Hyakujuu sentai Gaoranger. Taiga Sae 1/5 - 5/5.
Fandom: Hyakuujuu sentai Gaoranger
Title: Follow the Leader
Author: scifisentai
Theme: #26 - Gone
Pairing/Characters: Taiga Sae/Washio Gaku
Rating: G
Disclaimer: Not mine. Never will be.
Summary: It had to hurt, she knew it did, to see everything he'd worked so hard for taken away so easily.
Sae watched Yellow carefully. Ever since Red had come into their lives a few days ago Blue and Black had taken him to their hearts, expecting things from him that before they'd have gone to Yellow about. It didn't seem fair, she thought sadly. She liked Red, she did; liked how open and friendly he was, but Red had also admitted that he wasn't a leader, had never been any kind of leader and while he was doing alright it seemed as if the others had forgotten everything Yellow had done for them.
It had to hurt, she knew it did, to see everything he'd worked so hard for taken away so easily, to be pushed aside without anyone taking his feelings into consideration, but aside from his initial hostility Yellow was swallowing his pride and making an effort to fit into this new team and his new role. No, it couldn't be easy so she'd have to help, make Yellow see that he was still appreciated and, and cared about. She didn't care what she had to do but she would make sure Yellow knew that if it killed her.
Title: Along the Beaten Tracks
Theme: #24 - White
Pairing/Characters: Taiga Sae/Ogami Shirogane
Rating: G
Disclaimer: Not mine. Never will be.
Summary: 'Together', Sae decided, was a word she was beginning to like more and more.
Sae stared out the window of the small hostel, watching as the sun went down, painting the sky in various shades of pink and orange. The sight was comforting, calling to mind similiar views from before, views from home in Hokkaido and from Sky Island. It was one thing that didn't change, no matter how frequently her surroundings did.
A light footstep behind her prompted her to turn and there was Shirogane-san standing behind her, holding out a plastic cup of something hot. "Thank you," she said gratefully, taking the cup and inhaling the scent of... soup. She wasn't sure what the flavour was but it smelled good anyway and one thing she'd learned over the course of their travelling was that she couldn't really afford to be picky about what she ate.
Shirogane-san smiled and sat down beside her, his fingers curling around his own cup. It was progress, of a kind: a couple of weeks ago Shirogane-san wouldn't have sat this close to her without being more on guard. It wasn't that he was afraid of her, exactly, more that he didn't really know how to react to her without the safety of the other Gaorangers around. That was, Sae had to admit, part of the reason she'd joined him in his travels; it was fun seeing him off balance and displaying faces other than that of GaoSilver. It had also been a chance for her to leave 'White' behind, to get used to being Sae again and discovering who Sae was now that she didn't have to fight anymore.
Lately, though, things had been changing, her reasons for her journeying among them. She liked Shirogane-san, liked being around him and not only because of the entertaining reactions she got when he was forced to interact with her beyond the basic courtesies. In a very real sense they were all each other had out here, the only ones who could possibly understand what it meant to dream about the Orgs even though the Orgs were long gone, the only ones who could understand what it had been like. Sae couldn't treat this as a game anymore and maybe that was part of what had led to Shirogane-san starting to relax around her a little more.
Tomorrow they would be moving on, to another new place, to new sights and new faces and they would be doing it together. 'Together', Sae decided, was a word she was beginning to like more and more.
Title: One by One, Down They Go
Theme: #12 - Triangle
Pairing/Characters: Taiga Sae/Samezu Kai/Ogami Shirogane
Rating: G
Disclaimer: Not mine. Never will be.
Summary: AU. "It's just a cold, you're not dying."
Sae sighed and stared down at the pathetic bundle huddling under the blankets. "Shirogane," she tried again, her hands placed firmly on her hips. "Captain."
"G-way," was the muffled reply. "Dying."
"It's just a cold," she said in exasperation, tempted to pull the blankets off him: he could be so childish when he had a cold. "You're not dying."
