AN: Greetings, one and all, from the land of my vacation! Anyways, have this LONG AU oneshot that I've been working off and on on for the past three days or so! The concept's pretty interesting to me so it's highly likely that I'll do something else with it in the future because man what a fun idea this was to work with. Anyways, until next time!
Masks
AU
Characters: Heiji Hattori, Kazuha Toyama
Summary: We all have masks we wear- some more literally than others.
The first floor of the old school building, the furthest room to the back, on the left. That was where she was told that she could find someone who might be able to help her with her current problem.
Toyama Kazuha had always been one to believe in the supernatural, but thankfully thus far, her encounters with it had been non-existent. Quite frankly, she had been hoping to keep it that way, but at some point her luck had seemingly run out. If she had known picking up a simple hand mirror would have resulted in her being chased by some kind of mirror youkai, then she would have never done so in the first place. She had managed to avoid it thus far, but she couldn't spend the rest of her life avoiding mirrors.
She needed help, and her classmates had all been rather insistent that there was one person who she could turn to for sure. She'd heard the rumors of course, and had even seen him in person from time to time- he was incredibly hard to miss, after all. But she had never actually had the chance to speak with the young man by the name of Hattori Heiji before- though faintly, the name almost seemed to ring a bell, though she didn't understand why. Supposedly, he was the same age as her, but was a year under her, having been held back apparently due to health reasons in middle school.
The rumors were that he had been attacked by a yukionna, and had barely lived to tell the tale. The rumors also mentioned that it was when he woke up from his long coma, that he started to wear what it was that had given birth to the rumors in the first place- that distinct, unmistakable, fox mask. Since she only had occasions in which to see him briefly before, she didn't actually know if the other rumors surrounding it were actually true or not.
Namely that for whatever reason, he never took it off. There were whispers that he couldn't, but nobody was quite certain about this. Those who shared classes with him would testify that they had never seen him without it, even while changing for gym class. They couldn't comment if he took it off to eat, because nobody actually ever saw him do so. It was thought that he ate his lunch here, in the room in the old school building that he'd staked for his own. Nobody really much disputed the claim- not his teachers nor the school administration, generally just leaving him be.
Perhaps it had something to do with the fame of his father- Hattori Heizo was a name she knew well, seeing that he was the head of Osaka's police force. Her father worked directly under him, in fact, so there was no way she wouldn't know who he was. Perhaps it was because of him that the school administration turned a blind eye to his eccentric son, or perhaps it was for a far more simple reason- fear. Not of the father, but of the son.
Because as much as one would think that spending your entire life with a ceramic fox mask worn over one's face, one without even so much as the smallest of holes for his eyes to see through, would cause someone more than it's far share of complications. This question, however, would be answered by the second rumor, and that was something that everyone who had spent any length of time around him was willing to confirm, with either a shudder or a disdainful look- that the mask moved. It was as if it had a life of it's very own.
If it weren't for the fact that she were in dire need of help, Kazuha might have never decided to approach him in the first place. Believe in the supernatural though she might, she was also quite frightened of it. The whispers that Hattori Heiji was something other than human were almost enough for her to turn back- but she wanted to be free of this mirror youkai already, and she certainly didn't want to trouble her parents with it either. And that was what brought her to the room in the old school building, one that other students sometimes offhandedly referred to as the 'Special Requests Club'.
Taking in and letting out a deep breath, Kazuha knocked on the sliding door.
"It's unlocked!"
Nearly starting at the sound of the male voice coming from within the room, Kazuha quickly caught her breath. It sounded surprisingly normal- given the rumors, she had expected his voice to sound muffled, but it had come across clear as day. Almost hesitating for a moment, Kazuha quickly resolved herself, sliding open the door.
"Pardon the intrusion!" Stepping inside, Kazuha quickly gave the room's occupant a bow, before she even so much as took a look at him. "I'm Toyama Kazuha! I came here because I need your help, Hattori-kun."
