Inception

Chapter 28: The Quiet

"So, Ichigawa, the younger," he said as he peeled back aluminum. "Care to enlighten me on why you suddenly hate the Vice Captain?"

"Oh, yes, do," said Lena.

"No," said Leno.

"Ha ha, nice talk," said Hibino.

"Whoa, hold on, there's definitely something going on. Why can't you tell me?" Lena wriggled herself onto Leno's knees from where she was sitting on the floor. "Did he make fun of you? You know he just does that, right?"

"He's an asshole. What more do you need to know?" Leno took his first bite of his burrito as though it had offended him. "Get off, Lena." He popped his knees, forcing her to back off or get her jaw jammed into the rest of her head.

"Seems pretty nice to me," said Hibino through a mouthful. He swallowed. "Downright friendly compared to everyone else. Works hard, too. Believes in his men. And its super cool how he fights."

"Oh my god, stop, you're ruining my burrito."

Lena lay back on the floor, grinning up at Hibino from his feet. "Is this a man crush I hear?"

"Only the manliest. Gonna take his spot one day, though, so he better watch out."

"You do that, sir," said Leno without a drop of humor.

"Yes! You always get me, man. Now if only the rest of those jerks would get with the program."

Lena didn't mention anything about Hibino being a now grand %1 of combat potential while the Vice Captain could reach %96 when he was serious. No need to put a damper on this wonderful morning.

Leno made quick work of the burrito then shooed Lena out to get dress. She went down to the common room to wait for him where at least she wouldn't get in anymore trouble. Hoshina had essentially kicked her out. Best not to press her luck.

There were some soldiers lounging about down there, watching TV from the couches. Some recognized her and waved, so she waved back. One eating breakfast at a table gestured her over and she had a nice talk with one of the platoon leaders, a woman with wild red hair, about how her research was going until Leno came down and hooked his arm around her neck to pull her off the stool. She made a show of choking to death and then going floppy so Leno was forced to catch her or let everyone watch him let his sister faceplant into the floor. A few chuckled at the sight, though Hibino laughed and joined in by picking up her feet, making her squawk. This bit was going farther than she had expected.

"Nack! Put me down! Where are you taking me?"

"Where they take all the adults who fail to grow up," said Leno darkly, his ears still pink. Yes, she'd embarrassed him, mission success.

"Damn, Lena, you're a light little thing!" said Hibino.

"It's only because you're the size of a freaking bear."

"Ha ha ha! Oh, come on, I'm not that big. You're just tiny! Isn't she, Ichigawa?"

"Could've fooled me."

Lena pouted up at Leno from where she hung. "Rude. But if you're going to keep carrying me, could I have some peanuts or something—"

Leno abruptly dropped her on the lawn, leaving Hibino high and dry with her feet.

"Damn it, Leno, that hurt!"

"Revenge for waking me up too early."

Hibino put her feet down much more gently. "Man, I wish I had siblings."

"No you don't," said Leno.

Lena kicked his shins, though not that hard, just as Leno hadn't dropped her from that high.

It was a good morning. She got to roll around teasing her brother while chatting with the happy golden retriever which was Hibino. He even gave her permission to call him Kafka, which Leno made a funny face at, but didn't protest.

The sun rose golden and warm, dappling the ground and breathing on the leaves.

Lena was happy. So very, very happy. 

And she must have been carrying around more stress than she thought, because the happiness and the sound of her friend and brother's voices lulled her asleep without her notice. When she woke up it was to her brother dropping a bag of chips on her face. It wasn't lunch yet, but Kafka had fetched them for her, so she munched sleepily while trying to get her brother to strip to show off his bitty muscles.

"I am not taking off my shirt for you."

"Oh, come on, I bet I can still count your ribs."

"I'll have you know kaiju cleanup is grueling business," said Kafka, puffing up just a bit as though to show off his own pecs and biceps.

"Then you strip."

Kafka spluttered and Leno laughed.

"But when are you going to get muscles?" she said. "You're training yourself into the ground, right?"

"Why are you so obsessed with this?" asked Leno.

"Muscles, muscles, muscles," she chanted, not answering the question.

Kafka joined her. "Muscles, muscles, muscles!"

"I'm not taking off my shirt!"

"You should see Aoi's muscles. Holy shit, they're beautiful," said Kafka.

"We are not mentioning that," said Leno with all the surety of a guillotine.

"Aoi?" Lena asked.

"The ex-military blondy. The one with no eyebrows." Kafka put his fingers across his eyebrows as he said it. "Super serious. Quiet."

"Oh that one. Yeah, I don't bother to remember names of plebs."

"You mean the soldiers," said Leno.

"I'm a hermit in my lab. I don't need to know their names, especially since they finally let me stop doing operations."

"Yeah..." Leno's gaze hopped around your face. "Are your cuts...?"

"What cuts?"

"The ones on your face."

"What cuts?"

"Yeah, buddy, what cuts?" said Kafka, catching on to the program because he was a saint.

Leno did not look amused. But he dropped it, because obnoxious little brother he may be, but at his core, he was a good boy.

If he got hurt again, Lena was going to kill him. Violently.

"Eat your chips, Lena."

"Okay, okay, jeeze, Mom."

"That's Mr. Mom," he said.

Kafka laughed.