damned_institute | Day 37: Sun Room

Joe had read some of the larger notes stuck up on the bulletin board when the announcement came on the intercom. All things considered, this Landel guy didn't even seem so bad. Even if these people were held here against their will, he was certainly nice about it.

Apparently, the new patients - including Joe - were to hang around in the Sun Room or go to Arts and Crafts with the kids. Well, there was plenty of information on the board, including maps and descriptions of monsters, for Joe to prepare for the nighttime, when he could seriously get going on fighting his way out. He could look for where the boss would probably be waiting, or where his V-watch might be, and figure out how to fight the monsters. In fact, he had plenty of time to work all that out... but this the first time he'd had to really relax since he got his powers. So it couldn't possibly hurt to enjoy the calm period, could it?

The red-head stepped back from the board, and hopped back onto a comfy-looking couch to digest in the sunlight. He reached up to pull his cap down, and sighed when he realized it wasn't there. "Oh well, nothing's perfect. I still wouldn't call this hell."

[free!]

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Crying was...cathartic. Once Keman had let himself weep for a while, he actually felt a little better than he had before (except for the awful headache that was growing behind his eyes). He still felt empty, but it was a...different kind of emptiness. "I'm sorry," he said eventually, "I think I've gotten snot on your shirt as well. I guess we're even now." He couldn't let himself break down again like this. It seemed a little ridiculous, to bend to social morays that weren't even his own, but he had to be the strong one right now. Males weren't supposed to cry. It wasn't that he didn't want to look "weak" to the other males in the room, either. He had responsibilities to his friends, and the people here, and to Shana. If she truly had suffered the same fate as his mother and sister and had been taken by this place, he needed to get her back rather than focusing on what he'd lost.

"Thank you. I--I'm all right now. Thank you." He shifted a little so that Orihime could rest a little more comfortably against him, wrapping his arms around her shoulders. He stroked her hair, just letting the words come as he thought of them. "I took care of her, you know. Shana, I mean. She was less than a day old when my mother gave her to me, because she was about to give birth herself and couldn't do it herself. I was just a child, too...only about ten years old or so. I'd never seen a real two-legger before, much less a baby one. She was so tiny and helpless. She's not helpless anymore, though. Wherever she is, she's fighting."

Orihime smiled a little despite herself. All of the snot was gross and funny in a weird kind of way.

She wasn't used to all this holding but she didn't mind if Keman didn't mind. It was sort of nice to be warm and comforted while she listened to the words and Keman's heartbeat in her ear. "Kurosaki-kun will help her and Kuchiki-kun and Kisuke-san. She won't be alone either with so many people fighting. And even though he's gone now," She swallowed. "Abarai-san will give them strength."

Abarai--oh, right. Renji. Keman felt horrible about it, but he'd almost forgotten about Renji in the face of losing Shana. He'd only spoken with the man on a few occasions, but he'd liked him immensely those times. Rukia too. "Kurosaki-kun" and "Kisuke-san" were unfamiliar names, and he could only assume that they were also friends of hers.

"I'm sorry," he said quietly. "I've been awfully selfish."

Orihime looked up at him, obviously confused. If anything, she was the one being selfish. Keman had just lost someone who he'd spent his whole life with and she knew what it was like to lose a sibling. He was a lot stronger than she had been at the time, but leaning on him was still imposing and selfish - and she was still clinging to him, an apology lost somewhere in the back of her throat. She didn't know if that was a good thing.

"What do you mean?"

"You lost someone too," Keman said, a little awkwardly. "I know that Renji was very dear to you. It was selfish of me to just gloss over it like that, not when I know you're hurting too. So...I apologize."

"I don't accept." Orihime replied, somewhere between joking and stubbornness. "You shouldn't apologize for that. You lost part of your family and you still let me get snot all over your shirt first. That's just like you, Keman-kun. I couldn't have done that when I lost my brother."

She leaned against him again. "You remind me of him a little."

Truthfully, she felt bad. Though she adored the other girl, she remembered being a little jealous of Shana when she talked about her family. Not nearly enough to wish that Shana and Keman were separated - ever - but she shouldn't have felt it at all. She didn't want to be that kind of person. She just couldn't help it and now... she would have given up anything she had to make things good for them again.

"Anyway... Abarai-san wouldn't want us all to sulk over him. He'd want everyone to fight and to protect each other. I'm not very strong, but I think if I can keep helping people a little bit maybe it's something."

Day 37: Sun Room

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