Youkai Determination
Disclaimer:
As always, Mayu Shinjo. Watashi
wa Mayu Shinjo desu ka? Iie! Watashi wa Twiknham desu. And I earn nothing except the joy of finding
out that people are reading my story.
Chapter 6
A week after he’d shown up in Rupert’s office, Sakuya had
worked his way up through seven levels.
At the end of each day, he’d request an audience with Mr. Grazer. In that meeting, he would explain exactly
what the tasks were of that layer of personnel, and the strengths and
weaknesses that were present. Rupert
learned a great deal about the efficiency of his employees and rewarded his son
by putting him on a new task. Every day
was a new task, every evening a new report.
The people Sakuya worked with were impressed with his skill
and drive. They knew that he reported
to the top, but he approached his tasks in such a manner that they didn’t feel
defensive. By the end of the week, half
the people at Grazer had personally talked to him and the other half knew his
name.
On Wednesday night, a week after Sakuya had first approached
his father, Rupert called his limo service and reassigned a young driver from
one of his executives to Sakuya. The
next morning, Sakuya walked out of his hotel to find a limo with a young blonde
man leaning against the hood. Not
thinking twice, he started walking.
“Excuse me sir!” The
limo driver stood up and started running after him. “Sumimasen Ookochi-san!”
Sakuya stopped and turned to look at the man running to
catch up. “Hai? Hanasu Nihon desu ka?
Toby nodded. “A
little. That’s why I was assigned to
you.” He chuckled and pointed at the
limo. “I’m to drive you to work.” As he opened the door to let Sakuya in, he
smiled. “I bet you don’t even know that
today I’m supposed to take you apartment shopping!”
The next three months changed the entire company. Everyone around Sakuya thought he was
possessed by demons, and in part that was true. He had a standing order to be picked up at 2:30am. He would look through the previous day’s
markets in Asia on the drive in. Then
he would go to his designated job. He’d
work there for nine or ten hours, then he’d go up to the top floor to return
the previous reading material and collect his next set of reports. After he left the top office, he’d go back
out to the limo for the ride back to the apartment, where he would sit and read
reports until 10pm or 11pm.
About a month after he’d started working, Toby came to pick
him up as he normally did. However, he
didn’t stop at the office. A few
minutes later, Sakuya looked up from his reports and realized they’d been
driving too long. “Toby, where are we
going?” He wasn’t unduly
concerned. Toby was a very loyal
employee.
Toby grinned in the mirror.
“To see a friend of mine.”
Sakuya closed his eyes and laid his head back against the
headrest. Figures, he has a friend
who wants to meet the lead singer of Lucifer.
All I want is to get back to Aine, I don’t care about anything except
her.
Seeing Sakuya’s dejected look, Toby turned down the news
long enough to gain his attention.
“It’s not what you’re thinking man.
I’ve been talking with a friend of mine, we both agreed that you needed
this, so I’m bringing you to him.”
“Him?” Sakuya put
his hand over his mouth and looked out the window. What kind of people am I working with? As Toby pulled up in front of a hair
studio, Sakuya’s eyes widened. I do
not want to know. I can handle anything
as long as it ultimately leads to Aine.
Toby opened the door to the limo and ushered a very somber
Sakuya out. As they walked into the
salon, they were met by a friendly man with blonde hair and tattoos running up
both arms to stop half-way up his neck.
The shirt covered most of them, but Sakuya could only imagine how much
time that man had sat under a needle.
He turned to Toby. “I am NOT
getting a tattoo.” In Japan, tattoos
are a sign of being a gang member; and he knew that would ruin his clean
dirty-boy image.
Sam laughed, a deep gravely voice that betrayed his love for
two packs of unfiltered a day. He used
to smoke the lights; but when he’d been diagnosed with cancer, he decided to go
ahead and live it up. It had already
been two years and he hadn’t gotten any worse, so he wondered if unfiltered
didn’t help. “Pretty boy, you’re not
here for a tattoo.” He walked over to a
chair and picked up an apron. “It’s
time to do something with your mop.”
