RP Log: Eiji & Ryoma
Date: Backdated to Tuesday, 3/14
Rating: G
Summary: Ryoma visits Eiji to ask about his empathy. And manages to take out his own shields. And turns into a cat. <3 They make the best of the situation, and both learn a little about empathy~ I love Eiji's family. :D;;
Ryoma glanced up at the house, then down at the piece of paper with Kikumaru's address. This must be the place - and a nice place it was, too: three floors, and in a decent neighborhood. It hadn't really been that far from school - just a short bus ride away, really, and he was actually quite glad to be outside without having to sneak out. He pulled his hat down a little more and walked up to the door, ringing the bell.
He only had to wait a moment before a woman answered the door - she must be Kikumaru's mother, he guessed - he nodded in greeting. "Hi. I'm Echizen - I'm here to see Kikumaru-kun." If this was the catboy's mother, she'd know what he meant - he'd spoken to her on the phone yesterday night when he'd gotten directions.
She nodded, smiling down at the boy. It was nice to know her Eiji was making friends at school. "Come in, Echizen-kun," she said, inviting the boy in. "Ei-chan! Echizen-kun is here!"
Eiji appeared at the top of the stairs, and peeked through the banisters. Spotting Ryoma, he grinned and waved, his tail swishing in greeting as well. "Echizen-san! Come up to my room, Kaa-san said it was okay, nya!" the catboy said cheerily as he ran down the stairs, circling his mother and then Ryoma.
"Oh, Ei-chan, shoo, go, take your friend upstairs," his mother said, laughing. "I'll be up in a moment with tea and cake."
Eiji grinned at Ryoma. "Kaa-san is the best. She taught Ayu-nee how to make strawberry cake, nya!" As if that explained it, Eiji took Ryoma's hand, senpai or not, and made to run up the stairs.
Ryoma stepped through the doorway, only to be circled by Kikumaru - who reminded him a lot of the way Karupin acted when he came home from school, actually. It was kind of amusing - and Kikumaru's mother obviously seemed nice enough, if they were going to get cake. Geez. He'd have to come over here more often.
Just as he thought that, Ryoma was veritably dragged up the stairs by the other boy; he followed (what other choice did he have?) until they'd arrived in Kikumaru's room; looking around, he asked, "Don't get many visitors, I take it?"
Eiji looked around a bit, and then grinned sheepishly. "Oops. Forgot to clean up. Wait outside, nya!" Pushing the other outside the door, Eiji shut it, and ran about frantically. Sounds of the closet door and drawers opening and closing could be heard through the door.
Kikumaru-san appeared at the foot of the stairs with a tray in hand. On it were two glasses of tea and two rather big slices of some very delicious-looking cake. As she came up the stairs, she eyed Ryoma outside the door, then heard the noises. "Oh, Ei-chan, I told you to clean it earlier, didn't I?" she said, and made a long-suffering face at Ryoma. "Forgive his manners, Echizen-kun ... people don't often come here to see him." She sounded a little sad.
"Done!" Eiji said, and the door opened. He bounced out, and nearly knocked over his mother. Quickly grabbing the tray so that nothing major happened, Eiji grinned at Ryoma and managed to both balance the tray in one hand and hug his mother with his other arm. "Thanks, Kaa-san!" he said, cheerily, and then went inside with the tray. His mother made sure both boys were comfortably seated and that the tray was carefully placed on a solid surface before closing the door behind her and leaving them alone.
Eiji grinned at Ryoma. "Have some cake, it's the best, really!"
Everything happened so fast here - it was definitely way different from his own house, though Ryoma would bet just about anything that his mother and Kikumaru's mother could commiserate. He'd rarely had any friends over before he'd started school at Ryuhana. He just shrugged and offered a relatively polite smile.
Once back inside and seated, he was not about to turn down cake. Taking a plate, he tried the offered piece - and had to admit, it was pretty damn good. "Your mom must be really glad to see you have someone over." But hey, if it got him cake, Ryoma could deal with the other's mother being a little overexcited. "Sucks that you gotta stay stuck inside, though," he said between bites. "S'not fun."
"Nya, no one knows I'm a mutant except family," said Eiji matter-of-factly. He dug into the cake enthusiastically, and made a happy sigh. "Kaa-san makes up for it with cake, and she taught me how to make this. Kaidoh-san helped me with it some time ago, nya. It was delicious!" He grinned at Ryoma. "But sometimes I want to go out too, nya. It's probably fun outside."
"Heh, well, practically my whole family's mutants." Ryoma did actually wonder once in a while if his mother felt left out. He nodded - it seemed like one wouldn't be able to live in this house without learning to bake, though.
"Yeah, not going outside sucks. I wasn't supposed to all last month without the shields." Of course, that hadn't stopped him - but then, Ryoma looked mostly normal, except for the stupid white patch of hair. He wasn't the one with cat ears and a tail, and he could understand how the other's family might not want him going outside.
But speaking of mutant powers - "But you've got empathy too, right?" That was why he was here, really - because he wanted to test a theory. Or at the very least, ask Kikumaru about this weird thing that had been happening.
Eiji nodded. "Can't turn it off, nya. It disappeared for a while last month, but it's back now. Have to catnap a lot again. Though there's really not that much to do besides nap, heh."
He wondered what Ryoma was getting at. "Why do you ask, Echizen-san?" What was Ryoma's powers again, anyway?
Ryoma nodded - he knew that feeling all too well. But he wasn't necessarily here to complain about powers. At least, not like that.
He frowned, trying to put into words what he'd been feeling lately. Though that was just it, wasn't it? "This's prolly a stupid question, but what's it feel like? C'n you tell when you're getting feelings that aren't yours?" He'd had that suspicion all too often over the past month - but it wasn't really something cut-and-dry that he could confirm or deny. He'd just have to see how this worked for someone that knew they had it, to make sure it really was empathy he'd been feeling, and not some other new aspect of his power.
Eiji looked at Ryoma curiously. "I don't feel anything, Echizen-san. That's Oishi, nya. I ... hoi, they said it was like being a radio tower, nya. I don't feel other people's emotions, but everyone else feels mine." He grinned sheepishly. "It's probably very distracting for Oishi, nya."
"Hm." Ryoma frowned. Well, that was just great - Oishi wasn't around to ask, and he'd hoped that Kikumaru could receive and send - but it looked like not. Then again, he supposed that he really didn't know about this power he'd been feeling - it might be able to broadcast too, he had no idea. "Well, okay. C'n you tell when you're sending stuff, then?" That might be close enough. "You said it was always turned on, so d'you notice it's on, then?"
Eiji thought about that for a bit. "Um ... I get tired a lot, and I suppose if I focus maybe I can tell, but ... I can't tell, or at least I don't think so nya."
Eiji pouted, flopping on his bed. "I'm not being very helpful, am I?" The catboy kicked a little at his mattress, then flipped over onto his back and stared at the ceiling.
Ryoma nodded - that made sense, if the other was using his own energy to broadcast things. Though it didn't help Ryoma's specific situation any if the other couldn't really describe what it was like - but that wasn't Kikumaru's fault. "Nah," he said quickly, "S'just not quite the same as whatever's going on with me. Not your fault."
Except, come to think of it, whatever had been going on wasn't going on right now - Ryoma felt pretty secure in the fact that his feelings were his own right now. He frowned, wondering what the difference was - because it had been kind of different, ever since he'd gotten back to school...
Eiji kicked a bit more, then rolled over and let his upper half of his body hang over the bed, where he looked at an upside-down Ryoma. "I don't know whether I'm transmitting right now, but maybe you can tell me what I'm feeling, nya," he said, grinning at Ryoma. "Maybe that can help you with your problem?"
Ryoma took a deep breath, letting it out slowly as he thought. Well, okay, that sounded like a decent experiment. It might not be definitive, but it was a place to start. And he didn't particularly feel strange at all, so maybe the other really wasn't transmitting - that might make this a little more reliable.
"I c'n try," he agreed, closing his eyes and trying to... well, feel. It was kind of hard to do on command - sure, he could feel Kikumaru - but with his own power, the one that identified the other clearly as a mutant. But he didn't feel anything else...
Maybe he wasn't trying hard enough, though. He tried to feel along that line he already had to the other, see if he couldn't open that line to include feelings too, not just power...
Eiji watched Ryoma, and he twisted to face the right side up, sprawling (but gracefully) to the floor and looking up at the older boy. His tail twitched from side to side as he tried to feel whether or not anything was different, but ... nothing.
Making a face, Eiji got up to walk over to the side of the room ... but his sharp eyes caught a bit of movement. What was th-Eiji stared. Ryoma's ear had twitched, and as he watched, what seemed like fur began to sprout.
Ryoma thought he might be getting somewhere - there was a tiny influx of ~curiosityexcitementannoyance~ and it felt... like it wasn't his. Especially not with the way it had suddenly turned on like that - the barrier between him and the other’s feelings was slowly giving way, and he resolutely tried to follow that line, push past what was left of that barrier, see if he couldn't make it stronger -
But he was feeling kind of weird, now - dizzy weird, and his tailbone ached, like he'd bruised it and his ears itched -
Oh. Oh no - Ryoma's concentration broke as his eyes flew open; he tried to blink the fuzzy room into focus as a wave of pure despair washed over him. That barrier he'd felt was his shields, and he'd just taken them down without even meaning to.
"Nya!" Eiji cried out, and he clapped his hands over his ears reflexively, wailing. "No, no, make it stop!" The catboy curled up into a ball beside Ryoma, and began to sob.
"Ei-chan!" Footsteps raced up the stairs, and his mother burst into the room, desperately looking about for her son. She saw Eiji, curled up on the floor in a little ball, wailing, and ran to him. "What's wrong, Eiji, what's wrong?"
Ryoma winced - now he felt even worse, but he wasn't sure whether it was physical or emotional - all he knew was that he was dizzy and the boy wailing next to him made him want to curl up and do the same.
When the other's mother burst into the room, however, it seemed to break the spell a little - Ryoma tried to reason out what the hell was going on - and while the woman fell to her knees beside her son, he slowly started to realize what had happened.
