I apologize a million times over for how late this is D: But in my defence I was on vacation and there was just no time to plot down ideas.

Thank you to everyone who reviewed, you have no idea how so very very happy you make me! And thank you to everyone else who alerted and favourited this work in progress, I'll try my absolute best to update faster next chapter.

Disclaimer: Sometimes I dream about it, but then I wake up and realize that no, I do not own D. Gray Man.

- x -

A Little Extraordinary

- x -

After Kanda had bloodied his knuckles on his shattered mirror glass, he had whirled around in quite a temper only to be faced with an empty bed and an even emptier room. Without wasting any time, like a panther in hot pursuit, he dashed out of his room and into every other closed door and open space in his apartment. He made especially sure to check his bathtub and cupboards, knowing full well no one could fit into such a cramped space.

He'd looked everywhere that night. There was not one trace of Allen Walker to be seen. If his silent prayers had been answered, he'd never know, but not knowing the whereabouts of the suspicious child was almost as bad as having him visible.

That night, Kanda slept with one eye open and Mugen warming the other side of his bed. Fully aware that neither safety precaution would work against the supernatural, least it decided to attack.

- x -

The night sky lightened as Sunday rolled around, and as usual Kanda woke before the morning sun could shine through his dark curtains and disturb his sleep. He barely registered what time he had dozed off, holding Mugen so close to his chest that the rough hilt left angry red marks on his calloused hands. He felt foolish if anything, and got up to get ready for the day.

As Kanda brushed his teeth he stared fixedly at his reflection, in case a certain uninvited guest decided to drop in. Until he remembered Allen didn't have a reflection, and spat out his mint toothpaste most vehemently into his sink.

Allen didn't show up during his daily morning routine of scorching his toast just right either. Or while he prepared a steaming hot cup of spiced tea.

Kanda figured waiting for Allen to pop up wasn't worth the effort his mind was exerting and whenever the little brat decided to show up he'd just kick him and be done with it. This time Kanda was determined to leave a mark. No one in living history had taken up those dusty corners in Kanda's mind the way this freakishly pale boy did. It pissed him off to no end, and in trying to forget, he only continued to be plagued by thoughts of the creepy Allen Walker.

It wasn't until the sun had hidden half way beneath the horizon and the sunset sky burned orange, did any news of the one Kanda had been dreading all day present itself.

Kanda had only started the shower, removing his belt to toss it in the pile where his shirt lay, when there sounded a rather obnoxious clearing of a throat behind him.

His hands clenched on the waistband of his pants and he wished he hadn't thrown his belt on the floor. In case he decided to use it as a weapon of sorts. He didn't need to turn around to know who'd be bold enough to walk in on him but the sudden appearance caused his blood to run cold with shock anyways.

Allen Walker smiled from his comfortable seat atop Kanda's sink. "Should I have come a little later?"

Kanda's eyes blazed, keeping his back to Allen –not his brightest idea-he bent down and turned off the loud spray of the shower. "You shouldn't have come at all."

Allen cocked his head to one side and Kanda finally turned around. "Don't stop on my account. I promise I won't peek." And he raised two fingers in mock salute that only made the vein in Kanda's temple throb painfully.

"I'd rather drop dead." He growled at him. It was wholly disheartening to have someone directly in front of his bathroom mirror but cast no reflection all the same. Kanda found he couldn't look at him for long periods of time.

Allen sighed, "Bite your tongue, you don't mean that."

Kanda stood up straight and walked forward a few steps; he'd make this as quick as possible. "Whatever it is you're here for, spit it out. The faster you talk, the sooner you'll leave."

The small boy's forehead creased in exasperation, "How many times must I say it Kanda? I'm not going anywhere, I can't go anywhere."

Kanda raised a perfect black eyebrow. "You weren't here all day. You're capable of staying away. Do it permanently."

"I had some business to take care of. I don't have to go anywhere for a while." Allen said seriously.

