Chapter 2: Redeemed

Froi Tiedoll stared at the charred remnants of the akuma for a while, ascertaining he had destroyed them mercilessly and completely before turning his attention back to the boy in his arms.

Kanda was not moving.

"General?" Komui questioned through the speakers, his tone hushed, as if he already guessed what had happened to the little one.

Tiedoll squat down to better examine the boy's bloodied body, and he realized he did not know where to start. The child was bleeding profusely, his blood staining the snow an angry crimson; forming a sinister sort of snow angel where he lay suspended in Tiedoll's lap. His ruined neck and face displayed numerous teeth marks and chunks of flesh had been forcibly removed. His small, broken-off right arm lay lifeless beside him; and his hand was still clutching the deactivated Mugen.

Tiedoll placed a shaky hand near his face, the boy was still breathing, but barely; each stolen, vapoury breath was so choked and small that Tiedoll could only imagine what damage had been done to his lungs. A trail of scarlet was streaming down his nose and the side of his mouth. Pain marred his usually smooth features…

At that moment the boy had leapt forward to act as a human shield for his equipment-type master. The level 2 had fired off rounds that resembled fangs, and one would have successfully skewered Tiedoll several times over had Kanda not intervened; and was the one being impaled instead…there was no way Kanda could survive. One fang speared through and protruded from Kanda's right chest now, bloody and invasive. The boy was either dead or dying… and some part of Tiedoll hoped it was the latter, the child should not have to suffer…

"Yuu chan?"

There was no response; no shrill voice of a hopping mad ten-year-old yelling at him to get it right, the boy could not talk anymore.

He felt his heart give a wrench. There were no sounds apart from the little, terribly helpless breaths that the child drew, and the chilly draft that blew past, carrying the stench of the battle.

"Silly boy!"

He reached out to sweep the snow off the child's face, the perspiration that dotted his forehead and temple had turned to frost. His pale skin was frighteningly cold and clammy and his chapped lips were turning blue.

Tiedoll mustered the courage to wrap around the boy, and gather him protectively in his arms.

"Komui!" He yelled at the communicator, "Get help!"

He pressed squares of fabric over the wounds he could see, attempting to stem the bleeding somehow. Blood continued to drip off the wounds from his ravaged body, drabs of crimson smeared onto Tiedoll's uniform.

"Gate- keeper, open up!"

"Of course…of course!" The gatekeeper stammered as he opened the doors, he had begun crying again.

Medics ran out toward the general and his fallen apprentice, the head nurse was the first to meet them, with woolen blankets in her arms; she draped one over Tiedoll, then turned to examine the young one. It did not take trained eyes to see that there was nothing they could do. And even if he did live by some miracle, he can never wield the innocence again without his sword arm. And generally, the Order will not attempt to provide aid to those who had no value…

Tears were gleaming faintly as she softly whispered words that Tiedoll did not want to hear.

"…He's not going to make it."

No.

Tiedoll felt something in him snap, he picked up his disciple and his innocence, and ran. He dashed past the gates of the Order, and did not stop and look back…

Kanda was still alive, though barely, and would not be for long if nothing was done. He lay quite still, dwarfed beneath the weight of the woolen blanket. His body rocked and creaked dangerously as broken bones grind against open flesh, like a broken rag doll. He ground his teeth, moaned, and brought up blood, those were his protests at being moved when he was grievously wounded.

No!

Many people's faces flashed past, Komui, Reever, Jeryy and a bunch of guys from the science department, they pushed to the front, no doubt to find out if the child is indeed immortal like the rumours described. Some were disappointed to find him lying inert in Tiedoll's arms and bleeding copiously; leaving a gory, bloody trail. Someone had the guts to whisper from behind Reever in a cynical tone at one point. "Is he dead?"

In an instant that man was punched and shoved onto the ground, bleeding from his nose.

"How dare you?" Reever snarled, "Son of a bitch, we allowed a child to die defending the Order! Is that bloody all you can say?"

"He may be feeling guilty for killing so many of the finders…" The punched man reasoned weakly.

