Hey there. Just so you all know…which you prob do
already…but I don't own any of the characters in
here…except for the original ones. (Original=- Soku,
Teru, Kashi, Doraku and of course Keara and Nug.)
This was just one of those things…ya know? It started late one night after a long day of snow sports…and it has become this. I hope you enjoy. ^^
In a happy little snow village called Yar in upstate West Virginia sat an equally happy little shop. The owners of the shop were two young women with a revolutionary new idea. The idea was apparently attracting the attention of many tourists and natives alike, especially fellow young women.
Keara yawned widely, "I hate waking up early…maybe we should open later in the day…"
"Mmm…" Nug simply made a sound in reply.
A random customer, a girl roughly the age of 20 wandered curiously into the store and glanced around looking a bit bewildered.
"Hello!" Keara attempted to sound awake and cheerful. "Can I help you with anything today?"
Nug raised an eyebrow and took another sip of coffee, better known as Nug Fuel.
"Umm…" the girl fidgeted with her long blonde hair. "Why is this one so much more than the other?"
Keara blinked, "Which other?"
The girl indicated a tall blue haired man in a long white coat sitting on a shelf with a label under him, which read 'Legato Bluesummers'.
Nug laughed, "He bites." Then returned to her coffee.
"I do not!" Legato protested.
The blonde girl jumped and stared at Legato in fear, "They talk?"
"Of course we talk," a voice came from nearby. It came from a rather feminine looking man sitting in front of the window with long silver hair and…a skirt?
"Is this legal??" The blonde's eyes looked like large dinner plates.
"I don't see why not," Nug shrugged. "They're just bishounen. We get new model shipments every once in awhile."
Silence. Then:
"That's a creepy thought," yet another new voice joined the exchange.
"Hush you, Teru," Keara waved a finger at another blue haired man, this one in a dark gray trench coat.
Teru rolled his eyes, "I feel like I'm in a zoo…"
Maniacal giggling came from the Nug as she poured herself more coffee.
"I must say I agree with him," the silver haired bishounen spoke up again. "Honestly, if you look out the window at all the people crowding around."
Legato smiled slyly, "Well, since you are the window display, it would make sense."
In the midst of all this babble the blonde girl had wandered off to look at other bishounen models. She came upon a younger looking man with short light pink hair and a forlorn expression.
"Please, help me," He whimpered. "You have to get me out of here!"
Even through all the freakiness of before, the girl's heart went out to this poor stranded young man. Without thinking about it she glanced down at the shelf tag, which read 'Kashi Rikou-original by Nug'.
"I can't believe you're going to let some newb take my spot!" Legato glared at Keara.
"But we have to put him somewhere! He has wings so he needs lots of shelf space!" Keara argued back. "Maybe if you behave we'll stick you next to Kuja when he's off special next week."
Kuja, still lazing in the window, rolled his eyes, and then smiled at a passing couple.
"I can't believe we have to argue with our end-caps," Keara sighed.
"Can I have this one?" The blonde customer interjected. "He seems nice."
Nug, now full of fuel, bounded over to the counter, "Sure, you just need to fill out some paperwork for the rental and you can be on your way."
During a slow point in the day Keara and Nug began to look over the paperwork that they had accumulated since opening the shop. Out of sheer boredom Nug began to sort the papers by bishounen.
"You know…" Nug compared one large stack to the others. "Kashi gets rented more than any other bishies here."
Legato rolled his eyes, "That's because he cheats."
"Kashi doesn't cheat!" Teru growled.
At this point Kuja would have made a comment, but he was off with a young girl from Virginia who had wanted a dance partner at the nightclub she was going to that evening.
"Well…there may be something to what Legato is saying," Keara regarded the stack of forms. "Maybe we should move him so we can keep him under surveillance."
"Under video surveillance, I say," a voice from behind them commented.
Nug looked up from her sorting, "Soku, I thought you were in the back taking a break."
Soku, an older bishounen with short black hair and sparkling green eyes sauntered out of the bishounen break room and meandered over to the rental counter.
Legato gave Soku an incredulous look, "I suppose you want to volunteer for this?"
"No!" Teru stood up sharply, banging his head on the shelf above his, cursing under his breath at his stupidity. Rubbing the top of his head Teru continued. "I know what you're up to. You just want to be able to…er…"
"Do exactly what we're doing?" Keara raised an eyebrow.
Nug began laughing for apparently no reason, "Did you see this?"
Keara peered over the counter to see what slip Nug was giggling at, "Someone rented Kuja, huh?"
"You didn't know?" Legato seemed surprised.
"I think she was on lunch at the time," Nug offered. "But look, I forgot about this. She got some black leather pants of the shiny variety and she also got him a blue sequined top to go with them!"
Laughter rippled through the group but was interrupted by an indignant voice, "Who took my clothes?!"
A bishounen with wispy purple hair and red eyes stormed out of the storeroom waving his red glasses in Nug and Keara's direction.
"I don't recall them ever being specifically yours, Doraku," Keara crossed her arms. "Besides, they were fitted for Kuja's form, there's no way they could be yours. Maybe you lost them when you took them out for a test run.
Keara got a strange look from Legato, "Why would be lose his clothes?"
"Go put some damn clothes on!" Teru growled. "You're being indecent and a customer could come in at any time!"
The bell above the door chimed merrily and a young male entered looking pretty confident about his choice of coming into the Bishounen rental.
Teru was busy trying to shove Doraku back into the storeroom while Nug tried to distract the boy from seeing anything they could get sued for.
"What may I help you with today?" Nug asked with a big smile, waving her hands to get the young man's attention.
