thenearshore | (Closed)Had I been accepted

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(Closed)Had I been accepted

Who: Hibari and Hakkai, Hibari and Ayumu
What: Hibari's god disappears this time, and the aftermath is something messy for those who have to deal with it.
When: June 11th
Where: Ayumu's temple, the school
Warnings: Hibari's brand of violence

[A. closed to Ayumu]

This was the second time he'd woken up staring at a different ceiling, but this was the first where he'd stood up and found everything else had moved with him. Bon, Kishi and Mouse, even the ducks and his myriad sheets of his journal he was keeping were all in this strange room, and he had no idea how he got there.

Hibari grabbed for his tonfas. Whoever his god was would feel a huge spike in panic and anger at this time, the only things holding him back the animals and the fact his disciplinary committee band was still intact on his shoulder. The mark on his cheek was gone, which could only mean....again. This same song and dance again, every step bringing him closer to complete slavery. Did the gods really love to toy with him that much?

If there was a door on the room, there wasn't one from much longer, as Hibari broke out of his own room with excessive force, kittens in one hand, and a practical menagerie following him.

[B. close to Hakkai]

After the whole song and dance was done, Hibari had no place else to go but to the school. There wasn't anywhere else that was safe, obviously not even where he was supposed to be as alluded to by other people's rules. This was his sanctuary. Bon trodded along silently behind him, the two sleepy kittens in his jacket as the cloud guardian snuck himself into his own school.

He was hoping that Hakkai wasn't there to say 'I told you so' for whatever twisted reason he could come up with, but that just wasn't his luck. He could sense some shadows with his cloud flames, but it was distinctly the youkai's energy and that of that shitty brainless shinki always following him around.

Whatever. Hibari was just crashing in the hallway, Bon flopping over his legs so he couldn't move anymore. Kishi, having woken up, slipped out of Hibari's jacket like a black and white bullet, and made a beeline for his other slightly less favorite person.

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It was the seventh time that Ayumu had woken up feeling an extra presence bonded to her. Only one of those had been the result of a choice she'd made herself; the rest had been decided for her by the Heavens. But she didn't have the energy to muster up any significant anger today, all that surfaces is simple resignation.

Then she heard the violent crack of a door and calmly marked her place in the book she'd been reading and set it aside. After a few minutes of putting on a yukata and a running a comb through her messy hair a couple of times in a mostly ineffectual way to tame it, she quietly pads out of the room.

As she stepped into the hallway, Ayumu caught sight of someone fleeing down the hall, animals trailing behnd him. Almost as soon as her eyes settled on his frame, yet another death vision assaulted her senses, causing her to stagger briefly and lean against the wall. The panic and anger beat against her like violent waves upon a shore, too. Once she'd had a moment to process the vision, she decides to give chase.

Well, sort of. Given that this was Ayumu's temple and the sheer amount of time she spent there, she knew the place intimately - where the quickest and easiest points of infiltration were located, for instance, so she simply teleported in front of the exit most likely to be taken by someone in flight. If he wasn't here, there was another path he could have taken and she could traverse there just as quickly as she had here if this one didn't turn up results.]

It didn't matter to Hibari what exit he took, as long as it was the closest one-and that happened to be a window that the god was stood in front of. The shinki skidded to a halt, the two kittens clutched in his hands as Bon ran into his legs behind him. Ayumu would feel the emotions spike to a level higher than one seen before,before anger engulfed everything else and a purple flame erupted from his ring.

"Get out of my way," he snarled through gritted teeth.

Ah, so it was this one. It's been a while since Ayumu saw him. She never had learned his name or the name of the one he served, had she? But it popped in her head when she looked at him - Hibari. Ayumu simply rubbed the back of her neck where he'd just stung her. It wasn't the first time she'd been bound to a distressed shinki that didn't want her. She hadn't forced their partnership on Yamato and it wasn't her intention to do so here either.

"I will in a moment. I just wanted to get a good look at you and ask if you were hungry first. It was time for me to get up and start breakfast anyway."

Ayumu paused briefly, gesturing to the animals, her tone hushed and a little gentle. She's visibly tired but there's traces of kindness on her face, too.

"And if they're hungry, too, I can make extra. It's up to you. But if you really wanna go, I won't stop you."

Even before the situation with Yamato and her death afterward, Ayumu had been firmly against forcing shinki into service against their will. That stance hadn't changed.

