It was late in the day, night really, but the small Sushi and Steakhouse would not be closing for a few hours yet. Why was Tatsumi here? She was here for the music... The scents of food and here for the sake.

It was quite, but for the applause of the chef's clients as he performed for them and the gentle shamisen music playing over the buildings speaker system. It was a sound ever so familliar to her... A delicate sound that she had heard back in her days as a child, as a young woman. Shamisen players were often invited to the house by her and her husband... Dancers as well. The Nakamura home was always known for their exquisit displays of wealth.

She sat at a small table at the sushi bar area quietly, sipping at her sake with closed eyes.

The smell of the cooking food was tempting, but she knew that it would kill her, so she dared not even eat a single grain of rice. Though she was hungry... But she would not feed tonight unless a good opportunity came along.

She was not a hunter... No. She had never been comfortable with such a thing. She prefered to feed from those foolish enough to flirt with a woman who wished to be alone. And those were always many. But on so quiet a night... Who would come?

Tatsumi smiled as she heard the sounds of wooden flutes control the music now... They were always so peaceful... Remindng her of a quiet mountain side. A stream dwindling near a path ever so quietly...

Vaughan has this way of walking. It gloated his youth and vibrated with optimism. He had a list of things he should be doing waiting for him at home, which always seems to fall into the no man’s land of when I get around to it. Instead, he’s here. Here is not on his list.

Vaughan was wearing a pair of jeans riddled with holes, showing off flesh that came very close to indecent but managed to look very nonchalant on him, less obscene then they should because he presents himself as if the jeans were meant to be this way and as though indecency is the new decency. The lightly tanned color of his face was his natural color, as proof by the large flashes of calf and thigh. The worn leather jacket mostly covers his white shirt and his boots are falling apart around his feet. His hair is untamed and wild, a mane of thick, rich curls around his face and shoulders, and he enters the restaurant bright eyed and bushy tailed. He’s far too awake for this hour. Young people suck.

He followed the waitress, a very obviously not Chinese girl, a girl quite possibly whiter then himself (in a Chinese restaurant of all places for her to work) towards the sushi bar. He had come baring a book with the intentions of sitting alone, until he saw her. Would it be incredibly rude to intrude? Probably, so instead of doing so, Vaughan seated himself as closely as possible to the woman and propped his book open on the tabletop so that he could peer over the binding and smile oh-so-innocently at her. His smile was wolfish, sweet almost, and playful. She’s pretty and he is young and male. Need I really say more?

It was too late, he should be home. It was too late to eat such heavy food. Vaughan usually disregards any rule that doesn't in some way work towards an end point, a goal, that will benefit him in the long run anyways, why not add these to the list?

Anger? No... Irritation? Not quite. More of an indifferance really, was the look she gave the boy as he sat down. Too young to drink probably... Or at least he wasn't mature to handle much more than a weak wine cooler... Certianly not sake.

She closed her eyes turning her mind back once more to the music, watching as a willow tree danced it's branches in the wind of the music.

Taking another delicate sip of her sake she refilled her small cup using the flask that was sitting at the table and poured the clear yet strong liquid into the cup. "I would ask if you cared for a glass... But I do not see you as old enough to drink." Her words came with a polite smile of her painted lips as she sat on her cushion. They were simply to acknowladge him, and see if he had a reason for sitting here. A foolish child really

Her brown eyes closed again to the music for a moment before returning her gaze to the boy. He obviously wanted something from her... But he would be sore out of luck if he was here for any number of things... A decent conversation would be about all she would get, if that was even on his list.

Vaughan sat the way that he walked, as if everything were as young and optimistic as he, as if the rules didn’t exactly apply in his situation. He didn’t kneel on the pillow, sit cross legged on the cushions, as most did. Rather, he sat with his but on the cushion and his legs propped up, spread too far apart to be decent, a hole in a place far enough over that unless he wore very little beneath those pants proved that nothing at all might reside beneath. It didn’t seem, however, as provocative as it should have with his arms folded around his knees, drawing them closer together. It’s almost like putting his elbows on the dinner table, shameless acts that go unpunished because they aren’t quite punishable.

His smile only grew when she spoke. Acknowledging him is like feeding the animals when the sign clearly states that you should do exactly the opposite. "Old enough to die but not to drink," he said putting his hand dramaticaly to his flat chest, rolling brown eyes skyward. “I’ll have tea,” he told the waitress. “Burn-my-mouth hot,” he added before she could leave.

