Day 24: Breakfast

[blood_and_pocky]

Aidou Hanabusa, a vampire, was one of the first into the cafeteria, which was swimming in dim sunlight. A grey morning suited his mood.

The fact that his biological clock was pitching fits was only the cherry on top of the cake; the last thing he wanted to do was sleep. "Waking up", once again, with no memory of how or why he'd been brought back

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[blood_and_pocky]

Maybe he'd find himself a guinea pig, and see what came out of being taken somewhere out of the way during dayshift. Although results would be twice as viable, Aidou wasn't about to test theories out on his own. Leave that to the expendable ones.

As Naoe explained the layout of the M-U hall - nothing more specific then what he had already had - he made some minor adjustments in his journal, including Sasuke's contribution. He answered Naoe's look with a 'Thank you.' That was one blank spot taken care of.

It was certainly odd to have to think in terms of humans having power. Only the touch of a vampire would ever bestow those sorts of abilities on a human, but here, Aidou had seen too many unnatural things. He had dug his heels in a bit like the choleric old bats (er... excluding Ichijou's grandfather) on the council tended to do, but he was loosening up to the idea. A little, anyway. It'd be just as annoying to overestimate them, as underestimate them.

Despite not giving his full name when prompted, Aidou liked Naoe's answer regarding his capabilities. Obligations that wouldn't be broken. Yes, that was exactly right. He nodded, adding a few fine lines to his map. "I understand. I would also prefer certain people to keep their gigantic mouths shut."

He didn't look at either Okita or Sasuke, wry smirk curling one corner of his mouth. If they didn't understand what he meant, they were really stupid. Aidou wasn't put out by the impromptu reveal - this time - but he shouldn't and wasn't going to be parading around the fact he was a vampire. If he'd had full use of his abilities to mind wipe, hell yeah he'd be vocal about it, only he didn't... so it was rather moot. (He still fully expected word to spread. If it wasn't Alucard, it'd be this kid, or Okita. They were all gossip-happy.)

[notachick]

Doctor's offices, med wing, M-U hallways - all of this was upstairs, which would help explain where the stairs he'd seen earlier led. The female blocks were no doubt separated from the rooms he woke up in earlier, and, as the others talked, he carefully wrote a map within his own head. He was lucky Sasuke and the others were so talkative and free with their information. It was good to know that daytime went in shifts and that therapy was next. Conversations from the bulletin board let him know what the nighttime was something to be feared (or perhaps embraced). The idea of "experiments" concerned him, but it seemed like no one had a choice in that. Behind his pleasant smile, Okita calculated things out, weighed the options, and drew plans for later. He wanted to explore tonight, to test the limits of this facility, and learn more about exactly where he was and when.

Yoshiaki's initial shock was something the swordsman knew he'd have to get used to, if Aidou's previous claims were correct. The man's dedication to his previous obligations was admirable, however, and Okita smiled gently at him. "Don't be so defensive, Yoshiaki-san. We aren't going to make you break your promise-" He paused and laughed a little. "At least, I won't."

And Aidou's pointed remark didn't go unnoticed either. The smile disappeared into a time-perfected pout and Okita huffed slightly. Even if he didn't really take offense, he knew Aidou would probably take pleasure in seeing someone react to his statement. And if Aidou reacted, then he could keep teasing. If he didn't, no loss there either. At least Okita knew he was privy to a secret (or a semi-secret) and that was enough to keep him interested. If the conversation stopped being productive, he'd move over to those two girls who had been eying them for awhile.

His miniature pseudo-tantrum over, Okita picked up his plastic knife and fiddled with it as he leaned back in his chair. "So what do you all do for fun here, hm? I heard that the nighttime provides a little excitement - anyone care to elaborate a little more for the newcomer?"

[sasuke_of_sound]

Sasuke glanced down to finish his meal and, when he glanced back up, realized that Zabuza and Haku had entered the cafeteria. (And Iruka, he noticed after a while, but Iruka mattered less.) Still need to talk to Zabuza, he noted, and shrugged at Aidou's obvious jab.

"You're not the enemy. I have no need to share information about you," he said flatly, and left it at that -- and all possible other meanings.

Of course, if Aidou's semi-secret became a bargaining chip for some reason, there was also no need to keep it from anyone who wanted to know. It wasn't as if Aidou had been precisely discreet so far, given his habit of declaiming his superiority and debasing Alucard as a 'low' vampire.

Yoshiaki's obligations were probably to Takaya, Sasuke thought with a hint of dry amusement. That was precisely why he wanted to get to the boy -- it would become a two-for-one deal -- and somehow this place kept foiling his attempts. Nonetheless, a Konohagakure upbringing made loyalty a thing to respect, even if Otogakure also made it annoying. A brief nod acknowledged Yoshiaki's words.

