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"………" talking

'……….' thinking

Enjoy, and sorry for the horribly long wait!

…

The halls of the order were relatively quiet for a Saturday morning. Usually, there were finders running this way and that, science department members taking samples of things and jotting notes, and exorcists training for their latest mission.

However, for this certain Saturday, all was pristinely quiet save for the marring sound of someone's angry feet stalking the hallway.

The owner of said feet was certainly angry. They were searching for something they could not find, and it was killing them. All the plans had been made. Everyone knew what would happen, had known for weeks, and had been preparing since the news was passed stealthily from person to person .

However, on the one day that normalcy was needed, the one day everyone expected the schedule of a certain someone to be followed to a T, that person deviated completely off track. So off track that no one knew where that certain someone was.

The truth was, no one knew the whereabouts of one Allen Walker.

…

"Yuuu!"

Kanda quickly sidestepped his childhood friends attempt at a glomp.

"Hmph, baka usagi, what are you doing here? I thought you were supposed to be entertaining Allen?" The swordsman glared at Lavi, putting all his pent up frustration into that one glare. He hadn't wanted to do any of this elaborate scheming, nor had he wanted to make this a big deal, but of course once he told Lenalee about his plans, she decided that of course Kanda couldn't do things the way he wanted. No, of course not.

"Well, see the thing is Yuu-" Lavi broke into Kanda's brooding, "- no one can seem to find the poor Moyashi-chan anywhere, so we thought you might know…"

The stormy look in Kanda's eyes intensified exponentially as the seconds ticked by after Lavi's statement. "You… you baka, of course I don't know where he is! Lenalee told me to stay away from him for the day so she could distract him while her preparations were made!"

Lavi, used to Kanda's temper by now, simply shook his head and draped an unwanted arm around the taller man's shoulders. "Ah, Yuu-chan, are you still mad 'bout Lenalee planning this? You really need to grow more backbone around girls!"

Before the insult could fully register in Kanda's mind, Lavi was running down the hallway out of Mugen's reach and shouted, "Don't worry, Kanda. I'm sure it will turn out great, even if it's not what you expected!"

By the time Kanda had drawn his Innocence to attack his horribly cheeky and annoying ex-friend, the rabbit was gone.

'What in the world have I gotten my self into?'

…

In a secluded part of the library, Allen sat humming to himself in the silence of the dusty, tome filled room. He was perfectly content, sitting on a plush chair surrounded by books of all sorts. Allen hadn't known why, he had awoken much earlier than normal. So much earlier than normal that the cooks hadn't even risen to light the kitchen fires. Now this wasn't the most unusual of occurrences, seeing as Allen got strange cravings all the time nondiscriminatory between meal time and not. However it was strange that, after Allen had fixed himself a rather large three o'clock AM snack, he could not get back to sleep.

So Allen meandered through the Order until he came upon the doors to the Great Library.

Allen had never been much of a reader; Cross had seen no point in reading for pleasure when the boy could be out earning money to pay off his debts. However now that he had some free time and an entire library to himself, Allen wondered why he had never taken the time to pick up a book or two for the simple joy of immersing himself in the pages. So, to satisfy his sudden feeling of having missed out on something for a very long time, Allen had found the most comfortable chair as far away from the doors as possible and piled whatever books stood out around him.

Allen stretched, wondering absently what time it was. "Must be around lunchtime…" he mused aloud to himself.

However, the young boy didn't seem to have the heart to leave the book he currently balanced on his lap. After perusing a few books, he had latched onto this one, loving the way it was written and the subject matter was fascinating.

He just couldn't seem to put the book down.

…

In the kitchens, Jerry was all in a tizzy. Not only had the lovely Allen not come to get breakfast that morning, but some of the ingredients for the special dishes he had planned for that evening were missing. The dishes were all to be Allen's favorites.

The poor cook was so distressed that when Lenalee came by to check on his progress in making something from the shambles left by whoever had purloined his ingredients, he was startled and the frying pan he was holding went flying. And of course, it landed on the pile of already prepared food for Allen's dinner that night, spoiling it all.

The man let off a shriek as his masterpieces were ruined and began sobbing. "I- I KILLED it! Now Allen-chan won't have any of his favorites tonight."

Lenalee, feeling sorry for startling the poor cook tried to console him. "Of course it's not that bad! I'm sure you can make something else… I'm so sorry for startling you!"

