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ciirceeThere are probably several factors contributing to my lack of Kamen Rider Kabuto writing—which makes me sad because it's a damn good show. I love the characters. I want to write them. I hope to do more of that in 2009.
For now, Day Four shall have to do.
Big Brother
When Tendou left for France, leaving Juka in Kagami's care ("Or you in hers," Tendou said. "Ha, ha," Kagami answered. "I'll come to make breakfast," said Hiyori.) Kagami didn't expect to fall in love with her.
But he did.
They fit together so easily, somehow. The days flowed around them like a river. Hiyori came early in the morning and the three of them made breakfast together, with Juka giggling and Hiyori laughing shyly, and Kagami belting out 'Sunrise Nippon' while he made the miso soup. The three of them packed their lunches together and split up at the door—Hiyori to La Salle in one direction, Kagami and Juka going the other. He and Juka split up at the police box where he was stationed, just blocks from her school. They met up there again after Juka's clubs ended and walked home together, or to La Salle together, or to Tadakoro's soba shop together.
On nights that they went home, Juka talked on the phone with her friends while Kagami made dinner (messing up the verses of 'It's in the Stars' but nailing the chorus) and after dinner was homework. Kagami did any paperwork he had left over and then helped Juka with her assignments; generally he figured things out along with her rather than actually tutoring her, but it was fun. They watched television together, drew lots to see who had what household chores, stared at the piles of laundry when they realized that they'd forgotten something. ("Let's never tell your brother," Kagami suggested as they made their third trip to the laundrymat. "Never tell him what?" Juka asked, hooking pinkies with Kagami.)
Three weeks into Tendou's trip to France, it happened.
"Bye, 'niisan!" Juka called, half-turning to wave.
"See you later," Kagami managed to reply, waving back. He went into the police box with his chest feeling uncommonly full.
Um. Okay, so that was not the fic I sat down to write. At all. Let's try that again, shall we?
The one in which Kagami gets his ass kicked
About three days into Tendou's trip to France, Kagami cracked.
He didn't mind being 'in charge' of the Tendou house (usually Hiyori was there to help cook and Juka was an angel) but the 'taking care of Juka' part was making him nervous.
Juka was sweet and kind and happy and good. Kagami watched her smile at the world around her and saw the way the world smiled back at her. Juka went out into the world and it was like seeing a cute little flower swaying in the breeze.
"There are perverts in the world," Kagami told Daisuke.
"You sort of sound like one," Daisuke agreed.
"Daisuke," sighed Gon.
"You know what I mean, right?" Kagami appealed to Tadokoro. They were sitting in his shop, having lunch together. Juka was out with friends at the mall, looking for a new phone strap since hers had broke when she had lent her phone to a man on the subway.
Tadokoro smiled warmly at him. "She has you to protect her," he said.
"That's just it," Kagami frowned down at his noodles, nudging the tempura shrimp so that it curled like a question mark. "She's used to Tendou being the one to look after her. She's not totally naïve but she's very trusting. Because no matter what, Tendou…is Tendou. He'll protect her even before she knows she needs it." He left unspoken the fact that he's not Tendou. "I could seriously fail her."
"You should brush up your own skills," Misaki said from his right. Kagami turned just in time to see her exchange a vague look with Tadokoro. "You're required to continue your education in over one hundred disciplines, so why not sign up for some of the in-service training?"
Kagami felt his brow furrow as he considered this. He knew there was another level to what Misaki was saying to him and that it was his job to figure it out. "I suppose I could make time."
A box of dry noodles thumped down on the table in front of Kagami's plate suddenly. "Deliver that to Yumiko," Tadokoro told him, looking mildly exasperated.
Kagami could feel a pout coming on as he stood up. "Renge is going to have a field day with me being the delivery boy again," he muttered. He put his hands on the box and stopped, looking at Tadokoro and Misaki both. He got it. "But I'll definitely do it."
---
By the end of the week Kagami was enrolled in the survival and self-defense training program. He spent Sunday morning moving furniture in the Tendou's living room.
"Thanks for the help, Juka," he told her as they stacked the end tables in the far corners, their plants already safely tucked away and basking in the sun on the stairs outside the house.
"No problem!" Juka chirped. "It's for Kagami's education!"
Kagami concentrated hard on making sure the furniture was stable. "I really think knowing how the counter moves feel will help me understand the core principles better," he said.
"Grandmother said: A better understanding leads to a better undertaking," Juka said agreeably. "It's nice of Misaki-san to come help you, too," she added as the doorbell rang.
