K, since people seemed to enjoy the story so far, I can only pray that this chapter goes just as well. I know I'm updating early, but I've hit an entire well of inspiration from God, and He's telling me to type my fingers off! RxR!
"Miss Ichigo, someone to speak with you..." stepping out of the way of the door as Ichigo shook her head and wiped away her remaining tears, the main secretary, Mrs. Toby motioned for the visitor to enter in.
"Thank you, Linda." watching and waiting as she heard the door click and Linda walk away, Ichigo sighed and peered over at the guest who had seated themselves in an empty chair infront of her desk. "Oh, it's only you. What, back to blackmail me somemore? Or are you here to molest me like the night of the dance?" asking this as she leaned forward to lock eyes with the visitor, Ichigo momentarily forgot what had taken place that morning. (Yes, vampires in this fic CAN go out in the sun, but they get sunburnt easily!)
"Oh, where's you're heart? Besides, I'm here for a job interview." as the girl, yes a girl, reached into her bag and pulled out a file, she made it a point to flip her onix black hair to one side of her neck, in hopes that Ichigo would fall for the bait.
"I'm very sorry, but I''m not hiring anyone. All of the positions are full. Linda is the main secetary, Shadow is my business partner, and I already have an intern. His names Imokota."
Thinking back, the girl remembered seeing what she thought was an arrond boy run down the hall with a file from Ichigo's office. "So, that kid's the one who took my rightful posistion?! Grr, now I'll never get her blood!" not realizing that she was talking out loud to herself, she quickly covered her mouth and blushed. "D-did I say 'get her blood'? W-what I wanted to say was, 'get that job'. Y-yeah, that's it!" an anime sweat drop appeared on her head as she backed away from Ichigo's burning red eyes.
"It would be wise to think before you speak." as her eyes turned back into the glimmering chocolate pools of emotion they had always been, the girl's fear decreased. "I'm not looking for any more help, Lilith." returning to her previous act of organizing things on her desk and filing reports, she made a shewing motinon with her hand, obviously uninterested by any threats the girl could make.
"Grr...Fine! But, I've already filled out a sheet for the waiting list for the position. Thus, if the boy should become unable to fulfill his duties as your errand boy, then my name's at the top of that list." with this threat/statement having been made, she reached over and set her file on Ichigo's desk as she walked out. "Fine, but at least look over my resemay."
SHUT!
Just like that, the door closed, and in a record time of five minutes, Ichigo had gotten rid of Lilith.
'Well, at least I don't have to worry about her anytime soon." reaching over and gently picking up the file that was left, Ichigo set it in her filing cabinet and turned back to ehr work without a word. 'After work, I'll find a way to get to Kish. I don't trust my brother not to beat him up before he puts him with the other feeders.' silently climbing to her feet, she paced her office, bordom evident in every lingering step she took.
Finally, and after a whole day in her office, she just now noticed what her office looked like...
The walls were a deep crimson in color, and the seats to all of the chairs matched that. Her desk, being wooden, along with the wooden frames of all of the chairs and doors and such, were black mahogany and carved intricutly with roses. The floor, being of a light tannish carpet, was very soft, and gave the otherwise dark and mysterious room a welcome and comfortable feel to it.
'MAN! He even changed my office! Last time I set foot in here, Everything was painted white (the wood). And the chairs and all were peachish, maching the paint on the walls. And, even though I like this carpet, I enjoyed my hardwood floor even more.' sighing in defeat and frustration, she rearanged some other random things and went to sit down and doodle in an empty notebook. Because she had finished all of the work Shadow had given her, this was a painless and relaxed task that somewhat comforted her.
And then, there was the loud THUD noise and the fearful yelps of the employees in the octogon shaped lobby of the office building. Following this wer fast paced steps that she could sense wre coming closer and closer to her door.
"Miss Ichigo, come quickly! It's your intern! He-he fell down some steps! His ribs are broken and we're afraid to move him! Should we call for your brother?!" it was Linda, and she sounded frantic. Her breathing seemed shallow and frightened, and Ichigo knew what she had to do. Yet, for her to be able to move the intern, she would need Shadow. Something she did NOT want to do. (calling on her brother, that is.)
"Ok, I'm going to try and help him! Big brother is in a meeting somewhere, so I won't try and disturb him. Where is he?" following Linda's shaky finger as she pointed to the stairwell that led to the upper, less important offices where interns did photocopying and such, her eyes settled on the boy, who lay there, moaning in pain.
His leg had been twisted, and she didn't dout he'd broken some ribs. So, walking over and leaning down by the boy, her eyes grew deep crimson, and she held out her hand, palm down, without even knowing what she was doing.
Placing her palm on the fifteen year old boy's chest, her hand began to glow.
"It's alright... You're alright. You're just a bit shaken, that's all..." she was speaking calmly and gently to the boy, trying to reassure him of his current state of health. "Now, take my hand and I'll help you to a seat. From there, we'll contact your parents." pulling the boy to his feet, all of the employees noticed that he was fully healed. Yet, he was still shaken.
"I-I'm scared..." he stated in a weak voice, sitting down in the chair by the front desk.
"It's alright, you're alright...Now, they're calling your parents to come take you home to rest. I understand if you don't want to work here any longer." recieving a guilty look from the boy, she nodded her head in understanding. "Alright then. But, to compensate you, take this check and use it to pay for your mother's hospital bills, as well as pay your rent and get something to eat. It'll all be alright." her hand was still glowing as she circled it over the boys back, soothing his fear from what had just happened.
"H-how did you know about all of that? I don't remember telling you." staring aat her with questioning eyes, she realized that she had now clue as well. It had just come to her when she saw the boy's pain. It was then that she, somehow, healed the boy, and spoke to him about his family troubles. She had no idea where any of it had come from. Just that she hated to see the pain on his face.