He'd synched Kikumaru - that much was clear by now, he thought, belatedly trying to think through the doubly-potent dismay and pull his shields back up. It was his own fault, his own stupid fault, and now he was probably broadcasting, and hell, he was pretty sure he was growing a tail -
Eiji felt absolutely horrible. He didn't know why he was despairing, but the world felt absolutely overwhelming and everything was crashing in on him and no one could help him and he wanted to cry. Slowly, though, he could hear his mother's voice, and he turned, clinging to her and burying his face in her chest as he shivered and cried.
Eiji's mother stroked her hair, looking down at her son helplessly. She knew the despair she felt was coming from Eiji, but this was too much--it was too strong, far more than she was used to getting from her emotional but normally cheerful Eiji. The sensations of despair were lifting already, so her presence must have calmed down her Ei-chan, she thought. She stroked her son's head gently, and made comforting shushing sounds. Then she noticed Ryoma's ears, and paused, the astonishment breaking through the despair.
Eiji's sobs, in the meantime, were slowly subsiding. He still clung to his mother, though, and his face was firmly buried in her arms. An occasional sob emerged from the boy, whose tail was tucked tightly between him and his mother. His ears were flattened against his head.
"Echizen-kun ... did you have cat ears before?" Eiji's mother asked, still cuddling Eiji to her.
Ryoma was concentrating on deep breaths, trying to calm down, pulling the shields in tightly, until he couldn't feel anything but his own dismay at his stupidity. Well, that and the very uncomfortable sensation of growing a tail - because he was, he was sure of that now.
He squirmed, dropping his head into his hands - only to hear Kikumaru's mother say something at the same instant he realized that his ears were... A little higher up. And furry. And twitching. And oh, hell, why hadn't he been a little more careful?
"No," he finally replied, hunting around on the bed for his hat, which had fallen off, in order to distract himself from whatever was happening on his backside. "I didn't before." He paused. "I copy powers." And glanced down at the little ball of redheaded catboy on the floor. "Sorry," he mumbled. He hadn't meant to do that.
It was gone now, that feeling of helplessness and shock and confusion ... at least, the really strong feelings were gone. Eiji loosened his hold on his mother, but he didn't take his face out of her arms.
Eiji's mother tilted her head a little at Ryoma, looking at him closely. Oh yes, the ears were a dead giveaway, but she could see the bulge where the tail had started to grow, and she reached out to pet Ryoma's head the way Eiji liked to be petted. "That can't be very comfortable, Echizen-kun," she said, trying not to chuckle. The despair had subsided by now, and she was sure that the shamefacedness and the regret and that feeling of guilt was only coming from Eiji.
Gently, she pushed Eiji away from her, and tapped his nose. "Ei-chan, I'm going to get some pants for Echizen-kun. Stay here, I'll be back, okay?"
Eiji nodded, looking very subdued.
"It's not -" Ryoma blinked as she petted his head, feeling much more calm and relaxed with just that action alone. Well, he thought wryly, she of all people would know how to calm an unhappy catboy. He decided that it would be better to curl up on his side for the time being, still squirming occasionally at the weird sensations, watching Kikumaru sitting on the floor.
"Didn't mean to do that - guess that's what it feels like, huh?" he asked, closing his eyes a moment. "Well. I guess the damage is done. F'you want me to synch again and show you anything, I guess I can." The shields weren't going to change the fact that he was morphing into a partial feline - they never seemed to stop anything once it had started. So he might as well make the most out of this trip, while he was here. Maybe he could at least help the other turn down his projecting. He squirmed again, muttering, "Least it doesn't hurt like the wings did."
"Mm," said Eiji, and he decided he'd much rather be in bed. So he climbed up onto his bed, where he curled up into a ball again, tail tucked around him (though not as tightly as before). He was quiet, but watched as the bulge in the back of Ryoma's pants grew. That
probably was really uncomfortable, since Ryoma wasn't used to having a tail and his pants weren't meant to fit legs and tail.
"You can take the pants off, I don't care," said Eiji quietly. "I'll look the other way until Kaa-san comes in with more comfy ones. Dai-nii's got some old clothes that would fit you. Mine all have holes." Except for two pairs Eiji used for outside when his parents actually wanted to take him somewhere, which were hidden away in a corner of his closet, carefully packed.
His mother came in, a pair of black track pants in hand. They looked nice and big and loose. "There's a bathroom outside, left, down the hall and second door on the right," she said, smiling kindly at Ryoma. She then turned her attention to Eiji, and stroked her son's head a bit more.
Eiji uncurled enough to stick a hand out and squeeze his mother's hands. "I'm ... I'm sorry, Kaa-san ... " He seemed to be trying to find the right words.
"Living with me ... I never knew it felt like that. Now I know how Oishi feels all the time, nya."
His mother petted Eiji's hand, and leaned down to hug him. "Don't apologize, Ei-chan. You are what you are, and we love you for what you are. You're our happy Ei-chan, and you make us happy just by being you. Powers aside. Don't ever apologize for what you are."
Eiji clung to his mother's neck and nodded, noticeably happier.
Ryoma was almost ready to consider the suggestion when Kikumaru-san came back in, handing him a pair of black track pants. He slid off the bed and nodded his thanks, stumbling out of the room and down the hall, feeling like he could barely balance properly.
It was probably just the fact that his tail was stuck with nowhere to go. He shut the bathroom door and locked it, pulling off the pants he had been wearing and kneeling, resting his head on his arms and letting whatever was happening finish, because what else could he do? Apparently tails didn't take long to grow; a few minutes later he felt much better, and lifted his head to see a black cat's tail twitching beside his elbows.
How could he have been so stupid? He should have known something like this was going to happen. Ryoma sighed - there was nothing he could do right now - and stood, pulling on the track pants, trying to keep his new appendage from moving too much. He glanced in the mirror, frowning; his human ears were gone, migrated up a little higher and turned into black cat ears, one with a weird white tip to match his stupid weird white spot.
He folded up his own pants and opened the door, padding back to Kikumaru's room and stopping inside the doorway. He'd heard most of their conversation. "You're prolly not even that bad, y'know," he said, coming back in after a moment. "I get full potential - that was prolly stronger than you usually are."
Eiji looked up noticing Ryoma in the doorway. He pulled back with a laugh as he noticed the changes in Ryoma's ears. "Cute, nya!" He laughed, pointing at Ryoma's cat ears. "One even has a white tip like your hair!"
He snuggled his mother, who petted him on his head and smiled back. Eiji was obviously alright now, so she nodded to both the boys and excused herself after squeezing Eiji and petting Ryoma on the head on the way out.
Eiji thought it was a good thing Ryoma had his baseball cap--he was certainly going to need something like that with those huge ears. He grinned at Ryoma, obviously much happier. He'd put the previous despair right back behind him already. "So, how's it like? Do you like it? Can you feel anything? I still can't but maybe you can, nya."
Ryoma frowned - somehow it didn't seem right for Kikumaru to call him cute - but there wasn't much to be done about that now. He signed resignedly, coming back into the room, not wanting to admit that being petted like that really helped.
"Not sure if I like it," Ryoma said, tossing his folded pants onto the floor for now. "It's weird." He could hear more, and in more directions, too. And he had a tail that was trying to help with his balance, but failing somewhat due to being confined inside a pair of pants, however loose.
"Don't feel anything 'cause I'm still shielded. Kinda pointless now, though." Ryoma paused a moment, taking a deep breath, and trying to pull in everything he felt, all the stupidity and shame, and ball it up and shove it down. He didn't want to project like that again. When he thought he had it under control, he took the shields down, carefully this time, waiting to see if the other freaked out. "Is that okay?" He felt something else try to slip in, something like ~curiosityembarrassment~ again - maybe that really was Kikumaru.
Eiji wondered why Ryoma was shielded, then thought about it again and realized it was probably because he would be synching left and right otherwise. It must be tiring trying to keep it turned off all the time.
When Ryoma asked him if it was okay, Eiji cocked his head to the side, ears twitching a little. Was what okay? It was curious, and Eiji was still slightly embarrassed from needing to cuddle his mother--but that had been a lot of despair--and Eiji just wanted to know what Ryoma was doing and why he was here and what Ryoma could do with Eiji's powers.
Eiji ducked his head a little, then realized the shame he was feeling was Ryoma's not his own. Shame and embarrassment felt sort of different side by side. Not very different, but there was a bitter tinge to shame that one didn't get from embarrassment. "Ne, Echizen-san, there's nothing to be ashamed of nya," Eiji said, and he smiled at Ryoma.
Oops - he must still be projecting, Ryoma realized, and tried to clamp down on his emotions a little more firmly. "Well... just not used to looking like a cat," he replied - then realized that he didn't want Kikumaru to take that the wrong way. "It's not that bad, you're right," he added quickly - because really, it wasn't, he pretty much felt the same, except for the wiggling of an extra appendage and the ability to hear better, albeit twitching ears.
But he was very sure that Niou was going to think this was the funniest thing he'd ever seen when Ryoma got home later.
Nonetheless, that wasn't what he was here to do now. "D'you want me to see f'I can turn it off or down?" Keeping his emotions balled up was probably not the way for Kikumaru to go, and it wasn't going to last very long, probably.
Eiji was about to say he wanted to feel what it was like to be around him a bit more, but his curiosity kicked in. "Hoi, can you turn it off? What does it feel like? Can you show me how to use it? Nya, Echizen-san, do it now!"
The catboy bounced a bit on his bed excitedly. He'd finally be able to figure out how to use his powers!
Turn it off... Well, okay. He could try. "Yeah, lemme see f'I can turn it down." Ryoma closed his eyes, trying to figure out what exactly needed doing. He knew how to turn senses down - he'd done that before. Maybe this was kind of the same thing? He felt around Kikumaru's power, trying to find the point of transmission, and then... tried to turn it down. Tried to slide the power down until he could feel his emotions, but they were limited only to himself and not the people around him...
