'Shift' for Turkeyimposter
For: turkeyimposter
Title: Shift
Characters: Yagyuu, Niou, Yanagi, small bits of Kite
Rating: R
Summary: Yagyuu is a scientist with a fascination for shapeshifters who gets himself a job at the Corporation working with the only shifter in captivity.
Warnings: inter-species-esque pairing? Suspension of disbelief possibly necessary?
Disclaimer: I do not own them, though I do occasionally steal them for a weekend of dirty fun.
A/N: I originally tried to work off the "fantasy elements" kink the "camera" prompt. I don't think I ended up hitting either of those. I'm sorry,, turkeyimposter ! I did manage to hit other things in your request, so I hope you enjoy anyway!
Yagyuu doesn't remember how he learned of the experiments that are being done by the Corporation. It's very likely that he heard of it from a grad student or read it in an article. The first thought that comes to mind is 'barbaric,' though it is quickly followed by the second, much more persistent thought: 'interesting.'
That interesting follows him for weeks, a trailing, nagging thing that sits in the back of his mind. One morning he takes a sip of his tea and discovers that he's left it steeping for too long -- he'd been lost in thought, thinking about what it would be like to work directly with one of them. He swallows the bitter mouthful and sets his cup down. He looks up a number on his phone.
The next Monday Yagyuu Hiroshi, doctor of biochemistry, has an interview with the Corporation's head researcher.
"It certainly is a small world, isn't it?"
Yagyuu inclines his head. He really wasn't expecting to see Yanagi again, least of all here. Yanagi was a promising student in school, with even more aptitude for the work than Yagyuu himself possessed. He was on the path to a prestigious grant when he suddenly disappeared. It doesn't appear as though Yanagi has done badly for himself with such a position.
"May I call you Hiroshi?" Yanagi asks him in a soft voice, his face set in familiar calm. Yagyuu finds himself admiring it just as he did in their school days. He's cultivated his own kind of calm since then, but it is nowhere near the level that Yanagi's is.
"Of course," Yagyuu replies. "Though I do prefer us to remain on professional terms. If we will be working together, that is."
"I understand." The air hangs uncomfortably between then for a few moments before he continues. "You'll be doing some data analysis for me. At least for a while. I assume your main interest is to work on Level B."
"Yes, that is why I sought out this job."
Yanagi pins him with a searching look, though Yagyuu can't ascertain what it is he wishes to find. "You haven't changed. Still so fascinated with the unexplored. A true scientist."
Yagyuu can't tell if it is a compliment or an insult, considering the situation they are in. "It's the reason the both of us are here, isn't it?" he tells Yanagi. "Science."
A pause. "Yes, that's right." Yanagi leans in closer, opens his mouth as if to say something more. Then he leans back and stands up suddenly. "If you will follow me now, I'll give you a quick tour of the facility."
Yagyuu has read various literature regarding shifters, yet it still takes him by surprise when he sees the young man sleeping on the cot in the corner of the room. His hair is a shocking, silvery white, and his features are distinctively angular, but that is all that discerns him outwardly from everyone else that Yagyuu comes into contact with every day (at the moment, anyway).
Yagyuu is sure that the tight, gnawing feeling in his abdomen is excitement.
"Does he have a name?"
"I assume so, though shifters are extremely protective of their identities." Yagyuu looks over at Yanagi to see him smiling almost indulgently at the shifter through the glass. "He occasionally calls himself Patient Zero. I think he finds science fiction novels very entertaining. Ironic, yes?"
The Corporation's research department naturally has research projects in high supply, and Yagyuu is kept busy his entire first month familiarizing himself with them. He doesn't have complete clearance to go into Level B, the floor where the Corporation houses its more sensitive experiments, though Yanagi does escort him once in a while. Even then, they only stand outside the door and watch through tinted windows as the white-haired man sleeps, eats, watches television from a small screen mounted on the opposite wall.
He catches a smile once, a reaction from something the shifter sees on the television screen. As he enters the elevator that night to go back to the main level Yagyuu finds himself thinking about that smiling reaction, of how normal and familiar it is.
"I had preconceived notions of how shapeshifters would act," he tells Yanagi in a conversation the next day at lunch. "I always assumed they'd be...less human somehow."
Yanagi takes a sip of his tea and looks at him quizzically. "And now?"
Yagyuu adjusts his glasses, not sure how to put his thoughts into words. "From what I've observed, he appears very human." Uncomfortably human, in fact.
"An astute observation, Yagyuu-sensei," says a voice from behind him. Kite-san. Yagyuu didn't expect anyone to be listening to them.
"Kite-san, good morning," greets Yanagi. "I didn't know you ate here too." Yagyuu turns also. Their boss is holding a lunch tray balanced perfectly on one palm.
"Just this once," Kite replies, eyeglasses flashing as he deliberately pulls out a chair for himself at their table. He pauses before sitting down. "You don't mind?"
"No," Yagyuu answers. "Of course not." One doesn't tell one's boss his company is not wanted at meal times no matter how notorious his reputation is.
Kite sets his tray on the table and sits down. "I couldn't help overhearing. I'm glad you've taken such an interest in the shapeshift experiment." He bites into the apple he has picked up with an audible crunch and chews appreciatively. "Only remember that though they may look and act like humans, we have no way of knowing what they are like inside. After all, some of his can do amazingly convincing portrayals of monkeys. That doesn’t, Yagyuu-sensei, make us apes."
It could just be his imagine, but Yagyuu thinks he notices a frown from the usually inscrutable Yanagi. It shouldn't be surprising that Yanagi disagrees with his boss's views on the shifters they are experimenting with, but somehow it is. Yagyuu finds himself relieved that Yanagi hasn't changed as much as he thought. But then why would Yanagi be here, and what must he think of Yagyuu for being here also?
Occupying his thoughts even more is the question that Kite's conversation brought up: what are shifters like on the inside? They are already studying the shifter's biological make-up, taking samples of his skin and hair, running him through various tests and x-rays. Those things, however, are merely physical. They won't and can't tell them what the shifter is really like on the inside-how he thinks and feels and experiences the world around him. Kite could be right and the shifter could be completely different on the real inside.