Vaughan’s intentions are innocent enough. For now. Alright, for always. He’s just here to flirt, unless of course that isn’t on her list. Then decent conversation will have been bumped up to position number one on his list. His list isn’t very long but it isn’t unruly.

“Is it good?” he asked, a child’s curiosity in the blooming body of a young man. “The sake?”

Children these days... Had they no respect for culture?

"I will have to ask you to sit properly or not sit at my table at all." She said rather calmly and politely as she set her sake glass down, her hands folded neatly in her lap. "I find the manner in which you are sitting to be very vulger and disrepectful. There are plenty of chairs if you wish to sit at them." She bowed her head politely.

Unusual as it was, the apparent twenty-year old was very cordial in her manners. The Japanese accent had not quite dissapered from her voice, but her words were clear and curtious. As if from a different era all it's own had influanced this young woman.

She was dressed rather casualy though. A black ruffled, log sleve blouse and a pair of decoative jeans that fit her slim body in a snug yet not to provocative manner. Or at least she did not see them as provocitive. Men however were a different story.

Her black short pump heels sat next to her.

"If you do not know the proper way to sit, I could instruct you if you so desire."

Vaughan takes a moment to stare at her, utterly surprised. It shocks him that the rules do apply to him at this time and place and with the current company. He could walk away. He isn’t breaking rules because he wants to, just because he doesn’t have to obey them. Finally he blinks, a long, slow sweep of dark lashes that expresses being taken aback.

He points downward at the pillow with one hand, the nails expertly manicured. “On my knees?” He asks, his voice holds no accent at all compared to hers, his voice is soft, just masculine enough to not be otherwise. “Or on my butt?”

His tea comes and he ignores it, looks at the waitress and blinks his confusion at her. Of course, she has to ask him “you did order tea right?” Vaughan nods silently. “Yeah, thanks.” When she’s gone he turns those puppy dog brown eyes back to the small woman across the table. He’s hardly any larger in size then she is. Petite. He has noted her shoes are not on her feet and he leans back, rocking back onto his lower back and uses the toe of one shoe to kick off one dead boot, nearly knocking over his tea in the process, then hooks his finger over the edge of the other to remove it. He sets them aside. His socks are red, one has a hole in the heel.

He looks at her expectantly. He’s willing to learn. “Didn’t mean to … you know…” offend?

"Men may sit on their backsides if they so chose. Women always kneel however." She said as she picked up her glass of sake and sipped it before placing it back down. "But to have your knees at the table. Well is is like leaning on the table with your elbows. And most appaling to women who would rather not be flashed your personal areas."

An amused little smile crossed her face as he made a sort of appologie.

"Not many of the western cultures understand ours. It is one built on strict tradition and ediquit." She explained as she took his tea cup off of his tray. She pulled back the loose sleve of her shirt ever so slightly as if not to soak it in tea as she gracefully poured his cup, placing the pot back on the tray with scarcly a sound.

"My family was always very strict about such things. I had my manners beaten into me as a child." She said with only a small smile. But one as if of fond memories past. Those beatings after all had made her stronger. Her family had not been a traditional family, but an okiya... A house of spiteful and vicious women who loved to see her beaten.

"But it is not often that one actualy cares and attempts to learn about a culture different than their own. I myself have struggled many times with such a thing." She said with a reassuring smile.

“Oh good,” he said, tucking his legs into an Indian style, feet under the opposite knee. “That’s gotta hurt your knees,” he said. He might sound sympathetic for her knees if he didn’t think that, well heck, they were here not there, she could sit however she wanted. If she wanted to sit on her knees and make them ach it was her choice. Right?

When she mentioned his ‘personal areas,’ Vaughan smiled. It is the smile teenage boys get in the middle of sex education class at the precise moment just before they begin to snicker behind their hands. “Some women would pay to be flashed by my…assets,” he replied under his breath, laughing at his own personal joke. The money in his pocket was just such money, after all. But he did as she said and no longer sat with his legs up or apart.

He watched her pour his tea and wisely said nothing. He’s young, not stupid.

“My mom woulda killed me if I chewed with my mouth open, not for putting my elbows up on the table.” He smiled a little bit, remembering his mother fondly. “Parents are not conducive to a creative atmosphere,” he recited. And neither were rules. Of course, all of the amusement was gone when she said that she herself had struggled with the fact that so many cultures didn’t understand hers. “It’s so strict,” he almost whined the words. “I mean all the rules and …” he trailed off. “Did you live in China?” After all, this was a Chinese restaurant. Forgive his ignorance.

"Actually I am quite use to it. There is a way to sit that it does not cut off the blood flow to the legs." She said with a smile.

