Washed Up

A/N: a direct continuation of the last log, but this time Ryoma joins in. Reverted back to past-tense in this log because of our third roleplayer.

Authors: Celianna (Momo), Happiestwhen (Kaidoh) & Gottis (Ryoma, Karupin)

Rating: K+

Events leading up to this log: set directly after the last chapter

Date: May 25, 2012

This was not what he expected to bring with him when Momoshiro decided to go out hunting for fish. Really, who would have thought he'd come across someone who crashed on the island as well, and out of all people—it was Kaidoh Kaoru, former teammate/rival/buchou?

"Now, don't scare him with your scary demeanor, okay?" said Momoshiro as he faced Kaidoh. He looked him up and down; still the same scary old Kaidoh. Except a bit taller, and a bit uglier. "He's supposed to be resting still, so I don't want you to scare him off."

Momoshiro stopped in front of his bamboo built shack. Big enough for two people to live in, and perhaps one more, for now anyway. He was sure sharing the same space as the snake would be a bad thing in the long run. They'd already gotten in a few fights with the limited amount of time they'd seen each other again, so Momoshiro can only imagine the amount of fights they'd get into when they're sleeping in the same shack.

Kaidoh glared at Momoshiro. "Echizen isn't afraid of me, dumbass." In his head he was thinking, And I don't have a scary demeanor either! Why was everyone always saying that about him? Just because he wasn't sunshine and rainbows all the time like stupid smiley Momoshiro didn't make him scary.

Momoshiro rolled his eyes. "Everyone's afraid of you at first sight." Except Momoshiro of course. Kaidoh looked kinda normal when he was very young, and the years have not done him kind at all. Not with those scary big eyes and tiny irises, and then those really big fish lips … Momoshiro should probably stop staring at Kaidoh right now. He cleared his throat, rubbed his jaw a bit—still aching after Kaidoh hit him from before—then knocked on the straw door. Wait, why the hell was he knocking!? This was his own home! Or shack, or whatever.

"Ryoma-chan, I'm back!" he happily announced himself, then pushed the door open.

Ryoma sat and fiddled around with his cellphone, playing one game or the other, hoping that the battery would at least last a little while longer. (He didn't know what else to do to kill boredom, really.) At the sound of Momoshiro's voice, he looked up and sighed. "You're late. Better have a shitload of fish with you, or..." He cut himself off, eyes widening.

Momoshiro awkwardly stepped inside. "Well …" he said, hesitating. "Someone seemed to have ate all of our fish." He stepped aside so that Kaidoh could walk in.

"Hey," Kaidoh said, shoving his hands into his pockets as he walked inside. "Long time, no see."

Momoshiro cheerfully placed an arm around Kaidoh's shoulder and shoved him close against his chest. "Yup, this guy ate our fish! So blame him, okay? Seems he's been roaming in the sea for god knows how long, until he crashed here, and I happened to stumble upon him by chance. I mean, wow, who would have thought, right?" Then he averted his eyes away from Echizen. "Is it okay if he stays with us for a bit?" he asked in a tiny voice.

Not in the same bed, obviously. No way in hell. He can sleep on the floor.

Kaidoh's mouth contorted in surprise as he felt himself crush up against Momoshiro. Stupid idiot. What was he trying to do?

"I don't mind either way," he said gruffly, shrugging out from Momoshiro's arm and stepping to the side. He attempted a smile at Echizen, which may not have been entirely successful. Damn, was it ever weird seeing him after all these years.

"Kaidoh-senpai." He was surprised that he didn't sound entirely awestruck or panicked or any of the more unflattering options. He actually managed to sound - in his own ears at least—somewhat calm. Somewhat. "... You've been... At sea. And... Uh. Are you... Like. Okay?" Dumb question of the century, probably. He could have bitten his own tongue, but that would have been rather messy. And stupid. … His thoughts were definitely running in the weird direction right now.

Momoshiro walked over to Echizen, and he leaned forwards to him, as if he were about to whisper a secret. "I found him crying out for help, dying of starvation, so I fed him some fish and gave him something to drink. I think he's fine otherwise," he said softly, though Kaidoh could hear everything perfectly.

Kaidoh's left eye twitched. "I was fine," he stressed. "I wasn't starving."

Rolling his eyes, Momoshiro smirked at Kaidoh. "Sure, keep telling yourself that. We've got more water here, unless you're 'fine' of course, and don't need anything to drink." Momoshiro pointed to a bunch of water bottles standing on top of a desk. He had been stocking them up once all the water had turned to normal.

