Reviews reply: Thank you very much more than before. The amount are doubled, I nearly can't believe it.

-Feysera- I will. Keep reviewing! I'll enter that snece to the next chapter, promise.

-Data Anomally- Nice to meet you...

-Moon'sEclipse- I love your review too. Sorry for my late update. You won't believe the reason, it's too ridiculous.

-Dillinger910- Great idea, but I won't tell the pairing now, it's just too much more spoiler if I do so.

-orenji- It did! Well, not so satisfying, but I think it could be called a sucess. Thanks to your hope. I wish you enjoy this chapter, too.

-God of Laundry Basket- Suspicious, huh? Well, just wait, then. Thank you for your long review, it really helps. And for the advice and support, too. As for Kanda, you'll have to wait till next chapter, my apologize.

-Jasaiya Hawkins- Yes, I do. And no, I don't feel like offended, really. I'm trully graceful of your advice. Sorry for your inconvenience of my terrible grammar. Thank you so much for your review.

-addenza- O.K. Your wish is my command. I like your review, too.

-Akky-chan- Really? Thanks, a lot. Well, just keep reading. I'm neither a yaoi lover nor hater, so just be patient about that, sorry. I just don't want to ruin the fun with spoiler (as I am not a pro about romance scene too) But you can PM me if you curious about pairings and promise to not make it public info. Thank you for your review!

Disclaimer: Hoshino Katsura

Chapter 3: Cooking Kanda

Young Allen Walker was walking with his beloved foster father beside him. With his new red warm winter coat, the brown haired little boy didn't feel any cold. He was happy. Happy to be with the traveling pierrot who had adopted him. His original parents were matter no more, since he didn't really remember them. However, he didn't hate them although they had thrown him out of his original home. Mana taught him not to hate his own parents. "Just look at the bright side," he once said. Young Allen didn't really understand it at that time. But as he thought it over and over, he began to catch the meaning. Because of them, he could meet Mana. He could go traveling around the world with him; he could walk together with him.

So deep the young kid was in his thought, he didn't see a small rock in front of his right small boot. Eventually he tripped and fell on the brick road. Like most children at his age, he cried at the little pain at his knee. He cried and cried, waiting hopelessly for his foster father to calm him down, and tell him that he would be alright, maybe rest a little bit. They had been walking for quite a long way.

But instead, no hand was there to help him to get up. Only silence was in the air. Allen collected his courage to look up.

"Get up," said his foster father.

Mana was standing still and looking down to his face. His expression was unreadable. Allen raised his small hand, trying to reaching the man. He tried to speak, but no voice he made. Help me to stand up, Mana.. I'm so tired..

But the man still stood still. Looking at him.

Mana.. do you.. Do you not want me to rest? Do you not allow me to rest? Just a little bit?

Still no move from his foster father. Allen sighed while holding another tear that were starting to leaked his eyes.

…okay, if that's what you want from me. Then, help me to stand up…. So I can walk again…

And finally the man lowered his body to Allen's height. He raised his own hand to reached Allen's and helped the kid to stand up so their faces were in the same height.

"Allen," he spoke gently, "Promise me one thing. Don't ever stop walking until the end of the road of your life."

Allen nodded, and the man stood up. And so the Walkers walked again.

"Uhm… I'm tired..." muttered the white haired Walker in his sleep. Lenalee sighed and putted a wet cloth on Allen's forehead. Apparently Cross' information was correct and Lavi had back with a basin full of cold fresh water from the river. Cross himself hadn't back from his walk. Kanda was out in the kitchen to make them some food. Fortunately there were some food stocks in the kitchen. Although they were kinda felt guilty to use them without the permission from the rightful owner, but it couldn't be helped. They were hungry and without any finder, there's no other way the team could gain any food. Sure there were small forest outside the village, but it's too risky to go alone in the middle of that night and they couldn't leave Allen, too.

