AN: I struggled with this chapter a little bit but I hope it turned out well, enjoy anyway!
"Nai," Karoku said softly to the niji as he walked into the room, closing the door behind him. Nai sat momentarily stunned on the bed and watched him with big eyes before jumping up and meeting him in the middle of the room. Nai wrapped his arms tightly around Karoku who in return gently placed his arms around Nai. "Nai," Karoku continued, "do you remember why I sent you to Circus?"
"Karoku sent me to Circus?" Nai raked his brain to remember but his mind only drew up blank.
"Yes, and you did well getting in, but I need you to come back with me." Karoku knelt down in front of the niji looking deep into his eyes.
"B-But why did Karoku send me to Circus?" Nai asked. He was getting more and more confused the further this conversation was going.
"I needed you to gather information for me and you followed my directions well but now it's time to go home." Karoku ruffled the hair on Nai's head before standing back up. Karoku opened his mouth to speak again but then he stopped, lips forming into a smirk. He instead turned toward the door. "Gareki you can come in, I would like to speak with you as well."
Gareki sprinted down the hall, stopping only when he reached Nai's room. Grabbing the handle, he was about open the door when he heard talking coming from inside.
"B-But why did Karoku send me to Circus?" Nai asked from behind the door.
'Karoku? Who's that?' Gareki thought as he let go of the door handle and instead pressed his ear to the door.
"I needed you to gather information for me and you followed my directions well but now it's time to go home." Karoku replied. There was a moment of silence and Gareki strained to hear anything else they were going to say. "Gareki you can come in, I would like to speak with you as well."
'Crap! How did he—' The door flew open and Gareki stumbled inside, catching himself before he did an ungraceful face-plant on the floor. Looking up, his eyes met a pair of light blue ones. 'Wait a minute, where have I seen him before?'
"Hello Gareki, I believe this is the first time we have met. My name is Karoku Arumerita, I am the captain of the Kafka organization." Karoku said addressing the raven haired teenager. Gareki's eyes widened as he remembered the poster back in Central City. The man before him looked exactly the same as the one on the poster, minus the bandage. The unnerving feeling he had gotten from the poster didn't even compare to the feeling he was getting from the blue haired man now.
When Gareki didn't respond Karoku continued, "I am disappointed that you didn't accept the offer to join Kafka. To be more precise that is why I came to talk to you. However, I think that we need to have a more private setting. If you wish to know more then follow me." With a wave of his hand, Karoku created what appeared to be portal of light. Grabbing Nai's hand, he walked into the portal, confident that Gareki would follow since he had Nai.
Gareki reluctantly followed the two into the portal, not wanting to leave Nai with a strange person like him. When the light died down he looked at his surroundings and found that they were no longer on the Circus ship but instead in an open field that stretched for miles. The blue sky stretched overhead and a light breeze blew through the air.
"Where are we?" Gareki asked, watching Karoku suspiciously. Karoku was standing about ten feet from him with Nai by his side.
"We're in my world," Karoku said. "I created it so only certain people can enter but we can talk about that later. The reason I am here is because I want you to come to Kafka with me and Nai."
"Then tell me," Gareki replied without missing a beat, "why would Kafka be interested in a 2000 district citizen? I don't remember doing anything to gain the attention of Kafka."
"You didn't need to gain Kafka's attention Gareki, you already had it," Karoku replied. "Did you ever wonder why you were the only one who was able to survive the ship sinking six years ago? It wasn't because of luck but because you willed yourself not to die. You created a world, much like how I created mine, and slipped into that world during the attack. I was able to notice the slight shift within the dimensional walls that signified that a new world was created. I had sent Tsubaki to find who it was that created the new world and she found you."
Gareki's eyes widened at the mention of Tsubaki's name. 'So Tsubaki worked for Kafka?' "So why didn't Tsubaki turn me in to Kafka?"
"She grew to attached since you reminded her of her own two siblings and refused to hand you over. I wasn't worried though, you would have to step forward eventually." Karoku spoke confidently and easily, as if he already had known how this conversation would go.
Karoku took a step forward, closing the space between him and Gareki and lengthening it between him and Nai. "It's a rare ability to be able to create worlds but one thing that I have never seen before is how you can travel to other worlds as well. No other person besides me and Nai should be able to enter my world but yet here you stand, as if it's perfectly normal."
Offering a hand to Gareki Karoku continued, "Come to Kafka Gareki, I can teach you how to create and travel to other worlds. Kafka can use your ability to the fullest, your time is only wasted in Circus." Karoku smiled at Gareki's uncertain look but knew he shouldn't press further today. "No need to answer right away, I'll give you some time to think about it. Next time we meet though, I'll expect you to have your answer ready."
Karoku walked back over to Nai. "Come along Nai, lets get going."
"U-Um, can I stay with Gareki? I-I don't want to leave Gareki," Nai said uncertainly. He felt unsure about this "new" Karoku, he didn't feel the same as he used to. Nai really didn't want to leave but he didn't want to make Karoku angry either.
