Chapter Twelve: Meddling
Two weeks had passed since Albedo's attack on Shion. Jr. had been vague when he addressed the others in the group, only saying that he suspected his brother had decided in a fit of madness, to go after the younger woman for reasons unknown. Of course, when one was suspicious of the woman in particular, one did not want to delve completely into the reasons why this was happening... When asked the all important question: "Why?!" the redhead shrugged, shaking his head and replying: "I don't know."
This had also resulted Shion almost being held in virtual lockdown, as Jin and KOS-MOS took it upon themselves to act as bodyguards…following Shion everywhere, refusing to let her go out after certain hours….not even letting her fight! After 4 days of this treatment, Shion proceeded to throw a temper tantrum that would have made Mary proud, and the two relented. But as the days went on, and nothing happened, it seemed more and more like a fluke...which turned out to be both good and bad. The good part of it was that Shion seemed to be safe for now.
The bad part? It gave a certain redheaded U.R.T.V. time to watch his younger brother pine over the object of his affections from a distance, tell said younger brother's two supposedly girlfriends about said brother pining over girl, and then plot with them in order to bring younger brother and the girl he was pining after together.
Without the younger brother knowing, of course! Jr. was determined to at least get the foundations of a relationship between Gaignun and Shion laid down, so that once peace finally came about, the two would have something to build on and continue. But first, things had to get underway.
And so…
----
"Thank you ever so much for the flowers." Shion said, bowing. Gaignun blinked, taken aback.
"Say what?"
"The flowers that you sent. They were beautiful…I've never seen roses that color before." Gaignun arched an eyebrow.
"I ne…" His eyes narrowed, and he turned his head to stare at his "son", who was suddenly finding Shelley's console very interesting. "I see. I hope you enjoy them." Shion smiled, bowing again.
"I am. Thank you once again!" Turning, she got on the lift, disappearing from view as it moved downwards. Eyes now green slits, Gaignun slowly turned around.
"Gaignun Jr.?" Chucking helplessly, his "son" turned around.
"Eh…I thought she might like them?" Putting a forced grin across his face, the black haired U.R.T.V. strode up next to his older brother, dropping a hand on his shoulder and squeezing.
"That was really…sweet of you."
"Ouch…Dad…you're gripping too hard…" Jr. got out between gritted teeth. What are you getting mad for?! All I did was sign your name to a card and attach it to some flowers!
Please tell me this is not an attempt to play matchmaker on your part.
And so what if it is?! Ow!
I thought I told you…
Ow…ow…ow…
"Oh for heaven's sake! Master Gaignun!" Mary's ear-splitting tones brought the two out of their mental link, Gaignun releasing his grip on Jr.'s shoulder. Looking around to make sure nobody was listening, the blond dropped her voice. "I told him to send her those flowers with your name on it." Jr. groaned.
"Oh sh…ow, ow, ow, ow!" Five fingers found his shoulder and hung on in a vise-like grip.
"You…told…Mary?"
"And me." Shelley said, turning around in her seat. "He needed a woman's advice on how to handle the situation." Jr. winced as his brother's fingers gripped even tighter.
"Pray tell, who else have you told?" Gaignun ground out.
"Just us." Shelley answered, leaning forward and pinching his hand. The U.R.T.V. hissed in pain and let go, Jr. grabbing at his shoulder with relief. "We've been keeping an eye on you for the past several days."
"Yep. It's pretty sad to say it…but you're pathetic!" Mary said, giggling. Gaignun's head whipped around, pinning her with a glare.
"Excuse me?"
"You make gaa-gaa eyes from a distance when you're watching her. You sigh. You stare into space during meetings. You've doodled her name and yours inside little hearts on your papers…" At this, Gaignun turned a bright red, and Shelley stifled a laugh.
"Good thing I've destroyed all the evidence. Though it was rather tempting to keep one or two papers…" She chuckled. "Seriously. Even though the timing is rather inconvenient, you should at least lay the groundwork. Mary's already reassured her that the both of us have no romantic attachment to you." Gaignun did a double take.
