AN: Here is Chapter 4 of this side story. As per usual with the 2nd chapter of this chapter block I will be returning to the main story to get the next chapter out there before returning here for the next block.
In the meantime though, enjoy this latest chapter.
As usual, I don't own H.O.T.D or any of its characters. Apart from the OC's, they're mine...
Five minutes later
"How did you that by the way?" asked the purple haired older woman who was massaging her left shoulder on a park table.
"Do what?" responded the young man sat on the other side of the table.
"Dodge that pellet at that range, shooting and hit me in all one maneuver." The woman queried as she wondered herself what happened.
A few minutes earlier at the shooting range. Both of them were at a standoff where no-one wanted to physically interfere between the two of them. Once they both cried out three, the older woman fired her shot intending to strike the chest or shoulder to make the young man drop his rifle but the said young man instead twirled round low dodging the pellet coming for him and fired his own into the left shoulder of the woman in front of him causing her to almost drop her rifle. The act for both of them banned from the range but it seemed to both of them that they didn't care about it.
"I saw where you were going to aim by looking into those eyes of yours." James leant forward.
The woman also leant forward to meet his eyes.
"Bullshit, nobody can do that on the fly." The woman sternly replied whilst maintaining eye contact.
"You'd be surprised at how much more I can do." The young man replied in the same serious manner.
Both Saya and Saeko were sat there watching the two talking to each other wondering if this was going to escalate again but they knew secretly that if it did that they would simply be a backseat driver as they would not be able to do anything. That was before the two in front of them started to break down in laughter.
"Okay, what's your name kiddo?" the woman asked wiping her eyes in laughter.
"Oh I'm James Carter. And you'd be Miss?" James introduced himself.
"Minami, but please just call me Rika in times like this." The one now known as Rika replied a smile on her face.
"Times like this? So what specialist team are you with in law enforcement, Rika-san?" James asked gaining the attention of the other three at the table.
Rika stared into his eyes for a minute creating a silence between the four of them. Eventually, Rika broke the deadlock.
"Oh you're good so tell me how did you arrive at that?" the older woman leant forwards to hear the response.
"The way you shoot is too refined to be a beginner so either you would be a gun club member, a policewoman or in the military. You're too athletic to be just a club member and too professional to be military. That just leaves the police but Japanese police aren't trained to use rifles in the same manner as you do. No, you had extra training for that. One that requires to become a specialist would it not? So I'm thinking SAT. Right?" James explained in detail his reasoning behind his assumption.
Rika looked at the young man with calculating eyes trying to understand his game. Failing so, she smiled before issuing her response.
"So who are you really?" the older woman casually commented.
"Only the most interesting man in your life." James winked at the woman before taking a sip of his drink.
The act finally made the older woman lean back roaring with laughter.
"Well you are right about two things at least, but you are no man Carter-san. You are just a boy to me so the two girls sat next to us need not worry. I won't be taking him away from you both just yet." Rika spoke thereby causing the two girls who were pouting at the scene before them before turning red in embarrassment.
"So who are you with Rika-san?" Saeko quickly tried to change the subject.
"Speaking of that she went to get some food not too long ago so she should be…" Rika turned to look for the person she had come to the festival with.
"She!?" Saya gasped as the answer soon became clear.
"Rika!" a voice cried out.
Like Moses parting the sea the crowd gave way to an onrushing blonde bombshell wearing a floral dark blue kimono which was quite tight around the chest which was drawing the attention of most the men within visual distance and the annoyed looks of the women who caught their partner's wandering eyes.
"Jeez, can't go five minutes without you drinking alcohol." The blonde arrived at the table which housed the group whilst carrying two small snack sized takeaway portions of ramen.
The blonde then turned the only make of the group.
"Sorry if she had been a bother but she does tend to…" the blonde started but stopped once she realised who she was talking to.
"Carter-san!" she all but screamed as she dropped the ramen on the table nearly causing it to spill everywhere and proceeded to grab the young man's arm with a large smile on her face.
"My, my you're looking quite handsome tonight aren't you?" the blonde complimented eyeing him up and down.
