AN: Well hello there! Thankfully it hasn't been too long since I last updated so I don't feel the need to grovel for forgiveness this time. This chapter is kind of a filler but not really... anyways just read it since it is important in the long run.

WARNING! Big but IMPORTANT! Authors Note PLEASE READ!

I have officially come to a critical point in this story. I don't think I can write the entire next chapter without some input and a decision on my part. This fic can go one of two ways, one way would be to have it end with Kanda and Allen's relationship and there will be at least one lemon, it would also be rather short...well sorta... really it would be about 15 chapters... Anyways the other option would be to follow a dream I had and delve very deeply into the plot and kinda just make up a whole lot of shit as I go along.... I had this dream about Kanda's past and I have a feeling that it's going to end up being veeeery AU but I don't really care... I'm going to end up writing this fic in the end buuut it won't be for nearly a year from now.... I just want your guys' opinion; what do you want from this story? Also I was wondering if I should add the stuff about the third exorcists and Alma... but I dunno... oh well that won't be important for several more chapters.

Anyways pleeeeeease review for this chapter, I really need the input. I want to please you guys and have you all still read my fic- so I don't want to just go ahead and do whatever the hell I want without getting some kind of feedback.

This chapter also contains an interesting little twist on Kanda that I like and hope you will to. I've decided that he grew up speaking French, he was partially raised by Tiedoll after all. I also hope you guys don't feel like I'm rambling or putting in too much unnecessary detail, because I've noticed that my writing style is changing and that seems to be the direction it's going in... quite personally I like it but meh, you never know, it could be a bad thing. ...Anywhooos I'll stop talking now and let you guys read.

Enjoy!

Last Time...

After quieting down and falling into that weird state between dreaming and being awake, Allen found himself giving a small smile. He couldn't help but feel kind of glad that someone knew and wasn't going to ostracize him for what was going on. Even if that person was Kanda, who, though he denied it, was hogging all the blankets.

When morning finally broke Allen woke to find Link combing through his hair and to find out that Kanda had gone off to shave. Allen almost laughed at the idea of Kanda shaving. He'd never put much thought into those sorts of things, after all he'd never seen Kanda -or even Lavi and Link- shave before and yet he'd never seen any of them with facial hair either so, obviously, they must do it at some point. At these thoughts Allen couldn't help but to raise his flesh hand up to gingerly touch the smooth hairless skin of his own face. He wondered, in passing, if he would live long enough to grow facial hair himself and have the need to shave it.

When Kanda came back Allen stared intently at his flawless smooth skin, trying somewhat in vain to picture Kanda with a beard. He once again had to stifle a laugh, after all, even if it were towards Kanda, staring at someone and then laughing was quite rude. However he could still snicker inwardly at the mental images his mind finally imagined of the sharp features covered in bristly black hair.

Unfortunately the white haired exorcist found that he, once again, was caught staring at Kanda and awkwardly looked away when the Japanese teen quirked an eyebrow and sent him a condescending look.

