I can always tell when you're upset.

She sat straight in her chair, that calm ever present smile on her lips. She was graceful and slow in all her motions, but not so much that it was drawn out. It tested ones patience to watch her slowly and quietly drink her tea. Especially in a room filled with anxious soldiers waiting to hear their master's command. It was her eyes that spoke volumes against her calculated motions.

They passed around the room filled with uncertainty, carefully, unnoticeably to the untrained eye, but I saw it all. I stood before her in chains, how odd, watching her carefully; the unease she felt slowly growing onto me. What was going on?

She finally spoke as she set down her tea, "It seems my presence is required back in the upper echelon," she chuckled, not quite as amused as she let on. "However, no one shall press further into the lower sectors until I am able to return," I glared at her. That meant she was planning on continuing. "This is a delicate matter and I want to lead it myself. It would also help to bring the prisoner before the council for proper… judgment," did she hesitate? A stranger listening would have succumbed to observer's forgiveness, instantly forgetting that it happened, but I was no stranger. What the hell was going on?

I shifted from one foot to the next as I stared her down. The others were silent watching the exchange. What are you doing Shizuru!? What are you thinking?! I wished she could have heard me but damn it, we were not telepaths. I could also tell that the others were wondering why I was even there when none of what had been said so far had been directed at me.

"That is all for now. Lieutenant," Deni stiffened at the sudden use of the title, "I would like you and the prisoner to stay for a little while longer. The rest of you are dismissed. I expect everything ready to go by tomorrow morning." They saluted their leader and left.

As soon as the door closed Deni spoke, "Oujo-sama, why are you being summoned?" The concern was clear in his tone, but I couldn't help but feel uncomfortable with the way he was familiar and…well uncomfortable.

"Who is on night watch?" She asked, clearly avoiding the question that I had wanted answers to as well.

"Me."

"Really," she raised her brow, "since when? I don't recall that being your post."

"As lieutenant I am responsible for my men and their failures. I saw it fitting to take up the least sought after post since Takeda and Minagi's failure in regards to the prisoner. After what happened, I assumed you would find it as a suitable arrangement." I locked eyes with him as a strange look glossed over them. Was it disgust? Contempt? Recognition?...knowing. He knows something. I looked back at Shizuru trying to convey to her my panic. She refused to meet eyes with me.

"Who was on call the first few nights?" He shifted uncomfortably.

"Masashi Takeda."

She turned her chair so that she was facing the back wall of the office. She was trying to hide from me. That was the only way Shizuru would ever turn her back to anyone, in fact I think I'm the only one she'd ever done that to. It usually happened when she was trying to suppress the profanity that her eyes would so clearly scream out in distress. Pfft, and she was always reprimanding me for swearing, she did it too from time to time, just deep behind that smiling mask of hers. I never understood how that would make it any different. Either way, it was never a good sign.

"Deni-han, please remove the chains from the prisoner. I will be summoning you again so please stay nearby." She looked over at him and the two shared a momentary glance of understanding that didn't go unnoticed by me. He definitely knows.

"Hai." He bowed and did as he was told. Once they were alone Shizuru slowly turned back to me and was chewing her bottom lip. If she didn't seem so distressed I would have probably been able to better admire how cute she looked right now.

I remember the first time she gave me that look. It was in our earlier days together, and I don't mean when we first met, together, I mean when we were together, together. It was a really awkward situation if I do say so myself.

Shizuru had her finger intertwined with mine as she pulled me forward, a dangerous glint in her eyes. I should have turned and ran away but somehow that single finger pulling me along had more hold over me than if she had used her whole hand. Another warning sign was the large house that was coming into view that I knew had her family name engraved onto a small plaque on the gate. I had been to her house hundreds of times but that look told me that this time was going to be different. And part of me said it wasn't a good idea, but the other part said who cares I'm going to enjoy it any way.

She skipped along faster and pulled me closer to her once we passed the door way. She leaned forward and slipped her arms around my neck. I could feel her breath on my lips before she smiled and tore away from me. She gave me a wink before racing away and disappearing down the hall. I stood motionless for a few seconds in the foyer still flush from her tease. The sound of her distant giggling snapped me out of my trance and I chased after the elusive melody.