"How is him?" asked Lavi. The future bookman was obviously worried. Despite of the carefree nature he usually shows, inside he actually cares a lot about his comrades.

"Still no changes. I wonder if he'll be alright…" answered Lenalee with a sad face. After all, no one beats Lenalee's caress for her friends, especially for her fellow exorcists.

The orange-head placed a hand on her right shoulder gently. "Don't worry, I'm sure he will. You should go get some rest, too. Bet he won't be pleased if you're the one who become sick when he wake up."

The Chinese girl shook her head. "No, I'm fine. Thank you, Lavi. But, um.." She looked kinda embarrassed to continue her sentence.

"Yes, what is it? You can tell me everything, you know."

Lenalee blushed a little bit when her stomach growled, "Actually, I'm kinda hungry…"

Lavi was about to laugh when his own stomach did the same thing. "Me too…" he admitted. "Wonder if Yuu-chan has finished his cooking things. Wait a minute; can he cook in the first place?"

Lenalee chuckled, "How should I know? You're the one who made him did so."

"Better check on him, Lenalee. I doubt that Yuu-chan knows other kind of food beside his beloved Soba."

The unruly-haired girl must really force herself not to laugh. Lavi surely did a good job to melt down the thick sorrow air in that room. "Okay, I'll be on it. I leave Allen to you, ok?" said her before left the room.

Lavi grinned a bit before changing the cloth on the white-haired exorcists' forehead which was starting to get warm.

Lavi's hunch was wrong. Kanda didn't make soba; he made tempura, or whatever the black, smoky, crispy shrimps could be called. It looked like he had tried as hard as he could, though. The once-clean simple wooden kitchen almost couldn't be recognized anymore. Black fog.. err… smoke from the traditional stone stove filled the air. And there was the mighty Yuu Kanda standing in front of it, wearing a long, soft pink apron which prevented his exorcist uniform from being stained with that thick, black, err…liquid.. or maybe oil? His expression was priceless.

Lenalee was completely speechless at the view. She forced herself not to chuckle, or even worse, laughed. Sure, usually Kanda would go easy with his childhood friend, as he and Lenalee were in the Black Order since they were kids, but it would be better not to take the risky bet. I treasure my life more than Lavi does, after all, she thought. "Honestly, Kanda, you could just ask for help rather than… well…"

"…"

"Well, what did you make, Kanda?" Lenalee aborted her last sentence and said a new one.

"Tempura."

"Oh," the girl tried to recognize the black charcoals on the plate in Kanda's hand as tempura, as best as she could. However, it's a real futile. "Well, I guess you're done cooking. Then, I'll call Lavi over so we could eat that.. tempura together."

Unlike Lenalee, Lavi has enough courage to make open death wishes. In fact, he laughed out loud when he saw Kanda's 'masterpiece'.

"Wow, Yuu-chan has some real talent to be a pro chef! Maybe you could ask Jervy to teach you how to place a pan on a stove? Or maybe Komlin? I'm sure Komui will agree to lend it since he wouldn't want his sister to be poisoned the next time you have another mission with Lenalee which required some cooking?" chirped the hammer wielder.

"Just shut up and eat the food before I feed you Mugen!" growled the silky-haired exorcist while threw his apron into the stone stove.

"Eeeh? This is food? You sure Yuu didn't get it wrong with the charcoal from that stove? They're looked tastier than this 'thing', actually."

But before this 'Yuu-chan' could reply, an explosion was heard from the outside. Without any command they run outside, while the tempura was practically forgotten immediately.

"What in the world…" Lavi gasped with disbelief, when the future bookman looked at th sky, which was little could be seen between the wave of AKUMA. But they weren't targeting the exorcists. They were surrounding something at the heart of the village.

Unfortunately, one of the gigantic weapons saw the trio. With its terrible voice, it shouted, "I found the exorcist!"

