The Pygmalion Effect
Chapter 6
--
Kakei held a glass of wine delicately between his fingers. He swirled the pungent red drink around like a tornado to release its delicious alcoholic odors into the air. He smiled and regarded the newspaper on his desk.
"If this were another story..." he said knowingly but left the sentence hanging.
Kazahaya sat across from Kakei with his hands folded gently in his lap.
He agreed with a slight smile.
Saiga brooded over their conversation with a frown.
--
Saiga caught Kazahaya and Rikuo sharing a kiss during the slow hours. They were sandwiched between the shampoo and toothpaste aisle, yet the atmosphere of their location was insignificant to their desire. He grinned and captured the two in a hug with his strong arms and declared, "Finally you two shacked up! Have you done it yet?" Saiga laughed and ruffled Kazahaya's hair. The boy was blushing and trying to hold back a happy grin. Rikuo groaned his annoyance and wiggled out of Saiga's grip. Kazahaya laughed nervously and looked to Rikuo for help.
"Saiga-san, I need to get back to work." Kazahaya smiled at Rikuo and slithered out of Saiga's arms and disappeared like a cat on the prowl.
Rikuo thought that Saiga would then leave him alone, but the man suddenly looked at him so severely that he couldn't turn away.
He said very fatherly, "I hope for his sake you haven't had sex, Rikuo."
"We haven't. Not that it's your business." Saiga nodded. "Good. I mean...not yet, of course. Do you love him?"
Rikuo swallowed the nervousness caused by that word. Love. He wasn't blushing, but the heat rising from his heart made him feel like a fire was lit under his ass.
"I'm falling in love with him."
Saiga grinned. "I'll pass that on to Kakei, if you don't mind." Rikuo snorted his indifference. "Oh, by the way, I think Kakei's got a job for you guys after work. No making out. Work comes first." Saiga then reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a rolled piece of newspaper and showed it to Rikuo.
"You read the papers. I bet you read it this morning, right?"
"Yeah."
"I have to say, Kazahaya got pretty damn lucky. I mean, they convicted the guy and Kaza didn't even have to go to court. That's the beauty of modern day forensics. We let science speak for us."
Rikuo said softly, "Kazahaya hasn't seen it yet. He doesn't pay much attention to the news."
"But you'll tell him?"
Rikuo looked up sharply, "Yes, of course. I...it's just...I can't talk about this now. I have to work and I don't want Kaza catching us talking about him." Rikuo turned from Saiga like he wasn't even there.
Saiga sighed and came up next to Rikuo and breathed into his ear, "If you ever need any advice on sex, just let me know." Saiga looked the boy right in the eye. Somehow Rikuo could see straight through the dark shades and into his mysterious eyes, somehow he saw the sincerity in his words. "I don't know if you're a virgin or anything, but if you are, with this kind of sex it's not--"
"I understand what you're trying to say, Saiga. We'll be fine, but thanks anyway."
"Sure thing kid." Saiga grinned and gave Rikuo a playful punch on the arm. "Just as well, I gotta get back to Kakei's office. Don't forget...after work."
"Yeah, after work."
--
"This has to be the stupidest job Kakei's ever given us," Rikuo said. He looked up at the imposing building with its colossal white columns and pediment that bore in large, deep scripted letters:
MUSEUM OF ART
"Wow!" Kazahaya yelled gleefully from halfway up the flight of stairs. "This place is huge! Hurry Rikuo, you slow poke." Kazahaya took it upon himself to run the rest of the way. He made it to the top without losing a breath and he made it a special point to laugh at Rikuo, who made it but was gasping for air.
"You need more exercise."
"Where...the...hell...elevator..."
"Oh," Kazahaya pouted innocently. "I think we just took the scenic route. There's a back entrance where you can take the elevators up." Kazahaya turned and looked up so he could see the pediment of the building. From behind, Rikuo growled. Damn little cat knew all along there was an easier entrance. In another situation, Rikuo might have scolded him thoroughly, but the look on his innocent face...it was simply amazement at such a structure. He had never been to a museum. What treasures might be inside!
