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Kaguyo shook her head. "I don't deserve them. I'm grateful for whatever you decide to give me." she whispered, kissing him again. "But seriously, enough talking already, will you?"
She yanked him down by the hair, a small, sad smile on her face. "You were jealous."

Morrigan frowned, thinking that over. "That's true..." she agreed, leaning her head against Po-ar's chest, "But then again.... You have to take into account he brought back a demon head as a trophy. By anyone's standards but ours and a few others... that doesn't raise alarm bells at all?? Not only that, he left to fight without even telling us. He's growing up so fast... He's the Hunter after all, but his gentleness is only rivaled by his ferocity. He's stronger than either of us..." she glanced up at him. "We could find ourselves in trouble rather quickly during his teen years."

Morrigan shrugged. "I'm not saying he shouldn't have... I'm just saying at his age... well, it's certainly not usual." she tilted her head. "He took our desires and made them reality. But no, I agree, murder may be a possibility. You're going to have to stay on top of that." she warned him. "I can't teleport like you do, but I can make charms in case he tries to go above and beyond his limits... Perhaps we should get him enrolled in school." she rubbed her temples. "Get him activities.... make him learn a sport."

Kaguyo closed her eyes, her faint smile growing slightly. "What you really mean is you want me for yourself, and don't like to share." she lifted her chin, "I don't mind accepting that, Su-san."
She still felt a bit awkward being informal with him. "Other than Aled, there wasn't another soul I could be like this with... You know..." she whispered into his ear, "He knew we'd have a family also."
Funny, how foresight worked.
She wondered if he knew he would die there as well.

Kaguyo watched him closely, waiting for his reaction. "He knew you were coming, that you'd forgive me, that we'd have a family..." she blinked. "I was certain you'd reject me after this betrayal. I really don't get your loyalty. I treat you terribly."

Morrigan bit her lip. "Well... if explaining why he can't tell doesn't work, we make it a game. We play pretend we're a normal family."
She couldn't take her eyes off the boy. "Even if Konton is dead, it doesn't mean we don't have other enemies. We should keep a low profile."

~ ~ ~

"Just... for my sake... don't do it again... onegai, Kaguyo?" Ainsu asked softly. "I'd like what Aled foresaw to come true... I'm... I'm kind of glad he didn't welcome you with open arms at first... to be honest."

Po-ar blinked, "Wait... like... like have our own house and no flying around and rules like that?" the Tarnb-jin asked, rather intrigued by this idea. "I mean, if we don't expect Kazuhiko to do it, we really shouldn't either, right?"

~ ~ ~

"Exactly." Morrigan nodded. "We'll have to be discreet. If we practice, we'll only do so in your realm or the Otherworld." she decided. "I think Naga is still around though. I can't be sure."

Kaguyo paused. "He's dead Ainsu." she shook her head. "You're all I have left. You act like he's a threat."

~ ~ ~

"Then my realm would certainly be safest..." Po-ar whispered, but then looked at Morrigan curiously. "Since... I mean since no one is protecting the Otherworld... I mean your family and all... could Naga travel there unheeded?"

Ainsu shook his head, "We don't know that he's dead, Kaguyo. You said yourself that you wanted to go back in a year... find out what happened to him. As jealous as I was..." the man paused. "I don't want you to live with the mindset now that he's gone. Until we know... you have to keep hoping... keep wanting to find out the truth."

~ ~ ~

Kaguyo shook her head. "Let me move past it, Ainsu."
She didn't want to deal with his death right now.
"Look, I'll be blunt, if you want a kid now's your chance. Take it or leave it."

Morrigan shrugged. "If he is alive he can cross whenever he wants." she answered. "My tribe is gone. He'll go hunting the other fragments perhaps. He may even visit Tir-Na-Nog to see if I'm among the dead. He's a priest after all. He's wanted me dead for a while now."
She moved from his arms, pouring them each a shot. "I doubt we'll hear from him for a while though. If we stay undercover we should be fine."

~ ~ ~

"Sou ka..." Ainsu whispered before smiling softly again. "Then I'll be blunt in turn. I'm taking it."
He kissed Kaguyo passionately, treating the woman tenderly, far far more tender than the Muse ever would have dreamed of being.
Beautiful words and horrific actions were something of the past.
Now, there were only wonderful words and kind actions... nothing harsh or hurried about it.
After all, Ainsu was a very patient man... the Muse, well... not so much.

