Author's Note: New story. This one and my Farewell Song of a Magnum are my project for both Valentine's Day this month and White Day next month. I decided to celebrate these two romantic holidays by having two (approximately) eight chapter fics that explore two sides of romance: humor and drama. This fic will be the more light-hearted one with Magnum being the more dramatic one. I hope to update one chapter on each one for the rest of February and March and have them finished by the end of March (or very shortly thereafter). Timeline-wise, this takes place after about Volume 25 of the manga (or around Season Four if you only watch the anime).

Anyway, I hope my readers enjoy these two projects. :) And I'm interested to know what you think: do you like the drama or the comedy? Or both? Please let me know your thoughts.

I do not own City Hunter or any of its characters.

Thank you to everyone who reads/follows/reviews this. It is always appreciated.

Chapter One

Kaori Makimura stood in a corner of the room, her face in her hands. As she stood there, one question continued to repeat itself in an endless loop in her mind.

'Why on earth did I agree to this job?'

Three days ago, Kaori had gone to check the blackboard at the Shinjuku station for work and had been thrilled to finally see a request on the board. Her elation quickly disappeared, however, when the handwriting told her that the request had come from a woman.

'Why is it that we only seem to scare away the good jobs that involve men?' she had wondered. 'Considering Ryo's usual antics, it seems like it would be the women who would stop looking for our help altogether. And yet, once again, here it is.'

Kaori let out a long sigh and pulled out her notebook. Even though she wanted to forget about this request, the fact remained that their finances would not allow it. She jotted down the information and walked back out to the streets of Shinjuku, trying to formulate some way to meet with this potential client without Ryo insisting on joining her. As it turned out, Ryo had gone out to spend time on his own the next day, so Kaori was easily able to slip away.

Her apprehension about the job did not dissipate in the least once she got a chance to meet with the client, Shigeta Aoki, a young woman who was trying to get established in the fashion world. It had turned out that she had recently parted ways with an established fashion house in Tokyo, and a former co-worker, Eikichi Fujisawa, had threatened to ruin her debut as a designer. Apparently, Fujisawa had been jealous of the attention their mentor had given Aoki and was determined to disrupt her fashion show which featured a line of swimwear she had spent a year designing.

"Please," Aoki had pleaded with her. "It's been my dream since I was a little girl to have a fashion line of my own. My mother and father worked so hard to help fund my education in design school, and my mentor put so much into guiding me to this moment. Please, help me make my dream and theirs come true."

Listening to the details of the job, Kaori could easily think of a hundred reasons to turn down this request. More specifically, she could think of exactly twenty-one of them with twenty of them being the models she and Ryo would have to protect and the other one being Aoki herself, who could easily have been a model herself if she had chosen to.

Still, Kaori could not ignore Aoki's sincere pleas nor could she stand the idea of someone else's jealousy ruining the hopes of so many people. She reluctantly agreed to set up a meeting for her with Ryo.

"And don't worry," Kaori had told her. "I'll make sure to protect you and your models from him."

"Um, don't you mean that the two of you will protect me and my models from Fujisawa-san and his henchmen?" Aoki asked. Kaori laughed weakly before a grim expression settled into her features.

"You don't know Ryo," she said. "Professionally, he's the best in all Japan, if not the world, at what he does. But as a man…."

"Yes?"

"Never mind," Kaori sighed. "Just know that I'll be around at all times to make sure that things don't get out of hand.

As Kaori expected, Ryo had been more than a little eager to take this job, especially after meeting with Aoki and learning about how they would be working at a fashion show and keeping an eye on twenty swimsuit models.

"Ah ha ha, Ryo-chan is in heaven," he had said more than once. "Now this is the kind of job we should be doing more often."

Kaori supposed that she could try to kid herself into thinking that the reason why Ryo thought that way was because the client was paying so well or because the work had turned out to be pretty easy thus far, but she knew better than to cling to such delusions. Kaori found that she had had to spend as much time assisting Ryo in his search for any way Fujisawa could sabotage the show as she did making sure that Ryo did not ruin the show himself by prompting any of the models to quit due to his near constant mokkori activities. By the time the day of the show arrived, she felt exhausted from all the efforts she had had to expend.

