[log] Saeki, Kisarazu Ryou

[hypomnesicdream.livejournal.com]

Date: 11.8.6 // late night.
Rating: G
Summary: Saeki tracks down Ryou for a little…talk.



The television was muted, the images flickering across the screen the main light in the dim room. It wasn't a large room, and by the look of it, not often used, but it was in a quiet corner of the Brotherhood's manor and just off the kitchen. A den, technically, though the low leather sofa and large television screen made it look more like a recreation area.

The heavy, Western style door was slightly ajar, spilling the hallway light through the crack. Ryou had stopped glancing up every time someone walked past; it seemed that he wasn't the only one who wasn't sleeping at night. But whoever else roamed the halls after midnight, they didn't bother Ryou and so the younger mutant didn't bother his housemates.

It was the third night. Three days since he'd made the mistake of trying to steal Oshitari's memories at the airport. And yes, it had been mistake, if his current lack of slumber was any indication. Every time the black-haired mutant teen tried to lay his head down to rest, the memories that he'd siphoned from the elder mutant's mind would raise their hellish heads to haunt him. Screaming, blood…pain and more pain; Ryou had woke in a cold sweat only a couple of hours earlier, all thoughts of sleep chased from his mind.

He'd decide to just give up sleeping until these memories were gone. It couldn't take that long, he hoped. Oshitari's mind had been strong, true…hard to break into, harder to suppress the feelings associated with the memory. Loss, a vague sense of fear…not for himself but something else he couldn't place. Despair.

But still. They were just memories -- and not his.

They had to fade into the ether of Ryou's mind sometime.

It was just a matter of waiting them out. Ryou shifted on the floor. He sat with his back leaned against the hulking leather couch, a cushion clutched to his chest and his knees drawn up. Small, quiet, with exhausted blue-eye grey eyes trying to focus on the TV, the young mutant fought off sleep and the memories that keep drifting to the surface.

Stirring, Saeki stretched a little. One arm was thrown over Kamio to rest on Oshitari. One leg was curled tightly around Kamio's legs. The arm on the bottom had two other heads resting on it. Breathing in the scent of his redheaded lover's hair, Saeki nuzzled the other lightly. His stomach growled again, repeating the sound that had awoken him from his sleep.

Ah well. It wasn't the first time Saeki'd gone hunting for food at night, and it was far from the last. A slow wriggle, a light shift, and he managed to disentangle himself from his lovers for a little while. He pulled the covers up. Now that Kamio wasn't at full strength, the fragile body seemed colder, and Saeki didn't want him to catch a cold. Oshitari could use the covers too. He stroked their hair, running fingers lightly through blue and red strands, then left the room, closing the door behind him, walking softly towards the kitchen, still in human form.

The fridge wasn't really all that well-stocked, but ... Shishido's grapes were right there in front of him. Now, really. How could Wings expect not to lose his grapes if he kept them in plain sight? Oh well. He'd get Wings more grapes next time. Right now ... finders keepers.

A sound from outside made him somewhat curious. Had he woken his lovers accidentally? With a bunch of grapes on hand as a peace offering, he set out to find them. It sounded like they were in the TV room. Well, then, he'd go in--no, wait. Before pushing open the door, Saeki realized that the smell was not that of either of his lovers ... well, no, there was a little bit of Tari in there, but ... the stray.

He opened the door anyway. He'd been eyeing Kisarazu Ryou a couple of days now, and this was as good a time as any to hash things out with the kid. Better start them off right, and not let them get any stupid ideas about Oshitari or Kamio or anything like that. You never knew with these shy retiring types if they were plotting behind one's back. With a frown, he stood in the doorway, blocking the exit. "You."

Ryou lifted his head just as the door swung open, his dark eyebrows creased above sleepy eyes. He hadn't really been paying attention, half-dozing despite himself, so the fact that there was anyone in the hallway between the kitchen and den was something of a surprise to him.

Though that wasn't half as surprising as the figure looming in the doorway.

The black-haired had been, to a degree, avoiding his housemates. Sure, he was trying the online thing -- the journal or whatever it was Shiiba-san had insisted he set up -- and that was...livable. He didn't have to worry about anyone getting close to him, touching him, god forbid....grabbing him, and he didn't have to speak to anyone he wasn't sure he wanted to deal with.

The white-haired teen was one such person, along with a certain redhead. Both of the older mutants had been subtly glaring at the black-haired teen since he'd first climbed out of the taxi with Oshitari, who was, apparently, their boyfriend.

Ryou didn't want to try to figure out how that worked.