Several long moments of silence passed as they all dressed and folded their beds to put them away. Finally, after a particularly loud grumble from Allen's stomach, Link suggested that they go down to the breakfast car and get something to eat before it got too late. Even Kanda couldn't find anything to complain about in that idea, so they promptly left.

~~~~o~~~~o~~~~O~~~~o~~~~o~~~~

Upon arriving in the dining car they were pleased to discover that they had chosen a good time to come, seeing as the car was nearby empty. A young couple sat to one side, speaking very intently in a foreign language. To the other side was two women seemingly in their sixties, they were dressed very well- almost too well for a trains dining car. The two women were looking around the car haughtily, turning to each other, rather often, one with overly dramatic expressions. The one would give large exaggerated rolls of her eyes before bringing her head close to the others- while pointing at various objects- her voice was in low mutters, as if to pretend that nobody understood that she was blatantly disregarding every one and everything around them. The other remained rather silent and nodded every now and then.

While the trio walked past the first of the two tables that held occupants, Allen nodded and smiled towards the young couple. However they were far too engrossed in their conversation- which was in Dutch, if Allen wasn't mistaken- to hear or acknowledge him. Upon reaching the table of the two women, Allen bestowed the same gentlemanly politeness on them as the other pair, however this time his greeting was returned.

"Well good morning young man and to both of you dashing lads as well." The women who'd spoke had a wrinkled face and piercing greenish gray eyes, her hair had probably once been black however it was now just salt and pepper and was pulled into a high bun. The other had her head turned slightly in the opposite direction of the group, however her steel blue eyes were sending calculating looks to all three of them, scanning and judging them each in turn. She merely nodded her good morning to them and then turned her head all the way, in the opposite direction, in order to look out the window fully.

Kanda and Link more or less stood in their spots and said nothing, on the other hand Allen had already deeply engaged himself in a conversation with the more social and conceited of the two ladies. When it became fairly apparent that Allen wouldn't be leaving the table for a while yet, Link decided to go and order all of them breakfast... or part of Walker's breakfast, he wasn't willing to carry all of that food back for him and he didn't want to frighten the women they were more than likely going to be eating breakfast with.

After asking Kanda what he wanted- which was soba and green tea...not a shock really- Link made his way to the counter to order their food. He didn't ask Walker what he wanted but he was fairly sure that anything would suffice.

After Link had left Kanda begrudgingly sat down beside his comrade and observed the conversation that was currently being had. Apparently they were talking about... boats. Che, it figured it wouldn't be anything of any real importance. The conversation about boats -now more specifically yachts- was quickly ended as the older lady noticed the new possible participant.

"Oh, where are my manners!? I don't believe I've introduced myself yet! " Here she leaned over the table ever so slightly and reached her hand out to be shaken. Her voice suggested that she very much wanted to introduce herself and make known who she was, it sounded pushy; 'like she was trying to be subtle', Kanda thought, 'but didn't actually retain the capacity to do so properly.'

"I'm Eleanor Jones." She paused as if waiting for a reaction or at least some form of recognition, however when it wasn't received she proceeded.

"And this quiet old coot is my sister, Georgiana Smith. What's your name darling?" She arched her overly plucked eyebrows at Kanda as she waited for him to speak.

"...I'm Kanda, it's a pleasure to meet you both." Kanda spoke curtly and gave a brief but still polite shake to her hand. Allen almost sighed in relief, Kanda wasn't always the best when it came to manners and it would've been very embarrassing to have to apologize for Kanda's rudeness had he chosen to not introduce himself let alone be polite about it.

"Hmm, Kanda... what a lovely and exotic name! Pray tell, where are you from?" Allen could see Kanda's eyebrow twitch ever so slightly, not enough for either of the two women to see but enough to be noticeable by someone who was looking for it. The British teen felt himself hold his breath ever so slightly as he once again waited to see if Kanda was going to reply and how.

"Thank you, and I was born in Japan." The tone sounded polite and Eleanor seemed very pleased with the answer, however Allen knew very well that Kanda had spoken through clenched teeth and was quickly running out of patience. It was time to intercept.

"Where are you two from ma'am?" Allen spoke politely giving her a kind smile. He looked over at Kanda and was rewarded with an almost grateful look from the other teenager. Almost, being the key word of course.

"Oh, why we're from Manchester! Although I moved to London when I was sixteen with my husband - God bless his soul- we raised our seven children there. My sister moved to Chapeltown- do you know where it is?- Anyway it's a lovely little town and when my sister got married she and her husband moved there so that they could raise their children in a small and close knit community, which is quite a lovely thought, if I do say so myself. Looking back I almost wish that Edward -that's my poor deceased husband- and I had done the same for our children. The air quality alone is..." Kanda zoned out. Dear God could this woman talk. How the fuck was her life story relevant to anything at all. Was she really so conceited that she thought a group of strangers on a train needed to hear a play by play of her and her sisters God damn life. Who gave a fuck?! Kanda rolled his eyes after briefly tuning into her again for another couple seconds only to realize she was now going on about the wealth of her family and the 'unfathomable' success of her husband after starting his own business ... Great. Just fucking great.

