Where to start? Um…I apologize for the long wait for the update. I've been…busy and…distracted with other things (in truth, I really should be getting started on reading that book for school, though you would think summer assignments wouldn't follow you when you go to college). But, do not fret, the chapter is finally here. I hope you all enjoy it. Thanks to all the readers are reading or are still reading this story of mine, remember, reviews and comments are what keep a person writing!
-Zero
Shout Out to Reviewers
Dash24zappshift: I'm glad you enjoyed the kiss. I hope you enjoy this one too. ;)
GAT-Z105VividPanzer: Those two are special in their own way that the others don't even understand.
BlackWolfToRi: And the excitement will continue…hopefully. To answer your question, yes Nozomi and Kotori have a role in their bodyguard's past, but Masaki and Nico do not. However, that doesn't not mean they aren't bound together in any ways.
Lovemaki: All will be revealed about their past as the story progresses, promise. Yes, Eiichi is very bold for kissing our beloved teaser, but that doesn't change the fact that he's very simpleminded.
Crimson: Squeal to your heart content, because here is more!
Guest: Yes, Ushio is quite the character isn't he?
ANozomii: Memories are important in this story. And yes, the poor Eiichi does know Nozomi, he just forgot that's all. KotoUmi are just going for a rollercoaster ride since they don't fully understand each other that well yet.
Guest: Your wish is at my command, more NozoUmi will be in the story as planned. Their spiritual energy are on the same wavelengths.
Guest: I'm glad you like them. I hope you continue to read them too.
Bound - Ch. 11 Saori-san
"I don't know why you trust that person so easily." The younger man questioned the older sitting behind the desk.
"There's no harm. He came to us giving important information." The older man puffed smoke into the air. "He will become useful in the future. Besides once he's of no use to use we'll just get rid of him."
"You do remember seeing what he did to our men when he first came here right?" The younger male replied.
"Of course, that doesn't mean I don't have an ace up my sleeve." Another puff of smoke filled the air. "The boy doesn't know what he's getting himself into. So if he wants our trust he'll have to prove it."
"And how exactly are you going to do that?" The younger raised a brow, curious of what the older had to say.
"Taunt him with what he wants and then make him kill for it."
"Kotori-chan! Help me~!" Hotaka ran up to the taupe haired girl and hid behind her.
It was after class as the group had their usual gathering. After their summer vacation was over, they went straight back to hit the books.
"Get back here!" Nico was chasing after the ginger.
"Hold on Hotaka-kun, Nico-chan." Kotori tried to calm down the two as they ran in circles around her.
"What are you two doing? Ushio sighed as he, Masaki, Haruto, and Rin caught up with them.
"Now now, Ushio-kun, let the children have their fun." Nozomi jested with the bluenet.
"And because of that they always get into trouble." He replied back.
"Ara~ Ushio-kun, you're such a caring father. Does this mean you want more in the future?" Nozomi's smirk caused the blue haired male to madly blush.
"Nozomi!" He hadn't realize that he walked straight into her teasing trap. Masaki couldn't help but make the situation worse for his older brother.
"Ushio, just to let you know, it's healthy to do those kind of actives every now and then."
"MASAKI!" Ushio shouted at his younger brother, face redder that the other's hair color, and began chasing the redhead around.
Eiichi on the other hand wasn't amused with the joke. In fact, he didn't like how Ushio was getting sort of close with Nozomi. Ever since he kissed her at the vacation house, it seems as though the heiress was upset with him. Even though he apologized for his actions, she was still upset with him. He was out of reasons to why the purple haired girl was mad.
"...chi. Eiichi. Eiichi!"
"Huh? What?" The blonde jumped when his name was suddenly shouted. Azure eyes blinked and looked at the bluenet that was calling his name.
"Are you okay? You look like you're in pain, if not, annoyed." Amber eyes scanned Eiichi's body carefully to see if there was anything wrong.
"I'm fine." He backed away from the younger male as if it would help him in the situation. The blond looked around and saw that Masaki had a huge bump on his head. He chuckled inwardly and wanted to beat himself up.