So, he'd been going to special measures to avoid the two of them. Ryou wasn't really sure why, other than the flashes of teeth he'd gotten from the white-haired one were enough to make him stay back from them and Oshitari. It probably had something to do with the little slice of memories that he'd lifted from their traveling lover, he assumed, and really...he'd be more than happy to give those back. If he could. They were causing him far more misery than they were worth. At least he'd managed, so far, to not get caught alone with either of them...until now, at any rate. He didn't like one bit that the doorway was blocked off, that he was, in effect, trapped in the room.

Ryou frowned and tugged off a glove, watching the other mutant from the corner of his eye carefully. "Yeah, me," he murmured back, shifting so he could face the other and keep an eye on him. The redhead, he'd guessed from seeing him move, was fast, but he didn't know what this guy could do. "What do you want?"

For all Kisarazu Ryou would know, Saeki was merely a live-in boyfriend. He could be human as far as the black-haired teen was concerned. It wasn't as if Saeki cared all that much to endure the pain just to demonstrate for someone he didn't really care for. There wasn't any reason to, at any rate. Plus, the thought that Ryou didn't know his powers hadn't really crossed his mind yet. Saeki had assumed Oshitari told the kid about them already.

"Straight answers," he muttered in a low growl, not moving. As long as he was in the doorway, there was no real exit for the other, not unless the kid wanted to try his luck at pushing past Saeki. "Now that you can't avoid me or run away, we're going to have a little chat. I want you to tell me exactly why you're with Yuushi, and you'd better be truthful, kid, because I can smell deceit." He couldn't, not literally ... but one could tell, sometimes ... okay, most of the time. The kid seemed like the nervous type.

Ryou's eyes flitted to the shallow space Saeki's form left in the doorframe. It seemed that the elder mutant was attempting to take up as much room as possible between the wooden jambs, and there wasn't enough space for Ryou to squeeze through, no matter how quickly he ran. No, he'd be grabbed in an instant, and while the fingers of his right hand were currently exposed, the black-haired teen really had no desire to mingle this guy's memories with Oshitari's. Not even in self-defense or an attempt to avoid the snarling young man.

No telling what else had happened to any of them, after all. And he'd gone through having two minds in his own at once before; it wasn't pleasant.

So, just as long as Saeki kept himself to the other side of the room, Ryou wouldn't attempt to use his own power on the other. It didn't make Ryou happy in the least little bit, being trapped in a room with the other mutant. Nor the idea of the other being able to smell deceit. Ryou curled up tighter, the cushion squeezed between his knees and chest, and stared at the other.

He could be lying of course. Anyone of them -- all of them -- could be lying.

"He didn't tell you?" Ryou replied, tipping his head to one side. Bare fingers curled around his jaw line, his pointed chin resting on his palm. "He offered me a place to stay."

Saeki snarled again, baring his fangs at Ryou in a quick display of teeth, hearing an unsaid implication that Oshitari wasn't talking to them. Then he pressed his lips together and fixed Ryou with a glare. "I've heard his side of the story, and I believe him," Saeki said. "What I want from you is your motives." Like why the hell Ryou had latched on to Oshitari, of all people.

The snarl was…foreboding.

More so, Ryou decided, than just Saeki's figure looming in the doorway. It drew memories out of the shifting miasma of his mind; not his own…never, but vague recollections of animals pacing beyond high fences. For a moment, he was lost, nose crinkled and lips curling thoughtful as he tried to grasp the thin threads of recollection, but the memory was old and faded. It slipped away easily.

Ryou shifted again, his gaze returning to the television uncomfortably. "Then why ask me? It was his idea," he complained, dropping his hand from his face and letting his arm rest on his knees. His chin followed, shoulders slumped and a pout pulling his lips. "My motive for what? A roof over my head and a bed instead of sleeping under an overpass?" If only for a little while.

Even he understood the appeal of the latter over the former. "It's getting cold out," he shrugged.

"It had better have been his idea," Saeki said, pinning Ryou with a gaze that would have burned a hole in the other mutant ... if he had that sort of mutation. As it was, he merely stared as if he'd pounce if Ryou gave the slightest provocation. Never mind that the other mutant wasn't looking at him. Saeki was very sure Ryou could feel his eyes on him. He ignored the obvious reasoning--from Oshitari's story, if that was the only motive, Saeki couldn't fault either of them.

He just wanted to know ... why, of all the people, Oshitari. If it turned out to be random chance in the end, then all would be well. And if not ... "If I ever find out you can plant memories, Kisarazu, or if you're hiding some other motive ... I don't forget grudges easily."

There was no mistaking the feeling of that glare on him.

