Disclaimer: Ultraman and all associated characters belong to Tsuburaya Productions. No infringement of any of the rights of the creators or distributors is intended. This fanfic may only be distributed with explicit permission from the author and without any monetary value exchanged.
Companionship
an Ultraman Moebius fanfic
by Hoshikage
Mirai limped slowly down the street, avoiding still-smoking piles of debris. Buildings creaked around him, shards of concrete occasionally showering down from the walls. He ducked clumsily out of the way of one of the larger chunks and kept going. Much as his leg hurt, he wasn't going to wind up with any more damage than a spectacular set of bruises for a few hours. And he'd already had the lecture about not letting buildings fall down on him all the time from Ryuu (even though it was only the once...), so he didn't intend to stay in an unstable area for long. He knew he wasn't far from that park with the big round pool - that should be a safe area to wait for his friends.
At least everyone had been evacuated successfully this time... the monster had done a terrifying amount of damage before they'd managed to destroy it. If they hadn't had as much warning as they did, things could have been much worse...
Mirai paused and looked up at the clouds as a few fat drops of water struck the street, then he hunched his shoulders as the fitful drops turned abruptly into a full-blown torrent.
Well... at least this would probably help put any remaining fires out.
Sighing, he hunched his shoulders against the wet, even though the filthy GUYS uniform was still intact enough to be fairly waterproof, and started down the street again, only to stop again a block later as he heard a strange noise. He blinked and turned around, looking for the source.
There it was again. A tiny, piteous sort of cry.
Quickly Mirai bent down to look underneath the closest pile of concrete, then moved to the next when he saw nothing. A few more quick checks led him to a gap underneath one of the chunks of concrete that had been propped up by another, creating a small space underneath. Glowing eyes blinked at him, and then as he peered closer he could see a bedraggled kitten wedged into a corner. It looked at him and mewed pathetically, and Mirai didn't hesitate a moment before reaching out to it. Hello there, he thought encouragingly.
The kitten uncurled from the corner and wobbled immediately into Mirai's hands, letting him pull it out from under the concrete. The tiny thing was even more soaked than Mirai was, and its fur was so covered with gray dust that it was impossible to tell what color it was underneath. He bent over it to keep it shielded from the rain with his own body, then unzipped his jacket as it mewed again. "Here we go," he said, tucking the kitten against his chest. He held his arm cradling the kitten and zipped up his jacket most of the way, and the damp kitten mewed once more and then settled into an inaudible purring that Mirai could only feel as a low vibration against his chest. He smiled and went back to limping down the street.
Poor thing, all alone like that. Don't worry, you won't be alone anymore, I promise.
The kitten continued purring.
Ryuu jogged up to Mirai where he was sitting on a chunk of metal that looked as though it had originally come from one of the park's modern art statues. "There you are," he said, then frowned as Mirai got to his feet awkwardly, obviously trying not to put too much weight on his right leg and keeping his right arm curled against his chest. "You okay?" Moebius had kind of taken a beating in that fight...
Mirai gave him a tired smile. "I'm all right, Ryuu-san." But he flinched away a little as Ryuu reached out to him, so Ryuu quickly dropped the idea of offering a shoulder to lean on. He'd just send a message to Teppei on the way back instead, so he could drag Mirai off to the infirmary. Teppei was a lot better at resisting Mirai's puppy-dog eyes than the rest of them were, for some reason.
"C'mon," Ryuu said instead, starting back toward the Gun Winger. "Let's go home. You know, you could have waited under an awning or something," he added, glancing at Mirai's damp uniform. It hadn't been intended as all-out rain gear, and he was probably chilled through in addition to banged up.
Mirai limped along behind him. "You told me to avoid buildings," he protested.
"Do you have no common sense? Wait, don't answer that." Ryuu waved a hand at the shop next to them. "I don't think this thing's likely to fall down on you, so-" Then he blinked and looked around. He could have sworn he heard a meow, one that sounded strangely close by considering that the street seemed to be empty of any living things besides themselves. "What was that?"
Mirai gave him a wide-eyed look. "What was what?"
Ryuu looked up as a gust of wind splattered raindrops against them harder for a moment and made the metal support of the awning creak. "Never mind, must have imagined it," he said, hastening his steps toward the plane where he'd landed it in the parking lot, empty now as almost all of the cars had been used for the evacuation. "Let's get out of this weather before we freeze."
Something was definitely up.
Mirai had been fidgety for almost the entire ride back, but apparently he didn't want to tell Ryuu what was wrong. So finally Ryuu gave up and let him stew, or whatever. It didn't seem like how Mirai acted when he was worried about something relating to the monster they'd just fought (and besides, it seemed like for once this monster hadn't left any sub-monsters behind, or spit poison gunk all over the city that had to be cleaned up, or anything else complicated), so it seemed most likely that he was having trouble finding a comfortable position in the GunWinger's cramped rear seat. Ryuu grumbled at himself for not thinking of that - Mirai had been moving like he was one big bruise, so it wasn't surprising. And of course, like the idiot he was, he always wanted to pretend he was fine.
