((Disclaimer: I do not own 'Monsuno'.'Monsuno' belongs to its respectful owner/owners.))
(Author's Notes: Hello again! I am Konyakusha Ushi and I'm back with a AU 'Monsuno' fanfic that takes place in a large multi-story office branch in Tokyo, Japan. As a note, I just want to say that in this fic, Dax and Jinja are in their twenties and are yet to meet one another. Thank you for selecting this story and please leave a review. That would be really nice if you added this to a list or left a comment Thanks guys.)
"Nee, Jinja san!" Cheerful and adorable secretary Aiko called. Little Aiko Ogawa. A gentle soul fitted with a personality of gentleness and kindness complete with her tiny office uniform. A blouse decked out with a short black tie and a knee-length skirt and a blazer that was several sizes too big for her. Nothing short of adorable really. Jinja, who had just passed through the elevator to reach the 5th floor, smiled at Aiko who bounced excitedly with a grin that made her cheeks glow a light shade of pink. She bounced around a little, behind the shield of her white, curved secretary desk and placed her hands on the upper lip of it, stroking the smooth white surface childishly.
"Good morning to you too, Aiko chan." Aiko's eyes lit up with the greeting and she chuckled gently. She reached up a hand and grasped one of her two pony tails tied back with a pink ribbon. She was, after all, two years Jinja's junior.
"Did you hear the news?" She jittered, tangling her fingers into the thin strands of her ebony hair, smooth from strawberry shampoo. Her mother tongue of Japanese was quick and fluent as she spoke. "There's been rumours around the office, in and around and all over the place!" Jinja smiled apologetically and gave a nervous chuckle under her breath.
"Yukkuri hanashite kudasai." Jinja said slowly, hoping she didn't offend Aiko. "Please speak slowly." Jinja requested as politely as she could. And much to her relief, Aiko didn't take any offense what-so-ever. Jinja found that understanding Japanese was still quiet difficult. She had only been in Japan for a mere year after all, without any assistance at that too. And there was still so much to learn and recognise before she became completely fluent. Jinja thought she was doing well herself, as a matter of self opinion, and managed to get through day to day life surviving on the Japanese she did know.
"Oh, sorry." Aiko apologised with a small smile and sucked a small breath in through her parted peachy lips. Jinja shook her head.
"Don't worry about it, Aiko chan." Jinja reassured. "But in any case, care to enlighten me about this rumour that has been floating about?" Aiko suddenly became radiant again.
"Of course!" She giggled, almost kwnocking over her desk-top clock and a pile of stacked papers littered with kanji with her small elbow. Jinja eyed that elbow nervously. "So this is what is being said," Aiko hushed, leaning forward and holding a cupped hand to the side of her mouth. Jinja took the hint and leant closer to her work mate and waited expectantly, ears straining in curiousity. "According to Shishimura sama, we're having another workmate join this force!" Jinja reeled back in surpise. Aiko merely giggled at the reaction and smiled widely until it looked like her delicate face would split. "Exciting right?" Jinja blinked a few times to regain her posture before clearing her throat – which had clogged up from surprise. "And Shishimura sama claims the new workmate to be a male! A foreign one too!" Aiko's cheeks flushed with excitement as she began to do a little fan girl-ish dance. Jinja reached out to her junior and squeezed her shoulder gently.
"Aiko chan," she began, in a voice that resembled that of a parent gently lecturing a child. "This is Shishimura we're talking about. We both know that the guy's a nut job." Jinja said slowly, not bothering to use an honorific after Shishimura's name. Aiko's eyes widened.
"Not true!" She defended. "Shishimura sama is a wonderful person!" Jinja cringed at the word 'wonderful', especially when it was used to describe that man.
"Sorry Aiko chan," Jinja said. "I thought I just heard you use the word 'wonderful' and 'Shishimura' in the same sentence."
"I did!" Aiko squeaked, little mouth drawing into a pout. "Shishimura sama is a very hard worker who is essential to this company!"
