From Sailor Moon Flash!
| Featuring: | Ebba, Binshou, Toshiro |
| IC Date: | August 2002 |
| Status: | Completed |
| Summary: | Ebba's out to make the world a better place by punching holes in it, though she may have to punch through Jadeite and Nephrite first. |
Ebba Koch was going to use her powers to save Tokyo.
Her theory, carefully constructed over several days' turkey-and-swiss sandwiches, was fairly simple: the poor city had constructed itself into a feng-shui bout of mental constipation. It certainly explained why the residents had a look of perpetual gastric distress on their faces.
Solving the problem proved to be a bit more complicated. She had noticed that JDE, as the sole chi-holed structure in the city, seemed to house the least uptight employees. The obvious solution would be to reconstruct the rest of the skyscrapers in a similar fashion as the JDE tower. As to the method...
As she stared up at her chosen target, Ebba considered her options. She could attempt to create a gravitation well and collapse a circular portion of the building, but that would limit her to one building per day, perhaps two if they collapsed easily. She could attempt to call a worm, but the creatures were rather stupid, and would more likely create slashes and ovals instead of perfect circles. There was also the option of conventional explosives and rockets, but they had an unacceptably high rate of misfire as well as being rather inelegant. Gravity would have to do. If it failed, well, she could always try the worm.
Ebba closed her eyes and felt her way towards the building. She explored its mass, creating a mental map of the structure, trying to locate the area least likely to destroy the building with its disappearance. Eventually, she settled on the top third of the building, took a deep breath, and mentally started to form a deep indentation in the fabric of space-time. As she added and subtracted influences, concentrating on keeping the growing density stable, the voices and noises surrounding her faded from her awareness. She felt the building begin to give, and risked opening her eyes to visually track her progress. Her target was beginning to dimple on the facing side, and as she watched the side gave way, feeding even more mass into her density. Entranced, her eyes widened with the hole, scarcely breathing as the rate of expansion quickened, the gathering mass growing exponentially with each passing moment.
She broke her trance just in time to avoid collapse, cutting the density out of the universe and releasing her holds on all the normal gravitational influences. She sat heavily on the sidewalk, drained of energy, quietly triumphant at her success. The building still stood, and surely the workers and nearby residents would soon start feeling better, clearer. Twelve more days, according to her estimation, and she would finally be able to commute without the irritation of all those pinched grimaces surrounding her.
"Virgo: stay inside. Chance encounters may prove disastrous. Invest now for big profits by the end of the month."
Binshou rolled his eyes -- he found newspaper astrology to be absolutely ridiculous. He wouldn't even bother reading it if the section weren't right there on the back of the page that the man next to him was holding, and if the swaying of the train wasn't causing the man and his paper to conveniently lean forward every two seconds. Besides, it gave him something to focus his sight on. It was not a good day to be making eye contact with strangers on the Ginza line, especially when they were all wearing what could only be described as "pinched grimaces".
A metallic screeching warned him to brace himself for the sea of humanity that would surge forward once the train stopped and the doors popped open. Binshou concentrated all of his will on becoming as solid and steadfast as one of the metal rods that passengers held fast to, and managed to retain his position against the tide of people. So focused was he on becoming one with the train's accoutrements that he did not notice Toshiro boarding the train, nor did he notice Toshiro moving to stand right next to him, or saying, "Hello, Binshou-kun!" In fact, he did not notice Toshiro at all until the other boy waved his hands in front of his face.
He jumped. "Gah!"
Toshiro was still smiling at him. "Hello. Again."
His face automatically flushed in subconscious apology. "Giou-san, hello! I didn't see you there!"
"No kidding," Toshiro was polite enough not to say aloud.
"Um... so, how are you? Where are you off to?"
