Of Men and Kittens (Akane)

[Tokisaka Kimiko]

Despite the fact that Kimiko could not be bothered to care about what she wore when she was out, the young lady had selected a rather tasteful attire for the day. Her outfit consisted of black jeans, a white button-up dress shirt, and a black leather jacket that was left open. Her hair was brushed back, but otherwise untamed. In her right hand was a double-bagged selection of canned foods. Her left hand rest in her pocket- loosely wrapped around a box-cutter. Old habits died hard, even when she honestly did not care anymore.

Sandals crunched asphalt and dirt under her feet as she made her way through the sleepy town. For some reason, she had not felt like simply sleeping the day away, as she normally would have. At the same time, though, she had no reason to bother with homework or assignments from class, her grades one of the last things on her mind. After a while, the young woman found herself at the entrance to a clearing near the residential area. Despite having only walked from her home, to Junes, and back, she was a little out of breath. She really had let herself go.

Sighing lightly as she sat down on an old milk crate she had setup beforehand, the girl opened the bag and extracted one of many cans of cat food she had bought. Today, she wanted to test something- and she had an excess of money, anyway, so it wasn't a financial burden to experiment. Leaning over as she opened the can, she laid it out a short distance from herself, repeating the process a few more times, until ten identical cans were laid out in a semi-circle before her. The food itself was mostly tuna with a mixture of other things, so the scent itself was not entirely unpleasing to the girl- even if it reminded her that she needed to eat again in another day or so.

Closing her eyes, Kimiko attempted to relax, allowing her shoulders to slump as she leaned forward. Planting her elbows on her knees, she then folded her hands together before nestling her chin against her hands. As recent times showed her, such a posture would have allowed her to doze off with little trouble. Perhaps she had fallen asleep at some point, or at least fell close enough to the point that her senses dulled, as, in what seemed like only seconds, something was rubbing against her legs.

The crimson orbs opened slowly before being greeted at the sight of just under ten stray cats. A few were eating, others laid in front of her, while one was rubbing against her leg and another, smaller, cat tried to climb her pantsleg. A single scrolling over the scene told her that most of the food she had laid out was eaten already, and it drew her lips back into a slight small.

“Yeah, yeah. I bet you were all hungry, huh?” Her eyes closed half-way before she reached for the bag nestled between her feet and the crate. The sound drew the attention of the strays, and all the pairs of eyes were on the girl as she drew out a few more of the cans, opening and setting them down. Figuring that the group before her would probably be able to eat most of what she bought- and that others would come, Kimiko decided to open the rest that she had bought, setting them around where there wasn't a mass of fur desperately waiting.

“At least you're all cute about it.” She laughed quietly before sitting straight and watching the group. At some point, more little furballs had come along, though the young lady stopped counting when she reached twenty-or-so tails. By then, most had already eaten their fill, but only a few wandered away. Most were trying to mount the girl's legs, her pants having a layer of fleshy-fur hanging on everything below the knees. She was about to shoo them, but then she noticed the pressure of her shoulders, her jacket being pulled back.

Looking over her shoulder, the girl huffed lightly as she gave her shoulders a quick, forceful shrug, trying to knock the feline there off. It succeeded, but the cat was already preparing for a second attempt. “Fine, fine. I'll let you do what you want.” She yawned before sliding off the crate, letting the furry beasts crawl over her. Within seconds, she had a fur-coat around her. It was warm. The sun was somewhat gentle. The ground was fairly soft.

Sighing, the young lady shook her head as she closed her eyes. If she fell asleep, it would not have been horrible.

Notes: Date is March 24th, Sunday. Thread is reserved.

[Masami Akane]

While Akane's face had her usual stoic, stone cold expression the truth was she couldn't be more excited. She was being given a second chance, so there was no way she was going to allow herself to mess up again. The last few weeks had been even more sleepless than usual, as she did most of the preparation for her move by herself. Arranging to move into the house next door to Kimiko's as well as forging the necessary paperwork to get into her school and figuring out a way to smuggle all her weapons into the city all while looking like an ordinary 18-year-old high school student proved to be more difficult than she was hoping, but she managed. No amount of effort was too much for this, and this belief showed by how meticulously she went through every detail to make sure there were no mistakes and that no one would ever be able to figure out the real reason she was moving here. Between this and her studies there was hardly anytime for her to sleep, and she was constantly forgetting to eat. It showed. The dark rings around Akane's eyes were even darker than usual, and she had lot quite a bit of weight. Despite that, she was clean, well-dressed and surprisingly alert (though that may simply be because she napped on the plane trip over here).

