Jidai Fusion Paradise (5/5)
Oct. 14th, 2012 09:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
astrangestormJIDAI FUSION PARADISE 5/5
The next few days seemed to pass in a flash. The saga of Hattori Hanzo and Murasaki Shikibu went on unchanged, though he was able to detect a far flirtier tone in his own writing and a far more protective, possessive tone coming from Master Hattori's.
Off of the message boards, life was still moving along. Death Boat was somehow number one at the box office, Ohno had managed to catch a record-breaking fish that was the talk of the harbor, and Sho and Jun had returned from their road trip with both good and bad news.
The good news was that the Numazu branch office would be teaming up with folks from Nagoya as well as the Kanagawa-Shizuoka office in Yokohama to work a wedding at a hotel near the Fuji-Q Amusement Park. It was a major undertaking with the daughter of Panasonic's CFO marrying some equally wealthy guy who'd graduated from Todai and worked overseas.
The bad news was that this wedding was apparently going to be the make or break for the Numazu office. Jun's supervisor and a member of the Tokyo management would be at the event observing their performance. Even today, two days before the event, Sho was a bundle of nerves as they sat in the cafe, and he watched his friend down latte after latte.
"But Jun-kun's in charge," Nino tried to assure him. "And you know more than anyone how capable he is."
Sho shook a packet of sugar, tearing it hastily and sending some of it spraying across the table as he upended it into his mug. "He's very capable."
"My Sho-chan wouldn't want to get into an incompetent person's pants." Sho scowled at him, sipping his drink. "Sore subject?"
"He says I can't be his second-in-command for the wedding. He's putting me in charge of seating."
"Seating's a big deal," Nino said. He paused, scratching his head. "It is, right?"
Sho looked down. "He told me that we both need to be in top form with his bosses there and that if we were working so closely on the big day I might distract him. We had a long talk on the car ride home the other day."
Nino grinned. "He wants you really bad. And he still won't make a move?"
"No."
"And you haven't because...?"
"Do we always have to talk about my love life? Or lack thereof?" Sho distinctly seemed to forget the personal sacrifice Nino had made to get him in a place where he could confess - wasn't the next logical step just to defy Jun's expectations and jump his bones? Nino wasn't really in the mood to jerk him off again as a reminder.
"We could talk about Oh-chan's love life if you want. You know how he is, do you think he lets those cute girls spank him with a rolling pin?"
Sho set down his mug in disgust. "Why don't we talk about yours then? You've been distracted lately so what is it? Is it because of Aiba-chan and Becky? I know you and him had...whatever it was you had. Or are you just having cybersex on the message board in your time machine?"
"As a matter of fact..." he started to say, letting his voice trail off as he felt his cheeks start to redden. Sho was here beating himself up for wanting to hook up with a co-worker, and Nino had just kind of sort of gotten together with another with zero shame.
"As a matter of fact what?" Sho asked. "Do I know this person?"
He waved his hand. "It doesn't matter."
"Nino, you can tell me anything. I've been dumping all my personal stuff on you the past few weeks, and you've been...well, you've mostly been irritating as shit about it but otherwise you've been a good listener so come on. Who is it?" Sho's face paled. "Wait. It's not...I mean, after that night you came over...oh god, it's not..."
"It's not you, asshole," Nino protested.
Sho seemed to exhale in relief. "Don't scare me like that."
"Look, I was online and I was Murasaki, and Hattori Hanzo and I had this connection, and then what do you know, it turns out it was Riisa-chan and I like her and we went out and we're together now so..."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Sho said. "Slow down, wait a minute, wait a minute...Riisa was roleplaying as a guy?"
"That's the part you zero in on?"
But where Nino expected Sho to whip out a rehearsed lecture about propriety and "how many times have I told you to stop dating people you work with?" and "Jun will hunt you down and kill you slowly and painfully," Sho actually smiled at him.
"You and Riisa-chan? Really?"
He nodded. "Yes really."
Sho laughed. "Jun said this would happen."
"He what?"
"He told me about that party. About you jumping on her in that tortoise costume. He said it was the funniest thing he'd ever seen in his whole life, and clearly the two of you would be an interesting match."
Nino fumed. Jun knew? Jun had seen everything? And he'd never said anything? Matsumoto Jun with his humorless "in the party zone 24/7" face and his absolute refusal to bang Sho's brains out? That Jun? He was playing wishful thinking matchmaker all this time? Nino would kill him, but of course, he'd have to wait until after the wedding of the century.
Sho laughed at Nino's discomfort, flagging down their waiter. "You guys should make a cute couple. After all, you both have the same nose."
Nino didn't even feel bad when he kicked Sho in the shin under the table.
**
The wedding was so large that there seemed to be a member of staff for every other guest. The food from Chocolate Disco Desserts and Shimura's had been declined in favor of the Panasonic CFO's personal chef and his staff from some luxury restaurant in Tokyo that had a Michelin star.
Even now they were going table to table with the dessert course, Nino's tray covered in tiny plates, each topped with a bizarre looking dollop of chocolate mousse, a lone raspberry, and a decorative mint leaf. He was fairly certain that whatever CDD had to offer would have been far more satisfying, but given the clientele, this type of food was expected and preferred to something that might have actually tasted good. It was all about appearance with these people.
He and Riisa-chan had been stuck with two of the tables in the rear of the room, as far from the head table as possible. He had a feeling this was Jun's doing, if only to make things a little easier on Riisa. A wedding was a wedding, and she disliked them just about as much as he had hated Death Boat. But something had changed.
At previous weddings, she'd smiled politely, setting down plates and walking the room with trays of champagne like some kind of pretty robot. But her smile was different today. It didn't seem as forced, and Nino wondered what had changed.
He got his answer when they were done handing out the dessert plates, and he found her in the kitchen setting down her tray as staff from the other offices went in and out of the swinging doors. She hadn't turned her smile off upon entering the kitchen. She hadn't gone out the door to be alone with her unpleasant memories. Instead she was cracking jokes with Ohno, talking shoes with the girls she'd known from the Kanagawa-Shizuoka office, and as soon as she saw Nino at the other side of the kitchen she waved at him, sending the girls around her into a fit of cheerful giggles.
She left her friends behind, walking over to him. "Hello."
"Hello," he replied, moving the both of them out of the way as a guy from the Nagoya office came rushing past them, Jun at his heels screeching about a missing raspberry.
They stayed back, waiting for Jun to order them back out onto the floor to round up the plates, and they kept their hands behind their backs. He moved his fingers over slightly, finding hers. "You doing okay?" he asked her.
She gave his hand a squeeze. "Everyone out there is a ninja from the Koga clan," she whispered. "They may attack at any time. We must remain vigilant, my lady."
He grinned. Riisa had found the courage to get through weddings, and it was all thanks to Hattori Hanzo and Murasaki Shikibu.
"Should a wayward ninja strike at you during the Electric Slide, Master Hattori, I will surely endeavor to aid you in whatever way I can."
"You've gotten pretty strong, Murasaki baby. Color me impressed."
Jun clapped his hands for the kitchen's attention, and he and Riisa separated, heading back out to the banquet hall. The evening went long, but if Nino had to guess it was a resounding success. No strained backs on the dance floor, no awkward speeches going on too long, and no drunken board members had to be quietly escorted out.
When the guests were gone and they were tidying up with the hotel staff, Nino found Sho fidgeting around while Aiba and Ohno helped dump tablecloths into laundry carts. "Sho-chan, what's eating you?"
His friend inclined his head, and Nino's eyes drifted across the room until he spotted Jun surrounded by his superiors. Jun's face wasn't normally that cheerful on account of him being in serious work mode most of the time Nino was ever around him. But if Nino had to identify the look on Jun's face right now, it was almost depressed.
