Visual Kei

The sound of a door sliding open woke me immediately. Dim lights clicked on underneath the low trim along the sides of the walls, illuminating my room in a soft yellowish light. One of the men from before stepped inside, the more talkative of the two. He was dressed in a navy blue suit very similar to the one I’d seen him wearing from before.

“What?” I demanded, fully awake, but also in full bitch mode. No one woke me up without getting some ass chewed.

“Now that we’re going to be partners and all, I thought it best I come to talk to you. Get to know you and all that,” he said, sitting at the only chair in the room. “We’ll be taking lives together, so we should be comfortable with one another, right?” I said nothing. “Hey, now, no need to glare. I didn’t think you’d be sleeping . . . Perhaps I should go?”

“You already woke me up,” I replied disapprovingly. “You might as well speak.”

“Very well. Call me ‘Seheon’, if you please. I know that your name is Alice, and you come from America. I come from South Korea.”

“What do you want?”

He looked almost hurt. “I want to ask some questions.”

“You already know about me, so why don’t you just read the rest of the damn report?” I said, looking away. “Everyone here knows my life’s story, so why do they need to come ask me about it?”

“We’re just curious. Most of us have never had friends outside this company. Very few are ever adopted in. Most of us have known this company and servitude for our entire lives.”

“Sounds exciting.”

“It can be, but we don’t really know how to act toward people outside. I don’t know really what to say to you. I’m sorry if I come off as rude.”

“Barging into other people’s rooms is pretty rude.”

“You’re right, I should have knocked first. Sorry.”

“Whatever. What do you want to know about me that you don’t already know from your papers and superiors?”

“Reports only tell us about the events of your life: your birthplace, your mortal parents, and your friendship with those outlaws. I guess I’m more curious about you.”

“Like what? You want to know if I prefer pads or tampons, if I stay up late with my friends eating Häagen-Dazs when they have relationship problems?”

Seheon raised an eyebrow, his mouth opening a little in embarrassed, perhaps slightly disgusted surprise. “Th—That’s not exactly what I had in mind. I want to know about how you think.”

“That’s something that comes with time and a lot of observation. Observation which, from you people, I do not approve of.”

“Would you tell me about your friends, then? What were they like? Are they strong enough to defeat Shinigami?”

“They are strong . . . that much is true. I don’t know what they did to deserve being called ‘outlaws’, but from my experience, they were far from deserving of such a title.”

“That’s strange, considering all that they did. They killed several Aku, are involved in the deaths of hundreds of mortals, and have constant contact with mortals. Their biggest crime was dragging you into this before knowing for certain whether or not you were supernatural.”

“Everything that they did was for me. I can just as easily be blamed for those things.”

“Your involvement is certain, but the depth of your understanding at the time was limited where theirs was not.”

“Let an innocent die or obey the law? Any noble person would choose the former.”

“That is what we as preternatural must deal with. For the wellbeing of both races, we cannot be heroic when it comes to mortals. One slip up could cause a lot more trouble, and rain chaos on our heads.”

“Sounds to me like you’re quoting someone, not thinking for yourself.”

“We’ve all been taught to think this way, but it’s our choice to believe it.”

“Not if you don’t know that you have any other option.”

“I am not ignorant.”

“So convincing.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

I lay back down and roll over to face the wall. “It means I’m done talking.”

The door opened and I heard a light step against the metal. “Now I really like her.” The voice was soft and deep, velvety rich just like Kiiro’s. Kiiro . . . Before I could get distracted by my emotions, I shoved his name from my mind.

“Great, now it’s a damn party,” I mumbled, sitting back up. The blond from earlier stood in my room, too, closing the door behind him noiselessly. “What do you want, an autograph or something?”

“Far from it, Sunshine.” His cool eyes glinted with laughter.

Seheon tossed a halfhearted glare at his partner before turning back to me. “I told him to join me here in meeting you. It appears that we are going to be a team now. His name is Ray.”

I looked at him a moment. The way his eyes regarded me coolly, with just the slightest hint of pleasure, the way his lips were set, the way he seemed to do things so effortlessly, so lazily, it all reminded me of Kiiro. I was awestruck for a moment. His eyes searched mine knowingly, casually, but he said nothing. I knew without a doubt that he understood everything that I had just thought.

“I’ll just call you Blondie,” I said to sever the connection we had made. He smirked. “It’s not the most original nickname, but it’ll have to do until I dig up some embarrassing information on you.” Ray and Seheon shared a look. Seheon shrugged. “Are we done here? I need to catch up on my sleep.”

“We need to leave soon,” Ray said, tossing a phone to me. I caught it, confused. “The Oni has something for us. Get ready.”

I scowled at him, pulling on my jacket. “Screw off.”

****************************************************************************************

Slapping Seheon hard didn’t make me feel much better. And it didn’t change the fact that there were still only two motorcycles. Ray looked to be enjoying the beat down fest, so I made sure to glare at him too. “Not funny, Blondie.”

“I beg to differ,” he replied with that smirk of his. My eye twitched.

“Hey! That was uncalled for,” Seheon whined, rubbing his cheek where I’d slapped him. “I’m just saying that you should ride up front so I can watch your back.”

“I’m sure you’d love that, wouldn’t you, pervert?” He looked hurt, but I knew it was an act. “Ladies first. That means you two can share a bike.”

“Hey, now! That’s just cold . . .”

“Objections, Blondie?” I demanded, turning my glare on the silent one.

Seheon patted the bike affectionately. “Do you even know how to drive one of these?”

I opened my mouth to lie, but Ray shook his head.

“She can ride with me. And she can watch my back,” Ray said, settling onto the motorcycle before either of us could say anything. I glared at Seheon one last time before sitting behind Ray on the seat. He shot me a look, but didn’t say anything else.