capeandcowllogs | Reaching for a Line

Reaching for a Line

WHO: Alastair (

hitokiri_ookami)
WHERE: The Bachelor Pad, Hell Towers
WHEN: very late some night this weekend
WARNINGS: unlikely
SUMMARY: there's something Alastair needs to ask Saitou about a particular event a few months ago. And probably a few other things.
FORMAT: Paragraph Lite.

None of the residents of the three-bedroom apartment kept very healthy sleep schedules. Even Alastair, who actually held a nine-to-five job during the week, tended to stay up late and survive on minimal sleep. In attempting to divert his attention from reminders of the holiday and thoughts about himself that had been plaguing him for the past few weeks, he had been defragging, reorganizing, and upgrading his laptop. In the process, Alastair discovered a coding project he had sort of let lapse - make that, a decoding project. It occurred to him that rather than try to decrypt the message sent to Kiryu's comm, he could just ask Saitou if he'd been ported in and back out a couple months ago.

But then, finding the chance to do so was hard. Saitou kept irregular hours due to his job, and even if Alastair was up late, they rarely crossed paths. Even this particular night, the redhead wasn't particularly thinking about his plan as he left his room and crept into the kitchen looking for a snack. The as-yet-unnamed cat Saitou had brought home curled around his feet and rubbed on his jeans, clearly expecting to join him in said snack. He shooed her away and meandered into the living room, stopping to have a look out the windows at the way the fresh snow changed the entire view from their floor. It was a good way to lose all track of time, with the rest of the apartment quiet and dark around him and a cat purring at his feet.

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It had been another long day, though by this point in his life in the City, this was normal. He was gradually getting used to sleeping more at his work than at home, he was there so often.

He creaked the door open to the apartment a second later, though, dusting off his coat and appreciating the heating. Something about this century that he would have liked back home. It only took him a second to recognize someone else was awake and downstairs, though relaxed immediately after that initial tension. Just the hacker boy. And, if his hearing was right, Aome was with him. He was already getting more familiar with her around.

"Alastair." It was somewhat a greeting, though also could be considered a question. He wasn't normally down here at this hour (at least, not the times Saitou managed to come home).

The sound of the door opening made Alastair glance for just a moment, but he knew immediately who it would be at this time of night. The cat decided that Saitou's arrival was much more interesting than the last cookie Alastair had in his hand, and he watched her go greet her favorite person. "Hey, Saitou," Alastair murmured, slipping comfortably into Japanese as they all did around the house. "How was work? Any crazy shit today?"

Saitou didn't even blink when their newest housemate jumped onto his shoulders, though a quick shrug made her leap back down and just sit at his feet. He smiled inwardly a bit at that, noticing how she was pretty observant of what he wanted her to do. At least the one that had followed him home was a smart cat.

At Alastair's question he turned his attention back to him, pulling his cigarettes out of his pocket and lighting one idly. "No more than usual," he responded vaguely. And honestly he would rather save the conversations for later when he didn't want to collapse.

Alastair wrinkled up his nose a bit at the cigarette smoke. He never asked Saitou not to smoke, but he was getting good at being elsewhere and keeping his stuff in his room so it wouldn't smell like an ashtray. He would have said good night and gone to hide right then and there, but that nagging idea at the back of his mind crept up on him again.

Of course, that wasn't the sort of thing one just sprang on someone out of the blue.

"I was gonna make some tea or something," he suggested, moving back toward the kitchen. "Want some? I can't sleep, right now, I don't know..."

That expression Alastair made didn't faze Saitou in the slightest - he got that same look at work many times before. And it was late and he was in a mood and going to have his damn cigarette whether the redhead liked it or not.

"No thanks," he muttered absently, staring back down at the feline playing with his shoelaces. Though she was looking at him a bit expectantly, wondering why he wasn't going upstairs yet. He'd be along soon, unless Alastair had something on his mind that couldn't wait til morning -- which would be soon anyway, given the hour...

"Fine." Putting water on to boil was about the only thing Alastair could do in the kitchen. It took only a few seconds, and then he wandered back out by Saitou. Trying to think up something else to small-talk about failed him utterly, so he stood there with his hands in his pockets for a minute, mustering up the right way to say what he was thinking.

"Can I, uh...ask you a really weird question? I swear there's a point to it, but it's gonna sound strange..."

Saitou wasn't one for small-talk anyway, though Alastair had gotten his attention with the more straight-forward inquiry.

"Go on."

Alastair leaned on the wall, staring mostly at the floor. "Do you remember if you got...ported in and back out, real fast, a couple months ago? Maybe...injured, too?"

Injured? Why would he have been-- also you would think he'd remember a quick port-in and out like that, but, it wasn't like the Porter to be so spontaneous. Well. He at least liked to think so. Porting someone in for a few minutes didn't really sound like something that would amuse her as much.

