InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Purity 4: Justification ❯ A Woman Scorned ( Chapter 14 )

Cain rubbed the shallow vale in the center of his chest with his knuckles as he shuffled toward the kitchen.  Stifling a wide yawn, he shook his head then blinked a few times to clear his vision, heading straight for the coffee pot and Gin's latest cake confection.

'I think she laces those cakes,' his youkai grumbled.

Cain dumped a few tablespoons of coffee into the filter and closed the contraption.  'Oh, you again?  What do you want?'

'Nothing . . . Just wondered if you really were going to do it.'

Dumping in a carafe of water, he snapped the lid closed and flipped the 'on' button.  'Going to do what?  You could try being a little more concise, you know.'

'How many cakes has she made you, Cain?  Are you really going to give her wings?'

'Wings . . .'

"Morning, Daddy," Bellaniece greeted as she stumbled out of her bedroom.  "Did you have a good time last night?"

Cain cut off a huge hunk of cake and leaned against the counter as Bellaniece stopped long enough to kiss his cheek before rummaging around in the refrigerator.  "You were in bed when I got home," he commented evenly.  "Anything wrong?"

Bellaniece emerged with a bottle of apple juice and shot her father an impish smile.  "Nope, not a thing.  I was tired, so I went to bed early."

She stared directly into his eyes.  He knew the trick well.  Whenever Bellaniece wanted him to believe her, whenever she wanted to avoid questions, she always reverted to this trick: lowering her chin, gazing at him in that slow, direct way . . . Maybe it was simple instinct. Cain didn't want to question it. Isabelle had used that same ploy, hadn't she?  For just a moment, the fleeting pulse of a fluttering heartbeat, Bellaniece was Isabelle.  Cain blinked, shook his head as he shook his head to dispel the imagery.  Bellaniece smiled sweetly as she popped open the juice and took a long swallow.  "Something wrong, Daddy?"

"What?  Uh, no . . ."

He could tell from the look on her face that she didn't buy his miserable excuse for an answer.  She chose to ignore it as she stood up and ambled over to cut herself a slice of cake, too.  "How was dinner, by the way?  Did you have a good time with your cake fairy?"

Cain wrinkled his nose as he swallowed a bite of cake.  "It was fine," he hedged.

"Just 'fine'?"

"Yep, fine," he insisted.  "So what are you doing today?"

Bellaniece laughed.  "That was smooth, Daddy.  You think I didn't know you were changing the topic?"

Cain shrugged as he polished off his cake and rinsed his hands before pulling a mug out of the cupboard for coffee.

"I figured I'd go shopping today," she relented.

"Didn't you just go shopping recently?"

"For you, of course!  My closet is very happy.  Yours is sadly lacking."

"There's nothing wrong with my clothes," Cain argued as he rinsed off the empty cake plate.  "Anyway, you spend more than enough money for the both of us.  I don't need more clothes."

"That's funny, Daddy; very, very funny!  If you're going to be dating—"

"I'm not dating."

"—Then you need to dress to impress—"

"But I'm not dating."

"—Because if you don't—"

"Bellaniece, I'm not dating."

"—You'll never get past first base with Gin."

Cain slapped his hand over his eyes and shook his head.  "You're grounded," he grumbled.  "No more talk shows for you."

Bellaniece laughed.  "You know I never watch talk shows.  Not a big deal!  So-o-o . . ." she continued, dragging her claws along the counter as she strolled to the other side and leaned on her elbows.  "You were out really late last night, weren't you?  I was up till a little after midnight, and you still weren't back.  Don't tell me you and Gin got . . . lost . . .?"

"Not hardly.  Anyway, I thought you said you were going shopping?" Cain prodded as he lifted the coffee to his lips.

Bellaniece shrugged innocently and winked at her father.  "The master of evasion . . . Ah-ah, Daddy.  Hiding from the truth will only prolong your agony."

"And teasing your father will do the same thing for you."

Bellaniece relented with a soft giggle as she pushed away from the counter and shuffled off toward the bathroom.  "I'm thinking color, Daddy . . . lots of color.  Be gone, drab shades of gray and brown!  Be gone, boring whites and basic blacks!  Color, Daddy!  Think young!  Think vibrant!  Think—"

"Don't finish that," Cain warned, feeling heat stealing into his cheeks despite his efforts to contain it.

"—Cake fairies!"

Cain whipped the towel off the counter and threw it at his daughter.  Bellaniece ducked into the bathroom in time to avoid the flying cloth but stuck her head back into the hallway a moment later to grin at her father and blow him a kiss.

