Author's note: I am breaking a cardinal rule for me which is "Don't start a new fanfiction until you have finished the one you were working on." But the Writing Muse strikes at the most inopportune times, and today it was at Victoria's Secret, so I simply had to bang this chapter out. I am posting it up now as a taster, and I will get back to it once Airship Assassin is done (which will be pretty soon). What do you guys think? Like it? Hate it? Read and review please and keep your eyes peeled - I'll leave this alone for a bit but will get back on it once I am done with Airship Assassin!
If anyone from the dojo sees me, I am killing them before they have a chance to laugh, Aoshi promised himself as he stood grimly in the middle of the store, grudgingly clutching Megumi's purse and trying not to knock over the endless displays of lacy bras, panties, and a lot of undergarments he did not have names for, unless "uselessly skimpy" and "how the hell does that stay on?" figured into the equation. The entire store was a violent explosion of pink, eye-watering perfumes, and gigantic pictures of emaciated women with pneumatic lips and breasts who were pouting and twisting their bodies into painful-looking yoga contortions.
Megumi was pushing through a rack of white tissue and lace, some outfits that were arguably smaller than the exorbitant price tags hanging from them. Against his better judgment, Aoshi sneaked a glance at one of the tags and was suitably appalled. "Ninety-eight dollars? For what, precisely? Wouldn't going naked have the same effect and for free?" he muttered to himself.
"Oh, stop grumbling," Megumi said. "You know I'm getting married in six months and I have to stock up for the honeymoon. Plus, Victoria's Secret is having a sale."
"Yes, but couldn't you have done this alone or with Kaoru?" Aoshi questioned tiredly. "Surely another woman would be better at helping you decide which...whatever the hell that thing is...looks best."
An impish expression crossed Megumi's face. "But don't you know that what women think men like is often a lot different than what men really like, so who better to ask than a man?" She held up two scraps of lace, pointless straps dangling from them. Aoshi could see right through the damned things, and he raised an eyebrow at her. "Now, which one do you think Sano would like better?" she asked innocently.
Aoshi's brain shut down at this point. He still hadn't quite wrapped his head around the fact that his baby sister, the only sibling he had, was getting married. Despite her stunning looks, Megumi had stayed away from men, too intent on her medical studies to have much interest in chasing guys, and Aoshi had seen to it that any potential suitors went fleeing. No damned guy was getting his filthy hands all over Aoshi's sister. But she had finally finished her medical degree and was almost done with residency and then Sano had come strolling into the ER, sporting an effusion of cuts and bruises from a motorcycle accident and that had been it. Aoshi had tried his best to run the jerk off, but the persistent bastard kept coming back and hanging around and had finally talked Megumi into a date. That lead to another and another and now there was a diamond sparkling on Megumi's finger.
Not that he exactly despised the guy, Aoshi admitted to himself. Sano could be cock-sure but his vintage motorcycle repair business was going strong enough to net him a comfortable income and despite his wild-boy attitude, he was clearly devoted to Megumi. Still...Aoshi would have preferred his sister settling down with a brain surgeon or lawyer or someone better fitting her grace and poise. He had thought about simply killing Sano and leaving his body in an undisclosed location, but he had finally settled for threatening the brawler within an inch of his life if he didn't treat Megumi with the utmost honor and respect and had also subjected the lady in question to a similar lecture, one of several for them both. It helped that Aoshi and Megumi shared the same house; he could keep a close eye on her and break up any makeout sessions he happened to stumble upon. As far as he could tell, Sano had kept his word and kept his hands to himself but the wedding was fast approaching and...was she actually going to wear one of those ridiculous garments? Unbidden, Aoshi's mind conjured up an image of Megumi decked out in a lacy little number with Sano leering at her, and his entire brain overheated and crashed. Shaking his head, he choked back to urge to drop everything and go hunt Sano down to kill him.
A push brought him back to the present as Megumi shoved an armful of lace and satin into his arms. "Here, hold these. I want to go try some things on." She disappeared, leaving him alone and holding a pile of lingerie if it was actively infectious. The store seemed to close in on him and a quick glance around told him that currently he was the only male present. The sales clerks that walked past gave him knowing little smiles, and Aoshi was beginning to contemplate dropping his armful on the nearest desk and storming out of the store. The things I do for my sister, he thought irritably.
Motion caught his eye, and Aoshi looked across the room to see a tiny young woman perched on a rickety ladder changing a display on a high shelf. Aoshi frowned. The ladder was precarious and not tall enough for her; she was stretched up on her toes as she nimbly moved items around. He had a premonition and moved forward, alert for a potential catastrophe. His instincts proved him correct for as he stepped towards the girl, the ladder shifted, then collapsed under her pointed toes.