I can't believe I was thinking about such stupid things. Eiichi thought to himself.
"Really..." Ushio squinted his eyes as if it could help him look into Eiichi's mind. "If you say so."
"Hey hey, Ushio-kun~" Hotaka jumped onto the other's back. "Help me study~."
"If you want help why don't you ask someone who won't end up killing you by the next hour Kousaka-san."
"Eh~ stingy." Hotaka pouted, but not at Ushio's refusal to help him study; it was more so with the blunete still being formal with him.
"I don't have time to play right now." Ushio shrugged off the ginger and grabbed his belongings. He turned to Eiichi with a pleading look. "Is it too much to ask you to take Kotori-san home?"
"Um, it's fine with me..." The blond raised an eyebrow at the two.
Kotori-san? Are they fighting too?
"Thanks Eiichi." Amber eyes moved to look at the screen of his phone. "Sorry, but I got to go!"
"Wait! Go where?" Before the blond could get an answer, Ushio was already running towards his car.
"Ah, hey Ushio-" Tsubasa waved at her blue haired friend, but was completely ignored. After summer vacation, Tsubasa told everyone that she was also going to be transferring to Otonokizaki University in the literature department with Ushio. In all honesty, Ushio wasn't too thrilled to have her following him wherever he went.
"What's with him? He looks like he's in a rush." Evergreen orbs gave the rest a questioning look.
"Beats me." Masaki replied rubbing his head.
"Maybe he's meeting up with someone, perhaps a girl." Nico threw out the suggestion. Everyone blinked at the petite woman in disbelief. There was no way in this universe that Ushio would be looking forward to meeting a girl.
"Haha that's a good one Nico-chan. I almost believed you nya." Rin chuckled at the thought of the bluenet trying a strike a conversation with a stranger.
"I'll have to agree with Rin on this one. There's no way that Ushio would have the guts to go out with another person, let alone a girl, unless it's for business purposes." Masaki intervened.
"Well maybe you don't know him well enough." Nico huffed. "He was dress quite nicely today, and was constantly checking his phone."
"Now that you mention it..." Haruto put a hand to his chin. "Ushio-san seemed to be more careless that usual today. For example, when he was getting some coffee with me he accidentally used salt instead of sugar and was acting secretive when he revived a text from someone."
Masaki and Eiichi looked at each other with skeptical looks. Is Ushio meeting a girl secretly...or is there more to this meeting?
"I can't believe we're doing this." Masaki was sitting at a café table with the rest of his friends nearby the area where, supposedly, Ushio was meeting up with another.
"In a way...this makes it look like we don't trust him." Eiichi stated.
All of the girls shushed the two while Hotaka and Haruto sat back quietly, knowing full well that it was best to stay quiet.
"There he is." Tsubasa whispered yelled at the others. Out of all of the girls, she was probably the most excited to find out about the secret meeting in order to get some dirt on the bluenet.
"You guys..." Eiichi and Masaki weren't really sure about what else to say to the girls.
Girls can be quite scary sometimes. They both thought together.
xXx
Ushio leaned against the clock tower. He fiddled with his phone in hope to avoid any awkward eye contact with others. Sighing to himself he wondered where the other he was supposed to meet up with was.
"Hey, watch it kid!" A man in a suit pushed a boy out his way when they bumped into each other. Papers scattered everywhere.
"I'm sorry." The younger male apologized. "But you should have been watching were you were going too."
"What was that!?" The older grabbed the younger by the collar and lifted him up to meet eye to eye. "Why I-"
"You must want to be taken to the police if you intend to lay a finger on him." Ushio spoke up. The blue haired male released the young man from the other's grip and pulled out a wallet. "And pit pocketing is going to get you into more trouble if you ask me."
The older man began to sweat furiously. The mere thought of being caught red-handed was not his intention. "Y-you-"
"I'll pretend that I didn't see anything if you apologize, but the next time I see you happen to pull the same stunt again...it will be your last chance." Amber eyes glowed dangerously.
