Ari-chan: Yes this entry is a bit early but I uploaded it today since I don't have time tomorrow. Enjoy!
YULLEN WEEK, Day One Theme: Seasonal
P.S. Will be betaed soon by IChangedMyPenName so there will be mistakes all over. (So sorry! I couldn't send it for some reason.)
--
Annually Infinite
Karma seemed to be at work on that one day when Allen decided to take a stroll in the woods on the spring of mid-April. At first, he was admiring Nature's beauty while he was immersing himself under the warm light of the sun. But when realization hit him, he noticed that he was lost, and began to wander around trying to find his way back home, until he happened to come upon a small field with nothing but the green of the grass.
Nothing, but the green and Kanda Yu.
Allen's eyes widened in astonishment as he stared at the Japanese teen, back facing him, kneeling down on the dirt with a forked hand cultivator, raking the barren soil into a square perimeter. Next to Kanda was some gardening equipment and small packages with bright labels.
"Kanda?" the boy said, wondering whether or not the person in front of him was really the Kanda Yu he knew. It seemed impossible that Kanda would garden, or so Allen thought, as he examined the tools on the ground. A trowel, a watering can, and seed packages. No doubt about it, Kanda was gardening and it seemed as if Cross would stop racking up an infinite amount of debts. Allen's eyes winced, expecting a sword to come at his throat at light speed.
When no such thing came, he stared at Kanda as the man stared back, wondering why he wasn't yet threatened with an endless string of curses and sliced to microscopic pieces. He again glanced at the gardening tools in disbelief, noting the absence of Mugen, and finally said, "I see you're gardening, Kanda. I didn't know you did something besides training and yelling your heads off at people. Isn't this a surpri-"
"Shut up and go away," Kanda quickly snapped and went back to raking the ground smooth. But Allen, curious about this phenomenon of Kanda gardening, kneeled down next to the man and looked on at Kanda's work in progress.
"Are you growing any food?"
Kanda furrowed his eyebrows and dangerously pointed the hand cultivator at Allen, threatening to rake the white-haired boy's face. "Beansprout," he growled, "I thought I told you to go away."
"You did, I just didn't listen," the boy replied back, pushing away the miniature rake with one finger.
"Hmph, trying to be funny are we? If you don't leave, I will bury you in the dirt and water you every day, waiting for bean sprouts to grow out of the ground."
"I told you that I am Allen, not a beansprout," the boy retorted, miffed by the fact that Kanda lacked the ability to say his first name. "Just let me stay here, I have nothing to do anyways."
Kanda glared at the boy then turned his eyes towards the dirt and continued raking the ground.
"No touching my stuff, no asking any stupid questions, a ten feet radius from me, not a single word and most important of all, do not tell this to anyone. Or you die."
Now it was Allen's turn to glare as he shuffled to his right, to what he believed was ten feet, and sat on the grass. It's not like I want to be near you, he thought, as he watched Kanda become immersed in his gardening.
Or at least, Kanda seemed immersed.
"That's not ten feet, sprout," Kanda stated. "Now die."
"Shut up! This is ten feet. Your eyes must be defective."
"I said no talking! Shut up and die!"
"Make me!"
The two continued on arguing for what seemed like hours, with brief intervals in between where Kanda would pause and work on his gardening. Here, Allen would stare at the man and watch him work with curious silver eyes, still not believing that Kanda would actually do something that was…gentle. Almost to the point of laughing, Allen tried to hold it in and the result of his restrained laughter was a smile, something that Kanda liked the least out of the Beansprout.
"What are you laughing at, Beansprout?" Kanda growled. But Allen just smiled and unconsciously decreased the distance between them as he said, "I'm not laughing. It's just amusing to see you gardening."
"What?" Kanda blandly said, eyeing the distance between them that was getting smaller and smaller every few moments.
"Well, I've been wondering why you're gardening in the first place. Is it a hobby? Do you like doing it?"