"How's that?" he asked, eyes still closed, feeling like he had a pretty good handle on it. It felt like everything was contained, but he'd need an outside opinion to be sure.
Eiji tried to feel inside him and identify the feelings inside. It was hard--he'd never really tried to identify each separate feeling inside before. Curiosity, that was the big questioning patch smack in the middle of his head, though he wasn't at all sure why he knew that was curiosity. The embarrassment patch was a shy reclusive thread that had been fading away, but as soon as Eiji identified it as embarrassment it thickened out again, and Eiji ducked his head again unconsciously.
There was some relief, and a little bit of excitement, but Eiji knew it was his. He examined the rest of what he could see and feel, but he couldn't feel anything that wasn't his. Unless that growing patch of curiosity was Ryoma's and not his, but Eiji knew that wasn't true.
Eiji grinned, and bounced happily off the bed, tumbling gracefully and landing in front of Ryoma, and grinned, glomping the older boy. "Nothing ... how did you do that, nya? Teach me, please!" Idly Eiji noted a patch of happiness (strawberry! his mind thought happily) that was growing, bumping with the curiosity.
Ryoma blinked as he was veritably glomped - well, the other sure was excited, he could tell that without feeling the barest hit of strawberry-flavored happiness that seemed to be intent on creeping into his mood. "It... wasn't that hard," he said, trying to think of the best way to explain this. Fuji hadn't been so receptive, but then, that had been an entirely different situation.
"Kinda... think of yourself as a transmitter. And like you have a dial, or something... an' think about turning it down, until everything you feel's near you, an' not near other people..." That was the only way he could really explain it; he hoped Kikumaru would understand. "An' then just keep the dial on low, if you want to keep things to yourself..."
Transmitter? Eiji thought about that a bit, but he already knew he was a transmitter. But a dial ... Eiji searched within himself, and examined the feelings, circling around the strawberry happiness perhaps a little more than necessary ... but he couldn't understand how to make a dial turn. But ... dials turned things up and down like volume. Hmm ...
The redhead's eyes wandered around his room and chanced on his radio-- oh! Sliders! The sort he had on his radio to control the volume! Could he control the volume on his emotions so no one else could hear? Excitement ballooned in him, mixing with strawberry--lemon?lime?--and Eiji bounced happily. He would be able to keep his sadness and other bad emotions away from his family and everyone else! He'd be able to keep it away from Oishi so Oishi wouldn't get hit with it every day!
"Nya, I'm going to try it now!" said Eiji, and he settled down on the floor again at last, and took some deep breaths. Then closing his eyes, Eiji tried to pull a slider down in his mind. It took some time--did he even have a slider?--panic--and then something moved.
He froze, and went back to that something. It wasn't something Eiji could see or touch, but there was something there, an intangible yet there switch-thing that went up or down. Somehow, even without seeing it, Eiji knew what it was.
He tried again, and the slider moved a bit more.
Well, if Ryoma was sure of one thing, it was that Kikumaru sure was easily excitable. And his emotions came in flavors - which was a little odd, in and of itself, but he wasn't sure if that was just Kikumaru or not. It made things a little easier to identify, he supposed...
He watched the boy on the floor as his face fell into a mask of concentration - it felt like the emotion in the room was practically tangible, though maybe that was just because of the heightened awareness that had seemed to come with synching the redhead. Ryoma stood, taking a few breaths, trying to feel for a difference. There was nothing, for a moment -
Then, suddenly, the levels dropped. The emotion permeating the room wasn't gone, but it was significantly lessened. Ryoma grinned - which widened as the levels dropped again to a waning trickle. "Yeah - you got it," he said, impressed with Kikumaru's learning curve. "It's almost gone."
Eiji cheered, and jumped up, doing little flips and cartwheels. Oh--was the slider still down? It was so much easier now that he'd done it once--the emotions were easily identifiable now, and Eiji could just _see_ them inside him. He checked on that invisible slider, and it had started to budge a little, so Eiji pulled the switch further down, and tried to move it all the way. It resisted a little, and Eiji tugged some more, but it didn't move. Eiji could feel it in his head, something stuck, not quite there, but not moving.
Somehow Eiji knew that wasn't all the way. He frowned, and some anger--angry red hot--flared up beside him, which just irritated Eiji--annoying-itchy?--and made the red hot emotion a little hotter. He frowned and concentrated on the slider again. A push--move!--and it was there, all the way to the bottom.
He blinked, then checked to see if his emotions were still around. Amazement--sweet wonderful sparkly!--had blossomed somewhere, while the anger and irritation were gone. Strawberry/happiness was somewhere too, just less.
"Ne, Echizen-san, can you feel anything now?"
Scratch that - Kikumaru was extremely easily excitable - but it was kind of amusing to watch him, nonetheless, and his excitement was only barely trickling over to Ryoma even though it was obviously much more like a waterfall on Kikumaru's end.
It seemed like trying to get it all the way off was causing the other more than a little irritation, though - Ryoma was about to say something when the redhead's expression suddenly changed, and the atmosphere in the room seemed to clear completely. Amazement drifted over, but it was just the barest hint.
"I think you got it," Ryoma said, skirting the other's question for the moment. It certainly did feel like Kikumaru wasn't transmitting anymore - Ryoma wasn't quite sure how he could explain that, but he just knew. Then why was he still getting something?
This felt different, though - well, different in a more familiar way. With Kikumaru's switch all the way down, and the telepathic shields between them gone, Ryoma felt the barest hint of what the other was feeling, just like he'd been going through for the past month. "I think whatever's left is me..." he said, trying to run an internal check, trying to figure out if it really was him. He was starting to conclude, finally, that it was - because who else could it be? Denying it wasn't really going to get him anywhere. It was just... really strange. It seemed completely decoupled from his actual power, and yet at the same time, inexplicably intertwined.
"Guess I'm really not making it up," he said, shrugging.
Eiji cheered, and glomped the other boy, tackling them both to the ground. He huggled Ryoma, and squeezed him, because he was just so happy! It worked! He'd done it! He wasn't transmitting anymore!
A knock on the door, after a few minutes. "Ei-chan? Are you alright? I can't feel you anymore, Ei-chan," and his mother came in. She eyed Eiji on the floor hugging Ryoma, and raised an eyebrow.
Eiji bounced up, off Ryoma, and rushed up to his mother. "Kaa-san, I did it! Echizen-senpai showed me how to turn it off! There's a slider in my brain though I can't see it, and it goes all the way down, and I pushed it all the way and it's off now, nya!" He grinned happily at his mother.
Kikumaru-san looked at a loss and somewhat nonplussed. She looked to Ryoma for help, a questioning eyebrow raised. "I can't feel him anymore. Did you do that? Can he be turned on again? Did you take away the power?"
Ryoma tried to protest as he was knocked to the ground and thoroughly snuggled, but it was kind of hard to get through to the very, very excited Kikumaru-kun who had him pinned. He didn't have to, though, as the door opened a moment later and Kikumaru's mother came in.
While they were talking, he managed to push himself back into a sitting position and smooth his fur hair; he pushed up off the ground as Kikumaru-san addressed him, then glanced at the redhead bouncing around her.
"I just told him how to do it," he explained. "Sometimes I can figure out how to use powers quicker, s'all. He did the rest - it's not gone or anything. He c'n turn it back up whenever he wants."
Kikumaru-san petted Eiji on the head, and smiled. "Well, then. Good for you, Ei-chan. Now that I know you're actually okay, I'll go down and finish my chores." She left, again, but first spared some petting for both catboys.
Eiji bounced some more, happily. "Hoi, hoi, this is great! What else can you show me, Echizen-senpai!" It was most definitely -senpai, now, instead of -san. It hadn't been a conscious decision or anything ... just Eiji-mind deciding that Ryoma was now -senpai.
... Damn, why did that feel so good? It must be a side effect, Ryoma was sure... He watched Kikumaru bounce around for a moment, wondering if there was anything else he could show him.
So the other could project and transmit feelings, that was obvious. And he could turn the strength of that signal up and down. What came next? He could probably pick and choose who to send that signal to, but that wasn't very practical for testing right now. Though if he could do it, he was going to try, since Kikumaru's mother was just downstairs and he didn't want to bother her.
"I wonder if... maybe you don't gotta actually be feeling something to project it," Ryoma hummed thoughtfully, taking a seat on the bed. "Lemme try this." He closed his eyes, turning the internal dial on his emotions up, just a little. And then tried to project the feeling he got whenever Niou did something really silly - like hide from Mickey at Disneyland.
Eiji bounced around a bit, watching Ryoma, wondering what he was going to do next. He couldn't help feeling tingly all over with excitement. He was going to learn about his powers! Eiji bounced about, and watched Ryoma sit on his bed and close his eyes.
There was something about the way he sat there and just sat, Eiji thought, because it seemed a little funny. No ... Eiji giggled. It didn't just seem funny, it was funny. And then he collapsed in giggles on the floor. Ryoma sitting on the bed was just hilarious!
The other dissolved into giggles - and Ryoma couldn't help but grin himself - the other just looked so funny doing it, himself. He quickly turned the feeling down until it dissipated, and waited for the other to catch his breath.
"Looks like you can project anything you want, anytime you want," he said, leaning over a little to meet the eyes of the boy on the floor with a satisfied grin. "An' you can pick who you want it to affect, too."
Finally catching his breath a little more, Eiji just lay on the floor, gasping with occasional giggles. What had he found so funny?
Then Ryoma spoke, and Eiji nearly jumped up indignantly, but it really was rather funny in retrospect. So he grinned at the older boy. "Hehe, that's really really neat, hoi! But please don't do that again, my side hurts, nya."
So he could project whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted. And whoever, too, it seemed. Eiji grinned, and got up, wincing a bit at the stitch in his side, but grinning happily from ear to ear. He moved the slider up, just a notch or two, aiming for Ryoma but choosing something nice so even if his mother was hit it would be okay. So ... Eiji couldn't quite understand sending whatever he wanted, but sending happiness would do for now.