'We need the money,' she kept telling herself. 'And after today, our client won't need us as urgently anymore. Ryo can just make a few threats to this Fujisawa guy at his place, and she won't need to worry about him ever again. So, I just need to get through today, and everything will be fine.'

Kaori tried to comfort herself with that idea more than once at the start of the day, but she had a feeling that that might not be enough to keep her calm as the day wore on. While this would be the last day that she and Ryo would need to work so closely with Aoki, this was also sure to be the most difficult day of all. If Fujisawa was to try anything, this would be his last chance, thus they had to be extra vigilant. Also, she knew that the prospect of twenty models changing in and out of a variety of swimsuits would be a temptation too great for Ryo to ignore.

As a precautionary measure, Kaori arranged it so that Ryo would have to work as a stage hand. She hoped that that work, along with having to ensure his client's safety and the safety of the models, would keep him so busy that he wouldn't have time to engage in his usual mokkori pursuits.

Kaori frowned as she remembered the car trip over to the theater that was hosting the fashion show. Ryo had grumbled the entire time about how he was losing his enthusiasm for this job and how his efforts to protect both Aoki and the models were being hampered by her "unreasonable and ridiculous" demands. She had ignored most of his complaining given how she was used to it with many of the jobs they had worked in the past, but she hadn't been able to forget about one comment in particular from him.

"Why is it that you always act like this whenever we have a female client?" he had asked her. "Can't you ever stop being jealous?"

A few shouted words of denial and a swift blow with her hammer had been enough to deflect that question. Still, Kaori had not been able to completely put aside the feelings those questions had stirred up inside her.

'Why do I care so much about what he does with these women?' she kept asking herself. 'I mean, yes we need to take care of our clients properly and protect the integrity of our business. But is that all it is or is it…?'

Kaori let out a sigh as she watched some of the models laugh while they checked their swimsuits in the mirror. Most of the time, she focused on the fact that it was important for her to stop Ryo from ogling the clients and random women on the street so that their potential client base would not be put off by reports about his bad habits. It was a sound, logical notion to believe in, and it was something Kaori continued to tell herself even after years of working with Ryo. That did not change the fact, however, that there were other reasons why she felt compelled to use her hammer on him whenever he attempted to have any kind of mokkori with a woman, reasons that she worked hard to dismiss and forget about.

'And why can't I think about how I feel either?' she wondered. 'I mean, it's normal for a woman to feel things like this about a man she….'

Kaori swallowed hard and paced around the room. Even in the privacy of her own thoughts, she was hesitant to mention the possibility that she was in love with Ryo. That awareness was something that she did her best to keep locked up inside her. Part of this was because she simply could not understand her attraction to him, and another part was because she did not feel self-confident enough to tell anyone about feelings like that.

There was another element to it though that she could not put her finger on, and recently she found herself spending a lot of time mulling over what else could be holding her back.

'What am I worried about?' she asked herself. 'It's not like I'm frightened of Ryo. He can be obnoxious and oblivious, but he's not cruel. And, and since when do I care about what that loser thinks of me anyway? I'm sure that there are plenty of guys who would like to have someone like me for their girlfriend, so it wouldn't be any great loss if that idiot passed me by.'

'So why? What is it that I'm so afraid of? What is it that's making me live this way?'

Kaori shook her head and took a deep breath. Looking around the room, she decided that this was not the time to ponder things like that. There was a job to finish and a pervert to keep in line. She could not let her concentration waver for even a single moment.

"Well, everything looks good in here," she said to herself as she glanced around the room.

"It certainly does," Ryo nodded. Kaori responded with a nod of her own for a moment before falling over to the ground in shock over Ryo's sudden appearance.

"Ryo! What are you doing here?" she fumed. "This is the models' dressing room."

