Title: Stray

Chapter: Three

Fandom: -man
Rating: T for Kanda's mouth
Pairing: Kanda x Allen

A/N: Heya everyone~, welcome to the third chapter of Stray. I can't express how happy it makes me feel to know there are people out there that are actually ENJOYING this, to a point, hahahaha. I'm not completely useless after all ;w;

Uhhm, anyway~

This is Chapter Three.

It's a day late, sorry xD;

Not only did I have to go to the hospital yesterday, but then my mom jacked my power cord so I couldn't type ANYTHING, and THEN she goes and grounds me from the computer for the rest of today! Grr. Luckily I was able to squeeze the last bit of life from my laptop and stick this chapter on a flash drive and type it at school….bleh.

And now, the usual warnings.

This is AU. Don't like, don't read.

This is also shounen-ai. Again, don't read if you don't like.

Enjoy~

xxxxx

He couldn't stand it.

Well, truth be told, Kanda couldn't stand a lot of things – a lot, which seemed to include almost everything and anyone except himself. But Kanda had found that, in the past seven days that he'd been unwillingly volunteering at the kitchen, this was by far the most irritating thing he'd ever done (excluding being pulled into Lavi's many misadventures, which were always infuriating). The other volunteers consisted of happy, charitable rainbow-hugging morons who thought that everything could be solved with a little love; the many hobos were whiney, needy, self-pitying wrecks who acted like he would slit their throats at any given moment; and every time Kanda glanced up for even a second that bright mop of white hair shone like a beacon and dragged his eyes back towards the Cursed Boy sitting alone in the corner.

Which, Kanda had to admit, annoyed him the most.

At first, Kanda had tried to ignore it. The day after his pleasant chat with Lavi he'd dragged himself back to the soup kitchen for another irritating volunteer session only to find that white-haired boy in line again, holding out his bowl to him with a strange look in his dull, silvery eyes. Kanda, of course, with all his usual rudeness, had given the boy some soup and shooed him away, just like the day before. However, unlike the day before, the dark-haired man found himself peering up from his pot more often than necessary, and every time he did he could see the kid sitting at the corner of the farthest table, absentmindedly stirring the contents of his bowl, never eating anything. And once the day was gone and it was time for the kitchen to close, Kanda once again found himself in charge of the boy's exit, this time literally throwing him out the door before continuing on his merry way – if you could call anything Kanda did 'merry.'

It was during the following five days that Kanda noticed a peculiar thing about Allen that managed to irritate him further – although it wasn't something Allen did himself, no directly at least. It was the looks that Allen received that seemed to get on Kanda's nerves. Everyone seemed to be afraid of the young white-haired boy – no one approached him, no one talked to him, no one even sat at the same table as him. Their eyes filled with a mixture of fear, apprehension and hate whenever their eyes happened to pass over the boy, awkward stares and furtive glances that, for some reason, seemed to cause the anger in Kanda's chest to flare slightly and whoever happened to talk to him next would receive an even nastier remark than usual.

Kanda couldn't understand why he reacted this way. Being the apathetic, anti-social person that he was, the dark-haired man had never really given two shits about people who didn't contribute anything positive to his life experience, and the stupid Cursed Boy certainly wasn't doing anything like that, was he? But it couldn't be denied that Kanda had never paid this much attention to anyone like this before, and the man wasn't quite sure he was too fond of it.

Did that mean that he hated Allen Walker? Kanda didn't know.

---

It was at the end of the seventh day that something changed.

The day had begun with the usual routine – Kanda would arrive at sunrise, exactly thirty minutes before the kitchen opened. When the doors were flung open the homeless would start to arrive, and shortly after their opening the white-haired boy would arrive – quietly, silently, with that same look in his eyes. He stood in line with everyone else, received his usual bowl of coup from a glowering Kanda, sat down at his table, and did practically nothing for the rest of the day. The robotic routine he seemed to repeat every single day.

Except today, at least.

Sunset came with it's usual chorus of moans and groans from the gathered tramps, who then grudgingly filed out until only one was left; Kanda stalked out from behind the counter and, yup, there was Allen once again, sitting all by his lonesome in that jacket three sizes too big, staring at his lap with his hands clasped on his knees. A glare cast at the boy by one of the other departing volunteers sent the usual spark aflame in Kanda's head and he shot a poisoned look at the culprit before rushing over to where the Cursed Boy was sitting to perform his usual grab-and-toss routine, during which Allen usually stammered like a fool and squeaked with protest – although after the third time he didn't really squeak anymore. And this time, more than a stutter came from the white-haired boy's mouth. "…I know, I know, I'm going."