"No. What brought this on."

Alastair glanced around as if checking to make sure Kiryu wasn't anywhere nearby before slinking over and sitting down next to Saitou. He could lower his voice and still be heard, he knew. "A couple months ago, around the end of October...someone sent a message to Kyosuke saying it was from you. That you were ported in, but too injured to work the comm so someone else had to help you." He frowned darkly. "I tried to trace and decode it but I'm running into trouble."

". . ."

The more Alastair described what happened, the more Saitou's fists clenched. It sounded all too familiar.

"What happened."

Alastair's volume dropped even more, and he looked away. "He ran out to find you. I followed him, I didn't know what was going on. But...there was some kind of huge tanker-truck accident in the same area that day, you can probably find stuff about it online. He...he got hurt when the overpass collapsed..."

He couldn't bring himself to mention that Kyosuke had died that day. In his arms. Just then he could hear that the water in the kitchen had come to a boil, so he got up to turn it off without another word.

Even when Alastair had stood up to go tend to his tea, Saitou was sitting completely still. It was making Aome a bit unsettled, her tail twitching slightly. The man she'd deemed her owner was tense, and looked anything but calm, even if he remained still. Maybe it was for the fact he didn't want to smash his hand into something breakable.

"You're withholding information."

Being as he didn't want to be that breakable thing, Alastair hovered in the kitchen doorway with his mug of tea. "If Kyosuke hasn't told you, I don't know if I should," he said warily. "Although, that did happen while the 'porter was switching around everybody's powers. Kyosuke didn't have his...he was pretty vulnerable."

"Out with it."

That look always scared the shit out of Alastair. Even if he trusted Saitou, he still found the man scary as hell.

Rather than shout back in defiance, he raised the mug of tea near to his lips and whispered into it. "...he. He died. I was taking him to the hospital but I didn't get there on time..."

Well. That had confirmed his suspicions enough. And while he would really like to break something right now, it wouldn't be wise to wake up the rest of the household - or scare Aome away. She was already looking up at him a bit apprehensive of his next action.

Which, for the moment, was trying his damnedest just to sit still and calm himself. Adding anger onto the already aggravated, tired mood his day had brought on was not helpful in the slightest. He pauses a second before speaking again, attempting a composed tone in his voice - it wasn't very successful.

". . . That should be all for now. I'll ask Kiryu about it at some other hour."

"It's not like we were trying to hide things from you," Alastair insisted, coming out of his shell a bit. "It's just...well, how else are you gonna take it? We weren't gonna jump on you right when you got back, 'oh hi Saitou how's things, here's the new apartment, by the way Kiryu died again.'" He huffed a short sigh. "And now that you say you weren't...well. I had a feeling, it all sounded totally wrong to me, but I couldn't confirm it. Now I know. Somebody baited him. It can't be coincidence that somebody sent him a bogus message the same day as a huge explosion accident."

Unlike some people who withdrew when nervous, Alastair tended to run at the mouth. Now, he didn't need to fully decrypt the message to know it was wrong - but it would be needed as proof.

... Yes, he could see that... he eventually held up one hand to try and interrupt Alastair's ramble, looking pointedly at him.

"And who do we know who would want to bait Kiryu using me."

From the growl Alastair made, he obviously caught on immediately. He wasn't stupid.

"That fucking asshole!" he seethed, having to set down his mug before he spilled tea all over. It took him a moment to collect himself so that he wouldn't simply spout out a length of garbled languages. "Always going on about how he's not doing anything to us anymore, looking like the poor victim of harassment - he was behind it! I knew it! I should have known it!"

About there, he remembered to curb his volume as well. "That still leaves the matter of, how the fuck did he know there was going to be a tanker truck exploding? It's all well and good to bait someone to be in a certain place, but he didn't...I mean..." He clawed his hands through his hair. "I saw it. It was an accident. The overpass collapsed from the heat, Kyosuke was hurt in the fall."

Aome was a bit uneasy at Alastair's reaction too, leaping up again to sit around Saitou's shoulders - it was her safe place, and at least he wasn't nudging her off this time. Now that he had a handle on the person behind this, he was analyzing the situation more than seething at it.

"Coincidence, maybe. Or perhaps not working alone."

Alastair combed a hand through his hair again, and then took his mug and slumped to a seat on the floor facing Saitou. He was suddenly very tired, but also very alert. "If it's coincidence, then he probably intended to do like he did to Kyosuke the last time, and just didn't get the chance. But if not...then he might be more than responsible for Kyosuke's death." He took a sip while he thought back - a lot had happened since then. He would have to go back and look up old posts to refresh his memory. "A lot of people died in that accident. Bakura exhausted himself trying to save people - and he didn't have his power either. Tony Stark had some kind of problem and crashed, too. It was crazy."

"So I hear," he answered absently, more thinking inwardly right now than paying attention to their conversation. "We'll have to investigate further to know for certain."

