warintheextreme | [For Takatora]

[For Takatora]

One of the general rules about being acquaintances with Kureshima Takatora is that you don't interrupt him when he's spending quality time with his younger brother.

Tonight, Takatora has actually left the office in the early afternoon, and isn't scheduled to return until early the next morning. That means time with Mitsuzane, and that means no interruptions, for anything.

Which I normally have no problem with, I'm perfectly capable of working through the night with or without Takatora's looming presence foisting coffee and assorted vending food upon me.

But tonight has already proven to be abnormal as these nights go, and the anomalous readings that are coming from some of the sensors deeper in Helheim are not the kind of stuff I can ignore, or desire to leave waiting for hours until morning and Takatora's return to 'on call'.

Besides, I'm not hardly so helpless as he sometimes seems to think I am, though I suppose that is entirely my own fault, seeing the amount of secrets I keep from him.

I arm myself. I've kept this bow and quiver of arrows at hand for going on eight years now, and I still practice occasionally, though not nearly with the frequency I used to as a child.

Then I escort myself down into the secondary, central lab, where the Crack is held open through various ways and means. At this time of night, there's only one guard on duty, and he's not bold enough to try and stand in my way as I step through the Crack and into Helheim.

And it's all going remarkably well! I find the sensors that are returning the anomalous readings, and find that the data is not unusual, but simply corrupted. The sensors were malfunctioning, that is all. I have them all fixed before anything goes particularly amiss, and am returning to the Crack when the unthinkable happens.

It's not a totally overwhelming number of Inves by any means. My aim is impeccable, it always was, and my reflexes are still good but my speed is significantly marred from where it once was, and my pull strength is vastly diminished due to lack of practice and training. Still, I'm holding my own quite well, each arrow finds it's mark, even if some of them are only slowing the monsters down...

I'm actually within sight of the Crack when I hear a snapping over me, and don't manage to look up in time to see the wide falling branch that strikes me in the head.

Now things are starting to look down.

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I had a standing order that I was not to be interrupted at home this evening, unless there is abnormal activity within Helheim, or related to the Crack within Yggdrasil.

Of course both those things have occurred.

I keep the phone to my ear as I slide into my suit coat, muttering vaguely into it as I try to keep the details of what is happening, as well as my concern, from reaching Mitsuzane's ears. He's still too young to know all the details of what goes on at Yggdrasil. I feel guilt for having to leave him so abruptly, but it can't be helped. I, and the project, cannot afford to lose Ryouma to his own idiocy.

I say my goodbyes to Mitsuzane, then head for the car that is waiting for me.

I enter the lab with the sustained Crack, and give the night watch scientist a small nod. They rattle off details about the Inves attack, and the readouts of Ryouma's vital signs.

He has lost consciousness, as of one minute ago.

I motion for the scientist to step aside as I activate my lock seed and begin my transformation. I fling the lock seed above my head, as the melon falls, catching it deftly in my hand (it always returns to me without fail).

Once transformed, I turn to the scientist, demanding the location of my idiot scientist. With that knowledge acquired, I stride through the Crack.

He's not hard to find, though he is a bit difficult to reach, what with how many Inves have swarmed around him. I cut them down with my sword and shield, until none remain, then move to Ryouma's still side.

There is a bow clutched in one of his hands, as well as an empty quiver on his back, and several arrows scattered about the scene.

I am furious with him.

"Ryouma." I grip his shoulder, and give him a gentle, but firm, shake. I hiss at him, cursing under my breath, and give him a harder shake. "Damn it, Ryouma."

I gather him up, knowing that I will not be able to properly help him here, and make for the Crack.

I'm moving again when I regain consciousness, and my first thought is that the Inves have somehow put together enough sentience to attempt to take me... somewhere.

Then I feel a familiar rough texture against my cheek, and opening my eyes, I look up at the profile of Takatora's helmet.

He's carrying me, and I'd almost think about appreciating it, if I didn't know exactly how much he was going to yell at me about this, and I'm already not in the mood for it, plus my head is killing me.

