Pride/Honor:

In which Kanda cannot forsake his honor and abandon a girl in distress:

A traveling swordsman arrived at the town one day with his prized sword slung over his back and his tattered cloak dragging behind him in the past.

He was young as those in his profession often were and he carried around him an aura of hostility. Kanda glared with annoyance at the curious eyes that followed his progress through the streets. If it were up to him, he wouldn't have bothered coming into a city. He hated cities more than anything else in the world, something about lots of people made him annoyed beyond compare. But this time he didn't have a choice.

Kanda was broke. It had been a while since he had managed to find a well paying job or a well-paid traveler to rob. He needed money to buy supplies, food, weapons, and of course to take care of his precious sword, Mugen. So it was with a great reluctance that Kanda had decided to enter the next city he came across on his journey, to find money.

While he was walking, a sudden loud noise brought him out of his thoughts and before he could quite place what was happening, a girl ran out from the nearby alleys and straight into his path. She was very thin and short with smooth pale skin. A hood was thrown over her head, hiding her face and hair. It was obvious that she was being chased.

Deep male voices and the sound of many footsteps were getting louder. Fearfully the girl scanned the surrounding streets (already the average passerby had fled, leaving the streets awfully silent and empty) searching for a place to hide.

His instinct told him to abandon the girl, after all it would be a lot of trouble to get involved, but Kanda's pride would simply not allow him to walk away. What kind of man would he be if he didn't save a little damsel in distress?

"You're being chased aren't you?" Kanda asked.

The girl started, and seemed to notice him for the first time. Kanda caught a glimpse of silver beneath the hood. Hesitantly, the girl nodded.

"Come on," Kanda said. Grabbing the girl's wrist he began to drag her down the street. She resisted and Kanda was surprised at how much strength she possessed.

"Let me go!"

"Are you trying to get caught?" Kanda snarled.

Before the girl could protest, Kanda knocked her off her feet and carrying her in his arms (she was surprisingly light) he leapt to the rooftops.

They had traveled a ways before Kanda felt it was safe to slow down and let the girl go.

The instant he relinquished her, she jumped back from him, pulling the hood farther over her face to hide it.

Kanda glanced over his shoulder to make sure that they weren't being followed and rushed the girl into a nearby alley.

"You should go," The girl said, "You've done enough, you should go before you get any more involved."

Kanda ignored her, "Who was chasing you?" He asked.

"That's none of your business!" She snapped.

"I just saved your ass!" Kanda retorted. "I think I at least deserve to know who I saved it from!"

Hesitantly, the girl scanned her surroundings. "Thank you," She said slowly, "But you should have left me alone. You don't want to get involved with me."

Warily Kanda narrowed his eyes. "And why is that?" He asked. "Just what are you involved in?"

But before the girl could answer, a light, amused voice called to them from the shadows. "I'm afraid it's too late now."

Surprised the girl jumped. "Go!" She screamed, "Run!"

But Kanda could only stare dumbly as the front of a man's torso emerged from the wall of the alley, followed by the rest of his body.

Finished stepping out of the wall, the strange man proceeded to straighten his top hat and suit. He was a tall, handsome, dark-skinned man, who carried around him an aura of importance and danger.

Kanda immediately pushed the girl behind him and drew his sword, standing protectively in front of her, tensed and prepared to fight.

The gentleman smiled as if he found the whole scene amusing.

"What do you want?" Kanda snarled.

"I only came to retrieve what you stole from us." The man said simply. "It's a pleasure to meet you, my name is Tyki Mikk." Bowing low, he tipped his hat.

"What I stole from you?" Kanda asked.

Tyki pursed his lips but decided to ignore Kanda's rudeness. "That one, behind you," he said, gesturing to the frightened girl behind Kanda, "belongs to us, so if you wouldn't mind, I'll have you kindly return it."

"It?" Kanda repeated angrily. "She's not an object, she's a person! She doesn't belong to anyone!"

Tyki frowned in confusion, "She?" Shrugging, he put it aside. "But whatever, you're wrong. It belongs to us, and I'd really hate to ask twice."

"Go," The girl pleaded. "Please, just go, you don't want to become involved. He's dangerous. They're all dangerous!"

"Shut up," Kanda snapped. "This has got nothing to do with you anymore. This guy pissed me off and I'm not gonna let him get away with it!"

Tyki laughed. "You really attract the strangest people, don't you?" He asked. "But enough games. Come, Neah."

"I'm not Neah," The girl whimpered, "I don't want to be Neah."

"She's not going anywhere!" Kanda snarled.

The smile faded from Tyki's face. The light aura he used to emanate was replaced with a darker, more menacing feeling. "You shouldn't have gotten involved where it doesn't concern you." Tyki threatened softly, "You'll be sorry."

