tampered | [log; ongoing]

[log; ongoing]

when; 29 Oct., evening.
rating; PG-13.
characters; Watari Yutaka [

scienceinacan], Tatsumi Seiichirou [

kageseii].
summary; Reprimands are best served the day after.
log;

The whole ordeal had been a messy affair, and his dry-cleaner had said the same thing when he had seen the suit. Fortunately, the more important issue was the health of the two patients over whom he had volunteered partial watch. He couldn't afford to slack here, not when the hospital itself could turn into a battle field at any given moment. Luckily for him and everyone else involved, the shadows were good sentinels.

The TV noise in the background droned softly, mixing with the P.A. announcements within the corridors. The afternoon had passed rather dully - thankfully, he was able to bring the laptop along to focus on his business. With shadows watching the room next door and the front door of the room he now occupied, the task was easier than it could have been. Of course, Nagare and Watari were in separate rooms. It was better that way, especially when he interrogated Nagare about what had happened. It would not have done to have that information spilled around Watari, who likely would have attempted to keep it quiet. The nature of the truth made Tatsumi narrow his eyes at the sleeping scientist whenever he stared over the lid of his laptop.

He had dared to do the most foolish thing while in combat, and it hadn't paid off at all. Vaguely he was also calculating the amount of money in damages that the entire ordeal had caused. While it wasn't as important, it certainly was a headache to deal with. But at least it would be a swift recovery.

The keys kept clicking under his fingertips, and he could hear that soft snoring over the television. Obviously, he thought bitterly, I have nothing to worry about.

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It had honestly felt like one of those mornings really, when he actually found himself awake on a proper bed, and not on one of the foldaway futons he kept under experiment tables and desks in his lab. Really, Yutaka couldn't even remember the last time he'd properly slept in a bed - barring that time with you-know-who and he didn't count passing out actual sleeping. He'd definitely slept now, though. He could tell. And then, there was that nagging feeling, that warning at the back of his head that if he moved too much, he was going to be in a lot of pain.

When he opened his eyes, he wasn't too surprised to find a hugely unfamiliar ceiling before him. He had an inkling... and he was able to piece it together finally when he spotted Tatsumi beside his bed. The shadow-master proved to be an effective memory refresher, it seemed, and in a matter of seconds, Yutaka was able to guess where he could possibly be.

It had to have been the hospital.

Yutaka had the mind to ask why on earth they'd brought him to a hospital; naturally the last of places to take a quick-to-regenerate, dead, guardian of death. First things first though, and he was aware that he was certainly missing two very vital aspects of his unlife...

"Tatsumi, my glasses, and 003 please?"

The snoring ceased, and he then was met with Watari's voice - awake already. Tatsumi paused instantly, keeping his eyes affixed to the computer screen for a few seconds. Surprisingly, he could keep calm now; it perhaps had something to do with the large bandage wrapped around the scientist's torso. Finally, he shut the laptop and set it aside on the sofa nearby. And now he had to deal with the aftermath of it all.

Somehow that seemed to be a more daunting task than it was.

He thrust the glasses into Watari's face, standing at the side of the bed with the most neutral expression he could muster. "Here," he answered mechanically. "003 is sitting on the nightstand." Nothing too exacerbating, of course - not yet anyway.

The scientist ignored the way Tatsumi had provided him with his glasses and instead turned his immediate attention to his partner. Thankfully, getting a full view of the nightstand didn't require much beyond tilting his head, but when he did see his faithful partner slumped helplessly on the the surface, he frowned and thoughtlessly tried to sit up straight. He'd planned to scoop the owl into his hands and examine the damage done to her more closely, but before he could actually do that, he had to wince... wince hard.

"O-ow," he muttered. "By my calculation-- this should be a lot more manageable by now!"

He still tried to reach for his owl anyway, but found her infuriatingly, and curiously too, out of reach from him even while sitting up. He turned to give Tatsumi a suspicious look, and then spoke again.

"Could you please pass me 003? " He tried to sound as nice as possible; this was necessary, of course, considering the bitterness between them the past few weeks.

"You suffered quite a bit of damage," he replied with that automated voice. One hand reached for the slumping owl - such a pathetic sight almost made Tatsumi frown - and he placed it gently beside Watari on that bed. At the least, he could show some courtesy; it only seemed worth a shot after all the hostilities of the past few weeks. Sometimes that grew too tiresome.

Again, he took a seat in the chair he had situated near the bed. But, of course, he'd have to point out something, and that likely wasn't going to go over too well. It was a necessity, however; there was too much danger to ignore when it came to their status as shinigami. Tatsumi sighed softly, more to himself, before he started.

"You've seen Yatonogami now."