Or he could be wrong, and Patient Zero could be exactly like anyone, exactly like Yagyuu.
Two days later, Yagyuu finds an envelope on his desk with an ID card in it. There is a small box with his picture printed on the card, and underneath it are the words Access: Level B in bold letters. There are no other words, not even his name or job title.
Level B is a long elevator ride and claustrophobic corridor away. Yanagi is already there when Yagyuu arrives for the first time by himself.
"Ah, you found it."
Yagyuu nods. The ID card is clipped to his coat, its plastic surface glinting under the fluorescent lights. "I thought I would come here on my own and..." he gestures down the hall, where Patient Zero's room is, "observe."
Their steps echo down the hallway as they walk together side by side.
"Is that all you want to do? Observe?"
It's Yanagi, so there's no use saying anything at all. Yagyuu just keeps on walking, though he allows himself a small smile.
Yanagi stops when they arrive at the door. "Your card swiped over there," he instructs, pointing, "and then say your name into that microphone there."
Yagyuu does as he is told. There is a click. He pushes through, only to find another door. Yanagi reaches into his pocket and pulls out dangling set of keys. He unhooks a key from it and hands it to Yagyuu.
Yagyuu slides the key in and turns the doorknob.
"Zero, I'd like you to meet my associate."
"Yo." The shifter stares at him with dark brown eyes that spark with something like recognition. There is a hint of a smile there, too, a hiding smile. It makes Yagyuu wonder if they've met before in another time and place. It's entirely possible with someone like this.
"Hello. It's nice to meet you." This earns him a snort, and then Patient Zero is turning away from him and going back to his bed.
When they are outside again Yanagi assures him that their resident shifter does not warm up easily to anyone. "He just needs to get used to you. You're free to visit him again at your own discretion now. I will also need your help analyzing his lab results."
What did you expect? Yagyuu asks himself as he and Yanagi walk back to the main level together.
He dreams of silence, hours and hours of it, just him and the shifter in that sterile white room, no examination table or cuffs or equipment, just dark brown eyes staring, staring, staring, and a sly sliver of a smile that he reaches out for.
"Who are you?" he asks the shifter.
The shifter opens his mouth to answer, but Yagyuu is already there.
In Yagyuu's dreams the shifter's lips are warm and dry and real against his fingertips.
He keeps going back. He finds some sort of excuse, devises some sort of experiment, and finds himself back in that room, face to face with the man who calls himself Patient Zero.
"Where's the other guy?" Patient Zero asks the first time he enters the room by himself. Yagyuu pushes away the small, irrational twinge of jealousy he feels at Yanagi's mention.
"He's very likely in the cafeteria now." There's a small table with two chairs on either side. Yagyuu lowers himself onto one of them. "Have you had lunch yet?"
"Why, you offering to be it?" The shifter grins; Yagyuu can tell he's deliberately showing teeth.
He's read that contrary to popular belief shifters are not actually carnivorous, at least not any more than the average human. He supposes the literature could be wrong. "Are you trying to scare me, Zero-kun?"
Zero-kun stalks closer. "It working?"
Yagyuu considers. "Only a little. Can I offer you a sandwich instead?"
The shifter laughs.
"Still afraid of me?" the shifter asks on their third meeting.
"Very likely."
"What if I said I could kill you without so much effort? Even without stealing that sharp little knife of yours."
Yagyuu sets the scalpel down. "Why don't you?" He's genuinely curious.
A level look. "Even if I did, it's not like I can get outta here anyway."
"Whaddaya want from me?"
Yagyuu swabs Patient Zero's outstretched arm. "Beg pardon?"
"The secret to eternal youth? Gonna rule a superhuman army of shapeshifting freaks? Whaddaya want?"
Yagyuu can feel his mouth twitching into a smile. Zero-kun, as he has begun to call him, has a way of amusing him. "I want to understand you." I want to know you.
"Are all scientists this annoying?"
"Yes," is Yagyuu's short reply. He retrieves a syringe from his bag. "I'm going to give you an injection now. It's a chemical compound that will allow us to measure the regenerative capabilities of your muscles."
"Yeah, okay."
Yagyuu holds his arm firm. Zero-kun grimaces as the needle goes in, but he doesn't move. Yagyuu can feel the muscles in his arm tensing, reacting to the stimulant running through his system.
"This test requires you to change. Anything will do." He practices his Yanagi face. He's certain Zero-kun isn't above refusing him just to deny him something he wants.
But Zero-kun only nods, rubbing his arm.
It happens without preamble. One moment he is his usual pale-skinned, white-haired self, and the next moment the white is mutating to gold, then brown, then black, twisting and curling. His angular features soften, his stature condenses itself.
Yagyuu watches in silence. It reminds him of when he was a child and the class had caught a caterpillar and kept it in a glass box to watch its transition to a butterfly, the wings slowly unfurling from its chrysalis, a miracle of nature.
Except suddenly all Yagyuu wants is to see Zero-kun changing back, to see his wild hair and sharp eyes again.
Zero-kun holds up an arm. It glows a bright blue hue just like the rest of him. He cocks an eyebrow at Yagyuu.
“It’s the chemicals,” Yagyuu explains. “They’re reacting to the accelerating rate of change in your cells. It’s temporary.”
He watches Patient Zero change back and forth, each second a different face, each face a laughing one, as if he is playing some sort of game. Then, a familiar face.
Yagyuu stares, feeling the hairs on his nape stand on end. "That's very impressive," he manages to say.
His own face stars back at him, lips curving into a wicked smile that somehow looks completely natural. "I can sound like you, too," his own voice informs him.
Before he can stop himself, Yagyuu reaches up and touches. His fingers trail along the skin of one cheek, then down across the lips, then even lower past the chin, towards the neck--
A hand grabs his wrist hard. The person in front of him rearranges himself. Before he realizes it, his hand is centimeters away from Zero-kun's usual face. His hair tickles the back of Yagyuu's hand, and his grip is strong. "I didn't give you permission to touch me there, Sensei."