Allen was trying to give Eleanor his full attention, he really was, but she just talked so much. He let his eyes slowly wander over to Kanda's face just in time to catch him give a roll of his deep blue eyes. Allen almost laughed, Kanda looked ready to start banging his head against the table at any moment. The white haired teen had to admit though that he was starting to at least consider the same option.

Both Allen and Kanda were at their limit at this point and Kanda was just getting ready to get up and leave without another word, when Link came back to, unknowingly, save them, a large tray of food in each hand. Eleanor finally stopped speaking- if for only a moment- and let the three of them begin to eat before continuing on again.

"So what are the three of you going to do once you hit Russia?" She directed her question at Allen who's mouth was stuffed full of food. He hurried to swallow, choking ever so slightly in the process.

"We're going there to... to uh...Oh dear, I haven't read the mission folder...I'm afraid I don't actually know why we're going to Russia...Kanda, why are we going up there?!" Confusion settled rather adorably across Allen's features as he tried to remember something-anything really- about why they were headed up North.

"Che, we're going there for a mission. We're needed to look further into a series of attacks and disappearances. The finders that were investigating have found proof of innocence but they don't have the skills to beat the akuma. Apparently there have been several cases of children going missing and all during the middle of the day... You should have read the mission briefing bean." Kanda rolled his eyes and Allen just made a comment somewheres along the lines of his name being Allen not bean. This short bit of speech however seemed to interest the rather passive and quiet Georgiana, who was now staring rather intently and hollowly at Kanda.

"Are you going to be going to... Kashin, then?" Everyone stopped at the sound of Georgiana's previously unheard voice.

"Yes, we are." Link answered this time, and Allen, though interested as to why this lady knew of the issues in the town they were going to, couldn't help the sinking feeling that he was the only one in the group who didn't have any clue where 'Kashin' was.

"...We are also going to Kashin, my grandson is among some of the children who went missing." Her voice sounded heavy and exhausted, Allen could understand why she wouldn't exactly want to talk aimlessly with strangers. After several moments of silence Georgiana continued speaking.

"Do you know the story of the architect and his wife then?" When the group shook their head 'no' she got a somewhat smug look on her face before telling them the story.

(1)"A while back an architect and his wife moved into a small cottage near the village. The architect designed many beautiful buildings in the town but according to my daughter the most beautiful of all was his own home. It took him several years to design but when he finally did it was worth the wait. It was an grand house with many large open beams of dark lovely wood running along the ceiling. " She paused here and breathed, closing her eyes a pained expression briefly crossing her face. She exhaled deeply and then began once more.

"After a couple of years of living in the house the son and only child of the architect and his wife moved away, leaving the two alone. Two more years passed and apparently the architect grew very engrossed with his work. He would spend days on end locked away at either his home office or the office in his work building. The wife grew very solitary and stayed home constantly- she would even have her groceries delivered to her. And then one day the wife suddenly couldn't take anymore and tried to take her life by hanging herself from one of the wooden beams in the living room of the house. However at the last moment her husband came home- through the back door at the opposite end of the house- it's said that he came home just as she had kicked the chair out from under herself. He claims that he didn't find her until she was dead, but apparently at the last moment she changed her mind and made to grab the beam she was hanging from.... however they say he came into the room-while she was still alive- and pulled her hands away from the beam, murdering her." She stopped here and it seemed that she wasn't going to continue, however right before anyone could open their mouths to speak Georgiana spoke once more.

"Anyways her fingerprints were left on the beam. And no matter how many times the beam is painted -eight, I believe is the number of times they've tried- but no matter how many times they paint over it, or sand it the fingerprints return after the paint has dried or the sawdust brushed off. The husband was found a week later in the woods dead, no one knows if he killed himself or if it was someone else. But when the son of the two came back he was heart broken and it's said that he went crazy. One night the villagers heard a strangled yell come from the house and the next morning he was gone, never to be seen again. It was the day after this that the first child went missing... My grandson is the fourth... I'm not sure if any more have disappeared since I found out." Georgiana seemed very pale, her whole body weary. Allen felt his heart wrench at the terrible tale.

"I'm very sorry miss. I'll do my best to help your grandson and all the other children, I promise." Allen gave her a kind and somewhat pitying smile. He was however very shocked when Kanda's voice cut through the brief silence.

"I'll do my best as well. I remain in my line of work because of these sorts of injustices. Children should be left out of war, it sickens me when they're not." And after that Kanda fell very silent even for him and proceeded to drink his tea without another word. Link summarized all of their thoughts.

"We'll all do our best. Try not to worry too much, we're professionals and we have a great deal of experience with things like this." Georgiana nodded at all of them and muttered a thank you before turning to look out the slightly foggy window once more. Eleanor looked sad and gave a deep sigh before putting a smile, albeit a rather forced one, back onto her face.

"Well my dears, I think Georgiana and I will be heading back to our room. Thank you for keeping two old ladies company, I'm sure we'll see you again soon." And with that they both got up and left.