"We did everything right," Sho was whispering. "If anyone screwed up, it was the kids from the Nagoya office. Whatever happens, this was not Numazu's fault. All of you did so well tonight."
Nino wrapped an arm around his friend's shoulders in encouragement, even as he felt his own confidence slipping away. They really had worked hard, all of them had. He couldn't bear the thought of them all being separated. He and Riisa were just getting started. He didn't want to come to work if Aiba or Oh-chan weren't going to be there to keep him entertained with the stupid things they said. He'd even come around on Jun (mostly). This wasn't fair.
They watched Jun bow to management, and he turned around and walked back over. His expression gave nothing away. "Let's get going. We need to gas up the van before we head back home."
They grabbed the others, and from the looks on Jun and Sho's faces, everyone knew to stay quiet. They piled into the van, yawning quietly. Sho drove, Jun tapping his fingers nervously against the window glass as they left the gas station and headed for the highway. Ohno and Aiba took the first row of seats behind them, and Nino settled in the back with Riisa, and she reached for his hand almost instantly as soon as they drove off into the dark.
They were about halfway home, give or take a few kilometers, when Jun cleared his throat. "I have a few things to say."
The van was dead silent save for the hum of the air conditioning.
"First off, there's no need to panic. Management has decided to keep the Numazu branch open."
Aiba thumped the back of Jun's seat with his foot. "Oi! Your face looked like someone died! We thought we were all out of a job!"
Nino squeezed Riisa's hand tightly. There'd still be a Numazu office. They were all staying together!
"I'm sorry," Jun said, and while Sho was trying to focus on the road ahead of them, Jun's eyes turned toward him. "I have another thing to say though."
"Spit it out then," Ohno said, surprisingly vocal.
"Management has decided to promote me. They are really happy with the turnaround on the Numazu numbers, and they have offered me a new role in the company as a mobile trainer. I'll go around the country to help struggling offices stay open," he explained, and Nino saw Sho's grip on the steering wheel tighten. "This means that I will be leaving the Numazu branch in Sakurai-san's more than capable hands again."
"You're leaving?" Aiba asked him. "When?"
"They've asked me to visit one of the branch offices in Kumamoto starting next week."
"Kumamoto?" Aiba cried. "That's so far!"
"Sho-kun?" Ohno murmured, and Nino noticed that Sho had the van's turn signal on and was heading for the next off ramp, and even in the dark he was pretty damn sure this wasn't the exit they needed to use. "Sho-kun, I think we have a way to go yet..."
Jun tapped the dashboard with his hand. "Sakurai, where are you going?"
Sho sped up, the van flying down the off-ramp towards some small cluster of houses and a strip mall on the outskirts of the nearest town, Gotemba if he had to guess. "Sho-chan?" Nino asked. "Sho-chan, what's wrong?"
He pulled the van into the strip mall's empty parking lot, and the clock on the van's dashboard read 2:03 AM. They were all exhausted. What the hell was Sho doing?
Sho put the van in park, leaving the engine running and the lights on. "Matsumoto-san, could I have a word?"
Nobody said anything as Sho opened his door, slamming it shut behind him. Jun followed soon after, and the four of them were left stranded in the van as the two normally calm, normally not completely fucking insane members of their office moved some distance away and started arguing, the van's headlights casting their shadows against the wall of the small, local shops.
"The hell are they doing?" Aiba wondered.
"Maybe we should roll one of the windows down?" Ohno ventured. "Listen in?"
Riisa leaned forward, giving Ohno a tap on the head. "Don't you idiots understand anything?"
Nino could only watch his best friend on the other side of the parking lot, obviously upset as he continued yelling and pointing at Jun. And Jun stood there, taking whatever verbal assault Sho was flinging at him. Then it escalated, Sho giving Jun a shove, and Jun shoving right back.
"I kind of have to pee," Aiba mumbled. "Do you think if I got out and came back that it would be weird?"
"Just hold it," Riisa chided him.
Ohno nodded his head. "Do you think this is about Jun being a mobile...?"
"Whoa!" all four of them shouted in unison and in complete surprise as Jun grabbed Sho's face and started kissing him like some scene out of a drama. Or a movie. Not a movie like Death Boat, but whatever, Nino thought, feeling a strange sort of pride as Sho kissed back, turning the two of them to push Jun against the wall of the building. Seven years of buildup, and it seemed they couldn't take much more of it.
About fucking time, he thought, smiling.
"Come on," Riisa said, "turn the headlights off, let them have a moment."
"This is kinda hot," Aiba said with a giggle. "Maybe we should honk the horn so they'll keep going."
"I need popcorn," Ohno joined in.
"You're all a bunch of perverts," Riisa chided them, climbing over the seat, nearly elbowing Ohno in the face as she moved to the front of the van and switched the headlights off.
"Awwwww," Ohno and Aiba moaned together.
Riisa climbed up and over the seat again, Nino having to help tug her back. When she got seated again, she was right next to him, their thighs touching, and he couldn't help but put his arm around her.
A few minutes passed, Aiba spending nearly the entire time complaining about his bladder, before the two front doors opened, and Sho and Jun reentered the vehicle.
"I have to pee," Aiba said, sliding open the door as soon as Sho had put the headlights back on, running off into the dark in search of a bush.
"I'm sorry," Sho said, sounding mostly out of breath. "I uh...we..."
An odd, high-pitched sound started to echo throughout the van, and Nino would have believed it was some wild animal in the distance until he realized it was Jun, and he was laughing hysterically. Matsumoto Jun, Mr. Psycho Party Planner, and he was laughing in complete and utter joy.
**
The rest of the ride back was far less tense, Ohno sleeping through most of it, and Riisa nodding off a few times next to him before Sho pulled into the office parking lot.
"We'll have office hours the day after tomorrow," Jun said to everyone, though he only seemed to have eyes for Sho. Which was adorable and weird at the same time, but Nino was thrilled for Sho, who had finally gotten what he wanted. "So everyone show up by 10:00, if you don't mind. We'll discuss the transition."
Aiba half-carried Ohno over to his car, bidding everyone farewell, and it was obvious to Nino that Jun and Sho's night wasn't yet over. Riisa was still in and out of sleep, and he wrapped an arm around her waist. "Let me get you home, Master Hattori," he whispered, hoping the others wouldn't overhear.
"Mm, sounds good, dude," she murmured, snuggling against him.
Nino knew as soon as he stopped driving that he would probably fall asleep, and he turned the car radio on softly as he drove towards Riisa's apartment, listening to some shitty pop music just to keep himself awake. She was completely out when they arrived, and he pinched her cheek lightly to wake her.
"Come on, ninja warrior, you're home."
"Stay?" she asked, leaning across the seat and lazily kissing his cheek. "Stay here tonight?"
It sounded preferable to driving back across town half asleep and the company seemed far better, so he pulled the car around the corner and found a place to park. They shuffled along the sidewalk under the street lights, stumbling up the steps. It took her a solid minute to find her keys inside her bag, but she finally got the door open. They got their shoes off, shedding their work clothes lazily as they moved along.
He was too tired to appreciate it when she shimmied out of her slacks, leaving them halfway between the entryway and her bed. He tossed his own clothes on top of hers, down to his boxers and black dress socks, feeling half dead. She stumbled over to her cabinet in her bright orange bra and panties, pulling out an extra pillow for him, and somehow they got the light out and made it into her bed.
He wrapped an arm around her, drifting off to sleep with dim awareness of the giant Hattori Hanzo spear looming above them protectively.
