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ajin-secret-santa · 7 years ago

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“Camaraderie.” - Ajin Secret Santa 2017

This is my second contribution for AjinSS2017. Dear @lairn, I’m your pinch writer for this occasion.

Platonic KeiKou, bird imagery, Kou trying his best, Kei and Kou learning to communicate and being (antagonistic) friends, horror and gore stuff with the IBMs, very intense/ruthless Kei were the points I wanted to incorporate.

I hope you’ll enjoy the story! :D

Merry Christmas!

Title: Camaraderie

Pairing: Nagai Kei & Nakano Kou (Platonic)

Fun Fact: Manabe goes shopping for the group

The scream comes from a mile away. It sounds very much like Kei. Kou, having searched around the area for the last fifteen minutes, jolts up at the distressed noise. What the hell, he thinks, panic already clouding his mind, what happened? He takes off towards it without any second thought, forcing his legs to run even faster, gritting his teeth and clenching his fists. The trees rush past him, white noise in his ear as he charges on.

“Nagai!” he yells yet again, but once again, there is no answer, only the later-afternoon chirp of birds in the branches, the grass and branches crunching underneath his feet.

It’s still so hot, so very hot. Kou stops for a moment, sides aching from the mad speed that not even the training with Hirasawa could hold up against. Not yet, he thinks, making a mental note to train even harder from now on, not yet.

“Nagai!”

“I’m here, you dumbass.” The sullen voice mixes into the surrounding noise, and even though Nakano Kou is surrounded by nature in all its glory, it’s this very moment that brings him the most joy. Nagai Kei steps out from the clearing. He’s limping, Kou notices, brow furrowing, and he can’t stop his mouth falling agape in shock when he realizes Kei is missing a limb. “What the hell, man!” he cries out, hysteria ripping into his casual tone, and he breaches the last meter between them to kneel down on the ground in front of Kei. His hands reach out in confusion and shock, unable to yet understand the truth his visual senses are presenting him with. He reaches for Kei’s legs or rather, what remains of it. A stump. Dried clots of blood mark the area where the rest off it had been – Kou whimpers at the thought -violently torn off, or so it looks like. Crimson blood keeps leaking out, splattering the ground.

“I-“ Kei says, and to Ko’s utter disbelief, there is a confident smirk lining his mouth, “I was training with my IBM. Since I wanted to practice attacks, and there was no-one else around, I-“ Kei’s voice cuts off, body jerking as he sinks to the ground.

“Shit!” Kou curses, drawing away his bloodied hands, wincing as Kei’s head hits the ground right beside him. Kei’s shirt, once white and spotless, has been torn to bloody shreds. There are gashes everywhere they shouldn’t be, work that only the most enraged of Black Ghosts- and Kei’s counts among them, for sure- would manage. Kou turns his head away from the horrible sight.

“I’m going to die anyway.” The slurred words leave Kei’s mouth, ”Dumbass, there’s nothing you can do about that.” There’s a tone of satisfaction in his statement that has Kou’s blood boiling.

“What on earth is wrong with you, Nagai?” he barks, “I thought you knew all the painless methods to die!” At that moment, Kou almost swears that Nagai is rolling his eyes at him. “W-wouldn’t make for effective…attacking methods.” Kei says, the last words no more than a mumble, and it’s almost peaceful, the way in which his eyes flutter shut, in which he draws a last breath before sinking to the ground.

“Nagai! Nagai!” Kou yells out, his initial mortal instinct gearing up at the sight of a death right in front of his eyes, before he remembers that Kei will come back. Probably. Kou exhales in relief once the particles- thick and in mass quantity for Kei – rise in the air, and amid the process of regeneration, finally, Kei stirs. “Welcome back.” Kou says, feels his hands tremble.

“You still didn’t tell me why the heck you did something like that.” Kou grumbles.

After his regeneration, Kei had, under quite a bit of groaning, risen to his feet, and yanked off the soiled remains of his shirt, buried it under a ground with a few kicks. Then, in a tone as casual as no one who had shortly before survived a death by blood loss should be using, he suggested they made their way back to the hide-out.

“I don’t have to tell you, do I.” Kei swiftly replies, “It was for training. It’s not like your IBM is of much use, yet, or ever-“ the thinly veiled insult had Kou’s fingers clenching – “and so mine should be optimally prepared to wreck as much havoc as possible.”

