Iria: Zeiram The Animation Fan Fiction ❯ Fine, YOU Wear the Dress Next Time ❯ 03: In which Iria shows what passes for her caring side. ( Chapter 3 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]
Iria awoke that afternoon and had a shower, after which she stood before a mirror, trying to turn in such a way that wouldn't hurt her sore muscles, in order to see precisely how big the bruise across her back was.

She dressed in the first things she pulled from her closet, jeans and a worn shirt she'd stolen from Gren sometime long ago.

Fujikuro had already arrived, and sat in the kitchen looking rather tired. She took her cue from the mug in his hand and poured herself a cup of blackish sludge that was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike coffee. After glancing in the fridge, Iria gave it up as a lost cause and settled for a package of rations.

When she joined him at the table, Fujikuro looked slightly revolted. "*Ick.*" Iria grinned viciously as he squirmed, and ate her rations with a sadistic enjoyment.

Kei came into the room midway through the unconventional breakfast. "Hey Bob, she's awake now," the girl called into the other room, and in a moment he'd appeared on the smaller computer terminal in the kitchen.

"The explosion last night was a fine mess. What did you two do?"

Kei grinned. "That was awesome."

"For once, it wasn't our fault."

"Hey, it's never my fault. People are always out to kill you, I'm just along for the ride." Fujikuro seemed highly amused.

"Oh, and it's my fault the authorities are a bunch of corrupt idiots?"

Bob sighed. "Will both of you stop it." It wasn't a request. Iria and Fujikuro exchanged extremely rude gestures, but held their silence. "Now, between the party and the explosion, did you manage to find anything of use?"

"Nothing at all. It was probably someone with a grudge against the Santoris. This job was a bust, Bob."

"I wore a dress for nothing, so you do know I'll be forced to hurt you," Iria deadpanned.

Fujikuro snorted, and Kei broke out into giggles. One got a sense of deep exasperation from Bob.

"Of course, it's not as if this could actually work out for us." He spun in a highly agitated way and seemed about to vanish back into his computer. "Iria, do you plan on taking a job this week?"

"Yeah, sure. Get me something tricky," she said cheerfully.

Bob vanished off to find her one.



Now that the report for their highly embarrassing and unsuccessful attempt at subterfuge was over, Kei began questioning Iria about all the exciting the details of the job, and Fujikuro let his mind wander.

As usual, it went straight for territory better left unexplored. His feelings for the woman sitting across from him, for example. That it had been an awfully long time since he'd slept with anyone - he wasn't sure how, but he knew that it was somehow Iria's fault. And the fact that the oversized shirt she wore (hadn't it been Gren's?) had slipped off one shoulder far enough to leave a lot of skin showing.

He realized he'd been spoken to. Tearing his eyes away from places they shouldn't be to begin with, he managed a "Huh?"

"I said, how's your head?"

He shrugged. "Probably a concussion."

"Probably?" She looked and sounded disapproving.

"Yeah Iria, that's usually what happens when you get knocked out."

"Shut up, when I want sarcasm I'll ask for it. Didn't you get it checked by a doctor?"

"Why bother? He'd just tell me what I already know, don't sleep." He was genuinely confused as to why she was so concerned.

She snarled something decidedly unladylike, and stood and strode over to him. "Let me see," she ordered.

"Oh, you're a doctor now?" He cut himself off with a pained hiss as her fingers brushed across the lump. "Dammit Iria!"

She ignored him and turned slightly so as to call into the living room. "Bob. In here, now."

Their mentor appeared in a few moments. "Yes, Iria?"

"What do you know about concussions?" As she spoke, she carefully pulled aside Fujikuro's thick hair to better see the injury.

"Don't sleep."

"Bob!"

Fujikuro laughed, then flinched away as her fingers again grazed his wound. "Ow - Iria, is this really necessary?"

She and Bob continued as if he hadn't spoken. "That's about all you can do. Put ice on it, hope there's no permanent damage, and stay awake."

She shot him a particularly nasty look, of the caliber which she normally saved for Fujikuro. "You're a lot of help."

If he'd been able, Bob likely would have shrugged. "I never worried about it, Iria. Unless there's actual bleeding or something broken, I never had head wounds checked."

Iria flipped Bob yet another rude gesture. "Stay put," was all she said to Fujikuro as she turned to dig for an icepack. "You didn't sleep today, did you?"

"Of course not," he said absently, having returned to the pleasant activity of watching her.

"Good. And since there's nothing else we can do-" A poisonous look at Bob. "-I'll make sure you stay awake."