Invocations

Chapter Four

Admittedly, Hanna knew that allowing her next client to help unpack wasn't the best thing to do. It entailed him getting to know Her apartment at the same pace she did. It let him see all her items. That tended to get a little creepy. Which was usually why she never let the clients come home with her. This one...well that was an accident. Hanna had run into Shuuchi Minamino on the street where he then offered to help her. It would have been rude to refuse the help, especially since he seemed to offer it out of a sense of altruism. Besides it wasn't like he was a danger to the young woman. The cooperation had done an extensive background check - more than even she had been used to them doing. He was squeaky clean in more ways than one.

In fact, Hanna was even pretty sure he was so clean that he'd become some sort of living potpourri. Seriously, her apartment was going to have that vague flower fragrance hanging around by the time he left. Though it was subtle, she was pretty good with scenting things. It was a good smell, sure, but a little awkward for it to be coming from him. It was just one of the things that she would have to get used to. Not that, that part would be hard. It was just a little different.

"You didn't bring much with you."

Hanna turned to see Shuuichi collapsing the last box so she could put it away. Against the white walls, he was a sharp contrast in his dark suit. His red hair was tied back tightly, highlighting the sharp cheekbones. In fact, the auburn haired woman felt a little jealous over his cheekbones. Especially since they seemed to lead to jewel toned emerald eyes. They were slanted but that only seemed to emphasize the color and how still he kept them.

"I like to start fresh each time," was her honest reply.

"You've done this often then?"

With a touch of a satirical smile on her face, she held up her finger and shook it at him admonishingly. It was one of the clauses of her work. Even if she wasn't the agent to fulfill the more sordid requests, the ones that could be used to blackmail the clients, there were certain confidentiality rules to abide by.

"Like I said, I like to start fresh each time."

"Admirable."

Moving over to him, Hanna grabbed the box he had folded up and put it with the others. It gave her time to mull over his response in her head. There was a certain form of restraint in his answer. Normally she could read other's reactions as easily as one did a book. It's what gave her such ease in her line of work. With him however, Hanna had a vague sense that it wasn't going to be so easy.

It wasn't that it seemed that he was hiding anything deliberately. In fact, she would have to say that he seemed to be at ease with his words. Neutral even. That was what threw her off. He spoke and presented himself before her without any of the normal emotional tinges that she was used to. The flinch in the eyes, the quick tug of the lips, or even the tightening around the nose or jaw...all of that was absent from his expression. Maybe it was a cultural thing? The young woman had no way of knowing just yet. That was something she would have to figure out as she got to know him personally.

"If you don't mind me asking, where were you heading to before we ran into each other?" Hanna asked as she turned back around to see him.

"I was on the way back to accomplish some work."

She nodded thoughtfully. Hanna had been told that he was a businessman. That was one of the reasons he was unable to make social connections. The ones he did make obviously left him wanting. Something about having too many subordinates and not enough peers to interact with.

"Work is important," she commented easily. "You should probably get back to that, I don't want you to get into any trouble."

He closed his eyes for a moment before opening them once more with an amiable look. "I suppose you are right. I will see you tomorrow then?"

She nodded with a soft smile. "And this time you won't even have to do any lifting."

Even his chuckle seemed well maintained. She had to wonder how hard it would be to blend into this man's life. If he already had everything planned out so methodically that even his laughter was structured, it wasn't going to be an easy job. Thankfully, Hanna had enough time to figure out how to get to know this professional man.

Out of habit, she walked with him to the door. On the way she had almost tripped on the half stair towards the entryway. That was something she was going to have to get used to. Taking off the shoes wasn't uncommon around the world. It was just the half step down, or up depending on which way someone went, that literally tripped her up.

"Till tomorrow," he said with a slight bow of the head.

"I'll see you then," Hanna responded and watched as he walked off.

Despite the awkwardness and potentially creep factor, it hadn't been a bad first meeting. She definitely had worse introductions.

When the morning finally rolled around, one could find Hanna snuggled deeply into her blankets. The duvet had been rolled down and neatly tucked into the space between bedframe and mattress. Meanwhile she was cuddled up under her microfleece and cottony sheets, surrounded by a handful of matching pillows. Her body twisted into a pleasurable stretch as the natural wake up processes began to occur. As Hanna stretched her phone started to go off, playing the song that she'd chosen for her alarm instead of those annoying buzzer sounds. Grumbling to herself, she reached over to grab the phone.

