Bored.
Bored. Bored. Bored.
Karen Kasumi, soapland mistress, lay sprawled on her back staring at the ceiling from the floor. "Not one... not a single customer has shown up..." She sat up frustrated. "And still the boss insisted that we all come in today! Doesn't he know that it's pointless?!" She flopped back onto the floor. Her expression sad. "I guess it's because he doesn't want to see what going on out there... all the destruction..." Tears welled up into her eyes. "I wish that I could ignore it too. But instead I'm caught in the middle." A girl, also clad in lingerie, walked over to Karen and poked her in the side making her giggle.
"Kasumi-san, it's break time. Go get some lunch." Karen looked at the other soapland girl. She was pretty, long black hair and brown eyes, a small petite body. Karen wondered if she would survive 'the promised day'. For such pretty things to die seemed such a waste.
"All right Mitsu. I'm going."
The Korean Steakhouse was bustling with business. Almost every seat was taken. Karen looked over the heads of the other customers looking for an empty space. She didn't seem to be having any luck when something odd caught her eyes. 'Flower Petals?', She wondered, as she walked towards the table. Upon reaching it her suspicions were confirmed. The Dragon of Earth. Nataku. 'Maybe I was wrong about today...' She thought to herself. 'Things look like they're going to speed up quickly.' The Dragon of Earth looked up at her from it's seat.
"Are you a waitress?" It asked monotone, looking up from a menu. Karen blinked.
"Uh, no. I'm a soapland mistress. I don't work here." A thought flashed through her mind. "Do you mind if I sit here? I'd like to know more about you. You look foreign." Nataku stared at her for a moment and nodded, then looked back down at the menu. Karen took a seat across from it. She folded her hands and placed them on the table. "So? Where are you from? What are you? What are you all alone for?" Nataku looked at her a bit puzzled.
"I am from the Sunshine 60 Building. Tokyo, Japan. A biologically engineered android. I have no gender. No emotions. I exist only to serve the Dragons Of Earth for the 'promised day'. I am here to experience taste." It looked down at it's menu again and Karen giggled, making it look back up. "What are you doing?"
"Laughing. You're so truthful." She giggled some more, then regained her composure slightly. She extended her hand. Nataku took it. "You're Nataku, right? We met a few nights ago in battle at the subway station. I'm Karen Kasumi. One of the Dragons of Heaven." Nataku released her hand abruptly.
"Do you want to fight? I have not been told I needed to." Karen smiled as she slowly breathed a sigh of relief to herself. It seemed that she didn't make a mistake in telling Nataku who she was. It would only fight when told to. Which brought her to a different idea.
"No. I'm a bit tired of that. I was serious about what I said earlier... about getting to know you. Perhaps we can help eachother. Even though we're on different sides." Looking to her side she saw a waitress and signaled to her that they were ready to order. "So, you really have no emotions? I pity you. Don't you even know what love is?" Nataku shook it's head. Karen smirked. "Maybe we should make sure..."
In all her years of being a soapland mistress, Karen had never heard such a sad tale. She couldn't help but feel sorry for the 'now drunk' Dragon of Earth. She also could hardly keep herself from laughing at how 'human' it had become. Once it had begun drinking, it had begun to turn into a completely different person. It's monotone voice was long gone, replaced with a young woman's voice. Which was part of the fact that made Nataku's tale so sad. "So, let me get this straight... you have been given the memories of a young girl named Kazuki? A girl who loved her father so much she wanted to be his bride?" Nataku nodded. "How sad. And now you've met this boy named Fuuma. Who you at first thought was your father but is instead someone else? But despite that you feel the same about him?" Nataku nodded again and cried. Karen got up and gave Nataku a quick hug, then sat back down. She began to think to herself 'If I can help out Nataku, perhaps that will smooth things out a bit between our two groups. It's not that we're bad. It's just that we're working towards a different goal. If we can get together long enough, maybe we can come up with a compromise.' She bit her lip. 'It's a long shot. But worth a try. Either way, I can get out of being bored.'
