Russian From Danger

A

Alarice

Guest
Original poster
It was getting dark and Nicholai was still wandering around the streets of Tokyo. He lifted the collar of his jacket and stuck his hands in his pockets. He should probably be getting back to his hotel but maybe he should just sleep in the park or something. It was always a tempting thought. Everyone had told him Tokyo was a bad place for a vacation. "Everything bad happens in Tokyo," they'd said. He figured it was just bad press. He'd been there for three days and the his biggest worry had been whether he should try the sushi place right around the corner from his hotel room or not. After all, what was the worst that could happen?

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Manami Shinobu

Manami's stolen bus ride lasted a good fifteen minutes touring around the streets of Tokyo until the bus driver caught her stowing away. At a street corner, he was shouting at her to get off - especially when her bad Japanese had her calling him a stinky fish face. When he REALLY got mad, Manami took that as a good sign to get running! Holding on to her head like the sky was falling, she darted down a sidewalk and turned the first corner she came to.

A person she might have expected to run in to, but not the door that suddenly swung open in her way! Manami crashed face first in to the door before crashing to the ground dazed and stunned!

A little old lady with a fuzzy purse and giant glasses peered down at Manami before snorting Kids These Days and stepping over her.

Manami groaned! This was officially the worst day ever!
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Manami was just dusting herself off when she heard someone whistling! It turned out to be really thin guy in leather with lots of piercings in his face, twirling a switchblade in one hand. "Hey, fine lady. Where you off to?"

Manami turned and another thug was walking toward her. He was taller but as thin as the other guy, also dressed in leather and with multiple piercings. He licked his lips at her and winked! She was officially trapped!
 
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Manami Shinobu

"What?" She must have cracked her head on that door just then, because her day was not just getting worse!

"Lookit that pretty dress! Late for little girls to be out, yeah?" said the taller one with the piercings.

"Oh my god. Seriously, if you guys don't leave me alone, I'm going to shove my cute new heels up your stupid noses! I am so not in mood today!" As she spoke, she even point down at her shoes before pointing back at the one she was glaring at.

Both guys started laughing! The girl's Japanese was so bad, it was barely decipherable! "What did she just say?"

"I don't know, dude, I think she said she was in the mood!" Chuckling again, the one behind her clamped a hand on her shoulder.

That was it! Demons and monsters and tentacle beasts and blood and stupid boys and Greek gods - a couple of street thugs was just the last straw! Manami grabbed the hand off her shoulder, snatching the guys thumb and TWISTED until he was howling and trying to shake her off before she broke it! Then she gave him a good hard kick to the balls, making sure she dug that heel in as promised!

"You picked the wrong girl today, you stupid jerk!"
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"That's it, bitch! You're going to pay for that!" The thug with the switchblade had had enough! He started to charge for Manami but someone grabbed his wrist, pulled it back and broke it in one fluid motion!

Nicholai was at least a foot taller than the thug and far stronger. He released him, only for the man to curse for all he was worth. The thug was going to show this stranger to mind his own friggin' business! With one broken wrist, he flung himself at the guy. But Nicholai sidestepped and then turned to put his foot against the man's butt and push! The thug went barreling into some trash cans and knocked himself unconscious!

"Miss," he turned to Manami.
 
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Manami Shinobu

"That's right! Eat garbage, jerk!" Manami kicked a rolling can back at the thug now potentially unconscious in the trash! The first guy was still writing on the ground, groaning in pain. She had half a mind to literally shove her heel up his nose. ...but that'd would be kinda gross, in retrospect!

Manami straightened her dress, planning to give her helper a simple thank-you for assistance (unless it was Daiki, then she was going to kick HIM in the balls), but a shocked look came across her face!

"NICHOLAI! AIIIEEE!" Quick as could be, she pounced for a hug! Throwing her arms around his neck and squeezing the daylights out of him! "Oh my god, I am so glad to see you! It's been forever! Oh man, you have no idea what kind of day I've been having! Oh hey, what are you doing in Japan...?"
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Nicholai blinked. Manami! He coughed and gasped for breath! She still had one hell of a grip on her! "Manami--I--uhh!" He waited for her to loosen her hold a bit, then smiled a bit sheepishly. "I think my story can wait. I didn't expect you to be here." He began to look around. "Where do you live? I should take you back to your parents before they get worried about you."
 