"I said no stupid questions," Kanda said. Then he exhaled and created rows of holes in the dirt as he told Allen, "I've been doing gardening since I was younger. Don't ask why. And this is not a hobby, hobbies are for wimps. And if I didn't like doing this, would I be doing it in the first place?"
"I guess not," Allen said, his attention now directed at the bags of seeds. "Are you putting the seeds in the ground now? I'll help you." When he reached for them, Kanda snatched it first and began tearing at one of the tiny packages. A bit annoyed, the boy then asked, "What are you growing? Is it food?"
Kanda sneered. "Disgusting, always thinking about food. No, idiot, I'm growing flowers."
This was when Allen couldn't take it anymore and started chuckling under his breath. Kanda, now extremely furious, was about to beat the living daylights out of the Beansprout when Allen said,
"Ha-ha…sorry, it's just that…flowers? You? Flowers?"
"Tch, is that so hard to believe? If you don't like it then leave."
"No, it's not that," Allen said, using his hand to cover his evident grin. "I thought that you didn't like anything that was…well…flowery."
"Flowers don't talk, they aren't stupid and they definitely aren't annoying like you are," the other claimed. "Now if you are going to be annoying, then leave." Kanda resumed to gardening once more, implanting the seeds inside of the tiny holes in the ground.
"Stop telling me to leave. It's getting really repetitive," Allen stated and bent over the border of the soil perimeter. "So," he asked. "What kind of flower are you planting?"
"Kinds," Kanda corrected, patting the dirt over the seeds. "Gladiolus, red salvia, marigold, zinnias, snapdragon and sweet peas. They are all annual plants that only live for about one summer."
Rubbing the soil between his fingers, Allen pondered. "…So…in the autumn…"
Kanda watered the soil with the watering can and stood up, brushing off any dirt that clung onto his pants. He stared down at Allen with those piercing black eyes.
"In the autumn, they wilt and die."
--
From that day forward, during the season of spring, whenever he had the available time, Allen would come to the forest to visit Kanda and his little garden. And abiding by the Japanese man's wishes, the white-haired boy didn't tell a soul about the secret in the forest. Not even Timcanpy, his own golem and friend, whom Allen would distract by handing him food from Jerry (although Allen would secretly stash some when no one was looking). And with that secret stash of food, he would stay for hours and hours upon end with Kanda in the forest (much to the chagrin of Kanda who finally gave up making Allen leave when the boy was being persistent on helping).
But there was also the reality of Allen and Kanda being exorcists. Kanda could not tend to the garden everyday as he wished, for almost daily, Chief Komui would send him on a mission which was almost always in a foreign country. That was when Allen would go to the forest during the early night and water the garden (since Kanda said that it was better for the plants to water the soil when the sun went down). When even Allen wasn't able to finish the task, Marie, the only person Kanda seemed to trust, would water the flowers (although Allen had no idea how Marie knew where the garden was since the man was blind. Even Allen himself got lost sometimes, which Kanda would yell at him for his incompetency).
Then on one bright sunny day, little green shoots started growing out of the soil.
A bit ecstatic of the achievement so far, Allen bent forward to touch one of the buds growing on the marigold stems, but a hand slapped him nice and hard.
"Bakanda!" Allen shouted while rubbing the bruise on his right hand. "If you didn't want me to touch, you could have at least told me nicely." Then still a little irritated, he added, "You barbarian," for good measure.
Choosing to ignore the comment, Kanda picked up a few long wooden sticks, that he had previously handpicked from a while back, and inserted them into the soil. Allen observed his actions and pretty soon had curiosity once again come knocking at his door.
"Kanda, what are you using those sticks for?"
The Japanese man twitched in irritation. Every time the Beansprout tagged along with him to the forest, he would always ask an endless list of questions about what Kanda was doing.
What are you doing Kanda?
Why are you doing that Kanda?
How are your flowers doing Kanda?
The questions piled up so much that they became a waste dump in Kanda's brain. Well you know what? Kanda had a question of his own.
Was that stupid Beansprout pestering him on purpose to make him suffer?
