Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Juujin ❯ Inheritance 1 ( Chapter 1 )
[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]
By: Light hawk 
A fire turns one young man's life upside down, dropping him into the care of an unexpected relation. How will he cope to his new life with a juujin?
Miscellaneous: Original Stories Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Hentai | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 06.08.2010 | Updated On: 06.10.2010 | Pages: 6 | Words: 8.3K | Visits: 761 | Status: Completed
A fire turns one young man's life upside down, dropping him into the care of an unexpected relation. How will he cope to his new life with a juujin?
Miscellaneous: Original Stories Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Hentai | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 06.08.2010 | Updated On: 06.10.2010 | Pages: 6 | Words: 8.3K | Visits: 761 | Status: Completed
Standardly ignored disclaimer: This work contains words and ideas not appropriate for minors, and should not be read by anyone under whatever the legal age is for wherever it’s being read. Not that I expect that to stop anyone, but at least try not to let your parents catch you, okay?
Note: If you haven’t already, I do recommend you read the juujin primer prior to reading this work. While I won’t say it’s strictly necessary to understand and enjoy the story, it will make certain nuances and ideas more clear and understandable. Go ahead and go skim the primer, I’ll wait...
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Chapter 1
The fire changed everything. It had started late in the night, the fault of some bad wiring in the old house. Tobias never saw the flames, but had come awake with his lungs burning as if on fire themselves. Terrible, body racking coughs had rendered him nearly immobile as he had struggled for air in the smoke choked room. He had literally fallen out of bed, and found the air clearer down at the floor, if just barely.
It had been enough for him to take a deep breath without doubling over hacking though, enough for him to find the energy to crawl by. His first instinct had been for the door, but an irregular, pulsing orange glow coming from the gap between the door and floor had warned him away. He had turned to the bedroom window instead, desperation over riding any concerns about the two story drop to the ground.
Getting the window open had nearly been the death of him. He was a child of air conditioning and indoor lighting, not fresh air and sunshine. The window had been stuck fast by years of lack of use, and it had taken nearly all of his waning strength to force it open. He had then barely the energy left to crawl through the narrow opening, and fall out. He had no memory of hitting the ground.
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Tobias woke up in the hospital some days later, dazed and disoriented. His heart thundered in his chest, the rapid fire beat pulsing in his ears though all he had done was open his eyes. There was an odd, steady pressure on his chest which made it hard to breath. A nameless terror gripped him, something that drove him out of the thin medical bed.
The IV in his arm tore free as he fell out of bed for the second time in a week, the sudden flash of heated pain making him suck in a breath through his teeth. His legs were weak, and his knees shook so hard they would not support him. He fell, landing in a sprawl on the cold tile floor, gazing up at the fluorescent lights, one long bulb flickering gently.
He didn’t know when the tears started, but the salty tang of them made Tobias aware he was crying. He couldn’t feel it though. His vision blurred over, and he could now feel the wetness on his cheeks, but inside, there was nothing. It was like a hole had been burned through him, and though his body ached with some unknown pain, he himself did not experience it in the least.
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The hospital kept Tobias for a week before they were willing to pronounce him fit for release. The time passed oddly for him, with long, blurred stretches of meaningless activity dotted by moments of brief, painful clarity. The doctors and nurses went about their business, writing down numbers off various devices and instruments they poked and prodded him with. He ate, he slept, he watched tv with an utter lack of attention. None of it stuck with him.
What did stick were the visits from Mr. Myers. The short, balding, pudgy man was a city attorney, who had been assigned to Tobias. He was a soft spoken man, but his words were blunt and to the point. It was him who informed Tobias that his parents were dead, likely killed by smoke inhalation while they slept. Myers informed him that, as Tobias was still only sixteen, he had been temporarily turned over to the care of the state until such time as a relative could be reached to assume legal guardianship.
Tobias took it all in, and his mind seemed to take some obscene fascination with replaying the conversations, over and over again. He heard Myer’s proclaim his parent’s death, tell him how lucky he was to have escaped the fire with such minor injuries. It should have been painful to dwell on, but inside there was still nothing. The tears still came, though less frequently as the days passed, ending quicker and quicker each time.
The day before he was discharged, Myers came to see him, dressed as usual in his business wear; a tie and dark blazer over a simple button down, matching slacks, black polished formal shoes.
“Good news son,” Myers offered as way of greeting. “We managed to get in touch with your aunt, and she has agreed to accept custody of you. I’ve already faxed her attorney the necessary paper work.”
“Oh?” Tobias responded dully, his mind still processing the sudden shift from aimless thought to conversation. “Oh...okay then.”
“She informed me she would be flying out here tonight, and she will be able to pick you up here at the hospital in the morning.”
Tobias just nodded, listening without really taking it in. Some part of him nagged that he should have a million questions to ask, many of them rather important. The rest of him though just ignored it, not caring enough to make the effort. He tuned out the rest of whatever Myers told him, nodding and grunting in an affirmative tone on occasion.
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The following morning arrived with much the same contrary too slow, too quick movement of time. There were papers that had to be filled out, mostly by Myers. The doctor and nurses had all sorts of things to tell Tobias, of which he remembered nothing. He was apparently on some kind of medication, because he ended up with a little slip of paper with a bunch of illegible script scrawled on it and the RX symbol in the corner.
Tobias shoved the paper into one pocket of his too loose jeans. The pants, like his shirt and shoes, fit poorly, being donated items Myers had brought him. All his clothing other than the boxers he’d been sleeping in had gone up in the fire, same as the rest of his possessions. More than anything else at the moment, Tobias wished he had a belt. Some food wouldn’t be too bad either; he’d skipped breakfast, hardly the first meal he’d been too apathetic to eat. Maybe being hand-me-downs weren’t the only reason the jeans didn’t fit right.
While Myers was busy finalizing some thing or another, Tobias slipped off into the bathroom. His image in the mirror above the sinks rather surprised him. He didn’t really look all that different than normal. His thick brown hair was badly mused from too many days of ill care, but other than that he looked none the worse for wear. He was perhaps a bit thinner in the face, but he’d always been tall and thin. Maybe he just hadn’t seen himself for too long.
He leaned in close to the mirror, gazing right into his own bright blue eyes. They stared back, same as they always had been. It felt odd, because he didn’t feel the same. Tobias wasn’t sure what he was expecting though; burns, cuts, some deep and troubled cast to his eyes. He felt like he should have some visible sign of the odd empty feeling he had inside. But there was nothing to see, just an average teenage guy, a little on the tall and lanky side, unshaved cheeks and chin only lightly darkened by fine growth, perhaps a bit more handsome than plain faced. He didn’t look like someone who had just lost home and family.
“Ah, there he is,” Myers’s voice greeted Tobias as he exited the restroom, his gaze drifting over to the attorney, and paused. Standing beside the little man was the tallest woman he’d ever seen. She has easily head, shoulders, and more above Myers, a good head taller than Tobias himself. She was however built for her height, so perfectly proportioned in frame and limb that standing next to Myers made her look less overly tall than it made him look overly short, like a dwarf next to a person of average height.
She was dressed well, wearing a business suit and skirt of notably better make and cut than Myers’s, even to someone as normally clueless to tell such things as Tobias was. The dark grey material was immaculate, the seams crisply folded, the fabric unruffled even where the skirt clung tight around the outer curve of her thighs. She wore heels, and though the extra height was probably negligible, they did do interesting things to the shape of her legs, displaying the supple, toned muscles of her calves.
Her legs were hardly the only eye captivating feature of her body. Though the suit top was perfectly modest, it could only do so much to hide the ample swell of her breasts, and the skirt clung to her rounded hips as well as it did her legs. Her features were absolutely striking, blurring the line between cute and sultry, red tinted lush lips beneath a delicate nose and round, purple-red eyes.
Those eyes, with their vertically slit pupils, were yet not the most exotic of her features though, not even close. Her hair was an eye catching dark violet, falling long down her back. It hung about her face in thick strands, artfully arranged to appear wild without actually being so. And even that was merely uncommon compared with the rest of her.
She showed off not an inch of skin, because her whole body was covered in a fine, short, downy soft looking layer of fur. It was sleekly smooth and glossy, and the yellowish tan of a jaguar. She was liberally speckled with spots, small irregular ovals grouped in small bunches that suggested half closed rings, some with an additional spot within, others empty. A finger thick line of black ran down in a sinuous curve from under each eye, marking the outer boundary of a patch of pure white fur that ran around her mouth, under her chin, and down the front of her neck. Tobias rather suspected it continued on down the length of her body, because the inner curves of her legs were of the same coloration, as was the palms and fingers of her hands, though the spots dominated the backs.
Large, feline ears flared out and up from either side of her head, furred and patterned to match the rest of her coat, the edges marked out in black. A long tail hung down behind her, waving slowly from side to side, the jaguar markings continuing down it’s length until the final few inches, a pair of white bands split by a black strip appearing just before the dark black tip.
Even in the business wear, she projected an aura of primal, feral grace and power. She was based not on a timid, domestic feline; she was one of the big cats, a hunter and predator, and she stood with the supreme self confidence of one certain of just how deadly she was, and how alluring. Inhuman as she was, there was no denying her raw appeal, the perfection of form and feature that granted her an unearthly beauty and sexual desire.