"Shuddap!"

"I'm telling you, the kid's not human."

"Damn it! He has more guts than any of you idiots!..." Reever snapped back.

Tiedoll's did not care.

Yuu, don't die!

Their voices faded as Teidoll ran past them. The argument was lost to him. He panted, and he was glad Kanda could not hear anymore; those words will only make the little one sad.

The head nurse caught up and pushed through the crowd ahead of Teidoll, shoving her way past and snapping at everyone for blocking the way. People left because she was scary, Tiedoll was grateful to find a comrade, someone who also did not want to leave the boy to die…

"General Tiedoll." The head nurse led him urgently into a white room, and indicated a bed overlaid by many layers of soft, off-white absorbent material. "Here!"

Tiedoll laid him down as gently as he could, the boy sank into the comforters, his blood immediately started blossoming across the towels.

"General, please go get your arm treated." A doctor said as the nurses started pulling shut the curtains, "Leave the boy to us."

"Can you save Yuu chan?" Teidoll demanded, desperation creeping into his voice as two nurses started to lead him away. They had started cutting and stripping off Kanda's tattered black uniform.
"I don't know… but we'll do our best."

Tiedoll was dragged off to an adjacent room, his mind reeling as he obediently handed over his arm for the nurse to wash and clean; the faster she can complete it, the faster Tiedoll can return to Kanda.

It was truly the first time Tiedoll had experienced panic.

He realized he was still holding Mugen in his hands, dried blood dotted its hilt, and the gleam on the blade was faint and dull; as if it sensed that its owner was dying. It is said that when their owners die, the innocence will revert to its natural crystal form and lie in wait for its next owner, the next person who could synchronize with it. And for a moment, Tiedoll felt a wave of repulse as he held the weapon. Essentially, the innocence was a heartless, unfeeling piece of metal that did not care if it was the little boy wielding the sword But Tiedoll felt, and was utterly heart-broken for his painfully young apprentice.

Kanda was young, but extremely talented in the dueling arts. Then, Tiedoll objected to him being trained at all then.

Children should not be dragged into a war so terrible.

But when the higher ups insisted that the child was special, and was to become exorcist apprentice by hook or by crook; Tiedoll took him under his wing. And Tiedoll loved Kanda as he would a boy; a son.

He was everything a master would have wanted, he was talented, focused, reliable, willing to work hard and of all things, obedient. When Tiedoll tells him to do an exercise which rationale he did not understand, he will widen his eyes and look at Tiedoll as if he just spouted broken Japanese. Then proceed to do it anyway in silent stealth. He was the perfect student, but desperately lacking in the ability to communicate.

The child does not talk to anyone about his hardships, he does not recount of how dying finders and exorcists alike grabbed on to his ankles and begged him to avenge them.

There were nights when he woke up crying and screaming his comrade's names. Tiedoll knew, but did not pursue the issue when Kanda was apparently unwilling to discuss it. Kanda was still painfully young, and has never seen this much death, gore and bloodshed. Kanda did not understand love, and did not deem it important to do so, he did not perceive it imperative to understand what he saw as weakness. He was too caught up in his determination to become the ultimate anti-akuma weapon and chose to forgo all else in the process, including living. He saw his own existence as a cosmic mistake, and it just happened that the Order had need of his abilities. The Order exploited that, they trained him earlier and worked him harder than any other. And Kanda played right into their hands in the belief that he had to work hard to earn his keep.

He does not understand that he does not have to do anything for people to love him…

The human child was the one who had refused to evade to save himself, who had leapt forward and took the deathblow that was meant for his master…

"Master."

Tiedoll looked up, startled that the voice seemed to radiate from the sword in his hands, it seemed to glow a little more, he wondered if he had imagined his apprentice's voice. The boy never addressed him as 'Master', it was always, 'Old man', or 'Sensei' when he unconsciously reverts back to his native language; sometimes a curt 'Oi' would suffice as well. But the unsettling feeling rose in his heart, it swelled and magnified.