Kaidoh's eyes narrowed and he was about to shout something back when he stopped himself. He didn't want to pick a fight with Momoshiro right in front of Echizen, not when they're meeting again for the first time, not right away. Then Echizen really would think he was scary.

"Either way, you should sit down." Ryoma swung his legs over the edge of the bed and was about to stand up, when his ribs reminded him that it was probably not a good idea to make any sudden movements. He made a face, hand going to his chest, and he gave Kaidoh an half annoyed, half apologetic look. "Uh... Guess you'll just have to make place. Sorry." He raked a hand through his hair—careful not to touch the wound on the back of his head, even if it was mostly healed by now—and groaned. "Momo, instead of babbling, you mind handing me some water? I'm dying here."

Freaking out a bit, Momoshiro made a beeline towards the bottles of water, snatched one, and handed it over to Echizen. "Sorry," he squeaked out. "Are you okay? Don't move too much."

Momoshiro turned around to look at Kaidoh. "And Kaidoh can sit on the floor, can't you, Kaidoh?" His face had a terrifying and threatening look on it that said; if-you-don't-agree-I'll-beat-you-to-a-pulp.

"Yeah..." Kaidoh replied, eyeing Momoshiro skeptically. He dropped slowly to the floor, tucking his legs under himself.

"I'm fine, stop fussing..." Ryoma waved Momoshiro away as he received his water. In the meantime, a ball of fluff slowly poked out from underneath the bed, whiskers twitching curiously and big blue eyes locking themselves onto Kaidoh.

Momoshiro pouted at Echizen. "I'll fuss about you all I want, brat," he said in a mopey voice.

Meanwhile, Kaidoh's attention was drawn away from anything Momoshiro or Echizen were saying. His eyes had gone wide and glossy. Not being able to help himself, he held out a hand, flicking his fingers open and closed to beckon, and let out a long hiss.

Karupin meowed, and then started to purr, a low rumbling in the back of his throat. His back feet trampled impatiently and his tail flicked back and forth, before he made a leap from underneath the bed, aiming for Kaidoh's fingers. He did, however, not extend his claws.

Kaidoh clicked his tongue against the back of his teeth and soon he was smiling. He brushed his fingers over Karupin's head, gently stroking his ears and delighting in how soft he was. This, more than the fish, more than the water, really made Kaidoh feel like himself again.

Momoshiro gave Karupin a look of betrayal. Traitor. His eyes then looked back at Echizen once more. "So uhm, I don't have any fish. You up for something else? … Fruit perhaps?" he asked sheepishly.

"Whatever. I'm hungry. We should... I mean... You should go out again though, Momo. Find something. Kaidoh and I can catch up. … Or Kaidoh and Karupin, I... guess...?" He gave his cat a bemused look. Karupin, on the other hand, was busy bopping his head against Kaidoh's hand, alternating between licking his fingers curiously, and purring, even louder.

"Yeah sure, I'll go and try and catch some again, I guess," said Momoshiro, a bit unsure. Karupin licking Kaidoh's finger was gross, and it was grossing him out even more. "Kaidoh, come with me," he said. Partly because he wanted Karupin to stop licking, and partly because he didn't want to leave Kaidoh alone with Echizen.

Kaidoh looked up at Momoshiro, eyes darkening as though Momoshiro was demanding something insane.

Momoshiro simply stared back at him. "What?" he asked. "Want to punch me again?"

Was that some kind of trick question? Kaidoh always wanted to punch Momoshiro. "Fsshuu," he hissed.

Momoshiro scrunched up his face and hissed back at Kaidoh. "Fshuu to you too! Dickhead."

Kaidoh glowered. "Stop that!"

"What!" Momoshiro smirked at him. "You do it too, I can't believe you still do that hissy thing after five years. You've got trouble speaking with your tongue or something?"

Karupin ogled the two of them, apparently confused. Ryoma, in turn, simply groaned and rolled over on his side, closing his eyes. Maybe if he pretended to be asleep, the morons would leave... Or at least quiet down.

"There's nothing wrong with my tongue!" Kaidoh shot back. He nearly hissed again too, but caught himself this time and felt himself turning red. "Asshole," he grumbled. Momoshiro always ruined everything.

"Dumbass," Momoshiro fired back. It was like they went down a trip on Memory Lane, back in middle school, throwing insults at each other, while Echizen stood on the side, not caring at all. "Maybe I shouldn't let you sleep here," he said.

