Rieze, Head of the Training Division of the guild D.D.D., and de facto Guildmaster until Crusty - the actual Guildmaster - showed back up from off the China Server from playing extended hooky, really couldn't quite fathom the newest things thrown at her by the Machiavelli in Glasses Shiroe of Log Horizon. Inside she was still reeling just a bit, but outside, she wasn't. Outside, she'd received the news she, and a good portion of D.D.D. living here in Akiba, had been waiting to hear for several months now. The beast halves had been getting frantic, though the rest of them had been helping as best they could. That meant, though, that the guild itself was under more strain than anyone really liked.

Outside, she was giving orders and getting the right people in motion as fast as possible. Normally, one as low rank as her wouldn't be put into a Guildmaster position, even as temporary. Really it had been because she was head of the training division and had trained pretty much everyone. Even on Earth. So, they all knew her, and knew she could direct them as a whole since she'd directed them in slightly smaller groups. Well...who knew if they "knew" it, it was more like she was the fall-back. They followed Crusty. Crusty wasn't there, so they followed the last person they'd followed - her. It was okay. Crusty had set up the guild to mostly run itself anyway. She was just in charge when orders needed to be given and just like they were used to following her orders, she of necessity was used to giving them. She just treated it as more training, and it worked.

"Okay folks," she opened the briefing, "this is the one we've been waiting for, and it's a mid-level boss raid category C, here in town. Civilians having fun, but one of them's our target and he or she is in hiding, disguised as all the rest. Log Horizon has them pinned down, we're to show up, pick him out and send him into their arms." There was restless shifting. "We'll pick up our pay at the Cathedral after." They settled. "Since it's a plague master, expect plenty of status effects. The benefit such a one gets is that status effects are erased after one turn for him. We're going to use that to pick him out." She got raised eyebrows for that one, but it got them thinking right away about how to go about doing it.

"We know that healing negates the plague, so I'm going to assume it does for other status effects as well, that's why we're heavy on high level healers this round. Stay out of his effect area, if possible. He or she is at base a Bard, but don't expect it to be so easy. I'm told to expect around a level ninety-eight to ninety-nine boss." She got whistles at that, but no one looked afraid. She'd also packed the party with people at that same level range. It just meant it would be a fight to pay attention to, and to play smart. Normally a raid boss would be as much as level 800, but they were going up against an Adventurer, so it was about the same. "If you watch his stats, ignore them, but watch the ratios on his counters. They'll drop proportionately, but not do as much real damage as they should. That'll be another way to pick him out. If he runs, let him. I suspect they need to quarantine him so he can't come back even if he comes back."

"We're going to break into sub-teams." Those were teams of one from each Class type - warrior, weapon attack, recovery, and magic attack type Classes. She'd weighted the magic attack types with Enchanters. They didn't need magic exploding the tavern to bits or burning it down, but assists to the other three would be highly beneficial. There were also only four sub-teams, but for a room that small it should be plenty sufficient. "Here's my outline, hash it down for me. We've got five minutes, then we're on the road."

Ten minutes later Rieze was looking for her girlfriend for a night on the town outside a tavern on the south-east side of the market in the central nervous system of Akiba. One group of four friends had just gone into the tavern to get their own R&R for the night and three more sets of them were making their way there. In the dark, about another eight individuals were quietly moving into position to surround the building as a whole. Two from Log Horizon might not be enough to keep him from running away completely and D.D.D. wasn't having that. Another six were already almost to the Cathedral just in case they messed up and he died early. Everyone was level 97-99, and the one's surrounding the tavern were mostly recovery class.

"Rieze." The taciturn ninja showed up by her side.

"Hey Akatsuki," she said. She wasn't much more expressive herself when it came to small talk. Two words to one about summed it up. "Give us two more to get set up." She looked at the other woman who only came up to her chest. Rieze knew better than to underestimate her just because she was undersized. This Assassin had done more for Akiba in her role than most people understood. All of Log Horizon was underestimated - mostly because they kept in the background - but the Round Table Council members knew. This city wouldn't last three weeks without them. They'd stand in front and protect them if that's what Shiroe wanted, and they'd hop to his commands, too. They'd learned already from battle after battle, social and physical. If life in town was going to stay nice, he was the one who was going to make sure that happened.