The look Zero-kun fixes him one is a mild one. By now Yagyuu knows that his expressions don't always mean what they are supposed to mean. It's surprising how much one can learn about another person, if one just pays attention-and Yagyuu has paid plenty of attention.
"Forgive me," Yagyuu says when he finds his voice. "I was-curious."
Zero-kun lets go of Yagyuu's hand too slowly; the pads of his fingers are warm and Yagyuu's arm feels numb where they touched him. It is the first time he has touched him voluntarily.
He spends his days off scouring libraries for studies on shapeshifters. Most of these he's read before, but that doesn't stop him from reading them again. When he has time to pause and wonder about his actions, he admits to himself that he should be worried about this turning into an obsession.
It was never like this before, no matter how long he's been fascinated by shifters. Now, of course, Yagyuu has a face that he can put to the names and descriptions, the scientific theories and conjectures. No matter how much he reads he can't seem to get enough, and it never seems to be enough to get him closer to the real Zero-kun.
It only dawns on him when he's finished with the last article in his collection of borrowed texts that he stopped thinking of it as studying about shapeshifters long ago. It is all about one shapeshifter now.
Yagyuu Hiroshi, doctor of biochemistry, has an obsession.
The email from Kite Eishirou is in his inbox when he arrives at work Monday morning.
Yagyuu-sensei,
Upon reviewing the security camera tapes I've noticed you are spending a lot of time on Level B lately. Six whole hours just this past week. I am glad that you're taking the experiment so seriously, but I do hope you haven't gotten overly attached.
Thank you for your hard work.
Kite Eishirou
Yagyuu hits the reply button and types of a carefully worded response. Not to worry. I'm only concerned with the tests. I would also like to find out how shapeshifters work on the inside. It was, at least, the truth.
The small squeeze of panic that Yagyuu feels at the clear warning from Kite surprises him. What started out as a placid indifference for The Corporation's CEO has turned into a rather intense dislike. The man is dangerous. He could take Yagyuu's job away, and then...
Then what? He would no longer get to see Zero-kun. Yagyuu supposes it is a little too late for Kite to warn him about getting too attached.
"Don't you have anything better to do than hang around this creepy jail-cell with me?"
Yagyuu doesn't have to consider this for very long. "No, not really."
Zero-kun laughs, throwing his head back, exposing his neck to the light.
He takes a seat on the chair by the foot of Zero-kun's cot and they watch cartoons on the television together. Yagyuu has brought another chemical-this time to test Zero-kun's reaction to muscle depressants-but that can wait.
"Hey, if I ask a question you gonna answer it truthfully?"
Yagyuu looks over. Dark brown eyes stare back at him, challenging. "Yes."
"You hot for me?"
Oh. This is not what Yagyuu expected him to ask. Inexplicably, he feels heat crawling up his neck. "That's very inappropriate."
Another laugh. "Man, you crack me up. You show up at all hours of the day, shoot me up with drugs, poke at me with sharp things. You've got me in a fucking cell with a see-through wall so you can watch me anytime you please." Suddenly Zero-kun is very close, leaning into Yagyuu's space from the edge of the cot. "What about all this isn't 'inappropriate'?"
Put like that, he has a point. Yagyuu considers. "I'm not usually 'hot' for someone whose real name I don't even know." He realizes, with a certain sense of falling into the unknown, that this isn't exactly a 'no.'
"Tell you mine if you tell me yours." He can't seem to take his eyes away from Zero-kun's face, even as Zero-kun's gaze bores into him.
Careful. "There may be cameras, mic-"
"No there isn't. Too much evidence of the activities to keep those kinda records, Renji says."
Renji? Yagyuu supposes he would be a reliable authority, though how Zero-kun knows...
'Shifters are extremely protective of their identities,' he remembers Yanagi telling him.
"I assume you've striked the same deal with Yanagi-san, then?"
Zero-kun grins infuriatingly. "Jealous, sensei?"
Yagyuu stands up. "You'll believe what you will," he tells Zero. "If you will excuse me, I have some work to do."
"Yeah, sure."
He wakes up sweaty and hard with the memory of a hand gripping his arm tight, the shifter's voice asking him, 'You hot for me?'
Yes, he thinks as he takes himself in hand and begins to stroke, Yes, I am.
"Good morning. You look tired today." Yanagi sets his mug down next to Yagyuu's.
Yagyuu nods in acknowledgment. He takes a sip of his tea, slowly. "Does Kite-san know that you're telling certain patients your given name, Renji?"
Yanagi's eyes sharpen just a tiny bit. "You've gotten quite close to him, haven't you?" When he smiles, as Yagyuu knew he inevitably would, it's a sad smile that takes Yagyuu by surprise. "You haven't called me that in years, Hiroshi."
There is a small, awkward silence. Yagyuu hadn't thought there were any feelings left between them other than mutual respect, but that look that Renji gave him suggested otherwise. Lately nothing has gone as he'd expected.
"I looked for you," he admits after a while. "For months. I expected you to come to me eventually and explain your sudden absence. As you know," he makes a small, involuntary gesture, "it didn't happen." He looks down at his tea because Renji's expression is more than he wants to deal with at the moment.
"…I'm sorry for that. I do deserve it, your distance." A sigh, and then the sound of Renji picking up his mug again. Yagyuu waits till he's finished drinking his fill before looking up again. Renji's face is back to its affable calm. "As for that certain patient, no, Kite-san doesn't know. I would appreciate your discretion."
Yagyuu nods. "You're not surprised that he said something to me."
"No. He's very fond of you. Though-" He stops, as if he's just caught himself about to say something he shouldn't. "Ah, never mind. You can trust my discretion as well."
Yagyuu isn't really sure what he is supposed to say, so he settles for a "Thank you."
Zero-kun is sitting on the floor with his back against the wall. He switches the television off when Yagyuu comes in and blinks up at Yagyuu in mock confusion. "Didn't you run away?"
Yagyuu sits down next to him so that their arms are almost touching, but not quite. Not yet. He stares at the grey-screened television. "Yes. Then I came back. Is that all right?"
"What, I have a choice?"
He inhales slowly, and nods. "Yes."
Laughter. "You drive me fucking insane."
Yagyuu smiles at this. "Yes, you too."
