Crossover

What friends are these

Allen didn’t have to worry. As the white-haired boy stepped out of the cafeteria the dark teen materialized at his side. He didn’t say anything as he threaded their way through the crowd. His scowling face got them an almost clear path. Kanda didn’t look like someone you wanted to mess with.
He took them down a hall with few people in it. Opening a door on the left, Allen groaned. “Gym class.” He sneered. There was one good thing about this class, as he walked in, he saw his brothers. Allen smiled.
“Hey guys.” He called abandoning Kanda to walk over to them. Rat was in the far corner; Kanda didn’t even acknowledge the boy. He moved along the lockers, picking out one that was in the same row as the triplets.
Shion pulled his shirt off. Kanda glared at him. “That wraps around your entire body?” Rat asked as  he leaned on a locker blocking the end of the row. He was already changed to participate. Shion gave him a small grin. “Yeah.” He smirked “It's everywhere.” Allen laughed throwing a shirt at him. Nai made a face.
“Don't be gross.” The small boy said. The others laughed. Suddenly Gareki appeared.
“What are you doing here?” Rat asked. Gareki shuffled past him.
“Mrs. Baum asked if I wanted to switch gym classes.” He gave a one shoulder shrug. “I knew you two where in this class, so why not. Now these guys, it's great.” He winked at Nai, who was only as tall as the middle of his chest.
“Someone needs to protect this little guy.” He said rubbing his knuckles along the top of his head.
“Get off!” Nai cried. Allen and Shion watched the pair.
“We watch him.” Allen pointed out. Rat sighed.
“Something tells me you are all going to have your hands full with these knuckle heads.” He thrust a thumb over his should where some athletic looking boys were laughing at their row.
“It won't be the first time.” Allen said glaring at them.
“Won’t be the last either.” Shion agreed. Nai looked nervously around his older brothers.
“Allen, when can I learn to fight?” he asked eyeing the other boys. Allen ruffled his hair.
“Don’t be in such a hurry. Once you learn those skills….”
“…you never stop using them.” Shion finished. The two looked at each other over the other boy’s head. Their expressions grim. Rat glanced at Kanda; they hadn't missed the look.
“Let's move it!” The gym teacher yelled. The boys finished up, closed their lockers and headed out.
Once in the gym everyone was running laps, the six boys joined in. Nai loved to run. He picked up speed as his feet hit the ground. “Nai!” Shion called.
“I got him.” Gareki ran after the boy. Allen moved up. He was almost behind the idiots from the locker room. Although they hadn’t said anything, he was sure they had wanted too. He was also sure it was due to Kanda's presence that they hadn't. He decided to get a little ways away from the teen.
Rat ran at Shion’s side. If the pale boy put on speed, the dark one matched it. Shion couldn't catch up to his brother. Fear gnawed at his stomach. Allen was known to do stupid things. He watched as his brother drew even to the jocks. Allen slowed to run abreast with them.
“What is he doing?” Kanda hissed.
“Picking his battle grounds.” Shion said. He slowed for half a heartbeat. Rat took the extra few steps. Shion dodged around him. He was on the outside. Nai was lapping them, Gareki doing all he could to keep up, was failing. Nai laughed looking over his shoulder. Allen and Shion saw it at the same time.
One of the boys stuck out their foot. Allen veered to try and get to Nai. Shion bolted across the court. Wind swept his hair into his face. A dark blur blasted by him. Something large landed near Nai. Hands grabbed him just as his feet hit the others foot. Nai had begun to pinwheel his arms to keep his balance.
As Kanda held the small boy up, a blur of white collided with the one which had tried to trip the other. Allen and Shion hit the teen at the same time. The boy flew backwards into the safety mats along the outside of the gym walls. Gareki paused beside Rat. Rat stood next to Nai.
The tripper’s friends came up behind the white-haired teens. “Ouch!” Kanda yelled then swore. His hand had tiny teeth marks in it. Nai screamed. It wasn't a normal scream. Loud and high pitched it tore at your ears. The boys bearing down on his brothers covered their ears. Nai also had his hands pressed flat to his ears. He didn’t stop screaming until Shion reached his side. Nearly everyone in the gym was on their knees.
