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FIC: Daiki, Part 7 (of 22)
Title: Daiki, Part 7 (of 22)
Rating: R overall, but mostly PG-13
Pairing: Leon/D
Word count: ~5,050
Disclaimer: Characters belong to Matsuri Akino and Yumiko Kawahara. No money is being made off this story; consider it a little wish fulfillment on my part.
Sequel to: This can be considered a continuation of my earlier series of stories (Revenge, The Day After, Spirits, Blodeuedd), but it can stand on its own as my version of what happens after Book 10.
Thanks to: Spare from the Petshop discussion group on Yahoo, who planted the plot bunny in my head about the Dolls shopkeeper being Leon and D's child! ^_^
Summary: A crossover between Petshop of Horrors by Matsuri Akino and Dolls by Yumiko Kawahara. Daiki starts his apprenticeship; D is surprised to learn that his fellow kami's attitude towards humanity differs dramatically from his own.
Part 1a, Part 1b, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6
***
Either Leon or D (or occasionally, both of them) accompanied Daiki to his apprenticeship lessons steadily for several months, but Leon witnessed nothing suspicious, although the whole Plant Doll thing did still creep him out a bit.
The dolls began their lives as seedlings in pots which were carefully tended by Mr. Hua and Daiki. Certain nutrients, minerals, and fertilizers were added to the soil, and the plants were watered with pure spring water that Hua had imported at great expense. The plants were also given precisely calculated amounts of light and shade every day. All of these factors contributed to the appearance and personality of each individual Plant Doll, Hua claimed. By varying the types of fertilizer and amounts of sun and shade, he could cultivate a Plant Doll that was blonde-haired with a sunny disposition, or a dark-haired Plant Doll with a more reserved personality. The exact formulas were a trade secret that the old kami shared only with his young apprentice, but Leon doubted that he would have been able to make heads or tails of it, anyway; chemistry had never been one of best subjects at school.
He didn't really mind that part of it, even if he didn't exactly understand everything that they were doing. The fact that it all seemed so precise and scientific reassured him a bit at first, because it made the whole process seem a little more normal. However, the next stage in the Plant Dolls' development completely unnerved him the first time that he saw it.
The seedlings eventually grew into large bulb-shaped flowers that looked rather like tulips. Eventually the petals would open to reveal a tiny baby girl growing in the center of the flower; it reminded him of the story of Thumbelina that he used to read to Daiki, and he wondered if the Plant Dolls had been the original inspiration for the fairy tale. Daiki and D were enchanted by the little flower-girls, but Leon found it rather eerie to see what looked like a human baby growing in an oversized flower.
The babies--which were small enough to fit into the palm of Leon's hand when they were first "born"--remained attached to the flower for a few weeks. Hua and Daiki continued to water and fertilize the plants, but also carefully fed the babies milk with eyedroppers (as they were still too small to suckle from a bottle). The Plant Dolls continued to grow, at a much faster rate than a human child, and finally detached from the plant when they were about the size of a normal newborn infant. At that point, they looked completely human, and Leon found them less disturbing than the plant-human combination.
They nursed from bottles like normal babies, and needed to be diapered and changed, but only needed to be fed three times a day, and rarely cried--something that Leon knew was definitely not normal. He remembered Terry and Jill being exhausted from late-night feedings and tantrums when Lian had been a baby.
Within a couple of months, the Plant Dolls were toddling around and eating solid food: sugar cookies and a special fertilizer compound of colorful little crystals that looked like rock candy. The dolls were treated lovingly by Hua (with Daiki's assistance), as he bathed and dressed them and brushed their hair till it shone. He would speak to them gently, read them stories, and sing them lullabies.
"You treat them like they're real babies," Leon observed, in a slightly surprised but not disapproving voice. He was still suspicious of the old kami, but it made him feel better to see how tenderly he treated his charges.
"Of course, Detective," Hua replied with a smile. "The best food for a Plant Doll is love. We must teach them to give and receive affection, so that they will be able to properly bond with their owners when the time comes." He even instructed Daiki to speak affectionately to the seedlings and unopened blossoms.
"So does talking to plants really help them grow?" Leon asked curiously. "Normal plants, I mean." He had always thought it was silly, but maybe there was something to it, after all.
