~ Author's Note ~
BIG SPEECH THING-Y~
OH MY GOD! A 104 REVIEWS! TT_TT This is the only RikuKana story to have got more than 100 reviews till now! Though I know 3 more on the way . . . . . . For this, I thank all my dear reviewers, especially the regulars (you know who you are, friends ;), for helping me through this exciting journey. At one point, I was going to give up on this story (I'm not kidding). But, ah, your love! QwQ It's all due to you guys that this story has survived till now! And Argyros-san, THANK YOU FOR THE 100threview! ^_^
Special thanks to my beta Silver Gold Moonlight. XD
YOU GUYS ARE THE BEST!
We have another vote for Tsurara's suitor – from Nay-kun! It's for Gozumaru – who's gonna be making an appearance in this chapter.
Rikuo: Great. Another one who hates me.
Tsurara: NO! Why can't I end up with Rikuo-sama? QwQ
Kana: *evil aura* Because he's MY husband.
Jiro: I STILL HAVE THE HIGHEST NUMBER OF VOTES! ^.^
Kubinashi: Thank God I only have one. But even if I won – I don't think Rose would've let Tsurara live *shudders* . . . . . . . . . .
I think you're kinda right there . . . . . . . . . . ^_^;
Tsurara: Special thanks to Zhane 17, Rose Rain 7, Fede 194, Marchioness Scarlet, Hikage-Sama, Silver Gold Moonlight, Vampire Princess, Nakumare, Nayrael, Kuro Shiro Neko-Chan, Dark Lord 5198, The Crest of Anubis, Dennou Writer, Night Dreamer, Night Star 09, , Micar, Sakura Tsukiyomi Lefey, Skylar-Midnight, Chizora, Ash Covered Warrior, ajiehuang 1997, hannapqc2, wish389, Miriae, Evil Texan Girl and Argyros for supporting this story. A BIG thanks to the anonymous readers as well. And I don't want to end up with Jiro TT-TT . . . . . . .
Hey! I didn't even ask for the disclaim-
Rikuo: *interrupts* P.S. Silver-san, no disrespect, BUT I HATE YOU. MORE THAN I HATE . . . . . . HAGOROMO GITSUNE.
Kana: Enjoy!
Ch. 14 – Amusement
Kana kept her head down during the Physics period, painfully aware of all the glances thrown her way during the class. Akifusa-sensei was drawing the diagram of a distance-time graph and at the same time, also describing the various points present in it. But the students were barely paying attention to him maybe for the exception of Inugami, who was immersed in the white-haired professor's droning lecture.
Ever since she'd entered the campus, the brunette had been the constant target of attention from all the students – as they whispered about her alleged 'date' with Rikuo Nura. If only the photo hadn't been taken and printed . . . . . . . . How foolish of her! She should've adopted some disguise to avoid recognition. But the silly lover girl in her had been so thrilled at the idea of going on a date with the Nura heir that other things had been merely insignificant trivialities in her life last night.
"Shut up and pay attention!" Akifusa-sensei growled and the students immediately snapped their heads towards him, looking innocent, as they stared at Kana from the corners of their eyes. The brunette sighed and tried to ignore them, instead scribbling notes in her copy. Final semesters were only a month away and if she wanted to remain in HCSM, she'd have to pay attention and study her a** off.
She sighed again. Looks like Saori's persistent cursing wasn't having a very good impression on her basic morals.
From the last desk in class, situated in the right-most corner, Ryuuji's eyes were trained on the back of the brunette, who sat in the second bench. He almost felt sorry for her, considering all the mess she'd recently gotten into. But with the mess that was about to come next, her being held hostage was nothing but a shard of glass compared to a nailed-coffin.
He just hoped he could end it all quickly.
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Rikuo leaned against his comfortable swivel chair, staring at the peaceful autumn morning. One side of his office was covered with completely glassed walls, which were, of course, bulletproof, and allowed him a magnificent view of Hokkaido. It was a sunny morning, though not hot, and a gentle breeze was blowing outside, making the trees in the far-off distance dance along with it. However, as peaceful as the day was, his start to it hadn't exactly been . . . . . . peaceful.
It had been about two hours since Tsurara's departure. He knew it wouldn't be good to tell her much about Kana Ienaga – especially NOT what happened last night. So she'd just abruptly left after he'd made reference to the past incident, which both of them had been trying hard to forget.
