Boukenger, Masumi, 10_themes
Fandom: GoGo Sentai Boukenger
Title: Always
Rating: PG
Summary: Masumi didn't know why he was still traveling with Natsuki. Set pre-series, a few months after Natsuki and Masumi meet. For 10_themes prompt 10 - Excitement.
“Masumi, come on! Keep up!”
Masumi scowled viciously and with zero effect at the source of that cheerful voice, as his erstwhile traveling companion was too far ahead of him to see it. Who knew the girl had so much stamina? Certainly he hadn’t, when he found her lying in the ruins of a strange temple. He would be the first to admit her strength was an asset but at the end of a long and strenuous climb it was much closer to an annoyance.
Why are you still traveling with her? he asked himself for the thousandth time. Natsuki meant nothing to him. She was no relation, he owed her nothing, and her childlike disposition meant he had to watch her all the time. He could have left her at the police station in the nearest city to the ruins, where he had taken her to see if anyone had filed a missing persons report matching her description. He could have left her in any of the cities they had traveled through on their way to different jobs since - she could easily claim to be a minor, and as there was no proof otherwise the state would have to take care of her. Even if they refused, that still didn’t mean she was his responsibility.
But he hadn’t done that. For three months now, months in which they had found not even the slightest hint to Natsuki’s true identity, he had instead found himself teaching her things - like how to build a contained fire in the forest that wouldn’t be a danger to the underbrush, how to find or make a shelter in various terrains, which plants were edible and which poisonous - in short, the skills she would need if she were to continue traveling with him on his search for lost treasures. After an ugly encounter with a rival group of treasure hunters, he had even begun to teach her how to fight, ignoring the voice in his head that said she wouldn’t need to know that if he would just get rid of her like he should.
Natsuki was just…odd, he thought, for the hundredth time. She had to be told not to play with fire or approach wild animals or fiddle with his weapons, and Masumi really didn’t know how she had survived this long without a keeper. Despite that, she never had to be told anything twice, and she was always excited, always amazed, looking out at the world as if everything in it were new to her. She made no sense to Masumi. She would be better off with someone who understood her better, like her own family. She needed to -
She had been quiet for a very long time now.
A part of Masumi went still and cold as his mind finally registered that faint sense of wrongness that had been niggling at him for the past few minutes. Normally by this point Natsuki would have backtracked to find him, disliking the silence of walking alone. He saw the map of the terrain in his mind’s eye. While they were traveling in mostly forested area now, he knew their path eventually led along a cliff edge, with nothing between it and a very long drop. In fact, they should be very near it now.
He sped up, scrambling over rocks as fast as he could, as he tried to remember just how long it had been since Natsuki had called back to him. He hadn’t heard a scream, though, and surely he would have if -
He broke out of the trees into a clear patch of ground perhaps twenty feet from the edge of a cliff. Natsuki was standing (safe, his heart whispered to him as it unclenched) with her back towards him, right at the edge. He had been right; they finally had reached the height they were aiming for, and Masumi knew that this particular cliff overlooked a straight drop to the sea below. He took a deep breath - it was the climb, he told himself, not the relief - and walked at a slower pace to join her.
She turned to him, and Masumi saw why she had remained so silent - her eyes were huge with awe, her face transformed by wonder. “Masumi,” she breathed, and for a second his voice caught in his throat. In the next instant her face lit up with her usual bright smile, and she threw her arms around him exuberantly. He stiffened automatically and had only just begun to consider hugging her back when she drew back, words bubbling over in her excitement. “It’s so big! And so beautiful! Masumi, look!” she exclaimed, dragging him by the hand to stop mere inches from the edge. He freed his hand, resting it on her shoulder to keep her from overbalancing as she pointed wildly, and let her enthusiasm wash over him as waves of a foreign sea.
“We could go down there later, if you wanted,” he heard himself offer when Natsuki paused for breath. She turned to him with excitement and wonder lighting up her entire face. “Masumi! Could we really?”
