damned_institute | Day 31: Sun Room (Fourth Shift)

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Day 31: Sun Room (Fourth Shift)

Though perhaps not entirely as successful as he wanted it to be, Homura walked away from lunch feeling satisfied with his efforts. Roland and Fai both had shown interest in the goal, and that was enough for the moment. Homura could be patient, had already been for five hundred years, and felt no harm in waiting another five hundred if he had to. He would have his goals realized, no matter what obstacles he faced, be they from the prison or those trapped within.

But now was time for business of a different sort, and the demi-god made his way to the Sun Room, near the common board. He made sure he could be seen from the entrance to the cafeteria, knowing that one stranger and one member of his own group both wanted to meet with him. It worked out well enough, especially given that the stated purpose of the History Club was simple.

Revenge and escape.

For now, Homura had no intention of revealing that it'd grown more complicated than that.

[Waiting for L and Junior]

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[I hope a Kenshin will be satisfactory?]

The nurses had actually allowed Kenshin to take a quick shower between shifts to get the last of the burrito mess out of his hair. His nurse had muttered something about not wanting Kenshin to smell like a "cheap Mexican buffet for the next week," and while he wasn't entirely sure what that meant, he understood and appreciated the sentiment. He didn't really enjoy smelling like a "cheap Mexican buffet."

He didn't see Sanosuke in the Sun Room, so he flopped down on the nearest chair to take a much-needed nap, close to a man who appeared to be doing the same thing.

Appeared to be.

Opening one eye, Kenshin looked him over. "Who are you watching so intently (if you don't mind the intrusion)?"

[Oh, very much so. ♥]

It was amusing for Zoro to note that hunting bounty heads had been less interesting than this, even when he'd been trying. Most hadn't even known he was aiming for them until he had a sword at their throats. This time, two people had correctly seen through his act and they'd both spotted him quickly enough. The woman's reactions were promising.

Zoro stopped his snoring just quickly enough to be believable. He yawned heavily, mouth open wide as if he were trying to suck in as much air as possible.

An eyebrow quirked up. The pirate opened his eyes and crossed his arms, more of a habit than anything else. His sleepy, half-lidded gaze fell on his new seat mate. He could sense something of the man, like a pulse of hidden power without a challenge. An undrawn sword hidden away in a dojo.

Well, this was interesting.

But, also, not the reason he'd come to the Sun Room. Zoro closed his eyes again and smirked, just enough for the other man to see.

"Can't really say," He replied with a shrug, tone natural and honest. "Probably a swordsman."

Kenshin sat up and followed his green-haired (green haired?) companion's eyes. "Oro? Oh, that woman over there?" He pointed, not obviously, but enough to indicate where he was looking. "She does seem to be the type." And so do you. It lingered in the air, unspoken but obviously implied. Kenshin had only gotten a glimpse of the young man's hands, but he'd seen enough to notice the definite sword callouses on his hands and feel the fighting spirit.

The rurouni bowed (as deeply as the couch would allow). "Himura Kenshin," he said, indicating himself.

Here was another one, just like that Orihime girl; Zoro sensed the strength in the red head, but none of the danger of a potential challenge. Not that the pirate was fool enough to ignore what was right in front of him. On another day Zoro would have issued the same challenge he'd given Kurogane.

He opened his eyes again, giving up all pretense of sleep when Kenshin introduced himself. He'd take the name, maybe even see what kind of swordsman this man was later on.

"Roronoa Zoro." The pirate nodded as politely as he was able. He then smirked, somewhat amused by the smaller man. "You're sharp."

Roronoa Zoro. It was a strange name, but not the strangest Kenshin had heard in this place. Not the strangest by far. At least he could pronounce this one.

"You're too flattering," he demurred, bowing his head slightly. "It was just an observation."

"I was being honest." Zoro stated. Bluntly. His eyes roved around the Sun Room casually, though his attention was still on the woman by the bulletin board. Three out of five Straw Hats were in the room. Still no sign of Nami.

