~ Author's Note ~
Me: Welcome to the 15th chapter of POL! And today, we have a star guest; the writer of two of the most popular stories in the Nura fandom, Sakura and the Saxifraga and the Shin Sekai, NAYRAEL! *whistles, cheers and claps heard from the audience*
Nayrael: *enters the stage, wearing a blindingly shining golden suit with a tie, yellow sunglasses and waving at everyone around him*
Isn't he so cool? *Q*
Rikuo: Hello, Nayrael-san. *shakes hands* A pleasure to meet you.
Kana: Welcome to POL! :)
Tsurara: Hey there! *grabs Rikuo's arm* Thank you so much for writing two wonderful stories about me and Rikuo-sama!
Kana: *dark aura*
Kubinashi: -_-; Uhhhhh . . . . . please don't mind them.
Nayrael: Tsurara, have you considered kidnapping Rikuo and locking in him in a tower . . . or a skyscraper seeing the setting we have . . . where he would be all yours?!
Rikuo: What the hell are you talking about you damn light bulb?!
Tsurara: Hmm . . .
Rikuo: Don't you dare consider his words!
Kana: Indeed, you can't do that!
Nayrael: And then I guess we have Kana rescuing him arc . . . where she takes over her fiancé's or hubby's yakuza and with them saves Rikuo and defeats the poor Tsurara.
Kana: Well . . . that might be a nice development . . .
Rikuo: Not you too Kana! *looks angrily at Nayrael* You damn light bulb, you won't live much longer.
Nayrael: Ha, bring it on little yakuza! *if one looked carefully, they could have seen electricity between their eyes
Umm, the disclaimer? ^_^;
Nayrael: Welcome dear mortals... I mean readers! Don't pay my beautiful words too much heed and just enjoy another chapter of Awesome's fic!
And welcome to my new supporter, All My Life! Special thanks to my beta, Silver gold moonlight! ^_^
Nayrael: Have fun reading this! *he says and removes the safety from his gun*
Rikuo: Enough, let's get this over with! *removes safety from his own gun*
*yandere aura* Please enjoy the chapter while I stop this WW III.
Kubinashi: O_O I was totally ignored . . . . . . . . .
Ch. 15 – Deeper In
Kana stared awkwardly sideways while the journalist guy scrutinized her carefully from head to toe, his visible blue eye seemingly piercing through her. What else was she supposed to do? This raven-haired guy had given no reaction to her and he wasn't a person that she could invite to her house for tea, which was only four more houses away. But fortunately for her, his cocky voice broke through the cover of silence.
"You know," the boyish voice brought her out of her panicked thoughts, "For Rikuo Nura's newfound interest, you aren't much."
Wha . . . . . ? "Huh?" was the only word that came out of her mouth, her thin, brown eyebrows furrowing into confusion. But when the real meaning of his words dawned upon her, she wasn't the least bit surprised. She'd been expecting it all, actually. After all, why would a rich, hot, famous, intelligent and talented bachelor take a normal, talentless, plain Jane like her on a date?
"I wish I could reply to your statement," Kana muttered under her breath, too low for the journalist to hear.
"Well, Ms. Ienaga" the raven-haired boy spoke, surprising Kana with the fact that he knew her name, "If you're free right now, would you like to visit the nearby cake shop with me?" He tilted his head, a mischievous smirk on his face. "I would like to have a little chat with you."
The warning bells in the brunette's head rung off. She knew what exactly he wanted to 'chat' with her about. This is bad, this is bad, this is bad,she thought, how do you decline people politely? "Oh, umm, well," she stuttered, squirming "I was just coming back from College and . . . . uh . . . ." she stared at the ground, smiling awkwardly and sweat dropping.
However, before Kana could complete her sentence, the guy's phone rang off and he quickly fished out an iPhone from his pocket and hitting the reply button, put it near his ear. "Gozumaru speaking," he said in an annoyed tone. "Mezu, what the hell do you want? " A long pause and suddenly, the journalist's face contorted into a shocked yet excited expression. "Another one? Where?" A shorter pause this time and Gozumaru's eyes momentarily flickered towards a confused Kana. " 'Kay. I'll be there in a sec." with that, he put his iPhone back in his pocket and smiled cockily towards the brunette.
"Guess I'd have to take you on that cake offer some other time, Ms. Ienaga," he stated, shoving his hands in the large pockets of his baggy brown trousers. Kana could only nod unconsciously, wondering what had been so important that made him get so exhilarated. "See ya later," he said, carelessly raising a hand to bid her goodbye. He'd only walked a few steps before he turned back, the cocky smirk back on his face and said, "Don't get to involved with Rikuo Nura. He's too harmful a drug for you." And with that, he broke off into a brisk jog, disappearing into the intersection.