Kanda, however, was undeterred. "What kind of man would I be, if I couldn't even save a single girl?" He said arrogantly.

Tyki's eyes widened and a variety of emotions flicked across his face. Confusion, surprise, disbelief, incredulity, amusement, before he burst out laughing. "You…you really have no idea at all, so unobservant." He said, shaking his head. "You're pretty funny, too. Too bad I'm going to have to kill you. You might have made a nice toy for Rhode."

Suddenly Tyki became serious again and Kanda tensed waiting for the first blow.

"No," The girl protested, "Please don't…" but it was too late.

Tyki was faster than Kanda expected, much faster, but what was even more unexpected was his weapon. A giant pulsing shield-like blade that materialized around his right arm.

When he had recovered from the original shock and just barely managed to dodge the first blow, Kanda managed to gasp out, "You're a mage?"

Tyki grinned. "Not really," He said mysteriously.

The flying candles caught him completely by surprise, piercing his body in multiple places and pinning him to the wall of the alley. Kanda grunted in pain as Mugen fell with a clang to the floor.

"Ty-ki." A girl's voice called, as she emerged slowly from a checkerboard door that had appeared quite literally from nothing. She had spiky blue hair and golden eyes, with the same dark skin as the man named Tyki. A strange line of black stigmata ran across her forehead and a circle of candles floated around her. "I got tired of waiting, so I decided to come play, too." She said playfully.

"Rhode," Tyki said warily with a hint of fear, like a school child that had been caught doing something naughty.

"What are you playing with?" Rhode asked, a murderous smile spreading across her face.

"It's nothing," Tyki said quickly.

"Oh? Is that so?" Rhode's golden eyes fell on Kanda, looking at him as if she were looking at a particularly disgusting insect.

Kanda shuddered, but then Rhode's eyes passed over him and landed on the figure of the trembling girl. Immediately her murderous aura was replaced with the light happiness of a child her age.

"Allen!" She cried, happily, leaping towards the girl and hugging her tightly. The girl did not move. "I was looking EVERY where for you!" Rhode said, mischievously. "You're so mean, running away like that."

Tyki sighed. "Enough, let's go back, Rhode."

Rhode smiled her sadistic smile. "Alright."

Swiftly, Tyki knocked the girl out with a blow to the neck and slung her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. In the process, the hood fell off and Kanda saw a glimpse of the girl's face.

She had pale alabaster skin and short silver hair with a red scar running down the left side of her face, through her eye. Black eyes met fearful silver ones for an instant before her eyes closed and she passed out.

Rhode hummed to herself as she made her way back to the checkered door and Tyki followed. The door closed behind them and vanished into thin air, taking the strange silver haired girl with them.

Kanda cursed silently as his vision blurred. The last thing on his mind was the look of hopelessness in the girl's eyes.

When he came to, he found that he was lying on his back in a bed. Groaning, he sat up and looked around him. He was in someone's bedroom. By the angle of light coming in from the small window he figured that it must be about late afternoon. His wounds had been bandaged.

A young girl sat in a chair by his bedside, knitting. She had dark purple eyes and long dark green hair tied up into two pigtails on either side of her head. She looked up when she saw him. "You're awake," She said. "Be careful, you're really hurt."

Kanda ignored her. "Where am I? What happened?"

"You're in my house. You were hurt badly." She said. "My name is Lenalee."

Memories of the fight and the silver girl returned to him and Kanda swore. "Where's my sword?" He asked angrily, completely prepared to charge out and seek a rematch.

Lenalee looked worried. "It's on the table," She said quietly, gesturing. "But you shouldn't move, you're hurt pretty bad. I found you in an alley." She stammered. She seemed scared.

"I was trying to save this girl." Kanda said. "Short silver hair, silver eyes, weird looking scar. Do you know her?"

"No," Lenalee said nervously.

Kanda frowned, "Why do you look so nervous?" He asked suspiciously.

"No reason!" Lenalee squeaked.

Kanda was not satisfied, but he decided to let it go. "Fine, whatever. Do you know anything about the guys who were hunting her?" He asked. "One of them was really tall, dressed all fancy like some rich guy with a nice top hat and gelled hair. He had dark colored skin. And the other one was a little girl, real short, but vicious, with spiky blue hair and these really weird golden eyes…"

Lenalee flinched.

"What?" Kanda asked.

"Nothing," She said, a little too quickly. "There's no one like that in this town. I think it must have been your imagination."

"It wasn't," he snarled.

"You were hurt, it must have been your imagination."

"Look. If you don't want to tell me what you know, that's fine. I'll go ask someone else." He made to get up.

"No!" Lenalee shouted. "You can't…I mean…you shouldn't…I mean…" Swallowing nervously, she lowered her voice. "They're dangerous, you shouldn't go asking around about them."

