pah, Wednesday again, and I'm working. But its all good. I may actually be finding myself in a particularly comfortable regular schedule, that is I might because everybody else is abandoning the softlines departments of the store like rats escaping a sinking ship. Well, not exactly. One's going on maternity leave, one has had enough of softlines, and everybody else that wasn't a dpt manager had good reason. Except me. oh well.
ON the other hand, Sesshoumaru actually catches up with Aki in this chapter, and Kaoru's would-be match for Aki makes his rather lack-luster appearance, just to piss Sesshoumaru off. (That last bit was me, not Kaoru or her mystery guy for Aki.)
And of course, Aki takes off again after getting royally pissed off by Kaoru, heehee. oh and we get to meet Tuck, someone else to piss off Sesshoumaru.
I should probably tell you, Fred does not make an appearance at all during this part of the stroy, but don't worry, His absence is compensated for. I won't say how, but just know that it is. AS for the rest well there's Rumiko Takahashi's characters, some of whom are in disguise.
Enjoy!
Will She, Nil She
Like every pop icon, fad, dance, song or food, the Demon S as an individual took two people to create. There had to be someone to be the Demon S and someone who just thought that was so awesome they had to tell their friends. Thankfully nobody had ever discovered the Demon S's true identity so Aki could pretend she wasn't herself every once in a while and the world didn't hound her about the strange phenomenon where they all actually thought she was just so cool.
Kaoru had been Aki's second person, and the whole thing snowballed from there. People were drawn to Aki and the vibe she set off when she really let loose and felt the music. It was the only time she let her memories go and simply became a living breathing creature with no true thought but to groove with the joy of movement. She was exotic to the Japanese public no matter how she dressed and applied her make-up and the uninhibited way she moved set the spirits of others free to do the same.
It was almost like she was the strongest legal drug available to the public, something that blocked out all the pain and sorrow and worries of every regular day and turned this random appearance of an unidentified woman into a memory people wished to repeat.
This had not been explained to Sesshoumaru, and it wouldn't have comforted him any if it had. He did not like the whole display. He did not like the way people danced here, and there was no way to reconcile him to the way these modern dance floors were so crowded with other males. Nope, there was no help for it.
Eventually, the Demon S pardoned herself from the dance floor and retreated briefly to the DJ booth.
The smell of cooked meat preceded the entrance of a very tall, distinguished, white haired youkai male.
"Tuck, you old dog!" Loki called laughingly, "you didn't have to bring it yourself!"
Tuck looked at the raucous juvenile mildly, "Actually, yes, I did, if I wanted to see everybody's favorite time-traveler. Besides, it's eight, I'm off for the night." The cook smirked slyly. "Aki's my responsibility for the rest of the night."
Juno shook her head, "I want to know how you know precisely when she'll come back early enough to ask for the night off. You've got the best forecasting system I know."
Sesshoumaru looked Tuck up and down and immediately disliked him if for no other reason than for the other male's unknown connection to Aki.
"Nonsense," Tuck disclaimed all Juno said. "I just wanted the night off."
"For what purpose?" the pregnant partial youkai asked curiously.
"Doesn't matter," the cook replied, "I'm now looking after Aki."
Meanwhile down the hall where Aki was just now exiting the noisy part of the club, Loki (who'd snuck down the hall during the exchange between Tuck and Juno) pulled his employer aside.
"Before you head up there," he nodded to the door at the top of the stairs, "I thought I'd warn you that a certain dog boy and demon lord stopped by the apartment today."
Aki sighed and closed her eyes, "The fates must really hate me," she groaned. "They're here, in that room and angry about the whole Demon S thing right?"
"I'm not sure, the tall one's a bit hard to read," Loki replied sarcastically. "Next time you attract the romantic interest of a full-blooded youkai a little warning might be nice in the event that he attempts to track you down and runs into me instead."
"He didn't hurt you did he?" Aki asked.
"No," he replied with a sigh. "Kaoru just happened to be in the apartment at the time and pulled my bacon out of the fire. I'm still kind of in the hot seat, but that's my fault. I answered the door without a shirt on and kind of pissed Inuyasha off right from the start and he's been doing his best to keep Sesshoumaru's anger focused on me."
"Aw, Kaoru's keeping you alive," Aki chuckled.
"Shut up," Loki grumbled. "Tuck's already brought up your dinner, so at least there is that."
Aki's expression brightened until there was absolutely no sign of weariness in it.
Spending time with Tuck was relaxing for Aki. The two of them could sit in complete silence for hours.
