She's always there to comfort me. My love. My angel.
Sometimes I feel like I can't sleep anymore if it isn't in her arms. I spent nights awake already, longing for her... I can't stand the thought of us being apart.
I never bother to speak to anyone here... maybe this behavior is what makes me the most scarred, most wanted kid here. Yet even now I wonder what she sees in me. I'm not the most beautiful, and certainly not the most friendly prisioner in this place...
She told me to fight. She said I'm stronger than I think. But how am I supposed to believe that when I'm being chained and tortured? I'm not like her, I can't have always a sweet smile on my face. Just... maybe... for her...
"He's been getting much stronger since that happened."
"We realize that, miss. Wave patterns are storming, as the whole staff couldn't think of a better word."
"He might die..." the young woman looked down so she wouldn't have to face the screaming, debating child that desperately tried to free himself from the torture device he was tied to. Wires ran from electrodes put all over his body to all sorts of instruments. Needles pierced his head, connecting to wires which he didn't know where ended. Though sometimes he wondered if he really wanted to know.
"True, but if you excuse me, I don't see why you are concerned, miss."
The response to this was a slap. "Stop the examination and get him to his room." the woman turned again to face the now fainted boy. /Ken... please, react.../
***
"You know, sometimes I feel like just giving up, Yumi... I mean, I don't know what they want, and I have no choice... what's the point in even trying to react?"
"Don't give up, Ken. Just don't. None of us knows what they want, but we must still fight."
"It's just that it all feels so meaningless..." Kenji lowered his head, tears flowing from his eyes.
"Does this feel meaningless as well?" as Kenji looked up to see what she meant, his eyes met Yumi's beautiful, pale face. She had her eyes closed, and was licking her lips softly.
"No... it's all in vain, except when I'm with you." she was expecting a kiss, but instead Kenji hugged her close, nestling in her arms.
"I love you, Ken..." Yumi softly fondled his hair until he was asleep. She then leaned against the wall, falling asleep herself, tears streaming down her eyes.
_____
What at first had seemed like a disaster was having good results. The now heavily reinforced restraints of the Mansion actually resisted Tak's strength. Well... not all of them, as he had just proved...
As Kojirou supervised the test, taking notes whenever he found necessary, Hime and Nakita were somewhere else, dedicating themselves to more pleasuring activities.
Nakita stepped back from the work of art that was his rope clad lover... wondering what to do next... it had taken some time... building up in layers... starting with effectively a bra and panties... then a body harness that restricted Hime's mobility...
Now... Hime's every moment aroused her further... but release was denied... still... he'd better check... "Hime... still with me?"
"Of course..." she answered smiling, much to Nakita's surprise. "Why do you ask?"
"Wanted to make sure you weren't too far under..."
She would have shaken her head, but it was impossible at the moment. "No, not yet..."
"Better than going too far and regretting later... anyway... what about suspending you?"
"Anytime you want, love..."
Nakita looked Hime straight in the eye. "No... don't do it just because you want to please me."
"Oh, but I'm not. You know I'm always up to a further step, don't you?"
"Maybe... but if I went too far and permanently injured you..."
"I don't think so... besides, this is a risk I take every night, isn't it?"
"In such an event... you might forgive me... but I wouldn't."
Hime smiled at him. "I'm telling you I'm ready and willing. If you think this is too far, just stop."
Nakita searched around... found two unused 24 foot ropes... and teased Hime by running the ends over her torso... she whimpered at the touch of ropes, but still knew she wasn't making decisions anymore... she'd just be suspended when Nakita decided. He took one rope... it was silk... or at least felt like it... and started wrapping, heading down from Hime's armpits... taking full advantage of the rope's length... leaving 8 feet free each end... Nakita left that rope loose... and wrapped her hips in the same manner...
Digging up a third rope... and locating the eyelets set in the roof... Nakita lifted Hime up with his right arm... his free hand guided the free ends of the ropes through the eyelets... and secured them... now Hime's bodyweight was spread across 12 coils of rope and 4 Tak tested eyelets...
The third rope went through a pair of eyelets as yet unburdened... after being secured... 11 and a half feet to play with for each end. Most of each free end went to wrap Hime's lower legs... a couple of loops around her feet secured it...
Hime shook her body, causing her to slightly oscillate like a swing. She was so aroused her love juices fell to the floor.
