Animus
Welcome to Animus! You can find the Tumblr page at KageShirogane.
As well, you can also find the full spiel on Animus and its disclaimers back on Chapter 1.
Thanks and enjoy the show!
April 13th, 2013, Saturday
Drip…
Naoto's eyes opened in response as something fell against her cheek and continued to trickle downwards. The room was still dark with very little light coming in through the window. It couldn't have been any later than four in the morning… It wasn't time to wake up yet. However, something had definitely dripped against her. Squinting her eyes, she adjusted her vision and noticed that there was indeed something above her. At first it was nothing more than a black, hardly recognizable mass in the darkness of the room, but as a pair of golden eyes opened and lit up, the mass became recognizable as Kage. Straddled over her torso, his hands gripped at the sides of her pillow and a wide, mutated smile stretched across his face from ear to ear.
"I did it…" he spoke in a quiet tone, breathing hard with accomplishment.
Naoto blinked a few times as she rubbed her eyes, "What did you do?"
The Shadow let his grip go and sat up straight, arms outstretched at his sides, "I fixed it… I fixed everything. There's no need to worry anymore," he remarked, eyes widening, "You don't need to be sad now because… I've made it all better. All those people who talked down to you because of who you were… they won't mess with you anymore."
Naoto gave him a perplexed look; and it was then that she noticed the source of the speck on her cheek. Something was dripping down from Kage's lips and the corners of his eyes… At first she would have assumed they were tears and slaver, but as his eyes lit up his face, she could identify the red hue as nothing else but blood. Shuffling up into a proper sitting position, Naoto pushed Kage away and snuck out from between his legs, "W-what's with you…? I didn't ask you to fix anything."
"Which is why I'm such a good Shadow…" he said, leaning forwards until the stained tip of his nose pressed against hers, "Praise me?"
Naoto shook her head and inched farther away, unsure of what to make of his behavior. However, as she tried to get away, she noticed a great deal of difficulty when it came to moving her legs, as if they had fallen asleep on her. Kage wasn't pressing down on her legs, but she could barely get them to work.
"Don't move so much, you haven't healed yet," Kage forewarned, holding down her sides with his hands.
However, unnerved by the situation, Naoto continued to writhe under the covers until all at once the sheet was kicked off the side of the bed. If you would call it a kick, anyway… She certainly had nothing left to kick with. Staring down with a paralyzed gaze, Naoto saw that her legs had been replaced with an entanglement of cords and metal tubes that protruded from her eviscerated midsection. Acting as appendages all their own, the artificial entrails wriggled and twitched across the mattress. Kage lowered down the bed and tried to keep the tubes contained, but they continued to lash under the force of Naoto's own panic.
"W-… w… No…NO!" Naoto's voice choked in her throat as she clung to the side of the bed and tried to distance herself from the monstrosity. Falling down to the floor, her fingers gripped at the soft carpet and she struggled towards the bedroom door, the metallic entrails slithering behind her.
Kage seethed from his spot on the bed, sitting in a collection of surgery blood which remained pooled in the center of the sheets, "How… How can you not be happy…? I've done everything for you…!" he shouted out, though Naoto made no effort to turn around and look back at him. "I've made you perfect… I've made you just like … me…" As he continued to speak, his voice seemed to crackle and fade like an audio glitch, "W-why… You… can't…. ever… love m-"
His last recognizable word caught Naoto's attention as she reached up high and grabbed for the door handle, tears racing down her cheeks and neck. The moment she turned the handle, she felt it all end. A horrible throaty noise followed the enraged entity that lunged from the bed and grappled into her backside, sending a wave of pain up her spine that numbed her mind until there was nothing left of it … And then she woke up again.
