[KRDen-O;prose] a bit of string and a whole lot of hope
Nogami Ryoutarou, Sakurai Yuuto, Urataros, Kai
Spoilers for entire series. Also, canon AU in that Ryoutarou meets Kai again in the future.
Prompt from 31_days. November 8th. a history that threatens to repeat itself
None of them had approved of his decision the moment they caught wind of it. It was justified, after all, Kai had been a rather worrying problem for a few trying months, even if Ryoutarou was fairly sure that their future was secured after that explosion two years ago. ("'Problem' is sort of a massive understatement, Ryoutarou," Urataros had noted mildly in his head, somehow managing to be heard over the ensuing chorus of, "NO." before Ryoutarou was forced to shut them out or suffer a sudden mental breakdown.)
"He doesn't remember anything," Ryoutarou protested rather plaintively, and made a feeble wave to Kai as Yuuto dragged him away. "See you in class tomorrow!"
"It doesn't matter. He tried to destroy time. TWICE!" Yuuto shouted once they got to a relatively deserted area of the university. Ryoutarou didn't know how Yuuto found out about his friendship with Kai so fast, but perhaps his Imagins had been more desperate that he thought.
"It does matter," Ryoutarou said, lips in a stubborn pout and trying not to hyperventilate over how Yuuto was looming over him. He was still uncomfortable with issues like personal space, but he doubted Yuuto was perceptive enough to realize it at the moment. "Kai-san's not...the Kai we know. At least, he hasn't become the Kai we know."
"Which is why you shouldn't make friends with him."
"And even if he might," Ryoutarou persisted, "And I don't think he will be, there's no rule that I can't make friends with him, right? I've never heard of friendship turning anyone evil before."
"That's your bad sense talking," Yuuto countered, and Ryoutarou's fingers dug into the red brick behind him. It was odd to feel his face heating up in anger, but making friends with Kai-san was Ryoutarou's choice, not anybody else's. It hurt to know that his friends could not understand that there were boundaries even they could not cross.
"It's not bad sense," Ryoutarou muttered sullenly. Yuuto snorted, and to Ryoutarou's relief, backed off and stuck his hands in his pockets.
"You can't guarantee him not turning into- No," Yuuto suddenly said, and Ryoutarou looked up from his shoes, expecting Deneb to appear. Instead, the blue eyes and uncharacteristically cocky smirk on Yuuto's face made his head want to ache.
"I did ask boku-chan for permission, Ryoutarou-kun. I just didn't wait for his answer."
"Urataros," he greeted. "Look, if it's the same complaint Yuuto's been having about me and Kai, my answer doesn't change. I'm not going to stop being friends with him just because his future self or past self or potential future self tried to destroy Hana-san's future. As far as I'm concerned, we saved it and the past is not going to repeat itself." He was panting a little at the end, and then added, "I won't let it, Urataros. I won't."
Urataros opened his mouth to say something, and then apparently changed his mind and closed it again. It was strange for Ryoutarou to see his Imagin in Yuuto, even if it made it easier for Ryoutarou to talk to them normally. He couldn't imagine Yuuto being terribly happy about being used like that, but then, Yuuto hadn't said anything to him about the matter.
"We just don't want to see you hurt," Urataros finally spoke, very softly. He reached out to adjust Ryoutarou's jacket, one hand pausing just briefly over his heart. "Kin-chan had been sitting on Ryuuta, you know, to stop him from possessing you whenever you're with Kai. Senpai also wants you to know that none of this screams 'good idea'. And he wants you to lift the mental block."
"Trust me," Ryoutarou pleaded. "Please."
Urataros sighed. "You're not going to back down on this, aren't you?" Ryoutarou only needed to muster up a weak smile before Urataros shook his head in defeat. "Well, it is your choice. And as your Imagins, I guess we could only follow, huh?" He smiled winningly at Ryoutarou. "I trust you. We trust you."
Ryoutarou's shoulders sagged as he murmured, "Thank you."