Misaki and Renge were both standing on the porch. Misaki was wearing a track suit; Renge was in ZECT-issue fatigues. "Thank you," Kagami told them both as they stepped into the living room.
Misaki smiled at him.
Renge kicked him in back of the knee, pushed him to the floor with a knee in the kidneys and held her garroting wire to his throat. "You're too slow, senpai," she told him.
"We didn't even start yet!" Kagami groaned, letting his forehead hit the floor.
"Is this the part you wanted me to watch so I could tell you exactly how it happened?" Juka asked sweetly.
Kagami turned his head and saw that Juka was grinning at him, beaming in a very suspect way. "It will be when we start," he told her, elbowing Renge off of his back with a very dangerously-fond feeling. "Okay, I'm going to be the pervert—"
Renge's fist rammed into his solar plexus and, when he doubled over, her other arm curled over his back and Kagami found himself staring at the ceiling, his head throbbing faintly from where it had hit the floor as Renge had flipped him.
"Was that it?" asked Juka.
"Yes," said Misaki.
"We didn't start yet," Kagami snapped at Renge. "Let me get behind you to grab you!"
"But I thought the point was that I wouldn't fall victim to a pervert?" Renge asked in confusion. "Letting you get behind me is a tactical failure, senpai."
Kagami slapped a hand over his face. "Renge? Why don't you sit with Juka and watch and Misaki-san can be my partner?"
---
After four days, Kagami's co-workers began to notice his incredible assortment of bruises.
"Are you in a bad domestic situation?" one of the guys asked, cornering Kagami after class.
Kagami felt a blush sweep his face. "It's nothing. Just friends. I have enthusiastic friends."
"Kagami-kun," his boss said warningly.
"No, really!" Kagami protested. "I'm…" he looked up and sighed. "Look, you can't say a word but I'm looking out for the sister of a friend and I'm trying to teach her some self defense. Sort of."
"We're listening," his boss said.
"Her name is Tendou Juka," he began.
"Ohhh," said the room collectively.
---
"Now, Juka-chan," the Deputy Commissioner-General said, "do you see how Takatori has her feet in line under her hips? That's a nice, sturdy base for kicking a man's head off."
"She's not kicking my head off!" Kagami yelped. "She's just supposed to slip out of my hold and run away!"
"What if she wasn't almost as tall as him?" Juka asked thoughtfully. "Misaki-san and Renge-san are both almost the same height as him. Even Hiyori-neesan is almost his same height. Does it change if the other person is much taller?"
"Juka!"
"If there's a big change you should be prepared," Juka told him seriously. "It might be on the test."
---
"Don't be scared, Yuriko," Hiyori said, patting Gon on the shoulder.
Gon nodded up at her. "I won't be."
"If you do get scared, we can leave and I'll take you to La Salle with me."
Kagami smiled at both of them. "All right," he said gently, "this is what's going to happen: I'm going to come up behind you," he pointed at Gon, "and grab you with one arm around the waist," he lifted his arms slowly, gently miming out the actions, "and the other will be at your head, so my hand will go over your mou—OW."
"Sorry," Daisuke apologized, shaking out his hand. "It was an instinct."
Kagami cupped his jaw and sighed. "Hiyori-chan? Maybe you should take Kazama to La Salle instead."
"At least he learned," Gon said sounding grudgingly impressed. "The last time I got snatched he said I made it up."
---
"Don't hurt me," Kagami whimpered. He was bowed back in an awkward position, way farther than the human back was supposed to bend, he was sure, and he wasn't even sure which woman was holding him there. He supposed it was Hiyori or Juka. They tended to go easier on him than Misaki, Renge, Gon, and his co-workers.
"…and if you keep going you'll tear the tendons at his hips," Renge was saying cheerfully.
"So, the tendons tear before the bones snap?"
"Oh, he'll slip a disk or two first," Misaki corrected, "the cartilage can be very delicate. But in this severe of an arc, the tendons will go before lumbar spine."
---
"Just," Kagami reminded Juka, "just slip the hold. Don't reverse it or throw me across the room."
"Got it!" Juka saluted him.
"Seriously," Kagami warned her. "The hospital is going to ask if I come in again." Juka giggled at him and Kagami smiled. "I'm going to come up behind you the classic way," he said. "Arm at the waist and one at the neck and shoulders, okay?" At her nod he stepped in close, demonstrating calmly so that Juka would know exactly how his approach would work. "Just like this, all right?"
"And what is 'this'?" asked Tendou.
"Oniisan!" Juka waved. "You're home already?"
