Disclaimer:  I do not own Blue Seed or any of its characters.

AN:  I apologize for how long it has taken me to write this.  You can blame my husband.  First, for bringing home a lovely virus to share with his family.  And second, for surprising me with 52 episodes of Inuyasha.  That, and the fact that my computer keeps crashing and I have the bad habit of not saving often.

Disclaimer:  I do not own Blue Seed or any of its characters.

AN:  Would anyone like to beta read for me.  My Husband said he would but he has yet to put aside the time so I just keep putting up rough chapters.

Chapter 13

Bad Day

         Kusanagi was having a very bad day. "Things just keep getting better and better," he grumbled quietly while he glared with unconcealed menace at the lab equipment Mrs. Matsudaira was setting out. While it had been Kusanagi’s choice to finally allow the scientist to examine him, Kusanagi was not at ease with the complete zeal Mrs. Matsudaira exuded at the prospect.

         Mrs. Matsudaira gently tapped his shoulder, breaking him out of his sulk. "Today I'm just going to take some readings and a couple of sample so I will have some base data to work with."

          Kusanagi just nodded mutely trying o be polite when what he really wanted to do was scream, "get the hell away from me. I'm not your freaking guinea pig!!" However, he squelched the urge since he felt that allowing himself to become the TAC's guinea pig, no matter how he detested the idea, was his only hope to become normal for Momiji.  Kusanagi noticed that the room had gone silent. He looked up at Mrs. Matsudaira wondering why she had stopped making noise. Kusanagi's eyes met ones that seemed to show concern.

            “You do not need to do this if you do not want to.”  Mrs. Matsudaira reached for Kusanagi’s arm as if she was going to pat it in a motherly fashion. 

            However, before she could make contact Kusanagi flinched away.  “I have to do this so I can find a way to be rid of this curse and be normal for Momiji.”  Spat Kusanagi while jabbing his thumb at the mitamas in his chest.

            “Momiji does not seem to mind.” 

            Kusanagi just snorted.  Glaring at the various items on the table next to the computer, Kusanagi barked, “well are you going to start poking and prodding or not!  I want to get this over with.” 

            With a soft sigh, Mrs. Matsudaira began taking her readings with recognizable such as a blood pressure cuff and some unrecognizable.  Kusanagi tuned her out completely and thought on Mrs. Matsudaira’s last statement.  *She probably would mind if she ever really thought about it.  She never had any qualms about killing an Arigami.  Because they were not human.  They were the enemy.  Heh.  What am I?*  Kusanagi shifted a bit uncomfortably and sent Mrs. Matsudaira a black look as she scanned the mitamas on his chest with a handheld device before returning to his dark thoughts.  *I wonder if she even realizes that I have killed humans as well while protecting both her and her sister?  If I told her, maybe she would recognize me for the monster I am and hate me.*  Kusanagi shook his head slightly at the thought of Momiji hating anything.  He reminded himself that even though Momiji helped to kill the Arigami she never seemed to hate them and was always willing to give even the Arigami and its human allies a second chance. 

That was one of the reasons he loved her so desperately.  He had tried to kill Momiji, and yet that same day se was willing to sacrifice herself to protect him. Kusanagi barely contained a snort at the sappiness of his thoughts. Truthfully it was not because she had protected him that made him want to protect her. He had been fighting both his mitamas and his conscience when he had tried to kill Momiji. No, her protecting him had made him feel a kinship with her. Momiji was willing to protect someone who had caused her grief. Just like he had always been willing to protect the Kushinadas even though his parents had been slaughtered and his body altered because of their existence.

No matter what, when he would protect the Kushinada, Kusanagi felt right with the world and he felt a bit of guilt from that.  How could he say he truly cared for Momiji when secretly he wanted for there to be danger so he could save her from it?  Nothing turned him on more than Momiji clinging desperately him when he rescued her.  Her cheeks flushed from adrenalin.  It had been that way ever since that first time he had asked her to hold on tight when he had been trying to rescue her from Orochi.  Kusanagi’s guilt over the satisfaction he got from rescuing Momiji had been part of the reason he had not immediately jumped to rescue her in America.

Of course there were many other ways she turned him on.  Like how her cheeks would flush when he embarrassed her, or the way she would fuss over him when he was injured.  Kusanagi immediately put a stop to his current train of thought remembering that he was currently under Mrs. Matsudaira’s scrutiny.  *Just what I need.  For her to think becoming her guinea pig turns me on.*  Thought Kusanagi with wry disgust.

“Ah hem.”

Kusanagi looked up to see Mrs. Matsudaira looking intently at him and for a brief moment he feared his thoughts had somehow been apparent after all and that she was going to ask him.  Then he noticed what was in her hands and almost wished that was the case.

“The last two things I need are a blood ample and a urine sample.”  Mrs. Matsudaira spoke in a calming voice.  However it was ruined by the urine cup in one hand and the too big for Kusanagi’s liking hypodermic needle in the other.

