Yami No Matsuei Fan Fiction / Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Uprising ❯ Michiko ( Chapter 8 )

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

(Disclaimer:  I do NOT own Yami no Matsuei or Yu Yu Hakusho at all.  Nope, nothing.  Just the OCs.  That’s all I own.)

(AN:  I’m going to give y’all a fair warning.  This chapter is going to have a health club in it.  Now, in Kabukicho, it’s really a massage parlor.  If you want to see what one is like, just keep reading.  With that said I hope you enjoy reading and please leave a review.)

-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-

Hiso ka held a piece of paper in his hand with the name of a place written on it.  While he walked, his partner, Yusuke, and Kurama walked with him down the streets of Kabukicho.  The lights from the area beckoned sinners to seek salvation.

“So, where’s that place you said she worked at?” Yusuke asked.

“First right here and four places on the left,” Hisoka answered.

The foursome walked down the street, following the directions to the letter.  They looked around, keeping their wits about them; this was considered Yakuza territory, after all.  Once they arrived, they saw a sign with a beautiful Japanese girl on it reading “Asian Relief.”

“Wow, she worked here?” Yusuke said, stretching his arms over his head.  “You know, a massage does sound good about now...”

Kurama looked closer at the sign outside the door, keeping a calm look about him.  “It’s not that kind of massage, Yusuke,” he answered.

Hisoka looked at the sign and took a deep breath before he walked inside into the lobby, Tsuzuki following him and Yusuke and Kurama after him.  The lobby area was nicely lit, with comfortable couches for the customers to sit on, totally unexpected from the outside.

A young woman saw the foursome and smiled at them, her black hair in a shoulder-length bob.  Her outfit looked almost like a red Chinese style dress, only much shorter than it was normally made and also a cutout in a diamond shape, which revealed her chest for open view.  “Welcome,” she said in perfect Japanese.  “We have a special today.  If you bring in more than two people, you get yours half off.”

Being the only adult out of the foursome, Tsuzuki gently smiled at her, his amethyst eyes with a gentle look about them.

Three more women with black hair at varying lengths from short to long walked out of their rooms to see the foursome, their faces all in smiles.  Four deliciously sexy people in their establishment?  Things could be interesting.

“Ooh, Kyoko,” one of these women said, grabbing Tsuzuki’s arm in hers.  “You shouldn’t hog them to yourself!”

Another of the women grabbed Tsuzuki’s other arm in hers.  “I’ll be more than happy to take him off your hands,” she said, moving his arm against her chest.

“No, I saw him first!” Kyoko protested.

Tsuzuki looked at the pair and felt as if he was in the middle of an ensuing catfight.  This wasn’t going to end well...

“Ladies?” Kurama said in an effort to bring the focus onto the case at hand, not the fight that was ensuing.

Two more of the girls, who had heard the commotion and had appeared from their rooms, literally grabbed Kurama by either of his arms and stared at each other fiercely, as if they were going to tear each other apart.  Kurama simply stood in the middle, staying calm in this rather difficult situation.

Hisoka simply face palmed.  Obviously talking to them wouldn’t work.  And with all the excitement, he didn’t notice a new girl near him.

“Aww... aren’t you just simply adorable?” a woman with her long black hair up in a ponytail said, advancing on Hisoka like a tiger onto her prey.  But before she could touch him...

“Ladies!” a female voice called from the hallway, followed by a sound of hands hitting one another.

The women let go of the guys, and the woman who was advancing towards Hisoka backed off like a whipped puppy.

The owner of the voice in the hallway appeared in front of them.  She was a woman in her mid-thirties with wavy, coal black hair down to her waist with chocolate brown eyes.  She wore an outfit much like the women that had backed away from the men, although her body looked like she was in her twenties.  Her chest almost looked like it would pop out of the top of her outfit as she clapped her hands together.

“What have I told you about swarming yourselves around customers like that?” she asked.  “You know that is not allowed!”

All of the women simply bowed their heads in shame.  Damn it, they had gotten caught.

“I am so sorry this happened,” the owner said, looking at the four men.  “I sincerely hope they didn’t hurt you.”

“It’s all right,” Hisoka answered, thankful that the girls were away.  The last thing he needed at this point was to become overloaded and pass out now.

“I take it you are the owner?” Kurama asked the woman.

