This was my other story for Yullen Week (Winter Edition), but I couldn't get to a computer to put it up. It is based on the War theme, and it takes place during the Vietnam War.
Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN D. GRAY-MAN... only the plot of this.
Warning: AU, Language, Racial Slurs, Suicidal Character.
Notes: Enjoy and review!
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War
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"Kanda! You got mail!" Allen called to his housemate, when the mail fell through the slot in the door, and then he returned to his unpacking.
His sort-of-friend, Kanda Yu, recently invited Allen to move out of his alcoholic godfather's house and come live at the mildly large home that was borrowed from Kanda's father, who had gone to the war in Vietnam to be a photojournalist. To get away from that womanizing drunk of a man, Allen would have spent the rest of his life in the North Pole without a coat, so he jumped at Kanda's offer.
So today, he was moving in, without "Bakanda" helping him out it seemed.
However, there was another reason Allen accepted the offer.
Suddenly, footsteps sounded on the stairs, and at the bottom, out popped Kanda. Japanese, ebony hair that went to his waist, dark eyes, slightly tanned skin, scowl, and shirtless, that's what made the great antisocialite named Kanda Yu, samurai-in-training and Allen's secret crush.
"What is it, Moyashi? I was meditating." A glare marred the eighteen-year-old's face.
"Well, Bakanda, you have mail. Maybe you could help me unpack when you finish with it." Allen, who was three years younger, sent a responding glare and turned back to his boxes. He listened as Kanda sifted through the envelopes, throwing all into the trash can, but on the last, Allen heard him pause and rip it open. Then, he heard stomps and the opening and closing of a drawer.
A few moments later, he surprisingly heard Kanda walk up behind him. "What do you want help with, Moyashi?"
Incredulous, Allen turned to him with wide eyes. "Really?"
"Yes, really, before I change my mind."
"Well... um... could you take those boxes by the bottom of the stairs up?"
"Whatever," was the answer, and the teen watched with shocked, silver eyes as the other did what he had asked.
Returning to his boxes, he said, "I guess pigs fly now."
/
"Moyashi, you're cooking?"
Allen grimaced at Kanda's surprise. "Yes, I'm cooking because I'm not having soba at every meal like some people. So, sit or something. It'll be done soon."
Bustling around the cheery yellow, galley-style kitchen, the fifteen-year-old started a salad to go with the filet and vegetables that were going to be made into stir fry. He reached for a forgotten container of croutons on the top shelf in the pantry. Jumping for it, Allen still couldn't quite make it.
"Damnit!" He went for it once more and took a break.
Out of nowhere, a hand reached from behind him and brought down the croutons, dropping it into his hands. "If you need help, just say it, baka."
Blushing in embarrassment (and at the fact that he could clearly feel Kanda's chest touching his back), he grumbled, "Whatever, she-male with long-ass hair."
Leaning next to his ear, the other responded, "I'm not the one in a pink, 'Kiss the Cook' apron, am I?"
"It was the only apron here!"
"Yeah, sure." Allen felt Kanda back off and leave the pantry, and he followed suit. Walking to the salad bowl, he set down the container and started making the head of lettuce into individual leaves.
"Need any help?" asked Kanda.
"Geez, since when are you so helpful?" the younger male asked sarcastically.
"Since you're making the food I'm eating. I'm not going to die because I let you make me undercooked meat, Moyashi."
"Asshole..."
"What do you need?"
"Fine, get out tomatoes, carrots, and the salad dressing. It doesn't matter what kind of salad dressing it is, by the way. After you're done with that, cut the tomatoes and carrots.
"When you've finished that, put my hair into a ponytail, and that's it," Allen added jokingly.
Amazingly, Kanda did it, everything, even the joking one about his hair (and how he enjoyed those fingers running through his silver hair), and the salad was finished. When Allen started the stir fry, he had Kanda set the table, and he did that, too.
Once everything finished, they sat down together and actually had a civil dinner. Allen didn't understand at all.
'What the hell happened to Kanda?'
/
That night, Allen got uncomfortable in his new room. It was so unfamiliar, and he didn't like the feeling at all. He was dead tired and decided to turn to his last resort.
Standing in front of Kanda's room, the boy had no clue what he should do, until the door opened. "Moyashi, what is it?"
"I... can't sleep..."
"Che. Get in here." He turned and left the door open for the other, who soon after followed and shut the door behind him.
Getting back into bed, Kanda scooted over and left half the bed and the covers open. Slowly and with hesitation, Allen slipped into the bed with his back to the older male. After a while, the boy found that he was still not going to sleep, so his tired mind thought, 'Well, maybe if I pretend to be asleep, Kanda won't mind if I kind of... snuggled him.' And he did it.
"You don't have to pretend you're asleep, Baka Moyashi."