Kanda took a glance at the Beansprout, expecting to see a slight smirk plastered on the brat's face. To the samurai's surprise, he spectacled big inquisitive eyes with a slight smile to complement it. Now this was really quite the astonishment for Kanda, for he always believed that he and the Beansprout had a hell-raising hate for each other. Always bickering, always biting at the other's head. That was their daily and usual routine. But ever since Allen stumbled upon Kanda in the forest, everything that was before, never seemed to exist in the first place. Now, Allen would come to visit Kanda and even spend time together with him, always inquiring about the garden's welfare. He would even help Kanda, although it would always end up vice versa since Allen basically had no clue as how to take care of plants.
Of course, there was the time of Rosanne the man-eating flower, but a man-eater and a normal flower were two totally different things. You didn't have to confess your love to them. And normal flowers definitely didn't bite off your head at every opportunity it got.
But exactly how did Kanda know about Rosanne? Allen told him of course. During their hours spent in the forest, the two would talk about the days of their lives. Even though Allen did most of the talking and Kanda just reluctantly listened. (Although to Kanda, it seemed that instead of talking, the idiotic brat would whine about his debt-filled, womanizing master.)
Then Kanda began to wonder, even though the Beansprout was annoying and would always be a brat, he couldn't help but think that, even bean sprouts could be nice company to a stoic person like him.
Then realizing what he was thinking, Kanda came back to reality and shook the atrocious idea out of his head. The Beansprout? Nice company? Bloody hell no. That will never happen. Ever. He swiftly turned his head towards Allen and glared at him with full killing intent. The boy jumped in surprise at Kanda's random action.
"Um, Kanda? I asked a question."
"What," the man growled.
"Well, I'll say it again since you obviously can't remember it," Allen said and pointed at the sticks. "What are you using those sticks for?"
Still angry, Kanda stared at what Allen was pointing at, who in turn thought that the man was going to melt the wooden rods away if he kept on staring at them like that.
"Hmph, those?" Kanda said, trying to calm down from his irritation. "Do you see these vines? Those vines are the stem for the sweet peas. Since they're a bit unstable, it's necessary to wrap it around any long sturdy stick in order to make the flower stand up straight."
Allen was impressed by Kanda's extended knowledge. "I'd hate to say it," the boy admitted as he watched the man twine the sprouting vines around the sticks. "But you know a lot about plants Kanda."
"And you know nothing."
"Hey! I may not know about plants," Allen argued. "But I know about many other things too."
"Like what? How to stuff yourself like a pig?"
"No! …Well, that too, but I do have one specialty," the boy said, an evil grin spreading across his face. "I know how to never lose at poker."
"Tch, how despicable. Not only do you look like an old man, but you act like one too."
"Ha! You're going to end up like this anyways when you reach the prime of your life and become an old fart. You might even get hair like General Tiedoll," Allen snickered, knowing that Kanda hated talking about his self-proclaimed father.
"An afro?! Like that old man's?! Mention that again and I'll make sure that your bald!"
Allen laughed even more and drew a distorted image of Kanda with an afro in the dirt with a stick, causing Kanda to unsheathe his Mugen in anger.
"That's it Beansprout! Come here so I can shave your head!"
"Hey! I thought you don't bring Mugen when you go to your garden!" Allen said, referring to the day he first saw Kanda gardening.
"Hmph, that day Komui was doing a check up on my innocence," said Kanda, smirking.
"What about the other days? I never saw your sword during those times."
"Heh, that's because I hid them in the tall grasses, waiting for an opportunity to shave you bald!"
"That won't be happening Bakanda! I think it's about time you were sent to the barber!" Allen proclaimed, activating his Crown Clown's sword.
"Bring it on sprout! You're just a big talker!"
--
Before both of them even realized, the long awaited summer had finally arrived around the corner and the flowers began to open its petals and blossomed. They were so beautiful that Allen's favorite thing to do at the garden was stare at the flowers and eat whatever "picnic" that he had brought with him. Unfortunately however, beauty always comes with a price tag, for in order to keep the flowers looking fresh and beautiful, Kanda and Allen had to endure the arduous task of weed pulling.
