RP Log-Kikumaru Eiji and Oshitari Yuushi
Date: Earlier this afternoon, around noon.
Rated: PG for mobs and bloody noses.
Summary: Oshitari happens upon Eiji at the mall, and the two strike up a conversation about mutants and kittens. Eiji's hat is stolen, and they flee the subsequent mob of angry humans and end up finding sanctuary in the park.
Disclaimers: No, we don't care that its technically still winter and Eiji finds a tree with leaves. Be warned this is a somewhat cute log involving Tari...must be getting pretty frosty in hell XD...
Eiji happily wandered through the mall, tail twitching inside his gray baggy ski pants, ears safely tucked away under a blue bobble hat. He hadn't been outside on his own before. It was a good thing he remembered how to take a bus from when his mother and sisters had taking him clothes shopping!
Walking by yet another glass panel in the wall, Eiji paused. Was that ... yes, it was! Kittens in the window! "Nya, kawai~i!" the teen exclaimed, stopping to make funny faces at the kittens.
A young child starting crying just as Oshitari walked past him, and the illusionist clenched his eyes shut irritably at the noise. He'd gone walking based on the theory that fresh air would help his nagging headache pass a bit. It was just chance that he'd happened upon the very mall that had slowly been being rebuilt after Shinji and Tachibana had leveled it quite effectively. Work still needed to be done, but the majority of the repairs were done, and dozens of shops were open for business. The scents of fast food, cheaply dyed fabrics and sweaty currency permeated around him, aggravating his mood somewhat.
It also didn't help that his power was fluctuating here and there. He'd somehow more or less lost control of it, and it reached out randomly now at whomever was nearby. How irritating.
Slowly it began to dawn on him he was staring absently at a teenager gawking at the pet shop window. Something had caught his eye, and it took him a moment to sort it out.
The teenager had a tail. He was almost positive. Weeks spent watching Saeki hide his own under coats, pants and long shirts had him recognizing the subtle twitching in the back of the young man's ski pants.
At least he could now say that watching Koujirou's ass had its practical uses.
Intrigued enough to forget the pain lingering around his temples, he moved to the window himself, peering down at the mewling and pawing kittens that suddenly noticed him and vied for his attention. Cats were such strange things; he wondered really what attracted him to them, and vice versa. Out of the corner of his eye he looked the shorter boy up and down before murmuring quietly, "Tails can at times be a trial to hide, can they not?"
Eiji had heard the person stopping beside him, but paid him no attention. The kittens were so cute! He tapped at the glass happily, grinning as some of them greeted the newcomer and some others swatted, trying to get at his fingers from the other side of the glass.
At the words, though, he froze, and turned quickly to look at the other's face. He'd never seen this person before, and Eiji's feline fight or flight instincts were frozen. "Nya?" he said, hesitantly.
Eiji could feel his heart thumping painfully as he wondered if running away was a good idea. He remembered hushed voices (arguments, his father angry, his mother pleading; "I don't want Eiji to grow up in fear ... ") The tell-tale appendage twitched a bit more in his pants.
The wide eyes and frozen stance were all Oshitari needed to confirm his suspicion. He stepped minutely closer, turning his head enough to assure the other. "I seem to have startled you. My apologies. There is not any need to be alarmed though. I would hardly reveal another mutant to this crowd of humans..." He glanced around at the people milling about window-shopping and the like. He made a slight face as a young preteen girl talking loudly with her friends, a half masticated hamburger rolling around visibly in her mouth. He turned back to the other mutant, smiling easily despite his headache before returning his gaze back to the little kittens falling over themselves trying to decide which of them to pay attention to. "You seem to like cats", he commented offhandedly.
Oh ... Eiji looked the other up and down, keen eyes trying to spot anything out of place. But the person before him looked perfectly human. Just like Oishi, Eiji thought, and just like that, the teen placed the other in a 'safe' category in his mind. He relaxed a bit, losing some of the tension in his body as he slowly unwound.
"Probably because I'm half one, nya," Eiji said, and he offered a smile at the other. The guy probably had mind-powers like Oishi did! Or maybe he was like Niou and could phase through walls and floors. Could Niou phase through with things? Eiji thought, and then remembered the condoms and lube, and flushed a little. Maybe if Niou were here, he could get a kitten out from the glass confines it was in, and they could play a little. Though that might be bad, since his mother had always told Eiji to never, ever, ever let anyone outside see his ears and tail.
Oh, oops. Eiji stole another look at the person beside him. He'd told a stranger he was half-cat. Eiji could feel the dread creeping in. Was the person going to yell at him, like Eiji's great-granduncle had?