"So, how does a boss in this place put a wire-tap on Adventurers?" That's what had been eating at her. If the chat function was compromised, that was bad...and it shouldn't be possible...right?

Akatsuki looked at her, her lips firmly pressed together. Rieze sighed to herself. She knew Akatsuki well enough now from the teas at Princess Raynessia's ambassador house to know that there was normal tongue-tied reticent Akatsuki and there was lips-pressed-together-it's-a-guild-secret reticent Akatsuki. She looked away. "Just let me know when you can, eh?"

"He will." Dang. It was that high a level secret, was it? That meant it wouldn't come out until Shiroe had figured out a way to tell the Round Table all at once together and then they'd have to come up with the best way to break it to the city in general. Not good at all...but then having every beast-half going crazy wasn't either.

The last of her sub-teams entered the tavern. "So, are we going in or hanging out?"

"Hanging out. ...Sorry." Hard, then soft, remembering she was also talking to a friend.

"No prob."

Suddenly Akatsuki stiffened. "But...," she slumped. "Okay." She looked back at Rieze. "Shall we go get a drink? I'll pick the table." She'd gotten orders to the contrary, then. Rieze nodded and together they walked towards the door.

The place was indeed full. Akatsuki didn't have much choice of places...until she made one by picking a 'fight' with someone who 'supposedly' picked on her for her size, freeing up the table closest to the door. Actually, not a few heads and eyes turned their way when they walked in. They weren't dressed any different. It was the feel since the quarantine had gone into effect, plus two of the most commonly seen higher level operatives when things were going down making noise...right after four sets of four D.D.D. guild members had come in... Those who lived in the city took the opportunity to start drifting out and find other places to 'quarantine' themselves into. These were the solos and small groups who didn't have guild houses to go to. They had small rented houses, rooms at inns, that kind of thing.

The ones who were left remaining in the tavern were mostly travelers who'd gotten stuck in the quarantine that shut the city gates. Even the People of the Land who'd come in for drinks who lived here had slipped out. They'd learned to recognize what was going down in this place, too. Of course, they couldn't let their man slip out, so Rieze was getting a little anxious as it thinned down to almost more than she was comfortable with. She was about to say something when Akatsuki paused, then looked at her significantly and nodded. Rieze immediately raised her hand, snapped her fingers as if to the waitress for another drink, and called, "One more, on the house."

In rotation all of the tanks, one per quarter of the room, stood and set themselves and launched their taunts. The successive casts meant that for the range of each of them no one in the room could move without getting damage. Since a raid battle in a small place like this was so unusual, no one moved anyway for that long. As soon as the tanks in each group had set their spell, the magic users in each group cast to put the room to sleep. Since D.D.D. had all partied, and Rieze had added Akatsuki to their party, none of them fell asleep. Now no one in the room could move even if they'd been willing to take the damage by trying to run from the tanks.

They weren't sitting on their laurels, though. Every member was watching their quarter, as were Rieze and Akatsuki on the room, for who was going to move first, both in status, since magic could be cast without moving (they were watching MP bars), and physically. For a while...about five turns worth of time since the rotations of all eight moves had to be countered, nothing happened. Then one man's bars started moving down. Akatsuki as Assassin moved the fastest, but Rieze had put Assassins in her groups as well.

"Don't touch him," Akatsuki said on her way in. "You'll pick it back up." They knew what that meant. In succession, five blades dealt damage.

Rieze, as field monitor in general, did the quick calculations. "That's him." Five level 97-99s using those attacks would have nearly killed any normal 52-level mage. The Enchanters immediately cast on their weapon class team-mates, and the attack round began again. In the next pause, they'd got him down to thirty percent of his total and it was a pause because he'd finally gotten in one spell. The Assassins had all been tied down to the ground in some strange invisible way.

