Pet Shop Of Horrors Fan Fiction ❯ Dragon Ex Machina ❯ Chapter 11 ( Chapter 11 )

Dragon Ex Machina

 

DISC: I do not own Pet Shop of Horrors or its characters. These are the property of mangaka Matsuki Akino and publishing house Tokyopop (in the U.S., anyway). I make no profit from this story. Please don't sue.

 

 

Chapter XI

 

 

Anxious.

 

There wasn't any other word that described D's mood. Just anxious. Dusting was the perfect busy task for when one was anxious. His hair was tied back and he wore an apron and white gloves.

 

Had Leon heard him? Was he even now finding his way across the Pacific?

 

The detective had never had access to the kind of money that would allow one to just drop things and catch an international flight. So how long would it take until he had saved up enough money?

 

“Yo, D. The tea's ready,” Tetsu placed the tea set on the coffee table. The count continued his random dusting.

 

Oh, his keiji-san was dedicated. He'd do whatever it took. Of that, D had no doubt.

 

But had he heard him?

 

“Uh, D? Tea!” T-chan stomped over to the count and waved his hand in front of the Count's face. D jumped at the intrusion.

 

“Forgive me, I was lost in my thoughts.” He turned to see the tea all set out. “Ah, you've prepared tea. How lovely. Thank you, T-chan.” The Count smiled broadly at the goat-lion and sat down to pour them both some of the soothing Suan Zao ren-Chamomile-Zhi Mu-Licorice tisane. (Note: this is a special tea blend of Chinese herbs that is brewed with dates. The dates are extracted and eaten. This tisane is thought to help promote calm centering and ease stress.)

 

“Mmm. What lovely date tarts!” he exclaimed as he tasted one.

 

`Okay, now I know something's up. He didn't even comment on the fact that I mixed centering tea for him. What the hell is going on?' Totetsu nodded at the Count and then excused himself.

 

Ten-chan had been avoiding D for days and T-chan was gonna get some answers from the punk-ass fox - one way or another. No one upsets his kami and gets away with it. He slinked out of the room without the Count even noticing.

 

D sat, sipping his tea and munching happily on the confections T-chan had prepared.

 

There was never even the consideration that the dream was just a dream. No. He knew he and the detective had actually met in the realm of sleep - where he could not run or avoid the human, even if he had tried.

 

And in the process, he'd finally discovered that his family had been mistaken. He'd found the missing piece - the thing that had always felt wrong, he'd figured out what it was and now, he knew what he was supposed to do - knew what he was born for. And for the first time, it felt right.

 

He would continue his work with the shop - it had always been what he was meant to do. But there was no reason to hate humans. Humans needed him - they were part of the animal kingdom and he would help them find their place. He wasn't just created to punish humans, he was there to teach them. Monstrum. He would help them to learn.

 

And to help him, Detective Orcot - Leon…

 

But had he heard him? Where was he? Where was he right now? Concentrating, he reached out to feel for the man. Consternation! He was so twitterpated by the whole thing he couldn't sense where the man was.

 

Leon had said… he'd said that he loved… he loved D. A gentle smile graced his face.

 

Leon loved him. The smile grew.

 

Leon loved D and D was not required to hate humans. A hand flew to his heart.

 

But… Quickly he stood and began the task of dusting the pristine shop.

 

He *had* to have heard.

 

Leon.

 

 

X

 

 

Orcot always found flying to be a pain in the ass. All the freakin' travel restrictions nowadays, with the “don't carry this,” “now don't carry that” and lines as far as the eye could see to get through the security checkpoint. And would traveling with just one small carry-on make it less of a hassle or would it cause more difficulty in getting through customs, making the officials think he was up to no good on a one-way ticket with no bags? But he just didn't own anything. AND he'd had to discard his bodywash and toothpaste - not that he really cared too much over that.

 

He figured the trip - from entering the airport in Honolulu to exiting the airport in Tokyo - would take ten hours in total: eight hours from take off to landing plus two hours in the airport to make it through customs on either end. Adding in the time to get out of the airport and figure out where the hell Chinatown was in Tokyo, and then where D's shop was, it would be dinner time at the earliest by the time he got there.

