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estiroseI thought I'd post this up and get to the rest later this week. This is approximately 2350 words of 5000 for this chapter.
Title: Unstuck Country (Chapter 5, part 1)
Fandom: Kamen Rider Kiva
Rating: 13+/PG-13
Pairing: None
"Nii-san?" Wataru asked. He'd cleared everything out from when they'd had the unexpected guests - well, when Wataru had his unexpected guests. It was Wataru's house, after all.
"I'm thinking." He'd go into what he was thinking about when he figured it out himself. Well, other than the fact that it might or might not be Wataru everyone was after. Sure, Wataru could figure that out himself, but Taiga wanted to shield his little brother, even from things he couldn't be shielded from.
After all, Wataru was still his little brother, and even as powerful as Wataru was, it was still Taiga's obligation to shield him. At least as much as he could. Which might not be very much, to be honest. Wataru was determined to help him, and to be honest, he needed as much help as he could get.
"If we're being targeted, Nii--san," Wataru said, "Then we need to protect ourselves."
Nobody would ever say Wataru was stupid. Innocent, maybe, but not stupid. "I agree." The two of them needed a plan to get out of whatever it was. Taiga had no doubt that it was related to his plan for a new energy source. "But I'm not sure what to do yet." He remembered how it was when Wataru went into a panic and made himself into a hermit in the middle of the conflict, and how stubborn he was even then, refusing to give in to Taiga's request to become more Fangire.
It would have made Taiga's life a lot easier if Wataru had chosen his Fangire kin and their ways. But Wataru couldn't do that, Taiga knew that. Wataru walked peacefully between human and Fangire, content with being a hybrid of two different species. Which often made no sense to Taiga, but he knew that no amount of force would make Wataru suddenly Fangire. Persuasion might, but he wished Dawn luck in doing the persuading.
"We should make a plan," Wataru said. "What do we know about what's going on?"
Taiga sighed. "Well, people either don't like me for killing off Bishop - not that I did. Either that, they want my throne, or they really don't like the idea of not eating humans."
Wataru nodded. "Nii-san, if it's the older people that are going after you, can't the younger people defend you?"
Looking at his younger brother, he wondered why he hadn't thought of exactly that. The Elders and Bishop had held most of the power during his time in their favor - but there were still a fair amount of young Fangire out there. And there were probably other kids like Wataru, born in the union of human and Fangire, to Fangire who knew that there was no Queen and no apparent King.
It was funny, thinking of going to the young people and the dissidents to save himself and change things. He remembered Mio, who had no problems with dating a human, or a person she thought - and he did, too - was human.There had to be so many more out there.
"I wonder if Mio knew anybody," Taiga mused.
Wataru looked over at him. "I don't know how many of Mio's friends were Fangire, Nii-san, but she had to have known some...."
"Did you meet any of them?"
Wataru shook his head. "Not really," he admitted. "By the time we really got to know each other, she was Queen and surrounded by, um...."
"Myself, Bishop, and some Elders." It made a grim amount of sense. And it was neither Wataru's nor Mio's fault that things hadn't been normal for them. Taiga wished, for his late Queen's sake, that he'd learned his lesson while she was still alive, instead of when she was dead.
"Yes." Wataru looked away, and Taiga knew that he grieved, too. Heck, from what he'd pieced together, Wataru had been in enough pain to try to commit suicide-by-timeline-alteration. It was the only time that he'd seen Wataru as less than strong, at least after he became Kiva.
And Wataru wondered why Taiga needed to protect him; Wataru had a next generation to bring forward, continuing their bloodline. Taiga knew from Bishop that theirs was a family prone to producing Checkmate Four, and of course Taiga would have been expected to produce a child with Mio. Now it was Wataru's duty.
And it was Taiga's job to get them both out of this. To save them both from those that were after them. He knew the easy way would be capitulating, to come back into the fold and to haul Wataru kicking and screaming with him. But Wataru would kick and scream his way right back out, and there was always the possibility that the Elders would decide that a new King would be best, one without a rebellious half-human half-brother.
"Then, we'll find Mio's friends." He was painfully aware that he didn't know anybody his own age himself outside Wataru, and Wataru had probably been discouraged from knowing any Fangire kids himself. Well, apart from him, because he was Wataru's half-brother, and as cruel as she had been, his mother had at least let them be together, if only for a little bit. And Shima's desire to take Taiga away from everything he knew hadn't helped. "Maybe some are sympathetic."
