"Hey..."
Ryuhou looked up from buttoning up his uniform-- or what had once been a uniform at least. The organization had dissolved years ago and the fabric had been frayed and torn several times over. Mending it further would be pointless ... but it had a certain symbolic value to him that he couldn't seem to part with.
He had worn it today because it marked something that the past had left behind. Something buried in the dust of a fallen city. Something that he wanted back as a matter of security.
Kazuma was still in bed, making no effort to get dressed or even move out of the little rout he had made for himself. A simple nest of sheets and blankets curled around a gentle grove in the mattress made the perfect little hole for Kazuma to nestle himself in. It might have been the picture of perfect contention if his one good eye wasn't watching Ryuhou with a hawk like sharpness. How long he had been watching Ryuhou didn't know for certain.
He supposed it shouldn't bother him that Kazuma was staring, not after what had happened at least.
"What?"
"What's on that disk anyway?"
"That's none of your concern."
"Then why is it important? HOLY doesn't exist anymore."
"It's not about HOLY..."
He turned away and set about trying to find his shoes. They had gotten tossed off somewhere around the bed but hell if he could find them. He could feel Kazuma's gaze following him as he looked under the bed and around the room. It was becoming irritating; he knew the other man was thinking something he probably wanted to say, but instead of actually saying it he was just staring.
Ryuhou looked up coldly, making eye contact with the troublesome Native Alter for a few harsh seconds. He meant to discourage Kazuma's attention, but that's not what happened.
"You could stay."
It was so sincere it threw Ryuhou off a bit. "What?"
"You could stay," Kazuma repeated, a little rougher than before, revealing a little less of his implications. "It might help jog my memory."
He could stay, if only because he couldn't keep baby-sitting the Lost Grounds forever and he felt confident that their independence had been secured. In fact he had felt a little useless for a long time now; had his protection still really been necessary he would not have wasted time tracking Kazuma down.
But he knew better than to believe the justification Kazuma was giving him. Either he remembered where he put the disk or he did not, Ryuhou's company was not likely to change anything. The deception annoyed him, even if he understood how proud and shy Kazuma really was.
"Why would I want to stay here?"
Honestly, he had not meant that to sound as mean as it did. And he immediately regretted it. Kazuma was the only one who knew where what he wanted was, and it would have been wiser just to humor him a bit.
Too late for that...
Kazuma clicked him tongue and turned up his nose. "Geez first you won't leave and now this ... you're just trying to make things difficult for me."
Kazuma played it cool, but his eyes had gone sharp and aggressive as soon as he had heard Ryuhou's response. He pushed away the bedding with a look on him that made it obvious that what Ryuhou had awaken was not Kazuma but Kazuma's fighting mood. Perhaps the only reason he had not tried to rip Ryuhou's throat out already was because time had lulled that wild spirit into hibernation.
"All right," Kazuma voice was low and purred through the air in dark sort of sigh. "You want to play it this way, fine. I don't know where your stupid disk is so get the hell out of my house."
It was in the way Kazuma was standing that Ryuhou figured that wasn't a command but an invitation to do precisely the opposite. To fight.
"I want that disk back," Ryuhou voiced hissed out of his gritted teeth.
"Yeah well there are a lot of things I want back that I'm not getting back Ryuhou, deal with it."
"Your irritating attitude is going to destroy this place."
"Not if I break your neck before you can touch me."
"A guy of your pathetic talents couldn't stand a chance against me."
"Funny, my pathetic talents weren't an issue last time."
His red eyes were seething, "you..." Somewhere down the line Ryuhou had forgotten that Kazuma was deliberately picking a fight with him. Or he remembered and just didn't care.
For all his boasting Kazuma had fought Ryuhou enough to know they were equally matched. A clever man would take the opportunity to have the advantage the instance it was presented. Kazuma may not have been a clever man, but that didn't stop him from pouncing and slamming Ryuhou into the wall.
It was a battle instinct.
