"Look, America!" a little boy shouted to his parents as he ran over to the ledge, pointing to the strip of land in front of them. The bay was foggy, covered in mist. It felt moist and chilly, but it didn't bother Kanda too much. He closed his eyes, allowing the zephyrs to caress his face.
They landed in New York – a city bustling with life. People crowded past him, shoving to get off onto the wonderful land, free of seasickness.
Kanda ignored the stares, some of disgust, interest, and hatred – yes, prejudice was very much alive here in America, not that some of the Englishmen he met were perfect gentlemen. As he walked into a coffee shop, the people stilled, turning their heads to peer at him. Kanda snorted, rolling his eyes in annoyance. "Black coffee," Kanda ordered.
The man at the counter blinked. "Excuse me?" He sounded angry, insulted.
"I said, I wanted black coffee," Kanda repeated with deliberate slowness. "Funny, I thought most people here'd be able to speak English."
"I can too speak English!" the man snarled. Che. Childish. "Better than some Jap!" he added superiorly.
"Oh? I suppose you know what 'ludicrous' means then," Kanda quipped casually.
The man stared at him blankly. "Uh…"
"Exactly. Now I demand that you give me coffee." Kanda's eyes narrowed, underlying a threat in his words.
The man hurriedly poured the black liquid into a mug, spitting into it when he thought Kanda wasn't looking. "Here," he snapped. Kanda stared at the contents before shrugging. He tipped it over, watching with pleasure as the boiling contents spilled all over the white man's shirt.
"You – you better pay for this!" the man sputtered. Kanda sniggered.
"I think not." And with that, he walked out of the entrance, ignoring the shocked pairs of eyes boring into his back. The service here wasn't much worse in some places back home.
000
Allen was slumped all over the edge of the railing. Lavi was holding his long white hair back, looking away as Allen was currently spilling the contents of his stomach into the sea. "This has to be one of the worst jobs ever," the redhead said, patting the young general on his back.
"At least you're not the one that has to get rid of excrement back in the days of the Renaissance era," Linali said.
"Yeah, there's that too," even though Lavi knew this himself already. Still, it felt good to be able to say it.
Allen staggered as he leaned against the railing for balance, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. "I feel like I never want to eat again," he moaned.
"You'll forget you ever said that in the next half hour."
"You know what I mean, guys."
Allen retied the mussed strands of his white hair back with the black tie, trying to ignore the beginnings of yet another wave of nausea. Allen wasn't sure what day it was, but he was sure it was either the fifth or sixth day. We'll be there soon, he assured himself. Still, he really did dislike waiting.
000
"Yuki? What are you doing here?" Kanda turned, confusion flitting across his face. A young girl, around Allen's age with the same nearly white-blond boyishly cut hair and pale silvery blue eyes, stood in front of him, a little weak looking, but with a large grin that faltered slightly when she realized she got the wrong person. "Oh! Sorry," she smiled, blushing shyly at her mistake. "It's just you look very much like a friend of mine."
Kanda shook his head politely. This was a girl; therefore he was obligated to be civil. The girl scratched her cheek sheepishly. "I'm sorry, it's strange of me to ask this of a stranger, but can you help me find my friend? I haven't been able to find her around today at all…" Kanda shrugged. It's not like he had anything better to do anyway.
"Have you checked the places she usually goes?" he said, offering advice.
She thought. "I have, but she wasn't anywhere. I know I've sent her off today to buy groceries." She bit down on her lower lip, obviously worried. "I probably shouldn't have done that though, I mean the white men around here! So rude to non-white girls! I'm ashamed to know that I'm a part of the same race as them," she ranted.
"I've kind of noticed," Kanda said, thinking back to the treatment at the café. It was funny watching the man at the counter sputter though.
"I hope nothing's happened to her. Even if she can take care of herself, she's still a girl."
"And you are…?"
The girl apologized. "I'm Ellie Stones, nice to meet you Mr.…"
"Kanda. Just Kanda," he replied curtly.
"Kanda?" Ellie repeated, her eyes flashing with something. "As in, Kanda Yuu?" Kanda grimaced, backing away warily. Was she a bounty hunter or something? He didn't say anything, but Ellie smiled, reaching for his hand gently.