Toshiro smiled. Like him, it was charming and beautiful. "I'm well, thanks. I'm meeting some friends of mine to show them design sketches for the casts and sets of their next plays, see if they want to hire me, maybe pick up a new handbag." He patted his large black shoulder bag cheerfully. "Nothing like mixing business with pleasure." Binshou supposed the black slacks and tailored silk shirt (he had to try hard not to think of it as a "blouse") were businesslike... and the huge Doc Martins were black... with sapphire satin ribbon as laces, coordinating with his practically subdued smoky black eye makeup and silver and sapphire jewelry. He couldn't tell if the bracelets, choker, and stud earrings were costume jewelry or not. He supposed it didn't matter. All that black, even touched with silver and blue, made Toshiro's hair (caught up in black filigree barrettes and finally an all-over blond instead of faded pink with blond roots) and eyes... rather overpowering. That this was the general idea didn't help.
Binshou realized that he'd been caught staring and that Toshiro was waiting for a reply. He blushed.
"I... I'm very sorry, Giou-san, could you repeat that?"
"It's no problem, Binshou-kun," he said gently, suppressing a chuckle. "I asked what had you distracted earlier, how you've been."
"Oh, I've been well, and..." For some reason, he felt the need to be perfectly honest with Toshiro about the most inconsequential of questions. "I wasn't distracted, exactly. I was trying not to fall down."
The taller boy stared at him for a second or two, trying to decide if Binshou was joking, while Binshou stared back with the most earnest face a 16-year-old boy could possibly wear.
Toshiro laughed. It was not unkind laughter, Binshou noticed, and he responded with a sheepish grin.
"Oh, Binshou-kun," Toshiro sighed. "...I was going to stop at a cafe before going on the rest of my errands. Would you like to come with me?"
Binshou considered, but only briefly: go home and clean the tea room? Or go out for food with Giou-san who is good company and does interesting work and is not scary?
"Yes, I would," he answered, just as the train stopped at Ginza station. He followed Toshiro closely as they got off the train, afraid he might lose him in the station. Very quickly he realized that he needn't be afraid of losing him at all. "Umm..."
"My sentiments exactly," said Toshiro. The station was nearly empty. The frantic pace and worried looks of the people entering the station from outside suggested that the reason may lie above ground, and since they were headed in that direction anyway...
"Well, I'm certainly not getting back on the train." Toshiro smiled at his friend, then turned on his Doc Martin-ed heel and made for the exit. Binshou quickly followed.
Ebba stifled a giggle as she pictured the over-sized worm comically squishing the fleeing crowd in its confused rampage. The reality would not be nearly so humorous, but the mental image was enjoyable all the same.
Tentacle-chan had performed its duties well this time around. Its previous attempt, one block south, had resulted in the unfortunate collapse of one corner and no chi conduit in a proper central location. The office building in front of her now featured a proper opening, and Ebba imagined that she already felt the relaxing effects of proper chi maintenance.
As well as enjoying the satisfaction of yet another job well done, Ebba allowed herself to savor the side effects of her little project. Her neighbor's sneaky feline had treated itself to one of her beloved fishes for breakfast, and Ebba was a bit put out that Takezo had laughed and *congratulated* his little demon's performance. To make matters worse, he then apologized rather insincerely, and neglected to offer to *replace* poor Gans. She had almost cancelled her scheduled renovation. Thankfully, she had gone ahead, and had managed to find a little mood therapy in the midst of the action. The shock and awe on the faces of the natives was certainly a balm on her chafed soul. She fancied each one to be her hated neighbor and That Woman.
She happened to glance at the subway entrance just as two kids emerged. The startled expressions on their faces as they realized just how unusual the chaos above ground was made her openly smile.
Toshiro... stared. He set one hand lightly on Binshou's elbow and just... stared. Out of everything he could have seen in the streets of Ginza, this was certainly not what he was expecting (though after all those Gojira movies, he shouldn't have been this surprised). IT made another movement, muscles rippling all along it (and there was A LOT of it to ripple), and he made an executive decision.
He grabbed Binshou's elbow and hauled him into the nearest alley, threw up an illusion over the front of it that the alley was ten inches wide and occupied by six cockroaches and an empty can, and held Binshou by both shoulders and looked into his eyes. "Tell me," he said, in a calm, soothing voice, "that you just saw a faintly confused-looking giant earthworm looking out of the middle of a skyscraper."
Binshou earnestly pondered Toshiro's question. "Well, I did see a sort of giant earthworm, and it was destroying a skyscraper, but..."
