Author's Note: I got a little sidetracked from the main story. Mikiko Hino wouldn't let her story be left untold. So, this chapter mostly focuses on Rei, but everyone makes an appearance!
Summary: Four heirs to vast fortunes disappear under mysterious circumstances. A year later, Mina Aino impulsively adopts four dogs, giving one to each of her single friends. After, each girl faces threats, mayhem, and drama while the mystery of the dogs unravels before them. SenGen, S/D
"If all my friends were to jump off a bridge, I wouldn't follow. I'd be at the bottom to catch them when they fall."
--Anonymous
CHAPTER 11; This Is Your Life.
There was a stunned silence.
Tom Mishri, in all his life, had never lost all control of a situation before. It was his job to control, fix, and order. There was something about his daughter, though, that burst through all his facades, forcing him to expose his soul. Even when she'd been only seven, she had a way of looking at him with her unnerving indigo eyes, dissecting every flaw. He hated it. Hated her, in a way, for making him feel so inadequate.
Mikiko Hino had been his greatest downfall. The pretty girl had come from a common background but his youth had given him blindness to anything but how she made him feel. Neither of their families had blessed the union. Due to that, the intimacy of defiance would prove to be their strongest bond.
After the elopement, Tom had started to work hard, slowly drifting to the side bespeaking of money equaling happiness. In the middle of him running for a minor government position, Miki became pregnant.
Then the fights began.
Tom wasn't ready to be a father. He was only reaching the tender age of twenty-three, and fatherhood was a distant concept. He had no desire to care for another human being. A wife was quite enough. Callously, he insisted she take care of it.
Miki silently left that night, returning to the welcoming arms of her father. Although he felt guilty, he was pleased that he was free to run his campaign and spend the nights wherever—or with whoever—he wanted. The last month of Miki's pregnancy, he realized that he missed coming home to a clean house, a warm meal, and a ready bedmate. Whores could only substitute to a point. He went to the Temple, begged Miki to return, and eventually convinced her to return.
Her father was furious. Mr. Hino alternately yelled and pleaded for Miki to stay, to not return to her rightful place by her husband's side. When she caved in to Tom, Mr. Hino warned that if she left now, she was never welcome their again.
And once again, defiance was the rope that held their relationship together.
Rei was born two weeks later, to Tom's disappointment. He had been imaging a hearty son to carry on his line, not a weak girl. And due to complications, Miki would be unable to bear children again. It could be said that Rei Mishri continually disappointed her father right from the moment of her birth.
The only good trait the child had was her beauty. Her bad ones were numerous. She was too smart, too quiet, and held too much perception for such a young girl. He tried not to spend too much time with her. She had a way of bringing forth all of Tom's weaknesses for the world to see. On a rare occasion he had condescended to spend time with her, he had taken her to the park, purchasing her a strawberry ice cream cone, his personal favorite. But she had just shook her head, politely refusing the treat. He had become enraged for no reason, angered beyond belief that the small girl wouldn't eat what he was giving her. He then demanded she eat it. She said no. He shoved the cone into her hand. Her eyes flashed, and she dropped the cone on his shoes. As punishment, he yanked her over his knee and blistered her behind. She didn't make a sound.
He later found out from his livid wife that Rei was allergic to strawberries.
And the next day, an article with a picture of him spanking Rei had splashed to pages of the Tokyo Times. He had lost his campaign the following month.
He never took Rei out again.
Miki coddled the child, and they argued about that. She urged him to spend time with her, and they argued more. He only had enough time to focus on his campaign. Not some stupid girl, whose only purpose in life would be to stand and look pretty.
Miki eventually stopped nagging him. She also stopped caring. Then she died. She had been on her way to pick Rei up from a vocals lesson when a car had swerved and hit her, killing her instantly. So, in a way, even the loss of his wife was Rei's fault.
He had, afterwards, fostered her care onto Miki's father, sending monthly checks to cover any expenses and any teensy prickling of guilt. It had worked. Tom Mishri had been free to build his reputation among his circle and conveniently mention his beautiful daughter whenever needed. He visited on occasion but could never tolerate the ungrateful brat's company for very long.
Yet, it was now necessary to tolerate her behavior because she was vital in his plans to cement his political power. Most of the powerful men he knew were traditionalists in the way that they took care of their family. If he were to become a part of that family, through a marriage, then his power would be absolute. Rei was the key ingredient to the mixture, the one who would marry.
He had narrowed it down to one family he desperately wanted to be a part, and who he saw an opportunity—they had a son a little older than Rei—to accomplish it. They were the Hoffman family, an influential name that he was literally drooling to be connected to.
