Title: Jellyfish Love [Chapter One: Truths] Author: Matrim Email: matrim _ no _ aijin @ yahoo . com (hotmail isn't working so use that one) Warnings: Erm...Dada? XD BoA...the actual mention of EEEE!HET! Comments: The boys are performing a 1930's burlesque strip tease. The absinthe glass dance and the moon dance are from the performer and model Dita von Teese. And if I got the technique for absinthe making wrong, you're free to tell me @_@ I tried my best considering I haven't tasted the stuff yet and I'm not sure I want to. It's a romantic notion, surely. ++ At the corner of a busy street in Shibuya, two men stand posted outside of a large door to a club. This is the only front entrance to the club. This entrance is a glass door--tinted--so that people can see out but anyone looking in can only see lights. They wear sunglasses at night and are most definitely wired. People who come to the door are exquisitely dressed. Furs and expensive coats. Women wear gloves on their hands and if one has a keen eye; they would be able to see the jewelry lurking under the coats. The hair is twisted up and decorated as if they were royalty and the men are dangerous. Elegant but dangerous. It's all in the walk. The men ask for an invitation and the invitation is presented at the door. It is red and black with silver lettering and their ticket to the most exclusive show in the city--yes, perhaps even the entire country. As soon as they pass through the doors, it's a different world. Quiet with the faintest sounds of a piano playing. The party has not yet started. Deep in the heart of the club, the dance floor is cleared and seats are set up on half of it. It is being transformed into an impromptu stage. There is a big band set up at the back and the lights are dark all around except for where the stage is. The props are already there. They only have to wait. At exactly 9:00 pm, a large martini glass filled with a strange green liquid is placed in the middle of the stage. It is about a three fourth's the size of a normal man. A table is set up near the large glass. It is covered with a black table cloth. There is a small bowl filled with black flowers on this table as well as a strange decanter of green liquid, a decanter of clear water, and a glass topped with a metal slotted spoon and a sugar cube. This, too, is filled with green liquid. Not much. Perhaps an ounce. The music starts, slow and dark. There's a shimmer from the cymbal and someone steps into the light. He is dressed entirely in black, body corseted comfortably under a vintage black cocktail dress. He's smoking a cigarette as if he's a movie star. In six inch stiletto heels, he turns gracefully and sits on the chair near the table. He sits sideways so that he faces the audience. His legs cross and his black gloved arm rests against the back of the chair. His nails look long and deadly. His white face is covered by a light black veil from a black hat on his head and he smiles. Once he is done with this pose, he leans forward and reaches across the table gracefully and picks up the decanter of water. He sits up straight. The corset doesn't allow him to slouch. He pours the green liquid over the sugar cube and for a moment, he turns, smiles again at the audience and sets down the decanter. It's as if he's sharing the perfect inside-joke. When the sugar cube is gone, he takes the spoon and mixes it. The glass turns cloudy and the man sips it and smiles over his glass at a patron directly across the table from him. He sips it again. Deeper this time and he sets the glass down. He removes the hat and sets it on the table. He begins to dance, movements slow and graceful and matching the music. He dances the perimeter of the stage and returns to his table to take another sip. He removes the one black glove with his teeth with his eyes closed. He lets the glove dangle there before he turns to the audience and shoots it off like a rubber band into the dark. The next glove is discarded in the same manner. The rest of the glass is drained and the music picks up. He places his foot up on the chair, removing the shoe as if he were in his own dressing room and thinking of humorous joke. And then he dances once more. He hates being the first to perform. Being the first to perform always means having to be the best, to set the stage for the rest and to make them confident. Dada still thinks it's better if Mana went first. Everybody loves Mana's blue moon schtick and unlike Dada, he is everything he pretends to be onstage. Except it's not pretending. Dada loves his act but he's annoyed with the fact that he can only drink one glass of absinthe. It's the second and third that really do the trick but Shinya said he doesn't want him addicted and what Shinya says goes. Even if Die told it to him and not Shinya. Even so, he wants a new act. And he wishes Yura went first instead. It was time the boy started learning how to control the crowd but no one listens to Dada. Or maybe they did but they didn't really care enough to act on it. But he mustn't think about the things that make him angry. No, this is a special party and he has to pay attention. It's Shinya's birthday party. Maybe he'll actually see the big boss for once. With a smile that was more of determination than of delight, Dada lifts his now naked body into the large glass of green colored water. It's not like Shinya to have birthday parties. It's never happened before. Dada tosses his head back, posing elegantly because he knows he has a lovely neck. ("It's good enough to