Fair warning: there is one slur in this chapter. I put it in only because of the time period Captain America is set in and I don't mean anything offensive by it. I hope everyone can understand that.


Chapter 36: Yori's Night

"I look ridiculous."

"You do not," Josie disagreed as she stared at her reflection in the mirror.

Yori and Josie had joined forces to get ready to go to Howard's party. It had taken an act of god - or in this case, an act of Stark – to get Yori to even consider going. Once he and Josie had managed, Howard had done everything in his power to make sure Yori would attend, from sending her a dress and accessories to hinting that he'd bought her a gift and would expect one in return.

Yori was wearing the Stark-approved outfit now and staring at her reflection glumly. It was a bit odd for her to see herself like that. It was always pants or the occasional yukata with her, never a dress. But the red satin garment, with its wide skirt and generous ruffles at the bust, was definitely suited to Yori, at least in terms of coloring. The black belt, pumps, and gloves clinched it. Josie had pinned her hair up in victory curls. With the natural coloring of her lips and spikes there wasn't much that could be done in the way of makeup aside from a dusting of powder and some mascara.

"I feel as if I'm a child playing dress up," Yori said, fidgeting uncomfortably with her gloves. "I don't… I don't do things like this."

Josie looked up, frowning in genuine concern and setting aside her tube of red lipstick. Yori wasn't being contrary for the sake of it, she genuinely wasn't okay. Her face was stressed as she stared at herself in the mirror and she couldn't stop moving – pulling at her gloves, adjusting her belt, sweeping her hands down her front, toying with the folds in her skirt.

"What's wrong?" Josie asked her gently, abandoning her makeup to look at Yori in concern. "What's really bothering you?"

Yori took a deep breath and with a pained expression replied, "I am… not pretty." She hastened to add, "Normally it doesn't bother me but aren't women supposed to feel pretty, all dressed up like this? But I… I don't. And I know I shouldn't but I still held out hope that maybe the… the dress and the… the hair would help."

Josie sighed. Yori was confident most of the time but even she had some insecurities. She had been told for most of her life that her appearance was unnatural, terrifying, or disturbing. It was no wonder she had issues with her looks.

"Yori," Josie began, but was cut off by a knock. Steve and Bucky had volunteered to escort them to the dance.

"I'll get it," Yori said, eagerly abandoning her reflection in favor of answering the door. She held it wide and quickly headed for the nightstand where her mask rested. Josie watched miserably as she picked it up and slid it on, tying the ribbon behind her head.

Bucky swept into the room, completely ignoring Yori in favor of his Belle. She didn't blame him. Yori watched Bucky and Josie as Bucky curled her into his arms. Her dear friend was laughing and smiling and looked so happy, loving and loved, as her soldier pulled her into an embrace. Hidden behind her mask, Yori allowed herself to bite her lip and look longingly at them before internally scolding herself.

What was wrong with her tonight? She was the demon of Japan! She was a powerful mutant, a survivor of wars and famines and disease. She was the scourge of villages once upon a time and now? Now she was pouting about how she wasn't pretty enough and how no boy wanted to dance with her. She passed that portion of her life a century ago, or at least she should have.

"I'm glad Bucky found Josie," Steve said softly, moving to stand beside her and watching as well. "I don't think I've ever seen him this taken with a girl."

"And Josie has never been so taken with a man," Yori returned.

"Are you… going to wear that tonight?" Steve asked her uncertainly. Yori couldn't see him but she knew his eyes were fixed on her mask.

"Are you going to order me not to?" she asked tensely, praying he wouldn't. Her mask was her safeguard. If people gave her strange or disgusted looks it was because of the mask, because of the carved snarl, not because of Yori herself. Or at least, that's what she told herself.

"No," Steve said slowly. "I'd never order you to do something like that. I know it would make you uncomfortable and I wouldn't want to do that to you. But I… I don't think you should."

"And why is that?" Yori asked, her voice still tense and she even detected a slight waver. Ten no kamisama protect me, I'm turning into a girl!

"Well…" Steve offered her a sheepish smile. "Doesn't really match your dress, does it?"

Yori let out a harsh laugh at that but for some reason she found her hands reaching back to untie the ribbon. "No," she heard herself say. "I don't suppose it does." And she abandoned the mask on the bed.