Nakita paused to caress Hime... "Enjoying it?"
"Quite..." even out of breath, she managed to answer.
A loud crash sounded nearby... Nakita muttered "GREAT timing..."
Thrown out of her semi trance, Hime tried to understand what was going on. "Nakita, what the hell was that? Tak's playing Houdini again?"
"Dunno..." Nakita let Hime down from the suspension before going to check... shortly after... she could hear a contrabass voice asking "Couple of questions... who the hell am I... where the hell am I... and who the hell are you?"
"Sheesh, Tak... you love banging what you use for your head on stuff..."
"I don't know... who you're talking about... but I'm not him..."
/Ah, how lovely... Tak's either going nuts or getting interference from the Wired.../ Hime thought as she resigned to the fact that she couldn't stand up and go check it.
At that moment... a heavy knocking on the front door.
"Damnation, another one who wants to thrash the door... I'll get it." Kojirou went for the door, a bit pissed at the strength of the knocks.
It was de Takman, gonna crunch de door by knocking it... "Nakita in?"
"Ahn... yeaown... and so... are you..." Kojirou stared at him oddly. "Anyway, come in." as they walked inside, Kojirou cried for Nakita "Heh, we have another Tak out here!"
"WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON?" both voices thundered in response. Tak recovered first... barging in and bounding up the stairs... skidding to a halt when he saw Nakita and the person with him...
"I'm not the one to ask..." Kojirou said as he followed the Takman... when he got to where the brothers were, "Alright, my turn, what the fuck is going on?"
After recognizing who it was, Tak couldn't care less. "Me twin brother." And waltzed down to get something to eat.
"Damn... Kannai looks a lot bigger than when I last saw him..."
"Your DEAD twin brother?" Kojirou tried to ask as Tak went out.
Tak shrugged, "Game NOT over."
"My words exactly." Kannai answered carelessly.
Kojirou turned to the brothers, "Ahn... I'll go untie onee-chan, I'll be right back."
"You're wha'?"
Nakita helped Kannai up... "OK... what the hell happened when you and Tak disappeared?"
Kojirou literally ran to where Hime was, both coming to meet the brothers shortly after.
"We missed anything?" Hime asked as she still didn't know the present giant wasn't Tak.
"That ain't Tak. That's his identical twin brother, Kannai... presumed dead for the past ten years." Nakita answered
"I see... and he decided to show up now... lovely..."
After scooping Hime up, he said: "Well... I'm gonna let you two catch up... I need a bath..."
"Yeaown, you do that..." she turned to Kannai "I'm Hime, nice to meet you... despite the strangeness of the situation..."
Kannai shrugged... tripped down the stairs...
Nakita winced at the noises and curses...
"Kojirou, get me some Red Suffering, will you, dear? I'll go talk to Nakita."
"Say no more..." Kojirou answered as he went for the kitchen.
As he got there, he spotted Tak ravaging the fridge. "Hoe, Takman... mind explaining to me what's happening?"
"Well... one set of Iwakura twins is reunited..."
"Yeaown, but why you act so casual about it?"
"Rather have me freaking out, jumpy, jittery and breaking stuff?"
"I'll pass. Though it would be less strange..." he answered a he gathered the cherry liquor Hime had asked.
"That spa up there big enough to hold all of us?"
"Hah, you wish, Tak..."
Wearing a mischievous grin... he snapped his fingers.
"No, no, Takman... don't even think about that..." he finished gathering the Red Suffering and started going to where Nakita and presumably Hime now were. With nothing better to do... Tak and Kannai followed Kojirou... weird...
He knocked slightly... as Nakita got it, he gave him the trey with cherry liquor, chocolate, and a very sharp knife. Turning to the twins... "Why are you following me anyway?"
In unison, they replied "Nothing else to do..."
"I see... let's just leave the lovebirds to talk, and you explain to me what's been happening in the past ten years..."
Again in unison, they shrugged. Kojirou scratched his eyes, then closed the door and headed back down the stairs.
One of the pair landed in front of him... the other took a more conventional route...
Kojirou shook his head, leading the twins to the living room. "You want something to drink?"
"Yeah... whatcha got?"
"I don't know, really... you can check the kitchen if you want. We're not really good hosts here."
"Tak.. you check..."
"You're younger... lemme give you a hand..."
Tak launched Kannai kitchenwards...
