03-15-2007, 03:01 AM
Jet Set
Fandom: Tokyo Mew Mew
Pairing: Shirogane Ryou / Fujiwara Zakuro
Author Notes: Are we seeing the trend in that I don't like the conventional pairings yet?
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Chapter One . Planning
"...oh, wow." Midorikawa Retasu murmured, the tone of her voice suitably impressed, and the focus of her eyes quite intent on the computer screens that Akasaka Keiichiro had put up, in addition to the others that were scattered in the basement of Tokyo Café Mew, and the center of operations for the biogenetically-enhanced team of five girls: Tokyo Mew Mew.
"...so he's the one you guys suspect of helping the new effort with parasite animas?" Momomiya Ichigo - the team's de facto leader - asked, looking over at Shirogane Ryou.
"Yes. Not only that, but scans from R2005 have been showing up, with residue from both kirema and parasite animas in the area around his home, near the waterfront."
"...hmph." Aizawa Minto huffed quietly. "I still don't see what it has to do with any of us."
"Yeah!" Fong Purin piped in, as she skipped aimlessly around the group, trying to find something worth looking at; pictures of a lavish estate failed to impress her, nor did the photograph of the man intrigue her.
"...I've seen him before." A quiet voice said, from the rear of the group, that had gathered closely to get a better look at the high-definition screens. "He has some connection with one of the Nihon agencies..." Fujiwara Zakuro said, after studying it for a long moment.
"Yes, you probably would have seen him before, Zakuro-san. Akiyama Hoshi, of the Hikari NMC. His biggest client is Fusaiyuki Asuka."
Zakuro nodded. "I've seen her at shows before." She said, rather shortly, and rather dismissively.
"Why would he want the animas to take over, anyways?" Ichigo asked. The man didn't really look like someone who'd want to get involved in something like that...
"He probably figures that he can cut a deal with the aliens, and they'll grant him some form of diplomatic immunity, and he'll survived their annihilation of Earth, and be present at it's recreation." Ryou said.
"That's why we would need to have surveillance on him, at least a few times. R2005 can only do so much..."
"Hikari is having an event tonight, to celebrate their twenty-fifth year as a modelling agency. And since any one of you is more than capable of handling whatever troubles arise..." Ryou trailed off, looking over the five girls.
"Well, Purin can't go! She has work to do!" Purin stated, before offering a smart, if off-balanced salute, before stepping away from the group, a bit of a hop to her step.
"Um... Well, I can't go either..." Retasu offered, a bit timidly. "Entrance exams for Tokyo University are in less than a month, so... I can't." She bowed her head shyly, before joining Purin.
Minto gave a slight shake of her head. "Dance rehersal tonight. After all, the recital is at the end of the week."
"Oh, you're so good, you probably know the steps in your sleep!" Ichigo said brightly.
Minto gave a slight scowl, though its impact was noticeably dulled, by the smug radiance of her eyes; she could always accept a compliment.
"Well, then. Ichigo-san, Zakuro-san?"
"...I was going to go study with Masaya-kun tonight." Ichigo said, her cheeks flushing demurely. Even after a few years of being exclusive with Aoyama Masaya, she was still touchy about her relationship with him, and even the mention of his name was liable to turn her cheeks pink, and her eyes distant.
All eyes turned to Zakuro.
"Just a meeting with my new agent... But since he just returned to Japan this afternoon, from America, I imagine he would appreciate my cancellation."
Keiichiro nodded, and typed in a series of commands to the computer.
Almost instantly, R2005 fluttered helplessly for a moment, before falling next to the keyboard, offering a quizzical chirp, and powering down. "I'll begin modifications on R2005 immediately, then, so Zakuro will be able to carry it around, without suspicion."
Ryou waved a hand. "Get back to work, then. Start the usual closing routine. Zakuro, stay for a moment, if you'd be so kind?"
Purin pranced on out, spouting off a myriad of greetings as she went back into the café, and being her normal, bubbly self.
Minto went off, with her usual grace. Straight to a table, and the omnipresent teapot; it was apparent that she wasn't too keen on working - then again, she rarely was.
Almost as soon as she left, there was the crack of a shattering plate, and Retasu's exclamation of surprise, and the unsettling quiet between broken dishes began anew.
Ichigo was last, stalking off, none too happy. Now, it was back to a full workload; no one else was going to be of much help...
