(Chapter 2. I'm tired while uploading this... not much to say. ^^;)
Rage was forced to wake up as the sun hit his tired eyes. He got up from his bed, which at the moment was just a mattress. He glanced at his red sweatshirt, wondering why he'd fallen asleep without changing. Oh, he remembered, that whole thing with the girl...
He decided to change into his orange and white shirt that day, with the aqua pants. He then walked downstairs, finding Zukin still on the couch. She was awake, however.
"Morning," Rage said.
"Good morning, Rage-sama." Zukin replied, sitting up.
Rage blinked. "Why are you calling me that?"
"You told me your name was Rage last night-"
"No, I mean... why 'sama'? It's kind of..."
"I have heard others use it..." She tilted her head. "Isn't it for someone you highly respect?"
"Yeah, like masters or people like that..."
"I respect you."
"Er... no," Rage shook his head, heading to the couch and sitting on the closest armrest. "It's for people of higher status than you or someone who has power."
She stared blankly at him.
"Er... anyway," he changed topics, "today, I've gotta find someone else to watch you. It's just... weird having some girl in this house."
"Are you alone?" Zukin asked.
"You mean here? Yep," Rage replied proudly, "made my way out as soon as possible. Still have some work to do, but that can wait..."
"Do you want to be alone?"
He looked at her in surprise. Her eyes and tone had a feeling of sorrow. "What do you mean?"
"I could stay here if you didn't want to be alone."
"N-no, don't do that," he told her. "It's not bad living like this or anything. I can still be with my other friends, so it's fine. Now... we have to take you out and find someone... like Emi... maybe she'll know what to do..."
"Who is Emi?" Zukin asked curiously.
"Ah... she's just this girl... who's probably my best friend. It's... weird..."
"How?"
"Heh... you wanna know what I think of her?"
"Yes, Rage-sama."
He winced at the honorific, but continued. "Eh it's just... we're friends but... I'd like to be something more..."
"What is more?" She thought about what she'd seen in humans before. "Do you mean to say you love Emi?"
"That's... getting off topic... we have to figure out how we're getting you out in public..."
"Why can't I go out in public?"
"Because someone might recognize you. If they do, I might be in trouble, but who knows what they'll do to you. Any ideas?"
Zukin shook her head.
Rage sighed. "Wait, we don't even have to make you go far. We can just have someone come here..."
- - - - - - - - -
Someone knocked on the door. Rage walked quickly and answered it. Standing there was none other than...
"Hey, Emi!" Rage said.
The girl in the blue jacket smiled in front of him. "Hello, Rage-kun," she said to him. "So what did you wanna show me?"
Rage grabbed her arm and almost yanked her inside, shutting the door behind her.
"You see," Rage said, "this is what's been haunting that street at night."
Emi stared at Zukin. Her eyes widened in fear. "You mean she's the one that-"
"She's harmless now," Rage assured his friend.
"Why is she in your house?" Emi asked.
"Let's see... we fought... I won... she followed me... she stuck with me... next thing you know... here we all are... in my living room."
Emi blinked.
"Don't sweat it... I lived it and it's not making sense to me, either."
Emi chuckled. "So what are you going to do now?"
"Heh... I was hoping you knew, actually..." Rage said, with his hand behind his neck. "Look, you're a girl... she's a girl... I'm not. She'd be better off rooming with you than she would me."
"Rage, I can't," Emi said apologetically. "My parents wouldn't allow it."
"Gah... well, you know anyone else?"
"How about Yuni? I'm sure if I asked her, she'd help."
"Right, Yuni," Rage said, agreeing with her, "she's gotta have some room wherever she lives at." And of course, she'd listen to you and not me. Rage and Yuni weren't that close, really. But being Yuni's best friend as of now, Emi could convince her. "We still have another problem. How are we getting her to Yuni's house?"
"We could take a cab," Emi suggested.
"The cab driver's gonna be suspicious."
"We'll think of something Rage-kun."
- - - - - -
"She's... my cousin... who's... cosplaying."
Emi tried to make up a story to the driver. Apparently, he wasn't too up-to-date on the news, so he let it pass. Rage was just silent.
"Oh, that's interesting," the driver said, "what are you, a bat?"