Whatever this 'business' might have been, it sounded shady to Kanda, but so did a live in roommate he didn't ask for and most certainly didn't want. "I don't give a damn-"

"Just hear me out first." Allen pleaded, his stormy eyes hollow.

"Leave." As much as he wanted, needed some sort of further explanation, Kanda's mind shut down and stubbornness took over, "If you break in again, I'll make sure to cut you up."

Allen glared at the wilful man before him, the decades not only made people duller, but irrational too. "You can't cut me up. Do you really want to embarrass yourself again?"

Kanda stood silent, jaw locked tightly in rage, for the fraction of the second it took Allen to hop down from the sink soundlessly.

"We need to talk, and you need to listen." Allen continued, striding forward in the small space of the bathroom, the fluorescent lights radiating off his face. "And I know you're not capable of something so simple, but I will tie you up if that's what it takes."

The space between them couldn't be more than mere inches apart and Allen had to strain his neck upwards in order to give the stubborn mortal his best convincing glower without breaking eye contact.

The muscles in Kanda's mouth hadn't smiled in a long time, but he might have right then. It was hard to take someone seriously when he stood towering a whole head and half taller over the tiny boy. "Che. Moyashi."

The unfamiliar tongue diminished Allen's glare and the area between his eyebrows scrunched up. "What?"

Kanda straightened out his back as much as possible without hearing the cracking of his stiff spine. "Moyashi. Beansprout. You're small."

Allen puffed out his cheeks, for a moment forgetting he had important affairs to discuss. "Well excuse me for being fifteen and not having the chance to grow up."

If Kanda were anyone else but himself, he might have felt a little guilty. "And whose fault is that?" He said with a condescending twitch of his upper lip.

Allen faltered and those soulless grey eyes clouded over with unreadable emotion. He stammered before he found the right words, "That doesn't concern you." He shook his head full of snow-white hair, "Now if you'll sit down, we have a lot to talk about."

Kanda searched his forever youthful face, trying to find the shadow that passed over once more, but his face had returned to the calm facade it always was. "I'm taking my shower." He said with an air of finality.

Allen narrowed his eyes but sighed anyways, "Fine, I'll wait."

"Outside." Came the clear command, along with Kanda's pointing finger to the door behind them.

Allen shrugged and left, leaving Kanda to finish undressing and take the longest shower he'd taken in quite some time. Hoping that somehow, he could delay the inevitable.

Kanda expected to see the stalking boy waiting faithfully outside his bathroom door, but when he turned the knob to peer outside he was nowhere in sight. Kanda stepped completely out of the warm haze of his bathroom, the cooler temperature not helping his loose, damp hair dry any faster.

Kanda almost called out when a loud clatter of what could only be metal sounded from his kitchen. Scowling, he draped his towel around his shoulders and marched off to see what mess the little demon had created.

He turned the corner in time to see Allen jump down from his disinfected countertop, and disappear behind the long counter in the middle of his kitchen. The boy reappeared later, popping up like a spring and holding a frying pan and two, now cracked mugs in his arms.

He smiled sheepishly at the fury written plainly across Kanda's face. "I was just looking for food. I didn't mean to drop anything. Sorry, really."

Kanda squeezed the ends of his towel in a death grip, "For someone who can sneak into my house without me noticing, you're unreasonably clumsy."

Allen gingerly placed the fallen items on the counter top and jumped up himself, dangling his thin legs over the edge. "I'll get you a new mug. This one looked pretty important." He held up the broken cup with the writing Number 1 and a chip of porcelain that read Son so Kanda could clearly see the pieces.

"I don't care about the mug." He really didn't. It happened to be a gift he'd been accidentally wanting to break himself. "What the hell are you doing destroying my kitchen?"

"Just looking for something to eat." Allen put down the pieces and stared wide-eyed, "How are you not malnourished and dying yet? There's nothing edible in your cupboards but soba noodles and bread in your fridge."

Kanda grunted and took a seat on a high bar stool a ways from Allen. He was pissed off but that would have to wait. "Didn't you have something to say?"

