Title: A Cure for Dementia [Series: Pet Shop of Horrors]
Author: Drusilla Dax (drusilladax@free.fr)
Pairing: none
Rating: 15 [R]
Summary: D is now living in Tokyo. What can the Kami do when Leon enters his shop and his sanity is barely holding by a thread?
Disclaimer: I'm just playing with someone else's toys. May I be forgiven in my next incarnation! Flamers will be adopted by my family (if you don't believe it's a threat... too bad for you!).
Betas: Mikee and Starkindler. The remaining mistakes are all mine, and I apologize for those.
A Cure for Dementia
Tokyo had been D's new destination when he returned to the human side of the universe.
It was not China, but it was Asia, and there was something in the air that soothed him.
After a few weeks, D had even met a new detective. There was no link with Leon Orcot, but D enjoyed the visits of Inuyama Yuki. The young man was working for a branch of Interpol, and he had found the new pet shop the day he was looking for a goldfish.
Inuyama befriended the Kami and went back home with a blue fish with astounding fins - and no contract attached to its bowl.
Inuyama was listening to D's pieces of advice, and D found the young human interesting and challenging.
Since the detective had met Count D, he had taken to coming to the pet shop two or three times a week; he always brought exquisite teas and delicate sweets.
Then, one day...
'I apologize D-sensei, I may not be able to come and have the honour of sharing a cup of tea with you over the next few days,' Inuyama said.
'There is no need to apologize, Inuyama-san. I understand how demanding your profession can be,' D answered quietly.
'There is a conference organized this week, and my superior asked me to be the guide for an alien fellow,' Inuyama explained.
'If you wish, I would be delighted to offer tea to the both of you,' D proposed.
'You are very kind, D-sensei,' Inuyama said, blushing slightly.
Fate had a great sense of humour, and it was how Detective Inuyama brought a guest to the Tokyo pet shop.
It was how Leon Orcot found his way back to D's side.
Inuyama was astounded to see D's reaction to Leon's presence. D had always been extremely composed in front of the young Japanese detective - truth be told, Asian sweets never elicited in D the kind of reaction their Occidental counterparts produced.
Inuyama had only heard D speak Japanese, and he was surprised by his perfect command of the English language. The Japanese detective had been looking forward to a chat in his native language - at least with Count D - but now he found himself forced to keep using Leon's tongue.
'I am delighted to see you, Leon,' D exclaimed joyfully.
'Count D!' Leon said. 'I am happy to see that you could come back to us.'
Leon had insisted on buying an expensive European cake when Inuyama had told him that they'd go and see one of his friends in the Chinese district. Leon hadn't expected to see D in the pet shop, but buying a cake sounded like a nice thing to do. It also reminded Leon of happier times.
The conversation was friendly, warm and joyful.
Inuyama was delighted to discover that other side of the Count, and he watched the Kami and his fellow exchange memories and news about people in the US.
At one point they were short of tea, and the young Inuyama offered to go and boil some water, so that D and Leon could keep on chatting.
D was thrilled to have Leon all to himself, even if it were only for a minute or two.
The Kami opened his mouth, and Leon's phone chose that most inconvenient moment to ring. It was not a call, but an alarm.
'Dear god! I hadn't realized that it was so late. I must go and take care of Jill. I apologize D. Will you forgive me?' Leon said.
'Of course! Why didn't you come with Miss Jill? I would have been delighted to see her,' D said.
'After you pushed me back here, I married her. She's pregnant. She's resting in our room at the hotel. Look, D, I'm really sorry, but I must leave. At least, I might hope to know where to find you if you don't dissolve into thin air again. Will you tell Inuyama that I'll see him at the conference tomorrow morning?' Leon asked.
'Of course, Leon. Will you give my respect to Mrs Orcot?' D said.
'She'll be delighted to hear from you,' Leon said.
When Leon shook hands with D, the Kami felt something strange but he couldn't say what.
Leon had been gone for two minutes when Inuyama came back into the front parlour.
'I'm sorry it took me so long. I'm not used to your kitchen,' the Japanese detective said.
'It's perfectly understandable, Inuyama-san. I thank you for your help. Detective Orcot had to go back to his hotel, and he asked me to tell you that he'll see you at the conference tomorrow,' D said.
'I should have been there to offer to escort him back,' Inuyama said, ashamed of himself.
'I know Detective Orcot, and he wouldn't have waited for you. He was quite in a hurry to go back to his wife,' D explained.
'I apologize, D-sensei, but you certainly missed something in what Detective Orcot told you because Mrs Orcot was shot to death three months ago,' Inuyama said softly.
Time stood still.
D gasped.
He knew what was wrong in Leon's aura.
'Do you know what happened?' D asked his guest.
'We heard rumours,' Inuyama admitted, blushing.
'As you understood, Detective Orcot became a... a friend when I stayed in Los Angeles. I knew Mrs Orcot as well. I would appreciate if you shared with me what you know,' D insisted.
'It was said that Mrs Orcot had been working on some intricate mafia-related case, and that one day she was found dead. The L.A.P.D. was very upset. Detective Orcot worked day and night, almost literally sometimes, and a month after the death of Mrs Orcot, he had a whole gang arrested. For an Occidental, he reacted quietly to the death of his wife... I heard she was with child,' Inuyama said.
D remained silent.
'I am truly sorry, D-sensei,' the young Detective whispered.
'Poor Mrs Orcot,' D gasped. 'She was such an angel. I wish you could have met her.'
Inuyama only nodded politely.
'You have to be right; I must have misunderstood what Detective Orcot told me,' D said.
'That language can be so strange,' Inuyama declared diplomatically. 'Maybe I should make sure that he is all right.'
'I know him well. He needs to spend time numbing his brain in front of the television,' D said, hiding a fake smile behind his cup of tea.
D entertained the young Japanese a bit longer, and Inuyama finally left.
D was left alone in the shop.
Alone to think and put together the pieces of an improbable mystery.