I realize my hand is still reflexively closed over the grip of my bow, and I'm thankful for that. I would have been awfully annoyed with myself if I had lost it, it's one of the few things I have kept from home.

I groan softly, mostly so Takatora knows I'm awake. I'm sure he's just going to carry me right back out into the tower, and I allow myself a second to be glad that I managed to fix the sensors before the attack.

"Be still." I tell him, order him, as calmly and soothingly as I am able to, with how stupid he has been. How infuriated I am with him.

My grip tightens infinitesimally, squeezing him closer to me, as we near the Crack. I keep my eyes and ears open, just in case anymore Inves attack.

As poor luck would have it, they do.

I curse again, rounding. I'm not near enough to the Crack to bolt for it without running the risk of Inves infiltrating Yggdrasil. I find a relatively safe place to hide Ryouma, in the nook between a pair of wide tree roots that have emerged from the ground, and then draw my sword again, preparing to eliminate this threat as swiftly as possible.

Oh, he is angry. I knew he would be, but I didn't know I'd be able to hear it so clearly in his voice, even despite the slight oddity that comes from it being filtered through the helmet, among other things.

Still, because he's trying order me around, and I'm confused and frustrated with him, and with myself for letting this get out of hand, I kick my feet a bit and try to get him to put me down without really managing to form words. Bit too dizzy still for that.

He holds me tighter, but I'm sure that's just to keep me from jarring too much as he runs.

It doesn't work out, for either of us, and I'm disoriented enough that the only reason I realize he's put me down is that suddenly I'm not moving anymore.

I shake my head a bit, which makes it throb, and put my free hand to the back of my hand. It comes away bloody, and I hope that I don't end up with another streak of white in my hair over this. One is mysterious and intriguing, any more and I start to look old.

Then I look up, out, and Takatora is fighting with all of the incredible grace I'm used to seeing from him. His sword and the shield work in concert, sometimes he uses the usually defensive one offensively, and vice versa.

It's kind of incredible, and I grin a little drunkenly to myself, because while it's Takatora's skill and ability and training, it's my technology that allowed him the armor and weapons.

My free hand, the one that's streaked with blood now, reflexively goes to find my quiver, but it's missing. That's a shame.

Anyway, it's not like Takatora needs my assistance, and I take the time that he's cleaning up the last of this little rush of Inves to claw my way back to my feet, using the tree behind me as support, so I'm standing, if swaying slightly, when Takatora returns to me.

Despite everything, and the screaming he's undoubtedly going to do at me, I will walk out of this place under my own power.

It's just a concussion. I'm not dying.

I move my sword back to its place at my hip as I return to the place where I lay Ryouma, now that the Inves have been taken care of for the moment. He's standing, or at least making a valiant attempt at doing so.

I am no less furious with him.

"What are you doing?" I demand, reaching to grip at his shoulder. "You shouldn't be standing in your condition."

I manage to roll my eyes at him and it doesn't even cause any vertigo, so I'm obviously approving.

I shift, slowly but not obviously in pain, to shrug my bow over my shoulder, then step forward, slightly into his grip at my shoulder, but with all the intent of forward momentum, towards the Crack, which is easily within reach.

"I am returning to my lab." I mumble in answer to his question. "My condition is hardly as bad as you're making it out to be. I've been concussed before, Takatora, and you know it's never affected my intellect."

"I am greatly questioning your intellect right now, I will have you know." I practically hiss at him, just barely not snarling out my words.

I grip at him, firmly, then wrap my arm around his waist, and force him to lean against me. I will not have him forcing himself to be strong and further injuring himself, or aggravating his current injuries, by acting a fool.

"You are not going back to your lab tonight." I tell him plainly, as I guide him, slowly, toward the Crack.

I'm taking him to my office.

"Yeah, yeah." I grumble under my breath at him. I'm sure he is. Never mind the number of times I've judged him on the intelligence or lack thereof of his actions.

