Gaoranger/Abaranger: Just Your Average Week (1-10), Samezu Kai/Ono Asuka, PG-13
Title: Just Your Average Week (1/10)
Author: scifisentai
Character/Pairing/Group: Samezu Kai/Ono Asuka
Word Count: 9050
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Settling in is never easy at Sentai Gakuen.
Disclaimer: The characters in this story aren't mine; both Abaranger and Gaoranger belong to Toei.
A/N: Based around the sentai_gakuen RPG, and while some familiarity with that might help it's not strictly necessary. Also, while this is labelled as Kai/Asuka it's more platonic than romantic, with nods to Asuka/Mahoro and Kai/Soutarou. Due to my admittedly lousy track records with WIPs I thought I'd wait until I'd finished the whole story save stalling on it. As a result I'm posting the whole thing instead of spamming anyone's f-list with a new chapter every day.
Unsure of himself in this new place, Asuka slept restlessly, constantly waking and dropping off again at frequent intervals. It was good to be back on Another Earth, good to be back with his friends, but this was very evidently a strange place and it was full of people he didn’t know. At least his roommate seemed nice enough, if a bit excitable, and there’d be plenty of time to get to know Kai-san in the morning.
Waking yet again Asuka groaned and pulled his pillow over his head in frustration - he’d lost track of how many times he’d woken already and he’d like to sleep for the rest of the night if it wouldn’t be too much trouble - when a muffled sound permeated his annoyance and he froze, suddenly alert and ready for anything. The sound came again and he relaxed a little, pulling the pillow off his head as he sat up: that wasn’t the sound of an intruder, that was a sound of distress and it was coming from the other side of the room; from Kai-san.
Pushing back the covers, Asuka climbed out bed and padded silently over to his roommate’s side, reaching out tentatively, resting his hand on Kai-san’s shoulder and shaking gently. At least, that had been the plan; the moment his hand came to rest Kai-san reacted, hand snapping out and grabbing hold of Asuka’s wrist… he was flat on his back before he knew what was happening, Kai-san obviously perceiving him as a threat and reacting accordingly. He caught the descending fist between his hands before it could connect and held firm. “Kai-san!” he said firmly, “wake up!” He didn’t really want to have to deal with his roommate trying to kill him because he was caught in a nightmare.
At first he didn’t think he was having much success then Kai-san’s eyes widened in shock and Asuka let go cautiously, praying he wasn’t making a mistake. He didn’t seem to be, as Kai-san scrambled backwards towards his bed, only stopping when he bumped into it, prompting a soft cry of pain. Making his way over to the door, Asuka flipped the light on, blinking several times as his eyes adjusted, then returned to Kai-san’s side: Kai-san who wouldn’t meet his eyes.
“Sorry,” Kai-san said quietly, “I didn’t mean--”
“It’s alright,” Asuka replied with what he hoped was a reassuring smile. “I’ve had dreams like that myself. No harm done.”
Kai-san nodded and went to stand so Asuka stood himself to get out of his way. As he did so he caught sight of the dark patches staining Kai-san’s sheets, just below the pillow. Blood?
“Kai-san?” he said hesitantly. “Kai-san, are you bleeding?”
“Huh?” Kai-san looked at him in confusion then glanced at the bed himself. “Damn it,” he sighed, looking back and down at his shoulder. “I pulled them open again.”
“You’re injured?” Asuka asked, rapidly trying to remember where he’d seen that first aid kit while wondering how Kai-san had come to be injured; like himself, Kai-san had only arrived today. Bathroom, he thought triumphantly, that’s where the first aid kit was. “I’ll be right back.” It wasn’t hard to find the first aid kit now he had some idea where to look and he was back in the main room a couple of minutes later, resting the case on his bed and opening it up. “What happened, Kai-san?”
Kai-san shrugged, then winced as he peeled his pyjama top off - definitely his shoulders, Asuka noted in concern. He grimaced a little as he saw the blood soaking through the bandages. “There was this lizard thing,” he said casually. “Decided it was going to ram its claws through my shoulders.”
“Lizard,” Asuka repeated softly, feeling his anger rising slowly as he sorted out what he’d need. The same lizard that had stolen a year of Mai-chan’s life? “I’ve heard about that. I look forward to meeting it.” And when he did he planned on making it very sorry it dared lay hands - or claws - on Mai-chan.
“No,” Kai-san said sharply, stopping Asuka in the process of unwinding the bandage wrapped around his chest. “You don’t. It took on five of us and we came off worse than it did. I was lucky, I didn’t get drained. My teammates did.”
Asuka nodded slowly and finished unwrapping the bandage, noting in the back of his mind that whoever had done it before was at least competent. Then he winced at the deep cuts in his roommate’s shoulders, bleeding sluggishly. “It drained the daughter of one my teammates,” he said grimly, picking up an antiseptic cloth to wipe over the afflicted areas. “Took a year off her life. She’s remembering things that haven’t happened yet.” He stopped again at the sharp intake of breath, even though he didn’t think it had anything to do with his ministrations. Well, Kai-san would tell him if he wanted to.
“Ken said something about that,” Kai-san said. “The Abarangers, right?”
“That’s right.” Ken, Ken… why did that name sound familiar? “Ken-san’s met my teammates, then?”
There was a soft huff of laughter. “Yeah. He keeps calling one of them Falling Guy; something to do with falling out of a portal and landing on him, I didn’t get many details.”
“Ah, yes, Yukito-san mentioned him.” In terms and tone that Asuka wouldn’t care to repeat. “I don’t think they get along very well.”
“I don’t think Ken minds,” Kai-san said thoughtfully. “But Yukito didn’t seem very fond of him earlier.”
Asuka paused. “Would that be from the ‘bitch fight’?” he asked warily, the term an unfamiliar one on his tongue.
“What?” Kai-san demanded, “who called it that?” Then he paused and grinned ruefully. “Well, I guess it kind of was. Hair pulling and everything.”
Asuka nodded even though he had no idea what his roommate was talking about; he’d never got the hang of slang on Another Earth, even though he’d spent a year here. “Hold still, please, Kai-san,” he said as he finished wiping down Kai-san’s shoulders and picked up a clean bandage. “This might be a bit tight.”
“You don’t have to keep calling me that, you know,” Kai-san said quietly. “Just Kai is fine.”
“Oh, okay. As long as you don’t mind, Kai-san. I mean, Kai.” It was… odd, addressing someone without the honorific on the end and Asuka had a vaguely uncomfortable feeling that he was being rude. Still, it had been a specific request and it would be even more rude to simply ignore Kai-san’s express wish on the matter. “There,” he said a moment later, knotting the bandage off firmly. “Is that alright, Kai?” He barely managed to omit the honorific at the end, but if Kai noticed he didn’t comment.
“It’s fine. Thank you.”
“Do you have a clean shirt to wear tonight?”
“Yeah, a couple. I’m not going to bring only one pair of pyjamas to a place like this, am I?”
“Ah, of course not. Sorry.”
A guilty expression flashed across Kai’s face and he ducked his head in a quick nod before rummaging around for said clean shirt. Satisfied that Kai was going to be okay for the rest of the night, Asuka went to switch off the light once more, turning back just in case Kai needed anything before he did. As he did so, Asuka was taken aback by the expression on the younger man’s face: wistful and a little sad. “Is something wrong, Kai?”
Kai jumped then shook his head, faint blush on his cheeks. “No. You just remind me of someone, that’s all.”
Asuka nodded and switched off the light. He could understand missing someone important; for months after his return to Dino Earth there were any number of things that reminded him of his teammates and even though he had Mahoro again, the loss of his friends was no less an ache than her absence had been. Settling back down in bed, he was on the verge of sleep when Kai spoke again.
“Asuka?”
“Mm?”
“Thanks.”
“You’re welcome.”
Groaning to himself as he forced his eyes open, Asuka fumbled around for the source of the shrill ringing in his ears, determined to obliterate it. Barely getting his fingers to it, he succeeded only in knocking the clock onto the floor which meant he had to put some more effort into making it stop already. Somewhat to his annoyance the noise hadn’t interrupted his roommate at all, then he reminded himself firmly that it was only to be expected, Kai-san (no, Kai, just Kai) was injured and needed all the sleep he could get. He’d probably be waking up soon enough anyway, with or without the alarm.
When he came out of the bathroom he was somewhat nonplussed to realise that Kai was still asleep and evidently had no plans to wake up any time soon. But they had class soon! his mind wailed. Kai couldn’t sleep through that. Besides, if he had to get up then Kai had to get up, so when he was dressed Asuka went over to Kai’s bed and tapped his sleeping roommate on his shoulder, carefully away from an injured area. “Kai,” he said quietly. “Kai, wake up, we have class.”
“Five more minutes, Soutarou,” Kai mumbled, turning over onto his other side, away from Asuka.
Soutarou? Was this Soutarou the person Kai had meant earlier? The person he reminded him of? “I’m not Soutarou, Kai. You need to wake up.” He sighed as his words had exactly no effect whatsoever and decided he’d have to try something else. “Kai-san,” he said, louder this time. “Kai-san, it’s time to get up. Kai-san.”
To his relief there was an unintelligible mumble before Kai lifted his head to give him a sleepy glower. “I told you not to call me that.”
“Nothing else worked,” Asuka told him apologetically. “You thought I was someone called Soutarou.”
“Oh.” Kai blushed and ducked his head. “Sorry.”
Asuka smiled and waved the apology off. “It’s time to get up, though,” he said. “I’ll do breakfast while you wash, if that’s okay?”
“Fine.” Kai pushed back the sheets and swung his legs over the side of the bed. “I won’t be long.”
“Are you okay with the bandages?”
Kai twisted experimentally and nodded. “Yeah, they’re fine. See you in a few.”
***
Asuka was almost finished when Kai joined him in the tiny kitchen, all but hanging over him as he examined breakfast, skin still damp and smelling of soap. “Looks good,” Kai announced, clapping him on one shoulder while his chin rested on the other.
Asuka nodded awkwardly. “I’m almost done.”
“Okay, I’ll leave you to it.” And with that Kai strolled out into the main room. Hopefully in search of a shirt.
Asuka hurried along the gravelled paths towards the block holding his next class. ‘A History of Sixth Heroes’ sounded interesting and he was looking forward to learning about other teams with ’extra’ warriors. Kai, who had inexplicably got ahead, was looking forward to it as well; something about giving him extra ammunition against his teammate, something he’d been very gleeful about. Putting on a burst of speed, Asuka hoped he wouldn’t be late; the prospect of walking into a class already full with everyone staring at him wasn’t appealing and, despite the fact he’d known Kai less than a day, he knew that his roommate would never let him live it down. This is what he got for checking in on Mai-chan before heading to class.
Not watching where he was going he yelped as he walked straight into something, well, someone as it turned out, sending them both to the floor, his books spilling everywhere, grazing his hands as he landed. Getting to his feet quickly he bowed deeply before even seeing who it was he’d inadvertently knocked over. “I’m very sorry,” he said. “I wasn’t watching where I was going.”
“It’s okay, I wasn’t looking either,” the guy said and Asuka cautiously raised his head to come face to face with two men around his own age, one in a silvery-grey jacket - apparently the one he’d bumped into - the other in a jacket that was just like Kai’s, only red where Kai’s was blue. Wonderful. He’d just knocked over one of Kai’s teammate’s, not the best first impression. “Oogami Tsukumaro, GaoSilver; this is Shishi Kakeru, GaoRed.”
“Pleased to meet you,” Asuka responded politely, as he picked up his books. “Asuka, AbareBlack. Um, you’re Kai’s teammates?”
“That’s right,” Kakeru-san smiled, “has he ambushed you yet?”
“Ambushed me?” Asuka asked warily. Well, there had been the… incident in the kitchen but he’d hardly call that an ambush.
“He means that Kai has a tendency to jump on people,” Tsukumaro-san said dryly.
“He’s very physically affectionate,” Kakeru-san continued as if he hadn’t been interrupted. “If he’s all over you it just means he likes you, not that he’s trying to start anything.”