Alastair nodded and quieted down a bit. Putting things in Saitou's hands, so to speak, was comforting. "I'll still work on decrypting that message. If you need proof."

He rubbed his eyes, not wanting to remember all those things that had happened. After another sip of tea, he murmured, "I'm glad you're back. I want to make that bastard pay, but I can't..."

"Aa, keep working on that." It was handy sometimes to know someone who spoke his language and was expertly familiar with modern technology - especially for reasons like this. He'd never mention this aloud, though.

And he's not sure what to say to that last part, either. He'd known Kiryu would be happy to have him back, but it was odd for Saitou to think others missed him. Melee, maybe. But not much else.

"He won't get away. He's got too much of an ego to hide forever. And I'm sure he wants me dead more than Kiryu right now." Why no, he's not thinking of being his own decoy, why do you ask.

Alastair nodded again to show his acceptance of the request. He was going to, anyway, but hearing it from Saitou made him feel needed.

"He's got it out for both of you," he complained. "What he did to Kyosuke...there wasn't a reason for it. It's not like any of us were doing something to him." He kept his gray eyes lowered. "And by now he's probably onto me, too. I'm pretty sure he knows I try to hack him every time he posts."

"Oh, there was a reason." He growled almost at his thoughts, startling Aome for a second-- "He's trying to showcase that he isn't as powerless as I've made him out to be. Though using the elements around him... doesn't necessarily make him strong. It only means he's still in hiding. But I suppose since his suspicions were confirmed about my being back, he'll show himself soon enough. He's not exactly the forgiving sort."

Edited 2009-12-22 19:41 (UTC)

Alastair looked up at him. "You'll kill him if he comes anywhere near us, right? I don't care if we come back...I don't want to die, and I don't want Kyosuke to die again either."

He can't help a humorless smile at that. "No use killing him if he'll just return in a few days. I was thinking more just paralyzing him. Maybe cutting out his tongue, so he can't sing that infernal note he needs. No reason to go to all that effort if he just shows up again fully healed."

Alastair's lips twisted at that. "Remind me to never get on your bad side," he quipped, swallowing his apprehension. "Sounds like you've been planning that a while."

Saitou smirked in response, just a little, before Aome seemed to nudge him for more attention, running a gloved finger along her ears before replying.

"I like to be more than one step ahead at all times."

Silently accepting that, Alastair swallowed more tea. He wasn't a huge fan, but right now he didn't need any caffeine - the decaffeinated herbal stuff was probably from Bakura.

"Do you think...hm. I kind of want to learn some kind of self-defense. Just in case. Would that be stupid...?"

Alastair gets a sideglance for that. "It wouldn't hurt. And considering those who see you as an enemy, yes."

"I'm still fucked if someone comes after me with their superpowers," Alastair grumbled into his mug. "But...yeah. I don't think I'd be any good with a sword, though. Maybe...hand-to-hand? I don't know." He slouched even further down. "I'm tired of being the weak one..."

He seemed to let that last comment pass, before running a hand through his hair and speaking calmly.

"Call Melee-san. If she's not too busy. I recall someone else offering martial arts lessons on the network as well."

"Yeah, Obi-Wan I think," Alastair murmured. "But he's been real busy with other stuff, it seems like."

There was only one swallow of tea left, so Alastair gulped it down and pushed himself to his feet to put the mug in the kitchen. "Maybe after the holidays are over, then. I got enough on my mind as it is." And another project, he reminded himself - one he needed to finish.

"Someone going by X-23, too," he added, pausing as Alastair got up. He was mildly curious of whatever else the redhead needed to do, but for now there were higher priorities.

Like collecting that man's head. Even if it did have to stay attached to really count...

He sighed under his breath before standing up himself, jostling his cat a second before she was at his feet again. "If that's all I'll be retiring for now."

"Should be, for now," Alastair said as he came back into the living room. "I'll let you know when I have the proof in my hands. So you can take him down one way or another."

He stuck his hands in his pockets again and stood back shyly. "Saitou...uh. Thanks. And...sorry about not telling you about Kyosuke. We didn't want to burden you..."

"Good." He normally didn't give much more praise than that anyway, but figured Alastair could understand what he meant. That was his area of expertise, after all.

Though at the muttered mention at the end, Saitou had to smile humorlessly again. Burden, indeed. Just one more on top of many. "I can handle it."

Edited 2009-12-23 02:46 (UTC)

"Mkay. Night, then."

Alastair went past him to his own room, not very settled at all but at least tired enough to sleep, now. He felt a little bad for delivering upsetting news to Saitou, but it had to be done in order to get his help. In order to protect all of them.

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Reaching for a Line

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o.o aka shortest tag ever...

pfffffffffff!

OTL couldn't think of anything else to say

aww *patpat*

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o/

hey bb

hihi

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aww patpat