With beads of sweat racing down her skin, Naoto shot up into a fully awakened state on her bed and stared forwards, still coming to grips with the fact that what had just transpired was nothing more than a bad dream. It had felt all too real… Her most recent fears had manifested themselves into a nocturnal anxiety that, even though she was perfectly safe now, it was still making her tremble. Everything she had witnessed in that dream had really hit home… no matter how unbelievable any of it had been. But then again, very little of her past week had been believable. It all started because of the one lying next to her right now, a creature which would happily break all sense of reality if she simply told him to. Perhaps she was uneasy about that fact… Or that her mind didn't know how to comprehend anything with everything flipped upside down like this. Lifting her hands and lowering her head, she pushed her damp face against the bed covers and sighed deeply, trying to collect herself.
"… Nn?" a small noise spoke up from behind her.
Sitting back up, Naoto glanced over her shoulder and noticed the same eyes as always staring at her, dimly lit with a tired look. Kage remained curled up with his nose dipped under the blankets, eyes squinting as he yawned once. Naoto's mind struggled to switch gears after that nightmare. Kage wasn't a threat right now… If anything, he looked positively cuddly. But he made her nervous regardless. Shaking her head, Naoto diverted her gaze, "Go back to sleep…"
Kage poked his face up from under the covers, "You're not alright…"
Lidding her eyes, Naoto rested back on the pillow and kept quiet, trying to ignore the conversation. It was nothing he needed to know about… All they needed now was sleep. However, she could feel him watching her, and he probably wouldn't go back to sleep unless he was sure that she was okay.
One of her eyes squinted open, "Do Shadows dream…?" she asked.
"All the time," he answered without skipping a beat, "Though lately, not so much… You might say that I'm the very fabric of your dreams, or at least, I used to be."
She looked up, "So you've seen all of my dreams, up until this week?"
"Most… Though I only remember them as well as you do."
"Hm…" Naoto answered, closing her eyes again.
After a brief pause, Kage's smile curled and he leaned in closer, "Sometimes they're embarrassing, aren't they?" he whispered.
Thankfully because of how tired she was, Naoto wasn't going to respond and play his little game. Instead, she opted on falling asleep. Kage waited for a response that wasn't coming, and smiled once he was sure that his host was once again resting, following suit.
While weekday mornings were often quite busy at the Shirogane estate with the bustle of early work and school waking everyone up well before dawn, the weekends were much more relaxed. It was now past ten-o-clock and Naoto was still out cold, most likely catching up on all the missed sleep from the previous days. However, despite all that, her Grandpa was already awake and ready to enjoy his day. His first order of business was to check up on his granddaughter to make sure she was alright since he had not seen her at all the day before. Walking up to the second floor, he lightly knocked on her door and waited for a response. Nothing… So she was most likely still asleep. Or maybe she never got home last night? Just to check, he nudged the door open slightly and of course, the first thing he happened to notice was that Naoto's bed was being occupied by two people: herself and a boy. Ah, they grow up so fast…
Tipping his head down, Grandpa mentally whistled and started to backtrack out of the room, but during his last glance into the room, he noticed that the boy had suddenly flipped over and was staring at him from the bed with brightly glowing topaz eyes. Grandpa was immediately taken back by two facts: those strikingly inhuman eyes, and the fact that the one with them looked perfectly identical to his granddaughter. The situation had become obvious.
"D-DEMON," he shouted, ready to grab the first thing on the desk next to him as a weapon if Kage got close.
"Cyborg, damnit!" Kage corrected, brows furrowed as he sat up. The normal raspy echo behind Kage's voice only alarmed her Grandpa further. As well, the yelling jostled Naoto awake for the umpteenth time. Nothing was going to let her enjoy a good nights' sleep, was it?
Noticing Naoto's lack of surprise as she rubbed her eyes and stared at Kage, Grandpa went from violent to confused. If anything, Naoto was more alarmed that her Grandpa was in the room right now. Their cover had been blown… but honestly, how long did she think she could keep this a secret? Four nights was already a surprisingly long amount of time to harbor a secret guest in the house. Grandpa's arms dropped to his sides, "What is this…!?"
Naoto put her hand into her sleepy face for a moment as she sighed, and then stared back up, "… Look, I have a lot to explain. This is… well, this is Kage," she remarked. The Shadow gave a small wave, and of course, the wave Grandpa returned was rather unenthusiastic. Naoto cleared her throat, "I realize that this is going to sound completely mad but… no, he's not human."
