damned_institute | Day 30: Cafeteria, Dinner

Rukia quirked an eyebrow. "You suppose so?" she asked, considering the 'corn on the cob' on her plate. "Were you not conscious?"

Then, because she really wasn't sure how to eat the corn they way it was presented, "Uh... do you have any idea how to eat this?"

"Er- That is... n-no, of course not," Allen explained, somewhat unsuccessfully. He hoped she would just leave it at that, but with both Rukia and Renji, it was difficult to say. He supposed he should be relieved that it wasn't the large and intimidating red-head that was questioning him, though Rukia could be just as scary, in her own way.

Leaning forward slightly as he demonstrated, Allen stuck his plastic fork in one end of the corn. Since they didn't have the proper utensils, it would have to do. "Have you not had it before? You can put butter, salt, or pepper on it if you like." He held the fork in one hand and gingerly touched the other side of the cob. It was still hot, but not so much that he couldn't hold it properly. "Like this, and you just... um... take bites of it, kind of like an apple."

Blinking, Rukia asked, "Er, does that mean you were conscious, or weren't conscious?" The double-negative confused her. Glancing at the orderlies, she whispered, "What happened, exactly?"

She watched Allen's demonstration intently. "Ooooh, I see. I don't think people even eat that in modern-day Japan." Piking up the corn cob like Allen had shown her, Rukia took a bite. It was delicious, but the corn kept getting stuck in her teeth.

"I-," Allen hesitated. "It's kind of... a... a long story," he told her. "I wouldn't want to trouble you with it." He didn't have much appetite, but he focused it on the rest of his meal. The corn was almost finished after the demonstration he'd given Rukia and the less eye-contact he had to make, the better.

Rukia raised an eyebrow. "It's not as if I have anything else to do, you know." It seemed like Allen was trying to hide something, but Rukia had learned that pressuring him didn't work well. So maybe small talk might get it out of him. "Who were you assigned with last nigh again? I forgot what Captain Hitsugaya wrote on the board yesterday..."

Allen pushed around the last of his meat with his fork, but didn't make any motion to eat it. It seemed as though Rukia had changed the subject, but it went right back to what he didn't want to talk about. Not answering would only make her more suspicious though. He took a deep breath before speaking, making sure his voice was cool and steady.

"I was with Rinali. We were to map some of the upstairs rooms. We got a bit of it done before we ran into some trouble."

Hm, so he didn't really want to talk about last night at all, it seemed. But maybe Rukia could piece together what had happened with a little more information. "Rinali?" she asked between bites of corn, "I haven't met her, but isn't she one of your friends from home?"

It was amazing how quickly everything could go wrong. Just yesterday he'd been in such good spirits, even daring to think that he might... have had feelings for Rinali. Were they not Exorcists, he would've even thought of something like a courtship, but that was nothing but silliness and shattered expectations now. He'd be lucky if Rinali ever spoke with him again, let alone considered him a friend. He hadn't meant to... hadn't wanted to hurt anyone!

"We worked together," Allen said dully. "That's all."

He gave a sigh, "Miss Rukia, I... I've already given most of the details to your captain. We found one of the visitors from the other day."

A crease appeared between Rukia's eyebrows at the tone of Allen's voice. He sounded so miserable. She nodded and smiled, though. "Oh, of course! I'm not asking for a report or anything. Just talking with a friend."

They certainly couldn't go into detail with the two orderlies sitting right there, but as long as they made it seem innocent enough, Rukia figured they could get away with some talk of night shift. Just in case, though, she slid her notebook across the table to Allen. If there was anything he couldn't say, perhaps he would be willing to write it. She looked from Allen to the orderlies, then down to the notebook, just in case Allen didn't understand what she meant.

"A visitor?" she asked quietly. "Who was it?" Could it have been Kaien? She didn't know how she felt about that idea.

"Mm," he said quietly in reply. "Rinali's brother."

He looked confused at first when Rukia passed him the notebook. He didn't feel much like trying to draw. But he followed her gaze to the orderlies who sat on either side of her and accepted it after just a moment's hesitation.

He picked up the pen and thought for a moment before writing.

Changed him. Some kind of experiment. Still human, but lots of other things. Tried to help. He attacked and Rinali was hurt, but I'm sure it was just this place. Others get- they turn on people, don't they? She went for help while I stayed. He attacked again, but I was caught off-guard. Hurt badly. I don't remember what happened, passed out. When I woke up, he was- torn to pieces.

They said there were claw marks, mine. I killed him.

I don't want to hurt anyone else, that's why you have to be careful. I'm really sorry.

He put the pen in as a place holder, closed the book and handed it back to Rukia. He didn't want to see her face as she read it. In fact, he'd rather she didn't know at all, but he felt he owed her that much. Allen folded his arms on the table and laid his head down.

Rukia watched Allen's face carefully as he wrote, which made her somewhat hesitant to open the notebook and read what was written there. Once he had lowered his head into his arms, Rukia held the notebook close to her chest and peeked inside.

She read through it three times, then uncapped the pen and wrote:

Are you sure it was him? There are creatures here who can look and act just like people we know. I've met two so far.

Lots of other things? Like a mixture? Edward Elric mentioned something like that - called them kaimeras. I can ask him more about them if you want.

If you did kill it him, anyone who knows you would realize you didn't do it on purpose. Does Rinali understand? Does she think it was really him?