Their target finally had the breathing space to stand up. He glared around at all of them. "I think...I'm going to hate your two guilds even more, now."

"Hate all you want," Rieze said calmly as she hit him with her own attack. "It only comes back around."

The tanks had moved during her distraction and started in on him in close range. They didn't want him having time to cast more spells. She'd been watching the status bars and had noticed that the damage being done by the Assassins had been decreasing in capacity on him. The tanks should do more damage in each hit since they were close up powerful, but as she watched now from the door again, they weren't again. "Sheepdog," she ordered.

The tank closest to the back door fell back and the one farthest from it pressed the enemy mage harder, the other two keeping their rotations up. The pushback got him started moving in that direction. They kept it up until he had the tanks locked down. By then the Enchanters had figured out how to let the Assassins loose from the floor and they took over the herding, making light attacks from the back and heavy from the front to keep him moving but also completely distracted at the same time.

"Akatsuki, he's only taking about twenty percent damage from weapons attacks," Rieze said.

"Twenty percent damage from weapons attacks," Akatsuki repeated it almost mechanically. She was passing it on to her guild mates.

Suddenly status effects were on everyone in the room. "Poison." Rieze said immediately. Almost as soon as she'd said it there was a glow over the whole room. It wasn't her healers in here, though they could have. It was the healers outside. He wouldn't know the difference and they wanted the healers in here in reserve. The combined efforts were enough to remove the status effect. She felt good about that. "Clear." Another turn and a half and another spell went off. This time...she felt herself being pressed to the ground and as if the air had been removed from around her. She spun and collapsed suddenly on the ground.

When she came too, one of the Enchanters was standing over her. As soon as her eyes were open he began his report. "Took you out and ran. We let him go and the in-room healers took turns around until they found one that worked. Akatsuki ran after him and she and Nyanta-san are engaged. The healers outside are keeping Akatsuki going, but there's been no damage at all to Nyanta-san, nor status effects."

Rieze frowned. "Is he even being attacked?"

"Yes. And he's attacking back, too."

"Damn. What armor did they put on him? That the spells aren't even having an effect?" The Enchanter shook his head. "I'm going outside to monitor. Clean up in here, then move out. Team one and two to the Cathedral now that we know what he's like and have seen him. Healer team four go with them, but keep to your farthest range."

In the end, she almost hadn't sent them soon enough. They were just outside of the target's range when a wide area spell went off that wiped out all the healers surrounding the tavern...well, actually all of D.D.D. in the surrounding area. Naming the guild generally and setting the zone as area of effect was a little simpler to do when under heavy fire than picking out specific targets.

-:-:-:-:-

Nyanta watched Akatsuki go down and not stand back up. "Akatsuki's down," he said calmly. He himself was wearing out. "Think I've got a light leak somewhere. Nothing else is working, though. Each attack is doing fifteen purrcent damage. He's still at about fifteen purrcent himself, maybe a little less."

"Tetora, find the leak." It was Purrcy. Shiroe had opened up the chat to full guild as soon as the attack by D.D.D had begun. Because Purrcy was the only one, with Tetora's help, that could do anything from this distance, the two of them were party to him and Akatsuki. Nyanta kept dancing with his opponent, not letting up on getting slices in, always watching to be sure he wasn't touched. The one thing he would have liked was Shiroe's Thorn-Bind Hostage. It helped to have additional damage help where one could get it.

"It's the same one you had. I'll patch it. ...Minori, play that one you played before...I'll put it through like a radio."

"Good one," murmured Purrcy, mostly still involved in her own spell creation, most likely.

Nyanta's two rapiers glowed momentarily and the next attack: "Mew. Nice. Almost seventy purrcent damage." He hit hard and fast while he could.

"Damn you!" the man in his sights yelled, then growled. "You are so annoying. Nothing sticks and you glow just like a literal knight in shining armor. What are you?" Nyanta focused on delivering his blows. That was answer enough.