"Say…say…say what?!" He sputtered. "You told her what?!" Mary shrugged.
"I think she deserved to know."
"If you are done picking me apart now, I have a meeting to get to!" The raven-haired man bit out. Fuming, he turned on his heel and headed for the elevator, muttering darkly. Jr. watched him go.
"Oh man, he's going to be a pain in the neck after this." He sighed. "We need to get things rolling with these two."
"Leave it up to us, Little Master!" Mary chirped. Blue eyes met her own.
"You two have a plan?"
"More or less. Can you get the Kaiser to his office around 4 o'clock today?"
"Sure, I'll make up something." Jr. replied. "What are you two up to?" Mary smiled.
"You'll know it when it happens!"
----
Shion groaned.
"Oh, you have to be kidding me…" She stared at the facet. "Here I want a nice, hot shower and nothing's working. Just great." Growling underneath her breath, she turned around and stalked out into the living room….only to almost slam into Mary.
"Oh!"
"Hey! Are you alright there?" The blond drawled. "I knocked but nobody answered…"
"I was in the bathroom. I was going to take a shower, but the plumbing's not working." Shion answered. "And I was so looking forward to some hot water for a change…"
"Well, don't despair! Grab your stuff, girlie!" Shion looked up at the blond.
"Huh?"
Mary's plan? Use Gaignun's bathroom, of course! Amid Shion's violent protests, she marched the brunette into his room.
"All the plumbing's down in your section and the Kasier's been in meetings all day." Smiling broadly, she spun Shion around to face her. "If you wanna know a secret, Shelley and I use his bathroom too when he's gone…it's much better than ours!"
"But…" Shion found herself being whirled around once more. "It's…whoa." Mouth agape, she stared at the room in front of her.
"…This is a bathroom?!"
"Yep." Eyes wide, Shion pulled herself from the blond's grip, holding the bag with her shower stuff in it tightly. Gaignun's bathroom was absolute decadence, black marble all over with silver fixtures, a sunken marble tub that looked big enough to hold three people, a shower stall…
"Wow."
"You got that right! Now go on!" Mary said, giving the younger woman a push. "The Kaiser won't be back until 5:30, you just take your nice warm shower and then give me a call when you're done."
"Uh…okay…" Shion found herself staring at the door. Turning back around, she surveyed her surroundings and shrugged. "Oh, what the hell."
---
Green eyes stared down into blue ones. Jr. fought the urge to fidget, blink…Finally Gaignun blinked.
"Alright. But I can't believe you forgot your damn Gear…" Jr. threw his arms around his younger brother.
"Thank you thank you…"
"Okay, that's enough." Gaignun ordered, pulling Jr. off of him. "I'll be back in a couple of minutes." Watching his brother head towards the elevator, the red-haired U.R.T.V. bit back a crack of laughter before reaching into his pocket and pulling out his Connection Gear.
"Heads up, he's coming your way!" In the room alongside Gaignun's office, Mary giggled as Shelley rolled her eyes.
"Alrighty!"
"You do know that there could be a better way of getting these two together, don't you?" Shelley asked.
"Yeah, but this covers a lot more ground!" Her sister replied cheerfully. "Now hurry up and mess with the wiring!"
"Do you want him locked inside or out?" Shelley replied archly. Mary activated the monitor at her console, watching Gaignun walk down the hallway and enter his office.
"He's inside!"
----
Sighing, Gaignun took a quick scan around his office, pausing to look inside his desk drawers.
"Why the hell would he think he'd left it in here?" He muttered darkly, his search not successful. Growling, he stalked back over to the door…only to find it locked. "What? Oh…" Biting back several lurid curse words, the black-haired U.R.T.V. went back over to his desk to call for help but…
"The hell?!" Eyes narrowed, he stared at the computer, which conveniently, was not working as well. "Great." I'm stuck in here until somebody figures out what happened and gets me!