Well, that actually tallied with what had happened this morning so Asuka nodded again. “I’ll keep that in mind. But I’m running late so if you’ll excuse me?”
“Hey! Asuka!” Asuka barely had time to turn before Kai slammed into his back, all but hanging around his neck before bouncing back to the floor. “You’re late, come on! And you two should know better,” he continued, scolding his teammates as if it had been their fault.
“Actually, Kai, that was me…”
“Doesn’t matter,” Kai sniffed. “Now come on, there’s not many seats left.”
And on that note, Kai grabbed his wrist and started dragging him along. “Kai,” Asuka protested. “Be careful… your shoulders…”
“Are fine, quit dawdling.”
Asuka spared one moment to glance backwards and wasn’t reassured by the amused expressions on the faces of Kakeru-san and Tsukumaro-san. He had the sinking feeling there was a lot about Kai that they hadn’t mentioned.
“Stop scratching,” Asuka scolded, batting Kai’s hands away from his shoulders yet again. How were Kai’s injuries supposed to heal if he kept scratching them?
“It itches,” Kai protested. “And it’s driving me crazy.”
“Well if you’d let me look at them I might be able to help,” Asuka replied in frustration. Much as he liked his roommate, it hadn’t taken long to realise that Kai was wilful and stubborn, which wasn’t a good combination, and that wasn’t helped by the fact that he could be very… charming when he wanted to be, with a mischievous grin that was very distracting.
Getting the first aid kit out again, Asuka dug out the wipes as Kai pulled his shirt off with a sigh of relief, picking up another clean bandage and noting that they’d need to get restocked soon. And it was only their second day here, too, he thought in resignation. The moment the bandage came off Kai’s fingers darted to his shoulders, but Asuka had expected that, catching hold of them in a firm grip. “No scratching,” he said sternly, ignoring the scowl Kai sent his way. “You’ll need the bandages on longer if you do.”
He had to admit though, that the cuts on Kai’s shoulders were looking a lot better, healing nicely even if they were driving Kai to distraction. “How much longer?” Kai demanded, letting out a soft, breathy sound as Asuka ran one of the wipes over his shoulders.
“Without scratching? Definitely tomorrow, maybe the day after that.”
Kai sighed. “I miss Tetomu’s herbs, they really helped with stuff like this.”
“Tetomu?”
“The Gao priestess.”
“An Elder?”
Kai snorted. “Hardly, she only looks around the same age as you or me. She is from the Heian era, though, so she’s a lot older than she looks. Tsukumaro’s the same.”
“Tsukumaro-san? Your sixth?”
“That’s right.”
There was a story there, Asuka knew, one that Kai didn’t seem inclined to tell, at least not now. Maybe when they knew each other a little better, when they were more comfortable with each other, some of those stories would come out. “There,” he said eventually, rewrapping the bandage. “All done. Just don’t--”
“Scratch at them, I get it, I get it.” Not that it would stop him, Asuka thought ruefully. “I’m going to go for a walk, get some fresh air. See you later.”
“Alright.” Asuka just about managed to bite off a reminder to be careful; Kai had already faced that lizard once, he wouldn’t be careless when it came to avoiding a repeat encounter.
“Have I mentioned recently that I really hate lizards?” Kai announced from the doorway, voice sounding a little rougher than it should. “Because I do.”
Asuka looked up from the tiny desk to stare at his roommate, taking in the bottle in his hand with some confusion. “Did you run into the lizard again?”
“Not exactly,” Kai sighed, stepping forward and shutting the door behind him. “But apparently the library has an infestation, something somebody neglected to tell me about before I went in there.”
Library, library… Asuka winced. Yukito-san had filled them in on the lizard nest while they were sweeping the school grounds around the library. They hadn’t found anything and with everything else going on - giant lizards who fed on human energy and giant tentacles kidnapping people - it had completely slipped his mind. “I’m sorry, Kai,” he apologised, bowing as deeply as he could manage in that position, “I should have warned you.” And he would have, he was sure, if Kai had mentioned he was going anywhere near the library in the first place. “Are you alright?”
Kai rolled his eyes as he flopped back on his bed. “I’ll live. But for the record? Getting venom right in your face is not a good thing. I’m supposed to take this stuff,” he pointed at the bottle on the nightstand, “twice a day.” The disdain in his voice left little doubt what he thought about that and Asuka bowed again, even though Kai probably wouldn’t see him.
“I’m really sorry, Kai-san.”
“Kai,” his roommate corrected firmly. “Just Kai, alright?”
“Right. Sorry.”
“And stop apologising! You’re worse than Soutarou.”
Asuka opened his mouth to apologise again, then shut it before he actually got the words out. “What books did you need from the library?” he asked instead.
“The ones on the Sixth Hero reading list,” Kai shrugged. “Not that I’ll be getting them anytime soon, now.” He coughed, a racking cough that made him sit up again and hunch forward, shoulders shaking with the force of it, leaving Asuka watching him in concern.
“I have some of those books,” he said carefully. “I picked them up before class, before the lizards nest was found. Please, use them if you need them.” Kai simply nodded, taking shallow breaths, fingers digging into the bedcovers. “Do you need something to drink, Kai?”
Kai started to shake his head, then burst into another cough that actually sounded worse than before so, not waiting for a reply, Asuka padded into the kitchen and filled a glass with water, handing it to Kai a moment later.
“Thank you,” Kai said when he had downed about half of the glass. “Guess I did need it after all.”
Asuka nodded and rested a hand on Kai’s shoulder, squeezing gently so as not to aggravate the injuries on Kai’s back. “Get some rest, Kai,” he suggested only for Kai to shake his hand off in annoyance.
“I wish people would stop telling me that,” he muttered. “I’m not an idiot, alright? I know what my limits are.”
“I… didn’t mean to imply otherwise, Kai-san. I mean, Kai.” He’d have to watch it, Asuka thought with a strictly internal wince. He kept slipping up and adding the -san when he was worried or nervous and it was already irritating his roommate after less than two days. Not a good start.
Kai shook his head and lay back down. “Yeah, whatever.”
At Sentai Gakuen quiet moments were few and far between so Asuka was determined to make the most of the time he had now, to spend it with his teammates, his friends, doing absolutely nothing save enjoying their company out here, with fresh air and no interruptions. Well, that and homework, not that they shared many classes. Part of him felt guilty about not inviting Kai, but he saw his roommate fairly often - something he couldn’t say about his teammates - and he was a little wary about merging the two. While Ryouga-san and Ranru-chan would probably get on very well with Kai, Yukito-san was another matter entirely. In some respects he and Kai were very different and in others they were unnervingly similar, most notably the razor sharp tongues and a distinct lack of trust towards strangers: put the two together and you could all but guarantee the atmosphere would be chilly within minutes.
“I don’t know why I let you talk me into this class,” Yukito-san was saying, scowling at the book lying in front of him as if he could incinerate with merely the power of his mind. Although if anyone could… not that Yukito-san’s reaction was unexpected; Askua himself was surprised Yukito-san had agreed to take the cross-dressing class, especially after the ‘schoolgirl incident’. Ranru-chan, on the other hand, seemed to find the entire situation highly amusing, even going so far as offering tips on how to use lipstick properly before Yukito-san threatened to find a copy of a song she’d sung as an idol and make sure everyone knew it was hers.
“Because I begged until you had enough,” Ryouga-san replied unrepentantly, nudging Yukito-san’s shoulder and beaming at him. That was probably true, Asuka thought, not looking at his most irritable teammate; Yukito-san had rarely been able to say no to Ryouga-san, particularly after Ryouga-san began to get through his walls. He wondered how much more Yukito-san’s resistance had been eroded since the two had become a couple, not that either of them had said anything. They didn’t have to, though; while it wouldn’t be obvious to anyone with only a passing familiarity with either of them, it was very evident to him - and no doubt Ranru-chan as well - particularly given the amount of time he’d been back on Dino Earth: Yukito-san was very particular about just who he let into his ‘personal space’ and while Ryouga-san had always been very tactile with Yukito-san, the sheer volume of touches - perfectly innocent, innocuous touches - had risen dramatically. Until now Asuka was certain that Yukito-san wouldn’t have let even Ryouga-san lean against his shoulder like that.
Exchanging a quick smile with Ranru-chan, Asuka returned his attention to his own studies; not the sixth hero class as Kai had those books at the moment, but his Defence Against Curses class, which Kai didn’t take. So far it was proving to be a very interesting class, albeit confusing in places. Movement in the corner of his vision caught his attention and he looked up, turning his head a little to the left to see what it was and, much to his surprise he saw Kai walking along the path and he raised a hand in greeting as his roommate drew level.
“Kai, hello. Would you like to join us?” The invitation was out before he thought to stop himself and he winced, not needing to look to know what Yukito-san’s expression would be. If the two could spend enough time together without irritating the other, Asuka thought they’d get along relatively well; unfortunately for Kai, Yukito-san associated him too strongly with Ken and that did not work in his favour. Kai ignored him, continuing on his way and Asuka frowned: that was very unlike Kai, who was generally very friendly and would at least have acknowledged the invitation even if he declined it. “Kai?” he asked warily. “Everything alright?” Again there was no answer and something was definitely not right.
“Let him go,” Yukito-san said impatiently. “If he doesn’t want to join us, he doesn’t have to.”
“I’ll be back in a minute,” Asuka replied absently, gaze fixed on his roommate. Something was wrong and he intended to find out what it was, so he put his book aside and got to his feet.
“Asuka!” Yukito-san protested but Asuka shook his head.
“This will only take a moment, Yukito-san.” Breaking into a quick jog it was the work of a moment to catch up with Kai and he reached out to put a hand on Kai’s shoulder. “Kai? Is something wrong?”
“He’s calling me,” Kai said, not looking at him, nor slowing down. “I have to go, he needs me.”
“Who needs you?”
“Soutarou.”
Asuka frowned in confusion then a chill ran down his spine at the distant look in Kai’s eyes, at the dreamy tone of his voice. This couldn’t be good. “Soutarou-san isn’t here, Kai,” he reminded the younger man carefully. “Remember?”
“He’s calling me,” Kai insisted, pulling out of Asuka’s grip. “He needs me, I have to go to him.”
“Kai, your friend isn’t here,” Asuka repeated, wondering if there was any way to contact Kai’s teammates before this got out of hand. “He can’t be calling you.”
“What do you know?” Kai spat, rounding on him. “Nothing. Stay away from me!” As if to emphasise his words, Kai shoved him backwards and Asuka staggered, almost losing his balance completely before he managed to right himself again. He could hear his teammates closing on them rapidly, but there was nothing they could do, nothing he could do except… raising his Brace to his mouth, he hoped this would work.
“Tsukumaro-san, Kakeru-san, something’s wrong with Kai and I can’t get through to him. We’re not far from the lake.”
There was no reply, not that he’d really expected one. All he could do was hope that one of them had got his message.
“Kai,” Asuka tried again, following his roommate and trying desperately to reach through the trance that seemed to have taken hold. “Kai, it’s not your friend calling you, you have to ignore it.”
“He’s heading for the lake,” Ranru-chan said, a note of worry in her voice. “It’s the Devourer that’s calling him.”
“The Devourer?” Ryouga-san asked, confused, a confusion Asuka shared. This was the first he’d heard of a ‘Devourer’.
“An evil spirit,” Ranru-chan explained quickly. “It was bound to the lake but it can reach out to people and cause a lot of trouble. It wants revenge for something and it enjoys causing people pain.”
“Like manipulating someone by imitating their best friend?” Asuka asked quickly and Ranru-chan nodded.
“Yes, although the scale is a little smaller than usual. Unless Kai-san is only the first.”
There was no time to reply because just then they topped the slight incline, lake spread out before them, the sun glinting off the water. At the edge of the lake there stood a man, tall and thin and wearing a jacket that Asuka now recognised as a Gaoranger jacket, only his was grey where Kai’s was blue. So, that was Soutarou, or at least, his image.
