| Chapter Two Boundaries Bottou-chan |
"What do you think you're doing?" demanded Neon. There was somebody sprawled sleepily under her blankets. That particular someone had also appropriated all her pillows.
Joker lifted his head sleepily. "Neon-han, I'm trying to adapt to the new time zone. Would you mind keeping it down?"
"Go find somewhere else to sleep," Neon replied, sitting on the edge of the bed and pulling off her socks.
"But there's only one bedroom in the suite," responded Joker, his voice muffled. This time, his face was voluntarily buried in pillows.
"Then share the couch with Kaoru-kun," replied Neon neatly. "But hurry up… I want to get changed into my pajamas and get some sleep, too. We've all worked hard, and we're all suffering from jet lag."
Joker heaved an immense sigh. "Neon-han… you are outnumbered by one. If you insist on segregating the sleeping arrangements, then you can have the living room. You'll have a much more likely chance at success than trying to fit Koganei-chan and myself on the same narrow couch."
"Baka," said Neon. "Who's silly idea was it to pass us off as a married couple?"
"Kurei-han's," came the muffled reply.
"Oh." She paused for a moment, then resumed. "But I am not, under any circumstances, going to share a bedroom with you. So get out."
Joker scowled, sitting up abruptly. "Neon-han," he said, his voice extra-patient. "If you can't get over your ridiculous adolescent embarrassment about sharing a room with me… if you think that I can't manage to share a bed with you and just sleep… if you think that I'm about to do something like in those silly pink paperbacks you love to read-I feel sorry for you." He turned his back on her and curled up once more.
Neon opened her mouth a few times. "Gomen," she said finally. "It's just with all your comments… I don't feel particularly comfortable about it," she explained softly.
Joker was too tired to turn around. "It's good schtick," he said, "And it's cute getting a reaction from you… but what I said about not having relationships within the Uruha was real. It could be messy."
Neon smiled. "Spare a few pillows for me," she said. "I'm going to get changed in the bathroom."
"I'll keep the blankets warm, too," he replied, through an immense yawn.
In the bathroom, she quickly changed into a pair of comfortable flannel shorts and a T-shirt. She gave her hair its customary one-hundred strokes with the brush as she contemplated what had brought them here.
Two weeks ago, Kurei had summoned her and Joker into his office.
"This is the Montfort Corporation," he had said, handing each of them a docket to page through. "It's an engineering company in America, based out of California. Their best engineers are currently working on a top-secret project. Within the next four months, it looks like they might succeed in creating modern-day madougu. If that happens, these will be the first madougu created in over four hundred years.
"I have arranged for you two to be hired into the company. These packets consist of your backgrounds. Memorize them. They're extremely important… I don't have to tell you that. You must preserve your identities at all costs. You are a married couple named Musako. You are a husband-wife engineering team. Both of you are brilliant at what you do, and have done extensive research into this area yourselves. Koganei shall go with you, as your ward."
"He's a little old to be my son, Kurei-sama," murmured Neon, looking through her background information.
"He is the son of your deceased elder sister. His background is taken care of. I understand his command of English is tolerable, and his participation will add a degree of innocence to your presence. His mind will be of great assistance to you as time goes on, especially concerning the madougu. He must befriend the son of Henson-san, the chief executive of the corporation. You two must befriend him and his wife. We are hesitant to think that those dear to us would betray us, ne? You must cloud his thinking. You shall work on the research for as long as possible. Then-right at the end, after all the tests have been successful-you shall sabotage the project. Their madougu will not work when it is brought for approval. Their madougu will have disasterous consequences. You will make sure of that. The plans shall be stolen and replaced with marred copies. Smuggle the plans back to me… and then I shall put our own people on the job. A few weeks later, you two shall mysteriously disappear, having been kidnapped. We're looking at a time period of five to six months."
"Why not just steal the plans up-front?" inquired Joker reasonably. "There would be a lot less of this cloak-and-dagger dance."
Kurei curled his lips into a smile. "I don't wish to waste more resources than I have to," he answered. "I'd prefer the Montfort Corporation to foot the cost of ironing out the wrinkles and working out the bugs… before I give it to my people to fine-tune."
"Do the both of us have to go?" asked Joker curiously. "Are you really all right with having two of your Jyushinshuu leave the country at the same time? You could pair me up with Aki or Miki or someone else who was low-level Uruha. You could pair Neon up with Mokuren or Magensha or Gashekura. It would be more efficient that way… I doubt we'll run into any problems where the both of us would be necessary."