Karen sat up and shook Nataku till it looked up at her. Tears were strewn across it's face. "Nataku, I'm going to help you. I want you to cheer up because you're going to win Fuuma's heart." Nataku grimaced.
"How? I'm not even a female. Much less any gender." Nataku began to cry again. Karen slammed her hand on the table startling Nataku(not to mention a few customers as well).
"Nataku... when I'm finished with you... it won't matter if you had the organs of both genders." She grabbed Nataku's hand and led it out of the restaurant, leaving the bill paid and an incredibly generous tip. She had some research to do.
Karen returned to the CLAMP Gakuen with high spirits. She had done quite a bit to 'help' Nataku that day and hoped that Fuuma would take the bait. After all her dealings with men, it was simple to decide overall what would be accepted. However, she did have to admit from Nataku's description that Fuuma didn't sound very average for a man. Perhaps some of her fellow Dragons of Heaven would know something about him. She recalled faintly that Kamui was a friend of Fuuma's, and that Sorata/Sora-chan had known him for a short time and would have information as well. If any of the information she gathered from them would change the outcome of her plan, she would have to change it accordingly.
As luck would have it, Kamui and Sora were arguing at that moment in the hallway.
"I don't want to be a part of this damned holy war. Leave me alone!" Kamui yelled at the ever-friendly Sora. He began to walk away when Sora grabbed his arm.
"Kamui, forget about the war for a second. Don't you want to save Fuuma? You said that now that Kotori was dead all you could do now was protect Fuuma. Was that a lie? What would Kotori think if she knew you wanted to turn your back on those you said you'd protect?" This provoked a punch from Kamui, doubling the Kouya priest over.
"Shut up! You have no idea what my decisions cost me. So what, if I choose to protect Fuuma? He's completely against me. He has his own power. He can protect himself. I'm not even able to protect myself" Sadness washed over his face. Karen backed away far enough so she couldn't be seen as Kamui walked away.
'Perhaps, Kamui wouldn't be the right person to ask right now.' She snuck out of hiding and walked up to Sora who was still recovering from Kamui's punch.
"Such a strong punch from such a little guy." Sora whispered to himself.
"Big temper too." Karen answered. Sora looked behind him and saw Karen. He switched from his anguished look to that of his old carefree Osaka self.
"Nee-san! Glad to see ya! Where've you been?" Sora still looked a bit in pain from the punch but not being around Kamui definitely seemed to give him higher spirits.
"Oh, I've been out." She said. Karen thought about the best way to approach the subject. Then decided for the direct approach. "Sora-chan... What do you know about that one Dragon of Earth... the one named Fuuma?"
Nataku fidgeted. It had never fidgeted before. 'How odd.' It thought. Was it becoming more human? It then looked down at it's new appearance. It was wearing a 'dress', as Karen called it, and wearing 'make-up'. It wondered how much it's appearance would change the way Fuuma felt about it. Also Karen had given it some advice on how to act and how to 'arouse' a man. Nataku continued wondering about these aspects as it knocked on the door to the room where Fuuma stayed underneath the City Hall.
"You rang?" Nataku jumped at the sound of Fuuma's voice as he stood at the door.
"No, I did not ring. I knocked on the door." Nataku told him flatly. Then realized how it had answered and shut up.
"Either way, I came to the door. What is it you want?" Fuuma looked at Nataku with cold eyes. Nataku gulped.
"Uh... I was wondering if you would like to see a movie? There is nothing to do right now, so I thought that getting out would be nice." It said, trying to add a feminine sound to it's voice. Fuuma just stared coldly.
"Sure. Why not?" He shrugged and stepped out of the room. "I could use a... distraction." He walked on and past Nataku towards the elevator that would take them outside. Nataku smiled behind him and it's eyes flashed with hope 'It's working.'
