Homecoming [powered_otaku]

[sweetsalome]

    He had silently entered his own house the night before, when no one was there to greet him, to make a fuss over him.  Standing in the front foyer, he looked around slowly, not a thing out of place, the great walls and ceiling as silent as a tomb.  Like a giant cat he had stalked through the house, making sure everything was as it should be.  A massive shadow, gliding over chairs and carpets, all seeing, all knowing.  The shadow beast settled himself in one of the massive high back chairs in the living room, glass of scotch in hand he listened, he waited.  He waited a long time before this, there was nothing wrong with waiting a little more.

   

    Salome thought she had been wrong.  Maybe he wasn't coming home that day, or maybe he had just decided that it wasn't worth it and just left town.  Maybe Santa was real and this year she would finally get that pony she always wanted for Christmas. 

There's nothing wrong with being wrong, just expect the consequences of not being right.

He called her into his office, summoned her, as if some sort of employee, if she was nothing but a serf on his estate.  She sat in one of the big high backed chairs across from his desk, the one with the slippery leather that squeaked every time she moved or shifted.  Palms wet, heart racing, two works away from a panic attack as he fixed her with those eyes of his, eyes she had only seen from behind the safety of bullet proof glass.  There was a high likelihood that she was going to either die or throw up on his Persian rug.

She did neither.

He spoke to her softly, asking how she had been, how Jonba was and how her summer had gone at her grandparents.  The more they talked, the more she relaxed, until she was left only slightly weary, her palms now dry.  Maybe she had made a mistake, there was no threat here, just a man she had missed while he had been gone.  Someone who had changed when no one thought he could.

He asked her for a hug.

Standing up, she walked to him and lent forward to give him a gentle hug around his shoulders.  For a moment that was enough, but when she started to pull away, he grabbed her by the hips and yanked her down into his lap.  Despite the struggle, despite the fight she didn't do any damage, except smack her foot against the desk drawers.

Fool me once, shame on you, fool me two hundred times. . . Maybe I might be asking for it.

    "I heard you've been bad," he whispers into her ear, hand at the back of her neck, holding her still like some wild animal.

    "I heard that you've been telling lies about me," his fingers tightened, applying more pressure.

    "I even heard you found a play thing, and he believes you.  How long do you think that's going to last?"  With his free hand, he reaches for the ring on her left hand and twirls the band around slowly.

    "How long before he gets tired of you?  Before you come crying back to me because he doesn't love you any more. . ."  He stands up with her and starts to move to the door, dragging her along as she struggles in his grip.

She doesn't fight as hard as she could have, she knows that if she did it would hurt, a lot.  She doesn't want to get hurt, she doesn't have the defenses for it any more.  This needs to be over, this pain, this humiliation, this feeling of being so filthy and disgusting that she can't even look at herself in the mirror.  Somewhere, between the study and the bedroom, she takes over, and mercifully, Salome doesn't feel a thing.

She picks up the phone and she sends the text message after a shower.  There is no need to delay the inevitable any longer.

Comments

[powered-otaku.livejournal.com]

"I have been back to 1671. 125 years is nothing to me."

[stillavillain.livejournal.com]

Growling deep in his throat, he tries to grab Hiro to take a swing at him. "Take me home!"

[powered-otaku.livejournal.com]

Hiro vanishes. "I told you this is your last day. You will be dead in 3 minutes when the volcano and the resulting tsunamis destroy this area. In the last minutes of your life, you will understand what it is to be truly helpless and to be in a position where you cannot punch or deal your way out of what is about to happen. No volcano, no tsunami cares about you."

[stillavillain.livejournal.com]

"Why are you doing this?" He snarls, his fingers shaking as he starts to panic. "What do you want? Money, my daughter? Whatever it is, it's yours."

[powered-otaku.livejournal.com]

"You will never terrorize your daughter again. You have nothing I want because your daughter is not yours. She belongs to herself." He looks at him sadly. "You do not understand that, do you?"

[stillavillain.livejournal.com]

"She is to sick to belong to herself, she needs someone, that's how it works." Liam really doesn't get it, as fat as he knows Salome is his, so is Jonba, and he can't understand how they aren't. "I want to see her, I want see her now."

[powered-otaku.livejournal.com]

"No. She is 125 years in the future and she will stay there. 2 minutes."

The ground has been steadily getting shaky. Hiro has increased the distance from Liam. He doesn't want to stumble anywhere near him.

[stillavillain.livejournal.com]

Liam begins to lose his balance, and grabs on to a near by grouping of rocks to keep upright. "I have the right to say good bye to her, if you are so powerful, you'll grant a dying man one last request."

[powered-otaku.livejournal.com]

"I am not merciful man. I buried an immortal man I cared for a great deal in a coffin. I would hardly grant you, a monster, any clemency. Your last actions against her is what she will remember of you."

[stillavillain.livejournal.com]

"She deserved that!" He roars, lunging suddenly at Hiro. "If I knew that was it, I would have destroyed her. I would have left nothing but pieces for you to pick up! Now I will have to be content knowing that you'll get my sloppy seconds."

[powered-otaku.livejournal.com]

Hiro's back out of his range. "And I will be adopting your son. I will raise him."

[stillavillain.livejournal.com]

This sends him into a furry, all he can see is red, and this time, when he lunges he grabs Hiro and punches him hard in the face. "Don't you touch my boy. You filthy, disgusting, Jap."

[powered-otaku.livejournal.com]

Hiro laughs and vanishes. "Too bad, fool. He is already calling me 'father'. One minute. Saraba da, aho."

Hiro vanishes and reappears in Japan first. He won't leave any blood evidence at the house. Not that he hasn't obviously been to the house before, but blood would be questioned. He goes back a few days earlier and lets the bruise heal naturally while he lounges in a place no one will find him. Then he returns to the present with no physical evidence that he has been touched and reappears at the house.

"Salome?"

[sweetsalome.livejournal.com]

She hasn't moved from the foot of the bed, her fingers picking at the hem of her skirt as she waits, for what, she has no idea. Lifting her head she gives him a relieved and started look. Standing, she hurries over to him and wraps her arm around his neck, holding close, she shaking violently.

"Hiro! Are you okay?"

[powered-otaku.livejournal.com]

"I am fine. He is gone. Now, you must do the following, call the police and tell them he has stormed out of the house. The outside cameras have had a convenient accident and his car is missing. Show them the bruises. Show them what he has done to you. Of course, they will try to blame you for his disappearance. I, in the meantime, have boarded a plane from Japan to America and will be back in 24 hours. Call your friend here so that you are not alone."

[sweetsalome.livejournal.com]

Her eyes widen, she didn't know that he was even missing, that they had left, but that was suppose to be the point. "I can't tell them, no one . . ." Her fingers tighten around his shoulders and she shakes more. She doesn't want anyone to know, then she will get those pitiful looks, and everyone will know her shame. "They'll know . . . I . . . I'll be so humiliated."

[powered-otaku.livejournal.com]

"You must be brave. Call your friend. She will help you because as a woman she knows the kind of fears you have. When I get here tomorrow, I will give you the combination. Please, Salome. This is to protect yourself. I will be here soon. I will stay until you call your friend."

[sweetsalome.livejournal.com]

Finally, she nods, if Hiro says it's best for her, then it is, she has to trust him. Swallowing hard she nods once more and presses her forehead against his, kissing his mouth lightly she takes a shaky step backward and picks up her cell phone. Taking a deep breath she thinks about how she is suppose to behave and starts to cry a little bit. When she calls the police the call is tear filled and near hysterical.

The other phone call is a voice mail message, setting the phone aside she messes her hair and works on a few buttons, to look the part.

[powered-otaku.livejournal.com]

Hiro holds her hand gently, waiting until either the police or her friend arrives. "I love you, Salome." He pulls the ring out of his pocket and shows it to her. He wants to put it back on her finger, but he's not sure how she'll react to it right now. He's sure that her father probably pulled it off her finger violently or made her take it off just to prove to him that she still "wanted" him. Putting it back on her right now could have bad repercussions, but he wants her to know he still stands by her.

[sweetsalome.livejournal.com]

Salome looks at the ring and then up at him, for a long time she just stares at him as if she doesn't understand what is really going on. She can't believe that he would still want her, even after everything. Putting her hand on her chest she takes a deep breath and blinks rapidly before bowing her head. She doesn't know what to do, her father told her that he wouldn't want her any more. He told her that she wasn't allowed to be with him any more.

He's gone now. She needs to remember that. He can't tell her what do to.

"I love you, Hiro." Uncertainly she holds out her shaking hand, her wrists are bruised her finger red where the ring use to be.

"You want me?"

[powered-otaku.livejournal.com]

Hiro kisses her hand gently and hovers the ring over it, searching her eyes to see if she's ready for it. "Of course I want you. I love you. You are the one person for me. We will have a Shinto wedding in Kaneyama and a Christian one near ojiisan and obaasan. You will go to college and get your degree and I will work in the New York office."

[sweetsalome.livejournal.com]

This takes a minute to sink in, it's like talking to a very young child who just got up from a nap. Finally a slow, gentle smile touches her lips and she takes on an almost dreamy expression as she looks up at him. "That's right, we are going to have time traveling moon bunny babies." Bowing her head, she takes the hand that isn't holding the ring and rubs it up against her cheek. Timidly she places light kisses to the back of it.

"Thank you."

[powered-otaku.livejournal.com]

"And we will need time leashes to keep them from travelling around in time." He gently kisses her forehead. He puts the ring around the top of her finger, watching to see if it'll upset her before he slides it down.

[sweetsalome.livejournal.com]

When the ring is on her finger she whimpers, her fingers wrapping around his and clinging to him tightly. She tries so hard to be strong, she can't cry, big girls don't cry. Girls that cry aren't pretty, and are just a burden. "I'm going to be brave, but I am scared, Hiro. Please tell me it's going to be okay, please tell me you'll come back."

She's shaking again.

[powered-otaku.livejournal.com]

"It will be ok. It will be hard for a little bit, but I will be here soon and I will help you through this. I will only be gone long enough to come here by regular means. This is my alibi if they think I did it. After all, how could I do anything to your father if I was all the way in Japan?" He slips the ring completely onto her finger. "You are my love, sun goddess. I will be here for you."

The cops are banging on the door. "I love you, Salome." He kisses her, steps back with a very deep sigh of regret and vanishes.