Kana stood and stared after him for a while, eyes fixed on the setting sun in the distance. Only a tiny part of the sky, near the drooping red sun, still resembled a fiery shade of red, like that of the shade of blood. Then, the wind picked up its speed, setting the atmosphere chilly and Kana resumed her way to the warm confines of her home, a little bit unbalanced due to the recent turnout of events.
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"This is bad," Kubinashi muttered, his red eyes fixed on the brutally mangled body lying before him. "This is really VERY bad."
"W-Who do you think could have . . . . . done this?" asked Itaku, who stood beside the blonde detective, his brown eyes wide with shock. Presently, both of them were the only ones allowed inside the room, the rest of the police officers maintaining tight security outside to prevent the nosy public from entering.
The police were at the house of Hitotsume Nyudo, one of the board members of the Nura and Sons Medical Company. And they'd been greeted by the brutally contorted and mangled body of the man himself. The bald, middle-aged man lay motionless on the red floor, his hands and limbs twisted to excruciatingly painful angles and his stomach had been ripped, allowing others to see his organs out in the open. However, by Kubinashi's orders, two policemen quickly spread a white blanket on the man's body. The sheet took basically no time in soaking all the blood and turning into a bitter shade of crimson.
Kubinashi slowly walked towards him, his brown shoes stepping onto the bloody floor which created a large puddle around its provider. The previously white – now bloody red – sheet covered the portion from Nyudo's neck to his knees, allowing Kubinashi a thorough checkup of his eyes. His pupils had dilated in shock and pain and his mouth was wide open. The blonde detective flinched, imagining his painful death and with gloved hands, shut his eyes and closed his mouth.
The body was lying in the luxuriously done living room of the Nyudo residence, where it had been found by the newspaper boy. The boy had been detained outside for questioning, violently shuddering at the image of the brutal corpse he'd just witnessed. Kubinashi told a few officers and Itaku to search the whole house for any clues while he himself squatted near the dead body of Hitotsume Nyudo.
His keen gaze seemed to rummage through the corpse, not leaving a single cell of his body unexamined. As he ran his red orbs over his twisted hands, something caught his eyes. Leaning down, Kubinashi took a pair of sterile tweezers and pulled out a strand of thick, dark hair from Nyudo's nails. It was a long strand, most probably a girl's. "A girl's . . . . ." he whispered, red eyes widening. His eyes then lifted up the bloody message scrawled on the walls, the most important clue the police had in this case.
"Sometimes the people you take a bullet for, are the ones behind the trigger ~ Hikage Daito Ryu"was scribbled on the walls in bloody, dripping letters. Kubinashi walked towards the sentence he'd memorized a 100 times by now. It was a code; a phrase to be deciphered. But what does it mean?His red eyes ran over the blood red letters for the umpteenth time, trying to seek the hidden truth behind them.
As he was gazing at the message with great contemplation, he felt someone tap his back. "What? " he snapped angrily at the person, red eyes annoyed. He hated it when anyonedisturbed him when he was concentrating.
The officer who'd tapped him flinched uncomfortably and said in a low voice "Sir, well . . . . er . . . . Mr. Nyudo's daughter is home." Kubinashi's eyes momentarily widened before going back to their placid look. He briskly walked towards the front gate of the house where an officer seemed to be talking to someone, who was hidden in front of the burly man's figure.
"But Miss, you cannot enter now!" he was saying in a respectful but slightly annoyed voice. Kubinashi's eyes narrowed as he tried to have a better look at the person he was speaking to.
"But this is my home," argued back a high-pitched female voice, tints of irritation in her calm voice. Kubinashi gently shoved aside the officer only to look down at a young girl, probably in her pre-teens, staring up at him with large, innocent brown eyes. She was dressed in a school uniform and her long, brown hair was open with two over-sized bows on either side of her head. Kubinashi recognized her as Kokehime Nyudo, the only daughter of the deceased man.
Kokehime stared up at Kubinashi, her large brown eyes subdued with curiosity. "Is something wrong, Detective?" she asked and the blonde man's eyes widened a little. But then they returned to their usual placidity.
"Ms. Kokehime," he spoke with a heavy voice, giving a fleeting glance to the sheet covered corpse inside the living room. He'd never been good with giving death news to people. So even now, with this young child, he decided not to twist things. "Your father is dead."
