ShugoTenshi

by Joflower

(Guardian Angel) "What can I say, Shigure? That when she was born, those of us that knew about her knew that she was not a normal child? And how can she be normal? She's the daughter of God for heaven's sake!" Their freedom: It was in her hands. How far must the Child of God go to break their chains when her destiny was to renew their bonds? (AU, extended summary inside)

4. There was a Great Deal of Fuss

Chapter 3

taizanmeidoushitenezumiippiki
(There was a great deal of fuss)

Akiten woke up the next morning with yellow sunlight pouring forth from her window. A beautiful spring day had blessed Japan as the perfect time for the Sakura festival. Covering her eyes, she shrieked as though she was going permanently blind. Shigure, who had fallen asleep at the side of her bed, jumped up with a snort, yelling, "Where's the dinosaur bone?"

Shigure's eyes darted around the room in puzzlement, and sighed when he realized that the big dinosaur bone had merely been a dream. "Mou, it's not fair…" he whined under his breath, standing up from his kneeling position at the side of the pink bed. He stretched, hearing his stiff joints crack, and yawned sleepily. "I should have become a paleontologist…"

"It's so bright!" Shigure heard Akiten's muffled voice. He turned and looked down at the old fluffy bed with his head tilted to the side. Akiten was buried beneath her thick covers to escape from the bright morning light. He suppressed a laugh behind his hand. He had never met someone who was afraid of sunlight. It was rather quite amusing.

"Are you laughing at me?" inquired Akiten, sitting up on her bed with the covers still over her head.

He started to laugh harder as a dirty image fluttered in and tugged at the corners of his perverted mind. The Scorpio's mind is a filthy thing.

Akiten threw off her covers and glared at Shigure with her large grey eyes. "You are laughing at me!" she accused.

Shigure stopped laughing and they stared (Akiten glared) at each other without moving. Shigure saw Akiten's left eye twitch. Her lips began to waver as she tried to keep control of her glare. Within moments, Akiten's eyes were watering. "KYAAA!" she screeched, hiding under her blankets again. "IT'S SO BRIGHT!"

Shigure's eyes watered. He covered his mouth with his hands, but it was too late. He snorted loudly before bursting into fits of laughter.

"This isn't funny!" Akiten shouted both irritably and embarrassedly.

This is too funny! Shigure thought devilishly, continuing to snort and snicker as he hurried out of the room. He shut her door behind him, laughing at the top of his lungs.

If Shigure had any decency left in him, he would stop laughing and try to think of something that would bring Akiten out from under the covers. However, Shigure wasn't decent, and although he was fully 37 years old, he was still a teenager with raging hormones at heart. When his guffawing subsided to giddy girly giggles, he couldn't help but utter in a tiny voice through his peals of laughter, "Penis! Penis!" which was the haunting image that penetrated his perverted mind.

Akiten could hear Shigure doing something outside her door, but she couldn't tell what. Suddenly her answer came out of nowhere when he shouted, "P-PENIS!" through gut busting fits of laughter.

Akiten sweat-dropped. What are we, in junior high now? She sighed heavily, rolling her eyes. And this guy's my father? Go figure.

"PENIS!"

"YOU'RE A PENIS!"

Akiten groaned and flopped down on her bed with the comforter still over her head.

As the sounds of Shigure disappeared and the house grew quiet again, she heard the soft mewing of a cat outside. The cat seemed to call out to her as if whispering her name in her ear. She instantly flung the blanket off her head, hissing from the intensity of the bright light, and stood on top of her bed to look out her bedroom window. She shielded her eyes from the sun's glare, squinting at the ground meters below her. She couldn't see anything but white at first because the light was so bright, but gradually she thought she saw something small with a tinge of orange moving around through the blinding whiteness. She caught the cat's eyes, which were clear and in focus compared to everything else, and stared in them for several seconds. He meowed up at her briefly, causing her to break eye contact, before taking off somewhere. Akiten searched for him around the side of the building with her light-distorted eyes, but he was gone.