"'But'? But what?"
"I don't think it was looking at anything."
The slightly exasperated, questioning expression he received prompted Binshou to explain further.
"Giou-san, earthworms are blind."
There was a brief blank pause at being confronted by a technicality before Toshiro's face lost its color beneath his makeup as he realized that there was nothing useful standing in the way of the rampaging invertebrate. His calm remained intact as he noted that just because they weren't hidden didn't necessarily mean that the worm would...
...be coming right for them.
The buildings on either side framed Binshou's view of the creature, as if he were watching some demented facsimile of a monster movie. Toshiro's vice grip on his elbow reminded him that he was not, and he put all his concentration into his feet as his friend whipped through the alleys and down the street like a car on a roller coaster. And stopped. "Ow."
Toshiro scarcely seemed to notice the Binshou-impact. Binshou noticed that they were two buildings away and on the other side of the street, and most importantly, that the worm did not seem to be following. His brain finally had a moment to catch up and consider the situation. "Well, I guess we should do something...?"
"Yes, Binshou-kun?" Toshiro was only half there, the other half focused on the worm, as if he could push it further and further away with his mind.
"Um, I said that we should do something. Isn't this sort of, uh, what we do?"
"Oh!" He finally turned to look at the other boy. "Yes, you're right. It's just that I'm not so sure what good my powers are against a blind worm..." Toshiro trailed off, and something seemed to click behind his eyes. He grabbed Binshou by the shoulders again, and Binshou wondered exactly what colors his arms would be by the end of the day. "What do you know about earthworms? I mean, aside from the fact that they're blind."
"Hmm. Well, they have five hearts and they eat by pushing their throat out of their mouth pulling food back in with it!"
Toshiro looked pained, like he'd just walked into a door that he clearly should have seen. "Charming. Thanks, Binshou-kun. Do you know anything about earthworms that might be useful in, say, getting rid of the one that's destroying Ginza right now?"
"Oh, weaknesses! Of course. I'm sorry. Let's see... they can't regenerate if you slice them within a few segments of the clitellum, they're sensitive to vibrations, they tend to move away from bright light because they dry out easily and they need to be moist to breathe-"
"Dry out? So, something like heat or... would salt work?" The creative gears in Toshiro's head were spinning in a way that had nothing to do with set designs. One small, lone gear spun uselessly on what a "clitellum" could possibly be, since there was nothing about an earthworm that was particularly naughty, urban rampaging aside.
"Certainly. Just like putting salt on a slug."
"Maybe we could draw it to the ocean?"
"But it's over three kilometers to the harbor."
"Well, do you have any better ideas at the moment?" he asked frustratedly. Before Binshou could answer, they both noticed a slight rumbling beneath their feet. He didn't have to turn to know that the worm was heading their way again -- the look on Toshiro's face said it plainly enough. He could feel the grip on his arm tightening once more as his companion prepared for another mad dash.
"Giou-san, wait! I- I could do this! Um, please close your eyes."
"Close my eyes? Are you nuts? Binshou!"
Binshou turned around. The worm was nearly on top of them, it's muscles tearing at the cement as they contracted and expanded. He hoped this would work. It was a word, something in a foreign language he'd never heard before, but it rolled off his tongue quite naturally aside from the nervous cracking in his voice.
"SURYA."
And Binshou was glowing so brightly that anyone foolish enough to be looking at him would hardly be able to discern a human form in the light. The worm danced and writhed, and turned to flee... and vanished with a small pop, revealing a small, rather stunning woman standing in its place.
Toshiro was very lucky he looked alluring with his mouth gaping slightly. Blinking the glare out of his eyes took almost no time, but attempting to assimilate this information... well, did. He silently shut his mouth. "I'm going to assume you did that," he said quietly, sharp, assessing eyes fixed on the petite brunette in the street as she stared into the alley. "Is it still blind?"
Ebba blinked a few times in an effort to disperse the purple glow in her vision. So, at least one of her vaunted opponents had come out to investigate her handiwork. She reached out and felt for them. Two, then. The outlines became a boy and... either a very pretty boy, or a girl who deserved a few points for trying. At least one of them was a bright soul. It would be a nice addition to her birthday surprise for the Boss.