"I believe that any living creature will respond favorably if it is treated with affection, Detective," Hua said with a serene, D-like smile.
As the dolls grew older, they were taught to feed, bathe, and dress themselves; they learned quickly and seemed quite intelligent. "They are," Hua agreed, when Leon mentioned this to him one day. "We could teach them much more than we do--to do 'tricks,' as one prospective customer suggested. But we teach them only the basics of personal care and hygiene, because they are very receptive and impressionable, like an open book waiting to be written in. We want the doll to bond completely to her owner--"
"Like a baby bird imprinting on the first thing it sees," Leon said.
"Exactly," Hua said approvingly.
"Very astute of you, my dear detective," D said, sounding a little surprised.
"Well, you don't need to sound so shocked," Leon grumbled, and Daiki giggled and Hua chuckled softly.
By the time the dolls were five months old (counting from the time that they were "plucked" from the plant), they were considered fully grown, and appeared to be exquisitely beautiful little girls about four or five years old. At that point, they would fall into a dormant slumber, and would awaken only at brief intervals to be fed until they chose an owner.
Of course, there were already a number of full-grown dolls in the shop waiting to be sold, and as word of the new shop in Chinatown spread, it began attracting a number of visitors. Most of them were curiosity-seekers who left after learning how much a Plant Doll cost. (That is, they left after picking their eyeballs up off the floor, Leon thought to himself with amusement, because their eyes would almost literally pop out of their heads when Hua showed them the prices of the dolls.)
Although many people visited the shop, Hua made very few sales. The sale of one doll, however, could cover the shop's rent for several months, so he didn't really need to make that many sales. Leon would have expected that all of Hua's customers would be very rich people, but to his surprise, he found that wasn't always the case. One customer (whom Leon recognized from the news) was indeed a famous millionaire businessman, and he bought a doll for his young daughter, writing out a check for the full price without blinking an eye. However, Hua turned down another wealthy prospective customer the next day, even though he offered double the listed price, because the doll would not awaken for him. A couple of weeks later, the doll opened its eyes and smiled joyfully at a young woman, a waitress from a nearby restaurant, who had only passed by out of curiosity to take a look at the new shop that everyone was talking about.
"Oh, I can't possibly afford such a thing," the waitress protested, even as she stared longingly at the doll, who gave her a smile of pure love, her eyes innocent and trusting, and Leon began to understand why people were willing to beggar themselves in order to buy a Plant Doll.
"But you must buy her now," Hua said with a kindly smile. "She has bonded to you, and will not acknowledge anyone else as her owner."
They haggled over the price, and eventually Hua gave her a fifty percent discount and arranged an installment plan. The waitress left a little while later, looking slightly dazed but very happy, carrying the Plant Doll in her arms, along with a bag filled with jars of powdered milk and a few frilly dresses that Hua had thrown in gratis.
"You know, it'll probably take her at least ten years to pay off that loan," Leon pointed out after the waitress was gone. "Why did you sell it to her half-price when that guy who came in the other week would have paid you double and in cash on the spot?"
"It is not really about money, Detective," Hua replied gently. "It is about providing a good home for the doll. The doll--"
"Chooses the customer, yeah, I know," Leon finished automatically. "But if that's the case, why didn't you just give the doll away, instead of making that poor woman take out a loan that will take years to pay off?"
"In very rare cases, when the customer was truly destitute, I have done just that," Hua said. "However, I do have expenses to pay. And the high price is a kind of test as to how much the customer truly values the doll, so to speak."
"What do you mean?" Leon asked curiously.
"If you add up the cost of food, clothing, doctor's bills, not to mention college tuition, it can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to raise a child to adulthood," Hua replied. "And yet, a parent does not hesitate to pay out such expenses."
"Well, with a few exceptions," Leon said, recalling cases of child abuse and neglect that he had seen on the job. "But in general, yes, I'll agree with you."
"I want my customers to value the dolls as if they were their own children," Hua explained. "If they are not willing to make sacrifices, to endure hardships for the sake of their child, then they will not be good parents. I often find, Detective, that which is given away cheaply is not valued by the recipient."