But the smile faded and the first look of irritation appered on her face as she heard the words she could only assume he meant for his own personal satisfaction. "No true lady would appreciate you dangling your bits in her face. Perhaps a street walker might be tempted." She said with the usual contempt that the Geisha held for the common prostitute. It came from living with them for so long. "But any woman who is worth your time will not be thinking about your assets in that aspect."

It was a moment before her face cleared of that irritation and her voice was calm once more. She had never raised it. But it held a quality in it that would make small children cower. And she had used it for such before, though not often at all.

"Each family has their own rules some have very few, and some have many. Mine was one of many. Especialy for me. I was born in a small village in Japan. Not even written on a Japanese map. But I was sent to live in Osaka at an early age when my parents died." She explained. "The house I lived in when I arrived at Osaka was a well established household that expected me to live up to their standards. I was shown no mercy since they took me in and cared for me when no one else would."

Which was the truth. She had been a sickly little child. Who would purchase a girl who was weak and could die in days? Only one with a talented healer. Which was who purchased her.

"I was used to them very early. I knew what was expected of me and what I was to expect if I did not meet their standards."

…it held a quality in it that would make small children cower.

Who was she kidding? It nearly made Vaughan cower. He sat a little bit straighter and blinked rapidly three times in succession at her, more long sweeps of dark lashes. Inevitably, however, his need for his egos preservation took over. “Ok, jeeze mom,” he said softly, defensively. He didn’t argue further, his ego wounded and his pride bruised.

Defensive words spoken or not, Vaughan listened to her next words as intently as if she had never scolded him at all. While she spoke he took three spoonfuls of sugar and stirred it into his tea, then dumped too much honey in and continued to make circles with his spoon.

“Your parents died?” he asked a little unorthodoxly. “How?” Were he anyone else in the world he might have realized the topic may not have been open for discussion. But he is not anyone else. He is Vaughan. His parents are dead too. They have something in common now and suddenly he is on the same plane with her, seeing things the way she might, instead of seeing them as a curious teen.

A smile flickered at the corner of her mouth. Mom... She hadn't heard a child call her that... In so long now that she couldn't even remember. It brought back fond, and beautiful memories that caused her pain. But she only let the breif smile show and said nothing.

"My mother died in childbirth... The babe not long after her... And my father shortly after." She couldn't very well say her father was killed in battle now could she? And she failed to mention her older brother completely who had also been killed in the raid. "I was very sick... Sent to Osaka for medical attention at first, then taken to my new family."

She ignored how he was mutilating his tea... After all.. One small step at a time. And the strong tea was something one had to get used to. Even Tatsumi herself could only drink a form that was little more than water.

"But do forgive me... I have forgoten to introduce myself. I am Tatsumi. Tatsumi Nakamura." She said with a bright smile.

He caught the smile and had a brief reflection to be grumpy about it later. She wasn’t supposed to smile, it wasn’t exactly a compliment really, although, the boy never did love anyone more then his mother.

He frowned at how her mother had died. “That’s sad,” he said, sure she already knew that. “My parents died in a fire,” he told her. He has long since accepted the fact that they were gone and that he could not mourn forever but those six little words held not pain but a twinge of guilt, guilt for not having been there with them.

“Tutsami,” he repeated, not only mutilating his tea but her name as well. He frowned because he knew it was wrong but didn’t try again for the sake of not looking stupid. “I’m Vaughan Wolf,” he said, holding out a thin, soft hand to her across the table.

"I am sorry to hear that... I do not remember my parents too well... So it is not to painful. And many years have gone by since then. Buy for someone younger... I can assume the pain is much more fresh..." She said quietly. Tatsumi could feel a deep sence of regret and guilt coming from the child, and well... Her first instinct was to reach out to touch him, assure him that all would be well. But in this culture... One did not often comfort a stranger in such ways.

"Well, it is a pleasure to meet you Vaughan." She said as she took his hand lightly with a soft smile as she bowed her head.

"Do you come here often?" She asked curiously. "I hear their food is quite delicious." She of course had never tried it, though she wished she could.

“I guess,” he told her, looking at his lap, folding his hands there, and for a moment looking half his age. When he looked up his eyes were resigned. “They’re all right. Mom used to say as long as they were together they could deal with anything. Guess this is just one more thing huh?” He was quiet for a few heartbeats, staring at the un-dissolved particles of sugar floating on the top of his tea. Then he busied himself with stirring it again.

