Ben10 & Digimon Tamers
Heroes and Humanity
Part 01: Heroes and Humanity
Chapter 11
Originally Written: November 21, 2011 753PM; November 29, 2011 approx. 1PM to 2:31PM; November 29, 2011 2:32PM; December 15, 2011 12:25PM; Wednesday, Jan 4, 2012 - 3:06AM to 3:49AM
Albedo did his best to pace himself as he walked. He and Jenrya were still acquainted with each other, but it had been days since Jenrya had kissed him. He wasn't sure what Jenrya was waiting for, 'Perhaps it was just an experiment.' He couldn't surmise why it was just one kiss. Jenrya pulled away, content to use him as a pillow afterward.
The action left him jittery, moments of anticipation making the hairs on the back of his neck stand up, but continuously making him want to punch a wall for the good chunk of Ben Tennyson that was within him and to immerse himself in experimental test and calculation until the feeling passed for the part of him that he knew was his own.
He brushed a hand across the back of his neck cursing at the hair on the back of his head for being so distracting. It permanently felt as though someone was touching a bundle of feathers to the area. Instead of it being humorous, intimidating or ticklish for him, it was just plain irritating.
Before he was sure of what he was doing, he had crossed the street and entered a small shopping store. A few minutes later, he came out with a bag of two soda cans in addition to the chili fries and a packet of hair ties. He placed the two bags up on a bench and took a little more time to painstakingly tie up the extra hair he had in a ponytail. He picked up his bags and continued on his merry way.
He wasn't sure why he didn't bother cutting it. Every morning he woke next to Jenrya with the opportunity to shave and get clean. He could have just chopped the excess...or all of it off during one of those mornings.
He frowned to himself pausing in his step, 'Why am I walking so fast? I need to keep on target.'
He rocked on his feet, steeled himself for no reason he was sure of, and then jerked himself into a sharp run. The nagging feeling would not leave him alone. He thought amongst himself, bobbing and weaving through the people, "Simple minded humans," he murmured. The more he wondered, the more he recognized the feeling, 'Humans are idiots...but sometimes...' he was forced to stop at a light, 'sometimes the dumb things are right.'
He rocked on the balls of his feet, and a slight defeated smile of realization on his face, "I want to see him."
Henry swung his feet back and forth gingerly as he stared out the window. He smiled a small smile. Occasionally he turned around to look at Dr. Iris. She would look up at him, smiling in return. Today her hair was up in a neat bun, the blond strands standing out against the pale skin of her makeup dusted face. She was always smiling when he looked at her. Sometimes he wondered if she knew what she was supposed to do when a patient looked at her. 'Maybe they're not supposed to look or something.'
Henry shrugged his shoulders, "I wonder what you do?" He turned to look out the window.
"I help you with whatever you think you need help with."
Henry smiled, "Recorded response much?"
"Perhaps."
Henry shook his head, "I'm gonna meet my friend later." He tapped his fingers against his leg.
"Oh?"
"Yeah, he's weird, but pretty cool. I've not been fighting with my dad as much." He folded his hands on his lap, "but I've not seen him as much. He thinks he can gain redemption or something." He shook his head, "I'm not allowed to go into too much detail about it. God forbid we have a, " he wiggled his fingers, "government scare." He smiled wryly, "God forbid.
"Do you think someone is looking out for you?"
"Not who you think." He mumbled, "At the moment, I can't say I'm quite impressed." He shrugged his shoulders.
"Impressed?"
"You know. Like guardian angel status or something." He leaned back in the chair, rocking his foot to an imaginary beat. "When he talks he's usually right, but he says it at the wrong time, and in the wrong manner, or something." He slumped in his seat, "I can't believe I flash backed."
"Why not?"
"Don't ask like that. It sounds like you expected it."
"I apologize. I did not mean it in that way."
"I know, I know." Henry sighed, "I was doing so good."
"You're still doing well."
