17Notes: As mentioned Previously the story will follow for the most part Season 4 of Miraculous, for any refreshers this chapter will include episode 4 "Mr. Pigeon 72".
I'm trying not to be too descriptive of what goes in the actual episode and instead try to summarize it.
Ikuto and Utau were quick to adjust to their new surroundings, Utau was already going to different photo shoots and recordings to prepare for her upcoming concert, meanwhile Ikuto took it easy to explore around the city as well as getting more familiar with the ins and outs of the Agreste mansion, Especially with any secret lairs, unfortunately it seemed like Gabriel never leaves his office long enough for him to explore, he was sure it was because he didn't trust them yet and they didn't either.
Easter was clear in wanting to know more about the mysterious jewels Gabriel Agreste has in his possession and the ones he was practically hunting for, their ideas was to see if they can borrow the items for a bit to search for the embryo, of course they wouldn't be careless to just go in and take especially when they knew almost nothing of what that man was capable of, it would be a slow game for now.
Ikuto wasn't really content with the situation but he couldn't complain, his personal goals almost aligned with Easter's and he was curious about what these magical jewels entailed. It seemed neither him or Utau would get to know about them anytime soon. It has been a few days since they have arrived and the only time they have seen Mr. Agreste is through the window whenever they would enter or leave the mansion, and occasionally around the mansion.
As for Adrien they saw him daily, all three of them would usually have breakfast, lunch and dinner together, unless either Adrien or Utau were needed for work. Ikuto noted that Adrien saw him like a roommate or friend as he would often be asked to hang out with or be curious to know more about him. Ikuto wasn't too pleased about it but knowing he had to get along with him was a mission he knew he had to complete, it did mean he was going to put effort in it though, so his answers were usually short with Adrien, but fulfilling enough for Adrien not to think he was being bothered. Still Ikuto enjoyed his alone time, this gave him the freedom to roam about, and he had to take advantage of the situation. Especially with their new School being in the middle of their spring break. He was still wrapping his head around the importance of the miraculous jewels and so far he hasn't witnessed any of these Akuma's or Super Heroes that he was supposed to encounter. For now at least.
It was noon and Ikuto was taking a nap when he heard a knock, waking him up he waited and heard another, he yawned and sat up, by the third he stretched and walked towards the door seeing Gabriel's assistant Nathalie.
"Mr. Agreste would like to meet with you and miss Hoshina in his office" She said and Ikuto nodded watching her leave before closing the door. Scratching his head he got ready taping the egg Yoru was napping in lightly.
"Yoru, wake up" He said, Yoru barely woke up letting out a meowed sound, Ikuto shook his head opting to just carrying Yoru in his pocket and heading towards the office.
Upon arriving he saw his sister there along with her manager Sanjou, as well as Gabriel Agreste and his assistant Nathalie.
Now his work would officially begin.
Formalities was the beginning part of the conversation, and then were the roles, even though Ikuto zoned out most of the time he was still able to get the general idea. Utau would continue her work, as she would've done back home, sing to bring out x-eggs, and continue her regular jobs and events with the occasional addition of collabing with Gabriel's son to boost her popularity and maybe break a few hearts along the way if a rumor were to spread... As for Ikuto, himself during the day he would serve as Adrien's bodyguard. Despite what Gabriel did, he was concerned for his son's safety. At the same time Ikuto would report back anything that could help Gabriel either to Akumatize new people or if there was any word among the people about the superheroes that were ruining his plans, over all both of them had to lie low, and not to involve themselves too much into Gabriel's plans unless it was to help him..minor character changes where acceptable but full out transforming was off the table.
Ikuto wasn't too pleased about taking care of the blonde boy nor the restriction of where he goes and whether to transform or not but going against the idea wasn't worth the trouble. After today any time Adrien left home he would tag along. One thing was for certain Ikuto felt pity for the blonde, he was at the mouth of the monster and yet, he lived happy and naive to his father's actions. If anything the driver was the only other soul who most likely isn't fully aware but may have his own hunch. Their meeting concluded and they were dismissed, later sharing the news with Adrien about Ikuto.
By the time they did Adrien himself didn't like the idea of having another bodyguard much less having to be the guests living with him and was even questioning why his father would have an exchange student be his bodyguard, it wasn't making sense.
"It's fine" Ikuto interrupted the conversation between him and his father. "It's practice, to protect those I care about." Ikuto began looking out the window from where they were as a car came in and Utau and her Manager stepped out. Adrien began to understand. "It's an opportunity." Ikuto ended, it convinced Adrien, Gabrielle smiled at Ikuto when he glanced at him. It was a partial lie but it sold the idea and Adrien allowed Ikuto to be his bodyguard.
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"DOVES! THEY'RE DOVES!"
Ikuto flinched at the yelling, he was relaxing and attempting to take a cat nap in one of the loungers farthest from the pool. But hearing yelling from Bob Roth to Xavier Ramier and his pigeons back to Bob innocently talking to Gabriel Agreste, did not help. Ikuto sighed as he eventually gave up on trying to have his nap. Watching the scene before him develop for a few moments before losing interest in it once again. All he understood was that Adrien was doing an advertisement for a perfume, that involved him jumping off the diving board, doves, who were actually pigeons and a flower.
