ByakuxUzume said:
Higa was furious.
No, more than furious; he was positively enraged.
His once-pristine office quarters were now little more than a horror show's aftermath, with the carpeting torn here and there; not to mention the damage to his curtains. It had been one of his most prized possessions; what had been a gift from his dearly departed grandmother for him was charred beyond recognition, the supporting beam little more than blackened wood. No one had dared touched him save for the instigators of this little farce called a plan; no one had even dared to pull a scratch on him when he was at his most exposed. He had planned through and through; he had made use of everything that he had had at his fingertips, everything that could not be grasped could be bought; could have been twisted and turned to his image.
So, why now? Why, when he was at the height of positions, was everything torn from him like flesh in a the jaws of a predator?
He felt his mouth contort into a scowl as the scene replayed itself in his mind, a fuzzy recollection that both enraged and made him despair all at once. The city was moving as usual before his eyes, but the thoughts lingered like a bad memory; they were, of course. Below, firemen and MBI vehicles attended to the collateral victims. The stench of smoke still lingered, accompanied by the musky smell of whatever remained of his carpeting intermixed with water.
A large, burly man arrived, his arm in a sling and his forehead covered by a healing patch. Higa recognized him as one of the unfortunate useless henchmen that had attempted to subdue his former reluctant chess piece. He urged himself not to let the corners of his mouth lift as the man looked the closest thing that he could have related to the word pathetic. A grown man, paid for his strength, his brawn; and he had been tossed like a rag-doll by a girl a head shorter than him.
Whatever the antagonism Higa had for her, he was impressed by her technique, nonetheless.
'Higa-sama, we've double-checked everything.' the man said, holding a small half-crushed notepad in his hands. 'Number Ten's flown the coop; she and her associate are nowhere to be found. The only thing that we've got from street witnesses is another one of our trucks blew up halfway down the main street; driver got out just fine, said he was held at gunpoint.'
Higa said nothing, so the man tried to continue. He let out a small sigh and winced before he could add anything useful, however; his windpipe was still sore. His employer still said nothing, now with his back turned away.
'Whoever he was, he was a professional.' he added, 'Subterfuge, espionage, theft, there's - !'
'Theft?' Higa started; as far as he was concerned, he didn't see anything being stolen - mayhaps other than his pride. Then again, he expected some things to be missing, after all. It wasn't as though he didn't anticipate that bastard of a man he had so foolishly once employed to keep his grubby hands on a wad of cash or two.
The company could just make it back in the markets; they always did.
'Yes, sir.' the huge man voiced.
'Of what, exactly?' It had to be small; he didn't see them running with anything in their hands, even when he fired that gun in the chase. A small voice at the back of his mind suggested that he had probably made off with a thumb drive filled with his Sekirei's more private moments.
It would be just like him. The lowest of the low that he was.
'Some database files were copied; the admin told you to have a look at them.'
He handed over the notepad to Higa, who took with a snatch. His patience had already long past gone, but he supposed he could help assess just what files were stolen. He didn't have high expectations of the prick; it was probably just another middle finger from his former employee before giving him a hash of a severance.
'Just as I expected.'
SekOrdDxx19.mp4
SekOrdDxx21.mp4
SekOrdDxx25.mp4
SekOrdDxx34.mp4
The list went on. He recognized them at first glance.
He had taken surveillance data from Toyotama's shower sessions. A rat in lust, just as he had predicted.
0000x98bnstk
His blood ran cold.
The records...
He screamed.
/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/
Uzume held onto Chiho comfortably, hanging onto the girl as though she was her only link to life. They were in one of the storage houses across the city. The place was small and cramped and slightly dusty, and the pure oxygen tank that she had brought wouldn't last Chiho another hour. Chiho's breathing needed to be controlled after the hypo she had been given in her escape; fragile as she was. The sickly young lady's medication was right next to her on a plastic box, if her condition ever acted up again. A single bulb was lit right above her, buzzing very softly.
She prayed to the Heavens that Asuka hadn't been caught. It had only been six hours since their escape from Higa's clutches - since the chaos had erupted all around her former blackmailer's office. The run had been almost exhausting and downright worrying. Chiho's condition didn't enable her any mobility beyond what a toddler, even with the hypo Asuka had (Forcefully, she mentally added) administered when they had begun his mad dash of an operation.
