InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Purity 10: Anomaly ❯ White Lies ( Chapter 15 )

“You know, Mikio, you ought to consider moving here.”

Peering over at Gunnar, who was idly turning a copita of Palo Cortado sherry in his hand, he wasn’t entirely sure if Gunnar was being serious or not.  He looked serious enough, which really didn’t mean much.  Gunnar usually did.  Even so, it was hard to say with that particular cousin . . .

“Because Sesshoumaru and Toga would love that,” Bas commented dryly, lifting a full bottle of beer to his lips and draining half of it in one long gulp.

“They’d just have to hire another . . . few . . . lawyers to take his place,” Gunnar replied.  “Not a huge deal . . .”

“I like Japan,” Mikio remarked, thoughtfully twiddling his ear.  “I’d miss it a lot.”

Gunnar shrugged, settling back in his chair in the quiet little eatery not far from the youkai special crimes office.  “Maybe.  Then again, it’s so much easier to find willing women here.”

Mikio chuckled.  “Is that why you like New York City?” he asked.  “Makes sense, I guess . . .”

He had noticed that, over all, the women here tended to be a lot less hung up on the process of finding someone that interested them.  Americans in general just seemed on a whole to be a little more spontaneous, which was both good and bad, as far as Mikio could tell.  The women back home tended to be a lot more pragmatic when it came to dating.  If there wasn’t really a good potential for a future, then they weren’t interested, and a lot of them took things into consideration beyond the scope of simply looking for attraction.  It was good and bad, he supposed, just like anything in life, really.  On the one hand, maybe there was more to building a life with someone other than just lust.  On the other?  It severely handicapped a lot of people, right off the bat.  Mikio wasn’t one, at least, financially speaking.  Even so . . . The more relaxed atmosphere of the States was what had produced a woman like Madison, after all, and that was, in his opinion, anyway, a very good thing . . .

He was still trying to figure out, exactly how to go about doing what Bas had suggested.  It was one thing to think it was a sound idea.  It was another thing, entirely, to go about, implementing said-idea.

‘Yeah, except . . . you’re kind of playing with fire, don’t you think?  I mean, you’re the one who always says—’

‘I know what I say,’ Mikio cut in almost coldly.  ‘And isn’t that kind of a jump?   Just . . . Just because I . . . I like being around her doesn’t mean . . .’

‘And just what, Mikio, do you think it means, then?’

‘I don’t know, but . . . but I can enjoy her company for now, can’t I?’

‘Sure, you can.  Of course, you can . . .’

“You know, you look like you’re either concentrating a little too hard or you’re arguing with your youkai,” Bas remarked, reaching for his beer.  “Guess which one I think it is . . .”

Mikio blinked and quickly shook his head.  “Oh, it’s, uh . . . It’s nothing.”

“Come now, Mikio.  You can tell us anything,” Gunnar said.  “We’d probably give you better advice than your youkai-voice, anyway.”

“No . . . No, he really can’t because you really can’t,” Bas mused, casting Gunnar a calculating look.  “You’re an ass, remember?”

“I’m not—Okay, I am,” Gunnar admitted.  “But I’m not usually an ass to Mikio—just to Morio, and he’s a baka.”

Mikio opened his mouth to argue with Gunnar, but snapped it closed after he considered it for a moment.  “He . . . kind of is . . .” he allowed.

Gunnar nodded.  “I rest my case.”

“Well, Morio’s idiocy aside,” Bas said, “you’re kind of a assrag to everyone—but at least, you’re an equal opportunity assrag . . .”

“It’s not my fault if I feel that it is my responsibility to point it out when someone is being stupid.”

“I guess that’s one way to put it,” Bas commented dryly.

Gunnar arched an artful eyebrow at Bas.  “Assrag?  Is that a new one?”

Bas shrugged.  “Not really.  You’ve been practicing the ancient and annoying art of assraggery for . . . Well, for as long as I’ve known you.”

Gunnar slowly shook his head.  “And you, Bas-tard, have mastered the art of, ‘big and stupid’.  Congratulations.”

Bas chuckled and got to his feet.  “Anyway, I suppose it’s about time to go back to work.”

The chime of Mikio’s cell phone drew his attention, and he glanced at it, figuring that it was probably nothing really important.  The preview screen, however, made him frown.  ‘I’m sorry to bug you, but there was a . . .’ was all it said.  It was from Madison . . .

Draining his glass, Gunnar stood up.  “Catch you later, Mikio,” he said, waiting for Bas to finish off his beer.

“Give me a call if you need anything,” Bas said, dropping a few rumpled bills on the table.

Mikio nodded, waiting until the two stepped out of the restaurant before unlocking his phone to read the message . . .

