The night was pitch dark with only a few spots of stars to light the streets in the snow village of Yar. Clouds covered the usual over-abundance of bright dots in the sky, and the moon was New this night.
However, despite the lateness of the hour, there were lights on in the newest shop on 42nd street. The sign above the window was off, but the lights inside reflected off the snow and cast a dim light on it; enough light to read "Shonen Shack".
"I can't believe you named it that," General Hein's lip curled in disgust as he stared at one of the bishounen rental sheets.
Nug looked up at the 'good' general with tired eyes, "We thought it was funny."
Keara's head fell abruptly onto the tabletop and she began to mutter almost inaudibly. "Stupid Hein...we'll show you..."
General Hein raised an eyebrow in question and looked pointedly at Nug, "What's she mumbling about?"
Cake poked Keara's arm tentatively, "Hello?"
Nug sighed, "She's been asleep in that chair for about 20 minutes. She's just talking in her sleep."
"For your sake, she better be," General Hein tossed the form onto the table. "How is that order coming along?"
Because she was the only one awake enough to do so, Cake stood up and cleared her throat.
"Yankee Doodle went to town riding on a pony. He stuck a feather in his hat and called it macaroni."
"Wha-?" Keara picked her head up off the table and stared dazedly at Cake. "Who yanked what doodle?"
General Hein put a glove-clad hand to his forehead and sighed in exasperation, "I can't believe they left me alone with you three."
Nug blinked, "Where did Sephiroth and Soku go?"
"To get pizza," Keara mumbled as she laid her head back on the table.
Cake looked at her watch with a quizzical expression, "You can get pizza at 2 in the morning?"
"Talking in her sleep again," Nug yawned and returned to going through a long list of orderable bishounen.
"Why are you taking so long?" Hein growled at Nug and began to pace. "It's not as if I asked you to do a difficult task! Just order some weak, normal ones so that the truck comes!"
Nug stared blankly at Hein for a few long moments, then she blinked, "Well, you see…"
The bell above the door jingled which caught the attention of everyone except Keara, who was hopelessly passed out.
"Got the pizza," Soku said casually as he locked the door behind him.
Sephiroth made his way over to the table where the girls were seated and poked Keara, "Are you alive?"
Keara muttered something about star-shaped pieces and fell silent again.
Soku brought the two large pizzas over to the table that they had brought in from the back room where everyone was gathered. The happy smell of food was enough to entice even Keara to pick her head up.
"Oooh…" Cake peered over the table at the pizza box. "From the 42nd street pizza parlor…good stuff. Soku brought me some of this a little while back."
Nug blinked in confusion, then shook her head, "That's right. I keep forgetting Soku the traitor had you locked up in our bathroom."
"Not," Soku raised a finger. "In the bathroom. In the secret room BEHIND the bathroom."
"Whatever," Nug made a flat eyes face.
Soon the two boxes of pizza were decimated and nothing remained of them save two sauce stained boxed and a few pizza crusts. Sephiroth had taken over residence of the recliner from the old prop store and was sharpening his impossibly long sword.
Cake stared in awe at the white haired bishy and without thinking reached out to touch the shiny sword. She gained a glare from Sephiroth and a small cut on her finger, which she made a big deal of.
"Look!" She put the injured finger in Hein's face. "I need a band-aid!"
"Why should I care?" Hein lost his temper and yelled at Cake. "It's your own fault for bothering Sephiroth while he had his sword out!"
The yelling woke Keara up from her happy full of pizza sleep land and she glared groggily at Hein, "No yelling. You're not an alarm clock."
Soku hid his amusement at Hein's frustration and spoke up in a calm matter-of-fact tone of voice, "Perhaps we should let them go to sleep, since we're not accomplishing much by making them stay up. Keara is practically asleep already."
Nug took this opportune moment to pass out, bishounen list still in one hand, and a pen in the other.
"Fine," the flustered Hein crossed his arms. "Sephiroth, take them upstairs and stay up there so that they don't try to escape."
Sephiroth looked up from his blade sharpening and simply stared at Hein as if the man had just said the moon was made of doughnut holes.
"Ok! Bedtime!" Cake hopped out of her chair and shook Nug and Keara until they too were groggily picking their heads up off the table.
As soon as Nug and Keara had ascended the stairs and Cake had returned to her hole in the bathroom wall, Sephiroth followed the two shop owners up the stairs with one final glare at General Hein.
Sun now streamed in the front windows of the Shonen Shack, playing happily on General Hein's face where he was trying to sleep on the cushions in the window.
He cursed to himself and finally moved out of the window in a bad mood and tried to find the coffee maker. Soku looked up at him from where he was sitting at the table reading the morning newspaper. Now that the table had been moved in from the backroom, it was starting to become a normal piece of Shop furniture.
"Good morning, general," Soku nodded at Hein and took a sip of coffee. "I hope you slept well."
The general simply glared at Soku and rummaged for a coffee mug so that he could partake of the morning Nug fuel. Of course, Nug hadn't come down from her room yet, so it really couldn't be dubbed Nug fuel yet.
Heavy footsteps tromped down the stairs that were hidden off to the side of the counter and soon Sephiroth too was at the coffee machine. He didn't look as if he was very awake, and he also didn't seem to be in a very cheerful mood.
"What's your problem?" Hein asked of the irritable Sephiroth before partaking of his coffee.
Sephiroth glared at Hein, "You took the last clean coffee mug."
"He did what?" Nug managed as she stumbled down the stairs, followed shortly after by a dazed looking Keara.
Soku smiled to himself and took a sip of coffee, pretending to ignore the others in the room.
"He took the last clean mug." Sephiroth growled dangerously. "You either give me your cup or you had better wash me one."
General Hein scoffed, "Why should I do that?"
"Because I'll have your head if you don't!" Nug cut Sephiroth's reply off. "I need my morning coffee!"
Keara nodded, "Yeah, you should see her if she-" Keara stopped for a moment to think about what she was saying. "Never mind. You DON'T want to see her when she's had no coffee."
Sephiroth unsheathed his sword and brandished the weapon in a threatening manner; of course, with a blade that seemed as large as the room itself, it's hard to make it appear non-threatening.
In response General Hein only glared at the one-winged angel and took a big gulp of his coffee. Sephiroth's sword raised in the air poised to strike down the general while the two young shop owners looked on in fear and awe.
"Hey, guys," Cake entered the room via the door to the backroom. "I made some coffee back here if you want any. I had to wash a few mugs to have enough for everyone-"
Immediately Sephiroth returned his sword to it's place on his belt and he strode quickly over to where Cake was still standing in the doorway.
"Move."
Cake nodded nervously and hurriedly stepped out of the white-haired bishounen's way. When Sephiroth was all the way through the door, black wing and all, Nug regained her proper coffee desire and followed suit.
Soku chuckled in amusement as he finished off his cup of coffee then got up and handed the empty mug to Keara. "There should be some juice in the fridge. You can rinse this out and use it."
Keara blinked at Soku, then looked quizzically at the mug in her hand and smiled lazily as she wasn't entirely awake yet. "Okie."
"Yes...yes that's right," Nug spoke into the phone receiver and sighed. "Yes, I'm aware that they are all Ukes...yes...I..."
