Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction ❯ Oiran no Gaijin - "The Foreign Courtesan" ❯ Night Wind ( Chapter 7 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

"Ashley!" persisted Natalia, shaking her friend's shoulder. "Come on, they're letting us back on campus. The firemen can't find anything that's dangerous right off."

"All the water pipes exploded and the whole campus is drenched inside and out," Kirsten informed her. "But since they aren't still running, they're going to let us go back on campus in groups and try to salvage our stuff."

"I don't care about my stuff," grumbled Ashley, still sitting on the bench with Nicole's things in her lap and beside her. "You can go."

"But---"

"I said I don't care!" yelled Ashley, glaring angrily at her friends.

Natalia glared right back - she was the harsh realist of the group and she was just going to have to MAKE Ashley see sense.

"Listen, blowing up at us isn't going to bring Nicole back!" she said firmly, giving her friend another shake. "It's okay to be sad, but you can't lash out at people like that!"

Ashley turned away from Natalia, refusing to look at her or any of her friends. Ms. Kirkpatrick had heard the outburst and come over to see about the disturbance. She shooed the girls, Daniel, Keith, Patrick, and the Japanese Culture club people away, assuring them that this situation was better left to adults to deal with. Keith opened his mouth to say that he was eighteen already, but Ms. Kirkpatrick would hear nothing of it. She stood in front of Ashley and addressed her with a soft, rather patronizing voice.

"Ashley, we are all affected by this tragic situation," she said. "We're all going to miss Nicole, but you're going to need to get a hold of yourself. I'm not telling you to suppress your feelings or deny them. I'm just telling you to express them in a different way.

Ashley just glared at her, something she would never normally do.

"Also, I think you should know about this before we contact Nicole's parents and this situation really blows up," continued Ms. Kirkpatrick. "We know you're going to be home from school for a good long time while you're grieving and that's perfectly okay. However, due to your attack on Mr. Sheehan, we're going to have to insist that you don't come back to school until you see a therapist and get a clean bill of health. We are working in your best interests, along with the safety of other students."

"What!?" demanded Ashley, standing up. "You mean you're suspending me!?"

"This is not a disciplinary suspension technically," Ms. Kirkpatrick said carefully. "We would have expected you to be absent for around two weeks for normal grieving and we would allow you to have a lighter work load. But for the next ten school days following that two-week period, you will have your assignments e-mailed to you and we will expect them to be complete by the time you have seen your therapist and been cleared to return to school."

"But... I've never been in trouble before!" exclaimed Ashley, disbelief written on her face. "The only time I ever got detention was for overdue library books!"

Ms. Kirkpatrick shook her head.

"I'm afraid this is the way it has to be," she said firmly. "Since this is your first time getting in serious trouble, we can take into account the traumatic situation. We've spoken to Mr. Sheehan's parents and they have agreed not to press charges due to the tragic circumstances."

Ashley nodded dumbly and as soon as Ms. Kirkpatrick had turned away, she turned around to cram Nicole's things back into the dirty, faded lavender bag. People started gathering around her again. Natalia and Kirsten were closest to her, their hands on her shoulders, trying to keep her steady. Daniel was hovering around behind Natalia, unsure of what to do with himself in the current situation. He was almost totally anti-social by nature and big crowds of stupid people usually annoyed him down to his last nerve. Nicole had been fairly irritating to him, always chattering on and on like a squirrel and trying to start conversations about the stupidest things. He was a quiet, cynical, science-oriented person - she was... loud.

Keith had left Patrick to come and stand with Ashley, an uncertain expression on his face - it was somewhere between suppressed shock and wanting to cry. Though he might have been rather clueless on many points, he knew that Nicole had special feelings for him. He wasn't sure if he would ever date her - he was content to just be friends - but that didn't mean he wanted her to leave him alone. Knowing that he wouldn't ever see her at lunch or in psychology or just out on campus again, that they would never hug after the bell had rung again - it just sort of left holes in his days. He didn't know Ashley all that well - they'd gone through elementary school, junior high, and high school together, but had never really been close. But by the way Nicole was always talking about her, saying what good friends they were, he knew this had to be hard on her.

"Ashley..." he said quietly, not sure of what to say next. "I... um... I'm sorry... I don't know what else to say. Except, I think she would have liked seeing you beat the shit out of Casey. She never liked him."