When Nino woke, the clock on the wall read 9:37, and he rolled over, finding the bed empty. As he blinked awake, he saw the messy pile of clothes on the floor, realizing for the first time in his life that his clothes were mingled with someone else's and it wasn't because of sex. He chuckled to himself, hearing the shower turn off in the bathroom.
He stayed under the sheets, enjoying the scent of them, a mix of a different laundry detergent than what he used and whatever that damn citrus spritz-y stuff was that she wore all the time. He smiled, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. What a week it had been. Near-death experience at the movies, spending the night with his dream girl slash online roleplay partner, and he'd gotten to see his best friend make out with the person he was in love with in the middle of the night in an empty parking lot. Life, Nino thought, was really interesting after all.
She emerged from the bathroom, walking around casually in a lime green bra and panties, her dark brown hair twisted up in a pink towel. "Weren't those orange the last time I saw them?"
She smiled at him, as if there was nothing weird about him being in her bed at 9:30 in the morning. "They were. But orange is for Saturdays. Green is for Sundays."
"You have color theme days for underwear?"
"There's a lot you have to learn about me, Ninomiya," she said, sitting down on the bed and patting him on the head. "Go on, shower's waiting, and you smell like the work van."
He laughed, getting up and heading to the bathroom to relieve himself with a sigh before hopping into the shower. He could get used to this, he thought, rolling his eyes at the waterproof duckling decals that Riisa had attached up and down the shower tile. His shower at home didn't have anything remotely cute about it.
He turned the water off, hearing the bathroom door open. "You bring clothes for me?" he asked the steamy room. No response. "Riisa-chan?"
He poked his head around the side of the shower curtain, finding her standing in the doorway smiling, still in her underwear, and he grinned. "You're not dressed yet."
"Do you want me to put some clothes on?" As she walked forward, he could see there was more to her bra and panties than just "green." There were small polka dots on the fabric, and the panties had tiny little bows on the elastic band on each hip. Little bows that seemed to be screaming "let's play!"
"No," he said slowly, taking a deep breath. "No, I think you're good to go."
She winked at him. "Come here."
She didn't need to tell him twice. He didn't bother with a towel, and they met in front of her sink. She didn't seem to mind that he was still soaking wet, sliding his hand down her bare back and pulling her against him.
She tilted her head back so he could kiss along her throat, making the most perfect, joyful sound as she felt him against her, hard and wanting already. She wrapped her arms around his neck, demanding that he kiss her, and he was more than happy to give her what she wanted. His fingers skimmed down her body, moving from her back to the outside of her panties and their maybe-we-should-play-right-now bows. He swallowed her pleased moan as he rubbed her through the thin cotton and then slipped his hand inside.
She had probably woken up with this in mind, plotting this whole thing like one of their Jidai Fusion adventures. Shower, walk about in underwear, then seduce new boyfriend when he's probably spent his entire shower wanting you. She was warm and oh so welcoming, arching up against him at the first sensation of his fingers against her. She rocked herself against his hand, smiling. Riisa had been through a lot, and maybe, just maybe, Nino could be the one to help make things right again.
He pulled his mouth away from her, his request for a condom almost lost in her damp hair since she was a step ahead of him, already turning around and fumbling in her medicine cabinet. He saw himself reflected in the mirrored door of the cabinet, saw how badly he wanted her, and he saw her smile widen.
"Alright, now that I've seen that face on you, Nino, I'm going to need to keep watching it," she said, pulling out a box and shutting the cabinet. She turned back around, tearing at the foil wrapper. "Look at me."
He sighed when she found him, rolling the condom onto him quickly before turning around so her back was to him. She waved at his reflection in the mirror.
"Hello!"
"Hello," he replied, standing back a bit as she slowly slid her underwear from her hips to her knees, bracing herself against the sink. "You keep looking at me like that, and this will be over really quickly. You sure this is your idea of the right first time with me?"
"I don't mind. We can try something else next time," she said cheerfully, the same sort of cheerful she'd displayed at the movie theater. Probably the same gleeful expression she wore whenever she typed long paragraphs about "stabbing zombie samurai goons in the back, yo." She implied that this would definitely not be the last time. He needed her, wanted to lose himself inside her. Right now.
For all that she wanted to watch them in the mirror, her eyes shut tight as he got behind her, slowly and steadily guiding himself into her. She was so warm and wet for him, and it took all he had not slam into her like some jerk. He eased in and out of her a few times, sighing at the feeling of her body all around him. Before too long she had her eyes open again, watching him as he put his hands on her hips and quickened his pace.
He loved seeing her smile, feeling her push back against him as he moved. This was something he could definitely get used to. But before too long, watching themselves in the mirror proved to be a little troublesome. He couldn't help looking down, watching their bodies come together, seeing his cock disappear inside of her again and again. His hands were still a little slippery. Hell, his whole body was still wet from the shower, and he held on to her as tight as he dared.
"Lick your fingers," he told her. "Lick your fingers and touch yourself with them."
She half-laughed, half-moaned at his order, gripping the sink with one hand as best she could. He watched her slip two fingers in her mouth, watched them vanish all the way to her knuckle, and he almost lost it. Then they were out of her mouth and between her legs, and she sighed.
"Touch yourself," he repeated, losing control of himself, repeating it until forming words became problematic. It wasn't much longer before he came hard, rocking against her as she continued to touch herself. His mind was clouded, but happy as he watched in the mirror. He stayed inside her, feeling her move with increasing desperation, muttering his name under her breath until she gasped, bringing herself off.
When the ability to speak returned, he dropped a kiss on her shoulder and wrapped his arm around her middle. "You know. It wouldn't be very eco-friendly if we each showered again."
"It wouldn't be," she agreed, leaning back against him. "Very wasteful."
But any love for the environment they had meant little when she pulled away from him and yanked the shower curtain open to step back inside. And it would be rude not to join her.
**
User:hattori_hanzo2
im back. look at all the swag i got. all i had 2 do was trade those silver jewels we won in that poker tournament on ceti alpha prime. u remember that 1, it was against the aliens that looked like rhinos fufu.
User:murasaki_shikibu
*Murasaki peruses the items that Master Hattori has received in trade, her eyes widening at the sight of the plasma blaster pistol* Could that possibly be for me?
User:hattori_hanzo2
of course babe. only the best 4 the lady in the battle kimono who has my back. *hattori settles the pistol in murasakis shaking hands, clasping them in his own* let me teach u how 2 use it ok?
User:murasaki_shikibu
*Warmth suffuses her entire body at the slightest touch from the man she's come to admire...and perhaps even...?* It would be an honor to be instructed by you.
**
The four of them, sitting around the tables in the Let's Fiesta office, gaped unattractively at the two men standing before them.
Nino held up a hand. "Wait now. Just hold on a minute here. The calendar on the wall reads September to me, not April Fool's Day."
Sho looked almost embarrassed, maybe even sad, but he stood his ground with Jun looking kind of smug at his side. "I know I'm not usually the type for quick decisions like this, but the opportunity has presented itself and I can't say no..."
The day had started out like any other, another slog through office hours before an evening cocktail party some bank was holding at the Awashima Marine Park. But then Jun had arrived, Sho in tow. And Sho announced that after some negotiating with the main Let's Fiesta office, Jun's mobile training position had somehow become a team effort.
A team effort where Matsumoto Jun and Sakurai Sho were a two-man operation, set to leave for Kumamoto in the next week. Together.
"Sho-chan you can't just..." Aiba said, barely able to speak. "You can't just leave."
The implication, of course, was that Sho couldn't just leave them. This was all happening way too fast.
