Not gonna lie, this was not an easy chapter to write, but here we are.

A quick note on King's attire, since I very specifically mention an article of clothing. Tie, vest, slacks, boots.

Okay, onward~

The first rainy afternoon Southtown had seen in almost a year found King sitting at the counter inside of Illusion, resting her head on the cool surface as she ran her finger around the rim of an empty glass. The night before had been, predictably, mostly sleepless, with her short bursts of REM featuring unusually odd nightmares that touched on high school, her ordeal, and her time working under Mr. Big. She knew she would never escape any of the bad shit she did under his orders, but dreaming about it all so long after the fact was, clearly, an unfortunate side-effect of their meeting. However, despite her horrible night, King felt an overwhelming sense of relief: Big was a lot of things - including a man of his word. If he said he was done with her, he meant it.

"Boss?"
"Hm?"

King didn't move. She listlessly glanced up at Sally, who was peering down at her with a frown.

"Did you sleep okay last night?"
"No."
"Do you want to just go home early? I don't think business is going to pick up because of the weather so it's not like you'll have to worry about missing out on too many tips…"
"No, I'll stay." King slowly raised her head. "It's not fair for me to keep leaving you and your sister high and dry. Besides, I need to pay my phone bill."
"Well, do you want me to make you something? An Irish Coffee, or…?"

King covered her mouth as she let out a huge yawn. She shook her head, turning down the offer.

"What about a Calabasas Cooler?" Sally inquired.
"Naaahhhhh," King drew the word out while she stretched her arms over her head. There was a loud pop from one of her shoulders.
"Why don't you go lay down in the back for a little bit? I'll come get you if I need you."

There was a brief lull as King took Sally's suggestion into consideration. Happy Hour was a good forty minutes off… laying down until then wouldn't hurt.

"Okay, yeah... Sure..."

King hopped off of the stool. She slowly shuffled toward the office and wondered if she should just bite the bullet and go to the doctor for some sleeping pills. She had always heard interesting things about Ambien...

Once in the quiet room, King lowered herself onto the loveseat against the far wall: She put her feet up and stared up at the ceiling, her eyelids heavy. She made a low noise as she brought a strangely cold hand up to her cheek, which was still sore from being slapped so hard. Somehow, the hit hadn't left much of a mark, but her face still hurt a lot. It wasn't as bad as her stomach though, which was marred by a nasty purple blemish that screamed for attention any time she moved a certain way.

The calm in the small space was suddenly broken by the sound of King's phone ringing. With a groan she dug her device out of her pocket: A photo of none other than Ryo Sakazaki was displayed on the small screen. The two hadn't communicated at all since the blow up at her apartment, when he declared that he would get to the bottom of her "weird" behaviour. With that in mind, she sent the call directly to voicemail. After a minute the familiar chime went off, letting her know he left a message.

She'd listen to it later.

Maybe.

###

A soft knock on the door startled King awake. She brought herself upright: her clothes were wrinkled and a small bit of drool was streaked down the side of her chin. She wiped it away with the back of her hand before looking at the clock. Was it really after five?

"Boss?" Sally called as she stuck her head into the room. "You have a visitor out front."
"Who izzit?" King responded groggily.
"Your favourite."

Sally flashed a mischievous grin.

Fuck!

King jumped to her feet, fully awake. She hurried past Sally, out into the unusually desolate bar, and immediately spotted Ryo at the counter. He was nursing a pineapple Hefeweizen that was, from what King understood, the "perfect summer beer." She couldn't let herself get distracted by his choice of alcohol, though. If he was there, that meant she was either going to get into a really heavy conversation, or she was going to get into a fight; there was no inbetween. She braced herself as she walked up to him.

"Hey."
"Hey," Ryo turned on his stool so he could see King better. "Did you get my message?"
"I didn't listen to it."

The two fell into a strained silence as King walked behind the counter. She took a quick look around the area before crossing her arms over her chest. She held her breath; she was undeniably upset with Ryo: He had come into her apartment and acted like an asshole, and now he was in her establishment - probably about to act like an asshole.

