"Chifuyu! Wake up already!" A loud shout shook Chifuyu from her slumbers. With a groan, she pulled herself out of bed, and stepped into the bathroom, running a hand tiredly through her mess of long, black, hair. An hour later, she made her way into the room connected to her bedroom and was instantly hit by the rich smell of eggs, bacon, and pancakes.
Chifuyu blinked. In front of her, a plethora of food was arrayed on the small table. Three plates were laid out, side-by-side. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed a flash of black and grey, and turned around. An teen of average height stepped past her, carrying a plate of piping hot pancakes. He was wearing a plain white shirt and white dress pants with gold-coloured detailing, and had a similarly designed jacket slung over his shoulder. He placed the plate on the table, and turned to face her.
"Good morning, Chifuyu-nee-san. I decided to make an extra large breakfast, seeing as it's the first day of school. I went with a Western-style today. Oh, Maya said she was going to stop by as well, so I made a vegetarian omelette for her. It should be the one at the end of the table."
Chifuyu shook her head and looked around at the, at least by Japanese standards, large breakfast. "Ichika, how long did you spend on this?" she asked.
"I've been awake since five-thirty, but I only started breakfast at seven, so…" Ichika glanced at the clock which hung over the small bookshelf to his left. "Since it's eight o'clock, I'd say an hour?"
"Ichika, you don't have to work so hard, you know? I can…" Chifuyu was interrupted by a finger placed on her lips. Ichika grabbed her shoulders and pushed her into a chair.
"What you can do is sit down in this chair and eat. Maya will be here soon, so just take this time to relax." He sat down in a chair next to her. "I worry about you sometimes, you know? You work so hard, so it's fine if I do something for you every now and then, right?"
He picked up a fork, speared a sausage, and moved it towards her mouth. "Say ahh." She looked at him. He looked back. She reached for her own fork. He moved it away. She reached for it again. He moved it even farther away. Finally she gave in with a sigh.
"Ahh." She Chifuyu leaned forward and took a bite. It was good, as expected. Ichika always did have a knack for cooking. There was a knock at the door and Ichika stood up.
"That would be Maya. I'll go get the door. Please keep eating," Ichika said. He walked out of the room and Chifuyu attacked the meal with gusto. After all, though she would rather that Ichika spend some time not looking after her, which she could do perfectly well on her own, he was still quite the cook. Ichika walked back into the room, a short, green haired young woman trailing after him.
"Mmm, that smells good. Did you make this, Ichika?" the woman asked.
Ichika smiled. "Yes, of course I did. I mean, you've eaten Chifuyu-onee-sama's food before. What about that makes you think she can cook? Ouch!" He brought both arms up and held his head in pain, even as Chifuyu placed the spoon she had just hit him with back on the table. "Onee-chan!"
Maya just shook her head in amusement. "Come on now, Ichika. You should know by now, teasing your sister is a very good way to get hurt. I know that well enough."
"You're right," Ichika said. "But it's just so much fun to do!"
Maya chuckled. "Well, in that regard, I must agree."
"Enough talking, Maya," Chifuyu said, unamused with their banter. "Hurry up and eat before it gets cold."
"Yes, Chifuyu-sama," Maya said, sitting down in a chair, and digging into her omelet. After all, she had no desire to either waste the delicious food, nor to be hit by her boss. Both of which would happen if she continued to tease Chifuyu.
The rest of the meal was had in silence, as both of the two women ate quickly, while Ichika stuck his head in a book and poured over the pages. Once all of them had finished their meals, Ichika began cleaning up the plates.
"I'm leaving, Ichika," Chifuyu called out from the door. Ichika nodded and smiled at her. Just as she was about to leave, Maya trailing after her, Ichika called out.
"Wait, you forgot something, Onee-sama!" He picked up a pair of lunch boxes from where they had been sitting on the kitchen counter. "Here, Onee-sama. Have a good day at work!"
Chifuyu smiled at the boy, and ruffled his hair lovingly. "You're a good brother, Ichika," she said. With one last glance over her shoulder, she turned and left the good sized house they called home.
"He's a good boy," Maya said, even as she trailed after Chifuyu. "Smart as well. Too bad he can't use his full potential all the time." Chifuyu gave her a pained smile.
"Yes." She sighed. "Yes it is."
Ichika reached up to his neck and pressed the button that was attached to the choker there. There was a beeping sound, and a robotic voice buzzed to life.
"User acknowledged, shutting down system boosters. Basic support only." it said. Ichika reached over and grabbed a cane from where it sat next to the kitchen counter and leaned on it. His leg spasmed, and he almost collapsed onto the floor, only just managing to keep his balance. His world swam with colours, before becoming unfocused. Lines blurred, colours mixed together, and everything became harder to focus on. His breathing became shallow, and his arms felt heavy. But that was expected. He limped his way over to the living room couch, and collapsed into it, closing his eyes and falling into a deep sleep.