Akane didn't own very much. All she had were her various weapons, some clothes, a few books and a laptop, so she only needed to carry one bag. As the day pushed on, she was grateful for this since she didn't think she would need a car. Technically, she was right. The public transportation system was more than adequate, but her body was somewhat sore and she was really hungry so walking through town wasn't the most pleasant thing right now. She decided that she would go buy some furniture for her house later. Right now she wanted to drop off her bag and grab something to eat, and was slightly irritated that she was going to have to walk there. Even though she probably didn't need it, Akane decided to add car shopping to her list of things to do as well, if only to avoid situations like this in the future.

Eventually, she did arrive at her new home, and was greeted by a rather odd sight. At first Akane questioned if she had the right house because sleeping on the ground surrounded by a bunch of dirty cats seemed rather unfitting the the lady, but she did have to admit that it seemed like something she would do. Akane wasn't real fond of the idea of Kimiko falling asleep in such a manner, but she did have to admit that she looked quite happy like that and decided it wasn't her place to interfere unless the cats somehow became a threat. Right now, she found it unlikely that any of them would hurt the lady, so she simply decided to drop off her things and go about her business. She could always greet the lady when she was feeling more rested.

Her expression was still rather serious, but anyone that knew her would recognize the light in her eyes right now. Even though her lips weren't curved she was most certainly smiling as she walked past Kimiko's house to her own.

[Tokisaka Kimiko]

Cats were exceedingly fickle and curious little beasts. Some were cute like that, others were not quite so. Over the time that the girl had dozed off, a few of the furry monsters had distanced themselves or outright wandered away- bloody dine-and-dashers. By the time that Akane had gazed upon the sight, the girl was still mostly covered by the furry bodies, but some were restless and curious. One such specimen had been near the girl's face, turning its tail onto the girl's nose as it seemed to contemplate chasing after the new person. Before the beast had even moved, the girl sneezed and entered a small fit of coughing, slowly sitting up as a cacophonic symphony of mews and growls emerged from the space. Gravity took control of the situation as the girl sat up, balls of meat and fur dropping off of the girl as they rolled on the ground and dashed away, surprised by the change.

Kimiko's head pounded. The sudden awakening gave her a sensation that could have been compared to a drunkard's hangover. Still coughing, the girl shifted to her knees before shakily rising to her feet, only a few of the strays still bothering to remain near her at that point. Spitting something, she was not entirely certain it did not have fur in it somehow, from her mouth, the young lady wiped her lips with the inside of her palm, letting her senses to return to her. Before she had even looked forward, she knew somebody was there.

When she looked up, though, her heart stopped. She only caught a momentary glimpse from the side and behind, but she was not mistaken- she could never have been mistaken. What the hell was she doing there? Here? She had faith in Akane's abilities, certainly, but why did they send somebody like that to someone like her? Letting her plethora of questions and concerns fade for the moment, the young lady surged forward, having completely forgotten about her bag of trash. Clumsily, she exited the lot, quickly closing the short distance between the two of them.

“Hey!” It was not the most graceful way of drawing one's attention. The girl planting her hands on her knees for support as she caught her breath was an unsightly phantom compared to her former self. That much was obvious just from her being so easily out of breath- and her sickly pale complexion only reinforced the concept. As she looked up, though, she realized that she was not the only one. Her edge had dulled, but her analytical mind could still discern something so obvious as Akane's loss of weight.

Straightening her posture, the girl's face went through several different emotions before she regained a semblance of apathy. Though her breathing was still slightly faster than it should have been, she seemed to be all right again, or as much as she could be. “You look like shit. What happened?” The first words she shared with someone like Akane should have been a little less brusque and rude, but she was who she was. She half-expected a ridiculous response to her question. No, expected was incorrect- she knew she was going to receive either no answer or an absolutely ridiculous answer.

[Masami Akane]

The second Akane heard her voice she stopped and turned around. She was a little surprised to see her up so soon when she looked comfortable, but she looked completely unphased if not a little pleased. As Kimiko walked towards her, she headed in her direction as well to close the distance.

"Good afternoon m--" Akane was cut off my Kimiko's words. They stung a bit, but it wasn't anything she couldn't handle. Her expression didn't even change as she bowed slightly out of respect. "It is nice to see you too my lady. I apologize I am not in my best form. I have been busy for the past few months for...reasons I'm sure you're already aware of. I do not believe it will take me too long to recover, and I am confident that I will be able to handle any threat even in my current state. Please do not worry about me my lady."