The effort was, however, in vain as he simply stared at Doraku being pushed forcibly back into the storeroom.
"I'll take that one," the boy ran a hand through some of his short cut black hair and smiled slightly. "He seems pretty spirited."
Keara and Nug exchanged glances then simultaneously looked back at the casually dressed male. "Ok, but let's get your paperwork done while he gets dressed, it is a bit cold outside today."
Teru made a distinctive flat-eyes expression and stopped trying to push Doraku around. Legato looked the customer over carefully as if there was something wrong with the boy. His mouth formed a small smile at the corner of his mouth; maybe it was time to perform a questionnaire.
"So," Legato sidled up next to the boy as he was filling out his rental information. "What do you plan on using our dear Doraku for?"
The customer, Seichi, (as Legato discovered) looked up at Legato calmly, then smiled. "He's going to keep me company this evening, and I'll return him in the morning."
Teru's interest piqued and he stretched a little so he could peer around the looming Legato to see Seichi's reactions to his questions.
Keara and Nug remained silent, knowing better than to interrupt his mini inquisitions. They pretended to be over-occupied with a stack of old rental receipts while they actually listened in on the freshly appeared entertainment.
Soku yawned and leaned against a wall while taking in the spectacle of the shop and it's inhabitants. Doraku had long since smugly wandered back to find some provocative clothing to wear.
"You're only keeping him for one night?" Legato's eyebrows raised in what everyone else but Seichi knew was fake surprise. "With a body like his? Come now, if you knew what he could do you'd come running back to keep him longer."
For the first time since entering the shop the boy looked nervous and unsure of what he was getting himself into. Legato noticed this weakness and decided this would be the prime opportunity to exercise his persuasion tactics. The girls decided to tactfully turn a blind eye to Legato's preying and tried to look busy straightening their papers.
"This would be a good opportunity to rent out two of us so that our full potential can be realized for your benefit," Legato smiled predatorily and leaned on the counter. "That way if you get tired you can just watch."
A little bell dinged in Keara's head and she stood up to stare at Legato, who winked at her as Seichi stared at his rental form in contemplation.
"I'm not sure if I really want to go that far…" Seichi cut himself off with a nervous cough.
Legato's expression changed to one that appeared encouraging, "You are the one to make the decision. I must say you looked very confident upon your entering this little shop. I trust you'll make a choice that you are happy with."
Nug coughed and looked up at Keara from the coffee cup that had somehow materialized in her hands. Keara nodded back then motioned for Legato to lean towards her so she could impart some knowledge to her bishounen.
"Legato," she whispered so the customer wouldn't hear. "This is not a whore house. We're not supposed to be renting you out to have intimate relations with people. At least, if that's what people want, let's do it covertly so we don't get shut down for prostitution."
In response Legato raised an inquisitive eyebrow, then shrugged and turned back to Seichi, "Well, Doraku should be ready by now, I'll go back and retrieve him."
With that he ambled into the back room carefully pushing the beaded curtain out of his way before ducking through the doorway. Soku coughed and smiled into his hand then looked up at Keara with an expression showing that he knew what Legato was up to.
Nug looked up when she heard the silence, peered over at their new customer, then turned her attention on Keara and Soku who were staring at each other. Of course she knew what that meant; it meant they were talking by way of Soku's mind speaking powers, which was the only way non-magic inclined Keara could mind talk with their bishounen.
She waved her hand a little to catch Soku's attention then got his eye contact so that he knew she wanted to be included.
/Sorry, love./ Soku smiled. /We were just saying how Legato is trying to get himself rented for the evening./
/I think it's pretty amusing/ Keara's mind voice had a smile to it. /He apparently doesn't care how he goes about doing it either./
Nug grinned, /To him the end justifies the means./
"That it does," Legato said out loud as he reentered the main shop area, causing Seichi to jump. "Sorry about that, I was just finishing a conversation with Doraku. He's coming right now."
On cue Doraku swept out of the back room and sashayed over to the counter clad in a black suit with red pinstripes all topped with a long black leather coat with a satin red interior.
The customer was bewildered by the sight, which caused Keara and Nug to grin stupidly at each other. A satisfied customer was always a good thing for them. "Ok…" Seichi scratched his head and looked nervously at Legato. "I think I'll be fine with just Doraku."
Legato smiled and nodded, "That's perfectly fine if that's your choice."
Doraku gave Legato a condescending smile, "And that's how you get chosen."
Seichi coughed, "Well, let's get going then. I have dinner reservations that are waiting on us."
"That was odd," Nug squinted after the pair that had just exited out the etched glass door.
"People are strange," Keara shrugged.
"No…" Nug's brow furrowed in thought. "He looked kinda familiar."
Legato glared at the door, "Next time I see him he's going to be a miserable pile of pain."
Soku laughed out loud, "Oh come now, Legato. You can't let a little competition get to you."
Keara stretched, "Come on Nuggy. We got that shipment of Demo bishies that we've only glanced over that need to come out here on the floor."
"Okie…" Nug gulped the rest of her coffee and followed Keara to the loading bay behind the storeroom.
The backroom had a few large boxes piled up at the loading bay, which the girl approached casually and began searching for their packing list.
After a few minutes of fervent searching they found the packing list on a pile of Doraku's clothing.
Nug blinked, "I guess he wanted some reading material while he was getting dressed."
"Or he was harassing our new bishies," Keara examined the list. "Alright Nuggy, I'm gonna read off the box numbers. They should all be Demo…" She squinted in the dim light.
