"I think Inaho is worried about you." Eddelrittuo stated softly, as she led him to a new room. She'd mentioned that they'd wanted to move him before, but now obviously seemed like an opportune time to do so. The room he'd been in would need to be cleaned.
Slaine thought about how he could answer her without being rude, because she didn't deserve such behavior. Even if the statement was a boldface betrayal, he couldn't dislike her for it. But, he couldn't seem to come up with anything genuine to say. He figured it didn't matter. The guard holding the excessively large gun was striding behind them, and Slaine had already decided not to involve Eddelrittuo any further. He didn't want the hired help getting any ideas that he liked her, or that they had any connection.
There were also the contents of her statement to consider, which were heavily weighted and set up her obvious biases. That was fine, he decided. He would let her think what she wanted, as he always had. Slaine saw little hope in swaying her opinion. She didn't understand, and that was alright. It was better if she didn't, he reminded himself.
He padded along beside her with Anemone cradled in the nook of his arm. Her bright green eyes were looking around at her new surroundings in wonder. Slaine wondered if she'd grow out of that wide eyed inquisitive look. He hoped she wouldn't, but it was likely inevitable. Living with him, she'd get used to the same places day in and day out, and everything would likely seem dull and useless. He pet her head, scratching softly at the back of her ears, and she stretched up to meet his hand, meowing at him. Anemone didn't look at him, but he was pretty sure she wanted him to continue petting her, so he did just that. A few moments later, she started to purr again. He almost smiled. At this rate, he was liable to get attached to the sound. He wondered if he'd be able to get things for her, like treats, and toys to play with. He hoped so, but he couldn't find himself very optimistic about the situation. It was likely that she'd just have to settle for him. For now, she seemed more than happy to do just that, but he wondered how long it would last until she got tired of him. He resolved to enjoy the company while it lasted.
"She seems very sweet." Eddelrittuo's statement brought his attention away from the adorable little being in his arm, and back towards her. They had reached the room in question, and she was motioning for him to go inside, a soft smile on her face. He was glad she hadn't asked him something, he would have answered instinctively, since he hadn't been paying attention. He nodded to her, once, then remembered the guard behind him, and made it seem like he was stretching out his neck. It probably worked; the guard hadn't been paying too much attention.
The new room was much nicer. Its window was larger, and as Eddelrittuo had reported, it faced ocean cliffs. From here, he could see seagulls and waves teaming, and it gave him noticeable pause for far too long. Long enough for Anemone to get impatient that he wasn't petting her anymore, and meow up at him in irritation. The noise brought him out of his sudden shock, and he looked down at her, then he reached to continue petting and scratching her. She mewled in approval.
"This bed." Somehow, he hadn't noticed Kaizuka standing by the bed closest to the window. The deep blues of the ocean contrasting to the blinding whites of the hospital room had obviously been enough to truly distract him. It really was a breathtaking view, if only Kaizuka wasn't looming in his periphery to ruin it.
Kaizuka had picked the bed closes to the window. He motioned again for Slaine to get into the bed, and Slaine meekly complied. Even if he'd wanted to be churlish, or openly spiteful, he had Anemone in his hands. That quickly silenced just about any actual thread of resistance within him. He slowly padded over to the bed, and waited for Kaizuka to remove the cuffs on his ankles. He found it ironic that they'd left his hands free, since he would be carrying Anemone. There was something disgustingly poetic about that, but he found himself lacking his usual spite. He was tired, and she was warm in his arms.
Once Kaizuka had removed one of the cuffs around his ankles, Slaine slipped into the bed, and made no resistance as Kaizuka cuffed him down to the bedpost. Anemone took the opportunity to go bouncing around on his stomach, hunting folds in his loose clothing. He watched her bound up and down, because she was the most pleasant thing inside the room to witness, and because he was afraid she might tumble out of the new bed in her excitement; the rails hadn't been swung up yet.
There was a dull, weary part of him that repeated over and over that he was being too obvious. He liked the kitten too much. They were going to take her away. He'd be sad when it was done. He'd regret getting attached. He solemnly admitted that all of these things were true, but he countered it the exact same way he had with the cello; he was a dead man, what did he actually have to lose? He figured he had best lavish this deserving creature with as much attention as his wrenched heart was able, to make up for the fact that the poor thing had been unceremoniously handed to him, of all people.
Kaizuka unceremoniously swung up the guard rails in the bed with a loud bang, and Anemone jumped in shock and dashed to hide under his waist. It was amusing, to say the least, but he scowled at Kaizuka in Anemone's defense. But Kaizuka's eye wasn't on him, but instead the kitten. Then that one eye shifted to him for a few second, before dismissively looking away. Slaine watched as Kaizuka turned, and headed towards the window, but settled his eyes back down onto Anemone. She snuggled into his side, and nudged him for more petting. He dutifully complied.
