A quick update this time because I dislike leaving the story at only one chapter. ^^ Next one'll prolly take a longer. Well, anyways, here it is. This chapter isn't stupendously long like that last one. /laughs
In the Face of Death
...
"Why," Allen asked for the twentieth time that day, "are you still following me? Your Highness," he added through clenched teeth.
"One, because I have business this way, and two, because you'd get lost. You can't grovel at my feet if you get lost and wither away in some unknown place, bean sprout."
"What business could you possibly have? This is my fucking house." In his haste, Allen nearly dropped the key as he fumbled through his coat pocket. Swearing with a vehemence unusual for him, he finally managed to force the door open and stumble wearily into his beloved home. Now if only Cross would disappear.
Speaking of the bastard, he was sitting on the couch, smoking. Allen gritted his teeth; he'd have to sleep on the floor until he managed to get that bastard's shit off of the sofa. That was fine; he had a sleeping bag and some blankets reserved for such purposes, though he wasn't looking forward to the cleaning at all.
"Oh. Stupid apprentice, you're back." Cross squinted as he noticed the person behind Allen. "Is that this 'Kanda Yuu' that Tiedoll was going on about?" He asked dubiously. "He doesn't look so tough to me… Looks kinda girly, actually."
Well, apparently, the two people he hated most in the world knew each other. Big surprise.
Kanda's mouth twitched. "Shut up, bastard."
"Since you're already here, and since Allen's not beat up like shit, I'm guessing you already had to take care of some trouble?" Cross raised an eyebrow.
"Your piece of shit apprentice gets into more fucking trouble than was stated," Kanda said curtly, irritated. "He literally ran into a bloody mess the moment he stepped out of the damn door."
Cross grunted. "Yeah, that's him." He glanced at Allen, who was still staring, dumbfounded. "So, shitty apprentice, this is Kanda, blah, blah, blah and all that. Since you are more trouble than you're worth, and I certainly can't be bothered to look after you, and Tiedoll, who is my colleague of sorts, is overly concerned with your welfare, I was forced to allow Kanda, who is Tiedoll's foster son or something, to be your babysitter. Or bodyguard, or whatever."
"Colleague? You have a job?" Allen blurted before he understood the rest of the sentence. Then: "You mean I'm stuck with him?"
"And by him, you mean 'his Majesty, Lord Kanda.'" Kanda muttered under his breath, but Allen ignored him.
Cross gave both of them a dirty look. "Yes, I have a job, and yes, you are stuck with him. Which you should be grateful for because I certainly don't feel like saving your sorry ass whenever you get into trouble."
"But why now? It's not like I've needed one for the past three years!" Allen protested.
At that, Cross and Kanda shared a look that Allen did not miss, but Kanda merely shrugged and Cross told him with a snort, "It's because you get dumber with every passing year. I swear, I actually remember when you used to be a cute little kid."
"It's your fault for raising me like that, then," Allen commented under his breath indignantly. "It's probably because you got into a deal with some illegal organ dealers or something, isn't it?" It wasn't until Allen had already said the words that he realized that he had been a little more vehement than he had intended to be. Luckily, though, if Cross heard him, he chose to ignore it.
"Wait." A thought suddenly hit him and he turned to Kanda. "So you're saying that even if I hadn't begged, you still would have had to help? So, in other words, it was completely unnecessary?"
"Oops. Did I forget to mention? Pity." Kanda rolled his eyes, his voice condescending.
"Wha—! You son of a..." Allen felt the blood rising to his head.
"By that, you mean 'oh great and glorious Master Kanda,'" the other boy said smugly with a wave of his hands, turning. "Well, at any rate, I don't have time to play with bean sprouts."
"You…! I swear, when I—" Slam. The bastard had slammed his own fucking door in his face. Allen stared at the piece of wood furiously before opening it viciously and yelling out onto the street, "I wasn't done, coward! You'd better be prepared for tomorrow, because you are so fucking dead." There was no movement outside, and Allen never did find out whether Kanda had heard him. Cursing, he closed the door again.
