To the short and concise: this is just a very late Valentine's Day Fic. D: I don't own~

XXX

Love Story

XXX

You talk the talk of love like you know what you are saying.

But we both know that this is all just bullshit, especially when you blow me a kiss.

000

Rabi blew a kiss from across the room.

And she was standing right next to him with a finger twirling the tips of her growing hair. Rinali followed his gaze but saw nobody that stood out in the mash of black and white. Her brother spoke with the voice that a superior should have and stared into the crowd with a stern gaze from behind his glasses. Perhaps he was more serious than everyone gave him credit for.

And she was almost carried off by the nonsense that jumbled her head.

Cranking her neck to look up at him, Rinali didn't even bother to conceal the curious smile from her lips and asked in a demanding hushed whisper. "Who was that for?"

Rabi's lips stretched wider and the smile became a grin with a shrug to those shoulders. "Just someone I like." He bit his lips like a lovesick puppy and Rinali had trouble stifling a laugh before she waved him off and glided deeper into the room, where she hoped no one would ask about that sly smile stretching across her cheeks.

The doors were pushed open and he was the first one to shove his way out of the crowd. His steps were faster than normal as he walked off to a narrow hallway to escape the small wave of people. Kanda weaved a hand through his bangs and walked just a tad bit faster.

"Yuu!"

A few more steps and his hand was captured by someone else's.

He had almost slipped out a 'who?' when he didn't see the face but heard the voice instead.

By the time he saw the face, he could no longer hear the voice because those lips that had blown him a kiss were breathing hard and he seemed to be pink or at least a shade paler than his usual sun kissed skin.

And his hand was still in his hand.

"Want to let go?" Kanda spoke his mind with barely a second thought as he lifted the hand that Rabi still held on to. The redhead quickly dropped the hand with a sheepish grin and a quick apology. "Sorry," and the pink to his cheeks were long gone. Maybe it was never a breathless blush, but just the result of the lighting in the hall.

"Komui has a mission for you."

"And you're the messenger?"

He gave a wink and a tug at Kanda's sleeve. "Just for you."

Their similar boots padded down the hallway, the carpets softened the clicks their heels would have made if they walked on tiles. "Come on," he pulled the other by the sleeve of his uniform as he took a turn. Rabi gestured to another hallway that swerved to the left. "This way."

Kanda allowed himself to be pulled, asking but not objecting to the redhead's strange inquires because he had long gotten into the habit. "Why?"

"Because I want to talk to you about something." Rabi gave a twirl and turned to face the Japanese, a little secretive smile that could not linger long on those lips. Kanda frowned at the bashful grin that had blossomed and the tilt of the head that left his red hair framing his cheeks.

"If it's that bullshit again, Rabi, I swear I wil—"

Rabi leaned over and planted a smooth kiss on Kanda's cheek.

"Don't call my love bullshit, Yuu."

Rabi walked a few steps ahead and Kanda was left to glare at the back of his head. And then he suddenly twirled around again and asked, lips twisting into a childish pout that could easily put any six years old to shame. "Can't you take my love seriously for once?"

"You can hardly call it serious, Rabi." Kanda wiped his cheek with the back of his hand and remarked, lips in that similar weary grimace at the red head's clingy antics. Rabi shrugged at his words and gave a few more twirls and swirls before stumbling to gather his bearing and balance once again in the hall.

He faced Kanda with a bit of a spin to his head.

"But I still love you quite a bit," he held up a finger as though to emphasize his point, "lots more than a best friend should."

With Rabi leading, they took the long way down to Komui's office.

000

You listen to me like you know what I say.

But we both know you are just an ignorant asshole trying to get me off your case.

000

He couldn't help but laugh at the face Kanda had pulled again at the confession.

"Was it really that bad, Yuuu?"

And the pout he took from his character was enough to make anyone fall for his red hair and clashing green eye. But Kanda was never one to fall head over heels for just another pretty face, because he had one of his own with an Oriental twist.