Rolling his eyes, Cain finished his coffee and refilled the cup.  Rolling his head from side to side to stretch out his muscles, he headed back toward the third bedroom; the one he used as a studio.

The small worktable and a desktop easel were the only things in the room.  All his supplies were stashed in the closet, and while the room was much tinier than his studio back home, he figured it would do.  Western wall was a series of windows.  Since Cain did most of his work in the afternoons or early evenings, it suited purposes much better.

Wandering over to the windows with his mug of steaming coffee, he stared out over the city, remembering a time when the city was young; remembering a time when he had been idealistic, too, and he had thought that the world was a beautiful place.  It was a lifetime ago, wasn't it?

With a sigh, he lifted his coffee to his lips.

'Let's go back to bed, Cain.  I'm still tired, and so are you.'

Cain made a face and swallowed the rest of his coffee.

'Oh, come on!  It was after three when we finally went to bed . . . see what you get for visiting with Gin?  My ass is dragging, and I don't even have an ass . . .'

'I wouldn't have cared if you'd have shut up last night when I told you to . . . numerous times.'

'Right, Cain . . . If I left you to your own devices, you'd have been all over that poor girl, and then where would we be?'

Cain wrinkled his nose.  'I'll pretend I didn't hear you say that.'

'Yep, and while you're at it, pretend you aren't thinking about the fact that you really had a good time, despite yourself.'

'. . . I never said I didn't.'

'Ri-i-i-i-i-ight.'

Bellaniece stepped out of the apartment, adjusting her purse strap over her shoulder and balancing the empty cake plate in her other hand.  She had a plan, and if it worked . . .

'Belle, we've been through this, right?  You agreed to let them alone.'

'I never agreed to that . . . I agreed to warn Gin should Daddy pull that stubborn act of his . . .'

'And the chances of that happening are pretty high.'

Bellaniece made a face as she tapped on Gin's door.  'Maybe.  I've still got to try, don't I?'

'No, you don't.  If they're meant to be, they'll figure that out without your interference, don't you think?'

Bellaniece was saved from answering when Gin opened the door and smiled.  "Bellaniece!  Do you feel better?  I hope your cramps weren't too severe . . ."

Bellaniece waved a hand dismissively and stepped into Gin's apartment.  "Oh, I was fine . . . they didn't last long—never do.  Did you have a good time with my father?"

Gin rubbed her eye and closed the door.  Taking the plate from Bellaniece, she shuffled over to the counter to set it down.  "Yeah . . . we goofed around on the playground, and he bought me ice cream."

"Really?  Nice . . . Huh."

Gin shook her head, a slight frown surfacing on her face as she twitched her ears and shrugged.  "Is that strange?"

"Not strange," Bellaniece said slowly, running a claw lightly along the countertop.  "No, not strange, just . . ." Trailing off with a dreamy sigh, she giggled and ducked her head.  "It's nice, you know?  I mean, it's been a long time since . . . Well, Daddy's been different lately, and I'm glad."

"He's lonely, isn't he?  I know he has you, but sometimes it seems like he's . . . I don't know . . . looking for something, maybe?"

"I want Daddy to be happy.  I'd love to hear him laugh.  He doesn't laugh very often."

"Yeah . . . laughing is good . . ." Gin tried to smile.  Strained and sad, she looked like she was confused.

Bellaniece frowned.  "Gin?  Are you okay?"

"Me?  I'm fine . . ."

Bellaniece wasn't buying.  Gin was too open, too friendly, too easy to read.  "Did something happen last night?" she asked, careful to keep her tone casual.

Gin wrapped a strand of hair around her finger, idly twisting the silvery lock into a tight ringlet.  "I don't know," she admitted softly, staring at the hair wrapped around her finger.  "Has anyone ever hated you just because?  I mean, without any real reason, and without justification?"

Bellaniece snorted, gritting her teeth as she remembered Kichiro's derisive tone, his condescending demeanor . . . and the confusion of her own emotions that had kept her awake long into the night.  "Some people think it's easier to dislike others than to try to find the good in them . . . that's what I think."

Gin grimaced.  "Maybe.  Thanks for returning my plate."

"It's not a problem.  Daddy was cloistered in his makeshift studio . . ." Regarding Gin for a moment, Bellaniece smiled as she watched Gin put away the plate.  "Say, Gin . . . I was going to go shopping for Daddy.  He needs some new clothes, and I wondered . . . Do you know of any tall men's shops around here?  I might have trouble finding clothes to fit him otherwise."