With a yawn, Allen mumbled, truly half-asleep as he tightened his embrace on the other, "Was I that obviously?"
"Yes..." answered the older teen, sounding a bit tired, too. Kanda shifted and pulled the younger teen onto his bare chest.
"Night, Bakanda."
"Go to sleep already, Moyashi."
/
At the feeling of being moved, Allen's eyes fluttered open, and he looked up. Kanda blinked back and eventually said, "Go back to sleep."
"Where are you going?"
Surprisingly, he saw the other bite his lip. Without answering the question, Kanda put on a shirt and jacket and grabbed a bag from his closet.
"Kanda, where are you going? Stop this; you're scaring me."
"Damnit, Moyashi... In the mail yesterday was a letter..."
"Letter for what, Kanda? Tell me."
Suddenly, a pair of lips placed a chaste kiss on Allen's forehead.
"I got drafted. See you around, Moyashi."
Before the boy could stop him, he closed the door, and Allen heard him run out the door and a truck driving away.
/
"I left my girlfriend in bed, and damn, that was some hard shit to do."
"I know what you mean."
"Hey, Jap, what about you? You leave someone in bed?"
"Yeah, white trash, a Moyashi who's probably crying to the neighbor by now."
/
"Lavi, did you know he was getting drafted?" Allen cried, tears wetting his friend's—and now new neighbor's—shirt.
"He... he got drafted? Why the hell can't he just tell us the important crap! Damnit!" the redhead fumed, his single uncovered, green eye filled with fire, his eye-patched eye probably the same. "How the hell could Kanda do that? And you just moved in, too!"
The rest of the day was spent drying eyes, cursing Kanda to hell, and hoping the guy would come back saying he was just trying to be funny for the first time in his life.
Lavi soon realized that this shouldn't upset Allen this much. 'I mean, they're at odds 24/7. So what's this all?'
"Allen, why are you this upset? It's just Kanda, after all."
Shocked, the boy looked like a little kid who just got caught stealing a cookie from the cookie jar. "I..."
"You...?"
"I think I love him, Lavi."
Frozen in disbelief, the redhead still embraced his friend. 'What a way to find out your friend's gay... Kanda, come back soon. I don't know if I can handle all the tears this kid's got.'
/
Months passed slowly, but they still passed. Allen had skipped a few grades through testing till he tested out of high school and into college. He got a part-time job and spent the rest of his time moping around the house. One part-time job gave him a burn covering his whole left arm. Another paid for a tattoo he got on his face. His latest job gave him enough money to dye the burn black and add black details at his shoulder to hide the damage of it.
A few days after Kanda had left, Allen had gotten a small package in the mail, which turned out to be Kanda's hair that had to be cut off. Later, a short letter from Kanda said that he was leaving for Vietnam. Then, Kanda sent nothing.
The days passed so slowly, but so quickly. Soon, Allen's seventeenth birthday was around the bend.
No Kanda.
Then, the letter came.
/
"Lavi, Kanda...!" Allen collapsed onto his friend, clutching a letter. Taking the letter from the younger boy's grip, Lavi read it and paled.
"We are sorry to inform you that Lieutenant Yu Kanda was killed in action. He was killed saving his men from a fire set to his camp and shot by accidental discharge. Lieutenant Yu Kanda received the Purple Heart for his valor and care for his men. His body, possessions, and award will be sent in a few days."
/
Allen planned the funeral, a traditional Japanese funeral, as Kanda would have wanted. All that was left was the man's body.
With everything planned, the boy planned something else.
/
With the scratchy rope around his neck, Allen sat on a high tree branch, tying the other end of the rope to the branch.
The only thing that kept him sane these two years was the prospect of Kanda returning to him, to sleep next to him, to kiss him a bit lower next time, but now, Kanda was returning in a casket, so he was going to welcome him home in one of his own.
He took a deep breath and prepared to jump.
"Baka Moyashi, what the hell are you doing?"
Confused, Allen said, "I must be imagining it. It sounded like Kanda was talking me."
"You should take that off your neck. Moyashi, I never thought you were this weak."
Blinking, he looked over to another branch next to him where a short-haired man who looked so very familiar scowled at him.
"Get it the hell off your neck, or I'm going to take it off myself, Moyashi."
"K-kanda?"
"Hell yeah. Now, take off the noose before you fall!"
Allen ripped off the rope and started crying, "Kanda, you not dead..."
"Yeah, now get over here."
The boy went over to the other into awaiting arms, and an embrace held him close.
"You're supposed to be dead."
"They sent the wrong letter."
"Thank goodness. Thank goodness..."
The long wait was over, and the two kissed without a second thought, neither questioning their hearts.
The war took them apart.
The war put them back to get.
The war made them realize that now was so much better that later.
fin
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It felt a little rushed, don't you think? Oh well...
Review Please!
Till Next Time, 13