Shion gently tapped his hands. Nai opened his eyes as he looked up to the boy. Tears ran down his cheeks. He threw his arms around his older brother. Allen came up behind him.
“And that is why you don’t need to learn to fight, little man.” His brother rubbed his back.
“What the hell was that?” the gym teacher yelled. By this time the girls had reached the gym. A female gym teacher was standing next to the male.
“My brother was being bullied.” Allen said simply. He made eye contact with the teachers. It was obvious in his stance that he was challenging them.
“Well he has a set of lungs on him!” the female teacher said.
“You should have seen him run!” the male commented. “He lapped everyone.”
“Even Jax?” the woman asked arching her eyebrows in disbelief. The male nodded.
“Jax tried to trip him.” Kanda said glaring at the offending boy. The teachers made the seven boys stay after class. Jax denied everything saying Allen and Shion tackled him for no reason. The school had cameras everywhere besides the bathrooms and locker rooms.
The gym teachers replayed the tape. They saw Jax sticking his foot out as Nai came around. The white-haired boys head was turned. The tape played on as Kanda leapt halfway across the gym to grab the kid.
“How did you...” the man asked. Kanda only shrugged, mumbled about adrenaline and looked away. They were free to go with late passes to their next class.
Shion said good bye to Allen as Kanda stalked of in the opposite direction. Rat walked with the brothers to Nai's class. When he was safe inside, he moved along alone with Shion. He glanced over at the boy. Shion flashed him a smile.
“Your brother would be amazing at the long jump.” He joked. “How did he do that?” he asked tilting his head.
“Who knows, its Kanda after all.” Rat nearly growled.
“You don’t get along with your own brother?” Shion asked. He tsked.
“Kanda doesn’t get along well with the human race.” He said. They reached their class before Shion could reply. They had three more periods left in the day. When Rat and Shion reached their last class, Gareki was just walking away. Nai stood inside.
“Hey, you guys in this class too?” Allen asked walking up to them. Kanda ched and pushed his way inside, nearly knocking Rat into the wall.
“Yeah.” Shion said holding his friend upright.
“Inside.” Rat growled pushing the pair before him. Nai had taken a seat in the front. There were empty seats on either side. Allen and Shion took these. Rat moved to the back on the opposite side as Kanda. This class could be interesting., Allen thought with a smug grin.
The white-haired boys left school together. Allen next to the road, Nai in the center slightly ahead of the other two, and Shion by the guardrail. “Alright, plans for getting home?” Shion asked glancing at Allen.
“Don’t look at me, at least you can read a map.” He said. Nai glanced back, a worried look on his face.
“Wait, you guys don’t know how to get home?” Gareki asked amazement in his voice as he came up behind them.
“We are a bit directionally challenged.” Nai told him.
“How did you find school?” Rat asked dropping over the half wall that separated the sidewalk from the school.
“Nai listened to the sound of the kids.” Shion said. A tsk was heard from behind them. They turned to find Kanda leaning on the half wall that circled the school.
“You know your address?” he demanded. Nai proudly gave it to him. “Come on then.” They all turned to follow the sulking boy.
“Really you don’t have to do this.” Shion blushed as Rat walked beside him. Nai and Gareki had their heads bent together over Nai’s phone. Every so often one would chuckle, aside from that those walking with them didn’t hear a word of their conversation.
“Don’t worry about it, Yu has a hero complex.” Rat snarled.
“Don’t call me Yu!” The boy leading them thundered.
“It’s your name!” Rat called. Kanda halted spinning swiftly, he faced the younger boy.
“Do you really want to go there?” he asked his tone menacing. Rat looked away.
“No.” he muttered. Kanda gave him a satisfied smirk, before turning back around.
“What is his deal?” Shion asked. “I mean we know Rat’s not your real name. Who cares what it is? I was named after a flower!” he laughed softly to himself.