"You realize you've said 'yes' like three times now?"
His mind flashes back to their last conversation, the question that Zero-kun asked him. He tears his eyes away from the empty television and reaches over, slow enough for the other man to stop him if he wanted to. His hand reaches all the way, hand landing flush against the skin of Zero-kun's neck. "Yes," he says for a fourth time. "And my name is Yagyuu Hiroshi."
There.
"Niou Masaharu." The shifter grins at him, leaning into his touch, giving permission. "So, Yagyuu Hiroshi-san. You hot for me?"
He doesn't give a respond, not in words. He just leans in, finally, because he can't seem to stop himself and can't see a reason why he should.
Niou's lips are as warm and human as they were in his dreams.
"Hiroshi? I'm sorry to wake you."
Yagyuu glances blurrily at the clock on his nightstand. 2:03 A.M. "Is everything all right?"
"I'm in front of your apartment," Yanagi answers. "Can I come up?"
It seems they are always drinking tea together. Yagyuu sips his and looks expectantly at his surprise guest.
"It's about Masaharu."
Yagyuu sets his cup down. "What is it?" If this is about what happened between them, he wonders what he will say to Yanagi.
"He needs to escape very soon, and I need you to help him."
"Of course I will help," Yagyuu says immediately. "What's wrong?"
"Kite has become impatient with the results of our tests. He thinks we've done enough of that sort of testing. He wants to try an alternative method."
A sinking feeling develops in the put of Yagyuu's stomach. "What sort of alternative method?" he asks, although he's sure he already knows.
"Dissection."
Yagyuu closes his eyes. "Of course. God. How is he going to explain that?"
"If his experiment attempts to escape and endangers the lives of others in the process, then the Corporation would naturally have to do whatever it takes to neutralize the situation, yes? Even if it means putting that experiment down."
Kite Eishirou really is a ruthless bastard.
"Why not blow the whistle on him instead?"
Renji gives him a significant look. "If we did that Masaharu would still be in captivity. I think it's the right time for him to get out."
Yagyuu swallows. So he does know. "Renji…"
Renji shakes his head. "No, Hiroshi, it's fine. I'm happy for you. And I've never seen Masaharu like this with anyone else."
"…Thank you." What Renji says, though, makes him think. He looks at Yanagi, really looks at him. "The way you talk about him, it's as if you know him well. Better than a scientist would know the subject of his studies."
That resigned expression is enough to tell him that his suspicions are not unfounded. Then, unexpectedly, that sad familiar smile. "Yes, I'm afraid I haven't been completely truthful with you. I will explain."
"Renji." Renji was almost to the elevator, but he stops and glances back. Yagyuu isn't sure he should say it. He does anyway. "I'm sorry."
Renji smiles at him, and this time it's not the sad smile, just a Renji-smile, and Yagyu feels a bit warmer. "It's not your fault. And it's the past now."
He nods. "Tomorrow?"
Even from where is he is standing, he can see Renji's grip on the backpack he is carrying tighten. "Yes, tomorrow."
He wakes up to tomorrow and gets up for work. He packs an extra change of clothes and puts his spare pair of glasses into his bag.
The day crawls, and by lunch he can feel his insides shaking with nerves and anticipation. He checks his watch. 11:40. Renji should be done with Niou-kun in approximately 20 minutes.
Niou is standing in small bathroom, completely naked. Yagyuu stops to stare for a few seconds.
"Don't got much time," Niou reminds him with a grin, walking forward to brush against him. "Got clothes for me?"
Yagyuu holds up his tool bag, which he's emptied out and stuffed with clothes and an extra lab coat. Niou dresses and Yagyuu helps him, and within a minute he's shifting.
"Like what you see?" Niou asks him in his own voice. He fishes the spare glasses out of the lab-coat pocket and slips them on.
"Yes," Yagyuu admits. Although he much prefers Niou's usual look. He reaches up to unclip the access card from his own coat and hands it to Niou. "My car keys are in the bag. Parking spot #306. Be careful."
Niou grabs him and plants a crushing, bruising kiss on his lips. It's slightly surreal to be kissing himself, but it's still Niou, after all, so Yagyuu enjoys it. "Later."
Then he's gone.
Ten minutes later Renji arrives. "I'm sorry about this, Hiroshi," he says, and punches Yagyuu in the stomach.
"Three broken ribs, a concussion, and a dislocated shoulder," Kite Eishirou recites. "The shifter really did a number on you, didn't he, Yagyuu-kun?"
"Thank you for taking care of the medical costs. I'm very grateful for your kindness."
"It's nothing. I'm very sorry you were so badly injured. But what I really want to talk with you about is your name."
Yagyuu blinks, feigning confusion. "My…name?"
"You see, the shifter had to have known it to deactivate the security and open the doors. So how did he manage that when you were all specifically instructed not to reveal your names?"
Yagyuu looks down at the desk in front of him and gives a small, contrite bow. "I'm sincerely sorry. I let my guard down. He offered to tell me more about their social structure if I told him my name. I didn't think."
Kite frowns in distaste. "No, you didn't." He reaches up to adjust his glasses. "You'll understand when I tell you that the Corporation cannot afford to have people under its employ who don't think, won't you?"
Yagyuu lowers his head even further. "Yes, of course."
He turns in his ID card and removes his belongings from his office. As he gets into the car, his phone bleeps.
At the park. Come soon.
The park is only 15 minutes away by car. The roads are not very busy at this time of the day, so Yagyuu speeds just a little to get there faster.
When he arrives, Niou is waiting for him on a bench, balancing a tennis racket on the tip of one finger. He looks different with his hair dyed black and his skin is beginning to tan, too. Different, but good.
Niou has another racket next to him on the bench, and two canisters of brand new tennis balls. "Is that the plan for today?" Yagyuu asks, gesturing at the tennis gear;
"Yup. You know how?"
"I used to play as a teenager in school."
Niou grins. "Yeah? Me too. You any good still?"
"We'll find out, won't we?"
Laughter. "Gonna kick your ass, Yagyuu."
The afternoon sun feels good in his face, and Niou's company is even better. Yagyuu smiles as they walk together toward the courts.