Allen fumbled with the fastenings of his grey vest, unsure of how to start. "I'm not really sure how to say it. It's not something I've got any experience with. You tend to overreact...and break things."

"Get on with it." Kanda demanded, digging his nails impatiently into his smooth countertop.

"You're a horrible, horrible person Kanda." Allen began bluntly; figuring that ploughing straight through and cutting no corners was the best way to go about it. Kanda raised a brow but said nothing. "And you're going to Hell unless you straighten up."

Kanda wondered if laughing would be appropriate, and the look of grim death on Allen's face made the situation more comical. "What are you, my shrink?"

"No, but I will be your personal chauffer if you don't stop treating this like it's funny." Allen warned, the lines on his forehead piling years onto his appearance.

Kanda snorted condescendingly, marvelling at the people he had the misfortune of meeting, "Whatever Moyashi, you can go home now, to Hell, or wherever it is."

"It's not a joke!" Allen seethed, now visibly annoyed, "Do you not know how to shut up and listen?"

Scornful words hung like a droplet of water to his tongue, until Kanda had the good sense to look down at Allen's hands. The left gloved hand, nearly half the size of his own palm, had buried itself inch deep into his counter top, the beautiful dark marble cracked and crumbling onto the titled floor. His eyes widened a fraction before a hiss broke through his parted lips.

"Is it impossible for you to talk without breaking something?"

Allen, still mad as ever, slowly uncurled his hand. A fistful of marble thumped sharply on the floor and bounced over to Kanda's right foot. "Are you going to listen now?"

"No. I'm going to kick your scrawny ass out before you chew through my furniture." Kanda answered, fisting his hands.

"Oh?" Allen asked, slightly amused, "And how do you plan on doing that?"

Kanda stepped forward, menacing as ever. "I'll pick you up and throw you out my window if I have to." If he actually he got around to doing so, Kanda wouldn't be surprised if the small boy sprouted black wings and flew right back in.

Allen frowned but it lacked any real concern, "That's cruel Kanda."

Kanda made to lunge at the legs dangling off his counter-his violated counter-planning on dragging the child out kicking and screaming, when instead his hands groped thin air, before smashing painfully into the edge of the hard marble.

"Besides." Allen called out, safely on the other side of the counter to the great annoyance of Kanda, "You'd have to catch me first."

Kanda's head suddenly felt very heavy, he had barely even blinked once before Allen had swung his legs over and out of harm's way. He wasn't counting on his speed, or that strange display of strength. "What are you?"

Allen smiled softly, "A messenger of sorts, I guess. And I'm really sorry. About your counter…I lost my temper, I didn't mean to break it."

Kanda straightened up and flexed his sore knuckles as discreetly as possible, "And what's your 'message'" He scoffed, fighting to shut out the inquisitive part of his nature.

Allen wanted to smack his face into something, "I already told you." He sighed, frustrated.

Kanda had to think a minute before that ridiculous conversation came back to him, "Don't be stupid. No one knows what lies beyond death."

This time it was Kanda's face he wanted to smack, "Then how do explain my being here? This is obviously something."

Kanda crumpled up his nose, mimicking the action of having smelt something particularly foul, "You defy logic." He couldn't explain Allen Walker. If he had to try he'd end up using the supernatural excuse Allen used and that didn't make much sense to him either.

"Maybe." His smile was wry on his powder pale cheeks, "But you can't deny what you're seeing. If it helps, I might not have believed me if I were you."

"It doesn't." Kanda paused for a moment, "And what have I done to deserve damnation?"

Allen's grey eyes inspected him closely, "Really Kanda? You can't think of anything?"

The man remained silent, an unmoving rock paralyzed with too many conflicting thoughts battling for dominance in the small space of his head.

"Perhaps something from your past?" Allen insisted, digging deeper.

"I might have burned Lavi's tie-dye bandana a few years ago. Don't give me that look, it was hideous." Kanda felt ridiculous saying it but his mouth contorted angrily, daring Allen to say otherwise.

