Kazui #2 - When the Fox's Away, the Cat Will Play

Tamotsu Grocery
Ship's Quandary, Water Quarter

'Justin, I just finished inventorying all the goods that were delivered. Would you please restock them?'
'Certainly, Mr. Tamotsu.'
'Please... Kazui really is fine.' The dirty blonde haired man said with his usual happy smile and sparkle in his eyes. 
Justin nodded. The elemental went to the back of the store, and stretched his arms in the air before picking up the clipboard Kazui had left out detailing what the items were.  Justin shook his head.  The man's handwriting was so full of frills and curls, and here Justin was, wanting to be basically Kazui... He had been born a female.  Which should have been something to celebrate in their society.  Girls were the top of the hierarchy in any elemental society... But it just never felt right.  So from the moment he could make decisions himself, he wanted to be like the boys.  Though to be honest, even the guys in elemental society had a feminine air about them. They were like Kazui in a lot of ways.  Maybe that is why he liked working for the man so much. He emulated everything he wanted to be. Fortunately, Justin's parents were accepting that he never felt like a girl, and let him be what he wanted to be. They even changed his name to Justin when he was quite young.  His parents had gotten a lot of hate for it, called them abusive and so on, but after around a year or so, people mellowed out and saw it really was what Justin wanted.   But then again, his mother was sister to the mayor, so no one dared protest too long. 
'Justin?  Is everything okay back here?' His boss asked popping his head in the back storage area.
'Oh... I'm sorry... I just got thinking.  Mr-- err... Kazui?'
'Yes?' 
'Was there ever a time in your life that you... questioned if you really were a guy?'
Kazui blushed, exaggerating the freckles across his face. 'No. Though my brothers certainly did. That... or they questioned if I really was a vampire. Maybe I was an elemental in disguise. I just have rather a feminine disposition, and they tease me all the time about my innocence.  Why?  I mean, I know your story, everyone does, but why are you asking?'
'I don't know. Sometimes, I just wonder if people still see me as a girl.'
'I don't think anyone does, Justin. Besides, you're an elemental... Even the males are kind of feminine.'
Justin laughed. 'I was just thinking about that actually.'
'Anyway, if there is one thing I learned from having 3 brothers, its that it doesn't matter what other people think. What matters is how you see yourself...'
'Kazui?'
'Yeah?'
'Are you gay?'
'I have no idea... why?'
'Because when I am a little older, I'd like to...'
Kazui tilted his head and looked at Justin. 'What?'
'Maybe... go on...' He then stopped himself short and said, 'Nevermind.' He grabbed one of the carts and started putting the crates of various liquids on it.
'Justin?' Kazui, innocent as they came had no idea what the kid would have asked him, and if he had, he probably would have not known what to do.
'I know... Its time to get back to work.'
'No, that's not what I was going to say.'
Justin didn't respond to it, knowing full well what the man wanted to know, but he was too embarrassed to say.  After all, it was just a few months ago that Kazui had that run in with Sarah's nanny, and his brothers had come to the rescue.  It was too soon. Plus he himself was only just barely seventeen. 'Excuse me... I need to put these out front.'
Kazui blinked but stepped out of his young employee's way.  as he did so, he could have sworn he saw a streak of black dash through the storage room.  No... it couldn't be. He sighed and went back to the cash register.
Justin looked on the top of the crates stack, and the top crates were the lemonades. 'Oh... Aisle six.' He muttered to himself as he pushed the cart toward the aisle. What the elemental didn't notice was that the blur Kazui thought he'd seen earlier dashed ahead of him, and leaped into the lemonade spot on the shelves.  And he just sat there, waiting.  If cats could smile, this one definitely would be. Justin didn't seem to be paying attention as he put the first bottle on the shelf, and placed it right next to the black cat with white paws and a white tipped tail.
Well, the cat, didn't seem to be all too pleased by this product placement, and knocked the bottle off. The bottle thankfully landed back on the cart, and suffered no damage other than being shaken... Although, this might not be a good thing in the long run, as these particular lemonades were carbonated.
'What the hell?' Justin muttered as he went to place the bottle back on the shelf. And then he saw the cat. 'What are you doing here! Go away.'
But this was a cat he was talking to, and cats, are basically the rulers of the world, at least in their minds. So of course, the cat didn't move.  He was perfectly comfortable right where he was. And if he was comfortable, why should he move?
'Fine... But I'm going to put this lemonade right here, all right?' Wait!  What was he doing?  Why on earth was he talking to a cat? If anyone walked by, they would think he was insane and need to have a trip to the hospital! So he just put the lemonade bottle on the shelf.
Immediately the cat knocked the bottle off again.  And then he lounged out across the empty space as if to tell the poor store assistant that this spot was his, and there was nothing that would stop him from doing what he wanted.  And what he wanted was to sit here and lounge about on the the hard wood shelf as if it was the most comfortable surface in the world.
'Oh for the love of the Gods!' He muttered again, getting quite impatient. Fortunately, there was still a little bit of space for lemonade that the damned cat wasn't taking up, so he put the bottle there. 'I swear to all that is good a--'
But before he could finish his sentence, the cat stretched out his paw and knocked down the bottle again.  This time, the bottle exploded, and it sounded much like an exploding bomb as the lid popped off and the sugary liquid sprayed all over the store clerk and the floor and the cart, and even some of the bottles on the shelves. Of course, the cat wasn't phased by this much at all, except to lick himself clean of any of the lemonade.
'What happened?' Kazui asked as he came running. Unfortunately for him, he didn't stop before reaching the mess and skidded on the lemonade on the floor, bumping the cart and pushing it forward, and bottles fell off as the cart moved. If the floor wasn't already a mess, it definitely was now.
'KAZUI!  Are you all right?'
The cat, determined to be as annoying as possible decided this would be a great time to finally leap off the shelf and walk all over the sandy haired vampire's back. And then after a moment, he decided his new perch would be in the small of Kazui's back.
'Owwwwww....' was all that Kazui managed to get out.
The elemental tried to motion for the cat to get off his boss, but of course the cat wouldn't move. 'Come on, kitty... we can't clean up the mess with you on my boss...'
'Meoooow' was the cat's only response.
Kazui sighed and said, 'Justin, don't worry about it... Just start cleaning up the rest of the mess... I'm sure his owner will be by soon...' He folded his arms, and rested his head on them, just waiting. 