"Ah. I assumed your mutation would be something like that", Oshitari kept his voice low but easy enough. "I am acquainted with a tiger transmorph; I happened to notice your tail quite by accident." Actually one little kitten had caught his eye; it was an interesting red and white colored tiny ball of fur, with golden eyes. He pressed a hand to the glass, peering closer at it. Catching the cat-boy's reflection in the glass beside him, he tossed him a small smile. "You are probably regretting confiding that in me. No need to worry. I am a mutant as well."
Hearing that disclosure, Eiji grinned at Oshitari. Another friend! Eiji wasn't sure when he'd started equating mutants with friends, since he had never met others until he'd gone to Ryuhana. But everyone in Ryuhana was nice, and everyone there was a mutant. So all mutants were probably nice to each other, because few other people seemed to be, Eiji reasoned.
"I"m Eiji, nya," he offered happily. "Nice to meet you!" Eiji stuck out a hand to the other cheerfully.
Oshitari blinked at the hand extended to him. This Eiji was...cute. He was amused, and took the hand offered, shaking it solidly. "Oshitari Yuushi", he intoned, his gaze drifting back to the little kitten that had caught his eye. Perhaps it was symbolic: something else he couldn’t reach out for...
Eiji followed Oshitari's gaze to the kitten in the window. "Hoi, he's cute isn't he?" He absolutely adored the kitten's eyes. Eiji made funny faces at the cat, and was absolutely delighted when it responded, gamboling over to press against the glass. "Hoi, you're so cute!" the feline rejoiced, hopping happily. Eiji didn't even realize he'd loosened his cap in the process, allowing one red-furred ear to poke out.
It was on the tip of Oshistari's tongue to mention the twitching red cat ear peeking out from the hat, but the sound of wheels rolling close by alerted him, and he looked over just in time to see a group of roller-blading teenage boys zip by, the leader reaching out and snatching Eiji's hat off of his head.
For a moment, it seemed as if no one had noticed the all too obvious ears now visible. Then the pointing started, and Oshitari gritted his teeth, muttering out a small curse under his breath. "I believe we should leave now."
Eiji had never thought people would steal a hat from a person's head, but as the wheels had gotten closer and closer, he'd felt his bobble hat that Ayu-nee had knitted being lifted from his head. Frozen in shock, Eiji stared at his ears reflected in the pet shop window, unable to move to cover them with his hands, his hair, anything. He could hear the whispers now, and his sharp hearing picked out "... cat ears ... mutant ..."
He could hear his mother--never ever let anyone outside see those ears, Eiji, NEVER!--and Eiji's cat-mind chose that moment to dredge up snippets of a news broadcast as he'd eavesdropped during a catnap--... mutants killed in mob ... --and he realised that too many people were slowing down, too many people were pointing, too many people were starting to say things that his ears couldn't shut out.
" ... nya ... " Eiji whispered, unable to move as a wave of panic swept over him. Run, a voice in his head said.
Eiji didn't move.
RUN!
With a strangled half-cry, half-nya, Eiji turned and ran, blindly, back the way he came.
"Wait, that isn't-" Oshitari cut himself off, the cat boy taking off speedily towards the far exit. People were pointing at him now, a few breaking away from groups to chase after the redhead. Cursing low under his breath, he broke into a run after them. That fool, running back out the long way when the other exit had been just two shops up ahead the other way...
It took only seconds for him to catch up to and bypass the already winded humans. Overweight pigs... he thought uncharitably as he ran. But Eiji was faster, and it was difficult to catch up to him. Oshtari hurdled quite a few obstacles trying to speed up, but even his training wasn't enough to catch up to the speedy flight of a cat. Even so, he was close as Eiji reached the doors. The cat boy seemed to hesitate a second, and Oshtari rapidly deduced there were more people outside of the doors probably gawking and pointing at him. With a snarl, he raced towards the door. "Move!" He called to the transmorph, catching up enough to be heard over the squealing of the humans. "Move! Keep going!"
Eiji ran and ran, as fast as he could, faster than he'd ever done in the Ryuhana gyms. It was fun to run there, but it wasn't at all fun running here, not at all, even when there were obstacles and lots of wide-open space and people--people! Outside the door!
The feline teen skidded to a halt, unable to decide. People behind him; people in front of him ... too many people! Eiji almost cried, despairing. Why couldn't he have been a bird morph instead of a stupid cat morph? At least he could fly above the people and get away that way!
"Move! Keep going!"
Eiji didn't think, obediently running forward again, pushing open the doors and blindly rushing headlong into the crowd, trusting to his natural agility and flexibility to somehow make it through as he dodged and weaved and was nearly caught as someone grabbed his sleeve. "Nya!" he said, struggling, breaking free only to be surrounded by more people. Help! thought Eiji, looking around desperately as the avenues for escape closed off one by one.
There! That gap between those two, he could make it through if he could break free! Eiji leaped, a mad dash in his bid for freedom.
