Yo-lyo-lyo! Welcome to Chapter 12 of 'Drugtionary'! I know, school is coming up, probably the thirty-first for most of us. The sadness! You know what the cool thing is? This will be my last year of high school! Huzzah! Senioridus, here I come! Anyways, for last chapter, I got 65 reviews: Hikou no Kokoro, Grinss (get the account, man! XD), omgitskirby, marufu-chan, MuffinStealer, Brigette Janine, and mori-fan987! I cannot say thank you enough! I love you all! So! Let us commence forthwith with Chapter 12 of 'Drugtionary'!

Disclaimer: D. Gray-Man is prop— Wait, am I really doing this again? This is the twelfth bloody chapter! You get it by now, right? Right? Damn well better.

~O~

12. Killer's Ultimatum

He tapped his finger irritably on the gate behind him, sick of waiting. On the plus side, the rain let up, but not even that could relieve him of his inconsiderable bad mood. School got out at two-fifteen, and he got there about twenty minutes early after wandering about with nothing else to do. He certainly didn't want to return to the Grandworth. He wanted to avoid that place as much as possible, mostly because he couldn't stand the amount of falseness there was.

The bell rang, much to his relief, and shouts of annoying teenagers began filling his ears. He stepped around the corner and watched the doors for Rhode, despite his yearning for wanting to run away. Alma was trying not to laugh, though he failed miserably, which caused Kanda to scowl at him. He caught sight of white hair, which he immediately recognized as the annoying bean sprout, and attached to his arm was Rhode, giggling and smiling in her odd demeanor that caused the hairs on the back of his neck raise ever-so-slightly, not that he would ever admit it. She took notice of him, said something to Allen, who nodded, and the two approached him.

Wait. Kanda felt his ever-present frown deepen. Why is Moyashi coming over here?

'I don't know…' Alma scratched the side of his head, making one of those confused faces that one would expect in an anime show. 'Maybe Rhode threatened him to come with her? Oh!' He snapped his fingers. 'Maybe she told him that you are going clothes shopping with her and that she wanted him to tag along! Knowing that annoying idiot, he would agree just to make your life hell.'

The very thought of that occurring caused him to groan when they arrived, Allen grinning devilishly and Rhode being… Rhode. She skipped around the Japanese man before speaking in a singsong voice. "Tee hee! Ready to go, Kanda?"

"Che." He glared at Allen, who returned it in equal malice. "Why is he here?"

"I came because I wanted to, Ba-Kanda," he replied. He looked around. "Where's your boyfriend? I thought we could have made it a double date. Or did he dump you already?"

"Boyfriend? What the hell are you talking about—?" He blinked once, having it dawn on him along with the past memories of humiliation, then snarled. "You fucking Moyashi! I don't even fucking like that damned rabbit, and you have the nerve to say that we're dating—?" He glanced past the shorter teenager to see Lenalee, who was talking to Tyki, probably about the science assignment. He grimaced. "We'll argue about this later. Let's just go already!"

He started leaving ahead of them, causing the other two to blink in confusion and shrug, then followed behind him. Rhode eventually skipped ahead him, talking about more random subjects, like the rain and strawberries. Kanda said nothing as Allen politely nodded and smiled, encouraging her to keep talking. He wondered what drugs he was on, being able to put up with her constant chattering.

"Ah!" She skipped in triumph. "Here we are!"

Thank God. Let's just get this over with.

The clothes store was a small place, locally owned and managed. The floors consisted of wood and creaked whenever he stepped onto a piece. Old, definitely, but the owners were as old as Death, too. Rhode headed over towards the men's selection, surveying the amount of clothes there. Several other people occupied the shop, mostly just browsing, as he grimaced out of annoyance. The lights were giving him a headache, probably because they were fluorescent bulbs, flickering occasionally out of age.

"This looks good— Ooh! That looks even better! Hmm…" She placed the two shirts up against Kanda's chest and nodded. "Yeah, they both work. Allen! You hold onto these for me, okay? I would ask Mr. Grumpy-Pants over here, but I have to use him as my model."

"Fine by me." He could hear the 'just so long as I get to see Ba-Kanda humiliated I am willing to do anything' afterwards, but he refrained from punching the kid into the clothes racks. Of all the places to get arrested, it would be the worst in the world. In addition, an elderly couple owned the place. He had rules against offending the elderly.

"And this one and this… Huh. Would that fit you? It looks like something you would wear. Hmm. Okay, you need to try this on, so go to that fitting room. And try these, too." She took the clothes that she stacked onto Allen, gave them to the irritated man, and giggled. "I'll look for more while you're in there, m'kay? Go, go!"