Tobias let out a breath he hadn’t recalled holding, and tried not to stare. This was hardly the first juujin he’d ever seen after all; it was getting harder and harder not to pass by them on the streets these days, and there had been no shortage of juujin at school either. Somehow though that didn’t make the effect of meeting one any less intense. Even the moody funk he’d been in didn’t seem able to keep him under as the amazon of a catgirl turned her gaze to him. He found himself wondering how good those ears of hers were. He’d heard rumors about how amazing some juujin senses were. Could she hear his heart hammering suddenly?
“Tobias?” the juujin asked, taking a half step towards him. Her voice was soft, hesitant, and filled with various emotions he couldn’t begin to make out. She bit her bottom lip gently as she looked at him, and he was not so overwhelmed as to miss the sharp little fangs she had instead of normal canines. “My god, but you look so much like your father.”
“You know...” Tobias started, but the words suddenly caught in his throat, and he had swallow painfully. “You, knew my father? How?”
She regarded him for a moment, her gaze unnerving in its intensity. Then she closed her eyes, letting out a soft sigh.
“I suppose it’d be a little silly to expect you to recognize me. It’s been a long time, and you were so young, and I certainly looked different back then. I guess your mother really meant it when she said she no longer had a sister.”
“Aunt Keri?” Tobias suddenly blurted as the words stirred memories half forgotten. He’d known his mother hadn’t been an only child, that she’d had a younger sister. He also had learned that she’d gone through threshold, gone through the process of transforming into a juujin, and that it had strained things to the breaking point between her and his mother.
He’d known of her, but really nothing about her. All he knew he’d learned from eavesdropping on tense conversations between his folks, and there had been precious little to overhear. Her name, what she’d become, and how his parents, especially his mother, had found the idea of having a juujin in the family unacceptable.
So no one had talked about her. She’d never come up in conversation, never been part of the holidays or special events. Perhaps if his grandparents had lived a bit longer, they might have been a link to her, but they had both passed when Tobias was too young to really remember much of them. So while he knew he had an aunt, it was something that had been pushed way off into the back corners of his memory, where his day to day thoughts never went. It was only now, standing face to face with her, that he really recalled the fact.
Keri for her part looked as overwhelmed as he felt. Her eyes shone brightly of a sudden, and she covered her mouth lightly with one hand. The moment didn’t last long before she pulled herself together though. She did it smoothly, gracefully, as someone used to reigning in their emotions.
“So, not completely forgotten I see,” she said, the words only lightly tinted with emotion. “Yes, I’m your aunt.”
Tobias’s mind whirled, and the sudden activity after so many days of dull stagnation made him feel a bit dizzy. He’d never even considered that his mother’s estranged sister might be the “relative” Myers had mentioned. Some part of him pointed out that the attorney had indeed said “your aunt”, but that he hadn’t been paying any real attention at the time. He’d been expecting one of his distant cousins, someone from one of his grandparent’s sibling’s lines. He hadn’t even considered his aunt, and told that one part of him to shut up before it could remark on it again. Hell he barely ever remember he had an aunt most of the time.
That was certainly about to change, if he was going to go live with her. That thought nearly floored him. He was going to be living with a juujin, a juujin who was his aunt, a juujin who he had just been checking out a second ago. He thought he should feel put off about that, checking out a relative, but like most things of late it didn’t seem to register emotionally. The shock and surprise of meeting her and being suddenly reminded of her existence had though, and thinking on why that had but the other hadn’t just made him all kinds of confused.
He wasn’t sure how long he just stood there, trying to sort through the flood of thoughts rushing through his brain, but it was long enough for an awkward silence to form between them. The general sense of unease in the air was enough to snap him out of his inner musings, and leave them staring at each other in that manner of not quite looking right at the other person, but more in their general direction.
The sound of Myer’s clearing his throat with a soft cough cut into the moment, and aunt and nephew were both grateful for the distraction.
“Well, I don’t think there’s much else for me to say or do,” he said. “Tobias, good luck to you son, I hope you settle into your new life comfortably.” He surprised Tobias by offering him his hand, but he traded grips with the little man. “Ma’am, I’ll have the final paper work faxed to you in the next few days.”
“Thank you sir,” Keri replied with a slight nod, which Myer’s returned. Then he turned on his heel, and walked off. The comfortable distraction went with him, and the air of awkward silence returned.
“Ready?” Keri asked after a few seconds, and Tobias only nodded in response.
The trip out of the hospital was surreal for Tobias. His mind just couldn’t accept the truth of his situation yet. He’d known he couldn’t just go home, not with his parent’s dead, not with his house gone, but the reality of that knowledge still hadn’t hit him yet, just as the fact of Keri being his aunt, and his new legal guardian, hadn’t registered emotionally either. He was literally walking towards a new life, one he had no idea what to expect from, and yet inside he felt that if he could just head home, everything should still be there, waiting for him, no matter how much he knew that wasn’t true.
Keri seemed equally introspective of the situation, walking in that automatic way of someone focusing more inward that out. Even with the tight skirt and heels, her stride was impressive, and Tobias had to work to keep up with her. She strode down the hallways like she owned them, and people got out of her way as if she did. Just as well, in Tobias’s opinion, she looked distracted enough to, and capable of, just walking right over anything that got in her way.
Neither of them spoke as they turned down a few halls, took the elevator to the ground floor and crossed over to the parking garage. They waited silently for the garage elevator, and climbed in without a word. It was only then, as they started upwards, that Keri broke the silence.
“Oh, you have to be kidding me,” she muttered to herself. Tobias glanced over at her, and saw an annoyed expression upon her features. One tawny ear twitched slightly in a steady beat.
A few seconds later and his own ears caught what Keri’s had, a deep bass pounding, pulsing rhythmically away like some enormous heartbeat. It grew louder as the elevator ascended the parking levels, becoming more a physical sensation that thumped in the chest than a sound.
Then the doors opened, and blaring techno music rushed into the tiny space like a flood. Tobias flinched from the sudden auditory assault, and Keri’s ears laid back along her head as she grit her teeth. She hurried out of the elevator car in a ground eating pace, and stalked towards the source of the music.
The noise was coming from one of the handful of cars parked on this level of the garage, a white luxury sedan with black tinted windows. The front doors were wide open, and the speakers inside rattled the vehicle as they blared away for all they were worth. Beside the car, in one of the empty parking spaces, three individuals swayed and danced to the beat.
The two guys might have been in their early to mid twenties, dressed in baggy pants and too tight shirts. Their hair stuck up at odd angles, coated with the shine of too much gel. Various metallic glints marked out piercings on their faces. Even by the looser definition of clubs and bars, it was hard to consider what they were doing dancing. They had no real sense of rhythm or grace, and they seemed even more awkward compared to the woman between them.
She was an average sized woman, though that was the only thing that could be said to be average about her. She wore a chauffeur outfit that looked like something picked out from an adult costume shop, and she wore it well; a black jacket sporting a double row of gold buttons which clung to her hour glass figure like a catsuit. If she wore any pants, they were not long enough to protrude from the bottom of the jacket, which extended down just enough to conceal her upper thighs. A thick leather belt wound around her waist. Her boots were heeled, black, came up passed her knees, and like the jacket clung to her such that they concealed almost nothing. The tantalizing patch of chocolate toned flesh between boot top and jacket bottom was criss-crossed with fishnet stockings. Her raven black hair was done up and tucked under her cap, which lightly rested upon her head.
Her face all but glowed as she danced, an expression of pure joy and delight that upped the appeal of her already sultry features to a whole new level. She moved with a lithe, animalistic grace that made her dance partners look like stumbling oafs, and her motions were full of sensual, sexual desire that made Tobias suddenly glad of the looseness of his jeans. He’d never have believed that someone showing so little skin could be so enticing.
Keri clearly did not share any of Tobias’s appreciation for the sight as she stalked over toward the trio. She was practically upon them before any of them noticed her swift approach, and the guy who first did jerked in surprise, stepped on his own foot, and stumbled. The woman managed to nimbly hop out of his way, and proceeded to slam back first into Keri in doing so. The juujin didn’t budge in the slightest from the impact, even with the heels, and her hands clamped on the smaller woman’s shoulders, who went suddenly ram rod stiff, eyes wide. Her head tilted back, and she looked straight up into Keri’s glaring face.
She gave the juujin a nervous little smile, her cheeks glowing a slight pink, and she opened her mouth as if to speak. Keri didn’t give her the chance, she just picked the woman up with a hand on either upper arm, turned to one side, and dropped her. She landed stiff legged, and with none of her former grace as she barely avoid falling on her face. Keri, her path now cleared, strode to the car, reached inside, and killed the music.
The chauffeur girl had just managed to straighten back up when Keri turned and fixed her in place with a glare.
“What is the matter with you?” she growled, making the woman flinch. “This is a hospital, not a dance club! There are sick and injured people trying to recover here, have you no respect at all?”
“Aw, come on Keri...” the woman whined in a little girl voice.
“Don’t even try to give me that, Aras,” Keri spat. “I can’t take you anywhere, I swear you...I just...ahh!” she trailed off in a sputter. She took a deep breath, and her next words were tense with forced calm. “Just get in the car, we’ll discuss this later.”
