The Little things (That make me want to kill you)

By Sarahfreak

Summary: Ever heard of a love/hate relationship? Well this personifies the way Reever and Komui feel about each other. Follow our scientists as they proceed to drive each other insane!

Disclaimer: I do not own -Man or any of the characters here…just the twisted little plot involving my favourite couple *grin* Thanks to blumarshin & Momosportif for looking over this for me…Now onto the story…

Chapter One: The Beginning

The War was over.

That fact in itself was enough to rock the very foundations of Komui's existence. The final battle against the Earl and the clan of Noah had ended with surprisingly few casualties just less than two years previous, though that isn't to say that there weren't serious injuries among the victorious survivors. His precious Lenalee, Lavi, Kanda and Allen all required surgery, intensive care, and several months recuperation before they were even allowed to leave the infirmary. The generals, Miranda, Krowry, and Marie had also been forced into bed rest. Never, not in a thousand years, would Komui forget Cross Marian clothed in a hospital smock, not smoking, and not drinking, under pain of death if he pursued his usual hobbies from the head matron herself.

Sighing slightly Komui smirked as he remembered the two years after the final battle. Although they had defeated their enemy it still took them a substantial amount of time to locate all remaining akuma, as well as any of the Earl's supporters who may have held contingency plans should the Noah fall. All those that were able to detect akuma were shipped to all parts of the globe with elimination teams and soon very few, if any, akuma remained.

It was then that the announcement of the disbandment of the Dark Order was given with all remnants to be protected by the Levier Clan should the Earl ever return. The last order given to all exorcists was to keep, but conceal, their innocence, and destroy any akuma should they encounter them. So they were still tied to the duty and burden of an exorcist but they were now free to live their life without the shadow of the Vatican breathing down their neck.

During the pack up of the main headquarters they had made sure to spend as much time as humanely possible with each other. Lenalee dragged the boys (to his great dismay) on impromptu shopping trips, the science department actually had a day off and spend the better part of it roasting food over a bonfire constructed from now 'unnecessary' paperwork, feasts, bar trips, and actually sharing Christmas together were priceless memories made. Those days between the declaration of the orders disbanding and the final pack up had been filled with laughter and love, even with the prospect of their eminent separation hanging over them.

Just over two weeks ago more than three quarters of the Dark Order were finally given their order of leave, and that was when the goodbyes began. Most returned to family they had left behind; those who didn't have family were allocated housing and jobs by the Vatican. It seems that the sacrifices made by everyone were finally been repaid. All that was left of an order that had existed for over a century was a skeleton crew of former department heads and leaders, all of whom would be dismissed after the last of the pack up procedures were completed.

Komui made his way down the now empty halls of the Order towards his soon to be first (and hopefully last) office. Sighing again he entered the science division department, visions of pillars of papers and half-dead subordinates flashed before his eyes before fading to an empty chasm. In the centre of the bare room was one man mechanically storing 'vital' files one by one into a line of boxes. Frowning slightly Komui watched the man he had worked with (or more like tortured) for the better part of ten years. The strange thing was that every action was laced with sadness, which was opposite to the anger he expected for dumping work on Reever again. Every line on his face looked like it had been carved out of stone and the once crystal clear blue eyes had turned to a stormy grey.

After hearing said object-of-his-observation let loose an almighty sigh Komui decided enough was enough, creeping up behind his unaware victim and yelling an earth shattering "REEVER-honcho!"

The bizarre thing was the man didn't even react; he just kept packing the papers pile by pile. Growling lowly under his breath but far from beaten, Komui proceeded to add rhythmic poking along with the sing-song tune he had created out of the mans name (example: "Reever" *poke* "Reever, Reever" *poke, poke*…). After still not receiving a response he threw his arms in exasperation before taking his ex second-in-command by the shoulders and shaking…hard…Said man finally reacted with a somewhat dazed look, hands still moving to collect the next pile. Komui watched on amused as Reever spent the next minute trying to work out where he was but his amusement was quickly erased when awareness returned to Reever's face and his expression crumbled.

Something was troubling the man, and it had taken Komui until now to notice. Regardless of what people thought, Komui was not as stupid as he sometimes (okay, mostly) acted. He always knew his subordinates were at their limits and always had a suitable Komurin for the occasion (nothing like a little destruction and the threat of certain death to put a skip back in ones step…okay limp…whichever!), however, it seems the Australian had found a way around his watchful eye. Running all possible reasons for the mans depression (which is what he had finally decided to label it) he settled for a few before being interrupted by a rather timid "Supervisor?" (Another thing out of character for the Australian, he was anything but timid). Shaking his head from side to side as if to clear it, he decided to ask point blank what was out of wack with his former section chief (after all, subtly was never really something he used or cared for…prime examples being giant drills and building-wrecking robots).

He knew that he had chosen the wrong course when the other mans face seemed to freeze over, reconstructing itself into the mask he now recognise from the past two weeks…and then he smiled, the type of smile that the whole world knew was fake but chose to ignore. The denial of something amiss was complete with a weak chuckle, accompanied by Reever's own hands travelling to dislodge the Supervisor's from their perch on his shoulders. This only served to annoy the Chinese man, who tightened his grip to an almost painful vice, silently willing the man across from him to let him know. After the ten years they had spent working towards an unimaginable goal, while sharing the burden of command, he'd be damned if he let this go.

