Makin' up names for momma and daddy. Please don't kill me.
Allen stepped into the dark cave, not bothering to tiptoe as he moved deeper towards the dark. His silver eyes narrowed as the atmosphere became darker. Outside, the night was falling. His master, hood now off his shoulders, stalked ahead of him. He seemed angry. The girl ran up to Allen, pushing him over as she cackled with glee, and her hood fell over her shoulders. Their master disappeared, and as Allen tried to pick himself back up, he was thrown against the hard wall of the cave and Road held him up with her arms. He groaned as she dug her elbow into his chest, feeling a few of his ribs give into her strength.
"Master Larn is mad at you! Mad at you! Mad at you!" she sang in a giddy voice. "Come on, sing with me, Allen!" He gasped as she let up and then slammed her hand into his shoulder. It dislocated, and his left arm hung loosely. He cried out. "Sing the song, Allen." Her tone turned sinister.
"I-I don't want to, Road! Just let me down," he gasped out. Road pouted.
"Aw, Allen, you're ruining my mood." She laughed as she slammed him into the wall again. "What is it you don't want to do? Drink blood or sing with me? Well, Allen? Which one is it?"
"Both!" he coughed out. It was becoming hard to breathe. But the pressure on his chest disappeared as Road was snatched away from in front of him. He panted, trying to get his breath back. Larn was standing in front of him, and he snapped Allen's arm back into place as it began to heal in a snail-like pace. Road frowned.
"Road, what have I told you about 'playing' with Allen?" he said in a husky voice. Allen clung to Larn. She huffed and turned away. "Road?" She turned back at him, crossing her arms over her halted chest.
"I was just teasing," she said. "He's too weak. He needs to man up! Come on, Allen, be a man!"
"Road, that's enough," he scolded, though he didn't sound at all menacing. He sounded cool, almost tired. "You have to remember that Allen is still human. His body is still developing. If you use all of your strength, you might break him. That would cause a problem for us, Road. He wouldn't be able to go and find us our food." Allen turned towards her and nodded, knowing if he said anything, she'd tear him to pieces. Road glared and he hid behind Larn. The man stood, his onyx eyes glowing dangerously.
"Master!" she cried out defiantly. "How do you expect me to put up with him!? He sleeps all night and stays up all day; I hardly ever get to play with him! The least he can do is drink a little blood! Normal food isn't going to sustain you for long, Allen." Her last venomous retort was aimed at Allen. He glared at her.
"Now, now, you two. I don't want to hear you fighting. I'm sorry Allen, but Road does have a point. You have to drink at least a little blood to sustain yourself." Larn patted his head as Allen flinched. He stood to his feet and turned around, facing Road. "Come with me, dear. I have a lot to teach you about your prey tonight." He placed a hand on her shoulders. She looked up at him with a scowl.
"I still think he needs to grow a pair and drink a little A-positive." She looked over at Allen. The boy stood and walked back into the cave. Larn sighed.
"Kids. Why did I agree to teach you two?" he asked rhetorically. "I was never good with handling kids." He took Road's hand and walked towards the entrance. He turned around for a moment. "We will be back in a moment, love. Try getting some sleep. You look awful."
"Thanks," Allen said, waving them away. He walked to the very back of the cave and into a dead end. It was littered with color pencils and blank paper (some pieces of paper had explicit drawings on them of humans beings murdered), melted wax, and Allen's playing cards. He remembered that right before going to bed, Road had gotten mad at him because he had beaten her at poker six times and threw them around the floor, shutting herself into one of the two coffins that were lined in a row near the cave walls. A small futon was laid out for Allen, because he hated cramped spaces. He walked over to it and flopped down.
"I wonder what kinds of things master teaches," he said aloud, hearing his light voice echo off the walls. He laughed and heard it resonate. "I can't wait to become a vampire." He paused. "No, I can wait. I can definitely wait." He put his hands behind his head. Mortality wasn't something he would be willing to give up easily like Road had.