Ryou hunched his shoulders and shot a glance over at the door again, before returning his gaze to the television. His eyes were only half open, unfocused on the screen, but it was as good a thing to stare at as anything. "Yeah, well…I can't do that," he said.

Holding up his ungloved hand so that it was silhouetted by the television screen, he swallowed and frowned. "Don't think I can anyway," he admitted. Ryou's voice was soft, barely a whisper as he studied the outline of his own thin fingers. "I just take them." His words were still quiet, nearly sleepy, as he dropped his hand and curled his fingers into a fist.

"If any memories get planted anywhere…it's in my head."

Saeki noted that the other had not mentioned ulterior motives. Whatever. He'd be keeping an eye on the kid. "So you say." The words were neutral, the tone flat, and one could read either belief or disbelief into them. He continued to study Ryou as one would study possible prey. He didn't think he'd have to ... at least, he hoped he wouldn't have to. But if he ever needed to ... he'd protect his lovers.

Ryou stifled a yawn and sighed at the tone the other mutant used. "And you're probably not going to believe me, no matter what I say," he pointed out. It wasn't like that was uncommon. Even back in Chiiba, the mutants that drifted in and out of the gang he'd sort-of run with had sometimes been suspicious of his power. It was worse when he took over a mind almost completely, and a personality other than his own drifted towards the surface for a few days. He'd move and speak differently then, often fighting the traits that he didn't care for himself. And of course, it wasn't like his power was easy to explain to someone else, so he'd been accused of doing things that he didn't think he could before.

This was no different, he decided, and the best thing to do was what he had been doing -- avoid the white-haired teen as best he could.

"Finally, something we agree on," Saeki said, a smirk on his lips. "And I am unlikely to, kid, until you tell me just what you want out of Yuushi."

"We do," Ryou agreed shortly. He cast another glance back at the other mutant. "…you mean at the airport or now? Because at the airport, I was trying to get bank account numbers or something. He looked like a good target."

The black-haired teen paused, not sure if that had been the wisest thing to say to the other young man, but the lack of sleep was catching up to him; he was tired and his mouth was going without full consent from his brain. "Now…I don’t know. Someplace to stay, someone to notice if I vanish?" he suggested. That was always a concern, after all. How many mutants had he known in the past two years that had suddenly disappeared without a trace, and no one would look for them?

It scared him.

Especially since it looked like no one had ever looked for him when his powers had first taken his own memories from him.

Now that sounded more like it. Yuushi did look rich after all, even if that wasn't the first thing one noticed about him. An unexpected laugh emerged from the tiger mutant. Saeki chuckled, and loosened a little. "Yuushi's good for it, I'm sure, but I doubt he memorizes them. Good eye, anyway," he agreed, pleased with what sounded much more like an honest answer. "Though really. Of all the people you pick, you get someone with mental defenses like his?" Throwing Ryou an amused look, Saeki unwound a little. A little laughter, it seemed, did go a long way.

When the other mentioned disappearing, though, Saeki looked at Ryou strangely. "People always notice when others vanish, kid. Unless you take their memories of you away, that is. Long as you leave them alone, I don't see why people wouldn't notice."

The chuckle surprised him, and Ryou slowly lifted his head to cast another confused glance over his shoulder. "Yeah, but there's always passwords to things…credit cards are easy enough to grab," he admitted. "And once I have someone's…traits, I can forge signatures pretty easy for a couple of days after." So long as no one carded for his identity, but he had only run into that a couple of times.

At the mention of mental defenses, Ryou straightened and let his legs stretch out. "Is that what I ran into?" he asked, yawning again. He twisted so he could rest an elbow on the couch seat, his head propped on his forearm. The other cushion he'd been holding was tossed aside. "There was something…different," he murmured. "It didn't feel right." He frowned, shuddered, and tried to chase away the vague recollection of how loud those screams were.

The black-haired teen shrugged in response. "Even if they notice, they don't do anything about it," he replied. "Doubt anyone even noticed when I disappeared the first time."

Raising an eyebrow, Saeki said with a low whistle, "Damn. Must be a nice skill to have. You'll excuse me if I ask you to keep your hands off the three of us for more reasons than one, then." Though ... damn, that was a useful skill. Shrugging at the mention of mental blocks, Saeki said, "Ask him someday, if he'll tell you. Not my story." Because after all, it wasn't his to tell.

Stretching a little, Saeki yawned, displaying teeth this time because he couldn't be bothered to cover his mouth. "Their loss, one would think. I don't care who remembers me as long as Red and Blue do. And ... I suppose now three more people will remember you, even if in an exasperated, annoyed sort of way. I'm surprised you'd like that." And why was he suddenly being so friendly to the little brat?

