Suzaku Kururugi (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
swordofzero) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
thenearshore2019-03-02 08:32 am
swordofzero) wrote in thenearshore2019-03-02 08:32 am
Entry tags:
A prayer for Reuniting
Who: Suzaku Kururugi and Hibiki Shikyoin
Where: A busy shopping street on the Near Shore
When: 14th April
What: Prayer 40. A prayer for reuniting.
Warnings: Suzaku got a memory so there might be themes of violence and physical punishment in his introspection.
Suzaku had woken that morning with more memories than had been there before. Like the last ones they had hit him like punch, more information about his life before that he struggled to fit into the tiny bit of context he had had before.
He had a good life here, death he supposed. Saber was a kind god and Suzaku felt proud to be able to serve him. He had people who he considered friends. More who he was on good terms with. The battles they fought were to protect humans, destroy ayakashi.
Even the cultists, though Suzaku felt bad about taking any human life he knew the cultists were trying to harm the heavens. And he had avoided killing, even in the compound.
He knew he disliked killing, he knew that he felt peace was better. Even the couple of arguments he had had with people here had not been serious.
How to fit that with a memory of being paraded bound through the streets. A person so hated. A traitor. A murderer.
Luckily Suzaku works for Ebisu and so he is very busy, less time to think. But that afternoon he is not working and so he goes down to the Near Shore.
He should speak to Saber but he doesn't want to bother his god. Shouldn't bother him. Suzaku might have been innocent of the murder of a prince, Zero had confessed after all but he had still been a person who people could easily believe would commit treason, would murder a prince.
They must have had their reasons and Suzaku doesn't have the memories to know what other atrocities he might have committed. He'd like to believe he is a good person, a person who helps others but ever memory he regains contradicts that.
The streets are crowded and no one notices him. That's the reason Suzaku came down to the Near Shore. To be invisible, unnoticed. No eyes on him.
Crying broke him out of his thoughts. Not wailing, just soft sobbing, barely audible over the crowd. He looked around and saw a little boy, face wet with tears. Was he lost. Suzaku stepped towards him but the child was already approaching someone. He paused, because if this person could help they would be in a better place to do so than Suzaku.
But then he got a better look at the figure whose coattails the child was tugging at. Was that...
Where: A busy shopping street on the Near Shore
When: 14th April
What: Prayer 40. A prayer for reuniting.
Warnings: Suzaku got a memory so there might be themes of violence and physical punishment in his introspection.
Suzaku had woken that morning with more memories than had been there before. Like the last ones they had hit him like punch, more information about his life before that he struggled to fit into the tiny bit of context he had had before.
He had a good life here, death he supposed. Saber was a kind god and Suzaku felt proud to be able to serve him. He had people who he considered friends. More who he was on good terms with. The battles they fought were to protect humans, destroy ayakashi.
Even the cultists, though Suzaku felt bad about taking any human life he knew the cultists were trying to harm the heavens. And he had avoided killing, even in the compound.
He knew he disliked killing, he knew that he felt peace was better. Even the couple of arguments he had had with people here had not been serious.
How to fit that with a memory of being paraded bound through the streets. A person so hated. A traitor. A murderer.
Luckily Suzaku works for Ebisu and so he is very busy, less time to think. But that afternoon he is not working and so he goes down to the Near Shore.
He should speak to Saber but he doesn't want to bother his god. Shouldn't bother him. Suzaku might have been innocent of the murder of a prince, Zero had confessed after all but he had still been a person who people could easily believe would commit treason, would murder a prince.
They must have had their reasons and Suzaku doesn't have the memories to know what other atrocities he might have committed. He'd like to believe he is a good person, a person who helps others but ever memory he regains contradicts that.
The streets are crowded and no one notices him. That's the reason Suzaku came down to the Near Shore. To be invisible, unnoticed. No eyes on him.
Crying broke him out of his thoughts. Not wailing, just soft sobbing, barely audible over the crowd. He looked around and saw a little boy, face wet with tears. Was he lost. Suzaku stepped towards him but the child was already approaching someone. He paused, because if this person could help they would be in a better place to do so than Suzaku.