Grandpa leaned just a little closer, "That… is quite unbelievable. Did you just say 'cyborg'?" he questioned, "And why does it look just like you?"
Naoto answered in a completely unplanned way, "Well… you see… it's a rather long, unscientific story with many arcs that I think might be too much for you to swallow… Or at least, not all at once," her eyes glanced off to the side, "I'm sorry, grandfather… I'm making this sound as if you wouldn't believe me, yet the evidence is sitting right here… The more appropriate term for him is 'Shadow', that he is in fact a part of myself. Why he is here right now is something that I've been struggling to understand for the past few days…"
Grandpa's eyes went wide at one of the words she used, "Did you say… a Shadow?" Suddenly looking a lot less timid, Grandpa stepped into the room and stared closely at Kage, "This is not at all like what I've heard…"
"Pardon?" Naoto blinked, "You know what Shadows are?"
Kage made a few uncomfortable faces as Grandpa lifted a hand and started examining the Shadow's eyes, ears and mouth like a nosey doctor, "To a degree…" he looked up, "Perhaps this discussion would be best saved until breakfast. If you're hungry at all."
Naoto nodded and chuckled inwardly as Kage huffed at the old hands on his face. "Alright, I'll be down shortly," she spoke and waited for her Grandpa to leave before turning to Kage, "Well… look at it this way… you don't have to hide out in here anymore."
Kage had to admit, that much was a relief.
"Well… during my last few active years working with the police, it was more of a rumor amongst us that there were some companies studying supernatural forces, but most of us chalked it up as some sort of Area 51 conspiracy nonsense. Of course, you know of the Kirijo Group?" Grandpa asked, making sure that they were on the same page. It was amazing to think that their conversation had managed to settle down so quickly, and even more amazing that Grandpa already knew of such things.
"They're a leading company in robotics and specialized weaponry. Sousei was one of their earlier models," Naoto reminded the both of them of something many people already knew. However, the Kirijo Group's knowledge of Shadows was something they had kept under wraps.
Grandpa nodded, "Correct. Very few knew of this, but it was the fruit of their Shadow research that inspired many of their weapons and models. Not all… but… if you knew about the Shadows all this time, then I assume Sousei was given to you for that specific reason…"
Naoto nodded timidly, "Yes, actually… He wasn't just a convenient going-away present. He's a bodyguard of sorts, even though I doubted I would need his assistance at the time. Alas..." she glanced out the window of the kitchen, noting the driveway where Sousei remained parked. "So… you said that Kage isn't like the Shadows you heard of… What did you mean?"
Grandpa glanced across to the living room where Kage was meandering around, now able to freely explore things and comfortably sprawl across all the furniture like a typical cat would. "Well, he's… I mean, I can't say he acts like you, but he definitely looks like you," he answered, "… He, right?"
Naoto shrugged, "Apparently."
"From what I heard, Shadows were more of a… substance… made up of something completely unknown to the usual table of elements. Scientifically, there is no pattern to the things it reacts to or how it sustains its own energy. Physically, it resembles nothing more than viscid goo. The only organs it requires are a set of eyes and sometimes a set of limbs, but nothing as complex as a human body," he remarked, eyes watching the curious Shadow. It had been quite a few years, though… Perhaps they had evolved in that time.
Naoto knew of the Shadows that Grandpa spoke about. They had been dubbed Base Shadows, or Maya Shadows, and were known to be stable and unthreatening. However, it was their ability to transmogrify into a hostile state that made them dangerous. Chances were that the Kirijo Group had stripped their Shadows of that power in order to keep them contained. But even that rose further questions… "So there have been Shadows in this world before? Where did they get them from?"
Grandpa shook his head, "I was never told that… I'm only speaking from word of mouth, and rather old knowledge at that. All of this happened when you were very young, so I doubt you would remember… Though I'm sure you've heard of the Tatsumi Port Island explosion. The blame for that fell on the Kirijo Group and not too long after that happened did the rumors about the Shadows vanish," he spoke, his words full of reminiscence, "To think it was all real… I had my doubts, but this is… undeniable."