"Um... yes," Zukin said nervously.
"Ah, what's the occasion?"
"WILL YOU JUST DRIVE?!" Rage yelled. Emi elbowed him somewhat hard.
"Um... my apologies, sir," the driver said.
"That's okay," Emi said, "he's just tense." She pat Rage's shoulder a few times. "There's no real occasion, by the way, it's... just for fun."
"I see," the driver said. He figured he may as well stop asking questions.
About a half hour later, they arrived in Yuni's mansion. And it was pretty big. It wasn't gigantic for a mansion, but it did certainly have extra room for a bat girl.
"Geez, she likes holding out on us," Rage said, envying the large building.
"Aww, be nice, Rage-kun," Emi told him.
Inside, they acted as always: Emi would be completely casual and Rage would look around and examine the room. Zukin, being new to everything, did the same as Rage.
"Emi!" Yuni said, walking down a hallway.
"Hi, Yuni!" Emi said, heading to her friend.
"How have you been?" Yuni asked. "I... see you brought Rage."
"Mm-hmm," Emi said. "But we need your help with..."
Yuni stared at Zukin, her eyes a little wide. The kind of stare that said, along with her voice: "What. Is. That?"
"... our... new friend," Emi replied awkwardly.
"She... she looks like..."
"Like she lost a fight?" Rage sort of blurted.
"... Sure," Yuni said.
"... Imagine that..."
"Poor thing," she patted the bat's head, causing her to blink and flinch out of surprise. "Does she have a name?"
"Zukin," he answered. "Well... Devil Zukin, but she prefers Zukin."
Yuni tilted her head. "That's kind of... odd..."
"Yeah, who would've thought of it, huh?" Emi said, trying to agree. "I mean, she has this hood with ears on it, but-"
"No," Yuni said, "I mean, I've heard it before."
"You have?"
"Yeah. Follow me." She led the other three to her room. Down the hallways, you could hear the sound of a machine whirring. Yuni knocked and the sound ended. She opened the door, revealing a cat-like maid in a purple outfit holding a vacuum cleaner that was connected to a large robot whose head resembled an electric plug.
"Good afternoon, Yuni-san," the maid bowed politely. The robot said nothing, but turned to face everyone.
"Hello," Yuni said back, "Maid Zukin."
"That thing's Zukin, too?" Rage said, pointing at her.
"She's so cute!" Emi exclaimed, specifically eyeing the adorable pink outfit. "Why haven't I seen her before?"
"It was supposed to be kind of a secret," Yuni began, "when she was assigned to us, I was informed that she was a test android of some unknown form, and that others weren't supposed to know. But with this new girl... secret's out. She's apparently a Zukin as well. The vacuum robot is just named Robo2000. Anyway, Maid Zukin is not only able to clean well, but she has also been taught to sew. So we'll be able to fix your friend's outfit up." Three of the girls walked over to Devil Zukin, examining and beginning to unwind the broken "sleeves", if you'd call them that.
"This," Rage began, holding up his hands, "looks like a girls-only job." Yuni gave him a "well, duh" glare. Rage briefly glared back. He thought about how boring it'd be in Yuni's house. "Where's Akira at?"
"He went out for a bit. I don't know when he's coming back, though."
"Fine... I'll go... get a snack or something..." Rage walked out into the hallway.
"Oh, and Rage?"
"What?"
"Snacks and the most expensive things in the refrigerator aren't the same thing. Just have something normal."
Rage groaned as he walked away.
"Okay then." Emi looked at Yuni, a little upset. "What?"
Emi shook her head. "Never mind."
"Oh, but it's fun to anger you boyfriend!"
Emi blushed intensely. "Shhh! What if he hears you?"
"It's about time he picked up on your crush, anyway. Boys..."
"And what about Akira?"
"Akira? No! He's... too old for me..."
Devil Zukin stared at them as they spoke, having almost no idea what they meant. So why not find out?
"What are you talking about?" she asked.
The human girls turned their heads. "Umm..." they mumbled nervously at the same time.
"You mean... by a boyfriend?"
Zukin nodded. Yuni, who unwrapped the first sleeve, gave it to Maid Zukin to put back on correctly. "A boyfriend is," the blonde started, "a boy who's more than just a friend. A really special person."