But then he got a better look at the figure whose coattails the child was tugging at. Was that...
no subject
And yet here she stood, on a busy street, having stopped to observe a particularly attractive phonograph in an antiques store. She had been on the verge of ascertaining its make when she found herself offensively assaulted by a tug upon the royal person. She tried to ignore it.
The tug came again. Once again, it was ignored. The tug became a clamber, and a sniffle, as whoever it was burst into tears and attempted to scale her leg in their distress.
Curse this puniverse.
Hibiki whirled, snapping. "I am no jungle gym! If you must engage in such acrobatics, do so---"
The child attached to her began blubbering harder. "Y-you look like B-big brother," they sobbed. "And I w-wanna go home...."
Hibiki gulped, fell silent. Looked just as lost as the child. Not this again. Not this!
Nothing good ever came of being out on the sidewalk!
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For all he had been content being invisible he couldn't let this scene continue. Because the child was fully wailing now and Hibiki looked frozen in place.
"Hello. Do you need help?"
The child turned to him, eyes wide at being approached by a stranger, and tried to hide behind Hibiki's leg.
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"Is this your doing?" she demanded of Suzaku. "Regardless of whatever sort of plea you've accepted, immaturity has its limits! I'll have you halt the blubbering and retrieve this infant."
Hibiki. The child is old enough to walk, talk, and form complete sentences. But okay. Fine. Suzaku has saddled her with an infant. That's what's happening now.
Utterly intolerable.
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But he crouched down smiling at the child gently who despite being called a blubbering infant seemed still to be more sure of Hibiki than Suzaku.
"Who is it you are looking for?" He asked.
"My grandma, she said to stay close but... There were so many people. I just want to go home..."
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She attempts to complete her turn, the better to look Cool, but the kid grabs her by the waist and won't let go. She is, apparently, a reassuring presence no matter what falls out of her mouth.
A reassuring presence who now has a crick in her back. Hibiki twitches.
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The child is literally attached to Hibiki and Suzaku can't let her deal with this situation alone. So it looks like they are both helping find grandma.
"What does your grandma look like?"
The child shrugged, grandma looked like grandma.
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It's not impossible - not for Shikyoin Hibiki - but it is stupid! And requires far less leaving everything to Suzaku than she'd hoped for!
The thought of Suzaku has her looking over at him, expectant. Remove. The child. "What an unreasonable minds---ghhk."
Somewhat self-defeatingly, critiquing the child makes the kid want comfort more. Hibiki looks like their beloved big brother. So every time Hibiki insults the kid, they hold onto Hibiki even harder.
WHY IS THIS PERMITTED TO BEFALL HER, PUNIVERSE?!
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The child looked at Suzaku as if he had just suggested stabbing a puppy and... tried to climb up Hibiki once more. She was the adult chosen to help with this problem, they weren't leaving her side for a moment.
Suzaku just looked over at Hibiki. He tried?
"Let's see if we can see your grandma then, she can't have gotten far."
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Hibiki stares at Suzaku, too shocked to pick whether or not she's angry or dismayed. The child has her middle in a vice grip, however, to the point that she can tell attempting to wrench them off of her would likely only result in injury.
To her. What befalls the child is none of her concern.
And yet, as she sees no escape route, she snorts and glares at Suzaku. "An impossible promise. How do you intend to fulfill it?"
She refuses to simply go along with the plan of someone incapable of removing a child from her person (never mind that she is not capable of this feat herself). If his idea is insufficient, she will have no choice to substitute one of her own!
Granted, she might do that anyway, because her ideas are always better than everyone else's. But an opening act should at least be permitted to audition. She'll let him have his say.
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Hopefully. It wouldn't work if the child couldn't spot their grandmother or recognise her at all.
But hopefully it was just nerves and fear and they would still recognise her on sight.
"Perhaps up on one of the roofs." That way they would be out of the way and being out of the crowd might calm the child down.
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But a roof isn't her style when she isn't in a cape and a mask, so she snaps her fingers. "Our conveyance is imminent."
The kid stops crying long enough to wipe their face on Hibiki's jacket and wonder what that means. Then they gasp. "Whoa!"
How many purple helicopters have you seen before, Suzaku?
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Where had he seen that...
There were helicopters. Purple helicopters. She snapped her fingers and they just appeared.
Just like...