“Yes ma’am,” Aras sulked, and started around the vehicle to the driver’s seat.
Then one of the guys surprised everyone there by speaking up.
“Hey now, hold on a moment,” he said indigently.
Keri, already turning back to the car herself, paused halfway through the motion. Her head slowly swung around to regard the man.
“Excuse me?” she said.
“We weren’t done having fun with her yet.”
“Wrong,” Keri corrected. “She is quite done.”
“Who are you, her mother?” the guy sneered, and Keri turned to face him, eyes narrowing. Behind her, Aras made a sudden slashing motion with her hand at the man, shaking her head and mouthing “shut up shut up shut up”.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t catch your name,” Keri said.
“Zack,” the guy offered. “Or as my friends call me, Big Z.”
“Well Zack, I am her employer, and she is on the clock,” Keri explained in a voice like an arctic breeze.
“That so?” Zack replied, and he flashed her a smug grin. “Well tell you what tall stuff, how about you let her take a nice long lunch break, and we’ll let you join in.”
Behind the car, Aras winced, closing her eyes and putting her face in one hand. The other hand moved before her in the sign of the cross. Keri meanwhile blinked in surprise at the words, and then burst out of laughing.
“Hey!” Zack spluttered, his face going red. “The hell’s so funny?”
“You...you think...you think I’d have anything to do with you?” Keri choked out. “Please, I don’t touch street vermin.”
“Hey, I don’t have to take that crap from a juujin,” he snapped back. “Bitch, you better apologize.” Zack’s friend gave him a sanity questioning look, and then held up both hands in a placating manner. He stepped back and away, clearly stating his intention of wanting nothing else to do with things at this point. Tobias found himself thinking he was the far smarter of the two.
“Or what little man?” Keri challenged, crossing her arms. “I could rip your head right off your neck if I was so inclined, and I could do it without even getting my clothes mused.”
“Don’t try to bullshit me,” Zack waved off the threat. “You think you’re the first juujin I’ve ever dealt with? My family’s got it’s share of handlers, I know how to put your kind in their place.”
All traces of mirth left Keri’s features, and her expression darkened. “You think so?” she whispered. The guy grinned smugly at her.
“Ain’t no thing at all. You juujin might be damn tough and all that, but really, dealing with you is like training a dog. Just got to make them realize who’s boss.” He glanced over at Tobias, and shook his head. “Though if this twerp is your guy, I suppose it’s little wonder you think you can shoot your mouth off, seeing as he ain’t got the balls to even speak up.”
“Man, fuck off,” Tobias spat.
“Ooo, tough words from the little punk,” Zack mocked. “Go home kid, I’ll send you your juujin after I’m done with her.”
“ I’d like to see you make...” Tobias started, but Keri cut him off.
“Tobias,” she said calmly. “I appreciate the support, but I can handle this.”
“You sure?”
“Quite.”
“Alright, all yours aunt Keri.”
“Aunt?” Zack blinked. “Kid, that’s kind of fucked up.”
“He’s not my handler,” Keri told him, stepping forward until Zack had to crane his neck back to look up at her. “He’s just my nephew. I don’t have a handler. I have a partner, she keeps me from going feral, but she does not own me, or treat me like a pet. I wouldn’t put up with that from anyone.”
“Yeah right,” Zack scoffed. “You think I’m stupid or something?”
“The thought has crossed my mind several times now.”
“Keep mouthing off honey, I promise I’m going to make you pay for each smart remark.”
“I find myself less than convinced.”
“Alright, enough of this shit,” Zack said, and he jabbed a finger at the ground in front of him. “Down, bitch.”
Keri stared at the man for a beat, her feline eyes flat and unreadable. Then her leg swept out, and her foot clipped Zack across both ankles, sending him tumbling to the pavement. He landed in a cut off curse as the wind went out of him with the impact, and he lay stunned for a moment, staring up at the ceiling.
“What...what the fuck?” he exclaimed.
“Zack,” Keri said with the tones of a lecturing teacher, “I think you’re rather confused as to just why a juujin may or may not obey a human being, so let me set you straight on a few points.”
Zack scrambled to his feet, fixing Keri with a hateful glare. “Oh I am so going to...”
“A bonded juujin,” Keri spoke right over him, “is indeed, very prone, practically compelled to want to obey her handler. This does not make her a communal slave though; there is nothing that makes her want to obey anyone else.”
“Shut up,” Zack snapped, producing a switch blade from a pocket. “You are going to shut your damn mouth, get down on your fucking knees, and hope to god you can please me enough not to cut your fucking clothes off and let you walk home naked like the whore you are.”
Keri just rolled her eyes, and stepped forward. Zack snarled at her, jabbing with the knife at her face. She didn’t even flinch at the attack, one hand moving in a sudden blur of motion, and she caught the thrust by the blade itself, her fist closing around the sharpened metal.
“Aunt Keri!” Tobias cried, but she waved at him in a placating manner with her free hand.
“Speaking firmly and with authority only works on a juujin you have bonded,” Keri continued as if nothing had happened. “And bonding is not something that happens just like that,” she said with a snap of her fingers. “It takes several taming sessions to build a proper bond.”
“Shut up!” Zack yelled, wrenching at the knife handle. Keri’s arm didn’t move in the slightest, nor did she give any sign that the blade she held bothered her in the least.
“An unbonded juujin is as free willed as any other person, which is to say, they may or may not have much of an ability to make they’re own choices. There are after all plenty of human girls who are more than happy to let their boyfriend or husband run their life.”
“God dammit bitch,” Zack heaved on the knife. There was a sharp snapping sound, and he fell backwards, landing on his backside as the weapon broke off just above the handle. Keri opened her hand, and let the twisted remains of the blade drop to the floor. Her palm and fingers were utterly unblemished.
“And even if a juujin is bonded, like me, if she has the desire and the will to be her own person, like me, and her handler, or tamer, or partner isn’t some control freak and actually treats her like a person, like mine does, she is most certainly not going to just drop and spread em because some delusional idiot thinks all it takes is a dick and an attitude to get any juujin to obey.”
Zack stared in disbelief at the broken knife for a second, then up at Keri, his face suddenly pale. He scooted backwards on his ass several feet.
“Uh hey, look, I uh didn’t...”
“Zack!” Keri snapped. “Quiet!”
He glared at Keri, emotions flitting across his features, shifting between anger and fear, indignation and shame. His mouth opened and closed a half dozen time, odd choking sounds coming from his lip. Finally though he shut his mouth, and lowered his eyes to the floor.
“Good boy,” Keri praised, and Tobias snorted with laughter. He couldn’t help it, the encounter had him wired on adrenalin, his heart beating furiously with a fight or flight response that had gone unused. He needed the outlet, and keyed up as he was, the whole thing suddenly seemed utterly hilarious.
“What are you laughing about you little shit!” Zack shouted at him, which only made Tobias laugh harder. The older guy’s face darkened with rage, and he hefted the knife handle, winding his arm back to throw it at Tobias, the remaining inch of blade still looking sharp as ever.
Tobias didn’t even have time to react, or to follow what happened next. In the instant between his mind shifting in panic mode and his body actually setting itself to get the hell out of the way, Keri just seemed to appear over Zack, one heeled foot slamming into his chest, driving him flat to the floor. Her face was livid, eyes blazing like live coals as her lips peeled back from her teeth, revealing her sharpened fangs.
Zack opened his mouth, but no sound came out. He pitched and writhed, trying to wriggle free, but Keri’s foot kept him pinned like a bug in a display. He shoved uselessly against her leg, but he might as well have been trying to move a stone pillar. His face began to turn an ugly purple shade as he fought to draw air into his flattened lungs.
“Keri!” Aras shouted. “Keri stop it, you’re going to kill him!” Keri growled, actually growled like the big cat her threshold was based on, in response. “Dammit Keri think! You know how harsh the courts can be on juujin, Tobias doesn’t need to lose another family member!”
Keri flinched at that, and the anger slowly drained from her face. With what seemed a great effort of will, she stepped away, and turned her back on the man she’d been squeezing the life out of. Zack, for his part, rolled onto one side, curling up in a ball as he gasped and coughed, sucking in deep breaths of air as best he could with his convulsing lungs.
“You!” Keri snapped at the other man. “Get this...thing out of my sight,” she snarled, jabbing a finger at Zack.
The guy offered no protest, silently getting an arm under Zack’s shoulder and hauling the man painfully to his feet. He gagged as if about to be sick, and shuffled drunkenly as his friend half dragged, half carried him off. As they reached the elevator and hit the call button, Tobias could just hear the guy say to Zack, “I keep telling you man, that mouth of yours is going to get you killed.”
Aras came around the car as the two vanished into the elevator, coming to stand next to Keri. She looked somewhat sternly up at the juujin, setting her hands on her hips in a overly dramatic fashion.
“What is the matter with you?” she asked, in a fair imitation of Keri’s voice and inflection. Keri let out a half laugh.
“Aw, come on Aras,” she retorted, not altogether unlike the woman’s earlier reply. The two shared a small smile, but it faded from both their faces after only a few seconds.
“Seriously Keri, what the hell?” Aras asked. “I thought you were really about to snuff the guy.”
