damned_institute | Day 38: Game Room

She’d never been in the Game Room before.

It didn’t look spectacularly interesting, she had to admit… but it’d be more fun than just hanging out in the Sun Room, right? Yuffie idly thumbed through a deck of cards, walking around the room to examine various bits and pieces. Board games, video games, chess… No really awesome prank material that she could see, but maybe she could rope somebody into a game of poker? That could be fun, but… ah, then again, most of the patients were just like her -- they didn’t have anything really cool that she could swindle out of them. Not until Nightshift, anyway.

Still! She’d keep it in mind. It wasn’t like there was anybody else in the room yet anyway, so any potential swindling would have to wait a little while. What could she do in the meantime, huh? Pick- pocketing a nurse could be fun..! Wait -- no, not when it was quiet like this. She’d have to wait until there was more cover, unless she got distracted. Yuffie hadn’t stolen anything in days, not since that time in Doyleton, with the Kaito kid…

Yuffie smirked. That had been fun.

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Ururu knew she'd promised to take care of herself, but she hadn't been able to bring herself to eat lunch that day. She'd apologize to everyone later, but finding out about Renji and Hitsugaya had made her feel worse than she had in days. Even now that she was in the game room, Ururu didn't really feel like playing too much.

But the nurse said that was where she was supposed to be, so the girl went, picking a chair and sitting in it. Instead of finding something to do, though, she just laid her head on the table, trying not to be sad, and not doing a very good job. She couldn't help it, as much as she wanted to. Ururu would have to soon though, since she was going to get Kurt that night.

It wasn't night yet, however. So maybe it was okay if she was sad right now.

[Reserved]

It appeared that everyone had had a fairly bad night all around, from what he was seeing and had read on the board. Yukito was especially worried about Subaru as he left the cafeteria. (Yue was as well, to a degree, no matter how little he was willing to acknowledge the fact.)

And then when he entered the 'game room' he spotted a familiar figure in an unfamiliar pose, and immediately became even more worried. Yukito headed over toward Ururu's table and very carefully lowered himself into the chair next to her, reaching out to rest a gentle hand on her shoulder.

"Ururu-chan?" he said, voice quiet but full of concern. "What's wrong?"

Ururu turned her head when someone touched her, but she didn't know who the person was. He knew her name though, so Ururu raised her head, looking at the person closely for a minute. He definitely didn't look like anyone she knew.

"More people disappeared." Ururu wiped her eyes with a hand, then stared down at the top of the table. "They were from my world, and they were really strong." That really bothered her too. If they could take the people who were the strongest away, then they really could take anyone. They'd already taken Kisuke-san, hadn't they?

"Um." Ururu didn't want to think about that, though, so she tried to focus on something else. "I'm sorry. You know me, but I don't know who you are."

"Oh...oh! I'm sorry, I didn't think..." Yukito looked momentarily abashed, self-consciously adjusting his glasses on his nose. "I'm Yukito. This is what I actually look like." When he was himself, like he was supposed to be, and not unnaturally co-existing with Yue.

But clearly Ururu was upset, and that was more important than his own problems and worries. His embarrassment faded and he went back to being concerned for the girl. "I'm sorry to hear your friends disappeared, Ururu-chan. Maybe it means they're back home again, where they belong?"

"Oh. Okay." Ururu hadn't known that Yukito looked any different from Yue, but now she did. The little girl nodded, not looking away from the table even as she spoke. Maybe if she felt better, she'd asked why he looked different now, but the little bit of curiosity she felt was quickly pushed aside when Yukito mentioned her friends.

"I don't think they are." It was hard to say, and not something Ururu wanted to believe. But Orihime had looked sad, even though she'd been trying hard not to, and Ururu couldn't forget that. If they'd just gone home, then it wouldn't be that hard. "They were the leaders of the Arts and Crafts group. They wouldn't just leave everyone behind."

Just like Ichigo wouldn't, or Rukia, or Kisuke-san. None of them would leave their friends, even if they had found a way home.

"They're lost. We haven't found anyone, and more people are lost." Ururu clutched the legs of her pants tightly, her small body starting to tremble a little. "And they were really strong. If...if they can make even strong people go away, then--then..."

Ururu couldn't finish it. The thoughts she hadn't wanted to think about, and the tears she hadn't wanted to cry all came at once, and the little girl began to sob.

Oh. Oh, dear. Yukito didn't know exactly what happened to people who disappeared from here - maybe they had gone home, maybe they were just trapped somewhere in the building, or maybe they'd actually died for real. But he did know that he had a crying little girl sitting in front of him and that wasn't something he could just let happen.

Ignoring the way it made pain flare again in his injuries, Yukito leaned forward and put his arms around the girl. "We'll keep looking, Ururu-chan," he promised. "We'll keep looking until we find them."

Hopefully the door Yue had found would lead to something useful. Maybe they'd actually be able to get some answers.

Edited 2009-01-19 17:53 (UTC)

Ururu hadn't meant to start crying, but she couldn't help being glad that Yukito hugged her then. Leaning into the older boy, the girl clung tightly to his shirt, feeling a little better just for him being there. She couldn't stop crying right away though, not for a few minutes. And even when she finally did, she didn't let go or pull away. It felt nice to be hugged.

"Th-thank you, Yukito-san." Ururu sniffled a little. "I hope we find them soon." Not just her friends, but Fai-san's and Kurogane's too. And anyone Yukito might have lost. "I didn't mean to cry. It's just hard because they were so strong. One of them was even a taichou." Ururu hadn't ever fought a taichou, but she knew they were powerful because of what Kisuke-san said.

"It's scary, because they can take really strong people like that." And Ururu, who wasn't as strong as she should be, didn't like the idea at all. How could she protect her friends that way? Friends who didn't want her to fight even when she could...friends that Ururu didn't want to lose, no matter what.

"It's okay, Ururu-chan. If you need to cry, you go ahead and do it." Yukito lightly stroked the girl's hair in what he hoped was a reassuring manner. She was upset and honestly, there wasn't all that much he could do other than hug her and let her cry on him. But if he could make her feel at least a little bit better, then at least he'd accomplished something, and that made him feel better as well.

He gave her a gentle smile and shook his head a little. "This place is scary and upsetting, even for people who are strong like you and your friends. Sometimes you need to take a break to rest, or cry, so you can keep being strong later, when it matters."

Day 38: Game Room

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