"I know," he grinned, drool starting to appear at the corners of his mouth. "Aoki-chan really is a talented designer. Her high-cut bikinis are even sexier than the ones that came out last year."

Kaori sighed, putting her face in her hand for a moment, before starting to shove Ryo out of the room.

"Hey, hey, what are you doing?" he protested. "I was just…."

"Yes, you were hoping for your own private mokkori show or looking for some extra mokkori favors," Kaori cut in as she continued to push him toward the exit. "Sadly, I know the routine by now. But it's not happening. Not while I'm still on the case. Now, go do your job and keep a lookout for Fujisawa or any of his goons. That's what you were hired for."

"Oh that," he laughed. "I took care of them an hour ago."

"What?"

"Yeah, they showed up backstage while I was putting together one of the sets," Ryo continued to giggle. "So I decided to let them put on a fashion show of their own in a freezer that I found at the back of the theater. Who knew that they would keep one that big in a place like this?"

Kaori worked to stifle her reaction to Ryo's report as she imagined what he might have meant by that. Having worked with Ryo for so long, she had seen many examples of his impish and somewhat twisted sense of humor played out on the people who tried to harm their clients. There were times when Kaori wondered how and why Ryo developed such a perverse tendency to amuse himself while dealing with criminals who were hopelessly out of his league, and this was quickly turning into one of them.

Kaori then noticed how Ryo was starting to pant, and her attention returned to getting him away from the models before he acted on his desires. She pushed him even harder, and Ryo clawed at the walls in a desperate attempt to stop her.

"Come on, Kaori-chan," Ryo whined as she continued to shove him out of the room. "Ryo-chan is sick of being a stagehand. I want to be a model assistant too and check out these mokkori high-leg…."

"Forget it, Ryo," she said. "This isn't a job for you. Men aren't allowed back here."

"Then why are you back here?" Ryo said, sticking his tongue out at her. Kaori gritted her teeth while another hammer appeared in her hands.

"Because I am a woman," she growled at him. Ryo winced and dashed back toward the hallway with Kaori chasing him.

"Ryo, get back here," she yelled as she ran after him, her hammer held aloft.

"It was a joke," Ryo bellowed. "Where is your sense of humor?"

"Where is your sense of decency?" she shot back. "You mokkori maniac."

Ryo speeded up and raced around a corner, and Kaori stopped where she was, panting for air as she lowered her hammer toward the ground and watched it disappear. She knew that there was no way that she could catch him now, and she decided to simply be grateful that she had managed to lure him away from the models. She stomped back into the dressing room, but her fury was disrupted when she heard another woman screech.

"Ryo!" she shouted. "Where are you? I told you to leave the models alone."

Kaori was about to make another hammer materialize when she looked around and realized that the screeching was coming from a model who was staring at pointing at her.

"What are you doing back here?" the model gasped. "This is our dressing room, you pervert. Someone get this guy out of here."

"What are you talking about?" Kaori snapped. "I am a woman."

"Security!" the model yelled. "Come on, and get rid of him."

"Now, listen here," Kaori retorted. "I'm…."

"Wait, stop it."

Both Kaori and the model looked over to see Aoki walking toward them with her hands up and her palms facing them.

"Asagami-san, I'm afraid there's been a misunderstanding," Aoki said. "Kaori-san is a woman, and she and her partner are here helping me out with the security detail." Aoki then turned toward Kaori and bowed slightly.

"I'm sorry, Kaori-san," she said. "This is my fault. I had to replace one of my models with Asagami-san, and I forgot to mention the work you and Saeba-san were doing for me today. Please forgive me. I really do appreciate all that the two of you have done for me so far."

"Ah, it's ok, really," Kaori said sheepishly. "This actually isn't the first time this has happened to me. Don't worry about it."

"Thank you," Aoki said. "I need to get back to checking the rest of the swimsuits. Asagami-san, please finish getting ready for the show. Everything will be starting in fifteen minutes."

Aoki rushed away, and Asagami let out a sigh before sauntering over to check her reflection in a mirror. Kaori scowled at her for a moment and started to walk away when a sound from Asagami stopped her.