Keara raised an eyebrow, and mouthed, "What are they going on about?"
Nug shrugged, "Look, would you just send the damn order? I desperately need it because we rented out all out bishounen the other day and I need something to sell."
Everyone watched with baited breath as Nug listened to the reply from the other end of the phone conversation.
"Ok, thank you. Good bye!" Nug clicked off the cordless phone and rolled her eyes. "That guy must think I'm a total idiot."
"What was he giving you a hard time about?" General Hein wanted to know. His plot to undermine the bishounen business could be at risk, after all.
After a deep sigh Nug felt like explaining. Again. "He was trying to point out the fact that our whole shipment consists of Ukes and singles, which I know about and tried to tell him I knew that. So he thinks I'm an idiot and that I don't know what I'm doing."
General Hein contemplated this, trying to see if this could hurt his scheme in any way. He looked over at Sephiroth, who had been residing in the recliner, to see if perhaps he could get a little advise but to his dismay, his attention was being attracted elsewhere by Keara.
"You're cuddly," Keara muttered happily as she sat in Sephiroth's lap and snuggled up to him.
Sephiroth didn't seem to mind the attention, as Keara wasn't acting like a rabid fan girl yet, so he simply sat there and occasionally played with Keara's hair. With Sephiroth distracted, Hein didn't want to talk to the bishounen anymore; Soku was better at giving advice anyway.
However, Soku was nowhere to be seen.
Nug became instantly wary if every little movement and sound in the shop, and if someone had seen her and not known what the situation was, she would have looked like a paranoid freak.
Keara, upon hearing the news that Soku's whereabouts were unknown wrapped her arms around Sephiroth's neck and buried her face in his chest. Cake moped because she hadn't been clever enough to think of jumping in Sephiroth's lap before Keara had.
Anger boiled up inside the general and he began to pace stiffly between the door and the table Nug was sitting at, still glancing about her like a schizophrenic.
"He had better not be off trying to sabotage me."
"Now, why would I do that?" A lilting voice came from the door when Hein had his back turned to it.
At the sound of Soku's voice, General Hein whirled around to take his anger out on him, "Why weren't you here? Where did you wander off to?"
Soku held up a pair of pizza boxes, "To get lunch. People have to eat, you know."
"You've been sneaking off for pizza an awful lot as of late," Hein observed.
With a shrug Soku placed the pizza box on the table, "It's good pizza. Besides, it's not up to you to tell me where and when I can go."
Sephiroth let a sly smile sneak up his face and he began to scratch Keara's head.
"Mmm...pizza..." Nug reveled in the wonderfully delicious 42nd street pizza.
"Sooo," Cake raised her eyebrows. "When is that shipment getting in?"
"Tonight...sometime..." Keara replied in a dreamy voice.
"Tonight?" General Hein whirled on Keara. "If it's at night I can't very well see where it's going, now can I?"
Keara pulled herself closer to Sephiroth who wrapped his arms around her and folded his one black wing down for further protection.
"I can't believe this!" Hein threw his hands up in the air. "Are you on their side now?"
Sephiroth glared back at the general, "They're nicer to me than you are."
"But do you know what she is?" Hein pointed a finger at Keara. "She's a fan-girl! Just like-" He pointed over at Nug and Cake who were helping themselves to the pizza. "Them! They're all the same! Crazed, rabid fan girls who revel in torturing you!"
"Whe donbt's wamt-" Nug began with her mouth full of pizza. She sighed and finished chewing. "We don't want to torture you. We just do stuff to your characters that is suggested at but never actually happens."
Cake nodded, her mouth too full of food to attempt a response.
Keara looked over at the pizza with interest, "Oooh, I want a slice."
General Hein seethed with anger and stormed into the back room to, for all everyone else knew, blow up something. But really all he did was grumble about traitors and all that jazz for a half hour or so.
Night fell with no further upsets at the Bishounen Shop. General Hein had grumbled to himself for the remainder of the afternoon; Sephiroth and Soku and tied the girls back up, despite the fact that Sephiroth liked the attention he got from the fan girls.
Nug sighed and leaned her head back against Keara's as they were sitting back to back. "I think I'm going to die of boredom."
"I don't even have a notebook," Keara replied dejectedly.
Cake had resigned to singing aimlessly to herself, and she was tied up in a chair next to the entrance to the back room, as Hein hadn't wanted to tie all three of them together.
Sephiroth had again taken up residence in the old recliner and was sharpening his ridiculously long sword for what must have been the hundredth time that day.
"Don't you ever get tired of doing that?" Nug asked of the white haired one.
"No."
If they could have seen each other, Keara and Nug would have exchanged glances as a comment to how uncommunicative Sephiroth was being.
General Hein stormed back into the shop from the back and stood next to Keara and Nug so that they could both see him if they turned their heads. He crossed his arms and took a stiff-backed stance as if to insure his dominance over them.
"I have constructed a tracking device since you two have so graciously made the truck come late with your procrastination."
Nug narrowed her eyes.
"Made a tracking device out of what?" Keara furrowed her eyebrows in thought and stared at the floorboards in front of her. "I mean, we have clothes back there. So unless we have high-tech clothing that we didn't know about-"
"I had a special shipment come in while you were out here playing with the traitors."
Soku's eyebrows rose slightly and he looked over at Sephiroth who looked more than a little irritated.
As always seems to happen during tense moments, there came a knocking from the back room. General Hein smiled arrogantly and sauntered off to answer the door.
"You three girls stay quiet," Was the general's parting statement before he vanished entirely into the back.
Cake laughed, "Yeah, sure we will."
In the blink of an eye Sephiroth had the Masamune at Cake's throat. He glared at her dangerously, then moved the weapon away when he thought that the girl was sufficiently terrified.
"That's not fair!" Cake moped. "You cuddle with Keara, but you put pointy objects at my neck!"
Sephiroth sighed and ignored Cake's complaining. Soku strolled over to the spot where Keara and Nug were tied together.
"So, are you about ready to have your store back?" Soku asked nonchalantly.
The two girls blinked then looked up at Soku in mild shock. However, the serious look on the evil bishounen's face told them without a doubt that Soku was indeed not kidding.
"Not that I'm complaining," Nug began carefully. "But why are you willing to let us go and all?"
Soku sighed loudly and glared in the direction of the back room, "Because frankly, he's driving me mad."
Keara blinked, "But I thought you were sociopathic."
"So do you want your store back?" Soku commented ignoring Keara.
"Yes!" Nug wailed. "And I want my coffee all to myself again!"
Sephiroth gave Soku a skeptical look. "How do you plan on getting rid of Hein and his threat to this store?"
"For one," Soku strode over to the counter where he picked up a copy of the order Nug had called in. "If I'm reading this right, Nug here ordered a shipment of hero bishounen. They may be ukes, but they still have the save the person in danger instinct."
Cake perked up, "Zippity do da!"
General Hein stormed in from the back room just then catching the girls off guard. Soku put down the copy of the order and crossed his arms.
"She wants you two out here," Hein said gruffly and motioned vaguely at Nug and Keara.
