What the hell is this?
That, I do not know. As usual, please, please read and review. Anything short of straight-up flaming (to use 2009 internet slang) will be useful.
The usual sound of clinking cutlery and conversation rose over the main hall. For once, Daisya was working away at his lunch alone — he'd given up on finding Kanda after fifteen minutes of checking his usual haunts. On any normal day, he'd have been kicking Daisya's ass in the dojo all morning, but Jeanne had been the one doing it this morning, and she was off with Isaac right now. They were okay, but Daisya didn't know them too well.
At least there was no one to nag him about the stains on his sleeves. Daisya figured that they'd end up dirty anyway, so it wasn't worth keeping them out of the way. It must have been all Kanda's time with the old man that made him so much of a housewife about that stuff. He was 12 years old and he cleaned his room? Of his own free will? Daisya thanked his stars that he was still a kid, even after having to take care of his siblings.
Come to think of it, they'd all have had their birthdays by now. The old man would be telling him to send them another letter, never mind that he'd had to do it every two months since he'd left home. Dear family, Daisya here, having fun without you, and all that jazz. True enough, they were just as boring as always. His brothers had won the three-legged race at the yearly fair, his sister was still crying at every little thing, mom was begging him to come back, and dad was saying it'd been hard without him. Just trying to get back the unpaid babysitter — no thanks. Daisya wasn't about to go back to that any time soon.
Though, from how much his brothers were complaining about his sister, she might be showing some hope of being something interesting. When she learned to blame it on other people, that was when he might go back. And show her who was the real champion here.
It was a testament to how zoned-out he was that he didn't notice the approaching footsteps. Everyone had a different rhythm. This one was quiet, but still firm. His razor-sharp reflexes only worked when he bothered to notice the world around him.
"Get up."
A shadow fell over Daisya, startling him. He groaned, to cover it up, and kept his eyes straight.
"Geez, can't a guy finish his soup in peace?"
Knowing Kanda was standing right behind him tugged at his mind like and itch, but Daisya wasn't about to give him the satisfaction of looking. Instead, he tried to down the rest of the meal in record time. Sooner or later, he was either going to have to get up, or be dragged away.
"Marie's team got back."
Kanda crossed his arms impatiently, and Daisya wiped his mouth on his sleeve.
"That's disgusting."
"It's practical. Why're you asking me to go now? That old guy'll be sticking around for a while."
"Yeah?"
"O' course. Yeager likes him."
Kanda rolled his eyes.
"The old man told me to get you. We should see him now."
"Yeah, when I'm done my lunch."
Kanda looked aside absentmindedly. His movements got sharp and jerky when he was impatient.
"Aren't you bored? Lenalee's gone. No one else puts up with you."
"Nah, not really. I've just had to deal with you for a week or so, you know."
Kanda muttered something under his breath, and walked into view, taking the seat across from Daisya. Hah. Daisya, 1, Kanda, 0.
"Just hurry up, then."
"Yeah, yeah. What's the rush?"
Daisya scraped out the last spoonful, and looked up at Kanda.
"We'll get more out of him if we go now."
"And here you're still waiting for me."
Kanda looked genuinely confused for a moment, before frowning. He wasn't as quick as he seemed — you'd be better off telling Lenalee your puns
"So?"
"You keep telling yourself that."
"Shut up. And don't spray your crumbs everywhere. That's disgusting."
"Yeah, mom– ow!"
"Shut. Up."
…
Kanda scuffed his heel absentmindedly on the floor.
"So, did your team find Cross?"
Marie shook his head.
"No. He doesn't seem to like the Order much," he commented, "We still managed to assess the situation in Japan, though. The Noah are everywhere. It was best not to get involved."
"Mm."
Kanda nodded. He seemed to be paying a lot of attention to the conversation. Hey, maybe even Kanda could be respectful, couldn't he? Probably just to Marie, though. He certainly didn't treat old Tiedoll with much.
"Was General Nine there? Komui was saying she got called in."
Daisya noticed that Kanda's fingers were folding over and over on themselves. Now this was interesting. Marie hadn't been around much since they got back from Hungary a year or so ago, and back then Daisya hadn't known either of them well enough to pay attention.
