I know this was promised last week, but I've been ill all weekend. Like stuck in bed and sleeping for 20 hours a day ill. I'm so behind with everything! I have 3 chapters to write and only 3 weeks 'til my sisters come to visit for a week and if I get the chance to even look at an internet connection it'll be a miracle of gigantic proportions! ARGH! This chapter isn't even what I wanted it to be… but it was getting long and I needed to update, so the rest will have to be in the next one. I'm confusing myself now… I can't wait to get this whole thing finished! *is now dizzy*
Chapter Twenty Six
Kanda woke up the next morning feeling unnaturally stiff. It had been sometime since he and Allen had been together than a quick grope and a hand job, but that didn't account for his twinging muscles and aching joints. He cast a dark sour look at the lotus still hidden beneath the black cloth.
"Scowling at it won't change anything" his pillow told him seriously.
Kanda glanced up, meeting Allen's tired heavy-lidded eyes for a moment. "Tch." He felt Allen's soundless laugh beneath his cheek and frowned, feeling rather annoyed that Allen found him amusing. A pair of hands swept up his bare back, brushing the heavy fall of sweat-tangled dark hair aside for better access, rubbing his tense shoulders before trailing back down the expanse of skin, a soothing touch meant to relax and comfort. Kanda hated to admit it, but it did feel nice. He allowed his eyes to fall closed again with a small sigh.
Allen kept up the motion, knowing Kanda probably felt as crap as he did this morning. Just the thought of getting out of bed made his body fall apart.
His sighed miserably, apparently unaware he was doing so, giving Kanda an odd look when the other man frowned at him. "What's the matter Moyashi?"
Allen pulled the bed covers over them, snuggling down further and closing his eyes. "I'm so tired, but we'll have to get going soon." His fingers unconsciously traced Kanda's shoulder lightly. Kanda rolled slightly so he could see the clock, squinting to make out the time o the tiny dial. It was quarter to twelve. He frowned. He never slept in this late- he couldn't remember the last time he'd slept past seven in the morning. Even if he wanted to, Allen's stomach usually woke him up. The frown deepened. "It's nearly noon, aren't you hungry?"
"Not really."
The world stopped turning for a moment.
Kanda leaned up, his hands either side of Allen's chest as he looked down at the younger man in shock. Allen's eyes opened when the other man's weight shifted off him and he looked at Kanda blearily. "What're you doing? I'm cold and I'm tired, lie back down." He tugged Kanda's arm to emphasise his point.
"Fuck no" Kanda said, untangling their legs so he could get up. He yanked on his trousers and reached for his golem, deactivated and resting quietly in his coat pocket. He switched it on and connected to Komui's office, all the while giving Allen dirty looks.
Allen watched him bemusedly, each blink long and slow.
"Komui" Kanda said by way of greeting through the connection, for once not using an insult.
"It's ok Kanda, it's just me and Lenalee here right now."
Kanda sighed quietly. "We need to feed the Moyashi and we can hardly walk into the dining hall."
In his office, Komui cursed himself for forgetting. "So what did he eat last night?"
A smirk crossed Kanda's face as he considered that question, though he was sure Komui didn't want those kind of details. Lenalee on the other hand… Wait, when was the last time Allen had eaten? He looked at the figure dozing on the bed. Little idiot. "He hasn't eaten in nearly twenty-four hours."
"What?" exclaimed Komui, spilling coffee all over his desk. "That long? I'll get something sent up. Won't be long." He cut the connection and looked at his little sister thoughtfully. "How are we going to do this? It'll look strange carrying all that food through head quarters."
"It's pretty quiet" the exorcist pointed out. "And if we bring it here and send it through the Ark to Allen's room, you can just say you're sending it to wherever he's supposed to be if someone asked."
Komui nodded. "That'll have to do. I'd ask Allen to open a gate directly to the kitchen, but if he hasn't eaten in a day I don't want to push him."
"I'll get Lavi to help" Lenalee said. "We won't take long."
