tenipuri_xp | Log - Shiiba, Shishido

Date: Takes place about a week or so ago when Choutarou goes missing and right before Shishido has his run in with Oshitari
Rating: PG-13 for tempers
Summary: Worried about his boyfriend Shishido decided to go ask Shiiba if any PR things had come up. Shiiba and Shishido interaction ensues.

Shiiba slouched down in her chair and made a small sigh, her breath catching the tendrils of bangs that curled in front of her face. Her office wasn't very large, in truth, but between her nicely sized desk, her leather chair, a tall filing cabinet and a couple of spare chairs against the wall near the door, she had managed to make it work.

Just like, really, she made everything work if she put enough effort into.

Though right now, the mutant woman was at the end of her tether in terms of 'making things work.' They had always suspected that both the registration law and the supposed 'cure' for mutancy were possible occurrences, but for some reason, her superiors had always treated them as if they were things far off in the future. And certainly they would not happen on Japanese soil before enacted in some other part of the world.

They had been, much to Shiiba's own dismay, quite wrong. On many counts.

Which of course meant that she had been wrong, and had passed on the wrong information to her own contacts. The auburn haired woman frowned and sighed again, louder and more frustrated. Since the announcement of the registration act, her phones had been ringing off the hook, her email flooded with questions that she couldn't answer, and of course, people were enraged and wanting to act, but couldn't. Not yet, she thought with a disgusted frown. There was still Sakaki-san's candidacy to the Diet to take into consideration, and any harsh retaliation -- while it might be her own preferred course of action -- might reflect badly on him.

"So many things to balance," she complained to a room empty of everything but her plants on the windowsill. Straightening in her chair, she pulled her open laptop the edge of the desk and made her way through several open tabs and browsers, checking this and that. Latest news, a bombing in Osaka…tied to mutant activity, though without real proof. A five car pile up in Kyoto -- also mutant related, according to the reporter, but again, nothing verified. It seemed like the humans were willing to blame anything and everything on mutants, if only to absolve themselves.

Honestly, if her hands weren't proverbially tied by her own duties to Sakaki-san, she would be showing them what real damage a mutant was capable of. And not for the first time, Shiiba questioned her own sanity in taking this reassignment to begin with. Too many people knew her, knew what she was…and as a certain winged thorn in her side had pointed out, could expose her easily.

It wasn't a comforting thought.

Another email hit her inbox, and Shiiba quickly tabbed over to, then sighed. Fanmail. Again. She wasn't sure which annoyed her more -- the people seeking her out for a solution, an accusation (though maybe she deserved them this time…god, dealing with this school-thing wasn't supposed to keep her so busy!), or a answer, or the fangirls that populated Japan and were currently lusting over four prominent mutant boys.

Still not being able to locate his boyfriend, Shishido reluctantly made his way up to Shiiba’s office. His post hadn’t turned up anything, and neither had searching the premises, calling his phone, sending him emails or anything else he could think of. If Ohtori was on the campus he was doing a good job at being invisible and if he was off campus, Shishido wanted to know why he hadn’t called yet. He refused to worry though until he had checked every possible location for him, and that meant talking to Shiiba.

Shiiba’s office was a last resort for him, she hadn’t answered his post, which meant she was busy, and that calling her, or emailing her asking about his boyfriend would probably just piss her off. But if he just poked his head in and quickly asked if there had been any PR things come up today it wouldn’t be that bad. Maybe he could even sacrifice himself a bit and ask if there was something he could do – well, once he knew his Ohtori was safe and bored on some PR thing.

Knocking, because like hell he wanted to walk in on Shiiba being a whore, he waited a moment before opening the door a bit, “Hey Shiiba?” He called in to the small space spotting the evil woman at the desk.

Shiiba hit forward, sending the swooning girl's email off to the appropriate inbox. It was amusing, really, that just as all of this proverbial anti-mutant shit had hit the fan, the four mutants who Sakaki had assigned to PR were hitting a high point in the number of emails received per day -- and many of them were from favourable, mostly female, admirers.

