Fan Fiction ❯ Pure Essence ❯ Day One, Part 2: Eavesdropping ( Chapter 4 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

Nancy nervously played with her bracelet as she walked through the halls of Zhou’s mansion. She had found Keitaro waiting for her outside when she left Sarah and Fluffy in the bathing room and was following him back to her room for a change of clothes. The little fox seemed to have already mastered the layout of the mansion while she tried to memorize her way around. Keitaro stopped outside her door and scratched at it, looking up at her with big black eyes.

Laughing, she opened the door for the fox and let him rush inside and under the bed. Nancy shook her head at him and closed the door, turning the lock so no one would come in unexpectedly. Again. She had managed to pull off her top by the time she had gotten to the closet door and opened it. She noted a small basket in one corner of the closet and stuffed the white skirt and top into it. She hunted around through the clothes in the closet until she found a blue halter top and khaki Capri pants. She tossed them onto the bed and continued her search until she found her underwear.

Nancy paused and looked back at the bed, Keitaro’s head jerked back under the bed and she raised an eyebrow at him.

“You little pervert!” she teased. There was a short squeak from Keitaro in protest but she ignored it and went over to the bed holding a pair of light blue panties in her hand. She dressed quickly, trying not to laugh when she saw Keitaro’s muzzle inching out from under the bed. By the time she had buttoned her pants the fox’s head was already sticking out.

She motioned for him to come out from under the bed and the little fox crawled out on his belly then, still crawling, made his way back to the door. Nancy frowned slightly, wondering what the little fox was doing. He stopped at the door then rolled over onto his back and became very still. Nancy felt the edge of her mouth twitch as she fought a smile back and walked over to him. Careful to not look at the little fox she opened the door and stepped over him. She felt his paw press against the back of her heel and she looked over her shoulder at him. Keitaro was on his side now, his front leg was stretched out and he was pushing against her with his little paw.

The little fox saw her looking and immediately pulled his paw back and laid still again. So, he wanted her to carry him. She laughed aloud this time and bent down, scooping the fox into her arms.

“Silly little creature,” she said. Nancy absentmindedly walked through the hall as she petted Keitaro. She had no idea how to find Zhou’s office and her navigator wanted to be cuddled. Well, if she wondered around long enough she might still find the office, or run into someone that could help her. Hayao was sure to be around sometime soon as she hadn’t seen him since earlier that morning.

“Where did he wonder off to?” she asked aloud. Then, as though she were being answered; she heard his voice. It was a little muffled, but as she continued to walk it grew more audible, and she could hear Zhou’s voice too. Nancy perked up a little, so, mindlessly walking around had brought her straight to where she wanted to be. She was just outside the door and ready to open it when she noticed that the door was open. It looked like someone hade ment to close it then stopped and left it cracked. She hadn’t really been listening before, but when she heard her name she couldn’t help but eavesdrop a bit.

“So you found Nancy with a messenger. I’m surprised she never seemed like the adventurous type.” Nancy’s eyes narrowed, Hayao wasn’t funny, and just what was Zhou telling him that she had done? She hadn’t done anything!

“No, you misunderstood me. He was the one making advances on her.” Nancy nodded, hugging Keitaro.

“So when you happened upon the scene the messenger was making advances on our poor, naive, little princess. What did you do?”

“I let him go. She just looked so frightened already that I didn’t want to risk doing any more damage.”

“Damage? Was he trying to force himself on her?” Nancy tensed. Hayao’s voice had a dangerous edge.

“He was trying to kiss her, though, there’s no telling what might have happened. Still I’m surprised that she seemed so afraid.”

“Wouldn’t you be afraid if some strange guy came onto you in the hall?”

“No, I’d be disturbed. She, on the other hand, was in a complete panic. She basically collapsed into me and cried.” Nancy’s face flushed red.

“Ah, well.”

“I sent one of my men to look into the messenger. Honestly I thought that Yasuyoshi would have better choice in his staff after what happened before.” Nancy’s breath caught and she stiffened.

“How do you know about that?”

“Once Yasuyoshi told me that he planned to allow me to be included in the engagements I did an in-depth background check. I never thought that I’d find some of what I did. I thought her security would have been better, but for a someone to-”

Nancy turned and ran down the hall away from the office. She didn’t need to listen to a story she already knew. Her heart was pounding in her chest as she found her way back out into the garden and down the stone path. By the time she had finally stopped she was panting and Keitaro was wriggling to get free. She let him go and dropped to her knees beside a tree a few feet from the path.