The owner nodded her head.  “Yes,” she answered.  “I am Aki Midou.”

Yusuke had been looking at the owner in a way that warranted Hisoka to smack him upside his head.

“I’m sorry for that,” Hisoka said politely.  “My friend here obviously doesn’t know how to handle himself.”

“It’s quite all right,” Aki answered, smiling gently.

Now Tsuzuki had to get his mind back on the case at hand before he became the next victim of Hisoka’s hand upside the head.  “Is there somewhere we could all talk?” he asked.

“Certainly,” Aki answered.  “We’ll go to my office.  Please follow me.”  She started before the girls all looked up and saw the men leave with their boss.

“Aww... and I wanted to give that hot one with the coat a good massage,” Kyoko said as the girls went back to their respective rooms, the girls all whining about losing their chances with the four men.

-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-

At the restaurant, Kuwabara couldn’t believe what he heard.  “Andrea, you’ve never had a boyfriend?”  he asked her.

“Yeah,” Andrea answered, setting some more beef up onto the Hibachi grill on the table.  “It’s not like it’s a secret, you know.”

Viola looked at Andrea after setting down her glass of water.  “Are you serious?” she asked.  “So, you mean to tell the three of us that you don’t have any feelings for your roommate at all?”

Andrea wasn’t really sure what to think.  It was one thing to see shirts ripped off in battle, but these guys were her comrades, her protégés, if one willed to think of it like that.  But Tsuzuki... well... what could Andrea say about him?  The image of his shirtless body from earlier that morning still preyed upon her mind, and no matter how many times she had tried to shove the memory out of her mind, it was no longer possible to do that.  What was it about that moron that she liked?  More importantly... DID she like him more than she was letting on?

“It’s only been a month, Viola,” Andrea finally answered, drinking some of her own water.

“And that means what?  What does that have to do with the fact that you probably like him?”

Andrea shook her head just as she turned the beef over on the grill.  “A month’s not a long amount of time,” she answered.

“Yeah, but he’s staying with you,” Chloe answered.

“That’s just it.  He’s staying with me, and that’s the only thing we have in common,” Andrea said.

Kuwabara wasn’t so sure about that, but he could tell that Andrea was not comfortable with how the conversation was going.  That much he knew for sure.  The best thing to do in this situation?

“So, the beef’s pretty good,” Kuwabara said in an effort to change the subject.

Yeah, the best thing Kuwabara could do was change the subject.

“Yeah, it sure is,” Chloe answered, making a mental note to ask Andrea about Tsuzuki later.

Andrea felt relief wash over her.  Finally, the subject wasn’t on her and her roommate anymore.  Thank God.  She took a deep breath as she turned the meat over again.  She hoped the guys had better luck than they were having.

-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-

Aki led the four men into her office before she closed the door.  Her office wasn’t much, a couple of couches, a forth of one wall covered with pictures of employees and a desk and a chair.  As much as she wanted to get to know the foursome intimately, her years of experience taught her that business came before pleasure.  “Once again, I am so sorry the girls did that,” she said as she sat at her desk.

The foursome all sat down on the couches, Tsuzuki and Hisoka on one with Yusuke and Kurama on the other.

“It’s all right,” Hisoka answered, choosing to speak for the more mature ones at least.

Aki nodded her head, clasping her hands on the desk.  “So, what brings you fine gentlemen by?” she asked.

“We wanted to know about Michiko Fujiwara,” Tsuzuki answered.  “She worked here for you?”

“Oh, she was quite popular here,” Aki replied.  “Her customers loved her, one in particular.  A Caucasian male, if I’m not mistaken.  He asked for her specifically for every visit.”

“Do you remember how often?”

“Every three months,” Aki answered, smiling at the men in her office. “I guess he wasn’t happy at home.  Maybe that’s why he came back.”

“Did he come back more often than he normally did?” Kurama asked.

“Two nights before she died,” Aki replied before taking a deep breath.  She slowly stood up from her chair and looked at the wall.  “You have to understand that I can’t speak ill of the dead...”

“I understand,” Tsuzuki answered.  “But anything you could tell us, we’d gladly appreciate it.”

