Exception 16

Notes: Aw, man, I take way too much time on the updates, and really, I'm sorry. Well, this is technically another pick on Lavi chapter, but it has a little plot movement, and a lot about Ari… So yea. And what's this? Another OC pairing? Maybe, just maybe… But anyway, when I do get to the next chapter (um, vote please so I know you want me to) I'm thinking I may get to that Lavi chapter I got asked to do a while ago. And well I do have some ideas of what to do, your suggestions would rock (as said Lavi chapter is one, and well… spring gym will be fun) so I know what you wanna see, especially for this Lavi chapter concept… Um, I will try not to take too long on the next, but no promises… My newly arrived D. Gray-man season one DVD set really got me in the mood, so… Thanks to those who reviewed last time, Blood-red Moonlight and Lathya, and please keep 'em comin', cause we actually got 50 reviews on this thing~! ^^ Well, enough of me, enjoy the show~!

Disclaimer: You know I don't own stuff! Just Ivy and Ari's Kate's~! And this AU. The rest of D. Gray-man belongs to Hoshino Katsura~!

Warning: Um… Nothing too bad, just picking on Lavi, a bit of some mouth from people, Kanda's usual irritation towards Lavi, and snow. Lots of it.

16. Death in Snowy Combat

"Nii—chan—you—bastard—wake—up!"

Each word of that particular morning greeting had been accompanied by a smack of a pillow to Lavi's person, the last being a particularly forceful blow to his head. The voice, despite its commanding and insulting intentions, was still in sweet female tones, letting our redhead know that when he had seen his sister make her way into the house a few days ago, he unfortunately had not been dreaming. Not wanting to risk removing his head from the weak protections of his poorly thought out blanket shield, Lavi trusted his instincts and shot a hand to the night stand. Fortunately, his ninja skills procured his cell phone.

"But, Sis," he whined, voice muffled due to his mouth being halfway submersed in pillow, "it's only ten on a snow day. See, Brit even sent me a reminder text so I wouldn't show up." Lavi sat up to show the message to his sister, grinning at the memory from the previous year of walking into the school, realizing he was alone, then proceeding to cause minimal, mostly legal chaos. He hadn't gotten in trouble, but it was probably the reason the school had afterwards improved their security systems.

His sister busied himself with the text on the mobile's screen, and Lavi decided to really look at her since all he had been doing was avoiding her with the impeccable strategy of stubbornly refusing to leave his room. She hadn't really changed much, except for maybe a few inches gained in the height department and a few other things that one didn't point out on their own sister, but that was expected after a few years. Her hair was cut to a similar length as Ivy's, just a little past the chin, but was a seemingly impossible shade of red-orange more often reserved for cartoon characters, and, not too far off, Lavi. They even shared the same bright emerald eyes, complete with some spark that made you feel like trouble wasn't too far away; the pair that belonged to the younger sibling focusing back on their initial target after finishing the provided message.

No one would doubt that Ari Bookman was Lavi's sister.

She turned around, making Lavi think she just might go away, but instead his sister's slim frame was soon sprawled across his legs. She had decided to simply fall backwards onto the bed and her brother (much to his discomfort, though he contained the wince), arms thrown over the other side of the mattress. Her ponytail stuck out off the right side of her head, different segments going off in various curled directions, resembling a sideways version of the top of a palm tree.

"Nii-chan, I'm just bored," Ari whined. "I wanna play outside together. Like when we were kids." Lavi could remember that. Back then, she hadn't been as violent… Well, maybe she had, but it hadn't been on purpose (at least he hoped so). And while the whole thing sounded like fun, he didn't trust his sister with a near unlimited snow supply around him alone. Sure, it would start with snowmen and the most kick-ass snow structure ever, but that would turn into a fort from which he would be bombarded from. And while it would be an amusing battle for a while, he didn't think he could face that alone.

His hand tightened around his phone. Maybe…

"You know, Sis, I think I'm up to that."