"Well I mean, that's the only reason anyone ever comes here." His voice spoke up, a slight hint of amusement to his words. "An' just Heiji's fine. Yer a second year, aren't ya? I've seen ya around before. The aikido club's captain, right?"
"That's right, I am." Slowly nodding her head, somewhat surprised that he knew anything about her at all, Kazuha straightened up, finally taking her first good look at the young man of the rumors. For all the world, he looked like any other student at the school, though his skin was several shades darker than most- and he probably would be any other student, were it not for the mask that the young man lounging on the beaten up old couch wore.
A white, ceramic fox mask, kept in place around his head with a red string. Completely black eyes stared back at her, two lines of red underneath each of them standing out, and two rounded circles of red just above said eyes, almost made to resemble eyebrows, she thought for a moment. A red line ran down the center of the forehead area of the mask, and just beyond that, fox ears rose up, sculpted in white ceramic. The mouth of the mask almost seemed to be painted in what she thought was a permanent grin- that was, until it moved.
"So? What do ya need?" Heiji asked, tilting his head to the side. As he spoke, the lips of the mask split apart, moving in sync with his question, for all the world as anyone's mouth would when they spoke. As a startled look crossed her face, a look of understanding crossed his face- even though she couldn't see it, such an expression was echoed in the features of the mask, the black eyes narrowing slightly, the red brows furrowing. Letting out an amused sounding snort, the masked young man couldn't help but laugh. "Well, don't worry about it. Everyone pretty much reacts in the same way at first."
"I mean, I heard the rumors, but I didn't actually think that..." Kazuha trailed off a little, half wondering why her first instinct was a desire to touch it. She couldn't help but wonder in the back of her mind, if it was warm, as opposed to the cold that logic dictated it should be. "Ah, sorry! I'm actually bein' really rude, aren't I? Especially seein' as I'm comin' here ta ask ya fer help."
"Nah, not really." An amused smirk crossed the mask, as Heiji placed his chin in his hand, one of his fingers drumming idly on the mask. "Sometimes people scream. That's rude. Anyways, don't just stand there, come in." Swinging booted feet off of the couch, he rose to his feet, eyes- those of the mask's- darting around the room, narrowing a little as he seemed to realize that it was in a bit of a state of disarray, and that there really wasn't any place to sit. "Just... just give me a second."
"Is it usually this messy in here? It almost looks like a storm came through." Kazuha couldn't help but observe, taking a step inside, slowly sliding shut the door behind her. Certainly, he was an odd person, and the mask had surprised her more than just a little- but after actually speaking with him, he didn't actually seem that scary. Odd, certainly, but hardly scary.
Vaguely familiar, actually, for reasons that she couldn't place.
"Ah, that's one way of puttin' it." Glancing back at her with what she assumed was a sheepish grin, Heiji hurriedly cleared off one of the chairs, taking a look at the stuff that had piled up on it- before just deciding to chuck it to the side, rather than worry about where to put it. "Half of this stuff's actually just been here since before I started usin' the room, I've just never got around ta sortin' through it. Sit down an' tell me what's goin' on. It's not more youkai business, is it?"
Sensing the hopeful note on his voice, gathering that he would rather it be anything else, Kazuha almost felt bad about what she brought with her being exactly that. Still, she took the seat that had been offered to her, watching as Heiji plopped right back down on the couch, planting his feet on the cracked coffee table that looked like it had seen it's fair share of use in life.
She supposed that look in his eyes- the mask's eyes really, was that of expectation. It was hard to really tell, given that they were pure black, but given the ease he'd made his way around the room, she couldn't help but wonder if he could actually see out of them. For half a moment, she found herself speculating as to wether or not the mask actually was his face, but decided to put such thoughts aside.
"It actually is." Kazuha admitted, watching as a crestfallen look seemed to briefly cross his mask, before he clicked his tongue- letting out a long sigh. "I'm sorry. But it's really, really important, an' I was told ya might be able ta help me, Hattori-kun, so..."