Kusanagi briefly considered which option he detested the least.  Finally he decided to let himself be impaled by Mrs. Matsudaira’s needle first, so that he could leave immediately after giving her a urine sample.  Raising his eyebrow in a seductive, yet menacing way he sneered, “Well, I always knew you wanted something from me.  Go ahead and take the blood first.”  Glaring at the needle he continued in a quieter mutter, “You damn vampire.”

Mrs. Matsudaira just smiled ever so slightly while she prepared the surly half arigami’s arm.  Kusanagi refused to look away when she entered the needle into his arm and began to draw out his blood.  Both of them gasped when the first couple of CCs came out red.  However as his blood continued to be drawn out it became the green Kusanagi was used to seeing come from his wounds.  “Fascinating!”  Mrs. Matsudaira exclaimed.  To Kusanagi’s dismay she proceeded to stick him four more times until she succeeded in getting a sample with just the red blood in it from his other arm, as well as a sample of just the green blood.  “I never expected this!  Kusanagi, what color do you blush?”  Mrs. Matsudaira was obviously securitizing Kusanagi’s coloring.

Kusanagi had never liked his looks being scrutinized.  “Why the hell do you think I blush?!”  Either his anger at the question or his discomfort with being scrutinized had made him flush since Mrs. Matsudaira nodded and began frantically scribbling in her notes.  “If you don’t mind I will give you your finale sample and you can go and torment Momiji!”  However, before he could snatch the sample cup and leave, his day was made worse.

“Oh.  You did not know either that Momiji was going to be in Tokyo today?  I would have expected you to at least know.”  Mrs. Matsudaira pondered with her hand on her chin.  “Well I guess it makes sense since if she had told you, you could have reminded her about today.  Oh well.  I would like our next visit to be in Tokyo anyways so you two could just come together.”

Kusanagi just glared at Mrs. Matsudaira before storming off to the bathroom.  With great disgust he left the asked for sample on the bathroom sink and stormed out of the lab seeking the comfort of the trees outside.  Once comfortably hidden from view, yet within sight of Momiji’s front door, Kusanagi fell deeper into his sulk.

“How could I have not known that Momiji had left town?”  Kusanagi was questioning himself.  However, he knew the reason.  He had been so wrapped up in his own thoughts lately that he had barely been around Momiji for the past few weeks. 

All in one day he had learned that he had failed in protecting Momiji, nearly losing her.  He also learned that he and Murakumo shared similar origins and that Murakumo had been able to reproduce.  Murakumo being Momiji’s father made him a bit uneasy.  However the most emotional thing for him that day had been learning very possibly the location of his human parents’ graves. 

His first memory was the day he received his mitamas.  He could remember confusion staring at the giant green monster in front of him.  Then an almost electrical burning sensation when the mitamas where embedded in him.  Kusanagi remembered becoming more aware of everything, the smell of blood, the slightest rustle of the leaves, and colors and textures seemed more intense.  However, the thing he was most aware of was he could sense the Kushinada and felt an overwhelming need to protect her.  At first his awareness was mostly animalistic; however, as he grew he became more aware of his humanity and began to morn what was done to him.  While he never wavered in his protection of Kaede, the other arigami learned he did not welcome contact with them. 

He had found out the location of the shrine Kaede had been sent to from Momiji’s mother and it had matched his memories.  Those memories were the reason why Kusanagi had been withdrawn from Momiji.  He knew that Momiji felt like he was pushing her away and wanted to help him with his torments, but, he felt that she would never be able to understand his thoughts.  While he wished that his parents had never been killed and himself shackled with mitamas, he could not bear the thought of never meeting Momiji no matter what the trails had been.  He wanted to always protect her.

Of course Momiji now had a new protector.  Kusanagi’s fists clenched when he thought about Inda.  He did not know enough about her and was uneasy about where her loyalties laid.  What had been more frustrating was that he had not been able to observe her.  Most of the time he could barely sense her.  Inda always seemed very close to Momiji and yet his sense of her mitamas was so faint Kusanagi could not tell where she was.  Until last night when she had come to spy on him!  For once he could fully sense her and was not going to let her escape.  He had been pissed when he noticed Momiji’s presence was being hidden from him.  Most likely with ceramics.  And then to add insult to injury, she kissed him!  What bothered him most about the kiss was that right before Inda had kissed him, he had felt pulled towards her eyes.  He had stayed rooted in place after she left until he felt Momiji’s presence return and Inda’s lessen.  *Most likely Momiji gave her back the ceramic piece* he reasoned.

Around dusk, his thoughts were interrupted by Momiji’s car pulling up.  “Now to find out what the little princess has been up to.” He said with a smirk as he crouched ready to pounce and startle her when she would least expect it.

AN:  I briefly refer to how Kusanagi acted in Blue Seed 2 which is where most of us get our angsty Kusanagi from since in Blue Seed the only time he calls himself a freak was when Kaede and Murakumo had tried to trap him in the dream created by the cat Arigami.  In Blue Seed 2 for those who had not seen it, at one time mitamas where given to America as a gift.  A scientist began implanting them and the TAC goes to help America fight them.  There is a Female named Valencia that has a mitama and due to a few misunderstandings Momiji feels she is being replaced.  Hopefully if anyone was confused that cleared it up with out giving away anything vital to the story.