Chapter 4 and finally, two other characters and a various few. How is it? Should I keep on going? This chapter is a bit longer than the other's, just slightly. I also apologize for any grammar, spelling and other mistakes. It is very tedious work to check these chapters over y'know? Anyway hope you enjoy! Please R&R!
Disclaimer: I still don't own it
Mask of Deception
Chapter 4: Destiny?
With his arm bleeding badly, Tai decided that he should get back to his apartment. He rapped his jacket around his wounded arm and started his walk home. He was sweating from the pain and breathing heavily and then he bumped into someone on the street knocking over the books in the person's hand.
Tai winced a little from the pain in his arm but quickly decided to apologize. "I'm so sorry." Tai said. "No it was my fault I'm sorry." The voice replied. The voice belonged to a young girl that looked to be around the same age as Tai. She had auburn hair and the most beautiful pair of crimson eyes that Tai had ever seen. Something about her caught his eye and Tai was dumb struck for a second.
"Oh my gosh!" She said in a concerned voice. "You're bleeding!"
Tai was shaken out of his trance and looked over to his arm. He realized that his jacket had fallen off after bumping into the girl.
"Are you going to be okay? That looks so painful" The girl said.
"I'm fine. See?" He said moving his injured arm while hiding the pain with an odd smile.
"You need to go see a doctor right now!" She said very loudly.
Tai didn't really feel like broadcasting it to the world so he came up with an excuse. "I was just on my way to the hospital!" he said without looking at her face.
"You're new here aren't you?"
"How did you ever guess?" Tai said with sincere curiosity.
"Well, for one, the hospital is in the opposite direction." She said while pointing.
"Oh, well it's kind of hard to lie with the pain in my arm." Tai blurted out.
"So it really does hurt." She said with a triumphant smile.
"If you don't mind, I need to get home and clean this mess up." Tai said very annoyed.
"Come on," the girl said while dragging Tai by his other arm.
"Where are you taking me?" Tai asked.
"To my apartment. Where else would I take you?"
"Why?" Tai protested. But the girl ignored him and dragged him to her apartment.
Mysterious girl's apartment
Saturday 7:43 PM
Tai winced a little bit, as the girl dabbed some antiseptic on his arm to clean his wound. The girl had dragged him to her apartment, ignoring Tai's objections. Tai had no choice but to follow her and was now sitting on her kitchen counter, getting his arm cleaned.
"Are you sure this is okay?" Tai asked. "Am I sure what is okay?" The girl said acting dumb. "Me being here and all. I wouldn't want to impose." "It's fine, my Mom won't be home for another few hours, I could use the company."
"Didn't she ever tell you not to talk to strangers, let alone bring them to your apartment, especially when you are all alone?" Tai said in a fake strict tone. She gave out a light laugh but then said in a softer tone. "I couldn't leave you there." "Why is that?" Tai questioned. "Well, you were wounded, I had to help you." "How do you know that I didn't get this wound while trying to kill someone or something like that?" Tai asked awaiting her reply. She paused for a moment and that said, "this might sound odd but, for some reason I feel that I can trust you."
They stared into each other's eyes for a few minutes, eyes completely locked, then the girl accidentally spilled the bottle of antiseptic on Tai's injured arm.
"OOOWWW!!!!!!!!!!!!! FREAKIN @##$!!" Tai yelled as he grabbed his arm in agony. "Oh my gosh I am so sorry!!!" the girl said with extreme concern but then she found that she had to try and stop herself from laughing. Tai was breathing hard as the pain started to subside a bit. "Th-that hurts" Tai managed to squeeze out. The girl just started to laugh. "THIS ISN'T FUNNY!!" Tai said angrily. "I'm sorry, it's just that hahaha!!" the girl said in-between laughs.
When she calmed down, she sincerely said, "I'm really sorry, I didn't mean to do that. Seeing that your wound it really clean now, literally, I guess I should bandage it up now. " She carefully touched Tai's arm sending a shock throughout his body. Tai looked down at the way she lovingly cared for his arm as she gently wrapped it with the bandage.
"So" she said, trying to break the silence. "How did you get this wound?"
Tai was a little embarrassed but said. "I stopped a few thugs from possibly committing rape." "No really," the girl said. "I'm serious," Tai said looking at her. The girl saw that Tai really wasn't joking and said. "Oh." Once again, their eyes locked into an intense stare. They felt themselves being pulled closer to each other, only a few centimeters apart. Neither could stop themselves, nor wanted to stop, but the phone ringing in the hall had interrupted them.
Snapped back to reality, the two instantly pulled away, both blushing furiously as the girl went to get the phone. Tai's heart was beating fast. 'what was I thinking' he thought to himself. 'Sure she's beautiful, really beautiful, but I just met her and I don't know anything about her. What if she has a boyfriend.'