"I just guessed...I guess..." she muttered, helping the boy up and out the door with the boy's father. Yet, before she left the building, she turned around and spoke to everyone in the foyer. "None of you will tell Shadow what just happened, and you have to sware on your life. Ok?" staring at them all, her eyes still red, she recieved nods of heads before they all stated in unison, as if under a trance...
"Yes, we won't say a word about this to Shadow, we sware on our lives." smiling, she turned back around and led the boy out to his father's car. (The intern boy is a vampire too.)
Watching as the car drove into the distance, she smiled and went to turn around. only to run into Shadow, who was back from the remainder of his meeting.
"Why, might I ask, are you standing out here? Ichigo, don't tell me that you're trying to escape again..."
Feeling her eyes go back to normal, she sighed heavily and turned to face her brother.
"My intern fell down the stairs and was shaken up a bit, so I called his parents and helped him to their family's car. He says he wanted to quit anyways, because he needed some time with his mother and father." just by looking at his face, Ichigo could tell he believed her.
"Alright, then come back inside. Because you're done with your paperwork, then you can assist me with mine." tugging at her arm, he pulled her inside the electronic door of the building and through the large black mahogany double doors of his own office.
This room, having been furnished and painted like Ichigo's, had only one or two tiny differences. One, he had dark brown carpet. Two, he had much more clutter on his desk.
Odd little black and gold picture frames sat strewn out upon his desk, all holding pictures of the two of them having fun. some were taken when she was a baby, some when she was in elementary school. Then middle school. Finally though, she came to some pictures she didn't recognize. They were pictures of her in her highschool uniform, in her waitress uniform, and taking a bath.
She realized that Shadow had followed her while she was gone, and most of the pictures he'd taken she was alright with, but the bathing one made her a bit uneasy. It reminded her of another picture, in the elementary school group of pictures when she and he would bathe together and he'd wash her hair.
"So, what do you need my help for?" she questioned, deciding to forget she'd even noticed the recent bathing picture.
"Here, sort all of these files by the first initial of the last name alphabetically. Then, when you're done with the green folered files, you can help me with the blue and red foldered files. If I get done with MY sorting, I'll come help you." he explained, setting before her the stack of files she was supposed to alphabetize. All of which were enclosed in green binding, with names written on each.
"Ok, Shadow, I'm done with the Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, and Blue folders. Are you even HALFway through the purple folder?" walking over to behind his desk from where she had sat in one of the chairs, she began sorting the files that lay at his feet, in giant stacks that were about as tall as herself.
"Hey, you're faster than me, cut me some slack! I can't sort and tag as fast as you, y'know!" sifting through a bunch of papers on his desk, he secretly peered over at Ichigo, who had already finished putting the last paper into a folder and into the filing cobinet. Then, he glanced down at the only file left to alphabetize, which happened to be the only one left.
"Here, hand me the file, and I'll sort it for you. Honestly, if we're going to be partners in this business, you need to become more organized! There were papers from when I first left, all the way up to today!" grabbing for the file and papers he held, she hadn't expected him to pull them out of her reach. Thus, she ended up falling over and nearly laying on him in the process.
"NO, bad sister! Besides, ever since you left, I've been following you-I mean working so hard on enusring your safety, that I simply haven't had time to organize anything. Besides, these are all OLD acounts and papers. Yet, I have to keep them so that they're on record and in easy reach. Besides, if you think my office is unorganized, then you'll probably get lost in my room." Shadow, who sat in his chair, didn't bring up the fact that Ichigo was still sitting on the floor, leaning her elbows on his knees.
"You're hopeless, yah know that?!" setting her chin in the palm of her hand as she leaned her elbows on his knee, Ichigo sighed in disaproval. Her brother was hopeless on his own.
"I know, but I'm a guy, I'm SUPPOSED to be hopeless! Besides, that's one of the reasons I want you to stay. I can't think straight without you." making eye contact with her, he subconsiously lifted his palm to rest on her cheek. "Please, stay here. Don't leave me again. I don't want to fight anymore..." leaning down to Ichigo's still face, he resisted the urge to kiss her. Instead, he simply wrapped her in a loving embrace and sighed as contentment washed over him.
"I can't promise anything...but I don't want to argue anymore either. Truce?" breaking the embrace to hold out her hand to him, she smiled as she watched him take it. "Hey, what time is it, Shadow?"
Watching as he lifted his wrist to view his watch, he replied in a soft, semi-tranced tone. "It's one, why?" gazing down at her, he watched as she stood up. He was somewhat dissapointed that she had left her place on his knee though.
"I'm going to the restroom, I'll be right back though." kissing his forehead, knowing that it would distract him for awhile, she exited the room. "Hey, Linda, Did you see my big brother come here with a green haired boy earlier. I think he was meant to be a feeder." leaning on the front desk as she watched Linda poke through a filing cabinet, Ichigo was somewhat confused when she was handed a sheet of paper.
"I'm guessing you're almost fully awakened, judging from what happened with the intern. That there is a map of the building. Follow it to the feeder's quarters and aquaint yourself with your upcoming meals." Linda was a short, round woman with very dark, smooth skin and round glasses. She was a very old vampire, yet she appeared very young, around her forties. She seemed to understand Ichigo the most, and used to be her nanny when Ichigo was younger.
Thanking her as she glanced down at the map, Ichigo began walking in the direction of the feeders section.
Alright, I'll leave the story here for now and let you all review! Please review, I'm begging you! *on her knees, with folded hands.* how can anyone resist this face?! *hOlds up a picture of Kish.*
Next chapter will be Ichigo and Kish! And, what's this?! Fangs? Red eyes?! Has our red-headed main character finally awoken?! Stay tuned and you'll be sure to find out in the next installment of VAMP!
