The Woman Called 663

Chapter 4.~The Fine Line Between Warmth and Ice~.

    He stood in an empty white space, recognizing the little fuzzy shapes as his old bedroom.

    Good morning Ma-chan.” He turned to look at a small fragile woman with a blanket draped across her lap and in front of her was a man with gentle lively green eyes.

    However, their faces were non-existent and filled with white, but the girl's short, black hair whispered about her chin making her seem gentle in manner.

    “Hmph! It's Mayou. My-you. Here pronounce it with me. My-you.” The man puffed out his cheeks and placed his hands on his hips.

    “Maaaaa-chan.” Her face grew a beaming smile that made Mayou grumble in protest, but he said no more about it.

    A sad smile grew on the spectator's lips as the scene fizzled out into a sporadic alarm. It glared in his ears and he flipped over to quickly shut it off. He laid back down and placed his phone on his stomach and sighed. He looked to the ceiling and his throat clogged with the awaiting tears. He covered his face with his hands, grabbing his hair as he closed his hands into fist hiding his closed eyes and trembling lip. “Shiroi-”

                                                                                                .~663~.

    “MAYOU!” A big, black burly man scooped 663 off the floor and into a muscle crushing hug.

    663 allowed the man to hug her because she felt no threat from him and she hasn't received an order from her Master to attack yet. So she went limp letting her head bang against his thick shoulder as he swung her around.

    “You have the wrong person. Where's your glasses at?” Mayou spoke up from behind the man.

    He held out 663 letting her legs dangle in the air while he squinted at her face. “Oh man, excuse me Milady, confused yer for somebody else.” He set her down and came to Mayou to pull him into a dinosaur hug.

    Mayou's face turned red in lack of oxygen and he tapped on the man's shoulder in defeat, “Tog, you're crushing me.”

    Tog dropped Mayou immediately and patted the back of his head in embarrassment. “Sorry man, I just got too excited.”

    Tog had a square muscular facial structure with wide, playful eyes that had crow feet wrinkles at the edges every time he smiles. He was tall at 6'5'' with large shoulders and thick thighs and arms. It was obvious that he hit the weights every day.

    “No you didn't, you're just trying to show off much stronger you've got since you left three years ago.” Mayou smirked at the man who trained him.

    “You caught me!” Tog shrugged his shoulders before grinning at Mayou. “I think my arms grew an extra five inches.” He held his arm to the side and popped the muscles out.

    “Hearty har har. I hope that you learned something more than overconfidence during your training.”

    “Hmph, don't underestimate me, boy, let me show you something new.” Tog grabbed Mayou by the back of his shirt and pulled down and back causing Mayou to lose balance and try to step backwards to regain stability, but Tog's foot was there making fall back without support.

    However, before Tog could do anything else 663 showed up, shoving Mayou back up which made Tog who still had a hold of the shirt be pulled along with Mayou. 663 took this chance to shove Tog's wrist up and forward to make him let go and to further twist his body away from her to allow enough distance to do a cat kick, but before she could Mayou grabbed her waist and pulled her back, creating enough distance that her kick couldn't reach.

    “I didn't give you an order to attack.” Mayou threw her to the ground.

    663 bent her head down, “He attack Master, me defend Master.”

    “Even then I didn't give you an order and Tog was only demonstrating.” Mayou examined 663 as she sat there giving no response.

    Tog held his hand out to 663. “Sorry Missy, didn't mean to startle you there.”

    Mayou clicked his tongue as she just stared at Tog's hand. “Grab his hand.” He watched her nod and gently place her small hand in the larger hand.

    Tog pulled up but didn't let go when 663 settled onto her feet instead he spread her fingers out and examined all the calluses. His eyes grew wide when he recognized one as an old, rarely used weapon callus. “You study the ancient Japanese weapon fan?”

    When 663 nodded his smile grew. “Mayou man you've got a good catch here. Don't let her go.”

    “No need to worry, I still have things for her to do first.” Mayou grinned at Tog, but frowned when his eyes landed on 663's forehead.

    There was a little blue shine that disappeared as quickly as it came and now that he was calmed down more he looked at where he stood and looked over to the wall five feet away. She was standing there when Tog showed him his new move so how did she get here so fast. What athletic ability does she have or did Pleoh do something to her?

    “Well, I'm going to beat new strategies into you in these weeks that when the party comes around, all you'll be able to think about is the mission and nothing else, girls included.” Tog winked suggestively at Mayou.