"Uh-huh," the scientist, nodding disinterestedly as he gently scooped 003 up into his hands. 003, as if sensing her master, hooted brokenly in greeting and Yutaka had to smile... and frown, all at the same time, understanding the effort 003 must be exerting just to let him know she was fine. Really, at the end of the day, only 003 ever cared for him, and understood him, and really mattered...

Eyes briefly scanning 003, he made a quick assessment of how much damage the mechanical owl had taken. He almost itched for a screw and some tools to look into 003 immediately... but that would require requesting Tatsumi for those tools, or drawing them. He doubted asking Tatsumi for those or openly drawing tools to life would go over well with the shadow-master; whether or not the shadow-master actually cared for a co-worker that wasn't named Tsuzuki, he knew Tatsumi was pricker for following standard protocol and last he'd checked, using powers and working while in a hospital bed was a big and definite no-no.

That Yatonogami... for someone who manifested and possibly drew its power from a sick and dying man, his sting, and tentacles certainly packed a punch--

Yatonogami!

Ah, wasn't Tatsumi saying something about that? Didn't he say... He tried to recall.

There.

"Yup, I've seen it," Yutaka said, sounding disinterested as his eyes remained fixed on 003. "So, if we find a way to finally get rid of it, I can summon it too. Got its ugly mug imprinted in my head... I can't say I don't pity Kurosaki-san for it~"

Summoning the snake god, even while perhaps some twisted joke, still was not what he wanted to hear. Tatsumi muttered very faintly under his breath, but he had to regain composure. Somehow, he had the nerve to joke about the entire thing; somehow, he hadn't learned the lesson. That was frustrating, but what was Tatsumi supposed to expect?

There were ways to correct this.

"Watari-san--" he nearly choked over the name, so discontinued was its use-- "I know you summoned shadows." He stared resolutely at Watari, sitting still as his defence. "What happened?" He could give the other a chance to explain himself, of course - even though he had the sinking feeling that there would be a lie slipped in somewhere.

The scientist merely shrugged a bit, clearly still very disinterested as he instead focused on petting 003 gently with his fingers. "It didn't work, naturally," he muttered as if it didn't matter and as if there were other more important things to discuss.

Of course, with 003 like this, Yutaka could easily reason to himself that there were indeed better things to worry about; like how he could possibly get 003 back to her old self as soon as possible! Yatonogami could wait; he remembered what that snake looked like, and now had an idea of how he would deal with it later on.

At that point, Tatsumi rose from his seat. The dismissive behaviour was something that was intolerable; he was clearly not taking it seriously. That was the most upsetting thing - he had suffered such damage in just summoning the shadows, had seen the snake god for himself, and yet it was all a joke. There were only two shadowmasters for a reason. He glowered, crossing his arms as though to contain himself even further.

"Of course it didn't work," he started in a low growl. "You were a fool to attempt it." His arms shifted a bit when he began a short pace. "Watari-san, do you know why there are only two shadowmasters in Meifu?"

The shadow-master's monologue forced Yutaka into silence, but when Tatsumi had finished, still Yutaka could not find it in himself to care overmuch. He knew it had been a mistake, but really, he hadn't exactly been thinking straight, had he? Under normal circumstances, he reasoned to himself, he'd have been far from making such a foolish decision, but... well, things happened, right?

"So, I wasn't thinking straight?" Yutaka offered silently, still showing himself more interested in 003's well-being than the fast-becoming-agitated shadow-master beside his bed. "I'm clearly not doing it again anymore."

He'd have made a comment about shadow-masters requiring a special breed of stuck-up jerks too if he didn't feel drained and far too disinterested from even making that comment to begin with.

Edited 2008-10-30 07:08 (UTC)

"You better not," he snapped, still pacing. "You couldn't control them, could you?" Of course, it was a rhetorical question - he already knew the answer. The disaster that awaited him in Nagare's quarters told the story well enough. He had thought that there was better care in that scientist, more thought to his methods, but clearly, he was wrong. That was what gave rise to a deeper crease in his brow.

He turned on his heel, facing Watari without moving once more. "You endangered your safety and Nagare-dono's life," he continued. "Clearly, you weren't thinking at all."

Watari's eyebrows met together as he frowned, not liking at all the tone in Tatsumi's voice. Despite the reaction that implication evoked in him though, he kept petting 003 gently, in slow, measured strokes of his fingers.

"If I wasn't thinking at all, Kurosaki-san would be dead by now," he said petulantly, gaining some sort of sadistic pleasure in the knowledge that that was going to get Tatsumi riled up.

He knew he had made a mistake, and there was some truth in the shadow-master's words... but to hear it said in such an insulting manner drove Yutaka to fight back, to deny, and to justify his actions. Somehow, lately, Tatsumi only served to bring irritation after irritation to him.

"That's not good enough!"