Nodding, Po-ar smiled. "It'll be odd, you know... the three of us living together away from everyone else. I mean... we'll visit but..." he shook his head. "I don't want to burden the people here anymore. I'll find some work and we can send Kazu to school..." the Tarnb-jin brightened a bit. "What about a cafe?" he asked quickly. "I can bake rather well... and I think you'd make a darling waitress, Mor-chan. It could be our own little shop. We can even take turns, see which of us the customers prefer. It might be fun... and I'm sure I could ask Bulma-san if Capsule Corp could advertise. With clients from this compound alone we'd make more than enough money to live on."

~ ~ ~

Morrigan thought over it carefully. "We don't want to be too good." she started drinking, "Don't want to attract too much attention... although... it isn't a bad idea..."
With a little more persuasion she'd be sold on the idea, it was obvious.

Kaguyo replied enthusiastically, if not violently to his affection.
Where he was gentle and sweet, she had too much on her mind to be anything like him.
Aled was dead.
She had to get her mind off him somehow...

~ ~ ~

"It would be a small cafe." Po-ar replied, taking the shot and drinking it down quick.
He winced, the stuff far stronger than he'd expected.
After a tiny cough, he continued. "And... and just a small building, nothing fancy... we can live upstairs, over the cafe. Home and business all in one... maybe something close to the shopping district, not only to attract customers but to give us easy access to markets." he smiled. "Kazu really does like grocery shopping."

Half an hour later, Ainsu was laying beneath Kaguyo, letting the woman use his chest as a pillow. The way she was laying allowed his good arm access to her back and shoulder, though she was still laying on his good shoulder.
"Are you tired, Kaguyo?" he asked softly, his fingers running through the woman's hair gently.

~ ~ ~

Kaguyo didn't answer.
She had already fallen asleep, clearly exhausted. She had been running for a full four hours after initially depleting her ki reserves; that alone was a feat for her.
She had grown stronger over the past few years. So had he, of course, but that was the closest she had ever come to killing him.
What a strange trip it had been so far.
Even though she seemed calm, the air around her was cooling down. Something was off about her... Something was off but he didn't know what.
At the very least she was troubled, for obvious reasons.

Morrigan smiled; she could see it in her mind's eye. "Alright." she agreed, "Find the place, get the licenses or whatever and I'll start testing recipes with Kazu."

~ ~ ~

For a long while, Ainsu simply lay on the bed, Kaguyo cradeled in his arm against his chest.
But as the air began to cool around them however, he began to get a bit worried.
To counteract the cold, the symbol on his forehead began to glow softly, keeping the two quite comfortable and warm.

Po-ar kissed Morrigan on the forehead. "Arigatou." he smiled before sitting back down. "I'll work on getting the lisence tomorrow morning since, you know... middle of the night and all. Do you think Kazu will like it?"

~ ~ ~

"No doubt. We'll let him decide what's good enough to sell." Morrigan poured them another shot, "Help us pick the colors when we paint the place. He'll be ecstatic."
She smiled quietly after taking the second shot. "I can't wait until morning..."

Kaguyo didn't get any colder, thank god, but she was acting peculiar the following morning.
Kaguyo was up before Ainsu, already dressed in a white kimono. The only thing distinguishing it from a death kimono were the black lines twisting sparsely over the shoulder; it reminded him of trees in winter.
She hadn't noticed he was awake yet, looking out the window at Earth; Aoki was at the ship's controls.
Clearly she was mourning.
When she turned her head she jumped a bit, holding her heart. "You're awake." she whispered, blinking, "Have you been awake for long?"

~ ~ ~

When Ainsu woke, his blue eyes took some time to adjust to the light. At some point during his rest, the symbol on his forehead had stopped glowing and now the man felt chilled.
Sitting up, a hand to his head, Ainsu realized that he was alone.
As he looked around, he spotted Kaguyo outside of the partially closed cabin door. He swung his legs over the side of the bed, realizing that he was naked, and quickly grabbed the nearest clothing he could find.
There were only kimono in the cabin's closet, and so he put one on, tying it sloppily around his waist.
It was rather hard to tie a knot with one arm...
As for the arm, it was nestled inside of the kimono, the sleeve of that arm completely free of anything but his shoulder.
Stepping into a pair of thin shoes to keep his feet warm, Ainsu found himself outside of the cabin, watching Aoki at the pilot's seat and Kaguyo staring into space.
Literally.
Her startled reaction at his appearance made the man shake his head. "No... I just woke up." Ainsu spoke softly. "How long have we been in space? It should have taken only a day or so to reach Earth..."