It would be incredibly inconvenient to trek down to the water’s edge. Not to mention they would then have to climb back up, because Masumi had arranged their helicopter pickup on an empty stretch of land high in the cliffs specifically so he could avoid having to climb back down in the first place. If he did this they would have to make the trip twice, because he seriously doubted he would find any place out here where his cell phone could find the reception it needed to change the location of their pickup. He opened his mouth and said, “Of course we can. After we find the treasure, we can go down to the water tomorrow.”
This time he was more prepared for the hug that threatened to squeeze the breath out of him. Slowly and carefully his arms found their way around her, his body awkward at the alien sensation of another human being in his arms.
***
Natsuki had wanted to set up camp right there at the edge, so she could watch the water as she fell asleep, but Masumi had put his foot down and moved them back into the cover of the trees. There was a reason they hadn’t taken a helicopter to the ruins, after all; they needed a quiet and unobtrusive approach in case anyone else was out there looking for this same treasure, and building a fire on an exposed cliff was not the way to do that. Natsuki pouted for a while, but cheered up when Masumi offered to finish their preparations so she could go watch the sun set over the water. He watched her as she skipped away, happiness radiating from every line of her body. He wondered if he had ever been that happy.
Shaking his head and growling at himself for his own stupidity, Masumi went back to his work with a determined single-mindedness that did not admit any thought of girls who were happy even when there was no reason to be. He had just finished when Natsuki came back, who without a word of prompting started getting out their supplies for dinner.
After they had eaten and cleaned up, Natsuki and Masumi returned to the small fire, now nearly burned down to coals. There was still just enough warmth to keep Masumi from shivering, though, and he could feel Natsuki at his side, radiating a warmth of her own. He ignored how cold his other side felt by comparison.
“Natsuki is glad to be here with Masumi,” Natsuki declared suddenly. He looked up in surprise, but Natsuki was looking into the fire and not at him. “Natsuki likes this - traveling with Masumi.”
Masumi felt something twist in his heart, and for lack of anything better to say, blurted out, “You don’t have to do that, you know.”
“Do what?” Natsuki looked at him then, surprise coloring her features.
“Say your name when you speak. You could just say “I” and everyone would know what you meant.” Masumi didn’t know where Natsuki had picked up this girlish method of speaking, but after trying to talk her out of it several times when they had first met and having been met with either confusion or a stubborn “Natsuki is Natsuki,” he had given it up after the first month. No harm in trying again, though.
He glanced up at her to see her reaction and saw an obstinate expression cross her face. He knew what she would say before she opened her mouth. “Natsuki is Natsuki,” she insisted, and he was already dismissing his attempt as she spoke, too familiar with that expression to try pressing the issue. He was startled, however, as she continued in a voice so low he could barely hear it, “Natsuki won’t forget…”
“What?” he asked, turning to stare at her. “What did you say?”
She looked at him with an expression he had never seen before on her cheerful face - something half fearful, half determined. “Natsuki won’t forget,” she repeated, stronger this time. “Natsuki is Natsuki. Natsuki won’t forget.”
He had scooted closer to her and taken her hands in his before he consciously commanded his body to move. “You think you’ll forget?” The twisting, painful feeling was back again. “Why would you think that?”
She looked away from him, tugging her hands slightly out of his grip. “Natsuki did before.”
He recaptured her hands and clutched them tightly, forcefully. “You won’t forget again.”
Natsuki looked at him slowly, staring straight into his eyes, and he met them as directly as he could, trying to project a confidence he didn’t feel into his gaze. She searched his face for what felt like an eternity, then abruptly, she smiled. “Even if Natsuki did forget, Masumi would always be there to remind her, ne?”
He stared at her as his heart beat loudly in his ears. He didn’t do always. Always meant nothing to a boy with no family and no home - it spoke only of broken promises and dying hopes. Always had never belonged to him.
He squeezed her hands again. “Yes. I’ll always be there to remind you,” he said, and his mind shook and his body trembled as he realized it was true.