Jun cleared his throat. "Management says that whichever of the four of you wants to step up, your training will be all expenses paid, and you can do most of it online now. We'll hire in a few more bodies to round out the team, and besides, we're not leaving you hanging. Sho-kun and I are still going to live in Numazu."
"For what, three days a year?" Nino shot back, hurting.
"More like three months. We'll work three weeks out of every four on the road, then we'll be here with you all for a week," Sho explained. "It's not like we're moving to Mars or anything."
Nino found himself getting out of his seat, seeing Aiba and Ohno's shell-shocked faces. Riisa's was calmer, but that was probably because she hadn't worked with them for that long. He opened the door and headed for the exit.
This stupid job. This stupid fucking job. Underappreciated, underpaid. And what else was he good at, huh? Typing?
Sho found him leaning against the building a few moments later.
"Nino..."
"I get it," he said, feeling like an asshole. Or a kid. A twenty-nine year old kid. "You've got a way out, you've found it with him, and you're taking it. Congratulations."
Sho stood next to him, looking out across the parking lot to the concrete walls closing them in, the life in Numazu they'd never really planned for. The life neither of them had particularly wanted. "I realized it the other night. When he said he was going to Kumamoto. It was like my brain shut down. I couldn't just let him go, you know? Not after everything. Not when I was so damn sure what I was feeling. And so I told him that..."
"With your tongue," Nino said. "We all saw that, you know."
Unlike most other occasions, Sho didn't see much need to blush or get embarrassed. "We've been out of that dorm room for almost a decade, but neither of us has ever really acted like it."
He grinned at that. "Not really, no."
"And I worry that if I stay, if things around here don't change, if we don't let them change, we're just going to be here feeling sorry for ourselves forever. I still don't know if the answer to that is training people from Kyushu to Sapporo, but if it's Jun..." Sho's voice seemed to get quieter. "I don't know, I just have to do this. Because it's not me, not how I've always been, and maybe that's all the more reason to do it."
Nino already knew that Sho was right. That it was better to take a chance than to sit on your ass and settle. He'd been aimless for a decade, and he'd used Sho as a crutch, as an anchor for far too long. Everything in Nino's life would remain stagnant if he allowed it to.
"If you quit," Sho said, "I don't think anyone would hold it against you. It's not the end of the world if you want to do something else with yourself. Aiba-chan, Satoshi-kun, they wouldn't be mad."
Nino crossed his arms, trying to imagine a life where he didn't walk around parties setting down plates. A life where Aiba and Oh-chan could just be his friends instead of the people he suffered in relative silence with. An adult life, out on a limb. No Sakurai Sho safety net keeping him comfortable.
It was time to finally grow up.
"You should write," Riisa said later that evening after the party, making the long walk home from the Marine Park together. "You're saying you don't know what to do with yourself. Maybe you should write. You're good, you know."
"Write? About what?" he asked, lacing their fingers together. "About Hattori Hanzo and Murasaki Shikibu fighting zombie rats after a nuclear apocalypse in 2095?"
"Why not?" she said, leaning closer. "You've got your one-woman editor slash cheerleader slash biggest fan right here. If anyone knows the plot, it's me. It'll be a best seller, guaranteed."
"Most authors get rejected," he pointed out. But already the wheels were turning. All these weeks he'd never been happier. It had very little to do with work, and everything to do with the ongoing adventures of Hattori and Murasaki. With Riisa-chan in his life working her strange chatspeak magic. With his fingers flying across his keyboard, throwing caution and historical accuracy to the wind.
They reached a red light and came to a stop.
She brought her hands to his face, staring into his eyes and smiling. "Most authors don't have me," she teased him before bringing their lips together.
**
One year later
**
LET'S FIESTA JAPAN! - NUMAZU BRANCH
5-5-10 OTEMACHI, NUMAZU, SHIZUOKA
PARTY CATERING SERVICES SPECIALIZING IN EVENTS OF FIVE TO FIFTY GUESTS
CHOOSE US FOR YOUR NEXT INTIMATE PARTY EXPERIENCE!
Our prompt and professional team provides courteous, thoughtful service for your family gathering, birthday party, or formal event. Leave the thinking to us as we serve delicious appetizers, main courses, and desserts from local establishments.
For more information contact Team Leader Naka Riisa or visit our website noted below...
**
Nino wasn't used to weddings where he spent the reception sitting down.
Even now he kind of wanted to criticize the way some of the kids (and they were practically kids) were setting the plates down before them. It was probably the residual Matsumoto-esque precision that he'd never forget, even if it had been almost a year now since he'd worked a party. Even if his girlfriend ran the Numazu branch office, Nino and party catering had amicably parted ways.
It had taken almost all of that time to work on his manuscript, pulling shifts at the convenience store around the corner to stay afloat. In a few weeks he'd start shopping it around. Good or bad, Nino had spent the year a lot happier and far more fulfilled than he'd spent the last ten. Some people were born knowing they were writers. It seemed in his case that he'd needed the better part of three decades to actually realize it.
The year had done all of them good, and quitting really hadn't been the end of the world. The Numazu branch had seen Nino leave first, followed by Aiba and finally Oh-chan. Ohno had become a full-time fisherman, riding the waves with lovingly-made brownies shaped like boats to sustain him during each day out at sea. And Aiba and Becky were going to take over Shimura's together now that the old man who owned the place was retiring. The food being brought around to the tables had been selected by the bride and groom themselves, smiling like a pair of idiots in the center of the main table as they reminded their guests of that fact.
Aiba, a married man. It somehow felt right, and Nino wondered if he'd be sitting here at their wedding if he hadn't given Aiba that kick in the ass about her. He wondered if he'd have Jun and Sho sitting together opposite him, the two of them Let's Fiesta Japan's Employees of the Year (the first time dual recipients had been announced), if he hadn't taken on Matsumoto's voice and given Sho that extremely awkward push.
He wondered if he'd be where he was if his friends hadn't given him a push right back.
He turned his head, seeing Riisa standing at the edge of the banquet room, bluetooth thing in her ear and clipboard in hand. She'd been trained by the best, after all, even if her bright blue dyed hair didn't necessarily adhere to company protocol. She gave him a brief wink before heading off to the kitchen to order her staff around.
She found him later when Aiba was at the center of the dance floor, whirling his new wife around with a smile like sunshine. Aiba always had loved weddings. He felt Riisa's arms snake around him, hugging him from behind and nuzzling against the back of his neck.
"Aren't you supposed to be working?" he teased her. "I'm sharing a table with two of your superiors, and I could report you."
"Do you want to know how much you love me, Murasaki baby?" she asked.
"Mm, how much? Is it more than I did this morning?"
"Much more."
"And why is that?"
"Because Kamenashi-kun, the newest member of my staff? It seems his father is in management at Sunscape Publishing. And gosh, that kid would do just about anything for his boss to make a good impression." She poked him in the side. "Oh wait, I'm his boss! Fancy that!"
He smiled at that, seeing Aiba's dancing grow more wild as a faster song started up, but Becky and her white and gold wedding nail polish special were keeping up without any problems. Two of Ohno's lady friends danced together happily, the third back at the table with him feeding him a cupcake. Jun and Sho, ever the perfect workaholic duo, sat together rambling on about business (the new payroll system, rolling out any day now!) instead of just relaxing.
"Ah," he finally said. "Master Hattori, you and your sneaky ninja tricks."
Everyone was the same but different. Changed for the better. They were still in Numazu, but it was a different Numazu. If that made any sense, Nino thought with a grin.
Maybe you couldn't see Mount Fuji from the bathroom window, but if you just moved a few rooms over, you could see it with no trouble. It was there if you simply took the time to look.
