Disclaimer: I don't own Yugioh, Rurouni Kenshin, Yu-Yu Hakusho, Hikaru no Go, Stargate SG1 or Slayers.
The Slayers characters mentioned here are the au versions of my buddy JRhaye from her story called: Life and Lemonade. My version of Shuura the pirate girl from Kenshin recently did a brief guest spot on her latest chapter and so now she will give the report to her boss Aoshi. However this chapter is not an integral piece of the story so if you wish to skip it you will miss nothing more than an opportunity to embarrass Seto!
Jrhaye'sstories can be found in my favorites under my profile. Check them out if you can!
To be the Strongest
Intermission I: Snow day! The guys take a short break to talk to Shuura…
"Hey Guys! How's it hangin'!" Shuura greeted cheerfully. Seto looked up at Shuura; his eyes went wide and he jumped nearly ten feet in the air! Aoshi rolled his eyes. It was no surprise that Shuura caused Seto alarm. She had a way with people sometimes…
"Hello Shuura," Aoshi greeted calmly as Shuura slapped him on the back affectionately. Hiei smiled and got up to hug the youngest Kamiya sister. Shuura stepped over Aoshi to greet Hiei and then their teacher with a hug. She sat down and chugged down the rest of Hiei's beer.
"So what did I miss?" she asked cheerfully. Aoshi rolled his eyes 'she has a way with people…'
"Not much…" Hiei replied calmly "I thought you weren't coming until tomorrow?" he asked but watched with hidden amusement out of the corner of his eye as Seto very carefully returned to his seat watching Shuura as though she were something poisonous.
"The student exchange kid's flight got delayed so I picked up Aoshi's uncles from Tokyo and brought them down here!" she answered in a bright and cheerful tone.
"I left the Mazaki's at your place Aoshi. They thought she might come in sometime tonight so they'll go pick her up! I'll go back for them in the morning," she added at the questioning look on Aoshi's face. Not being able to stand her curiosity any longer Victoria asked the obvious question.
"Alright! I'm sure we're all dying to know what it is you did to Seto to have him react to you as if he's sitting a foot away from a deadly cobra!" she asked a stern tone in her voice.
"Nothing…" Shuura answered innocently. Aoshi frowned and gave her a stern look
"Shuura…" he glared at her suspiciously and Shuura just rolled her eyes. Seto grumbled angrily and to Aoshi's surprise he blushed! Victoria turned a serious look on Shuura.
"Shuura you were supposed to be nice to him when you picked up Mai! What did you do!" she intoned gravely.
"What was I supposed to do! He invaded my personal space! I warned him to step back!" she defended herself. Aoshi flinched and shook his head. Hiei sat back on his chair, sighed heavily and massaged the bridge of his nose. Bad things always happened to people who came within an arm's reach of Shuura without invitation. Aoshi knew she had a handful of favorite moves she liked to use and all of them were very painful to ones nether regions…especially if you were male!
"What did you do?" Victoria repeated firmly.
"I didn't hurt him! At least I don't think I did? I wasn't that rough on you was I?" she asked Seto uncertainly. To Aoshi and Hiei's further astonishment Seto barely shook his head and he blushed an even deeper shade of red!
"See! I told you!" she crowed triumphantly. Victoria still gave her a stern look.
"So why am I not reassured?" she gave the woman a stern look and Shuura shrunk a bit. She sighed and finally began recounting what had happened on the day she was sent to pick up Mai after the girl failed to qualify for the battle city finals. She was told by Victoria to wait until Kaiba's airship (where the Battle city semi-finals were being hosted) landed on Kaiba corp. Island but Shuura couldn't wait until then so she flew one of Aoshi's company helicopters out and landed it on the duel deck on top of the airship while the blimp was still in flight!
Needless to say Seto had not appreciated at all that Shuura had disregarded his pilot's firm warning to back off. Worst of all was the fact that she had landed on his expensive high-tech duel deck! Granted Shuura was an excellent pilot and managed to land the small two-seater helicopter in the duel deck without causing it any damage but Seto didn't like it when people didn't jump to obey his commands.
"Ok! He was in my face yelling at me to get off his ship like he's Capt. Kirk or something! So I did something to make him back off!" she concluded unable to keep the amused tone from her voice. Victoria struggled to keep a straight face but succeeded in the end.
"…and without hurting him!" she added proudly but she wilted under Victoria's stern look.