He copied her when she bowed her head. Several curls fell down across his face as he did and when he took his hand back he used it to push the curls back behind his ear. It stayed for a moment and then slipped free, though without falling into his face again.

“Sometimes I come after work,” he replied. “I like sushi,” he said, as if it were an excuse just to come. “And the music,” he admitted, looking just a little bit sheepishly, as if if his friends found out that he came for the music as well as the food they might goad him. They probably would.

Yes... Her hand her husband had said the same thing hadn't they? But they weren't together anymore...

Her eyes brightened though as he said that he liked the music. "You enjoy the music of the Shamisen? That is something unusual indeed. I thought I was the only one that enjoyed such music." She said with delight in her eyes as she sipped again at her sake. "Have you ever seen one played before? Watched as an artist traveled her fingers across the strings?" If not, she would be delighted to show him. All she had to do was find one that could be played. She hadn't one of her own anymore since she left Japan, and she doubted that she could find one here.

She looked at the boy now as if for the first time. His dark brown hair was as curly as hers was straight. Let loose and wild as hers was pulled back into a nice neat bun. His clothing... Looked as if he came off the streets... If he was an orphan... Did he have a place to stay? But she would ask about that later.

"If you haven't had the opportunity I would like to help remidy that."

He raised his eyebrows. “What’s a … whatchamahoochy?” he asked simplistically. “I always thought they were…you know…normal instruments. Not that a … well you know…isn’t normal I guess.” Obviously he had never seen one played. He had seen one, mind you, he just didn’t know what it was or that it made these sounds that he enjoyed so much.

“Musician?” he said in a questioning tone when she said artist. You say tomayto I say Tamahto? He smiled because he wasn’t seriously correcting her, just teasing her choice in words.

“Nah,” he said, giving a small wave of his hand. “Never seen one played. But I’ve seen someone play a harp before. And an accordion.” He took a drink of his tea finally, squinted and added another pack of sugar. "Have you ever seen one played?"

Truthfully, his clothes didn’t come from the street, but Salvation army was only a few steps above that. But be careful what you say out loud, he does get defensive. He’s sure he is taking care of himself just fine. It’s the pride thing.

Tatsumi smiled at his confusion of the intrsument. It really wasn't that odd was it?

"A Shamisen. It is simillar to a guitar but it has half the strings. It can be played as a lone instrument or can acompany others, like a guitar as well. Used to acompany dancers or singers, to entertain guests at parties even still in Japan. It is a very old and traditional instrument."

She gave a small shrug of sorts when he said musicians. "I was refering to those who are talented to do more than simply play. There are some that take music and make it more than the simple notes that are played." She took a sip of her sake again before calling one of the men behind the bar over.

Their conversation, held in rapid, Japanese left her with a smile as she bowed her head to the man and he hurried off.

"You are indeed in luck Vaughan. It seems that they do have a Shamisen here. It has been many years since I last played, but my fingers will remember what they need to do I'm sure." She said before answering his previous questions. "I have seen a harp played and had to marvel at the complexity of it all. But I have only heard an accordian. I have never seen it played.

“Ah Shamisen,” he repeated. He shook his head with that wolfishly crooked grin, “I won’t remember that tomorrow unless I write it down,” he excused, taking a pen out of his pocket and pulling a napkin towards him. “Sh..am..” he said, sounding the word out. He was listening to her words as he wrote down the name of the instrument, scribbling with slanted, messy letters.

He looked up when she spoke with the man in Japanese. His mouth was hanging open just slightly in a look of sheer concentration or absorbability, his pen hovering over the napkin. He smiled when the man left. “that,” he said, “was so cool.” And he blinked, surprise registering on his face once again. “You play one of those things? Neat.” His nose wrinkled a little. “I can’t play any instruments. My fingers don’t cooperate.”

He put the pen back into his pocket and folded the napkin over twice into four little squares. “One day you’ll have to go to an Irish Step Dance or something, they always play them there. They’re interesting.” He looked around, eager for her to play this instrument, the music that he secretly liked so much.

"Yes. I was taught to play it many years ago. It was actually my husband who taught me, when we were still dating I guess you could say." But she paused, as if she shouldn't have said what she had just finished speaking. "But that was a long time ago..." Her smile grew unsteady and slowly faded as her brown eyes flicked down to the table.

Tatsumi was quiet as she waited for the man to bring out the instrument, unsure of whatelse she could really say now. Kiyoshi had been gone for many years now... But the pain was still there burried deep in her heart.

She looked up again as she heard the footsteps of the man approaching again. and he carried a bundle with him. Taking the package with a grateful bow of her head she set it on her lap as shemoved her sake off to the side, then set the instriment on the table.

