Summary: Two years after the Final Battle, Bookman (Lavi) is back in London, where Fate decides to throw him in the midst of "Lavi's" friends. They all accept his choice to take the deceased Bookman's place...all except one. Kanda refuses to believe that "Lavi" is gone, and is determined to bring his ex-lover back, whatever way he can.
Oh yeh...UKE-LAVI~!!!!

Author's Note: Hiya~ I'm finally back! (Well...back ta bein' -slightly- productive). I'm sorry i've been inactive fer so long - since April, i think? At least, tha' was when i last updated "Traitor"...which HAS NOT been abandoned, people!! I've jus' been busy. I'm halfway through writin' the epilogue, an' it'll hopefully be posted...soon? I'm hopin' at LEAST within the month...
Anyhoodles. This fic, is one i started a few months ago. Jus' haven't gotten around ta postin' it here, till now. Gunna put it up on my AFF account, as well, soon as i'm done here. In any case, the second chapter is done as well, but i'm not gunna post it here till i'm at least HALFWAY through chapter 3. Gomen ne, mina.

-bows-

(Ps, sorry this is SO DAMNED SHORT. I know i usually write chapters a bit longer than this, but...this is where i wanted ta leave this one off. So yeh. Forgive me?)

Disclaimer: No, i dun own D. Gray-Man. If i did, well.....i think ya all know what'd happen, jus' from readin' my fictions, ne? -evil cackle-

Enjoy, my minions~!!!!! 8D

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Chapter One - First Contact

Bookman tucked away his notebook as the train lurched to a stop. Gathering his limited possessions, the redhead stepped off the train, and into the night. It was the first time he'd been in London since the old Bookman had died, leaving the grief-stricken teenager to take his place. That had been just over two years ago.

It sure brought back a lot of memories; not all of them good.

The young Bookman let out a soft sigh, and turned left, heading in the direction of the nearest Inn. The trek took him an overall fifteen minutes, and soon he was standing in the entrance of a grand building, with obvious Chinese influence in its architecture. He'd be sure to add that to his logs, later.

Wasting no time, he opened the door, and walked inside, leaving the cold of the night behind him. The instant the door creaked shut, a young Chinese woman - who'd been sitting behind the desk, reading - snapped her head up to look at him, a well-practiced smile plastered to her face. The smile faltered as soon as she recognized the young man who'd entered.

"L-Lavi!?" she exclaimed, her mouth falling open partly in surprise, and partly in disbelief. "What are you-You're alive??"

Bookman smiled politely, and inclined his head toward the girl. "Hello, Lenalee. It's good to see you are well."

Lenalee's expression changed to one of sadness, as she immediately noted the stark change in "Lavi's" personality. "You're not...Lavi, anymore, are you? You're Bookman."

"And you're no longer miss Lee. Am I right, Mrs. Walker?" he responded, having noticed the fine diamond on the woman's finger.

Lenalee blushed, and nodded. "You know, La-Bookman," she corrected her slip immediately. "Yuu-kun is still in London... You should say hi to him, while you're here."

Bookman's mask of indifference faltered for the briefest of moments at the mention of his once-lover, but he caught himself before the other could notice. "He wouldn't want to see me," the redhead stated simply, his voice completely devoid of any form of emotion.

"He'll want to know you're alive, at the very least!" the Chinese woman insisted vehemently. "He thinks you're dead!! We all did!!"

"I'm sorry that I led you to believe I suffered such a fate, but as you now know, that is not the case. I am only in town for a few weeks, after which I will be leaving. It's unlikely any of you will be seeing or hearing from me again, after that. It would be best if no one else knew of my...presence here."

Lenalee scoffed. "Well, that's not going to happen. Allen checks the activity log every night, and every morning. He'll see that you're here, and easily put it together. As for Yuu-kun, I am going to be informing him that you're here. If he wants to see you or not, will be up to him. But I will NOT keep this from them. We're your friends!"

"You were 'Lavi's' friends," Bookman corrected calmly. "Lavi is gone. Therefore, I maintain no ties to any of you, and as such, have no obligations to you."

Lenalee's eyes darkened in anger, and she stalked up to Bookman, and promptly slapped him across the cheek. Hard.

"How DARE you!!" she all but screamed at him. "We cared about you, dammit!! We still do!! I don't CARE if you think you're not the same, or that you have no ties to us! That doesn't change how WE feel about you! And Yuu-kun... Yuu-kun loves you, for God's sake! Even after thinking you were dead for over two years, he still loves you."

Bookman's face was a hard, emotionless mask. "I'd like a room, please," he finally whispered, leaving no room for further discussion on the topic.

Lenalee nodded, her lips drawn in a taut line. The small Chinese woman went to a cabinet behind the counter, and retrieved a fairly new-looking silver key. She pushed it towards him, along with a list of signatures. "Sign here, please. Breakfast is served at 8:30am."

