A/N (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ and here it is~! omigawd it's been so long D':Hope none of you gave up on me lol

Man this chapter was weird to type up. SO MUCH AWKWARDNESS! ALLEN Y U SO AWKWARD!

I apologize if this chapter doesn't flow with the first 4, and now that I look back, Allen was so out of character then lol also I'm pretty much making stuff up as I go D: the original plot was dumped awhile back... I just hope this works o-o"

also who can guess who Kanda is talking about~! lol

Chapter 5: …What Did You Call Me?

Thursday evening, Allen was on his way to Lavi's house afterschool; he hadn't gone with Lavi because he had had to see a tutor for math. Boy did he hate math. Plus, Lavi had to leave as soon as possible because he didn't do the chores his grandpa had told him to do last night.

The white haired boy was strolling down the sidewalk of a quiet neighborhood, but not like in the movies where you always see kids playing in their front yards or kids bicycling down the streets. Allen was sure this was the area where Lavi lived. He couldn't remember the address, but instead relied on his instincts (but who knew how reliable those were). Trying to remember the scenery from the last the time he went to Lavi's house, he didn't paying attention to what was in front of him until his body suddenly repelled off of something stiff and firm. He stumbled back surprised to find none other than Kanda staring down at him with his usual piercing gaze.

"Oi, watch it." He snapped at him. Allen noticed the small realization in his eyes when he focused his eyes on him. Allen, a bit surprised himself, forgot to reply for a split second.

"Oh, Kanda. Sorry. Um, where did you-"Before he finished, he noticed the alleyway where Kanda most likely came out from.

"Che, Moyashi, I don't have time for your small chat." Kanda glanced towards the alleyway at the small hissing sounds of angry voices come up closer through the dirt path.

"Huh?" He said, confused about the foreign word.

Impatience grew on the other's face. "I'm don't have time for this." He growled. He quickly pushed pass the small boy before he could get another word out. Kanda started out in a jog then a quick sprint down the side walk.

Allen was left standing there perplexed. Then the sound of a familiar voice snapped him out of his trance. Allen knew that voice. Goosebumps crawled up his arms and fear grew on his face. He dashed forward, heading towards Lavi's house once again, and as far away from Aaron's voice as possible.

He finally arrived at Lavi's doorstep; feet heavy and his lungs a bit short of breath. He pulled himself together and huffed out a deep sigh. He rang the door bell once but a minute later there was no answer; he rang it again. This time, loud crashes of hard objects were heard behind the door, followed by a few curse words. Lavi swung the door open; his hair was tousled and his clothes were askew but he still greeted his white-haired friend with a big smile.

"What took you so long?' he asked. Allen giggled at Lavi's eschewed appearance.

"It hasn't been that long. Besides what happened to you?" He asked curiously as he was welcomed in.

"Oh this? I just got in a fight with the old panda again." He shrugged.

"Because of your chores again too?" Allen raised an eyebrow.

"You know how I hate chores!" Lavi whined. "Anyway, let's go up to my room for now" He grinned.

Allen followed him to his room, and in the process dodged the stacks of books that cluttered the house. In every part of the house there were shelves full of books, but apparently even that wasn't enough. Books were stacked in piles and some rooms were just a mess with books lying on the floor in heaps. Lavi has lived with his grandpa ever since he was little. From what Lavi had told him, his parents used to fight constantly to the point they even forgot about him. His Grandpa often baby-sat him; that is until his parent's finally filed a divorce and remarried into different families. So Lavi made up his mind to just live with his gramps from then on.

In a way Allen felt a little closer to Lavi after he was told this. He never had a friend to share life stories with, so it was really special to him.

Lavi and Allen went to up to his room planning on doing some homework then playing some video games for the rest of the afternoon. Allen was working on Spanish homework and needed a dictionary. Lavi directed him to a nearby shelf organized with dictionaries with varying languages. He was skimming through when his eye caught one for Japanese. That's when he realized earlier Kanda had called him something. He snatched it and flipped to the 'm' section.

moyashi (もやし)- "sprout" or "bean sprout" a common ingredient in Japanese dishes such as stir fries and soups.

"Bean sprout?" Allen asked out loud.