"Marikawa-sensei. I see you're being just as friendly as ever." James commented noticing both Saeko's and Saya's eyebrows twitch in the corner of his eye at the sight of Shizuka being so close to him.
"Know each other?" Rika's eyebrow raised at the sight herself.
"I go to Fujimi high school. Second year." James quickly replied trying not to notice his arm sinking deeper into the blonde's chest.
"In that case let him go Shizuka. You can't play with the boys from your school." Rika told off the blonde who had now taken refuge behind the young man.
"Aww, but this one's different Rika. This is the one I've been telling you about. This one's older than the second years and he's been sending the school bullies to my office instead of their victims." Shizuka explained whilst starting to stroke the top of James' head.
"Oh. So this is the boy you've been telling me about? Interesting?" Rika spoke observing with her calculating eyes.
"Is my transgressions at school a problem, Rika-san?" James asked
"Relax, I'm not on duty tonight and I don't really care for the actions of kids in a school playground unless the teachers and parents want me to get involved." Rika played off.
"and anyway from what I've heard. Your supposed actions may just be what that school needs." Rika continued perking the ears of a certain pinkette.
"What do you mean by that Rika-san?" Saya asked leaning forwards slightly.
"From what I've heard and from what Shizuka's seen herself. A lot of things get swept under the carpet at that school so you kids need to be careful." Rika explained much to James' grimace.
"Corruption is a dangerous game to mess with isn't it Rika-san?" James concluded.
"Exactly and before you ask and you didn't hear this from me. We have suspicions but not enough to do anything about it and we think they have friends in higher places." Rika replied.
"But moving on from that to answer the pink one's reaction earlier. Yes Shizuka and I are here together. Although I think it's time to let go of him now." Rika continued before turning to the blonde who was still hugging James' arm very tightly.
The said blonde pouted and stuck her tongue out at her friend before eventually letting go and moving to sit next to Rika.
"Aww, you're no fun Rika. I wanted to play with him some more." Shizuka huffed trying to look all miserable.
"Don't look at me like that. You know full well the rules are regarding relationships with students don't you." Rika chopped the top of the blondes head.
"Owie...maybe." the said blonde held her head rubbing the sore spot.
"So what are you two anyway? You said that the two of you came together but this event was for couples." Saya asked with interest.
"Well since he has done such a good job at figuring me out to the point I think he might be stalking the two of us, let him answer it." Rika turned to the young man.
James thought about that for a minute before coming up with an answer.
"Well from your careers and the fact that the two of you may be away from each other for a significant length of time in case Rika-san needs to go to any other jurisdictions for whatever reason, I don't think you two are together in that way. Of course with Marikawa-sensei acting like she is and with both of your actions with each other. I think you two indulge in some physical intimacy if neither of you have been with a man in so long." James spoke out.
Both of the older women went wide eyed at the young man. The two younger girls were looking at the three waiting for the inevitable silence.
"Are you actually stalking us? I'm this close to arresting you for harassment." Rika pit emphasis of how close she was to throwing the book at the young man in front of her.
"I've been here for a couple of weeks now. So how can I stalk you when I have one of these two with me literally all the time I have been here." James explained, waving his hands to show some sort of innocence.
"...and you two actually like this guy?" Rika turned to the younger pair who had went red at this point.
"Who said I even like him?" Saya huffed.
"I'm not interested." Saeko turned away in a similar fashion.
Rika laughed at the sight before her before turning back to the young man.
"Right so my turn now?" Rika leant forward.
"Go right ahead. I'd like to see what you come up with." James replied as he too leant forward.
Shizuka, Saya and Saeko all had turned their attention to the other two now as their interests had certainly peaked.
"So how much do you three know about him anyway?" Rika asked.
The three in question thought a good minute before replying to the officers question.
"Only what I already told you Rika." Shizuka stated.
"Only from what I've seen. He has been quite secretive." Saeko commented.
"Same here. I only see him around school Times anyway." Saya added.
'and so it should be.' James thought as he looked back to Rika.
"Alright then. From what I've been told about you. You can shoot, fight in hand to hand against multiple opponents of various builds. You can deduce people's lives by just observing their behaviours and the teachers at your school grade you so high at you could teach them." Rika started to conclude.
