TKATD: The Island From hell

Chapter Twelve: The Process of Thought

It was the early hours of the morning when Fujita had woken up, in the midst of a giant cuddle pile. He snuck his way carefully out of Iris and Yuno's grip trying his best not to wake them. He was surprised to see Leilani wide awake, tending to a list of responsibilities, who was he kidding he wasn't surprised at all.

It was Leilani who hadn't expected anyone to be up this early, in fact she was more or less relying on the fact that no one would be awake.

"Good morning," Fujita greeted her, his voice groggy.

"'Morning Fujita," Leilani started, her voice much smoother as she hadn't just woken up, "how was your sleep?"

"Horrible," He joked, leaning on a nearby tree, "and you?"

"Just about as good as yours," she sighed.

"Thinking about Kyve?" It was the one thing that never left either of their thoughts.

"I wish I could say that is all that is on my mind," she looked up to the sky, "I have no idea what I'm doing."

"That makes two of us," Fujita was starting to see how he resembled Leilani, even in the slightest.

"We need a better place to go, instead of sleeping on the beach," Leilani started, "and I don't think the ship is the wisest decision."

Fujita thought for a moment, recalling any good hideout on the island.

"I think I know a place," he smiled softly to himself thinking of it, "and if I'm being honest I don't even know if it's still standing."

"It's a start," Leilani smiled back at him, starting to understand bits of the island's history.

"Now that that's settled," he stood up from the tree he was leaning on, "do you need help with anything?"

"Are you any good at cooking?"

Fujita couldn't cook if his life depended on it, so he was tasked with waking everyone up, which was much harder than he initially thought it would be.

First was Lady Iris, which was the easiest of everyone considering she was technically nocturnal. He simply poked her side and she shot up. Fujita made sure to remember that she was a light sleeper.

Next was Mursai, who was particularly keen on staying asleep. After a reasonable amount of time lightly shoving the boy, Fujita realized there was a much easier way to do this. It took a moment of persuasion but after a couple minutes or so, Leilani had given him a cow bell and a stick.

Everyone was up within five minutes. Fujita smiled at the sight of Yuno's bed head, she still had the same scrunched up look on her face that she had when she was a child. He reveled in the moment until it was interrupted by loud groans and an agitated screech.

If Fujita's cow bell hadn't woken everyone up, Koko's screech sure did. Everyone looked at her, more than just hints of annoyance on their faces. She let out a long breath and sat up. Fujita assumed she just needed to get it off her chest.

Leilani stepped in after a minute or so of everyone just sitting there. She sighed, which Fujita noted as a common action of hers.

"I made breakfast," she started, crossing her arms gently.

Yuno, Koko, and Mursai instantly stood up, so fast in fact that Yuno almost tripped over herself, but she stopped the action mid-way.

Fujita held back a chuckle and stood next to Leilani, trying to look as authoritative as she had, though he was positive her stance was effortless, natural even.

Sakane followed Yuno after a few seconds of sitting awkwardly on the beach, and Fujita wasn't sure he got up because of Yuno, from his point of view it looked like the dark haired boy had been intranced by the heavenly smell of Leilani's cooking, so much so he had followed it right to the source. Mursai and Yuno had to stop him from devouring all the bacon at once.

Lady Iris stood on the other side of Leilani, Fujita was going to start a conversation but Leilani quickly pulled Lady Iris to the side.

Fujita watched as Leilani whispered to Iris, he knew very well that he could listen to their conversation if he so desired, but he respected the privacy of the two women. So much so that he almost covered his upright rabbit ears, but he chose to simply listen to the ambience of Koko rambling about something likely relating to drugs as Mursai, Yuno, and Sakane tossed their two cents in every now and then.

Leilani was having a rather strange conversation with Iris, but Iris didn't mind.

"Forgive me if I made and incorrect inference," Leilani started, "but I conjured up a little something for you so you could eat with us."

Leilani had inferred correctly, Iris admired this, and she greatly appreciated the young woman's choice to make the conversation a bit more private.

She watched as Leilani reached into empty space and plucked out a platter, Iris pondered how in the name of Solis she was able to do such, but her thoughts were interrupted by Leilani's efforts to get her attention.

"Is that?" Iris gestured to the platter.

"The perfect breakfast according to vampiric dietary needs?" Leilani finished her question, "yes, yes it is."

"How did you know?"

"Well, I'm still not completely sure that's exactly what you are, but you carry quite a lot of vampiric features, and I thought I might as well,"

"Thank you, truly" Iris didn't really know what to say, she hadn't been used to this sort of hospitality.

"I tossed a few fruit based things in there just in case your dietary needs were of the fruit bat kind," she pushed the platter closer to Iris, signaling her to take it from her hands, "go on, I also set up a small canopy in case your hat didn't suffice."

Iris held back tears of joy as she took the platter of delectable goods from Leilani's hands and went over to sit by everyone else.

Fujita watched as Leilani smiled to herself and made her way back to where she stood before. He welcomed her back at his side, and they both watched as everyone ate.

"Are you not going to eat?" He asked after a moment.

"I'm not hungry," she answered, rather quickly, "and you?"

"Not hungry either, too much on the mind,"

"Where is this hideout you spoke of earlier?" Leilani said, still looking at the circle of people enjoying breakfast.

"North East, it's relatively well hidden if my memory serves me right."

"We'll be off as soon as breakfast is done," Leilani clearly didn't want to be there any longer, but she also had a sort of obligation to leave the island better off than when she arrived.

Fujita understood this, he knew he would tear the world in half if it meant Yuno and Sakane would never be hurt again. And if he had to be honest with himself, he would probably do that for everyone else too. He would kill gods for Koko, and he would curse the moon for Leilani, he would do whatever Iris would desire of him, and hell he would even destroy entire empires for Mursai. He didn't quite understand how he had grown so attached to these people so quickly but he didn't see it as an issue, so he carried on.

It was like he had a family again.

He couldn't control the smile that displayed itself across his face as he thought.