02 - Awkward Brotherly...Something

[belfire]

Who: Kazuya Minegishi and Naoya meaningdies
Where: Pisces Apartments - Naoya's Room
Summary: Kazuya has a long awaited talk with Naoya
Warnings: Tsundere storm.

Kazuya knew this meeting was more than a little belated, but he couldn't procrastinate any longer. He had been unintentionally avoided Naoya since the Scorpio Event, and although he promised Atsuro to talk to him about what had happened in hopes of solving what caused said Scorpio Event, well...he found himself putting it off, putting it off, until almost a fortnight had passed without him even seeing even a glimpse of his cousin.

So he decided to solve the problem by teleporting directly into his cousin's room. He still hadn't solved the problem of it recently either, so once again, he landed several feet above Naoya's bed before being dropped unceremoniously onto it with a loud yelp.

Comments

[meaningdies]

"I'm not about to start summoning scorpions or something." There was no problem here okay.

[belfire]

"True, but I know you," Kazuya pointed out flatly. "You're more than a little annoyed that someone managed to dupe you, of all people."

[meaningdies]

... Yeah okay fine. "True. I want to find them and kill them painfully. But that's something I'll deal with on my own."

[belfire]

"Mmm," Kazuya let that particular subject drop. "Anyway, there's something else I want to ask you. Atsuro's trying to figure out how this all happened before it's my turn to flip out, so can you remember anything weird or whatever that'll help us figure out the cause of it?"

[meaningdies]

He put a hand to his head, trying to think.

"I was more irritable the days before. Aside from that... most of those days are more or less a blur. I only had a margin of control over myself, and I'm not sure if many affected people were able to manage even that."

[belfire]

"Great," Kazuya groaned, burying his face into Naoya's pillow. "So nothing helpful..."

[meaningdies]

"Unfortunately, no." Why so sulk, little bro.

[belfire]

"Whatever."

Kazuya rolled onto his back, effectively tangling himself up in his cape and headphone cord (as per usual), and stared at his cousin with heavy-lidded eyes.

"Hey, by the way, since I have you here, I've got something I need to talk to you about."

[meaningdies]

"If I knew more, I'd tell you."

He moves over towards the bed to tug at Kazuya's cape, just to be an ass.

"What is it?"

[belfire]

Kazuya's eyes narrowed at the cape tug, but he let it slide for now. He had something more serious to discuss anyway. "...what does Abel and Cain mean to you?"

The angels had mentioned it frequently during the course of his transition to demon king, mostly in hostile ways - quite frankly he was wondering if there was a reason as to why they called him Abel, and his cousin Cain, or if they were doing a convoluted, biblical metaphor just to be pretentious.

[meaningdies]

He froze, except for fingers curling around Kazuya's cape and tugging hard. He didn't know. The Kazuya in his version of events knew, since he had told him after his betrayal, but this one didn't know.

Should he know? Did he deserve to know? Would telling him steer him from the path he should be on? But lying outright to Abel always felt horrible, more than any other lie he could tell. And Kazuya's shard of Abel's soul would know.

... Could he take that chance? He let go of Kazuya's cloak and stepped back, taking a deep breath.

"You know the story of Cain and Abel, yes?"

[belfire]

"Christianity isn't my strong point," Kazuya replied, but he dropped the obnoxious act quickly. He sat up, smoothing down the rumpled cloak before tucking it closely around him, pulling his knees close to his chest as he observed his cousin.

"But yeah, I know. Cain murdered his brother Abel over God playing favourites. He was the first murderer and blah blah."

[meaningdies]

"Correct. Largely, since the story's been altered. What happened to Abel was not simply the death of the body, but a shattering of the soul. Fragments of his soul seeded themselves among humanity, all through the ages. Those who received part of his soul were often... different. Able to do more things than the normal human."

Perhaps if he could lead him to the conclusion himself, he might take it a bit better.

[belfire]

Kazuya wasn't stupid. He picked at the hem of his cape, his gaze dropping down to watch his fingers move over the clothing. "...if Abel was God's favourite, He could've scooped him back up into one, right? I mean, He's God, He can do anything - apparently, according to the angels who have their noses firmly up His ass."

[meaningdies]

"Maybe. Souls are tricky things to get right. I'm not sure if He could."

He was quiet for a long moment. "Cain's fate was a bit different than what was said in the Bible as well. In addition to the stated curse, he was cursed to forever reincarnate, with every memory from every life hounding him. Each life of his tends to end in tragedy, as he ended Abel's life so long ago."

[belfire]

Kazuya chewed on his thumbnail as Naoya spoke, his gaze still avoiding looking at his cousin outright. He cracked his nail, and dropped his hand, rubbing the side of his finger against where he had ripped the skin. Psh. It'd heal in a few moments.

