…. Um, I have nothing to say. Read on!
Fiery-ice: I will gladly slap you b4 you go mental *slap* You okay, fiery ice? Hello?
Rapt142: Whoa. That's a huge statement to make, Rapt142-san. You can live without my fics, I assure you, as long as you have oxygen. ^_^
Patty g: What do you want me to do to Aki? Heh heh heh. We'll see. Sorry if the previous chapter wasn't up to your liking *apologises sincerely*
Unchained: okay, you can see what happens next now. : )
Silhouette Panther: Am continuing.
Tensaispira: Seduction? You think Porka will seduce Sendoh-san??
Joy: Updated! So go on and read!
Jo-sen7: Thanks for waiting!
Frozenfemale: ha ha ha! *watches with amusement as frozenfemale shakes Porka up, and then joins in* yeah, Porka! Don't you know us girls wait for the guys to say it FIRST?? *drags off Porka to be kicked into dating school*
Alexia: 2/3 of the chapter? REALLY? Sorry about that! Tell you what, next time, don't bother about the a/n. Don't even LOOK at it or JUDGE it's length. Just go straight to the story and you'll be happier. : )
sLL: My fav story is this one about Harry Potter written by van Der girl. She writes the best one liners, I tell you. I wish I could do that. Anywya, if you're a harry potter fan, check it out! It's called 'All I see is red'. And I really wish you'd continue your story. It's only fair that you update just as much as I do, rite?? I really want to know and read what's going to happen. Maybe I should chain you to your computer like how a few people have been threatening to do to me!
Tiran: I'll try to make up for the last chapter with this one, okay?
Lazuli: I hope your sister's okay and normal now. Ha ha ha!
Fer-chan: How come I never thought of that, eh? Okay! You can give Porka Miyagi's number!
Shirodachi: Ha ha! You caught me by surprise with your squealings. What's there to squeal about, anyway? Still, you can squeal all you want! Ha ha! And just out of curiosity, which one of you's the older one? You or lazuli?
Choco_no_baka: Ha ha! Pokka! I should've used THAT name!
Reika Zelon: It's her own fault that her secret's out! Ha ha!
Sen Battousai: Hey, what does your name mean by the way? Happy belated birthday!
She was cooking up a storm in the kitchen. All sorts of smell wafted from various pots and pans, and smoke billowed, black and sooty. Porka moved busily from one end to another, stirring this and spooning that.
Ayako watched quietly from the door. "Is something bothering you, Porka?"
Porka looked up from behind the oven, her nose dotted with black smudges. "No, why?"
"Because the last time you got worried and all worked up about the dying horse in the stable, you cooked ten different meals that had never existed in this world before. And when Aki broke an arm a few months ago, you made the kitchen explode with a dozen types of muffins. Then when you thought you were dying when all you had was a cold, you destroyed the oven while trying to bake a loaf of bread bigger than your head."
Porka paused and grinned. "I did, didn't I? Sorry about that."
"Why are you cooking now?"
"No reason. I happen to like cooking, didn't you know?"
Ayako raised an eyebrow suspiciously. "No. I didn't know that."
"Well, now you do."
"What's happening here?" Sendoh popped his head in, fully dressed and looking as if he was going somewhere formal. "Porka, are you trying to burn the house down?"
"No. I already tried that, but it didn't work." She smiled winsomely at him, and almost snarled when he didn't produce a reaction. "Just trying out a few experiments, Master. I'll even give you the honour of being one of the first to taste it."
Sendoh looked at Ayako. "Is it safe?"
Ayako laughed and walked away. Refusing to be insulted by that, Porka continued her work, though her movements were now more rigid than natural. She decided food poisoning for her loud-mouthed master wouldn't be all that bad, and tried to think of any ingredients that would serve that purpose.
Sniffing one pot of colourless liquid, she smiled delightedly. Taking a bowl, she spooned some out and turned to Sendoh. "Try it."
He had been watching her with a kind of amused, laughing eyes. Now however, he stared suspiciously at her. Her eyes grew hard and stony, and he quickly decided he'd better do as he was told before those eyes turned into fire. He suddenly realised how ironic it was that he was scared of his own slave instead of the other way round. "All right. No need to glare your eyeballs out at me."
She watched him taste it.
He looked at her impassively for a moment, and then said: "Not bad."
Porka bristled. Not bad? NOT BAD?? "Is that all you can say??"
"Well," he thought about it, "if this is your idea of making me fall in love with you, then it's not working."
She gave him one furious glare. "Get away from me," she hissed at him.
"You wanted me to say something," he reminded her defensively, having trouble keeping his wide grin in check.
She shoved him aside, took another bowl and poured the liquid inside. "I'll go find Aki." She muttered hotly. "At least he'll have something nice to say." She swept away from the kitchen, stomping all the way and leaving the still-bubbling pots and pans behind her.
Sendoh chuckled. Then silently, he refilled his bowl and ate ravenously. The girl frequently drove him over the edge, but she's sure a good cook.
It went on that way. Porka attempted all sorts of strategies – even going as far as looking for a love potion or something of that kind. And every time, he mercilessly chided her efforts, not laughing openly, but with a clear amusement – which hurt her more than anything else.
She started to consider the possibilities that her master was gay.
Eri came sometimes, and he flirted outrageously with her, though. As a matter of fact, he seemed to flirt with everybody else except her. Porka thought it was because he was purposefully aggravating her, but after some thinking, she realised it was part of his nature. That was even worse. If flirting was so natural to him that he automatically did it with every living girl, but not with her, then that meant there was something wrong with her.
On some occasions, she found herself staring at the mirror and looking for flaws. What was wrong with her, anyway? She had grown nicely, filled out in the necessary places. She wasn't exactly downright ugly. Her feet didn't smell. Her ears weren't dirty. What was missing then??