"I see," Leon said thoughtfully. "It's sort of like how sometimes kids are careless with toys that someone else buys them. They'll lose them or break them without thinking twice about it. But if it's a toy that they've bought with their own money, that they've worked hard and saved up for, they'll usually take good care of it."
"Exactly," Hua said approvingly. "The customer who just left will have to make a few sacrifices. She'll be in debt for several years, and she'll have to live a bit more frugally, but she will not starve. It would be counterproductive to drive my customers bankrupt, as they would then be unable to care for their dolls. The exact price does not really matter, Detective. I charge, if you will, on a sliding scale: enough to make the customer take the purchase seriously, but not so much that the customer cannot afford it--if he wants it badly enough, that is. For one customer, that price might be a million dollars; for another, a thousand."
"Isn't Mr. Hua smart, Dad?" Daiki asked happily. "He's found a way to weed out the bad customers and find people who will take good care of the dolls."
"Well, the dolls do most of the work themselves," Hua said modestly. "I just help the process along a little."
"Yes, he's very smart," Leon agreed with his son. Somewhat to his surprise and against his better judgment, he was growing to like the shopkeeper. Hua was kind and patient with Daiki, and so far had done nothing that Leon could find fault with. Sometimes D brought a few of the pets with him to the Plant Dolls shop, and they all agreed that Hua seemed trustworthy.
Leon still wasn't entirely sure if Hua saw the pets as animals or people. Could all types of kami see the pets' true forms, or was that a power unique to D's family? Hua specialized in plants, not animals, after all. But he always laid out cups of tea and plates of food on the table for the pets when they visited, the same as he did for his human guests, except Lupin, for whom he would set out a bowl of water and a plate containing a bone or dog biscuits on the floor, so Leon guessed that he probably could see their true forms.
Hua would always set aside a special treat for Pon-chan and tell her how lovely she looked, much to the raccoon girl's delight, and he would always give Lupin a friendly pat on the head, but he didn't seem to care much for Tet-chan, although he was too polite to say so out loud. However, the shopkeeper would always keep a wary eye on the Tou-Tet, probably because the dolls who happened to be awake at the time would always cringe away from him, and he would growl at them sullenly although so far he had never tried to bite any of them.
Still, Leon encouraged Tet-chan to accompany Daiki on his visits because he figured that there could be no better bodyguard for his son than an angry Tou-Tet. Because as much as he liked the old man, Leon could not quite forget that Hua was not really a "man" at all, but rather a kami, and Leon's past experiences with kami had been mixed at best. Out of the three other kami he had met, one had become his beloved (that was D, of course), but the second (D's dad) had tried to kill him--not to mention wipe out the entire human race, and the third (Sofu D) despised humanity, although he had formed a grudging truce with Leon for the sake of his grandson and great-grandson.
So Leon couldn't help but regard Hua with a cynical eye and a touch of fear, despite his amiable manner and Daiki's obvious fondness for him. Although the latter did count in his favor, Leon mused. Daiki was a pretty good judge of character, and he had never before become this close to someone outside of their small circle of family and friends (which aside from himself, D, and the pets was only Chris, Jill, Terry, and Lian). On the other hand, Hua could have used some sort of kami magic to bespell him. Or was there something in Daiki's blood that responded to a fellow kami?
Leon finally got tired of worrying and watching, and simply confronted the old kami one afternoon when they were all having tea; both D and Leon had accompanied Daiki to the Plant Dolls shop, along with Pon-chan, Tet-chan, and Lupin.
"Are you really not out for revenge?" Leon suddenly demanded in the middle of a discussion about different types of tea. "Why don't you hate humanity the way that D's family does?"
Daiki gazed at him anxiously, while D raised his eyebrows slightly and frowned. Pon-chan, who had been happily dunking a cookie in her cup of tea, looked up in surprise; Lupin stopped gnawing on his bone and cocked his head to one side, giving Leon a puzzled look. Tet-chan just leaned back in his chair and snorted. "Not one for subtlety are you, Mr. Detective?" he asked sarcastically.
"Never said that I was," Leon retorted. "Sometimes the direct approach works best."
"Like a bull in a china shop," D sighed wearily to no one in particular.
