Showdown - Chap 56

Akako sighed as she sat at the table. She had her head in her hands as she was simply staring at her glass of water. She seemed unfocused and deep in thought, thinking about Kazuki again. She could tell he didn't want to be around her the same way she wanted to be around him. Her instincts were pointing towards him, but it wasn't going the way she thought. She was starting to question her heart and wonder that it could just be infatuation more than love. Maybe she didn't imprint on him? Maybe she made it up without knowing and thinking that it was true?

It was at this time that a male entered the room. He was a raven with deep red eyes and an often scowl on his face. He was Tatana and Toshiro's youngest child, Ketsueki. He moved to the fridge and found an apple inside which he took out to eat. Turning he saw Akako staring at a glass of water.

"Careful, it might do tricks." He said sarcastically as he took a bite out of his apple.

Akako blinked before looking at him. "Oh...right..." She said absentmindedly before going to stare at the glass of water again.

“What's your problem, wolfie?" He asked as he sat down.

She sighed. "Wolf problems..." She mumbled.

"Wanna talk about it?" He took another chunk out of his apple. "I have nothing better to do."

"Well...you see...wolves have this thing called imprinting which basically means love at first sight. I thought I imprinted on Kazuki, but he imprinted on Denji who imprinted on Aineko. They managed to work something out, but me...I'm just lost. I feel like I've been cast aside...He doesn't really look at me anymore and it hurts...but I can't tell if I actually DID imprint 'cause I don't really know what it feels like..." She rambled on.

"Imprinting, huh... shouldn't it be easy to tell? If I compare Kazuki and Denji to you and Kazuki, I can sense the difference... I don't think you've imprinted on your brother." He shrugged.

"But everyone's been telling me that I have..." She frowned.

"Well... you were aged rapidly, right?" He asked, finishing his apple as he tossed the core across the room to the compost.

She nodded. "Uh-huh..."

"Then, perhaps you made it that way but don't physically feel it. You watched your twin brothers imprint and shit, right? So as a kid, we usually try to mimic things." He shrugged. "Perhaps you wanted to copy it so bad, you made it happen, but your heart is fighting that..." He scratched the back of his head. "If that... even made sense..."

Akako blinked as she looked at him. "That...makes perfect sense..." She breathed.

"Does it?" He laughed nervously. "That's good... cause usually things sound better in my head then when I voice them."

She shook her head. "No...That actually does make sense...I didn't imprint on my brother, but because I thought I was like both of them, I had to act like them...which means that my imprinting is false!" She jumped out of her chair and smiled.

He nodded. "Sure. That's what I said." He chuckled. "Now stop moping."

Akako went over to him and threw her arms around him. "Thank you so much, Ketsueki! I could just kiss you!"

He blushed. "K-Kiss me?"

Akako kissed his cheek and pulled away. "I have to tell Kiki!"

"Alright then..." He blinked as he watched her run off.

"Kiki! Kiki!" Akako yelled as she ran through the house. She was using her nose to follow his scent.

Kazuki was lying outside on the grass, enjoying the soft breeze in the air.

"Kiki!" Akako ran outside, calling for him.

"What is it, Akako?" He sighed, his eyes remaining shut.

Akako was smiling as she plopped down on him. "I didn't imprint on you~" She sang.

“Eh...?" He blinked, opening his eyes.

kako nodded. "Mhm! See...I was just mimicking what you and Denji had, and I thought that was what imprinting was, so I forced myself to imprint on you, but my heart isn't into it, so that's why we haven't been making this work, and now I realize that I didn't imprint on you, so we're both free!" She said rapidly.

"Ah... well okay... aren't you glad I refused sex now?"

Akako blushed but nodded. "Uh-huh...Now, I can find who I'm really supposed to imprint on and give myself completely to them." She smiled.

"I'm happy for you, Akako." He smiled. "Now... can you get off my chest?"

"Oh! Right!" Akako giggled as she got up. "I wonder who it is then..." She said to herself. "Who am I supposed to imprint on...?"

