Title: Salt and Pepper
Author: Celirian
Series: D Gray Man/ 30 Kisses Prompts
Disclaimer: Not so much.
Summary: It became something of a game for Allen and something of a torture for Kanda. For everyone else it was entertainment.
A/N: This story is going to follow the 30 kisses meme you can find on LiveJournal. The idea is that you chose any two characters from any series (guy/ girl, guy/guy, girl/girl) whatever your fancy. Each chapter has a prompt and within that chapter you must accomplish two goals: 1. Follow the theme for the prompt 2. Have your two characters kiss. It can be intimate, playful, accident…just so long as there's a kiss involved. The names of the chapters will be the prompts.
I obviously have chosen Allen and Kanda for these prompts. I'm really not experienced writing guy/guy or really any kind of kissing…at all. In fact this is my second attempt. Ever. Most of these will probably be less intimate than some would expect and/or want. While I am totally a-okay with Allen and Kanda getting down with each other that's just not what I write, so if you're expecting anything hardcore this is not the place to be. The chapters will be different. Some will be more like narrative and the POVs will change.
Most (well all really) of these chapters are non-cannon. I'm not trying to place them within any specific time frame of the manga (or anime for those of you who only watched that) mostly because I'm a little meh about where the manga has been recently (and by recently I mean the past…er…2 years). If you really wanna put these in some kind of time frame, think after the Black Order HQ in Europe gets trashed and they move to China, but before things got…weird. Like around the time they found Timothy. Other characters may or may not make an appearance, I'm not really sure. At this point I'm just kind of winging things by the seat of my pants.
Anywho, enough rambling. Onwards to beansprouts and grumpy samurais!
Chapter 1: "Hey, over here!"
It became something of a game for Allen and something of a torture for Kanda.
For everyone else it was entertainment.
It all started after Kanda had returned to the Black Order's new (temporary) headquarters in China from a particularly bad mission in Russia… in the middle of winter. After returning alone, in the dead of night with no jacket, a cracked Mugen, and nursing a very sore back from an unfortunate encounter with a patch of ice on a very steep set of stairs, he appeared at breakfast the next morning in a mood that even Lenalee couldn't soften.
Everyone knew the mission had gone terribly wrong, but that was about all they knew. It was obvious in the way Kanda didn't carry his head high as he walked stiffly down the hall. How his ever present companion wasn't clipped to his belt. How he refused to go see the doctors when his normally quick paced healing abilities were taking their time on his back. How he refused to look anyone in the eye and how the mention of Marshal Tiedoll's name made him outwardly flinch.
The hows and whys were left unanswered, but it didn't take an expert to know that Kanda was going to be more than his usual grumpy self for a while. No matter how much anyone wanted to know the details, no one had the gall to ask him what happened.
That would be suicide.
So that's why at breakfast Allen got up from his seat on the third morning and practically skipped across the mess hall to plop himself down across from Kanda, folded his hands in front of him and smiled in his usual cheerful manner.
"Hey Kanda. How's it going?"
Dead silence fell as almost every pair of eyes turned to watch the inevitable beat down that was about to take place. Those who didn't look, turned away pretending that that had not just happened. Reever scooted along the back wall and out the double doors as fast as he could, his empty dirty plate still in his hands. A few more of the science department wasn't too far behind; they got in enough trouble as it was, no way they were going to get caught up in Allen's apparent death wish.
Everyone knew the ending to such an act could only be… well painful, even if Mugen was being repaired. It was common knowledge that Kanda was more than capable of pounding anyone and anything without a blade.
With the mood he'd been in, it was likely that the chopsticks Kanda was using to eat his soba were about to need a cleaning. Followed by a sanitizing. Or really just a burning. Blood never washed out of bamboo very well.
But Allen waited. Quiet. Still. Hands folded and dorky overly-cheerful smile plastered on his face. He knew what was coming as well as everyone else and he had been ready for it from the moment he decided to cross the hall.
Then it didn't happen. Nothing happened.
Kanda put his chopsticks down and stared at the younger exorcist for a solid minute before he stood up, turned on his heel, and strode out of the room leaving behind a bowl of half eaten soba and one very confused Allen Walker.
Everyone thought that would be that. Allen would go back to being Allen and Kanda would go back to being Kanda. Snide remarks and witty snips tossed back and forth in the halls and threats of poundings during spars followed by actual poundings during spars (and a couple hits outside of spars).
But Allen was everything but predictable on the most normal days and this time the young teen found himself determined to get some kind of response from Kanda before he would let up. For his comrade to not have a comeback? That just didn't bode well at all.
Geez Kanda, what happened out there?