"Yeah," Nug looked over the large cardboard containers. "You can just read the number after DEM."
Keara nodded and readied her sparkly blue pen for checking off product numbers, "Ok, here we go… 1905."
"Err…" Nug thought for a second. "Check?"
"Bueno," Keara marked off her first number. "1109"
"Che…hold on…" Nug moved a shirt off one of the boxes. "Check."
"2015"
"Right here."
"1909"
Silence.
"Nug? 1909?"
"I'm not seeing it."
Keara wandered over to where Nug was standing and they looked around for a few moments. There were three bishy boxes, boxes of their clothing and accessories…but the last bishy box was nowhere to be seen.
"I guess they forgot to ship it…" Nug shrugged.
Without warning a thunderous bang came from the next room and they hurried back out to the store to see who Legato had attempted murder on this time.
"What did you do now Legato?" Keara exclaimed as she rushed in.
She stopped suddenly, so suddenly in fact that Nug ran into her from behind with a sound of surprise.
Legato and Soku looked over at the girls for a moment then turned their attention back to the radio show they were engrossed in.
Nug peeked around Keara. "What are you two doing?"
"Listening to the radio, what else?" Legato replied without looking at them. "Now shut up so I can hear what's going on."
Keara rolled her eyes and meandered over to the counter to join the bishounen listening to the radio show. Nug blinked, looked back into the stock room, then back at Keara who was now staring intently at the radio, apparently listening.
With a shrug Nug joined the group giving up on trying to get Keara to focus on anything work related.
"Hitchhikers!" Keara exclaimed suddenly, making everyone except Legato jump.
"Are you trying to kill me?" Teru stood up and glared at Keara.
"It is!" Nug pointed to the radio. "I didn't know they even still played that."
Legato glared at Keara who found that she now lacked the ability to speak.
"We must interrupt your regular programming for this important news bulletin!"
Nug managed to pull the radio from imminent danger when the news flash caused Legato to jump and automatically turn his destructive powers on it.
Teru's eyes went wide with he saw the size of the hole in the wall. "Who needs to worry about him biting when he can do that?!"
The radio had captured Nug's attention being the news-absorbing Nug she was.
"If you have any information on the perpetrator or the incident, please contact your local authorities."
"What was that?" Legato addressed Nug. "I missed the announcement because of some idiot's babbling."
Keara glared at Legato and tried to mumble something rude, but that, of course, was futile.
Soku attempted to help Keara speak again while Legato listened to Nug ramble off every fact she had gotten out of the short announcement.
"A robbery, is it?" Soku raised his eyebrows in interest. "At a major bank, nonetheless. I wonder what made him so bold?"
Teru peaked his fingers under his chin, "He must have had a very powerful alibi."
"Mm mph mm…mn…" Keara tried to say. Giving that up she pointed at the TV mounted to the wall.
"Good idea!" Nug reached for the remote control. "We can watch a news broadcast for more info."
Legato sighed, "Alright…I'll let you talk again." Keara sagged with relief. "But if you interrupt anything again I'll make you rip your own throat out."
As Keara was having her mouth regained the bell above the door jingled and Seichi wandered into the store. Also at this same moment Nug turned the TV onto CNN and a news broadcast about the bank robbery just happened to be playing.
"Hey, Seichi!" Teru waved in greeting. "Back so soon?"
Legato's attention was turned from the TV the moment they were about to show a picture of the bank robber and he smiled slyly at Seichi.
"Back for more are you?"
Seichi looked nervous all of a sudden and he started backing towards the door, "Sorry, I must have walked into the wrong place…I meant to go…"
"Hey! He looks familiar!" Nug exclaimed staring at the TV screen.
Soku stepped behind Seichi, blocking his exit by way of the front door and grinned evilly when Seichi noticed his blocked escape.
Legato sauntered over to the now obviously frightened Seichi and an unsettling smirk sneaked across his face. "So what were you trying to pull off, Seichi? Did you think we would fall into some kind of plot of yours?"
Soku laughed, "Apparently the little brat has underestimated us."
"No, I did."
"What?" Soku turned and saw Doraku standing behind him looking very irritated. "You're behind this?"
Keara blinked in confusion and tapped the Nug on the shoulder to get her attention as she was still wrapped up in watching the news. Nug looked behind her and blinked in confusion as well.
"What the hell is going on here?" Teru crossed his arms and glared at Doraku as he made his way to the counter.
Doraku sighed and pushed his way past Soku, the still frightened Seichi and the stoic Legato. "I was just trying to rack up some rent points. I found this little guy passed out in one of your bishounen boxes back there."
Nug's eyes widened, "That's why that box was missing."
"It's not missing," Doraku pointed out. "I folded it up and put it in a corner."
"Ah…I guess our shipping company isn't lazy after all…" Keara nodded.
"How did you wake him up?" Teru inquired. "When the bishounen are shipped they are put to sleep for several hours."
Doraku shrugged, "I'm an alchemist to some degree and it wasn't hard to determine what chemicals were used. Very easy to counter its effects."
Soku seemed surprised, "What did you use? I've tried many different techniques to try and wake them up and I've not yet succeeded."
"Well, I originally wanted to use-"
"NO!" Nug interrupted. "I'm not in school, I don't want to hear chemistry stuff! Because chemistry is a science, and it uses math, and math is EVIL!"
Legato glared at Nug which quickly silenced her protests. Keara looked at her sympathetically and patted her head. Nug sighed and waved her hand signaling that Doraku could continue.
"So what did you use?" Soku asked again. "I'm not really interested in what you were going to use."