"Dangerous? Who?" Kanda asked.

Lenalee glared at him. "It's bad enough that I took you in. If my brother finds out that I put us in danger like this he'll be furious. But I couldn't just leave you there…"

"What's going on?" Kanda asked.

"I…I can't say." She said.

"Don't give me that crap, you know what's going on! Tell me."

"I…I don't know what you're talking about."

"Why won't you tell me?" Kanda asked, warily. "What's so bad about those people that you can't tell me?"

"You should forget about them." Lenalee replied. "It's better that way. Why do you even want to know?"

"I'm going to save that girl." Kanda said simply.

"That's a suicide mission!" Lenalee protested. "You should abandon her. Whoever she is to you, it's not worth it."

"I'm a man," Kanda snapped. "I can't call myself that if I abandon my honor and run."

"You're determined?" Lenalee asked, eyeing him with a little bit of admiration.

"I am." He replied.

"Alright, I'll tell you about them." She said. Leaning forwards, she began to whisper softly. "The people you're talking about are probably the Noah clan. They live in a castle on the mountain above this town. They've lived there as long as anyone can remember. According to legend, many years after the founding of this town, a strange man arrived. He was rich, had a lot of money, said that he came from a faraway kingdom. No one knows his real name, he's only known as 'The Earl.' After he arrived, some strange things began to happen. Mysterious disappearances. He went and built a giant castle on the mountain and he only ever came into town once in a while. Over the years, he added new members to his 'family.' Sometimes they would just suddenly appear. The mysterious things increased in occurrence…"

"What kinds of mysterious things?" Kanda asked.

"Disappearances, people thought to be dead rising at night, deaths, murders, illness, bad luck. People began to be afraid to venture out of their homes at night. Rumors spread that the Earl and his family were not humans, that they were demons, that they dealt in dark magic. But anyone who voiced these rumors was murdered in the night. The mayor went up to that castle to confront the Earl and never came back. From then on anyone who ventured up to the castle was never seen again. Over the years, the Earl's family would continue to come into town every now and then, but the Earl himself, no one is alive who remembers seeing. They say that they've never aged. That the Earl's family, the Noahs, look the same as they were centuries ago. Anyone who says bad things about the Earl dies the next day. So people are afraid to have anything to do with them."

"Where is this castle?" Kanda asked.

"Didn't you understand anything I just said?" Lenalee asked incredulously. "If you go up there, you'll be killed!"

"Where is this castle?" Kanda asked again.

Lenalee looked at him as if he was crazy. "Northern mountains. You can't miss it." She said.

Satisfied, Kanda began to put on his shirt and grabbed his sword from the table.

"You're not actually going to go?" Lenalee asked.

"Of course I am." Kanda said.

"But…"

"Your story doesn't scare me," Kanda said. "I'm going to that castle to save that girl." And without another word, he set off, leaving a stunned Lenalee behind.

The winding, dirt, road leading up to the castle was much steeper than he expected, and much longer too. After what felt like hours, the castle had yet to get any closer. Lenalee had been right about not being able to miss it.

It was a dark thing, made of stone and rising into the sky, with twisted towers like a child's abused toy. The tops of the towers hovered in the gray, stormy clouds, out of view. The forest around the castle was made up of the twisted, dead, shells of old trees.

Somewhere an owl hooted. Night was falling, but the stormy clouds blocked the moon from view, making it difficult to see where he was going.

And quite suddenly, without even realizing it, he had arrived. The castle seemed to materialize from the fog. Warily, Kanda scanned its formidable battlements, but he saw no sign of life anywhere.

Just as he was about to begin looking for a way to sneak in, the front gates of the castle opened by their own accord, swinging on creaking hinges. "It seems like I'm expected." Kanda said sarcastically. "What a nice welcome."

Mustering his courage, Kanda walked inside. The doors closed with an ominous boom behind him. He found himself in darkness for a second before the torches lining either side of the long hall burst into life.

"And I'm being invited." Kanda muttered, but seeing no other option, he warily proceeded down the lit hall. At the end of the hall was a pair of large double doors that swung open when he approached. On the other side was a vast chamber lit by candles whose ceiling lay in darkness far above. It looked like a church with rows and rows of pews neatly arranged.

An altar was set up on a raised stage at the far end of the hall. Gigantic stained glass windows adorned the walls. Each depicting a scene more gruesome than the one before. Scenes of bloodshed, of war, of pain, suffering, torture, sorrow, loss, of bloodthirsty vengeance.

Lying chained to the sacrificial altar was the silver haired girl. She was even paler than when he had last seen her (if that was even possible) and she wasn't moving. She looked dead.

Throwing his caution to the wind, Kanda ran towards her. Her skin was cold. Frantically, Kanda felt for a pulse and almost gasped in relief when he found it. The light danced off the girl's silver hair making her look like a tragic angel.