Strawberry-happiness, a big bunch over there. Eiji wondered how this was going to work. Would he push it over to the switch? Could he move the switch? Could he just think of it and make it work that way? Staring at the happiness, Eiji idly thought that it looked like pink cotton candy, only translucent. And then he thought about how cotton candy came in nice strands of sweetness that stuck together. And then thought about strands, and the emotion.
It misted instead. Eiji blinked, then tried moving the mist.
It didn't move, but Eiji was elated. He could affect the emotions in his head! "Can't do it yet, nya, but I will eventually," Eiji said, and grinned up at Ryoma.
"Well, you're definitely happy about something," Ryoma said, the grin far from fading, as he watched the other from the bed. It was infectious, whether it was the other's fault (intentionally) or not. "And it's strawberry-flavored." Even if the other wasn't projecting, he could still pick it up. It was a strange feeling, to think there was something else to his power, and that he hadn't noticed it for so long. But if it was there, then it was just something else he'd have to learn to master - and empathy sounded significantly easier to contain than his synchs.
"M'sure you'll get it eventually, anyway - it's just the first time you tried it. Things take practice an' stuff." Ryoma studied the other a moment more. "When're you coming back to school? We could probably work on it - except I dunno about synching you again." At least until such point in the future as he learned how to synch some parts of someone's power and not others.
Eiji grinned. "Hehe, my happiness is strawberry-flavored, nya," he said proudly. He beamed at Ryoma, and curled up next to the bed. "I'll work on it, and maybe next time I can do stuff for you!"
Eiji turned up the dial on his happiness a little more. He wondered if his mother might miss his strawberry-thoughts. Was this why they always made strawberry cake for him? Eiji wondered. Well, the catboy mused, that would explain how they knew he liked strawberry without ever having to say so.
"I dunno when I'm going back to school, nya," Eiji said with a frown, which was quickly wiped off his face as he remembered he was supposed to be spreading strawberry happiness. "Kaa-san's still worried. Ayu-nee and Mi-nee haven't been speaking to each other, and--" he quickly dialed down the transmission slider-- "Kaa-san and Ayu-nee have been arguing about Tammies, nya. Do you know what they are?" Eiji was glad he'd dialed down the level of his feelings; his curiosity was threatening to take over, the questioning patch growing.
"Very strawberry-flavored," Ryoma corrected, but it wasn't important. "Dunno what you can do for me, but I guess we'll see." He settled for idly watching his tail as it twitched this way and that inside one pantsleg, trying to get used to the strange tingling up and down his spine as it moved.
"Tammies?" Ryoma thought a moment - that sounded kind of familiar... "Oh - you mean that stupid Tokyo Anti-Mutants group or whatever they are?" He didn't know much about them; he'd only seen a blurb or two on the news about them, and they sounded as stupid as stupid could be to him. They hadn't done anything destructive yet, but they'd been protesting left and right, and putting pressure on local businesses and even city officials to do something about the "mutant problem." Ryoma frowned - if there was a mutant problem, it sure as hell wasn't being helped by the stupidity problem TAM seemed to have. "They're stupid. What's to argue about?"
"Nya," Eiji said, and he sat down on the floor, glad he'd turned his slider off. Shock had crept in and was swirling around curiosity, replacing it in many places. The strawberry had faded, most of it. Ayu-nee had yelled at Mi-nee about Tammies and doing stuff with them. Tammies were anti-mutant. Did that mean Mi-nee was anti-mutant? Did she not love Eiji anymore?
Eiji sat there, lost in thought and a little worried. If Mi-nee didn't like him anymore, there was still no reason for her to be anti-mutant. That included people like Oishi and Tomoka and Kaidoh and Ryoma and everyone else at Ryuhana, as well as people like Oshitari-san over in the brotherhood who weren't in his school but were nice people too. The catboy just sat, staring into space, grateful that his slider was all the way down and his mother wouldn't be worried about the worry and concern and fear swirling inside her
Eiji.
"... Oy." Ryoma blinked as a wave of worry and confusion washed over him - that was definitely from Kikumaru, and it definitely wasn't good. It was a big jump from the pink-pocky happiness he'd been basking in just a few seconds ago. He leaned over the edge of the bed, trying to catch the other's eyes. "What is it? They're just stupid - s'not like there aren't stupid people in the world. Don't worry about 'em - f'you let people like them rule your life, you're just letting them win." He knew some people didn't know groups like that existed, but really, what was the point of worrying about them all the time? It wouldn't solve anything, and it was one thing to be alert. It was another to give your life over to fear.
Ryoma's voice broke through the daze, and Eiji shook his head and looked at Ryoma's concerned face. "Oh, sorry, nya!" he said, and sprang up. He had to be happy for everyone, and that meant no wallowing in sorrow. Eiji checked his own slider and was sure it was in place, so he made a face at Ryoma. "Sorry, Echizen-senpai. I was just thinking about something. Your empathy's really strong, nya."
Eiji tried to remember the taste of strawberries and the happiness, and slowly, the fading pink mist in his mind thickened and began to solidify in places. It was taking a great deal of effort, and Eiji sagged a little. He cast about for something to do, and remembered his radio.
"Ne, Echizen-senpai, do you like music? I love The Chocolates, nya, they're the greatest. Dai-nii loves them too nya," Eiji said, and he was beside the radio now, putting on a CD. He was probably babbling, but he didn't want to think about Mi-nee and how she didn't love him anymore.
Ryoma sat back up, watching the other climb to his feet. "S'fine," he said, shaking his head. And was he really that strong? Maybe it was just because he finally knew what to look for... being synched to Kikumaru gave him a very sharp sense of how to discern emotions, and suddenly everything seemed much more clear. So really, he supposed his experiment had worked, in some ways, even if the outcome hadn't been exactly what he'd had in mind...
But Kikumaru seemed better now - or at least he was trying to convince himself he was better - so Ryoma let it go. It wasn't really his business. "Yeah, music's fine," he nodded - he liked most genres, and he figured anything the redhead liked couldn't be too bad. As the music started, he sat back on the bed a little, making sure not to squash his tail. He closed his eyes a moment, thinking. He'd have to get back soon, but maybe he could stay a bit longer. Somehow, he really liked it here. And he'd like to prolong his trip home as long as possible, because he was sure Niou was going to find it very amusing indeed when he got back.
There was a knock on the door, and Eiji's mother popped her head in. She smiled at Eiji and Ryoma approvingly, glad they were listening to music and doing teenage things. "Echizen-kun, if you'll let your parents know, I made dinner for you as well. Please join us, hmm?"
Eiji grinned at his mother and at Ryoma. "Nya, Echizen-senpai, you have to stay. Kaa-san is the greatest cook in the world!"
His mother laughed, coming in to ruffle her son's hair and scratch his ears. "Ei-chan, I've already made your favorites, you don't have to butter me up." She smiled warmly at Ryoma. "Please do join us, Echizen-kun. I'll be downstairs in the kitchen, why don't you boys finish the CD and then come down? The rest of us will be back soon."
She petted Echizen's head and gave him an earscratch too, then left, closing the door behind her. Eiji grinned at Ryoma, and the happiness was much more genuine now. He turned up his slider, focusing on growing the happy pink cloud as much as he could. His family was coming home, and Kikumaru Eiji would make sure they were happy while they were there.
The CD was coming to the last song, now, and there were more voices downstairs. Some female voices, and a deep bass voice that had Eiji's ears perking happily. Tou-san! Nee-san! Eiji hopped up, dropping the CD booklet he had been singing from and bouncing onto the bed beside Ryoma. "Ne, Echizen-senpai, let's go have dinner, they're home now!"
Mmthatfeltnice~ Blinking, Ryoma managed to say, "Yeah, that's fine." He didn't need to be back at school for dinner anyway, and besides, how could he turn down Kikumaru-san? He could smell cooking from down the stairs, and he had to admit, it smelled wonderful.
Kikumaru was perking up, too, and now Ryoma heard voices downstairs. Quite a few of them, actually - a marked difference from his small family that only sometimes ate dinner all at once. It was going to be a very different experience, that was for sure. But whether it was excitement spilling over from the boy next to him or not, Ryoma was looking forward to it. He just hoped the rest of Kikumaru's family was all right - but if they lived under the same roof as this boy and his mother, how bad could they be?
He nodded, sliding off the bed, wanting to pull his hat onto his head, but figuring he probably shouldn't. He did realize he looked... well, like a cat, but Kikumaru's family would be used to that... right? He sure hoped so. "Yeah, okay. Let's go."
"Hoi hoi! Dinnertime!" Eiji cheered happily, and rushed about his room like a whirlwind, putting away most of the things on the floor (it was amazing how messy the room got even without doing anything). He then ushered Ryoma out, and then hurtled headlong down the stairs and pouncing on his father, a kind-looking man who made a sound "Oof" before petting Eiji's head and disentangling himself. Eiji cuddled the older girl and the other boy--"Ayu-nee! Dai-nii!" before pausing in front of another girl imperceptibly.
I shouldn't be afraid of my own sister! She probably isn't anti-mutant at all. Even if she doesn't love me, I still love Mi-nee! And Eiji made up his mind in a flash, glomping her with a happy squeal of "Mi-nee!" as both hit the floor. His siblings helped them up, Mi-nee complaining, but goodnaturedly, and Ayu-nee teasing Eiji that he hadn't glomped everyone else as she set the table. Eiji's mother smiled, and put the last dish down, then beckoned everyone over, and smiled welcomingly at Ryoma.
Eiji grinned and waved Ryoma in towards the dinner table. "Hoi, minna-san, this is Echizen Ryoma-senpai, and he doesn't usually look like a cat, but he syncs powers and he accidentally looks like me now! Dai-nii, sorry nya, Echizen-senpai borrowed a pair of pants." The boy grinned at Ryoma and nodded, waving it off.
Pulling Ryoma over to the table, Eiji pulled out a chair for his guest before bouncing to the seat beside it and settling himself in, tail waiving behind him. "Let's eat, nya! Ittadakimasu!" The rest of the Kikumarus echoed the words and began dinner.