Title: Always
Rating: PG
Summary: Masumi didn't know why he was still traveling with Natsuki. Set pre-series, a few months after Natsuki and Masumi meet. For 10_themes prompt 10 - Excitement.
“Masumi, come on! Keep up!”
Masumi scowled viciously and with zero effect at the source of that cheerful voice, as his erstwhile traveling companion was too far ahead of him to see it. Who knew the girl had so much stamina? Certainly he hadn’t, when he found her lying in the ruins of a strange temple. He would be the first to admit her strength was an asset but at the end of a long and strenuous climb it was much closer to an annoyance.
Why are you still traveling with her? he asked himself for the thousandth time. Natsuki meant nothing to him. She was no relation, he owed her nothing, and her childlike disposition meant he had to watch her all the time. He could have left her at the police station in the nearest city to the ruins, where he had taken her to see if anyone had filed a missing persons report matching her description. He could have left her in any of the cities they had traveled through on their way to different jobs since - she could easily claim to be a minor, and as there was no proof otherwise the state would have to take care of her. Even if they refused, that still didn’t mean she was his responsibility.
But he hadn’t done that. For three months now, months in which they had found not even the slightest hint to Natsuki’s true identity, he had instead found himself teaching her things - like how to build a contained fire in the forest that wouldn’t be a danger to the underbrush, how to find or make a shelter in various terrains, which plants were edible and which poisonous - in short, the skills she would need if she were to continue traveling with him on his search for lost treasures. After an ugly encounter with a rival group of treasure hunters, he had even begun to teach her how to fight, ignoring the voice in his head that said she wouldn’t need to know that if he would just get rid of her like he should.
Natsuki was just…odd, he thought, for the hundredth time. She had to be told not to play with fire or approach wild animals or fiddle with his weapons, and Masumi really didn’t know how she had survived this long without a keeper. Despite that, she never had to be told anything twice, and she was always excited, always amazed, looking out at the world as if everything in it were new to her. She made no sense to Masumi. She would be better off with someone who understood her better, like her own family. She needed to -
She had been quiet for a very long time now.
A part of Masumi went still and cold as his mind finally registered that faint sense of wrongness that had been niggling at him for the past few minutes. Normally by this point Natsuki would have backtracked to find him, disliking the silence of walking alone. He saw the map of the terrain in his mind’s eye. While they were traveling in mostly forested area now, he knew their path eventually led along a cliff edge, with nothing between it and a very long drop. In fact, they should be very near it now.
He sped up, scrambling over rocks as fast as he could, as he tried to remember just how long it had been since Natsuki had called back to him. He hadn’t heard a scream, though, and surely he would have if -
He broke out of the trees into a clear patch of ground perhaps twenty feet from the edge of a cliff. Natsuki was standing (safe, his heart whispered to him as it unclenched) with her back towards him, right at the edge. He had been right; they finally had reached the height they were aiming for, and Masumi knew that this particular cliff overlooked a straight drop to the sea below. He took a deep breath - it was the climb, he told himself, not the relief - and walked at a slower pace to join her.
She turned to him, and Masumi saw why she had remained so silent - her eyes were huge with awe, her face transformed by wonder. “Masumi,” she breathed, and for a second his voice caught in his throat. In the next instant her face lit up with her usual bright smile, and she threw her arms around him exuberantly. He stiffened automatically and had only just begun to consider hugging her back when she drew back, words bubbling over in her excitement. “It’s so big! And so beautiful! Masumi, look!” she exclaimed, dragging him by the hand to stop mere inches from the edge. He freed his hand, resting it on her shoulder to keep her from overbalancing as she pointed wildly, and let her enthusiasm wash over him as waves of a foreign sea.
“We could go down there later, if you wanted,” he heard himself offer when Natsuki paused for breath. She turned to him with excitement and wonder lighting up her entire face. “Masumi! Could we really?”