"Damn it," Allen panted and wiped off some of the sweat on his forehead. "This weed is too stubborn. It won't even budge a centimeter."
"What a disgrace," Kanda told the Beansprout, as he was pulling out some weeds. "And you call yourself an exorcist."
"Being an exorcist and pulling weeds can't be compared, stupid."
"Hmph, call me whatever you like sprout, but if you can't even pull out a measly weed, then you're weak."
Allen dropped himself to the ground and crossed his arms. "Oh really? I'm weak? Then if you're so macho, then why don't you pull it out."
The other smirked at the boy and wrapped his hand around the stubborn weed. "Heh, that's hardly a challenge, Beansprout."
He pulled the weed and I wouldn't come out.
Allen laughed evilly as he watched Kanda put both hands on the weed and tugged on it like he was doing some kind of exotic dance. "Ha! So the almighty one can't pull a measly weed out," he taunted, flaring Kanda's words right back at him. "And you call yourself an exorcist."
"Shut up," Kanda grunted. "I was just warming up."
"Sure you are, Kanda, sure you are."
The Japanese, after a few agonizing minutes of pulling on the nasty thing, decided to take drastic action. "That's it! Mugen, Unsheathe!"
"Hey, that's cheating!" Allen protested. "Here, move aside." The white-haired boy pushed Kanda aside then tried tugging on the weed once more.
"I'm definitely going to do it this time," he said with a strained voice. Kanda, realizing how entertaining it was to watch the Beansprout in stress, stood there and watched the boy tug and tug on the weed.
It was only after a while until Kanda couldn't bear to watch the struggle and put his hands over Allen's. The boy sharply gasped.
"K-Kanda, what are you-"
"Shut up, I'm not helping you. I need to get all the weeds out and some stupid beansprout is not going to waste my time. I'm going to get this over and done with."
Allen slightly curled up his lips and tightened his hold on the weed. "How many times do I have to tell you that my name is Allen."
Kanda tightened his grip and instructed the boy. "Alright," he said. "This damn weed is stubborn so we're going to have to pull together."
Allen nodded and counted off. "One…two…"
"Three!" They both pulled with all their strength and Allen soon felt the weed loosen in his hands.
"Yes, we got it!" Allen shouted, but his voice soon died out when he felt his foot slipping on the damp dirt. He and Kanda pulled so hard, that the force was pushing them backwards. And before Allen could comprehend the situation, his body fell on top of Kanda who fell to the grass on his back.
The boy groaned at the compact and opened his eyes, only to have dark coal eyes stare back right in front of his face.
Allen became immersed into the abysmal darkness of Kanda's void.
They both continued to stare at each other for what seemed like a century, until Kanda said, "Get off, Beansprout."
Allen snapped out of his trance and stood up, brushing off imaginary dust off of his vest. He didn't know why, but his heart kept on pounding furiously inside his chest and Allen was embarrassed. Did Kanda feel it? He prayed that the man didn't feel his drum-like heart and looked at Kanda who was still as composed as ever, tending to his flowers. It wasn't Kanda that caused his heart to beat so fast, was it? No, it couldn't be, it was just the fall. Just the fall, Allen reassured himself.
"Kanda? I'm going to go back if you don't mind. I was…getting hungry."
"Who's stopping you?" The Japanese said without looking at him. "You don't need permission you stupid sprout. Just go."
Allen looked at Kanda's back and turned around. "…Alright then. See you later I guess."
As he walked away, Kanda tilted his head till he was staring at the boy's back, watching it getting smaller each time Allen took a step forward.
Then he wondered. Why didn't he push Allen off of him right away? Was Kanda Yu getting soft?
Kanda shook his head and pulled the rest of the weeds out of the soil.
Such trivial matters, Kanda didn't care about at all.
--
The wind was howling, its breath blowing hard against Allen's uniform, forcing him to latch onto his uniform to block out the chilly breeze. His feet crunched at the crisp bright orange and brown leaves on the ground.