Hua calmly set down his teacup and asked, "Why should I hate humanity, Detective Orcot?" He sounded genuinely puzzled by the question.
Leon was a little taken aback. "Well...because we humans have despoiled the earth and destroyed countless species of animals and plants--"
"Humanity is only another type of animal, Detective," Hua replied with a gentle smile. "And yes, they have caused much destruction. But the strong survive and the weak die; that is the law of nature."
"That is preposterous!" D shouted angrily, losing his normal serene air of composure. "Are you saying that my ancestors deserved to be slaughtered by the human barbarians who murdered them?!"
"Not at all," Hua said, shaking his head, still with that gentle smile on his lips. "But those particular humans and your ancestors are all long dead. How long will you continue to hate all..." He paused and glanced at Leon, then corrected himself, "Or rather, most of humanity?"
"Humanity is by nature selfish and destructive," D argued, more out of reflex than anything else, Leon thought. Nevertheless, the detective pointedly cleared his throat, and D added, "With a few exceptions."
"Yes, perhaps destruction is in their nature," Hua conceded, then gestured towards Lupin. "But to a deer, a wolf is a deadly predator."
Lupin wagged his tail, and Tet-chan said sarcastically, "Oh yes, I'm quaking in fear, he's such a ferocious beast."
"Do you hate the wolf for being true to its nature?" Hua continued, ignoring the interruption.
"It is not the same thing at all!" D protested.
The other kami shrugged. "Perhaps; perhaps not. But you cannot deny that at present, humanity is the dominant species on the planet."
"So might makes right?" D asked sharply.
"I do not judge; I am only stating a fact," Hua replied calmly. "At present, as I said, humanity is the dominant species on the planet, but that can always change. They are still a young species in the grand scheme of things. Millions of years ago, dinosaurs were the lords of the earth, but now they are but a memory and only their bones remain as proof that they once existed. Perhaps humanity will destroy themselves and go the way of the dinosaurs, and out of the wreckage, a new dominant species will emerge." He smiled whimsically at the three pets. "Ten thousand years from now, perhaps raccoons will be the dominant species on Earth." Pon-chan giggled. "Or wolves." Lupin barked and wagged his tail. "Or goats."
"Dammit, I am not a goat!" Tet-chan snapped, glaring at Hua indignantly.
"Gee, did he get your goat, Tet?" Leon snickered. "Get it? 'Get your goat'?"
D sighed and rolled his eyes, and Tet-chan snarled and lunged at the detective, sinking his teeth into Leon's ankle.
"Ow! Hey, get offa me you stupid goat!"
This was really no different from Leon's and Tet-chan's usual squabbles, and the Tou-Tet hadn't really bitten him that hard, but it must have alarmed one of the dolls, because she let out a soft little cry of fear. Normally, the unsold dolls remained asleep most of the time, but occasionally something would catch their attention--the sound of rain falling, for example, or a beam of sunlight falling through the shop window--and they would briefly awaken and look around curiously. The sound of Tet's and Leon's voices must have awakened and alarmed the Plant Doll, a pretty little thing with blonde curls, whose sapphire-blue eyes were wide with fear.
"ENOUGH!" Hua roared in a thunderous voice, and Leon and Tet-chan immediately stopped fighting and stared at him in shock. They had never seen the mild-mannered old kami lose his temper or raise his voice before. "Enough," Hua repeated in a normal voice, calming down a bit when he saw that he'd gotten Leon's and Tet-chan's attention. "Every aspect of the dolls' upbringing is carefully planned," the shopkeeper scolded. "In order to create dolls filled with purest innocent love, they must be brought up in an atmosphere of comfort, tranquility, and affection." He glared at Leon and Tet-chan sternly. "An atmosphere free of anger and violence, is that clear?"
"Yes, sir," Leon mumbled, feeling like a kid being lectured by a schoolteacher.
"Yeah, I get it," Tet-chan said sulkily after D glared at him as well.
Hua did not look quite satisfied with his response and continued to frown at Tet-chan. "To be honest, I have not been entirely comfortable with having a Tou-Tet in my shop, but--"
"Huh?" Tet-chan asked, startled out of his sulk. "You know that I'm a Tou-Tet?"
