TP5: Kippei and Shinji

[shattermelt]

Kippei spent a couple of long days checking on all the evacuees who might be his responsibility, attempting to determine that all of them had in fact, gotten out, and stubbornly refusing to allow himself to check on the whereabouts of Ibu Shinji until every other Fudomine resident who might have been affected by the order had been accounted for.

When he finally allowed himself to look, he realized that he really had no idea where Shinji might be found, whether he had been involved in trying to fix the problem or possibly been hurt when the breach itself had been discovered. Kippei had no idea, though he suspected that even if Shinji had been hurt he would still be in there helping to fix it or clean up or whatever else needed doing.

All that area was quarantined, however, and even ambassadors were not being allowed inside. At this point, Kippei did not care--after finding that no one he asked knew where Shinji was or how he was or had a contact number for him, and having ascertained that he was at least, not in medlab, Kippei reminded himself that Sada would need to know exactly what happened to her brother--never mind what he himself wanted, since that, he felt, was irrelevant.

Only mechanics and engineers and station security were being allowed into Grey and Brown sectors at the moment, which meant only their clearances were working on the access points. Kippei found a low-ranking member of security who probably would not be missed too soon, knocked him out from behind and searched his pockets. Unethical, illegal, and possibly stupid, but oh well. He wrapped a hooded cloak around himself in vague disguise, and headed into Grey to look for Shinji.

Comments

[shattermelt.livejournal.com]

"It works very well," Kippei told him, inclining his head in acknowledgement. "Thank you for setting it up. I've had no trouble with it." Shinji looked annoyed, but Kippei didn't care. Kippei was going to make sure he got the attention he needed and a comfortable place to stay whether he liked it or not. The fact that he would have done this regardless of whether or not Sada wanted it, he was carefully not thinking about.

[ayretala.livejournal.com]

And so it bloody well should, Shinji thought. He'd spent a whole damn day on it, for a guy who did nothing but glare at him like he was a rat of some weird species no one knew about yet and he wasn't sure he should warn the world just yet. Shinji couldn't care less, leaning back against the seat and closing his eyes, taking deep breaths and smiling a little because god, the air was clean!

[shattermelt.livejournal.com]

Kippei watched him out of the corner of his eye, now that Shinji was leaning back and not paying attention, noting the lines of stress and weariness on his face. The man was in serious need of rest, in Kippei's opinion--stubborn bastard. His gaze lingered absently on the worn out mechanic, tracking up and down his slumped form, detailing injuries and streaks and smudges of dirt and other signs of hard labor.

His mouth set in a grim line, and he resisted the random urge to reach over and brush Ibu's hair out of his face. What the hell, stupid, and why did he think this was a good idea again? Having Shinji stay in his rooms, sleeping there? Fuck. He almost sighed, but restrained himself and looked away. At least they were almost there... not that this was necessarily a good thing.

[ayretala.livejournal.com]

The shuttle came to a stop and Shinji stood immediately. Angry. He'd heard those stupid sighs and could almost feel how disgruntled Tachibana was by this whole thing, as if it were a tangible thing, his discomfort.

"This is stupid, you don't want me to go to your house and my sister is not an idiot, she won't care if I stay with everyone else, and I won't care, and you'll be much happier I'm sure and green is closer to brown anyway so it won't take me as long to get back on duty when I have to, which is better."

[shattermelt.livejournal.com]

"No!" Kippei said flatly. "What's stupid is for you to stay there when you can stay with me perfectly well and get some decent rest. You most assuredly need. And I would not be happier--I admit I'm not thrilled about this, but neither do I mind all that much, and you need it. I would be much less happy if I let you go down to green," he added irritably, all too aware of how true this was.

[ayretala.livejournal.com]

This was stupid, but Shinji looked aside and waited quietly for Kippei to lead the way. He wasn't going to argue with the Ambassador, but nor was he under any illusion he was welcome. This was just another of Tachibana's self-assigned missions. Something to do with making sure every member of the station from his nation was present and accounted for and in good health or some shit. Whatever.

[shattermelt.livejournal.com]

Shinji was still being stubborn, but he had at least stopped arguing. God, it was frustrating and why did he even care? Kippei frowned to himself as he led the way back to his rooms, taking off the cloak he'd used as he walked, and running absent fingers through his hair, as though it needed straightening. Inside, he looked critically at Shinji and decided that fixing him up with a medkit should probably be secondary to letting him get cleaned up, even if Kippei himself thought that the injuries were a more immediate problem.

"If you want to shower first, it's in here," Kippei told him, motioning toward the bathroom, "and I'll find you something to wear. It'll probably be too big but it's better than..." Sitting around in a towel, he was going to say, and swallowed hard, pushing away the mental images. "Better than nothing," he finished awkwardly. That was just as bad, really. Groaning mentally, he concentrated fiercely, doing some random nav calculations in his head until his thoughts fell into place in a neat, orderly fashion again.

[ayretala.livejournal.com]

Shower. Oh god, clean water. Shinji was through the door, half out of his clothes and running the hot water before Tachibana even finished talking. He was halfway through washing his hair when he realised what Tachibana had said. Clothes. Oh yeah...they came in handy and fuck he was not putting those dirty things back on, but Tachibana...no way. He had to wear his clothes? Hell yes it was better than walking around in a towel while the Ambassador sneered at him, but this was just not a good idea! He should have argued more. It was just another reason to stay in the shower longer. At least there was hot water.