"Kids, kids..." Kojirou said rubbing his temple, "You mind not thrashing my house to the ground?"
Tak shrugged "He's not as heavy as I am.."
"...was that really necessary?"
"We got three bottles of vodka..." Kannai cried from the kitchen
"Tak, can you..." Kojirou started asking "...nevermind, I forgot you don't need glasses."
"Might as well ... for novelty value..."
Kojirou chuckled in response, "If you say..."
Kannai returned with the three bottles and as many schooner glasses.
"Slow return bodydump?"
"Bodywhat?" Kannai asked as he eyed Tak strangely.
"Downloading yourself directly to the wired without benefit of connection."
"Hm, someone who's even more lost than I am... keep going, Tak."
"From what Nakita said... one requirement is severe psychic trauma before the age of 12... we both suffered that..."
"Uh huh... I remember that... one question..."
"Shoot."
"Why'd you ditch your arms?"
"Only way to shut out the voices of the ones that didn't survive." after a short pause "You included."
"Whoa... stop now, guys... does Nakita know about that?"
Tak shook his head.
"Then I guess we better assume they're just talking and go up there."
"No..."
"And why not?"
"You want to disinter a period of madness, you do it without me."
"Whatever you say... K, then keep going."
"What happened on your side of the Wired after the bastard threw the switch?"
"Well... I was ripped from my body... like the others..."
"I heard that..."
"And what have you been doing all this time?" Kojirou asked, looking curiously at Kannai. "Ah, and how's the inside of the Wired?"?
"Floated around...
Kojirou's inquiring look clearly showed he didn't consider the answer enough. But Kannai didn't seem inclined to say more, so Kojirou shrugged, figuring the inside of the Wired probably wasn't that good a place. "Keep going..."
"A little while ago... I became able to temporarily bodydump in outline."
"Outline?"
Tak answered that one "Like a ghost... but you still looked 6..."
Kannai shrugged "Residual self image."
"And how did you become able to do it?"
He pointed at Tak, "I watched and learned from the master... who I also used as a template."
"How so?... no, wait, I get it!"
"Should be very obvious."
"Yeaown, it actually is..." Kojirou answered, scratching the back of his head.
"What took so long?"
"Heh... remembering what the word template means..."
"I'm not as stubborn as you are." Kannai answered
"Ah, you mean Kannai..." Kojirou smacked his forehead.
Before any of the brothers could answer, Kojirou excused himself and left as the intercom rang again.
____
After walking through the main thoroughfare of the Tsugoyaki residence, a house nearly completely Japanese in style, the master bedroom was a definite oddity. As a surprise, Ryuichi Tsugoyaki had the bedroom designed in the style of his late wife's childhood home. The ceilings were high- almost considered vaulted- and had intricate crown moulding. The large picture window had a chaise lounge sitting in the cove of it and red and gold curtains that dragged the floor. Golden couches and chairs were sitting randomly around the room, the largest sitting at the end of the bed. The bed itself was very tall, the top of it only about a foot from the highest point in the ceiling. The top was round and curtains draped elegantly from it. It was a four-post bed, and most of the time the curtains were wrapped around the posts. When the occupant of the bed wanted to close out the world, the curtains simply dropped down to shroud the entire bed in darkness.
On a quiet Saturday morning, Eiri Tsugoyaki had woken up, looked out the window at the bright sun of the new day, and closed the curtains. For the first time in months, she was completely bereft of human contact in the house and now she felt it lonely. Adam had been spending his nights at a dorm at Tokyo Daigaku for the last week, apparently engrossed in laboratory experiments. Caomei, as Muqin was in town, no longer stayed at the Tsugoyaki house. It had been a hard week for Eiri, and she wished that there had been someone there when she got home. Finally, though, she realized that the week was over, and she got back to more important things. She was still in her pyjamas, and her covers will still pulled tightly over her, but she had a laptop in her lap.
"Eight weeks... In theory your baby is still an embryo because it has the remains of a small tail, which will disappear in the next few weeks. But that's the only thing getting smaller. The heart and brain are becoming more complicated, the eyelid folds are forming, the tip of the nose is present, and the arms now bend at the elbows and curve slightly over the heart. You may not look or even feel pregnant, but your uterus is expanding to accommodate your growing baby. Before pregnancy it was the size of a clenched fist; now it's as big as a grapefruit. As it grows you may feel some abdominal cramping and mild twinges." Eiri read, speaking aloud softly.