“Soutarou,” Kai said softly and the longing in his voice was a blow to the gut for Asuka. Kai had never come out and said anything, but it was evident now that Soutarou was more than just a friend to him and the thought that this Devourer could so easily use that emotion for evil was unforgivable.
“Kai, you came.”
“Well, of course I did,” Kai snapped, sounding more like himself as he stepped forward, heading straight towards the apparition. “What else was I going to do?”
The man smiled and held out a hand. “Come on. Come to me, Kai.”
Kai nodded and it was now or never, if Asuka couldn’t stop him now… He launched himself forward, aware of his teammates behind him. “Kai-san, stop. That’s not your friend, that’s--”
Kai wheeled and Asuka barely managed to block the blow aimed at his head, too stunned by the unexpected attack to do anything else. He didn’t, however, manage to block the punch to the gut or avoid the sweeping kick that took his legs out from under him and he collapsed to the floor, wind knocked out of him.
“Asuka!” Yukito-san reached him first, dropping a hand on his shoulder before taking off again, grabbing hold of Kai’s wrist and pulling him back.
“Stop being an idiot,” Yukito-san hissed, ducking the hits Kai lashed out with. “That’s not your friend, so snap out of it.”
Kai was beyond reason, though, and wasn’t listening, simply reacting to the threat of someone trying to keep him from his best friend. Yukito-san landed hard on the floor, Ryouga-san at his side a split-second later, placing himself squarely between Yukito-san and Kai as Yukito-san got back to his feet. Ranru-chan at his side, Asuka joined Ryouga-san and Yukito-san, still clinging to the faint hope that he could turn this around; and throughout it all the apparition wearing the face of GaoBlack stood there smiling, waiting.
“Kai,” it said again and the fury drained out of Kai immediately, expression going blank once more as he turned to the impostor. “Come to me.”
“Kai, don’t.”
“He needs me.”
Nothing else seemed to matter as Kai headed for the lake once more and the only thing left that Asuka could think of was to sit on his roommate until he came back to his senses.
“Kai!”
The shout came from behind them and, spinning round, Asuka was incredibly relieved to see Kakeru-san and Tsukumaro-san just running over the rise, along with a girl he didn’t recognise but assumed was another teammate. They were too late, though, and their arrival had distracted him and his teammates from what Kai was doing.
“Kai, no!” Kakeru-san yelled, but to no avail. Kai reached out to the hand held out for him and the moment they touched Kai jerked to a halt, body convulsing as he screamed. Despite the fact that they were further away, the Gaorangers reached their teammate before Asuka and the others could and Kakeru-san threw himself into the air, body twisting as he landed a flying kick on the impostor’s shoulder, forcing it to let go. Kai collapsed to the floor, mercifully out cold and Kakeru-san stood defiantly between his teammate and the apparition as the other Gaorangers dropped to their knees at Kai’s side, the girl holding Kai’s hand tightly, desperately asking him if he was alright despite the lack of response.
“You can’t have him,” Kakeru-san was saying fiercely. “Leave Kai alone.”
The apparition laughed, a chilling sound that sent shudders down Asuka’s spine, Ranru-chan’s fingers closing tightly his arm. “You don’t get it, do you?” it said. “He’s already mine. All I have to do is call and he’ll come to me. Can you watch him every hour of the day to keep him from me?”
“If we have to,” Tsukumaro-san replied coldly. “You won’t have him.”
“We’ll see. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have other things to do. See you around.”
There was a blast of ice cold wind against his face and Asuka closed his eyes against it, wincing at the sharp impact of grit grazing his cheek, almost as sharp as the pain left behind by the impostor’s words, cutting deeply like jagged-edged knife wounds, and if it was like that for him it must be worse for Kai’s teammates. When he opened his eyes again the impostor was gone, leaving the Abarangers and Gaorangers alone on the shore.
“Kakeru,” Tsukumaro-san was saying, “what’s going on? What does that thing want with Kai?”
“I don’t know.”
“Kakeru! What does it want?” Tsukumaro-san was glaring at Kakeru-san and the girl in white was looking between the two in confusion.
“I don’t know!” Kakeru-san shouted back. “We never found out.”
“Found out about what?” Yukito-san asked sharply, arms folded impatiently across his chest. “What’s going on?”
Something Kai had said a few days ago, their first day here when Asuka had been bandaging up his shoulders, returned to mind. “He was drained by the lizard,” he said softly. “He’s remembering things that haven’t happened yet.”
“Like Mai-chan?” Ryouga-san asked quickly and Asuka nodded.
“Yes.”
“You knew this would happen?” Tsukumaro-san said, voice low and dangerous and Kakeru-san flushed a dull red.
“I didn’t realise it was so close or I would have said something. I thought I had more time, Tsukumaro, I wouldn’t just let something like this happen.”
“Kakeru-sensei,” the girl interrupted before the two could say something one or both would regret. “What happened last time?”
Kakeru sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “We didn’t find him until it was too late, Sae. Between our classes and fighting lizards and tentacle monsters we didn’t even realise he was missing at first and when we found him it was here, a bit like this. He was in the infirmary for three days before he woke up and afterwards he didn’t remember anything. With everything else going on we didn’t have time to try and work out what had happened so we let it go.”
Tsukumaro-san didn’t seem that mollified and the girl, Sae-chan, didn’t look happy either as she squeezed Kai’s hand absently. “But to use Soutarou-san,” she whispered. “How cruel.”
“I take it they’re close?” Ryouga-san asked and Kakeru-san smiled sadly.
“Close isn’t the word. Kai and Soutarou, well, they’re very… focused when it comes to each other and it’s very rare to see one of them on their own.” There was an uncomfortable moment of silence as it sank in that it was that very absence that had brought them to this before Kakeru-san resumed. “Kai would travel halfway across the world if he thought Soutarou needed him. Probably complaining all the way, but he wouldn’t even think of not going.”
Asuka nodded wordlessly, stealing a sideways look at Ryouga-san and Yukito-san who were close enough together that they were almost brushing hands. Before anyone could say anything though, there was a quiet groan as Kai started to wake up.
“What’s going on?” he asked muzzily. “And why do I feel like GaoKing’s been dancing on my head?”
“We’ll explain later,” Kakeru-san said, giving his teammate a reassuring smile. “You should probably go get some rest.”
“Everyone keeps telling me that,” Kai sighed. “I’m really tired of hearing it.” Getting to his feet, Kai’s eyes widened as his legs promptly gave out on him. “On the other hand maybe I should.” He gave his teammates a suspicious look, “But one of you better fill me in later.”
Asuka didn’t sleep that night, too wound up to do more than doze occasionally, afraid of what might happen if he went to sleep and the Devourer called for Kai. He’d already had one close call and he’d only barely managed to return his roommate to his senses before he was out of the door and heading back for the lake; it was not an experience he wished to repeat.
The soft sound of Kai getting out of bed made Asuka’s heart sink and he hoped desperately that Kai was simply getting up to use the bathroom, but it was a vain hope and he knew it, scrambling out of bed to catch Kai before he left. “Kai, stop, you can’t go.”
“I have to. He needs me.”
“Kai--”
Kai spun round, shoving Asuka backwards with a strength that shouldn’t have surprised him but did, and he landed hard on the floor of their bathroom, Kai snatching his Brace off his wrist a moment later. “I’m sorry,” Kai said, “but you’re trying to stop me and I can’t let you.”
“Kai--”
“You’ll be alright,” Kai said, closing the door firmly and, by the sound of things, shoving something under the door handle so Asuka couldn’t open it.
“Kai!” he tried, banging on the door desperately. “Kai, let me out. If you go you’ll be in danger, the whole school will be in danger. Kai!” But there was no response and he slapped his hands against the door in frustration, head bowed. He’d failed. The others had trusted him to watch Kai and he’d failed, and now Kai was on his way to the Devourer and he couldn’t even call anyone to let them know because he no longer had his Brace. He didn’t want to think about what Kai would do with that. Or rather, what the Devourer would do with it, considering it would already have access to Kai’s G-Phone.
He had to get out of here, had to get to Kai before the Devourer did and he tugged hard on the door handle, drove his shoulder into the door, everything he could think of to get it to open, but it remained obstinately shut. Next he tried banging on the walls, but they were the last room on the corridor anyway, which only left one wall with somebody else’s room on the other side. When that failed as well, he slumped to the floor next to the sink. Kai would be at the lake by now and that meant he’d be too late now even if he could get out. Kai would be the Devourer’s by now.
The only good thing about his situation was that at least it was the bathroom he was locked in, which meant he had access to water; he wouldn’t have to worry about dehydrating if he was in here any length of time. But he wouldn’t be, of course he wouldn’t be, somebody would realise he was missing and come looking. He just hoped they didn’t take too long about it.
***
“Are you sure something’s wrong?” Ranru asked, having to put on some extra speed to keep up with both Yukito-san and Ryouga-san as they strode along the hallways to Asuka-san’s room.
“He wasn’t in class,” Yukito-san replied shortly. “That’s not like him.”
Ranru nodded in acknowledgment. That was true and considering what had happened yesterday not a good sign. “Do you think it has anything to do with Kai-san?”
“Probably,” Yukito-san growled.
“It’s not Kai-san’s fault, Yukito,” Ryouga-san pointed out and Ranru spared a moment to wonder how they thought they were subtle when Ryouga-san, who never called anyone by name without an honorific attached on the end, slipped up every now and then and used ‘Yukito’ instead of ‘Sanjou-san’ or even ‘Yukito-san’.
“That’s not the point,” Yukito-san snapped as they reached the room. “And shut up, we’re wasting time. Asuka! You in there?”
There was no reply and Yukito-san opened the door without hesitation, stepping inside with Ryouga-san right behind him. “There!” Ryouga-san exclaimed. “His Brace.”
Sure enough, the Brace was lying on the floor, just in front of the bathroom. The bathroom that had a chair wedged under the handle.
“Asuka!” Yukito-san shouted, banging on the door as Ryouga-san tugged at the chair. Ranru, for her part, picked up Asuka’s Brace so it wouldn’t get trodden on by mistake. “Are you in there?”
“Yukito-san!” came the relieved reply. “Open the door, we have to help Kai-san.”
When Ryouga-san managed to dislodge the chair he pulled the door open, Asuka-san all but falling out the room before Yukito-san caught and steadied him.
“Asuka-san, what happened?” Ranru asked, handing him back his Brace.
“The Devourer called Kai again,” Asuka-san replied, hurrying over to his bed and struggled out of his pyjamas, into his regular clothes. “Twice. I managed to stop it the first time but not the second. Kai shut me in the bathroom so I wouldn’t be able to stop him.”
“Could have been worse,” Ryouga-san said judiciously.
“He wasn’t trying to hurt me,” Asuka-san agreed, tugging on his shoes. “He just wanted me out of the way.”
“The lake again, do you think?” Yukito-san asked and Asuka-san shrugged.
“We should probably start there, yes. And we need to tell the Gaorangers as well. They should know.”
“I’m sorry,” Asuka said, bowing deeply to Kakeru and Tsukumaro, his teammates standing behind him, offering their silent support. Well, more like ‘Give him grief over this and you’ll regret it.’ Kakeru respected that kind of loyalty, not that it really helped much at the moment. “I was supposed to make sure this didn’t happen.”
Kakeru patted his shoulder and gave him a wry smile. “Don’t blame yourself too much, Asuka. Kai’s slippery, if anyone knows that it’s us.” He sighed and ran a hand through his hair tiredly. “Alright, let’s see if we can find him.” He paused, then put his hand in his pocket and brought out his G-Phone, wondering if Kai, or whoever was control right now, would pick it up.
“You think he’ll answer?” Tsukumaro asked warily and he shrugged.
“Won’t know until we try.” Flipping the phone open Kakeru pushed one of the buttons and waited a moment, eyebrows shooting up as someone picked up on the other end. It wasn’t comforting though, if anything it was the exact opposite.
“I was wondering how long it would take you,” came Kai’s voice and Kakeru’s heart clenched tightly on hearing it. “You mustn’t care for him as much as I thought. A shame really, na Kakeru?” Kakeru gritted his teeth against saying something stupid, but the damned Devourer sounded just like Kai, right down to the inflections and that was unforgivable. Almost as unforgivable as its stealing of Kai in the first place.