Tiedoll whipped his hand out of the nurse's grasp just as she tied the finishing knot and ran as fast as his legs could carry him. He shoved open the door, and the ring of people were still there. The moment seemed tensed, and Tiedoll realized that nearly everyone was holding their breaths.

Then all he heard was a blood-curdling scream that told of unbearable pain...

Silence

He thought his heart would stop.

"Yuu chan?"

Five days after Kanda had been assaulted by a bunch of finders who did not know better, Tiedoll finally found him. He was in Tiedoll's art studio, conscious. Ugly blue-blacks marked his face, neck and thin arms. Someone had supplied him with a fresh set of clothing, bandages and new dressings were visible along his arms and ankles where his clothing did not cover. He did nothing to acknowledge Tiedoll's presence, and just gazed afar off, out of the window where sunlight was merrily pouring in; and Tiedoll thought he saw yearning in those eyes. It was quite a contrast.

Beyond the window was a garden, littered with pockets of flowers that were in every shade imaginable. Tiedoll loved the place because he could imagine children like Kanda running free in those grounds, healthy, laughing, destroying the place; not wounded and immobile and with the weight of the world on his small shoulders. He probably became the target for the adults to vent their anger on.

Wordlessly, he sat down on a stool beside Kanda. Setting the tray of food beside on the table.

"Yuu chan. You should eat." He began.

Silence prevailed.

"Stop it…"

Tiedoll could not believe what he heard, so he asked, "What did you say?"

The boy's brow furrowed, though his gaze was unfocused, "…I said 'stop it'…"

"Stop what?"

Kanda shot him a look of disgust, as if berating Tiedoll for making him repeat himself so many times.

"Stop calling me…" He coughed twice, and curled in upon himself as he clutched his chest. "…'Yuu chan'."

After a moment of consideration, as the odd request sank in, he replied in a low voice. "I may not always have the chance to do it..." Tiedoll had a half-smile on his face.

This was how much his apprentice hated the address after all. He bit his lip and requested quietly. "Let me call you that a few more times now."

"Stupid old man…" Kanda was apparently attempting to snap, though the effect was much less in his weakened and diminished state, his blood ebbed and flowed, staining through the virgin white of the bandages. Kanda seemed oblivious to it, but Tiedoll looked away, choosing to focus on the child's face instead; he could hardly get a grip on himself otherwise.

He knew what happened with the team who were sent out with Kanda on the last mission. And Kanda blamed himself for being alive when everyone else is dead. If he was talks little before, he was now almost mute. He refused to eat, he refused to take medication, and he avoided anyone who knew him. He was becoming a hollow shell. It was heart-wrenching to see the child like that, broken, hurt, but unable and unwilling to express how much.

And if this goes on, the child would not have long.

There was always another way to do it, which is to tie him up and force-feed him like a goose meant for extracting foie gras; but Tiedoll is trying to prevent the higher ups-who are concerned about an exorcist trying to kill himself by denying any form of nourishment- from doing that.

He wanted to allow Kanda to keep at least his dignity if not his sanity…

Tears had gathered unknowingly.

"Don't cry…" Kanda whispered, in a much softer voice. It was a less of an absolute command, more of a heartfelt plea this time.

Tiedoll blinked, he was alarmed, he had never thought he will hear Kanda speak in this manner. The kid was always energetic, he was usually snapping, snarling, threatening, sometimes yelling and screaming, but never, never, never gentle with his words. Yet now…

"I can't." Tiedoll confessed as he wiped roughly at his tears, "Not when you're like this…"

The child shook his head, a cruel sneer forming on his face. "If I die, go look for another kid to train… So shut up."

With that, the truth became concrete, as if hearing someone speak of it the truth became fact. Tiedoll started crying in earnest.

"Old man…?" Kanda asked, alarmed. He reached out his unbroken hand, and clutched bodily at Tiedoll's shirt, "…Stop it…It's disgusting."

Large, warm hands gripped the smaller one, and gently eased it off his tunic.

