Chapter 4: Unexpected Guests

Taichi rubbed the towel over his unruly hair after leaving the shower. The bathroom itself was enormous, bigger than his entire bedroom when he lived with his parents. He wrapped the towel around himself as he idly inspected all the various perfumes, oils, bath salts, ointments, and other accoutrements that were laid out in an elaborate presentation on a series of mirrored platters that were lined up against a huge mirror along the back side of the vanity. The vanity top was made of granite, with two oval porcelain sinks. The sink knobs appeared to be gold plated, as were the other metal fixtures.

He chuckled to himself. Yeah, I could get used to living in a place like this. The honeymoon suite was rented over the long weekend, three nights. He decided to stay at least one night in case Inaba came back.

After all, she always did.

He knew his new wife very well. Eventually she would come back. She just needed some time alone.

Taichi knew it was possible that she went to stay at her father's house. But that was unlikely. Inaba was a fiercely independent woman, and he felt that she would never go crawling back to daddy like that. That was not her way. More likely she was sitting in a cafe somewhere brooding. She would then probably go to some other hotel and stay overnight. Eventually she would call his cell, then cuss him out as he moved the earpiece away from his ear. After the cussing stopped he would apologize of course. Then he would try to calm her down. Eventually she would break down.

And then, and only then, would he offer to come for her, to rescue her. She would tell him where she was and then simply hang up on him. Then he would go find her and hold her tightly in his arms as he dried her tears. He would then take her home as she apologized over and over. And then once there, sometimes, she would push him to the floor.

It was a pattern that had happened many times before.

Previously he had given the hotel doorman the funds to pay for Aoki's taxi. It was possible that Inaba might call or return to the hotel tonight, but he thought it highly unlikely. This was a bad episode. She would not call him again tonight. Tomorrow, perhaps. Or the next. After all, they had the suite rented for three nights.

He sighed, then he then decided he might as well take advantage of the enormous suite so he had stepped in the shower.

As he was drying himself off, he heard a knock on the door of the suite. Hmm, Aoki got here faster than I expected. Oh well, I better let him in before he catches pneumonia.

He tightened the towel around his waist, then opened the door.

It was not the person whom he expected.

It was not Aoki.

It was not Inaba.

It was his younger sister, Rina.

She proceeded to grapple the nearly naked man. "Onii-chan!"

Back when Taichi and Inaba were in high school, Rina was a very precocious fifth grader, seemingly wise far beyond her years. She seemed to have an innate understanding of boy-girl relationships, and she often tried to give him dating advice. She even claimed to have been dating a boy herself who was in middle school, much to Taichi's shock.

Rina was always very close to her onii-chan. Perhaps too close. He remembered how jealous she had acted when he and Inaba started dating, as if Inaba and Rina were somehow in direct competition for Taichi's affections.

His sister beamed at him. "Onii-chan! I came as soon as I heard. You poor, poor baby! I'm here now. Everything will be okay, everything will be fine." She patted his back like a child.

The poor man floundered around in surprise, trying to pull his wayward sister out of the hallway and out of public view, all while trying desperately to keep his loosened bath towel from falling down around his ankles.

"Oof, Rina, let go. Ow! Those fingernails are sharp!"

"You poor baby!"

"Rina, just stop it!"

Rina was no longer a petite and precocious fifth grader. She was now a rather tall and precocious tenth grader, a sophomore at Yamaboshi Academy. In appearance she was practically the gender opposite clone of her older brother: She had the same unruly brown hair, the same height, and the same brown eyes. She was quite popular at school, the center of her social circle, and the last Taichi had heard she was dating a college student.

He gently pulled his sister off of him. "How did you know about our fight? And how did you get here?"

She looked at him dolefully like a teacher answering a question from a befuddled student. "Quite simple. I looked out my bedroom window and saw your new wife running down our street in a torn wedding dress. Then I asked Mom where you two were staying, then I jumped on a bus to see you."

"Wait, her dress was torn?"

"Yeah. Someone ripped her dress really bad, right on the hem. You can see her underslip and everything." She tsk-tsked. "Onii-chan, did you do that? Have you been a naughty brother?"

"What? No!" He began to get concerned. "Is she okay? Do you know where she was headed?"

"Well, she was running in the direction of that house at the end of the street, the one with the big gate where her father lives."

Taichi was now worried. That wasn't like Inaba. Something had obviously happened. Maybe this episode was worse than he realized. He thought perhaps he should call her father to make sure she was all right.

He thought some more, then he decided against it. If she is staying overnight with her father then he knew that she was being well protected and well taken care of, whatever had happened. And Taichi knew he wasn't in a good position to explain things to her father. Not yet, anyway. The man was clearly embarrassed about what happened during the wedding ceremony. It was probably best if Inaba explained everything to her father herself. Yes, that would be best. He decided not to call until tomorrow.

