The Fine Line

Here it is! The second horrible installment of The Fine Line. Sorry for the boring start :(

Disclaimer of Death: If D.Gray-man were mine, Allen would play poker more. Strip poker. And lose.

WARNING: If things keep going how I want, be prepared for man-lovin’.

Poetic Atrocity

Allen wasn’t listening to Komui. He just couldn’t register anything anymore. The shock that rippled through him had blocked all of the important information being said – he could hear syllables, read facial expressions, but the meaning was lost in a sea of horrified surprise. He would be working with Kanda Yuu, which was all he had heard before his ears stopped working entirely; his thoughts had instead turned to the millions of ways he could make Kanda suffer while they were tromping across Europe together.

Make him suffer? What is this? I’m not a sadist…

Unless it comes to poker.

“I’m sorry, Komui,” He interrupted in a vane attempt to make himself think of something else. “What was that after ‘listen very carefully?’”

The scientist in front of him leaned on the papers on his desk, threatening to topple on of them onto the paper covered floor. The disappointed look that creased his face made his glasses fall to the very end of his nose and reflect the light so that his eyes were invisible; the white hat on top of his head fell forward as if it too were dejected. But he was in business mode. Maybe it was the lack of caffeine that made him so. “Everything I’ve told you is in the packets I’ve given you. Please read through it and give the second one to Kanda, and be quick about it, you leave tomorrow morning.”

Allen nodded and picked up the papers. He had half expected a lecture but he wasn’t going to argue if one wasn’t forthcoming. He’d just give Kanda his damn papers like he always did, with a smile, then pack his things for the trip to Sweden, no big deal, no big planning necessary, just nice, happy Allen being nice, happy Allen.

And yet he didn’t feel nice and happy. After breakfast he had felt like mauling the Japanese Exorcist, and he didn’t mean that in a good way.

Oh well, He thought as he turned a corner. I guess that even I have a fuse in the end.
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Kanda was just trying to read but that was more or less impossible with Lavi in the library. Every ten seconds the guy had another random fact to share, or yet another title to suggest, or some impossible question to ask. It was like reading in front of a hyperactive kindergartener.

“Oi, Yuu-chan, what are you thinking about?”

“How much I miss silence.”

“Your face says otherwise. And did you just respond to ‘Yuu-chan’ without trying to kill me, Yuu-chan?”

Kanda glared at him and fingered the hilt of his sword.

“I’ll take that as a yes…” Lavi grinned before launching into a book related conversation with himself.

Kanda’s eyes went back to the page before him, because he was not going to leave the library in order to read – the library was there to be read in, it was logical to stay – and he was not going to kill Lavi today, of all days. He wasn’t in the mood. He wasn’t even sure what he was in the mood for, really. Silence, He flipped a page that he had only half comprehended. I am in the mood for silence.

But a flicker of white caught his eye as a not-too-quiet-cursed-annoying-moyashi-Exorcist came in, a pack of papers in his right hand, the door knob in his left. Kanda glared at him more out of habit that anything else – he did not actually feel like beating him up instantaneously upon seeing him, most likely because they had not spoke since breakfast.

But the violent inclinations returned when Allen came closer and closer to the couch Kanda occupied.

“You have a mission.” Allen said darkly. Darkly? Since when did Allen do anything darkly?

“Where?” Kanda demanded.

“Sweden. With me.”

“Che.” Kanda took to papers and flopped them down on the oak table that stood between his couch and Lavi’s chair. Allen waited as if he expected something else. “What?” He looked up from his text to see the pair of silver eyes studying him intently, drinking him in as if he were water and Allen were dying of thirst. “Did you want something?”

Allen shook his head. “No, you did. Sable said you were looking for me.”

Oh. That. Kanda suppressed his smile expertly; those that looked at him might have thought his lips were twitching with hate or something. But if they were indeed going on a mission together, that would offer him ample time to beat up the Moyashi and not get in trouble for it.

“It was nothing.” He lied.

“No it wasn’t. Tell me.”

“If I say it was nothing, it was nothing, stupid Moyashi.”

“My name is Allen and it is something. If it wasn’t something, Sable wouldn’t have looked excited.”

Kanda put his book down and glared at Allen full on, darning him to say something else, wishing him to butt into his business like Lavi would. “It was nothing, Moyashi. Now leave me alone, I’m trying to read.”

Allen narrowed his eyes at the dark haired man-woman (in his eyes) on the dark leather sofa. He only wished that he could hit him without getting reprimanded. Heck, he wanted to kill him without feel guilty about it. “Kanda—”

“Speak to me again and I’ll kill you.”

“Then kill me, it would be better than having to deal with your foul attitude all the time.”

“Oi! Moyashi-chan, Yuu-chan, if you talk any louder Panda is going to murder you both.” Lavi cooed from behind his novel. “And we all no what happens when the Panda gets angry…”

Kanda would not care if the old Bookman got mad at him but he still respected authority. So he spoke in a quiet voice when he answered, “You best watch your back in Sweden, Moyashi. Mugen and I aren’t going to catch you if you fall.”

Allen smiled at him brightly, the way he normally did. Only Allen and Lavi knew that the smile was forced. “I was counting on you saying that. Later Lavi!” And with that he waved goodbye to him and slid of the room, fists clenched at his sides.
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The next morning Allen left his room even before the sun could peak over the side of the world. He had done all of his exercises, showered, counted through the things he was taking with him twice, and managed to drop by the cafeteria for half a ton of food before going back for his things. He was tired, though, because he was not used to mornings. Allen thought of himself as a day – day happening between the hours of seven thirty and nine.

