oceanicbutterfly | RL: going home

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RL: going home

Karen was curled up under the desk again.

The more she thought about things, the more confused she got. She remembered Zero had suddenly attacked her. Why was she here? Because of her sword training. Why sword training? Because of Pretty Cure. She got that far back and suddenly she was all disoriented. Pretty Cure was something important that she shouldn't be just suddenly remembering. Nozomi was part of that, too. Nozomi who Karen met when she was fourteen. Karen couldn't have met anyone when she was fourteen, she was only six. But she could remember being seven, and eight, and--argh. It was confusing, and more than a little frightening. Although not quite as frightening as the prospect of Zero coming back here and attacking her again.

She wanted to be with Nozomi. Nozomi was good at making Karen feel like things were all right.

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Kaito had no clue where he was going. It's a good thing he was friends with a witch, who was well-versed in scrying spells. It had taken her some time, but Akako was able to located Karen's position in the multi-verse and worldhop herself and Kaito to the Hunter's Base.

Akako had decided to remain outside as a guard, just in case. Karen had sounded desperate and scared over the internet, and Kaito wanted to be sure nothing would come in and try to hurt her (or him, for that matter). Of course, he wasn't sure if there was anyone hostile inside the base already, but that's why he had his card gun drawn and loaded.

"Karen!" He called as he searched the base as best as he could without getting lost (which was difficult). "Where are you? If you can hear me, say something!"

Karen knew Kaito (she'd met Kaito for the first time the other day, even though she'd known him for months before that, and...) was coming to ~~save her~~ help her, since she'd talked to him on the Internet, but she still jumped up a little (and hit her head on the desk, ow) when she heard his voice. She'd picked a quiet corner of the base to hide in, and anyway most of the Maverick Hunters were out looking for Zero, so she was startled.

"I'm here," she said, audibly but not really as loudly as one might have expected.

Kaito almost didn't hear Karen, but as soon as he caught wind of her voice he quickly followed it to where she was.

He saw her huddled underneath the desk and bent down to address her. "Hey," he said as he tentatively reached out and placed his hand on her shoulder. "Are you okay?"

Karen made a slightly whiny-sounding noise. "I hit my head on the desk."

"Eh?" Kaito blinked and arched an eyebrow at Karen. That sound was rather uncharacteristic of her normally mature demeanor. "Are you still affected?"

Karen blinked. "Affected?"

With a sigh, Kaito gripped her shoulder firmly, yet gently. "I'll take that as a yes," he said, "C'mon, follow me. Akako-san is waiting outside for us."

Akako-san, right. She was the witch Kaito knew. They were about the same age, and she was older than him and was helping take care of everyone... Karen tried not to think about it too much as she slid out from under the desk and got up, trying to take Kaito's hand with both of hers in the process.

Although, maybe... "Kaito, when did I meet you?"

Kaito attempted and failed to fight down a blush when Karen grabbed his hand. He silently thanked whatever deity that Aoko wasn't around to see this. He gripped Karen's own hand tightly in his own and began to lead her down the hall towards the exit.

"We met a few months ago," he replied, "On the online community. Dramadramaduck or whatever." He turned and looked at her. "Is it beginning to come back at all?"

Karen tried to think if that made sense. "So it wasn't a few days ago..." She thought about meeting Kaito on the community. She could remember it--it happened not too long after she first joined, which was because of the rumor she was investigating because she was the student council president at... at Cinq Lumieres. She was fourteen then.

"My memory doesn't make sense."

Kaito shook his head. "No. It was a long time before that. The first time we met face to face was at that beach during a different virus. Do you remember that?" He regarded her with a concerned look. All of his memories had come back at once. He hoped Karen wasn't going to be confused like this forever.

"I remember that. I told people about Pretty Cure." She frowned. "But that couldn't have happened yet because I was fourteen then."

"You did," Kaito grinned and chuckled to himself, "And I told them about Kaitou Kid. And then we both told the community we had been doing narcotics the entire time so they would think we were lying."

Kaito pushed open a door at the end of the hallway and sighed when he realized it wasn't the exit (he really hoped he wasn't lost). "And you're 14 now, you know," he said. "The virus is just making you think you're six... or seven... or however old you think you are."

Karen looked at the floor. "I didn't like lying to Gaara-san. He's nice." Then she blinked. "It feels like I'm six, but I can remember other things. It's weird."