That was weird, she thought. She didn't understand why his eyes would be in focus while everything else was blurry. Why did she suddenly feel calmer now than before? It was like… he spoke to her, somehow managed to communicate with her. She couldn't understand it. She rubbed her eyes when she heard Shigure gasp from the doorway. Akiten turned away from the window, blinking rapidly at her father. Damn light… why does it have to be so bright? But it wasn't as bad now, somehow. Could her eyes have adjusted to the light a little bit?

"You've come out of hiding from the dark side!" Shigure exclaimed proudly.

Akiten's eyes were tearing up. "What? God, it's so bright…" Somehow, it was a little more bearable than before… (but just a little).

Gleefully, Shigure extended his hands and shook her right one roughly. "I'm so proud of you!" he pumped with a big goofy grin on his face. "How about we go out for breakfast?"

"Out? Breakfast?"

"But first, we must look after this hair! It's a mess!"

He pushed her down to sit on the edge of her bed before hurrying out of the room and returning with a comb in his hand. He sat down next to her, happy and eager to be doing something remotely fatherly. Akiten sat still, not comprehending what Shigure was doing as she was too busy rubbing her eyes and murmuring, "I'm blind! I'm blind! I can't see!" Shigure put the comb in her hair at the top of her head and combed down; or rather, pulled down as it was immediately caught on a knot.

"OOOOWWWWWWWWWWWW!" Akiten yelled. She pushed him away, which only resulting in more pulling. "OW! OW! OW! OOWWWWWW!" She slapped Shigure's hand away from her head (the comb stayed stuck in her hair, pocking out a bit among the knots) and shouted, "NANI YO? WHAT THE HECK DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?"

Shigure, with waterfalls streaming down his cheeks, whimpered, "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm just trying to help! Don't hurt me!"

"It feels like you're trying to rip out my hair!" she shouted.

Akiten ran away from her father (metaphorically speaking, as she was still sitting on the edge of her bed) and dove beneath the covers with the comb permanently stuck in her hair. Shigure heard a content sigh from in the bed and scratched his chin in deep thought. Her hair might need more help than he thought. There was only one thing to do.

X

Shigure was in his study looking for his sleeping eye mask ("A writer's best friend if you ask me!" Shigure had told his younger cousins a long time ago) when he heard the click of the front door opening and his guest letting himself in. Running footsteps bellowed down the hallway toward him. Shigure closed the drawer he was looking through with his prize and walked quickly to the door of his study.

His guest spotted him and ran toward him with his hand outstretched for Shigure's. "GURE-SAN!" greeted his magnificent, white haired friend in his confident projective voice.

Shigure smiled brightly, "Hey Aaya. It's good to see you. Would you mind-"

"WHERE IS SHE? WHERE IS SHE GURE-NI?" Shigure's eccentric friend interrupted.

"-taking your shoes off?"

Sohma Ayame looked down at his feet and laughed loudly. "Of course! Of course! I was just so excited to see you and your new 'guest'!" Ayame winked at Shigure before returning to the entryway with a "HA HA HA HA!" and taking his shoes off.

Shigure and Ayame had been friends for as long as they could remember. They went to school together with Hatori and shared their 'erotic' fantasies with each other. Well, at least Shigure and Ayame did. Despite the fact that Ayame was the same age as Shigure and Hatori, Ayame looked 10 years younger than them. Hatori was already starting to get a few grey hairs due to the level of stress that came with his work, and Shigure's back wasn't as good as it use to be and his wrists developed Carpel Tunnel Syndrome roughly 7 years ago. Although Ayame still looked like he was in his late twenties, his wrists developed problems of their own from his carefully hand-stitched patterns and designs.

Ayame returned as soon as his shoes were off and he tapped his index fingers together impatiently. "Well, where is she, Gure-ni?" he asked eagerly. "When you told me you had a 'special guest' in your house, I hurried over as quickly as I could!"

"Did you bring your cosmetic case and hairstylist bag?" Shigure asked as he led Ayame up the stairs to the second floor.

"But of course, Gure-san!" exclaimed Ayame with a flourish of his hand. "You know I'd do anything to help make our little princess feel right at home! I just wish the prince could be here also!"

"Aaya-"

"But alas, he is studying in Europe! But I hear he is going to try and make it for Akito-san's funeral tomorrow!"