Tai could hear parts of her conversation in the hall.
"Oh….Hey…………I can't I have tennis…… No silly" She said in a somewhat flirtatious voice. "……That's not it……….ok…….……" 'Must be her boyfriend' Tai thought.
The girl then came back into the kitchen.
"Who was that?" Tai asked
"No one important." She said.
"Your boyfriend?" Tai questioned.
"Yeah" she said almost reluctantly.
"So your boyfriend is not important?" Tai teased. The girl just blushed a bit.
After a long pause Tai said, "I think I better get going, it's getting pretty late."
"Why? Are your parents waiting for you?"
"N-no"
"Then stay" she smiled and said.
The phone rang again so she went to get it "Sorry I'll only be a minute." This time, Tai heard a "Hi mom" but was interrupted by the ringing of his own phone.
He reached into his pocket to retrieve his cell and answered it. "Hello?" he said. " Agent stealth?" "Yes?" Tai said, switching to a professional tone of voice. "You are needed for assistance at once. Details will be given to you when you are picked up." "I understand." Tai said. He told the informer on the phone where a car should be sent to pick him up and then he hung up.
Seeing that the girl's minute had turned into several and wasn't anywhere near finishing her conversation, Tai decided that he would write her a note.
An, "Okay, bye" was heard and the girl came back into the kitchen area. "Sorry abo----" she stopped and glanced around, only to find that the boy she had met disappeared without a trace. 'Where the heck did he go?' she thought to herself. That's when she saw a piece of paper on the counter where the boy was sitting. She read the note to herself:
I'm very sorry about running out on you like this, but something very important came up. We didn't even have the chance to exchange names. I sincerely thank you for treating my wound and hope to see you again one day.
She just stood there, staring blankly at the page. "Oh great, Sora, why do you always chase the good ones away" she said to herself, then caught herself. "What am I saying? I already have a boyfriend."
She started to blush as she thought of the mysterious boy that was just in her kitchen a few moments ago. She sighed and walked to her room for some time to think.
Pick up car
Saturday, 8:26
"So, aren't you going to give me the details?" Tai asked the nervous looking driver. "Y-y-yes-s-s-sir!" The nervous looking man said. He looked around the age of twenty to Tai and was obviously nervous about something. "Well, spit it out! We don't have all year you know." Another nervous "Y-y-yes-s-s-sir!" escaped the man's mouth. "Well…" Tai said, a little irritated by the man's behavior. "I'm sorry, it's just that, I am such a big fan!" Tai arched an eyebrow. "Fan?" "Yeah. You and your partner were the ones who single handedly brought the downfall of the Yoshiwara scandal 4 years ago, when you first started, one of the biggest operations that our org (organization) has seen. You guys are famous here in odaiba!" "Gee, I'm flattered" Tai said with a little bit of sarcasm in his voice, but it wasn't apparent to the man driving the car. "And you would be?" Tai questioned. The man smiled widely and said "Agent 2344, Shigo Sozoshii. I am your new partner."
'He! He's going to be my new partner? You got to be kidding me.' "Oh…hehe nice to meet you Sozoshii-san. So how long have you been with us?" (He means the org) "I was just recruited 5 months ago sir!" 'Sir?' "No need to be formal Sozoshii-san. You are older than I am. Just call me Tai" Tai said. "Oh my gosh! Are you sure that is okay? You are superior to me, I don't deserve to call you by your first name Yagami Taichi-san!" "No, no, I assure you it's fine Sozoshii." Tai said trying to get him to just call him Tai. If he had to respond to Yagami Taichi-san each time the guy talked to him, he would almost go mad. "Oh please call me Soshii-chan ^_^" 'Soshii-chan? What self-respecting guy allows people to call him "Chan"?' Tai thought with a sweatdrop 'what a queer person'.
Kyoriyoku Enterprise
Saturday, 8:47
They arrived at the scene behind all of the confusion, without "Soshii-chan" telling Tai anything. Tai got out of the car and looked up at the building. In front of the building, there was a group of cops standing around in a large circle. In the clearing there was a guy holding a gun to a man's head, shouting out requests and orders to the police. There were so many police cars around, you wouldn't be able to count without deep concentration. Tai heard the man yell something about a lot of people being inside, and a bomb.
"This just had to happen to me when I arrived didn't it?" Tai said to himself. Soshii just looked terrified. After 5 months in the field, you would assume that he would be calm at a moment like this. To Tai, it was apparently the opposite. 'How did he get recruited anyway?' Tai wondered to himself. Then turned to the task at hand. He was here to work, not to worry about Soshii.
Tai walked over to a van that was well concealed and camouflaged. The door opened and out came two men who were a lot taller than Tai. He figured that they were the informers.
Glad you could make it "Stealth."