Taichi quickly and discreetly put on one of the hotel's bathrobes that was hanging in the closet. It was made of blue silk. Meanwhile Rina was exploring the suite. Her eyes goggled at the nuptial bed with the rose petals on it. She sat and bounced on the enormous bed. "Onii-chan, this bed is amazing! I've never seen one so big!" She flopped on her back. "This is wonderful!" Then she spread eagle on the bed, arms and legs extended. "And these sheets are so soft! You have to lie down and feel this! C'mon! Try it!"

He crossed his arms. "No."

"Aw, c'mon!"

Then there was another knock on the door. Aoki, finally. Thank you for rescuing me.

He quickly answered the door. As expected it was Aoki. He was wearing a wan smile, his shirt and blue-jeans soaked. "Hey, bro."

Taichi waved him inside. "C'mon in. There are lots of towels in the bathroom."

"Thanks, dude." He was a bit startled to see Rina spread-eagled on the honeymoon bed. He looked at Taichi, who just gave him a helpless shrug. Aoki decided he was better off not knowing.

Rina looked up, "Hey, this is a private suite! Newlyweds only!"

Taichi did a facepalm. Then he closed the door. "Relax, it's okay. I invited him up. He just got out of prison."

"Wow, really? You invited a prisoner up here to spend the night with you? Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't know." She got up.

"Know what?"

She was looking embarrassed. "So that's why she ran out.. I'm sorry to butt in."

"Huh?"

"I didn't know you swung yaoi. It's okay. I'm leaving."

He glared at his annoying sister. "Hey! I don't!"

She touched his cheek lovingly. "That's all right, big brother. I'll leave you two alone. I won't say anything."

Taichi was getting agitated. "There's nothing to 'say'!"

"Of course, dear brother. I'm outta here. Sealed lips. Bye!" She left.

Aoki had turned around near the bathroom and was watching the exchange, looking rather dumbfounded.

"Dude, your sister is weird."

Taichi did an eyeroll. "Tell me about it."

Inaba stood in the awning and stared at her tormentor. Heartseed was patiently waiting at the gate. He was holding an umbrella.

Inaba turned away from Heartseed's dead face. Her mind raced. What should she do? Then the front door opened again. A hand motioned Inaba to come inside.

Oh thank heavens, Iori saw him too. Maybe she'll understand now. She is in just as much danger as I am.

She came inside and removed her white wedding slippers in the foyer. Her hostess finally spoke. "Are you okay? I just noticed that your dress is torn. Were you attacked?"

She sighed. "No, I wasn't. It was an accident. Iori, I am so sorry to impose on you like this. It's Heartseed again. He went and wrecked my wedding ceremony. He's been stalking me ever since."

"Heartseed?"

"Yeah, he's back. Look, I need to get away from him for a little while. Can you hide me? I know this is a terrible imposition, especially after what happened between us. If you want to kick me out right now I'll understand."

"No.. it's fine. Go and change in the bathroom." She pointed. "There are some towels in there. I'll see if I can find you a change of clothes to wear."

"Oh, Iori, thank you so much. I'll.. I'll repay you for this, I promise."

"Inaba, just go and get changed before you catch cold."

And so she did.

Inaba saw that Iori was sitting on the couch waiting for her. Inaba was now wearing a simple dress much like her hostess. There was a tray with hot black tea on the table along with some crackers, cheeses, and cold lunchmeats. "I know this isn't much, but I assume you must be hungry."

"Oh, I'm starving, thank you!" Inaba proceeded to devour the snack tray. She cupped the warm tea in her chilled hands to warm them, then drank deeply. "Iori, you're a lifesaver."

After she was finished with her impromptu meal there was a another silence. Inaba looked at the poor girl. Apparently Iori was still keeping her emotional distance from her. Inaba understood perfectly.

Inaba had never realized who Iori really was until she had her big emotional breakdown back in high school. It had happened shortly after Taichi had confessed his love to the pixie-faced girl. He was shocked when she then rejected him. The rest of the clique were also stunned by her rejection, as Taichi should have been the kind of boy that any girl would want: kind, caring, protective, loving. Inaba had jokingly called him 'Mr. Goody Goody Perfect'. So why did Iori reject him?

Only later did they realize that Iori had refused him because she knew that she was not the person that Taichi thought he had fallen in love with. She had presented to him a false front, a facade, a cheery and happy-go-lucky exterior that Iori had shown to all her friends. She had molded her personality to fit in whatever situation she was in: cheery with friends, respectful with persons of authority, and obedient and subservient with her step-father. But they weren't her. None of them were.

Her multiple personas had begun to develop when she was young, when her mother started her serial relationships with five different men. The second man was particularly violent and abusive, and the little girl quickly learned to bury herself behind a mask to protect both herself and her mother from her step-father.

Iori had no siblings. She was alone. She had to protect herself and her mother, so she compensated the only way she knew how.