"Of course I know," Hua replied impatiently. "I am originally from China, after all--and a great deal older than you, young one. Do you really think that I would not recognize a Tou-Tet when one walked into my shop?" Tet-chan looked a little insulted at being called "young one," and glared at Daiki when he giggled. "As I said," Hua continued, "I was not comfortable with the idea of such a ferocious and voracious beast being around my dolls, but I did not object, since he has behaved himself up until now, and it was obvious that Detective Orcot wished him to guard young Daiki. I wanted to reassure the detective of my good intentions, and so I did not object to Daiki's bodyguards. However, if he is unable to control himself, I cannot take the risk that my precious charges might be harmed."
"Oh, he would never hurt the dolls, Mr. Hua!" Daiki assured him earnestly.
"And what makes you so certain of that, child?" Hua asked skeptically.
"Well, for one thing, he only likes to eat meat, not plants," Daiki replied logically. Then he gave his friend a stern look and added, "Besides, he knows that I would never forgive him if he hurt one of the dolls."
Tet-chan growled softly and hung his head, somehow managing to look both defiant and contrite at the same time. He was blushing a little, as if embarrassed that everyone could see that the opinion of a twelve-year-old boy was enough to keep him in line.
"I was just playing around," he muttered defensively. "I wasn't gonna hurt any of the dollies." He snorted derisively in an attempt to salvage his pride. "Like the kid said, I never cared much for salad greens, anyway."
"Apology accepted," Hua said pleasantly. "But in the future, please try to tone down your...ah...high spirits." Tet-chan opened his mouth to protest that he hadn't been apologizing, then thought better of it after D shot another glare his way.
"Do you truly hold no animosity towards humanity?" D asked, turning back towards Hua, sounding more bewildered than angry now. "I do not know your history, but surely your people must also have suffered at the hands of humans."
Hua's eyes suddenly took on a faraway, nostalgic look, and he seemed to be gazing into the past, across the centuries, and Leon wondered just how old the shopkeeper was. Then he blinked and smiled, and his eyes came back into focus again.
"Once my people were revered by humans, almost as if we were gods," Hua said quietly. "But then the humans began to grow rapidly in numbers, and just as rapidly began to increase their store of knowledge--which unfortunately, is not necessarily the same thing as wisdom. And soon they had no need for their old gods, and worshipped instead at the altars of technology and progress. There was no great slaughter of my people, Count D; instead, they quietly faded away. We were nature deities, and as the human cities encroached upon our territory, most of us retreated into the wilderness, and retreated again and again as the cities continued to grow. A few of my kin still live as hermits in the most remote mountain reaches of China, but most of them faded away long ago, having lost the will to live when their forests and rivers were destroyed or polluted."
Leon suddenly felt very ashamed to be human, Hua's quiet words somehow reaching him in a way that D's numerous rants and lectures had not. And yet, there was no reproach or accusation in the old kami's voice. A sense of sorrow and resignation, perhaps, but no anger. "And yet you don't hate humanity?" Leon asked in a soft, chastened voice.
"No, I do not," Hua replied. "What would be the point of that? One might just as well hate a tornado or flood or wildfire, and it would have just as much effect upon them--which is to say, none."
"Humanity as a force of nature?" D murmured, sounding thoughtful but not entirely convinced.
"That is how I think of it," Hua said. "I said before that the law of nature was that the strong survive and the weak die. A variation on that is 'adapt or die'--harsh words, but true ones."
"I remember how you told me once that we should respect cockroaches and rats for being able to adapt to their environment no matter how much humans changed it," Leon mused out loud to D. Then he realized what he had said and hastily assured Hua, "Not that I'm comparing you to a cockroach or anything like that!"
To Leon's relief, the old kami just chuckled. "Well, one must admire their tenacity, if nothing else. I would have preferred a more aesthetic example, but yes, like the cockroach, I have adapted. I learned to live among humans, and in the midst of their cities of concrete and glass and steel, I created a small oasis of nature and beauty." He waved his hand in a sweeping motion that seemed to indicate the entire shop.
"But...well, I don't mean to be rude, but can the dolls really be considered 'nature'?" Leon asked hesitantly. "I mean, they're plants but they're also an artificial construct, aren't they? They don't take that form naturally; you have to very carefully shape and mold them..."
