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Aoba had just finished cleaning up his room when the door was pummeled. There was only one person that took the word "knock" and turned it into something much more hyperactive. He set his rag into the little kitchenette sink and dried his hands. "Oi! Come in, you ain't no guest!" Hell, by now, Ayumi was like the little sister his mother didn't get to give him. He scrubbed a hand through his hair, and didn't even bother hiding his relief, glad that she'd made it back in one piece.
...Then she opened the door.
"What in hell happened to your hair?"
She was all smiles when she opened the door and had nearly vaulted herself to latch onto Aoba. But then he stared at her with an expression that made her face go blank. "My hair?" Ayumi glanced up at it and made an 'oh' with her lips. "Uh, well," Ayumi stepped in and brushed to the side the strands of hair that were hanging in her eyes and nearly touched her nose. "It grew. And I was too busy to cut it, but I was gonna do it in the next few days."
She gave her psuedo-older brother a wide grin and latched onto him, hooking her arms around his neck and hanging off him. "Will you still keep me?" She put on a pout.
"I don't know," he grinned back, lifting both hands up as his eyebrows rose over his sunglasses. "Might have to take you back and get a new Ayumi," he teased and ruffled the younger girl's shaggy hair. "When'd you get back in?"
Aoba's room smelled faintly of lemony cleaners and a little bit like alcohol, as usual. It was nice to see her smiling face, when everyone else came in various stages of frowns, leers and crazyfaces. Not that Ayumi didn't have her own, but those were a subject for another day. "Play nice with your mission partner?"
"Psh, I'm a custom model. One of a kind," she stuck out her tongue and dropped back to the floor, pushing back her unruly bangs again. "I just got back in, too! Well, twenty-five minutes ago or so, but I had to write my portion of the report and stuff." She wrinkled up her nose at the last question.
"Of course I played nice, mostly because he wasn't the most stuffy Intel guy. He didn't get why I was so antsy sometimes, but he just brushed it off by saying," she cleared her throat and did a fairly good impression of the very sophisticated Yuki, "Hunters. It must be something in their blood that drives them to recklessness." She grinned and laughed to herself. "I just smiled and nodded. Didn't figure it'd be nice to give him a few of my own choice words about his branch."
She glanced around his room and breathed in deeply, grinning as the smells washed over her. She'd never been much of a drinker, but the faint smell of alcohol was now permanently associated with Aoba. And that made her smile. The room was just like when she left. Some things should never change. She hop-skipped over to his bed and landed on it with a spectacular crash, stretching out and yawning. "Mmm, still the same old 'ba-bed. Just how it's s'posed to be."
She sat up and swung her feet off the edge of the bed, grinning over at him. "The mission took way too long, but it's all over and done now. Didn't even get more than a few scratches on me, which are all healed up by now, of course." Ayumi breathed in deep and laid down on her side, examining his liquor collection to see if she could recognize any of the individual bottles. "What have you been up to, Aoba? And how's Machiko-chan?" She quirked an eyebrow and glanced over at him. "You been treatin' her good?"
"'Course I have! Machiko'd beat me blind and senseless if I didn't." Aoba would let her too, something about those cute, soft, white hands beating the crap out of him was just so... wonderful. Unlike a kunoichi, Aoba could wholly depend on his girlfriends' inabilities to rip his heart out and do a flamenco on it. "Ma and the rugrats are doin' good too, jus' in case you were wonderin'." Aoba threw a brightly wrapped toy his friend's way and and sat at his low table, folding up his long legs. "We got some fresh meat in while you were gone, 'Yumi."
He adjusted his glasses and grinned. "Anything you wanna know before you throw yourself back out into the halls, kiddo?" He had backlogs and backlogs of rumors, stories and fights she could catch up on, anything she wanted to know, really. AOBANET was online, as per his usual. "You know me, there hasn't been a rumor I haven't heard."
She nodded and smiled, "Good, good," catching the toy with an unconscious action. She started unwrapping it and glanced over at him. "Fresh meat?" Her grin took on a maniacal quality and she pulled out the plush bear with a kunai clutched in its paws.
"Thanks, 'ba! Aww, it's cute!" Ayumi sat up and winked at Aoba. "Just like me. Cute and deadly!"
She stuffed the bear to hang out of large pocket in the cargo pants she was wearing and leaned forward, eyes wide. "So, who are the rookies? Any girls this time, or are they all boys?"
"Got a couple boys. There's a returnee, Inuzuka, she's not really a girl though. Brought a talkin' dog with her. Arai's a new hunter, the guy they say melted people during the war is livin' next to Murakami now. Think he'll melt her?" Aoba leaned back on his hands and considered the situation. "Anyway, I think we got a couple of other rookies, but, I've been busy too. Besides, none of them are too interesting. Hyperactive, maybe, but not interesting."
Not that they had much room to talk about hyperactivity. Aoba was beginning to wonder if it was a Hunter thing.
