Disclaimer: I don't own any Kamen Rider characters or settings, including Hibiki or his world. I just can't seem to stop playing with them.
Author's Note: Be prepared for deaths in this. It's nothing explicit, but it is a fairly dark storyline. This was the result of my beta and I thinking about Hibiki's past. Hopefully someone enjoys!
"A friend is someone who knows the song in your heart, and can sing it back to you when you have forgotten the words."
Sing
The boy is singing when the oni finds him.
The hime and douji were good parents for their monstrous child. They had stockpiled food, filling a small cave high on the side of the mountain with unlucky hikers and campers. Most have already been reduced to broken articles of clothing. A few bodies, or at least pieces of bodies, are still recognizable, and he hopes that the boy's family isn't among those.
The boy's eyes are wide as the oni approaches, flicking side to side, following the oni's every movement. The song tumbling from the boy's chapped lips increases in volume.
Is it a good thing, that the boy's still so conscious and aware? Or does it mean the human part of him is already gone, devoured with the rest of the people in the cave?
No. He has to believe no, and he wills the helmet of his armor away so he can smile at the boy. "Don't be afraid. I'm here to help you."
The boy doesn't stop singing, though his expression changes from fear to hopeful disbelief.
Kneeling down by the boy, the oni slowly, gently unties him. "You're safe now. I promise."
The song hesitates, starts again, and trails off to a more natural finish. "Safe? They aren't coming back?"
"No." The last of the vine and web bindings come off the boy, revealing a disheveled, thin child of ten or eleven. "The monsters aren't coming back. I made sure of it."
"Neither are dad or mom." A shine covers the boy's eyes, but no tears fall. "Mom said they wouldn't be able to, but I just had to be brave and keep singing for her and everything would be all right."
Silence hangs between them, and the oni doesn't know what to say. He's no good at this part of the job. It's why he has a field assistant, but she's too far away right now to be of any help.
The boy starts to shiver convulsively, from shock or dawning comprehension or the bitter cold of the late fall night. All are reasonable options, and all have the same treatment.
Moving slowly, the oni gathers the boy into his arms. Any fear that the nightmare the boy's lived through will destroy him evaporates as the boy throws his arms around the oni's neck, clutching tightly. The boy's chest starts to heave, as though he were crying, but no tears come. He's probably too dehydrated to cry.
Instead the soft, sad strains of a funeral march slip from between the boy's cracked lips, punctuated by tearless sobs and half-strangled pleas for mother and father.
Holding the boy tight to him, the oni stands. He needs to get the boy out of here, away from this place of death and loss. Carrying him is almost too easy, the child's weight nothing compared to the burdens he hefts during training and battle. His left hand the oni uses to press the boy's head down tight against his neck and shoulder while they cross the cave, trying to shield the child from one final gruesome sight.
If the boy finds being carried by a monster and pressed tight to inhuman flesh frightening or horrifying, he gives no indication of it.
They're almost a day's hike from where he left his field assistant. He stops briefly by the river to get water into the boy, and he has to force the boy to drink slowly so he doesn't make himself ill.
They haven't gone more than five kilometers from their starting point before the boy's shivering worsens. His eyes take on a glassy cast, no longer focusing on everything around him or darting at every quiet sound in the night. The song he had been humming to himself becomes a discordant jumble of sounds, barely connected, the rhythm lost.
It's simply too cold on the mountain for a child without protection. Even the extra heat his oni form produces isn't enough to protect the boy from the cold, especially not with the wind nipping around them, wrenching away what heat the child's battered body manages to produce.
He gathers kindling one-handed, unwilling to set the boy down for anything. It's not a sensible reaction, because he's killed the most dangerous creatures in this part of the forest, but it's a human one, and he doesn't begrudge himself that. He has nothing to light the fire with, his matches having been lost in the river along with the rest of his pack during his initial fight with the hime. The fire he can produce from his mallet works well enough, though, the only downside being a quick scramble to find larger branches before the magically-created flames devour all the kindling.
It takes ten or fifteen minutes of sitting by the fire before the boy really starts to revive. His shivering slowly lessens, becoming just a slight vibration of his body. His eyes begin to focus again, and he raises his head slowly. Holding his hands out tentatively toward the fire, the boy glances at the oni. His humming slows, stops, and is followed by a deep-seated sigh of relief.