"Gyah! Nyanta back off twenty-one feet. Get Akatsuki on the way." Nyanta immediately flipped backwards to land next to Akatsuki, picked her up around the middle and jumped again, landing at twenty five since the man was moving towards them. There was a sudden fireball that erupted with the man at the center. He left Akatsuki there and immediately was back on the man and in one more slice, using just the right attack, finally had him at what should be one HP.

"Is he baked?" he asked.

"Three."

He reached in and scratched the cheek of the man with the tip of his rapier. "One."

His paws were free and his scabbards full. Then his arms were full and he was running. It would take a while since center town was a ways off from Log Horizon's guild house. "Incoming."

"On guard," Purrcy answered. "Tetora, monitor this one."

The man under Nyanta's arm was cursing as much as Nyanta was running. "God-Damn cats! Not only do they stink and make a mess and are cold and uncaring, they have to pair up with the damn D.D.D.s." Nyanta could only assume the player had been passed by for guild membership. It was a good call, as far as he was concerned. "And her. I had her, and yet again she has to show me up. I was First. Her title isn't even for programming. Why?"

"Oh, I think Caretaker works for purrogramming," Nyanta said casually. "She's taking care of all those who have no idea that kind of magic exists, protecting them from people like mew." The man gave him a glare that said he'd have hit Nyanta if he could. Purrcy had put a physical kind of spell on him that was as good as ropes to truss him up. Nyanta was glad. If he tripped and dropped the man, he'd die and they'd have to start all over.

"I'm up." It was Akatsuki.

"Good. Get home," Shiroe answered.

They arrived at the hall at the same time. The rest of the guild had moved down from the roof and were waiting outside the hall. They circled the new arrivals, none of them looking soft or kind. Purrcy was in felinoid form, wearing a dark robe that looked judicial and mage-like at the same time, and very much like an earned magic item. Like all such things she wore, she made it look elegant. Shiroe was also in his best Enchanter's magic robe, white next to her dark. Together they were imposing. Nyanta carefully deposited his burden on the ground and bowed. "Lady Purrcy, by your request."

She smiled for him. "Thank you, Sir Nyanta. And thank you for staying safe."

"Staying safe?! What'd you do to him?" the man on the ground yelled, frustrated.

"And Akatsuki, I'm sorry I couldn't do two things at once. Tetora got my preset defensive spell off, though. Were D.D.D's magicians sufficient after that?"

"Yes, Purrcy. The top levels were up by then and they rotated through until they found the right combination."

"That's good," Purrcy said. Nyanta and Akatsuki stepped back. Purrcy looked down at the man in front of her, but held still.

He looked back up at Purrcy and Log Horizon's guildmaster, a scowl on his face. He finally looked at Shiroe. "Who are you?"

Shiroe raised an eyebrow. "You sent her to me. You already know me."

The man raked Shiroe up and down. "No. No way. I sent her home."

The whole guild held still, then slowly began to smile. "Well, that's a truth," Naotsugu said.

Tetora snickered. "You mean...you didn't know that when you sent her back you'd bring a whole guild on your head? You've got some massive death wish, man."

"She wasn't marked with a guild tag, not 'til... oh."

They all tipped their heads at him and Purrcy got an evil grin on her face. "What is your judgment, Guildmaster Shiroe?" she asked.

The man's head whipped around. "It's not your guild?"

She bared her teeth at him and her eyes glittered, but she didn't answer him. He stomped his bound feet into the earth and began to swear bitterly again, mostly against guilds who wouldn't properly act like guilds and let others in. Tetora twitched and suddenly there was silence, though the man's lips kept moving. Everyone looked at Shiroe, except Purrcy who just turned an ear to him, keeping her eyes on the man in front of her.

"Purrcy, he can't do it again. How do you prevent a Programmer from acting?"

