damned_institute | Day 29: Cafeteria, Brunch

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Day 29: Cafeteria, Brunch

Hitsugaya left the chapel no less frustrated than before. The head doctor once again had chosen not to hide his face, yet promised he would be making an appearance at some time in the near future. He didn't like being patient, but there wasn't much choice. Either the head doctor would show his face, or he wouldn't. Renji had already seen him, and knew how to find him. That was enough.

The thought of eating made him slightly nauseous as usual, but he knew he needed to get his strength up. He could either be weak and try to force his way through brunch without eating anything, or he could be smart and actually give himself something to eat. And there was rice. Rice and fruit. He took a heaping pile of rice, and grabbed as much watermelon as he could fit on his plate, then proceeded to an empty table. He scanned the room, watching for Momo. He wasn't exactly looking forward to their conversation, knowing how she'd acted yesterday; however, he knew he had to speak to her, and there was a good chance that she would show more restraint now that the drugs were out of her system.

Thoughtfully he consumed his rice and waited.

[free at the moment, pester if you wish]

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[waiting for Kyon]

Hikaru was one of the first people into the cafeteria, but he didn't head towards the food. He wasn't hungry.

He was hurt and angry and confused, because no matter how hard he tried to delude himself, part of him kept insisting that the vampire had been Kyon. And that part had gotten louder and much more obnoxious when Kyon had posted on the board, wanting to "talk."

He sat at the nearest table, head in his arms.

"Damn it."

Kyon had internally fought with himself for the rest of the shift after his chat with Hisoka. He either could or could not confront Hikaru about what had happened. One side had stated keeping his distance from someone he'd attacked was a wise and sensible idea, the other part of him knew that both the twins had come back to save him when it happened, and that not at least trying to apologize was wrong.

In the end, his conscious had won and he made a hasty post on the bulletin. The answer had him worried that this wasn't going to go well at all, but he realized it needed to be done, whether Hikaru hated him or not.

Walking into the cafeteria he ignored the food as well and scanned for the red-head. Finding him off to himself and unwell, Kyon bit his lip, stopping.

No, he had to do this.

He made his way over to him and with a breath, sat down in front of him. "Yo."

And there he was.

Hikaru looked up, his face a careful mask of nonchalance. There was something to be said about completely isolating yourself from everyone except your twin, really. Things were a lot simpler.

"Hey."

Kyon was silent, thinking of a way to start this smoothly, as impossible as that seemed. He ran his hands through his hair and said finally. "Listen, about last night..."

There was a sigh as he looked away from him. "I'm sorry. That shouldn't have happened." And he really was sincere when he said it, which was definitely hard to get from Kyon.

So the...thing last night had been Kyon.

Ha, said the nasty little voice in the back of his mind. It had been right all along. He betrayed you, just like everyone else. You don't need anyone except Kaoru.

Hikaru tried to squash it. There was Haruhi, and the rest of the Host Club...

He over at Kyon, unconsciously fingering the bandage taped to his neck.

"What the hell was 'that,' anyway?"

Edited 2007-12-25 04:58 (UTC)

Here was the fun part. Trying to piece together an answer without looking any crazier than he had the night before. He probably could just start at the beginning. With a little luck, maybe Hikaru would ...

"The night before last, some of this place's whitecoats came and grabbed me from my room. I woke up strapped down to a lab table where this lunatic doctor put something into my bloodstream." He rolled his sleeve up to show him the mark from the injection.

Looking back up at Hikaru finally, Kyon sighed. "I haven't been the same, since."

Hikaru's eyes widened slightly. Taken from his room...did this mean that Kyon had been through the human experimentation he'd heard so much about?

Damn.

"So...they did that to you?" he asked, voice cracking a little. "They made you...you know?"

Was it contagious? Was Hikaru going to turn into some sort of weird scientifically-created vampire, too?

When Hikaru's eyes widened like they did, Kyon cast his glance back down at the table. He nodded a bit before closing his eyes and running a hand through his short hair. "They did. The doctor told me how he found it funny that I seemed to be so normal. The next thing I knew he shot a dose full of (I'm guessing) vampire blood into me."

He paused a moment before he chose his next words. "I didn't know what to do with myself like this. And when I started getting hungry I tried to just ignore it, hoping it would go away."

He gave the table a bitter look before he looked up at the bandage on Hikaru's neck. "It didn't."

"Let me get this straight." For the way Hikaru's mind was reeling, his voice sounded remarkably level. Huh. Weird. "You were just a normal guy, and then they turned you into a vampire. And then you couldn't take the...er...hunger and bit me."

How'd I taste?

Luckily, he managed to bite back that question before it left his mouth.

"Uh...it's not...you know...I'm not going to..."