The metal shutter raised, and for a moment she tightened her grip on Chiho, as though the light shining through was going to take her away from her. The familiar silhouette of a portly figure, clad in brown trenchcoat and a snow cap, eased her worries; Asuka had returned, clutching several bags of convenience store medical supplies and a few snacks. Looking to his choice of food, Uzume couldn't guess wrong at just why he was fat.
'Hey.' he greeted, closing down the shutter once more. The only thing lighting the place now was the bulb; a dull orange color was all that she could use to make out the young man's slightly chubby face.
'Hey.' She said in return, setting down Chiho onto her battle cloth, making use of it as a makeshift pillow.
Asuka took a seat on one of the other plastic boxes, leaning his head against the wall as he popped a can of coffee. Truthfully, he felt tired. Planning for this whole thing to go without a hitch had made him an insomniac through worry and meticulous thinking. A glance at Uzume made him see that she, too, was more haggard-looking than she had ever seen him. She looked drained and her body shook as though it was forcing itself to move. A silent thought of Sekirei stamina quickly shelved itself in the recesses of his mind.
'How's she doing?'
Chiho had to be tended to. They needed to find a place for her treatment to continue; for her to be in a place like this, even if it was a far shot from Higa's and MBI's men, wasn't the best of options. They would have to move out soon, at least before dawn came. The attendants to the facility were kind enough not to ask questions when he'd arrived, but he doubted they'd be quiet if MBI came a'knocking. This was only a temporary retreat; their escape wasn't over yet.
'Well enough; I - I was worried for a bit, but she's stable now.' Uzume said, taking a seat right next to him as she let a grimace made its way to her face; or at least that's what he thought it was in this light. 'You've really started a fire, you know that, right?'
'Last time I checked, no one got killed and the department came just in time.'
It was a joke; a crack made to lighten the mood, but even he thought it was in terrible taste and timing. Uzume's expression didn't change at all, as a worrisome visage became shrouded in darkness as she angled her face against the light, as though she was hiding from him.
'You know what I mean.' Uzume was not in the mood for his quips; they'd just pulled off an incredible action in knocking Higa's head, and by extension, MBI's. Asuka could tell from her voice that she was still a bit paranoid; it was understandable, of course, given their situation.
'Hey, can you blame me?'
Still he persisted, trying to make the woman crack a smile. Now wasn't the time for them to let worries take them over, even with the looming threat of discovery. They were safe for the moment; granted, they were in a dingy storage house just a foot higher than he was tall, but they weren't followed or tracked. They'd earned a few moments of rest, if only seconds and minutes, if not hours.
Uzume sat next to him quietly, unable to reply. She bit her lip, confused by the events that had happened over the last sixteen days. It had been a dream; a nightmare; she did not know what it was more akin to. With everything that had happened; between Chiho and the Izumo Inn to their escape, it seemed that her mind refused to slow one bit. She'd never expected anyone to be this brazen, especially not a person who, save for his dress sense, looked like he belonged in a room full of overweight ramen enthusiasts.
Never judge a book by its cover...
Words she had repeated to herself every single time she was with him. Every time. All the time.
'You know, when you said you'd help me, I didn't think that...' she trailed off, unable to continue. She didn't know if it was by her own apprehension or because, Heavens forbid, she'd offend Chiho. She didn't know what to say proper; unorthodox as he was to her, Asuka had done and delivered. 'Thank you.'
It wasn't what she wanted to say.
'Yeah, well... you're welcome.' He smiled, taking out a packet of ice before stepping towards Chiho, pressing the wet item to her forehead. Chiho had had a slight fever when he had left the moment before, and Asuka didn't want it acting up again; body heat was not a good thing to raise in a sick person when they were in an unclean environment.
Or so he was taught by his peers. He had a habit of remembering weird things from his high school days.
'Why all this?'
'You captured my heart. Men do crazy things for the women they love.' he said in flawless deadpan, 'Don't you read relationship articles?'
'You're a great big kidder.'
They both smiled at one another; not that either one of them could see in the terrible lighting. Uzume could make out his amusement with a snort. The portly young man in a suit from before flashed before her eyes for a brief moment, and memories of their first meeting echoed in parts of her mind. Flirtatious, loud and obnoxious and generous; a persona almost too weird to think they were amalgamated into one person.