It was just proof that image, mutant or otherwise, depended solely on marketing.

And with all the effort the current administration was putting into marketing mutants as the big, bad terrorists -- though, yes, Shiiba herself had fed that image many times in the past -- they were going to have to be extra careful countering any and all accusations of the deeds at least two of them were responsible for. Touji-kun and Atobe-kun had, at least, not been overly involved in the more covert operations that the Brotherhood favoured, but Shishido had been a member of the Blue Team and there was Ohtori's connection to Blackguard to worry about.

Her thoughts, however, were drawn from the complicated issue of image management by a hard knock to her office door. Looking up, she paused in her typing and blinked as her door opened, a familiar (sadly) voice following.

"Come in, Shishido-kun." Shiiba resumed typing, her voice devoid of both surprise and… well, spite, oddly enough. But, as much of a headache as the winged mutant gave her, she did have to work with him on a regular basis and needed his, limited cooperation in that aspect.

So, she wasn't going to be openly hostile when he set foot into her office. Provided that said foot didn't somehow end up in his mouth.

Shishido nodded and stepped in to the office, looking at the chairs in front of the desk but deciding not to bother sitting in them, it’d be easier to make a getaway if he had a straight path to the door. “Umm… I was just wondering…” His wings ruffled behind him, a stray silver feather falling to the ground, “Was there any PR assignments or anything today?” He prayed that there was, and that Ohtori was sent on it on short notice and that he couldn’t use his phone during the thing.

Shiiba glanced up as the teenage mutant stepped in, ruffled feathers and all, her fingers pausing over her keyboard. He looked…uneasy.

And well, that was understandable. He was standing in her office.

Actually, he was moulting feathers in her office. Shiiba held back her frown, coaxing an amiable smile across her lips instead. But really, at this rate, she was going to have enough of the boy's feathers to make a duster with. Which wasn't a bad idea.

She'd look into it later.

Right at this moment, the winged teenager was actually being polite -- and given the nature of his question, she supposed it made sense to be. "Mmm…looking for something to do, Shishido-kun?" she smiled brightly at him. "There's a couple of small things later in the week if you’re interested, but nothing's happened today."

Shit. If there had been no PR events that suddenly popped up today then that meant he’d lost his boyfriend. Horrible thoughts flashed through his mind about what could be happening to Ohtori right now, most supplied by Oshitari’s harrowing experience and he found himself gripping the back of a chair tightly. “Not interested… thanks anyway.” He managed to get out though his throat was constricting painfully.

God, he didn’t even know what to do, his boyfriend went out to register and never came home, and somehow this felt like his entire fault. He had to think, there had to be a logical explanation to where he was, there had to be a way to find him without causing a scene, there had to be a way to – oh god, was he starting to cry?! Shishido hastily wiped at his face and ducked his head down to let his hair hide him from Shiiba’s view. If he was smart he’d just run from the office now, and get some of the others to help him track down Ohtori, but he was PR, and couldn’t risk doing things…

Hell, this was not going to end well for him, but better him getting yelled at then Ohtori being jabbed and tortured and held in some small putrid little cage. Okay, he had to stop thinking. “Uhh… Shiiba?” Shishido asked, his voice thick through the constriction in his throat, “Have you heard any news about the registration today?” His downcast eyes flicked to the door. He could still make it, just a few steps to freedom, he eyed the window as an extra option if he was desperate enough.

Reading people was second nature to her. It came in handy when she was at parties -- always knowing the right thing to say, when to laugh, when to put up a false front and when to finally let it drop had been a vital part of her post-Ryuhana training. So when Shiiba noticed the tightening of Shishido's voice at her offer to set him up with one of the PR-related stints that she had on the backburner, her fingers drifted away from the keyboard of her laptop and she turned her chair. Folding her arms on her desk, the mutant woman didn't miss wetness to the younger mutant's eyes before he ducked his head.