He wasn't going to make it. Oshitari could see that as humans crushed around him, trying to move past each other to get to the feline transmorph. Growling, he tried his power, throwing out any sort of hallucination onto whatever parts of the crowd he could hit. A few people around him dropped, clutching their throats, and a few on the fringe of the growing mob suddenly screamed in horror, but he could feel the energy zig zagging out of his control, and tiny stabbing needles behind his eyes for the effort. Ahead of him, Eiji was still in mid leap, several people angrily closing in on him. Squeezing his eyes shut, Oshitari shoved people out of his way violently and concentrated as hard as he could. Abruptly, people began to shriek and scatter around him, some running into the glass doors, the walls, falling to the ground and clawing the pavement. He gasped at the hideous effort he was making, and opened his eyes again, once again moving forward. Catching up to the cat boy, whose shirt was trapped in a hollering man's fist, Oshitari struck, never slowing, and clipped the man in the jaw, watching him crumble and release the other mutant only briefly. "Keep running!" He ordered Eiji, never slowing. "Keep running straight until you see a park! Go!" The park should be just ahead, the park he'd taken Saeki to...just up ahead. He raced after the transmorph, groaning at the pain in his head as he followed.
Free! Eiji leaped and jumped and somersaulted out of some other people's way, the worst of it behind him. He could hear Oshitari, keeping up behind him, and Eiji could also hear the sounds of other people falling back, but there were even more people further away who were starting to turn and stare.
He worried about Oshitari, who sounded in pain. Eiji knew that without the other's help, he wouldn't have been able to get away. His curious mind started to explore the possibilities if he _had_ been caught ... but he quickly found he didn't want to think about that at all.
Hearing the groan, Eiji hoped the other boy hadn't gotten hurt in the ... mob, his cat-mind supplied helpfully, and Eiji made a face. He doubled back, grabbing his savior’s hand, and then continued to run again, pulling Oshitari along as if that would make him run faster. The park loomed ahead, and Eiji dashed madly towards the first trees he saw. They could hide there; he could climb a tree and hide, and Oshitari looked normal so no one would suspect him.
Oshitari stumbled after as best he could, his control on his powers spasming and hurling out energy at various people they passed. Eiji was hurtling them quickly, so fast he could hardly feel his feet flying across the pavement. Soon enough, the park loomed up in front of them, and he began to relax once they'd made their way into the brush. Away from prying eyes, he thought Eiji would slow down, stop.
But the cat boy obviously had other plans. Oshitari tried to pull his hand away quick as the huge tree loomed in front of him, his eyes widening behind his glasses, but it was too late. Eiji, seemingly forgetting Oshtari wasn't a cat as well, leapt up to the first branch, losing his hand as the illusionist crashed face first into the trunk, knocking him silly and throwing him backwards on his butt.
Eiji made it all the way up to the leaf canopy before he realized he was missing something. Looking down, he winced, memories of crashing into things during agility and flexibility training in Ryuhana coming back. That really did look painful. Dragging his new friend into a tree was definitely not a nice way to repay the big favor Oshitari had done just now, too.
But Eiji couldn't come down to help Yuushi, he could hear the humans now. Backing up, he shot an extremely apologetic look at the boy on the ground. "Nya, I'm really really really sorry!" Eiji continued to climb up the tree, higher and higher until the branches threatened to creak under his weight and leaves covered him from every side. They wouldn't find him here, he thought. His tail twitched, swishing the leaves around it.
Clutching his now bleeding nose with a shaky hand, Oshitari glared up the tree, only to find the right lens of his glasses shattered into opaqueness. Damn cats. He reached up with his other hand, wincing, and yanked the glasses off, tossing them aside into the grass. He heard the people too; angry mutterings not so far back. Damn them too, he thought angrily, risking another headache to throw something at them, anything. It didn't seem to have worked; he heard no yelling or gasping, but the voices faded away, the footsteps leaving. With a sigh, he flopped back on his back for a minute, gasping in breath and pinching his nostrils shut. Of all the stupid things to do...his eyes cracked open, and sought out the faintest bits of telltale red sheltered by the branches and leaves. "They are gone", he croaked thickly, swallowing blood and grimacing. "Come down from there."
No response.
Making an annoyed sound, he sat up again. "It's safe now. You can come down." Was he going to have to coax this own out of the damned tree like a real cat? It made his lips quirk up despite his irritation. "Eiji-kun...come down, kitty. All the nasty, idiot humans are gone now..."
Oh good ... humans were leaving. No one would be waiting down there to yell at Eiji (or worse, something in his mind prompted, but Eiji ignored it). His breathing was still fast, but it had slowed down considerably by the time Oshitari's voice floated up to the topmost branches. He sounded a lot worse than he had earlier, Eiji thought with a sharp pang of guilt.