"I know you don't want to talk to me," Ryo began, "but I want you to know that I'm sorry about how I acted back at your place the other day. It wasn't cool."

King nodded curtly. Part of her was touched that he came by to apologize, but she was still apprehensive about where the conversation would go from there. It was best to keep it short and not think about it.

"Apology accepted. Is that all? I have to get to work."
"Uh, there's barely anyone here."
"That doesn't mean I don't have to do things like take inventory or place orders or -"

Just then Sally strolled right up to King, a huge smile on her face.

"I can do all that stuff, Boss! Why don't you and Ryo... 'catch up?'"

King stared at Sally in disbelief. She adored her - she really did - but in that moment she was very tempted to drop kick her. Before King could protest, Sally gave her a quick pat on the back before walking off, leaving her on her own.

"Okay then," King muttered. She turned to look at Ryo, who was staring at her intently. She cursed inwardly as she felt heat creeping up her neck, into her cheeks. It was those goddamn hazel eyes.

"...What?"

Ryo shrugged. He squinted at King before taking a quick swig of beer.

"What happened to your face?"
"Unruly customer. You know the drill," King answered dismissively.
"Ah. Let's cut the shit, alright?"
"Excuse me?"
"You were going to tell me something back at your apartment, but Jean bailed you out. I want to know what it was."
"The suspense is killing you, huh?" King asked dryly. She rested her hands on the counter and tried to keep her posture as relaxed as possible. She couldn't let Ryo see how bothersome the subject really was.

"Well… yeah."
"I don't even remember what it was," King lied. "So, if I don't think it's important enough to remember, then why should you worry about it?"
"Hrmmm…"
"You know I'm right. So let's just drop it and move on with our lives."
"Come on, King! You know I can't do that!"

King wanted to reach across the counter and smack Ryo across his head.

"And why is that, exactly?"
"Because it's... Look. You fought off an attack from Big and didn't tell anyone about it. Then you caught mono, and - I get it, you were sick - but ever since you've been back you've been acting outright bizarre. Not weird - bizarre. Something isn't adding up."
"You're really overthinking this, Sakazaki."

King pressed her lips together: She really didn't want to have this talk.

"You do that thing with your mouth when you're agitated," Ryo observed.

King blushed furiously while bringing a hand up to her lips. Ryo noticed her mouth? ...What else did he notice about her? She shook her head: She couldn't allow herself to even follow that train of thought. If she did she would start thinking about… stuff. And that would lead to thinking about… more stuff. Stuff she didn't want to think about. Ever.

"Are you listening?"

Ryo was looking at King with a quizzical expression. She cleared her throat and loosened her necktie a little bit before tugging at her collar.

"Do you want another drink?" She asked quickly. "I need a drink."
"See?! This is what I'm talking about!"

Ryo glanced around the bar before leaning toward King. He gestured for her to meet him halfway, which made her flush again. Those stupid fucking eyes were locked right on her, and he was really close why was he getting so close and -

"You haven't been doing pot again, have you?"

King let out a shrill, unnatural sounding laugh. She hastily snatched a small glass and a bottle of the strongest coconut rum in the vicinity from the shelf behind her so she could pour herself a shot.

"I would never do that at work! Geez!"

"But getting shit-faced is another story, right?"
"It's on-the-job training."

King downed her rum. She took one look at Ryo and began to pour herself another drink but stopped: It barely tasted of alcohol; if she wasn't careful, she could quickly end up getting drunk off of it. And Drunk King had a habit of being a little too honest, and of spilling her guts at the slightest nudge. She reluctantly set the alcohol and shot glass aside.

"What happened to you?" Ryo suddenly asked, point-blank.
"What?"
"You heard me."

King glanced down at the floor. Ryo was her friend - on most days, anyway. Would he really think differently of her if she told him everything that went down? It was probably only a matter of time before he found out from someone else, anyway, be it from Yuri getting stoned and accidentally saying something, or from a student sharing the latest gossip from the street. She pressed her lips together again as she glanced over at him.

