RP Log: Kaidoh & Ohtori

[https://users.livejournal.com/-rattlesnake/]

Date: Thursday morning, 2/23
Rating: G, though there is some short sparring
Summary: Kaidoh and Ohtori meet up to try sparring; Ohtori talks about the incident with Ryuzaki, and they realize they're really not cut out for trying to fight with each other. ^^;



Kaidoh glanced around nervously as he neared the baseball field, hoping that no one had followed him. He was pretty sure no one had, but Ohtori-kun had been very adamant about being sure. Finally satisfied, he stepped onto the old field, glancing around for his friend. It was still early in the morning, and cold, but Kaidoh had known that if they were going to do any kind of practicing, he couldn’t wear that much clothing. He’d settled for his training uniform (well, what there was to it) and a very old tank top, and a hoodie for the walk over. The bandana Sakuno-kun had given him did all right at keeping his head warm, and he had the image inducer to make sure that no one would notice him.

Ohtori hadn't wanted to leave his room at all that morning. He'd been hesitant about being seen at all since the incident, and he knew he was asking for trouble from both sides by doing this, but knew Ryuhana was not much of a fighting school and that put the ones there that mattered to him at risk. Tugging on his own hoodie and pulling the hood over his silver, though almost gray without his morning shower, hair and over his tired and reddened eyes. He'd managed to make pretty good speed in getting to the meeting spot before sneaking in the side gate and showing up outside one of the dug outs. "Hi."

Kaidoh nodded, walking over to the taller mutant and peering up at him in the morning sun. “Good morning… Um. Are you okay?” Blinking, he studied the other boy carefully. He looked… really tired. And maybe a little thinner? Kaidoh frowned worriedly, hoping that the other mutants a the Brotherhood were treating Ohtori-kun all right. They seemed kind of scary, most of the time, at least in their journals. He still didn’t like the idea of Ohtori-kun living there, but it was the other’s choice, not his. “We don’t have to do this if you’re, um, sick or something.”

He smiled a little and nodded. "Yeah- I'm ok." He just had a hard time sleeping anymore when he couldn't cling to Shishido-san and wake up to someone there. He'd been having nightmares about everyone dying and it being his fault, making him wake up completely terrified in the dark. "I'm not really sick. And we should both just be ready for this… thing. I don't want you getting hurt." Advanced healing abilities or not.

“If you say so…” Kaidoh conceded quietly, though he was still worried and resolved to keep an eye on Ohtori-kun. If he looked at all like he was sick, Kaidoh would make sure he went home right then. He glanced around before pulling off his hoodie carefully, shivering, leaving the image inducer on for now – he knew where things were, and it might be safer this way. Folding the hoodie and placing it carefully on the ground a few feet away, he turned back to Ohtori. “I’m not sure what you mean, though – what thing?” Did Ohtori know their school had been broken into? “I just, um, don’t want to hurt anyone else. I don’t stay hurt like other people do.”

He froze and licked his lips nervously, Kaidoh didn't know? "There were…some people from my school…it's why Ryuzaki-sensei is…dead." He was muttering and probably a few shades paler than he normally was now. "I thought Sakuno-kun would have told you about it by now…" He bit harder on his lower lip and looked away. "So I think there will be a fight very soon."

Kaidoh nodded, glancing at the ground himself. “No, I, um, know that. She did tell us. But, um, I didn’t think that meant there would be a fight…” Things just sounded worse every day. Kaidoh barely came out of his room anymore except when he had to. It was much easier to hide from everything if you hid from everyone too. He’d agreed to maybe do something with Aoi-kun again, but only if they didn’t leave campus. He didn’t want anything bad to happen. “I just… I don’t think anyone should fight. It’ll only make things worse.”

And it already was – Ohtori-kun was looking pale, Kaidoh realized as he looked back up. “Are you really, um, okay? Maybe we shouldn’t do this…”

"How much did she tell you?" His voice sounded a bit hollow. Surely if Kaidoh knew he did it, he wouldn't have come and would probably leave. So he had to decide on whether or not to inform the other boy of the complete story, or let him find out when things got worse.