The older man backed away in fear of what the bluenet might do to him. He apologized quickly and ran off in the opposite direction.
"Um, thank you very much!" Ushio turned his head to meet with the young man who was bowing down in a 90 degree angle. Amber eyes met with light blue orbs.
"It's fine. You looked like you needed it." Ushio bent down to help pick up the other's scattered papers. "Here, they look important."
"Ah, thank you very much!" The younger male bowed again and took the papers. "They are important. In fact, I need to go before I'm late. I'm sorry for my inconvenience, and thank you again."
"You're welcome." Ushio gave the other his signature smile before he watched a bundle of auburn hair run off.
"As expected of Ushio-kun." A giggle appeared from behind the blue haired man. "Shall we?"
xXx
"Eh?" Everyone who was following (stalking) Ushio jaws dropped.
The woman that Ushio was meeting had long wavy chocolate colored hair. Her slim figure was complimented with the white dress that she wore. The pair smiled at each other before walking off together.
Kotori didn't understand. She knew she had a long time crush on her goofy childhood friend, so why was it that her chest was feeling strange? It was almost as if something on the inside was being twisted. The taupe haired girl barely knew her bodyguard...yet the unsettling feeling wouldn't subside. The smile that Ushio gave the other woman, Kotori wanted to receive it too.
Even since they returned from their vacation, the blue haired bodyguard grew distant. When Kotori tried to have a conversation with him, he would answer with little words as possible. When Ushio said he was going to start becoming more serious with his job, he wasn't lying to Kotori.
"See, I told you he was meeting up with a girl." Nico looked at Masaki and Eiichi.
The two looked at each other. Amethyst met with aquamarine and locked onto each other for a good five seconds. They both cracked a smile.
"Pffff...hahaha..." Eiichi lost it first. He tried hard to control his laughter. Masaki followed not long afterwards and the two were almost on the ground dying. All of the others were completely lost in why they were laughing.
"W-what's with your reactions?" Nico didn't like the idea of them laughing at her. "Care to explain what's so funny?"
"That woman that Ushio just walked off with is Himura Saori. Her father works with us and so does she, but she's a couple years older than us. She's works as a secretary." Masaki wiped away an invisible tear and explained. "There's no way those two are meeting for dating purposes."
"How can you be so sure?" The statement perked Nozomi's interest. Both the blond and redhead's faces became unreadable, but their eyes gave away their emotions.
"Saori-san was engaged to an old friend of ours. We can't say much about what happened since it's confidential, but he lost his life during a mission we took on together. Ushio was very close with both of them when he was still young." Eiichi closed his eyes and recalled the memory of that unfaithful day.
It was a trap. The mission the nineteen-year-old was sent on ended up all for naught. Eiichi, Ushio, and Masaki were supposed to stop a dirty deal between a wealthy businessman and an underground organization. In the end, many of their men came back wounded...and one life was lost.
Watanuki Touma. He was older than the blonde by five years with reddish-brown hair and evergreen irises. Although Eiichi, Masaki and Touma were friends, Ushio was closer with the other. Before the blonde met the younger male, Ushio had spent more time with Touma since he was the grandson of Watanuki-san.
It happened so quickly for Eiichi to properly process everything in his mind. Before he knew it, they were staring at two bodies on the ground. One that belonged to Touma, and the other, the leader of the organization. They returned rushing Touma to the emergency room, but the amount blood he lost was too much for the doctors to save him.
At the current moment, Eiichi and Masaki were walking back to Captain Izumi's office. Ushio had headed there first; his silent treatment that he gave the other two worried them.
"Calm down Ushio." The captain's voice could be heard from behind his door. Eiichi and Masaki were unsure whether or not to open the door. "I need you to take deep breaths."
They took their chances and cracked the door open and found the bluenet on his knees hyperventilating.
"I...my hands...Touma..." Confused golden-brown orbs stared at the older man. "I...couldn't save him...I...see so much blood...mother...father..."