Tuck had lost his long time mate in the last decade or so, and was reticent to form new attachments, especially to exceedingly young people. Which suited Aki's purposes just fine, as she wasn't looking to form any sort of relationship at all. It was a strange comfort to spend time with another person who didn't care who or what or why you did so. There was no risk because there was no desire for friendship on either side. All conversation was kept light and somewhat impersonal.
Still, there was something incredibly soothing about spending time with Tuck. After this last month's misadventures, Aki had a few guesses as to why, but she wasn't going to waste her breath voicing them.
Aki climbed the stairs and launched herself into the room and onto Tuck like an overeager child attacking a pile of candy. "Tuck!" she squealed cheerfully at him.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk!" the cook looked her over. "You'll have to stay awhile so I can fatten you up properly. You are too skinny!"
Aki playfully frowned at him, "I don't need fattening up! If I get too fat you might eat me!" Tuck chuckled at their little play and snapped his teeth at her in jest. "Though I am hungry," she continued, "and your cooking would just about hit the spot right now."
The old youkai turned to the side slightly to allow an unobstructed view of the feast that smelled so good. "Then fall upon this like the ravenous beast we all know you must be," Tuck gestured grandly over the place setting.
"Ravenous, eh?" Aki smirked as she moved to the table. "Been reading the dictionary again, Tuck?" The cook just shrugged with an enigmatic smile. A not so mild growl cut into their bantering as Aki moved closer to the old youkai in order to sit down. "Yes, yes, I know you're here. Do stop growling, I'm trying to eat," she sighed without bothering to look in the direction the noise came from.
Tuck turned his attention to the taiyoukai for the first time and smirked madly at the look he was receiving. Aki caught his smirk and glanced in Sesshoumaru's direction and nearly burst out laughing. It was amazingly hilarious that one would be jealous of the other.
The former English tutor shook off her mirth and turned to seriously tend to her meal. "So, Tuck, tried out any new recipes?" she asked, making polite dinner conversation to subdue the tension in the air. Juno groaned and rolled her eyes while the old youkai thought of his response.
"I'm afraid there hasn't been anything new," he replied, with an amiable smile. "Nothing new has caught my interest." For Tuck's most notorious hobby was to try and invent or just make new dishes to test his skills. Some of his endeavors turned out rather well, while others…well, the shrimp and beetle ice cream flavor never did catch on. Loki's gang near loathed it when Tuck found something new to try as they often served as his taste testers. And Aki was terrible about helping the old youkai find new ideas, the ice cream fiasco started with her gift of an ice cream maker.
"Maybe I should find my mom's old recipe cards," Aki offered. "I dare say there might be something good in there for you to try." Juno groaned again as Aki smiled innocently enough.
"I swear Aki," the pregnant woman grumbled. "I'm not sure if you like any of us at all or if you're trying to kill us."
"If I wanted to kill you I wouldn't use Tuck's cooking. While his cooking forays aren't always palatable, they are always safe to eat," Aki shrugged. "And if I liked you, you wouldn't be alive to enjoy or hate Tuck's cooking one way or another."
Silence draped its uncomfortable weight around the room's occupants. Aki continued her meal, defiantly ignoring the various glares she was receiving from Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru and Juno.
The door to the club proper banged open to allow a brief flood of noise and five distinct sets of footsteps moved towards the secret dinner room. Aki recognized three of the sets and silently groaned as she bolted the last vestiges of food from her plate so fast Sesshoumaru couldn't contain his alarm.
She knew what was coming next. How could she not, when it happened every time she came home. Coming down that obscenely long hallway and staircase at a sickingly sedate pace was another one of Kaoru's would-be Match-made-in-Heaven guys.
No matter how much Aki protested the continued activities of the self-proclaimed Queen matchmaker, Kaoru would persist in her attempts to have Aki mated – whether she wanted to be or not. It was a foregone conclusion that this night would end early and unpleasantly. With Sesshoumaru also in the mix, the result was doubly certain.
Kaoru may ruin the rest of the night, but Aki was determined to keep the young entrepreneur from ruining her meal…even if she had to eat it too fast to taste. She managed to pull it off, barely.
"Why, hello everyone," Kaoru trilled with a fluorescent smile of anticipation. "Look who I just happened to bump into." Aki rolled her eyes as Loki winced at the incredibly obvious lie. "It's one of my old friends from business school."
"I thought you said everybody in business school hated your guts and purposely tried to sabotage your success," Juno puzzled aloud.
Kaoru shot the pregnant gang member a withering look, "We garnered some very pleasant memories there, don't you remember Cole?"
"Like the time they tried to dye your hair green," Juno cut in.
"Or the time they broke all your pens and dripped the ink all over your bed and the antique kimono your grandmother left you?" Tuck added, giving Juno a conspiratorial smirk. "Or the time they locked you in the basement of your dorm with two feral pit bulls that belonged to your academic advisor?"