"Yes," said Tendou as all of Kagami's co-workers, Daisuke and Gon, Misaki, Tadokoro and Jiiya hastily fled the room in a flurry of waves and excuses.
"I'm going to make dinner," Hiyori said mildly and escaped to the kitchen.
"Uh," said Kagami, uncomfortable aware of his arms around Juka and the disaster area that was now the Tendou living room; all the furniture was lining the walls, the rugs were rolled up and in the corners, the pictures were all down and safely stored after the first time Kagami had landed against the walls hard enough to make things shake.
"We're helping Kagami practice," Juka said, glowing up at Tendou and then at Kagami. He tightened his arms around her in an unconscious hug. "He's studying Survival and Self Defense," she went on. "He asked if everybody could help him understand how counter-moves worked."
"She was just supposed to watch and tell me how it went, step-by-step," Kagami added. "But I guess it was more fun to see how often I could hit the floor."
"It was!" Juka shifted, throwing her hip into Kagami's own, her leg hooking his at the ankle and knee.
Kagami landed with a hard breath, looking up at the ceiling yet again. "We should get a poster for up there."
Tendou's face appeared in the poster-space. "You've been doing this the whole time I was away?" he asked.
"No," Kagami said.
"We started a week after you left," Juka said. "So only about two months. I'm going to go wash my hands for dinner, if you don't need any more help right now."
Kagami waved her off, "I'm fine." Tendou was looking at him with inscrutable eyes. "I'm just doing what I can," he explained himself in a quiet voice, with a small shrug.
"I see," Tendou said. There was something in his eyes that Kagami had not seen clearly since a long-ago day in the long grass and the setting-sun light. Tendou held out his hand and Kagami took it automatically.
He found himself lying on his back in the middle of the room. He rubbed at the knot forming on the back of his head and glared at Tendou, who was sitting on his stomach. "I'm done doing what I can for tonight," he snapped.
Tendou laughed lowly and Kagami pushed him off, feeling Tendou settle on the floor at his side. "For tonight, I'll do what I can," Tendou said after a moment, sounding content and amused and Kagami closed his eyes, smiling at the world around him.
;__; Expect 'day five' later tonight and for me to actually be around online tomorrow afternoon. Also: THOSE LINKS. Later tonight or tomorrow. PS.![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
waxrose loves me. ♥ (NINO WAS THE CHRISTMAS TREE. MY HEART. IT IS YOURS.)
And now, I have to go make dinner. Why do my kids always want food?
For now, Day Four shall have to do.
Big Brother
When Tendou left for France, leaving Juka in Kagami's care ("Or you in hers," Tendou said. "Ha, ha," Kagami answered. "I'll come to make breakfast," said Hiyori.) Kagami didn't expect to fall in love with her.
But he did.
They fit together so easily, somehow. The days flowed around them like a river. Hiyori came early in the morning and the three of them made breakfast together, with Juka giggling and Hiyori laughing shyly, and Kagami belting out 'Sunrise Nippon' while he made the miso soup. The three of them packed their lunches together and split up at the door—Hiyori to La Salle in one direction, Kagami and Juka going the other. He and Juka split up at the police box where he was stationed, just blocks from her school. They met up there again after Juka's clubs ended and walked home together, or to La Salle together, or to Tadakoro's soba shop together.
On nights that they went home, Juka talked on the phone with her friends while Kagami made dinner (messing up the verses of 'It's in the Stars' but nailing the chorus) and after dinner was homework. Kagami did any paperwork he had left over and then helped Juka with her assignments; generally he figured things out along with her rather than actually tutoring her, but it was fun. They watched television together, drew lots to see who had what household chores, stared at the piles of laundry when they realized that they'd forgotten something. ("Let's never tell your brother," Kagami suggested as they made their third trip to the laundrymat. "Never tell him what?" Juka asked, hooking pinkies with Kagami.)
Three weeks into Tendou's trip to France, it happened.
"Bye, 'niisan!" Juka called, half-turning to wave.
"See you later," Kagami managed to reply, waving back. He went into the police box with his chest feeling uncommonly full.
Um. Okay, so that was not the fic I sat down to write. At all. Let's try that again, shall we?
The one in which Kagami gets his ass kicked
About three days into Tendou's trip to France, Kagami cracked.
He didn't mind being 'in charge' of the Tendou house (usually Hiyori was there to help cook and Juka was an angel) but the 'taking care of Juka' part was making him nervous.
Juka was sweet and kind and happy and good. Kagami watched her smile at the world around her and saw the way the world smiled back at her. Juka went out into the world and it was like seeing a cute little flower swaying in the breeze.
