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spidermilkshake · 1 year ago

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Rethink Gemini--Chapter 2

(This is an AU Buso Renkin fanfiction, with an alternate canon that massively subverts the source material! Read at one's own risk of confusion and/or entertainment!)

Trigger Warnings for this story: References to death, references to child abuse including systemic child abuse.

9:45 a.m., Tuesday, June 25th 2002

It hadn’t taken very long after the two remaining elder Homunculi situated the twins that they fell into a deep, dark sleep—dreamless and heavy from their exhaustion. For the first night in a long time they did not feel the need to keep on alert and wild.

They’d been placed in a room on the far end of one of the conjoining hallways, tucked into a corner on a floor mattress and burrowed into a pile of blankets. There was otherwise just a low table, a small electric fan to keep the small room cool, and an overhead light which was weak and yellowed to decorate the cool brick walls and old, dull carpet.

When Ouka opened her eyes, her head happened to be turned towards the table across from the curled-up children. Last night she hadn’t noticed anything of interest on it, but now she made out in the dim lighting a pair of folded-up outfits and an additional two bottles of something, still quite cold from the glistening condensation beading on it. Her stirring began to wake Shusui as well, who disentangled himself from his sister and sat up with bleary eyes and a yawn.

“Look,” she pointed to the clothes and beverages. Shusui observed them quietly, eyes sharpening as he woke up fully. The young pair silently decided to parse out these gestures of caretaking, changing first back-to-back and then examining the bottles. They were chocolate milks, as far as they could tell.

“Sister,” Shusui sat with folded legs, staring intently into the half-drained bottle he’d claimed. Ouka copied him, but faced perpendicular so she also could see the door. They both had the sense that they should be waiting for one of the Homunculi to arrive, though neither had much insight into why they had such an anticipation.

“Yes?”

“These people are…” Shusui made a strange frown. He had almost said they were nice, or kind, or even… good, but it was hard to imagine such a thing. The hurt so far had been great.

“I think we should go with them,” Ouka understood her twin’s meaning, sipping her milk though not really tasting it. “… I have a good feeling.”

“You remember what Mita-san said?” Shusui murmured. He almost had to hear a confirmation from the only person he still loved and trusted. Ouka nodded.

“About Norinaka-san?” She too sounded dubious, but hopeful, “That he would take us to his house?”

“Where is his house?” Shusui wondered, fidgeting with the cap of his now-empty milk. “Is it not here?”

“I don’t know. We should ask.”

There was a soft rapping of bony knuckles on the doorway which cut their low conference short. The lilting voice they now recognized called out:

“Kiddos? You awake yet?”

“Yes, Sir.” Shusui answered, sounding much shyer than he would have liked to. He sat up a little taller and compensated.

“Mhn, may I enter?” he chuckled. He was made to wait patiently, still with a few soft chuckles under his breath as the two children looked at each other stunned.

“Y-yes, Sir,” Ouka finally eked out, and the door handle rattled open with a click and the portal swung inward a foot or so. Moonface’s odd face popped into view, already smiling cheerfully.

“We—ell, good morning you two,” he practically sang at them. “I see you liked Nori-kun’s presents, yeah?”

“Oh,” Ouka blinked owlishly and fidgeted with the sleeve of her new shirt. “These are from Norinaka-san?”

“Right,” Moonface snickered and pointed over his shoulder, “I’d have got you something, but he was not happy with my attempt last night. But if you’re hungry, he and some good friends have got you some breakfast.”

“Friends?”

“More of us,” he opened the door wider as Shusui came up so the boy could exit. “Including our top boss. She’s a lovely comrade! Definitely worth meeting for you two!”

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Being underground, the two children did not notice any improvement in the hall’s lighting as they followed Moonface’s lanky stride. It was quickly clear they were returning to the small, clean room they had been brought to and cared for in yesterday night. Moonface propped the door open wide and bowed—ushering the two in with the wide gesture.