When she finished reading, Eiri flung back against her pillows. She sighed and looked at the computer's screen, hoping that maybe someone was actually wanting to come in contact with her isolated self.
_____
Opening the door, Yousuke saw patrons walking back and forth, but no host, which left him alone and confused. Luckily, he had expected that and began to implement his master plan of wandering aimlessly. Down halls, up stair, down into dungeons, into and out of rooms, he saw people in different positions, doing different things. Definitly not his normal hangout - he came for the tea.
Too bad for him, then, that the house was big and he was clueless. Normally bright and quick, the curves and twists of the house reduced him to a child looking for his parent. Getting lost didn't hang him up, though. He decided to wait for someone he recognized to show up, and in the meantime.... the headphones came on. Soon, loud techno music sounded in his skull, and he took a seat against the wall, slouching, smiling, a discarded rag doll without an owner.
Tak spotted Yousuke as he wandered..... on impulse... went over and tried to get his attention...
// Yeah right... like you have difficulties doing THAT //
"Hello, I'm Yousuke. I'm looking for Hime or, oh... who was it? Oh, right, or Kojirou. I was invited to come over again sometime, but I don't really know my way around. Go you suppose you could help?" he asked pleasantly.
In his bass voice, shattering if desired, rumbling with infrasonics if not.. Tak laughed... "Could say that.... Hime's my brother's girlfriend... I knock around with Kojirou a bit... I'll show you around... keep an eye out for my identical twin brother... you won't be able to miss him."
"Oh, right. Hey, thanks a lot for showing me around. Do you work here?" asked Yousuke as he looked around curiously. "Because this place sure is strange. I don't remember seeing anything like it."
"You'll get used to it.... I've been knocking around here on and off since I arrived in Japan."
"Sounds like it could be worse." said Yousuke. "It's kind of strange, but it's nice enough. I'm from the university here, so that's where I'm most familiar with. Spent a little time here, and I like Tokyo a lot." he paused for a second before he added, "So, when did you arrive in Japan?"
"'Bout a year ago. I'm the youngest of a total of eight children. You?"
Sometimes I feel like I can't sleep anymore if it isn't in her arms. I spent nights awake already, longing for her... I can't stand the thought of us being apart.
I never bother to speak to anyone here... maybe this behavior is what makes me the most scarred, most wanted kid here. Yet even now I wonder what she sees in me. I'm not the most beautiful, and certainly not the most friendly prisioner in this place...
She told me to fight. She said I'm stronger than I think. But how am I supposed to believe that when I'm being chained and tortured? I'm not like her, I can't have always a sweet smile on my face. Just... maybe... for her...
"He's been getting much stronger since that happened."
"We realize that, miss. Wave patterns are storming, as the whole staff couldn't think of a better word."
"He might die..." the young woman looked down so she wouldn't have to face the screaming, debating child that desperately tried to free himself from the torture device he was tied to. Wires ran from electrodes put all over his body to all sorts of instruments. Needles pierced his head, connecting to wires which he didn't know where ended. Though sometimes he wondered if he really wanted to know.
"True, but if you excuse me, I don't see why you are concerned, miss."
The response to this was a slap. "Stop the examination and get him to his room." the woman turned again to face the now fainted boy. /Ken... please, react.../
***
"You know, sometimes I feel like just giving up, Yumi... I mean, I don't know what they want, and I have no choice... what's the point in even trying to react?"
"Don't give up, Ken. Just don't. None of us knows what they want, but we must still fight."
"It's just that it all feels so meaningless..." Kenji lowered his head, tears flowing from his eyes.
"Does this feel meaningless as well?" as Kenji looked up to see what she meant, his eyes met Yumi's beautiful, pale face. She had her eyes closed, and was licking her lips softly.
"No... it's all in vain, except when I'm with you." she was expecting a kiss, but instead Kenji hugged her close, nestling in her arms.
"I love you, Ken..." Yumi softly fondled his hair until he was asleep. She then leaned against the wall, falling asleep herself, tears streaming down her eyes.
_____
What at first had seemed like a disaster was having good results. The now heavily reinforced restraints of the Mansion actually resisted Tak's strength. Well... not all of them, as he had just proved...