Kurei shook his head. "I've chosen you both for a reason," he answered. "Your English is better than the others'. I doubt Aki or Miki could pass themselves off as an engineering genius as well as Neon-san can. You both are better at endearing yourselves to people… moreso than certain others I could name. And you have worked well together in the past and have proven your loyalty. That is why I entrust this mission to you… do you accept?"
"Hai," they had agreed, bowing their heads in supplication.
But despite her ready acquiescence, Neon had felt hesitant at being assigned on such a long job with Joker. He was a very capable individual. He wasn't as stupid as he sometimes pretended to be. He was strong, even though he wasn't built like Jisho or Gashekura or Kai. He had a sharp mind and a quick wit. Yet he found a childish pleasure in tormenting her, trying to embarrass her, and playing with her words.
She doubted the could endure six months of that in a foreign country. She'd probably end up killing him before their time was up.
She doubted Kurei-sama would look favorably upon such an act.
Finished brushing her hair, she began scrubbing energetically at her teeth.
Although it did seem like a cloak-and-dagger dance, as Joker had commented, she had found pleasure in it already. It was fun, pretending to be married to Joker. She paused in mid-brush, shaking her head slightly at that last thought. Pleasant to pretend to be married to that freak? Hardly… but it was still amusing, playing a part in this charade. Being able to make playful remarks, yet with the full knowledge on both sides that this was only a game. It wasn't for real.
She spat the toothpaste into the sink.
For the first time, she understood how Joker had such fun annoying her. Because it was fun, after all. Two can play at this game, she thought, grinning to herself as she walked down the hall and back to the bedroom.
Joker was still sprawled over all the blankets and the pillows, but he lifted his head slightly when she opened the door.
"Oh, Neon-han… that's not what I expected at all," he said, disconsolately surveying her pajamas. "You look like you're going to go jogging… not go to sleep. I thought you'd at least be kind enough to wear something lacy or satiny for your poor, tired hubby to-mpphhgg!"
Neon had pulled one of the pillows from under his head and had brought it down over him, hard. Glowering, she slipped under the blankets and turned her back on him.
Two can play at this game…? Maybe not, she thought, trying to ignore the snickers coming from the other side of the bed.
* * *
Neon opened one eye. My foot's asleep, she thought, wiggling her toes and feeling the pins and needles shooting up her leg. It didn't take her long to realize that the reason for it was that someone else's leg was slung over her own. Come to think of it, there was an arm wrapped around her waist, and someone's face was nestled against the back of her neck. And the owner of those various appendages was breathing normally, deep asleep, and unaware.
She considered her options, then decided that his current oblivion was enough to save him from her wrath. She gently disentangled herself, wandered over to the closet, scooped up her clothes, and left to change in the bathroom.
Joker watched her through nearly-closed eyes as she gathered up her things and left. Between his eyelashes and his bangs and his care to keep his breathing regular, she hadn't realized he was awake, and had been for the last half hour. But he had been quite comfortable and hadn't felt like getting up and facing the day.
He yawned and sat up, kicking aside the blankets. Today was the first day at the Montfort Corporation. Time to magically turn into an engineering genius. He rolled his head from side to side, trying to work out the kinks. Fortunately, he and Neon had previous extensive experience with madougu. Not only had they worked with their Taishaku Kaiten and the Fukyo Waon, but they had dabbled with others. Madougu tended to choose their owners, and so there was an extremely limited number of weapons with which one could become proficient. However, their training as Uruha had involved learning how madougu worked. Not quite the same as understanding how they were made-- but still, any information would probably be useful.
He picked through the closet sleepily. Mornings weren't his strong point. He finally pulled out a golf shirt and a pair of khakis. The people back in Japan would roll over laughing if they saw him show up for work dressed like that... but the people back in Japan didn't particularly matter at the moment. What mattered was that he blended in with the other engineers. And engineers didn't wear suits to work.
Neon and Koganei were sitting at the table, discussing something over their breakfast cereal. "Hey, sleepyhead, you're up," said Neon, taking a dainty bite of her frosted shredded mini-wheats.
"I hope you didn't finish off the whole box yourselves," said Joker, picking up the box. "I hate having my shredded wheat being shredded to the point of powder..."
"There's plenty left; stop your griping," said Neon casually. Another bite. "Hey, Joker-san, you know what? You're a snuggler. You didn't warn me." There was a glint in her eye. He wasn't quite sure if it was an annoyed glint or a teasing glint. It was hard to tell with her sometimes.