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Manami Shinobu

Manami laughed letting go of his neck just so she could hug his waist! Seeing someone familiar and NORMAL today was a breath of fresh air! Nicholai never did anything out of the ordinary!

"My parents moved here a couple weeks ago. It was the third move this year, but my dad said it would be permanent this time! Wait, let me see if I have the address, I don't even have it memorized, yet." Manami let go again to fuss through her pockets and found... nothing! All of her school I.Ds, pocketbook and everything must have still be at Daiki's apartment!

"Um... maybe I don't... Ugh! This SO figures! I swear, today is like the worst day of my life. Besides running in to you! This is actually a nice surprise! I haven't seen you in two years and I haven't been able to write you a letter since we left Panama!"
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Nicholai lifted his arms as Manami hugged his waist. She'd been the last person he'd expected to be here ... but then he remembered her dad had often spoken about returning to Japan. It looked like his dream had finally come true. "I had wondered what happened to you but I thought if anything, you'd be safe." He looked around. "Let's go. If you don't know where you live, the least I can do is take you out for a burger."
 
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Manami Shinobu

"Yeah, real safe..." Manami obviously didn't believe it, but that wasn't something she could explain to Nicholai. There was no way he'd believe her! She nodded!

"Food sounds great! Maybe I can remember my street name later." She hooked her arms around his and hugged his arm as they started down the street. "So what are you doing in Japan? I didn't think you even liked to travel. What about that weird ex girlfriend? Is she still sending you crazy video messages? I think you're taller now too and I'm even wearing heels today!"
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Nicholai scratched the back of his head. "If I had my way, I'd be snoozing past twelve in nothing but my underwear. But the Doc said it'd be good for me to go somewhere new, see new things, you know. So here, I am, on vacation. Everyone's been warning me that all the bad things happen in Tokyo but so far, it's been pretty quiet for me. And yes, my crazy ex still sends me video messages. But I've been forwarding them to everyone else." It was probably evil of him but hey, sharing was caring, right?
 
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Manami Shinobu

"They're right, you know! You should totally get out and do stuff more often! Maybe even about Japan too. Oh my god, the first couple weeks here was super fine! But today has been one thing after another." Even now she was spying around waiting for some monster to pop out or that stupid Daiki-in-Drag to be sneaking around. If he was right and monsters were going to keep after her, was she putting Nicholai in danger? She might have to protect him from getting tentacle molested or worse!

"Actually, yeah, Japan was a really bad choice! I think you should try somewhere with a nice beach. Jamaica has a lot of deals for flights this time of year. We should pick up some brochures for you after we eat"
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"But I haven't even been here that long!" They were approaching a burger restaurant. At least, the restaurant had the picture of a hamburger on the window. It was brightly lit and it looked open, although there were only about five or six people eating at the tables. He opened the door for her. "Manami, is everything alright?" She kept looking around as if she expected a werewolf to show up and start howling at the sky.
 
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Manami Shinobu

Stepping inside, Manami gave the waitress a big smile as she showed them to a booth seat. Manami plopped down, patting the seat next to her for Nicholai to sit down. She obviously wanted to keep him within reach! It might have seen like it was because she missed him so much, but she was more afraid she was going to get up grabbed and kidnapped before she could blink!

"Everything is fine! Sort of... I did have a bad day. Um, don't really want to talk about it though." There was just no way to explain it! "Do you have a new girlfriend yet? I saw on the news the other day that Russian people are all signing up as male order husbands so they can get legalized in other countries!"
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Nicholai slipped into the seat beside her and ran his fingers through his white hair. He'd tried to dye it countless times, but the dye never stuck. He was cursed. He smiled a bit. "No, I haven't. Things have been ... pretty busy since you went." And on the scale of weirdness, from 1 to 10 (1 being boring, 5 being normal, and 10 being something out of Outer Limits or Twilight Zone), it all equaled to at least 11.