When the boy tries to scramble closer to the fire, the oni lets him, only using a steadying hand on his shoulder to keep him from falling too close and burning himself.
"That's it." Smiling at the child, the oni leans back and clasps his hands together. "Warm up."
"Thank you." The boy's voice is hoarse still, and he swallows, coughs, swallows again. "For helping me. Thank you."
"No need for thanks. It's my job." Slipping two of the new shikigami—disc creatures, that's what they were calling the strange metal things—off his belt, he considers them quietly. Finally tapping his tuning fork against a nearby branch, he activates the little ape-creature and wolf-creature. "Tell Hana that I'm fine. I've beaten the hime, douji, and makamou, but they were a bit further out of the way than we'd anticipated. I'll meet up with her tomorrow if she wants to start heading this way, along with our new guest."
The little beasts cavort, both managing something like a nod, and take off into the trees. Barring interference, they should both let his partner know where he is and that he's all right.
"What were those?" The boy stares into the forest where the two shikigami have disappeared. "Are they spirits? Are you a spirit?"
"No." A slight laugh escapes before he can help it. The boy doesn't act as though it hurts his feelings, though, simply continuing to stare at the oni. "No. I'm an oni, actually."
"No you're not." The boy speaks with absolute confidence. "Not unless you're a really weird oni."
"Well, some people would say that all of us oni are weird." He offers the child another smile. "But you're right. We're not like the oni you hear about in the stories. We… we're a group of people trying to protect other people from makamou. From the things that—"
"The things that killed my parents." The boy hugs his knees to his chest, resting his chin on them. "And a bunch of other people. I know. I heard Mom and Dad before they took Dad, and then I heard them take Mom."
"I'm sorry." It's a terribly inadequate thing to say to the child, and he knows that. But there is nothing that he can say that will make what has happened any better. Perhaps it's better not to say anything about it at all. "Do you have a name?"
"Do you?" The boy looks at him, a piercing glance over the top of his knees.
"Of course I do. Not everyone gets to know it, though. It's a very special name." Holding out his hand, he gives the boy a grave look. "Hibiki. That's what all my friends call me."
"Hibiki." The boy turns the word over in his mouth, saying it several times in different tones as he reaches out and takes the oni's hand with equal gravity. "Why's it special?"
"Because it's the name my mentor and friend used when she was an oni, and the name her teacher used as an oni before her." There's a very long line of wonderful, brave people who bore the name, and Hibiki feels a little thrill through his gut like he does every time he contemplates it. He's proven worthy of the name, so far, but it's quite the legacy to fulfill. "It's a title and a name all in one, I suppose."
"Oh." The boy nods, as though it makes perfect sense. "So you're Hibiki the nice oni."
"Is there something I can call you, boy?" He asks the question gently, since the boy had dodged it the first time. What did he hear in that cave, to make his name a thing of fright?
"Could you just call me that?" The boy's knees draw up closer to his chest.
"Call you what?" Blinking in confusion, the oni thinks over what he said. "Call you shounen? Just call you boy?"
"Yes." The boy nods vigorously, scooting closer still to the fire. "Call me boy."
"If that's what you want." Leaning closer to the child, he places his arm around the boy's shoulders. "You can be boy."
"It's not that I don't like my name." The boy leans against his side, uncurling slightly. "It's a good name. But Mom… she… they…"
The boy trails off, breathing heavily for a few moments.
Patting the boy's shoulder, the oni nods. "It's all right. I think I understand."
"You got a new name when you became an oni." The boy's voice is thick with emotion. "I think… I need something like that. A new name, because I think the me who belonged to the old one isn't here anymore. So until I find one, just call me boy."
The oni nods, holding the boy closer to him, offering what comfort he can.
It's all that one can really do against the cold, anyway.
She catches up to them as darkness falls.
Hibiki's still in his Oni form from the neck down, and the boy's draped across his back, apparently sound asleep.
Putting the truck in park, she jumps out and runs over to him. Grinning, she touches his arm gently, pleased to see that he's doing all right. It's strange, how frightening it always is when they're separated. It shouldn't matter. If Hibiki loses—if he dies—whether she's close by or only stumbles on his body later wouldn't make all that much difference.