One hand wrapped strongly around Ryuhou's neck and the other pinned the HOLY officer's right arm down, Kazuma felt the raw buzz of control exciting him. This was it ... he was going to beat Ryuhou this time. He loved this feeling, he needed this feeling. The fight, he needed the rush of control and victory. The feeling of struggle and dominance made him feel alive in a life that offered him only fading into obscurity.
He was holding the other man just short of choking him. Ryuhou's breathing was slow and deep, indicating that he was having a little difficulty breathing and that he found this uncomfortable. But he made no move to free himself, his red eyes bored into Kazuma almost daring him in a critical and contemptful way.
Kazuma didn't like it, it made him think Ryuhou was about to out smart him-- although he couldn't see how. He pressed Ryuhou into the door, which rattled a little at his force, and stared back just as hard.
"I'd kill you if I didn't hate you so much."
"Ditto," Ryuhou replied as best he could before his free hand reached and turned the doorknob, sending them both tumbling out of the bedroom.
Kazuma landed in a rather odd position. On his shoulder, half on top of Ryuhou and half off, his head tucked in as to make him feel like he was upside down. Both of them had landed right at Kanami's feet, a slow glance revealed her obvious scowl and the heavy metal soup ladle resting in her hands like a baseball bat.
"You shouldn't fight."
Kanami was so scary when she was being stern. The two of them climbed off of each other like naughty puppies caught in the act.
"Kazu-kun."
"Aaa?" he asked as he carefully sliced potatoes for dinner. Normally he left the kitchen chores to Kanami, but today he needed to find a space where the likelihood of even catching a hint of Ryuhou's presence was greatly reduced. Ryuhou disliked women's work, Kazuma didn't mind it so much ... so the kitchen it was.
"Ryuhou-san is leaving tonight."
Yes, and he would have left immediately if Kanami had not managed to wrangle him into staying for dinner. Kazuma wasn't pleased about it, but he couldn't fault Kanami for being hospitable. Ryuhou wasn't such a horrible person that he deserved her scorn, he was actually a pretty honorable guy.
It's just he was such an asshole...
"Yeah."
And he might have muttered 'good riddance' or something similar in addition had she not remarked "you should go with him."
Kazuma nearly cut off his finger. "What?"
"You should go," she said again with a little more assertion. "You took something that's his, it your responsibility to see it returned. Besides you're not happy here."
"Don't be silly of course--"
She gave him a 'look' that silenced the polite lie. All right so he wasn't happy there, but where had he ever been happy? Was there any land on Earth that could give him back the people he'd lost or the things he had made for himself back then? The place where he could be happy was a place in time not space. The likelihood that he would find any shadow of it again in the Lost Grounds were just as small as if he looked for it here.
Of course he did not contest the part about his responsibility. He hated being at fault for someone else's loss, the muted feelings of guilt were even worse when he had faulted someone who annoyed him as much as Ryuhou did. It almost made Ryuhou seem like he had a justification for being such a prick, and to hell if Kazuma was going admit to even that possibility.
"You're not happy with him no," Kanami conceded as much. "But you're a lot less sullen."
"Well yeah, he pisses me off."
The fine edges of a smile curled up on her lips and for a moment Kazuma worried about how faithful and detailed her Alter's gaze was. He was more than aware that her Alter peered onto the depths of human consciousness and that it seemed fixated on his consciousness in particular ... and of course Ryuhou was her second favorite consciousness to wander through, but she couldn't possibly know about last night...
At least he hoped to God she didn't know. Not that he was ashamed of it or anything, it was just ... this was Kanami! His Kanami! He didn't want to think about what she thought about it if she did know.
"I'll be fine here on my own Kazu-kun." If nothing else she seemed to detect his concern for her. If she understood the true directions of Kazuma's thoughts she was being very tactful not to let on to it. "I'm not a child anymore, and even when I was a child I looked after myself just fine."
Technically Kanami was 11, which made her very much still a child. Of course Kazuma had been on his own at her age and he had left her to fend for herself in the Lost Grounds for days at a time when she had been only 8. He was really in no position to argue with her about the question of her dependency on him, but it was his only path of resistance.