"Whatever you want," Doraku shrugged. "I simply used a concoction of sugar and caffeine and injected it directly into the bloodstream."
Seichi twitched.
"That would explain the nervousness," Legato nodded putting more pieces of the puzzle together. "Then you told him to rob the bank so he could afford to rent you."
"Yes," Teru interjected. "But what is Seichi getting out of this? He wouldn't have just gone and robbed a major bank without some kind of compensation."
"Ah that," Doraku smiled slyly. "Well you see-"
"I have a crush on him," Seichi spoke up suddenly. "I've heard about him ever since I was created at the-"
"No revealing company information!" Keara scolded. "First rule of being a bishounen."
Legato silenced Keara who got a sympathetic look from the Nug and a pat on the head. Doraku was staring at Seichi with more than a little surprise.
"Hey, I thought you were doing it because you didn't want to just be some little item people could buy and make do whatever they wanted."
Seichi sighed, "That's true too…but…"
Keara and Nug randomly began to fervently search for something. Being that they are prone to looking for random things, no one paid attention to them until Nug held up a piece of parchment with official looking writing on it.
Teru blinked and took the document from Nug then looked it over with increasing interest.
Doraku peered over Teru's shoulder in curiosity and blinked in surprise at what he found there. This, of course, piqued Legato's interest who mentally snatched the paper from Teru's fingers and levitated it into his own hands.
"Rights and Rules for Rented Bishounen?"
Nug and Keara nodded smiling proudly.
"According to that," Teru spoke up, directing his speech at the people who hadn't read the paper yet. "The bishounen that are rented are able to refuse any act that they deem to be unreasonable."
"There's other stuff there, but that's not important right now," Doraku waved a hand dismissively.
Seichi blinked, "So…I can't get in trouble for robbing the bank?"
Legato glanced at Keara.
"No, you are responsible," Keara finally got to put her two cents in. "You're going to get sent back because under regulation-"
"Which is what we were trying to show you," Nug interjected.
"You are a defective bishy," Keara finished.
The room fell mysteriously silent and everyone simply stared between Seichi and the two girls. The extension of silence made it even more startling when the doorbell jingled as a police officer entered the shop.
Most of the bishounen casually wandered to the back room, leaving Seichi and Doraku with Keara and Nug.
Nug smiled as if nothing had happened, "How can we help you, officer?"
The officer smiled pleasantly, "I just came by to see how your escort service is going along. Well I hope?"
Keara nodded fervently, "Oh yes. We've been doing quite well."
Seichi smiled weakly when the police officer nodded a greeting in his direction. Doraku nodded in return and gently shoved Seichi in the direction of the back room.
"I have to be going along now," the officer started towards the door. "I would appreciate it, however, if you would return the money your one boy stole, and return him to where he came from."
With that the random police officer exited the bishounen shop and went on his merry way down the darkening street.
"Yes…well…" Keara looked around the shop uncertain of what to do.
"I guess it's about time for us to close…and do some out-of-the-shop business…like returning that money Seichi stole."
Doraku grabbed Seichi by the collar before he could entirely retreat to the back room. "And where do you think you're going?"
"Uh…to pack?" Seichi smiled hopefully.
Doraku shook his head.
"How long have they been in there?" Keara looked at her watch and yawned. "It's too early to have to be waiting on silly bishounen."
Nug nodded and sipped her Nug fuel.
Seichi had returned the money, apologized to the bank manager and the employees, and given them coupons to the bishounen shop by way of paying them back for being so easy on him.
Keara, on a random hunger spree, had decided to stop at Waffle House for a happy good-bye breakfast for Seichi then they had returned to the shop where Keara and Nug were now.
Legato yawned, "When is that girl going to return Kuja?"
"About 10…" Keara sighed and looked at her watch again. "All bishies must be returned by 10 the next morning when kept overnight."
Nug nodded and sipped her coffee.
Doraku and Seichi choose that moment to emerge from the closet and greet the small group waiting outside the door.
"Are you done now?" Keara raised her eyebrows and looked back and forth between the two boys.
"Yeah-" Seichi began.
"Hold on a moment," Doraku interrupted Seichi then kissed him one last time. One last time meaning that it took at least two minutes before they were completely done kissing/touching each other.
"Ok, in the box," Legato said with his usual emotionless voice and levitated the defective bishy into his box.
Doraku handed Seichi a cup of liquid, which was his sedative for the trip back to the company headquarters.
"We'll miss you, Seichi," Keara waved goodbye as Legato closed the flaps to the box and then taped it shut.
"He should be unconscious by now," Doraku tapped the side of the box. "When does the shipment truck get here?"
"Now," said a random voice from the other side of the truck bay door.
Legato opened the door with his magical and ever so useful mental powers and the trucker guy took the box and heaved it into the back of the plush semi-truck.
"Will he be ok?" Nug spoke up, now awake enough to actually manage speech. "It doesn't look like a very comfy way to travel."
The trucker, who actually looked pretty handsome, shrugged, "He'll be unconscious the whole trip. Thanks for letting us know about him. We'll make sure the company tests them better before shipping them off to you."
"That's cool," Keara nodded. "Well, see ya later."
The doorbell jingled merrily as they were watching the truck drive away and the girls went to see what their customer wanted while Doraku and Legato made sure the truck made it safely out of their sight.
"I can't believe those trucks come all the way up this mountain," Doraku commented.
Legato shrugged then closed the heavy metal truck bay door and joined the girls in the shop. Doraku sighed and reluctantly followed, walking in on Keara excitedly telling Kuja all about the events of the day before.
"You should get a security camera for back there," Kuja suggested, taking his spot in the display window.