Considering the question as she tapped her index finger against her cheek, Gin nodded.  "Yeah, I know of a few.  I have a hard enough time finding clothes when I look for presents for my family.  It seems like they're all taller or broader than most of the guys around here, on average . . ."

Bellaniece squinted apologetically.  "Do you think you could come with me?  I'd probably get lost trying to find my way around Tokyo alone, if it's not a problem . . ."

Gin brightened right away, a happy smile adding a sparkle to her eyes.  "All right," she agreed.  "I'm free today.  Oh, I should pick up a shirt for Cain since I ruined two of his the other day.  Let me brush my hair and grab my shoes."

Bellaniece grinned as Gin scurried away.  'Well, that was easy, wasn't it?'

'Of course it was, Belle.  Gin's a nice girl, and you were counting on that, weren't you?'

'You make it sound so clandestine.'

'Everything is clandestine with you.'

'That's not true!  I just think that if Gin is going to be spending time with Daddy that she ought to have a say in what he is wearing.  It's only fair.'

'Speaking of fair . . .'

Stifling a groan since Bellaniece had a fair guess as to what was coming, she shook her head.  'I don't want to talk about that.'

'Fine, you don't have to; just listen.'

'I don't want to do that, either.'

'You were pretty rude to Kichiro last night.'

'I thought I said I didn't want to talk about that—or hear about it, either.'

'Be that as it may, you need to hear this.  You shouldn't have been so mean to him.'

'Mean?  You want to discuss 'mean'?  What do you call his behavior if I was mean?'

'This isn't about him, Belle, it's about you.  It doesn't matter how rude he is.  You're the daughter of the tai-youkai.  You should be above all that.'

Bellaniece made a face, stubbornly crossing her arms over her chest.  'He just makes me so mad!  I didn't do a thing to him, and you'd think I'd single-handedly started World War Three!'

'He might make you mad, Belle, but you did want to kiss him.'

'I didn't.'

'Don't lie to me.'

'I'm not.'

'You are.'

'That's stupid!  I did not want to kiss him!  Why would I have wanted to kiss him?  He's mean, arrogant, rude, infuriating—"

'Sure, he's all those things.  He's also articulate, handsome, smart, charming . . . did I mention handsome?'

Bellaniece snorted.  'Yes, you did, and I don't care.  The bad outweighs the good in his case.'

'Yeah, and maybe he thinks the same things about you.'

'. . . I don't care.'

'And you don't breathe, either.'

The flash of angry golden eyes made her flinch as a shiver ran up her spine.  She'd been too close to him, and that look . . . For a moment, he'd held onto that anger.  Caught somewhere between the desire to throttle her and just plain desire, he'd been dangerous, and Bellaniece . . .

'That doesn't make sense,' she thought with a shake of her head.  'He was angry . . . I was angry . . . One second we were arguing, and the next . . .'

'The next moment he almost kissed you, and you might have let him, had it not been for your misplaced pride.'

'Weren't you the one who pointed out that I am the daughter of the tai-youkai?  Misplaced pride, indeed.'

'You're deliberately missing the point, Belle.'

'So what is it, since you know it all?'

'The point is that there's something between you two.  Don't you think that it's worth looking into?'

'No,' Bellaniece thought with an inward sigh.  'No, I don't think it is.'

'You give a whole new meaning to the term 'stubborn'.'

'And I'd love for you to give a whole new meaning to the phrase 'seen but not heard'.'

Gin hurried back into the room with her hair brush in one hand and a pair of tan sandals in the other.  Dropping the shoes on the floor, she slipped them on while dragging the brush through her hair.  "Okay," she commented after a few strokes.  "I'm ready."

Bellaniece smiled and led the way to the door while ignoring the voice of her youkai that just wouldn't shut up.  It'd been awhile since she'd gone shopping with another female.  It was bound to be fun, she figured.

Kichiro sighed and pushed his glasses up his nose as he frowned at the notebook in his hand.  Half of the reason he wore his hair back in a braid most of the time was to keep it out of the way and neat, especially in surgery.  He also hated having it flying in his face every time he turned around, too.  The other half of the reason was since he didn't have human ears or even youkai ears, his hair held his glasses in place.  Luckily for him, he only needed the irritating things to avoid eyestrain when he was reading for prolonged periods of time or when he was working on the computer.

He'd been researching the physical changes that occurred in the mating of youkai and hanyou.  He had a hypothesis that seemed sound enough, but since it wasn't really something easily proven, he wasn't sure if he would be able to get his uncle to underwrite the research.