"Seriously, King! No more games!"
"Who's playing games?!" King snapped. She could feel herself becoming more and more irked; she took a deep breath, trying to keep calm. Suddenly, she remembered something Big told her the previous day:

"...go cry to Sakazaki. Tell him about what happened here today so I can break him when he inevitably comes to defend your honour."

King realized with horror that Big was counting on her to tell Ryo about the incident. Because if she came clean, then Ryo would walk right up to his figurative doorstep and possibly get his ass handed to him… or worse.

"Putain de merde!" She blurted out, angry that Big had designed the perfect way to fuck with her head.

"What is it?!" Ryo jumped, nearly knocking his beer over.
"I… forgot to change Marron's litter," King replied lamely.

Ryo sat straight up in his stool and took a deep breath. He set his beer bottle aside and rubbed his stubble, his features unreadable. King couldn't help noticing that he was beginning to turn an interesting shade of red.

"I think I know what this is about," he declared.
"Congratulations."
"No, seriously!"
"Okay, what?"
"You slept with someone! And you don't want to tell me! Right?!"

King instantly recoiled as if she had been burned by the counter.

"What?!"
"At the school, you said… and, I mean, you're… uhhh… very… It wouldn't be hard for you to - and you work here so you're always meeting people and -"

King cut him off with a loud groan: She placed her hands on her temples and sank down to her knees behind the bar. Ryo wasn't exactly wrong… technically he was actually on the right track. All he had to do was connect that final dot, and then he, too, would know that she was -

"What… are you doing down there?"

King looked up: Ryo was halfway out of his seat, staring down at her with a curious expression. She felt like she was on the verge of having a stroke. She quickly began to weigh her options: If she said she slept with somebody and left it at that, then the conversation would be over once and for all. Ryo would probably still think she was a whore, which would make things very awkward between them, but at least he would believe that her increased body count was a product of something like drunken hedonism as opposed to violent assault. But if she told him that he was wrong then she would have to continue dodging questions and making shit up.

Or, she could do something really outrageous, Big's mind games be damned, and tell him the truth.

"I didn't… ! Je… I, I mean… Merde…!"

King found herself sputtering an inarticulate string of word fragments as she tried to regain her composure. She slowly stood up and reached for the rum: She definitely needed another shot.

"You didn't…?"
"Didn't what?"
"You just said you didn't."

King poured the tiny drink and downed it almost instantaneously. Had she really just stupidly told Ryo that she hadn't slept with anyone?! She turned away and laced her fingers together as she placed them on the back of her neck. She needed to find a way to correct her massive faux pas.

"Listen, I, uh…"

She took a deep breath: her chest felt tight, like she was on the verge of having an anxiety attack, and she could feel the godforsaken stinging in her eyes that she had become all too familiar with. Her shoulders sagged as she lowered her arms and slowly turned around.

This was going to suck.

###

"I didn't do it," King said around a spoonful of chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream. "I just couldn't tell him. I thought about it, but..."

She dipped her spoon straight into the ice cream carton and started working to dig a chunk of dough out of its slow-churned vanilla prison.

"Aww, King-san," Yuri's voice issued from the receiver, loud but full of compassion. "You don't have to tell anyone about this if you don't want to. I mean, yeah, you almost let it slip during that argument, but it doesn't mean you have to elaborate."
"I know. But… I don't know. I don't want him to know, but it would be nice to not have to lie anymore. I could just accept the fact that he would see me as… whatever, and be done with it."
"He really won't see you as 'whatever.'"
"You don't know that."
"Okay, fine. So what'd you end up telling him?"

King placed the phone on the counter and put the call on speaker so she could put more effort into her quest for that one bit of dough.

"Are you sure you want to know?" She smirked as she finally freed the piece. She scooped it up immediately.

"King-san?! What did you tell him?!"
"It's going to be really weird between us now. 'Us' being him and I, I mean."
"Why though?"
"I… told him that I…" King felt herself blushing as she recalled exactly what she said to Ryo earlier. "I told him that I had a dirty dream about him."

Yuri burst into a fit of hysterical laughter.

"You told him what?!" More giggling. "Why would you tell him that?"
"I had to say something to get him off my back, and I figured that that would be the best way for him to just fucking drop it already!"
"Oh, this is great," Yuri guffawed. "I wish I could have been a fly on the wall for that conversation!"
"It wasn't very interesting."
"Well what did he say?!"