Akane opted to not comment on Kimiko's current condition. Surely she must be aware of it by now and sick of hearing about it. As much as she wanted her to recover, it was not her place to tell the lady how to live. The best she could do was offer advice when it was requested. Besides, if it took that much effort just to get up and walk over here chances were that Kimiko didn't even want to hear about it no matter how worried Akane was about her condition. Plus, her stomach began to roar shortly after she finished speaking.

"Ah...Apologies, I have not eaten all day. I was going to drop off my bag and then get some food. If you do not have anything else for me to do I will go take care of that. If there is anything you would like me to pick up or prepare for you I would be more than happy to do so while I am out."

[Tokisaka Kimiko]

No, no, no, Akane. That's bullshit. Kimiko knew better than to verbalize her retorts to the older lady's response, but it did not mean that she was not annoyed. Akane's assurance that she could handle herself even then was worthless to her- Kimiko knew that a squad of bonafide badasses would still bite the dust if pitted against her. For a moment, the black-haired maiden remained silent, taking a step back as her left hand reached up to rub her forehead. While she honestly liked the woman, suddenly having her injected back in her life- no doubt after she had already torn herself up over what had happened- was definitely going to be a trying experience.

“I can already tell where this is going, so, before I say anything else, Akane: Take care of yourself while you're here. That's an order, and I expect it to be followed.” The girl's voice, for just a moment, had regained a colder quality that would have been a bit more “fitting” for her a few months ago. Sighing, she shook her head. “I'm honestly not sure how to make conversation right now. I can imagine almost exactly what kind of. . . schedule you've adopted in the last few months.” Her tone had gained a bit more apathy, but it sounded somewhat distant.

Her left hand had made its way past her face and up to her hair, becoming completely hidden by the black mass as she seemed to scratch at her scalp. Despite her ghostly complexion and apparent abandonment of her health, her hair still seemed as clean and vibrant as before. It was also thick enough, still, that the girl's hand seemed to get tangled up in the night-colored mass. Still shaking her hand awkwardly and yanking her and there, she directed her attention at Akane again.

“Go ahead and put your crap up.” She noted calmly, not even needing to ask where the woman had taken up residence. “I'll be joining you. I have enough spare money on hand that I'll treat you- and don't argue.” It might have seemed that Kimiko was being nice, but, in reality, she wanted to observe the woman. That, and she had nothing better to do. The only concern she had with the situation was how to explain her own evasion of eating something.

Then again, if Akane was going to barge in on her life here, it was likely she had bigger explanations that she would have to spend a few hours on compiling. The idea of being force-fed food was not overly attractive.

[Masami Akane]

"Of course my lady, I would not have it any other way." It seemed rather obvious to Akane that she would want to be in her best condition possible, but she saw no reason to say that. "Please do not worry about my condition. I do not believe it will take long for me to adapt to life here, so my condition should be acceptable with in the next couple of days."

Akane was never sure if she should appreciate her concern or be angered by it. On the one hand, that worry was a genuine sign that she cared about her at least a little bit. On the other hand it meant that she not only doubted her abilities to handle herself, but also felt the need to concern herself with something that she should not even have to think about. Thus, whenever such thoughts showed themselves, Akane always felt an odd mixture of appreciation, joy, anger and guilt. It did not show on her face, which remained as expressionless as ever, though. She simply nodded at Kimiko's order to 'put her crap away' as she so eloquently put it, and stood up straight once more. Her posture was perfect; even if someone put a jar of water on her head it would not fall.

"I..." she wanted to protest Kimiko paying for her, but in the end she realized it would be a waste of time. "Thank you very much my lady. I will be ready momentarily. I have not been in this town long, so I do not know of many good places to eat. I did see a ramen place on the way here. I believe it was called 'Noodles and Meat.' Is it any good? If it is that place sounds fine." As far as she was concerned if the lady was going to be paying she must not spend much. Going to a cheap ramen place would both allow Akane to eat a lot while not demanding too much of Kimiko.

After that she paused for a moment. There was one thing bothering her, but she was not sure if she should ask. Akane knew it would insult the lady, but she looked awful and Akane was genuinely worried.

"I have not purchased a vehicle yet, so we would have to walk there. Pardon me for asking, but are you sure you are fit to walk such a distance?"

---

It took longer than she would have liked to get here. While Akane probably could have walked at a faster pace despite her hunger, she did not want to rush Kimiko. The lady's well-being was far more important than her own, so she allowed her to set the pace. By the time they arrived her stomach was roaring and she was a bit on the cranky side. She had learned to hide such things under an expressionless mask, but her patience with anyone but Kimiko was going to be non-existent.