"You're just in time," a man's voice said. Spinning around, Kanda was just in time to see Tyki emerge from the nearest wall. "I can't believe you actually came back for her."

"Of course I came back!" Kanda shouted. "I wouldn't abandon her!"

Tyki laughed. "Don't tell me…did you fall in love?"

A blush threatened to creep down Kanda's neck, he snorted. "Of course not!"

"Then why would you come?" Tyki asked, amused.

"Like I said," Kanda retorted. "What kind of man would I be, if I couldn't save a single girl?"

"So this is for your pride." Tyki said.

"That's right." Kanda replied, drawing his sword.

"The shining knight, here to save the damsel in distress." Tyki mused. "But you know, he…she isn't as…helplessly harmless as you assumed. You have no idea at all, what she is."

"Then enlighten me." Kanda said.

Tyki grinned. "That "girl" that you want to save is one of us. A Noah."

Kanda frowned. "I don't believe you."

"Well, I'll admit she isn't one yet," Tyki said, "But once the ritual is complete, she will be. "Allen Walker" will cease to exist and "Neah" will awaken!" A twisted smile grazed Tyki's face, full of madness.

"You're wrong." Kanda said. "Who you are isn't decided by someone else. Who you are comes from the heart! It's something no one can take away from you!"

Tyki's eyes widened in surprise. "Well…what do you know? You can say something noble once in a while." The blade materialized again on his arm. Kanda drew his sword.

He cut the chains easily with his sword and lifted the girl carefully in his arms.

A strangled gurgle came from the corner that quickly became a laugh. "You…you're really something." Tyki said. A pool of blood (not all of it his), black in the light, spread out around him. He coughed weakly. The sword had gone straight through his heart, but he was still alive.

"You may have won this time, but it won't last…" Tyki said, his words growing softer each time. "We are Noah, we cannot be killed so easily. This is not the end at all. We will return, we will find him, and we will revive Neah, because it is our lord's greatest wish…" Slowly his body disintegrated into darkness and melted into the shadows.

"I'll be waiting for you, when you come." Kanda said quietly to the empty room. And then with the precious girl in his arms he walked out.

She woke up, half way to the town, when they had left the shadow of the castle behind. Groaning, she opened her eyes, and seemed surprised to see where she was, in Kanda's arms.

"About time." Kanda snapped. "I've had to carry you for hours!"

"I…What…" Unable to form words, she could only stare in stunned silence at Kanda. "You…You came back for me?" She asked.

"Of course I did!" Kanda retorted. "I said I would, didn't I?"

"But…Tyki…"

"I took care of him."

"Took…took care of him?" She shouted.

Kanda winced at the loud noise, "For now, anyways." He said.

"Oh." She said, shocked into silence.

"Can you walk?" Kanda asked.

"Y…Yeah." She said. "But…why did you come back…even with all the danger…just to save a stranger?"

Kanda smirked. "I'm a man. I've got a man's pride. What kind of man would I be if I saved my own skin and left a helpless girl in distress?"

"Girl…" She repeated as if she hadn't heard correctly.

"That's right." Kanda said arrogantly.

"Girl…" she said again.

"Are you hard of hearing?" Kanda demanded.

"But…I'm a GUY!" She…no he shouted. Kanda dropped him.

He fell to the ground with an umfph.

"Ow!" He complained, rubbing his back.

Kanda stared at him for a second before he burst out laughing. "You…a guy! That's the funniest thing I've ever heard!" He exclaimed. "You're a scrawny little beansprout!"

"My name is ALLEN!" He shouted, angrily. "And I am definitely a…" But before he could finish, Kanda had leaned in and kissed him right on the lips. Allen, caught by surprise at first, could not react. Then struggling, he pushed Kanda off him, sputtering in horror. "What are you doing?!" He shouted. "I'm telling you, I'm a man. M-A-N!"

"Are you lying, 'cause you don't want me to do that?" Kanda asked, smirking. "But come on, admit it, you know you want me."

Allen could only sputter indignantly. A tick appeared above his forehead. "Like I said…I AM A GUY!"

Unbelieving, Kanda reached out and poked "her" chest. Flat as a board. "You…you're really a guy?"

"YES! That's what I've been trying to tell you!"

"But…you're so girly." Kanda said dumbly.

"Well, Jeez, Thanks so much!" Allen snapped sarcastically.

"So…all this time, I was saving a guy." Kanda said, still unwilling to believe.

"I'm sorry I wasn't what you expected." Allen said, indignantly, a blush creeping up his neck.

Kanda blinked. "A guy." He repeated.

Allen scrunched his hand into a fist, ready to punch the blue haired swordsman that had saved him.

Together they set off back to town.