Leon had been Jill's friend, but D knew that he loved her as a sister. It may have been several months since D had last seen Leon, but he knew - just knew - that it was unlikely that the American detective had fallen in love with Miss Jill in such a short amount of time. D did not picture Leon planning to have a child so soon after getting married either, and in spite of what he had told Inuyama, D was certain of what Leon had told him.
D had known many human languages for quite a long time. Even if Leon Orcot had a gift for being cryptic and colourful, D was certain of what Leon had told him. That, in addition to the fact that Leon's aura was extremely wrong, told D that his friend's sanity certainly was holding on by the faintest of threads.
D needed to know what was going on in Leon's life, so he decided to call at Leon's hotel.
D took a taxi and found himself before Leon's door in no time.
The Kami knocked, but there was no answer, though D could feel that Leon was inside.
D spelled the lock, and let himself into the room.
Leon was talking.
D followed the voice of his friend - his friend who was chatting with "Miss Jill".
Leon was so lost in the world he had invented that he didn't hear D.
Leon was telling Jill that he'd found D again, and that the new shop looked almost the same as the one in Los Angeles.
D registered his tears when they finally fell off his cheeks.
Leon was talking to the little bonsai tree that D had offered to Jill last Christmas. The minute tree was as dead as the gentle woman to whom D had given it.
'Detective?' D whispered softly, not to frighten his friend.
Leon didn't react, and he went on chatting with the dead tree.
Leon was chatting with the tree as if it really were Jill, and D had the eerie feeling that wherever Leon had slid, it was a place where Jill was answering him.
D wondered what had really happened between his friend and Miss Jill. The Kami was happy to be what and who he was, because something in his nature would allow him to contact Jill - her soul had not been gone for a year, so she was still reachable.
Right then and there, something D had never expected to happen happened.
D didn't even know it was possible.
He had been taught to deal with pets - that was all. Somewhere down the line, he had started caring for them, and even loving some of them - and as a consequence, the residents of the pet shop were extremely fond of him. Sometimes D even thought that his parents were jealous of that. D had the ability to make creatures love him, while most living beings of the creation were only afraid of his parents.
D had been taught to despise men. None of them were good, and they deserved being given some of their most deadly cousins through twistedly tailored contracts.
D had discovered that his parents had been lying to him because not all humans were bad.
Miss Jill had been a testimony of that, and the gentle woman had been attacked, and the light of her life extinguished entirely too soon.
Then there was Leon Orcot...
The young man was loud and unrefined, but he was a good man. He was merely too young, and he'd had to fend for himself all alone for quite too long, but otherwise Leon was a good man.
D felt that Leon's other world, where Jill was still alive, was a sort of lifeline to which the detective was clinging, but one day or another, Leon, in the best case scenario, would end up in a psychiatric ward, or he would slide into that world at some inconvenient moment when his life would end up being endangered, or he would die in that other dimension when he finally acknowledged that it was just a lie.
For the first time in his life, D saw that those annoying human creatures that could talk and walk were merely pets that required extra attention and care, and quite a lot of love.
Leon was like a lost puppy, and D simply refused to allow Leon to die from grief.
Since Leon seemed not to notice his unexpected guest, D made himself comfortable, and he found something suitable to light some incense that he had brought with him.
The first whiff made Leon smile, just before it made him fall asleep.
D made sure that Leon would be comfortable on the bed that was obviously the one he had chosen, and he settled in the other bed. D reached for the plane where Jill's soul would be floating.
"Long time no see, my dear Kami!" Jill greeted D.
He didn't know on which plane he was, but he was delighted to have found her so fast and easily.
"Miss Jill!' he exclaimed.
He found himself wrapped in her soul.
D could not exactly see Jill. He could feel her essence and all the little things that had made the gentle woman, but he could also feel that she was being prepared to return to the great everything where she would stay before coming back to the swirling blue ball called Earth.
"I always felt there was something unusual about you, now I know what it was," she teased him.
"I'm sorry I could not tell you," D apologized.
"It's perfectly understandable. You know, after you pushed Leon back to us, he mentioned things at the hospital, and I thought he'd blown a fuse. It sounded so... impossible," Jill said.
"What happened to you, Miss Jill?" D asked rather bluntly.
"Why I was killed, or why I became Mrs Orcot, or both?" she asked.
"Both, I guess,' D admitted.
Jill Orcot told him her tale.
A few months before he disappeared from Los Angeles, Jill had fallen in love with one of her fellows.
Though she was still mainly working with Leon, she was informed of the details of one of the mafia-related cases on which her fiancé was working.
They were planning their wedding when he was killed in a car accident.
Everybody said that it was just an accident, but Jill knew better. It had been perfectly orchestrated; it was a true criminal piece of art, but it was just that... a criminal act.
Jill took over her fiancé's case and went on inquiring.
Meanwhile, Leon had taken his weirdest trip ever with D and ended up in the hospital.
Jill and Leon became even closer after that.
Leon missed his closest friend, and Jill was mourning her lover.
Leon took to taking care of his female friend, and when she became allegedly ill, he drove her to the hospital to have routine tests done. It turned out that in spite of two prophylactics, Jill was pregnant. She had been ecstatic and freaked out at the very same time. She was glad to be harbouring the proof of the love she and her fiancé had shared, but as a police woman, she was afraid for the child.
The handful of people who knew with whom Jill had been involved were all very close friends, and they were all invited to her wedding the day Leon swore to protect her. They all understood that it was a demonstration of ultimate friendship. They were sure that when the child would be old enough to understand, Jill and Leon would explain what happened, and who gave him, or her, the other half of DNA.
Leon had never touched Jill - except to hug her and comfort her when grief threatened to make her collapse.
He had never been in love with her, but he wanted to protect her.
He had never known his father, and he had lost his mother.
He had seen his adorable brother leave his side to go and live with their closest relatives - on the other coast.
He had been pushed away by his best friend - and though he knew it was to protect him, it still hurt quite a lot.
Finally, he had failed to protect Jill, and the Mafiosi had found her and extinguished the light of her life, killing the last proof of her love in the process.
