Miss Tohru's Dragon Butler

Chapter 4: Meisuke and Shopping

Meisuke stretched, yawning as she awoke. "Hmph." She grunted. "Today's gonna be a good day, I think." She slowly clambered to her feet, still groggy from her rest. She needed some breakfast. And coffee. And maybe a beer.

Meisuke wandered unsteadily towards the kitchen, rubbing sleep from her eyes along the way. Since Tohru was off today, it would be a good time to make some breakfast just for the two of them. The dragoness chuckled at the thought; it was the sort of thing Tohru herself would have suggested. She must be rubbing off on me, Meisuke thought to herself.

As she approached the kitchen, Meisuke began to notice an odd smell wafting through the house. It was a familiar scent, but she couldn't quite place it; the smell was of... age, and wood, and... smoke?

"Oh, no..." Meisuke muttered to herself, picking up her pace until she was practically running towards the kitchen. She had an inkling of what had happened, and if she was right...

The stove was in shambles, the area surrounding it a mess of ash and smoke. Pots and pans were scattered around the room, looking as though they had been haphazardly tossed aside. Many sported scorch marks and more than a few appeared to be broken. Empty packages were scattered throughout the room, and she suspected that their contents now held residence in the ash pile atop what used to be the stove.

And in the middle of it all stood Tohru, smiling awkwardly through a film of soot. "I tried to make breakfast...?" She offered.

Meisuke's face met her palm with a resounding smack!. Perhaps she had judged today too quickly.

...

"Well, I guess I could magic the stove back together pretty quickly," Meisuke mused, "and the mess shouldn't take too long to clean." She sighed as she and Tohru walked to the store. "The food, on the other hand..."

Tohru avoided Meisuke's gaze, shame turning her face into a red mess. She hadn't meant for things to end like they had, and Meisuke didn't seem to be taking it TOO hard; after all, she had only received a light scolding before Meisuke invited her along to the store. Things could certainly be much worse.

"Well, here we are," Meisuke said, cutting into her thoughts. "The shopping district."

Tohru glanced at the sign announcing the district's presence and couldn't help but sigh in relief, causing Meisuke to raise an eyebrow at her.

"Something wrong?"

Tohru shook her head, saying, "No, not at all! I was just worried you would take me to the supermarket, and, well..." She shuddered. "I just reeeally don't like that place! It's all closed up but big, and you're inside with people you don't know and it's just... weird."

Meisuke simply shrugged in response before leading them into the district. Stopping as they entered, Meisuke paused to think before finally saying, "Let's start with some fish." Tohru nodded enthusiastically in response; Meisuke knew how much the young woman loved seafood.

The dragoness led them to a nearby fish stall, calling out to the owner as she approached. "Hey, Mr. Toda! How's the day been?"

The fishmonger looked up from his products and met her with a smile. "Meisuke! Hey there! Been a while since we've seen you!" Then, noticing Tohru-who had hidden herself behind Meisuke at the first opportunity-, he leaned slightly to see the young woman better, asking, "And who's this pretty lady you're with?"

Meisuke matched Mr. Toda's smile with her own, answering, "She's my master, Kobayashi Tohru!" She gave a knowing wink to Tohru, saying, "Sorry, Mr. Toda, but you can't have her! I want her all to myself!"

Toda laughed at this. "Well, what would you like?" He asked. His smile broadened as he added, "I'll give you a little extra; gotta make sure the lady eats, after all!"

Meisuke laughed with the man as she gave him their order. Tohru couldn't help but peek in the bag as they began to walk away, seeing that he had indeed given them extra. "Huh..." She muttered.

Meisuke noticed Tohru's confusion, turning to the young woman as she asked, "What's wrong?"

Tohru paused for a moment, considering what had just happened before finally saying, "Well... it's just that... I just don't understand why that fish guy was so nice." She cocked her head a bit, trying to comprehend it all. "He just seemed so... well... nice? I know I'm just saying the same thing, but I can't think of another way to put it!"

Meisuke shrugged. "Now, I'm not exactly a native to this world, but if your history and culture indicates anything, it's that it values and appreciates beauty." She smiled at Tohru. "And you're a pretty beautiful person, Miss Kobayashi! Mr. Toda couldn't help but show you a little bit of favor." Tohru reddened at the compliment, but said nothing as they continued their trip.

"Well," Meisuke added after a brief pause, "it might just be my opinion, but I think that it has a little bit to do with humans here just being good people."