Steve moved off to say a few words to Josie and then they were off to the party. Yori wondered vaguely what another woman might feel on Steve's arm in such a gorgeous – and expensive, Josie had assured her after a look at the label – dress. Probably proud and pretty, on top of the world as they flaunted their date and their looks. Yori just felt incredibly inferior.

Josie and Bucky moved on ahead a little as Yori walked next to Steve, who wasn't quite sure what to do. He kept his arm half-way crooked in case Yori wanted to grab onto it but she didn't show any signs of moving towards it. Still, he didn't want to just ignore her.

He glanced sideways and frowned. He'd never seen her so twitchy, not even right before a mission when she nearly vibrated with adrenaline. She was tugging and adjusting her clothes, frowning and occasionally pulling at a coil of her hair, fiddling with the ends. She kept biting her lips and ducking her head.

It took him a moment but he realized that there was a method to Yori's madness. She was trying to cover as much of the spiky markings adorning her body as she could – now he saw that they were scattered down her legs and arms as well, at joints. She kept trying to hide the red strands of hair amongst the black and sucking in her lips to hide their color. Instead of the powerful woman she normally was, Steve was reminded of one of the shy girls who held up the walls at his high school dances.

Steve leaned down to murmur in her ear, "You look great, don't worry." He put a staying hand on hers.

Yori frowned, jolting at the sound of his voice. She frowned in confusion and looked up at him. "Why are you lying? You never lie."

"Lie?" Steve was lost. He gave her a compliment and she thought he was lying? What was worse, she was looking at him like she couldn't even comprehend another explanation for the compliment than a lie. His heart twinged painfully as he realized that whatever else she was – powerful, dangerous, strong – she was also a woman who'd been spit on and put down for most of her life and much as she might try to hide it, that had left a mark.

"I never look great," Yori said bluntly, still frowning. "Why would you say I do?"

Steve blinked, not quite sure how to respond. He'd given girls compliments before and they'd either accepted them and moved on or turned their noses up at him. None of them had ever outright rejected the compliment and then turned around and questioned him on it.

"Because…" Steve's eyes latched on something and the artist in him took over and started to explain, "Because the color of your dress really compliments your markings and your wings make this great line… And whatever Josie did with your face really brings out your eyes."

Yori tripped slightly, mouth lolling open slightly as she stared at Steve in disbelief. Her cheeks felt oddly warm and Yori realized that she was blushing, actually blushing.

"I-I see," she said faintly. "Th… Thank you, Steve."

Relieved that he'd managed to say the right thing, Steve smiled at her and nodded. "Any time."

Yori looked up as the approached the door to the mess hall, smiling slightly when they found Bucky entangled with Josie under a sprig of mistletoe. Yori raised an eyebrow as the kissing continued, silently encouraging her friend.

Steve cleared his throat pointedly. "Some of us need to get in this room."

"You're just jealous you don't have anyone to kiss under the mistletoe," Bucky said.

"I will stab you with my tail if you try," Yori said hastily. As much as she didn't think she'd mind sharing a kiss under the mistletoe with Steve, she was also positive that would open a door that she needed to remain firmly shut for her heart's sake. She wasn't blind – she knew Steve's heart belonged to Peggy and Yori was confident she could soon claim the small part of her own heart that Steve had stolen back so long as nothing intimate happened.

"Don't worry, I won't kiss a lady unless she wants me to," Steve assured her, much to Yori's relief. "You're safe."

"Want to dance?" Bucky asked as they stepped inside properly.

"I'm going to sit," Yori said firmly, gesturing to a nearby table. She looked to Steve and nodded at Peggy, who was caught in the arms of a soldier and looking less than pleased about it. "Go save your dear Agent Carter, you're wasting your night with me," she urged, before moving off.

As she moved off, she heard Steve ask, "Has she always been that blunt?"

Josie laughed and replied in the affirmative. Yori snorted at that as she took a seat at one of the small tables, crossing her legs and trying to look like she was comfortable. The truth was she'd never danced like this before. Some traditional dances during festivals as a child, with a coat and mask concealing her. That was the extent of her dancing experience, and she could see no relation between those dances and the ones going on in front of her.

Still Yori watched. She was determined that if she went on the dance floor she wouldn't make a fool of herself. So she watched the steps carefully and catalogued them, observing how they all went together. Mostly she'd figured out that there was a lot of spinning and shuffling, which seemed easy enough. Satisfied that she could at least hold her own if not attempt some of the more dangerous-looking twists and dips, Yori sat back.