Kage continued to crawl around from couch to couch, moving about as if the floor was lava. It was an entirely childish play that would have been adorable if not for the fact that he was in a grown up body. At least he wasn't knocking anything over.
Naoto watched over him with a cautious eye while taking the time to explain to her grandfather everything that she knew from her side of the story. Their encounters with the Shadows had been completely set apart from the Kirijo Group's. Heck, it had happened in a completely different world. It was much easier explaining all of this to him than she had originally expected, and she was very glad to finally get it off of her shoulders. There were elements of her story that cleared up a lot of his confusion towards the Inaba case and how it had been solved, but there was only so much she could explain in one sitting. At least they had something exciting to talk about now.
Grandpa leaned back after the long story and rested a hand to his forehead, "You're right, that was a lot to swallow."
"Believe of it what you wish, but from our perspective, everything that happened was in fact real," Naoto remarked, standing to put the dishes from their breakfast away.
"One thing about your story didn't add up, though…" Grandpa stated, "I was already aware that Shadows are a product of a human's mind… It's just a guess, but I believe that the Kirijo Group might have obtained their Shadows right from the source. That they might have obtained them from real people in order to conduct their experiments… However, many of these experiments were fatal to the Shadows."
Kage looked up with a frown. He didn't like to hear of such things, nor where this story was going.
Naoto listened closely, picking out the contradiction after some thought, "If they had both the human and their Shadow and the Shadow died… then what happened to its host?"
Grandpa shook his head, "I heard that they were perfectly fine. No humans died during these experiments… as you claim they should have if their Shadow was destroyed."
Kage buried himself into one of the couches slowly, at an angle where he could not be seen from the other side. He immediately jammed his thumb into his mouth and bit down, shivering.
Naoto rolled her shoulders and stared with a disappointed face, "Kaaageee…"
"I didn't know…!" the Shadow yelled up from behind the couch, eyes darting from side to side as he scrambled for the right words, "I thought… maybe… I was important. You can't live without your heart, or your brain, or your lungs… so, so… how could you live without me?"
Naoto frowned, "You are important…"
Kage curled up, his sleeves covering over his face. Now he was at risk… All this time he had been a great inconvenience to Naoto. Keeping her from sleep, school, work… stressing her out over the death of Goro… and overall possibly ruining her career. He assumed that the only reason she tolerated any of it was because of his little white lie: that if he died, so would she. But that was far from the truth. "No… no… I'm a bad Shadow…" his muffled voice spoke, "Now that you know… you could end all of this if you ended me. I wouldn't be in your way… … But, but I don't want to die!"
Grandpa gave off a deep sigh. My goodness, this thing was whiney…
Naoto's hands came down hard on the counter, "That's not how it works!" she spoke loud at first, but then calmed her voice, "I care about you… alright? Death doesn't solve anything, especially when you mean so much to me… And you know how I handle things, right?" she said with a soft smile, "When something stops working, we fix it. We don't throw it away."
Kage continued to shiver, but at least he had her word… From now on, he needed to stop being so frivolous and damaging, even if it was in his nature. He couldn't make any more mistakes, "… Okay."
Finished with the dishes, Naoto thanked her grandfather and would make sure to continue her tales about the Inaba case later. She had covered the basics, but there was still so much to explain, such as how they came to fully suspect Adachi and how they had saved a child's life. Perhaps even Kage would enjoy these stories.
"Well then, we're going to be seeing Tatsumi-kun today, aren't we?" Naoto reminded her Shadow, who's head immediately perked up from behind the couch.
He clapped his sleeves together, completely redirected from his previous state of depression, "Kanji-kun!"
Sousei was waiting outside like a good bike and immediately fired up when Naoto stepped outside. His motor putted with surprise when he saw the Shadow following after her, though he was devoid of that distinguishable lab coat. There was no need to stand out like a sore thumb. Additionally, Naoto ordered Kage not to talk in public, and if it was absolutely necessary, to use a voice that didn't echo like a banshee scream. Lastly, the eyes were contact lenses. Really… really decorative contact lenses. Hopefully there wouldn't be any problems.