"Let's go in, kid." Rikuo said after he caught his breath. He tugged Kazahaya's shirt to pull him inside the upstairs foyer. Kazahaya's eyes were hit with stunning architecture. Columns done in ancient Greek style were flanked by marble sculptures, most decayed by time but still holding beauty in their incompletion. Some people mingled around pieces they found most interesting. A few were even writing notes. The whiteness of the place bored Rikuo, but Kazahaya had already wandered to the nearest statue of a broken goddess.
"Isn't she pretty, Rikuo?" Her face peered back calmly with confidence in her immortal beauty.
"Yeah, she's hot. Come on, we can look at the art later. Let's get this done."
Kazahaya was reluctantly pulled from the Greek then to the Roman then through the Japanese, Chinese, and Korean arts. Furniture from the Neoclassical period was inviting to Rikuo's already tired feet. Who knew walking around looking at art was so tiring? The art of the nineteenth century was a blur to Kazahaya. The Impressionists themselves seemed to be blurs and blobs of paint. The context of such imagination was lost on Kazahaya, and Rikuo had no problem pulling him from Monet, Manet, Courbet, and Degas. It left only the Italian arts, the object of their mission. The darkened rooms that held the paintings had a hallowed feel. The gold-haloed Madonnas, saints, and angels looked at them with expressive and beatific eyes. Yet their aloofness and grandeur gave Kazahaya the creeps and he held onto Rikuo's arm tightly until a passing guard cocked his eyebrow at the clingy creature. Kazahaya laughed self-consciously and loosened his grip.
"I think this is the one."
"Huh?" Kazahaya looked at the paper in Rikuo's hand. The image was of a simple cup, and when compared to the display in front of them the resemblance was unmistakable. The two made another sweep of the gallery to make sure the cup was the right one. Indeed it was.
Silver and plain, but not without meaning.
"This is it alright."
"What is that other thing...what's a paten?"
"I dunno. Who cares? We just need to get the cup" The chalice and paten were housed on a tall column display with red velvet. A sturdy glass case imprisoned them. For any thief, the task seemed very risky. Or stupid, as Rikuo thought. They had just seen a guard walk by after all! Kakei had assured them that whatever method they chose to take the chalice and bring it to its destination would be the correct course of action.
"Heh. Kakei-san sure has a funny sense of humor. I mean, he can see the future, so I guess he already knows what we're going to do, so it makes sense that he can say all that."
"Yeah. So...knock it over and run?"
"Like hell?" Rikuo nodded and with a swipe of his hand, knocked the glass display over with a deafening shatter. The chalice and paten fell to the ground. Kazahaya swiped the chalice up before it had a chance to roll away. The Madonnas around him seemed to judge this sacrilegious act. Angels swarmed around Kazahaya. They ripped themselves from the canvases and wooden panels leaving slivers of gold and pearly paint floating through the air like confetti. White, eagle-like wings turned black and crooked. Feet became talons and clawed at Kazahaya's face mercilessly. The boy cried out but couldn't move. He fell to the ground and landed on black soil that instantly started to suck him in. A saint with a sword and a halo stepped from a painting and swathed a path through the succubus angels. Finally, Kazahaya's savior! But, it was not meant to be, for the saint took to devouring the fallen creatures. He was joined by his kind who smelled the blood of the damned.
The earth had Kazahaya to his neck. The pressure was suffocating. Something was holding his feet and pulling him in. He cried from the sharp nails digging into his ankles. What was left of the angelic demons pulled at his hair and whispered in a hellish language his fate...to be damned like them.
Agnus Dei...
Agnus Dei...
Lamb of God...
Kazahaya let out a horrific scream as the ground finally sucked him into a crushing void.