Aki took a deep breath, looking at a framed picture of Michiko.  The young woman in the picture looked rather young to be taking a job like this in such an area.  “Two nights before she died,” she started with a rather far-away look in her eyes.  “Her favorite customer came.  She was so happy; she smiled when she saw him, and I saw this happy look in her eyes.  After he had left, Michiko came to my office completely on her own accord, worried.  I asked her if she was all right, and even though she told me she was fine, I could tell she wasn’t.”  Aki sighed, lowering her head.  “I wanted her to tell me what was bothering her, but... it was like she couldn’t.”

“Couldn’t?  How?” Kurama asked.

“I knew that she had grown attached to her customer, who of which is seriously frowned upon,” Aki answered.  “We never allow that here.”  She looked at Michiko’s picture again and sighed.  “I really wanted to help her.  She just never said anything....”  She blinked, her breath hitched in her throat.

“What is it?” Tsuzuki asked her.

Aki walked back to the desk and sat down before she started opening all of the drawers.  “T-There was a man named Satoshi who came in the night before Michiko...”  Her hand stopped opening the drawer as her eyes closed.

Hisoka watched it all unfold.  “She really must have cared about Michiko to be this emotional,” he said to his partner quietly.  “I could tell from the minute she looked at Michiko’s picture.”

Tsuzuki nodded.  “Yeah,” he answered.  “She really must have tried to keep Michiko out of trouble...”

“Are you all right?” Yusuke asked the woman at the desk.

“Yes,” Aki answered.  “I’ll be just fine.  It’s just that... it’s hard to think of Michiko being dead, is all.”

“It must have been quite a shock finding out the way you did,” Kurama answered.

Aki nodded her head.  “I just didn’t think Satoshi’d do something like that...”

“Who’s Satoshi?” Tsuzuki asked.

“Satoshi Nakamura.  He was her ex-boyfriend,” Aki answered, holding her chest to keep her heart from beating furiously out of her chest.  “She had mentioned him a few times.”

“Had you had any problems with him?” Kurama asked.

“I think the better question is, who hasn’t had a problem with him,” Aki answered, crossing her arms over her chest.  “The night that Michiko died... he dragged her out of here by her hair.  She was screaming for him to let her go... I-I... I tried to stop him... i-if I had been closer...”

“He would have hurt you as well as Michiko,” Hisoka answered from the couch, his arms against his chest while he sat upright on the couch.  “Michiko knew you cared about her, Miss Midou.  She wouldn’t have wanted you being hurt to be on her conscience.”

Aki blinked over at them.  “H-How would you know that?” she asked.

“I’m able to feel others’ emotions when they are nearby,” Hisoka answered.  It was better to be honest than to lie to probably one of the few that could help them.  “I can tell that you cared about Michiko like she was your own.”

Aki nodded her head.  “I did,” she answered.  “But for her to die that way... so horribly... so...”  Her voice wracked with emotion as she covered her eyes with one of her hands.  Part of her wanted to push the picture of Michiko’s corpse out of her mind.  The other part couldn’t.

“If you’re not comfortable right now, we can leave,” Kurama offered.  “This likely is still upsetting you.”

“No, I’ll be all right,” Aki answered.  “It’s just that... the picture...”

Kurama nodded, giving Hisoka an understanding nod.  Unlike Hisoka, who was an Empath, Kurama could tell, from years of experience that if something was wrong.  He just knew.

Aki took a deep breath.  “I just wish I could have done something more for her,” she said, her voice creaking with regret and despair.  “If I had only gotten closer... if only I hadn’t failed her.”

The last statement froze Tsuzuki’s insides.  Failed... it was the one thing he wouldn’t do.  Not again.  That was why he was determined to stop anyone else from being hurt.  He didn’t want anyone else to be hurt or killed because they knew him.

“You likely didn’t fail her,” Kurama said, his alto voice calm.  “She knew you tried to help her.  Sometimes, sadly, that’s all you can do.”

“I suppose you’re right,” Aki answered, looking up at them with a small smile.  “Well, I hate to run you off, but...”

“We understand that you’re rather busy,” Hisoka said, nudging his partner.  He could cut the tension around Tsuzuki’s aura with a knife.

Tsuzuki snapped back to attention.  “Yes, well,” he said, following his partner’s lead.  “We’ll let you get back to work.  We’ll come back if we need more information.”

“All right,” Aki said as she stood up.  “I’ll see you out.”

-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-

C hloe put a small piece of her beef into her mouth.  “So, this is hibachi,” she said.

