Alexandra Mused that her day had been… fine. She gave a smile as she spun her brand new spinney chair, giving a delighted giggle as she spun around and around. If any of her coworkers saw they would have had her admitted to an asylum of some sort (after all a laughing Alexandra must surely be an omen of the coming apocalypse.) but that was fine.

After all the Alexandra Olsson, who was currently giggling in her chair, must have gone insane. But she didn't really care that much at the moment, after all she had just been promoted to representative of the Swedish Dragon shrine. It was her dream come true! She could feel the excitement bubble up in chest, so intense she almost squealed in excitement.

Before she could completely lose control of herself, she took a deep breath, in and out. She felt her normal calm overtake her as he pretty features were once more masked with a polite, if impassive smile. She gave herself a look in the mirror mounted on the wall of her new office.

Lately she had let her brown hair grow out, As it was now down to her shoulder blades. Her caramel eyes shining with a disciplined light. Her snow white skin complementing her already light features, luscious pink lips, and almost aristocratic features, made her a beauty. Something her expression did nothing to lesson.

A momentary deadpan broke onto her features. 'If anyone ever heard me say that they would think I'd been spending too much time with Blandelli' That blonde menace was a terror when she wanted to be, especially when it came to make up. 'Which is quite strange considering the brat doesn't even use any…' Alexandra shook her head, dispersing the thoughts of the eleven year old in the process. She needed to collect herself, sure she had made representative but she still had a ways to go before she reached her goal of being the shrine director.

'Yes just one step closer, no need to lose composure.' Alexandra thought straightening her leggings. She was just dressed in a somewhat expensive pant suit, black in color with a white button up dress shirt underneath.

A ding came over the intercom, as a bland male voice came through. *Alexandra, Mr. Arman is here.* 'Wonder what he wants…' Denis Arman, a large of man of six foot two, black hair black eyes, and currently her boss. "Send him up Dylan." Now that she thought about it was strange for him to check in with the secretary, at all. Sure being the shrine representative required a great deal more responsibility than people thought, but that wasn't that big of a surprise.

After all the shrine was a large part of the Black saber association, and while they were small they were still a mage association. It wasn't strange that they got a lot of backed up paperwork, but none of this explained why the leader of the association was meeting with her.

Her caramel eyes were dark, no black with fury.

That rat bastard was blackmailing the shrine! Justin Merium the man who had been supporting the black saber Association for the past thirty years through donations to the dragon shrine, was threatening to remove all support! It was a nightmare, beyond comprehension she had just gotten her new position and this man was basically saying he would leave them to the wolves should they not follow his orders! Without his support they would crumble, in a matter of a few month (a year at most!) The Black Saber Association would be overrun by The Silver Wolf Committee.

Everything she had worked for would be nothing but dust in the wind should they deny his request.

In the end the request was more of whim than anything. He just wanted some ancient unnamed spear that had been used to kill a few dragons. A manageable request something they had managed to do in a few hours, but he also wanted them to conduct a strengthening ritual that would imbue the man with the power of the spear… something far more difficult (And of very dubious legality). The man also insisted that it had to be done within the next 36 hours, due to some "never before seen" fluctuation in the ley lines, that would cause some sort of interference after that point.

Alexandra didn't care, ritual magic was never her forte in the first place. She much preferred her combat magic over such time consuming and overly generalized magic. It wasn't like the payout was ever actually worth the work in the first place.

She blew a lock of hair out of her eyes in irritation. 'Stupid wind!'

Not only were they being blackmailed, but the person who held the spear had an amazing reputation for finding rare artifacts. The man had never discovered or been informed of magic. But he had probably seen more Grimoires and lost tomes than any mage on the planet, with the exception being the Witch of Sardinia.

Needless to say the association wanted to leave a good impression, for any further business that might transpire between the two parties in the future. A deal had yet to be made and the person who was delivering the spear was suppose to negotiate a price. She was to be the one negotiating in favor of the shrine that the owner believed to be buying it. She was to provide the necessities for as long as the negotiations took.