Yori smiled as she saw Nevade pull Steve past, the older woman winking at Yori from under Steve's arm. Yori liked Nevade more than any of Josie's other relatives. The older woman was genuinely shameless and confident. As Yori wished she could be every day of her life, including nights like this.

Her insecurities crashed around her as her sensitive ears picked up some of the conversation from one table over. A sideways glance showed it was the blonde secretary who had stolen a kiss from Steve sitting next to a sergeant.

"I don't know why they're letting her walk around," the secretary said with a delicate shudder. "She's obviously dangerous. Just look at her!"

"Did you hear what happened to Donovan? She pinned him to the wall and threatened to choke the life out of him and Evans!"

"I'd believe it," the secretary said darkly. "That's exactly what I mean. She's clearly unstable and what do we really know about her? Technically, she's the enemy, right?"

"Freak of a Nip," agreed her companion. "Maybe HYDRA had a good idea, locking 'em all up."

"Imagine what they could do to us normal people," the secretary continued. "And I've no idea how that other one managed to get her claws in Barnes," she said, casting Josie a dark look as she was spun around by Howard. "And Stark too! They're both hideous little beasts." Jealousy was plain on her face and her companion seemed to notice to. He cleared his throat and said loudly,

"Care for another dance, doll?"

"Of course," the secretary replied with a flirty smile as the couple rose and moved to the dance floor again. As she passed the blonde threw Yori a superior sneer. Yori responded by drawing back her lips and snarling in that particular way that she knew twisted her features into a nice menacing expression. Her wings flared slightly in warning and her fingertips glowed, her tail lashing.

The secretary went white and hustled her date away. Smirking, Yori sat back in her chair and tried to ignore how much that last comment from the blonde hurt.

"That face isn't going to make you any friends."

Yori looked up to find Steve sitting down in the chair beside her. Yori flicked her eyes over him, savoring the look of him in uniform – there really was something to be said for a man in uniform, and particularly a man with Steve's shoulders.

"I'm not here to make friends," Yori replied firmly, turning away from him before she got any more distracted.

"You're doing it anyway, though," Steve said, nodding to the men by the bar. Dum Dum and Limey were sipping beers while Morita downed a shot like a champ.

"I wonder if they have sake," Yori mused, standing up and drifting forwards. Steve immediately rose and followed her, their combined presence more than enough to clear a path across the floor to the bar.

"Hey, Cap!" Dugan waved cheerfully as Steve made his way over.

"There's our favorite demon!" Falsworth was already clearly a little buzz because he reached out and pulled a startled Yori into a one-armed hug.

"Let her go before she takes a limb off," Steve scolded gently, pulling Yori free while Dugan and Morita laughed. Yori huffed and straightened a skirt.

"You know, I don't think I've ever seen you look like a girl before," Morita mused as he looked her over. He gestured to her lower half. "You've got legs!"

Yori sucked in her cheeks but couldn't bring herself to be offended by that remark. "Yes, sometimes I even walk on them."

"No shit?" Dum Dum sniggered, then quickly corrected himself. "I mean, uh…"

"Say whatever the hell you want," Yori replied carelessly as she scanned the lines of bottles and glasses on the table. Her eyes lit up as she spotted a bottle of pear sake, a favorite of hers, and seized it up triumphantly, pouring herself a shot. She raised her glass to the men.

"Kanpai," she said brightly and tossed it back easily, smacking her lips in contentment.

"Well now, who'd have thought you were a drinker?" Dugan asked in amusement.

"Far more than you are," Yori replied smoothly as she poured another shot and raised it to her lips.

"Care to test that?"

Yori paused with the glass at her lips. "Are you challenging me to a drinking game?" she asked calmly, sitting down firmly in a chair and beckoning Dugan over. He grinned, grabbed a bottle of bourbon, and joined her.

"This should be good," Morita grinned as he turned and leaned against the wall to watch.

"This should be a mess," Steve corrected as he watched Falsworth smoothly talk a girl into a dance.

Dum Dum and Yori got down to business with Morita and Steve as their audience, the pair of them growing more impressed and disturbed as Dugan and Yori matched each other drink for drink. Dum Dum got more and more surprised and wary as he took drinks while Yori's smirk got wider and smugger.

Finally, unable to resist, Yori picked up the bottle of sake and, instead of pouring herself another shot, simply brought the neck of the bottle to her lips and began to drain it in long draughts, her throat working smoothly as Dugan, Steve, and Morita watched in awe.

