The seed-at-zero shall not storm|That town of ghosts[OPEN]

[justice_by_coma]

Characters: Gau Meguro (justice_by_coma) and Anyone who's in Steamdrab and wants to break in on him. (Especially any of you newfound woods-homies. He'll at least recognize the people who "nearly got killed" with him...JUMP THE NERD!)

Setting/Location: Steamdrab (lurking and trying to find a house to hide in because boy doesn't know what to do with his junogram

Comments

[justice_by_coma]

Gau tried to catch him as he dropped back into that funny crouching position he'd always seen him take in Yukimi's home... No mistake. It was Yoite. Granted, significantly further along in the...uhm...hair than he'd last seen him, but...

"Yeah." Gau said in a low undertone, eyeing the street beyond just in case other people decided to spot them. Yoite looked like a black puddle, kahaki dust and splinters settling on his coat. He'd probably pass for a shadow, Gau decided reluctantly. He didn't dare try to touch him to move him. Bad idea, with Yoite.

Yoite had to have been in that forest, too. Good thing he wasn't injured...but using the forbidden kira technique in a place like this with that giant person and the moving city of who-knew-what...

Well it wasn't very subtle. That slothful slob Yukimi had always been negligent with Yoite, though, Gau noted grimly in his mind.

Never mind all that, though. it was Yoite. Yoite who'd saved his life. Yoite, who'd been moved by the Kairoushu chief's goals just the same as him, even if he was...odd about it.

It was bizzare, but...well he was here, now, and that counted for something. And come to think of it, kira technique, even if it came at a dreadful price would probably give them an edge on those creatures in the woods.

Gau shook his head, sinking into a crouch to pick up his knife and make them less obvious to anyone looking. "I haven't seen Rokujo-kun. Or anyone else I know." He muttered. "Have you seen anyone? That mr. Chickenhead? Or..." he licked his lips, hoping, hoping harder than he'd ever want anyone to know. "Raikou-san?"

He was already trying to calculate how best to carry water for all the group members, including Yoite now... "If you're here, then maybe...maybe they're still in the forest, too."

[am_i_even_alive]

Yoite actually felt his hand out to feel for Gau as he tried to get up. Perhaps it was more of the case that when you were one of the rare few people that Yoite could actually sense, he seemed to be alright with slight physical contact.

Questions already? Yoite forgot what Gau was like in his time away from him, but more to the point Gau hadn't seen Miharu, that meant Yoite had to force himself to his feet to keep looking for the boy. "No, Yoite hasn't seen anyone, only Miharu, but Miharu vanished ..." It was clear that this fact distressed Yoite, that was apparent in his expression.

Franticly feeling for Gau as his breathing accelerated for a moment or two before he managed to grab a part of Gau. Gripping him tight to say he had no strength.

"If Miharu is not in the town, he might still be on the caravan ... Yoite has to look for Miharu..." Shaking, his limbs shook as he tried to use Gau as a lever to hoist himself back to his feet, already looking over his shoulder at the shadow of the great giant dragging the moving caravan behind him.

[justice_by_coma]

"Look for-? HEY-!" It didn't make much difference as Yoite used his head as a sort of lever, it seemed. (Short. Why did everyone always have to be so tall? Even Yoite was treating him like an armrest, now? COME ON!)

he grumbled a little under his breath. then his mind stopped griping long enough internally to take into account that Yoite was actually staggering out the door towards the giant thing and its moving city of doom.

"YOU CAN'T BE SERIOUS!" He exclaimed, dashing after him.

All things considered, it was probably a good thing (unbeknownst to Gau) that Yoite was losing his hearing, too...

[am_i_even_alive]

Oh Yoite was serious, extremely serious, especially when it came to Miharu and the matter of the fact that he was missing. Sure, Yoite hadn't seen much of Miharu when he was on the Caravan for what short time he was around, but the fact that he suddenly couldn't even feel him anywhere was more than disturbing to the poor confused and lonely boy.

Stopping as Gau shouted at him. Turning to face the angry ninja with a puzzled picture over his normally so deadpan'd face. " Yes, Yoite is very serious about finding Miharu ... Gau-kun should be looking for his friends." He didn't mean to offend at all (If he did that is) he simply meant for Gau to come with him ... perhaps he should say exactly what he means instead of saying the first thing that came to mind.

Shuffling out the door, falling into a coughing fit once more as the clear air hit his decaying lungs, (and people said fresh air was good for you?) Spluttering into a tissue Gau had given him some time back, it was stained with spots of blood already, black and red from the different patches he'd coughed up over his time at the Caravan, Gau would no doubt have a fit over the sheer amount of germs collecting and spreading in that fabric.