Kanda was never one to be phased by something going wrong when he was working on a job. He took the problem head on and walked through whatever puddle of a mess he was stuck in. Sure he'd be dirty and he'd be wet and miserable, but in the end he'd be on the other side walking away and never looking back. Missions were something the swordsmen resigned himself too, Allen learned that very very quickly. They were the most important thing in Kanda's life because they were the only thing in Kanda's life. So when something went wrong Kanda fixed it.
When something went wrong Kanda fixed it and never gave it a second thought.
Now? Kanda was giving second thoughts….and third and fourth and hell…thirtieth thoughts. Whatever happened had shaken him and for as irritating and angering and insufferable Allen found Kanda to be at times; those things would never outweigh the fact that Kanda was his ally. His comrade. His friend.
It was time to give Kanda other things to think about.
And so the game continued. Each morning when the young swordsmen sat down with his soba noodles, he would look up from his prayer to see gray, stormy eyes staring at him from under sloppy white bangs and that stupid, maddening smile. All eyes would turn and wait to see if he would do anything different today. Kanda was pretty sure that Director Bak had started to take bets after the fifth day and it was obvious that the crowd in the mornings had slowly gotten larger (and most people weren't even eating).
At first he only had to endure the one question. "How's it going?"
It was easy to ignore. Put chopsticks down. Glare. Get up. Stalk away. Avoid Walker for the rest of the day.
It was annoying sure, especially on the days Allen came just a little earlier and a more than full bowl of noodles was left uneaten, but he could handle it.
It was about all he could handle.
Then Allen changed the game. Suddenly it wasn't just "how's it going" anymore. It was a new question tacked onto a roll of questions and pokes and prods that would rattle out in a fast slur of sentences that came without breaks between them.
"Hey, Kanda!"
"How's it going Kanda?"
"Hey, hey Kanda?"
"What are you doing today Kanda?"
"Hey Kanda, what are you so angry about?"
"Feeling okay today, Kanda?"
"Kanda, over here. Hello!"
It was as if Allen had adopted that stupid Rabbit's hyper personality (or at least had taken lessons on how to be the most annoying pest in the order) and it didn't end there. Not at breakfast anyway. Lunch and dinner became no different. Sit down, eat fast, listen for the silence that cued the beansprout's initial movement towards him and prepare.
Kanda was beginning to think he should start forgoing meals.
But that wouldn't do anything. Walker would find him somewhere else, that was for certain. During meditation, while he was reading or walking or practicing his sword stances… it probably wouldn't be very long before Allen was knocking at the door to his room. Heaven help the kid if he ever got bold enough to do that.
When were Mugen's repairs going to be finished? Then he could beat the ever loving crap out of Allen for annoying him. Not that he couldn't have done that already, but once Mugen was back at his side he could finish things faster. A swift kick to the rear and then…
Then he could leave. Leave on another mission and just forget the past month. Leave and not have to answer stupid questions that no one really wanted the answers to. Answers he didn't want to give. What the hell was Allen playing at anyway? He had never taken an interest like this before.
Well, that wasn't entirely true. He usually asked to be polite (because he was always infuriatingly polite), but a brief 'shut up' usually ended the conversation pretty quickly. Now Allen seemed more determined than a hungry tiger chasing its prey. He wanted an answer for some reason and it was becoming very apparent he wasn't going to stop until he got one.
Damn it all.
"You sure you don't want in this morning, Walker?"
Allen looked at Bak with a small roll of his eyes. "Why would I take a bet on myself Bak-san?"
"The pots pretty big now…" Bak grinned at him and waved a piece of paper scribbled with names and numbers in the air. "We've got over eight hundred Yuan on whether he'll break today or not."
"Break?" Allen frowned up at the director and then glanced quickly over at Kanda who was waiting in line for his food. "That's not a very nice way of putting it…I'm not trying to break anything."
"You know what I mean!" Bak sat down next to Allen nudging him in the arm. "You've been whittling him down for almost five weeks now. Mugen will be repaired tomorrow, so this could be your last chance for a while."
Allen shook his head as he put aside his third bowl of noodles. "I'm only doing this because I'm worried."
"You mean you're not trying to get yourself killed?"
"Kanda won't do that."
"And how long have you been working with him?" Bak smirked as he tilted his head to the side before sobering quickly. "I can understand your worry Allen, but… I don't know. That nuisance Komui won't even give me the details and I'm the head of this branch!"
Allen stared at his hands and clenched them together, knuckles turning white. "That's why I'm going to keep doing this. He…Kanda can't keep doing this to himself. I hate seeing people suffer in silence."
"Walker, isn't that…" Bak paused biting his lips. "That sounds like someone else we both know."
"No idea who you're talking about!" Allen forced his frown into a grin and let out a short laugh as Bak rolled his eyes.
"I'm beginning to wonder if I'll ever understand how your mind works."
