Shiro & Cain

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Earlier this morning, Cain meets Shiro in the DR locker rooms. As Shiro unwinds and Cain prepares for his training, they discuss leadership, and the Juggernaut gives Shiro some things to consider.


Shiro walked into the Danger Room locker room and immediately set to peeling himself out of his grey leathers. Well, not so much walked as waddled. Reaching up to grab the yellow bottle on the top shelf of his locker, he sighed in relief. Gold Bond. Man's best friend.

Setting it down on the bench, Shiro began the laborious process of removing the uncomfortable layers of cow skin, muttering to himself as he did so. Cyclops seemed to be having way too much fun with the Thwomps today. Bastard.

Cain peered over the lockers at the now-familiar grunts and half-breathed curses. He'd heard the loud slams and crashes that usually meant the fliers' obstacle course, and was waiting through the obligatory ten-minute reset time for the Danger Room to assume a new configuration.

After a particularly virulent curse, Cain let out a small chuckle, leaning on the top of the lockers. "Now that one I don't think I've heard before," he said with a grin. "Summers run you through the wringer again?"

A small chuckle from Cain sounded like a lion's roar to most others. Shiro's head snapped up at the sound, but he relaxed when he saw that he wasn't, in fact, secretly trapped in an African safari scenario. "Japanese is an excellent language to swear in," he said, taking his gloves off and putting them back in his locker. "And Cyclops always runs everyone through the wringer, does he not? That is how we know that he is not possessed or secretly an impostor."

"Got a point," Cain mused, pulling his football jersey over his head. After having his favorite one torn to shreds on Youra, he'd been amused when some of the trainees had actually managed to find him a replacement in his size. As he shrugged into his dark red team leathers to prepare for his session, he swore under his breath as he shook some of the desert dust out of his boots. "Du mah nhieu...," he grumbled. "Stupid Utah. Stupid plane going down for the SECOND time in two weeks. Stupid XO reports..."

"And I thought I was bitter," Shiro said with a smirk. "What, being promoted for the week was not in your agenda?"

"Ain't never asked to be leading these goons," Cain shot back, zipping up his sleeveless jacket. "Not even as a temporary maybe thing. Never been my thing, not even back in the war. Some people get their hands dirty, others they tell them where to go. Me, I'm fit more for doin' than tellin'." He leaned down to buckle his boots, then stood up straight. "Kinda like your samurai thing. You do what's asked of you, yeah?"

"'Samurai thing,'" Shiro muttered, sneering. It's not a "thing," even after a year of being ronin. Even for one as displaced as Shiro, it's a way of life. "Yes, you do what you are told, but there is also always a desire to rise up, to lead, to have authority and more responsibility. Be satisfied with your lot, but still try to better yourself. Especially if you have the opportunity to help others less fortunate than you. As you did last week."

Cain just nodded with a responding smirk. "Take it from me, when you've been around the block as many times as I have, you get to know what you can and can't handle." Calmly, Cain laced his fingers together, shifting so that the Marine Corps tattoo on his shoulder was visible. He pondered his next words before speaking.

"Back in the war, we didn't have guys like Summers leading us. Half of them were kids our age, fresh out of college who had rank pinned on them and got dropped right into the jungle. Average L-T's life expectancy was a month in-country. Meant any of us grunts had to be able to step up and take charge. S'how I found out it ain't for me. So what about you?" He asked pointedly of the younger trainee, "You want to be out there leading the X-Men someday?"

Shiro's eyes were fixed on Cain as he spoke. The two rarely interacted, but Shiro always found the man intriguing. Aggravating and a complete boor most of the time, but intriguing nonetheless.

"Hmm? Me? I do not know. I know now that I lack all of the skills a leader like Cyclops has, and I do not know if I could learn them and get the experience necessary to lead. But if I did, then I would."

"I've been looking at your training logs," Cain admitted, "Usually when we're on comms shift and Slim's in the can. And you got the potential, but you keep making overconfident, boneheaded mistakes." He looked down at Shiro's freshest set of training bruises. "Lemme guess, you thought you had it all figured out, and something came out that you didn't expect, right?"

Shiro shrugged. He wasn't bothered that his training logs weren't exactly private. And Cain's criticisms were the same that he'd been hearing forever. "That is the way that it has been since my first session in the Danger Room. I was cautious when I began, but became cocky as I progresses, and I was hit by a battering ram when I thought that I was nearly complete. That is the way I am. Now, that is. It will change."

"When?" Cain asked simply. "Y'been smacking yourself into that wall, literally half the time, since day one in there. May come as a surprise, but they ain't always testing you on how well you fly orthrow fire. It's up here," he tapped his temple for emphasis. "This is what's gonna keep you and your team alive when you're out there for real. You've got a good head on your shoulders, Yoshida. Use it the way Summers is training you to, and you'll be fast-tracking it in no time."

The speaker above the door cut in with a quick burst of static, followed by the emotionless pronouncement of "Juggernaut to the Danger Room. Simulation begins in three minutes."

Shiro just nodded. Cain had a point, something to meditate over. "Are you certain that you are not a leader?" he asked, his tone teasing but polite.

"Not if I can help it," Cain said with a smile, buckling his gloves and heading for the door. "Besides, if I was the leader, who'd be left for me to piss off?"

"Professor Xavier himself?"

As the door to the Danger Room slid open, Cain's grin grew even wider and he nodded in response. "I'll always have that."