"Aaya-"

"Gure-san, I know how you must feel about Akito-san's passing! It's such a tragic thing to happen to us Juunishi!"

"Aaya-"

"But we all knew that she was going to leave us soon! If you ever need me for anything, Gure-ni, just call me! You know I'm more than happy to come and visit you!"

Akiten could hear them approaching her bedroom. Who couldn't with all the noise they were making? She wondered who the loud mouth was. Taking a deep breath, she pulled the covers off her head and sat up on her bed. Squinting in the bright light, she watched the door as it swung open with a shriek.

Ayame took one look at Akiten sitting on Honda Tohru's bed, screamed and pulled the door shut with a sharp snap.

Akiten sweat-dropped and hid back under the covers again. Baka…

Shigure was not the least bit surprised by Ayame's horrified high-pitched screech because when he did see Akiten sitting up on Tohru's bed, she looked horrifically like that little girl from the movie "Ringu" (not to mention a reincarnation of Akito). He tried to talk to his friend, "Aaya-"

Instead of listening, Ayame grabbed Shigure into the bedroom across the hall and slammed the door shut behind him. He turned on Shigure, hissing in a whisper, "WHAT, in the name of AKITO, was THAT sitting on Tohru-kun's bed? That was not Princess Tohru-kun!"

Shigure, trying to calm him down, said, "Aaya-" and got cut off again by his white haired friend.

"I know! If we can get Prince Charming to come and kiss her, he'll break the spell and the demon will be vanquished! Tohru-kun will be saved!"

Shigure covered Ayame's mouth before the hyperactive, over-dramatic snake could make a further fool of himself. He shook his head disapprovingly, "Aaya, you misunderstood me. Now let me explain."

"So, Tohru-kun didn't come home?"

Shigure shook his head, "No. I haven't seen her since she left us in high school. You know that."

Ayame nodded sadly at the thought that no one still knew where Honda Tohru was. He, like many others in the Sohma family, missed her cheerful presence in their solemn, cursed lives. She was the only normal person to understand them and accept them for who they were (granted Akito's permission to not dismiss her like she had with previous normal people that uncovered their curse). They owed a great deal to her, and because of her sudden disappearance, they were unable to show her their gratitude.

Ayame, now accepting that Tohru was still "lost", asked in confusion, "Then, who was that in her room?"

Shigure scratched the back of his head, trying to think of the best way to tell his friend. Although Ayame knew that Akito was really a woman, Shigure never told his friend everything that had happened when he was alone with Akito. "Well, her name is Akiten, and… well, she's Akito's daughter."

Ayame stared at Shigure with round eyes. "A-Akito's daughter? I didn't know she was capable of even having children!" he remarked.

"Yeah… I didn't know that either…"

"Does Tori-san know about her?" Ayame asked in a whisper, as though he was trying to hear the latest celebrity gossip.

Shigure nodded.

Ayame couldn't believe it. "She must be roughly ten years old. How did Akito manage to hide her for so long?"

"Well, actually, she's thirteen, and I have no clue either. All I know is that she's been in Ren's care for a long time, and obviously carries emotional and mental scars from living with her."

"Thirteen? Are you sure Gure-san? That would mean…" Ayame did the math in his head and his eyes widened. "Akito had to have been sixteen when she had her! That's so young! Who would get her pregnant at such a young age?"

Shigure was so embarrassed, he could no longer look at his long time friend with whom he had for all these years shared everything he did and everything he fantasized… well, almost everything. "Well, that would be, uh…"

"Gure-san, you didn't!" Ayame gasped when Shigure nodded self-consciously. "But… how?"

Shigure still couldn't look Ayame in the eyes, and found himself staring off into the dark room as he called forth the memory of his first time so very long ago.

…

Shigure gazed at the only bud on the sakura tree outside of Akito's house that was about to bloom. The trees were going to blossom early this year. Mesmerized by the simplicity of the bud's blossom, he picked it carefully off the tree. It reminded him of Akito's fragile youth blooming into a young woman. He walked up to the house and spotted her sitting on the edge of the porch, just looking around at the winter disappearing and the spring reappearing. She smiled when she saw him coming. She was in a good mood today, and that thought made Shigure all the happier to see her.

