A X Deadly X Interest
Chapter 17
AN: Larger note is at the bottom. For now; Enjoy!
The day after meeting Tomo I woke up feeling like shit.
I blinked up at the only barely familiar ceiling of my hotel room, wondering what had gone wrong for me to feel like this. It didn't take long for me to remember.
My mind was filled with fragmented memories of booming music, flashing lights and Tomo's cheery grin as she threw back Gin&Tonic after Gin&Tonic while simultaneously pushing tall glasses of peach cider and who knew what else into my hands.
It had started out innocently enough. After finishing our drinks in the Rotten Sakura Tomo had quickly started complaining about the boring atmosphere in the run-down bar. "We're dressed for clubbing anyways," she'd insisted. "Let's go have some fun! I can show you the city."
Still high on adrenaline from my altercation with the thugs and looking for an outlet, I'd hesitated slightly too long and Tomo had been quick to pounce. "I can show you all the good spots! The ones you'd never happen upon without an in on the more… interesting side of town." A suggestively quirked eyebrow had accompanied the latter part of the statement and with a little more whining and promises of interesting criminal ventures I was sold.
Hell at that point I'd almost felt like I deserved it just for putting up with all the shit that had happened. At least this way, I'd figured, I would get something out of this whole fucked up night.
Well I got something all right. A killer hangover, that is.
I groaned and threw an arm over my eyes in a futile attempt to block the afternoon sun filtering in through the haphazardly drawn curtains. My eyes felt like they were burning out of my skull and my head was pounding like crazy.
"Never again," I croaked a promise to myself. "I'll never go drinking with that crazy woman again".
I wanted nothing more than to remain in bed forever, but I knew from experience that would do nothing to alleviate the hangover. Alas.
With another groan and a lot of cursing I made my way to the bathroom to get some water and painkillers. While waiting for the painkillers to kick in I figured I might as well wash up. I'd fallen asleep in my dress from the night before and the smell of cheap booze and cigarettes that always lingered in clubs clung to the fabric and, by proxy, me.
I grimaced as I dropped the dress in the clothes hamper that was provided by the hotel and made my way over to the shower. It was nothing special, but it would do the job. Hesitating for a moment, I twisted the knob to icy cold before stepping under the spray. I almost jumped back as the freezing water hit me in full force, but I endured, and slowly I felt my headache withdraw a little as the adrenaline hit me. When I couldn't take it anymore I slowly turned the water back to hot and finished cleaning up.
Afterwards I toweled off quickly. I decided to forego the blow-dryer in the corner and instead wrapped my hair in a dry towel, using a bigger, fluffier towel to wrap the rest of my body in. For such a cheap hotel, the towels were surprisingly soft.
As I stepped back into the bedroom I felt more awake and just a little more prepared to face the day ahead. I still didn't feel quite ready to head outside yet, so I grabbed the room service menu from the nightstand. I was still hesitating between a nice fatty hamburger or a simple, but equally fatty bacon and eggs when I heard a knocking on my door. I got confused for a moment, after all, as far as I knew I'd never removed the 'Do not disturb' sign from my door.
'Probably some confused tourist' I decided, and elected to ignore the knocking for now. 'They'll figure out their mistake soon enough.'
The knocking only grew more insistent, however, and once the throbbing of my head aligned perfectly with the sound I couldn't ignore it any longer. I tore open the door with a growl and was about to tear the incessant knocker a new one for disturbing me, when I was bowled over by a blur of blue.
"Finally!" A woman's voice exclaimed. "I was starting to think you might still be sleeping".
Feeling somewhat befuddled I turned around, only to see the mysterious blue blur was in fact Tomo who was taking in the room with a curious gaze.
"Tomo, w-" I croaked out, only to falter as barely any sound came out of my roughened throat. Tomo raised an eyebrow as she waited for me to try again, but otherwise didn't comment. I might have been thankful, if it weren't for the amusement I saw gleaming in her eyes as she observed my sorry state.
Damn woman looked like she'd just left a luxury spa resort rather than finished an all-night barcrawl. Life is just not fair sometimes.
Still, I decided not to comment on that in favor of figuring out what the other woman was doing here. I coughed a little to clear my voice and tried again. "Tomo, what are you doing here?" It came out a bit hoarse, but I felt pretty confident it was at least legible this time.
Tomo threw me a sympathetic look that I just knew had to be fake from the way it disappeared almost immediately. "Why I'm here for the brunch you promised me, silly".