Hikaru sighed.

"I'm not going to catch it, am I?"

Kyon hated how fictional that sounded when Hikaru phrased it in such a way but he nodded to him anyhow. "That just about sums it up." Though, thanks to that little bite, Kyon's hunger was considerably unnoticeable. He felt like he could think straight again.

For now.

Hikaru's next question caught him off guard. "Uhm. Catch it? I..." He honestly didn't know. He hadn't even thought about that. But, what if he could or did? Then Kyon took the hell he'd been dealing with and gave it to someone else! But wait, maybe not.

Kyon calmed himself down a bit before he said, "When it happened to me, I felt the affects almost instantly. Have you felt ...different at all? If not then you're probably safe."

What Hikaru was thinking: God oh God he BIT me and this place made him into a vampire where's Kaoru I want Kaoru Kaoru would know what to do...

What he ended up saying: "Oh. Okay."

He was still hurt, and still very confused...but, surprisingly enough, he wasn't angry anymore. He didn't actually blame Kyon for what had happened. If he couldn't help it, he couldn't help it. He hadn't asked for this hellhole to inject him with freaking vampire blood (the existance of which was rather startling, though he was more surprised that he wasn't surprised that Landel's could procure something like that).

No, it was the Institute's fault. So maybe it was that he wasn't angry at Kyon.

He was hella pissed at this shithole mental hospital, though.

And where was Kaoru?

Hikaru nodded. "Well...I've been feeling kind of...weak, but I guess that's from...you know. Blood loss. And I'll be fine once I start eating." Despite his brave words, there was still a distinct lack of food in front of him. His nurse--who he had waved off with his protestations of "not hungry"--kept shooting him dark looks. "So...I guess I'm fine."

After a while he added, almost as an afterthought, "I don't blame you, you know. I'm not mad. I was at first, but...it really wasn't something you could control, right?"

Kyon sighed in relief when Hikaru said he was fine. He couldn't imagine what to do if he'd managed to accidentally turn Hikaru into what he currently was. No, he wouldn't wish this on anyone. That aside, he gave Hikaru a brief smile before he stood up.

"I should probably grab something, too. Even if it tastes really off now that I'm..." He didn't say the rest of that sentence.

Continuing with Hikaru's question, Kyon said, "No, I couldn't as much as I hate to say it." A pause and he added, "Staying clear of me is probably a good idea. I don't know if it'll happen again."

Kaoru's legs hurt. They HURT because he had to force himself to walk slow. The nurses were watching him after his outburst in the morning. But what did they expect? The last thing he saw was his brother being attacked, he'd been so desperate to get out of his room that they demanded an explanation. And...the one he gave made him look like he belonged here. That had led to medication and an emergency appointment with a Doctor.

But he was out now, having 'admitted' it was all just a silly 'dream'.

It didn't take him long to pick his brother out of the crowd today. Twinsenses were tingling like crazy. He ran up to his brother and grabbed him.

"HIKARU! Are you ok? What happened. They wouldn't let me out I was so worried and he bit you and are you alright? Oh my god, Hikaru...I should have protected you but it was all so fast and I was so worried. Hikaru I-"

They weren't alone, something he'd been aware of from the start, but what he hadn't realised was WHO had been keeping his brother company. Getting between the two boys, he grabbed the collar of Kyon's top, fist clenched and ready to hit the ~~boy~~ monster. He had to protect his brother at all costs.

Hikaru gave Kyon a weak grin. "You're not getting rid of me that easily. We don't bail on our friends. Ever. But..." The grin was stronger now. "I'll tell you what. Grab me some food while you're up and we'll call it even."

He'd opened his mouth to say something else, but then Kaoru was there, and...

"Kaoru! Hey! Calm down! It's okay! See? I'm fine. It isn't your fault. I'm okay. I'm--"

Fuck. Kaoru had seen Kyon.

Hikaru couldn't blame his twin, really. If the tables had been reversed, if Kyon had attacked Kaoru instead of Hikaru, he knew that he would be doing the exact same thing right about now. They were kind if hypocritical like that.

"KAORU! Stop! Hey! He's cool. Don't--"

Hikaru had been about to say "Don't hit him!", but that was a moot point now.

He grabbed his twin, trying to pull him off of Kyon. "Kaoru! Stop! Dammit, I don't want you to get sedated. It wasn't Kyon's fault!"

Kyon found him self smiling now, seeing that Hikaru had really forgiven him, and that he had actually called him his friend. That ...really meant something to him. He still hadn't come to terms with how alone he was here, even with Haruhi and even then, he ...still wasn't sure she was still here. It had been so long.

All of these thoughts were tossed the moment he saw Kaoru. Kyon's thought process stopped as the other twin nearly jumped him and started to pummel his face.