You don't have to push me to get away from you. I will do it willingly. He walked towards the small, cramped space and closed the door, sighing. Why am I here again? It's not as if it matters. I could have gone by myself, I have the money. I could have—

His thoughts stopped short and his breathing turned shallow as he glanced in the full-length mirror on the door. The clothes, somehow, combined and made up a monster. Its tongue consisted of a red shirt (Rhode didn't even get him a red shirt, as he recalled) and was dripping out green, gooey-looking socks. The body was mostly black, its arms made of wool fabric. However, the spikes that clad its otherwise soft body consisted of wire hangers, all of which concealed by cuffs of shirts, though they didn't do a good job.

Holy fucking shit. He pressed his back up against the changing room door, eyes wide. It's fucking huge! How am I going to get out of this one? Shit! He glanced around the small space to see that there was nothing for him to use. His fingers tried desperately to find the little latch that kept the door shut, but he did not dare to turn his back against the thing. One faulty move and his life was over.

'Yuu!' Alma panicked, too, as he frantically began shaking his head. 'Yuu, you've got to get out of here!'

I'm fucking trying! Got any fucking suggestions I could actually use, idiot? The thing leaned over him, forcing him to slide down the door. His breathing hitched a little faster, though he refused to let fear get the best of him. He jabbed his fingers into the thing's eyes (which felt like dipping his fingers in uncooked meat), making it reel back, shrieking in pain. It recovered quickly, though, as Kanda tried to open the door. He hesitated to look back and saw it coming at him.

Shit…!

He braced for impact, though the impact never came. He waited for what felt like a week and nothing happened. Slowly, he moved his arms away from his face, seeing the pile of clothes there on the floor, rumpled together. He stood up and Alma stood with him, though unlike Kanda he was shaking violently. The Japanese man picked up one of the shirts and frowned.

Well, he thought, trying it on, at least something exciting happened.

'T-That's all you have to say? That thing could've killed us!' His friend was clinging to a tree, breathing arduously. 'How the heck aren't you scared? Death just flashed before our eyes!'

It wasn't real, Alma. He tried on the next shirt, actually liking the design on it. Rhode had a good fashion sense, after all. It was just a hallucination. Calm down.

'Okay…' He let go of the tree and sighed, looking at the mirror. 'Whoa, that looks awesome! You're not going to tell that to Rhode, are you.'

Nope. He put the shirts and jeans back onto their proper hangers and stepped out of the room, frowning. Rhode was chatting away with Allen, who was smiling as always. How much he wished to watch those little teeth fall onto the floor, blood staining the aged wood, caused by his rather large fist. He sighed. If he were an Akuma, he could do it.

"Oh, there you are! You took forever!" She swiped the clothes from him. "So, did they fit? I bet they did, hmm?" She leaned her face rather close to his, eying him suspiciously, then grinned. "You liked them! Good. Let's go buy them!" She skipped off towards the register, pulling out her wallet and talking to the elderly woman. It was funny to Kanda how a member of one of the largest drug dealers could freely talk to an innocent person.

He laughed cynically inside his head. He was one of them now, and he talked freely to Lenalee as if nothing even happened.

How ironic.

"Thank you very much!" He heard Rhode say, then felt the sleeve of his shirt tugged at. She was grinning as always. "Let's go home, okay? Let's walk Allen home first, though. Okay, Allen?"

The boy nodded, looking amused. Until recently, Allen had been the nicest person on the face of the planet, which pissed Kanda off more than anything. Something happened, though, and now he seemed up to something. He didn't know what, but Allen was hiding something. Not that it really mattered, but curiosity nagged at him often.

They left the small shop and stepped onto the sidewalk, a bus driving by them slowly. Rhode walked ahead as Allen tagged along beside her, Kanda hanging in the back and frowning. They reached the bean sprout's house, and as she waved Allen goodbye, she glanced at Kanda. "The Earl sent me a text message, saying he wants to see you. Apparently, he has a job or something for you to accomplish. It's like one of those test-job things, you know?" She spun in a full circle before skipping up and running down the sidewalk. "Hurry up, or you'll be late!"

Why did I sign up again? He grimaced, then ran behind her, hating that damn cheerful laugh she had. The scarf around his neck nearly slipped off several times, but he caught it each time as he beat her to the fancy hotel. The sun illuminated the windows, much to his irritation, and entered the building. The Miranda girl waved at them and Rhode waved back. He didn't like waving at people, period.

They walked up the stairs and down the hall to their room. "We're home!" Rhode sang, handing Kanda the bag of clothes and skipped towards the kitchen. He sighed heavily as he walked to his room and put the bag in one corner. He took off the scarf and folded it up, putting it under the bed. He would find a use for it later.