"Ok then," Nug sat up as straight as she could. "Untie us and let us handle this. This is OUR shop after all."
/Act normal. Don't set off Hein's alarms until the truck is gone. I've got plans to stop it./
If they hadn't been used to Soku randomly communicating telepathically Keara and Nug would have jumped in surprise. Cake hummed to herself blissfully unaware as she had not been included. It was nothing personal against her, of course, Soku just knew that her reaction to having a foreign voice in her head would have been . . . negative.
The owners of the shop waited patiently as Sephiroth complacently continued to play Hein's go-fer and untied the girls. Once they were free, Keara and Nug did their best to appear as if nothing was awry as they made their way into the receiving area.
There was a rough looking woman with her sandy blonde hair done in a messy ponytail and a cigarette hung from her lips.
"Are you two the owners?" The woman asked gruffly.
Nug took the forefront, "Yes, ma'am we are. I'm glad our shipment came in."
The woman looked down at a clipboard she had, and then up at Nug. "I am instructed to inform you that your shipping request is quite odd, and uncharacteristic. I am to tell the company why such a shipment was requested."
Keara shrugged, "We were out of Ukes. The Semes seem to be less desirable."
"What she said," Nug smiled a little at Keara's matter of fact reply.
"Alright then," the woman nodded. "That'll do just fine."
General Hein watched in anticipation as the woman tucked her clipboard under her arm and proceeded to open the truck door. Inside were the usual large boxes and a few smaller ones, which held their extra clothing and the like. Nug squinted her eyes a little as she tried to remember which bishounen exactly she had ordered.
In a matter of minutes the trucker-lady and Hein had removed the few boxes from the back of the cargo bay. Nug was presented the clipboard by the shipper and as she signed her name to the bottom of the order form Keara watched as Hein slipped quickly into the still open truck door and placed a small something on the wall of the cargo bay.
"Thank you much," the woman smiled. "You have a good night." She nodded at Hein then closed the cargo door, climbed into her truck and soon disappeared into the night darkness.
Hein grinned smugly down at the two female shop owners, "Well, soon your little…operation will be all uncovered and this will be no more."
"Answer a question for me, will ya?" Nug crossed her arms and tilted her head to the side a little. "Why does Giovanni want to shut us down so bad? He got Sephiroth, didn't he?"
A glare replaced the grin Hein had been wearing, "Getting Sephiroth was sheer luck. Some of his Rockets waylaid a truck that they thought was carrying something valuable, but instead they found Sephiroth in a box."
Keara's eyes grew wide, "So, Sephiroth blabbed the whole secret about the bishounen shop to Giovanni?"
"Not all of it."
The trio turned to see Sephiroth leaning against the doorway with his arms crossed. Next to him stood Soku, and Cake behind them who was trying to see over their shoulders.
"I do have a bit of programming so I couldn't tell him where the company was located." Sephiroth moved across the room and stood facing the girls. "They managed to get Kefka and Hein somehow. I think they have a secret door into the Square headquarters where they can steal the unpleasant Final Fantasy characters."
"Unpleasant am I?" General Hein raised his head and tried to look down his nose at Sephiroth.
Soku in the meantime set about opening the boxes that the trucker lady had left. Somehow Sephiroth kept General Hein distracted for long enough that out of the three boxes climbed the hero bishounen.
"Your time is up!" A young kid with wildly spiky brown hair announced as he pointed a large key at the general.
Hein's eyes narrowed and he turned slowly and glared down at the boy, "What do you think you're going to do with that, boy?"
"Hey Sora!" Keara grinned.
"Huh?" The boy looked past Hein at Keara, then smiled. "Hello."
"Don't get distracted." A man with equally spiky, but blonde hair walked up next to Sora and glared at Hein. "Betraying our company are you?"
"Cloud." Sephiroth blinked then smiled. "Nice to see you again."
The sight of Sephiroth surprised Cloud, but regardless he retained his cool and pulled his huge sword from his back and brandished it.
General Hein smiled, "Ah, you think you're all so clever don't you?" Hein pulled a pistol from the depths of his evil trench coat and pointed it at the two sword wielding bishounen. "Go ahead and make a move."
Without any warning at all there was a golden claw at Hein's throat and a gloved hand grabbed the pistol from Hein's hand.
A very quiet voice spoke in his ear, "You may have had a gun, but you did not have your wits about you."
"Vincent!" Keara hopped gleefully. "Nug! Why didn't you tell me you picked these guys?"
Nug blinked, "I didn't order these guys." She glanced over at Soku who was looked about the room innocently. "I think someone tampered with my order."
"Are you complaining?" Cloud raised an eyebrow.
"Tie up the coat wearing bad guy!" Sora exclaimed.
Sephiroth smirked, "Which coat wearing bad guy?"
"The..." Sora stared nervously at Sephiroth remembering many a beating from the menacing one-winged angel. "The..."
"The ugly one," Cloud spoke up.
General Hein glared at Cloud, "You'll all pay for this. You don't realize that you're stopping the one person trying to help you!"
Vincent rolled his eyes and pushed Hein over to a random chair. After Sora and Cloud had set to tying up the frustrating Final Fantasy villain, Vincent regarded the pistol Hein had been attempting to scare everyone with. He chuckled to himself then crunched it into a ball in his clawed hand.
"You're so cool!" Cake glomped Vincent gleefully.
Cloud looked over at Keara and Nug in alarm, fearing the same fate for himself, but for the moment, Cake had detached herself from Vincent and was paying attention to Sephiroth.
Soku crossed his arms and smiled slyly down at Hein, "Did you really think this little plan was going to work?"
Hein laughed, "But my plan is working! At this very moment the truck is heading back towards the factory and Giovanni will be able to destroy it!"
Cake stared at Hein for a moment, "Why do you want to destroy it so bad? You're a bishy too."
Nug blinked, "Well, maybe not a bishounen. But I agree that he is handsome."
Keara was no longer paying attention to the conversation and had taken to hovering around Vincent, playing with his hair every now and then.
"I don't want to be tackled by fan girls for the rest of existence, and many other bishounen feel the same way." Hein glared at the girls. "I was on a campaign of liberation!"
"Since when are you such a tree-hugger?" Keara peered over at Hein from where she was standing next to Vincent.
Sora was inspecting his Keyblade, "So, do we really have to stay here? I mean, I kinda wanna go back to the factory."
Cloud looked down at the boy and rolled his eyes, "That's only because Riku is still there."
"Is not!" Sora blushed hotly. "It's just weird here."
"See what I mean?" Hein growled. "Even the boy knows that this kind of thing is wrong. He senses the evil in it."
"No, it's not that." Sora closed one eye as he tried to pinpoint the words to describe the feeling. "There. . . aren't enough other bishounen here."
"Huh?" Nug looked at the boy in confusion. This is…well about how many we usually have."
Sora shivered.
Vincent patted Sora's head, "You're young yet."
/I've found you Bishounen Shop/
Keara and Nug looked at each other and blinked. Then Keara grinned, and closed her eyes and tried to mentally respond, /What? Who are you?/
"Legato. Legato Bluesummers." A voice lilted from the doorway.