After unbundling it she began to assemble the stringed instrument, letting Vaughan see it as she did so.

Vaughan’s smile started to slip, but just as it nearly faded away it returned, though not so brightly. “You have a husband.” It was more like a statement then a question. He shouldn’t flirt with a married woman. Everyone else was free range but you don’t flirt with a committed woman. His dark brows knitted in the center a little bit. “You keep saying that,” he said softly. He watched the instrument be delivered to her and marveled for only a moment about how delicately they handled it. It was a far cry from jumping around on stage with a guitar.

He watched her begin to put it together, his brown eyes taking it in every detail at a time, however, his mind wasn’t interested in the assembly. He was now interested in her again. “A long time ago,” he continued. “But you aren’t that old. There isn’t such thing as a long time ago for someone as young as us.” Yes, he, despite her commanding presence, her motherly feel, her mannerism, has not failed to notice that she could only be a handful of years older then himself. He’s eighteen, she’s drinking so she must be twenty one or older, but no older then twenty-five.

Thirty year old women can be pretty but no one past thirty was as pretty as her, no one could preserve youth that well.

Tatsumi shook her head slowly as she kept her attention on the intstrument. "No... He died some time ago." Was all she said. She didn't wish to talk about it now, so she didn't.

She was tuning the strings as she heard his other words. She smiled again then and looked up at him. "If I were to tell you how old I was... You would never believe me Vaughan. But thank you for thinking that I'm anywhere close to your age. Nature has yet to catch up with me I suppose."

She began to pluck at the strings, testing them to her keen ears.

Smiling as they were in tune, though she was sure Vaughan wouldn't know the differnace, she began to pluck at the strings in ernest, her fingers dancing along them in a slow melodic tune. It was just a warm-up song. But it had been so very long since she played. It was just what she needed.

Closing her eyes softly as she played she remembered the way Kiyoshi had instructed her. How his mind sent the images to hers of how her fingers should move... How they would play together, her on the shamisen, him on his flute... How the children they raised longed to hear them play. So many memories...

Vaughan was interested in her husband now. How did he die? What was his name? Was he Japanese too? Was he as…beautiful as she was? But he didn’t ask these questions, with great restraint, because her words seemed final on the topic and he didn’t want to bring painful memories to her. Maybe he was a little morbid in that he often brought up sad, painful memories so that he could sift through them without purpose.

“Try me,” was his response. She should have expected that one. Vaughan disregards the rules, including the one about a lady and her age. “But if you really are as old as you…” he searched for the word, his brown eyes on her hands, the strings, “imply then I want all of your aging secrets.”

Vaughan leaned forward, putting his elbows on his knees, when she began to play, his hands first on hers, watching her fingers pluck the string, then on her face, watching the serenity. It didn’t seem as if she had to concentrate on what she was doing at all. He was impressed and amazed all at once, and even found a small ball of jealousy that he had no musical talent. His eyes closed, like hers, trying to see the notes on the air, to watch the music. If anything, he doesn’t not lack imagination. A small smile played on his lips.

Maybe someday she would tell him. Maybe she would finaly bear her heart... But she had never let anyone close enough to do such a thing.

Her fingers began to move over the strings faster as she switch to a different song. This song was cheerful and bright, as if for a summer or springtime festival. It was to remind one of the sun, the warmth and light it gave to the world and how it took care of it's children.

She played for a few minutes until her heart could bear the pain no more and her fingers stilled, holding the last note until it faded away into the air. Gently she lay the shamisen on her lap, her eyes politely.

"Those were only two of the songs of many that I have learned. Kiyoshi taught me much in the seemingly short time we were together." They had been together for over a hundred years. Even before she had been turned. He had wispered stories and praises in her ear while she was a child, to hold her tenderly and lovingly eve as her body was broken by the cane.

Feeling a tear come to her eye she flicked it away quickly, not wanting him to see the blood.

Vaughan’s interest could hurt someone one day, I’m sure.

When the song switched he opened his eyes abruptly and watched her fingers dance across the strings, trying to follow them, to understand a pattern. The music made him remember when he was a child, a small child. He was in the middle of the living room, the furniture pushed aside, and his mother had turned on a CD and then she and his father had sat on the sofa and watched the boy twist and turn, strut, and throw his body around in a way that no adult could ever hope to imitate. He had a videotape of it tucked away beneath his bed in a shoebox. His mother had cleverly labeled it “Dance of the Little Wolf.”