Ashley smiled weakly, remembering the disaster on the senior retreat, when Casey Sheehan had tried his best to make a fool of Nicole in front of the whole senior class and how it had blown up in his face. The class, for once in all their years singling her out and making her miserable, sided with Nicole. They all told her what a nasty, scummy thing that was for him to do. Even the guys he hung out with came and apologized to her for going along with it. Some of them tried to assure her that they had tried to stop him, but he had insisted. It had been Nicole's first time feeling like she was actually a part of the class, after feeling like a separate unit - maybe even another species - for so long. For the first time, the spotlight had shone on her and for once, people weren't laughing at her - they were cheering her on. Ashley had been so happy for her.

"I think she would have liked to do it herself," she said sadly, unconsciously rubbing her knuckles where they had connected with Casey's nose. "I know she could have."

"Yeah, I could see her doing that," agreed Keith.

Ashley sighed - Nicole hadn't even been gone for a day and already people were reminiscing about the times they had seen and heard her in action.

"It's amazing," she said. "After all those years of getting picked on, she never hated them. Sometimes it took her a long time to forgive them, but she never let herself really hate them. All it did was make her a better person - better than they'll ever be."

Keith nodded - though it was true, she had gotten on his nerves sometimes, he knew that Nicole was a genuinely good person. She was always trying to stop the idiots throwing things at her friends and making fun of them - she looked out for everybody else, but sometimes she forgot to look out for herself. Even after he had turned her down when she had asked him out, she still greeted him every day with a smile and a hug. She still talked to him - and he wasn't clueless enough not to know that she had still been hopeful that he would change his mind.

"Yup," he said softly, his voice catching for just a second.

Ashley shook her head as she looked over at the group of idiots, who were joking loudly and crudely about what could have happened to Nicole.

"You know, she always thought about killing herself," she said bitterly. "Thinking 'they'll be sorry when I'm gone', and now this. She always told me not to hate people, but I'm finding it really hard not to."

"They're just assholes," Keith said simply. "They've always been like that."

"But you'd think - she's really gone and they're acting like they're glad about it," growled Ashley, wanting to go over there and break someone else's nose - or his jaw, or whatever.

The Japanese Culture club had crowded around Ashley, trying to offer their condolences - well, those of them who knew what the word 'condolences' meant. Ashley answered them with mindless 'uh-huh's and 'thank you's, really grateful for their concern, but unable to act like she cared at the moment. Her heart was on the ground, as Nicole would have said, and though her body was physically strong, she had neither the strength nor the desire to pick it up again. When her parents had died, Nicole had been there for her - the strong one, the shoulder to cry on. It was never explicitly stated, but Ashley thought just like everyone else sort of did, that Nicole would just always be there, ready to listen and offer support. This was the first time that Ashley had ever needed her friend and she hadn't been there. Even when they were apart, she could always call - Nicole didn't care what time it was.

"Now she's just... not there..." she whispered to herself.

Nicole woke up shivering, her shoulders numbed by the cold air in the room - it seemed like there was a window open or something, letting in the night wind.

Did I leave the ceiling fan on again? she thought blearily, fishing around for her glasses. Shit...

So it was really real - she was trapped in a Japanese bordello during the Bakumatsu. She felt something shift behind her and froze... Oh no... Had she really...? She couldn't make herself think of it. She couldn't have done that, could she? Certainly if she had, she would remember it. But she thought of her psychology class and the chibi Sigmund Freud in her head poked her brain with one of his little chibi-cigars. If a memory was traumatic enough, sometimes the brain would try to suppress or erase the memory, try to make it so that you believed it never happened.

Freud was a sex-crazed crack-head, Nicole thought in disgust, remembering her last vocabulary section. Okay... This is it...

She took a deep breath as quietly as she could and turned over carefully. As realization dawned on her, like a bird landing on her head, she let in a soft gasp - she was face-to-face with... It couldn't be... No, we went over this last night, er, tonight, she thought, rattling her brain as she tried to figure out whether it was late night or early morning. It's him. Closing her eyes and re-opening them again would not make what, or who, was in front of her disappear. It was the man she had dreamed of waking up with - Sagara Souzou. He was still settled in on his side as he had been last night, resting his head on one arm. The other arm was draped loosely over Nicole's body - they were so close together that Nicole could feel his breath on her face, warming her chilled nose.

With a rather naughty smile on her face, she thought back to the one fan fiction she had that was for her eyes only, the one that she never spoke of and would never post - the one about her and Souzou on her eighteenth birthday. A delicious shiver trailed up her spine and she twitched involuntarily, then tried to stifle a giggle. She was lucky he was a heavy sleeper - he was still out like a light, though his nose twitched a little for some reason. Nicole smiled again, this time peacefully, as she thought back and remembered what had happened last night. Cold fear formed an icy lump in her stomach as she thought about what might have happened. Then she mentally shook her head and went back to studying Souzou's handsome features - and thinking about what DID happen last night.