Shusui and Ouka’s eyes widened. Within, they were greeted with a much populated room than before. Norinaka was present, though distracted with arguing with a strange and intimidating new man over the back of his chair. This newcomer had profoundly more ferocious eyes that any other—sharp, slanted, golden with jarringly red irises—and a wild blond haircut complimenting a rough and patched fur-lined jacket. The man’s glare snapped to the kids for a second but dropped back to the round man immediately as if averse to meet the gaze of the small children. Opposite these two were three more strangers with two of them being just as daunting and scary. One was all muscle and powerfully upswept forelock (with the blond highlight streak of a stereotypical ruffian and all) and strongly resembling a larger, darker-skinned Japanese John Travolta. This man noted the kids shuffling forward, and seemingly also their wary glances in his direction since he uncrossed his burly arms to hunch lower, smaller, and flash a friendly grin at them. The other followed her companion’s gaze but remained impassive; she was not large—a fairly ordinary-looking woman with a understated haircut and plain, almost tomboyish clothing—but her eyes were unnerving large, and almost equipped with slitted pupils, long ovals embedded like deep pits in brilliant green expanses. These glinted in that iridescent gold and blue way a cat’s or a fox’s does in poor lighting. These frightening eyes hooded as she studied over the quiet twins, unbothered as Shusui leveled a protective glare back.

The third on that side was far more like the children, and sitting less prominently on the floor against the wall. Wearing only brown overalls, slouching and not once looking directly at the twins, squinting heavily instead down at the laptop set on the floor. He was obviously close to their age—probably a maximum of 10 years old—and looked dramatically out of place.

However, Ouka and Shusui could no longer focus on others in the small room as the leader seated at the end of the table peered up and smiled at their arrival. Moonface left them to their chairs and went to lean on the wall by the fierce-eyed man, and as the children settled, they had their senses drawn over to a long, flat box laid close to their space.

“Hello. Shusui, and Ouka, right?” The leader said, her voice carrying and giving the impression right away she outstripped each of the wild and dangerous-looking characters sharing the room. Ouka nodded, scanning this woman with an awestruck interest. She was extremely pretty, elegant in posture, a sleeveless power vest decorated with floral designs and skirt matching it on her deceptively ordinary and slender form. Her face was framed with long, silky bangs and her eyeshadow a delicate mix of purples and greens. As she raised both hands to gesture kindly towards the mystery box, the girl also perked up at the shimmery indigo-polished nails, “I am Sasaki Hanabusa—but you two are probably hungry by now, so please, help yourselves before we go any further.”

The contents were revealed to be a variety of—noticeably healthy and wholesome—edibles along with the waft of aromatic steam. They were partitioned by sweet and savory: Pancakes, rice cakes, clementine slices and the like, and pickled radishes, cucumber, and sweet peppers, salted salmon and toast slices. Taking the woman’s advice, the kids dug in.

Norinaka smirked, peering back at the fierce-eyed man once more, “See? They’re no problem. So much for your worries.”

“Hmph,” the man tilted his head and watched the youngsters shoveling breakfast into their face heedless of being surrounded by supernatural beings, “And when they are not being bribed with food?”

“Relax, Washio,” Moonface whispered, “They’re alright, really. C’mon, they can’t be older than six. Cool your head, enh.”

When the tray of breakfast was almost picked clean, Sasaki Hanabusa pushed a fresh pair of mugs towards the children, which Norinaka hastily helped to scoot the rest of the way into their reach. Through the aromatic steam of the green tea, they noticed for the first time the file folder she had just flipped open in front of her. Scarcely did they have enough time to wonder what was filling the bleak-looking pages within when the leader began to explain it to her audience.

“Mita filled me in on your situation last night,” she began, an indigo nail trailing down a document before tapping upon it pensively, “While we already believed you, I had a few favors called in and was given this…

“It verifies everything. The police reports, hospital records, and the little that could be found about that, hmph, foster house…”

Norinaka blatantly flinched at the words “foster house”; it appeared the others had been advised of the file, the iron-hard proof of the sickening experiences of the wayward twins. He kept glancing over to them, worry creasing his forehead and dimples.

