A/N: Hey! My second fic, haha! This is kinda exciting! This one's about Natsume so it'll be a bit different than the one about Permy. Hope you enjoy! Reviews are welcome! (GA doesn't belong to me)

Chapter One

Monday

His entire life, Natsume had been told he'd make a great lawyer. People always supported their arguments with different claims which proved pretty sufficient evidence, at least in Natsume's opinion.

His mother said admiringly that he was concise.

His father said proudly that he ran on logic, not emotion or passion.

His best friend, Ruka, had said jokingly that it was because he didn't care if people hated him.

His first (and last) girlfriend, that he'd only ever been with because Ruka needed Natsume to go on double dates with him and his girlfriend, had sobbed out that it was because he was heartless and cold (it shouldn't have to be said that this was when she found out he didn't actually give a shit about her).

His director at law school had said while beaming that he was the perfect example of a perfect attorney - a concise, logical, indifferent, cold, heartless, and bloodsucking parasite.

And because Natsume Hyuuga couldn't think of anything else to do and because he really didn't give a shit, he went into law school.

About two years in, his director signed him up for an internship. Apparently, he believed Natsume to be such a prodigy that an actual internship with an actual lawyer would do much more good for him than learning history and hypothetical lawsuits in a lecture hall.

And because Natsume Hyuuga couldn't think of a reason to stay in school and because he really didn't give a shit, he agreed to the internship.

Anjou L. Narumi, his director at law school, had put him at an internship at his old friend's firm.

Rei Serio, also endearingly known as "Persona" by his contemporaries for some ungodly reason, was a raging asshole according to Narumi, but he also felt that he was an excellent lawyer and that there was no one better for Natsume to learn from.

Again, Natsume Hyuuga really didn't give a shit.

He showed up at the firm in a black suit and grey tie. He wasn't nervous. He wasn't afraid. He was always good at everything so why wouldn't he be good at this?

He walked into the firm and took the elevator to the fifth floor.

After walking down the hall for a seemingly long period of time, he stopped at "Atty. Rei Serio"'s door. To the left of it was a brunette at a desk, looking intently at her computer screen, clicking fanatically and biting her nails anxiously.

Natsume turned his head slightly to see what she was doing, expecting to see long, boring documents or intently filled out spreadsheets on her screen. He was wrong.

She was playing Neopets.

He cleared his throat. She jumped and clicked nervously, minimizing her Neopets tab.

She moved her eyes up to his and smiled nervously.

"Hello~. . ."

Natsume rolled his eyes. "I'm here to see Attorney Serio."

The girl bounced in her swivel chair. "Oh! Are you the intern?"

"Yes," he answered impatiently.

She pressed a buzzer and cheerfully said, "Mr. Serio, the intern for you!"

A murky voice replied through the speaker. "Send him in."

"Sure thing!" She turned to Natsume. "You can go in now."

Natsume started walking towards the door.

"Ooooh!" She jumped to her feet and grabbed his wrist, sending a jolt through his bones. "Wait! If you call him Persona first thing, he'll be very happy! It usually makes a very good first impression! It really boosts his confidence!"

Natsume didn't care. At all.

"Oh . . . I'm Mikan, by the way." She held out her hand and smiled broadly. "I'm the secretary!"

"Yeah, I got that."

He avoided her extended hand and went through the door without giving her a second glance.

The office was pitch dark and Natsume couldn't see shit. But he still wasn't nervous. He had no reason to be.

"Natsume Hyuuga." The voice that spoke was deep and mysterious.

"Yes sir," replied Natsume.

"Narumi sent you."

It wasn't a question in any sense but Natsume affirmed it anyway with a grunt.

"The best of your class, I've heard?"

"Yes."

"Honest. I like that."

Natsume nodded.

"Well, I guess I'll have to get you to work immediately."

Natsume knew it. He'd never had to be nervous. He would make a good impression (even without calling Serio pet names), work his way up, and finally live in a huge payload as an independent lawyer by himself . . . alone. Except for Ruka.

"Alright . . .So . . ." There was a shuffling of papers and Natsume took a step toward where the voice came from, expecting a bundle of papers to be handed to him. "Get me a double shot espresso, largest size, no goddamn whipped this time."

What.

"Um, sir, can't your secretary-"

"Mikan Sakura is a decent secretary but, as you probably noticed, she plays Neopets on the job and has sweaty hands. I want to know if you're good at doing what you're told, so do as I say, Hyuuga."

