.:.::.::Untamed::.::.:.

.

"A diamond was laying in the street covered with dirt. Many fools passed by. Someone who knew diamonds picked it up."
Kabir, Indian poet

Allen felt warm. Incredibly, wonderfully warm. So warm he felt like he could cry.

Warmth had never felt so good before.

No, wait, it had. A long time ago, he had felt like this - like he had never known what warmth really was until that moment. So warm, so comfortable, so safe…

There was a big hand stroking his head. It was warm too. It felt nice.

"We're almost there," a rough voice said lowly from somewhere, startling Allen and making him realize he had been slowly going back to sleep. He was more awake now, and he felt like he was inside a moving vehicle. He was wrapped in a cocoon of blankets. He opened his eyes a sliver with a bit of difficulty – it seemed like there was something on his face making his eyelashes stick together - and around him everything was dark, but occasional red and white lights illuminated the surroundings. Someone's face was above him – that meant his cocoon of blankets was in someone's lap, but the person's face was blurry.

"Mana…?" he whispered.

"Shhh, Allen, it's okay. Sleep a bit more," his father shushed him, leaning closer and tightening his grip around Allen and his warm blankets. Allen felt his eyelids fall shut obediently, and before he knew it, the deep blackness of slumber had surrounded him once more.

.:.::.::Sleep::.::.:.

Untamed

The next thing he felt was warm water around his small body and a soft sponge tenderly washing his face. He blearily opened his eyes to the white foam and the bubbles floating on the water filling the bath tub.

"Oh, you're awake?" he heard Mana's soft voice say from somewhere to his right. Looking in that direction, he saw his father kneeling beside the bathtub, sponge in hand, with a tired but relieved look on his face. "I was more or less hoping you'd sleep through it and rest more."

Little Allen couldn't help but feel a little confused. What had happened? Why was he-?

"But nevertheless-" Mana's voice interrupted his thoughts, "-I was so worried about you, Allen!" And there was a tiny hint of the despair he'd felt during this long night in his voice and in his eyes, and it looked for a moment like Mana was going to hug him again, wet and all, but the man caught himself on time and just gripped the side of the bathtub tightly instead.

I was so scared, the man thought, and again there was the despair coming back a little, Scared like I'd never been before.

Trying not to think about it, Mana brought his free hand to Allen's head and began softly caressing the wet white hair.

There was tenderness and worry and even a slight hint of fear still in Allen's father's dark eyes as he petted him over and over again, as if to ascertain that Allen was really there, alive and well. The child frowned a little as he tried to remember what had happened that could have caused this, beginning with his memories of that morning.

"What happened? I thought you were just going to look for the kitten near the playground. How did you end up so deep in the forest?" Disapproval was now clear in Mana's voice as he reached for the shampoo and the sponge he'd dropped at some point to resume his previous activity of giving Allen a bath.

Ah, Allen thought with a start as the day's memories came rushing back to him, I remember now. But after a certain point, his memory was blank. What had happened?

"I… got lost," he finally started explaining, trying to ignore the foam he could feel cascading down his face next to the corner of his eye. "And it was really cold, and it rained. And I couldn't find a place to stop and-" in his growing agitation, the child began gesticulating wildly; he sat up on his knees and turned to Mana, left hand gripping the side of the bathtub, looking earnestly up at his father, "-to stop and rest because I couldn't find that big stone again, and I ate a sandwich, but then I couldn't eat anymore because it was raining so hard, and there was mud, and I was so hungry!" Poor Mana couldn't properly wash Allen's hair because of all the movement, and there was water all over the bathroom floor already, as well as on Mana's clothes. "Oh, and then it got dark, and I could barely see, and I kept tripping, and there were these really scary noises, and I ran and ran and…"

He hesitated there, and Mana paused in washing his hair to look down and peek at the child's expression. His eyes were dark and tender and understanding, and it was Mana, so Allen finally decided to try to finish what he wanted to say.