The next few days seemed to pass in a flash. The saga of Hattori Hanzo and Murasaki Shikibu went on unchanged, though he was able to detect a far flirtier tone in his own writing and a far more protective, possessive tone coming from Master Hattori's.
Off of the message boards, life was still moving along. Death Boat was somehow number one at the box office, Ohno had managed to catch a record-breaking fish that was the talk of the harbor, and Sho and Jun had returned from their road trip with both good and bad news.
The good news was that the Numazu branch office would be teaming up with folks from Nagoya as well as the Kanagawa-Shizuoka office in Yokohama to work a wedding at a hotel near the Fuji-Q Amusement Park. It was a major undertaking with the daughter of Panasonic's CFO marrying some equally wealthy guy who'd graduated from Todai and worked overseas.
The bad news was that this wedding was apparently going to be the make or break for the Numazu office. Jun's supervisor and a member of the Tokyo management would be at the event observing their performance. Even today, two days before the event, Sho was a bundle of nerves as they sat in the cafe, and he watched his friend down latte after latte.
"But Jun-kun's in charge," Nino tried to assure him. "And you know more than anyone how capable he is."
Sho shook a packet of sugar, tearing it hastily and sending some of it spraying across the table as he upended it into his mug. "He's very capable."
"My Sho-chan wouldn't want to get into an incompetent person's pants." Sho scowled at him, sipping his drink. "Sore subject?"
"He says I can't be his second-in-command for the wedding. He's putting me in charge of seating."
"Seating's a big deal," Nino said. He paused, scratching his head. "It is, right?"
Sho looked down. "He told me that we both need to be in top form with his bosses there and that if we were working so closely on the big day I might distract him. We had a long talk on the car ride home the other day."
Nino grinned. "He wants you really bad. And he still won't make a move?"
"No."
"And you haven't because...?"
"Do we always have to talk about my love life? Or lack thereof?" Sho distinctly seemed to forget the personal sacrifice Nino had made to get him in a place where he could confess - wasn't the next logical step just to defy Jun's expectations and jump his bones? Nino wasn't really in the mood to jerk him off again as a reminder.
"We could talk about Oh-chan's love life if you want. You know how he is, do you think he lets those cute girls spank him with a rolling pin?"
Sho set down his mug in disgust. "Why don't we talk about yours then? You've been distracted lately so what is it? Is it because of Aiba-chan and Becky? I know you and him had...whatever it was you had. Or are you just having cybersex on the message board in your time machine?"
"As a matter of fact..." he started to say, letting his voice trail off as he felt his cheeks start to redden. Sho was here beating himself up for wanting to hook up with a co-worker, and Nino had just kind of sort of gotten together with another with zero shame.
"As a matter of fact what?" Sho asked. "Do I know this person?"
He waved his hand. "It doesn't matter."
"Nino, you can tell me anything. I've been dumping all my personal stuff on you the past few weeks, and you've been...well, you've mostly been irritating as shit about it but otherwise you've been a good listener so come on. Who is it?" Sho's face paled. "Wait. It's not...I mean, after that night you came over...oh god, it's not..."
"It's not you, asshole," Nino protested.
Sho seemed to exhale in relief. "Don't scare me like that."
"Look, I was online and I was Murasaki, and Hattori Hanzo and I had this connection, and then what do you know, it turns out it was Riisa-chan and I like her and we went out and we're together now so..."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Sho said. "Slow down, wait a minute, wait a minute...Riisa was roleplaying as a guy?"
"That's the part you zero in on?"
But where Nino expected Sho to whip out a rehearsed lecture about propriety and "how many times have I told you to stop dating people you work with?" and "Jun will hunt you down and kill you slowly and painfully," Sho actually smiled at him.
"You and Riisa-chan? Really?"
He nodded. "Yes really."
Sho laughed. "Jun said this would happen."
"He what?"
"He told me about that party. About you jumping on her in that tortoise costume. He said it was the funniest thing he'd ever seen in his whole life, and clearly the two of you would be an interesting match."
Nino fumed. Jun knew? Jun had seen everything? And he'd never said anything? Matsumoto Jun with his humorless "in the party zone 24/7" face and his absolute refusal to bang Sho's brains out? That Jun? He was playing wishful thinking matchmaker all this time? Nino would kill him, but of course, he'd have to wait until after the wedding of the century.
Sho laughed at Nino's discomfort, flagging down their waiter. "You guys should make a cute couple. After all, you both have the same nose."
Nino didn't even feel bad when he kicked Sho in the shin under the table.
**
The wedding was so large that there seemed to be a member of staff for every other guest. The food from Chocolate Disco Desserts and Shimura's had been declined in favor of the Panasonic CFO's personal chef and his staff from some luxury restaurant in Tokyo that had a Michelin star.
Even now they were going table to table with the dessert course, Nino's tray covered in tiny plates, each topped with a bizarre looking dollop of chocolate mousse, a lone raspberry, and a decorative mint leaf. He was fairly certain that whatever CDD had to offer would have been far more satisfying, but given the clientele, this type of food was expected and preferred to something that might have actually tasted good. It was all about appearance with these people.
He and Riisa-chan had been stuck with two of the tables in the rear of the room, as far from the head table as possible. He had a feeling this was Jun's doing, if only to make things a little easier on Riisa. A wedding was a wedding, and she disliked them just about as much as he had hated Death Boat. But something had changed.
At previous weddings, she'd smiled politely, setting down plates and walking the room with trays of champagne like some kind of pretty robot. But her smile was different today. It didn't seem as forced, and Nino wondered what had changed.
He got his answer when they were done handing out the dessert plates, and he found her in the kitchen setting down her tray as staff from the other offices went in and out of the swinging doors. She hadn't turned her smile off upon entering the kitchen. She hadn't gone out the door to be alone with her unpleasant memories. Instead she was cracking jokes with Ohno, talking shoes with the girls she'd known from the Kanagawa-Shizuoka office, and as soon as she saw Nino at the other side of the kitchen she waved at him, sending the girls around her into a fit of cheerful giggles.
She left her friends behind, walking over to him. "Hello."
"Hello," he replied, moving the both of them out of the way as a guy from the Nagoya office came rushing past them, Jun at his heels screeching about a missing raspberry.
They stayed back, waiting for Jun to order them back out onto the floor to round up the plates, and they kept their hands behind their backs. He moved his fingers over slightly, finding hers. "You doing okay?" he asked her.
She gave his hand a squeeze. "Everyone out there is a ninja from the Koga clan," she whispered. "They may attack at any time. We must remain vigilant, my lady."
He grinned. Riisa had found the courage to get through weddings, and it was all thanks to Hattori Hanzo and Murasaki Shikibu.
"Should a wayward ninja strike at you during the Electric Slide, Master Hattori, I will surely endeavor to aid you in whatever way I can."
"You've gotten pretty strong, Murasaki baby. Color me impressed."
Jun clapped his hands for the kitchen's attention, and he and Riisa separated, heading back out to the banquet hall. The evening went long, but if Nino had to guess it was a resounding success. No strained backs on the dance floor, no awkward speeches going on too long, and no drunken board members had to be quietly escorted out.
When the guests were gone and they were tidying up with the hotel staff, Nino found Sho fidgeting around while Aiba and Ohno helped dump tablecloths into laundry carts. "Sho-chan, what's eating you?"
His friend inclined his head, and Nino's eyes drifted across the room until he spotted Jun surrounded by his superiors. Jun's face wasn't normally that cheerful on account of him being in serious work mode most of the time Nino was ever around him. But if Nino had to identify the look on Jun's face right now, it was almost depressed.