When Jerry looked up at the Chinese girl before him, his face would have been comical in any other situation. Huge tears were bulging from his eyes, each seeming to want to leave before the last, while he was flushed and pouting with an extremely downcast way.

"You don't understand, Lenalee-chan! The only thing I can make in large enough quantities to quell the stomach of dear Allen-chan is soba! And Kanda always eats soba! That won't be a very romantic meal for the two of them."

Lenalee looked around the kitchen, determined not to loose hope. "Well, then we'll just have to make the soba extra special for tonight, that way it will appear more romantic!" Although she didn't feel nearly as confident with her declaration as she sounded and looked, it was all the cook needed. He jumped up, proclaiming he was about to produce a masterpiece, and started cooking as lightning speed.

Smiling, Lenalee left Jerry to his work. Now, if only she could find Allen.

…

Allen was extremely hungry now. He had been reading for 13 hours straight; his eyes hurt, his stomach was demanding food, and Tyki had already been by once, just peeking into the library enough to call out Allen's name. Yet, as much as he liked Tyki, Allen felt he wanted to finish his book before being disturbed, so he had kept quiet until the older man left him in peace.

Now, however, the white haired man was done with his book and was ready for food. As he walked out the doors he noted the clock on the wall read twenty till six o'clock. It was probably the longest amount of time Allen had ever gone without eating, not counting when he was sick, hurt or sleeping.

Allen walked from the library, humming the same tune that had been dancing through his head since that morning only to run smack into something hard and moving.

Gripping his nose, Allen looked up at the supposed offending alabaster slab that had appeared in his path. Or at least that was what it felt like- his nose felt like it had been broken from the impact.

…

Kanda was pissed. He had spent an entire day without his Beansprout and was repeatedly being informed that while no one could find him, Kanda was not allowed to join in on the hunt.

Sometimes, Lenalee and the rest of the Order meddled in things that they should leave well enough alone. Sighing, Kanda closed his eyes and rubbed his temples. He didn't need his eyes to know these hallways. The library was surprisingly a place that had provided Kanda solace many times as a child. As much of a Bookman Lavi was, he usually avoided the place because going near it would mean work.

However, knowing the halls like the back of his hand did not stop Kanda from running smack dab into some other object.

He wrenched his hand from his face to snarl at whoever or whatever he had knocked into when he was met with a heartwarming sight.

Allen was standing before him, looking absolutely pitiful with tears just forming at the corners of his eyes and holding and obviously smarting nose. All Kanda saw, behind the tears and slightly pain scrunched eyebrows was his wonderful lover whom he hadn't seen since the night before.

"Kanda! Do you have to feel like rock every time I knock into you? You never feel like that at any other time!"

Shedding one of his rare smiles, and chuckling one of his rarer chuckles, Kanda had no comeback to his short lover and answered with a quick kiss in greeting instead.

"What have you been doing all day, Moyashi? Everyone's been looking for you…" Kanda questioned Allen in a soft voice.

"I felt like reading, so I read the most wonderful book. It is actually quite a pleasure to read, but I skipped lunch and now I'm starving!"

As if to emphasize the point, Allen's stomach made and incredibly loud and obnoxious growling noise that rang throughout the hallway.

"Well then, we need to fill that wonderful stomach of yours, now don't we?" Kanda said as he smiled down upon Allen, taking the boy's hand in his and squeezing it gently as the walked the long way to the kitchens.

…

A strange grumbling permeated the walls of the Order and immediately everyone was on the alert. Every person that could be spared was looking for the well known white haired exorcist who had evaded them all throughout the day, but the unmistakable call of his stomach had just alerted all of them of his whereabouts.

Lenalee, Lavi, Tyki, Jerry, everyone went running in the direction of the Great Library, hoping to finally catch Allen. It was, after all, time for dinner and his special feast.

…

"Jerry? Hello?"

Allen leaned in farther on the counter to look into the kitchen.

"Everyone's gone!" He proclaimed, sliding down off the counter and making his way toward the door. "But he left behind a lot of soba, just sitting there. I'm sure he won't mind if we take some…"

"Oi, Moyashi, you want me to grab this plate of dango?"

"Oh, yes please, Yuu!"

