This Side
Chapter 2:
Disclaimer: Same as always.
Author's Note: Well, this is where you start getting dialogue / action from the characters… let me know if anyone is acting OOC.
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Gold eyes fluttered open, and took in their surroundings. A warm bed, in a comfortable, yet cluttered, room. The wounds on their back had been bandaged, and the torn robes replaced with an oversized t-shirt.
"You're awake?" a voice asked, and the eyes took in the brunette standing over the bed. A nod was the reply. "How are you feeling?" was the next question, as he helped the figure to sit up.
"Surprisingly alright," came the response, as the figure took in more of the room, and the morning light pouring in through a crack in the curtains. "How is your friend?"
"He's alright. A little shaken up, but he'll be fine. He's sleeping on the couch." The door was waved at, indicating that said couch was on the other side of it.
"Where am I? This definitely isn't Earth."
The brunette looked down, sheepishly. "Yeah… about that… We didn't know what to do, so we…" He trailed off, then told the story of what had happened the night before.
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The blond was shocked at the figure suddenly collapsing next to him. He struggled to keep them from falling over, until his partner helped him.
"What are we gonna do?" the brunette asked.
"It was our fault that he was injured, it's our responsibility to take care of him."
"Her."
"What?"
"Her," the brunette repeated. The blond looked again, and, now that he had a chance to actually look at the figure, indeed noticed the two bulges on the figure's chest indicating gender. "We should take her back with us," the brunette continued.
"We can't do that! It's against all sorts of rules!" the blond protested.
"What else can we do?" The blond sighed. "We'll take her back to my place. No one else needs to know she's there." The blond sighed again, and the brunette knew that he'd won the argument… for once.
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"Sorry about having to change your clothes, but you're kimono was pretty badly shredded, and we did need to bandage your wounds." He was blushing. The girl blushed also, and then there was a knock at the door.
Without opening the door, a voice on the other side asked "Do either of you want something to eat? I just put a pot on the stove to make tea."
"How'd you know she was awake?" the brunette asked, curious.
"Why else would you be so embarrassed right now?" came the reply, and the brunette blushed further.
"Some toast would be nice to go along with the tea," the girl called, and movement away from the door was heard.
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Not much later, the three sat around the kitchen table. There was a silence not heard in this apartment before, and, as she munched on her toast, the girl realized that she still didn't know where "here" was. She was about to ask, when the blond started speaking.
"I called the office," he stated simply. The brunette paused in eating, leaving his toast hanging out of his mouth. "They know something's up. We're supposed to bring her in." He didn't even look at the girl as he said this, saying it as if it were an ordinary, everyday thing.
The brunette sighed. "We're gonna get yelled at, aren't we?"
The blond shrugged. "I'm not saving you this time. It's your own fault." The brunette sighed again, and then the trio finished eating, again in silence.
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Shortly after the breakfast scene, the trio were walking down a sakura-lined path to a large building. As her only clothes were torn, she had to borrow clothes from the men. Luckily, the blond was about her size, so a spare sweater and pair of jeans from him fit her.
"You know," the brunette said, as if suddenly realizing something he'd forgotten. "We never did introduce ourselves." He stopped, and turned to the other two, who were trailing behind him.
He held out his hand. "I'm Tsuzuki Asato."
"Tsuzuki-san," she repeated, shaking his hand.
The blond also held out his hand. "Kurosaki Hisoka."
The girl froze a moment, then also grasp his hand. "Kurosaki… san." The suffix was added haltingly, as if she wasn't sure which one to use.
"Akarui Mikan," she told them.
"Aka…" the blond started, but was interrupted by the brunette, who exclaimed "Mika-chan!"
Mikan looked at him for a moment, then walked right up to the taller man. "First off, it's 'Mikan,' not 'Mika-chan.' Second, who gave you the right to speak to me so causually?"
The brunette made a big show of jumping and hiding behind his partner. "Soka-chan… kowai desu!"
The blond sighed. "Please ignore Tsuzuki-san. His brain stopped developing at a young age."
"Soka-chan!" Tsuzuki protested, but dutifully followed behind Hisoka and Mikan.
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As I'm going through and making sure that the formatting is consistent on all of these, I've noticed that I forgot to put a footnotes on this chapter. Heh… here it is! Reviews please, and title ideas.