Leon had made them pay, but the exhaustion combined with the grief had got to him, and he'd lost himself.
Leon had tried to take care of the bonsai Jill had loved so much, because it was a gift from D, but even the small plant had abandoned him. The day it had lost its last leaf, Leon had snapped, and now exactly an hour after the end of his shift, Leon needed to have a chat with Jill, except that Jill was a dead bonsai.
Jill's soul was crying for her friend.
"There is nothing I can do," she told D. "Will you save him one more time?"
"I don't know how to help and heal him, but I care too much for him not to try something," D answered.
"Excellent! I felt I could count on you," Jill declared. "I'll find a way to help you before I leave this place."
D felt warmth, and he woke up on the second bed in Leon's hotel room.
Leon was still sleeping quietly.
D stood up and took the dead bonsai away with him.
When Leon woke up, he didn't notice that Jill wasn't there because it was not time for their chat yet.
When he came back from the sessions of the day, his blood froze in his veins because he now could see that Jill wasn't there. He rushed to the table where he'd left her, and found a card on it. In Jill's neat handwriting, Leon was told that she'd gone to the pet shop for a cup of tea with D.
Leon chuckled. It was normal that Jill wished to see D. They were all friends after all - or at least he hoped D was their friend.
Leon decided to walk back to the pet shop because it would allow him to find a treat for D and Jill.
During the months that Leon had been shopping for treats for D, Leon had learnt to order cakes and sweets in very basic Mandarin.
That day he traumatized a poor shop attendant, who had never imagined that she would ever have to serve an American patron attempting to speak Chinese. When he understood that the girl didn't get the message, he apologized in Japanese and resorted to hand language.
The girl understood that the sum in yens frightened her client, so she kindly noted down a rough calculation of the bill in dollars, and Leon bowed to thank her. He paid her, and was delighted to notice that another assistant had wrapped his purchase in an adorable box, tied with fluffy ribbons. Leon looked so happy when he left the shop that the attendants all wondered if all Americans were addicted to sugar.
Leon was very happy.
He was already slipping into the world he had invented, so it didn't matter if he was in an alien city - a city so entirely different from Los Angeles.
Leon could not read the signs, but he knew where to find D's shop, and Jill had said that she would be there. Leon felt like humming or whistling, but he wouldn't want the natives to think that he was weird or crazy.
Now that he thought of it, he reflected that he should have offered Jill to go and see D the night before. Leon was delighted that D had decided to come back onto this plane - even if it was so far away from the USA. It would only be fair to share that with Jill.
Leon walked faster, and his grin looked suspicious to the people on the street.
The Detective finally reached the shop, and he walked down the steps.
'Hello?' Leon said as soon as he pushed the door open.
The incense smoke was even thicker than usual, but Leon welcomed the scent - it was familiar, and it felt good.
'Detective!' D exclaimed joyfully.
He rose from the sofa and walked to greet his friend.
'It is not our usual kind of treat, but I hope you'll like it,' Leon said, as he handed D the box.
'Many things are different here, my dear friend, but there is something pleasant in our ritual,' D said as accepted the offering.
Ritual.
Leon liked the word.
He liked it, not because there was a religious note to it - and he now knew a bit more about D's nature... No... There was a security in that word. A promise. Something that guaranteed that Leon would not lose D again: if there was their sugar fix and cup of tea in the late afternoon, then there was hope. Leon could not tell why it was more important than before, but he felt that it was almost vital.
D gestured to invite Leon to sit on the sofa, and Leon eagerly accepted.
Jill was on the table. She looked no better than the day before, but she was there.
'That was a good thing that you left me a note, otherwise I would have wondered where you'd gone,' Leon told the dead bonsai.
'Of course I left a note, silly! I'm well organized!' an indignant Jill exclaimed, as she entered the main parlour with a tray on which there were cups and a teapot.
Leon looked from the bonsai to the woman who had just entered the room.
Leon's disturbed mind made him prefer the woman who was now sitting next to him.
D knew that his decision and his action would anger his relatives.
The creature who was impersonating Jill sat next to Leon and poured three cups of tea. It had been easy for D to convince her to save Leon. The female who had decided to be called "Jill" in the human world was a great protector, and when she had seen the dead bonsai, she had felt what was going on in Leon's mind. D had granted her access to some of his memories about Leon, and she chose to protect and save Leon.
'I told Count D what happened to us,' Jill said.
Leon turned to face D and said, 'I'm sorry. I should have told you yesterday when my fellow brought me to your shop.'
'It's perfectly understandable, my dear friend. You didn't want to betray Miss Jill's confidence, and you could not tell for sure if my stay with my relatives, among my kind, had changed me or not,' D said, sipping his tea.
'How was your stay?' Leon inquired.
'Time there doesn't flow as it does for you,' D answered. 'That's one of the main reasons I had to push you back here. My stay was short and long at the very same time. My grandfather asked me to re-open the shop here because some of the animals were needed here. To some of my protégés and you, it was merely a few months, but time felt like years to me.'
'It must have been awful,' Jill said, gently taking D's hand in hers.
D had not expected that the creature posing as Jill would include him in her magic. Of course, D could see her human and animal forms, and he could feel her love and her magic floating all around them.
D had broken countless rules when he asked Jill to help and save Leon. The special incense he was burning was specially designed to have Leon's mind provide whatever the Detective needed to believe that Jill was there with them.
D knew that it would not be long before his kind reproached him with wasting precious time over a mere human - except that now everything was clear to D. If he abandoned the most arrogant creatures of the world to their fate, then he was no better than them and unworthy of his mission of protection. If he saved Leon, there might be hope for the world, for all creatures - there might even be hope for D's own kind.
His relatives would never admit it, but it was time to change the rules.
D was using the most precious incense ever, he had got the protection of one of the most powerful creatures of the creation to bring Leon back to reality.
D squeezed Jill's hand back, bowed slightly, and let her deal with Leon as she saw fit.
'Count D has offered to help us protect the baby,' Jill said.