The group made a collective turn and found Legato leaning on the doorframe between the back room and the main shop smiling evilly. Kuja sauntered up next to him and crossed his arms with an angry pout.
"Eee! Kuja!" Cake exclaimed gleefully and pounced on the silver-haired evil bishy.
Kuja was ungracefully pulled to the floor where he lay in shock being huggled by Cake. Legato chuckled to himself at Kuja's misfortune, then ambled into the midst of the newly arrived bishounen and the shop owners. He crossed his arms and grinned at Hein who was feeling very overshadowed at the moment.
"Thought you were clever, didn't you?" Legato said in a low voice. "I think I'm going to have to teach you a lesson about life, General Hein-"
"NO!" Keara attacked Legato from behind. "No bloody messes! I don't want to clean this back room up again!"
Legato's shoulders sagged with disappointment.
Kuja had managed to detach himself from Cake with promises that she could braid his hair later, and he made his way to stand next to Legato where he pulled a palm sized metal object out of his jacket and presented it to Hein.
Hein's eyes widened for a moment, "My tracking device." He glared at the pair. "How did you get it?"
Legato shrugged, "Easy enough. Kuja flew up and scouted until he found the truck, then I stopped the driver and we opened up the back, took out the device and let the driver go on her merry way."
"Oblivious of course," Kuja smiled mischievously and wrapped his arms around Legato's non-spiky arm.
Soku leaned back into the beat up couch in the main shop area and sighed with relief, "I'm so glad that whole mess is over with. It was too much trouble even for the amusement it gave me."
Legato glared at Soku from the recliner, "You didn't have to have Kuja and I locked up."
"Oh you know you liked it," Keara teased from her spot behind the counter. "You and Kuja got to spend some time along together during your lovey period."
"I'll have to admit that was fun," Kuja spoke up from his spot sitting in Legato's lap.
"Don't move!" Cake admonished the evil bishy. "I'm trying to get this braid right."
Kuja sighed and leaned back so that she could reach his hair again.
Nug took a sip from a big ol' mug of coffee, "It's all mine again!"
Keara nodded, "Yeah, too bad we had to send all those bishounen back though. Even if it was a lot of characters to keep track of."
"I'd love to see Hein's face again when we shoved him into one of those bishounen boxes and shipped him off to Giovanni." Soku grinned evilly.
"Yes. . ." Nug smiled and took anther gulp of coffee.
"We have it on tape!" Teru perked up randomly from his side of the couch where Kashi was sleeping in his lap.
Keara blinked.
Teru gently moved Kashi off of him and made his way to the security monitor and began to rewind a random tape that was in the VCR. In a few moments he pressed play and an image of the back room from the previous night popped up on the screen.
The scene was of Legato and Kuja gleefully stuffing General Hein into one of the Demo bishy boxes just as Teru and Kashi had wandered back into the break room. Every one on screen turned to look at the two newly arrived bishounen, whom Nug glomped gleefully glad they were still alive.
"I can't believe we got captured so easily." Teru grumbled and slumped down in the couch cushions.
Kashi snuggled up to Teru again, still sleeping and oblivious to the fact that he was even doing it.
"Well," Nug sipped from her mug. "It's not like you and Kashi could do much against a horde of Team Rocket lackeys."
Legato smiled, "Yes, you silly, powerless humans. You needed Kuja and I to come save you."
"That was so much fun," Kuja giggled. "Decimating all those puny little Rockets. It's so nice to be needed."
Teru glared at Kuja, "You could have done better at giving us directions. Instead of having you and Legato bursting in, killing everyone then running off again."
Keara laughed, "Did you two really have to find your way back all alone?"
"Well, Teru," Soku smiled slyly. "If it wasn't for me sneaking off for pizza all the time, they wouldn't even have been able to come rescue you."
"Humph." Teru ignored Soku and petted Kashi's head.
Cake stood triumphantly, "There! All done!"
Kuja blinked then got off Legato's lap and made his way to the bathroom so that he could look at his hair in the mirror.
Legato rested his chin on his hand as he regarded Kuja from his spot lounging in the recliner. "I didn't think it was possible for him to get any prettier."
Cake grinned and crossed her arms. "I did good."
"I wish the video had sound." Keara mused out loud.
"Huh?" Nug looked over at Keara in confusion, then followed her gaze to the security monitor. "Ah."
"Oh well," Teru shrugged. "I'm used to security tapes."
"Hey, Kuja," Legato called from his chair. "Come back in here."
"Hai," Kuja nodded and came back into the main room taking his place back on Legato's lap.
"Riiiight," Nug looked around for a moment, then drank from her mug. Of course, it was the middle of the day, so she didn't NEED the coffee, it was just a novelty for her to have her own Nug fuel all to herself again.
"Hey everyone!" A voice called happily from the front door, bell jingling merrily as well.
"Doraku!" Nug cried happily and ran to glomp the golden tan bishounen. "We're so glad you're back from your sailing trip! You missed a lot!"
Doraku laughed and put Nug back down. "Did I now? What happened?"
His eyes fell then on the security monitor and he looked slightly fearfully over at Kuja and Legato who were on the recliner, Kuja who was having his hair done up in some other style by Cake.
"This is Cake," Keara pointed at the blonde girl dressed in the Rocket uniform. "She was dwelling in our bathroom. Soku was hiding her in there."
A few long moments passed, in which Kashi mumbled in his sleep something about cheese fries. Doraku placed his suitcase on the floor and slowly made his way to the counter where he took a gulp of Nug's coffee.
"Ok, now explain it all to me."
Nug picked up her mug and stared into its emptiness, "Mope . . . wait! I have more!" She bounded over to the coffee maker and poured herself a fresh cup.
"Ok." Keara took a big breath and let it out slowly. "It started like this-"There!" Keara backed up and looked at her handiwork with happiness. "Now we won't have any more repeats of last week's problem."
Nug nodded as she chugged the last of her coffee and set the mug down. "Let's just hope they don't start making a spectacle of themselves."
Doraku blinked and nodded as Keara continued to tell the tale of Bishounen Shop part 2. Soon she ended and began part 3.
"So, after that we began with- "It's getting better all the ti-i-ime, better all the time." Keara sang to herself as she leaned against the wall next to the truck-receiving door.
Nug, per her usual, took a sip out of a big mug, and then made a face, "This isn't coffee!"
Soku hid a smile of amusement, "No, it's tea. It's better for you."
"If I wanted healthy Nug Fuel I'd put more sugar in my coffee!" She spazed then sighed. "I'm going to the café down the street. Be back in a few."
Everyone stared at Keara in amazement at her ability to remember exactly what had been said, and when it had happened. By now Kashi had woken up and was also quickly engrossed in Keara's story telling.
"And finally we came to- The night was pitch dark with only a few spots of stars to light the streets in the snow village of Yar. Clouds covered the usual over-abundance of bright dots in the sky, and the moon was New this night.
However, despite the lateness of the hour, there were lights on in the newest shop on 42nd street. The sign above the window was off, but the lights inside reflected off the snow and cast a dim light on it…enough light to read "Shonen Shack".
"I can't believe you named it that," General Hein's lip curled in disgust as he stared at one of the bishounen rental sheets."