"Well, that depends on what kind of help ya need, Kazuha." Rubbing the back of his neck, Heiji heaved another long sigh. Briefly, she couldn't help but wonder at the overly familiar way he had addressed her- and why she didn't really protest too much to it. If anything, he should be calling her senpai- and yet she almost felt as if this was natural. "An' like I said, just Heiji's fine."
"Then, Heiji." Kazuha said with a slight frown, wondering why dropping the honorific entirely had felt so right. He certainly didn't protest, but rather, the expression his mask turned on was one of near delight. "Actually, the other day I picked up a strange hand mirror, thinkin' ta turn it into a police box as a lost item, but ever since then..."
"Ya've been stalked by some kind of mirror youkai?" Heiji threw out there, and when she nodded her head, another long sigh escaped from him. She wasn't sure what took her by surprise more- the confirmation that he had actually seen her simple gesture, or the fact that the eyes of his mask closed. "Those are always a pesky bunch. I don't suppose ya still have the hand mirror in question with ya?"
As one eye of the mask peeked open, Kazuha slowly shook her head. "Sorry. I was so startled that I kind of threw it as far away from me as I possibly could." She admitted with a slightly nervous laugh. "Was that bad?"
"Nah, it'd probably have cursed ya either way." Heiji told her, both eyes opening again as he shook his head. "S'far as I know, they treat the whole thing as some kind of game. Though I don't know who told ya I was some kind of youkai expert or anythin', because honestly, that's not really my field of expertise. I mean, I deal with 'em sometimes, but..." Scratching the back of his head, Heiji gave her what she suspected was probably a considering look.
"Well, if I give the bastard a good punch, it'll probably run away with it's tail between it's legs. Those things are pesky, but if ya show 'em ya can fight back against 'em, they'll usually move on ta someone easier." Heiji told her, giving her a quick grin. "I'm no exorcist, but I can do that much at least. Ya came all this way ta see me after all, it's not like I can turn ya away empty handed."
"Well..." Trailing off a little, uncertain how she felt about the idea of the youkai being allowed to run off to haunt someone else, Kazuha considered this for a moment. "I suppose that's fine. I'd rather not have to spend the rest of my life running from mirrors."
"Yeah, that sounds like it'd be a pain in the ass." Heiji couldn't help but joke, his grin only growing all the wider. He looked quite pleased that she had accepted his offer, in so far as she could tell. It was actually quite impressive that she could so easily pick out expressions from the less than human features of his mask at all. Springing back to his feet again, apparently eager to get started now that the idea had been planted in his head, he glanced down at her, offering her his hand.
"Let's go, Kazuha. If there's somethin' bad creepin' around ya, I'll chase it away."
Blinking a little at his extended hand, Kazuha peered up at him. Vaguely, she couldn't help but wonder why it was that people seemed to regard him as creepy in the first place- certainly, he was strange, and she was filled with a million questions that she would like to ask of him, but while it was a fox mask that was playing out all of his expressions for him, that bright smile it wore was hardly the stuff of nightmares.
It was rather warm, actually, like the sun.
Briefly, she wondered how many people treated him like a normal person, and not some kind of eccentric troublemaker, or a potentially supernatural enigma. She felt a pang of guilt as she thought on her own apprehension towards meeting Heiji in the first place- but decided that she was grateful that she had gathered the resolve to step through that door. Carefully taking his hand in her own, she noted that it was rather warm as she pulled herself to her feet.
"Thank ya." Kazuha told him. "Really, this helps me a lot. But where exactly are we goin' in the first place, Heiji?" And then, with a slight pause, she asked another question that had been floating around in her mind- one that she didn't think was rude. "An' what were ya hopin' I was comin' ta ask ya about in the first place?"
"If we're dealin' with a mirror youkai, then we need a place with lots of mirrors. Luckily there's still an old bathroom here that'll do just the trick." Heiji told her, his hand lingering briefly for a moment, before he slowly pulled it away, tucking it in his pocket. Her next question seemed to catch him off guard a little- honestly, he wasn't used to people trying to make casual conversation with him. Outside of his own parents and Otaki, pretty much everyone tried to hurry through their conversations with him, trying to get him away from them as quickly as they could.