Kanda leaned against the door of the phone booth, tapping his foot impatiently. Lavi was still near the crime scene. Kanda had driven to a phone booth to make a call. Tomitake forbade him to use his cell phone on the scene (not that it mattered since he had left the device at home because Hanazuki wanted to "patch things up" so she could yell at him again) so he drove back a few feet into the city to make the call. He would get an earful, wouldn't he?
Rring…
Rring…
Rring…
Click
"Hello?" Kanda cursed himself inside his head. He was already sitting on a powder keg, so here come the matches. "Hello? Is someone on the other line? I feel an ominous aura coming from the phone…"
"Hello, Tiedoll," he said in a reluctant voice. There was silence. Kanda thought the man had hung up or that he had run out of time on the pay phone. He was soon proved wrong by a loud blubber of words that didn't sound like English. "Could you please enunciate? I don't understand gibberish."
Immediately, the regret set in.
"Gyaah! Why don't you call me more, Yu!? I know you've been busy, but didn't you get my e-mail!? I wanted to have lunch with you last week!" he cried. "But I never got a reply from you!!"
"Yes, Tiedoll, I got your e-mail, your text messages, your voice-mails; I got everything," Kanda replied with a strained smile. It looked more like he was grimacing.
"Then why didn't you answer me!?"
"Because I've been busy lately! I've been jumping from case to case to make my living!" He sighed. There was no rational way to deal with this man, and if you tried to go around the bush with him for help, he got entirely lost. Kanda leaned against the back of the phone booth, crossing one leg over the other. "Say, about the lunch…"
"Would you like to go?! I mean, it's almost ten o'clock, but…"
"Yeah, eleven thirty. I also have some questions to ask you. You were a cop once." He heard the long groan on the other end. "Don't do that."
"Sorry." He heard Tiedoll laugh. "How did you know I used to be a cop, Kanda? I don't remember telling you I was one." Kanda rolled his eyes.
"You used to tell your tales as bed stories to me when I was eight years old, remember?" Kanda tapped his foot as he waited for a sign of recognition. When nothing came, he sighed and shifted his weight. "Look, I just want to ask you a few questions. They should be easy to answer. You shouldn't have trouble answering them."
"Sure, I could." Tiedoll stopped. Kanda listened intently, sticking a quarter into the phone to make sure it didn't drop his call. "Hey, are you the one working on this new case? I heard about it two hours ago; is it true that he was hung upside-down in a dark alley naked?"
"Everything but about being naked is true," Kanda replied. The case was only in its third day and it was already having rumors spread about it. "I want to ask you a few questions about the type of murderers you've dealt with. I think this might help me with the case."
"Really?" Tiedoll sounded almost too excited to be having lunch with his foster-child. He paused. "How much danger are you in in this case, Yu?" Kanda paused. "Yu?"
"Not much," Kanda lied. "I might get shot at once or twice, but other than that, there's not much danger to this assignment. It won't last two weeks." That, Kanda knew, was a flat-out lie. Four people had already been killed, and he wasn't sure how much danger he would be in specifically. He waited for Tiedoll to say something. He heard a tap on the outside of the booth and jumped nearly out of his skin, crying out vulgarity. He turned to see Lavi waving and smiling stupidly at him.
"Yu, you know I don't like it when you lie to me," Tiedoll said once Kanda's fit was over. "And watch that mouth of yours!"
"Whatever," Kanda said, turning his back towards Lavi. "We won't be alone, by the way."
"Huh? Why not?"
"Have you ever wanted to meet a pirate, Tiedoll?"
"What are you saying, Yu? You're confusing me."
"I'm telling you that I know a pirate. Are you willing to meet one or not?"
There was a long pause on the other end and Kanda had to put in another coin to lengthen the call. Lavi tapped the glass and Kanda flipped him the bird. That shut him up with a surprised expression.