"What is?" Lavi replied.

"Eh, Kanda called me a Moyashi, meaning a beansprout. What do you think he meant by that?" He asked, confused. The red head simply laughed.

"Allen, he was calling you short."

"…..What?" He exclaimed while Lavi continued cracking up from Allen's expression.

"I'm not even that short! Besides he's only taller by a few inches." He pouted. Lavi still laughed though. The rest of the day they played games until it was six o'clock and Allen figured it was time for him to head home.

On his way there he thought he might as well get some dinner at the convenience store. This actually consisted of junk food, and TV dinners. He was browsing the Asian food section when he noticed the Soba Noodles. He picked up a pack and flipped it around in his hand. He heard they were good but he never actually tried them. Allen was lost in his thoughts for a good two minutes until another pack of noodles were shoved in his face.

"This brand is better" Said in a low voice. Allen looked up and found, yet again, Kanda staring down at him. He narrowed his eyes and asked "Are you following me?"

Kanda glared at the shorter one. "Che, who the hell would want to follow a Moyashi? Besides that's what I should be asking." He said putting the pack of noodles back on the shelf.

"That word! I am NOT a beansprout!" He exclaimed. Kanda raised a thin eyebrow. "And just so you know, you're not that much taller than me!"

"A Moyashi is a Moyashi." He said simply.

Kanda hovered his hand above the other's head and did a back and forth motion between the two of them. The shorter one's head only reached the bottom of his chin. "You're short no matter what."

In the background two older women giggled at the two arguing teens. Allen couldn't believe this. Embarrassed, he swatted the taller one's hand away and switched the noodles he had with the other package that was shoved in his face. He returned Kanda's glare and marched to the checkout counter while Kanda followed behind. Allen hurried out after paying, only to find Kanda right next to him.

"Why are you following me?" He asked stopping suddenly. Kanda just looked at him like he was stupid. "I live this way too idiot."

The white haired teen mentally kicked himself and remembered the time they awkwardly walked home together. He said a mere 'oh' and continued on.

"So why did you run off earlier?" He asked, trying to start up a conversation to ease the mood.

"You ask a lot of questions for a Moyashi." He retorted back.

"I'm just trying to start a conversation. And I'm not a…however you say that." He shot back miserably.

Kanda huffed sigh at the thought of having to explain. "It was that bastard and his group. It seems they have a thing against me from that time I saved your ass." Allen sweat-dropped. This wasn't because of him, was it?

"He keeps trying to pick fights with me, but he's just a waste of my fucking time, and those fucking rumors are just making it worse."

"Eh? You heard about those too?" Allen said surprised.

"How could I not? Fucking idiots keep throwing them at me every time they want to fight, like it's some kind of catch phrase." He growled.

Allen laughed. "So I suppose you don't actually carry around a wooden sword?"

"Fuck no. All I did was beat the shit out of some bastards with a chunk of wood once."

The other continued to laugh. He had a feeling those rumors Lavi told him weren't true. They just seemed too ridiculous; especially the way Lavi had described them.

Wait.

Wait just a minute. It just dawned on the teen but were they…were they actually having a (slightly) normal conversation for the first time? Allen had the impression Kanda was a really hard person to talk to, but in actuality it was just his grumpy expressions that drove people away. Then Allen had to ask again; if he didn't he really would kick himself this time.

"Say, Kanda, do you want to hang out with Lavi and me afterschool some time?" He dared to ask. The other was silent for a bit which worried him for the worst. Then he finally spoke. "I won't promise anything." He replied. Allen had a feeling he would say that. They kept walking on while Allen tried creating small talk, which wasn't really easy when Kanda would just retorted back with a few words and that was it. He had to be the worst person to try and converse with, not that Allen had any big conversations with anyone, except for Lavi. And Lavi talked a LOT. They soon arrived at the corner where they went their own ways. Allen said his goodnight and waved his goodbye. Kanda just nodded and went on his way.

The next day; Friday after school, Allen and Lavi met up at their regular place in the library. Allen started explaining his run in with Kanda yesterday when he left his house. Just as he was finishing his story the unspeakable happened. Lavi spotted Kanda entering the library and shot out of his seat and called his first name, waving him down to sit with them. The Asian glared at him regretting coming in the first place. He quickly strode over to the red haired idiot and once again fisted his shirt.

