Day 25: Breakfast

[uncage]

Kuja was, in fact, quite surprised to suddenly find himself in bed. An odd turn of events, as he previously remembered investigating the contents of a closet. If the genome hadn't known any better, he would have thought he hadn't even left the room. However, the items he was still holding obviously proved such thoughts untrue; he had left his room

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[repolarization]

Ginji's nurse brought him in with in a wheelchair. His stomach was wrapped in clean white bandages under his shirt and his leg and carefully covered as well. The foot that hadn't almost been completely eaten off was without a slipper, the other one was wrapped up. If someone looked close enough they could see that it was still missing its heel.

The injures weren't the only thing alarming about Ginji's appearance. Usually, the blond bounced into the mess hall and gathered as much food as he could to himself before happily shoving as much of it into his mouth at once as possible. That morning he was completely different. His mouth was pressed together in an expression of barely contained fury. His eyes were narrow and distrusting. He glanced around as he was brought in and felt nothing but disgust, anger and hatred.

His body was still too sore and too weak to really move on its own. He had passed out last night after Jack has written on his forehead (thankfully that had been washed off before he woke). They had given him some pain killers in the morning as well, so his head was a little groggy.

That left nothing but questions. If his power was still gone, if he had slept, if he was still exhausted, if he was drugged and sluggish... then why hadn't the "core personality" returned?

Why wasn't Ginji back?

Raitei had barely enough time to think about it before the nurse stopped and placed him by the red-head that Ginji had befriended his first day in this place.

"You are Greg's friend, right?" she said cheerfully to Kurama. "Maybe you can cheer him up?" She frowned slightly. "He had a bit of a rough night," she continued, lowering her voice as if she thought that Ginji couldn't hear. After all, she thought that Ginji had done all these things to himself and it was more than alarming that someone would cut off chunks of their own leg. "He's feeling a little down today." She leaned forward a bit to talk directly to Ginji. "Would you like some breakfast today, Gregory?" she asked, smiling. "It's yummy!" Usually Ginji would jump at the chance for food, and that was the reaction she was hoping for. Instead Raitei glared at her and then, seeing as he lacked the ability to electrocute her face off opted spit in it instead.

At first she seemed shocked but then a little angry. She pulled a cloth from her dress to wipe her face then looked at Kurama. "If he does something like that to you, we'll be taking him back to his room where he can spend the day strapped to his bed." It was a threat and Raitei would have killed the woman right then if he had had the ability to move.

She seemed to react to his glare though and moved quickly to wash her face properly, telling an orderly to keep an eye on them as she left.

[foxyroses]

Kurama looked up when a nurse wheeled a patient over to him. Normally, they left him alone for the most part. After all, he'd never had an incident of misbehaving... Not yet, at least. But when he noted that the wheel-chair patient was Ginji, Kurama's expression switched to surprise. What had happened last night?

The boy looked terrible, which only made Kurama feel guilty for leaving him alone last night. But it wasn't just that... Ginji wasn't acting as himself. The usually light-hearted and innocent blond seemed far less sunny this morning.

"You shouldn't act up during the day," Kurama warned once the nurse was out of earshot. "You're going to land yourself into even more trouble. And there's more of them than us." He paused, the rest of his breakfast forgotten as he looked Ginji over more carefully, frowning just a bit.

"...Are you.. Raitei?"

[repolarization]

Raitei's eyes moved slowly from watching the nurse leave to Kurama. He stared at Ginji's friend without changing his expression. There was nothing but anger in his eyes. His right are twitched slightly as he tried to pick it up, but his muscles still wouldn't respond as he wanted them too. He let it stay for a moment, but refused to stay useless. He was going to force his body to do what he wanted it to, even if it hurt.

He didn't answer Kurama, finding no need to speak. He didn't pull his eyes away from him either and gave the demon his full attention. He wanted to kill this person as well, but without the ability to create so much as a spark, let alone move it didn't seem as if that were an option.

[foxyroses]

[[OOC:I just realized Kurama never actually learned Raitei's name. Yay 3am posting. So, um, just change "Are you Raitei?" to "You're not Ginji, are you?"... If that's ok.]]

Kurama's frown deepened. Despite the lack of an answer, the expression in Ginji's eyes told volumes. This wasn't his friend. And he had promised to avoid Ginji if this person surfaced, didn't he? But how could he avoid him when they were both stuck in this room? He could move to another table, but there was the possibility that the boy would be approached by someone else... And Kurama wanted his friend back.

"I don't know what happened last night, but there's no danger here during the day. So, why are you here? Where is Ginji?"

[repolarization]

With a lot of effort Raitei was able to pick up his hand, he looked at his palm and slowly the fingers rolled into a fist. The muscles hurt to move in such a way, but it forced it to happen anyway, refusing to let even a little of the pain show in his face.

He was still silent and he ignored Kurama's questions. It wasn't as if he knew the answer anyway.

[foxyroses]

Kurama waited silently for his questions to be answered, but the blond didn't seem to be forthcoming with a response. Instead, he curled his fingers, and Kurama eyed the fist warily. He clearly remembered what Ginji had said about attacking anyone he viewed as a threat. Even if he looked in no shape to be even standing. Some people could certainly surprise you in desperate situations...