"I missed you. Grandfather's still around," she said softly. What is she talking about, Kanda thought, uncomfortable from the sudden contact. She smiled slightly. "I guess Yuki can wait. How many years has it been? Nearly a decade! I guess that explains why you can't remember me so well…" She pulled on his arm. "So, let's go see Grandfather."
Kanda was pulled forward. He could feel the stares of astonishment, hate, and wonder gliding over them. Ellie seemed oblivious to the extra, unwanted attention, very focused at the matter in hand. Some land of equality. To hell with the "all men are created equal" thing here. It seemed in America, white men were created a little – in their opinions, a lot – more equal than the rest. Stupid hypocrites.
000
Yuki sat casually, tilting her chair back as far as she possibly could without falling as she sipped away at a cup of sweet red tea leisurely. She was very pleased that she just gotten out of a scrape after leaving the market. Her hand was still a tiny bit pink from "accidentally" punching the teeth out of those creeps, but she didn't care. It was a small price to pay to see the white guys on the ground writhing in pain. And she didn't get in trouble either. Really, the law enforcement these days were so lazy. Even if the cops even bothered trying to bring her in, they run too slow anyway.
Mr. Finnegan had gained more gray hairs over the years, and he hummed lightly as he stirred a boiling pot of curry. He made a startled little cry as his apprentice – Carlisle – almost dropped their only set of china onto the wooden floor. The German girl began to apologize repeated, her honey brown eyes tearing up at the possible prospect of being disowned. "Will you be done anytime soon?" Yuki enquired, pouring herself another cup tea. Mr. Finnegan was really good at making tea.
"A few more minutes," the old man said cheerily, trying to comfort tearful girl. The spicy smell wafted all over the room, and Yuki sniffed it with appreciation.
"Smells good, sir." The door to their small apartment opened with a loud click, revealing Ellie with a tall boy at her side, who was clearly uncomfortable to be here, but that didn't matter. This was just too weird. He looked too much like herself for her liking.
"Yuki!" Ellie cried, clinging to the older girl. "I thought something might've happened to you since it took you so long to get back!" She offered a more respectful greeting to Mr. Finnegan and Carlisle.
"Relax, I was back 10 minutes ago," Yuki said, patting Ellie's arm. "There's no need to worry about me anyway. I happen to be stronger than most guys we meet."
"And most of them wouldn't go after you if you didn't dress up as a man," Ellie countered. Yuki snorted.
"Can you actually see me wearing that kind of stuff?" she said, horrified. No, no. She hated dresses. Too bad they loved her.
"You'd look very pretty."
"Ellie, just shut up," she grumbled. Kanda stood at the kitchen doorway, almost smiling at their playful banter, making him think of his daily arguments with Moyashi. The thought of the white-haired general made his mouth curve downward slightly. If only Moyashi hadn't see his scars. He looked over at the bickering two, thinking that if you ignore the fact that they were both girls and if Ellie wasn't wearing a dress and was almost as tall as her friend, they might be able to pass for Moyashi and him. Only Kanda didn't have purplish brown highlights in his hair.
Ellie pulled Yuki over to Kanda with a grin plastered over her pale, white face. "Yuki, this is Yuu Kanda. Yuu, this is Yuki Charles."
"Yoroshiku," Yuki said stiffly, holding out her hand to him. Kanda took it, shaking slightly.
"Likewise."
000
"I'm bored!" Lavi whined, slumping against the table surface, his lips curled into a pout.
"They why don't you try flirting with someone – there's always a girl around somewhere for you to find. Hey look, there's Linali. She seems to be lax about you coming onto her lately… I bet you she likes you."
"Wow Allen, you just noticed?" Lavi said sarcastically.
"Excuse me if I'm a little slow on the uptake," Allen bit.
"And it's because of that Yuu-chan is now God-knows-where in the world."
"We know that there's a possibility that he's in America," Allen pointed out.
"Aside from the obvious," Lavi said. "What do you plan on doing when you find him anyway?"
"I…" Allen thought. "I suppose I just want to know how he's doing." He sighed. Lavi stared.
"Are you sure?"
"Why wouldn't I be?"
"Well," Lavi shrugged, "it seems to me that you like him."
Allen frowned. "I – it's not like that. I don't like him – not like that." The redhead rolled his eyes, smirking lightly.
"Sure, Allen, I believe you. Now, I'm going to flirt with Linali like you suggested, so bye." As Allen watched his senior strut up to the Chinese girl, he couldn't help but think, what was that all about?