AN: and here's another chapter! =]
"And there she goes," Bunshichi commented as the black limo drove away from the Natsume's house. Bunshichi was sitting on the left side of the limo, next to Mitsuomi. Mitsuomi was looking out of the window with a cold look.
Emi was sitting in the seat across from the two men. While trying to re-curl her hair, she made an annoyed sound and crossed her arms. "Stupid girl..." she said, talking about Maya, "I don't understand why I was not allowed to wipe off that stupid smirk of he-"
"Emi. Enough!" Mitsuomi commanded. He turned and glared at her with 'warning' written in his eyes. She cowered into her seat and looked away quickly. Bunshichi just laughed and Mitsuomi closed his eyes.
"So...," Bunshichi said while puffing on his cigarette, "why did I have to come with? Was I supposed to enjoy the show? Cuz if that's the case, you shouldn't have stopped them. It looked like they were gonna tear each other's clothes off, and hell, I'm sure we'd all like to see that. But that's not the point. I did tell you I would join only by name."
"I remember," Mitsuomi replied as he opened his eyes and looked at him. "I have a favor to ask of you."
"Oh you do?" Bunshichi said, taken aback. "It better be good, Takayanagi."
"I better hurry... She's not going to like the fact that I've been out for so long..." Aya worried as she ran back home.
She was running down deserted streets and alleyways, after failing to find the intruder. It was still dark out, but Aya knew it was already the next day. As she rushed home, she fell down a few times and scraped her knees, but she knew if she didn't hurry, then she'd get a much worse punishment from her sister.
It was around 3 a.m. by the time Aya arrived home. She stopped in front of the door to catch her breath. After, she walked into the house quietly, took off her shoes, and snuck down the dark hallway.
"There's not a single light on... hopefully that means she's asleep..."
Aya crept up to her sister's room and snuck a peak. She opened the door and it made a soft 'creeking' sound and she froze. She looked over to where her sister's bed was, and sure enough, Maya was sound asleep. Aya slowly closed the door so it wouldn't make another noise, and took a breath. Then she went to her room, and fell asleep.
Maya woke up at precisely 8 o'clock. Her alarm clock went off an hour earlier, but she threw it up against a wall. Now it's on the floor, shattered to a thousand little pieces. Maya looked at it and shook her head. She hated being disturbed while she was trying to sleep.
"Mmm... thank god it's Saturdayyyyyy," she yawned out, "that girl better be here..."
Maya got out of bed, and picked up the broken clock and threw it into her green garbage can. Maya exited her room and went into Aya's room. She found Aya was still wearing her school uniform and was passed out on top of the sheets on her bed. Maya rubbed her head and chuckled as she closed the door.
She went down to the kitchen and decided to reheat some leftover noodles for breakfast.
After finishing breakfast, Maya walked back to her room and got changed. She put on a simple violet shirt and short jean shorts. Since she had nothing better to do, she decided to go down to the training area and work.
When she opened the door to the room, she was stunned to see someone was already in there. "Masataka, what are you doing here? It's Saturday, you should be out enjoying the sun," Maya said with a smile as she walked up to him.
Masataka was wearing dull green baggy shorts and a white over-shirt that was unbuttoned. He was already sweating, and it was dripping off of his face, and onto his chest. He stopped what he was doing when he heard Maya's voice. He raised up his left hand and started scratching his head. That caused his shirt to move a little, and revealed a little bit of his chest to Maya.
"Uh... hi there, Captain. I... couldn't really sleep, so I hope you don't mind that I'm here," he said, while feeling a little awkward by the whole situation.
There was a small gust of wind that blew at Masataka's shirt and it showed his whole chest. Because Masataka always wore a shirt, nobody would have ever believed that he would have a six pack. Maya noticed and she tilted her head and just gawked at him. He noticed and he stopped scratching his head and blushed a little at her somewhat forwardness.
"Ca-Captain, what are you-?"
"How long have you been here?" Maya interrupted. She looked away from his pecks and looked up at his eyes. He coughed a little and hurriedly looked away from her gaze.
"Uhm... two hours?... I think," he admitted.
"Two hours?! No. No. No. You should go out and enjoy yourself. Take a break from all of this training. You're still stronger than most of the people in the group, so they need to catch up," Maya commanded.
"But... I enjoy training," he pleaded. His eyes became puppy-dog-like.
Maya sighed when she saw that and looked away. "Well, I guess...," she smirked at him, "we can go out together. Truth be told, I'm not really in the mood to train anymore."
Masataka's eyes brightened up dramatically and he pulled Maya into a hug. She flinched and he quickly let her go, looking worried and puzzled.
"A-Are you ok? I.. Didn't mean to.." he said while looking ashamed.
"Huh?" she asked looking at him as if nothing happened. She played off the pain and said "it's nothing. I just.. Wasn't expecting that. I'll.. Meet you up front, ok?"