"Am I?" Joker decided it was best to play it innocent. "Gomen, then." He poured milk over his cereal. "Oi, Neon-han, did you get a chance to look over those packets again?"
Neon looked a bit disappointed that he had allowed the subject to drop so quickly. But she quickly reverted back to her normal, professional self. "I glanced through it a bit while we were unpacking, but didn't really look at it any more thoroughly than I had when we were with Henson-san."
"I figured out what they're trying to control," said Joker. "It came to me when I woke up this morning... they're trying to create a madougu which manipulates matter."
"Kind of like your Taishaku Kaiten?" asked Neon, putting the milk jug back in the fridge. She hated it when the milk was left out...
He shook his head. "Kind of, but not really. Mine changes the mass of an object, yet the size remains the same... This is more like Genjuro's staff. It will compress matter to shrink or enlarge objects. Most objects consist mainly of empty space. This madougu would theoretically get rid of up to 60% of that empty space, shrinking objects to a fraction of their original size."
"How useful," she remarked, rinsing out her empty cereal bowl and placing it in the dishwasher. "I can see how that would be of interest in the commercial field... think of it. Shipping companies, for instance. Instead of fitting a hundred boxes into a freight truck, they could fit a million."
"Or airlines," suggested Joker. "They could compress your luggage for you and have you carry it in a little plastic bag. People could bring their cars over oceans... they wouldn't have to rent moving vans to move... they could fit all their groceries in a shoebox."
"It would come in handy for espionage, ne?" mused Neon. "Someone could have a tape recorder or a movie camera... or even people hiding inside pockets."
"It would be useful for movie theaters," suggested Koganei brightly. "You'd only have to pay for one ticket to get in..."
"And those are just the small ideas," said Joker. "I'm sure if we sat and thought about it, we could find all sorts of interesting values."
"I wonder why Genjuro hasn't optimized his madougu's potential," murmured Neon thoughtfully, leaning against a kitchen chair.
"Well, for one, Genjuro only has one madougu. It's not much use if there isn't someone on the other end capable of reversing the size change. Secondly, Kurei-han doesn't want to go commercial with madougu, broadcasting their existence to everyone," answered Joker reasonably. "If he did, others will try and research them. I rather wonder how the Montfort Corporation found out... I guess that's on our list of things to investigate, ne?"
"We've got a lot of things to look into," agreed Neon reasonably. She glanced at the clock. "Koganei... your school bus will be at the corner any minute. Here's your lunch... here's your backpack... have fun at school. Do well!"
He nodded. "All right, Ka-chan," he agreed, grinning fangedly. He gave her an impulsive hug, wriggled his arms through his backpack's straps, grabbed his lunch, and ran out the door.
"My, he looks more and more like you every day," giggled Neon.
"Oi, I feel like a little happy family," smiled Joker. "Too bad you can't stay at home with a little frilly apron and give me a kiss as I leave for a day at the office."
"Too bad I'm coming with you," agreed Neon. "And I think I got rid of all my little frilly aprons when I stopped being the maid..." She finished clearing the dishes up, and he helped her. "Let me grab my shoes, and I'll be ready to leave," she said, disappearing into the bedroom.
A shadow crossed Joker's face as he leaned against the back of a chair. A little happy family, he thought disconsolantly. Images flashed through his mind... 'people' had never been his focus in life. In elementary school, he had been tormented because of his weakness. By the time he got to junior high, he had revamped his reputation into that of a bully. But being strong hadn't been enough… he wanted to be admired. By high school, he had polished his image to the point where he could be strong, yet had disguised his unpleasant side beneath a cheerful, friendly exterior. His past history had been forgotten as the girls had pursued him, the guys had envied him. And Joker had remained above it all, secure and confident that he did not need people, although he seemed to be friend to all. By college, he had perfected the art of manipulation. After graduation, he had acquired his Taishaku Kaiten. He had been accepted into Kurei's Uruha. How far he had come, from the scrawny, teary-eyed little runt he had once been! And yet… how much was he lacking? The feelings of discontent were gnawing away at his insides again, but he forcibly repressed those emotions as Neon rejoined him with her shoes. He wondered if he was the only one of the Uruha who still had cravings for a normal life.
He opened the door for Neon. "Ah, Arami! After you!" he said in English, bowing elaborately.
Neon giggled, replying in the same language. "Thank you, my handsome engineering genius of a husband!" She sauntered towards their rented car, swinging the keys idly in one hand. Perhaps this would be fun, after all… just not in private.