This pet project was one that he'd started years ago, just before Ryomaru and Nezumi had accidentally mated.  He and Ryomaru had been out carousing, and Ryomaru had mentioned that it was too bad they couldn't have sex without the repercussions of taking a mate.  At the time Kichiro had laughed off his brother, but when he found himself with more and more free time and less and less family interaction, at least with Ryomaru, he'd started working on his preliminary hypothesis.  The rest was, as they say, history.

In the cases he'd studied, one thing was clear: the mating, itself, wasn't the mitigating factor in the molecular changes in the youkai or hanyou.  It seemed that it was the actual exchange of DNA that did it.  Much like the blood transfusions that had replaced the actual marking ritual, if Kichiro could prove his theory . . .

'This is weird, Kich, just so you know.'

Kichiro dropped the notebook on his desk and opened the manila file, shuffling papers until he found the slide films he'd ordered up from the one couple who had agreed to let him test their DNA.  Holding them up to the light as he squinted to examine them, he shook his head slowly and sighed.

'It isn't weird at all . . . This pretty much proves it, to me.  There wasn't a change when they used a condom during sex.  It all had to do with the mixing of DNA, or more precisely, the introduction of semen into the female's reproductive system . . .'

'Keh.  So you're basically making it okay for youkai and hanyou to be as fickle as humans?'

'Not at all,' he argued absently.  'There's still the matter of choosing your mate.  I'm just saying that it is possible . . . that's all.'

'Yeah, I'm not so sure Sesshoumaru's gonna like this.'

'Does that matter?'

'Not really.  He was born with a stick up his ass, wasn't he?  He don't like anything that goes against tradition.'

'He supported the blood transfusions.'

'Of course he did.  Kami forbid Toga should mark his mate the old fashioned way.'

Kichiro sighed, letting the film slide out of his fingers onto the stack of papers on his desk.  'I can't say I blame Toga.  That's a nasty business.'

'Speaking of 'nasty business', you going to apologize to Belle?'

'Of course not.'

'So you don't care that you were a real ass, and she called you on it?'

'Firstly, she's the one who was throwing herself at the waiter; I didn't pick her up and toss her at him.  Secondly I was being nice by trying to let her out of her obligation, and she was completely unnatural!  If she hates me so much, just why in hell would she want to keep working for me?'

'Maybe she has something to prove.'

'Or maybe she likes torturing me with her very presence.'

'Balls, Kich, you should have just kissed her when you had the chance, but no, you have to go all noble, and when you did, you gave her a chance to push you away, which she did.  Self-inflicted torture, at best.'

Yanking off his glasses and wincing as the ear piece tangled in his hair, Kichiro jerked them free and tossed them down on the desk.  'That wasn't noble, I didn't want to kiss her, and I didn't mean it that way!'

'. . . Baka.'

Kichiro snorted.  'All right, so maybe I did think about it . . . but she definitely wanted me to kiss her more than I wanted to do it.'

'Must be nice to live in denial.  Does the sun shine there?'

'Shut up.'

'Come on, Kich, 'fess up: you want her.  She fascinates you.'

'Yep, about as much as a horde of rampant youkai fascinates me.'

'A horde of rampant youkai?  At least you'd have guinea pigs for your case study.'

'That's funny, ha ha . . . Oh wait, you were serious, weren't you?'

'Make fun of me all you want, baka.  We'll see who has the last laugh.'

'Sure we will because it'll be me.'

'Answer me one question and I'll leave you alone.'

'Forever?'

'For now.'

'Good enough.'

'Okay . . . Are you madder that she didn't like your offer or that she wouldn't kiss you?'

Kichiro considered the question.  Sending his chair scooting back as he shot to his feet and strode toward the door, he wasn't sure which of those things bothered him more.  It was a loaded question, no doubt about it.

His youkai snorted as he heard the office door latch behind him.  'Yeah . . . that's what I thought.  The non-kiss was definitely worse, in my opinion, too.'

"Gin, how do you like this?"

Gin peeked up from the rack of men's dress shirts to see what Bellaniece was showing her this time.  Relieved to see it wasn't another lime green or hot pink concoction, Gin nodded at the cream colored, Henley style shirt.  "Oh, that's nice!  It looks soft!"

Bellaniece broke into an enigmatic little smile and shook her head but added the shirt to the small pile of them slung over one arm.

"I suppose I should buy Cain a white dress shirt, since that's what I ruined both times," Gin mused.  "Linen or cotton?"

"How about silk?"