The silence she got in response was pointed, as were the fingers sneaking out from under the blankets to pull them further up.
"Hey," Kai said thoughtfully, strolling in and draping an arm around her waist, resting his chin on her shoulder, "does this mean I get to be captain while our noble leader is indisposed?" Sae rolled her eyes, but made no attempt at dislodging him: over time she'd become accustomed to how tactile Kai was and how much she liked having someone around who wasn't afraid of being physically affectionate. She knew - they both knew - just how important they were to the third member of their triangle, but Shirogane just wasn't good at being open or demonstrative, which sometimes made it difficult to remember that they mattered.
Kai's question, however, had the benefit of doing what she had been unable to: Shirogane's head emerged from the blankets, looking both reproachful and worried. "Don't you dare," Shirogane threatened, but with his voice being so growly and barely audible, and with how tired he looked and how messy the hair that he would never admit to spending so much time on was, the threat wasn't very effective and Sae was beginning to think maybe Shirogane was sicker than she had thought.
As expected the threat rolled off Kai like water off a Terran duck's back, although his arm tightened slightly around her waist. "If I break it I'm the one who has to fix it," he pointed out, in a huff that was probably only mostly feigned. "Remember? I don't like making that much work for myself. Come on, Sae," he finished, releasing his hold and grabbing her wrist instead. "Let's get back to the bridge. I've always wanted to try out Shirogane's chair, I bet it swings around really well."
Sae wasn't sure, but she thought she heard a muffled whimper before she was tugged entirely out the room.
***
"Are you sure he's alright?" Kai asked, watching uneasily as Shirogane staggered back into their room to collapse back onto the bed.
Sae shrugged, but her expression told him she was just as concerned as he was. "He's taking the meds," she replied quietly, pulling the door shut and leaving Shirogane to try and get some sleep. "I think they're helping. He just has to work through all the symptoms before he starts to pick up again."
"You think?"
"I'm a pilot," she snapped back, strands of her long hair fluttering around her face as she glared at him. "I'm not a doctor, I'm not even a medic. I have some basic training, that's it."
Kai held his hands up in a placating gesture, backing off: definitely the safest thing to do when Sae was glaring at him like she was now. "Okay, okay," he said. "I was just asking." He winced as the sound of coughing broke through their not-argument. Jeez, was Shirogane seriously trying to cough up a lung or something?
***
Shirogane opened his eyes blearily at the feel of two people climbing into bed with him. "Don't," he muttered wretchedly, trying to resist the urge to cling to whichever one of them he was facing right now. Oh, long hair, that would be Sae, then. "You'll jus' geddid do." He sighed as he realised he was still all blocked up. They really shouldn't be around him right now.
"Too late, genius," came the sound of Kai's voice behind him as the man shuffled in place to get comfortable. Was it just his imagination or was Kai sounding a little... croaky? "We still live together, remember? Breathing the same air and all that? Crappy air filter needs replacing anyway."
"What he means," Sae interrupted, tucking her head into the space between his chin and his shoulder. "Is that you're stuck with us. Whether you like it or not."
Shirogane debated protesting, then decided he didn't have the energy for it. Instead he just smiled faintly and wrapped an arm around Sae, tugging her closer just as Kai finally managed to make himself comfortable, pressed solidly against Shirogane's back. He still felt terrible, but at that particular moment he didn't feel quite so bad.
Title: Unlikely Meetings
Theme: #27 - Similarity
Pairing/Characters: Taiga Sae/Imamura Miku
Rating: G
Disclaimer: Not mine. Never will be.
Summary: References Gao vs SS. It isn't easy, returning to her 'normal' life after being a Gaoranger, still too alert for any sign of trouble, still waiting for the other shoe to drop, but Sae is determined to persevere.
