Disclaimer: -Man does not belong to me. It belongs to the one and only Katsura Hoshino! I own ABSOLUTELY NOTHING here except the plot. The song 'Love Story' is by Taylor Swift! I just used some lines of the song in this chapter… (psst! Its in italic and centre alignment)

Warning: OOC for both Allen and Kanda! So no flames on OCCs or OCs since you've already been warned~


Chapter 2 – The Consistent Spying

Everyday, Taka and Mana would come out of their homes in wee hours of the morning. Taka would take a morning stroll around his house, breathing in the refreshing fresh air while Mana would tend to his pride and joy garden.

Usually both of them will ignore each other and do their own things. But there are times when Taka is in a bad mood or couldn't hold it in and started sneering at Mana, accusing his family ancestor for stealing their lotus hourglass. Mana would just reply by shaking his head sadly and continue his gardening. This usually pisses Taka even more with the lack of reply. The Walkers have been taught by Mana to be kind, saying that whatever happened was not their fault. Even if it was an ancestor's doing, they have nothing to do with it currently that's why they should not blame the Kandas for their behaviour as the lotus hourglass is a clearly priceless treasure to the family. However, the Kandas aren't able to forgive and forget. They have been taught by their fathers and forefathers so naturally, it's the males that are bearing the grudge. However, Yuu was different. He didn't believe that something that happened two centuries ago could be blamed on the current generation. Yuu's attitude towards this was sometimes questioned by Taka but he left it as it is but forbid him to go anywhere near the Walkers.

When the two heads retired to their homes in the late morning, Taro and Yuu (A/N: I will refer Kanda as Yuu because there are like 5 Kandas ha-ha… Err ok… back to the story!) would come out onto their lawn to practise their swordplay. Being the elder of the two, Taro would be able to defeat Yuu easily but progressively, Yuu's swordplay has improved tremendously, thus allowing him to win Taka occasionally.

Soon, both Taro and Allard were of age, 25, and were able to start working and take over the family business and their fathers both handed them over, so dads were free to whatever they want, only returning once in a while to check on the progress and helping out when their sons is in doubt. Therefore, Yuu was forced to practise his swordplay alone.


We were both young when I first saw you.

I close my eyes

And the flashback starts,

I'm standing there,

On the balcony in summer air…


However, on a faithful Friday, Allen was feeling bored around the house as there was nothing to do, again. Her mother was out to one of her social club meetings again. Just like Sora, although they were cautious not to get into the same ones to avoid any clashes. Allen hated these types of days so, instead of being cooped up inside the mansion, she went out to her balcony window to get some fresh air and gazed out upon her father's beautiful garden. Allen let her eyes wander and land upon the figure with long dark ebony hair who was practising his swordplay on the Kandas' lawn. What caught her attention wasn't the way he styled his hair. But it was the fluid movement of him wielding his black sword. It was so precise and confident, even Allen could see it.

Allen assumed that her father would not approve of her talking to one of the Kandas and it was even more understood that Taka wouldn't even let her within a ten foot radius distance to one of his family members. Having no choice, she could only hide herself while watching the male through her window.

After a few more days of spying, Allen grew even gloomier each day since it made her very tempted to talk to the male even more. Her family noticed the change in her and her father naturally stepped forward one night to ask her what's wrong, since their father-daughter bond is very strong; Allen's mother thought she might be willing to say more to her father instead of her. Mana tried to get Allen to spill the beans on why she's been acting so moody lately. After a few attempts at denying, she knew her father would be persistent until she finally said it out. So she explained her dilemma to her father. To her utmost surprise, Mana told her it was alright that she liked someone from the Kanda family however; the problem lies with that family, especially Taka. So Mana warned her not to get her hopes up as the relationship between the two families are very strained. Allen gave Mana a hug before bidding goodnight and left for her room. After talking to her father, she felt better and happier.


The next day, Mana waited for Yuu to finish his daily training before getting Allen to pick some flowers in his garden to brighten up around the house. Allen happily complied.

