"What's Komui doing here?"

Kanda's question evaporated in the dark cell. No proof showed that it had ever been asked. Kanda's eyes had adjusted to the lack of light by the fifth silent minute and his voice found the way out of his mouth at the thirtieth. Not to much avail. Allen wouldn't speak. Sitting, curled against the wall, the boy hung his head, silent. Kanda's mind didn't like the silence. It absorbed into his awareness until thoughts and spoken words melded together. If he moved his mouth as the ideas rolled in, it would be the same as speaking. He'd get the same response.

"... Say something... dammit," Kanda mumbled into his arms, scrunching further into the wall beside Allen's. "This isn't solving anything."

Allen didn't move. Not a single hair on that white head swayed in acknowledgement of even the vibrations Kanda's voice made. If he had spoken at all. Maybe he hadn't. Maybe his voice was gone. Maybe this was all a dream, everything, and he'd wake up someplace different as someone entirely else and simply think 'Wow, what a wild dream,' and then go off to whatever job or duty an average person would have to do.

"I'm about to go crazy and rape you, just to make sure we actually exist. And if we do, I'm going to fuck you until you're paralyzed as my reward."

Nothing.

Kanda's fingers dug into his legs. Nothing allowed light. Not the walls, not his mind, not the silence. It felt like drowning. Like gasping for breath, even though there's no air to be found. It pressed down on him strongly. It pressed hard on his aching mind. It hurt.

"Why is sex always a threat with you?"

"Because, I can't use it any other way."

It took a lot for Kanda's reply to Allen's mumble to not be shouted or gasped or growled or laughed, not to be some emotion more than the indifferent that was forced out. Kanda's hurt released, slightly, only filled with the ache of knowing you've been ignored. He had been dismissed. This was serious. No matter how much they all wanted to act like these were minor little problems that would work themselves out eventually, they weren't. They were nowhere near that. They couldn't be ignored for long.

"... What's going on with you, Moyashi?" Kanda asked, laying out his legs and leaning back on the wall, eyes looking down his nose at Allen's figure, several feet away.

"I don't know, Kanda." Allen's folded arms flipped out and his white head laid on them, big eyes opening to stare at Kanda. "I'm just... a mess right now... more than I'm comfortable with. And you're in that mess."

It was a start. Allen actually acknowledged that Kanda held a part in this at least. Kanda still didn't understand though. There were bits and pieces of everything that laid an outline of the situation. He just needed that filled in right now. But, something said not to ask. That, if he wanted everything filled in, it would be through a lot of strife and tears that he didn't feel like dealing with.

"Kanda..." Allen started softly, with a vague whine that startled Kanda slightly. "What was it like living with Tiedoll... and going to school? How are you here now?"

"Hey, Allen, what are you-"

"Isn't Tiedoll worried about you? How many brothers do you have, and what are they like? I... haven't had the chance to ask... and I want to know. About your life... the one I don't know about."

"... Alright."

Kanda rewound his mind, simply glad to have a type of interaction with Allen right now, and told him everything he could. Some of it hurt to say, like the times Tiedoll was actually a decent guy or when he talked about the stupid stuff he had done, the stuff that broke the promises he made to Allen four years ago, like getting in life-threatening fights because he knew he'd live through it, had a little extra sting in them.

Allen listened quietly, to the point where the only sign of the boy actually being there were the slight hums or laughs at just the right places to tell Kanda his story was being heard. Kanda talked, remembering the things he had tried to forget. The nights spent with polar feelings. His room would end up torn, frayed, and beaten, and Tiedoll would come in the next morning - hearing the commotion through the night - and paint his fouled walls, while Kanda watched from his battered bed. It became a routine that Kanda had relied on, mostly in his younger, admittedly bitchier, years.