"Brunch?" I asked, even as I tried to remember when I had made this supposed promise.
"Yes, brunch," Tomo stated, this time not bothering to keep the amusement out of her voice. "You're not going back on your promise are you? After all, I already went through all the trouble of coming here."
I groaned as I finally remembered Tomo wrestling said promise out of me somewhere in the third club. I'd agreed out of a sense of Hunter duty, believing Tomo might be an interesting personality somehow. If only I could go back and drag myself out of there before committing.
Briefly, I considered faking sick, but one look at Tomo assured me that I wouldn't get out of this so easily. I still felt sorely tempted to puke over her shiny boots just because. Only the knowledge that If I did I would be the one who'd have to clean it all up stopped me.
"Fine," I grumbled. "I'll come with."
"Great!" Tomo clapped her hands enthusiastically, ignoring the glare I gave her at the loud noise. She had to be doing that on purpose.
When I didn't make a move to do anything else she made an impatient noise. "Well? Are you going to get dressed or what?"
I looked down and it was then that realized I was still only wearing my towel. I cursed, before shoving Tomo towards the door. "Out! Out!"
The other woman let herself be pushed, but just before she left the room she called out "Don't take too long or I'll drag you out! I'm an excellent lockpicker you know."
I ignored her and slammed the door in her face. I rested my back against the closed door and took a moment to gather my bearings. I didn't dare take too long though, I had a feeling Tomo wasn't one for empty threats.
When I'd finally headed down to the reception area I quickly spotted Tomo lounging in a large chair. The other woman was apparently the only one there, which I thought was somewhat strange as there should be several staff members manning the reception area around this time, but before I could comment Tomo had already grabbed my arm and was dragging me out the door.
"I know just the place," she'd said and a little over 15 minutes later we had arrived at a quaint little restaurant. The staff seemed to be at least somewhat familiar with Tomo and we were seated in a private corner booth almost immediately.
"Come here often?" I asked, as the waiter left us to ponder our drink and food orders.
Tomo shrugged. "They have great pancakes," she said and left it at that.
I frowned. Somehow I got the feeling she was leaving something out in her explanation, but I decided not to pursue that line of questioning for now. I had other questions that were more pressing. They could probably wait until after we'd ordered though.
As the waiter left our table with two orders for a large pile of pancakes, however, Tomo suddenly turned serious. "Sachi, what are you doing in Hayamamoto?"
I felt taken aback at the sudden turn in the lighthearted mood, my own question dying on my lips. "Just looking around I guess," I admitted after taking a moment to ponder my response. No need to come clean straight away.
Tomo raised an eyebrow at that disbelievingly. "Just looking around," she drawled, tasting the words and clearly finding them lacking. "I suppose you could be." She nodded exaggeratedly and I knew she still didn't believe me. "However, you must understand my suspicion. It is not often that a Hunter just happens to "look around" in the.. less law-abiding sections of the city." I could just hear the quotation marks around look around.
She took a sip of her drink and looked at me expectantly.
"Who says I didn't just get lost?" I asked, but I knew the excuse was a feeble one.
Tomo didn't even deign to respond to that beyond a single disbelieving quirk of her perfectly plucked eyebrows.
I grumbled and rubbed my temples. The hangover had subsided some but the leftover headache wasn't doing anything for my clarity of mind. Not that I was a good liar anyways. I sighed.
"I'm looking for someone," I finally blurted out.
"Oh?" Tomo leaned in, clearly interested. "Who?"
"Eh," a blush covered my cheeks and I felt a bit sheepish as I mumbled "I don't know yet."
Tomo leaned back, disappointed. "You don't know yet?" she asked. "No way I'm gonna believe that one."
"No really," I sighed. Might as well get it all out there and save myself some trouble. That decided, I explained my objective as a newly minted personality-Hunter to her.
When I finished it was my turn to look at her expectantly, and perhaps a little nervously. She was the first person I'd told of my ambitions besides my parents and I was worried she might mock me. It almost surprised me how protective I felt of my self-appointed title.
Tomo defied my expectations when she remained quiet for a while and looked at me like she was deep in thought. "Personalities, huh?" She asked finally.
I tensed up, mentally preparing for the worst.
Her lips curled into a grin and I was worried she might laugh at me, but again she defied all my pessimistic expectations when she replied. "Well we've certainly got enough of those around here!"
I blinked, not sure what to make of that, but she was already continuing.
"I guess I can return this one to you then," she said happily and fished something out of her purse.