"And I thought- I couldn't- I was alone. I was alone, Mana." Again - it's what he doesn't say. Mana felt a sudden urge to hug Allen until he couldn't breathe just so the child could really feel that everything was alright now, but he knew he couldn't. That wasn't what Allen needed right now. So the man just sighed and pinned the child's arms to his torso so they stayed still for at least a minute.

"Yes, yes, I see." He tried to sound playfully impatient, like usual, and looked directly into the grey-blue eyes. "Calm down, everything is fine now. You're here with me, and that is all gone. Okay, Allen?" He smiled warmly at the boy, and felt relief wash through him when Allen stopped frantically trying to explain himself and the memory of fear faded from his clear eyes. Then the white-haired boy calmly nodded. "Good. You can tell me all about it later when you've slept and rested." Mana sighed, releasing Allen's arms.

The boy hummed in response, looking down at the foam that kept him from seeing his own hands underwater. "I didn't find the kitten," he said. He felt disappointment and a little bit of sadness make his chest tighten as he acknowledged the failure.

"Don't worry about it. I'm sure it's fine, wherever it is now. Don't worry so much. You shouldn't have gotten yourself lost because of it," the man said as he finished washing Allen's hair.

"It was a very good idea to climb a tree and hang the lantern up to signal where you were, though," Mana added - almost as an afterthought - as he picked up the hand-held shower head.

It took a moment for the child to register the words, so he almost choked on the falling water when he opened his mouth to say, What are you talking about? I didn't do anything like that.

"Hey, hey, Allen, whoa there."

In a tree? Lantern?

He hadn't done anything.

He'd fallen face first on the mud, yes; that he remembered clearly. But apparently he'd been found in a tree…?

Then it hit him.

It could only mean one thing.

Maybe I did find the 'kitten' after all.

.:.::.::Find::.::.:.

Untamed

Universally known fact: Allen Walker was not one to give up. Mana Walker had made sure of that. Allen was stubborn, persistent and impetuous, and his foster father was ridiculously proud of the little pile of sheer will he had for a son.

Right now, though, his poor foster father would've enormously appreciated a little bit less impetuosity and determination.

"Allen… it's Saturday. What are you doing up so - wait, don't tell me you're going to look for that kitten again?! You're going to get lost! I can't allow you to-!"

"I'll be back before dinner! Love you, Mana!"

That shout, and a flash of white hair, and the front door sliding closed was all he saw of the boy.

…Mana Walker, enjoy the feeling of your teachings coming to bite you in the ass.

.:.::.::Teachings::.::.:.

Untamed

A week had passed since little Allen had gotten lost in the forest and eventually been rescued.

For a week, Allen had gone to the playground every afternoon after school and searched the nearby area. He'd been careful to stay near the playground at all times, and every day he'd gone a bit further and then gone back home as soon as the sun was about to set. Now he knew better than to just march into the forest blindly.

The white-haired boy intended to get to know the area better than anyone else so that he wouldn't get lost again and so that he would know when something changed, signaling that something – or someone – else had been there.

Occasionally, he could've sworn he'd felt eyes boring into his back, watching his every move, or a slender dark shadow just beyond those bushes… but he hadn't found the cat-boy so far.

There was, of course, the small matter of whatever had caused those terrifying noises he remembered from that night. But Mana had said there were no dangerous animals in that forest… so Allen resolutely pushed those thoughts to the back of his mind and shifted the backpack to a more comfortable position.

So now here he was, a week later, ready for another whole day of search instead of the hour or two he'd gotten during the week. He'd be careful, of course, but he would stay the whole damn day. And come back the next day. And the day after that one. And however long it took, or his name wouldn't be Allen Walker.

With a determined glint in his silvery eyes, Allen stepped into the forest.

.:.::.::Stubborness::.::.:.

Untamed

Two weeks. Two whole weeks of searching, and still nothing. Not even a glimpse of dark cat ears or of a filthy white tunic. Nothing!

To say that Allen was getting frustrated would be an understatement. It was now the beginning of November, and two weeks had passed since Allen's "getting lost" incident.