"He's the most important person to you," Emi said, with her blush starting to return.
Zukin's thoughts weren't much different from Emi's at the moment. "Why is your face gaining color?"
Yuni giggled. "That's because our Emi is a little shy!"
"Shut up!" she exclaimed playfully, her blush further spreading across her face. "No... it's not just that. It's... love."
"... it is?"
"Mm-hmm. You feel romantically attracted to one person. It's not something you share with everyone who can't keep it a secret. But you won't tell anyone that's not in this room, right?"
"I... I won't."
"Thank you."
"But I don't understand... why don't you want the other person to know?"
"Because," Emi started nervously, "it's... kinda hurtful if they don't like you back."
Zukin thought of how Rage had said the same thing about her earlier, and fought the urge to tell her.
"What if... you had more than one person who was... important to you?"
"Oh you can have plenty of close friends, but you're limited to one love."
"I am?"
"Everyone is," Yuni said. "You, me, Emi, Akira, Rage... you can only truly love one person."
"What would happen if two girls loved the same person?"
"I'd feel sorry for everyone in that weird position," Yuni replied. "I guess the guy would have to make a decision. If both girls loved him, they'd both want him to be happy. But one would still be left alone. It'd take a while to recover from a disappointment like that, but once the guy is taken, he's gone."
Maid Zukin had removed her gloves earlier to sew them back up. Now she was finished, and after putting them back on, she started re-wrapping the bandages as well.
"That's why most people are kind of afraid of in love: they could always be rejected. It always hurts, but being accepted by someone is really... wonderful. It makes you feel complete."
"That would be... nice," Zukin said, thinking about an empty feeling she expected to be normal. It was starting to fill up... but very slowly.
- - - - -
Because he couldn't abuse the expensive food, Rage did decide to abuse the expensive big-screen TV in Yuni's living room. With a small bowl of chips in his left hand, he used his right to change channels about every minute or so, right away when seeing something he didn't like and waiting longer for something interesting.
"We're doooone!" Emi yelled from across the room.
"How'd it go?" Rage asked loudly.
"See for yourself," Yuni said.
Devil Zukin stepped a little in the room, hunched over a little shyly. Her skirt was now puffed out, her sleeves no longer worn, and, well, she looked as good as new.
Rage nodded in approval. "Nice job girls," he said. "You look uh..." he had no clue where he was going, "... better. Much better."
The bat girl nodded modestly.
"Now, we've got one more problem here," Rage stated, putting the remote down and pointing to Zukin. "Where is she gonna stay? Yuni, you've got more than enough room, why don't you take her?"
"Oh? You want to get rid of her, do you?"
"No, and you know that! She's just a girl. I mean... girls and guys don't just live together, even if one is a robot... or something... besides, I don't have enough room."
Devil Zukin was saddened to hear she wouldn't be with Rage, but maybe she could be friends with Yuni.
"I guess so," Yuni gave in. "Since your house is so small."
"Hey! Just because you got lucky and became a rich little-"
"O-kay!" Emi interrupted, defending both of them. "The new Zukin-san is staying here, we've got it. L-let's go, Rage-kun..."
Rage sighed angrily. "Fine with me," he agreed. He left the snacks on the couch and followed Emi out the door.
"Hey," Yuni said, "you forgot to clean-"
"It's okay, Yuni-san," Maid Zukin said. "I'll get it."
Emi and Rage left. Devil Zukin looked at Yuni. "Why is it amusing to make Rage-sama angry?"
Why does she call him "sama?" she thought for a second, but decided to ignore that question. "Hmm? I don't know. That's just how we are, he's tough, I try to pull the truth out of him with a bit of humor, he denies things... eventually, I annoy him for no reason. It's normal."
"Do you ever wonder if you will push Rage-sama too far?"
"Well... sometimes. I do forget to cut back, I guess." Yuni thought for a moment. "How about we get you set up here?"
Zukin nodded.
Later, it was settled. Devil Zukin would stay in the same room Maid Zukin and Robo2000 did. Already missing the one she trusted the most, Devil Zukin went to sleep that night with hopes for making more friends, and that it might be a little easier with a Zukin like her.
(Mmm, abrupt ending but eh. ^^;)