Author Notes: And he finally gets new clothes to wear!! :D Let's hope he gets more as he goes on… He needs some fashion advice too I reckon. XD
Disclaimer: I don't own D.Gray-Man or anything related to it.
"You're the first to not struggle against my touch, young boy…"Hevlaska's gentle voice echoed through the dark. Kanda didn't reply but simply kept still. Putting her forehead against his, she started to slowly mumble percentages, "60... 70... 80..." Then Hevlaska stopped and placed the twelve year old back on the platform where he had been before, "It seems that your highest synchronization rate is currently 80."
Head Officer Wales clapped, "Impressive, Kanda! I'm sure you'll become a fabulous exorcist!"
●Кαηδα Ġαιδεή●
Tying back his hair in a high pony tail and grabbing Mugen and setting off down the hallway towards the main control room, people in creamy white clothes looked at him and whispered quietly. In the note that lay on top of his uniform, someone had scribbled messily: Come to the main control room and I'll take you to see Head Officer Wales.
The uniform was customized by himself, and it came out just like Kanda had wanted. Around his waist and underneath his uniform's collar were two loose belts that weren't done up together. The belt itself was black and white; a strip of black that was surrounded by two strips of white. The uniform was basically like a long jacket – the end of the jacket reached the middle of his calves. The uniform also has large buttons made out from pure silver. Below the line of silver buttons, the uniform was left open without anything to keep the two sides of the uniform together, which in turn forms a sort of triangle. Besides from new uniform, a pair of new boots was also given to Kanda. These new boots had a sheet of metal covering the tip of the boots and had thick rubber soles; making Kanda seem a little taller than before.
Upon arriving at the main control room which was messily covered in flying papers and television screens attached to the walls here and there, Reever motioned from a corner of the room for Kanda to follow him. Doing as he was told, he arrived at another room which was even messier than the main control room. The room's wall was lined with shelves that were jammed full of books and the floor was semi-covered in sheets of paperwork. By the time Kanda had finished marvelling at the numerous books in the book shelves; Reever was standing beside Head Officer Wales' desk with a clipboard in hand, waiting for Kanda. Leaping over several small steps, the Japanese boy arrived in front of the Head Officer's desk. "Take a seat, Kanda." Head Officer Wales pointed at the couch parallel to his desk.
Kanda slumped down into the couch with a small 'poof' as Reever handed him a booklet with lines of writing printed onto each page. Head Officer Wales leant forward behind his desk a little and spoke in a serious tone, "General Tiedoll has told me that the two of you have both arrived here as soon as he accepted you as his student. So I suppose you haven't been trained properly yet?" Kanda shook his head as he continued to read through the first page of writing in the booklet that he was handed. Then the Head Officer leant back into his chair while he rested his arms on the arm rests of his chair, "So you're going to spend several years travelling with General Tiedoll to learn more about being an exorcist and the like."
The Japanese boy looked up from the booklet that was overflowing from information on the Innocence, akumas, exorcists and the Black Order. He couldn't help but make a frown at what Head Officer Wales had just said to him. 'Spending several years with that old geezer that could easily suffocate me anytime with hugs?! You've got to be kidding me…' Ignoring the frown that was evident on the boy's face, Head Officer Wales brought out a small rectangular cardboard box from underneath his desk and looked for something in the box amongst all the other contents that it held. Finding what he was looking for, he took out several tools from a drawer of his desk and started to fix whatever it was that he had found in the cardboard box. When he was done with his quick repairing job, he tapped the small thing that lay on his desk twice with his finger and the thing – being lifeless before – flapped its long black wings and hovered in mid air using its rapid flapping.
Reever spoke into the microphone that was attached to a set of speakers that was hanging from his neck, "Does it work?" Seconds later, a clear 'yes' was heard from the other side. With the confirmation, he nodded at the Head Officer.
"Oh, jolly good!" Head Officer Wales smiled at the now active creature. Kanda stared at the creature that landed on Head Officer Wales' open hand and finally recognised it as one of those black flying creatures that all crowded around the Black Order headquarters.
Kanda pointed a slender finger at the creature, "Isn't that one of those things flying around outside the headquarters?"
Head Officer Wales blinked, "Oh, you've recognised them? That's good. They're really handy things, mind you. They're called golems and they're basically communicating devices. You can attach them to telephones and contact headquarters no matter where you are in the world. Each exorcist has one of these golems; they're also useful tracking devices. And you can communicate with other exorcists with golems within a 500 mile radius." The brown haired man paused for a while before continuing, "These handy little buddies are made by the Science Department. So if it breaks or if you lose yours they'll be able to fix it or provide you with a new one. For now, this golem is yours to use." Pointing at Kanda, the golem with a spherical body zoomed over to Kanda and hovered around him before finally resting on his shoulder.
Head Officer Wales then stood up, "Now that we've briefed you with the situation, I'll escort you down to the underground channels." Following the two men, Kanda pondered to himself, 'What underground channels?'
At one point, Reever had split up with the two of them, saying that he had work waiting for him. Before he went down a separate corridor, he wished the twelve year old exorcist good luck with his training. When they were nearly at their destinations after a winding passageway full of winding stairways that led deeper and deeper into the lower levels of the headquarters.