"We did everything right," Sho was whispering. "If anyone screwed up, it was the kids from the Nagoya office. Whatever happens, this was not Numazu's fault. All of you did so well tonight."
Nino wrapped an arm around his friend's shoulders in encouragement, even as he felt his own confidence slipping away. They really had worked hard, all of them had. He couldn't bear the thought of them all being separated. He and Riisa were just getting started. He didn't want to come to work if Aiba or Oh-chan weren't going to be there to keep him entertained with the stupid things they said. He'd even come around on Jun (mostly). This wasn't fair.
They watched Jun bow to management, and he turned around and walked back over. His expression gave nothing away. "Let's get going. We need to gas up the van before we head back home."
They grabbed the others, and from the looks on Jun and Sho's faces, everyone knew to stay quiet. They piled into the van, yawning quietly. Sho drove, Jun tapping his fingers nervously against the window glass as they left the gas station and headed for the highway. Ohno and Aiba took the first row of seats behind them, and Nino settled in the back with Riisa, and she reached for his hand almost instantly as soon as they drove off into the dark.
They were about halfway home, give or take a few kilometers, when Jun cleared his throat. "I have a few things to say."
The van was dead silent save for the hum of the air conditioning.
"First off, there's no need to panic. Management has decided to keep the Numazu branch open."
Aiba thumped the back of Jun's seat with his foot. "Oi! Your face looked like someone died! We thought we were all out of a job!"
Nino squeezed Riisa's hand tightly. There'd still be a Numazu office. They were all staying together!
"I'm sorry," Jun said, and while Sho was trying to focus on the road ahead of them, Jun's eyes turned toward him. "I have another thing to say though."
"Spit it out then," Ohno said, surprisingly vocal.
"Management has decided to promote me. They are really happy with the turnaround on the Numazu numbers, and they have offered me a new role in the company as a mobile trainer. I'll go around the country to help struggling offices stay open," he explained, and Nino saw Sho's grip on the steering wheel tighten. "This means that I will be leaving the Numazu branch in Sakurai-san's more than capable hands again."
"You're leaving?" Aiba asked him. "When?"
"They've asked me to visit one of the branch offices in Kumamoto starting next week."
"Kumamoto?" Aiba cried. "That's so far!"
"Sho-kun?" Ohno murmured, and Nino noticed that Sho had the van's turn signal on and was heading for the next off ramp, and even in the dark he was pretty damn sure this wasn't the exit they needed to use. "Sho-kun, I think we have a way to go yet..."
Jun tapped the dashboard with his hand. "Sakurai, where are you going?"
Sho sped up, the van flying down the off-ramp towards some small cluster of houses and a strip mall on the outskirts of the nearest town, Gotemba if he had to guess. "Sho-chan?" Nino asked. "Sho-chan, what's wrong?"
He pulled the van into the strip mall's empty parking lot, and the clock on the van's dashboard read 2:03 AM. They were all exhausted. What the hell was Sho doing?
Sho put the van in park, leaving the engine running and the lights on. "Matsumoto-san, could I have a word?"
Nobody said anything as Sho opened his door, slamming it shut behind him. Jun followed soon after, and the four of them were left stranded in the van as the two normally calm, normally not completely fucking insane members of their office moved some distance away and started arguing, the van's headlights casting their shadows against the wall of the small, local shops.
"The hell are they doing?" Aiba wondered.
"Maybe we should roll one of the windows down?" Ohno ventured. "Listen in?"
Riisa leaned forward, giving Ohno a tap on the head. "Don't you idiots understand anything?"
Nino could only watch his best friend on the other side of the parking lot, obviously upset as he continued yelling and pointing at Jun. And Jun stood there, taking whatever verbal assault Sho was flinging at him. Then it escalated, Sho giving Jun a shove, and Jun shoving right back.
"I kind of have to pee," Aiba mumbled. "Do you think if I got out and came back that it would be weird?"
"Just hold it," Riisa chided him.
Ohno nodded his head. "Do you think this is about Jun being a mobile...?"
"Whoa!" all four of them shouted in unison and in complete surprise as Jun grabbed Sho's face and started kissing him like some scene out of a drama. Or a movie. Not a movie like Death Boat, but whatever, Nino thought, feeling a strange sort of pride as Sho kissed back, turning the two of them to push Jun against the wall of the building. Seven years of buildup, and it seemed they couldn't take much more of it.
About fucking time, he thought, smiling.
"Come on," Riisa said, "turn the headlights off, let them have a moment."
"This is kinda hot," Aiba said with a giggle. "Maybe we should honk the horn so they'll keep going."
"I need popcorn," Ohno joined in.
"You're all a bunch of perverts," Riisa chided them, climbing over the seat, nearly elbowing Ohno in the face as she moved to the front of the van and switched the headlights off.
"Awwwww," Ohno and Aiba moaned together.
Riisa climbed up and over the seat again, Nino having to help tug her back. When she got seated again, she was right next to him, their thighs touching, and he couldn't help but put his arm around her.
A few minutes passed, Aiba spending nearly the entire time complaining about his bladder, before the two front doors opened, and Sho and Jun reentered the vehicle.
"I have to pee," Aiba said, sliding open the door as soon as Sho had put the headlights back on, running off into the dark in search of a bush.
"I'm sorry," Sho said, sounding mostly out of breath. "I uh...we..."
An odd, high-pitched sound started to echo throughout the van, and Nino would have believed it was some wild animal in the distance until he realized it was Jun, and he was laughing hysterically. Matsumoto Jun, Mr. Psycho Party Planner, and he was laughing in complete and utter joy.
**
The rest of the ride back was far less tense, Ohno sleeping through most of it, and Riisa nodding off a few times next to him before Sho pulled into the office parking lot.
"We'll have office hours the day after tomorrow," Jun said to everyone, though he only seemed to have eyes for Sho. Which was adorable and weird at the same time, but Nino was thrilled for Sho, who had finally gotten what he wanted. "So everyone show up by 10:00, if you don't mind. We'll discuss the transition."
Aiba half-carried Ohno over to his car, bidding everyone farewell, and it was obvious to Nino that Jun and Sho's night wasn't yet over. Riisa was still in and out of sleep, and he wrapped an arm around her waist. "Let me get you home, Master Hattori," he whispered, hoping the others wouldn't overhear.
"Mm, sounds good, dude," she murmured, snuggling against him.
Nino knew as soon as he stopped driving that he would probably fall asleep, and he turned the car radio on softly as he drove towards Riisa's apartment, listening to some shitty pop music just to keep himself awake. She was completely out when they arrived, and he pinched her cheek lightly to wake her.
"Come on, ninja warrior, you're home."
"Stay?" she asked, leaning across the seat and lazily kissing his cheek. "Stay here tonight?"
It sounded preferable to driving back across town half asleep and the company seemed far better, so he pulled the car around the corner and found a place to park. They shuffled along the sidewalk under the street lights, stumbling up the steps. It took her a solid minute to find her keys inside her bag, but she finally got the door open. They got their shoes off, shedding their work clothes lazily as they moved along.
He was too tired to appreciate it when she shimmied out of her slacks, leaving them halfway between the entryway and her bed. He tossed his own clothes on top of hers, down to his boxers and black dress socks, feeling half dead. She stumbled over to her cabinet in her bright orange bra and panties, pulling out an extra pillow for him, and somehow they got the light out and made it into her bed.
He wrapped an arm around her, drifting off to sleep with dim awareness of the giant Hattori Hanzo spear looming above them protectively.
