First D. Gray-Man fic, so please enjoy :)

Disclaimer: I do not own, otherwise we would have another chapter by now :)

Bittersweet

He ignored the greetings, the welcome backs, the people trying to get him to go to the goddamn infirmary... really, didn't they realise by now that he would heal just fine without their fucking help?

"Kanda!" Komui yelled, thoroughly frustrated with the teen. "Will you stop acting so recklessly?"

And Lenalee and Allen just stood side by side, watching, because they understood and knew that no matter how they tried, they wouldn't be able to detour the Japanese youth from his set path.

Once he was finally clear of the shouting and yelling and the irritating, totally unnecessary worry, he noticed that he had pulled a couple of his wounds with how fast he was walking, and that blood was dripping behind him, leaving a trail, as he headed up and up and up to where he knew the other would be.

And he got there later than he would have liked, because people kept stopping him, asking if he was ok (though they fled the second he turned his glare on them) and he kept having to stop so he could spit out the blood that kept flooding his mouth.

Nevertheless, he got there and he opened the door calmly, and waited for the other to notice his presence. He waited patiently (a word not often associated with his personality) and eventually the other turned around and smiled.

There were no words of welcome exchanged, no conversation, they just stared at each other and Lavi's smile widened and Kanda rolled his eyes.

Lavi knew that the look in Kanda's eyes was ultimate trust and it worried him, because he did not want to have to break that later on and break off whatever relationship they had when he had to leave the Order.

And Kanda recognised the emotion in Lavi's smile was worry and that irritated him because, yes, there was a lot of blood but no, he wouldn't die just yet... he wouldn't break off this bittersweet companionship just yet.

They had been enemies, best friends, lovers, brothers, ex's, companions and the list went on and on but it did not deter them and it was just the way they liked it. No one understood them, not they cared because it was too hard to explain anyway.

"Welcome back, Yuu," Lavi said gently, leaning against the railing and looking down over his shoulder at the ground so far below them.

Yuu grunted before letting out the usual 'che' and turning on his heel. He'd come and done what he needed to do, he knew Lavi was now still here and hadn't yet left the Order. One day when they were younger, he had dragged Lavi into a deserted hallway and told him about the lotus and the tattoo on his chest, and he had quite calmly explained that when the last petal fell, he would die.

Therefore, now whenever Lavi returned from a mission, he would go see Kanda to make sure he was still alive because on that day, he had also told Kanda the truth and workings of the Bookman Clan, and that he would eventually have to leave.

They both understood that one would eventually leave the other, and that was made their relationship so curious, because they understood each other so easily.

"You're prayer beads are gone," commented Lavi when he noticed the bracelet wasn't around Kanda's wrist, because he knew they meant so much to the Japanese youth.

Kanda paused with his hand on the door and didn't turn around as he said, "you've gotten a new bandanna," because he'd noticed that it was cleaner and stiffer, even though he knew that it meant nothing what-so-ever to the Bookman Apprentice.

And as Kanda left him there, Lavi grinned. Their relationship of best friends, lovers, ex's, enemies, companions, brothers and the list still went on, lasted on mutual understanding.

Kanda smirked and Lavi smiled and Kanda was bleeding and Lavi was recording and it was all so bittersweet.