Natsume didn't say anything about how he'd denied the secretary's handshake and thus couldn't possibly know if she had sweaty hands.

The shades were drawn, the lights were off, and Rei Serio sat at a desk in the corner, buried in shadow. Yet Natsume still saw him cross his arms and place booted legs on his desktop, gesturing with his head for his intern to beat it and get him his coffee - with his own money.

"Yes sir," said Natsume, walking out the door, a bit bitter.

The Mikan secretary girl was actually working on a spreadsheet, mindlessly typing and slowly clicking. Her face was no longer lit by concentration or even a smile.

"Waiting for me to leave so you can continue your game of Neopets?" he asked.

The secretary glared at him and continued typing into the spreadsheet.

Oh, whatever.

He continued walking past her toward the elevator. You should ask her if she wants something from the coffee shop, nagged an annoying voice from the back of his head.

No. Fuck that.

...

Natsume came back down the corridor holding two coffees. They were for Rei Serio and himself. He refused to get the grumpy secretary a coffee and convinced himself he wanted one by thinking about how fucking cold it was.

She wasn't at her desk by the door when he reached it.

He heard voices from inside the office and waited impatiently for the secretary to emerge.

When she did, her face was red and downtrodden.

"He's waiting for you inside," she said softly.

Whatever.

He walked inside but before she closed the door for him, he saw her wipe something from her face. From her eye.

Ugh.

The lights were turned on this time around but, although the sun was shining outside with a white halo, the shades were still tightly drawn.

Rei Serio was a tall, skinny man wearing a gross leather suit and obnoxious, white, plastic-rimmed glasses. His hair had not been brushed that morning (or any morning) and was the color of rotten fruit. Natsume was pretty sure the dude was wearing lipstick - purple lipstick - and eyeliner. His fingers and ears were stapled with jewelry and a small cross was tattooed under his left eye. Natsume wondered vaguely why this freak had such an amazing reputation in the law world.

Serio extended his hand and took the espresso, leaning against his desk to carefully take a sip.

He smacked his lips as if assessing it and said, "Perfect. You pass, Hyuuga."

Natsume suppressed a sigh of relief, not because he was embarrassed to be sighing, but because he didn't know why the hell he'd relieved in the first place.

"Alright, Hyuuga." Serio cracked his knuckles. He sat on his desk and crossed his leather-clad arms and Natsume felt out of place in his cheap suit, with the gross coffee he didn't want to and at the moment couldn't drink. "Do you know what kind of lawsuits we cover here?"

Natsume was certain Narumi had told him what it was exactly that Serio covered at his firm but since Natsume didn't give a shit, he hadn't been paying attention.

He shrugged. "No, sir."

Serio chuckled. "Again with the honesty. We cover sexual crimes on this level," he moved his hand in a circular motion to signal the floor that they were on. He snorted before continuing. "You do know what sexual crimes are, correct?"

Natsume nodded.

"Well?" Serio shrugged.

Suppressing a sharp groan, Natsume answered, "Sexual harassment, rape, sometimes murder."

"And you wouldn't do any of those things, would you?"

"No. I have no reason to." Besides, Natsume didn't even notice the opposite gender.

"No one has a reason to, Hyuuga. The people who do those things are pigs and that is why we deal with them for what they are here -" Serio grimaced "- disgusting monsters."

Natsume nodded.

"I want you to sort these-" Serio pulled out an intimidating pile of manilla folders "- based on sexual crime."

"Wow," said Natsume, trying to keep his voice bored. "That's a lot of folders."

"I know," said Serio, wistfully. "Sad, isn't it?"

He shoved the load of folders into Natsume's arms, knocking the coffee out of his hands so that it fell in slow motion to the ground, spilling its contents all over the plush cream carpet.

"Now sort them. And get that idiotic secretary to clean that up." He gestured nonchalantly for Natsume to get out of his office.

Natsume obeyed and left the office, closing the door behind him. His shoes were hot and sloshy with the goddamned coffee and the base of his slacks were steaming and soaked.

The secretary jumped when the door had opened, rubbing her hands all over her face.

Natsume decided he didn't give a shit. He was soaking in coffee and had a huge pile of folders to sort.

"Serio says to clean up a st- in there. Clean up in there." He motioned with his thumb to the door.

