Night's Omen

The raven shook his head.  "I appreciate the offer, but I probably won't be sleeping much.  No need to go through the trouble.  This is fine."  Kenji had met Sarah, once or twice, but as he was almost cripplingly shy around women they hadn't spoken much. 

At least Erik didn't seem to be kicking up too much of a fuss about the camera idea.  "Good.  I shall arrange for several to be installed around the house's exterior.  You will still have privacy within your home, but we'll be able to monitor who-- or rather what comes in or out of it.  Really, we won't be paying much attention to what happens unless a tiger shows up on screen, so you needn't worry about us being nosy."  By 'we', Ken of course meant mostly himself and whoever else he could con into helping him watch surveillance monitors.

Why kick up a fuss about the cameras?  Just to fight?  Just to be difficult?  He could, but he knew he was running low on options.  The cameras were better than having Ken, Batten and whoever the hell else they thought could babysit him around all the time.  He really didn't want to be risking those people if something bad happened, and then there was the issue of pride.  He didn't want more people to know that he was having these problems than was necessary.  Already there was Ken, Mitchell, Batten, Lore, Vin and probably Verde in Onyx, who was so loud that Erik didn't see how the whole world didn't know.  That man just didn't know the meaning of shutting up.

He didn't need to help spread the news himself.

"I don't like that 'we'," he remarked, picking up on it.  Who was going to be briefed on this and watching his house?  Slightly creepy. 

Who did Ken have in mind?  At least Ken was uncomfortable enough around women that Erik knew it wouldn't be Sitara, or Nick's wife, Skye.  Hell, he knew it wouldn't be ANY of the hunter ladies, which he was glad for.  Sometimes, Ken's discomfort worked out for him.  "Who are you planning on joining that party?"

Kenji raised a brow, looking faintly amused.  "Though I know I don't act like it, I do have to sleep sometimes, Lucio-kun," he pointed out, speaking slowly.  "I will not be able to stare at a bunch of screens constantly.  I will need at least one other person, perhaps two, to share in that task."

Who, though?  That really was the question, wasn't it?  Not only was Kenji terrible at speaking to or working with most women, he simply didn't have the best people skills, period.  It took a particular kind of person to get past Kenji's barriers enough to be called "acquaintance," and even more to earn the title of "friend."  So far, only Erik held the latter title. 

"I will find someone else who is restricted to desk duty," he decided finally.  "With all the injuries in our line of work, I'm sure I can find someone with a free schedule for a couple of weeks."

Erik really didn't like Ken's decision to just grab people who were injured, considering who tended to get injured most of the time throughout the guilds.  Those weren't the people he really wanted watching him all the time.  Maybe he could deliberately beat on someone extra hard in training, just to get someone he liked on surveillance.

Yeah, and beating the hell out of someone would make them sympathetic to his cause.

Right.

Damn it.

"Great.  Sounds like you've got that hellish little detail figured out.  Perfect.  I'm going to bed."

He needed, no, WANTED to sleep.  He missed his bed, and that was why he hadn't slept in it yet since getting back to his house that day.  He knew that once he laid down in it, he wasn't getting up for his eight hours' worth.

"Perhaps we should both attempt to sleep," Kenji agreed, pulling the blanket over his knees, but still sitting.

Once again, the raven wouldn't be doing much sleeping, but he knew Erik liked to get a regular amount of shut-eye when he had the opportunity.  Besides, he wanted some time alone to think.  Letting Erik go to bed (which he obviously was ready to do, since this would be the first night he was allowed to sleep in his OWN bed since coming back to the States) was the easiest way to grant himself a little quiet time.

Erik waved his hand pretty dismissively at Ken's agreement, and that could have been a 'whatever' or a 'goodnight' for all the effort he put into it.  Maybe it was both.  He didn't care.

It was bedtime, and he was wiped.  He'd never wanted his own bed now that it was within reach more than he thought he did now.  Maybe, if he couldn't think of a time.  He was definitely going for eight, maybe nine hours.  True sleep.

Eighteen hours later...

Kenji had given Erik a generous ten hours before checking in on him.  Very cautiously, he had cracked the door open-- and froze when he heard what sounded like growling on the other side.  A few seconds later, he realized it was far too rhythmic for that.

Erik was snoring. 

A quick glance was all the raven needed for confirmation, and he eased the door shut.  Well.  Time for breakfast, then.  Sleep wasn't something Kenji indulged in much, but he did believe in fueling one's body properly, and on a frequent basis.  He never had to worry about getting fat, though.  With all the energy he burned being awake all the time, and his regular martial arts practice in between long bouts of sitting at a computer, he could eat any way he liked and not gain an ounce.  Therefore, he did what any good friend would when staying over at his partner's house.  He raided the fridge.

By the time Erik woke, Kenji had already eaten three small, fairly high-sugar "meals", mainly consisting of breakfast cereal and whatever candy the raven could find.  He had even devoured a mostly stale bag of marshmallows.  He was starting to dig through the cupboards for another snack when he heard the telltale rustle of bedclothes in the other room.  "Good... evening, Lucio-kun," he greeted, for it was already getting dark again outside.

Evening?  What?

