Spiral

Chapter 3

Rated M: For my piece of mind.

Chapter Warning: Language again (what can I say, Kanda's got quite the mouth), some violence, mentions of past rape, character death (not main) and seeming OOC-ness (though I did warn this is A/U)

Disclaimer: I still don't have a hope in hell of ever owning D . Gray -Man.

Still no beta on this, so please forgive (or point out) the errors.

First of all let me give my deepest apologies to all who waited for this chapter, life and all of its obligations called me away (as well as another story). I've also had a hard time trying to figure the best way to take this story, as many people have place this on their favorites list (for which I will be eternally grateful) yet they leave no reviews. So I hope that I'm going in a direction that you all like, if you don't like it please feel free to leave a review or PM.

As always this chapter is going out to my friends M . Nikolai and Shizuhana, and a new friend whisperypath. I hope that this story is continuing to go well so far, in your opinions, and that this chapter doesn't disappoint. Apologies again whisperypath for not being able to use your idea, I really wish that I could have (I also hope that I didn't frighten you away).

oOoOo

Previously, Kanda was trapped in a dream…

~It was getting late and Kanda knew that he should have been back by then, they were all supposed to be back in the building before night fell. That was the only real rule that they had, the one thing that helped to keep them safe from the worst of the worst. So where was he?

"Kanda, you stay here I'm gonna go look for him," the second-oldest of their little family spoke to the child. His warning was for all of them but he knew that Kanda was the most likely to ignore their rule and head out to find his "brother", the one he was closet to and who was also closest in age to him.

Having given his warning, and trusting the oldest to keep them safe while he was gone, he took in the others' bids of safe keeping and headed into the night…

oOoOo

Daisya suspiciously eyed Kanda while gesturing for the boy to join the others away from the door and into the building to await further news. Kanda could only comply while keeping a hopeful eye out for any opportunity to follow the other into the night before he got too far away.

His reprieve came quickly in the form of an already old argument that broke out between two other occupants of the building that they all shared in.

"Clear out, this is my spot!" A tall but lanky brunette, who gave his name as Stark, snarled to a shorter man with a pale complexion.

"It's not your spot if you're not in it before someone else takes it!" His normally stoic companion, Scheif, shouted back.

They had arrived together and from that first night they had carried this argument out, even then it had sounded almost scripted and practiced so much so that anyone could tell that they had held it many times before, so anyone would be safe in assuming that they were considered friends.

This fact turned many amused stares their way but few people reacted with true concern; however, Kanda quickly saw this as his opportunity to escape and trail the older male who considered himself to be a brother to Kanda and the others. Truthfully though Kanda was less concerned about the older boy and was more hopeful to discover the whereabouts of his "true brother", the one who was currently missing.

So acting quickly, Kanda diverted his path towards a currently unoccupied room and all but dove out of one of its windows. All warnings indeed ignored with the dark swallowing his small form as he rapidly set off in the last direction that the other had taken.

After having not found the older male that he set off after and what seemed to be hours of wandering somewhat aimlessly Kanda heard the loud commotion of a large gathering of people. Having no better option at the moment Kanda headed in its direction and spotted a crowd huddled around something on the ground.

Deciding that it had nothing to do with him, Kanda was already getting ready to head down another alleyway to continue his search when a familiar cry sounded out from among those gathered stopping him in his tracks and refocused his attention on the group where he spotted the familiar dark, wavy hair of his older almost brother.

A sick feeling instantly seeped into his stomach as Kanda noticed Marie's downcast head and shoulders shaking with barely restrained emotion and he hurriedly raced towards him.

"What's wrong?" Kanda exclaimed as he reached and shook the elder's arm. As Marie's head spun in Kanda's direction Kanda could see that his eyes were wide and carried a haunted expression and even in the dark he was able to see how much paler the other was.

"K-Kanda?" Disbelief laced Marie's voice, disbelief of what is what Kanda wanted to know.

"What's happening?" Kanda repeated irritably in his impatience, knowing that the other wouldn't have lost his normally somewhat stoic mask by showing such an emotional reaction without good cause.

"Kanda, what are you doing here?" Marie's seeming inability to comprehend Kanda's question turned the sick feeling in his stomach into a feeling of dread and fear. Knowing that whatever caused this response was what enthralled the crowd Kanda pushed through to see what they were surrounding.

The first glimpse he had was of an arm that was only slightly smaller and less muscled than his own following the arm up he glanced with trepidation at the face. Instantly he knew other things about the arm such as it was two shades paler than its normal skin tone should have been, and that it had a scar on its upper bicep that curled from the front to the back.

He knew all of that with a simple look because he recognized the person that that arm belonged to, he was with him when he got that scar from climbing a chain-linked fence to escape some of the other street rabble. Of their family he was the quickest on his feet and second only to Kanda in his sarcasm and suspicion but somehow this time his speed and wariness had failed him.