“I don’t know,” Keri said, shaking her head slowly. “I just...when he threatened Tobias I just...”
“Lost it?” Aras supplied.
“...yeah, guess so,” Keri agreed. “God, I haven’t lost my temper like that in years.” She ran a hand through her hair, her face troubled. “I really almost killed him.”
“Well...” Aras paused, shrugging a bit uncomfortably. “...he was a giant ass.”
Keri sighed. “Not helping...”
“Sorry, that’s all I got right now.”
“How about we get going then? This spot reeks of fear scent now.”
“Aye aye boss lady.” Aras said with an amazing straight face. She waved a hand at Tobias. “Lets go boss lady’s estranged relation.” She sauntered over to the car, and held the door open for them.
“She always like that?” Tobias asked softly, and Keri rolled her eyes.
“No...she’s usually worse.” She seemed about to add something, but then shook her head and headed on over to climb into the car. Tobias walked around to get in the other side as Aras shut the door, and then practically vaulted over the trunk to beat him to the door handle, actually knocking his hand aside.
“Uh uh, my job,” she teased, flashing him a playful smile. Standing this close to her, Tobias could clearly see the dimples the expression gave her.
“Uh, thanks,” he replied hesitantly, proximity suddenly reminding him of the intriguing outfit she wore, and the body it didn’t really conceal. The renewed thumping of his own heart in his ears was the result of an entirely different set of primal responses this time.
“You’re welcome,” she purred. “Any time you need me to hold anything for you...”
Tobias just stared stupidly back at her, feeling his face flush. Words failed him, and he ducked into the car in hopes of avoiding looking like any more of a dofus. He swore he heard a small, delighted giggle over the sound of the door shutting.
Aras climbed into the front seat, and coaxed the engine to life, whistling softly to herself as she did. She belted herself in, and glanced up at the rearview mirror. She looked right at Tobias in the mirror, and winked at him.
The young man sank down in his seat, letting out a long breath, and wondering just what he’d gotten himself into. Putting on his seatbelt required a bit of creative maneuvering to avoid uncomfortably compressing a certain part of his anatomy at the moment, and he blatantly did not look at Aras or aunt Keri when he was done.
“Tobias, Aras,” Keri spoke up once they were all settled. “I would appreciate it if neither of you mentioned this little incident to anyone.”
“Of course aunt Keri,” Tobias agreed, not having a clue who he’d tell anyway. A handful of silent seconds passed, and Keri cleared her throat.
“Aras?”
“Thinking about it,” she replied in a sign song tone.
“Aras,” Keri growled, and the chocolate skinned woman turned in her seat to smile at the juujin.
“What’s it worth to you to make sure Sissy doesn’t hear?”
“W-what makes you think Sissy has anything to do...”
“She wouldn’t be very happy with you,” Aras giggled.
“Sissy does not run my life or tell me what to do,” Keri stated firmly.
“Of course not,” Aras agreed pleasantly. “So it would hardly matter if she knew, right?”
“...what do you want you snake?” Keri hissed after a pause.
“Dunno yet, I’ll think on it.” Aras replied cheerfully, turning back around. “Until we reach an agreement though, you might consider being nicer to me.”
Keri grumbled something unintelligible, crossing her arms and sinking back against her seat.
She sat back upright again suddenly as the small whirring of a cd being fed into the player sounded, and the barely audible buzz of silent speakers turned all the way up crackled.
“Aras!” Keri snapped. “Don’t you d...”
An earsplitting wail drowned out the rest of her words, and thundering heavy metal roared from the sound system. Aras whipped the car out of it’s parking spot in one fluid motion, and slammed it into drive. Tobias couldn’t hear anything over the music, but he felt the engine vibrations as Aras floored the gas, and he was flattened to his seat as she peeled out, zooming down the tight confines of the parking garage, tires squealing the whole way down.
--------------------
Omake 1
“Alright, enough of this shit,” Zack said, and he jabbed a finger at the ground in front of him. “Down, bitch.”
Keri stared at the man for a beat, her feline eyes flat and unreadable. Then her leg swept out, and her foot clipped Zack across both ankles, which shattered like dry twigs. The man let out a blood curdling shriek of pain as he fell, splinters of bone protruding though his pants.
“...whoops,” Keri said after a pause. “That’s right, humans are fragile.”
“Cut!” yelled the exasperated voice of Phil, the director. “Dammit Keri!”
“Sorry, my bad.”
“Someone get him over to the hospital,” Phil said, pointing at the downed actor. “Thank god we’re shooting on location. Alright, you,” he pointed at the second man. “Congrads, you’re the new Zack. You have five minutes to memorize your lines.”
-------------------------
Omake 2
“Alright, enough of this shit,” Zack said, and he jabbed a finger at the ground in front of him. “Down, bitch.”
Keri stared at the man for a beat, her feline eyes flat and unreadable. Then her leg swept out, and her foot clipped Zack across the side of the head. There was a wet, tearing sound and sickening crunch as the man’s skull imploded, and his head was simultaneously torn from his neck. The half crushed remains went zipping across the parking garage and slammed into a camera lift, tipping the entire thing over with a crash.
“Cut!” Phil shrieked. “What the fuck Keri!?” She just sniffed disdainfully and crossed her arms in a pout.
“I didn’t get my midmorning donut,” she complained. A vein throbbed across Phil’s forehead, and he cast a beseeching gaze heavenward.
“Why me?” He demanded.
--------------------------
Omake 3
Keri just rolled her eyes, and stepped forward. Zack snarled at her, jabbing with the knife at her face. She didn’t even flinch at the attack, one hand moving in a sudden blur of motion, and missed the knife entirely, hand closing with a bone cracking crunch around Zack’s wrist.
The man screamed, dropping the knife, and fell to the ground in writhing agony.
“Cut...” Phil groaned. “We’re gunna need another Zack.”
--------------------------
Omake 4
Keri just rolled her eyes, and stepped forward. Zack snarled at her, jabbing with the knife at her face. She didn’t even flinch at the attack, one hand moving in a sudden blur of motion, and she missed the knife again. The blade caught her in the face.
“Ow! Fucker!” she snarled, and backhanded Zack right across the parking garage, sending him rebounded up and over the concrete guard rail, taking a chunk of it with him. His broken and blood spewing corpse spiraled out of sight.
“Cut,” Phil all but sobbed. “Who’s next?”
“No!” A voice screamed pleadingly, and a moment later two beefy guys came dragging a third between them. “I don’t want to be an actor anymore! For the love of god!”
---------------------------
Omake 5
Tobias didn’t even have time to react, or to follow what happened next. In the instant between his mind shifting in panic mode and his body actually setting itself to get the hell out of the way, Keri just seemed to appear over Zack, one heeled foot slamming right through his chest in a spray of blood and gore.
“Ewwww!” Keri shrieked, kicking the corpse free.
“Cut,” Phil said mechanically. “Wardrobe, make-up, to the set. Next Zack please.”
---------------------------
Omake 6
The guy offered no protest, silently getting an arm under Zack’s shoulder and hauling the man painfully to his feet. He gagged as if about to be sick, and shuffled drunkenly as his friend half dragged, half carried him off. As they reached the elevator and hit the call button, Tobias could just hear the guy say to Zack, “Oh shit, I think she really hurt him.”
“Cut fuck shit damn cut hell bastard crap cut!” Phil swore, jumping out of his chair and stomping about. “We were this fucking close” he held up two fingers a hair’s breadth apart. “To finishing the goddamn fight scene, stick to the fucking script or you’re the next Zack! Reset!”
------------------------------
Omake 7
An earsplitting wail drowned out the rest of her words, and thundering heavy metal roared from the sound system. Aras whipped the car out of it’s parking spot in one fluid motion, and promptly slammed into another car, which went rolling from the impact, the parking brake apparently not set.
It rolled down the incline of the garage, and smashed through the weakened section of the guard rail where Zack #4 had met his demise. It went nose first over the side, and landed right on Zack #6 as he was being helped over to the hospital.
---------------------------
Omake 8
An earsplitting wail drowned out the rest of her words, and thundering heavy metal roared from the sound system. Aras whipped the car out of it’s parking spot in one fluid motion, and promptly lost control, the vehicle spinning in a wide circle before coming to a halt with a jarring bump that skipped the cd player.
“Holy shit, you hit Phil!” Tobias exclaimed into the sudden silence.
“Oh I am so fucking fired,” Aras moaned.
------------------------
Characters
Tobi as
Male
Age 16
6'1"
170 lbs post hospital
Keri
Female
Juujin
Age 31
7'
Powers: Super strength and invulnerability.
Rank: S class juujin
Myers
Male
Further stats irrelevant as his role is done
Aras
Female
Age 24
5'8"
Outfit a tribute to Mercy of DC comics
Zack
Asshole who got what was coming to him
Unnamed friend
Some dude.
Parents
Extra crispy
Doctors and nurses
Standard hospital folk...except that one juujin nurse, the redhead with the awesome rack who goes out of her way to make sure you’re comfortable...yeah, she was totally in there, didn’t you see her?
-------------------------------
Notes: Apologizes for the needless over killing of Zack, but something about him really made me want to hurt the guy.
