damned_institute | Day 30: Cafeteria, Breakfast

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Day 30: Cafeteria, Breakfast

Hitsugaya woke with a start.

His entire body ached, but the pain was nowhere near as bad as it had been the night before. His injuries had been tended two with clean gauze and bandages, and he found every movement wasn't agony. He wasn't in the best of shape, but thanks to the miracle of landel's strange time distortion, he had mostly recovered from the vile poison without having to waste anyone else's talents.

And in his hand, still...there was the key.

He dressed quickly, sliding the key onto the key ring from his desk drawer and stuck it into his pocket. Whether the key stood to gain them anything or not, it stood as a vital reminder that they could succeed in this place. There was hope, as insignificant as it often seemed. They could beat this place.

That small shred of hope made getting up worth it.

The nurse who escorted him to breakfast was cheerful, and commented idly about how wonderful it was to see young Tommy Winters up and about again after his unfortunate run-in with a bad case of food poisoning. He smirked slightly, knowing that any lies the institute forced into their heads were only that: lies. He wouldn't buy it for a second. And on top of that, the concept of muffins sounded almost appetizing. While he still preferred his authentic Japanese cuisine, the food here was slowly becoming more and more bearable. He would have preferred a warm bowl of sweet nattou over rice over the mufffins, but they would do. The plain yogurt and fruit, on the other hand, was excellent. He piled his plate high with fruit as usual, and got several small bowls of yogurt as well.

Finding the most convenient table to the end of the food line, he took a seat and scanned for the new arrivals. New arrivals meant people who would be lost and confused. Renji did a good job of making a bulliten post last time...he should recommend abarai-fukutaicho do the same again this time.

[Waiting for Angel]

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Kairi let out a croaking laugh at the mention of a slumber party, and she grinned, that same bright light filling her eyes. “Really now? Well, if you can, then sure, why not. I’m sure Naminé would love to play something with us.”

Around that time Sora had showed up, and Kairi graced her oldest friend with a smile. “Hey, Sora.” Her eyes fell on his bandaged arm, her eyes lowering almost instantly as that feeling of intense guilt began to make her stomach feel uneasy. She still felt horrible – she’d have to tell Axel about that sooner or later. He’d probably know more about it than either she or Sora would know. “I’m fine, don’t … don’t worry about me.”

Easier said than done.

Lifting her eyes finally, Kairi sighed and looked towards his injured arm once again, her uninjured hand grasping onto her pants tightly. “How’s your arm?” She was sure Axel was going to be curious later, and she was willing to tell him about it, really!

... Well, only slightly. But for Axel she’d be willing to at least make that sacrifice.

When Axel spoke up, Sora glanced over to look across the table at him and let out a sigh. It wasn't that he had meant to ignore him, but when he was worried about someone everything else usually got shoved to the side. "Sorry, it's just--"

But then Kairi asked about him, and he grinned widely. "It's fine! Doesn't even hurt." While that was a bit of a lie -- it was a little sore -- she didn't need to know the truth. Some soreness was hardly a big deal.

He had noticed Renji sitting, probably waiting for him, which meant that he couldn't stick around for too long. He wasn't too eager to discuss Nowe's visit now, but he knew it had to happen at some point. The timing was just bad.

"Take it easy, all right? And... do you think you could tell me a little more about what did this to you? Was it some sort of monster, or...?" He knew he was prying, but he thought it was his right to know. Kairi was his friend, and it was his responsibility to watch over her, so he had to be informed of these things.

"Yeah well, I didn't want you to pine all over me anyway." Axel retorted, but the tone of his voice anything but serious. If there was one thing that he learned during his multiple meetings with Sora it was that once he focused on one person his IQ dropped to at least 60. All it took was a patient mind to remedy this fault, and the redhead was more than happy to lionize Kairi's well being to get the job done.

But it intrigued him to see how the redhead was fretting over Sora's arm, almost like she was the one to blame for it in the first place. That definitely deserved a quirk of the eyebrow, but he'd ask her eventually.

"And everyone knows that the F block is filled with psycho monsters, if that's what you're looking for." After all, Larxene belonged in that category and looked what happen to everyone she came across.

