Greets and Salutes!
Hope all is well with everybody. I know I've been gone forever. I'm still jobless, so my muse has been entertaining herself in gaming. But! I have been feeling really good lately and working on what I can!
This chapter is just a little in-between thing, but hopefully there's not too much disappointment.
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A TOKEN OF AFFECTION
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06 -
"And " [&]
Godai Shinobu honestly didn't know why he put up with this crap.
After everything he had gone through in his life, he could say that he had earned some reprieve from the slings and arrows of bad luck. At the very least, he should be able to call it quits on his own terms. Between the idiot he 'worked for', and that monster coming back, Shinobu wasn't sure how much more he could take.
And then! There was his impy little friend! Who the hell tries to kiss another guy without at least learning his name first? Thankfully, the weirdo didn't make liplock and Shinobu had escaped with his dignity intact.
He immediately sighed in complete misery when he remembered the Detective's message—she would be going away for some much-needed relaxation for the weekend. Knowing the Monster, he wasn't going to sit still the whole time she was away. Godai anticipated getting called in to 'entertain' the beast, and considered finding some way to avoid having to.
Before he could consider possibly using the 'buried in work' card, his phone rang. While he was awake, he was still pissed about someone calling him so late at night.
"Godai, talk," he grumbled.
"We will be going out tomorrow," came the cool voice of a certain blue-clad individual. "Have your car ready."
And that was it.
Godai buried his face in his pillow to conceal his near-scream of frustration as he threw his phone over his shoulder.
He honestly didn't know why he had to put up with this crap!
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"Are you sure you're alright?" Hisanori's deep voice was a comfort, even over the phone.
Sitting at her desk, her panda slippers on her feet, Mutsuki hugged her knees tight to her chest. "It was a hard day," she said softly. "Do you really have to go away this weekend?"
"It just a small business deal, and then I'll be back by Sunday night," he replied. There was a brief pause before he slowly added, "…If you want me to come back."
Mutsuki had never considered any problems with her relationship with Hisanori. He was an adult, but they still spent a lot of time together. He never lied about where he was going, or what he was doing. So long as they could play and spend time together it was enough for her. That someone so completely unrelated to them would look at them and think so badly of Hisanori honestly infuriated her! No one had the right to judge them for anything!
But after what happened today, Hisanori had been edgy about everything he said to her. He had been almost eager to get her home and leave. Truthfully, he seemed more fretful about what the murderer had said and done that Mutsuki was.
There was a long pause before she heard the dark man sigh on the other end of the line. "I don't want to hurt you. You would tell me if I had hurt you in any way, wouldn't you?" He suddenly chuckled. "You always tell me when I've screwed up. You would never let this 'bad grown-up' get away with anything. You wouldn't keep quiet if I hurt you…"
Mutsuki couldn't truly grasp what it was that made Hisanori so uncertain of himself. He had always been an unshakable behemoth, from the first moment she met him. He had the answers, he had the plan. Nothing had ever been enough to make him doubt or question himself. Why would that woman from today shake Hisanori so badly?
Well! She wasn't shaken, and she wasn't about to let him lose focus.
"Hisa-san. Do you love me?"
"Of course I do," he answered softly, but fervently. "I love you very much."
"I love you, too," Mutsuki said, "so I don't want you to feel bad about anything. I'll be right here waiting for you to come home, I'm not going anywhere. You owe me a date. We have to go somewhere to make up for today's interrupted tea time when you get back."
She heard him laugh again. He still sounded somewhat sad, but better than he had a moment ago. "It's a promise, angel. It's late; you should be getting to bed."
"Good night, Hisa-san. Sweet dreams."
"And you, Mutsuki-chan."
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Hisanori hung up his phone and leaned back in his chair with a sigh. His face gave away nothing of his thoughts, but Yukinori knew his brother well enough to know that he was far from relaxed or collected. The air around him had been prickly ever since the incident in the café, to the point even his beloved calico cats were clinging more to Yuki's space for comfort.
"Is Mutsuki-chan alright?" The pale-haired man asked as he shooed the cats away so he could sit down.
"Hm?" Hisanori looked up, not fully comprehending the question before it settled in his brain. "Oh, yes. Yes, she said she's fine."
Silence settled in the office, with only the soft mewing of the cats and Yuki's careful sips of his coffee to disturb it. Yuki could deal with Hisanori's unchanging smiles, and his odd likes and dislikes, but he could not stand when his big brother was genuinely distressed. It had only happened a couple times in his memory, and he had almost always disregarded it. To him, Hayasaka Hisanori was an indomitable goliath; strong, brilliant, perfect.
That such a simple incident had thrown him so much was honestly upsetting.