Silence descended after Keara finished the account of Bishounen shop 4; because after all there was no more to tell.
Until next week that is.
However, despite the lateness of the hour, there were lights on in the newest shop on 42nd street. The sign above the window was off, but the lights inside reflected off the snow and cast a dim light on it; enough light to read "Shonen Shack".
"I can't believe you named it that," General Hein's lip curled in disgust as he stared at one of the bishounen rental sheets.
Nug looked up at the 'good' general with tired eyes, "We thought it was funny."
Keara's head fell abruptly onto the tabletop and she began to mutter almost inaudibly. "Stupid Hein...we'll show you..."
General Hein raised an eyebrow in question and looked pointedly at Nug, "What's she mumbling about?"
Cake poked Keara's arm tentatively, "Hello?"
Nug sighed, "She's been asleep in that chair for about 20 minutes. She's just talking in her sleep."
"For your sake, she better be," General Hein tossed the form onto the table. "How is that order coming along?"
Because she was the only one awake enough to do so, Cake stood up and cleared her throat.
"Yankee Doodle went to town riding on a pony. He stuck a feather in his hat and called it macaroni."
"Wha-?" Keara picked her head up off the table and stared dazedly at Cake. "Who yanked what doodle?"
General Hein put a glove-clad hand to his forehead and sighed in exasperation, "I can't believe they left me alone with you three."
Nug blinked, "Where did Sephiroth and Soku go?"
"To get pizza," Keara mumbled as she laid her head back on the table.
Cake looked at her watch with a quizzical expression, "You can get pizza at 2 in the morning?"
"Talking in her sleep again," Nug yawned and returned to going through a long list of orderable bishounen.
"Why are you taking so long?" Hein growled at Nug and began to pace. "It's not as if I asked you to do a difficult task! Just order some weak, normal ones so that the truck comes!"
Nug stared blankly at Hein for a few long moments, then she blinked, "Well, you see…"
The bell above the door jingled which caught the attention of everyone except Keara, who was hopelessly passed out.
"Got the pizza," Soku said casually as he locked the door behind him.
Sephiroth made his way over to the table where the girls were seated and poked Keara, "Are you alive?"
Keara muttered something about star-shaped pieces and fell silent again.
Soku brought the two large pizzas over to the table that they had brought in from the back room where everyone was gathered. The happy smell of food was enough to entice even Keara to pick her head up.
"Oooh…" Cake peered over the table at the pizza box. "From the 42nd street pizza parlor…good stuff. Soku brought me some of this a little while back."
Nug blinked in confusion, then shook her head, "That's right. I keep forgetting Soku the traitor had you locked up in our bathroom."
"Not," Soku raised a finger. "In the bathroom. In the secret room BEHIND the bathroom."
"Whatever," Nug made a flat eyes face.
Soon the two boxes of pizza were decimated and nothing remained of them save two sauce stained boxed and a few pizza crusts. Sephiroth had taken over residence of the recliner from the old prop store and was sharpening his impossibly long sword.
Cake stared in awe at the white haired bishy and without thinking reached out to touch the shiny sword. She gained a glare from Sephiroth and a small cut on her finger, which she made a big deal of.
"Look!" She put the injured finger in Hein's face. "I need a band-aid!"
"Why should I care?" Hein lost his temper and yelled at Cake. "It's your own fault for bothering Sephiroth while he had his sword out!"
The yelling woke Keara up from her happy full of pizza sleep land and she glared groggily at Hein, "No yelling. You're not an alarm clock."
Soku hid his amusement at Hein's frustration and spoke up in a calm matter-of-fact tone of voice, "Perhaps we should let them go to sleep, since we're not accomplishing much by making them stay up. Keara is practically asleep already."
Nug took this opportune moment to pass out, bishounen list still in one hand, and a pen in the other.
"Fine," the flustered Hein crossed his arms. "Sephiroth, take them upstairs and stay up there so that they don't try to escape."
Sephiroth looked up from his blade sharpening and simply stared at Hein as if the man had just said the moon was made of doughnut holes.
"Ok! Bedtime!" Cake hopped out of her chair and shook Nug and Keara until they too were groggily picking their heads up off the table.
As soon as Nug and Keara had ascended the stairs and Cake had returned to her hole in the bathroom wall, Sephiroth followed the two shop owners up the stairs with one final glare at General Hein.
Sun now streamed in the front windows of the Shonen Shack, playing happily on General Hein's face where he was trying to sleep on the cushions in the window.
He cursed to himself and finally moved out of the window in a bad mood and tried to find the coffee maker. Soku looked up at him from where he was sitting at the table reading the morning newspaper. Now that the table had been moved in from the backroom, it was starting to become a normal piece of Shop furniture.
"Good morning, general," Soku nodded at Hein and took a sip of coffee. "I hope you slept well."
The general simply glared at Soku and rummaged for a coffee mug so that he could partake of the morning Nug fuel. Of course, Nug hadn't come down from her room yet, so it really couldn't be dubbed Nug fuel yet.
Heavy footsteps tromped down the stairs that were hidden off to the side of the counter and soon Sephiroth too was at the coffee machine. He didn't look as if he was very awake, and he also didn't seem to be in a very cheerful mood.
"What's your problem?" Hein asked of the irritable Sephiroth before partaking of his coffee.
Sephiroth glared at Hein, "You took the last clean coffee mug."
"He did what?" Nug managed as she stumbled down the stairs, followed shortly after by a dazed looking Keara.
Soku smiled to himself and took a sip of coffee, pretending to ignore the others in the room.
"He took the last clean mug." Sephiroth growled dangerously. "You either give me your cup or you had better wash me one."
General Hein scoffed, "Why should I do that?"
"Because I'll have your head if you don't!" Nug cut Sephiroth's reply off. "I need my morning coffee!"
Keara nodded, "Yeah, you should see her if she-" Keara stopped for a moment to think about what she was saying. "Never mind. You DON'T want to see her when she's had no coffee."
Sephiroth unsheathed his sword and brandished the weapon in a threatening manner; of course, with a blade that seemed as large as the room itself, it's hard to make it appear non-threatening.
In response General Hein only glared at the one-winged angel and took a big gulp of his coffee. Sephiroth's sword raised in the air poised to strike down the general while the two young shop owners looked on in fear and awe.
"Hey, guys," Cake entered the room via the door to the backroom. "I made some coffee back here if you want any. I had to wash a few mugs to have enough for everyone-"
Immediately Sephiroth returned his sword to it's place on his belt and he strode quickly over to where Cake was still standing in the doorway.
"Move."
Cake nodded nervously and hurriedly stepped out of the white-haired bishounen's way. When Sephiroth was all the way through the door, black wing and all, Nug regained her proper coffee desire and followed suit.
Soku chuckled in amusement as he finished off his cup of coffee then got up and handed the empty mug to Keara. "There should be some juice in the fridge. You can rinse this out and use it."
Keara blinked at Soku, then looked quizzically at the mug in her hand and smiled lazily as she wasn't entirely awake yet. "Okie."
"Yes...yes that's right," Nug spoke into the phone receiver and sighed. "Yes, I'm aware that they are all Ukes...yes...I..."