I frowned, wondering what she could be talking about, but then I saw the small slip of plastic she held between her perfectly manicured fingernails.
"That's my Hunter's License!" I shouted and I quickly swiped it back. I held it up to the light to make sure it was real and undamaged.
Tomo made an insulted noise and I was ripped from my careful inspection.
"How the hell did you get this?" I growled out.
"I took it from you," she stated simply. "You chipped one of my nails with that action, y'know?" she continued, sounding surprisingly put out and as if her nail was far more important than my precious, once in a lifetime license.
I'm pretty sure I gaped unattractively at the sheer gall of the woman across from me, but I couldn't be bothered to fix it. Was she for real?
I chanced another look at her and noticed she was still inspecting the presumably damaged nail with a pout.
My god I think she was.
I took a deep breath and tried to calm down some. I wasn't getting anywhere like this.
"Tomo," I started, but she didn't look up. "Tomo," I tried again, putting stress on her name.
"Hmm?" she looked up questioningly, her damaged nail forgotten for now.
"Tomo, why did you take my Hunter's License?"
"Oh, that." She shrugged. "Had to make sure you weren't gonna cause any trouble. You have no idea how often we get baby blacklisters 'round here who think they can come and mess with the status quo." She rolled her eyes. "Don't worry though, after last night I could already feel you weren't going to cause that kind of trouble and your little explanation just now filled in the blanks enough to convince me."
I grit my teeth at the casual way in which she explained things. "Well, thanks for that," I bit out.
"You're welcome," she said, looking genuinely like she just did me a major favor. "You might want to look after that one better if you plan to stick around here though." She gestured at the License I was still clasping in my palm. "Not everyone is as nice as me."
Before I could tell her just what I thought of her and her well-meaning advice she continued on, completely unbothered by what I was sure must be a very impressive glare I was sending her way.
"So! Now that we've resolved this let's skip to the fun stuff, hmm? I was thinking we could hit the North district tonight."
"And why," I drawled out, "would I go along with this? So far you've lied about your identity, stolen my license and all I got to show for it is a killer hangover."
"Oh don't be such a buzzkill," she retorted, waving her hand carelessly. "You want to meet interesting people, right? Well I wasn't lying when I said we have a lot of those around here and guess who just so happens to be in a perfect position to introduce you to them?" Here she gestured at herself. "Exactly." When she saw I was about to interrupt again she quickly added "and if it really bothers you that much, I promise I won't touch your license again…or buy you drinks. Although really, how was I supposed to know your tolerance was that bad?"
I groaned and rubbed furiously at my temples in an effort to alleviate the headache that was quickly increasing in fervor once more. The woman was infuriating, but I couldn't help but be slightly intrigued despite myself. The prospect of a guide into the darker parts of the city, the supposedly more interesting parts of the city was tempting indeed. Last night had been kind of fun too, hangover aside. And if she really didn't mean well, she wouldn't have returned my license, right? It didn't help either that Tomo appeared to be a person unlike anyone else I'd met before and I could feel the excitement I was starting to associate with the hunt begin to rear its head. It was incredibly frustrating.
"And what do you get out of all this?" I asked at last, unable to resist the temptation.
Tomo smiled. "Well some company for one. Do you have any idea how hard it is to find female friends in this line of work?"
'I always have trouble finding friends', I thought to myself bitterly. The question was clearly rhetorical though, so I let it slide. "And what else?" I asked instead.
"Welll," she dragged out the word thoughtfully, "I might be that I could use some help with a job I'm on. A job that someone with say, the skillset of a Hunter, might be especially well equipped to assist in."
"Oh?" I asked, and I found myself leaning forward with grudging interest. "What kind of job?"
Tomo mimicked my pose and when she next spoke her voice was lowered to a whisper. "The kind that is best discussed in private." She winked and leaned back. "How about we discuss more over drinks tonight, hmm? I know just the place."
Against my better judgement, I agreed.
The next few days went by in a whirlwind of activities. Some of them were clearly related to Tomo's 'job', whilst others I could not for the life of me figure out how they were in any way related, but Tomo insisted were very important indeed. These activities tended to be very girly, and secretly I wondered whether there had been more truth behind her first reason for approaching me than I'd realized. Maybe she really did feel lonely in the male-dominated industry she'd chosen.
Said industry, it turned out, was the mafia. Tomo, if she were to be believed, was a high ranking associate. An enforcer to be specific. Not that I'd really seen any proof of that, but I did feel inclined to believe her. At least it explained why everyone had been so accommodating of the two of us wherever we went.