She frowned softly. Shishido Ryou was…on the verge of crying. In front of her.

Oh dear. This did not bode well.

"I haven't," she admitted slowly, eyebrows furrowing thoughtfully. The past day had been spent either dealing with the inane prattle of fangirl email or fielding questions about the newest 'cure' for mutation; registration, while still a problem, hadn't been on her agenda. Though from the way the winged mutant was behaving -- upset, clearly, and nervous given how his wings were twitching -- she wondered if she hadn't overlooked something important.

Swearing at herself, she tapped one neatly manicured nail on her desk. "Shishido-kun," she started, hesitant at exactly how to deal with the young man before her. It was easy when they were snipping at each other online; easier to hide concern for just how exposed the four mutants selected for PR duty were, and easier still to keep herself distant from a group of teenagers that she'd never meant to get close to begin with. After all, Sakaki hadn't hired her to be their den mother.

But now? The mask was slipping, and worst, in front of the one member of the school that seemed determined to annoy her at every turn. Still, something was wrong. Very wrong. And if Shishido was so upset that he was loosing it in front of her, that meant something could only be wrong with one other person.

"Shishido-kun, what's wrong? Did Ohtori get in…trouble for not registering?"

“He didn’t tell you?” Shishido asked startled that Shiiba had no idea whatsoever of what had been going on. “Shit.” He cursed softly, “He went to fucking register today and he hasn’t come back!” Why didn’t he check to see if Ohtori had told Shiiba? Now Ohtori was probably locked up somewhere for who knows why and was being tortured and pumped full of chemicals.

“I’ve looked everywhere and nobody’s seen him. So I thought you might have given him some PR assignment…” Shishido blinked back tears and turned to stare at Shiiba, taking the two paces to place his hands on her desk, “He’s not returning my calls, and I haven’t heard from him since I went to bed this morning.” And he went to the registration shortly after, so it had to have been around 12 hours since something had happened to him. He could be dead by now. He took a deep gasping breath and tried to pull himself together. He couldn’t lose it, not in front of Shiiba, and not when nothing’s been confirmed. And as much as he disliked the woman across from him, he needed her knowledge and contacts right now to locate his boyfriend and to get him back.

Shiiba pursued her lips, eyes narrow. "He…why didn't he register online?" she asked then shook her head; deciding now wasn't the time to quiz the winged mutant. "No, wait. Never mind. Tell me later," she sighed. "Just sit down." It was meant to be a command, but her tone was soft. Mild, for her. She wouldn't get any answers from the winged mutant if she snapped at him now -- though she wanted to. Just what was he thinking?

For that matter, what was Ohtori thinking? Going to a registration office on his own? Known mutant or not, that was not a safe prospect without some sort of protection. And while the press members that Shiiba kept hounding the boys weren't exactly protection, their presence did keep any government related anti-mutant fanatics in check.

Honestly. Why did they think she arranged such things? For her own amusement?

Spinning in her chair, Shiiba bent down, pulled open the bottom drawer of her filling cabinet and pulled out her purse. A moment later, her cell phone was in hand. "Which office did he go to, Shishido-kun?" she asked, keeping her temper in check as her fingers pushed buttons even as she spoke. "And what happened? I thought he wasn't going to register."

“Register online?” Shishido asked as if the thought had never occurred to him, and truthfully it hadn’t. Did Shiiba really think he’d send his boyfriend off to a creepy office if he could register online instead? Feeling somewhat relieved that Shiiba wasn’t yelling at him and instead looked as if she was going to help, he perched carefully at the edge of a chair, his agitated wings, twitching uncomfortably against the arms.

“And I don’t know… probably the closest one?” Shishido wanted to bang his head against the desk right now. None of these things seemed important in the morning when he was giving his boyfriend a kiss goodnight before heading to bed. But now they could mean the difference between life and death and he didn’t even know what office he went to. “He changed his mind since he was already known… and he talked to his dad and they decided it was better to register before the deadline and deal with the consequences than be forced to register afterwards.” He wiped his nose with the back of his hand and tried to sit quietly while Shiiba made her calls.