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omake
"What I don't get," Yuuto said crabbily from behind well-trimmed hedges, "Is why I'm doing his Imagins' dirty work." He had been following Nogami and Kai since ten, and so far it's been an hour of watching Kai flit from store to store like some fashion butterfly. At least they had settled down at a sweets shop.
"It's called being a good friend, Yuuto!" Deneb enthused from the Denliner amidst the ruckus Yuuto could hear in the background. "Besides, you didn't want Momo-tachi to possess you. And we can't walk around looking like this."
"Nogami's not my friend!" Yuuto exclaimed, and then lowered his voice when a passerby gave him a strange look. He quickly cupped a hand to his ear to give the pretense of holding a phone. "This feels stupid. I feel like a stalker. Why couldn't I just walk up to them?"
"That's because Momo-tachi don't want Ryoutarou to find out that they're doing this," Deneb explained, and then contnued, "Kametaros says that Ryoutarou will get angry if he finds out what they're doing, understandably. So they want you to go incognito."
"...wait, so if Nogami catches me, I get the fallout?"
Urataros' smooth voice reached his ear and sent an unwelcomed shiver down Yuuto's spine. "So don't get caught, okay, boku-chan?"
"I'm twenty-two, stop calling me boku-chan-!"
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"That's your friend over there, isn't it," Kai asked over lemon sorbet. He eyed the furiously arguing bush, tilted his head and grinned in amusement. "He's such a funny guy, Ryou-kun. Why haven't you introduced him to me?"
"I will. Eventually. It's just that...it's a rather long story..." Ryoutarou smiled wearily while mentally scrabbling to get a hold of his stupid friends. Oddly enough, it was a little more difficult to make himself be heard, but he managed in the end. Perhaps it was because Kai was chuckling, the way his eyes pinched almost closed, and the low conspiratorial voice he used when he said, "I like long stories, Ryou-kun." It distracted him, a little.
His voice echoed in the Denliner, pulsing slightly with mild irritation. "Guys, I'm not that dumb and Yuuto's not the best stalker in the world. Especially when he's arguing with himself."
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"ABORT ABORT!" Momotaros screeched over the sudden silence. "MISSON ABORT!"
Spoilers for entire series. Also, canon AU in that Ryoutarou meets Kai again in the future.
Prompt from 31_days. November 8th. a history that threatens to repeat itself
None of them had approved of his decision the moment they caught wind of it. It was justified, after all, Kai had been a rather worrying problem for a few trying months, even if Ryoutarou was fairly sure that their future was secured after that explosion two years ago. ("'Problem' is sort of a massive understatement, Ryoutarou," Urataros had noted mildly in his head, somehow managing to be heard over the ensuing chorus of, "NO." before Ryoutarou was forced to shut them out or suffer a sudden mental breakdown.)
"He doesn't remember anything," Ryoutarou protested rather plaintively, and made a feeble wave to Kai as Yuuto dragged him away. "See you in class tomorrow!"
"It doesn't matter. He tried to destroy time. TWICE!" Yuuto shouted once they got to a relatively deserted area of the university. Ryoutarou didn't know how Yuuto found out about his friendship with Kai so fast, but perhaps his Imagins had been more desperate that he thought.
"It does matter," Ryoutarou said, lips in a stubborn pout and trying not to hyperventilate over how Yuuto was looming over him. He was still uncomfortable with issues like personal space, but he doubted Yuuto was perceptive enough to realize it at the moment. "Kai-san's not...the Kai we know. At least, he hasn't become the Kai we know."
"Which is why you shouldn't make friends with him."
"And even if he might," Ryoutarou persisted, "And I don't think he will be, there's no rule that I can't make friends with him, right? I've never heard of friendship turning anyone evil before."
"That's your bad sense talking," Yuuto countered, and Ryoutarou's fingers dug into the red brick behind him. It was odd to feel his face heating up in anger, but making friends with Kai-san was Ryoutarou's choice, not anybody else's. It hurt to know that his friends could not understand that there were boundaries even they could not cross.
"It's not bad sense," Ryoutarou muttered sullenly. Yuuto snorted, and to Ryoutarou's relief, backed off and stuck his hands in his pockets.