James glanced to Shizuka for the latter part as it was obvious that came from her. The said woman noticed his eyes looking at her and sheepishly smiled in return.
"So what I think is that you're quite athletic, intelligent, able to react well to situations and has most of the technology companies under his foot with his apparent research." Rika went on and at this point the rest of the group had leant forwards with interest.
"All of that these three could have told you themselves so it proves nothing." James stated not overly impressed from what he was being told.
"but I'm not finished yet?" Rika interrupted holding her hand up so she could continue.
"You're an abnormal young man that's a given. One excelling in both physical and mental characteristics and parading round with two beautiful girls. Either you're a rich kid buying your way to a high end lifestyle or your more valuable to society than you lead on." Rika finished with the two young girl blushing slightly at being acknowledged by the older woman for their looks.
James looked the officer and read her body language. It was clear to him that this was a clear conclusion from her as her body language and her words did not single guesswork but a conclusion drawn up from the facts that the three other ladies knew. Although literally all of what Rika knew about the young man came from her blonde friend.
James took a few moments before eventually giving his response.
"Well you're half right." James played off.
"Oh." was all what the officer reacted with.
"Well it's true. I am significantly more wealthy than the next man. I got my wealth through my own means not from the bank of Mom and Dad." James spoke out keeping his poker face.
"How rich are we talking?" Saya piped up in interest.
"Enough to live my life as I see fit without consequence." James replied keeping his card close to his chest.
"Oh I wondered what it'd like to have a sugar daddy." Shizuka spoke out loud obviously thinking about what would she do with a significantly large amount of money.
That was until Rika punched the nurse's arm to snap her out of her daze.
"Owie." Shizuka massaged her arm before it went sore.
"And for society?" Rika asked getting the group back on track.
"I'm high enough to match Saya-chan over there judging from how she's presented herself and how we got here , the difference between us is that clearly I don't need a constant bodyguard as I can take care of myself." James explained which made the pinkettes eyebrow twitch.
"Oh is that what Mac-san said to you after we got out of the car earlier. I'll be having a word with Mother tonight." Saya huffed in apparent anger.
"I had wondered that myself." Saeko chipped in but James had raised his hand.
"Don't be angry with them Saya-chan, it's what I'd do if I was them. Letting you go to an event with two school 'mates', one of which is a male who they don't even know themselves would set off any parent's red flag." James replied directly to the pinkette.
"I agree with him. We get so many callouts from parents wondering where their kids have gotten to if they don't answer their phone just once. Perfectly reasonable behaviour especially with what can happen with young women today." Rika went on further empathising the young man's point.
Saya went red trying to imagine the kind of conclusions her parents would jump to if she went with just a boy.
Rika examined her watch before motioning to the blonde bombshell next to her.
"Well it's time we make tracks anyway as I'm on duty early tomorrow morning anyway." Rika admitted as she stood up.
"Aww, I want to play with Carter-kun some more." Shizuka pouted clinging onto the young man's arm again.
"You would be able to, if the food you had brought over hadn't have gone cold." Rika replied.
Shizuka pondered for a minute before finally remembering why she left the officer on her own in the first place.
"Oh, whoopsie." Shizuka giggled at her own forgetfulness.
The blonde nurse albeit reluctantly let go of the young man and joining her friend.
"I'm sure with this one around we'll meet each other again. Next time I'll show you how I really shoot and we'll see if you can handle me then." Rika winked at the young man whilst referring to the blonde next to her.
"I'll do that and more. So as they say it's a date." James winked back as he acknowledged the older woman's apparent invitation.
Both Saya and Saeko were both glaring and pouting at the same time as the older couple walked away. The action was noticed by the young man who in turn started howling with laughter.
After Rika and Shizuka left, the other three decided to call it a night as well. They had been there for a couple of hours already and they were wondering whether Matsudo was waiting for them at this point.
The trio had a fairly quiet trip back to then Busujima residence where Saya herself had got out along with the two residents to see them off.
"Thank you for entertaining me tonight. It's not often I get to hang out with those outside of our family's circle." Saya thanked with a small bow.