Keara and Nug exchanged glances, "That may not be a bad idea."
This was just one of those things…ya know? It started late one night after a long day of snow sports…and it has become this. I hope you enjoy. ^^
In a happy little snow village called Yar in upstate West Virginia sat an equally happy little shop. The owners of the shop were two young women with a revolutionary new idea. The idea was apparently attracting the attention of many tourists and natives alike, especially fellow young women.
Keara yawned widely, "I hate waking up early…maybe we should open later in the day…"
"Mmm…" Nug simply made a sound in reply.
A random customer, a girl roughly the age of 20 wandered curiously into the store and glanced around looking a bit bewildered.
"Hello!" Keara attempted to sound awake and cheerful. "Can I help you with anything today?"
Nug raised an eyebrow and took another sip of coffee, better known as Nug Fuel.
"Umm…" the girl fidgeted with her long blonde hair. "Why is this one so much more than the other?"
Keara blinked, "Which other?"
The girl indicated a tall blue haired man in a long white coat sitting on a shelf with a label under him, which read 'Legato Bluesummers'.
Nug laughed, "He bites." Then returned to her coffee.
"I do not!" Legato protested.
The blonde girl jumped and stared at Legato in fear, "They talk?"
"Of course we talk," a voice came from nearby. It came from a rather feminine looking man sitting in front of the window with long silver hair and…a skirt?
"Is this legal??" The blonde's eyes looked like large dinner plates.
"I don't see why not," Nug shrugged. "They're just bishounen. We get new model shipments every once in awhile."
Silence. Then:
"That's a creepy thought," yet another new voice joined the exchange.
"Hush you, Teru," Keara waved a finger at another blue haired man, this one in a dark gray trench coat.
Teru rolled his eyes, "I feel like I'm in a zoo…"
Maniacal giggling came from the Nug as she poured herself more coffee.
"I must say I agree with him," the silver haired bishounen spoke up again. "Honestly, if you look out the window at all the people crowding around."
Legato smiled slyly, "Well, since you are the window display, it would make sense."
In the midst of all this babble the blonde girl had wandered off to look at other bishounen models. She came upon a younger looking man with short light pink hair and a forlorn expression.
"Please, help me," He whimpered. "You have to get me out of here!"
Even through all the freakiness of before, the girl's heart went out to this poor stranded young man. Without thinking about it she glanced down at the shelf tag, which read 'Kashi Rikou-original by Nug'.
"I can't believe you're going to let some newb take my spot!" Legato glared at Keara.
"But we have to put him somewhere! He has wings so he needs lots of shelf space!" Keara argued back. "Maybe if you behave we'll stick you next to Kuja when he's off special next week."
Kuja, still lazing in the window, rolled his eyes, and then smiled at a passing couple.
"I can't believe we have to argue with our end-caps," Keara sighed.
"Can I have this one?" The blonde customer interjected. "He seems nice."
Nug, now full of fuel, bounded over to the counter, "Sure, you just need to fill out some paperwork for the rental and you can be on your way."
During a slow point in the day Keara and Nug began to look over the paperwork that they had accumulated since opening the shop. Out of sheer boredom Nug began to sort the papers by bishounen.
"You know…" Nug compared one large stack to the others. "Kashi gets rented more than any other bishies here."
Legato rolled his eyes, "That's because he cheats."
"Kashi doesn't cheat!" Teru growled.
At this point Kuja would have made a comment, but he was off with a young girl from Virginia who had wanted a dance partner at the nightclub she was going to that evening.
"Well…there may be something to what Legato is saying," Keara regarded the stack of forms. "Maybe we should move him so we can keep him under surveillance."
"Under video surveillance, I say," a voice from behind them commented.
Nug looked up from her sorting, "Soku, I thought you were in the back taking a break."
Soku, an older bishounen with short black hair and sparkling green eyes sauntered out of the bishounen break room and meandered over to the rental counter.
Legato gave Soku an incredulous look, "I suppose you want to volunteer for this?"
"No!" Teru stood up sharply, banging his head on the shelf above his, cursing under his breath at his stupidity. Rubbing the top of his head Teru continued. "I know what you're up to. You just want to be able to…er…"
"Do exactly what we're doing?" Keara raised an eyebrow.
Nug began laughing for apparently no reason, "Did you see this?"
Keara peered over the counter to see what slip Nug was giggling at, "Someone rented Kuja, huh?"
"You didn't know?" Legato seemed surprised.
"I think she was on lunch at the time," Nug offered. "But look, I forgot about this. She got some black leather pants of the shiny variety and she also got him a blue sequined top to go with them!"
Laughter rippled through the group but was interrupted by an indignant voice, "Who took my clothes?!"
A bishounen with wispy purple hair and red eyes stormed out of the storeroom waving his red glasses in Nug and Keara's direction.
"I don't recall them ever being specifically yours, Doraku," Keara crossed her arms. "Besides, they were fitted for Kuja's form, there's no way they could be yours. Maybe you lost them when you took them out for a test run.
Keara got a strange look from Legato, "Why would be lose his clothes?"
"Go put some damn clothes on!" Teru growled. "You're being indecent and a customer could come in at any time!"
The bell above the door chimed merrily and a young male entered looking pretty confident about his choice of coming into the Bishounen rental.
Teru was busy trying to shove Doraku back into the storeroom while Nug tried to distract the boy from seeing anything they could get sued for.
"What may I help you with today?" Nug asked with a big smile, waving her hands to get the young man's attention.
The effort was, however, in vain as he simply stared at Doraku being pushed forcibly back into the storeroom.