"Well, have fun with that," Cross told him with a yawn. "I am going to bed. And if you complain, I'll tear your ears off, so shut up."
"Fine," Allen snapped. The whole world was out to get him or something. Angrily, he gathered his sleeping bag and blankets and dragged them onto the carpet, fuming. After all, despite everything, he was tired, and he somehow managed to fall asleep quickly without any trouble.
…
Allen actually woke the next morning in a good mood because Cross' presence was already gone. That meant that he wouldn't have to wait on his stupid, selfish master anymore until the next time he came back. He was also in a good mood because for the first time in a while, he hadn't had any nightmares about his grades for school, so he thought that maybe this time around he'd actually get enough proper rest to be able to focus on the tests. So, as a result, it was with an unusually good mood that he had picked up the innocent-looking slip of paper that had been left on the table.
Dear stupid apprentice,
I'm leaving. If I'm lucky, I'll never have to see your ugly face again.
Sincerely, Cross
And that was when Allen's good mood vanished. It wasn't because the note had some pretty horrible words – after all, the message was almost nice for Cross. The fact that Cross had even left a message was the worrisome part – he couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. Still, he was determined to be happy about it and enjoy his relative freedom while he could. No Cross, no Cross, no Cross… he chanted to himself like some sort of spell.
Knock. A hard rap on the flimsy wooden door interrupted his thoughts. He ignored it, hoping that whoever it was would just go away. Just a few seconds later, though, the person outside had apparently waited enough and had begun banging on the door. Allen winced; if the door broke, it would cost him a small fortune. Hastily, he opened it. And immediately regretted doing so.
"What the hell are you doing here?" He demanded sourly. "Have you decided to become a professional stalker or something?"
Kanda glared at him. "Something like that. I'm supposed to save your sorry ass from whatever sort of shit you get yourself into, remember? It's not like I'm happy about this. It's a fucking job, bean sprout. So stop flattering yourself."
"You can save yourself the trouble," Allen informed him, irritated. "In all my fifteen years, I have never gotten myself into any life-threatening danger."
"Oh? And I suppose yesterday doesn't count."
Allen shifted uncomfortably. "I wouldn't have died…" he muttered. "I just don't like fighting."
"Ha! What are you, a pacifist or something?" Kanda snorted. "If someone comes at you with a fucking knife, you fucking fight back, bean sprout. Either that, or you die. You don't have time to think about their feelings or whatever shit goes through that rotten head of yours."
Allen shot him a dirty look. "It's not their feelings I'm concerned about… it's just… I just don't like fighting. So shut up."
"Whatever. Either way, I'm not here to protect you, got it? I'm just here to make sure you don't die. Whether or not you get a few bones knocked around has nothing to do with me." He tossed his head dismissively as they approached the school gates, and Allen swore that he had never been more glad to see the giant metal bars that reminded him eerily of some sort of prison cell. Still, they were the ticket away from Kanda Yuu at the moment, and he sighed in relief.
"Well, bitch, I have a class to go to, so unfortunately, I can't stay and chat," Allen said with mock chagrin before turning around hastily and scurrying away. Even the little insult was uncharacteristic of him, but damn, that Kanda pissed him off so badly. He was allowed just a tiny bit of revenge, right?
He slid into his seat in record time, slightly out of breath but satisfied nonetheless. It was still ten minutes before class started; he pulled out a notebook quickly. His first class was chemistry, and he had already finished the homework for that, but he still had to do math and history… As he scribbled random answers into his notebook, his brain raced furiously, trying to calculate exactly how many minutes he had in each class to finish the rest of his work. This, he thought wryly, was why his grades were so bad. He just never had enough time. It was all that bastard Cross' fault. Damn that bastard, damn him, damn him…
"You… are… so fucking dead this time, bean sprout." A breathless voice hissed in his ear as a hand grabbed his shoulder, making him jump.
"Kanda!" He blanched, his heart sinking. "What are you doing here?"
"What do you mean, what am I doing? I'm in your fucking class!" He scowled.