He was leaning forward, as if leaning into the music, and when she stopped he looked up abruptly, as though she had shocked him deeper then the surface. He smiled, almost laughed, until she flicked away what he knew, without seeing it, was a tear. He pouted, his full lower lip aiding the pitiful image. “Don’t cry,” he said. “I didn’t mean to …” bring hurtful memories? To make her think of it?

He tried to change the subject from her tears, from whatever it was that made her cry. “I liked it,” he said. “It made me want to dance.” That isn’t a far cry, considering his occupation, though the music implied and entirely different sort of dance. Vaughan had to focus to be seductive. Happy and light hearted dances, on the other hand, came naturally.

"I'm glad." She said with a smile as he said he enjoyed the music. That it made him want to dance. "But don't worry... It isn't your fault." She said reasuringly. In a way it was, but the sorrow was there reguardless. It would have come to the surface sooner or later really.

"But the last, was a song that was often played at festivles. A song to bring light and joy to a room." She said with a smile, pitty it hadn't done her any good. "It was always one of my favorites really. Kiyoshi and I would often perform it together." He was a man of many talents, and when you lived for over a thousand years that was bound to be the case.

With a soft sigh she began to disassemble the instrument, being as gentle with it as if a flower. She wrapped it in the cloth and would return it before she left, but she turned back to her sake.

"So. Do you go to the university here Vaughan?" He seemed too old to be in high school, but he should still be in school. "Are you studying anything?"

“It was my fault,” he told her. He is no ones fool. “But I’ll be alright if I can make you smile.” He smiled as he said this, pushing curls back out of his face and sitting back up, taking his elbows off of his knees.

Vaughan picked up his tea. “No wonder I wanted to dance,” he told her when she explained that it was a festival sort of song. “It made me think of a time when I danced in my living room when I was little,” he told her. “Except I think I was dancing to something like ACDC.” He shrugged. At that age you’ll dance to anything and everything.

He watched her take the instrument apart. “No. I graduated this year,” he replied. “I study everything,” he told her earnestly, “and I want to go to Demaitre U. but,” he shrugged. “Don’t have the money.” That was a lie. When his parents died, he got everything they owned, which wasn’t much, but their life insurance would have been enough to put him through a few years of college. “Well,” he admitted. “I have blood money.” It was his name for it. “But I can’t use it.” He took a drink. “Do you go to the University,” he asked, still sure she couldn’t be that old.

Tatsume gave the faintest of smiles as he spoke of himself as a child. She of course knew who AC/DC was, after all she might not listen to them, but she hadn't been living under a rock this whole time.

She blunk though as he spoke about school. He wanted to go... But he didn't have the money? An idea was forming in her mind... But she kept it to herself just yet. He looked like he could use someone to take care of him, someone to help him in more than one way.

"Blood money? Insurance from your parents?" She asked, listening to his words and his thoughts. She wasn't meaning to, but they were there on the top of his head.

"But no. I don't go to the university... I've never attended any proper schooling truth be told..." Life had been her teacher in all but writing and reading. And in that case Kiyoshi had taught her when she was little. "I would never be accepted in to any university I'm afraid. And life has always been a better teacher than any person ever could." She said as she picked up her sake, sipping away the last of it.

"I wonder... Would you be interested in a job Vaughan? The pay would not be as much as some places, but the bennifits could not be better anywhere else..." She asked with a warm smile.

Vaughan would have rolled over laughing if she did listen to them. The image of her listening to AC/DC was as absurd as the thought of him surviving at all in her family. He was too mouthy, too…unruly. Someone would have killed him just as soon as spoke to him.

Vaughan paused, looking at her curiously. That she new what Blood Money had meant to him surprised him immensely and very nearly pleased him. It pleased him for reasons that he couldn’t explain. Perhaps because if she understood blood money had meant his parents life insurance then maybe she thought the same way about using such money. Someone understood. He didn’t know. It just pleased him. He nodded slowly. “Yeah,” he said.

Vaughan’s thoughts were always on the top of his head, bubbling at the surface just the way his emotions were. He wore himself on his sleeves, not just his emotions.

He raised his eyebrows. “No school? That would have been…” he had mixed emotions. Cool, because well…no school? That was just cool. It would have been awful also because Vaughan was a good student, an attentive one. He liked school, he liked getting good grades, approval, and praise. “A college would,” he told her. “They take anyone that has the money for it. Didn’t you ever want to be something that…you know, had to have a degree?” Vaughan did. And it didn’t include stripping on a stage.

