Even Out of Battle Mode
Chapter 3
by Laly Konstantin
Disclaimer in chapter 1
By request: the established reincarnations!
Ron - Suboshi
Sean - Amiboshi
Rose - Soi
Seit - claims Nakago, but others disagree
Natalie - claims none, but others disagree
--------------------------------------
Yui rode home, forgoing conversation to think. She couldn't believe her seishi would draw each other even after being reborn. They were hardly even together, not really allies, as warriors.
With regret, she also considered that she'd barely known them.
So, with their common destiny fulfilled, why would they come together again in this life? Some kind of cosmic justice, or joint penance?
This consideration was interrupted by a shout from the car ahead. 'Stop tailgating!' Keisuke shouted, leaning halfway out of the passenger-side window.
'Try the pedal on the right!' Tetsuya exclaimed in response. He glanced quickly at Yui, and caught her humoured expression with relief. However calm and reasonable Yui appeared, he'd secretly worried that, where her warriors were concerned, all bets were off. Obviously she was thinking about the events of the last hour, but they couldn't be affecting her too badly.
Yet. On the the other hand, she could be in shock, and when the implications had time to hit... Tetsuya let out a breath he hadn't realised he was holding, just as Yui opened her mouth to ask why he was turning blue.
Another deep breath. 'Road rage,' he finally lied, with a less-than-outraged shrug.
Already thinking about her warriors again, Yui leaned back against the headrest. It's just like before, she realised. Miaka had to bring her warriors together, but mine... gathered without me. The twins, Soi, Nakago... that left three. Three chances to take some initiative, and prove herself a responsible miko? Three warriors less connected to each other, or to her?
She might not even recognise the forms her dissatisfied seishi took this time, if Soi and Suboshi could change as they had. That doubt crept into her mind. The phone number, sitting on the dashboard, slid off and into her lap.
'Is that some kind of sign?' She blinked at it. 'Nakago's number.' She shook her head, oblivious to all but the half-envelope, but no longer comfortable with the silence.
Tetsuya jerked the wheel, and they careened into Jacob's garage next to the other car. He blinked, adjusting to the dim garage lighting. Words from a book he hadn't seen in years echoed in his vision. 'Does it start with him this time, too?'
------------------------------------------
Since no one had the patience to try pasta again, the seishi settled for frozen pizza. Somehow, in the space of half an hour, they'd already let enough seep in from their memories to start using that word on each other.
Carrying two pies downstairs, they arranged themselves in the basement once more. Of course, this attracted the dogs. As Ron took the first bite of pizza, he taunted them with his other hand. 'Which one of you was Ashitare?' he sarcastically queried. Theo, hyper and easily fooled, pawed his knee.
'Neither, I hope,' Rose replied.
Seit laughed. 'If Theo was Ashitare, you should give her your pizza. She could get desperate enough to eat us.'
'Who'd she eat last time?' Sean asked, a little alarmed.
'Still no idea what's going on,' Natalie muttered. She turned to Rose, who was looking at her like an unsolved puzzle. 'What?'
'I'm absolutely sure you were there. Hmm... I met Subaru and Tokaki once...' Rose tilted her head, smiling with a slightly acid expression.
Ron, having glanced at the VCR clock and reasoned that it wasn't really midnight, checked his wristwatch. 'I should probably be getting home soon.'
'Oh, really?' Internally, Ron scowled at the false regret in Seit's voice.
'I'll come with you,' Sean immediately responded. Since he'd started to remember, he felt the bond of several years' friendship further strengthen between himself and Ron. 'You're walking, right?'
'I might as well come along,' Natalie jumped in. 'It's the same direction.' Immediately, she realised the 'twins' might not want company. On the other hand, she might be able to figure a bit more out just by hearing them talk.
'Ah, so this is how it goes. After I feed you, you want nothing more to do with me.'
'Exactly right!' Rose, flopped over the arm of the couch, pushed herself upright and to her feet, looking Seit in the eye. Ron and Sean, gathering games and controllers from the floor (and naturally, leaving their smeared plates where they sat) paused in their motion and exchanged a glance.