"Spring's coming early this year," he had said when he reached her and stood in front of her. "See?" He took her hand and gently placed the tiny flower in her palm.

She blushed, somewhat shy with him, "Thank you Shigure."

She stood up and told him that she would go put it in some water. Shigure followed her into the house, admiring the way she walked in her comfortable yukata. He noticed the shape of her tiny waist under her obi and the curves of her maturing hips. He swallowed, and tried to shoo the perverted messages being sent through his body.

"But she's… so beautiful…"

His eyes widened when he realized he had been thinking out loud and that she had heard him. His eyes met her surprised ones and they stared in silence at each other. Their cheeks glowed pink in the sunlit room, before she looked away, embarrassed.

"I… I'm not beautiful…"

"Don't say that!" he found himself saying. He stepped toward her and took her smooth, pale chin in his fingertips, tilting it up so that her eyes would look into his. "You are the most beautiful girl I have ever met."

Her rosy cheeks heightened a shade and he found the cherry redness of her lush lips so captivating he just had to touch them. Aching with desire, he briefly pressed his lips gently against hers before pulling her into a tight embrace in his arms. She stiffened in shock, breathing hard, but slowly relaxed into his hug. He inhaled her sweet, youthful fragrance, feeling all the more aroused by the rising and falling of her breasts against his chest as she breathed.

"I still stand by what I told you," Shigure whispered into Akito's ear. "My feelings will never change, my dear Akito; I will always love you."

…

"GURE-SAN! HOW COULD YOU? SHE WAS JUST A CHILD! OHHH! HOW COULD YOU DO SUCH A HORRIBLE THING?"

Shigure stood where he was, scratching the back of his head with a stupid grin on his face as if to say "heh, oops", while Ayame was running around in circles around him, yelling at the top of his lungs.

"I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU WOULD DO SUCH A THING! AND TO AKITO-SAN! OH, WAIT UNTIL YUKI-KUN FINDS OUT! OHHHH, HE'LL HAVE A FIT!"

Shigure tried to calm the snake down, feeling very awkward for once in his friend's presence. "Maa maa Aaya, you should calm down before you hurt yourself," he told Ayame. When Ayame didn't cease his humiliating tantrum, Shigure said the next best thing that would surely stop Ayame's hissy-fit, "You're getting too old to be running around recklessly like that."

Ayame paused in his tracks and gasped at Shigure with large golden-yellow eyes, "Are you calling me old, Gure-ni?"

Trying to avoid more complications in questioning Ayame's age ("I'm not old, Gure-san, you are! I'm never getting old! AH HA HA HA HA!"), Shigure instead tried to divert his attentions back on Akiten––who they should have been on in the first place. He put a reassuring hand on Ayame's shoulder and said, "Aaya, we haven't been very kind to Akiten-chan. So here's what we should do; we're going to go back into her room and greet Akiten-chan properly. No mischief or funny business, okay?"

Ayame brightened. "But of course Gure-san! I was just startled to see someone other than Tohru-kun that it was a shock to my system. You should be grateful that I didn't have a heart-attack!"

The two fully-grown men left their cluttered "hide-out from the Ringu Girl" and knocked on Akiten's door before stepping in. Ayame swung the door open forcefully and bound inside with his arms stretched out wide. "Good morning sunshine! We have a special treat for you! ME! HA HA HA HA!"

Akiten peeked out from beneath the covers with a sweat-drop. Dear God, the circus is back in town. She withdrew and burrowed deeper under the covers without a word spoken. As far as she was concerned, the circus wasn't welcome anywhere near her; she wasn't buying the clown's acts.

Ayame had seen her peek out from under her blanket and was further encouraged to meet her with this sign of curiosity. "Come on out sunshine and dazzle us with your stunning beauty!"

"I'd rather not…" Akiten muttered, wishing that they would just leave her alone in peace and quiet. The guy was hurting her ears with his boomingly loud, energetic voice.

Shigure could sense that Ayame was getting a little out of hand now. Akiten would not come out with Ayame's attitude the way it was. It needed to be turned down a notch. Shigure tried to reason with his hyperactive friend, "Aaya, don't be so demanding of her. She doesn't even know you after all."

"Well, she won't get to know me by hiding under her covers!" Ayame remarked indignantly.

