Hello everyone,
like promised here's the next chapter already.
Something I want to say: Because this story is strictly from Allen's POV during the upcoming phone calls, all he can hear is Kanda's side of the conversation. Whoever he is talking with answers him between his lines but Allen doesn't hear it. If Allen can hear the other side of the phone it would be written in cursive.
Thank you for the reviews.
Disclaimer: I stopped counting how many times I wrote that already.
When I wake the next day it's already ten o'clock in the morning. I feel much better than yesterday and not even like throwing up. I sit up, squinting my eyes shut against the sunlight entering through the half-closed curtains. Next to my bed I spot food again. This time enough to feed a whole family but I happily wolf it all down. It tastes good and I notice it's made completely of healthy ingredients. I smile, who would have though Kanda would be so considerate.
By the way, Kanda, where is he? Today is Sunday so he can't be at work. I stand up, walk over to the door and peek my head outside. And it doesn't take me long to locate my friend as I can hear his enraged voice from the living room. When I look inside I see him standing in front of a window, back to me, a phone in one hand, talking into it, and the other moving angrily. I also spot a bruise on his hand but don't question it.
"For god's sake, Komui! I'm fucking fine!"
"No, I didn't call to fucking talk to you about the stupid old times!"
"I don't fucking care how alone you are without Linali there!"
"No, you idiot - ! No!"
"Shut the fuck up! I fucking stopped, get it all in your bloody head!"
"I just need Linali's fucking phone number!"
"No, not her stupid mobile! I know that one! But she's away where it doesn't work!"
"Stop fucking crying, that she's away for goodness' sake! I just need the damn number!"
"No, I'm not fucking after her!"
"Don't you dare call me that!"
"How many times, idiot siscon!? I. Am. Not. Interested. In. Your. Sister!"
"No, for god's sake, I'm not even interested in girls!"
"Oh you know the stupid number! Don't come me with that idiotic way! You phone her nearly every day!"
"No! I just fucking need to tell her some news!"
"No. No, I didn't do it again. No, it's nothing bad, I promise."
"No, I want to tell it to her personally."
"Okay…" He scribbles something down on a paper in front of him. Then his head goes back up, but not in an angry manner.
"No, Komui, I didn't. Stop worrying."
"No, for goodness' sake. I won't start again either."
"Yes, I know. In three and a half months, right?"
"Yes, I will be there. Don't worry, for goodness's sake!"
"Yes! No! And bye!" he finally yells into the receiver, pressing off.
He groans deeply and buries his face in his hands. He puts the phone away and then his voice sounds again, even without looking up.
"How long have you been standing there, moyashi?"
I jolt in surprise, "Eh… Ah… N-Not long…" I stutter out, embarrassed at being caught eavesdropping.
He scowls, "Liar. You heard basically the whole fucking conversation."
"Yeah…" I admit it silently and look down. He only 'che's and storms past me to the kitchen.
I follow him, "Was that Komui? Linali's brother?"
"Yeah. I'm trying to reach her and the baka usagi, but it proves to be more fucking difficult."
I smile softly, "Has he still this ridiculous sister complex about Linali?"
He only snorts, "Che, what do you think?"
Yes, he does. I could clearly hear it from Kanda's side of the phone call. I smile. So much changed with my friends, but apparently some things didn't.
He makes tea again. In his anger though some of the hot water spills over and lands on his left wrist. He curses violently and shoves the kettle aside. He pulls the forearm protector (which he's wearing on both sides) back. I can't see well, but I think to spot bruises on his arm and something else I can't discern. He growls again and pulls the black cloth back in place. But I decide not to question him about it. Instead I focus back on the conversation I heard (or the half of it).
"So where is Linali?"
"No idea exactly"
"What did you mean with not doing it again?"
"Not your fucking business"
"What's in three months?"
"Neither"
Oh dear lord, what's wrong with this guy. And much more, who the hell did I meet yesterday? The evening before he was much nicer. Is today just a bad day or did talking to Komui anger him that much. All in all, I can't get anything out of him anymore so I want to leave the room, but he calls out.
"Oi moyashi. Have you been to a doctor?"
I scowl. Now he's being caring again? Kind of bipolar? That guy has worse mood swings than I will soon have. Nonetheless I answer.
"No, I haven't. No money. And my name's Allen!"
"Che. Lying again," he only dryly comments, "You simply hate everything that has to do with doctors."
My anger immediately rises, "If you know then why do you bother asking, mister-I-know-it-all-but-I-don't-tell-anyone?"
Suddenly he is in front of me, one of his hands gripping my collar hard. There is a dangerous glimmer in his eyes.
"I warn you, Allen! I am letting you stay here and am even trying to find the others. You know nothing and will never. So just be quiet and don't you dare say something like that again."
His voice is calm, but freezing and dangerous. The former deep dark eyes are cold, hard and completely empty, only with an aggressive tint in them. He isn't using one curse word but instead my real name in his sentences, which means it is really serious. I swallow hard and force myself to look at his face. But I can't speak, so I only nod frantically. He 'che's and releases me, causing me to stumble back. He walks past me and out into the hallway.