The trio were left in silence for a long moment. Zakuro was staring at Ryou. Ryou was staring at Keiichiro's hands, on the computer keyboard. And Keiichiro staring, in intervals, at the screen, and R2005.
Finally, it was Ryou who broke the silence, and focusing his attention. "If a choice had to have been made, I probably would have chosen you, anyways. I imagine you're at least passingly familiar with the shady buisness of Hikari NMC?"
"Well enough."
"We lost contact with R2004 about two days ago, in the vicinity of the Hikari complex. No further information coming in, so we'll be going in a bit blind."
"...we?"
Ryou looked puzzled for a moment, before acknowledging his own mistake. "I'll be going with you, as a formal escort. I also received a formal invitation, requesting my attendance, as well as one for an escort, if I chose to bring one."
A slender brow raised at that, but Zakuro only nodded. "I don't imagine we'd run in to much trouble tonight, anyways. Akiyama is one of the founding members of the NMC; he has too much at stake, to try anything tonight."
"True, but just to be certain..." Ryou trailed off. "I imagine you have something to wear, to a formal affair?"
Zakuro looked mildly insulted. "Of course." She said, about as mildly as her voice ever got.
"You're free to go, then. Be back in an hour and a half, and we'll be fashionably late to Hikari's little gala."
"...fair enough." She offered a slight inclination of her head, before turning sharply on her heel, and leaving the control room. A few minutes later, one of the screens showed her leaving, attired in her 'street' clothing.
"...R2005 will be ready?"
"Of course." Keiichiro said, before looking up at Ryou for a moment. "You had best start getting ready; it's going to be a long night."
"...not such a bad idea." Ryou mused, before heading off to his own quarters, to get ready for the night ahead.
Keiichiro looked down at the modified R2005. Just a few tweaks, and it would be done. It had been transformed into what looked to be an amethyst pendant, on a silver chain. No one would notice the red light in the stone - if they did, it could just be passed off as an exceptional specimen.
This plan seemed quite likely of a success...
Chapter Two . Placement
"...You look quite lovely, Zakuro-san. Then again, there was never any doubt." Keiichiro said, offering a grandoisé bow, and offering her one of his hands, to help her from the taxi, that had stopped outside the gates of Tokyo Café Mew. After assisting her from the car, he gave a short wave to the driver, who continued on his nightly routes, though one could fairly see him still staring at Zakuro.
And he would hardly be the only one to. Zakuro was, to put it simply, stunning. It was quite obvious that she was a model; long legs, slender torso, gentle curves, and a flawless complexion. But when the time called for her to dress to the nines... The result was beyond compare. The dress - the dusky rose, almost of sunset - was of thin straps at the shoulders, an opening in the back that tapered down to a waist that seemed impossibly small, and a slit that easily rode halfway up a smooth, shapely thigh. A pair of sandals - akin to the Grecian style, with a two inch heel - went part of the way up a pair of slender calves - the dark lavender of the twilight. On her left wrist, there was a small, rather plain silver bracelet, small chips of diamond embedded into the metal. Her hair had been elegantly coiffed, the vast majority of her midback-length raven-violet hair tied back, a few strands electing to fall closer to the front, and thereby outside the constraints of the coiffure.
...there was definitely a very good reason why she was one of Japan's most in-demand models, and had already garnered quite a following in the United States, England, France, Italy... The list could go on and on.
Keiichiro offered her his arm, in a rather gallant display of chivalry, and she took it graciously, and the two of them went past the gate, up the stairs, and into the closed café. "I'll just go fetch R2005." He said. "Would you mind telling Ryou to hurry along?" And with little fanfare, went striding off to the control room, to the corridor kept far from the customers.
Zakuro followed, for a moment, before going up the small stairwell, and, after a moment's thought, recalled which door belonged to the manager ( how was she to know? she rarely had to call on anyone. ), before her knuckles rapped softly on the door casing.
"Come in." A flippant response.
Zakuro opened the door, and as she looked in, she found reason to pause. A most...intriguing reason, to pause, indeed.
In the final fading tinges of twilight, accompanied by the warm, dim glow from the lamp alongside his bed, shadows easily played, in the confines of the small, plain room. As he turned around, to face the doorway, the darkness darted beneath the still-damp fringe of blonde bangs. Etched shadows, with a lover's caress, along the defined planes of his abdomen, making light of the unbuttoned, still loose shirt. "...eh. Zakuro-san. Didn't think it was going to be you." Ryou said, after a long, drawn-out moment, in which many looks had beem exchanged.