Kairi turned to Axel with an amused smile before turning back to look at Sora, her smile becoming sad soon after. “It was … all I know was that it was a girl. I couldn’t see her face because her hair was covering it, but … I could see her eyes. They were blue, and they were glowing. After that she threw my flashlight away and I was in the dark.”

Lowering her eyes to the floor again, she sighed, lifting up her good hand to run into her hair. “Then, in the bathroom, there was another girl, but … she just watched. She didn’t do anything … and … I couldn’t see her, but I knew she was there. I told her to run and she said … it was … fun. To watch.”

After a quick shrug of her shoulders, Kairi shut her eyes and sighed once more. “That’s all I can remember before I … well …” her eyes lifted to peer at Sora’s bandage once again before returning to the ground. “But I’ll be careful. I’m going to sit in tonight, so … you won’t have to worry about me. I’ll be fine.” Lifting her head, she forced a smile on her face.

As Kairi explained what had happened to her in more detail, Sora found it harder and harder to listen to. Some girl with glowing blue eyes was involved, and then there had been someone else who had just watched for the fun of it? It was the sort of thing Sora couldn't wrap his head around... Why would people do such horrible things, and get enjoyment out of it?

He tried not to seem too shaken, but it was likely that he had paled a little. He set his hand on the back of Kairi's chair as some sort of support.

"Okay, it's... good that you're going to rest. But the girl who did it... was it a patient?" He knew there were human-like things that would wander around at night and attack people, so it would be best to distinguish. If it was a patient, then -- well, Sora wasn't certain what he would do, but he wasn't sure if he could just leave it alone in that case.

Like Sora, Axel wasn't too fond of the other redhead's explanation either, but it was to a much lesser extent of how the brunet was feeling. A sadist like that was a pretty common thing when one looked at it in a broader sense, and admittedly he had paid no mind to such a thing back when the Organization took full reign of his life. But maybe it had to do with the fact that it was someone he may have cared about unconditionally that he was even taking interest in it.

"If it'll make you feel better, I can show you how to dig a person's eye out with your finger." Axel offered to Kairi in an attempt to lighten the mood, but he knew he was onto something. With such a diversity of patients showing up in Landel's, maybe it wouldn't be such a bad idea to teach the girl some self-defense for her own good.

"Anyway, you won't have to worry about anything like that while I'm around. And Sora for that matter, but I reek of more awesome than him."

“Well,” Kairi began with a sigh, lifting up her broken hand, “I had tried to punch her, but … it was like punching a rock wall. I don’t know what happened.”

After a few more moments of silence, the once Princess began to chew on her lip. How to put this … “I’m … pretty sure they were both … patients. At least, the girl that attacked me was a patient. She was wearing the same uniform. The other girl … I don’t know. Like I said, I couldn’t see her.” It was scary to think about, but … she knew Sora needed to know. That way, the same thing wouldn’t happen to anyone else, maybe.

Lifting her head up to peer up at Sora and Axel – though her glance at Axel was a simple roll of her eyes – she frowned, crossing her arms over her chest carefully. “I also know that the girl was really … strong. That’s all I really know about her.”

She felt bad that she couldn’t really be of much help – for all she knew, there were a lot of other people with long hair and blue eyes.

Axel's comment did make her smile though, and she nodded her head, letting out a soft laugh. "Thank you. I promise one of these days I'll stop making you worry so much."

While Sora didn't like the idea of Kairi having to learn how to fight (especially if it involved digging out people's eyes), he had to admit that it might be the most practical way to deal with their current situation. She didn't even have a weapon, did she? Then again, those were difficult to get a hold of in this place, so maybe it wasn't that surprising.

So both of them had been patients. The descriptions weren't very much to work off of, but that didn't stop Sora from glancing around the area, as if he expected to recognize them. "All right, well... If you ever see the girl who hurt you around, you need to come find me and let me know, all right? Because... I want to talk to her." He wasn't even sure what he would do if he came face-to-face with the person who had injured his friend so badly, but it wouldn't be good.

He wasn't sure if it would be a good idea to leave Kairi now, but she had Axel to talk to, which wasn't all that bad when it came down to it. She seemed comfortable enough with him, at least. Sora glanced to the Nobody. "Would you mind watching over her for me? I'm supposed to go talk to Renji." Though it looked like another patient had made his way over; still, Sora had to check in.

