OPEN

[toxicwillpower]

Characters: Kadaj and whoever else!

Location: Death City Outskirts

Rating: PG

Time: Afternoon of March 14th

Description: Kadaj reflects on what he must do to get in Shibusen’s good graces again.






Several long and begrudging days had passed since he had been released from jail. Kadaj was doing his best to keep a low profile. Hiding underneath the Shibusen’s watchful gaze was tricky at best, but luckily the remnant’s innate skill and know-how had kept him alive so far. It was his devotion, determination, and hope to one day be reunited with Mother that kept him going—it kept him fighting.

The outskirts of Death City were miserably hot. The heat bore heavily down on him. Light skin and silver hair offered little protection, and the thick leather suit he wore clung to his body. He favored it to the inner city which was polluted with humans and their trash.

Kadaj bent down and scooped up a handful of hot sand. “Don’t worry, Mother.” He spoke aloud, as if she could hear him. “I won’t let them keep you away from me forever.” It occurred to Kadaj that his failed strategic attempts all had something in common. Only now, did he realize that he'd need to use different tactics to regain his rightful place by Mother’s side.

“I’ll ruin this planet first if I have to.” He crushed the sand within his fist. “Whatever it takes!” The sand leaked through his fingers until nothing remained.

He didn’t like this new idea. It wasn’t his style. But getting his way, was, and if it meant trying something he didn’t like to get results, then so be it!

Comments

[dead_black_eyes]

It was, admittedly, a little bit surprising that Shibusen would offer up someone so physically unimpressive to keep a ruthless homicidal maniac under control. L appeared shorter than his height of 5'10" due to his perpetual slouch, and there was little substance to him; his thin body formed the shape of a question mark from head to ankle, curved and wiry and frail. He was not an attractive man; conversely, he was shabby and owlish, round European eyes set in a pale European face that was framed by dark, straight Asian hair.

Despite the scorching heat on the outskirts, he didn't seem to be perspiring.

"Call me what you want. I really don't care, one way or the other," he said quietly. "But your assignment wasn't one that most members were eager to consider. Your strikes against you don't make your prospects particularly hopeful, you see. Frankly, I'm bored, and that's the only reason I'm bothering with you, but if you don't want to be executed, you should probably see that you don't cause trouble." he smiled thoughtfully. "If you do cause trouble, there are already people at headquarters taking bets on whether or not you'll cry at your execution. It's entirely up to you, you understand... it's just my job to record, report, and reinforce good behavior."

[toxicwillpower]

“Don’t lie,” Kadaj snapped testily. “The Shibusen think nothing of me.” It will be their biggest mistake—was what he was about to say before he thought better of it. Instead, he merely met L’s smile with a sly own of his own.

“You’re going to be severely disappointed.” Kadaj shook off the remaining sand from his hand. “You see, I plan to be the perfect citizen.” No lies there. He would help out where necessary in order to gain their trust. He would have to fight the internal conflict of disgust and hurt pride. It was not his favorite plan, but it was a plan, and it would hopefully bring him closer to his goal. As they say, keep your friends close but your enemies closer; and the Shibusen and Kadaj were going to be like conjoined twins.

“So,” he added, rather lazily, and waved a dismissive hand, “go home.”

[dead_black_eyes]

"Don't think of it as a lie. You're next to nothing to Shibusen. That's still something," L said, with a good-natured smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. "The fact that they're attempting to rehabilitate you is proof of that. Even if it is a token gesture. Standard protocol. A throwaway laurel branch saying that at least they tried. BREW brought you here, after all, and they're trying to be a lot of optimists, publicly hoping that there's a good reason for it. To kill you would be a waste unless they knew they had to."

He shuffled sideways, glancing Kadaj surreptitiously up and down, mentally sizing him up. "Disappointment, though... I don't make a habit of having expectations for people other than myself. So I'm rarely disappointed. In this case, there is virtually no way I can be disappointed with the outcome. If you're a 'perfect citizen,' as you claim you'll be, I'll have done a good job. If you aren't... well. I get to witness my first execution in Death City. Exciting stuff. Either way, though, you are stuck with me. So if I 'go home', you're coming with me."

