SinBound
"Washi? Are you all right?" A hand was laid on his shoulder softly, pulling him from his thoughts. Washi looked up and smiled at the blonde Haibane, her face furrowed in concern.
"...I am all right." Washi replied belatedly, remembering at last the porcelain mask that he used to hide from the world.
Sighing about the encumbrance, he stood up slowly, the bells decorating his cardboard wings jingling softly. He placed a hand on the girl's shoulder, just under her short, wavy curls and thanked Izumi for her concern.
"There is nothing I can do at this time. Be careful around them and I shall stay until their wings emerge. Until then..." however, Washi stopped suddenly. From the hall came the sound of running footsteps. A moment later, the door flew open and Kuma was in the doorway, panting.
"Kuma?" Midori asked, standing from her chair. "What's wrong?" She continued when Kuma said nothing but stood in the doorway bent over his knees.
Everyone but the four New Feathers in the room stood when Kuma still said nothing. Finally, Kuma put a hand against the doorframe and levered himself up. His arm that he was using for the task trembled slightly but he faced the room.
The left side of Kuma's face was raised and red, the corners of the injury already purpling in a bruise. He grinned softly for them all and said, "Didn't think I would have to explain..."
Anything else he might have said was cut off as Izumi and Midori swarmed around him, gently prodding the bruised area, crooning about his injury and attempting to help bandage or put a soothing balm on it.
Hyouko looked over to Washi only to see the old communicator walking sedately out the door. Looking quickly over the four unconscious New Feathers and Aki, he turned and followed Washi out the door, confident that the girls and Kuma would be able to take care of the others.
The strange substance that had ensconced the boy ever since he had awoken from a strange dream finally crumbled under the pressure he exerted. The water in which he had awoken in tugged around him and forced him out of the growing hole. For some reason, he felt appalled at his own weakness and, once he made contact with the cold, steel floor, he forced himself up to look around on arms that wobbled precariously under his weight.
"Are you okay?" A young voice asked. His head snapped towards the source, fear and shame flooding him at not having seen the boy who had stood in the corner.
The young boy approached slowly, his steps speaking of caution. As the boy came within a few feet, he noticed a strange oblong shape off to the boy's right that was hidden in shadow. Although the boy didn't seem to be a threat, he somehow knew that the object to the side offered a sense of comfort and protection.
Ignoring the fatigue in his muscles, he rolled past the new boy and grabbed on to the staff that settled into his hands easily in an offensive stance.
The boy, who had quickly pulled back as the other tumbled past him, put out his hands as if to calm a wild animal. Fighting the exhaustion that ran through him, he jabbed with the end of the staff to make the boy back up and give him some space. The boy didn't listen but approached again so that, like any wild animal, he struck outward in a show of force to get what he wanted.
The staff connected solidly with the other's face. It was hard enough to leave a mark as well as stun the boy but not enough to cause any permanent harm.
The boy brought a hand to his rapidly swelling cheek, his eyes full of surprise. After a moment's hesitation, the boy turned and fled out the open door.
He made an attempt to follow but his muscles protested his movement so he planted the staff to help support his weight. At the splash the staff made, he looked down and shifted his feet slightly, making the water ripple and his robe swirl around slightly in the clean water. He turned around and watched as the robe followed a half second behind the movement of his body.
When his back was to the door, he looked up. Later, he could not recall why he did that when every sense in him hated to think about his back being to an open door. For whatever reason he did it, he looked up to see the five large, white spheres that took up most of the room. One side of each of the spheres was broken and crumbled, with a small pool of the similar water he had been enclosed with, resting on the floor of each sphere.
Bending down stiffly, he picked up a small chunk of the broken sphere, his fingers splayed across the inside of the sphere, which he recalled as being soft and spongy.
The outside of the piece was ribbed with what appeared to be veins but were the same color and texture as the rest of the outside. The inside, while soft, was not the same texture as he remembered.
"We call them cocoons. It is how you came to be in this world." A soft, kind voice said behind him.
He felt quickly for the staff that should be at his side, the piece of the sphere falling, forgotten for now, to the wet floor. The staff was found and he gripped it tightly with one hand. As he prepared to swing, however, he felt resistance.
"There is no need for violence now. We won't hurt you." The kind voice continued.
A part of him believed what he heard and wanted to rest so badly. But another part of him wanted to pull back, to not trust what he heard because it had been easier to be alone in times past. After all, that dream of his had been permeated with that concept...
He placed both hands on the staff and gave a light-hearted tug. When the staff still didn't give way, he sat back, as far away from the old voice as possible. Once he was where he felt safe, he pulled his knees up to his chest and wrapped his arms around them. He settled his face down upon the makeshift pillow, making sure to keep an eye on the old, robed man and the young male, who now held the staff in his hands.
They were expecting him to just give in to them. He was determined to make them wait a long time.
It was several minutes of them sitting on opposite sides of the room before the New Feather's eyes started to drift shut.
Washi and Hyouko waited patiently, even as the boy would take the time to wake himself back up with a start and reposition himself, turning his Prussian blue eyes on the pair once again. A couple of moments later and the New Feather's head would slip down to rest on his lap once again, his eyes slipping shut in sleep only to have the process repeat itself.
After an hour of this struggle, the New Feather's head slipped down again and his eyes closed.
Hyouko sighed and moved his weight from one foot to another, wondering idly how much longer this dance was going to last when Washi, who had remained completely still the entire time, shifted.
Hyouko looked to the New Feather and noticed the boy had not started from his resting position like he had so many times before. The boy's eyes were still closed and his breathing pattern had settled into a deep, even rhythm.
"He has finally succumbed to his exhaustion. Go pick him up and we'll take him to the room you prepared for all of them." Washi said as he plucked the staff from Hyouko's lax grip. The older Haibane stuttered as this news was perceived but by the time he was able to form a coherent sentence, the communicator was already gone.
"Clever, Washi. Very clever." Hyouko muttered and slowly approached the New Feather.
The last of the five New Feathers had been the most tense out of all of them as well as the least trusting. The last thing he wanted was to end up like Kuma or Aki for having upset one of them.
"And you left me here alone, Washi!" Hyouko muttered out loud, his mind going ahead and making the parallels between this case and the other three incidents where someone had come away hurt.
Hyouko crouched next to the boy and waved his hand in front of the boy's face, his muscles tensed and ready to run away.
The New Feather didn't react. Hyouko chewed on his lower lip then slowly reached out and slipped one hand just below the New Feather's bent neck while the other one slipped under the boy's bent knees. He pulled the youth up against his chest slowly before standing, very aware that one wrong move might awaken the New Feather.
Hyouko didn't want to see or imagine what the New Feather might attempt if he were to awake in Hyouko's arms.
Making sure each step was controlled and gentle, he made his way back to the room prepared for the New Feathers.
Thanks to Hellfire, once again, for being my beta.
She made a comment that she couldn't believe the floor was steel in the room where the boys are born and I hope that didn't confuse the rest of you. Where they are "born" and live is called Abandoned Factory. It is named this because the construction halted when one of the first Haibane was born there. Therefore, some rooms have steel flooring and others have completed rooms, with carpet or wood flooring.