Tatsumi nearly yelled it out, glaring with such intensity at Watari as though threatening to explode him. And he stood there for a few seconds, breathing heavily before turning again on his heel. No, he had to remain calm and collected - he attempted as much with his back turned to the scientist. He was not so eager to let himself go in front of this man anymore.

Finally calm once more, he spoke again. "Nagare-dono could have been killed by those shadows. You could have been injured even worse than this," he stated levelly. "You worried Tsuzuki-san a lot."

The mention of Tsuzuki prompted Yutaka to finally snap his head upwards and face Tatsumi fully. He had a look of seriousness on his face for a few moments before it was replaced by a bright smile. "It's just worry, Tatsumi; Tsuzuki's not going to die from that." He turned back to petting 003 sagely. "And besides," he continued, sneering lightly as he shrugged. "It's not like we could even die anymore. I know I'd need to be very lucid to even try and summon Touda to do the job."

Tatsumi could only look over his shoulder to the other man before snapping his stare forward again. He had to remain calm, if not just out of spite. Watari often won if he was angered so, after all. So he paused, never looking back again, before he continued his slow pace. It wouldn't do at all to get enraged as he had before in front of Watari.

"Look, it's not about that. You need to be more careful," he replied in what sounded a rational tone. "I can't have you blowing buildings up or getting bulletholes in my walls here - and I can't have you endanger anyone else's life."

This time, the scientist actually had to turn again and stare long and hard at Tatsumi. That was... unexpected. Yutaka actually found himself pleasantly surprised by this response. After a moment of thought, he finally asked slowly, "Who are you and what have you done with the real Tatsumi?"

He'd have waited for an answer sitting up like that, but somehow, the urge to lie down and clutch 003 to his chest while he was at it won. It was a good enough signal of defeat, he thought resignedly.

He only shot Watari a brief long-suffering glare before snapping his stare forward. Tatsumi still had his arms crossed, keeping his restraint more and more, and strangely it seemed to work. He'd take what he could get when it concerned these conflicts he and Watari had.

After a while, he turned again on his heel and continued his slow pacing. "Do you understand, Watari-san?" Step, step, step - his shoes almost measured the time of his silence. "I do not want to pay any more hospital co-pays."

"And if you really wanted to save up, you'd have put Kurosaki-san alone in the hospital," Yutaka said plainly, his void of any derision. It was a fact after all, but when he looked at Tatsumi again, he sighed... and found that sighing too deeply caused sharp needle-like pain to erupt from his chest-area. Not that he was going to tell Tatsumi that, of course. He wasn't one to whine. "I'm surprised I actually ended up here... it wasn't that bad, was it? I think I held out pretty well... until those shadows."

"I can't very well watch you recover in one place and watch Nagare-dono here at the same time, Watari-san," he admitted plainly, now staring at Watari sedately. "Tsuzuki-san and I agreed on watching you both in shifts before work - it was the most efficient way to keep you both under watch."

Now that the nerves had subsided within Tatsumi, he felt silly pacing as he had been. The chair was a good idea once more, and as he settled into it, he found it far easier to face Watari without resorting to a yell. "I don't want you ever to get into a situation like that again, do you understand?"

So, perhaps, Yutaka was a bit slow on the uptake himself, and that at times, Tatsumi and himself often misunderstood each other. However, after hearing that kind of question out of Tatsumi... Yutaka had to pause. He didn't know how to respond to that, and well, to be honest, he wasn't even quite sure how to take that question. Did he just hear that right?

No, he was probably misunderstanding! He'd always been careful, hadn't he? So that nothing he did ever warranted... warranted this kind of reaction! Even if his laboratory had been prone to accidents and whatnot, it wasn't like he ever got into bad situations really as a result of these accidents and...

Wait, process it Watari Yutaka... do it slowly... count from ten to one...

"Tatsumi," are you sure you're not mistaking me for someone else? "... is that worry I'm hearing out of your usually abusive and stiff-lipped mouth?"

Tatsumi paused a moment, blinking while keeping his stare still on the scientist. And then he realised what he had said and what reaction that had elicited... and at that he frowned, scoffed, and stood again. Worry, indeed - there was nothing to worry about with Watari, however annoying he was.

"Don't misunderstand me," he started in protest, sounding slightly agitated. "I don't want you to worry Tsuzuki-san-- it takes forever to console him. And I'm going to have to pay a lot to fix the apartment after that rampage," Tatsumi added in irritation.

It was as if Yutaka had been given new glasses to view Tatsumi with, and this time, those glasses had just the right strength of lens. It allowed him to see Tatsumi in a different way, a better way. He'd always fancied himself to be one of the few who really understood the people in the Summons Division, and he'd been pretty smug and conceited about that too, admittedly, but now, he realized... he'd been too presumptuous about Tatsumi.

"I can always just fix your apartment, if you ask, after I'm done healing," he offered with a confident smile. "You'd like to save, and I'd like to be out of debt from you."