Those who didn't were usually some kind of occult fanatic, who were more interested in him as an oddity than anything else. He wasn't sure which pissed him off more.
"Actually, I kind of want ta be a detective, so I was hopin' it'd be some kind of case. I've got somethin' of a reputation, ya know." Heiji admitted after a moment, sheepishly scratching his 'cheek' with one finger. Granted, most of it was bad- not that his skills as a detective were lacking, mind. "Well, there's not many people that are willin' ta hire ya when ya know..." Trailing off there a little, realizing the corner he'd verbally backed himself into, Heiji rubbed the back of his neck, turning his gaze away from her, choosing not to finish the sentence. "Well, sometimes I still get requests fer stuff like that anyways."
"Can ya really not take it off?" The question slipped out before she even knew it, too late to stop it. Slapping her hands over her mouth, her eyes went wide, racking her brain for the right kind of apology for such an invasive question. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked that!"
"Don't worry about it. S'fine, Kazuha." Heiji told her with a simple shrug of his shoulders, taking a few steps forward, so that she could only see the back of his head. "I can't take it off any more than you can take off yer own face. I do have one though, fer the record." He added, almost as an afterthought. "A real face, that is. Though I forget what it looks like sometimes."
He punctuated his words with a slightly awkward laugh, opening the door back up. Turning his head to glance back at her, Heiji's smile seemed a little bit strained. "Ya comin' Kazuha? I'm sure ya don't want ta deal with that thing fer much longer, right?"
"Ah, yes." Slowly nodding her head, Kazuha only allowed her expression to shift to one of sympathy when he turned back around again, hurriedly moving to fall into step behind him. Whatever the reasons were behind it, it didn't seem as if he had started wearing it in the first place due to his own choice. If the rumors were true, and he really had been wearing the mask since his second year of middle school- mentally doing the math, Kazuha grimaced a little as she realized it had been about five years since then.
Had it been that long since Heiji had seen his actual face reflected back in a mirror?
Carefully studying his side profile, she realized that there was no actual gap between his mask and what very little she could make out of his face. The white of the ceramic almost seemed to mix seamlessly with his dark skin, as if it were as much a part of him as anything else. He had told her that he didn't really know that much about youkai, but he hadn't batted an eye at her story- what exactly had happened to make him this way?
She was overcome with the desire to know- to know the answers to these questions, yes, but to also know more about him. There was a curiosity within her about what his actual, real face looked like, but even more than that, she was curious to know just what kind of person he was.
When none other than Toyama Kazuha herself had entered into the room in the old school building that he had acquired for himself on a whim, Heiji nearly felt his heart skip a couple of beats. Out of all the people he'd never expected to come here, Kazuha was probably at the top of his list. And yet, here she was, earnestly seeking out his help- and while it was with matters pertaining to youkai (seriously, when Heiji found who it was that was spreading those rumors, he'd have some words with them), he was nevertheless ecstatic and more than willing to do whatever it was that he could to help her.
It was painful pretending that he had no idea who she was, other than having casually heard of her before, but there was no way she'd believe the truth anyways. She had long since forgotten the bond they had shared- and by her own choice, at that. Who was he to tell her otherwise at this point? This was the first time they had spoken in five years, after all- the last thing he remembered of her was her shouting over his body, pleading with him to stay with them for just a little longer, that help was coming.
If she hadn't found him then, then he might very well have been dead. As it was, he lingered in between life and death for six months, lying in a coma all the while. By the time he finally woke up, everything had already been done, and there was nothing that Heiji could do about it. Decisions regarding his future had been made without his consent, and although at the time, he'd chafed at it, furious with his parents for doing something like this to him- he now understood that they had no other option.
It was either this, or risk losing their son completely.