I can't believe it didn't occur to me that this is going to affect my relationship with Rose, he berated himself. Damn it.
'I'll probably be leaving with the rest of them. Safety in numbers, you know,' she told Seit rather sweetly. Suddenly aware that all eyes were on her, she shot a quick smile at Sean before she added, 'Call one of us tomorrow. We should all talk about this.'
'Sure,' Seit agreed, amused again by her behaviour. She turned her head back to flash a quick smile, and crossed to where Natalie was waiting by the back door. 'What, no hug?' he asked, practically sensing the irritation from Sean's direction. A rapid movement, and Sean had joined the girls. Ron, who had noticed on time that he and Sean both had a grip on the same controller's cord, stood that cord's length apart from the others. Apparently, he was a little irritated with all of them.
Natalie gasped as Rose actually returned to hug Seit. Of course, Rose was a clingy person and probably meant nothing by it... but Soi...
Sean spun around. 'I'm leaving now.' By necessity, Ron followed him outside.
Over Rose's shoulder, Seit caught sight of Natalie, lingering to wait for her friend. A memory sprung up. 'Tomo always envied Soi for having Nakago, didn't he?' he asked Rose just above a whisper.
Rose, pulling away, cast an arm out as though brushing his words away. 'It took you that long to remember?' Another smile, and she was at Natalie's side and beyond. With a jaded, will-this-never-end? expression, Natalie waved as she closed the door behind her, cutting off the evening's drafty air.
-----------------------------------------
Ron saw the girls' silhouettes appear on the sidewalk just as he and Sean prepared to round a curve in the street. He tapped Sean on the shoulder, but the other boy didn't find their presence a compelling reason to stop and wait. If anything, his pace quickened. Ron sighed. Maybe this was his penance for being the short-tempered younger brother before; at the moment, there was quite a role-reversal occurring. He quickly turned to shrug back to the girls, and moved on.
'Just because you loved someone in a past life, it doesn't mean you'll love them now,' the younger boy scoffed.
Ron was compelled to agree, but it was hard to ignore the way he'd reacted earlier when he'd seen Yui again. Not the photograph, the girl. She'd changed a lot since he'd last seen her... but there was no denying -
Running footsteps approached from behind. 'Are you trying to ditch us?' Natalie shouted. She caught up, but in stopping herself fell a little behind again.
'We kind of need to talk right now. You two can walk ahead if you want to,' Ron suggested.
Sean glared at Natalie, just a little. 'Doesn't it bother you?'
Natalie understood immediately, but thought, how can I explain it? She stopped in her tracks, so Rose could catch up. 'Rose and Seit? A... little.' She shook her head, trying to clear it. 'It's Rose, mostly. And together, I guess -' a narrowing of the eyes. 'It just triggered something unpleasant.'
'Something unpleasant?' Ron inquired, as Rose approached within a few feet. Natalie ignored him, telling Rose that they'd been invited to walk ahead. Like a shield, she interposed herself between her friend and Sean, and said something about the guys discussing 'twin issues.'
The brief interruption, though, had given Sean a chance to withdraw into a sulking mood, and Ron knew better than to try to discuss anything. His friend's expression was like a mirror of his former self. Ron pushed his hands into his jean pockets, and inside his head he skimmed memories - happy, dark, darker, psychotic. He'd finished up the happy ones, when he saw Yui's picture; looking up to Seit immediately after called up the dark, and back in the picture he saw even darker memories in Miaka, Yui's friend.
He couldn't believe they were friends again.
There was a psychotic undercurrent to that thought, and he didn't really dare touch it until he could get time alone. Looking up ahead, he saw Rose and Natalie walking arm-in-arm; so alike, so different, sweet and mouthy, open and shut, and for some reason those hazy renderings of the girl he had loathed didn't remind him of her at all.
He thought of Soi, and he thought... strange. He thought of a hand holding out a clamshell, displaying an otherworldly city. A darker memory, he thought, that led into an untouchable one.
So he didn't touch it.
------------------------------
AN: The chapters keep getting shorter, don't they?