Special Thanks go to bsmart, first for introducing me to pokegirls, from which I derived juujin, secondly for engaging in many a long and sometimes bizarre conversations with me from which many of my ideas are born and matured, and sometimes put down before being able to plague mankind, and finally for proof reading this stuff and telling me it’s not a waste of virtual ink. Without him, this story could never have existed. So be sure to spread the blame around if you think this sucks or it offends you.
Come join the fun at : http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Juujin/
Email me at : wffan1@aol.com
Note: If you haven’t already, I do recommend you read the juujin primer prior to reading this work. While I won’t say it’s strictly necessary to understand and enjoy the story, it will make certain nuances and ideas more clear and understandable. Go ahead and go skim the primer, I’ll wait...
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Chapter 1
The fire changed everything. It had started late in the night, the fault of some bad wiring in the old house. Tobias never saw the flames, but had come awake with his lungs burning as if on fire themselves. Terrible, body racking coughs had rendered him nearly immobile as he had struggled for air in the smoke choked room. He had literally fallen out of bed, and found the air clearer down at the floor, if just barely.
It had been enough for him to take a deep breath without doubling over hacking though, enough for him to find the energy to crawl by. His first instinct had been for the door, but an irregular, pulsing orange glow coming from the gap between the door and floor had warned him away. He had turned to the bedroom window instead, desperation over riding any concerns about the two story drop to the ground.
Getting the window open had nearly been the death of him. He was a child of air conditioning and indoor lighting, not fresh air and sunshine. The window had been stuck fast by years of lack of use, and it had taken nearly all of his waning strength to force it open. He had then barely the energy left to crawl through the narrow opening, and fall out. He had no memory of hitting the ground.
-----------------------
Tobias woke up in the hospital some days later, dazed and disoriented. His heart thundered in his chest, the rapid fire beat pulsing in his ears though all he had done was open his eyes. There was an odd, steady pressure on his chest which made it hard to breath. A nameless terror gripped him, something that drove him out of the thin medical bed.
The IV in his arm tore free as he fell out of bed for the second time in a week, the sudden flash of heated pain making him suck in a breath through his teeth. His legs were weak, and his knees shook so hard they would not support him. He fell, landing in a sprawl on the cold tile floor, gazing up at the fluorescent lights, one long bulb flickering gently.
He didn’t know when the tears started, but the salty tang of them made Tobias aware he was crying. He couldn’t feel it though. His vision blurred over, and he could now feel the wetness on his cheeks, but inside, there was nothing. It was like a hole had been burned through him, and though his body ached with some unknown pain, he himself did not experience it in the least.
--------------------
The hospital kept Tobias for a week before they were willing to pronounce him fit for release. The time passed oddly for him, with long, blurred stretches of meaningless activity dotted by moments of brief, painful clarity. The doctors and nurses went about their business, writing down numbers off various devices and instruments they poked and prodded him with. He ate, he slept, he watched tv with an utter lack of attention. None of it stuck with him.
What did stick were the visits from Mr. Myers. The short, balding, pudgy man was a city attorney, who had been assigned to Tobias. He was a soft spoken man, but his words were blunt and to the point. It was him who informed Tobias that his parents were dead, likely killed by smoke inhalation while they slept. Myers informed him that, as Tobias was still only sixteen, he had been temporarily turned over to the care of the state until such time as a relative could be reached to assume legal guardianship.
Tobias took it all in, and his mind seemed to take some obscene fascination with replaying the conversations, over and over again. He heard Myer’s proclaim his parent’s death, tell him how lucky he was to have escaped the fire with such minor injuries. It should have been painful to dwell on, but inside there was still nothing. The tears still came, though less frequently as the days passed, ending quicker and quicker each time.
The day before he was discharged, Myers came to see him, dressed as usual in his business wear; a tie and dark blazer over a simple button down, matching slacks, black polished formal shoes.
“Good news son,” Myers offered as way of greeting. “We managed to get in touch with your aunt, and she has agreed to accept custody of you. I’ve already faxed her attorney the necessary paper work.”
“Oh?” Tobias responded dully, his mind still processing the sudden shift from aimless thought to conversation. “Oh...okay then.”
“She informed me she would be flying out here tonight, and she will be able to pick you up here at the hospital in the morning.”
Tobias just nodded, listening without really taking it in. Some part of him nagged that he should have a million questions to ask, many of them rather important. The rest of him though just ignored it, not caring enough to make the effort. He tuned out the rest of whatever Myers told him, nodding and grunting in an affirmative tone on occasion.
------------------
The following morning arrived with much the same contrary too slow, too quick movement of time. There were papers that had to be filled out, mostly by Myers. The doctor and nurses had all sorts of things to tell Tobias, of which he remembered nothing. He was apparently on some kind of medication, because he ended up with a little slip of paper with a bunch of illegible script scrawled on it and the RX symbol in the corner.
Tobias shoved the paper into one pocket of his too loose jeans. The pants, like his shirt and shoes, fit poorly, being donated items Myers had brought him. All his clothing other than the boxers he’d been sleeping in had gone up in the fire, same as the rest of his possessions. More than anything else at the moment, Tobias wished he had a belt. Some food wouldn’t be too bad either; he’d skipped breakfast, hardly the first meal he’d been too apathetic to eat. Maybe being hand-me-downs weren’t the only reason the jeans didn’t fit right.
While Myers was busy finalizing some thing or another, Tobias slipped off into the bathroom. His image in the mirror above the sinks rather surprised him. He didn’t really look all that different than normal. His thick brown hair was badly mused from too many days of ill care, but other than that he looked none the worse for wear. He was perhaps a bit thinner in the face, but he’d always been tall and thin. Maybe he just hadn’t seen himself for too long.
He leaned in close to the mirror, gazing right into his own bright blue eyes. They stared back, same as they always had been. It felt odd, because he didn’t feel the same. Tobias wasn’t sure what he was expecting though; burns, cuts, some deep and troubled cast to his eyes. He felt like he should have some visible sign of the odd empty feeling he had inside. But there was nothing to see, just an average teenage guy, a little on the tall and lanky side, unshaved cheeks and chin only lightly darkened by fine growth, perhaps a bit more handsome than plain faced. He didn’t look like someone who had just lost home and family.
“Ah, there he is,” Myers’s voice greeted Tobias as he exited the restroom, his gaze drifting over to the attorney, and paused. Standing beside the little man was the tallest woman he’d ever seen. She has easily head, shoulders, and more above Myers, a good head taller than Tobias himself. She was however built for her height, so perfectly proportioned in frame and limb that standing next to Myers made her look less overly tall than it made him look overly short, like a dwarf next to a person of average height.
She was dressed well, wearing a business suit and skirt of notably better make and cut than Myers’s, even to someone as normally clueless to tell such things as Tobias was. The dark grey material was immaculate, the seams crisply folded, the fabric unruffled even where the skirt clung tight around the outer curve of her thighs. She wore heels, and though the extra height was probably negligible, they did do interesting things to the shape of her legs, displaying the supple, toned muscles of her calves.
Her legs were hardly the only eye captivating feature of her body. Though the suit top was perfectly modest, it could only do so much to hide the ample swell of her breasts, and the skirt clung to her rounded hips as well as it did her legs. Her features were absolutely striking, blurring the line between cute and sultry, red tinted lush lips beneath a delicate nose and round, purple-red eyes.
Those eyes, with their vertically slit pupils, were yet not the most exotic of her features though, not even close. Her hair was an eye catching dark violet, falling long down her back. It hung about her face in thick strands, artfully arranged to appear wild without actually being so. And even that was merely uncommon compared with the rest of her.
She showed off not an inch of skin, because her whole body was covered in a fine, short, downy soft looking layer of fur. It was sleekly smooth and glossy, and the yellowish tan of a jaguar. She was liberally speckled with spots, small irregular ovals grouped in small bunches that suggested half closed rings, some with an additional spot within, others empty. A finger thick line of black ran down in a sinuous curve from under each eye, marking the outer boundary of a patch of pure white fur that ran around her mouth, under her chin, and down the front of her neck. Tobias rather suspected it continued on down the length of her body, because the inner curves of her legs were of the same coloration, as was the palms and fingers of her hands, though the spots dominated the backs.
Large, feline ears flared out and up from either side of her head, furred and patterned to match the rest of her coat, the edges marked out in black. A long tail hung down behind her, waving slowly from side to side, the jaguar markings continuing down it’s length until the final few inches, a pair of white bands split by a black strip appearing just before the dark black tip.
Even in the business wear, she projected an aura of primal, feral grace and power. She was based not on a timid, domestic feline; she was one of the big cats, a hunter and predator, and she stood with the supreme self confidence of one certain of just how deadly she was, and how alluring. Inhuman as she was, there was no denying her raw appeal, the perfection of form and feature that granted her an unearthly beauty and sexual desire.
Tobias let out a breath he hadn’t recalled holding, and tried not to stare. This was hardly the first juujin he’d ever seen after all; it was getting harder and harder not to pass by them on the streets these days, and there had been no shortage of juujin at school either. Somehow though that didn’t make the effect of meeting one any less intense. Even the moody funk he’d been in didn’t seem able to keep him under as the amazon of a catgirl turned her gaze to him. He found himself wondering how good those ears of hers were. He’d heard rumors about how amazing some juujin senses were. Could she hear his heart hammering suddenly?