Allen had every intention of doing so, but held his tongue at the last moment. Kanda obviously didn't want to drag this conversation along any further. If Kanda needed time, then time was what Allen would give him. After all, someone like him, forever unchanging, had all the time in the world.

- x -

Outside, the sun had set and night had come, a lone star twinkling brightly in the distance with the new moon hanging overhead.

Kanda did all he could to avoid Allen after those final few words were exchanged, busying himself with making dinner and shooing the insistent boy out of the kitchen. He felt more grateful than he'd ever let on that Allen didn't push the subject. Nevertheless, he was no fool and he knew that couldn't possibly be the last he'd hear of the subject.

On the other side of the kitchen wall, because he dared not go any further, Allen's stomach growled helplessly. The smell of steaming soba noodles and deep fried tempura hovered temptingly under his sensitive nose. The rumbling creature in his belly demanded food, but the chances of getting Kanda to feed him weren't looking too high.

Allen poked his nose through the high archway of the kitchen and sniffed deeply. Kanda had his back turned to him, standing over his stove with a large wooden fork in his hand, dipping it occasionally into the bubbling black pot.

"If that catches fire, you'll burn the place down." Allen warned, gesturing to the fork.

Kanda continued to prod at his softening noodles, "Didn't I tell you to stay out?"

"I am out." Allen said, peeking down at his feet to make sure they hadn't crossed the invisible boundary line.

"If I can hear you," Kanda began, "Then you're not far enough."

Allen pouted childishly and stepped forward into the forbidden kitchen, quiet as his shadow. Kanda had moved on to his tempura, lifting the lid and spearing one on a metal fork this time, when Allen crept up to his elbow.

"Would it be too much trouble to ask for dinner?" Allen asked.

Even though Kanda was constantly on red alert mode for sneak attacks, Allen managed to slip undetected every time. This time, Kanda nearly dropped the lid he was holding and onto his foot.

Teeth grinding irritably, Kanda turned to glare heatedly at Allen, "You need to stop doing that, brat."

Allen smiled brilliantly, "You make it too easy." And side stepped out of the way in case Kanda decided to throw that tempura pierced fork into his eye.

The older man reasoned that answering wouldn't do him any good, and returned to minding his nearly done meal. "You ate at the restaurant." He said after a pause so long, Allen figured he was done speaking.

"What about it?" He asked, still terribly close to Kanda's elbow.

Kanda spared him a glance, "I didn't think the dead got hungry."

Allen felt his cheeks that could no longer blush heat up a little and he gave the other man a shaky smile, "Old habits die hard." Feeling the need to explain more, he went on, "I don't feel the urge to eat like maybe you do, but I feel it all the same. I need sustenance too."

To Kanda's ears, that made no sense at all. "That doesn't make any sense." He voiced out loud, "If you don't need to eat, quit wasting food."

Allen frowned, "It's not as if there's a shortage of food-"

"With the way you eat, there will be." Kanda cut it, turning off his burners.

"You noticed?" He asked, fumbling with his vest buttons again.

Kanda moved past him, a plate full of hot food in his hands. Putting them down on the counter he took his seat and broke his chopsticks in half. "I'd be blind if I hadn't."

Allen sat directly opposite him, a good width of distance between them. "I used to eat like that back when…" He quickly righted himself before something else slipped out, "I was younger."

"Alive." Kanda corrected and Allen stiffened, "You can't say it, can you?"

Allen reached out and grabbed a pumpkin tempura faster than Kanda's eye could catch the movement, and popped it into his hungry mouth. "I can too say it. But it's a sensitive subject and I'd rather not."

Kanda glared at his pale lips, the ones that had just devoured his dinner, "Try that again and I'll shove my chopsticks down your throat."

Allen grinned at him, "I'll be good." He didn't need to remind Kanda that he couldn't get hurt, but the threat wouldn't feel particularly good going down either. He was still hungry and sorely tempted to steal another tempura but Kanda's hands were clamped so tightly around his chopsticks, Allen didn't want to risk making him angry. So he waited in silence until Kanda had finished and dumped his dishes in the sink.