bite," someone once told him.) He picks up the white sponge in the glass that supposed to resemble the sugar that had melted earlier and gives it a good squeeze over his body. Utter nonsense. He knows he'll complain about realism to Mana later on and Mana will only nod and sigh and humor him. Dada slides further down into the glass and kicks his legs up in the air. The green water reaches his chin and he can see his legs posed high in the air, water glimmering in the lights as it drips off of his skin. He smiles at the audience again. He flirts. And when he's done, Aya and Yura are there to help him out. He's still naked but he acts as if he's wearing the Empress's kimono as he takes his bows. People are standing and applauding. And Dada turns to the side, strikes a pose and smiles again. "Happy birthday, Shinya." And he moves off of the stage, dripping wet and ready to sulk. When he gets backstage, it's chaos. Yura and Aya are handing him a towel and Dada's hurriedly reaching for some clothes. People are probably clearing off the rest of the stage and Mana's applying the last of his blue makeup. When he looks over, Dada no longer feels like sulking. Mana's in a long Victorian nightgown and hair in curls. He doesn't get a drink when he performs. "Is BoA out there?" "I can't tell. I couldn't see her. Hell, I couldn't even see Shinya." "You don't know what Shinya looks like." Mana replies, calmly and he's right. But Mana doesn't know what Shinya looks like either! "I know what BoA looks like." It's quiet for a second and it takes them that moment to realize they are not the only ones in the room. Aya's there, staring at the two of them. "BoA doesn't like us, does she?" "She doesn't like anything. Little smiling hypocrite." Dada replies. "Dada." Mana says quietly and then stands from his chair. "Be nice. Tell him the truth and don't tell him what the absinthe is telling you." He moves out of the room and will take his place on the huge crescent moon that will suspend itself from the ceiling. The highest Mana will ever be from the ground would be three feet. Dada thinks that Mana should give bathing in a glass a spin. It's a bit more terrifying. Maybe it'll loosen him up. Aya sits in the chair that Mana has vacated, legs flung apart like only men can do when they sit and rests his elbows on his thighs. "What's he talking about? And what are you talking about?" "BoA. She hates us and you know it." "Why is that? Shinya doesn't like guys." Dada rolls his eyes. He pulls on a pair of underwear and dresses himself in a way that makes him look like a secretary from a BDSM movie. He decides it must be the makeup and leaves it. "No one knows what Shinya likes except for Die and Kaoru, his most trusted assistants." And really, the word assistants didn't even seem to cover what they did and Dada didn't like the word henchmen. "And they don't say a word unless it comes to our performance and our behavior. I doubt BoA even knows what he likes." "But she's married to him." Dada gives him a look that may or may not translate into, 'Please tell me you're not that stupid.' Aya only shrugs and sighs. Dada doesn't care what Mana says. He doesn't know how absinthe works, anyway, and he doesn't care. Maybe Aya will listen to him. Maybe someone will finally hear him. "Look. The only reason he married her was because he felt guilty for what's happened to her." "He put her in that wheelchair?" "No. He thinks he did." Dada stands and makes his way out of the backstage area and to the side where they can watch Mana pose on the large crescent moon. He's already lost his Victorian nightgown and is standing there in a white corset, short drawers and white stockings. "The story is that she took a hit for him--purely accidental, I think. And so out of guilt, he married her." Dada speaks in a low voice to Aya because you never know who's listening. "She's obsessed with him. Pretends to know more than she does about him. Gets angry when he has to go to his clubs to watch us dance to make sure we're making everyone happy. Gets angry when he has to work. Gets angry when he has to go to a fashion show to see the designer's work that he helped with." And even if Dada didn't know about Shinya as much as Die or Kaoru did, he knew that he didn't know. He never fooled himself like BoA did. "She lives in illusion." He wonders if a night with absinthe will make BoA see the truth. The truth glass--that was always was the worse. Unfortunately, BoA was not -that- stupid to go accepting green glasses from one of the performers she hated. ++ It's surprising how many people won't recognize nor be wary of a man dressed entirely in black with an expression of coldness on his face. Kirito wonders if they are drunk, stupid or horny enough to abandon all common sense if they are willing to come up to him and ask him for a night. He doesn't look at them, no, he just keeps walking—his target being a tall man dressed in a black fur-lined coat. His hair is a color that can't decide whether it wants to be brown or blonde. Kirito stops in front of him, eyes meeting his reflection in the man's sunglasses and hands him a card. The card is glanced at then handed to another man similarly dressed and down onto the one man important enough to care about it. Kirito isn't one for small talk and he doesn't quite care for the performances here to distract him. In fact, he'd rather try to stare down Die except for the fact that Kirito's played that game a number of times and won. It gets boring when he wins all the time. Die's