Title: Jellyfish Love [Chapter Ten]

Author: Matrim

Email: matrim _ no _ aijin @ yahoo . com

Warnings: Two vampires, a zombie and a dictator walk into a bar...*/drum crash thingey*

One crazy ass woman, Mana trying to be a rebel, gambling and morgues being used as a hospital. And Mediaeval Baebes' music.

Comments: I tried to beta it. No guarantees. XD;

++

Mana isn't exactly sure what he's doing but he knows that it unnerves Dada. He thinks that he must've been around the man too much because he is starting to enjoy it. The unnerving him bit. It was a theory—actually taking up Dada on his offer of lunch. Dada was so sure about his opinion and outlook of the world being so correct that Mana decided he needed to be smacked back into reality. In an elegant way.

Well, he tried the elegant approach and all he received for his troubles were Dada's sniping. Whatever Dada thought and said about Mana always came back to him because Aya liked Mana and Aya told Mana nearly everything. So Mana decided that to make Dada finally understand what he was up to, he showed up at the house and the rest was, as everyone says, history.

Teaching Dada a lesson wasn't exactly the sole motivating factor in torturing him.

Mana did not have crushes. The last time he had a crush resulted in catastrophe to say the least and a near law suit that only Shinya could untangle. Shinya, through Die and Kaoru, suggested that Mana date someone he could trust. That was five years ago and Mana had not opened himself up to anyone. While everyone else got along, he found himself removing himself from the situation in order to prevent anything bad happening. The method hadn't entirely worked—he and Aya and Yura got along because it was hard not to get along with them. They even saw him smile and heard him speak and joke. It was easy with them.

Logically, people should have romantic feelings for those whom they along well with. Mana thought he had subscribed to this rule of thought but he wasn't blind. For one thing, Yura and Aya were a bit too young for him and those two were making eyes at each other but refused to see that they were making eyes at each other. And then Dada had to go and suggest that Aya find himself a new friend. As if it were that simple! It was time for action.

He didn't have a crush.

He had a separate appreciation for beauty.

--well, we'll see who is human.

Mana takes one last look in the mirror. He's not wearing a wig and so his real hair, black and long falls over his shoulders. He's dressed in a long white Victorian nightgown. Under that there is a lace camisole and ruffled drawers. He thinks it's silly that people find dancing around in this ensemble attractive but at least he gets to wear something comfortable. He doesn't have to strip either although…

…his reflection gives him a look that could be called impish.

His eyebrows shoot up at that description.

He was ready for dress rehearsal since today he's going to perform first. Mana leaves the dressing room and heads to the stage. The lights dim and he sits on the twelve foot tall large crescent moon. It lifts into the air but not too far from the ground because Shinya wants his employees to be safe. Mana closes his eyes as the spotlight shines on him. There is no one here. Just Die, Kaoru, Seek, Dada, Aya, Katsura, Kamijo and Yura. And somewhere, Shinya is watching too. Seek is there to catch him if he should fall.

The music is a slow, old European song. Mana wanted classical music but after a few failed experiments, he let Kaoru choose the music for him. What he received was a medieval song, sad, sung by women. Mana stands slowly on the crescent moon and stretches, arching his body back. He leans against the curve of the moon and raises a leg like a ballerina. His face is blank and innocent like a doll. He sinks down onto his knees, leaning against the curve of the moon once again and his cheek caresses against the cool plastic.

He rolls his head as if he were just waking up from sleeping and when the moon descends to the floor, he steps off of it. He is the mysterious dancer, the dancer no one can touch while Dada's the bad one. It could be worse, Mana muses as he picks up the huge bubble that Yura passes him. It is plastic. He could be a porn star working for Kyo and it wouldn't be quite as nice there.

The nightgown is discarded and Mana holds the bubble high over his head. He bounces it in the air and watches it fall to the ground. His hand strokes over it. It is not really dancing. Not like Dada. Mana poses occasionally and then he moves but he can understand why people would get confused. He leans against the bubble, eyes sweeping over the small crowd and with a flick of his fingers, the straps of the camisole fall. With a wiggle it falls to the ground and there is a murmur of confusion. This has never happened before but Kaoru and Die don't look angry. They look interested. Mana steps behind the bubble and unlaces his drawers.

 

"Al viso di colui che me, amando,
Ha presa e terra sempre, come quella
Ca in disio ch'e suoi piaceri."

 

Mana pushes the waistband down but just as he removes it, there is a clatter. Before he knows what all the fuss is about, Dada is shoving the bubble out of the way, throwing his black velvet duster over Mana and hauling him off to the dressing room. The lights immediately come back on and the music stops. There are shouts of surprise and the brief sound of people following after them but it fades. Mana, of course, says nothing even as he is forced to sit in the dressing room. The door closes behind them.

