Love Hina Once Again
Ikebukuro District, Tokyo
Namie Tagiri, former high powered executive and now lowly secretary to a con man and informant, entered the office with a slight frown. The brown haired woman was attractive, in a way, but her eyes had a certain coldness to them. She was the type who could stab someone to death if needed with no hesitation.
"Ah, welcome," Izaya Orihara smiled cheerfully. The black haired young man flung his arms out, "It's a lovely day isn't it?"
Namie looked outside at the pissing rain and decided Izaya was in one of those interesting moods again. "So, what are we working on today?" she asked.
"You're no fun, Namie," Izaya pouted sweetly. "Just look at the throng of humanity out there," he gestured to the people scurrying by, "all plotting to screw each other over or do another wrong. Ah, humanity, how I love you."
"Except for Shizuo," Namie needled him.
"Yes, him I hate," Izaya admitted willingly enough.
Namie sighed, seeing his aggressive good mood appeared unbreakable. "What are we doing today, sir?" she asked again.
Izaya chuckled softly. "All business, as usual," he shook his head. He sat back in his seat, looking at the chess board in front of him, covered with checkers pieces, shogi pieces and others in a intricate pattern only he understood.
Personally, Namie thought he was full of it, with his crazy chessboard and mixed up game pieces. Still, he paid pretty well AND offered protection from her various enemies. For that, she would put up with a lot.
"All right, we've got the Phantom Quest Corp in play," Izaya mused, touching a queen chess piece, "they'll be here in the next day or so to go after Celty."
"I thought you had uses for her?" Namie mused. Also, he had the Dullahan's head, but that was another story.
"Oh, I don't expect they can kill her," Izaya waved that off, "but we really only have the most limited idea of what she can do. This will give us that information."
"Hmm," Namie nodded obediently like a good minion should. It had been in the job description when he had hired her: nod and make noises to encourage me to carry on.
Izaya flashed her a smile. "But I want to keep Celty off balance, or she'll realize it was me who set them on her," he mused aloud.
"Isn't everything in Ikebukuro your fault?" Namie pointed out sweetly.
"Not always," Izaya said slightly mockingly, "just usually. Anyway, there's a federal agency that also looks into supernatural events... we're going to get them into this too, just to confuse the issue a bit more."
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Tokyo, Kitsune decided, really was THE most fucked up and crowded city in the world. The light brown haired woman looked over at her navigator, "Does anyone know where the hell we are?"
"I THINK so," Utena Tenjou said as she read the map. "We go straight ahead, then turn on the next street. The business man's hotel should be there," the pink haired woman in jeans and a loose sweatshirt reported.
"You'd better not have booked us into a love hotel," Rei Hino noted darkly, the black haired young woman sitting in back with her lover Ami. She wore a white blouse and a long skirt, possibly to hide the talismans she had brought.
"I wouldn't think you'd mind," Kitsune noted, in white shirt and pants.
Anthy snickered softly at that, while Motoko Aoyama looked disapproving. The sword swoman tried to get them back to business, "So, the plan is that we check in to the hotel, then begin the hunt for the headless horsewoman?"
"I still can't get over someone saying that with a straight face," Ami noted mildly. The casually dressed woman was mostly along to keep Rei company, tho she claimed a scientific interest in their target. If she really was a headless horseman, imagine the differences in her biology.
"It IS a bit surreal," Kitsune conceded as they inched along through traffic. She kept a eye on the other cars and the crazy predestrians as she continued, "That's the plan, tho we may rest up a bit before we head out."
"I read in the briefing papers we got that the Dullahan goes out all hours, do we know why?" Ami asked in a business-like way.
"I pressed my source about it," Kitsune acknowledged, "and he says that she works as a courier and transporter."
"I guess if you have a magic steed it sort of makes some sense," Utena nodded thoughtfully.
