A month passed and with no signs of any real progress from him, the government and his co-workers began to get antsy and butt into his business. His co-workers tried to set him up on blind dates, all of which he either turned down automatically or was browbeat into going on- only for things to end in disaster once his date arrived and saw him.

He could literally count how many times he'd been walked out on or stood up. Which was pathetic. When did women become so shallow minded that they couldn't look past a person's appearance and simply see their heart, or mind instead? He wondered for what had to be the millionth time as he slowly began his short walk home from his latest date disaster.

He had decided to go out with a friend of one of his co-worker's and had put forth every effort into making things as nice and romantic as possible. He had worn a suit, bought some flowers at a small local flower shop, he had even made some dinner reservations at a cozy four star restaurant located not too far from where he lived.

He had thought that the good food and atmosphere would help the woman warm up to him a little bit. And while she had been far kinder than the others in her rejection of him, he still couldn't help but think of her as being a little bit of a bitch for how things had turned out.

She hadn't even sat down with him and said anything beyond his name before groaning and simply saying that she wasn't interested. Leaving him feeling just as dejected as all of his other disasterous dates. Still he hadn't been willing to just leave and not use his reservation.

He'd gotten dressed up after all, so he might as well have dinner while he was there.

He'd ordered three of his favorite dishes, including a side dish, and some red wine to drink with them. Upon finishing his dinner, he had promptly paid his bill and left, but not before finding his date sitting at a table across the room with a handsome young man with dark hair.

Which had sort of hurt his feelings even more since he had quickly left just as fast as his dignity would allow.

So now here he was, walking the dark, lamp lit streets back towards his home. One hand loosening his tie a little bit while the other held onto the bouquet of flowers that he had apparently wasted on such an bratty and shallow woman. Looking down at the pink tulips, white lilies, lavender, and soft blue bachelor buttons with ivy trim, he felt his heart ache a little bit at how much he had hoped that things would be different this time.

In many ways, he felt like the bouquet, he supposed. He was there for the taking, but no one seemed to appreciate the beauty he held.

It was probably just as well, he would have strangled the bitch within a week if he had decided to marry her.

He was so out of it that he didn't notice anyone on the streets around him, much less about to run into him. Sure he'd heard the footfalls, but not much else until he had looked up from the flowers just in time for someone to throw their arms around him and say, "Honey!" and then plant a nice big one on his lips as he fell back from the momentum of the other person's body slamming into him.

The two hit the pavement with a dull thud, as his mind stuttered to a stand still as he felt the lips on his slant slightly and a warm wet tongue lick along his lower lip. Deciding to vent some of his frustration with the strangely passionate person astride his hips, he quickly reached up and absently tangled his fingers in long silken hair, his mind somewhat registering the fact that the person was probably a young woman.

Applying a tad bit more pressure to her lips, he snaked his tonque inside of her mouth and softly groaned at the taste of her.

She tasted like cinnamon and honey. So sweet and delicious that he felt a spark of arousal shoot down his spine. He kissed her until they were both breathless before he slowly and very, very reluctantly released her. Careful to unwind her hair from around his fingers, he let her go so that she could pull away, catch her breath and possibly explain herself.

Not that he was complaining any.

After the night he'd had, a little bit affection was a nice confidence booster.

The moment that she pulled back enough for him to see her, his neon blue eyes locked with beautiful turquoise framed by blue black silk. His mouth went dry, and his heart pounded as she slowly looked over her shoulder- in the direction of the street a little ways back.

Causing his eyes to venture in the same direction just long enough to see several young men in leather glaring at the woman and himself.

"Are you in trouble?" He asked as she turned her head back to look at him for a second. She blushed prettily and muttered, "I'm not totally sure. But I think that they've been following me for a bit."

"Ah." He couldn't say that the circumstances didn't cause his good mood to plummet some, but well, these things did happen. And he was a pro hero, even if she didn't know it, so he would simply take the situation in stride and help her out. "I see. I wondered what kind of person would throw their arms around me and kiss me at random."

She gave him an small, awkward looking grin as she ran her fingers through her long dark hair. Absently pulling the dark curtain back away from her face so that he could see her better as she said softly, "Yeah sorry. I panicked there and you looked like you needed a pick me up so..."

He blinked at her before she asked him if he was hurt or anything from falling, and he silently shook his head no. No he wasn't hurt. He was perfectly fine. His heart was doing this weird flutter in his chest but aside from that, he was perfect.

She took a moment to look him over just to make sure that he was as fine as he claimed to be before realizing that she was still sitting astride his hips and blushed again and made a little squeaking sound as she quickly removed herself from his lap and sat down on the pavement beside him with her head down and her hands folded in her lap.

He inwardly chuckled at the endearing gesture before shifting his body so that he was sitting up on his knees. His eyes glancing back towards where the young men in leather had been moments before to find that they were slowly leaving before moving back towards her face and saying, "I think we're alone now if you want to chance trying to go home."