Yet before her stood someone who'd just done the craziest thing she could have ever thought of with a finesse worthy of the Fox God Inari.
'Hey, give a guy a break.' He propped his legs up on a stool she had somehow missed seeing, 'I just dodged bullets and planned a terrorist attack for you. I deserve some praise, ya?'
He did, but Uzume wasn't about to let him get thinking that she was an easy mark.
Either for praise or for the wiles of a young man from Osaka.
'Higa's scouring the city for us. He'll be up and at 'em with what I did to him - a hornet's nest doesn't have anything on what Higa'll do to you and I; not to mention Chiho, if he catches up.'
He put his hands in his pockets, his head scrunching in concentration as he continued to feel for a certain item.
'When he catches up. He's not the type to let anything he could hold in his hands unchecked.' Uzume added, propping closer to him as he finally took something out from his pocket.
She recognized it, even in the poor lighting: it was a thumb drive.
'What's that about?'
'A shipping and trade manifest.'
'A manifest of illegal, unlicensed drug trading and shipping to the port.' he said with a smugness that reminded her too much of their former employer, 'MBI may bail him out of this to keep anything from leaking out and the police might clam up and eat their pudding, but the UN won't stand for it if it's made public. He might get rid of the evidence on the shot, but he'll lose a lot of stake covering up his tracks. He'll have no choice but to clam up if we buckle him with this; Higa may be a bastard, but he's a bastard who loves his money.'
He bowed as a gentleman would have to his dance partner at a ball, or at least, tried to, with the limited space and his seated position. The dull bulb's light did nothing to dispel Asuka's swelling of pride; something that Uzume noted would have positively glowed in the darkest night if it could have.
Maybe she could let him get away with things just this once.
But only this once.
Asuka produced the thumb drive before her eyes, smiling softly.
'This is your bulletproof vest, my fair lady. Please handle with care.'
She held out a hand as a graceful madame would have, a small chuckle escaping her lips...
'All of this for lil' ol' me?'
He kissed her hand gently and looked right back at her.
'You better believe it.'
/-/-/TO NOT BE CONTINUED/-/-/
No, more than furious; he was positively enraged.
His once-pristine office quarters were now little more than a horror show's aftermath, with the carpeting torn here and there; not to mention the damage to his curtains. It had been one of his most prized possessions; what had been a gift from his dearly departed grandmother for him was charred beyond recognition, the supporting beam little more than blackened wood. No one had dared touched him save for the instigators of this little farce called a plan; no one had even dared to pull a scratch on him when he was at his most exposed. He had planned through and through; he had made use of everything that he had had at his fingertips, everything that could not be grasped could be bought; could have been twisted and turned to his image.
So, why now? Why, when he was at the height of positions, was everything torn from him like flesh in a the jaws of a predator?
He felt his mouth contort into a scowl as the scene replayed itself in his mind, a fuzzy recollection that both enraged and made him despair all at once. The city was moving as usual before his eyes, but the thoughts lingered like a bad memory; they were, of course. Below, firemen and MBI vehicles attended to the collateral victims. The stench of smoke still lingered, accompanied by the musky smell of whatever remained of his carpeting intermixed with water.
A large, burly man arrived, his arm in a sling and his forehead covered by a healing patch. Higa recognized him as one of the unfortunate useless henchmen that had attempted to subdue his former reluctant chess piece. He urged himself not to let the corners of his mouth lift as the man looked the closest thing that he could have related to the word pathetic. A grown man, paid for his strength, his brawn; and he had been tossed like a rag-doll by a girl a head shorter than him.
Whatever the antagonism Higa had for her, he was impressed by her technique, nonetheless.
'Higa-sama, we've double-checked everything.' the man said, holding a small half-crushed notepad in his hands. 'Number Ten's flown the coop; she and her associate are nowhere to be found. The only thing that we've got from street witnesses is another one of our trucks blew up halfway down the main street; driver got out just fine, said he was held at gunpoint.'
Higa said nothing, so the man tried to continue. He let out a small sigh and winced before he could add anything useful, however; his windpipe was still sore. His employer still said nothing, now with his back turned away.
'Whoever he was, he was a professional.' he added, 'Subterfuge, espionage, theft, there's - !'