Except, now, he was standing in front of that very same son. The one who had disappeared, leaving his desires thwarted for the time being. It should have been impossible for the boy to be standing there. Impossible. His disappearance a year ago had devastated the politician but he'd made other plans since then. And while Jedrek reappearing would be a glad reprieve—because, honestly, no other family was quite as influential—having him witness the exchange between him and Rei was detrimental to his goals.
His mind was in a flurry. What to do…this should have been impossible.
The word must have slipped out, for the next thing he knew Jedrek Hoffman was shoving him away in disgust.
"Nothing is impossible," he snarled.
"Impossible," Rei's father had breathed, and Jedrek was sickened that men like this had the right to breed. All they wanted in the world was power, thinking it was the key to everything. But the world was much more complex than that, it had its secrets and the purest experiences in the world were trying to figure them out.
He replied something snappy back at Mr. Mishri, his arm snaking its way around Rei's waist. The arm was his way of lending his support, for as much as he wished to fight every battle for her, he knew this was hers to conquer.
Rei stiffened in his embrace, and his heart dropped as he realized that she probably didn't recognize him. After shifting back to his human body, he'd found some clothes and had plopped down on the floor, too overwhelmed to do anything more.
How…who…why.his thoughts had circled around those three questions repeatedly. Although he didn't possess the brains Zevin did, he was able to conclude that Rei and the other girls had something to do with it all. After spending almost a year in canine form, he knew Mina adopting the four of them was not a coincidence.
The week he had spent with Rei had been a revelation. He had done everything in his power to annoy the spitfire. He reasoning was simple; he enjoyed her reactions, as pure and passionate as they were. Having lived in the world of politicians all his life, and spent the past year as a boring dog, purity of emotion was extremely rare.
And now, he wasn't even sure how to explain all that had happened. Maybe there wasn't a way. But while he had been sitting and reexamining his experiences, he had heard the sounds of fighting, including the familiar voice of Tom Mishri, and had waited until it raged out of control to step in.
"What are you doing here, Jedrek? Your family has been so worried about you!" Tom tried to recover, smiling falsely and pulling his arm out of Jed's hand. He took a step back, his eyes betraying the rush of panic he was truly feeling.
"My family is no concern of yours," Jed informed him coldly, unwilling to overlook the huge faux pas he'd made.
Rei was standing stock-still, and although Jed couldn't see her face, he could feel her shaking with building wrath.
Tom's head was turning; thoughts of any saving graces he could take were being regarded and the discarded. He only had one, standing right in front of him. "I see you've met my daughter," his voice aimed for pleased and came out sounding nervous, "isn't she a delight?"
And with that, Rei snapped. "You are vile, hateful, CRUEL, and I HATE YOU!" she screamed, practically spitting in her anger. She tried to take a step forward, arms raised and ready to do damage. The unknown man, Jedrek Hoffman apparently, stopped her with his arm. She let herself be restrained, too wrapped up in her haze of indignation to reprimand the stranger.
"Now, Rei," her father tried, backing up some more, knowing he had blown everything.
"Get. Out," she put all her resentment into a glare. "I am done with you," she haughtily sneered.
Tom opened his mouth to say more but Jed's icy look made it clear that nothing he could say would help. It would just make it worse.
"Leave," the priestess demanded.
Tom opened his mouth to argue, or perhaps insult his daughter more, but was interrupted. "She told you to leave," Jed said harshly.
"As you wish," Tom said, turning away, then back around to say one last thing. "But realize that this is my last offer, I won't speak to you or of you again if you deny me now," he brought out the big guns, hoping the ultimatum would sway her mind.
"Leave," she repeated emotionlessly.
Tom Mishri left with the sinking realization that he'd completely lost more than just a political merger.
There wasn't even a brief moment of pause.
"Who are you?" Rei whipped around, immediately intent on blasting out all her frustrations on the man before her. "And what are you doing here?" she added, as that was important.
"Jedrek Hoffman," Jed grinned, "or, as you were fonder of yelling, Daisy."
"What?" her voice sounded distant from where her mind was spinning wildly out of control. It was a puzzle that seemed to be scattered around in separate pieces, trying to arrange themselves but ultimately failing.
She tried to assemble her thoughts. Jedrek…coming out of her room…Daisy not barking…Daisy…Jedrek…
The puzzle suddenly fit.
Rei, naturally, acted first. "You pervert!" she lunged forward to punch the stupid grin off his face. "You invaded my privacy! I changed in front of you! Oh, I'm going to remove your eyes with a fork," she screeched, not even noticing that she wasn't landing any hits.
All Jed could do was laugh. While he was normally of good humor, he couldn't help but be extra cheerful. As long as he remained in his human body, nothing could bring him down.