Her perked up at her suggestion to a job. “I already have a job,” he told her, one that paid very well, though was lacking in any sort of benefits. He was tempted, at any rate. “I don’t have any qualifications,” he told her. “I can hardly check my own email. The only talent I have it reading a hundred pages a minute and dancing.” He shrugged, hands in his lap.

Tatsumi gave a delicate smile. She knew this wasn't the sort of place to talk about it, but she felt the opportunity and there were no others around them to over hear.

"In my life Vaughan... I've been a servent and a wife and a mother. Very little education for such things is needed. I know to cook and clean. How to mannage money and invest and save wisely. But other than that, I have had no formal education. Kiyoshi taught me when I was little, how to read and write to help me with the errands I had to run for my family and he taught me math as well." She could deal with math though only in the sence of money. She couldn't think about it many other ways.

"It's nothing too taxing I promise. Just running some errands durring the day and such and a few other simple tasks." She then said about the job. "Unfortunatly I am unable to leave my house durring the day and there are some things that I am unable to do unless I make pain staking arrangements for them." He was interested so even though he said he had a job, she explained to him what it would entail.

"Things like mailing out packages, picking up a few items that sort of thing. I could offer you a good sum of money, but I think that I have a better idea. If you help me, I can offer you a nice home, any comforts that you wish, and come fall, if you wish to enroll, I will be more than willing to pay for your tuition to University." She said with a warm smile, showing that she indeed meant every word she said.

“Kiyoshi must have has a good job then,” he said, “because most families both parents have to work to keep up the home.” He smiled. “You have kids?” he asked. A lot of people would have said she was too young to have kids but Vaughan’s mother had been seventeen when he was born, and some women had been younger then that. Her kids couldn’t be very old, of that he was sure. “How many? Boys or girls?”

He wrinkled his nose. “I hate math. I’m doin good to add four and four together without counting my fingers.” It was literature that had captured his heart and soul.

“Errands,” he said. During the day. If he worked it right he could keep his job at night, rest in the morning, and do her errands during the day. She said it didn’t pay well but the benefits were great. Which meant his job at the club would earn him cash and he could work for her and get benefits. Sweet! But then she added the last part and, forgive him, he became suspicious. What woman in her right mind would invite a teenage boy she only just met to live with her? What woman would pay for the tuition of someone she hardly knows? Why couldn’t she go out in the day? It made him suspicious. “What’s going on?” he asked slowly. “Is this for real?”


Forgive him for being a little bit jaded.

Tatsumi gave a little sigh as he suddenly became suspicious. Of course...

"I should not explain it here... Most will not believe me. But something about you... I believe you can adjust quickly... Accept changes in your world with ease. Will you walk with me a while Vaughan? It is a nice night and more than likely free of prying ears."

But yes, she would tell him. She woudl tell him the truth about herself, her husband and her family.

"I mean every word I say Vaughan. My honor is all I have left and I would do nothing to defile it. Forgive my assumptions... And my diesire to help if you do not wish someone to help you through obviously hard times... But I see potential in you and would not wish it to go to waste."

Here comes the defensive boy again. “I wouldn’t waste my potential.” Then he’s frowning at his hands again. He shrugged.

“Sure,” he’d walk with her. What could it hurt? He’s a small male but she is still smaller then him, and she’s been gentle in everything she did since he arrived, so kind. He leaned back enough to dig a wad of cash out of his pocket. The majority of the folded green bills were ones and fives, stripper money. People like to say ‘look at all those ones. You going to a strip club tonight?’ and he immensely enjoyed replying ‘maybe I just came from one.’ Vaughan likes to shock people’s sense of morals.

“I’ll get the bill,” he told her. It had been he, after all, who invaded her personal time and space. He invited himself to sit. He got to his feet and stuffed them and the holy sock into his boots. He held a hand down to help her up. His hands aren’t exactly proportionate to his body, just a little too large, the fingers long.

"Oh. That is most kind of you." She said with a smile as she bowed her head in thanks. As he rose, so did she, smooth and graceful as if she were simply growing taller. They were aobu tthe same height really, but if he was just out of high school, he could still grow more. Slipping her small feet into the heals she began to walk out with him.

"But I appologize. I did not mean to imply that you would wish to waist your potential. Just that, what is the use if you do not have the means to bring it to blossom? You said yourself that you do not wish to spend your parents money on your education... And here I am offering to help." She said softly.

"I have interest in finances and stocks as well as a few other investments. So I am not hard pressed in the slightest. I am thinking of this... As investing in the future Vaughan. Yours... Mine... And whoever else you would effect as you live."