Tohru found herself surprised again and again at the generosity and kindness of the people throughout the district as they continued their shopping trip. People would be boundlessly nice to Meisuke and even to Tohru, and Meisuke would always respond in kind before giving Tohru a nudge, prompting her to thank or greet whichever person that had just spoken.

Tohru wasn't a social person, this much she knew about herself. She had suspected the same would be true for Meisuke, but... It wasn't. Meisuke wandered through the crowd, a smile on her face as she interacted with the people of the shopping district. She never seemed to trip up or put her foot in her mouth, and Tohru began to wonder... could she be like that, too? Nice? Polite? Sociable? Was Meisuke really like this?

It suddenly struck her that, although she had known Meisuke for weeks now, she knew barely anything about her. If she really wanted to know-which she did-it would probably be best to start at the beginning, when she first met the dragoness. That... didn't seem like the best approach. After all, their first meeting was rather awkwardly surrounded by the whole "broadsword piercing Meisuke's side" thing, which was probably a sore spot for her. The unintentional pun gave Tohru a slight cringe, and instead she began to consider that maybe she should do something nice for Meisuke rather than prying.

As they were walking, Tohru noticed a small dessert store on the side of the lane and began to smile. This was the perfect chance!

"Hey, Meisuke!" She called, waving excitedly at the dragoness. Meisuke paused, turning to Tohru as she asked, "What's up?"

Tohru broadened her smile to the outer limits as she gave the winning 'maid face' she had practiced at the cafe, asking, "Would you like something from the sweet shop?"

Meisuke paused, seeming to consider the offer before returning the smile as she said, "Sure, if you want to."

Tohru pouted. She was doing this for Meisuke! Meisuke! Why couldn't she just take a hint?

The dragoness seemed to notice the frustration scrawled across Tohru's face and, cocking her head as though thinking about something, she finally answered, "...Yeah, sure, we should get some éclairs or something." She gave Tohru a small nod and the young woman began to brighten, practically springing to her feet as she declared, "Okay! To the sweet shop we go!"

Meisuke trailed behind Tohru as she led the way towards the store. The dragoness had to admit, she liked to see Tohru happy and excited like this.

...As long as it didn't compel her to burn the kitchen again. Meisuke could use less of that in her life.

"Y'know," Tohru began, "My parents always told me that éclair meant 'a flash of lighting'. Did you know that?" She shot a snarky little wink at Meisuke. "I bet you didn't!"

"I have the internet, remember?" Meisuke said as she offered a long-suffering smile in return.

Tohru fumed, saying, "Well, I thought it was cool." She paused, looking thoughtful for a moment before turning to Meisuke. "By the way," she began, "how did you get your magic? Did you just naturally have it, or did someone teach it to you? Because I'd never heard of dragons being able to DO magic! And why the whole 'book scanning' thing? I know you can do other kinds of spells, but why are you so good at THAT specific sort of magic?" She tilted her head at Meisuke, curiosity sparkling in her eyes. "I bet you could do something way cooler instead, like a SKY LASER or something!" Tohru gestured wildly with her arms, waving her fingers like a starburst as she made woosh and bam! sound effects.

Meisuke shrugged. "A dragon's a smart creature, so we can learn all kinds of magic. However, we all have some things we're good at and some we're bad at." She scratched her chin, considering Tohru's question. "I guess I always liked knowing things and reading and stuff, so eventually a master came along and took me as his apprentice, and... well, here I am."

Tohru began to ask a question about this 'master' of Meisuke's when she was cut off by a loud cry of "THIEF!" at the edge of the crowd. The pair turned to see a shady man in a brown hoodie running off with a purse. The purse appeared to belong to the woman that had sounded the alarm, the same woman who was now pointing frantically at the criminal and shouting for someone to help.

Tohru turned to Meisuke, her eyes alight with excitement as she said, "Meisuke! You're a dragon, so you're crazy strong, right!? You should go beat 'em up! Dragon style!" Tohru punctuated her suggestion with an awkward, kung-fu-esque pose, accompanied by grunts and warbles she must have thought made her seem dangerous. Meisuke sighed at the display.

"I won't do anything that flashy," she said, "but I am going to stop him." She turned to a nearby side alley, waving to Tohru as she went. "I'm just going to do it... my way." With a smile over her shoulder, she added, "Well, maybe I'll do it the Kobayashi Tohru way. At least a little bit." She disappeared into the alley.

