Disclaimer: Nope, characters' not mine, they're Katsura Hoshino's.

A little discouraged by the lack of reviews -i still thank those who fav/alert- but here's the chapter~ Hope you enjoy.

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Chapter four

Caught

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As the moyashi turned about, Kanda kept a straight face and arched an eyebrow at him. "You're dead"

Allen froze mid-sentence of his orders when he felt cool metal on his shoulder. Swallowing a huge lump down his throat, he slowly turned his head back, hoping that it was not what he thought it would be. But that tinge of hope was scattered brutally as he came face to face with a prince whose long hair were let down, and who raised an eyebrow at him.

"You're dead." He heard bits of amusement behind that deadly sentence and he almost argued back. But luckily he bit his lips in time, and pulling on a smile, he spoke as casually as he could manage, "prince Kanda, what a coincidence…"

The said prince glared back as he shifted the blade in his hands nearer to Allen's throat. As if on instinct, Allen swiftly tilted his head up a little to create as much space between his skin and the sharp sword. "Hey," he tried futilely.

"Che, you sure know how to run," Kanda ignored him and said.

The younger frowned but kept silent and averted his eyes away. It was best if he just waits and sees what the other was going to do to him.

"Oi moyashi," the prince then called, signaling to a table not far from them with a motion of his head and pressed the katana nearer against his throat.

Allen quickly nodded as his eyebrow twitched at how the older was handling him and calling him, and proceeded to walk towards the signaled table. Getting closer with the blade still on his skin, he spotted three other occupants. His eyes widened as he took in the appearances of the three. The whole family is here… Soon, he reached his destination and the three seated were openly staring at him. The white-haired licked his lips and opened his mouth to at least say something.

"He's the one I've been after the whole day," Kanda interrupted from behind him and with the metal still on Allen, he shoved the younger to the side and plopped down on the last unoccupied seat.

The table was silent for some time as all of them stared at the white-haired. Allen could not help but fidget his fingers under their gazes.

"Yuu, why were you after him?" the oldest at the table decided to finally break the silence with a question.

As if to answer the inquiry, the blade against his throat left its spot and moved to hover beside his skull. "He has white hair, he made me chase him around in the fucking rain" the youngest prince replied simply. "And he fucking insulted me."

"How did he insult you?" a lighter voice from the male with purple tattoos under his eyes asked excitedly. But the question was dully dismissed when Kanda glared at him.

"What are you going to do to him?" the taller tanned man asked that time.

The youngest prince snorted, "kill him off."

"Yuu-kun that's not enough of a reason to execute people!" the brown-haired king frowned. "He should just receive a fine…"

Kanda scowled at that, "no, at least get him into a prison."

Allen felt like punching the long haired prince. He could have gotten away with just a fine! And he bet the fine would not even be as much as half of his stupid master's debts. But there the arrogant prince was, pursuing the matter like it was some serious crime.

"Dear Yuu is childish today," the second prince smirked almost knowingly. And of course, another glare from Kanda was shot his way and he became quiet, although still retaining his smirk.

The oldest then chose to turn to Allen. "What's your name and why did you not follow the orders?"

Allen decided to smile and replied, "Allen Walker sir, my master insisted that my hair remains silver."

"White you mean," the long haired prince added. Allen's smile twitched drastically as he could swear he seriously felt like punching the man. With all honesty, his hair is not exactly plain dull white; more of somewhere between white, platinum blond and silver. He always went with silver, but the prince was annoyingly persistent. Just then, two waitresses came up to the table and laid down four sets of food. Allen eyed the spread out meaningfully and his stomach growled. The attention was spun onto him again as he felt four pairs of eyes stare at him. "Well it's alright, I am just a little hungry," Allen lied smoothly.

Then suddenly, Daisya Barry burst into fits of laughter while he rocked his chair. "Hey kid you're pretty interesting there." Allen did not know how to respond to that so he merely raised an eyebrow hesitantly.

"So may I know who your master is?" the king continued like there had been no interruptions after he thanked the waitresses. The white-haired swallowed, mind in a frenzy as he wondered if he should really sell out Cross, before he remembered the ridiculously tall stack of bills the said man had him pay and which he was still paying. With a final affirmation to himself that the man would not get caught anyway, he answered. "Cross Marian sir."

The table went silent again as one stared and three gawked at Allen. "Did I say something wrong?" he murmured almost to himself.

The brown-haired king then pushed up his glasses and coughed, speaking first again, "Of course not Allen, but I might need you to go back to the palace with us this time."