"Something could happen--"
"This is not the Kazu-kun I love. Of course I want you here, but how can I allow you to stay here if that person I love-- my Kazu-kun, the one who always kept me safe, who always came when there was trouble, the one who struggled so bravely to find his truth-- dies out because of it?" She had placed her smaller, softer hands on either side of his face as if trying to fix his thoughts so they could not move away from her words. "You should go, because you might not be happy there but all the things that you are can resurface at least."
"Kanami..."
He had no words with which to argue with that. So it was as good as settled.
"Honestly ... what I wouldn't give to kick you in the head."
Ryuhou didn't bother to turn around, he was determined not to let Kazuma get under his skin this time. He wasn't going to let that infuriating trash goad him into anything stupid again and he knew that his temper was always what gave Kazuma exactly what he wanted in the end. Of course it was also quite clear that Kazuma wasn't worth wasting his time on, not when he had something so precise to find and impossible odds against him.
Much to Ryuhou's dislike, Kazuma continued to wander aimlessly around his point. "I mean, you always turn up when things in my life had just gotten comfortable and screw everything up."
"I could say the same about you as well."
Kazuma paused and bit his lip thoughtfully, although Ryuhou doubted this was anything that hadn't occurred to Kazuma before. Which meant that Kazuma was being coy, and that was something that Ryuhou always took particular care to observe carefully because it meant he was up to something for certain. Being coy, or tactful for that matter, was contrary to Kazuma's sense of pride and honor.
So this was undoubtedly going to be a doozy.
"There's a old stadium, or what used to be one ages ago anyway, in the Lost Grounds. It was nothing more than ruins when Kimishima and I crashed there on our way back from a job, by now it's probably little more than bricks and rubble.
"Anyway, there, in an old locker ... that's where your disk is."
Ryuhou could not withhold his surprise at the casualness of this revelation. He doubted it was the point of Kazuma's conversation to begin with. Kazuma was not a charitable person as far as he was concerned, if his intention had only been to tell Ryuhou the location of his disk he probably would have made a whole lot more fuss about it.
Clearly there are a catch to this information.
"I'll never be able to find that," Ryuhou finally said.
"Yeah ... I suppose it can't be helped then."
"What can't be?"
"I'm going back with you."
Kazuma wondered if he could possibly find a way to push his hard-hat down so that people on the farm Kanami enjoyed working at wouldn't recognize him. Afterall if they didn't recognize him they couldn't make comments about what a lazy, worthless 'husband' he was. And that ... well sort of embarrassed him.
Plus he always felt like he was under the critical eye of everyone here. It seemed like they were just waiting for him to make a mistake on some days. Just waiting to complain to Kanami about how different they were, and how good she was for putting up with him.
He didn't feel welcome here.
"Yoohoo Kazu-kun," the voice of just the man he'd been waiting to see called to him from where his trashy excuse for a car had been parked. Kimishima was sitting casually on the homey wooden fence that separated the "farmland" from the rest of wasteland. Probably not a smart thing to do really ... Kazuma didn't trust it's craftsmanship and wouldn't be surprised if the thing collapsed under him.
He took off the hard-hat he wore and slipped away from the barn raising he was assisting in, or trying to at least. Kimishima always seemed to lift his spirits just with his presence as the one person who really accepted him and had any kind of faith in his abilities. Other than Kanami of course, but then Kanami was just a kid she was really good at turning a blind eye to his faults. Kimishima saw those faults clear as day and still put his life on the line with every job, trusting that Kazuma to come back successful. It was that kind of faith that inspired a sense of loyalty in Kazuma and loyalty was something he felt he desperately needed to keep him from going crazy. Fighting blindly may keep him from getting hurt, but without something to fight for the emptiness of his life just seemed to wear him away. So he put his faith in his loyalty to the people he cared about and fought for them even if they didn't stand to benefit from the battles he won.
"Kimishima," he greeted.
"You called?" the wily haired man grinned with his thick dirty wool coat that was at least three sizes too big dragging dully in the wind.
