Disclaimer: I don't own Iria (though I wouldn't mind it….) and I'm not making any money off this. (If I was, do you think you'd see this disclaimer?) The only thing I own here is this story, Shiv, Akira, Kiku and Niji. They're mine, do you hear me? Mine! *laughs nervously* Okay…on with the show…..
Rating: PG-13 - language, violence, and innuendo
Ghosts of the Past
Part 12: Kiss and Take-out
Fujikuro leaned against the railing, gripping it tightly with both hands. She hated him. She hated him. She hated him. She fucking hated him. Why hadn't he just told her about Kiku from the beginning? She would have understood…But no, he had to keep up the fact that it was supposed to be a secret. He closed his eyes and shuddered, flashing back to Jiko's funeral. That casket…Kiku had been bawling her eyes out…And Shiv had one arm around the girl's shoulder, her face had been so cold…Her eyes didn't laugh anymore…And Fujikuro had stood there, knowing it was his words that had sent Jiko off, sent him to his death…It was sometimes to much for him to bear.
He stiffened, hearing the footsteps up the stairs. He knew without turning around that Iria was there, along with two other people. Shiv and Akira, it had to be, though his brain couldn't quite guess how the other lady hunter had gotten out of her contract.
"Please leave," he said in such an even voice that he surprised himself. "Leave, or I will either jump or throw you off."
"No, you won't." Iria…Cold chills ran down his spine. "If you jump, I'll just follow you."
"And if I throw you?" He couldn't believe how serious he sounded.
"Then you'll jump."
"And who will follow me then?"
"Would you shut up with the damn philosophy and listen to the girl?!" Shiv sounded somewhat more pissed off than usual. "I explained everything to her and she has something she wants to say."
Fujikuro was silent for a moment. "I'm waiting."
"Fujikuro, I'm so sorry. I…I didn't want to hear what you had to say because I was afraid that all that we had could fall apart." She looked at him with sorrowful crimson eyes. "Forgive me, Fujikuro. I was an idiot and I know that you probably won't, but I need you to say that you don't hate me. I couldn't live with myself if you hated me. Please."
Fujikuro tightened him grip on the rail. He thought he felt something wet in his eyes, but it was probably just something that had gotten flicked in there making his eyes water. He gave the railing a final squeeze, spun around and gave Iria a sound smack across the face. Before anyone could react, he was kissing her and crying, his tears mingling with hers. "Will you trust me from now on?" he asked her.
"Yes," she whispered, voice choked. "Yes, I will trust you. Just don't leave."
"I promise."
Iria smiled, brushing tears from her cheeks. "You can't promise me that."
"The hell I can't." Fujikuro flashed his best grin and kissed her again.
Still kissing, the couple headed for the stairs. Shiv and Akira stared after them. "If they don't quit looking at each other , they're gonna end up falling down those stairs and one of 'em will twist their ankle," Akira sighed.
Shiv looked at him with a devious smile. "I bet we can beat them to our room."
Akira grinned. "Race ya."
Iria and Fujikuro had barely shut the door to her room, when it opened again and Kei came flying out into the hall. She landed with a thud and scowled over her shoulder at the re-closed door. "You guys had better be using protection!" she screamed at the door. "Unless you want a bunch of little me-s running around!"
"You're not even our biological kid!" Fujikuro hollered back.
"So?!" Kei protested, then scowled further when she heard the sound of something large and heavy being dragged in front of the door.
Suddenly, she heard scuffling noises further down the hall and Shiv's door flew wide open. Niji soared about a foot before hitting the floor. "You guys are mean!" she yelled at the closing door.
"We're are not!" a voice that sounded like Akira's replied.
"Yeah, you're horny," Niji muttered.
"I heard that!" Shiv hollered.
"Don't care!" Niji screamed back.
When she didn't get a response, the girl continued grumbling to herself for several minutes, then looked up and smiled at Kei. "You, too, huh?"
Kei sighed. "Yeah, I hid under the bed. They kinda got suspicious when it went 'ouch' when they sat down."
Niji chuckled. "Man, you're better at this than me. I was in the closet. When I said something about all the lacy black nighties, I guess it wasn't entirely to myself."
Kei burst out laughing. After a few minutes, she managed to wipe the tears of laughter from her eyes. "Oh, I knew I liked you from the minute I saw you. Seeing as how everyone else is going to be occupied for a while, wanna head into town? There's this awesome place with the best damn Chinese food you ever had."
Niji stood up, smiling. "I am getting hungry…but how are we gonna get there?"
Kei flashed a smile. "Hey, I can drive the creeper. And we'll be back before they even notice."
"And if we're not?" Niji folded her arms across her chest.