The mafia, according to Tomo, invested a lot in the local economy. Their dealings benefited both the underground, as well as the aboveground community. This was also what set them aside from the gangs. Which apparently, gangs were something wholly separate from the mafia. I'd never paid the distinction much mind, but it only took one slip of the tongue in front of Tomo for me to be corrected quite thoroughly. Needless to say, Tomo did not hold the gang-business in high esteem.
Tomo's current mission involved rooting out some rats that were suspected of breaking Omerta; the mafia code of silence. There had been reports that certain lower tier members had been talking to the cops. Turns out this is a very serious crime the mob don't take too kindly to. Who would've thought, right?
This was also where I came in. While they had reports, Tomo had explained, they had no conclusive evidence. If she acted upon mere rumors it might cause trouble for her boss. Unfortunately, she was relatively well known and chances were low anyone would let anything slip with her around.
As a licensed Hunter, however, I had much of the same access she had to many of the more exclusive places around town and where a license might not cut it Tomo could orchestrate things behind the scenes if necessary. This meant that I, under the guise of a Blacklist Hunter, was perfectly positioned to infiltrate the group of suspects.
We'd staged a lovely little performance where I turned in several higher-ups of the mafia family. All fake and arranged by Tomo of course, and not at all coincidentally in perfect view of the suspected rats.
After that I'd spent a few nights hanging around in half-way shady bars, waiting to see if the rats took the bait. I'd been doubting whether the plan would work, but Tomo had been the picture of confidence since our little show. Apparently something about the whole affair had 'felt right', according to her. I'd been a lot more skeptical, but didn't see any harm in playing along.
Five nights into my fake stake-out it turned out she'd been right when I was forcefully pulled into a decrepit alley on my walk home. Luckily, I recognized my attacker and managed to reign in my instincts, which were calling for me to obliterate the fool's skull. I couldn't be seen to be weak though, that would ruin our entire plan, and so I slid out of the guy's grip and put him into a chokehold. I flashed my hatsu to check and suppressed a smile; these guys were weak.
"Wait!" Another voice called from the shadows. "Don't hurt him. We just want to talk!"
"You've got an odd way of showing it," I replied, simultaneously tightening my grip on the flunkie in my grip. He made a gurgling sound.
Three men stepped forth from the shadows. "We're sorry, but we had to be careful. They're everywhere." The last part was whispered ominously and I had to suppress a laugh.
'If only you knew,' I thought. On the outside I made sure to look slightly spooked. "They?" I asked, looking around as if I were trying to find this mysterious they.
The middle guy, most likely the leader, nodded quickly. "I'm talking about the … family. You should know them. You arrested several of their members."
"You mean the mafia guys? They weren't that scary," I said, putting on an air of confidence and relaxing my stance slightly.
"Yes, you were very impressive, but we wanted to warn you. You've seriously pissed off the upper management," the guy replied.
"Is that a threat?" I asked, glaring.
"No, no, not at all!" the middle guy insisted, waving his hands around in a desperate bid to calm me down. "Actually, we're here to help you! You're clearly very powerful, but upper management is on a whole other level. We've been planning to take them down for a while now and if you work with us I'm sure we can help you."
I hummed and switched my grip on the flunkie I was holding. 'Making me believe I need them, rather than the other way around,' I thought. 'A cheap trick, but not a bad one. It might have even been effective if I was just a regular baby-blacklister.'
"How do I know you're not with them?" I asked, putting up a last token resistance.
"We can show you," middle guy said, not quite managing to hide the pleased look at what he thought was a successful recruiting attempt. "Just follow us and we'll introduce you to some of our friends."
I made a big show of thinking it over and then I nodded.
"Lead the way."
It didn't take long for Tomo and some of her colleagues to roll up the band of traitors after that. Turns out they hadn't just been talking to the cops, they'd also been recruiting mercenaries and even one other Hunter. Still, the fight had been pretty one-sided as Tomo gleefully told me the morning after. I hadn't been invited to join because it was 'family business', but she spared no detail as she recounted the fight.
I listened quietly, feeling a little put out that I hadn't been included in the action. I wasn't a battle hungry lunatic like some other people I knew, but all the sneaky secretive stuff had made me antsy and I wouldn't have minded an opportunity to blow off some steam.
"… and then boss asked me to invite you to the after party. I agreed of course, so we'll need to go shopping this afternoon. I've seen your wardrobe and you really have nothing suitable for such an event. I think that-"
"Wait, what," I yelped, as I realized what Tomo had been rambling about. "You did what?!"