It would be incredibly inconvenient to trek down to the water’s edge. Not to mention they would then have to climb back up, because Masumi had arranged their helicopter pickup on an empty stretch of land high in the cliffs specifically so he could avoid having to climb back down in the first place. If he did this they would have to make the trip twice, because he seriously doubted he would find any place out here where his cell phone could find the reception it needed to change the location of their pickup. He opened his mouth and said, “Of course we can. After we find the treasure, we can go down to the water tomorrow.”
This time he was more prepared for the hug that threatened to squeeze the breath out of him. Slowly and carefully his arms found their way around her, his body awkward at the alien sensation of another human being in his arms.
***
Natsuki had wanted to set up camp right there at the edge, so she could watch the water as she fell asleep, but Masumi had put his foot down and moved them back into the cover of the trees. There was a reason they hadn’t taken a helicopter to the ruins, after all; they needed a quiet and unobtrusive approach in case anyone else was out there looking for this same treasure, and building a fire on an exposed cliff was not the way to do that. Natsuki pouted for a while, but cheered up when Masumi offered to finish their preparations so she could go watch the sun set over the water. He watched her as she skipped away, happiness radiating from every line of her body. He wondered if he had ever been that happy.
Shaking his head and growling at himself for his own stupidity, Masumi went back to his work with a determined single-mindedness that did not admit any thought of girls who were happy even when there was no reason to be. He had just finished when Natsuki came back, who without a word of prompting started getting out their supplies for dinner.
After they had eaten and cleaned up, Natsuki and Masumi returned to the small fire, now nearly burned down to coals. There was still just enough warmth to keep Masumi from shivering, though, and he could feel Natsuki at his side, radiating a warmth of her own. He ignored how cold his other side felt by comparison.
“Natsuki is glad to be here with Masumi,” Natsuki declared suddenly. He looked up in surprise, but Natsuki was looking into the fire and not at him. “Natsuki likes this - traveling with Masumi.”
Masumi felt something twist in his heart, and for lack of anything better to say, blurted out, “You don’t have to do that, you know.”
“Do what?” Natsuki looked at him then, surprise coloring her features.
“Say your name when you speak. You could just say “I” and everyone would know what you meant.” Masumi didn’t know where Natsuki had picked up this girlish method of speaking, but after trying to talk her out of it several times when they had first met and having been met with either confusion or a stubborn “Natsuki is Natsuki,” he had given it up after the first month. No harm in trying again, though.
He glanced up at her to see her reaction and saw an obstinate expression cross her face. He knew what she would say before she opened her mouth. “Natsuki is Natsuki,” she insisted, and he was already dismissing his attempt as she spoke, too familiar with that expression to try pressing the issue. He was startled, however, as she continued in a voice so low he could barely hear it, “Natsuki won’t forget…”
“What?” he asked, turning to stare at her. “What did you say?”
She looked at him with an expression he had never seen before on her cheerful face - something half fearful, half determined. “Natsuki won’t forget,” she repeated, stronger this time. “Natsuki is Natsuki. Natsuki won’t forget.”
He had scooted closer to her and taken her hands in his before he consciously commanded his body to move. “You think you’ll forget?” The twisting, painful feeling was back again. “Why would you think that?”
She looked away from him, tugging her hands slightly out of his grip. “Natsuki did before.”
He recaptured her hands and clutched them tightly, forcefully. “You won’t forget again.”
Natsuki looked at him slowly, staring straight into his eyes, and he met them as directly as he could, trying to project a confidence he didn’t feel into his gaze. She searched his face for what felt like an eternity, then abruptly, she smiled. “Even if Natsuki did forget, Masumi would always be there to remind her, ne?”
He stared at her as his heart beat loudly in his ears. He didn’t do always. Always meant nothing to a boy with no family and no home - it spoke only of broken promises and dying hopes. Always had never belonged to him.
He squeezed her hands again. “Yes. I’ll always be there to remind you,” he said, and his mind shook and his body trembled as he realized it was true.