Kanda barely noticed the crowd or its noise now, didn't notice Marie's hand on his should, couldn't focus on anything but his brothers' brutalized face unable to focus on the condition of the rest of his body. He only registered his resentment at the callousness of those around him for seeing a child's nude body and not at least granting him the most basic of human dignities by covering him up.

Someone must have been more compassionate and responsible than the others as the sound of sirens was heard gradually getting closer. Marie griped his shoulder tighter trying to get his attention, knowing that as much as they may have wanted to they couldn't stay there. They could answer none of the police's questions and staying would only draw attention to themselves, attention to their entire family.

As with all those who lived and died on the streets there would be no funeral for Alma, no headstone with a full name or date to commemorate his birth or his death. Only a street family that didn't share a drop of blood would even notice the loss of his existence or mourn him.~

oOoOo

A sharp jar as the train crossed onto a bridge pulled a grateful Kanda from the nightmare of his memories. Trying to catch his breath and steady his frantic heartbeat Kanda focused on the still sleeping face of Allen and couldn't help but reflect on how close a call it had been earlier and how much differently it could have turned out for him.

Kanda's thoughts caused him to unintentionally tighten his grip, having the side effect of causing Allen to temporarily curl tighter into Kanda's body before he stretched to his full if meager length.

"Hmm Kanda, are you okay?" Allen asked as he slowly tried to focus his sleep-filled eyes.

"Of course," Kanda replied without revealing the turmoil he carried with him and giving Allen one last hug he let go, stretching his arms to further shake the troubled and lingering sleep from his limbs.

oOoOo

The days light was at full power as Allen looked out and watched the world passed by in a blur, by the peaceful grin gracing his face, the events of earlier had apparently faded.

Kanda watched him absently while he quietly mulled through several questions regarding what they would do once they reached their destination. Catching sight of the delighted expression on Allen's face as he gazed at a passing field of blue wildflowers, Kanda frowned slightly hating to ask the question that had plagued him since he ended his earlier pursuit but needing to know the answer.

"How did they catch you?"

Allen read the full extent of the question. Yes, he could be spacey at times but he almost always kept his guard up and despite being friendly and open-hearted he never seemed to simply fail to notice when someone entered his personal space.

"Um well, you see…" Embarrassment made him mumble his answer, though he knew that Kanda wouldn't accept that.

Yep, he was right, Kanda's frown deepened to show his annoyance at the vague reply.

"Allen," Kanda's tone indicated that his question would be answered with no more foolishness.

"Well, I was just looking around," Allen dropped his head and turned up his eyes to give Kanda his most appealingly innocent look. "I kind of, just got side-tracked a little bit."

'No,' Kanda told himself. 'His look is not going to get him out of this one.' "What did you get side-tracked on?"

"A flower," Allen's soft reply came as he broke eye contact completely to drop his head a bit more, trying to let his hair hide the rush of color that now decorated his cheeks.

"A flower?" Kanda asked with a deadpanned tone while a muscle on his face twitched.

Allen bent his head further until his chin rested solidly on his chest. Embarrassment and fear of Kanda's anger warred within him.

Truthfully as Kanda looked at the bowed head he was torn between the anger that Allen seemed to expect and a rarely felt amusement. Amusement won out and Allen's head shot up when Kanda's laughter rang out in the boxcar.

"Only you would drop your guard for something as silly as a flower," Kanda gasped out between breaths.

Seeing Kanda's face relaxed like this while listening to his rarely-heard laughter Allen could only smile and join in. These were his favorite times, there was no danger to be on guard for, there were no well-meaning but clueless citizens, no nosy officials around and there was no need for Kanda to appear emotionless to seem strong to others.

Times like this were rarer than the flower had been and were just a precious and valuable to Allen and he would have given anything to keep it. When the laughter eventually faded however there was still a bit of darkness left in Kanda's eyes.

"Are you really okay?" He really hated to keep asking but he didn't like that look when they were alone, it made him worry that one day Kanda would get tired of him and his actions and tell him to leave.

"Yes, I'm fine but you have to promise that you'll be more careful."

"I will," Allen felt a weight lift off his shoulders at the unofficial conformation that Kanda gave him with his request, 'if I only have to be more careful then I can stay with Kanda.'

Though Kanda seriously doubted how long Allen would be able to keep that promise, as he had made it several times in the past, he didn't press the issue trusting that, for awhile at least; Allen would do his best to keep his word.

Kanda instead choose to stretch out next to Allen and turn his gaze to the outside world deciding to follow Allen's example for once and simply enjoy the moment.

oOoOo

'Dammit!' Kanda's thoughts centered to that one word.

He had hoped that this one train ride would take them to safety but as it rolled to a slow crawl in preparation of stopping Kanda could see that their new destination could cause as many troubles as the ones that they were running from.