"Yeah--"
"Sorry Kazuma I know this place isn't exactly up to your tastes in employment but I don't have anything better for you."
"It's not that," Kazuma snorted as he swung himself up next to Kimishima. The poor fence whined and maybe even swayed a little under their combined weight. Kazuma was now sure the damn thing was going to collapse. "I need to know something."
Kimishima seemed to follow his line of thinking and together they opted off the fence and settled instead in the car. Kimishima's car was hardly what one would call a luxury model, hell it was hardly what one would call a car in the first place except that it had four wheels, two seats a steering wheel and a motor. It didn't compare to the cars he had seen in the city when he had been a guest of HOLD world renowned hospitality, but the seats were soft enough for them the relax and talk business.
"What kind of information?"
"That last job I pulled. I need to know who the client was."
He did not expect Kimishima to take that well, and he didn't. Of course he didn't blow him off outright either so things were going okay so far. Kimishima just lifted up the pair of cheap sunglasses he'd bought or stolen from a street market somewhere and considered Kazuma's request earnestly. It would not have been a stretch to say that he was suspicious, but then it would not be because he suspected Kazuma of betraying him. Kimishima just knew that sometimes Kazuma was a cocky moron who might not realize when he was about to do something stupid. "We don't usually deal like that," he commented, letting his newly acquired shades fall back down on the bridge of his nose. "Why do you want to know?"
"I've got an outside job to take care of."
Kimishima looked hurt, whether he actually was or not was hard to tell. Certainly he understood that Kazuma had to find work in these hard times where ever he could. "you're doing business with other agents now? And I thought we were a team. I don't suppose this is something lawful Ms Kanami setup?"
"No this one came to me directly."
"Directly?"
He told the whole story then, because Kimishima had worked very hard to keep Kazuma's exact identity a secret from their clients and because he might as well know the truth. Kazuma was going to rely on Kimishima's help for a bit more than just information.
"Are you working both sides now Kazuma? That's a dangerous path."
"No of course not, don't be stupid ... do I look like someone who would sympathize with HOLD?"
"You don't look like a lot of things," Kimishima pointed out. "It wouldn't be a first time anyone here was betrayed by someone they were close to."
Kazuma frowned, well that was probably the inevitable assumption. They at least had to acknowledge it, but he had been hoping the question of his motives wouldn't come up. Still Kimishima wouldn't be nearly as good with what he did if he didn't think about these things. "It's complicated," he grunted.
"Well it's the price of the information. Be thankful, you're getting an employee discount."
"It's a bit of an insurance policy."
"Like I believe that. Since when did the Shell Bullet need anything as cowardly as an---"
"It's not for me you idiot," Kazuma snapped. "But think about it, this disk has something important on it. Even if it's nothing that HOLD thinks is of any value it's important to Ryuhou who seemed to be in one way or another rather important in HOLY. That girl ... actually now that I think of it ... both of those girls and the other HOLY officers are loyal in him. It's for Kanami, because I'm not stupid there are more of them then I can fight through. When it's just my life I have to worry about it's no problem..."
"But should they get her..."
"Yeah... he track me to our house looking for it. It was only luck that he didn't find out about her."
"I see," Kimishima sighed. "Forward thinking for once Kazuma, I'm impressed. Really I am."
"Shutup.." Kazuma grumbled.
"I don't like it though. We've spent a lot of time and energy building up a reputation. A reputation that brings in a lot of work. This risks all of that. Are people going to trust you to do the dirty work if they think you might be in HOLD's pocket?"
Kazuma slouched down in his seat with a heavy sigh and scowled darkly at him. "I know that! I won't use my Alter all right? We'll just make it a quiet well planned hit."
" 'We'll' do this will we?"
"Well of course, how else am I to do this all by myself without my Alter?"
Kimishima chuckled, "you're helpless Kazuma. But I suppose if I was crazy enough to try to bust you out of the city before I'm crazy enough for this."
"That's what I thought to."
"Hey, watch it."