The place was...quaint she supposed. Normally she would have liked to take the lady to a place more fitting, but she was not aware of any such place here yet. Akane was at least able to find a secluded booth in the corner so that as long as they kept their voices down and didn't make any odd movements they could probably talk freely. The place smelled good enough that it was making her mouth water a bit and made her stomach continue gurgling every-so-often.

At this point she didn't really care what she had to eat. Anything was going to taste good enough that she just wanted it out quickly, so she ordered a simple beef bowl and a glass of water. If she was still hungry after she figured she could order more. But it would still take a few minutes to get here. This made things a little awkward for Akane. Now would be the perfect time to talk and catch up with the lady, but she didn't know what to say. It was obvious just from looking at her that the past few months have been equally as unpleasant for Kimiko as they had been for her. What was she supposed to say to that?

"Thank you again for treating me my lady," she paused for a moment. "I see you have made a few new friends. Do you feed the cats around here often?"

[Tokisaka Kimiko]

If looks could kill, Kimiko's eyes would have killed Akane several times over after the question in regards to her ability to simply walk.

Keeping her annoyance to herself even after they had arrived, the young lady found herself facing an entirely different problem. She herself had not eaten in the past couple of days, and, while she could handle it, her stomach could have possibly been enticed by the scent of food lingering in the air. She had not ordered anything, casually lying and saying that she had already eaten earlier, but if her stomach growled, there would have been problems. Once they had taken their seats, the girl slid up and rest her back agains the wall, using the cushioned seat to prop her legs up. It was comfortable enough.

At the words of thanks, the raven-haired woman shook her hand dismissively. It was obvious that she did not mind. It wasn't like she used much to feed herself, so she still had a few ten thousand yen bills to squander however she saw fit before she exceeded her self-imposed budget. She was about to verbalize her dismissal before she blinked and gave Akane a confused look. Friends? She barely had acquaintances- the cats? Once she realized what her guardian was suggesting, the maiden had to cover her mouth, her shoulders shaking a bit as she tried to stiffle a laugh. She failed, giggling slightly.

“I was about to ask if you were high on something, Akane.” She gently jabbed at the woman's choice of words, her lips curled into a smile after she lowered her hand. “I wouldn't call them friends. I highly doubt more than one or two would come to me knowing that I had no food to give them. Most are just hungry little strays that have nothing else to eat for some reason or another- others are gluttonous bastards that smelled fish and came to stake out spoils.” Her smile had twisted into a bit of a smirk at that point. “Strays are both amusing and annoying. The individual often determines which of those two qualities is dominant.”

Finally moving off of that, she shrugged. “But, no. This was the first time- maybe the last, depending on my mood on future days. It was. . . an experiment, more than anything.” She explained, having paused while trying to consider an alternative to the truth- experiment, now that she thought on it, sounded somewhat childish. “One week of classes, and I saw a rather large amount. Putting food out seemed to attract an army of the furry monsters.” Her smirk, too, slowly faded until she wore a straight face again.

Slowly, she turned her gaze to Akane, her eyes showing what looked to be boredom.

“This backwater town is slow and quiet. Always asleep, never living. It's really kinda sad. I occasionally complained about the city being too loud at times, but this really is. . . ridiculous.” She smiled impishly. “Makes me half-wish a shootout erupted somewhere. It'd at least be entertaining for a short time.” She went silent again before letting the purple-haired guard out of her sights.

“Since the food still isn't here, I'll go ahead and ask this and get it out of the way- even if it may annoy you. Akane, were you sent here, or did you come here of your own volition? I know why you're here- as in your purpose in coming here- but why did you come here? This place is safe- too safe. Right now, I'm useless to the family head. Wasn't a war about to break out between us and that bunch of bastards? The head probably needs you much more than I do.” Her tone was not reprimanding. It was entirely neutral. If Akane gave a response that showed resolution, Kimiko would not bring it up again. And it definitely was not that she doubted the woman's skill- or even wanted her away. Quite the opposite on both matters. Having somebody nearby to at least talk to without worrying about being backstabbed was a blessing she had missed out on since moving to that backwater place.

