Disclaimer : D. Gray Man is Hoshino Katsura's property.
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Chapter 5
How many times had you been taken to the hospital wing ? Surely quite a bunch of times, but normally it would have taken you one week at most to recover completely.
Kanda counted the days. 43 days. The moyashi was stuck in that bed for 43 fucking days, and though his condition hadn't worsen, it hadn't improved either. Sometimes, Kanda only wanted to kick the boy to wake him up ; he never had much patience, and waiting for more than a month required much of it from him.
On that early morning, as usual, he was by Allen's side silently watching over him. Never before had Kanda spent so much time for someone else ; before Allen's arrival, he never gave a damn about others. But Kanda's behaviour radically changed after their first mission together, to the point that he had even asked Lavi about Allen's condition after his mission with Lenalee in the rewinding town. Not directly of course, because he didn't want to look like he actually cared about Allen. At that time, he was even sure that it wasn't concern that he was feeling, just some kind of curiosity to see how the moyashi had managed his second mission.
« Hey Yuu-chan, Lenalee and the new Exorcist are back from their mission ! » Lavi said cheerfully.
« It's Kanda, stupid rabbit. »
« Yeah, yeah, whatever. Anyway, I paid them a short visit and they seemed to be seriously injured, you know. »
« The moyashi is ? »
« Moyashi ? Is that how you call the newbie ? Wow Yuu, you're improving ! I've never heard you giving such a cute nick to anyone ! »
« Che, just shut up. »
« Ooooh, so you don't wanna know what happened to your beansprout ? No big deal, I'll tell you anyway. Panda told me both Lenalee and the newbie were brought here unconscious, and the boy had his left eye gouged out. »
« He what ! »
Kanda looked more surprised than what he actually had wanted to show. Lavi gave him a suspicious look.
« Hm ? Yuu-chan, you're being abnormally reactive to what I'm telling you, you know ? I'm curious about what that boy has that is so special. »
« Just stop your fucking nonsense. The moyashi is a annoying brat who should never have become an Exorcist. »
« Yeah, yeah whatever you say. » the red-haired Exorcist replied, obviously not believing Kanda at all.
Silence followed his words. Kanda raised his head as the rabbit had stopped talking, to see the red-haired man looking at him, with a strange smile on his face.
« What's with that stupid face ? »
« You're not gonna ask me the details about their mission ? »
« Why would I care about that ? »
« Aww, c'mon Yuu ! It's obvious you've gotten interested in the bean ! »
In less than half a second, Mugen's blade was on Lavi's throat, ready to draw blood. An evil aura was surrounding Kanda and Lavi was certain he could see murder carved in the Japanese's eyes.
« J-Just kidding Y-Yuu-chan ! » Lavi said, sweating a bit.
Kanda just che-d and sat back on his chair, crossing his arms.
« Anyway, I suppose you wanna know the story right ? I'll take your silence as a 'yes'. So, Panda told me briefly about their mission in that town they were sent to. It seems the Innocence there kept the time blocked at the same day, a rewinding town you see. The old geezer didn't tell me much, but from what I learnt, Lenalee and the bean faced some kind of powerful ennemy which wasn't an Akuma. They've taken serious injuries back there, the worst being that left eye I suppose ; though it looks like the bean's Innocence got bashed pretty badly too. Poor boy, so young and already one-eyed. » Lavi sighed tragically.
« Che, speak for yourself. »
« Yuu ! You're being mean again ! Can't you even feel a bit of sympathy for them ? »
« Reckless and brainless. That's what you are, Moyashi. And see what good it does to you. You're pathetic, lying here while everyone is worrying stiff about you. »
Kanda had eventually admitted that what he had felt when Lavi had reported Allen's mission was actually concern, and it sometimes made him upset that one person could affect him so much.
The Japanese Exorcist was having an inner battle between him and himself as to decide whether he would go and visit the moyashi in the infirmary or no. 'Shit, it's not like I care about him.' 'But I'm just curious to know how exactly did he manage to put himself in such bad state.' 'Who cares about that anyway ?'
But unconsciously, as he was still debating with himself, his steps took him in front of Allen's room. Kanda stopped dead, and stood there for a whole minute before deciding that he might as well take some news now that he was there. So he knocked on the door, waiting for a reply. There was none. That didn't prevent Kanda from going in anyway, and he understood that the lack of answer came from the fact that Allen was deeply asleep.
The boy was bandaged up, with a huge one on his left eye. At first glance, Kanda deduced that the moyashi sure had got a hard time during the mission. 'Incompetent fool.' He thought. Well, there was no point in staying there any longer if the stupid brat was sleeping.
Lavi was leaning against the wall, waiting for him as he got out of the room. A smirk crossed the apprentice Bookman's face :
« Caught you red-handed, huh ? It's the first time I actually see you paying someone a visit. »
« Tell this to anyone and it will be your last words. »
« I got it, I got it. But man, now this boy intrigued more than ever. What did he do to you ? »
« Che. »
Kanda walked away without adding another word, irritated enough that the rabbit had surprised him visiting Allen.
« What would he say now if he knew that I'm coming to you every day, I wonder ? Probably that I got too soft or something like that. Not that I'd let him though. »
Kanda watched Allen's sleeping face, running his hand in the silver hair which framed the boy's young features. He glanced at the clock.
« Che. I'm late for training again. Blame yourself for that, stupid Moyashi. »
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Thank you all for your reviews. I didn't think you'd like this story so much !
Sora pwns : you asked me why I use « instead of ". It's simply because my Word software types the quotation marks like that, so when I upload it, that's the result. In France we write them like that. It's not a double as you can see.
Anyway, if this bothers some of you because you're not used to it, please tell me and I'll change them directly on the site.