[April's Fool] Chapter Five - Pleasantries
Chapter Four
April's Fool
Chapter Five - Pleasantries
Jack felt Fay go rigid next to him, the blonde’s body perfectly still. He would have turned to him had he not been following Fay’s example; keep completely still and silent.
“Jack, what’s going on?”
Jack put a finger on his earpiece and this time did look at Fay. He was somewhat taken aback; the posture and elevated heart rate indicated nothing but fear and yet his expression was completely the opposite. His jaw was set and his eyes were elsewhere, calculating. He returned, however, when he heard his name.
“Why, Fay-kun! It has been a while,”
Jack looked ahead in time to see the person emerge from the shadows. He was tall and Japanese, his dark hair hidden beneath a hood.
“Yes, it has” Fay agreed, his smile strained a little “Though how long it has been I couldn’t tell you, Seishiro-san.”
Jack watched them both visibly relax even as the tension remained thick in the air. They both held expressions that, taken at face value, would be reminiscent of old friends. However, Jack noticed the distance apart they stood, the way Fay was now holding himself and the danger that his eyes promised this stranger.
“Because time flows differently on different worlds,” Seishiro concurred. “How is your ankle?”
“It is much better, thank you.”
“Of cour--“
“Syaoran-kun isn’t here.” Fay interrupted. Seishiro’s smile turned a little menacing, though he didn’t make any other gesture to indicate he had even heard the blonde.
“And who is this?” he looked now at Jack.
Fay shifted a little in front of Jack.
“Just a local. I assume you’ll be on your way?”
“And why would I leave so soon?” Seishiro grinned and his cloak moved to show a large, hollow glass ball. Almost instantly, Fay fell to his hands and knees and retched into the gutter at the same time as Jack pulled his gun.
Inside the glass ball was one of Sakura’s feathers.
“FREEZE!” Jack commanded, “That is Torchwood property. Hand it over.”
Seishiro just looked amused, “Such a noisy person,” he mock-sighed, “If he is just a local, surely you don’t mind if I-“
“HIKOUGEKI!”
Seishiro dodged the blast of blue lightning, not phased in the slightest. Jack ducked and rolled to the side so that he could keep Seishiro and the newcomer in sight. He spared a brief glance at where the sound and lightning had originated from, a little surprised at seeing Kurogane (though with a shout like that, who else could it be?) before all his attention was back on Seishiro.
“I should have expected that kind of welcome from you, Kurogane-kun~” Seishiro said, smiling.
Kurogane, however, was not smiling in the slightest.
“What are you doing here, you bastard?” he growled threateningly, Souhi at the ready. His focus kept shifting to Fay, who was still bent over the gutter and pretty much exactly in his line of fire, “Leave. I won’t tell you twice.”
“You don’t need to,” Seishiro replied as if they were exchanging pleasantries, “I have found what I was looking for.”
With that, he lifted the glass orb in the air and… vanished.
Jack blinked. This will be one hell of a report.
X o X o X
“Jack, this isn’t fair.” Gwen insisted in a hushed tone.
The constant vomiting had wreaked havoc with Fay’s insides and he was currently in the infirmary being fussed over as he slipped in and out of consciousness, waking only to deliriousness and cold sweats.
Or maybe this was just his current condition, as a consequence of his unstable magic.
None of their alien instruments (including the Doctor’s Sonic Screwdriver) understood magic and so they didn’t know for sure. Either way, both Gwen and Tosh felt extremely guilty for putting the blonde through this because, as far as they knew, he didn’t deserve it. The quickest way for him to stop vomiting and have a chance to recuperate was to return that feather to whom it belonged - which wouldn’t happen until Jack gave the go ahead.
“That changes nothing, Gwen, and you know that. Especially when we don’t know whose side they’re-“
“What ‘side’ is there, Jack?!” she argued, a little louder than intended.
Jack stepped closer in an intimidating fashion but she stood her ground.
“You are not to interfere. That’s an order.” he hissed, holding her glare before brushing past and disappearing.
Gwen glared daggers at thin air for a moment or two before taking a deep, calming breath and entering the infirmary. Walking to Fay’s bed she saw his glazed, dilated eyes flick to her and he murmured a single syllable before passing out again.
“No change then?” she asked the stoic figure by the blonde’s bedside. They obviously argued fiercely, so it came as a slight shock to everyone when Kurogane silently offered to watch over Fay.
Kurogane grunted a negative without even looking at her.
Gwen shifted from foot to foot for a second before pulling up a chair, sitting on the opposite side of Fay’s bed.
“You should probably get some real sleep,” she said to Kurogane, though it fell on deaf ears.
Gwen then sat in silence, absently studying Fay’s features. ‘This strange group of people’, she thought, ‘this strange group, each of them completely different yet they all have the same single goal in mind’.
With that thought, she smiled. Wasn’t it the same within Torchwood?
“A…shu………” Fay breathed softly, head turning to the side a little, eyes still closed.
“Dreaming…” Gwen said to herself upon realisation. She wasn’t sure, but it looked like Kurogane had frowned a little, for just a second. “What did he say?”
“….Ashura.” Kurogane said simply, eyes closing again. He hadn’t moved once in the time she’d been sat there… it was a little unnerving.
“What is that? What is an… ‘Ashura’?”
“It’s not your business,” he snapped, glaring at her openly, causing her to flinch.
