Discovering the Sun chapter 8 part 3 (Kamen Rider Kabuto)

[estirose]

Rating: 13+, Pairing: Kagami/Tendou.

Tendou stepped into the room. Kagami wasn’t sure if he was an approved guest, or what. Technically speaking, he was probably still Tendou’s recruiter/liason, until someone else was found to take care of that duty now that Kagami was Gatack.
 
And in the meantime, Tendou was still his responsibility, though he doubted that ZECT seriously expected him to do anything regarding the rogue host while he was recovering from his adventures at the factory and his encounter with Makoto-worm. Who, despite what he’d done at the end, still managed to puncture Kagami in more than a few places, which were starting to really kind of hurt, and hopefully the painkillers would kick in soon.
 
“Grandmother said,” Tendou said, with his usual finger-pointing-towards-heaven, “That dependence on others is not dependence if it makes you stronger.”
 
Whatever that meant. Kagami wasn’t in the mood to decipher Tendou’s words. Half the time he felt like the other host made them up anyway to suit the occasion.
 
“Could you wait until I’m in a little less pain?” Kagami asked. Tendou just looked at him, and something in his expression said that he expected Kagami to keep up with him. “I nearly got skewered by a worm.”
 
Tendou just shot him a look that said he expected better.
 
“Look, some of us aren’t that skilled at deciphering what you say,” Kagami told him. “Especially not when we’re in the hospital.”
 
Maybe the one comfort was that when he went home, there would be no more mysterious visits from Tendou. After all, he hadn’t paid a visit when Kagami was host to TheBee, and from what Tadokoro-san said, it sounded like they expected Kagami to play host to Gatack for a while. Kagami didn’t know whether to be relieved or not; while Tendou was frustrating, Kagami had gotten used to his presence in his life and maybe it would be a bit lonelier without him.
 
He wondered what life as a more-or-less permanent host would be like. Sure, TheBee could have been permanent, but Kagami had always felt like it was temporary, as if he somehow knew that he was supposed to be partnered to Gatack. He’d put it down to feeling that TheBee belonged with Yaguruma, but maybe there was something going on.
 
What had Tadokoro-san said? That there were things about himself that he didn’t know about? He hadn’t really thought about it, but the words were starting to sound disturbing in his mind.
 
At least he’d have time to think of it. And talk to Tadokoro-san about things. And maybe Tendou, if the man would be where he was really needed instead of where he thought he was needed.
 
Some people would say that Kagami’s mind had flashed to a rather inappropriate place, and Kagami would have agreed. He forced himself back to the room and to Tendou’s presence, and remembered Tendou’s suspicion of ZECT. “Maybe you were right.”

Tendou raised his eyebrows. “Oh?” It was drawn out, a question, a request for more information. But Kagami knew he couldn’t talk about it there. Not where anybody could be listening and reporting back.

Kagami shook his head. “Never mind.” There would be time to put things together later, when he wasn’t in pain and everything and they could talk in peace.

The brows stayed high, and Kagami could only hope that Tendou’s expression meant “message received and understood”. He was never into the cloak and dagger stuff, and he was really glad that ZECT was a public agency and not something cloak and dagger.

“Are you going to stay away from me now that I’m Gatack, like when I was TheBee?” Kagami asked. He was hoping not. That would make conversations difficult.

“I didn’t stay away from you because you were TheBee,” Tendou said. “Merely because you became a puppet.”

Ouch. Tendou was going to like him even less now, since he was going to command a unit, especially one that had Shadow members in it. “I wasn’t… you know, it’s not even worth arguing with you.”

Tendou rewarded him with a slight smile. Whether it was because Kagami had conceded or because he had figured out what Kagami was up to was a good question. “The path to heaven can contain many false starts.”

Whatever that meant. Kagami was sure it was something really profound, at least in Tendou’s mind. Kagami didn’t think Tendou’s mind would be a safe place for anyone else, because it was full of cryptic twists and turns. Things that made him wonderful in bed and a great cook, but lousy at actually saying what in the hell he meant. He hoped it wasn’t genetic, just a brain spasm of Tendou’s.

“The path to heaven needs better roadsigns,” Kagami retorted back. Maybe being in pain was good for him when dealing with Tendou. At least while he was on his back.

The smile twitched higher. “I will go and tend your flowers.”

“Flowers? I don’t have any….” Oh, never mind. He’d never get Tendou. “Whatever.”

Tendou harumphed and left the room, much to Kagami’s relief. As long at Tendou was getting the message – and he might have, Kagami realized, with that whole comment about flowers. Maybe he’d tidy up the place, too. Dust some of the stuff that cousin Eiji kept bringing home from his travels. And that old pink glassware that Kagami’s mom had picked up from America. What was the pattern name, Adamu? Something like that.

It wasn’t like obscure American glassware patterns were critical to his continued existence anyway. And if he really wanted to know about anything, he could probably ask Tendou. It woud just take a long while to decipher the answer.

He wondered who would be visiting him next. It felt like everybody wanted to talk to him, the new host, at the moment. Misaki-san hadn’t been there, of course, and neither had his former coworkers. He was sure that Takemiya-san would be visiting if she knew. Maybe someone would bother to tell her – there were enough that knew both him and the crew of the Cafe LaSalle.

Maybe if Misaki-san came in, he’d ask her to tell everybody at the LaSalle. It wasn’t like he was going back to work there anyways. Takemiya-san might come, if she had the time – it was the kind of thing his boss might do. Hiyori might be a little tougher to predict. She might care enough to come, or she might not. It was really, really hard to tell with Hiyori.

And that was even if they let them in. Most of the people he’d seen so far were ZECT, or close enough to be let in. Tendou probably fell under that too, because he was a host. Plus, he’d saved Kagami’s life, or so it would seem. Kagami was sure that he’d be debriefed about the entire thing and have to write a few reports – life as TheBee had proven that hosts weren’t immune to bureaucracy, after all. Maybe at least he’d have a salary increase as a host, especially as a commander. He’d seen the brief upgrade in salary when he was TheBee, after all.

That cheered him up, even as he realized that there was an awful lot going on with that salary, a lot behind the scenes that he didn’t want to know and probably should. He should spend his time at the hospital trying to get his mind around all the intrigue, now.

Maybe it would save his life.

Crossposted from Ramblings Yet Once More here.