"Fine." She clicked at her computer and sniffed. Her voice was terse from crying.

Natsume decided he didn't give a shit.

The girl got up and said, "You can use my desk to sort those."

Natsume nodded. "Thanks."

"Oh . . . your shoes," she said softly, her voice sticky with tears.

Natsume decided he could tolerate her better when she was smiling.

"Yeah. I spilled coffee-"

"He did it. Don't blame yourself. That's just what he wants." She turned around. "Give me a second." She ran in the opposite direction. She was sporting pink knee socks and mary janes, he noticed. That was odd.

It wasn't like he could move from his spot. He would drip coffee anywhere he turned. Without moving his feet from the spot they were rooted to, he plopped his stack of folders on the annoying secretary's desk.

When she reappeared, she was still running, but she was holding some sort of cloth that was dripping with water and suds.

The second she caught up with him, she fell onto the floor and started to scrub at his shoes.

"That's not going to help much," commented Natsume. "I'm pretty sure I need to wash them in order to clean them."

She didn't look up or respond. She continued to scrub, working upwards to the bottoms of his pants. Natsume found himself slightly uncomfortable with the situation because a girl was touching him. A lot.

She kept her head down and scrubbed ruthlessly.

Natsume flexed his fingers uneasily.

Drip.

The slightest bit of pressure on his shoe. At first he figured it was just a drop of soapy water from the cloth, but when more fell and the secretary sniffled quietly, he realized she was crying.

Crying.

Crying while ruthlessly taking out her negativity on his shoes.

Nope. Don't care. Don't care. Do not care. At all.

"Hey," said Natsume, keeping his voice indifferent. "I think I'm OK now."

The secretary dropped the cloth and immediately stood up so she was right in front of him, mere inches away. Only now did he realize that she was significantly shorter than him.

Natsume backed away a step. "Why?" He didn't want to specify his inquiry because he didn't want to mislead her into thinking that he was concerned. Because he wasn't.

She shook her head and Natsume rolled his eyes.

She wiped at her eyes and then looked up at him.

"I'll go clean up in the room," she said suddenly, peppy again, a smile stretching across her face. "Feel free to use my desk to sort those folders!"

She skipped past him into the office behind him.

Wow, that girl was weird.

Natsume wasn't completely sure he liked this internship.

...

He had taken great pains that day to sort all those fucking folders at the secretary's desk. She left a whopping two hours before he did, pulling her kitten-shaped purse out of her desk and smiling at Natsume expectantly. Pfft. As if he'd smile back.

"Have a nice evening! I hope your first day was good! See you tomorrow!"

He grunted a response and continued his tedious sorting.

When he entered Serio's office again to drop off the newly sorted folders, the room was dark once more.

Natsume left the door open this time so a bit of light got into the room. It fell onto the patch of carpet that he had stood on before when his coffee soaked his shoes. The stain and the drops leading to the door were all gone.

"Is she gone?" asked Serio's deep voice. It was coming from his desk in the corner. A ray of blue light reflected into his glasses from the laptop that he gazed at.

"Yeah," replied Natsume. "She left about half an hour ago."

"Just making sure." Serio collapsed his laptop and along with it the subtle image of him vanished into darkness. Natsume could barely make out that he wiggled his fingers for Natsume to hand over the folders. He obeyed. "Ah . . . This is good." He flipped through the folders. "As you may have noticed, Mikan Sakura was crying earlier today." Natsume was taken aback by the random change of subject.

Natsume didn't give a shit, remember? But he had noticed.

"My secretary is the daughter of my co-worker in the domestic violence category on the sixth floor. Yuka didn't want Mikan to work for her, so she asked me since I owed her to take her in as my secretary. I agreed but I seemed to have overestimated her abilities. She's absentminded, childish, and downright stupid. Today, I politely offered her a transfer."

Natsume couldn't help but feel a bit annoyed, but he didn't know why.

"She started yelling and crying and then I told her I will have decided her fate as my secretary by the end of two weeks from now. She was very upset, as you probably noticed. Thank God she's your problem now."

"What?" Natsume was confused. "What do you mean?" He quickly annexed, "Sir?"

"I'll let you watch her work - closely, I might add - and you tell me at the end of two weeks from tomorrow what you think her fate is at this firm."

Natsume's stomach flipped over in dread. More tedious busywork.

"Done, sir."