Mana gives a tiny smile.

But not so that anyone would notice.

++

"Well, fuck…" Kaoru says, his voice slightly echoing. He takes the drink from Katsura with a murmured 'thank you'. "They really are together."

"C'mon. Pay up." Die says, grinning madly.

"Wait—wait, Dada freaking out doesn't mean anything." Die rolls his eyes because it's just like Kaoru to try and worm his way out of a bet. And he has to try logic—logic, of all things!

Two could play it this game. "Look. Mana never strips. The day he does, Dada goes ballistic. The only reason Mana would do something like this is to get back at Dada for a fight."

"Had this all planned out, did you?" Kaoru was giving him that look of disbelief again. Die grins at him, knowing full well how silly he looks. He couldn't help it. Kaoru is cute with that expression on his face.

"What's going on?" A quiet voice asks and Die and Kaoru both turn, unaware of how much they mirror each other when they do so. Shinya is dressed in a black suit, just like they are and for a second, he looks like a law-abiding harmless man.

"Dada and Mana are really a couple." Die says.

Shinya looks thoughtful for a second. "Oh." He reaches into his back pocket for his wallet and pulls out a 5000 yen note then hands it to Die. The other man snickers with glee and puts it into his pocket and ignores the look that Kaoru's shooting him. "Die, could you have Mana run that through again and this time without the…extra…added on? If it upsets Dada and it ruins the show again, I don't think the clients would find it as funny as we do." Shinya smiles and heads back to his office.

Kaoru stares at Die and then hits him.

"Ow! What the hell was that for?!"

"You bet Shinya that those two were together?!"

"I bet everyone! Why should Shinya be any different?" Die smirks and heads backstage. He is met with a closed and locked dressing room door with Seek, Aya and Yura standing before it. "Fighting or making up?"

"Either way, they're very quiet about it." Seek tells him and Die chuckles.

"Shinya says Mana's to do it over again but without stripping. He doesn't want Dada upset again." Die makes his voice loud enough to be heard through the door and he thinks he can hear someone snorting back at him. There's nothing anyone can say to fix Dada's attitude so he glances to the three gathered outside. "Aya, you're up. Maybe by then, those two will…finish whatever they're up to and join the rest of us."

++

There is a knock on the door.

It's faint so Yu~ki thinks he's hearing things. He rolls over in his futon and ignores it. The doorbell rings. And it rings and rings and rings and some idiot must be leaning on it. He's about to get up and answer the door but the sound of someone dropping something, rushing up the stairs from the basement and swearing proves that Kozi's got it all under control. "What what what what what?!" He yells and there's the sound of a small window in the door opening.

Someone murmurs something.

"Go away! We're closed!!"

The doorbell is abused again even before Kozi can get two steps away from the door. Yu~ki rises from his futon like a zombie out of the grave and Kozi opens the small window once more. As Yu~ki stumbles downstairs, Kozi is still arguing with someone. "Get lost!! We're in no mood to put people back together!"

"What if they're already dead?" asks a small voice.

Kozi looks to Yu~ki after hearing that and shrugs. Yu~ki leans against the banister of the stairs and motions for Kozi to let them in. He doesn't care if he's only wearing a shirt and boxers—if people want to bother them, this early in the evening they can deal with it. Kozi opens the door and is confronted with a very stressed out crypt keeper. At his feet, there are two bodies clothed in black and wounded. "If they're not dead, Zero—I swear to God—"

Zero doesn't answer, just hauls the two bodies into the house without any regard for blood trails and the fact that Yu~ki just mopped that floor last night. "They kept me up all night. Fighting and bothering the dead. I was hoping they'd both kill each other and thankfully…they did." He flashes Kozi a grin just as Yu~ki descends the rest of the way down the stairs and kneels.

These two look familiar but first things first. Yu~ki's hand descends between the neck and shoulder of one. There is a pulse. A weak one. He frowns and does the same with the other body and glances to Kozi. He shakes his head.

"Zero, they're still alive, you—"

"Your problem now. Besides, if they're knocking on death's door, they did it to themselves and no one can blame you for them suddenly kicking the bucket." He nudges one of the figures with the toe of his boot and Yu~ki grabs one and rolls him over.

All three conscious men stare at the body in shock before Yu~ki does the same with the other one. If anything, this has just made it worse.

"Holy shit!"

"This is not good."

"Can't we just let them die?" Zero asks, because a zombie doesn't quite care for the living. Yu~ki and Kozi, although self-proclaimed vampires, stare at him. "What?"