"We never know." He said as he sat up. "I never expected to be with Denji... hell, there are still some days I think he's with me out of guilt..." He sighed. "I know he hasn't imprinted on me..."

Akako frowned softly. "Is it possible to imprint on two people...?"

"I don't know..." He sighed.

“I hope so...That would be nice." She smiled softly at him.

He sighed. "Anyway, I'm glad you're happy. You'll find someone."

"You think so?" Her red eyes lit up.

“Of course.”

"Thanks, Kiki! I owe a to Ketsueki, though..." She nodded to herself. "He helped me figure this out..."

"Maybe he's the one."

She blinked. "What makes you say that?"

"Just a thought." He shrugged.

Akako blushed but shook her head. "I'm not going to focus on love. I want to finally just have fun." She smiled.

"Well, I hope you do that and enjoy yourself." He nodded.

...

It had been about two weeks total since Kibiki aged all the children, but the last week had been really hard for Tamu. Madoka wasn't listening. Ever since he discovered her in that skin tight-red and gold dress a week ago, she was almost going out of her way to piss him off. She also took off at night and didn't come home till late.

Today, Tamu decided just to take a break from his hectic home life by having lunch with his best friend, Raiden.

"So, still no leash on your kid, huh?" Raiden smirked as he popped a rice ball into his mouth.

Tamu sighed as he stared at his food. Even though he wanted a break, he couldn't stop thinking about his little girl. "She's growing up too fast."

"I've talked to some of the other parents... yours seems to be one of the only problem children... I heard Yama has been a brat... all the other children are just... growing up slowly... even Niki... well, except for Eiri... I heard he's been obsessed with the library..."

Tamu frowned. "What do I do, Raiden? You were wild...How would you handle yourself?"

"Feed me so much alcohol I'd never touch it again."

Tamu blinked. "So...I should encourage this behavior?"

"Well... I'm not saying yes or no to that, Tamu. Dressing like a slut and staying out late is actually a teenager thing to do... it's what she does at night you need to figure out." Raiden sighed.

"Hey man, you coming to the strip joint tonight?" A male laughed to his buddy a few tables over. "There's a new girl you have to see~"

"Ugh..." Raiden rolled his eyes. "Women strippers..."

Tamu chuckled a bit at his friend. "Just because you're more into men doesn't mean that the women aren't as pretty~" He teased, though he kept his ears open. He had a bad feeling about this.

"A new girl, huh? What's she like?" The man's buddy asked.

"Chesty~ Amazing on the pole~" The man laughed. "Though she's hard to get. She won't leave with anyone~"

Raiden sighed. "I guess you're right... but still." He laughed.

"Won't leave with anyone?" The second man smirked. "I could fix that~"

Tamu frowned. Were they going to force themselves on the poor girl?

"I don't know man, she's pretty stubborn." He smirked.

"Why are you listening to those idiots?" Raiden whispered.

"She can't be more than eighteen though~"

"I have ways of dealing with stubborn women~" The man said before getting up with his pal and heading out.

Tamu got to his feet. "That woman is in danger." He stated.

"You want to follow them to a strip joint?" Raiden scoffed.

Tamu nodded. "They're going to hurt someone. We can't let them do that."

Raiden sighed and tossed money onto the table. "Fine... Let's go..."

...

The men led Raiden and Tamu to the newest and most popular strip joint in town. As they got inside, Raiden cringed.

"I hate these places, look at these women..." He sighed, seeing many women giving lap dances or serving drinks in just a bra and panties. There was a main stage where most men were gathered, throwing money like it was rain. On one of the poles was a strawberry blonde woman dressed in just a set of purple bra and panties spinning around the pole. It was hard to make out who the woman was from this distance, but Raiden could see the men from lunch heading towards her.

"Tamu, that woman there must be who they were talking about..."

Tamu nodded. "Follow me..." He breathed as moved through the crowd of scantily clad women.