He let Tatsumi go on the subject of actually worrying over him. He... he'd just believe Tatsumi was marginally so. No, he corrected himself upon realizing he was falling back on his old views of Tatsumi. Tatsumi had to have been.

Instantly, Tatsumi shot Watari a distrustful glare. Oh, sure, he was going to trust such a job to a mad scientist who was more known for explosions than actual progress. The absurdity almost made him laugh. Almost.

"I'll do it myself," he hissed, scoffing again. At least Watari was making some sort of effort. "Besides, you still need to recover."

"But I'll be fine in a day.. or two.. or three," Yutaka said, and then frowned before cursing lightly. "Ah... this isn't good! I bought a costume and all and I was going to go out...

...there goes my free chocolates!"

"You're a deal too young for that nonsense," Tatsumi remarked, once more taking a seat. Why he was being so fidgety was a mystery even to himself. He resigned, from then, to keeping to one position for at least a good ten minutes. There was no need in giving Watari anything else to mock.

At the least, the scientist was tolerable for the moment. "And you must rest, or else you'll be here for far longer," he stated matter-of-factly while crossing his arms again.

"Less explosions for you, though? Are you sure you're not keen on having me stay here longer?" Yutaka blinked innocently at Tatsumi, just to add to that light joking. Tatsumi did look a bit... agitated. Hmm. It made Yutaka wonder a bit.

"Is Kurosaki-san in such a bad condition that you seem, well, not really your usual "I am a rock" calm self?" Before Tatsumi could answer that though, he suddenly added. "And and... you're bringing me my costume tomorrow, aren't you?"

He was going to ignore the question Watari prompted altogether. There was no need in him knowing what it was, if anything at all, that was worrying him so... and he wasn't worried, to begin with. Luckily, his interrogator skimmed over the question himself. Even if not, Tatsumi was certain he himself could avoid it well.

"Watari-san," he started, a sigh laced with self-pity leaving him. "I'm not helping you indulge in such foolishness. Not in the condition you're in."

"I was planning to look awesome in bed, not awesome out on the streets, at least!" And then, his expression turned sly. "So, how exactly is Kurosaki-san? You didn't answer it... I didn't screw up that badly, right?"

Again, he asked the question. Not that Tatsumi would answer directly, but it certainly revealed Watari's own interest in the answer. He refrained from biting his lip or fidgeting any further; the less physical sues he could give out, the better. He stared at the scientist, then began with a calm he had mastered long ago.

"Nagare-dono will recover," he answered plainly. "You've no need to worry about his condition."

Tatsumi was a poor liar; Yutaka had known this all along, but to see it proven again was admittedly amusing. He turned his head slightly to give Tatsumi a full view of himself narrowing his eyes to give Tatsumi a perfectly easy-to-read "that sucks" look.

"You're a really poor liar," he said simply. "You can tell me how bad I screwed up. I'm not afraid of finding out."

Tatsumi stared back with his full-force glare; the threat was obvious. If you value peace, you will refrain from this. His arms still crossed, he remained still as though daring the other to even breathe out another question. He had said enough already, and the delicate equilibrium they had established had no need in disturbance.

"I've already told you the damage you've done. Is there any need for me to repeat it?" he asked challengingly. Surely, Watari was not that much of a masochist.

And the scientist returned Tatsumi's glare with a carefree smile. You're not so heartless as to attack someone bedridden, are you? Tatsumi was hiding something, as was his habit when he thought it was for "the best", and Yutaka was determined to find out what it was.

"I don't want you to repeat it; I want you to tell me everything. I may be temporarily bedridden... but I'd like to have an idea what I need to do afterwards, 'k? Now be a good boy and tell Watari-sensei, Tatsumi-kun~"

"I've already told you what not to do," Tatsumi retorted, less venom seething in his voice as he expelled a sound of irritation. Sometimes, the other was just too incorrigible; no wonder he sometimes felt drained after conversation with the mad scientist. "There is no more need to discuss it."

"Why are you so intent on hiding it from me, of all people, anyway?" And it was true, it wasn't like hearing he'd driven the Kurosaki patriarch to near death was going to seriously demoralize him. "It's not like I'd get hurt or anything like that by the truth. I may be injured physically, but I'm still the same old stubborn scientist you love~"

"There is nothing more to discuss," he reiterated firmly. There wasn't any need in pursuing the topic any further, as far as he was concerned, and Tatsumi kept his steely, forbidding stare on Watari. The results, certainly, would have helped in the reprimand, but there was no need in any further clarification when he had given the proper lecture for transgression. After all, the scientist knew what he had done and the consequences of his actions.

At least, that was how it played out in his own mind.

"Don't be stubborn, Tatsumi~" Yutaka drawled. "Or, I may be forced to do something drastic!"

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