Well, he supposed he didn't have to read everything, but if he didn't, someone would probably try and pull a fast one on him. And nobody pulled a fast one on Kiba.

Damn this paperwork. It wasn't that he begrudged this guy a trip home to his family, or that one a day off to get his boils lanced, but why, dear gods, why did he have to approve everything that ever had to be done? And then there were the people who did punishable offenses... It took more time for the papers to filter up to him than to administer the punishment itself. Couldn't people take things into their own hands anymore? Arranging a lynch mob took so little effort compared to the results it got...

He heard someone walk into his open doorway. There was a pause, then he heard: "Sir."

Without looking up, Kiba asked, "What is it, Selina?"

That he could identify Selina Embery from that one word alone was no great feat; Selina was the highest-ranked woman under his command and the only one who could get away with just walking into his office, unannounced and sans appointment. Or at least his doorway.

He looked up to see, yes, Selina standing in his doorway, left hand held rigidly in a salute, right hand holding a stack of something that Kiba hoped wasn't papers.

She dropped her hand, her long, forearm-only sleeve snapping slightly as she quickly moved her arm to rest by her side. She was definitely trying to hold back a smile as she moved into the office. "I hate to do this to you, Sir, I truly do..." she said, amusement filling her voice as she lightly placed the papers held in the crook of her right arm on Kiba's desk.

"Selina..."

She flopped down into a chair, no longer trying to hide the broad grin that was forming. "Ah, Sir, you know this all has to get to you sometime, so why delay it?"

Kiba sighed and decided to just drop the matter. However, there was another one... "That is a truly inappropriate dress."

Selina looked down at herself, at her dress' skintight bodice, at the neckline that was like a bad mountain climber. "I suppose it is," she admitted. "That's probably why Alain wants to borrow it. I'm not too crazy about that, though... he'll probably stretch it all out..."

All things taken into consideration(or not), Kiba decided not to answer that, either. "It's your night to be buying," he reminded her.

She flipped her hand dismissively. "You love to change subjects, don't you?"

"It's still your turn to pick up the tab."

"Yeah, yeah..." Selina said. "Though my wallet bleeds, I'll have the money. I always do, you know..." She grinned slyly then. "Though considering that you get paid more than Alain and I put together, don't you think you should be paying more often, Sir?"

Kiba put his piece of paper down, looked up, and said, "Of course not... My subordinate officers have to know the value of a potch, after all."

Selina snorted. "And here I was, thinking you were just cheap."

"There's that, too."

Smirking slightly, Selina stood up. "Now, much as I'd love to bother you some more, Sir, but I've got work of my own I should be doing... I'll see you tonight, all right?"

"Good-bye, Selina."

She grinned at him, then left, leaving Kiba alone with entirely too many papers that he really didn't need to be signing. Damn paperwork. How many people needed to authorize some guy's daytrip to go give his kid swimming lessons?

"I still honestly can't get what you see in him, but... whatever, I guess."

Selina snorted into her beer. "You're not required to get it, twit. I don't get your attraction for all your boy-toys, but you don't hear me bitching about it, do you?"

"That's different," Alain said defensively.

"Oh, yeah, real different. Tell me, who's the bloody man in those relationships? I swear, whenever I see you out with anyone, you look like a pair of women!"

Alain folded his arms across his chest and muttered sullenly, "It is so different..." He straightened then, expression brightening. "But I suppose that as long as you're just pining for the fjords, it's really none of my business."

Selina's hand darted out to lightly slap Alain upside the head. "He is not a fjord. What the hell's a fjord, anyway?"

"I don't know that I should tell you, seeing as how you abuse me so much..." However, after a few moments under Selina's glaring gaze prompted him to sigh, "A rocky inlet. A fjord is a rocky inlet."

"I suppose they've got those wherever you're from, huh?"

Smiling mysteriously, Alain said, "I'll never tell, and you really should know better by now."

"Yeah, yeah..."

The door to the bar swung open, then closed quietly, leaving Kiba standing inside the place. He walked over to the table where Selina and Alain sat. Pulling an empty chair over from a nearby table and sitting himself down on it, he said, "Ladies,"

"General,"

"Sir,"

"I'm sorry I'm late," Kiba apologized, "but I got an unexpected influx of paperwork--" a meaningful glare at Selina, "-- and got held up because of it."

"Pity," Selina said, "I was starting to think I wouldn't be broke after tonight was over..."

Kiba grinned mercilessly. "There's no way you're going to get off that easily, little girl. In fact, with a comment like that, I may well have to force you into hock for the next few months or so."

"You're a cruel, cruel man, Sir," Selina said, taking on a defeated expression. "With my aging, ailing mother to support..."

"Selina, your mother's forty-four and gives children riding lessons for a living,"

"Well, one day, she will be aging and ailing and I'll have to support her..." Selina muttered sullenly. "Alain, you feel for my pocketbook, don't you?"

"When I'm not paying, always. Right now, no." Alain said matter-of-factly. "As long as it holds out, of course."

"Ah, poor me, to be abused so by my dearest friends..." Selina sighed. Then, with a grin, she wiggled her fingers at the offending pair and said, "I hereby curse you to wake up tomorrow with the worst hangovers of your lives!"

Alain smiled slyly. "Well, to do that, we'll have to drink..."

"And drink..." continued Kiba.

"And drink," Selina groaned, then buried her face in her hands. "Why, why, why, do I always end up screwing myself up the ass?"

"Now, there's an idea..." Alain said thoughtfully.

"Alain!" This from both Selina and Kiba.

"Well, sorry..." Alain said defensively. "I don't think it'd work anyway, after all, it--" He stopped abruptly when Selina backhanded him in the mouth.

"And to think I could have spent tonight washing my cat..." Selina muttered.

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"Kiba" is (C) Konami This chapter was posted on April 2, 2000