"See if I care," Kaidoh growled. He didn't need Momoshiro's charity. Not if he was going to be a jerk and make fun of Kaidoh's hissing. He could just... go sleep on the beach. Yeah. Because Kaidoh was tough like that.

Momoshiro pointed towards the door with his spear. "Door's that way." Smirk.

"Can you kids stop tossing verbal sand on each other and step out of the sand box?" Ryoma sat up with a groan. "This is stupid. Kaidoh's probably fatigued, the last thing he needs is even more exposure to the outdoors, and Momo, if you say you weren't the least bit worried about him, I'm gonna smack you one. Kaidoh, you should sleep here, at least for the night, okay? See how it works out, and how much time you need to recover. Until then, can you at least pretend that you can get along? A little?"

Well, if Echizen asked … "Fine. The snake can stay. In his own little corner. Over there. Where we pee."

Goddamnit, Momoshiro, Kaidoh thought, and goddamnit Echizen for being so damn reasonable all the time. He'd been more than ready to storm out of there. Well, maybe not more than ready. He glanced down at Karupin, who was still contentedly rubbing his face into the palm of his hand and looking like the cutest cat in the world.

"Thanks, Echizen," Kaidoh said. "Thanks, Momoshiro," he added, though his tone this time sounded far from grateful.

Momoshiro smugly leaned in closer to Kaidoh, putting a hand at his ear. "What's that? I didn't catch that last part."

Kaidoh exhaled loudly through clenched teeth. "I'm not going to say it again."

Momoshiro threw up his hands. "Whatever. Just stay in that corner." He sat down next to Echizen. "And don't touch him. He's hurt."

"Momo...!"

"What!"

Ryoma flailed out with his hands in an exasperated gesture... Which incidentally made him wince in pain. Stupid, stupid sudden movements. He was half a mind to simply tear that stupid rib out of his body and have it over and done with. "You... Ow. I mean... You...!"

Momoshiro didn't know what to do when Echizen was flailing around himself and hurting himself. "Stop moving, idiot! You're just making it worse."

"Stop talking like that, then. You don't have to..." He cut himself short, turning with quite the puppy-dog expression at Kaidoh. "Uh. … You're welcome. I mean... It's only natural. We're..." He wanted to say 'friends'... But he hadn't been keeping in touch with Kaidoh for seven years. Could he even claim that they were friends anymore?

Momoshiro simply shut up for once, and stared with blank eyes at Echizen. Fine, he'll stop talking.

"Yeah, whatever," Kaidoh replied, blushing a little. "Hope I'm not putting you out or anything." He deliberately didn't look at Momoshiro as he said it. He didn't really care if he was inconveniencing him.

"Nah, we're cool." And suddenly this felt more than a little bit awkward. Ryoma frowned, mostly at himself.

Oblivious to his 'daddy's' mood, Karupin happily tried to chase his tail, bumping into both Kaidoh's and Momoshiro's feet as he did so, blissfully lost in his own world.

Momoshiro ignored the little traitor, then sauntered off to grab an extra blanket from somewhere across the room, and threw it at Kaidoh. "Make yourself at home," he said darkly. He grabbed the spear once more and stood in the middle of the room looking like Tarzan. "I'm going hunting. Won't be late. Don't touch Echizen. I'll kill you if you do." He looked at Echizen. "Scream if he touches you." He looked at Karupin. "Traitor."

And then Momoshiro marched towards the exit, glaring at Kaidoh the entire way.

Kaidoh looked at the doorway, then back at Karupin, and then up at Echizen. "Er," he started. "I'm not going to touch you. Just, you know, saying." He hissed.

"... Momo's like... Thinking that everyone's out to molest me or something." Ryoma shrugged, flushing. "It's not like it's anything personal..."

Momoshiro turned towards Echizen as he neared the door. "I know Kite does," he said, very confident.

"Oh please...!" Okay, Ryoma had to admit, that if there had been any truth in that, he would have been worried; having a soldier checking you out couldn't be good. He waved dismissively at Momoshiro.

Momoshiro stuck out his tongue and pushed the door open. "I'll be out at sea, so if you're looking for me Kaidoh ... that's where I am." Alright, those were really lame parting words, but whatever. He gave him one sneaky glare, and then finally left the shack.

Momoshiro sure had gotten weird since Kaidoh last saw him. Maybe it was this fucking island, he thought. He pet Karupin some more. At least he would never accuse Kaidoh of wanting to molest someone.