"Or the time we tried to light your chair on fire at graduation?" the stranger Kaoru hadn't been trying to introduce joined in and received a scathing glare of his own from his friend.
"Shut up all of you!" Kaoru halted their banter. "Anyways, this is Cole Harper and his soon-to-be-dead friend, who is unimportant and shall remain nameless. He graduated top of his class, after me of course," the pink haired matchmaker added.
"Not interested," Aki stated firmly. "It's not you, it's me. I'm sure you know the rest of the speech. Lets leave it there and call it quits okay?"
Cole's friend laughed in an outrageously amused sort of way. This may well be the most interestingly quick date Kaoru had ever set Cole up for.
Kaoru was ready to spit nails. "AKI!" she shouted.
"KAORU!" Aki shouted back.
"You're being rude to my guest who – "
"Who you invited to try to set me up with despite the many times I've told you not to," Aki interrupted her would-be matchmaker. "Do you need me to tell you one more time to make it absolutely clear?"
"Aki calm down," Loki warned quietly, his alarm growing steadily as Aki's eyes flashed more green.
"Don't 'Aki calm down' me!" she grated. "I've had enough of the whole thing! Listen up!" She looked to the currently silent demon lord to include him in what she was about to impart, "I am not interested in a boyfriend, mate, lover, husband, significant other or life partner – "
"Nonsense"
"Now see here!"
"Of course you say that."
"What do you mean?" exploded from the room's many varied occupants plus a few more stunned responses that defy conventional spelling.
"SHUT UP!" Aki yelled over them all. "I wasn't finished!" the effort left her hands shaking. "I'm not interested, so stop trying to set me up for one." She sighed tiredly and did her best to keep her hands from betraying her current weakness. "Sorry Cole, I'm sure you're a great guy and all. I hope you find that great girl to match you." She made to slip out the door behind the group that had just come in from the dance floor.
"Aki, are you all right?" Loki asked her, stopping her with a hand on her shoulder.
"Why wouldn't I be, I haven't done anything," she answered cryptically.
"Aki you need a mate! It's absurd that you don't have one already!" Kaoru refused to admit defeat. Aki rolled her eyes, instantly angry again.
"Kaoru, drop it!" Loki ordered.
Of course wayward pink haired businesswomen never listen to orders, even when maybe they should. "Shut up, Loki. I wasn't talking to you," Kaoru growled at him.
Aki's eyes flashed again, that was it! Aki's mouth stretched into a villainous smile that promised mental anguish to whoever was her target. Loki's attempt to keep the peace was completely steamrolled over as Aki closed in for the attack. "Kaoru, don't continue with this botched idea of everybody mated equals everybody happy. It doesn't work. Some people have very good reasons not to want a partner in life. Some prefer the freedom. Some have issues with trust. Some deem themselves unworthy of such a commitment. But you and me…we've one of the same reasons," Kaoru blanched. "If you insist on continuing this annoying hobby of yours with me as the target I will be forced to share your secret with more than just this little room." Aki paused quietly, "After all, what good is a mate when you can't have children." And with that Aki brushed off Loki's hand and slipped out of the room.
Sesshoumaru stared after her, not quite sure what just happened. At first he'd been angry another male had been brought to Aki as a potential mate. Then he'd been smugly satisfied Aki had firmly brushed the other guy off.
After that it got kind of confusing.
He'd understood what was said and what it meant. He just didn't understand how a female so young could be sterile. True, youkai females weren't always fertile, but they were never completely barren until much later in life. What had happened to the world to cause such an aberration? It was confusing as hell, enough to give a person a headache just thinking of the possibilities…
But that wasn't all that confused him. Just before Aki had left, he'd smelled blood, her blood, though no one had done anything to cause a blood-wound and she hadn't done anything to herself while he was watching.
"Guess I'd better go…"Tuck began.
"Don't anybody think of following me home! I don't want to see any of you for the rest of the night!" Aki called from down the stairs.
The old youkai grimaced, "Maybe I can talk her into letting me give her a ride home."
Loki nodded, "keep a sharp eye on her, her eyes were flashing there for a minute and, though she tried to hide it, her hands were shaking."
Tuck shook his head, "She's more tired than we thought"
"She smelled of blood," Sesshoumaru spoke up, "find out why." He recognized that Tuck was the only chance of having that problem taken care of any time soon, despite how it grated on him.
Inuyasha nodded, "I smelled it too."
Tuck nodded before taking off after Aki.
"You know it wouldn't be so hard to look after her if she wasn't so determined not to let us," Juno mused.