Minutes later, the pair arrived at a small platform where it was dimly lit by only three candles. There on the platform, General Tiedoll stood waiting for the pair's arrival with a small boat that was tied to the sturdy fence that surrounded the platform. "Underground… Channels…?" Kanda muttered disbelievingly before he shot his master the deadliest glare he could muster, "You mean there was an easier way to get to the headquarters?"
"I told you, Yuu; it was test for you and I told you I was going via another route!" Tiedoll smiled kindly at his student as if the glare wasn't there at all.
Kanda's fists were clenched tightly, making his knuckles turn white as he tried to suppress his anger, "Don't. Call. Me. By. My. Given. Name." The black golem simply hovered around its new master, waiting for the next thing to happen.
Head Officer Wales placed a hand on Kanda's shoulder, attempting to calm him down a little, "Well er… I'll wish you luck with your training, Kanda!" Now that he had seen the consequences of calling the young exorcist by his given name, Wales has learnt a lesson; like they say, you learn something new everyday! Giving the twelve year old a reassuring smile, Head Officer Wales patted Kanda lightly on his shoulder, "I'll be looking forward to seeing you again after your training."
●Кαηδα Ġαιδεή●
Using all his strength to keep the small boat gliding across the water's smooth surface, Kanda listened to his master talk to him. "Lets see… It seems we have a short errand to run in London. Why don't we head there first before leaving Europe behind again?"
"London…" Kanda mused. What kind of place is it going to be? Is it going to be like this; with the tall buildings, clock towers and busy streets?
Flicking through a folder containing millions of sheets of paper with writing printed on its surface, Tiedoll continued to speak, "So this is the strange phenomenon… The legend of the Happy Prince eh?"
Kanda raised an eyebrow; he had recalled seeing something about strange legends and stories being linked to the Innocence in the booklet that he was given. In the booklet, it had been written like this: After the great flood, Innocence sank into an underground seabed. But somehow over the centuries, the Innocence's mysterious powers lead humans to find them; and now they have come to exist in various forms. Thus, phenomena occur because of the Innocence however the reason why they occur is currently unknown.
The general let out a sigh and pulled out his sketch book and started to scratch away with his pencil again, "I've heard of the tale of the Happy Prince; he was statue with a kind heart…" A minute or so later, he revealed the sketch to Kanda. It was a flawless sketch of a statue of a young boy. By his side there was a beautifully carved sword where a jewel was set into its hilt and on the statue's head was a crown with more jewels set into its walls. Despite it being a sketch of a lifeless statue, the eyes of the young prince evoked a million different emotions and on his cheeks were two thin lines which marked the trail of tears.
●Кαηδα Ġαιδεή●
Not long after abandoning the boat to a guard who stood at the small dock, master and student were lead by another guard to a carriage that waited for them. The pair of black horses that were harnessed to the carriage pawed the ground and snorted impatiently; their long slender legs were restless, seeming like they were always ready to leap forward and gallop along endless roads. Their eyes were covered by a small circle made from leather to keep their eyes from wandering off to the side, helping their eyes to only focus on the road ahead of them.
The carriage wasn't a fancy one like Kanda had seen ladies and men ride in the city. The ones he had seen in the city were elegant black boxes with a door fitted in its side and curtains framing every single window on the carriage; sometimes the wheels of those carriages were painted a shade attention-attracting gold. However, this carriage wasn't in the shape of a box. It didn't have a ceiling to cover the passengers of the carriage from precipitation; instead, it had a hood that was folded back at the back of the carriage. The carriage was black and the edges of it were lined with golden paint. At the front of the carriage was a small seat for the driver of the carriage and there was a small hook there to keep all the reins of the horses together so they wouldn't get tangled up in the other reins.
Stepping into the carriage, Tiedoll looked at the driver's seat in front and at the rumps of the two restless horses then asked Kanda who was staring at the horses while in his mind he feared for the worst, "Can you drive a carriage?" The question struck the twelve year old like a hammer on a nail.
Kanda shivered a little and nodded silently. When he was small, he often had to take jobs like driving carriages to help deliver things from the countryside to the town to earn some money to stay alive as a young orphan. However, his hands were full of blisters because he hadn't been taught how to drive carriages properly and was constantly getting burns from the reins. To prevent his hands from suffering anymore, Kanda had quitted the job and looked for another small job that he could easily do to earn himself a living. After that, he swore not to touch the reins of horses ever again unless necessary.
"Well then, hop on and let's get on our way to London." Tiedoll smiled warmly at his student, "I'd like to see your driving skills, Yuu." The general nodded at the guard to dismiss him while Kanda settled himself on the driver's seat and took all the reins into his hands and wrapping them around his hand twice. Kanda could no longer get bothered to get angry at Tiedoll for calling him by his given name, and settled for ignoring that one word. Leaving Mugen to sit silently in the carriage behind him, Kanda gave the reins a thrust, making a wave sort of pattern that travelled along the reins and to the horses.
As soon as the horses felt the wave in the reins, they lurched forward into a quick trot. Kanda sat in the seat with his back slumped a little at the amount of work that his master was making him do. At first the clip clopping sound of the horses' hooves was a random messy clump of sounds, but soon their paces fell together; merging the different sounds together into one.