“Tobias?” the juujin asked, taking a half step towards him. Her voice was soft, hesitant, and filled with various emotions he couldn’t begin to make out. She bit her bottom lip gently as she looked at him, and he was not so overwhelmed as to miss the sharp little fangs she had instead of normal canines. “My god, but you look so much like your father.”
“You know...” Tobias started, but the words suddenly caught in his throat, and he had swallow painfully. “You, knew my father? How?”
She regarded him for a moment, her gaze unnerving in its intensity. Then she closed her eyes, letting out a soft sigh.
“I suppose it’d be a little silly to expect you to recognize me. It’s been a long time, and you were so young, and I certainly looked different back then. I guess your mother really meant it when she said she no longer had a sister.”
“Aunt Keri?” Tobias suddenly blurted as the words stirred memories half forgotten. He’d known his mother hadn’t been an only child, that she’d had a younger sister. He also had learned that she’d gone through threshold, gone through the process of transforming into a juujin, and that it had strained things to the breaking point between her and his mother.
He’d known of her, but really nothing about her. All he knew he’d learned from eavesdropping on tense conversations between his folks, and there had been precious little to overhear. Her name, what she’d become, and how his parents, especially his mother, had found the idea of having a juujin in the family unacceptable.
So no one had talked about her. She’d never come up in conversation, never been part of the holidays or special events. Perhaps if his grandparents had lived a bit longer, they might have been a link to her, but they had both passed when Tobias was too young to really remember much of them. So while he knew he had an aunt, it was something that had been pushed way off into the back corners of his memory, where his day to day thoughts never went. It was only now, standing face to face with her, that he really recalled the fact.
Keri for her part looked as overwhelmed as he felt. Her eyes shone brightly of a sudden, and she covered her mouth lightly with one hand. The moment didn’t last long before she pulled herself together though. She did it smoothly, gracefully, as someone used to reigning in their emotions.
“So, not completely forgotten I see,” she said, the words only lightly tinted with emotion. “Yes, I’m your aunt.”
Tobias’s mind whirled, and the sudden activity after so many days of dull stagnation made him feel a bit dizzy. He’d never even considered that his mother’s estranged sister might be the “relative” Myers had mentioned. Some part of him pointed out that the attorney had indeed said “your aunt”, but that he hadn’t been paying any real attention at the time. He’d been expecting one of his distant cousins, someone from one of his grandparent’s sibling’s lines. He hadn’t even considered his aunt, and told that one part of him to shut up before it could remark on it again. Hell he barely ever remember he had an aunt most of the time.
That was certainly about to change, if he was going to go live with her. That thought nearly floored him. He was going to be living with a juujin, a juujin who was his aunt, a juujin who he had just been checking out a second ago. He thought he should feel put off about that, checking out a relative, but like most things of late it didn’t seem to register emotionally. The shock and surprise of meeting her and being suddenly reminded of her existence had though, and thinking on why that had but the other hadn’t just made him all kinds of confused.
He wasn’t sure how long he just stood there, trying to sort through the flood of thoughts rushing through his brain, but it was long enough for an awkward silence to form between them. The general sense of unease in the air was enough to snap him out of his inner musings, and leave them staring at each other in that manner of not quite looking right at the other person, but more in their general direction.
The sound of Myer’s clearing his throat with a soft cough cut into the moment, and aunt and nephew were both grateful for the distraction.
“Well, I don’t think there’s much else for me to say or do,” he said. “Tobias, good luck to you son, I hope you settle into your new life comfortably.” He surprised Tobias by offering him his hand, but he traded grips with the little man. “Ma’am, I’ll have the final paper work faxed to you in the next few days.”
“Thank you sir,” Keri replied with a slight nod, which Myer’s returned. Then he turned on his heel, and walked off. The comfortable distraction went with him, and the air of awkward silence returned.
“Ready?” Keri asked after a few seconds, and Tobias only nodded in response.
The trip out of the hospital was surreal for Tobias. His mind just couldn’t accept the truth of his situation yet. He’d known he couldn’t just go home, not with his parent’s dead, not with his house gone, but the reality of that knowledge still hadn’t hit him yet, just as the fact of Keri being his aunt, and his new legal guardian, hadn’t registered emotionally either. He was literally walking towards a new life, one he had no idea what to expect from, and yet inside he felt that if he could just head home, everything should still be there, waiting for him, no matter how much he knew that wasn’t true.
Keri seemed equally introspective of the situation, walking in that automatic way of someone focusing more inward that out. Even with the tight skirt and heels, her stride was impressive, and Tobias had to work to keep up with her. She strode down the hallways like she owned them, and people got out of her way as if she did. Just as well, in Tobias’s opinion, she looked distracted enough to, and capable of, just walking right over anything that got in her way.
Neither of them spoke as they turned down a few halls, took the elevator to the ground floor and crossed over to the parking garage. They waited silently for the garage elevator, and climbed in without a word. It was only then, as they started upwards, that Keri broke the silence.
“Oh, you have to be kidding me,” she muttered to herself. Tobias glanced over at her, and saw an annoyed expression upon her features. One tawny ear twitched slightly in a steady beat.
A few seconds later and his own ears caught what Keri’s had, a deep bass pounding, pulsing rhythmically away like some enormous heartbeat. It grew louder as the elevator ascended the parking levels, becoming more a physical sensation that thumped in the chest than a sound.
Then the doors opened, and blaring techno music rushed into the tiny space like a flood. Tobias flinched from the sudden auditory assault, and Keri’s ears laid back along her head as she grit her teeth. She hurried out of the elevator car in a ground eating pace, and stalked towards the source of the music.
The noise was coming from one of the handful of cars parked on this level of the garage, a white luxury sedan with black tinted windows. The front doors were wide open, and the speakers inside rattled the vehicle as they blared away for all they were worth. Beside the car, in one of the empty parking spaces, three individuals swayed and danced to the beat.
The two guys might have been in their early to mid twenties, dressed in baggy pants and too tight shirts. Their hair stuck up at odd angles, coated with the shine of too much gel. Various metallic glints marked out piercings on their faces. Even by the looser definition of clubs and bars, it was hard to consider what they were doing dancing. They had no real sense of rhythm or grace, and they seemed even more awkward compared to the woman between them.
She was an average sized woman, though that was the only thing that could be said to be average about her. She wore a chauffeur outfit that looked like something picked out from an adult costume shop, and she wore it well; a black jacket sporting a double row of gold buttons which clung to her hour glass figure like a catsuit. If she wore any pants, they were not long enough to protrude from the bottom of the jacket, which extended down just enough to conceal her upper thighs. A thick leather belt wound around her waist. Her boots were heeled, black, came up passed her knees, and like the jacket clung to her such that they concealed almost nothing. The tantalizing patch of chocolate toned flesh between boot top and jacket bottom was criss-crossed with fishnet stockings. Her raven black hair was done up and tucked under her cap, which lightly rested upon her head.
Her face all but glowed as she danced, an expression of pure joy and delight that upped the appeal of her already sultry features to a whole new level. She moved with a lithe, animalistic grace that made her dance partners look like stumbling oafs, and her motions were full of sensual, sexual desire that made Tobias suddenly glad of the looseness of his jeans. He’d never have believed that someone showing so little skin could be so enticing.
Keri clearly did not share any of Tobias’s appreciation for the sight as she stalked over toward the trio. She was practically upon them before any of them noticed her swift approach, and the guy who first did jerked in surprise, stepped on his own foot, and stumbled. The woman managed to nimbly hop out of his way, and proceeded to slam back first into Keri in doing so. The juujin didn’t budge in the slightest from the impact, even with the heels, and her hands clamped on the smaller woman’s shoulders, who went suddenly ram rod stiff, eyes wide. Her head tilted back, and she looked straight up into Keri’s glaring face.
She gave the juujin a nervous little smile, her cheeks glowing a slight pink, and she opened her mouth as if to speak. Keri didn’t give her the chance, she just picked the woman up with a hand on either upper arm, turned to one side, and dropped her. She landed stiff legged, and with none of her former grace as she barely avoid falling on her face. Keri, her path now cleared, strode to the car, reached inside, and killed the music.
The chauffeur girl had just managed to straighten back up when Keri turned and fixed her in place with a glare.
“What is the matter with you?” she growled, making the woman flinch. “This is a hospital, not a dance club! There are sick and injured people trying to recover here, have you no respect at all?”
“Aw, come on Keri...” the woman whined in a little girl voice.
“Don’t even try to give me that, Aras,” Keri spat. “I can’t take you anywhere, I swear you...I just...ahh!” she trailed off in a sputter. She took a deep breath, and her next words were tense with forced calm. “Just get in the car, we’ll discuss this later.”
“Yes ma’am,” Aras sulked, and started around the vehicle to the driver’s seat.
Then one of the guys surprised everyone there by speaking up.
“Hey now, hold on a moment,” he said indigently.
Keri, already turning back to the car herself, paused halfway through the motion. Her head slowly swung around to regard the man.
“Excuse me?” she said.
“We weren’t done having fun with her yet.”