"You weren't supposed to be on the airship in the first place?" Victoria scolded sternly and Shuura deflated slightly. "Shuura what did you do?" she asked again. She sounded stern but Aoshi could see the twinkle of merriment in her eyes.
"I was gonna be late for my assignment! You know how my boss is when I'm late! Besides Mai wouldn't have made it to your photo shoot on time!" she defended herself dodging the subject again.
"Can we change the subject?" Seto grumbled under his breath still blushing fiercely. Aoshi was almost burning with curiosity! Shuura obviously hadn't used her martial arts so what could she have done to upset Seto this way? He decided he would wait and find out later and for now he would come to Seto's rescue.
"So how was the new year's eve mission in Colorado?" Aoshi asked veering the subject away from the airship confrontation. Shuura shrugged
"It was pretty quiet…" Shuura commented. She had recently been dispatched to Colorado to protect a girl by the name of Amelia Seyruun who along with her sister and father was being targeted for assassination by some unknown faction in connection with the last case her deceased mother – who had been a district attorney – was working. The job took place during the New Year's Eve holiday. Shuura normally spent the holidays with her family and her close friends but made an exception because it was for her friend Zelgadis and he seemed in desperate need.
"I hardly had anything to do! Zelgadis showed up anyways and apparently there was some drama going on between him and Amelia but that got cleared up by New Year's Eve," she complained. Her eyes lit up as the maid brought more beers and a fresh tray of hors d'oeuvres. She took a drink and popped a little cheese cracker in her mouth. Hiei did the same. The maid took Aoshi and Seto's empty glasses and put down new ones filled with fresh iced tea. Shuura began recounting the details of her working holiday.
Victoria frowned she did not like the thought of any of her kids getting involved with the Seyruun case. She never interfered with how Aoshi ran Oniwaban Protective Services but she did try to keep her students clear of heavily charged political situations. Chasing after a few terrorists and their suppliers – namely Kanryu and Gozaburo – was all fine and did no one any serious harm but the Seyruun affair had heavy political ramifications that involved people of high level in the governments of several countries.
Oniwaban is a small group with a charged enough rap sheet that they could be used as patsy's for those bastards gunning after the Seyruun family if they weren't careful. She had met Philionel many years ago and she would admit he is a nice guy but she had not liked any of his brothers! She had been impressed with his wife however she seemed very bright and confident and what happened to her was tragic. She had respected her enough to attend her funeral but she hadn't known the Seyruuns well enough to stick around.
His eldest daughter Gracia – or Naga as she liked to call herself – was an accomplished designer and she would've invited her to be in her catalogue if it weren't for their current problems. The girl's table manners also left much to be desired and she was rather strict when it came to that sort of thing. The youngest daughter Amelia showed much promise but had yet to do anything of note and she was known to be a prude! She doubted that the perky little girl would be as willing as her sister to pose in her underwear for an international catalogue!
"So tell me again why Mr. Greywords required your assistance?" she asked a little annoyed. She was also well aware of Zelgadis' record and knew him to be quite capable of handling the situation without any of her kids getting involved. It had irked her that Zelgadis needed to call her for something he could've done himself just fine! She had no interest in the Seyruuns right now as interesting people as they were they were not descendents of her child. She had bigger problems. In the end she only cared for the safety and well-being of her kids. No one else mattered to her…
"He got shot up! Nearly died protecting Amelia…He's still recovering," Shuura answered taking another sip of her drink but her answer didn't seem to satisfy Victoria.
"Then if he was still recovering how did he end up going to the ski trip anyway?" Victoria countered irked. Seto had forgotten his earlier discomfiture and listened intently.
"Because he was having some drama with the cute girl he was supposed to be secretly protecting!" she smiled mischievously. Victoria arched her elegant eyebrow and exchanged an amused look with Shuura who shot Aoshi a quick meaningful look. The two women suddenly laughed sharing in a private joke. Aoshi glared at them suspiciously.
"I'm sorry boys! Allow me to explain!" Victoria offered.
"You see Mr. Greywords was assigned to covertly protect Mr. Seyruun's youngest daughter. However, in the process of spending time with Amelia and getting to know the girl he has fallen in love with her and as is typical of broody boys when they fall in love the first thing they usually do is run for cover! Am I correct dear?" she explained with a knowing look on her face as she turned to Shuura.