He had stopped. It threw her already-traumatized brain for a loop, but he had stopped. She didn't understand it, not one tiny bit. His friend had paid for that night and, given her new position, he would legally have had every right to take advantage of her. She had seen the look in his dark eyes - he had fully intended to do just that, had said so himself. But he had stopped. She licked her suddenly-dry lips automatically and tried to make her brain process the information it had taken in the previous night. What had made him stop? From what she had read about Japanese men in this particular era, or overall, for that matter (strictly going on reading, folks), a woman's pleas wouldn't stop them. Of course, in that day and age, all men thought like that - women were theirs and that was that. Suppressing her rage and the urge to throttle the man who lay with her, she tried to cool down.

Really, what had stopped him? She wasn't very good at recognizing facial expressions or nonverbal cues, but she had seen the lust in his eyes last night. She had felt the heat of his touch. His kiss, though tender, had been possessive - she had felt his tongue just barely brush her lips, thinking about making her his... Or was that kind of kiss protective? She had only been kissed three times, but the one that stood out in her mind was similar to the one she had experienced last night. Paul had held her so tightly, pressing his mouth down on hers, only he had been obviously restraining himself. He had even asked her "Was that a bad move?" after. Souzou had held her just as protectively, but the touch of his tongue had been fleeting, letting her know that, though he wanted her body, he would leave her pure and untouched. Paul's kiss had been rather... well... naughty, what with breaths mingling and heat building as he held her in the dark. Nicole had certainly enjoyed it - was blown away by it - but she was glad he hadn't tried to move further with her.

"Ohayou gozaimasu," said a deep male voice, breaking into Nicole's thoughts and startling her - it took all she had to keep from making a meep noise.

"Erm... h-hi..." stammered Nicole, trying to keep herself covered - she moved a lot in her sleep and her kimono had fallen down to an indecent level.

"Sleep well?" Souzou inquired conversationally, as if this was something that he did on a regular basis.

Nicole's expression soured - for all she knew, he did do this on a regular basis.

"Fine, I guess," she grumbled, tugging her kimono and trying to get it back up where it was supposed to be. "You?"

Souzou stretched like a cat, sighed, and languidly reached one hand out to touch Nicole's cheek, propping himself up with the other arm.

"Better than I have in a while, but," he said casually, running his hand into her hair briefly as he paused, then returning it to her cheek. "You kick, you know that?"

Nicole's mouth fell open - who the hell was he to criticize how she slept!? - and she drew breath to start an argument.

"Shh," whispered Souzou, sliding his hand under Nicole's chin to close her mouth and placing a gentle finger on her lips to silence her. "Just let me look at you."

Nicole tried to look at his eyes, but his hair obstructed her view - she didn't like where this was leading.

"Why?" she demanded. "You promised you wouldn't do anything!"

"Did I?" Souzou asked consideringly. "Oh yes... I remember... Ah, if memory serves me correctly, I promised that I wouldn't TOUCH you..."

He licked his lips and Nicole's eyes widened in fear as he sat up, leaning on his left arm, and leaned over her, keeping his hand on her face.

"I don't recall saying anything about LOOKING at you..." he said innocently, a devilish grin on his face as he trailed his hand from her face to her throat, then down onto her... "Itai!"

He snatched his hand back, examining red bite marks, then looked down at Nicole, who growled at him menacingly.

"That's touching," she snarled, pulling the blanket up to her neck and glaring at him - any affection she might have had for him was draining from her quickly.

Souzou looked at her reproachfully, though there was a sparkle of playfulness in his eyes.

"It's like you have gunpowder in you," he said, his voice a smooth purr. "You're just like fireworks."

Nicole looked at him with a confused expression - it wasn't hard to confuse her, as Ashley would have kindly pointed out.

(*Authoress pokes her best friend*)

"Hanabi-musume," announced Souzou, pointing at Nicole.

"Fireworks Girl?" she asked, one eyebrow raised.

"Hai!" said Souzou, pleased with himself.

Nicole rolled her eyes and located her glasses, sticking the two side pieces behind her ears so she wouldn't have to squint at Souzou anymore.

"Don't you have anything better to do than annoy me early in the morning?" she groused - Nicole was NOT a morning person, as anyone who had ever tried to drag her out of bed could tell you. Well at least as long as she was still in bed.