"I'll take that one," the boy ran a hand through some of his short cut black hair and smiled slightly. "He seems pretty spirited."
Keara and Nug exchanged glances then simultaneously looked back at the casually dressed male. "Ok, but let's get your paperwork done while he gets dressed, it is a bit cold outside today."
Teru made a distinctive flat-eyes expression and stopped trying to push Doraku around. Legato looked the customer over carefully as if there was something wrong with the boy. His mouth formed a small smile at the corner of his mouth; maybe it was time to perform a questionnaire.
"So," Legato sidled up next to the boy as he was filling out his rental information. "What do you plan on using our dear Doraku for?"
The customer, Seichi, (as Legato discovered) looked up at Legato calmly, then smiled. "He's going to keep me company this evening, and I'll return him in the morning."
Teru's interest piqued and he stretched a little so he could peer around the looming Legato to see Seichi's reactions to his questions.
Keara and Nug remained silent, knowing better than to interrupt his mini inquisitions. They pretended to be over-occupied with a stack of old rental receipts while they actually listened in on the freshly appeared entertainment.
Soku yawned and leaned against a wall while taking in the spectacle of the shop and it's inhabitants. Doraku had long since smugly wandered back to find some provocative clothing to wear.
"You're only keeping him for one night?" Legato's eyebrows raised in what everyone else but Seichi knew was fake surprise. "With a body like his? Come now, if you knew what he could do you'd come running back to keep him longer."
For the first time since entering the shop the boy looked nervous and unsure of what he was getting himself into. Legato noticed this weakness and decided this would be the prime opportunity to exercise his persuasion tactics. The girls decided to tactfully turn a blind eye to Legato's preying and tried to look busy straightening their papers.
"This would be a good opportunity to rent out two of us so that our full potential can be realized for your benefit," Legato smiled predatorily and leaned on the counter. "That way if you get tired you can just watch."
A little bell dinged in Keara's head and she stood up to stare at Legato, who winked at her as Seichi stared at his rental form in contemplation.
"I'm not sure if I really want to go that far…" Seichi cut himself off with a nervous cough.
Legato's expression changed to one that appeared encouraging, "You are the one to make the decision. I must say you looked very confident upon your entering this little shop. I trust you'll make a choice that you are happy with."
Nug coughed and looked up at Keara from the coffee cup that had somehow materialized in her hands. Keara nodded back then motioned for Legato to lean towards her so she could impart some knowledge to her bishounen.
"Legato," she whispered so the customer wouldn't hear. "This is not a whore house. We're not supposed to be renting you out to have intimate relations with people. At least, if that's what people want, let's do it covertly so we don't get shut down for prostitution."
In response Legato raised an inquisitive eyebrow, then shrugged and turned back to Seichi, "Well, Doraku should be ready by now, I'll go back and retrieve him."
With that he ambled into the back room carefully pushing the beaded curtain out of his way before ducking through the doorway. Soku coughed and smiled into his hand then looked up at Keara with an expression showing that he knew what Legato was up to.
Nug looked up when she heard the silence, peered over at their new customer, then turned her attention on Keara and Soku who were staring at each other. Of course she knew what that meant; it meant they were talking by way of Soku's mind speaking powers, which was the only way non-magic inclined Keara could mind talk with their bishounen.
She waved her hand a little to catch Soku's attention then got his eye contact so that he knew she wanted to be included.
/Sorry, love./ Soku smiled. /We were just saying how Legato is trying to get himself rented for the evening./
/I think it's pretty amusing/ Keara's mind voice had a smile to it. /He apparently doesn't care how he goes about doing it either./
Nug grinned, /To him the end justifies the means./
"That it does," Legato said out loud as he reentered the main shop area, causing Seichi to jump. "Sorry about that, I was just finishing a conversation with Doraku. He's coming right now."
On cue Doraku swept out of the back room and sashayed over to the counter clad in a black suit with red pinstripes all topped with a long black leather coat with a satin red interior.
The customer was bewildered by the sight, which caused Keara and Nug to grin stupidly at each other. A satisfied customer was always a good thing for them. "Ok…" Seichi scratched his head and looked nervously at Legato. "I think I'll be fine with just Doraku."
Legato smiled and nodded, "That's perfectly fine if that's your choice."
Doraku gave Legato a condescending smile, "And that's how you get chosen."
Seichi coughed, "Well, let's get going then. I have dinner reservations that are waiting on us."
"That was odd," Nug squinted after the pair that had just exited out the etched glass door.
"People are strange," Keara shrugged.
"No…" Nug's brow furrowed in thought. "He looked kinda familiar."
Legato glared at the door, "Next time I see him he's going to be a miserable pile of pain."
Soku laughed out loud, "Oh come now, Legato. You can't let a little competition get to you."
Keara stretched, "Come on Nuggy. We got that shipment of Demo bishies that we've only glanced over that need to come out here on the floor."
"Okie…" Nug gulped the rest of her coffee and followed Keara to the loading bay behind the storeroom.
The backroom had a few large boxes piled up at the loading bay, which the girl approached casually and began searching for their packing list.
After a few minutes of fervent searching they found the packing list on a pile of Doraku's clothing.
Nug blinked, "I guess he wanted some reading material while he was getting dressed."
"Or he was harassing our new bishies," Keara examined the list. "Alright Nuggy, I'm gonna read off the box numbers. They should all be Demo…" She squinted in the dim light.
"Yeah," Nug looked over the large cardboard containers. "You can just read the number after DEM."
