The teenage girl looked over at the newspaper scanning the headlines with her sapphire colored eyes. Nothing much there, nothing to tip off any activity... wait, what was that?
Backtracking her eyes, she stared at the bold print for a moment before delving into the actual article. Although the agency she worked for was top in its class they still kept all the bases covered and that included the newspaper. Occasionally, even with their extensive network, things slipped past because they happened too suddenly or it wasn't deem important at the time.
She whizzed over the information picking out the essential facts and ignoring the filler. It wasn't that she didn't appreciate good writing, she was an aspiring writer. However, work was not the time to evaluate sentence structure. She was required to find and process information as it came to her then pass it on as quickly as possible.
"Did you find something, Miss Kamiya?" A soft voice asked behind her. She smiled and turned in her chair to face the short, red-hair man.
Although they weren't really anything to each other, she had to admit she had a silly crush on the poor guy. Not only that but he was absolutely clueless about it. She intended to keep it that way too. Some top agent he was. Weren't they supposed to be super observant?
"I think I have a hit Mr. Himura." She admitted handing over the paper. She had just managed to highlight all the important information with her hot pink marker. It didn't smear the print quite as much as the normal yellow kind.
His gorgeous violet eyes flickered across the newspaper page before he looked up with a sincere smile. That was enough to have half the women in the office lusting after him and Kaoru was no exception. She felt warmed that he had just given her such a special smile, just her.
"I do believe you have Miss Kamiya, that I do." He assured her before whisking off into the busy flow of office traffic with her find. She knew it would reach someone who could do something with it soon enough. Hopefully it would lead to something.
"What are you gaping at girl?"
Kaoru blinked and jerked her head up abruptly. She felt blood rushing to her face, which only served to mortify her even more. The older woman looked down with a mildly amused smile. Not the cruel kind, just like someone who knew what was going on and found it cute.
"Miss Takagi!" Kaoru yelped trying to hide her face with her hands. Peering shyly through her slender fingers and pink fingernails, she was shocked to see the older woman was laughing softly.
"Call me Tokio if you would?" Kaoru stared enviously at the woman's perfect face complete with gorgeous silver-gray eyes and slightly petulant lips. "I'm not much for formality unless it's required."
"Only if you call me Kaoru." She girl replied self-consciously. She brushed back a strand of hair and flashed a nervous smile. After all, it wasn't every day that the head lawyer decided to talk to some poor sap down in her division.
"You like him?" Tokio asked with a mischievous smile and a sparkle in her eyes. She flipped back her think mane of jet-black hair so it hung down straight.
Shyly, Kaoru nodded.
Tokio gave another amused chuckle before saying, "You and every other single female that works in this office I think. Mr. Himura is certainly something else again if I do say so myself."
"So what do you do here? I'm rather surprised to find a bright young girl so low on the totem pole."
Kaoru was confused for an instant before she caught on to the change of subject. That brought on another blush, which she didn't even try to hide this time. Instead she lowered her eyes modestly and admitted shamefully, "I was working as an assistant secretary under a superior, but I kind of lost my temper and hit one of his co-workers with a stapler."
Tokio arched a perfect eyebrow with a hint of a smile, "Mr. Hiko I presume?"
Kaoru's eyes widened drastically and she slid a bit back sorry that she ever even opened her mouth in the first place. That was supposed to be a secret! Now she really would get canned for sure.
"Don't worry, I won't tell. Did you hit him hard?"
Kaoru nodded completely mortified.
"Good, that ass needs some sense knocked into him." Tokio snorted with good humor and teased, "You're just lucky he didn't cream your career for that. I know he's insufferable, but hitting him with a stapler won't solve his ego or smart remarks. You should have tried something bigger."
"I know. Mr. Himura actually saved my job. I was lucky."
Tokio eyed her with no reserves before flashing a genuine smile and replying with a wink, "I guess so. Sorry to cut this off, but if I don't get back to work I'll be the one out on my rump. I actually came over here because the head line you found caught my eye and I was wondering if I could have a copy."
Kaoru nodded frantically shifting stuff around her desk before realizing the copies were still in the copier. She flushed and hastily gathered them up handing a set to the older woman with a slight bow.
Tokio collected them gracefully and cocked her head thoughtfully, "How would you like to work for me? One of my secretary aides is getting married in two weeks and I don't expect him back for quite awhile."
Kaoru, again, took a minute to process this information before joy flooded her face and she had a silly smile plastered all over her face. She nodded scared that her voice would betray her childish excitement having no idea that it was engraved on her young features. Tokio merely smiled indulgently. The smile faded as she glanced down at the paper and tight-lipped anger resided in its place.
A/N: Look, some more of the cast! Hopefully this isn't too confusing, and if it is let me know.
Reviewers:
Trupana: Kamatari is probably my third fav. character ^__^ And he's just so amusing to write! Oh yes, just what every girl needs to learn. How to seduce men under the crossdresser-sensei. Megumi is multi-facteted. And I don't think I'm giving her too much credit as a 6 yr old.
MissBehavin: Imagine how fast her boyfriends would run away! It'd be like that classic scene where the boyfriend gets introduced for the first time. He and the father are waiting downstairs while the girl is doing those last touches... then picture Saitoh staring at the poor guy while resting his hand on a oh-so-convienantly-visible gun and asking the usual questions.
Fyyrrose: I was talking about me -_-;; I already know you're crazy. Oh lordy, are you nuts? I'm still trying to figure out how to do a heterosexual relationship. Can you imagine the chaos I'd create with yaoi? That's scary, I'm scaring myself just thinking about that. Besides, I have other plans for those two ^^;;
eriesalia: Hehe, that'd be fun, wouldn't it? You just gave me an idea for my western. But she's that age for a reason, believe it or not. Oh yes, poor Saitoh. Insecurity isn't something he's used to, now is it? Oh yes, modern Shinsengumi, as you can see, Saitoh has quite the dilemma. Not the best place for kiddos.