Rating: G
Summary: Ryoma visits Eiji to ask about his empathy. And manages to take out his own shields. And turns into a cat. <3 They make the best of the situation, and both learn a little about empathy~ I love Eiji's family. :D;;
Ryoma glanced up at the house, then down at the piece of paper with Kikumaru's address. This must be the place - and a nice place it was, too: three floors, and in a decent neighborhood. It hadn't really been that far from school - just a short bus ride away, really, and he was actually quite glad to be outside without having to sneak out. He pulled his hat down a little more and walked up to the door, ringing the bell.
He only had to wait a moment before a woman answered the door - she must be Kikumaru's mother, he guessed - he nodded in greeting. "Hi. I'm Echizen - I'm here to see Kikumaru-kun." If this was the catboy's mother, she'd know what he meant - he'd spoken to her on the phone yesterday night when he'd gotten directions.
She nodded, smiling down at the boy. It was nice to know her Eiji was making friends at school. "Come in, Echizen-kun," she said, inviting the boy in. "Ei-chan! Echizen-kun is here!"
Eiji appeared at the top of the stairs, and peeked through the banisters. Spotting Ryoma, he grinned and waved, his tail swishing in greeting as well. "Echizen-san! Come up to my room, Kaa-san said it was okay, nya!" the catboy said cheerily as he ran down the stairs, circling his mother and then Ryoma.
"Oh, Ei-chan, shoo, go, take your friend upstairs," his mother said, laughing. "I'll be up in a moment with tea and cake."
Eiji grinned at Ryoma. "Kaa-san is the best. She taught Ayu-nee how to make strawberry cake, nya!" As if that explained it, Eiji took Ryoma's hand, senpai or not, and made to run up the stairs.
Ryoma stepped through the doorway, only to be circled by Kikumaru - who reminded him a lot of the way Karupin acted when he came home from school, actually. It was kind of amusing - and Kikumaru's mother obviously seemed nice enough, if they were going to get cake. Geez. He'd have to come over here more often.
Just as he thought that, Ryoma was veritably dragged up the stairs by the other boy; he followed (what other choice did he have?) until they'd arrived in Kikumaru's room; looking around, he asked, "Don't get many visitors, I take it?"
Eiji looked around a bit, and then grinned sheepishly. "Oops. Forgot to clean up. Wait outside, nya!" Pushing the other outside the door, Eiji shut it, and ran about frantically. Sounds of the closet door and drawers opening and closing could be heard through the door.
Kikumaru-san appeared at the foot of the stairs with a tray in hand. On it were two glasses of tea and two rather big slices of some very delicious-looking cake. As she came up the stairs, she eyed Ryoma outside the door, then heard the noises. "Oh, Ei-chan, I told you to clean it earlier, didn't I?" she said, and made a long-suffering face at Ryoma. "Forgive his manners, Echizen-kun ... people don't often come here to see him." She sounded a little sad.
"Done!" Eiji said, and the door opened. He bounced out, and nearly knocked over his mother. Quickly grabbing the tray so that nothing major happened, Eiji grinned at Ryoma and managed to both balance the tray in one hand and hug his mother with his other arm. "Thanks, Kaa-san!" he said, cheerily, and then went inside with the tray. His mother made sure both boys were comfortably seated and that the tray was carefully placed on a solid surface before closing the door behind her and leaving them alone.
Eiji grinned at Ryoma. "Have some cake, it's the best, really!"
Everything happened so fast here - it was definitely way different from his own house, though Ryoma would bet just about anything that his mother and Kikumaru's mother could commiserate. He'd rarely had any friends over before he'd started school at Ryuhana. He just shrugged and offered a relatively polite smile.
Once back inside and seated, he was not about to turn down cake. Taking a plate, he tried the offered piece - and had to admit, it was pretty damn good. "Your mom must be really glad to see you have someone over." But hey, if it got him cake, Ryoma could deal with the other's mother being a little overexcited. "Sucks that you gotta stay stuck inside, though," he said between bites. "S'not fun."
"Nya, no one knows I'm a mutant except family," said Eiji matter-of-factly. He dug into the cake enthusiastically, and made a happy sigh. "Kaa-san makes up for it with cake, and she taught me how to make this. Kaidoh-san helped me with it some time ago, nya. It was delicious!" He grinned at Ryoma. "But sometimes I want to go out too, nya. It's probably fun outside."
"Heh, well, practically my whole family's mutants." Ryoma did actually wonder once in a while if his mother felt left out. He nodded - it seemed like one wouldn't be able to live in this house without learning to bake, though.
"Yeah, not going outside sucks. I wasn't supposed to all last month without the shields." Of course, that hadn't stopped him - but then, Ryoma looked mostly normal, except for the stupid white patch of hair. He wasn't the one with cat ears and a tail, and he could understand how the other's family might not want him going outside.
But speaking of mutant powers - "But you've got empathy too, right?" That was why he was here, really - because he wanted to test a theory. Or at the very least, ask Kikumaru about this weird thing that had been happening.
Eiji nodded. "Can't turn it off, nya. It disappeared for a while last month, but it's back now. Have to catnap a lot again. Though there's really not that much to do besides nap, heh."
He wondered what Ryoma was getting at. "Why do you ask, Echizen-san?" What was Ryoma's powers again, anyway?
Ryoma nodded - he knew that feeling all too well. But he wasn't necessarily here to complain about powers. At least, not like that.
He frowned, trying to put into words what he'd been feeling lately. Though that was just it, wasn't it? "This's prolly a stupid question, but what's it feel like? C'n you tell when you're getting feelings that aren't yours?" He'd had that suspicion all too often over the past month - but it wasn't really something cut-and-dry that he could confirm or deny. He'd just have to see how this worked for someone that knew they had it, to make sure it really was empathy he'd been feeling, and not some other new aspect of his power.
Eiji looked at Ryoma curiously. "I don't feel anything, Echizen-san. That's Oishi, nya. I ... hoi, they said it was like being a radio tower, nya. I don't feel other people's emotions, but everyone else feels mine." He grinned sheepishly. "It's probably very distracting for Oishi, nya."
"Hm." Ryoma frowned. Well, that was just great - Oishi wasn't around to ask, and he'd hoped that Kikumaru could receive and send - but it looked like not. Then again, he supposed that he really didn't know about this power he'd been feeling - it might be able to broadcast too, he had no idea. "Well, okay. C'n you tell when you're sending stuff, then?" That might be close enough. "You said it was always turned on, so d'you notice it's on, then?"
Eiji thought about that for a bit. "Um ... I get tired a lot, and I suppose if I focus maybe I can tell, but ... I can't tell, or at least I don't think so nya."
Eiji pouted, flopping on his bed. "I'm not being very helpful, am I?" The catboy kicked a little at his mattress, then flipped over onto his back and stared at the ceiling.
Ryoma nodded - that made sense, if the other was using his own energy to broadcast things. Though it didn't help Ryoma's specific situation any if the other couldn't really describe what it was like - but that wasn't Kikumaru's fault. "Nah," he said quickly, "S'just not quite the same as whatever's going on with me. Not your fault."
Except, come to think of it, whatever had been going on wasn't going on right now - Ryoma felt pretty secure in the fact that his feelings were his own right now. He frowned, wondering what the difference was - because it had been kind of different, ever since he'd gotten back to school...
Eiji kicked a bit more, then rolled over and let his upper half of his body hang over the bed, where he looked at an upside-down Ryoma. "I don't know whether I'm transmitting right now, but maybe you can tell me what I'm feeling, nya," he said, grinning at Ryoma. "Maybe that can help you with your problem?"
Ryoma took a deep breath, letting it out slowly as he thought. Well, okay, that sounded like a decent experiment. It might not be definitive, but it was a place to start. And he didn't particularly feel strange at all, so maybe the other really wasn't transmitting - that might make this a little more reliable.
"I c'n try," he agreed, closing his eyes and trying to... well, feel. It was kind of hard to do on command - sure, he could feel Kikumaru - but with his own power, the one that identified the other clearly as a mutant. But he didn't feel anything else...
Maybe he wasn't trying hard enough, though. He tried to feel along that line he already had to the other, see if he couldn't open that line to include feelings too, not just power...
Eiji watched Ryoma, and he twisted to face the right side up, sprawling (but gracefully) to the floor and looking up at the older boy. His tail twitched from side to side as he tried to feel whether or not anything was different, but ... nothing.
Making a face, Eiji got up to walk over to the side of the room ... but his sharp eyes caught a bit of movement. What was th-Eiji stared. Ryoma's ear had twitched, and as he watched, what seemed like fur began to sprout.
Ryoma thought he might be getting somewhere - there was a tiny influx of ~curiosityexcitementannoyance~ and it felt... like it wasn't his. Especially not with the way it had suddenly turned on like that - the barrier between him and the other’s feelings was slowly giving way, and he resolutely tried to follow that line, push past what was left of that barrier, see if he couldn't make it stronger -
But he was feeling kind of weird, now - dizzy weird, and his tailbone ached, like he'd bruised it and his ears itched -
Oh. Oh no - Ryoma's concentration broke as his eyes flew open; he tried to blink the fuzzy room into focus as a wave of pure despair washed over him. That barrier he'd felt was his shields, and he'd just taken them down without even meaning to.
"Nya!" Eiji cried out, and he clapped his hands over his ears reflexively, wailing. "No, no, make it stop!" The catboy curled up into a ball beside Ryoma, and began to sob.
"Ei-chan!" Footsteps raced up the stairs, and his mother burst into the room, desperately looking about for her son. She saw Eiji, curled up on the floor in a little ball, wailing, and ran to him. "What's wrong, Eiji, what's wrong?"
Ryoma winced - now he felt even worse, but he wasn't sure whether it was physical or emotional - all he knew was that he was dizzy and the boy wailing next to him made him want to curl up and do the same.
When the other's mother burst into the room, however, it seemed to break the spell a little - Ryoma tried to reason out what the hell was going on - and while the woman fell to her knees beside her son, he slowly started to realize what had happened.