Keara raised an eyebrow, and mouthed, "What are they going on about?"
Nug shrugged, "Look, would you just send the damn order? I desperately need it because we rented out all out bishounen the other day and I need something to sell."
Everyone watched with baited breath as Nug listened to the reply from the other end of the phone conversation.
"Ok, thank you. Good bye!" Nug clicked off the cordless phone and rolled her eyes. "That guy must think I'm a total idiot."
"What was he giving you a hard time about?" General Hein wanted to know. His plot to undermine the bishounen business could be at risk, after all.
After a deep sigh Nug felt like explaining. Again. "He was trying to point out the fact that our whole shipment consists of Ukes and singles, which I know about and tried to tell him I knew that. So he thinks I'm an idiot and that I don't know what I'm doing."
General Hein contemplated this, trying to see if this could hurt his scheme in any way. He looked over at Sephiroth, who had been residing in the recliner, to see if perhaps he could get a little advise but to his dismay, his attention was being attracted elsewhere by Keara.
"You're cuddly," Keara muttered happily as she sat in Sephiroth's lap and snuggled up to him.
Sephiroth didn't seem to mind the attention, as Keara wasn't acting like a rabid fan girl yet, so he simply sat there and occasionally played with Keara's hair. With Sephiroth distracted, Hein didn't want to talk to the bishounen anymore; Soku was better at giving advice anyway.
However, Soku was nowhere to be seen.
Nug became instantly wary if every little movement and sound in the shop, and if someone had seen her and not known what the situation was, she would have looked like a paranoid freak.
Keara, upon hearing the news that Soku's whereabouts were unknown wrapped her arms around Sephiroth's neck and buried her face in his chest. Cake moped because she hadn't been clever enough to think of jumping in Sephiroth's lap before Keara had.
Anger boiled up inside the general and he began to pace stiffly between the door and the table Nug was sitting at, still glancing about her like a schizophrenic.
"He had better not be off trying to sabotage me."
"Now, why would I do that?" A lilting voice came from the door when Hein had his back turned to it.
At the sound of Soku's voice, General Hein whirled around to take his anger out on him, "Why weren't you here? Where did you wander off to?"
Soku held up a pair of pizza boxes, "To get lunch. People have to eat, you know."
"You've been sneaking off for pizza an awful lot as of late," Hein observed.
With a shrug Soku placed the pizza box on the table, "It's good pizza. Besides, it's not up to you to tell me where and when I can go."
Sephiroth let a sly smile sneak up his face and he began to scratch Keara's head.
"Mmm...pizza..." Nug reveled in the wonderfully delicious 42nd street pizza.
"Sooo," Cake raised her eyebrows. "When is that shipment getting in?"
"Tonight...sometime..." Keara replied in a dreamy voice.
"Tonight?" General Hein whirled on Keara. "If it's at night I can't very well see where it's going, now can I?"
Keara pulled herself closer to Sephiroth who wrapped his arms around her and folded his one black wing down for further protection.
"I can't believe this!" Hein threw his hands up in the air. "Are you on their side now?"
Sephiroth glared back at the general, "They're nicer to me than you are."
"But do you know what she is?" Hein pointed a finger at Keara. "She's a fan-girl! Just like-" He pointed over at Nug and Cake who were helping themselves to the pizza. "Them! They're all the same! Crazed, rabid fan girls who revel in torturing you!"
"Whe donbt's wamt-" Nug began with her mouth full of pizza. She sighed and finished chewing. "We don't want to torture you. We just do stuff to your characters that is suggested at but never actually happens."
Cake nodded, her mouth too full of food to attempt a response.
Keara looked over at the pizza with interest, "Oooh, I want a slice."
General Hein seethed with anger and stormed into the back room to, for all everyone else knew, blow up something. But really all he did was grumble about traitors and all that jazz for a half hour or so.
Night fell with no further upsets at the Bishounen Shop. General Hein had grumbled to himself for the remainder of the afternoon; Sephiroth and Soku and tied the girls back up, despite the fact that Sephiroth liked the attention he got from the fan girls.
Nug sighed and leaned her head back against Keara's as they were sitting back to back. "I think I'm going to die of boredom."
"I don't even have a notebook," Keara replied dejectedly.
Cake had resigned to singing aimlessly to herself, and she was tied up in a chair next to the entrance to the back room, as Hein hadn't wanted to tie all three of them together.
Sephiroth had again taken up residence in the old recliner and was sharpening his ridiculously long sword for what must have been the hundredth time that day.
"Don't you ever get tired of doing that?" Nug asked of the white haired one.
"No."
If they could have seen each other, Keara and Nug would have exchanged glances as a comment to how uncommunicative Sephiroth was being.
General Hein stormed back into the shop from the back and stood next to Keara and Nug so that they could both see him if they turned their heads. He crossed his arms and took a stiff-backed stance as if to insure his dominance over them.
"I have constructed a tracking device since you two have so graciously made the truck come late with your procrastination."
Nug narrowed her eyes.
"Made a tracking device out of what?" Keara furrowed her eyebrows in thought and stared at the floorboards in front of her. "I mean, we have clothes back there. So unless we have high-tech clothing that we didn't know about-"
"I had a special shipment come in while you were out here playing with the traitors."
Soku's eyebrows rose slightly and he looked over at Sephiroth who looked more than a little irritated.
As always seems to happen during tense moments, there came a knocking from the back room. General Hein smiled arrogantly and sauntered off to answer the door.
"You three girls stay quiet," Was the general's parting statement before he vanished entirely into the back.
Cake laughed, "Yeah, sure we will."
In the blink of an eye Sephiroth had the Masamune at Cake's throat. He glared at her dangerously, then moved the weapon away when he thought that the girl was sufficiently terrified.
"That's not fair!" Cake moped. "You cuddle with Keara, but you put pointy objects at my neck!"
Sephiroth sighed and ignored Cake's complaining. Soku strolled over to the spot where Keara and Nug were tied together.
"So, are you about ready to have your store back?" Soku asked nonchalantly.
The two girls blinked then looked up at Soku in mild shock. However, the serious look on the evil bishounen's face told them without a doubt that Soku was indeed not kidding.
"Not that I'm complaining," Nug began carefully. "But why are you willing to let us go and all?"
Soku sighed loudly and glared in the direction of the back room, "Because frankly, he's driving me mad."
Keara blinked, "But I thought you were sociopathic."
"So do you want your store back?" Soku commented ignoring Keara.
"Yes!" Nug wailed. "And I want my coffee all to myself again!"
Sephiroth gave Soku a skeptical look. "How do you plan on getting rid of Hein and his threat to this store?"
"For one," Soku strode over to the counter where he picked up a copy of the order Nug had called in. "If I'm reading this right, Nug here ordered a shipment of hero bishounen. They may be ukes, but they still have the save the person in danger instinct."
Cake perked up, "Zippity do da!"
General Hein stormed in from the back room just then catching the girls off guard. Soku put down the copy of the order and crossed his arms.
"She wants you two out here," Hein said gruffly and motioned vaguely at Nug and Keara.
"Ok then," Nug sat up as straight as she could. "Untie us and let us handle this. This is OUR shop after all."
