justonetruth | (no subject)

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[There are loud crashing noises coming from one of the rooms, followed by the sound of shattering glass and a few more ominous thumps. It goes silent again for a few moments, before the door is flung open and someone flies out of the room, skidding across the wooden floors of the hallway and colliding painfully with the opposite wall.

It's another Kaito, though clearly not one of the more normal ones. He's dressed in a dull green jumpsuit indicative of prison garb, and a light-gray, metal collar with a bar-code adorning the front is looped around his neck. His appearance isn't helped by the dark red blood stains that spatter his clothing and smear across his cheek. Nor does is it helped by the light trail of blood that now streaks across the floor where he slid, and the droplets that now line the wall where he landed.

He's breathing heavily as he lifts a hand to wipe his mouth, and he freezes mid-motion. His gaze darts frantically around the hallway, and despite his seemingly serious injuries, he's on his feet within seconds, taking a defensive stance and glancing frantically at his surroundings]

The hell--

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[It's the first familiar face Kaito sees, and the first one to makes him lower his guard]

Ran-- [He stumbles a bit, reaching out to steady himself on the wall. She looks far different than she did the last time he saw her-- healthier, well-dressed, uninjured...

Part of him recognizes this as strange. But he's far too relieved at seeing a friend to take much more note of it]

I'm fine. [his vision is blurring and he feels a bit light headed. He must have used up too much blood] Ran-san, where are we?

[Ran knows the signs of blood loss and takes the leaning on the wall and the casual honorofic -- 'Ran-san'? Who is he that he knows her so well? -- as permission to approach sizing up the other's wounds.]

You do not look find. That wound should be stopped.

This is the mansion. It is a difficult place to explain.

[He lifts an arm to show her one of his injuries; a small gash on his arm that looked like it had mostly stopped bleeding by now. The movement revealed a similar cut on his side though, and this one hadn't clotted yet]

I'm fine. [he sounded more insistent the second time than he did the first] I've had worse.

[His vision blurs again briefly as he forces himself to stand up straight, hand still on the wall]

Mansion... is this part of the prison? How far is it from where they're keeping Aoko? [because right now, Aoko was the most important thing] We have to get back there.

I'm sure you have but even a small wound can down a great warrior if left too long. There is time now to bind it.

It is not. It is a place outside of time. I cannot explain it but I am assured that when it is our time we will return. Until then we must bear this as best we can.

[Ran pauses to consider. Where did she last see Aoko?]

I do not know where Aoko-san is now. But I will take you to where I last saw her.

[... she was talking strange, but with how cloudy his mind was getting, he wasn't sure what to make of it]

Outside of-- [there was no way he could process anything outside of his concern for Aoko in this state. Despite his best attempts to stay upright, he was quickly fading]

You saw her? Ran-san, we've gotta-- [he winced, and lifted his free hand to his forehead as his vision started swimming before him] ... shit.

[Ran ducked under his arm on Kaito's uninjured side, careful on his wounds as she took his weight with an arm around him.]

We will find Aoko; do not worry about that. But first we must see to you wound.

[He gladly leaned his weight against her, though not without a sharp protest]

I'm fine! Aoko's the one who-- [he cuts himself off as a sudden wave of dizziness overtakes him] -- ow.

[Supporting barely conscious boys is all in a day's work for Ran. She is, after all, engaged to Shinichi.] Save your strength. Aoko, when I saw her, was fine.

[They're not far from her room and it is in that direction that Ran takes them.]

[He stumbles along with her, still protesting. Well, attempting to, as when he opens his mouth to speak, nothing comes out but a frustrated, pained noise.

He really did use far too much blood... he's usually so much more careful than this. But with Aoko's well-being on the line...

He's barely clinging to his threads of consciousness, and Ran probably has to drag him most of the way to her room]

[It is just as well that Ran's room is so close. It takes her a bare moment to get the door open, not even bothering about removing shoes as she all but hoists Kaito up the step and helps him sit down on the tatami floor.]

Stay still.

[She graps the sleeve of her light cotton kimono and rips it off, tearing it into thin bandages -- not the first kimono she's lost this way, and it won't be the last.]

[He plops onto the ground hard, barely taking in his surroundings, vision still swimming, and buries his face in his hands. He's shaking some more and he feels like he's going to collapse any second now.

He has so many question and so many things he wants to say (they shouldn't be here right now, they should be helping Aoko), but he doesn't have the strength to voice any of them]

[Weakened, in no state to resist. ~~Qualities Ran approves of in a guy.~~ Ran decides there is no reason to stop her getting immediately to work. The jumpsuit gives her pause -- but rather than ask Kaito, she decides to save time by taking up her sword.]

Stay very still.

[he registers the movement of her grabbing her sword out of the corner of his eye.

... when did she start carrying around swords--?