Shigure sighed exasperatedly, "Just don't do something stu-"

Ayame whipped off the covers without so much as a warning. Blinded to the suddenly burst of light exposure, Akiten shrieked, catching Ayame off guard and causing him to jump and scream, "AHHH! IT'S SADA! SHE'S POSSESSED AKITEN-CHAN!"

(A/N: Sadako is the little girl from the original Japanese version of "The Ring", or "Ringu")

Before Ayame could turn tail and run out of the room, Shigure grabbed hold of the high collar of his dress (clothes). Legs reeling, Ayame squealed, "LET ME GO, GURE-NI! I REFUSE TO LET SADAKO GET ME!"

Shigure turned Ayame around and directed his eyes to Akiten all curled up in a ball on the bed, chanting, "It's so bright! It's so bright! I can't see! I'm blind!" Her hair was still all tangled around her in big black clumps. She looked more pathetic than anything remotely frightening from a horror film.

"If you weren't so impulsive, Aaya," Shigure informed the snake, "you'd see that Akiten just has a lot of black hair and eyes very sensitive to light. Now go introduce yourself to her."

Ayame, not the least bit apologetic by his actions, declared, "You're absolutely right Gure-san! All she needs is a good brushing and she'll be as beautiful as a flower! HA HA HA HA!"

Shigure, ignoring Ayame's impudence, walked to Akiten's bed and sat down on the edge. He pulled his sleeping eye mask from his yukata and placed it beside her head. She felt his serene movements and glanced at the mask beside her from under the blanket. "What's that?" she asked him, squinting at the mask.

"It's an eye mask to block out light," Shigure told her.

Upon hearing these words, she quickly snatched it and was about to pull it under the blanket, when Shigure grasped her pale hand and asked her to wait for a moment. Akiten looked up at him from the darkness beneath the covers. He beckoned her to come out, and after several attempts, she crawled out to meet Ayame. Shigure smiled at her, "Akiten-chan, I want you to meet my friend, Sohma Ayame. Aaya, this is my daughter, Akiten."

She looked at Ayame, who bowed elegantly. There was something… odd about him. Her eyes met his piercing gold ones and she suddenly understood. "You're the snake of the Juunishi," she stated, surprised that this white-hair hooligan was one of the few "precious" people in her mother's life.

Ayame winked (which she didn't catch because her eyes were beginning to tear up again). "Oh, I see someone's been talking about me!" he grinned at Shigure before laughing once again (just to hear himself laugh).

Shigure didn't return the grin. He never told Akiten anything about Ayame; he didn't even mention him to her. Did she overhear him say something about his Zodiac in the hallway? He didn't think so, but he couldn't understand how she knew that Ayame was the snake. Only the other members of the Juunishi and Tohru knew about their animals. How could this child know right away that he was indeed the snake?

While Shigure regarded her in confusion, Akiten covered her eyes with the mask and sighed satisfactorily.

Ayame, suddenly appearing quite taken by Akiten, stepped toward her, his eyes sparkling as if he had discovered a jewel among rocks. He reached down to stroke her hair… scratch that. He reached down and touched her hair, and pulled on the entrapped hair comb from earlier that morning.

"OWWW!" she howled, slapping his hand away. "Why must everyone try to touch me?"

Bugged eyed, Ayame turned to Shigure and demanded him in disgusted voice, "Gure-san! There's a comb stuck in her hair!"

"I know Aaya, that's why I called you over," Shigure said, forcing his uncertain and disturbing thoughts about the mystery that was Akiten into a corner of his mind. "Her hair is so tangled, she needs professional help and you have the most careful and skilled hands when it comes to knots and threads. I knew you would be the best candidate to restore her hair into silky-smooth locks instead of knots."

Aaya shook his head, examining her hair more closely. "There's not much I can do with a jungle of tangles as bad as this."

Shigure frowned, "Are you proposing we do as I feared?"

"We may have to, Gure-ni."

"Do what?" Akiten asked in bewilderment. She couldn't see the faces of the two men hovering over her, but their voices proved that whatever they were discussing couldn't be good. "What are you going to do?"

