Chapter Nine
Feitan isn't quite sure exactly what time "late" Is, so he arrives outside her door around 10:30pm. Lucius never gave him specifics. In fact, she didn't even look at him after they returned home from their heated tennis tournament... if he could call that a tournament.
He also isn't sure that he can call himself victor of said tournament. Usually when he wins a game, it's by either pure domination or death of his opponent. She gave up after scoring a point against him.
Why?
'Nevermind this.' He thinks to himself as he raises his fist to knock. Besides, a victory was a victory.
'she no matter anyway.'
He is about to knock, but he hesitates.
Why is he doing this again?
Answers. Yes. Answers. He had convinced himself that his purpose of coming to Lucius wasn't for his own curiosity, but for answers that will benefit him later. And that is that.
But why is he going about it so mannerly?
Feitan scowls.
He jiggles the doorknob violently in attempt to force the door open. He wasn't about to just casually ask about all the questions floating around in his head right now.
Hell no!
He's a thief and an interrogator for Christ sake! A bandit! A criminal with class A bounties! He sees what he wants and he takes it! And in this case, he wants answers.
He decides that it would be cowardly to just simply ask them of her, so he decides that he will take them from her.
The lock makes a muffled click before it swings open just a crack.
He backs up a few steps.
Lucius peeks only her head out from behind the door, allowing a sliver of light to pour into the dark hallway. She blinks at him in confusion.
"Are you aware of how much noise you are making?" She scolds him. "You are lucky you did not wake Ume."
He doesn't reply. He honestly doesn't know what to do or say, so when she swings the door all the way open and walks back into her room, he reluctantly follows.
Her room is just a bit bigger than the room he was given. The only differences between her room and his was the amount of furniture and the colors. He sees no staircase leading to the top floor, but he does see a dark blue curtain to the right that covers an entrance to another room.
He mentally takes note of the curtain before making further observations.
The furniture in her room is slightly different than the ones around the house. They are antiques as well, but they seem much older.
There are two tall, slender bookshelves on either side of her bed, which sits at the end of the room. Her bed is much bigger than his, but it looks untouched as if nobody has slept in it since it was put there. The bedspread is purple with a black design which is too faded to describe.
There is a shelf on the wall above her bed that carries a dusty, black leather box surrounded by dolls that look identical to the one the little girl was carrying.
He takes note of the box as well.
There is also a vanity in the room with nothing on it except a hairbrush and an empty picture frame.
She leads him to the bottom left hand corner of the room where there is a large circular table with two chairs.
He doesn't sit, but she does.
She reaches into her pocket and pulls out a long needle. She places it carefully on the table.
"This is a needle which has been soaked in a special liquid healing agent." She says, sliding it closer to him. "Tadao and Rei made it." She pauses and ponders before continuing. "It is able to heal all wounds ranging from small cuts to small fractures."
He picks it up, careful not to prick himself. He looks at it skeptically, bringing it closer to his eyes.
Who knows? She could be tricking him. He cant trust her. For all he knows, she could have coated it in some type of poison or something instead.
His eyes flash to her.
"Show me." He orders tonelessly. He now sits across from her and places the needle on the table and pushes it towards her with his finger.
"Ah, of course." She says.
His forehead wrinkles as she digs into her pockets once more, pulling out a knife. He knew she was hiding something in those large pockets of hers.
But what bewilders him the most is that even after being hurt by him, threatened by him and ordered around by him, she still looks at him with the same passive eyes. Not any of that even phased her.
What will it take to break this girl?
She holds the knife to her fingertip and slices it vertically. She lifts her hand up, allowing the blood from the cut to trickle down to her wrist. Then, she takes the needle and gently pokes at the skin around the small cut.
"It does not begin its effect until fifteen minutes after it has been used." She explains as she throws the needle into a small garbage bin under the table. "By the time I wake in the morning, there will be not even be a scar."
He stands and demands in his darkest tone: "You show me the rest. Now."
Phinks has been looking for Feitan for at least a half hour now. He can't find him anywhere around the mansion, and he sure as hell doesn't feel like going outside when it's so cold. He doesn't think Feitan would either.
Is he hiding from him?
No, no. That's just stupid.
Hiding from someone else, maybe?
Shit, he doesn't care. He just wants to see where their damn treasure is, and he knows that he'll get an earful from Feitan if he doesn't bring him with.
So, he just has to keep looking.
"Yo, Phinks."
He turns to meet Shalnark, who is approaching him from the end of the hallway.
"Hey." Phinks replies. "Have you seen Feitan?"
Shalnark shakes his head.
"Not since you guys got home."
Phinks sighs
"well," He starts. "We know where their stolen stuff is." He walks with Shalnark down the hallway. "Well, not yet. But we will."
"Really? How do you know that?"
"We set a deal with Rei and the French kid. They lost and promised they'd show us."