Shaking the man again, as if to try and snap him out of it, he slowly shuffled the man to the worn out couch still placed in front of his desk (they were scheduled to be moved later that day) and issued a stern, "Tell Me,' before seating himself on the edge of his desk across from Reever. Acting not unlike a child about to be lectured by his parents, Reever refused to meet his Supervisor's eyes, as a grimace of pain fought for dominance over his stony expression. Finally exhaling in frustration after ten minutes ticked by, Komui crouched down to the Australian, tipping his chin up to meet his eyes, again uttering a quiet a firm, "Tell Me". Under the eye contact Reever's last escape from the impending confrontation disappeared, and the man seemed to shatter in front of him, small tremors shook his frame, and he grit his teeth in an attempt to contain himself. Komui could only watch in fascinated horror, as Reever broke down for the second time in their long friendship. Swirling blue were smudged with grief, sadness, loss, pain, and guilt? So much raw emotion leaked from the man that Komui almost staggered at the overload.

The silence was broken with a raspy version of the voice he was used to following paperwork and the mans special brand of persuasion (aka tying up a certain Supervisor and hanging him from the ceiling until he caved and did his duty).

"I am alone…" was the simple statement but it only seemed to weigh the man down further as the stopper on the bottle of his words broke and he raced on as if stopping would remove his will to speak again.

"I have no relations…no purpose…and no reason to continue doing anything, anymore. My parents have been avenged with the Earl's defeat, the Order is closing down and my family…the one I've made here, is being ripped from me. Why?!? Why does it have to end?" Reever's eyes now shone with a slight madness, teeth bared as he glared at the Chinese man, willing him to understand. Komui could only blink as the man continued his rant.

"And you know what makes it even worse? I actually wish we could go back to before the war ended…can you believe I would prefer to watch people die…lives be destroyed, just so I can be happy? How selfish is that?" Tears of frustration welled up in the corners of Reever's eyes and the tremors evolved into a full-bodied quake as the desperation to convey his message dissolved into anxiety.

"Damn it Komui, I already miss them, how the hell am I going to survive the rest of my life if I can't handle two weeks? Do I even deserve to be happy when I think like that?" his tirade over, breath drawn in gasps, he shook his chin from Komui's grasp and resumed his stare off with the ground.

Komui was sure he was doing a pretty accurate impression of a goldfish at that moment. Sure, the last time Reever had a breakdown he'd taken his Supervisor hostage as an act of rebellion against the Vatican, but he hadn't yelled, just quietly dissolved and shared his suffering. This Reever was far from the calm, controlled and levelheaded man he had come to know in his time working with the Australian. He didn't think a hug would suffice this time; it was more then likely he would get a punch in the face in return, with this somewhat drastic change to aforementioned section chief's behaviour.

After racking his brain for some way to help his friend…some way to offer at least some level of comfort to this man, a small idea made itself known before rapidly growing to a nagging undeniable solution. Rolling it around and observing it from all angles, a small smile crawled onto his face as he gave it his stamp of approval. Bringing his hands up once again he placed his left hand on Reever's shoulder and the right tilted the other mans chin. Taking a deep breath, whilst keeping his smile, he uttered a simple,

"How good is your Chinese?"

That obviously threw the Australian for a loop because all he got was a slightly blank 'huh?' expression in return. The grin grew wider on his face as he decided to tease Reever just a little more before getting to the point.

"Well I've heard you're quite good at linguistics, and I wanted to know, how good is your Chinese?"

Confusion still remained but irritation also joined the party as Reever recognised the evasion of the main point.

"Enough to get by…Why?"

Komui snickered and then replied in a blasé manner,

"Well after the order is completely closed Lenalee and myself will before heading back to our homeland to live and…" he trailed off tantalizingly close to his offer, teeth now showing in his growing glee.

"AND WHAT?" the Australian snarled.

"Now, now, Reever try and contain yourself," he tittered before quickly returning to his proposal when he saw murderous intent invade his victims face.

"Okay, no need to get so angry. I was going to say…'and I want to know whether you'd like to come with us?'"

He took a good look at the man and suppressed his laugh as the irritation and murderous intent shifted back to confusion.

"You want me to live with you? In China?"

"Well yes, you'd have to earn your keep, and most important of all…KEEP YOUR HANDS OF MY PRECIOUS LENALEE!" the end of his sentence was punctuated with a rather dramatic rise in pitch and accompanying waving arms (almost whacking Reever in the process as well).

"一个家, 一个家庭, 与你呢?" (A home, a family, with you?)

"是" (Yes)

Komui watched with relief as the offer finally sunk in and the burden seemed to evaporate from the Australian's entire frame. The stormy grey cleared to their crystal blue and met purple, asking once again a silent 'really?' in a rare bout of thickheadedness.

Komui nodded with a grin and almost laughed aloud as the transformation was completed. With that confirmation Reever proceeded to grin hugely and give his ex-supervisor a quick hug before cheerfully voicing, 'well we better get this work done so we can go home!' complete with a well practiced 'and-you-better-do-your-share-or-suffer-the-consequences' glare. Komui dramatically sighed whilst dragging himself towards the yet to be filed paperwork. Yes, he would finally be going home with Lenalee to China very soon and he would be bringing a very nice souvenir from his time at the Dark Order. Yes, life didn't get much better then this!

To Be Continued in Chapter Two - 'Collection'

A/N If you've made it the end Thank You for reading and I hope you liked it. This has been my little pet project for a while now…a nagging idea that has finally made it onto paper. 'The Little Things (That make me want to kill you)' is going to be a drabble(ish) series of chapters featuring Reever and Komui, in no particular order, and with no set update schedule (I'm not good at that). Oh and I apologise if the Chinese is wrong, I fed the sentence straight into a translator...Please review and tell me what you think…