"We'll bring them back some take-out and hope they don't ask too many questions."
Niji fluffed her bangs and the two girls headed for the garage.
"I mean, can you believe that Iria thought Kiku was a hooker?" Kei reached for another helping of the chicken fried rice.
"I know! Did you order the General Tao platter?"
"No, I thought you did. We'll grab the waiter when he comes back. Anyway, I was thinking about something we could do for their weddings, you know?"
"Yeah, like what?" Niji licked a piece of vegetable from her upper lip.
"Well…Kiku's an artist and she does portraits and stuff for people…" Kei paused to snatch and egg roll.
"So you were thinking we could have her do paintings of Iria and Fujikuro an' Shiv and Akira? Sounds awesome!" Niji refilled her teacup from the pot on the table; as an afterthought, she topped off Kei's. "But how are we going to get them to go and pose for her if we want to keep it a surprise?"
"We don't have them go and pose." Kei grinned at her friend across the table.
"Um…" Niji raised an eyebrow. "Unless this Kiku is a psychic as well, we're gonna be in a bit of deep shit."
"No, no, we don't need them to go and pose!" Kei said, rapidly growing more excited. "We'll give her a picture of them and have her paint the picture!" She pulled out her wallet. "See, I've got one for Iria and Fujikuro already." Kei withdrew a slightly bent photo of Iria and Fujikuro dressed up, at some kind of party. It was the photo Shiv had taken at the Myce Historical Society Ball; true to her word, she'd kept the negatives and slipped Kei a copy.
"Now all we need is a photo of Shiv and Akira," Kei said.
Niji smiled and pulled an envelope from her jacket pocket. "I found this on the floor of Shiv's closet. I guess it's the klepto in me, 'cause I just grabbed it and Shiv didn't seem to notice when she tossed me out the door."
Kei took the envelope from her friend eagerly. Opening the flap, she took out a handful of photographs and began to sift through them. She and Niji leaned over the table, pointing and discussing the likelihood of a particular one being portrait material.
"Look at this one! Do you think they were drunk?"
Niji shook her head. "No, her face isn't red enough. Not like this one…"
"Okay, you're right…This one's nice."
"Yeah, they're smiling…It does look the best of the ones so far." Niji set it off to the side and picked up a few pictures to look through herself. "Oh my God!"
"What?" Kei looked up from the blurred photo in her hands.
"Tell me honestly, what exactly do you think they're doing in this one?"
Kei took the snapshot Niji handed her. The other girl laughed as Kei's face began to twitch. "Oh my…this one is…definitely not the one we're picking."
"Got that right," Niji giggled. "But you have to wonder about whoever developed these…"
Kei clapped a hand over her mouth. "Oh, man! Bet they had a nosebleed from here to kingdom come!"
The pair burst out laughing and had to struggle to stay in their chairs; thankfully, they only received odd looks from a few waiters as the restaurant was mostly empty. After Niji wiped the tears of laughter from her eyes, she said, "Hey, how about as soon as we find the picture we want, we head over to Kiku's tonight?"
Kei shrugged, tossing a piece of tempura chicken in her mouth. "Sounds all right to me."
Niji prepared an assault on the last eggroll, then stopped, the edge of a photo catching her eye. She pulled it out from underneath several other snapshots, eyes widening. "I think we've found a winner. Kei, look at this."
Kei licked her fingers and twisted her neck to get a better look. In the picture, Shiv was wearing an emerald green dress that brought out her eyes. Akira wore an elegant tuxedo and had one arm around Shiv. The pair were smiling beautifully. Kei smiled back at them. "This is definitely it." After stealing the final eggroll, she looked back up at a scowling Niji. "Ready to go?"
Niji sighed and nodded. They paid the bill and left, carrying a large bag of take-out as insurance.
"Are you sure this is the place?" Kei buffed the nameplate on the door with her sleeve.
"It was the only listing for an art gallery that cross-referenced with the name Kiku." Niji shrugged, then pulled a scrap of paper from her pocket. "Chrysanthemum Salon. This is it. You gonna knock?"
Kei sighed. "Whatever." She rapped on the door three times, paused, and got ready to knock again when the girls heard a voice from inside.
"Coming! Wait, hold on; I'm coming!" The door flew open, to reveal a young woman a year or so Iria's junior. Her dark brown hair was done up in a sloppy bun, held in place by a hair scrunchie. She wore a pair of paint-spattered overalls with a white men's T-shirt underneath.
She grinned, gray-green eyes flashing. "How are you? Here for anything special?"
"Actually, we'd kinda like to ask you a favor," Niji began. "May we come in?"