"My dear," Ayame said kindly, "we are simply going to transform your hair and give it a whole new look! When I am done with it, it will shine like never before! In sunlight or moonlight, your hair will radiate its awesome beauty to all!"

"Oh, moonlight! How romantic!" Shigure squealed eagerly.

Ayame got that look in his eyes that Shigure missed since the last time he saw him. "Are you asking me to spend the night with you, Gure-san?"

Shigure touched the spot above his heart with his hand tenderly. "I would be honoured to have your presence in my room tonight, Aaya."

"Yosh!" the two men both exclaimed together with a thumbs up.

…nani yo? Akiten sat between them, wondering, What the heck are they talking about?

"So, let's get started!" Ayame shouted enthusiastically, clapping his hands together. "Gure-san, I'll need you to fetch me a chair or a tall stool, something for her to sit on, while I get my hair stylist bag!"

"Do you have everything you need in there? Do you want me to grab any of my brushes or combs?"

"No, no, no, we should be fine with what I have. We wouldn't want to lose any more of your combs in her hair."

"Okay," Shigure replied. He turned to Akiten and asked her to stay put, and that he would be right back, before he hurried off in search of something for her to sit on.

Where do you expect me to go? The convenient store because it's convenient? She sighed listlessly, sitting like a bump on a log on her bed. She really did like the eye mask though. It was soft and kept her frazzled hair from getting in her eyes, and best of all, it completely blocked out all light. She could feel the warmth of the sunlight shining in through her window on her exposed skin, radiating heat throughout her body without the harshness of the sun burning her retinas. She smiled to herself, feeling comfortable in her surroundings without fear of anyone or anything doing something bad to her.

Her peaceful silence was short lived when Shigure returned with a tall wooden stool and assisted her in sitting on top of it with her mask still over her eyes (not an easy thing for her to do considering she had no clue what a stool looked like). Ayame soon returned with his over-sized purse, fully equipped with nezumi key chains dangling from the zippers and embroidered pictures of the same mouse with a piece of cheese in its paws (not that Akiten could see these little add ons, but she did get a good look at them later that day). Ayame set his bag down on her bed and began unpacking all of its contents. It looked like it carried an entire hair studio judging from the number of items he was pulling out: two bottles of hair spray (one was backup), a pair of scissors, three combs, two brushes, a case of 50 hair pins, ten hair rollers, a bottle of hair gel, a mini curling iron, a hand-sized blow-dryer and a couple other bottles of "mystery" spray that Ayame concocted with his own special ingredients to make his hair as soft, sleek and shiny as it can be.

"Wow Aaya, how did you manage to fit everything in there?"

Ayame winked at Shigure deviously, "Skill my delightful inu, skill. AH HA HA HA!"

Akiten felt the hebi's smooth hands touch her head. He asked Shigure to pass him the purple bottle on the bed. He sprayed some of its contents onto the top of her hair, massaging her scalp gently and explaining to Shigure and Akiten what it was. "This is one of my pro-vitamin hair sprays used to get tangles and knots out of hair! Pass me my comb please, Gure-san!" Shigure did as he asked and Ayame began to carefully comb some of the knots out of her hair on the top of Akiten's head. He managed to dig out Shigure's old comb that got lost earlier and managed to smooth out most of the big knots. He tried to tackle the excess hair below her shoulders, but seeing as he ended up ripping most of it out from a screaming Akiten, he resorted to cutting off most of her hair. At first, she refused to let him get near her with scissors, but after a lot of pulling and ripping of her long, matted hair, she finally gave in, seeing as there was no escape from their determination to restore her youthful, beautiful hair. When he finished, her hair that was almost as long as she was tall was now chin-length and layered because the knots had been so bad. He wanted to give her bangs ("You'll look so cute with bangs!") but she refused ("How am I going to protect my eyes from the light?"). Once finished, her hair was tangle free and shiny, but greasy from the amount of hairspray from the purple bottle. She looked a lot better, very cute once you got past the oiliness of her hair.

Ayame stood back, admiring his work, "I never cease to amaze myself! AH HA HA HA!"

"Aaya, you're a miracle worker!" Shigure declared with a broad smile across his face.