“In light of all this,” she flipped the file shut with a hard finality, “I invite the two of you to shelter here, in this safehouse, if you wish to. We can easily provide everything you might need to be comfortable here for a time.”

Ouka and Shusui looked to each other in unsure silence before realizing they were free to reply.

“O-okay,” Ouka spoke for both of them, shooting a sheepish look over towards the stoutest of the gathered men. Norinaka’s expression betrayed nothing but his continued concern. “We really can..?”

“Of course. We’ve all agreed this is the least we can do for the two of you.

“If there is some other arrangement you’d consent to,” Hanabusa nodded and smiled, “Then we can talk about it at any time.”

At this, the hard-eyed man with the golden hair shuffled his jacketed shoulder and emitted a low growl; to which Moonface glanced down his thin nose with hooded eyes and scoffed, and Norinaka aimed a razor-sharp glare at his neighbor’ discontentment.

“Since you would be staying with us for at least some time, we ought to introduce you to the rest of us—”

“Mita, Nori and me y’know already,” Moonface grinned, then cackled nervously as both the slitted-eyed stranger and Hanabusa eyed him. One lanky hand thumped down chummily on the fierce-eyed fellow’s shoulder, causing him to jolt and growl again for more understandable reasons, “This here’s Washio! And don’t you kids fret—he don’t bite. Ain’t as scary as he looks at all!”

“That’s enough, Lunnara,” their leader said with cool firmness. “We can all speak for ourselves, including young Washio.”

“Get your hand off,” the younger man in question grumbled, sloughing Moonface’s long digits away, before the others spoke in rotation:

“Thank you, Sasaki-san,” the slitted-eyed woman gave a curt, short bow, “I am Tsuge Kyou. This is not my usual area of jurisdiction, but since Moonface contacted headquarters and let me know of the urgent matter I came here as early as I could to oversee the situation. I represent the interests of our superiors while I’m visiting,” her large eyes narrowed slightly, giving them an iridescent greenish glint. “While I am here, feel free also to come to me and ask about what might come next for you. There are several homes that could be open to you—in Saitama or Tokyo.”

“Tokyo?” Ouka whispered under her breath, close enough she hoped only her twin might hear. Shusui suppressed a shiver; Tokyo was big. Big, and far. Well… as far as a five-year-old who had never traveled beyond city limits could comprehend.

“If you prefer some other choice, we will respect your wishes.” Kyou said as she leaned back and crossed her arms lightly. As she went quiet once more, something or someone jogged the buff Travolta-look-alike under the table. The large man gasped, straightened up with a fidget and a light flush of embarrassment before he stammered into his introduction.

“Er, uh, hi,” he flashed another wide grin, “Name’s Saruwatari. Saruwatari Higuma—just call me Saru, eh?”

The strange child hunching over the laptop gave a furtive glance around through heavily-squinted eyes before mumbling in an awkward voice:

“’M Kawazui.” And he ducked his face back down to the small screen, typing rapidly for a few seconds before falling silent.

“There are more of us here, or who come and go, though we couldn’t all be here today, of course.” Hanabusa continued with a slight smile. “In time maybe you’ll meet them all. For now, is there anything you’d like to know?”

“Yeah,” Shusui peeped, “Where is Mita?”

“At work,” she explained, “He is a professor at the academy down the hill, so he’s never that far away. He should come by this evening.”

The boy mulled this over, impatient. In a joint movement, the twins shot a telling glimpse over to Norinaka, wondering over the tall, stern man’s words he’d left them with last night. Why hadn’t the plump, dark-haired man made any mention of what Mita had suspected? Would he bring it up? Perhaps it would be up to them to speak to their interests—much as the freedom they’d had during the rest of their stay here among these strange folk.

“Um.” Ouka squeaked, pushing with her palms on the tabletop to peek higher in her seat, “Are you all like Moonface?”

Washio scowled deeply and muttered something into his collar as he pressed deeper into the back of his chair, almost as if he were recoiling from the little girl, but Sasaki’s eyebrow merely raised with intrigue and her eyes glinted in recognition. “Ahh… I thought Mita did mention that you slipped up a little,” she tilted her head towards the odd-featured Russian though didn’t grace him with a proper look, “You’d be right. We’re all of the same type of being as him—well, at least all of us here at the moment are.