----The end
Title: Shift
Characters: Yagyuu, Niou, Yanagi, small bits of Kite
Rating: R
Summary: Yagyuu is a scientist with a fascination for shapeshifters who gets himself a job at the Corporation working with the only shifter in captivity.
Warnings: inter-species-esque pairing? Suspension of disbelief possibly necessary?
Disclaimer: I do not own them, though I do occasionally steal them for a weekend of dirty fun.
A/N: I originally tried to work off the "fantasy elements" kink the "camera" prompt. I don't think I ended up hitting either of those. I'm sorry,, turkeyimposter ! I did manage to hit other things in your request, so I hope you enjoy anyway!
Yagyuu doesn't remember how he learned of the experiments that are being done by the Corporation. It's very likely that he heard of it from a grad student or read it in an article. The first thought that comes to mind is 'barbaric,' though it is quickly followed by the second, much more persistent thought: 'interesting.'
That interesting follows him for weeks, a trailing, nagging thing that sits in the back of his mind. One morning he takes a sip of his tea and discovers that he's left it steeping for too long -- he'd been lost in thought, thinking about what it would be like to work directly with one of them. He swallows the bitter mouthful and sets his cup down. He looks up a number on his phone.
The next Monday Yagyuu Hiroshi, doctor of biochemistry, has an interview with the Corporation's head researcher.
"It certainly is a small world, isn't it?"
Yagyuu inclines his head. He really wasn't expecting to see Yanagi again, least of all here. Yanagi was a promising student in school, with even more aptitude for the work than Yagyuu himself possessed. He was on the path to a prestigious grant when he suddenly disappeared. It doesn't appear as though Yanagi has done badly for himself with such a position.
"May I call you Hiroshi?" Yanagi asks him in a soft voice, his face set in familiar calm. Yagyuu finds himself admiring it just as he did in their school days. He's cultivated his own kind of calm since then, but it is nowhere near the level that Yanagi's is.
"Of course," Yagyuu replies. "Though I do prefer us to remain on professional terms. If we will be working together, that is."
"I understand." The air hangs uncomfortably between then for a few moments before he continues. "You'll be doing some data analysis for me. At least for a while. I assume your main interest is to work on Level B."
"Yes, that is why I sought out this job."
Yanagi pins him with a searching look, though Yagyuu can't ascertain what it is he wishes to find. "You haven't changed. Still so fascinated with the unexplored. A true scientist."
Yagyuu can't tell if it is a compliment or an insult, considering the situation they are in. "It's the reason the both of us are here, isn't it?" he tells Yanagi. "Science."
A pause. "Yes, that's right." Yanagi leans in closer, opens his mouth as if to say something more. Then he leans back and stands up suddenly. "If you will follow me now, I'll give you a quick tour of the facility."
Yagyuu has read various literature regarding shifters, yet it still takes him by surprise when he sees the young man sleeping on the cot in the corner of the room. His hair is a shocking, silvery white, and his features are distinctively angular, but that is all that discerns him outwardly from everyone else that Yagyuu comes into contact with every day (at the moment, anyway).
Yagyuu is sure that the tight, gnawing feeling in his abdomen is excitement.
"Does he have a name?"
"I assume so, though shifters are extremely protective of their identities." Yagyuu looks over at Yanagi to see him smiling almost indulgently at the shifter through the glass. "He occasionally calls himself Patient Zero. I think he finds science fiction novels very entertaining. Ironic, yes?"
The Corporation's research department naturally has research projects in high supply, and Yagyuu is kept busy his entire first month familiarizing himself with them. He doesn't have complete clearance to go into Level B, the floor where the Corporation houses its more sensitive experiments, though Yanagi does escort him once in a while. Even then, they only stand outside the door and watch through tinted windows as the white-haired man sleeps, eats, watches television from a small screen mounted on the opposite wall.
He catches a smile once, a reaction from something the shifter sees on the television screen. As he enters the elevator that night to go back to the main level Yagyuu finds himself thinking about that smiling reaction, of how normal and familiar it is.
"I had preconceived notions of how shapeshifters would act," he tells Yanagi in a conversation the next day at lunch. "I always assumed they'd be...less human somehow."
Yanagi takes a sip of his tea and looks at him quizzically. "And now?"
Yagyuu adjusts his glasses, not sure how to put his thoughts into words. "From what I've observed, he appears very human." Uncomfortably human, in fact.
"An astute observation, Yagyuu-sensei," says a voice from behind him. Kite-san. Yagyuu didn't expect anyone to be listening to them.
"Kite-san, good morning," greets Yanagi. "I didn't know you ate here too." Yagyuu turns also. Their boss is holding a lunch tray balanced perfectly on one palm.
"Just this once," Kite replies, eyeglasses flashing as he deliberately pulls out a chair for himself at their table. He pauses before sitting down. "You don't mind?"
"No," Yagyuu answers. "Of course not." One doesn't tell one's boss his company is not wanted at meal times no matter how notorious his reputation is.
Kite sets his tray on the table and sits down. "I couldn't help overhearing. I'm glad you've taken such an interest in the shapeshift experiment." He bites into the apple he has picked up with an audible crunch and chews appreciatively. "Only remember that though they may look and act like humans, we have no way of knowing what they are like inside. After all, some of his can do amazingly convincing portrayals of monkeys. That doesn’t, Yagyuu-sensei, make us apes."
It could just be his imagine, but Yagyuu thinks he notices a frown from the usually inscrutable Yanagi. It shouldn't be surprising that Yanagi disagrees with his boss's views on the shifters they are experimenting with, but somehow it is. Yagyuu finds himself relieved that Yanagi hasn't changed as much as he thought. But then why would Yanagi be here, and what must he think of Yagyuu for being here also?
Occupying his thoughts even more is the question that Kite's conversation brought up: what are shifters like on the inside? They are already studying the shifter's biological make-up, taking samples of his skin and hair, running him through various tests and x-rays. Those things, however, are merely physical. They won't and can't tell them what the shifter is really like on the inside-how he thinks and feels and experiences the world around him. Kite could be right and the shifter could be completely different on the real inside.