Her eyes closed as she felt the warm sun against her skin and a light yet welcome breeze brush her cheek. She tried to push the memory away and opened her eyes to look at the sky. She watched the soft forms of the clouds as they passed by, listened to Keitaro as he ran around in the grass and tried to calm her racing heart.

“What are you doing out here?” Fluffy asked, Nancy jumped and looked around for her. When she didn’t see her she wondered briefly if she had imagined the voice. “Dinner will be held soon, and Yasuyoshi is stopping by to see how your first day went.”

“Uh,” Nancy blinked, trying to figure out where Fluffy was, then looked up into the tree and found her sitting on a low branch. “Why are you in a tree?”

“Why are you under a tree?” Fluffy asked.

“I wanted some air,” Nancy said, looking away.

“Oh, alright.” Fluffy pushed herself away from the branch and landed neatly beside Nancy.

“Hey, dinner is ready!” Sarah called from down the stone path.

“Well, we better get going,” Fluffy giggled and offered her hand to help Nancy up.

“Hurry!” Sarah yelled before running off down the path and out of sight. Nancy took Fluffy’s hand and pulled herself to her feet. Keitaro waited long enough to see Nancy and Fluffy heading for the stone path before he went bounding after them.

“We wont be having peanut butter will we?” Nancy asked, thinking that Yasuyoshi might not like the rowdiness that ensued when dealing with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

Nancy had been less than happy to comply when Fluffy asked her if she would mind going to tell Zhou that dinner was nearly ready. However, she was following Keitaro back to Zhou’s office anyway. She felt a sting of anger when she though of him snooping around in her past and then felt a little embarrassed that she had been eavesdropping on him. Silently she agreed that he had good reason to want to know about her and that she would consider them even since she had listened in on him.
She watched as Keitaro sat down outside of Zhou’s office and she slowly trudged up to the door. She felt guilty for listening to his conversation.

“Hn, what happened to Hayao? Sarah said you were in here with him.” Nancy’s eye twitched, the door was left cracked open again. She couldn’t listen in again. The speaker had been a woman though, and it was her duty to find out what her fiancé was doing with women behind cracked doors.

“He had to take his medicine.” Nancy frowned deeply, was Hayao sick?

“Medicine?” Nancy heard the woman ask.

“You don’t need to know about that. It’s his business.”

“I didn’t come to ask about him anyway. I wanted to know how you were getting along with that girl.” Nancy’s attention was fully on the conversation now. She wondered what he thought of her, and hoped it was something good.

“Well, she’s very sweet.” Nancy rolled her eyes.

“Sweet? Since when do you like girl who are sweet? Admit that she’s not your type, you like your women a little more evil.” Nancy raised an eyebrow, he was into what kind of women?

“Heresy.” Zhou’s voice sounded a little angry.

“Say the word and I’ll kill her for you. I know that you didn’t want anything to do with this engagement.” Nancy held her breath, was Zhou some sort of traitor?

“If you come near her I’ll kill you.” Zhou’s voice was so cold that she shivered. She couldn’t believe that he had just threatened to kill a woman, for saying that she’d kill her. Well, then again he had to say something like that didn’t he? Saying that you’d kill someone in the royal family was a terrible thing...

“Kill me? Over that girl?” The woman hissed. “After what we had, you’d turn against me for Yasuyoshi? Are you trying to earn his favor?” Nancy frowned, Zhou had a past with her? Was he plotting something with her against Yasuyoshi?

“No, I don’t give a damn what he thinks. Nancy, however, is a different matter entirely. You can leave now, and don’t bother coming back.” Zhou snapped at her. Nancy panicked, the woman would catch her there, and it sounded like she might kill her on sight. But the door didn’t open, and after several long minutes Nancy cautiously pushed the door open a little and peeked inside.

“Zhou?” Nancy asked as she stepped inside. He was alone in the room, sitting behind his desk. He was slouching slightly, his head resting back against the chair with his eyes closed. But when he heard her voice his eyes opened and he straightened up. Nancy took a deep breath, to steady herself, then found that she was suddenly admitting that she had been eavesdropping.

