The Morning After

Kaelan awoke as if he were on fire, sitting bolt upright in bed, flinging the down comforter away, and kicking off the sheets while gasping for breath. Sweat began to dry on his skin but the room still felt incredibly warm. He stumbled over to the window, opening it to blast himself with November air. Only then did he realize he was stark naked. "A cold shower might be more effective," said a feminine voice. Kaelan whirled around to find Mina wearing one of his bathrobes and dabbing at her wet hair with a towel. Her eyes drifted south before returning to his face, and she smirked.

"Why is it hotter than Satan's balls in here?" he demanded while retrieving another silk robe from his closet.

"You lit a fire before we went to bed," she explained.

"Before we…?" He glanced at the hearth to see the smoldering remains, then a smug smile turned his lips. "I could get used to waking up with you."

The girl rolled her eyes. "Oh, please. This was a one-time thing that only happened because we were both completely wasted."

Ouch. Kaelan thought she'd really been interested in him last night; she had no reason not to be when he was attractive, rich, and suave enough to have seduced her in the first place. "If we get back in bed, it'll become a recurring thing."

Mina scoffed at the suggestion. "No, thank you. Once was quite enough."

His expression fell. Did that mean he had performed badly? Kaelan could hardly remember bringing Mina up to his room much less the actual sex. He'd never gotten so drunk that he forgot what he did with whom in bed, but then he'd never given Nicholas Meyer free rein to mix cocktails with high-quality liquor. His drinks must be a lot stronger than they tasted. "I apologize if you weren't satisfied."

"It's not that." Mina folded her arms. "We didn't use protection."

"Oh, fuck me sideways." Kaelan plunked down on the edge of the bed as his stomach churned with regret. He'd been so focused on getting laid at his party that he hadn't considered the aftermath; he didn't even have condoms, for fuck's sake. Right then and there he vowed to ditch the playboy attitude before it ended up ruining someone's life. "You're not on the pill or anything?" he asked in a hopeful tone.

"I usually get a Depo shot, but I've been so busy with school that I missed this month's. Don't worry, I'll go get Plan B today."

Kaelan nodded, a little stunned by how calmly Mina handled the situation. Thinking about each potential outcome that could spawn from their indiscretion made him even more nauseous. What if Mina wasn't aware of her options and just went straight home only to find out she was pregnant? Would she have an abortion or give the baby up for adoption? If she kept it, would she ask him for support or attempt to raise the baby on her own? Would she drop out of school? Kaelan wasn't anywhere near ready to be a father yet and he hated the idea of irrevocably altering Mina's life in exchange for an orgasm. The Halloween party was supposed to be a celebration of his favorite holiday, not an excuse to let all his common sense fly out the window. "I'm terribly sorry, Mina," he said in earnest.

She shrugged and gave him a partial smile. "Don't worry about it. I never expect guys to think about contraception in the heat of the moment."

"That doesn't mean it's not our responsibility," he returned. But since she had a plan to deal with the consequences of their lustful act, he allowed himself to relax. "I'd better check out the damage."

"Yeah, speaking of damage…" Mina indicated the bedroom. "What happened to my lingerie? It was expensive."

Kaelan pressed a hand to his forehead, forcing himself to remember. "You had it on in the pool, right? Then I think we showered off down there…"

"Let's just go ask." He followed her into the hallway. As he closed the door behind them, Zach exited the bathroom and offered a thumbs-up, which did nothing to bolster his ego. Yes, Minako was the kind of girl he could brag about sleeping with, but there was no pride to be had in acting like a horny idiot.

A tantalizing scent reached his nose. Nicholas was the only one of his tenants who really cooked, but he was still asleep since he'd partied the hardest. Cinnamon and nutmeg lured Kaelan to the kitchen where he found Makoto and Ami standing at the stove as Rei sliced fruit on the counter. "Ohayou," she said to Mina, then greeted the boy in English. He wasn't at all mad that they'd raided the fridge.

"You should go wake up your friends," Usagi said from the cushioned nook. "An epic party deserves an epic breakfast!"

Kaelan simply nodded and trudged back upstairs, barging into Nicholas' room first and yelling at him to get up since Zach was already awake. "Whazzat smell?" the engineer croaked.

"The girls are making breakfast." Despite being hungover, Nicholas made a happy sound and began the lengthy process of popping all his joints. Kaelan entered Joe's room next and shook his exposed foot. "Wake up, breakfast time!"

"Go away," Joe growled.

"You're not hungry?"

He shifted slightly to glare at his landlord. "I've only gotten ten hours of sleep in three days, so kindly fuck off."

Kaelan retreated into the hall, wondering if Mamoru would be just as cranky, but when he knocked on his door he answered it fully dressed. "There's food downstairs if you want it," Kaelan relayed. He felt like shit and returned to his master suite to shower.