Especially not a spitfire banshee with great legs. No, that was definitely a highpoint of his rather tumultuous year.
"Listen to me," he pleaded with a twinkle in his blue eyes. He gave her his best puppy look, which was rather more developed than most could lay claim to.
"Talk fast," she said, her face a picture of annoyance and curiosity. Her long raven hair was settled on her back like one massive sheet of black rain, and she would click her tongue every so often.
She painted a lovely picture.
"You're beautiful," Jed traced an imaginary finger along her jaw line, eyes roving over her figure.
Rei landed a rapid punch to the man's shoulder. "Ow!" he chuckled. "Can't take a compliment?"
"The small amount of patience I have is waning rapidly."
"Ok," he sighed, reining in his elation and becoming serious, "it's just hard to know where to start."
"Then let me," she crossed her arms, "why were you a dog?"
"Always the hardest questions first," he grumbled. He expelled another sigh, and began.
"Well, it started with Kael's obsession with hunting…"
Mina had a habit of ending up in the weirdest positions. A month before, she'd gotten locked in the gas station restroom; the previous week, her favorite Gucci shoes had been ruined by a natural doggy gift; and now, she had tripped and landed in the arms of a Spartan man brought to present day.
Seriously, the man holding her had a warrior-like face, and the body to compliment it. She sighed dreamily to herself; this was one of the better weird situations.
While he was staring at her longer than was socially acceptable, she was absently wondering if copping a feel of his dreamy body would ruin the moment.
Unfortunately, the spell was broken when Lita finally seemed to gain some semblance of sense and let out an undignified squeal that Mina believed to be completely unnecessary.
Well, to be honest, it was what Mina said that broke the mood. "What's so frightening about having a hot stranger come up to kiss you?" she accidentally mused aloud.
Kael blinked in astonishment at the blonde. "What did you say?" he inquired, bemused.
Mina giggled nervously, for lack of anything else to do. "Never you mind," she hedged, "let's not exchange pleasantries."
Kael would have repeated his earlier What did you say? if he believed her words would sound any less insane the second time.
"Right," he drawled, making it clear what he believed her mental state to be.
To Mina, it was the same as calling her crazy, which she was but would never admit to it, and so she took immediate offense to the unspoken words. "Hey! I resemble that," she snapped indignantly.
Normally, Kael was a stoic man, one of few words. He hadn't gotten so far in a cut-throat company using his emotions. And while the past year had been quite detrimental to his state of mind, it didn't change his inherent nature. But something about this girl just made him want to laugh and then pound his head against a steel wall.
She took a step back, already missing the contact once she was gone. "I'm Mina, by the way," Mina grasped his left hand with her right hand, so they couldn't exactly shake, but neither mentioned it.
"So I gathered," he said dryly.
"And you're Kael Winters," she felt duty-bound to point out.
He nodded. "That is correct."
They stared at each other, unabashedly, for a moment.
A weird feeling welled in the pit of Mina's stomach. "How do I know you?" she suspiciously asked.
Kael weighed his answers and instantly decided that the truth was, coincidentally, the fewest words.
"I'm JB."
If Kael expected Mina to find that weird, maybe even pass out of shock, he obviously didn't know her well at all.
She outwardly brightened. "That makes total sense," she bubbled, hitting her head comically. "Why didn't I think of that?"
Ironically, it was him who was then shocked. "Aren't you at all surprised?" he couldn't help but ask.
She smiled sympathetically, knowing he couldn't possibly realize she'd grown up with the Law of the Weirdest Things Ever!! plaguing her. She'd grown somewhat immune to bizarre things.
"No," her answer was honest. "I've seen weirder."
"Right," he said again.
"My best friend is a lost princess," she felt the need to explain, to make him understand. "No matter how many times I cut my hair, it always grows back. I know the quickest way to literally disarm any creature—and I have. People tell me all the time that they want to kill me, and then they try to. And my favorite color is rainbow," she added, in case he didn't have enough evidence to commit her.
Mina watched Kael carefully for his reaction, which was very important to her for some reason.
All he said was, "That is weird."
Mina smiled, and something within her clicked. "I know."
"All I have," he found himself sharing, "is a crazy uncle. Oh, and don't forget being turned into a dog for a year. That obviously can't compare."
"Well," she wrinkled her nose in a conciliatory way, "your uncle was extra vile, if that makes you feel any better."
Kael found himself laughing and finding that, yes, it somehow did make him feel better.
Ami was surprised she made it through her conversation with the Zevin Drepp. If there was anyone in the science world that she respected most, Dr. Drepp won the prize hands down. And actually talking to him…it was the equivalent of most girls talking to, say, Johnny Depp.