"And I've got that magazine interview too," Wataru said. Taiga had forgotten about that, but he also knew it might not be enough. They might have to start looking for people sympathetic to their goals – primarily Wataru's – and the best place might be among people that Mio knew and trusted. Of the three of them, she was the only one likely to have Fangire friends, and she was the only other Fangire Taiga had known of their own age.
Taiga nodded. "Let's look for Mio's friends first. I know Bishop had Mio's parents' phone number, he told me so once. I wouldn't be surprised if it was one of the things he gave me. Of course, he probably never thought I'd be using the number for this...."
"I think that's a good idea, Nii-san." Wataru was smiling. "I know Nii-san could probably connect the best with Mio-san friends."
"I'm taking you with me, when I find them." It would do them both some good, and maybe Wataru could find a girl.
Wataru looked like he wasn't too sure about that part, so Taiga added, "It'll look good to the Elders, and maybe I can find supporters under their noses. You do want Dawn happy, don't you?"
"Professor Ishakawa? Um, I really like her, but." He looked over at Taiga. "I have to hold onto my principles, Nii-san."
He hoped that Wataru wouldn't say that outright to Dawn. On the other hand, she might just take it as a sign of immaturity. Taiga wasn't sure, and while he knew that Wataru would probably hold his tongue, he thought a word might be in order. Maybe Wataru would listen. Wataru was the quiet type, but he didn't take kindly to things that violated what he believed in.
"I know," Taiga said finally. "Let's start with getting in touch with Mio's parents and go from there."
Wataru's first lesson with Dawn would be the next morning, and Taiga planned to be there if he could. In the meantime, while he really didn't want to leave Wataru alone, he could use a change of clothes – and if he was going to end up at Wataru's home a lot, it might not hurt to bring some over just in case.
So, he went to his apartment, changing his clothes and picking up some, as well as searching for Bishop's notes. Fortunately, the man had been well-organized, and all of what Taiga wanted was in a file folder labeled with the Queen insignia and Mio's name. He was sure that Bishop had given it to him as a way to get to know his bride-to-be.
Now, he was going to use it to change Fangire society in a very fundamental way.
Chances were, the file had been untouched since Bishop had given it to him. But better to be safe than sorry; he called up Wataru and asked him if he remembered what Mio had said about her home. "Mio-san probably talked to Megumi-san all about it," Wataru said, and Taiga had to admit that shy, gentle Mio was no match for the gossipy human. "I'll call her, to make sure."
Thanking Wataru, he gathered up his clothes and some things that would probably be safer at Wataru's, and went back.
By the time that he got back, Wataru was working on one of the instruments in his care. "It's over a century old, from England," Wataru said, when Taiga asked him about it. "See the label?"
Taiga squinted, and could indeed see the label, if he squinted. English, made for some store in America. He wondered how it had made its way to Japan and what it was doing in Wataru's repair shop. To a human, it was old, an antique. To a Fangire, it was relatively new, with so many of them being much older than the violin.
"Wataru, why do you play the violin?"
The question startled Wataru, though he managed to put the violin down gently. "I think it's because my parents did," he said. "I can't remember when I haven't, really. For me, the Bloody Rose has always been a companion in my life. Sometimes I play it to think, sometimes to just get the music out, and sometimes I just play it."
It didn't make much sense to Taiga, but music had never been his thing.
"Bloody Rose," Wataru said, crossing to the violin, "And I are connected. We were both created out of my mother and father's love... it's only a little older than I am...." He looked thoughtful. "Someone wanted to buy Bloody Rose, once. He said it was made by a student of Stradavari. He was terribly disappointed when he found out it was only twenty years old at the time and wasn't for sale."
Taiga wondered if it was possible to be jealous of a violin, an inanimate object, something so incredibly fragile. Wataru always treated the instruments with such care, knowing how brittle, relatively speaking, they were.
"Did he ever come back?" Taiga wanted to know. Hopefully, the man hadn't harassed Wataru.
"He did, once." Wataru shook his head. "He just couldn't believe that something that could almost be a Stradivarius was so young. But another expert recognized its age and told him that it was really only twenty years old, and he went away."
"How could he tell?" Taiga asked. It was something that would get Wataru in a good mood before they had to settle down and start figuring out how to approach the whole getting allies thing.
"Well, for one thing, Bloody Rose's label says 1986, and it's obviously new. And mother and father signed it. And while it does resemble a Stradivarius very much in quality and sound, I guess there's one or two other things that mark it as modern."
"Oh." Maybe he'd ask Dawn more about violins so he could talk intelligently with his little brother.
