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“I want to learn how to fight.”
Kanda looked over at his companion, who was staring at him with bright, determined eyes. “What the hell are you talking about.”
“I wanna know how to defend myself!” Johnny insisted, “I don’t want to have to always be relying on you to get me out of trouble!”
Oh. He was still caught up on the fact that Kanda had stepped in and punched out the sleazebag that had tried to take advantage of the good-natured scientist during their search through the red-light district the night before. For a man that had constantly surrounded himself with women, that bastard Cross was in debt to an obnoxious amount of gay bars.
“Tch, with your luck you’d just wind up in even more trouble if you learned how to throw a punch.” Johnny gave him a forceful attempt at a glare, which ended up looking more like a sullen pout instead. “You’re not going to drop this, are you?”
“Nope~” Johnny said, perking right back up. Kanda sighed, rubbing his brow, wondering not for the first time why the smallest people were always the most stubborn. “Please, Kanda~”
Kanda held out one hand, palm flat facing the scientist. “Show me your punch.” Johnny smiled and puffed out his chest, making a fist. He stepped forward with one foot and hit Kanda’s hand with all his might. Pap! Kanda’s face was utterly blank with disbelief. “That was pitiful…” The tap had hardly moved Kanda’s hand at all.
Johnny’s ears turned bright red. “Let me try again!” The second attempt was equally disappointing; the scientist’s pout was more damaging to the exorcist than his punch. This was going to be hopeless.
Kanda let out a heavy sigh, rubbing his temple in anticipation of the headache that this was certain to become. “Okay, if we’re going to do this, there are three main things that you’ll need to worry about: How to throw a punch, how to block a punch, and knowing when to get the hell out of the way.” Kanda emphasized the last point and Johnny gave him a small nod, rubbing at his arm meekly. “Nothing’s going to change overnight, so the same rule as usual applies until I say otherwise: I tell you to move or run, you do it.”
“Aye aye, Captain!” He grinned widely, snapping a salute. With the wrong hand. Kanda chuckled; it was the thought that counted.
“Let’s start with your foundation—you need to plant your feet so that your punch can have some power behind it…”
________
They practiced every morning before they headed out to canvass the businesses that were on Cross’s debt list. Johnny started meditating with Kanda at dawn and continued his habit of jogging in the evenings, even convincing the swordsman to join him upon occasion. While his endurance was still not great, Kanda had to admit that the state of constant activity and movement that Johnny stayed in was making an impact on the force that the scrawny scientist was able to pack behind his punches; progress was slow, but it was there.
That afternoon’s search steered them towards an even less desirable section of town than following Cross’s trail of debts usually did. Many of the windows in the buildings were boarded up, and those that weren’t sported mostly broken glass. Johnny’s brows were knitted together in concentration as he tried to locate their next stop on the map of the city, only it didn’t appear to be on the map. He squinted and brought his face closer to the map as if closer proximity would make it magically appear. Kanda had to fight the urge to snatch the map from his hands and take a look for himself.
Johnny banked a sharp left, taking them down an alleyway lined with dingy and cracked stairwells leading to building basements and that was scarcely wide enough for the two of them to walk side by side if they tucked close together. Kanda tightened his grip on Mugen’s hilt out of force of habit. They wandered through the maze of cramped alleys for a handful of minutes before Johnny paused in front of one of a decrepit stairwell, illuminated by a lonely lamp above the doorframe.
“Um…I think this is it…” The scientist peered down the stairs hesitantly, looking at the swordsman to take point.
“Tch, what the hell is this place—an opium den?” Johnny shrugged and handed him the receipt.
“Dunno, it just has the date and address along with what’s due.” Kanda huffed and shoved the paper back into Johnny’s open hand, descending the stairs two at a time, Johnny pausing half way down.
A peephole opened up before Kanda had the chance to knock, a set of dark eyes glaring out at them, haze drifting out from the opening. “Whatcha want?” The man called out, eyes narrowing. Kanda took out a picture of Allen from his coat pocket, holding it up to the opening.
“We’re looking for this kid. You seen ‘im?”
“What’s it worth to you if I have?”
“Tch, have you seen the stupid brat or not?!” He barked at the man, glaring and shoving the picture closer to the door, which Johnny plucked from his fingers, hanging onto his arm.
“Please excuse him…” Johnny apologized, tugging on the other man’s arm, “C’mon, let’s just go…Cross might’ve come here, but Allen wouldn’t have stayed in a place like this…”
They hadn’t hardly turned around when the door to the drug parlor swung open with a bang, knocking Kanda into the stone wall of the stairwell, his head reeling from the shock of the blow. The bouncer grabbed Kanda by the jacket and slammed him back into the wall. He pinned the teen to the wall, pressing a thick forearm into his neck, and drew a revolver from the waistband of his trousers, jabbing Kanda in the side with it and ignoring Johnny entirely.
“So, you’re friends with that bastard Cross, eh? That conniving ginger owes the boss-man a whole lotta money, kid. Whaddya say about helping us send him a little message, hmm?” Kanda gritted his teeth and growled, clawing at the arm that was crushing his throat.
“Let him GO!” Johnny planted his feet and let his fist fly, connecting with the side of the man’s shaved head with a resounding crack! The bouncer stumbled and then fell to the ground, his head bouncing off the ground just to add insult to injury. No longer being held up, the swordsman’s knees buckled and he slid down the slick stone wall.
Kanda just sat there propped up on his elbows, gaping at Johnny who was still standing over the man’s crumpled form, eyes scrunched shut and fist still extended from where he had landed the punch. After a moment of shocked silence, he barked out a laugh, picking himself up off the ground and dusting off his exorcist’s jacket.
“Huh, I guess there’s some hope for you yet.” Johnny opened one eye and cautiously nudged the would-be mugger with a foot before turning to Kanda with a triumphant smile.
“I did it!” His smile faltered as he watched Kanda rub a kink out of the back of his neck with a grimace. “Are you okay?” He stood on his tiptoes to bring himself eye level with Kanda, taking his hands and gently running his fingers over the back of the teen’s head, who winced when his fingers brushed over the spot where his head had hit the stone.
“I’ll live.” Kanda hiked his thumb towards the unconscious man, “Let’s just get out of here before someone starts to miss this guy.”
Kanda allowed Johnny to take his hand, pausing only a moment to examine the bruise blooming across the scientist’s knuckles with a sense of pride before following the older man back up the stairs and returning to safer streets, having had enough of an adventure for one day.