The younger leaned his head against the stone with a sigh, trying to fidget as little as possible in his position since the other occupant in the room was only too glad to send a piercing glare at him whenever he hears Allen shifting as he stood before a wall. It was, however, getting uncomfortable standing still like a statue after what seemed like hours. When the oldest at the table back in the restaurant had declared that Allen to be returning to the palace with the family, all of them including the oldest and second prince agreed silently for reasons he could not phantom since just a couple of minutes before they were totally not supporting Kanda's form of consequences. And then, of course, the king had recommended Allen to stay in the same room as Kanda for the night since the rain was still heavy. Frowning, Allen began to doubt if it was the correct choice to have gotten his master's name out of his lips because he had a hitch that it was probably due to the red-haired that the other princes and the king changed their minds. At that thought, he gave an involuntary sigh. He probably should not even have gone back to the town, least of all stepped into a hotel's restaurant even if it was the closest place selling food since he should have known that the prince would obviously go to a higher class location for meals than commoners. But the white-haired was hungry, and he was supposed to be quick about his meal to prevent himself from getting caught, hence the reason for choosing a damn expensive place but instead of helping, it led him straight into the problem. He wondered if he could even get out of this mess in one piece.

A hiss from further inside the not so large room snapped his attention back into reality.

"When can you ever shut up?" the deeper voice growled and Allen felt the need to roll his eye, though he solemnly told himself that he must not let out a noise again. He must not open his mouth too much lest he could not take control of his anger, again, which was even why he landed in that ruckus. The long haired prince specifically pissed him off more than usual for some reasons and in front of him; somehow Allen had to struggle to pull on his well-trained mask and speak nicely. Then all of sudden, the youngest prince got up from his stiff posture on the floor, which Allen had guessed was meditation, and snapped the lights off.

"Don't even think of escaping," Kanda stated plainly before heading to the bed at the side. The white-haired twitched his eyebrow; the prince was being overly… haughty. Though of course, he had a right to be. Allen almost sighed again before catching himself and sealed his lips. Glancing at the long haired male who sat on the ground near the bed instead of on the bed itself, the white haired daringly slid down the wall onto the ground into a sitting position and slept. I should have brought some lock picks with me…

Kanda scowled. There he was, trying to clear his mind since the day was more than unpleasant, and yet the offender standing near the doorframe just had to keep sighing. He shot another glare at the moyashi, but soon realized that the boy was deep in wherever his thoughts had been about and apparently did not notice his glower. Still holding his ferocity in his eyes, they slowly wandered over the younger's pale features, then to those striking hair, before travelling back to that pale face and the outstanding tattoo. Midnight blue softened a little as they reached distant silver orbs for an unknown reason. Then came a sigh that escaped from the person of his attention, making Kanda snap out of his thoughts that those eyes seemed to lurk certain sadness behind their dazzle. Totally unappreciative of the noise, the Japanese prince hissed, "When can you ever shut up?" And he meant it; the white-haired just loved to disturb the peace for one reason or another. Kanda regretted not being insistent in his objection to the idea of the boy lodging in his room of all places, which was after the boy ate more than enough food for twenty when they had offered him the meal, but it was too late so he had to bear with it for the night.

He slid his eyes close again for a couple of minutes before he clicked his tongued in frustration that he could not clear his head long enough that night. He got up from the cool flooring and with a clack; the room went dark, similar to the night sky outside the closed windows where the rain still fell heavily on. "Don't even think of escaping," Kanda made known before heading for the bed, though choosing to sit back down on the floor and leant his back to the softer touch of the mattress. He did not want further trouble, no matter how it seemed that the white-haired could not escape. It was the main reason he had reluctantly agreed to let the offender to lodge in his personal space in the first place, so he had simply decided to give a warning-alike. Then slowly but surely, the youngest prince succumbed to slumber.

"Open the door," Tiedoll commanded at the nearest soldiers as they entered. The soldiers bowed and swiftly unlocked a door to a gloomy cell. The brown-haired king stopped right before the cell and turned to Allen who was surrounded by the princes. "You will stay here until further notices."

Allen proceeded through the crowd, peering into the unlocked cell before stepping in. "Fine," he muttered darkly and spun around to sit on the rather dusty ground.

"Don't worry, you'll get one of the better food and any amount you need Allen," the king smiled a little. "You did not commit any offense serious enough to be held in a prison in the first place."

The white-haired nearly scowled at the king, before stealing a heated glance at a certain Japanese prince beside him who rolled his eyes. "Then why am I here?" Allen had to ask.

"We had been looking for Marian for years," it was Daisya who answered first.

"Yes, so since you must be the son he adopted, there would be more chances of him showing up with you here," the king continued, "sorry about that, perhaps just take this like a vacation for a short while?"

"Che. I'll make sure this is not a vacation for you moyashi," Kanda announced curtly.

"Yuu, stop that, it's not the first time you were insulted in a fight and it was just some rain," the king told his youngest son. Kanda glared at air before narrowing his eyes at the prisoner, "and his hair old man."