"Who cares?" answered the other, "They're not our target! Better finish this one first, or she would…. GYAHH…!" The poor AKUMA couldn't finish its sentence as one of Kanda's hell insect cut it in two. Then the samurai exorcist himself landed on the spot where the AKUMA was standing. A second later, his two comrades landed beside him.

"Enbu: Kirikaze!" Lenalee destroyed a row of AKUMA with her invoked Dark Boots. But the AKUMAs were still far from few. They were filling the starry night sky.

"Oh no, Allen kun! I'll be back, guys," said the dark green haired girl in hurry.

"Be careful, or Komui will kill us later!" added Lavi with his trademark grin, made Lenalee chuckle a bit before dashing through the night air with her Otokaze.

"Nigentou!" Kanda eliminated swarms of level 1s in one attack. "Oi, stupid rabbit! Get out of the way, Kaichuu Ichigen!"

Lavi was forced to dive to save his neck from the sharp side of Mugen. His face was paler than the AKUMA's. The next second, he jumped as high as he can when Kanda launched his next attack to the living weapons below where the orange haired rabbit was standing.

"Woa.. Yuu chan! Maybe you want to competiting with Allen to end my wonderful life?" commented Lavi before he made his next dive below another swing of Mugen, which was supposed to hit a level 2 behind him. In fact, it made a critical hit. However, more of them were coming to the centre of the village, even Kanda with his sharp eyes couldn't even take a glimpse of what's in there.

"Whoa, play time's over. Oozuchi kodzuchi, grow, grow, grow…" chanted Lavi while his Nyoibo were getting bigger and bigger, bigger than the house which he was standing on.

"Che, where is the general when we need him.." muttered Kanda while joining the chaos of battle. That general was really unpredictable. Who knows if he has run away and was enjoying his life in a nightclub or a pub in faraway place out there…

Lenalee almost screamed when she saw the house was already surrounded by AKUMA from the front, back, left, right, and above sides, to the point that the house itself could hardly been seen.

"Enbu: Kirikaze!" Lenalee was in her fully concentrating mode at that time. She certainly didn't want her attack to blow up the house accidentally. After an successful attempt to sweep the mechanical balloon away from a side of the house, she broke through a window, directly to the living room. It wasn't as bad as she expected. The AKUMAs haven't got their bullets inside the house, which was strange as well. Didn't want to waste any time, she ran to the bedroom.

Allen hadn't regained his consciousness. It seemed that his condition hadn't change; he's still sleeping like a feverish baby. The Chinese exorcist was just about let out a sigh of relief when some heavy light began to flash outside. Fortunately she wasn't stupid to not recognize the situation, and the trap which their enemies had set. The AKUMAs were going to blow up the house with whatever and whoever inside it.

"Otokaze!" shouted the Dark Boot's user while moving as fast as she could; covered Allen's shirtless torso by threw his exorcist uniform, then dashed out the house through a window while grabbing her comrade and holding him as tight as she could in time, 5 nanosecond before the wooden house exploded like a big bang behind them.

The impact automatically threw them to the air like a metal ball from its cannon. Although Lenalee was trying her best to held her comrade, the explosion still separated them.

"Allen kun!" cried Lenalee while Allen's shirt was slipping from her hand. A second later, both of them hit another house. Unfortunately, Lenalee hit her head on a wall and was knocked out from her consciousness.

In the other hand, the impact waked up Allen. His vision was still blurry and his head was still aching, yet he still tried his best to study the chaos around him. Finally, he shut his eyes for a moment of thought.

So..

It's just the same…

…as I thought…

…as you wish…

…I don't deserve a rest.

He quickly swept some tears form his eyes. And with a full confidence like always, the white haired exorcist opened his grey eyes and undo the buckle of his left hand, revealing a very terrible deformed red hand with some black nails below. Facing the massive amount of AKUMAs above him, he drew a long breath before chanting the code to active his weapon.

Because I am just simply a weapon.

"Innocence, invoke!"

"Judgment, reloaded."

