that he was asking such a thing, but it quickly turned into a devious smirk as a thought struck me. "Of course you should."

Kanda narrowed his eyes at me, the cobalt depths sparking dangerously. I could tell that he knew I was up to something, but he couldn't figure out what it was; and that pissed him off almost as much as the thought of me being with somebody else did. "Oh really? And why's that?"

I leaned closer to my lover and whispered seductively in his ear. "She's allergic to cats."

It took a second, but when it clicked Kanda let out a low moan that I felt rather than heard. "You mean she's..."

"Yep. If I get within three feet of her she'll start sneezing." I held in an exasperated sigh, opting to smile at the look on my lover's face. "Nothing could ever happen with her. Not that it would, she's already pegged me as being gay. So you can be as jealous as you want, Yuu... so long as it's you wishing everyone else had to stay away from me and not you getting paranoid every time someone flirts with me. I would never cheat on you, understand?"

He nodded and let go of the tension he was holding on to. I moved away, but he quickly caught up to me and grabbed my wrist to stop me. "Your tail's pink. Is that from the punch?" He didn't wait for me to nod before he continued, his voice unusually soft. "For the record, I'm sorry if I hurt you last night. I didn't-"

I cut him off with a very brief, chaste kiss; we were in too much of a public place for me to kiss him as deeply as I wanted too. Kanda Yuu had just apologized to me. "Don't worry about it."

"Why won't you let me apologize, Moyashi?

"Because it doesn't bother me."

"'Doesn't bother you'? It bothers me a whole lot!"

His frustrated tone made me sigh. "Look. That's definitely not going to be the last time we have to fight in public. And it won't be the only fight we can't have sex after either. That's not something we should be doing anyway, it'll ruin our relationship in the long run. So I can't let the things you say when we fake fight get to me. Understand?"

"Not really."

I sighed again. "Ok, think of it this way: I obviously love your hair. So if we were fighting and I threatened to cut it short, you would never think I meant it, get upset, and go chop it all off, right?"

Kanda nodded warily. "What's your point?"

I quickly kissed him again. "I can't let insults I know you don't mean bother me. They may sting, but not nearly as much as they did back when I thought you hated me. So long as I know you love me, I can tolerate anything you throw my way."

I knew he understood when he scoffed and tousled my hair. "Che. Baka Moyashi." Then he was shoving me forward. "Enough with the sentimentality. We're late."

We caught up with Camilla before she reached Komui's office. She gave me a look that seemed to ask if Kanda was my boyfriend, but it passed quickly as she decided that idea was stupid.

The supervisor was sitting at his desk, awake and waiting for us. He smiled as we entered and gestured for us to sit down. Camilla and I complied, but Kanda chose to lean against the wall. "Well, I may as well get straight to the point. I have decided which of the generals is going to be responsible for training Camilla."

He gave me a pointed look as I squeaked. "I know you don't like this, Allen-kun, and I'm sorry. But I'd rather you hear this from me, and not through the grapevine."

I nodded uncomfortably, understanding that Komui was doing it this way to spare my feelings. That didn't make it hurt any less though.

The supervisor turned his attention on Camilla. "At twenty two you don't necessarily need the traditional apprenticeship that new exorcists go through, but you do need someone to train you to fight and help you harness your skills. Therefore, I've decided to pair you with someone on a temporary basis. It will only last for a couple months, rather than years like a normal apprenticeship would. That being said, this is the perfect opportunity to give our newest general some experience, as he hasn't had an apprentice yet."

A general who hasn't had an apprentice? Who- oh. Kanda. The silence that followed the supervisor's words was broken by a very angry growl. "Fuck no! I don't want an apprentice!"

"You don't have a choice, General Kanda." The way Komui emphasized the title made me snicker internally; it sounded so wrong, none of us exorcists ever used it. "The paperwork has already been filed, and Teidoll has already been informed. He's looking forward to assisting you with this."