"That's quite alright Takagi-san. We had fun tonight didn't we Saeko-san?" James responded looking over to the purple haired girl to which Saeko nodded in agreement.
Saya walked up to the young man and grabbed his hand.
"Saya…"
"You can call me that when it's just us there. Not at school though." The pinkette stared into the young man's eyes as she bluntly spoke.
The said young man looked at her with the same look trying to read her emotions but nothing came of it.
"That fine Saya-san as long as you do the same with me." James replied.
"It's only because we're friends now. Don't read anything into it?" the pinkette huffed as she turned away and got into the car.
"Keep telling yourself that Saya-san." James called back just as the car started to pull away. The window was open half way so he knew that the pinkette 'genius' would hear him.
James noticed a piece of paper had gotten into his hand. The very same hand that Saya grabbed just moments before. He unravelled the paper to reveal what looked like a phone number and a message which read…
'I enjoyed tonight greatly and would like to do it again sometime. I'm not asking you out on a date though so bring Busujima-sempai if you feel like it. -ST'
"That girl…" James mumbled almost not noticed Saeko had leant in and read the message herself.
"So tonight you've managed to get Takagi-san's number and charmed your way into two older women's lives. Are you such a ladies man by any chance James-san?" Saeko asked sternly.
"What? Are you jealous that I didn't give you a hundred percent of my attention tonight?" James smirked at the young woman in response.
Saeko looked at him contemplating her response until she smiled evilly.
"For that and the fact you pretty much hit on another woman during our supposed date tonight. You are going to make it up to me. Since Father is back tomorrow I suggest you pay back your dues or I'll tell him horrible things about what you've been getting up to whilst he has been away." Saeko spoke out whilst still smiling in a sadistic sort of way.
"You know what. Fine what would you like, dinner, bath…" James started before leaning in close to Saeko's face.
"...or me." James seductively winked at the young man.
The act alone surprised the purple haired young woman but not enough to cause a reaction. She leant back whilst trying to suppress a blush before replying.
"That won't work with me James-san. So we'll have a late dinner first before I get in the bath. After which we'll spar in the dojo until I retire for the night. Sound good with you?" Saeko explained what her plan was for the rest of the evening.
"Sounds like a plan Saeko-san, I'll help you prepare dinner." James agreed.
"Good but you're making breakfast in the morning. I've always wanted to try one of those English breakfasts I've been reading about." Saeko smiled at the young man as she turned and made her way into the house.
"A fryup? You know what fine, it's about time I tasted something a little more closer to home anyway." James shrugged in response as he followed the young woman inside.
Meanwhile inside the Takagi family limousine
Once the car pulled out of sight of the Busujima grounds. Saya looked at the pendant that James had won for her earlier.
'There's still so much to learn about him, about everything. He's too perfect and it infuriates me that he came out of nowhere like he did. There has to be something to him.' The pinkette genius thought to herself.
"You've been looking at that pendant for a while now Takagi-sama. Did Carter-san gave that to you?" Matsudo called from up in the driver's seat.
Saya looked up at the driver's seat where Matsudo was looking at her from the rear view mirror. She looked back at the driver and smiled before giving her response.
"Yes, it was one of the prizes that Carter-san gave to me as a gift." Saya replied still fiddling with the pendant.
"Ah, I remember those types of pendants from back in my day when I was your age Takagi-sama. It was a common trend for men to give those out to potentially their future partners or wives." Matsudo spoke out.
"Oh, did they ever work?" Saya asked with interest.
"Depends on the connection the two had together but around half of the couples in my high school years went on to marry each other." Matsudo explained.
Saya smiled once more which was noticed again by the driver.
"You haven't smiled like that in years. Maybe the last time that Komuro boy was with you at the estate when the two of you were younger." Matsudo pointed out much to the younger girl's embarrassment.
"You...? You remember that?" Saya went red as she pictured a younger version of herself playing with her childhood friend Takashi Komuro.
"Of course, I always thought the two of you would have ended up being betrothed to each other at some point." the driver nodded.
"Li-like my father would agree to that…." Saya managed to speak out of her stutters.