"Kanda, are we getting out here or are we going to find another train?" Allen's voice came softly from over Kanda's left shoulder.

A frown scored Kanda's face as he tried to balance his thoughts between staying in this city, even briefly, or waiting for another train to a hopefully less crowded, and therefore less dangerous place.

"Let's go," Kanda grabbed their bags and prepared to jump from the now barely moving train. 'Regardless of what we choose we can't stay on this train anymore. Workers would easily see us and probably call the authorities.'

Landing easily he turned to see Allen leaping smoothly and landing lightly behind him, grin firmly on his face.

"You enjoy that way too much," Kanda whispered as he tossed the lighter of the two bags to him.

"I can't help it, I like the feeling of the jump," Allen whispered back as he caught the bag barely controlling the giggles that threatened to spill over.

Together they headed into the tall weeds surrounding the yard to take a quick look around, making sure that no workers had seen their departure. Kanda's internal debate was answered when the loud growl of Allen's stomach cut through his thoughts.

"Sorry," Allen looked a bit miserable and shamed by his body's reaction but Kanda felt more than a little bit horrible at the reminder that that sound gave him.

'It's been three days now since we've had anything descent to eat, the leftover bread we found isn't enough to keep us going for another long train ride. He needs to get food, preferably real food. We both do. ' Kanda acknowledged as his own stomach began to gnaw on itself.

So as the sun gave its last light before heading into twilight, Kanda led Allen over the fence and headed toward the city and the dangers it presented.

oOoOo

As they made their way from the alleys to the busier streets, Allen pressed as close to Kanda as he dared without seeming too fearful. Appearances were everything here draw the wrong attention from the wrong people and you could wind up injured or dead, draw the wrong attention from the "right" people and you could wind up in a worse situation. Nothing scared Allen more than the threat of being returned to the foster system.

So here he was trying to walk confidently beside Kanda, both giving a show of purpose but not arrogance. Confidence, he discovered, was good it would make you seem like you belonged with the "normal" people and if you belonged they wouldn't feel the need to meddle with your life.

Arrogances, however, that was dangerous as it would draw the predator's eyes toward you. They would see your posturing as a challenge and want to take you down for showing it, needing to show you who was the top dog of their little junkyard.

Seeing an unoccupied bench in a fairly safe looking area Kanda veered towards it to let Allen rest a little while he tried to come up with a more solid plan.

After few moments of silence debate Allen finally spoke up, "should we try to find a shelter and get something to eat there?"

Kanda knew what kind of shelter Allen meant; larger cities almost always had homeless shelters. Yet, he couldn't quite decide if that truly was the best option at the moment. The shelters always wanted to know why two kids were travelling the streets without parents. It was possible to fool them, they had done so frequently in the past, but it only worked for short periods of time before someone felt the need to check up on their story.

With his stomach gnawing on itself again and knowing that Allen was probably worse off, Kanda figured that Allen was right this time. The shelter was probably their best bet for the night.

oOoOo

Kanda approached an older woman who was currently cleaning the sidewalk in front of what looked to be an 'all-in-the-family' type of store; experience taught him that women seemed more willing to help without needing the promise of something in return than men and that with her being somewhat preoccupied she would be less likely to openly express any desire to help. There was also the added benefit that her shop was close to the bench where Allen still sat, so Kanda could easily keep an eye on him and get to him if trouble did happen.

"Excuse me ma'am," Kanda had also learned that by lowering his voice a little women seemed much more likely to cooperate with him.

With the way she jumped she had apparently not noticed his presence until he spoke. Gripping the broom a little tighter she nodded her head in acknowledgment though her eyes did narrow a little.

"I can see that you're busy but I was hoping that you might let me borrow your phonebook?" Keeping his voice politely and patience, his face neutral and his lips with a slight up-turn Kanda made his request as to the point yet as vague as he could.

Demonstrating the one true advantage that big cities had over smaller ones she gave a slight frown but nodded her agreement and told him to talk to her son inside. Kanda nodded his thanks and headed inside to look up the address he needed, all the while silently thanking whatever god was listening for the fact that as long as you looked like you belonged people in big cities were too concerned with themselves to look further than their own noses.

oOoOo

A/N: I was going to introduce a few new characters in this chapter but I think this was a good cut-off point so I'll wait until the next chapter.

Again I'm sorry that this took so long I'll try and get the next one up quicker but, as before, I make no promises. I have many concerns to consider in writing this yet so little input that it takes me longer to try and figure out the best path to take. My biggest concern currently is the question of which kind of story to have this ultimately be: a tragic dark story (with death for one or both of the main characters), a light-type of dark story (think lots of conflict and angst yet no death for Kanda and Allen) or a happily-ever-after type of thing. My opinion seems to change with my mood so if anyone has an opinion of their own that they'd like to share please feel free.