She tightened her grip on them, anchoring their shoes to the ground to prevent them from running, but without immediately tipping them off that they were stuck.
"Hello," she said, showing them a bright smile. "Where is Kenrou-san?"
While Outer Toshiro maintained aplomb, Inner Toshiro had a moment of slack-jawed staring, and another moment of creative cursing. What WAS it with Amakusa-san and gaijin-demons? He was going to have to have words with Yoshinaga-kun. Amakusa-san being involved in any way with gaijin with giant earthworms was unacceptable. It damaged his sense of equilibrium.
He very carefully and very visibly checked his watch, then raised an eyebrow. "I would imagine he is in his studio contemplating the zen of the universe as applies to parchment and ink about now. Why do you ask?"
To Binshou, he whispered, "I don't think it's blind now." And inside, Inner Toshiro was cracking his knuckles and cackling.
"I suppose not," he whispered back. "It" was perhaps not the most appropriate word for the woman who was standing before them. She was certainly no worm, as Binshou was utterly confident that he didn't have the power to change worms or anything else into beautiful women. It was just as well, because if he did, Teaki would never leave him alone.
If she wasn't the worm, Binshou suspected that it had belonged to her, as bizarre as the thought was. It made him feel the slightest twinge of guilt for obliterating it, because surely giant earthworms were not easy to come by. Since he couldn't bring it back, nor would he even if he could, he thought that he should at least apologize. Noting the slow, definite manner in which she spoke Japanese, and the sharp look of concentration that passed over her face when Toshiro replied, he opted for the non-Asian foreigner default as a courtesy.
"I'm sorry," he said in English, slowly but with good pronunciation. "Um, for your worm. For it disappearing. I apologize."
Toshiro looked perplexed. He understood the English, but he didn't quite understand why his friend was apologizing, aside from the fact that he was Binshou. But then, that would explain it.
Ebba, for the moment, was still smiling. It was a shame there were two of them. One person was hard enough to predict and deal with. Two...
In order to solve a difficult problem, reduce it to smaller, simpler problems.
Ebba felt for the nearest golf ball-sized projectile and flung it at the smaller of the two boys, neatly clipping him on the temple. He crumpled bonelessly to the pavement, his head hitting with a little less impact than standard gravity dictated. Still smiling, she turned her attention to the taller of the pair. "Apology accepted."
YOU JUST- BUT YOU- AND HE-
An outside observer would note that when well and truly surprised, Toshiro looked like a startled exotic bird. While Inner Toshiro sputtered in surprise and rage at a CLEAR violation of his protective territory, something about his shoes was ticked away by a quiet analytical part of his brain. The way his weight just shifted wasn't right. Neither were his feet, when he'd tried to recoil out of the way of the incoming roc-
Everything but that tiny, analytical piece stopped. The incoming CELL PHONE. That BITCH had clipped Binshou with a CELL PHONE.
That bitch who was calmly watching him with that smile on her face, patiently waiting for something to happen. He desperately wished Jadeite had the power to make people explode, never mind asking questions later. Never mind the poor civic servants who'd have to clean up the mess. He wanted to COAT THE STREETS with this woman, who knew Amakusa, who summoned a giant worm, who hit Binshou with a kamikaze cellphone (his eyes flicked to Binshou, who was lying very strangely), and who had Done Something to their shoes. He gathered himself and Glared at her out from behind his masks, posture unconsciously conveying a growl. (Forever an actor conveying his intentions, after all.)
It reminded her of a cornered dog. As long as it wasn't moving, it wasn't dangerous. Just... annoying. Plus there was still the question of whether or not this vivid person possessed the powers that were used against the worm.
Well, if he wanted to be a dog...
Ebba modified the seat of Toshiro's pants and his cuffs to be quite a bit heavier than they ought to be. Toshiro dropped to his butt, his wrists trapped between his feet. It was a shame she couldn't create a tail to add to the effect.