"Kaza! Wake up! KAZAHAYA!" Rikuo shook the unconscious boy in his arms as he ran from the museum. Guards were on his heels. He sprinted down the long stairs, nearly tripping several times, but eventually he hit the sidewalk and ran as far as his legs could carry him. Kazahaya wasn't nearly as light as he looked and he bobbed heavily with each hard jog. The hand holding the cup was clenched so tight that the knuckles were white as snow. When Rikuo thought he'd put enough distance between himself, the guards, and the police certain to follow, he started looking for a place to hide. Bystanders were gawking at the tall creature that had passed them as a blur. He ran until he found a little alley between two buildings. Rikuo hoped it would have a back street, but it didn't. He went in as far as he could and propped Kazahaya against the cool red bricks of the wall.
Fuck, fuck, FUCK! Rikuo thought. Don't...DON'T let Kaza touch the cup! as Kakei instructed.
"Okay, let go of the cup Kaza." Rikuo tried to pry the cup from his fingers, but it wouldn't budge. The fine silver stem could have bent with the monstrous power emanating from Kazahaya's body. Rikuo could taste something wicked in the air. The smell of dirt and blood. Something acrid washed through the alley like a spring breeze. Rikuo looked up. He gasped and panted. He had to get back to the drugstore. He didn't care about the pressure in his lungs or the ache in his legs; he just threw Kazahaya over his shoulder and ran again with the dead weight.
Green Drugstore never seemed so far away.
"KAKEI!" he yelled as he burst through the door. "SAIGA!" Saiga and Kakei both ran from the office to meet the frantic boy. Saiga took Kazahaya.
"He touched the cup, yes?" Kakei said with a grin and a laugh.
"I don't see..." Rikuo took a gasp of air "...what's so funny...about this."
"Oh, Kaza will be fine. Don't worry."
--
Kakei's definition of "fine" was not living up to what Rikuo considered to be "fine."
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.
Kazahaya lay like death on his bed.
...enemies are scattered and those who hate Him flee before Him...so the wicked perish at the presence of God...
...the mercies of the Lord may quickly come to our aid, that thou mayest seize the dragon, the ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan and that having bound him, thou mayest cast him into the bottomless pit, so that he may no more seduce the nations...
The priest from the Church made gestures in the form of a crude cross over Kazahaya's body.
We beseech Thee, hear us...
Holy water landed like fresh dew on Kazahaya's unholy white skin.
Amen...
Saiga swore he saw the figure of pale ghosts float away like hot steam.
A hiss from Kazahaya's mouth, and then, silence.
--
Kazahaya felt his eyes roll back in his head. It was the first painless sensation he could remember since the day began--even though his brain told him most of the day had been relatively painless.
He wanted to see, his lids refused to open, yet in his mind he could see very clearly the trip to the museum and the point at which he and Rikuo had decided to steal...
I touched it.
Rikuo watched Kazahaya's eyelids flutter with a consciousness that had been coming and going all night. He looked over at the old priest talking with Kakei. The Father, as Kakei called him, had been American but had lived in Japan for many decades and had known Kakei for many years. All the strange things the Father said over Kazahaya still echoed in Rikuo's mind. The words were sacred and left the room in which Kazahaya lay somber, dark, and chill. Whatever came from the chalice was apparently returned. The object was wrapped in simple white linen and locked in a cherry box at the Father's side. He occasionally laid his old wrinkled hand upon the glossy wood finish with a frown on his face, a passing emotion. When Kazahaya awoke he said he might explain things, but Rikuo wasn't sure if he really wanted to know.
It was only a side job anyway.
By the time Kazahaya woke the Father had left with his cherry box.
He was groggy but recovered once some cold water got in his stomach.
"I feel like crap," he said with a smile. "What happened, Kakei-san?"
Kakei sat on the edge of Kazahaya's bed and told him to lie back down. He put a cold cloth to his head. "You, despite my warning," Kakei grinned, "touched the chalice. It had some nasty memories and you took them all in."