[Masami Akane]

Akane raised her eyebrows a bit at being called high. Surely Kimiko must have known it was forbidden for her to take any mind altering drugs. She wasn't even supposed to drink alcohol. She realized she didn't look good, but was her mind so slow that she could be compared to someone under the influence of drugs? This was most worrisome! The fact that Kimiko didn't press this further and happily went on rambling about cats was equally as confusing to her. She folded her hands and rested her chin on them. For now, she would just take this as a hint to get better. Just why Kimiko felt the need to say it a second time was beyond her, and it did make her mildly irritated.

The funny thing was, Akane didn't even understand why Kimiko's question about why she was here would even offend her, and yet she was bothered by a simple off-hand comment before. Granted, she also missed exactly what Kimiko was asking. As far as she was concerned worrying about whether she was defying the wishes of the head was completely valid.

"I requested permission to come here and it was granted. You do not have to worry about anyone coming here to collect me," she paused for a moment. "Though, I suppose that may be slightly disappointing for you since you said you were interested in a shoot out."

She paused again. This time it actually took a great deal of effort to maintain her expressionless stare. This time, her off-hand comment actually made her outright angry. After all, if Kimiko Tokisaka was worthless what did that make her? Her voice did have a slight edge to it, but it sounded mostly mostly the same as usual: firm and inexpressive.

"You are not worthless my lady. You are absolutely right, there certainly will be a war, and I would be quite useful there. That alone should tell you that you are not worthless. If you were, I am quite certain I would not have been permitted to come here."

[Tokisaka Kimiko]

The largest part of her fears had been laid to rest. The person Kimiko had come in to treat to cheap food was not working for the family, but working for her own sake. It took an effort on the girl's part to stay quiet at the following remark, she needing to remind herself of Akane's lack of interpretation when figures of speech or sarcasm came into play. If she did not watch it, she may have very well instigated a small hell for Shigayomi. Then again, she really would not have been against that too much- it would have been entertaining, if only for a while.

Her eyes sharpened when the bodyguard spoke again. While she could not agree with Akane's thoughts, she did understand at least one of the reasons that the woman spoke against her- and it was one of the reasons she did not argue. No one liked being told that they were useless- at least, no one quite sane did- and for someone like Akane, being useless was probably about the same as a death sentence. She did not know for certain, never being one to look into the nuances of the other roles people were given in the family. Still, she did like the other's reasoning.

“Yes, I suppose I'm just. . . on a vacation for the time being.” She conceeded, allowing herself to verbally reassure the woman. “You'll have to forgive me. Being alone for a month gives one far too much time to overthink things.” Which was true, if she ever bothered to stay awake at home. Half-truths seemed to come to her naturally, whether or not she was on top of her game. That, and Akane's appearance was enough of a jolt to stir her emotions back up.

That time, her lips curled into another smile, but one that was slightly relieved. If she thought about it like she said- that her time there was a vacation- she actually found herself not too bothered. Slowly, she eased into a more natural posture against the cushioned seat, her arms lifting to the table as she planted her elbows down and folded her hands together, resting her chin against her finger joints. It was in blatant disregard for table manners, but the food was not even there yet- she had no reason to care.

“Anyway, out of curiosity, what are you going to be doing tomorrow? It's a Monday, so I'm kind of expected to be in class tomorrow. I'm afraid I don't know of anywhere you could go to entertain yourself, and there's really not too much you'd need to do to secure our residences.” Her tone was only slightly apologetic, but the question was truly curious. After all, what would the woman do if her charge was not around? She actually wondered what non-business things the purple-haired lady performed- if any.

That was something worth observing one day, she figured.

[Masami Akane]

"I suppose that is one way to look at it. Master Tokisaka simply wants you safe my lady. There is nothing to be ashamed of, it is simply a sign of love."

At least, that's always how she saw it. She did not know the boss as well as she would have liked, but he never struck her as heartless. Furthermore, after the incident it was quite clear that things were going to get even more violent than they were, and not everyone in the house could be trusted. Sending Kimiko elsewhere always seemed like a perfectly natural thing to do. Akane was just sad that she was unable to come with her immediately.

"Oh, I--"

Before she could respond to Kimiko's question about what she was going to be doing tomorrow her food finally arrived. It was about time. The waiter set it down on the table and bowed slightly. Akane simply dismissed him with a thank you and a wave of her hand. It looked delicious. She separated her chopsticks, but before digging in she spoke once more.

"I will be joining you tomorrow. I made preparations to enroll in your school before arriving here. I have some business to take care of with the principal in the morning, but I believe I should be on time for classes. It just means that I will not be able to walk with you unless you wish to leave early."

With that she began practically inhaling her food. Her manners weren't terrible, but she was eating much faster than she normally would have in such company.