"I have no intention of hurting Ginji... If you haven't noticed, I'm concerned for him. He's my friend." Kurama didn't really believe the blond would believe him, but it was at least worth a try. If it worked, all the better, and if not, none the worse. "...What happened to him..to you, last night?"

[repolarization]

"Friend?" Raitei asked, finally speaking. "There is no such thing. You only want something from me. You only want what you can take. You trick him into caring about you so that you can use him later on. Just like everyone else." He turned his head to look back at Kurama.

"Something tried to eat me alive," Raitei offered, using the facts only to give Kurama the horrifying mental image of poor little Ginji being attacked and eaten. "He was there until this happened." He lifted up the happy faced shirt to show Kurama the bandaged wounds on his stomach. He was being sadistic and mean, but he was angry.

At least he knew his arm was able to hold up the shirt now.

[foxyroses]

"Something tried to eat me alive."

The blond's tactics were quite effective to say the least. Kurama could only stare after those words, his gaze only shifting when the shirt was lifted to reveal the bandages. If he was a normal human, he might have retched at the thought of something trying to eat his friend. Still alive. And the thought of innocent Ginji facing a beast that could do this much harm to him...

"I should have stayed with him last night..." Kurama's tone was quiet and subdued when he finally broke his gaze from the bandages, looking away. To hell with whatever previous engagement he had made...He had let his thoughts of making progress cloud his judgment. Was he expected to babysit? No, but he was expected to take care of his friends. And what had he actually accomplished? Granted, he had reunited Ken with his teammate, and had helped them defend against that deathly creature, but Ginji had suffered in his absence...

It took only a moment for Kurama to remember he was still in this not-Ginji's company. He looked back to the other, his brow furrowed just a bit in concern.

"I want nothing from either you or Ginji except to see him safely out of this prison. He is the closest friend I have in this place, and I would never use him or trick him into anything." Kurama paused, knowing full well that even with the sincerest of tones, words were only words to some. "What needs to be done to bring Ginji back?"

[repolarization]

Raitei was lying to Kurama. Ginji had gone to the back of his own mind before he had gotten stabbed, but Kurama's reaction was enough for him. He was being cruel simply because it was the only way he had to hurt the red head at the moment.

"Usually he would be back by now," Raitei said cautiously.

[foxyroses]

Whether the blond was trying to be cruel or factual, it didn't really matter. If Ginji was supposed to be back by now, then... Why wasn't he? What was wrong?

Ginji had mentioned that night when the staff had abducted him, pulling out this personality over and over. Had they somehow broken whatever kept him at bay, whatever brought Ginji back to himself once the danger was gone? If so, it would only mark another black tally that Kurama held against this building. Pretty soon, he'd have to start making a list to remember them all.

"Is there any other way you can think of to bring him back?" Kurama rephrased his question, frowning slightly. He was willing to do almost anything to get the cheerful blond back again.

[repolarization]

"Killing Mido would work," Raitei's face raged for a moment as he thought about Ginji's partner. "But he's not in here to jump in front of my attacks is he?" If Ban was here then maybe they could have a proper fight if Ginji never came back.

[foxyroses]

Mido? That named sounded terribly familiar. It took a few moments for Kurama to connect it to the post that Ginji had made about his partner 'Ban'. It didn't take that long to notice the animosity with which the name was said, however.

"I doubt that. From what I've seen, I couldn't imagine anything that would hurt Ginji more. I thought the idea was to protect him, wasn't it?" Somehow, Kurama highly doubted that Ban was any threat to Ginji...but perhaps this reasoning was why Ginji was so scared of this personality.

[repolarization]

"You know nothing about it," Raitei said. He glared at Kurama for a moment then he looked down at his other hand, the one that he hadn't moved so far. He forced it up and then slowly balled it's fingers into a fist, willing his lips to move despite the pain that they were in. He refused to be completely helpless again.

[foxyroses]

"I know enough," Kurama countered, but said nothing more. He didn't exactly want to provoke this personality. Ginji had said he wouldn't hesitate to hurt anyone around him, right?... Something to that effect.

He noticed the blond clenching his other fist and frowned. "You should try to relax. Moving around is only going to place a strain on your body that you don't need right now." It may not be Ginji exactly, but it was still his friend's body...if that made any sense. He still felt obligated to watch over him, even if it wasn't Ginji.

"...Does Ginji know what's going on when you're out here?" It worked that way for him and Youko, but it could be different for Ginji...

[repolarization]

Raitei didn't feel like trying to prove his point. He was silent and ignored Kurama's worries about his body. Moving was much better than being completely useless. He let the hands fall to the arms of the chair and clenched them slightly, testing his strength.

He didn't see the need to answer Kurama's question. He would find out eventually what Ginji knew and what he didn't want to know.

[foxyroses]

Kurama didn't much liked being ignored. Of course, he didn't much like how the blond seemed to be feeling out exactly what his body could still do, either. It was worrisome. Not so much the actions as the intention behind them.

"Can he hear me if I try to talk to him?" Kurama asked, trying again. If he couldn't have his questions answered, he couldn't think of much else to say. He was already breaking his promise by merely not moving away. A small part of him hoped that Ginji had no idea what was going on...