Apart from the Ocean, part 7

[estirose]

Here's "Apart from the Ocean" part 7.


Title: Apart from the Ocean (part 7)
Author: estirose
Fandom: Kamen Rider Kiva
Words: ~1100
Characters: Shinoda Aya (OC), Kuramae Noboru (OC)
Warnings/Rating: 13+/PG-13
Prompt: Table 2, prompt: Fight
Summary: Aya has to live with the fact that monsters don't think like humans.
Author's Notes: I'm hoping to use as many of the 25 prompts as I can for one story, and am therefore designating parts as I go along. Any left over prompts will be used as snapshots on Aya's life. Since the characters are Japanese, I've used Japanese name order here. The universe itself belongs to Toei and TV-Asahi, as does the original version of Kuramae Noboru.

Aya missed her swimming lessons and her students. She had been able to earn enough to live on, though mostly she was there to be near some kind of water. She was able to swim at the facility too, in the saltwater pool in what had once been her room. The researchers had allowed her a computer terminal and given her books so she wouldn't be bored.

Of course, there were the tests. Dr. Hamagaki, who seemed to be either in charge or the face of the reasearch team handling the Mermen, said that they had to get a better idea of what Aya's body was doing. After all, as Dr. Hamagaki had said, her body was changing... and the researchers wanted her to change even more, to become closer to Merman, or at least the ancient Mermen if Kuramae-san's speculations were correct.

There was a chime on her door panel. She'd put a privacy indicator on it, the best she could do since she couldn't really lock her door, and the doctors and technicians had always respected it. "Come in," she called, and the door slid open after a moment, revealing Kuramae-san.

He was beaming, and walked into the room briskly, taking a chair. "We found them, Shinoda-san!"

"'We' found who, Kuramae-san?" she asked. Had they found the Tokyo monsters, including her father?

"You remember that information you gave?" Kuramae-san asked. "We not only traced down your father, but a Wolfen, a Franken, and two half-wolfen children. We're getting them to the facility shortly. Soon we'll be able to confirm if there are any others that survived your world's massacres. And after some initial exams, we'll be able to settle them all down here. If you see any activity, it's just to get ready for your father."

"Great," she said, realizing that her father would soon be in proximity to her, close proximity, and this time she wouldn't have the ability to get away from him because they'd both be held at the research facility.

"Shinoda-san, are you all right?" Kuramae-san said, sounding concerned.

"I just realized I have to deal with my father," Aya said. "I never wanted to deal with my father ever again."

Kuramae-san frowned. "I'd forgotten that. I think it's better for you if you don't have to deal with him."

"He's a water creature, you told me that these are the only water-based rooms in the facility, where else would you put him?"

"He should be far less dependent on the water than you are," Kurimae-san pointed out. "He can live somewhere else."

Aya nodded. It made perfect sense. And if Kurimae-san could convince Dr. Hamagaki to keep her father far, far away from her, so much the better.

"Would that make you happier?" Kuramae-san said.

"I can live with that," she said. "I'd rather not be here, period, but I know that if my father and I get together, we'll fight."

"I'm surprised you haven't fought us more," Kuramae-san said. "What did your father say or do that was so bad?"

"I... think it's easier to fight a person than a group," Aya said, painfully aware that she was a captive there. But she didn't have a way to get out of her hallway, and they had restraints, and it made much more sense to talk her way out than argue with them. Her father, on the other hand, had not been able to hold her, and she'd been able to escape. "My father thought I should be more Merman. I told him that there was no way that I was going to be the member of a species that thought of humans as lesser beings. Plus, I... mom wasn't willing when my father had sex with her, when I was conceived." That was a delicate way to put it, almost too delicate. But Kuramae-san was still a guy.

"The Fangaire here consider humans a lesser species, and most humans don't seem to care," Kuramae-san pointed out. "Only the hunters do, and they're considered odd by most sane people."

"Would a Fangaire rape a human?" Aya asked. "Because that's what got me. He was so disrespectful of my mother and her wishes, and he wanted me to be like him. I said no."

"No," Kuramae-san said. "Why would they? Plenty of willing humans out there. No need to go for someone who doesn't want you." He looked over at her. "That's what bothers you about him?"

"Mermen don't have an interest in their half-human kids unless there's a very good reason," Aya said bitterly, aware that he knew that fact. "My mom being raped wasn't unique, it was just that my father came back for me. I would have rather lived in ignorance than be part of a culture that says my Father has the right to have sex with my mom just because he's Merman and she's human. I have a feeling I wouldn't get along too well with the Fangaire, either."

"You get along with Dr. Hamagaki," Kuramae-san said, leaning forward, his expression serious.

"That's because I have no choice," Aya replied. "Plus, I don't think I'm a lesser being to the Fangaire – just one of the few members of a endangered intelligent species that they're trying to revive. I'm a lab animal, just one that's treated politely because my ancestors could kill just as well as hers could."

"You're not a lab animal," Kuramae-san argued. "You're a protected species. You're held here because the Fangaire care what happens to you. If anything, you're a child that needs protecting and nuturing because you haven't become all that you could be."

"My father is relatively younger than I am, and Dr. Hamagaki's planning to breed him anyway," Aya said. "What does she think he's going to do, cooperate?"

"That's what she's hoping for," Kuramae-san said. "All three of the fullbloods, in fact. She's waited for this to happen for so long...."

"And what if we don't cooperate? Will she force the bunch of us, then?" Aya asked.

Kuramae-san looked at her with troubled eyes.