Raiden was close behind as they closed into the stage.

"Come on, hunny~ Take off that top~" Men were calling.

The woman giggled as she was hanging upside down on the pole. She reached around herself an undid the clasp of her bra before throwing it into the crowd.

"Let me buy you a drink~ Please, beautiful?" A man called out to her.

"Nuh-uh~" She giggled as she got back to her feet.

"Let me kiss those tits~" Another man purred.

"Oh Kami... Tamu..." Raiden stopped the man as they got closer. He nudged his arm as he pointed to the woman.

Tamu had been looking for the men from the diner. He hadn't really been paying attention to the women. He looked up and immediately stopped. His eyes widened and it was as if his worst nightmare was coming to life.

It was Madoka. Her hair was down as it came down her shoulders. She was gathering money from men as she walked across the stage, her chest still free of material.

Raiden looked away as he placed his forehead to Tamu's back. This wasn't good. He felt bad knowing he had just looked at his best friend's daughter.

"Madoka!" Tamu lost it. He ran to the stage and hopped up, grabbing her wrist. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!"

Madoka squeaked and covered her chest with her free arm. "D-Dad?! What are you doing here?!"

The men in the audience began to back off, some even leaving the building.

"You're coming home right now!" He yelled at her, pulling her off stage.

"N-No I'm not! I'm working!" She tried to fight him.

Raiden moved to Tamu's side and offered his coat to him for Madoka.

Tamu shook his head as he put the coat over her nearly naked form. "You are no longer working here!" He said as he scooped her up.

“D-Daddy! Put me down!" She cried.

"Do... you want me to let you be...?" Riaden asked as they reached outside.

"I'll talk to you later." Tamu said a bit curtly before taking off towards his house.

"Dad! Put me down!" Madoka kept yelling all the way home. When Tamu kicked in the door, Madoka finally managed to escape as she turned back to look at him. "What the hell?! I was working!" She cried. She looked around. "Mom! Mom!" Surely Natsumi would defend her.

"Natsumi isn't home. She's over at the Kasai compound." He stated. "And as for your work, I forbid you to EVER go back there. A stripper?! Do you have any idea of what you're doing?!" His voice only grew louder and louder.

"I'm making money! That's what I'm doing!"

"By exposing your body?! Do you have any respect for yourself?!" He yelled.

"Of course I do! I like being looked at!"

"That's not appropriate! You're too young!"

"I'm considered an adult!" She growled. "You're... you're just jealous that I'm prettier than Mom!" She said.

Tamu's eyes widened. "How dare you," he growled. "Go to your room. Now." His voice was hard and scary.

"Why are you so mean to me!? I'm just living life!" She cried.

"Go! Now!" His voice rose. "And don't think about escaping because I sealed that room of yours!"

"I hate you!" She screamed as she raced upstairs.

"Well, good, because I love you!" He yelled back.

"What on earth is all this screaming? I could hear you down the street." Natsumi said as she entered the house and shut the door behind her. "Why are you yelling at her?" She sighed.

"Guess where I found your daughter!" He growled.

"My daughter?" She blinked. "What's going on?"

"She's a goddamn stripper!"

She blinked. "She's... a stripper? Tamu... come on, really..." She sighed.

"She is!" He threw his hands up. "Raiden and I heard two men talking about taking advantage of a young woman, so we went to stop them. When we got there, we saw her dancing around a pole and throw her top into the crowd!"

Natsumi blinked. "Oh my... where... is she now?"

"Locked in her room." He stated. "I had sealed it this morning. The only way she can leave is through the front door."

"Aren't you... overreacting... just a bit?"

"Overreacting?!" Tamu shook his head. "She's a stripper!"

"She didn't know it was bad, Tamu..." She frowned.

"Well it is and I'm never letting her leave again." He said definitely.

"You can't do that." Natsumi crossed her arms over her chest. "I'm going to go and check on her." She went to move passed Tamu to the stairs.

“You can check on her, but she is not leaving." He called after.