Once they were out well enough alone on the streets she paused under a lamp light. "You asked me how old I was... Back in the restraunt. Do you really wish to know Vaughan?"

“Don’t mention it.” He dropped the cash onto the table and he followed her like an obedient puppy out onto the street. His hands and shoulders are just a little too large for his body, he probably has another inch or two to grow before he’s done.

“Nah,” he said when she apologized. “Just defensive. You get tired of hearing people tell you you have to do something or you’re life isn’t worth anything.” He understands that that was not what she was saying at all when she’d made the comment but it was what he was defending. He shrugged. “Guess I just do that sometimes.”

He pushed his hands into his jean pockets, one hole on the thigh was high enough to show the bottom of the pocket hanging down from inside the jeans. He wiggled his fingers. “What happens if I take it, the job, and I fail school and slack all kinds of way to Sunday, then your out a couple thousand dollars or more.” Not that Vaughan is in any way a bad student, he’s simply pointing out she’s never known him or his work ethic.

“Yes,” he replied when she asked if he wanted to know her age. “Course.” he took three sticks of gum out of his pocket, held them up to offer her one.

Tatsumi frowned thoughtfully for a moment as she looked at him before shaking her head. "I do not think that you are the type... You said you loved school, so long as your marks reflect well, I would still see it as a prudent investment even if you were to slack of at the few small tasks I would give you."

But she smiled as he offered the gum but politly declined. After all... She didn't know if it would hurt her or not... But she wouldn't care to take the risk at this particular moment. Maybe later though. Besides. He had wanted to know her age, and well, she had offered to tell him.

"What if I were to tell you, Vaughan, that I was over two hundred years old? That I have raised several children to adulthood without bearing a single one of them?" She asked with a little grin.

“Mm,” he made a soft sound when his lips were pressed together to acknowledge that he was a good student. He couldn’t help it. It was almost a compulsion.

He shrugged and unwrapped a piece of gum, putting the trash and the other pieces in his pocket and folding the stick of winter fresh into his mouth, crushing the stick against his tongue before chewing.

There was a heartbeat of a moment when Vaughan actually believed her. He blinked slowly and stared at her, his expression unchanging, and then he laughed. The smile that spread over his lips cracked into gleeful laughter the moment he ceased to believe her. This was funny. “And that makes me what? One hundred and eighty?” He cackled with a child like glee, younger then his years, freer then his years.

He tried to sobber himself in order to play along with her game but failed. He leaned forward with the laughter tightening his stomach and his curls fell forward once more.

She watched him with an amused smile on her face as he laughed at her. She wasn't upset, or even surprised by his reation. At least he didn't call her crazy.

"Think about it Vaughan... What reason have I to lie to you? I was given no formal education as a child, if I were your age, I would have been sent to ever level of schooling, and would probably be in university right now." She said pointing out the simplest of facts.

"But Vaughan..." She paused for a moment. But well, she might as well be blunt about it. "Have you ever heard of... Vampires? I'm sure you've come across them in books."

That stopped him. It was easy to shrug off her schooling. Anyone can lie about it, but this was getting interesting now. He straightened up, ignoring the curls in his face, and watched her with a partially suspicious and partly intrigued look in his brown eyes and on his pouting lip.

“Vampires you say?” He asked. He’d read about them, and delved deep into extensive research on them. He’d even gone so far as to collect the Vampire Encyclopedia. He has extensive knowledge from myths to blood suckers, to Kheprian, to asiman, and even the obayifo. It’s a subject that has interested him for years.

“And you’re going to tell me that you’re a vampire, I suppose,” he said in a jokingly sing song voice. “Can you prove it?” This amuses him to no avail.

She stood there, equaly ammused at the going ons.

"Prove I'm a vampire...?" She asked with a raised of her eyebrow. But a second later she was gone from his sight, but her voice appered behins him as her fingers caressed his neck slightly. "And just how would you wish me to prove that?" She asked in all sincerity. "Did you have any particular idea in mind? Any certian proof you would need Vaughan?" She asked as she slwoly stepped around him, their brown eyes meeting once more.

It’s safe to say that Vaughan is shocked into temporary paralysis, he even sways slightly as though he will fall before he straightens back up and meets her eyes.

“You have got to be shitting me!” The words were a hushed shout, a loud whisper, as if he couldn’t catch the breath required to speak out loud. He met her eyes and his were just a little too wide. Three heartbeats passed and his eyes are still too wide but a smile has replaced the jaw-dropped expression. “Do that again,” he said, not quite a demand.