'Really?!' Leon exclaimed.
'I think we really should be very careful. The men you sent to jail are extremely dangerous, and they could harm us if we don't change things in our life,' Jill said.
Leon knew that the Mafiosi were behind bars, but behind said bars, there were telephones and computers and IT pirates. To conclude, no place was fully safe - except maybe D's pet shop.
Suddenly, it hit Leon like a ton of bricks: D was the only one who could make a difference.
'Would you really help me protect Jill?' Leon asked seriously.
'It would deeply pain me if anything were to happen to you,' D declared.
Leon thought that "you" included Jill and him, but D was only concerned with the Detective's well-being.
'Thank you so much!' Leon said.
'We might have to change a thing or two in our schedule,' Jill said.
Leon blinked.
'Orcot!' she teased him. 'I think it's time we get a new life.'
'Really?' Leon asked.
'Oh, yes!' she purred.
'What do you suggest we do?' Leon wondered.
'I think there are ways we can help Justice other than by being police officers. Either we keep doing what we do, and sooner or later we get killed by those you sent to jail, or we take an entirely different approach, and disappear,' she said.
'Disappear? And then what?' Leon asked.
'And then D teaches you his trade,' Jill purred, looking from Leon to D.
Leon gulped.
D froze.
Leon didn't fancy tailoring contracts to sell mermaids and things.
D knew Jill was right, and he had to take a leap of faith as important as Leon's.
'What about you?' Leon asked Jill.
'I'll see how I can help you boys after I've had the baby,' she said, grinning.
Leon looked at D.
If the frail human was accepting the idea of such a radical change, then maybe D just had to follow Jill's lead.
D smiled.
Leon grinned.
It was obvious that he was still lost in his invented world. D hoped that Leon would be all right in the morning when he wakes up in the shop with Jill by his side.
Jill told Leon that she had already accepted D's invitation to dinner. If D had not been a Kami, he was certain that he would have blinked stupidly, but being trained to face practically any kind of situation, he merely smiled and nodded politely.
Leon was delighted to taste again the dishes that reminded him of the pet shop in Los Angeles.
Thanks to her magic, Jill was orchestrating Leon's rescue, and that included the other pets in her plan. Tou Tetsu was not happy to be involved in this - he preferred having to serve only D - but he obeyed Jill. She was much more powerful than he would ever be, and he knew what she was capable of.
Dinner was pleasant, and they all chatted for so long that Jill and Leon spent the night in a guestroom of the shop.
When Jill was sure that Leon was fast asleep, she let some of her magic work on him to make sure that he wouldn't wake up, and she went to D's room.
'Do you think you can help him?' D asked.
D was sitting on his bed, and Jill was pacing in front of him, almost lost in thought.
'That poor baby is practically lost, but I have an idea that might work. It's going to be painful, though,' she declared.
'I'll help you as much as I can,' D said.
'It's going to be painful for you as well. I can help him find his way back to us, but his grief is going to affect you, if you really want to help him,' she explained.
D looked at the one he had chosen to help Leon, his friend.
'I'll do anything to bring him back to sanity,' D vowed.
'Good,' she purred. 'I'll go back to his side now.'
Jill left, and D undressed for the night, listening to the shop. He could hear that the pets were chatting about the new one who had been adopted by their master; they were surprised by his species, but most of them were ready to welcome Leon.
D could hear Jill whispering spells into Leon's ear as he, himself, fell asleep.
The next morning, Leon woke up in a bed that wasn't his own. It wasn't the hotel bed either, and the Detective felt a bit disoriented for an instant.
Now that it was the morning, Leon remembered that his best friend was dead.
He almost screamed when he saw Jill sleeping next to him.
Leon was about to caress her hair - just to make sure that there was Jill's double (or something) in his bed - when there was a knock on his door, and D came into the room.
'I apologize, Leon, but could you follow me, please?' D asked.
Leon decided that his mind was finally betraying him, and without another look for the woman in his bed, he rolled out of bed and wrapped himself in a dressing gown that he conveniently found at the foot of his bed.
Leon followed D through the labyrinth of the shop, and they finally arrived in a room where Detective Inuyama was waiting for them.
'Thank God! You're safe!' exclaimed the young officer.
'Good morning, Inuyama-san,' Leon said. 'Why are you so worried?'
'Your hotel contacted us to report that your room has been searched and wrecked,' Inuyama said. 'No one knew where you were, and we were all afraid that you had been abducted.'
'Detective Inuyama came to warn me, and I told him that you had called yesternight and stayed here,' D told Leon.
'The Mafiosi must have connection with the Yakusa, or something,' Leon said.
'Or something,' Inuyama said. 'I have seen the wreck that your room is now, and it must have been done by one of the new clans.'
'I think it is time to explain our plan to Inuyama-san,' D declared.
The Japanese detective turned toward the Kami.
Leon blinked - he didn't remember what the plan might be.
'Would you like me to explain it all?' D offered.
Leon nodded. He felt in his heart that D meant to help him. If he let D talk, maybe the chips would fall into place.
'You see, Inuyama-san, the more I think about all of this, the more I believe that the attack on Leon's room might be an incredible opportunity for us,' D started.
'Us?' whispered Leon.
It had been so soft that only D heard him.
'Leon reflected, while we were having dinner, that the men he'd had arrested would certainly not stop, even if they are in jail,' D told the Japanese detective.
'A logical conclusion,' Inuyama granted.
'Leon has accepted my help and my invitation to stay with me until measures can be taken against the men he'd had put in jail. What happened to his room might well provide us with the time we need, if you agree to help us as well,' D said.
'You wish me not to report that Detective Orcot is staying here so that he can investigate safely and quietly,' Inuyama said.
'You understand the situation perfectly,' D complimented the young man.
Had D not been fighting to save Leon's sanity, Inuyama would have indeed been correct about the circumstances. As it were, D needed to have Leon all to himself.
If any clan thug ever found out that Leon was staying in the pet shop... Well, one of the other inhabitants of the shop would get appetizers for free. Maybe Jill herself would get the treat.