There was acute stillness. The police officers, the murmuring crowd and even the cackling crows seemed to have silenced after the revelation. The only noise that prevailed was the thud of the girl dropping her bag. Her gaze floated silently, like a ghost, to the living room of her house where she saw a bloody red, sheet covered body. And then, tears flowed down her round cheeks like a relentless waterfall.
No one bothered to comfort the young girl. Most of the public walked away, afraid to be caught up in the mess. The police officers could only stand staring the ground, guilt and sadness overflowing in their hearts. Kokehime kept on sobbing, her petite hands covering her tear-streaked face. As the fat droplets hit the floor, Kubinashi reached out a hand to comfort the bawling girl. But before he could make contact with her dark head, Kokehime's face was already being cradled into a rather large bosom.
"Shh, it's alright," whispered Kejoro, hugging the crying girl. The female officer glanced rather coldly at Kubinashi before whispering "Don't cry, my little Angel." Her voice worked like a sweet lullaby for Kokehime whose tears started getting quieter. "Everything's alright. Everything will be alright." Kubinashi just stared at the two females before stomping inside the house to look for more clues.
Itaku was leaning over the dead man's corpse and started violently when Kubinashi tapped him on the shoulder. "Are you alright?" the blonde detective asked, staring at the man's wide and frightened brown eyes.
"Yeah" he replied smiling awkwardly, staring at the ground "It's just . . . this is the first time I've seen such a brutally mauled corpse for real." Kubinashi nodded understandingly then averted his gaze to the bloody message scribbled on the walls. Rikuo Nura . . . . . . just what have you got to do with all this?
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College was finally over and Kana and Natsumi were making their way to a sick Saori's house, carrying a box of assorted donuts for her. Their busty blonde friend was known to have a great fondness for the delectable desserts. Kiyotsugu and Jiro had passed on the offer since the former had some meeting to go to and the latter had soccer classes. The two girls hired a cab and after telling the driver Saori's address, they were off.
As Kana stared out of the window, Natsumi asked in a low voice "Has Nura-san called you yet, Kana-chan?"
The brunette turned to look at her cat-eyed friend, blushing and replied in a sad voice "No."
Natsumi pouted and said "That's rude." She placed her index finger on her cheek and informed "It's rude for a guy to not call a girl after their date. Everyone knows that!" She tilted her head and asked Kana "Are you sure you don't have any missed calls from him?"
Kana sadly shook her head, comical tears appearing in her eyes. "I check every hour, Natsumi!" She hugged her friend, comically bawling, "He hasn't even sent a text!"
Natsumi comfortingly patted her friend's back. "There, there, Kana-chan. I'm sure he'll call soon!" she said in a cheerful voice, trying to bring back some hope in her friend.
Kana wiped away her tears and with eyes full of hope, asked "You really think so?"
Natsumi nodded excitedly and grinned "Yup!"
Kana wiped away her tears and smiled. "Thank you so much, Natsumi-chan. You're an awesome friend."
Meanwhile, the taxi driver who'd been having a hard time controlling his laughter, said in a strained voice, "Ladies, we've reached the address." His voice came out so awkward and hoarse (from the controlled laughing) that Kana and Natsumi stared at him, considering him weird, before getting out of the cab and paying him his fare. When the girls were finally out, Ao let out his pent up laughter and remarked "God! Rikuo-sama really needs to catch up on his teen magazines!"
The large, white house with a trimmed garden and pretty red roof seemed to be silent as Kana and Natsumi walked in, chatting. "Guess that driver was sick or something" said Natsumi, opening the bolt on the gate. "His voice sounded so hoarse."
"Why does everyone seem to be sick nowadays?" asked Kana as they walked towards the main door. Natsumi just shrugged in reply before clicking on the bell as shrill chime erupted through the whole house. The sun was starting to set in the western sky and Kana made a mental note not to stay more than an hour. Some shuffling and footsteps were heard from inside before the door was opened, Saori's mom coming into view.
"Ah, Kana-chan and Natsumi-chan! Been a long time since you came!" said Mrs. Maki, dressed in tight black leather pants, a cleavage-showing, blue tube top and a red biker jacket. Her hair was curled and open and large black glasses sat atop her head. When Kana had met Saori's mom for the first time, she'd been shocked out of her wits to know she was a single parent and a biker. But now, seeing Mrs. Maki like this was no big deal.
"Good evening, Mrs. Maki" greeted Kana as she and Natsumi bowed. "We came to check up on Saori."
Mrs. Maki grinned and, pulling them in, cheerfully commented, "There's no need to be so formal, ya' know! Think of this as your home! And didn't I tell you to call me Auntie?" The girls removed their shoes and proceeded to walk up the stairs to the first floor where Saori's room was situated. "You'll be staying for dinner, right?" Mrs. Maki called from below when the girls were halfway up. But before any of them could reply, Mrs. Maki said "I'll get on it!"