"I don't know how you do it Sensei?" Shuura replied and laughed. "Yeah, he was definitely in severe denial! He didn't stay that way for long though!" she laughed.
"Anyway…It was the easiest paycheck ever! Aspen's my turf anyways!" she concluded with a shrug. Victoria nodded and relaxed. Aspen and Big Bear were indeed Shuura's favorite haunts. She spent every minute she could in either place skiing and snowboarding, occasionally giving free classes to local kids with few resources as her bit for the community. She was something of a local celebrity over there.
"Oh by the way! Jack says Hi! He wants to know when you're coming to visit him again!" Shuura cheerfully added. Col. Jack O'Neill was a US Air force pilot currently stationed in a base in Colorado Springs. Jack had once been a black ops officer and Aoshi had met him during a botched op in the deserts of the Middle East where they were captured by terrorists.
They had escaped together and been friends since occasionally running into each other during Jack's missions because they would coincide with Aoshi's. Or they would just visit each other on random occasions at Victoria's urging. Currently Jack was working on something so top secret that not even Sensei's white house contacts would tell her what it was!
"Maybe next month…We haven't been on vacation for nearly a year…Perhaps for Valentine's day…" Aoshi thought out loud. He relished the thought of torturing Misao's manager with this spur of the moment idea. Valentine's was two weeks away! They could use his timeshare in Aspen and then go down to Colorado Springs for a day and spend time with his friend. Jack had very literally disappeared for a while after his son accidentally shot himself with Jack's service revolver and he was glad that he could be in contact with him again.
Aoshi had thought he had retired and for a while he had even thought he had died. Jack was not in a good place when Charlie died but there was nothing Aoshi could do. Even his sensei had seemed horribly lost at little Charlie's funeral. She closed herself off completely from him for several days. Jack left his wife and disappeared. He returned no phone calls or letters for nearly a year and it was only through Sensei's contacts that Aoshi knew he was still alive. He eventually stopped trying to contact him.
Strangely enough his sensei asked him to back off of Jack and let him deal with it on his own. His sensei never said things like that! She always encouraged him to stick with his friends and be there for them especially in difficult times. But that death rattled her for some reason that she did not share. She spent a few days with Jack's wife Sarah and they still occasionally talked to each other. His father had mentioned that maybe she and Sarah had acquired something in common on the day Charlie died and in that case there was nothing they could do. To this day he had yet to find out the answer…
"Oh that's so sickeningly cute! Jack will love it!" Shuura exclaimed shifting Aoshi out of his silent reminiscence. "Hey maybe I'll come along and visit with Daniel!" she suggested. Aoshi frowned. Jack's new friend Daniel Jackson was a rather shy archeologist. Shuura's forwardness always seemed to put him on edge! They had met Daniel when Aoshi went to rescue Misao from that cult that had kidnapped her in Seattle last year and he still didn't understand why the Air force needed an archeologist but he'd been able to keep in contact with Jack again since then.
"Besides I promised Teal'c I would take him snowboarding next time I came down!" she explained. Seto looked from Aoshi to Shuura and then back again wondering who in the world these people were. He was starting to feel a little miffed at being left out of the loop. Aoshi must have guessed because he spoke next.
"Daniel and Teal'c are Jack O'Neill's new friends we met them last year in Seattle and if you recall you met Jack briefly a few years back when the two of us came to have a few words with Gozaburo," Aoshi explained calmly. Seto nodded and smirked slightly. Yes, he remembered Jack. He had seemed like a nice guy and had made some crack about how serious kids were in Japan.
"Yes I do remember…He mentioned he had a son my age…" Seto began but stopped as everyone went completely silent. Aoshi looked down at the board, Hiei was more serious than usual and even Shuura's and Victoria's smiles disappeared.
"Jack's son accidentally shot himself with Jack's service revolver five years ago," Aoshi explained softly. Seto's eyes went wide with shock. Aoshi explained how he'd been out of touch with Jack for a while since then but Victoria suddenly changed the subject. Seto stared in confusion at her sudden shift. He opened his mouth to ask something but Aoshi shook his head slightly signaling him to hold his question.
"Shuura did you say you flew Hyotoko and Shikijo in from Tokyo today?" she asked suddenly. Shuura jumped to it.
"Yep sure did!" she answered quickly. "Bessimi was already at the Shinomori house having tea with the old man!"