Henry shrugged, "...I...I hit him. Like he was Trang."
"Your friend?"
"Yea, I just hauled off and sent him to the ground. Twice. He won't mention it, but I think I hit him a bit hard. He's still a bit stiff when he moves." Henry sighed, "I didn't mean to hit him..."
"Why did you then?"
"He grabbed my shoulders. I thought he was Trang. That he was...you know."
"You didn't know his intentions."
Henry shook his head, "Not in my right mind, huh?"
"You have to define right first."
Henry smiled slightly, "Right. Forty-five in thirteen secs."
Silence filled the room for a quick moment, "You're always on time."
"Better than being late."
"Even fashionably late?"
"Fashionably late is the worst." Henry groaned. He stood and stretched his arms high, going through a few quick stretch exercises of his arms and legs. "I held that in so long." He kept his back turned from her, "If you were authorized to give information to my parents, would you tell them?"
"No, Henry, I wouldn't."
"Because you care about me?"
"Loaded question Mr. Wong."
Henry grinned, "I know. Only patient to doctor." He stood in the doorway swinging his arms back and forth. "He makes two."
"Only two?"
Henry imagined she had an eyebrow raised in confusion. He thought about his friends. About his brother and sisters. His mother and father. Trang. He nodded, smiling brightly, "Yea. Certainly better than none. I'll see you next week Dr. Iris."
He placed his hands in his pockets as he slowly made his way down the hall. He hadn't waited for her reply.
"They let you get hurt Jenrya."
He shook his head, 'They didn't let me get hurt. They didn't even really know about Trang. That was my fault...but if they cared they would have figured things out about me on their own like Albedo did.' Henry slowed to a stop, 'That was the most ridiculous thought I had today.' He frowned resuming his walk, 'I still don't know how he knows I'm Jenrya. I don't even like thinking about what that name turned into. Why do I let him call me Jenrya anyway?,' He stepped into the lobby.
He blinked watching the gray haired, red jacket wearing man sitting on one of the couches. 'Why does a loveseat only fit one person?" Henry laughed, walking up to him. A bag of chili fries and another bag of two soda bottles sat on his lap. Henry sat on the arm of the chair. He watched Albedo's chest rise and fall smoothly. He watched his eyes move under his eyelids, "I shouldn't wake him," he whispered.
A thought went through his mind, 'How does he know that I come here? I know he knew about Dr. Iris, but location is another story.' Henry smiled in sadness, 'I hope he...' He poked Albedo's arm, then he shook him gently.
Albedo looked up at him, his red eyes focused strongly on him.
Henry shuddered under his gaze.
Albedo smiled more than what he or Henry were used to when he smiled.
"Morning sleepyhead," Henry smiled back, "You came for me?"
Albedo yawned. He scratched his head, lowering it. He stared down at the two bags in his lap, "I wanted to see you."
Henry smiled even wider, "Little old me?"
"Little old, not annoying human you." Albedo smirked standing.
'Albedo wouldn't do something so weird and cruel.' Henry stood with him. He grabbed the bags off Albedo's lap, "Brought me food too?"
Albedo lowered his head, "I figured you were hungry." He looked at his watch. "It's five. You need to eat."
"It's fine. Aren't you supposed to be tutoring now?"
"They can handle a few moments without adult supervision. They were intelligent enough to catch onto my own intelligence after all." Even now after all these months Albedo couldn't get quite used to the length of his arms and legs. He felt as though he were a To'Kustar towering over everything as it usually does. Yet he was still not that tall. He tried to not think about it. It made no sense, and made sense at the same time. Such questions were not fit to ponder about when he was around Jenrya.
Henry grinned, "What kind of response is that?"
"An adult response."
"You're an adult?"
"I like to think so." Albedo nodded sagaciously. The duo headed out the building. "It's more about maturity than intelligence. I've seen some smart dumb people."
