RP log - Tomoka and Kaidoh.

[singing-sparkle.livejournal.com]

Date: Some hours before THIS POST in Kaidoh's LJ.
Rating: PG for allusions to BAD things.
Summary: Before she helps him to talk to Kitty and Bobby, Kaidoh has to tell Tomoka why he wants to personally speak to them in the first place.

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Kaidoh glanced over at Tomo-kun as they made their way through the hallways - he was more than a little nervous about taking to the X-men, and that was doubled by the fact that he couldn't really talk directly to them. His English was okay, but not as good as Tomo-kun's. But even that aside, he realized that Tomo was going to find out what had happened to him. And that maybe he should tell her first.

His steps slowed until they stopped; he touched Tomo on the arm, lightly, to get her attention. "U-um... Tomo-kun... before we talk to them. Um. There's - y-you should know what I want to say beforehand, maybe."

He frowned nervously as she turned to face him - that didn't sound quite right. "I mean, I wanted to talk to them about... well, w-what happened. When I tried to get the cure." He paused, awkwardly, not really sure how to proceed from there.

Tomoka had kept her own thoughts to herself until then. After the bliss of having Kitty and Bobby and everyone in Ryuhana complimenting her on her dancing and singing (oh, the months of using music, gymnastics and dancing to train had finally paid off!) wore off enough to le her focuse on everything else, she started to notice that Kaidoh was the only one in her group of friends who kept everything to himself, and looked at their visitors more from afar than anything.

This couldn't be! Wasn't Kenken, Kaidoh's boyfriend, one of the biggest X-Men fanboys...? Yes, he was; then, how could he let Kaidoh just stay away when he needed the X-Men's support more than other kids, due to his own emotional fragility?

But now that she thought of it... Kaidoh, always shy and sweet, was more withdrawn than ever after he got the infamous Cure that didn't really work on him. Tomoka had thought at first that this was caused by how his healing factor reacted against the "poison" he was given, but seeing Kenken and Oishi so worried for the older student kinda suggested there was something else behind of it.

Somehting very, very complicated.

They still had some minutes left, since Kitty and Bobby were in a reunion with Hanamura and Mariko-sensei from medlab. So, the light-bender looked at her friend and nodded silently, creating a tiny butterfly that flew slowly towards the library. Few students were there, so they'd be able to speak more freely there as long as they kept their voices low...

Kaidoh watched the tiny butterfly flutter off, glad for the small distraction. But he really couldn't put it off any longer. He followed Tomo, making sure they were alone before biting his lip and glancing at the ground. Not many people knew about this... problem. And she wouldn't go blabbing it, he was quite sure, but it was still... hard to tell her when he still wished it wasn't so in the first place.

"Um, it's just," he began, rubbing the underside of one arm nervously, where the skin was still smooth and no bone had broken through, "I - they didn't give me the cure," he said, still keeping his voice low, still looking at the ground. "They, um, they operated on me. They did something to my skeleton - g-grafted, um, adamantium onto it." That was what he wanted to talk to the X-men about. Ken went on and on about Wolverine, and maybe these people knew him. Maybe they could tell him if they knew what was going on, or if Wolverine could talk to him (though that thought made Kaidoh about twenty times more nervous - he'd heard Wolverine was also... rather gruff).

Kaidoh looked off to the side, out the window to study the school grounds. "I'm s-sorry I have to go through you to talk to them. But, um, maybe they know something about it."

I... um. It's nothing they can fix, is all. Just, um, my bones are stronger, is all.

When Tomoka asked through journals what had happened with the Cure deal, Kaidoh had just written that little phrase. One that he later repeated whenever he was asked by the other Ryuhana kids, hoping to silence all the rumors that had gone wild ever since he came back...

And in a sense, it wasn't a lie. His bones *were* stronger. But how they grew stronger... through lies, torture, experiments and lots of other things that the horrified girl could barely think of straight, memories of her own experience with the stupidity and cruelty of some humans coming back to her mind...

Trying to calm herself and not start emitting lights and lasers, Tomoka looked at Kaidoh with hazel eyes wide open, her slightly shaking hand taking his'. Yes, his friend was there, no this was no nightmare, and no... she had no right to ever blame or ditch him...