"And I gave Megumi-san a call," Wataru said, apparently figuring that Taiga had been discussing violins for his sake and enough discussion was enough. "Um. The information's downstairs."
"I'll get that. You go on with your work." Wataru wasn't going to be paid for jobs he didn't do. Taiga couldn't imagine how his trade had suffered towards the end, when everything had happened. Of course, with all the rampaging, Taiga doubted that some of Wataru's customers had picking up their violin as one of their priorities.
Wataru nodded. "There's tea downstairs, Nii-san."
"Thank you." He wasn't a big tea-drinker, but he'd do it for Wataru. He placed Bishop's file on the table and compared Wataru's scribbled note. It seemed like the address was the same. "Wataru? How did Megumi-san get this?"
"I guess that Megumi-san talked Mio-san into swapping addresses for New Years, and I think that's when she ended up with the phone number too," Wataru called back.
He made out Wataru's handwriting and had to agree that the phone number was the same too. Good. If he'd thought of it first, he would have had Wataru ask Megumi-san, but to some extent, he still favored Bishop's contacts and records over human resources. Of course, Bishop was dead and Taiga was sure that his allies were probably some of those opposed to the whole new food plan.
Taiga skimmed over the rest of Bishop's records about Mio, including her family tree. Her family, too, had been responsible for a Checkmate Four member, though that was millennia ago. They'd probably been surprised when Mio had ended up Queen. Mio had probably been surprised when she'd ended up Queen.
There were pages of handwritten notes in Ancient Fangire, observations about Mio, notes about her family, the best way of bringing her in and introducing her to her powers in such a way that she wouldn't repeat her predecessor's mistakes. Bishop had obviously interviewed Mio's relatives and thought of good ways to manipulate her into what he wanted her to be.
He really hadn't counted on Wataru, but nobody really had. Wataru had a knack for being unexpected and shaking things up in ways that nobody ever expected out of the quiet son of a disgraced Queen and a wandering human musician who had primarily been raised by an artistically-minded Kivat with maybe a little help from others.
Looking up at where Wataru was working, he knew that Wataru would be working on someone's violin, browed furrowed, as if nothing extraordinary had happened in his life. Taiga had to envy that, for he felt like he was going to pieces a little himself. Wataru was capable of reckless heroism and deep emotion and courage beyond his years, but he was still in some ways that quiet kid that Taiga had once known and protected.
Taiga would do anything to protect that.
Title: Unstuck Country (Chapter 5, part 1)
Fandom: Kamen Rider Kiva
Rating: 13+/PG-13
Pairing: None
"Nii-san?" Wataru asked. He'd cleared everything out from when they'd had the unexpected guests - well, when Wataru had his unexpected guests. It was Wataru's house, after all.
"I'm thinking." He'd go into what he was thinking about when he figured it out himself. Well, other than the fact that it might or might not be Wataru everyone was after. Sure, Wataru could figure that out himself, but Taiga wanted to shield his little brother, even from things he couldn't be shielded from.
After all, Wataru was still his little brother, and even as powerful as Wataru was, it was still Taiga's obligation to shield him. At least as much as he could. Which might not be very much, to be honest. Wataru was determined to help him, and to be honest, he needed as much help as he could get.
"If we're being targeted, Nii--san," Wataru said, "Then we need to protect ourselves."
Nobody would ever say Wataru was stupid. Innocent, maybe, but not stupid. "I agree." The two of them needed a plan to get out of whatever it was. Taiga had no doubt that it was related to his plan for a new energy source. "But I'm not sure what to do yet." He remembered how it was when Wataru went into a panic and made himself into a hermit in the middle of the conflict, and how stubborn he was even then, refusing to give in to Taiga's request to become more Fangire.
It would have made Taiga's life a lot easier if Wataru had chosen his Fangire kin and their ways. But Wataru couldn't do that, Taiga knew that. Wataru walked peacefully between human and Fangire, content with being a hybrid of two different species. Which often made no sense to Taiga, but he knew that no amount of force would make Wataru suddenly Fangire. Persuasion might, but he wished Dawn luck in doing the persuading.
"We should make a plan," Wataru said. "What do we know about what's going on?"
Taiga sighed. "Well, people either don't like me for killing off Bishop - not that I did. Either that, they want my throne, or they really don't like the idea of not eating humans."
Wataru nodded. "Nii-san, if it's the older people that are going after you, can't the younger people defend you?"
Looking at his younger brother, he wondered why he hadn't thought of exactly that. The Elders and Bishop had held most of the power during his time in their favor - but there were still a fair amount of young Fangire out there. And there were probably other kids like Wataru, born in the union of human and Fangire, to Fangire who knew that there was no Queen and no apparent King.
