"You are misunderstanding."

Jay thought it was like a little mystery wrapped inside two or three more. He never could resist one of those. First of all, he had no idea who the woman was, though she did seem somehow familiar. Second, he had no idea what Taichi would have thought she was misunderstanding so badly that it would upset him. Third, and a lot less entertaining, he wondered what she was either misunderstanding or understanding perfectly enough to make her cry.

"I'm not. And what do you care? I turned out to be a waste of all your time, didn't I? Leave me alone."

"Not until you talk to Zack. Calmly. Like adults."

First mystery solved. He'd seen her with Sabre a few times. Not that it was ever easy to tell, Japanese norms being what they were, but he thought they were a couple. Or had been.

"I have nothing to say to him. I don't really have anything to say to you, either, for that matter. Go away. Leave me alone."

Taichi shook his head. "You are making a mistake."

"No, I've been making one. I just stopped. Fuck. OFF."

"Not until you listen." He grabbed her arm and tried to pull her back into Suzuki-gun's dressing room.

Yeah, that's enough, even by my standards. "Hey! Take your hands off her. I don't care what this is about, you let her go."

The look Taichi gave him was more You're right, manhandling a woman is beneath me than it was I'm afraid of you, so I'm letting her go, but Jay didn't care either way, so long as the hand came off her. There was a red mark where he'd been gripping her arm, and for a few seconds, all Jay could think of was just wading in swinging. But this woman didn't need that at all, least of all to get caught in the middle of a fight. He stood his ground until Taichi went back in the dressing room, though.

He was trying to decide what to say to her when Miho came out. She looked nervous at his being there, but squared up and went over to the woman. To his surprise - and to hers, it looked like - Miho bowed to her. Low, too.

"You are right, and you must not let them convince you otherwise." She spoke barely above a whisper. "I should have told you myself. I am ashamed."

"So much for sisterhood, huh? Well, now you don't have to be concerned with what my being around means for you any more. I'm so already gone."

He thought Miho looked genuinely upset by that. He had no idea if it was right, or if the woman was just taking shots at any target in reach. Miho glanced up, looked even more fretful, then walked over to him.

"You helped her. Will you help her some more?"

"Get her away safely?"

"None of this is Dagny's fault." She looked like she was considering both her words and who she was saying them to. "What he did is horrible. And now they are angry that she found out. Please take her away from here."

Jay nodded. "If she'll let me. She doesn't seem like she likes anyone very much right now. And she doesn't have any reason to like me to begin."

"Please try." She was so obviously struck by a sudden thought that he almost laughed at the stricken look she tried desperately to hide.

"Even I'm not enough of a bastard to take advantage of someone in this condition. She'll be all right with me. If she'll go at all. Go back in and see if you can buy us a few minutes, hmm?"

He had no idea where to start. He did have a name now, at least. "Dagny, is it?"

She looked at him with the strangest combination of apathy and being five seconds from launching into shrieks.

"I've been given a side quest by the emperor's devoted follower." Come now, smile. Just a little one? But no. "I'm to put you safely in a taxi to wherever you want to go, just so it isn't here."

"Why do you give a shit?"

"Because even someone as fucking horrid as me has limits. A man physically bullying a woman to do something she doesn't want to is mine."

"Fair enough." He thought there was a smile, just a flicker, just a moment. "Hell, there's a reason he didn't pull that shit in front of Suzuki, and if he can not like it, I suppose you can, too. But I know how to get in a cab all by myself."

"Never said you didn't. But I'm going to watch you get in it and see it drive off so I can say I finished my quest."

"If you don't get a really good sword for it, complain."

That was a little better, even if she didn't have much else to say. He was dying to know what the hell was going on, but it was incredibly obvious that she didn't want to talk about it, or about much else. Maybe he could talk Miho into telling him; he didn't need a sword, anyway. Either way, he did watch the taxi drive off, until it was lost in all the other traffic.

Jay looked twice, then a third time, but it didn't change what he was seeing. Dagny was sitting at a desk in the corporate office, phone wedged between her ear and shoulder, taking notes with her free hand. He waited until she hung up, then went over and plunked down in the empty chair by her desk. He didn't think horrified was too strong a word for the expression on her face when she looked up. "Wow. I'm delighted to see you, too."

"Please don't do this. Please, please, please. They talk about me enough behind my back as it is."

The utter desperation in her voice startled him. What the hell was going on around here? "How do you know they do it if it's behind your back?"

"Japanese women are masters of the art of talking behind your back JUST LOUD ENOUGH SO YOU HEAR EVERY WORD." That last, she slipped into Japanese to say. Two of the women nearest them at least had the good grace to look ashamed. He was just happy to see a little fight still left in her.

"Have lunch with me. They'll shit themselves and then talk about you."

"Especially about how stupid I am to let it happen all over again. Which I would be. If I did."

"Which you don't intend to. Fine. Have lunch with me any fucking way. It's food, that's all. I promise I won't even eat with my hands."

"And you can start fishing around for all that corporate inside info I don't even have. I'm a glorified typist, for the love of..."

"That's what Sabre was fucking up to? Who the fuck in that shower of bastards thought you'd have intel falling off you?"

She clapped her hands over her mouth to bottle up the laugh that nearly got away from her. People were already staring, but it was mostly at him. A little language would do that, which was why he was using more than a little of it. That's it, all of you look at me. Leave off her for a minute or two. He really wasn't sure why he cared, other than she'd extricated herself from being treated like shit just so even more people could treat her even more like shit. It pushed his unfairness buttons.

"Look, he didn't know better, that's him being an idiot. I do know better. If you don't have lunch with me, I will sit here and cry until you do. I'll get down on my knees right here by your desk and beg you to think of the children. Loudly. In Japanese."

"Says the guy who claimed to be above bullying women."

"This isn't bullying. It's blackmail."

One of two things was about to happen, and he knew it: He was going to get security called on him, or he was going to get a date for lunch.

"All right. But my break isn't for another hour. You aren't going to...?"

"No. But if you aren't here when I come back, I'll sit on your desk and do it until you do get back."

"You are..."

"Insufferable?"

"I was thinking more like insane."

"Oh, then we're off to a wonderful start. Most people go straight to insufferable without any stops. The 'You're an Asshole, Jay' express line."

Finally, finally she laughed right out. "I must be out of my gourd. But you have to let me work now, or I'm truly going to have to stay through lunch."

Japanese work culture at its finest. He nodded. "See you in an hour. Or else."