It sounded logical, so far. But what Kei had done back there could not simply be classified as training. Kou shuddered at the memory- the boy standing before the clearing, a stump instead of a leg, and so much blood. He had no doubt it would surface in the form of a nightmare in one of these restless nights.

“That was intentional suicide.” Kou insists, throwing an inquisitive glare in Kei’s direction, and almost tripping over a particularly thick branch in their way, one which the other skillfully evades. “Intentional.” he repeats, once he’s gathered himself, “And the violent kind, you know? When you don’t even need to do it, you can already make perfect IBMS. I’m pretty certain this is not the kind of training that Tosaki meant.”

“And I’m pretty certain he won’t learn about this.” Kei interjects. Kou halts in his tracks as the other levels a glare back at him. “Neither him, nor Izumi, nor Hirasawa. None of their business. It’s the only way to insure a violent fighting force, and I’m not about to explain myself to anyone considering my own training. Got it?”

He sounds intimidating enough as it is. Kou knows the other is to be reckoned with- he poisoned him already, the grim reminders comes forward immediately- and he is not about to argue with Kei about something that he obviously feels intensely about.

“Fine.” he says, taking a deep breath, “They won’t hear it from me.” That is obviously good enough for Kei. He nods, and then turns away from him. They don’t speak for the rest of the way to the hideout, and Kou doesn’t make another attempt.

It’s lonely back in his room. Also, it is a little boring. Kou sighs, pondering his options as he stares at the bare ceiling that is in dire need of a renovation. He could join Hirasawa’s crew back in his room, He knows they’re currently engaged in a drinking session, from the sounds coming from further down the hallway. And as jovial as the lot is, and as much as Kou enjoys spending time with them, he knows that his thoughts would keep drifting back to the one thing at hand that he had wanted to do, since this very afternoon. Current circumstances have forced him to reschedule, that is his excuse for the soft bundle remaining in his trouser pocket his entire time, but there is no point on procrastinating on it further. If only it wasn’t so difficult.

With Kei apparently, every single thing is another hurdle to yet overcome. Kou remembers how downright hostile he was to him at first, and even after joining Tosaki’s group, the other has kept speaking with him to a bare minimum.

That was when first turned to Izumi.

“You want him to become your friend?” she asked

If she was amused, at least she was courteous enough to not show it.

“Well, yeah.” Kou said, scratching the back of neck, “I mean, he’s the only one around my age here, right? And he’s an Ajin and I feel like we’re going to spend a long time together from now on.

It just sucks that he’s such a jerk most of the time.” The corners of her lips curved upwards.

“I see.” she said, “Then, Nakano-kun. I have a suggestion. Presents open hearts, they say, so perhaps, why not try gifting him with something he likes?”

Kou, for his part, was a little thunderstruck.

“You’re telling me to give him a present?”

“It couldn’t hurt to try.” she said, and then, before Kou could properly protest, a few bills were placed into his hand

“Give it to Manabe, once he goes for another errand, tell him to bring you whatever it is you think he’d like.”

“I can’t accept that.” Kou stammered, but she waved him off.

“Don’t worry about it. Just don’t tell Tosaki-san about this.” She put a finger to her lips. Kou laughed, and thanked her from the bottom of his heart.

Kou reaches into his pockets and pulls out the by now severely crinkled shirt. It is Kei’s size, burgundy red, and has several black birds flying across it.

“For Nagai?” Manabe asked, with a surprised laugh, “Sure. So what do you want?”

“Something that he…well, something he can use, I guess.” Kou said, indecisively, “Perhaps…with birds.”

The thought had come to him in the middle of the night. Pondering what things Kei liked had taken up longer than he had estimated it to. The problem was, Kei, apart from not being human, was not normal like other people, either. Kou didn’t think he had any hobbies to begin with, if you left out sarcasm, arrogance and an alarming amount of sadistic tendencies. He liked to read, but then, apart from schoolwork, Kou didn’t exactly know what kind of book Kei would be happy with. Something scientific, surely.

But what topics was Nagai interested in? It was then that he began to consider perhaps gifting Kei something that was symbolic, meaningful. Perhaps it would impress Kei a little. Perhaps it wouldn’t, but either way, the thought behind it counted, Kou decided. And that’s when he arrived at birds. Kou had never been a fan of long, tedious reads and analyzing literature. So, to be perfectly honest, he didn’t have a clue about flower language or why the sky was a certain shade of a blue in poetry.

