Day 30: Cafeteria, Breakfast

[whiteychan.livejournal.com]

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]

Comments

[flashyaudacity]

Kaito nodded. "Yeah, it's really well-known around the world, especially when it comes to technology. America's a superpower; Britain and Germany are still fairly major. Russia too, I think, and China."

He'd relaxed when Himura talked about his repentance, but he straightened, tense again, when Homura joined their table. "You heard?" he asked, eyeing the bandages that hadn't been present last night. Had the others run into more trouble after he and Hattori had left?

He looked at Himura again. The idea that he'd had been a hitokiri still bothered him a little, but... Kaito had his own share of crimes sitting on his shoulders; if he were in a similar position, he knew he'd want people to be able to see past Kid and believe in him. Unless Himura's actions contradicted his words, Kaito would believe him.

"Okita-san was on the other side of the war. As nice as it would be, it's not always that easy to forgive enemies," Kaito finally responded, smiling. If Himura was from the Meiji era, he surely knew about Okita's fate... "For Okita-san to be here, it means the war isn't over for him." It never would be.

The increase in clamour and movement past Himura and Homura caught Kaito's attention, and he looked past the men to see what was happening. It looked like... "Call me new, but do brawls usually start at breakfast here?"

[screwthegods]

"I was in the room. I'd have been more helpful to you, but obviously I got attacked as well." Only the edges of the bandages were visible under Homura's clothes, save for a few scrapes. But his pain was obvious in his movements, the broken ribs and the gapping stab in his back making it difficult to stay straight. "Though you both seemed to have done well enough on your own."

"I won't strain myself today." Homura raised an eyebrow at Kenshin, a bit amused by his concern. It wasn't something he was really used to, since the purpose of the Toushin Taishi was ultimately to fight and die in the name of heaven. "But I can't afford to spend it in bed, can I?"

The topic of their conversation was rather obvious, and Kaito's sympathetic views were more concerning than the boy might realize. Homura was having a hard enough time keeping Okita in check, and now with Hijikiata returned, it would become all the harder to do so. "The war is in their world." He met Kaito's gaze, both perfectly serious and comfortable with his words, as insane as they might sound. "This place has the ability to bring people back from the dead. Even killing Himura here would do Okita no good. It's why I try to discourage it."

The increased sounds of fighting were as hard for Homura to ignore as they were for Kaito, and the demi-god carefully turned to face it. There was no way he was joining in with his injury, though the thought remained tempting. But he needed to watch for members of his group, to see who would be joining in, and who would end up sedated for their trouble. "Not of this scale, no. I wonder what set it off?"

[degozaruyo.livejournal.com]

[Sorry for the short, late post, guys. My brain's fried. :\]

Anything that Kenshin might have asked about Japan's future or said about Okita's "war" or...anything else, because suddenly the riot happening all around them had his undivided attention. His eyes narrowed, hand instinctively going for a sword that wasn't there.

"No, this isn't common," he said, looking around for Sano (in case he had to drag his friend out of the path of a nurse with sedative). "It seems to have been caused by that young girl over there and her friends."