Once again, not for the first and absolutely not the last time in his life, Kanda wasn't a particularly happy individual. It had been a peaceful morning, and all had seemed well, especially since school had been cancelled. It wasn't the dislike of his compulsory education that made this a good thing, but the fact that he wouldn't have to deal with a certain disliked rabbit, which shouldn't come as a surprise. He had even been considering inviting Ivy over, when his cell phone had rung. And while it was the very person he wanted to talk to, she had different plans.

He had to hand it to Lavi, though; the idiot certainly knew what he was doing. Because there was no way one redhead alone could have convinced him to leave his house for any form of stupidity. But if said redhead happened to go through a certain girl that just so happened to be Kanda's girlfriend…

That was how you ended up with situations like this: Kanda, Ivy, Allen, Lenalee, Lavi, and someone else no one there had expected to see all gathered around in the park, which was otherwise abandoned aside from the immense amounts of snow they had to wade through in order to get there.

"I'm sorry," Ivy said, being the first to break the silence, her breath immediately turning to fog and disappearing just as quickly in the winter air, "but I'm afraid I don't know you." She was clearly addressing the sixth person. She was smiling, despite the fact that she was unaccustomed to their presence and the frigid temperature. Kanda didn't get how she could do it. "I'm Ivy Minomasu. And you are?"

"Ari Bookman." A green mitten was extended forward. "Nice to meet you."

Ivy blinked before shaking the other girl's hand to shake. "'Bookman'? You're Lavi's sister?" Sure, the physical resemblance was there, but the introduction had been so different from the once she had received from the elder Bookman sibling during the previous year, it just didn't seem right. He had been completely in her face, bustling with supposed "good vibes" and "friendship ooze." Compared to that, Ari almost seemed normal.

Lavi sighed, letting the warm air gather in his bright orange scarf as opposed to losing any heat. Ivy had no idea how wrong she was…

"Yup, I am," Ari confirmed. "I was studying abroad in France the past year and a half, but it lost its fun. Besides, why would I miss Nii-chan's senior year? What kind of sister would I be if I didn't involve myself in one of the most important family events ever?" When she grinned, Ivy started to see the other form of resemblance.

"You'd be the best sister ever…" Lavi muttered under his breath, but Ari obviously didn't hear since she was now addressing Kanda.

"And Kanda-san, congratulations. It's nice to know you finally found yourself a girlfriend."

The entire group froze (if you'll excuse the horrible choice of analogy given the circumstances) at the sentence, wondering just what would happen next. Sure, Kanda had more patience for Ari than her brother, but it was still a touchy subject to get into. But after a minute of nothing happening at all, the guarded expressions turned into blank stares and a red coloring crept onto Ivy's cheeks that had absolutely nothing to do with the cold.

"Yu-pon's not denying it…" Lavi whispered. Lenalee and Allen could only stand in stunned silence. "Yu-pon's not dying it!" The shout was accompanied by the rabbit throwing his hands up into the air in celebration. "Let the world know that Yu Kanda finally pulled that stick out of his ass that's been there for all eternity and finally got himself a girlfriend! Oh my god, Yu-pon, I'm so fucking happy for you!"

"Touch me, you die."

For once, Lavi heeded the warning and decided to move on to a safer target: that being said girlfriend he was celebrating. "And where would we be without the magnificent Ivy-chan? You, my most incredible young lady, have performed a feat for the ages." He slung his arm around Ivy's shoulders. "How does it feel?"

"Nii-chan, knock it off; the poor girl doesn't need that you. Besides, can write it down in your diary later," Ari interrupted.

"Sis, we've talked about this!" Lavi protested in a whine. "It's not a diary, it's a journ—!"

"Lavi," his sister cut off once again, you can't deny it. It says 'Diary' on the cover in bold letters." The statement was accompanied by a dismissive gesture of green. "But, man, I make one comment and an entire performance explodes." She sighed before smiling again."But anyway, Allen, it's so great to see you again! How have you been?"

"I've been okay," the Brit in question answered, smiling back. He didn't particularly feel like bringing up any of Lavi's antics, just in case of Ari actually wanting to be involved. Resisting one Bookman's insistence was hard enough; resisting the combined efforts of two was practically impossible. "I assume your trip to France was good?"

"Yea, it was nice, but I like it better here. Oh, hello, Lenalee."