The pretty gaijin just stood there smiling, and once he'd gotten over his brief flash of shock (and the obligatory WTF attempt to lift his hands), Toshiro was LIVID. She'd wounded Binshou and THEN she had the gall to play with him.
Oh, it was ON NOW. (Incidentally, Toshiro's supposed ability to set people on fire with a fierce enough glare, rumored in his high school years, was just resoundingly disproven.) That flare of calculating rage in his pretty made-up eyes was damped to a dull glow about the same time the buildings to either side of the alley collapsed with a roar and a shower of debris, burying the two young men and flowing towards the woman.
Or appearing to. Ebba's eyes narrowed a little bit, perhaps against the "dust"... but perhaps not, because she didn't move a muscle as "debris" flowed over her, eclipsing her vision... and not disturbing a hair or a fold of her clothing. Her senses told her everything was exactly as it should be; it was her eyes that were lying. This was troublesome, but Ebba smiled. This vivid person possessed a bright soul. This...
...vivid person was not there any more.
Problem reduced, but not quite in the way she had preferred. Problem Two was not currently conscious, either. She hadn't yet worked out a method for confirming the required souls on an unconscious person. He would have to be roused.
Ebba frowned and mentally shoved the unconscious boy, but received no response. She bit her lip, worrying momentarily that she had inadvertently *killed* her secondary target, but a quick check confirmed that there was motion present in his chest. She tapped her foot impatiently, then froze.
Vivid person had disappeared, and had done it without using gravity.
"Giou-san?"
Ebba unfroze and turned her head back to the boy, who was not so unresponsive after all.
"Ow."
In fact, he was advancing rapidly towards "fully conscious".
Binshou would have disagreed with that assessment as he tried to simultaneously open his eyes and will himself not to vomit on the pavement. Oh, and remember why he was lying on the pavement in the first place. As his eyes found their focus on the cross-looking gaijin standing over him, he remembered the worm and causing the worm to vanish and apologizing for causing the worm to vanish, but he still couldn't recall why his head hurt, or where Toshiro had run off to.
He sat up very slowly, hoping he would not lose the battle against his stomach. He certainly didn't appear to be a target, sitting on the sidewalk making low noises that suggested he was more likely to regurgitate his last meal than disappear like his friend. That was a deeply annoying mystery, and if Ebba didn't solve it soon, the twitch in her left eyelid was going to drive her insane.
"You," she slowly enunciated in careful English, "where has your boyfriend gone?"
Toshiro had disappeared to the one place in all of Tokyo that 1. he knew very well, 2. was almost guaranteed to be free of inconvenient witnesses, and 3. was absolutely guaranteed to be free of anything he might teleport into the middle of, like furniture.
Amakusa Kenrou's apartment.
He had left to give himself room to think. That... that... GAIJIN had... Toshiro froze mid-pace as the knowledge that 1. the pretty gaijin was one of Them, the enemy, and the simple fact of the matter was that when push came to shove against someone who could CONTROL HIS PANTS, he could kick about as much ass as a bunny slipper, and 2. HE HAD LEFT BINSHOU, sucker-punched him.
Well, SHIT.
A flare of protective ire washed over him, leaving him in Jadeite's uniform almost without noticing. Binshou-kun could kick plenty of ass, but he was so damn NICE he tended to get his ass kicked instead.
Binshou-kun was Nephrite, but he was Toshiro's responsibility, and NOBODY mucked with what was his.
Three and a half minutes after disappearing, Jadeite appeared on top of one of the buildings nearby, all but snarling. "Nephrite-kun, it's time to go," he said, more as an announcement than out of any rational expectation that someone with a concussion would be able to process everything.
"Okay," Binshou muttered in Jadeite's general direction, speaking more to himself than anyone else. Hearing the name "Nephrite" and seeing Jadeite in uniform on top of the building activated an unconscious switch in his addled brain, and his own uniform appeared as he was trying to stand up. The sudden addition of the boots and cape threw him off balance and he fell back onto the pavement again.
"Ow."
There was a feeling of déjà vu, and he found himself wishing he could remember what the gaijin had asked him, or even what Jadeite had said to him ten seconds earlier (assuming he'd said anything at all).