 

The bus pulled up to the airport at 10:23 and for once, he got through security and customs quickly. By 11:10, he had visited the snack shop and picked up a bottle of water, a bottle of cola, a small box of Chips Ahoy, a deck of playing cards to pass the time, a pack of Double-mint gum, and a box of macadamia nut clusters for D. By 11:35, he had a bag with two BK double-cheeseburgers and an order of onion rings because BK fries suck. By 11:40, they were seating his section on the plane. And the plane took off at exactly 12:02.

 

All-in-all, he hadn't had much time to stop and think about what he was doing.

 

Once he was on the plane and had eaten his lunch, though, that changed. Eight hours in the air, through five time zones meant he had a lot of damn time to wonder what the hell he thought he was doing. There was only so much solitaire one could play - and even cards couldn't distract him from his thoughts.

 

Like, would he even be able to find D? He'd been on this search for almost two years now. But really, there wasn't any reason to *not* believe D would be in Tokyo. After all, someone had gone to the trouble of getting him a ticket. He could see no reason why anyone would bother giving him a ticket to Tokyo for no reason. Of course, if there was a reason, it was either someone trying to get him to D, or trying to get him away from D. After all, he hadn't been a detective in two years and the criminals he'd put away wouldn't have a clue where he was anymore. Even his family didn't know.

 

It did bother him a bit. Who was this mysterious “boy” who had dropped off the ticket for him? And what the hell did, “As promised - your opportunity,” mean? In that weird ass dream, hadn't the voices that had been talking to him said something about figuring out why he wanted to get to the Count and that if he did - and if they agreed with his reason - they'd help him out?

 

Yeah, but that was just his psyche playing with him. It wasn't like someone could enter his dreams to talk to him…

 

Except that was the reason he was flying to Japan, wasn't it? Because D had done just that? If he didn't believe that, then he wouldn't be in this airplane at all.

 

“There's more on heaven and earth,” he muttered softly to himself. “Especially when D's involved.”

 

The Japanese businessman in the seat next to him turned a questioning eye toward Leon, who waved an apology to indicate that he was just talking to himself. The fifty-something man cocked a curious eyebrow before returning his attention to the book he'd been reading, hiding a small smirk. Leon grimaced and turned over another card in his solitaire game.

 

And after all, D was a kami. Why wouldn't he believe that the dream had been real? Actually, the real question was more had D been telling him the truth about where he was or just sent him on a wild goose chase.

 

Well, that was easy to answer. D had never lied to Leon. Sure, he just didn't tell him everything Leon wanted to know. That was irritating - frustrating - okay it pissed him the hell off - but it wasn't like Leon told D everything that D wanted to know either.

 

In fact, Leon had out and out lied to D. But then again, when Leon lied to D, he was lying to himself, too. Because he was…

 

He swallowed hard. The truth was, Leon didn't just love D, he was attracted to him as well. Had been - all along. He had no idea how anything physical would work between two guys. In fact, the thought kind of freaked him out. It sent him a bit toward panic, actually. Kissing D… Well, that could potentially be… okay. But anything more… Not so much wanting to think about it yet, thank you very much.

 

Especially since he still had no idea what would happen if he did find D.

 

This was the uncertain part of the whole trip - the reason why this trip was so crazy. Assuming D was in Tokyo, what would D do when he arrived? Would he be happy to see him, or would he push him away again?

 

It had been so long since he'd seen him, that the anticipation was palpable - almost painful. He looked at his watch. Damn it. Time always drags when you want it to go fast.

 

D.

 

Picking up the cards - lost again, he never was lucky in cards, almost ironic, really - he packed them in his pocket. Maybe he could get a nap. As his leg bounced nervously, he thought it was unlikely. He'd probably do better to watch the movie.

 

Shakespeare In Love.

 

This was going to be a long flight.

 

 

X