Every time her carefully prepared plan failed, Porka found herself unconsciously looking for Aki. He somehow turned out to be her ego-restoring agent. His admiration for her contrasted with his brother's scorn, and because of that, he became her solace. Quite often, after a heated argument with the older brother, she would seek Aki out and lavishly shower him with shows of affection to cool herself down. Pampering the boy was her favourite past time.
She didn't realise, however, that Aki was taking the meaning of her undivided attention quite differently. Sendoh observed the situation one day, and firmly locked Porka and himself in a room for another round of screaming.
"Stop playing around with his feelings," he told her irritably. "The way you've been acting around him is absolutely disgraceful. He's just a boy, for heaven's sake. Haven't you any consideration for him??"
Porka hissed right back. "What on earth are you talking about?? I'm doing my job, aren't I? I'm supposed to be his companion, aren't I? And I'm doing exactly that."
"He's head over heels in love with you."
Porka stared at him. "Don't be absurd," she laughed. "He's barely fifteen. He doesn't even know what love is. Can you relax?? He's just fond of me, unlike certain people in this house."
"He thinks it's love, and he's never all that smart enough to begin with. And you flirting with him like that is only going to make things worse."
"Look, it's up to me what I do with him, okay? And for your information, I don't have those kind of intentions toward your brother. I love him, right enough, but hardly in the way you think I do."
"Exactly!" he smacked a table to accentuate his point. "That's just it! You don't feel that way, but he thinks you do."
"Well, that's not my fault."
"Not your fault? You've been flaunting yourself in his face. Anybody would think you're trying to seduce him."
She glowered dangerously at him. "I think this is a ridiculously stupid thing to argue about," she told him. "If you don't mind, I have better things to do than stare at your idiotic face." She headed for the door and turned the lock.
He watched her coolly for a minute. Then, "You know what I think?" he said quietly, but with an edge to his voice. "I think you're frustrated because I don't seem to be falling for you, and you've set your sights on Aki because he's easier and helpless to resist you."
Porka's eyes flashed. She turned, face dark as a thundercloud. Quite suddenly, she brought her fist out and punched his stomach. He staggered in effect, but remained standing. "You pig!" she screamed. "I may seem like a hooker to you, but I genuinely care for Aki and I'd rather hurl myself over a cliff before any harm came to him! And you accusing me of purposefully manipulating Aki for my own advantage is the lowest one ever!" Her eyes turning alarmingly red, she whirled around and dashed out of the room.
Her eyes were brimming, her hands itching to cook up another frenzy. I give up. That brain-damaged hunk of a being is incapable of bestowing the least of affection on me. I'd had more success with a turtle possessing a half-brain than with him. Hurt and miserable, she went to get supplies from the nearby farmer. Quite a few people bought from him, and when she arrived at his farmstead, there were about six people already waiting and buying.
"Have you heard?" a woman was chattering excitedly. "Some strangers came here a few days ago. Rough looking people, I heard, and very fierce too. Created a bit of havoc in the nearby village."
"What do they want?" another woman asked curiously.
"How should I know? Maybe they're just drunk or crazy." Her little eyes brightened. "Though I do recall someone telling me that their purpose here is to find somebody. Somebody badly wanted, I'd say. They're looking very, very hard."
"Who are they, anyway?"
"I don't know. But the man who sent them is Nakaji – or so I heard."
Porka quite suddenly froze in the act of picking a potato up. Slowly, almost painfully, she straightened. "Excuse me," she said then, "did I hear you say Nakaji?"
The two women looked at her. "Why, yes. Do you happen to know him, young girl?"
Porka paled visibly, blood draining out of her face rapidly. "No, I – I don't. I better – I have to go." She turned on her heels and ran for home.
The two women stared at each other. "You don't think she's…" The sentence trailed away unfinished.
Sendoh had been brooding for almost six hours, sitting dully in his room and staring out the window. He'd finished practically six bottles of wine, and the drink settled in his brain like warm, fuzzy cotton.
He had done a lot of thinking, and now a headache cheerfully greeted him.
Maybe he had gone too far. Perhaps he had been extra spiteful at Porka, but who could blame him? The victim under discussion was his brother, after all. He couldn't just sit there and watch while she expertly wrapped Aki neatly around her finger.
He took another bottle and absently started to uncork it.
Thinking back on it, Porka did nothing more than smile just a little too often with a slightly overdone hint of flirting. Perhaps it was Aki's doing, after all. Adolescents tend to have weird ideas around that age. Even a careless gift of a dead flower could be mistaken as courting. Sendoh knew that from personal experience.
He sighed and put back the bottle.
He had some apologising to do.
He trudged wearily to Porka's room and knocked, patiently waiting. After the third knock, he began to get irritated. "Open the door, Porka," he muttered. "You can't sulk forever, and sooner or later you'll have to come out for food anyway."
He waited.
"Open the door. I promise I'll drop down on my knees and grovel on the floor for your entertainment."
Then, swearing lightly, he searched his pockets and found the master key. He unlocked the door and pushed it open, cautiously peering around and expecting an enraged Porka with a knife in hand.
The room was empty.
He frowned, blinking furiously. There was a ragged scrap of paper carelessly thrown on the floor, along with money . Making some noises, he bent down and took it.
Sorry. Here's your three hundred. If you want the other half, find Inando – Porka.
Ironically, his mind started to clear as a sudden suspicion dawned in him. Eyes narrowing into slits, he crossed her bedroom to the closet, and with uncharacteristic fury, flung the wooden drawers open.
Empty.
His lips thinned considerably.
Porka had run away.
Hooray! Porka has run away! NOW let's see how Sendoh-san deals with it!