"What did I tell you about saying my name?" He growled.

"Kanda, this is a library, and Lavi stop being obnoxious." The smaller of the two said, hopelessly trying pry Kanda's fist from Lavi's shirt. Kanda finally let Lavi go and took a seat next to Allen. There was no way he was sitting next to the irritating rabbit, as he puts it. The rest of the time of their "hanging out", they did their own thing with working on various school work, except for Lavi, who seems to be able to do all his work in class. Lavi had nothing to do so he tried talking to Kanda but was told to shut up each time. He was just going to be ignored by Allen because he was busy with math homework. So, he took out a book and quietly watched them while pretending to read. The white haired teen was struggling with math problems, but Lavi quickly noticed something. Kanda was eyeing the other occasionally. He inwardly smiled like an idiot. He may be overreacting to such a small gesture, but he had a feeling he would be playing the role of match maker sometime soon. But it was just a feeling.

After about an hour, it was time for the library to close so the three of them got their stuff together and headed out to go home. Once Lavi was at a safe distance from Kanda's fists, he said his goodbyes and of course called Kanda "Yu." Kanda was certain he was now doing it just to piss him off. The remaining two were left to walk home together again. The awkwardness from the last two times seemed to lighten up. It was quiet between them but Allen didn't mind it. To him the silence wasn't awkward at all, but was really a nice way to just walk side by side. For the third time, they split up, going their separate directions.

"See you Monday." Allen said.

"Cya." The other said, catching Allen off guard. He looked back and watched the other's back as he walked away. Allen went to his apartment with a smile. It was funny how the smallest things made him happy, especially from someone so stoic like Kanda.

Kanda's POV

I locked the door behind me and flipped on the lights in the living room. The apartment was pretty small and the wall paper was out dated. The living room only had a small couch and a rugged TV. I threw my backpack on the couch and slumped on the seat next to it. The answering machine was blinking angrily at me on its small side table. I gave an angry glare back at it. It was probably him, and that idiot old man. I hadn't contacted anyone back home since I came to America, though the only person I'd actually call would be him. I immediately deleted the old man's message as soon as I heard that blubbering fool. I swear, if the cost for long distance calling wasn't so high, he'd call 500 times a day. The next message was his.

"Yu!" He started out angrily. "What's up? You haven't called me even once since you left! Oh and Tiedoll is starting to bug me a lot about convincing you to come back home." He laughed at this. "It's pretty funny though, he gets so ridiculous it's hilarious!" I couldn't hold back the smile that forced its way out. I always did have a soft spot for his laughter. Then his voice got quieter. "Ne, Yu, I really hope you rethink this and come back home soon." He paused. "…I miss you." Damn it all. He really knows how to make someone guilty. "Well, I'll email you soon, bye!" And he hung up.

After deleting the message I sighed and slunk deeper in the seat. Truth be told, I missed him too. Hell, he's my best friend, and the only person I've ever been this close and open with in my life. I wasn't even open with my parents when they were alive. But this was a deal I made and I wasn't about to wuss out on it because of a few words. That's the main reason I'm here in the first place, because this fucking deal I made with that bastard. If I find he was just screwing with me he'll find his eyes gouged out and his throat slit. The anger started boiling in me so I sat up and tried to focus on something else.

My thoughts went to the Moyashi; that sprout. There's something about him, especially the time I saved his ass that day on the baseball field. It felt like déjà vu. There's obviously something about him that makes me feel weird. The white hair, the scar, and the bandages covering his left arm; it all seems to piss me off because I feel like I've seen him somewhere else. But I can't remember. No matter how hard I try, nothing comes to mind. And god knows why I keep running into the beansprout. Another weird thing about him is I feel…or more like his aura is drawing me closer to him.

"What?" I spoke out loud. "There's something wrong with me if I just thought that. I really need to stay away from that beansprout; they clearly aren't good for you.

I got up from the couch and shook my head from the odd thought. "I need more sleep." I headed for the bathroom to shower. Afterwards I ate the TV dinner I bought earlier and went to sleep early.