Kanda meanwhile was bullying Allen into getting dressed, something that Allen found exceedingly funny since usually Kanda was trying to take his clothes off.
"Come on Moyashi, do you really want to lie around butt naked all day?"
"Is that a trick question?" Allen replied sulkily, pulling the covers over his head and trying to ignore the other man.
"Lavi and Lenalee will be here soon, and I'd rather the Usagi not get an eyeful."
"So Lenalee can look all she wants?"
"Tch, I'm not the one the sister-complex would kill for flashing at her."
Allen tossed the covers from his head in shock. "You wouldn't!"
Kanda just raised and eyebrow.
"Fine, I'm getting up!" Allen pouted and rolled off the mattress, walking to the other side of the room to retrieve his trousers. "Never thought I'd see the day you'd be trying to get me into clothes" he muttered petulantly under his breath. Kanda had to agree as his eyes followed his every motion, mouth going a little dry when Allen bent to pick his clothes from the floor. Allen had only just pulled the trousers over his hips when the Japanese man pounced, sending them both to the floor as he proceeded to try and suck Allen's tongue out of his mouth.
"Allen, Kanda, I- oh" Lenalee paused on the threshold, arms weighed down with a large tray of food.
"What's the matter? What's-" Lavi looked over her shoulder. It was lucky he wasn't holding anything or it would have gone flying as he threw his hands in front of his face. "My eye! My last eye!"
Lenalee smacked him, and the resulting "ow!" from the redhead seemed to finally draw the two men's attention from their tongue war and onto their visitors. Kanda sat back, suddenly realising he was straddling Allen's hips while giving him a full body grope.
"Err…" Allen said awkwardly as a blush spread charmingly across his nose, though most of the affect was lost since all that actually happened was the grey skin darkened a shade or two.
Lenalee deposited her tray on the desk with a nefarious grin. "Don't stop on my account" she said, taking the second tray that Lavi passed through to her from the office and putting it with the first. "That was totally hot" she added wickedly, and Lavi nearly dropped the third tray in surprise, as though he'd never considered two semi-naked men joined at the mouth as hot. He cocked his head to one side and looked them over curiously. He supposed if he looked at it objectively… it was a little weird- Allen was like is a brother to him after all, even if he was standing there… topless… in all his glory… looking remarkably good for a guy supposedly dying… He mentally gave his brain a slap and looked at Kanda. So the man was his best friend, but he was attractive. All that training really paid off. Not ripped of course, but well-defined and toned and dear God he was staring wasn't he? His gaze travelled up to meet Kanda's scorching glare and he realised that yes, he had indeed been openly ogling his best friend while said best friend's boyfriend was standing right there. Not to mention a very amused Lenalee.
"When you've quite finished" Kanda grated out from behind clenched teeth. "Perhaps I should remove your other eye."
"Uh…sorry" Lavi said, trying not to look completely mortified.
"Is that all the food?" Lenalee prompted, her amused grin not fading one jot.
"Um, no, there's one more tray" mumbled Lavi, backing away as Kanda's fingers began to twitch as though he itching to reach for his sword.
"There's more?" asked Allen in surprise. "I'm not even hungry!"
"Nonsense!" Lavi declared as he came in with the fourth and final tray laden with mountains of food. "You're always hungry. And you haven't eaten for a whole day."
"Because I'm not hungry" Allen argued, crossing his arms over his bare chest and scowling.
"You have to eat something!" Lenalee protested, waving her arms a little I emphasis at the piles of food.
"But I'm no-"
"Eat."
"I'm not hun-"
"EAT."
Doing as commanded, Allen pulled a tray to him, making a face as the smell assaulted his nose and looking up furtively.
Kanda had managed to find some soba amongst the food mountain and was in the process of starting it when he caught Allen's glance. He wordlessly pointed his chopsticks at Allen, then at his plate meaningfully before returning to his own meal. Allen glowered at the two exorcists' sill watching him. "I'm not eating anything if you watch me! I'm not a child!" he said, ignoring the irony of that statement as he crossed his arms and sulked like a toddler. Guiltily Lavi and Lenalee looked away and an awkward silence fell.