“We have plenty of human friends in our number too. Given how you came to be here, we’d welcome you to join us gladly. But… it’s a bit early for the official business. It’s better to just let you know a bit what’s going on, and talk about what you’d like in the near future.”

“If you’re not humans, what are you?” Shusui asked. Kyou’s eyes gleamed, watching the boy’s expression and reactions with intrigue while their leader laced her fingers together and took a deep breath in preparation.

“We are called Homunculus—Homunculi. As to what that is, it’s actually quite complex. We aren’t born in the traditional sense as much as, well, created. What you need to know at this point is that none of us in this room are only as we appear right now. Each of us has two shapes. Some… more than two.”

“Like a werewolf?” Ouka chirped.

“Erm, yes. Sort of. Except not like in the movies, of course. We’re thinking, feeling people and not monsters, of course.”

“You can change all the time?”

“Yes, but only when it’s safe to show our true forms. There are those out there who think we are monsters, and those people would kill us on sight if they could tell us from the human beings around us. We have to keep safe. They’ll even kill our friends who are human as well. For your safety it is important that you keep these things I’m telling you a secret,” her eyes hardened, “and never mention things like ��homunculi’ or the safehouse when anyone unfamiliar is around!”

“Yes ma’am,” Ouka nodded vigorously, mouth set in a determined little grin.

“Yeah,” Shusui mirrored, locking eyes with the woman. “We promise.”

“Thank you for your understanding,” Hanabusa’s smile widened. Kyou’s immobile face twitched in acknowledgement, sharing a glance towards the odd crescent-haired figure with a flicker of a hint before returning to scrutinizing the kids. Moonface, as if reading her mind, tipped his head in a subtle nod. “Now, is there anything else you’d like to know before we adjourn this meeting?”

In their heads, the fervent question was repeating, giving them the urge to keep checking Norinaka for signs he was about to say it for them. Finally, Ouka said meekly: “What about… Was Mita-san right? He said Norinaka-san might…”

“Eh?” Saruwatari grunted in confusion over the silent puzzlement of the two women, the hawk-eyed youth, and the now-oblivious child at his laptop. The stout man, however, had all hardness or doubt melt from his rounded features as he put together what the children were implying.

“Oh, kids…” he half-choked, raising up two thick, warm palms is a gesture half-benevolent and half-uncertain, “Are you, er, you sure that’s somethin’ you’d want?”

“Norinaka?” Hanabusa’s eyes had widened somewhat, seeking clarity from the man being named, “What is it they mean? You’ve discussed this before now?”

“I—I mean, I only mentioned to Mita that, well, I thought a safehouse mightn’t be the safest, er, heh, the best place for such young Familiars…” he managed before trailing off. The little girl, however, hopped up all but glowing with hope.

“So Mita-san was right! You want us to stay at your house!”

“I—” the plump homunculus had to compose himself again, all but ambushed by their eager acceptance, “Kids, I—what I want is what you feel right with.”

“And if what Shusui and Ouka here feel is right for them is to accept you as a guardian,” Sasaki continued in a level tone, “Is that something you are able and willing to offer?”

“Wh—Of course, yes!” The man jumped up in place, wanting to seem anything but unwilling in front of the orphaned twins, “I, ah, I do think they should know where they’d be going before deciding anything for good!”

“Still in Inume?” Kyou stared up deep into the man’s psyche, “Nice little lakeside house as I recall. Quiet lane. Only a short bus trip to Kamigawa. Walking distance from the village. Need they know more, considering what they came from?”

“Shh,” the man tried to hush her before she could go further into the horrific past, but the kids had been all ears towards what sounded like a new and refreshingly different future. Their eyes met, shining, silently and almost psychically agreeing that the one brief description seemed like a bright star in a dark world.