Well, Teppei wouldn't fall for it, Ryuu thought with satisfaction, glancing at his Memory Display where Teppei's acknowledgement of his message flashed briefly.
He heard another little, high-pitched noise, and blinked at the controls. Nothing seemed to be beeping or flashing. What was that?
"Um, Ryuu-san?" Mirai asked, sounding uncomfortable. "Do you think we should ask Araiso-san to check the cockpit latches when we get back?"
"Huh?" Ryuu asked, then blinked. "Are they squeaking?" Was that what the noise had been?
"Well, there was that scrape from the rock the monster threw," Mirai pointed out.
"That barely hit at all," Ryuu protested, insulted.
"I know, but just in case..."
Ryuu sighed. "Yeah, okay. Don't want it breaking off all of a sudden, I got it." One of these days, he was really going to have to have a talk with Mirai about his habit of being overprotective of everyone else and yet constantly throwing himself headlong into trouble over his stupidly-tall head, Ryuu grumbled to himself as he started the descent toward Phoenix Nest.
Mirai stopped short as he saw the Captain and Teppei waiting in the hallway. "Uh..."
"Thought you'd wiggle your way out of it, did you?" Ryuu said smugly. "Fat chance."
"But..."
Teppei folded his arms and fastened his most stubborn look on Mirai. "Look, don't make me get the Captain to order you." The Captain's mouth twitched in that way that meant he was trying to hold back a smile. Teppei didn't really wait for a response though, reaching out to grab Mirai's left shoulder. "Come on, we're going to the infirmary."
"But-" Mirai protested again, then suddenly Teppei yanked his hand back with a startled cry as a sharp squeaking noise came from right where he'd put his hand on Mirai's jacket.
"Hey, wait a minute," Ryuu said, suddenly seeing what looked an awful lot like a small bulge under the jacket where Mirai was holding his hand right beneath it. A bulge that squeaked, apparently. He stalked across the two steps separating them and grabbed Mirai's collar, unzipping the jacket partway before Mirai could do more than yelp a protest, especially since his hand was full...
...holding a kitten inside his jacket. A very small, very dirty kitten.
"You have got to be kidding me," Ryuu said.
The kitten mewed plaintively, blinking blue eyes at him. Ryuu didn't even want to look up, knowing Mirai probably had the exact same plaintive expression right about now.
"Oh, dear," Sakomizu sighed.
"Can I keep it?" Mirai asked hopefully, and as Ryuu looked up, there it was - Mirai's patented deadly lost-puppy expression. Ryuu slapped his hand to his face, partly in exasperation and partly using the gesture to cover his eyes. He was totally not getting caught in the middle of this one. So not happening.
"Well..."
"What are you going to name her, Mirai-kun?" Konomi asked, putting down a bowl of water in the corner that Mirai had hastily cleared. The kitten, underneath all the dirt and dust, had ironically enough turned out to be a silvery-gray anyway. Konomi wasn't surprised that she'd been drafted to give Mirai a crash course in feline care - she was just surprised he'd managed to get the Captain to go along with it. Ryuu was going around alternating between swearing and looking as though he wanted to laugh his head off. Marina, of course, thought it was adorable, and George was threatening mayhem if the kitten got into anything of his, which of course meant that the kitten would be climbing over George every chance she got. She wasn't sure what Teppei thought about it, but she thought he was probably still annoyed with Mirai for making him look as though he was afraid of a little kitten.
"I don't know," Mirai said in a tone of realization, watching as the kitten explored the unfamiliar surface of his bed. "What do people usually name cats?"
"Well, there's always Momo, or Tama," Konomi replied, then giggled. "Or you could name her Hikari. She's silver, and she's got blue eyes."
Mirai smiled brilliantly. "That's a wonderful idea!" He picked up the kitten and cuddled it. The kitten purred in response and licked Mirai's face.
"Then Hikari it is!"
Mirai opened his eyes in the darkness of his room as he felt Hikari jump up next to him. She was a lot bigger already, but she was still small enough that she could curl up in her favorite place next to him, her head tucked under his chin. Mirai smiled and wished her a silent goodnight as she purred against him, the feeling of her fur against his skin filling him with warmth.
-Years Later-
Ryuu opened the door and raised his eyebrows as he saw Serizawa sitting at his kitchen table with the cat in his lap. Or someone who looked like Serizawa, anyway.
"Are you planning on giving up breaking and entering one of these days?" Ryuu asked, pulling off his uniform jacket and tossing it on the couch.
Hikari looked up at him with a wry expression. "Perhaps when you stop staying overlate at work."
