Yuu Kanda scanned the shelves in the library of Black Order Acadamy, looking for something to ease his boredom that morning. He had woken up exceptionally early that morning and couldn't fall back asleep. Kanda had went through his morning routine, but when he tried to meditate, he found he was too wound up for some reason, and couldn't concentrate.
So, he had went to the library. His first thought was to practice in the dojo, but it doesn't open until the first bell. He stopped at a book that looked interesting, The Compendium of Japanese Folklore. He plucked the book from the shelf and walked over to a table by the largest window.
Kanda flicked to the table of contents and skimmed it for stories he didn't know. He had grown up in a Japanese temple, up until the start of high school, so he knew most of what was in it. He saw something that caught his eye, in italics was something called "The Red String of Fate".
He flipped to the corresponding page and saw a picture of a hand with a glowing rouge string tied in a bow around the pinky finger, one end trailed off out of view, then back into view as it connected to someone else's pinky finger.
He read carefully down the page, and summed it up in his head. The "Red String of Fate" was a string that connected you with the person you were meant to be with. It couldn't be cut or changed, and it would stretch as far as it needed to. Sometimes, on rare occasions, people who have just met their soul mate could see that string, to point them in the right direction.
The morning bell rang, meaning he had five minutes to make it to homeroom across campus. Kanda left the book open on the table and quickly left the library, going into the hallway and began running. He ran down three flights of stairs and through a long hallway, then he crossed the large courtyard, avoided the main office, and dashed for the school building, going up a flight of stairs and making it in the classroom and into his seat just before the bell rang again, signallng tardiness.
He sighed and put his head down on his desk as Lavi Bookman began talking his ear off. Kanda sat in the very back, next to the window, with an empty seat in front of him and (much to Kanda's annoyance) Lavi sat to his right. Whenever Professor Tiedoll wasn't teaching, Lavi would turn to his left and would talk and talk and talk and talk...until Kanda threatened to hurt him, then he would shut up for a few minutes.
Professor Tiedoll was the most liked teacher on campus, but he still got on Kanda's nerves because he insisted on using Kanda's first name, something the other teachers had learned not to do. He seemed to care for his students more than other teachers did, and he was lax about things other teachers would freak about, like talking without raising a hand, or chewing gum, or sleeping in class.
As Professor Tiedoll walked in, Kanda looked up, and watched him set down his binders on his desk, then walked to the podium and push his glasses up further on hs nose. He straightened and smiled at the class, getting mostly tired looks back.
"We have a new student joining us today. I expect you to welcome him warmly," he turned to the door and spoke a bit louder. "You can come in now."
As the door opened, Kanda was suprised. At first he thought it was an old man, but he looked closer and corrected himself. The boy was shorter than him, had snow white, semi-long hair, and a pentacle tattooed on his forehead, that had a bit that extended down to cut through his left eye and flourish further to the left. The boy's left hand was gloved, and Kanda could tell that arm must be disfigured. He seemed different too, he wasn't the usual apathetic school kid like the rest of them. He seemed sort of optimistic.
That's when Kanda saw it. Tied on the boy's right pinky was red string. The strand drooped from the boy's pinky and weaved through the desks...and the other end was tied onto Kanda's left pinky. He couldn't believe his eyes as he stared at the end that was tied to him.
"My name is Allen Walker. I've been traveling around the world with my godfather, Professor Cross, who's going to replace one of the Biology teachers. Nice to meet you." As he was introducing himself, Allen's eyes had been down, but he had seen the string too and had traced it back to Kanda. Allen stared at the boy with long raven hair and could tell that Kanda was equally surprised and confused about the string beng there, but seemed to know what it was somehow.
"The only empty seat is there," Tiedoll points to the desk in front of Kanda. "In front of Yuu."
"Don't call me that you old geezer! It's Kanda! Kanda!" He stood quickly and growled at Tiedoll, knocking over his chair and momentarily forgetting about Allen. Kanda scowled and picked his char up and sat back down.
As Allen made his way to his new seat, the string's length shortened. By the time Allen was seated, the string was only about 4 feet long, and instead of drooping to the floor, it stayed suspended in air.
Tiedoll declared the class a study period to let Allen adjust to his classmates, but most of them just talked amongst themselves. Lavi on the other hand, took to Allen in a heartbeat. He introduced himself, and formally introduced Kanda, earning himself a death threat because he used Kanda's first name.
Thankfully, Allen didn't mention the string. In fact, he wouldn't even look at Kanda. Even though Kanda didn't say anything the rest of the period (unless to threaten Lavi), it made him angry that Allen hadn't looked at him at all. He cursed himself, he was acting like a middle school girl getting flustered that their crush wasn't looking at them specifically.
Soon, it was the end of class. Kanda left the room with Allen and Lavi, but Lavi soon turned and went in a different direction. Allen and Kanda walked together for a while without saying anything, then Kanda turned and looked at Allen.
"Are you following me or something?" He asked gruffly.
"No, my next class is in room..." Allen glanced at the schedule in his hands, "304."
Kanda glanced at him, suprised they were going to the same class. In this school, it was very, VERY rare to have two classes in a row with someone. It was supposedly to give students a bigger group of people to know, to build wider horizons.
Kanda snatched Allen's schedule away, skimming the whole thing. "What the hell?"
Allen cocked his head curiously, for some reason he didn't want to make Kanda upset, "What? Is something wrong?"
"We have every class together..." Allen blinked at him, frozen by suprise. "Why do I have to have every class with a Moyashi?" Kanda muttered,
Allen scowled, "It's Allen, BaKanda! And what's so wrong with me?"
Kanda stopped, so so did Allen, they glared at each other for several seconds, then they both turned their faces away and continued walking without looking at eachother. A light blush dusted each of their cheeks.
They didn't interact at all despite the universe's attempt at pulling them together. In each class they say near each other, or were made lab partners. But, finally it was lunch and they could finally seperate. Kanda got his lunch and went to the roof, where he usually ate lunch alone. Emphasis on ALONE.
After a few minutes of eating there, the door to the starcase opened and Allen walked onto the almost deserted roof, and froze when he saw Kanda there. Kanda was eating his lunch silently, still staring at the 'intruder' and saw that Allen had three trays of food, rather than one.
Kanda muttered, "Glutton Moyashi."
Allen stormed across the roof and plopped down across from Kanda, proceeding to eat his lunches. He scowled as he ate, but he ate quickly.
"I didn't ask for you to eat with me, Moyashi."
"I didn't come looking for you either, but I'm here now and I don't feel like leaving, BaKanda."
"Well, why not?"
"I wanted to ask you something anyway..."
"What?" Kanda asked grumpily.
"Why's there a red string connecting us? It doesn't look like anyone can see it either..."
Kanda froze, not knowing how to answer that, or if he wanted to at all. "Why do you think I know?"
"You look like you do, plus you're getting defensive now."
"Go look up 'the Red String of Fate'." Kanda got up and took his tray with him, leaving the roof, and Allen, behind.
Allen stared after the raven haired boy. His heart beat a bit faster than usual, and he could tell that his face was flushed pink. Why? He thought, Why do I feel all warm when I'm with him? And what's this string? He held the hand up and stared at it.
That damn Moyashi is killing me! These feelings are the fucking strings fault! Kanda dropped his tray off in the cafeteria and stormed off to meditate before his next class.