Anemone was nudging her head up at him affectionately, when Slaine heard what could only be the opening of the window, and he stopped breathing. He'd had a soft breeze from the window in the other room, but this was different. He could so clearly hear the crashing of the waves, and the cawing of the gulls, and smell the sea spray in the air. It might have all been suggestion, how could all these things improve from one side of the hospital to the next, but it didn't matter.
Eddelrittuo had been right. He loved this room.
He could listen to the sea and the gulls all day, and smell the scent of the ocean. He'd always known that surroundings mattered, moving from place to place taught you that, but it struck him full force in that instant. If even the ocean, with its temper, it's malevolence, could comfort him so completely with only it's presence, he thought that maybe he should have just let himself drown three years ago when his sky carrier had gone down.
It was a foolish thought. He never would have been able to pass on peacefully with the Princess in such danger, but in hindsight, perhaps he shouldn't have struggled so hard. Orange would have saved her from Saazbaum, she would have restored order and reason to world without all his needless toil, and he'd be a corpse, long eaten by whatever opportunistic thing in the ocean found him first. He wondered what that world would have looked like. Certainly it would have been much kinder due to his early departure. The princess would have restored peace much sooner than she had due to his treacherous meddling. And he'd be a no one, a foot note in the biographies they'd write of his father. When people heard the name Troyard, it would be about Aldnoah, about science, not murder and the horrors of invasion.
His musings were brought to an abrupt halt, when Anemone hoped onto his chest, and started pawing at him. He looked away from the window, and the sea, and the bids, and the oblivion of dark depths, and pet her. She purred, and settled to lie down on his chest. For now, this would be enough, he resolved.
Of course nothing would ever be that simple with Kaizuka there to muck up what little solace he could find.
"Why did you refuse the kitten?" Somehow, since being transported to the room, both Eddelrittuo and the guard had vanished. Eddelrittuo had likely moved on to other duties, where as the guard was probably stationed outside the closed door. He was alone in the room, with Kaizuka sitting on a chair beside his bed, looking at him with that one lone eye.
Slaine gave him one dead look, then focused his attention back onto Anemone. When it became apparent that he was not going to answer, Kaizuka predictably continued. "My first conclusion was that you simply did not like animals. Had you said as much, I would not have forced it upon you." That was too easy. That was blatantly false and they both knew it. If he'd said he didn't like animals, there would have been an interrogation, and Kaizuka probably would have ended up getting him a fish or something instead. He thought about showing his distaste for the conversation, but let it go. Anemone was purring, and that was far more worthy of his attention.
"Your swift acceptance of the animal contradicts my first conclusion, but is in line with a large percentage of your behaviors up to date." How pleasant, Kaizuka was going to sum up the past 9 months of his life in a few pithy sentences that could have come out of a psychology text book. Just what he'd wanted when he got up that morning. "You consistently deny yourself comforts. From the books you've been provided, that you enjoyed only in the safety of evening at first, to daily necessities that are essential to your health such as food. Whenever I inquired about things that would make your stay more comfortable and pleasant, you consistently refused to answer." Kaizuka paused, and Slaine thought about saying something, anything to just get him to shut up, but the moment passed.
Kaizuka started talking again. "There was a marked difference upon receiving the cello. You started reading the books that were provided in broad daylight, and you actively invested time in practicing the cello. For all intensive purposes, you enjoyed it, which makes your next reaction entirely unforeseen."
Slaine expected Kaizuka to go into more detail than that, but after a noticeable silence, he found that Kaizuka was not going to. "This situation is similar, yet also strikingly different from the cello. You took an active part in having the cello procured, and your behavior only changed once you were reassured that you would receive it, not after you had received it. This implies some form of intent. Indeed you carefully timed your intended execution, and it was mostly luck that you were unsuccessful. You premeditated that attempt." Slaine almost thought that he heard reproach in Kaizuka's impassive voice. He dismissed it, and kept petting Anemone, he didn't even look up at Kaizuka. Instead, he tried to memorize the curves of her face, the tufts of her whiskers. "You had little choice in this proceeding, so I am confident that you are not attempting anything, but I am cautious to characterize your attachment as positive considering your history thus far."
"Why did you bring her here?" He surprised himself with how bland and disinterested the statement sounded.
There was a quick pause, which seemed to indicate that Kaizuka had not expected him to speak. "To provide you something that could give you stable companionship."
"Then you emerge victorious again, Kaizuka." Anemone rolled over, so that she was on her back, and her stomach was stretched out before him. It was a pretty obvious indicator of what she wanted, so Slaine reached over and gently scratched at her stomach.
He made a point of not looking at Kaizuka. "Why did you refuse the kitten?" It was Kaizuka's way of asking why he had refused everything else as well. As they almost always did, they'd finally come full circle as to why Kaizuka had asked such a question.
There would be no forthcoming answer. He hoped Kaizuka would grow tired of this, and return to meddling with his phone, as he often did.
"If you do not tell me why you objected, I will not know." It was such an uncharacteristic statement from Kaizuka that Slaine almost laughed.
He didn't try to stop the glint in his eyes as he looked over at Kaizuka's one red eye. "That is the point."