Or he could be wrong, and Patient Zero could be exactly like anyone, exactly like Yagyuu.
Two days later, Yagyuu finds an envelope on his desk with an ID card in it. There is a small box with his picture printed on the card, and underneath it are the words Access: Level B in bold letters. There are no other words, not even his name or job title.
Level B is a long elevator ride and claustrophobic corridor away. Yanagi is already there when Yagyuu arrives for the first time by himself.
"Ah, you found it."
Yagyuu nods. The ID card is clipped to his coat, its plastic surface glinting under the fluorescent lights. "I thought I would come here on my own and..." he gestures down the hall, where Patient Zero's room is, "observe."
Their steps echo down the hallway as they walk together side by side.
"Is that all you want to do? Observe?"
It's Yanagi, so there's no use saying anything at all. Yagyuu just keeps on walking, though he allows himself a small smile.
Yanagi stops when they arrive at the door. "Your card swiped over there," he instructs, pointing, "and then say your name into that microphone there."
Yagyuu does as he is told. There is a click. He pushes through, only to find another door. Yanagi reaches into his pocket and pulls out dangling set of keys. He unhooks a key from it and hands it to Yagyuu.
Yagyuu slides the key in and turns the doorknob.
"Zero, I'd like you to meet my associate."
"Yo." The shifter stares at him with dark brown eyes that spark with something like recognition. There is a hint of a smile there, too, a hiding smile. It makes Yagyuu wonder if they've met before in another time and place. It's entirely possible with someone like this.
"Hello. It's nice to meet you." This earns him a snort, and then Patient Zero is turning away from him and going back to his bed.
When they are outside again Yanagi assures him that their resident shifter does not warm up easily to anyone. "He just needs to get used to you. You're free to visit him again at your own discretion now. I will also need your help analyzing his lab results."
What did you expect? Yagyuu asks himself as he and Yanagi walk back to the main level together.
He dreams of silence, hours and hours of it, just him and the shifter in that sterile white room, no examination table or cuffs or equipment, just dark brown eyes staring, staring, staring, and a sly sliver of a smile that he reaches out for.
"Who are you?" he asks the shifter.
The shifter opens his mouth to answer, but Yagyuu is already there.
In Yagyuu's dreams the shifter's lips are warm and dry and real against his fingertips.
He keeps going back. He finds some sort of excuse, devises some sort of experiment, and finds himself back in that room, face to face with the man who calls himself Patient Zero.
"Where's the other guy?" Patient Zero asks the first time he enters the room by himself. Yagyuu pushes away the small, irrational twinge of jealousy he feels at Yanagi's mention.
"He's very likely in the cafeteria now." There's a small table with two chairs on either side. Yagyuu lowers himself onto one of them. "Have you had lunch yet?"
"Why, you offering to be it?" The shifter grins; Yagyuu can tell he's deliberately showing teeth.
He's read that contrary to popular belief shifters are not actually carnivorous, at least not any more than the average human. He supposes the literature could be wrong. "Are you trying to scare me, Zero-kun?"
Zero-kun stalks closer. "It working?"
Yagyuu considers. "Only a little. Can I offer you a sandwich instead?"
The shifter laughs.
"Still afraid of me?" the shifter asks on their third meeting.
"Very likely."
"What if I said I could kill you without so much effort? Even without stealing that sharp little knife of yours."
Yagyuu sets the scalpel down. "Why don't you?" He's genuinely curious.
A level look. "Even if I did, it's not like I can get outta here anyway."
"Whaddaya want from me?"
Yagyuu swabs Patient Zero's outstretched arm. "Beg pardon?"
"The secret to eternal youth? Gonna rule a superhuman army of shapeshifting freaks? Whaddaya want?"
Yagyuu can feel his mouth twitching into a smile. Zero-kun, as he has begun to call him, has a way of amusing him. "I want to understand you." I want to know you.
"Are all scientists this annoying?"
"Yes," is Yagyuu's short reply. He retrieves a syringe from his bag. "I'm going to give you an injection now. It's a chemical compound that will allow us to measure the regenerative capabilities of your muscles."
"Yeah, okay."
Yagyuu holds his arm firm. Zero-kun grimaces as the needle goes in, but he doesn't move. Yagyuu can feel the muscles in his arm tensing, reacting to the stimulant running through his system.
"This test requires you to change. Anything will do." He practices his Yanagi face. He's certain Zero-kun isn't above refusing him just to deny him something he wants.
But Zero-kun only nods, rubbing his arm.
It happens without preamble. One moment he is his usual pale-skinned, white-haired self, and the next moment the white is mutating to gold, then brown, then black, twisting and curling. His angular features soften, his stature condenses itself.
Yagyuu watches in silence. It reminds him of when he was a child and the class had caught a caterpillar and kept it in a glass box to watch its transition to a butterfly, the wings slowly unfurling from its chrysalis, a miracle of nature.
Except suddenly all Yagyuu wants is to see Zero-kun changing back, to see his wild hair and sharp eyes again.
Zero-kun holds up an arm. It glows a bright blue hue just like the rest of him. He cocks an eyebrow at Yagyuu.
“It’s the chemicals,” Yagyuu explains. “They’re reacting to the accelerating rate of change in your cells. It’s temporary.”
He watches Patient Zero change back and forth, each second a different face, each face a laughing one, as if he is playing some sort of game. Then, a familiar face.
Yagyuu stares, feeling the hairs on his nape stand on end. "That's very impressive," he manages to say.
His own face stars back at him, lips curving into a wicked smile that somehow looks completely natural. "I can sound like you, too," his own voice informs him.
Before he can stop himself, Yagyuu reaches up and touches. His fingers trail along the skin of one cheek, then down across the lips, then even lower past the chin, towards the neck--
A hand grabs his wrist hard. The person in front of him rearranges himself. Before he realizes it, his hand is centimeters away from Zero-kun's usual face. His hair tickles the back of Yagyuu's hand, and his grip is strong. "I didn't give you permission to touch me there, Sensei."
The look Zero-kun fixes him one is a mild one. By now Yagyuu knows that his expressions don't always mean what they are supposed to mean. It's surprising how much one can learn about another person, if one just pays attention-and Yagyuu has paid plenty of attention.