It matters to her, though, and she's glad that, once again, he's all right.
"Here." Holding her arms out, she nods at the boy. "I'll take him to the car so you can change back."
"Hnn." Shaking his head, Hibiki adjusts his grip on the boy's legs. His smile makes his grey-green eyes seem to shine with good cheer, though there are dark circles of exhaustion under them. "We're only a dozen meters away. I've got him."
The boy, for his part, doesn't move until Hibiki settles him in the passenger's seat of the truck. Even then he only seems to be half-awake, blinking blearily at the Oni and clutching onto his hand.
"Shhh. You're all right." Ruffling the boy's hair, Hibiki smiles at him. "Go back to sleep. We're going to see some friends of mine. All right?"
"All right." The boy nods, completely trusting, and curls up into a ball. Within seconds he seems to be asleep again.
Closing the door, the oni heaves a sigh and runs a hand through his disheveled brown hair. "Thanks for coming to meet us, Hana. I was getting tired."
"I imagine so." Pressing clothes into his hands, she turns around to give him the privacy to change. "I can't believe you stayed like that for almost a full day."
"It may not have been my brightest idea." His voice is muffled for the last half of the sentence, and she imagines him slipping the T-shirt over his head followed by the sweater. "But it's so cold that Boy needed the heat, and I didn't want to keep him on the mountain any longer than I had to."
"It has gotten nippy." Stomping her feet to get better blood circulation through her boots, she smiles. "You did a good job."
"Another mission successfully done. I'm decent, if you want to turn around again."
Turning, she's in time to see him hopping around on one foot, the other foot half in a boot. "You really don't care if your dignity gets bruised, do you?"
"Dignity?" Giving her his quick grin, he shakes his head. "No such thing exists in my world. Feel free to laugh if you want to."
"You're too sweet to laugh at, Hibiki." Tossing the keys to the car into the air, she catches them again. "At least at the moment. No bets in the future. You can sleep in the truck, if you want to. I'll get us back to headquarters."
"Uhhn." The noise is probably supposed to be a negation, since he's shaking his head, but he's trying to yawn at the same time. "I want to go to Tachibana's."
Frowning, she looks at the sun and then at her watch. "You know it's going to be the middle of the night by the time we get there, right?"
"If I were driving, probably about four in the morning. Given your impeccable but sometimes frightening driving, I figure we'll be there sometime between two and three." His eyes close as he smiles at her, and she can see the effort it takes him to open them again. "But I need to talk to him."
"At three in the morning." Her eyebrows are trying to join with her hairline, but she can't seem to get them to come down. "Something you can't talk with the actual leaders of Takeshi about?"
"I'll talk to them, too." Waving a hand as though to brush away all of the necessary bureaucracy, Hibiki shrugs. "But I want Tachibana to take Boy, so I should ask him about it first."
"Boy?" Pointing toward the passenger seat, she blinks. "You're going to ask him to adopt the child you just pulled out of a Makamou nest, whose name you don't even know?"
"I know his name. His name's Boy." The easy grin on Hibiki's face really doesn't fit this situation. "And I told him I'm going to take care of him, so I will."
"By giving him to your best friend." Shaking her head, she heads toward the driver's side door. "Hibiki, how that man puts up with you… get in the car and go to sleep before you fall down. I'll take you to Tachibana's, and then you can be his problem."
"Sounds good." The words are half-slurred as he clambers into the car, maneuvering the boy until the child's sitting on his lap. "Thanks, Hana. You're the best field assistant ever."
"Damn straight." Putting the truck into drive, she scans for somewhere to turn around on the barely visible track.
Hibiki doesn't answer, and she's hardly gotten the car turned around before his usual gentle snoring fills the truck.
"Sleep well, crazy man." Smiling at the child in his lap, she shakes her head. "You've gotten yourself a strange guardian, Boy, but he'll definitely do the best he can by you."
For a child who had lost everything to the Makamou, Hibiki might very well be the best thing he could hope for.
It's almost two in the morning when the doorbell rings, incessant and insistent, and Tachibana tries not to curse as he stumbles down the stairs.
His frustration evaporates when he looks through the window and sees who it is that's ringing the door. At least if someone has to wake him at ungodly hours of the night, it's an old friend and a fellow Takeshi member.