It was funny, thinking of going to the young people and the dissidents to save himself and change things. He remembered Mio, who had no problems with dating a human, or a person she thought - and he did, too - was human.There had to be so many more out there.
"I wonder if Mio knew anybody," Taiga mused.
Wataru looked over at him. "I don't know how many of Mio's friends were Fangire, Nii-san, but she had to have known some...."
"Did you meet any of them?"
Wataru shook his head. "Not really," he admitted. "By the time we really got to know each other, she was Queen and surrounded by, um...."
"Myself, Bishop, and some Elders." It made a grim amount of sense. And it was neither Wataru's nor Mio's fault that things hadn't been normal for them. Taiga wished, for his late Queen's sake, that he'd learned his lesson while she was still alive, instead of when she was dead.
"Yes." Wataru looked away, and Taiga knew that he grieved, too. Heck, from what he'd pieced together, Wataru had been in enough pain to try to commit suicide-by-timeline-alteration. It was the only time that he'd seen Wataru as less than strong, at least after he became Kiva.
And Wataru wondered why Taiga needed to protect him; Wataru had a next generation to bring forward, continuing their bloodline. Taiga knew from Bishop that theirs was a family prone to producing Checkmate Four, and of course Taiga would have been expected to produce a child with Mio. Now it was Wataru's duty.
And it was Taiga's job to get them both out of this. To save them both from those that were after them. He knew the easy way would be capitulating, to come back into the fold and to haul Wataru kicking and screaming with him. But Wataru would kick and scream his way right back out, and there was always the possibility that the Elders would decide that a new King would be best, one without a rebellious half-human half-brother.
"Then, we'll find Mio's friends." He was painfully aware that he didn't know anybody his own age himself outside Wataru, and Wataru had probably been discouraged from knowing any Fangire kids himself. Well, apart from him, because he was Wataru's half-brother, and as cruel as she had been, his mother had at least let them be together, if only for a little bit. And Shima's desire to take Taiga away from everything he knew hadn't helped. "Maybe some are sympathetic."
"And I've got that magazine interview too," Wataru said. Taiga had forgotten about that, but he also knew it might not be enough. They might have to start looking for people sympathetic to their goals – primarily Wataru's – and the best place might be among people that Mio knew and trusted. Of the three of them, she was the only one likely to have Fangire friends, and she was the only other Fangire Taiga had known of their own age.
Taiga nodded. "Let's look for Mio's friends first. I know Bishop had Mio's parents' phone number, he told me so once. I wouldn't be surprised if it was one of the things he gave me. Of course, he probably never thought I'd be using the number for this...."
"I think that's a good idea, Nii-san." Wataru was smiling. "I know Nii-san could probably connect the best with Mio-san friends."
"I'm taking you with me, when I find them." It would do them both some good, and maybe Wataru could find a girl.
Wataru looked like he wasn't too sure about that part, so Taiga added, "It'll look good to the Elders, and maybe I can find supporters under their noses. You do want Dawn happy, don't you?"
"Professor Ishakawa? Um, I really like her, but." He looked over at Taiga. "I have to hold onto my principles, Nii-san."
He hoped that Wataru wouldn't say that outright to Dawn. On the other hand, she might just take it as a sign of immaturity. Taiga wasn't sure, and while he knew that Wataru would probably hold his tongue, he thought a word might be in order. Maybe Wataru would listen. Wataru was the quiet type, but he didn't take kindly to things that violated what he believed in.
"I know," Taiga said finally. "Let's start with getting in touch with Mio's parents and go from there."
Wataru's first lesson with Dawn would be the next morning, and Taiga planned to be there if he could. In the meantime, while he really didn't want to leave Wataru alone, he could use a change of clothes – and if he was going to end up at Wataru's home a lot, it might not hurt to bring some over just in case.
So, he went to his apartment, changing his clothes and picking up some, as well as searching for Bishop's notes. Fortunately, the man had been well-organized, and all of what Taiga wanted was in a file folder labeled with the Queen insignia and Mio's name. He was sure that Bishop had given it to him as a way to get to know his bride-to-be.
Now, he was going to use it to change Fangire society in a very fundamental way.
Chances were, the file had been untouched since Bishop had given it to him. But better to be safe than sorry; he called up Wataru and asked him if he remembered what Mio had said about her home. "Mio-san probably talked to Megumi-san all about it," Wataru said, and Taiga had to admit that shy, gentle Mio was no match for the gossipy human. "I'll call her, to make sure."