Inuyama promised not to tell anyone that Leon was safe and sound, or where he was. He said that he'd keep coming to the shop, not to arouse suspicion if he were watched, and to help them if need be.
The young officer returned to his station to gather information.
As soon as the door closed behind Inuyama, Leon turned to D and asked, 'Last night is a bit in a blur, why did I agree to stay here when I could do much better work outside?'
'Don't you remember who was waiting for you here when you arrived?' D asked in his turn.
Leon shook his head and admitted that he didn't remember coming to the shop, or even staying for the night.
That really was dementia.
'I think we should go back to your room,' D suggested.
The Kami held out his hand, and Leon accepted the friendly gesture.
In Leon's room, Jill was still sleeping peacefully.
When he saw her, Leon fainted.
When he finally regained consciousness, Leon merely heard voices, and he had the feeling that it was not English he was hearing. He fought to open his eyes, and saw D looking at him. The Kami looked really concerned.
'How do you feel?' D asked him.
'Don't know,' Leon mumbled.
A cold cloth was gently placed on his brow, and Leon sighed with contentment. Then he registered that both D's hands were holding one of his, so it had to be one of the inhabitants of the pet shop who was taking care of him.
Leon turned to look at the creature, hoping it was something nice, but when he saw Jill, he almost fainted again.
Tears instantly filled Leon's eyes.
'I'm becoming mad,' Leon whispered to no one in particular.
'You've had a nasty shock, Sweetie. How do you feel now?' Jill asked Leon.
Leon closed his eyes, causing the tears to roll down his cheeks, and said, 'You're not real. You can't be real. You're buried in Los Angeles. I'm becoming mad.'
'It was just a nightmare, Leon. I'm here. With you... and Count D,' Jill said.
Leon looked at D, and squeezed his hands so much that it would have been painful, had D been human.
'We're both here to help you,' D said softly.
'Jill died. She was killed by the men who killed her fiancé. I was there when my department was told there'd been shots in our apartment and we found her. I was there when her coffin was put six feet under,' Leon said between gasps as he cried for his lost friend.
'I'm here now,' Jill insisted.
'Can you see her too?' Leon asked D.
'Of course I can see Jill,' D reassured his friend.
Leon looked at Jill, who was so much like his Jill, but who could not be his dead friend.
He looked at D again, and then something changed for Leon.
He let go of D's hands, and manoeuvred to slide off the bed.
Jill pushed Leon back onto the bed.
'I don't know what you are, but it's cruel to do that to me,' Leon growled.
Jill took Leon's face in her hand. Her touch was gentle, but at the same time, she had a firm grip on him so that he would not try and leave the room.
'I am your Jill,' she said, weaving more magic around Leon.
'You can't be. I completely pissed the coroner off when I held my dead friend. He barked at me, but it was because I was messing with the proof that would help put her murderers behind bars. Fuck! We were nearly all crying when we found Jill,' Leon said, crying again.
'I am your Jill,' she repeated, adding even more strength to her magic.
'You damn well look like her, but you can't be Jill,' Leon said.
'I know what you're thinking, Honey, but I promise that I'm not a goldfish. I'm just your Jill,' she insisted.
'You're not a goldfish or a cat?' Leon asked, sniffing loudly.
Jill chuckled warmly, and shook her head.
Leon slightly turned to look at D.
'How did you manage to bring her back?' Leon asked.
'It was in my power to do something,' D cryptically declared.
In one swift movement, Leon knelt on the bed and looked at Jill.
'It's really you?' he asked.
Jill nodded.
'And?' Leon's voice trailed off, and he pointed towards her belly.
She placed one hand there, and purred, 'That little thing in there is steadily growing, thank you.'
Leon took Jill in his arms and hugged her.
Everything was there. Her perfume, the smell of her shampoo and soap, the soft jumper she liked so much...
'It's going to be all right,' Jill told Leon.
The young man turned toward D, and hugged him in his turn. The Kami's surprise turned into delight, and he wrapped his arms around the Detective.
'What are we going to do?' Leon asked.
'We're going to protect the lady together,' D answered.
Leon wrapped an arm around Jill, and held them both.
D looked at Jill, and she nodded slightly to let D see that her plan was working.
'What are we going to do?' Leon wondered.
Jill hadn't shared her plan with D, so he was forced to blindly follow her lead.
'Well, I've had time to think, and I've come up with an idea,' she said.
Leon looked at her, waiting for his friend to share her plan with them.
When she didn't, he glared and growled, 'Unlike a certain God here, I am not a mind-reader, Jill.'
D indignantly looked at the thumb Leon was pointing at him, and shot back, 'I am not a mind-reader!'
Jill chuckled and said, 'Easy, boys! I'm willing to tell you what I have in mind.'
'So?' Leon asked.
'You are too impatient,' D commented.
Leon growled and Jill collapsed between them on the bed, laughing hard.
D and Leon looked at her, and then at each other, and both smiled.
'Thank you for bringing her back,' Leon whispered very softly.
D bowed slightly.
'All right, gentlemen,' Jill declared seriously. 'I need to know how far you'll go to protect me.'
'What do you mean?' Leon asked, completely lost.
'I have a precise plan, Leon, but I need you to trust me entirely, and follow me blindly, or nearly so,' she explained.
'Jill, I'll do anything for you,' Leon said.
Neither D, nor Jill, needed to look at the young man to know that he was about to cry.
'I failed to protect you once, it won't happen again,' Leon promised.
'You didn't fail, Leon. I want you to rest assured of that,' she said.
'But...' he was immediately interrupted by Jill, who placed her fingertips on his lips.
'Shush, Baby. You didn't fail,' she insisted.
D noticed that Leon was about to be overwhelmed again, so he intervened.
'What do you think we should do to escape the Mafiosi and their friends,' D asked.
'Before I share my idea with you, I need you two to answer one question,' she said.
They nodded.
'You can't answer lightly,' she insisted.
D bowed, and Leon kept nodding furiously.