"Hello, Ari."

Ivy didn't know why, but she felt a sudden oncoming of foreboding, like things could go wrong in an instant if the incorrect word was said. It didn't make any sense, but she had learned to trust her instincts on most matters: if it felt like Lavi was planning something, he probably was; if something didn't seem quite right about the cafeteria food that day, best not to eat it. Trying to avoid a potential sour turn of events, Ivy said the first thing that came to mind.

"So, Lavi, you called us here for a reason, yes?"

"Ladies and gentlemen, you have been brought here for a very important reason."

Lavi had begun his speech, marching in a straight line back and forth parallel to the one he had positioned his friends in. A stick that had broken off from a nearby tree was in his hands for no other reason than he thought it made it seem like he was important. He would have liked to have engraved an American flag in the snow bank behind him for effects, but no one had the patience for that.

"This, my comrades, is a snow day. This means that we are given a blessing of sorts: A freedom to do as we please for another day, and an extremely large amount of snow to utilize during this time. And while this may not seem relevant, it most certainly is. Because today we have gained an opening to engage in what could possibly be the most epic snow battle of all time." Lavi halted in his march to look at the expressions on his friends' faces; they ranged from vaguely interested to bored as hell (Kanda of course).

"Of course, there are certain rules that need to be abided by—"

"Free for all!"

The call had been Ari's, and she had accented it by launching a snow ball into her brother's face, though no one knew when she had made it. Lavi was left spluttering and wiping the remains of snow from his face with no means of immediate retaliation as his attacker had already disappeared behind one of the many snow banks as a means of cover, taking Allen with her.

"That was satisfying," Kanda muttered.

"I'd say," Ivy agreed, her own grin forming as she packed together a new missile in gloved hands, making sure to compress it as much as possible. "I vote that we go into cover after this and make a fort. Build up some ammunition, too."

"After what?"

The question was barely out before the snowball left Ivy's hands, her deadly force and accuracy showing for the first time since the dodgeball match a few months ago. Right on target, the snow exploded at Lavi's bandana covered forehead, causing him to stumble back a few steps in an effort not to fall over.

"That. Now we run," Ivy remarked at the same time Lavi let out a shout of "Not cool!"

Oddly enough, Kanda felt like he could be content with the Rabbit's antics for once.

Allen really didn't know what to think of this whole mess.

Sure, Lavi wanting a snowball fight, that was to be expected. The same exact thing had occurred in previous years, though with not quite the same results. For one, Kanda hadn't been willing to comply at all and the redhead had found himself buried in a snow drift, and that had been the end of that. And well, Ivy and Kanda getting together was gonna happen eventually, idea the thought of Kanda actually asking someone to go out with him kinda weirded the Brit out if he thought too hard about it. But what really had caught him off guard had been the reappearance of Ari.

As you may have already guessed, most of our group had known Ari previously (alongside the obvious note of Lavi), but since she had left almost a year and a half previously, she had been prevented from meeting Ivy when the latter transferred in. But in all that time, Allen hadn't really expected Ari to come back so abruptly (though part of him had considered the thought), if at all. After all, he had heard about the Bookmen from his guardian (if you could call the drunkard that) Cross, and they weren't exactly known as the type to stay in a place for long.

And yet, Ari had returned, and here he was, part of the girl's idea of fun, otherwise known as tormenting her brother. Of course, he knew that she was only that way because she loved the redhead, but still. He didn't particularly hold any interest in completely burying Lavi in snow. Okay, maybe he did have a bit, just a tiny little bit, of interest. But spending his entire day off that way wasn't exactly on his to do list. But what choice did he have? The Bookman siblings were both adamant about the idea of a snow ball fight.

In much simpler terms, there was no way out of this.

"Eh? Allen-kun, is something wrong?" Ari asked, tilting her head to the side and pausing in building the snow fort she had set out to construct. Allen didn't get how this thing worked; she was actually making a second floor and it was holding. Of course, he didn't think it would support him, but it could probably keep Ari above the ground with not too much problem. But why exactly did you need a second floor on a snow fort…?