“Wrong,” Keri corrected. “She is quite done.”
“Who are you, her mother?” the guy sneered, and Keri turned to face him, eyes narrowing. Behind her, Aras made a sudden slashing motion with her hand at the man, shaking her head and mouthing “shut up shut up shut up”.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t catch your name,” Keri said.
“Zack,” the guy offered. “Or as my friends call me, Big Z.”
“Well Zack, I am her employer, and she is on the clock,” Keri explained in a voice like an arctic breeze.
“That so?” Zack replied, and he flashed her a smug grin. “Well tell you what tall stuff, how about you let her take a nice long lunch break, and we’ll let you join in.”
Behind the car, Aras winced, closing her eyes and putting her face in one hand. The other hand moved before her in the sign of the cross. Keri meanwhile blinked in surprise at the words, and then burst out of laughing.
“Hey!” Zack spluttered, his face going red. “The hell’s so funny?”
“You...you think...you think I’d have anything to do with you?” Keri choked out. “Please, I don’t touch street vermin.”
“Hey, I don’t have to take that crap from a juujin,” he snapped back. “Bitch, you better apologize.” Zack’s friend gave him a sanity questioning look, and then held up both hands in a placating manner. He stepped back and away, clearly stating his intention of wanting nothing else to do with things at this point. Tobias found himself thinking he was the far smarter of the two.
“Or what little man?” Keri challenged, crossing her arms. “I could rip your head right off your neck if I was so inclined, and I could do it without even getting my clothes mused.”
“Don’t try to bullshit me,” Zack waved off the threat. “You think you’re the first juujin I’ve ever dealt with? My family’s got it’s share of handlers, I know how to put your kind in their place.”
All traces of mirth left Keri’s features, and her expression darkened. “You think so?” she whispered. The guy grinned smugly at her.
“Ain’t no thing at all. You juujin might be damn tough and all that, but really, dealing with you is like training a dog. Just got to make them realize who’s boss.” He glanced over at Tobias, and shook his head. “Though if this twerp is your guy, I suppose it’s little wonder you think you can shoot your mouth off, seeing as he ain’t got the balls to even speak up.”
“Man, fuck off,” Tobias spat.
“Ooo, tough words from the little punk,” Zack mocked. “Go home kid, I’ll send you your juujin after I’m done with her.”
“ I’d like to see you make...” Tobias started, but Keri cut him off.
“Tobias,” she said calmly. “I appreciate the support, but I can handle this.”
“You sure?”
“Quite.”
“Alright, all yours aunt Keri.”
“Aunt?” Zack blinked. “Kid, that’s kind of fucked up.”
“He’s not my handler,” Keri told him, stepping forward until Zack had to crane his neck back to look up at her. “He’s just my nephew. I don’t have a handler. I have a partner, she keeps me from going feral, but she does not own me, or treat me like a pet. I wouldn’t put up with that from anyone.”
“Yeah right,” Zack scoffed. “You think I’m stupid or something?”
“The thought has crossed my mind several times now.”
“Keep mouthing off honey, I promise I’m going to make you pay for each smart remark.”
“I find myself less than convinced.”
“Alright, enough of this shit,” Zack said, and he jabbed a finger at the ground in front of him. “Down, bitch.”
Keri stared at the man for a beat, her feline eyes flat and unreadable. Then her leg swept out, and her foot clipped Zack across both ankles, sending him tumbling to the pavement. He landed in a cut off curse as the wind went out of him with the impact, and he lay stunned for a moment, staring up at the ceiling.
“What...what the fuck?” he exclaimed.
“Zack,” Keri said with the tones of a lecturing teacher, “I think you’re rather confused as to just why a juujin may or may not obey a human being, so let me set you straight on a few points.”
Zack scrambled to his feet, fixing Keri with a hateful glare. “Oh I am so going to...”
“A bonded juujin,” Keri spoke right over him, “is indeed, very prone, practically compelled to want to obey her handler. This does not make her a communal slave though; there is nothing that makes her want to obey anyone else.”
“Shut up,” Zack snapped, producing a switch blade from a pocket. “You are going to shut your damn mouth, get down on your fucking knees, and hope to god you can please me enough not to cut your fucking clothes off and let you walk home naked like the whore you are.”
Keri just rolled her eyes, and stepped forward. Zack snarled at her, jabbing with the knife at her face. She didn’t even flinch at the attack, one hand moving in a sudden blur of motion, and she caught the thrust by the blade itself, her fist closing around the sharpened metal.
“Aunt Keri!” Tobias cried, but she waved at him in a placating manner with her free hand.
“Speaking firmly and with authority only works on a juujin you have bonded,” Keri continued as if nothing had happened. “And bonding is not something that happens just like that,” she said with a snap of her fingers. “It takes several taming sessions to build a proper bond.”
“Shut up!” Zack yelled, wrenching at the knife handle. Keri’s arm didn’t move in the slightest, nor did she give any sign that the blade she held bothered her in the least.
“An unbonded juujin is as free willed as any other person, which is to say, they may or may not have much of an ability to make they’re own choices. There are after all plenty of human girls who are more than happy to let their boyfriend or husband run their life.”
“God dammit bitch,” Zack heaved on the knife. There was a sharp snapping sound, and he fell backwards, landing on his backside as the weapon broke off just above the handle. Keri opened her hand, and let the twisted remains of the blade drop to the floor. Her palm and fingers were utterly unblemished.
“And even if a juujin is bonded, like me, if she has the desire and the will to be her own person, like me, and her handler, or tamer, or partner isn’t some control freak and actually treats her like a person, like mine does, she is most certainly not going to just drop and spread em because some delusional idiot thinks all it takes is a dick and an attitude to get any juujin to obey.”
Zack stared in disbelief at the broken knife for a second, then up at Keri, his face suddenly pale. He scooted backwards on his ass several feet.
“Uh hey, look, I uh didn’t...”
“Zack!” Keri snapped. “Quiet!”
He glared at Keri, emotions flitting across his features, shifting between anger and fear, indignation and shame. His mouth opened and closed a half dozen time, odd choking sounds coming from his lip. Finally though he shut his mouth, and lowered his eyes to the floor.
“Good boy,” Keri praised, and Tobias snorted with laughter. He couldn’t help it, the encounter had him wired on adrenalin, his heart beating furiously with a fight or flight response that had gone unused. He needed the outlet, and keyed up as he was, the whole thing suddenly seemed utterly hilarious.
“What are you laughing about you little shit!” Zack shouted at him, which only made Tobias laugh harder. The older guy’s face darkened with rage, and he hefted the knife handle, winding his arm back to throw it at Tobias, the remaining inch of blade still looking sharp as ever.
Tobias didn’t even have time to react, or to follow what happened next. In the instant between his mind shifting in panic mode and his body actually setting itself to get the hell out of the way, Keri just seemed to appear over Zack, one heeled foot slamming into his chest, driving him flat to the floor. Her face was livid, eyes blazing like live coals as her lips peeled back from her teeth, revealing her sharpened fangs.
Zack opened his mouth, but no sound came out. He pitched and writhed, trying to wriggle free, but Keri’s foot kept him pinned like a bug in a display. He shoved uselessly against her leg, but he might as well have been trying to move a stone pillar. His face began to turn an ugly purple shade as he fought to draw air into his flattened lungs.
“Keri!” Aras shouted. “Keri stop it, you’re going to kill him!” Keri growled, actually growled like the big cat her threshold was based on, in response. “Dammit Keri think! You know how harsh the courts can be on juujin, Tobias doesn’t need to lose another family member!”
Keri flinched at that, and the anger slowly drained from her face. With what seemed a great effort of will, she stepped away, and turned her back on the man she’d been squeezing the life out of. Zack, for his part, rolled onto one side, curling up in a ball as he gasped and coughed, sucking in deep breaths of air as best he could with his convulsing lungs.
“You!” Keri snapped at the other man. “Get this...thing out of my sight,” she snarled, jabbing a finger at Zack.
The guy offered no protest, silently getting an arm under Zack’s shoulder and hauling the man painfully to his feet. He gagged as if about to be sick, and shuffled drunkenly as his friend half dragged, half carried him off. As they reached the elevator and hit the call button, Tobias could just hear the guy say to Zack, “I keep telling you man, that mouth of yours is going to get you killed.”
Aras came around the car as the two vanished into the elevator, coming to stand next to Keri. She looked somewhat sternly up at the juujin, setting her hands on her hips in a overly dramatic fashion.
“What is the matter with you?” she asked, in a fair imitation of Keri’s voice and inflection. Keri let out a half laugh.
“Aw, come on Aras,” she retorted, not altogether unlike the woman’s earlier reply. The two shared a small smile, but it faded from both their faces after only a few seconds.
“Seriously Keri, what the hell?” Aras asked. “I thought you were really about to snuff the guy.”
“I don’t know,” Keri said, shaking her head slowly. “I just...when he threatened Tobias I just...”
“Lost it?” Aras supplied.
“...yeah, guess so,” Keri agreed. “God, I haven’t lost my temper like that in years.” She ran a hand through her hair, her face troubled. “I really almost killed him.”
“Well...” Aras paused, shrugging a bit uncomfortably. “...he was a giant ass.”
Keri sighed. “Not helping...”