The waitress returned to take their orders! He ordered a deluxe hamburger, an order of french fries, and the largest chocolate milkshake they had. "But in other news, it's great to see you again. Things haven't been the same without you."
 
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Manami Shinobu

Manami made sure her order had no tomato or onions, and lots and lots of ketchup! With a strawberry shake. Her favorite! While they were waiting, she grabbed a bunch of the sugar packets out of a jar and was trying to build a little house.

"Really? I think I was only there for a few months!" she cast him a wide grin. Every school she went to was different, and the one in Russia was like most of them. Sometimes there were people that really stood out though. Nicholai had spent the entire time trying to improve her Russian. It seemed it didn't really matter what language it was, she was really bad at learning new ones!

"You should be in the middle of college right now, shouldn't you? Is that what you're on vacation from?"
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Nicholai smiled. "Yes." In a manner of speaking. To be honest, college was a breeze compared to what he referred to as his "side job". His father had called it his destiny. But he believed destiny was something he could decide, not something preordained. And he was going to prove it. "My cousin, Dimitri, still thinks I should be studying something else, instead of veterinary medicine." He wasn't sure if Manami remembered Dimitri or not. They had met a couple of times and in both, his cousin had been completely preoccupied with whatever he was doing.
 
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Manami Shinobu

"The one weird the weird hair? No way, I think you picked an awesome career! Not only do girls like cute veterinarian boys, but you get to take care of animals all day! I mean, most guys are all about being wrestling stars or fighting demons or something." Who knew that fighting demons really could be a career! Manami might never read another manga and think 'I wish that would happen to me!' ever again!

The waitress brought over their milkshakes first, while the food was still cooking. Manami dropped two straws in to hers, and the strawberry that had been on top disappeared in to her mouth!

"If my parents actually stay here, I wanted to try modeling so I can get closer to fashion design. Japan is kind of crazy, but they have the cutest clothes in all of the fashion magazines. Maybe I can make cute outfits for pets and you can sell them in your future clinic!"
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Fighting demons? Nicholai decided she'd been reading her manga again and that is why it came up. But it still struck a little too close to home ... He smiled. "So you do remember him." He nodded. "I am sure they will be the greatest clothing line of pet clothes the world has ever seen." He put one straw into his chocolate shake and licked the whip cream and chocolate sprinkles on top.

The waitress returned with their order and of course, he had to try the french fries first! "Mm." Hot, crispy, and fresh. Boy, did he love a fresh helping of french fries! "And you? Have you found a boyfriend yet?"
 
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Manami Shinobu

Manami wasn't going to shove a giant burger in her mouth, so she was cutting hers in half with a knife as she laughed at his question. "No luck! The first week I met someone super cute and he was so shy he wouldn't even talk to me! Then there was the boy at the candy shoppe but he already had a girlfriend. And today I met this Greek God super hottie but he was more confused than I was and that's kinda bad, you know? HE should have known what was going on. Girls want guys that are gonna take care of business, not stand there and look pretty!"

She took a bite of her burger, and she might of well had died and gone to heaven. The sound she made said as much! Manami was starving! She didn't get any lunch that day and she always skipped breakfast out of bad habit. Half that burger was gone in two minutes and she was wiping ketchup of her face by the time she could speak again.

"Mrrph, I think I might go after smart boys now instead of just really cute ones. What do you think? Like, I know I'm not the smartest girl ever, so if I feel like a genius with him, then it's not going to end well, right? I don't want to end up marrying some crazy cult leader, or be the bride of squidzilla, or get dragged around for no reason. Not that I want to marry a super genius, either. Actually, I think I'm pretty tired of feeling stupid about everything! Can people actually make a career in paranormal or supernatural investigation stuff? Er, well, I know people DO it. But can you make a LIVING from it? I'd hate to go to college and take the courses, but then not get any of the investment back!"

Manami had likely chatted his ears right off, but chatting was what Manami did best. In between all of that blabbering she had managed to make all the fries on her plate disappear and was occasionally sneaking one of two of Nicholai's.
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