A/N: Oiy... I could almost feel our beloved exorcists' pain as I wrote this, it was smoldering hot today. Stupid extreme weather of the Rockies! Anyways, here's chapter three. C: I'm quite enjoying writing this story, I usually don't write chaptered adventure stories. I hope you guys are enjoying it, too. D': (If you are, tell me. XD All of my reviews have made me happy.) 8D
So, enjoy Kanda's sour mood! :D (I'm also starting to get my alerts from the site again, hooray!)
Chapter three: Birds and Fruit
"ALLEN-KUUUN!!"
"MOYASHI!!"
"It's no use!" Lavi cried, sitting down on the shore of the now emptied lake. "What do we do now?" he asked, looking up at Kanda, who was still standing.
Kanda crossed his arms over his now bare chest (due to the loss of his coat), and scanned the area. He looked up into the trees. "He must have gotten stuck in one of the trees, as we were coming in," he decided.
Lavi sighed, and grabbed his hammer from the sand. "Guess we're going back in, then…"
--
"KAW!"
"Ka-kaw!"
"E-easy, there…" Allen cooed. The white-haired exorcist was hanging onto a bobbing tree branch with both hands near the top of a tall tree, the afternoon sun beating intensely onto him. Branches from another nearby tree were stretching over towards Allen's location, and two puffed up, curious ravens were perched upon one, staring at Allen.
The larger of the two ravens strutted down the branch, closer to Allen's face. "Krawww!" it croaked.
Allen gulped, and looked down. The ground wasn't really visible through all of the foliage, and even if he wanted to move, he didn't want to make any sudden movements to anger the birds.
"LAVIII!" Allen yelled into the trees below.
"KAW KAW KAW!" The big raven protested, flapping its wings. The smaller one started croaking and flapping its wings, too.
"Auh!" Allen cried, turning his head and shutting his eyes. "I'm sorry!" he apologized to the birds.
--
"What was that?" Kanda asked.
"What was what?" Lavi asked, stopping his growing hammer momentarily. He and Kanda had been proceeding slowly through the trees on Lavi's hammer handle.
"I heard Moyashi," Kanda announced. "He's behind us, now. Up in a tree."
"Wow," Lavi said, scratching the side of his head and looking upwards. "You sure?"
"Yes!" Kanda insisted, obviously insulted that Lavi doubted him. "Now let's redirect this thing to go upwards!"
Lavi obeyed Kanda's order. "You're sure trying hard to find someone you supposedly hate," Lavi teased.
Kanda growled.
--
Allen groaned. "What do I do?" He asked the big raven. It tilted his head at him.
"Kraw."
"ALLEN!"
Allen perked up and tried turning his head around, not being able to see through his up stretched arm. "Lavi?!"
"Kawwww!" the raven growled.
Allen took a chance and swung himself up onto the branch he was hanging from, to the displeasure of the noisy raven. He sat and watched as Lavi and Kanda ascended directly upwards through the trees on the redheads growing hammer. Then the handle started to tilt in Allen's direction.
…At an increasingly fast rate.
Allen raised his eyebrows. He could hear Kanda's cursing from above.
"GERANIMO!!" Lavi hollered, as the handle quickly fell towards Allen's tree.
"Uwah!!" Allen cried as they got closer, throwing his arms over his head and ducking.
-FWOOSH- -CRACK-
The cracking sound was way to close for comfort. Allen opened one eye, and then the other, before looking towards the trunk of the tree he was on. The handle of Lavi's hammer was positioned in between a fork in the wide branches near the middle of the tree. Lavi was laughing at the front, and Kanda was fuming right behind him.
"Now, can I steer this thing or what?!" Lavi said happily. The tree was still swaying from the harsh impact.
"You idiot!" Kanda growled. "What a haphazard landing…"
Lavi turned around and gave Kanda a disapproving look. "Can you do anything but complain, Yuu?"
"DON'T call me that."
"You guys!" Allen cried, waving frantically from his branch. Both of the ravens from the other tree were now positioned on each of Allen's shoulders, preening themselves and Allen's hair. "Over here!"
"Allen-kuuun!" Lavi bellowed, waving just as hard. "We thought you were dead!"
