neornitheslogs | [Closed to Ankh and Eiji]

Eiji was a bit nervous to have Hina around in a place she shouldn't be, but just like Hidari-san had said he knew there was no way to stop her. He couldn't blame her for acting the way she did, though. If he and his family had ever had a bond as strong as Hina and Shingo used to, he would have fought for it just like she was now.

He decided he would hide his reservations from her, which didn't take long to fade when he thought about how much progress they had made already. Ankh had to be hiding for a reason, didn't he? Maybe he'd been right when he'd guessed that he was afraid...

"Hina-chan!" He quickly ran up to her, giving her a small smile. "You're ready for this, right?"

"Yeah!" She nodded firmly. "Let's go."

She feels a little bad about roping Eiji and, earlier, Shotaro into this, but Shotaro doesn't seem to have gotten in trouble for it so hopefully Eiji will be fine too.

"Um, Hina-chan," he moved ahead of her, stopping her from going forward, "before we go, I just wanted to tell you again that I'm glad you're alright."

Eiji paused for a second as if he had forgot something. "Oh! And I'm really happy that we got to be friends too. I've never said it before now so I thought you should know."

He looked a little bit sheepish in saying those things, but the fact that he had experienced death made him realized all over again just how important it was to treasure the people he cared about. Maybe that was part of why he was so determined to help Ankh -- he'd begun to care about him, too.

Her eyes widened in surprise, but then she had to smile.

"I'm glad you're okay too, Eiji-san, and I'm glad that we're friends also. You've been so nice to me the entire time I've been here, I don't know what I'd do without you."

It turned out her smile was infectious, and Eiji couldn't stop himself from grinning too. He really liked seeing her with a smile on her face, he realized. He hoped that sometime soon Ankh would be smiling along with them.

He nodded his reassurance and held out his hand to lead her forward. "Now let's go talk to Detective-san!"

"Right!" She took his hand and followed him down.

This was going to be wonderful.

It didn't take too long to reach Ankh's cell. Despite never actually having been inside, Eiji seemed to know the way there pretty well. He turned to face her, putting a finger up to his hand to show that they should probably be quiet.

"What should we do?" He whispered. "Do you want to see if you can talk him into letting us in?"

Hina tilted her head. "Well, it'd probably be better to talk in there than out here... So, yeah. I'll try that."

And she didn't wait for a response. She knocked on the door.

It didn't take much brainpower for him to figure out who might be outside. "Go away, Eiji!" He was trying to distract him by fiddling some more with whatever he was attempting to do with the communicator. And making a plan for what was to be done on his next round of computer time.

He was about to speak up, but stopped short when he realized that it might be better if Ankh didn't know he was there yet. He motioned at Hina to say something.

"It's me," Hina said simply. "Um... can I come in?"

Goddammit.

He glared at the door. If he denied her, she was probably never going to give it up. What was she even doing back down here? Without doubt, she was the absolute last person he wanted to see.

He scrubbed his hands over his face. There was really only one option, here. He just didn't like it.

"Go ahead."

Hina smiled. She pushed the door open and stepped into the cell.

"Hi, Shingo. It's nice to see you again."

Eiji slipped in the cell after her, sort of just looking at Ankh with an expression that pretty clearly read 'don't be mad'. He'd do his best to just stay quiet and let them talk, but he had a feeling Ankh would yell at him in any second.

And Eiji was right. "Eiji, what the fuck were you thinking, bringing her down here?!" He ignored Hina for the moment. Maybe if he laid into Eiji it'd dispel any false notions she had. Hopefully. He got up off the bed and took a few steps toward him.

And Hina stood in front of Eiji. "Don't yell at him, I would have come down here on my own if he hadn't brought me. I just had to see you for myself, to make sure that..." She trailed off.

Even if Hina was trying to protect him, he did step forward slightly. He didn't want Ankh to think he was going to use her as a shield and not own up to anything.

"I was trying to keep her safe, Ankh, just the same as you!" He was quickly realizing this was going in the direct opposite direction that they had wanted. When he spoke again, his voice was a bit quieter. "She deserved to see you. I wasn't going to take that away from her."

"Well, now you see the truth," he told Hina. "Whether you like it or not, this is who I am."

But he rounded on Eiji again, and reached over Hina's shoulder to grab hold of his shirt. "What she deserves is better than this!"

Oh, no. This wasn't what Hina had been expecting at all.

"Shingo, stop it!" She stepped forward, grabbing his shoulders to tug him away from Eiji. "You don't have to do this anymore."

Eiji took a hold of Ankh's wrist and shoved his hand away. The way Ankh was acting was starting to make him angry, and it showed in both his stern expression and the way his voice lost all bit of cheer it usually held.

"If that's what you believe, why do you keep hurting her?!" He should have shut up right then and there, but he didn't. "What makes you think we have to fight if we both want the same thing?"

He pulled away from the both of them, and paced a bit, in what space he had to do so. His eyes were wide in that frightened bird kind of way as he ran things through his head. What had happened in that small booth with him and Hina. How easily Ankh had slipped back into place once he heard that wrong answer from her. He was beginning to lose himself in all of this. Once he would have considered that a victory. But now, he wasn't so sure.

If seeing her this much had shaken his resolve in the course of almost two weeks, then staying away had been the right plan all along. And he wasn't sure if he would ever forget the sound of her screams the first time he hit that button.

"Motherfucker!" he pushed his fingers into his hair (such that he could on the one side) and dropped to a crouch. As infuriating as it was, Eiji was right. That this was protecting Hina was only a delusion.

He was retreating. Hina had thought they'd made progress, but now he was acting the way he had before. Surely he thought he was doing the right thing -- that was how Shingo always acted. But this wasn't right at all.

"I also wanted to apologize," she said quietly. She didn't know what else to say. "If I'd known the answers to those questions, you wouldn't have gotten hurt. I'm sorry."

Eiji turned to look at Hina, sympathy slowly overtaking his anger. He didn't like the way Ankh was treating her, but he honestly felt bad for him as well. In a way he felt like he didn't belong there in the midst of their family falling apart, but he couldn't just leave. Not when they were both hurting.

In a moment of bravery, he moved to stand in front of the other man. He leaned over and reached his hand out, holding it at Ankh's eye level.

"Let us help you, Detective-san. Please."

He looked back toward Hina, not quite moving from where he crouched, though she wouldn't be able to see his face behind his hair. "There was no way you would have gotten any questions you stood a chance of knowing. Someone else probably got all the couture questions," he told her. The edge of Ankh's voice was gone. Not as gentle as if he were himself again, but somewhere in the middle.

But when he looked up at Eiji, and saw that hand, he got angry again. He slapped it aside and pushed himself back up to his feet. "I don't need your pity! Get out of my face!"

Hina approached Eiji and put a hand on his arm. "Eiji-san," she murmured, "I think he's reacting better to me. I really appreciate your help, but can I handle this?"

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