Gin giggled, smashing her hand over her mouth as she tried to stifle the sound.  "Cain?  In silk?  He doesn't really strike me as a silk man . . ."

"You'd be surprised, I think . . . I'd be willing to bet that if you bought him a silk shirt, he'd wear it."

She wrinkled her nose.  "Oh, I don't think I should buy him something that he would feel obligated to wear . . ."

Bellaniece's eyes danced with a conspiratorial twinkle.  "You know, Gin . . . I dare you to buy Daddy a silk shirt."

Gin shook her head quickly.  "No . . . I don't think that's a good idea."

"Come on, Gin!  Prove my theory!  Daddy . . . values your opinion . . ."

Gin's hand hesitated over the hangers on the rack.  "Really?"

Bellaniece nodded.  "Sure he does!  You're the first real friend he's had . . . ever . . . or at least so long as I can remember . . ."

"That sounds so lonely . . . It's just the two of you, right?"

"Yeah but it's alright.  At least I don't have anyone breathing down my neck or anything; just Daddy, and, well, there are times that he doesn't really notice, at all."

Gin frowned and digested Bellaniece's sad assessment as she slowly picked through the shirts.

'What are you thinking?  You think you can change things just for him, don't you?'

'You make it sound like it's a bad thing.'

'Not bad, no, but be realistic . . . There are some things in life that we can't change.'

'I . . . I like him.  I just want to help him . . . I want him to see that life is good, and . . . Is that so terrible?'

'You really like him, don't you?  I do, too.'

'Well, sure I like him . . . He's funny and smart, strong and gentle, and his artwork is brilliant—just brilliant . . . There's so much I could learn from him!'

'There's more to it than that, isn't there, dollface?  You don't have to answer because I don't think you understand.  I don't even really understand . . .'

"Gin?  Are you all right?"

Bellaniece's voice cut through Gin's thoughts, and Gin cleared her throat before turning her attention to the younger woman.  "What?  Oh, I'm fine."

Bellaniece held up a white silk shirt for Gin's approval.  "So, I think this screams 'Cain Zelig', don't you?"

"It isn't very serviceable, is it?" Gin asked with a marked frown as she slowly reached out to touch the fabric.

Bellaniece fluttered a hand dismissively.  "Serviceable doesn't matter all the time!  He'll wear it for special occasions: going out with a friend or . . . stuff like that.  Every man needs at least one really nice silk shirt, in my opinion.  Even better when the shirt comes from someone else.  Really, Gin, you'd be doing me a favor.  If I bought it, Daddy wouldn't wear it because, you know, I'm just his daughter.  You really should get it for him.  I bet he'd figure out he likes it, after all."

"I'd think he'd like it more, coming from his daughter," Gin remarked, studying the shirt with a little frown.  "Do you really think so?  I'd hate to buy it for him and have him not like it . . ."

Bellaniece shrugged.  "Yeah, but it's kind of nice, isn't it?  Seeing someone wearing something special that you chose for them instead of not being able to tell if he's worn that shirt since he has so many of them, anyway?"

Gin's frown deepened.  Cain did have a lot of plain white shirts, didn't he?  'Would he wear it though?  It'd be such a waste if he didn't . . .'

'Get him the shirt, doll.  I think Cain would love any shirt you bought him . . . even that nasty lime green one . . .'

Scrunching her face up at the thought of that shirt, Gin hesitantly reached out and took the hanger from Bellaniece.  "Okay," she agreed slowly.  "If you really think he'll wear it . . ."

Bellaniece giggled, looking quite satisfied with her accomplishment.  "Of course he will, Gin.  I'd lay a bet on it."

"I hope you're right."

"Trust me, Gin!  I know Daddy.  Anyway, you two were out pretty late last night, weren't you?"

"Yeah," Gin agreed as she followed Bellaniece toward the checkout counter.  "I had a good time, but I think Cain was worried about you.  He got pretty quiet . . ."

"Daddy's always quiet.  I think he'd be perfectly happy, not talking at all, if it weren't for me bugging him."

"He says I babble too much," Gin confessed, cheeks pinking, shifting her weight from one foot to the other as they waited behind another customer.  "I probably do."

Bellaniece laughed.  "It doesn't bother him much, does it?  I mean, he still likes you, right?"

Gin shrugged, cheeks reddening a little more at Bellaniece's obvious approval.

"I'm glad one of us had a nice time last night.  God knows I didn't," Bellaniece grumbled.

"Oh, no . . . I was worried about that . . . I thought maybe Cain should have called to check on you.  You're sure you're feeling better today?"