If he hadn't literally started to disappear, Heiji guessed his father would have never bought into what the old woman who claimed to be a spiritual healer had to say. That half of his soul was missing, torn out of him, lost somewhere out there in the world? That if the missing part of his soul wasn't restored to him or something was done to fill the void it had left behind, he would wind up not only completely disappearing, but vanishing from everyone's memories as well? Ridiculous. It would have been ridiculous, surely, were it again, not for the fact that he was literally starting to disappear, fingertips first. There was no rational explanation for that.
She had heard the rumors and had sought them out, horrified by what she had found when she arrived. Never before had she seen someone with such a large piece of their soul missing- and for such a long period of time as well. If they didn't do something quickly, then not only would he never wake up, he would simply be gradually erased from existence entirely. She knew of a method, though she was almost loathe to suggest it, knowing what would be needed for it, and the heavy consequences that both what was needed would carry, and both what had to be done would bring.
When Heiji woke up, six months after his near death encounter, he knew at once that something was wrong. His parents- the both of them, even his father, were gazing down at him with worried eyes, concern and hesitation in their voices as they spoke to him, calling out his name, asking him if he remembered anything. When he had jolted bolt upright, memories of his encounter with that thing- that yukionna, that monstrous woman of the snow that he denied having existed in the first place but was now long since willing to admit to the existence of, they had both been more than a little startled.
Right away too, Heiji noticed that there was something else that was strange- his field of vision was odd, as if it had widened somehow, the world around him seemingly desaturated, duller than he remembered it. But beyond that was the fact that his face felt strange to him- alien, almost, for reasons that he couldn't place. Just as he couldn't place the worried glances that his parents shared between them every time he spoke, every time he so much as blinked, as if silently communicating when they should tell him, and what they should tell him.
The worst part of it all wasn't even the mask. That was the weird part, really. It wasn't even the fact that the decision had been made without his input- he was unconscious, after all, how on earth could he give it in the first place? No, the worst part was when he learned what needed to be done to create this- this mask, this bonding object that fixed him to the human world, that took the place of the part of his soul that he was now missing. Something that he needed to carry with him always, or risk the consequences. A great power was needed to create such a thing, and nothing would do other than someone who was willing to trade fourteen years worth of memories of him, for all the years he'd been alive, in exchange for the formation of such a thing.
Kazuha had insisted that it be her- that she needed to do something for him, even if it meant forgetting the bond that they shared in the first place. That she couldn't let one of his parents erase their own memories of their own child. Her memories would never return to her, for so long as she lived.
Hattori Heiji woke to a world where he no longer had a childhood friend, and to a world where his own face- his real face, was lost to him, a fox mask fixed in it's place. He couldn't remove it, though he'd certainly tried those first few days, tugging at it in spite of the pain that it sent through him, thinking that maybe if he just pulled a little harder- but such a thing never worked. It was well and truly fixed there, and there was no longer anything he could do about it. The choice had already been made for him.
No wonder the world had suddenly looked so strange through his eyes when he first woke up- he wasn't viewing it through those of his own. The mask's eyes, large and pitch black, were what he saw through now. They moved and shifted according to his command, opening and closing, narrowing and widening just as his own would, as natural as it was for him to breathe- something which he also no longer did through his own nose or his own mouth for that matter. He had been told to treat the mask as if it were his own face- because that was what it had become. As easy as it was for him to use, the mask face felt strange and alien to him at first, startling him every time he caught a glimpse of it reflected in something.
Well of course it would be. He'd spent fourteen years of his life with a perfectly normal, perfectly human face, and now suddenly found himself with something far from it. It was only a cold comfort when he was told that his real face still technically existed, though the mask had all but become one with it now. On the off chance that he should ever find that missing piece of his soul, the mask would return to being a simple mask, and his real, human face would return, he'd been reassured of that much, at least.
He hated it. He hated his stupid, inhuman face, hated that he had to admit that's what it was, and he hated the fact that this really was the only option. All in all, he'd rather not simply disappear without a fight, but nothing would ever be the same like this- and that much had proven true the moment he'd tried to pick up the life that he'd left behind before he'd lapsed into a coma, not wanting to be defeated by something like this. His parents had agreed, after a fashion, deciding to do what they could to support him. He was half amazed that his father just didn't want to keep him confined to the Hattori household for the rest of his life, so that he wouldn't bring embarrassment to the family- and when he'd let that much slip, it hadn't been his father that had struck him, but his mother, furious that he could think so little of how much his father cared for him, to think he would do something like that.