Her heart was hammering loudly and her palms were damp with moisture but the smile on her face didn't want to leave. She hoped he didn't notice that she wasn't gesturing so much as shaking.
"…using the quadratic formula, of all things!" Zevin finished his anecdote about how a colleague of his had found a new outer-space constant that would make it possible for people to live on the moon. The more she talked to him, the more evident it was of how out of her league he was.
"Amazing," Ami practically squeaked, hoping that her face hadn't turned too red. She wished, right then, that she had just an ounce of Lita's unintentional sophistication, or Mina's confidence, or Rei's assertiveness, hell, even Serena's social skills would be nice right about now…
But Zevin either didn't notice Ami's nervousness or ignored it. He continued to casually chat about science this, science that. It was a slow process but eventually Ami began to relax. Her heart beat at its regular pace, and her palms cooled off. She even managed to make eye contact (but immediately broke it—he had an intense stare).
The small talk was beginning to run out as Ami became more curious about the events of the past year. She decided to cease chatting until Zevin ran out of steam, and then drag him over to the temple were she could run tests.
She waited, and waited. But he just when she believed he was winding down, his eyes would light up with another thought and he jump into another tangent. Ami would've interrupted him ages ago but the notion of no conversation for a year made her eyes soften in compassion.
It took him awhile but he eventually noticed that she was no longer participating. He sighed in slight disappoint, happy to have just stayed here and stimulated his brain. "I'm sorry," he grinned. "I tend to ramble when I haven't talked in a while."
"Don't apologize," she stammered. "I understand."
He gave her a half-smile that hit her right at the knees.
"B-but we should probably go to Rei's temple were I can," she lowered her voice, "run tests and get answers."
His brows furrowed. He knew she was involved, somehow. Giving her a once over—just to check for any unusual markings, of course—he gave a short nod.
The police officers had mostly rounded up the henchmen and were holding back the paparazzi that were creating a mosh pit outside. Zevin winced at the sight of one reporter climbing on top of someone to nose dive over the officers. Suffice to say, he didn't make it.
"That's one thing I didn't miss," Zevin whispered to Ami. "We need to escape," he decided. As his mind slide into finding a solution, he scanned the room. Seeing a window, he grabbed Ami's hand.
An electrical shock passed through him when they made contact. He heard her gasp and attempt to let go. His grip remained sturdy.
Because, in his mind, there was no way he was letting go.
It was a good twenty minutes before any thing resembling sense could penetrate the haze in Lita's brain.
Teddy…Neron…
Dog…human…
Neron gently bit down on her lip and rational contemplation flew away for another few moments.
Then everything seemed to intensify; the flush on her cheeks, her swollen lips, the body against hers. A deep place inside her started to insist that she take a break, for just a minute, to think things over.
Because, it was saying, if Teddy is Neron, and Teddy was a dog, but Neron is human, then…
Neron is a dog? she concluded absently, busy with more important things.
No, her brain screamed, the other way around, stupid!
The dog was Neron, she switched, and then: What?
She broke off the kiss, breathing hard and probably looking like a mess.
Neron looked offended. "I wasn't done," he informed her sulkily, moving forward to capture her again. She swallowed, shaking her head but not moving because her motor functions were still a little slow, and noticed then the flashes going off every second.
She made the mistake of looking over her shoulder.
"Eek!" she shrieked. There was at least twenty-five cameras, all either recording or snapping rapidly.
She turned around again to see Neron simply laughing at their private moment being recorded for all of Tokyo to watch.
Steamed, she found her voice, and snarled, "If you ever want to do that again, I don't want a single picture of this to make it to the papers. Not. A. Single. One."
Something about her tone must have alerted him to how serious she was. He gave a sober nod. "You've got it, babe," he promised, managing to sneakily plant another light kiss on her neck. "Get out of here," he pointed to where Zevin and a pretty girl were climbing out a window.
Hoping the hearts weren't in her eyes, Lita murmured the location of the temple in his ear before slipping behind him. "Hurry back," she said.
"Always."
FOUR HEIRS RETURN: IT WAS A CONSPIRACY!
By Danielle Walters
Tokyo- Kael Winters, Jedrek Hoffman, Neron Cole, and Zevin Drepp returned this week in just the same mysterious circumstances they disappeared in. It was reported that a showdown of sorts climaxed in a series of arrests, including Mashi Winters, Kael Winters' uncle, who is whispered to be behind the disappearance of the men…
Five women were said to be held hostage.
No pictures are available at this time…all the cameras and film, despite being different materials, shattered….photographers are still baffled.
Note: So I'm not sure how many chapters are left. Thanks to all the response I got from my last question. I'm definitely going to write another Sen/Gen (my fav), so no worries.