(no subject)

[listlesshonesty.livejournal.com]

When; Sept. 20th, evening
Rating; PG?
Characters; Naota listlesshonesty and Mamimi insurgently
Summary; Mamimi has just arrived in the City, and Naota rushes off to find her.
Log; She had woken up in the ocean of all places. At least a river would have been nicer... Fresh water didn't sting this much. She had lost her shoes somewhere along the way, so the rocky bottom cut into her stockings as she floundered to the shore, finally collapsing on the sand to cough up the bitter water that she'd nearly inhaled in her surprise.

As she lay there, Mamemi stared dully ahead, watching as a crab walked by. This was a dream, wasn't it? Weird stuff like this only happened in Mabase, and she had left that little town to pursue her photography. She was going to make a name for herself, since it was obvious no one else was willing to take care of her anymore.

"...Ah..." Both eyes widened as the crab moved out of the way, revealing a gigantic red space ship far in the distance. Far away, but still big enough to see clearly. It reminded her of...that big red bird.

Five minutes passed before she sat up, sand clinging to her cheek and clothes as she felt around for a cigarette, only to find them soaked. She perched one between her lips anyway before curling up and locating her phone. It had plastic covering to protect it from water, but she was still surprised there was a signal.

All of her friend's phone numbers were gone, but for some reason it could still connect to the world wide web...or...something similar. Before she even thought about what she was doing, the teenager held the phone close to her lips to whisper hoarsely, a hint of amusement there.

"Mayday. Mayday. We've been hit. A big shark swallowed the helicopter... Maybe it spit me out."

...She hadn't expected a response. She was just having fun. But there were people she didn't know. And then there was someone she did. Takkun.

Mamimi just waited after that. It was all she could do, really... She wanted to get up to take pictures of the big space ship, but she was so sore. So much swimming... This was a really bad dream.



Takkun.

She'd called him Takkun.

"That's not my name," he had wanted to say, "It's Naota!"

She'd called him that for the first time he could remember, the day she left Mabase. The day she disappeared off the face of the planet. Life hadn't changed much, but... He could honestly admit he was happier, with her gone. She'd found a way out, and in turn, he could be himself, for a change. There were no shoes to fill but his own.

Had she merely forgotten? Or maybe it was just an old habit that she hadn't managed to break. Either way, it shouldn't have bothered him as much as it did.

He'd raced from Hisoka's apartment the second he found out where she was, mind racing with possibilities. What would he say, what would he do? Take her back with him? He couldn't just leave her, she could barely take care of herself back home, and here... There were all kinds of perverts! If he left her, anything could happen...

Thinking about it now wouldn't make it better. They needed to talk, first.

When he finally broke free from the forest; sweating and gasping for air, he'd run the entire way, he felt like he knew this scene from before. Mamimi, soaked to the bone with her cellphone in hand.

Anything he could've said that would've made him see cool was out of reach, so he blurted out the first thing that came to mind;

"Your cellphone still works?"



She had been lying sprawled on her back and staring up at the night sky when she heard the familiar voice. It made her smile. This really was a dream... That was why it was okay to call him Takkun. He didn't have to be Naota in her dreams. She didn't dream about Naota. She dreamt about Takkun.

"...Mm." She didn't bother moving, instead holding the cellphone up above her to gaze at it. "Waterproof, like my camera. Like windshields and sunroofs. ...But not when they open up."

Finally, she rolled onto her side so that she could sit up again, turning to look at her supposed savior. What she saw almost seemed disappointing, and Mamimi sighed as she staggered up to stand. The sand stung the cuts on the bottom of her feet, but she hardly winced as she tried to shake the wet sand out of her dripping hair.

"...Still a kid, Takkun? I thought you were all grown up, hmmm?" She turned her gazea away from him then, her camera already out of her shoulder bag, shaking some water off of it before snapping a few pictures of the ship in the distance.



She still spoke the same way. Mamimi hadn't changed at all, it seemed. And for some reason, it made part of him want to scream.

Naota watched her with wide eyes as she rolled to her feet, stance tense and hands balled up into fists as if he was waiting for her to disappear again, or for the awkward feeling in the pit of his stomach to burst into understanding. Secretly, he wished for the former.

"I am grown up." Came the insistant reply, blushing from nervousness or embarrassment or even the fact that even when wet, she was still pretty. He hated that. He shouldn't want to feel like he still needed to take care of her. Like he shouldn't haave just stood there when Haruko left, driving away on her floating vespa.

And now he was hesitating, a little relieved that her attention was no longer on him. He didn't have to be on guard, when she wasn't watching him.

"I thought I told you never to call me Takkun again."



The comment made her pause as she clicked another picture of the big red ship that reminded her so much of the giant red bird. This wasn't anywhere. This was...a dream, wasn't it? But in her dreams, this wasn't how things were supposed to go. Her feet weren't supposed to hurt like this, and the lingering taste of seaweed wasn't supposed to remain on her tongue.

Shifting, Mamimi poised the camera, turing it sideways to quickly snap a picture of the boy so defiantly standing there. Through the viewfinder, she eyed his stance, then zoomed in on his expression before dropper her hand to let the camera dangle at her side.

"...Naota-kun..." was her murmur as the gravity of the situation started to tug at her mind. She had called him that in her note when she left. She had left, and...this... This wasn't a dream. That wasn't Takkun. It was Naota.

