Disclaimer: I do not own Kagerou Project/Mekakucity Actors!
Rating: T
Pairing: Hibiya/Kagerou. I reeeeeeeeeeeeeally can't tell if they're a friendship pair or romantic. Seriously.
JEEZ I'M SO MOTIVATED TO WRITE. Maybe it's because I am trying to avoid doing homework as much as possible. Also, because Kano's a little brat, I wrote a longer chapter than usual. I just have to put as much details as possible, I guess.
The morning that Hibiya woke up, he was surprised to find that he had slept soundly for the first time. It was only natural, considering the first days after Hiyori's final death were nightmare filled. It took a whole week until he could actually sleep, but even then, those hours of slumber were short and filled with horrific images. It got better as time passed, but it was only that night that he slept soundly; without a dream, a nightmare, or any image to become otherwise.
He had slept in a black oblivion, and it lifted more weight off of his heavily burdened shoulders. Strange.
Rubbing his eyes, Hibiya's first instinct was to look at Kagerou. He still hadn't gotten over the fact that the heat haze was asleep. In the Mekakushi Dan's Base. In his room. He shivered, and quickly got up to get dressed.
Only to find that he had slept with his clothes on. Was he so stressed last night, he hadn't even bothered to change into pajamas? Ugh...oh well. He thought, and merely tried to smooth out the wrinkles on his outfit. He trudged his feet across the carpet, and had the mind to leave, before a strange compulsion took over.
For some reason, Hibiya thought it wise to see how Kagerou looked in slumber form. At first he thought there was no way that Kagerou could conceivably sleep, as he spent every waking hour for ten years to make Hibiya's life a tragedy. And yet, as the brunet moved the pillows from his face...
He almost screamed. Had he not been so ghastly pale, so strangely red, Hibiya swore he was staring at himself. The same facial features, the same body, the same clothes. In sleep, his face was more relaxed, his eyelashes were quietly rested, and his breathing was soft.
How long are you going to stare at him?
Hibiya snapped out of his stupor, and cursed himself for being so creepy. (Then again, he has Hiyori dolls, so he had no right to judge this action...but still!)
He was about to head to the door, but someone opened it for him.
And second to Kagerou, Kano was on the 'list of people I want to punch'. Possibly a tie between him, and friendly Konoha.
Hibiya had a strained relationship with the blond. The latter's antics were strange and rushed, as he was brutally honest and yet a blatant liar. Still, Hibiya never knew what to say to the blond's words, considering he had the Deceiving Eyes power.
And that's just another thing. Hibiya hates people that aren't straight forward, so Kano...is more or less an annoyance. Not to mention that since Hibiya is the youngest member, Kano uses that as an excuse to patronize and tease him, in a way different from the others.
It was really annoying.
"Good morning, Hi~bi~ya!" Kano sang, smiling brightly at the brunet. He only returned the action with a grumpy frown, and crossed his arms. "What do you want, Kano?"
"My, my! That's no way to start the morning off, is it?" Kano laughed, winking at the boy. "I'm here to wake you to up, but I see my job's half done for me."
Hibiya gazed at the sleeping Kagerou behind him, and looked back at Kano. "What do you mean?"
"Didn't you hear? Kido wants me to take you two out on a mission. I guess you were too busy isolating yourself to hear, right?"
This guy...he's asking for a punch to the face!
"Whatever. I'm busy, so you can have the honors of waking up Kagerou."
Kano bowed, as if to mock this offer. "It would be my honor." he smirked, and walked past Hibiya, jacket flowing out behind him like a shadow.
The brunet huffed, and looked behind him. He saw that the blond really was going to wake up Kagerou. He knelt at the haze's side, prodding him slightly.
"Hey, red shota, wake up, won't you? We have a busy day ahead of us!"
Kagerou groaned quietly, and buried his face into the pillow, trying to block out the noise. For once, Hibiya didn't blame him.
The cat-eyed teen, however, wasn't going to yield to this attitude. With a pout, he shook the smaller boy's frame once more.
"Ka~ge~rou~! Don't make me sit on you~!"
The heat haze made another noise of annoyance, before finally sitting up. He rubbed at his eyes, and to any onlooker's point of view, it was the exact same way Hibiya was rubbing his eyes just earlier.
"What's going on?" he mumbled, stretching his limbs.
Kano laughed, and stood up, hands in his jacket pockets as he leaned back on the wall. "A mission, that's what. Kido has ordered me to take you and Hibiya out on a date! A threesome!"
At that moment, simultaneously, Kagerou and Hibiya became enraged. "No she didn't!" they both chorused, angry and embarrassed.
His topaz irises gleamed like jewels, as he laughed and had to cover his mouth to muffle his snickers. "How funny! Of course that's not what she said! I guess you're both awake now, though."
"Jerk," Hibiya muttered, as he searched his room for a hairbrush.
"Ah, it's one of my nicknames, so Kido says. But in all seriousness, the three of us are assigned a mission today, so let's be hasty."
Kagerou blinked, and stood up with slight effort. "What's this mission you're talking about?"
"Ehh? Didn't Seto brief it all to you yesterday? We're a gang, and we have important missions everyday to do. All missions are assigned by Kido, and Seto and I usually hand them out. Think of it as an opportunity!" Kano reassured, clapping his hands together happily.