Thanking Wataru, he gathered up his clothes and some things that would probably be safer at Wataru's, and went back.
By the time that he got back, Wataru was working on one of the instruments in his care. "It's over a century old, from England," Wataru said, when Taiga asked him about it. "See the label?"
Taiga squinted, and could indeed see the label, if he squinted. English, made for some store in America. He wondered how it had made its way to Japan and what it was doing in Wataru's repair shop. To a human, it was old, an antique. To a Fangire, it was relatively new, with so many of them being much older than the violin.
"Wataru, why do you play the violin?"
The question startled Wataru, though he managed to put the violin down gently. "I think it's because my parents did," he said. "I can't remember when I haven't, really. For me, the Bloody Rose has always been a companion in my life. Sometimes I play it to think, sometimes to just get the music out, and sometimes I just play it."
It didn't make much sense to Taiga, but music had never been his thing.
"Bloody Rose," Wataru said, crossing to the violin, "And I are connected. We were both created out of my mother and father's love... it's only a little older than I am...." He looked thoughtful. "Someone wanted to buy Bloody Rose, once. He said it was made by a student of Stradavari. He was terribly disappointed when he found out it was only twenty years old at the time and wasn't for sale."
Taiga wondered if it was possible to be jealous of a violin, an inanimate object, something so incredibly fragile. Wataru always treated the instruments with such care, knowing how brittle, relatively speaking, they were.
"Did he ever come back?" Taiga wanted to know. Hopefully, the man hadn't harassed Wataru.
"He did, once." Wataru shook his head. "He just couldn't believe that something that could almost be a Stradivarius was so young. But another expert recognized its age and told him that it was really only twenty years old, and he went away."
"How could he tell?" Taiga asked. It was something that would get Wataru in a good mood before they had to settle down and start figuring out how to approach the whole getting allies thing.
"Well, for one thing, Bloody Rose's label says 1986, and it's obviously new. And mother and father signed it. And while it does resemble a Stradivarius very much in quality and sound, I guess there's one or two other things that mark it as modern."
"Oh." Maybe he'd ask Dawn more about violins so he could talk intelligently with his little brother.
"And I gave Megumi-san a call," Wataru said, apparently figuring that Taiga had been discussing violins for his sake and enough discussion was enough. "Um. The information's downstairs."
"I'll get that. You go on with your work." Wataru wasn't going to be paid for jobs he didn't do. Taiga couldn't imagine how his trade had suffered towards the end, when everything had happened. Of course, with all the rampaging, Taiga doubted that some of Wataru's customers had picking up their violin as one of their priorities.
Wataru nodded. "There's tea downstairs, Nii-san."
"Thank you." He wasn't a big tea-drinker, but he'd do it for Wataru. He placed Bishop's file on the table and compared Wataru's scribbled note. It seemed like the address was the same. "Wataru? How did Megumi-san get this?"
"I guess that Megumi-san talked Mio-san into swapping addresses for New Years, and I think that's when she ended up with the phone number too," Wataru called back.
He made out Wataru's handwriting and had to agree that the phone number was the same too. Good. If he'd thought of it first, he would have had Wataru ask Megumi-san, but to some extent, he still favored Bishop's contacts and records over human resources. Of course, Bishop was dead and Taiga was sure that his allies were probably some of those opposed to the whole new food plan.
Taiga skimmed over the rest of Bishop's records about Mio, including her family tree. Her family, too, had been responsible for a Checkmate Four member, though that was millennia ago. They'd probably been surprised when Mio had ended up Queen. Mio had probably been surprised when she'd ended up Queen.
There were pages of handwritten notes in Ancient Fangire, observations about Mio, notes about her family, the best way of bringing her in and introducing her to her powers in such a way that she wouldn't repeat her predecessor's mistakes. Bishop had obviously interviewed Mio's relatives and thought of good ways to manipulate her into what he wanted her to be.
He really hadn't counted on Wataru, but nobody really had. Wataru had a knack for being unexpected and shaking things up in ways that nobody ever expected out of the quiet son of a disgraced Queen and a wandering human musician who had primarily been raised by an artistically-minded Kivat with maybe a little help from others.
Looking up at where Wataru was working, he knew that Wataru would be working on someone's violin, browed furrowed, as if nothing extraordinary had happened in his life. Taiga had to envy that, for he felt like he was going to pieces a little himself. Wataru was capable of reckless heroism and deep emotion and courage beyond his years, but he was still in some ways that quiet kid that Taiga had once known and protected.
Taiga would do anything to protect that.