"Oh, little Ikkun, what to do with you?" Ichika blinked. A purple haired woman was standing over him with a syringe. His face twisted into a grimace of displeasure. This memory again. He hated this memory. He was floating in a hospital room staring down at his younger self. His body, the real one, not the dream one, was wrapped with bandages. "Are you awake yet, Ikkun? Oh, good, you are!" the purple haired woman smiled at him. It was not a pained smile. Not an unfeeling smile. Not a sarcastic smile. The woman really was pleased to see him. And that made him hate her all the more. "Tabane," Ichika muttered under his breath, even though he knew she could neither see nor hear him. This was a memory, after all. Tabane bent over the body which lay spread out on the operating table, clothed in bandages and gauze. Her syringe descended, and speared into the child's chest. The child writhed around on the table for a few seconds, before lying still. Tabane smiled. "Tell me, Ikkun, do you know what happened to you?" The child blinked his eyes slowly.
"Who are you?" he asked, haltingly. The woman frowned.
"Hmm. It appears that the operation and the drug were a success, but there was some damage to your psyche. Tell me, do you remember what happened to you?"
The boy closed his eyes in concentration, before they shot open in fear, in disgust, in terror. "I… I killed people! Took a gun, and I shot them! I don't even know how to use a gun, so how? What… I remember the pain. I remember wanting it to stop. I remember…" Tears began to well up in the boy's eye. Tabane smiled at him.
"Well, at least the memory loss is minor. You don't seem to remember me, but at least you have some memories. I wonder what else you've forgotten. Do you remember my sister, Houki?" The child looked at her uncomprehendingly, even as tears began to run down his face. "How about Rin? School? The IS? Your parents? Madoka?" The boy simply stared at her blankly. "What about your sister, Chifuyu?" Tabane asked. Recognition lit up in the boy's eyes.
"Chi… fuyu… nee… san?" he asked, slowly, as if it took him great effort to do so. Tabane smiled again.
"Well, at least you remember something. That's good. If you didn't remember at least her, I would have had to kill you, then make Chi-chan think you had just died! And that would have been a pain. Removing memories always is. Brain surgery. Tricky thing."
"Where is… Chifuyu?" The boy asked, more clearly. Tabane smiled at the boy and motioned towards a tall black haired woman who was slumped in one corner of the room. Her clothes were disheveled, and her hair fell in a messy mass across her face. Tabane stepped over to the woman and smiled down at her.
"Wakey, wakey, Chifuyu." Tabane brought her foot back and slammed it into the woman's stomach, hard. The woman slid a few meters along the floor and groaned in pain. She pushed herself slowly to her hands and knees, blinking slowly.
"What… what the hell did you do, Tabane?" The woman tried to stand, but only managed to fall back to her knees with a grunt. Tabane smiled at her.
"Well, see, I had to do a few things, and I didn't really want you conscious for it. No hard feelings, Chi-chan?"
Chifuyu growled at her. "You didn't have to drug me though."
Tabane shrugged. "Well, whatever. I wanted to test a new drug, and you just happened to be on hand. And it's not like I have a large supply of human test subjects to use. Actually, considering that my sister doesn't trust me anymore, I'm pretty much out of people. Luckily, for the next ten years, I own you. So now I have my very own test slave! Isn't that nice."
"Isn't ten a bit long?"
Tabane tilted her head. "Make if fifteen. Argue with me again, and I'll just let Ichika die."
"He's alive?" Chifuyu tried to climb to her feet again.
"Really now," Tabane shook her head. "Do you have no faith in me? Yes, he'll live. Of course, you'll need a doctor to patch him up a bit, but whatever."
Chifuyu grabbed onto the medical table and began to pull herself to her feet. "So he's all right?"
Tabane grimaced slightly. It was almost unnoticeable, and at the time neither Ichika nor Chifuyu noticed. Of course, now, five years later, Ichika saw it clearly. "Well, I wouldn't quite say that. He's alive, but I'm a miracle worker. Not a neurologist. Here, you want to talk to him?" She reached down and grabbed Chifuyu, pulling her to her feet and tossing her into a nearby chair.
"Ichika?" She reached out towards the boy lying on the table.
"Chifuyu-onee-sama? What happened? Why, why can't I move? Why does everything look so weird?" The boy began to shake, and Tabane reached over.
"Shush little Ikkun. You have to heal more. This will help," Tabane whispered, raising a syringe into the air, and plunging it into the boy's chest. He gave a single gasp, before falling silent. From where he was floating, Ichika frowned even more. He wished he knew what happened after that. But his dreams, while mostly lucid, were only ever of things he had seen. And that was quite annoying. Ichika felt a tugging sensation, and closed his eyes, letting his conscious disappear into nothingness.
Hey guys. New chapter! Woo! I actually updated! In all seriousness, thanks for the support so far. And hey, can you tell me if the dream sequence here works well? If not, I'll revise it and re-update. Oh, and does anyone like the cover image? I spent a whole half an hour on it.
Also, can you go and read my Bleach fanfiction? Just a little Ichigo and Rukia fluff. Heck, you don't even need to know what Bleach is. Short, sweet, and a one-shot. Please?