He'd synched Kikumaru - that much was clear by now, he thought, belatedly trying to think through the doubly-potent dismay and pull his shields back up. It was his own fault, his own stupid fault, and now he was probably broadcasting, and hell, he was pretty sure he was growing a tail -
Eiji felt absolutely horrible. He didn't know why he was despairing, but the world felt absolutely overwhelming and everything was crashing in on him and no one could help him and he wanted to cry. Slowly, though, he could hear his mother's voice, and he turned, clinging to her and burying his face in her chest as he shivered and cried.
Eiji's mother stroked her hair, looking down at her son helplessly. She knew the despair she felt was coming from Eiji, but this was too much--it was too strong, far more than she was used to getting from her emotional but normally cheerful Eiji. The sensations of despair were lifting already, so her presence must have calmed down her Ei-chan, she thought. She stroked her son's head gently, and made comforting shushing sounds. Then she noticed Ryoma's ears, and paused, the astonishment breaking through the despair.
Eiji's sobs, in the meantime, were slowly subsiding. He still clung to his mother, though, and his face was firmly buried in her arms. An occasional sob emerged from the boy, whose tail was tucked tightly between him and his mother. His ears were flattened against his head.
"Echizen-kun ... did you have cat ears before?" Eiji's mother asked, still cuddling Eiji to her.
Ryoma was concentrating on deep breaths, trying to calm down, pulling the shields in tightly, until he couldn't feel anything but his own dismay at his stupidity. Well, that and the very uncomfortable sensation of growing a tail - because he was, he was sure of that now.
He squirmed, dropping his head into his hands - only to hear Kikumaru's mother say something at the same instant he realized that his ears were... A little higher up. And furry. And twitching. And oh, hell, why hadn't he been a little more careful?
"No," he finally replied, hunting around on the bed for his hat, which had fallen off, in order to distract himself from whatever was happening on his backside. "I didn't before." He paused. "I copy powers." And glanced down at the little ball of redheaded catboy on the floor. "Sorry," he mumbled. He hadn't meant to do that.
It was gone now, that feeling of helplessness and shock and confusion ... at least, the really strong feelings were gone. Eiji loosened his hold on his mother, but he didn't take his face out of her arms.
Eiji's mother tilted her head a little at Ryoma, looking at him closely. Oh yes, the ears were a dead giveaway, but she could see the bulge where the tail had started to grow, and she reached out to pet Ryoma's head the way Eiji liked to be petted. "That can't be very comfortable, Echizen-kun," she said, trying not to chuckle. The despair had subsided by now, and she was sure that the shamefacedness and the regret and that feeling of guilt was only coming from Eiji.
Gently, she pushed Eiji away from her, and tapped his nose. "Ei-chan, I'm going to get some pants for Echizen-kun. Stay here, I'll be back, okay?"
Eiji nodded, looking very subdued.
"It's not -" Ryoma blinked as she petted his head, feeling much more calm and relaxed with just that action alone. Well, he thought wryly, she of all people would know how to calm an unhappy catboy. He decided that it would be better to curl up on his side for the time being, still squirming occasionally at the weird sensations, watching Kikumaru sitting on the floor.
"Didn't mean to do that - guess that's what it feels like, huh?" he asked, closing his eyes a moment. "Well. I guess the damage is done. F'you want me to synch again and show you anything, I guess I can." The shields weren't going to change the fact that he was morphing into a partial feline - they never seemed to stop anything once it had started. So he might as well make the most out of this trip, while he was here. Maybe he could at least help the other turn down his projecting. He squirmed again, muttering, "Least it doesn't hurt like the wings did."
"Mm," said Eiji, and he decided he'd much rather be in bed. So he climbed up onto his bed, where he curled up into a ball again, tail tucked around him (though not as tightly as before). He was quiet, but watched as the bulge in the back of Ryoma's pants grew. That
probably was really uncomfortable, since Ryoma wasn't used to having a tail and his pants weren't meant to fit legs and tail.
"You can take the pants off, I don't care," said Eiji quietly. "I'll look the other way until Kaa-san comes in with more comfy ones. Dai-nii's got some old clothes that would fit you. Mine all have holes." Except for two pairs Eiji used for outside when his parents actually wanted to take him somewhere, which were hidden away in a corner of his closet, carefully packed.
His mother came in, a pair of black track pants in hand. They looked nice and big and loose. "There's a bathroom outside, left, down the hall and second door on the right," she said, smiling kindly at Ryoma. She then turned her attention to Eiji, and stroked her son's head a bit more.
Eiji uncurled enough to stick a hand out and squeeze his mother's hands. "I'm ... I'm sorry, Kaa-san ... " He seemed to be trying to find the right words.
"Living with me ... I never knew it felt like that. Now I know how Oishi feels all the time, nya."
His mother petted Eiji's hand, and leaned down to hug him. "Don't apologize, Ei-chan. You are what you are, and we love you for what you are. You're our happy Ei-chan, and you make us happy just by being you. Powers aside. Don't ever apologize for what you are."
Eiji clung to his mother's neck and nodded, noticeably happier.
Ryoma was almost ready to consider the suggestion when Kikumaru-san came back in, handing him a pair of black track pants. He slid off the bed and nodded his thanks, stumbling out of the room and down the hall, feeling like he could barely balance properly.
It was probably just the fact that his tail was stuck with nowhere to go. He shut the bathroom door and locked it, pulling off the pants he had been wearing and kneeling, resting his head on his arms and letting whatever was happening finish, because what else could he do? Apparently tails didn't take long to grow; a few minutes later he felt much better, and lifted his head to see a black cat's tail twitching beside his elbows.
How could he have been so stupid? He should have known something like this was going to happen. Ryoma sighed - there was nothing he could do right now - and stood, pulling on the track pants, trying to keep his new appendage from moving too much. He glanced in the mirror, frowning; his human ears were gone, migrated up a little higher and turned into black cat ears, one with a weird white tip to match his stupid weird white spot.
He folded up his own pants and opened the door, padding back to Kikumaru's room and stopping inside the doorway. He'd heard most of their conversation. "You're prolly not even that bad, y'know," he said, coming back in after a moment. "I get full potential - that was prolly stronger than you usually are."
Eiji looked up noticing Ryoma in the doorway. He pulled back with a laugh as he noticed the changes in Ryoma's ears. "Cute, nya!" He laughed, pointing at Ryoma's cat ears. "One even has a white tip like your hair!"
He snuggled his mother, who petted him on his head and smiled back. Eiji was obviously alright now, so she nodded to both the boys and excused herself after squeezing Eiji and petting Ryoma on the head on the way out.
Eiji thought it was a good thing Ryoma had his baseball cap--he was certainly going to need something like that with those huge ears. He grinned at Ryoma, obviously much happier. He'd put the previous despair right back behind him already. "So, how's it like? Do you like it? Can you feel anything? I still can't but maybe you can, nya."
Ryoma frowned - somehow it didn't seem right for Kikumaru to call him cute - but there wasn't much to be done about that now. He signed resignedly, coming back into the room, not wanting to admit that being petted like that really helped.
"Not sure if I like it," Ryoma said, tossing his folded pants onto the floor for now. "It's weird." He could hear more, and in more directions, too. And he had a tail that was trying to help with his balance, but failing somewhat due to being confined inside a pair of pants, however loose.
"Don't feel anything 'cause I'm still shielded. Kinda pointless now, though." Ryoma paused a moment, taking a deep breath, and trying to pull in everything he felt, all the stupidity and shame, and ball it up and shove it down. He didn't want to project like that again. When he thought he had it under control, he took the shields down, carefully this time, waiting to see if the other freaked out. "Is that okay?" He felt something else try to slip in, something like ~curiosityembarrassment~ again - maybe that really was Kikumaru.
Eiji wondered why Ryoma was shielded, then thought about it again and realized it was probably because he would be synching left and right otherwise. It must be tiring trying to keep it turned off all the time.
When Ryoma asked him if it was okay, Eiji cocked his head to the side, ears twitching a little. Was what okay? It was curious, and Eiji was still slightly embarrassed from needing to cuddle his mother--but that had been a lot of despair--and Eiji just wanted to know what Ryoma was doing and why he was here and what Ryoma could do with Eiji's powers.
Eiji ducked his head a little, then realized the shame he was feeling was Ryoma's not his own. Shame and embarrassment felt sort of different side by side. Not very different, but there was a bitter tinge to shame that one didn't get from embarrassment. "Ne, Echizen-san, there's nothing to be ashamed of nya," Eiji said, and he smiled at Ryoma.
Oops - he must still be projecting, Ryoma realized, and tried to clamp down on his emotions a little more firmly. "Well... just not used to looking like a cat," he replied - then realized that he didn't want Kikumaru to take that the wrong way. "It's not that bad, you're right," he added quickly - because really, it wasn't, he pretty much felt the same, except for the wiggling of an extra appendage and the ability to hear better, albeit twitching ears.
But he was very sure that Niou was going to think this was the funniest thing he'd ever seen when Ryoma got home later.
Nonetheless, that wasn't what he was here to do now. "D'you want me to see f'I can turn it off or down?" Keeping his emotions balled up was probably not the way for Kikumaru to go, and it wasn't going to last very long, probably.
Eiji was about to say he wanted to feel what it was like to be around him a bit more, but his curiosity kicked in. "Hoi, can you turn it off? What does it feel like? Can you show me how to use it? Nya, Echizen-san, do it now!"
The catboy bounced a bit on his bed excitedly. He'd finally be able to figure out how to use his powers!
Turn it off... Well, okay. He could try. "Yeah, lemme see f'I can turn it down." Ryoma closed his eyes, trying to figure out what exactly needed doing. He knew how to turn senses down - he'd done that before. Maybe this was kind of the same thing? He felt around Kikumaru's power, trying to find the point of transmission, and then... tried to turn it down. Tried to slide the power down until he could feel his emotions, but they were limited only to himself and not the people around him...