    “Give it a nice try, let's see how far you get.” Mayou defiantly accepted the challenge.

    “Come, let's head to the training room.” Mayou followed Tog who had just fished his glasses out of his shorts pocket into the large room they stood by.

    Once they got to the center of the room they stopped just before blue mats. It was bare except for materials for obstacle course cluttered in a corner and a rack of different close ranged weapons more towards the center. On a wall was damaged and new targets nailed to the wall at different heights and depths. Close to that wall was a large rack that held bows and varied ranged weapons.

    “You want to put on the gear for cowards?” Tog got into position with his knees bent, feet shoulder length apart, his leading foot facing Mayou and his back foot facing the wall behind him. He placed his left elbow on the front his left hip and held his fist, knuckles up by his stomach and his other was to the right of his vision with ulna bone parallel to Mayou's body.

    “There's no need, you won't be able to touch me, old man.” Mayou smirked and he held his fist up to his chin and bounced on his feet.

    “Boy, you're getting too confident. I'm gonna have to knock you down a few inches.”

    “You just want me to stay shorter than you because you're growing smaller every time I see you.” Mayou quickly sidestepped to Tog's back, his toes light on the floor before planting his heels firmly and jabbing.

    “That's a lame sneak attack, how is your mission going to succeed if you can't get him from behind.” Tog used his front leg as a pivot and swung his body around to grab Mayou's elbow and direct it in another direction.

    Mayou used his other hand to slam down on the wrist that grabbed him forcing Tog to let go.

    “Oh, you learned a new move, boy.” Tog smirked in glee as he waited in his starting position for Mayou to attack again.

    “You too old man.” Mayou lunged at him preparing to do a hook to Tog's chin, but Tog deflected the attack by tapping Mayou's elbow.

    663's fingers twitched, but she held herself back and waited for her Master's orders. She watched Tog's movements with precise observation, never missing a twitch in his muscles then she heard a whisper, “Don't kill him.”

    Her eyes grew wide and she hesitated to strike, unsure if that was an order to attack but when she looked at Mayou's eyes she says a confirmation and within seconds she was behind Tog. When she was watching she saw a weakness in his pivoting ankle and on instinct she kicked at the joint. Tog groaned and his stance fell and to prevent him from recovering she grabbed his neck and flipped him over her knee gliding him to the floor. His butt slammed against the mat, but 663 gently set his head down.

    “Hmm, who can't get the mission done now?” Mayou smirked as he looked at the surprised Tog.

    “When'd you give her permission to attack.” Tog remembered the scene from earlier as he looked between the two people.

    “I whispered it.” Mayou placed a finger on his lips as if to signal ‘hush’.

    “Then you two will do just fine, let's just run over it again.” Tog smiled as he looked over his pupil.

                                                                                                        .~663~.

    “This is the first floor, there is a total of six rooms and two bathrooms. The main living room is where the party is centralized. You will take him up these stairs to the left that leads directly to the third floor, this way he won't find it odd when you go up another set of stairs. I will be waiting in the room furthest away from the stairs. I'll be in the closet. He won't be going in there with you in the room.” He smirked as he pointed to a large square room on the third map, but continued on when 663 didn't give him a reaction.

    “I'll get him from behind the moment he lays above you. Just make sure he doesn't remove your clothes, I need you ready to make your move. If anything does deviate from the original plan you have permission to do whatever is needed to complete this mission.” Mayou stared into her eyes and watched as she strongly nodded her head.

    “Good. Now tell me how many floors, bedrooms, bathrooms, and stairs there are.” He rolled up the maps as he asked, waiting for her to answer and nodded along with the answers she gave.

    He looked at her through his eyelashes as she numbered off rooms and where they lied. He was surprised by how much description she gave. It may have been broken, but to him, it was clear that she heard more than what he had said to her. When she finished he had just finished putting the maps away into portfolios and into a circle-shaped hole in the wall that was the same size as the cylinder portfolios.

    “Come, dinner should be done by now.” He walked to the kitchen and 663 followed him from the living room.

    He pulled out a small tin of lasagna and set it in the center of the table and while he waited for it to cool he set the table. The plates were a deep purple that Stacy had bought for all the rooms. She loved eggplants which made her love the color purple. Now he cut out a piece and placed it on 663's plate. He watched her reaction and her confusion clarified that she truly wasn't given much since Pleoh had her. He can only assume that Pleoh found her two years ago and took her in.

