Author's Notes:

One-shot time (again)! X3 I need some sort of distraction from my seminar paper - I though that finally uploading this one-shot is good enough. *lol*

The inspiration for this short one-shot was quite a silly one: my cat (Kanda) decided to change her favorite spot from a fruit bowl to the serving tray. My father commented that with "Kanda à la Carte". Et voilà, here you go, my prompt. Upon my friend's advice I changed the title form "Kanda à la Carte" to "Hunting Season" (she suggested "Winter" but I guess that the winter theme will probably come up in a later story / one-shot, that's why I kept the title for later *lol*)

Just be warned, despite the stupidity this "prompt" may cause to ensue, I managed to make it rather dark.

Oh right. I just remembered. I wrote that while there was the Yullen week going on (which I unfortunately could not join due to end of semester stress). It even matched one of the promts - unintentionally.

Disclaimer: D. Gray-Man belongs to Katsura Hoshino

Warning: This contains slight Tyki x Allen material as well as a hint at Yullen. There's also some blood and uninspired musings concerning Allen, his past and Noahs.

Hunting Season

Allen Walker abhorred slaughter. He had seen gruesome things when he had been young. He used to live in bad districts of a big city. He had dwelt among those of the lowest sort of human beings, dwelt amongst them, been one of them. Where a human's life had no value, where the stench was bad, where the murderers and scum of society spent their time drinking, stealing, whoring and living in waste. Those people were more beast than human.

Unsightly.

Allen had worked in many places, running from one bread earning opportunity to the next. There was nothing he wouldn't do. No place where he wouldn't go. He has served food in workhouses, helped cleaning up after anatomy sessions, and got convicts down from the gallows. He had seen many dead people and he hated every form of cruelty, crime and murder. However, he knew the merits of winter. Even if more people died in the streets, it was more bearable in winter. There wasn't much snow to cover these unsightly things but the cold froze them, conserved them, and prevented an unbearable stench and fast rotting.

Allen decided that if there must be slaughter, let it be in winter!

It was just his luck that Tyki agreed with him on winter as the best season to be incredibly funny. In his terms anyway. The Earl still kept Allen in the mansion and Allen had no chance to go out into the snow. Of course, this temporarily confinement was the most logical thing to do. Allen was still bound by Innocence and many other things, it would not be wise to go send him out on an exorcist or human hunt. But he knew how to fuel his aggressive and murderous nature by letting him out into Japan, out to where he could hunt Akuma to his heart's content (they were replaceable anyway so it was no loss as long as they could keep their newest and potentially most powerful Noah).

Seeing as Allen had to stay inside and be peaceful (most of the time) Tyki took it upon himself to kill enough for two – it was a sign of devotion, mocking self-sacrifice and malice. Allen found it oddly charming.

Tyki returned from one of his many strolls through human cities into Allen's room where he was sitting at the window, looking at his reflection.

„Take a seat!" Tyki invited him and Allen turned to look at him. He seemed unhurt, so he probably didn't encounter any exorcists. Tyki must have seen his examining look because he started laughing „I got home some time ago, I have already refreshed myself. I am not presentable when bloody." Allen snorted at that but brushed away the long hair that fell into his ivory coloured face and took a seat at his mahogany table, folding his gloved hands on the surface.

„So. I listen. What is the matter?" Allen demanded. Tyki's smile widened when he saw the sparkle in Allen's breath-taking eyes. For a Noah he was incomplete. But all knew that he was the chosen among the chosen: his skin had paled even more and seemed now like freshly fallen snow. His eyes were a breath-taking, otherworldly pale purple. For Tyki – and Allen knew – the new Noah seemed like winter. He had transcended the fall, become something new, something white in a world dominated by black. Winter had a habit of devouring the dead.

Tyki knew that his courting practices were very successful, even though they tended to be tasteless.

„It's just the dish of the day. I thought you might want to take it in your own room," Tyki said with a dangerous gleam to his eyes and pulled out a leather-bound bill of fare and ceremoniously put it down on the table in front of Allen.