The king then turned back his attention to Allen and said, "Yeah, someone will come to dye his hair. It had been orders Allen, and you failed to follow them no matter the reasons" The white-haired could only slouched in his seat and sighed, "I got it. But I can't guarantee he'll appear for me."

"Rest well kid," Daisya balanced his soccer ball on top of his head and headed out of the prison without a second glance.

"Not," the long haired prince supplied before leaving with his katana in hand.

Tiedoll and the oldest prince nodded at him before following their family out of the place. As footsteps faded away, Allen glanced dazedly up at the ceiling before scanning the prison through the bars. The few cells surrounding his own were mostly empty, except one. Curious and slightly relieved, Allen pressed onto the bars and called loudly to a blonde haired boy who lay on the ground of a cell, one cell away from the one right before him. "Hey that blond haired person, I am Allen Walker. What's your name?"

It worked the second time he called, for the blonette stirred in his position before sitting up and glancing around. It seemed as if he had been asleep throughout the time when Allen was led in. As he caught sight of the head of silver-white almost diagonally opposite, the blonette lifted a brow. "Now that's rare for someone to be here." The other prisoner said, ruffling his short messy hair. "But I am Timcanpy, you can call me Tim."

"Oh… hello Tim, why are you locked up here?" the white-haired inquired out of curiosity. The place did not seem like a typical prison because not other cells would be left empty if it was. As safe as that kingdom was, it was not likely there were only two criminals, one of whom did not commit all that serious of an offense to begin with.

Timcanpy crossed his legs and tugged at a few strands of blond hair, shrugging, "Stole some food."

It was Allen's turn to be surprised. "And you came into prison for that?" The other nodded before replying, "I kind of asked for it, but I don't grumble, the people are here are nicer than many out there. Or at least I get my three meals you know."

"So… is this some sort of special prison then? " Allen frowned.

"Sort of, this is the older and smaller prison so nobody really gets locked up here anymore, unless the new one gets overcrowded, though that's going to take awhile" Timcanpy replied easily. "They built a newer and bigger one when they took over this place."

"Oh I see…" Allen trailed off.

"Your name is Allen right? Why are you here then?" Timcanpy queried.

The said person glared at the metal bars he had been leaning on, "Partly it's my master's fault. But what even caused this was because I have white hair; I made a prince chase me in the fucking rain and I fucking insulted him!" Allen raised his voice unconsciously as he recalled what happened.

Timcanpy tilted his head for a moment before a smirk spread across his face. "That sounds like Kanda."

Allen glanced at him, "Yeah. "

Timpancy laid down on his side and twirled his fringe with his index finger, "well he is not as bad as he seemed to be."

Allen scowled at his new friend. "And sun is going to rise from the north."

"I am serious. He's fine so long you don't make too much noise around him," the blonette looked mildly surprised at the sharp tone of Allen.

The white-haired frowned a little before sighing, "Maybe." It made sense in a way considering the umpteen times he was told to shut up. With that, he idly started to draw patterns on the hard ground with a finger. He really had not much idea what to do then.

"Hm, who is this master who landed you into this then?" Timcanpy eyed the white-haired's idling from his cell, some blond strands still around his finger.

"…" Allen finished another line before proceeding to making what seemed like a v.

"So?" the blonette pressed after a moment of silence.

"He's called Cross." Allen ended the v-like drawing and drew another stiff line, sighing a little. It was partly Cross' fault that he was locked there! I wonder why the royals had been after him though, for years to add on...

Timcanpy's eyes widened at that and his finger froze around blond hair. "Cross Marian?" The white-haired then paused mid-stroke of the line and turned his head towards the blonette. "You know him?"

Leaving the prison, Kanda turned and headed towards the back garden. The surroundings were pretty and most importantly, it was peaceful. "Training," he called towards the rest of his family who were heading to their rooms. Tiedoll nodded and he separated with them without further delays. The day before was a bad one, and he hoped that day would just be a little better now that he was back in the palace. Rounding a sheltered corridor, he stopped at what he saw ahead. As quickly as he could, he strode back to where he came from. He would rather take a longer route than face a… "Oh it's Yuu!" The long haired prince cursed under his breath and continued to walk away from one, very loud baka usagi. The redhead put on some speed and caught up with the prince. "Ne, how are you Yuu?" Lavi asked happily.

Kanda clenched his fist around Mugen and glared at the other, "I haven't even settled what happened yesterday with you usagi, but I am not in the mood to chase you around so scram you baka."

"Ouch that hurts Yuu-chan, but nothing really happened yesterday right?" the redhead winked at the youngest prince and the said prince could not help but flinched a little at his name.

"Stop calling me that!" Kanda growled. "I chased that moyashi the entire day yesterday but whatever, I just want you to get lost now usagi." With that, he stalked off to take another route to the back garden, leaving the redhead ruffling his hair in confusion. Moyashi?