King made a face as she swallowed a spoonful of ice cream that was woefully lacking in both the chocolate chip and cookie dough departments.

"He thanked me for my honesty -"
"HA!"
"- chugged his beer, and practically ran out."
"Did he at least tip you?!"
"Yeah, five bucks."
"You know he's going to tell Robert, don't you?"
"Yep."

King sighed. She leaned back against the kitchen counter as she continued to attack her frozen treat.

"And then I'm sure your dad will find out, and he'll start in on that weird 'heir' shit he's been on about ever since I started sparring with you guys."
"God, that's creepy," Yuri commented.
"What? Your dad not so subtly insinuating that he wants your brother and I to fuck?"
"Yeeeaaah… that's..."
"It's gross," King fumed, suddenly very mad. She stabbed at the ice cream, which was beginning to soften as it approached room temperature, and pressed her lips together so tightly that it was almost painful.

"Hey," Yuri spoke up after a moment. "Be honest with me, King-san."
"Hm?"
"What do you really think of my brother?"
"Oh, god," King responded impatiently. "This conversation? Again?!"
"Yep. Honest answers only, though."
"I'm really not in the mood for -"
"Honest!" Yuri firmly reiterated.

The two women fell quiet, with Yuri eagerly awaiting King's reply. King placed twirled her spoon between her fingers.

"Your brother is a good looking cat," she said candidly. "But that's it!"
"Are you sure?" Yuri teased.
"Geez, Yuri! I can admit that somebody's attractive without being in love, or lust!" There was a pause as King ate a giant glob of ice cream. "I'm hanging up now," she grumbled.
"King-san! Are you mad?"
"I - Yeah. A little. It's nothing."
"Was it something I said?! Because I didn't mean to -"
"It's not you," King muttered. "I'm really hanging up now."
"Alright… Bye, I guess."

King took a deep breath as she ended the call. She finished the ice cream and left the kitchen, restless. It wasn't that Yuri had made her angry - it was the subject of Ryo Sakazaki and fucking that pissed her off. He was her friend, damn it! Nothing more! Yes, he had nice eyes, and, yes, she had - drunkenly - had some very... explicit... thoughts, but, in the end, she wasn't catching feelings: She was catching discomposure for being an idiot.

Even worse, though, was how… nauseating all of it was. She hadn't really given those sort of things much thought since it happened, but the fact of the matter was that King never wanted to think of fucking - or being fucked - ever again. She knew it was a very unhealthy attitude to have, but she couldn't help it. She had the feeling that she would have to be drunk to the point of near alcohol poisoning before she would even entertain the thought of getting that… "friendly" with anyone, male or female.

She took a deep breath and held it as she walked over to the sofa, where the cat was curled up in a compact ball. She scooped him up in her arms and started rubbing under his chin as she paced around the apartment, his purring starting to help ease her temper a little.

"Oh, Marron," King exhaled. "What the hell am I doing...?"

Here we go with the notes again:

* An Irish Coffee is a cocktail made of hot coffee, Irish whiskey, and sugar
* A Calabasas Cooler (named after the city of Calabasas in California) is vodka mixed with an energy drink.
* Happy Hour is four PM to seven PM.
* Ambien is a very interesting drug that has all kinds of weird side-effects: auditory hallucinations, regular hallucinations, sleepwalking, or, in my case, nothing at all. Fun!
* Ryo's drink is a beer called I Love Lamp. That name is, indeed, a reference to the movie Anchorman if you haven't seen it.
* Remember, Ryo is still working off of the wrong information, the bastard.
* Putain de merde = fucking shit, or holy fuck. That sort of thing. Take your pick.
* The normal rule of thumb is to tip a bartender one dollar per beer. Ryo leaving so much behind should be pretty telling.
* Takuma's talk about King giving him an heir is fucking creepy, okay.
* Poor King is in a really weird place right now.

As always, feel free to tell me what your thoughts and feels are, or ask questions, or whatever. Cheers you guys!