"Forgive me," Yagyuu says when he finds his voice. "I was-curious."
Zero-kun lets go of Yagyuu's hand too slowly; the pads of his fingers are warm and Yagyuu's arm feels numb where they touched him. It is the first time he has touched him voluntarily.
He spends his days off scouring libraries for studies on shapeshifters. Most of these he's read before, but that doesn't stop him from reading them again. When he has time to pause and wonder about his actions, he admits to himself that he should be worried about this turning into an obsession.
It was never like this before, no matter how long he's been fascinated by shifters. Now, of course, Yagyuu has a face that he can put to the names and descriptions, the scientific theories and conjectures. No matter how much he reads he can't seem to get enough, and it never seems to be enough to get him closer to the real Zero-kun.
It only dawns on him when he's finished with the last article in his collection of borrowed texts that he stopped thinking of it as studying about shapeshifters long ago. It is all about one shapeshifter now.
Yagyuu Hiroshi, doctor of biochemistry, has an obsession.
The email from Kite Eishirou is in his inbox when he arrives at work Monday morning.
Yagyuu-sensei,
Upon reviewing the security camera tapes I've noticed you are spending a lot of time on Level B lately. Six whole hours just this past week. I am glad that you're taking the experiment so seriously, but I do hope you haven't gotten overly attached.
Thank you for your hard work.
Kite Eishirou
Yagyuu hits the reply button and types of a carefully worded response. Not to worry. I'm only concerned with the tests. I would also like to find out how shapeshifters work on the inside. It was, at least, the truth.
The small squeeze of panic that Yagyuu feels at the clear warning from Kite surprises him. What started out as a placid indifference for The Corporation's CEO has turned into a rather intense dislike. The man is dangerous. He could take Yagyuu's job away, and then...
Then what? He would no longer get to see Zero-kun. Yagyuu supposes it is a little too late for Kite to warn him about getting too attached.
"Don't you have anything better to do than hang around this creepy jail-cell with me?"
Yagyuu doesn't have to consider this for very long. "No, not really."
Zero-kun laughs, throwing his head back, exposing his neck to the light.
He takes a seat on the chair by the foot of Zero-kun's cot and they watch cartoons on the television together. Yagyuu has brought another chemical-this time to test Zero-kun's reaction to muscle depressants-but that can wait.
"Hey, if I ask a question you gonna answer it truthfully?"
Yagyuu looks over. Dark brown eyes stare back at him, challenging. "Yes."
"You hot for me?"
Oh. This is not what Yagyuu expected him to ask. Inexplicably, he feels heat crawling up his neck. "That's very inappropriate."
Another laugh. "Man, you crack me up. You show up at all hours of the day, shoot me up with drugs, poke at me with sharp things. You've got me in a fucking cell with a see-through wall so you can watch me anytime you please." Suddenly Zero-kun is very close, leaning into Yagyuu's space from the edge of the cot. "What about all this isn't 'inappropriate'?"
Put like that, he has a point. Yagyuu considers. "I'm not usually 'hot' for someone whose real name I don't even know." He realizes, with a certain sense of falling into the unknown, that this isn't exactly a 'no.'
"Tell you mine if you tell me yours." He can't seem to take his eyes away from Zero-kun's face, even as Zero-kun's gaze bores into him.
Careful. "There may be cameras, mic-"
"No there isn't. Too much evidence of the activities to keep those kinda records, Renji says."
Renji? Yagyuu supposes he would be a reliable authority, though how Zero-kun knows...
'Shifters are extremely protective of their identities,' he remembers Yanagi telling him.
"I assume you've striked the same deal with Yanagi-san, then?"
Zero-kun grins infuriatingly. "Jealous, sensei?"
Yagyuu stands up. "You'll believe what you will," he tells Zero. "If you will excuse me, I have some work to do."
"Yeah, sure."
He wakes up sweaty and hard with the memory of a hand gripping his arm tight, the shifter's voice asking him, 'You hot for me?'
Yes, he thinks as he takes himself in hand and begins to stroke, Yes, I am.
"Good morning. You look tired today." Yanagi sets his mug down next to Yagyuu's.
Yagyuu nods in acknowledgment. He takes a sip of his tea, slowly. "Does Kite-san know that you're telling certain patients your given name, Renji?"
Yanagi's eyes sharpen just a tiny bit. "You've gotten quite close to him, haven't you?" When he smiles, as Yagyuu knew he inevitably would, it's a sad smile that takes Yagyuu by surprise. "You haven't called me that in years, Hiroshi."
There is a small, awkward silence. Yagyuu hadn't thought there were any feelings left between them other than mutual respect, but that look that Renji gave him suggested otherwise. Lately nothing has gone as he'd expected.
"I looked for you," he admits after a while. "For months. I expected you to come to me eventually and explain your sudden absence. As you know," he makes a small, involuntary gesture, "it didn't happen." He looks down at his tea because Renji's expression is more than he wants to deal with at the moment.
"…I'm sorry for that. I do deserve it, your distance." A sigh, and then the sound of Renji picking up his mug again. Yagyuu waits till he's finished drinking his fill before looking up again. Renji's face is back to its affable calm. "As for that certain patient, no, Kite-san doesn't know. I would appreciate your discretion."
Yagyuu nods. "You're not surprised that he said something to me."
"No. He's very fond of you. Though-" He stops, as if he's just caught himself about to say something he shouldn't. "Ah, never mind. You can trust my discretion as well."
Yagyuu isn't really sure what he is supposed to say, so he settles for a "Thank you."
Zero-kun is sitting on the floor with his back against the wall. He switches the television off when Yagyuu comes in and blinks up at Yagyuu in mock confusion. "Didn't you run away?"
Yagyuu sits down next to him so that their arms are almost touching, but not quite. Not yet. He stares at the grey-screened television. "Yes. Then I came back. Is that all right?"
"What, I have a choice?"
He inhales slowly, and nods. "Yes."
Laughter. "You drive me fucking insane."
Yagyuu smiles at this. "Yes, you too."