"I don't want Yuu chan to die." He moaned truthfully, the child glared at him, pain and confusion evident in his expression. "I don't want to go train another kid, I want you to live…"

As the war escalated, the adults were growing desperate, and had unfairly placed too much expectation on thin shoulders of the boy. Kanda deals with the pressure in the only way he knew how to, he took the hardships in its strides, and it is to kill more akuma. Slowly, his talents became his poison. Through the days Tiedoll knew him, he never once smiled. He never seems to think of himself as human, he never stopped to think what is it he wants in life; what to do with himself after the holy war.

In a way he was killing himself, diminishing his own hopes, wants and desires to allow himself to be molded into the perfect soldier.

In a way, he was allowing Kanda Yuu to disappear, he was sacrificing himself…

And Tiedoll loved Kanda all the more. Even though he kills like a monster, there was a human child buried deep beneath all that discipline, talent, hatred, fear and bitterness. The human child could taste fear and sadness, he understood joy and sacrifice.

In his own little, unknowing ways, he had made his master proud of him and terribly sad all at the same time.

The human child was dying…

"Don't die…please." Tiedoll found himself asking, he knew it was an unreasonable demand. Kanda looked at him steadily.

Tiedoll gripped Kanda's small hand harder, as if by holding on to him he could prevent the boy from slipping away.

"…I won't die…"

"Huh…?"

"If I don't die…" the human child questioned, looking into Tiedoll's eyes, "…Will you stop crying?"

Tiedoll nodded. He knew it was an empty promise. But the child nodded in turn, looking pleased with the compromise. Then turned to gaze at the noodles on the tray.

"What are those?"

"Soba." Tiedoll could not believe his ears. Kanda was asking about food. "Jeryy said since you are from Japan and all Japanese loves soba, he asked me to take it to you. It's not sweet." He added quickly as he saw Kanda eyeing the brown sauce that resembled gasless cola. He placed the tray in front of his disciple. "Hmm, Jeryy says to dip the noodles in the sauce, not pour the sauce onto the noodles."

The boy nodded emotionlessly.

His heart leapt in elation as he watched Kanda slowly reached out his unbroken hand, and took hold of the chopsticks; he could tell that Kanda liked those, even though he himself always had trouble with chopsticks. It seemed like an eternity as Kanda picked up a couple of strands delicately with chopstick-wielding skills that he can never hope to surpass in his lifetime; and dipped it gingerly in the brown sauce. And just as he thought the child will start eating at last, Kanda surprised him by lifting the noodles to his face.

"Eat," The child commanded, "tell me if it's sweet."

Tiedoll obeyed, if that was what it took for Kanda to eat. When he had chewed and swallowed, he said, "Mildly salted, not sweet. Quite good, I think you'll like it."

Kanda gazed at him, doubt apparent in his eyes. Then tried some himself, and Tiedoll could tell that he liked it. For there was a child-like twinkle in his eyes the moment he bite down on those noodles.

"How is it?" Tiedoll asked his disciple, whose expression looked like a little boy once more.

"Delicious."

And miraculously, Kanda smiled, actually smiled. He looked like the human child he was supposed to be. And there and then, master and disciple bonded over a promise and a tray of soba...

"General." The medical team backed off, letting Tiedoll through. Despair clawed mercilessly at his insides, he felt a bitter taste in his mouth.

The boy just lay there. Pain has completely disappeared from his face; his features had once again smoothened out, and were sweet and child-like. He was paler than usual, but other than that, no one could tell if the child was sleeping; or otherwise.

"Yuu…chan." The child's name rolled off his tongue, and for some reason, it felt empty. It was as if the name had lost its meaning now that the owner of the name can no longer respond to it.

Mechanically, he moved to sit close to the boy on the bed, and laid his hand over his forehead. The boy's flesh was still warm and soft from the short time he had been alive, his eyes were closed. Tiedoll allowed his fingers to comb through the soft, shiny strands of black hair, some strands were matted with blood, but still beautiful. While Tiedoll knew his own hair was a hopeless mop that stayed insistently beyond redemption, Yuu's has healthy, gorgeous dark hair that is an object of envy, and served as lunch time banter topic for the whole order since day one.