He tried getting up again, and this time made it to his feet without incident, all the while staring questioningly at the irate woman before him.
On one hand, they were both back, and that was good. That meant she could do her Job.
On the other, they were both back, and that meant she couldn't go home and enjoy a nice cup of tea and a quiet symphony on her nice comfy couch, curled up with a nice text on string theory.
Ebba turned her head slightly, focusing her attention on the buildings to either side of the alley. She adjusted internally, quieting her temper, hardening herself so she could focus. Two opponents, and they were likely anticipating another lock-down move from her. She turned the idea over in her head, then cemented their feet into place once more. It would, at the very least, offer her a few moments of reaction time once they made a move.
She considered the pretty one for a moment without removing her gaze from the shorter boy. He had disappeared, true, and had managed to wake his companion's transformation with a word, but she had yet to see any sort of offensive tactic from him. Once Captain Beautiful had disappeared, it had been easier to trace the causality between the late worm's untimely barbecuing and this little warrior.
Unfortunately, that meant that Captain Beautiful was most likely to make the next move, in order to prevent any more of the small one's moves from being revealed to the enemy.
Still keeping her eyes on the boy, she focused her senses in the pretty one's direction and waited for him to make a move.
She was watching him. He wasn't sure how, because she was looking at Bi- at Nephrite, but a lifetime of catering to an audience had made him hyperaware of when he was and was not being watched.
And she was watching him.
Well then. Slowly, he stretched out that part of himself – that facet of awareness – that controlled the illusions. Slowly, then slowly faster, wrapping around the alley and the buildings and the pavement, skating under the intersection the demon gaijin stood in, waiting. Wrapping around Nephrite, and around himself. Not changed, not yet. Just... aware of light and all the ways it bent on and around everything. It stretched something inside his head. He'd never done this before, on this scale, and it felt like reaching for the end of his frame after a lifetime of sitting still. Slowly, he tensed his muscles, testing, and relaxed.
His boots were stuck to the rooftop. Somehow, he wasn't very surprised. Jadeite figured that Nephrite was similarly fastened to the pavement, if the way he was standing meant anything. Well, all right, concussion. Still.
He looked at the demon-gaijin, felt her watching him, waiting – for him? Jadeite thought so. It would have been flattering if he weren't too cold and angry to be as scared as he thought he should be. Stay still, he willed his... friend? Cohort? Superior? It didn't matter. He would or he wouldn't, and Jadeite wasn't going to call to him to tell him. He felt the illusion take hold around Nephrite, lightly, gently, until the vision of Nephrite blinking in dazed complacency and vague puzzlement became the sight of Nephrite about to pass out again. Stay relaxed. Audiences never realized, but they always noticed a change in tension. Somehow he thought this audience would notice and realize. Jadeite gathered himself, inside. The little illusion became a vision of Nephrite passing out, weaving very slightly. Stay relaxed. The illusion-Nephrite just started to fold. Now.
He teleported, noting with detachment he'd left his boot-soles behind again. Light flashed and flared, painfully bright, from every window of every building. One. He was beside Nephrite, inside the tiny illusion, grabbing his shoulders probably tight enough to hurt, and reaching again, only it was harder this time with somebody who was confused and trying to help in all the wrong ways. Two.
They were gone.
Ebba blinked the afterimages from her eyes, noting with a cold anger that her prey had escaped again.
Very well. That ribbon-wrapping of light that she had felt around the boys indicated... something. She narrowed her eyes, thinking as she turned and strode out of the alley. The light wrapped, Captain Beautiful made his move, and they were gone. Was the ribbon-light a part of the teleportation, then?
No. She wove a few experimental strands herself to check, but it did nothing but bend light. The teleportation was a different step, then.
She clenched a fist as she untangled the light-knots she had made, looking up at the buildings surrounding her.
Nephrite stared at the spare but elegant living quarters that had appeared before him. "Is this... is this Amakusa-san's apartment?"
"Yep. The lack of furniture you're probably taking note of is what made me think of coming here. Nothing to teleport into."
