(no subject)
Wataru ran as fast as she could manage away from D&P. There was always the possibility of someone following her - after all, she bet that usually, women weren't running away from the thing in tears.
She got to her bike and mounted it, conscious of the fact that there were shouts coming from nearby - D&P security finally tumbling onto the fact that she wasn't supposed to be leaving.
Knowing she'd be in trouble if security caught up to her, she drove off.
She arrived back to her house to have a woman waiting there with a violin. Of all the times to get a client, she thought, stopping her motorcycle to smile apologetically at the woman. "I'm sorry, we're closed today," she said with a bow.
"Actually," the woman said, "I'm here to see you, Kurenai Wataru."
Wataru blinked. "You are....?"
"Miyazawa-san wanted me to come over, but I never had the time," the woman apologized.
"Ah!" Wataru said, the pieces clicking into place. This was the Elder she'd been avoiding. "Oomura-san's favorite client."
The Elder smiled. "Yes. I'm pleased to know I made such an impression on him."
"I've had the the honor of working on your violin," Wataru said, bowing. Maybe if she bowed enough, the Elder would be happy and Go Away before Taiga started putting pieces together and finding his Queen.
"Ah, yes. You've done a very good job. And you're still Oomura's apprentice?" The woman folded her hands, not moving.
"Yes. At least, he hasn't said anything about me being on my own. He trusts me enough, however, to run the shop while he's not here."
She hoped that was enough. She didn't want to be rude to the woman, but she had to get out of there.
"I apologize for being a bit abrupt," Wataru said, "I wasn't expecting you at all. I had made plans - I have a lot to do." Like get out of there, she knew.
"I had meant to call," the Elder said, nodding. "But I got busy - classes and such. You know how it is. Miyazawa-san mentioned that you had gone to the King's interview. What did you think of him?"
Wataru froze up. "He was... um. Nice." And clingy, and friendly, as if he hadn't been indirectly responsible for the death of her mom. But she could hardly mention that, could she? Any of those parts.
"From what Miyazawa-san mentioned, I expected to be waiting a bit longer," the Elder said. "But I guess the King is taking as little time as possible as he can manage - after all, there's a lot of women to interview." She was nodding to herself. "Unless he found his Queen fast, but we all figured that she'd avoid the interviews."
"Everything did seem a bit... rushed," Wataru said truthfully. She suddenly felt sorry for the interviewer and the supervisor. Had they touched her hand, they would have known.
"Yes," the Elder said regretfully. "The King is desperate." There was the unmistakeable sound of a phone ringing. "Excuse me for a minute."
"Um, that's no problem, let me put my motorcycle inside my gates," Wataru said. It would only take her a few minutes to grab her backpack and Kivat, and get out of there. Or at least get out of there as soon as the Elder let up.
She dashed in, parking the motorcycle, and taking the back entrance into her house. "Kivat," she hissed, and her companion joined her. "Has she been waiting long?"
"Not really," Kivat said. "You're really going to go on with this, aren't you?"
"He has to die," Wataru said firmly. "As soon as I can get her out of the way, I'm out of here." She grabbed the backpack she was taking, and hurried out, Kivat following behind. Stashing the backpack behind the motorcycle, she returned to where the Elder was just finishing her phone call.
The Elder smiled at her. "Sorry about that, business-related."
"It's all right." She wondered if her antsiness showed. She hoped not. The last thing she wanted was the Elder to figure out something was wrong.
"So, do you enjoy violin-making? Are you the first of your family to do it?" the Elder asked warmly.
"Well, yes," Wataru said, lying. Her mother had taught her to make violins; but saying that would make the Elder ask who her mother was. "Oomura-san was friends with my parents; my father, mostly. I like violin-making. Oomura-san is a very good teacher. To be honest, I actually went into it wanting to be able to fix my own family's violins."
The woman tapped her lip thoughtfully. "I'm not familiar with a family with the human name Kurenai," she said finally. "What are your parents' true names, child?"
Wataru inwardly swore. The woman had been a close friend of her mother's; she would recognize her friend's true name.
"Sands in Latticework with Timbers Showing, and Triple Color Tree Roots in Winter," she said, making up totally random names. "They were from Osaka." It would take time for the Elder to find out she'd been lied to. It would put Oomura-san in hot water, but there was nothing she could do about that than apologize.
"Hm, I don't know those names," the Elder said thoughtfully. "I'll have to meet them sometime. Are they good?"
"My mother said my father was magic on strings," Wataru said. "He's... um. Dead now."
"I should invite you to my house sometime," the Elder mused. "I think you'll like it there. I believe we have a lot to talk about."
"That would be nice, thank you," Wataru said, wishing the woman would just leave.
"You look like you could use some energy, poor child. The Elder was striding in the gates. "Do you have any chairs? Anything? I could feed you."
"I... was planning to hunt today, to tell you the truth," Wataru said. That neatly covered one of her errrands. "I know I'm a bit absentminded, but...." She was not going to be fed. She refused to be. "I took the day off so I could enjoy the hunt." That might get the woman out of there, maybe?
"We should hunt together," the Elder said. "I know your kind all too well. Too busy with your art to feed yourselves. The Queen was like that sometimes." She smiled fondly. "You remind me of her, in some ways...."
Maybe she was more her mother's daughter than she thought, but there was little she could do about that, either. "I... um. I hunt alone." That had thrown Miyazawa-san off, it could throw the Elder off.
"Hunting with someone else is not going to kill you," the Elder suggested, and Wataru groaned.
She heard a motorcycle stop just outside her gate and froze, hoping that it wasn't another customer.