It isn't easy, returning to her 'normal' life after being a Gaoranger, still too alert for any sign of trouble, still waiting for the other shoe to drop, but Sae is determined to persevere, not wantint to let the ache of no longer being White rule her. She returns to her martial arts school, but after being a Gaoranger she no longer feels she's learning anything there and she starts debating whether it's still worth attending or whether she should just finish out the term and then cut her losses, try to find her place somewhere else. It feels like she's trapped in the middle of some tangle she can't find a way out of, at least not until she finds the right place or moment to start unravelling the whole sorry mess.
She's still turning her choices over and over in her mind in the combini during her weekly shop and really, it's because of that that she almost misses her. Sae's head snaps around, because it can't be her, can't be who she thinks it is... but it is. Imamaura Miku, MegaPink. Formerly MegaPink, just like she's now formerly GaoWhite. What were the chances of the two of them being in the same place like this? They had to be small, it seems to impossible that coincidence could bring them together like this, especially now. She wonders if she should call after her or if she should leave well alone. Miku-san might not even remember her, after all.
Besides, Sae had been a different person then: frustrated but also lost, not able to blame her lack of confidence on the Org as the others could. Miku-san had helped change that, helped her to see how she was only hindering herself, helped her regain confidence that had been lost. But still, most of the brief time they had spent together, Sae had felt like an awkward little girl next to Miku-san and her open, friendly confidence.
But maybe it will be different now, she thinks. Now perhaps they are more alike than they had been then. As Miku had fought and defeated Nejirejia, so she and her team have defeated the Orgs and now Sae is more comfortable with herself and what she can do: she knows herself in a way she hadn't back then and the person she is now? Wants to get to know Imamura Miku better. Taking a deep breath, Sae summons up her courage and grips her basket tightly.
"Miku-san, wait!"
Title: Falling Into
Theme: #28 - Secret
Pairing/Characters: Taiga Sae/Samezu Kai
Rating: G
Disclaimer: Not mine. Never will be.
Summary: The first time Kai spent the night was really an accident.
The first time Kai spent the night was really an accident. He'd been visiting and they'd stayed up so late between talking and watching tv that really it was too late for him to go home, so Sae just rolled out the guest futon for him and said goodnight. When she woke up the next morning she'd completely forgotten he had stayed until she walked blearily into the kitchen and found him there, barely more awake than she was and hovering over the kettle on the stove. He shoved a cup of tea into her hands and muttered something that she couldn't make out and couldn't be bothered to try and decipher at that time of the morning. She just nodded back and took a quick sip of the tea, more surprised than she probably should have been that it was drinkable.
It was both strange and yet not, having Kai there. On the one hand, it wasn't like she wasn't used to seeing him wandering around, not entirely awake and his hair a mess because he couldn't be bothered to comb it just yet, and on the other it was intensely strange to have him moving around her apartment, the tea and his own natural energy slowly waking him up. The mix of emotions wasn't entirely unpleasant however, so she contented herself with drinking her tea and getting some breakfast together.
It became... not exactly a pattern, because it didn't happen all that often, but decidely less strange to wake up to Kai's presence in her apartment, the quiet sound of someone else moving around and fixing stuff up no longer setting her fighter's instincts on alert. She had, however, yet to get a straight answer out of him as to why he had moved to Hokkaido and there were times when that lack of knowledge nagged at her until she was close to snapping in frustration. "The rafting's great here," he'd replied once, all innocence and she just knew he was making fun, even if she couldn't prove it. The answer changed every time she asked, but she thought that "It's not like there's anything in Tokyo for me anyway," was the closest to the truth she was likely to get, which made her reluctant to push any further.
And really? She liked having him around, more than she was entirely comfortable with admitting. She didn't know how or why, but somehow Kai's presence in her life was something she didn't want to be without and the thought of him not being in it was obscurely painful.
"What?" he demanded one Sunday morning, glowering at her over the rim of his cup. Not having spent the night this time, he'd come over early instead, muttering something about not having any heating in his apartment and not wanting to freeze his ass off while the landlord got the engineers in.
"Nothing," she replied, lifting her own cup to hide her smile. "Just thinking it's good I'm not expecting my dad to visit this morning."