Eventually, Jadeite remembered to remove his hands from Nephrite's shoulders, and Nephrite found the ground again, albeit more gracefully and purposely than before. Jadeite knelt down beside him. "Hey, do I need to take you to the hospital or something?"
Nephrite pondered the question for a moment, then removed the weird orange glasses that seemed to appear with his uniform and stared intently at his friend. "Are my pupils the same size?"
There was a flash of confusion across Jadeite's features in the half-second it took him to realize this was obviously a concussion-related question. He leaned in. Were they? Maybe one was a teensy bit bigger than the other... okay, no. "No. I MEAN, yes. They're the same size."
"Then I'm sure I'll be fine. What about you?"
"I, uh..." Was he still amnesic? "I wasn't brained with a cell phone."
"No, I mean, weren't you supposed to meet your friends and show them design sketches? And maybe get a new handbag?"
Jadeite looked carefully at Nephrite for two full breaths, and then waited two more while he mentally prodded at that stretched spot inside, testing. Then he smiled, gently. Only Nephrite.
"I am very angry, Nephrite, and I'm quite sure that the minute I stop being angry is the minute I will be very afraid instead. I feel like I ought to have a headache soon, but I'm sure I'm not going to." He smiled wryly. "It's a rather unfinished feeling. As for my friends, a giant worm destroyed part of Ginza. I'm certain they'll understand if we reschedule." He stood smoothly, and just as smoothly "Jadeite" and his uniform fell away to reveal a ruffled and mussed Toshiro, minus the soles of his Docs. There was a faint tightening in the pleasant expression as he removed his desecrated boots, but his voice remained mild. "And speaking of headaches, I expect you've got a beautiful one. Give me your shoes. I'll make you some tea."
"O-oh. Yes, thank you," Nephrite said, his uniform flashing out of existence at Jadeite-turn-Toshiro's visual prompting. Binshou dutifully handed over his sneakers, not yet noticing the thinner soles, and pawed through his bags for some painkillers. Toshiro appeared with a glass of water just when he was about to swallow them dry, then disappeared back into the kitchen.
Waiting for the water to boil, Toshiro took another deep breath and relaxed his shoulders, falling into the familiar patterns of "work now, collapse later" despite the drastic difference in momentum between crazy magic gaijin and making tea.
Crazy magic gaijin who asked for Amakusa-san by name. Right.
By the time Toshiro brought Binshou his tea (green from powder, naturally – this was Amakusa Kenrou's apartment) he'd set himself back to rights as much as is possible without a mirror, a change of clothing, and a shower. He'd also expanded his mental label of their opponent into "crazy magic gaijin, commander of giant earthworms, tool of darkness, destroyer of Ginza, who has asked for Amakusa-san by name thus proving that in Zen, all things relate to Amakusa-san," which made him giggle and deeply regret being unable to inflict it on Yoshinaga Tsurian.
Binshou accepted the tea with a quiet "thank you, are you sure it's all right?" and thought it best not to ask what was funny, considering the circumstances. "Um?" he said, noting that Toshiro was watching him.
"Do you need anything else?"
"I- no, thank you, I'll be fine until I get home. Should-" Binshou cut himself off. Toshiro tried his best at a reassuring smile (and it was good, very close, considering he didn't feel at all reassured himself) and waved at him to remain seated as he tromped to the door.
"Good. Just sit there for a little longer, Binshou-kun. I'm going to go downstairs and report to Amakusa-san that a pretty gaijin destroying Ginza asked for him, and then I'll walk you home."
"Oh, thank you, that won't be necessary Giou-san-"
"Binshou-kun," Toshiro stared levelly at him, and Binshou sat back down. "You were brained by a cell phone and were unconscious for several minutes. I'm walking you home, unless you feel like explaining why you need an escort to Teaki-kun or Daichi-san."
"...thank you very much for the tea, Giou-san. Please thank Amakusa-san for me, too. I'll wait for you."
Toshiro smiled a small "that's what I thought" smile, and closed the door behind him. Being able to lay the day's troubles at the feet of someone else... it wasn't something he'd done in a long time, but in this case, it was right and proper.
Some days it's a relief not to be in charge.