'Theft?' Higa started; as far as he was concerned, he didn't see anything being stolen - mayhaps other than his pride. Then again, he expected some things to be missing, after all. It wasn't as though he didn't anticipate that bastard of a man he had so foolishly once employed to keep his grubby hands on a wad of cash or two.
The company could just make it back in the markets; they always did.
'Yes, sir.' the huge man voiced.
'Of what, exactly?' It had to be small; he didn't see them running with anything in their hands, even when he fired that gun in the chase. A small voice at the back of his mind suggested that he had probably made off with a thumb drive filled with his Sekirei's more private moments.
It would be just like him. The lowest of the low that he was.
'Some database files were copied; the admin told you to have a look at them.'
He handed over the notepad to Higa, who took with a snatch. His patience had already long past gone, but he supposed he could help assess just what files were stolen. He didn't have high expectations of the prick; it was probably just another middle finger from his former employee before giving him a hash of a severance.
'Just as I expected.'
SekOrdDxx19.mp4
SekOrdDxx21.mp4
SekOrdDxx25.mp4
SekOrdDxx34.mp4
The list went on. He recognized them at first glance.
He had taken surveillance data from Toyotama's shower sessions. A rat in lust, just as he had predicted.
0000x98bnstk
His blood ran cold.
The records...
He screamed.
/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/
Uzume held onto Chiho comfortably, hanging onto the girl as though she was her only link to life. They were in one of the storage houses across the city. The place was small and cramped and slightly dusty, and the pure oxygen tank that she had brought wouldn't last Chiho another hour. Chiho's breathing needed to be controlled after the hypo she had been given in her escape; fragile as she was. The sickly young lady's medication was right next to her on a plastic box, if her condition ever acted up again. A single bulb was lit right above her, buzzing very softly.
She prayed to the Heavens that Asuka hadn't been caught. It had only been six hours since their escape from Higa's clutches - since the chaos had erupted all around her former blackmailer's office. The run had been almost exhausting and downright worrying. Chiho's condition didn't enable her any mobility beyond what a toddler, even with the hypo Asuka had (Forcefully, she mentally added) administered when they had begun his mad dash of an operation.
The metal shutter raised, and for a moment she tightened her grip on Chiho, as though the light shining through was going to take her away from her. The familiar silhouette of a portly figure, clad in brown trenchcoat and a snow cap, eased her worries; Asuka had returned, clutching several bags of convenience store medical supplies and a few snacks. Looking to his choice of food, Uzume couldn't guess wrong at just why he was fat.
'Hey.' he greeted, closing down the shutter once more. The only thing lighting the place now was the bulb; a dull orange color was all that she could use to make out the young man's slightly chubby face.
'Hey.' She said in return, setting down Chiho onto her battle cloth, making use of it as a makeshift pillow.
Asuka took a seat on one of the other plastic boxes, leaning his head against the wall as he popped a can of coffee. Truthfully, he felt tired. Planning for this whole thing to go without a hitch had made him an insomniac through worry and meticulous thinking. A glance at Uzume made him see that she, too, was more haggard-looking than she had ever seen him. She looked drained and her body shook as though it was forcing itself to move. A silent thought of Sekirei stamina quickly shelved itself in the recesses of his mind.
'How's she doing?'
Chiho had to be tended to. They needed to find a place for her treatment to continue; for her to be in a place like this, even if it was a far shot from Higa's and MBI's men, wasn't the best of options. They would have to move out soon, at least before dawn came. The attendants to the facility were kind enough not to ask questions when he'd arrived, but he doubted they'd be quiet if MBI came a'knocking. This was only a temporary retreat; their escape wasn't over yet.
'Well enough; I - I was worried for a bit, but she's stable now.' Uzume said, taking a seat right next to him as she let a grimace made its way to her face; or at least that's what he thought it was in this light. 'You've really started a fire, you know that, right?'
'Last time I checked, no one got killed and the department came just in time.'
It was a joke; a crack made to lighten the mood, but even he thought it was in terrible taste and timing. Uzume's expression didn't change at all, as a worrisome visage became shrouded in darkness as she angled her face against the light, as though she was hiding from him.
'You know what I mean.' Uzume was not in the mood for his quips; they'd just pulled off an incredible action in knocking Higa's head, and by extension, MBI's. Asuka could tell from her voice that she was still a bit paranoid; it was understandable, of course, given their situation.