In the end Merium was even providing the fund of which they were suppose to buy the spear, and considering it was a priceless one of a kind work… Well she was given a lot of breathing room.

But Alexandra didn't really care about that…

No it was the fact he had forced her to bring along this brute of a body guard! The man barely spoke, and when he did he most certainly wasn't Einstein either. He also didn't seem to be getting what she meant when she told him not to steal the stupid spear. Even Merium had agreed that angering this Kusanagi fellow would not be a good idea if only for the risk it would put on any further transactions.

It was precisely this reason Alexandra Olsson was fuming. This idiot would no doubt cause the negotiations to collapse. Not that she let these feeling show, of course. No on the outside she looked positively impassive, like a truck could hit her companion and she wouldn't have been phased.

Well her expression might have been a bit cold but their was no helping that at the moment.

The fact that they were currently passed the set time for when they picked him up, wasn't helping her mood either. Tires squealed as the driver raced down the streets, but time still seemed to crawl by as Alexandra calmly awaited their arrival at the airport.

'He-he's just a kid!' Alexandra thought with a certain amount of surprise. The Blonde rolled his eyes at her as if he had just read her mind. Reaching his hand out for a hand-shake, instinct kicked in and Alexandra met his hand with her own and shaking three consecutive times, before the opened his mouth and spoke, in Japanese.

"I am Naruto Kusanagi." he said, thankfully she knew Japanese and responded in the same language. "It's nice to meet you , I'm Alexandra Olsson and I'll be providing you with room and board along with representing the Dragon shrine during the negotiations." her tone was polite, her smile warm and welcoming but, the boy didn't seem to buy it, even as he responded in kind.

"I hope my stay will be pleasant."

'This is fun' Naruto thought happily a Cheshire grin on his face as he looked upon Alexandra's pale-ing face. It hadn't even been an hour since they'd arrived at the shrine, having been swiftly directed into a private room where the negotiations would begin.

But in that hour he had managed to get the selling price all the way to 70,000 USD. Why were they using USD? His adoptive father had taken a liking to the currency during one of his travels. Getting the price that high wasn't that hard.

All he had to do was tell Alexander that his grandfather wouldn't let him sell the spear for less than 7. What he hadn't told was that he meant 700 USD. The rest was just the girl leading herself to the grave. He just had to reaffirm the fact he wouldn't sell for less than 7 every few minutes and she dug the hole deeper.

Of course the reason he was putting so "Much" effort into was because Ichirou had promised him at least forty percent for negotiations. Of course the old man thought that he would at most have to pay out 280 USD, not 28,000 USD. In other words he was being a bit greedy, but hey he was twelve he had the right to be a bit of a money grubber.

Not that it wasn't fun to watch the older woman-she was what nineteen?- flounder about as he simply took a sip of tea and gave her a stern glare. Heck that was payment by itself! But the cash was quite a welcome bonus.

Chuckling mentally the blond took another sip of teas as he watched Alexandra flee from the room. 'Who knew being a negotiator could be so much fun?' He thought cobalt eyes glowing with mirth as they trailed the brown haired girl as she evacuated the room as if hell was behind her.

'It's about time I go to bed isn't it?' he thought looking at the black sky sparkling with the stars. Standing up from his chair he made his way back to his assigned room, never noticing as one star seemed to shine brighter than the rest.

Green eyes opened slowly as they stared out at the sky. Silvery hair cut short, as he looked out through the window of his abode. Eyes drifting lazily over the stars as he noticed a specific cluster light up. Eyes widening as his pupil narrowed, turning into a predatory slit.

He gave a wave his hand his black trench coat billowing slightly as a man's form materialized next to him. It was a third rate mage if he remember correctly. The man's tie was haphazardly tied around his neck, a worn dress shirt covered with holes along with a pair of glasses taped together after having been broken several times.

Eyes hollow the man finished materializing with a silent wind, before giving a bow. the green eyed man turned his gaze to the puppet. "Now what was it about the stars you were babbling about when we first met?" the silver eyed man asked. A malicious smirk on his face as poisonous chuckle came from his mouth, sending shivers down the spine of everything that heard it... even the dead man.