The Bookman Apprentice was draped on the other, chest against his back and Kanda could feel his heartbeat like a steady drum, pumping blood. Yuu gave a shrug as a reply, shoulder digging right between his collarbones but Rabi only gripped the black of his uniform tighter, nails biting into the white linings, lips stretching wider.

She passed by the pair near her brother's office, they were waiting for Komui to finish his business before giving them their own individual missions and he was quite late to his own planned appointments.

Kanda stood straight; he would have been leaning against the wall if it weren't for the red head and his two centimeters taller height who had planted himself between Yuu and the wall, persistent as he ran a hand down Yuu's uniform. He silently waved as a greeting because everything vocal was reserved for Kanda.

"Rinali is really pretty, you know."

He had offhandedly commented with a whisper to Kanda's ear, eyes trailing after the little black skirt that she wore. She had waved back with that same sly smile and gave a nod to the Japanese who was busy trying to peel Rabi's hands off of him.

"But you on the other hand," Rabi's finger poked at Kanda's cheek, his eyebrow twitched before he attempted to bite off the entire finger with a growl of annoyance. But the red head continued with that carefree smile as he quickly pulled his finger back to safety. "Yuu is something entirely different."

"Don't talk about me like I am not here, usagi."

The elbow slammed between his ribs, Rabi stifled a pained cry and ended up coughing into his black hair instead. Kanda grimaced as he tried to pull out from the other's vice grip but Rabi only leaned in further, lopsided grin growing on his cheeks, pain tossed to the back of his head.

"Hey Yuu…" His lips were almost pressed against the back of Kanda's ear. "Do you want to do an interview with me before you leave on the mission?"

"Interview?" He cranked his head so they could see each other eye to eye and he was almost taken back by the distance or lack there was of between them.

"Yeah, interview." Rabi nodded his head with a childish stare as he loosened his hold on the other man's shoulder and backed off, just slightly though. "I have to conduct it with every exorcist as well as a handful of workers at the Order."

"How long?" He finally got to breathe a breath that wasn't smothered by Rabi.

"I don't know…" He placed a finger to his chin as he leaned back against the wall to ponder. He looked at Yuu, tilted his head and looked at the Science Department before focusing back on the Japanese in front of him; apparently the metal calculations were final. "Around an hour? Depending on how much you talk."

He had then added with a thought. "Even if you don't do it now, it will eventually get down to you."

"Che. Whatever."

The door next to them opened and he shrugged Rabi's hands off of him and walked into Komui's office, hand out stretched for the mission folder with his name on it. Rabi waited by the door frame and gave a merry wave to Komui, sitting in the center of the room, surrounded by piles after piles of documents.

"This one is for you, Kanda." Komui gave a smile to the redhead waiting by the door with the wave and the grin. "And this one is for Rabi."

Kanda nodded and took both mission folders.

"I don't think you two need an explanation, they are just routine missions, you know the drills." With the twin nods of their heads Rabi closed the door and left the Chinese man to the fortress of papers, waiting for his signature.

Kanda swept by him with barely a glance as he dumped the mission folder in Rabi's arms. His green stare followed after his starchy black and white figure before he spoke up.

"The back room of the library."

Kanda didn't turn to catch that wink to his eye because he could practically hear it dripping from his voice.

000

You do it like you know what you are doing.

But we both know you are drop dead clueless when I start to lie, pretty face in place.

000

"How did you get here?" It was the first sentence as they took a seat, across from each other. It was hardly an interrogation. Kanda crossed one leg over the other and leaned his chin on his elbow as he stared, almost flat out bored and it has hardly even begun. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"I just want to know about you." And then he added as an afterthought. "Everything about you." It was almost as though it was a warning to tell him everything and leave no details behind.

"Where do you want me to start?"

"Your childhood?"

"Sure."

He took out an ink pen and showed it to the Japanese as he asked, voice perfectly calm and without even a hint of waver. "You don't mind if I made some recordings?"

"Even if I said yes, you would still remember it all anyways." Kanda watched Rabi take out a well preserved piece of paper before smoothing out the corners with his bare hands with the most delicate care he had ever saw coming from the red haired man. And he had remarked with a brand new smile, almost too new and shiny to be human. "You know me so well, Yuu."

