ALONG CAME A ZHI ZHU -Chapter TWO

by BlueHandTwoByTwo (LarryL)

“Is she out of her rutting mind? I’ve never stepped one foot in her quarters!” Jayne was angry at Inara’s accusation. No, more than just angry. He was furious. His face was red and blustery, the veins on his forehead as thick as ropes. He jumped onto his bunk, boots dangling over the side of the mattress and swinging back and forth the way an agitated tiger would swing its tail. “I can’t…that’s it! I ain’t bein’ nice to her no more!”

“I’m just telling you what she told me,” Mal shrugged. “Something must have given her the impression that you’re the guilty party. Any idea what that might have been?”

Jayne opened his arms wide in a ‘I’ve got nothing to hide’ gesture. “Do I look guilty to you?”

“You want an honest answer to that?” Mal asked.

Jayne frowned. “Not really. Seriously though, Captain, I know I haven’t always been on the up-and-up with you, but I swear I’m telling the God’s honest truth this time. I didn’t lift those stones. And I don’t know who did. But even if it was me -which it wasn’t, see, this is just a ‘suppose’ type of argument here- how could I even get into her room? That hatch is never open, remember? You always have to knock cuz she’s all concerned about her privacy and personal space and whatnot. You’ve seen how she is about that.”

Mal nodded. As much as he hated to admit it, Jayne was right. She consistently kept her quarters locked up tight whenever she wasn’t there. “You have a point there.”

“Damn skippy I’ve got a point! Nobody took nothing out of her room without first having permission to go in there. You go back and tell her she needs to think long and hard who she let into her chamber because that’s the guy who got the sticky fingers!” He thought about his choice of words for a minute and chuckled. “That’s whore-talk for ‘it wasn’t me’.”

Mal sighed and shook his head. “Well somebody took them. They don’t just get up and walk out on their own. Guess I’ll just have to