"Hey!" Kanda said, his eyes locked on a branch below Allen. "That's my coat…!"
--
After a while, the three exorcists dropped one by one from the branches near the bottom of the tree. They brushed themselves off, and Kanda slid on his coat that he had retrieved from one of the branches.
"Wow, it's a lot darker down here…" Allen commented, putting his hands on his hips and looking around the shady area filled with matured trees and other plant life. His face and open white shirt were both streaked with dirt, and pieces of leaves still remained in his bright white hair.
"It's way cooler, too," Lavi sighed contently, putting away his now tiny hammer. He brushed off his arms and studied Allen. He laughed. "You're a mess, Walker!" he commented, walking over to his shorter friend and plucking a few leaves from his hair. "I'm glad you're okay…" he said, not looking Allen in the face.
Allen blinked at Lavi and smiled. "Thanks for coming back for me," he said, folding his hands in front of himself and beaming at his redheaded friend.
"Hmph…" Kanda huffed, crossing his arms again and walking past the two. "I'm the one who figured out you got left behind in the trees," he said, back facing the two. "And I'm the one who heard your cry, too."
Lavi frowned at Kanda's back and Allen laughed, turning around and tiptoeing up to Kanda. His eyes gleamed deviously and he threw his arms around Kanda's neck, in an ambush hug. "Thank you, Yuu!"
Kanda flinched and flushed red. "Yo-you… get off me!" he cried in surprise at Allen's unexpected actions. "And don't call me by my first name!"
Lavi grinned and walked up next to the pair of them, as Allen finally let go after much of Kanda's flailing. "So, wanna try attempt number two to fly into town?" he asked.
"No," Kanda said darkly, stomping away. "It's not far now… not far enough to get back on the Hell Hammer, let's put it that way…"
Lavi and Allen smirked at each other.
"You think Yuu-chan is afraid of heights?" Lavi whispered, as the two began following their huffy friend.
"I think he's more afraid of the way you operate your hammer, Lavi-kun…"
--
Half an hour later, the three exorcists had walked long enough to find a dirt road to travel alongside (It took half an hour because Lavi insisted on taking a detour from Kanda's set route, much to the dark-haired ones displeasure).
"Heh…" Lavi panted, arms and head drooping as he walked alongside Allen. Allen too, looked exhausted and wiped sweat from his brow with the back of his hand, squinting upwards to the nearly-cloudless sky.
"This is horrible…" Lavi complained to Kanda's exposed back. The exorcist leading the way had apparently gotten too hot to continue wearing his heavy coat, so he'd wrapped it around his waist.
"Stop complaining," Kanda demanded, trekking forwards. "You're the ones who wanted to do this. The town is only another sixteen minutes away."
"Sixteen exactly?" Allen asked.
"Yes."
Lavi rolled his eyes and let his eyes wander to the trees to their left. His eyes lit up. "Apples!" Lavi cried, running over to one of the trees.
"Huh?" Kanda said, stopping to watch the redhead bound through the grass, over to the small lone apple tree.
"Good find, Lavi-kun!" Allen called after the redhead, who was climbing very ungracefully up the tree. "Pick me one, too!"
"Get over here, Allen!" Lavi called. Allen obeyed and jogged after his friend.
"Dear God…" Kanda muttered, pinching the bridge of his nose and closing his eyes. As Lavi tossed down several apples to Allen from the tree, Kanda's ears twitched and he opened his eyes, turning back to the road. The sound of horse's hooves caught his attention.
Sure enough, a cream colored horse was trotting down the dirt road, pulling behind it a small wooden carriage filled partly with apples and a middle aged man.
"Oh," Kanda said to himself, as the man yanked on his horse's ropes and stopped a few feet away from Kanda.
"Hello," the man said, tilting the hat he was wearing to Kanda before his eyes locked on the apple tree Lavi was assaulting. "What're you young guys doing all the way out here, on such a hot day? You wanna get heat exhaustion?"
Kanda sighed. "It's… my comrades wanted to go into town for something…" he explained. "That's where we're heading, now."
The man nodded. "Comrades, eh? It looks like they sure love apples…"
Kanda turned with a bitter look on his face, and winced at the sight of his 'comrades'. Allen was trying to eat an apple with no hands while he held a dozen or so in his arms for Lavi, who was tossing them to Allen with one hand and eating an apple of his own with the other.