And by now he was sure the Pet was avoiding him. He'd definitely seen his shadow once! But no more than that. And he was sure that the Pet sometimes followed him.

But no matter how long Allen stayed, or how much he shouted, or whatever food he left for the cat-boy, he refused to come meet Allen! It was infuriating. The white-haired boy knew that it was difficult to trust someone else when, in your world, kindness meant being hurt eventually, but the Pet had to be extremely dense not to see that Allen meant no harm and really wanted to help!

…and Allen was also terribly curious about the still rare and extremely expensive animal-people, but that was another point entirely.

.:.::.::Searching::.::.:.

Untamed

The Strange Kid was back.

Seriously, what the hell?

Apparently, the human really was looking for Kanda. And he'd probably been looking for Kanda on that day when the little idiot had almost gotten himself killed as well.

Two days or so after that, Kanda had come back to the area as he was returning from stealing some food from some of the humans' houses when he'd sensed the foreign if slightly familiar presence.

He'd followed the scent, and exactly as he'd expected, there the kid had been, noisily and carelessly walking around the forest as if he was looking for something.

And that something turned out to be Kanda himself when he heard the little human shout, "Heeeeeeey! You there? Caaaaaaat guuuuy!! Hellloooo?"

Kanda's eyebrow had twitched. 'Cat-guy'? 'Cat-guy'? The idiot was just begging to have his throat ripped off by Kanda's eager claws.

It was a tempting thought, but Kanda knew he couldn't kill him. Pity.

Judging by the scent, the white-haired freak was also carrying food again. Well, too bad for him - Kanda had already eaten. Since their first meeting, he'd found a few houses near the forest from which it was easy to steal food… and there were small animals nearby as well, so food was no longer an issue for the panther.

The next day, Kanda had come back just to see if the Strange Kid would come back. And there he was. The day after as well. And the one after that. No matter how cold the weather was getting, the human always came back every day.

Of course, Kanda couldn't always remain in that area – since he still feared that the Shop would come looking for him, he preferred to be constantly moving so as not to leave many traces of his presence in any particular place – but whenever he was there, he always caught the scent of the human, still fresh, and sometimes Kanda even followed the kid for a while, just out of boredom. The child shouted quite a bit at first, but eventually he'd given up on that. Every time he'd heard himself being referred to as 'cat guy' he'd felt an insane urge to kill the idiot. But it was too risky, not to mention the danger of someone connected to or from the Shop hearing about it.

Then one day, when he'd been amusedly watching the stupid human kid trip over a tree root and fall face first to the ground (watching the kid make a fool of himself had proven extremely entertaining for Kanda lately), the wind had suddenly brought the scent of more humans.

Nearby. Probably male. Strong scent – more than one or two.

Whatever it was, it couldn't be good. No one but the stupid moyashi over there would even think of going on a picnic during winter. Which meant business.

Maybe he'd have to kill the kid after all.

.:.::.::Approaching::.::.:.

Untamed

His face hurt. A lot.

"Ooooooow…" Allen whined, tears welling up in his eyes. He pushed himself up and carefully touched his forehead with a gloved finger. He frowned at the tiny blood stain he found on it after and shoved both hands in his pockets as he resumed walking while muttering angrily under his breath. "Stupid trees, nothing better to do than make people fall…"

Footsteps and the loud sound of people walking through the forest made him fall silent and turn to his right. More people around there….?

Soon voices could also be heard, clearly heading in Allen's direction, and for the sake of his curiosity, Allen remained where he was - though he began to wish he hadn't when the big plants next to one of the trees were violently shoved aside to reveal five tall, broad-shouldered men wearing some sort of uniform. Two of them were heatedly discussing something.

"I told the boss this guy isn't like the others! The little fucker would know how to look for food! We won't find him passed out somewhere - hell, he could've killed and eaten somebody already! That thing may be pretty, but it's a goddamn little monster and-"

"And what? You want us to chase him with the dogs? You know damn well we need the city's permission for that, and the boss has orders to not let anyone know about this!"