"…sometimes, it's all right," Ryou answered. When he didn't have nightmares as a result of leeching out someone's mind. "And I only do it if I need money or something…no reason to do it now. It's not like I'm going to do something as stupid as use my powers on him again anyway. Unless he gives me a reason." Ryou shifted and grabbed his glove from the floor, pulling it back on and flexing his fingers since he wasn't going to be attacked at any time soon.

He settled back down, posture a bit easier and his gaze more or less on the white haired teen. "…at least they won't forget who you are." Well, not without his help, at any rate. "It's hard to know if people are looking for you if you can't even remember who they are."

Saeki watched Ryou put his glove back on. Guess the kid had figured if he was going to eat him, he'd have done so already. He sure hoped Kamio and Oshitari would never forget him. "For a while there, I was wondering if Blue would ever come back, until he started calling again. If you'd taken us out of his head, I would have hunted you down and taken great pleasure in tearing you from limb to limb," he said, a growl under his breath. Though the words were angry, Saeki wasn't, and his tone reflected it.

Thinking about what Ryou said, the wheels in Saeki's head moved a little, and something else moved into position. "Why can't you remember who they are, kid?"

"Mmm," the black-haired teen answered with a small shrug. There wasn't really much he could say in response, and he was pretty sure that somewhere, at least one person had it in for him for erasing a loved one's memories. It was oddly comforting to him, that he'd had that sort of impact on another person. That someone he didn't even know knew him, might be looking for him -- even if it was just to get rid of him.

That Saeki would have hunted him as well didn't even phase him.

At the white-haired teen's question, though, Ryou hesitated, mouth open but silent as he tried to decide if he wanted to explain -- if he even could explain. "I…don't remember much of anything," he murmured, uncertain. He pillowed his head on his arms and averted his gaze. They might as well know, right? He'd had to tell Banji-san and Shiiba-san already, and more than likely Sakaki-san knew as well. "Something happened with my power…I did something, I guess. I just don't know what exactly. There was someone else, and I wiped them clean, but something went wrong? Maybe? I think I somehow managed to…wipe myself out too."

Oh. The words a taste of your own medicine were on Saeki's tongue, but somehow, he held them inside, refusing to voice them. Kid had a right to some sympathy, same as everyone else. Even if he did cling like a limpet to Yuushi.

"Ah. So people might be looking for you, and you wouldn't know," Saeki said, voicing what was unsaid. "Tough luck, kid." It sounded almost sympathetic.

Again, Ryou shrugged, then yawned. "Would think after two years, they would have found me," he said. Blue-grey eyes were only half-open, tired and heavy. "Not like I went far from where I first remember being." He'd stayed in Chiiba all that time, after all; his only attachment to the place was that someone might have been looking for him.

He'd hidden, of course, but anyone who knew Chiiba well could still have located the gang. They'd even looked for him, the first few weeks after he'd stumbled across them, for missing posters or notices that the black-haired teen had someone searching for him -- but that had never happened. He'd even looked for something, someone that would spark a bit of recognition in every crowd.

In the end, it had been futile. He'd finally realized that, and it had hurt for the first couple of weeks. But he'd decided to move on as best he could, live with the large empty space in his own mind.

Coming to Tokyo had been, in a sense, giving up on ever finding those people who had raised him.

Shrugging, Saeki decided the kid wouldn't run, and walked over to the sofa, plopping down beside Ryou to stare at an empty television. "We don't need anyone who doesn't need us, kid. People like us make our own attachments. Our own kind."

Ryou lifted his head as Saeki sat down; he still felt wary around the other, but that was more the proximity. Ryou simply wasn't used to having other people come close to him. He turned and leaned his back against the base of the couch again, a small margin of space between him and the elder teen. It wasn't much, but it was there -- a buffer against accidental brushes, small as it was. Ryou slumped a bit and yawned yet again. "Not really needed by anyone," he pointed out. "And it's hard to get attached to anyone when they just disappear."

"So don't disappear." With a shrug, Saeki said, "It's up to you, whether others need you or not. Red and Blue will survive without me, I'm sure. They don't need me. They're strong, and they'll still have each other if someone decides to make a pelt out of me." They'd suffer, sure, and Saeki would certainly try his hardest to make sure that would never happen, but ... in case it did, he felt he was right about this. "Still, it's always nice to know someone cares for the bad kids too."

"…don't always have a choice," Ryou argued, though his words had little force behind them. "If my power does something screwy again or if the humans…well. You know," he murmured. "Take me or something. I'll just disappear. It's not like I'm going to plan it." His voice was getting soft, sleepy again.