He shook his head. It couldn't be. But more importantly how had she just summoned helicopters? Suzaku frowned, but he had to admit helicopters would cover a lot bigger area than the three of them on a rooftop would.
The child was looking up with wide eyes. "Are we going to fly?
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One of the helicopters begins lowering, but can't make it all the way down to the street, given the height of the buildings. Hibiki sighs, seeing this, and raises a hand to crook a finger. She can't teleport with this. Burden. Affixed to her person. "Attempt to keep up."
From the lowest helicopter, a hatch opens and a golden ladder comes spooling out. Hibiki heads over, dragging the kid if she has to. Luggage be damned, this search will be conducted gracefully.
Now that Shikyoin Hibiki has been forced to participate, that is!
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Probably for the best. Where in all the heavens did Hibiki get helicopters from?
He follows them to the ladder. "You will have to let go of Miss Shikyoin to climb, you will be in the middle so we will make sure you don't fall."
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But then her scheme is interrupted by a small pair of arms letting go of her waist - only so they can jump and end up halfway up her body. Hibiki grunts and bends forward from the weight, which is exactly the leeway the kid needs to wrap their arms around her shoulders and their feet around her waist.
"I WANNA GO LIKE THIS!" the kid proclaims. And Hibiki, still doubled over, realizes a terrible thing. She'd dawdled so long deciding whether or not to trick this company -
that she herself has been had!!! Inconceivable.
The ladder waves in the wind, now fully extended down. If they're gonna go, they better do it soon.
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He ushered them both closer to the ladder, ready to help if the burden turned out to be too much for Hibiki, or if the child started to slip.
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Nay, it weighs far more heavily.....upon her dignity.
"You make a singular mockery out of being a fan," she informs the kid, who just holds on and buries their head between Hibiki's shoulderblades. So it can't be helped.
Up she climbs - if with stiffer limbs than normal, as if contact with the child is physically unpleasant (it is). To think that having attracted affection could ever be unwelcome....! There must be a way she can salvage this. If the kid could just stop pissing her off long enough to think.
Once Suzaku is also on the ladder, the spygoats up top will begin reeling it in. That way, they'll have less ladder to climb, and fewer chances for mishap.
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Many people can be dramatic though, he has to focus. The ladder began to rise... wait were these helicopters being driven by goats?
Soon they were able to get onto the helicopter proper, the child still clinging to Hibiki even as they looked awestruck at how high they were!
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Probably.
Hibiki, for what it's worth, does not seem concerned, heaving yet another sigh as she settles into a seat and the child partially unwinds from around her. She shoves the kid towards the window. "Your seat is there."
A WINDOW SEAT? This guy who looks like Big Brother is so nice! The kid presses their face up against the window, looking up, out, all around - any direction but down.
Hibiki crosses her arms. "I've yielded the ultimate seat in the vehicle. At least stick to the topic at hand and search."
"There's a bird's nest on that building!"
It suddenly feels a lot smaller in this helicopter. When she's holding it in, Hibiki's temper takes up a lot of room.
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He is drawn back to their side a moment later as the child exclaims about the birds nest, it seems focus might be a problem for them, perhaps how they got lost in the first place.
"Miss Shikyoin is right, we have to find your grandma, can you remember anything about what she was wearing or carrying so me and miss Shikyoin can help you search?"
"Um... Well... She likes wearing hats, she's always wearing a hat in winter and in summer. I think today it was green. Or maybe purple."
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The helicopter moves slowly above the city streets, its fellows spreading out to do the same - searching for dots of green. Or maybe purple. And on the ground below...
Purple stuffed ears prick up as new orders are transmitted to them from above. They must now FIND THE WORRIED HAT LADY!
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Suzaku moved so he could look down onto the streets himself, it was his first time in a helicopter himself, at least as far as he could remember.
"How about over there." A cluster of colours but he can definitely see green, and purple too for that matter.
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"Hrrrrgh." Hibiki could not possibly be sending louder I DON'T WANT TO BE HERE vibes if she started whining like a toddler on an unasked-for road trip. But she still thumbs something on her phone, sending spy cameras to the indicated cluster of people.
Spy cameras in the form, of course, of adorable purple goats. Let's see, let's see...Oh! Everyone here is young, but there is a commotion over at this box with a man in a hat sitting inside of it! An old lady is chewing him out over something!