[justice_by_coma]

"That place might be dangerous! You don't know what it is! Look at that giant person! Yoite-kun-!" He ran after him, out through the door, cutting in front of him.

"Even with Iga's Kira, you're not going to be any match for that in your condition! Even if Rokujo-kun's its prisoner!" He lowered his arms, looking around for people. He could see shapes in the distance, and grimaced.

"I woke up with a group of people in the woods. Robot-san at least would probably help. We need a plan if you want to attack that thing!"

[am_i_even_alive]

"It's not, not really." That was true, Yoite hadn't come across anything dangerous in that caravan since he'd arrived there himself. Yoite looked up at the giant, which was more like a giant shadow in all fairness. "He doesn't talk much, Yoite has hidden on his stomach before, no one knew Yoite was up there ... it got too cold to stay long and I grew tired ... no good being tired, it means I can't look for Miharu for as long."

probably the most conversation Gau was going to get from Yoite for a long time. He stopped as the smaller male came to stand in front of him, catching the last half of what Gau said. " Yoite doesn't want to attack the caravan, Yoite has a room on it." Pointing up at the huge building in the near distance. Surely this showed that Yoite was in face from the caravan and not the group from the forest?.

[justice_by_coma]

"You mean...you've been...travelling in that thing?" Gau asked, pointing, and gaping. "You didn't wake up in-? Then why did I wake up in a FOREST?! Where are you going, anyway?"

He didn't realize all the questions he was asking. Yoite seemd tired, but Yoite was always tired, and it annoyed him the way he didn't talk much. He needed information, and Yoite was going to be the only person he knew from the sounds of things.

But...if these people were from...

Gau sighed, and re-wrapped up his kunai. Well...he probably wouldn't need that, then.

So...that was a friendly giant? The thought of letting Yoite hide on your stomach probably proved that. Maybe the giant didn't count as a "person" in Yoite's mind, and therefore he didn't mind...

"Where does that...moving city go? And how did you get here? I know you don't like to talk, but you need to tell me at least a little. I need to know why we might be here while the others aren't."

Poor Raikou...eating alone again... The thought filled him with more sorrow than he wanted to admit.

Gau's eyes lit on the handkerchief in Yoite's hands, and he shuddered, gulping. Blood? Then he paused, paling.

That looked just like his...

Couldn't be...

"Or...have I been here before?" Gau asked, trying to keep himself from getting dizzy. This was so...bizzare...

[am_i_even_alive]

Yoite's hearing was selective by now, as was his speech as he nodded to Gau, lightly pushing him aside and grabbing his hand, lacing fingers and gripping as tight as he could so not to lose the other male as he took off in the direction of the caravan.

"Its going to take us home, maybe Mihari made it home already? " Dragging Gau in a slow pull as he missed practically all else of what Gau said in favour of concentrating on finding his way over to the huge shadow before it moved out of sight.

Yoite didn't think Gau had been there before, maybe it was a handkerchief he'd loaned off of Gau in the past and just never gotten around to cleaning and giving back? "I don't think you've been here at all ... Yoite would be able to tell."

[justice_by_coma]

Gau flinched as Yoite tugged him along. He'd resisted the urge to pull his hand sharply out of Yoite's just out of gut reaction. But that didn't mean he wasn't struck by the...well...weirdness of it all.

He blanched. walking around in front of people, with Yoite holding his hand like a little kid or worse really wasn't a notion that appealed to him. At ALL. When it came down to it, he barely knew him.

Granted, you heard a lot about Yoite. Talented. And dangerous. Master of the forbidden technique that broke your life to use it against other people. Who knew why a person would choose to do something they knew would kill them.

At first he'd thought it was easy and hated the loophole. If Yoite was sane, then he'd just stop using the technique, and he'd be fine. It used life each time, so he'd just know it for emergencies.

Wrong.

Why someone would willing go through learning something they knew would break their life and let it leak out constantly, stealing their senses, and drying them up until they died as dust...

Well...he really didn't know whether to call Yoite sane or not. He'd saved his life. Yoite's life had jump-started his own. And...he hadn't even been kind to him before that. He couldn't stand his talent, his silence, the fact Raikou expressed admiration for him...

And now, here Yoite was, fumblign around, coughing blood into a handkerchief, and dragging him along by the hand.

He didn't know what to think about that.
He honestly didn't.

He gritted his teeth.

"If that...caravan is the only way home, then how could Rokujo have found another way? Because of the shinrabanshou, maybe?" he paused. "I thought he would have taken you with him, though. You two always seem...close."

Erm. Yes. Close. And Yoite was holding his hand.