head tilts as if he hears something that Kirito cannot and then says, "Meet him at the office after Mana's performance." "How long will that take?" His tone is deadpan, as close as Kirito can get to being neutral. "As long as Mana wants it to." Die tries to say in the same tone but it sounds angry more than cold calm. It amuses Kirito as much as he's sure it amuses Shinya. He can appreciate that. Kirito stares at Die long enough just so that it starts to irritate him and then smiles. He takes a step back and makes his way to the office. The only way to get there is a long flight of metal stairs and of course, they're guarded by more guards. Henchman. Whatever's a good term for them these days. They nod to him and he runs up the stairs lightly. When he reaches the office, he's slightly out of breath. He is wary when the door's unlocked but upon finding Kaoru there, he relaxes and takes a seat at the couch that's set aside from the desk. It's like Shinya's trying to make his office into a living room in order to comfort his business associates but Kirito knows from watching and experience that it only makes them nervous. Kaoru glances to him and sits down on the couch facing opposite of Kirito. He, at least, has the decency not to wear sunglasses around Kirito. A minute or so passes and the door opens. Die walks through with that dangerous swagger of his and stands next to Kaoru. Kaoru stands as more people file into the room, all of them subordinates compared to Die and Kaoru's stature. Everyone stands except Kirito. When a skinny man walks into the room, the door shuts behind him and everyone sits down. Shinya smiles to Kirito then glances out of the large tinted glass window. His hair is exactly like Die's except for the fact that it's better taken care of. Shinya is the only person that Kirito works for who smiles and treats everyone like family. People who think it's a weakness don't last long around Shinya. "How do you like the performances tonight, Kirito?" Shinya asks, in a deeper voice than is necessary for a skinny ageless man. Since he specifically said Kirito's name, no one else in the office speaks. Whenever Shinya holds a meeting with someone, he makes sure he has witnesses even though the witnesses never say a word. People who speak out of turn in Shinya's meetings find themselves romancing a bullet in their chest. "I didn't really pay attention." And Kirito suppresses a smirk when he sees Die squirm to say something. "Mm." Shinya shrugs but he's still looking out of the window. "I think something's bothering Dada." He says it as if Kirito cared. Kirito does know which one Dada is, at least. "Don't know what it could be." "No, no. We'll find out sooner or later." "It's your birthday, isn't it?" Kirito hates small talk but he makes exceptions for Shinya. He really has no idea why, sometimes. "Yes." "Why aren't you with your wife?" Shinya smiles at him. He's got a pretty smile but it's cold like Kirito's smiles. "Because the business we discuss here has nothing to do with her." He turns away from the window and takes a seat in the one chair that no one's inhabited. The leather creaks slightly. "Who was killed?" "Hiroki and his family. His mother, his aunt, his wife, his brother, and anyone in the house." "The children?" "They were in the countryside." "Do you know who did it?" "No. Most likely Kyo's man though." "He's skirting awfully close to my territory." Shinya's eyes narrow as he thinks about it. His fingernails tap against the desk for a few moments and end when Shinya shrugs. It's a façade. Shinya never admits to not knowing something, especially when everyone's staring at him. "Hiroki's never caused any real trouble." Kirito shrugs and can hear the music signaling another performance. He thinks he recognizes the tune but he keeps himself from being distracted since Shinya seems to be waiting for a response. "People say he's taken out some loans from Kyo." "Which would be ignorant because Kyo does not do business on lands that are not his own and are considered neutral." "But he's been getting close." "Close but he hasn't made a move on us." "So you'll wait until he does?" Kirito asks boldly. He's an assassin and a spy and even if Kaoru and Die are glaring at him, he can talk to Shinya this way because of that. He's the tactics advisor here and if anyone else has a problem with it, they can voice it after they've removed a knife from their eye. Shinya shakes his head and smiles that chilly smile. "No. I'll take care of it before then." Just as quickly, the smile disappears and a mask seems to descend over Shinya's face. Business is concluded even if Kirito wants to drill him for more answers. Perhaps Shinya will speak to him more later. "For now, let's enjoy the rest of my party. The new boys are performing." Shinya stands and so does everyone else, even Kirito. Kirito moves to Shinya's side and opens the door. They descend the stairs. "Doesn't BoA hate this sort of thing?" "Oh, yes," Shinya says, not in the least disturbed about talking BoA. Surely, the man knew what everyone thought of her. Kirito is disturbed by the fact that Shinya may really indeed be in love with her. "But she organized it herself for me and even if she squirms with jealousy, I think it's charming." A lesser man might have shivered and thought that Shinya was quite unstable but Kirito only smirks. He only works for men he can respect, men who are as dangerous as he. And Kirito's is satisfied because he's sure he has found one. ++ To Chapter Two Jelly Home Fics Home