“Sorry, that’s all I got right now.”
“How about we get going then? This spot reeks of fear scent now.”
“Aye aye boss lady.” Aras said with an amazing straight face. She waved a hand at Tobias. “Lets go boss lady’s estranged relation.” She sauntered over to the car, and held the door open for them.
“She always like that?” Tobias asked softly, and Keri rolled her eyes.
“No...she’s usually worse.” She seemed about to add something, but then shook her head and headed on over to climb into the car. Tobias walked around to get in the other side as Aras shut the door, and then practically vaulted over the trunk to beat him to the door handle, actually knocking his hand aside.
“Uh uh, my job,” she teased, flashing him a playful smile. Standing this close to her, Tobias could clearly see the dimples the expression gave her.
“Uh, thanks,” he replied hesitantly, proximity suddenly reminding him of the intriguing outfit she wore, and the body it didn’t really conceal. The renewed thumping of his own heart in his ears was the result of an entirely different set of primal responses this time.
“You’re welcome,” she purred. “Any time you need me to hold anything for you...”
Tobias just stared stupidly back at her, feeling his face flush. Words failed him, and he ducked into the car in hopes of avoiding looking like any more of a dofus. He swore he heard a small, delighted giggle over the sound of the door shutting.
Aras climbed into the front seat, and coaxed the engine to life, whistling softly to herself as she did. She belted herself in, and glanced up at the rearview mirror. She looked right at Tobias in the mirror, and winked at him.
The young man sank down in his seat, letting out a long breath, and wondering just what he’d gotten himself into. Putting on his seatbelt required a bit of creative maneuvering to avoid uncomfortably compressing a certain part of his anatomy at the moment, and he blatantly did not look at Aras or aunt Keri when he was done.
“Tobias, Aras,” Keri spoke up once they were all settled. “I would appreciate it if neither of you mentioned this little incident to anyone.”
“Of course aunt Keri,” Tobias agreed, not having a clue who he’d tell anyway. A handful of silent seconds passed, and Keri cleared her throat.
“Aras?”
“Thinking about it,” she replied in a sign song tone.
“Aras,” Keri growled, and the chocolate skinned woman turned in her seat to smile at the juujin.
“What’s it worth to you to make sure Sissy doesn’t hear?”
“W-what makes you think Sissy has anything to do...”
“She wouldn’t be very happy with you,” Aras giggled.
“Sissy does not run my life or tell me what to do,” Keri stated firmly.
“Of course not,” Aras agreed pleasantly. “So it would hardly matter if she knew, right?”
“...what do you want you snake?” Keri hissed after a pause.
“Dunno yet, I’ll think on it.” Aras replied cheerfully, turning back around. “Until we reach an agreement though, you might consider being nicer to me.”
Keri grumbled something unintelligible, crossing her arms and sinking back against her seat.
She sat back upright again suddenly as the small whirring of a cd being fed into the player sounded, and the barely audible buzz of silent speakers turned all the way up crackled.
“Aras!” Keri snapped. “Don’t you d...”
An earsplitting wail drowned out the rest of her words, and thundering heavy metal roared from the sound system. Aras whipped the car out of it’s parking spot in one fluid motion, and slammed it into drive. Tobias couldn’t hear anything over the music, but he felt the engine vibrations as Aras floored the gas, and he was flattened to his seat as she peeled out, zooming down the tight confines of the parking garage, tires squealing the whole way down.
--------------------
Omake 1
“Alright, enough of this shit,” Zack said, and he jabbed a finger at the ground in front of him. “Down, bitch.”
Keri stared at the man for a beat, her feline eyes flat and unreadable. Then her leg swept out, and her foot clipped Zack across both ankles, which shattered like dry twigs. The man let out a blood curdling shriek of pain as he fell, splinters of bone protruding though his pants.
“...whoops,” Keri said after a pause. “That’s right, humans are fragile.”
“Cut!” yelled the exasperated voice of Phil, the director. “Dammit Keri!”
“Sorry, my bad.”
“Someone get him over to the hospital,” Phil said, pointing at the downed actor. “Thank god we’re shooting on location. Alright, you,” he pointed at the second man. “Congrads, you’re the new Zack. You have five minutes to memorize your lines.”
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Omake 2
“Alright, enough of this shit,” Zack said, and he jabbed a finger at the ground in front of him. “Down, bitch.”
Keri stared at the man for a beat, her feline eyes flat and unreadable. Then her leg swept out, and her foot clipped Zack across the side of the head. There was a wet, tearing sound and sickening crunch as the man’s skull imploded, and his head was simultaneously torn from his neck. The half crushed remains went zipping across the parking garage and slammed into a camera lift, tipping the entire thing over with a crash.
“Cut!” Phil shrieked. “What the fuck Keri!?” She just sniffed disdainfully and crossed her arms in a pout.
“I didn’t get my midmorning donut,” she complained. A vein throbbed across Phil’s forehead, and he cast a beseeching gaze heavenward.
“Why me?” He demanded.
--------------------------
Omake 3
Keri just rolled her eyes, and stepped forward. Zack snarled at her, jabbing with the knife at her face. She didn’t even flinch at the attack, one hand moving in a sudden blur of motion, and missed the knife entirely, hand closing with a bone cracking crunch around Zack’s wrist.
The man screamed, dropping the knife, and fell to the ground in writhing agony.
“Cut...” Phil groaned. “We’re gunna need another Zack.”
--------------------------
Omake 4
Keri just rolled her eyes, and stepped forward. Zack snarled at her, jabbing with the knife at her face. She didn’t even flinch at the attack, one hand moving in a sudden blur of motion, and she missed the knife again. The blade caught her in the face.
“Ow! Fucker!” she snarled, and backhanded Zack right across the parking garage, sending him rebounded up and over the concrete guard rail, taking a chunk of it with him. His broken and blood spewing corpse spiraled out of sight.
“Cut,” Phil all but sobbed. “Who’s next?”
“No!” A voice screamed pleadingly, and a moment later two beefy guys came dragging a third between them. “I don’t want to be an actor anymore! For the love of god!”
---------------------------
Omake 5
Tobias didn’t even have time to react, or to follow what happened next. In the instant between his mind shifting in panic mode and his body actually setting itself to get the hell out of the way, Keri just seemed to appear over Zack, one heeled foot slamming right through his chest in a spray of blood and gore.
“Ewwww!” Keri shrieked, kicking the corpse free.
“Cut,” Phil said mechanically. “Wardrobe, make-up, to the set. Next Zack please.”
---------------------------
Omake 6
The guy offered no protest, silently getting an arm under Zack’s shoulder and hauling the man painfully to his feet. He gagged as if about to be sick, and shuffled drunkenly as his friend half dragged, half carried him off. As they reached the elevator and hit the call button, Tobias could just hear the guy say to Zack, “Oh shit, I think she really hurt him.”
“Cut fuck shit damn cut hell bastard crap cut!” Phil swore, jumping out of his chair and stomping about. “We were this fucking close” he held up two fingers a hair’s breadth apart. “To finishing the goddamn fight scene, stick to the fucking script or you’re the next Zack! Reset!”
------------------------------
Omake 7
An earsplitting wail drowned out the rest of her words, and thundering heavy metal roared from the sound system. Aras whipped the car out of it’s parking spot in one fluid motion, and promptly slammed into another car, which went rolling from the impact, the parking brake apparently not set.
It rolled down the incline of the garage, and smashed through the weakened section of the guard rail where Zack #4 had met his demise. It went nose first over the side, and landed right on Zack #6 as he was being helped over to the hospital.
---------------------------
Omake 8
An earsplitting wail drowned out the rest of her words, and thundering heavy metal roared from the sound system. Aras whipped the car out of it’s parking spot in one fluid motion, and promptly lost control, the vehicle spinning in a wide circle before coming to a halt with a jarring bump that skipped the cd player.
“Holy shit, you hit Phil!” Tobias exclaimed into the sudden silence.
“Oh I am so fucking fired,” Aras moaned.
------------------------
Characters
Tobi as
Male
Age 16
6'1"
170 lbs post hospital
Keri
Female
Juujin
Age 31
7'
Powers: Super strength and invulnerability.
Rank: S class juujin
Myers
Male
Further stats irrelevant as his role is done
Aras
Female
Age 24
5'8"
Outfit a tribute to Mercy of DC comics
Zack
Asshole who got what was coming to him
Unnamed friend
Some dude.
Parents
Extra crispy
Doctors and nurses
Standard hospital folk...except that one juujin nurse, the redhead with the awesome rack who goes out of her way to make sure you’re comfortable...yeah, she was totally in there, didn’t you see her?
-------------------------------
Notes: Apologizes for the needless over killing of Zack, but something about him really made me want to hurt the guy.
Special Thanks go to bsmart, first for introducing me to pokegirls, from which I derived juujin, secondly for engaging in many a long and sometimes bizarre conversations with me from which many of my ideas are born and matured, and sometimes put down before being able to plague mankind, and finally for proof reading this stuff and telling me it’s not a waste of virtual ink. Without him, this story could never have existed. So be sure to spread the blame around if you think this sucks or it offends you.
Come join the fun at : http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Juujin/
Email me at : wffan1@aol.com