"That's the virus," Kaito responded. He opened another door and silently cursed to himself. Still not the exit. "You wouldn't happen to know how to get out of here, would you?"

"I know!" Karen said excitedly. She really wasn't sure, but this was a much easier question than what she'd been thinking about. She looked around. "I think it's that way," she said, pointing... in the opposite direction from where they'd been going, naturally.

Kaito chuckled and turned around to head in the opposite direction. "At least one of us knows where we're going." He suddenly frowned. "What happened between you and that Zero guy, Karen? He thought he killed you."

Karen stumbled a bit when Kaito mentioned Zero. This was the realization, after all, that had initially upset her in the first place.

"He was giving me sword lessons, and then one day he went crazy and started trying to kill me. He threw me around some and stepped on me. Then Mr. Aksu--Axl (she corrected herself)--came in and... I don't know what happened after that. When I woke up, I didn't remember it and I didn't know how I got here."

Kaito stopped walking and turned around to face Karen. "You're not hurt, are you?" he asked her.

"I'm okay." Karen thought back (forward?) to her Pretty Cure fights. "I think it happens a lot."

"Good," Kaito responded. He sounded relieved.

The thief opened another door, and finally, finally, the two stepped into the sunlight where Akako was waiting for them. The witch frowned. "What took you so long?" she asked, one eyebrow arched.

"We got lost..." Kaito grumbled.

Karen hid behind Kaito, gripping his upper arms maybe a little too tightly, peeking out over his shoulder. It was a silly thing to do, since Akako-san could still get her even then (and anyway she wouldn't do anything bad in front of Kaito), but she couldn't help it. Akako-san was a witch, and witches were scary.

"H-hey!" Kaito blinked in confusion as Karen hid behind him, before grinning and laughing in amusement to himself. "Akako-san isn't going to hurt you." He glanced back at Karen, and the to the witch standing in front of him. "Right?"

Akako tapped her foot and nodded. She had no reason to do anything to Karen... at the moment. "Where are we going?" The witch inquired.

Kaito shrugged. "Well?"

Karen loosened her grip a bit and slid partially out from behind Kaito.

"I want to go be with Nozomi."

Akako twitched in annoyance. She certainly had had her fill of children for a long time. She opened her mouth to speak, but Kaito lifted a finger to his lips and shushed her.

"And where does Nozomi live, Karen?" he asked, "Akako-san needs to know so we can go there."

"She lives, um..." Karen started giving directions from her house. After a moment, she interrupted herself and said "She lives in my world" before moving on.

Before Akako could do anything that involved magic and cursing, Kaito whipped around to face Karen and placed both hands on her shoulders. "Karen," he said, trying his best to sound like a concerned big brother. Or something. "What is your world called? It's somewhere in Japan, right?"

Damn it, he should already know this too, considering he had visited her at one point in the past. Why was the name escaping him at the moment...?

Edited 2008-09-10 06:57 (UTC)

"Oh! Yeah, we both live in Minato-ku, Tokyo." She thought for a moment. "Our world is called the World of Butterflies."

Which was a really great name. It was so cute-sounding. She could remember not liking it, though she wasn't sure why.

"That enough?" Kaito asked, and he flashed a grin at Akako. The witch rolled her eyes and clasped her hands together as she muttered set of unintelligible words under her breath. The circular pattern she had previously drawn on the ground began to glow slightly, until, in a flash of light--

The group found themselves standing right outside Karen's gigantic mansion. Kaito blinked. "Not quite where we wanted to go, but it'll do!" he said cheerfully. "Which way to Nozomi's?"

"Um... that way!" Karen pointed in the general direction of NattsHouse. It was a little embarassing that this two-step process was the only way she knew of to get to Nozomi's apartment. Rin probably knew how to get there from here.

Although he had visited her world before, Kaito still wasn't quite sure where everything was. Even under the influence of the virus, she had to know where she was going... right? So, with a shrug, he followed Karen, with Akako taking up the rear (and quite visible annoyed, too).

Karen did know where she was going! For the first leg of the trip, anyway. It was when they reached NattsHouse that she had to stop and think.

"It's that way, I think."

"Are you sure?" Kaito asked. He glanced at the shop. "Do you think Nozomi would be here at this time of day?"

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RL: going home

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