From the look on Kanda's face it was obvious that he wanted to strangle the supervisor. I laughed out loud. Between my jealousy and sympathy for my lover, I didn't feel much like laughing, but I knew it was what was expected of me in this situation. The Allen who wasn't dating Kanda would be laughing his head off at the samurai being forced to do something. "Are you going to make her call you 'Master', Bakanda?"

I was suddenly staring at Mugen's tip, and its owner growled at me. "Shut up, Moyashi."

Komui cleared his throat before I could retort. "There's no need for that, you two. Now, Kanda, put away the sword. Allen, you can either be quiet or leave, your choice."

He waited for us to do as we were told and then he started speaking again. "There is a reason why I'm doing it this way, Kanda. Camilla's parasitic Innocence gives her control over plants. I'm assigning her to you because of your knowledge in that area. You are the only general with experience gardening."

I was stunned; Kanda's a gardener? I turned to question him, but to my surprise, he had relaxed completely; his murderous aura was gone. Not only was the gardening thing true, but it seemed like he actually wanted to train Camilla now.

On the other hand, she looked pissed. Camilla had been quietly taking in everything so far, obviously nervous over a new situation, but this set her off. It wasn't too surprising that she didn't like Kanda; he had made a bad first impression. "This guy? Really? There's no way this pretty boy would dirty his hands working out in a garden."

Kanda growled, but Komui spoke before the samurai could swear. "Kanda's been the caretaker of the Order's garden for years."

That only upset Camilla further. "Then he must not be any good. That garden is a disaster."

The melancholy sigh Kanda gave surprised me almost as much as the fact that he agreed with Camilla. "Yeah it's kind of pathetic. I haven't had much time to take care of it since my promotion."

"Wait, wait, wait." I was more than a little shocked by everything that had just been revealed. "That really was you, Bakanda? You're the one who did all that?"

Kanda snorted. "Teidoll forced it on me. He said I needed a hobby, and training didn't count."

"Why gardening? Wouldn't it have been easier to let him teach you to draw?"

He snorted again. "That would have required spending time with him."

I wanted more of an explanation, but that was going to have to wait, Komui was clearing his throat again. "Allen-kun. It's time for you to leave now; the rest of this conversation needs to happen in private."

With a heavy sigh, I pushed myself out of the chair and left the room, slamming the door behind me. I'm sure Komui took it as frustration over not being a general, but this was something else. Kanda having an apprentice was going to take time out of our already limited private time. I was going to be seeing less of him than I already did.

.x.x.

Allen actually ended up seeing more of his lover. With an apprentice to train, Kanda's already short daily missions became even shorter. Instead of leaving as soon as he had meditated, he waited for Camilla to finish breakfast, which took quite a bit of time as she was still adjusting to the insane appetite that came with being a parasite-type. And instead of coming back for a late dinner, they were back for a late lunch, spending the afternoons sparring out in the woods.

Despite their rough start, Camilla was growing to respect Kanda. She may have been older and more knowledgeable about plants than he was, but he knew how to help her harness her new powers. She had seen the samurai's temper, but like Allen had told her that first day, Kanda had more patience towards women than men. That didn't mean he went easy on her, but he was fair, and committed to making sure she learned.

Kanda did not like having an apprentice. He hated having someone follow him around, and disliked having to constantly stop and explain things. Above all, he disliked the fact that Camilla was a woman; he couldn't hit her when she said naïve things. At least they had something in common. The arrangement would have been unbearable if they didn't share an interest in plants.

But seeing more of Allen was definitely what made the whole thing worth it. A stressful day always came to the perfect end when he was able to fall asleep with his Moyashi in his arms.

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

A/N: To clarify: Cross is only missing in that no one knows where he is. He's out tracking down the witch that cursed Allen, and they all know that. He's just doing it as he usually would: without reporting his progress or current location to headquarters.

Next Chapter will be Allen's Birthday!