"Maybe so," Jinja replied, shrugging her shoulders. "But he's a real trickster. Remember the one time he convinced everyone that a zombie apocalypse was happening? Except for me, of course…"
"But Jinja san seemed to be very afraid too…"
"No, I wasn't convinced." Jinja stubbornly pressed on. "But anyway," she continued. "He managed to make the Manager of this Office Branch faint which caused the company to shut down for two days and…" Jinja was cut off ny the sound of Aiko's laugh.
"There sure were a lot of people involved. All dressed up like zombies with the realest looking make-up I've ever seen. And then they started bitting people too!" Aiko giggled some more. "Shishimura sama has very good connections to know so many people!" Aiko's dance started up again. "I believed it myself that an apocalypse of zombie was happening. It looked just like a scene from that High School zombie anime that's really popular right now!" Jinja's eyes widened in surprise.
"You watch that?" She asked with surprise in her voice. Little, sweet Ogawa Aiko? Watching zombies tear apart a High school savagely eating people?
"No, but my older brother does and he fills me in." She shivered. "Things like that are a little too scary for my liking. I get scared very easy." Jinja nodded in sync with Aiko. A moment of silence ensured before Jinja started to speak again:
"So… do you understand where I'm coming from when I talk about Shishimura that way?"
"No, not really." Aiko inoccently replied. "But I think you feel that way about him because he has a big cru-"
"Don't say that word!" Jinja suddenly cried, lunging forward and covering Aiko's mouth. "It'll lure him here!"
"Mmn?" Aiko mummered against Jinja's hand, wide eyed. Jinja nodded and removed her hand from the girl's mouth. "You don't mean to say that the word 'crush'…"
"No! Aiko!"
A creaking noise filled the reception room, coming from above the girl's heads. Jinja and Aiko's heads snapped up in sync as the air-con vent suddenly flew open and clattered on its hinges.
"Jinja-chan!" A cheerful voice sounded, a body dropping from the open air vent, landing on Jinja and almost crushing her in the process. Jinja toppled to the ground, expecting her head to smash against the tiled floor. However, a hand caught her head and softened the collision just a little. Jinja's body still ached with pain from the sudden attack although. Jinja gritted her teeth as a familiar bed of soft hair tickled her face and a warm face brushed up the nape of her neck. "It's been too long my love!" At those words, Jinja suddenly found the strength to shove and push away at the body that heavily pinned her down.
"Get off Shishimura!"
"My foreign sweetheart!"
"I'm sorry Jinja!" Aiko suddenly interrupted. "I had no idea!" However, Jinja didn't hear her over the sounds of Shishimura's cooing and mushy words of openly expressed love display.
"Every time I see you, you only get more beautiful!" The man replied, lifting his face and revealing a spectrum of wide brown eyes and a white smile. His short cropped hair waved as he started to squirm around happily. "It's been too lon-" He was cut off by a fist to his gut. Shishimura whimpered and slumped to the ground, clutching his stomach and sliding off his workmate. "I always admired your killer-punch, sweet heart." He moaned. Jinja's eyes narrowed scandously.
"Get over yourself!" She hissed. "You jerk!" She spat in English. A few monents after. Upon realsing her mistake, she corrected herself by translating into Japanese, to which Shishimura started to weep upon hearing.
"There's no need to pretend that you don't adore me as much as I adore you, my love." Shishmura sniffled. "Do not mind the others being jealous of our love, they can put up with it."
"Stop talking about us like we're an item!" Jinja yelled, pulling herself to her feet and glaring down at Shishimura with disgust. Aiko laughed nervously behind her desk at the scene. "I'm not interested and never will be!"
"Hey!" A new voice intercepted. Everything and everyone went quiet. "Quit your yappin' an' listen to me!" Jinja spun around on her heel.
"Who are-" She was cut off as she gaped in surprise. Standing before her was a person with the darkest skin and cockiest grin she had ever seen.
"I'm here for a job. My name is…"
"Dax." Shishimura intercepted, crawling to lie on Jinja's shoes.
((Please review! I know it's not the most exciting chapter, but I have great plans for this story!))