Description: Though they all survived Jinchuu, the three members of the Guardian Kings made it out the worse for wear. With new scars on their minds and bodies after their ordeals on the Suiryuu, Tenma, Hakuya and Kenji all regroup at Gedo High, catching up with each other the day after the evacuation, and they try to all turn their eyes to the future. Jinchuu may be over and done with... But are they done with Jinchuu?
'The day after' is when things really come into focus, isn't it? There's been time to put things in perspective, time to think on what's come before, time to heal - at least a bit. The evacuation off of the Suiryuu has come and gone, and there's been time to rest and recuperate. At least a little bit.
For Tenma Kiryuu, at least, there's been time to stew on what happened in the final days on the Suiryuu, the chaos and violence that the 'agents' were thrown into seemingly without rhyme or reason. There's been time for him to think back on how close he was to winning the entire crazy tournament, thanks to whatever mysterious and seemingly arbitrary methods the Ryouhara ninjas used to decide the semifinalists. But now, the day after, it's time to go back to what passes for regular life in Southtown, much less at Gedo High. Which is why Tenma is here, at the school, instead of sleeping the day away in his bed at home, like he'd much prefer to be doing.
It's lunch, and Tenma is at the usual Guardian Kings hangout spot - the roof of the school, of course, the single most dangerous place on campus. Despite all the things that are no doubt going through his head, the Gedo swordsman appears to be taking a nap in the mid-autumn sun, his cloth-wrapped bokken at his side, and a magazine over his head, shielding his face from the light. It's... Well, it's the kind of magazine that features very pretty, well-endowed young women, not /quite/ naked. Porn probably wouldn't go over well on campus.
The only thing that disturbs the peaceful silence up on the roof is the growl of Tenma's stomach, which he lazily puts one bandaged-up hand over, patting it once. Patience, there will be food eventually.
Hakuya had his own reflections. Things he wanted to know about Suiryuu, Jinchuu, the Ryouharas themselves. What was the point? The 'question and answer' session Seishirou had held at the end of the tournament, while Tenma was off fighting, had been a little fruitless and left more questions than answers. He'd pretended to understand, but really, he was even more confused, and while he'd been all smiles, he'd felt actual frustration. It was a common enough feeling these days. It all had seemed to happen when he'd been beaten - literally - by Nikolai, the one armed man with the tire iron and bum leg. But Hakuya wasn't the type of guy to bother others with his problems, which admittedly until now had been nonexistant. He prefered helping other people with their problems, and bringing betterment to all through that.
Which was likely why, despite the frustration and confusion, on this 'day after', Hakuya was climbing to the roof with a sack, and in this sack was bread. Melon bread, yakisoba bread, spicy breads, all manner of lunch breads that, undoubtedly, had just been gotten through ill means, using Hakuya's odd knack for cheating at games. The guy was all smiles most of the time, so it was kind of a wonder why he was so good at cheating. Maybe it -was- because of the smiles. "Tenma! I brought lunch!" the Suigetsu heir calls out in an almost chipper voice. His own wounds had mostly healed, though he comically had a bandaid over a cut that just refused to heal on his face. Any other wounds were hidden beneath the hoodie. "I think they're catching on, though... I may've won too much this time. But, at least we can eat, right? I even got you some strawberry milk!" He walks over next to Tenma, and begins to bring out the contents of the bag, setting down various wrapped breads... and about six cartons of strawberry milk. Dude sure did love his strawberries.
The most upright and repsonsible member of the Guardian Kings doesn't seem to be the sort of person to be morose or downcast, but today is no mere day. Today's the day after his long school sabbatical to go participate in Jinchuu, the day after he finally managed to get home and let his family know that he's okay-- if not somewhat full of holes. Of course his mother panicked, and Sakuya managed to keep from slugging him in the ribs in greeting.