The vampire stumbled back, stunned and hit the ground. He didn't do much to fight back. Something kept him from resisting.

Kaoru was on top of Kyon when his brother's efforts began to pay off. So he turned on Hikaru instead, grabbing his twin's sleeve and looking at him with more rage than his brother would ever have seen, let alone directed at himself.

"I don't care!" he shrieked, not caring what the staff would do to him, "I wont let anyone hurt you."
He kept a tight hold of his brother, eyes narrowing. "Then who's fault is it?" There was only a nanosecond pause, but it was enough. He could feel something small beginning to crack inside, but he wouldn't let himself cry. He just couldn't stop his lips from trembling or his eyes from watering.

He wanted to hit something again. Even if it was just himself.

Hikaru took a step back, startled by the...anger and resentment in his brother's eyes. He'd seen Kaoru pissed off a lot in their lifetime...but always over little things. Never like this.

"K-Kaoru..."

'Twinstinct' took over and he reached out, hugging his brother tightly around the shoulders. Kaoru looked like he was about to cry.

(Plus, this way he could get a better hold on him if he decided he wanted to go after Kyon again.)

"I know," he said softly, smoothing the hair on the back of his twin's head. "It's this place's fault, Kaoru. They did it. They injected him with something, made him do it. It isn't his fault."

A nurse and two orderlies were there within moments.

"What is going on here?" she demanded, as an orderly moved to help Kyon up.

Kyon sat there on the ground of the institute still in a slight shock. The guy had really jumped him. His hand went to his mouth and he touched his split lip lightly. It was already kind of torn from the night before last after having the file and his own fangs slice it open. Now it has reopened and blood dripped down his chin a little. He quickly wiped it up when he snapped out of his daze.

When he felt his arms being supported, he looked up and saw the orderly helping him to his feet. For a brief instant, Kyon froze with a look of horror, remembering the night before but shook it off. Not right now, not right now.

"Nothing's going on," He said, "He tripped and fell on me." Even if Kaoru has just attacked him, he didn't want the other red head to be carried off to god knows where for it. He didn't want to see anyone carried off.

Kaoru let his brother hold him for a moment, trying to absorb some of his twin's strength. But he eventually pulled away, a little forcefully.
"Since when do you start believing other people so easily?"
He aimed a glare over his shoulder but, instead, it met the nurse. He sighed and backed off a little.

Mouth open, ready to defend himself, he paused- Kyon was lying for him. No. He was lying for himself.
"He attacked my brother!"

Hikaru let his brother pull away, looking hurt. "Kaoru, I..."

When had he begun believing people so easily? He wasn't exactly the gullible type. But Kyon had looked so...earnest when he'd said it.

What the hell was wrong with him?

He was confused. And hurt. And he was angry again, but not at anyone in particular. He was just angry.

"It's my fault," he said suddenly. "I hit him. They're both just trying to cover for me."

It seemed as they were going to get nowhere with nothing but he said, he said. She had three different stories, and three teenage boys. Who - in a general sense of teenage boys everywhere - experience told her needed no reason to get into a scuffle.

"I see," she said, firmly. "I think perhaps it's best we separate the three of you, to prevent any further...misunderstandings."

Kyon stared at Kaoru for a brief second, almost wanting to protest until he realized that he was exactly right. He held his hand over his mouth to stop his lip from bleeding anymore and looked back at the so-called nurse.

A second later his snapped his gaze at Hikaru. What was he trying to do? He hadn't done anything! Kyon started to really protest when the nurse finally spoke.

Well, maybe that wasn't so bad. Kyon had said earlier that he should probably stay away from them both. He just didn't know how it would affect the twins if they were separated. "Looks like I'll have to raincheck you on lunch, Hikaru," He said a little sadly.

"What th- Hikaru, don't be stupid."
He looked at the nurse, a rather insolent glint in his eyes, and held up his reddened fist.

"You're not taking me away from my brother," he then warned her, grabbing Hikaru's sleeve. "And you," he continued, looking towards Kyon, "are staying the hell away from him."

The sensible part that had often stood as the difference between Kaoru and Hikaru was shaking it's head in shame. He knew he was going about this the wrong way, but there was hardly another choice. The last thing he'd seen the previous night... He hadn't protected his brother... Directing his anger at somebody else might hide the shame he felt.

Hikaru nodded at Kyon and shot him a rueful look before turning back to his twin...and the nurses. "Take my brother away from me," he added to what Kaoru had already said, "and I swear to God, you will regret it."

Speaking of regretting things, he would probably regret what he had just said, but he was still riding the high from his little moment of rebellion.

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Day 29: Cafeteria, Brunch

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