Quickly shimmying down the tree, Eiji dropped down beside Oshitari. One didn't need sharp eyes to see the bleeding nose, or note that the glasses were gone--a quick scan of the surroundings showed they'd landed somewhere nearby in the grass, and one lens had been shattered. Oshitari looked like the humans had gotten to him, though Eiji knew they hadn't--he would have heard them, if so.
"Nya ... I'm so sorry," Eiji said helplessly, padding over to retrieve the glasses. The frame was slightly bent out of shape, and the right lens was definitely beyond repair. Not knowing what to do, the cat boy fidgeted beside Oshitari, unwilling to just leave him there while he was injured. It's all my fault, Eiji realized. And all because I'm a mutant.
For that short moment, Eiji wondered if he could just stay in the four walls of Ryuhana for the rest of his life.
Sighing, Oshitari shook his head, standing up to pluck the ruined glasses out of Eiji's hand, tossing them away again. "It's all right. I have another pair. I suppose I could overlook my nose as you were far to agitated to notice." He frowned and wiped another smear of blood off of his upper lip. Wonderful.
After a moment he looked back at Eiji, silently judging. Wherever he lived, it certainly wasn't in the park; the Gods only knew why he was bothering helping the other teen so much, but it grated running the risk of allowing those damn humans another crack at mauling the cute younger teen to death. Especially after the last episode in the mall...obvious mutants would be feared of course, after Shinji and Tachibana wiping out scores of shoppers.
He reached over and patted the transmorphs shoulder. "We will have to hide your ears before leaving...I'll walk you home. Where do you live?" He asked, already shrugging out of his long coat...how fortunate that it had a hood sewn onto it. He draped it around the boy, yanking the hood up over his ears. "Better", he decided, ignoring the breeze biting through his turtleneck.
Eiji snuggled into the warm hood happily for a moment, then realized the other didn't have anything warmer underneath. But it was cold! He wriggled out of the new coat, then took off his own, a blue one he loved that was a hand-me-down from Dai-nii. He offered it at Oshitari, all but forcing it into the taller teen's hands. "Trade you, nya," he said, slipping his arms into Oshitari's coat. He was a little taller than Dai-nee, but Dai-nii had been wider around the shoulders.
Eiji looked around, realizing that all the scenery was unfamiliar to him. Maybe it was better that someone was offering to take him home, he thought sadly. He looked up at Oshitari--the face sort of looked familiar.
"Hoi, you look familiar now, nya ... You must be my senpai!" Eiji glomped the other happily. "Nya, I was worried I would never see Ryuhana again, nya!"
Having just barely shrugged into the lesser quality jacket, after holding it up in one hand and glancing at it dubiously, Oshitari was startled to find himself with an armful of Eiji, arms locked around him. He made some sort of choked noise before gently disentangling himself.
"I am afraid I don't attend Ryuhana, Eiji-kun. But I do know where it is", he sighed. He didn't recognize the transmorph, but that didn't mean anything. He couldn't be expected to have memorized each and every face at Ryuhana while he'd been a...guest...there.
Leading the way, he answered several of Eiji's questions, though nothing personal or of major consequence. The cat boy learned he roomed at the Brotherhood, was acquainted with several Ryuhana students, and could cause hallucinations in people. He danced around anything deeper than that, and soon enough they were standing outside of the gates.
"Hm. You'll forgive me if I do not follow you inside, Eiji-kun. It was good to meet you, however brief and under such dubious circumstances. Perhaps you should be careful to carry a spare hat with you when you go out", he advised with a slight smirk, deftly unfastening his borrowed coat, swapping Eiji for his own as the transmorph moved past the gates.
Eiji frowned. "Nya, I'm not going out anytime soon," he said, meaning it. Outside wasn't as much fun as he thought it would be. His ears twitched in the cold without a hat to protect them, and Eiji knew he should be getting back. He mourned the loss of the bobble hat, but Ayu-nee had made a white one, too. Before he left, though ...
Impulsively, Eiji ran back to Oshitari and hugged him. "Thanks, nya," said the catlike boy, and Eiji ran back into the safety of the campus. He wouldn't tell Oishi about this ... escapade. His roommate would only worry, and Oishi seemed to have enough things to worry about lately.
Oshitari stared after the chipper mutant, having been caught off guard again by the hugging. Dear gods, did he look huggable? Shaking his head, he composed himself, staggering a bit as he brought a hand up to clutch at his forehead before he huddled back into his coat and walked away.
Damn his powers. And strangely affectionate cat boys. He was going home to sleep for the rest of the day.
[ooc: Note--There will probably be some mention on the news about several people in that mob experiencing trauma to the brain or harming themselves to the extent of hospitalization thanks to Tari.]