Po-ar laughed, "Just no rainbows, please. It has to appeal to the customer too." he teased, glad that Morrigan was happy about this idea.
He poured himself a second shot, downing it like the first, though this time without the small cough at the end.
"Earth has some interesting drinks..." the man laughed.

~ ~ ~

Aoki pointed at Earth. "About a day." he answered. "Should be dawn in Japan."
"We're going to have to have Watari look at your arm again." Kaguyo murmured, helping him with his kimono and belt. "The nerves should be growing back, shouldn't they?"

Morrigan laughed. "I was thinking more along the lines of yellows, blues and greens myself. Ah crap... Should we sleep tonight?" she pointed out the window,
"It's getting bright..."
Then again, there was a ship coming in...

~ ~ ~

Ainsu sighed slightly, "If the Muse isn't dead, it's not going to regenerate in the slightest." he spoke softly, looking away from Kaguyo.
He didn't want to have the 'is Aled alive' discussion with her again.
At least not in front of Aoki.
"So... probably a few more hours. We should be in their solar system in the next hour."

"We already did get some sleep..." Po-ar replied, rather disheartened that they couldn't get a few more hours in. "I can't do anything about a liscense until at least 9am so... we could probably get a few hours rest..."

~ ~ ~

Morrigan shook her head. "I'm staying awake." she decided, "How can we sleep knowing Konton's dead?"
Then again, so was his father and Aoikage.
"If you need to sleep I understand."

Kaguyo shook her head. "On Earth in under an hour."
Aoki smirked. "I tweaked a few things with the engine." he boasted, smug, "For once she's right about something."
Kaguyo didn't linger for long, making her way into the kitchen. "Hungry? I'm making eggs..."
Aoki waited until she left, eyebrow raised. "Distant much? I thought you both made up."
It was hard to tell if he was trying to instigate something.

~ ~ ~

Po-ar shook his head, "No... if you're not sleeping, neither am I." he replied softly, downing a third shot. "Besides... aside from passing out drunk, I really don't think I could fall asleep at the moment."

"Urusai..." Ainsu hissed at Aoki, moving to the co-pilot's chair and sitting down.
He had agreed to eggs, though he really wasn't hungry...
The former playwright sighed, closing his eyes and leaning back in the chair. "Love of the gods, don't piss her off right now, Aoki. Just... just let her be."
But he didn't say anything about if they'd made up or not.

~ ~ ~

Aoki shrugged. "Why not? That's what got her out of the bathroom instead of sulking all night. You should thank me."
He fiddled with the controls, approaching the planet cautiously. Who wanted to crash, after all?
"So you don't even know if she forgave you yet?" he kept prodding, "I'm surprised you both... well... It's a small ship." he reminded. "Just looking out for you."
Kaguyo could be heard cursing as the ship jolted briefly.
"Lucky that just nicked us.." he sighed with relief. "Close call."

Morrigan took another shot also, but poured a few out the window into the Earth. It was customary to do so for the dead. "Alright." she smiled, "At least let's take a walk or start looking in the paper for places to buy or rent."

~ ~ ~

"s**t... Aoki, do you want me to fly this?" Ainsu asked, changing the subject again.
Yes, they'd had sex... make-up sex... or so Ainsu thought.
He wasn't really sure now that Kaguyo was giving him the cold shoulder.

Nodding, Po-ar walked over to the door and looked around. A newspaper was laying next to the door... almost like a hotel! He brought it back inside and started looking through the articles.
Luckily, Japanese was almost exactly the same as his home language. What wasn't, he had taught himself in his time on Earth.
"Here's one... two bedrooms upstairs with a large bathroom and living space... the downstairs is already a store... we'd just need to expand the downstairs kitchen..." he frowned, reading through the entire article. "Well... it's only a block from the market district, but the rent is about 150,000 yen a month... about $1,600 dollars."

~ ~ ~

"Can we afford it?" Morrigan frowned, "Could we make that much in a month off of baked goods alone? Perhaps we should sell tea and coffee also..."

