So, yeah, I'm on kind of a roll here with this fanfic. For those wondering about my Fairy Tail fanfic, I'm getting a chapter of that done as well. That'll be up probably tomorrow. Also... no, I'm not steering this fanfic to have ero in it. Maybe something comedic like Hakutaku-san getting stripped by the Cow-head, but nothing like that between Hozuki and Kanna.

These characters minus Minamoto are Natsumi Eguchi's creations. Now enjoy!

"Ah, Minamoto. Come this way. I apologize for the mess." When I first saw his room, I was thinking that we actually stepped into his medicinal experimentation room, but no. It was in fact his room, confirmed by the bed and various personal objects that he never had on his official desk. Littered all over the place were scrolls with recipes with various purposes: curses, torture, you name it. It probably was there. The room itself was dark without any windows nor light source that I could clearly see and I couldn't help but notice that amongst all of the items, there were collectables. At the time, I didn't realize that they were rare limited edition items that were only found in raffles in Japan, so I presumed he just got them as gifts. After stepping in further, I carefully walked around the endless scrolls and blood from the murdered souls for his soup. Yeah, not a pleasant thought...

"No, if anything, I'm grateful you were actually willing to let me in." While I was inspecting his room, Hozuki took out an extra futon that apparently he kept just in case that there was the need. I wasn't exactly sure what I should do other than sleep, so I reached out to the futon only to have him shift it away from me.

"Minamoto, take my bed. It is better for your back." I wasn't expecting him to be so courteous as to go that far. I was about to protest, but in reality, I had little to no energy to fight against him. I touched the blankets of his bed and realized that the linens were clean. I turned towards him, thinking what he was thinking. It was more practical if he just gave me the extra futon. Less to wash and it was still generous enough. Still, Hozuki had no intention of changing his mind.

"You think I would be so rude as to let a woman sleep on the floor?" By now, his disappointed glare had the least effect on me because I had nothing to combat it with and I was expecting a comment like that. I still believe 100 percent that he would have because it technically wasn't rude. If anything, it was both kind and borderline scandalous. A Chief of Staff alone with his secretary in his room? Well, the rumor spreading was the idea, so it worked in our benefit. However, I was wondering what the culprit would do to Hozuki if this spread. Our perpetrator was not exactly the most extreme of people, judging by the nature of the attacks and considering that Hozuki was the idol, I doubted that Hozuki would be harmed. If anything, I knew I would suffer if anyone. Not that I minded. I preferred a minimal damage range than minimal wounds. Easier to deal with, I guess.

"Unable to sleep, Minamoto?" I didn't realize that he actually noticed that I wasn't asleep. My body was turned away from him and as far as I knew, I didn't make much noise nor movement.

"I have a condition that won't let me sleep unless everyone around me is either gone or also asleep. I'm not so rude as to stare at a woman as she tries to sleep." I wasn't sure if he was telling the truth, but knowing Hozuki now, I can tell you that he was. So, yeah. He was being honest.

"Is there something on your mind?" I couldn't really hide from him nor did I have the energy to fight him, so I just gave him the cold truth. I was tired, but I managed to convey my concerns about the case a little bit. The other part, I wasn't really going to let him know just cause it's private. I wasn't like those women who would simply rely on their man when they felt weak. Call me stubborn, I'll take it as a compliment. That and Hozuki wasn't my lover, brother or anything like that. He was my superior. Relying on him this much was already pushing the boundaries.

"Hmm… If that's your main concern, keep this on you at all times." What Hozuki passed to me was a tanto, one with engravings of a phoenix. The blade has been nicely polished and the hilt melded into my hands as if it belonged there. It was simplistic, but suiting for my nature. Straightforward, yet somewhat sad. If I were to describe the feeling, it like dying quietly, with no one to know. It was glad to do so, but it was still lonely. Given my personality, it was perfect. I could only stare at Hozuki with somewhat concerned eyes. Sorry, I'm just frugal, so it bugged me quite a bit.

"Is this really okay? This doesn't seem to be one of those cheap items that you can get for multiple people."

"If you use one of those, it would break before you even used it. Take this one. It is soaked in the blood of women who have repented in the Lake of Blood. It fights against women of that ilk. If you tied up a woman in a turtle knot and stab her with it, she will become your slave. Very useful back in the olden days." I think I could manage without that piece of information. So that's why it shines so sadly. Well, I wasn't complaining. I usually just used my fists, but any help would be profoundly useful in my opinion. Besides, I needed to keep up my 'elegance' in the work place. Fists are fine for men, which is somewhat sad, but women are a no-no.