Ryuu protested, "Hey, a Captain's gotta do what a Captain's gotta do. New rookies. You should know how it is." He sat down at the table, and Hikari the cat meowed a greeting but, of course, refused to actually remove herself from the lap she had claimed. "I bet Ultra kiddies are just as bad."
Serizawa's lips twitched. "I wouldn't know, actually. I'm just a scientist; Moebius has been doing the teaching lately."
Ryuu tried to sound casual. "So how's he doing?"
"Well, or so I'm told. All he talks about when I'm there is how soon he can come back here, of course." One hand rubbed the cat's ear, and she purred loudly.
Ryuu tried to hold back the question, but when he saw the small, knowing smile he couldn't stop himself. "All right, out with it! When?"
"Another month, I'd say." Serizawa smiled. "Enough time for you to make room."
Ryuu blew out a breath. "Well, good." He leaned back in his chair. "Though I don't know about having enough room in here. I can't believe how much of a packrat Mirai is. It's like he's got to have every shiny thing he sees." As Serizawa chuckled, Ryuu transferred his gaze to Hikari the cat and changed the subject, wanting to avoid too much talking about Mirai behind his back. "Why is it every time you come over, my cat ignores my existence completely? I feel betrayed or something."
"I suppose she's imprinted on Ultras," Serizawa said lightly.
"I don't think cats imprint," Ryuu retorted. "I think she does it just to get my goat, like another Hikari I know."
"Why did Moebius name her that?" Serizawa asked suddenly. "Every time I've asked him, he gets embarrassed and won't answer."
"Oh, knowing him it's some silly sappy thing about how it would feel like you were there with him, or something." Ryuu watched Serizawa's hand abruptly stop its petting of Hikari's fur. This was the closest he'd ever gotten to the subject without scaring him off, so he kept his voice casual as he went on, "It wouldn't kill you to stick around a little longer when you visit, you know. Mirai misses you." He paused, hardly daring to push further, but Hikari hadn't vanished to avoid the conversation yet so he plunged in. "I'd like to see more of you too, for that matter."
Dark eyes looked into his own, surprised. "But... I'm not your-"
"Man, are all Ultras idiots?" Ryuu sighed explosively. "Yeah, I know you just look like my Captain and you aren't really him. I'm over it. You'd think you'd have figured out by now that I'm not upset about what you look like." He draped his arm over the back of his chair, trying to look relaxed. "I'm pretty sure Mirai's gotten over whatever you think the issue is, too. What, did you try to kill him or something?"
"I..."
Ryuu waved a hand. "Seriously, not important," he said, not waiting for the answer. "The point is, we're your friends. You don't have to hold yourself so aloof from us."
Hikari turned his eyes back toward the cat in his lap instead of looking at Ryuu. For her part, the cat in question rubbed her face against the hand that had so inconsiderately stopped petting her, and slowly he started again. "I've... never had many friends," the Ultra admitted. "I've spent so much time researching on my own..."
"What, need an instruction manual or something?" Ryuu said, feeling the tension ease enough to tease him. Maybe this time he would actually manage not to scare Hikari off. "What kind of self-respecting scientist can't figure things out without the instructions?"
Hikari didn't answer, so Ryuu leaned forward. "Give it a try," he urged. "Maybe you'll screw up, but maybe you won't. How will you know if you don't try?"
Hikari the cat purred loudly, nuzzling the Ultra host's hand as he stared past her, lost in thought.
"Ryuu-san!" Mirai cried delightedly, appearing in a bright and very flashy cascade of sparkles in the middle of the living room. Ryuu was glad he'd closed all the blinds. He hadn't yet managed to convince Mirai to tone it down when he came home.
Ryuu looked up from his book, then tossed it aside on the couch. "Geez, don't any of you ever knock?" he teased.
Mirai blinked, then looked up as Hikari came running with her tail high to greet him, and as she rubbed against his legs the other Hikari stood a little uncomfortably in the doorway.
"Yeah, look who's on vacation," Ryuu drawled. "Wanna help me talk him into playing tourist? Golden Week's coming up, you've got good timing."
Mirai beamed. "Are you staying for a while?" he asked happily.
Hikari glanced between them, and Ryuu smirked. He wasn't going to get Mirai to take those puppy-dog eyes off Hikari. The other Ultra hesitated, then admitted defeat. "I... suppose I am."
"That's wonderful! Ryuu-san, where should we go?" Mirai picked up Hikari and cuddled her as he claimed one of the chairs. "Where haven't we been yet? Oh, wait, we should take Hikari somewhere he hasn't been, instead. Where would you like to go?" He hadn't paused for breath the entire time, pretty much, and Ryuu grinned as Hikari sat down in the remaining chair, looking rather flummoxed. Mirai kept right on talking, and Ryuu leaned back in the couch and smiled at the occupied chairs.
Now this was more like home.
-The End-