He puts an arm around my waist, it feels too stiff and not actually like him thanks to the armor, but I don't try to fight him off, he'll just get more insufferable.

He's acting like I'm falling to pieces in front of him. It's a minor head wound, and if anyone should know that head wounds just bleed like crazy without actually being that dangerous, it should be him.

I sigh, but don't argue when he says he's not taking me to my lab. I have no idea where he intends to take me. He's not actually thinking of walking me all the way to a hospital, is he? Or calling a medic in at this time of night?

"You were with your brother." I point out, managing not to mumble too badly, even.

"Hn." I guide him through the Crack, and Nod toward the lone scientist. I do not drop my suit and armor though, this time, allowing its added strength to help me keep Ryouma from pulling away from me.

"And how many times have you interrupted me when I was with Mitsuzane before?"

I lead him toward the elevator, and hit the button for the floor of my office. There is a couch there, and medical supplies. I can examine him further there, see the extend of his injuries, and determine whether or not he needs more medical attention than I can provide.

I hate it when he just makes noises at me.

I'm admittedly a little surprised when he doesn't drop the armor. I've fixed that anomaly from the first time he used it, it doesn't completely drain him or leave him at any particular disadvantage when he loses the armor anymore. Still, he's not taking any chances with me, and I suppose I should consider this flattering or endearing or something.

"Not as many as I think you think." I grumble back at him, and it's true. I try to keep problems contained within the tower when Takatora is out.

I catch sight of the button he hits, and I realize he's taking me to his office, which is slightly better than taking me to a hospital, I guess.

"I'm going to be fine, Takatora."

"We shall see."

We reach my office, and I guide him inside, locking the door behind us. I move him to the couch, and make him lie down, supporting his head with one of the cushions.

"Do not move."

I drop my transformation, and move to the cabinet where I keep my medical kit, retrieving it and striding back to Ryouma's side.

"I believe that your wounds are worse than you suspect they are."

"Uh-huh."

He half carries me into his office, and I notice that he leans back far enough to lock the door, too. Odd, but not unheard of, when the two of us are dealing with things that require no interrupting from the parts of the company that have nothing to do with our project.

He settles me on the couch, and I'm tired of fighting with him, so I just settle in, and move both hands to my head as he moves away, his armor falling away as he retrieves a first aid kit.

I remove the tie from the back of my hair, letting the length loose, and start to probe at my scalp for the wound that has, at least, stopped bleeding.

He comes back and I look up at him with a weary smirk. "You underestimate me that much?"

I stare at him, hard, giving him the full weight of my earned authority.

"Don't you underestimate me even more?"

I kneel down beside the couch, and carefully remove his hands from the wound. "Stop that, you'll only irritate it further."

I examine his head wound, making sure there are no foreign fragments in it, no fractures in his skull. As I probe gently at it, more blood comes forth, coating my fingers, dripping down my palms. I frown deeply, but maintain my concentration.

"What were you even thinking, going into Helheim so unarmed?" I hiss through my teeth at him.

"I would argue that point." I point out. "I do not think I underestimate you at all. I think my estimation of you is pretty accurate."

He crouches down near my head and pulls my hand away from my head and I sigh but fold my bloody hands over my stomach, staining my shirt.

I roll my eyes up to try to catch a glimpse of his face, and catch him frowning.

"What do you mean? I was armed. Anyway, it was supposed to be routine. In and out."

"A bow and arrows. No armor, no backup support beyond one sleepy night shift scientist that had enough sense to call me the moment you walked through the Crack?"

I look down, and meet his eyes, holding his gaze with a stare of my own.

"What sort of routine is that?"

I am so mad at him. Furious. Fuming.

Ready to jab my fingers into his foolish head wound.

"I have impeccable aim with that bow and arrows." I say with a sigh. "Anyway, it was just a branch, it wasn't even the Inves. You're not immune to severe blows to the head either."