"Yes. She isn't needed yet, but she's staying there in case the Earl tries to make a move."
Kanda let out a sound that was almost a chuckle.
"So is she really good at fighting, or something?" Daisya asked, butting into the conversation, "I thought the generals just had high sync rates, or something."
Kanda let out a sigh of annoyance, and looked to Marie.
"The better your sync rate, the better you fight," Marie said shortly, "Because her Innocence is sentient, General Nine is likely the most skilled of the Generals."
"Oh. Cool."
"In any case, we are prepared for the worst. It's difficult to enter or leave Japan, making it the ideal stronghold."
Kanda nodded.
"But he hasn't moved yet?"
"No."
He nodded again, almost to himself, and once to Marie. This was the — happy wasn't really the word, but Daisya couldn't be bothered to find an alternative — the happiest Kanda had been in months.
"Good."
Kanda turned to leave, and dragged Daisya behind him by the collar.
"Hey!"
"Be quiet!"
…
"What was that for?" Daisya hissed, "I wasn't even talking."
"He's tired."
They skittered back down the stairs, to the lower levels, Kanda in the lead.
"What was the hurry to see him then? Better to let him sleep, or something."
"People don't control themselves as much when they're tired," stated Kanda bluntly, "He told us more now than he would have later."
"Just asking," muttered Daisya.
"Tch."
Kanda's pace slowed for a moment, once they reached ground level, before he started dawdling towards the training rooms. He didn't seem to sure about it, though, so Daisya figured he might be open to suggestion.
"Hey, you want to play football or something? I'll go easy on you."
Kanda's fingers clenched ever so slightly. Hey, there was always hope.
Daisya watched carefully.
Kanda lifted a hand, and brushed his bangs aside.
"You don't have to go easy," he said tersely, "I'll beat you anyway."
…
"Hah," Daisya panted, collapsing against the wall, "That was pretty good, don't you think?"
Kanda shrugged and scowled as he caught his breath more quietly.
"Not really."
"Oh, come on! You actually made me break a sweat, this time. Maybe one day you'll be able to tie it up."
Kanda scowled again, and shook his head in annoyance.
"See? You know you like it. It's a good game."
"Maybe for an imbecile."
"Yup."
Daisya picked up his discarded coat — though this most recent version was more of a cloak, long, with a hood and no sleeves — and rummaged through it to find the pockets.
"Hmm. If I was a pocket, where would I be…" he mumbled, partly to fill the silence, "Ah, here."
He grabbed the drawstring bag that followed him everywhere, and emptied a couple of white tablets into his hand. He hadn't felt too much pain in a while, but it was better to be safe than sorry.
"Shouldn't you have healed by now?" asked Kanda, watching him carefully.
Daisya raised an eyebrow. That was new.
"You wanna have another look? It's still pretty ugly-looking, let me tell you. It hasn't changed."
There was a moment where they both hovered, balancing on each side of an argument, before the ball fell in Daisya's court.
"If you say so," muttered Kanda, "Are you practicing your fighting?"
Daisya let Kanda change the topic, and nodded his head.
"Yeah, mom."
Kanda glared at him.
"Do you want me to go back to training you?"
"No, no, I'm good. Perfectly fine."
"Then shut up."
"You asked."
"Yeah, and now I'm asking you to be quiet."
Kanda paused for a few seconds.
"I did ask, I guess," he said grudgingly.
Daisya leaned back, and grinned. The patch of ground where the goals were was south-facing, so the brick wall was always warm.
The warm feeling was suspiciously strong today, so he decided to get out of there.
He leaned over, gave Kanda a quick kiss on the cheek, and ran off. Kanda hadn't caught him yet, and Daisya was pretty confident that he'd have to sharpen his reflexes before he even got close.
…
This time, Kanda reached out with open fingers instead of a closed fist.
He'd felt this twisting in his chest before.
Too late.
He let his fingers brush the air where Daisya's wrist had been a fraction of a second ago.
Damn kid ran too fast.