Kitsune looked back at the road, for a moment wishing they could have brought a bigger team. But Tennyo had flatly refused to join this caper, citing a past connection to the Dullahan, interestingly enough. Motoko was eager to test her family sword style against the Celtic being, while Rei had reluctantly agreed to try to contain it. Anthy wanted to try to communicate with it, and Utena was along as her bodyguard, pretty much.
"All right, looks like this is it," Kitsune noted as they pulled into the parkade, narrowly avoiding clipping a car as they got the battered old van inside.
They checked in, where Motoko got a unpleasant surprise. "Wait," she looked at Kitsune, "you only booked three rooms?"
"Well, yeah," Kitsune shrugged as she tried to explain, "I mean, Ami and Rei only need one, as do Utena and Anthy."
"She put you two in the honeymoon suite. Nice touch," Rei noted sardonically.
"It was the last one available," Kitsune said defensively.
Motoko looked at the front counter staffer as she asked, "You're booked solid?"
She shrugged eloquently. "There's a convention in town," she explained.
Motoko ran a hand over her face. With a put upon sigh she said, "Let's see the room."
"Oh dear," Ami murmured as they peeked in.
The room was adorned with red lace, flowers and, best of all, a large, heart shaped bed and even matching pillows. It CLEARLY had been designed by someone for whom the words 'over the top' had no meaning whatever.
"Kitsune..." Motoko gave her a deadly look.
"I didn't expect THIS!" Kitsune said, taking a step back and holding up her hands.
"I'd offer to trade, but I'm not that noble," Utena noted.
Rei VERY quickly chimmed in, "Sorry, I think we'll pass on this too. Have fun you two!" With that, both couples fled to their rooms.
"Such good, good friends," Motoko said, shaking her head wryly.
"I really didn't expect anything this bad," Kitsune said weakly.
Almost instantly making a decision Motoko said, "I'll sleep out in the van."
Kitsune started, "I could..."
"No," Motoko shook her head, "I wouldn't feel comfortable with you out there." Picking up her knapsack of stuff she said gravely, "Excuse me."
Kitsune watched her stride off before muttering a curse under her breath.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Misaki Saiki was a medium, literally a woman who could channel a restless spirit, finding out what it wanted and hopefully helping it pass on. She was also a professional dominatrix, tho that rarely crossed over with her other job. Lastly she was an albino, with white hair, pale skin and the most striking looking red eyes.
"So what the hell are we doing out here?" Mikuriya Shizue asked as she followed the attractive white haired woman, the slightly taller black haired woman carrying a camera, her glasses gleaming in the morning sunlight.
"Thanks for volunteering to help me out," Misaki told her friend with a smile.
"No problem. I still owed you one for appearing in that photo shoot with no notice," Shizue smirked. As a magazine editor for a fetish publication, she worked with Misaki on articles and occassionally in photo shoots. She normally didn't help with ghost busting.
Misaki made a face at that.
"I repeat," Shizue said as they were jostled on the crowded Ikebukuro street, "what the hell are we doing out here this early in the morning?"
"There's been reports of a supernatural entity appearing in Ikebukuro District," Misaki said patiently. "Normally it wouldn't be something I'd deal with, but my boss owes a favor to someone, and he asked me to take a look," she shrugged.
"Makes sense," Shizue admitted, "so why do you need someone along with you?"
Misaki looked a bit sheepish at that as she explained, "I can get too caught up in the spirit I'm channeling, and it helps to have someone I trust handy to pull me out of it."
"You trust me?" Shizue smiled, "Why, thank you."
"Yeah, yeah..." Misaki blushed a bit.
Deciding to change the subject Shizue asked, "So what, exactly are we looking for?"
"Supposedly it's a headless horsewoman," Misaki admitted...
To be continued...
Notes: Namie Tagiri and Izaya Orihara along with Celty are from Durarara. Misaki Saiki and Mikuriya Shizue are both from Ghost Talker's Daydream, a manga and anime series.