Her eyes went distant, then turned to Akatsuki. "I have a spell I can modify. It's a reflection spell. The kind I'll need will be like Nyanta's," she looked at him, "but instead of reflecting everything off, it will reflect everything back. It will be like shutting him into a laptop and throwing it into a lake. I may have to check on him every once in a while to make sure it doesn't need upgrades, but that's the best I can do for now." She closed her eyes and it looked like she went deep. "...Well...I'd rather..." She took a deep breath. "May I have permission to try changing his Class and preventing him from his sub-class?"

Shiroe looked at her. "...You're talking about trying to do a rewrite on his character as a whole." She nodded. "That's a time-cost spell...it's going to take you several days."

"Yes. I can do the mirror room temporarily for now. That way I can have all the time I need." Her eyes glittered and her teeth bared even more and her tail twitched up into a hunting curl.

"If it earns mew a new title, I'm all for it," Nyanta said in his placid voice that was his most dangerous one. "He seems to think Caretaker isn't enough."

"D.D.D. wants their turn anyway," Akatsuki said in her deadly calm voice as well. "I think if you had a temporary fix we could let them store him for us until you're done." The silent man on the ground's eyes went very wide and he shook his head, mouthing pleas for clemency.

The looks went around the guild. Shiroe nodded. Purrcy looked at Tetora. He cast his last healing spell on her while she began crafting her spell. They waited patiently until she opened her eyes again and looked at the man in front of her. "When the final spell is done, every name he gives himself will have the tag [Plague] attached to it so all will know who he is and what he has done." She crouched down and looked him in the eye. "If you decide at some point to grow up and become a real Adventurer and live life in peace with the rest of us, come see me. I might forgive you and let you go back to being anonymous. Bring character references with you." There was a glow around him. She stood back up and looked at him.

He looked around at all of them. Tetora stepped up to him and slapped him as hard as he could. At level 98, that was pretty hard. In a few seconds, he disappeared in bubbles of color. Behind him was left one treasure - a potion bottle. No one moved. Then three shields were placed over it. Naotsugu gave a wry laugh. "That's the first time I think I've ever seen everyone not only assume it's a cursed treasure, but refuse to even look at it and shield it. You'd think it was spoiled meat."

"It probably is." Touya said with great emphasis.

"I'm on it," Purrcy said faintly. "I want to know if we got rewarded or he left a surprise, since I'll have to defuse it."

Shiroe nodded. He looked keenly interested in the answer as well. One minute later, she moved quickly. She snatched up the bottle. "Come on," she moved towards the guild hall at top speed. They looked at each other and followed her in.

She was standing outside Shiroe's office door, staring at it. By the time they were arrayed behind her she said, "The room's clean. Open it please." A one second pause and she put her hand on the handle and opened the door and led them in. When they were all arrayed inside with the door closed, she set the bottle on the table in front of them, then turned to Shiroe. "Go get a level...eighty-five or above piece of paper."

Shiroe went and hunted through his desk until he found one and brought it over. She set it on the table, then uncorked the bottle and poured it onto the paper. As they watched, the liquid shifted and pulled together to form, in the end, words on the page. She re-corked the bottle and set it aside, and looked up at Shiroe. "We have an ally among the Superusers." The phrase had so many implications it took a while for Shiroe to return to them as the counters, tabs, and buttons and lights on the inside that kept track of all his data and information were updated. They waited patiently for him. When he breathed again, he stepped forward to read the scroll.

Keep Purrcy safe. Here's the addresses to all the Caretakers of each region. I look forward to seeing what you can all do - together.

Below that was a list that faintly wiggled and look three-dimensional. When Shiroe looked up at Purrcy, she held her hand over the list and it lifted off the page and was absorbed into her hand. The other words on the page slowly disappeared and the page disintegrated. With a "pop" the bottle disappeared.

"We'll contact them slowly, starting with China, then the U.S.," he said to her. "Put together a search engine that looks like it's looking for them. That much they should already be expecting just from us being together now."

She nodded agreement. "Underneath...I'll get things moving a little faster. ...All the Caretakers that are Programmers now will see the lures and wonder, but I'll just put them out as offers in a way they'll understand." She paused then grinned. "And I can send emissaries. It will take time, but we can now begin."