Aoki shook his head. "Go eat your breakfast." he smirked slightly. "At least you have that on your side. Get out of here."
Kaguyo had spilled eggs everywhere. Even though she had made two plates of food already, she was quick to plop it on a third plate.
Aoki's, clearly.
Again she was too wrapped up in her thoughts to notice anything--for instance, Ainsu lingering in the doorway.
He could hear everything. She hadn't thought to block her mind... foolish on her part. Then again, she could be notoriously easy to read.
For instance, she was thinking about the night before, unsure whether she should feel guilty over sleeping with Ainsu so soon.
More alarming were the memories of when the Muse took her. He had wanted an heir... that had been something conveniently left out of their conversation.
It certainly left him to wonder what else Kaguyo had to hide...

~ ~ ~

Po-ar laughed softly, "Of course we'll serve coffee and tea. You don't expect customers to simply eat, ne? A few hundred yen for a desert and a few for some exotic 'Morrigan Recipie' tea." he smiled. "We could make the money, provided we take in about oh... $200 a day maybe? Before expenses that would give us around $6,000 for the month."

Satisfied that Aoki wasn't going to crash them into the planet, Ainsu made his way to the kitchen.
He watched Kaguyo for a long time before soundlessly moving up behind her, wrapping one arm lovingly around her waist, his chin resting gently on the woman's head.
Luckily for him, he had waited until she wasn't holding anything anymore.
"Gomen..." Ainsu whispered, though he didn't say what he was sorry for.
For making her uncomfortable? For being a burden to her? For realizing that the Muse and him had basically both asked Kaguyo for the same exact thing... and neither had been keen on taking no for an answer?

~ ~ ~

Morrigan smiled. "You really think we can do it?" she tilted her head, beaming, "We'll need to keep track of our expenses for supplies also."

Kaguyo almost jumped, although eventually she settled against him. "For what?" she asked quietly, looking up at him. "Did you do s--for Aled? You already apologized for that my dear..."

~ ~ ~

"Mochiron" Po-ar replied sweetly. "We'll need to track expenses and bills, the rent naturally... and how much we spend on food and clothes and other things. Kazu-kun will need a subway pass for getting to school, unless there's one in the area, then he could simply walk there." he smiled, genuinely happy with this idea. "I've never though to live like a normal person... this could be fun, Mor-chan."

"Iie..." Ainsu whispered, holding Kaguyo against him gently. "I cut off my empathy last night... I... I shouldn't have. Gomen nasai, Kaguyo-chan... If I had know how similar I was to him, I... I would have wanted to wait. For you... for you to feel comfortable with it, I mean." he sighed, kissing the top of her head. "It isn't that I don't love you or that last night wasn't amazing but... I'm worried about you, Kaguyo-chan... Gomen..."

~ ~ ~

Kaguyo paused, unsure how to take his sudden mental eavesdropping.
Then again she knew he couldn't always help it. "I..." she blinked, "I'm fine Su-kun. Why would you be worried? I'm fine Su-kun. Really."
Then why had she clammed up so suddenly?
They both knew she wasn't being honest.
"Just forget about it."

Morrigan smiled. "Everyone else does, why not us?" she reasoned. "We'll investigate schools today as well... Imagine, we may get pretty popular. If we do this right we won't have to worry about food or Kazu or anything..!"
In truth, Morrigan was getting excited. "We can do this, can't we??"

~ ~ ~

But Ainsu shook his head, "I won't forget about it, Kaguyo-chan. I'm sorry for sensing your thoughts but... last night it... it wasn't about an heir, Kaguyo. Yes, I want Chiaki to be born but..." he turned the woman around, looking down into her eyes. "Last night was about making you feel loved, Kaguyo... about letting you know that you're not alone. If I had known that an heir was the Muse's intention before I... Well, I would have tried to do things differently."
Oh yes, he was feeling quite guilty...

"Mochiron." Po-ar repeated, smiling as he took one of Morrigan's hands in his own. "We can give him a proper life. None of this running about the galaxy or popping in from dimensions at the oddest times. He can be a child, Mor..."

~ ~ ~

Kaguyo looked uneasy. "I... well... I just wanted to forget." she admitted quietly, "I knew your intentions. I never held any of that against you."

Mor kissed his cheek, grinning. "Perfect. Perhaps we'll have Watari make him a ring or something to suppress his energy. A charm maybe. It'll make it easier to track him then."
It was hard to believe they'd finally have the chance for normalcy...