Missile Fist Ashima shoves open the door and steps out into the light of day, the glare of the sun forcing his eyes to adjust and squint a little bit. The look around meets with the usual stares-- anyone that may be on the roof recognizing the school's Student Council Secretary, or just that he's in that godawful yellow uniform. Walking over to Tenma and Hakuya, his hand lifts lazily for a wave while he turns and angles to sit at the rooftop's outer wall with a grunt and a sigh, holding his shoulder. Pulling a can of iced coffee from the depths of his uniform pants' pocket and thumping down a manilla folder, the young man holds it steady on his knee and pulls the tab with two fingers-- while his left hand, now with an actual -cast-, rests across his lap.
"Tenma. Magazines before lunch is a sign of your habits getting worse."
"Noisy," Tenma grouses from underneath his gravure magazine, meaning it equally for both Hakuya and Kenji, but of course Hakuya brought food, so he knows how to get on the taller boy's good side. Not that it's terribly difficult, it just takes the right materials. His bandaged hand reaches up to pull the magazine off of his face, and he closes it neatly and sets it aside before he sits up, his one eye still closed from his injuries on the Suiryuu. Getting your head banged against the ceiling by Birdie doesn't do good things for you, you know? The doctors say he'll get better, though, with time.
Fighters are made of sterner stuff than most people, you know.
"An' I don't remember turnin' into your little sister, Ashima," Tenma adds in a mild, mostly joking reproach, as he takes up a lunch bread. Of course, he avoids Hakuya's favourites out of courtesy. He does know courtesy, at least a little bit of it. "Guess you'll just havta lose more often, then," he then directs to the Suitgetsu heir, taking a carton of strawberry milk with a nod of thanks... And a suspicious look at the drink. Hakuya likes strawberries /way/ too much. "So," he says after eating that first bread, letting it settle in his poor empty stomach. "That coulda gone better, huh?" There's probably no need for him to explain what he means by 'that'.
Hakuya hadn't even noticed the magazine, he was too involved with being the 'lunch guy' for today. When Kenji calls attention to it, he blinks and looks, but he only catches sight of the cover. Since it's not a full out porn magazine, he comes to a swift conclusion about what the two are referring to. That being: Tenma was interested in fashion, and unique fashion at that. "She was wearing a pretty outfit, though," Hakuya adds helpfully, picking up one of the (strawberry) breads and opening it up, snagging a carton of milk for himself as well. He snags a bite to eat of the bread, and munches with a cheerful, vacant look, his usual trademark. The trademark doesn't keep up, though, when Tenma brings 'that' up. He still chews, but his expression grows more serious, if not quite frowning. It's only for a fraction of an instant, though - but it's enough that it could be seen that Hakuya is troubled just as much as Tenma, and probably Kenji, is about it.
"Well, it was a fun experience. Fighting on a giant boat like that... and even with the invasion. It was almost like some huge scripted play, and we got to be heroes, you know? They -were- filming everything, maybe we'll see ourselves in a movie soon!" As cheerful as Hakuya tries to be, his words are probably a little -too- on the mark. Everything did seem a little scripted, didn't it?
"Don't tell her that, or else she'll punch you in the throat," Kenji responds, his mouth finally cracking up into a grin-- the first he's really managed today, and felt honest about it. Shifting his grip on the can, he takes a long haul before setting the can down to his side, away from his paperwork-- no way he's going to get it messed up if the can spills! But at Hakuya's response to the magazine, the young man lets out one short burst of laughter... then settles back.
"Yeah."
While he isn't as optimistic about it as Hakuya is, it's for a good reason. The reason indicated to as he points up at his shoulder, gesturing lightly and slowly. "Yeah, but in the movies, they use those blood splatterer things, not real bullets." Leaning his head back to the wall, Kenji's smile fades back down to a demi-amused expression. A few errant clumps of his wild hair drop down into his face, though he makes no moves to get it back out of his eyes.
"I got that sickle-girl from Seijyun, Sada? We're supposed to go out for breakfast sometime," he says, eyebrows lifted. "Wasn't a total loss, I'd say."
His arm lifts, giving Tenma a light punch in the shoulder. "And no complainin', you got paid the best of all of us!"
