I still don't know how to best depict Mizukami's Kansai-ben, sorry...
Kageura prided himself on being good at knowing people's motives. The nature of his Side Effect gave him a boost in that area, and experience did the rest. Though his Side Effect was limited to what was directed at him, just that alone was a good benchmark to figuring out what kind of person they were.
But humans were contrary; despite Kageura's best efforts, they didn't always behave the way they felt. And Kageura wasn't dumb enough that he didn't realise that, no matter what people thought of him.
He didn't hate people because they were two-faced or fake. That would mean he had ever expected people to be straightforward in the first place. No one was. Not completely.
But sometimes, people put up a front for so long and so hard that they became the mask. That was why he hated Inukai. It wasn't reasonable, and he didn't care. It was easy to hate Inukai. Especially when he was smiling without meaning it - which was the vast majority of the time.
It wasn't that Inukai was a liar, crying on the inside and using a smile to hide it. That would be too simple for him. Inukai smiled when he wanted something from you, when he wanted to do something for you, and sometimes just for no reason at all. But certainly not because he was happy - Kageura's Side Effect told him that much.
"It's a service smile, like waiters and shop attendants and stuff," Touma had said once, during a particularly slow lunch break at school, when the conversation had drifted to Kageura and Inukai's tumultuous relationship. "That's not a very difficult concept, is it?"
Kageura had scowled and gave Touma a kick, both because he could feel the scratch of light mockery and because Touma had an over-exaggerated worried look on his face. Touma was the last person he wanted acting worried over his brain.
He did understand. That was never his problem with Inukai. The problem was that Kageura didn't want his smiles, he didn't want Inukai's polite front that he showed everyone. And maybe Kageura hated himself a little, for wanting to be special, and maybe he took that out on Inukai, because he couldn't take it out on himself.
It wasn't fair, but Kageura couldn't stop himself from trying to work a reaction out of him. Something real. He wasn't a cruel man, he knew too well the effect of pain. But when it came to Inukai, even that was better than his meaningless smiles.
That was why Kageura didn't feel a hint of guilt over the words he said. The others were looking at him with wide eyes, their shock and horror pressing down on him bluntly. But it was worth it. He could almost taste the way the air around Inukai changed.
There was a crash and then the sharp press of the smooth floor under his shoulder blades. Inukai's head was blocking the ceiling light as he straddled Kageura's waist, a fist cocking back and then, because that was how pathetic he was, he paused – the fist trembling in midair.
Inukai sat there, staring down at Kageura, eyes wide and filled with terrible emotion. Kageura could feel them crawling over his skin, sinking into the weak spots – sharp pinpricks like needles sinking into the soft flesh under your nails. It felt like the first time Kageura had ever seen him smile for real, a wide snarl that made Inukai look like he's going to take a bite out of someone. Out of him.
The deadlock didn't last. Kitazoe grabbed Inukai around the waist and lifted him up into the air like he weighed nothing, stepping back quickly with Inukai still in his arms. Kagami and Kurauchi helped Kageura up in the meantime – but none too gently, tight grips on Kageura's forearms as if they were expecting him to lash out. Ouji waded fearlessly into the middle, hands up and in their faces as if he thought that'd be a deterrent.
But they weren't important. Kageura kept his attention on Inukai, on the animalistic light in his eyes, on the waves of fury and indignation that tried to suffocate Kageura with their futility. Kageura grinned. "I hate you."
"Stop talking." Hitomi frowned at him, dropping a hand down on his shoulder and shaking him hard. "It's been barely a day since Ninomiya squad was demoted to B-rank, now is not the time to antagonise him."
The words went in one ear and out the other. Inukai was looking at Kageura as intently as Kageura looked at him. As if he finally saw Kageura for real. And then the moment was over. Inukai relaxed in Kitazoe's grip and smiled, as if he didn't even notice the faint tears leaking from the corners of his eyes. "I'm sorry about that, Kage. I don't know what came over me."