“Um… just that people from your school murdered her g-grandmother,” Kaidoh said slowly, staring at his feet and drawing invisible circles on the ground with the toe of one tennis shoe. “I… I know a lot of people are mad at your school right now, and um, I know it wasn’t right – I just wish nothing had ever happened…” He sighed, wishing his training shorts had pockets for him to shove his hands into. “It wasn’t right,” he said again, softly, “but fighting’s not going to bring anyone back.”

"They should be mad at my school. But it was- well, it wasn't right." He stared up at the other boy and tried to organize his thoughts in his head. "I was there…when she died, you know. I thought Sakuno would have told the whole school by now that it's mostly my fault she died." He winced, preparing for a sharp bone shard to be driven into his heart.

“She – what?” Kaidoh stared at Ohtori-kun, blinking, trying a few times before he successfully processed that sentence. “Y-you were there?” But what did he mean, it was his fault? For what? Ohtori-kun would never hurt anyone – at least, not intentionally – so maybe he meant he hadn’t been able to stop it? Kaidoh shook his head. “I-it’s not your fault,” he said, taking a tentative step closer. “Sakuno-kun hasn’t said anything about who did it.”

Every step the other approached resulted in two step back form Ohtori, keeping his distances safe and measured as he could. "It is. They borrowed me and used my powers with another mutant's…" He clenched his fists around the outside of his thighs on his jeans and sighed. "I'm one of the four who did it."

“But…” Kaidoh didn’t even know what to ask. Why? How? He knew Ohtori wouldn’t have a good answer – who did, for killing someone? – but he also knew that if the other was truly as evil as he thought he was, he wouldn’t be feeling this way now. Kaidoh’s stomach felt like it had dropped to somewhere ten meters below them. He didn’t know what to think – he couldn’t imagine the person in front of him taking a human life.

But… even if he had… what could Kaidoh do? Turn around and leave him here? That wouldn’t do any good either. Ohtori must have had a reason to do what he’d done, and Kaidoh couldn’t just forget everything they’d been through. “A-are you okay?” Ohtori looked ready to bolt and run if Kaidoh moved a muscle.

He looked quickly back up from the ground and offered a faint smile. "Yeah- I'm alright now. I wasn't then, I'm still not. But at least I own my own mind again." He'd figured it out a bit back, but hated to think he'd had his own mind altered by Shinji. But still, he wasn't sure who the master mind there was.

"So- I want to at least make sure you are okay if things get bad. Sakuno said something about destroying the Brotherhood…and they'll fight back, and people will die."

“Own your… oh.” Kaidoh mulled that over a moment – well, obviously something had been wrong with the situation. Ohtori wouldn’t have killed anyone willingly. So if it had been un willing….

Kaidoh nodded. “W-well, you should be careful too.” He knew what some of the students were planning – he didn’t think it was a very good idea, but he couldn’t do much to stop them – and he just hoped things would settle down, tempers would cool, that this mess could end. He hated things being like this. He didn’t want anyone else to die. Ever.

“Like I said… I’ll be fine. I’m hard to keep down,” he said with a bit of a shy smile. “I don’t want to hurt anyone with my bones – t-that’s really why I wanted to practice.”

"Yeah." Kaidoh got it, thank goodness.

He smiled a little more and shook his head. "I don't need to worry all that much about it, I don't heal faster than humans, but I have learned how to stay alive." Time in that cage and on missions with Blackguard had managed to teach him a few things.

"Control then, okay. Well, uhm- how about low power usage and controlled- see if you can stop me without killing me?"

Kaidoh thought about Ohtori’s proposition. “I… um, well I hope I can. Hurting you’s not why I’m here.” But he got the idea. “I think it sounds, um, okay.” He flushed a little, nervously; sure, he knew how to throw and duck a punch, but he was kind of self-conscious about practicing that sort of thing.

After a moment to resolve himself, however, Kaidoh nodded. “Okay. H-hang on.” He crossed his arms over his stomach, reaching around to his sides and grasping – he pulled out two smooth pieces of bone, not too sharp on the ends, about 20 centimeters long. He could use them to block Ohtori, at least. And maybe help keep from getting shocked. “Ready. I think.”

He winced faintly and watched the slight rippling effect caused by the image inducer as the bones were pulled free. This was going to be hard without being able to see the bones, but he had faith that Kaidoh wouldn't actually kill him. He wished he was still like that.