He raised an eyebrow at Okita's flippant lead-in to Nightshift, slightly amused.

"Monsters," he said, matter-of-fact. "Brainwashed patients, moving buildings, human-looking creatures with weird powers. The usual."

[faithful_dog]

"I'm sure you won't have too much trouble Okita-san," Naoe said carefully, looking at the swordsman. "I've been here a few nights already and have yet to really encounter any 'monsters'." He glanced at Aidou but said nothing else.

It was the truth though. All of the talk about how horrible the night was and other than having to deal with Takaya being hurt by the doctors, who were probably humans, he hadn't really encountered anything more terrifying than a few rusted doors.

"I'm not saying that they aren't here, so many people have spoken of them, including Takaya-san," and of course he believed Takaya. "But I have no doubts in your ability to survive."

[blood_and_pocky]

He accepted Okita's response with a internal sigh of resignation - it was so like Ichijou, it really ticked him off. He couldn't say he wished any of the Night Class were here exactly, being weak and degraded and trapped like he was, but... it was lonely! There was no one to talk to! In a life or death situation, even the girls were smart enough not to give in to their hormones, so he didn't even have a flock of ladies trailing him around.

As for Sasuke's statement, Aidou trusted it as readily as he trusted any other human who said 'You're not the enemy'. The metaphor about trees and termites didn't apply to him in the same ways; if the kid claimed he was a hard kill, then Aidou was near immortal. The only thing that mattered was Kaname-sama's viewpoint on the matter, and he was walking a fine line on it.

Aidou didn't comment on any nightshift escapades he'd had. He just shrugged and said, "Should anything come up before a nightshift begins, there are plenty of ways to contact each other."

In any case, the four of them most likely had very different plans for this coming night.

[notachick]

Well, Sasuke certainly clarified things, didn't he. It all seemed rather fantastical, but he couldn't let that little fact get in the way of his belief. He was in the future, after all, and that voided any claim he had to normalcy. Sasuke, for all of Aidou's disparaging looks, had skill and Okita knew that would be important sooner or later. More than likely, he had friends, too, and that would certainly be an advantage. Aidou didn't seem the type to make friends and Yoshiaki was thoroughly dedicated to one person. If Okita was going to network, it would likely be through Sasuke.

He laughed glibly as everyone answered in turn and noted the information down. It'd be luck of the draw whether or not he'd get attacked tonight then. "Just the usual monsters and demons, hm? That's good to know. I should fit right in."

Yoshiaki's confidence in him, however, was a little unexpected. Had he become that famous through the ages? "Thank you, Yoshiaki-san - that's very kind of you to say."

Aidou seemed to have calmed down some, as well, which meant Okita had an easier time of not stabbing him in the face. In fact, perhaps Aidou would be the perfect target until he met some new people. He seemed easy to rile up. Okita assumed he meant the bulletin board thing in the other room and tried to balance the plastic knife of his fingertip. "Should we need to contact each other, would leaving a message on the board be best? Or is that too much of a security risk?"

[sasuke_of_sound]

Regardless of whether Okita had monsters and the like in his world, he swallowed the information without flinching, which was impressive. He'd likely be useful once he'd finished figuring out what was going on.

"The nurses monitor the board," Sasuke said in response to Okita's question. He'd noticed the crossouts and edits and been vaguely amused by them. "If you can be subtle, it should be fine. If it's possible to send word, that's better."

He couldn't state with any certainty whether the Institute used the messages on the bulletin board to decide attacks -- it seemed like the written goals had met the usual rate of varying success, but not specifically targeted.

To be honest, Sasuke wasn't entirely uninterested in meeting some of the more dangerous monsters around the place. If he couldn't break out right away, there was no reason not to test his strength if the opportunity was offered. So far, the only really troubling things he'd met had been the two little girls -- he still didn't know what to make of either.

"What sort of fighting did you normally do on your world?" He asked the group, although he focused on Yoshiaki and Okita, assuming that Aidou would be stingy with his answers again.

[faithful_dog]

Naoe nodded slightly to Okita. He didn't feel like explaining any more than what he had already said though and instead thought about the best way to answer Sasuke's question.

"Mostly," he said carefully. "I would help those who came to my temple through spiritual troubles." It was vague and a half lie. It was true that to live his life as Yoshiaki he did do just that, but that wasn't 'most' of what he did at all.

He wasn't about to explain to them that he had spent the last four hundred years banishing angry spirits back to the afterlife or fighting the Feudal Underground. He wasn't going to go into details about the Japanese gods that Kagetora could summon, or the protection spells they used during fights. He wasn't going to go into spiritual shields or his telepathy. There was no reason to even touch on the abilities of the others in Kagetora's little army; Haruie's ability to sense spirits and read minds or Nagahide's powerful psychic abilities or Katsunaga's own special abilities. There could be no details given to these people about the Yashashuu, the five people that were the only force protecting Japan from the angry souls that threatened to destroy the balance in the world of the living.