Rated: PG for mobs and bloody noses.
Summary: Oshitari happens upon Eiji at the mall, and the two strike up a conversation about mutants and kittens. Eiji's hat is stolen, and they flee the subsequent mob of angry humans and end up finding sanctuary in the park.
Disclaimers: No, we don't care that its technically still winter and Eiji finds a tree with leaves. Be warned this is a somewhat cute log involving Tari...must be getting pretty frosty in hell XD...
Eiji happily wandered through the mall, tail twitching inside his gray baggy ski pants, ears safely tucked away under a blue bobble hat. He hadn't been outside on his own before. It was a good thing he remembered how to take a bus from when his mother and sisters had taking him clothes shopping!
Walking by yet another glass panel in the wall, Eiji paused. Was that ... yes, it was! Kittens in the window! "Nya, kawai~i!" the teen exclaimed, stopping to make funny faces at the kittens.
A young child starting crying just as Oshitari walked past him, and the illusionist clenched his eyes shut irritably at the noise. He'd gone walking based on the theory that fresh air would help his nagging headache pass a bit. It was just chance that he'd happened upon the very mall that had slowly been being rebuilt after Shinji and Tachibana had leveled it quite effectively. Work still needed to be done, but the majority of the repairs were done, and dozens of shops were open for business. The scents of fast food, cheaply dyed fabrics and sweaty currency permeated around him, aggravating his mood somewhat.
It also didn't help that his power was fluctuating here and there. He'd somehow more or less lost control of it, and it reached out randomly now at whomever was nearby. How irritating.
Slowly it began to dawn on him he was staring absently at a teenager gawking at the pet shop window. Something had caught his eye, and it took him a moment to sort it out.
The teenager had a tail. He was almost positive. Weeks spent watching Saeki hide his own under coats, pants and long shirts had him recognizing the subtle twitching in the back of the young man's ski pants.
At least he could now say that watching Koujirou's ass had its practical uses.
Intrigued enough to forget the pain lingering around his temples, he moved to the window himself, peering down at the mewling and pawing kittens that suddenly noticed him and vied for his attention. Cats were such strange things; he wondered really what attracted him to them, and vice versa. Out of the corner of his eye he looked the shorter boy up and down before murmuring quietly, "Tails can at times be a trial to hide, can they not?"
Eiji had heard the person stopping beside him, but paid him no attention. The kittens were so cute! He tapped at the glass happily, grinning as some of them greeted the newcomer and some others swatted, trying to get at his fingers from the other side of the glass.
At the words, though, he froze, and turned quickly to look at the other's face. He'd never seen this person before, and Eiji's feline fight or flight instincts were frozen. "Nya?" he said, hesitantly.
Eiji could feel his heart thumping painfully as he wondered if running away was a good idea. He remembered hushed voices (arguments, his father angry, his mother pleading; "I don't want Eiji to grow up in fear ... ") The tell-tale appendage twitched a bit more in his pants.
The wide eyes and frozen stance were all Oshitari needed to confirm his suspicion. He stepped minutely closer, turning his head enough to assure the other. "I seem to have startled you. My apologies. There is not any need to be alarmed though. I would hardly reveal another mutant to this crowd of humans..." He glanced around at the people milling about window-shopping and the like. He made a slight face as a young preteen girl talking loudly with her friends, a half masticated hamburger rolling around visibly in her mouth. He turned back to the other mutant, smiling easily despite his headache before returning his gaze back to the little kittens falling over themselves trying to decide which of them to pay attention to. "You seem to like cats", he commented offhandedly.
Oh ... Eiji looked the other up and down, keen eyes trying to spot anything out of place. But the person before him looked perfectly human. Just like Oishi, Eiji thought, and just like that, the teen placed the other in a 'safe' category in his mind. He relaxed a bit, losing some of the tension in his body as he slowly unwound.
"Probably because I'm half one, nya," Eiji said, and he offered a smile at the other. The guy probably had mind-powers like Oishi did! Or maybe he was like Niou and could phase through walls and floors. Could Niou phase through with things? Eiji thought, and then remembered the condoms and lube, and flushed a little. Maybe if Niou were here, he could get a kitten out from the glass confines it was in, and they could play a little. Though that might be bad, since his mother had always told Eiji to never, ever, ever let anyone outside see his ears and tail.
Oh, oops. Eiji stole another look at the person beside him. He'd told a stranger he was half-cat. Eiji could feel the dread creeping in. Was the person going to yell at him, like Eiji's great-granduncle had?