The opposing red child wouldn't have this evasive explanation, however. He lifted a red brow. "Oh? And opportunity for what?"
Hibiya swore he saw a flash of red in Kano's eyes, but figured that the deceiver would never accidentally let his powers slip.
"An opportunity to see whether or not we should keep you alive."
Everything grew quiet, and Hibiya added Kagerou's scared expression on the list for 'things he never thought he would see but did anyways'.
The silence was broken by another shrill laugh of Kano's, and he patted Kagerou on the back. "I kid, I kid! Come on, you should have seen your face!"
"Haha...I don't think I wanted to know."
He laughed again. "You're a good guy, y'know! Isn't this guy great, Hibiya?" the blond grinned. The brunet slouched.
"Yeah, he's amazing." he responded, nothing short of sarcasm.
That 'mission' the three boys were assigned turned out to be something mildly credible, in the least. They merely strolled the city, walking over high edges and pavements. Needless to say, Hibiya wondered if somehow Kano knew that every destination they went to was a location in which Hiyori had died horribly at least once.
Of course, he couldn't have known.
"Okay, so basically, everyone in the Mekakushi Dan has special 'eyes' that give them a power." Kano had explained, walking in a funny sort of way, hood bobbing up and down. "Don't look so surprised; it's only the normal explanation. What else would a bunch of kids be doing in a place like that?"
"I can think of three good reasons," Kagerou mused. Hibiya was confused, but Kano only giggled in hysteria.
"You're so funny, Kagerou! Just like Hibiya. Y'know, looking at you two now, walking in the same way like you do, one could almost say you're identical."
A shiver was sent down Hibiya's spine, but Kagerou only lifted his brows in surprise. "Is that so?"
"Totally."
"Hmm."
"Anyhow, back to what I was saying. We're a bunch of rag tag people trying to be a hero. Or that's what it looks like, sometimes. I guess we're not totally evil...y'know?"
Both of the younger boys were unnerved by this little monologue, but had no choice but to go along with it.
"And since you're wrapped up into this; it looks like your fate, Kagerou, is to be a fully fledged member of our gang."
"Great." The haze replied, voice even. Hibiya couldn't sense any sarcasm, but then again it was never easy to decipher Kagerou just from first glances.
"And since we figured you'd heal by the morning, Kido wanted me to take you on a test run."
"Test run for what? " Kagerou imposed.
"Oh? Don't you know? Hibiya here has Focusing Eyes ability. He can gain eyesight normally only birds would have."
The red spirit looked towards the brunet human. The latter was not so entirely prideful; He was more anxious that Kagerou keeps learning more and more about him, versus the next to nothing that Hibiya knows about Kagerou. What he does know is that when fully empowered, he's a malicious, malevolent, hellish ghost who works only to make you miserable. Suffice to say that that's not the case now.
"I didn't know. That's kind of cool, to be honest," Kagerou sighed out, lifting his crimson gaze to the sky. "So why am I here?"
Kano smirked. Even if his back was faced towards the two shorter boys, Hibiya knew that he was full on smirking at this point.
"We want to see if you have an eye ability, as well. After all, our gang is full of abnormal people. It's basically a test, like I said."
"And what if I don't have an eye power?"
Kano turned around, hood flowing with the wind that suddenly picked up.
"We'll see, won't we?"
Simultaneously, once again, both boys felt an unease grow in their stomach.
By the end of the day, Hibiya improved his use of his eye ability. They practiced by spying on people from the roof tops, and Kano would have set up flags or stickers and asked Hibiya to identify them all. He did so; mostly, but there were a few targets or so that he misidentified, or missed altogether. Kagerou, on the other hand, did not show any signs of an eye ability. But of course, it was inevitable that he wouldn't, considering Kano did nothing to probe him for one.
"You didn't even push me off the roof or anything. What if I had the Flying Eyes power?"
"I'm 100% sure you're making that up." Hibiya complained under his breath, staring at the ground as he walked.
The crimson haze rolled his eyes. "You still get what I mean. So, what happens now, that we're heading back to HQ?"
Kano laughed for the umpteenth time that day. "Of course, everything I said was a bluff. My true intention was to see if you would try to run away, when given the chance to be outside like this. But since you didn't, you're right when you said you didn't remember anything. After all, someone with memories wouldn't want to stay here."
"Wait, how did you know that? Only Kido and Seto were there, when I told them."
"I'm third-in-command. You'd be surprised at what I know."
"I see."
They reached it again. The door to the base. Kano turned around, smiling at the two of them.
"It was a necessary thing we did today. I commend you two children for it! However, your behavior was lacking."
"Says the guy that gave out death threats the entire time."
"Oh, come on. You know I'd never really do anything to you." Another chuckle, a countless sound of merrymaking emanated from Kano once again. He opened the door, and held it out for the other two.
His cat-like eyes gleamed, but for once they didn't seem like they were hiding ulterior motives. Of course, it might have been a deceptive facade, but Kano looked as if he was genuinely happy in the sight of the two boys. All Hibiya could think was, what a weirdo.
"Shall we?"
Without another notion, both Hibiya and Kagerou put their right foot forward.
And stepped back into the fray.