The look on Shiroe's face was one of complete relief. It made him look suddenly old and haggard, like the burden he'd been carrying had suddenly shown itself. Akatsuki moved over to him and wrapped her arms around his waist. Looking up into his face, as he looked down into hers, she said nothing. He lifted his hand and placed it on her head, then nodded at her. He looked back up at Purrcy. "Get your new title first. We'll handle clean up here. Then we'll set the next campaign...as a guild." He looked around the group standing in the office with him. The expressions of solidarity were comforting and encouraging.

"Well, I for one," Tetora said, his hands behind his head, "can't wait to travel internationally. I've always wanted to, you know."

Purrcy grinned. "Well, it's not all it's made out to be...but maybe our first convention can be here...though it might be by videophone."

"Will you be able to have secure connections by then?" Shiroe asked her.

"By then, we won't be underground...or the gates will be working," she said. She looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "As much as I don't want to have to babysit, if you let everyone know of the new Classes we'd get them fixed faster. They're based on Earth technomagic, after all."

Shiroe froze, then shook his head. "I'll work on that one. It's going to take calculations."

Nyanta walked over to wrap an arm around Purrcy as she said, "Of course it will. That's why it's yours. Just give me orders. I'll do what needs to be done."

"What about what almost happened?" Minori was looking at the two couples suspiciously.

Purrcy nodded. "I'll be working on that from inside. I have to break down his code I copied out to understand what he was doing. ...But it's got a fingerprint on it not his. I think he was being influenced by the Superusers." She looked back at Naotsugu and Tetora. "Thank you for finding it was a virus and buying me the time we need."

"Ah, Purrcy," Shiroe said thoughtfully, "if he was...can you influence them back on the same line?"

"I'm hoping for it, Guildmaster. I'm hoping for it. His little leak he attached to me, and then to Nyanta when he shouldn't have been able to will be my little tool, now." She looked over sideways with her own hunting tail and grin on again. "You'll help me with that again, won't you Isuzu?"

"You betcha," Isuzu said grimly. "I've just the right kind of frequency to make their teeth fall out...over a long slow agonizing period."

"I thought you might, Love." Her intense look from her one sudden outburst was back.

Touya and Minori looked at each other and slow smiles came over their faces. They raised their fists and bumped them in their twin salute. Tetora leaned on Naotsugu's shoulder. "I think this was a great boss battle for the level. Can we move down, Mistress Field Monitor?"

Purrcy looked at Nyanta. "Well...I think we should sit and eat and rest up next. Then we can discuss that when the Master Strategist is ready, ne?" She smiled at the rest of them. "Any requests?"

The room exploded into one word. "Curry!"

Nyanta laughed. "I guess mew get meowr turn to scribe a new recipe, Purrcy. Who's going to come help us, nyan?" All four hands of the youngest rose immediately. "Good."

"I'm going to sleep on top of Naotsugu," Tetora said. "I'm completely worn out. I don't think I've had to work so hard before, and all I did was use my brain...for the most part." For once, Naotsugu didn't complain. He just nodded stolidly. They all trooped out, leaving Shiroe and Akatsuki behind to have "alone time". They both looked like they needed it.

-:-:-:-:-

Akatsuki looked up at Shiroe as the door closed behind everyone, wishing he'd kiss her, not expecting it. That would be asking too much. He looked down at her, a kind look in his eyes, the soft one he gave to just her since about half a year ago. He put a hand on her shoulder and disengaged from her arms. She sighed to herself. That's about what she expected. She moved off to pull out the small teapot and two cups that were set in a cabinet. She carefully poured the tea into the cups. Shiroe had earned the teapot from one of those random quests that almost no one else did. It was probably something like having to visit every tea house in the Archipelago and talk to just the right person, saying just the right things to prove you were a tea connoisseur, then when you returned at the end you got the always-full-of-hot-tea teapot with matching self-cleaning cups.