“Give him back,” he ground out.
“I don’t think so,” the Devourer sighed, using Kai’s ‘I’m tired of playing with you’ tone. “But you could always try to convince me, I suppose. If you can find me.”
Kakeru swore as the line went dead. No. He wasn’t letting this happen. After everything they’d been through with the lizards and tentacle monsters he’d been extremely fortunate not to lose any of his teammates and he refused to let that change now. He was getting Kai back and nothing, absolutely nothing, was going to stop him.
***
Asuka listened to what he could make out of the brief conversation, watching Kakeru-san’s expression fluctuate from anger to burning rage within the space of a couple of heartbeats.
“Now what?” Tsukumaro-san asked as Kakeru-san closed his G-Phone with a snap.
“Now we find Kai,” Kakeru-san said tightly. “Then we get him back.”
“Oh, that’s a plan,” Yukito-san muttered under his breath.
“It’s no worse than some of ours,” Ryouga-san pointed out calmly. “And you’ve done some pretty reckless things yourself, Yukito.” Yukito-san scowled at Ryouga-san but didn’t contradict him.
“Is there anywhere Kai is likely to go?” he asked quickly, just in case. He couldn’t think of any but maybe his teammates would have some ideas.
“We’re not dealing with Kai,” Kakeru-san pointed out wearily. “We’re dealing with the Devourer. We should probably start by checking the popular areas where he could do the most damage.”
Ryouga-san glanced sideways at Yukito-san, who shrugged. “We’ll take the cafeteria,” Ryouga-san said and Ranru-chan nodded.
“Asuka-san and I can take the gym.”
“And Tsukumaro and I will check the Quadrangle,” Kakeru-san agreed. No-one suggested the library, but there wouldn’t be anyone there anyway, as it was still closed off as a pre-emptive measure against the Arrow Lizards. “Check in if you find anything. Or even if you don’t. Just eliminate as many areas as possible.”
“We know,” Yukito-san said tartly. “We’re not amateurs.”
“We’ll see you later,” Ryouga-san added hurriedly, slipping an arm through Yukito-san’s and tugging him off before he could say anything else.
“And we’re off, too,” Ranru-chan agreed. “Come on, Asuka-san. Let’s go.”
“Na, Ranru-chan,” Asuka said a few minutes later when they were out of the hearing of the others. “Do you think we’ll find him?”
“One of us will,” she answered soberly. “He won’t be hiding, not really. He’ll want to be found, Asuka-san, he can cause more pain that way.”
“I shouldn’t have let this happen,” he whispered miserably. “This is my fault. I should have watched him better.”
Ranru-chan stopped abruptly in the middle of the path, causing the few students going in the opposite direction to give her an annoyed look. “It is not your fault, Asuka-san,” she said firmly. “If you have to blame someone, blame the Devourer. It’s his plan and nothing to do with you. You can’t blame yourself for every bad thing that happens, Asuka-san; I expect that kind of ego from Yukito-san, not you.”
He laughed nervously and rubbed at the back of his head. Ranru-chan was right, he supposed: he did have a tendency to shoulder blame even when he had no part in it; inaction was sometimes just as bad as getting involved, depending on the situation. “As you say, Ranru-chan.”
“And don’t you forget it,” she replied sternly, poking him hard in the shoulder. “Now come on, we won’t find him standing here.”
They didn’t get much further before their Braces went off.
“Kakeru calling the Abarangers. He’s at the Quadrangle, you’d better get over here.”
“We’re on our way,” Ranru-chan said, Yukito-san’s voice overlapping with hers as they reversed course and broke into a run.
By the time Asuka and Ranru-chan made it to the Quadrangle, the only people left standing were their teammates - also just arriving - and the Gaorangers, facing off against an enemy that wore the face of their friend and teammate. Everyone else, students and teachers alike, were collapsed on the floor, some groaning and trying to get back to their feet, others lying unnervingly still.
“Kai,” Asuka whispered involuntarily, chilled by the ice cold look Kai, or the Devourer rather gave him; it was nothing like his roommate’s usual cheerful smile or even his cranky scowls, it was… inhuman, somehow, possessing a darkness that reminded him of the Evorian.
“So, gang’s all here, then,” not-Kai said brightly. “Good, I’d hate for you to miss out on anything; don’t want you to feel deprived, you know.”
“Give Kai back,” Kakeru-san said tightly. “Now.”
“I don’t think so,” was the airy reply. “I like this body, I can do a lot with it.” Not-Kai shrugged, shoving his hands into his pockets. “Well, maybe not as much as I could with one of the ESPers or the magicians, true, but I’ve never been one to complain. This body will do just fine.”
“You can’t have him,” Sae-san protested, taking a step forward before being flung back by a surge of pure power.
“Well,” not-Kai grinned, “maybe I wouldn’t have needed an ESPer or magician after all.”
“Kai!” Kakeru-san shouted as Sae-san rose unsteadily to her feet pushing herself up and retaking her position next to Tsukumaro-san. “Kai, listen to me, you have to fight this. Don’t let him win!”
The Devourer laughed, head tilting back just the way Kai’s did. “Do you really think your friend is still here? Don’t be so foolish. Why would I let him stay?”
“Because he’s too strong for you to beat fully,” Tsukumaro-san answered shortly. “He won’t be beaten by anyone, let alone you.”
“Ah, loyalty, it’s so nice to see. Too bad it’s so fragile.”
“Loyalty is never fragile,” Kakeru-san grated. “And we’re not giving up on him.”
The Devourer tilted Kai’s head to the side, examining Kakeru-san thoughtfully. “No. You wouldn’t, would you? Not for this. But for something else, maybe?”
“Not for anything.”
“No? Strange.” The Devourer shrugged again. “You know,” he continued, voice changing to become silky smooth and even more dangerous, “it seems to me you have some problems here, Red.” Asuka frowned as Kakeru-san, as well as Tsukumaro-san and Sae-san, flinched at the name, wondering why they’d reacted in such a way. “Something about… energy-sucking lizards? Then there’s the poisonous lizards in the library, oh, and the tentacle creatures stealing people for no doubt nefarious purposes. Am I right?”
Kakeru-san didn’t reply.
“Oh, don’t waste your breath answering,” the Devourer said dryly. “Don’t mind me. I just thought you might want to limit the casualties this time around. You don’t want people dying again, do you?”
“How does he know all that?” Ryouga-san asked, confused, but it was Ranru-chan that answered, her voice flat and hard.
“It’s using Kai-san’s memories. Everything he knows, the Devourer knows.”
“I can help you,” the Devourer continued, lounging against a tree casually. “I can stop them. You’ve seen a taste of my power, you know I can do it. And for all that I just want one simple, tiny thing. This body. It’s not such a sacrifice, Kakeru, is it? To save how many? Would you let all those people die, just to save one insignificant person?”
“Kai’s not insignificant!” Sae-san shouted. “And we’ll find a way, we don’t need you to do it.”
The Devourer sent her flying again. “Is she always this annoying?” he asked, then he paused for a moment, doubtless sorting through Kai’s memories. “Ah, I see she is. Forget I asked. What’s it to be, then, Kakeru? One life or many?”
For a moment Kakeru-san was unnervingly silent, head bowed and even his teammates seemed surprised by his silence, then he lifted his head defiantly. “You should have listened to Sae,” he said, grabbing his G-Phone and flipping it open. “We don’t need you. We’ll beat them ourselves.”
“Oh, are you going attack me?” the Devourer asked, widening Kai’s eyes in mock fear, holding up his hands and stepping backwards. “I see it’s all over now.”
Kakeru-san didn’t respond to the bait, lifting the phone to his ear. “Soutarou? Don’t talk, just listen. Kai’s been taken over, talk him out of it.”
Asuka exchanged a quick look with Tsukumaro-san and together they launched themselves at the thing wearing Kai’s face. The Devourer knocked them back easily but Yukito-san and Ryouga-san were there before they even hit the ground, holding Kai’s arms back and forcing him to the ground. Asuka joined them, along with Sae-san and Tsukumaro-san, even though his sense of fair play rebelled at the thought of five people holding one down. Kakeru-san dropped to a crouch by Kai’s head and held the phone to his ear.
“Kai?” an unfamiliar voice was saying. That must be the real Soutarou. “Kai, can you hear me?”
“You can’t possibly think this will work,” the Devourer protested. “Samezu Kai is gone, you can’t get him back.”
“Kai!” the voice shouted, apparently galvanised by the harsh statement. “Never give up, Kai! Remember?”
“How touching. How sickening. Spare me the trite catchphrases, please.”
“Kai, you’re stronger than him,” Soutarou was saying. “You can beat him, I know you can.”
“Pathetic, completely pathetic. You can’t seriously believe that will--” the Devourer broke off mid-sentence, pain contorting Kai’s expression. “Never give up,” was the faint whisper and Kai’s fingers curled slightly in Yukito-san and Ryouga-san’s grip. “Never-- Never going to work,” the Devourer said viciously. “This body is mine now, mine! You’ll never get your friend back because he’s mine, too.”
“Come on, Kai, again,” Soutarou urged. “You can do it. Oh, this is my fault, I should have been there with you. Maybe this wouldn’t be happening if I was there.”
“Oh, not the martyr tack,” the Devourer groaned. “When I finish destroying this place I’m coming after you, just to make you pay for putting me through this. How would you like to die at the hands of your best friend?”
“Kai wouldn’t let you,” Soutarou replied and if he was afraid at all there was no trace of it in his voice. “I know him and he wouldn’t let you. He won’t let you kill anyone.”
“Especially you?” the Devourer asked sweetly, “is that what you’re saying? Did you know he-- Never give up -- Shut up, I’m not finished -- Never… give up -- I’m going to destroy your friends. I’m going to rip them to shreds and you won’t be able to stop me -- Never give…up -- Enough already! Do you have any idea how irritating that is? -- Never -- Shut up, shut up -- Won’t let you -- You can’t… -- Won’t let you, won’t let you -- I’m surprised they -- My body, give it back -- Never, it’s -- Mine -- Mine -- Mine.”
Asuka watched the interplay, holding his breath and praying to any god that might be listening that Kai would prove the stronger. The sentences began running together even more until finally there was only silence, the battle taking place on a purely internal level now, Kai’s face scrunched up with the effort the fight was taking, his body twitching as first one personality, then the other took control. Then he went utterly still and six of them looked at each, trying to see if anyone else had more of an idea about what was happening.
Kai’s eyes snapped open, startling everyone, and his mouth opened in a silent scream as black smoke rose out of his body, winding into the air with a high pitched wail.
“Is… that it?” Ryouga-san asked cautiously. “It’s over?”
“I don’t know,” Kakeru-san replied, equally warily.
“Kai? Kai, answer me! Kai!”
“No need to yell, Soutarou, I’m not deaf,” Kai managed. “Cut it out already.”
“Kai?” Kakeru-san interjected over the distant celebrations on the other end of the phone. “That really you?”
“Who else would it be?” Kai demanded, voice getting steadily stronger. “You get hit on the head or something, Kakeru?” He went to get up and frowned when none of the people holding him budged. “I know I’m cute, but really? Orgies aren’t my thing so if you guys can get off me? That would be great.”
“Sounds like him,” Kakeru-san said dryly and Sae-san smiled, squeezing Kai’s hand.
“It’s good to see you back,” she told him, kissing his cheek softly.
Kai blushed and looked away. “Did I go somewhere?”
“We’ll fill you in later,” Kakeru-san promised. “Right now, though, you should probably--”
“If you finish that sentence by saying rest I’m going to give you a black eye,” Kai said pleasantly and Kakeru grinned.
“Yeah, you’re alright.”
“Not so fast, Kai-san,” Asuka interjected.
“Didn’t I tell you not to call me that?”
“Sorry,” he apologised, “but I think Kakeru-san was right.”
“Why?” Kai asked, voice dangerously even.