"And quite unfortunate too."

Rabi gave another smile before offering a hand for him to begin. And Kanda took that as a cue to speak, leaning forward against the table between the two of them, he parted his lips and absentmindedly took a glance at the light bulb burning a hot white as it hung from the ceiling.

"I was born in Japan, a small village that probably doesn't even exist anymore. My father was the local blacksmith; maybe that's why my innocence is a katana. He was a drunk. My mother was married off young. She wasn't beautiful or anything, just another plain Japanese woman with her black hair pinned up."

"Women had no opinion. But my mother was strong," Kanda looked at Rabi and as if to explain he continued, "not physically of course, just mentally."

"Headstrong." Rabi offered and Kanda nodded, a lock of black fell from behind his ear and obscured his vision for a fraction of a second, Rabi almost had an urge to tuck it behind his ear for him but refrained from doing so as he watched Kanda's fingers tug it back out of his way. "She refused to let him into the house if he was drunk. And she locked and barricaded the door too."

"And I think I was six when a woman walked into our house pregnant." He took another glance up at the bulb and faintly he could hear the light buzzing of electricity. Rabi's grip tightened slightly on the ink pen as he took another dip into the jar of black.

"Apparently she was the woman my father had been fucking all those drunken nights when my mother wouldn't allow him into our house."

Kanda took a drink of the cup of water Rabi had slid across the table. "My father moved into that woman's house but I was still required to help out at his store everyday since he still considered me as his son."

"She cried herself to bed every night." And Kanda clarified at the slightly puzzled stare from Rabi. "My mother I mean." And he took another long drink, almost downing the contents of the rest of the cup. He looked up to catch the red head's look.

"Rabi, don't look at me like that."

"Sorry." He quickly dropped his gaze and averted back to the piece of paper. But he caught sight of the small shake of Kanda's head with the corner of his green eye. Yuu was quiet when he had parted his lips again. "Don't be and don't pity me either."

"I am not." Rabi dipped his pen into the ink well and scratched a few more words before looking up with a small defensive smile. Kanda cast his gaze to a corner of the room and continued under the shallow white light of the bulb.

"And then one night my father came by and he got into a heated argument with my mother, I was still too young to understand everything. So I snuck out of the house and stayed in my father's blacksmith shop until the morning."

"I woke up to an empty village with sand piles dotting the ground."

And he had ended his childhood tale there; everything was self-explanatory despite the vague descriptions he had provided. Rabi understood and he couldn't help but breath out the quietest apology.

"I am sorry, Yuu."

Kanda raised a hand as if to wave off his apology but the underlying smile on his face didn't seem to fit the occasion. And he offhandedly replied, brushing off his sorry like it was nothing worth dwelling over. "No need."

Rabi quirked his head to the side as he watched Kanda snatching up his mission folder with a faint shrug to his shoulders.

"It was all a lie anyway."

000

You think you can lead me on like you are the king of our world.

But we both know you are just the make believe princess that refuse to wear the dress.

000

"Yuu!"

He ignored the voice until the owner caught up with him; they were still in the maze of books and shelves, caving in on them like an avalanche of history preying on the weak. Rabi's fingers wrapped around his sleeve with his nails biting into the pale Japanese flesh.

"That was just mean..." Rabi nudged him to face him and they both stood, just at arm's length, too far for one and too close for the other. There was a hint of a pout that lingered on those lips. "Wasting my ink like that."

His body turned to face the redhead, black uniform collar tighter around his neck than he had last remembered. The silence that bored into them left the two a bit woozy and unstable on their feet as they sniffed in the heavy scent of yellowing pages of the books.

"Is that how you saw it, Rabi?" Kanda's smirk still wasn't gone, just below the surface on those pale lips, hovering as if waiting to surface once again. "Just a waste of ink?" They took a breath to absorb the words as they simply stared at each other, trying to understand the emotion behind that hue of blue and green.

"Maybe next time you should consider your little confessions to be a waste of breath."