"Might be best that you don't." Standing up Allen winked at the short director. "Wish me luck Bak-san!"
"Walker, you're going to need a miracle to accomplish this, luck will have nothing to do with it." Bak stood up and saluted the salute of a soldier going on a suicide mission before slinking away to the edge of the hall to watch with the rest of the onlookers.
Not hesitating a single step Allen made his way through the same path of chairs and tables that he did almost three times a day now and slid easily into the seat across from Kanda. The other teen didn't give any acknowledgment of his presence (there's nothing new) and Allen watched him a for a couple seconds until he finished his current mouthful off noodles before folding his hands neatly on the table in front of him and leaning in.
"Hey, Kanda. How's it going this morning? Eating the same as always I see. Is it good? What are your plans for today? Did you sleep well last night? Hey Kanda-" a deliberate pause. "Why are you so grumpy today?"
Snap!
Fragments of chopsticks flew as Kanda slammed his hands onto the table and stood up fast enough to knock his seat over. Steady, dark eyes stared at Allen as the young man leaned in over the table until he was inches from the white haired boy's face. "You want to know why I'm so grumpy?"
No anger. No sadness. No yelling. Not even a twitch. Just a smooth, steady tone that froze the blood in Allen's veins. This…was new.
"Fine. I'll tell you how it's going."
Holy crap that worked? Allen swallowed hard and forced himself to keep his eyes locked with Kanda's and waited patiently, openly.
"I spent three weeks in a tiny town in the middle of nowhere in Russia. It's February and I managed to lose my jacket on the second day because an akuma set it on fire and got away. He got away from me seven times before it was finally killed. Seven times I faced him and let it go free to kill more people who couldn't defend themselves. Everyone in that village died. Every. Last. One."
Fingers curled into fists as Kanda peeled his eyes away from Allen and looked down at the table.
"By then the Marshal had to come because I couldn't get the job done; my innocence was broken and my opportunity had passed. He came, he saw what had happened, killed the akuma, and left me with orders to return. Nothing else. I failed him. I've never seen him so disappointed."
Allen took a small breath and Kanda's eyes snapped back to him, a snarl hissed from between his clenched teeth.
"Ever since you dragged me into that stupid Arc I haven't been the same. I've been weak. I've been unfocused. I've been distracted. Ever since that fight with the Noah, when-" A small shake of his head and Kanda continued, a little louder. "Now you're here, being your insufferable self and all I want to do is get out of here and away. Away from you, away from here, away to where I can prove myself."
"To who?" Kanda's mouth snapped shut as Allen whispered and stood up slowly. He didn't back away or stand higher than Kanda. He met him eye to eye, nose to nose. "Prove yourself to who? To Marshal Tiedoll? He doesn't need you to prove yourself to him; he knows you're capable, he knows what you can do. He knows you're human like the rest of us and can make mistakes. So are you trying to prove yourself to us? We don't need proof either. Marie, Lavi, Lenalee; all of us know you're strong and capable and reliable-"
"Reliable?" A hollow snort. "You're the most naïve idiot I have ever met."
"Kanda-"
And I'm talking to a pony tail. Allen sighed as he watched his friend stalk away, hands shaking at his sides. He was the most infuriatingly, block headed, bitter, grumpy, and stubborn…
"Kanda Yuu! You look at me right now!"
That…did not just happen.
Kanda froze mid-step his right foot out in front of him and fists clenched at his sides. He could feel his right eye twitching, as it usually did when he was irritated to the point of wanting to punch a hole in the wall. There was dead silence and all Kanda could hear was the blood rushing through his veins.
Don't turn around. Do not…
"What…did you just…say?" He managed between grated breaths and a clenched jaw.
"I said, look at me."
Allen's voice was close. Very close.
Crap he's right behind me.
Shaking his head Kanda put his right foot down and set off once again on his path to the door. He just had to get away. Get away and hide. What had gotten into him? He couldn't believe he had just gone off like that, in front of everyone. In front of that stupid beansprout. The words just came out and he hadn't even realized he was feeling half those things he mentioned.
It wasn't like him at all. He's never told people things like that, they don't care. He's never cared what they care about or not. He's never cared if they cared. He's not going to start now. Not after-
White. Why is there white in my face?
As Allen pulled back and looked up at Kanda he knew his cheeks were a little more than just a light pink, but he didn't care.
He knew that the fist flying at his face was going to hurt, but again, he didn't care.
Even when he found himself on the ground and Kanda was probably four floors above the mess hall, he didn't care.
Kanda was definitely not thinking about that mission at the moment and the rest he could work on later.
A/N: Thanks for reading! I've been trying to decide whether or not these prompts are going to be separate or connected into an overall plot and I think I'm going to try for the later. So…TBC!