Kanda blinked, shocked. During the entire week he'd been there, Kanda had never heard Allen Walker actually speak. He'd stammered, yes, but these were the first coherent words the man had ever heard the white-haired boy utter. As expected, his voice was annoying. Very annoying. Kanda scowled at the boy through narrowed eyes, pondering the new development.

"…what."

Allen blinked at the taller man, confused. "Uhm, yes?"

"…you spoke."

"Well, yeah, I did! Is there a problem with that?" Now this was something Kanda had never expected to see - the little boy who always sat by himself in the corner table was actually acting defiant. He stared down into those silvery-gray orbs and noticed that they weren't as dull as before. What had happened?

"I never knew you had the brain power required to utilize human speech."

The boy scowled at Kanda's comment. "Hey! I'm not mentally retarded. I just…didn't think you wanted me to talk. Or something." He shrugged his shoulders. Kanda noticed just how scrawny this kid was.

"…so you're just a stupid bean sprout."

Allen blinked. "…a sprout?"

"Yes. A stupid one."

Growling, the white haired boy sprang up from his seat and crossed his arms indignantly. "I am not stupid! And why am I a sprout anyway?!"

Kanda snorted. This was also a first – normally the stupid little Cursed Boy refused to budge at all unless someone (namely Kanda) came along and physically forced him to. The long-haired man started to wonder if the kid had multiple personalities. "Because you're scrawny like one. Simple."

Allen started to say something, then stopped and dropped his gaze down and poked himself in the stomach. "…huh, I am a bit thin." Because you never eat your fucking soup, fucking bean sprout.

Kanda smirked. "Exactly. Stupid bean sprout."

"But just 'cus I'm thin doesn't mean I'm a bean sprout!" Allen added for good measure. Kanda just rolled his eyes.

"Che."

They stood in silence for a while, Kanda staring down at the younger boy with his dark blue eyes, causing Allen to fidget slightly and avert his gaze. "Uhm…"

"Well?" Kanda cut in, a hint of a snarl in his voice.

"…well what?"

Kanda sighed irritably and pointed to the door. "You. Leave. Now that I know you're somehow capable of semi-intelligent thought, I shouldn't have to physically throw you put anymore. Stupid bean sprout."

At Kanda's words, Allen seemed to almost immediate deflate, his old self starting to take over again. His bright gaze dulled slightly as he looked back up at Kanda, like he was searching for something in those stormy blue orbs. "Oh…yeah. I guess I should, huh?" he said in a quiet voice.

Kanda rolled his eyes once more. "Then get going. Unless you want me to throw you out?" He cracked his knuckles threateningly and Allen took a couple of steps back, not one to tempt fate.

"Of course not!" the white haired boy retorted, a bit of fire returning to his silvery-gray eyes. Kanda just smirked in response before turning on his heel to lock up the doors in the back of the kitchen, leaving Allen to watch his retreating back with sorrowful eyes. Sighing, Allen made his way towards the exit and stopped once he had his hand on the handle. He chanced one glance over his shoulder to see Kanda's back still turned to him, not moving, As if the long-haired man was waiting for him to leave before turning around. The thought crossed his mind and Allen felt his heart tighten uncomfortably in his chest. This man…

"Um. 'Bye then."

Kanda gave no indication that he had heard, and after hearing the door chimes clang he finally turned around to see that Allen had already disappeared. A light sigh escaped him and he stared out the window with his angry eyes, watching the sun cask long shadows as it sank further and further beneath the horizon, sucking away the sunlight and leaving only darkness.

Just another person to hate me.

xxxxx

A/N: So that's Chapter Three, everyone! I've been thinking about naming these chapters, I have some good ideas for them.

Anyway.

I've had a couple of people mention that they wish the chapters were longer. Unfortunately, while a do type fast, I encounter so many writer's blocks it's not even funny. So, the cost of writing longer chapters would be that I would most likely update a lot less frequently.

So, what do you think? Should I write longer chapters and update less frequently (at least once a week), or just keep the chapters the way they are and update at a steady pace (once every one or two days)? I'd like your opinion on this.

Till next time,

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