"Hey, dipshit." Neuro's face was split in a huge grin that was not humanly possible. He had materialized inside Zoro's room at the dormitory and had been tormenting him for several hours. The green haired man remained in bed, firmly asserting his sleeping state. "I have it on the very best authority that your 'stupid cat' isn't yours any more."
A snort from the bed was the only response, and yet because it was the only response he had gotten he knew he was on the right track.
"You humans are so ridiculous. She's a demon, not one of your kind. If you wanted her, you should have taken the chance when you had it. You're all just toys to us in the long run, but at least you would have been played with for a while."
Zoro snapped. "Don't talk about her that way!" He snarled, his hand shooting out to grasp where the demon's throat should have been. He cursed when he looked around his now-empty room. "Coward," he muttered angrily. He sat up in bed, glancing at the window. It was nearly time to get up. He had taken to sleeping in but he couldn't do more than a few hours at a time due to his previous schedule.
Back at the security offices, Aizawa rubbed at his eyes with one hand. He had been staring moodily at his laptop all morning, ensconced in his office since dawn. The tabloids had been active as Neuro had informed them, but nothing else seemed to be out of place. No word on the elusive cult at all. He wasn't even certain they would be back since he didn't know their motive. Perhaps it had been a test to see if she would hurt people, and she had passed. There was really nothing to do but research as much as possible and be on their guard.
He sighed. He had skipped breakfast this morning to dig deeper into the files and see if he could come up with anything. Elly had been understanding but had insisted he come back to her by lunch. Since their movie night, their relationship had changed and neither wanted to fumble their growing bond. He checked his watch and found it was close to eleven, so he had better get going.
She greeted him warmly when he set foot in the kitchen, taking his hand and pulling him to the corner table instead of the counter.
"I made lunch for us. Some different kinds of sushi and some sashimi, like back where we both came from."
Aizawa raised his eyebrows at the veritable feast spread on the table for just the two of them. "You went through all this trouble for me?"
"It's not really trouble. I can cook, and enjoy it from time to time. It's just with Sanji here, it seems silly. I'm often too busy and I'm not as good as he is."
"I think I might like your food better anyway," he said quietly.
She blushed and gestured for him to sit down.
"There's been a lot of talk about the new addition to the aquarium. You're dedicating it, correct?" He stared down at the food, his mouth twitching with the hint of a smile at the thought of discussing live fish over a sushi lunch.
"Yeah. You'll want to be there - it's this next Wednesday, at - ah, hell. I forgot the time." She slipped her phone out and checked. "Eleven-thirty. Coincides with school activities so we'll get a lot of kids."
"Huh." He helped himself to some eel roll and a couple of pieces of fatty tuna.
"There's going to be an after hours party there for the fundraisers, by the way."
"Oh?" He thought he saw where this was going. "Do you need an escort?"
She coughed with embarrassment. "I would like a formal date for the evening. If, that is, you want to be seen in public that way."
He chewed reflectively for awhile. "Mmn. Are you talking about people mistaking us for a couple, or do you want to know if I consider us one already?"
"Damn it, you're exasperating sometimes." She sank her teeth into a large octopus tentacle. "You know what I'm asking. You're not that dense."
He chuckled. "Perhaps. All right, Ches, calm down." He set his hand lightly on hers when her ears laid back in irritation. "I'm teasing you, but also nervous about it. Are we a couple? We go everywhere together, eat meals, and have even slept together - although not in that way." He added that last part quickly. "Those things usually mean people are in a serious relationship. But I'm your head bodyguard. Didn't the others do some of that, too? Am I different?"
Elly frowned, hurt. "No one else ever used my real name, bound a promise with me or slept with me at night. I thought - I thought the other night, that meant..."
He grasped her hand tighter in his. "I'm screwing this up. Look, I want us to be together. I honestly wanted to know. Also, I was afraid of asking to be exclusive - that you would think I was being too forceful."
"Ohhh." Her expression cleared. "Don't scare me like that! I thought - I thought you didn't want..." She trailed off, biting her lip to stop the flow of words.
"You thought I didn't want you?" He snorted. "Don't be absurd. I might not be able to express myself correctly now and then, but please do not doubt my commitment."
"I'm sorry."
"Are you ready, then, to go with me to the dinner, thereby announcing we're a couple?"
"That's what I was asking you," she spluttered in exasperation.
"Yes."
"Yes?"
He grinned that special creepy grin at her. "Neuro is going to have a fit," he predicted.
"Oh, dear. I almost forgot about the PR storm this will create. The media will most likely compare us to the last time I dated." She wrinkled her nose in distaste and dropped her voice since Sanji's room was off the kitchen. It was a long way away, but she felt bad and didn't want even the chance that he might hear. "I hate to say it, but I was wrong then. It worked, but I shouldn't have been with Sanji. It's definitely going to come up."
"Can the cook handle it?"
"Him? Oh, yes. We've talked a lot since then. We're very good friends, nothing more."
"You'll still have to discuss it with Neuro, though. He's going to have to deal with the aftermath."
Elly rubbed at one of her ears, then the other. "Well... so will you. I know you don't like being in the public eye, but people are going to want to know about you."
He shrugged. "We'll work something out. I would rather be with you than without, no matter what."
She smiled. "That's a nice thing to say."
Neuro was near livid when he found out, although he kept his ravings to the dark dimension and not on the earth. He broke through quite a few random objects and some random imps' limbs in his tantrum. When he calmed down, he figured he had better make the best of a terrible scenario and face the fact that she was going to do what she wanted.
"Hellfire," he snarled, a wisp of smoke curling from his beak. He truly believed she was headed for the worst possible outcome. Whenever people were involved too deeply with their kind without contracts favoring the dark forces, chaos reigned. He knew far too many demons that had been banished, injured mentally and physically, or enslaved for an indefinite period of time because they trusted a human. More often than not, it was because they had fallen in love with one of the blasted things.
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