"Then thank you for the compliment," Kenshin said, smiling. He didn't miss the way Zoro was looking around the room. Searching for friends, perhaps? The rurouni hoped that was the case. No one at Landel's should be without friends.

"Where are you from, if you don't mind this one asking?"

"Nah, I don't mind... East Blue. Grand Line." Zoro cast a look at Kenshin. Curiosity. "Any of that sound familiar?"

Not that any of that actually mattered. He'd left his old life behind a long time ago to pursue his dream. And he was a pirate now, held down by nothing but promises and his goal to become the World's Greatest Swordsman.

He looked away Kenshin's smiling face. "You?"

Kenshin shook his head. "No, unfortunately. Apologies."

So many places, so many worlds that people came from. 'East Blue, Grand Line' sounded like something from a story to Kenshin, but it was 'home' for Zoro. It was a little sad, but it was also oddly heartening. If this place had the ability to take them from so many different places and times, it had the ability to bring them home again.

"Japan. Tokyo, more specifically. The eleventh year of Meiji."

"I see." The place Kenshin mentioned didn't ring a bell, but Zoro didn't really expect it to. It was asked more out of courtesy, anyway. Who said Zoro couldn't be (reasonably) civil?

Of course, his own problems with civility aside, all the modest and easy, polite words were starting to get to Zoro. He was already suspicious to begin with. People with actual manners who didn't have some kind of quirk or hidden agenda? Feh. That'd be the day.

It would be best to just come out with it.

"So are all the swordsmen from where you come from as polite as you or do you just act like that out of habit?" Zoro was still smirking though, and his question lacked any real bite.

Kenshin started to laugh. "Habit, actually," he said, shaking his head. Honestly, he was almost surprised that he hadn't gotten the same question from other people, since overly-polite speech seemed to be something of a rarity at Landel's.

"It's just something that this one started doing a few years ago. He can't explain it."

The woman he was watching was already so aware of his presence that Zoro figured he didn't have much more to watch her for. And she was watching him back, keeping an eye on him. She'd either approach, or he would. Later.

"Yeah? Well you're suspicious enough without it, you know." Straight-forward as always.

So the woman knew they were there. Kenshin wasn't surprised, really. In fact, he would've been shocked if she hadn't noticed. Any swordsman worth his salt would have.

"'Suspicious?'" The rurouni had been called a lot of things in his lifetime, but suspicious didn't usually make the list. Interesting. "Apologies. That wasn't this one's intention."

Zoro raised an eyebrow. "I'm sure." He supposed that the other could have been called something along the lines of "ordinary", hair color and scar aside. But suspicious was still suspicious. The more normal looking a person was, the more notable they were when they had that strange, subtle fighting aura. It was practically a rule among pirates; the bigger and flashier the opponent, the weaker and stupider they were when it came to the actual fighting.

The pirate was tempted to ask more about his seatmate, now that his attention was only partially on the woman swordsman he'd been watching.

"So what was your intention?" One didn't just draw attention to themselves without a good reason, right?

"Curiosity, perhaps?" Kenshin shrugged, still smiling. "You were watching her so intently. This one wanted to know why."

"Heh." Zoro wasn't going to explain himself without any prompting, though he smirked and closed his eyes with a slight sense of finality.

"Fair enough."

"So, Roronoa-dono," Kenshin started after a few minutes of silence, "do you know her? That woman over there. The one who's obviously got more than a passing familiarity with the sword-arts." He smiled, nodding towards his companion's calloused hands, and showing his own. "As do we both."

Zoro cracked open an eye and glanced in the direction of the woman swordsman, the first time he openly looked at her.

"No. I don't." He replied, closing his eye again. "Guess you could say I was just curious. There aren't a lot of women back home schooled to use swords."

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Day 31: Sun Room (Fourth Shift)

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