R 20;So?” Jillian Jamison asked.

Gavin frowned as he looked over the keypad next to the door.  Impatiently brushing his rich brown bangs out of his face, he rubbed his chin with one hand, using the other to tap the keyboard on his phone.  “Okay, this is a Quasarlink model, so that makes things easy enough,” he told Madison, Jillian, and Valerie as they stood around him, waiting to see what he was going to do.

“Really?” Madison asked.

He nodded.  “Yep.  The standard way to trip the keypad is to enter the wrong code at least five times in less than two minutes. When the keypad locks itself, the only way to unlock it is for the company to send someone out to manually reset it again, so that should buy you at least a few days . . .”

“Well, what are you waiting for, Gavvie?  Lock her out!” Jillian exclaimed.

“Wait!” Madison blurted before Gavin could do it.  “I need to grab a few things first . . .”

“Like what?” Valerie demanded, grabbing Madison’s arm before she could go back inside since the door was still open.

Madison blinked.  “Like my Tony Estorias!”

Valerie’s eyes widened.  “Oh, the camel suede slingbacks?”

Waving a hand, Madison laughed.  “No, the fawn colored, patent leather stilettos.”

Mouth rounding in a thoughtful, ‘oh,’ Valerie slowly nodded. “Hmm, those!  Yeah, you should grab those . . . Wait!”

“What now?”

Valerie made a face.  “Well, wouldn’t it be weird if you’ve locked yourself out, but you grabbed your shoes first?”

Madison’s smile dimmed at that.  “Oh, that’s true . . .”

Jillian giggled while Gavin heaved a sigh and shook his head.  “You could change into them,” she suggested.  “Then it’ll make perfect sense, and you’ll have them!”

Madison squealed and hugged Jillian.  “You’re so smart!” she exclaimed.

Gavin grunted.  “Whatever, but you know, your neighbors are going to start looking at us weird if we don’t do something.”

“Okay, okay.  Just give me a minute, then,” Madison quipped as she hurriedly ducked back into the apartment, firing off a text to Mikio to let him know that she was locked out.  He replied that he’d be over as quickly as he could to check it out, and she smiled, shoving aside the trace feeling of guilt over what she was doing.  ‘It’s all for the greater good,’ she told herself, dropping the phone into her bag once more.

It didn’t take long for her to change shoes and to grab a few things that she needed.  Those things were slipped into her bag, and she hurried back out of the apartment once more.  “All right, Gavin.  Do your worst.”

With a series of soft beeps and a few long and unhappy ones, he entered random codes until the keypad blinked red a few times.  The backlight then shut off completely—apparently completely dead—mission accomplished.

“There,” Gavin said, taking a step back as he lifted a hand to gesture at the keypad.  “Locked out, good and proper.”

“Excellent,” Jillian yelped, hoisting herself against Gavin’s shoulder to plant a loud kiss on his cheek.  Madison leaned in from the other side, effectively catching the shy dog-youkai in the middle of a smoochie-sandwich as a vastly amused Valerie looked on, idly rubbing her belly through the skin-tight black sweater.

“Okay, okay,” Gavin grumbled, trying to extricate himself from the midst of the impromptu show of gratitude.  “Shouldn’t we get moving, then?”

“Huh?  Why?” Jillian asked.

Wiping Madison’s lipstick off his cheek with a blushing frown, he shook his head.  “Well, won’t Mikio be here soon?  Don’t you think he’ll think it’s weird if we’re all hanging out here, waiting for him?”

“That’s true,” Madison said, biting her lip as she considered it.  “Anyway, thank you for your help, Gavin.  You’re the best!”

“I don’t know about that,” he replied in a grumble as his blush darkened.

Jillian giggled and grabbed her mate’s hand, preparing to drag him over to the elevator, but she jerked back when he suddenly stopped and tugged her back.  “Damn, that was fast,” he grumbled.

Jillian spun him around and hustled him down the hallway in the opposite direction, stopping just long enough to grab Valerie’s arm in passing.  The three of them had just ducked through the stairwell door when the soft chime of the elevator sounded, the doors sliding open, and Mikio stepped out of it, spotting Madison immediately as he purposefully strode toward her.

“Maddy?  You locked yourself out?” he said, frowning at her, though not unkindly.  No, he seemed more concerned than anything.

She grimaced, suffering a late surge of guilt since he was the one who had paid for the security system, in the first place.  “I . . . I couldn’t remember the code,” she said, which was at least partially true.  She didn’t remember it, no, but she still had it written down on a slip of paper in her pocket.  “I guess it locks you out if you enter the code wrong too many times . . .”