"Okay, I'm attacking now." He licked his lips and thought about what was said in the training sessions. He'd just have to use physical power as well as his own mutation. Preparing a quick barrage of attacks and sparks, he set to throwing them towards the other as a warm up for them both. He wanted to make sure Kaidoh knew what to do. The shocks would be like touching a staticy door knob at worst for now.

Kaidoh nodded, and waited for Ohtori to start. As the other sent sparks his way, Kaidoh dodged most of them – he could tell this was mostly a warm-up, and began trying to get a feel for what would happen if he tried to block them. Bringing one arm up, flipping the bone over to cover the smooth underside of his forearm, Kaidoh waited.

The sparks weren’t bad to begin with – but blocking them seemed to have some effect, resulting in more of a warm tingling feeling than a sharp shock. So the bone did help block them, and acted as a little bit of a buffer. That was good to know. “Y-you can up the voltage if you want,” he said, flipping the bone in his other hand around too so both his forearms were covered. “I have to fight hand-to-hand,” he explained, taking a few steps forward, arms crossed to help shield him. He might be able to use the bones as throwing knives in the future – that was what he’d done during the break-in – but he didn’t have any sort of decent aim and he wasn’t going to risk hurting Ohtori now.

Good, Kaidoh got it. He smiled and went ahead to up the voltage enough to hurt quite a bit if he hit. Kaidoh would have to be on his toes, these were faster and a bit more difficult to control. It wasn't like he could just stop the electricity in its tracks. He watched eagerly, smiling a little as it seemed to work alright.

"Do what you have to in order to stop me." He shot a look at a nearby trashcan and sent a full strength bolt into it, staring as it was crumbled and charred in the high voltage he'd thrown at it. "Those, are for real- and should be dodged." He nodded back to the smoking, twisted metal with a frown.

Kaidoh followed the arc of electricity with his eyes, and nodded. Yes. Those should be dodged. “Right.” If he could just get close enough to Ohtori, maybe he could knock him down, wind him, and stop him that way.

… But if he was going to get close – Kaidoh thought again of the trash can, and held up one hand. “W-wait.” He reached down and turned off the image inducer, pulling it off his wrist and going over to fold it inside the cloth of his hoodie. He’d be in deep trouble if it got damaged, and no one was around to see him like this except for one who already had, even if the number of growths had increased a bit since the last time Ohtori had seen him without sleeves.

“Okay,” Kaidoh said, and dropped into a crouch, ready to pounce (or try to) when Ohtori struck next.

He waited patiently, knowing that the other teen would be in trouble if anything happened to that. He studied him a bit shyly before realizing he should lose his hoodie in case his shirt got ripped up in their practicing, he didn't want to explain that one to anyone.

"Okay," he took a deep breath and focused on the other, preparing an attack that might temporarily stun Kaidoh if he was hit. He hated doing this, but it was the best training, as he had learned. Releasing it with a quick burst toward Kaidoh, he prepared to dodge, it took a little time to generate the power to make his electrical shield after projectile attacks, and he would be vulnerable then.

Kaidoh tried to dodge and get closer to Ohtori at the same time – it kind of worked, though he caught the tail end of the attack in the shoulder because he was a little too slow. He was shoved back by the force of the blow, stumbling back a step and blinking blindly for a second. His head spun for a brief instant – then his vision settled back to normal and his shoulder felt no worse than if he’d simply banged it on a doorframe.

He nodded a little, realizing that even if he didn’t want to hurt anyone, at least Ohtori wasn’t helpless. But now he needed to make a move – and took that moment to dive for the taller boy’s knees, prepared to knock him down.

Ohtori hadn't been prepared for the full tackle and fell fairly easily considering his larger stature. Landing with a fairly loud *whump* on the grass, he smiled up at the other teen and laughed quietly. "Your shoulder's okay, right?" He took the time to sit up on his elbows and look at the other boy carefully. "And good attack." He rubbed the back of his head and closed his eyes a moment.

Kaidoh moved so that he wasn’t pinning the other – he was almost twice as heavy as he used to be, and he didn’t want to hurt him more. But he saw Ohtori’s smile, and offered back a tentative one of his own. “Yeah, it’s fine.” It didn’t feel like anything had even happened anymore. “You okay?” But it looked like the other was fine too. “I don’t… um, think we’re too good at this,” he said after a moment, with a quiet laugh. He was pretty sure the point of sparring wasn’t to make sure the other was okay after an attack.

