Part 9- What do you mean the game's too violent for me?

Aya looked around to see if anyone else was even going to answer the phone where it was ringing. He looked at Mihana who was happily crawling across the floor and making havoc. It didn't matter nothing was breakable and she was yet to hurt herself so she could make as much mess as she liked, he knew he'd only tidy it up later anyway, and it made it look like the kind of house four bachelors actually shared. He picked up the headset, and rolled his eyes, "Kon'nichi wa, koneko no sumu ie desu." Of all the things that Omi had said would help with the Koneko this was the most detested, having to be polite to strangers he couldn't even glare at.

"It's all right, Ran, it's me." Crawford said down the line, "I was phoning to make sure that we were okay to meet this evening."

"I don't know," Aya answered as Mihana used his leg to pull herself into a standing position, "I've got the baby, and I can't imagine that you want me to bring her."

"Hell no," Crawford said, "isn't there a happy compromise we can reach? We haven't had any time alone all week." It was pleasantly wheedling, "and I got tickets to the violin recital."

Aya pursed his lips, Crawford knew exactly what to say to make him reconsider things. "We need a baby-sitter." He said blankly, "and I can't think of one, unless you want to ask Princess Ouka."

"Dear heavens above no," Crawford answered, "she'd most likely drop the baby, what about Omi?"

"I don't want to leave him on his own with her. I mean sure she'd most likely just sleep but she's only a baby and he's not much better."

"What if I bully Nagi into joining him?" Crawford answered.

"And have two babies looking after her?" Aya asked as an answer.

"The alternative doesn't bear thinking about, I could ask Farfarello."

"Now you're just teasing." Aya answered calmly, "and I would not even consider Balinese, she keeps being sick on him and I'm not sure he knows how to hold her. Fine, Omi and Nagi can look after her, but I'm not staying out late, okay, I want back by midnight."

He could feel rather than see Crawford smirking down the phone line, "certainly not, now what kind of gentleman would I be if it didn't have you back by bedtime?"

"Crawford, sometimes I think the only times you have me back for bedtime is when I invite you, and then you run off." Aya answered, wedging the headset between his ear and shoulder and picking Mihana up. "I'll meet you at seven thirty, make sure that Nagi's here for seven, okay."

"I will," Crawford answered, "don't you think it's worrying that you trust Nagi better with her than the others."

"The kid's a natural." Aya answered.

"He just has practise." Crawford said, "from when he was in the orphanage, before I adopted him."

"If you're trying to get me to pay him more it's not working, they're getting two thousand yen each and that's final."

"You're going to pay them?" Crawford asked, shocked, "hell, that'll be a surprise to the pair of them."

Aya laughed, "all right, I'll see you later."

Holding Mihana comfortably he went into the kitchen where Omi was making tea, and he thanked whatever deity looked after assassins Nemesis goddess of retribution, ed. that he wasn't in the shop, he really didn't want to have to face that any time soon.

"Omi," he dragged the syllables out much like Ken did when he wanted Omi to do his computer work.

"What?" Omi asked. "We don't have a mission so I'm not doing any research that you are perfectly capable of doing yourself." He had obviously fallen into that trap once or twice before. Then he turned around, "Aya?"

"I need a favour," Aya said bluntly, "and you're the only one I trust with it, so to make it fair, although Nagi's gone back to the dark side I'm willing to let him stay over for one more night, when I'm not in." He enunciated the last phrase very carefully.

"What's the catch?" Omi asked, crossing his arms, "there is no way you'd let me have the house to myself with my boyfriend unless I had to do something truly nasty first."

Aya grinned, "I have to go out this evening, and I need a short notice baby sitter for Mi-chan." He bounced her on his hip to prove his point. "And Yohji's going out, not that I'd trust him with her anyway, and Ken has that motorcycle thing, which leaves you in the house on your own, and I'd rather have Nagi here than not." Omi raised an eyebrow. "I'll pay."

"You want to leave me here with the baby whilst you go out?" Omi asked.

"I'll be back by midnight, which means you and Nagi have the house to yourself till then." Aya explained.

"and you're willing to leave me alone with my boyfriend and the baby?"

"You're the only people capable of managing it." Aya answered.

"And Crawford's cool with it?" Omi pressed, "I mean, him not knowing about me and Nagi and all."

"I asked him before I asked you," Aya lied, quite happily omitting the detail that it had been Crawford's suggestion, although as Omi had said, Crawford didn't know, he seemed to think they were just best friends. Then again any mention of Nagi growing up was usually met with tears and outright denials. It didn't matter to Crawford that he had trained Nagi to be an assassin, but you mention that he might at some point get a girl, or boyfriend, and his eye started twitching.

"All right, " Omi said warily, "but I want her fed, watered, and changed before you go, spare bottles made up in the fridge and that you take your mobile with you in case."

"Fine," Aya answered, because he had been ready to impress those details on Omi, he was beginning to wonder who was the more mothering of the group.

"Are you going out with Crawford?" Omi asked with a worrying glint in his eyes.

"No," Aya answered blithely though it was a complete out and out lie. "I'm going out with Yuushi of Crashers, he got tickets for a concert I wanted to see but it's a last minute thing."

"Sure." Omi said sarcastically. "Not Crawford."

"Not at all." Aya answered though it was obvious that Omi really did not believe him. "Now, Nagi's coming over at seven."