Throwing glare at no one in particular, he huffed into the quiet garden. He walked past a clear pond of lotuses and threw his sheath onto the ground. The youngest prince was about to start his sword practice in the clearing surrounded by trees when a familiar voice called from a sheltered corridor. "Who is moyashi?" Kanda deadpanned at the figure under the shade and threw his katana across the garden, striking a red rounded pillar Lavi had been leaning on alarmingly with an air of resound. "W-wah Yuu!" Lavi stood straight up and put as much distance between the blade on the pillar and himself. The youngest prince arrived at the pillar a couple of seconds later and pulled Mugen out of the cement. "Leave!" Kanda demanded, swinging the black katana. Without hesitation, the redhead turned to do just that. Somehow the grumpy prince was in an even worse mood than when he left the palace.

The Japanese prince pinched the bridge of his nose and leaned against one of the pillars. Ever since he went out for that patrol, nothing had been right. Nothing at all. Kanda stalked back to the clearing and mercilessly brought his katana down to a diagonal slash at the first object he saw to vent his frustrations. With a chaotic crash, the top half of a bamboo tree then fell cleanly onto the solid ground. A loud commotion, wondering what the earthshaking noise was, could then be heard breaking out somewhere inside the buildings, putting Kanda in a worse mood. People would be streaming into the back garden after that. "Che," he grunted and kicked the fallen tree none too lightly. After brushing the wood dust on his blade with two fingers, he grabbed Mugen's sheath. Strands of midnight blue then danced in the wind following Kanda back indoors, hair tie that was dropped half way left forgotten in the back garden. But at least, he was feeling a little better after chopping a tree down. He could mediate then.

"You know him?" Allen asked, truly surprised.

"Of course I know him!" Timcanpy exclaimed, but whether it was due to excitement or anger was unknown to Allen.

"How?" the white-haired wanted to know. Is he another victim Cross used to pay his debts?

His new friend took a long pause at that, seemingly in deep thoughts. Finally, "It's gonna take some time to tell."

"We have more than enough time in these pretty cells," Allen rolled his eyes.

"Okay okay… it was that time when I was in another kingdom." Timcanpy then stopped again, tapping his chin. "I think it was called Noah."

Allen nodded his head for the other to continue. He had heard that name somewhere…

"The people there all wore depressing looks and the food and drinks distributed were of bad quality… It was announced that whoever life the king deemed the most pathetic would get a chance to work in the palace. Crazy isn't it?" his new friend's voice sounded demanding at that.

Allen pressed his lips and agreed furiously. It seemed… cruel.

"That was why there was a long queue every week for the commoners to meet the king… And then when I joined the queue that once, more out of curiosity than anything actually, I heard that the kingdom was in fact not poor at all, it was just that the royals kept all the good food to the palace. It was another reason why those people fight over a chance to work in there." Timcanpy told him. "So as hungry as I usually was, I decided to get inside the palace no matter what. Stealing those bad and stale foods from the commoners wasn't helping me, or them, much you see."

"Later that night, after some planning, I managed to sneak pas—" The blond haired boy was abruptly cut off by a loud slamming open of the main prison's gates. Two pairs of eyes swiftly darted to the corridor towards the source and Allen could only feel his eyes widened as one figure stepped into the corridor of the gloomy prison.

His new friend seemed unfazed and stopping his story, began to resume twirling his blond strands with the index. "Kanda," he greeted politely.

"Che," the said prince who had just strolled in between them responded rather monotonously. When he caught sight of Allen, dark sapphire eyes narrowed as if daring him to say something.

And Allen did. "Why is prince Kanda back here?" The white-haired was beginning to scowl.

"I go where I want. Now shut up," the long haired prince glared openly at him before proceeding towards the end of the corridor. Arriving before the dull dead end, he dropped onto the ground without a word and leant his katana against the stone.

Allen slumped onto the bars with a small sigh as he looked down the corridor to where the prince was seated. Turning his head towards his new friend, he mouthed a "what is he doing here?" with obvious distaste. He could not even speak aloud since he knew the Japanese prince loved to tell him to shut up. Timcanpy chuckled softly at Allen's attitude and mouthed back, "Kanda's here to mediate." Again, the newer prisoner added mentally. Allen raised an eyebrow, glancing back at the quiet Japanese prince. But that baka prince interrupted their conversation; he really wanted to know how Tim knew his master…

A red haired man ripped the ivory sheet off the brick wall and crushed it into a ball before letting it fall onto the ground with a thud. Lifting the burning cigarette from his lips, he released a puff of heavy smoke into the atmosphere as he turned and gradually disappeared among the crowd in the city streets.

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It's one of the longest chapter i've written so far o.O Review, please?