...

The man was sprinting to the end of the shopping district, his flight facing no more opposition than occasional cries of "No!" and "Stop!" from the crowd. He smirked to himself, unable to believe his luck. A public place like this, and no one was even trying to actually stop him! He hadn't just made it off clean; he had made it off pristine!

It then occurred to him that the world was tilting and the ground was approaching at an alarming rate, and he had the feeling that he had been tripped by an outstretched foot. This would have concerned him had he the time to feel any such emotion; such time was denied him when a swift knee came flying into the falling man's gut, blasting the wind out of him as he was flipped onto his back in the middle of the air. He barely managed to take note of his assailant-a redheaded woman in a business suit whose dead fish eyes seemed to be entirely unconcerned with the beatdown she was delivering-before she twitched just slightly and was gone. He didn't have to wonder where she went, however, as she almost simultaneously reappeared above him and delivered a haymaker directly into his nose, smashing him into the ground. The last thing the man could feel as consciousness faded to black was the purse being taken from his arms, and the last thing he could hear was an inscrutable voice that seemed very far away saying, "Y'know, it's really not cool to take people's stuff..."

Meisuke stood over the thoroughly defeated man and sighed. "Honestly," she declared, "if you're going to take something like that, you shouldn't be so brazen about it!" She shook her head, grumbling, "I better get a beer out of this, at least..." as she started to walk over to Tohru.

Before she could get very far, however, she suddenly found herself swamped by the shoppers and storekeepers as cheers filled the air. Too many voices were jabbering for Meisuke's tastes, all thanking her and enthusiastically retelling the fight (if such a curb stomp could be called a "fight" in the conventional sense of the word). She found herself face to face with the woman who had her purse stolen, being commended on her strength and her willingness to help. Meisuke was flattered, but... she felt like she was being drowned in the crowd, swept in the current of humanity. She just didn't know how to respond to all of this attention, all of this... well, everything.

Suddenly, she felt warmth in her palm, and glanced down to see Tohru's hand wrapped around hers, gently pulling the dragoness away from the crowd. Meisuke sighed in relief. This was exactly what she needed.

After a bit of pulling and pushing against the well-wishers, the pair finally managed to escape the crowd, exiting the shopping district with cheeks reddened from all the praise.

They walked in silence for a moment before Tohru finally stopped, turning to Meisuke with a smile. "That was incredible!" She enthused. "You just... whoosh! Smack! Blam!" She mimed out the encounter in time with her sound effects, her smile broadening as she performed her reenactment. "I... just..." She began shivering in excitement. "That was fantastic!" She cried, throwing her arms around the dragoness.

Meisuke was unsure what to do. She felt like she should've seen the hug coming, yet it still managed to catch her by surprise. Instead of responding, however, she simply smiled for a moment, allowing herself to enjoy the contact with Tohru. I was right, she thought to herself. Today was a good day.

As the moment began to wane, however, she felt the stares of passers-by on her back and began to redden. The middle of the street was probably not the best locale for this. "Alright, Tohru," she said as she lightly pushed the young woman off of her, "we should probably get going; make sure we get everything home soon, yeah?"

Tohru nodded, subtly declining her head so Meisuke couldn't see the red climbing up her neck. The dragoness was right-this probably wasn't the best place for... whatever it was between her and Meisuke. She couldn't help but pout, however, and she couldn't resist taking Meisuke's hand once more. As they began to walk however, she let out a small gasp and began to smile once more.

"Meisuke! Meisuke! Meisukeeeeeeee!" She cried, tugging on the dragoness's hand.

"Huh?" Meisuke said, cocking a brow at Tohru. "What is it?"

Tohru began to point at a nearby storefront, trying and failing not to bounce in place. "You don't have any casual clothes, right? So let's go get you some!"

Meisuke was taken aback by the suggestion and began to assure the young woman that her natural scales were enough, but something about Tohru's insistence made her pause. After a moment of hemming and hawing, she finally nodded. "Alright," she agreed, "If that's what you want!"

Tohru nodded back, her smile beginning to widen as she said, "Yeah!"

Unbeknownst to either of them, as they walked towards the store to pick out new clothes for Meisuke, a green-eyed child trailed behind them. She began to frown as she took note of the way they held hands.

"No fair, human," she muttered. "Big sis is mine!"

...