"Oh, sure!" Kiku moved out of the doorway and stepped aside. "Come on." She led the two girls into the living room. Kei and Niji stared in awe; the room was painted floor to ceiling in various elaborate murals. Stars and moons swept across the ceiling and a giant sun took up the floor. Thick jungles with fantasy creatures covered the walls.
"Did you do all of this?" Niji asked, breathless.
"Yeah, but not all at once," Kiku said. "It usually takes me a couple of weeks just to do one area. So, what exactly is it you two are here for?" All three took seats on a couch.
"Well, we're trying to put together a wedding present for some friends of ours," Kei said. "We'd like you to do portraits of two couples, based off of some photos. It's a surprise, so that's why we're using pictures instead of people."
Kiku nodded enthusiastically. "I get it. Can I see what I'm going to be working with?" Kei handed the artist the two photos they'd selected. Kiku nodded approvingly at Shiv and Akira's picture, then gasped at the other. "Oh my God! This is Fujikuro, isn't it?!" She looked up at the two girls. "He's getting married?! I can't believe it!"
Kei and Niji grinned. "You'd better believe it," Kei said.
Kiku grinned back. "This is going to be the best project ever."
"Don't you know her, too?" Niji asked, pointing to Shiv's picture.
Kiku's brow furrowed in concentration. "You know, she looks a lot like this girl my brother used to date…named Shiv."
"That's her," Niji chirped.
Kiku froze. "Seriously?" she whispered. "She looks so different all dressed up…and that guy…he looks so much like my brother…" Unshed tears glittered in the artist's eyes.
"I'm glad she found somebody," she murmured. "She was so lonely…It's good to see her happy again…"
Kiku looked up quickly, smiling. "You know what? Forget the charge. This is gonna be part of my wedding present, too. If you girls don't mind, that is," she added.
Kei and Niji shook their heads. "No, fine by us," Kei said, then grinned. "Actually, you'd be doing us a favor. I'm not quite sure how we'd have paid you otherwise."
Kiku laughed. "Hey, at least you're honest." She stood. "Come into the kitchen with me. I wanna fix us all a snack before you have to go. And you two can catch me up on the latest gossip."
Kei and Niji flashed each other evil looks. "Have we got some stories for you…"
*******
And thus everyone has sex and Kiku gets a bigger part in the story. Hurrah.
Now entering the chapter drought. I'm not sure where exactly I'm going, so prepare for a long time with no update. Don't kill me please. Thanks.
Ja ne.
~Kat~
Rating: PG-13 - language, violence, and innuendo
Ghosts of the Past
Part 12: Kiss and Take-out
Fujikuro leaned against the railing, gripping it tightly with both hands. She hated him. She hated him. She hated him. She fucking hated him. Why hadn't he just told her about Kiku from the beginning? She would have understood…But no, he had to keep up the fact that it was supposed to be a secret. He closed his eyes and shuddered, flashing back to Jiko's funeral. That casket…Kiku had been bawling her eyes out…And Shiv had one arm around the girl's shoulder, her face had been so cold…Her eyes didn't laugh anymore…And Fujikuro had stood there, knowing it was his words that had sent Jiko off, sent him to his death…It was sometimes to much for him to bear.
He stiffened, hearing the footsteps up the stairs. He knew without turning around that Iria was there, along with two other people. Shiv and Akira, it had to be, though his brain couldn't quite guess how the other lady hunter had gotten out of her contract.
"Please leave," he said in such an even voice that he surprised himself. "Leave, or I will either jump or throw you off."
"No, you won't." Iria…Cold chills ran down his spine. "If you jump, I'll just follow you."
"And if I throw you?" He couldn't believe how serious he sounded.
"Then you'll jump."
"And who will follow me then?"
"Would you shut up with the damn philosophy and listen to the girl?!" Shiv sounded somewhat more pissed off than usual. "I explained everything to her and she has something she wants to say."
Fujikuro was silent for a moment. "I'm waiting."
"Fujikuro, I'm so sorry. I…I didn't want to hear what you had to say because I was afraid that all that we had could fall apart." She looked at him with sorrowful crimson eyes. "Forgive me, Fujikuro. I was an idiot and I know that you probably won't, but I need you to say that you don't hate me. I couldn't live with myself if you hated me. Please."
Fujikuro tightened him grip on the rail. He thought he felt something wet in his eyes, but it was probably just something that had gotten flicked in there making his eyes water. He gave the railing a final squeeze, spun around and gave Iria a sound smack across the face. Before anyone could react, he was kissing her and crying, his tears mingling with hers. "Will you trust me from now on?" he asked her.