“L-let’s just not be too hasty. It’s only been one night,” Norinaka gave a nervous chuckle and smiled at the youngsters, “I’d be happy t’ have you two, if this is what you want. I’d just want you to have some time to know what you’re in for first. And, ah, I’d hafta scramble to get some space ready for you two. This is so fast, y’know?”

“We don’t mind.” Ouka said, sweetly, and the homunculus’s eyes glistened with water in surprise.

“Oh! Oh… y’ poor things,” he turned away, nudging Moonface, “Y-y’ have a tissue handy?”

“Geez, Nori-kun,” the lanky homunculus snickered, passing him a disposable tissue from a pocket of his suit jacket in a swift movement, “you soft mess!”

“Shuttup,” Norinaka muffled through dabbing eyes and nose. At the head of the table, Hanabusa held her chin tightly, suppressing a laugh.

“Well, if that’s all for now,” she spoke up, in a clear and satisfied voice, “then we can all go our own ways for the moment. Ouka, Shusui—perhaps you’d like to be shown around the place so you aren’t lost? You can meet some of the others at the same time.”

“Oh! Yes, ma’am,” they nodded, speaking almost is unison.

“Very good.” Sasaki stood, tucking the file under her arm, “Perhaps Norinaka could guide you today. It’ll give you three a chance to talk, hm?”

“Right.” The plump man said as he stood up, motioning to them, “Come on then, kids. Kawazui—you too, c’mon.”

“But why?” the juvenile homunculus whined, his black-and-red eyes widening as he pouted, before a look from Hanabusa sent him scuttling upright with laptop wrapped in his arms.

“Kyou, Moonface and I have more sensitive things to discuss. Go.”

Once the children and their new chaperone had vacated the premises, Saruwatari hemmed and hawed a bit while Washio looked to each of his elders remaining in the room with questions in his piercing amber eyes.

“Er, uh, I’m assumin’ us two also maybe don’t need to be here?” the hulking youngster ventured. “This is X Circle business or what?”

“It isn’t exclusively X Circle business.” Kyou answered, hooding her impassive gaze but watching the file under Sasaki’s arm as if troubled by its hidden contents. “If you aren’t needed elsewhere, it would be advisable to remain and hear this.”

“I will stay then,” Washio settled again, turning his stare upon Hanabusa in rapt attention.

“Ah… I think I oughta go let th’ guys know those kids’re gonna be runnin’ around,” Saru said, standing with a loud chair scrape and sidling towards the door. Kyou nodded, and the four left around the quiet table in the underground room ignored his departure further, in favor of the sharper, darker topic lingering on the minds of those who’d studied the files beforehand.

“So that foster-house, if you could call it that,” Moonface’s standard cheery grin had warped into a much more serious sneer around the unsavory words, “What’d you find?”

“Not me. Suzuki did the hard part. And it was apparently damn hard to find even this much.” Hanabusa said, flipping the folder open and retrieving two sheets from within. They were obviously hastily-done photocopies of official documentation sent to be archived in a courthouse, done on a time limit and squirreled away by someone with access to the data but no permission to let it leave the room. The top header of these had a facility name and insignia just about legible at the top: Saint Germaine Children’s Shelter of Ginsei-Saitama. She slapped these pages down upon the tabletop, allowing Kyou to pull one towards herself to scan this odd title. “If anything, the difficulty in finding anything about this place is suspect in itself. Note the name of it.”

“St. Germaine, mnh?” Moonface’s many bared teeth grit together, an eyebrow ticking up in an arc—knowing the reference, and disgusted by the irony. “Like our suspicious little hospital up towards Minano?”

“Exactly. It appears they have some organizational ties. The Hayasaka twins were sent there immediately from the hospital without a civil hearing with a public counselor or any proceedings to determine if they had any living relatives. There’s also plenty of records of admissions of apparently “parentless children”. But almost no records of adoptions from this place. Or aging out.”

Washio’s usually fierce-looking eyebrows hiked up in strong surprise, and a hint of morbid curiosity, “…H-how? How could that be..?”