"Hasn't everyone? They're all over the place." Henry pulled a soda from the bag. He opened it and took a drink.
"Like rodents?"
Henry laughed, "I'm not going there."
"Why not, it's a perfectly logical thought."
"So is, 'it's more likely Jesus was a black or dark skinned man than a pale white man.' That doesn't mean someone won't come along, deck you in the face and proceed to walk all over you."
Albedo shook his head and looked forward, "Maturity over intelligence."
Jenrya quickly and discreetly pulled his hand from Albedo's. Albedo stared at the medium sized crowd of students. He focused on one section at a time, slowly examining them.
"This is a tutoring session, not a convention." He finally spoke while folding his arms.
Akira walked up to him, hands behind his back. "We wanted to thank you, Sensei." Akira bowed low. Outside people were glancing at the scene as they passed by.
Albedo raised an eyebrow, "If anyone jumps out of a cake, a car, or from under the table..."
"It's nothing like that sensei. We all talked about it, and we think you're really good at teaching." Akira looked down, rubbing the side of his sneaker against the ground.
"Get on with it. I still have the student's work to look over.
Saya walked up bowing slowly, "It's a good thing Mr. Wong distracted you, or else this wouldn't have worked."
Albedo turned to Jenrya.
Jenrya shrugged his shoulders equally confused. "Don't look at me."
Akira held out a white folder, "This is for you, Sensei."
Albedo reached for the folder, but was distracted by a chorus of "Thank you, Sensei." It was as though the act was planned out and choreographed. His students applauded as Albedo finally took the folder and opened it.
Jenrya peered over his shoulder sipping a new drink. He sputtered, pounding a fist against his chest.
Albedo looked at Akira. Akira shied under his gaze.
"That's a Shinjuku Professor and Teacher Academy Exam application!" Jenrya looked back and forth between Akira and the document. "The application alone cost a couple ten thousand yen!"
"If I knew what that meant, I'd not have this blank look on my face." Albedo replied curtly.
"The students you're tutoring think you're good enough to teach professionally." Jenrya placed a hand on his shoulder, "I'd say they're right."
Albedo looked at Akira, "Who are you to assume that I've nothing better to do with my time?" He looked at the group of students, "What is to say you've not wasted your money and all of our time?"
"You're more focused on teaching than our own teachers. You've no official job, but you have grade records for all of us." A student spoke, "No person who doesn't like teaching gives out progress reports." They spread their arms wide, "It's like you're super sensei-"
"Which is awesome considering you're-"
A girl covered another girl's mouth. "-Hush!"
Albedo stared at the both of them.
"Take it," Jenrya whispered to him. Albedo held in a shiver. "It'll be good for you."
Albedo stared down at the paper. He quickly skimmed through the requirements. He wondered what the Galvan equivalent to a High School Diploma or University equivalent was. He was sure he was qualified. He was probably over qualified. Back home he sometimes took over training Azmuth's students when said Galvan was preoccupied with other things. Not that he had that many students. Certainly Azmuth never had as many Albedo currently had, officially or otherwise.
'They'd probably see my perfect score and put me in the news. I'd wind up being some ignorantly displayed celebrity civilian like Tennyson.' Albedo bit his bottom lip.
"Are you alright, Sensei? Do you not like it?" The girl who was sitting next to him before he left to see Jenrya, asked.
'This job could make me a good deal of money...If things don't go well...at least I could get back to America.' Albedo looked up from the document, "It's fine..." He nodded. There were so many more important things he could be doing than teaching humans who'd never reach his intelligence level. Still, with no money...It wasn't a far off thought that Jenrya would soon require payment for the services he provided Albedo.
He wasn't sure what else he could do. Azmuth's training was difficult and had taken much of his time over the course of many years. His actions were never met with a 'Thank You' or a gift unrelated to a new scientific discovery. There was no time for such things.
"I'm flattered you think I'm capable of such a large task." He laid out the politest straight face he could muster.