“Um, your shoulders, they’re--”
“Oh, for crying out loud!”
Author: scifisentai
Character/Pairing/Group: Samezu Kai/Ono Asuka
Word Count: 9050
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Settling in is never easy at Sentai Gakuen.
Disclaimer: The characters in this story aren't mine; both Abaranger and Gaoranger belong to Toei.
A/N: Based around the sentai_gakuen RPG, and while some familiarity with that might help it's not strictly necessary. Also, while this is labelled as Kai/Asuka it's more platonic than romantic, with nods to Asuka/Mahoro and Kai/Soutarou. Due to my admittedly lousy track records with WIPs I thought I'd wait until I'd finished the whole story save stalling on it. As a result I'm posting the whole thing instead of spamming anyone's f-list with a new chapter every day.
Unsure of himself in this new place, Asuka slept restlessly, constantly waking and dropping off again at frequent intervals. It was good to be back on Another Earth, good to be back with his friends, but this was very evidently a strange place and it was full of people he didn’t know. At least his roommate seemed nice enough, if a bit excitable, and there’d be plenty of time to get to know Kai-san in the morning.
Waking yet again Asuka groaned and pulled his pillow over his head in frustration - he’d lost track of how many times he’d woken already and he’d like to sleep for the rest of the night if it wouldn’t be too much trouble - when a muffled sound permeated his annoyance and he froze, suddenly alert and ready for anything. The sound came again and he relaxed a little, pulling the pillow off his head as he sat up: that wasn’t the sound of an intruder, that was a sound of distress and it was coming from the other side of the room; from Kai-san.
Pushing back the covers, Asuka climbed out bed and padded silently over to his roommate’s side, reaching out tentatively, resting his hand on Kai-san’s shoulder and shaking gently. At least, that had been the plan; the moment his hand came to rest Kai-san reacted, hand snapping out and grabbing hold of Asuka’s wrist… he was flat on his back before he knew what was happening, Kai-san obviously perceiving him as a threat and reacting accordingly. He caught the descending fist between his hands before it could connect and held firm. “Kai-san!” he said firmly, “wake up!” He didn’t really want to have to deal with his roommate trying to kill him because he was caught in a nightmare.
At first he didn’t think he was having much success then Kai-san’s eyes widened in shock and Asuka let go cautiously, praying he wasn’t making a mistake. He didn’t seem to be, as Kai-san scrambled backwards towards his bed, only stopping when he bumped into it, prompting a soft cry of pain. Making his way over to the door, Asuka flipped the light on, blinking several times as his eyes adjusted, then returned to Kai-san’s side: Kai-san who wouldn’t meet his eyes.
“Sorry,” Kai-san said quietly, “I didn’t mean--”
“It’s alright,” Asuka replied with what he hoped was a reassuring smile. “I’ve had dreams like that myself. No harm done.”
Kai-san nodded and went to stand so Asuka stood himself to get out of his way. As he did so he caught sight of the dark patches staining Kai-san’s sheets, just below the pillow. Blood?
“Kai-san?” he said hesitantly. “Kai-san, are you bleeding?”
“Huh?” Kai-san looked at him in confusion then glanced at the bed himself. “Damn it,” he sighed, looking back and down at his shoulder. “I pulled them open again.”
“You’re injured?” Asuka asked, rapidly trying to remember where he’d seen that first aid kit while wondering how Kai-san had come to be injured; like himself, Kai-san had only arrived today. Bathroom, he thought triumphantly, that’s where the first aid kit was. “I’ll be right back.” It wasn’t hard to find the first aid kit now he had some idea where to look and he was back in the main room a couple of minutes later, resting the case on his bed and opening it up. “What happened, Kai-san?”
Kai-san shrugged, then winced as he peeled his pyjama top off - definitely his shoulders, Asuka noted in concern. He grimaced a little as he saw the blood soaking through the bandages. “There was this lizard thing,” he said casually. “Decided it was going to ram its claws through my shoulders.”
“Lizard,” Asuka repeated softly, feeling his anger rising slowly as he sorted out what he’d need. The same lizard that had stolen a year of Mai-chan’s life? “I’ve heard about that. I look forward to meeting it.” And when he did he planned on making it very sorry it dared lay hands - or claws - on Mai-chan.
“No,” Kai-san said sharply, stopping Asuka in the process of unwinding the bandage wrapped around his chest. “You don’t. It took on five of us and we came off worse than it did. I was lucky, I didn’t get drained. My teammates did.”
Asuka nodded slowly and finished unwrapping the bandage, noting in the back of his mind that whoever had done it before was at least competent. Then he winced at the deep cuts in his roommate’s shoulders, bleeding sluggishly. “It drained the daughter of one my teammates,” he said grimly, picking up an antiseptic cloth to wipe over the afflicted areas. “Took a year off her life. She’s remembering things that haven’t happened yet.” He stopped again at the sharp intake of breath, even though he didn’t think it had anything to do with his ministrations. Well, Kai-san would tell him if he wanted to.
“Ken said something about that,” Kai-san said. “The Abarangers, right?”
“That’s right.” Ken, Ken… why did that name sound familiar? “Ken-san’s met my teammates, then?”
There was a soft huff of laughter. “Yeah. He keeps calling one of them Falling Guy; something to do with falling out of a portal and landing on him, I didn’t get many details.”
“Ah, yes, Yukito-san mentioned him.” In terms and tone that Asuka wouldn’t care to repeat. “I don’t think they get along very well.”
“I don’t think Ken minds,” Kai-san said thoughtfully. “But Yukito didn’t seem very fond of him earlier.”
Asuka paused. “Would that be from the ‘bitch fight’?” he asked warily, the term an unfamiliar one on his tongue.
“What?” Kai-san demanded, “who called it that?” Then he paused and grinned ruefully. “Well, I guess it kind of was. Hair pulling and everything.”
Asuka nodded even though he had no idea what his roommate was talking about; he’d never got the hang of slang on Another Earth, even though he’d spent a year here. “Hold still, please, Kai-san,” he said as he finished wiping down Kai-san’s shoulders and picked up a clean bandage. “This might be a bit tight.”
“You don’t have to keep calling me that, you know,” Kai-san said quietly. “Just Kai is fine.”
“Oh, okay. As long as you don’t mind, Kai-san. I mean, Kai.” It was… odd, addressing someone without the honorific on the end and Asuka had a vaguely uncomfortable feeling that he was being rude. Still, it had been a specific request and it would be even more rude to simply ignore Kai-san’s express wish on the matter. “There,” he said a moment later, knotting the bandage off firmly. “Is that alright, Kai?” He barely managed to omit the honorific at the end, but if Kai noticed he didn’t comment.
“It’s fine. Thank you.”
“Do you have a clean shirt to wear tonight?”
“Yeah, a couple. I’m not going to bring only one pair of pyjamas to a place like this, am I?”
“Ah, of course not. Sorry.”
A guilty expression flashed across Kai’s face and he ducked his head in a quick nod before rummaging around for said clean shirt. Satisfied that Kai was going to be okay for the rest of the night, Asuka went to switch off the light once more, turning back just in case Kai needed anything before he did. As he did so, Asuka was taken aback by the expression on the younger man’s face: wistful and a little sad. “Is something wrong, Kai?”
Kai jumped then shook his head, faint blush on his cheeks. “No. You just remind me of someone, that’s all.”
Asuka nodded and switched off the light. He could understand missing someone important; for months after his return to Dino Earth there were any number of things that reminded him of his teammates and even though he had Mahoro again, the loss of his friends was no less an ache than her absence had been. Settling back down in bed, he was on the verge of sleep when Kai spoke again.
“Asuka?”
“Mm?”
“Thanks.”
“You’re welcome.”
Groaning to himself as he forced his eyes open, Asuka fumbled around for the source of the shrill ringing in his ears, determined to obliterate it. Barely getting his fingers to it, he succeeded only in knocking the clock onto the floor which meant he had to put some more effort into making it stop already. Somewhat to his annoyance the noise hadn’t interrupted his roommate at all, then he reminded himself firmly that it was only to be expected, Kai-san (no, Kai, just Kai) was injured and needed all the sleep he could get. He’d probably be waking up soon enough anyway, with or without the alarm.
When he came out of the bathroom he was somewhat nonplussed to realise that Kai was still asleep and evidently had no plans to wake up any time soon. But they had class soon! his mind wailed. Kai couldn’t sleep through that. Besides, if he had to get up then Kai had to get up, so when he was dressed Asuka went over to Kai’s bed and tapped his sleeping roommate on his shoulder, carefully away from an injured area. “Kai,” he said quietly. “Kai, wake up, we have class.”
“Five more minutes, Soutarou,” Kai mumbled, turning over onto his other side, away from Asuka.
Soutarou? Was this Soutarou the person Kai had meant earlier? The person he reminded him of? “I’m not Soutarou, Kai. You need to wake up.” He sighed as his words had exactly no effect whatsoever and decided he’d have to try something else. “Kai-san,” he said, louder this time. “Kai-san, it’s time to get up. Kai-san.”
To his relief there was an unintelligible mumble before Kai lifted his head to give him a sleepy glower. “I told you not to call me that.”
“Nothing else worked,” Asuka told him apologetically. “You thought I was someone called Soutarou.”
“Oh.” Kai blushed and ducked his head. “Sorry.”
Asuka smiled and waved the apology off. “It’s time to get up, though,” he said. “I’ll do breakfast while you wash, if that’s okay?”
“Fine.” Kai pushed back the sheets and swung his legs over the side of the bed. “I won’t be long.”
“Are you okay with the bandages?”
Kai twisted experimentally and nodded. “Yeah, they’re fine. See you in a few.”
***
Asuka was almost finished when Kai joined him in the tiny kitchen, all but hanging over him as he examined breakfast, skin still damp and smelling of soap. “Looks good,” Kai announced, clapping him on one shoulder while his chin rested on the other.
Asuka nodded awkwardly. “I’m almost done.”
“Okay, I’ll leave you to it.” And with that Kai strolled out into the main room. Hopefully in search of a shirt.
Asuka hurried along the gravelled paths towards the block holding his next class. ‘A History of Sixth Heroes’ sounded interesting and he was looking forward to learning about other teams with ’extra’ warriors. Kai, who had inexplicably got ahead, was looking forward to it as well; something about giving him extra ammunition against his teammate, something he’d been very gleeful about. Putting on a burst of speed, Asuka hoped he wouldn’t be late; the prospect of walking into a class already full with everyone staring at him wasn’t appealing and, despite the fact he’d known Kai less than a day, he knew that his roommate would never let him live it down. This is what he got for checking in on Mai-chan before heading to class.
Not watching where he was going he yelped as he walked straight into something, well, someone as it turned out, sending them both to the floor, his books spilling everywhere, grazing his hands as he landed. Getting to his feet quickly he bowed deeply before even seeing who it was he’d inadvertently knocked over. “I’m very sorry,” he said. “I wasn’t watching where I was going.”
“It’s okay, I wasn’t looking either,” the guy said and Asuka cautiously raised his head to come face to face with two men around his own age, one in a silvery-grey jacket - apparently the one he’d bumped into - the other in a jacket that was just like Kai’s, only red where Kai’s was blue. Wonderful. He’d just knocked over one of Kai’s teammate’s, not the best first impression. “Oogami Tsukumaro, GaoSilver; this is Shishi Kakeru, GaoRed.”
“Pleased to meet you,” Asuka responded politely, as he picked up his books. “Asuka, AbareBlack. Um, you’re Kai’s teammates?”
“That’s right,” Kakeru-san smiled, “has he ambushed you yet?”
“Ambushed me?” Asuka asked warily. Well, there had been the… incident in the kitchen but he’d hardly call that an ambush.
“He means that Kai has a tendency to jump on people,” Tsukumaro-san said dryly.
“He’s very physically affectionate,” Kakeru-san continued as if he hadn’t been interrupted. “If he’s all over you it just means he likes you, not that he’s trying to start anything.”
Well, that actually tallied with what had happened this morning so Asuka nodded again. “I’ll keep that in mind. But I’m running late so if you’ll excuse me?”