As Kai promptly choked on his mouthful of tea, Sae didn't even bother trying to hide her grin anymore.
Title: Follow the Leader
Author: scifisentai
Theme: #26 - Gone
Pairing/Characters: Taiga Sae/Washio Gaku
Rating: G
Disclaimer: Not mine. Never will be.
Summary: It had to hurt, she knew it did, to see everything he'd worked so hard for taken away so easily.
Sae watched Yellow carefully. Ever since Red had come into their lives a few days ago Blue and Black had taken him to their hearts, expecting things from him that before they'd have gone to Yellow about. It didn't seem fair, she thought sadly. She liked Red, she did; liked how open and friendly he was, but Red had also admitted that he wasn't a leader, had never been any kind of leader and while he was doing alright it seemed as if the others had forgotten everything Yellow had done for them.
It had to hurt, she knew it did, to see everything he'd worked so hard for taken away so easily, to be pushed aside without anyone taking his feelings into consideration, but aside from his initial hostility Yellow was swallowing his pride and making an effort to fit into this new team and his new role. No, it couldn't be easy so she'd have to help, make Yellow see that he was still appreciated and, and cared about. She didn't care what she had to do but she would make sure Yellow knew that if it killed her.
Title: Along the Beaten Tracks
Theme: #24 - White
Pairing/Characters: Taiga Sae/Ogami Shirogane
Rating: G
Disclaimer: Not mine. Never will be.
Summary: 'Together', Sae decided, was a word she was beginning to like more and more.
Sae stared out the window of the small hostel, watching as the sun went down, painting the sky in various shades of pink and orange. The sight was comforting, calling to mind similiar views from before, views from home in Hokkaido and from Sky Island. It was one thing that didn't change, no matter how frequently her surroundings did.
A light footstep behind her prompted her to turn and there was Shirogane-san standing behind her, holding out a plastic cup of something hot. "Thank you," she said gratefully, taking the cup and inhaling the scent of... soup. She wasn't sure what the flavour was but it smelled good anyway and one thing she'd learned over the course of their travelling was that she couldn't really afford to be picky about what she ate.
Shirogane-san smiled and sat down beside her, his fingers curling around his own cup. It was progress, of a kind: a couple of weeks ago Shirogane-san wouldn't have sat this close to her without being more on guard. It wasn't that he was afraid of her, exactly, more that he didn't really know how to react to her without the safety of the other Gaorangers around. That was, Sae had to admit, part of the reason she'd joined him in his travels; it was fun seeing him off balance and displaying faces other than that of GaoSilver. It had also been a chance for her to leave 'White' behind, to get used to being Sae again and discovering who Sae was now that she didn't have to fight anymore.
Lately, though, things had been changing, her reasons for her journeying among them. She liked Shirogane-san, liked being around him and not only because of the entertaining reactions she got when he was forced to interact with her beyond the basic courtesies. In a very real sense they were all each other had out here, the only ones who could possibly understand what it meant to dream about the Orgs even though the Orgs were long gone, the only ones who could understand what it had been like. Sae couldn't treat this as a game anymore and maybe that was part of what had led to Shirogane-san starting to relax around her a little more.
Tomorrow they would be moving on, to another new place, to new sights and new faces and they would be doing it together. 'Together', Sae decided, was a word she was beginning to like more and more.
Title: One by One, Down They Go
Theme: #12 - Triangle
Pairing/Characters: Taiga Sae/Samezu Kai/Ogami Shirogane
Rating: G
Disclaimer: Not mine. Never will be.
Summary: AU. "It's just a cold, you're not dying."
Sae sighed and stared down at the pathetic bundle huddling under the blankets. "Shirogane," she tried again, her hands placed firmly on her hips. "Captain."
"G-way," was the muffled reply. "Dying."
"It's just a cold," she said in exasperation, tempted to pull the blankets off him: he could be so childish when he had a cold. "You're not dying."
The silence she got in response was pointed, as were the fingers sneaking out from under the blankets to pull them further up.