'Do you trust me enough to follow me anywhere, if I tell you that it is vital for my plan?' she asked.
'Of course I'd follow you anywhere!' Leon exclaimed.
'Think carefully, my dear friend. It might mean disappearing with D and me. It might mean having to hide for months until we can trap them for sure. It might mean having to resign, and work with D. It might mean being unable to contact our friends and your relatives, including Chris. Can you do that?' she asked.
Leon thought carefully and swore to follow Jill.
She turned to D and asked, 'What about you?'
He blinked.
'Could you leave everything behind to stay with me and Leon? Could you leave the shop? Could you disobey your grandfather?' she asked.
D almost gasped.
It was either the life he knew and loved, or the unknown with Leon Orcot and an artificial Jill.
The Kami was torn, and he'd never been so sure of anything in his entire life at the very same time.
D nodded.
Jill grinned; she could begin her rescue mission.
The next day, when Detective Inuyama came to see if Count D and Detective Orcot were all right, he was quite surprised to meet another D - the eldest D.
The young man saw that the man was not his mentor. His eyes were both of the same colour, and there was a different aura around the Chinese man.
'I apologize, I didn't mean to disturb you,' Inuyama said.
'Welcome to the Pet Shop,' the eldest D answered immediately. 'How may I help you?'
There was something in the other Kami that froze the young detective.
'I was coming to see if Count D could give me pieces of advice about my blue fish,' Inuyama lied.
'My... relative has apparently decided to leave the shop. I apologize for the inconvenience, but if you could come back tomorrow, I would be honoured to help you then. I have to take care of the pets first,' the eldest D said.
'Of course, I understand,' the young man said. 'It will be an honour to come back to seek your advice tomorrow, Sir.'
Inuyama bowed deeply, and left.
The young man almost ran back to his home, and there he called his office. Inuyama was told that the LAPD had received Leon Orcot's letter of resignation. They were to keep on investigating what had been done to their fellow's bedroom, but that was all.
Inuyama thought that Mr Orcot might well have decided to avenge this time. Inuyama did not exactly approve, but he understood - and Orcot had proved too quiet for an Occidental. Inuyama didn't fully know who and what D was, but he'd felt his power, and the young Japanese detective knew that if Count D and Leon Orcot had decided to avenge the death of Mrs Orcot, he would hear about it through the grapevine - when the bodies would be found.
Inuyama did not approve, but he wished the two men good luck.
His blue fish jumped in his bowl, Inuyama thought it was to attract his attention, but in fact, the fish wanted to wish good luck to the two men, who had just followed the illusion of Jill somewhere potentially dangerous.
Inuyama was not surprised when he saw that the shop was closed for good the next day when he walked by it.
The eldest D was already on his way to another part of Asia with his youngest charge. The youngest D hoped his - now - elder would find whatever it was he was looking for. Even if the eldest was pretty angry, the youngest just felt that it was a good thing that was being done.
The eldest D was angry because D had left without warning him, but truth be told, the eldest had known that he'd lose his grandson one day or the other.
The time to travel with his new charge to another location was all the eldest needed to get used to the new situation. There were a few pets missing, but those had made it clear long ago that they were personally linked to the young D, so the eldest was not really surprised.
There was only the disappearance of one pet that bothered him. The creature was precious and rare, and now it was gone - certainly to help the young one save a human - and all that without a contract, for sure!
The eldest was disappointed, but there was nothing he could do if the fugitives were shielded by the magic of the creature.
The youngest one was intrigued, but he knew better than confide in the eldest. Without knowing
why, he had the feeling that he'd already tried that, but that it didn't have the result he'd hoped.
Meanwhile, D was working with Jill, and a few faithful pets, to save Leon.
Leon was learning D's trade, and once he understood the complexity - and (sometimes poetic) justice - of the contracts, Leon worked very efficiently.
The pets who had left with D and Leon meant to take care of their masters, not keep assuming their initial goals.
As they travelled, the unusual company met pets that were happy to be adopted. The new pets of the new shop helped Leon feel better.
When they were finally back to the States, D found pets that avenged Jill and her fiancé. Of course, the men who had ordered both murders were in jail, thanks to Leon's hard work, but when D explained what those nasty men had done, many pets had volunteered for the job. Only those who were small enough to enter the various penitentiaries unnoticed were hired. The deaths looked perfectly natural, and even Detective Inuyama wondered when he inquired - along with the detectives in charge of the cases - if it were not just Fate.
Leon was learning D's trade, but he still had moments when the illusion of Jill was not enough, and he slipped into the world he had invented and needed.
One night, when he was certain that his friend was asleep, D went to see Jill.
Over the weeks, D had seen a bump develop, as if Jill was feeding the illusion that she was pregnant. The Kami was always surprised to see Jill caress her belly, as if there were some life there.
'I'm afraid for Leon,' D told the powerful creature.
'Because he still needs to imagine that his version of Jill is alive in his world?' she asked.
D nodded.
'If he had not found his way back to us, Leon would have completely collapsed by now. I can help him very soon, but you're going to have to help a bit as well,' Jill said.
'What are you going to do, and how can I help? D asked.
'When I work to heal Leon, you'll have to stay with him, and I'll need you to do something that is going to ground him afterwards,' she said.
'What?' D wondered.
'You have to heal his Jill,' she pointed out.
D blinked, wondering what she meant.
'His Jill... The bonsai tree you gave to the one whom I look like,' she explained.
She heard D's sharp intake of breath.
'I know,' she said softly. 'Providing the dead tree with what it needs to come back to life is going to be extremely painful.'
'Not as painful as it would be if I were to lose Leon,' D said softly.
She nodded her understanding.
'I am making what will save Leon. It will be ready very, very soon,' she declared, caressing her belly again.
'I do not understand. You didn't mate,' D said.
She chuckled and said, 'Which is a good thing for Leon, otherwise I might have picked him up to feed my babies. No, my dear Count... I am pregnant with Leon's sanity. I am gathering what he'll need to stop needing the illusion that feeds his dementia.'