"There are perverts in the world," Kagami told Daisuke.
"You sort of sound like one," Daisuke agreed.
"Daisuke," sighed Gon.
"You know what I mean, right?" Kagami appealed to Tadokoro. They were sitting in his shop, having lunch together. Juka was out with friends at the mall, looking for a new phone strap since hers had broke when she had lent her phone to a man on the subway.
Tadokoro smiled warmly at him. "She has you to protect her," he said.
"That's just it," Kagami frowned down at his noodles, nudging the tempura shrimp so that it curled like a question mark. "She's used to Tendou being the one to look after her. She's not totally naïve but she's very trusting. Because no matter what, Tendou…is Tendou. He'll protect her even before she knows she needs it." He left unspoken the fact that he's not Tendou. "I could seriously fail her."
"You should brush up your own skills," Misaki said from his right. Kagami turned just in time to see her exchange a vague look with Tadokoro. "You're required to continue your education in over one hundred disciplines, so why not sign up for some of the in-service training?"
Kagami felt his brow furrow as he considered this. He knew there was another level to what Misaki was saying to him and that it was his job to figure it out. "I suppose I could make time."
A box of dry noodles thumped down on the table in front of Kagami's plate suddenly. "Deliver that to Yumiko," Tadokoro told him, looking mildly exasperated.
Kagami could feel a pout coming on as he stood up. "Renge is going to have a field day with me being the delivery boy again," he muttered. He put his hands on the box and stopped, looking at Tadokoro and Misaki both. He got it. "But I'll definitely do it."
---
By the end of the week Kagami was enrolled in the survival and self-defense training program. He spent Sunday morning moving furniture in the Tendou's living room.
"Thanks for the help, Juka," he told her as they stacked the end tables in the far corners, their plants already safely tucked away and basking in the sun on the stairs outside the house.
"No problem!" Juka chirped. "It's for Kagami's education!"
Kagami concentrated hard on making sure the furniture was stable. "I really think knowing how the counter moves feel will help me understand the core principles better," he said.
"Grandmother said: A better understanding leads to a better undertaking," Juka said agreeably. "It's nice of Misaki-san to come help you, too," she added as the doorbell rang.
Misaki and Renge were both standing on the porch. Misaki was wearing a track suit; Renge was in ZECT-issue fatigues. "Thank you," Kagami told them both as they stepped into the living room.
Misaki smiled at him.
Renge kicked him in back of the knee, pushed him to the floor with a knee in the kidneys and held her garroting wire to his throat. "You're too slow, senpai," she told him.
"We didn't even start yet!" Kagami groaned, letting his forehead hit the floor.
"Is this the part you wanted me to watch so I could tell you exactly how it happened?" Juka asked sweetly.
Kagami turned his head and saw that Juka was grinning at him, beaming in a very suspect way. "It will be when we start," he told her, elbowing Renge off of his back with a very dangerously-fond feeling. "Okay, I'm going to be the pervert—"
Renge's fist rammed into his solar plexus and, when he doubled over, her other arm curled over his back and Kagami found himself staring at the ceiling, his head throbbing faintly from where it had hit the floor as Renge had flipped him.
"Was that it?" asked Juka.
"Yes," said Misaki.
"We didn't start yet," Kagami snapped at Renge. "Let me get behind you to grab you!"
"But I thought the point was that I wouldn't fall victim to a pervert?" Renge asked in confusion. "Letting you get behind me is a tactical failure, senpai."
Kagami slapped a hand over his face. "Renge? Why don't you sit with Juka and watch and Misaki-san can be my partner?"
---
After four days, Kagami's co-workers began to notice his incredible assortment of bruises.
"Are you in a bad domestic situation?" one of the guys asked, cornering Kagami after class.
Kagami felt a blush sweep his face. "It's nothing. Just friends. I have enthusiastic friends."
"Kagami-kun," his boss said warningly.
"No, really!" Kagami protested. "I'm…" he looked up and sighed. "Look, you can't say a word but I'm looking out for the sister of a friend and I'm trying to teach her some self defense. Sort of."
"We're listening," his boss said.
"Her name is Tendou Juka," he began.
"Ohhh," said the room collectively.
---
"Now, Juka-chan," the Deputy Commissioner-General said, "do you see how Takatori has her feet in line under her hips? That's a nice, sturdy base for kicking a man's head off."
"She's not kicking my head off!" Kagami yelped. "She's just supposed to slip out of my hold and run away!"
"What if she wasn't almost as tall as him?" Juka asked thoughtfully. "Misaki-san and Renge-san are both almost the same height as him. Even Hiyori-neesan is almost his same height. Does it change if the other person is much taller?"