[toxicwillpower]

“You cannot be this foolish!” Kadaj chuckled. “Come now,” he tilted his chin up and stared L down. “Isn’t it obvious? The only reason they haven’t tried to do away with me yet is because the rest of the guests would look down on them. It’s all political. Don’t you get it?” And if it’s one thing Kadaj had grown to understand, especially through his former hostage negotiations with ShinRa, it was that everything the humans had a political agenda. Where was there sense of self justice? Their true worth? Gone. Missing. It must be one of the reasons Mother deemed them unacceptable life forms.

“But,” the remnant lingered and then shrugged his shoulders. “If you want to follow me, go ahead! I have nothing to fear.” The sooner the Shibusen was convinced he was a good citizen, the better. It meant that he could get back to doing some real work on getting home

[dead_black_eyes]

L's eyes started to cross a little bit as Kadaj spoke.

"They told me you were overconfident, but they didn't mention your faulty listening comprehension," he said, expression and tone deadpan. "What did you think I meant by 'token gesture' and 'standard protocol'? I'd congratulate you for your deductive skills if you hadn't just essentially rephrased what I said moments ago. Still. I'm glad you appear to 'get it.' I was worried I'd have to actually explain it several times."

He reached a slender, breakable-looking arm out, and it transformed smoothly into a chain and handcuff, snapping firmly closed around Kadaj's wrist. "You're following me, I'm afraid. I think that you should get accustomed to where you'll be spending a large portion of your time."

[toxicwillpower]

The cold clasp of metal around Kadaj’s wrist elicited a venomous mixture of a growl and a gasp. The former noise drowned out the other. He brought his hand up to witness what had just taken place, but rather than get angry, he laughed! It was a childish manic laugh and unsettling at best. “You think this will keep me contained?” The laughter died but the amusement remained.

“You forgot one very important thing.” Kadaj grabbed the collar of L’s shirt and roughly yanked him mere centimeters away from his face. “Listen well, because I am not going to repeat myself.” The smile still lingered, crazed through it was. “I don’t have to a break a bone or leave a single visible mark on your pathetic body to make you really suffer.” Oh, Kadaj had his ways of making people hurt. “Now, release me.”

[dead_black_eyes]

It wasn't the laugh that informed L of Kadaj's feelings towards the handcuff. It was the way Kadaj laughed, a manic, insane, overly gleeful sound that was anything but controlled. It was possible to tell a lot about a person by the way they laughed, and right now, Kadaj was very unhappy.

It wasn't difficult to yank L forward, or even off the ground, for that matter. L wasn't a short man, but he was spindly; the height he had lacked substance. Bones were more prominent than muscles. He weighed little and felt fragile. But there was something self-assured and confident in his dark eyes. Unblinkingly, he listened to Kadaj's threat, before turning his face away... only to stifle a yawn against his shoulder.

"Please. Don't repeat yourself, or I'll fall asleep on my new assignment. That would hardly look good," he said, using his un-transformed hand to rub at one of his eyes. "As it happens, you're forgetting a lot of very important things, or failing to figure them out even when you're faced with all the evidence you need. The first is that I have a very interesting relationship with suffering. I don't welcome it, necessarily... but some would argue that I invite it. I'm used to torturing myself to get things done, and I'm no stranger to pain. The second thing is that I was not chosen to monitor you because of my physical strength. I think that Shibusen considers this an experiment. I'm a sacrificial lamb, and they're betting that you're going to fall for the bait. I don't doubt that you could kill me... but if you hurt me, even if there's no mark or broken bone to indicate that you did, all I have to do is mention it and you're history. That's how much they value my word over yours. So hurry up and get smart before I make your hand turn black."

The handcuff tightened in warning around Kadaj's wrist.

[toxicwillpower]

Kadaj felt a hot spark of anger igniting inside him, triggered by his new keeper’s matter of fact tone. L was right of course, infuriatingly so! The warning was heard loud and clear. It didn’t improve Kadaj’s mood to be reminded of just how helpless he truly was here.