"Awwwp!" the young woman cried out and one hand thrashed about, grabbing at the shelf as Aoshi dropped everything and charged forward. Most unfortunately, she managed to seize a handful of decorative silk that was sitting underneath a small mannequin, some high-heeled shoes, and other items and as Aoshi caught her in his arms, she pulled the items down with her. Aoshi sensed the incoming projectiles and, balling the girl up in his arms, rolled forward, dodging out of the way as the decorations crashed to the ground.
The girl felt boneless in his arms and as he rolled around and crouched to the ground, shielding her from any other falling items, she didn't move until he had straightened up and asked her roughly, "Are you okay?"
"Fine, thanks. Great reflexes by the way." Aoshi let her go and was surprised to see a pair of brilliant blue eyes staring up at him. Way the heck up at him. Looking down at her, he was astonished at how tiny she was.
The store erupted in cheers and babbles of concern as several sales clerks rushed forward to deal with the disaster and began cooing over Aoshi's bravery. He eyed their praises warily. There were staring at him in an appraising manner, gleams of interest in their eyes. Warily turning his back, he moved to scoop up the items he had dropped.
"Aoshi, what's all the noise...Oh, hi Misao!" Megumi suddenly appeared at Aoshi's side and was smiling broadly at the tiny young woman with the very long braid down her back.
"Hi Megumi! Shopping for the wedding?" she responded.
"Of course, time to stock up. Misao, have you met my brother, Aoshi?" Megumi indicated Aoshi who had retrieved the spilled pile of needlessly expensive lace and tulle along with Megumi's purse and was glowering unhappily over the mound of intimates.
"Well, I just spend an exciting minute in his arms," the girl responded impishly and Megumi's eyes opened wide in happy surprise.
Aoshi's face darkened, "I was just..." he began but Misao's bright smile suddenly killed the words on his lips.
"Just joking," Misao moved forward to take the damned underthings from Aoshi. "I was stupid enough to fall off a ladder, and your brother here gallantly caught me." Her hand brushed against his arm as she scooped up the lingerie, and an unexpected jolt of energy ran along his skin as she did so.
"That's my brother, always looking out for everyone," Megumi responded. "So how's your classes going?" The two women broke into the high-pitched, excited tones that Aoshi had noticed women resorted to when talking to each other and after listening to it for a few seconds, he interrupted their verbal volley.
"I think I will get us something to drink, Megumi. Here, take your purse." He shoved the Coach bag back in her arms and nodded curtly at Misao. "Nice to meet you. Just be more careful on ladders next time." Without waiting for a response, he strode out of the store and stalked towards the food court. By the time Megumi finally emerged from the store, Aoshi had worked his way through an Orange Julius and a newspaper and had a rather watered-down Diet Coke waiting for his sister.
Slipping into her seat, Megumi set several suspiciously pink bags down on the floor. Aoshi did not even want to guess at what they contained. Pointedly, he looked at the Coke and said, "I'll get you another one if this is too flat."
"It's fine," Megumi sipped it daintily and looked at her brother. "So what did you think of Misao? Nice isn't she?"
"Misao. Wait, that was Misao?" Aoshi's brows furrowed as Megumi gave him an innocent smile. "Meg," he rumbled threateningly.
"What?" she said back.
"That was a setup, wasn't it?" Aoshi scowled. "You knew she was working today."
Megumi took another dainty sip. "I needed lingerie and it was the semiannual sale at Victoria's Secret, nothing more."
Aoshi sniffed, "You've always been a bad liar, little sister." She was. Megumi could never hide anything from him, particularly after over 26 years of living together. They had both left their parents behind in Honolulu eight years ago to come to the landlocked, windswept town of Omaha, NE: Megumi on a full-ride scholarship to medical school at Creighton and Aoshi for a position at Sullivan & Smith, one of the most prestigious law firms in the Midwest. The shockingly cold winters and lack of beaches had been a cruel adjustment, but they had both survived and come to love the Midwestern town they now called home. Aoshi had bought a house right away and had watched over his younger sister with a careful eye. They were second-generation Japanese immigrants, and the old ways died hard. Aoshi had been born in Tokyo and had carried the old ideas of honor and family duty with him. Most annoyingly, Megumi was starting to return the favor as of late and had taken to nagging him constantly about working too much and never having any fun, spending too much of his scanty free time at the dojo, not sleeping enough, ad nauseum. It was really starting to get on his nerves.
Watching Megumi closely, Aoshi could tell she was going to start up on it again. He was right: Megumi gave a bright smile and said cannily, "It was just a happy coincidence that Misao happened to be working that day; how nice that you got to meet her."
"I got to catch her," Aoshi corrected his sister. "She didn't have enough sense to find a decent ladder."
Megumi laughed, "Oh, Misao's a bit of a daredevil. She probably used that old ladder on purpose to test out her ninja skills." The last few words were delivered with raised eyebrows and a knowing smirk.