"In fact the old man got tired of sitting around waiting for us kids to show up so they invited them selves along!" Shuura added cheerfully. Aoshi looked up surprised.
"Father is here?" he asked looking around.
"Yeah! He went to go find the princess!" Shuura answered smiling again. Aoshi nodded not surprised that his father and his uncles would go straight to look for Misao first! He explained as much to Seto. Hiei laughed
"That is what's called the: "Daddy's little girl" syndrome in full effect!" Hiei explained amused. Hannya and his "brothers" had always been charmed by Misao and doted on her as if she were one of their own. Hannya was the worst of the lot and had been the happiest of them all when Aoshi finally brought Misao home as his fiancée.
"Speak of the devil…" Victoria said the hint of constant amusement back in her voice. Seto looked up to see four men along with his little brother, Sano, Kenshin, Kaoru and of course Misao headed their way. Misao skipped ahead of the group and again settled herself happily on Aoshi's lap. To Seto's utter amazement his little brother was being carried towards them by a huge man!
Hannya laughed as he approached. Aoshi looked like he was torn between wanting to get up to greet his family and staying where he was with his Misao in his arms. Hannya signaled for him to stay where he was then approached him and patted him on the shoulder. Seto was astonished at how close their resemblance was! Hannya though had gray hair and brown eyes and was obviously much older and maybe a couple of inches shorter.
Seto did get up as did Hiei to greet the older men. His little brother introduced them enthusiastically and Seto felt he almost lost a lung when Hyotoko and Shikijo patted him on the back. He shook hands with the shortest one of them who was about as tall as Yugi then retook his place at the board. They nearly tripped over themselves – with the exception of Hannya – to reach Victoria and greet her as she stood from her chair. Seto worried for a moment that Hyotoko would drop his little brother but the man had great balance as well as strength and managed to easily keep Mokuba aloft while he bent down to hug Victoria.
"Back already Victoria? I didn't expect you for another week!" Hannya remarked as hugged her. Victoria just smiled and shrugged.
"Hey Hannya! It figures you two would know brainy old people games!" Hyotoko teased in his huge booming voice as Bessimi and Hannya examined the board. Only Bessimi and Hannya seemed to know anything about Go as they remarked that black was losing. Aoshi just shrugged…
"Old! Speak for your self!" retorted Hannya. Seto laughed along with the others in spite of himself. Aoshi's uncles were easy to like! And surprisingly enough so was his father! He wasn't at all what he expected…none of them were in fact!
Hyotoko who was the biggest one of the bunch was an old Yokozuna and he was quite famous. Shikijo the second largest was a karate instructor and owned a large and very popular dojo in Tokyo. Hannya had been trying to get him to open up a franchise because of the popularity of his school but he refused to as he put it "sell out". Bessimi the smallest brother of them all at 5'3" had a weird creepy look that came in handy during tough negotiations in his position as V.P of Sales and Marketing for Shinomori Electronics.
Hyotoko put Mokuba down and the boy skipped over to his brother's chair and sat on the armrest. Hannya leaned calmly against the back of Aoshi's chair as his brothers spread about the broody corner and tried to tease Aoshi. Aoshi for his part seemed completely at peace. Seto envied him for a moment. He wished he could feel that at ease sometimes…
"Hannya your girlfriend stopped by my house before I left! She sent some pictures of her new grandbaby! I have them in my car!" she informed him but for some reason Seto could've sworn there was a twinkle of mischief in her eyes for a moment. Hannya looked interested for a moment then just shrugged as if it was no big deal.
"I can look at them later, thanks," he replied sounding non-chalant but something told Seto that the information bothered Hannya somehow. Victoria shook her head. The maid appeared then to ask the new arrivals what they wanted to drink. Shikijo spoke for Hannya
"Anything that's not alcoholic for Hannya! Otherwise we'll never hear the end of it!" Shikijo complained. Aoshi's eyes went wide and he shook his head trying to get his uncle's attention.
"Butt out brother!" Hannya warned seriously. Misao looked from one to the other and wondered aloud why the sudden showdown. Aoshi just shook his head and was about to say something when Victoria came to his rescue.
"Hannya, Tak's son is here. Why don't we go say hi?" she suggested cheerfully diverting everyone's attention from the subject and again Seto did not miss the mischievous twinkle in her eyes.