Bellaniece set the pile of clothes on the counter and shook her head.  "Fine, fine . . ."

Gin blinked as Bellaniece's cheeks blossomed in color.  For the first time, Bellaniece seemed genuinely uneasy, and Gin had to wonder why.  "Belle?"

Forcing a smile, Bellaniece shook her head.  "It's nothing, really."

"Are you sure?  I . . . I can listen."

Bellaniece waited as Gin paid for the shirt and the two stepped out of the shop into the bright afternoon sunshine.   Staring at the sidewalk as they strolled down the street, Bellaniece sighed and adjusted the bags in her hands.  "I like you, Gin.  I can't believe you're actually related to that pig-headed, ill-tempered, narcissistic . . ." Drawing a deep breath as she cut herself off, Bellaniece wrinkled her nose and uttered a low growl.  "Sorry . . . I know he's your brother, and I'm sure you love him, but honestly, I can't believe he had the nerve—never mind."

"Nerve?" Gin echoed.  "I assume you mean Kichiro-nii-chan again, right?  Did he do something else?"

Bellaniece stared at Gin for several seconds, expression chagrined, troubled.  "Promise you won't tell Daddy?"

Gin nodded slowly as her youkai told her not to make a promise she wasn't sure she should keep.  "Okay."

Satisfied that Gin would keep her word, Bellaniece shrugged and looked like she was trying to find a place to start.  "I let him take me to dinner last night.  I thought . . . I don't know what I was thinking."

Gin's eyebrows shot up as she stopped in her tracks to gape at Bellaniece.  "You went to dinner with Kichiro-nii-chan?  Oh, my . . ."

"It'll never happen again, I assure you."

Gin winced at Bellaniece's acerbic tone.  "That bad?"

Bellaniece rolled her eyes.  "We just can't seem to come to terms.  I decided on the way home that your brother is the lowest form of life there is: an amoeba—lower, even."

"I don't understand . . . I mean, he is so nice to everyone, other than Ryo-nii, but I think Ryo-nii likes that, too . . . Lower than an amoeba?  Is there such a thing?"

"Sure there is, and his name is Dr. Izayoi.  Anyway, on the way home, I thought it over, and I've decided that I'm just going to pretend that he doesn't exist.  He did that well enough to me.  It's only fair that I return the favor, don't you think?"

"What do you mean?" Gin asked, shaking her head slowly.  "You don't mean . . .?  He didn't . . . Did he make you walk home alone?"

Bellaniece snorted.  "It was fine.  I didn't want his company, the jerk."

"No, it wasn't fine!  I can't believe he'd do that!  They wouldn't even let me walk home from school alone though normally I just hung around until Papa was ready to leave . . . You're right!  What a jerk!  Just wait till I get my hands on him!  I'll kick his stupid . . . heinie!"

Bellaniece blinked in shock as Gin's temper soared.  "Gin?"

"The nerve!  Sure, he might not have known that you can't fight, but that doesn't make it all right!  I ought to tell Mama!  She'd . . . She'd . . . She'd purify him!"

Bellaniece grabbed Gin by the shoulders and shook her head.  "No, Gin, no!  Promise me you won't say anything to Kichiro about this!  I . . . I don't want him to know he got to me.  I really, really don't.  Please."

Gin scowled, obviously not wanting to make the promise Bellaniece was after.  "Belle . . ."

"Gin, please.  I'd be humiliated if he knew I said anything at all.  Please, Gin, I'm begging you."

Gin sighed, shoulders slumping, ears twitching angrily.  "All right," she agreed.  "I won't say anything . . . and for the record, he hates being ignored, so if you can manage that . . ."

Bellaniece let her hands drop and heaved a sigh of relief.   "Good."

Gin didn't reply to that.  'That's just unbelievable!  Someone needs to slap that baka senseless!'

'Yeah, but you gave Bellaniece your word.'

'I know . . . it's just wrong!  Hypocritical jerk . . .'

'Don't worry about that, Gin . . . The question is: why did they go out to dinner together, in the first place?'

Gin stopped short, frowning as she pondered that particular question.  Bellaniece was preoccupied, talking to a guy that Gin hadn't seen approach.  He seemed harmless.  Gin turned her attention back to the bigger question in her mind.  'That is interesting, isn't it?  I mean, Bellaniece said yesterday that she couldn't stand Kichiro-nii-chan, so why would she have gone anywhere with him?  Too bad he's such an idiot.  They'd make a cute couple . . .'