Sable caught him in a glomp the moment he turned the second to last corner before the door. It surprised him, being they hadn’t known each other in that long.

“Going to be gone long?” She asked when she slid off his shoulder and started walking by his side.

“Maybe a few months. We have to cross the North Sea to Sweden and then take a train to the north.” He smiled at her as they turned the corner – it was nice to have someone to say goodbye to. Things had been so quiet recently that he rarely say Lenalee or Lavi before departing.

“Sounds like it will be cold there, if you’re going that far north.” Sable frowned. “Don’t get frost bite while you’re there.”

Allen laughed lightly, unconsciously pulling his coat tighter already. “I’d be more worried about Kanda. He’s the cold one.”

Sable giggled at him and grinned from ear to ear. Oh, this is going to work beautifully, She thought. After she had slept the night before things had fallen into place in her mind like the pieces of a puzzle – it was perfect. She and Lenalee had worked it all out before she had come. She knew now why Kanda and Allen hated each other, why they fought, and she was bound and determined to make them see it too. And they’ll be so adorable!!

“Speaking of Kanda, can you give him something for me? I have a mission of my own so I can’t say goodbye.” Sable’s wide smile was not suspicious in the slightest – or at least Allen kept telling himself that. She was nice. She was normal. She was not suppressing a mental fan-girl squeal.

“Sure.” As soon as he said the word she was shoving a paper into his hand, waving goodbye, and apologizing. Somehow her speed at dashing away seemed to surpass that of Lenalee. Maybe it was because she was frightened of what she would do if she stayed there???

“Walk faster, Moyashi or you’ll be late.”

Oh, that’s why…

Kanda’s voice was almost enough to send him into killing mode, but not quite. He had self control. The fact that Kanda was alive proved it. So instead of turning and saying something unpleasant to the raven haired Japanese man he walked slower, waiting for him to catch up from behind him.

Kanda was surprised when the Moyashi waited for him wordlessly, silver eyes gleaming in the dull hall lights like candles. He seemed paler than normal, not that he wasn’t always pale, and the shadow that fell over the left side of his face hid the mark of his curse from sight. Standing there in the dimness Kanda could almost think of Allen as normal.

“Here.” Allen held out the paper to him indifferently.

“What is it?”

Allen was tired of Kanda’s glare, tired of his reserve – so he offered the paper with more enthusiasm. “No idea, Sable dropped it off.”

“Great.” There was no enthusiasm in the word. He delicately unfolded the letter and read it silently to himself.

Moyashi day and Moyashi night
I see Your love and glory despite
All of the pain that has been caused
By two hearts that too long have lost.
So now I offer You my hand,
As we forage a far off land,
In hope that Innocence there will be
While less than innocent all aren’t we.
So take me in Your arms dear,
Hold me close and hold me near,
Your long black hair and eyes of blue
Will me only to belong to Yuu.

“Kanda?” He had stopped walking a few steps behind Allen, his eyes scanning the paper again and again, a blush growing on his cheeks. “Is something wrong?”

Kanda’s heart thumped in his chest like a drum, echoing through his ears and causing his hands to losing feeling. Sable hadn’t written this. Sable’s name wasn’t the one scribbled in cursive at the bottom of this poetic atrocity. And if Moyashi wasn’t a confession, Kanda didn’t know what was. But what the hell was he supposed to do now? Allen had just handed him a love poem and now he was just standing there, dumbfounded, trying to lean in and see what he had written. And they were going to Sweden together? Possibly for months? What was Kanda supposed to do? Just tell Allen that he wasn’t interested in boys and move on?

Well, he is pretty… The thought was there and gone in a matter of moments. No. Kanda was not going to think that. He was not allowed to. Besides, if that damn Moyashi was fun to look at, it was only because of his soft, girly features, not because Kanda Yuu liked his tight muscles and his idiotic determination.

When Kanda folded the paper and tucked it into the inside pocket of his jacket, Allen wasn’t sure what to think. There had been a paling, a blush, another paling, and at long last another blush. What did that mean? Allen didn’t even want to think about it. If someone was sending around love letters, he didn’t want to get one. “Hm?” He prodded only slightly.

“It’s nothing,” Kanda lied to both of them. If he pretended that nothing odd had happened, maybe, just maybe, everything would be alright. “Let’s go.”

Allen hummed his accent and the two set off down the hallway with an awkward silence between them.
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Lenalee waited for the two of them at the front gate, fiddling with the paper that rested in her pocket. The plan was flawless. Lavi wrote one horrible poem and one elegant love letter, then Sable and Lenalee delivered them. If it worked, Allen and Kanda would be…closer then ever before. If it failed…well... they weren’t going to fail.

When Allen said goodbye to her she slipped the letter gently into his pocket, and the oblivious boy was none the wiser. The two of them walked out of the large doors a good distance apart, moving slowly, not talking, and Lenalee could only smile at their backs as they went.

“Well, the seeds are planted.” Sable said from behind her. “Now all we can do is see what sprouts.”

See? Wasn’t that better than the first one? I sure think so. Still not that great… kind of… meh, but better than chapter one, for sure. Please tell me what you think! I have ideas for a few more chapters, but I’m open to suggestions.