"Ah. I assumed your mutation would be something like that", Oshitari kept his voice low but easy enough. "I am acquainted with a tiger transmorph; I happened to notice your tail quite by accident." Actually one little kitten had caught his eye; it was an interesting red and white colored tiny ball of fur, with golden eyes. He pressed a hand to the glass, peering closer at it. Catching the cat-boy's reflection in the glass beside him, he tossed him a small smile. "You are probably regretting confiding that in me. No need to worry. I am a mutant as well."
Hearing that disclosure, Eiji grinned at Oshitari. Another friend! Eiji wasn't sure when he'd started equating mutants with friends, since he had never met others until he'd gone to Ryuhana. But everyone in Ryuhana was nice, and everyone there was a mutant. So all mutants were probably nice to each other, because few other people seemed to be, Eiji reasoned.
"I"m Eiji, nya," he offered happily. "Nice to meet you!" Eiji stuck out a hand to the other cheerfully.
Oshitari blinked at the hand extended to him. This Eiji was...cute. He was amused, and took the hand offered, shaking it solidly. "Oshitari Yuushi", he intoned, his gaze drifting back to the little kitten that had caught his eye. Perhaps it was symbolic: something else he couldn’t reach out for...
Eiji followed Oshitari's gaze to the kitten in the window. "Hoi, he's cute isn't he?" He absolutely adored the kitten's eyes. Eiji made funny faces at the cat, and was absolutely delighted when it responded, gamboling over to press against the glass. "Hoi, you're so cute!" the feline rejoiced, hopping happily. Eiji didn't even realize he'd loosened his cap in the process, allowing one red-furred ear to poke out.
It was on the tip of Oshistari's tongue to mention the twitching red cat ear peeking out from the hat, but the sound of wheels rolling close by alerted him, and he looked over just in time to see a group of roller-blading teenage boys zip by, the leader reaching out and snatching Eiji's hat off of his head.
For a moment, it seemed as if no one had noticed the all too obvious ears now visible. Then the pointing started, and Oshitari gritted his teeth, muttering out a small curse under his breath. "I believe we should leave now."
Eiji had never thought people would steal a hat from a person's head, but as the wheels had gotten closer and closer, he'd felt his bobble hat that Ayu-nee had knitted being lifted from his head. Frozen in shock, Eiji stared at his ears reflected in the pet shop window, unable to move to cover them with his hands, his hair, anything. He could hear the whispers now, and his sharp hearing picked out "... cat ears ... mutant ..."
He could hear his mother--never ever let anyone outside see those ears, Eiji, NEVER!--and Eiji's cat-mind chose that moment to dredge up snippets of a news broadcast as he'd eavesdropped during a catnap--... mutants killed in mob ... --and he realised that too many people were slowing down, too many people were pointing, too many people were starting to say things that his ears couldn't shut out.
" ... nya ... " Eiji whispered, unable to move as a wave of panic swept over him. Run, a voice in his head said.
Eiji didn't move.
RUN!
With a strangled half-cry, half-nya, Eiji turned and ran, blindly, back the way he came.
"Wait, that isn't-" Oshitari cut himself off, the cat boy taking off speedily towards the far exit. People were pointing at him now, a few breaking away from groups to chase after the redhead. Cursing low under his breath, he broke into a run after them. That fool, running back out the long way when the other exit had been just two shops up ahead the other way...
It took only seconds for him to catch up to and bypass the already winded humans. Overweight pigs... he thought uncharitably as he ran. But Eiji was faster, and it was difficult to catch up to him. Oshtari hurdled quite a few obstacles trying to speed up, but even his training wasn't enough to catch up to the speedy flight of a cat. Even so, he was close as Eiji reached the doors. The cat boy seemed to hesitate a second, and Oshtari rapidly deduced there were more people outside of the doors probably gawking and pointing at him. With a snarl, he raced towards the door. "Move!" He called to the transmorph, catching up enough to be heard over the squealing of the humans. "Move! Keep going!"
Eiji ran and ran, as fast as he could, faster than he'd ever done in the Ryuhana gyms. It was fun to run there, but it wasn't at all fun running here, not at all, even when there were obstacles and lots of wide-open space and people--people! Outside the door!
The feline teen skidded to a halt, unable to decide. People behind him; people in front of him ... too many people! Eiji almost cried, despairing. Why couldn't he have been a bird morph instead of a stupid cat morph? At least he could fly above the people and get away that way!
"Move! Keep going!"
Eiji didn't think, obediently running forward again, pushing open the doors and blindly rushing headlong into the crowd, trusting to his natural agility and flexibility to somehow make it through as he dodged and weaved and was nearly caught as someone grabbed his sleeve. "Nya!" he said, struggling, breaking free only to be surrounded by more people. Help! thought Eiji, looking around desperately as the avenues for escape closed off one by one.
There! That gap between those two, he could make it through if he could break free! Eiji leaped, a mad dash in his bid for freedom.