"Yes," she whispered, voice choked. "Yes, I will trust you. Just don't leave."
"I promise."
Iria smiled, brushing tears from her cheeks. "You can't promise me that."
"The hell I can't." Fujikuro flashed his best grin and kissed her again.
Still kissing, the couple headed for the stairs. Shiv and Akira stared after them. "If they don't quit looking at each other , they're gonna end up falling down those stairs and one of 'em will twist their ankle," Akira sighed.
Shiv looked at him with a devious smile. "I bet we can beat them to our room."
Akira grinned. "Race ya."
Iria and Fujikuro had barely shut the door to her room, when it opened again and Kei came flying out into the hall. She landed with a thud and scowled over her shoulder at the re-closed door. "You guys had better be using protection!" she screamed at the door. "Unless you want a bunch of little me-s running around!"
"You're not even our biological kid!" Fujikuro hollered back.
"So?!" Kei protested, then scowled further when she heard the sound of something large and heavy being dragged in front of the door.
Suddenly, she heard scuffling noises further down the hall and Shiv's door flew wide open. Niji soared about a foot before hitting the floor. "You guys are mean!" she yelled at the closing door.
"We're are not!" a voice that sounded like Akira's replied.
"Yeah, you're horny," Niji muttered.
"I heard that!" Shiv hollered.
"Don't care!" Niji screamed back.
When she didn't get a response, the girl continued grumbling to herself for several minutes, then looked up and smiled at Kei. "You, too, huh?"
Kei sighed. "Yeah, I hid under the bed. They kinda got suspicious when it went 'ouch' when they sat down."
Niji chuckled. "Man, you're better at this than me. I was in the closet. When I said something about all the lacy black nighties, I guess it wasn't entirely to myself."
Kei burst out laughing. After a few minutes, she managed to wipe the tears of laughter from her eyes. "Oh, I knew I liked you from the minute I saw you. Seeing as how everyone else is going to be occupied for a while, wanna head into town? There's this awesome place with the best damn Chinese food you ever had."
Niji stood up, smiling. "I am getting hungry…but how are we gonna get there?"
Kei flashed a smile. "Hey, I can drive the creeper. And we'll be back before they even notice."
"And if we're not?" Niji folded her arms across her chest.
"We'll bring them back some take-out and hope they don't ask too many questions."
Niji fluffed her bangs and the two girls headed for the garage.
"I mean, can you believe that Iria thought Kiku was a hooker?" Kei reached for another helping of the chicken fried rice.
"I know! Did you order the General Tao platter?"
"No, I thought you did. We'll grab the waiter when he comes back. Anyway, I was thinking about something we could do for their weddings, you know?"
"Yeah, like what?" Niji licked a piece of vegetable from her upper lip.
"Well…Kiku's an artist and she does portraits and stuff for people…" Kei paused to snatch and egg roll.
"So you were thinking we could have her do paintings of Iria and Fujikuro an' Shiv and Akira? Sounds awesome!" Niji refilled her teacup from the pot on the table; as an afterthought, she topped off Kei's. "But how are we going to get them to go and pose for her if we want to keep it a surprise?"
"We don't have them go and pose." Kei grinned at her friend across the table.
"Um…" Niji raised an eyebrow. "Unless this Kiku is a psychic as well, we're gonna be in a bit of deep shit."
"No, no, we don't need them to go and pose!" Kei said, rapidly growing more excited. "We'll give her a picture of them and have her paint the picture!" She pulled out her wallet. "See, I've got one for Iria and Fujikuro already." Kei withdrew a slightly bent photo of Iria and Fujikuro dressed up, at some kind of party. It was the photo Shiv had taken at the Myce Historical Society Ball; true to her word, she'd kept the negatives and slipped Kei a copy.
"Now all we need is a photo of Shiv and Akira," Kei said.
Niji smiled and pulled an envelope from her jacket pocket. "I found this on the floor of Shiv's closet. I guess it's the klepto in me, 'cause I just grabbed it and Shiv didn't seem to notice when she tossed me out the door."
Kei took the envelope from her friend eagerly. Opening the flap, she took out a handful of photographs and began to sift through them. She and Niji leaned over the table, pointing and discussing the likelihood of a particular one being portrait material.
"Look at this one! Do you think they were drunk?"
Niji shook her head. "No, her face isn't red enough. Not like this one…"
"Okay, you're right…This one's nice."
"Yeah, they're smiling…It does look the best of the ones so far." Niji set it off to the side and picked up a few pictures to look through herself. "Oh my God!"
"What?" Kei looked up from the blurred photo in her hands.
"Tell me honestly, what exactly do you think they're doing in this one?"