"Hey," Kai said thoughtfully, strolling in and draping an arm around her waist, resting his chin on her shoulder, "does this mean I get to be captain while our noble leader is indisposed?" Sae rolled her eyes, but made no attempt at dislodging him: over time she'd become accustomed to how tactile Kai was and how much she liked having someone around who wasn't afraid of being physically affectionate. She knew - they both knew - just how important they were to the third member of their triangle, but Shirogane just wasn't good at being open or demonstrative, which sometimes made it difficult to remember that they mattered.
Kai's question, however, had the benefit of doing what she had been unable to: Shirogane's head emerged from the blankets, looking both reproachful and worried. "Don't you dare," Shirogane threatened, but with his voice being so growly and barely audible, and with how tired he looked and how messy the hair that he would never admit to spending so much time on was, the threat wasn't very effective and Sae was beginning to think maybe Shirogane was sicker than she had thought.
As expected the threat rolled off Kai like water off a Terran duck's back, although his arm tightened slightly around her waist. "If I break it I'm the one who has to fix it," he pointed out, in a huff that was probably only mostly feigned. "Remember? I don't like making that much work for myself. Come on, Sae," he finished, releasing his hold and grabbing her wrist instead. "Let's get back to the bridge. I've always wanted to try out Shirogane's chair, I bet it swings around really well."
Sae wasn't sure, but she thought she heard a muffled whimper before she was tugged entirely out the room.
***
"Are you sure he's alright?" Kai asked, watching uneasily as Shirogane staggered back into their room to collapse back onto the bed.
Sae shrugged, but her expression told him she was just as concerned as he was. "He's taking the meds," she replied quietly, pulling the door shut and leaving Shirogane to try and get some sleep. "I think they're helping. He just has to work through all the symptoms before he starts to pick up again."
"You think?"
"I'm a pilot," she snapped back, strands of her long hair fluttering around her face as she glared at him. "I'm not a doctor, I'm not even a medic. I have some basic training, that's it."
Kai held his hands up in a placating gesture, backing off: definitely the safest thing to do when Sae was glaring at him like she was now. "Okay, okay," he said. "I was just asking." He winced as the sound of coughing broke through their not-argument. Jeez, was Shirogane seriously trying to cough up a lung or something?
***
Shirogane opened his eyes blearily at the feel of two people climbing into bed with him. "Don't," he muttered wretchedly, trying to resist the urge to cling to whichever one of them he was facing right now. Oh, long hair, that would be Sae, then. "You'll jus' geddid do." He sighed as he realised he was still all blocked up. They really shouldn't be around him right now.
"Too late, genius," came the sound of Kai's voice behind him as the man shuffled in place to get comfortable. Was it just his imagination or was Kai sounding a little... croaky? "We still live together, remember? Breathing the same air and all that? Crappy air filter needs replacing anyway."
"What he means," Sae interrupted, tucking her head into the space between his chin and his shoulder. "Is that you're stuck with us. Whether you like it or not."
Shirogane debated protesting, then decided he didn't have the energy for it. Instead he just smiled faintly and wrapped an arm around Sae, tugging her closer just as Kai finally managed to make himself comfortable, pressed solidly against Shirogane's back. He still felt terrible, but at that particular moment he didn't feel quite so bad.
Title: Unlikely Meetings
Theme: #27 - Similarity
Pairing/Characters: Taiga Sae/Imamura Miku
Rating: G
Disclaimer: Not mine. Never will be.
Summary: References Gao vs SS. It isn't easy, returning to her 'normal' life after being a Gaoranger, still too alert for any sign of trouble, still waiting for the other shoe to drop, but Sae is determined to persevere.
It isn't easy, returning to her 'normal' life after being a Gaoranger, still too alert for any sign of trouble, still waiting for the other shoe to drop, but Sae is determined to persevere, not wantint to let the ache of no longer being White rule her. She returns to her martial arts school, but after being a Gaoranger she no longer feels she's learning anything there and she starts debating whether it's still worth attending or whether she should just finish out the term and then cut her losses, try to find her place somewhere else. It feels like she's trapped in the middle of some tangle she can't find a way out of, at least not until she finds the right place or moment to start unravelling the whole sorry mess.