He wasn't going to make it. Oshitari could see that as humans crushed around him, trying to move past each other to get to the feline transmorph. Growling, he tried his power, throwing out any sort of hallucination onto whatever parts of the crowd he could hit. A few people around him dropped, clutching their throats, and a few on the fringe of the growing mob suddenly screamed in horror, but he could feel the energy zig zagging out of his control, and tiny stabbing needles behind his eyes for the effort. Ahead of him, Eiji was still in mid leap, several people angrily closing in on him. Squeezing his eyes shut, Oshitari shoved people out of his way violently and concentrated as hard as he could. Abruptly, people began to shriek and scatter around him, some running into the glass doors, the walls, falling to the ground and clawing the pavement. He gasped at the hideous effort he was making, and opened his eyes again, once again moving forward. Catching up to the cat boy, whose shirt was trapped in a hollering man's fist, Oshitari struck, never slowing, and clipped the man in the jaw, watching him crumble and release the other mutant only briefly. "Keep running!" He ordered Eiji, never slowing. "Keep running straight until you see a park! Go!" The park should be just ahead, the park he'd taken Saeki to...just up ahead. He raced after the transmorph, groaning at the pain in his head as he followed.
Free! Eiji leaped and jumped and somersaulted out of some other people's way, the worst of it behind him. He could hear Oshitari, keeping up behind him, and Eiji could also hear the sounds of other people falling back, but there were even more people further away who were starting to turn and stare.
He worried about Oshitari, who sounded in pain. Eiji knew that without the other's help, he wouldn't have been able to get away. His curious mind started to explore the possibilities if he _had_ been caught ... but he quickly found he didn't want to think about that at all.
Hearing the groan, Eiji hoped the other boy hadn't gotten hurt in the ... mob, his cat-mind supplied helpfully, and Eiji made a face. He doubled back, grabbing his savior’s hand, and then continued to run again, pulling Oshitari along as if that would make him run faster. The park loomed ahead, and Eiji dashed madly towards the first trees he saw. They could hide there; he could climb a tree and hide, and Oshitari looked normal so no one would suspect him.
Oshitari stumbled after as best he could, his control on his powers spasming and hurling out energy at various people they passed. Eiji was hurtling them quickly, so fast he could hardly feel his feet flying across the pavement. Soon enough, the park loomed up in front of them, and he began to relax once they'd made their way into the brush. Away from prying eyes, he thought Eiji would slow down, stop.
But the cat boy obviously had other plans. Oshitari tried to pull his hand away quick as the huge tree loomed in front of him, his eyes widening behind his glasses, but it was too late. Eiji, seemingly forgetting Oshtari wasn't a cat as well, leapt up to the first branch, losing his hand as the illusionist crashed face first into the trunk, knocking him silly and throwing him backwards on his butt.
Eiji made it all the way up to the leaf canopy before he realized he was missing something. Looking down, he winced, memories of crashing into things during agility and flexibility training in Ryuhana coming back. That really did look painful. Dragging his new friend into a tree was definitely not a nice way to repay the big favor Oshitari had done just now, too.
But Eiji couldn't come down to help Yuushi, he could hear the humans now. Backing up, he shot an extremely apologetic look at the boy on the ground. "Nya, I'm really really really sorry!" Eiji continued to climb up the tree, higher and higher until the branches threatened to creak under his weight and leaves covered him from every side. They wouldn't find him here, he thought. His tail twitched, swishing the leaves around it.
Clutching his now bleeding nose with a shaky hand, Oshitari glared up the tree, only to find the right lens of his glasses shattered into opaqueness. Damn cats. He reached up with his other hand, wincing, and yanked the glasses off, tossing them aside into the grass. He heard the people too; angry mutterings not so far back. Damn them too, he thought angrily, risking another headache to throw something at them, anything. It didn't seem to have worked; he heard no yelling or gasping, but the voices faded away, the footsteps leaving. With a sigh, he flopped back on his back for a minute, gasping in breath and pinching his nostrils shut. Of all the stupid things to do...his eyes cracked open, and sought out the faintest bits of telltale red sheltered by the branches and leaves. "They are gone", he croaked thickly, swallowing blood and grimacing. "Come down from there."
No response.
Making an annoyed sound, he sat up again. "It's safe now. You can come down." Was he going to have to coax this own out of the damned tree like a real cat? It made his lips quirk up despite his irritation. "Eiji-kun...come down, kitty. All the nasty, idiot humans are gone now..."
Oh good ... humans were leaving. No one would be waiting down there to yell at Eiji (or worse, something in his mind prompted, but Eiji ignored it). His breathing was still fast, but it had slowed down considerably by the time Oshitari's voice floated up to the topmost branches. He sounded a lot worse than he had earlier, Eiji thought with a sharp pang of guilt.