Sakuya froze until Toby poked him in the back. “He’s not joking, and neither am I. Your hair screams, and its voice doesn’t
have executive material. Sam knows what
he’s doing.” Sakuya looked at his hair
and Toby laughed. “He doesn’t do my
hair, my sister does.”
Sam snorted. “Yeah,
and his sister’s a hack. I offered, but
he said I’d make him too manly.” He
looked at Sakuya. “All I’m going to do
is tame that wildness a little and give you some highlights. Given your history, I think you can handle
the change.” He nodded at a picture on
his wall of Lucifer.
Sakuya sat down.
“What, does everyone in the US speak Japanese?”
Sam leaned over very close.
“Nah, but the chick that does the tattoos here does, and she’s one fine
piece of…anyways, she’s obsessed with the lead singer.” He snapped the apron closed and picked up
the scissors.
Two hours later, Sakuya was pleased with his new hair. The silver highlights made him look twenty
years older, something that was hard to believe since he already looked older
than his age. As Sam whipped off the
apron, Sakuya stood and shook his hand.
“Good eye for style. How much do
I owe you?”
Sam laughed. “Just
come back later and meet Lillian. If
you do, I might actually get laid.”
Sakuya nodded his head.
“I’ll do what I can for you.”
Turning, he walked back to the car, feeling like he really did own the
world. The new style did wonders for
him at work too. People started
treating him more as an adult, the wild haired persona completely gone. A side trip to a tailor yielded a closet of
power suits and several pairs of wingtips to go with them. By the end of that second month, he’d
completely transformed into a corporate magnate.
Everyone thought his lack of sleep was an indication of his
drive, but that was only partially true.
The real problem was that every time he closed his eyes, he saw Ralph
touching his woman. During the first
few weeks in America, it was only a never-ending playback of when Ralph had
assaulted her during his performance of ‘Cruel Jones.’ His sane side knew Ralph
had done it only in order to see how he would react. On those nights, he managed 5 hours, just shy of his normal
requirement.
However, lately he’d been finding himself waking up drenched
in sweat. The dream was so real he
didn’t’ need to sleep to see it. Every
episode was the same. He’d arrive with
the bargaining chip he needed and walk in to the boardroom to see Ralph having
sex with someone on the table. Walking
around him, he’d see Aine arch her back and hear her moan Ralph’s name in time
with his thrusts. Tonight, she’d opened
her eyes and looked at him, a satisfied smirk on her face. Running a shaking hand over his face, he stood
up and walked into the bathroom to get a drink of water.
“I told her to wait.”
Yeah, but I had to leave before I heard her agree. Is it possible… “NO! If I’m going to get through this, I have to
believe that she loves me as much as I love her.” Looking at his watch, he realized it was only 2am. Deciding to start his day early, he stepped
into the shower and five minutes later was calling for the limo.
Just shy of three months, he was boarding a private jet back
to Japan. He had secured the deeds to
everything Ralph held sacred, as well as the respect of everyone in the
company. Just last night, his father
held a party to honor his son’s accomplishments. Amongst flowery praises to himself for having created such a
talented son, he gave Sakuya the rights to everything Ralph had
controlled.
Sakuya wasted no time in flowery words. He bowed in respect, thanked Rupert for his
training, and said he was immediately going back to Japan to take over. Leaving the party before the bubbles had
left the champagne, he hailed the Limo and called to book a ticket for the next
morning. Listening in, Toby said he
wanted to come along, so Sakuya booked two.
He wondered what Rupert’s face would look like when he
learned that his son had only jumped through all of his hoops in order to get a
woman back from Ralph. It wasn’t
concern that fueled his curiosity, it was malice. If he played his cards right, his plan would crush something in
his father when it was unveiled. As the
plane took off, Sakuya drifted off to sleep, imagining Aine’s face when he
arrived and rescued her from Ralph.