"But that animal is gonna-!"

"Oh ho, what do we have here?" a third man with a deep rough voice asked when Allen came into view, effectively shutting up the other two. "Hey kid, what'cha doing here?"

"Good afternoon," Allen said with a polite smile.

.:.::.::Meeting::.::.:.

Untamed

Kanda was screwed. He just knew it.

The kid that had seen him plus the guys from the Shop that were looking for him were together in the same place - talking. In other words, a disaster waiting to happen.

He hadn't had time to get to the kid without being seen, and the stupid bean sprout had just stood there, waiting for the men! Just, just…fucking perfect!

Now it was just a matter of time.

He quickly ran through what options he had available. Take the kid and run – bad option. Kill the kid and run – worse option. Kill them all and run – maybe, but there was a low chance of success. The men probably had guns or some other way of "neutralizing" him under those bulky uniforms. Not to mention there were five of them. And, much as he hated to admit it, he was still a kid. Last option – run like hell. Most reasonable option. Best option.

Yet for some reason – call it morbid curiosity – Kanda decided to create another option: stay and watch and run like hell afterwards. Well, maybe he could learn something useful by listening in, after all.

"Good afternoon," the brat said with a sickening this-is-just-out-of-politeness smile.

"Not really, the day's sucked so far." The same man with the rough voice laughed – it sounded more like a cough, though. "So what'cha doin' here?" he asked.

"Well, I was just…"

Don't say it, don't say it, don't say it, Kanda thought fervently, even though he knew it was hopeless. The stupid, naïve kid was going to tell them all they wanted to know just like that, Kanda had no doubt. Even if he said he was just looking for an animal, they would get suspicious and force him to tell them.

"…walking around. No reason or destination. I had a really difficult exam at school today, you know? It was really, really difficult. So I'm having a bit of fun before I go home," the human child said with a blindingly innocent bright smile.

…the hell?

He hadn't told them. That goody two shoes had just very obviously and very blatantly lied, and he had a two-thousand-watt smile plastered on his face. Kanda could even see the sparkles. He was playing innocent?

"Eeeh..." One of the men scoffed.

"Walking around, huh? Alone?" another asked suspiciously.

"Fuck, whatever." The man that had first appeared waved the others off, then lowered himself to one knee so he could look at Allen on the same level. "Tell me, kid, have you seen… huh, any animals around here lately? Or… other… people? Like… strange-looking people?" The awkwardness of his effort to not say too much and to put it in a simple way was almost laughable.

With his big grey eyes very open, the kid looked like the picture of innocence itself as he shook his head negatively. "No, sir, I haven't seen anyone. And there are no animals either, even though I've looked a lot for them… I want a pet, you see… even a squirrel would do, but…"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever, kid. You really haven't seen anything?"

"Hmm, no, sir."

Another of the men impatiently walked towards them and grabbed Allen's shoulder to force the child to look at him. "Kid, forget what he said. Do you know a kid with really long black hair? And… a collar, yeah, a collar. He wears a collar as well. With a symbol like this on the back." And he pointed to the symbol on his uniform, on the left side of his chest. "You know him?"

Little Allen tilted his head to the side cutely, and Kanda almost expected to see him take a finger to his mouth in an exaggerated display of innocence. He didn't do it, fortunately, but he leaned forward to look more closely at the symbol before leaning back again to look up at the man. His silver eyes now seemed bigger than plates. "No, sir, I haven't seen him. Did he do something bad?"

Kanda could feel his eyebrow twitching. What the hell did the kid think he was doing? Acting like a poor innocent five-year-old to deceive the men? It was ridiculous.

Not only that - Kanda was finding out that worse than being an actual innocent, emotional type, the moyashi seemed to be able to be pretty manipulative as well - which was just as bad. In Kanda's opinion anyway. Kanda believed in being frank and straightforward, and lying was against his personal honour code. And here was the kid, doing his thing like a professional actor, and the idiots were actually falling for it, overdone as it was.