"Hold on, Sousei, I just need to give Tatsumi-kun a call," Naoto remarked with her cell to her ear. It was past 11 now and even though it was the weekend, she hoped Kanji would finally be awake and able to talk. After a few rings, there was thankfully an answer…
…
Naoto hung up after a very brief conversation, a look of worry on her face, "Well… Better get going."
"Is everything alright?" Kage questioned, following her onto the motorcycle.
Naoto checked over her Shadow to make sure that he was sitting correctly, bringing his hands to where he could hold onto her shoulders, "He sounded a little down… I assume he wants to talk about it in person. We were conveniently heading that way anyways. So, we'll find out."
Kage nodded and held on tight. However, as they set out down the road, the Shadow had to resist holding his arms out into the wind. To Naoto it was just another ride down the street, but inwardly… in Kage's perspective per se… it was flying. He took in all the passing sights with deep fascination. There was so much that he had only seen through Naoto's memories… Never before had he actually experienced them himself. It was like the difference between seeing pictures of a place and actually going there. This was her reality… and he had to admit, it was beautiful.
Driving up into the parking lot, Naoto found Kanji waiting at the entrance of the apartment building and she parked into a spot that was as close as she could get. Dismounting Sousei, she walked up and saw that Kanji's waving hand was frozen in the air, a shocked expression immobilized on his face when he saw who was walking alongside with her.
Kage bounded up the edge of the parking lot curb and made a mad dash for the other boy, throwing himself so hard onto Kanji that it knocked the breath out of the poor guy, "Kanjii-kuuun!"
"Whoa, whoa…! 'Sup little guy!?" Kanji asked with an awkward smile, one hand resting on top of Kage's head. He directed his attention to Naoto and whispered quietly, "You're just letting him out like this…?"
"I trust he won't be any trouble," she answered, "And for whatever reason, he won't stop inquiring about you… so I figured at least once wouldn't hurt."
Kanji nodded and turned to the building's entrance, trying to walk them through the doors with Kage clung to his hip. "Well, it's not like this is suspicious or anything…" Kanji spoke with sarcasm, though he wasn't about to pry the Shadow of its happy place, "But… I'unno. My cousin is here and he's probably going to wonder why this kid's voice sounds like a total train wreck."
Naoto had to slow down her walk in order for Kanji to keep pace, "He can cover it up… And we're going to say that he has a thing for contact lenses."
"And that he's your twin brother?" Kanji continued.
She nodded in reply, "Sure. That works."
Kanji's light sigh and nod reminded Naoto of why they were here. Apparently Kanji had something to say… but she could wait until he was comfortable enough to do so. Passing through the main entrance and into the lobby, Naoto noticed that none of the names on the occupancy board had 'Tatsumi' visible as a last name, so she wasn't sure which one could have been Kanji's cousin. Out of curiosity, she looked to him and asked, "And who is your cousin, by the way?"
"Oh, ehh, Daichi Nakamura. He's already graduated from Genkaku, but he's been apprenticing there to become some kind of medical staff. I say 'school nurse', but he insists on 'medical staff' for some reason," he said with a soft chuckle.
The mention of that last name made Naoto nearly trip over her feet. She had heard of it before… and honestly, it was a rather common last name, but the mention of it always caught her off guard. "Nakamura…" she whispered lightly, resting a hand underneath her chin. It was her standard contemplative pose, and Kanji recognized it immediately.
"Yeah? Somethin' about it?" he asked, looking to her as they entered the elevators and started making their way up.
Naoto pursed her lips together and found it difficult to tell Kanji what was on her mind. There were thousands of people with that last name, which made it nearly impossible to track down the one she knew. It was someone who had been let off the hook all too easily for a crime with irreversible repercussions… namely, the death of her parents. Indeed, the man who had caused the car accident which took her parent's lives had that same last name, Nakamura. "I knew a Makoto Nakamura… It was a long time ago, though," Naoto turned her gaze away, "The name just stands out sometimes."