Souzou turned over quickly and braced his hands on either side of Nicole's shoulders, looming over her.

"What do you suggest?" he growled lasciviously, nudging her legs apart with his knee.

Nicole froze in terror, then collected herself and slapped him sharply across the face.

"You little..." Souzou's voice trailed off in disbelief as he got off her and pressed his hand to his cheek, where a red hand print was forming. "You've got some nerve..."

He glared at her, but Nicole held firm and glared right back.

"You're really not afraid of anything, are you?" Souzou asked, more statement than question. "Do you have any idea what would happen if I told the madam what you just did?"

"I don't care!" Nicole snapped rashly, pressing her legs together again.

Souzou just stared at her, then he shook his head.

"You're crazy, you know that?" he told her. "If any of the other girls in this place even thought to do something like that, they'd die of fright right then and there!"

"Well, what would happen?" demanded Nicole. "It's not like I haven't been hit before. If that's the worst she can do, then I can handle it."

"I don't know what would happen," Souzou said darkly. "And I don't want to either."

Then his manner changed - he shook his head and looked at her sadly.

"I know you've got spirit, Hanabi-musume," he said softly. "But you're in a whole different world here. Your kind of spirit, your fearlessness... They'll get you places, but it's nowhere you want to go, trust me! If you don't stop doing things like what you just did to me, you'll get yourself killed!"

He took her hands, his eyes begging her to understand.

"Listen to me, Nikooru," he said firmly. "Now, I like you - if it had been any other girl who had hauled off and hit me, I'd have gone to the madam straight away---"

Souzou's mind kicked him - he knew he didn't have it in him to do anything of the sort.

"---But there's something special about you," he said quietly, squeezing her hands. "Pack that spirited side of you away for now... But remember that when I leave, we'll be that much closer to an age where the concept of owning another human is an abomination. You know my name, but do you know who I am?"

Nicole sat up slowly and with as much dignity as she could muster early in the morning.

"You're Sagara Souzou, first captain of the Sekihoutai," she said in a level voice, her expression serious.

"Okay, I don't know how you know that, or why you know that... Damn it, I don't even know why I'm having this conversation with a girl like you!" ranted Souzou, smacking one hand to his forehead. "I don't know if you're some kind of witch or if that was just a lucky guess and I don't really care... Just for the love of Kami-sama, don't DO things like that!"

He sighed tiredly at the end of that, closing his eyes and bowing his head.

"I should be getting my friends and leaving," he mumbled, abruptly pushing himself to his feet and going over to get the clothes he had taken off last night. "Hanabi-musume... Nikooru... Take care of yourself."

He turned to leave.

"Matte!" cried Nicole, scrambling to her feet and reaching out to him.

"What is it?" asked Souzou, pulling his shirt on.

Nicole's face blushed a pretty shade of pink and she worried at her lower lip with her teeth.

"I know... I have no right to ask you this, but..." she said softly, then paused for a moment. "Could I have one kiss before you go?"

Souzou sighed again and pulled his vest on over his unbuttoned shirt.

"Come here," he said quietly, holding his hand out to her.

Nicole took hold of Souzou's outstretched hand and he pulled her close to him, wrapping his other arm around her and pressing her to his bare chest. She sighed contentedly and closed her eyes, just feeling his warmth and strength around her, as she had wished to do for so long. Souzou bowed his head, inhaling the scent of her hair, all the products Yumi and Saki had used on it - the scent of lavender stood out in his mind. Then he noticed something that would make the proceedings fairly difficult - he was about a foot taller than Nicole. Throwing caution to the wind, he slid one arm down around her legs, knocking her knees from under her as he bent over her. Nicole's eyes flew open and she stared up at him in a mix of surprise, fear, and trust.

"It works better this way," he explained in a throaty voice.

Nicole didn't even get a chance to say 'oh' before Souzou released one arm's grip, supporting her on his right arm only, and slid his left hand under her chin. Her eyes fluttered as they watched his brown ones close, then closed themselves when she felt Souzou's breath on her lips. He was panting, she noticed vaguely. A sound somewhere between a growl and a purr escaped his lips only a second before they crashed down on hers. He wasn't holding back this time. Pulling back a little, he drew her lower lip into his mouth, sucking and nibbling on it. When it was swollen from his attentions, he released it and swept his tongue along the curve of her lips.

Better than I ever dreamed it... was the thought that floated through Nicole's passion- and pleasure-hazed mind.

