Epilogue
The night was still young, but the bar was already packed. Human and youkai alike sat inside, neither seeming too wary of each other. Two youkai sat alone at a table in the back of the bar, a few drinks already piled around them while one looked around at the other patrons.
"Shou," Kishin said again, eyes scanning the other customers. "Are you sure this is okay? What if he gets mad?"
"He won't," Shou reassured his friend, flagging down a waitress and smiling slyly at her. "Another round, miss."
"Right away, sir." She bustled off through the crowd and Shou unashamedly stared at her retreating back until Kishin's fretting once again got to him.
"Dammit, Kishin, no one's gonna get mad. You and I, we earned this drink for all the B.S. they put us through. Now stop shaking and drink your beer." With that, Shou knocked yet another one back and wiped his mouth off with a smirk.
A few minutes later, Kishin had a feeling that Shou was over his limit. He was usually pretty good with his liquor, but when some woman at the other end of the bar had sent down a shot of tequila for him, that was the last straw. The normally quiet, thoughtful man was standing on his chair, wobbling slightly and yelling to get everyone's attention.
"HEY! Okay! Here's the deal! I just had a hell of a crappy day, so we're all gonna get drinks! Everybody!"
Kishin dragged his palm over his face as the bar roared its approval. 'We are so going to get in trouble for this, I just know it.'
By the time he finally managed to drag his thoroughly wasted companion to the door, the rather irate bar owner stopped him. "And how do you two plan on paying for all those drinks?" he inquired.
Kishin tried to think of a suitable excuse, but Shou wasn't quite finished yet. Holding up a finger and pointing it in the owner's face, he slurred out, "Put it on my good buddy's tab. Tonight's all on him!"
"Oh?" The owner raised an eyebrow and looked at Kishin. "Is he your 'good buddy?'"
Shou continued to beam. "Everything we bought tonight… put it on Sha Gojyo's tab!"
-+-
The laboratories in the basement of Houtou Castle were eerily silent. Dr. Hwang made her way through the various rooms, searching for any of the other scientists in vain. She made one final sweep of Ni's workspace and determined that the doctor was long gone.
Oddly enough, his computer was still on, and she couldn't help but go over to see what he had been working on. There was nothing she could get to, but a disc was lying on top of the keyboard in a rather conspicuous manner. Leaning closer, Hwang saw that it was labeled "Sanzo-Ikkou Data."
'I've never seen this before,' she thought to herself. 'How could he keep something like this from me? We should all see important things like this!'
Hwang picked up the disc and popped it into the nearest DVD player. The screen fuzzed to life and she saw that it appeared to be some sort of surveillance tape. The video feed was very blurry, but she could make out two figures as they entered the room.
"Damn, love, I want you," said a male voice.
"What?" She whispered despite the fact that she was trying to be quiet. "Is this a joke?"
A second male voice answered the first with a moan. "It's all your fault. I could barely sit down there, the way you were shamelessly flirting."
"Who cares?" the first male responded. "We're here now, so you don't have to worry."
Dr. Hwang was feeling uneasy, so she fast-forwarded the video a little bit. The blurry male figures sped from one side of the room to the other, onto what looked like a bed. She hit 'play' again and nearly jumped at the dialogue.
"Oh, shit, Gojyo! Oh, yes!"
"You like that?"
"Mmm… harder, dammit!"
"Dammit… so tight, love, unh!"
"Shit, Gojyo! I'm – I'm --!"
"Sanzo!"
Abruptly, the video feed cut off and Hwang jumped. She realized that she had been staring at the screen, transfixed. The female scientist shook her head. 'This is ridiculous.
'On one hand,' she reasoned, looking at the dark screen and ignoring the fact that her cheeks were pink, 'This just proves how perverted Dr. Ni is if he has something like this lying around.
'One the other hand, it is footage of the Sanzo-Ikkou… It could be valuable to study.' She shook her head fiercely. 'What kind of excuse is that? I should turn the video off, walk away, and pretend this whole thing never happened.'
She took a deep breath, prepared to do exactly that – only to find her finger hovering over the 'play' button. 'I have more self-control than this,' she thought haughtily. However, her finger didn't move.
Still, the sounds of the two men 'enjoying' each other echoed in her memory. It sounded extremely intriguing.
But it was none of her business…
Two very attractive men obviously having sex were none of her business…
Hwang pressed play once again. After all, she reasoned, it was only research.