He didn't attack her right away, which was probably only testament to the fact that he was carrying two squirming kittens and was being spoken to in a soft tone. Usually if someone wanted a fight they were much louder than she was-

And all of that was put on hold when Mouse finally wiggled out of his hands and onto the floor, shooting across it like an orange bullet and meowing at Ayumu's leg for food. Bon had sensed his owners distress and moved in between them, just standing and staring at the god at the end of the hallway.

"Mouse, get back here. You can't trust gods like that," Hibari said, while not breaking eye contact with her.

"You can trust me but it'd be better to trust your own eyes first, wouldn't it?"

Ayumu bent down stroke the meowing kitten's head a couple of times, scritching him gently underneath the chin. It's clear from the way her expression softens when she looks at the animals that she truly does care for them.

"But if it helps, don't think of me as a god. Just think of me as a hostess and yourself as guest. You can leave any time you want. If you truly don't want to be here, I'll be glad to release you."

Ayumu's being completely sincere, too; as she speaks, her accent lapses into its natural Osaka drawl. She just didn't have much energy for maintaining pretenses these days, especially within the walls of her temple.

"I'm Ayumu. Yamazaki Ayumu. Your name's Hibari, right? Hibari Kyouya?"

It didn't seem like he remembered her but if he did, she'd called herself 'Yumi' then. It's a small gesture but a significant one for her; only those in her inner circle know her real name.

"What do you usually eat for breakfast?"

He wasn't happy with the way that Ayumu looked at the kitten: with genuine tenderness and care. Like she actually liked it. Like she was telling the truth. Mouse seemed to like her too, rubbing his head against her hand and mewing up a storm.

Kishi had settled down and Bon had moved between them, still silently staring, but the tiredness and hunger was settling into all of them. She seemed to be genuinely trying to make him trust her, but gods were just the type to say that and then do something horrible.

Still, he was very hungry and so were the animals. Bon had sensed this and started to growl, so Hibari slowly pet the dog's back. "I'm not hungry. They are."

[Hakkai had been sitting on his futon. Asshole seems to be asleep -- or, at least, resting on his futon with his eyes closed; he's eerily still when he sleeps in a way that Hakkai's not certain is genuine rest -- and he's reading, unwilling to close his eyes just yet.

He's thoroughly startled when Kishi darts in the door and hurries to rub against his ankle.]

-- Hello.

[He blinks down at the cat, who lets out a small chirp and goes back to rubbing his head firmly on Hakkai's leg. It's sweet, and so even if Hakkai's starting to fear that Kishi being here in the school means Hibari is here, again, the kitten makes it hard to get too angry.]

Come here, Kishi.

[He sets his book down and scoops up the cat, tickling under his chin as he steps quietly out into the hallway and looks up and down. There's a figure sitting against one wall halfway to the front door, with a familiar oversized dog sprawled across his lap. Hakkai sighs, and starts toward him.]

Hibari.

[Kishi didn't mind being picked up and was content to sit and purr, while his brother was wandering around and climbing things. Hibari on the other hand, raised his eyes sharply into the darkness, meeting Hakkai's for a moment before narrowing and moving away.

His hands buried harder into Bon's fur, and the other shinki would note that the symbol on his cheek that was normally there was gone. The dog himself just looked at Hakkai, gave one large woof, and settled his head back onto the ground.

Hibari was ignoring him.]

[Hakkai's gaze flicked to Hibari's unmarked cheek and his eyes widened.

That explained why the boy was sleeping here this late at night. It explained -- quite a lot, in fact. His lips pressed thin for a moment, holding back any words of unwanted sympathy.

He wasn't sure that he'd forgiven Hibari yet. For one thing, his arm still stung, the wounds barely scarred over. For another -- well. He was tired already, and the boy's volatility could be exhausting.

But that meant it would be just as exhausting, he thought, to start a fight.

He let out a breath and shifted Kishi up to his shoulder, where the kitten dug claws in for a solid foothold.]

You can't stay in the hallway. Someone will step on you. Come in; I have an extra blanket you and Bon can share.

[He gestured back to the dark doorway of the storage room.]

[Surprisingly for everyone, Hibari wasn't in the mood to fight either. He was tired and overwhelmed and just wanted to be alone. And he didn't care that Hakkai was there, which constituted as being alone.