Thin prickles of cold sweat beaded on the back of Gau's neck again.

Yoite...wasn't going to...?

[am_i_even_alive]

It was debatable, rather Yoite was sane or no, he seemed smart enough and calm enough to learn such a dangerous technique as the Kira he used so freely despite its side effects being devastating.

There was also nothing sinister about Yoite's motivation to hold Gau's hand, he knew nothing of the boys past, or his issues or feelings about this kind of act, yet again he was simply moving and not thinking, running on the basis that finding Miharu was somehow going to make everything that was going wrong right - after all; non of this would even matter if Miharu could erase it all now would it?

"I don't know ... " Stopping as it hit him, a fraction of his own lonely feelings hit him when the idea that Miharu had left Yoite behind on purpose hit him like a tone weight. Yoite came to a halt, let go of Gau's hand and held his head at the sides as it ached.

[justice_by_coma]

Ugh.

Even Gau could read that blatant body language. He wiped his hand on his pants withotu really thinking about it. "...If he was taken away, it's safe to say it was against his will. And for something to be powerful enough to take in or leave people, even the shinrabansho weilder..."

He frowned, and tried a different thread of proof. "It's not a dream, or I would have brought Raikou-san here, and I'm not that creative. This whole..." he gestured at the distant, looming figure of the...giant...ogre...something.

"I wouldn't have done it. And I know it's not someone else's dream because I'm thinking, and things don't work that way. If it's real, then there's a reason we're here, and...Rokujo-kun isn't."

Gau frowned deeply along the parallel lines already starting to form in his forehead. He wanted to reference his notebook, but that wasn't a good idea while walking at high speed. "If this is the only way home, then fine. If it's something else, or we can get out faster, then we should." He scowled straight ahead adding with dark bluntness:

"I don't want to be away from Raikou-san's side a minute longer than I have to. And I can't do anything to change the world for the chief's sake without the world of Nabari and the shinrabansho. If this is the only way, then I'll take it and do whatever I can along the way, but if there's a faster route, I'll take it no matter what the cost to me is."

He turned his grim-set face to Yoite. "It's the same as you and Rokujo-kun."

He curled his hands into fists. "I know you don't like to talk, but...I'm going to need to know. If I don't have any information, I can't plan a way out for both of us, and anyone else who needs to get back fast."

[am_i_even_alive]

Yoite stopped after listening to all Gau had to say. Maybe a little warning that he was going to stop so that Gau didn't walk into him might have been nice? All the same, Yoite came to a halt, letting his arms hang at his sides, pondering the reasons why Miharu had vanished and how come Gau was here without Raikou, there was even a thought in his head as to where Yukimi was?

Turning and facing Gau, it was an effort for him to communicate, seeing as how he spent most of his time trying to avoid contact with people, but Gau was all he had here, he couldn't leave him in the dark, Yoite could share what little he knew.

Sitting himself down, knees pulled up to his chest and arms wrapped tight around them, in that way he often sat. Gau would have to sit close though, if he wanted to hear anything Yoite wanted to say?. "We're all lost. Yoite doesn't know why, but that giant? he's taking us all home. Stopping in towns and villages, letting people off, letting people on." He stopped to cough and wheeze, nuzzling down into his own arms and scarf. "Mihari can't be home or Yoite and Gau wouldn't be here ..."

[justice_by_coma]

"You can't assume that." Gau snapped. He'd bent to hear Yoite, palms on his knees. He'd had half a mind to rebuke Yoite sharply for sitting int he middle of a dirty road, but...that would have stopped him from speaking, and he needed to hear him.

"Giants aren't usually that smart, are they? Someone has to be running your caravan. And it's really unlikely they're doing it just to help a bunch of people in need. Running something like that woudl be expensive and difficult. And just happening to have a giant caravan like that on hand? The whole thing sounds weird."

With that, Gau pulled out his notebook, and a pen, turning to a free page. "We can't assume anything, or trust anybody unless they prove themselves!" He declared rather loftily. "Here's what we do know, though: Rokujo-kun wouldn't leave you if he was leaving by choice. That apathetic gloomy devil-kun doesn't have any reason to if you're here." He scowled a little. "Even if he is under the same ideals I am, I know he's there for you, too. If Hattori-san let him use the shinrabansho, I don't doubt he'd use it to save Yoite-kun's life, first. Hattori-san would probably let him do it, too, because Yoite-kun has done such fine work for the organization. It would be proof of the shinrabansho's power, too."

He scribbled out on the page, rapidly in his cramped, all-caps writing, holding up the page after, though Yoite likely couldn't see the tiny letters.