    They ate in silence that to 663 didn't mean anything because she was used to not talking to people but for Mayou he was awkward. He needed to hear someone talk, but all he could do was shake his leg up and down because from experience her knew that 663 didn't talk much. When they were done he washed the dishes and 663 cleaned the table.

    This pattern continued for a week and by Monday he was bored. He needed something to boil his blood and excite his heart and making plans and practicing moves on Tog wasn't doing the trick and he had a capable second in command for his gang, The Canvas. Not even scary movies, so he mainly was lost in thought on the couch. He let his eyes close from boredom and his head fell back on the armrest.

    He felt a hand run up his shoulder to his cheek and he turned to look at the owner, a woman with a white blank face.

    “You're so beautiful.” She pulled closer and placed her forehead against his.

    Her short black hair tickled his chin.

    “How can you know, you cannot see me?” He looked straight at her, listening to the giggle that left her.

    “Love is blind, and so am I.” She kissed his nose, missing slightly.

    “I love you Shiroi.” He tenderly caressed her hair as she disappeared.

    That was when he woke up.

    Tears were cascading down his cheeks and he wiped at them and he begged for them to stop.

    “I'm sorry. It's already been fifty years and I still haven't fulfilled my end of the contract. I'm sorry.” He clenched his eyes shut and waited for the tears to stop before he opened them again.

    He sat up and expected to see the tv but was met with an unlit fireplace. He was inside the bedroom. He looked around and spotted 663 sleeping peacefully on the smaller bed. Her back was turned to him but he could figure that her expression would be relaxed unlike it usually is. He could tell that it was always tense, how, he didn't know. It's like he knew that face for years. However, it's a face he's never seen before.

    He sighed in frustration and looked at his watch. It was three in the morning, no wonder she was asleep. Another thing he learned about her was that she never went to bed until after twelve. He facepalmed, he was exhausted. Those dreams always did tire out his eighty-eight-year-old body. He sighed and opened the bedside table to pull out a blue bottle and inside was his sleeping pills.

    He downed two pills after saying, “To keep the memories away.”

    Then he laid back in bed, sleep coming quickly following.

                                                                                                        .~663~.

    By the time Mayou woke up, 663 had already made her bed and was out on the patio humming a little song. He could hear it all the way in the bedroom, it sounded very familiar to him but shrugged it off as something she picked up from the radio. He yawned and stretched his hands over his head as he waited for the coffee to brew.

    “663, are you ready for the mission in two days?” He called to her from inside the house.

    She came out from the patio and sat at the table in her usual chair and nodded. Mayou saw her nod through a mirror on the wall by a counter. He pulled eggs out of the fridge and cracked them into a bowl while the stove heated up a pan.

    The smell of eggs wafted around the house making 663's mouth water. This confused her, never had the smell of food made her feel so, but eggs had always been her soft spot but when Mayou placed the plate in front of her she felt that it was missing something. She stared at it for a long while before Mayou made her look up.

    “Is something wrong?” Mayou was halfway done when he looked away from his phone.

    “Gone. Gone something.” 663's eyebrows scrunched together before she corrected herself. “Something gone.”

    “Did you lose something?”

    “Me no knowledge.” She went ahead and started to eat but as soon as she put the first bite on her tongue she gagged and threw up on the floor.

    Mayou rushed to her side and pulled her long hair out of the way and patted her back in a comforting manner. When she spit out the last of her stomach contents Mayou guided her into the bedroom and laid her on his bed, covering her shivering body with his comforter. She rolled onto her side and pressed her knees to her chest and shoved her face into the puffy pillow. Mayou patted her shoulder and whispered soothing words to her till she calmed down.

    “You okay?” He shifted on his knees to get comfortable.

    She nodded and made no other movement. Mayou sighed, “Call for me if you need anything.”

    He made his way over to the phone in the living room and called Stacy.

    Two rings later and she picks up, “Stacy Silvio at your service, how may I help you?”

    Her voice was professional but still held a level of gentle welcomingness.

    “Yes, I would like for you to send up some maids. 663 threw up and I lack the supplies to clean it up.”

    “Oh, is the darling okay?” Her voice was worried.

    “Yes, she's fine now. I put her to bed and she seems to have settled down.” Mayou led against the wall and looked at 663 from the living room.