Sometimes, Tenma really does wonder about Hakuya, you know? With his one eye stuck closed, the expression he shoots at the Suigetsu heir is even more dubious than usual, but he shrugs his shoulders blithely, taking a sip of milk and grabbing a second bread. "Nah, not a total loss," he agrees, though he doesn't sounds quite convinced. Besides, the kama chick... She's pretty crazy, he has no clue /what/ Kenji's thinking on that one. The punch on his shoulder meats with a wry look from the team captain.
"Heh... I wonder what that Pervert Kidnapper Ninja was up to, stickin' me in there," Tenma says, thoughtfully. "I think you're right, Hakuya, the whole thing seemed like we were all dancin' t' somebody else's tune, for all their talk of it bein' the 'people's tournament'. Us, those guys on the aircraft carrier..." Who can say who really came out ahead? It's not like any of them have all the pieces to that little puzzle, anyway. And Tenma learned enough things he would probably rather he hadn't, anyway, without trying to get to the bottom of everything. "If I ever see that Pervert Kidnapper Ninja again, I'm gonna punch him right in the teeth," Kiryuu mutters, darkly. "Still," he adds, more brightly, and in less of an 'I'm muttering for my own benefit' voice, "'least we did better'n Red's little band a' suckers."
Hakuya's role on this team is to be the good cheer. And he does that job flawlessly. Pretty much to a fault, even. "Yes, it did seem like that... Pervert-kun was a little mysterious throughout it all. I had to wonder if the invasion we faced wasn't part of some script, either... like, the runes on the ship were all made to counter it, but the runes were put there weeks before the cruiser showed up, right?" Hakuya makes this observation with an oddly vacant look, as though he weren't really saying those words, and someone was just making him do it. He seems more interested in the bread and milk he has, really. Finishing off his bread, he grabs another one while chugging the last of his milk. "Oh, that's good, isn't it?" he asks of Kenji finally as he sets his carton aside. "I think I fought with that girl..." he pauses to scratch his cheek. "She didn't seem very strong..."
When 'Red's team is mentioned, he then nods seriously. "Yes... I didn't see most of them the entire tournament. Marisol I didn't see at all... and after Pas woke up next to me naked, I think she was a little too embarrassed to see me again." Say /what/? But Hakuya just goes right on. "Preston and Luc I saw the most of... they seem to have gotten stronger, recently. Luc especially." Giving a thoughtful chew to his new bread, Hakuya hmms and then adds, "But all in all, I think the experience was fun. And we learned a lot from it, right?"
"Yeah, she jumped me in an alley once. She was pissed off and chasing me down because of someone I know," he remarks, staring out the corner of his eyes at Tenma, "Made her mad, and stuff. She's okay if you get a chance to talk to her. That Kasugano chick, too. Met her at the pool, heh heh."
He won't mention the fact he was reading action manga at the time.
But then Tenma does invariably bring up the topic of their main rivals-- the accursed Pacific Resistance, for all the good they think they bring to the world. Kenji's good cheer is cut exceptionally grim, mouth in a flat line and looking a little angry. "Yeah, you weren't the one that got that jerk Luc stuck in the same room as you. The entire trip, it was nothing but him screaming about something or other like a freaking child. He popped me one in the lounge, too. And O'Connell..."
The fingers in his cast tense up a bit-- he wants to form a fist, but it looks more like his hand's trying to crush out of the cast like he were the Hulk or something.
But did Kenji learn something? "I guess."
He takes another large sip of his canned coffee.
"The hell did I do?" Tenma wonders; all he did was beat Sada up. It was a match, even, what's she got to complain about? Chicks are whack. But what Hakuya says raises some uncomfortable questions, questions Tenma isn't entirely sure he'd want to know the answers to. Instead he just picks at another bread, grunting faintly at the other two's own experiences with Pacific Resistance. It's not really clear how much of what they say he even hears. "Oh yeah, we all learned tons," he agrees, tone darkening again.
In this, Tenma refers to a lot of things, not the least of which being the Brazilian he only half-heard Hakuya mention. Not that he even knows her by that name, not yet; this is what happens when teammates don't share important information amongst themselves!