The two exorcists had somehow not been intercepted by any of the others who were currently hurtling towards the library, and had come upon an empty kitchen full of prepared food. Figuring that Jerry wouldn't miss the food too much if the pair took a small feast for themselves (read 'for Allen') they piled as much food as they could onto two treys and headed up to Kanda's room.

Allen didn't feel like eating in the cafeteria, so he suggested the samurai's room because of it's gorgeous view of the currently setting sun.

Eating with Allen wasn't always the most pleasant experience, since one got the feeling of eating alongside of a glutton, but the meal was peaceful and both enjoyed the contented silence that spanned between them while they ate.

Once all the food was finished, Kanda pulled his lover into his lap, cuddling his head up to the back of Allen's neck and reveling in the feel of the younger man's soft hair against his face.

Kanda broke the silence first.

"I missed you today."

Allen laughed softly at his closet-cuddler and shook his head, causing his hair to caress Kanda's face. "I was only gone for a few hours. I didn't think you would get into too much trouble with Lenalee and Lavi if I left you to your own devices…"

"More like they made trouble with me…" Kanda muttered, but Allen didn't hear. "Moyashi, I have something to ask you."

"Nee, what is it Yuu?"

Kanda swallowed once, twice and was ready. "Allen… will you marry me?"

Allen froze. He completely stiffened, and thinking he was possibly loosing it, asked, "I'm sorry, Yuu, I think I misheard. What did you say?"

Kanda grabbed Allen's hips and turned the boy around in his lap, looking him in the eye.

"I asked if you would marry me, Allen Walker," he said as he reached over to his bedside table to retrieve a tiny box covered in dark blue velvet.

Allen gasped, suddenly wondering how he had missed such an obvious oddity in his lover's room and looked up at Kanda with watery eyes.

"Of course, I'll marry you, Yuu!" And with that, Allen quickly closed the distance between the two and captured his now fiancé's lips in his own in a searing kiss.

…

Lenalee was furious. She had almost had Allen the day before, but he had somehow gotten away. That man was slippery when he didn't know he was being hunted!

Sighing, she slipped into the chair at breakfast, remembering how she had made her friends search high and low late into the night, yet none of them came up with even a sign that Allen had been there, much less the actual boy.

He hadn't even gone back to his room, and Lenalee had been dreadfully worried. Not only was he missing, but Kanda had also gone missing and had missed his chance to propose to Allen last night over a romantic candlelit dinner!

Sighing again and starting in on her breakfast, Lenalee almost missed the commotion coming from the doors to the dining room.

And by almost I mean as soon as the first finder yelled "Allen," she was up and out of her seat as if it had been lit on fire.

There, standing in the doorway together, were Allen and Kanda.

"There you are!" She all but screamed at the two, causing Allen to cringe slightly. "I've been looking all over for you both since yesterday! Where were you?" Suddenly the stress of loosing Allen repeatedly the prior day fully fell upon Lenalee's shoulders and she collapsed, crying on Allen's overwhelmed person.

As Allen tried to console Lenalee by showing her his new engagement ring, which only seemed to make her cry harder with both happiness and exasperation, Lavi slid up next to Kanda who had backed away slightly from the bawling female.

"Well, yesterday was a complete bust. How did you find Allen? We couldn't find him anywhere! Nothing turned out the way we thought it would."

"No," Kanda agreed, smiling slightly and causing Lavi to stare at its rarity, "It was nothing like I expected, but that doesn't mean it wasn't wonderful."

And with that, Lavi smiled at his long time friend, clasping him on the arm as congratulations and then immediately jumped into the group of well-wishers looking at Allen's ring and wishing him the best of luck.

…

The End

ITS DONE! Well I certainly put this off for the longest time. I kept on writing down ideas in my notebook and then scribbling them out, only to write down the same notes only a few days later. Finally, though I ended on this.

For those of you who wonder: As I am sure you are now aware of, Tilly is BACK! Only to go away soon… :(. I do not believe I will be writing another story for DGM… at least not in the next year. My senior year schedule is even more packed than my junior year was, and I really want to get into a very good collage, so I'm gonna need to work my butt off!

I do hope you enjoyed reading the story as much as I did writing it, and I am extremely sorry for the long wait for the last chapter! I also apologize for any and all spelling and grammatical errors I made throughout all ten chapters… I'm not very good with grammar and mechanics.

Anyways, thanks for reading and see you 'round maybe!

Love to all of you and Cheers!

Tilly