"I accepted your invitation to the victory party," Tomo said slowly, dragging out the words like I was being particularly slow.
"But I didn't agree to that!" I replied, feeling overwhelmed.
"Well, you didn't have to. I already did it for you." Tomo smiled. "Besides, I thought you'd be excited to meet some of the leading figures in our little corner of the underworld. Isn't that what you wanted? To meet interesting people?"
"I, well, yes," I grumbled, realizing she had me there. "You didn't say anything about parties though!" I cringed just saying the word. Parties were decidedly not my thing. The few attempts I'd made at attending one had gone horribly. Turns out it was pretty difficulty socializing when you cared nothing for the people around you. The pained look on my mom's face when she'd seen me standing all by myself on the sidelines time and time again had not been fun.
"Then that's decided," Tomo chirped, a devilish glint in her eyes as she breezed past my objections like they weren't even there. "We're going shopping!"
I groaned, but let myself be pulled from the sofa and towards the door.
I'd heard people say it would be tough being a Hunter, but nothing had quite prepared me for this.
"Are you really sure about this?" I asked Tomo for what was probably the fifth time in the last hour, as I plucked at the long sparkly gloves adorning my arms uncomfortably. "I really don't think this is such a good idea."
Tomo for her part didn't even bother turning around anymore. I could see her roll her eyes in the vanity mirror though.
"I saw that," I called out, even as I struggled into the ridiculously strappy shoes she'd picked out for me. 'At least I convinced her to get the flats', I thought, shuddering as I recalled the high heeled monstrosities that had been her first pick. I liked wearing a little heel every now and again, but those were nothing compared to the neck-breakers Tomo had shown up with. It had taken the better part of the afternoon and a painful demonstration of my astounding ability to smash into everything in and around my intended path while wearing heels before Tomo had finally relented.
I felt pretty sure she'd made me do a few more demonstrations than necessary too, just to spite me.
Tomo capped her mascara with a resounding pop and finally turned back to me. "Don't worry so much," she drawled. "I already made arrangements and as long as you don't do anything stupid you should be golden."
"It's the doing something stupid I'm worried about," I grumbled. "I'm not exactly well versed in mafia etiquette."
Tomo sighed. "Well first off; don't call it the mafia while we're there. At least not to the boss's face. It's a... family business. Sounds classier."
It was my turn to roll my eyes now.
"Second, just don't go all ham and try to arrest people. If you just do those things you should be fine."
"Got it," I muttered. "No mafia and no blacklist hunting. Easy. I don't know why I ever worried."
"That's what I've been telling you," Tomo chimed, easily brushing aside my sarcasm as if it weren't there.
I sighed and rose from the bed. "Let's just go and get this over with."
Tomo smiled and threw me my jacket. "That's the spirit!"
The party was nothing like what I'd imagined a mafia get together to be like. The whole affair was a lot more sleek and polished than for one and there were none of the gruff brutes I'd expected either. I suddenly felt very glad for the outfit Tomo had chosen for me. I'd worried the black dress, sparkly gloves and strappy shoes would be a bit much, especially given Tomo's apparent proclivity for luxury, but I could see now that I'd fit right in.
We were currently standing in a spacious room at the penthouse level of the tallest hotel in Hayamamoto. To our left large, floor to ceiling windows created a beautiful display as the last rays of the setting sun played across the city. To the right there were several tables with a diverse array of refreshments. I could see waiters weaving in between the guests carrying trays of champagne and other assorted drinks.
My eyes were quickly drawn to a large black leather couch located at the back of the room. Regardless of its out of the way positioning, the couch and the two men occupying it were made conspicuous by the way all other guests kept a respectful distance. I supposed that area was reserved for higher ranking members, meaning the two men must be important.
I was itching to take a peek with my hatsu, but Tomo had instructed me not to use Nen at the party. Not all of the members trusted outsiders as easily as Tomo or their boss did and if they detected Nen it might be interpreted as a threat. Already I could see some people glaring my way suspiciously. Only the knowledge that I was decidedly in the minority here withheld me from glaring back.
I was distracted from taking in the surroundings when Tomo grabbed my hand and tugged me along. I almost tripped and once more thanked my lucky stars I wasn't wearing heels. Tomo still noticed and glanced over her shoulder to send me a smug look. I glared at her and prepared to snap at her, only to notice we were rapidly nearing the couch in the back. I almost faltered once more at the realization, but I didn't want to give Tomo the satisfaction.