Her legs buckled, book bag and camera falling to the dampened sand just before her knees did. Trembling, she couldn't seem to quite process the situation well, but it wasn't like she ever did. All she could do to cope was to fall back onto fantasy.

Wet bangs clung to her forehead as Mamimi tipped her head back to stare up at the sky, tinted with colors from the sunset, and both arms spread out wide as if waiting for some divine lightning to strike her. "Is this Endsville? Where's the fire?"



His flush deepened when a familiar camera lens turned to him, tempted to yell at her to take this seriously. More importantly, to take him seriously. Naota knew better; she wouldn't take him seriously because he wasn't who she wanted him to be. He never had been, and he never would be.

Tasuku. Always about Tasuku. Should he hate the brother that everyone constantly compared him to? The one that left without a goodbye, only to leave his legacy and mess behind? Probably. He shouldn't have to take care of everything for him. Tasuku was the older brother, and he... He was just a...

Just a kid.

Naota's fists shook as he watched Mamimi fall to the ground, kneeling as if she were praying to some god she just made up. She should be happy he'd come all this way to find her, but she... That was never going to happen. And he still had to take care of her.

"It's the City, not that stupid video game." He bit out at last, unclenching his hands only to shove them inside the pockets of his jeans. "Weren't you listening to what everyone on the Network told you? We're in a different world, now."

One that wasn't any better than Mabase.



She didn't like his tone. It was so bitter. What was he mad at? This place? Was he mad at her? What had she done? Naota never used to be mad at her... At least not in ways that mattered.

This new Naota was so independent. So grown up. He didn't cling to her anymore. ...She hadn't liked it. That was why she had left. No more Takkun in Mabase. No more Tasuku.

"The City. I like Endsville better. People said I can never leave... Am I stuck here with you, Naota-kun?" Her head tipped forward again, bangs dripping so that the salt water stung her eyes. They looked far away, just as always.

Slowly, she stood back up, the sand still clinging to her. It was uncomfortable. All of her hurt. "Did you bring me here with those new powers of yours? All grown up with powers, like a god?"

Mamimi leaned over to shove her camera in her wet bag before hugging the strap and letting it drag across the beach as she slowly walked toward him, looking upon him like he was a stranger. "Is Canti-sama here, then? The vespa woman?" Eyes narrowed, and she stopped just in front of him so that she could reach out to touch his cheek. "Your true love? Like Romeo and Juliet. But they don't die. They just go to Endsville, you know?"



"It's a lame name, but this place is pretty lame, too." Trying to sound nonchalant after nearly losing his temper was harder than it seemed. Not looking at her made it a little bit easier, but not much.

He glanced out of the corner of his eyes at her for a moment, sighing softly as his eyes slid shut. Maybe if he kept them closed, she would disappear again. "People leave all the time. It's just hard to get out of here." Hisoka had said people were stuck here for eternity, but then Leeloo had told him differently. Was it only some people that could leave, and others who had to stay? He hoped Mamimi wasn't one of the latter. Taking care of her forever... He didn't want to think about that. And he didn't want to go back to Mabase, either.

Blue eyes opened slowly, but she was still there, and standing again. "I didn't do anything. The deities brougt you here, just like everyone else." His face was bright pink and he looked away once again, embarrassed. He was grown up? Then why did everyone keep telling him otherwise?

"Canti's home." Having him would've been nice. People would take him more seriously, for a change. And Haruko... "She's not here." He didn't bother to hide the disappointment in his voice. Maybe, if that Elizabeth Turner person really had taken Atomsk's powers and become the new pirate king, she would show up. Or maybe not.

His skin was burning under her cool hand, blushing to his roots and looking up at her, warily. Haruko didn't love him, he had just been her tool. But at least she had been honest about it.

"What does that play have to do with me? Huh?" He really should push her hand away. Letting her touch him... It wasn't a good idea.



He sounded so disappointed...so sad that his Haruko wasn't here. He didn't look happy to see her at all. She could remember a time when he had followed her everywhere... Takkun.

That vespa woman had ruined everything. Mamimi had liked her at first, but then she'd had to go and change everything around.

Everything.

Her glazed eyes seemed to sharpen then, her pouty lips drawn into a firm line as she cupped the boy's cheek and curled her fingers, her thumbnail pressing into his temple. Any harder and it would leave a mark.

She dropped her hand.

"When to the sessions of sweet silent thought, I summon up remembrance of things past. I sigh the lack of many a thing I sought." Shakespeare... She liked his stuff. She liked his tragedies. Death and mayhem... But never enough fire.

Mamimi's gazed moved past him to the thick forest just ahead, and she brushed past him to keep limping onward. Endsville. The City. It didn't matter... She would just take pictures here, and wait for something to happen. Something meaningful. Something that was meant just for her.



"Ow." Her grip on his face didn't hurt as much as he acted like it did, but the pressure was still uncomfortable. He stared at her, confused and uncertain what he'd done to deserve this. The look on her face...

She never looked that serious. Ever.

But then Mamimi dropped her hand, as if whatever it was he'd done didn't matter anymore. And then... Was it Shakespeare, or some prayer she'd just made up? He could never be sure with her. Trying to make sense of her made his head hurt. He wasn't sure why, when he didn't have a brain in the first place.

Naota watched her walk off into the forest, his mouth slightly agape. He stayed that way for what felt like hours, until he finally brought himself to move and follow after her.

He'd been wrong when he first showed up, standing amongst the crowds and blinded by the bright lights of the City. He thought something amazing could happen here.

In the end, it was just like home.