With the leaves fallen and the weather turning colder, it was evident that another season had arrived.
Fall, otherwise known as the season of autumn.
When Allen arrived at the front gate, the gatekeeper (grudgingly) opened the doors for him. As the hinges eerily creaked open, Allen couldn't help but take a last view at the forest before he went inside to the haven of warmth.
There was no moon on that night and all Allen could see was the pitch black darkness.
"Master Walker, please come in," one of the Finders urged him.
Turning his head away from the woods, the British boy entered the Order. He was back after a week-long mission and was very cold and fatigued. His very wish right now was to relax on his bed and maybe get a midnight snack from the kitchen. But Komui was expecting a report of the mission from him impromptu. He trudged his way towards the Head Chief's office.
"Komui, I brought you your report," Allen called out through the maze of paperwork. "Komui, where are you?"
A familiar bespectacled face popped out from behind something which looked like a desk but Allen couldn't tell from the papers piled up all over it.
"Ah, Allen. Nice to see you back. So how was your mission," Komui inquired.
"It went along fine. Here's your report Komui."
The boy handed him the work, which Komui tossed into an unknown pile labeled, Later. Eager to get to his room, Allen was ready to leave, but he sensed something different with the office. Instead of smelling like the usual mixture of paper and coffee, Allen noticed that it smelled sort of…flowery. In fact it kind of smelled just like
"Sweet pea," Allen muttered.
The whisper was not loud and in fact was very quiet, but it was loud enough for Komui to hear from across the room.
"Oh, Allen. You noticed the smell? Yes, I'm afraid that it comes from this." He pushed aside some stacks and revealed a tall vase with orange and rose colored flowers. "You see, these were here this morning on my desk and I naturally thought that they were from my Lenalee. When I found out they weren't from her, I was about to throw it out but Reever thought it would be a good idea to keep it. Says it might help me stay awake to do paperwork, but it does the opposite for me. I feel…really sleepy." Komui yawned. "Good night." His snoring overfilled the room.
Allen lightly touched one of the petals on the flower and smiled with poignancy. These were Kanda's flowers, Allen knew the moment he set eyes on them. Perfect with no flaws, that's how Kanda grew his flowers.
In the autumn, they wilt and die.
Of course, it was autumn right now. Kanda probably picked all of the flowers and anonymously gave them to people. That was how that man was. He never liked to waste anything, not even time.
Allen came into his room and flopped himself onto the mattress.
It's been a while since Allen went to visit Kanda and his garden. But now that there wasn't any garden, there wouldn't be an excuse to see Kanda anymore. All the flowers were likely picked or withered by now.
But somehow, he wished that there would be a way to be with Kanda, just like they were in the garden. Still arguing, but getting along…sort of. They were starting to get to know each other, but now the connection between him and Kanda dried up like leaves without its vital source of water.
Allen was starting to feel lonely.
--
Soon the autumn past by and then came the winter storms. Tons of snow heaped onto the ground creating record highs throughout the country. The temperature dropped a significant amount of degrees and people started to wear thicker and more layers.
And even though winter was supposed to be a jolly season, Allen was lonelier than ever.
Yes, there were people like Lavi and Lenalee, who were his very good friends, but even they could not fill the empty void that Allen felt was creating a gaping hole inside of him.
Also, the situation with him and Kanda went back to like it was, before Allen found the garden. The tension between them increased as they started to randomly bicker and produce even more misunderstandings. Allen started to miss the time in the forest where they would (or he would) talk about himself and share their life to the other person. They would still argue in the garden too but…somehow it just wasn't the same.
There was even that one time when they were paired up on a mission together during the winter. And they found themselves dug into a huge argument.
"You stupid Beansprout," he would say. "You foiled up the mission because of your naiveté!"
"At least we got the innocence," Allen would argue back. "I kept my promise that I would save them."
"You fool. The innocence is our top priority. We can't just save every single damn person out there. If we don't retrieve the innocence faster, more lives will be in danger!"