Mamoru was the second least-rested person in the house. After everyone finished messing around in the pool they took turns rinsing off, though Kaelan and Mina had made out for so long they almost used up all the hot water, then Zach donated some pajamas for the girls to wear since they were similar in size. They all sat around drinking even more until passing out in the lounge chairs. When Joe and Rei finally reappeared they worked with Mamoru to get their friends somewhere comfortable, placing Zach and Nicholas in their rooms while leaving Makoto, Usagi, and Ami in improvised beds. Rei left to grab some actual clothes from her apartment so no one would have to go home in their disarrayed Halloween costumes, and Mamoru told an exhausted Joe to get some rest while he gathered every soaked undergarment and put them in the wash. Finally, he left aspirin and water on all the side tables at four in the morning.

Mamoru was surprised to find a buffet of pancakes, bacon, eggs, toast, and fruit waiting on the island. The five girls sported messy hair and no makeup, but they still appeared more attractive than his housemates of which Zach and Nicholas were the only two present. "Was it you who washed the ladies' underwear?" the former asked. Mamoru nodded since he had a piece of toast in his mouth while loading a plate with additional offerings.

"Thanks for that," Mina said, "but for future reference, you should always dry lingerie on low heat and in a mesh bag if possible." She smirked when Mamoru blushed at the notion of handling lingerie again, then he blushed even harder as he imagined which garments belonged to each girl, fairly certain Usagi had worn the pink thong.

"You gave us the muti too, right?" Nicholas rasped. "You're good china."

"Thanks?" Mamoru assumed that was a compliment.

Ami gazed at him. "Thank you for attending us, Chiba-san. To be honest, I was unsure about staying the night with several boys I only recently got to know."

Zach looked up from his plate. "What do you think this is, a house of miscreants? We're perfect gentlemen." As if on cue a belch escaped Nicholas, earning surprised expressions all around. Then Usagi started giggling, her laughter contagious.

"Compliments to the chef," Nicholas spoke as an apology. His face turned beet red but a glance at Makoto revealed that a tiny smile had turned her lips since she'd done most of the cooking. Zach patted him on the shoulder.

After Usagi, Makoto, Ami, and Mina changed into Rei's clothes, returned Zach's sleepwear, thanked the guys and headed out, Kaelan finally reappeared looking his usual polished self. "Where'd everyone go?" he inquired.

"The girls just left," Mamoru supplied, washing dishes.

"Damn, I wanted Mina's number."

"Why do you need to call her when you already nailed her?" Zach asked. Mamoru and Nicholas dropped their jaws.

"Just… because I can," Kaelan answered. He nibbled on a strip of bacon while staring at the floor. Was Planned Parenthood even open on Sunday? What if Mina couldn't get any emergency contraception and ended up being pregnant? They were both good-looking people so they'd probably make a good-looking kid. Shaking his head to clear such thoughts, Kaelan turned to the calendar and saw a starred date. "Hey, Mamoru, what'd you do with my tux?"

"It's folded in my room. I can have it dry-cleaned if you want," he offered.

"It's probably fine. You wore it for, what, five hours? I need it for a charity auction next week."

Nicholas snorted into his orange juice. "Since when do you go to charity auctions?"

"Since I want to contribute to this community," Kaelan declared. "It's an auction for old weapons from around the world. I could end up with a sword belonging to one of my Celtic ancestors!"

Kaelan spent two hours getting ready for the auction; however, when he got to the tie he stared helplessly at his reflection. It was a weekday and he thought his housemates were attending classes, but when he passed Zach's room he heard papers shuffling and peered through the cracked door. "Hello?"

"Merde!" Zach shouted, spinning in his chair. "Why are you sneaking up on me like that?"

"I didn't think you were here," Kaelan replied, "but to be honest, I could use your help. Can you tie a tie?" He held up the emerald green silk accessory.

"Can I tie a tie?" Zach deadpanned. "I wear at least three a week. What style do you want– Windsor, Pratt, Prince Albert?" Kaelan stared at him blankly and he groaned. "Every man should know how to tie a tie! I'll teach you a really fancy method called the Trinity. Watch carefully…" After a five-minute tutorial, Kaelan admired the knot in Zach's full-length mirror. It definitely gave him a regal look and doubled as a nod to his heritage.

His Maserati brought him to the Westin Hotel a half hour before the auction was to start, meaning he had to mingle. Kaelan wasn't worried about finding people to talk to so much as being ridiculed for his age. Now that his selfish spending was over he wanted to make a name for himself as a philanthropist. Anyone who read the Seattle Times article about him probably assumed he was just an irresponsible twenty-three year-old millionaire, but he wanted to prove them wrong. While drinking champagne and wandering aimlessly around the vestibule, Kaelan met an elderly couple who were still active archeologists and had one of the world's largest private collections of masks. They knew a great deal about most of the items that would be up for bid and gave him tons of advice he kept in mind as everyone filed into the hall.