Lavi almost jumped in joy when a single shiny gun shot eliminated some swarms of AKUMAs, enough for them to see what the AKUMA were interested in. A black box, not big and not small, lay on the centre of the village square. Looked normal? No. The problem was, the box was shaking on its own, too bad that Kanda wasn't close enough to reach it before the mechanical balloons covered it up, again.

"General Cross!" cried Lavi when the bullet missed his spiky hair by some cm from behind. "Where have you been?"

"Not need for you rats to know. Where's that brat? And the young chick?" answered the half masked general calmly.

Kanda growled silently before answered it, "If the… 'Chick' you're talking is Lenalee, she's gone back to the house..," Another explosion from the direction of the house interrupted his talk, along with several light bullets which could be seen. "And that must be the bean sprout brat you're searching just now."

"Gouka kaijin: Hi ban!" Lavi made a whirlfire with his nyoibo and penetrated another swarm of AKUMA. "Yuu chan, I think we nearly reach our target!"

"Target? It's that the innocence?" questioned Cross.

Lavi answered the question while Kanda released his stress by slicing some AKUMA behind, "You bet, sir. We haven't sure, but for now, the black box below there is our target."

"…"

"General?"asked Lavi curiously. It's indeed extremely rare to see the red head general thinking seriously like this.

"…Is it...," But Cross aborted his last sentence and changed it with a new one. "Very well then, that should be our priority by now. Make me a way, rats."

Lavi and Kanda didn't waste any time to jumped out of Cross' range of attack while the general shot out some bullets, causing explosions here and there like a firework party.

"..He's scarier than Allen.." murmured the future bookman. Kanda nodded in agreement. In just a round of attack, no AKUMA that hide their view from the black box. No one. Then the trio jumped to the wooden black cube. It was still shaking.

"Open it," commanded Cross.

Kanda sliced the top side, carefully and thin enough to not damaged whatever was inside. Cross stepped back to keep a distance. Much to their surprise, the box exploded, and some thick, black-purple smoke gushing out, filling the air. No remains of the box could be seen. Obviously to them now, it was just a trap. Suddenly Kanda, who was the closest to the box, went limp.

"The.. the gas is poisonous..Yuu chan!" Lavi caught Kanda's body before he hit the brick ground, and joined Cross in a rooftop. However, the orange head had swallow some gas too. He felt his body lose some strength. Cross watched them; his expression was same as ever.

"Thank God… Yuu chan is safe.." said Lavi who was quite out of breath. Kanda was still unconscious; however, it seemed that he was only temporarily asleep.

Cross was still thinking when a small, golden thing hit his shoulder. Timcanpy was acting strangely; it made some wild dance in the air. Lavi assumed it must be some code whose its master could understand. True enough, he saw Cross' eye widened a little. "What the…" he murmured.

On the vestige of the exploded house, Allen could barely stand, yet he still tried. Wounds and scar were all over his body. A few old wounds were opened, yet his cursed eye still activating. Along the other eye, they're kept their gaze to a form in front of him, surrounded by AKUMAs. Lenalee was still unconsciously sat by the wall; some blood was still gushing out her head.

"Why are you here…?" asked Allen with a hoarse voice to the familiar spiky haired girl who was standing while smiling in front of him. She pointed her umbrella toward Allen, and said maliciously, "Play time is over, catch him." And the AKUMAs quickly moved by her command.

The last view that Allen saw was the inhumanly smirk of the Noah, Rhode.

Chapter 3: Cooking Kanda, end

That's the chapter 3. I'm happy it's longer than before. (although it's just a bit longer and didn't make much diference)

PS: I don't know if Kanda really can't cook or he actually can, forgive me.

Praises or flames, or maybe just some sudden idea to develop the story, I'll appraciate it as long as it's reasonable.

Or maybe you have a request of another story, questions, or something, just PM me or you can write it bluntly in your review.

Last words, Happy New Year 2008!

For just reading this story till this point,

Thx.