"Huh. Inuzuka lady then." Ayumi pursed her lips as she tried to imagine it. "I've always wanted to talk to an Inuzuka dog, not that I have anything in particular to talk to them about, but y'know. It's that whole 'once in a lifetime' experience bit. Or something." She shrugged and then remembered that he'd mentioned the guy who could melt people. It had always seemed kinda...freaky, to her. But that was also part of the whole people-lacking-limbs eerieness bit.
A ghostly image of Yuuichi lingered beside Aoba's door and she blinked her eyes away from it, hoping Aoba hadn't noticed it. "Well, I bet melting people doesn't smell too great, so if he's gonna do it, I'd much rather he do it outside of HQ. Y'know, common courtesy and all that."
She chittered on about her mission, about how boring civilians were, and anything else that came to mind. "...and the prick even had the nerve to ask how many ero-missions I'd done." Ayumi scoffed. "Even I don't ask kunoichi that." Ayumi frowned and sprawled out on the table - she'd moved to sit across from Aoba. "Then when I told him I hadn't done any he just gave that stupid smug smirk of his and muttered about how even he could run one of those missions better than I could." Her eyes narrowed dangerously. "The only reason I didn't deck him was because he was meeting with our biggest lead the next day."
Aoba laughed into his beer. "Yeah?" He could almost see it, unfortunately. "I bet you coulda showed him up, though, 'Yumi." A thought crossed his mind. "So... how'd you do on the bet, sugar?" Aoba's grinned widened. "Since you seemed to get along with that guy so well it should've been a snap, right?"
This was going to be good. He just knew it.
What was he-- oh no. She'd been hoping he'd forgotten about that stupid bet...
Her face gave her away and she darted her eyes to the side, frowning and cradling her smaller - and much fuller - beer. "Well...I took your advice and tried it towards the end of the mission. Less risk of him getting attached, right?" Ayumi swallowed and knew she had to be giving Aoba more amusement than he deserved for daring her in the first place. Seriously, who dared people to seduce their mission partner? Well, they both had been drunk when they made the bet...
She cleared her throat and sat up straighter. "So, on a night when he didn't have any meetings until at least one the next day I...I brought back some beer. And some sake, just in case he was all refined and crap. He seemed a little wary at first, but I sorta sweet talked him and he did drink the sake. Then since the talking wasn't doing much and he got wary whenever I'd try to lean closer, well, I mentioned that Kaasan had taught me how to dance. Really sexy-like, too. 'Cept I didn't tell him that last bit. Said it was really traditional and graceful and all that stuff. Seemed like the kind of stuff he'd be interested in, y'know?" Ayumi sighed. "Only problem was, he fell asleep mid-dance." She hung her head in shame and for once her longer hair seemed appropriate.
"And he was out cold until ten the next morning. And didn't remember any of it." She frowned and blew on her bangs. "I'd even done the sure-fire seduce dance, too! And I totally aced it! 'Cept the prick fell asleep for the good parts..."
Aoba snorted, which turned into a low chuckle, which became a guffaw. He could see it so clearly in his head, Ayumi shaking her hips and giving sexy-eyes at anyone was a matter of great comedy. Then, in the background the target of her amorous dance is sleeping off some sake. It was classic, and he couldn't stop his laughter. Ayumi looked none-too-pleased, but she couldn't really blame him, could she?
Things were always better in Aobavision!
When he finally caught his breath, in heavy, wheezy gasps, he raised his beer to Ayumi. "So, what kind of sweets will you be selling?" Oh god, the blackmail he'd have on her for years to come, it made the day seem that much brighter.
She knew it was going to end up with her getting laughed at, but it still left her wishing she'd just chickened out instead. Or maybe had it work out better. Or...at least have him pass out after he'd given her a drunken leer look. Or something. At least something better than him falling asleep during her guaranteed sexy dance.
The transition of expressions from frustrated to downright agitated was instantaneous. For a moment she wondered if he would have laughed quite so hard if she had succeeded and lost her virginity. Though... she doubted it. At least that thought was comforting. Aoba may laugh at stupid things like this, but he knew when to be sensitive with information. Ayumi managed her glare for what felt like ages before the laughter was infectious and she smirked a little, laughed a little.
How they'd come to decide the punishment was a bake sale, well, she still couldn't quite remember that. But it did leave her wondering for...about a full two seconds.
"Mochi, dango, cookies, make a cake if I can manage the frosting..." She blew on her bangs again, watched them float back down into her eyes and then tried to tuck them behind her ear. "Hadn't thought about details yet. I was too busy getting home with Mr. Prick-face to think about baking. You got any better ideas?" Ayumi quirked an eyebrow.
He put up his hands as if to block the question. "I'm a lover, not a baker, 'Yumi," he grinned. He hesitated to think what he would do with rising bread or cheerful muffins. A thought occurred to him - Have a food fight - but he swept it off. "Ren-cutie might be able to help you with the frosting thing, though. Or Machiko-chan."
