Allen remained quiet that day after training—but still grimaced every now and then when sweat came in contact with the lash scars that remained on his back from the other day.
Kanda grunted and continued to train while he let his apprentice have a brief break. Kanda could have a heart—when he wanted to. And if the person he pitied wasn't being an asshole that day.
Allen was sweating profusely he rubbed his eyes. They hurt from the sun and the sweat that dripped from his snowy white hair. He had trained especially hard to show Kanda just how badly he wanted this.
He attempted to rise from the hay bale he was sitting on when his legs gave out on him. His knees buckled and his thighs felt like gelatin. Allen's vision spiraled into a dark abyss. All he saw was Kanda's stoic, emotionless and…pitiful(?) expression.
"Nnngh…" Allen grunted as he balanced himself on his elbows. He was lying down with a cloth on his forehead. He turned his head to see Kanda's back seated on the edge of the sliding doors—peering out into the night sky.
"K-Kanda-dono?" Allen croaked as he sat up. His face tinted pink when he realized the top half of his kimono was wide open—revealing most of his pale boyish chest. Had Kanda removed the string that closed the gap? Allen's blush grew darker at the thought. His clutched at the cool moist cloth on his forehead.
"You passed out idiot sprout." Was all Kanda uttered.
Was it just Allen hallucinating or did Kanda seem…worried?
"I-I'm fine Kanda-dono." Allen replied—a nervous chuckle hinting his voice.
"Th-Thank you for…taking care of me while I was out." Allen mumbled softly—the blush creeping back onto his face.
Kanda "tch"ed in response.
Allen watched as Kanda stood and brought a bowl of freezing cold water to him. He wordlessly took to cloth from Allen's forehead, dipped it demurely into the bowl and placed back on Allen's forehead. Allen wanted to turn his head to hide his blush, but couldn't. At least there were no candles tonight. Only the stars just outside luminated the room.
"I…you didn't need to K-Kanda-dono." Allen stuttered nervously. Kanda shushed Allen and what he did next made Allen's head spin for the hundredth time since he had gotten here.
He felt smooth lips graze past his.
Allen could sense the embarrassment in Kanda's voice.
"Go to sleep idiot sprout." Kanda said—his voice slightly shaky. He gently removed the cold cloth from Allen's forehead and commanded a bit more harshly,
"Turn onto your stomach."
Allen panicked. Oh no. It was happening.
"B-B-But…isn't it a bit early? And…and…" Kanda silenced him.
"Tch. Why would I want to do that with you? It's for your back wounds idiot sprout." Kanda reprimanded sardonically.
Allen blushed harder. Oh. So he'd gotten the wrong message. He turned onto his stomach. Wait…so Kanda had no intention of raping him? Allen deliberated why in his head. But it's not like he wanted it. He was happy that he wouldn't be raped…right? Allen shivered as he felt the ice cold water come in contact with his back.
But he knew better than to cry out. He could almost hear Kanda's voice:
"Samurai don't cry out in pain." Allen inwardly snickered at the mockery he had made of Kanda in his head. But then Allen felt bad—here was Kanda actually being nice and he was thinking bad thoughts of him.
The ice water started to feel good on Allen's back.
"Hmmm…" Allen hummed contentedly.
Though Allen could not see it, Kanda's face tinted red at the hum. He shook his head slightly to get thoughts out of his head. Sure the sprout was scrawny, but…he could be so damn cute sometimes. Kanda shook the thoughts out of his head again. Why was he thinking like this?! Eventually Allen fell asleep—Kanda could tell by the steady rise and fall of his back. Kanda stood, and shut the sliding doors. Kanda cursed himself for looking over the youth's body before leaving. Now it would stick with him until the next morning.