Souzou noticed her first resistance and slowly pushed his questing tongue between her lips, teasing her tongue to life, awakening it to dance with his own. Nicole couldn't help but respond to him, clinging to him for dear life - she thought her heart might stop if she let go of him. His tongue swept up to flutter its tip against the roof of her mouth, making Nicole moan deeply into their kiss. Both of them were thinking the same thing - This is the perfect kiss. Souzou knew his way around women, but not one of them had ever affected him like this just from a single kiss. Nicole, far from completely innocent yet attractively inexperienced, didn't have much to compare to, but this one blew that whole weekend away. Her feet had barely been touching the floor, but her knees gave out anyway and Souzou caught her. When neither of them could last another second without breathing, he lifted his lips from hers.

Nicole went completely limp in the arms of the man she had always dreamed of, who had dreamed of her for only one night. Both of them were panting as though they had been running for their lives and their lips were swollen from the prolonged pressure and suction. Nicole felt hot all over and Souzou knew that if he didn't restrain himself RIGHT NOW, he was going to wind up throwing her back down on that futon and ravishing her. From the look on her flushed face, it appeared Nicole might not have minded if he decided to do exactly that. Her heart was throbbing - hell, her whole body was throbbing - and her chest rose and fell quickly, reminding Souzou how much skin she had exposed. He held her to his chest again, trying to think about things that would calm him down... Finally, he was able to restrain himself on will power alone.

"Souzou, I---" Nicole began.

"Don't say it, Nikooru," Souzou cut in as he set her down. "For both our sakes."

He kissed a tear from her cheek, wiped another one away with his finger, sighed wearily, and turned away without a word, leaving her alone in the room.

----

----

Souzou sat out in the front room of the establishment, waiting for his friends.

"Bet the first one's Reichi," he muttered sourly.

Indeed, Reichi was the first to drag himself out of the back and slump down beside Souzou.

"God almighty..." the spiky-haired man sighed, rolling his eyes heavenward. "Man, when we come back through here, you've gotta try out this chick, Saki. If she can wear me out, she has to be part kami or something - it's inhuman! Whoa... She was incredible. And she could do this one thing ---"

"Shut up! I don't want to hear it!" interrupted Souzou, smacking his best friend upside the head. "For godsakes, keep the details to yourself!"

Reichi grinned annoyingly at his friend and captain.

"Sounds like somebody wound up with a cold fish, ne?" he persisted, prodding his friend with his elbow a la Monty Python's 'Wink Wink, Nudge Nudge' sketch. "So the gaijin girl wasn't all she was cracked up to be?"

"Oh leave me alone," groused Souzou, folding his arms on his chest and sulking.

Reichi's manner turned serious.

"While we're on the subject, I heard some weird noises coming from your room," he commented, frowning. "And it didn't sound like anything that felt good either. Souzou... You didn't get too rough with her, did you?"

Souzou looked at his friend like he had grown donkey ears and a tiger's tail. For one thing, ever since his wife had died, Reichi had been the worst womanizer he knew - he'd do anything with any girl he ever met, well as long as she was pretty. And it didn't matter whether they were married, single, owned, free, or anything else. As long as they were pretty - and when he got drunk, any woman was pretty to him - he'd 'do' them, as he put it. And for another thing, Reichi was into things that made Souzou cringe - whips and chains, things like that, wink wink, nudge nudge, knowhatImean knowhatImean? If he was getting all preachy with Souzou about getting rough, then the pot was calling the kettle black.

"Of course not!" snapped Souzou. "That's your area of expertise, I believe."

"I'm not rough - I'm open-minded," retorted Reichi.

"Baka," quipped Souzou, clonking his best friend on the head.

"Itai!"

"Whazgoin'on?" mumbled a tousle-haired young man with golden eyes.

"Kyo? Why in the hell did you wake me up?" came a voice from the hall, its owner, a youth with blue-black hair and turquoise eyes, emerging from the hall half-dressed. "Me 'n Toriko were about to go again..."

"If you were about to go again, it sounds like you were already awake," commented Souzou.

"Shaddup, Souzou," complained Touya, the one with the insatiable drive early in the morning. "You all know what I mean. Jeez..."

The three other men humored their friend and comrade and he came and sat with them.

"I guess it's too early to share stories?"

"Well---" began Reichi.

"Yes! It's too early!" Souzou cut in

"Cut the crap, y'all," complained the golden-eyed youth, Kyo. "We all paid last night, so let's get outta here before the lady of the place charges us for overtime."

"What he said," agreed Souzou.