"But…I promised I would save all of them."
"Face reality you idiot," Kanda finally said. "Do you think you are God? You can't save everyone. That is the truth. Face the truth already!"
"The truth? What truth? Then why did you ignore me? Answer me truthfully."
"What are you talking about?"
"You know what I'm talking about Kanda. You know. Ever since that incident back in the forest, you started to ignore me! Why? What wrong did I ever do to you?"
"…Just shut up. Stop talking nonsense."
"See!? You're running away from me! Why are you doing this? Did I do something to make you angry?"
"…"
"Kanda what is it? Just please tell me!"
"Kanda, I-"
"Shut up." Kanda stared Allen down with a piercing gaze. "I don't give a damn."
As the Japanese exorcist stomped away, Allen rendered speechless, just stood there in the middle of the Black Order's hallway, his knees weakening from the shock.
"I see," Allen bitterly said as he clenched his fist. "You don't give a damn."
He felt something wet roll down his cheek, but he didn't bother wiping it away.
--
"Timcanpy! Where did you go! Tim!" Allen shouted out, using his arms to push away the branches from his face. Timcanpy had disappeared and Allen searched for hours looking for him, but there was no sight of the golden golem. If he wasn't in the Black Order, then he had to be in the forest.
At first, Allen was a bit reluctant to go into the forest. It brought back bittersweet memories which he didn't know whether he should keep on remembering or just forget the whole incident.
But having had a similar situation before in the past, Allen let bygones be bygones and all unwanted emotions fled out of his mind. He forgave Kanda for what had happened but truthfully, had to forgive himself, for Allen blamed his own self for the predicament he was in. Maybe if he had held on tighter, Kanda wouldn't had left him. If only he had just opened himself a bit more.
For he found out too late, that he was in love with Kanda Yu.
"Timcanpy! Stop hiding yourself! Come on out!" He continued, searching throughout every inch of the forest. When Timcanpy still did not show himself, Allen had no choice but to go to that place. It was the only place left unchecked by him in the woods.
"Tim! Where are you? Timcanpy!"
"…Moyashi?"
Allen turned around and saw the same familiar dark eyes that always seemed to look coldly down on him. But this time, there was a hint of warmth although the frown was still pasted on his face.
"Kanda…" Allen didn't know what to say. He was completely speechless.
Kanda was raking the soil into a square perimeter; a trowel, a watering can and some seed packages lying next to him on the grass.
Is this what people would call déjà-vu?
"Kanda, you're…gardening again," Allen finally said at last after mustering up the little ounce of courage he had.
Kanda stared at Allen, making the British boy feel uncomfortable.
"Y-Yes Kanda, you need anything?"
The man looked up and handed the trowel to him.
"…Kanda?"
"Well?" Kanda growled. "How long are you going to keep on staring at me like an idiot? You going to help or what?"
Allen could feel his eyes tearing up and grabbed the trowel from Kanda.
"Shut up stupid. You know I have nothing to do anyways."
When he noticed a flash of yellow in the grass, he looked down at and smiled.
"Timcanpy, you're there aren't you."
The golden golem slowly crept out the green as if in shame. The white-haired boy patted Tim's head.
"You knew the whole time, didn't you Tim?" he whispered. Timcanpy bared his fangs in agreement and flapped his wings. "Thank you."
"Hey, Beansprout," Kanda called out. "Stop wasting time. These seeds need to be planted before sundown."
Allen looked up at Kanda and gave him a smile as bright as the spring sun shining down its rays of light.
"I think this time," Allen said. "We should grow some food."
--
Ari-chan: ....I have been watching to many soap operas lately. This is so corny that I am going to die. "All my Children" from abc anyone? XD
BTW, if you're wondering why Kanda and Allen didn't kiss or any of that stuff, it's because in my opinion, those two idiots would show love in different ways besides physical. For some reason I can't imagine Kanda kissing someone, but that won't stop me from writing that in other fics though. X3