He left the room and headed towards the dining room, having a feeling that the infamous Earl would be there. The top hat, shiny and slick from being cleaned, was decorated with cherry blossoms and a bow, courtesy of Rhode. He was eating something again. Did he do anything aside from eat? Kanda bowed his head. "Hello, Earl."

"Ah, Kanda." He stabbed his spoon into an ice cream float, one that he doubted he could finish. "Good to see you. I have a little errand for you to accomplish. You see, one of my clients haven't paid me in about three months, and I need him erased. You're strong, aren't you?"

"Yes." It wasn't in question, he knew he was strong.

"Wonderful. I have arranged a meeting with him to 'talk' later tonight in an alleyway near the local café." He pulled the cherry off the top of the ice cream float, biting into it and causing the red juices to run down the sides of his mouth. "I want you to shoot him dead and bring the body with you. I'll send along Tyki to come and pick you up. He drives a black Mustang, you can't possibly miss it. If anyone spots you, you shoot them, too, and leave their body. I don't like having too many bodies here. Just leave any extras for the police to toy with. Understand?"

Che. Murder. Great. He nodded. "Of course."

"I have high hopes for you. Do not fail me."

"Wouldn't dream of it."

"Bor-ring!" Rhode leapt up and clung to the Earl's back. "I thought you were gonna have him kill ten people or something! Bah, who cares? Play with me, Earl!"

Kanda slinked away from the room and walked back to his own, closing the door. He sat at the edge of the bed and stared at his hands. Killing someone. He could handle it. All he had to do was view the person as an Akuma and— viola! —the job would be finished.

'I have faith in you, Yuu.' Alma was sitting on a sandy beach, staring blankly at the waves. The sun highlighted his hair to make it look glossy. 'Just think of it as training— training to get stronger. Harden your heart so that nothing can bother you, not even seeing human blood. You are like a sandstorm— Strong, devastating, unfeeling, and unstoppable. I have faith in you.'

Thanks for the pep talk. He laid down and blinked, feeling a lump under his pillow. He felt underneath his head and pulled out a gun, one shined and looking deadly. He stared at it for a long moment. A pistol. If he was going to be in an alleyway, the sound might not bother him so much. He stroked the gun out of boredom and frowned. Six-bullet chamber. All he needed was one shot, if he was stealthy enough.

He sighed. If he was going to go out late at night, he might as well take a nap.

~O~

"Yuu-chan."

The waters were cold and made his fingers go numb. All sounds blended together, though there was barely any sound at all. He couldn't breathe, except somehow it didn't matter if he breathed or not. The water receded and left him on a beach consisting of gray sand, darkened by the silver clouds raining their long forgotten children. His fingers clenched around something soft.

"Yuu-chan."

He didn't bother sitting up. Another wave washed over him as he blinked slowly. The water was salty and displeasing to the mouth, so he forced himself to crawl a little bit higher onto the sand. Everything felt heavy, but everything was light. The forgotten children splashed onto rocks, splitting them into multiple pieces and making their demise unhappy. He couldn't bring himself to care.

"Yuu-chan, are you unhappy?"

Not you again. His fingers lost strength as the black rabbit floated in front of him, free from its captor.

"I asked you a question. Are you unhappy? The clouds in your head are. They're trying to say something. Can you hear them?" The rabbit stared up at the sky and caught one of the forgotten children. "I can. They're saying that you're fighting for the wrong people."

I don't care.

"Don't care, you say? Don't care?" The rabbit seemed to sneer. "Don't care? You do, otherwise you wouldn't be 'here'."

What is 'here'?

Silence. The rabbit let the forgotten child fall, a scream of betrayal that Kanda barely heard unleashed before splattering amongst the sand. He stared for a second longer, assuming he wasn't going to get an answer, and allowed his mind to drift slowly throughout time.

"Tick, tock, tick, tock, watching the clock's hands go by," the rabbit finally said, though the waves were already taking Kanda back into the dark ocean. It sounded like a poem, though he didn't care. "Fourteen petals, all falling, all possessing a mark / A mark of a number, a mark of when one will die / And set sail onto that final Ark."

What is that supposed to—

"—mean…?"

His eyes opened against his will, his vision blurred as always. He rubbed it away before sitting up, groaning. The window showed that it was night as the door opened, showing Tyki standing there, a cigarette in his mouth. "Bouya," he said, "it's time."

'Good luck, Yuu.' Alma said, yawning.