No, he was only a monk who during his off time smoked, drank and drove expensive cars. If they wanted to ride him off as useless in a fight, then so be it. He couldn't expose what he really was and still remain loyal to Kagetora or to Lord Kenshin.

[blood_and_pocky]

That Okita didn't do more than accept the facts was sort of disappointing, especially at the 'monsters' and 'demons' part. People who didn't scare easy were just as boring as people who did.

If Aidou had had a better plan for this breakfast shift other than inwardly curse over his foiled efforts and torture inanimate objects in lieu of better prey, he would've shot his current company out of the water long ago. First, there'd been Okita's annoying and familiar presence, then there'd been Sasuke with his idiocy, and talk of long dead Shinsengumi, and Sasuke failing at more things cognizant, useless information being passed around, and some pseudo-monk who was probably in heroine withdrawal or something similar... It was all stupid. The whole 'team' thing didn't suit him (unless it was with Akatsuki, because Akatsuki was at least equal to Aidou, and far better company at that).

It was just a fact of life: human males were automatically emasculated in comparison to vampire males which subconsciously set them at odds, ergo it was a biological factor that Aidou had no say in. He could kind of forgive the kid, since it wasn't his fault... but not really. Aidou wasn't in to that whole forgiveness thing either.

"What sort of fighting did you do?" Aidou inquired at length, turning his gaze on the boy in question. Sasuke had been correct; he wasn't about to divulge his life's story unless directly asked. And, obviously, heavily censored.

On the other hand, if he'd been born under a different family name, he might've been raised completely anti-human, and wouldn't they cry when he repaid their insults in full? It was an amusing thought, actually. His thoughts always seemed to turn that way when he was hungry and in a lousy mood...

Aidou ruffled his bangs with a sharp exhale. This annoying little prison ward was so boisterous. And what else annoyed him? Being annoyed all the time. He needed something to distract himself.

[notachick]

His complete acceptance of the monsters bit seemed to ruffle a few feathers. Really, he didn't quite believe that monsters were going to appear that night. He'd fought with the conjurer's demons before, so he thought it wouldn't be worse than that. Joking about things was easier than openly brooding anyway.

Yoshiaki was certainly vague, wasn't he... Okita tried his best to keep from giggling under his breath. Yoshiaki reminded him of Saitou with his careful and serious nature. Didn't any of these people know how to laugh? Well, if the two others in his group weren't going to volunteer information, then perhaps it would be best to remain on the reticent side, too.

"I thought the nurses' might, but then - I'm used to passing around secret notes, so it shouldn't be a problem." That was a half-truth. He was used to sneaking things passed Hijikata-san or around the Choushuu, not nurses, and never right in front of them. "As for fighting, I did a bit of this and that - worked at a dojo, taught some swordsmanship, the usual for people in my time."

He knew Aidou would call him on that, and he was waiting. It was obvious that the Shinsengumi weren't part of Sasuke's world, or that Sasuke came from a different time. Even if Aidou (or even Yoshiaki) decided not to say a thing, it wouldn't be that much of a loss. Now that the conversation had turned to Sasuke, Okita listened intently with a pleasant smile on his face. Learning about this boy's abilities would be far more interesting since he was much less tight-lipped.

[sasuke_of_sound]

Sasuke noted with irritation that everyone, not just Aidou, was being rather tightlipped about experience. Hopefully, they were simply being overcautious, not hiding incompetence.

He gave Okita a slightly curious glance when the man mentioned teaching swordsmanship. It was unlikely that there was any opportunity to have anything like a lesson in Landel's, but if Okita could get a sword, Sasuke could always watch. It didn't take much for Sasuke to pick up on things, Sharingan or not.

There was a moment when he realized that he was actually at a loss to answer his own question -- something he'd grown accustomed to having explained by the time he finished pronouncing his family name.

Yohji had said something about ninja, hadn't he?

"I understand that there have been ninja in your 'Japan's' history," he said finally. "I am a ninja, and all that it entails."

With luck, this 'Japan's' ninja were at least similar to what Sasuke knew and was.

[faithful_dog]

Naoe smiled slightly at Okita's description of what he had done. It was a bit more than that, of course, but he wasn't going to be the one to bring that up. Instead he looked at Sasuke.

"A ninja?" he asked, a little disbelieving. It wasn't that he didn't think Sasuke was skilled, it was just that the last ninja he had dealt with had been the one who was Kagetora's biological father's servant.