'She meant to start this confrontation!' Seto thought alarmed 'but why?' he wondered as they all cheerfully followed Victoria. She beckoned for Mokuba and Misao to follow and Misao gave Aoshi a quick kiss then skipped after her. Aoshi exchanged a suspicious glance with Shuura and Hiei and the two hopped off their chairs and followed the group. Shuura passed in front of Seto's chair and stopped for a moment. She leaned down and smiled sweetly…
"Thanks for throwing a party Seto!" She said sweetly her face about a foot away from his. Aoshi couldn't see the boy's face but he could tell that he was pressed against the back of the chair and he was gripping the armrests so hard his knuckles were white! Hiei rolled his eyes and Aoshi realized that Mokuba was trying very hard not to laugh.
"See you guys later!" she called back with a wink towards Seto. Mokuba covered his mouth and rushed away! Shuura sauntered away with his sensei warning her that she would extract the whole story from her sooner or later! Aoshi shook his head then turned to Seto and to his surprise…no…downright shock actually! Seto was blushing furiously again!
"That woman is crazy!" he complained nervously as he looked at the board.
"Yes I agree! However in a tight spot I can always count on her to save the day," he countered pensively still mystified by Seto's reaction. Seto looked up his face still a little flushed but the nervousness was replaced by curiosity.
"She is the best pilot in my employ and has an uncanny knack for showing up right when you need her most. Her fearless attitude has saved the lives of many of my men and my own countless times," he explained seriously then smirked "even though she's reckless and mischievous she is a great ally and a good friend."
"I see…" Seto replied thoughtfully. Aoshi's friends were a hard bunch to peg! They were never what they appeared to be. He had figured Shuura for some spoiled daredevil with a penchant for disregarding authority and again he was wrong just like with Sanosuke and Kenshin. He decided he'd hold any further judgments until he'd heard the entire story! So he went ahead and changed the subject.
"Aoshi I hope you don't mind my asking…but…what was that between your uncle and your father before?" he asked hesitantly.
"Oh right…" Aoshi thought about it for a second and then decided to explain.
"Well, father has a girlfriend in the US. Her name is Emi and she has a son named Hajime in the Marine Corp. He is happily married and has two children now since the second one was born recently. When father drinks he'll complain at length that he has no grandchildren and she does and she's younger than him!" Aoshi explained with an amused smirk tugging at one side of his mouth for a moment.
"I don't see what the big deal is…" Seto began uncertain as to where Aoshi was going with this. He was surprised to learn the old man had a girlfriend though!
'I guess you're never too old!' he thought amused.
"The big deal is that Misao doesn't know that. If she did she would feel pressured into something she isn't ready for…I don't want that," he sighed. Seto then noticed the flicker of disappointment in his eyes.
"Misao calls herself my fiancée but she really hasn't made up her mind about it. I promised her I wouldn't rush her or pressure her into a decision. I want her to feel comfortable with whatever choices she makes," he explained "Hiei and Shuura understand my feelings so that's why they followed them they're always watching my six," he added with a smirk. Seto nodded.
"Of course…and your father hides his discontent about not having grandchildren so as to not scare her off," Seto reasoned. Aoshi nodded solemnly.
"But Aoshi…I think Victoria instigated that confrontation…" Seto began cautiously not wanting to step Aoshi's toes with such a personal matter especially since he wasn't one hundred percent sure. Aoshi just smirked amused.
"Yes, Sensei is very good at manipulating events to suit her tastes! She mentioned on New Year's Eve that Misao was dragging her feet and she was starting to get tired of waiting," he explained then chuckled amused "Sensei's very good at getting what she wants!"
"Do you think she's right?" Seto asked "Victoria I mean…" he clarified at Aoshi's confused look. He had a feeling Victoria knew something neither one of them did. He wondered if perhaps her intervention was what his new friend needed! Aoshi nodded.
"She does have an uncanny way of knowing what you need before you realize you need it…At any rate she's never been wrong before so I will trust her judgment in this," Aoshi concluded setting another stone on the board and capturing one of Seto's stones.
"For now let us continue…" Aoshi said his mind drifting back in time again forcing himself to temporarily banish the doubts and fears Misao's indecision caused him to continue telling Seto his story…
Well, that is Shuura! And the rest of Aoshi's family! This chapterI dedicate to JRhaye who will most likely twitch when she sees all the missing periods! I did it all for you my friend!
Thanks for reading and reviewing!