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Kanda was nowhere to be found. One moment, his hand was in Johnny’s as the scientist led them through a particularly packed plaza, and in the next he was gone. It shouldn’t have been difficult to find the exorcist again; he had only been out of sight for a heartbeat or two, and between Kanda’s height and the fact that strangers tended to give the younger man a wide berth due to the fact that he was the living embodiment of “if looks could kill,” Johnny hadn’t been too worried about being able to find Kanda in the midst of the crowd.
But as he scanned the square, the familiar face was absent every which way he turned. And with as short as Johnny was, he knew that if he couldn’t see the taller man through the mob of people, there was no way that Kanda would be able to find him either. He looked up pitifully at his golem, which was fretting about above his head, appearing just as anxious as his master over the missing member of their party. With a groan, Johnny tightened his hold on his shoulder bag and set off in search of the exorcist.
After over an hour of wandering in circles without any luck with finding Kanda, concern was rapidly descending into complete and utter panic as Johnny’s mind started running through worst-case scenarios that might be able to explain the exorcist’s sudden disappearance—Akuma, one of the other exorcists, members of CROW, the Noah—Johnny tried to push the thoughts from his mind and began to walk faster, casting a nervous glance at the pink-tinged sky and praying that he would find Kanda before the sun had fully set.
As he rounded the corner to another side street, his golem suddenly perked up, darting ahead of him and banking sharply, vanishing overtop of a stone wall that enclosed one of the private courtyards that littered the narrow street. Finding a gate near to where his golem had gone over, Johnny peered through the iron bars and couldn’t believe the sight that lay before him: Kanda, in all of his imposing glory, sitting cross-legged on the grass with no less than ten puppies, all happily yipping and playing, with a smile on his face that was so gentle, Johnny almost believed that he imagined it.
One of the bigger dogs in the yard noticed him first, bounding over to the gate, barking excitedly and drawing Kanda’s attention, who waved for Johnny to join him. He let himself in through the gate, stepping gingerly over and around the puppies that had joined their mother in the spirited investigation of the newcomer.
Kanda chuckled as Johnny stumbled across the last few feet between them, getting tripped up by the small pups. “I was wondering where you got off to.”
The tops of Johnny’s ears turned red, “Me?! You’re the one who disappeared! Where did you even go?!” He tried not to yell, clenching his fists at his side and kicking himself for nearly having worried himself to death while the swordsman had been here, in the middle of a literal puppy pile. At least Kanda had the grace to look a little bit embarrassed.
“I saw this little guy in the square,” he held up the runt of the litter, “and when I turned back around, you were gone. Figured I’d get this kid home and then wait for you back at the hotel, but the owners aren’t home...” Johnny said nothing, his lips pinched together in a hard line. “…and there’s a hole in the wall…so he could have gotten lost again.”
More nothing. Kanda’s mouth was suddenly very dry, cautiously cataloging everything from the tension in the scientist’s body to the tears that refused to fall from the corners of his eyes. He slowly raised up to his knees, carefully dislodging the puppies that had been rolling around on his lap, and took Johnny’s hand, gently tugging him to the ground with him.
Half a dozen pups were on him in an instant, vigorously giving him more love and attention than he could shake a stick at. Johnny couldn’t help but smile; it was hard for him to stay mad at Kanda to begin with, and even harder with literal bundles of joy happily yipping around him.
“I’m sorry,” Johnny looked up from the puppy in his lap; the exorcist was avoiding his eyes, “that I worried you.”
The older man shrugged and opened his mouth to say something, but a woman appeared from inside the house on the other end of the courtyard and Kanda sprung to his feet to go speak with her, following her inside and leaving Johnny to flop backwards onto the grass to be thoroughly smothered by the dogs.
By the time Kanda returned from explaining the purpose of their intrusion, the last rays of sunlight were fading from the sky. And Johnny, bless him, was sound asleep on the ground, his head resting on one of the adult dogs while the puppies were snoozing on and around him in a pile. Kanda smiled to himself; it was a shame to have to disturb them. He nudged the sleeping man gently, who groaned groggily, blinking up at him.
Kanda poked him again, tugging lightly on one sleeve. “C’mon, let’s head back.” Johnny yawned in sync with one of the puppies as he tried to wake up but made no effort to get up. Kanda rolled his eyes, scooping up one brown pup. “Well, if you’re planning on staying here, I might as well take someone home with me. He even looks like you too.”
Johnny sat up with an indignant squeak, “What!”
He blushed when he noticed the playful smirk on Kanda’s face, getting to his feet much to the dogs’ dismay. He set the little dog back down with his siblings and extended his hand to the scientist. Johnny didn’t hesitate to take the offered hand, allowing Kanda to lead him from the quiet courtyard and back into the hustle and bustle of the town, both of them happy to have met new four-legged friends in addition to the two-legged one whose hand they were holding.