"Makoto, eh? Hm…" Kanji tilted his head up, "There's no one in our family with that name."
Naoto knew it was so unlikely that it had to be impossible, but she was relieved to hear that anyways. "Well, of course. That would have been nothing more than a coincidence anyways," as Naoto spoke, the elevators opened up to their floor and each of them stepped out. As Kage began trotting ahead of the group, Naoto quickly walked to his side and took his arm in order to make sure that he wouldn't run off. In response, the Shadow clung to her side and nuzzled his cheek into her shoulder, walking with a happy bounce in his step.
"Aww, look, they're bonding," Kanji remarked, a few steps behind them.
Hearing that, Naoto tilted her head down and let go of Kage's arm, walking normally again.
Kanji made a small 'tch' with his tongue, "Oh, come on, it's cute."
"If a bipolar crybaby with extreme delusions of grandeur is your idea of cute then… by all means, enjoy the sight," she answered. Killjoy. Kage didn't seem offended by her name calling, though. If anything, he was proud of who he was and simply smiled more.
Kanji rolled his eyes with a smirk and pointed forwards, "There, it's the last one on the left," he said, stepping forwards past the two look-alikes and unlocked the door so that they could pass through. In stark contrast of the rather boring, white hallway that lead to it, the apartment room was very well furnished and comfortable looking. The living room that could be seen immediately seemed to be the most used location, with a very plush couch facing a wide TV and an assortment of DVDs and games to play. It was your standard dude-room, minus the uncouth posters and beer cans. There was none of that. What did stand out within the room was an assortment of luggage and a few boxes without labels resting on the floor next to the couch. They caught Naoto's attention immediately.
"Do you usually keep your luggage out…?" she asked.
"Well… no, that's sort of what I wanted to talk about," Kanji spoke, resting a hand behind his head as he slumped down onto the couch. Kage immediately followed after and crawled onto the seat next to him, snuggling up into his side. Kanji resisted entertaining the Shadow too much while Naoto watched them like a protective mother. He continued, "It's just for a couple of days… but I'm heading back to Inaba for the weekend."
Naoto looked up with surprise. It was the weekend now… Was he heading off so soon? "My, that was without warning," she remarked.
"Actually, it was decided just this morning. We got a call from Yukiko-senpai yesterday who said that… well, apparently something went down at my Ma's grave. They don't know when it happened, but it looks as if someone was trying to dig it up," he spoke. The start of the story seemed to attract the attention of the apartment's other resident who walked in from the next room.
"Hey, you must be Naoto," he spoke. It was Daichi Nakamura, a man who was clearly a few years older than Kanji and, even though he was simply a cousin, he looked quite similar to Kanji in many ways. One thing was the height. Were all the males in their family this tall? Aside from that, he dressed more formally and had naturally messy black hair that fell no further than his ears. "Heard about you a few times," he added, "Yeah, we're both heading over there to check it out and stay one night at the Amagi Inn."
Naoto's eyes squinted at the information she had received. Someone tried to defile Mrs. Tatsumi's grave… and so soon after her death? That was just all sorts of wrong. "I'm sorry to hear about it… I assume they don't know who did it? Were any other graves affected?"
Kanji shook his head slowly, "Nope, just hers…"
As he spoke, Daichi noticed the other individual who was now resting his head comfortably on Kanji's lap, arms wrapped around his hips. The man chuckled, "Got yourself a boyfriend finally, Kanji?"
"OI!" Kanji's gaze snapped in Daichi's direction and he glared. He was defensive as always about… certain labels, "He's just her cuddly runt of a brother. It ain't my fault that he's so clingy."
Naoto amused herself with the thought that… it probably was all Kanji's fault for making Kage this way.
Daichi waved a hand dismissively, "It's cool, it's cool… Hey, you work with the police, right? I'unno if you get days off or anything, but you've got friends up there in Inaba too, right?" he asked, "We've got space if you wanted to get away for the weekend."
