Samurai Flamenco (Nightbreed) - Gifts & Curses [14] [Gotoyoshi]

[scriveyner]

Title: gifts & curses [14]
Fandom: Samurai Flamenco
AU: Nightbreed
Characters/Pairing: Gotou/Masayoshi, Keiko, Masanori
Rating: T
Length: 1466
Summary: Masayoshi sat on the bare concrete floor and watched the sun rise through the grimy windows.



Masayoshi sat on the bare concrete floor and watched the sun rise through the grimy windows. He couldn’t see the sun itself - but reflections from the outside world, refracted from hundreds of glass-paneled buildings, skyscrapers that surrounded the half-completed construction and dwarfed it. He hadn’t been able to go back to sleep, the revelation bringing with it a flood of emotions that threatened to drown him. Masayoshi touched his breastbone with his fingers, felt where the ring should lay, and felt ashamed that he could ever forget.

“You’re up early,” the boy’s voice came from the corner of the room. Masayoshi tilted his head, smelled the eggs and bacon and looked over to see him carrying a paper sack in one hand.

“I remember.” Masayoshi said, rising in a smooth motion. “I have to go, I have to find Gotou-san. He’s got to be going out of his head by now.”

Masayoshi was easily a head taller than the vampire, who looked absolutely unimpressed. He shoved the bag of food at Masayoshi, who caught it against his chest. “Didn’t you hear me?” Masayoshi said. “I have to leave.”

“Sit down, Hazama,” he said. “You’re not going anywhere yet, especially not like-”

The growl cut him off - and he was fast, but Masayoshi was faster, and a huge paw pinned the vampire to the concrete floor, pressing down on his chest with enough strength to crack bones. “-that,” he finished, wheezing the breath out between clenched teeth, both his hands on Masayoshi’s leg. Masayoshi’s muzzle was too close to his face, lips curled back in a snarl. “But thanks for proving my point.”

All at once Masayoshi came back to himself, he practically leaped back and away, on two feet again already, staring at his hands wide-eyed and terrified. “I, I’m sorry,” he said, taking another step backward and the vampire sat up and rubbed his chest. “I don’t know what-”

“You can’t leave,” he said simply. “Because you don’t have that under control yet, you can’t be doing that sort of thing to regular people Hazama, you’ll kill them.”

Masayoshi took several more steps back and almost stumbled over the dropped sack - he dropped into a crouch and sat on the cold concrete again, the adrenaline rush fading, the ghost of the anger he’d felt already gone. “What is happening to me?” he asked.

“Nothing that you won’t be able to get a handle on.”

Masayoshi ran his hands back into his hair. “What does that even mean?”

“It means that we don’t really know,” a different, familiar voice said. Masayoshi raised his head and looked over at the corner that the vampire had emerged from - there was a door there, but it had been locked every time he’d tried it - and the witchbreed stepped into the sunlight, her hair highlighted in orange.

“Akino-chan,” Masayoshi said, and dropped his hands.

“Oh, he recognizes you,” the vampire said under his breath, and Masayoshi glanced back over at him as he clambered to his feet.

“Maybe if you’d taken the time to introduce yourself, Rian-kun,” Akino said sweetly, “then he might remember.” She looked back to Masayoshi. “We’ve a lot to talk about, Masayoshi-kun.”

“Gotou-san,” Masayoshi said. “I need to talk to him. If I can’t leave here, I need a phone.” Akino and Rian glanced at each other, and Masayoshi said, firmly, “I have to talk to Hidenori. It’s not arequest.”

“I’ll see what I can do,” Rian said.

#

The door to the bedroom slid quietly open. The light in the hall was dim, unfamiliar - there was a hint of sunlight, from the other direction and it caught dust motes in the hall. Keiko had never been here before, but a quick glance around told her the layout of the place, big open space to the right, small kitchen, exit to the left - and the scents of people were old and faded - they’d been here recently, but were gone, now.

Except for one, strong familiar scent from that big open space. She could see the end of the couch from here.

Masanori lingered in the dark bedroom. He’d been quiet, even for him - and he didn’t speak when Keiko rattled off her plan in hushed tones - but now he stood in the center of the room, holding the sneakers he’d been given in one hand and staring down at the floor. “Why are we leaving?” he asked, his voice whisper-quiet in the dark.

“We just are,” Keiko said, wishing that Masanori would get it, that they needed to get away, that she needed to do something. She would fall apart waiting for the adults to get it into gear, and the only thing she wanted to do was push forward and complete her quest, find their parents, ride off into the sunset together.

“What about Hazama-san?” Masanori hadn’t lifted his eyes, there was something in his voice that she didn’t quite catch. Keiko let out a disgruntled sigh and stepped back into the room, lit now by the dim hallway light. “What about - what about Gotou, we can’t just leave him-”

“We have to follow this to the end, ‘nori-chan,” Keiko said, her hands resting on his shoulders. She tilted her head in close to his, but still he didn’t raise his head or his eyes, and she felt a stab of confusion. They had always been on the same page, always been together - and there was something there that she didn’t understand, something silent and invisible. “Masanori?”

“I don’t,” Masanori said, and he took a deep breath and raised his head finally. “I’m not going with you, ‘neechan.”

Keiko stared at her brother. “What?”

“It’s not safe out there! What about the hunters, what about the white wolves-”

“Hazama killed the white wolf!”

She was louder than she intended, her words ringing into the silence, and Masanori flinched away from her, out from under her hands, backing away. “Masanori,” Keiko tried again, helplessly, not understanding her sibling’s hesitation. “We gotta do this, ‘nori, they’re never going to find our parents, they’re not even trying, I guarantee you they’re not!”

Masanori flinched again, physically, refusing to look at her, sneakers held tight against his chest and in the turn of his head she could see ears pressed back against grey fur. Keiko hissed out a breath, confusion turning readily to anger. “Fine then! Stay here!”

Each word was like a slap, and Masanori really was back into wolf form, back pressed against the corner, ears back and head down. He wasn’t whimpering, but she could see him shaking even in the dim light. “I’ll just find mom and dad on my own!”

“You won’t,” Masanori said, his voice a bare whisper.

“I will,” she snarled, and slammed the door on her way out.

#

Gotou woke when the door banged off the frame like a gunshot, groggy and disoriented. Sleep had been a struggle in coming, laying on a hard couch and unable to turn his mind off, fighting the certainty that Masayoshi was dead and all he’d have left was a wedding ring and a broken phone - but exhaustion had pulled him into dreamless surrender. He flailed into a sitting position, squinting around the room - and the knowledge flooded in like the tide, the kids.

He was on his feet - the door to the bedroom was open, and it was the front door to the safehouse apartment that was left open just a crack, having not latched behind them. Gotou stared up and down the empty hallway, before he rested his forehead on his hand and sighed heavily.