Masataka smiled and Maya quickly returned the smile back. With that, he left the room happily, bouncing on the balls of his feet. Maya lightly grabbed her right side, and she realized she was bleeding again. The blood had started to soak thru her violet shirt, so she had to change out of it before leaving.
When Masataka saw Maya walking up at him, he smiled but then quickly noticed her shirt was different.
"Hey... weren't you wearing a different shirt just now?" he asked while he checked out her baby blue shirt. It was tighter and had shorter sleeves than the one before.
"I decided to change out of it. It was too tight," she said simply as she walked ahead of him.
"heh.. Like this shirt isn't..." Masataka said while smiling to himself.
"So, what are we going to do?" he asked while catching up to her.
Maya looked at him and smiled. "How about the arcade? It's been awhile since I've been there." And Masataka nodded and smiled back.
"Sir, we've just spotted Maya. She walked into the arcade with Masataka Takayanagi," Emi reported to Mitsuomi.
Just like the night prior, Bunshichi, Emi and Mitsuomi were sitting in a black limo, waiting to meet with Maya. Bunshichi casually looked out of the window.
"So.. She's out with another Takayanagi, huh?" he mumbled. Mitsuomi didn't hear him but if he did, he didn't react.
They all sat there in silence for a minute before Mitsuomi finally said "It's going to be a few hours," and he glanced at the arcade for a second and then looked down.
"Might as well get comfortable," Bunshichi said as he put his legs up on the opposite seat and sighed. Emi looked down at some paperwork and started scribbling out words.
"Ca-Captain! Wow! I didn't know you could play so well! I mean.. I heard you were good, but.. That was amazing!" Masataka said as he and Maya left the arcade.
Maya laughed and shook her head in disagreement. "I'm not that good! I do know of some people who can beat me, but besides...," she turned and looked at him. His shirt was still unbuttoned and it was really sunny out. "You should really button up your shirt. You'll probably get a sunburn if you don't and you don't need to be giving girls heart attacks when they see you," she said as she continued laughing.
Masataka blushed and went to grab the bottom button but missed. He looked at his hands and realized they were shaking. He laughed again and looked up at Maya who had stopped laughing. She was looking at him with worry written all over her face.
"I... guess I haven't been using my hands very often lately," he joked.
"That's rather hard to believe," Maya teased back.
Masataka blushed and shrugged. Maya moved in front of him and grabbed the bottom button. She had to move closer to him as she buttoned more buttons because she was standing in the sunlight and it was becoming more difficult for her to see each one. Also, his shirt was getting tighter on him as each button was buttoned.
When she reached the second to last button, Masataka looked down at her, and noticed her shirt looked a little discolored on the right side. They didn't eat anything yet, so it's not like anything was spilt on her. Also, it wasn't there before, so he knew something was up.
"It must've just happened... but wait... earlier, when I hugged her, the moment my left arm brushed up against her side, she flinched...," Masataka thought.
"Captain...," he said as he pushed Maya's hands down before she buttoned the last button. He lightly touched her right side, and she jumped forward in shock and in pain.
Emi noticed everything that happened, and motioned to Bunshichi to watch. Mitsuomi glanced up and saw their faces were glued to the window facing the arcade.
"Maybe she's moved on!" Emi thought with glee as she stared at them.
"Uh-oh... this can't be good..." Bunshichi thought as he nervously eyed Mitsuomi after turning away from the window.
Mitsuomi looked at Bunshichi weirdly, and then looked past him, and saw Masataka and Maya. He had no expression what-so-ever.
"Well, uhh... I guess I should be going now..." Bunshichi announced loudly as he pushed Emi away from the door, and got in between Mitsuomi and the window. "Don't forget. You owe me," he said to Mitsuomi.
Mitsuomi glanced at him, nodded, and then closed his eyes. Bunshichi opened the limo door and quickly exited. Emi ordered the driver to move and the driver pulled out onto the street and drove away.
Bunshichi walked up to Maya and Masataka and expected to be greeted with a happy hello, but they didn't even notice him.
"Oh fine, don't say hello. Assholes..." he said.
Masataka looked passed Maya and finally acknowledged Bunshichi. "He-Help! The Captain is bleeding.."
Bunshichi flicked his cigarette away and rushed over to Maya's side. Maya had her eyes closed and was biting down hard on her lip. He looked at her worriedly and then noticed that Masataka was helping her keep her balance. He looked at his hands and noticed they were covered in blood.
"What the hell happened?!" he demanded.
"I-I don't know! We were just.. And then.. Blood. And.. I don't know what to do! She flinched and I-" Masataka struggled to say but Maya lost her balance again and he had to stop talking so he could catch her before she hit the ground.
"Captain!" "Maya!" The boys shouted simultaneously.
"We gotta get her to a hospital. Now." Bunshichi exclaimed.