After checking the papers for medicine supplies to the Nura and Sons branches in Paris, Berlin, Warsaw and Rome, he'd decided to take a small break and sat contemplating the view outside. It had been only a little over 5 minutes that there was a specific pattern of three little knocks on his door followed by an audibly large one.
"Come in, Kappa" Rikuo said, already used to the different knocking patterns used by his different accomplices. The door opened and closed silently and in walked the raven-haired young man, dressed in a taxi driver's attire. As soon as Rikuo turned his head, he was standing right in front of his master's desk.
"Any news?" asked the red-eyed young man, glancing at Kappa with a little glimmer of anticipation in his eyes.
Kappa nodded, fixing his gaze at his master's new red tie from Blackberry. "As you ordered, I dropped Ienaga-san at her College and then rushed towards the Hokkaido Police Station, just in time to see Inspector Itaku and Detective Kubinashi going somewhere. After I followed them, I noticed them going to the headquarters of the Hitoba Company, possibly for some more clues on Daisuke Niwa's murder."
After he stopped, Rikuo raised an eyebrow. Resting his chin upon his interlaced fingers, he stated "I'm surprised they let you follow them so easily."
"Well," Kappa said with a hint of emotion in his usually placid voice "I think Detective Kubinashi did suspect me following him and they tried to lose me at two busy corners but I ditched my taxi and instead, stalked them on a bicycle. Then they stayed for about an hour-and-a-half in the headquarters and returned back to the police station."
Rikuo nodded, mentally chuckling at the distraught face of the person whose bicycle had been stolen. Then, turning towards his glassed windows, he said "Okay, you're dismissed for now. Just keep on collecting info on Detective Kubinashi." He again faced the raven-head. "I'll put someone else on Tamazuki's line."
Kappa nodded and with a short bow, walked out of Rikuo's office. As soon as the door closed with a soft thud, Rikuo whipped out his tab and connected a familiar number. After a few rings, the person on the other line caught on. "Hey, Zen? Yeah, long time no see. Listen, could you do me a favor? Yeah, it's about her. Could you please keep an eye on Kana-chan for me? Thanks dude."
After a muffled question, a malicious smirk crossed Rikuo's lips. "Yeah, the rumors are true; I'm getting married soon."
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Tsurara drove as fast but as carefully as she could, maintaining a watchful eye on the road. Her beautiful dark blue Porsche swerved to the left and right with professional ease, some people screaming in her direction at the sight of the famous model's car. Thankfully, her black tinted windows were rolled up so people, especially perverts, couldn't ogle at her Greek Goddess features.
Tsurara stared ahead at a large building in the distance, which was situated between two other buildings, though not as large and sprawling as the one she was looking at, Immanuel High. The school where her sister, Reira Oikawa, studied.
Due to a meeting with her client, Tsurara's mom, Setsura, couldn't pick up the younger daughter from school today so the older one had to go instead. The A-list model didn't exactly like the job but she had no other choice. Well, at least the children of Immanuel weren't insolent brats – unlike other high schools.
As she neared the blue-painted Academy, she could see children pouring out from the school, most of them getting in rich, expensive cars. It wasn't much of a big deal. Immanuel was an expensive school attended by the rich and the famous so it was only natural to see famous celebrities and businessmen visit the school every day to pick up their wards.
Just as Tsurara was pulling into the large driveway, she noticed Reira walking out of the huge building, talking to none other than Shoei Kisaragi, the only son of Lord Hihi Kisaragi, one of the Board members of the Nura Company. The small, frail-looking Reira looked completely mismatched beside the tall, well-built, blond Shoei.
Tsurara, carefully parking her Porsche, honked twice. Reira snapped her attention to her sister's car and bidding goodbye to Shoei, walked towards the Porsche. Opening the door, she got in the passenger seat and placed her red bag on her lap. Then, Tsurara pulled out and as they passed by Shoei, who was getting in a Jaguar, Reira rolled down the windows and waved at him.
As soon as they were out of the school gates, Reira asked "Where's mom?"
Tsurara, still staring at the wheel, replied "Client problems."
Reira nodded her head and decided to stare out of the window, playing with the bow on her uniform. The uniform to Immanuel was a dark blue colored sailor uniform for the girls. Tsurara glanced at her sister from the corner of her eyes but did not say anything.
