"Nervous?"

Mori's question startled Maddy and she turned to face him from where she'd been craning out the window of the limo. After breakfast Maddy had excused herself to panic in her room, then come back out in time to get tugged aside by Nala and Haruhi who wished her the best of luck and given her so many reassuring hugs. Her heart swelled with love for her friends at the memory.

"Beyond nervous." She gave him a weak smile after shaking away the other thoughts. "This job is my ticket out of hell. I 'ave to get it, because what waits for meh at home isn't pleasant." Mori's eyes narrowed and Maddy elaborated on her sentence. "My dad and I don't exactly have the most congenial relationship."

The car rolled to a stop and Maddy sucked in a deep breath.

"Mori, do yeh want to wait in the car for meh? Take it for a drive or somethin' and I'll text yeh when I'm out? If I have yeh come in it makes meh look either cocky or under confidant. Like I can't handle i' on my own."

Mori merely nodded his assent with a quiet hum.

"Thank yeh." She breathed the words and smiled at him before stepping out of the car to walk with confident steps towards the building.

Mori watched her go in silence. He knew from Kyoya who Maddy was here to interview with. He also knew what the twin's mother was, and that was the only reason he let her go into the building alone. No one would hurt her in there. Tigers were possessive of what they viewed as theirs. As a women in the fashion agency, Mrs Hitachiin viewed her models as hers. Maddy would be safe.

Mori thought of the girl's big blue eyes, so expressive of what she was thinking, and how she easily brought a smile to the faces of those around her. Even Kyoya when she teased him in a way that only Kyoya could understand, and Mori smiled to himself quietly. Shutting his eyes as the limo left to bring him back to the mansion until it was time to pick Maddy up, he had the feeling that more adventures were on their way.

*V*V*V*V*V*V*

Hitachiin Clothing, Fashion and Design; It's not about being elegant, it's about being remembered.

Maddy walked underneath the sign, head held high, shoulders back, and a smile on her lips. The door swung open before she could reach it, and a butler of some sort bowed and ushered her into the lobby. Maddy's blue eyes swept over the room, taking in the clean edges, the simplicity of the lobby in it's black and white colors, and on the far wall a tiger done in black and white - the symbol of the company - curled around a figure in an elegant dress, it's glimmering golden eyes the only color on the wall. They seemed to follow Maddy as she walked to the receptionist, and she shivered.

"Madden Aisling?"

Maddy gave the other woman a bright smile.

"Yes, tha's me."

The receptionist was a lovely young woman, blonde and tall with icy gray eyes that swept dispassionately over Maddy before seemingly dismissing her as irrelevant.

"If you would follow me please, Miss Aisling." The blonde turned, and led Maddy down the hall. The clack of their heels on the floor the only noise around them, and Maddy's stomach twisted nervously as they approached the elevator.

The woman swiped a key card and they waited only a moment before the elevator opened to reveal the same simple white and black pattern with the tiger symbol on the opposite side of the wall from the doors.

"Tigers, huh?"

The receptionist glanced at Maddy briefly and raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, Hitachiin-san is fond of them."

Another moment of silence.

"Is she a good boss?"

The woman gave Maddy another quizzical glance as if she wasn't used to being addressed in such a way.

"She can be rather particular, and she has rather interesting tendencies at times, but yes she is. Follow her rules, don't mingle with her sons, do your job and you'll be fine." The elevator dinged as they arrived on the - Maddy glanced at the floor number - fourteenth floor, and the doors slid silently open. "Please follow the paw prints on the floor to the door at the end of the hall. You may enter directly after knocking."

Madden swallowed, rested her hand briefly on her churning stomach and nodded resolutely.

"Thank yeh very much for the help! Also, I didn't catch your name?"

The blonde woman raised an eyebrow at Maddy.

"You're an interesting one Miss Aisling. Have a nice day."

And with those words the elevator doors shut between them. Puzzled, Maddy stared at them for a moment before shrugging and walking down the hallway along the trail of pawprints. The sight of the tigers on the walls, and the pawprints made her mind drift back to the twins. They were so angry, and she didn't understand why. That was what made it the worst part in her mind. As far as she knew she'd never met either of them during her previous time in Japan when she lived there, and since coming back she'd done nothing but get kidnapped and diagnosed with a mild concussion which had cleared up if the lack of headaches was anything to go by. Either they found girls who got kidnapped people very offensive, or they had some other stupid reason that boys sometimes have that never make sense.

]Either way, she reminded herself now isn't the time to worry about it.

She had reached the door, and raising her hand she rapped on it a few times. Following the instructions of the receptionist woman she opened the door after knocking and stepped into the room. Her eyebrows rose at the magnificent opulence of the room. It was a far cry from the simple, neat lines of the other parts of the building she had seen so far. On the far side of the wall a large wooden desk sat with great floor to ceiling windows behind it. On the floor a thick, luxurious looking rug rested that looked so soft that a person could just sink into it. The walls were painted a warm brown, and pictures of people lined the walls. Maddy's eyes skimmed over the photos as her eyes were drawn up to the ceiling. Above her, the tiger stared down at her with it's glittering golden eyes. There was no woman depicted in this image of the company logo. Rather where the woman would have been were two small tigers - cubs if Maddy had to guess - and the ferocious eyes of the mother tiger watched over those who would dare come into her sanctuary. Instead of being disconcerting, the painting was beautiful and Maddy took comfort in the love she felt was exuded in the painting.

"You like it?"