The bread goes into Tenma's mouth whole, and he chews on the thing, forcing it down in the too big bites fashion only a small child or teenaged boy would bother with. "Stupid Red. All her damn fault we got caught by those idiots." And Momo too, but all things in their time. So many people who need to be hit roughly about the head for events on that boat. "Guess we ain't really done with Jinchuu yet," he muses solemnly, looking down at the courtyard below with his one open eye.
"Mmn... maybe she is, Kenji! Besides, there are a lot of good people at Seijyun High. Like Futaba," Hakuya says, and smiles more at the memory of the girl. He'd helped her out during the invasion, and felt proud of that fact, even if she did get beaten unconscious. She hadn't been kidnapped. Relative victory. "Oh, I met Kasugano, as well. She's very nice!"
Hakuya then goes quiet as the others get gloomy. Honestly, the Suigetsu heir felt the same way. He wanted to be gloomy. He wanted to be confused and a little frustrated. But the idea of protecting his friends, even from themselves, had ingrained itself in his mind all the more since he'd gotten beat by Nikolai. And beyond even that... it wasn't like his friends to be so down. So, he'd need to initiate EMERGANCY PROCEEDURES. Standing up slowly, Hakuya gets to his feet, setting his bread and milk on the ground. "I don't mean learning like that! I meant... we learnt more about our strengths! And weaknesses! We know where we stand in the grand scheme of things. We're strong, but we can get stronger! Right?" Clenching his gloved fist in front of him, he looks almost impassioned at Tenma and Kenji, a very different look from his passive, vacant smile he usually wears. "We got beat, but we can still get stronger! And we can do it all together! So the next time we see Pervert-kun, we can beat him, even on our own!" There's a short pause, and then Hakuya lifts his hand to rubbing the back of his head, giving a nervous, though again cheerful grin. "...Right?"
"Mmn... maybe she is, Kenji! Besides, there are a lot of good people at Seijyun High. Like Futaba," Hakuya says, and smiles more at the memory of the girl. He'd helped her out during the invasion, and felt proud of that fact, even if she did get beaten unconscious. She hadn't been kidnapped. Relative victory. "Oh, I met Kasugano, as well. She's very nice!"
Hakuya then goes quiet as the others get gloomy. Honestly, the Suigetsu heir felt the same way. He wanted to be gloomy. He wanted to be confused and a little frustrated. But the idea of protecting his friends, even from themselves, had ingrained itself in his mind all the more since he'd gotten beat by Nikolai. And beyond even that... it wasn't like his friends to be so down. So, he'd need to initiate EMERGANCY PROCEEDURES. Standing up slowly, Hakuya gets to his feet, setting his bread and milk on the ground. "I don't mean learning like that! I meant... we learnt more about our strengths! And weaknesses! We know where we stand in the grand scheme of things. We're strong, but we can get stronger! Right?" Clenching his gloved fist in front of him, he looks almost impassioned at Tenma and Kenji, a very different look from his passive, vacant smile he usually wears. "We got beat, but we can still get stronger! And we can do it all together! So the next time we see Pervert-kun, we can beat him, even on our own!" There's a short pause, and then Hakuya lifts his hand to rubbing the back of his head, giving a nervous, though again cheerful grin. "...Right?"
He'd shrug at Tenma, but it'd hurt too much.
"Mmm, yeah, Futaba."
His expression is somewhat lofty and placid for the time being, but Kenji's a little confused at the time-- in truth, the majority of the Black Noah incident is a bit of a blur to him. The last thing he remembers was running from battle, and trying to find a place to hide before blacking out... and then waking back up on the Suiryuu covered in bloody bandages.
But that's not chipper.
Drawing up one leg a bit and tapping his fingers on the can of coffee, he can only grin at Hakuya and his attempts to get the mood between the three members of the Guardian Kings motivated. "Yeah. I'm supposed to smack that guy for getting the door to my house messed up from that stupid kunai."
Pushing up from the wall, Kenji signals to Hakuya and points at one of the spicy breads, opening his hand up to catch. "Y'mind?"
Regardless of him getting bread or not, he follows Tenma's gaze to look out over the school. "Then what's next, Tenma?" he asks, looking to their leader for input.