Kanda picked the gun up off the floor and double-checked it to make sure it was loaded. When he saw the six bullets, he closed the chamber and shoved his pathetic-looking shoes onto his feet. He grabbed a black sweatshirt and put it on, putting the gun in the front pocket. He already didn't like this. He followed Tyki out of his room and into the living room. The Earl grinned as always.

"You meet him in approximately twenty minutes," he said, rocking back and forth in the old-looking rocking chair. "Do you remember everything I told you?"

"Shoot him dead, bring the body with you, shoot any other witnesses, and leave their bodies there."

"Good boy. Now go."

I hate it when people call me 'boy'. He nodded before following Tyki once again, this time down the stairs and out into the city metropolis. The Grandworth was sparkling in their variety of lights as his accomplice got into a car. He sat down in the passenger's seat before they sped off into the night. Silence ensued for about five minutes before Tyki finally broke the muteness.

"Alright, bouya. A few words of advice, considering this is going to be your first job." He turned left before speaking again. "First thing is first— No hesitations. If you hesitate, it will allow the other person to attack. Second, you want to wait until they're at least ten feet away from you. Any further and you risk missing and having to fire another shot. Thirdly, and most importantly, aim for the head. Got it?"

Kanda nodded, having nothing to say.

"Good. I'll be waiting here," he said, pulling into a parking spot. The streetlight was making an annoying hum noise as the light flickered on and off. It had been a problem for years, and even though the city replaced it constantly, it still continued to flicker. "You are meeting him in that alley there. It's behind that local café. When you're done, take the body with you, but don't drag it. Skin will take care of the evidence later."

They really are professionals. I wonder what the fuck Rhode does? All she seems to do is annoy everybody. He nodded and got out of the car, slamming the door shut before walking towards the alleyway. It took him a moment to recognize where he was. It was Lenalee's café.

But it's nine o'clock at night. She wouldn't be here, would she?

He ducked into the alley and waited patiently, noticing how relatively clean compared to the other one he hung out at. The light over the door was still on, so he pressed his back against the door and waited. Being able to see to shoot was definitely a plus. He waited impatiently, as always, for the person to appear. He could meditate, but waiting for people was the worst.

Time passed. Finally, a silhouette of a person stood in front of the alley. He looked tall, but that didn't bother him in the least. He tapped his fingers against the door, watching him slowly. He casually shifted his hands into the front pocket of his sweatshirt and forced himself to walk towards him. As he got closer, he noticed the person had a lock of white hair amongst the black. He looked apologetic and sad. His mouth opened.

'Don't let him speak, Yuu! If he speaks, you'll hesitate and can feel sympathy for him!'

Kanda blinked once, noticing how the man was mumbling, looking down at the ground, and frowned. He looked like a sniveling wimp. Why would the Earl want to kill someone as pathetic as that? He pulled out the gun and pointed it at the man's head.

"Ah—" The man's eyes widened as he began to back away. "Ah—! P-Please, hear me out! I-I can't pay because… I can't pay because—!"

One shot. Collapse. The man laid still upon the ground as Kanda's ears rang loudly. Luckily, there wasn't much of a kickback for a pistol, so at least his arm was fine, but his ears… not so much. He grimaced as he turned over the body. The shot wasn't quite in the center of the forehead, it was more to the left, but it did the job all the same. There was a small amount of blood (corpses don't bleed when they die, he learned that from biology) around the head as he sighed heavily. He thought there would be some emotional twinge, some sort of unpleasant feeling, but he didn't really feel anything.

Does that make me horrible? Che. Who cares?

A gasp from behind him caught his attention. Someone heard the shot from inside the store and came out to see what it was. A witness. He reeled back and turned his head, firing twice in case one missed. He blinked, then felt his eyes widened as Lenalee coughed, then slumped to the ground.

"Shit!" He tossed the gun aside and ran over to her, rolling her onto her back. The shots had hit her dead-on, one in the shoulder, one in the left side of her chest. Left side of the chest meant the heart of maybe a lung. Either way, it was fatal. Her breathing was shallow as she looked at him with hurt eyes, betrayed eyes, and confused eyes. "Lenalee! Fuck! This wasn't supposed to happen!"

"…Kand… a…" She was crying, and frankly, he couldn't blame her. He panicked as he looked for something to stop the bleeding with. He took off his sweatshirt and grimaced, wishing he didn't skip most of the 'Health and the Human Body' class. His knee landed in a wet patch of blood as he bit his lower lip. She stared at him still. "Kanda… why…? Do you… ha…te… me tha…t much…?"

"No! Shit! Don't talk, I'm going to find a way to help you—"

"If anyone spots you, you shoot them, too, and leave their body."