Lavi obviously decided that silences were made to be broken and spoke up brightly after a handful of tense awkward minutes. "Hey, did you hear? Bookman thought Lenalee was pregnant with my baby!" he laughed nervously, sounding a little strained.
"Why would he think that?" asked Allen, pushing a carrot from one side of his plate to the other, debating whether eating it was worth Lenalee not hurting him.
"I don't know- he's a crazy old panda" Lavi said with a shrug. "But that's not the funniest thing" he added, grinning. "When we told him I hadn't got Lenalee pregnant he asked if you had."
Allen looked at Kanda, frowning. The Japanese man looked up in annoyance. "What?"
"No, not Yuu- you, Allen, Moyashi, Bean sprout!" Lavi clarified quickly before an argument began.
"Me?" Allen looked rather green and decided that the bloody carrot could stay where the hell it was. He pushed the plate away.
"You don't have to look so disgusted!" Lenalee said, crossing her arms and turning up her nose as though insulted.
"It's a shame…" said Lavi dreamily. "If I had a kid I could teach it how to annoy its Uncle Yuu-chan by braiding his hair and-"
What else Lavi would teach any possible future spawn was lost as Kanda abandoned his lunch and reached for Mugen.
Pandemonium reigned.
Lenalee turned from the bloodshed, violet eyes resting on Allen's still sickly-looking face. She lowered her voice to a whisper. "Can you keep a secret?"
Allen looked at her with wide sincere eyes as he nodded, forgetting his earlier nausea and the bloody carrot that was still mocking him from the plate and leaned forward, waiting for her to speak.
She looked inordinately nervous, biting her lower lip. She glanced once at where Kanda was currently trying to hack Lavi into little fun-sized chunks before returning worried eyes to his face. "I'm late" she whispered. "I'm not sure one hundred percent yet, but I could be…"
Allen's eyes widened and he too glanced Lavi's way.
"I haven't told him yet, and I don't want to even think about telling my brother."
Allen could understand that, although- "It's not something you'll be able to hide forever."
"I'll tell him after all this is over- he's got enough to worry about right now. Plus we'll need Lavi alive if we stand any chance of winning this war."
Allen smiled sadly at that.
"You'll make a great uncle" she told him warmly, a happy smile creasing her face. "The baby will need someone normal around. I mean, between my brother and Lavi, if it grows up sane, it'll be a miracle."
He said nothing, his eyes fixed on some distant thought that she couldn't even begin to understand.
"I bet you're great with kids. Did you ever think about having any?" she asked, trying to pinpoint the source of his melancholy.
"I'd not really thought about it" he said honestly. After all, when in his life had he had time to think about a future? "It's too late now."
"It's not, you could still adopt after the war's over" she said, ignoring the sound of Lavi's head hitting the wall.
"Yuu, in charge of raising a child?" Allen laughed, wiping tears of mirth from his eyes as he clutched his stomach. Several images flashed through his mind, each more amusing than the one before. After a moment where he gave himself over to mild hysteria he quietened. "That's not what I meant anyway."
She looked like she wanted him to expand on that statement but he stayed silent and she didn't press further.
"You'll let me know, when you know for certain?" he asked after a while, giving her a warm smile.
"Of course, I'll need your help to stop Lavi running way when I tell him."
Allen laughed at that. "He'll have to still be alive for that. Should we rescue him now?"
Lenalee shook her head, "He can survive for a few more minutes longer. You still need to eat!"
He sighed and let his head drop onto the desk. There was just no arguing with the woman.
0o0o0o0o0
They hadn't hung around after that, after all, Jim and Lanel were still waiting patiently back at the inn for them to return and carry on the pretence that they were recovering from the recent battle.