'Honestly Azrael...'
'Mreowwwww.'
'I don't understand cat, you know that... Speak to me normally, I know you can.'
'Fine.  Are you telling me you didn't enjoy my surprise visit?'
'Azrael... I love your visits.' He replied, not wanting to be rude and say he hated the mess the God caused when he visited.

The chime on the door rang to signal someone's entrance. 'Hellooo? Is anybody here?' A man called.
'Apologies, we're cleaning up a mess... Aisle six,' Justin called as he gathered various bottles.
The man looked at the signs above the aisles and then stopped at the aisle that cat, vampire, and elemental were gathered.  The man was dressed in a white silk kimono today, with a lavender obi holding it closed. His hair was to his shoulders, parted straight down the middle, one side auburn, the other brown. His lavender and teal eyes darkened as he saw the state of the store proprietor and his assistant. 'Oh dear me... Did my cat do this?'
Immediately the cat bounded for his 'owner' and lept up into his arms.
'Yessir, I mean no sir,' the elemental said, not quite sure how to respond to the question posed by the very handsome man.
'Here, let me pay for your losses and help you clean up, its the least I can do,' the man requested.
'Oh... we can't let you do that.  Besides, you look very nice in that kimono.'
'Its all right, I have plenty more at home, and this isn't even my favorite.' He offered a hand to help Kazui up. 'Where might I find a mop?' The man asked. He then looked at the cat in his arms and said, 'You... go wait for me on the bench. AND BE GOOD!'
The cat looked up at the man as if to say, 'Who are you to order me about,' but then hopped down from the now one arm that held him and plodded off to find whatever bench his human was talking about.  Well, as long as they didn't make him clean up.
Kazui brushed himself off and mumbled, 'Well I guess this means we'll close until we can get this cleaned up and ourselves cleaned up.'
'Oh... I'm so sorry, this is so embarrassing. I hate that you have to close because of my cat!' The man replied as he started picking up bottles, since no one seemed to jump to tell him where the mop was.
Kazui disappeared, and then came back with the requested mop. 'I don't believe we caught your name, good sir...' He asked, even though he knew full well who he was.
'Oh... my apologies. My name is Dan. And the cat is named Azrael.  I figure the name is fitting, since he seems to be as dark as the God of Death is... or at least how I imagine him to be.'
Kazui didn't comment on that, instead, said, 'Well, he's a very cute cat.' He started mopping while the other two men continued to pick up bottles.
'Here, Mr. Dan... You can follow me, and we'll put them in the dumpster outside.'
'Of course, young man.  And what's your name?'
'Justin.'
'And your boss?'
'Oh... He's Mr. Tam-- err sorry, he likes to be called Kazui.'
'Ah I see.'
Kazui breathed a sigh of relief as the conversation faded into the distance.

About a half an hour later, between the three of them, they finally finished cleaning up the aisle. Justin pushed the remaining liquids back into the storage room, and then locked it while they'd be gone.  He then called to Kazui, 'Hey, I'll see you later, all right?'
Kazui shook his head, 'Don't worry about coming back, Justin. We'll just close early today.'
'All right.'
Kazui waited for the elemental to go and then looked at Aedan. 'What are you two doing here?'
'Nothing really,' Aedan replied.  'Now be a good little otter and go home...' 
Kazui sighed and said, 'Fine.  Now are you really paying for the damage?'
'Tsk tsk... that's a little rude.'
'Sorry, Aedan. I don't mean to be, I'm just a little annoyed.'
'Well at least you're a vampire so you're not hurt.'
'Thankfully...'
'Anyway, yes. Here's 200 ohms, will that cover it?' Aedan asked.
'It should, thank you. You really didn't have to help though.'
'Of course I did... I wasn't here to keep an eye on the demon cat, so its only appropriate I help rectify matters.'
'Well thank you.'
'You're welcome,' Aedan said before giving a polite bow. 'Come Azrael. Let's go.  I'm sure Kazui has had enough of your antics for the day.'
The cat leaped into Aedan's arms and then started purring.
'Really, Azrael?' The fox-god in human form left the store, and then once out of earshot asked, 'So how was it?'
'Meooooooow.'
'Oh really now.  That much fun, hmm? I almost wish I was there to see it, and not for the aftermath.'
The cat hissed, the type of hissing that sounded more like laughing.
'Oh that's enough flirting from you. We're in public!'