Matsudo started to laugh at the pinkettes loss of composure. When he stopped laughing he readjusted his rear view mirror to get a better look at the young woman before he responded.
"I wouldn't be so sure as he did approve of him from the times you brought him back to the estate but he ended up with someone else from what your mother was talking about back then. If you want my advice Takagi-sama. If you're at least bit interested in him then pursue him till you lose that interest. You never know what could come of it?" Matsudo continued trying to advise the young pinkette.
The said pinkette sat there and thought to herself about her childhood years up to this point, What she focused on? Who her friends were? What she did in her free time? She came to the conclusion that because of her self exclusive childhood limiting the number of people who got close to her that it was possible that she would get to a point where her parents would lose patience and try to marry her off to other wealthy and powerful families in a bid produce heirs. As draconic as that sounded to the so called 'Genius' the pinkette came to the conclusion that she must start being more open to people without losing her social stature in the world.
"Thank you Mac-san. You've given me a lot to think about." Saya spoke in a calmly manner as the car pulled into the same neighbourhood as the Takagi estate.
Meanwhile, in another car
"So what did you think of Carter-kun? Was I right?" a certain buxom blonde happily asked the purple haired woman who was driving them home.
"I'll agree with you there. He's different to most young men his age." Rika agreed as she recalled her own observation in her mind.
"Oh and it got you interested in him huh?" Shizuka teased putting a finger to her bottom lip.
"Pfft, please Shizuka, anybody can shoot targets at 10 yards. Didn't impress me one bit. As for the observations you made whilst you were at work. Sure he may have been trained to fight but beating ten untrained but athletic males is not difficult as most trained practitioners can replicate those results." Rika explained to the blonde.
"Awww, I thought you liked him Rika as you seemed like you were having fun?" Shizuka pouted.
"Don't get me wrong Shizuka, the kid's got something to him. It's why those two girls were poorly attempting to play it like one of those anime harems with him to stay in the event. Saw through those two like catching a shoplifter red handed in a convenience store." Rika replied.
"Then give him a challenge Rika. I'm sure he'd love that like he challenged you at that game." Shizuka suggested.
The purple haired woman glanced at the blonde slightly before turning her attention back on the road.
"Next time you get wind of a large skirmish involving him. Record it and send it to me, okay Shizuka?" Rika asked gaining a look from the blonde in question.
"Oh why do you want me to do that?" Shizuka raised her eyebrow with interest.
Rika glanced at the blonde once more before winking at her.
"Its like you said. I was having fun after all." Rika carried on looking at the road ahead as it sped towards their destination.
At the Busujima residence - Two hours later
It was quite far into the evening and James found himself once again carrying the young swordswoman to her room so she can sleep for the night.
Earlier
The two walked into the house earlier and with Saeko running the bath and James preparing the meal for the two of them with Saeko cooking it after returning from prepping the bath for herself later. The two had their meals which was rice and miso soup along with a couple of other side dishes, or what the Japanese call 'Washuko'. Saeko chose the meal mainly because it was late and she wanted to make something quick so she and James could have more time for their spar.
After their meal, Saeko went into the bath with James heading for the dojo so he could partake in some of his own exercises without the young woman bothering him. He did some light work first as he had only just eaten and pushing himself would only cause a stomach ache and Saeko's inevitable giggles. He aimed to ease himself in so he would not be wore out when Saeko would eventually walk in.
About an hour later she appeared at the dojo door whilst wearing her natural navy blue kimono, her hair blow dried and brushed so it flowed down her back. She was already carrying her bokken to which she went about doing some light stretches to prepare herself for the opponent in front of her.
James in the meantime had not bothered to face her whilst she was doing them in an attempt to get into the young woman's head. The young man did this everytime the two sparred whilst the elder Busujima was away over the last few days. He knew that Saeko was already used to it but he wanted to try teach the young woman without telling her that her current attempts to land a direct strike were not going to work so that Saeko would try and find another way of attacking him.
This time though, the young woman decided to take her traditional kendo stance but not be the instigator for the first stage of exchanges. James on the other hand instead took the lead and rushed her and threw a feint to get a strike out of her to which the young woman fell for. However when James countered the strike to hit a pressure point on Saeko, he noticed that she attempted to block the strike to her left hip as if she was anticipating it.