“Yeah, that’s hibachi,” Andrea answered, turning the third order of beef over.

“You’re not still hungry, are you?” Viola asked.

“Oh, my God, Andrea, are you pregnant?” Chloe asked.

Andrea nearly dropped the tongs.  “What?!  No!” she exclaimed, her blue eyes wide as saucers.  “What the hell are you talking about?”

“Well, you’re fixing more of that,” Chloe answered her.

“It’s for the guys, silly,” Andrea answered.  “I mean, come on.  They probably haven’t eaten...”

“Mmm... that smells good!” a voice came from behind Andrea.

The group watched just as Andrea squeaked and smacked Tsuzuki on his head with the tongs still in her hand.  Yusuke busted out laughing.  “Hey, man... we warned you!” he said, laughing.

Tsuzuki rubbed his head.  “Oww...” he said.  “That hurt, Andrea...”

“Well, that’s what you get for sneaking up behind me like that!” Andrea said, holding the tongs dangerously close to Tsuzuki’s nose.

“Well, how was I to know you had that in your hand?” Tsuzuki asked her.

“You snuck up behind me!”

Kurama chuckled into his hand.  In truth, he HAD warned Tsuzuki about sneaking up behind her.  Maybe now he learned his lesson.

Hisoka wasn’t holding his breath.

The guys sat down at the table next to them, all the while Tsuzuki was staring at the beef on the other table’s hibachi grill.  His head wasn’t hurting anymore.  Just his pride.

“What’s up?” Chloe asked them.

“We found out more about Michiko,” Yusuke answered.  “Other than the fact she was a total babe...”

The girls rolled their eyes in unison.

“... We found out about some guy named Satoshi,” Yusuke finished.

“Evidently, Satoshi was protective of Michiko, even after she broke up with him,” Hisoka said.  “That and he’s a very dangerous man.”

Tsuzuki kept from wanting to sit next to Andrea at hearing that.  Satoshi was dangerous, and while he knew Andrea was more than capable of taking care of herself, he wasn’t sure what this man was capable of.

Andrea picked up the tongs and turned the beef on the grill over.  “We’ve dealt with demons, Hisoka,” she said, treating the cooking meat with care.

“So you know what to expect.”

“To an extent,” Andrea answered, still looking at the meat.  “So... how do you take yours?”

“My what?” Yusuke asked.

“The beef, dummy,” Chloe answered.

Hisoka looked at the meat.  “Like that is fine for me,” he said to the auburn-haired girl with the tongs.

“Sure,” Andrea answered, setting the meat on a clean plate, along with the little cups of dipping sauces.

“Andrea’s a wiz with that,” Viola said just as Andrea set the plate in front of the blond.

“Well, with hibachi, you have to cook it yourself,” Andrea answered as she sat down.  “Just move the table over, guys.”

After the table was moved over and touching their table, Andrea gave each of the guys a plate along with the same kind of sauces in cups that Hisoka had on his plate.

“I’m not an Iron Chef or anything like that, but I mainly cook to survive,” Andrea said gently.

“That’s better than this guy,” Hisoka said, nodding his head in Tsuzuki’s direction.

“Hey!  I can cook, too, you know!” Tsuzuki said, pouting.

“He can?” Andrea asked.

Hisoka leaned over closer to Andrea and whispered in her ear, “You shouldn’t let him try.  He tends to over-spice food.  OFTEN.”

“Gotcha,” Andrea said before they leaned back in their chairs.  She looked over at Tsuzuki, who had devoured his piece like a wolf tearing into a bear’s leg.  “Is he like that all the time?”

Hisoka nodded.  “Yes,” he answered.  “My advice to you, Andrea?”

“Sure.”

“I wouldn’t underestimate Tsuzuki,” Hisoka explained.  “There’s more to him than just the moron façade he pulls out in front of everyone.”

“Don’t underestimate him?” Andrea said to herself before she looked over at Tsuzuki again, who was now getting pawed away from Hisoka’s plate.  She wasn’t sure if she thought Hisoka was blowing smoke or telling the truth.  What was it about him?  What an idiot, she thought as she leaned back in her chair.  What is so frightening about this guy, anyway?

-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-

(Okay, that’s the end of the second Lust chapter.  I hope you guys enjoyed it.  I will try to get some awesome stuff in it for the next chapter.  Read and review.)isoka