"Um, not really…" Allen dismissed. "Just… I was wondering… Why exactly did you come back? Just to mess with Lavi?"

"Oh… I guess you could say that…" Ari giggled. "Of course, I also came back for—hey, did you hear that?" The younger Bookman sibling stood up from her production and brushed the accumulated snow from her pants. "Over there."

Allen looked in the direction Ari was now pointing, but all he could see were multiple snow dunes across the park and a few bare trees. Then again, both Ari and her brother both possessed slightly heightened observational skills (though how much they were used varied greatly between the two, so it wasn't improbable that she had picked up on something he hadn't.

"Snow crunching has a very easy sound to pick up on when not much else is going on," Ari commented. "Nii-chan's more than likely making his own fort and knowing Lenalee, she's either gotten roped into his team or defaulting to ref…" Green eyes turned back to Allen as their owner grinned. "That leaves Kanda-san and that Ivy-san girl, and I don't see Kanda-san participating much, let alone going for an ambush strategy. I assume you know the girl better than I do, Allen-kun; what do you think she's up to?"

Allen paused to think about just what Ivy would do in a situation like this and only two things came to mind: everything Lavi had done and exactly how dodgeball had went… "To be honest, she probably would go for an ambush style strategy," he reported after considering it. "But I don't think she'd go for us." The Brit couldn't help but chuckle when Ari once again tilted her head in confusion. "What I'm trying to say, I guess, is that she'd more than likely mount an attack against Lavi before anything else."

Allen was a bit caught off when Ari straight-out burst into a small fit of laughter. When the moment passed, she let out a happy sigh. "One after my own heart, huh?" A grin passed over the girl's face. "And getting Kanda-san in on it wouldn't be too hard; I know how much he claims to dislike Nii-chan." Another laugh broke through the air, a slight amount of fog trailing after it. Ari looked down at where Allen was still sitting on the ground, obviously confused, before she winked.

"Allen-kun, I think it's time we formed ourselves an alliance, ne?"

Meanwhile, a very oblivious Rabbit was trying to build his own fort for protection and humming as he did so.

Well, the whole humming bit was a way to block out the otherwise silence that had fallen. It was also an attempt to take his mind of the downside of the situation, that being as such that his sister, Ivy, and Kanda all seemed content with what he assumed to be his snow-filled demise. Even worse, Ari had chosen to take the Brit with her, which, when you looked at the fact of Lenalee deciding to only referee instead of join the fun, left Lavi partner-less.

Which absolutely wasn't fair! Why did he need to be left alone, when three people who probably wouldn't care if he died in the process were lusting for his blood? Okay, maybe that was going too far, but still. He had at least been counting on having Brit on his side, but that plan obviously hadn't worked out. And now… Lavi could honestly say that he felt the slightest bit miffed at the moment, but that feeling was stifled by his slight concern for his life.

"Man…" Lavi mused as he completed his fort and let out a weak laugh. "This kinda blows… Wait a minute—!"

Lavi had been listening to everything for once, out of instinct for a snowball fight, and he didn't like what he heard. His sister was very much the type for the ambush maneuver, and she also knew how to prepare large amounts of ammunition in short amounts of time. In essence, you could just say that Lavi had taught Ari just a little too well. Lavi tried to keep his hopes up by thinking maybe, just maybe, Ivy and Kanda had gotten distracted by… well, other things. But that was quickly dashed by the sound of crunching snow letting him know that there was indeed a full force of four coming his way.

Lavi sighed, slumping down into the middle of his fort. At least it would provide some protection, and he knew he could count on Lenalee to save him before things went too far…

Ari's voice was unmistakable and a bit too jubilant as it shouted the command, the command being "Attack!"

The resultant laugh from our redhead was feeble, and his smile was grim. "I'm… gonna die…"

By the time Lenalee had finally decided that it was enough and Lavi was successfully buried under a nice pile of snow, Kanda came to the conclusion that he was allowed to leave, Ivy followed soon after, Ari climbed up to and seated herself on top of the small hill she had helped made, and Allen took pity on his friend by starting to dig him up.

Face planted in the ground, Lavi hoped to god that his sister didn't get bored again anytime soon.