Calling for Cavalry

Mamouru drug himself off to his apartment after leaving Akashi's house. He couldn't sleep and spent most of the night tossing and turning. When he DID fall asleep he would wake up in a cold sweat and check his clock. It seemed the one night he wanted time to fly it had decided to inch along at a snail's pace. When he could take no more, he decided to fetch some sleeping pills and and take them to zonk him out. He didn't like it, but sometimes he felt like he just needed one or two to force himself into sleep when his mind wouldn't shut off. He needed it to shut off.

When he woke up, it was well past noon and he stumbled through his 'morning ritual' as quickly as possible. after that he quickly raced tot he phone and opened it up. He flipped through his contacts until it rested on the square with the sassy picture of Taylor flipping him off. He asked her once for a serious photo for his list and she gave it to him up until the last moment.

With a shake of his head he closed his eyes, inhaled, exhaled and pushed the button. He held his phone up to his ear and listened to it ring. When it clicked on, Mamouru opened his mouth. "Taylor-san. I think I may have made a huge mistake."

Taylor was halfway through her morning when the phone rang. She was glazed with sweat with her hair in a pony tail and enjoying every moment of the springtime sun. She pulled her phone out of the pocket of her running shorts and checked the screen.

She laughed. This couldn't be good. When Mamouru called, it meant there was a problem, usually with Cassie. Or maybe he'd have good news. Taylor liked good news.

She slowed to a walk with a hand on her hip and answered. "Hey, Numb-Nuts," She said cheerfully. Mamouru cut right to the chase. "I know, right? You... wait, what did you do?" She stopped short and dropped the act. Something must have happened with Cassie.

"I did not kiss Cassie-san."

Taylor's jaw dropped. "What? You... what?" She shook her head, but it still didn't make sense. What did he just say?

"You didn't kiss Cassie?" She echoed. "Motherfucker, you don't kiss Cassie all the time! You're not kissing her right now, so whythehellarewetalkinaboutit?" She said, her voice nervously accelerating to a feverish pace. She took a breath and glanced around to make sure there was no one in ear shot, and then lowered her voice all the same.

"Look, Professor, why don't you pretend I'm stupid and tell me exactly what we're talking about here?"

Mamouru furrowed his brow. Actually, all things considered, Taylor was taking it surprisingly well. "She kissed me." He said quickly. "And I told her to stop. I told her we couldn't do that and then... now she hates me." Mamouru sighed into the phone. "It would have been easier to just... kiss her back but I didn't... I did the right thing." He said, emphasizing the point. "But that doesn't mean I can just accept Cassie-san hating me either. I don't know who else to talk to about this, Taylor-san..." Mamouru lowered his head. Maybe there was another way to get her to think about his side of things. "... Onee-san..."

"She what?!" Taylor could hardly believe it. She could believe it, but just barely. "Okay... you... you didn't... oh, man." And then he called her that. It was almost unfair.

"Alright," She said, and sighed. "Okay, I'm coming over-er... you're in Tokyo. Shit. Okay, well, I'm not home right now, maybe I should go home first and then we can... I dunno, like do I have to... what should I do? How's Cassie? Should I call her? Should I just... I'm coming to Tokyo. I'm coming over."

She had to get to Tokyo eventually anyway to meet Cassie's family and all that. Might as well be now.

Mamouru listened to Taylor's words. He was glad she was being so understanding. Really she was. He lowered his head. "Take some time to pack. I'll meet you at the train station when you arrive in Tokyo. I haven't spoken to her since last night. I need to be with you when you come to Cassie-san's house." She would make a pretty good shield. The way Cassie's family had. The way..."

Mamouru sighed audibly into the phone. "I'll make the arrangements. When you get to ther trainstation, the boarding pass will be waiting for you. I'll be waiting at the tainstation. Arigatou gozimasu." Mamouru said. "Ja ne." He added and hung up. That was the way to do it. Just say it and don't give her any room to budge. He quickly made arrangements for Taylor's train. Then would be another grueling few hours before she arrived in Tokyo.

Worse than that would be when he arrived at the train station waiting for Taylor. The waiting. The anticipation. He was full of knots lately. He was just thankful he had from when he picked her up to the ride to Cassie's house to sort things out. As he took a spot on the bench at the train station, he had a million thoughts running through his head. He just hoped that Taylor trying to kick the crap out of him, the one he was presently most concerned with, wasn't the next thing he had to look forward to.

Taylor was out of breath and panting when she made it through the door. She dragged herself into a quick shower and left her hair wet. She spent a little time applying some makeup, mostly around her eyes. The black of her eyeliner and her full lashes set off the deep blue of her eyes.

She threw a change of clothes in a bag, along with a gray, tank-top jersey dress. She gathered a few other things and left a note for Johnny on the counter, even though she would text him in a minute.

Gone to Tokyo to deal with your brother and defend Cassie's honor. Probably be back tomorrow. Love you! I miss you already!

She pressed her lips against the bottom of the paper, leaving behind a pink kiss.

The train ride never got any shorter, but this time it was much longer. She fought the urge to call Cassie on the way, because she felt like she should hear Mamouru out first, and because she'd rather be with Cassie in person when she told her about it.

Whatever it was.

She sent Mamouru a text as her train pulled into the station. She shouldered her bag and quickly made her way off the train, and scanned the place for that tall, smug bastard.

Mamouru checked the phone when it buzzed and saw that Taylor had arrived. His stomach turned though that made him angry. He wasn't sure why he was worried. He wasn't really scared of Taylor. That was for sure. He was pretty confident if it came to fist-i-cuffs that he would at least be able to hold his own. It's not like he played all that nice. But he wasn't really worried about that part of it. He was more worried that she would get it in her head to meddle further, and make things worse between he and Cassie, rather than help patch them up.

When he found her, he waved to catch her attention and then bowed to her. "Taylor-san." He said. "I hope the trip was ok. Let's get to the cab." He said as he tried to avoid any sort of situation here. "You are going to love Cassie-san's family. They are absolutely wonderful!" He said as he flashed her a smile and made his way towards the taxi area with her.

"Yeah," was all Taylor said. Her face was worried and grim, and her mouth was drawn thinly on her face while she followed Mamouru to the taxi.

"Yeah, sure. I bet they're great," she said. She wondered if any of them knew about what was going on between Cassie and Mamouru. She also wondered why Cassie hadn't told her about this, whatever it was. It couldn't be a new thing. Maybe it was just the distance, Tokyo to Kyoto, that made it more practical for her to confide these things in Akashi or whoever, but she couldn't help being a little hurt. Were they not as tight now that Taylor lived in another city? Was it Johnny? Having him meant that she didn't need Cassie like she did before, but... selfish or not, she still wanted Cassie to think of her the same way. She winced.

She tossed her bag in the back of the cab and slid in next to it, keeping the bag as a buffer between herself and Mamouru. She stared out the window for the first few minutes of the trip before speaking.

"I feel sick. I don't even know why," she said, and looked Mamouru in the eye. "I know you're not all bad. But you know why this would really make me uncomfortable." She sighed. "I'm not gonna, like... threaten you or anything. I think maybe we're finally on the same page with Cassie, so... maybe this is harder for me than it is for you."

Whatever this was.