"No, no, no. God, this can't be happening." Yu~ki murmurs under his breath. When the boundaries were drawn for lands, Yu~ki and Kozi remained safely in the middle and all cemeteries were declared neutral too. However, safety was a relative question considering the fact that Kyo and Shinya and others used the two men as a way to patch up people without going to the hospital and getting the police involved. They charged more than the hospitals but it was nothing considering the people that hired them. And they didn't accept charge cards or insurance. They accepted checks and cash only. They couldn't officially admit who they treated or—well, sticky situations would arise. And when two men were close to death—"Crap!"

"We can't let them die. And if one of them does die, whoever he works for loses the battle."

"Not the war." Yu~ki reminds him.

"No, not the war but…" Kozi shakes his head and looks as if he'll explain the rest later. He picks up one body with a grunt and begins to haul it downstairs to the basement and Yu~ki follows his example. Zero closes the door and follows after them. "It's just one big mess. Did they come with any weapons?"

"Is it important?" Zero asks. The basement is more of a morgue than an operating room but it's still sterile. And there are no bodies in the body storage freezer but Yu~ki and Kozi don't feel like telling anyone that. Sometimes, they keep lunch in there. He hopes that today they can continue to use it for lunch, instead of using it properly.

"No, not really." Kozi grunts as he lifts his body—Kirito, Yu~ki confirms upon a look—onto a metal table. No babying their clients here. Yu~ki places Aiji on another metal table and begins to strip the man carefully of his clothing. He isn't shocked by the faded scars on the man's body. He checks Aiji's pulse again, just as Kozi checks Kirito's. The next few minutes are devoted to cleaning themselves and putting on the appropriate clothing. IVs are hooked up filled with goodies such as blood and drugs.

"Zero," Yu~ki calls out distractedly. "Do us a favor and call Kyo and Shinya. Just tell them we have their boys and we're not sure which one could go first." There is no sound of movement so Yu~ki looks up from arranging his tools on the tray to find Zero giving him a dubious look.

"That old saying of 'Don't shoot the messenger'? These guys don't subscribe to that."

"Move or I shoot you." Kozi says in a too-sweet tone. "Be glad they're not dead yet. Consider it payment for having us take them off your hands." Zero goes up with a mutter to call them. Yu~ki is glad because he doesn't like to be rushed and he doesn't like people hovering around watching him patch someone up.

++

Shinya sets the phone down with an unreadable expression on his face. Kaoru wants to know who the phone call was from and what it was about but doesn't ask. Kirito and Luci'fer have not been here in days but both always check in. Kirito hasn't been in touch for a day, at most, but then again, he always only calls Shinya. And Kaoru isn't always in Shinya's presence so Kirito might have called while Kaoru and Die were otherwise occupied. He wants to think that the phone call that Shinya just received was from him but something inside him doesn't think so. "I have to leave." Shinya suddenly announces and everyone in the room stands up except Kaoru and Die.

Kaoru looks to Die to see if the same urge to ask the questions 'why' or 'can we come with you' is in his eyes. He relaxes just slightly when Die's glance tells him that yes, the other man feels the same way. They love the club but there's only so much they can stand of checking ledgers, liquor supply, workers' attitudes and all that. This is not their main job. They can do other things that they are much better at.

But when Kaoru glances to Shinya, he only flashes them a chilly smile. It says, 'No. You two are going to stay here again.' Kaoru resigns himself to the inevitable but what Shinya says makes Die struggle beside him to keep from making several lewd faces. "BoA expects me. I should spend more time with her." Kaoru elbows Die in the ribs to keep him from saying anything that he might regret. Everyone else in the room just bows and accepts it. "Hitsugi. Yomi. You two will accompany me home." This time, it's Kaoru who's trying not to make the faces and Die grabs his arm and thankfully, not his hand. When two young whippersnappers replaced them!—that was just--! Kaoru clenches his jaw and barely hears Shinya's instructions to the two to meet him at the bottom of the stairs.

When the two men leave, Shinya moves over to the couch where Die and Kaoru still sit. It's easy for him to traverse the space between the couch and the coffee table because his legs are skinny. He sits on the coffee table like only he can do because he bought it. "A zombie has dragged the dictator to the vampires' house." He says as if they were the only ones in the room. "Wire the money to the vampires' account so we can have him back, hm? Now." His gaze tells them that this was not just another matter of Kirito getting the usual routine scratches but something far more important. Shinya just doesn't want to say because it unnerves his people. After he's sure they've gotten the idea, Shinya stands and leaves with the rest of his men trailing behind him.