The other guests were clearing the way for us and I once again wondered how high ranking an enforcer Tomo really was. It had to be pretty high up if she could just storm through a party like this without anyone bothering her. In fact, if I ignored the suspicious looks directed my way, most other guests were looking at her with something bordering on respect.
Before I knew it we had arrived in the supposed restricted area. This close up I could finally make out some more details of the men occupying the couch. One of them was an older man, with salt and pepper hair and piercing black eyes. He was wearing a sleek black suit and I could barely make out the ripple of muscle underneath the sleeves as he adjusted his drink. I did not need to use my hatsu to realize this was not someone you wanted to mess with.
To the right of the imposing man, a younger man lounged casually. He looked to be closer to my age and with his jet black hair and icy eyes he struck a handsome figure.
The two were observing me in return and I met their stares head-on. I might not feel comfortable in our current setting, but that didn't mean I was going to show it.
"Tomo, how lovely of you to join us," the older male said. I noted that he sounded genuinely pleased. Besides him the other guy scoffed. When the other man turned towards him with a disapproving glance he quickly disguised it as a cough.
'Guess I know who's in charge now,' I thought.
"Thank you, Don," Tomo replied and respectfully bowed her head.
"Ah, always so polite," the newly identified mafia leader said and I had to choke back a response. In the, admittedly short, time I'd known her Tomo had been anything but polite. Unless there was more to mafia etiquette than I knew and barging into people's homes and dragging them every which way was considered the epitome of good manners, but somehow I doubted that very much.
I must not have been as subtle with my opinions as I'd thought, because Tomo shot me a glare from the corners of her eyes. The young guy on the couch on the other hand looked at me approvingly.
Before either one could speak the Don turned his attention to me. "And this must be the Sachi I've heard so much about. Thank you for coming tonight."
I wasn't exactly sure how to respond, so I decided to mimic Tomo and bowed my head slightly. "Thank you for the invitation, Don."
The man smiled, looking pleased, and I was pretty sure I'd made the right decision going for a more respectful form of address. "Nonsense, any friend of Tomo's is a friend of the family. Won't you join us?" He gestured at the couch.
I was too caught up in his description of me as Tomo's friend to pick up on the latter part of his request. Really, me? A friend? I'd never been someone's friend before. Although I supposed Tomo and I had hung out quite a lot over the past few weeks. Was that enough to make us friends?
I was pulled from my musings when Tomo grabbed my hand and forcefully dragged me down onto the couch with her. "Thanks, Don. We'd love to," she said with a bright smile. At the same time she squeezed my hand so hard I could feel the bones grind together.
I grimaced. Message received.
"So Sachi, do you take jobs from the mafia often?" the Don politely inquired.
"Ah, not really," I replied. "This was the first time." I hesitated, but my hand was still throbbing and I was feeling a little vindictive, so I added, "Tomo can be quite persuasive."
The as of yet unintroduced young man chuckled. "That's one way to put it," he said.
Next to me Tomo growled lowly and she was clearly about to respond when the Don interjected.
"Now, now Yusuke. There's no need for that. Tonight is meant to be a celebration. Let's all try and get along." He said it with the air of a longsuffering grandfather separating his grandkids yet again.
"Very well," Yusuke said, sounding completely unbothered. "I didn't mean anything by it."
Tomo scoffed. "Suuure you didn't."
"Tomo," the Don said, sounding stern. "I don't want to hear anything from you either." He then turned to me. "My apologies, Sachi. These two can be such a handful sometimes."
I was still occupied taking in the normally unflappable Tomo as she was bristling next to me and it took me a moment before I realized the Don had addressed me. "That's alright," I said. "No need to apologize."
"Thank you," the Don said kindly. "You seem a very polite young woman. I'll have to keep you in mind if there's ever another task that requires a Hunter."
"Thanks," I muttered, starting to feel a bit uncomfortable with all the polite speech and thank yous going around. It felt a little fake and I didn't like it. I usually never bothered much with the little niceties, not considering anyone worth the effort, and I felt horribly out of practice now.
"No problem," the Don retorted. "Now if you'll excuse me, there's something I need to discuss with Tomo here. I assure you we won't be long." The Don rose from his seat. "Yusuke, you keep Sachi company."
Yusuke straightened in his seat and turned towards me with an interested spark in his eye that was all too easy to recognize. "Of course, Don."