ROKUJO-KUN'S WILL

Gau swelled irritably. He was building up steam. "Also, you said you were supposed to stop at villages. This one's been abandoned for a while, and those monsters in the woods were hard to kill, so that might have something to do with it. We don't have any certainty your caravan will really get us home--even though I will be coming with you, of course. Your caravan might be part of a settlement idea. Or people might be calling us from other places into a completely different world for some other hideous purpose. We could just be going to some other place to set up a village of people." He scribbled another note, and held it up.

FRONTIERS

"Also, there's this. I found this in my bag, and it doesn't belong to me." he added, pulling out the junogram. "Have you seen something like this before? I've been trying to get cell service and keep getting nothing. I turned off my phone to save the power, even." He held it out in front of him, waiting until the brim of Yoite's hat rose. "It could be important. We should take every clue we can that can get us home. And the other people here, too. Nobody in my group from the woods seemed to be from this place, either. If we're being held prisoner, then we need to find that out."

[am_i_even_alive]

Yoite looked over Gau as he bend down a little, he'd not told him off for the way he was sitting like Yukimi would have by now, nor did he fuss over him like Miharu would ... it was a pleasant combination of the two. The way he was still sticking to Yoite's side was a nice little boost to the lonely boys confidence that maybe he truly wasn't alone here what ever alone means .

The little presentation went over Yoite's head, sure, he took from it the main points of Gau's observations, but he was still going to stick with his gut instincts that something must have been wrong, or perhaps even Miharu had just up and left him.

" Maybe Miharu has erased Yoite from his heart?"

Looking up at Gau, in one of those rare moments where he was actually focused in his eyes, staring up at the smaller male whom he'd saved as he loomed over him for a change. Hands hugging his own knees as he rocked a little, wriggling his toes as so many thoughts ran through his head.

Pah. I fail. Sorry. Somehow deleted my own notif. (Please don't point at me...? *cringe*)

[justice_by_coma]

Gau frowned, then gradually let the newfound "junogram" lower.

Of course...he shouldn't have expected Yoite to focus on anything else when there was mention of Rokujo Miharu. Some things hadn't changed at all, that was for sure...

He put his hands on his hips, glowering at Yoite's level from the weird bent-waisted posture.

"Rokujo-kun wouldn't do that." Gau scoffed. "It's cowardly. And you're friends. it would be unfitting for the future king of the Nabari world to leave his friend to die out of pure cowardice and thoughtlessness."

He let his mouth turn downwards a little more. "Rokujo-kun wouldn't do that." He said, as though he could make it inescapably true, and hammer it into Yoite's head with just the right bad attitude. As though having what looked like a bad attitude woudl actually hide the fact that he was worried...the fact that he had ot do something to get Yoite's mind off the possibility of abandonment. There was a little thread of panic growning in Gau.

He wasn't prepared for this.

"He was taken away against his will." Gau said firmly. "Now get up out of the street. You'll ruin your clothes, and the ground is probably full of parasites. At least find somewhere indoors where someone can keep an eye on you."

Gau rose, mouth still pressed into that grim downturned line, eyes narrow.

"We're going to go home. Both of us. I'm going to find Raikou-san if he's here, or come home to him as soon as possible, and you're going to do the same for Rokujo-kun."

His nostrils flared. "And if you give up halfway through, I'll...punch you." He finished lamely. He felt stupid the instant he said it. Who did he think he was? Raikou? Raikou never declared he was going to punch someone! He just did it! Even that Chickenhead Yukimi probably didn't make such stupid threats!

But...there was a goal.

He noted it to himself.

GET HOME.

And then, after a moment, he added more reluctantly, because he didn't quite like admitting that it might be something he'd need to work at:

KEEP YOITE ALIVE.

Its fine ^^ I'm the king of slow tags remember xD

[am_i_even_alive]

As soon as Gau mentioned that Miharu was taken agaisnt his will, Yoite rose to his feet. Not even bothering to dust the dirt gathered on his trousers and the length of his coat, as he slowly started to stalk off towards the caravan.

If Miharu wasn't here, Yoite would hijack the caravan and take it to wherever Miharu was. They could drop people off on the way? It all made sense in Yoite's head, ... shame he never thought to discuss this little plan with Gau, though Gau would probably try and stop him from taking on a giant ... even with Kira, Yoite would need to pull off something amazing to convince the giant to change his route.

"Yoite goes inside now then ... " Was all he said as he shuffled on, coughing and wobbling a little but still close enough for Gau to easily catch up.

Looks like 'Keeping Yoite alive' might be a harder task then first thought to be, if he's going to pull off stunts like this.