Shiiba took in all the information as she selected a phone number. She didn't have contacts inside the registration office -- a big problem, and difficult to correct -- but she did at authorities inside the government itself who could find out for her. It wouldn't take long, she thought, placing the phone to her ear. On the third ring, a familiar voice picked up. "Hello, Meiko-san," she said cheerfully, though she held up a finger to lips to tell Shishido to be quiet. "It's Shiiba…mmm, yes, I know, I know. This cure, it's a problem. Yes, probably. Right, of course."

The words were prattled off, Shiiba only half listening to the questions she cheerily answered, until finally the woman on the other end paused for a breath. "Meiko-san, I need to find something out about the registration offices. Or more, someone who may have to gone to one. You know, I'm doing this PR thing for the Sakaki campaign…uh-huh. Yes, that's the one. With those boys…mmm…but there's a problem. One of them's, well….one's gotten away from me."

She sighed a bit dramatically, leaning back in her chair. "No, his…friend stopped by and says he can't find him, seems he went to register this morning and hasn't come home. We don't know what office…probably the one close by the school. But it is worrying, and you know we don't really trust them…can you? Oh that'd be great." Her voice brightened a bit. "I'll have my phone on," she agreed, then frowned a bit. "Of course. You know I'll make it worthwhile, Meiko-san."

The call ended and she flipped her phone shut, sighing heavily. "Give her a few minutes," she murmured. "She'll start with the authorities and any inside links she has to the registration offices. You both owe me for this. Oh, and," Shiiba paused and nudged the box of tissue on the corner of her desk in the young man's direction. "Blow your nose, Shishido-kun."

Shishido was so thankful that Shiiba was doing something that it didn’t even cross his mind to snap back at her that this was partially her fault and that he wasn’t doing her any favours. “Whatever, just get him back.” He said nodding instead of his usual retort. He eyed the Kleenex box for a moment before swiping a tissue and blowing his nose. As Shiiba’s cell phone rang again, he tossed the tissue out and waited intently at the edge of his seat, his eyes staring at Shiiba like a man dying of thirst would water.

That phone call was the longest two minutes of his life. “So, where is he? What’s going on? Is he okay? Do you know?” Shishido asked in rapid succession as soon as Shiiba had ended the call. The conversation didn’t seem like good news to him, but it was hard to tell with Shiiba.

Shiiba had barely snapped her phone shut when the bargae of questions from the winged mutant hit. With each one, Shiiba opened her mouth to answer, only to get stopped by another one. It would almost be comical, were she in the mood to be amused.

Instead, she frowned and drummed her nails on her desk, waiting for the teenager to kindly shut up.

"Shishido-kun," she finally sighed when his questions lulled. This wasn't going to be easy, she could tell. She had a nearly panicked mutant sitting in her office, after all, and one that wasn't reasonable on his best days. Keeping her voice calm and neutral, devoid of the anger she was currently seething because really -- one of them should have told her Ohtori was planning to register, or perhaps he should have done it online if he hadn't wanted to make a production of it (she had her press piece after all) -- she very calmly stated, "He's been detained. Apparently when he went to register, the lights started to flicker and the humans got spooked. I've got his current location."

“Detained?” Shishido asked and the word felt strange on his tongue. “And how could he have flickered anything, we had se-“ he cut himself off with a blush raising his hands to his mouth, his eyes wide and his wings ruffling. He did not need to tell Shiiba about his bedroom activities ever. Flapping his wings, he pulled his hands away and gave her a determined look, “Where is he and how do we get him back?” It’s not like he didn’t have people who would help him. If they weren’t his friend they were Ohtori’s and they could get in quickly and get out before the idiotic registration people even knew what hit them.