He reached out, took my hand and brought it to his lips. "It'll be my pleasure," he murmured against the skin on the back of my hand and I had to suppress a shiver. I could see a pleased gleam in his eyes as he rose back to a sitting position. It did not escape me that he seemed to have moved closer on the couch.
"So Sachi, you're a Hunter hmm? Tell me all about it."
"I can't believe you rejected Yusuke!" Tomo crowed gleefully as she flopped onto my bed the next morning.
I groaned and tried to turn away so I could hide behind my blankets. I'd long since given up trying to keep her out. Damn woman always found a way in.
"No but seriously", she continued, slapping my blanketed back to get my attention. "It was amazing! I don't think anyone's ever rejected him before, well, besides me of course. You could just see the smug drain right out of him.."
I quirked a brow as Tomo trailed off with a dreamy expression on her face.
"You guys really must not get along," I observed.
"Oh that's putting it lightly," Tomo said. "As head enforcers, we're in constant competition. Makes it hard to like each other."
I hummed my agreement, hoping to appease Tomo enough so that I could go back to sleep.
"I'm curious though," Tomo commented as she turned around so she was looking me straight in the face . "Why did you reject him? I mean, the guys an ass, don't get me wrong, but you didn't know that and I kinda figured he'd be your type."
"My type?" I echoed, suddenly feeling a whole lot more awake. "When have we ever talked about my type?"
Tomo sighed and rolled her eyes. "We haven't. Doesn't mean I can't make an educated guess."
"And you guessed Yusuke why?" I asked, curious against my better judgement.
"Well, I just thought you might be into the whole bad boy thing, what with the bite mark and all." She gestured vaguely in the direction of my neck.
I gasped and slapped a hand over the mark on my neck, only to be greeted by the comforting feeling of a satin ribbon. Some might find it weird that I kept it on while sleeping, but I'd fallen into the habit while at my parents and now I felt naked without it.
"How?" I asked. "I keep that covered."
"Not when you've just showered you don't," she retorted. "I really don't see why it's such a big deal, but I saw you didn't want to talk about it so I tried to respect that."
"And you couldn't have kept doing that, why exactly?" I asked grouchily. The scar, whilst it had lightened significantly since leaving the exams and giving the wound some proper care, was still a bit of a sore point to me.
"Well you asked," Tomo replied simply. Then her eyes lit up mischievously and I knew I wasn't going to like what she said next.
"But now that we are talking about it, I've been dying to know how you got that," she purred. "I bet it was one hell of a night."
I choked as what she was implying registered. She thought Hisoka and I had had sex? I did my best to block the images that thought automatically brought to the fore. They were surprisingly detailed and I silently damned Hisoka for his horrid tendency to go nude in company. At the same time my face flooded with warmth and I didn't need a mirror to know I was blushing furiously. Whether from embarrassment or anger I wasn't sure. I preferred to think it was the latter though.
Tomo seemed to take my silence as permission to continue. "Must have been a pretty passionate affair to let it go that far. I guess it would be a hard act to follow," she continued blathering on but I pulled the blankets over my head to block her out.
I turned my head into the pillow and screamed out my frustration. I did not need this!
Once I was done I carefully poked my head out from the blankets, only to be greeted by blessed silence. Tomo was still sitting in the same spot, her mouth half open like she'd been about to say something else when I screamed.
I felt a wave of satisfaction as I realized I'd finally found a way to silence the overly chipper enforcer. It was somewhat overshadowed by the awkwardness I still felt at the current topic of discussion and I quickly decided to take advantage of the temporary reprieve to clear things up. Knowing Tomo that trick wasn't going to work a second time. "It wasn't like that," I said. "We weren't like that. Hell, there wasn't even a we."
As I'd expected, Tomo recovered quickly. "Well you've gotta tell me what it was like then, cause there's no way a mark like that doesn't carry a story with it."
"Do I really have to?" I asked, feeling exasperation set in now that we'd somewhat moved on from the awkward topics. I eyed my pillow longingly. I really wouldn't mind catching some extra shuteye.
Tomo saw where I was looking and tutted disapprovingly. "You do," she stated resolutely.
"Why?" I whined out.
"Call it girl talk," Tomo said. "It's an important and treasured part of any relationship between women."
I eyed her dubiously, but at the same time I knew she had me. Internally I cursed the part of me that longed to experience normal relationships. Not that I felt particularly attached to Tomo, but after what the Don had mentioned about us being friends, I felt like I should at least try. If only because she'd stuck around longer than any other girl who'd ever tried to befriend me, so maybe she deserved something for that.