Kanda moved swiftly past Allen without saying a word and the white haired boy took it as his cue to follow him out and into his bedroom. Then back out again with the older man holding a bunch of clothes, and he would have followed Kanda into the bathroom as well but the door was rudely slammed shut, almost taking his nose with it. Doors couldn't stand in the way of a determined Allen Walker, but if he planned on camping out in Kanda's apartment for a while, he'd have to abide by Kanda's privacy laws.

A few minutes of rustling clothes and the noise of subdued brushing and then spitting sounded from inside the bathroom before Kanda opened the door and moved back into his bedroom.

When Allen walked in Kanda lay cross-legged on his bed, a big ring-bound book resting on his knees. Kanda might have heard Allen pad softly across the carpet but paid no attention to it, too absorbed with keeping his head bent over his book.

Not wanting to disturb Kanda yet, and enjoying the peace of silence, Allen stood on tip-toe to peer out of Kanda's large window. A sort of sombreness swept over him and he had the sudden urge to jump out and feel the crisp autumn air on his skin. Shaking his head Allen gazed distractedly around the room. His grey eyes landed on the cracked vanity mirror in the center of the bedroom.

"You should get that fixed." Allen said, "Broken mirrors are bad luck."

Kanda snorted, eyeing Allen through the black veil of his unbound hair, "Really, Moyashi?"

Allen made a face at him, treading over and sitting at the edge of his bed. Kanda looked uncomfortable but didn't protest. "I'm not bad luck, Kanda. In fact, you should be happy I'm here." Allen paused to feel the suicidal aura emanating from the other body, "Not everyone gets a warning."

Kanda made a noise somewhere between a cough and snort and turned back to his book. "Let me guess. I'm special." He said, exaggerating the sarcasm in his words.

"You are." Allen snapped, a little annoyed, "You can still be saved."

Kanda pushed the hair out of his eyes and stared long and hard at Allen, "If I 'straighten up'?" He said mockingly, bringing up the boy's earlier words. "I've tolerated your shit long enough. I'm not going anywhere so you can just shut up about it."

Allen pursed his lips and turned back to the window, whose curtains were now blocking out the outside world. "I know it's a lot to take in, and I'm not asking you to do anything right away. But think about it, instead of tossing it aside like you do with everything."

Kanda remained silent for a moment. He slapped his book shut and placed it on his bedside table. "You're sitting on my sheets, Moyashi." He stated, tugging harshly at them.

Allen took the hint and got up, leaving Kanda to pull it over him, turn off his lamp and settle down for the night.

Having nothing else to do, Allen moved back to the large window and pushed the curtains aside. Immediately, a strong line of moonlight shone through the dark room, casting shadows in the dark corners.

Kanda grunted and cracked an eye open, "Shut the damn curtains or get out."

"It's too early to sleep." Allen responded. Kanda's digital clock read 10:15 in big, red numbers.

"I work." Kanda growled, wincing as an especially bright ray of moonlight caught him square in the eye. Normally he wouldn't have called it a night so early, but he felt completely drained all of a sudden, and the need to sleep was greater than ever.

To Allen, that wasn't much of an excuse, but in the pale light he could see the dark circles outlining Kanda's eyes clearly. He wondered if they were always there, the temperamental young man did indeed seem very tired.

He pulled the dark curtains closed and the room plunged into a state of semi darkness once more. Allen waited for Kanda to relax as much as possible with a stranger in his room before plopping down on the windowsill. From here his sharp grey eyes could make out the steady rise and fall of the sheets draped snugly around Kanda's body. There he watched the sleeping spectacle that was Kanda Yu, never once taking his eyes off him.

- x -

So I know that it's still not clear what Allen is, but those things take time, no? As in, next chapter sort of time ;D which won't take over a month to come out, again I apologize.

Feedback is greatly appreciated. :3