He meets my eyes and I hold his gaze for a little while before I close my eyes again.

"Routine as in there were anomalous readings from some of the sensors that had to be checked."

"Oh yes, impeccable aim." I say, just barely rolling my eyes. He is so overwhelmingly ridiculous.

I'm not sure why I still care about him. At all.

But I do.

"No, but I am more protected than you are, entering Helheim without any armor."

I continue tending to him, doing my best to find the exact lines of his wound through his hair. I feel it is actually a bit more serious than he estimates.

"Had to be checked, yes. But you could have called me into do so, instead of risking yourself."

I want to strangle him, and want t protect him in equal measure.

I begin tending properly to his wound.

"What would have happened to you if that scientist had not called me?"

"What's wrong with impeccable aim?" I ask seriously, totally missing the point of his scoffing, and on purpose too.

I sigh and hold my hands up, rubbing at one with the other idly, trying to keep the blood from settling in, staining my fingers too badly.

"I just didn't want to call you away from your brother. What happened was an accident, not the sort of thing that happens all the time."

"Time at home with Mitsuzane or not, I do not want you risking your life like this."

Once his wound has been cleaned, and I have applied gauze and wrappings where needed, I set about cleaning the blood from myself, as well as from Ryouma. He's more than a little bit of a shut in, but I know appearances still matter somewhat to him.

I meet his gaze after this is finished, glaring. "How often do you go into Helheim without my knowledge?"

He takes the time to bandage my head and all, and then he comes around and crouches beside the couch and takes up my hands and starts cleaning the blood from them.

"See? It's not as bad as you thought, after all." If it was worse, he would have insisted on calling a medic, or in a worst case scenario, an ambulance. "Head wounds. They bleed a lot, but it's hardly anything at all."

I close my eyes while he cleans my hands, but then I can feel him glaring at me, so I squint one eye open to peer at him. "Honestly?"

Yes, head wounds bleed a lot, they can also be very serious, even if the injury would be considered a small one anywhere else on the body.

But his vision has clarity to it, as well as his speech patterns. I will refrain from calling for outside assistance. This time, at least.

"Of course honestly." There's a soft growl to my words, low, serious. Almost deadly. "Why would I even ask, if I wanted you to lie to me?"

I smirk at him and close my eyes again. "Well, you could be asking out of a terribly misplaced sense of responsibility for me and my actions. I'm not a child, Takatora, and I can make my own decisions."

I sigh, squinting my eye open again. "But if you must know, tonight was the first time it has ever come up."

I want to strangle him. Again.

Of course I take responsibility for him. He is part of my team. Part of my staff.

Also a... a very dear friend.

Not a child, no. But his safety is still my responsibility. As mine is his, in many ways.

I let out a slow sigh of relief at his answer, my shoulders relaxing minutely.

"Ryouma," I speak softly, still gazing at him. "What were you trying to prove?"

Hm, that feels a little different. He's not glaring at me quite as harshly anymore. It's more of a... gaze, really. He's staring at me, like he thinks I'm going to melt or disintegrate or otherwise immediately disappear.

I blink a few times, clear my throat, and then look away, angling my head back a bit and closing my eyes with a sigh.

"I wasn't trying to prove anything, Takatora. Honestly. There were anomalous data readings, I couldn't let it wait, and I didn't want to interrupt you. It went poorly. That's it."

I reach out, making to touch his bandage, or hair, or something. But my hand ends up on his cheek, fingertips vaguely tracing the line of his jaw.

Protective.

Also respectful.

"You created this driver so that we could be protected within Helheim, so that we could safely harness the power of the lock seeds," I swallow hard, but hide it with a turn of my head and a cough into my free hand.

"Calll me, if ever something like this occurs again."

My eyes open wide when his hand settles on my cheek.

"Takatora..."

I'm really not sure what to say. The touch is much more gentle than I suppose I'd ever given Takatora credit for, with anyone other than his brother, anyway.