"A good point, Detective," Hua conceded serenely. "But I chose to give the dolls human forms because that is what will most touch and move the human customers who buy them. Traditionally, each Count D has used the petshop to extract revenge upon humanity, one pet at a time, and I do not fault them for it. But I would rather use my dolls to awaken an appreciation of beauty and a seed of compassion in my customers, one doll at a time." D looked as though he were about to say something, perhaps disagree with his fellow kami, but Hua smiled and said, "Oh, I do not by any means think that I can alter human nature with my dolls. I am not trying to save the world or redeem humanity or any other such grand and ridiculous notion. But no matter how many forests are cut down, and no matter how many human cities spring up in their places, at least my lovely flowers will continue to thrive."
"That is why it was so important for you to find an apprentice to carry on your work," D said, a look of comprehension filling his eyes.
"Exactly," Hua replied, nodding in agreement. "Even after I am gone, a small piece of magic and beauty will survive in the world so long as my Plant Dolls endure. If I had not found a successor..." His voice trailed off as his expression turned grim for a moment, until his gaze fell on Daiki and the shadows seemed to lift from his face. "But fortunately, we do not need to worry about that, as I have found a worthy successor in young Daiki."
"I promise that I'll take good care of the Plant Dolls, sir," Daiki said solemnly. "I'll work hard to become a worthy successor."
"I know that you will, Daiki," Hua said, smiling fondly at his apprentice. "I have no qualms about leaving the shop in your hands."
After that, Leon no longer worried about Daiki going to the Plant Dolls shop alone, although at least one of the pets usually accompanied him, more out of habit than anything else. Hua could have been lying, of course, but Leon's intuition told him that the old kami had been telling the truth. He was convinced now that Hua would never hurt Daiki, because Daiki was the one who would carry on Hua's work. Most of the time, the shopkeeper kept up a pleasant, polite mask, but there had been real passion in his voice when he had spoken of how he wanted his dolls to endure after he was gone. Even gods could die, it seemed, Leon mused to himself, and then an image suddenly sprung into his mind of D's father with a bullet hole in his head--a bullet that Leon had put there. Yes, even kami, as powerful as they were, could die. But the dolls were a type of immortality, a way for Hua--or perhaps not just Hua, but the magic of his race--to survive long after he was gone. Leon supposed that it was the same instinct that drove humans to attempt to create something that would allow a small piece of themselves to continue on after they died: usually a child, but occasionally a great work of art.
D had a lot to think about, too, after that discussion over tea at the Plant Dolls shop. "Our histories are similar, but Mr. Hua has a very different attitude towards humanity than my family," he told Leon after they had returned to the petshop. "I am not sure that I completely agree with him, but...it has given me food for thought."
"You haven't always turned your customers into pet chow," Leon reminded him. "You helped a few of them--you helped that girl Betty keep her racehorse and save the family farm. You sold a Doberman Pinscher to a young girl that saved her from being murdered by her cousin. You even helped that guy Cesar and his pet jaguar...well, technically I guess he wasn't really a customer..."
"It was not really I who helped them," D said with a small smile. "The pets chose to protect their owners out of love. I cannot always predict what they will do; some of them are far more forgiving than I would be."
"You know," Leon said with a grin, "I can understand Hua's desire to create a small piece of magic and beauty." He slipped an arm around D's shoulders and glanced over at Daiki. "Between the two of us, we've managed to create something pretty magical, don't you think?"
"Yes, Leon," D said, leaning into the embrace and smiling up at his lover tenderly. "For once, I agree with you. We have created something very beautiful and magical in our son."
"Whaddya mean, 'for once'?" Leon demanded, feigning indignation. D just laughed and silenced him with a kiss, while Daiki giggled and Tet-chan rolled his eyes.
***
Afterword: The Dolls manga never really explains exactly how the Plant Dolls are grown, which is something I always wondered about, so this is what I imagined it might be like. I also thought it would be interesting to present a kami with a different point of view than the Ds.
Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11, Part 12, Part 13, Part 14, Part 15a, Part 15b, Part 16, Part 17, Part 18, Part 19a, Part 19b, Part 20a, Part 20b, Part 21, Part 22a, Part 22b
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