Akatsuki wasn't complaining. The only way to have earned the sex-change potion was to accomplish just such a random quest. That had blessed her life in many ways. To have arrived in this world almost half again as tall, and male, had been a very big problem. She had been so relieved when she'd seen Shiroe and remembered he had that potion. It had come up in a random chat in a campaign they'd been on together. Someone had asked what was the most useless reward they'd picked up in the strangest and most pointless quest they'd been on. His quest had been pointless, but he hadn't gotten the most pointless reward, and when they entered this world it was a reward worth more than anyone could pay. And he'd just given it to her.

That's why she'd given him her life, become not just an Assassin, but his personal ninja and protection. She'd had to work hard over the last two years to even begin to feel like she was worthy of that position. For three-quarters of it, though, she'd been in love with him. That was almost harder. She couldn't communicate it and he was oblivious. The girls she got together with for the teas had been helping her with both the communication - not going so well - and with what she could do in the relationship - only slightly better.

She sighed, not really seeing the tea cups between her hands placed flat on the cabinet top to either side of them. The beginning of this battle was a problem. Just what had they done in that room? How badly had it set them back? Her shoulders slumped and she blinked back tears, biting the inside of her lip until she was in control again. She picked up the two cups and carried them over to Shiroe. He hadn't moved very far and was lost in thought, like he often was, particularly after battles. "Sh...Shiroe. Tea?" She couldn't quite meet his eyes.

He looked at her, and his hands lifted to take the cup. "Thank you, Akatsuki," he said. His voice sounded a bit tender, but she wasn't sure. She nodded her usual nod, which the girls always said was so curt, but she didn't mean anything by it. It was just her way of saying "okay" or "thanks". It had been a problem on Earth, too, but becoming flowy and expressive just wasn't possible. She turned to take her normal seat.

Akatsuki sat on her knees quietly sipping her tea as Shiroe finished his post-battle internal summary and analysis. For her, though she was agonizing over their relationship, she also had her own post-battle routine. She chose to divert her thoughts to that for now and soon found herself relaxing down, suddenly realizing how late it was to be making a meal and eating. It would be long past midnight before they were all headed to bed. She felt a little bad about asking Nyanta to make such a meal...but it was actually their traditional celebratory meal, the same as it was their favorite standby whenever the question of what they wanted was asked.

The smells of it were coming under the door now. That meant it was only about ten to fifteen minutes off from the table being set. She stood from her position and walked back to Shiroe and held out her hand. He put the cup in it and she returned them to the cabinet, putting everything where it went. It seemed somehow wrong to not wash the cups...but they were self-cleaning, the magic of them being magic items having that odd property. When everything was placed properly, she closed the cabinet and walked back towards her chair. Shiroe moved to the couch to sit, then patted the seat next to him. She looked at him in surprise, but he was looking at her, so he knew what he was doing. Since she trusted that, she went and knelt next to him on the couch, facing him.

He was sitting leaning back, seeming relaxed, though attentive. When he was like that, he reminded Akatsuki of one of her young professors who had always looked at the world that way. It was his and he was simply and calmly measuring it as it flowed past him to his whims. She didn't know then if it was just a trait of being young, or something else, but now, knowing Shiroe, she knew it was because it was simply truth. The world that flowed around Shiroe, and likely that professor, flowed around him completely according his whims, and you knew it was doing it properly when he was relaxed and alert like this. That was when it was okay to just be and live comfortably. When he wasn't like that was when it was time to worry and get to work. She was actually surprised he had that look since she was feeling so nervous, but it sort of helped her calm down, too.

"Akatsuki," he paused looking at her. She waited, tipping her head slightly, "if it's alright with you, I'd like to continue walking with you." Her heart stopped. "I'm not sure I'm really the type to have a marriage or a deeply committed relationship. My parents and I never had a close relationship and I have no siblings, so I'm sure I'm not the best person to make one work, but you've put up with me for two years now. I assume that means you might understand a little." He paused, reading her reaction.

She sat at full attention, completely amazed at the conversation, but not it's directness. Once he'd made decisions they were approached logically, even if they had emotions before and after and under them. With a start she wondered if he was waiting for an answer. She nodded once, a little more emphatically than normal it felt like, sure her eyes were trying to pop out of her head.