I know how it feels to bear that guilt.

As Allen had done, she left the pen in as a placeholder and passed the notebook across the table with one hand. The other hand wriggled into Allen's, and she squeezed gently.

Edited 2008-02-25 22:04 (UTC)

There was a long silence and Allen wondered if he shouldn't just walk away. She probably hated him now, knowing what he'd done. He startled when he felt her hand on his and looked up, eyes filled with confusion. What was Rukia doing? He picked up the notebook carefully and flipped open to the bookmarker.

He chewed his lip as he read, not quite sure what to make of it, but certainly words came easier on paper than they did aloud.

I don't know. That's what everyone has said. That it might be some kind of mimic, but I can't be sure.

On purpose or not, it doesn't matter. I should have been in control. I- I haven't talked with her yet. I don't know. I'm sure she must.

I don't know if she could ever forgive me something like that. I wouldn't blame her.

Wordlessly, he passed the notebook back to her, then folded his hands in his lap.

One of the orderlies eyed the notebook as Allen passed it back to Rukia. "Writing love letters?" he asked with an arched eyebrow.

"N-no, of course not!" Rukia giggled. "We're communicating in a special language that can only be written, not spoken. It's very hard to learn." She nodded sagely, hoping the fabrication would throw the orderlies off. I could teach you, if you like..."

"Thanks," the orderly chuckled, "But I don't know if I'm smart enough to learn something like that." He didn't seem to want to continue the conversation after that, so Rukia just smiled and opened the notebook again.

So others had agreed with her theory. That was reassuring, anyway. And it seemed that Allen had less trouble getting his point across in writing. Rukia supposed that made sense, in a way; he could remove himself from the situation, just a little.

No, I guess you can't be 100% sure now, but if it attacked you, then I'm sure it wasn't your friend's brother. He wouldn't have done something like that, would he?

I think you should talk to her when you feel strong enough. If you're friends, it will only hurt her more not to speak to you. At least, that's how I would feel in her situation.

Rukia cursed the orderlies, and the fact that she was confined to a wheelchair; she wanted to sit next to Allen and lay a comforting hand on his shoulder. Instead, though, she simply passed the notebook back.

Allen watched the interaction for a moment, as Rukia spoke with the orderlies, but tried to maintain some distance. She was doing fine with keeping them from reading it and that was all that mattered.

He opened the notebook once again and read through it. Maybe it was true, maybe it had been something else. Sanji, Sasuke, Captain Hitsugaya... they all thought so. And now Rukia too. He wanted to believe that, he really did, but it made him feel like he was taking the easy way out. He couldn't let himself off so simply, not if Rinali didn't belive it. He'd tell her, when he finally did talk to her, though he still wasn't sure when that would be.

He wouldn't, but I heard that sometimes they set patients against one another. I think... it happened to my friend Ravi a few nights ago. I want to believe it wasn't him, but I have too many doubts right now. I'll speak with the other girl, I think she was one of yours. She- She would probably know better than I.

I'll see if I can speak with her tonight. I really don't want to trouble her right now and- I don't know if she'd want to see me.

He just wanted to make sure she stayed safe. This place had hurt her so much already, he didn't think he could bear it if it did anything more. With a sigh, Allen passed the book and the pen back across the table.

Rukia read over Allen's note, nodding a couple times. Quickly - writing took so much longer than speaking! - she wrote:

Yes, they do make patients attack each other, but that's only every other night. Tonight will be one of those nights. Last night was when they experiment on patients. So it couldn't have been your friend under the control of the Institute.

The other girl? You mean another shinigami?

I think my best piece of advice right now is to make sure your friend knows that you care about her. I'm sure she needs your support right now.

Rukia knew from her own experience how much it hurt when a loved one was gone forever, and you never told them how you felt. When Kaien had died in her arms, she had been unable to say anything but his name. She still regretted not... thanking him, or saying something to let him know how much he had done for her.

Allen read her note slowly, glancing up hopefully for a moment as if to ask if what she'd written was really true. Was it only on certain nights that they controlled the patients? There was always the chance, he supposed, that they might deviate from that, but it left a little more room for hope in his heart.

He shut the notebook without writing a response. They'd already said most of what he wanted to be kept candid. "Your friend. She was small, with dark hair too. But... she was definitely one of yours." She'd been able to do that strange healing ability that Renji had used on Rukia before, and while he'd been in an addled haze, his eye had still recognized what she was.

While Rukia might have been certain the Rinali wanted to speak with him, it was difficult for him to feel so self-assured. He remembered how upset she'd been as she yelled at them. Shut up! Just shut up! It was one of the last things he'd heard before morning. He'd only heard that kind of animosity in her voice a couple of times and it hurt to think that the words had been directed at him. "Ravi talked to her this morning," Allen told her. He tried to smile, but the gesture felt strange when he didn't mean it. "But I'll see what I can do." He owed her that much.

Rukia caught the little glimmer of hope in Allen's eyes. She smiled and nodded, glad that she had given that to him.

"That would have been Vice Captain Hinamori, then," she confirmed, thankful that the other shinigami had been there to heal Allen and his friend. Unfortunately, she apparently hadn't been there during the attack, or she probably could have stopped the attack.

Rukia reached across the table to take Allen's hand again. "You can do it," she said, "No girl could ever really be mad at a young man as sweet as you."

Day 30: Cafeteria, Dinner

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject