Pet Shop Of Horrors Fan Fiction ❯ Delicate ❯ One-Shot

Disclaimers: Petshop of Horrors belongs to Matsuri Akino. This fanfic plotline is mine.

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Several days had gone by and thus far P-chan's owner, Angelica Winston was still waiting for a call from Count D who had promised her to find a mate for her beloved bird. Angelica was just returning from the market carrying a basket overflowing with fresh, organic fruit for P-chan when the phone rang.

Angelica was quick to answer it. "Hello?"

"Good morning, miss Angelica."

"Ah, Count, I'm so glad you called," she began excitedly. "Have you find P-chan a bride?"

There was a moment's silence before Dee answered. "I am afraid to have some rather upsetting news, miss Angelica. I was unable to locate a female of your bird's species, but unfortunately she died before I was able to get her for you. You see, the females of P-chan's kind have very short life spans."

"Oh, that's so sad," replied Angelica. 'Poor, P-chan… He'll feel even more alone now that I've failed to find him a wife.' "Thank you for your efforts, Count. I still intend on paying you for your troubles."

"You need not bother, miss Angelica," Dee replied in a soft voice.

"But I want too. Just think of it as a gift," Angelica said and placed the phone onto the receiver.

Picking up the basket of fruits, Angelica headed into the green house where P-chan lived. Opening the door, she was quickly greeted by P-chan. Placing the basket down where he could get to it, Angelica sat down on one of the settees. She looked up when she felt P-chan curl his long nailed fingers into her hair in a sympathetic gesture as he could sense something upsetting her.

"I tried to find you a wife, P-chan, that way you wouldn't be so lonely anymore, but she died recently before you could meet her," Angelica said, looking up at him causing tears of frustration and sorrow to trickle down her cheeks. "I'm so sorry that I failed to find you a wife, P-chan."

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A few days had past since the Count informed Angelica about the death of P-chan would-be bride. During that time, Angelica was introduced to the man her father was forcing her to marry.

'For the good of the business,' she snorted in distaste, walking up to her room to shower and change before visiting her beloved P-chan. 'I would rather die then marry someone I don't know, let alone love! What is my father thinking? He obviously doesn't care about my feelings and opinions!'

Stepping out of the shower, feeling somewhat better, Angelica dried off and changed into a white peasants top and a knee-length, flared skirt with a white laced petticoat underneath. The skirt was the same color as her eyes because P-chan seemed to love seeing her dressed in clothes that matched her eyes. She tied on a ribbon cocker that matched her skirt and combed her hair until it was set to her satisfaction. Angelica always wanted to look her best whenever she spent time with P-chan; she felt it was important.

Stepping down the stairs, Angelica heard voices coming from the living room. One of them sounded like it was her fathers, but she was unfamiliar with who the other voice belonged to. Curious, Angelica pushed the doors opened a crack and peeked through the slim opening.

"…I must also mention that Angelica spends a great amount of time with some bird she bought. She's very selfish about it; she refuses to allow anyone else to see it. Not even any of the servants. I'm afraid this could prove a challenging matter when the two of you are married," her father said, speaking to the man Angelica realized was her unwanted fiancé.

"Not to worry. I'll take care of that little problem. I'll simply get rid of the bird when she's out and tell her that it passed away," the younger man replied.

Hearing enough, Angelica ran away from the door and made her way to the green house.

'Live without P-chan? I… I just couldn't bare it! I love him! How could anyone hate P-chan? P-chan so kind and gentle and…and… I'd die before I would allow anyone to separate us! But Daddy and that man are so against P-chan! How could they be so cruel? I won't let them take him away from me!'

Stepping into the greenhouse, Angelica sought out for P-chan up amongst the branches and spotted him. P-chan spotted her as well and began to sing, the song sound sad this time, as it reflected Angelica's turmoil. Sitting on a floor cushion, Angelica closed her eyes and listened as if she was hearing P-chan sing for her as if for the very first time he sat on one of the branches in the greenhouse. Tears of sadness, rather then overwhelming joy and awe, as it had been that time, rolled down Angelica's cheeks.

'I couldn't live with you, P-chan. You're so precious to me…more then anything in the world and more the anyone I've ever known or loved.'

Hours drifted by and P-chan continued to song as Angelica continued to listen. Her eyelids were getting heavy as her beloved bird's song was luring her to sleep. Just as Angelica was a few moments from falling asleep, the song ended and she felt more awoke. She released a startled gasp when P-chan lifted her up into his arms and flew them both upward towards the branches.

'Wha-What is he doing?' Angelica wondered. She gave a gasp in awe as her eyes fell upon what looked like an oversized bird's nest. With great care, P-chan perched on the nest's edge and placed Angelica down.

"Is this where you sleep, P-chan?" she asked as he sat on one of the branches above the nest. He didn't answer so Angelica guessed that it was. Peering over the edge of the nest, Angelica saw how high she was up from the ground. 'Of course…using one of the tallest trees in the greenhouse to make his nest in.'

Seeing that there was no way down unless P-chan flew her down, Angelica knew that she would be spending the night in the greenhouse. Not that she care one way or another at this particular moment. The nest smelled like P-chan and there were a few vines of a species of wild orchids that grew around the tree that dangles over the nest, reminding Angelica of curtains.

Unable to resist a yawn, Angelica curled up on her side and tucked an arm under her head. Closing her eyes, she listened to the crickets outside as she drifted off to sleep.

'If… If we are going to be force apart… Then it will be so, but by own doing and not theirs,' was Angelica's final thought before sleep took her.

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Dee was just steeping out of the back room when he heard the Petshop phone ringing. Answering it, Dee was quite surprised to hear Angelica Winston's voice on the other end.

"Miss Angelica, how may I been of assistance?" Dee asked.

"Please come and retrieve P-chan this evening."

'Her voice…' "Is anything the matter, miss Angelica?"

"I'll leave the greenhouse door unlocked so you can get inside. Please take care of P-chan for me."

Before Dee could reply, Angelica hung up. Placing the phone back onto the receiver, Dee felt an overwhelming sense of despair.

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Hanging up the phone, Angelica picked up a basket and headed into the kitchen. She passed the housekeeper without saying a word as she began washing some fruit. With the housekeeper's back turned towards her, Angelica picked up a stake knife and hid it in the basket placing a cloth napkin over it. With basket in hand, Angelica made her way to the greenhouse. She paused long enough to tell the housekeeper that she didn't want to be disturbed for the rest of the evening and not to bring a tray up to her room.

"Is everything alright, miss?" the housekeeper asked.

"Couldn't be better," Angelica deadpanned as she left the kitchen.

Inside the greenhouse, Angelica sat down as P-chan ate his meal.

"The Count will be paying us a visit, P-chan," she said, withdrawing the knife from underneath the napkin. "He'll be taking you back to the Petshop. I hope you'll feel less lonely living with all of your friends again."

P-chan paused in his eating. Something about his mistress didn't feel right. He looked down at her hands and saw the knife. He cocked his head to the side wondering what she planned on using that for? Was she going to peel him an apple? Looking inside the basket, P-chan didn't see any apples. Looking back up at Angelica, P-chan gave a startled shriek when his mistress embedded the knife into her chest.

At this moment Dee burst into the greenhouse. Quickly he scanned the scene before approaching Angelica and pulled the knife out of the girl's chest. Opening the blouse to inspect the wound, Dee was glad to note that the knife had only gone in an inch, missing her heart altogether and if Angelica had managed to stab herself any harder, the blade would have bounced off her ribs.

P-chan was frantic; he could slowly sense his mistress dying from blood loss. Dee sensed this as well and wondered why the girl decided to take her own life. First things first, Dee needed to stop the bleeding. Pushing one of his sleeved back, Dee ran one of his long nails across his wrists. Small vines began to seep out of the wound and made their way into the wound on Angelica's chest. P-chan and Dee watched as the vines began to mend and heal the broken tissue and stopped the bleeding. Once the wound was gone, Dee tied her blouse back up and picked up one of her wrists. Biting it, Dee injected some of his venom into her blood stream to prevent Angelica's suffering from the blood she lost.

Dee watched as the two tiny bite marks faded away before turning to P-chan. "She will be alright."

P-chan gave a sigh of relief and took Angelica into his arms as Dee helped him.

"Although I do not know why miss Angelica tried to kill herself," Dee continued. "However, I have a feeling that she should be brought to the Petshop where she can rest and recover."

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Detective Leon Orcot entered the Petshop and looked down as a piece of paper, making sure he had the right address.

'Hell, this place doesn't look like any pet shops that I know,' the blonde thought to himself grumbling.

"May I be of any assistance?' came a voice that sent shivers up the detectives spine. Dee stepped out from behind a screen and offered the blonde man a pleasant smile.

"Yeah, maybe you could help me. I'm looking for a miss Angelica Winston who's been missing for a couple of days. I was told by her father that she bought a pet bird from this place, but looking in where she kept it, I found it to be missing," Leon explained.

"Ah, yes, miss Angelica actually called me and asked for me to retrieve the bird. That was a few days ago," Dee replied.

"She didn't happen to mention why or if she was going someplace, did she?" Leon asked.

"No, I am afraid she did not," Dee replied. "I am sorry that I can not any more helpful."

"It's okay," Leon replied. "Sorry for taking up any of your time."

"It is about time for tea, would you care to stay and have some?" Dee asked.

Uh," Leon scratched the back of his head. "Okay. I am kind of thirsty."

"Excuse me for a moment while I go fetch some," Dee said.

A few minutes later, Dee return and served them some tea with of course half a dozen different pastries and cakes.

'This guy must have some sweet tooth,' Leon said and took a sip of tea, finding it loaded with sugar, almost gagging as he swallowed. "T-T-This is kind of sweet."

Dee smiled with a nod and took another long sip. Leon, trying desperately not to gag, placed his teacup down.

"So what was this bird Ms. Winston bought before she disappeared?" Leon asked.

"Would you care to see it?" Dee asked.

"Sure," Leon replied.

"Follow me, please," Dee said and led him to the bird room.

There, Dee pointed out to a male strelitzai perched on tree branch.

"There he is, His name is P-chan," Dee said.

"Pretty fancy looking with all of those colorful feathers," Leon remarked. "He must have cost Ms. Winston a pretty penny."

Leon noticed another bird, smaller then the one Dee pointed out. It was a white bird with long tail feathers with a thin blue ribbon tied around its neck.

"What's that?" Leon asked.

"The white one? She's a new species we received a few days ago, but she's not for sale," Dee explained.

"Uh-huh," Leon replied. He checked his watch. "I need to get going."

"Of course, Please allow me to show you the way out," Dee said.

Leading the blonde detective out of the shop and bid him a good luck on his case, Dee returned back to the bird room and smiled as he watched Angelica, the white bird with the blue ribbon around its neck, began her first flying lesson with the other help of P-chan and the other birds in the room.

When Angelica had recovered from her self-inflected wound, she explained that her father was forcing her to marry the son, many years older then herself, of a business associate because her father felt that it was important for his company's future, and that he didn't care whether Angelica objected or not; she would marry him. Angelica also told Dee that her unwanted fiancé planned on getting rid of P-chan one day with her out of the house and telling her that P-chan passed away, because she spend most of her time with him. That angered Dee greatly, thus Dee offered her to stay in the Petshop with P-chan.

"That would be wonderful, but I'm afraid that the police will find me," Angelica said.

"No, that will only see you as a bird as they will see P-chan as a bird," Dee replied.

"Then… I can stay here for forever with P-chan?" Angelica asked. Not truly understanding Dee's meaning, but not caring because it meant she could be free from her father's unsavory wishes, and live with P-chan.

"You have but to say yes and it will be done," Dee replied.

"Yes, yes! A thousand times yes!"

Dee left the bird room, leaving P-chan and his bride to themselves and their numerous of bird friends in peace.

End