How was it that the first thing he heard when he got up was Ken going through his stuff, namely in his kitchen, and that it was evening.  How'd that work?  He'd gone to bed a close to a decent hour, it couldn't be any later than 11am.  MAYBE 1pm, if he was pushing it.  Evening?  What?!

"What are you talking about?" he yawned, hitting the kitchen without even bothering with windows or anything.  He just immediately assumed that Ken was being weird again, or he'd misunderstood.  He HAD only just woken up.

He needed food.

"Did you eat all my damn fruit loops?"

Was he serious?  Well, he had slept pretty hard...  "Evening.  As in, not morning or afternoon anymore, and getting close to 'night'.  As in, that's sunset out there, not sunrise.  You slept for eighteen hours, Lucio-kun."

Kenji shook the cereal box experimentally, and the pathetic rattle was all the answer he needed.  He gave his partner a properly contrite look.  "I will buy you some more," he mumbled.  "There are still plenty of Wheaties, though."

WHAT?!  Eighteen hours?!

"You can't be serious," he murmured, looking out the windows suddenly, far more awake with that revelation.  It looked like Ken was serious.  Eighteen hours.  How ridiculous was that?  He'd never slept later than one o'clock, except in the worst of conditions.  He'd been doing way too much sleeping the past few days.  This was getting insane.

"Holy Hell!  How could I have slept that long?  All I've been doing lately is sleep!"  Well, sleep and try to eat people, but he wasn't going to say that. 

Oh, and as for the fruit loops..."And you bet your ass you're buying more.  The Wheaties are Sarah's!"  He'd eat them, though.  He felt like he could eat a horse.  "You willing to go out for food?  I'm starved."

At least his appetite was back.

"Tigers often fast and sleep for most of the day, only waking to hunt and gorge themselves on meat," the raven reminded him.  "I'm not surprised to see that your own sleeping and eating patterns have been affected, particularly with how strong your animal side seems to be."

And, oh good, at least Erik wasn't suggesting he eat Kenji in retaliation.  A food run he could do.  "Certainly.  What would you like, aside from more Fruit Loops?"

Wait, what was that about a food run?  Why bother with going out when he had a perfectly annoying little Raven sitting right in his kitchen, full of Fruit Loops?

It was much more convenient.

"Nevermind, I could go for some raven instead," he growled out, not wanting to hear more 'tiger facts'.  He'd heard plenty already, and he definitely didn't want to hear about it when it was actually happening.  It was one thing if Ken was just trying to distract him with facts that weren't really going to apply to him.  Hearing that when it was true was a whole new ball game.

Realizing that he'd stepped over the line, Kenji paled slightly at the threat (which was hard for an already pasty guy like him to do) and beat a hasty retreat.

When he returned, he had two bags full of groceries, not the least of which were two brand new boxes of Fruit Loops.  There was also meat.  Lots of meat.  "I wasn't sure what you preferred," the raven told him, "so I got a little of everything."

He emptied the bags onto the kitchen table, revealing his purchases:  a few pounds of ground beef, a T-bone steak, a whole rotisserie deli chicken, a honey-glazed ham with the bone in the middle, a pack of bacon, and a package of turkey parts.  It was like something out of a Tom & Jerry cartoon.  "Most of this you can freeze for later, but you may want to consider eating the chicken and the ham first, as they are already cooked."

Well-fed Erik meant not-eaten raven.  Kenji was no bird-brain.

Erik wasn't really serious, in all honesty, but Ken seemed to think so.  Erik never saw him move so fast in their entire partnership, and then he was stuck in an empty house.  Great.  He was getting dressed and washed up, at least.

Then, he raided the fridge, though there wasn't much TO raid.  He hadn't left much in there, knowing he was going away for that hunt in China, and anything that was left had been raided by Ken.  Great.

By the time Ken got back, he was starting to raid the cupboards with zero success.  At least he was dressed and feeling more awake, though.  It was good, too, since he stared at the raven like he was insane when he saw what had been bought.

"You're...insane.  Really, you are," he asserted, blinking at the groceries.  That was a little...overkill, wasn't it?

Hell, he had food for awhile.

Of course, Kenji figured Erik was probably joking about eating him, but given recent events he was taking no chances.  Thus, the overkill grocery run.

"I brought you some more milk, too," he pointed out, digging a half-gallon carton from one of the other bags and sticking it in the fridge.  "I used some of it when I ate all your Fruit Loops." 

Sorting through the meat pile, the raven selected that which could be frozen, that which could go in the fridge for now, and that which should be eaten immediately.  The deli chicken remained on the table, smelling delicious and fattening.  One would think that a bird-shifter would be squeamish about eating poultry, but ravens were carrion birds.  Eating the meat of a prey bird such as a chicken was no problem.  Then again, Kenji just didn't eat much meat, period.  Most of his diet consisted of sugar and caffeine.  Deli chicken WAS hard to resist, though.

"Insane?  Doubtful.  I am only attempting to anticipate your needs, Lucio-kun."  Kenji popped open the plastic and cardboard container of chicken.  Ooh, mashed potatoes and gravy, too.  "And I anticipated that you might want dinner."