Keara nodded and readied her sparkly blue pen for checking off product numbers, "Ok, here we go… 1905."
"Err…" Nug thought for a second. "Check?"
"Bueno," Keara marked off her first number. "1109"
"Che…hold on…" Nug moved a shirt off one of the boxes. "Check."
"2015"
"Right here."
"1909"
Silence.
"Nug? 1909?"
"I'm not seeing it."
Keara wandered over to where Nug was standing and they looked around for a few moments. There were three bishy boxes, boxes of their clothing and accessories…but the last bishy box was nowhere to be seen.
"I guess they forgot to ship it…" Nug shrugged.
Without warning a thunderous bang came from the next room and they hurried back out to the store to see who Legato had attempted murder on this time.
"What did you do now Legato?" Keara exclaimed as she rushed in.
She stopped suddenly, so suddenly in fact that Nug ran into her from behind with a sound of surprise.
Legato and Soku looked over at the girls for a moment then turned their attention back to the radio show they were engrossed in.
Nug peeked around Keara. "What are you two doing?"
"Listening to the radio, what else?" Legato replied without looking at them. "Now shut up so I can hear what's going on."
Keara rolled her eyes and meandered over to the counter to join the bishounen listening to the radio show. Nug blinked, looked back into the stock room, then back at Keara who was now staring intently at the radio, apparently listening.
With a shrug Nug joined the group giving up on trying to get Keara to focus on anything work related.
"Hitchhikers!" Keara exclaimed suddenly, making everyone except Legato jump.
"Are you trying to kill me?" Teru stood up and glared at Keara.
"It is!" Nug pointed to the radio. "I didn't know they even still played that."
Legato glared at Keara who found that she now lacked the ability to speak.
"We must interrupt your regular programming for this important news bulletin!"
Nug managed to pull the radio from imminent danger when the news flash caused Legato to jump and automatically turn his destructive powers on it.
Teru's eyes went wide with he saw the size of the hole in the wall. "Who needs to worry about him biting when he can do that?!"
The radio had captured Nug's attention being the news-absorbing Nug she was.
"If you have any information on the perpetrator or the incident, please contact your local authorities."
"What was that?" Legato addressed Nug. "I missed the announcement because of some idiot's babbling."
Keara glared at Legato and tried to mumble something rude, but that, of course, was futile.
Soku attempted to help Keara speak again while Legato listened to Nug ramble off every fact she had gotten out of the short announcement.
"A robbery, is it?" Soku raised his eyebrows in interest. "At a major bank, nonetheless. I wonder what made him so bold?"
Teru peaked his fingers under his chin, "He must have had a very powerful alibi."
"Mm mph mm…mn…" Keara tried to say. Giving that up she pointed at the TV mounted to the wall.
"Good idea!" Nug reached for the remote control. "We can watch a news broadcast for more info."
Legato sighed, "Alright…I'll let you talk again." Keara sagged with relief. "But if you interrupt anything again I'll make you rip your own throat out."
As Keara was having her mouth regained the bell above the door jingled and Seichi wandered into the store. Also at this same moment Nug turned the TV onto CNN and a news broadcast about the bank robbery just happened to be playing.
"Hey, Seichi!" Teru waved in greeting. "Back so soon?"
Legato's attention was turned from the TV the moment they were about to show a picture of the bank robber and he smiled slyly at Seichi.
"Back for more are you?"
Seichi looked nervous all of a sudden and he started backing towards the door, "Sorry, I must have walked into the wrong place…I meant to go…"
"Hey! He looks familiar!" Nug exclaimed staring at the TV screen.
Soku stepped behind Seichi, blocking his exit by way of the front door and grinned evilly when Seichi noticed his blocked escape.
Legato sauntered over to the now obviously frightened Seichi and an unsettling smirk sneaked across his face. "So what were you trying to pull off, Seichi? Did you think we would fall into some kind of plot of yours?"
Soku laughed, "Apparently the little brat has underestimated us."
"No, I did."
"What?" Soku turned and saw Doraku standing behind him looking very irritated. "You're behind this?"
Keara blinked in confusion and tapped the Nug on the shoulder to get her attention as she was still wrapped up in watching the news. Nug looked behind her and blinked in confusion as well.
"What the hell is going on here?" Teru crossed his arms and glared at Doraku as he made his way to the counter.
Doraku sighed and pushed his way past Soku, the still frightened Seichi and the stoic Legato. "I was just trying to rack up some rent points. I found this little guy passed out in one of your bishounen boxes back there."
Nug's eyes widened, "That's why that box was missing."
"It's not missing," Doraku pointed out. "I folded it up and put it in a corner."
"Ah…I guess our shipping company isn't lazy after all…" Keara nodded.
"How did you wake him up?" Teru inquired. "When the bishounen are shipped they are put to sleep for several hours."
Doraku shrugged, "I'm an alchemist to some degree and it wasn't hard to determine what chemicals were used. Very easy to counter its effects."
Soku seemed surprised, "What did you use? I've tried many different techniques to try and wake them up and I've not yet succeeded."
"Well, I originally wanted to use-"
"NO!" Nug interrupted. "I'm not in school, I don't want to hear chemistry stuff! Because chemistry is a science, and it uses math, and math is EVIL!"
Legato glared at Nug which quickly silenced her protests. Keara looked at her sympathetically and patted her head. Nug sighed and waved her hand signaling that Doraku could continue.
"So what did you use?" Soku asked again. "I'm not really interested in what you were going to use."
"Whatever you want," Doraku shrugged. "I simply used a concoction of sugar and caffeine and injected it directly into the bloodstream."
Seichi twitched.