"We send people in there without Drivers all the time." I remind him. "Even when you're not there. This wasn't supposed to be any different."

Still, he's being so tender.

"I will."

"They stay within boundaries, they... they know to call on me when there is trouble."

There is an odd lump within my throat, and I do my best to swallow it down.

I am being gentle with him, as I would be my brother. But also firm, just as firm.

He is not my brother. There is a difference, in my actions, in my speech.

"You are not them."

"They are not as highly ranked as I am," I grumble. "They're not in charge. They know nothing..."

His voice has a waver in it. I've never heard that particular tone before.

He's staring to frighten me, and I sit up a little, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"Takatora. Were you injured?"

I stare at him for a long moment, trying to sort out why he may be asking me such a question.

Did I appear to be injured? I thought I was fairly efficient in dispatching the Inves as they attacked.

I'm really not sure why he is so concerned. His face so earnest, his hand gripping at my shoulder.

I reach over, and rest my hand lightly on top of his.

"I'm uninjured." My voice is so soft, I barely even recognize it myself.

We lock gazes and simply stare each other down for a moment, and for a moment there I'm almost positive that he is injured, even if he ends up denying it to try to keep the focus of this event on me and my indiscretions.

But the tone of his voice makes me rethink this hypothesis. Like he is truly trying to reassure me.

"I'm sorry." I say softly, finally tearing my eyes away from his. "I'm concussed."

I can't tell if he's apologizing for being concerned, or if these two statements stand on their own independently, and he is apologizing for going into Helheim on his own.

"What if I had not been informed in time to get to you?" My voice is still soft now, less accusatory, more concerned. "What if you had been rendered unconscious in Helheim without anyone's knowledge?"

He could have died. And we would have lost out best scientist.

I would have lost my old friend.

We're back to that again, huh? I chuckle softly and close my eyes, turning my head away from him. Not to shut him out. I'm just tired. The adrenaline has all but worn off now.

"I suppose that would have been a terrible thing indeed, but that's not what happened, Takatora. Don't worry about 'what if', it's a waste of time. I told you I won't let it happen again."

I find myself reaching out and brushing his messed hair out of his face, my fingertips lingering over his cheekbone. After a moment I cup his cheek, and turn his face back to mine. I search his eyes, check the state of his pupils.

"You should eat something, or at least drink some water." I glance up at the bandage covering his head wound. "And pain killers would perhaps also be helpful."

I feel his fingertips brushing at my cheek as he pushes my hair back, then tries to angle my face back around. I don't want to open my eyes again, I feel as though, if I engage or respond, he'll just start yelling at me some more.

But his hand is gentle and I give up, opening my eyes and letting him examine me to the best of his ability.

"I'm not in pain, Takatora. I would accept some water, though."

I do not believe him, but I won't fight with him on this. I am reluctant to leave his side, but I make my way across my office to my desk, and retrieve a bottle of water and a few aspirin from my drawers.

Yggdrasil and its employees often causes headaches in one way or another; I like to be prepared.

I return to him with the pills and water, pressing them into his hand in a way that indicates I will not let him get away with not taking them.

We settle back into our usual dance, where I say something that he doesn't agree with, or that he does agree with but not enough to acknowledge me aloud, and then he moves away silently to retreieve whatever I inadvertantly requested.

It's not coffee this time, it's a bottle of water and, I realize with a smirk as he presses them into my hand, some painkillers.

"Fine, fine. They can't hurt, right?" I take the pills and have drained the bottle before I even realized it.

I smile slightly when he accepts the aspirin, but it quickly dies as I watch him drain the entire bottle of water in one go, concern and a bit of anger welling up within me again.

"Perhaps food would do you some good." I am near physically fighting keeping my voice calm now, I'm still very angry with him, and so very concerned.

I glance up at him again as I try to hand the bottle back, but he's just glaring at me again, his face flat and blank, which usually indicates barely concealed annoyance or anger. I know his face well.

"I'm not hungry, Takatora." I say firmly, and it's true.

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