After a couple more cycles of the same result, James changed his game and instead got close enough to the young woman so that she could not use her sword. The small of time in which Saeko could not strike as she was holding her bokken was enough for the young man to send her to the ground.
A few minutes of forced stalemate from James allowing Saeko to showcase her own technique with her bokken before it was clear that she was tiring out physically. However, like the last time they spared the young man noticed that she was pushing her limits and allowing her emotions to run away with her. Needing to end it there, James feigned an obvious opening for Saeko to take to which she attempted a two handed diagonal strike which would have went across the young man's chest. Knowing the door he left open for her, James expertly dodged the blow and using momentum of his movements got behind the young woman and pricked her neck enough to render her unconscious without doing any damage.
After helping the immobile young woman into his arms he picked up the bokken that had dropped to the floor and carried her in the princess style of carrying and left the dojo making sure to close the door with his feet whilst leaving.
Back to present
The young man placed Saeko in her futon in her room and left the bokken at the doorway to which he left the room heading for the baths. On the way he stopped at his room to grab his phone which he had left in there prior to leaving for the festival earlier that evening to which whilst the bath was being prepared for him he checked and found the following message.
'I have business in Japan in regards to recent events. I will be arriving in a couple of days and may visit before meeting with government officials. Just thought you should know. - CC'
Knowing that it was from his father, James replied with the message…
'Acknowledged. I will have to let the family know in case you do turn up. - JC'
James stripped down and entered the bath using its warm waters to relax and wash off not only the day's work but also, the perfumes of both Saya, Saeko and Shizuka as their apparent smells had stuck onto him during the evening and was causing quite the clash of smells.
Twenty minutes later he was done bathing and went to his room for the night. The young man did not bother to do his nightly workout before sleeping as he did so before the spar earlier. It wasn't long before he was drifting off to sleep in his futon.
Or so he thought….
The door to his room slowly slid open and even though it barely made a sound the young man jolted awake and looked straight at the door to reveal a groggy young woman who had just started to come to after being knocked out earlier.
"Why'd you have to do that, James-san?" Saeko rubbed her eyes with one hand still on the door.
"Like last time, you were losing yourself in our little spar so I had to end it before you endanger yourself." James spoke quietly due to how late it was.
Saeko looked down and used her fringe hair to cover her eyes as she processed that information.
'Soft spot maybe?' James thought to himself.
'Have I really changed from that night?' Saeko thought as well.
The young woman then pushed herself off the door and closed it, she walked up to the young man's futon and lay down on top of the covers next to the young man.
"What are you doing Saeko-san?" James questioned the young woman's motives.
"What does it look like? I'm sleeping here tonight." Saeko admitted trying to make herself comfortable.
"In my futon?" James raised his eyebrow her admission.
"Yes, and don't leave either. I will be on top of the covers, you'll be below." Saeko grabbed his arm to prevent him from leaving the futon.
James looked at the young woman in an attempt to think of a way out of this situation that she put him in but foresaw that refusing her demands would only lead to trouble in the long run.
"What about your father? Would he approve of such an act?" James asked in a serious tone.
"It's only for one night, he won't know. Besides, I've always wondered what it's like to wake up next to a man." Saeko explained herself.
The young man thought over this explanation whilst the young woman still had her hand on his arm and had taken the liberty to use her thumb to stroke his arm whilst staring at it.
"Fine but only sleeping. Heaven forbid what your father would do to me if we did anything more." James gave up resisting.
Whilst he would admit that looking at Saeko lying down on her side with one arm propping her head and the other stroking his arm looked really sexy and inviting for those who would take such an opportunity, James knew it himself not to fall for such a beautiful sight and instead take his place in the futon facing away from the young woman to which she responded by turning away herself.
"Goodnight Saeko-san." James spoke.
"Same to you James-san." Saeko replied softly.
It only took a couple of minutes for the young man start to drift off once more but the last thing he noticed before losing conscious was the young woman to his right shivering before turning over.
AN: As usual rate, review and all that good stuff.
Chapter 5: The Father & Daughter tag team - Time till release: TBD.