Kei took the snapshot Niji handed her. The other girl laughed as Kei's face began to twitch. "Oh my…this one is…definitely not the one we're picking."
"Got that right," Niji giggled. "But you have to wonder about whoever developed these…"
Kei clapped a hand over her mouth. "Oh, man! Bet they had a nosebleed from here to kingdom come!"
The pair burst out laughing and had to struggle to stay in their chairs; thankfully, they only received odd looks from a few waiters as the restaurant was mostly empty. After Niji wiped the tears of laughter from her eyes, she said, "Hey, how about as soon as we find the picture we want, we head over to Kiku's tonight?"
Kei shrugged, tossing a piece of tempura chicken in her mouth. "Sounds all right to me."
Niji prepared an assault on the last eggroll, then stopped, the edge of a photo catching her eye. She pulled it out from underneath several other snapshots, eyes widening. "I think we've found a winner. Kei, look at this."
Kei licked her fingers and twisted her neck to get a better look. In the picture, Shiv was wearing an emerald green dress that brought out her eyes. Akira wore an elegant tuxedo and had one arm around Shiv. The pair were smiling beautifully. Kei smiled back at them. "This is definitely it." After stealing the final eggroll, she looked back up at a scowling Niji. "Ready to go?"
Niji sighed and nodded. They paid the bill and left, carrying a large bag of take-out as insurance.
"Are you sure this is the place?" Kei buffed the nameplate on the door with her sleeve.
"It was the only listing for an art gallery that cross-referenced with the name Kiku." Niji shrugged, then pulled a scrap of paper from her pocket. "Chrysanthemum Salon. This is it. You gonna knock?"
Kei sighed. "Whatever." She rapped on the door three times, paused, and got ready to knock again when the girls heard a voice from inside.
"Coming! Wait, hold on; I'm coming!" The door flew open, to reveal a young woman a year or so Iria's junior. Her dark brown hair was done up in a sloppy bun, held in place by a hair scrunchie. She wore a pair of paint-spattered overalls with a white men's T-shirt underneath.
She grinned, gray-green eyes flashing. "How are you? Here for anything special?"
"Actually, we'd kinda like to ask you a favor," Niji began. "May we come in?"
"Oh, sure!" Kiku moved out of the doorway and stepped aside. "Come on." She led the two girls into the living room. Kei and Niji stared in awe; the room was painted floor to ceiling in various elaborate murals. Stars and moons swept across the ceiling and a giant sun took up the floor. Thick jungles with fantasy creatures covered the walls.
"Did you do all of this?" Niji asked, breathless.
"Yeah, but not all at once," Kiku said. "It usually takes me a couple of weeks just to do one area. So, what exactly is it you two are here for?" All three took seats on a couch.
"Well, we're trying to put together a wedding present for some friends of ours," Kei said. "We'd like you to do portraits of two couples, based off of some photos. It's a surprise, so that's why we're using pictures instead of people."
Kiku nodded enthusiastically. "I get it. Can I see what I'm going to be working with?" Kei handed the artist the two photos they'd selected. Kiku nodded approvingly at Shiv and Akira's picture, then gasped at the other. "Oh my God! This is Fujikuro, isn't it?!" She looked up at the two girls. "He's getting married?! I can't believe it!"
Kei and Niji grinned. "You'd better believe it," Kei said.
Kiku grinned back. "This is going to be the best project ever."
"Don't you know her, too?" Niji asked, pointing to Shiv's picture.
Kiku's brow furrowed in concentration. "You know, she looks a lot like this girl my brother used to date…named Shiv."
"That's her," Niji chirped.
Kiku froze. "Seriously?" she whispered. "She looks so different all dressed up…and that guy…he looks so much like my brother…" Unshed tears glittered in the artist's eyes.
"I'm glad she found somebody," she murmured. "She was so lonely…It's good to see her happy again…"
Kiku looked up quickly, smiling. "You know what? Forget the charge. This is gonna be part of my wedding present, too. If you girls don't mind, that is," she added.
Kei and Niji shook their heads. "No, fine by us," Kei said, then grinned. "Actually, you'd be doing us a favor. I'm not quite sure how we'd have paid you otherwise."
Kiku laughed. "Hey, at least you're honest." She stood. "Come into the kitchen with me. I wanna fix us all a snack before you have to go. And you two can catch me up on the latest gossip."
Kei and Niji flashed each other evil looks. "Have we got some stories for you…"
*******
And thus everyone has sex and Kiku gets a bigger part in the story. Hurrah.
Now entering the chapter drought. I'm not sure where exactly I'm going, so prepare for a long time with no update. Don't kill me please. Thanks.
Ja ne.
~Kat~