The sisters remained quiet for the next fifteen minutes, both lost in their own world. Traffic was starting to get slightly heavy as there were only 2 hours left for the evening rush to start and more and more vehicles were slowly piling on the road. The sun had started showing signs of its descent into the west, the azure sky slowly turning into light shades of orange. Reira, who was staring outside, hands folded into her lap, quietly remarked "It happened again."
Those three words were enough to send an electric jolt to the A-list model which caused her to almost crash into the lorry in front of her. However, she quickly took control in time and stared at her sister with wide, dark blue eyes. Her mouth was open and if possible, her pale skin looked even whiter.
The silence continued to loom between the two sisters as Tsurara turned her attention back to her driving. Neither spoke a word, both staring into space, the honking of cars occasionally piercing the painful silence. After a few minutes, Reira asked again "Are you ever gonna stop?" Her quiet voice held a bitter streak.
Tsurara gulped and swerving into the right lane at an intersection, replied "I-I don't know. I can't." She really couldn't. Her sins were tattooed into her soul – she would remain tainted forever. No amount of purity could save her. At least, she wasn't tainted alone.
Tsurara thought her sister gave her a short glare before turning her attention to the car beside theirs. The young male driver was ogling at their car, very much aware that it belonged to the supermodel Tsurara Oikawa. But he didn't know that even her sister was inside, staring at him with disgusted eyes. Reira muttered "Stupid boys" under her breath and was thankful when the Porsche finally passed by him.
Tsurara, having much more control over herself now, asked "How do you know about it?" They stopped at a red-light sign and the boy from before caught up again. This time, he was holding a large, professional camera in his hands. Reira, who was staring at her sister, didn't notice this though.
The pink-haired one tilted her head, the two buns on her head slightly messy. "I too have my sources," she coldly answered. Her eyes drifted over to the slight cut marks on her sister's wrist. "You've been cutting yourself again, haven't you?"
Tsurara looked alarmed as she stared at the cuts, cursing "Shit" under her breath. "I have to buy a better concealer," she reminded herself. Reira rolled her eyes, though her question had been indirectly answered.
Leaning against the seat and briefly closing her eyes, the younger Oikawa felt the car get into motion again, which meant they were nearing home. Opening them and turning to Tsurara, she muttered, "Mom is worried. Just stop all this, Tsurara." Her voice had a hint of remorse swimming in it. "You're hurting others too."
"Mom cares?" Tsurara asked sarcastically, her voice breaking a little. "I can't stop now, Reira." She turned to stare at her sister full in the face. "I've given Rikuo my word."
Reira snapped. "Rikuo, Rikuo, Rikuo! Is he all you evercare about?" she yelled, eyes furrowed in anger. "He doesn't love you, Tsurara."
"I know" was the quiet, placid reply from the model.
"Then why . . . . . .?" asked Reira, crossing her arms against her chest. The silence returned.
After a few moments, Tsurara answered. "It's because . . . . . . Ilove him. And I will do anything for him. Anything to get him." A psychotic glint flashed momentarily in her eyes. "Anything at all."
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Today was the worst, worst, WORST day in Kana's in all her 20 years of lifespan. At lunch, she was constantly bombarded with excited questions, envious glares, dreamy comments and even evil smiles. Fortunately, Kiyotsugu, using his 'rich boy' status was able to shake off all the annoying teens and save her.
Kana and Natsumi walked together after College ended, chatting on the way. "I'm gonna go check up on Saori-chan tomorrow" stated the cat-eyed girl, putting her fringe behind her ear. "Will you come, Kana-chan?"
"Sure" said the brunette, smiling. A new patisserie had opened near her house and Kana thought she'd pick up something for her sweet-toothed friend tomorrow.
"Okay then, will go after classes are over. By the way," Natsumi giggled "Did you have fun with Nura-kun yesterday?"
Kana blushed a rosy pink and staring down at her converse, muttered "Y-Yes." She could still feel the sensations she got while rubbing . . . . h-his . . . . . Blushing even more heavily, she quickly put her hands behind her back.
Natsumi giggled even more and whispered "So are you both an item now?"
This question caught the brunette off guard. "An item?" she repeated, her mind searching through the axons of her brain for a legible answer. Come to think of it, what was the relationship between her and Rikuo Nura? Were they even friends? Or even something more? Sure, she had a MEGA crush on him but was it really love? And did he even have an ounce of romantic feelings for her?