Unlocking the door, he pulls it open hurriedly. "Hibiki! Welcome back. Did you just get in from the field? I heard…"
He trails off, noticing the child who huddles quietly behind Hibiki's right leg.
"Tachibana." Hibiki steps forward, gently crowding his way into the room. His clothes are still the cheap, colorful, mass-produced goods that Takeshi buys in bulk for those oni who want them, saying he hasn't been home from the field for long. "I've got a favor to ask of you."
"A favor?" He glances between the child and the oni, doubt and suspicion clouding his features. "For Takeshi?"
"I guess, in a way." Hibiki takes a deep breath, tilting his head to the side, making him look even younger than his almost-thirty years. "But mainly for me. This is Boy, and I'd like you to take care of him."
The boy continues to stare at him, and in the silence that descends between Tachibana and Hibiki a soft humming can be heard.
"Hibiki." Tachibana's tongue is tied with a million things that he wants to say, but he doesn't really want to say anything in front of the boy. Grabbing his old friend's hand, he pulls him further into the shop. "You want me to… to adopt this kid?"
"Yes." Hibiki says it as though it were a simple matter. "I found him during this mission. He doesn't have a family now—at least, he says he doesn't. I know you've got Kasumi and Hinaka, and you've been doing a great job with Kasumi, so I thought…"
"So you thought because I have an eight-year-old daughter I need a son, too?" It's outrageous. It's preposterous. It's exactly the kind of thing he should expect Hibiki to spring on him at two in the morning, when he can't think straight. "I mean, do you even know his name?"
"His name's Boy. It's what he's chosen, at least for the moment." If Hibiki understands how ridiculous the situation is, he doesn't show it. "If you aren't up for it, Tachi, that's fine. But I want Takeshi to keep track of him."
Comprehension dawns slowly as Tachibana takes in the stubborn set to Hibiki's jaw, the way his eyes keep glancing back toward the child. "You would take him, but you can't as an oni."
"I'd make a terrible father, always running off to fight monsters." The corner of Hibiki's lip twitches up, just slightly, and his dark grey eyes are bright with mischief or sorrow. "But I want to do what I can for him."
The boy has moved further into the restaurant as well, touching tables, booths, silverware with a quiet intensity that doesn't match the soft lilting lullaby of the song he's singing now. Turning back to his old friend, Tachibana raises his eyebrows. "Including teaching him how to be an oni?"
Hibiki hesitates before shrugging. "If that's what Boy decides that he wants, I'd certainly be willing to teach him. He already knows how powerful song can be."
Running his hands through his hair, Tachibana shakes his head. "Do you know how much paperwork is going to be involved in this?"
Grinning broadly, Hibiki claps him on the shoulder. "I'm sure not more than Takeshi can handle."
No. It would be difficult, but they've helped placed children before who had lost their families. Rarely, because usually the children died with their parents, but having a process for everything was always Takeshi's plan. "I'll have to ask my wife. And Kasumi. It's not a decision I can make on my own."
Hibiki nods, stifling a yawn with his hand. "I understand. If we could stay here overnight, I'd be grateful. Then, if you guys decide you want him, he'll be here tomorrow, and if you don't, I'll take care of him until you figure out where he should go."
"He's really made an impression on you." Staring at his friend, Tachibana shakes his head. "You might end up having to rethink that father position, you know."
"Nah." Hibiki's laugh is still the same, rich and warm and entirely pleased with the world. "I would much rather be the wise old mentor."
"I'm not sure that works when you're a whole ten months older than me." Stifling a yawn of his own, Tachibana turns toward the stairs. "You know where spare bed-rolls are. I will see you in the morning, and we will discuss this like rational adults with all parties present. Until then, pleasant dreams to you both."
Hibiki and his Boy call out goodnights of their own, heading into one of Takeshi's back rooms to sleep.
Curling up next to his wife, Tachibana wonders what, exactly, Hibiki is getting him into this time.
Tachibana and Kasumi suspect what they're going to find before they get there. There were only so many reasons that an Oni, his deshi, and his field assistant wouldn't have reported into base for over four days.
Knowing what they're going to find doesn't make it any easier.
He sees Boy first. The sixteen year old is sitting cross-legged on top of the tallest rock on the shore, hands loosely clasped in front of him. He watches the small track that serves as an access road, standing as soon as their car becomes visible.