Rabi leaned back but allowed his hand to linger on the shoulder, fingertips slipping between the ends of that long black ponytail. And he began to laugh a wholehearted laugh from deep within the throat. Kanda could only stare, not sure what his reaction really should be as he decided among the mess of emotional states that he never tried on.

"No, no." His head shook to that, messing up the array of red in the process. "Telling Yuu how much I love you is only the second best part."

Rabi leaned in again, this time, bending his back to rest his forehead against the Japanese's shoulder with a smile playing at his lips. "Because seeing your reaction to my confessions is my favorite part." He took a glance up with a growing smile, lost to his own childish intentions.

With silence for a reply, Rabi straightened up with a slight pout. "Are you mad?"

Kanda looked down with a raise of an eyebrow before the red head finished the rest of that thought. "You ought to say something like that before giving yourself to me."

That curiosity to the trick Rabi had played dispersed and Kanda gave a hard shove at the other man's arm to get him off. He tossed an ebony lock from the vision of his eyes and with an almost insulted frown; he took a step back, clothes just merely brushing along the book's spines.

"You suck at being a Bookman, usagi."

He shook his head to accompany the disapproval but the smirk that has finally surfaced made it hard for his mock disdain. But Rabi didn't take it particularly hard; he swallowed the insult and gave a gracious smile and even a little bow.

"And Yuu, my beloved," He reached out to take Kanda's hand into his own, just like the way he had picked up Yuu's hand earlier, only this time his fingers brushed along the inside of the Japanese palm with a gingerly grasp. He took a peer up, green eye catching the blue, both laced with a dare of curiosity.

"You suck at being human."

He bowed his head and planted a chaste kiss on those long ivory fingers.

Just as expected, Kanda recoiled his hand right back in defense, not shocked, just a bit annoyed that he had allowed this to happen without another protest. Because the two of them knew exactly how the other was like and the redhead was hardly the type to not try something like this at such great timing. Rabi dropped his hand and smiled naturally as though nothing out of the ordinary had happened.

Kanda could only shake his head weakly as he wiped the back of his hand on his uniform, smearing the feeling of Rabi's lips on his skin off of the flesh in a rather symbolic manner.

And when he had turned around to leave, Rabi had stood on tip toes, growing taller than it was really necessary and called out, voice cooing to the man with the swaying ponytail. "How about the interview, Yuu?"

"Another time!"

"You promised!"

He cranked his head to send him a deep scowl from way across the library. "Whatever."

000

There was no dragons to be slay, no princesses to be saved, and no knights in shining armors.

But we both knew better than to take an example from a typical love story because we were more original than that.

000

On the way down to the little waterway, they bumped into one another for a third time at the entrance to the stairs leading them way down the Order. Rabi gave a grin and a tilt of his head, motioning to the curving stairway that disappeared into railings and blinking orange lanterns. Kanda stared at him with a skeptical stare in his eyes and laced his fingers around the handle of the luggage bag once again.

"We always have such great timing." He leaned in a bit with a laugh and whispered with a wink, "maybe its because of fate."

With one raised finger, Kanda pushed back Rabi's head from inside of his personal space. "You think too much, it's only a coincidence."

"That only works once or twice, Yuu." The Bookman Apprentice raised a finger, then two, and then a third one to emphasize his point with that grin plastered over his cheeks, undeniably bright in the lights. "The third time is meant to be."

Rabi waved the three fingers in front of Yuu's face with a grin to add to it all.

"Don't give me that destiny shit." He pushed away the hand and started down the stairs, ignoring the constant pouting face stationed at the edge of his eye.

"One day you will believe me, Yuu. And one day you will fall into my arms, thinking how dumb it was to deny my love."

Kanda rolled his eyes at the lecturing tone of his voice. Almost snorting at the ridiculous talk the red head babbled with. "And one day you will get it through your head that I won't fall for a Bookman."

"Don't deny the romance between us, Yuu."

Rabi had remarked with a sling of an arm that rested comfortably over Kanda's shoulder, pulling him closer with a mischievous smile as he spoke of love and how perfect they would be if only Kanda would fall into his arms.

