Ga Rei Hime
Six
Sara Gallagher looked very embarrassed as she stood in the doorway and said, "I'm really, really sorry about last night."
Natsuki Kasuga looked more amused than anything else, standing in the doorway wearing shorts and a rumpled t-shirt. And looking yummy as hell. Sara hadn't actually been joking when she had propositioned the woman the other night.
"Nothing to apologize for," Natsuki waved it off. "If you hadn't come to help I might have had to shoot Sayers."
"Is she still...?" Sara had to ask.
"Midori is just running her home now," Natsuki said as she waved for Sara to come in. Thankfully Sara was in a casual blouse and skirt, not last night's hooker outfit. Politely she asked, "Want some coffee?"
"Please," Sara agreed cheerfully, glad to know she had Natsuki all alone. "I called Elliot earlier, updated her on what happened," she added.
Natsuki looked curious, "Did you mention me?"
"You seemed to want to keep a low profile, so other than generally mentioning the fight I left you out," Sara admitted as she followed her into the kitchen. Somewhat seriously she added, "From things she's told me, my Aunt already has figured a lot of this out. I think it would be better if you told her, tho."
Natsuki poured them each a cup of coffee from the maker, and they sat at the kitchen table. "I'd rather tell her face to face, assuming I tell her at all." Natsuki added cream and sugar to her coffee, "I mean, I don't even know if I'll end up staying here in Fuka."
"Don't let me scare you off," Sara said as she made up her own coffee, then sat at the side of the table Natsuki was on.
Natsuki sipped her coffee. In her odd undead state it didn't 'feed' her, exactly, but it still woke her up somehow. Placebo effect, maybe?
"Besides, Fuka is one of the biggest stable areas of supernatural disturbance in Japan," Sara pointed out, "it's the perfect hiding place for you."
Natsuki raised her eyebrows, "And how do you know that?"
"There was a documentary on it last year on TV," Sara shrugged.
Natsuki blinked, but realized it was possible.
Sara shifted in her seat, smiling up at the slightly taller Natsuki. "I think my Aunt Elliot has been hiding you from me," Sara teased as she looked up at Natsuki through her eyelashes.
"Oh?" Natsuki answered a bit nervously.
Sara gently ran a finger up Natsuki's arm as she added, "I really like the tall dark and handsome types, lady version."
Natsuki's eyes widened a bit as she stammered, "Uhm, I don't think..."
Sara moved a bit closer as she purred, "I noticed you checking me out last night, you know. And we are both adults."
"Sara I..." Natsuki started.
Both heard the front door slam open as Midori called, "I'm Hoooome!"
Sara kinda bounced away from Natsuki, blushing furiously. She was safely on the other side of the table as Midori hurried in. "Welcome home," Natsuki said, relieved.
A few minutes of polite conversation and Sara was gone, leaving Midori looking mildly confused. "Was it something I said?" the redhead had to ask.
Natsuki looked embarrassed, "Sara was hitting on me just before you got home."
Midori blinked. "You should have warned me! I woulda circled the block a few times..." she offered warmly.
"Don't tease," Natsuki said.
"Who says I'm teasing?" Midori said impishly, "She IS hot."
Natsuki groaned and finished her coffee. "She is WAY too young for me," she said, "and that's not even taking into account my situation."
Midori looked at her sympathetically, but decided not to press. "Once you've recovered, are you going out searching again?" she asked.
"I want to check with Chief Chandler," Natsuki admitted. "Remember Rena mentioning that Johns are disappearing too?"
"Huh," Midori nodded ruefully. "Since no one's reporting them as prostitution related, we're going to have a hard time investigating."
"Still gotta try," Natsuki shrugged. "You on duty today?"
"Thankfully, no," Midori admitted. "You want me to run you in?" she asked.
"If you don't mind," Natsuki smiled as she added. "I still make some of your fellow officers uncomfortable..."
"The entity attack on the police station wasn't your fault," Midori noted.
"Still," Natsuki shrugged.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"Fujiko-sama," Shizuru said respectfully over the phone, "we've ran into a little complication."
"Again?" Fujiko asked dryly.
Shizuru winced, but kept her pleasant tone of voice. "As you know, we are investigating regions with heightened supernatural energies. To be blunt, that often means encountering Entities that dwell there," she pointed out.
Fujiko was actually a little apologetic, "Understandable. I have read your reports, your luck in running into the Entities is... rather remarkable."
"Tell me about it," Reito muttered from where he was sitting nearby.
Their VERY fancy roadster was now totalled on the side of the road. They had been investigating a small town a few hours out from their last stop when they ran into what was functionally a rock troll. The thing had attacked them on sight, and worse their various talents hadn't been well suited to fighting it.
Mai's powers were pyrokinetic. Fire... sadly didn't really DO anything against rock. Nao's binding magics were slightly more useful, but she couldn't do much more than slow down the ten foot tall monster. Surprisingly Shizuru's rocket-boosted Naginata HAD damaged it, but at best she could only chip at it. So the only alternative they could come up with was for Nao to bind the hell out of the thing, then Reito ram it at high speed with his car.
"My poor car," Reito sighed patting the wrecked hood tenderly.
"He treats that car better than he does his girlfriends," Nao noted.
Mai made a face, having personal experience in that area. "Yeah," she sighed.
Nao looked over at her sheepishly, "Sorry."
"Let this be a lesson to you," Mai noted to the younger woman, "if he's prettier than you are, don't date him."
Nao snorted in amusement while Reito just gave her a wounded look.
Shizuru snapped the phone shut. "Good news, everyone. Fujiko-sama says there is a local agent nearby, she'll pick us up and run us into the next town," she told them.
"Where we can replace the car and move on," Reito sighed.
"The nearby area is also a high region of supernatural energies," Shizuru added, "so it will be convenient to our search too."
"So what den of back country yokels will we be visiting this time?" Nao asked dryly.
"Fuka, and it's quite developed, really," Shizuru told her.
Before the conversation could get much farther, they heard a car off in the distance. "Bets on what car...?" Nao offered.
"Nah," Mai shot her down. "Besides, too late here it comes..."
The SUV was a bit clunky, but it seated six so was probably a good choice. It stopped not far from the wrecked car and rock troll, and a VERY attractive looking brown haired woman hopped out. She smiled as she advanced on the group, only to freeze when she saw Shizuru.
"You." she said flatly.
Shizuru smiled, but it clearly didn't reach her eyes. "Rena Sayers, it's been a long time," she said politely.
"Not long enough," Rena said, still suffering from a hangover.
Reito quickly stepped in, "Thank you for giving us a ride, Miss Sayers. It's much appreciated."
"Kanzaki. I've heard of you," Rena said, and from the tone of her voice it wasn't complementary. She shook herself, "I assume you've stood around here long enough, and Rocky is going to revive eventually..."
All of them headed for the SUV as Nao asked "Rocky?"
"The troll-thing," Rena helped her step up into the rear seats, "It appears to be some kind of local guardian, and it restores itself after being destroyed."
Everyone QUICKLY got in on hearing that. "How long?" Mai asked worriedly as Rena got behind the wheel.
"A few hours," Rena started up the engine and they were off, even as the pile of boulders that had been the troll quivered ominously...
Notes: FINALLY we are getting the whole cast together. Should be interesting once they finally meet Natsuki. Rena has a history with Shizuru, which will be brought up eventually. Probably once I decide what Shizuru did...