He smiled with his eyes. She was pretty sure he understood her, too, at least that much. "I know that putting things into words isn't your thing, but I think it's important that we start this with clarity. Will you tell me exactly what you're looking for as an outcome? I won't be offended. I just want to make sure I don't step over boundaries I shouldn't."

Her heart melted. He always cared about everyone, but to be told that he cared about her. She'd never thought...but hoped...it would happen. She shifted and cleared her throat. "I want...," she closed her mouth. It should be said right. She went slow enough to be sure of each word. "I want whatever Shiroe wants, and to protect you and your path. ...And...," she blushed quite warmly, "I want...kisses...and...," she wriggled uncomfortably, "...and if we could hold hands...and go on dates..." She wasn't sure if that was all, but it kind of felt like it. Oh, that was it, "And continue to have quiet times like this...like always."

Shiroe's eyes were almost laughing but he was being considerate and his face was still politely interested. "So...you would like to consider yourself my girlfriend, and me your boyfriend." He almost blushed to say those words, since like her, he was rather shy for all he could be completely logical at times.

She considered it, then nodded. "...Please." She tried hard to not look down at her tightly clenched hands when she asked it.

Shiroe held out his hand. She shyly put her hand into it. "May I add one thing to it?" he asked her. She nodded "absolutely". "I would also like to hold you and give and receive hugs. Would that be alright?"

She blinked at him, almost surprised he'd want to. So surprised, she answered verbally, "Of course."

He paused, which worried her, as such things always did. "I do have one other thing to ask you, now that we're dating." That sent her brain spinning to hear it already done just like that. She blinked at him and he understood and kept going. "Would it be okay if I pet Purrcy occasionally? ...She made the cutest kitten tonight." He blushed to admit he found anything cute, particularly since he was admitting it to his new girlfriend.

Akatsuki stared at him, then slowly smiled. "As long as she is full cat or kitten, I won't mind. ...I think."

"Okay. If you do start minding, please let me know with words, okay? Silence won't tell me, and I really don't want to get kicked."

Now Akatsuki did smile. He was properly afraid of her ire. "Okay."

"Thank you," he said politely, then tugged on her hand to pull her into sitting next to him where he could hold her. She cautiously lay her head on his shoulder. She figured she'd eventually learn to not be stiff about it, but even for all it was new and honestly, frightening, she was in absolute heaven.

It was a good thing Purrcy went in to fetch them for dinner. By then they were both sitting there petrified since when Akatsuki, of her own volition, put her head so vulnerably on Shiroe's shoulder, his calm barrier collapsed and he found himself as terrified as she was. Neither could move. Purrcy saw immediately the problem and dropped to all fours. By the time she reached them she was large housecat size. She calmly lept up on their laps, touched Akatsuki's nose with her's in a cat kiss, then did the same to Shiroe, then rubbed their faces and purred. They had to pet her in self-protection, breaking them up, which got them all back out to the dinner table, Purrcy going first as large-cat with her tail waving high and soft in pleasure and the two of them following after hand-in-hand, but blushing ferociously.

Nobody said anything, but it was a happy, relaxed evening for the rest of the time. Shiroe didn't go to sleep in Akatsuki's room, and that made the level of relationship completely clear. Everyone sighed with relief. Life was going to be normal still, just a little happier. Nyanta and Purrcy did go to his bedroom together, though, and that was okay. Father and mother should, after all, if he'd been serious about claiming her. They'd been more worried it wasn't going to happen, now that Nyanta had an excuse to going back to being an emotional recluse.

Everyone slept deeply that night, except Purrcy who was partially still aware - just enough to be walking down the code halls, studying that pesky virus that made them all go real too fast. Nyanta finally groomed her enough to make her relax into the full sleep she needed, then draped an arm over her to pin her down before falling to sleep himself with a sigh. She was going to be high-maintenance...just like Shiroe. But...she was probably reward enough.

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