Karoku studied the niji before the corners of his mouth moved into a slight smile. "That's fine Nai, I'll be seeing you soon as well then."
Karoku disappeared while the world around them turned into blackness. The butterflies that had been flying around burst into sparkles of light. Gareki blinked a few times and the next thing he knew he was back to standing in Nai's room, as if the past half an hour didn't occur. After a few moments of silence Gareki opened his mouth to ask Nai if Karoku had really been there but immediately shut it when the door burst open and the blond haired idiot, along with Tsukumo, walked into the room.
"Nai! Gareki! We're home!" Yogi quickly went over and wrapped his arms around Gareki and Nai, enveloping them into a tight hug. "I'm sorry it took so long, I hope you two didn't get lonely while we were away." Yogi nearly cried his apology as he hugged them tighter.
"Get off!" Gareki yelled as he tried to push Yogi away from him. The blond's over-emotional personality was only adding to his increasing headache. Gareki pinched the bridge of his nose trying to stop the oncoming headache but it didn't seem to be working. He walked out of the room to let Nai deal with the two Circus fighters and decided to head to his own room.
Gareki stopped in front of his door but before he opened it he changed his mind. Now would be the best time to demand some answers from from the four-eyed captain since everyone else was busy at the moment. Walking down the deserted halls, Gareki came to a halt outside of Hirato's office. The light inside was still on, indicating that the captain was still working. Gareki knocked on the door and entered when he was given the OK.
"Is there something I can help you with Gareki?" Hirato asked pleasantly from behind the desk he was sitting at.
"You knew didn't you, that's why you accepted me into Circus. You knew about my ability." Gareki watched Hirato for any sign of surprise but the captain kept a neutral face.
"It's true that I did discover your ability but that was not until you met with Akari," Hirato said as he leaned forward on the desk, reading all to well, by the expression on his face, that Gareki was upset that he had withheld this information. "The reason I didn't say anything, is not because I didn't want you to know, but because I didn't know myself. I have been looking into it but I wasn't going to tell you until I could answer your questions. May I ask how you came to know this information?"
Gareki sighed as he put his hands into his pockets. "I met with a man named Karoku."
"Karoku?" Hirato was well aware of who this man was and wasn't to happy about finding out that he had met with Gareki. "When did this happen?"
"When you were on your raid this evening," Gareki stated, " your security didn't do much to keep him out though."
"I see thank you for telling me. You should head back and get some sleep now, you still have training tomorrow." The tone in Hirato's voice said that the conversation had ended. Gareki wanted to argue and say he still had questions that needed to be answered but he knew Hirato won't say anything else on the subject. Gareki left the office and headed back to his own room.
"Time to get up, Baa" Gareki moaned and rolled over onto his side, facing away from the sheep. Shoving a pillow over his head to block out the noise Gareki decided he wasn't going to get up this morning and would instead spend the rest of the day in bed. Before he could drift back to sleep something clamped down on his ankle, yanking him out of bed. His back landed on the cold floor and his vision momentarily spun at the sudden wake up call. "Report to the cafeteria for breakfast, Baa." Once Gareki could see straight he sent a glare after the sheep as it walked out.
Getting up off the floor Gareki walked into the bathroom to start his usual routine. After brushing his teeth he took a shower, got dressed and then headed down to breakfast. Not feeling very hungry this morning, Gareki just grabbed a bagel from the buffet table and automatically walked over to where Nai, Yogi and now Tsukumo were sitting.
-SMACK-
Gareki stumbled back from the fist that had just collided with his face. Rubbing his sore jaw, he glared at Jiki.
"Didn't you practice at all yesterday? You seem worse than before." Jiki sighed as he looked at the Circus trainee. Yes, Gareki had practiced but he couldn't seem to bring his mind to concentrate on the fight. His mind kept flickering back to the conversation he had had with Karoku earlier. 'Create and travel to different worlds, huh?' Jiki snapped his fingers in front of Gareki's face successfully bringing him out of his stupor. "I said lets go again."
Gareki blinked for a moment, trying to figure out what he was talking about, before he nodded and got into his fighting stance. Just as he was about to attack Jiki the door to the training room opened and Hirato walked in.
"Hirato, is there something you need?" Jiki turned to his superior, losing his stance.
"Yes," Hirato replied as he turned to address Gareki, "we have stopped over a town and I thought you and Nai should go walk around a bit. After all, it must be quite tiring with being stuck in the ship all the time." Jiki looked like he wanted to disagree but one look from the captain shut him up.
"Uh ok," Gareki was a bit unsure as to what Hirato's motives were but agreed anyway, even though he didn't think he had much choice to begin with.
"Yay! Gareki's coming!" Yogi ran into the room, wrapping his arm around Gareki. Pushing his arm off, Gareki walked over to the door where Nai and Tsukumo were waiting.
"Wait a sec, take this with you just in case. Just don't shoot anyone with it." Jiki said as he tossed the gun Gareki had been training with over to him. Catching the gun easily Gareki tsked at his statement.
Yogi ran over to the three, "Let's go!"