Jin scrunched his face at the mention of Ushio's parents. He knew how much of a scar their murder had on the boy, but there was nothing he could do about it. All he could do was embrace Ushio, just like he did when the boy was younger. No more words were exchanged between them.
The pair hiding behind the door closed it shut. It was not their place to be at the moment. They knew that Ushio had a past he didn't like to talk about. They knew he had amnesia when it came to his childhood. They knew that losing Touma was going to change their brother. After all...this was the first mission they failed...and the first time Ushio took the life of another person.
"You could say that he sees Saori-san like an older sister." Masaki interjected.
All the girls grew quiet; they weren't sure what to say to lighten up the mood. Nozomi could see Eiichi blaming himself for being so weak. She wanted to fix everything between them...but there was something holding her back and decided against it. Breaking the silence, Masaki's phone went off.
"U-Ushio? W-what's up?" The redhead tried his best to act normal.
"I was just wondering what you guys were doing."
"Uh..." Everyone around him shook their heads, pleading Masaki to make up a lie. "We were...just hanging around the school."
"Really? I didn't know this part of the city was still owned by the school."
The familiar voice came from behind the group. They all froze and slowly turned their heads. All eyes met with a smiling bluenet who was not amused with the answer he received from his younger brother. Saori was not far from behind.
"I hope you all have a good explanation for lying." A dark aura emitted from Ushio. "Because depending on how all of you answer, it might just determine the punishment you're about to receive."
"And thus we're here at this bar helping you out." Nico spoke with a hint of slowness with her words. She was on her third drink, and by the looks of it, it wasn't going to be her last.
"It's not my fault." Masaki grumbled. "It was your idea to follow him in the first place."
"Why are you so grouchy?" Ruby orbs narrowed at the redhead. "You know, if you smiled more you'd be a little bit more handsome. But not as handsome as Eiichi, cause you know, he's hot."
The petite girl gave out an unladylike laugh and smacked his back. Masaki, however, was annoyed with his so called girlfriend. One, he could care less about the relationship that they have. Two, so what if he didn't smile often, women would flaunt towards him even if he didn't want them to. Three, if Nico liked Eiichi, then why does he have to suffer being her fake boyfriend as she gets all gushy over his brother. To sum everything up, he was almost to the last straw with the brunette. He looked at the bartender and asked for a drink to be poured for himself.
"Is it really okay to have them here Saori-san?" Ushio asked.
"As long as we keep this a secret from Captain Izumi, then all is well." Saori smiled, now changed into a black cocktail dress.
"I had no idea that Saori-san was such a rule breaker." Eiichi raised his eyebrows, surprised with the new side of the sweet secretary.
"Looks are deceiving Eiichi, don't get me started on how much trouble she would get me into when we were younger." The blue haired man rubbed the side of his head.
"Eh~, but we had fun." The older woman teased the other.
"Pranking Saito-san and blaming it on me was not in my best interest." Citrine gems gave her an unamused look.
Nozomi and Kotori sat and watched as the two bickered. The purple haired girl was amused to be able to get new material on the stoic bodyguard, but Kotori was in deep thought. She was sorting out her emotions and trying to figure out why her chest was aching when she was sure she had feelings for Hotaka (the ginger, however, was enjoying his time with Tsubasa).
"Kotori-chan, are you okay?" Emerald eyes observed the taupe haired girl.
"Eh?" The question brought her back to reality. She noticed that the two males sitting with them had walked off to their younger brother.
"Don't worry, I won't take your bodyguard away from you." Saori winked at the younger girl. Blood rushed up Kotori's cheeks, making her face hot. "Ushio-kun is my cute little brother, but that doesn't mean he's not handsome. If you're not careful, someone else will take him from you."
"I- uh- please excuse me!" Kotori got up and headed towards the bathroom, leaving behind two giggling women. On her way there she noticed another woman trying to flirt with a certain bluenet. The heiress walked even quicker to hide herself.
"Stupid. Stupid. Stupid." Kotori slapped her red cheeks in front of the mirror. "Why am I being like this?"
