[closed]

[monkeyblue]

Who: Fushimi and Xihe’s Temple
When: January 21st
Where:Xihe’s Temple and the surrounding area
What: So Fushimi remembers something he was better off forgetting.
Warnings: Mentions of child abuse, parent death.

[It is eight o’clock in the morning, and Fushimi is not in his room.

He’s not in Yata’s room either, and Sicily is still in his stable. His phone is gone but the GPS is off and he’s not answering messages or calls. There’s no note, but no sign of a struggle either if the missing coat and boots are any indication.

Fushimi is not in his room, but Izumo is no doubt getting lances of terror and pain and loathing from the missing shinki. Following that, at least, should give the temple’s residents a clue as to where he’s gone.]

Comments

[thevanguard]

[ It's not until Izumo wakes him up with a text that something's wrong with Saru and a location that Yata even realizes something is amiss. Definitely not a morning person, 8am is not a time of day Yata can be found anywhere other than snoring and sprawled haphazardly in his bed. Even if he had been up, Saru being out for a bit wouldn't have been that unusual, so it's a good thing Izumo had the connection to his shinki to let the rest of them know something was Terribly Wrong.

Scrambling to throw on clothes and out the door with his skateboard moments later, Yata uses his Aura to go faster than would normally be considered safe to reach the location his god had sent him. Sure enough, he finds Saru there and slows down to approach carefully, grateful that Izumo gives them some privacy but still confused as to what the hell is going on. ]

....Saru?

[monkeyblue]

[Fushimi whirls around when he hears Misaki approach, eyes wide. His hair is wet, plastered to his head like he dunked his head in the river Izumo found him in.

Which was exactly what he'd done.]

Misaki?

[thevanguard]

[ Yata quickly puts his hands up when Saru spins around towards him, taking in the other shinki's state with wide eyes. ]

Yeah, it's me. The hell, Saru? What happened to you?

[monkeyblue]

I dunked my head in the river.

[Obviously.]

I couldn't get my hair to lie flat.

[thevanguard]

[ That makes things about as clear as mud. ]

We have a shower? [ It's January, Saru, and damned cold out here. At this rate your hair is gonna start growing icicles in it. ] And your hair never lies flat! I thought you liked it that way?

[monkeyblue]

[Fushimi just shakes his head.]

No. No, I don't. I don't. I won't wear my hair like that anymore, I don't know why I ever started but no.

[thevanguard]

[ Yata starts moving closer now, his expression worried as he holds out his hands, palms up, towards Saru. ]

Alright. You can wear your hair however you want, Saru. But I don't understand. Will you tell me what happened?

[monkeyblue]

[Fushimi shakes his head again.]

I don't know if I can. I don't know if you ever met him.

[thevanguard]

[ That at least helps things click into place. ]

You got a memory back?

[monkeyblue]

More than just one memory. I remembered every single second I was near him.

[And if the look in Fushimi's eyes is anything to go by, it wasn't good.]

...he was the one I was hallucinating on the volcano.

[thevanguard]

[ Yata blanches at that. He remembers how freaked out Saru had been at the volcano, from whatever he was seeing. ]

Shit.

[ Thinking quickly, he hesitates a moment before stepping closer and tentatively putting a hand on Saru's arm. ]

Look, it's cold out here, and you're dripping wet. Will you let me take you home and make you breakfast or something to warm you up? You can tell me about what you remember, if you want. We'll just be careful about context, or something, right? [ If anyone can be smart enough to figure out how to do that, it would be Saru. ]

[monkeyblue]

[Fushimi pauses and glances back at Izumo before nodding.]

Alright. Let's go.

[thevanguard]

[ Yata also glances over at their god, meeting his gaze before wrapping his arm around Saru's waist and guiding him back home again.

once in their apartment, he gives him a shove towards the couch and promptly dumps a thick, fluffy towel over his still wet head before draping a blanket around him for good measure. Which is, of course, an open invitation for the cats to immediately curl up with him as well. ]

There. Get warmed up. Do you want any coffee? Tea?

[toremainbehind]

[Izumo is used to the little jolts of negativity that he occasionally gets from his shinki.

Judar's a little harder to read usually, but Izumo has seen enough of his life to pick it up. Yata's more brazen, like a simmering fire about to burst. But Fushimi is someone Izumo doesn't feel this sort of thing from often. Not like he did during their venture up the volcano. It had been the very thing to wake him up, enough to get him out of bed to find Fushimi. When he does find him, Izumo sends Yata a message of Fushimi's location, content to let him talk to Fushimi first.

But he doesn't wait too long to talk to him either.

So, he doesn't say anything first, keeping close but at a safe distance from Fushimi. Eventually, he does ask:]

....What happened?

[monkeyblue]

[They're near a river in the Heavens. Fushimi could tell when Izumo got close, but he didn't say anything. He just stared at his reflection in the river, head dripping wet.

It takes him a moment to answer.]

I know who I was hallucinating.

[toremainbehind]

Who?

[Fushimi, why is your hair wet?

Izumo just frowns deeper, stepping closer and using enough of his Aura to help warm Fushimi up.]

[monkeyblue]

My father.

[He steps away from the warmth. He doesn't want to warm up right now.]

[toremainbehind]

Your father?

[His Aura dissipates as he takes in the information.

Truth be told, Fusimi never told anyone in HOMRA much about his father at all. Yata was the exception because they've known each other for ages.

HIs eyebrows furrows.]

....What did he do to you. [Because if this guy is still alive, Izumo will make sure he wants death.]

[monkeyblue]

Everything short of beating me, from what I remembered.

[toremainbehind]

No wonder why you reacted as you did then.

[He frowns.]

[monkeyblue]

[Fushimi nods and then starts to chuckle, more than a little brokenly.]

I was in...first grade? Maybe? I had an ant farm. I don't remember why I had an ant farm, but I remember it being important to me. And I remember it being important to me because I remember coming home from school one day and watching as my father set roaches on it and lit it on fire. He threatened to set my only friend on fire until I shoved them out of the house.

[And while he can't remember who that was, he's pretty sure he can guess. Pretty sure Izumo can guess, too.]

...I look like him, especially with my hair the way I had it.

[He doesn't know why he's telling Izumo all this. Maybe because Izumo is his god? Maybe because he trusts Izumo? He knows at some point he didn't care for him all that much, but here and now he guesses he does.]

[toremainbehind]

[Izumo listens.

It....pains him to hear Fushimi so broken. Izumo simply frowns at the story. But in a way, it feels like an honor to him for Fushimi to tell him. At the same time...]

So, what will you do now about it?

[There isn't exactly anything to do about the memory itself. Even as a shinki, his father has still managed to haunt him.]

If you don't want to look like him, then we can change your hairstyle. But even when you didn't remember him, he still managed to haunt you here.

[monkeyblue]

I don't know. This isn't the first time it happened, but I don't remember what I did the last time it happened. I just remember seeing him in a bar after he died.

[toremainbehind]

.....

[Fushimi, that isn't good at all.]

Well, know this: if that man ever comes here, Yata and I will make sure he doesn't come near you again.

[monkeyblue]

Tch.

[He doesn't say it, can't admit it, but there is a heavy undertone of "you failed at that last time" in that one sound.]

Whatever.