Aoshi refused to take the bait. "Some ninja skills. If she had trained properly, she wouldn't have fallen." But he remembered how Misao had reacted to the event. When he had caught the girl, her body was loose and flexible, not rigid and panicked as most people would be in the middle of a free-fall. She had rolled with him, not fighting as he snatched her up and out of harm's way. Which meant, well, it didn't matter. Really.
Reaching for the paper he had already thoroughly scoured, Aoshi flicked it in front of his face, pointedly blocking out his sister. A wet straw appeared in the middle, punching through a dismal article about the ongoing conflict in Libya. "Nope, you're not ignoring me, big brother. Talk to me."
Aoshi sighed and set the punctured paper back down. "About what?" he said. There was no distracting Megumi when she had something on her mind.
"About Misao, of course!" Megumi said impatiently. "What did you think of her?"
"Megumi, I barely exchanged three words with the woman," he growled. "So excuse me if I am not quite ready to propose marriage yet."
Megumi put on her best fake hurt expression. Blinking her soulful eyes, she said softly. "I just want you to be happy. Is that such a bad thing?"
Dammit. If he didn't watch it, she was going to start tearing up on him. It got him every time. "I am happy, Meg," he tried to soften his voice. "I have you, why wouldn't I be happy?" The second the words left his mouth, his lawyer brain screamed at him for blurting out such a weak argument and he wasn't wrong: Megumi pounced on the poor logic like a squirrel on an unguarded peanut.
"But in six months, you won't have me. I'll be with Sano. Who will cook for you?" She reached out and touched his hand gently. "Who will watch movies and eat pizza with you? It'll be just you and that big house all to yourself." A corner of her eye twitched, and he watched in alarm, dreading the tear that was just itching to slide down her cheek.
"Meg, I can take care of myself, you know that. I'm not going to wander around the house an unfed, shabby, lonely shell of a man without you. You're working 70 hours a week with your residency and are not around a lot anyway, so clearly I can survive without your constant doting presence."
"But, 'Shi, you're thirty now. You've made partner. Isn't it time you found a partner?"
Aoshi sighed again. It's not that he was adamantly opposed to finding a nice, interesting woman. He was a man after all. But with Sullivan & Smith demanding anywhere from 60-80 hours of his time everyday and a house that loved to develop leaking pipes, mysterious gaps around the doors, weed infestations in the garden and any number of problems, there simply wasn't time and what little time he did have was spent training in the dojo or the small practice area he had created in the basement. It was a rare day when he didn't get in at least an hour of practice, and usually it was three or more on the weekends. All and all, it added up to a full schedule, which made it hard to meet women. Or at least, he scowled, women of the non-gold digging type. Somehow the words, "I'm a partner" seemed to translate into female as "Prime target". Aoshi could spot those types a mile away and sadly, those seemed to be the only types he encountered these days.
Giving his sister a hard eye, he said, "Besides, how old is this girl anyway, fifteen?"
"She's twenty-six and is almost finished with her master's in chemical engineering," Megumi said a little hotly. "I know she's small, but she's not a kid, Aoshi. She's actually quite brilliant."
"Chemical engineering, huh?" Despite himself, Aoshi was slightly impressed. "Then why is she working in a lingerie store?"
"She's just there on the weekends to make a little extra money," Megumi shot back defensively. "She's a graduate teaching assistant but the pay is terrible so she works at Victoria's Secret on the side, especially during their big sales." Glowering at her brother, she said, "She's a fine person, Aoshi. Stop being so damned picky."
"I'm not picky," Aoshi replied. Seeing Megumi's cup was empty, he picked it up and went to the fountain to refill it and throw his empty one away. Setting the fresh Diet Coke back down in front of his sister, he glared narrowly at her. Megumi seemed to have composed herself somewhat and that sneaky, foxy expression was back on her face. Warily he looked at her. He knew that expression and it never boded well.
Picking up the soda cup, Megumi took a long sip, then announced casually, "Well, you might as well learn a little more about her because you two are going to be spending a lot of time together in the future."
"And why is that?" Aoshi lowered himself back into his seat.
"Because she is going to be one of my bridesmaids," Megumi announced.
"Lovely," Aoshi responded. Feeling inevitability kicking him in the face, he said tiredly, "And may I ask who her lucky attendant is or should I simply guess?"
"Why you, of course," Megumi smiled. Pouting her full lips at her brother, she said, "You two will look adorable together; she's so tiny and you're so tall." The canny look turned wicked. "Mother and Father will be so proud."
That last comment hit below the belt. Their parents had been nagging him for years to find a nice Japanese girl, but they were several states and an entire ocean away so had been relatively easy to ignore. Megumi, however, had taken up position as Nagger in Resident and the three of them together at the wedding...Aoshi sighed.
He didn't have a snowcone's chance in a blast furnace. His only hope was that Misao was as disinterested in him as he was in her. But remembering the bright gleam in her eye and the brush of her skin against his arm...
Maybe he could find a boyfriend for Misao in the ensuing six months. Surely someone at the firm would do.
It was going to be a long six months.