+----
The Black
Order H.Q.: Half past lunchtime...
----+
"Okay
everyoooooone, please listen!"
Komui's singsong voice filled
the library as he and his coffee waltzed in the door. Nobody looked
up from their work but Leenalee and Allen.
Apparently the
attention was enough, and Komui smiled at their expectant faces.
"Good news!" he said, spreading his arms dramatically.
Coffee sloshed discreetly over the rim of the cup. "We have
another exorcist joining us! I'm giving his a small tour,
so..."
Lenalee almost visibly shifted from congenial library
mood to perky, welcoming committee mode. "Brother, you know I
can show them around if you're busy or-"
"Ah Leenalee!
So helpful!! X3 But that's quite alright- I need to take him to see
Hevlaska anyway, so this is easier." Komui had walked over to
pat his sister on the head, drinking his coffee with a smirk. Allen
cleared his throat politely. The look on the boy's face seemed
cheery, if not a little apprehensive. Secretly he was hoping he
wasn't about to have another Kanda to deal with. "So
then...where is this new member? If you're giving him a tour, would
he not have come in with you...?"
Komui stared blankly at Allen from over his mug.
"...uh..." After a few minutes, Allen began to feel a little uneasy. "W-what I meant to say was..er...
"Ah, that's right!" Komui seemed to
reanimate as the gears in his head finally turned. Leenalee sighed.
Her brother turned back to the library doors and cupped a hand to his
mouth. "Kandaaaa If you're done glaring at one another then
please bring him in!"
Allen looked down at the table
defeatedly. That hadn't sounded hopeful...
"Ah- That
hair!" Leenalee sounded delighted. "Allen-kun, could this
somehow be a relative of yours?"
"Huh?" Allen
looked back up curiously and surprise overtook his face. In the
doorway stood a man who seemed about Komui's age...Maybe older. It
was hard to tell for sure because, like Allen, the newcomer had
strange, white hair.
At present, he made no move to introduce
himself, as he was busy staring belligerently at Kanda. Kanda was
glaring daggers right back (which came as no surprise). Allen found
himself morbidly curious as to what happened between them that they
were already getting along so badly. (Though, considering Kanda's
personality, maybe they were getting along very well...)
Komui
casually kept the conversation rolling.
"Everyone, this is
Ginko. Ginko-san, this is my very cute little sister who is always so
clever and sweet and if you go near her I'm afraid I'll have to break
your hands; Leenalee. And there is Allen-kun. He's also joined us
recently, so you'll probably get along well. And that's number 65
very helpful, but sometimes-"
Komui went on like this for a
while, chattily introducing everyone unfortunate enough to be in the
room. During the time it took, Ginko had broken off his staring
contest with Kanda to look around. Allen watched as the green gaze
seemed to follow something invisible around the room. As his head
turned, the boy caught a glimpse of the empty left eye socket and
looked away quickly.
"-So let's all be friends, okay?"
Super caffeinated Komui finally finished talking. Leenalee and a few
others looked slightly relieved.
+----
Hevlaska
----+
"Ginko-san,
are you alright?"
Ginko was looking a little queasy as
Hevlaska set him back down on the platform. He had reacted quite
calmly to being handled by something like her, but Komui had noticed
how the other's face went pale after seeing her.
"Maybe you
need to sit...?"
"Ah, no- I'm fine. It just...it was
familiar for reasons I'd rather not recall." Ginko tried to seem
nonchalant.
Dark eyebrows raised upwards ever so quizzically, and
Komui slurped his coffee. Please recall them, he thought to
himself. The way you phrased that makes me much too curious.
What
he said though, was, "Eh? No fair being elusive,
Ginko-san We're practically family here at the Order, so please feel
free to talk openly about your unprecedented encounters with
Hevlaska-esque beings:3"
Komui always did fail at being subtle...
+----
It runs through our veins. We are bonded
as a family by this miracle morning beverage!
----+
"I'm
not really a coffee person, actually..." Ginko had been trying,
for the past ten minutes, to decline Leenalee's offers for various
unfamiliar breakfast foods. But at this last statement, Komui's
attention seemed to perk from across the room.
"Whaaaaaaat??"
The beret-wearing young man had Ginko's neck locked in the crook of
his arm in seconds flat. And he was doing his best to be dramatically
insulted.
"How can you say that, Ginko-san? Without the smell
of coffee to wake up to in the morning; Without cute and wonderful
Leenalee to cheerfully hand you a steaming mug as you groggily crawl
out of your half-awakened stupor; Without the rich and bitter
caffeine going zing! through your veins at seven o'clock in
the morning-!!"
Ginko gave a pained expression at that
one.
"How? How do you survive?? You need sustenance!
Or...wait. Could it be perhaps, that the problem lies in your mug? Is
it not appealing enough? If that's the case I... I'll lend you my
Funny Bunny mug!!"
Everyone in the room fell deathly silent.
Even Allen was horrified at the gravity of what Komui had just
said.
Ginko stopped struggling to get free of Komui's grip and blinked. He broke the silence of the room with an incredulous,
" 'Funny Bunny'?"
+----
The importance of adaptation
in man as a survival mechanism:
---+
Ginko sat uneasily
in his chair, hands almost literally vibrating from caffeine
overload. In the end, he'd drank a cup of coffee to appease his
seniors and superiors. Once Komui had done the unthinkable, by
offering up his favorite mug, everyone began insisting
that Ginko comply. He didn't understand... Were they always so
abnormal here? Maybe this had been a bad career choice...
"Tch!"
He had to lock his fingers together to try and keep the shaking at
bay. It worked for a moment, but then the jittering moved up into his
shoulders. Soon Ginko became his own personal little earthquake. Even
his mind felt jittery.
Dammit... he thought. I'm never
drinking coffee again! There's a reason I don't like it... Adashino-
if this keeps up, I'm going to die! I'll have them send my body to
you. Tanyuu would be too sad to deal with it. I'm never going to be
able to sleep tonight. Ah well... I'll figure something out. Just so
long as I can avoid these strange people, only for a little while. I
think living in in a place like this has made them insane... I should
write Tanyuu a letter soon-
Ginko's brain-prattling continued
on in an unbroken, caffeinated string of thought until a hand was
laid gently over his own. He looked up shakily, deadpan and
twitching, to see Komui smiling down at him.
"Sorry Ginko."
The usually singsong voice was quiet and steady. "I guess we
made you drink a little too much."
Ginko worked his
expression into something a little more threatening. Komui took his
hand away, but now sat next to the glowering man. His smile turned a
little apologetic.
"Try to get used to it quickly. Soon
you'll get to the point where work will be impossible without
it."
Ginko tried not to look distraught.
He failed.
Komui
just kept smiling.
"If it helps, I'll continue to lend you my
mug."
Green gaze narrowed slightly.
"You're not going
to give me an option, are you?"
The smile only got
wider.
"No."
Adashino...save me.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Author's note: I may or may not continue this I had a lot of fun with it, but I don't really have any idea where it would go from here. () I'm going to mark it "unfinished" for now, just in case something comes to mind. Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed!