Kanji nodded to Daichi's words. It was as if he was planning on asking all this time… but couldn't find the nerve to put his words together, so he made his cousin do it instead. This whole thing really did feel that choreographed.
Naoto tented her hands together. Was this really the best time to be getting out of the house…? Then again, considering how much Tsuge was breathing down her neck over Goro's death… perhaps this was a good time to do a little run away. "I would love to… but only if there's room for my brother, too?" she asked. Unfortunately, she couldn't just leave the Shadow with her Grandpa and not worry sick about it all weekend. Then again, this also meant that she would have to face the friends that she'd somehow managed to distance herself from over the past year… and with a little something extra clinging to her side. At least Kage's identity wouldn't be any sort of secret. Maybe this would help rekindle the contact they had all lost. "Plus I would need to pack," she mentioned.
Daichi rested a hand under his chin, "Huh, I think we've got space… But it's not like I'm hauling an SUV or anything. I can seat four people, but the luggage… We'll have to see about that. Either way, we'll just head back your way and you can take however long you need. No rush though, we're not going to see the grave until Sunday morning in case the trip there takes too long."
Naoto nodded, "It shouldn't be a problem getting there either way. If there's no room in the car, then I can ride there myself and just follow you."
As the two discussed over the details, Kanji stared down at the one resting in his lap and wondered if this trip would really be okay for Kage… He had only just gotten out of the estate today, and now they were planning a whole trip to another town with him? With that kind of concern in his mind, Kanji looked back up at Naoto who was busy in her own thoughts and wondered how much she really cared about her Shadow's wellbeing.
"I think we're good to go, then," Daichi mentioned, grabbing a couple of bags so that they could get the packing done now. Following his motions, Naoto grabbed one as well and Kanji nudged Kage back up. The Shadow had no problems with helping either. With four people carrying a two person's amount of luggage, they managed to get the job done in one round. Eager to go, the group made their way back to Naoto's with her and Kage leading the way on Sousei, who probably didn't realize that he was in for a long trip as well…
"Yep, just as I thought…" Daichi shrugged as the amount of luggage required for all of them made it impossible for more than three people to sit in the car. Well, unless Kage managed to cram himself into the trunk, but that would have been cruel and unusual. "You don't mind?" he asked, looking to Naoto who would have to ride separately.
She waved her hand dismissively, "I got to Yagokoro on him, and I can get back to Inaba just fine as well."
"Him?" Daichi lifted a brow at her wording.
Naoto's cheeks tinted red from surprise, "Ah- that's… You know, when people… put genders on inanimate objects… Like how a captain will call his ship 'she'…? … I always figured my motorcycle was male. That's all."
Kanji exhaled deeply. Nice save. If he wasn't currently stuck in bike form, Sousei would have been sweating artificial bullets at that slip-up.
In a quick attempt to change the conversation, Naoto turned to Kage and asked, "It's going to be a long drive… About three hours or so. Riding a bike for that long isn't going to be comfortable," she remarked, looking to the car they had available. "So… would you rather go with me, or with Kanji?"
Kage swiveled on the spot and rubbed his sleeves together. Did she actually need to ask…? "I want to go with Kanji-kun," he spoke, using the voice he had learned from Goro's memories for the first time around the other two boys. Kanji looked over with surprise to hear… a normal sounding voice.
Naoto mentally laughed at Kage's reply. The little traitor… But honestly, she didn't want to put him through such an uncomfortable ride, so she honored the offer, "Then go let him know."
Kage jumped up and down for a moment before excitedly running up to Kanji and wrapping his arms around him, "Kanji-kun, Kanji-kun! I'm going with you!"
Expecting it, Kanji had braced for the impact. One always had to brace for violent impacts around this child, "You are, eh? Well then…" he spoke, looking at the luggage piles within the back seats of the car. "I guess I'll put some of this in the front seat." With that, he decided to clear two seats in the back so that he could sit together with Kage… for safety measures! The last thing he wanted was a Shadow rummaging through all of their things while they were on the highway. With the space free, Kage hobbled into the middle seat where he wouldn't be any danger with the doors. Looking up, Kanji noticed that Naoto was busy with her own luggage, and took the brief chance to ask Kage a question as he slipped into the seat next to him. "Why d'you like me so much…?" he whispered quietly.