He had been the one to give Naoe the option of saving Takaya's life. The Houjo Clan, the Clan of Kagetora's birth, had trapped Kagetora's soul inside of a mirror and left Takaya's body to die, for Naoe to kill. He had plotted to make it appear as if he had done just that, when in reality he set it up to steal the mirror and Takaya's body. Once the two were seemingly alone on a lake, Naoe's plan was to trap his own soul in the same mirror and then cast their bodies to the bottom of the lake. Then they would have been together forever, no matter how much Kagetora hated him for it there would have been no one else but him around. It had been a beautiful and horrible plan, but then the ninja had appeared and given him a way out.

In the end he saved Takaya because he had come to love the teenager just as much as he loved the 400 year old war lord that he had once been.

It was a little ironic to think that the child that he had been spending the last couple of nightshifts with was also a ninja.

"Is... Lee-kun also a ninja?" he asked. He knew Takaya's roommate was from the same world as Sasuke, but the idea of that strange, annoying youth being of that creed seemed somehow wrong to Naoe.

[blood_and_pocky]

Secrecy wasn't knew to Aidou. He lived on a tier of the night society that lived and breathed it. The others' respective answers were still rather entertaining, though. "The usual, huh?" Aidou said in response to Souji. "That's an incredibly modest answer. I'd be interested in seeing you compared to someone I know..." He didn't know from which area of study Ichijou practiced his own swordsmanship, only that he was very, very good at it. If he could imagine Ichijou and this Okita Souji placed on a level playing field, he'd be genuinely curious to see which would prevail.

Sasuke's seemed interested in the answer too, although probably not in the same ways. That one had obviously been trained to use certain weaponry like swords and knifes and the like. But, unlike Yuffie, proclaiming oneself a 'ninja' in Sasuke's poker faced way only made Aidou want to laugh at him. A lot.

He didn't, though. Aidou did have his respectable upbringing, despite certain appearances. And there was also the hint of an unexplained energy usage, as Sakura had been saying; probably not like manga ninjas, then, and that was the only experience Aidou had with them.

Lee... He wondered at the third member of Sasuke's party from the previous night, and very nearly cringed at memory of the third face. If 'Lee' was that guy, he never wanted to be seen within twenty feet of him.

[notachick]

Okita hated being disappointed, and when Sasuke followed suit with an equally secretive answer, he sighed internally. Of course, that sigh was cut short by the fact that Sasuke was shinobi. There was a reason Sasuke reminded the swordsman of Yamazaki-san, after all. Smiling brightly, Okita fiddled with the rest of his silverware, experimenting with how far the curious white material would bend. He wasn't paying particular attention to the tools, keeping his attention on Sasuke. "You're a shinobi, Sasuke-kun? I knew one at home! Well, he was our Inspector, but really, that was just a fancy name for shinobi. What village are you from?"

Lee - another name added to the list. Okita would have to keep researching these people to see just how everyone was connected. That information might prove valuable if he were able to get it back home.

When Aidou spoke again, Okita tilted his head toward him and laughed lightly. "Oh~ Do you have a swordsman you'd like me to spar with? I'd be more than happy seeing as--"

He stopped mid-sentence as the little plastic spoon reached its limit and suddenly snapped back in Okita's hands. Shocked, he let go and watched helplessly (although, not without some amusement) as the spoon arced gracefully through the air, heading straight for Aidou's face.

[sasuke_of_sound]

Apparently the word 'shinobi' meant a fair amount in each of their Japans, Sasuke noted. He wasn't certain that it was strictly positive -- given Yoshiaki's apparent disbelief and Aidou's expression -- and was annoyed with the prospect of clarifying.

"I am from Otogakure," he answered Okita's question first, as it was the easy part. Sort of. He declined to add that he had formerly been part of Konohagakure -- with luck, they wouldn't need to know. Knowing Sasuke's luck, they'd find out anyway.

A moment, and then with thinly-veiled interest, "I am also trained in swordsmanship, and would be interested in a spar, if it is ever possible in this place."

"Lee is also a ninja," he confirmed for Takaya -- another easy thing. If Lee had improved over the years, he'd be an excellent ally. Landel's did to normal shinobi what fate had done for Lee, and Lee had experience with lack of chakra.

He was about to clarify Lee's especial abilities, possibly explaining a few of his own on the side, when Okita's plastic spoon snapped out of control and flew on a graceful trajectory for the most volatile party present. His lip quirked, just barely, and for only a moment.

That was probably going to be something to watch.

[faithful_dog]

Naoe couldn't help but be a little amused by the idea of Okita comparing his abilities to others. He wasn't about to ask the swordsman to prove himself. He had already seen it, though he wasn't about to admit that either.

Naoe nodded slightly when Sasuke told him the truth about Lee. He would have to keep his opinions about the matter to himself, but he wondered if the training that Lee had received even measured up to the training of the ninja he had known since he had been alive.

He watched Okita's spoon fly across the table and his eyebrows arched upwards slightly. He leaned back slightly, preparing for some kind of reaction.