THE CAVE: CONTINUUM
Part Twenty-Eight
"There you are," Kanda says, after finding Cross in the living room, sipping on sake and reading some sort of paperwork.
"What do you want, brat?" Cross asks, not looking up from his reading.
"I'm going into town for supplies, but I need you to go over and keep an eye on Bean Sprout while I'm gone," Kanda answers, not happy about having to leave his husband's safety in the General's hands.
"It seems every time I go over there it's a waste of my time," Cross replies as if unconcern about Allen's well being.
"I'm not asking Cross, I'm telling you to go over and stay with him. You know as well as I do, that if anything happens, it will be quick if you're not around to help him," Kanda retorts, annoyed with Cross's attitude.
"Don't worry about it, I'll go over and stay with the brat. You go along and pick up the supplies you'll need and pick me up a couple bottles of sake while you're there," Cross grumbles, getting up from where he's sitting.
"Be over there Cross, or you'll regret it if anything should happen to him," Kanda says bluntly.
"Go on, I'm heading over in just a minute," Cross says, gathering his papers together.
"Okay," Kanda answers, hoping Cross gets his ass over there—pronto. He doesn't want to be worrying about his husband's safety while he's gone, and Cross was sent there to help protect him, so he damn well better be doing just that.
Kanda walks to the front door and opens it, but he pauses for a moment, then glances over his shoulder to make sure Cross really is going over to watch Bean Sprout. He watches for a moment. Cross has his papers in his hands, walking out into the kitchen. Satisfied, Kanda closes the door behind him and sets out for the village.
After Kanda has left, Cross sits his papers on the counter to refill his wine glass to take with him. He accidently knocks it over. The wine glass shatters when it hits the counter top, spilling wine onto his papers and the floor.
"Shit!" Cross curses, grabbing a rag to soak up the wine on his papers, and picks up the shards of glass on the counter.
Cross bends down to pick up a large piece of glass off the floor when he feels the sharp edge slice through his callus finger and blood trails and drips quickly from the cut, leaving large splotches of crimson blood on the floor and counter as he looks for another rag.
"Damnit!" Cross curses again, picking up a rag, applying pressure to the cut. He pulls the rag away and examines it to see how deep it is. The cut isn't too deep, so it won't need stitches, but it had bled enough to look like someone had a serious injury in the kitchen. Annoyed, Cross climbs the stairs to his bedroom where he has medical supplies in a case.
"I might as get the other paperwork I have to read while I'm watching the dipshit," Cross mutters to himself.
He passes the boys bedroom noticing a sketch lying on top of the dresser. Being nosy, he walks in and carefully picks up the sketch not wanting to get blood on it. Right away he recognizes Tiedoll's drawing style. Sitting down on the bed, he takes a closer look at the picture of the young couple holding each other.
Damn, if it doesn't show their love for one another. Cross still doesn't understand this bond between the two, but there is no denying these two are in love. Placing the sketch back on the dresser he walks down the hallway to his room.
Once inside his room, he bandages his finger. He pulls out his travel case and opens it looking for the paperwork he wants to review. Most of the papers are documents and reports about Rouvelier. For some reason, Cross has had this feeling that he needs to recheck some of the documents just in case he had missed anything that could be helpful in locating the insane ex-Inspector.
Gathering this material is taking longer than he had planned when he comes across a report he had over looked earlier. It looks like it was shoved into his mission folder before he had left his hotel room after talking with Komui.
He scans the document, but stops when his eye catches a paragraph that he must have missed, or this is an entirely new report Komui had shoved in his case at the last minute. He reads the whole document.
In the new report it indicates that it is Rouvelier who occupies the castle—a day's travel away—confirming Rouvelier is closer than anyone had thought earlier. This is too close for comfort, and makes Cross alert to the fact that Allen is in more danger than he had previously thought.
'I better get over to the house to make sure Allen is alright,' Cross is thinking, closing his case and leaves the room.
Meanwhile, Kanda picks up his supplies. He has some extra time, so he takes a walk through the marketplace looking over their material goods. He fingers the locket Allen had given him, and the memories of his husband placing the box in his hands at the Temple washes over him, sending tingling feeling throughout his body. He wants to find something just as special to give to Allen.
Merchants are trying to pull him over to their tents by calling out to him to come see what they have to offer, but Kanda waves them off for he has something specific in mind. It took quite a while looking over the different jewelry and trinkets vendors were offering, but nothing exceptional stood out to him until at one of the stands his eyes falls onto a bracelet consisting of round jade beads with a small hand carved lotus hanging where it clasps together. Perfect!
This is what he has been looking for to give Allen. The bracelet is like the one he wears, but a different stone and the lotus is a replica to the one on his necklace. Kanda picks it up to take a closer look at it.