Violent. Cold. Heartless. It was all he could ever want in a movie. Bodies lying on the ground. Loud crashes. Blood. Quite frankly, he had never seen such an excellent film. Fuuma munched on some popcorn and savored it.
On his side, Nataku was thinking. 'Okay, I've gotten this far. Now I need to rope him in.' Nataku then leaned on Fuuma's shoulder, hoping he would take the hint and put his arm around it. To Nataku's dismay, Fuuma was more preoccupied with the movie. Time for step two.
Nataku grabbed hold of Fuuma's hand and held it to it's chest. Fuuma at first did not pay attention but eventually moved his hand to feel what it was touching. Nataku swooned. 'Finally.' It thought, 'he's noticing me.'
"What is that? A sock?" Fuuma said not taking a look. Nataku let go of his hand, and stifled a cry. Things were not going well. There was only one last resort.
"Blast! Should've known better when Nataku told me about him." Karen raced along the telephone poles towards the theater, clad in her skimpiest lingerie for speed against the wind. "I should have known he was the 'other' Kamui. I hope it's not too late!"
Okay. Now things were starting to get on his bad side. Clearly, Nataku had, had some other plans when it had suggested the movie. The fact that it was sitting on his lap right now and trying to kiss him just confirmed his suspicion. Such behavior had to be dealt with. Fuuma considered his options:
A- Kill it.
B- Kill it.
C- Wait, there are only two choices.
He opted for choice C and took Nataku off his lap, placing it firmly onto the other
seat. At least, he thought, he wouldn't be bored with what he was about to do. Besides, the movie had taken an unexpected turn and become boring. It was now focusing on something called, 'plot'. He stood up and put his hands on both sides of the chair. He bent down to meet Nataku's eyes, and coldly whispered, "Nataku."
Karen had nearly reached the theater when it exploded, knocking her backwards and towards the ground. She landed roughly on her back, the pain rushing through her body. "Damn. Too late."
Out of the smoke rose two figures. One was caught in the brunt of the blast while the other chased after.
"Fuuma! Why?" Nataku cried out. It's face was that of absolute shock and sorrow put together. It began to cry. It was 'angry' that it had failed. It was not 'designed' to fail. It had to succeed. Or it was not fit to be a Dragon of Earth. It was 'made' to win. At that, Nataku leashed out it's own energy and attacked Fuuma, no, "Kamui." The name itself made colder by Nataku's monotone voice. Fuuma seemed a bit shocked at this sudden surge of power. "I'll kill you for what you've done to me. No. What you've done to Kazuki." Nataku's clothes it had been wearing shredded and became like the cloth that it had usually used to attack. And though it's body was exposed it did not matter to Nataku. It would just be useful as a distraction for it's enemy. "I'll kill you." It attacked.
Karen watched this from the ground. Even from this far a distance she could tell that the android was angry. She climbed back onto her feet and leapt into the air. She had to follow the fight. And help Nataku, because she had started the whole mess.
"Kamui!" Nataku yelled. Blasting Fuuma into the nearest building. The cloth that surrounded it lashed out and latched to Fuuma's throat. Fuuma's strength was wearing out and he couldn't move. Nataku loomed over him. It's eyes were cold, thirsty to kill. It looked out of the corner of it's eye and saw Karen. Then it looked back at Fuuma. It's expression saddened. "Otou-san. Iiee. Fuuma." It stood directly over Fuuma's trapped body. "I want..." It said.
"You want..." Fuuma replied.
"I want..." Inspiration struck. "I want... to bite your nose." Fuuma grinned.
"If you do... I'll kiss you."
Karen watched as this odd scene occurred.
*chomp*
*chuu--*
She smiled. Maybe things would turn out all right after all.
~ End File 1 ~
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Me notes: I thank my two friends for that ending. It's based on something that they did. It doesn't help of course that their nicks are Fuuma and Nataku.
Anyways, I came up with this fic when Karen and I were bored. We actually started on the sixth chapter to write so obviously we must finish the in between. C&C are welcome. Just don't flame me.