“Hey! Asuka!” Asuka barely had time to turn before Kai slammed into his back, all but hanging around his neck before bouncing back to the floor. “You’re late, come on! And you two should know better,” he continued, scolding his teammates as if it had been their fault.
“Actually, Kai, that was me…”
“Doesn’t matter,” Kai sniffed. “Now come on, there’s not many seats left.”
And on that note, Kai grabbed his wrist and started dragging him along. “Kai,” Asuka protested. “Be careful… your shoulders…”
“Are fine, quit dawdling.”
Asuka spared one moment to glance backwards and wasn’t reassured by the amused expressions on the faces of Kakeru-san and Tsukumaro-san. He had the sinking feeling there was a lot about Kai that they hadn’t mentioned.
“Stop scratching,” Asuka scolded, batting Kai’s hands away from his shoulders yet again. How were Kai’s injuries supposed to heal if he kept scratching them?
“It itches,” Kai protested. “And it’s driving me crazy.”
“Well if you’d let me look at them I might be able to help,” Asuka replied in frustration. Much as he liked his roommate, it hadn’t taken long to realise that Kai was wilful and stubborn, which wasn’t a good combination, and that wasn’t helped by the fact that he could be very… charming when he wanted to be, with a mischievous grin that was very distracting.
Getting the first aid kit out again, Asuka dug out the wipes as Kai pulled his shirt off with a sigh of relief, picking up another clean bandage and noting that they’d need to get restocked soon. And it was only their second day here, too, he thought in resignation. The moment the bandage came off Kai’s fingers darted to his shoulders, but Asuka had expected that, catching hold of them in a firm grip. “No scratching,” he said sternly, ignoring the scowl Kai sent his way. “You’ll need the bandages on longer if you do.”
He had to admit though, that the cuts on Kai’s shoulders were looking a lot better, healing nicely even if they were driving Kai to distraction. “How much longer?” Kai demanded, letting out a soft, breathy sound as Asuka ran one of the wipes over his shoulders.
“Without scratching? Definitely tomorrow, maybe the day after that.”
Kai sighed. “I miss Tetomu’s herbs, they really helped with stuff like this.”
“Tetomu?”
“The Gao priestess.”
“An Elder?”
Kai snorted. “Hardly, she only looks around the same age as you or me. She is from the Heian era, though, so she’s a lot older than she looks. Tsukumaro’s the same.”
“Tsukumaro-san? Your sixth?”
“That’s right.”
There was a story there, Asuka knew, one that Kai didn’t seem inclined to tell, at least not now. Maybe when they knew each other a little better, when they were more comfortable with each other, some of those stories would come out. “There,” he said eventually, rewrapping the bandage. “All done. Just don’t--”
“Scratch at them, I get it, I get it.” Not that it would stop him, Asuka thought ruefully. “I’m going to go for a walk, get some fresh air. See you later.”
“Alright.” Asuka just about managed to bite off a reminder to be careful; Kai had already faced that lizard once, he wouldn’t be careless when it came to avoiding a repeat encounter.
“Have I mentioned recently that I really hate lizards?” Kai announced from the doorway, voice sounding a little rougher than it should. “Because I do.”
Asuka looked up from the tiny desk to stare at his roommate, taking in the bottle in his hand with some confusion. “Did you run into the lizard again?”
“Not exactly,” Kai sighed, stepping forward and shutting the door behind him. “But apparently the library has an infestation, something somebody neglected to tell me about before I went in there.”
Library, library… Asuka winced. Yukito-san had filled them in on the lizard nest while they were sweeping the school grounds around the library. They hadn’t found anything and with everything else going on - giant lizards who fed on human energy and giant tentacles kidnapping people - it had completely slipped his mind. “I’m sorry, Kai,” he apologised, bowing as deeply as he could manage in that position, “I should have warned you.” And he would have, he was sure, if Kai had mentioned he was going anywhere near the library in the first place. “Are you alright?”
Kai rolled his eyes as he flopped back on his bed. “I’ll live. But for the record? Getting venom right in your face is not a good thing. I’m supposed to take this stuff,” he pointed at the bottle on the nightstand, “twice a day.” The disdain in his voice left little doubt what he thought about that and Asuka bowed again, even though Kai probably wouldn’t see him.
“I’m really sorry, Kai-san.”
“Kai,” his roommate corrected firmly. “Just Kai, alright?”
“Right. Sorry.”
“And stop apologising! You’re worse than Soutarou.”
Asuka opened his mouth to apologise again, then shut it before he actually got the words out. “What books did you need from the library?” he asked instead.
“The ones on the Sixth Hero reading list,” Kai shrugged. “Not that I’ll be getting them anytime soon, now.” He coughed, a racking cough that made him sit up again and hunch forward, shoulders shaking with the force of it, leaving Asuka watching him in concern.
“I have some of those books,” he said carefully. “I picked them up before class, before the lizards nest was found. Please, use them if you need them.” Kai simply nodded, taking shallow breaths, fingers digging into the bedcovers. “Do you need something to drink, Kai?”
Kai started to shake his head, then burst into another cough that actually sounded worse than before so, not waiting for a reply, Asuka padded into the kitchen and filled a glass with water, handing it to Kai a moment later.
“Thank you,” Kai said when he had downed about half of the glass. “Guess I did need it after all.”
Asuka nodded and rested a hand on Kai’s shoulder, squeezing gently so as not to aggravate the injuries on Kai’s back. “Get some rest, Kai,” he suggested only for Kai to shake his hand off in annoyance.
“I wish people would stop telling me that,” he muttered. “I’m not an idiot, alright? I know what my limits are.”
“I… didn’t mean to imply otherwise, Kai-san. I mean, Kai.” He’d have to watch it, Asuka thought with a strictly internal wince. He kept slipping up and adding the -san when he was worried or nervous and it was already irritating his roommate after less than two days. Not a good start.
Kai shook his head and lay back down. “Yeah, whatever.”
At Sentai Gakuen quiet moments were few and far between so Asuka was determined to make the most of the time he had now, to spend it with his teammates, his friends, doing absolutely nothing save enjoying their company out here, with fresh air and no interruptions. Well, that and homework, not that they shared many classes. Part of him felt guilty about not inviting Kai, but he saw his roommate fairly often - something he couldn’t say about his teammates - and he was a little wary about merging the two. While Ryouga-san and Ranru-chan would probably get on very well with Kai, Yukito-san was another matter entirely. In some respects he and Kai were very different and in others they were unnervingly similar, most notably the razor sharp tongues and a distinct lack of trust towards strangers: put the two together and you could all but guarantee the atmosphere would be chilly within minutes.
“I don’t know why I let you talk me into this class,” Yukito-san was saying, scowling at the book lying in front of him as if he could incinerate with merely the power of his mind. Although if anyone could… not that Yukito-san’s reaction was unexpected; Askua himself was surprised Yukito-san had agreed to take the cross-dressing class, especially after the ‘schoolgirl incident’. Ranru-chan, on the other hand, seemed to find the entire situation highly amusing, even going so far as offering tips on how to use lipstick properly before Yukito-san threatened to find a copy of a song she’d sung as an idol and make sure everyone knew it was hers.
“Because I begged until you had enough,” Ryouga-san replied unrepentantly, nudging Yukito-san’s shoulder and beaming at him. That was probably true, Asuka thought, not looking at his most irritable teammate; Yukito-san had rarely been able to say no to Ryouga-san, particularly after Ryouga-san began to get through his walls. He wondered how much more Yukito-san’s resistance had been eroded since the two had become a couple, not that either of them had said anything. They didn’t have to, though; while it wouldn’t be obvious to anyone with only a passing familiarity with either of them, it was very evident to him - and no doubt Ranru-chan as well - particularly given the amount of time he’d been back on Dino Earth: Yukito-san was very particular about just who he let into his ‘personal space’ and while Ryouga-san had always been very tactile with Yukito-san, the sheer volume of touches - perfectly innocent, innocuous touches - had risen dramatically. Until now Asuka was certain that Yukito-san wouldn’t have let even Ryouga-san lean against his shoulder like that.
Exchanging a quick smile with Ranru-chan, Asuka returned his attention to his own studies; not the sixth hero class as Kai had those books at the moment, but his Defence Against Curses class, which Kai didn’t take. So far it was proving to be a very interesting class, albeit confusing in places. Movement in the corner of his vision caught his attention and he looked up, turning his head a little to the left to see what it was and, much to his surprise he saw Kai walking along the path and he raised a hand in greeting as his roommate drew level.
“Kai, hello. Would you like to join us?” The invitation was out before he thought to stop himself and he winced, not needing to look to know what Yukito-san’s expression would be. If the two could spend enough time together without irritating the other, Asuka thought they’d get along relatively well; unfortunately for Kai, Yukito-san associated him too strongly with Ken and that did not work in his favour. Kai ignored him, continuing on his way and Asuka frowned: that was very unlike Kai, who was generally very friendly and would at least have acknowledged the invitation even if he declined it. “Kai?” he asked warily. “Everything alright?” Again there was no answer and something was definitely not right.
“Let him go,” Yukito-san said impatiently. “If he doesn’t want to join us, he doesn’t have to.”
“I’ll be back in a minute,” Asuka replied absently, gaze fixed on his roommate. Something was wrong and he intended to find out what it was, so he put his book aside and got to his feet.
“Asuka!” Yukito-san protested but Asuka shook his head.
“This will only take a moment, Yukito-san.” Breaking into a quick jog it was the work of a moment to catch up with Kai and he reached out to put a hand on Kai’s shoulder. “Kai? Is something wrong?”
“He’s calling me,” Kai said, not looking at him, nor slowing down. “I have to go, he needs me.”
“Who needs you?”
“Soutarou.”
Asuka frowned in confusion then a chill ran down his spine at the distant look in Kai’s eyes, at the dreamy tone of his voice. This couldn’t be good. “Soutarou-san isn’t here, Kai,” he reminded the younger man carefully. “Remember?”
“He’s calling me,” Kai insisted, pulling out of Asuka’s grip. “He needs me, I have to go to him.”
“Kai, your friend isn’t here,” Asuka repeated, wondering if there was any way to contact Kai’s teammates before this got out of hand. “He can’t be calling you.”
“What do you know?” Kai spat, rounding on him. “Nothing. Stay away from me!” As if to emphasise his words, Kai shoved him backwards and Asuka staggered, almost losing his balance completely before he managed to right himself again. He could hear his teammates closing on them rapidly, but there was nothing they could do, nothing he could do except… raising his Brace to his mouth, he hoped this would work.
“Tsukumaro-san, Kakeru-san, something’s wrong with Kai and I can’t get through to him. We’re not far from the lake.”
There was no reply, not that he’d really expected one. All he could do was hope that one of them had got his message.
“Kai,” Asuka tried again, following his roommate and trying desperately to reach through the trance that seemed to have taken hold. “Kai, it’s not your friend calling you, you have to ignore it.”
“He’s heading for the lake,” Ranru-chan said, a note of worry in her voice. “It’s the Devourer that’s calling him.”
“The Devourer?” Ryouga-san asked, confused, a confusion Asuka shared. This was the first he’d heard of a ‘Devourer’.
“An evil spirit,” Ranru-chan explained quickly. “It was bound to the lake but it can reach out to people and cause a lot of trouble. It wants revenge for something and it enjoys causing people pain.”
“Like manipulating someone by imitating their best friend?” Asuka asked quickly and Ranru-chan nodded.
“Yes, although the scale is a little smaller than usual. Unless Kai-san is only the first.”
There was no time to reply because just then they topped the slight incline, lake spread out before them, the sun glinting off the water. At the edge of the lake there stood a man, tall and thin and wearing a jacket that Asuka now recognised as a Gaoranger jacket, only his was grey where Kai’s was blue. So, that was Soutarou, or at least, his image.
“Soutarou,” Kai said softly and the longing in his voice was a blow to the gut for Asuka. Kai had never come out and said anything, but it was evident now that Soutarou was more than just a friend to him and the thought that this Devourer could so easily use that emotion for evil was unforgivable.