"You have very good taste, young man," the vendor says to Kanda, startling him at first for not seeing the man standing there.
"Ah, it looks as if someone has bought you one of my hand-carved necklaces," the vendor states as he admires his handicraft hanging around Kanda's neck.
"Yes, it was a gift from a very special person in my life," Kanda replies, looking closer at the tiny jade lotus.
"The lotus is the same as the one you're wearing, but tinier," the man responds as if reading Kanda's mind.
A customer waves to the vendor to come over for help and to purchase their items.
"Excuse me, good sir, while I take care of this customer's purchase and I'll be right back," the vendor says graciously, and leaves to help the woman standing not far from Kanda.
'Yes, this would be a perfect wedding gift for Bean Sprout,' Kanda's thinking, as he admires the man's craftsmanship.
"I'll take this bracelet," Kanda tells the vendor, still hanging onto it.
"Is this a gift?" the vendor queries, noticing the wedding band on his finger.
"Yes it is, a wedding gift for my spouse," Kanda says.
"Since you already own one of my pieces, I will put this bracelet into one of my special hand-carved boxes. It is more appropriate for such a special gift," the kind vendor says, placing the bracelet into a velvet lined, hand-carved box with the same lotus etched on the top.
"Thanks," Kanda replies, giving his money over to the vendor and taking the gift, putting it into his coat pocket. Happy with his gift for Allen, his heart flutters as he thinks about how his husband will react to his present.
While back home, Kanda's husband is humming as he paints, now close to finishing the walls. Allen's mind drifts back to earlier in the day when he had found his lover irresistible. He can still feel the firm, taunt muscles under his fingertips during their foreplay as they roamed over his lover's smooth chest, gliding over perked nipples, making this strong man moan and shiver under him.
It had been when Kanda had taken over his body, and had rolled on top of him, hip to hip, and then slid into him, he had felt full inside. They had moved to their own rhythm. Allen's fingers had dug into his lover's sculptured ass muscle, pulling him forcibly closer and deeper into him. He shutters with pleasure thinking about the burning heat his husband had given him—he had wanted and needed more—harder, deeper, and his lover had complied.
'God, just thinking about him could bring me right now.' Allen's pants are tight and uncomfortable thinking such thoughts about his husband. He can't wait for him to get home, because he's dragging Kanda's ass into their bedroom which he owes him for hanging the picture anyway, but now he's even hotter for him.
Though right now, he'd better calm himself down before Cross comes over, or he'll never hear the end of it. Nothing gets by that man. 'I swear the man reads minds,' Allen thinking, as the last part of the wall is rolled out.
He stands back and admires his handiwork wondering what Kanda will think when he sees it's all done. He hears the slide of their screen door knowing Cross has finally made it over to their home.
"Cross, what do you thin—"
Someone from behind grabs hold of him, placing a rag over his nose and mouth. In that short period of time Allen's heart jumps in panic as he struggles to get away, knocking over the ladder, the paint can dropping, banging to the floor, then rolling away and the paint roller falls out of his hand as everything went black.
Cross is in the dining room opening the screen door when he hears a loud crash from the house across the bridge. Dropping his papers on the table he rushes over to the house hoping this is just one of Allen's stupid mishaps the brat always gets into.
He races over the bridge to the other house and slowly pulls his gun from its holster, silently edging his way against the wall of the house, towards the screen door. He jumps into the house, gun in front of him, quickly scanning the room, and then checks out the other rooms. No one is there.
Coming back into the living area Cross sees the ladder lying on the floor along with the paint can on its side leaving a river of color flowing across the drop cloth, the crash he had heard coming out of the house, no doubt.
The paint roller must have been in Allen's hand at the time. When it had dropped, it had bounced to the floor leaving a trail of paint and splatters. Going outside, Cross checks the perimeter of the house. Off the deck he finds the rag they had dropped in their haste to get out of there. He sniffs it—sulfuric ether. He can tell by its aromatic odor. This solvent has been used as an inhalant anesthetic for years knocking their patients out for surgery.
Evidently, Allen didn't have time to yell out for help. They must have had their hand covering his mouth, or even gagging him with the rag. Cross looks for other signs to find out which direction they had left. He spots the footprints that leads into the shrubbery, there are only two sets of tracks—they must had carried him. He follows it to a roadway.
On the road, there are many scuffle footprints around where they had dragged someone, their heel marks dug into the ground. They took him by wagon, the ruts from the wheel tracks embedded into the dirt road—heading in the direction of the castle.
To be continued …
A/N: There's going to be hell to pay when Kanda gets back home. Plus this is going to tear poor Kanda apart knowing his husband/lover has been kidnapped! I hope you enjoyed this chapter and hanging in there with me. Thank you so much for your wonderful reviews! I love you all — who has been reading along with me.