Disclaimer: I don't own Yoroiden Samurai Troopers or any characters from it. I do own Katya, Vasha, and Philippe. I make no money from this story.
Late Night Conversations
Part One: Watching
By womanofwords
Touma felt like some kind of predator watching her. If he were an outsider to the situation, he would have found his own stares kind of creepy. Any rationalization he made to justify it just made it sound worse.
So why did he keep staring?
It wasn't out of any kind of feelings toward her. He didn't even know the girl. They just happened to frequent the same diner late at night. He would stop by for coffee and an egg sandwich late at night when his mind was racing and he couldn't sleep, and she would be there. She'd be sitting in a booth across from him, always reading a book while she absentmindedly nibbled at a plate of French fries and gravy and sipped at some sort of juice drink he could never identify.
Touma noticed that the servers seemed to know her as more than just a frequent customer. Two of the servers in particular seemed to know her personally. He guessed one of them was her brother: the two looked alike with dark eyes and hair, they sometimes sat together when the guy was on breaks, and the server would always tap the girl lightly on the head as he passed by in some sort of playful familial gesture. The other server was a bit of a mystery, as he had lighter hair and eyes than the other two but seemed just as close.
After observing them for months, Touma had come up with a story for them. In his story, the girl and the dark-haired server were siblings from some country in Eastern Europe (he figured it was Ukraine, or perhaps Bulgaria). They had traveled to Western Europe, perhaps for work for the brother and school for the sister, and met their light-haired friend in someplace like Belgium. From there, the three of them lived in Belgium for a year and on a whim one day, decided to travel the world (or at least as much of it as they could see in one summer) but ran out of money in Japan (in Touma's mind, Japan had been the light-haired boy's idea, and the girl helped him cajole her brother into it). Rather than call home and get money to fly back, they decided to settle down, enrolled the girl in school, and the boys took jobs as servers. The girl joined them whenever they both had night shifts because they didn't want her left alone in their apartment, which was probably shabby and could easily be broken into.
Touma knew he was probably wrong. It was all just stuff he had come up with based on observations while he stared at the girl. It was obvious she and the dark-haired server were from a different country than the light-haired server (the language they spoke to each other had tones of a Slavic language, and while the light-haired boy spoke it, he seemed to do so with a degree of difficulty), and that the three of them were foreigners, but he doubted it was that silly of a story. It was probably something simpler, more realistic.
Touma took a bite of his sandwich as he stole another look at the girl. This time, rather than looking at her book, she stared back. Before he had a chance to look away, she grabbed her things and slid into his booth, sitting across from him.
"Why do you stare at me every night?" she asked. She had a thick accent that made her a little difficult to understand, but the knit of her brows and the curious frown on her face said it all. "You're here every night, and every night you stare at me. Why?"
Touma was struck dumb. Why, indeed? He didn't know her, had no attachment to her. So why did he stare?
"You're different. I want to know you." Did those words really come out of his mouth? It was his own voice he heard, so he must have said them.
The girl quirked an eyebrow at him and said nothing, but her frown softened and she leaned forward just a little. She looked him in the eye, held it a moment, and then looked back down to her fries. She took one and bit into it, saying nothing as she ate the fry and licked her finger clean of the small trail of gravy it left afterwards.
"My name's Katya. Well, technically it's Ekaterina, Ekaterina Aleksandrovna Tarasova." She smiled weakly at the mouthful of words. "Obviously, I prefer Katya."
So she was Russian, Touma thought. As stupid as it sounded, he had read enough Russian literature to be aware of the naming conventions. Ekaterina was her first name (he assumed Katya was some kind of diminutive), her middle name was a patronymic deriving from her father's first name of Aleksandr, and Tarasova was the feminine form of her family name, which was Tarasov in the masculine. After a moment of recalling the naming customs, he realized she was staring at him expectantly. He cleared his throat.
"Hashiba Touma." He offered. "My first name's-"
"Touma. I know that. I'm not an idiot." So she was as aware of the naming customs of his country as he was of hers. "Tell you what, Touma. I don't have time to talk tonight because Vasha gets off work in fifteen minutes and Philippe gets off in five. But if you come to the diner tomorrow night, just ask to be seated with me and we can-" she paused and gestured into the air. "Talk. About whatever."
"Who are Vasha and Philippe?" He asked, instantly feeling stupid when he realized she was probably talking about the two servers she seemed so close with.
Katya smiled again, and chuckled.
"You'll just have to find out tomorrow." She teased, getting up and taking her things with her as she walked to the front of the diner.
Touma shook his head and laughed. "Fine." He said to the empty space. "Tomorrow it is."
So there's the first chapter. I already have the second chapter written, and some of the third, I just have to edit them and send them off to my beta for a look-over. I'm not sure what genre this story is yet, if I want romance between Touma and Katya or not (if you want some, tell me so, but I'm still unsure at the moment what direction that will ultimately take, though I do have most of the plot worked out). There'll probably be some moments that could be construed as romantic throughout the story, regardless of whether it'll be full-blown romance or not.
Also, this story is AU, but doesn't necessarily contradict established canon as far as Touma's personal history goes. If I get facts wrong, call me on it, but keep in mind it's not necessarily meant to be canon compliant other than some of Touma's personal history. The next chapter's their first conversation, but not every conversation they have is going to be featured and the story will jump around a bit. Leave me constructive criticism, rave reviews, whatever you want. I look forward to your thoughts!