They followed the stone steps and the chilly air crawled along them as the two walked further down. His fingers felt along the bumpy walls and he grasped the railing with a loose grip. The faint yellow orange blinked and pulsed over their heads and Rabi spoke up in a hurry as he gave Kanda a nudge to the ribs. "Come on, love. You have to accept me one day."

Kanda shook his head at the persistent grin from that familiar redhead as he continued the conversation. Kanda shoved Rabi's arms from his shoulder in a huff of annoyance, he was almost disgusted with himself for how long he took the offending gesture.

"Why don't you go and chase after Rinali's mini skirt instead of bothering me?"

Rabi laughed as though the suggestion was the most absurd thing he has ever heard. "As I said before, Yuu, Rinali is pretty and everything but she isn't my type."

"She isn't?"

"Well… she is but that is besides the point!" Rabi quirked his head with a sheepish smile before continuing in that lukewarm voice of his, honey sweet with what should be love, "Because I love you."

"I've heard that phrase enough times." Kanda evenly replied, not at all surprised by the affectionate words the other kept persuading his way. Rabi tilted his head with a lopsided grin and commented with an intention to tease and persuade. "What can I say? You just look like the type that need the love."

Kanda let out a dry laugh that held no humor but with enough patience to keep the other alive. He gave a glare to the redhead with the easy going grin and neither of them wavered in their stance.

Their boots touched the stone dock.

Rabi gave an awkward laugh and a little wave to the supervisor as he caught sight of his white beret. "Hey… Komui, didn't know you were, like, down here, waiting...."

"Hello Rabi," there was a pause as he caught sight of the other standing beside the redhead. "And Kanda." He let out a cough in signal to the awkward silence that warped the air with a deadly grip.

Kanda ran his cool gaze along the two Finders and the Chinese man clutching to the white hemming of his supervisor coat. And his asked, voice dripping with acid. "How much did you hear?"

"…nothing at all." A Finder supplied with a weak smile. Kanda's glare hardened as he focused on the other Finder whose legs trembled nervously. And he finally blurted out before the other could clamp a hand over his bandaged mouth. "…Everything! From start to finish!"

But Komui was quick to defend with a wail of protest for his number one priority. "Kanda! Don't offer my sister to Rabi!"

Almost everyone would have rolled their eyes if they were in a different situation. And the Head of the Science Department spoke up again, pointing a finger to the red head keeping his loud mouth shut all this time, "if it weren't for Rabi, none of us could have heard anything!"

Luckily, the red headed exorcist was even quicker on his wits as he spun on his heals and directed everyone's attention to something totally insignificant or at least something to distract the Japanese before he could escape.

"Oh hey look!" Rabi exclaimed, pointing to the boat next to the dock. "There is my boat, Yuu! Better not be late for the mission." He gave a grin and dragged one of the Finders by the elbow and pulled him down to the wooden boat, floating at the edge of the dark murky water.

Humming a tune, Rabi happily helped to undo the knot in the rope; freeing them from the restrictions of staying bounded to the stone cold dock as the Finder directed them towards the end of the underground waterway. Komui gave a wave, tucking a folder between his arms with a wiry smile at their antics. Kanda stared with a grumpy accusation that Rabi had made them both seem like love struck fools and with each other nonetheless.

But like infatuation, Rabi was quick on his feet as he suddenly took a stance and abruptly stood up on the little wobbly boat; the Finder wavered dangerously in alarm and almost fell into the water. But the red head paid no attention as he turned back to the dock, arm held up high as he waved at the Japanese with his arms crossed, waiting impatiently for the next boat to come.

"See you in a few days, Yuu!"

He winked in the yellow light of the lanterns and blew a kiss from the boat.

000

We love like we knew how to love but there was no fairy godmothers willing to bless us.

Still, the happy ending was within our grasp.

It was only a matter of reaching out and constructing the perfect love story just for us.

XXX Kuro

Happily Ever After!~ (I think? XD) This was meant to be an intake of a typical love story with a RaYu twist (and as you can probably tell, I have no idea what a typical love story reallly is =u=). I just hope it did not feel angsty in any sense… And did I ever say this: the Li siblings rock. They are like the best friend to my RK fics :)