Tohru stretched herself across the couch with a luxurious yawn, feeling out every contour, every dip and lump in its old, beaten fabric. It was one of her rare days off, and she still had so much she could do with it! She could read light novels, she could watch TV, she could surf the internet... or, she COULD finally watch that...

After taking a quick glance around the room to make sure no one was watching (even if Meisuke was out shopping, she still felt a bit paranoid), she pulled her inconspicuous basket out from under the couch. She couldn't suppress a small, sinister chuckle as she opened it and, after briefly rifling through its contents, produced an unmarked DVD case. Now was the time.

Tohru rolled off of the couch, awkwardly half-crawling, half-shambling over to her television and turning the old box on. She had been meaning to replace the device for years, but never really had the time or money to do it... plus, the grain added something to the experience shouldn't quite put her finger on whenever she watched something like this... 'atmosphere', perhaps...?

The young woman allowed herself a wicked grin as she opened the disc tray and inserted her unassuming treasure. She had waited for months to obtain it, but it was finally here! It was-

"Butleroma Part II: You Didn't Tell Me There Would Be Ribbons!" The TV boldly declared as the movie began, accompanied by a cheer from Tohru. Now that she had the house to herself, there was nothing to stop her from kicking back, curling up, and having a nice, relaxing-

Tohru shot up as the door bell rang throughout the house, nearly stumbling over her own two feet. She frantically opened up the player and shoved the disc back into its box before throwing it back into the basket and haphazardly hiding it under the couch.

"Coming!" She shouted, a bit too nervous for her tastes. What if someone asked what had happened? What if they had heard? What if- oh, forget it. She took a long, deep breath, collecting herself for a moment before walking to her front door. She mustn't run away, she reminded herself. Meisuke had already scolded her for hiding from the door once; she wouldn't make the dragoness do it a second time! She mustn't run away, she mustn't run away, she mustn't run away!

Pausing awkwardly at the door to collect herself, Tohru slowly, ever so slowly reached out and gripped the door handle. All she had to do was turn it... any second now... she was definitely going to do it...

She was shocked out of her reverie as the doorbell rang again and, in her panic, she screwed her eyes shut and threw the door open with a nervous, "H-Hello and welcome to our home!"

When she opened her eyes again, however, Tohru found the hallway empty. She leaned out of her room just a bit, glancing and left and right to be sure she hadn't missed anything. Thinking she hadn't, she began to fidget in confusion. As she moved to close the door, however, she heard an irritated huff. Tohru glanced down to see a small visitor just below her line of sight, the one who must have rung the bell.

An unusual sight greeted her-though Tohru paused to reflect on what qualified as "unusual" in her world. A young girl, perhaps 8 or 9, stood on her doorstep with a sour expression, her brows furrowed and her face screwed up in irritation. She had long, wavy hair, brown at the roots but turning into an emerald green around her shoulders and ending solidly green at her waist. Her eyes were a similar shade, with a longsleeve turtleneck matching her eyes and hair pulled up nearly to her chin. She wore a light green shawl wrapped around her shoulders, wavy lines and swirls of emerald green stitched in to the fabric. Her hair was held back in a ponytail by a daisy-themed scrunchie, and she wore a small maroon skirt and thigh-high socks with small, green buckled shoes. More surprising than her hair and her eyes and her clothes, however, were her horns; she sported a curvy, emerald green pair on her head, each sweeping towards the back with a pair of smaller horns like those of a bison set under them. Her tail-another feature Tohru felt should have been more surprising-was as thick as a young tree's trunk and the same color as her horns, though it was slightly lighter on the underside. That tail was now twitching slightly, and Tohru realized that she had been staring for a while. Blinking out of her trance, Tohru began to awkwardly wave her hands about, stuttering as said, "O-oh! Uhm, you must be a, ah, friend of Meisuke's, r-right? We-well, come on in if you, um, want..."

The strange girl said nothing, merely stomping into Tohru's apartment with that same irritated expression. Tohru sighed to herself and began to wonder why this sort of thing had to happen on her one day off.

***End of Chapter 4***

A/N: Riko's design is based HEAVILY upon:

post/170457004272/dragonswap-riko-saikawa-this-is-just-a-sketch-so

I loved this piece quite a bit, and it was the second element that encouraged me to write this story in the first place! That probably explains why I spent so much time describing her; it was probably excessive but, well, I think she's a fun character. So, eh.