Shortly before she rejected Taichi, Heartseed had begun another one of his awful tests. The phenomenon this time was the transmission of a person's innermost thoughts and emotions to the other members of the StuCS. He claimed it happened at random times, but it always seemed to hit whenever Iori was thinking of her own worst secret: her false and artificial exterior. And so her deepest secret was brutally exposed to the rest of the club members. She was revealed as a gloomy fraud who merely conformed to everyone else's expectations.

Iori's deepest fear was that she had no real core personality, that behind all of her many masks was.. nothing. And when this, her greatest fear, was exposed to the others she became horrified and fled. Only after a series of incidents, including the kidnapping of Inaba and a violent attack on Taichi, both of which she blamed on herself, did her friends confront her about it. They told her that it didn't matter who the 'real' Iori was. They loved her regardless. Taichi then re-confessed his feelings to the real Iori, and they agreed to start over from scratch.

Meanwhile Inaba realized she had to make her own feelings known. So while Taichi had lain injured in the infirmary bed after the attack, she blurted out her own feelings to him, yelling 'I love you! I love you!' over and over. Then she gasped and put her hands to her face in embarrassment. It wasn't calculated or intentional. It just happened. Taichi already knew her love was real, and that Inaba had tried to hide it many times during the various tests. And so right then and there he made his choice: He chose Inaba. She stared at him for a moment, then she jumped and yelled like a banshee. And thenceforth she and Taichi were an official couple.

And the lonely pixie girl was left behind.

Inaba was getting nervous. She continued to try to make conversation while her hostess continued to watch her impassively.

"I must say, Iori, you are looking very nice. These past four years you've really matured. You're really quite pretty. Do you have a boyfriend now?"

"No."

"Oh, well, their loss then, ha ha." Her laugh was forced. Inaba was grasping at straws trying to keep the conversation moving. Why wasn't Iori saying anything?

Aoki and Taichi were downing some beers while watching the big game on the huge flat-panel TV.

Aoki belched a huge beer-burp. Then he said, "Man, this is the life."

Taichi chuckled, "Yeah." They watched the game some more.

During the break they saw a TV commercial for WrestleMania XVII. Taichi got excited, "I can't wait for that match. The Undertaker is going to kick John Cena's ass!" Aoki remembered that Taichi was a nut about pro wrestling.

Aoki gave him a sideways glance, "You do know that all that wrestling stuff on TV is fake, right?"

Taichi gave him a frown, "Ouch, that's harsh. There you go bursting my bubble. Next you'll be telling me there's no such thing as Santa Claus." He chuckled again, "Okay, so maybe it's choreographed. But those guys are real athletes doing real wrestling moves, the jobbers especially."

"The jobbers?"

"The jobbers are the guys who take a beating to make the star wrestlers look good."

"So you admire the guys who take a beating..."

"Oh definitely. The jobbers actually have the harder role. You gotta be really tough to be a jobber. I really respect those guys. Sometimes the star makes a mistake and the jobber really gets hit, but usually it's carefully choreographed with lots of practice. And then when you watch it, it's almost like a ballet."

"Hey, whatever floats your boat. It's cool with me."

Another TV commercial started. Taichi asked, "So, how was prison?"

"Eh. I survived."

Taichi knew that prison life in Japan was strict and regimented. It was nothing like prisons in the West.

Taichi put down his drink. "Look, We all know it wasn't your fault. It was Heartseed."

Aoki pretended to look at the TV commercial. He was thinking about what happened. Then he sat back and drew his beer slowly. "Yeah..." Even my best friend doesn't believe me.

Taichi kept talking. "Man, I can't believe he did that to you. Originally I thought he was just trying to help us unload our emotional baggage and bond with each other, you know, to become better persons. But he really set you up."

As a spectator Taichi had watched the evidence that was presented at Aoki's trial: The hairs of his forearm found embedded in her skull, the blood that matched hers, all of the forensics that pointed straight at him. It was a slam-dunk case.

Taichi shook his head. "And then just after the attack he released your mind so you can call the police on yourself. What a bastard."

Aoki kept pretending to watch the TV. He reflected on what happened.

What really happened.

Yui, I'm so sorry.

Inaba kept babbling, trying to make conversation. Iori's reticence was really starting to bother her.

Then it suddenly hit her.

"Wait.. you called me 'Inaba'."

"Yes, I did."

"Not 'Inaban', or 'Dereban'.*"

"No, I did not."

Inaba stopped and stared. Her eyes grew wide as saucers at the dawning realization.

"You.."

Her hostess put down her teacup.

"Iori does not live here anymore."

She smiled complacently at her guest.

"I am her mother."

Inaba's teacup fell with a crash on the floor.

A/N:

* Iori had always called Inaba 'Inaban'. Later she added the nickname 'Dereban' in the Light Novel (she used 'Sukiban' in the anime). In this story I have her using Dereban, not Sukiban, because it fits the story better. This is because 'dere' means 'cute', and it makes sense for Iori to tease Inaba like that. And the LNs being the original source material make it canonical. (Suki has multiple meanings that don't fit nearly as well.)