As Kojirou supervised the test, taking notes whenever he found necessary, Hime and Nakita were somewhere else, dedicating themselves to more pleasuring activities.
Nakita stepped back from the work of art that was his rope clad lover... wondering what to do next... it had taken some time... building up in layers... starting with effectively a bra and panties... then a body harness that restricted Hime's mobility...
Now... Hime's every moment aroused her further... but release was denied... still... he'd better check... "Hime... still with me?"
"Of course..." she answered smiling, much to Nakita's surprise. "Why do you ask?"
"Wanted to make sure you weren't too far under..."
She would have shaken her head, but it was impossible at the moment. "No, not yet..."
"Better than going too far and regretting later... anyway... what about suspending you?"
"Anytime you want, love..."
Nakita looked Hime straight in the eye. "No... don't do it just because you want to please me."
"Oh, but I'm not. You know I'm always up to a further step, don't you?"
"Maybe... but if I went too far and permanently injured you..."
"I don't think so... besides, this is a risk I take every night, isn't it?"
"In such an event... you might forgive me... but I wouldn't."
Hime smiled at him. "I'm telling you I'm ready and willing. If you think this is too far, just stop."
Nakita searched around... found two unused 24 foot ropes... and teased Hime by running the ends over her torso... she whimpered at the touch of ropes, but still knew she wasn't making decisions anymore... she'd just be suspended when Nakita decided. He took one rope... it was silk... or at least felt like it... and started wrapping, heading down from Hime's armpits... taking full advantage of the rope's length... leaving 8 feet free each end... Nakita left that rope loose... and wrapped her hips in the same manner...
Digging up a third rope... and locating the eyelets set in the roof... Nakita lifted Hime up with his right arm... his free hand guided the free ends of the ropes through the eyelets... and secured them... now Hime's bodyweight was spread across 12 coils of rope and 4 Tak tested eyelets...
The third rope went through a pair of eyelets as yet unburdened... after being secured... 11 and a half feet to play with for each end. Most of each free end went to wrap Hime's lower legs... a couple of loops around her feet secured it...
Hime shook her body, causing her to slightly oscillate like a swing. She was so aroused her love juices fell to the floor.
Nakita paused to caress Hime... "Enjoying it?"
"Quite..." even out of breath, she managed to answer.
A loud crash sounded nearby... Nakita muttered "GREAT timing..."
Thrown out of her semi trance, Hime tried to understand what was going on. "Nakita, what the hell was that? Tak's playing Houdini again?"
"Dunno..." Nakita let Hime down from the suspension before going to check... shortly after... she could hear a contrabass voice asking "Couple of questions... who the hell am I... where the hell am I... and who the hell are you?"
"Sheesh, Tak... you love banging what you use for your head on stuff..."
"I don't know... who you're talking about... but I'm not him..."
/Ah, how lovely... Tak's either going nuts or getting interference from the Wired.../ Hime thought as she resigned to the fact that she couldn't stand up and go check it.
At that moment... a heavy knocking on the front door.
"Damnation, another one who wants to thrash the door... I'll get it." Kojirou went for the door, a bit pissed at the strength of the knocks.
It was de Takman, gonna crunch de door by knocking it... "Nakita in?"
"Ahn... yeaown... and so... are you..." Kojirou stared at him oddly. "Anyway, come in." as they walked inside, Kojirou cried for Nakita "Heh, we have another Tak out here!"
"WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON?" both voices thundered in response. Tak recovered first... barging in and bounding up the stairs... skidding to a halt when he saw Nakita and the person with him...
"I'm not the one to ask..." Kojirou said as he followed the Takman... when he got to where the brothers were, "Alright, my turn, what the fuck is going on?"
After recognizing who it was, Tak couldn't care less. "Me twin brother." And waltzed down to get something to eat.
"Damn... Kannai looks a lot bigger than when I last saw him..."
"Your DEAD twin brother?" Kojirou tried to ask as Tak went out.
Tak shrugged, "Game NOT over."
"My words exactly." Kannai answered carelessly.
Kojirou turned to the brothers, "Ahn... I'll go untie onee-chan, I'll be right back."
"You're wha'?"
Nakita helped Kannai up... "OK... what the hell happened when you and Tak disappeared?"
Kojirou literally ran to where Hime was, both coming to meet the brothers shortly after.