"Ikuto nya..."Yoru mumbles, rubbing his eyes and waking up from his own nap, his ears twitching as his eyes wandered to the upper levels of the floor, patting Ikuto at the same time to get his attention.
Ikuto looked around noticing two girls in swimsuits, both girls looked similar having blue hair except one had it short in a blue cap while the other had it in two pigtails in a pink cap. He was sure the pool was off limits to other civilians and the only entrance was blocked off by the gorilla bodyguard. Yet two little mice found their way in, too bad the cat wasn't away to let them play.
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"Marinette, what are you doing?! Put me down right now!" Kagami whispered-shouted, struggling to get out of Marinette's grip, who was holding her up.
"There, he's looking at you. Look at him! Look at him!" Marinette spoke trying to make sure Adrien saw Kagami as he jumped off the diving board and he did, but landed flat into the water missing his queue to take the rose from the pigeon. This turned into more yelling from Bob Roth to Mr. Ramier. Ikuto arrived at the floor as Marinette and Kagami, getting closer to hear their conversation.
"-shame for me, for Adrien and for this ridiculously embarrassing situation." Kagami told Marinette, turning away from her "I'm leaving." Marinette followed her, grabbing her arm.
"But, it's because you were too far apart!" Marinette started, Kagami turned to face Marinette to refute her only to let out a small gasp.
"Being farther apart would be the best case for two trespassers" Ikuto spoke startling Marinette, who turned to face him and backed up.
"Oh! Uh..t-trespasser? N-No! We're not trespassing, we're just uh.. fellow. Civilians! Yeah civilians trying to enjoy the pool! Oh wow is that Adrien Agreste?" Marinette stuttered pretending to have spotted Adrien in the pool. "Oh is there a shoot going on we, uh we didn't know! Haha.. We'll be out of your way!" She continued as Ikuto watched in amusement at the poor excuses the girl was coming up with as she reached for her friend's arm and tried leaving.
Ikuto hummed at the answer as if openly debating whether to believe her or not. Marinette, believing she won, dragged Kagami out of there. Kagami couldn't help but look at Ikuto suspiciously.
"We're leaving?" Kagami wanted to confirm with Marinette.
"What? No, I have one last idea!" Marinette stated excitedly as they made a turn towards the stairs. Ikuto sighed, of course they weren't going to leave. He began to follow them to prevent them from making his job more difficult. He managed to reach Kagami grabbing her arm while Marinette pulled the other. Not having a good grip on Kagami to begin with, Marinette let go, stumbling back and onto Adrien both falling into the pool. Ikuto made sure Kagami was ok before walking towards the edge of the pool to see if Adrien was ok. He swam out of the pool along with the pigtail girl. He turned to Kagami who just glared at him.
"Who are you?" She asked, moving away from him.
"Bodyguard" He answered walking past her, and going down the stairs, still feeling her glares.
Reaching the right floor he saw the pigtail girl was speaking with Adrien while Bob was yelling at Mr. Ramier with Gabriel on the tablet screen. Before the call ended Ikuto was sure he saw a smirk on Gabriels face.
"Adrien '' Ikuto called, "sorry" he apologized as he got closer to Adrien and Marinette, his eyes following Marinette's who eeped, she knew she was caught, Adrien stood up shaking his head, Ikuto's eyes now on Adrien.
"I'm ok" Adrien reassured before turning to introduce Marinette to see her no longer behind him. "Where did Marinette go?" He asked and Ikuto sighed hearing the girl called out for her friend.
"Let's go" Ikuto said and Adrien nodded, looking back Mr. Ramier was no longer there and Bob stormed away ranting. The shoot wasn't going to be done today by the looks of it. Adrien walked on ahead to get to his bags first and Ikuto was going to wait for him in the same spot near the pool. At least that was what would have happened.
"W-what's going on!" Ikuto turned and saw pigeons inside the pool. He was surprised to say the least, all those pigeons and he only noticed them when someone called out. He didn't like this feeling. Bob was the one that shouted and next thing he knew a pink puff of smoke appeared and he turned into a pigeon.
"Let's go" Ikuto said, grabbing Adrien's arm, and both started running. Making a turn in one of the corners Adrien slipped, Ikuto stopped to help him get up, but it was too late a pigeon got to him.
"Adrien!" He heard looking over he saw a girl in pigtails in ladybug patterned spandex. The pigtails style must be in fashion. Ikuto jumped out of the way as another flock of birds try getting to him. Turning back he saw the girl go into one of the pools changing rooms.
"Damn it" he said. 'So much for keeping him safe' Ikuto thought annoyed, at this point he was jumping through the railing getting away from the birds. He was now analyzing what was going on. One thing he knew was that given the pattern design on the girl she was the Ladybug, Gabriel ranted on about and at the moment whatever was going on had two outcomes: either the Heroes that he heard so much about would return whatever is going on back to normal or Gabriel would win and his kid would return to normal, either way Ikuto still isn't planning on becoming a pigeon any time soon.