Frowning he gave his head a small shake to wake himself back up.

At least talking to someone, even if was Saeki, was distracting him from how tired he was and the memories that wanted to push their way to the forefront of his mind. He didn't notice himself listing to one side, his eyes barely open. "Why would anyone make a pelt out of you?" he asked, though he was barely awake enough to hear the answer.

"White tigers are rare," Saeki said. He smirked. "Besides, I doubt you wouldn't try and defend yourself if a Siberian white tiger came after you. Though with your words just now, kid, maybe you would. You sound like if they took you, you'd let them, and you'd let them do whatever they wanted to you."

Pulling off some grapes, Saeki ate them, and offered the fruit to Ryou. Stupid kid. "Fuck the humans, and fuck disappearing. Things happen, yeah, and you can't plan on staying untouched, but fuck that, and fuck fate. So they take you. Fuck them! All of us have been taken at least once. We came back. Maybe they'll take you one day, but if you want to be remembered, Ryou, then fuck them up and get your ass back, or you aren't worth going after."

"…you've been taken. And you...got away?" Ryou tipped his head to the side to see Saeki better, a baffled look on his features as he took the grapes. His voice was still quiet, surprised. Slouching a bit more, Ryou wrapped his arms around his chest and cast his gaze back to the floor. "Never heard of anyone doing that before," he confessed. There were rumors on the streets, of course, of laboratories and collars and other such things.

But escape? Escape was supposed to be...impossible.

He reached up and tugged at the ends of his hair, separating one strand to twirl absently between his fingers. "You think I don't want to see them...fucked up? A lot of people I remember are gone because of them. I just...I don't know what to do about it. There's only one of me and my powers pretty much require me getting close to someone and touching them."

With a frown, Saeki dropped his voice a little. "Yuushi was the only one who made it out on his own." It had taken guts, guts that Saeki had longed for; he had been too drugged to make it out himself, and part of him had never stopped wondering if it meant that when push came to shove, he was weaker than his blue-haired lover. But the three of them looked out for each other, and that included helping each other get out.

What, the kid hadn't heard of running, or dodging, or stealth? How'd he get Yuushi? Of all the ... well, with that sort of latent power, it would be a waste if it wasn't properly unleashed on the humans. With a shrug, Saeki smirked. "Oh, what the hell. I can't do much for the mental powers, but I'll enjoy showing you how to get close enough to really fuck them. If you're mutant enough for it."

"Made it out from...a lab?" Ryou replied in a quiet tone. He paused and bit his lower lip, the screams in his head making more sense. "Oh."

Slouching a bit more, his eyes heavier, the black-haired teen smiled a little. "That might be good," he decided. "I know how to…lure people in, I guess is the best way to explain it. And follow them in crowds. So that I can use my powers on them, but I've never fought. I have someone else's memories of it, it's just…" He hesitated and swallowed before admitting, "Having the memory doesn't mean understanding it."

Nodding, Saeki watched the other's reaction. "He didn't get much sleep either," he said, obliquely, understanding Ryou's behavior now. Of all the memories to grab, huh? Ah well. He stretched, and raised an eyebrow at the other's admission. "Never? Damn, kid ... we're going to have to teach you fast. Having memories is good, but making your own is better. Tomorrow, then, you'll meet me in the sparring room. We're going to start you off on a crash course."

"...I don't blame him for not sleeping," was all Ryou answered, eyes barely open. He was drifting off again, and though part of him knew that he should stay awake, he wasn't sure he was going to be able to fight it off much longer.

Well....it wasn't like he hasn't spent the past couple of nights dozing on the floor anyway.

"I...am?" He yawned again, shrugged. "If you want, sure. Just have more tests with Banji-san tomorrow." If anything, this would be a good excuse to get out of a few of them. He shifted, letting his eyes shut completely and his chin drop to rest on his chest, then stifled another yawn.

Smirking internally, Saeki nodded, face blandly amused. "You are. We can wait for after the tests, or before if you want it that way." He was tired, but not as tired as Ryou, who seemed to be falling asleep as they spoke. He watched the other fall asleep, and then stretched a little before standing.

Saeki grabbed a throw from one of the chairs (god knew who was keeping throws--probably Sakaki, that floweryahem, that man). Making sure the younger boy was covered, Saeki stuffed the rest of the grapes back in the refrigerator and then went back upstairs, leaving Ryou there. He'd tell Kamio tomorrow; his red-haired lover would be glad to help, he was sure. Maybe the kid would learn quickly. If not ... ah well, weren't cubs supposed to learn the hard way through trial and error (and lots of bruises), anyway?