"Ffft," Tenma exhales, shaking his head ruefully at Hakuya's work at cheering them up, restoring some of the heart to the team. "You're damn right, Hakuya," he says finally, laying back on the rooftop, though his one useable eye is still fixed on the grounds below. "We'll get stronger, an' well show anybody as thinks otherwise that we mean business." His tone sounds heartier at least; there's still dark thoughts running through his head, anger at the betrayals they faced, and especially at one perceived betrayal that only he knows about. But...
"Next?" the tall swordsman repeats, turning his face back towards Hakuya and Kenji. "First we heal our sorry asses up," Tenma says, with a slight but fierce grin. "Gramps says my eye should be better in 'bout a week, an' the rest of my injures besides. You gotta look after that arm, Ashima," he notes, perhaps unnecessarily, but hey: Kenji's in a /cast/! "Then, like Hakuys says, we gotta get stronger. So heal fast, we ain't got time t' just be sittin' around. We got accounts need to be settled after that little boat tour, an' we got work t' do here. The future's out there waitin' for us t' grab it by the throat, an' it ain't gonna be easy, but... If we weren't up to it, we'd probably be dead now."
Yeah, that's his idea of an inspirational speech.
Hakuya nods to Kenji as his friend agrees with him, the nervousness disappearing as at the very least -someone- agrees with him. It was kind of not his style to take the lead like that, but he had to do something. His friends were kind of in a slump... and sitting around and moping about it wouldn't accomplish anything. He realizes this mostly as Tenma gets up and talks, his eyes following the Guardian King leader as he speaks on what they need to do, because to be honest he's just as moping as the rest of them. "Right... we might have problems, but we solve them through action, not sitting around!" He adds, and nods his head a few times. "We have things to do... if nothing else, to get stronger. So we just have to rest up." His injuries weren't as obvious as either Tenma or Kenji's, but his bones were still quite tender. He was probably in the best shape of the three, but still not in top conditions. A few days more bed rest in a real bed, not having to worry about invasions and naked Brazilian girls waking up next to him, and he'd be as good as new.
"Huh? Oh, yeah, you can have all the bread and milk you like, Kenji!" Hakuya adds, smiling cheerfully. Food was the best cure for anything.
Kenji looks down at his cast-clad arm as Tenma brings it up once again, grinning just a little bit as he thinks about it-- about how when he got home, his mother virtually dragged him by the hair to the emergency room to get checked out properly, and get him patched up as soon as possible. Quick medical attention-- it's pretty easy when your mother's a nurse at the nearest hospital.
He'll have to take it easy for now... cast or not, maybe he could use the chance to sign up for more of those official events, like the weekly show. The thought puts him a little more at ease.
At least, until the obnoxious sound of high speed rock music blasts from the depths of his uniform jacket. Kenji pulls out his phone and glances at the display, flipping it open and checking the message recieved. "Heh."
Flipping the phone closed again with a clap of plastic, he tucks it away and bends forward to reach toward the bread and snag his favored flavor. Ripping open the wrapper, he half-sits on the wall and rests his back against the fencing. "So much for that peaceful rose-colored student life, huh?" he says aloud. Though his eyes are closed and his tone sounds lamenting what he seems to think he's lost, the Student Council member has a rather wide grin plastered on his face.
Though he'd never admit it aloud, Tenma is pretty proud of his two teammates. Getting out of that tournament alive and with their will to fight intact is impressive all on its own... Everything after that is just icing on the cake. They're stronger now, stronger than they were before they set foot on the Suiryuu, and even if they largely fought on their own, apart from one another, to him they feel more unified than they ever did before. "Man," he says to Kenji, at that last 'complaint'. "You'd go nuts if you were livin' that boring crap." They all would, Tenma thinks; even if their temperaments are different, they're all fighters. There's something, something at the core of them, that separates them from the general run of people.
Something they can't hide, and they can't deny. Not really.
But for now, they've got a few normal days, at least as normal as things get around Gedo High, to finish recuperating from the ordeal on the Suiryuu. And once they do? Saying nothing else, Tenma just grins to himself. They're just getting started.
Log created on 22:31:38 11/06/2007 by Tenma, and last modified on 08:39:56 11/10/2007.