~~~~o~~~~o~~~~O~~~~o~~~~o~~~~

The day passed terribly slowly. All three of them remained rather silent for the rest of the day, it would seem a state of melancholy had befallen each of them. They had another two and a half days on the train and Allen silently prayed that they were at least a little more eventful than this. Thankfully today was nearly finished and it was already quite late.

On a plus side, Allen thought, Link was becoming quite laid back. Often Allen would look over to Link's seat and find the inspector slightly slumped over and dozing ever so lightly. He was also allowing Allen to go to the bathroom without escorting him to the door. The British teen was relishing in this new found freedom- no matter how minuscule it was. Now was one of those such times, Link had been gazing out the window for the longest time, however his head was now leaning ever so slightly against the glass his eyes gently shut and he was falling into what seemed to be quite a deep sleep.

Allen turned to Kanda, interested in what the raven haired man could be doing that kept him so quiet and content. It would appear that Kanda was reading possibly one of the thickest books in the world... 'Geez,' Allen thought, 'that thing has to be nearly two thousand pages long...'

"Kanda... what are you reading?" Allen pulled his knees up to his chest and turned to the left so that his body was facing Kanda's. He peered curiously over the tops of his knees his fingers drumming lightly against his calves. He waited for an answer...and waited....and waited...

"Kanda?" Again no reply... For once though Allen didn't think Kanda was trying to be rude, by the looks of it he was just immensely immersed in his reading and truly hadn't registered that Allen was speaking to him. Allen decided to try again but this time poke him to try and gain his attention.

"Kaaaanda!?" This time he got Kanda's attention and waited as the Japanese man first looked to the roof and exhaled quickly in aggravation. How dare the bean interrupt his reading.

"What, Moyashi?" He didn't bother to even try to hide the exasperation that was laced into his words.

"What are you reading....baKanda?" Kanda twitched. After a roll of his eyes Kanda turned his body slightly and bent one leg placing it on their seat, now somewhat facing the bean.

"...It's a book about the history of languages."

"Oh.....Can I read some of it?" Allen couldn't believe how bored he was, he was asking if he could read a book with Kanda, and not just any book, a book about the history of languages. Why the hell was Kanda reading something like that anyways?!

"Can you read in French Moyashi?" Kanda quirked a smug eyebrow at him. Allen puffed out his cheeks. As if Kanda was reading some huge super intelligent book in French!

"Yeah right! I bet it isn't in French. You know if you don't want me to read with you that's one thing, but you should just come out and say it, don't lie Kanda, lying is very cowardly and not overly becoming on you." Allen nodded sagely at Kanda watching as the older teenagers eye twitched.

"Oh really Moyashi? Well then please do read this and then you can tell me if it's French or not." Allen swallowed as the humongous book was passed to him.

Allen looked warily down at the pages and sure enough was met with an onslaught of French words. Damn.

"Okay fine, it is French... but why do you speak French anyways?!"

"Che, my general is Tiedoll, I started learning to speak French before I started learning English. You're such a retard Moyashi." Kanda rolled his eyes and turned his body back so that it was once more facing the front. Allen didn't really know what to say to that...he actually did kinda feel like a huge idiot at the moment.

"Oh... well then...will you read out loud to me?" Kanda whipped his head towards the younger teen, his face looked almost concerned for Allen's mental health. Obviously Allen must be going insane to have the gull to ask Kanda to sit there and read to him out loud in French.

"Like hell. Now turn around and we can pretend you never said that."

"But Kanda I'm booooored!" Allen was officially whining.

"Oh for fucks sake Moyashi don't bloody well whine!"

"Hmph... I bet you don't want to read it to me because you have a really bad French accent. You just don't want me to make fun of you." Allen turned his head in the opposite direction of Kanda but watched him slyly through the corners of his eyes.

"Moyashi you know damn well that's not the case! I just don't feel like reading to a bean. You should've brought something to entertain yourself with, it's not my fault that you didn't."

"Oh suuuuure. Make up whatever excuses you like Kanda but I know it's because you're ashamed of your accent." A long silence passed until finally Kanda gave a groan of frustration.

"Fine! I'll read to you but only for a little while. Now come closer so I don't have to talk too loud, we don't want to wake sleeping beauty." Allen gave a cheshire grin as he slid closer to Kanda. As Kanda's deep and smooth voice filled the air, reading with ease, the British teenager felt very at peace. Allen didn't understand a word he was saying but it was some how very soothing just sitting there practically leaning on Kanda's side as he was read to.

~~~~o~~~~O~~~~o~~~~

Two hours later Link awoke to the sight of Allen and Kanda fast asleep their bodies leaning against one another. Allen had his head resting gently on Kanda's and the older teens head on his. The book lay open but completely forgotten on Kanda's lap.

Despite the innocence of the position and moment Link couldn't stop the deep and perturbed frown from spreading across his face nor the way his eyebrows knit together on his forehead. With another fleeting glance to the unlikely pair he quickly felt his nostrils flare in what he easily recognized as disgust.

AN: And there we have it! I quite like this chapter! 8D

1) This myth is a rather recent myth in my home town. My mom's ex-boyfriend bought the haunted house without knowing the story and no matter how many times he painted or sanded the beam the woman's fingerprints wouldn't go away. Unfortunately the beam is one of the main supporting beams of the house so they can't just rip it down.

Thanks for reading and pleeeeease review and give me your input on this fic!

~byes