"We missed anything?" Hime asked as she still didn't know the present giant wasn't Tak.
"That ain't Tak. That's his identical twin brother, Kannai... presumed dead for the past ten years." Nakita answered
"I see... and he decided to show up now... lovely..."
After scooping Hime up, he said: "Well... I'm gonna let you two catch up... I need a bath..."
"Yeaown, you do that..." she turned to Kannai "I'm Hime, nice to meet you... despite the strangeness of the situation..."
Kannai shrugged... tripped down the stairs...
Nakita winced at the noises and curses...
"Kojirou, get me some Red Suffering, will you, dear? I'll go talk to Nakita."
"Say no more..." Kojirou answered as he went for the kitchen.
As he got there, he spotted Tak ravaging the fridge. "Hoe, Takman... mind explaining to me what's happening?"
"Well... one set of Iwakura twins is reunited..."
"Yeaown, but why you act so casual about it?"
"Rather have me freaking out, jumpy, jittery and breaking stuff?"
"I'll pass. Though it would be less strange..." he answered a he gathered the cherry liquor Hime had asked.
"That spa up there big enough to hold all of us?"
"Hah, you wish, Tak..."
Wearing a mischievous grin... he snapped his fingers.
"No, no, Takman... don't even think about that..." he finished gathering the Red Suffering and started going to where Nakita and presumably Hime now were. With nothing better to do... Tak and Kannai followed Kojirou... weird...
He knocked slightly... as Nakita got it, he gave him the trey with cherry liquor, chocolate, and a very sharp knife. Turning to the twins... "Why are you following me anyway?"
In unison, they replied "Nothing else to do..."
"I see... let's just leave the lovebirds to talk, and you explain to me what's been happening in the past ten years..."
Again in unison, they shrugged. Kojirou scratched his eyes, then closed the door and headed back down the stairs.
One of the pair landed in front of him... the other took a more conventional route...
Kojirou shook his head, leading the twins to the living room. "You want something to drink?"
"Yeah... whatcha got?"
"I don't know, really... you can check the kitchen if you want. We're not really good hosts here."
"Tak.. you check..."
"You're younger... lemme give you a hand..."
Tak launched Kannai kitchenwards...
"Kids, kids..." Kojirou said rubbing his temple, "You mind not thrashing my house to the ground?"
Tak shrugged "He's not as heavy as I am.."
"...was that really necessary?"
"We got three bottles of vodka..." Kannai cried from the kitchen
"Tak, can you..." Kojirou started asking "...nevermind, I forgot you don't need glasses."
"Might as well ... for novelty value..."
Kojirou chuckled in response, "If you say..."
Kannai returned with the three bottles and as many schooner glasses.
"Slow return bodydump?"
"Bodywhat?" Kannai asked as he eyed Tak strangely.
"Downloading yourself directly to the wired without benefit of connection."
"Hm, someone who's even more lost than I am... keep going, Tak."
"From what Nakita said... one requirement is severe psychic trauma before the age of 12... we both suffered that..."
"Uh huh... I remember that... one question..."
"Shoot."
"Why'd you ditch your arms?"
"Only way to shut out the voices of the ones that didn't survive." after a short pause "You included."
"Whoa... stop now, guys... does Nakita know about that?"
Tak shook his head.
"Then I guess we better assume they're just talking and go up there."
"No..."
"And why not?"
"You want to disinter a period of madness, you do it without me."
"Whatever you say... K, then keep going."
"What happened on your side of the Wired after the bastard threw the switch?"
"Well... I was ripped from my body... like the others..."
"I heard that..."
"And what have you been doing all this time?" Kojirou asked, looking curiously at Kannai. "Ah, and how's the inside of the Wired?"?
"Floated around...
Kojirou's inquiring look clearly showed he didn't consider the answer enough. But Kannai didn't seem inclined to say more, so Kojirou shrugged, figuring the inside of the Wired probably wasn't that good a place. "Keep going..."
"A little while ago... I became able to temporarily bodydump in outline."
"Outline?"
Tak answered that one "Like a ghost... but you still looked 6..."
Kannai shrugged "Residual self image."
"And how did you become able to do it?"
He pointed at Tak, "I watched and learned from the master... who I also used as a template."
"How so?... no, wait, I get it!"
"Should be very obvious."
"Yeaown, it actually is..." Kojirou answered, scratching the back of his head.