When Nino woke, the clock on the wall read 9:37, and he rolled over, finding the bed empty. As he blinked awake, he saw the messy pile of clothes on the floor, realizing for the first time in his life that his clothes were mingled with someone else's and it wasn't because of sex. He chuckled to himself, hearing the shower turn off in the bathroom.
He stayed under the sheets, enjoying the scent of them, a mix of a different laundry detergent than what he used and whatever that damn citrus spritz-y stuff was that she wore all the time. He smiled, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. What a week it had been. Near-death experience at the movies, spending the night with his dream girl slash online roleplay partner, and he'd gotten to see his best friend make out with the person he was in love with in the middle of the night in an empty parking lot. Life, Nino thought, was really interesting after all.
She emerged from the bathroom, walking around casually in a lime green bra and panties, her dark brown hair twisted up in a pink towel. "Weren't those orange the last time I saw them?"
She smiled at him, as if there was nothing weird about him being in her bed at 9:30 in the morning. "They were. But orange is for Saturdays. Green is for Sundays."
"You have color theme days for underwear?"
"There's a lot you have to learn about me, Ninomiya," she said, sitting down on the bed and patting him on the head. "Go on, shower's waiting, and you smell like the work van."
He laughed, getting up and heading to the bathroom to relieve himself with a sigh before hopping into the shower. He could get used to this, he thought, rolling his eyes at the waterproof duckling decals that Riisa had attached up and down the shower tile. His shower at home didn't have anything remotely cute about it.
He turned the water off, hearing the bathroom door open. "You bring clothes for me?" he asked the steamy room. No response. "Riisa-chan?"
He poked his head around the side of the shower curtain, finding her standing in the doorway smiling, still in her underwear, and he grinned. "You're not dressed yet."
"Do you want me to put some clothes on?" As she walked forward, he could see there was more to her bra and panties than just "green." There were small polka dots on the fabric, and the panties had tiny little bows on the elastic band on each hip. Little bows that seemed to be screaming "let's play!"
"No," he said slowly, taking a deep breath. "No, I think you're good to go."
She winked at him. "Come here."
She didn't need to tell him twice. He didn't bother with a towel, and they met in front of her sink. She didn't seem to mind that he was still soaking wet, sliding his hand down her bare back and pulling her against him.
She tilted her head back so he could kiss along her throat, making the most perfect, joyful sound as she felt him against her, hard and wanting already. She wrapped her arms around his neck, demanding that he kiss her, and he was more than happy to give her what she wanted. His fingers skimmed down her body, moving from her back to the outside of her panties and their maybe-we-should-play-right-now bows. He swallowed her pleased moan as he rubbed her through the thin cotton and then slipped his hand inside.
She had probably woken up with this in mind, plotting this whole thing like one of their Jidai Fusion adventures. Shower, walk about in underwear, then seduce new boyfriend when he's probably spent his entire shower wanting you. She was warm and oh so welcoming, arching up against him at the first sensation of his fingers against her. She rocked herself against his hand, smiling. Riisa had been through a lot, and maybe, just maybe, Nino could be the one to help make things right again.
He pulled his mouth away from her, his request for a condom almost lost in her damp hair since she was a step ahead of him, already turning around and fumbling in her medicine cabinet. He saw himself reflected in the mirrored door of the cabinet, saw how badly he wanted her, and he saw her smile widen.
"Alright, now that I've seen that face on you, Nino, I'm going to need to keep watching it," she said, pulling out a box and shutting the cabinet. She turned back around, tearing at the foil wrapper. "Look at me."
He sighed when she found him, rolling the condom onto him quickly before turning around so her back was to him. She waved at his reflection in the mirror.
"Hello!"
"Hello," he replied, standing back a bit as she slowly slid her underwear from her hips to her knees, bracing herself against the sink. "You keep looking at me like that, and this will be over really quickly. You sure this is your idea of the right first time with me?"
"I don't mind. We can try something else next time," she said cheerfully, the same sort of cheerful she'd displayed at the movie theater. Probably the same gleeful expression she wore whenever she typed long paragraphs about "stabbing zombie samurai goons in the back, yo." She implied that this would definitely not be the last time. He needed her, wanted to lose himself inside her. Right now.
For all that she wanted to watch them in the mirror, her eyes shut tight as he got behind her, slowly and steadily guiding himself into her. She was so warm and wet for him, and it took all he had not slam into her like some jerk. He eased in and out of her a few times, sighing at the feeling of her body all around him. Before too long she had her eyes open again, watching him as he put his hands on her hips and quickened his pace.
He loved seeing her smile, feeling her push back against him as he moved. This was something he could definitely get used to. But before too long, watching themselves in the mirror proved to be a little troublesome. He couldn't help looking down, watching their bodies come together, seeing his cock disappear inside of her again and again. His hands were still a little slippery. Hell, his whole body was still wet from the shower, and he held on to her as tight as he dared.
"Lick your fingers," he told her. "Lick your fingers and touch yourself with them."
She half-laughed, half-moaned at his order, gripping the sink with one hand as best she could. He watched her slip two fingers in her mouth, watched them vanish all the way to her knuckle, and he almost lost it. Then they were out of her mouth and between her legs, and she sighed.
"Touch yourself," he repeated, losing control of himself, repeating it until forming words became problematic. It wasn't much longer before he came hard, rocking against her as she continued to touch herself. His mind was clouded, but happy as he watched in the mirror. He stayed inside her, feeling her move with increasing desperation, muttering his name under her breath until she gasped, bringing herself off.
When the ability to speak returned, he dropped a kiss on her shoulder and wrapped his arm around her middle. "You know. It wouldn't be very eco-friendly if we each showered again."
"It wouldn't be," she agreed, leaning back against him. "Very wasteful."
But any love for the environment they had meant little when she pulled away from him and yanked the shower curtain open to step back inside. And it would be rude not to join her.
**
User:hattori_hanzo2
im back. look at all the swag i got. all i had 2 do was trade those silver jewels we won in that poker tournament on ceti alpha prime. u remember that 1, it was against the aliens that looked like rhinos fufu.
User:murasaki_shikibu
*Murasaki peruses the items that Master Hattori has received in trade, her eyes widening at the sight of the plasma blaster pistol* Could that possibly be for me?
User:hattori_hanzo2
of course babe. only the best 4 the lady in the battle kimono who has my back. *hattori settles the pistol in murasakis shaking hands, clasping them in his own* let me teach u how 2 use it ok?
User:murasaki_shikibu
*Warmth suffuses her entire body at the slightest touch from the man she's come to admire...and perhaps even...?* It would be an honor to be instructed by you.
**
The four of them, sitting around the tables in the Let's Fiesta office, gaped unattractively at the two men standing before them.
Nino held up a hand. "Wait now. Just hold on a minute here. The calendar on the wall reads September to me, not April Fool's Day."
Sho looked almost embarrassed, maybe even sad, but he stood his ground with Jun looking kind of smug at his side. "I know I'm not usually the type for quick decisions like this, but the opportunity has presented itself and I can't say no..."
The day had started out like any other, another slog through office hours before an evening cocktail party some bank was holding at the Awashima Marine Park. But then Jun had arrived, Sho in tow. And Sho announced that after some negotiating with the main Let's Fiesta office, Jun's mobile training position had somehow become a team effort.
A team effort where Matsumoto Jun and Sakurai Sho were a two-man operation, set to leave for Kumamoto in the next week. Together.
"Sho-chan you can't just..." Aiba said, barely able to speak. "You can't just leave."
The implication, of course, was that Sho couldn't just leave them. This was all happening way too fast.
Jun cleared his throat. "Management says that whichever of the four of you wants to step up, your training will be all expenses paid, and you can do most of it online now. We'll hire in a few more bodies to round out the team, and besides, we're not leaving you hanging. Sho-kun and I are still going to live in Numazu."