"That would explain the nervousness," Legato nodded putting more pieces of the puzzle together. "Then you told him to rob the bank so he could afford to rent you."
"Yes," Teru interjected. "But what is Seichi getting out of this? He wouldn't have just gone and robbed a major bank without some kind of compensation."
"Ah that," Doraku smiled slyly. "Well you see-"
"I have a crush on him," Seichi spoke up suddenly. "I've heard about him ever since I was created at the-"
"No revealing company information!" Keara scolded. "First rule of being a bishounen."
Legato silenced Keara who got a sympathetic look from the Nug and a pat on the head. Doraku was staring at Seichi with more than a little surprise.
"Hey, I thought you were doing it because you didn't want to just be some little item people could buy and make do whatever they wanted."
Seichi sighed, "That's true too…but…"
Keara and Nug randomly began to fervently search for something. Being that they are prone to looking for random things, no one paid attention to them until Nug held up a piece of parchment with official looking writing on it.
Teru blinked and took the document from Nug then looked it over with increasing interest.
Doraku peered over Teru's shoulder in curiosity and blinked in surprise at what he found there. This, of course, piqued Legato's interest who mentally snatched the paper from Teru's fingers and levitated it into his own hands.
"Rights and Rules for Rented Bishounen?"
Nug and Keara nodded smiling proudly.
"According to that," Teru spoke up, directing his speech at the people who hadn't read the paper yet. "The bishounen that are rented are able to refuse any act that they deem to be unreasonable."
"There's other stuff there, but that's not important right now," Doraku waved a hand dismissively.
Seichi blinked, "So…I can't get in trouble for robbing the bank?"
Legato glanced at Keara.
"No, you are responsible," Keara finally got to put her two cents in. "You're going to get sent back because under regulation-"
"Which is what we were trying to show you," Nug interjected.
"You are a defective bishy," Keara finished.
The room fell mysteriously silent and everyone simply stared between Seichi and the two girls. The extension of silence made it even more startling when the doorbell jingled as a police officer entered the shop.
Most of the bishounen casually wandered to the back room, leaving Seichi and Doraku with Keara and Nug.
Nug smiled as if nothing had happened, "How can we help you, officer?"
The officer smiled pleasantly, "I just came by to see how your escort service is going along. Well I hope?"
Keara nodded fervently, "Oh yes. We've been doing quite well."
Seichi smiled weakly when the police officer nodded a greeting in his direction. Doraku nodded in return and gently shoved Seichi in the direction of the back room.
"I have to be going along now," the officer started towards the door. "I would appreciate it, however, if you would return the money your one boy stole, and return him to where he came from."
With that the random police officer exited the bishounen shop and went on his merry way down the darkening street.
"Yes…well…" Keara looked around the shop uncertain of what to do.
"I guess it's about time for us to close…and do some out-of-the-shop business…like returning that money Seichi stole."
Doraku grabbed Seichi by the collar before he could entirely retreat to the back room. "And where do you think you're going?"
"Uh…to pack?" Seichi smiled hopefully.
Doraku shook his head.
"How long have they been in there?" Keara looked at her watch and yawned. "It's too early to have to be waiting on silly bishounen."
Nug nodded and sipped her Nug fuel.
Seichi had returned the money, apologized to the bank manager and the employees, and given them coupons to the bishounen shop by way of paying them back for being so easy on him.
Keara, on a random hunger spree, had decided to stop at Waffle House for a happy good-bye breakfast for Seichi then they had returned to the shop where Keara and Nug were now.
Legato yawned, "When is that girl going to return Kuja?"
"About 10…" Keara sighed and looked at her watch again. "All bishies must be returned by 10 the next morning when kept overnight."
Nug nodded and sipped her coffee.
Doraku and Seichi choose that moment to emerge from the closet and greet the small group waiting outside the door.
"Are you done now?" Keara raised her eyebrows and looked back and forth between the two boys.
"Yeah-" Seichi began.
"Hold on a moment," Doraku interrupted Seichi then kissed him one last time. One last time meaning that it took at least two minutes before they were completely done kissing/touching each other.
"Ok, in the box," Legato said with his usual emotionless voice and levitated the defective bishy into his box.
Doraku handed Seichi a cup of liquid, which was his sedative for the trip back to the company headquarters.
"We'll miss you, Seichi," Keara waved goodbye as Legato closed the flaps to the box and then taped it shut.
"He should be unconscious by now," Doraku tapped the side of the box. "When does the shipment truck get here?"
"Now," said a random voice from the other side of the truck bay door.
Legato opened the door with his magical and ever so useful mental powers and the trucker guy took the box and heaved it into the back of the plush semi-truck.
"Will he be ok?" Nug spoke up, now awake enough to actually manage speech. "It doesn't look like a very comfy way to travel."
The trucker, who actually looked pretty handsome, shrugged, "He'll be unconscious the whole trip. Thanks for letting us know about him. We'll make sure the company tests them better before shipping them off to you."
"That's cool," Keara nodded. "Well, see ya later."
The doorbell jingled merrily as they were watching the truck drive away and the girls went to see what their customer wanted while Doraku and Legato made sure the truck made it safely out of their sight.
"I can't believe those trucks come all the way up this mountain," Doraku commented.
Legato shrugged then closed the heavy metal truck bay door and joined the girls in the shop. Doraku sighed and reluctantly followed, walking in on Keara excitedly telling Kuja all about the events of the day before.
"You should get a security camera for back there," Kuja suggested, taking his spot in the display window.
Keara and Nug exchanged glances, "That may not be a bad idea."