True to his word, Allen hadn't said anything to anyone about the secret Lenalee had shared with him, though he was tempted to tell Kanda purely for the fact that he could continue with Lavi's teasing about 'Uncle Yuu-chan' and hair braiding.
They were currently sitting outside the inn in the spot where Allen had previously sat and played with his powers. The small shrubby bush still retained its odd coloured leaves. Jim and Lanel were having some sort of illusion-creating competition to one side, quietly entertaining themselves and for all appearances ignoring the two generals sitting in the shade of the building.
"So, are you going to tell me why exactly you weren't hungry this morning?" Kanda asked presently, watching the sun sink slowly over the distant horizon.
Allen sighed quietly and leaned his head onto Kanda's shoulders. "It's nothing to worry about."
"Moyashi…" Kanda warned, jerking his shoulder to get Allen to move his head so he could glare at him properly.
"It's not like there's anything that can be done about it, so why worry?" Allen asked, blowing his hair out of his eyes and frowning.
"It's my job to worry" Kanda told him, turning back to watch the sunset and ignoring the fact that Allen's head had migrated back to his shoulder.
"Komui thinks it's probably because my innocence is getting weaker. It just doesn't need the energy it used to."
Kanda looked at him, his eyebrows pinched together in concern. "It's really happening, isn't it? You're really…" he didn't seem to be able to finish.
Allen smiled softly, shifting closer and nudging his head under Kanda's chin. His height made it an uncomfortable position, but something about the way Kanda was sitting shouted that he was feeling a little lost and uncertain, though of course he'd never say anything. "We're all dying Yuu, just some of us are getting there faster than others."
"It just seems to be happening so fast. I never actually thought you might die before me. I know it's always been a possibility, but it's never seemed so real until now."
"I'm not going anywhere, not yet" Allen said, though the words felt hollow even as he pressed a kiss to Kanda's throat in reassurance. How could he make promises when the dark was waiting right there in his mind. A single moment of weakness and it would all be over.
Kanda said nothing, but looped his arm around Allen's back and drew him closer. Allen splayed his hand across Kanda's chest and curled closer as the sun finally sank from sight and night began to steal closer. He shivered in the cooling air, trying not to draw parallels between the creeping darkness and the subject that occupied both his and Kanda's minds.
Eventually Allen drew away slightly, looking up and turning Kanda to face him with a gentle hand on his cheek. "I meant it" he said quietly, "I'm not going anywhere. And neither are you. We've too much to do to die yet." He said it firmly, as though by making that promise he could tether them both to life with pure determination.
Kanda's mouth twitched in a slight smile even as he rolled his eyes. "You really are an idiot, Moyashi."
0o0o0o0o0
Allen's surprised shout drew the other exorcist's attention immediately and they all piled into the tiny bathroom of the general's bedroom in the inn, Kanda all but sprinting to be at the other man's side. On the threshold he stopped in surprise, his mouth hanging open in a very un-Kanda-like expression.
Leaning over the sink and frowning in concentration, gloved hands clutching the porcelain stood Allen Walker. But not Allen Walker as he had look for the past few weeks, but as he had looked before- vibrantly white hair, pale skin and clear bright eyes the colour of rain.
Kanda's mouth snapped closed as soon as he realised he was gaping, but the slightly shocked look didn't fade entirely and behind him via the mirror he could see Jim wearing a similar expression.
Allen's reflection grinned triumphantly at them. "I can do it for about half an hour at a time at the moment, but each time I can hold it for a bit longer."
Kanda abruptly turned around, grabbing the door in one hand and shoving the blonde exorcist standing in the doorway back with the other, slamming the door in Jim and Lanel's faces.
They hung around outside the bathroom for a minute, unsure of what to do, but the thud of a body hitting the other side of the door followed by a low noise of pleasure that snaked through the solid wood determinedly made them rethink that plan and they beat a hasty retreat.
0o0o0o0o0
Of course, being able to completely hide his Noah characteristics for prolonged periods meant that there was no need for the two teams to stick together, and before they knew it, it was time to split up and go their separate ways.