“I think we all know how.” Kyou spat, pushing the document back towards its cohort. “Weapons Alchemists. They’re using this orphanage as a recruitment pool. Only about twenty percent of the kids that go in are accounted for going out.”

“They—” Washio’s voice croaked, choking out from the creeping revulsion as he held back his gorge. Moonface nodded in grim knowledge; his tone was blistering and snarky as he elaborated further for the shocked youngster:

“This ain’t the first time they’ve done this, either. They snatch up kids and teens who they see as ‘witnesses’ of course, but at the rate their shock troops and rookies rush into a fight with a homunculus, or even an armed Familiar, more than their match, a little post-incident kidnapping here and there couldn’t keep up. You follow?”

“Ugh…”

“This one’s gotta be more recent.” The odd-featured homunculus theorized as he leaned back against the wall, fished a toothpick out of his breast pocket and beginning to reflexively gnaw on it between phrases. “Probably set itself up not too long after St. Germaine’s Hospital in Minano, which would make it just about twelve years old now. That’s not long at all compared to the other kiddie-farm operations I’ve seen…”

“Gods!” Washio winced, “Don’t call it that.”

“’Swhat it is, to the Weapons Alchemists.” Moonface dismissed. “’Recruitment farm’ sound better? They set up as a children’s shelter, get themselves official through those infiltrating the local governments, then instead of just nabbing unattended children at the scenes of their fights or anomalies—suddenly they get dozens of potential rookies funneled right to them.

“I’m sure they only pick out the most malleable to join their army and erase from their records. Still, a better recruitment pool than the random chance of finding a fresh traumatized abductee to justify spiriting away to their training camps.” Moonface growled, his toothpick jumping about. “If these kiddos hadn’t run away from there… well, let’s just say we might’ve seen them in the future, but not under good terms.”

Washio’s head lowered, his forearms braced on the table, silent. Hanabusa slipped the files back into her folder.

“So,” she glanced over towards Kyou, whose eyes were glistening with thoughts and suppressed anger, “The L.X.E. will be hearing about this… institution. I’ll pass these files on to you to add into evidence.”

“I’ll inform you both as soon as I know it is brought before the Elder’s Circle,” she promised, and Washio peered up towards her as she stood swiftly and took hold of the documentation.

“Aren’t you going to do something about this?”

“We are.” Kyou snapped, “Obviously like with the hospital, we cannot just barge in or do anything to completely dismantle and shut down this place. It still exists as the only orphanage facility in this part of the prefecture—if it gets ruined there won’t be any place for orphaned or abandoned kids.” She narrowed her large eyes, darkening them into wide pools of deep turquoise instantaneously, “There’d be nowhere to house them but random foster families. There’s not enough of those—and that’s not even much better than the current arrangement. We can’t just shut down the hospital or the children’s shelter, because aside from the secret operations they serve as fronts for, they are also functioning hospitals and children’s shelters. In the case of these, the only ones in this city.” She leaned down slightly, “You get it?”

“Yes…” Washio averted his gaze to the tabletop, bitterly.

“Hey, chin up,” Moonface chuckled, ruffling the dispirited younger man’s golden hair and this time not being rewarded with a grumble or a squirm away, “We will do something about this. Just because we can’t shut their shit down doesn’t mean we can’t do somethin’ more… subtle.”

“I think that’s enough for now. Wait and see what the Elders think.” Hanabusa cautioned the lanky man. “We can’t afford to be reckless. If the Weapons Alchemist Army really does recruit from that place, it will be carefully guarded and watched. We’ll need more recon to proceed—and to have the right Operators on this job.”

“I could be a right Operator…”

“You want to be, but that doesn’t mean you should.” She sighed, exasperated. “What did I just say? No being reckless, no matter how much you want to get your claws in those people. Wait to hear what the Elders think.”

“In that case,” Moonface swaggered a few steps to the door, biting the toothpick so hard that it splintered and bent between his grinning teeth, “I think I’ll check on how our boy Nori’s doin’ with the kids while I wait on that. Just you say the word, and I’ll be ready to join th’ team faster than you can say ‘dead scumbag’, ehheh.”

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