"Nonsense. The only way we'll stop worrying about you is if you make us hate you." It was a completely honest answer in his book, but Kairi was just being too damn modest for his liking. And then Sora had to go pop in the most obvious suggestion.

"Of course, you only pay attention to me when you want me to do you a favor." He replied back in that same teasing tone, but nonetheless it was a suggestion he was already way ahead of. Still, it was nice to know that Sora at least had some faith in him instead of being over protective about his gal like he was before.

"Anyway, there's nothing to fret about. As long as she's under my watchful eye nothing's going to happen to her. But I can strap her to my back if you're still aren’t convinced."

At this point, Kairi found the thought to be fully doable. The whole ... heartless thing put a huge damper on her conscious, so at that moment she was being pretty down on herself. “I guess.” She answered Axel in a soft voice, her eyes still watching the floor.

At the mention of being strapped to his back, Kairi turned to Axel with a frown, letting out a whine. “I don’t want to be strapped to your back! What if you forget about me and you lie down and I suffocate to death?” she was joking, of course … but hey, it was always plausible. Lord knew Axel wasn’t the brightest crayon in the box (… in her opinion, anyway.)

The mention of Renji made Kairi flinch – uh oh. A part of her almost didn’t want him finding out – she didn’t want him to be worried too. “Tell Renji I said hello.” She said as happily as she could, a smile crossing her lips. “I’ll try to ... get in contact with you if I remember anything, or see anyone, okay?”

"And we'll never hate you," Sora said with a quick smile. He drew his hand away from the back of Kairi's chair and set it on her shoulder for a split second before pulling away.

He let out a quick laugh at Axel's comment and shook his head. "I don't think you have to go that far. But thanks." Maybe Axel wasn't at the top of his list as far as who he would have wanted to watch over Kairi (other than himself), but he wasn't at the bottom either.

"I will," he told Kairi. "And yeah, you better!" He knew that he shouldn't be targeting other patients when there were so many other things to worry about, but he couldn't let something like that brush past him. Kairi hadn't done anything to merit being attacked, which meant that the other girl had done it for no good reason. If anything, he wanted to make sure it didn't happen again.

With those thoughts roiling around inside his head, Sora waved to the two and then headed toward Renji and the other patient.

[ Skittering over here. ]

"Since you weigh more than a semi-truck, I think I'd notice that if you were still strapped to my back." Axel fired back with a playful sneer at Kairi's sharp-edged remark, but that quickly disappeared when he saw the girl flinch. Maybe that little brawl of hers did more internal damage than he thought.

He gave Sora a small wave as the brunet left the table, quickly reverting back to stuffing down the rest of his breakfast while he still had the chance. Now that the Keyblade Master was gone, he could prod Kairi with a few questions that had been bothering him since the start of their conversation.

"Say...." The redhead began after washing everything down with some juice. "Do you know how Sora got that injury on his arm? It didn't seem like he got it from the psycho chick that attacked you."

It was at Axel’s truck comment that Kairi spun around with her mouth open, and she reached out to jab at Axel’s side with her good hand. “What! How dare you! I’m not fat! I’m no where near the size of a semi-truck!”

She watched as Sora walked away towards the other red head – whom she had started to dread meeting now – before turning back towards Axel with a frown.

The frown soon vanished as a look of fear crossed Kairi’s features at Axel’s question, and she turned away from him with a quick movement, her head lowering as her long hair fell over her shoulder to create a curtain of red. The guilt was starting to creep up again, and she reached up with her good hand to carefully push her hair behind her ear, a sad, shocked smile crossing her lips. “Yes, I know how he got it.”

Keeping her hand behind her ear, Kairi shut her eyes, her smile fading as she took in a deep breath and released it soon after. “I was the one to give it to him. There’s … something I didn’t have time to tell you. Something that you …”

Taking yet another deep breath, Kairi lifted her good hand up and covered her eyes with her palm. “You remember when I was experimented on, right? Well, a few nights ago, the fire … vanished. Right? Last night I was … hurt pretty bad. I mean, really bad. She … I mean, Rukia healed me but … I had lost a lot of blood. The girl stabbed my stomach and … and my heart stopped.” A pause, and she said the one thing she didn’t want to. “And I became a heartless. I couldn’t control my movements, and I hurt him in the process, and I didn’t mean to because I couldn’t stop! I didn’t know what to do!”