"You can't guarantee him not turning into- No," Yuuto suddenly said, and Ryoutarou looked up from his shoes, expecting Deneb to appear. Instead, the blue eyes and uncharacteristically cocky smirk on Yuuto's face made his head want to ache.
"I did ask boku-chan for permission, Ryoutarou-kun. I just didn't wait for his answer."
"Urataros," he greeted. "Look, if it's the same complaint Yuuto's been having about me and Kai, my answer doesn't change. I'm not going to stop being friends with him just because his future self or past self or potential future self tried to destroy Hana-san's future. As far as I'm concerned, we saved it and the past is not going to repeat itself." He was panting a little at the end, and then added, "I won't let it, Urataros. I won't."
Urataros opened his mouth to say something, and then apparently changed his mind and closed it again. It was strange for Ryoutarou to see his Imagin in Yuuto, even if it made it easier for Ryoutarou to talk to them normally. He couldn't imagine Yuuto being terribly happy about being used like that, but then, Yuuto hadn't said anything to him about the matter.
"We just don't want to see you hurt," Urataros finally spoke, very softly. He reached out to adjust Ryoutarou's jacket, one hand pausing just briefly over his heart. "Kin-chan had been sitting on Ryuuta, you know, to stop him from possessing you whenever you're with Kai. Senpai also wants you to know that none of this screams 'good idea'. And he wants you to lift the mental block."
"Trust me," Ryoutarou pleaded. "Please."
Urataros sighed. "You're not going to back down on this, aren't you?" Ryoutarou only needed to muster up a weak smile before Urataros shook his head in defeat. "Well, it is your choice. And as your Imagins, I guess we could only follow, huh?" He smiled winningly at Ryoutarou. "I trust you. We trust you."
Ryoutarou's shoulders sagged as he murmured, "Thank you."
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omake
"What I don't get," Yuuto said crabbily from behind well-trimmed hedges, "Is why I'm doing his Imagins' dirty work." He had been following Nogami and Kai since ten, and so far it's been an hour of watching Kai flit from store to store like some fashion butterfly. At least they had settled down at a sweets shop.
"It's called being a good friend, Yuuto!" Deneb enthused from the Denliner amidst the ruckus Yuuto could hear in the background. "Besides, you didn't want Momo-tachi to possess you. And we can't walk around looking like this."
"Nogami's not my friend!" Yuuto exclaimed, and then lowered his voice when a passerby gave him a strange look. He quickly cupped a hand to his ear to give the pretense of holding a phone. "This feels stupid. I feel like a stalker. Why couldn't I just walk up to them?"
"That's because Momo-tachi don't want Ryoutarou to find out that they're doing this," Deneb explained, and then contnued, "Kametaros says that Ryoutarou will get angry if he finds out what they're doing, understandably. So they want you to go incognito."
"...wait, so if Nogami catches me, I get the fallout?"
Urataros' smooth voice reached his ear and sent an unwelcomed shiver down Yuuto's spine. "So don't get caught, okay, boku-chan?"
"I'm twenty-two, stop calling me boku-chan-!"
-----------------------------------------
"That's your friend over there, isn't it," Kai asked over lemon sorbet. He eyed the furiously arguing bush, tilted his head and grinned in amusement. "He's such a funny guy, Ryou-kun. Why haven't you introduced him to me?"
"I will. Eventually. It's just that...it's a rather long story..." Ryoutarou smiled wearily while mentally scrabbling to get a hold of his stupid friends. Oddly enough, it was a little more difficult to make himself be heard, but he managed in the end. Perhaps it was because Kai was chuckling, the way his eyes pinched almost closed, and the low conspiratorial voice he used when he said, "I like long stories, Ryou-kun." It distracted him, a little.
His voice echoed in the Denliner, pulsing slightly with mild irritation. "Guys, I'm not that dumb and Yuuto's not the best stalker in the world. Especially when he's arguing with himself."
-----------------------------------------
"ABORT ABORT!" Momotaros screeched over the sudden silence. "MISSON ABORT!"