Kaelan got into an intense bidding war for an immaculately-preserved Scottish dirk with a stag antler handle from the 18th century but gave up when it reached $50,000. "Next we have a sword of unknown origin recently excavated from the Yonaguni ruins off the southern coast of Japan…" People murmured their disapproval, but one look at the sword and Kaelan knew he had to have it. The blade itself was the most unique thing he'd ever seen; the auctioneer said it had been carved from a single slab of ilmenite, whatever that was. The sword's composition attracted a few bidders but they quit when it reached $20,000. "Do we have any more offers? Mr. Burke has the high bid. Twenty-thousand going once… going twice…" He banged the gavel. "Sold to Mr. Burke for the price of just twenty-thousand dollars! Young man, your personal vehicle would have been a greater contribution to this auction than this item." A few people chuckled at the remark and Kaelan gave his best indifferent shrug before leaving his seat to claim the antique.

He wrote a check, accepted some paperwork for tax purposes, then clung to the wooden case while a valet retrieved his car. During the drive he kept glancing at the rearview mirror to make sure the case was in the backseat, thinking it would vanish by the time he got home. His heart pounded in anticipation; he very much wanted to feel the blade in his hand, to heft its weight and see if the crystal edges had been rendered harmless by time.

"Kaelan got a sword!" Zach hollered as soon as his landlord came through the door, and footsteps thundered down the stairs while he carried his prize into the great room. Joe and Nicholas crowded him while he gingerly set the case on a couch.

"This thing is a bit unusual," Kaelan explained. "It was found in some underwater Japanese ruins and its age is undetermined. It doesn't match anything from Japanese history or other neighboring cultures."

"Who cares? Just show us!"

Kaelan took a deep breath, unfastened the locks, and lifted the lid.

Mamoru was almost ready to earn his license, but until then Joe picked him up at UW and let him drive home. He was so focused on the road that it didn't occur to him Joe had remained silent the whole way, and when Mamoru glanced at him he was staring straight ahead as if in a trance. "Are you all right?"

"Kaelan won a sword at the auction," he quietly replied.

"Oh, that's great! What kind of sword? Where did it come from?"

"No one knows– it's sort of a mystery. I've been searching for info online all day but never found anything. Kaelan received a page of research notes but they weren't very helpful."

Now Mamoru was excited to take a look at it. He parked the Samurai in Joe's bay of the garage and found his other three housemates seated in the kitchen. They all held cups of hot tea and were bundled up in blankets even though a fire was lit in the great room's hearth. "Where's the sword?" he asked. Kaelan, Nicholas, and Zach faced him at the same time, their eyes wide with fear, and Mamoru's expression dimmed. "What's wrong? Did someone get hurt?"

No one answered; the three of them just stared at the ripples of tea made by their trembling hands. Now Mamoru was certain something bad had happened. "Take off those blankets," he ordered. They obliged, but he was only slightly relieved to see that they looked fine. No bruises, no cuts, no slashed clothes… then he noticed it. Mamoru grabbed Kaelan's wrists to bring his hands into the light. On both of his palms were white patches of blistered flesh. Zach's were exactly the same but only one of Nicholas' hands was affected. "How did you get frostnip? It's not cold enough outside for that."

"It happened when they held the sword," Joe replied, leaning against the door frame. He spread his fingers for inspection. "I didn't touch it."

"The handle would have to be far below freezing temperature to affect the blood so quickly." Mamoru examined their palms again and a shiver went down his spine; he didn't like being confronted with medical mysteries. He felt their foreheads, backs and chests, but their temperatures were completely normal. At a loss for explanations, Mamoru asked to see the sword. Joe led him into the great room and pointed at the blade lying on the carpet where Nicholas had dropped it. He knelt beside it and held his hand over the ancient leather-wrapped handle. Just above the crossguard was an enameled upward-facing crescent, the tips curving inward until they met at the fuller. Mamoru became transfixed by the unblemished black crystal blade, his vision tunneling as he stared into its endless facets. The elegant design belied its true power, power he wanted to wield for himself…

A strong grip suddenly prevented him from taking up the sword and with a gasp Mamoru looked into Joe's face, his expression a mixture of anger and concern. "Don't they have folktales in Japan, Mamoru? Aren't there legends of objects possessed by evil spirits?"

Rational thoughts returned quickly. "You think Kaelan bought a possessed sword?" The idea sounded ludicrous.

"Maybe not, but there's definitely something weird about it." Joe released him with a sigh. "You couldn't feel any cold radiating off the handle, could you? But somehow the others received ice burns."