He wants to ask what she's doing, but he still can't bring himself to speak or protest anymore. So he obliges her request, staying as still as he can]

[Hello, sword. Goodbye, jumpsuit. Once she's made the initial cut, Ran uses her hands to tear the strange fabric, very careful of Kaito's injuries. She works quickly, appreciating how cooperative Kaito is with her ministrations -- not at all like some ungrateful apprentices she knows -- carefully lifting his undershirt out of the way, dabbing a damp cloth across the bloodied patch until she's got it clean enough to see the wound, and then binding it with the strips torn from her kimono. She bandages it twice, the second time, placing dried herbs between the layers of bandages to ward off illness and misfortune. She does not have a charm, but it will do until they can find a priest. That done she starts on his shallower arm wound.]

It will not be long now.

[He manages to make it through the entire bandaging of the injury on his side conscious, wincing and hissing in pain as she cleans the injury.

By the time it's bandaged and sterilized though, he just doesn't have the energy to stay awake anymore. With a mumble that sounds suspiciously like Aoko's name, he pitches forward a bit and grabs her shoulder, the blood loss finally catching up to him and causing him to pass out]

[Ran catches Kaito before he can pitch onto the floor. She makes a 'tsk' sound as she carefully adjusts her hold on him so that she can finish dealing with his arm wound before lowering him down onto the tatami. Men. No stamina.

A futon is dragged over to Kaito, and he is carefully lifted onto it. After some hesitation and modesty and rather more bafflement and confusion, Kaito's jumpsuit and t-shirt are removed. Conan is summoned to watch over the unconscious Kaito as Ran washes the garments and they are hung to dry over the cooking fire, as a pot of rice gruel is set to cook.

By the time the Kaito wakes, there is a comforting smell emanating from the fire, the room warm and cosy. Ran is sitting to a quiet cup of tea, Conan having been dispatched to find their patient suitable clothing and retrieve Ran's bundle of food. She's lost in thought, idly polishing her swords as she waits for her tea to cool.

[Kaito awakes a good few hours later with a start, sitting up abruptly with a gasp. He doesn't recognize his surroundings at all, and for a moment, he allows himself to panic]

Where-- [he catches sight of Ran in the corner, polishing her swords, and everything comes rushing back to him. His injuries, how he overexerted himself, how Ran dressed his wounds (and he can feel the bandages clinging to his skin as proof), how he stumbled into a strange mansion in the middle of rescuing Aoko--

-- Aoko.

Immediately, he throws the blankets off of him and leaps to his feet, suddenly very much awake and aware (though he hasn't seemed to notice that he's only clad in his boxers). This room doesn't look anything like the modern mansion he remembered from earlier... and he feels like he has just been sent several hundred years into the past]

Where... what the heck is going on here?

[Kaito might not have realised that he is only clad in his boxes, but Ran is very much aware -- as evidenced by the way that after that first surprised glance, she does not look at him, but instead turns a demure shade of pink and returns to her swords -- now that the danger has passed, modesty has reasserted itself.]

I told you the Mansion was difficult to explain. Of course, you might not remember that, Kaito-san.

Mansion-- [that's right, she had mentioned it. Though this didn't look anything like the mansion.

And even with Ran's reaction, he's still blissfully unaware of his own state of dress. But he has finally noticed hers]

... mansion. Where is the mansion? Where is it in relation to the prison? How'd we even get here? [a pause] ... what's with the weird samurai get-up?

We are still in the mansion, Kaito-san. [Blush, blush.] But I do not know where it is in relation to the prison.

As for how we got here ... I believe it is some manner of enchantment.

[slightly baleful glare that would be more baleful if she wasn't trying not to look at him.] It is not weird for the daughter of a samurai to dress befitting a samurai house.

[He plops onto the ground again after another wave of light-headedness overtakes him. Even with the rest, he's still feeling the effects from losing so much blood]

You don't... [a pause] Daughter of a samurai... [okay, things are really confusing now] Enchantment...

[he's not quite sure how to react to all of this]

Perhaps you would like some tea. [Tactful pause.] And a blanket.

[He runs a hand through his hair, still caked with blood from earlier]

Orange juice... something with vitamin C. [her suggestion for a blanket causes him to glance down... and it finally strikes him that he's only wearing his boxers.

His blush matches hers]

Uh--! A blanket would be good!

There is one behind you. [Ran stands, politely pretending not to notice Kaito's embarrassment, and moves to the pot suspended over the cooking fire, ladling some rice porridge into a bowl.]

I do not have any ... vitamin C ... or oranges, but there is dried plum in the porridge.

[He snatches the blanket off the ground quickly and drapes it over his shoulders, heaving a relieved sigh as his modesty is finally preserved.

He's eying Ran now. She... looks like the one he knows save for a few physical differences... she even sounds like her. But he can venture to guess that she's not her at all]

You're Ran Mouri, right? [a pause] And the rest of the mansion looked more... uh. Modern than this room. Does it have a kitchen or... somewhere I could get some orange juice?