It was also, incidentally, how Heiji discovered that he could still very much feel pain through the mask- though his mother had shaken out her hand afterwards. The ceramic mask might have been warm to the touch, just as any other part of his body, but it was still hard.
Above all else, he hated the fact that Kazuha was no longer a constant in his life. She had ended up moving out to the countryside with her mother, to live with her grandparents. It was to make things easier on her, they had said. When she had moved back for her second year of high school, Heiji had been thrilled- until he caught sight of his own face, and immediately decided against trying to rekindle his friendship with her.
Toyama Kazuha, the girl who quaked in her boots at even the most cliche of ghost stories, wanting to be friends with someone like him? If the damn mask wasn't bad enough, then what it allowed him to see was- there was no way that Kazuha would want to be friends with someone who could see ghosts now. Maybe if it weren't for that, the rumors about him wouldn't have gotten so out of control, but that was what his life was now- and there wasn't much he could do about it other than be stubborn. So what if most of the people who wanted to hire him for his skills as a detective were already dead? That didn't mean he couldn't barge into crime scenes anyways, which he did, quite often, much to the annoyance of his father.
Even if the only officers that really ever took him seriously were Otaki and Kazuha's father, in spite of the fact that he'd proved himself numerous times. Even if he knew he could never manage to shake all of the negatives that surrounded his reputation, forever clouding it probably for the rest of his life- because he'd been looking for that missing chunk of his soul to no avail, and was starting to come to terms with the fact that he might never find it. He'd live and die with this damn thing on his face, this damn thing as his face, and the faster he accepted that, the faster he could try and move on with his life.
A life that he expected wouldn't involve Kazuha- until she had shown up in it without warning. He found himself being familiar to her without meaning to- but she didn't seem to mind. Perhaps even without her memories, there were still some lingering fragments- though not enough to bring anything back. He wasn't about to fool himself into thinking so. She hadn't screamed when he'd started talking, and the mouth of his mask had started moving, which was a good sign, really, but even so, he expected to never really see her again after he wrapped up the whole affair that had sent her to him in the first place.
Except that he did.
He'd only just come to the clubroom- it wasn't really a club, exactly, and he sure as hell wasn't the one who had started that 'Special Requests Club' nonsense, what even was that- to get some privacy around lunchtime. As strange and alien as it had been to him in the first few months, five years of having this damn mask face was more than enough for him to get used to it- seeing his reflection in the mirror no longer fazed him, abnormal though it was. But there was one thing, that although he himself had gotten used to, he never wanted to let other people see- and that was him eating. Most people wouldn't be comfortable with the sight of his mouth splitting apart at the jaw, which is what it did when he ate, so he generally kept to himself during times like these.
And there she was, a bright smile on her face, telling him that she thought he would be here around this time, and asking him if he wanted to eat lunch together. He'd blinked, half unable to comprehend the question for a few moments. His gut reaction had been to turn her down- Kazuha of all people was someone he didn't want to see react badly to him.
She hadn't though, instead making normal conversation with him, as if it were the most natural thing in the world. It was only then that it struck him that maybe he'd gone about this all the wrong way- just because she didn't remember their bond, didn't meant that it had disappeared. Maybe there was no need to keep Kazuha out of her life, not if she was the one seeking him out in the first place, even with his face like this, even if he was plagued by things that were decidedly not human.
"Let me help ya, Heiji."
The offer had caught him off guard once again, and Heiji found himself blinking, tilting his head in confusion. "With what?" He asked, not understanding what she might mean. "There's nothin' I really need help with, Kazuha."
"With yer work." Kazuha told him frankly, a smile alighting her features. "Or whatever it is that ya call it. Consider me like another member of yer so-called club."