“Fluffy sent me to tell you that dinner is almost ready and I’m sorry but I overheard you talking to a woman and-” Nancy trailed off as Zhou’s eyes widened in surprise. He obviously hadn’t known she had been listening.

“I see. How much did you overhear?” he asked.

“Not much, just that she’d like to kill me. Are you involved in some sort of plot to overthrow Yasuyoshi? Are you going to have me killed?” Nancy couldn’t seem to stop the words from spilling out of her mouth.

“Heresy and I were lovers a long time ago. She’s still rather cross with me because I chose to work under Yasuyoshi rather than to stay with her. I’m afraid she’s not taking the new of my engagement to you very well.” Zhou stared at her, he seemed to be waiting for a reaction, hoping for the best.

Nancy bowed deeply, her face burning red with embarrassment. “I’m very sorry, I shouldn’t have listened to your conversation and I shouldn’t have jumped to conclusions! After all Yasuyoshi wouldn’t have let me come here if you were dangerous-”

“Please don’t be. I’m quite glad that you found out about her this way rather than the two of you meeting unexpectedly.” Zhou frowned deeply at the thought and Nancy raised her head, slowly straightening up.

“I just want you to know, if you don’t want to be engaged to me it’s perfectly alright. I mean, we barely know each other, if I’m a burden then please say so and I’ll leave. Your life shouldn’t be interrupted because of me. It isn’t fair to you.” Nancy found herself fidgeting with her bracelet again as she always did when she was nervous.

“You aren’t a burden. I accepted the engagement, you are the one who can decide wether or not you wish to be here,” he said, getting up from his chair to walk around his desk. Nancy sighed, she always seemed to make the worst sort of impression of herself. If anything he thought she was a brat and an annoyance. Surely he was only being so nice because Yasuyoshi would probably demote him if he was rude to her. Still, she wanted a chance to prove that she wasn’t a brat.

“Zhou, I-”

“Yasuyoshi has arrived!” Sarah announced, sticking her head into the room.

Dinner, unfortunately, had a more than tense atmosphere. Nancy could barely get the food from her plate to her mouth. Seeing Yasuyoshi for the first time after learning that he had killed her real parents was nerve racking. She had almost asked him why he did it at the front door, however, she stopped when she realized that accosting him about it right away might be a bad move. First of all, Zhou might get into trouble for having told her. Second, Hayao could be in trouble for confirming it and she really didn’t want to see Yasuyoshi lose his temper. So she greeted him as she would any other time and asked how his day had been before he had to chance to inquire about her stay.

She still wasn’t sure what he had said about his day. All she could think about while he talked and they made their way to the dining room was that he had killed her parents, and that Zhou’s former girlfriend wanted to kill her. Nancy gulped and poked at the cooked carrots on her plate.

“Is something wrong with the food?” Zhou asked, not looking at her but her plate, which looked as though the food had been moved around a little but not actually eaten.
“No, it’s delicious,” Nancy said, quickly stabbing a carrot with her fork and popping it into her mouth. She smiled slightly as she swallowed it and Zhou nodded slightly, not looking entirely convinced. Yasuyoshi’s eyes narrowed slightly and Nancy tensed, she knew that look. He was going to start asking the hard questions. Not the easy ones like, “have you been getting along alright?” or “did he feed you this morning?” not even something as simply as “he hasn’t been inappropriate with you has he?”. No, he’d be asking questions that would make her spill her guts about every second she had spent with Zhou. He had a way with making her tell him anything, even if she didn’t want him to know.

“Did something happen?” he asked. Nancy felt like fainting. ‘Yes!’ her brain screamed in her head. ‘I was a horrible person and I eavesdropped on Zhou and Hayao. I wrestled with Zhou’s naked slaved in the bath after a messenger nearly molested me in the hall! I even eavesdropped later when Zhou was talking to his old girlfriend and she said she wanted to kill me and I...’

“Nothing too exciting,” she answered. She looked away from him and started eating the carrots on her plate. Maybe he’d leave it alone if she stuffed her face full of vegetables.

“Really? The messenger I sent to inform Zhou I would be coming mentioned that he ran into you.”

“Oh yes,” she said after swallowing. Her carrots were gone now, she’d eat the slice of roast beef in hoped that meat would quiet him. “I nearly forgot about him, very friendly.” Eat the meat! It was tender enough to cut with her fork, very good. She’d give her complements to the chef if she lived though the questioning.