Chapter 3
by Laly Konstantin
Disclaimer in chapter 1
By request: the established reincarnations!
Ron - Suboshi
Sean - Amiboshi
Rose - Soi
Seit - claims Nakago, but others disagree
Natalie - claims none, but others disagree
--------------------------------------
Yui rode home, forgoing conversation to think. She couldn't believe her seishi would draw each other even after being reborn. They were hardly even together, not really allies, as warriors.
With regret, she also considered that she'd barely known them.
So, with their common destiny fulfilled, why would they come together again in this life? Some kind of cosmic justice, or joint penance?
This consideration was interrupted by a shout from the car ahead. 'Stop tailgating!' Keisuke shouted, leaning halfway out of the passenger-side window.
'Try the pedal on the right!' Tetsuya exclaimed in response. He glanced quickly at Yui, and caught her humoured expression with relief. However calm and reasonable Yui appeared, he'd secretly worried that, where her warriors were concerned, all bets were off. Obviously she was thinking about the events of the last hour, but they couldn't be affecting her too badly.
Yet. On the the other hand, she could be in shock, and when the implications had time to hit... Tetsuya let out a breath he hadn't realised he was holding, just as Yui opened her mouth to ask why he was turning blue.
Another deep breath. 'Road rage,' he finally lied, with a less-than-outraged shrug.
Already thinking about her warriors again, Yui leaned back against the headrest. It's just like before, she realised. Miaka had to bring her warriors together, but mine... gathered without me. The twins, Soi, Nakago... that left three. Three chances to take some initiative, and prove herself a responsible miko? Three warriors less connected to each other, or to her?
She might not even recognise the forms her dissatisfied seishi took this time, if Soi and Suboshi could change as they had. That doubt crept into her mind. The phone number, sitting on the dashboard, slid off and into her lap.
'Is that some kind of sign?' She blinked at it. 'Nakago's number.' She shook her head, oblivious to all but the half-envelope, but no longer comfortable with the silence.
Tetsuya jerked the wheel, and they careened into Jacob's garage next to the other car. He blinked, adjusting to the dim garage lighting. Words from a book he hadn't seen in years echoed in his vision. 'Does it start with him this time, too?'
------------------------------------------
Since no one had the patience to try pasta again, the seishi settled for frozen pizza. Somehow, in the space of half an hour, they'd already let enough seep in from their memories to start using that word on each other.
Carrying two pies downstairs, they arranged themselves in the basement once more. Of course, this attracted the dogs. As Ron took the first bite of pizza, he taunted them with his other hand. 'Which one of you was Ashitare?' he sarcastically queried. Theo, hyper and easily fooled, pawed his knee.
'Neither, I hope,' Rose replied.
Seit laughed. 'If Theo was Ashitare, you should give her your pizza. She could get desperate enough to eat us.'
'Who'd she eat last time?' Sean asked, a little alarmed.
'Still no idea what's going on,' Natalie muttered. She turned to Rose, who was looking at her like an unsolved puzzle. 'What?'
'I'm absolutely sure you were there. Hmm... I met Subaru and Tokaki once...' Rose tilted her head, smiling with a slightly acid expression.
Ron, having glanced at the VCR clock and reasoned that it wasn't really midnight, checked his wristwatch. 'I should probably be getting home soon.'
'Oh, really?' Internally, Ron scowled at the false regret in Seit's voice.
'I'll come with you,' Sean immediately responded. Since he'd started to remember, he felt the bond of several years' friendship further strengthen between himself and Ron. 'You're walking, right?'
'I might as well come along,' Natalie jumped in. 'It's the same direction.' Immediately, she realised the 'twins' might not want company. On the other hand, she might be able to figure a bit more out just by hearing them talk.
'Ah, so this is how it goes. After I feed you, you want nothing more to do with me.'
'Exactly right!' Rose, flopped over the arm of the couch, pushed herself upright and to her feet, looking Seit in the eye. Ron and Sean, gathering games and controllers from the floor (and naturally, leaving their smeared plates where they sat) paused in their motion and exchanged a glance.