'Is it going to be painful for you?' D asked.
'Not at all, but as soon as I've given him what he needs, he'll no longer be able to see that form,' she said.
'I'll have to make sure he comes back to us,' D whispered.
Jill patted his hand, and he instantly felt better.
It would be dangerous, and tricky, but it was worth it.
Saving Leon was vital.
D knew that his grandfather and his relatives certainly were cursing him daily, but it was not important. Leon was important.
For the first time, Jill took D's hand and placed it on her belly, and he felt the power contained there. He felt Leon's aura in it, and D began to truly hope.
Days went by, and Jill made sure that Leon spent most of his time with D, to prepare him to be deprived of the illusion she offered him.
Jill had become so huge that it was not difficult for her to tell Leon that she'd rather rest quietly. As soon as Leon left her room, she called to her side the pets who were free to help by her side, and she entered a kind of trance that allowed her to keep gathering the elements that Leon would need to heal.
Following Jill's instructions, D bathed Leon in friendship and companionship while they worked together.
The former police officer was too happy to question his friends' attentions, and he simply enjoyed his new life with D and Jill.
Tou Tetsu no longer growled when he served their meals - and D suspected that Jill might have done some serious ass-kicking (before she was too big to do so).
D had to accept that Leon was an inch from madness, and that he risked losing his human friend if Jill's magic didn't work.
Tou Tetsu and some of the other pets, who had followed because of D, had to accept that Leon now was a member of their unusual family if they didn't want to anger their Kami.
It had been made clear that Leon was the important one in the new illegitimate shop. Those who wanted to be in the adventure were most welcome, but they were subordinates. Leon was the primary motivation.
The other pets could have become jealous of the human pet - as they saw him - but they saw that he was entirely devoted to D and to the one who passed as Jill.
One day at a time, one smile at a time, one caress at a time, the pets adopted the human.
In the end, even Tou Tetsu somehow befriended the human.
They all took care of one another, but Leon did not notice that they were all orbiting around him.
Finally, the day when Jill was ready came.
It was a beautiful day, and she felt that it bode well.
D and the shop inhabitants - but Leon - felt that it was time.
D was ready for what he had to do, and the pets were ready to help Jill with her task.
Right now, they needed Leon to sleep.
Jill, D and Leon were sharing their evening meal, and the young man finally noticed that everything was pretty quiet in the shop. Then, Leon noticed that Jill looked strange - it was as if she were excited and serene at the very same time.
'Are you all right, Sweetie?' Leon asked.
'Yes, my gentle lion,' she teased him affectionately.
Leon moved to sit next to her, and he had the bizarre feeling that he could drown in her eyes. He could not begin to imagine that the one he mistook for Jill was using mild hypnosis on him.
Leon felt a warm wave of something envelop him. It was between friendship and love, and it made him feel so good. He thought it was because he was with D and Jill, and because Jill would soon have a beautiful baby he would protect as if it were his own.
Jill took Leon's face in her hands, and pecked his lips, saying, 'My friend.'
Leon fell asleep, and his head came to rest on Jill's shoulder.
'Count D, it is time,' Jill said.
D carried Leon into Jill's room and deposited him on the bed.
Jill nestled next to the human, and she was soon surrounded by her animalistic friends.
The dead bonsai was brought to D by Tou Tetsu himself.
Everything was ready.
They could start the final phase of Leon's healing.
Before D could offer the pets to leave the room and hide in a place where the magic would not be painful for them, they all told him that they would stick together.
D was deeply moved. He could almost taste the pets' love for him, but to see them welcome Leon as one of their kind was a nice gift for the Kami.
D lit the same variety of incense he had lit in Leon's hotel room in Tokyo, so that Leon would not wake up before everything was done.
The magic could begin. For better, or...
'Everything's going to be all right,' Jill told D.
'How can you be so sure?' D answered, barely above a whisper.
Now, they either healed Leon's soul, or D would lose his friend.
'I know it's going to be all right. I just know that Leon is going to be all right in the end,' Jill declared.
She was on her side, facing Leon, who was snoring softly. She was placing her belly as close to Leon's heart as she could, and when she was satisfied, she wrapped an arm around the sleeping human.
D hoped that Jill had gathered enough particles of Leon's sanity for his friend to be able to face a world without the real Jill in it.
'I think you should do what you have to do first,' Jill suggested.
D nodded.
'Even if it doesn't work, I want to thank you for helping me,' D said.
Jill grinned.
'I know I'm not just one of your pets - just like the others who followed us. We're a family,' Jill said.
D was too moved to answer.
'Even if I relinquish the form I now have, I'll still be with you and Leon,' Jill said.
D gave her a small smile.
'It is time to start,' D stated softly.
Jill and the other pets nodded.
They were all ready.
D took a deep breath and concentrated on what he had to do. Tou Tetsu placed himself right behind D, in order to hold the Kami if need be.
D took the dead bonsai that Tou Tetsu had brought him, and he placed it on the ground and knelt before it. D looked at his friends and smiled at them.
The Kami rolled up his left sleeve, and slashed his wrist with one of his sharp nails. Sometimes, his blood could appear as liquid as human blood, but to bring back life into the minute branches of the dead tree, D needed to use his essence.
The pets saw a raspberry-coloured sort of jelly wrap the bonsai's small branches and trunk, and it started slowly permeating the dry earth contained in the blue china of the pot. It looked like a bubble of something wrapping around the tree, and coming from D's open wrist.
It was as if a part of D's life were wrenched out of him, and he started sweating and trembling.
D was strongly linked to the vegetation of the earth, and he was trying to resurrect a miniature tree that had surrendered life months ago. Feeding the tree with his own life was painful. It was as if D's blood, flesh and marrow, as well as a part of his soul, were trying to revivify the bonsai. The agonizing moments it took D to revive the dead tree seemed much longer than they actually were, and when the tree shivered with renewed life - divine life - D could let his essence fully drip into the earth of the pot while his wrist closed its wound by itself.
Tou Tetsu was there to hold D and comfort him, thanks to a magic of his own.