She's still turning her choices over and over in her mind in the combini during her weekly shop and really, it's because of that that she almost misses her. Sae's head snaps around, because it can't be her, can't be who she thinks it is... but it is. Imamaura Miku, MegaPink. Formerly MegaPink, just like she's now formerly GaoWhite. What were the chances of the two of them being in the same place like this? They had to be small, it seems to impossible that coincidence could bring them together like this, especially now. She wonders if she should call after her or if she should leave well alone. Miku-san might not even remember her, after all.
Besides, Sae had been a different person then: frustrated but also lost, not able to blame her lack of confidence on the Org as the others could. Miku-san had helped change that, helped her to see how she was only hindering herself, helped her regain confidence that had been lost. But still, most of the brief time they had spent together, Sae had felt like an awkward little girl next to Miku-san and her open, friendly confidence.
But maybe it will be different now, she thinks. Now perhaps they are more alike than they had been then. As Miku had fought and defeated Nejirejia, so she and her team have defeated the Orgs and now Sae is more comfortable with herself and what she can do: she knows herself in a way she hadn't back then and the person she is now? Wants to get to know Imamura Miku better. Taking a deep breath, Sae summons up her courage and grips her basket tightly.
"Miku-san, wait!"
Title: Falling Into
Theme: #28 - Secret
Pairing/Characters: Taiga Sae/Samezu Kai
Rating: G
Disclaimer: Not mine. Never will be.
Summary: The first time Kai spent the night was really an accident.
The first time Kai spent the night was really an accident. He'd been visiting and they'd stayed up so late between talking and watching tv that really it was too late for him to go home, so Sae just rolled out the guest futon for him and said goodnight. When she woke up the next morning she'd completely forgotten he had stayed until she walked blearily into the kitchen and found him there, barely more awake than she was and hovering over the kettle on the stove. He shoved a cup of tea into her hands and muttered something that she couldn't make out and couldn't be bothered to try and decipher at that time of the morning. She just nodded back and took a quick sip of the tea, more surprised than she probably should have been that it was drinkable.
It was both strange and yet not, having Kai there. On the one hand, it wasn't like she wasn't used to seeing him wandering around, not entirely awake and his hair a mess because he couldn't be bothered to comb it just yet, and on the other it was intensely strange to have him moving around her apartment, the tea and his own natural energy slowly waking him up. The mix of emotions wasn't entirely unpleasant however, so she contented herself with drinking her tea and getting some breakfast together.
It became... not exactly a pattern, because it didn't happen all that often, but decidely less strange to wake up to Kai's presence in her apartment, the quiet sound of someone else moving around and fixing stuff up no longer setting her fighter's instincts on alert. She had, however, yet to get a straight answer out of him as to why he had moved to Hokkaido and there were times when that lack of knowledge nagged at her until she was close to snapping in frustration. "The rafting's great here," he'd replied once, all innocence and she just knew he was making fun, even if she couldn't prove it. The answer changed every time she asked, but she thought that "It's not like there's anything in Tokyo for me anyway," was the closest to the truth she was likely to get, which made her reluctant to push any further.
And really? She liked having him around, more than she was entirely comfortable with admitting. She didn't know how or why, but somehow Kai's presence in her life was something she didn't want to be without and the thought of him not being in it was obscurely painful.
"What?" he demanded one Sunday morning, glowering at her over the rim of his cup. Not having spent the night this time, he'd come over early instead, muttering something about not having any heating in his apartment and not wanting to freeze his ass off while the landlord got the engineers in.
"Nothing," she replied, lifting her own cup to hide her smile. "Just thinking it's good I'm not expecting my dad to visit this morning."
As Kai promptly choked on his mouthful of tea, Sae didn't even bother trying to hide her grin anymore.