“Really?” he asked. Nancy swallowed, hard.

“Yes.” she answered. ‘Oh no,’ she thought. The meat was gone now too. There was nothing left to eat! Dessert, would there be dessert?

“I see, Zhou, thank you for taking such good care of her,” Yasuyoshi said. He took a sip from his glass of wine and smiled politely at Zhou.

“Ah, no, I’m delighted to have her here. Your daughter is a lovely young lady.” Zhou returned Yasuyoshi’s smile and Nancy felt her face flush red.

‘One, I’m not his daughter. Two, I’m not a ‘lovely young lady’. Three, I doubt Zhou is delighted that I’m here,’ Nancy thought to herself. Picking up her glass, she gave them both a small smile and took a sip of the wine in her glass. So she had managed to not spill her guts, good. That meant she was practically in the clear. Well, as in the clear as a person could be with a jealous ex girlfriend wanting to stick a knife in your back. Nancy frowned slightly, taking another drink, what had her name been again? Heresy wasn’t it? That was a strange name, sort of odd for an Angel to-

Nancy nearly choked on the wine she was trying to swallow as she remembered what Zhou had said the night before. Heresy was the name of the demon in the portrait. She hadn’t really thought about it before but Zhou knew everyone in that picture. The demon woman’s name was Heresy, if it was the same women as the one from his office then he had been going out with a demon. No, he said that they had been lovers. Zhou had been intimate with a demon. Did Yasuyoshi know? She doubted it, he hated demons.

Nancy blinked, noticing that Yasuyoshi and Zhou were both staring at her. They must have been interrupted by her choking on her wine. She gave them both an embarrassed smile and waved a hand. “Sorry, I’m not used to this type of wine, It’s a little strong.” Nancy felt like her face was burning. It was true that she wasn’t much of a drinker, and the wine was a little strong.

“Are you alright?” Zhou asked, honestly looking a little worried. She nodded.

“Oh yes, I think I might have to excuse myself though. It might be a good idea for me to lay down,” she said.

“If course. I’ll have Sarah escort you back to your room,” Zhou said, still worried.

“I should be fine on my own. I’m sorry for having to turn in so early though.” She stood and bowed deeply, then after telling Yasuyoshi and Zhou good night she left the dining room. Luckily she found Keitaro waiting for her outside. She smiled down at him and he stood, ready to take her back to her room. However, Nancy lent down and quietly asked if he could show here where Sarah and Fluffy were. The little fox nodded and took off down the hall. Nancy ran after him, smiling slightly. Sarah and Fluffy had also been in the picture, so they might also know about Heresy, and about her parents. She didn’t know them well, but maybe they’d tell her if she asked them to.

“You want to know about Heresy?” Sarah asked as she propped herself up on one elbow. Fluffy reached down and petted Keitaro. The little fox had led her straight to the two slaves as she hoped. But she had been surprised to find that he led them to a large bedroom where they had been loafing around.

“Zhou told me that she and he had been lovers. I was just curious about her,” Nancy said. She felt a little awkward, sitting on the edge of a rather large bed while Sarah and Fluffy laid on it before her. Sarah smiled, her lime green eyes sparkled before she looked to the blue haired girl lying beside her.

“I’m surprised,” Sarah murmured. Fluffy nodded slightly. They were both laying side by side on their stomachs. Their feet up towards the head of the bed while they faced Nancy. Fluffy was still petting Keitaro while he laid on the bed with them.

“Heresy and Zhou have a very sketchy past. We don’t really know how they became involved with one another. I guess you know she’s a demon though, right?” Fluffy asked. Nancy nodded slightly. “Well, it must have been in the Nether Realm. She’s an assassin so she probably tried to kill him or someone else and he caught her. Maybe he thought that was kinky.”

“Either way they started seeing each other, but it didn’t last long. I guess he couldn’t handle a relationship with a demon when he was out killing them all day. She didn’t mind killing angel’s then rocking him all night though,” Sarah mused, then blinked and looked back at Nancy.

“So they aren’t together anymore. But she comes here, to the Angelic Planes?” Nancy asked, trying not to picture Zhou with the woman from the portrait.