The goat wants to get closer, but then a stoplight turns from green to red and it has to wait its turn with everybody else. It cannot FIND THE WORRIED HAT LADY if it suffers a maa-lfunction and has to go in for maa-intenance.
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He looks over the area more carefully, wait is that another goat at a traffic light? He glances at Hibiki and then peers down at the sight of angry gesticulating.
"Does that look like your grandma?"
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"She can't hear you." Hibiki stows away her phone, finding it no longer necessary, as the helicopter begins its descent. She wants to close her eyes in protest of such stupidity, but she can't help it. She risks a peek.
Grandma's hat is orange today.
Now Hibiki's eyes need to shut because the world.....is just too much.
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The helicopter made it's descent a little distance away from the crowd and the moment it touched down the child rushed to the door.
"Careful, you don't want to get lost again." Suzaku chided them, they still had a crowd to navigate to get the to grandma in the orange hat.
The child paused and then nodded once, sticking their hand out. Towards Hibiki. Big brother substitute would keep them safe, they were sure of it!
god i'm sorry my tenses are all over the place in these, i just realized
Her again?! Hibiki, who had disembarked merely to supervise the proceedings, started upon being offered a hand. This child....
"You're determined to prove a trial right until the bitter end......!??!?!"
She attempted to stare the kid into submission. The kid stared back. Hibiki swallowed. The kid grinned.
And took advantage of Hibiki's pause to grab her hand and tug. Thus chained to this cruel mission by more than the mere machinations of destiny, Hibiki stumbled forward towards the clear conditions. Her hand was stiff in the child's, too unsure of the situation to even rely on her usual staples when people love her.
But this is fine. She's brilliant. The situation will be handled with aplomb.
Surely.
It's okay tenses like time are fake!
"Grandma! Grandma!"
The Grandma turned and looked all at once furious and relieved.
"Where have you been? I was worried sick!"
"I was looking for you! On a helicopter and it was flown by purple goats!"
The grandma's frown deepened as her eyes moved from the child to their companions. Who are they? And what of this nonsense talk of helicopters?
Re: It's okay tenses like time are fake!
So she strikes a confident pose, as if none of this had been a problem. "As long as you're reunited, all is well. We require no recompense."
Stepping forward, she reached for the grandmother's hand, hoping to place it on the child's shoulder. Her attention, however, is fully on the older woman's face - as her own lit up with the full force of her very most charming, arch, special smile. A sparkling shoujo light show illuminated the gathering.
"Your loving embrace is a precious treasure, madame. Do take care not to relinquish it."
Well, this was a new record. Hibiki did not flirt with the baby.
Hibiki flirted with a geriatric lady instead. GENIUS!
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Suzaku wondered if this was Hibiki's god power, to make people like her. She often grumbled and yet she smiled and won adoration. It was quite remarkable to watch her turn a situation to her advantage, to win people over with words and a smile alone.
The masked figure from his memory returned to his mind once more and he shook his head. It would be too...
Hibiki was not the type to wear a mask.
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...Was not a thing Hibiki would ever think to think, fortunately for all involved. Even more fortunately, she also didn't realize he was contemplating the mysteries of amore, as the ideal way to explain that was to sing the same song about it that she's already sung twice.
The flip side of all this ignorance, however, was that Hibiki remained free to focus her full attention on gracefully extracting herself from this situation. "Restoring your beautiful smile is the ultimate thanks."
"Why doesn't Big Brother say stuff like that?" the child asked, and when their grandmother looked down to answer, the couple's ability to notice gods and shinki faded. They turned away from Hibiki and Suzaku, talking about the importance of safety in crowds.
"Mission clear," Hibiki muttered to herself as she watched them go. Which wouldn't be suspicious at all, if anyone were thinking suspicious thoughts.
Hypothetically.
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"Thank you for helping her." Suzaku nodded at Hibiki, "It is good that they were reunited."
Mission clear indeed...
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The helicopter starts up again, and Hibiki heads for it. Is...is she really about to leave Suzaku in a potentially-unfamiliar portion of the city by helicoptering off into the distance? Despite it being her fault he's dropped here in the first place?
NEVER UNDERESTIMATE GENIUS.
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Hopefully he can find his way to Micheal's shrine from here here... Or give up and call his god.