“It was just a question,” she stated, her tone almost equally defensive, “If you didn’t want to answer then-“
He cut her off, “The person I answer to sure as hell aint you and what’s his business aint yours, so you can ask all you want but it doesn’t mean you’re getting an answer.”
“Fine then.” she ground out, staying put out of stubbornness.
She must have dozed off after a while, for the next thing she remembered was waking. She was lying on the sofa in the main area of the hub, with rough black material covering her. Confused, she looked around and caught a glimpse of the infirmary, where Kurogane was sat with his back to her, in the seat she was previously in.
She smiled and shook her head, slightly bewildered, before pulling his cape off of her and folding it up neatly, draping it over an arm and approaching quietly.
“I’m leaving now,” she said, mindful of her volume. Working underground, you got used to relying on your body clock as to when it was after dark, and Gwen knew it must be late, “If you need anything, Jack’s always around.”
Kurogane grunted in reply and then listened to her leaving, feather-light footfalls on the grates and then the distant echo of the door - if that’s what you could call it.
He liked worlds like this. Worlds where there was nothing to remind him of Nihon, of home. Though there was Toshiko - she looked similar to the women of his country. She wasn’t wide-eyed and fair skinned like the people of this one were, and she was small and had the same shade of dark hair that was so familiar to him.
He sighed through his teeth and opened his eyes, sight falling instantly on his blonde ally. Fay had always looked odd to him in those respects. They hadn’t been to many worlds where the people looked more like Fay, and Kurogane was secretly glad for that.
One idiot mage was enough to handle.
“Kuro…”
He snapped to attention and felt a blush at his cheeks. Goddess… what must’ve he looked like, zoning out like that?!
“Kuro…sama…..mmmh……”
Fay was still sleeping.
Kurogane felt his blush recede and he scowled a little. Any more blushing and he’d be worse than the kid, and all because Fay said his name in his sle--
Wait…
What?
He studied Fay a little closer. Definitely sleeping, but he was different to earlier.
“Kuropyun…” the blonde murmured again
Huh.
“What?” he grumbled, folding his arms.
“Cold….” Fay sighed, his head turning to the side.
Kurogane rolled his eyes and grabbed his cloak from where Gwen had left it for him. He spread it over the magician, all the while mumbling about how stupid this was. Sleeping-Fay didn’t thank him but just went silent, which to Kurogane was thanks enough.
He spotted what had been different about Fay earlier. The blonde never talked in his sleep anyway, but the increase in vocabulary used and the fact that he could ask for warmth showed Kurogane that he was becoming more conscious.
Kurogane refolded his arms and closed his eyes. Fay being mostly out of commission left him caring for three other people (and a pork bun) with nobody else to share the weight. On top of that, he needed to figure out what was causing trouble with the stupid wizard’s magic, fix it and work out a way to steal back the princess’s feather, all the while being watched, followed and scrutinised by six strange people. People he was definitely sure shouldn’t be trusted as easily as they had.
Speaking of people not to trust…
“He’s been out for a long time. You sure he’s okay?”
“He’s had worse,” Kurogane grumbled. He wasn’t sure if this was true, but he sure as hell wasn’t going to admit that out loud to the Captain. And what was with these people?! In Nihon, people knew when to leave others alone.
“His vitals are okay,” Jack said, looking at some strange machine that kept flashing similarly strange symbols, “So he should wake up soon.”
‘Unless this is magic…’ Kurogane thought. He didn’t voice his opinion; the way these people reacted to some of the things happening told him they were new to magic. He didn’t want to scare their only help away. Something occurred to him.
“Why’re you so interested, anyway?”
Jack paused and grinned, “Just concerned.”
There was a twinkle of something Kurogane didn’t like in Jack’s eyes and he bristled.
“Yeah? Well you and the rest of your team could stand to mind your own goddamn business.” he snapped.
“Maybe you could stand to learn some manners, oh and while you’re at it, respect,” Jack retorted, “If I ever hear you talk to any of my team like you did earlier again, you and your friends will be out on the street in seconds and you’ll have even less chance at getting your feather back. Do I make myself clear?”
Kurogane glared, before smirking. “Yeah.”
-
“Kurogane-san...” Syaoran mumbled. He was stood in the doorway of the infirmary, where Fay was still unconscious and the stoic ninja was still watching over him.
“Aah?”
“I just... well, Sakura-hime thought you would like something to drink,” he gestured at the tray he was holding, even though Kurogane's back was to him.
“Sure.”
Syaoran put it on the side table next to his mentor, “There's a little extra in the pot, in case Fay-san wakes...” he trailed off. Kurogane didn't answer, but then again, Syaoran didn't expect him to.
“Sakura-hime and I are going to see if we can get the feather back on our own. Should we leave Mokona or...?”
“Don't do anything yet, kid. I know we need that feather back, but the way they talk about the place it is-”
“Like it's far away?”
Kurogane smirked, “Yeah. So just be patient. If they don't let us know then we leave, but we don't do anything until this dumbass wakes up.”
“..Right...” Syaoran agreed reluctantly. There was logic to Kurogane's plan - there always was - but they had been in this odd world for days and had found nothing, and it frustrated him to no end.
“Um, excuse me..” came a rather timid voice. Syaoran turned and saw the small woman, Toshiko, behind him.
“What?” Kurogane said, before Syaoran could speak.
“I um...,” she lowered her voice, “I can tell you where the-”
“Toshiko!” Jack shouted from somewhere unseen to them, while behind them, Fay gasped, and launched himself into a sitting position.
“He's here” he said, the voice not his own, “The one we need”
.