Once all of this was out, Kairi let out a shudder breath and carefully set her forehead down against the table, shutting her eyes. “There.”

Why was it she always just rambled whenever he was near?

From the get go Axel knew that something had been up, and Kairi's minute gestures and expressions were enough to fuel his beliefs even more so. The guilt and sadness that poured out from her heart was slowly collecting into his own sorry excuse for one, leaving him rather drained and exhausted despite his earlier charismatic demeanor. It was enough to force him to drop his cinnamon roll, slumping back in his chair while he listened to her explanation.

It made sense, didn't it? The darkness that had manifested inside her was the result of that experimentation and Kairi's body was just reacting in the same fashion as everyone else since she was no longer pure. He vaguely wondered if Naminé had been affected during all of this, since this was still far from any normal transformation. Though Axel knew of only one person that managed to pull his body back out from his heartless state, and said brunet had left a few minutes ago.

And yet, no matter how natural it may have been otherwise, the Nobody couldn't bring himself to read deeper into his calculations. He discovered that it was much harder to do so to a friend; a friend, despite what he had done(or would've been doing if he was taken any further in time), that still managed to socialize and share time with him unconditionally. Why, if Roxas had been in Kairi's place then it would all still feel exactly the same.

At this sudden revelation of introspection Axel felt his green eyes glance back down at the other redhead, his hand all the while slowly making its way to press gently against the back of her head. His slumped position carefully pressed forward until his cheek was pressed up against the cool surface of the table. And there, as he faced Kairi, he let a small smile draw over his lips.

"If Sora or I, or anyone else you knew was in your shoes, would you be able to find it in yourself to forgive us? Would you tell us not to get all worked up over it, because you know it wasn't our fault?"

He gave a small chuckle.

"And would you tell us to just let it all out because you didn't want it to stay bottled up inside?"

Kairi’s eyes had shut by the time Axel’s hand moved to press against her head, and she slowly turned until her cheek was also pressed against the table as so she could face him. Opening her eyes soon after, she wasn’t surprised to see Axel’s face so close to her ow. Frowning at his comments, she opened her mouth to speak, but shut it soon after when he continued talking. “Well … yes, but …”

But what? She really had nothing to say. “I would, but …”

Closing her eyes, Kairi let out yet another sigh, her hands resting against her lap as she tried to think of the words to say. “I know what you’re saying … but I just still feel so terrible about it. I wanted to become stronger to help my friends, not … not hurt them instead.” A frown crossed her lips at this point, her hand grasping at her pants. “I’ve already hurt one of the people I never wanted to hurt – ever. If I were to hurt you next I don’t think I would ever be able to forgive myself. Or … or Naminé. I would feel so terrible.” Well, she already felt terrible. Adding more hurt would only make her crumble.

“But …” she started, opening her eyes to look at Axel once again, a small smile replacing the frown, “I … I understand what you’re saying. Thank you, Axel.” A laugh, and she closed her eyes again, her smile remaining. “It’s funny. Every time something bad happens, you’re always the one to make me feel better. It must be such a chore for you.” A slight laugh, and Kairi opened her eyes once more to look at her friend. “Thank you.”

Even while Kairi spoke he took the time to roll his thumb and forefinger over her head, massaging the backside as he listened to those disjointed sentences. Yet Axel found himself laughing at her last confession; a loud and long laugh as if she had told him the funniest thing of the week. Thankfully it hadn't attracted any nurses during its duration, and when he finally stopped there was already a wide grin to replace it.

"You know, I think those words are supposed to be reserved for someone else, coy mistress of the underworld." Axel finally let his hand drop, but it was only to rest it gingerly on Kairi's shoulder before pulling her close. He raised himself from the table, reaching over for a cinnamon roll with his free hand and ate it while he held her.

"But I guess I wouldn't mind borrowing them for a bit. Just don't tell him or he might get jealous, okay?" He teased, all the while smirking.