    “I'm on my way. I'll send Mandie up to just in case.” You could hear typing from her end, most likely calling Mandie already, there's more than just being Giuseppe's wife that made her a secretary after all.

    “Thank you, the door will be unlocked so just come on in.” They said their goodbyes and hung up.

    Mayou went over to the door, unlocking it as he went to the stove to boil water for tea. It didn't take long for Stacy to come up with a few maids and Mandie.

    “She's right in there.” Mayou tossed his head to the bedroom as he poured the tea into a cup.

    Mandie nodded and headed into the room to tentatively tend to 663 who shied away from her ouch.

    “What happened?” Stacy came to Mayou's side.

    “I'm not sure, but I don't think that she likes eggs much.” Mayou stirred sugar into the tea.

    “Is that what made her sick?” Stacy worriedly looked over to the room.

    “Yeah, I think so. She said something was gone and as soon as the eggs hit her tongue she threw up.”

    “Maybe the darling is lost something in her forgotten memories?”

    “I don't-” He stopped when he heard a crash from the room and bolted there as fast as he could.

    Mandie was knelt on the floor picking up pieces of broken glass while 663 stood on the edge of the bed farthest from Mandie.

    “Is everything alright?” He went to the shivering 663 and held his hands out to her waist.

    She allowed him to grab her and she wrapped her arms around his neck and didn't let go. She found comfort in this strange man so she held onto him in hopes that he would help her bad headache.

    “Yes, everything is fine, she just tossed the medicine to the floor when I was too forceful about giving it to her. I just startled her, lucky that she didn't take my head off for it either.” Mandie quickly gasped out as she hurriedly picked up the larger pieces.

    Stacy brought a broom over and helped sweep up the remaining glass. 663 glared at her through the corner of her eye.

    “What's the medicine for?” Mayou's chin hit the top of 663's head and her hair that went every which way tickled his chin causing him to smooth it down.

    The action calmed her heart and she closed her eyes.

    “For her headaches. She said her head hurts and I decided that medicine might help, but she refused and when I pushed too hard she shoved it to the floor.”

    “Can we try again?” This question wasn't directed at Mandie, Mayou said it to 663.

    663 looked up at him and slowly nodded. Mandie quickly gave another cup to Mayou who placed the edge on 663's bottom lip and slowly drank it. The green liquid’s bitter traveling down her throat. Her face scrunched up in disgust and she held onto Mayou tighter. Mayou held her on his hip like a baby and walked into the kitchen to get the tea handing it over to 663 who enjoyed this taste much better.

    He chuckled and looked over at the two women, “Thank you for coming.”

    The maids had already left so he couldn't thank them for cleaning. Stacy came over and kissed the two on the cheek saying goodbye and wishing 663 well. Mandie followed after her saying that she will be back again if 663's headache persists.

    “Let's get you into bed, shall we?” Mayou head back over to his bed and laid her down.

    Even though 663 had been awake for only a few hours she was tired and drowsy. Her headache had disappeared but now all she wanted to do was fall asleep and so she closed her eyes, feeling Mayou tuck her.

    It was all white except for the black wisps of three people inside an endless room that held no walls for miles to see. A young woman grasped onto a green pouch that was placed into her hand by one of the black wisps and for some reason, she was excited, even though she couldn't understand why.

    “Thank you! I love your homegrown peanuts!” A huge smile sprinkled itself onto her face as she stared at the black face of an elderly woman.

    “Yes hun, although your father ate some of them this morn'.” The old woman kissed her cheek, the warmth lingering after the elder pulled away. “You needa get going. You have places ya needa be.

    “Mama, what do you mean?” The young woman questioned.

    “Now hun that's for me to know and ya to find out.” She gave one last kiss on her and the black wisp of a man cheeks before she walked off into the white, disappearing.

    She looked at the man beside her and she reached out for him but he violently shook and dissolved into the background along with her.

    663 opened her eyes and sat up. She looked out the window to see the sunset low in the sky. It didn't blind her because she couldn't see how bright it was, all she saw was a white outline. She then lifted a hand to her cheek, feeling a foreign warmth like the woman in her dreams actually kissed her. She brought her hand down and rubbed her fingertips together, but not being able to feel the same warmth that was on her cheek. She couldn't grab that heat and it only shoved her heart further into the cold, like the ice she awoke in.

            .~Ch.3.~The fine Line Between Warmth and Ice~.                                                3769 words