Text in Italics is spoken in English.

Chapter Seven

For a while, Kanou could only gape at the woman. What the hell was she talking about? "Sharon," he finally managed to say. "You never go to parties."

"I do to ones hosted by Logan Truss just to spite the bastard," Sharon replied grimly. "Twice a year he hosts a party with everyone from the financial district invited. He invites me to piss me off, and I accept to return the favor. You and Yukiya-san will cover for me when I excuse myself. Just say I needed to use the toilet or something, it should buy me enough time to break in and find anything I need."

"Forget it," Kanou stated. "You're not taking Ayase anywhere, especially somewhere he would be especially vulnerable, like a party." Upon hearing his name, Ayase looked up.

"Huh?"

"I want you and Somuku to accompany me to a party, Yukiya-san," Sharon explained. "But Somuku refuses. Shame, I'll just have to do it all myself." She shot a sneaky look at the Japanese businessman, and Kanou felt his blood boil. Who did she think she was, trying to sweet-talk Ayase into one of her stupid schemes? She had a bit of a reputation for not thinking the possible consequences of her actions through, and Kanou was not going to let her put Ayase in danger because of some badly thought-out plan. "Oh well. I'll just take care of it myself, and hopefully nothing will go wrong," she said, turning back to Kanou. "Why don't you take Yukiya-san out to see the city tomorrow night? The Top of the Rock is amazing at night, you can see all of the city lights. I'll tell the driver to expect you."

"I'll do it!" Kanou suddenly growled. Sharon was really too much sometimes. Only she could make something as innocuous as a simple sightseeing trip into a guilt-driven argument. "But if anything happens to Ayase, I'll kill you!" he added for emphasis. The businesswoman nodded, her face uncharacteristically serious.

"If anything happens to him I'll tie to concrete blocks to my feet and jump into the Hudson myself," she said in English. Alarmed by the sudden shift in attitute and the abrupt switch to English, Ayase looked from Sharon to Kanou, confused. She just smilaed at him. "So, Yukiya-san, we have got to get you some party clothes. Why don't you come with me? We can go to Saks 5th Avenue- if you've never been there before, it's amazing."

"But what about the money?" Ayase found himself asking. He might have never been to America, but he had seen enough American movies and television programs to know that Saks 5th Avenue was one of the most high-end stores in the country. Sharon smirked.

"Oh honey, I've got company credit cards," she laughed. "There's no reason for you to buy anything yourself!"


While the three of them exited to the car and drove away, they were unaware that they were being followed. "Woo! Did you see that girl old Sharon had with her? So sexy..."

"You know, I never figured that bitch to be the type go for other women..."

"Oh come off it. Old Sharon ain't no lesbo, anyone who's ever seen her knows she's more frigid than a winter day in Antarctica. Didn't you see that gigantic Japanese guy? That pretty little thing was obviously his lover!"

"You moron, that guy was Kanou Somuku. He runs that big financial firm over in Japan. Old Sharon's known him for years."

"Hmmm, you know, this could work to our advantage. If we can get ahold of that lovely blonde, we can strik a blow to both Sharon Gray and Kanou Somuku! The international financial world would be at our fingertips if we took down two of the kingpins."

"You're a genius, you know that? The boss is going to be so pleased with you!"


Sharon was not aware that she was being followed, and so made no effort to try to disguise her route. "So what kinds of things do you like to wear, Yukiya-san?" she asked. Ayase fidgeted nervously. The kind of things he thought looked good and the kinds of things Kanou liked to dress him in were nearly polar opposites.

"Um, anything is fine with me..." he muttered.

"Wonderful!" Sharon cried. "Oh, you are going to look so cute when I'm done with you!" Ayase stole a glance at the businesswoman's attire. While he might not be the most fashion-conscious person ever, he didn't want to wear something obnoxiously printed or made of a weirdly colored material. He didn't think he'd ever be able to live down the embarrassment of being dressed in something printed obnoxiously with flowers. But then, he thought to himself, he was forced into frilly, lacy things almost every day of the week. How would wearing a floral muumuu be any different?

"Don't worry." Sharon smiled, easily reading his thoughts. "The final decision is up to you, you know. If you absolutely hate something, then you don't need to buy it. Oh, and Somuku?"

"What?"

"You don't get to see Ayase's new clothes until tomorrow night. Now go bog off and look at ties or something." Kanou opened his mouth as though to yell at the woman and say something about how she couldn't just take Ayase away from him, that he would get into trouble and that it wasn't safe, but it was too late. Sharon grabbed Ayase by the hand and dragged him off to the menswear department. Kanou was not about to let Ayase out of his sight, so he followed from a safe distance.


"I think you would look quite nice in white," Sharon said, holding up a white suit. "Although this will be much too large for you. I wonder if we could get it altered? We could take it to my tailor. But the gray one is good too, and it looks more likely to fit you. Try it on!" Ayase shuffled off to the dressing room, squeaking in surprise when he realized it was already occupied.

"Kanou-san!" he cried out. "W-what are you doing here? I thought Sharon-san said you couldn't..." Kanou shushed him by placing a finger to his lips.

"Do you really think I care what she said?" he asked deviously. "If there's one thing Sharon Gray is good at, it's talking. Some of what she says is bound to be forgotten, don't you think?" The businessman eyed Ayase laviciously, grinning like the cat that ate the canary. "Now then... I think that you were supposed to be getting undressed?"

"B-but," Ayase stammered. "I was supposed to... try on the suit."

"I can already tell that the suit will fit you just fine," Kanou said flippantly while he undid the buttons on Ayase's shirt. "We'll just tell Sharon that it fit you perfectly, hmm?" he suggested, licking the shell of Ayase's ear. The small blonde whimpered and shuddered.

"W-we can't, Kanou-san! Not here!" he begged, trying to squirm free from the larger man's iron grip. "Not in public!" Kanou just laughed.

"You're going to say that now, but how many times have we had sex in places like this?" he asked. "There's no use struggling, Ayase." He managed to tug the blonde's pants down, and then... someone knocked on the dressing room door.

"Yukiya-san! How long does it take to put on a suit? Come on, I want to see what it looks like on you!" Sharon called. Immediately, Ayase flushed a color reminiscent of a tomato.

"Please wait! I will be ready shortly! I'm sorry!" he dithered. "I'm, I'm getting dressed right now!" Kanou rolled his eyes.

"Ayase is otherwise occupied at the moment, Sharon," he said smoothly. "If you can spare him for fifteen minutes..."

"Didn't I tell you to go look at ties?" Sharon asked, sounding extremely put out. "How is Ayase supposed to try on a suit with you in there?"

To Be Continued

Author's Comments:

It is only by the help of the weasels that live in my head that I managed to get this chapter done. Editing it was a disaster. First it had a sex scene in it, but I thought said sex scene sucked, so I deleted it. Then I felt like the chapter didn't really flow without it, so I put it back in, but still hated it, so I deleted it again. I tried to write it one last time, but it made the chapter's flow even worse. So it was taken out for the last time. Sorry to everyone who wanted a lemon in this chapter, there will be one next time.

Also, fair warning: we're coming up on the end of the first half of this story, which has a much more humorous, light-hearted feeling than the rest. The rest of the story deals with some darker concepts, and things quickly go downhill from there- it's not happy times. Some people do not like to read stories focusing on the darker side of what can happen when plans go wrong (yes, it's a roundabout sentence, I don't want to give too much away), so I thought it was just fair to give you advance warning. And since Part 2 is introduced somewhat in this chapter (the stalkers), it made sense to put the warning here.

-Kaboom