'Hey, can you blame me?'
Still he persisted, trying to make the woman crack a smile. Now wasn't the time for them to let worries take them over, even with the looming threat of discovery. They were safe for the moment; granted, they were in a dingy storage house just a foot higher than he was tall, but they weren't followed or tracked. They'd earned a few moments of rest, if only seconds and minutes, if not hours.
Uzume sat next to him quietly, unable to reply. She bit her lip, confused by the events that had happened over the last sixteen days. It had been a dream; a nightmare; she did not know what it was more akin to. With everything that had happened; between Chiho and the Izumo Inn to their escape, it seemed that her mind refused to slow one bit. She'd never expected anyone to be this brazen, especially not a person who, save for his dress sense, looked like he belonged in a room full of overweight ramen enthusiasts.
Never judge a book by its cover...
Words she had repeated to herself every single time she was with him. Every time. All the time.
'You know, when you said you'd help me, I didn't think that...' she trailed off, unable to continue. She didn't know if it was by her own apprehension or because, Heavens forbid, she'd offend Chiho. She didn't know what to say proper; unorthodox as he was to her, Asuka had done and delivered. 'Thank you.'
It wasn't what she wanted to say.
'Yeah, well... you're welcome.' He smiled, taking out a packet of ice before stepping towards Chiho, pressing the wet item to her forehead. Chiho had had a slight fever when he had left the moment before, and Asuka didn't want it acting up again; body heat was not a good thing to raise in a sick person when they were in an unclean environment.
Or so he was taught by his peers. He had a habit of remembering weird things from his high school days.
'Why all this?'
'You captured my heart. Men do crazy things for the women they love.' he said in flawless deadpan, 'Don't you read relationship articles?'
'You're a great big kidder.'
They both smiled at one another; not that either one of them could see in the terrible lighting. Uzume could make out his amusement with a snort. The portly young man in a suit from before flashed before her eyes for a brief moment, and memories of their first meeting echoed in parts of her mind. Flirtatious, loud and obnoxious and generous; a persona almost too weird to think they were amalgamated into one person.
Yet before her stood someone who'd just done the craziest thing she could have ever thought of with a finesse worthy of the Fox God Inari.
'Hey, give a guy a break.' He propped his legs up on a stool she had somehow missed seeing, 'I just dodged bullets and planned a terrorist attack for you. I deserve some praise, ya?'
He did, but Uzume wasn't about to let him get thinking that she was an easy mark.
Either for praise or for the wiles of a young man from Osaka.
'Higa's scouring the city for us. He'll be up and at 'em with what I did to him - a hornet's nest doesn't have anything on what Higa'll do to you and I; not to mention Chiho, if he catches up.'
He put his hands in his pockets, his head scrunching in concentration as he continued to feel for a certain item.
'When he catches up. He's not the type to let anything he could hold in his hands unchecked.' Uzume added, propping closer to him as he finally took something out from his pocket.
She recognized it, even in the poor lighting: it was a thumb drive.
'What's that about?'
'A shipping and trade manifest.'
'A manifest of illegal, unlicensed drug trading and shipping to the port.' he said with a smugness that reminded her too much of their former employer, 'MBI may bail him out of this to keep anything from leaking out and the police might clam up and eat their pudding, but the UN won't stand for it if it's made public. He might get rid of the evidence on the shot, but he'll lose a lot of stake covering up his tracks. He'll have no choice but to clam up if we buckle him with this; Higa may be a bastard, but he's a bastard who loves his money.'
He bowed as a gentleman would have to his dance partner at a ball, or at least, tried to, with the limited space and his seated position. The dull bulb's light did nothing to dispel Asuka's swelling of pride; something that Uzume noted would have positively glowed in the darkest night if it could have.
Maybe she could let him get away with things just this once.
But only this once.
Asuka produced the thumb drive before her eyes, smiling softly.
'This is your bulletproof vest, my fair lady. Please handle with care.'
She held out a hand as a graceful madame would have, a small chuckle escaping her lips...
'All of this for lil' ol' me?'
He kissed her hand gently and looked right back at her.
'You better believe it.'
/-/-/TO NOT BE CONTINUED/-/-/