Yori set the bottle down, her eyes still completely clear and her smirk firmly in place.

"Perhaps now would be the time to mention that I metabolize alcohol so quickly I would have to drink most of a distillery before I got drunk," she said. Dugan groaned and buried his head in his arms as Morita and Steve laughed.

"You got him on that one!" Morita laughed, slapping Yori on the shoulder. Her eyes glinted proudly.

A brunette drifted by on the arm of a soldier, making their way to the buffet. She sniffed and nudged her date, nodding to Yori, whose hand was still on the neck of her bottle.

"What a crude little monster she is," the woman simpered.

Steve was able to watch as Yori's content expression slid off and a scowl fixed itself firmly on her features.

"I'm off now, I think," Yori said, rising and moving through the couples.

"Was it something I said?" Morita asked in confusion.

"Nothing you said," Steve assured him before hustling off after Yori. The truth was he doubted she'd appreciate him trying to make her feel better but he still wanted to try. This was supposed to be a good night, a time for everyone in the SSR to let off some steam and enjoy themselves before the real world made itself violently known again. He just wished Yori could enjoy her night as well.

She had taken up the table in the corner again, sending the previous occupants running with just her presence. Steve saw her glaring after them as he sat down next to him.

"You know, you can't blame them when you act like that," Steve pointed out gently.

"They see what they see when they look at me," Yori replied, and her voice was weary and bitter. "It's easier if I wear it as armor than let it be used as a sword against me. I learned that a long time ago. They look at me and they see a monster. They expect a monster. So I give them one."

"And how does that help?" Steve attempted to reason.

"Oh, it doesn't," Yori replied easily. "But it's easier to accept that that's the reason why no one would be caught dead near me than the fact that there's something wrong with me."

Yori's eyes widened. She hadn't meant to say that aloud. She hadn't meant to ever admit that to anyone and yet here it was spilling out to Steve despite the fact that she hadn't really known him all that long. She cursed him for being so kind, for actually caring about her and making her open up to him. If ever a person had a chance to break her it was probably Steve.

She was grateful when Bucky joined them at their table, balancing glasses of punch between his hands. He handed them out and sat down, face happy as he watched Josie dance through the crowd with Peggy, laughing and smiling.

"You still determined to marry her?" Steve asked his friend lightly. Normally he wouldn't have said that in front of a girl's friend but he was confident that Yori could be trusted to keep her mouth shut.

"More determined than ever," Bucky agreed with a smile as Josie lifted Peggy into the air with a joyful laugh. "I'm never going to find a more perfect woman so I figure I'd better get her before someone else realizes how wonderful she is and tries to steal her away."

"Her father's right over there," Steve said, nodding to Thomas Ealum, who was standing with his scowling second wife in a corner.

"Approach in front of the gold digger and you'll have a riot on your hands," Yori advised. "And as far as the ring, she would be just as content with an interesting-looking semiprecious stone as a diamond."

Bucky laughed at that as Steve smiled and gestured to Yori. "There you go!"

"Oh and by the way," Yori added with a smirk. "I've decided I approve of you, so I won't even bother to threaten your manhood if you hurt her."

Steve gave a startled chuckle as Bucky winced. "Uh, I'm pretty sure that was a threat."

Yori smiled ominously. "When I threaten you, Barnes, you'll be more than pretty sure."

Bucky shook his head. "I'm going to go dance with my girl before Yori here takes my head off. Steve, best of luck," he said, clapping a hand on Steve's shoulder and nodding to Agent Carter knowingly. Quickly, Yori schooled her expression and forcibly ignored how much that hurt.

"You should go dance with her," Yori agreed as she watched Bucky pulled Josie into his arms for a dance.

"I'm escorting you tonight," Steve disagreed. He may have dearly wanted to dance with Peggy Carter, more than he'd ever wanted to dance with any woman, but he also would feel like a punk if he abandoned Yori to her own devices to night, not only for her sake but for whoever she'd take her feelings out on.

"But you'd rather be escorting her," Yori said and the swift bite in the words set Steve back a little. Yori glanced at him sideways, her lips curving down slightly. He opened his mouth to reply but she cut him off. "Don't lie, it's obvious really. Did you know your heartbeat noticeably picks up around her?"

Steve jolted, blushing. "You can… hear that?"