/Act normal. Don't set off Hein's alarms until the truck is gone. I've got plans to stop it./
If they hadn't been used to Soku randomly communicating telepathically Keara and Nug would have jumped in surprise. Cake hummed to herself blissfully unaware as she had not been included. It was nothing personal against her, of course, Soku just knew that her reaction to having a foreign voice in her head would have been . . . negative.
The owners of the shop waited patiently as Sephiroth complacently continued to play Hein's go-fer and untied the girls. Once they were free, Keara and Nug did their best to appear as if nothing was awry as they made their way into the receiving area.
There was a rough looking woman with her sandy blonde hair done in a messy ponytail and a cigarette hung from her lips.
"Are you two the owners?" The woman asked gruffly.
Nug took the forefront, "Yes, ma'am we are. I'm glad our shipment came in."
The woman looked down at a clipboard she had, and then up at Nug. "I am instructed to inform you that your shipping request is quite odd, and uncharacteristic. I am to tell the company why such a shipment was requested."
Keara shrugged, "We were out of Ukes. The Semes seem to be less desirable."
"What she said," Nug smiled a little at Keara's matter of fact reply.
"Alright then," the woman nodded. "That'll do just fine."
General Hein watched in anticipation as the woman tucked her clipboard under her arm and proceeded to open the truck door. Inside were the usual large boxes and a few smaller ones, which held their extra clothing and the like. Nug squinted her eyes a little as she tried to remember which bishounen exactly she had ordered.
In a matter of minutes the trucker-lady and Hein had removed the few boxes from the back of the cargo bay. Nug was presented the clipboard by the shipper and as she signed her name to the bottom of the order form Keara watched as Hein slipped quickly into the still open truck door and placed a small something on the wall of the cargo bay.
"Thank you much," the woman smiled. "You have a good night." She nodded at Hein then closed the cargo door, climbed into her truck and soon disappeared into the night darkness.
Hein grinned smugly down at the two female shop owners, "Well, soon your little…operation will be all uncovered and this will be no more."
"Answer a question for me, will ya?" Nug crossed her arms and tilted her head to the side a little. "Why does Giovanni want to shut us down so bad? He got Sephiroth, didn't he?"
A glare replaced the grin Hein had been wearing, "Getting Sephiroth was sheer luck. Some of his Rockets waylaid a truck that they thought was carrying something valuable, but instead they found Sephiroth in a box."
Keara's eyes grew wide, "So, Sephiroth blabbed the whole secret about the bishounen shop to Giovanni?"
"Not all of it."
The trio turned to see Sephiroth leaning against the doorway with his arms crossed. Next to him stood Soku, and Cake behind them who was trying to see over their shoulders.
"I do have a bit of programming so I couldn't tell him where the company was located." Sephiroth moved across the room and stood facing the girls. "They managed to get Kefka and Hein somehow. I think they have a secret door into the Square headquarters where they can steal the unpleasant Final Fantasy characters."
"Unpleasant am I?" General Hein raised his head and tried to look down his nose at Sephiroth.
Soku in the meantime set about opening the boxes that the trucker lady had left. Somehow Sephiroth kept General Hein distracted for long enough that out of the three boxes climbed the hero bishounen.
"Your time is up!" A young kid with wildly spiky brown hair announced as he pointed a large key at the general.
Hein's eyes narrowed and he turned slowly and glared down at the boy, "What do you think you're going to do with that, boy?"
"Hey Sora!" Keara grinned.
"Huh?" The boy looked past Hein at Keara, then smiled. "Hello."
"Don't get distracted." A man with equally spiky, but blonde hair walked up next to Sora and glared at Hein. "Betraying our company are you?"
"Cloud." Sephiroth blinked then smiled. "Nice to see you again."
The sight of Sephiroth surprised Cloud, but regardless he retained his cool and pulled his huge sword from his back and brandished it.
General Hein smiled, "Ah, you think you're all so clever don't you?" Hein pulled a pistol from the depths of his evil trench coat and pointed it at the two sword wielding bishounen. "Go ahead and make a move."
Without any warning at all there was a golden claw at Hein's throat and a gloved hand grabbed the pistol from Hein's hand.
A very quiet voice spoke in his ear, "You may have had a gun, but you did not have your wits about you."
"Vincent!" Keara hopped gleefully. "Nug! Why didn't you tell me you picked these guys?"
Nug blinked, "I didn't order these guys." She glanced over at Soku who was looked about the room innocently. "I think someone tampered with my order."
"Are you complaining?" Cloud raised an eyebrow.
"Tie up the coat wearing bad guy!" Sora exclaimed.
Sephiroth smirked, "Which coat wearing bad guy?"
"The..." Sora stared nervously at Sephiroth remembering many a beating from the menacing one-winged angel. "The..."
"The ugly one," Cloud spoke up.
General Hein glared at Cloud, "You'll all pay for this. You don't realize that you're stopping the one person trying to help you!"
Vincent rolled his eyes and pushed Hein over to a random chair. After Sora and Cloud had set to tying up the frustrating Final Fantasy villain, Vincent regarded the pistol Hein had been attempting to scare everyone with. He chuckled to himself then crunched it into a ball in his clawed hand.
"You're so cool!" Cake glomped Vincent gleefully.
Cloud looked over at Keara and Nug in alarm, fearing the same fate for himself, but for the moment, Cake had detached herself from Vincent and was paying attention to Sephiroth.
Soku crossed his arms and smiled slyly down at Hein, "Did you really think this little plan was going to work?"
Hein laughed, "But my plan is working! At this very moment the truck is heading back towards the factory and Giovanni will be able to destroy it!"
Cake stared at Hein for a moment, "Why do you want to destroy it so bad? You're a bishy too."
Nug blinked, "Well, maybe not a bishounen. But I agree that he is handsome."
Keara was no longer paying attention to the conversation and had taken to hovering around Vincent, playing with his hair every now and then.
"I don't want to be tackled by fan girls for the rest of existence, and many other bishounen feel the same way." Hein glared at the girls. "I was on a campaign of liberation!"
"Since when are you such a tree-hugger?" Keara peered over at Hein from where she was standing next to Vincent.
Sora was inspecting his Keyblade, "So, do we really have to stay here? I mean, I kinda wanna go back to the factory."
Cloud looked down at the boy and rolled his eyes, "That's only because Riku is still there."
"Is not!" Sora blushed hotly. "It's just weird here."
"See what I mean?" Hein growled. "Even the boy knows that this kind of thing is wrong. He senses the evil in it."
"No, it's not that." Sora closed one eye as he tried to pinpoint the words to describe the feeling. "There. . . aren't enough other bishounen here."
"Huh?" Nug looked at the boy in confusion. This is…well about how many we usually have."
Sora shivered.
Vincent patted Sora's head, "You're young yet."
/I've found you Bishounen Shop/
Keara and Nug looked at each other and blinked. Then Keara grinned, and closed her eyes and tried to mentally respond, /What? Who are you?/
"Legato. Legato Bluesummers." A voice lilted from the doorway.
The group made a collective turn and found Legato leaning on the doorframe between the back room and the main shop smiling evilly. Kuja sauntered up next to him and crossed his arms with an angry pout.