It was almost sickening to watch. And what, was the kid expecting Kanda to thank him for that or something? Because he had another thing coming. Whatever the kid thought he was going to accomplish by protecting Kanda - and that raised another question. How did he know Kanda didn't want others to know about him? How did he know he should lie to these particular men? Heck, why had he bothered to lie at all? Just wanting to hear a "thank you" from Kanda didn't sound like enough.

From his hiding place, up in the tree just above the scene, the panther hybrid narrowed his dark eyes at the humans below and his black ears flattened against his skull.

Kanda was thinking of many things at the same time, but the main one was, What is the meaning of this? The thought was almost heavy in Kanda's mind, because he couldn't think of a possible answer. It was just so frustrating. And also, Why? What can you possibly get out of this?

Kindness or a sincere wish to help never crossed Kanda's mind. In his world, everything was done for a reason. Zhu Mei, the scientist from a long time ago in a big white laboratory, had taught him so. So he watched, and thoughts whirled in his head, and he failed to find a plausible reason.

…Why?

.:.::.::Puzzlement::.::.:.

Untamed

Meanwhile, down below and still completely unaware of the presence of the Pet, Allen was almost having fun. It had been a while since he'd gotten to show off his skills.

Mana would be so disappointed in him if he knew.

But these men were apparently searching for the catboy. So in this case, it was for a higher purpose. And he was just showing off a little, and it was all to himself anyway.

There's an honour code of sorts for kids like Allen. He remembered it well. It was more of a mix of honour code and survival guide, though, but it worked pretty well for them.

So Allen wouldn't sell the cat boy out, when it had been so evident he was hiding from someone. Or somewhere. Or both. Only… he couldn't know who or where.

So he'd keep all he knew from everyone. Besides, these guys had exactly the look of the kind of people Allen knew, from his times "before Mana", that he should avoid.

But he'd been curious - now he was paying for it by having to deal with them. But these were apparently also the type that got fooled easily. And at least it was almost fun.

So he leaned closer, pretending to examine the symbol over the man's left breast, and increased the level of "I'm-so-cute-and-innocent-and-harmless-you-can't-doubt-me" in his expression, tilting his head to the side in a "cutely curious" mannerism and said, "No, sir, I haven't seen him. Did he do something bad?" This way, he could even get some more information on the catboy. Hey, if Lady Luck is generous, you accept her offers. Mana always said that.

"Huh…" the man hesitated, not knowing how to answer.

The man who was still kneeling in front of Allen interrupted the other's hesitant mumbles and signaled for him to let go of the child's shoulder. "Well, he… ran away from his parents. So we're looking for him. But we're from very far away, so you don't need to ask anyone around here; no one knows him."

Of course.

Allen's innocent expression almost slipped there, and a question that a normal child wouldn't think of asking did slip through his lips. "Why did he run away?"

All the men seemed to be caught by surprise by the question; even those who hadn't said a word yet exchanged startled looks. Now this was something they hadn't been expecting. Not that they'd been expecting to find anyone around here at all.

"He… hmm. Well, you see, kid, he… is… sulking. Yes, sulking. He… wanted a toy his mother wouldn't give him. So he ran away. He's a spoiled brat, he…" And here the man stopped and frowned at the white-haired boy in front of him. "Wait, ya don't need to know about this. It's none of your business. Just forget ya saw us, alright?"

Suuure that was the reason.

Sulking. Were they serious? That was the worse excuse ever.

And not only that, the guy seemed to have a gift for avoiding hard questions in a subtle way.

"Forget… I saw you? What do you mean?" he asked, like the very innocent boy he was not, and contorted his features into a carefully confused expression.

Really, someone give him an Oscar.

One of the men who had been arguing with another in the beginning stepped forward. "Just don't tell anyone about us, 'kay? Just that, kid. Everyone's probably going to hear about this soon, but we don't want them to know yet."

"Ah. Okay." Allen nodded meekly.

"Yeah, right. So. Just go home, kid. We're gonna keep looking, and we don't want you getting in the way."