His expression of befuddlement must have gotten through to her, because she snorted a little, shaking her head. "Don't give me that kind of look, Heiji. Is there somethin' wrong with me wantin' ta help ya?"
"Nah, not really." Heiji admitted after a second, still giving her something of an odd look. Granted, he could recall full well just how much Kazuha was always the type to poke her nose into things if they looked interesting, especially if it was something that he was doing- apparently that wasn't a trait that had left her in the five years they hadn't spoken. It figured. She always was the stubborn type.
Granted, one could say the same thing about himself, he was fully willing to admit.
"I'm just surprised, that's all. Ya seem kinda like the type ta hate this kind of thing." Heiji noted, absently tapping his mask as he spoke, knowing she'd catch his drift. "Given how ya nearly leapt out of yer shoes when that mirror youkai showed up yesterday."
"There's nothin' creepy about ya, idiot." Kazuha said frankly, folding her arms in front of her chest, looking at him point black. "Yer weird maybe, but that's not the same thing as creepy. Besides, as yer upperclassman, ya could say it's my job ta look after ya. I can't on good conscience let a first year run around an' put himself in danger doin' god knows what sort of things ya get yerself involved in, Heiji."
"We're the same age, idiot." Heiji pointed out, brows of his mask raising as he folded his own arms in front of his chest, locking eyes with her. She didn't flinch at the gaze, he couldn't help but note- nor did he miss the way they had fallen into a rather familiar bit of bickering. Maybe returning her memories was impossible, but that didn't mean that he couldn't just try and forge a new one with her. "I just got held back a year, that's all! I don't need ta be babied by someone my own age!"
"It's too late to protest! I've already made up my mind." Kazuha insisted, nodding her head. It was true that she really didn't care for supernatural things all that much, but she had meant what she said- certainly Heiji's situation was weird, but once she started speaking to him, all things considered, he was remarkably normal. Most people probably didn't really even so much as give him a chance. She couldn't help but want to get to know him a little better, to understand what sort of person that he was.
And why she got the vaguest feeling that she should already know the answer to that question- that was something she'd like to figure out as well. That strange sense of familiarity, the rather familiar way he had addressed her right from the start, as if he already knew her rather well. She supposed it wasn't impossible that they had already met before- it wasn't as if she knew what his actual face looked like. Perhaps she had met him before he'd taken on this sort of appearance, but as much as she racked her brain, she couldn't come up with any answers.
Simply heaving a long sigh, Heiji cast a studious look towards the ponytailed girl sitting across from him, an expectant look written on her face. He already knew exactly how Kazuha was, so he knew that nothing he could possibly say to her would discourage her- and frankly, he kind of didn't want to. After a long moment of silence, he rubbed the back of his head, letting out another exasperated sigh, the eyes of his mask closing. "Fine, fine. If that's what ya want, I don't think yer the sort of person I can stop."
His mother would probably be thrilled to learn that he was speaking with Kazuha again- but probably less so if she learned that he had no intention of telling the girl about their past bond. There was no point to it, really. If she would never regain those memories, then it would be better to build a new one with her, rather than try and force something on her she couldn't remember. Hell, doing that might actually manage to turn her away- and that was something that Heiji didn't want.
Because her absence, and the two years of simply watching her from afar, their paths never really crossing, had been more than enough to drill one fact through Hattori Heiji's thick head- that he was in love with his childhood friend, Toyama Kazuha, and that he was still in love with her even now. They weren't feelings he had any intention of acting on- Kazuha deserved someone more normal than him, and she'd probably never seen him that way to begin with. He doubted that she'd start now, not when she didn't even know what he actually looked like.
But friendship was fine. It was more than fine, really, given it wasn't something Heiji was ever expecting to get back.
"Good." Kazuha said, nodding her head, a bright smile crossing her face as she rose to her feet. "Now then. Why don't we start by actually cleanin' this place up a little?"
The blank expression that crossed Heiji's less than human features was remarkably easy to understand. "Ya know what, I take that back."