Kana sighed and smiled as she shook her head. "Auntie is as exuberant as always."
Natsumi giggled, opening the door to Saori's room. "No kidding!"
As soon as the door creaked open, the girls could not see anything for a while since it was too dark. But when their eyes finally got used to the light, they almost had a heart attack after seeing a white figure lying in a fetal position on Saori's bed. And the figure was Saori indeed. Her blonde hair was tangled and in knots and she wore nothing but a short, white night dress that exposed excessive cleavage and thigh. Kana stood frozen at the door while Natsumi ran towards her friend, yelling "SAORI!"
The cat-eyed girl shook the groaning blonde to-and-fro while Kana walked towards her with hesitant steps. "Saori, Saori, what's wrong?! Saori, listen to me! Wake up, Saori-chan! WAKE UP!" Kana now broke into a full run and stopped only when she was right in front of the blonde. Saori looked up, her bangs falling from her face.
"OH MY GOD!" Natsumi drew back in horror.
"But how . . . . ?" Kana's sentence faltered as she covered her mouth with her hands.
There, right under Saori's right eye, was a red, large, freaking PIMPLE. "GUYSSSSSSSSS!" Saori broke into a comical wail as she hugged both her friends. Natsumi and Kana comfortingly patted her head as they offered their condolences to her for her loss – er, gain. "What am I supposed to do now? " wailed the busty blonde, a large fountain of tears raining out of her eyes.
Kana thought for a few seconds and then a light bulb blinked on top of her head. "I remember!" she started with a grin. "Mom had a horde of these pimples break out on her face when she went to Africa for a case few years ago. But a native woman gave her the recipe for a natural face-pack and her pimples disappeared in TWO DAYS!"
Saori clung to Kana like she was a life-saver and with hopeful eyes asked "Do you have this recipe with you?"
Kana nodded cheerfully and said "I'll text it to you on WatsApp."
Saori cried an even larger fountain and wailed "THANK YOU SO MUCH KANA-CHAN! YOU'RE AN ANGEL! A MESSIAH SENT BY GOD! THE NEXT SAVIOR!" Kana giggled and softly patted her friend's head.
"Now that we're all cheerful once again," Natsumi grinned, holding the box of donuts and three plastic forks, "Is anyone hungry for donuts?"
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Night had fallen and the Nura house was dark and silent, the time being past 11:00 clock. Its few residents were already asleep, leaving only two figures awake. Rikuo, dressed in a blue, silk bathrobe, softly twirled his glass of red wine as he sat in a contemplative position with his head resting on his propped up elbow and one leg crossed over the other. His companion, Lord Gyuki, a prominent board member of the Nura and Sons Company, sat on the leather couch in Rikuo's room.
"Nyudo's gone now," muttered Rikuo, taking a sip of his wine. The only light in the room came from the yellow strobe light which was situated in a faraway corner. "So that leaves only 8 more birds."
"10 if we take everyone in accordance" Gyuki quietly commented. Rikuo raised an eyebrow but did not say anything else.
"Gyuki," he leaned forward, placing his chin on his interlaced fingers "Who do you think is behind all this? Tell me honestly." Red eyes shone with brutality and Gyuki felt drawn towards those eyes. Rikuo's eyes had always mesmerized him, even when he was a child. They seemed to hold a spirit of charisma mixed with maliciousness, bittersweet as sugary poison. They seemed to remind him of the rose plant; beauty mixed with deadliness.
"Honestly speaking" Gyuki replied "I think it's someone from inside. Someone who knows us well." He stared at Rikuo. "I think you should talk about it to your cousins."
Rikuo leaned back in his seat and placed his arms behind his head, memories of his raven-haired cousins flashing through his mind. Neither of them was very trustworthy. "I don't want to involve Tamazuki and Gitsune into this."
Gyuki sighed and said "Then there's only one person you can trust."
Rikuo stared at him. "Who?"
"You very well know who, Rikuo," replied Gyuki. "Tsurara Oikawa."
Rikuo smirked maliciously, flashing his pearly whites. "Tsurara? Oh, I didn't tell you before, did I Gyuki? I don't think I've told anyone." His eyes flashed with unidentifiable cruelty. "We're both equally involved in this."
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I'll be posting Tsurara's suitors list here.
Gozumaru – Nayrael and Silver Gold Moonlight (2 votes)
Jiro Shima – Rose Rain 7 and Night Dreamer (2 votes)
Kubinashi – The Crest of Anubis (1 vote)
Please vote! Every vote counts!