The thought of one of his pretty girlfriends making cute things like cakes and frosting made him want to go and see them. But, they'd understand if he stuck around HQ and met Ayumi after she'd been gone so long, right? Right. He finished off his warming beer and eyeballed Ayumi. "'Course, Machiko might make you get a haircut first."
"As if I'd complain about some help getting this mop back into shape?" Ayumi blew on her treacherous bangs and then tried to tuck them behind her ear. A few strands fell back into her face and she gave the wall behind Aoba a very disgruntled glare. "In fact, it might be smart to just hack it off right now. No reason to go wandering around HQ lookin' like a real kunoichi, eh?"
She left her beer to sit on the table and leaned back, reaching into a pocket for a kunai. It had worked plenty of times in the past...why not just fix her hair problems right now? Ayumi shook her head and was rewarded with the mess of hair falling all around her face, just like she wanted. The kunai in her right hand, Ayumi grabbed a handful of hair that was hanging before her eyes and prepared to attack it.
"Waitaminute, waitaminute!" Aoba said, fully intending to put the brakes on Ayumi's little attempt at proper hairstyling. Didn't she know that loose hair between the toes was the weirdest feeling? "I know this is gonna seem like some oddball request --put down the kunai, 'Yumi-- but, why dontcha try actually hitting up a stylist shop?" He didn't have too much room to talk (when did he, really?), but at least his hair didn't do all kinda cattywampus things when faced with the business end of a kunai. "Don't be like Bottlebrush Namiashi down the hall, kiddo, you don't have near the consta-scowl he's got."
He patted his pockets and started emptying them. A bit of string, a couple coins, a love note in pink stationary with little fat-bottomed angels, and two very cheerful cherry barrettes later, he had empty pockets and a bit of string. "Lookin' like a kunoichi isn't such a bad idea sometimes - even if'm glad you don't do that kinda stuff." He offered her the barrettes. "Machiko left these in my pants the other night. I don't think she'd mind too much if you borrowed them."
That girl really did leave the most random little bric-a-brac in his pockets at night.
She had nearly started to slice her hair, even going so far as cutting a few hairs before he managed to stop her - she had to put the kunai onto the table to please him. She frowned and glanced at it a few times as he dug through his pockets, arching one eyebrow when he presented her with the barrettes. She blinked a few times and then wondered why her head was tilting even when she wasn't telling it to. Huh. Oh, that would be from the beer. Ayumi put out her hand for the barrettes - it made her want to giggle seeing him with reddish-pink barrettes in his hands - and picked up the beer, shaking it and frowning as it sloshed around.
Was she getting to be an even lighter light-weight? Perhaps, since there was still half a bottle or more. All the more reason to stop there, then.
"I guess I could try," she glanced up at her hair and then set the barrettes on the table, pushing her hair out of her face. She opened one barrette and ended up sticking her tongue out in consternation as the barrette refused to go into her hair nice and pretty like normal kunoichi managed to do it. Was there some kind of skill to it? It certainly wasn't supposed to have most of the hair sticking out the way it was from the barrette...and wasn't it supposed to be right next to her head instead of sticking out like that?
Ayumi swiveled her tongue to the other side of her mouth and tried again with the second barrette. Maybe she'd get lucky this time.
"If this doesn't work," she muttered to Aoba, still glaring at her hair. "I'm so chopping it off in my own room."
Aoba crowed with laughter. "No, way, no way! We'll just have to hustle down to some barbershop... wait, men go to barbershops, women go to... ah..." He paused, trying to think of the word, and he was fairly sure it wasn't 'stylist shop'. "Fuck if I know, but we'll find one for you!" He gave her, and her cherries, a big thumbs up.
"Here, lemme fix that one for ya, 'Yumi." He scooted around the table and adjusted the barrette. Thank the gods for years of practice helping his girlfriends look just as pristine as they had been before they went sneaking into dark hiding places for spontaneous makeouts. The barrette lay flat like it was meant to. "There we go!"
"Thanks," she mumbled and watched him work. If Ayumi had been any other kunoichi it would've been embarrassing to let a man fix her hair for her, especially because she'd been unable to do the task. But as it was, Aoba was safe from all sorts of beatings from Ayumi. "Well," she poked the barrettes and sighed. "Might as well go to that girl-hair-cutting-shop now 'cause
otherwise I'm gonna keeping thinking about hacking it all off." Though the barrettes were keeping some of the hair out of her face. At least that part was nice.
"Shall we go?" She got to her feet and stretched her hands high over her head. A random outing with Aoba could be fun. Especially since it'd been so long. And the slight buzz from the beers would keep them both quite chipper.
...as long as Yuuichi and Shin stayed away. But Aoba knew about them, despite all her efforts to keep it a secret from everyone, and at least he'd understand. That was better than nothing, right? | |
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