"For what, three days a year?" Nino shot back, hurting.
"More like three months. We'll work three weeks out of every four on the road, then we'll be here with you all for a week," Sho explained. "It's not like we're moving to Mars or anything."
Nino found himself getting out of his seat, seeing Aiba and Ohno's shell-shocked faces. Riisa's was calmer, but that was probably because she hadn't worked with them for that long. He opened the door and headed for the exit.
This stupid job. This stupid fucking job. Underappreciated, underpaid. And what else was he good at, huh? Typing?
Sho found him leaning against the building a few moments later.
"Nino..."
"I get it," he said, feeling like an asshole. Or a kid. A twenty-nine year old kid. "You've got a way out, you've found it with him, and you're taking it. Congratulations."
Sho stood next to him, looking out across the parking lot to the concrete walls closing them in, the life in Numazu they'd never really planned for. The life neither of them had particularly wanted. "I realized it the other night. When he said he was going to Kumamoto. It was like my brain shut down. I couldn't just let him go, you know? Not after everything. Not when I was so damn sure what I was feeling. And so I told him that..."
"With your tongue," Nino said. "We all saw that, you know."
Unlike most other occasions, Sho didn't see much need to blush or get embarrassed. "We've been out of that dorm room for almost a decade, but neither of us has ever really acted like it."
He grinned at that. "Not really, no."
"And I worry that if I stay, if things around here don't change, if we don't let them change, we're just going to be here feeling sorry for ourselves forever. I still don't know if the answer to that is training people from Kyushu to Sapporo, but if it's Jun..." Sho's voice seemed to get quieter. "I don't know, I just have to do this. Because it's not me, not how I've always been, and maybe that's all the more reason to do it."
Nino already knew that Sho was right. That it was better to take a chance than to sit on your ass and settle. He'd been aimless for a decade, and he'd used Sho as a crutch, as an anchor for far too long. Everything in Nino's life would remain stagnant if he allowed it to.
"If you quit," Sho said, "I don't think anyone would hold it against you. It's not the end of the world if you want to do something else with yourself. Aiba-chan, Satoshi-kun, they wouldn't be mad."
Nino crossed his arms, trying to imagine a life where he didn't walk around parties setting down plates. A life where Aiba and Oh-chan could just be his friends instead of the people he suffered in relative silence with. An adult life, out on a limb. No Sakurai Sho safety net keeping him comfortable.
It was time to finally grow up.
"You should write," Riisa said later that evening after the party, making the long walk home from the Marine Park together. "You're saying you don't know what to do with yourself. Maybe you should write. You're good, you know."
"Write? About what?" he asked, lacing their fingers together. "About Hattori Hanzo and Murasaki Shikibu fighting zombie rats after a nuclear apocalypse in 2095?"
"Why not?" she said, leaning closer. "You've got your one-woman editor slash cheerleader slash biggest fan right here. If anyone knows the plot, it's me. It'll be a best seller, guaranteed."
"Most authors get rejected," he pointed out. But already the wheels were turning. All these weeks he'd never been happier. It had very little to do with work, and everything to do with the ongoing adventures of Hattori and Murasaki. With Riisa-chan in his life working her strange chatspeak magic. With his fingers flying across his keyboard, throwing caution and historical accuracy to the wind.
They reached a red light and came to a stop.
She brought her hands to his face, staring into his eyes and smiling. "Most authors don't have me," she teased him before bringing their lips together.
**
One year later
**
LET'S FIESTA JAPAN! - NUMAZU BRANCH
5-5-10 OTEMACHI, NUMAZU, SHIZUOKA
PARTY CATERING SERVICES SPECIALIZING IN EVENTS OF FIVE TO FIFTY GUESTS
CHOOSE US FOR YOUR NEXT INTIMATE PARTY EXPERIENCE!
Our prompt and professional team provides courteous, thoughtful service for your family gathering, birthday party, or formal event. Leave the thinking to us as we serve delicious appetizers, main courses, and desserts from local establishments.
For more information contact Team Leader Naka Riisa or visit our website noted below...
**
Nino wasn't used to weddings where he spent the reception sitting down.
Even now he kind of wanted to criticize the way some of the kids (and they were practically kids) were setting the plates down before them. It was probably the residual Matsumoto-esque precision that he'd never forget, even if it had been almost a year now since he'd worked a party. Even if his girlfriend ran the Numazu branch office, Nino and party catering had amicably parted ways.
It had taken almost all of that time to work on his manuscript, pulling shifts at the convenience store around the corner to stay afloat. In a few weeks he'd start shopping it around. Good or bad, Nino had spent the year a lot happier and far more fulfilled than he'd spent the last ten. Some people were born knowing they were writers. It seemed in his case that he'd needed the better part of three decades to actually realize it.
The year had done all of them good, and quitting really hadn't been the end of the world. The Numazu branch had seen Nino leave first, followed by Aiba and finally Oh-chan. Ohno had become a full-time fisherman, riding the waves with lovingly-made brownies shaped like boats to sustain him during each day out at sea. And Aiba and Becky were going to take over Shimura's together now that the old man who owned the place was retiring. The food being brought around to the tables had been selected by the bride and groom themselves, smiling like a pair of idiots in the center of the main table as they reminded their guests of that fact.
Aiba, a married man. It somehow felt right, and Nino wondered if he'd be sitting here at their wedding if he hadn't given Aiba that kick in the ass about her. He wondered if he'd have Jun and Sho sitting together opposite him, the two of them Let's Fiesta Japan's Employees of the Year (the first time dual recipients had been announced), if he hadn't taken on Matsumoto's voice and given Sho that extremely awkward push.
He wondered if he'd be where he was if his friends hadn't given him a push right back.
He turned his head, seeing Riisa standing at the edge of the banquet room, bluetooth thing in her ear and clipboard in hand. She'd been trained by the best, after all, even if her bright blue dyed hair didn't necessarily adhere to company protocol. She gave him a brief wink before heading off to the kitchen to order her staff around.
She found him later when Aiba was at the center of the dance floor, whirling his new wife around with a smile like sunshine. Aiba always had loved weddings. He felt Riisa's arms snake around him, hugging him from behind and nuzzling against the back of his neck.
"Aren't you supposed to be working?" he teased her. "I'm sharing a table with two of your superiors, and I could report you."
"Do you want to know how much you love me, Murasaki baby?" she asked.
"Mm, how much? Is it more than I did this morning?"
"Much more."
"And why is that?"
"Because Kamenashi-kun, the newest member of my staff? It seems his father is in management at Sunscape Publishing. And gosh, that kid would do just about anything for his boss to make a good impression." She poked him in the side. "Oh wait, I'm his boss! Fancy that!"
He smiled at that, seeing Aiba's dancing grow more wild as a faster song started up, but Becky and her white and gold wedding nail polish special were keeping up without any problems. Two of Ohno's lady friends danced together happily, the third back at the table with him feeding him a cupcake. Jun and Sho, ever the perfect workaholic duo, sat together rambling on about business (the new payroll system, rolling out any day now!) instead of just relaxing.
"Ah," he finally said. "Master Hattori, you and your sneaky ninja tricks."
Everyone was the same but different. Changed for the better. They were still in Numazu, but it was a different Numazu. If that made any sense, Nino thought with a grin.
Maybe you couldn't see Mount Fuji from the bathroom window, but if you just moved a few rooms over, you could see it with no trouble. It was there if you simply took the time to look.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2012-11-04 09:35 pm (UTC)I'm happy you enjoyed it!! Thank you!