This time, it was it was Allen who was being spied on. While Yuu went to lean his sword, Mugen, near his window, he happened to glance out and saw the graceful movements of a pale brown-haired girl picking flowers from the Walkers' lawn. He was indeed mesmerized and stood there wondering why her left arm was a blood red colour before Yui started pounding on the door, asking him to come downstairs for lunch, after he took a shower that is. Throughout the whole day, he couldn't help but think of the girl from the Walker family. He dare not tell anyone from his family for he didn't want to have anymore conflicts of any kind with the family, both internal and external.

Since that day on, Allen has been spying on Yuu when he was training and Yuu on Allen when she occasionally came out onto the lawn to sit on her swing or take a stroll. Both knowing that they won't even get a chance to talk or wave to each other because of the family relationships. Kanda and Allen just decided to remain patient and wait for an opportunity to arrive. However, there's another obstacle.

Would he like her?

Would she like him?

The strained relationship between the families just made it a one in a million chance that they would like each other.

Eventually, Yui caught Yuu staring out of his window one day, when he was too fixed on watching the swinging figure of the girl, and Yui got really pissed off for knocking on the door asking Yuu to come down for tea and just barged in. Lucky for Yuu, Yui was not a typical daddy's girl and didn't rat him out. Instead, she actually helped him out by sometimes giving him tips or helping to cover him if he suddenly zones out and daydreams, of course, usually of the Walker girl. Because of this, they grew relatively closer and had gotten a good brother-sister relationship.

About a week from that day, both families received an invitation from the Noah family and it was also when the opportunity arrives.


Yui saw the postman drop the letter in their mailbox and she rushed forward to get. Tearing open the letter, she read the following letter;

Dear neighbours,

Greeting, I'm the Millennium Earl from the Noah Family.

I was wondering if you would like to come to a little masquerade ball I've organised three days from now as a little meet-and-greet party to get to know all of you as we've just moved in to this estate.

Sorry for the short notice and it would be lovely if you are able to come!

Yours Sincerely,

The Millennium Earl

P.S Enclosed are directions to find our house.

She couldn't believe her brother's luck and rushed into the house to tell her bother the good news.

"Ne ne, onii-san! We've just received an invitation to some masquerade ball and it seems like the Walkers are going too! I saw the girl getting the same mail as us! Maybe you can finally talk to her!" Yui blurted.

"Really?! You saw them get an invite? You sure they're going?" Yuu asked, a little too excitedly.

"Well, I hope so… They're a friendly and social bunch so probably they will go. Wow onii-san, your attitude has changed dramatically since that Walker girl started to catch your eye and you don't even know her name!"

"Che, I'll find out soon enough! Now get out of my room! I want to meditate."

"Fine! Go 'meditate' then," Yui stuck out her tongue and stalked out, planning to show the invite to their parents.


"Allen! Would you mind getting the mail? I'm arranging the flowers right now and I'm expecting an important letter!" Hailey, who was just as enthusiastic about flowers as her husband, called out to her daughter.

"Ok mother!" Allen replied then left to retrieve the mail.

Allen opened the mailbox only to find two letters. One addressed to the entire family and another address to her mother. Curiosity got the better of Allen and she tore open the letter addressed to the entire family. It was a letter from the new neighbours, the Noah family inviting them to a masquerade ball three days from today! Allen quickly went to pass her mother her letter and tell her about the upcoming ball. Hailey has always been a fan of social events, seeing how she is a socialite.

Upon receiving the news of the ball, Hailey quickly got onto the phone with her seamstresses and tailors for the outfits.

Allen wondered idly to herself, will the Kanda male be there?


It was a good three days for the Kandas and the Walkers. Both were so busy trying to rush their preparation for their outfits that they barely stepped out of the house to see each other. They were just calling their tailors and seamstresses in to fulfil the requirements on the different outfits.

Although it was a rush order, the tailors and seamstresses manages to finish everything on time. Soon they all were ready to go to the ball, that made the middle Kanda and the youngest Walker very excited but dared not show it to anyone.


A/N: Ooo!! Will they get to meet each other? =D Reviews please! They make me super happy~