“Stop talking.” Rat glared at the ground. Shion looked at him.
“Oh, come on, we have a bit of a walk.” Shion elbowed his arm. Rat turned his face away. “If you don’t talk to me, I will just try to guess your real name.” Shion teased. Allen was walking in Kanda’s shadow. He called back over his shoulder.
“He means it, he is a middle child after all!” There was some laughter from the two boys in the middle. No one else said anything. They walked along a street with very large houses on it. They didn’t look familiar to Shion, but he was enjoying the walk.
“Mortimer?” he called out randomly. There was no reaction from the boy at his side.
“Francine?” he tried again.
“Stop it.” Rat growled.
“Kim?” Nai said grinning back at him. Allen laughed.
“That’ a girl’s name.” he told the boy.
“There was a boy in my Math class whose name was Kim. Also one named Stacy in my art class and a Lynn in my English class.” He stuck out his chin to prove his point. Allen looked down at him fondly. He pulled the boy into his side with one arm. Hugging him he chuckled.
“Ok, you got me there.” He admitted. Nai’s face split open in a huge grin.
“Garfield?” Shion continued.
“UGH!” Rat cried. He kept his face buried in the large scarf he wore. Shion couldn’t see anything but his eyebrows. He chuckled.
“Tobias?” he said.
“Please, stop!” Rat begged. They reached a stop sign. Kanda turned left, they followed.
“We look like ducks!” Nai laughed. Gareki quaked to get the boy to giggle again. Rat glared into a tree. Three more streets and Kanda called Rat to keep them together as they crossed the road. During this time Shion had guessed Percy, Anton, Clyde, Kingston and Frankenstein, which had Nai laughing.
They continued down the street as now Nai and Shion were calling out more and more bizarre names, like Gustoff, Brayden, Marion, Maurice, and Aladdin. Rat refused to say anything to them.
“Where here.” Kanda said. He had stopped just before the end of the street. They stood in front of a small yellow house. The front and side doors where a deep grey color. As was the trim around the windows and the front steps. The yard was well maintained. The front porch was shaded by a roof that jutted out from the upstairs window. Off to the right was a driveway that curved around to the back of the house.
“That’s amazing!” Nai said his mouth hanging slightly open. He rushed up and hugged Kanda. The boy’s arms flew into the air as he looked startled at the boy who darted away up the steps.
“Mom, we’re home!”  he called running into the house.
“You want to come in?” Allen asked politely. Since Nai left the front door open you could hear a woman’s voice ask how they got there so quickly. She soon appeared in the doorway. She was about the same build as her sons. Her light brown hair was pulled back in a ponytail tied under a scarf.
“Oh, you made friends. Please come in. The cookies will be done in just a moment.” She held the door open. Gareki didn’t even look at his brothers. He rushed after Nai, who they saw bound up the inside stair case. Allen and Kanda followed a bit slower.
“Please come in.” Shion said to Rat. “I didn’t mean anything by the names. It was just a way to pass the walk. It keeps Nai happy.” He added a bit lamely.
“I have Cherry cakes as well.” She offered thinking that Rat’s hesitation was due to him not liking cookies.
“It’s fine.” Rat muttered to Shion. He took a step forward into the walkway that lead up to the porch. Shion smiled happily. When they reached the shadow of the front porch, Allen had just finished introducing Gareki and Kanda.
“This is their other brother, Rat.” He added with a bit more emphasis on the name.
“Rat?” she looked confused. Shion shrugged.
“That’s what he calls himself. This is our mom, Karen.” he said. Rat greeted her with a nice to meet you. Allen lead the way into the kitchen.
“At least you can find your way around your own house.” Kanda grumbled.
“If there is food, Allen can find it!” Shion teased his brother. Allen threw a kitchen towel at him. The boy dodged it and it smacked Rat in the face. Shion apologized once more.
‘He is going to really hate me now.’ The boy thought sadly. He walked over shimming between the wall and a chair to sit in the far corner of the table. The others sat around him, Rat the farthest away.