“O-Oh,” he replied, turning to inspect the darkened, dead keypad.  He tried pushing a few buttons, but it remained well and truly locked out.  After a few more tries, though, he finally dug his cell phone out and called the security company on speaker.

“Yes, I’m calling about Madison Cartham’s system.  She accidentally locked herself out, and the keypad isn’t responding.”

“Hello, sir.  May I ask to whom I’m speaking?”

“My name is Izayoi.  I’m the one who ordered the system.  They just finished it up today . . .”

“I see . . . I’m sorry, Mr. Izayoi.  I can’t give details on that account without Ms. Cartham’s authorization.”

“It’s fine,” Madison piped up.  “I’m right here.”

The customer service rep verified Madison’s identity while Mikio frowned at the keypad.

“Okay, well, it looks like you’ve managed to trigger the default shut-down of the system, and when that happens, we have to send someone out to replace the door lock.  It’s the latest model, and when someone’s unable to enter the correct code that often in less than two minutes, then the keypad is programmed to kill the lock mechanism entirely.  It’s an extra deterrent, so if someone tries to force the door once the keypad is broken, we’re automatically alerted, and we notify the local authorities.  Unfortunately, because of this safety feature, it will take us a couple weeks to get out there to change it since we have to reprogram a new keypad unit for you.  Now, if it’s an emergency, then we can arrange for a hotel for you at a discount while we try to get a specialist out there as soon as we possibly can, but the rush is pretty expensive.”

“A couple weeks . . .” Mikio echoed.  “Uh, no, no rush.  I mean, she can stay with me, so . . .”

“All right, then.  I’m truly sorry for any inconvenience.  We’ll call in a few days to arrange a time that works for you.”

“Thank you,” he said and disconnected the call.

“I’m so sorry.  You must think I’m pathetic,” Madison said with a sigh.

Mikio shrugged and stowed the phone in his pocket.  “Not really,” he assured her.  “I-I mean . . . Well, that is to say, I . . . I-I-I don’t . . . don’t mind, having you around . . .”

She finally smiled.  “How about I buy you dinner later on?”

He smiled, too—that shy, bashful smile that was slightly lopsided and entirely endearing—as he cocked his head to the side and fiddled with his twitching ear.  “I just had lunch, but . . . but, uh, sure . . .”

R 20;That . . . That’s one of the cutest things I’ve seen in a long, long time,” Jillian breathed in a whisper as the three of them peered out of the smallest crack between the door and the frame.

“I don’t get it,” Gavin remarked.

Valerie rolled her eyes but smiled.  “It really is,” she agreed.  “But how does he not realize that we’re here?”

“Hmm, maybe he’s too busy, paying attention to Maddy to realize,” Jillian said.

“I guess,” Valerie allowed thoughtfully.  Still, she knew Evan’s sense of smell well enough, and whether he thought about it or not, on some level, Mikio would have to realize that they were there, wouldn’t he?  “But even so, aren’t we pushing our luck a little bit?”

“Oh, I suppose,” Jillian replied, but she sounded disappointed.

“I still don’t get it,” Gavin said, stepping back after the women and allowing the door to click closed.

Jillian giggled and grabbed Gavin’s hand to lead him down the stairs.  “She likes him, Gavvie,” she explained in a tone that implied that he ought to have already realized as much.

“Maddy?” he blurted, shaking his head, looking entirely confused.  “But—”

Valerie laughed and slipped her arm under Gavin’s free elbow.  “I wish Evan was as clueless as you sometimes, Gavin,” she said.

Gavin snorted indelicately.  “I’m not clueless.  I just—”

“You’re just the sweetest thing, ever!” she exclaimed.

“Hmm, well, if you two aren’t doing anything, why don’t you come over for dinner?  Evan’s grilling—I think,” Valerie said, letting go of Gavin in favor of digging out a face wipe and her phone to clean off the black lines she’d painted under each of her eyes.

Gavin grunted, likely still a little put-out by the inference that he was clueless.

“Evan got that new game, too—Fight Storm IV—said something about it being one that you were both waiting for?” she added to sweeten the deal.

That got his attention quickly enough.  “Fight Storm IV?  How the hell did he get it so quick?  It’s sold out everywhere and the digital won’t be available for another week!”

“I don’t know,” Valerie replied.  “You know Evan.  He sweet-talks everyone.”

“Asshole,” Gavin muttered as Jillian peeked out of the door to make sure they weren’t about to run into Mikio and Madison.  “All right,” he decided.  “He hasn’t been practicing already, has he?”

“Just got it today,” Valerie said.  “If we hurry . . .”

That’s all Gavin waited to hear.  Slipping an arm around both of the women, he hurried them across the foyer and out onto the street . . .