Tomo-kun looked scared - Kaidoh didn't know if she was scared of him or for him, but he hoped that if it had to be one, that it would be the latter. She'd grabbed his hand - maybe that meant she wasn't scared of him, then - and she was still looking up at him, eyes wide and expectant.

He shuffled his feet a little, looking back down at them. "I... I'm sorry I didn't tell you, but I didn't want - I d-don't want everyone to know. But now the X-men - er, well, two of them, at least - are here, and... I just thought maybe they'd know something," he said quietly. "I... um, I didn't want that to be the first time you, um, heard it." That would be unfair. Tomo-kun was his friend, and he was very grateful for how nicely she treated him. It hadn't been fair not to tell her, but only Oishi-kun and Ken and the teachers knew. Kaidoh didn't want everyone to know - he was already freakish enough.

"I-it's okay," he finally said, to fill the silence. "I mean, it... it doesn't hurt or anything." At least, for once, that really was true.

The grip on Kaidoh's hand was firmer now. The disturbed feelings were still there, but those weren't directed towards Kaidoh. Oh no, that wouldn't happen... He never asked for this. Just like she, Eiji and Kirihara never asked for what happened to them. And neither did Yuushi, Ohtori, the other Boys...

Tomoka still wanted to believe that not *every* single non-mutant was like the humans that were involved in all of this, and hadn't been proven wrong, but those specific bastards and bitches were from the Japanese Governement, were they? How come were they allowed to do that...?

That alone blew her mind. But the girl forced herself to focus on the boy next to her. She listened to his words and nodded quietly, eyes more narrow and hands enveloping Kaidoh's more warmly.

"It's not okay. It can't be okay," she said firmly. "You did NOT ask for that being done to you, right? So..."

Kaidoh shook his head - of course he hadn't asked for something like this, all he'd wanted was to be cured. But things hadn't worked out that way, and getting angry over them wouldn't solve it. Getting angry never solved anything.

"But I'm okay now," he protested - sure, he had to go in for testing twice a week, to make sure he really was all right, but so far nothing had gone wrong and the ache had diminished so that his joints didn't hurt much more than they had before. "There's... um, I mean, there's nothing they can do about it. S-so I just have to get used to it."

That was why he wanted to talk to the X-men - if they could help him in some way, or tell him what to do... it would be nice. It was nice to know someone had gone through the same thing - though then again, it wasn't, because it was a terrible thing and Kaidoh knew it. It was unfair. But he was just going to have to live with it. Life liked being unfair to Kaidoh Kaoru.

"I just... um, well, you know. Wanted to ask them about it. You don't have to, um, help if you don't want to..." He didn't think she'd refuse - Tomo-kun was a really, really good friend like that. But he didn't want to force her, either.

Eh? She didn't have to? That made Tomoka even more upset. What were friends for if they didn't support each other in either good or bad times? Whrere was Kaidoh's trust on her?

"No," she said vehemently, her grip on Kaidoh's hands firmer. "If you wanted me out, Kaidoh-san, you should've saved your words. No way I'm getting out of this, after knowing what was done to you!".

Kaidoh blushed, but nodded. He really didn't mind Tomo's help at all, in the end - and this was no way to repay her. "T-thanks, a lot," he said, glancing shyly at her. He still wasn't sure he really wanted to talk to the X-men about this, but Tomo-kun would be with him, and she would help. She would do her best, and maybe with someone else there, things wouldn't be so bad. He really hoped not.

Relieved that he wouldn't kick her out of the deal, Tomoka lightly loosened the grip on Kaidoh's hands and only gingerly kept her fingers around his wrist to avoid others thinking of this the wrong way. At the same time, she paid more attention to her surroundings, and couldn't hear any adult voices but the librarian's.

"Wouldn't be surprised if they still were in their reunion... Ah, well. We should go there, then."

Both kids started walking out of the library and into the hall. As they went through the corridors, Tomoka still kept her hold on Kaidoh, half to make sure he didn't run away in the last minute, half to show him that she would be there for him through the whole ordeal.