"How's that?" he asked, eyes still closed, feeling like he had a pretty good handle on it. It felt like everything was contained, but he'd need an outside opinion to be sure.
Eiji tried to feel inside him and identify the feelings inside. It was hard--he'd never really tried to identify each separate feeling inside before. Curiosity, that was the big questioning patch smack in the middle of his head, though he wasn't at all sure why he knew that was curiosity. The embarrassment patch was a shy reclusive thread that had been fading away, but as soon as Eiji identified it as embarrassment it thickened out again, and Eiji ducked his head again unconsciously.
There was some relief, and a little bit of excitement, but Eiji knew it was his. He examined the rest of what he could see and feel, but he couldn't feel anything that wasn't his. Unless that growing patch of curiosity was Ryoma's and not his, but Eiji knew that wasn't true.
Eiji grinned, and bounced happily off the bed, tumbling gracefully and landing in front of Ryoma, and grinned, glomping the older boy. "Nothing ... how did you do that, nya? Teach me, please!" Idly Eiji noted a patch of happiness (strawberry! his mind thought happily) that was growing, bumping with the curiosity.
Ryoma blinked as he was veritably glomped - well, the other sure was excited, he could tell that without feeling the barest hit of strawberry-flavored happiness that seemed to be intent on creeping into his mood. "It... wasn't that hard," he said, trying to think of the best way to explain this. Fuji hadn't been so receptive, but then, that had been an entirely different situation.
"Kinda... think of yourself as a transmitter. And like you have a dial, or something... an' think about turning it down, until everything you feel's near you, an' not near other people..." That was the only way he could really explain it; he hoped Kikumaru would understand. "An' then just keep the dial on low, if you want to keep things to yourself..."
Transmitter? Eiji thought about that a bit, but he already knew he was a transmitter. But a dial ... Eiji searched within himself, and examined the feelings, circling around the strawberry happiness perhaps a little more than necessary ... but he couldn't understand how to make a dial turn. But ... dials turned things up and down like volume. Hmm ...
The redhead's eyes wandered around his room and chanced on his radio-- oh! Sliders! The sort he had on his radio to control the volume! Could he control the volume on his emotions so no one else could hear? Excitement ballooned in him, mixing with strawberry--lemon?lime?--and Eiji bounced happily. He would be able to keep his sadness and other bad emotions away from his family and everyone else! He'd be able to keep it away from Oishi so Oishi wouldn't get hit with it every day!
"Nya, I'm going to try it now!" said Eiji, and he settled down on the floor again at last, and took some deep breaths. Then closing his eyes, Eiji tried to pull a slider down in his mind. It took some time--did he even have a slider?--panic--and then something moved.
He froze, and went back to that something. It wasn't something Eiji could see or touch, but there was something there, an intangible yet there switch-thing that went up or down. Somehow, even without seeing it, Eiji knew what it was.
He tried again, and the slider moved a bit more.
Well, if Ryoma was sure of one thing, it was that Kikumaru sure was easily excitable. And his emotions came in flavors - which was a little odd, in and of itself, but he wasn't sure if that was just Kikumaru or not. It made things a little easier to identify, he supposed...
He watched the boy on the floor as his face fell into a mask of concentration - it felt like the emotion in the room was practically tangible, though maybe that was just because of the heightened awareness that had seemed to come with synching the redhead. Ryoma stood, taking a few breaths, trying to feel for a difference. There was nothing, for a moment -
Then, suddenly, the levels dropped. The emotion permeating the room wasn't gone, but it was significantly lessened. Ryoma grinned - which widened as the levels dropped again to a waning trickle. "Yeah - you got it," he said, impressed with Kikumaru's learning curve. "It's almost gone."
Eiji cheered, and jumped up, doing little flips and cartwheels. Oh--was the slider still down? It was so much easier now that he'd done it once--the emotions were easily identifiable now, and Eiji could just _see_ them inside him. He checked on that invisible slider, and it had started to budge a little, so Eiji pulled the switch further down, and tried to move it all the way. It resisted a little, and Eiji tugged some more, but it didn't move. Eiji could feel it in his head, something stuck, not quite there, but not moving.
Somehow Eiji knew that wasn't all the way. He frowned, and some anger--angry red hot--flared up beside him, which just irritated Eiji--annoying-itchy?--and made the red hot emotion a little hotter. He frowned and concentrated on the slider again. A push--move!--and it was there, all the way to the bottom.
He blinked, then checked to see if his emotions were still around. Amazement--sweet wonderful sparkly!--had blossomed somewhere, while the anger and irritation were gone. Strawberry/happiness was somewhere too, just less.
"Ne, Echizen-san, can you feel anything now?"
Scratch that - Kikumaru was extremely easily excitable - but it was kind of amusing to watch him, nonetheless, and his excitement was only barely trickling over to Ryoma even though it was obviously much more like a waterfall on Kikumaru's end.
It seemed like trying to get it all the way off was causing the other more than a little irritation, though - Ryoma was about to say something when the redhead's expression suddenly changed, and the atmosphere in the room seemed to clear completely. Amazement drifted over, but it was just the barest hint.
"I think you got it," Ryoma said, skirting the other's question for the moment. It certainly did feel like Kikumaru wasn't transmitting anymore - Ryoma wasn't quite sure how he could explain that, but he just knew. Then why was he still getting something?
This felt different, though - well, different in a more familiar way. With Kikumaru's switch all the way down, and the telepathic shields between them gone, Ryoma felt the barest hint of what the other was feeling, just like he'd been going through for the past month. "I think whatever's left is me..." he said, trying to run an internal check, trying to figure out if it really was him. He was starting to conclude, finally, that it was - because who else could it be? Denying it wasn't really going to get him anywhere. It was just... really strange. It seemed completely decoupled from his actual power, and yet at the same time, inexplicably intertwined.
"Guess I'm really not making it up," he said, shrugging.
Eiji cheered, and glomped the other boy, tackling them both to the ground. He huggled Ryoma, and squeezed him, because he was just so happy! It worked! He'd done it! He wasn't transmitting anymore!
A knock on the door, after a few minutes. "Ei-chan? Are you alright? I can't feel you anymore, Ei-chan," and his mother came in. She eyed Eiji on the floor hugging Ryoma, and raised an eyebrow.
Eiji bounced up, off Ryoma, and rushed up to his mother. "Kaa-san, I did it! Echizen-senpai showed me how to turn it off! There's a slider in my brain though I can't see it, and it goes all the way down, and I pushed it all the way and it's off now, nya!" He grinned happily at his mother.
Kikumaru-san looked at a loss and somewhat nonplussed. She looked to Ryoma for help, a questioning eyebrow raised. "I can't feel him anymore. Did you do that? Can he be turned on again? Did you take away the power?"
Ryoma tried to protest as he was knocked to the ground and thoroughly snuggled, but it was kind of hard to get through to the very, very excited Kikumaru-kun who had him pinned. He didn't have to, though, as the door opened a moment later and Kikumaru's mother came in.
While they were talking, he managed to push himself back into a sitting position and smooth his fur hair; he pushed up off the ground as Kikumaru-san addressed him, then glanced at the redhead bouncing around her.
"I just told him how to do it," he explained. "Sometimes I can figure out how to use powers quicker, s'all. He did the rest - it's not gone or anything. He c'n turn it back up whenever he wants."
Kikumaru-san petted Eiji on the head, and smiled. "Well, then. Good for you, Ei-chan. Now that I know you're actually okay, I'll go down and finish my chores." She left, again, but first spared some petting for both catboys.
Eiji bounced some more, happily. "Hoi, hoi, this is great! What else can you show me, Echizen-senpai!" It was most definitely -senpai, now, instead of -san. It hadn't been a conscious decision or anything ... just Eiji-mind deciding that Ryoma was now -senpai.
... Damn, why did that feel so good? It must be a side effect, Ryoma was sure... He watched Kikumaru bounce around for a moment, wondering if there was anything else he could show him.
So the other could project and transmit feelings, that was obvious. And he could turn the strength of that signal up and down. What came next? He could probably pick and choose who to send that signal to, but that wasn't very practical for testing right now. Though if he could do it, he was going to try, since Kikumaru's mother was just downstairs and he didn't want to bother her.
"I wonder if... maybe you don't gotta actually be feeling something to project it," Ryoma hummed thoughtfully, taking a seat on the bed. "Lemme try this." He closed his eyes, turning the internal dial on his emotions up, just a little. And then tried to project the feeling he got whenever Niou did something really silly - like hide from Mickey at Disneyland.
Eiji bounced around a bit, watching Ryoma, wondering what he was going to do next. He couldn't help feeling tingly all over with excitement. He was going to learn about his powers! Eiji bounced about, and watched Ryoma sit on his bed and close his eyes.
There was something about the way he sat there and just sat, Eiji thought, because it seemed a little funny. No ... Eiji giggled. It didn't just seem funny, it was funny. And then he collapsed in giggles on the floor. Ryoma sitting on the bed was just hilarious!
The other dissolved into giggles - and Ryoma couldn't help but grin himself - the other just looked so funny doing it, himself. He quickly turned the feeling down until it dissipated, and waited for the other to catch his breath.
"Looks like you can project anything you want, anytime you want," he said, leaning over a little to meet the eyes of the boy on the floor with a satisfied grin. "An' you can pick who you want it to affect, too."
Finally catching his breath a little more, Eiji just lay on the floor, gasping with occasional giggles. What had he found so funny?
Then Ryoma spoke, and Eiji nearly jumped up indignantly, but it really was rather funny in retrospect. So he grinned at the older boy. "Hehe, that's really really neat, hoi! But please don't do that again, my side hurts, nya."
So he could project whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted. And whoever, too, it seemed. Eiji grinned, and got up, wincing a bit at the stitch in his side, but grinning happily from ear to ear. He moved the slider up, just a notch or two, aiming for Ryoma but choosing something nice so even if his mother was hit it would be okay. So ... Eiji couldn't quite understand sending whatever he wanted, but sending happiness would do for now.