When I turned down the hall she stood there leaning against the wall waiting for me. She smiled before turning to walk off again, this time swaying her hips seductively as she went. She paused and looked back at me before bolting again and I followed suit. She led me along corridors, through connecting rooms, dodging maids in the kitchen, laundry room, library, everywhere. She went up the spiraling stairs flying past her bedroom where I had initially thought this chase would lead. When we came to the end of the hall crowned in French double doors, she stopped suddenly and turned around. I didn't expect her to halt so abruptly and she leapt onto me as I plowed into her. Her legs and arms wrapped tightly around me as we burst through the doors and stumbled onto the floor. She rolled me onto my back with her straddled over my waist and bent down to catch my lips in a heated kiss. My hand slid up under her shirt pulling her body closer to me, fighting every urge not to rip her clothes off right then and there, when someone clearing their throat caught our attention.

I snapped my head back, instantly regretting that action as I slammed my head into the floor. I cursed under my breath while she quickly leapt off of me and stared with a horrified expression at whoever had interrupted us. I looked up from where I lay and looked up at a woman wearing a violet kimono, graying black hair and deep brown eyes like stones that looked down at me. I swallowed hard knowing none of the maids would wear such an expensive kimono, nor would any of them look down at her with such a stone face that could only be matched by Shizuru's own mask at its best.

"Okaasan…" Shizuru whispered, effectively removing the brown orbs from weighing down on me. "What are you doing here?" Her voice was small and timid. Nothing like I had ever heard from her. Usually she was so strong and sure, her mask making it so that you'd believe that whatever happened was part of her plot. But now as I looked away from her mother to her where she stood, it looked like she was trying to disappear into the wall behind her.

"I believe it is me who needs to be asking this." Her mother's voice was cold, revealing nothing of what she was thinking, and it scared the crap out of me, the thick accent of the Kyoto district doing little to make it any friendlier. I still lay on the floor unsure of what I should do, too scared that if I moved to get up I would draw her attention back to me.

"I wanted to make sure the house chores were being attended to in preparation for tomorrows event," she kept her face straight, and if not for my presence still sprawled across the floor it would have sounded like a sincere concern. There was a small unreadable glint in her mother's dark eyes as though in warning that she knew that Shizuru was lying, obviously.

"I was feeling ill and decided to come home early. Never did I think to find my daughter bursting through my door," Wait! Her door! As in, her room? I looked around the master suite and felt my insides tighten at the realization, "with….her," her eyes immediately dropped back down to me. At that moment Shizuru and I locked eyes. She chewed her lip and looked at me with pleading eyes, they were telling me to run. So I did.

I asked her about why she straight up lied to her mother like that sometime after the incident, when she was finally able to sneak out again, and she told me that her mother would have been angrier if she cowered down or faltered in the explanation. Made no sense to me but I never really had a mother so I who was I to argue? She didn't say much else about it, but we never went to her house again.


I can always tell when you're concerned.

"I'm not running if that's what you want from me." She had her arms crossed over her chest, stubborn emeralds locked onto mine. I tapped my finger nervously on the desk before releasing my lip and sitting up straight again.

"Natsuki…I…"

"No. I'm not leaving. I have a mission to finish hear." The words stung a bit but I did my best to appear unfazed. So I did what I usually do to turn around the situation to hide my hurt, "Ara? And I thought Natsuki was here for me," I put up my best fake pout hoping it covered the real one.

"Wh-what? Of course I'm here for you, but I was captured for a reason before I even knew you were here!"

"Natsuki Ikezu, you don't want to see me."

"Idiot, stop fooling around this is serious." I am being serious. I smiled which seemed to irritate her more. "I don't like it when you smile like that," she turned away hiding a coming blush, "I only like to see your real one. It'salotmorebeautiful."

"What was that last part?" I had heard it just fine despite her mumbling, but I had to tease her back before she caught sight of my own forming blush, and this time I smiled for real. Once she realized that, her intense gaze at the wall shifted over to me and her eyes softened. "Idiot," she smiled back.

"So why don't you tell me what's going on." Always straight to the point aren't you.

"Well, I received a 'polite' request to return with you and pause the campaign in the mean while."

"So what's the problem?"

"I received the request but a day after I sent Takeda-han home to Nagi. He's a very devious little man, and probably the biggest threat on the council."

"So, what's the problem?"

"Takeda was on night watch in the security room." She looked at me as though she were a confused puppy. I would have squealed in delight if not for the gravity of the situation. Then reality hit her, "are you saying that he…saw…"

"It's uncertain as of yet. But I have a bad feeling."