He was glad the other moved. He was a lot heavier than he'd remembered, making a small blush rise to his cheeks before he looked away. "Good. I'm okay too…but we're really not meant to fight, are we?" It was laughable, two mutants with powers that would be ideal for fighting, and they both failed at it for the most part.

Kaidoh shook his head, moving to sit cross-legged on the grass instead, studying the blunt piece of bone in his right hand. “No… I don’t think we are,” he admitted, finally glancing up at Ohtori. “I g-guess just because we could fight doesn’t mean we have to.” That was mostly how he felt – no one should have to do something like this if they didn’t want to. The only reason he’d ever thought about practicing was so that he wouldn’t accidentally hurt someone. But even then, he didn’t like the idea of fighting. “I m-mean, we don’t have powers just so we can fight.”

Shifting carefully, he sat across from the other and looked at the bone shard curiously, noting the smooth textures and rough edges. "I guess not…or at least, maybe fighting for a good cause." Admittedly, the men that had attacked his father for trying to be a good person had warranted an attack, but some of the others he'd killed might not have even been a threat at all. "You're probably right…"

Kaidoh shrugged carefully, taking both pieces of bone and setting them on the ground. He’d have to remember to bring them with him – or at least throw them in a trash can, or people would wonder. “I guess so. My dad always said I should choose my fights carefully.” He glanced over at the other, smiling faintly. “That some things it’s okay to fight for, but some things it’s better just to let be.” And that went for people with powers, and those without. Not all fights were made with weapons.

Ohtori reached over to pick one up and study it closer, remembering the way it felt having one buried in him. He looked up at the other teen with a small smile, and a slightly hopeful look. "My dad said the same thing, but he also said that sometimes you had to fight for the right thing, even if you knew you were outranked." He put the bone down, "the hard part is knowing what's right and wrong anymore…"

Kaidoh nodded. “Yeah… I think your dad’s right too.” Doing the right thing was important, no matter how many people told you it was wrong. But Ohtori was right too – how could you fight for the right cause if you didn’t know which cause was right? “I guess you just have to pick for yourself,” he said hugging his knees to his chest in the cold air. “And try to do the best you can.”

"I'm pretty sure he is." He looked at the other boy and canted his head slightly. "It's cold out here, you really aren't dressed for it." He'd have to work on sorting out his causes, though his first loyalty was always going to be towards Shishido, then Kaidoh, then Blackguard. "Should we quit sparring? You'll get sick out here."

Kaidoh flushed. He was a little bit cold, but he was pretty sure he wasn’t going to get sick. “I… uh, guess so. I wasn’t really thinking…” He stood, offering the other a hand up. “Um. Sorry you had to come all the way out here. I guess sparring didn’t really work so well.” Maybe he just wasn’t cut out for fighting, after all.

Accepting the hand, he stood shortly after and carefully hugged his long time friend and ex, still skillful at evading the bones. "Sparring might have, but I don't think either of us are really so good with hurting each other either." He frowned and shook his head, "I'd like to stop hurting people period."

Kaidoh flushed at the hug, but pulled himself together enough to put his arms carefully around Ohtori for a moment before the other pulled away. “Y-yeah,” he agreed – he didn’t like the idea of hurting people, and least of all his friends. “And you d-don’t have to hurt anyone,” he said softly. “J-just do what’s right for you. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.” He hoped Ohtori would be all right at the Brotherhood – but there was nothing more he could do.

Kaidoh went over and pulled on his hoodie carefully before slipping the image inducer around his wrist, turning it on to hide his true image once more. Then he went to the spot where he’d been sitting and picked up the bones; he’d get rid of them on the way back. “D-do you want me to walk you back? Or stop and get something warm to drink?” They could always say they’d been out running if anyone questioned their appearances. “I’ll, um, pay.”

"You don't want to be near the school right now, and if anyone from your school sees us together, it might be trouble." He scratched at his chin and sighed. He shouldn't - it was bad for them both, and Shishido-san would wake up and notice he was missing before leaving to his parent's. "I think a quick drink would be alright. I've missed talking to you, there was something always grounding about it."

Kaidoh smiled faintly at the compliment, feeling his cheeks flush a little again. “I think there’s someplace near here, um, we could stop there. We can be quick.” He nodded in the correct direction, and started off slowly so Ohtori could follow.