It gives Tachibana hope, for a moment. If Boy's there, and all right…
Then he sees the sleeping bags on the ground, the random chunks of metal scattered across the beach that must once have been Hibiki's truck, and he knows that his first instincts were right.
Boy greets him formally, bowing low. "I'm sorry, Tachibana-san. I couldn't…"
The right side of the boy's face and neck and his right hand are badly bruised, but he looks all right otherwise. Reaching out slowly, Tachibana lays a hand on his adopted son's shoulder. "I'm sure you did everything that you could, Boy. We'll take care of it from here."
Kasumi stands at Boy's side, facing behind him, to where the bodies are covered by the sleeping bags. "What happened?"
"There were two makamou. We were prepared for the first one, but the second hime and doji took us by surprise. Hana died before we knew what was happening. He defeated the makamou, but he was badly injured in the fight. He…"
The boy blinks, rubbing a hand over his eyes to wipe away tears. Taking a deep breath, he sighs out a handful of notes in a minor key.
"It's all right, Boy." Walking over to the sleeping bags, Tachibana examines the work the young man did. Each body is wrapped in its own sleeping bag, the tops carefully tied off to prevent creatures from getting inside. Blood has soaked through both bags, a black, sticky substance, but it was obviously the best the boy could do with what he had to work with.
"You did well, old friend." The masses of the bodies let him know which is which. "And you did well, Hana. May you both rest easy now."
"Sir." The young man speaks quietly, respectfully still, in a tone that Tachibana isn't used to hearing.
"It's all right, Boy." Heading back to the car, he opens the trunk. They'll have to move most of the gear into the back seat with Hibiki in order to take the bodies, but he's not going to leave them here if he doesn't have to. "We know you all did the best you could. Takeshi will want a record of the battle, but for now all you have to know is that you're safe."
"That's not what this is about."
Turning back to the young man, Tachibana finds his breath catching in his throat. He knows the ongekibo that Boy holds in his hands. He watched Hibiki carve them, the man smiling and laughing throughout most of the process. They weren't covered in blood and dirt, then. The oni heads weren't asymmetrical, the right horn chipped off of one, a piece of the back of the head missing from the other.
"He gave these to me, before he… as he…" Another snatch of song wrings its way out of the boy's throat. "I used them. I killed the hime and doji. I think he wanted—"
"You're still just a boy." He shouldn't cut the young man off. He knows that. But he's come to love the boy that Hibiki gave him, and though he's known what the child was training for now isn't the time he wants to hear it. Not when he's trying to figure out a way to fit Disc Animals and his best friend's body in the car at the same time. "You haven't even finished school, Boy. You don't want—"
"He gave me a name." The young man stands straight, the weapons held firmly in each hand. "Before he died, Hibiki gave me a name. His name. I would be very honored, Father, if you would call me by it."
"Boy…"
"Hibiki." Kasumi says the word—the name, the occupation, the legacy—with quiet force. "Boy was Hibiki's student. Hibiki fell. That means Boy is the next Hibiki."
"You were supposed to have more time to study—more time to train. You were supposed…" Hibiki wasn't supposed to die. He wasn't supposed to find a half-mad boy in the mountains. Tachibana wasn't supposed to agree to take in the boy, and he definitely wasn't supposed to grow to love him like he has. "But you're right. You were the previous Hibiki's student. You've been training for it. If you want the mantle… then I'm glad that you're safe, Hibiki."
It's strange, to call Boy by his mentor's name. It isn't the first time he's had to get used to calling a young student by an old friend's name, though, and he's sadly certain that it won't be the last.
Hibiki smiles at him, bowing deeply again before giving a little salute. "I'm glad to see you, sir. The last few days were…"
No one finishes the sentence. There's no need to. Instead his children help him load his friends' bodies into the trunk before climbing into the car.
The newest Hibiki hums softly to himself as they drive away from the beach. Eventually the humming becomes a quiet song, which eventually breaks down into pained sobs.
Kasumi places her arm around her brother's shoulders, holding him close, and picks up the thread of the song.
Eventually Hibiki's voice joins hers again, and Tachibana listens in aching silence as the two of them bid farewell to a wonderful man and a fantastic Oni in the most fitting way possible.