"Oh really?" Muses Shalnark, laughing "They gave up that information just like that?"
"Maybe its not that important to them."
"Or maybe they trust us that much."
Phinks laughs.
"That would a stupid mistake. They seem to make a lot of those."
The two start up the stairs.
"Maybe they really are as strong as Boss says." Replies Shalnark.
"Well, from what I saw earlier today, the short French girl follows up close behind Feitan, but I couldn't tell you about the others. We haven't encountered the rest of their group either, So this could just be a weak batch."
"Speaking of 'earlier today,' where did you guys head off to?" Asks Shalnark as they arrive at the top of the stairs.
"Oh right." Says Phinks. "I didn't tell you exactly where we went."
Phinks explains his experience at the gym to Shalnark as they approach his bedroom door.
"Sound waves, huh? Thats quite the interesting transmutation..." Shalnark laughs. "I wonder what else she is capable of."
"I wonder what the others can do..."
Phinks is about to enter his room , but instead he turns back to Shalnark.
"Do you hear talking?"
Shalnark stops and listens
Yes, he does.
Its muffled and quiet, but with the silence the dim hallway has to offer, it is not so hard to hear it.
And it is coming from behind Lucius's door.
Feitan is stuck pondering.
He cannot figure out if he thinks this woman is incredibly stupid or actually intelligent.
On one hand, she could just be allowing him to order her around to avoid being hurt by him, which he prefers. But then again, she was the one who invited him here.
Or on the other hand, she could be just stupid. She could be attempting to get on his good side, which in Feitan's mind, never existed in the first place.
With that in thought, he almost doesn't want to take the small thin capsule full of needles that she is handing him now.
"I thought you would like some after my teasing." She says. "I have plenty, so if you happen to want more." She pauses. "You are more than welcome to ask for more."
He snatches it from her. He is tempted to break that damn finger again.
He glares at her as he turns to leave, but before he can she says another thing.
"I believe I told you to come alone."
She says this in a different tone, which is colder and darker than her usual calm, concentrated one.
He turns back to her just to see that her calm, bored expression hasn't changed.
"I no bring anybody with me" He says, preparing himself for a possible fight. "Stupid woman."
He is not sure what it is, but something about her voice makes him feel...
Insulted?
Threatened?
He doesn't know. All he does know is that it gives him a mixture of uncomfortable emotions that he cannot quite recognize.
He doesn't like it.
Lucius stifles a laugh.
So, it really isn't impossible to trigger his emotions.
This is really what interests her the most about him.
Usually it was an easy thing to do.
To mess with people's emotions.
But with him, it actually takes effort. And when it does work, the only emotion she can trigger is anger.
And that fascinates her.
The ability to manipulate emotions came with the musical talent that she was assigned with at birth. All she has to do is bend a few vibrations to trigger a certain emotion. But with him, it doesn't quite work the same.
"It is obvious that your companions are very good at hiding themselves." She says. "Maybe you should inform them that in order to hide from me, they must do more than just hide their presences." With her finger now dripping blood, she walks past him and opens the door, causing Phinks and Shalnark to fall forwards onto the floor. She turns back to him. "There is no way to hide from someone like me. That is how I was able to find you in the fog."
Her tone has returned to normal.
Shalnark and Phinks are laughing hysterically as they follow an angry Feitan down the hallway.
"Look at him! He's so pissed!"
"Feitan was in a girl's room! Feitan has a girlfriend!" Shalnark teases while snickering.
"Hey Fei, is it hard to be nice once in awhile?"
Feitan grumbles as he walks into his bedroom and slams the door behind him.
What the hell was that?
If only he could just get rid of her, then he wouldn't be so angry.
She must think she's so clever.
"Feh"
If he could, he would beat that stupid cocky attitude right out of her. If he could. God, how infuriating it is for an interrogator. No, a torturer to have to allow himself to be constantly insulted by a woman who is even shorter than he is!
Really, it's torture.
He slumps onto his bed with his book in hand.
He can still hear Phinks and Shalnark laughing outside his bedroom door. Is it really that amusing?
He rolls onto his back and stares into the pitch black darkness that envelops his room.
He still wonders why she is so passive. Feitan has the ability to make a grown man whimper with just a glare, but he could get nothing out of her but a change in the tone of her voice.
And what was up with that anyway? The strange feeling he received after she spoke, what was that? It makes him feel nauseous thinking about it, and this is a torturer we're talking about.
Oh well.
There really is nothing that a little Trevor Brown can't fix.
uh oooh, Feitan's got the grumpies.
What did you think? Oh and, I was also wondering if you guys think I should lengthen my chapters a bit more? I intend for this fic to be quite long, so I am not sure if I should make them longer or if the size of them is fine or... well, just let me know if you have any idea! Thank you for reading. Constructive criticism and any feedback is strongly appreciated!