Zakuro offered a slight shrug of her shoulders - whatever. "You're running late. Keiichiro-san said to put a move on."
"Yeah, he would. Tell me, have you seen R2005 yet?" He asked, straightening, and his arms folding over his chest, quite unmindful of the still-open shirt.
"Not yet. Keiichiro-san went to go get it."
He nodded, before a slight smirk crossed over his face. "Are you going to give it a cutesy name, like Ichigo did with R2000?"
"...so what if I do?"
Was that just a challenge?
Regardless of what it was, Ryou laughed. "So what, indeed. Tell Keiichiro I'll be down in a minute. Besides, people never show up on time for these occasions. You should know that."
"Fine."
Conversations were usually long and drawn out. But when the pair has little to say to each other - perhaps by common unspoken consent - the conversations would be kept short, sweet, and to the point. At least between Ryou and Zakuro.
Neither of them quite knew what to say to one who could, in public circles, easily be regarded as an equal. Depending on the paticular society grouping, one might even be found superior.
Zakuro was one of Japan's most reknown models, doing shoots in every country, and having been on almost every continent. She was a stunning dark-haired beauty, almost of Japan's canon, were it not for the height that made her desirable in the eyes of fashion designers everywhere. She could speak fluently in five languages, and manage conversationally in several others. She'd been taking dance lessons - modern and traditional - since she was a child, and still continued with the training, for she found that she was rather fond of the gracious motions.
Ryou was an heir to a fortune that the vast majority couldn't even begin to imagine. He was a suave buisnessman, since after assuming the affairs of his parents and assuming the role, he had been nothing less than a rousing success. He was also extremely perceptive when it came to the stock market. And he had certainly made a splash in the tabloids; blonde, blue eyes, very photogenic, and apparently full of secrets - he was a writer's dream come true.
...someone's camera was liable to burst it's lens, by the end of the night.
Flashbulbs had been going off in front of the Hikari NMC function building for almost an hour. It seemed as though there was no end to the onslaught of famous faces.
But the rush seemed to be over, and those members of the press who had not recieved an invitation had been milling around outside the building, talking amongst themselves, trading information, and laying bets at to who would be among the last to arrive, guest-wise.
From reaction, all their cameras raised as one, as another limousine pulled up, and the door opened enough for the flashbulbs to start shooting glaring light into the light blue eyes of the young entrepeneur, Shirogane Ryou, as he got out of the vehicle.
"Ah! Shirogane-san! Did you recieve an invitation?"
"Are you a sponsor?"
"Have you donated any money to the Hikari funds?"
"Who's you date?"
Ryou only offered a slight smirk, of which several pictures were captured, before he turned around, and with what seemed to be a gallant gesture, offered his arm to his date.
All the photographers leaned forward...
And were rather shocked to see Fujiwara Zakuro emerge from the limousine, on Ryou's arm. As she straightened, she offered a publicity-friendly smile to the photographers.
"Are you two dating?"
"Fujiwara-san! Are you thinking about switching agencies?"
"Please, let us get a good picture!"
"...you've just thrown me to the human wolves, you know." Zakuro muttered quietly, casting a quick glance towards Ryou.
"Better you than me. Better you than me."
"Please, pose!"
Zakuro manuvered herself next to Ryou, standing alongside him. "...at least give them a photo that their editors will die over."
He laughed, and slid an arm around her narrow waist, letting the hand fall to rest on one of her shapely hips, and pulling her closer.
Obligingly, she rested one of her hands on his chest, and leaned her forehead against his shoulder, her dark eyes turned towards the camera, with a faintly secretive half-smile on her face. Tabloids seemed to enjoy getting that look, from anyone.
...but she hadn't anticipated the fact that he would be so...perfect.
Flashbulbs popped for another few seconds, before their attention shifted, to the next oncoming limousine, and assuming the position, cameras poised for action.
"Free at last... Shall we?" Ryou said, releasing his slight hold on her hip - when had it started to feel good? - and offering his arm to her.
"We've got a long night ahead of us. May as well make some fun out of it."
"You know, you're completely ruining the image I have of you."
"...you've just never bothered to find out, Ryou."
They fell into a silence, before they continued on their way in...
Chapter Three . Pulchritude
undergoing editing
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