Shiiba pursued her lips and nodded once, not happy in the least with the electrical mutant. It wasn't that she missed the small verbal slip, or the ruffling of the wings -- more feathers…well, at least she wouldn't need to buy a new duster anytime soon -- but she prudently let it slide. There were, after all, certain details of the lives of the boys who she lived with that she didn't really want to know.

Bedroom activities, especially, no matter what Oshitari seemed to believe.

Right now, she needed to think. Sakaki-san had to be informed, of course, and the errant mutant brought back into their custody. Done improperly, it could get messy. Or worse, turn into a very large political scandal that could be turned against them by the man's opponents in the Diet.

That wouldn't be good. Not after all her -- their -- hard work in pulling together this campaign.

"Don't do anything," stupid, she wanted to say, given the thick skull in front of her, but instead she choose, "rash, Shishido-kun. You both are high profile mutants right now." Her lips turned down and she sighed. "Even if no one spotted you, the fact that Ohtori-kun 'escaped' would fuel countless rumours and bad press. It wouldn't just be bad for the PR drive or Sakaki-san's campaign, Shishido-kun."

Hoping that she'd made herself clear, she turned back to her computer and brought up her address book. "Just let me handle it." Her tone was curt and brooked no argument. "We'll work on proving that his powers are harmless and what happened was probably a fluke. Nerves or something." Already, Shiiba's brain was turning, figuring out a plausible story that cover any damage that the young mutant had done without exposing the full extent his powers were capable of. Even if one of her numerous contacts couldn't extract Ohtori-kun from the facility he was held in then she could always throw around Sakaki's weight. Perhaps even the boys' current popularity.

She could almost see the headline: Government officials illegally detain MRA-compliant mutant.

Not that she particularly wanted to go that route, but if it could be used to the greater advantage of mutants, then she would. What choice did she have, really?

Shuffling through a list of favours owed, Shiiba gave the winged teen another glace. "Look, why don't you go lay down. This may some time."

“You think I can just lay down and do nothing while my boyfriend’s being held captive by the anti-mutant government?!” Shishido asked in disbelief. “We need to get him back! Now! It’s not that late, people are still up, maybe even at work! Call them and get them to free him!” What if they put him through the same stuff Oshitari went through, what if did weird tests on him, jabbed him with random needles. How was he supposed to just lay down and sleep when somewhere else Ohtori was alone and scared and who knows what else.

“I’m not going until you have him. And if you can’t get him then I will. Propaganda campaign be damned!” Shishido’s wings flapped and fanned threateningly as he leaned on Shiiba’s desk. He knew that doing that would be foolish, but he couldn’t rest easy until he knew his boyfriend was alright and safe in his arms again.

Shiiba felt her brows knot. "Shishido Ryou!" she snapped, spinning in her chair and slamming her hand down on her desk. "You will do no such thing. For god's sake Shishido, think for a moment. You're both registered!" Her tone rose sharply before she took a deep breath and gritted her teeth, forcibly calming herself down.

Shiiba's temper was not a trifle thing, and though her sunny disposition might annoy some people -- the mutant in front her among them -- she had to stay upbeat, because her anger made the plasma based energy she produced boil inside her. It was volatile, and with the combination of stress from the various tasks that she did, this new development, and just dealing with the thick-skulled young man in her office, she could already feel the heat rising in her palms.

Damn it. She needed to blow something up. Soon.

"Even if he were to be broken out, the authorities have the information about where he lives on file. They have his name. They can track his parents and trace him through them, or even you. Or Atobe-kun or Touji-kun, if they wanted. They could come here, Shishido-kun." Standing up, her chair pushed back by her legs as she moved, Shiiba flattened both palms on her desk. The lacquered wood popped and crackled under her hands, even as she strained to keep her temper under control.