"Alright. So, taking that the angels weren't trying to make a pretentious as hell metaphor - and considering you know what Cain's punishment beyond what the bible says," Kazuya said casually, "We are reincarnations of Cain and Abel."

His expression was unreadable.

[meaningdies]

"You have part of Abel's soul, yes. And reincarnation is not really the right word for me. I've had many lives, yes, but I was and still am Cain."

He was silent after that. It was Kazuya's move. He had a right to know... but it was his decision of what to do with the information.

[belfire]

"..."

Kazuya slowly moved off of the bed. He stood up, swept his cape behind him, and tilted his head up to look Naoya right in the eye. He was still considerably shorter than his cousin, but that didn't matter. He knew he didn't really look all that imposing, considering his awkward, teenager appearance.

That he'd probably be stuck looking like for eternity. Great.

"Why'd you kill Abel?"

[meaningdies]

His expression softened slightly. That wasn't a question he'd expected, though it was still difficult to answer.

"You must understand that in that time, we knew nearly nothing. We were just working out how the world reacted to things we did - how the plants grew, how the sheep knew to follow us, how the rain fell. It was a much more innocent time. All I knew were my brother and my parents, aside from God and His angels... and a few spirits that lurked far off in the fields."

"When God called for sacrifice, I gave Him what I could - nearly the best food I could find, for the best would go to my family. I had to take care of them first. Abel offered Him his finest sheep. ... But many gods demand blood sacrifice, and He was not satisfied with my fruits and vegetables. He preferred Abel's because blood was spilled from something considered precious."

He paused, grabbing Kazuya's shoulders, nails digging into the skin. "I never wanted to kill him. I didn't even really know that humans could die. I just wanted to offer Him blood from what I considered most precious, in order to regain favor. I simply wanted acceptance, because despite what I looked like I was still very much a child. But it went too far, and Abel was killed. I tried to hide it out of horror, but He and His angels saw. I should have known they would."

[belfire]

Kazuya didn't flinch when Naoya grabbed him by the shoulders, his flat expression not really shifting. Truthfully, Kazuya didn't really feel anything worth speaking of in that moment. He had only asked Naoya about Abel and Cain out of curiosity, because it had been nagging him a little, and the angels had always spat it out as if it was supposed to mean something to him.

Even when knowing the truth...it kind of didn't.

Abel was dead, according to Naoya's story. Dead and long gone, and Kazuya was, whatever, some cheap knock off copy. Like one of those crappy Chinese bootleg action figures. That was a bit depressing, but again, Kazuya didn't feel overly bothered about it.

He frowned.

It was like the emotions he should be feeling (betrayal, he guess? Or upset towards...God...? Naoya? Cain?) were trapped beneath a thick plane of glass. He could see them, could see where they were supposed to be, but he was unable to punch through that thick barrier hard enough to reach them.

"So basically God punished an unsupervised toddler who accidentally smothered the baby," Kazuya said after a pause, tilting his head slightly. "...hey, Naoya. I don't care what you did, or if you're Cain or Naoya. It's too long ago to bother with any more."

He lifted his hands, peeling off Naoya's grip from his arms with a small sniff. He didn't push his cousin away, however. He held his hands, staring down at them with a contemplative look. "Unless you're planning on killing me, there's no issue with it. The angels kept saying Abel this, Cain that, as if it was something important. Turns out it really isn't."

[meaningdies]

Something was wrong. Something was seriously wrong. Abel had always been a more emotional sort of person on the whole, whenever he was in another soul, but this... just wasn't right. Was this part of his becoming more demonic?

... To be truthful, the idea scared him a bit. But he kept it from his face, and pulled his hands from Kazuya's grasp. "Heh. It doesn't matter what the past is, right? Just as long as you defeat God and free humanity."

He needed a drink. "I'm heading out. Don't eat all of the dango again, or you're going to have to pay for it."

[belfire]

"Naoya," Kazuya said quickly, reaching out to snag onto his cousin's haori. His face scrunched up a little, as if he was internally struggling with something briefly, the brightness of his scarlet eyes dulling in colour slightly. There was a small ring of blue around the pupil now. Only a thin ring, but still a ring of blue.

"I'm...I can't say I forgive you, about many things," he admitted, "But I am, I am always grateful to you."

Then his eyes were pure red again, and his expression eased, releasing his brother's haori. "Now go drink yourself to oblivion or whatever."

[meaningdies]

Naoya sighed, reaching a hand out to ruffle Kazuya's hair a little bit. Heh... still the kind one.

"I'll be back later."

He turned, heading towards the door.

[belfire]

"Hrmgnh," Kazuys adjusted his headphones from where they'd been knocked slightly askew from the hair ruffle. "You better, or I'm dragging you back by your lame haori. Have fun."

And turning on his heel, the Demon King teleported out of Naoya's apartment.