Kanda Yuu is dead.

"Yuu…"

There was no response.

Unbidden, tears began to roll down his face as a harsh sob of anguish escaped from the depths of his throat. Before, he had stopped himself from crying because he had made his apprentice a promise. Before, he knew he would only make the child afraid if the little one heard him weeping…

"If I don't die… Will you stop crying?"

"You promised…" Tiedoll half-yelled, "…you promised not to die…!"

The boy did nothing to acknowledge his statement. He could no longer do it.

He touched the boy's forehead, and whispered a final blessing.

Then he collected the boy's body into his arms and wept.

He did not know how long he cried for, only that his tears were falling onto Kanda's face, and at times it looked as if the boy had been crying as well before he died. It were as if by holding onto the boy's cold body, he could impart some measure of warmth and bring the boy back to life…

The medical team left him to be, only the head nurse came forward and whispered, "I'm sorry. We just…couldn't save him…."

Tiedoll only shook his head, he knew it was not their fault; Kanda's was clearly beyond saving at that point, it was his fault for daring to hope.

"I'm so sorry." She said again, with finality. She was clearly grieved by the death of the child, and for some reason, Tiedoll found some measure of comfort in that. Some say that the measure of ones value, is by the tears shed over him.

A breath stirred Tiedoll's fringe, and it took him by surprise. His eyes snapped open.

A miracle was happening right in front of his eyes.

The boy sputtered, then took a breath and started coughing in earnest.

"Kanda?" Tiedoll exclaimed, "Kanda!" The head nurse converged in upon the master and disciple one again.

"Oh my! Jessica! Come here, call the doctor back! The boy lives!"

Kanda curled up in Tiedoll's arms, shivering from pain and abuse to his wounded lungs. "Le…." He rasped, droplets of blood followed his speech.

"What?" Tiedoll demanded as he shook Kanda's frame, he needed to hear the boy snap at him to make things feel real, Kanda is alive!

"Let…go…!" He snapped weakly as he pushed against Tiedoll's chest, his bloodied hands staining his master's uniform uncaringly. "It hurts…"

"General, we need you to go out first..." The head nurse was smiling as she tugged at Tiedoll's sleeve, all the while muttering. "A miracle, a real miracle!"

"Sor…sorry." He muttered to the boy as he replaced his tiny frame onto the bed, euphoria still at work, he resisted the urge to throw his arms around the boy to embrace him.

The boy tried to sit up unsteadily, then gave up and laid still. He hooked strands of matted hair behind his ear to throw a poisonous glare at his master.

"Were you…crying…?"

Tiedoll was taken by surprise. He wiped roughly at his face as he lied, "No…"

"Disgusting…" Kanda snapped feebly, apparently fighting sleep.

Then the boy raised a hand weakly, and poked awkwardly at his master's face, smudging away the tear stains. Tiedoll was rendered speechless at the gesture.

"I said I won't die…" The boy whispered as he close his eyes, he was renewing his promise. His hand began to fall then, but Tiedoll caught it in midair.

"I know…I know…!" Tiedoll began to cry anew. "I'll stop…promise."

"Liar…" Kanda accused softly, not opening his eyes at all.

"I'll make up for it." He assured as he had to let go.

Kanda lips curled…

"…I want soba…"

And at the door, Tiedoll smiled through his tears as he replied the now nearly unconscious boy.

"I'll ask Jeryy to cook it. As much as you can eat…"

Don't die...

End

Author's note: I fell in love with Chaa Soba because of DGM.

Lolz. So for my birthday today, my mother treated me to one of the best sobas in my life, lightly salted, fragrant, sweet after-taste and bouncy noodles. Love it!

Try it some time.

I always believed that one person's love is enough to redeem another, condemnation is never complete, so long as one still dares to hope.

Hope you guys like this story, I'll go brew on whether to write the first meetings between Lenalee and Kanda as well.

Thank you for your support!

Yours

Ming