"Would you risk the authorities coming here, Shishido? To find the other students -- the ones who haven't registered and are doing far more deadly assignments than you? Do you want Oshitari to go through the experiments he endured a few months ago?" Sucking air in through her teeth, Shiiba shook out her hands; the shape of her palms, fingers splayed, was burned into her desk. "Ohtori is publicly known, Shishdo-kun. They can lock him up, yes, but if he goes missing, then I can make their lives living Hell, okay? Right now, we know where he is. Once Sakaki gets out of the meeting he's at, I'll speak to him about using some of his credence to get Ohtori out. But it will take time."

Shishido took a step back at the loud yell of his name, he’d piss Shiiba off before, but he’d never seen her look like that. And did she just burn the desk?! Eyes large, he tried to inch further away from Shiiba, a task made difficult by fanned ruffled wings and the small office. He knew he was being hasty and the last thing he wanted to do was risk his family or friends but he was hurting and felt so empty inside and he had to do something!

“So I’m just supposed to stay here and let him rot where he’s at while you play with bureaucratic red tape?!” Shishido questioned in a loud voice, taking a small step back towards Shiiba. Maybe this would make her move faster, maybe she’d get so mad she’d beat him up and he could be out cold for a few days in the hospital wing and when he woke up Ohtori would be back and he wouldn’t have to worry anymore. He was already giving up hope to break his lover out. As much as he wanted, he couldn’t risk the lives of many for one. Not yet anyway, not until it was clear the peaceful method had failed. God, but what would Shiiba’s failure mean for his boyfriend?

Trembling slightly as renewed longing and despair took over the fear and anger, Shishido hastily swiped at his eyes. “I can’t lose him Shiiba! You… You gotta get him back!” He’d beg if it would make her do things faster. He’d even be nice. There just had to be some way he could help make sure Ohtori was safe.

"Shishido." Shiiba took another deep breath, counting backwards in her head from twenty until she felt some of her control slip back into place. Do not blow him up, she reminded herself, do not.

No matter how tempting the idea was.

"We will get him back," she said firmly, taking another breath and shutting her eyes. "One way or another, and as quickly as we can." She thought…hoped even, because god, if Shishido was going to fall apart in her office -- as the younger mutant looked to be close to, again -- then she wasn't going to be able to deal with him if they didn't. She certainly couldn't do much now; even if she'd wanted to offer comfort to the winged mutant, she couldn't. Her hands were still searing hot, pressure under the palms causing the skin to ache.

He wasn’t going to like her anymore, given that she didn't know how long it would take, either. It could be days…weeks before she could extract the other mutant from the humans' system, and then who knew what they would have done to him. Frowning, but keeping thoughts like this to herself, Shiiba settled back down in her chair and was careful to not touch anything. The burn marks on her desk were embarrassing enough; she hated loosing control of her powers like this.

"Right now, you're going to have to wait," she explained, voice even but terse. "I can only make things go so fast, Shishido-kun." Glancing at the distraught teen, she sighed. "You haven't been up long have you? Have you even had breakfast?" Not that she needed to wait for his answer; frantic as he was, she doubted it.

"Go eat something, Shishido. Then go lay down or try to keep yourself busy. I'll send you an email the moment I find anything out, and you come by in the morning to see what Sakaki-san says."

Shishido found himself bobbing his head yes and no to the questions Shiiba asked and before he knew it found himself being herded towards the door. “Uhh I guess. But you’ll tell me if you hear anything right? I mean like anything, big or small. And leave me a message if I’m sleeping, or get someone to wake me up?” He babbled out still feeling rather unsure but hopeful that Shiiba could pull something out of her hat and get his boyfriend back. Taking another couple steps he found the door slammed shut behind him and blinked.

He supposed he was rather hungry, but he just couldn’t be bothered to eat with how upset he was feeling and the lack of Ohtori. around. Deciding he’d just head to his room and maybe search for a few things online about any reports a the mutant registration offices, he started heading down the hall only to jump and ruffle badly at the sound of a loud explosion. He was tempted to go back and make Shiiba was alright, but quickly thought better of it, shuffling faster down the hall.

Choutarou would be all right. He just had to have faith.