Decision made I sat up and maneuvered myself so I was leaning against the headboard. I figured I might as well get comfortable. This wouldn't be a short story.
"Fine, but don't interrupt me or I'll stop," I threatened, eyeing the smug looking Tomo.
The other woman moved into a more comfortable cross-legged position at the foot of the bed with surprising grace and nodded. "Not a word". She mimed zipping her lips shut and throwing away the key.
I sighed, already knowing not to trust that promise, and let my head fall back against the headboard. "It started at the Hunter Exams..."
Around an hour later I finished telling Tomo all about the exams. I hadn't meant to tell her quite as much, but once I'd started I'd found it was hard to stop. There was something surprisingly freeing about talking openly with someone about what had happened. I'd told my parents a few bits here and there of course, but in the end I couldn't tell them everything without upsetting them. I had no such reservations regarding Tomo. Sure, I'd kept out some details, like what my Nen did, but besides that I'd told her almost everything. It felt good.
Tomo had asked a few questions here and there, but for the most part she'd listened quietly.
I watched as she seemed to be thinking things over.
When she finally broke the silence it almost startled me.
"So," she said, "what you're saying is that you went to the Hunter exams, which are notorious for their difficulty I might add, and once there instead of doing the smart thing and laying low, you decided to shack up with potentially the most dangerous killer there, who was dressed like a magician and also happens to be the one who gave you that scar," she gestured at my neck, "and then you basically spent the whole time chilling with mister murder clown, some random kid and a ninja. All because what, they were interesting?" she asked incredulously.
I nodded dumbly, feeling a little embarrassed to hear it all laid out like that.
Tomo was silent for a moment but then she burst into laughter. "You know," she hiccupped out between peals of laughter, "I don't know why I'm even surprised." She grinned as she finally got her laughter under control. "I'd heard rumors that Hunters can be kinda crazy about the stuff they hunt and I guess that's true. You'll probably make a great Hunter in fact."
I beamed and was about to thank her when she held up her hand to stop me.
"Like I said, I get that. What I don't get is how the hell can you say you and clownman weren't a thing? Like, how far in denial can you get? The guy was totally into you!" She threw up her hands in sheer exasperation.
"What! Where'd you get that from?" I asked incredulously. "Didn't you listen? He was trying to kill me!"
"You look alive to me."
"That's just cause he has this thing where he wants to battle people at their strongest. I'm not there yet, so he kept me around," I tried to explain, but Tomo was clearly having none of it.
"Right, and that was the only reason he kept you around. Of course, silly me."
"It was!"
"Yes, yes. I'm agreeing, see? Total agreement here." Tomo smiled blithely.
I groaned and buried my face in a pillow. "I don't know why I even try," I mumbled.
Tomo patted my head condescendingly. "There, there, it'll be alright."
I groaned some more. Somehow I doubted she was going to let this go.
A few days later it was time to say goodbye. Now that her mission in Hayamamoto was finished, Tomo had been called in for a mission in the family's main turf. Where that was, she wouldn't say, but it would take her out of the city and somewhere I couldn't follow.
Our goodbye was a relatively simple affair. We ate pancakes at the little restaurant where we'd first had brunch together and talked about our time together until a black car pulled up to the restaurant and I knew it was time for Tomo to get going. We exchanged phone numbers at Tomo's insistence and she threatened me to stay in touch. I grudgingly agreed.
I remained seated as the car pulled away and watched it until it disappeared from view. When I left the restaurant not too much later, I couldn't help but feel a little lost.
'Time to start all over again.'
AN:/ Hey all, welcome back and thanks for giving this story a try again! I know it's been ages since I last updated and I really have no excuses, beyond real life being a hectic bitch. I have a steady job now though, so while I'm still pretty busy I should be able to write more consistently. I also do have a ton of fun stuff for the next parts written already (heaven's arena) so that ought to help. That includes the first 1500 words or so of the next part, which really I wanted to end with here, but damn this got long. I'm still not going to make any lofty promises about update schedules, but know that I will not abandon this!
I would like to give a big thank you to everyone who faved, alerted, read and reviewed during my Hiatus! I know I might not have always replied (honestly I felt a bit too ashamed at how long I was taking to update), but know I treasured each and every one of your comments. You really helped kick me into gear and get out of my slump.
I think that's it for now. Thank you for reading and as always concrit and comments are welcome!
xXx Mai1564