"Why do you feel the need to look after her?" Kagome asked curiously. "She's always been able to take care of herself. And why does she look so different?"
"Aki needs to look as human as possible in the city, but she never had to practice holding her illusions for a long time when she was growing up like the rest of our people," Juno began. "So we had to modify a tool we use for children too young to be trusted to hold their own illusions for extended periods of time." Kagome blinked at her.
"She means the bracelets Aki was wearing," Loki explained. "They're holding Aki's illusion in place using her own energy. But the bracelets were meant for children who normally aren't as tired as Aki tends to be. Flares of strong emotion causes the bracelets to draw more energy from the wearer, energy Aki doesn't exactly have a great store of."
"But that's only part of the problem." Juno picked up the explanation. "You may have noticed some of the noxious pollutants in the air here. Many believe that the reason there doesn't seem to be any strong mikos or priests anymore is because their powers are directed more towards purifying the air they breathe."
"This means that Aki's miko powers are constantly at work, cleaning the air she breathes," Kaoru clarified and took over the conversation. "Her youkai blood does not react well to it, limiting the amount of time Aki can safely spend in the city."
"If that's the case, why would she come back here at all?" Inuyasha growled, not liking one bit that just the air here could harm Kagome and Aki.
Juno laughed at him, "You've obviously never really thought about the many meanings of home." The dog boy looked at her blankly. "Sometimes you just need something familiar, something you can depend on to stay the same."
"Think about it," Kaoru suggested. "Where do you go when not only your body hurts, but your mind and heart? Where do you put things you want kept safe? Most likely, some place you trust to stay the same, some place familiar and comforting."
"We're just lucky Aki doesn't feel desperate enough to go all the way home," Loki sighed.
"Where is home for Aki?" Sesshoumaru asked quietly.
Kaoru looked at Loki, "You're never going to explain this without a globe."
Loki shrugged, "You wouldn't happen to have one handy, would you?"
She rolled her eyes, "Follow me."
On the wall opposite the door was a small angled recess that Kaoru approached purposely. Kaoru tapped out a very distinct pattern on the surface and the thing moved to reveal a moderately furnished office.
"Hey, it's the globe we got you for graduation!" Cole exclaimed temporarily lifting himself from the realm of the forgotten.
Kaoru glared at him, "You mean the mini-bar that doesn't open?" He had the grace to blush at her accusing tone.
"This might actually do the trick," Loki spoke, examining the defective piece of office furniture. "Okay, this little string of specks is Japan and this," he turned the globe halfway "is the country of Aki's origin." Inuyasha's eyes bugged out, spatial recognition and comparisons had never been a skill he needed to develop to such a degree. Sesshoumaru on the other hand, was familiar with the usage of maps and was adequately horrified at the incredible distance indicated by the map's scale.
Add to that the much larger size of the country indicated and it would be like trying to find a single chopstick in an extremely large rice paddy. Best to not let Aki ever get that far ahead of him.
"Well, all boring topics of conversation aside," Cole's friend clapped his hands. "The night is young…and so are we. Fair maiden," he lightly grasped Kagome's arm, "there's a dance floor out there positively screaming for you to grace it."
Kagome laughed at his silly wording and manner. "Then lets go put it out of its misery," she said sportingly, cutting off Inuyasha's protest.
"After all, us poor slums not directly involved in the fiasco tonight should do our very best to not let it ruin our evening." He offered his other arm to Juno, "I hear your mate is already on the floor, come we shall bring you to him," he picked up a phony British accent just for fun.
"I would be ever so grateful," the pregnant woman played along and the three trooped out of the office trailing one irate hanyou.
"Well, this evening's appointment turned out to be a total waste. Kaoru," Cole began, "lets dance for old times sake despite the evenings unsatisfying conclusions."
"Pfft! Old time's sake?" Kaoru stomped her foot. "There's nothing worth that title. Come one Loki, lets show the stuff shirt you have to know how to move to stay on the floor of the Demon S."
"Stuff shirt?" Cole challenged. "I'll show you!"
Sesshoumaru was left alone in the office staring at the globe until his eyes unfocused in thought. Surely what Aki said wasn't her only reason for not accepting him back as her mate. He shook his head. No, Aki would have more than one reason for such behavior. Besides, how could she be absolutely certain of such a thing when she hadn't known until recently that she was youkai.
Would it make a difference either way? No, Sesshoumaru concluded. Aki was still Aki, still the one he wanted to claim. As to children, well mating contracts most often didn't last forever. He could have children of his own later. For now, he had Rin and Aki had Azusa. After all, there was more to being mates than just procreation, though that was its original purpose.