Alone, the two men sit in silence before they turn to each other. Kaoru expects Die to say something deprecating about Kirito being hurt and that being with the good doctors is bad enough to scare someone into wanting to retire from this sort of life. Instead, Die mutters quietly, "If he dies…"

Kaoru closes his eyes and shakes his head. Kirito was the best and if not, one of the best assassins they ever had just because he lasted. There was no one better than Kirito—for a man anyway. It was just. "The faster we pay them, the faster he'll recover and live."

++

Seven in the evening is usually the time that Kuroneko calls it quits and goes home. Before she goes home, she usually cooks dinner or prepares some sort of food so that the family doesn't go hungry. Kuroneko isn't sure if BoA eats her food but always, in the morning, she will find the plates she used for the food in the sink. She washes them and uses them for breakfast and then goes about on her other chores after she serves breakfast.

This time, she made cookies and left a note to anyone who could read that said she made ice cream too. Kuroneko remembered how fond of ice cream Shinya was so she decided to make him some. She hadn't quite gotten the hang of BoA's appetite yet but she thinks that with time, the reality of the situation would sink in and BoA would tell her.

But this is not the day for it so Kuroneko puts her shoes on and puts her bag over her shoulder. Just as she's about to step out of the door, a voice stops her. "Wait." Kuroneko turns to see BoA wheeling her way towards her with a friendly smile on her face. "I'll walk you out."

"You don't have to."

"I want to. Shinya's coming home soon." Kuroneko almost thinks she's imagining the warmth appearing in BoA's voice upon Shinya's name. It was unfair of her. BoA wasn't cold, perhaps the woman was just…wary of strangers. Kuroneko would be, too, considering the circumstances. BoA wheels out of the door behind Kuroneko and side by side, they make their way down the path that leads to the gate. Shinya's house is big but it's only one story. It's modern and Western, most definitely. It's surrounded by a beautiful garden. The path winds through the garden and forks. One of the paths leads to the garage and is flat—easy for wheelchair access. The other path leads to the sidewalk, through the small gate but before the gate there is a small stairway. There are not more than seven steps but they are steep. Kuroneko always makes sure to keep her eyes on the stairs when she descends them.

They walk in silence and when Kuroneko descends the stairs, she turns to give a bow and a farewell. BoA puts the brakes on her wheelchair and sits there placidly. And she starts talking. "You lived next door to Shinya, didn't you?"

The words die on Kuroneko's lips. What? "Erm…yes. When we were children."

"There are pictures of you in the family album." BoA keeps her gaze steady on the woman in front of her and Kuroneko looks away because she's embarrassed to look her in the eye. It's too forward and it's not proper to bore your eyes into someone like that especially when you didn't know them.

"Yes. My mother and his mother are best friends."

BoA's lips compress into a line. "His mother has never liked me." Kuroneko's bag slips from her shoulder and into her hands so she can fidget with something. What was the woman getting at? "You left him his favorite food…"

"I would've left you some of your favorite food but I didn't know—"

"Quiet. I'm talking." BoA snaps and her eyes widen with anger. Kuroneko goes quiet because there's just no reasoning here. "I remember you when you were younger. But unlike now, you had the good sense to stay away."

There's the sound of a car driving past and up the driveway. BoA's eyes stay on Kuroneko as the woman hurriedly tries to explain that things aren't like they are in a soap opera. Sure, she's had a tiny crush when she was maybe seven but that was years ago. The car engine stops and there are the sounds of people stepping out of the car. BoA and Kuroneko can be seen in the lights coming from the house and the street. "I needed work and Shinya said—" But before she can finish her sentence, BoA's wheelchair is rolling forward and Kuroneko finds herself wondering what happened to the brakes?

The question goes unanswered because BoA screams, the wheelchair tilts her out of it and BoA comes crashing down upon Kuroneko. Both women come tumbling down but it is Kuroneko who suffers the most. BoA is dead weight from legs that won't move and Kuroneko's hurt her head against the concrete. Stars appear before her eyes and when she sits up, BoA rolls off of her. Her eyes are closed and she appears unconscious. Shinya is there and demanding, wanting to know what's happened and couldn't she use more sense next time? It feels like he's yelling but she knows he doesn't do that—so it must be the pounding in her head. Kuroneko holds her head in a daze as Shinya gathers BoA in his arms. She doesn't know what he says because as he turns away to take his wife into the house, Kuroneko's eyes widen in shock.

BoA's eyes are open, narrowed in a glare at Kuroneko. Her lips curve in a cruel smirk. Kuroneko looks away and shivers.

She doesn't understand.

She doesn't understand this at all.

++

To Chapter Eleven

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