(no subject)

[gunofdis.livejournal.com]

When; December 6th
Rating; G for Delicious Flat Chest
Characters; Cobray gunofdis and Haku yuki_no_shinobi
Summary; Haku randomly stumbles upon Cobray in the hotsprings. He takes advantage of it to question Cobray and fulfill his own mission.
Log; Getting any decent information out of Cobray thus far hadn’t been incredibly successful. He was often around people, and when he hardly knew him at all, asking to speak privately with him would be beyond suspicious.

It was purely by a rare stroke of luck that they happened to visit the hot springs at the same time. Haku wasn’t even aware of it at first, as he was honestly just attempting to calm his thoughts while he clipped his long hair up, washed himself, and finally wrapped a towel around himself for modesty’s sake. He had heard this was a co-ed spring, after all, and he wasn’t used to such things.

It probably meant some would have mistaken him for a girl if they hadn’t been paying attention to his chest.

When he stepped out towards the large spring, though, he was quite delighted to see what looked like Cobray resting in the water not far off. Of course, he certainly did believe that he hated this man… But the delight was due to the fact that Cobray was alone.

Passing up this chance would have been beyond stupid. So the boy slipped into the water, silently making his way up behind the man before lightly tapping him on the shoulders. “Cobray-san?”

Cobray was staring at the stars that night, wishing he was back home with the rest of the Alpha Numbers. He heard his name called out so he turned his head. Through the fog from the hot water, he saw a slim figure. Quickly, he ran through all the possibilities in his mind. In the back of his head, he felt Astranagun give him a nudge in the right direction. He continued to look with his typical blank face. "What brings you here Haku?"

"Ah, the desire to relax... What else?" It was certainly the truth, at least. That was why he had initially visited.

"And yourself? Am I interrupting something? I can leave if so." He silently prayed that Cobray wouldn't ask him to leave, and even found a molded rock to perch on just for effect.

Cobray shook his head slowly. "No need to leave. I always have time for friends." He emphasized his point with a smile.

Friend? Did Cobray really consider him one, when they hardly knew each other?

No, that was doubtful.

Still, as polite as ever, Haku nodded and tucked back a whisp of hair that had fallen out of the clip. "You do seem to help out your friends a lot... Did you have many friends where you come from?"

"Friends. Yes, I have many. A literal army of friends, one might say." Cobray scooped some water into his hands and watched it drip back down. While studying the ripples, he asked, "Do you have many friends back home?"

"Hm? Well, I didn't really. It wasn't a necessity." Haku thinked of a way to change the subject. They were supposed to be talking about Cobray, after all, not himself.

"There was a day that I saw you not be so nice to your friends... But it didn't seem to be you. It was a man who called himself Ingram. May I ask what that was about?"

Cobray blinked, thinking of a way to explain the situation. "I am a clone of Ingram. After being killed, his soul took over my body. Because the entrance of his soul erased my memory, I was able to build a personality to keep him trapped in my body. However, he feeds off my negative emotions, and when he becomes powerful enough, he takes over my body. That is what you saw."

A clone? Haku didn't fully understand how such a thing was possible, other than special jutsu... But even then, the effect was never permanent.

Still, it was obvious that Cobray's world was very different from his own. "I see... Why did you want to keep him trapped, Cobray-san, if he feeds off of negative things? It seems like keeping another soul inside of your own body would be...odd, especially if it meant giving up your precious memories."

Everything was tough to explain. Not without a quick background in the history of his own universe. Cobray took a deep breath. "Ingram is not a well liked man in my universe. He betrayed Earth, then double crossed his own kind. In the process, he intentionally almost killed the one who loved him. However, afterwards, he was given a job. He was one to keep the balance among all the universes that existed. When his soul entered me, that job was passed on to me. I feel that to keep the balance, it is best to keep him trapped. In any case, it's not as if i can release him. He and I are one now."

Really, Ingram's story seemed a tad similar to Zabuza's. That made Haku empathize all the more with him, and though Cobray's explanation did seem logical, he was sure there must be more to it. Why did he absolutely need to keep him trapped? Wasn't there a way around it?

Sliding his fingers through the water absently, he murmured, "And his is the only soul within you?"

That wasn't exactly information everyone knew about Cobray. Unless she read over his posts on truth day, perhaps maybe only 10 people knew about his connection to the dead.

Cobray looked at Haku. "I don't keep any other souls within myself, no. I do exercise some control over dead souls though."

"...Do you? How is that? You can will souls to do things?" The boy's head tilted, and he looked just as innocently curious about such an amazing thing as anybody else might have been.

Inside, he was feeling his heart clench. Zabuza's soul...

"Not me specifically." Cobray's hand reached up and pointed. His path of his finger reached over the temple into an open area. There were two mechs parked there. "The taller mech, Dis Astranagun, allows me to do such things."

"Mech...?" Haku strained to look, standing up in the water to do so. It looked like a beast. He had seen it before,of course, in passing...but he had never gotten near it, for he had no clue what it's purpose was. He had almost assumed it was merely a sculpture of some sort.

Dis...Astranagun...

"My... That's still quite a power for such a thing to hold! But what should happen if it is ever destroyed? Wouldn't that harm the souls it controlled?"

"I assure you, there is nothing in this city that can destroy it. Outside of this city, my powers aren't limited. It evolved itself to be an unstoppable force." Cobray pulled his hand in front of his face and stared at his palm.

"The souls aren't a problem. They provide an unlimited power source. The only problem is I need Ingram to control these powers."

"My, so that's what you mean by maintaining balance..." Haku mused softly, then sunk back down into the warm water, a relief from the chill in the air. Then, he smiled again.

"My apologies. I didn't mean to delve so deep into your personal matters... It's just that there are so many new and interesting people here from different worlds...it's only natural to wonder about them. Perhaps we should change the subject. Do you enjoy tea?"

Cobray grimaced, a memory recalled from when he had Kusuha's energy drink. It killed him, literally. Then brought him back to life. Then he remembered Haku was still there.

"Ah, I'm sorry. I do actually like tea. Though I really don't have a favorite kind. How about you?"

Haku honestly didn't have a preference, but he knew saying that usually brought about questions. "I enjoy green tea... Ah, that reminds me, I have groceries that I need to buy for dinner tonight. It's already getting so late... I had forgotten. Pardon me. It was nice speaking with you."

Standing, he offered a polite nod before turning to make his way out of the spring.

Cobray waved to his back. "Have a nice trip. Perhaps we can arrange a time to get together again."

He paused to turn and nod. "Yes! I would like that. I can make us tea and snacks, even. Until then, please take care of yourself, Cobray-san."

The young boy smiled before disappearing back behind the screen so that he could move to quickly get dressed and be on his way.