The boy grinned wide, his voice muffled behind his sleeves, "Because she does."
Kanji had a difficult time breaking the silence after hearing that. Was Kage just pulling his leg…? He stared at the other who had already clung to his arm again, cheek pressed into his shoulder. "She… doesn't like me 'that' much," he remarked. Definitely not as much as Kage had… expressed the night before.
The little Shadow shook his head a little and closed his eyes, "She just doesn't know it yet…"
Kanji stared forward and furrowed his brow. Yeah right… Naoto never put that kind of thing on her mind. It was completely unlike her… She was too married to her job to care about intimacies. Right? As Kanji mentally debated against Kage's words, his cousin entered and settled into the driver's seat. Naoto and Sousei were at the ready behind them, revved to go.
"I don't want to hear about bathrooms breaks after just 10 minutes, got it?" Daichi joked as he started up the car. The sound of the ignition opened Kage's eyes, and he watched down the driver's line of sight with a fixed stare. If no one needed to go to the bathroom now… then they were certainly about to. The moment the car started moving out of the parking lot, a shiver crept into Kage that Kanji could feel from his arm. He looked down at the boy who's shaking only got progressively worse.
"You fine?" Kanji asked.
Daichi glanced into the rear view mirror, but he couldn't see all that much with Kage cuddled so low onto Kanji. He continued to drive unless something was said…
Then, without any warning, Naoto was forced to halt as the car in front of her came to a sudden stop. Though the noise of the screeching car tires ceased, an alarming sound could still be heard from within and Kanji's door suddenly flung open. Shouting between Kanji and his cousin blared out as a wailing Kage tossed himself out of the door and gripped onto the pavement of the road. He lurched on all fours, teeth bared aggressively at the car as he emitted a shrill hiss. Naoto covered her ears and winced at the painful noise, "What are you doing…!?"
Similarly, Daichi gripped the sides of his seat and pressed his back into the driver's door, "The hell is this!?"
Seeing his host's frightened gaze on him, Kage lowered some more and stopped his violent hissing, converting it into pathetic whimpers instead. Getting back onto his two legs, Kage ran towards Naoto and hugged at her side, shivering hard. In an attempt to calm the Shadow down, Naoto leaned in close and pet the top of his head gently, "Shh…"
Catching his breath, Kanji poked his head out of the car and stared at the two, "What was that…!?"
"I think something spooked him… that's all," Naoto mentioned. Slightly calmed down, Kage nodded into her arm. That was one hell of an overreaction, though. From where he was, Kage motioned that he wanted back on the motorbike, and Naoto assisted him back on, "Do you not like the car…?"
Climbing on, Kage shook his head quietly. He didn't bother with any sort of explanation. It seemed like even he didn't expect the car to scare him so much.
"It looks like this is how it's going to be," she mentioned, looking back up to Kanji with a small frown and shrugged. For a bike, Sousei was very comfortable, but they would probably have to take frequent stops for Kage's sake since he was so new to the experience.
Kanji nodded and closed the door, staring forward at his cousin who was, unsurprisingly, at a complete lost for words. He tried to act nonchalant. "It's okay. He's going with his sister."
"It's 'okay'…? Did you see that kid? He bristled like a fucking wolf!" Daichi exclaimed. Was he the only one here that noticed how odd it was?
Kanji rubbed the back of his neck, "Yeah, sorry… he's uh… kind of an odd case. Has some sort of mental bipolar thing? You can never tell what'll set it off," he spoke, smooth as silk. "I guess today it's cars."
"Damn… warn me next time," Daichi huffed and looked forwards, resuming his driving. Kanji's family, thankfully, had a gullible streak in their genes. Kanji sat back in his seat and sighed with relief, not sure if he was prepared for the three hour drive ahead of them.
