- Second Petal -
Façade
With each falling petal, Kanda grows bold.
At its plummet to the bottom of the hourglass, Kanda is personally surprised at long the lotus takes to shed its second one. Within the several years that have passed, he learns that his curse comes with a blessing: he is able to withstand more attacks and survive even direct Akuma bullets.
He can miraculously do this all with no consequence but one.
"You shouldn't do it again if you value your life," Komui has warned him many times.
Kanda knows each fatal blow upon his body causes his life force—his curse—to deteriorate wound by wound. He has taken Komui's solemn statement to heart, but that never stops him from overexerting and pushing himself to the limits.
And so after each speedy recovery, he tacks on a thicker layer of audacity. After each treacherous battle, his confidence swells and augments his skills.
He grows bold.
At times, Kanda almost feels like he is invincible. He knows he is fast, strong, and talented. Encounters with level one akuma are mere scuffles, and he needs the thrilling excitement of fighting level two akuma to keep him on his toes and stir his blood.
It is a foolish impulsive urge and perhaps over-confidence that moves him to protect that damn moyashi from the Akuma's attack in Martel. His wound from the same Akuma—a result of his carelessness—reopens, and he cringes at the acrid stinging sensation he knows all too well. Blood seeps through the gauge and colors his abdomen like a twisted sort of war paint, and he almost feels his precious life trickling down with the crimson liquid.
"What are you doing?" the blustering doctor cries three days later. "It should take you five months to recover completely—"
"I'm healed," Kanda replies shortly.
He slips on his shirt and stiffly walks out the hospital room. This is how he operates, after all, with a scowl set on his pale face and a sturdy confidence in his healing and battling abilities.
Yet he knows he is not immortal and can still bleed to death like a hapless prey being strangled to the last gasping breath. And he still trembles at the thought that his life is limited.
He is confident, but it is all a façade.
A/N: Hurray! Lots of bowls of soba noodles to skele-gro, Belladonna-Isabella, bloodyredsilver, and Ai Minamoto for reading and reviewing/subscribing.
D.Gray-Man (c) Hoshino Katsura