Startled, Maddy snapped her head back down towards the voice across the room. A beautiful woman was standing there, a smirk on her face and her eyes bright with laughter. Her auburn hair was cut short and messy in a pixie style, and her eyes were bright with...something. Maybe amusement, maybe laughter, maybe curiosity but to Maddy it was like looking into the eyes of a cat. You could see the glow of thoughts, but didn't know what was being thought behind them to cause the shine. The woman was dressed fabulously, a short skirt wrapped around slim legs and an elegant looking dress shirt of some material that almost seemed to shimmer had artfully been created so as to slip off of one shoulder in a scandalizing way and still be fully decent.

This, Maddy realized in awe, was Yuzuha Hitachiin, her new employer.

"Hitachiin-san." She crossed the room to shake her hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you in person finally. Thank you for your gracious offer to work with you!"

The woman smiled, her eyes twinkling as she looked at Maddy like she knew all the secrets in her life.

"Miss Aisling, it's a pleasure to meet with you as well. I was glad that my rather specific request that your father not be present did not put you off of this."

Maddy shook her head firmly.

"Not at all Hitachiin-san. My father and I don't get along superbly well, so I'm rather glad tha' I will be able to work independently."

The other woman smiled, her teeth flashing as she laughed a little.

"Yes, we all have to fly free from the nest eventually don't we?" She straightened from where she'd been leaning against her desk, and gestured to the couch placed by the fireplace on the wall to the left of the door. "Please, sit, we'll have tea and talk."

They moved the the couch where it appeared someone had already placed tea on the table in front of it, and a fire warmed the room.

"So the tiger hm?"

Maddy's calm smile transformed into something far more abashed.

"Oh...aye, there's just...somethin' so peaceful about i'." She looked up at the ceiling again to admire the animals depicted there. "It's the picture of a strong family, an' the mother...yeh can see it in her eyes, she loves her children very much."

Hitachiin-san grinned wickedly.

"I completely agree. I find in interesting you like it. Most people are disconcerted by the eyes."

Maddy shook her head.

"No. no' at all. Those are the eyes a good mother should watch 'er children with."

"Yes." There was a moment of silence while the business woman seemingly gathered her thoughts. "The accent my dear, is it real or fake? It seems to come and go a little bit when you talk."

Maddy's blush deepened exponentially.

"Yes...I'm trying to work on it since my parents don't like it, but I grew up between here and Ireland - mainly Ireland - and it's never left me." She grinned widely. "See how I can cover it now? There's only the faintest hint. My grandmother says it's getting stronger because I'm growing closer to my roots as I get older since I'm going to do great things for people."

Hitachiin-san smiled but her eyes were sad for a moment as she looked at Maddy.

"Yes, you will do a great many things in your life. It's in your eyes, you're a young soul with a lot left to experience. I for one quite enjoy your accent, it sets you apart. Tell me, do you have pets?"

Maddy blinked at her, she was confused by the line of questioning since she had presumed it would be about her ethics and teamwork and what she was prepared to model and what her limits were. But this? This was far different from those ideas.

"I, well, not really?"

"You make it sound like a question."

"Well yeh see, unofficially yes. I have a rather odd affinity for animals, and there are a lot of them in the woods around my home in America that I take care of."

The other woman lifted an eyebrow quizzically.

"In the woods around your home? Do you mean they are wild?"

Maddy blushed hard, heat rushing into her face.

"Yes, I 'ave taken care of them ever since I was little and got lost in the woods. A deer found meh and stayed with meh all that afternoon, and ever since then I go out there as much as possible to make sure there are no traps set and that they are ok. Senseless cruelty to animals is something I will never tolerate, and even though we 'ave signs posted against hunting people still try it." Maddy shook her head. "I will never understand how people can be cruel to animals and be ok with it."

Mrs. Hitachiin's eyes were twinkling again, bright with mischief.

"I agree. As you'll see after you've been with us for a while, we do not incorporate animal products into any of our clothing. No real fur or pelts will ever be used by this company despite what some people wish. Because we do not advocate for it, we have a stronger foot in the fashion industry. Respect is easier to earn when you take something that is very hard to do and do it with success. I think you'll fit in quite well in this company Miss Aisling."

"Please," Maddy grinned, "Call me Maddy."

*V*V*V*V*V*V*V*

Maddy couldn't wipe the smile off of her face when she slid back into the limo with Mori.
Turning to him, she let out a little squeal as she wiggled her shoulders. Mori's eyebrow raised silently as if asking her "did you do it?"

She responded to his silent query with another squeal and vigorous head shaking.

"Yes! Yes, yes yes! I doona know 'ow, i' was a very odd interview but she was soooo nice about it! I canna wait to work there!" Suddenly going silent, Maddy tugged on a strand of her hair. "Oh shite, there I go again wi' my accent."

Mori spoke up quietly, making her jump.

"It's nice."

She turned to him, eyebrows raised.

"Really? My dad likes to remind meh of how uneducated it makes meh sound. But it's hard to get rid of something I grew up with."

Something dark flashed across mori's eyes, but he just shook his head.

"No."

Maddy frowned for a moment.

"Huh, interesting," she grinned and shook her head. "Anyway, I start next week, on Monday. I'm so excited. I'll have to let Kyoya know so we can work around everyones schedules if he's so certain that I need someone with me when I come and go."

Maddy turned to look out the window, eyes sparkling. Maybe she had had an awful start to her time here, but if her interview was the basis of anything then she would be fine. And have a lot of fun while she was at it.

***Author's Note***

Hey lovely readers, I'm alive! Barely! I'm actually ridiculously sick and passed out in my shower today before vomiting violently (not while I was passed out, after) but anyway!

Thanks for sticking around while I've been on my brief hiatus. Life has become...crazy, and a little stressful.

But enjoy this chapter! As always, your feedback is appriciated!

Love ~ Lollicatt

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killjarkidranger (Yep, they're actually ridiculous. Trust me, it'll only get better)

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