"It was tough work, Gure-san, but we got through the mess that was the worst of it. Now, all she needs is a bath to clean out the oils," Ayame said, holding up a mirror so she could see herself when she took her eye mask off.

Shigure nodded, noting the dirty shine radiating off her greasy hair. "She does look cute with short hair," he smiled broadly.

Akiten stared at her reflection. She hated it. She looked too much like her mother... A small crack appeared in the corner of the mirror. She lowered her head so that her hair would fall in her face and hide her bottled up emotions. Shigure and Ayame thought she was blushing, so they continued to praise her, finding her "humiliation" somewhat amusing.

"Now that she's a vibrant flower among thorn bushes," Ayame exclaimed proudly, "she needs a cute nickname to suit her cute hairdo!"

Shigure batted his hand playfully at the snake, "Oh, Aaya, don't give her something embarrassing!"

"What?" replied Ayame, offended. "I do not give embarrassing nicknames! You have me all wrong Gure-ni!"

Akiten was silently fuming over her hair, but upon hearing that Ayame was going to give her a nickname, her anger turned to that of despair. How much longer must they mortify her? She just wanted to be left alone. She had no place among people, this she knew from deep within her heart. She'd been locked away, hidden from everyone for a reason—she was a nothing, a no one, and as such, she should be shunned, not praised. Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard Ayame announce:

"From this day forward, you shall now be called 'Aki-chuu'! AH HA HA HA HA!"

Akiten sweat-dropped distastefully as she watched him make a bigger fool of himself. Aki… chuu? As in-

"And now a kiss for the newly crowned princess! Chuu chuu!" he declared, bending down and kissing her cheek quickly.

Her eyes widened and she felt her cheeks grow hot as she stared up at Ayame. Did he…

HE DID!

Horrified, she just sat there, frozen in place with her large grey eyes staring at him (or rather, through him—she was too lost to focus on him). Ayame just laughed, saying, "She's so stunned by my beauty that she can't show her gratitude! HA HA HA HA!"

"Oh Aaya, you're such a joker," Shigure beamed at his friend.

Ayame straightened up and turned serious now, pointing a finger at Shigure. "You must give her a bath now, Gure-san. I won't stand to have her sitting there like a statue when she could be beautifying herself!"

He handed Shigure a bottle of his best shampoo and conditioner and began to collect the worst of the hair on the floor. He would get a broom and sweep up the smaller bits once he was finished picking up the big clumps.

As Ayame began to tidy up his mess, Shigure had found the sunglasses Hatori had given Akiten before she left his house, and put them on her face. Waking up from her distorted daze, she let him lead her to the bathroom down the hallway that was now her own private bathroom, just like it had been Tohru's when she lived there. He showed her how to run the taps and plug because sometimes the plug would stick. Tohru freaked out the first time it stuck on her, thinking she broke it because Shigure forgot to warn her ahead of time. He didn't forget this time though, and Akiten was grateful for his assistance. Once he left, Akiten looked at the tub filling up with water and then at the two bottles of shampoo and conditioner Ayame had given her.

I hope this stuff doesn't sting my eyes…

She had only recently begun having baths regularly since Hatori started living in the main house. When she was living with Mistress, her baths were more like showers with a hose on hot days and a bucket full of lukewarm water dumped over her head in the tub when it was cold outside.

She took her clothes off, which comprised of a simple, patched, stained and ripped grey dress that she had been wearing for the past five years. She had a few clothes that Hatori had bought for her, but she hardly ever wore them, treating them like gold because they were the first gifts she had ever been given to her. Akiten carefully stepped into the warm-lukewarm water, and began to wash her hair

It felt like it was all gone. She scrubbed her scalp furiously, silently asking herself, Where's my hair? Where did it go? Did he really cut off that much?

When she was finished, she looked at herself in the mirror and gasped. Her hair really was gone. She slowly allowed herself to slide to the tile floor with her hands in her face. What was happening to her all of a sudden? Why were things changing so quickly? Just a few moments ago, she had such long, long hair… and now… it was so short.

How could I let him cut it all off? How am I supposed to hide now? She began to sob quietly. I can't hide any more! Her tear filled eyes widened. Not only that, but he kissed me too!

She rubbed her arms, feeling even dirtier than before she bathed.