“And now, traffic. The intersection of Konoha Drive and Kakashi Lane are still closed down due to the collapse of the monorail. Police say that the terrorist responsible for this act is still at lar-”
Nabiki looked away from the television and into the kitchen. “Hey Kasumi, someone’s at the door.”
“Sorry, but I’m cooking and can‘t leave the stove right now,” she called back.
“Akane-”
“She’s in the dojo,” Kasumi said before Nabiki could even finish.
The person on the other side of the door pounded on it even harder and shouted something Nabiki couldn’t make out over the television. Since it seemed the person interrupting her show just wasn’t going away, Nabiki put the television on mute and walked over to open the door.
“Where is Soun Tendo?”
The stranger’s voice and the clothes he had on made Nabiki freeze. Although she had seen plenty of weirdoes over the years, the western style black sorcerer outfit threw her off. For a moment, Nabiki ran through everything she knew about Western culture, and then everything suddenly made sense.
The devil was obviously here to collect her father’s soul.
Nabiki cleared her throat to give her time to think of an answer. In the end, the truth was the best thing to do. “He doesn’t live here anymore.”
“Do you really think I’m just going to buy that and walk away?” the stranger said before he started doing that creepy glowing thing that martial artists did when they were pissed off.
“I’m serious!” Nabiki quickly told him after she stopped her spine from shaking. “He moved out years ago!”
Before Nabiki could react and slam the door in the man’s face, he reached forward to grab her shirt and pulled her up to his face. Her legs didn’t react in time, and she came stumbling forward and looked up him at an angle that still allowed for Nabiki to see the man’s mouth and nose, but nothing else. “Do you really expect me to believe that?”
Nabiki gulped and raised he hands to wave them and try and ward him off. “Hey, hey come on I’m a non-combatant! Aren’t you guys supposed to leave people like me alone?”
“Not when they’re in my way,” the man said as he raised his fist to strike at her.
For a moment she thought of just calling for help, screaming rape, or something else. But with the distance between them, Nabiki knew she wouldn‘t be getting more than a syllable out before she got pounded. “W-Well come in and see for yourself,” Nabiki quickly said before he had time to knock the crap out of her.
He seemed to mull it over for a moment, and then… “…Fine, prove it.”
The unrelenting threat of death seemed to disappear as the man hauled Nabiki to her feet, and she had to take a moment to try and calm herself. Trying to think up strategies when your life was in danger was way different than doing it on the sidelines.
“Hurry up and get moving!” he growled out fiercely.
Nabiki jumped and quickly stepped to the door. “Uh sure, sure, come on in,” she told him as evenly as she could.
“Nabiki, is someone there?” Kasumi asked as the sisters met in the entryway.
Nabiki looked over to Kasumi. If she could keep the stranger busy upstairs, Kasumi could call the police and-
“Oh it’s just me ma’am, I’m a friend of Nabiki‘s,” a strangely familiar, yet disturbingly alien, voice said from behind Nabiki.
Nabiki spun around and blinked. The guy from before had pulled his hood off and was showing his face openly. Now that Nabiki had a good look at him, she had to admit he was pretty cute; for a murderous monster anyway. Even the air seemed to sparkle around him. Wha… WHAT THE HELL? It wasn’t just his good looks either, the way he raised his hands and everything kept the pentagrams on his gloves completely out of view, and his hood was tucked away to make what he was wearing look like a fancy coat.
Then again, Kasumi always told her the devil would be beautiful.
Kasumi let out a surprised gasp, and looked over to her little sister. “Oh Nabiki I didn’t know you were seeing anyone!”
WHAT? Nabiki mentally shouted as the statement threw her off completely.
“Well, don’t be rude, introduce him,” Kasumi chided her younger sister cheerily.
“Yeah sweetheart, don’t be rude, introduce me,” the devil demanded.
Of course the undertone of his voice went completely over Kasumi’s head. Nabiki wondered how someone in the same family as her could be so oblivions to reality. Then again… Akane was kind of that way too. So did that make Nabiki the black sheep of the family for being sensible?
“This is uh… Seiten Taro,” she said after a moment of thought. If he got pissed off and killed her, at least Kasumi would have time to call for help.
Satan’s bastard? Tanimoto thought to himself for a moment. He looked down at the woman and made her flinch. Although, the rather odd name didn’t seem to effect the older sister at all.
Oh, he must be a relative of that Chinese boy that comes by looking for Grandfather Happosai every few months, Kasumi thought to herself. “Well, why don’t you come in and have breakfast with us?” she asked sweetly.
OH COME ON KASUMI, HOW DENSE CAN YOU BE? Nabiki mentally screamed again while she had to force herself not to wring the woman’s neck.
The pretty boy just let out a little laugh and put up his hands. “Unfortunately, I’m just here to get something I lent to Nabiki. Then I’ll be on my way to work. She called me on my cell phone and said it’s in her room.”
Finally, an idea struck. “Oh! Let me just go get it then,” Nabiki told them before she started to hurry up the stairs. She could jump out her window and work her way around back into the house to use the phone. Akane could distract him long enough for-
“It’s pretty delicate, I’d better give you a hand,” the man said before she made it halfway up the stairs, and followed her. But before Kasumi turned to leave… “By the way, I’d also like to introduce myself to Nabiki’s father, is he here?”
Kasumi looked up and blinked. By the way Nabiki was waving her hands and rapidly moving her head in some sort of signal, it was obvious that she didn’t want her boyfriend to know the truth. “Well… I’m afraid father is on a business trip and won’t be back for a few days.”
She didn’t like having to lie, but Kasumi knew that Nabiki didn’t want her boyfriend knowing what a deadbeat their father really was.
As soon as Kasumi turned and walked away, Nabiki looked back from the top of the stairs to see the man had put his hood back on and moved up right behind her without a sound. “So, your father isn‘t living here anymore, huh?”
Nabiki’s knees turned to noodles, and she held herself up with the railing before giving out a rather pathetic answer while tears ran down her eyes. “He’s not, I swear.” Why was it the one time Kasumi decided to lie, it ended up getting her younger sister in trouble?
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(Posted Wed, 05 Aug 2009 02:56)
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