"Okay…" Allen replied once more.

And since he figured they wouldn't tell him anything of worth about the cat boy, the white-haired child turned around and left.

But as he left, he could've sworn he saw a strange shadow with a long tail up there on a tree. A blink, and it was gone.

Allen stared thoughtfully into nothing, and then started walking again and went home.

.:.::.::Act::.::.:.

Untamed

Kanda almost couldn't believe it.

The kid hadn't said anything. At all. He'd shamelessly lied, fooled them, and left.

Just like that. It wouldn't have hurt him to say that he'd seen a hybrid, and nothing would come out of protecting Kanda. So why?

Why?

.:.::.::Motive::.::.:.

Untamed

Two weeks later, it was mid-November, and another Saturday.

Allen had kept visiting the forest every day, and searched for almost the whole day on Saturdays. Mana refused to let him go on Sundays as well, because Allen needed to "rest, play and do your homework like all the other kids!" and not waste all his time on some lost kitten.

The weather had gotten even colder. It was too cold to rain now, colder than usual for this time of the year. It had snowed the night before even, so outside everything was covered in pure, glittering white.

Eight in the morning, and Allen was already up and ready to leave. He was just waiting for Mana to pour the hot milk into the thermos he was going to take with him. The blankets were already in his backpack. What Mana didn't know was that this time Allen fully intended to leave them there if the cat-boy didn't appear to take them himself.

During the past two weeks, there hadn't been any remarkable changes. He'd found the men with the uniforms again, twice, but not talked to them. He didn't like them, but the fact that they were still there meant the cat-boy hadn't been found.

And also, even though he hadn't met the Pet again, he'd begun to be able to sense when he was nearby. Or so Allen liked to believe. Well, the feeling that he was being watched had to come from somewhere, right? And all those glimpses – that Allen was almost sure were done on purpose – of a dark tail or a pale hand couldn't be just his imagination.

"Say, Allen…" Mana's voice jerked him back to the present, and from the kitchen table he was sitting at, Allen looked at his foster father, who was near the stove. "Do you want a kitten?"

The grey-eyed boy blinked, caught off-guard by the question. "A kitten…?"

"Yes, a kitten," Mana repeated patiently.

Allen looked down at his gloved hands on his lap. "I…" for some reason, he found himself hesitating, "I wouldn't mind…"

Pouring the hot steaming milk into the thermos, Mana let out a dramatic sigh. "I can so sense a 'but' coming."

Allen didn't look up, but smiled faintly before frowning a little as he tried to understand the feeling himself. "I… I don't think I should have a kitten."

"And why not?" Mana's forehead creased in a frown and he completely forgot about the hot milk he was handling… until he spilled quite a bit. The hot liquid quickly reached the edge of the table and dripped down on the man's defenseless naked foot, making him yelp.

The white-haired boy, bless the Heavens for him, had already grabbed a towel and was quickly cleaning it up as he answered. "Well, because… I'm already helping the other kitten. It wouldn't be fair."

Already having cleaned the milk that had fallen on his foot, Mana poured the rest of the milk into the thermos carefully, and then looked at his adopted son thoughtfully. "You could look after both. You don't have to forget about one for the sake of the other." And it was a reasonable suggestion.

"Probably."

But the answer remains the same, Mana thought. You are a very complicated little person, my Allen.

Still, there was something Mana wanted to ask. Even if he thought he knew what kind of answer he would receive.

The man followed the white-haired child into the living room, where he proceeded to get the thermos in the backpack and check if he had everything.

Seeing him just about ready to leave and drop the topic, Mana finally asked it.

"Why are you so intent in looking for that little cat?" he blurted out, "You could just leave food for it. You don't need to concern yourself so much. You don't have to find it. It's a cat; it can look after itself. So why?"

Allen paused in the middle of tightening the straps that held the backpack closed. Then he firmly tightened them and shouldered it, before finally turning to face his foster father. Mana could see the glint of a steely determination in Allen's strange but pretty eyes.