Kageura tsked. Then wrenched his arms free and turned away. Good things never lasted. He could hear the others shouting at him behind his back, but Kageura ignored them as he made for the entrance. There was no point staying here anymore.
Faintly, he could hear Mizukami say dryly, "Ya better disappear too, Inukai, someone's gone ta find Shinoda-san an' he'll be here any time now."
Kageura found himself wandering the corridors of Border, too fired up from the altercation to actually leave the building. In the end, his feet took him to the solo rank war booths, and Kageura couldn't find it in himself to leave.
There was a rush of harsh whispering as he entered the room, it looked like the gossip had already made it this far. Which meant it had probably made it to the management too. Maybe they'd confiscate points from him again. Maybe they'd dock his pay. Or maybe they'd sic Azuma on him with a stern talk - that would actually suck.
As if waiting for him, one of the doors closest to Kageura opened, Inukai standing in the doorway of the booth and smiling dumbly like always. In the short time Kageura had been wandering around Border, he'd washed the tear tracks away, looking like nothing had ever happened.
"Wanna fight me?" Inukai's smile deepened. To his shame, Kageura found he had been expecting it. It wasn't the first time that Inukai suggested a match after Kageura had a blow-up thanks to his Side Effect. It was something else Kageura hated him for, how considerate he was - to everyone.
Kageura didn't say anything, just stomped into the booth next to Inukai's and let that be his answer. With the ease of long practice, he set Inukai's booth number as his opponent and beamed himself down into the Industrial Zone map.
Kageura sprang forward the moment the surroundings took form around him, trying to shorten the distance between himself and Inukai as quickly as possible. Inukai was waiting for him of course, they had faced each other often enough now that Inukai knew what plays he'd make. But that too was something Kageura could use against him.
Forming Scorpion in just one hand for now, Kageura dodged the hail of Asteroid from Inukai's gun and jumped up, Scorpion clanging down on the Shield Inukai formed with a hastily held up hand. Kageura let his weight press down on the Shield, pinning back Inukai's hand while using his free hand to hold up Shield over the mouth of Inukai's gun.
They stayed locked in impasse for a moment, Kageura trying to read the emotions Inukai threw at him. Staying locked together long enough and Inukai started getting distracted; Kageura used his Side Effect to gauge the exact moment Inukai started showing an opening and pushed down harder on the Shield over Inukai's gun. It caught his attention, just as Kageura wanted, using the chance to deactivate the Scorpion he had been using to pin back Inukai's Shield and jabbing it out of the knee he swung up in a smooth motion at the same time.
A change in the emotions clawing at Kageura warned him that Inukai had seen through it just before Inukai threw himself back, the Scorpion sprouting from Kageura's knee missing his stomach by mere millimetres. Kageura tsked, spreading out his Shield to cover more of his body as Inukai shot out another sweep of bullets with his gun, widening the distance between them.
So far it wasn't so different from any other match they'd had - perhaps less of a challenge than usual, they had fought often enough that they were both familiar with the rhythm of their fights. But the feelings Kageura was receiving told a different story. Inukai still remembered Kageura pinning him down back in the lounge, vividly enough that it made him try harder at keeping Kageura at a distance than was advisable. Kageura ran up an exposed staircase, jumping off the ledge at the end so that he was once again bearing down on Inukai from above.
Kageura didn't bother with Shield this time, he knew he was too fast for Inukai's gun right now. One Scorpion was met with Inukai's Shield like before while the other clashed against Inukai's own Scorpion barely a centimetre from his face. Kageura bared his teeth in a bloodthirsty smirk and leaned right into Inukai's face.
Any other day and Kageura would be pissed off at how Inukai was fighting so poorly, so overly conscious of their distance. But today's fight was just an extension of their altercation earlier, and Inukai's poor performance was the direct result of Kageura's actions.