"How was I supposed to know?" she sulked.

"Excuse me?" Kaori said, her frown growing.

"How was I supposed to know that you were a woman?" Asagami said, turning toward her. She then waved a hand at the mirror.

"Have you looked at yourself lately?" Asagami added. "Can you honestly say that you see a woman when you look into a mirror?"

Kaori moved closer to the mirror and glanced over at her reflection. She had known that she would be working today, so she had stuck to a more practical attire of jeans, a plain white shirt with a sport jacket over all of it and a pair of flat shoes on her feet. Her hair in the back was tucked behind her collar and she had decided to skip wearing any jewelry or makeup other than a light lip gloss.

"I will say this," Asagami nodded. "I wasn't that surprised when Aoki-san said that you were a bodyguard. You definitely have the look of someone like that."

"Someone like that?" Kaori echoed, putting a hand to her cheek while still staring at herself in the glass.

"Yes, exactly," Asagami said as she swished her long hair to the side. "Quite frankly, I don't know why you are so determined to assert that you are a woman when you have clearly decided to declare to the world that you are some kind of detective or bodyguard with the way you dress and the way you carry yourself. I wonder, do you even know anything about being a woman or about femininity. It seems to me like you're a tomboy through and through."

"Hurry everyone," Aoki's voice suddenly rang out. "The show is about to start." Asagami studied herself in the mirror for another couple of seconds and then twirled around to head toward the stage.

"My advice to you is stick with who you are," she said. "You'll be a lot happier if you don't try to pretend to be something you're not. Think about it."

Asagami's heels clicked as she marched over to the line where the rest of the models were waiting. Kaori thought about following her so as to keep an eye on things backstage, but she was frozen in front of the mirror.

At first, she had been angry at the things Asagami told her and had been tempted to let her know exactly what she thought of her conceited attitude. But as she listened and gazed at her reflection she began to wonder if she had a point. She thought of all the times when she was a child where the adults around her scolded her for being a tomboy and all the times when she managed to scare the boys around her with her hammers. She thought about when she was a teenager and all the times she wished she could go on dates like other girls and wasn't able to, and of all the times when she endured the laughter of boys who pointed out that only other girls ever asked her out. Finally, she thought about all the times as an adult when people accused her of being a man or a transvestite, and the fact that, while Ryo might say stuff like that to tease her, plenty of other people were serious when they said such things.

Kaori put her hand on the mirror near her face, her stare becoming far more intense.

'Is that really what people see when they look at me?' she asked herself. 'Do people see me only in terms of my work with Ryo and not as a woman?'

'Is that what I really am?'

Kaori heard music start up, and she turned away from the mirror and went over to the backstage area to watch the show start. She looked at Aoki and the models surrounding her, and Kaori couldn't help but feel that she was missing something that they all seemed to know, something that they possessed that made them confident and happy women.

It was then that she realized another facet of what was holding her back from confessing her feelings about Ryo. It wasn't just the fact that she had never had the courage before to admit to the things in her heart. It was also her own thoughts about herself and what she felt she knew about Ryo.

'That mokkori idiot loves women, beautiful women,' she told herself. 'And he's made it perfectly clear that he doesn't consider me to be a woman. He never will. And…he's not alone. Not at all.'

Kaori felt something like anger stir inside her, but it was tempered by an unexpected melancholy. She understood that she could get mad about all this, but was also aware that there was little point in it.

'This life, this work that I do, this is what I chose for myself,' she mused. 'Maybe at first it was just a way to move past aniki's death, but now, it's all I can imagine doing.'

'Perhaps it's time that I accept that and everything that comes with it.'

Kaori took a deep breath and crossed her arms over her chest. She worked on getting her mind back on her job and on making sure that Ryo did not cause any more mischief. In the back of her mind, however, she continued to ponder Asagami's words and all the thoughts that accompanied them.

She wasn't entirely sure what she would do next, but the one thing she was sure of was that it was time for her to look at her life and make some hard decisions about who she was…and who she was going to be from now on.