"I don't know . . . . . ." she honestly answered, her voice fading. A sparkle of sadness glittered in her large doe-like eyes. "I really don't know what the relationship between us is." But she'd love to find out.
"Didn't he tell you anything about it while leaving? Like call me and the sort?" Natsumi asked. The sky resembled an orange spiral slowly fading into a midnight shade of blue. The cat-eyed girl stared at her friend with anxious eyes.
"No" Kana shook her head. After what had happened, she knew that no one would've remembered something as trivial as that. By some miracle, the staff of Eden Gardens had managed to hush all those nosy journalists about the cord cutting incident. Kana had no idea how they managed to accomplish a feat like that. It would've made a delectable piece of news and she could only wonder why the starving journalists didn't jump at it.
"Earth to Kana, Earth to Kana," Natsumi said, waving a hand in front of the contemplative brunette who turned to stare at her with a jerk. Smirking, she stated "You can think about Rikuo Nura all night long, sweetie. Could you help not thinking about him now?"
Blushing embarrassedly, she muttered "I-I wasn't–sorry, Natsumi. It's just that" her voice lowered "My mind isn't really stable today." How couldit possibly be?
Stifling a giggle, the greenhead replied, "Don't worry 'bout it, Kana-chan. Happens to all of us." Then, as the two girls continued walking, Natsumi blushed a little and asked in a low voice, "Do you know the black-haired guy with Nura-kun yesterday? I think he was his bodyguard or something."
Kana furrowed her brows in concentration and nodded when she realized who her friend was talking about. "Ah, you must mean Kuro-san." The other girl looked up at the mention of his name. "Yes, he is Nura-san's bodyguard." He'd been the more focused and calm of the two bodyguards, Kana remembered.
"You talked to him?" Natsumi asked, eyes sparkling with admiration. "He's been named after his hair?! So cool!" Then, she folded her hands and went off into her 'dream mode' as described by Saori. The 'dream mode' was the mode when Natsumi would think about the latest guy she was infatuated with. And out of all of her infatuations, this seemed the most impossible one.
"Natsumi-chan" Kana said, smiling awkwardly. They'd reached the intersection where the two friends would have to part. "Do you like him?" What an obvious question. But she still couldn't help asking, hoping for a no.
Natsumi snapped out of her reverie and stared at her friend with alarmed eyes, broke into a horrid blush. "Ah, it's getting late! I have to go now! Bye, Kana-chan!" she yelled and rushed into the direction of her home, leaving a confused Kana standing all alone.
"Bye, Natsumi" she waved after her, fully knowing that she was long gone. The brunette continued walking towards her own residence, which was still a little distance away.
The evening had turned a little chilly and cicadas had started their incessant chirping, alerting Kana that it was getting late. The street lights had turned on and the sky was more of a midnight blue than vermillion right now. She sighed when she realized she'd have to make something for dinner since her parents weren't back yet.
Tugging her bag closer to her body, Kana couldn't help feeling a little scared. Her surroundings were totally empty and not a single soul could be seen outside of their homes. Her neighborhood was a quiet one and mostly consisted of elderly people so it was no surprise that they retired early. For all the peace and quiet it gave, sometimes she couldn't help feeling that it was also a little dangerous since no one would be there to help her if she were to be assaulted.
With such scary thoughts filling her mind, the brunette quickened her pace as she felt cold and rubbed her hands together to give them some warmth. She was reminded of when someone had stalked her to her house and then, the face outside her window flashed into her mind.
Panicking, the brunette broke into a light run, hoping that her house would appear magically in front of her and she'd be safe in its confines. Nearing the intersection of the lane where her house was situated, a joyful smile erupted onto her face. Just a little bit more- she turned into the intersection only to crash into someone coming from the opposite side.
However, before she could fall, a strong hand had grabbed onto her arm and prevented her from falling down on the hard ground. "Well, well, well. What's this?" she heard a young, unfamiliar masculine voice speak as she looked up at its source. "First, I run into Tsurara Oikawa's car and now I'm face-to-face with Rikuo Nura's plaything! Today is a lucky day."
The source was a young man who seemed to be in his early twenties with shabby black hair that covered the right side of his face. A cool and cruel smirk played on his lips and his visible blue eye was staring at her with amusement. But the fact that scared the daylights out of Kana was that he held a large, professional camera in his hands.
This guy screamed 'journalist.'