"I'm going out!" he yells angrily and then throws the front door closed harshly.
He leaves me standing there, completely shocked. What the hell just happened? I just don't understand how he could change that much. Okay, the past years were not easy on him, but that? Kanda was never an exactly friendly person, but he would never threaten someone like that. He did threaten Lavi quite often back then, but that sounded way different. And then this empty look in his eyes, like he pushed all emotions away.
Suddenly I come to a resolve. As a thanks for him taking care of me, I will help him out of whatever happened to him. I and I'm pretty sure everyone else wants the old Kanda back. But I will do it without bothering him with questions. He won't answer me anyway and will only get even angrier. I can't talk to any of the others, because I don't know how to reach them, unless to search in Kanda's mobile phone, which he took with him (not that I want to feel his wrath for trying it). So I decide in order to find out what the hell happened, to search in the store room first.
When I enter all I spot are cartons over cartons which Kanda apparently didn't unpack when he moved here. The first thing is again the one with the prizes he won at Kendo competitions. I see all the many trophies from the years I knew him. Like he said the last one is from the Championship good two years back. But there was also an interruption in the time one year before that. That was… when I left. He said he looked after the others, so I guess he had no time. I decide that there is nothing more to find here and put that one aside.
Other boxes hold old school books, clothes he doesn't need right now, folders with different purposes and other items related to sword fighting, but nothing interesting or helpful. In some cartons more in the back, I find some of Alma's old belongings, including most of his herb books.
Finally there are only two smaller boxes left, tucked somewhere deep in the back. I open the bigger one first. And see drawings. All different sorts. Most are pencil but some are also paint or coal. They are really good. Where did he get them from? And why are they hidden here? I wonder about them, turning the first one, a pencil sketch of our old home town, in my hands. That is until I spot a very distinctive symbol at the right lower corner. A 'K' next to a simple drawn lotus. My eyes widen. Kanda loved lotuses (or maybe was fascinated by them fits him better) and regarding the picture in his room still does. And the letter… Does that mean he did these drawings himself? I never knew he did that. Yes, Kanda's (rather unique) adoptive father is an artist but for the raven this was more a reason to hate art in general. I myself have never seen him draw or even less paint. Okay, we had art lessons at school, but he either ditched them completely or sat in the back corner, letting no one except Alma see his work. But if I remember correctly he always got good grades in this subject, even though he missed half of the lessons.
I run my finger carefully along the soft lines on the paper. It is beautiful. The view is from the rooftop of our school, out into the outskirts of the town in the sunset. Even though it's only black and white, it captures the atmosphere pretty good. I lay the first paper aside and look at the others. The ones at the top are mostly scenes he saw, as I assume. Drawings of lotus, a pond or clearing. I see myself, Linali, Lavi and his adopted family, captured in moments of life. For example when we were at a summer festival and Lavi had burnt his Yukata sleeve on one of the little firecrackers. The picture, drawn with pencil, shows Linali grinning, nursing a sheepishly laughing red head. Next to them, sitting leaned back on the grass, I see myself with a bright genuine smile on my face. Alma is close in the picture, holding his stomach from laughter. All in all Alma is drawn pretty often. But I guess that's normal regarding they were best friends. But seeing a picture of the brunette still sends a slight painful sting through my chest, knowing he's dead. Another thing I notice is that never even once I can see Kanda himself in the pictures. It's always just us, his adopted family or some other random scenery, never the raven himself. Well, there is one drawing of Kanda, but at the corner is the name 'Alma' written, so it doesn't count.
When I come to the bottom of the box though the pictures change. They get darker, are more often in colours, red and black, and the lines go from soft and elegant to harsh and cut off. They seem sad and more often than not they don't even show real persons or situations anymore, but scenes right from a nightmare. I get an uneasy feeling just looking at these pictures. Though the last one I really nearly drop. It's a paper drawn on both sides, in black and white. It's again Alma. But dead. On the front his eyes are closed and the face is calm, like he's sleeping. But the face just doesn't fit a sleeping person and the fact that he's laying in a coffin. But what really shocks me is the backside. It's basically the same subject, only that this time, he's not the calm sleeping body, but how he (supposedly) looked like right after the accident, beaten, blood all over, limbs at unusual angles, the eyes wide open in fright. To make the whole thing even more morbid everything is done with relatively few shadings, but all of the blood is a bright red, like someone used actual fresh blood to do it. I shudder and hurriedly put it back into the box. The drawing itself is made nearly perfectly, but the picture is just plain frightening. I also put the other drawings back into the box, enjoying the 'happy times' another time though. When I'm finished I put the carton back into place.
That's it for today. Thanks for reading.
I always liked the thought of Kanda painting so that's something that is probably going to reoccur in many of my stories.
Next chapter sometime during next week. Please review and see you then.