"Because it's alone," he said very seriously - then, too late, plastered on a happy smile almost as an afterthought. "It has no one with him and no one to worry about him."

Those silvery eyes were beautiful and innocent, but Mana gazed into them and knew they'd seen more than any child's eyes ever should.

"So I will," Allen says, and Mana nodded in understanding, because there was nothing else he could do.

.:.::.::Compassion::.::.:.

Untamed

Oh, wow. It really is cold outside, Allen thought when he finally arrived at the playground. His breath was a misty cloud in front of him, and his nose was most probably red.

Well. There was that sensation of being watched again. Good; the catboy was probably nearby.

So little Allen tilted his chin up and very resolutely walked towards the forest. Once he was behind the bushes, he wiped off the snow on top of the stone where he'd used to leave food for the Pet and very unceremoniously sat himself on it, arms and legs crossed.

.:.::.::Re-start::.::.:.

Untamed

Kanda was cold. Very cold.

Extremely cold, actually.

And that ragged tunic of his might as well not have existed at all, for all the good it was doing him.

To distract himself from the low temperature, he'd decided to go follow the idiot human again and now there he was, all white and tiny and idiotic as ever. And sitting on the ground. The cold, hard ground covered in snow.

Watching from one of the trees near the playground, Kanda felt his eyebrows rise in slight surprise. What was the human child planning now?

After looking around with a very sullen expression, the kid took off the backpack and settled it on his lap. And then pulled out of it what looked like a thermos, and then three big, fluffy and, most importantly, very warm-looking, blankets.

Okay, so suddenly what the kid was planning was very clear.

.:.::.::Surprise::.::.:.

Untamed

Half an hour. Half an hour had passed, and nothing.

The feeling of being watched didn't go away, though.

So maybe Allen would have to try another approach.

"I know you're there!" he suddenly shouted at nothing. "I have things for you!"

No response. Just the trees, the wind, and the endless white of the snow.

Looked like just that wasn't enough.

"I just want to help you. And talk to you."

Nothing but the wind answered him.

Don't know how he survived this long if he can't recognize truth when he hears it, Allen thought, somewhat irritated. Not to mention that this is very rude. Mana would scold me if I ever ignored someone like this.

An hour passed, it began snowing lightly, and Allen ended up hugging the thermos of hot milk in the hopes it would stay warmer that way.

It was just so frustrating. Why couldn't the Pet just go there and-?

Right. No trust.

At last, Allen let out a resigned sigh. "You're not going to come out with me here, are you?"

Again, the silence was the only response Allen got, but it sounded like the forest was saying something like 'no shit, Sherlock. Really?'

.:.::.::Wait::.::.:.

Untamed

The kid had been there for over an hour. With blankets. And something warm in that thermos.

For Kanda.

And it had begun to snow, even. The kid had just hugged the thermos to keep it warm, and kept on waiting.

For Kanda.

If it wasn't all an act to lure him closer, then… it was kind of… nice.

The little kid was shivering in the snow, all worried about the thermos for Kanda not getting cold. If it wasn't an act, then it was almost… what was the word? …cute. Maybe. Just a little.

The kid was still a disgusting, stubborn, idiotic bean sprout, though.

Still, this didn't mean Kanda felt any more inclined to go near the human. There was no way in Hell he'd be caught near a human any time soon. Unlike the idiot, Kanda wasn't stupid.

.:.::.::Mistrust::.::.:.

Untamed

Letting out another sigh, little Allen wrapped the thermos in the blankets and got up.

"Hum, before I go…" the boy felt a little silly, talking to nothing like that, but he shrugged off that thought and continued, "I want to thank you. For saving me the other day. They might not have found me if you hadn't put me in that tree, I guess. So… thank you. And… you can keep the blankets. No need to return them or anything, even if you wanted to…" Stop blabbering, Allen told himself. "So… yeah. That's it. I'm going now."

And turning around, he began to walk away. Slowly, at first, trying to sneakily look over his shoulder. But nothing changed. So with a resigned sigh, he just gave up and passed through the bush.