He talked about Lavi, about their devil-made workplace. Allen got an earful of the many confessions Kanda received because of his looks. Kanda tried not to mention the many of oblivious moments spent with Lenalee and her feelings that he hadn't understood. He still didn't, really... nor Allen's for that matter. Why they felt that way for him... he wouldn't try to figure out. Kanda tried to steer clear of that subject and just go with it, but that was backfiring on him now. Kanda was becoming scared, not that it would ever leave his mouth, that Allen would be able to throw him away. It didn't matter, the idea of being tossed to the side... at least, not as much as you'd think. What mattered was that, if Allen truly wanted, Kanda might be cut off, completely, forever. That scared him.

"... Kanda, what's wrong?"

Allen's voice barely went heard. Its tone, sleeping, didn't hold the strength to clear Kanda's muddled mind. His head continued to hurt and his stomach wouldn't settle, but there was more. A shudder in the walls made both men turn, staring at the vibrating concrete.

Kanda felt tired, warm fingers kiss his cheek and saw Allen's bent figure trail forward, Kanda's presence almost absent in the gray eyes.

"Stay here. I'll be back soon." Allen spoke gently, his fingers leaving Kanda's skin smoothly.

Kanda saw his hand grasp Allen's and the boy fell, stumbling, when Kanda pulled back. Kanda stood, turning to see Allen's anger directed at him. "You stay here," Kanda retorted, "I'll go see what's going on. You're supposed to stay here, so sit still for once and do what you're told."

"Kanda, you idiot, stay here and let me go!"

Kanda stared, Allen's bark annoying him, and bent down to place a hand around the boy's pale chin. "Tell me one thing," Kanda commanded, "if this is the Noah, what are they here for? Are they here for you? Did they kill your master? Are they going to take you, thinking that Neah guy will take over you? What are they here for, beansprout?"

Allen's grey eyes held firm. Prisoner to the ones he called family, to the people he'd die to protect, Kanda didn't understand the strength in those eyes in a situation like this. They said he wasn't scared. the boy knew what probable fate could lie ahead of him, but was too damn desperate to care. Too desperate to save everything important to him, selfishly saying that if he died, but everyone else remained, then everything would be fine. It disgusted Kanda.

"They're not here for me, Kanda." He said strongly. "They're here to destroy the heart of the Order. I don't know what that is, but if they want it gone, I need to protect it."

"Well you can't right now." Kanda said dropping Allen's chin and walking to the door. "I don't care how much that hurts you, just stay the fuck here like a good little prisoner brat and wait."

"Kanda," Allen shouted, standing and running as the two separated by a door slamming shut. "Kanda! Kanda, you have to come back here, now! Dammit... Kanda!"

Allen's scream and the delicate shattering of wood when the boy's furious fingers dug into the door stabbed at Kanda's ears, unrelenting. He didn't want to leave Allen alone. God, he didn't want to do that. Every fiber of his aching being was tearing, telling him to protect his reason for living. It told him that this was the biggest storm yet, and his senses were screaming for Allen's essence. That couldn't happen though, because this time, the lightening would strike, and the thunder would be deafening, and, unless someone did something about it, it would only grow more threatening. Allen needed to stay inside, caged from the danger, and Kanda would face the storm himself.

"I'll be back, just wait here."

Oh, Kanda dear. You're such a tease.

He is. Really. I don't know why, but in a ton of stories he is, including mine as he tells Allen he won't leave and then leaves. Yeah, he's a tease. Anyway, another shortish one, but I like it, so I'm sticking with it. Thank you all for reading this, really. The first 20 or so chapters were complete bullpoop, so I commend you all for coming this far.

Thank you to my fabulous reviewers as always, Bloody Rotten Queen, Luc, Allena Moyashi Walker (BTW, sorry if your name didn't come up last time, it kept disappearing for some reason) , and mychemicalbitchbot. I love you all.

Techtronic: Thanks a ton, I'm happy to maybe be your gateway to the D. Gray-Man fanfiction world. And, I am going to tell you to go check out DewdropLotus if you haven't, because he is the D. Gray man, and I just adore his work, so I hope you will too. Thanks for reading.

Thanks For Reading!