I can't believe it didn't occur to me that this is going to affect my relationship with Rose, he berated himself. Damn it.
'I'll probably be leaving with the rest of them. Safety in numbers, you know,' she told Seit rather sweetly. Suddenly aware that all eyes were on her, she shot a quick smile at Sean before she added, 'Call one of us tomorrow. We should all talk about this.'
'Sure,' Seit agreed, amused again by her behaviour. She turned her head back to flash a quick smile, and crossed to where Natalie was waiting by the back door. 'What, no hug?' he asked, practically sensing the irritation from Sean's direction. A rapid movement, and Sean had joined the girls. Ron, who had noticed on time that he and Sean both had a grip on the same controller's cord, stood that cord's length apart from the others. Apparently, he was a little irritated with all of them.
Natalie gasped as Rose actually returned to hug Seit. Of course, Rose was a clingy person and probably meant nothing by it... but Soi...
Sean spun around. 'I'm leaving now.' By necessity, Ron followed him outside.
Over Rose's shoulder, Seit caught sight of Natalie, lingering to wait for her friend. A memory sprung up. 'Tomo always envied Soi for having Nakago, didn't he?' he asked Rose just above a whisper.
Rose, pulling away, cast an arm out as though brushing his words away. 'It took you that long to remember?' Another smile, and she was at Natalie's side and beyond. With a jaded, will-this-never-end? expression, Natalie waved as she closed the door behind her, cutting off the evening's drafty air.
-----------------------------------------
Ron saw the girls' silhouettes appear on the sidewalk just as he and Sean prepared to round a curve in the street. He tapped Sean on the shoulder, but the other boy didn't find their presence a compelling reason to stop and wait. If anything, his pace quickened. Ron sighed. Maybe this was his penance for being the short-tempered younger brother before; at the moment, there was quite a role-reversal occurring. He quickly turned to shrug back to the girls, and moved on.
'Just because you loved someone in a past life, it doesn't mean you'll love them now,' the younger boy scoffed.
Ron was compelled to agree, but it was hard to ignore the way he'd reacted earlier when he'd seen Yui again. Not the photograph, the girl. She'd changed a lot since he'd last seen her... but there was no denying -
Running footsteps approached from behind. 'Are you trying to ditch us?' Natalie shouted. She caught up, but in stopping herself fell a little behind again.
'We kind of need to talk right now. You two can walk ahead if you want to,' Ron suggested.
Sean glared at Natalie, just a little. 'Doesn't it bother you?'
Natalie understood immediately, but thought, how can I explain it? She stopped in her tracks, so Rose could catch up. 'Rose and Seit? A... little.' She shook her head, trying to clear it. 'It's Rose, mostly. And together, I guess -' a narrowing of the eyes. 'It just triggered something unpleasant.'
'Something unpleasant?' Ron inquired, as Rose approached within a few feet. Natalie ignored him, telling Rose that they'd been invited to walk ahead. Like a shield, she interposed herself between her friend and Sean, and said something about the guys discussing 'twin issues.'
The brief interruption, though, had given Sean a chance to withdraw into a sulking mood, and Ron knew better than to try to discuss anything. His friend's expression was like a mirror of his former self. Ron pushed his hands into his jean pockets, and inside his head he skimmed memories - happy, dark, darker, psychotic. He'd finished up the happy ones, when he saw Yui's picture; looking up to Seit immediately after called up the dark, and back in the picture he saw even darker memories in Miaka, Yui's friend.
He couldn't believe they were friends again.
There was a psychotic undercurrent to that thought, and he didn't really dare touch it until he could get time alone. Looking up ahead, he saw Rose and Natalie walking arm-in-arm; so alike, so different, sweet and mouthy, open and shut, and for some reason those hazy renderings of the girl he had loathed didn't remind him of her at all.
He thought of Soi, and he thought... strange. He thought of a hand holding out a clamshell, displaying an otherworldly city. A darker memory, he thought, that led into an untouchable one.
So he didn't touch it.
------------------------------
AN: The chapters keep getting shorter, don't they?