"You realize you've said 'yes' like three times now?"
His mind flashes back to their last conversation, the question that Zero-kun asked him. He tears his eyes away from the empty television and reaches over, slow enough for the other man to stop him if he wanted to. His hand reaches all the way, hand landing flush against the skin of Zero-kun's neck. "Yes," he says for a fourth time. "And my name is Yagyuu Hiroshi."
There.
"Niou Masaharu." The shifter grins at him, leaning into his touch, giving permission. "So, Yagyuu Hiroshi-san. You hot for me?"
He doesn't give a respond, not in words. He just leans in, finally, because he can't seem to stop himself and can't see a reason why he should.
Niou's lips are as warm and human as they were in his dreams.
"Hiroshi? I'm sorry to wake you."
Yagyuu glances blurrily at the clock on his nightstand. 2:03 A.M. "Is everything all right?"
"I'm in front of your apartment," Yanagi answers. "Can I come up?"
It seems they are always drinking tea together. Yagyuu sips his and looks expectantly at his surprise guest.
"It's about Masaharu."
Yagyuu sets his cup down. "What is it?" If this is about what happened between them, he wonders what he will say to Yanagi.
"He needs to escape very soon, and I need you to help him."
"Of course I will help," Yagyuu says immediately. "What's wrong?"
"Kite has become impatient with the results of our tests. He thinks we've done enough of that sort of testing. He wants to try an alternative method."
A sinking feeling develops in the put of Yagyuu's stomach. "What sort of alternative method?" he asks, although he's sure he already knows.
"Dissection."
Yagyuu closes his eyes. "Of course. God. How is he going to explain that?"
"If his experiment attempts to escape and endangers the lives of others in the process, then the Corporation would naturally have to do whatever it takes to neutralize the situation, yes? Even if it means putting that experiment down."
Kite Eishirou really is a ruthless bastard.
"Why not blow the whistle on him instead?"
Renji gives him a significant look. "If we did that Masaharu would still be in captivity. I think it's the right time for him to get out."
Yagyuu swallows. So he does know. "Renji…"
Renji shakes his head. "No, Hiroshi, it's fine. I'm happy for you. And I've never seen Masaharu like this with anyone else."
"…Thank you." What Renji says, though, makes him think. He looks at Yanagi, really looks at him. "The way you talk about him, it's as if you know him well. Better than a scientist would know the subject of his studies."
That resigned expression is enough to tell him that his suspicions are not unfounded. Then, unexpectedly, that sad familiar smile. "Yes, I'm afraid I haven't been completely truthful with you. I will explain."
"Renji." Renji was almost to the elevator, but he stops and glances back. Yagyuu isn't sure he should say it. He does anyway. "I'm sorry."
Renji smiles at him, and this time it's not the sad smile, just a Renji-smile, and Yagyu feels a bit warmer. "It's not your fault. And it's the past now."
He nods. "Tomorrow?"
Even from where is he is standing, he can see Renji's grip on the backpack he is carrying tighten. "Yes, tomorrow."
He wakes up to tomorrow and gets up for work. He packs an extra change of clothes and puts his spare pair of glasses into his bag.
The day crawls, and by lunch he can feel his insides shaking with nerves and anticipation. He checks his watch. 11:40. Renji should be done with Niou-kun in approximately 20 minutes.
Niou is standing in small bathroom, completely naked. Yagyuu stops to stare for a few seconds.
"Don't got much time," Niou reminds him with a grin, walking forward to brush against him. "Got clothes for me?"
Yagyuu holds up his tool bag, which he's emptied out and stuffed with clothes and an extra lab coat. Niou dresses and Yagyuu helps him, and within a minute he's shifting.
"Like what you see?" Niou asks him in his own voice. He fishes the spare glasses out of the lab-coat pocket and slips them on.
"Yes," Yagyuu admits. Although he much prefers Niou's usual look. He reaches up to unclip the access card from his own coat and hands it to Niou. "My car keys are in the bag. Parking spot #306. Be careful."
Niou grabs him and plants a crushing, bruising kiss on his lips. It's slightly surreal to be kissing himself, but it's still Niou, after all, so Yagyuu enjoys it. "Later."
Then he's gone.
Ten minutes later Renji arrives. "I'm sorry about this, Hiroshi," he says, and punches Yagyuu in the stomach.
"Three broken ribs, a concussion, and a dislocated shoulder," Kite Eishirou recites. "The shifter really did a number on you, didn't he, Yagyuu-kun?"
"Thank you for taking care of the medical costs. I'm very grateful for your kindness."
"It's nothing. I'm very sorry you were so badly injured. But what I really want to talk with you about is your name."
Yagyuu blinks, feigning confusion. "My…name?"
"You see, the shifter had to have known it to deactivate the security and open the doors. So how did he manage that when you were all specifically instructed not to reveal your names?"
Yagyuu looks down at the desk in front of him and gives a small, contrite bow. "I'm sincerely sorry. I let my guard down. He offered to tell me more about their social structure if I told him my name. I didn't think."
Kite frowns in distaste. "No, you didn't." He reaches up to adjust his glasses. "You'll understand when I tell you that the Corporation cannot afford to have people under its employ who don't think, won't you?"
Yagyuu lowers his head even further. "Yes, of course."
He turns in his ID card and removes his belongings from his office. As he gets into the car, his phone bleeps.
At the park. Come soon.
The park is only 15 minutes away by car. The roads are not very busy at this time of the day, so Yagyuu speeds just a little to get there faster.
When he arrives, Niou is waiting for him on a bench, balancing a tennis racket on the tip of one finger. He looks different with his hair dyed black and his skin is beginning to tan, too. Different, but good.
Niou has another racket next to him on the bench, and two canisters of brand new tennis balls. "Is that the plan for today?" Yagyuu asks, gesturing at the tennis gear;
"Yup. You know how?"
"I used to play as a teenager in school."
Niou grins. "Yeah? Me too. You any good still?"
"We'll find out, won't we?"
Laughter. "Gonna kick your ass, Yagyuu."
The afternoon sun feels good in his face, and Niou's company is even better. Yagyuu smiles as they walk together toward the courts.
----The end