"Need anything else? A hug perhaps?" … I couldn't tell if he was joking or not, but the face he showed made me feel like he absolutely was disgusted by me. I just shook my head with bulging eyes and tried to sleep. This time, I actually fell asleep out of complete fear. Yeah, fear. The black aura that I felt coming from Hozuki was more than enough incentive to not stay awake. However, the dream I had was an interesting spectacle. I say interesting because I do not know how I show react to it.

We were in a moderate house with a small wooden kitchen, a tea room, you name it. I say moderate because I lived in something bigger when I was alive, but this was pretty good from the average person's perspective. I was in the doorway, coming back from some errand I think. I looked over to the kitchen, apparently saying something to the woman there with a baby on her back. I don't really remember all of the details of the dream, but what I saw next terrified me. She turned around and it was Hozuki cooking dinner. Yes, Hozuki was a woman with long hair, minus the horn. I admit, he was good looking as a guy, but as a woman, he was terrifying.

"Welcome back. Wait for a bit." While Hozuki said that, a chicken squirms underneath a butcher knife. Yeah, it was still alive at that moment.

"I'll be done with dinner shortly. Could you take care of the baby?" I took the baby off Hozuki's back while the chicken got slaughtered. After putting the baby on my shoulder, I kissed his… um… her neck. I don't know why, but I was just observing my own movements at this time. It was… yeah. I don't know how I imagined that, but I saw female Hozuki blush. I believed myself guilty of perversion on so many levels at this point. I don't think many would blame me... To think I dreamt that with my superior was shocking. That and Enma-daiou was the baby. Yes, a baby with Enma-daiou's face. He started touching my face, smiled at me and said the most terrifying thing I've heard.

"Dadda." At that time, I looked over to the mirror that female Hozuki had, and looked at my face. I became a man. I woke screaming.

"Minamoto, what is the matter?" Hozuki ran into the room, half naked. Yes, it was… um… quite the sight. It's still awkward for me even now to mention it, but um… yeah, it wasn't a bad sight. Hozuki has nicely toned muscles, but they weren't bulky. They looked kind of… natural, I guess? Apparently, he just got out of the shower at the time. Still, I was only 21 and I never had to deal with seeing men dressed like that unless they were relatives. So, I panicked.

"Cover yourself, Hozuki!" He simply stood there, kind of clueless and tilted his head. I tossed his clothes right at him and looked away. It was still early; 6:24 if I remember correctly. He then realized that he was nearly naked in front of a woman who was not either his wife, lover, or relative. He quickly went back into the bathroom and changed. I thought I was having a heart attack at the time, which was not actually that far from the truth. My heart was getting attacked, just not in the normal way. Once he came out again fully dressed, he tilted his head down towards me.

"I apologize for my informal attire. Please, accept my humble apologies."

"T-that's fine, Hozuki. It's my fault for screaming." I quickly looked towards him and urged him to lift his head. Having a superior bow to you was a great honor as well as an embarrassing one. That and I thought that if I stayed any longer, I would have to deal with more than just a rumor. Once I looked outside of Hozuki's door, I checked to make sure that no one was watching as I left to go to my room. Even though it would have been a good idea to let someone see us, I still had reservations about letting people see this and the rumor about Hozuki and me have some... intimate moments together would be hard to refute.

Once back in my room, which was still a disaster, I changed quickly and walked slowly back to Hozuki's room. I knocked on the door so that we could both walk to the cafeteria. I knew that if I went by myself, Hozuki would scold me and that was something I wanted to avoid. He and I walked together to the cafeteria, but this time, not in there was literally a mountain of paperwork waiting for us at the desk, I decided to start writing down notes of what needed to be done. Frankly, if I didn't do that, even I could never keep up. Working a business, no matter how large or small, requires some note-taking skills.

"Minamoto-san." Good, we're back to the work tone. Better finish this properly.

"Enma-daiou needs someone to assist him with the paperwork while I go out in inspections. Ensure that you keep him on time and assist him in any of his health and image." If you mean scold him and torture him to the point of where he's calling out for the higher power, I can do that, more or less. Hopefully, I can keep the violence down to a minimum.

"Hozuki-san, could you do me the favor of dropping by Shangri-La? There's some ingredients I need from Hakutaku-san. Please keep the fighting down to a minimum; dealing with the costs of repairing is a pain in my side. Here's the list." On the slip of paper, I actually wrote instructions of what rumors for Hakutaku-san to put down. I didn't put what happened last night, but the 'hug' Hozuki-san and I had last night should be enough to incite something. That and Enma-daiou and O-kou-san have already said something similar. This is just to spread it; the female staff will do the rest of the work. Once I walked into the cafeteria, everyone stopped talking and stared at Hozuki-san and me as we got our meals. Even the chefs were oddly quiet.

"Minamoto-chan, I heard about what happened. Are you all right?" I didn't recall tell anyone about my room, so I presumed that was not the issue she was talking about. I simply put my food down next to her and looked back at O-koh-san.