Omi glanced up at the clock. Then he swore, "I've got hours of my shift left and I was going to go shopping this afternoon, there's this new program out that I really need."

Aya took the hint, holding out his hand, "what's it called?"

"Breath of Fire 7." Omi answered, blithely handing Aya the money he needed.

"Do you want to look after her whilst I pop out for you?"

"Can't," Omi answered with a grin, "I'm working in the shop." He waved, "bai bai, and bai bai, Mi-chan."

"Shi-ne, Tsukiyono, Shi-ne."

It was about that point that Aya got the idea. If he went out as he was, in sweat pants and a simple tee he would get mobbed by the middleaged ladies again, however, he did still have quite a few of Murasakiiro's clothes in his wardrobe and she wouldn't get attacked by women trying to set him up with their daughters. No, he thought, especially if I put a ring on my hand, they'll assume I'm just a young mother out with her baby, and then it came, the true revelation, they'll leave me alone.

He carried Mi-chan upstairs and then stripped pulling on a pair of rather feminine looking pants with sakura blossoms crawling up the side, the bra he fastened at the front and twisted around the way that Omi had shown him, he knew that his sister just reached around and did it that way but he was pretty sure his elbows didn't bend like that, and then a pale rose coloured sweater with a v neck. He put the mate he had had made of his earring in, and then slipped a rather large diamond ring that Akimoto-san had given him in Kyoto on his hand, pulling on some pink trainers he looked at himself in the mirror. A swipe of lipstick , a blob of gel in his hair to make it sit in a more feminine style and no one would ever know he wasn't Mihana's mother. For the first time since the mission Aya was glad he had a wardrobe of women's clothes.

He put Mihana in the car-seat and then buckled himself in, thinking, just how hard can it be to buy one simple computer game?

In the months following his Kyoto mission Aya had forgot none of the lessons of how to walk like a lady, although this was hampered by the pushchair, but the muscled brute that had offered to help him get the pushchair out of the boot of his Porsche, that was another matter. He looked at Aya like he was a piece of meat, a piece of meat with a really nice car.

Then there was the security guard who offered to help him carry Mihana up over the one step into the mall, but seemed more fascinated with Aya's ass.

Then there was the woman at the perfume counter that was determined to blind him with the latest perfume, that wasn't even nice, although she did have a rather nice new lip gloss.

However for all the cons about shopping as a woman, and the list was really quite long, there were nice points too, people held doors open for him, shop assistants pointed him towards elevators, and there was room in the bathrooms for once, although there was usually a fold down table included.

The computer game shop, however, was something completely else. For one thing, there were no girls in there, at all. In fact, it looked like some of those boys had never seen a girl that wasn't their mother before. In fact, it looked like some of those boys had never left middle earth before.

He took a deep breath as one of them whispered, "woman," in a rather strange tone.

"Beautiful woman," another corrected, they were gathering now.

He pushed his way through, using Mihana's push chair much like a battering ram. "Excuse me," he said to the man behind the counter, "I'm looking for Breath of Fire 7."

The shop went silent. It was like he had announced the end of the world.

"That's not a girl game," the man behind the counter said quite specifically.

"So," Aya answered, "I want Breath of Fire 7, do you have it?"

"I have Barbie's best dance party, and Britney's Baby one more time dance explosion, as well as Kuri Kuri puzzle explosion."

Aya tried a glare, but for some reason they just didn't seem as mean when he was dressed as a girl, "I want Breath of Fire 7." He gritted it out from between clenched teeth.

"Now don't you think that's just a little violent for you," the man patronised.

"Look," Aya said, "I want Breath of Fire 7, and that samurai game there, the one with the big sword."

"Onimusha 3?" The man asked, the boys made an aahh sound. "Now that is very violent, and rather scary."

"I'll give you rather scary." Aya grated, "put the games on the counter, and I will pay for them and leave and you can forget that I was here."

"I'm sorry, I'm not sure that I can in best conscience sell you such violent games, being as you are a girl and all."

Aya started to count, "I am a trained kendoka," he answered, "in a fight I could probably beat that game samurai, in fact I am only buying the damn thing so I can vent some frustration so I can kill the lizard demon things and not you. Now I am a paying customer, and girl or not, I want the violent games, in fact, I'll have that one where you're a vampire and feed on living people as well, and while you're at it, give me something that involves blowing people up."

"Is there a problem here, miss?" The manager said coming from the back of the store.

"Yes," Aya answered, "I was sent here to buy a game for my brother and this assistant," he grated the word out, "won't serve me because I happen to be a happily married woman, for some reason he thinks that this means I can't play computer games with any type of violence."

"I'm very sorry, madam," the manager said, "now what were the games you wanted."

Aya thought of the list of games he had had words with Omi about owning, all the ones that they thought were a little too violent for his underage mind, then he reeled them off. "And I want them all."

"Certainly." The manager said logging the eight games, "now will you paying by plastic or cash, do you have a loyalty card with us? Would you like one? Because you've bought more than five brand new games you can actually have Resident Evil 4 for free." Aya nodded and then signed on the line, before leaving the shop muttering under his breath that he never had this trouble when he was dressed like a man.

It was only when he got back to the Koneko he realised that with all the games he had bought, he hadn't got Breath of Fire 7.