Then he heard the shower running. Immediately his brain went into combat mode, his fingers pulling open the top drawer of his desk and taking out a gun hidden in a secret compartment. Silently he pressed the button to open the bathroom door, (for some odd reason that seemed to work) and walked inside, gun at the ready. Steam rose and billowed out the door behind him as he advanced, eyes trained on the shower stall door. Reaching out a hand, he carefully gripped the handle tightly, his fingers tensing before he pulled the door open.
"Freeze!" Shion whipped around, her eyes widening.
"AAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEE!!!"
"AAAAHHHH!" Gaignun screamed, taken aback. Shion screamed even louder, her arms flying up to cover herself.
"HENTAI!" His face now redder than Jr.'s hair, Gaignun dropped the gun and ran out of the bathroom.
OhmyGodohmyGodohmyGod... Behind him, Shion had recovered, grabbing a towel and wrapping it around herself.
"You bastard!" She screamed, tearing out of the bathroom. Red also decorated her cheeks, her eyes a blaze of green fire as she glared at her prey.
"I…I…I can explain." Gaignun stammered out, and then winced as a torrent of Japanese was hurled at him, the gist of it being a curse on his reproductive organs. "I…"
"Get out!" Shion screamed. The U.R.T.V.'s eyes narrowed as something occurred to him, and he straightened.
"Wait a minute. What the hell are you doing in my bathroom?! By all rights, I should be the one ordering you to get out!" Shion glowered.
"Mary said I could use this one since the plumbing in my area is messed up! She also said you wouldn't be back until 5:30! What the hell are you doing here?!" She snarled back, not giving an inch.
"Rubedo forgot his damn Connection…" The proverbial lightbulb clicked on in Gaignun's mind. "Gear…" His eyes darkened. RUBEDO!
No reply.
You little bastard, I know you can hear me! Gaignun snarled.
Silence.
I am going to kill you. That stated, Gaignun turned his attention back to the current problem at hand…which was a wet and angry woman locked in his office with him.
Make that a wet, angry, and naked woman in his office.
Make that a wet, angry, and naked Shion in his office. His cheeks burned as he remembered how she looked in his shower…
No, no, no, no! Shaking his head violently, he struggled for some self-control. Shion had gone back into the bathroom, she was probably getting dressed. Steeling himself, Gaignun prepared to apologize just as the brunette came back out, fully clothed and her eyes downcast.
"I…I'll just go now." She muttered, head bowed as she headed for the door.
"It's locked." Shion stopped in surprise and looked up. "The computer's short-circuited…it must have happened right after I came inside. He shrugged. "So we're stuck together until somebody comes and gets us." The red on Shion's cheeks only intensified.
"I'll…I'll take care of it." She dropped her bag and started to work on the panel next to the door.
Dumbass, do something quick or else you're going to find yourself at square one again! "I'm sorry."
"No…It's my fault." Shion replied, her fingers working nimbly. "I shouldn't have used your shower; I've invaded your privacy…" Gaignun moved closer, putting a hand on her shoulder.
"Don't." He said sharply. "Don't punish yourself please." If anything, punish Rubedo. "Did you enjoy my bathroom?" Shion turned her head slightly, a small smile on her face.
"It's very elegant." The green-eyed man smiled in return.
"I'm glad you liked it. And I apologize for barging in on you…I must have given you a fright." Shion flushed.
"I'm sorry for screaming. And…all the curses…" She mumbled. Gaignun smiled.
"It's okay." He stepped back as the doors opened. "Listen. Please don't knock yourself over what happened; it was an accident all around. And I'll get somebody to look at your section's plumbing today." Shion turned around, picking up her bag.
"Okay. Thank you. And I'm so…"
"No." Gaignun said, holding up a hand. The younger woman bowed, and then shot him a weak smile before hurrying away. Sighing, Gaignun relaxed, his eyes glittering.
"Oh Rubedo…"
Hentai: pervert