Warnings: AU. Violence.
Rating: PG13 for this part.
Disclaimer: I do not own d . gray-man, and am not making any money from this fanfic.

A/N; If you're an impatient reader looking forward Kanda and Allen interaction, skip to chapter four. If you're really impatient, skip to chapter seven. Things get more romantic there abouts, but not anything sappy. Summaries of what's happened up to then are provided. :)

The Search by smilingcrescent
Prologue

The feel of heat next to me—a body. Who?

My gloves are tight against my hands. The strangest thing, though, is the cold flash spreading from my neck to my sternum—arresting my heart and then releasing it.

I shake.

My vision goes black and then white—I'm not breathing—and I tremble from the strain of it. My whole self could be comprised of apprehension and heat.

Someone cries out. It's not a voice I know—but I can feel it reverberating up my arms and in my chest. Like a flurry of tremors and spasms, and my hands loosen just for a moment.

There's a moment of confusion before I manage a shaky breath.

Yes. That's it. Just breathe…

When my vision returns to me, it's dark. Past the late evening and into early morning by the still, quiet air. I'm still hot and cold in flashes, but the feeling is returning to my hands.

My fingers clench around something soft.

….I stop.

Something is wrong.

It clicks in my mind, and the trembling resumes. The man before me is in a bad way. There's the white foam about his mouth.

I stumble back from the man, unable to keep myself close. What is going on?

My eyes open.

...but everything

(no,no,no,no,no ) is the same.

The curtains sway in the cold night breeze.

A man lies on the ground, reaching for the door handle. A shadow falls over the window. It slides open without effort as a second man curiously watches the first make his progress inch by inch.

The man on the floor twitches, his body moving woodenly. Saliva slides out of his mouth and his eyes unfocus. But still, he moves.

The second man watches a moment longer and makes a tsking noise. He bends to fit through the opening, his feet sounding lightly on the wooden floor. The intruder hauls the man up by the throat before he can reach either the door or the knapsack left beside it.

The intruder smiles sadly, as though he is sorry for any discomfort. He speaks but the words are lost in the breeze.

In the darkened sky, the moon smiles down on the place, and somewhere, a song breaks.

Time will wait for but a moment.

Soon, all will fall into place.

...tbc