Kageura drank in the snarl that twisted Inukai's face, the tumultuous blue eyes that looked like they were about to burst into tears again. Anger and frustration leaked through Kageura's skin like molten lava, burning through his pores as they sank deep like a brand. Kageura didn't even care that he was basking in it. "Didn't you say you were going to fight me?"
"I am," Inukai said breathlessly, pinned like a bug between Kageura and the hard ground. "Aren't you going to fight?"
"Why?" Kageura asked, relishing in his position. "I've already won." He split the blade of his Scorpion inside his body, keeping one branch pressed against Inukai's Scorpion and running the other branch through his chest and stabbing it into Inukai's under him.
Inukai's face twisted further as cracks ran up it, a different emotion fumbling at Kageura just before he bailed out. Back in the booth, Kageura stared at the blank walls and contemplated the despair he had received from Inukai just before the end. Breaking Inukai had never been his goal.
Kageura rolled to his feet, decision made, and left his booth for the one next door. Inukai was still lying down on the bailout mattress, limbs splayed out and unmoving. Kageura looked down at him for a moment, then groaned and sat down heavily beside him.
"Maybe I don't want to fight after all," Inukai said weakly, not looking at Kageura as he continued their conversation.
"No duh," Kageura replied, rolling his eyes. "You've got no one to blame but yourself for suggesting it in the first place."
"I thought maybe I did want it," Inukai said, still in the same tone of voice. "I thought maybe it would help. It always helped you, to fight it out."
Kageura let the silence pool between them, Inukai wasn't finished yet.
"I don't understand, why- no one says anything, no one ever says anything, how am I supposed to know if they don't say anything?" Inukai's right hand made a fist, thumping down futilely on the mat.
"Maybe they don't want you to know," Kageura offered.
"But we're a team," Inukai whispered. Kageura pretended he didn't hear it; he wasn't so dumb that he couldn't differentiate what information he was allowed to know and what he wasn't.
Inukai's face was twisted up in the same way it was before, as if he was about to cry. But Kageura knew he wouldn't, not for this. He'd given him enough time to be sorry for himself, Kageura decided. "You're so pathetic."
Inukai rolled so his back was to Kageura. "Not now, Kage."
Kageura snorted, reaching out with a hand to press down on Inukai's shoulder and turn him towards Kageura. "You are so much more pathetic than me," Kageura said with relish, looming over Inukai and drinking in the flickers of emotion that swiped at Kageura as they flashed over Inukai's face. "This is why I don't need your pity. I don't need it from someone like you."
Inukai finally settled on rueful, more a light tickle on Kageura's skin than anything else. "Maybe I am pathetic. I don't exactly have time to care about other people's problems right now, do I?"
"But you care anyway, and end up doing stupid things like this." Kageura snorted again. "This is why you're so pathetic."
"Are you pitying me?" Inukai raised an eyebrow, amusement bubbling up and popping gently against Kageura's skin. "Is this a love confession?"
Kageura scowled at him. "Don't ruin it." But he leaned forward and pressed a rough kiss against Inukai's lips. Even with his Side Effect, Kageura couldn't tell which was Inukai's real smile, the shy but warm one on his face right now, or the bloodthirsty snarl he had revealed in their altercation. But maybe it didn't matter.
Inukai laughed against his lips, arms coming up to wrap around Kageura's neck. "Why, Kage, that's almost sweet of you! If you're not careful people are going to rethink their opinion of you."
No, fuck that, this was even more annoying than when Inukai was being fake. Kageura bit down, hard, and grinned at Inukai's yelp of pain. A simple bite wasn't enough to wound a trion body, but Kageura licked at where the wound would have been anyway. It wasn't an apology, he had no intention of apologising, but it wasn't a bad feeling to have Inukai's mouth soften against his, opening to let his tongue inside. It was enough for Kageura to put aside his hate for now.
Maybe one day he would admit that he didn't actually hate Inukai. Or maybe not.