"Shadow Claw" He said, attacking a few pigeons, scaring them off. He looked over at the door the girl went in. If she were to come out anytime soon it would be bad if she saw his abilities but being locked inside one of the rooms wasn't going to get him any information either. Stalling as much as he could. Ikuto only stopped when he noticed a small black cat floating out of the door Ladybug had entered, he jumped back, and hid behind one of the pillars on the highest floor taking note that the pigeons were now ignoring him. He heard doors opening and in came a blonde boy in black spandex with black cat ears and a tail and the girl he saw earlier in the Ladybug spandex. He looked back at the door, he was sure the rooms didn't have any windows.
"A trap" he spoke as he watched the scene unfold. Ladybug and Chat noir were 'trapped' giving up Chat Noir gave up his ring and Ladybug her earring, undoing their transformations, revealing two teenagers, who then threw their miraculous into the pool luring in Mr. Pigeon to jump in. As he did the black cat came out from the pool and took his bird call. At the same time the two civilians disappeared. Ikuto kept his eyes on the black cat as it returned through the door the original Ladybug was hiding behind. Next thing he knew Ladybugs were floating around partially blinding him, before Ikuto knew it everything was back to normal and Mr. Pigeon turned back into Mr. Ramier, Ladybug was already talking to him. Soon another girl appeared in a fox themed suit. They spoke more and Ikuto watched Ladybug's suit change as well as take out a magical charm giving it to Mr. Ramier.
"So the girl's power is growing and she can now deflect the akuma" He said, sighing. He needed a bit more time to get used to how things work around Paris before reporting it all to Gabriel, especially when Gabriel himself barely provided the information he knew. Other than needing the Earring of Ladybug and the Ring of Chat Noir. So much for teamwork... But Ikuto was getting closer to understanding the situation. As of now he would just continue watching. He saw the girls leave and Ikuto joined Adrien.
"Are you ok?" he asked, Adrien nodded.
"Yeah sorry about that, what about you?" Adrien ask and Ikuto shrugged
"Those pigeons got to me" He said, Adrien couldn't help but give him a nervous smile.
"Well it's a great thing Ladybug was here!" He said proudly. Ikuto played dumb.
"Ladybug?" He asked, turning to where she and the fox girl were previously standing. Adrien had a moment of realization at that point.
"Of course! You probably don't know about her since you guys arrived there haven't been any attacks." Adrien spoke, Ikuto tilted his head in confusion. "I'll tell you more about it on the ride home, it's been a rough day." Ikuto nodded as Adrien went to get changed. Ikuto let out another sigh. This feels more complicated than hunting down the embryo at least then he was allowed more freedom to figure it out on his own.
Adrien finished and Ikuto walked out with him, stopping a few feet behind noticing the rain,
"Wow you kept it all this time?" Ikuto heard Adrien speak, in front of him stood one of the blue haired girls, the one in pigtails Ikuto caught sneaking around the pool, she was stuttering. Before they finally concluded trying to walk home together.
"Adrien" Ikuto began in an almost warning tone, catching once again a surprise Marinette.
"Right, Marinette, this is Ikuto, he's my new bodyguard, he'll also be attending school with us" Adrien introduced, earning a shy hello from Marinette. "Ikuto, this is my friend Marinette. She's in the same class as me." Adrien said to Ikuto, who nodded in response before motioning to the car stopping in front of them.
"We have classes to get to." Ikuto spoke, earning a sad smile from Adrien.
"Right.. Sorry Marinette, see you tomorrow at school?" He asked and Marinette nodded with a smile.
"See you tomorrow" She said, Adrien walked ahead and Marinette waved goodbye. Ikuto stood next to Marinette, as they both watched Adrien walk up to his car. He could've sworn he felt her glare at him, once Adrien entered the car and started looking through his bag. Ikuto could only chuckle, turning to face her getting into her personal space. She took a step back but tried to keep her ground.
"Little mice shouldn't try playing when the cat's around" He took a step back, watching Marinette's nervous look. He didn't need any more work and he was sure the girl was going to cause some trouble. Still he smiled and walked towards the car he could hear her walking away.
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"I can't believe I'm already lost!"
"Don't worry Amu-chan!"
"Don't mind, Don't Mind!" The conversation caught Ikuto's interest. 'It can't be' he thought, turning to the sound of the conversation, on the other side of the block.
"Is that.." Ikuto started, his eyes widened as he started to recognize the pink hair, and the three floating people surrounding them.
"Ikuto?" Adrien asked, almost peeking out of the car to get into his vision. "Someone you know?" He asked as he followed Ikuto's stare, noting the pink haired girl in the distance. Ikuto shook his head.
"No" Ikuto entered the car, he knew his eyes weren't deceiving him "no one I know" he stated as the car drove off.
Marinette continued her way home and watched Adrien's car pass but only noticing the blue haired boy.
"Tikki.. For some reason I feel like things are going to get more complicated." Marinette said worried.
"Don't worry Marinette! It's just like Alya said!" Tikki started with a smile motioning Marinette to continue. Marinette took a deep breath in.
"Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass, but learning to dance in the rain" She said with a smile.