"I...I do remember something. There were birds. They..." Kazahaya shook his head as he recalled memories, their latent images bubbling up like hot tar. "Oh God Kakei-san! They were eating me and pulling me down into nothingness." Kazahaya choked on a sob. "I've never been in that kind of darkness. It was cold and bitter. I could taste it in my mouth. I think it was blood and I think the birds...no...they were angels, Kakei-san, they wanted to kill me and eat me." Kazahaya put his hands to his throat where the angels had touched him.
"Kaza, it's all right. It's over." Kakei took Kaza's hands and held them gently in his own. "Now you know the power of an evil memory. The chalice was made sometime in the fifteenth century and was used in a church, but as the story goes, it was stolen and used in rituals that required human sacrifice and the invocation of demons in the form of beautiful angels. The chalice was filled with the blood of pure victims." Kakei grasped Kaza's hands harder. "It called out to its victims, 'You are the Lamb of God' to hypnotize them. The demons that entered you were simply memories of the chalice. It's strange how inanimate objects have memories like that. Do you understand, Kazahaya?" Kakei's grasp became limp. He stood and looked down at the boy sympathetically.
He said before he left the room, "I hope you learn from this what it will be like."
Kazahaya rolled over and pulled the sheets a little higher. The door to the room shut.
"Kaza? Are you awake?" Rikuo's voice called out.
"Yeah," he mumbled back. Kazahaya heard footsteps then the heavy sink of the bed. Rikuo lay next to Kaza and wrapped strong arms around his seemingly frail body. He wasn't weak; in fact, Rikuo would say he was stronger. Rikuo kissed the top of his head. No matter what happened, Kazahaya's hair always smelled delicious and fresh.
Rikuo chuckled. "That damn cup…I hope they melt it down."
"Yeah." Kazahaya sat up and put his small hands in Rikuo's bigger palms. "Rikuo…I want to…I mean…"
"Kaza?"
The boy was full of sorrow Rikuo felt but didn't understand. "Tell me Kazahaya."
"I …I've had some dreams Rikuo, about things I don't remember, things I don't understand, things I know I can feel but I don't want to, not this way."
Rikuo shook his head in confusion.
"I know you don't get it, Rikuo." Kazahaya suddenly gave a bright smile. "My mind works a little different, that's all. Memories of stuff are always coming and going in my brain, sometimes I can control what comes in. Things that come in, like, subconsciously stick around. I don't remember them all. Bad things stay around longer." Kazahaya ran his hands through Rikuo's dark hair. "I know I'll have dreams about today, whether I like it or not. It's no big deal."
"I had no idea." Rikuo smiled and pushed Kazahaya to the bed. He lay next to him and caressed his shoulders while covering his tender neck and hungry lips with soft, warm kisses. "Maybe you'll dream about this instead."
Kazahaya giggled when Rikuo's hair tickled his chin. "Maybe."
--
I don't want to think about anything but you Rikuo.
But.
It.
It is getting harder to ignore. My body remembered every detail while my mind was sleeping. Now my mind is waking up and my body is telling things. The power I have is able to touch inside of me and arouse my muscles and skin, forcing them to give up their secrets. It's almost like touching someone's shirt to see the memory of a heartbroken housewife or feel the cold metal of a simple cup that was used in terrible rites.
This is intimate because I'm me, I'm close to me. I can't escape my skin. It's telling my brain you were touched without your permission. Someone put himself inside you. It hurt but you don't remember, but I, Skin, do.
Let me tell you my secrets.
Only when I know them all and put my mind and my body in one place will I be able to rest.
I'm out touch, out of balance.
Oh, Rikuo. It will be over soon. You won't like what I'm going to do, but I have to do it for us. I can't make love to you when my mind is constantly distracted by my stupid body. It won't shut up. Rape it screams. RAPE! Talking and screaming!
I have to remember that day.
I have to before I break.
tbc.