"But this is advanced chemistry…"
"Are you trying to imply something, bean sprout?" Kanda raised an eyebrow dangerously.
"No… but…"
"By the way, shall we have a little chat about your earlier 'comment'?" Kanda asked smoothly, his voice dark. "And damn, you can sure run fast, coward."
"What? Too slow to keep up, Your Highness?" Allen said with a smug grin, but the warm feeling vanished as a small, cold piece of metal bit into his skin. He paled. "You wouldn't."
"Try me." It was Kanda's turn to look smug.
"Knives are forbidden on campus." Damn it, why wasn't anyone in the classroom yet?
"First someone has to notice, bean sprout."
Allen swallowed. He was just contemplating his final wishes when the bell rang, and the knife vanished with a small rustle. Kanda sighed, irritated. "You got lucky this time," he muttered as he went back to his own seat in the back of the room. With the unmasked hostility emanating from that direction, Allen wondered how on earth he had missed the fact that Kanda was in his chemistry class for almost three months. It was possibly because Allen was usually asleep.
When the period ended, he more or less dashed to his next class without giving Kanda a chance to threaten him again. In this situation, his neck was more important than his pride, he decided. Which was ironic, since Kanda was supposed to make sure that he didn't die, wasn't he? But then, since it was a deal that had apparently involved Cross, Allen didn't trust it either way.
Somehow, he did manage to make it through the day without too much trouble. To his utter relief, he didn't suddenly find Kanda in any of his other classes, but as he slammed his gym locker shut, he realized that he still had to contend with him in his last class of the day, English. He bit his lip. Perhaps today would be a good day to ditch class after all…
"Where are you going? The classroom is that way." Speak of the devil, Allen thought, gritting his teeth and shifting into a defensive stance as Kanda's ever-so-irritating voice sounded.
"You really have this stalking thing down to an art, don't you?"
"I have good instincts. And I had a feeling you were going to ditch. Coward." He muttered the last word under his breath before giving Allen an odd look. "Why are you looking at me like that?"
"Like what?"
"Like I'm going to eat you or something." He said with a snort, gesturing at Allen's wary expression and tense posture.
"What kind of question is that? You were the one who tried to kill me this morning!"
"What?" Kanda stared at him blankly. "When did I do that?"
"Do you have the attention span of a goldfish or something?" Allen demanded, furious. "In chemistry!"
There was a long pause. Finally, understanding dawned on Kanda's face. "Oh, that. I was kidding."
"Wha—"
"I can't actually kill you," he scoffed. "It's a mission. Speaking of which," he added, looking disgruntled, "You're supposed to move in with me today."
"Move in—There is a limit to how much you screw up my life! Give me a good reason as to why I should." Allen crossed his arms stubbornly. "I told you already, I've spent three years of my life paying off that bastard Cross' debts, and I am still perfectly fine. There is no reason as to why you or Cross or whoever should start interfering now."
"And I've already told you, bean sprout, that I'm not any happier than you are." Kanda shot back tersely. "So if you want to blame someone, blame that fucking bastard of a guardian of yours, because he's probably the one who got you involved in the dangerous shit that he does."
Allen stared. "Cross…? What—"
"I don't know," Kanda cut in. "So don't ask. And you're sleeping in the living room. No questions."
"Fine," Allen snapped, irritated, before he caught himself. "Wait, not about the other thing! I'm still staying in my own apartm—"
Slam. What… Had Kanda just slammed the door in his face? Again? Who the hell does that, anyways? he fumed, kicking it open and storming to his seat before he realized that he was supposed to be ditching class. It was all that damn bastard's fault.
...
What a crappy chapter ending. o.o Well, whatever. The plot bunnies won't really start to bite for a while, so for now it's just random stuff. ^^ Although there's a bit of foreshadowing. Cookies to anyone who guesses right about later chapters, rawr. If you do, I'll be really impressed. Either that, or I'm just predictable. And DGM fanfics are predictable. /sigh
Anyways, hope you liked~ And please review! ^^