„You must have been here for quite some time if you were able to write a menu," Allen commented. Tyki laughed in amusement.

„Oh no. You underestimate me. I have prepared this for a long time so that I have it at hand when the time was right," Tyki explained and Allen raised a white eyebrow.

„What do you mean?" he demanded and the tall Noah grinned.

„You know, there's a season for special food to be, you know... found," he explained in nearly a purr. Allen frowned, but Tyki raised his hand, pointing at the menu. „What are you waiting for? Don't you want to consult your menu? There ought to be something that is to your refined and picky taste," he said with dangerous amusement in his voice. Allen refrained from arguing with Tyki and opened the leather bound menu, finding a piece of white parchment with careful, squiggly writing in red ink. Or was it really ink...? Allen ignored it, knowing Tyki's humour well enough as not to comment on it any longer.

Today's speciality. Lord Tyki Mikk's personal recommendation:

Exorcist General KANDA Yu, best served with vin de Champagne

„I would highly recommend you to take his heart, you could combine it with various vegetables and a white sauce complete with freshly picked mushrooms. Well, I don't vouch for those, Cyril picked them," Tyki said, pointing at a line on the parchment listing various portions of the recently caught soon-to-be meat on Allen's silver plate. Allen didn't reply and continued studying the menu.

Exorcist General. Kanda Yu.

Tyki was visibly amused by Allen's silence.

„Well I hear that you like liver as well. Or should I just get you a portion of fingers for starters?" For a while Allen didn't reply, but then he closed the menu, sighed and closed his eyes for a moment, then he opened them again. The smile he showed Tyki was beautifully sinister, it sent a shiver down the other Noah's spine.

„Fabulously done, Tyki Mikk," Allen praised, „it must have been a hassle to catch this particular specimen." Tyki seemed flattered.

„Don't worry about it, it was a lucky catch," he replied and Allen laughed.

„No, no. I honour your engagement," he said and looked out of the window where he could see snow covering the fields behind their mansion. When he turned back to Tyki his grin was still in place, „I will take today's specialty."

„And what part?"

„The whole," Allen replied with a sinister voice. Tyki approved with roaring laughter and went to get his order. The young Noah snorted. „Kanda à la Carte..." He turned around and looked out again.

„Winter is the best time for slaughter. Winter devours the dead... and the living."

It was an Akuma servant that brought Allen his dinner. A wise and tactful decision by Tyki Mikk. Considerate, even though he must have liked to participate in a blood-bath. Kanda, Allen realized, was still living when he was brought to him. His eyes were covered with a silk cloth with golden embroidery that had fresh blood stains on it. His body was tied by silver chains wrapped around arms and legs. Allen was looking at his dinner like someone studying a tank with lobsters, deciding which one to take. He had not been skinned yet; he still wore his uniform which was partly torn. His hair was undone and a general mess and he had dried blood sticking to the visible parts of his face. Unsightly. Raw.

Allen reached out his hand and pulled off the blind fold. Kanda immediately reacted and his eyes snapped open, trying to take in his surroundings. When his eyes fell on the Noah before him they widened.

„Beansprout!" he hissed in surprise and no other words followed. Allen found the state Kanda was in quite amusing and continued studying him until Kanda started moving, jerking at the chains. „Shit!". Allen didn't say anything, but opened the chains as well with a mere touch of his hand. Kanda shot up, hissing from some left-over pain. He glared at Allen, without doing anything else. Allen merely looked at him as well. Kanda was sitting on his table, between the plates, glasses, vase of flowers and candles. It really was a sight to behold.

„What do you want?" Kanda finally spoke up and Allen had to chuckle.

„Actually I had planned to eat, you were on my menu," he replied and Kanda stared at him first in shock, then in indignation and finally in rage.

„You bastard!" he hissed and wanted to grab Allen by the collar, but the Noah merely raised a hand, stopping Kanda's fist with his fingers. Kanda seemed surprised, but he collected himself pretty fast. He knew that he was at a disadvantage; he faced a Noah without Innocence. „Is this where the killed exorcist ended up? On your plate?!". Allen laughed at this accusation.

