Title: Interludes
Rating: PG-13 (language)
Summary: Kurogane gets Mokona out of a jam.
"Hey guys, look at the retarded rabbit."
Mokona twitched her ears up, looking around her. She'd been waiting on a park bench while her friends did the shopping; the store had a strict "No Animals" policy (Mokona wasn't an animal!) and she hadn't been allowed inside.
During her preoccupation, she had acquired company. The park bench where she'd been sitting was surrounded by kids, anywhere between the ages of eight and eleven and all of them boys. There were four of them, nudging and poking and slapping each other, all wearing most unpleasant expressions.
"Naw, it's not a rabbit," one of the boys spoke up. "Look at its gimpy little legs. It's probably a rat."
Mokona sat up straight, huffing indignantly. Rat, indeed! One of the other boys replied by punching the first in the chest, prompting an angry scowl. "That ain't no rat! Are you stupid?"
"It is so!" The first boy made a grab for Mokona, and she didn't dodge in time; she found herself swept up by a pair of grubby hands that squeezed painfully. Not the careful way that any of her friends held her. "You know how we can tell, we could feed it some rat poison. Then if it dies, it's a rat!"
She squirmed with all her might, and when that failed to win her free, resorted to her voice. "Mokona is not a rat!" she said stridently. "Mokona is Mokona!"
The boys all jumped, and Mokona managed to wriggle free and hopped back onto the bench. They goggled at her. "Holy shit, that rat just talked!" one of them said.
"It must be a robot," another said. "Hey, open it up and find its batteries! My walkman's busted, I need new ones."
"Leave Mokona alone!" She gave them her best glare, but it wasn't very threatening from her vantage point. "Mokona isn't a robot!"
Another punk made a grab for Mokona, which she barely avoided. "Yeah, take it apart and find out what makes it tick!"
Mokona gave a wail and jumped off the park bench, hurrying towards the cover of a nearby hedge. A viciously swung foot almost connected with her, and she was forced to veer hastily off. A forest of legs crowded around her, kicking and stomping, and Mokona gave a quick blast of Secret Technique #24: Reverse Vacuum Blast (Medium Power) which scattered them temporarily. Taking the opportunity, Mokona bolted off down the street.
Ugly shouts and tramping footsteps followed her, and Mokona redoubled her speed as she considered her dilemma. If it came down to it, she probably could defend herself more strenuously. Some of Mokona's secret techniques were quite powerful. The problem was, Mokona didn't want to really hurt any kids, even mean punk kids. She wasn't sure she could get them to leave her alone without seriously hurting someone.
A black figure loomed at the end of the block, and Mokona brightened hopefully as she made for it. "Kuro-daddy!" she cried out, and he turned towards her with some surprise. He looked up the block at her pursuers, and his expression darkened thunderously.
Completely winded, Mokona used her last effort to jump into the crook of Kurogane's arms. He caught her and quickly hid her safely in the folds of his black cloak, then turned to the kids who'd followed her. "What the hell do you little punks think you're doing?" he snarled dangerously. His deep baritone voice made the space around his ribcage rumble like a thunderstorm, and Mokona quivered in the safe space as she caught her breath. She peeked out around the corner of her cloak just in time to see her would-be tormenters slink away, spooked and chastened. Apparently scary-face Kurogane could do what Mokona's Secret Techniques couldn't, and banish the bullies without any further need for violence.
"You okay?" Kurogane said abruptly, and Mokona realized he was talking to her.
"Hmph!" Mokona said, regaining some of her composure. "Stupid kids. They called Mokona a rat! Mokona's not a rat, or a bunny, or a robot, either!"
"Nah," Kurogane said in agreement. "Good thing they didn't figure out what you really were."
"What do you mean?" Mokona frowned in confusion, and Kurogane chuckled.
"If they realized you were a pork bun, they might have tried to eat you!"
"HEY!" Mokona squawked, and pinched the side of his neck hard enough to make him wince. "Kuro-bully is just as bad as the rest of them!"
But she made no move to leave the shelter of Kurogane's cloak, and he made no move to evict her, either. As they turned down the street to meet up with the rest of their friends, he laid one warm hand on her head between her ears, to keep her steady and safe.
~to be continued...
