Disclaimer: Characters of Gensoumaden Saiyuki belong to Minekura Kazuya.
Beta-read by: missed-f (Thank you!)
Turbulent Days: Chapter 4: Immolation Part 1 Two years ago"You look so cute in that dress!" Clasping her hands together at her chest, a tall longhaired woman with beautiful eyes cooed at the figure before her.
"I feel ridiculous, Kanan," the figure in the long-sleeved dress said uneasily.
"No," Kanan's voice became serious. "Let me correct myself. You look beautiful." The look in her eyes had turned from delight to wonder. Now she led the other person by hand towards the full-length mirror in the room.
"Now I'm mortified," came the protest, which went unheeded as Kanan turned him towards the mirror.
"Look, Gonou," she said, putting an arm around him as both looked into the mirror.
A pair of almost identical images stared back at them. Almost, because where Kanan's hair reached down nearly to her waist, the other's hair barely grazed the collar of his dress.
"One more thing, love." She turned towards the dresser to retrieve the last item she needed to complete the makeover.
"There," she said with a smile of happy satisfaction after fitting the wig on her brother.
This time Gonou gasped in surprise at the similarity, and then was amazed at himself for being surprised. Now if he could just lose the broadness of his shoulders, they would be exact copies of each other. That was the way it should be, of course. They were twins. He pulled her closer in an affectionate embrace. Faces that were almost spitting images stared at each other mischievously, then longingly. Gonou raised a hand to caress the cheek of his living image.
The doorbell chose to ring at that moment.
"He's here," he said, nervousness creeping into his expression.
"I'll get it," Kanan said and drew away almost reluctantly from his hold.
A man with a predatory aura walked in with cat-like grace. He gave Kanan a feline smile and a casual greeting:.
"Hi, Kanan."
"Hi, Kiyoi [1], how have you been?" Kanan addressed him respectfully. "Gonou's in the bedroom right now. I think he's getting more nervous by the minute."
"Stage fright? I hope not."
"Certainly not, Kiyoi," a voice interrupted them from the door of the bedroom. The man called Kiyoi looked to that direction. His exotically slanted eyes widened slightly in surprise.
"You exceed my expectations, Gonou. Excellent." Turning back to Kanan, he said: "You did well with the make-up, dear." Pushing her fear and hatred of this man,
this man and those above him who hold our lives in their hands
deep into the abyss in her mind, she smiled serenely at him, and gave a small curtsey at the praise.
Without wasting time on further small talk, Kiyoi offered a hand to the other man, "Shall we go now?"
Gonou checked his left wrist once more, and accepted his leader's proffered hand.
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They walked out of the lift into a silent multi-story indoor car park of the apartment. To Gonou's surprise, instead of heading towards the rows of cars, Kiyoi turned left to the staircase.
"My car is on the floor below," he explained in answer to his subordinate's questioning look as he dipped a hand casually into the pocket of his pants, pressing a button on his cell phone. Gonou knew better than to ask why they had to take the stairs instead of the lift. There is no such thing such as too much caution in their line of work.
The rude uproar of a commotion greeted them as they opened the door to the next level of car park.
"How dare you look at my babe that way!" a man was shouting angrily at a group of rough-looking men standing beside a van. The woman beside him fidgeted uneasily in her barely there top and leather miniskirt.
"Who'd want to look at that old whore of yours?" one of the ruffians barked back.
"First you leered at my girl, now you dare to insult us?"
"Looking for a fight, kid?"
Kiyoi and Gonou did not wait to watch the outcome of the shouting match. They were in a hurry anyway. Lowering their eyes to avoid any provocation from either side of the quarrel, both hastened their steps towards Kiyoi's steel-gray Honda.
Kiyoi started the car with a deceptive show of unhurriedness. Just before they were to pass by the commotion, he said to Gonou: "Could you help me find the Deliberate CD? I'm sick of Goodbye Ideals already." [2]
Gonou smiled indulgently as he bent to search for the requested CD. Kiyoi always had to listen to this particular band's songs before any important job. In fact, he played their songs so often that even tone-deaf Gonou would have been able to sing some of the songs in his sleep.
"Perhaps you should get a new deck, one of those that comes with those CD changers," he said as he rummaged through the CD casings.
"Maybe I should," Kiyoi replied absently as he nodded to several of the men who had earlier committed the trivial sin of gawking at a scantily clad woman. They stopped their dispute immediately, giving the man and his female companion empty threats as they hurried towards the lift.
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The mission was an unqualified success. Nobody at the wedding feast suspected anything, since the music was too loud for conversation and Gonou acted his part perfectly as the extremely shy and very quiet girlfriend of Kiyoi. Everyone was too busy chumming around and boasting about their latest exploits as they "washed the tiles" over the provided mahjong tables anyway. (What else do you expect at the wedding banquet of a prominent triad member.)
When their quarry excused herself from the table and Gonou received the nod from Kiyoi, he counted to five, then stood up slowly and left. Behind him, he could hear Kiyoi making his excuses for him, followed by raucous laughter from the men.
It was clean and quick. The victim, a moll who had displeased someone from the upper echelon by having an affair with a person from a rival clan, had no time to even scream. Gonou sneaked behind her, clapped a hand to her mouth and plunged the knife under her ribcage. All within a matter of seconds. Not a single soul noticed anything amiss as Gonou walked out from the ladies' washroom, wiping his hands fastidiously with an ornate lace handkerchief.
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"I don't understand one thing though. Why did we have to get her in the ladies?" Gonou asked as they were on their way home from the banquet. The deed would not be discovered until the cleaner came next morning to find a suspicious smell coming from a locked cubicle.
Kiyoi turned towards him briefly, flashing a wolfish grin.
"Yiu has his kinks. You know."
"I guess so. Didn't get his nickname for nothing, huh, that Old Man of ours?"
They both laughed at the reference to Old Man Yiu's sobriquet, awarded during his younger days. Hundred Eyes Yiu who had more than enough eyes looking out for delectable babes to occupy his bed, and when he tired of them, to service his cronies.
Kiyoi's smile stayed a few moments longer on his sharp-featured face after their laughter had subsided. Staring at the road from his place behind the wheel, he thought: Only snag is, friend, the Old Man does not even know about tonight. All he knows is that I am taking you, or rather, Kanan, out for a date at a brother's wedding. That tonight, Gonou is home alone…
"Here we are," Kiyoi said as the car turned the corner into the compound of Gonou's apartment.
"Oh my God," the other man intoned in a flat voice, dull with shock. They both stared at the conflagration at the topmost level of the building. That's right, Gonou. Your unit. Shall I tell you who did it? I will… later. Feline eyes, unseen by the distracted Gonou, flashed with amusement as the finely manicured fingers wrapped around a pack of cigarettes.
None of the policemen could stop Gonou from rushing into the building.
"Too late, Gonou," Kiyoi muttered softly, unheard in the bustle among the law enforcers, who were trying to keep onlookers back from the scene of disaster. He took in a drag of the cigarette with a self-satisfied smirk on his face, wearing the look of the cat that was approaching an ensnared rat. One more step to go after this.
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Coming soon:
Turbulent Days: Chapter 5: Immolation Part 2
[1] The kanji for Kiyoi is purity (left water radical, right: character for green/blue). So he is not an Original Character. In fact, he is more familiarly known by the number 1 throughout the Saiyuki fandom. Get it? I took only the first character because cramming all three characters that comprise Chin Ii Sou's name proved to be a formidable task. I also demurred at giving him the ridiculous-sounding name of Purity (or worse, the Hand of Purity - which is what Chin Ii Sou means in the first place).
[2] A plug for two of my favorite band's albums. ^___^