"Eee! Kuja!" Cake exclaimed gleefully and pounced on the silver-haired evil bishy.
Kuja was ungracefully pulled to the floor where he lay in shock being huggled by Cake. Legato chuckled to himself at Kuja's misfortune, then ambled into the midst of the newly arrived bishounen and the shop owners. He crossed his arms and grinned at Hein who was feeling very overshadowed at the moment.
"Thought you were clever, didn't you?" Legato said in a low voice. "I think I'm going to have to teach you a lesson about life, General Hein-"
"NO!" Keara attacked Legato from behind. "No bloody messes! I don't want to clean this back room up again!"
Legato's shoulders sagged with disappointment.
Kuja had managed to detach himself from Cake with promises that she could braid his hair later, and he made his way to stand next to Legato where he pulled a palm sized metal object out of his jacket and presented it to Hein.
Hein's eyes widened for a moment, "My tracking device." He glared at the pair. "How did you get it?"
Legato shrugged, "Easy enough. Kuja flew up and scouted until he found the truck, then I stopped the driver and we opened up the back, took out the device and let the driver go on her merry way."
"Oblivious of course," Kuja smiled mischievously and wrapped his arms around Legato's non-spiky arm.
Soku leaned back into the beat up couch in the main shop area and sighed with relief, "I'm so glad that whole mess is over with. It was too much trouble even for the amusement it gave me."
Legato glared at Soku from the recliner, "You didn't have to have Kuja and I locked up."
"Oh you know you liked it," Keara teased from her spot behind the counter. "You and Kuja got to spend some time along together during your lovey period."
"I'll have to admit that was fun," Kuja spoke up from his spot sitting in Legato's lap.
"Don't move!" Cake admonished the evil bishy. "I'm trying to get this braid right."
Kuja sighed and leaned back so that she could reach his hair again.
Nug took a sip from a big ol' mug of coffee, "It's all mine again!"
Keara nodded, "Yeah, too bad we had to send all those bishounen back though. Even if it was a lot of characters to keep track of."
"I'd love to see Hein's face again when we shoved him into one of those bishounen boxes and shipped him off to Giovanni." Soku grinned evilly.
"Yes. . ." Nug smiled and took anther gulp of coffee.
"We have it on tape!" Teru perked up randomly from his side of the couch where Kashi was sleeping in his lap.
Keara blinked.
Teru gently moved Kashi off of him and made his way to the security monitor and began to rewind a random tape that was in the VCR. In a few moments he pressed play and an image of the back room from the previous night popped up on the screen.
The scene was of Legato and Kuja gleefully stuffing General Hein into one of the Demo bishy boxes just as Teru and Kashi had wandered back into the break room. Every one on screen turned to look at the two newly arrived bishounen, whom Nug glomped gleefully glad they were still alive.
"I can't believe we got captured so easily." Teru grumbled and slumped down in the couch cushions.
Kashi snuggled up to Teru again, still sleeping and oblivious to the fact that he was even doing it.
"Well," Nug sipped from her mug. "It's not like you and Kashi could do much against a horde of Team Rocket lackeys."
Legato smiled, "Yes, you silly, powerless humans. You needed Kuja and I to come save you."
"That was so much fun," Kuja giggled. "Decimating all those puny little Rockets. It's so nice to be needed."
Teru glared at Kuja, "You could have done better at giving us directions. Instead of having you and Legato bursting in, killing everyone then running off again."
Keara laughed, "Did you two really have to find your way back all alone?"
"Well, Teru," Soku smiled slyly. "If it wasn't for me sneaking off for pizza all the time, they wouldn't even have been able to come rescue you."
"Humph." Teru ignored Soku and petted Kashi's head.
Cake stood triumphantly, "There! All done!"
Kuja blinked then got off Legato's lap and made his way to the bathroom so that he could look at his hair in the mirror.
Legato rested his chin on his hand as he regarded Kuja from his spot lounging in the recliner. "I didn't think it was possible for him to get any prettier."
Cake grinned and crossed her arms. "I did good."
"I wish the video had sound." Keara mused out loud.
"Huh?" Nug looked over at Keara in confusion, then followed her gaze to the security monitor. "Ah."
"Oh well," Teru shrugged. "I'm used to security tapes."
"Hey, Kuja," Legato called from his chair. "Come back in here."
"Hai," Kuja nodded and came back into the main room taking his place back on Legato's lap.
"Riiiight," Nug looked around for a moment, then drank from her mug. Of course, it was the middle of the day, so she didn't NEED the coffee, it was just a novelty for her to have her own Nug fuel all to herself again.
"Hey everyone!" A voice called happily from the front door, bell jingling merrily as well.
"Doraku!" Nug cried happily and ran to glomp the golden tan bishounen. "We're so glad you're back from your sailing trip! You missed a lot!"
Doraku laughed and put Nug back down. "Did I now? What happened?"
His eyes fell then on the security monitor and he looked slightly fearfully over at Kuja and Legato who were on the recliner, Kuja who was having his hair done up in some other style by Cake.
"This is Cake," Keara pointed at the blonde girl dressed in the Rocket uniform. "She was dwelling in our bathroom. Soku was hiding her in there."
A few long moments passed, in which Kashi mumbled in his sleep something about cheese fries. Doraku placed his suitcase on the floor and slowly made his way to the counter where he took a gulp of Nug's coffee.
"Ok, now explain it all to me."
Nug picked up her mug and stared into its emptiness, "Mope . . . wait! I have more!" She bounded over to the coffee maker and poured herself a fresh cup.
"Ok." Keara took a big breath and let it out slowly. "It started like this-"There!" Keara backed up and looked at her handiwork with happiness. "Now we won't have any more repeats of last week's problem."
Nug nodded as she chugged the last of her coffee and set the mug down. "Let's just hope they don't start making a spectacle of themselves."
Doraku blinked and nodded as Keara continued to tell the tale of Bishounen Shop part 2. Soon she ended and began part 3.
"So, after that we began with- "It's getting better all the ti-i-ime, better all the time." Keara sang to herself as she leaned against the wall next to the truck-receiving door.
Nug, per her usual, took a sip out of a big mug, and then made a face, "This isn't coffee!"
Soku hid a smile of amusement, "No, it's tea. It's better for you."
"If I wanted healthy Nug Fuel I'd put more sugar in my coffee!" She spazed then sighed. "I'm going to the café down the street. Be back in a few."
Everyone stared at Keara in amazement at her ability to remember exactly what had been said, and when it had happened. By now Kashi had woken up and was also quickly engrossed in Keara's story telling.
"And finally we came to- The night was pitch dark with only a few spots of stars to light the streets in the snow village of Yar. Clouds covered the usual over-abundance of bright dots in the sky, and the moon was New this night.
However, despite the lateness of the hour, there were lights on in the newest shop on 42nd street. The sign above the window was off, but the lights inside reflected off the snow and cast a dim light on it…enough light to read "Shonen Shack".
"I can't believe you named it that," General Hein's lip curled in disgust as he stared at one of the bishounen rental sheets."
Silence descended after Keara finished the account of Bishounen shop 4; because after all there was no more to tell.
Until next week that is.