“Kai, you came.”
“Well, of course I did,” Kai snapped, sounding more like himself as he stepped forward, heading straight towards the apparition. “What else was I going to do?”
The man smiled and held out a hand. “Come on. Come to me, Kai.”
Kai nodded and it was now or never, if Asuka couldn’t stop him now… He launched himself forward, aware of his teammates behind him. “Kai-san, stop. That’s not your friend, that’s--”
Kai wheeled and Asuka barely managed to block the blow aimed at his head, too stunned by the unexpected attack to do anything else. He didn’t, however, manage to block the punch to the gut or avoid the sweeping kick that took his legs out from under him and he collapsed to the floor, wind knocked out of him.
“Asuka!” Yukito-san reached him first, dropping a hand on his shoulder before taking off again, grabbing hold of Kai’s wrist and pulling him back.
“Stop being an idiot,” Yukito-san hissed, ducking the hits Kai lashed out with. “That’s not your friend, so snap out of it.”
Kai was beyond reason, though, and wasn’t listening, simply reacting to the threat of someone trying to keep him from his best friend. Yukito-san landed hard on the floor, Ryouga-san at his side a split-second later, placing himself squarely between Yukito-san and Kai as Yukito-san got back to his feet. Ranru-chan at his side, Asuka joined Ryouga-san and Yukito-san, still clinging to the faint hope that he could turn this around; and throughout it all the apparition wearing the face of GaoBlack stood there smiling, waiting.
“Kai,” it said again and the fury drained out of Kai immediately, expression going blank once more as he turned to the impostor. “Come to me.”
“Kai, don’t.”
“He needs me.”
Nothing else seemed to matter as Kai headed for the lake once more and the only thing left that Asuka could think of was to sit on his roommate until he came back to his senses.
“Kai!”
The shout came from behind them and, spinning round, Asuka was incredibly relieved to see Kakeru-san and Tsukumaro-san just running over the rise, along with a girl he didn’t recognise but assumed was another teammate. They were too late, though, and their arrival had distracted him and his teammates from what Kai was doing.
“Kai, no!” Kakeru-san yelled, but to no avail. Kai reached out to the hand held out for him and the moment they touched Kai jerked to a halt, body convulsing as he screamed. Despite the fact that they were further away, the Gaorangers reached their teammate before Asuka and the others could and Kakeru-san threw himself into the air, body twisting as he landed a flying kick on the impostor’s shoulder, forcing it to let go. Kai collapsed to the floor, mercifully out cold and Kakeru-san stood defiantly between his teammate and the apparition as the other Gaorangers dropped to their knees at Kai’s side, the girl holding Kai’s hand tightly, desperately asking him if he was alright despite the lack of response.
“You can’t have him,” Kakeru-san was saying fiercely. “Leave Kai alone.”
The apparition laughed, a chilling sound that sent shudders down Asuka’s spine, Ranru-chan’s fingers closing tightly his arm. “You don’t get it, do you?” it said. “He’s already mine. All I have to do is call and he’ll come to me. Can you watch him every hour of the day to keep him from me?”
“If we have to,” Tsukumaro-san replied coldly. “You won’t have him.”
“We’ll see. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have other things to do. See you around.”
There was a blast of ice cold wind against his face and Asuka closed his eyes against it, wincing at the sharp impact of grit grazing his cheek, almost as sharp as the pain left behind by the impostor’s words, cutting deeply like jagged-edged knife wounds, and if it was like that for him it must be worse for Kai’s teammates. When he opened his eyes again the impostor was gone, leaving the Abarangers and Gaorangers alone on the shore.
“Kakeru,” Tsukumaro-san was saying, “what’s going on? What does that thing want with Kai?”
“I don’t know.”
“Kakeru! What does it want?” Tsukumaro-san was glaring at Kakeru-san and the girl in white was looking between the two in confusion.
“I don’t know!” Kakeru-san shouted back. “We never found out.”
“Found out about what?” Yukito-san asked sharply, arms folded impatiently across his chest. “What’s going on?”
Something Kai had said a few days ago, their first day here when Asuka had been bandaging up his shoulders, returned to mind. “He was drained by the lizard,” he said softly. “He’s remembering things that haven’t happened yet.”
“Like Mai-chan?” Ryouga-san asked quickly and Asuka nodded.
“Yes.”
“You knew this would happen?” Tsukumaro-san said, voice low and dangerous and Kakeru-san flushed a dull red.
“I didn’t realise it was so close or I would have said something. I thought I had more time, Tsukumaro, I wouldn’t just let something like this happen.”
“Kakeru-sensei,” the girl interrupted before the two could say something one or both would regret. “What happened last time?”
Kakeru sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “We didn’t find him until it was too late, Sae. Between our classes and fighting lizards and tentacle monsters we didn’t even realise he was missing at first and when we found him it was here, a bit like this. He was in the infirmary for three days before he woke up and afterwards he didn’t remember anything. With everything else going on we didn’t have time to try and work out what had happened so we let it go.”
Tsukumaro-san didn’t seem that mollified and the girl, Sae-chan, didn’t look happy either as she squeezed Kai’s hand absently. “But to use Soutarou-san,” she whispered. “How cruel.”
“I take it they’re close?” Ryouga-san asked and Kakeru-san smiled sadly.
“Close isn’t the word. Kai and Soutarou, well, they’re very… focused when it comes to each other and it’s very rare to see one of them on their own.” There was an uncomfortable moment of silence as it sank in that it was that very absence that had brought them to this before Kakeru-san resumed. “Kai would travel halfway across the world if he thought Soutarou needed him. Probably complaining all the way, but he wouldn’t even think of not going.”
Asuka nodded wordlessly, stealing a sideways look at Ryouga-san and Yukito-san who were close enough together that they were almost brushing hands. Before anyone could say anything though, there was a quiet groan as Kai started to wake up.
“What’s going on?” he asked muzzily. “And why do I feel like GaoKing’s been dancing on my head?”
“We’ll explain later,” Kakeru-san said, giving his teammate a reassuring smile. “You should probably go get some rest.”
“Everyone keeps telling me that,” Kai sighed. “I’m really tired of hearing it.” Getting to his feet, Kai’s eyes widened as his legs promptly gave out on him. “On the other hand maybe I should.” He gave his teammates a suspicious look, “But one of you better fill me in later.”
Asuka didn’t sleep that night, too wound up to do more than doze occasionally, afraid of what might happen if he went to sleep and the Devourer called for Kai. He’d already had one close call and he’d only barely managed to return his roommate to his senses before he was out of the door and heading back for the lake; it was not an experience he wished to repeat.
The soft sound of Kai getting out of bed made Asuka’s heart sink and he hoped desperately that Kai was simply getting up to use the bathroom, but it was a vain hope and he knew it, scrambling out of bed to catch Kai before he left. “Kai, stop, you can’t go.”
“I have to. He needs me.”
“Kai--”
Kai spun round, shoving Asuka backwards with a strength that shouldn’t have surprised him but did, and he landed hard on the floor of their bathroom, Kai snatching his Brace off his wrist a moment later. “I’m sorry,” Kai said, “but you’re trying to stop me and I can’t let you.”
“Kai--”
“You’ll be alright,” Kai said, closing the door firmly and, by the sound of things, shoving something under the door handle so Asuka couldn’t open it.
“Kai!” he tried, banging on the door desperately. “Kai, let me out. If you go you’ll be in danger, the whole school will be in danger. Kai!” But there was no response and he slapped his hands against the door in frustration, head bowed. He’d failed. The others had trusted him to watch Kai and he’d failed, and now Kai was on his way to the Devourer and he couldn’t even call anyone to let them know because he no longer had his Brace. He didn’t want to think about what Kai would do with that. Or rather, what the Devourer would do with it, considering it would already have access to Kai’s G-Phone.
He had to get out of here, had to get to Kai before the Devourer did and he tugged hard on the door handle, drove his shoulder into the door, everything he could think of to get it to open, but it remained obstinately shut. Next he tried banging on the walls, but they were the last room on the corridor anyway, which only left one wall with somebody else’s room on the other side. When that failed as well, he slumped to the floor next to the sink. Kai would be at the lake by now and that meant he’d be too late now even if he could get out. Kai would be the Devourer’s by now.
The only good thing about his situation was that at least it was the bathroom he was locked in, which meant he had access to water; he wouldn’t have to worry about dehydrating if he was in here any length of time. But he wouldn’t be, of course he wouldn’t be, somebody would realise he was missing and come looking. He just hoped they didn’t take too long about it.
***
“Are you sure something’s wrong?” Ranru asked, having to put on some extra speed to keep up with both Yukito-san and Ryouga-san as they strode along the hallways to Asuka-san’s room.
“He wasn’t in class,” Yukito-san replied shortly. “That’s not like him.”
Ranru nodded in acknowledgment. That was true and considering what had happened yesterday not a good sign. “Do you think it has anything to do with Kai-san?”
“Probably,” Yukito-san growled.
“It’s not Kai-san’s fault, Yukito,” Ryouga-san pointed out and Ranru spared a moment to wonder how they thought they were subtle when Ryouga-san, who never called anyone by name without an honorific attached on the end, slipped up every now and then and used ‘Yukito’ instead of ‘Sanjou-san’ or even ‘Yukito-san’.
“That’s not the point,” Yukito-san snapped as they reached the room. “And shut up, we’re wasting time. Asuka! You in there?”
There was no reply and Yukito-san opened the door without hesitation, stepping inside with Ryouga-san right behind him. “There!” Ryouga-san exclaimed. “His Brace.”
Sure enough, the Brace was lying on the floor, just in front of the bathroom. The bathroom that had a chair wedged under the handle.
“Asuka!” Yukito-san shouted, banging on the door as Ryouga-san tugged at the chair. Ranru, for her part, picked up Asuka’s Brace so it wouldn’t get trodden on by mistake. “Are you in there?”
“Yukito-san!” came the relieved reply. “Open the door, we have to help Kai-san.”
When Ryouga-san managed to dislodge the chair he pulled the door open, Asuka-san all but falling out the room before Yukito-san caught and steadied him.
“Asuka-san, what happened?” Ranru asked, handing him back his Brace.
“The Devourer called Kai again,” Asuka-san replied, hurrying over to his bed and struggled out of his pyjamas, into his regular clothes. “Twice. I managed to stop it the first time but not the second. Kai shut me in the bathroom so I wouldn’t be able to stop him.”
“Could have been worse,” Ryouga-san said judiciously.
“He wasn’t trying to hurt me,” Asuka-san agreed, tugging on his shoes. “He just wanted me out of the way.”
“The lake again, do you think?” Yukito-san asked and Asuka-san shrugged.
“We should probably start there, yes. And we need to tell the Gaorangers as well. They should know.”
“I’m sorry,” Asuka said, bowing deeply to Kakeru and Tsukumaro, his teammates standing behind him, offering their silent support. Well, more like ‘Give him grief over this and you’ll regret it.’ Kakeru respected that kind of loyalty, not that it really helped much at the moment. “I was supposed to make sure this didn’t happen.”
Kakeru patted his shoulder and gave him a wry smile. “Don’t blame yourself too much, Asuka. Kai’s slippery, if anyone knows that it’s us.” He sighed and ran a hand through his hair tiredly. “Alright, let’s see if we can find him.” He paused, then put his hand in his pocket and brought out his G-Phone, wondering if Kai, or whoever was control right now, would pick it up.
“You think he’ll answer?” Tsukumaro asked warily and he shrugged.
“Won’t know until we try.” Flipping the phone open Kakeru pushed one of the buttons and waited a moment, eyebrows shooting up as someone picked up on the other end. It wasn’t comforting though, if anything it was the exact opposite.
“I was wondering how long it would take you,” came Kai’s voice and Kakeru’s heart clenched tightly on hearing it. “You mustn’t care for him as much as I thought. A shame really, na Kakeru?” Kakeru gritted his teeth against saying something stupid, but the damned Devourer sounded just like Kai, right down to the inflections and that was unforgivable. Almost as unforgivable as its stealing of Kai in the first place.
