Removing The Mask: Kido X Kano Oneshot

Part 1 With No Part 2

          Kido woke up to noise. Lots of noise. The moment she opened her eyes, senseless chatter filled her head. She sighed and stared at the ceiling. It was not usually this noisy in the hideout, especially at that time of the morning. The little bear clock that Ayano had given her years back read 7:13. Usually it would only be Seto, Kano and Mary awake and they hardly made noise. As she sat up and made a move towards the bathroom, the noise level suddenly increased. Her head hurt. 

          Kido glanced at the mirror. The first thing she noticed was that her eyes were red. That was hardly anything new. She often woke up invisible. Today, however, something was off... She mulled over it as she squeezed toothpaste on her toothbrush. Seeing her fingers deftly holding the toothbrush gave her the answer. She could still see herself! 

          Which meant that she was visible. 

          But her eyes had gone red.

          Kido's first thought was that she had swapped eye abilities with someone. However, she questioned the possibility of it. 

          ... Impossible or not, it seemed to have happened. Kido appeared to have found herself with Seto's 'Stealing Eyes'. 

          Now that she understood her situation, Kido could try to understand the mental chatter going on in her head. From what she heard, it would appear that Seto, Kano and Mary had found out as well. Mary was particularly worried. Seto... No doubt he had reassured her but Kido could tell from his mental activity that he was slightly concerned. Kano seemed to be laughing at how Seto was invisible. That idiot...

          She exited her room and found Kano laughing, Mary wearing a concerned expression and both facing what appeared to be empty air. They were seated where they always were on the gang's sofa. When they heard her door click shut again, Mary opened her mouth. "Ah... Danchou, your eye ability..." 

          Kido smiled slightly as she joined them next to Kano. "I already noticed it. Seto and I swapped eye powers." 

          Mary nodded vigorously. Then she continued, "Well... As the 'Queen', I tried to swap your powers back... But it'll take a while. About... Twenty-four hours..." 

          Seto and Kido both sighed. 

          Mary looked as though she felt really bad for not being able to do anything else, so Seto hurriedly told her it was alright. He asked her to go start the breakfast preparations, so he could speak more freely. She hurried off. Kano, looking bored, got up and left the room as well. The two were alone.

          "Kido, maybe you can teach me how not to be invisible?" Seto's voice sounded more than a little bit uncomfortable. Kido frowned. 

          "It should just be like your normal eye ability... I guess." She herself was rather unsure about how his ability worked. Attempting to shut it off, she closed her eyes and imagined that it was quiet in her head. A few seconds later, it was. Her eyes returned to their usual black. 

          Not much later, Seto materialised in front of her. "Wahh... I don't understand how you can deal with that, Kido." 

          Kido shrugged. "I wonder too."

===================================          Weary, Kido locked her room door. She had found that she had an obvious lack of control over Seto's ability. How she wished she could have her usual ability back... Well, not like Seto had not struggled as well. When the Kisaragi siblings had come over, Seto had accidentally disappeared again. Even the sleepy Konoha was amused at talking to an invisible person, since Kido had never actually disappeared in front of him before. Mary seemed to have no problems seeing Seto as she never let him out of her sight once the entire day, but for the rest of the Dan, it was pretty interesting. 

         The "Stealing Eyes" had activated themselves once again and Kido had run into her room seeking refuge. She unlocked her iPod and turned the volume up, trying to drown out the sounds of the members' minds. As such, she failed to notice the clicking sounds as Kano picked her room lock. It was only when he sat down on her bed next to her, causing the bedsprings to bounce, that she realised he was there. 

          "... You broke into my room, idiot." Those were her first words to the 'Deceiver'. She had half a mind to punch him, but she had done that many times and he never learned. She removed her right earpiece.

          "I just wanted to check on you. It's much easier to, actually, since you can't disappear." The boy chuckled. Kido sighed, realising that he had no intention of leaving any time soon. 

          "I'm fine. Just... Just a little headache."

          "Okay."

          Without another word, Kano shifted behind Kido. Gently, he tied up her hair and began braiding it. He did so with such gentleness that Kido hardly felt anything. Although she could have resisted, the only time Kido had ever had her hair braided had been by Ayano... Quietly, she asked instead, "Where did you get the hair tie?" 

          She could feel Kano's hands shake as he laughed. "Stole 'em from the younger Kisaragi. Don't think she'll notice they disappeared." 

          Kido turned around and punched Kano. Hard. The sudden movement activated the "Stealing Eyes" again. Kano, caught off guard, had no time to activate his power. Kido saw him wince. Then his eyes flashed red for a second and the pained expression was replaced by a smile. The "Deceiving Eyes", however, did not hide his thoughts. 

          Ahh... Not again... This is going to bruise again... How many more...?

          Kido turned away from his smiling face, suddenly understanding how much pain lay behind it. How could she have forgotten? Kano's body was particularly fragile, as when he had been young his mother had been abusive. 

          A whispered "I'm sorry" quietly reached Kano. 

          Kano spoke in a hushed, choked-up voice. "No... It's not your fault... I..." 

          The mask was gone. Kano was bare.

          He leaned forward, and for the first time, cried openly on Kido's shoulder.

          Quietly, Kido lifted his face to hers. 

          Their lips met.

          Red irises turned black and yellow against shut eyelids.

Sometimes,  all we see is a person's mask. It takes special circumstances for us to really see behind that mask.