The bonsai started sprouting tiny leaves, and D sobbed. If he could do that, then maybe Leon could be helped.
'Don't forget that I really like to be scratched behind my ears,' Jill told D.
He chuckled and sobbed at the same time, and nodded.
Jill prepared to release her magic onto Leon's heart.
Everything happened rather fast. She slashed through the illusion that made her appear as Jill, and a sphere of magic landed on Leon, as Jill seemed to fold up on herself backwards until she resumed her true form.
It was not painful, per se, but somewhat tiring, and she fell asleep in her friends' arms. She was carried into the extremely hot bathroom, where a nest of warm towels had been prepared for her to rest quietly. She slept wrapped in the warmth of her friends while Leon's sanity returned to his body. The sphere of magic looked like golden butter melting on him, and through him.
When Leon shivered and whimpered, Tou Tetsu helped D reach Leon's side on the bed, and the
Kami gently rocked his friend.
When Leon woke up the next morning, he remembered everything.
He knew that Jill was dead, that he'd found D again completely by chance, that they'd left everything to work together, and that one of the pets had saved him.
Leon saw the bonsai on the bedside table, and he gasped. He was still in D's arms, and the Kami was caressing his hair.
'How?' Leon asked.
'I shared some of my nature with it,' D explained softly.
Leon moved to look at his friend.
'She's dead. She's gone,' Leon said.
There were tears in his eyes, but D could see that all signs of dementia were gone for good. If he could ward Leon against breakdown, he would be able to save his friend.
'Yes, she's gone for now, but I have no doubt that we'll meet again someday,' D said.
'In another incarnation,' Leon said, sniffing loudly.
D nodded.
'Is it going to be long?' Leon asked.
D hugged his friend and declared, 'I know that you'll miss her, but I promise to stay with you.'
'Promise?' Leon asked with a very small voice that nearly broke D's heart.
'Always, my dearest friend,' D swore.
Leon felt that the Kami was speaking literally, and that warmed his heart. He had lost Jill, but there was nothing he could do, and they had nicely avenged her. Now if he was assured of having D by his side forever, Leon thought that he could live with that.
Leon felt much lighter than he had since Jill was murdered, and it showed.
D could sigh with relief.
They were not out of the wood, but the magic of their Jill was working.
One of the pets jumped onto Leon's bed and settled over his heart. Leon smiled and caressed her.
'I don't remember her. What's her name?' Leon asked.
D smiled at the pet, and said, 'Ming(1). She likes to be scratched behind the ears.'
Leon did that, and it looked as if the creature were smiling.
In the first days after his healing, Leon was rather fragile, but his friends - all his friends, Kami and pets alike - were always there to hold him and tell him how much they loved him, or just to invade his lap and purr loudly - or something akin.
More than once, Leon almost collapsed, but being wrapped in friendship helped him through that ordeal.
Ming was still important in Leon's recovery, even if she no longer looked like Jill. She often stayed with Leon because she had grown quite fond of D's friend.
At one point, D feared that Leon would end up being fed up of always having someone with him, but after a handful of years Leon organized a little party to thank his friends for their affection, and D knew that his human friend loved being wrapped in their warmth.
Leon and D worked together very efficiently. They travelled together and welcomed more pets, who helped bring more justice to the human world. Some pets helped their owners to avenge, or find happiness; the contracts attached to some pets assured that the humans who did not respect them met a just end.
A year and a day after saving Leon, D had a very strange dream, and he decided - with Leon's help - to send a message to the one who was replacing him in the official pet shop.
It was only when Chris Orcot visited the new Count D that D's magic activated on the family portrait that Chris had drawn years before.
It took Chris and the new D three months to understand the message fully. By the time they knew how and where to find D and Leon, Chris had started working with the new D.
Chris and his Kami left, just like D and Leon had, but the new Count was cunning and powerful enough to bar all his relatives from accessing the shop. When the two Kami and the two brothers met again, they decided to work together.
The pet shop they generated was more powerful than it had ever been, more powerful than the eldest D could ever have dreamt it'd be.
It was a strong association, and a very efficient one.
Chris was delighted to find his brother again, and his friendship with his D became as strong as
Leon's with his D.
Many decades after meeting D, the flame of Leon's life began to flicker. In fact, by coming to live in the pet shop, official or not, Leon had been blessed with a very long life. Even though he knew he had to leave this world, Leon was fighting to stay with his brother and the two Kami.
Leon was in bed, held by his D.
'You'll have to go very soon,' D whispered gently.
'I know, but I don't want to leave you,' Leon answered.
'We'll meet again,' D said.
'You'll remember me, but I won't remember you,' Leon pointed out sadly.
Leon's D looked at his relative, and at Chris, who were sitting on Leon's bed. Chris smiled, and the other D nodded.
'Do you want to remember?' D asked.
Leon nodded.
D leant to touch the little bonsai that was kept by Leon's bed. The tree gave D one of its flowers. D held it between two of his sharp nails as he planted another one in a vein, and he coated the flower with a drop of his soul. D fed the flower to Leon, who shivered when he swallowed.
'Friends until the end of time,' D stated.
Leon grinned.
Something in Chris's eyes showed that his own Kami had better offer the same very soon.
Leon didn't know how D would find him the next time he came back to incarnate again, but Leon trusted his friend. He had trusted him with his security, his sanity, and his very life. Trusting D with his soul felt only natural.
Leon nestled closer to D, enjoying the murmur of silk under his cheek, and he closed his eyes.
If they were lucky, Jill's soul would find its way back to them, too.
Everything would be all right.
D had promised it.
When Leon and Chris would be gone, the two D would wait for them in each other's company. They were not human, so time would feel different, and with the assurance of finding those two souls again, it would not seem too long.
Even a day would be long, but they were sure to flow though time till the end of it together, and
the warmth of their friendship would feed their souls.
Even if some days had been sad and painful, the day Leon had first entered the pet shop in Los
Angeles remained for them a blessed one, and it remained so for millennia.
Finis