“Give him back,” he ground out.
“I don’t think so,” the Devourer sighed, using Kai’s ‘I’m tired of playing with you’ tone. “But you could always try to convince me, I suppose. If you can find me.”
Kakeru swore as the line went dead. No. He wasn’t letting this happen. After everything they’d been through with the lizards and tentacle monsters he’d been extremely fortunate not to lose any of his teammates and he refused to let that change now. He was getting Kai back and nothing, absolutely nothing, was going to stop him.
***
Asuka listened to what he could make out of the brief conversation, watching Kakeru-san’s expression fluctuate from anger to burning rage within the space of a couple of heartbeats.
“Now what?” Tsukumaro-san asked as Kakeru-san closed his G-Phone with a snap.
“Now we find Kai,” Kakeru-san said tightly. “Then we get him back.”
“Oh, that’s a plan,” Yukito-san muttered under his breath.
“It’s no worse than some of ours,” Ryouga-san pointed out calmly. “And you’ve done some pretty reckless things yourself, Yukito.” Yukito-san scowled at Ryouga-san but didn’t contradict him.
“Is there anywhere Kai is likely to go?” he asked quickly, just in case. He couldn’t think of any but maybe his teammates would have some ideas.
“We’re not dealing with Kai,” Kakeru-san pointed out wearily. “We’re dealing with the Devourer. We should probably start by checking the popular areas where he could do the most damage.”
Ryouga-san glanced sideways at Yukito-san, who shrugged. “We’ll take the cafeteria,” Ryouga-san said and Ranru-chan nodded.
“Asuka-san and I can take the gym.”
“And Tsukumaro and I will check the Quadrangle,” Kakeru-san agreed. No-one suggested the library, but there wouldn’t be anyone there anyway, as it was still closed off as a pre-emptive measure against the Arrow Lizards. “Check in if you find anything. Or even if you don’t. Just eliminate as many areas as possible.”
“We know,” Yukito-san said tartly. “We’re not amateurs.”
“We’ll see you later,” Ryouga-san added hurriedly, slipping an arm through Yukito-san’s and tugging him off before he could say anything else.
“And we’re off, too,” Ranru-chan agreed. “Come on, Asuka-san. Let’s go.”
“Na, Ranru-chan,” Asuka said a few minutes later when they were out of the hearing of the others. “Do you think we’ll find him?”
“One of us will,” she answered soberly. “He won’t be hiding, not really. He’ll want to be found, Asuka-san, he can cause more pain that way.”
“I shouldn’t have let this happen,” he whispered miserably. “This is my fault. I should have watched him better.”
Ranru-chan stopped abruptly in the middle of the path, causing the few students going in the opposite direction to give her an annoyed look. “It is not your fault, Asuka-san,” she said firmly. “If you have to blame someone, blame the Devourer. It’s his plan and nothing to do with you. You can’t blame yourself for every bad thing that happens, Asuka-san; I expect that kind of ego from Yukito-san, not you.”
He laughed nervously and rubbed at the back of his head. Ranru-chan was right, he supposed: he did have a tendency to shoulder blame even when he had no part in it; inaction was sometimes just as bad as getting involved, depending on the situation. “As you say, Ranru-chan.”
“And don’t you forget it,” she replied sternly, poking him hard in the shoulder. “Now come on, we won’t find him standing here.”
They didn’t get much further before their Braces went off.
“Kakeru calling the Abarangers. He’s at the Quadrangle, you’d better get over here.”
“We’re on our way,” Ranru-chan said, Yukito-san’s voice overlapping with hers as they reversed course and broke into a run.
By the time Asuka and Ranru-chan made it to the Quadrangle, the only people left standing were their teammates - also just arriving - and the Gaorangers, facing off against an enemy that wore the face of their friend and teammate. Everyone else, students and teachers alike, were collapsed on the floor, some groaning and trying to get back to their feet, others lying unnervingly still.
“Kai,” Asuka whispered involuntarily, chilled by the ice cold look Kai, or the Devourer rather gave him; it was nothing like his roommate’s usual cheerful smile or even his cranky scowls, it was… inhuman, somehow, possessing a darkness that reminded him of the Evorian.
“So, gang’s all here, then,” not-Kai said brightly. “Good, I’d hate for you to miss out on anything; don’t want you to feel deprived, you know.”
“Give Kai back,” Kakeru-san said tightly. “Now.”
“I don’t think so,” was the airy reply. “I like this body, I can do a lot with it.” Not-Kai shrugged, shoving his hands into his pockets. “Well, maybe not as much as I could with one of the ESPers or the magicians, true, but I’ve never been one to complain. This body will do just fine.”
“You can’t have him,” Sae-san protested, taking a step forward before being flung back by a surge of pure power.
“Well,” not-Kai grinned, “maybe I wouldn’t have needed an ESPer or magician after all.”
“Kai!” Kakeru-san shouted as Sae-san rose unsteadily to her feet pushing herself up and retaking her position next to Tsukumaro-san. “Kai, listen to me, you have to fight this. Don’t let him win!”
The Devourer laughed, head tilting back just the way Kai’s did. “Do you really think your friend is still here? Don’t be so foolish. Why would I let him stay?”
“Because he’s too strong for you to beat fully,” Tsukumaro-san answered shortly. “He won’t be beaten by anyone, let alone you.”
“Ah, loyalty, it’s so nice to see. Too bad it’s so fragile.”
“Loyalty is never fragile,” Kakeru-san grated. “And we’re not giving up on him.”
The Devourer tilted Kai’s head to the side, examining Kakeru-san thoughtfully. “No. You wouldn’t, would you? Not for this. But for something else, maybe?”
“Not for anything.”
“No? Strange.” The Devourer shrugged again. “You know,” he continued, voice changing to become silky smooth and even more dangerous, “it seems to me you have some problems here, Red.” Asuka frowned as Kakeru-san, as well as Tsukumaro-san and Sae-san, flinched at the name, wondering why they’d reacted in such a way. “Something about… energy-sucking lizards? Then there’s the poisonous lizards in the library, oh, and the tentacle creatures stealing people for no doubt nefarious purposes. Am I right?”
Kakeru-san didn’t reply.
“Oh, don’t waste your breath answering,” the Devourer said dryly. “Don’t mind me. I just thought you might want to limit the casualties this time around. You don’t want people dying again, do you?”
“How does he know all that?” Ryouga-san asked, confused, but it was Ranru-chan that answered, her voice flat and hard.
“It’s using Kai-san’s memories. Everything he knows, the Devourer knows.”
“I can help you,” the Devourer continued, lounging against a tree casually. “I can stop them. You’ve seen a taste of my power, you know I can do it. And for all that I just want one simple, tiny thing. This body. It’s not such a sacrifice, Kakeru, is it? To save how many? Would you let all those people die, just to save one insignificant person?”
“Kai’s not insignificant!” Sae-san shouted. “And we’ll find a way, we don’t need you to do it.”
The Devourer sent her flying again. “Is she always this annoying?” he asked, then he paused for a moment, doubtless sorting through Kai’s memories. “Ah, I see she is. Forget I asked. What’s it to be, then, Kakeru? One life or many?”
For a moment Kakeru-san was unnervingly silent, head bowed and even his teammates seemed surprised by his silence, then he lifted his head defiantly. “You should have listened to Sae,” he said, grabbing his G-Phone and flipping it open. “We don’t need you. We’ll beat them ourselves.”
“Oh, are you going attack me?” the Devourer asked, widening Kai’s eyes in mock fear, holding up his hands and stepping backwards. “I see it’s all over now.”
Kakeru-san didn’t respond to the bait, lifting the phone to his ear. “Soutarou? Don’t talk, just listen. Kai’s been taken over, talk him out of it.”
Asuka exchanged a quick look with Tsukumaro-san and together they launched themselves at the thing wearing Kai’s face. The Devourer knocked them back easily but Yukito-san and Ryouga-san were there before they even hit the ground, holding Kai’s arms back and forcing him to the ground. Asuka joined them, along with Sae-san and Tsukumaro-san, even though his sense of fair play rebelled at the thought of five people holding one down. Kakeru-san dropped to a crouch by Kai’s head and held the phone to his ear.
“Kai?” an unfamiliar voice was saying. That must be the real Soutarou. “Kai, can you hear me?”
“You can’t possibly think this will work,” the Devourer protested. “Samezu Kai is gone, you can’t get him back.”
“Kai!” the voice shouted, apparently galvanised by the harsh statement. “Never give up, Kai! Remember?”
“How touching. How sickening. Spare me the trite catchphrases, please.”
“Kai, you’re stronger than him,” Soutarou was saying. “You can beat him, I know you can.”
“Pathetic, completely pathetic. You can’t seriously believe that will--” the Devourer broke off mid-sentence, pain contorting Kai’s expression. “Never give up,” was the faint whisper and Kai’s fingers curled slightly in Yukito-san and Ryouga-san’s grip. “Never-- Never going to work,” the Devourer said viciously. “This body is mine now, mine! You’ll never get your friend back because he’s mine, too.”
“Come on, Kai, again,” Soutarou urged. “You can do it. Oh, this is my fault, I should have been there with you. Maybe this wouldn’t be happening if I was there.”
“Oh, not the martyr tack,” the Devourer groaned. “When I finish destroying this place I’m coming after you, just to make you pay for putting me through this. How would you like to die at the hands of your best friend?”
“Kai wouldn’t let you,” Soutarou replied and if he was afraid at all there was no trace of it in his voice. “I know him and he wouldn’t let you. He won’t let you kill anyone.”
“Especially you?” the Devourer asked sweetly, “is that what you’re saying? Did you know he-- Never give up -- Shut up, I’m not finished -- Never… give up -- I’m going to destroy your friends. I’m going to rip them to shreds and you won’t be able to stop me -- Never give…up -- Enough already! Do you have any idea how irritating that is? -- Never -- Shut up, shut up -- Won’t let you -- You can’t… -- Won’t let you, won’t let you -- I’m surprised they -- My body, give it back -- Never, it’s -- Mine -- Mine -- Mine.”
Asuka watched the interplay, holding his breath and praying to any god that might be listening that Kai would prove the stronger. The sentences began running together even more until finally there was only silence, the battle taking place on a purely internal level now, Kai’s face scrunched up with the effort the fight was taking, his body twitching as first one personality, then the other took control. Then he went utterly still and six of them looked at each, trying to see if anyone else had more of an idea about what was happening.
Kai’s eyes snapped open, startling everyone, and his mouth opened in a silent scream as black smoke rose out of his body, winding into the air with a high pitched wail.
“Is… that it?” Ryouga-san asked cautiously. “It’s over?”
“I don’t know,” Kakeru-san replied, equally warily.
“Kai? Kai, answer me! Kai!”
“No need to yell, Soutarou, I’m not deaf,” Kai managed. “Cut it out already.”
“Kai?” Kakeru-san interjected over the distant celebrations on the other end of the phone. “That really you?”
“Who else would it be?” Kai demanded, voice getting steadily stronger. “You get hit on the head or something, Kakeru?” He went to get up and frowned when none of the people holding him budged. “I know I’m cute, but really? Orgies aren’t my thing so if you guys can get off me? That would be great.”
“Sounds like him,” Kakeru-san said dryly and Sae-san smiled, squeezing Kai’s hand.
“It’s good to see you back,” she told him, kissing his cheek softly.
Kai blushed and looked away. “Did I go somewhere?”
“We’ll fill you in later,” Kakeru-san promised. “Right now, though, you should probably--”
“If you finish that sentence by saying rest I’m going to give you a black eye,” Kai said pleasantly and Kakeru grinned.
“Yeah, you’re alright.”
“Not so fast, Kai-san,” Asuka interjected.
“Didn’t I tell you not to call me that?”
“Sorry,” he apologised, “but I think Kakeru-san was right.”
“Why?” Kai asked, voice dangerously even.
“Um, your shoulders, they’re--”
“Oh, for crying out loud!”