Strawberry-happiness, a big bunch over there. Eiji wondered how this was going to work. Would he push it over to the switch? Could he move the switch? Could he just think of it and make it work that way? Staring at the happiness, Eiji idly thought that it looked like pink cotton candy, only translucent. And then he thought about how cotton candy came in nice strands of sweetness that stuck together. And then thought about strands, and the emotion.
It misted instead. Eiji blinked, then tried moving the mist.
It didn't move, but Eiji was elated. He could affect the emotions in his head! "Can't do it yet, nya, but I will eventually," Eiji said, and grinned up at Ryoma.
"Well, you're definitely happy about something," Ryoma said, the grin far from fading, as he watched the other from the bed. It was infectious, whether it was the other's fault (intentionally) or not. "And it's strawberry-flavored." Even if the other wasn't projecting, he could still pick it up. It was a strange feeling, to think there was something else to his power, and that he hadn't noticed it for so long. But if it was there, then it was just something else he'd have to learn to master - and empathy sounded significantly easier to contain than his synchs.
"M'sure you'll get it eventually, anyway - it's just the first time you tried it. Things take practice an' stuff." Ryoma studied the other a moment more. "When're you coming back to school? We could probably work on it - except I dunno about synching you again." At least until such point in the future as he learned how to synch some parts of someone's power and not others.
Eiji grinned. "Hehe, my happiness is strawberry-flavored, nya," he said proudly. He beamed at Ryoma, and curled up next to the bed. "I'll work on it, and maybe next time I can do stuff for you!"
Eiji turned up the dial on his happiness a little more. He wondered if his mother might miss his strawberry-thoughts. Was this why they always made strawberry cake for him? Eiji wondered. Well, the catboy mused, that would explain how they knew he liked strawberry without ever having to say so.
"I dunno when I'm going back to school, nya," Eiji said with a frown, which was quickly wiped off his face as he remembered he was supposed to be spreading strawberry happiness. "Kaa-san's still worried. Ayu-nee and Mi-nee haven't been speaking to each other, and--" he quickly dialed down the transmission slider-- "Kaa-san and Ayu-nee have been arguing about Tammies, nya. Do you know what they are?" Eiji was glad he'd dialed down the level of his feelings; his curiosity was threatening to take over, the questioning patch growing.
"Very strawberry-flavored," Ryoma corrected, but it wasn't important. "Dunno what you can do for me, but I guess we'll see." He settled for idly watching his tail as it twitched this way and that inside one pantsleg, trying to get used to the strange tingling up and down his spine as it moved.
"Tammies?" Ryoma thought a moment - that sounded kind of familiar... "Oh - you mean that stupid Tokyo Anti-Mutants group or whatever they are?" He didn't know much about them; he'd only seen a blurb or two on the news about them, and they sounded as stupid as stupid could be to him. They hadn't done anything destructive yet, but they'd been protesting left and right, and putting pressure on local businesses and even city officials to do something about the "mutant problem." Ryoma frowned - if there was a mutant problem, it sure as hell wasn't being helped by the stupidity problem TAM seemed to have. "They're stupid. What's to argue about?"
"Nya," Eiji said, and he sat down on the floor, glad he'd turned his slider off. Shock had crept in and was swirling around curiosity, replacing it in many places. The strawberry had faded, most of it. Ayu-nee had yelled at Mi-nee about Tammies and doing stuff with them. Tammies were anti-mutant. Did that mean Mi-nee was anti-mutant? Did she not love Eiji anymore?
Eiji sat there, lost in thought and a little worried. If Mi-nee didn't like him anymore, there was still no reason for her to be anti-mutant. That included people like Oishi and Tomoka and Kaidoh and Ryoma and everyone else at Ryuhana, as well as people like Oshitari-san over in the brotherhood who weren't in his school but were nice people too. The catboy just sat, staring into space, grateful that his slider was all the way down and his mother wouldn't be worried about the worry and concern and fear swirling inside her
Eiji.
"... Oy." Ryoma blinked as a wave of worry and confusion washed over him - that was definitely from Kikumaru, and it definitely wasn't good. It was a big jump from the pink-pocky happiness he'd been basking in just a few seconds ago. He leaned over the edge of the bed, trying to catch the other's eyes. "What is it? They're just stupid - s'not like there aren't stupid people in the world. Don't worry about 'em - f'you let people like them rule your life, you're just letting them win." He knew some people didn't know groups like that existed, but really, what was the point of worrying about them all the time? It wouldn't solve anything, and it was one thing to be alert. It was another to give your life over to fear.
Ryoma's voice broke through the daze, and Eiji shook his head and looked at Ryoma's concerned face. "Oh, sorry, nya!" he said, and sprang up. He had to be happy for everyone, and that meant no wallowing in sorrow. Eiji checked his own slider and was sure it was in place, so he made a face at Ryoma. "Sorry, Echizen-senpai. I was just thinking about something. Your empathy's really strong, nya."
Eiji tried to remember the taste of strawberries and the happiness, and slowly, the fading pink mist in his mind thickened and began to solidify in places. It was taking a great deal of effort, and Eiji sagged a little. He cast about for something to do, and remembered his radio.
"Ne, Echizen-senpai, do you like music? I love The Chocolates, nya, they're the greatest. Dai-nii loves them too nya," Eiji said, and he was beside the radio now, putting on a CD. He was probably babbling, but he didn't want to think about Mi-nee and how she didn't love him anymore.
Ryoma sat back up, watching the other climb to his feet. "S'fine," he said, shaking his head. And was he really that strong? Maybe it was just because he finally knew what to look for... being synched to Kikumaru gave him a very sharp sense of how to discern emotions, and suddenly everything seemed much more clear. So really, he supposed his experiment had worked, in some ways, even if the outcome hadn't been exactly what he'd had in mind...
But Kikumaru seemed better now - or at least he was trying to convince himself he was better - so Ryoma let it go. It wasn't really his business. "Yeah, music's fine," he nodded - he liked most genres, and he figured anything the redhead liked couldn't be too bad. As the music started, he sat back on the bed a little, making sure not to squash his tail. He closed his eyes a moment, thinking. He'd have to get back soon, but maybe he could stay a bit longer. Somehow, he really liked it here. And he'd like to prolong his trip home as long as possible, because he was sure Niou was going to find it very amusing indeed when he got back.
There was a knock on the door, and Eiji's mother popped her head in. She smiled at Eiji and Ryoma approvingly, glad they were listening to music and doing teenage things. "Echizen-kun, if you'll let your parents know, I made dinner for you as well. Please join us, hmm?"
Eiji grinned at his mother and at Ryoma. "Nya, Echizen-senpai, you have to stay. Kaa-san is the greatest cook in the world!"
His mother laughed, coming in to ruffle her son's hair and scratch his ears. "Ei-chan, I've already made your favorites, you don't have to butter me up." She smiled warmly at Ryoma. "Please do join us, Echizen-kun. I'll be downstairs in the kitchen, why don't you boys finish the CD and then come down? The rest of us will be back soon."
She petted Echizen's head and gave him an earscratch too, then left, closing the door behind her. Eiji grinned at Ryoma, and the happiness was much more genuine now. He turned up his slider, focusing on growing the happy pink cloud as much as he could. His family was coming home, and Kikumaru Eiji would make sure they were happy while they were there.
The CD was coming to the last song, now, and there were more voices downstairs. Some female voices, and a deep bass voice that had Eiji's ears perking happily. Tou-san! Nee-san! Eiji hopped up, dropping the CD booklet he had been singing from and bouncing onto the bed beside Ryoma. "Ne, Echizen-senpai, let's go have dinner, they're home now!"
Mmthatfeltnice~ Blinking, Ryoma managed to say, "Yeah, that's fine." He didn't need to be back at school for dinner anyway, and besides, how could he turn down Kikumaru-san? He could smell cooking from down the stairs, and he had to admit, it smelled wonderful.
Kikumaru was perking up, too, and now Ryoma heard voices downstairs. Quite a few of them, actually - a marked difference from his small family that only sometimes ate dinner all at once. It was going to be a very different experience, that was for sure. But whether it was excitement spilling over from the boy next to him or not, Ryoma was looking forward to it. He just hoped the rest of Kikumaru's family was all right - but if they lived under the same roof as this boy and his mother, how bad could they be?
He nodded, sliding off the bed, wanting to pull his hat onto his head, but figuring he probably shouldn't. He did realize he looked... well, like a cat, but Kikumaru's family would be used to that... right? He sure hoped so. "Yeah, okay. Let's go."
"Hoi hoi! Dinnertime!" Eiji cheered happily, and rushed about his room like a whirlwind, putting away most of the things on the floor (it was amazing how messy the room got even without doing anything). He then ushered Ryoma out, and then hurtled headlong down the stairs and pouncing on his father, a kind-looking man who made a sound "Oof" before petting Eiji's head and disentangling himself. Eiji cuddled the older girl and the other boy--"Ayu-nee! Dai-nii!" before pausing in front of another girl imperceptibly.
I shouldn't be afraid of my own sister! She probably isn't anti-mutant at all. Even if she doesn't love me, I still love Mi-nee! And Eiji made up his mind in a flash, glomping her with a happy squeal of "Mi-nee!" as both hit the floor. His siblings helped them up, Mi-nee complaining, but goodnaturedly, and Ayu-nee teasing Eiji that he hadn't glomped everyone else as she set the table. Eiji's mother smiled, and put the last dish down, then beckoned everyone over, and smiled welcomingly at Ryoma.
Eiji grinned and waved Ryoma in towards the dinner table. "Hoi, minna-san, this is Echizen Ryoma-senpai, and he doesn't usually look like a cat, but he syncs powers and he accidentally looks like me now! Dai-nii, sorry nya, Echizen-senpai borrowed a pair of pants." The boy grinned at Ryoma and nodded, waving it off.
Pulling Ryoma over to the table, Eiji pulled out a chair for his guest before bouncing to the seat beside it and settling himself in, tail waiving behind him. "Let's eat, nya! Ittadakimasu!" The rest of the Kikumarus echoed the words and began dinner.