Kanda turned his head back around, and stared at the apples partly filling the mans carriage. "I assume you came here to collect the apples from this tree?"
The man nodded slowly, watching Lavi and Allen. "Yep…"
Kanda sighed again, and walked stiffly over to Allen. He found a dirt clod in the grass, and picked it up. "Hey, greedy Moyashi!" He barked, chucking the dirt clod at Allen.
Allen turned his head to Kanda, apple still in his mouth, until the dirt clod hit him smack in the middle of his face. He spat out the apple and dropped all the ones he had collected in his arms. "Oww!" he rubbed his nose. "What's the big idea?"
Another apple came down from the tree and hit Allen on top of the head. "Owwww!!" Allen complained.
"Eh?" Lavi said, looking down at Allen and taking a big bite out of his nearly finished apple. "Oh, sorry. You dropped all the apples!" he complained.
"Stop being pigs!" Kanda yelled. He pointed at the old man behind him, who looked fairly confused and amused. "This man needs to sell these apples to live!"
"Well, that's getting a little dramatic…" The man called over, hopping down from his seat. He walked over to the scene, glancing at each young man and the tree one of them was sitting in. "I collect apples around here at this time of year, and sell them in the town for some extra money," he explained. "I'll just take the ones you don't eat, young man," he said to Lavi.
Lavi jumped down from the tree and wiped his mouth. "I'm sorry," he said, looking back up into the tree. "I only really wanted one. But, I have a question to ask you."
"Me?" The man asked. Lavi looked back at him and nodded.
"If we all help pick and carry the apples to your wagon, can we hitch a ride in there until we get into town?" Lavi asked, glancing at the shaded part of the old mans carriage.
"Oh? Sure you can!" the old man happily agreed. "That'd be swell of you young fellows. I'll wait at the carriage for you all," he said, walking back to the carriage.
"Yes!" Lavi said, jumping up and grabbing back onto one of the tree branches. "No more walking for us!" he cheered, picking apples extra fast from the tree and tossing them down to Allen.
"Y-yay!" Allen agreed, dodging half of the falling apples and catching the rest.
Kanda growled, glaring at the apples on the ground. "Moyashi can collect the apples, then…" he muttered, pulling out Mugen. He began slicing down apples from the other side of the tree.
"Heh?" Allen asked, another apple bouncing off his head.
--
Soon enough, every last apple had been either picked or sliced from the tree, and Allen had delivered every single one into the old mans carriage.
"You young guys are sure efficient!" The old man complimented as the four of them traveled down the dirt road.
In the back of the carriage sat Lavi, Kanda, and Allen in between both of them. They sat among the apples, under the shaded part of the carriage. Kanda was crossing his arms and gazing out at the scenery left behind the wagon. Allen continued to eat the apples around his feet.
"Thanks a lot!" Lavi replied, resting his arms on his bent knees. "So, do you live in… uh…"
"Eckbey?" The old man finished Lavi's sentence. "No, I have my own little place about forty minutes away. I come into town for all my shopping, though."
"Ah," Lavi said, turning to Allen and Kanda. "Hey, Yuu."
Kanda continued to silently stare out the back of the wagon.
"Yuu? Are you having a good time, yet?"
Still no reply.
Allen chewed a large bite of apple and cocked his head at the silent exorcist. He grabbed an apple and held it in front of Kanda. "Want an apple, Kanda?"
"…No, thank you," Kanda replied without turning around.
Allen and Lavi looked at each other and shrugged.
"We're almost there," the old man announced. Lavi stuck his head out the front of the carriage and beamed.
"There it is!" Lavi said.
"Finally!" Allen said joyously. "I can finally get my ice cream!"
"And then we can finally go home…" Kanda muttered.
A/N: Teehee. Kanda is so much fun to write. I wish I had a friend like him. xD
And so, our three favorite exorcists finally arrive at their destination. Well, almost. Will Kanda's mood improve in town? Will Allen get the ice cream he wants? Will Lavi hit on the middle-aged cafe owner? Find out next chapter! (Reviews spur me to write moar! 8D Share your thoughts, guise! :D)