He felt the inside of his mouth go dry. "Damn! Lenalee, stay with me! Lenalee! Hey!"

"It's… okay," she breathed. She didn't have much life in her, he could tell. The face was too pale, the blood was too much, her voice was too cracked. Of all the people he had to kill, it had to be Lenalee. But she wasn't dead yet. She was still breathing. There had to be a way. He unbuttoned her shirt and saw that the bullet went deep into her. His hands shook slightly as they fell to his sides. She shook her head. "Don't…. I… wan…ted… to say that… to say that… I'm sor…ry… for ye…lling at you ear…lier…." She coughed, some blood running down the side of her mouth. "…I… I'm… still pr…aying… for your… sake… I might… not have been… able to he…lp… you… but I know… I know some… one… I know… someone… will…"

"Lenalee…"

"You're…. lost," she said with a heavy sigh. "But… ever…yone… loses their way once in… a while… I will… ke…ep… pray…ing… Ka…nda…"

She took in another deep breath before sighing again. A whisper he managed to hear said, "He's still alive", before her eyes fixed upon the clouded sky. He swallowed hard as he closed her eyes, wondering what she meant by that. He stood up, grinding his teeth together, then left her body behind as he picked up the other one and the gun and left.

He reached the car, pissed off more than ever, and dumped the body in the backseat, which was covered by tarps. Tyki looked amused, much to his irritation. He piled into the front seat of the car and buckled the dastardly seatbelt, something he had never done before, and stared out the window as the older man drove back towards their hotel.

"I heard three shots, though two were delayed," he commented. Kanda glared. "There was a witness, huh? I bet you didn't want to kill the witness. But aside from that, you did a good job, Kanda."

He didn't respond. His eyes focused on the falling autumn leaves and the puddles of water left from the storm earlier that day.

Everything blurred together and the next thing he knew he was standing before the Earl, giving him the report of the death of the client. He mentioned having to shoot a witness, but he didn't mention knowing her. The Earl nodded and grinned at a few of the things he said, then waved him off, telling Skin to go 'dispose of the body and evidence'. He started walking back towards the room he was occupying when he heard Rhode speaking to him.

"So, Earl, tomorrow, I have to hack into the main computer frame of the Grandworth Auditorium, right?"

The Grandworth Auditorium. He snorted to himself. He had been there once due to a field trip. It was a large stadium with fancy decorations, and when there were special occasions, they moved the shutters making up the roof and revealed the glass window. It was a dome, essentially, and a pretty one at that, though Kanda's definition of 'pretty' was different from the rest of society's definition of 'pretty'.

"Yes, yes. Do you think you can do it? I need the security cameras shut down as Tyki and Sheryl plant the C-4 into the building without being watched."

So she's a hacker, Tyki and some of the others are explosive experts, Jasdero and David are snipers… He frowned. What do they need me for? I don't understand. Che.

"Of course I can." He could see the giggly smile on her face. "Their firewalls don't stand a chance. Sad how most of society relies on computers for everyday life, hmm?"

"Makes our job a lot easier."

"Heh heh…"

Kanda moved into his room, frowning heavily. He laid still on his bed. Two days. In two days, the President was coming. In two days, the President was going to die, along with everyone else attending the speech. That evening, he killed a man begging not to die and Lenalee, who happened to hear the shots go off.

"He's still alive."

Damn, Lenalee. He covered his eyes with his arm, sighing with a bitter taste of regret in his mouth. What did you mean by that? Why, even as you were dying, wouldn't you give up on me? Shit. Shit! He punched the mattress underneath him. You weren't supposed to die, damn it! Fuck. I…

'Calm down, Yuu.' Alma said. Kanda could feel his hand patting his head. He blinked and looked up, seeing his friend grinning at him. The hand patted his head again as he allowed his eyes to close. 'Calm down. Everything will be all right. I'm here. You'll get over it soon enough and no longer feel this way, I promise. As I said earlier, you are like a sandstorm.'

The Japanese man's eyelids fluttered up again, seeing his friend peering down and grinning at him. The hand continued to pat him. He didn't like being touched, but for a little moment, it was okay. Alma touching him was okay. Everyone else was forbidden.

'You'll be okay, Yuu,' he said again as the man started to fall asleep, 'so long as no one else interferes with my— our —plan.'

The forgotten children of reality began to fall, tumbling their way down with one final dance as the night continued onwards.

~O~

Oh, man. Heavy stuff right there. I love Lenalee. It made me sad that I killed her… Yeah. So! Did you like it? Hate it? Love it? Destroy it? Hit me with a review, por favor! It is highly appreciated! See you in Chapter 13! —Mr. Ree