Mamoru backed away from the glimmering weapon, but not before grabbing the research notes. "Discovered among the Yonaguni ruins…" he read aloud, "the blade is made from… ilmenite?"

Joe nodded. "Yes, ilmenite. It's a weakly magnetic iron-titanium-oxide mineral similar to hematite. Ore is typically ground down and refined for titanium-based applications."

"But the blade looks like it was cut from a single crystal."

"That wouldn't have been difficult. It only has a hardness of five to six Mohs, same as feldspar."

Mamoru gazed at him narrowly. "Now you're a botanist and a geologist?"

Joe gave a small laugh. "Well, yeah– I took two years of geology. I'm familiar with ilmenite for a few reasons. One– it was first discovered in Russia, so national pride. Two– it's a mineral found on the Moon. Three– it can be refined on the lunar surface to provide oxygen for cosmonauts."

Mamoru sat down to absorb this information. His head spun with theories but none of them were logical. The sword certainly didn't look Japanese, so why had it been in Yonaguni? Some scientists believed the ruins were the site of an ancient technologically-advanced culture due to the construction of the pyramid, which was similar to Egyptian and Mesoamerican styles. Some believed Yonaguni to be the real Atlantis. Others said it had simply been a structure on an island that sunk into the seabed.

He was so lost in thought that he didn't notice Joe returning the sword to the case until he sucked in a breath and shook his hand. Mamoru jumped up and watched in morbid fascination as a thin white line appeared on his calloused palm and slowly spread outward, claiming every skin cell that had touched the handle and turning his fingers porcelain. "Ah, that hurts…" Joe furrowed his brow. "You study virology. You know that primordial, dormant viruses get trapped in ice and things they dredge up from the ocean."

"I don't think this is some kind of virus," Mamoru refuted. "There would likely be an indication of sepsis, but this just looks like common frostbite. Did the handle feel cold to the touch?"

"Not at all," Joe answered, "it's just leather and wire. There must be bacteria or something living in the material that's reacting to our skin temperature. It doesn't make sense otherwise."

"I can analyze it at the lab tomorrow," Mamoru offered.

His friend nodded. "Do that. I'd rather not have this antique be my cause of death."

Usagi's dream of showcasing her latest designs at New York Fashion Week was interrupted by a meow. She thought it was part of her dream until she heard a slight thumping. "Mako-chan, is that you?" she whispered. An incomprehensible response came from the other side of the room. After a few minutes she caught another meow followed by the shrill noise of claws on glass. Usagi got out of bed and shuffled through the living room, pausing to turn on a light near the door to the balcony.

A pair of bright yellow eyes stared up at her. Usagi squinted and was able to discern the form of a black cat sitting right outside the door. 'It must belong to one of our neighbors,' she reasoned, and lifted the lock to let it inside. The cat immediately wound around her legs. "Aww, aren't you friendly? What's your name, kitty?" It didn't have a collar or tag. "I guess your owner will know."

The cat laid its ears back at that. It wandered around sniffing the coffee table, Makoto's plants and the sofa, then proceeded to rub its face on everything. Usagi noticed that in place of a tail it only had a short tuft of fur. "What happened to your tail, kitty? Is it supposed to be like that?" The cat looked at her, winked, and trotted around the corner. She followed and gasped as it jumped into Makoto's bed. "Bad kitty!" she whispered, plucking the cat off her comforter. But she moved too slowly. Makoto mumbled something and sat up, blinking wearily.

"Usa-chan? What was that?" The cat mewed as an answer and she drew back. "Where did that thing come from?"

"It's not a thing," Usagi chastised, "it's a kitty, and it was on the balcony."

Makoto switched on her table lamp to examine the feline in her friend's arms. It purred as she scratched its chin, and she noticed it was jet black except for a patch of white fur on its head. It appeared healthy, meaning it likely wasn't a stray, but how had it gotten to the balcony? Their apartment was on the third floor and there was a six-foot gap between railings. She groaned when she checked the time; it was three in the morning. "We can return it to its rightful owner before we go to class tomorrow. It must live around here somewhere," Makoto said.

The cat gave Usagi a rather imploring look that tugged at her heartstrings. "What if it doesn't, Mako-chan? What if it wants us to be its owners?"

"Then you get to buy the food, toys, and litter 'cause I'm too busy to take care of any pets."

"Yay!" Usagi whisper-cheered. She knew Michiru would approve of the cat; it was too sweet not to like. When she got back into bed the cat curled up between her arm and the wall, and she pondered a name while stroking its soft fur. "Kuroko? Kage? Hoshi?" The white patch looked more like a crescent moon than a star. "Maybe just… Luna." Yes, that sounded right. "Good night, Luna-chan."

The cat purred contentedly as a response.