Quickly shimmying down the tree, Eiji dropped down beside Oshitari. One didn't need sharp eyes to see the bleeding nose, or note that the glasses were gone--a quick scan of the surroundings showed they'd landed somewhere nearby in the grass, and one lens had been shattered. Oshitari looked like the humans had gotten to him, though Eiji knew they hadn't--he would have heard them, if so.
"Nya ... I'm so sorry," Eiji said helplessly, padding over to retrieve the glasses. The frame was slightly bent out of shape, and the right lens was definitely beyond repair. Not knowing what to do, the cat boy fidgeted beside Oshitari, unwilling to just leave him there while he was injured. It's all my fault, Eiji realized. And all because I'm a mutant.
For that short moment, Eiji wondered if he could just stay in the four walls of Ryuhana for the rest of his life.
Sighing, Oshitari shook his head, standing up to pluck the ruined glasses out of Eiji's hand, tossing them away again. "It's all right. I have another pair. I suppose I could overlook my nose as you were far to agitated to notice." He frowned and wiped another smear of blood off of his upper lip. Wonderful.
After a moment he looked back at Eiji, silently judging. Wherever he lived, it certainly wasn't in the park; the Gods only knew why he was bothering helping the other teen so much, but it grated running the risk of allowing those damn humans another crack at mauling the cute younger teen to death. Especially after the last episode in the mall...obvious mutants would be feared of course, after Shinji and Tachibana wiping out scores of shoppers.
He reached over and patted the transmorphs shoulder. "We will have to hide your ears before leaving...I'll walk you home. Where do you live?" He asked, already shrugging out of his long coat...how fortunate that it had a hood sewn onto it. He draped it around the boy, yanking the hood up over his ears. "Better", he decided, ignoring the breeze biting through his turtleneck.
Eiji snuggled into the warm hood happily for a moment, then realized the other didn't have anything warmer underneath. But it was cold! He wriggled out of the new coat, then took off his own, a blue one he loved that was a hand-me-down from Dai-nii. He offered it at Oshitari, all but forcing it into the taller teen's hands. "Trade you, nya," he said, slipping his arms into Oshitari's coat. He was a little taller than Dai-nee, but Dai-nii had been wider around the shoulders.
Eiji looked around, realizing that all the scenery was unfamiliar to him. Maybe it was better that someone was offering to take him home, he thought sadly. He looked up at Oshitari--the face sort of looked familiar.
"Hoi, you look familiar now, nya ... You must be my senpai!" Eiji glomped the other happily. "Nya, I was worried I would never see Ryuhana again, nya!"
Having just barely shrugged into the lesser quality jacket, after holding it up in one hand and glancing at it dubiously, Oshitari was startled to find himself with an armful of Eiji, arms locked around him. He made some sort of choked noise before gently disentangling himself.
"I am afraid I don't attend Ryuhana, Eiji-kun. But I do know where it is", he sighed. He didn't recognize the transmorph, but that didn't mean anything. He couldn't be expected to have memorized each and every face at Ryuhana while he'd been a...guest...there.
Leading the way, he answered several of Eiji's questions, though nothing personal or of major consequence. The cat boy learned he roomed at the Brotherhood, was acquainted with several Ryuhana students, and could cause hallucinations in people. He danced around anything deeper than that, and soon enough they were standing outside of the gates.
"Hm. You'll forgive me if I do not follow you inside, Eiji-kun. It was good to meet you, however brief and under such dubious circumstances. Perhaps you should be careful to carry a spare hat with you when you go out", he advised with a slight smirk, deftly unfastening his borrowed coat, swapping Eiji for his own as the transmorph moved past the gates.
Eiji frowned. "Nya, I'm not going out anytime soon," he said, meaning it. Outside wasn't as much fun as he thought it would be. His ears twitched in the cold without a hat to protect them, and Eiji knew he should be getting back. He mourned the loss of the bobble hat, but Ayu-nee had made a white one, too. Before he left, though ...
Impulsively, Eiji ran back to Oshitari and hugged him. "Thanks, nya," said the catlike boy, and Eiji ran back into the safety of the campus. He wouldn't tell Oishi about this ... escapade. His roommate would only worry, and Oishi seemed to have enough things to worry about lately.
Oshitari stared after the chipper mutant, having been caught off guard again by the hugging. Dear gods, did he look huggable? Shaking his head, he composed himself, staggering a bit as he brought a hand up to clutch at his forehead before he huddled back into his coat and walked away.
Damn his powers. And strangely affectionate cat boys. He was going home to sleep for the rest of the day.
[ooc: Note--There will probably be some mention on the news about several people in that mob experiencing trauma to the brain or harming themselves to the extent of hospitalization thanks to Tari.]