“Eh?” Came Kairi’s less than stellar reply to his first comment, only having been slightly startled by his sudden bout of laughter. “Well, it’s true!” She quickly responded, sitting up as he proceeded to grin at her. That time when she had first told him about the darkness, and now the current situation! “And I am not a mistress of the underworld! Don’t make me retract my statement.”

Boys were such jerks.

She was still frowning even when Axel pulled her close, his words finally setting in. In response, she tossed a quick look in Sora’s direction before letting out a deep sigh. Without thinking, she carefully laid her head against Axel’s shoulder as he continued to eat, her eyes falling shut. “I just hate worrying him is all. I mean, I’m sure I worry you too and all, but …” Kairi opened her eyes and gave the man a sheepish grin. “Well, not to probably such a high extent.”

Turning her head back to gaze down at her empty bowl, she grabbed at her spoon and twirled it around between her fingers. “So, are you sure you don’t mind hiding out with me tonight?”

Considering what their exchange had been like half a minute ago, Axel should've expected the girl to take comfort in his actions. And he did of course, but it still felt pretty strange to do this with Sora only a few yards away from them. Maybe it was just the habitual part of him that just couldn't get used to being more touchy-feely without a reason besides for the fact that it felt pretty nice. He'd been far from modest back then, but most of the time it had been for show or to annoy his fellow Organization members.

"Hey, I was the one that offered it, so I should be asking you if you're fine with that." He retorted back after polishing off his plate. His hand remained on Kairi's shoulder for a few more seconds before slowly letting it drop to his side, but the smile still remained on his face.

"Do you still want me to show you how to dig out someone's eye?"

“Do you really know how to dig someone’s eye out or are you just saying that in an attempt to make yourself seem cool?” Kairi replied with a sweet smile once Axel’s hand fell away from her shoulder, her own hand lifting to gently rub at her neck.

After a few moments of silence, she finally turned to look up at Axel with a smile. “Of course I wouldn’t mind. I just hope I don’t bore you to tears is all.” After all, what could they possibly do just locked up in a room all night? She was sure that at some point she was going to want to sneak out (well, drag Axel with her) and wander around, but she didn’t feel like saying that to Axel. Plus, she knew that if she DID wander around and Sora found out, he would just be either angry or worried.

After a few moments of silence, Kairi spoke once again, tilting her head to the side as she peered up at Axel. “Or maybe I can wander over to your room?”

At Kairi's statement, Axel gave her a 'if you don't believe me, you're more than welcome to volunteer' kind of look before it dropped and raised into his usual grin. Still, the redhead was being too modest for her own good, but he guessed that was how the female brain worked, which only fueled his suspicions that Larxene had a sex change when she transformed into a Nobody.

But he had to admit it was pathetically endearing in a way. However, before he could even contemplate an appropriate response, he heard a cry from one of nurses when she was visibly attacked. And soon enough more people began to join the fray, kicking and punching any staff member in sight. Axel would've been lying if he didn't want a piece of something as well, but he quickly changed his mind when one of the nurses were knocked into their table, the collision rattling the surface violently.

Without even thinking he reached over to Kairi and pulled her close. The fight looked to be a pretty decent size, but he didn't feel like taking any chances at the moment.

"Just stay close, okay?"

From the corner of his eye he could spot Sora trying to force another redhead from attacking, which in itself was a pretty comical scene since the brunet was an ant in comparison.

Kairi hadn’t even seen the fight coming! One minute she was talking with Axel, and the next, a nurse was sent flying onto their table.

The sudden collision made her take in a sharp gasp, which only caused her throat to sting, which only caused her to start coughing. Once she had gotten her coughing under control, she carefully maneuvered herself so she could peer under Axel’s arm to stare out at the fight that was breaking out.

Of course, it was at this time that she saw Rukia attack a nurse with her wheel chair, and the younger girl let out a surprised cry for her roommate. Sora appeared to be holding back Renji, who looked as if he was going to lunge at any possible second. “What the …” she whispered under her breath before finally turning to look back up at Axel with a shocked expression. “Do you have any idea what’s going on? Because if you do, maybe you should try and explain to me.”

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Day 30: Cafeteria, Breakfast

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