"If it's very quiet and I'm paying attention," Yori replied with a shrug. "There are also visible signs – dilating pupils, rapid breathing, sweaty palms. All common symptoms being in love."

Steve blushed harder. "I don't… I mean she's a great lady but I, uh, I don't really… I mean I…"

"Steve." Her voice was softer than he'd ever heard it and that more than anything else was what jerked Steve out of his splutter. Yori's eyes were soft and understanding. She was even smiling as she nodded to Peggy. "Go on. I can entertain myself elsewhere," she said, rising with her punch in hand.

"If you're sure," Steve said, grateful she didn't seem to mind him leaving her. Yori nodded. Again, her presence alone cleared a path through the crowd for her as Steve made his way around the edge of the dance floor, a little more respectful of the dancers than she. He had wanted to dance with Peggy since pretty much the first time he'd laid eyes on her, strutting down the line of soldiers like she owned and place, red lips pouting and dark eyes flashing.

But as he passed the refreshment table, a hand darted out. He was surprised to see Josie on the other end of the hand, looking at him a little desperately.

"Steve, take Yori for a dance," she requested. Steve blinked, feeling like an idiot. He hadn't even asked the woman he was escorting for a dance and there he was about to run off for a dance with another woman. If his mother was alive she would have boxed his ears and shouted something Irish at him that he didn't understand the meaning of but was definitely angry.

"Oh, I guess… I suppose I could." He offered her a hand. "Yori?"

Yori blinked and flushed. She placed her hand in his wordlessly and let Steve pull her out onto the dance floor.

Yori felt a bit guilty for being so pleased that Steve had her in his arms instead of Peggy Carter. She had nothing against the woman – admired her steel, in fact – but she was also a bit jealous of how easily Peggy managed to get everyone to like her, a skill Yori had never had and she doubted highly she would ever master.

"I should mention, perhaps, that I've never danced like this before, Yori said quietly as the music began, growling at herself internally as her color rose when Steve placed a hand on her waist. He was so much taller than her that it was almost awkward but just on this side of not. In fact, if Yori were prone to such things, she might say they fit together quite nicely. But Yori wasn't prone to thinking things like that, she told herself quite firmly.

"I'm not much of a dancer either," Steve assured her. "We can at least be uncomfortable together."

"That's something I suppose," Yori said. She was held just slightly too far from Steve for the dance to be very close and was trying very hard not to be offended by that fact.

"Have you ever danced before?" Steve asked curiously. "You're doing pretty well."

"I've been watching the dancers all night," Yori replied. "But I have danced before, just not like this."

"Then how?" Steve pressed, trying desperately to alleviate the tension in the air between them with conversation. He could tell Yori wasn't extremely comfortable on the dance floor so he held her at arm's length, confident she wouldn't appreciate being held close like most girls.

"At festivals, mostly," Yori admitted. "When I was a child. There was a woman who took care of me for a time. She didn't mind my appearance," Yori said, smiling nostalgically as she recalled the old widow Midori who had been a bright spot of her childhood, one of few. "When it was time for Obon she would cover me up and I would dance with the others. I danced to Soran bushi a time or two," Yori recalled. "It's nothing like this though," she said, nodding to the others.

"What's Obon?" Steve asked curiously.

"A festival of the dead," Yori explained. There was more to it than that, but that was enough for the time being. "I liked festivals because there was so much going on that people didn't notice one odd girl wearing a mask and covering herself. We'd eat festival food."

"Do you miss it?" Steve asked.

"The food or the dancing?" Yori asked drily. "The dancing, no. The food… sometimes." This sparked an idea that she made a mental note to take up with Howard later seeing as she'd need his help with it.

"If you could have one thing to eat right now from home, what would it be?" Steve asked.

Yori thought for a moment before answering. "Dango. What about you?"

Steve smiled. "I'd like a cheeseburger, to be honest," he admitted sheepishly.

Yori laughed at that, actually laughed. "I should have known," she chuckled, covering her mouth with a hand in an instinctive response to try and hide her pointed canines.

Howard made his appearance then, holding a glance and announcing the coming Christmas into a microphone. As the crowd began the countdown Yori pulled herself out of the moment, telling herself that it meant nothing because it really didn't. Nothing would change, it would just take her that much longer to get that piece of her heart back after this.

She was a fool. Why on earth would sweet soldier Steve want anything to do with her?

"Merry Christmas, taichō," Yori said softly, before releasing him and fading back into the crowd.