"Juka!"
"If there's a big change you should be prepared," Juka told him seriously. "It might be on the test."
---
"Don't be scared, Yuriko," Hiyori said, patting Gon on the shoulder.
Gon nodded up at her. "I won't be."
"If you do get scared, we can leave and I'll take you to La Salle with me."
Kagami smiled at both of them. "All right," he said gently, "this is what's going to happen: I'm going to come up behind you," he pointed at Gon, "and grab you with one arm around the waist," he lifted his arms slowly, gently miming out the actions, "and the other will be at your head, so my hand will go over your mou—OW."
"Sorry," Daisuke apologized, shaking out his hand. "It was an instinct."
Kagami cupped his jaw and sighed. "Hiyori-chan? Maybe you should take Kazama to La Salle instead."
"At least he learned," Gon said sounding grudgingly impressed. "The last time I got snatched he said I made it up."
---
"Don't hurt me," Kagami whimpered. He was bowed back in an awkward position, way farther than the human back was supposed to bend, he was sure, and he wasn't even sure which woman was holding him there. He supposed it was Hiyori or Juka. They tended to go easier on him than Misaki, Renge, Gon, and his co-workers.
"…and if you keep going you'll tear the tendons at his hips," Renge was saying cheerfully.
"So, the tendons tear before the bones snap?"
"Oh, he'll slip a disk or two first," Misaki corrected, "the cartilage can be very delicate. But in this severe of an arc, the tendons will go before lumbar spine."
---
"Just," Kagami reminded Juka, "just slip the hold. Don't reverse it or throw me across the room."
"Got it!" Juka saluted him.
"Seriously," Kagami warned her. "The hospital is going to ask if I come in again." Juka giggled at him and Kagami smiled. "I'm going to come up behind you the classic way," he said. "Arm at the waist and one at the neck and shoulders, okay?" At her nod he stepped in close, demonstrating calmly so that Juka would know exactly how his approach would work. "Just like this, all right?"
"And what is 'this'?" asked Tendou.
"Oniisan!" Juka waved. "You're home already?"
"Yes," said Tendou as all of Kagami's co-workers, Daisuke and Gon, Misaki, Tadokoro and Jiiya hastily fled the room in a flurry of waves and excuses.
"I'm going to make dinner," Hiyori said mildly and escaped to the kitchen.
"Uh," said Kagami, uncomfortable aware of his arms around Juka and the disaster area that was now the Tendou living room; all the furniture was lining the walls, the rugs were rolled up and in the corners, the pictures were all down and safely stored after the first time Kagami had landed against the walls hard enough to make things shake.
"We're helping Kagami practice," Juka said, glowing up at Tendou and then at Kagami. He tightened his arms around her in an unconscious hug. "He's studying Survival and Self Defense," she went on. "He asked if everybody could help him understand how counter-moves worked."
"She was just supposed to watch and tell me how it went, step-by-step," Kagami added. "But I guess it was more fun to see how often I could hit the floor."
"It was!" Juka shifted, throwing her hip into Kagami's own, her leg hooking his at the ankle and knee.
Kagami landed with a hard breath, looking up at the ceiling yet again. "We should get a poster for up there."
Tendou's face appeared in the poster-space. "You've been doing this the whole time I was away?" he asked.
"No," Kagami said.
"We started a week after you left," Juka said. "So only about two months. I'm going to go wash my hands for dinner, if you don't need any more help right now."
Kagami waved her off, "I'm fine." Tendou was looking at him with inscrutable eyes. "I'm just doing what I can," he explained himself in a quiet voice, with a small shrug.
"I see," Tendou said. There was something in his eyes that Kagami had not seen clearly since a long-ago day in the long grass and the setting-sun light. Tendou held out his hand and Kagami took it automatically.
He found himself lying on his back in the middle of the room. He rubbed at the knot forming on the back of his head and glared at Tendou, who was sitting on his stomach. "I'm done doing what I can for tonight," he snapped.
Tendou laughed lowly and Kagami pushed him off, feeling Tendou settle on the floor at his side. "For tonight, I'll do what I can," Tendou said after a moment, sounding content and amused and Kagami closed his eyes, smiling at the world around him.
;__; Expect 'day five' later tonight and for me to actually be around online tomorrow afternoon. Also: THOSE LINKS. Later tonight or tomorrow. PS.
waxrose loves me. ♥ (NINO WAS THE CHRISTMAS TREE. MY HEART. IT IS YOURS.)And now, I have to go make dinner. Why do my kids always want food?