Precisely 21 minutes and 13 seconds later, Bookman had unpacked his meagre belongings, and was laying on the rather comfortable bed. He'd already recorded a description of the room in his log. A twin-sized bed - with four plush gold pillows, and a matching comforter - was tucked neatly into the right corner of the room, and if the redhead lifted his head to look over his feet, he would see the door. In the left corner of the room - directly opposite the bed - was an intricate, decent-sized Asian-themed wardrobe, which already held all his clothes, and his satchel. In the center of the room, was a simple, yet elegant rug, of the brightest shade of red - and the young man couldn't help but laugh at the irony, that he should get a room with accessories to match the alarming shade of his hair. There was a large window in the middle of the wall, between the bed and the wardrobe, and below it was a fine desk, carved out of ceadar-wood.

Bookman stiffled a yawn, then turned to the small alarm clock on the nightstand next to the bed. 11:54pm. Quite early, considering how late he usually stayed up. But tonight he was weary, the long journey having robbed him of most of his energy. So he pulled the blankets up to his chin, and was soon asleep.

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The alarm was blaring.

It needed to shut up.

But if it shut up, its whole purpose would be defeated. And Bookman didn't like things without a purpose.

With an exaggerated groan of defeat, Bookman sat up and slid his feet out of the bed. Running a quick hand through the tangled mess that was his hair, he decided he was in dire need of a shower. The young man stood up, and made his way to the walk-in bathroom, located next to the wardrobe. After he washed, he would go downstairs, and see what was being served for breakfast.

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The moment he stepped foot inside the dining area, he regretted it. It wasn't the harsh glare from Allen Walker - who was serving another guest their tea - that chilled his blood. Nor was it the semi-apologetic look Lenalee was casting him. No...what made the young Bookman stop in his tracks, was the equally young Asian man seated at a table in the corner of the room, dark eyes narrowed. Directly. At. Him.

Bookman made a face, and promptly turned on his heel, prepared to leave the room and pretend he hadn't seen any of those painfully familiar faces. But suddenly, there were hands roughly gripping both his upper arms, preventing him from vacating the scene as he so wished.

"You're not going anywhere, baka Usagi." The voice was low and familiar, with just the hint of a threat of danger in it's undertones. But even without that voice so close, Bookman knew instantly who it was standing behind him. "Not until we talk."

"Please unhand me, Kanda."

The grip on his arms tightened considerebly, and suddenly he was being spun around, and slammed into the wall, with the Japanese man towering over him. When he'd gotten so tall, Bookman had no clue, but this was most definitely going in the record.

"Don't....you ever call me that...!!"

"But that's your name," Bookman defended blankly.

"Don't give me that bullshit, Lavi!!" Kanda snarled, leaning in so close that their noses were almost touching. "You've never called me 'Kanda', and I sure as Hell don't want you to start now!"

By this time, Allen was hearding any lingering customers out of the dining area, and Lenalee was watching the two older males with a worried expression, her hands wringing tighly in her apron.

"You...I should kill you right now..."

"But what purpose would that serve?" Bookman questioned calmly. "Who would benefit from my death? Certainly not you."

That remark earned him nothing but a hard smack to his right cheek. Kanda's hand had moved so fast, he couldn't have blocked it even if it hadn't been on his blind side.

"And what makes you think that? You think I wouldn't hesitate to rid the world of a bitch like you?"

"You won't kill me, because you still love 'Lavi', and I still look like him," reasoned Bookman, though his confidence was dwindling. Kanda's eyes widened briefly in shock, before narrowing in a dark scowl. The next thing either of them knew, Kanda had lunged forward, and claimed the young redhead's lips in a harsh kiss, betraying all his pent up anger, grief, hatred, and even love. Bookman gasped, and the samurai took advantage of his parted lips, to deepen the kiss. Lenalee and Allen had already left the room - giving the two men some privacy - but neither seemed to notice their absence. Finally regaining his senses, Bookman promptly shoved Kanda away from him, though the older man's painfully tight grip on his arms remained.

"What the Hell do you think you're doing, Kanda?"

"Kissing you," the Asian man replied smugly, a light smirk playing upon his lips. "Is it really that strange, considering how...close we were?"

Bookman sighed, and gazed up at Kanda with a narrowed eye. "You and 'Lavi' were lovers. I am not 'Lavi'. Not anymore."

Kanda smacked him again.

"You are! You may not think you are, but I know Lavi's still in there somewhere! And I will do whatever it takes to bring make you realize that."

With a surprising show of strength, Bookman knocked the swordsman back and away from him. Not waiting for the startled man to recover, the younger of the two walked at a brisk pace to the door. Stopping with his hand on the knob, he looked back over his shoulder, at Kanda with a pitiful expression. "'Lavi' is dead. You can't bring back the dead, Kanda."

And then, he was gone.

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Author's Note: Well!! Whaddya think of the first installment? I hope ya all liked it as much as i do...well, maybe not AS much - tha'll be a hard feat ta accomplish - but at least enough ta.......LEAVE A REVIEW???? Seriously, peoples...it ain't tha' hard. I ain't expectin' ya ta right me a novel, jus' click a lil' button, an' tell me what ya think~ Even if it's jus' a few short words. I'll leave it open ta anonymous reviews, but make sure ta USE YER USERNAME, or at LEAST leave me yer email address (in this format: blank (at) email-source (dot) com ), so i can git back ta ya an' answer any questions ya may have.

Love ya all~

-hearts-