“It’s not that hard for a demon to come here really, as long as they have permission to enter the Angelic Planes it’s okay. And she has permission from Zhou, but only for her to come here, and only when she’s with him,” Fluffy said, rubbing Keitaro’s tummy. Nancy nodded, feeling a little better. Zhou apparently didn’t want to have a relationship with her, and if he didn’t want her to come to the Angelic Planes she couldn’t. Yeah, that news definitely put her at ease.

“Sleep over!” Sarah announced happily and Fluffy nodded in agreement. “ You should spend the night with us,” Sarah said. Nancy blinked, they wanted her to sleep in their room? Why?

“I don’t know-” she tried to decline but the saddened looks on Sarah and Fluffy’s faces made her stop. “As long as you want me to,” Nancy said. She smiled as Fluffy squealed happily and clasped her hands together, Sarah grinned broadly and pushed herself up until she was standing on the bed. She was wearing a red top with thin straps and red hot pants. When she jumped off of the bed and started bouncing over to the large bureau Nancy could tear her eyes away from the girl’s chest. Why hadn’t she noticed how large her breasts were when they were all in the bath. She glanced over to Fluffy who was wearing much the same thing, except that her clothes were blue and not red. Fluffy was sitting up now, leaning over slightly so she could still pet Keitaro. Nancy blushed, Fluffy’s chest was just as large as Sarah’s.

“Here you go!” Sarah called as she pulled some clothes from their drawers.

“Thank you,” Nancy said, accepting the clothes Sarah gave to her. Nancy stood and turned her back to them while she undressed. Sarah and Fluffy were both taller than her, about the same height as Zhou, and had immaculate figures. She blushed deeply as she pulled off her halter top and picked up the white top that Sarah had given her. She doubted that she had ever changed clothes so fast.

“So now what? Should we turn out the lights and tell scary stories?” Sarah asked, waving her hands in the air. Nancy suddenly remembered that she wanted to ask about her parents.

“No, let’s tell a sad story,” Fluffy said, motioning for Nancy to climb onto the bed. Nancy let her clothes sit in a pile on the floor and climbed onto the bed with Fluffy. Sarah joined them, and grinned at her.

“ Once upon a time, many years ago, a little boy met his father for the first time. His father couldn’t live with he and his mother because he was a demon and he stood out too much against the angels. His skin was paler than the moon and his eyes were bright violet. The man’s hair was darker than the abyss Kami created the Angelic realm from and he had long fangs and sharp nails.

“The little boy wasn’t afraid of him though, even though he looked so different. He ran forwards and hugging his father tightly, happy that he could finally meet him. His mother told him that they would all be moving to the Nether Realm so they could finally be together and she pulled him into her arms and followed her husband through their house and out into the night.

“He was so happy that they could finally be a family but soon he realized that it would not be easy. All along the way they kept stopping because of all the angels who didn’t want his mother to leave the Angelic Planes. His father ripped through most of them like they were nothing, but some of them managed to cut him with their swords and the boy worried that his father might die before he would have the chance to know him.

“Eventually they were able to escape the angels and his mother handed him over to his father. They were approaching the doorway that linked the Nether Realm and the Angelic Planes but before they reached it his mother cried out from behind them. His father dropped him and drew his sword for the first time. The little boy ran back to his mother only to find her dead, there in her chest was an arrow that had pierced right through her heart.

“The little boy turned back to his father but found that he wasn’t alone. There was a tall angel with long blonde hair and blue eyes like his mother. His father fought with him, the angel having thrown aside his bow to draw his own sword. The little boy was too scared to move, the angel who had killed his mother was in fact his uncle, who he knew to hate demons like his father.

“He didn’t notice the other angel come up behind him until he was pulled off the ground and away from his mother. He knew this angel too, as it was his uncle’s friend. Afraid that the man would hurt him he called out for his father to help him, however, by doing so his father became distracted just long enough for his Uncle to run him through. And so it was that the young boy lost both his mother and his father by the hand of his very own Uncle,” Sarah finished. She smiled brightly, apparently pleased with her story.

“That’s horrible,” Nancy said. For a little boy to see his parents killed right in front of his eyes, and for his uncle to be the one to kill them. “Whose story is that?”

“It’s Hayao’s,” Fluffy said, pulling Keitaro onto her lap. Nancy’s eyes widened in surprise. She hadn’t known that Hayao had lost his parents in such a horrible way, or that his father had been a demon. She blinked, realizing that it meant that Hayao was in fact, half demon.