In the relative darkness of her studio at the moment, the light from her screen blinded her. Tilting the phone to the side so it could shine away from her face, Hanna began to turn the alarm off from memory. Once that was settled the phone was placed back onto the table, the same table that Shuuichi and she had unpacked from the day before. Hanna had moved her bed to rest right beside it so it could serve the dual function of a dining table and night stand as needed. There wasn't very much room in a Japanese apartment after all so she had to make use of what you had. Besides she could always move the bed over a two feet or so if she ever had guests over. That would allow the two extra chairs to seat people. Though, given her line of work, it would be a miracle if she needed more than the two already accessible. Really, Hanna doubted she'd need more than just the one for herself.

Reminding herself that today wasn't a day for just her, Hanna soaked in the last bit of comfort and warmth that the blankets could provide to her before slowly peeling them back. The room was chilly and she wanted to dive back into her bed immediately. Instead Hanna steeled her nerves and started to sit up, trying to make a groggy reminder to herself that she needed to find where the heater was. The weather wasn't so bad that she would die without a heating system, at least not yet. It was just an uncomfortable experience to get up in the morning to a chilly room.

Still half asleep, Hanna remade the bed and got to work on the morning routine. Having the toilet in a different room than her shower was a new experience, especially since it was a small room. Another thing she would just have to get used to for her duration in Japan, obviously. At the very least the young woman had a western styled shower and were used to having to pre-heat the water for said shower before she got in. Hanna could only imagine if she had made the mistake and instantly turned on the water, expecting for there to be hot water ready and waiting. Now that would have been extremely unpleasant. So other than having to deal with the toilet being in a separate room right, the morning went smoothly.

It was finding the cooperation headquarters that went a little awry. With very little Japanese under her belt (just enough to apologize and tell people that she didn't speak Japanese really), it wasn't like she could ask for directions. At least it didn't feel that way to her considering the fact that this was a rather seclusive business. It wasn't like asking someone where the closest McDonalds was. Nor could she rely on street signs to help her navigate either. There were some, of course, but not as many as Hanna was used to. Instead Hanna had to rely on a rather modern device by the name of a cell phone. The smartphone was her saving grace in this foreign land as it navigated her through the unfamiliar streets with ease. She envied its ability to do so even if it was an inanimate object.

By the time Hanna got to the building, putting on her heels and slipping the flats into her purse, and up to the designated floor she was barely on time. Seconds seemed to be ticking by in her head with the sound of gunshots. Hanna had never been late to the "first" contact. Never. That habit probably explained why she had left an hour early to try and find her way. Thank goodness for that or she would have been extremely late. So much for trying to assert her personal independence in this city early on.

As Hanna walked in, both men stood up. A small blush of embarrassment passed over her cheeks. She hadn't thought that she was late. Both men were already there, though, so that must have said something. One of the men who stood up at her entrance was your long time acquaintance, Ichida. The other was the man she'd met yesterday. Shuuchi seemed just as impeccable to her as he had the day before. Not that it was surprising. Business men of his caliber always seemed to be dressed perfectly. Hanna was pretty sure it was part of the subculture to be as perfectly groomed as possible. Or, in her view, beyond the scope of possible. Not to say that she didn't try to match what she had seen of him yesterday to foster a sort of connection. It was just that everyone was their own worst critic.

An introduction flew by in Japanese and Hanna watched their body language for clues. Just because she didn't know exactly what they were saying didn't mean she couldn't try her best to be appropriate. The young woman knew it was an introduction of sorts. Most cultures she'd taken part of had one at the start. So she relied on the subtle hand gesture from Ichida that let her know when it was time to bow. The bowing thing she had actually practiced after Shuuichi had left the apartment. It was just knowing the appropriate times to bow that she was unaware of.

"It's very nice to meet you, Hanna," Shuuchi said.

As Hanna rose back up to look him in the eye, she was pretty sure that she saw a hint of amusement. Good, there was already a form of an inner joke there. Or at least a better sense of familiarity than what would have been produced in this formal introduction.

"Thank you. It's wonderful to meet you too, Shuuichi."

Ichida didn't seem surprised that the conversation switched from Japanese to English, nor that it was Shuuichi that had undertaken such a transition. Hanna knew that he had known about Shuuichi understanding English fluently, otherwise she probably would not have been assigned to his case. It was hard to foster intimacy through a friendship if someone did not share a common language. Of course, English wasn't the only language that she knew. It was just that Japanese hadn't made it onto her list until now. Especially since she'd just finished up a contract with another person in Spain. Those rolling Rs were still tricky but she were pretty sure that she'd gotten passable in her diction there.

"I will leave the rest of this meeting to you, Miss Hanna. If you'll excuse me Mister Minamino."

With a slight murmur and a wave of his hand, Shuuchi accepted Ichida's departure. Hanna took a small breath and readied herself. The job had officially begun. Now she just had to forget that it was an assignment and everything would go smoothly.