Then he glanced behind one last time.

A slender pale boy with long dark hair and triangular cat ears on his head appeared beyond the bush, disappeared momentarily as he bent down as if to pick up something, then appeared again.

With a nodding motion of their head, dark eyes unreadable at that distance, he disappeared completely from view.

Allen smiled happily, and the next day he left old clothes on the rock.

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"Are you looking for me? I am in the next seat./My shoulder is against yours."
Kabir, Indian poet

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End of Chapter 3

Untamable

A/N: Epically long authoress' note ahead. AMV recommendation at the very end.

Before you start throwing the rotten fruits and the pitchforks, please allow me to thank djewellz for beta'ing this and to apologize to you all for how long this took.
Since the normal excuses apply (lack of time due to several problems of different kinds and trouble in getting access to the Internet and so on), I won't even try to defend myself. Now you can come drag me out of my tiny dark cave where my pitiful self spends her entire time holed up, reading fanfiction and doing her university stuff and such, and beat me up all you want. I'll withstand it like the true nerd I am.

Now, on to other things. Djewellz pointed out that there hasn't been enough interaction between Allen and Kanda. And I agree. However, that's precisely what I wanted (yet I still kinda fear you all think this chapter is a total fail). Kanda doesn't dare go near a human unless he absolutely has to right now. And he never really cared much about having company. That needs to change before he allows closer contact. I'm planning to have a small part of that change happen in the next chapter, and they'll start interacting more in chapter 5. Hell, chapter 5 will have one of the parts I have been dying to write... and from then on cute AllenxKandaxAllen scenes will make their appearance as often as I can fit them in!

To any Timcanpy fans reading this: rejoice, he'll show up next chapter. What will he be? Well. It's not hard to guess. He'll be the most obvious thing you can think of.

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As for the schedule of updates from now on... well, I have absolutely no idea. The beginning of the 4th chapter is written already, but that doesn't mean anything. (I had most of this chapter written a month ago and I rewrote it quite a few times). If I'm lucky, I'll update sometime in the next few weeks. If not, well, you'll have to wait a month. And maybe a few days. Or weeks. Or another month. Or- well, you get the idea.

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About future chapters:
- if you're going to keep reading this story, I must warn you: I love clichés. Like, really love them. If you ever read a corny scene in this story that leaves you thinking "damn, that is so clichéd it's not even funny"... chances are, I did it on purpose. Forgive me my weakness, please.
- this story was originally planned to be about 8-9 chapters, then a time skip of a few years to the epilogue. But there is just SO MUCH that happens during that time skip... it's the time during which Kanda and Allen actually get together... emotionally, I mean. The whole lemon and beginning of official relationship thing is still reserved for the epilogue. And I've been considering writing those years... which would make the story A LOT longer, and I'm not sure I'm capable of writing the things that are going to happen... well, we'll see. Just wanted you guys to know there is that possibility.

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Next topic... dear Lord, I love you guys. 107 reviews. Every time I look at the number of reviews I blush and feel like I'm an ungrateful bitch (please forgive my language) for taking so long to update. Not to mention the amount of favourite and story alerts. Can I hug you?

Lastly.... AMV recommendation. I found this awesome, awesome, awesome KandaxAllenxKanda AMV that is simply THE BEST DGM AMV I've ever seen. Basically, the person grabbed a few well chosen scenes and with a few subtle effects created an AMV that makes the pairing seem canon. It's BEAUTIFUL. The way the images were manipulated, the scenes that were chosen, the timing, oh. I love that AMV. They even used that scene where Allen hugs Lavi in the Ark and altered it so it looks like it's Kanda he's hugging. My God, I love this AMV. I have the link on my profile, but I'll put it here too because it's too damn awesome for me not to: http://www [dot] youtube [dot] com/watch?v=QOYSIfRBIco

Also, that damn "center text" thingy isn't working, so the formatting of this chapter is sucky. I'll fix it when it decides to start working again.

That is all. Thank you. *bows*