But birds…Birds were different. They were something that existed, beside them and yet independent of them. They symbolized freedom and independence. To make extra-sure, Kou had run a google search and discovered they happened to stand for eternal life, as well. And since freedom and a long, eternal life where they wouldn’t be hiding from the government or fighting Satou was hopefully in the cards for them a long the way, Kou decided they were the perfect gift.

“I hope you don’t mind it’s a boring shirt.” Only a few days later, Manabe handed him an inconspicuous looking plastic bag.

Kou peered inside, and felt elated at the sight. The colors were perfect – just the kind Kei would like. The birds were splattered all over it, no more than strokes of a brush, soaring upwards in a flock.

“Thank you!” he replied, “It’s great! I bet he’ll really like it.”

Now, standing in Kei’s doorframe, he isn’t so sure anymore. “What do you want?” The other asks, with a sigh, as though Kou is being a bother by intruding in on his precious space. Kei had been sat at his desk, reading a book with a cover that promised fatal boredom the second the other had walked in. Kou tries his best to not let the words get to him as much as they could have.

“I got something for you.” Kou says closing the door behind himself- he certainly doesn’t want any of the other members walking in on him making a fool of himself – and brings forward the gift hat he has been hiding behind his back all this time. Kei raises an eyebrow, and comments:

“That could use some ironing.”

“Hey.” Kou snaps, defensively, “Aren’t you happy at all, you ass?”

“Wait, this is for me?” Kei rises to his feet, and reaches out in bewilderment for the gift. Kou hands it to him, nodding. For someone who’s a self-proclaimed genius, Kou decides Nagai Kei can be slow on the uptake.

“Yeah, it’s…” Kou feels the back of his neck heat up, “A present.”

Why is he feeling so embarrassed at the situation?

“For me?” Kei repeats, putting emphasis on the me part. He stares at Kou as though he’s grown a second head.

“Yeah, for you.” Kou says with emphasis, “So, what, do you like it or not?”

He waits, more anxiously than he thought he would be as Kei examines the shirt with his scrutinizing eyes.

“It’s actually nice.” he finally admits, the gift having obviously passed his examination. Kou breathes a sigh of relief.

“Great.” he replies joyfully, “Then please accept it.”

He presses the shirt firmly into his hands and takes back a step.

Kei visibly hesitates. His eyes flick back between the shirt, Kou and his desk.

“What do you want in exchange for it?” he asks, and Kou can’t fault him for the reasonable amount of suspicion in his tone. After all, he might be expecting an act of revenge for the mushroom onigiri, even though Kou would never go that far.

“Ceasefire.” Kou proclaims with a broad grin. He rubs the back of his neck, gesturing slightly as he explains. “Look, I know we started off on a bad foot. Really bad. But this mission here, against Satou…this is serious, and this is going to go on for long. And I don’t want to see you as my…enemy” Kou laughs, embarrassed at the overexaggerated term, “Or something like that. How about…how about we call it a ceasefire, and try to be…friends?

He winces as Kei’s right brow travels to unseen heights the second the word leaves his lips.

“Friends.” Kei deadpans.

“Friends would be nice, yep.” Kou laughs again, and feels like slapping himself for it. This isn’t a joke, and he doesn’t want Kei to take it as one. “I mean…yeah, I want us to be friends.” He says in a more serious tone, looking the other right in the eyes. “Will you accept my gift as promise of…camaraderie?” He’d learnt the expression from Hirasawa, and immediately taken a liking to it. Camaraderie, that’s what Hirasawa’s squad practices among themselves, that’s how they have come to be so close. One day, Kou thinks, even though it will be highly unlikely, one day I want to be able to have the same kind of relationship with Kei.

“I didn’t know you were knowledgeable in such difficult words.” Kei says mockingly, but before Kou can jab something back at him in response to that new verbal injury, he shrugs his shoulders.

“Well, perhaps.” he agrees, sighing as he does. “If I accept your offer, I can have this gift and I’d need a new shirt anyway, after today. It’s a deal.”

“That’s your kind of logic?” Kou can’t help but exclaim loudly, and only the smirk on Kei’s lips tells him the other might be joking. Partially.

“Honestly though…thank you for the gift.” Kei voices, right when Kou isn’t expecting it anymore. But Kei isn’t looking at him- his eyes are focused on the shirt, and he is tracing the birds with his finger. “They look like tiny IBMS.” he mumbles, and Kou vows that it’s a genuine smile he sees, for once.

#ajinss17 #fanfic

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