~ ~ ~

"Gomen..." Ainsu couldn't help but say it again. But his expression soon turned from sad to slightly more cheerful. "Breakfast smells nice... though... serving Aoki eggs that had fallen on the floor..." he laughed softly, "That's a new low for you, Kaguyo-chan."
The man was teasing her slightly, just enough to try and get her back in a somewhat pleasant mood.
He had to keep his own spirits up, after all.

Po-ar blinked, "You know... why didn't I think of that before? Would've been a helluva lot easier than the PE's trying to follow him about."

"What if he didn't know what it was?" Po-ar asked, thinking things through. "I mean, Watari SHOULD be able to make something with Yuki's help... it's not an invention so he wouldn't immediately need his abilities but... I mean, what if it was some sort of jewelry relic of your people, Mor-chan? Wouldn't Kazu want to keep it with him always in that case?"

~ ~ ~

Ainsu had been sitting down before Aoki's outburst. Sighing, propping his head up with one arm, fingers entangled in his hair, the former playwright just looked at the kazetsukai.
"Was that REALLY necessary?" he asked, emphasis on the word 'really'. "I mean, you couldn't... oh, I don't know... STOP PISSING HER OFF?!"

~ ~ ~

(((Oh dear... Ainsu sounds like The Doctor in my head now... *twitch* I HAVE DAVID TENNANT'S VOICE IN MY HEAD!!!)))

"He wouldn't be able to detect it if science did it though..." Po-ar whispered, opening a portal and speaking a few incoherent words to one of the PE's.
The tiny elephant disappeared for a while, but then suddenly flew back through the small portal, a thin necklace in it's trunk.
"This..." Po-ar spoke softly, holding the item up for Morrigan to see. "Was my grandmother's. Of course you know she died before I... well, she died when Ashuri was a baby so it's old." the Tarnb-jin smiled. "It's priceless... a jeweled pendant of the Royal Family of Tarnbsei."
There was an odd flash in Po-ar's eyes, but it faded as soon as it appeared and he shook his head, setting the pendant down on the table.
It was silver, with veins of a slightly darker grey running through the silver sheen. At the end of the chain was a small pendant shaped like a rose. The petals opened at Po-ar's gentle touch to the charm, revealing a deep crimson bloodstone in the middle. When Po-ar's touch left the charm, it folded back into a silver rosebud in a matter of seconds.

~ ~ ~

"You don't get it, do you?" Ainsu asked, leaning back in the chair and watching Aoki carefully. "Kaguyo hates you. You hate her. I love her. And I have a friendship with you because you were the only one stupid enough to actually come with me on a seemingly suicide mission. No offense." he laughed slightly. "Do you SEE what kind of position this puts me in? Here I am, trying to make Kaguyo understand that I'm NOT the Muse and that he's NOT me and that the Muse was being a lying b*****d about everything... and then you enter the room and the temperature starts dropping! Can't you just stop trying to antagonize her for a few days? Let her relax a bit? Let her get her bearings and realize that she isn't alone in the universe? Just a few days?"

"Hadn't you ever noticed Ashuri's tattoo?" Po-ar asked, quirking an eyebrow at Morrigan. "This is my people's royal symbol, Mor. There isn't anything feminine about it... well, at least not to me... He'd just have to wear it under his shirt..." sighing, the Tarnb-jin started thinking. "Gomen... we don't really have 'right of passage' things in our world... Well, some people learn another power at a certain age, near adulthood... but that's all."

~ ~ ~

(((OOC: AHHHHH! I wanted Ainsu to say "Sod off" and realized he can't! ********/>~ ~ ~

"Don't make that analogy with me, damn it." Ainsu spoke, Aoki's 'mistress' talk obviously hitting a nerve. "I wanted to at least wait to tell her when you weren't going to be around very ******** corner she turned."
The man sighed again, closing his eyes.
"You helped me a lot, Aoki... I'm not going to go back on what I said. You have my friendship for it. I just wish you'd leave me out of this word war between the two of you."

Ainsu was trying not to laugh.
"I love it when you put him in his place." the playwright whispered, tilting his head back and gently kissing Kaguyo. "No apology needed. His fault in the first place. And yes... I'll let you know, if I get prior warning that is, when he's around."
The man was smiling softly, looking up at Kaguyo, one hand resting over her own hands.

~ ~ ~

"I thought we wanted him to be a bit less violent?" Po-ar asked, rather disturbed by the skull idea. "What's better? Head of a dead demon or a skull? Neither..." he sighed a bit. "Maybe a... I don't know... wait... what about a watch?"