The young men all stood up, finished pulling shirts and vests on, and headed out the door.

"You coming, Captain?" called Touya, stopping to wait.

"Oh... Sorry!" Souzou replied, having hung back for one backwards look before shaking his head.

----

----

That night, as Himejima-sama promised, Nicole got the night off. She spent most of her day in the bath, sitting as far away as she could from other occupants when there were any. She wasn't too concerned about sharing the bath - they were all girls, so nobody had anything anybody else hadn't seen - but she just wanted to be alone. When she finally got out of the bath, she looked like a boiled lobster with ropes of wet, uncombed hair hanging down its back. She got straight into her sleeping yukata and took to haunting the part of the building that was the girls' rooms like a ghost. Since her sleeping yukata was white, several of the girls screamed and ran, thinking she was an actual ghost. Part of her wished she was.

Can't think like that, she admonished herself. Have to get home... Have to be alive to get home.

Her mind was replaying the scenes of last night and the following morning over and over - it was like watching romance movies after a breakup. But she made up her mind not to cry - that was why she spent most of her day in the bath. There, she could sweat it out instead of crying it out. When she was alone in the bath, just sitting in the hot water, she would sing to herself, mostly in English. This frightened two fifteen-year-old farm girls into hysterics, thinking there was a ghost in the bath house, singing strange songs to drive them mad. Himejima-sama herself had stormed into the bath house to see what all the commotion was about. When she saw Nicole sitting there, staring off into space and singing, she smacked a hand to her forehead, ordered the girls out of the bath house, and left because her makeup was melting off.

"That's it - shoo, shoo!" she kept on, making 'shooing' motions with her hands as she ushered the girls out of the building full of steam. "Go get dressed, both of you!"

And the two fifteen-year-olds scurried away, clutching their towels and trying to pull their yukata on at the same time.

"I swear... What girls today have become!" Himejima-sama said to herself. "No feminine wiles whatsoever! Can't tell a gaijin from a ghost, literally!"

Nicole had stayed in the bath, not even getting out to eat, for six consecutive hours, sweating, singing, and babbling nonsensically to herself. The only reason she got out at all was that five more girls had gone to Himejima-sama about a disturbance, so the madam herself had come in and ordered Nicole out of the bath. So the American girl pulled her white sleeping yukata on and started walking aimlessly around the courtyard. For another two hours, she sat stock-still on a bamboo bench, staring off into space, thinking, reminiscing, wondering, and crying silently. The only reason she had come in off the bench and out of the cold was that Yumi had marched outside and dragged her back by her hair.

After being dragged inside, Nicole was told to sit on the floor while some of the girls tried to tame her hair again - Saki had to work that night, so Yumi was supervising. The auburn waves had wound themselves into sort of tangled ringlets and tied themselves in all kinds of knots. Toriko was taking care of the right side of Nicole's head and was making good progress, while the other girl was constantly apologizing to Nicole for pulling her hair. The other girl was a nineteen-year-old living replica of Faye Valentine who had no name and was just called Saru - "monkey". From what Nicole had heard, she was as flexible as a spider monkey - the imagery that brought to mind sickened her.

Finally, when Nicole's hair cascaded down her back and had been thoroughly combed through with a conditioning liquid, Yumi, Toriko, and Saru called it quits. Saru roomed with Toriko and a girl who called herself "Arisu" but was referred to by the other girls as "Inu-Yasha" - Female dog demon. In other words, she was the mega-bitch of the establishment, temperamental and confrontational, but a total sycophant when it came to interacting with the madam. Many of the other girls, led by Toriko, were constantly playing pranks on her. A classic that got her every time was drawing the hiragana for "inu", "dog", on her forehead while she was sleeping. Even Himejima-sama sometimes went along with the joke and wouldn't tell her to wash it off for hours. That was always a good one for a rainy day, since when she got bored she either picked a fight with someone or went to sleep.

But tonight, Nicole wasn't interested in pranking the mega-bitch or gossiping with the other girls about recent customers - anything but that, she thought. She thought of visiting some of the older women, the ones who sort of played the "favorite aunt that you can tell anything" to everybody. On the other hand, she didn't want to bother anybody, not when everyone here had more than enough problems of their own. Finally, she sneaked out of the room with all the girls in it, went back to her room, got her cape and a pillow, and shuffled off to sleep in a corner of an unused room. As she laid down, she could hear the night wind whistling through the trees outside. To her, it sounded like crying.

"I thought... I thought I loved him..." she whispered, curling up with her cape wrapped around her and turning over to cry herself to sleep.