„Yes. But you know, exorcists don't really sit that well with my stomach," Allen said and got up from his chair, walking to the window. „That's why you're not going to stay where you are right now. I think it's unsightly for you to sit on my dinner table". Furiously Kanda got up and looked for any weapon that he might get in order to fight the enemy who had once been his friend. Allen actually had an arsenal of weapons in his chamber and Kanda grabbed the next he could find; a rapier. But his attack didn't have much effect because Allen just stopped it again with one hand and then pulled the rapier out of Kanda's hands.

„Don't fight a Noah without Innocence. You should know as much..." Allen said with a sigh, „really, you are still stupid." Kanda glared at him, ready to attack him again, even with bare fists if it has to be!

„Better this than change in the way you did!" Kanda exclaimed and the Noah sighed again, then he touched the wall where a white door appeared under his fingers. Kanda knew that it was a connection to the Ark. Allen opened the door and pointed inside.

„Now come on. If you decide to get back up on my table then hurry up," Allen told him and Kanda had no clue what the Noah wanted of him. But he decided to follow his order, it didn't make any difference where they fought or where he died. But it seemed most shameful to die at a table. On a table to be exact. The next room they were in was a garden with high ivy covered stone walls. The sky over their heads was darkened by grey clouds. The ground was concealed by a thin layer of snow. There was a door on the other side of the enclosed space, nearly disappearing under a veil of ivy. In the middle Kanda could see heaps of earth and stone crosses. It looked like graves.

„I am a Noah, which Noah in his right mind would eat Innocence infested bodies?" Allen asked as if this question was the most obvious thing in the world. „So I took them here instead. They were mostly gifts by Tyki. I couldn't possibly throw them away, it would not be polite,"

„Are you insane?! What the hell are you talking about?!" Kanda shouted staring at the graves of the fallen exorcists.

„Don't be inconsiderate. We Noahs have feelings too, Tyki Mikk would feel hurt". Kanda just stared at Allen's back in disbelief. The boy had crossed the garden and now stood at the other door, Kanda followed after a long while. Allen stood next to the door, the hand on the rusty knob. Kanda stood in front of him, waiting for something to happen. He had no clue what the Noah was up to, did he want to bury him as well? Kanda froze when Allen raised his head again. His eyes were grey, as grey as the sky over them, and he smiled.

„Did you know that winter is also the seasons where secrets are being hidden the best? Snow barely covers the corpses of the dead, but it does cover lies," he said then he opened the door. Kanda could feel warm air coming from the darkness beyond it. When he dared to take his eyes off Allen to look to the side, he was prevented from doing it by Allen's hand on the side of his face. Allen's warm hand turned Kanda's face back to the shorter young man. „You were my dinner, do not forget that, if you let yourself be caught again you will be eaten," he warned, then he placed a kiss on he corner of Kanda's mouth, where blood still stuck to his skin. Kanda stared at Allen but then the Noah pushed Kanda, so that he looked into the door. He could see the inside of his own room. Kanda walked into it and turned back to where Allen was standing. Allen smiled.

„The uncovering of the lies comes when the snow melts. Survive the winter and wait for spring." With that Allen's eyes changed back to purple and he closed the door.

-

When Tyki came to see Allen, the table was in a mess and Allen's lips blood stained.

„You liked it then, my Kanda à la Carte?" he asked with a grin and rubbed his finger against the blood on Allen's lips. Allen smiled and nodded, lowering his head. Tyki widened his smile and brushed his hand over Allen's cheeks. „We still have to work on your reaction, you know? You shouldn't cry every time, it's pointless," he said and Allen laughed weakly, wiping his eyes.

„I know." Tyki bent down and looked Allen into the eyes.

„Next time I bring you the menu, you will do better," he said with a sinister grin, „I'm sure. Winter's still long."

„Yes..." Allen agreed and smiled, „winter's only just begun."

End

Notes:

I guess I best leave this open for interpretation :D