"When you told me that you and Mutsuki-chan were going to play-date, I thought it would only be for a little while," Yuki suddenly said, keeping his attention on his reflection in his coffee. He couldn't be sure his brother was even listening. "I figured it was a play-date sort of thing, just something to give her until she lost interest and move on. As time went on, and you started making more time for her, I started to worry. Not so much that law-enforcement would label you a sexual predator, but that you might actually love her…" He tried to ignore his hands trembling. "We've been doing this for as long as I can remember, so I don't imagine living life any other way. So seeing you in love…I was afraid that you would decide to abandon everything we had made for the sake of her happiness."
"Yuki…" Hisanori sounded more surprised than angry, which the younger sibling was relieved to hear.
"I didn't understand how being in love would make someone want to change their entire way of life, and cut out a piece of themselves, for one person." Yuki persisted, eager to just say his piece and be done. "If you can't be who you are, then why does that person want you at all? Why would you ever want to change yourself so much for one person who may leave you anyway?"
Finally, Yukinori found the strength of will to meet his brother's eyes. And strangely enough, he wasn't afraid of what he saw there. "I understand a bit better now," he admitted with a soft chuckle. "It's not that you necessarily want to discard that part of yourself. But that you want to be better for that person. It's as simple as that."
A long moment of silence filled the apartment, as neither Hayasaka was certain what more to say or how to reply. Not even the cats made a noise as both siblings sat in quiet contemplation of this perfectly clear explanation for how both men felt.
Yuki almost worried he had said too much, or not enough, until his black-haired brother finally chuckled.
"It is just that simple…" Hisanori sighed. "And yet, just as complicated."
Standing up, the dark man walked over to the couch to collect his cats, and scruff up his younger brother's frosty hair as he continued by to head into his room. Yukinori couldn't remember the last time Hisanori had done that to his head—or if he ever had before!—but felt nostalgia fill him as a smile stretched his lips.
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Otto laid across the ceiling with a sigh. He had promised himself that he wouldn't regret any harsh or direct actions he would take in looking after Neuro, but now he wasn't sure. He wanted to see the Demon's bubble of self-importance pop. He really wanted him to admit that, as high as he was in the Demon Court, he needed someone. More than anything, Otto wanted to see the Demon beg and plead to his chosen Lady to forgive him and take him back.
But it appeared that his attempt at breaking the stalemate between Neuro and Yako had only resulted in making a bigger gap between the pair. With Neuro's pride and Yako's heart being the warring factors in this entire thing, Otto realized that it was likely to be a grueling dispute, with neither one willing to compromise.
"I'm starting to worry about the timetable of this whole debacle," he sighed. He suddenly stopped, concern elevating to panic. "What if this continues for too long? What if it takes years for things to settle properly? Never mind just the ceremony! Who knows how long it will take for the Heir to be born!"
The wispy sound of hair moving drew his attention to the braid hanging from the wall. Having been brought to life through Neuro's Demonic energies, she was capable of following his dialogue even in the language of Hell. [They're young, but also smart. They'll work it out, eventually.]
"Yako might be willing to make an effort—she understands enough about Demons to at least consider his train of thought—but if Neuro doesn't express something more, it's not going to do any good," he groaned. "And that boy is too untried in such matters to put forth any real effort for someone besides himself. It's his real failing in this whole dilemma."
[It takes experience to learn anything real, in any world] Akane went on wistfully. [If Neuro-san needs to succeed in this, he'll have to fail a few times first]
Otto stared at the words, and then at the black braid. Suddenly, he rolled across the ceiling to hang over her desk. "Akane, are you seeing anyone?"
The braid went stiff, as if she had been dried out in the deserts in Egypt. He could not have asked that seriously. All the same, she could honestly say: [No]
"Great!" Otto grinned. "Then, as we get to know each other, I hope you will think well of me!"
Akane didn't know what to say. Surely, Otto couldn't seriously be considering—
The phone atop 'Troy' rang out, and Otto dropped from the ceiling to catch it, sitting down atop the desk as he answered. "Hallo! Katsuragi Yako's De-Detective Agency! How ken I help ye?"
Akane waited as he listened to whoever was on the other end speak. She became somewhat nervous as the caller seemed to go on for a while, Otto not saying anything. And she felt on edge when the small Demon put the phone back down. [Who was it?]
"That was Neuro. He says that he'll be going somewhere for the weekend and that we're supposed to watch the office by ourselves," Otto told her.
[Did he say where he was going?] Akane asked, even more anxious about the answer.
"Not really. Why?"
Akane simply hung there, letting silence fill the space between them, and allowing the Demon to come to the same conclusion she had. It took only three seconds before Otto's shoulders dropped and he hung his head in hopelessness.
"Aw, damn that boy…"