Instead, he just wiggled his way out from under his giant puppy, scooping up Mouse as he came back around from investigating. Bon just trailed behind, a little sleepy from the excitement of the day.

Hibari didn't say anything either, and if he scratched at the new name that appeared on his throat, it wasn't something to be noticed. He'd go up on the roof, but Bon couldn't follow him there, and he was pretty sure Hakkai would argue against that. So instead he just planned to make a nest in a corner and ignore the other's existance.]

[Hakkai glanced at Hibari, considering the name on his throat, and balanced Kishi over his shoulder with one hand as he pulled down a folded blanket from the shelf with another. He held it out, but didn't let go of it quite yet.]

Who is your new god?

[It was a mild question, not a demand, and if Hibari tugged he'd let the blanket go and let the boy avoid answering.

He found himself wanting to know regardless.]

[Hibari did tug the blanket out of Hakkai's hands, but didn't just leave at that moment. For some reason even though he didn't like the idea of companionship, it left a bad taste in his mouth to let things lie like this with the older man. It was an awful feeling and he wanted it to go away.]

Some woman named Ayumu.

[He ground his teeth together as Mouse attempted to climb his head.] She has other shinki.

Mm. Well, we don't get a choice in our gods unless we make a choice.

[There's more self-deprecation in his tone than anything else. The name on his own throat is gone; there's no name to replace it yet, and this time, it's feeling... harder to make that choice.

Hibari's in the same position he is. He glances at the boy.]

'Ayumu.' I don't think I know her.

When do shinki ever have a choice?

[Bon was now investigating this new person by sniffing at his feet while Hibari wrestled with the kitten on his head, depositing him on the ground. The blanket was...welcome, even if Hibari didn't want to admit it, but he certainly wasn't going to sleep anywhere near the other shinki; and not too far away either. Maybe like one room over.

But all in all, he wasn't pleased that Hakkai didn't know her. He...trusted his opinion. But at least now someone knew what happened to him, even if he was standing there awkwardly.]

... Very rarely. We have to grab for it when we do have one.

[He lets out a breath, smiling a little wryly.]

I'll have to make my decision soon, I think. Ah -- do you know what her divine title is? Ayumu's?

And you're the one who annoyed me about finding a god? Well aren't you a hypocrite, but I'm not even surprised.

[Hibari sounded both annoyed and tired as he said that, but this was Hakkai. It was expected he'd be above his own concerns.]

I don't know what she is, nor do I care. They are all the same.

Ha ha, don't scold me too much, Hibari. It was just this morning.

[It hasn't even been a full twenty-four hours yet. He's given himself up to three days -- well, once -- without anything happening.

The shock hasn't even worn off this one yet.

Besides, it's easier if he lets the uncertainty and guilt fade a bit before he inflicts himself on a new deity. His wry smile lingers around his mouth, less with amusement and more as though he's forgotten to stop forcing his lips into their mild curve.]

It'd be easier if they were.

[Hibari could see right through Hakkai's false smile, now that he had enough experience, but it didn't really matter to him at all. He was starting to look around for a nice couch that would have to exist in the school-it was for him after all-while Bon decided enough sniffing was enough and jumped up to put his front paws on Hakkai's chest.]

Shut up. I couldn't care less what you did with yourself as long as you aren't being a hypocrite. I don't need any more upsets right now.

Mm.

[Hakkai tossed him a glance, but, after a moment, looked down and away again. It's true; Hibari doesn't need to be upset, and besides, there's a very large dog doing its best to knock him backwards, and it's hard to ignore that for long. He ruffles Bon's ears, and instructs the half-grown dog firmly:] Down.

I'm sorry for chattering on... down, boy: sit.

I should let you get some sleep.

[Bon just gave Hakkai a giant lick to the face before he was finally shoved off to sit, his tail thumping on the ground. Kishi had jumped off of Hakkai at this point and promptly made a nest on Hakkai's pillow, because he was an asshole like that.

Hibari just didn't remark anymore and found a corner to lie in, Bon finally wandering over to act as a pillow.]

[Hibari had apparently given up on the conversation... but he wasn't punching anything and he wasn't leaving. Hakkai let silence fall, turned the light back off, and stretched out on his futon. Kishi batted curiously at the tip of his ear before settling down against his neck, purr vibrating through his body to Hakkai's skin.]

Good night, Hibari.

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(Closed)Had I been accepted

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