Kusatsume Hagiko

kusatsume

Her again.

Trip stared daggers at the woman moving quietly about his home. Her presence wasn’t exactly unexpected, but it was troublesome to say the least. She was there for one purpose, and one purpose only. To serve Virus. 

She hadn’t even glanced at him when she had come through the door.Her tasks were carefully finished at level pace and he felt himself becoming more and more agitated. She hadn’t spared him so much as a glance in his directions, and she had spoken nothing more than a curt, polite greeting.

He didn’t like being ignored.

It had always been like this. She doted over Virus, and had given nothing but the minimum to him. Trip would have felt threatened by her, had he not been comfortable in his own particular bond with Virus.But she seemed to know Virus; every need and want, even before Virus himself did. She was quiet, diligent and effective.

But she never looked at him.

When she finished her chores for Virus, he found her still idling in the living room. He plastered a fake smile onto his face, and addressed her directly and loudly.

She was well aware of the apartment's other occupant, but she did her best to stay out of Trip's way. Something about him--his size, his hooded eyes, his bad fashion sense--pricked her senses and made her cautious. When her duties for Virus required that she visit the apartment he kept with Trip, she got finished with what she had to do as quickly as she could to avoid being left alone with him. Catching his interest seemed like a dangerous situation. 

On this particular day, he was doing just that. Idling in his room. He had been laying in bed for most of the afternoon, just thinking to himself while Berta allowed him to stroke his mane. The week had been extremely uneventful, as it often was when his companion was out. 

Trip was pulled abruptly from his thoughts once he heard the door to the apartment unlock, followed by the sound of footsteps padding across the floor, accompanied by the sound of wheels rolling. He furrowed his brow and slowly rose from his bed, walking to the door. Who the hell would be there? Virus wasn’t supposed to be back for another few days. As the footsteps progressed, he heard Virus’ door, adjacent to his, softly click and open.

Now he was seriously confused. Virus would have called if he were coming home early… right? He slowly opened his own door, then slipped out and began to walk to the other man’s room. He pushed the door open and looked around, finding a figure standing with a mass of items being carried. Hagiko? What was she doing here? From the looks of it she’d been running Virus’ errands.

But she was caught up in the exhilaration of being trusted by a man she admired. She wanted him to find nothing out of place when he arrived back; she had followed his requests to the letter, hunting up his favorite vintages, getting all his papers ready to sign at home so he wouldn't have to go to the Tower, picking up two of his suits from the cleaners--

So caught up was she in mentally cataloging what she had to do that when Trip spoke, she jumped and spun in place. That it was Trip and not, say, a housecat or something like that was even more upsetting. The man felt dangerous to her, and she had always taken care not to be alone with him. She knew about as much about him as she wanted to know.  

And so, unnatural hues watched as his assistant turned around and asserted that she would not be leaving so easily. A hint of annoyance flickered behind them, an honest display that - despite the many other degrees of irritation he could be exposed to - was usually only reserved for Trip’s uncaring presence. But although Hagiko was placed on a ring lower than those he were actually concerned about, Virus did not object to her advance.

Her words left a drop of bitterness in his mouth, reiterating the predicament he was in, but any further attempts at dismissal evaporated with a touch. It was not as if he had stated that she stay, after all, but solely her own volition. And like she had pleaded, Virus did have a further use for her.

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