"Exactly what do you mean, O-koh-san?" She whispered the next words in my ear.

"Someone saw you leaving Hozuki-sama's room earlier this morning."

"Ah, that was because someone destroyed my room and Hozuki-san let me stay with him. I still think that it was not the most comfortable of ideas, but considering the circumstances, I doubt there was much choice." So that's why silent treatment. They probably see me as some sort of prostitute or something. I picked up my chopsticks and started eating, I knew fully well that the women were glaring at me, especially because I said previously that I had no interest in being more than an assistant to Hozuki-san. What happened later confirmed that.

"Hey, what is going on between you and Hozuki-sama, slut?"

Ah… I knew this would happen. Sometimes, I'm really glad Sumire found Kei. Kei was not particularly bad looking, but because he was never really outgoing, we never had these female issues on her side. Mine, on the other hand. Yeah, a lot of guys wanted me, a lot of girls hated me. Well, if anything, I give them guts for trying to attack me directly. The group of women who were after me were the typical women who seek out handsome guys. They had Daji-san's interest in seducing men, but lacked her beauty, so they grew bitter against a lot of women. Had I thought they had the strength, they might have been the culprits, but it wouldn't make sense for them to steal items from the workplace unless to blame someone else for the crime and nothing like that has supposedly turned up.

"Answer me!" One of the women had the guts to grab me by the color and hold me in a tight grip. Well, the women here had to be strong at heart since their version of being ruthless wasn't the same as the men. Still, I wasn't about to take this hit cold.

"And what? So you just dish out your complaints?" I was still very proud at the time. That and I had something to protect me. No, not Hozuki-san's tanto. I'd only use that as a last resort and it wouldn't be enough for a threat. I took the liberty of asking the Tengu police to allow me to have a wakizashi for defense last night before we arrived back at the department from dinner. I could have chosen a metal club like Hozuki-san, but I was not one to elongate pain. I would only make my message clear. I took out the blade and lifted it to her neck, allowing for it to shine against the light.

"Hozuki-san at the time required my assistance with some detail work. It was purely by accident that I slept there. I woke up on the opposite side of the room, away from Hozuki-san." Of course, they didn't really believe me. After all, would women with their type of disposition actually believe logic? Nope. Their agitated faces revealed just how twisted their thought processes were.

"Are you sure you didn't do anything to him, bitch?" ... Considering the fact that I was the assistant to Hozuki-san, who was well known as "Enma-daiou's dog from Avici Hell", I guess being a female dog made sense. It's not that much of an insult considering my position.

"And even if that was the case, you have no right to judge us. Hozuki-san is free to act as he pleases outside of work as long as it still abides by the rules of Hell. You, however, have already broken one. Hozuki-san is not forgiving to people who torture others OUTSIDE of work. Merciless discipline during work is expected, but this is not a sweat shop nor is it lawless. You have no right to judge me." The women we kind of speechless. That and I think the fact I was fighting back was a new experience to them. They were probably used to women just giving into them because it was either not worth the effort fighting or they couldn't fight back. Either way, I wasn't like those people.

"L-l-like you have a right to say that!" Instead of backing off, the ringleader decided to punch me. Too bad I already figured that she would do something like. Dodging her was child's play. Each girl took at least one blow from the hilt of my sword. Not letting any of them escape, I pinned all of them down, tying them up with rope I kept on me at all times. Hey, if the culprit needed restraining, I had to have something on hand. That and I have no patience to deal with ladies who don't even know the meaning of the word "self-discipline."

"What is the meaning of this?" Hozuki-san came out from the cafeteria to hear the noise. He was somewhat annoyed when he saw the women attempt to corner me, but was again amused that I took it as a challenge.

"Nothing. Just some women needing discipline. It is quite all right now, Hozuki-san." Since the rest of the people saw the fight, many steered clear of my path. Yeah, I believe I got my nickname at that time. 'Minamoto the Merciless' is still in effect today and suits my needs. Being strict was my main concern. It helped keep the job easy on my side and Hozuki-san was able to rest a little more. That and being called 'slut' or 'bitch' was hardly something I wished to continue. Hozuki-san looked down at my bindings and tsked at me.

"Minamoto-san, your rope bindings are not strong enough. If you need to restrain them, you need to do it like this." He pulled the ropes even tighter and put them all in hogtie bondage form. Although I am sure Hozuki-san wouldn't do this to co-workers unless they did something terribly wrong, I still felt that one day, I might suffer the same fate.

"Then, Minamoto-san. If you would follow me." Ah, right. The amount of work we had to was kind of ridiculous. I knew that Hell would have been swamped thanks to the sheer amount of people dying, but I didn't expect this.

So that's all for now guys and girls. Tell me what you think. Sorry for you guys who were hoping for something steamy or fluffy.