"What took so long?"
"Heh... remembering what the word template means..."
"I'm not as stubborn as you are." Kannai answered
"Ah, you mean Kannai..." Kojirou smacked his forehead.
Before any of the brothers could answer, Kojirou excused himself and left as the intercom rang again.
____
After walking through the main thoroughfare of the Tsugoyaki residence, a house nearly completely Japanese in style, the master bedroom was a definite oddity. As a surprise, Ryuichi Tsugoyaki had the bedroom designed in the style of his late wife's childhood home. The ceilings were high- almost considered vaulted- and had intricate crown moulding. The large picture window had a chaise lounge sitting in the cove of it and red and gold curtains that dragged the floor. Golden couches and chairs were sitting randomly around the room, the largest sitting at the end of the bed. The bed itself was very tall, the top of it only about a foot from the highest point in the ceiling. The top was round and curtains draped elegantly from it. It was a four-post bed, and most of the time the curtains were wrapped around the posts. When the occupant of the bed wanted to close out the world, the curtains simply dropped down to shroud the entire bed in darkness.
On a quiet Saturday morning, Eiri Tsugoyaki had woken up, looked out the window at the bright sun of the new day, and closed the curtains. For the first time in months, she was completely bereft of human contact in the house and now she felt it lonely. Adam had been spending his nights at a dorm at Tokyo Daigaku for the last week, apparently engrossed in laboratory experiments. Caomei, as Muqin was in town, no longer stayed at the Tsugoyaki house. It had been a hard week for Eiri, and she wished that there had been someone there when she got home. Finally, though, she realized that the week was over, and she got back to more important things. She was still in her pyjamas, and her covers will still pulled tightly over her, but she had a laptop in her lap.
"Eight weeks... In theory your baby is still an embryo because it has the remains of a small tail, which will disappear in the next few weeks. But that's the only thing getting smaller. The heart and brain are becoming more complicated, the eyelid folds are forming, the tip of the nose is present, and the arms now bend at the elbows and curve slightly over the heart. You may not look or even feel pregnant, but your uterus is expanding to accommodate your growing baby. Before pregnancy it was the size of a clenched fist; now it's as big as a grapefruit. As it grows you may feel some abdominal cramping and mild twinges." Eiri read, speaking aloud softly.
When she finished reading, Eiri flung back against her pillows. She sighed and looked at the computer's screen, hoping that maybe someone was actually wanting to come in contact with her isolated self.
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Opening the door, Yousuke saw patrons walking back and forth, but no host, which left him alone and confused. Luckily, he had expected that and began to implement his master plan of wandering aimlessly. Down halls, up stair, down into dungeons, into and out of rooms, he saw people in different positions, doing different things. Definitly not his normal hangout - he came for the tea.
Too bad for him, then, that the house was big and he was clueless. Normally bright and quick, the curves and twists of the house reduced him to a child looking for his parent. Getting lost didn't hang him up, though. He decided to wait for someone he recognized to show up, and in the meantime.... the headphones came on. Soon, loud techno music sounded in his skull, and he took a seat against the wall, slouching, smiling, a discarded rag doll without an owner.
Tak spotted Yousuke as he wandered..... on impulse... went over and tried to get his attention...
// Yeah right... like you have difficulties doing THAT //
"Hello, I'm Yousuke. I'm looking for Hime or, oh... who was it? Oh, right, or Kojirou. I was invited to come over again sometime, but I don't really know my way around. Go you suppose you could help?" he asked pleasantly.
In his bass voice, shattering if desired, rumbling with infrasonics if not.. Tak laughed... "Could say that.... Hime's my brother's girlfriend... I knock around with Kojirou a bit... I'll show you around... keep an eye out for my identical twin brother... you won't be able to miss him."
"Oh, right. Hey, thanks a lot for showing me around. Do you work here?" asked Yousuke as he looked around curiously. "Because this place sure is strange. I don't remember seeing anything like it."
"You'll get used to it.... I've been knocking around here on and off since I arrived in Japan."
"Sounds like it could be worse." said Yousuke. "It's kind of strange, but it's nice enough. I'm from the university here, so that's where I'm most familiar with. Spent a little time here, and I like Tokyo a lot." he paused for a second before he added, "So, when did you arrive in Japan?"
"'Bout a year ago. I'm the youngest of a total of eight children. You?"