"Yu, I regret letting you work there now. You're going insane."
"No I'm not," Kanda replied nonchalantly. "I'm just a naturally curious person."
"Stop acting stupid."
"Yes sir." Hook, line, and sinker.
Lavi was ecstatic to meet Tiedoll. He shook the man's hand and began to ask about embarrassing stories about Kanda when he was little, and Kanda felt the need to bash his head in. Tiedoll spared his "son" the embarrassment and simply told Lavi that he was a bright, well brought up child that had no embarrassing moments, to which Kanda blushed and Lavi howled.
"So, who's the mother?" Lavi asked. Tiedoll glanced at Kanda nervously and the young man ignored him, slurping up soba all while looking like a god. Kanda swallowed and wiped his mouth politely.
"Her name was Yukiko. I forget her family name, but she was very beautiful. Her name suited her well," Tiedoll answered. Kanda turned to scoot out of the booth. He paused for a moment before he jumped up and walked quickly towards the bathroom. Tiedoll made a noise of recognition. "How heartless I am. I forgot that his mother is such a touchy subject for him."
"What'd she look like?" Lavi asked, milking Kanda's absence for all it was worth. Tiedoll pulled out his wallet and searched through the jungle of photos. Lavi thought he would have to jump in with a machete and a can of bug spray to find it. Tiedoll managed to come through, though, and pulled out a picture. He studied it with nostalgia before handing it over. Lavi examined it. A woman with long, flowing dark hair was standing with two men and a young boy was on the taller man's shoulders. The shortest man in the picture was obviously Tiedoll.
"Is that…?" Before Lavi could finish, the man nodded.
"The woman in the middle is Yukiko, Kanda's mother and my best friend," he explained sadly. "The taller man with the dark hair is Ryoko, his father. As you can see, Kanda looks very much like his mother. He has his father's eyes, though." Tiedoll laughed.
"What about the boy?"
Tiedoll didn't have to answer.
"He used to be like that. He used to smile and laugh like a normal child. But when his parents were killed, it was like all emotion died with them. Next thing I know, he's working to get into law force. He's always been a bright child, so getting in wasn't a challenge." Tiedoll put the picture back into his wallet, coughed, and wiped at his eyes with his stained napkin. "He has a good heart, he really does, but showing emotion doesn't come naturally to him anymore."
"He was so cute," Lavi commented with a stupid smile. "He doesn't look evil! He's so cute." Lavi reminded himself of Komui bragging over his little sister, who just started high school. "I'm starting to wish he was younger and my little brother."
"Oh no, this boy could play some pranks," Tiedoll said with a laugh. "He did the worst things to his mother! But that was how a boy his age showed affection."
"Really? What kind of tricks?"
"He once replaced his mother's lipstick with a fish. She popped open the top and would scream like a banshee. Ryoko would give Yu a mouthful, but the pranks were worth—Welcome back, Yu!" Tiedoll interrupted himself as Kanda grabbed his jacket.
"You." He pointed towards Lavi. The Bookman-in-training smirked.
"Me," he replied.
"Stop acting stupid." He felt a small sense of Déjà vu. "We have to go. I just got a call from Komui. He needs to see us." Lavi's smile disappeared, and he was suddenly all business.
"What is it about?" he asked, jumping out of the booth.
"He said he'd tell us when we got to his office. Whatever happened down there scared the shi—oh, never mind, just go out to the car." Kanda had stopped himself when he spotted a young girl staring intently at him. He turned to Tiedoll as Lavi exited the restaurant. "Thanks for the meal, geezer."
"Yu," Tiedoll said seriously. "Keep that boy Lavi around. He's a good kid, a real good kid."
"Whatever." Kanda turned to leave, but Tiedoll grabbed his arm. Kanda looked over his shoulder.
"Be safe, son," Tiedoll said in a grave tone. "I worry about you sometimes."