He briefly considered just how badly needed both hands. One handed beings seemed to get along perfectly fine, didn't they? Though it would fail to give him any true freedom. Both hands or only one, he was still stuck here.

“Fine. Have it your way.” He said after a few moments of silenced anger had passed. He needed to keep his temper down a few degrees. Anyone could be watching this interaction. “Consider yourself lucky.” The tight grip on L’s collar loosened and eventually fell. All of this enraged Kadaj to no end! This feeling of helplessness, of events of out his control—it rubbed some part of his inner most nature as though it were a raw wound. But the blood he wanted wasn’t L’s, it was Kid’s, and all the rest of Shibusen.

[dead_black_eyes]

The corner of L's mouth quirked into a half smile as Kadaj relented. "Of course," he answered smoothly when Kadaj gave him that sour-grapes agreement. "I always do have it my way, but thank you for that. I never like making things harder than they have I be."

Only after Kadaj released his grip on L's t-shirt did he let go of Kadaj's wrist, allowing his arm to transform back. "You should know that there are cameras being installed in your apartment as we speak. I can't be with you constantly, so they're necessary, I'm afraid. I doubt you'll find any of them, but if you do, it's in your best interest to leave them alone."

[toxicwillpower]

A guttural growl was all Kadaj offered as a response. Just exactly who was this guy anyway?! And where did he get off lording himself over the remnant? It was only a few misguided strategies and a streak of bad luck that got Kadaj in the position he was in now. It could have very easily been different. It could have been L relenting to Kadaj. It should have been.

The teen possessively pulled his hand away. A brief rub at his wrist and quick fix of his glove, and Kadaj was ready to spit back any fire that came his way. “Hn. Like I told you,” he pushed a finger to L’s chest, “I’m going to be the perfect Shibusen citizen.” With any hope, L would quickly get bored of him and lose interest in the assignment. Or even better, report to Kid and Stein that Kadaj was good enough to get his meister ability back. Not that he cared much for that ability, but it was his ability and he wanted it back.

“What’s first, hm? Tutoring children?” To fight or kill. “Aiding the elderly?” In an early death. “Caring for the sick?” To study biological warfare. “Or do you have something better in mind?”

[dead_black_eyes]

L's eyes widened, as if he was uncertain that he was hearing the words coming out of Kadaj's mouth. Then he laughed, an odd, frenetic, unpracticed sound.

"Oh, no, you won't be around people. Not in such a structured and intimate way, especially. If you really have any interest in improving the lives of the frail, it's a privilege you'll have to earn. Solitary quiet time is the first step, followed by companionship time with me, and then we'll see about social community service."

[toxicwillpower]

"I'm finished with solitary confinement," Kadaj said, defensively. The memory of being kept in a cage like some worthless pet was still sharp in his mind. He wasn't made for confinement. The boredom of having absolutely nothing to do, day in and day out, ate away at the very essence that was Kadaj. It had been the worst part of his punishment. All the other so-called corrections did not affect him.

Still, he would be the perfect citizen no matter how hard it would be to see it through to the end. It was all for Mother, of course. She needed him just like he needed her. If it wasn't for the dire situation they were in, then he would have burned this place down long ago. So, Kadaj and his brother, Yazoo, would wait in Shibusen's shadows. They would bide their time for the perfect opportunity to present itself.

And L, he thought, could be a useful tool to accomplish those goals. Human tools, even temporary ones, were always an irksome expedient to be disposed of as quickly as possible. But this one would require some time.

Soon enough, Kadaj promised himself.

"Well then," he spoke with a sarcastic sting. "Shall we?"

[dead_black_eyes]

"You aren't finished until I say you are. Same goes for starting," L said, voice sweetened with a sadistic sugar glaze. "It's a way of life you should get used to quickly, for your own comfort's sake. Speaking of your comfort, I have some items back at the apartment that will help you pass the time until I decide that you're fit to be eased back into human society. Does cross stitching appeal to you? I obtained a pattern with kittens."

He took several steps forward, ensuring that he was leading and Kadaj following.