After cooling off her face, Kotori decided to head back. But on her way, she was stopped by a man.
"Hey there pretty lady, you look like you need a drink." The man was around Kotori's age. Good looking, sure, but drunk.
"I'm sorry but-"
"Don't be so uptight." The guy wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her close, whispering in her ear. "If you want we could leave here and head to my place. I'll show you a real good night."
Kotori blushed at his words. Sure, she's been hit on before, but it was usually by men who would never dare lay a finger on the only daughter of the Minami Corporations.
"Sorry, but she's not going anywhere with you." A protective arm was wrapped around her shoulders from behind and shoved the other man away.
Kotori's heart began to beat fast when she turned her head to meet with the person who saved her. His dark blue hair was hard to see in the lighting of the bar, but his eyes glowed dangerously as they glared at the other man. Ushio's arm around her wasn't helping in her situation either.
"Who the heck are you?" He asked, slurring his words.
"Someone who will never forgive you if you even think about touching her again." Ushio's replied with cold tone, making the slender girl in his arm shiver.
"Tsk." The other clicked his tongue and left.
The blue haired man sighed and locked eyes with honey brown orbs. Kotori saw emotions of worry and relief swirling in them contrast to the murderous look he gave the other earlier.
"Are you okay?" Ushio asked in a soft tone.
"I'm fine now." Kotori's blush brightened. "Um...thank you...but could you let me go..."
"Eh?" The bluenet realized that his arm was still around he shoulders and swiftly removed them, face red just like her. "I-I'm s-sorry! W-we should head home. It seems like the person Saori-san was looking for wasn't here."
Kotori nodded, and the two left the bar to head back home. Ushio was mentally beating himself up for the actions he did back there. After sending a drunk Masaki and Nico back to their homes in a cab, the bluenet had a weird feeling gnawing in the bad of his mind when Kotori wasn't with sitting with Nozomi and Saori. When Ushio found her with the man, it was like a monster inside of his chest was unleashed, and he wanted to rip the guy's arms off for making Kotori feel uncomfortable. He didn't understand the feeling, and at the same time, he didn't want to. They walked to his car in awkward silence, and he knew the ride back wasn't going to be any better.
Awkward silence. The drive to Nozomi's mansion was nothing but painkilling awkward silence. Eiichi was trying so hard to converse with the purple haired girl, but she was making it difficult when she would give him short answers in reply.
Parking the car, Ecchi stepped out and opened the door for Nozomi. She thanked him after stepping out and walked to the front door of her large home. The blond followed after her, not wanting to leave her side for a second. Before she was able to walk inside, her bodyguard finally had the courage to speak up again.
"I-" Eiichi tried to find the right words to say to the heiress. He figured apologizing like Ushio would help him, even just a little, with the difficult situation he put himself in. "I'm sorry if I offended you in any way with my actions. Please accept my deepest apologies Nozomi."
Eiichi bowed his head with his eyes squeezed shut. After hearing no reply, he lifted his head, but a pair of hands touched the side of his face. Nozmi pulled Eiichi's face closer to her's and was now kissing him. Everything happened so fast that he was barely able to savor it when the woman pulled away. But it was just as good as their first one together, so soft and so sweet.
"Nozomi..."
"I'm taking the kiss you stole from me back." A small blush was dusted against her cheeks. "Goodnight Eiichi."
The emerald eyed woman left the dumbfounded blond behind with so many questions in the air.
Wait, so what does this mean? Is she still mad at me, or not? Eiichi walked back to his car and began banging his head against the steering wheel after each words left his lips. I. Don't. Understand. Women.
Lol, poor Eiichi, just can't get a break can you? It's okay, I don't understand women either (to be more exact humans, but we're straying from the main point here). I promise there will be a more NicoMaki in the future chapter for all of those who want to see more of them. I plan to let each couple have a small arch in the story that will eventually tie in with the main storyline. BUT, that is all I will say…or write…or whatever…
*Ahem* Anyways, remember to leave any comments, questions, and reviews.
Until Next Time…