Allen stood outside the inn looking like he wanted to say something that was either terribly romantic or very lewd. Possibly both. He opened his mouth a couple of times before closing it with a rueful smile. "Well, see you later" he offered by way of a parting comment. "Try not to kill each other."
Jim laughed, looking pointedly at Lanel who was standing some distance away, apparently bored. "Same to you" he grinned, moving away to give the two generals some privacy in case they wanted to share a teary and embarrassing goodbye.
"Look after yourself then Moyashi" Kanda said, looking at some point over Allen's head awkwardly.
"It won't be long 'til we see each other again" Allen reassured with a bright smile, the one he used to wear all the time, the mask he used to hide his true feelings.
"Tch. In this life or the next."
"Yuu! That's a terrible thing to say!" Allen laughed. Kanda just looked at him like he was stupid. With a sigh Allen shook his head. He didn't want to kiss Kanda goodbye- it seemed so final. Instead he grasped Kanda's hand and squeezed lightly. "See you soon" he said with a grin before walking away.
Kanda glanced at his hand before clenching it into a fist. "See you soon."
0o0o0o0o0
Jim kicked a hapless pebble irritably. Ever since the two teams had split up, Kanda had been in a foul mood. He supposed the elder exorcist was worried about Allen, but he didn't see the need for Kanda to be so pissy about it and take it out on him. Especially take it out on him. Jim was fed up with being snapped at by an increasingly bitchy Kanda and was about ready to tell the other man so. It wasn't as though Kanda was the only one separated from his other (better interjected Jim's mind peevishly) half. Jim hadn't seen Xanthe since the morning after the oh-so-eventful party and he was quite honestly sick and tired of Kanda's attitude. He clenched his hands into fists, hoping against all odds that his girlfriend was stationed at the next finder base. Highly unlikely. He kicked the pebble again in frustration as he waited for Kanda to finish reporting in. He seemed to have been in there for a long time. He briefly wondered what Komui was saying to him to keep him in there so long, before his thoughts wandered away from his mission partner currently on the phone to the supervisor and on to when he was next going to be fed. Which of course seemed far more important than whatever was being discussed in the building behind him that resembled a dilapidated cow shed. He sniggered at that until he remembered that Xanthe, as a finder, had to sleep in such buildings. His thoughts were ground to a halt when something black and moving entirely to fast to be normal rushed past him. It took the blond exorcist a moment of standing there stupidly before he realised that the speeding black blur had been his mission partner, who was now vanishing from sight. Jim tore after him, panting heavily as he finally caught up, grabbing the Japanese exorcist by the elbow to pull him to a halt. He was surprised to find that he had to look down to meet Kanda's eyes. When had that happened? He blinked the thought away. What's the matter? What happened?"
Kanda glared at the hand on his arm but there didn't seem to be enough fight in him to give a more verbal reprimand for the unwanted contact. He sagged a little under Jim's questioning gaze. "Komui got a scrambled message from Lanel. Something about being attacked."
"So what's got you so worked up? Allen and Nel can handle themselves against a few Akuma."
"It wasn't Akuma" said Kanda, his voice cold and hard with barely contained fury. "It was a Noah."
Yay! Reviews!
MiniBloodyMurder- Lol, no, don't die! You're too close to the end to die now!
Knux33-Ah, so close to the end! I can't wait to give you the last few chapters- I can't write fast enough.
Nuriko Kurosaki- Well, you'd be pretty miserable too if you were being shit on as much as Allen is! Lol.
Babo123- *Rika saw review and died* (but died very happy)
- I'm glad! Yes indeedy, 5 chapters to go. I'm kinda sad about it to be honest.
CrimsonKitsune333-*Gets fatter from cookies* I see your cunning plan. You want me so fat I can't move away from my computer, don't you?
Ghost of the Crescent Moon- I feel exactly the same way!
Mad-Micky- I'm glad I'm keeping you interested!