"Oh, uh, I was actually going to work." She said as she scratched her cheek with a pastel pink painted nail.

Looking down at his watch he noted the time. It was fifteen passed ten pm. "Oh? Um, if you don't mind my asking, what kind of work do you do so late at night?"

"Oh, I own my own chain of handmade craft stores. I make a little bit of everything from clothing to blankets and quilts to jewelry, scented soaps and lotions and perfumes, some stuff for guys and so on." She spoke so excitedly about her work that he found himself curious.

He'd not met anyone so keen about their work outside of himself, his friends, co-workers and a majority of his students that is.

So naturally his next question was, "Would you mind if I went with you?" She looked slightly startled by his question, but didn't seem put off by it, before giving him a breathtaking smile and then quickly held out a hand to him and waited for him to take it before finally introducing herself.

"My name is Shayera Noi."

"That's a nice name. My name is Toshinori Yagi, it's a pleasure to meet you Miss, Noi." He said politely, watching her expression as she blushed faintly and smiled at him before simply replying.

"Yeah, you too."

The two of them picked themselves up off of the pavement and he let her lead him down the street to a two story building where she stopped and pulled a small ring of keys out of one of her jean pockets and unlocked the gate on the door.

"Okay, so...this is my shop." She said as they stepped inside of the building and she quickly flicked on the lights so that he could see better.

Of course he could have easily told her not to bother, his night vision was on par with many nocturnal predators given his occupation. After all, he couldn't recall how many sleepless nights he had fought off small armies of super strong villains.

But having the light helped her see better he supposed.

Besides, how was she supposed to show him her work if it was dark? Another part of his mind reasoned with him as he felt her small hands on his boney shoulders directing him from one area to another as her voice sounded next to his ear, her breath stirring his blond hair slightly as she muttered, "This is where I sew and make clothing and quilts and do embroidery. And over here is where I have my handmade soaps and scented lotions and perfumes. Next to that is the jewelry counter," She said as she directed him towards the long counter where he could see a multitude of silver, gold and an assortment of sparkling gems.

"Wow," He muttered as he broke away from her grasp for a moment to walk over to the counter and stood there looking over the various artistic pieces and designs as he put his fingertips up to his lips in a gesture that was more habit than he liked to admit, and accessed each piece that his gaze flickered to. "These are amazing." He said after several heartbeats as he dropped his hand away from his lips and turned to look at her again.

Shayera merely gave him a blank look for a moment, almost as if she had never heard anyone tell her that her work was amazing before and asked almost nervously, "Really? You think so?"

"I do," In all his life he'd only met one or two people as artistic as she appeared to be. Those people had been some of his more interesting friends. Which piqued his interest in her even more. "Would you mind if I stayed for a bit to speak with you more?"

"I don't really mind if that's what you want to do but..."

"But?"

"Well, you're dressed sort of nice to be slumming it with me, aren't you? Did you have a date or something?" She asked the question so innocently that despite how badly his evening had been going prior to running into her, he couldn't find it in himself to become upset at her prying, nor depressed about how things had turned out like he had previously been.

"I did. But things didn't end well."

"I see," Was all she said for a moment before simply saying, "I'm sorry to hear that. Whoever it was that you had a date with has really missed out."

He stared at her for several moments, dumbfounded, and wondering if she really meant what she said as she pulled a chair out of the back room for him and set it up next to her work station and then patted the seat and waited for him to sit himself down before they started firing questions at each other while she rummaged through her work materials to see what she was in the mood to work on tonight.

Toshi learned a great deal about Shayera that night. Not all of it was totally significant since she tended to ramble a little bit. But what he did learn about her was that she was about to turn twenty one in another five months, her favorite color varied depending on her mood but usually tended to be either some shade of blue, purple, soft pink, green, a nice vivid red, or straight up black.

They had some favorite music in common, which was beyond wonderful since no one else understood that occasionally a man just needed to lock himself away and listen to angry chicks singing heavy metal and depressing songs about unrequited love and loss.

They even had a few favorite foods in common which was exciting since the first thing Shayera did was ask him if he wanted to have lunch or dinner with her sometime. Quickly followed by them exchanging phone numbers.

The rest of the night went just as swimmingly as when they had met. They talked well until the early morning hours about anything and everything, after which Shay decided that she was finished working- though she didn't seem to get much done to him. And when he asked her if he was keeping her from her work, she merely chuckled at him and waved a finger at him and told him that his handsome self was a tad bit distracting, but he wasn't so distracting that he'd actually keep her from her job.

She was a multi tasker after all.

Distraction was something she could deal with.

She didn't bother putting her things away before they left, which he supposed wasn't all that strange of her given how late/early into the morning she had worked on the few things that she had actually made. Once they were outside, Toshi stretched a little bit as she locked up and then turned to him and asked him if he wanted to join her for a nice breakfast before he headed home.

He agreed but only on the stipulation that he got to walk her home.

Her reply was another breathtaking smile.