D.T: *springs up in a cat costume* MEOW! Today, since our special guest is an adorable kitty, WE'RE HAVING A CAT THEMED OPENING! And I present to you *drum roll* OUR MAIN CAST INADORABLE KITTY COSTUMES!
Kana: ^_^; *smiles awkwardly as she steps out in a light-pink fluffy dress with pink cat ears, tail, gloves and an ADORABLE bell*
Rikuo: =^= *glares at everyone angrily as he steps out in a sleeveless black turtleneck, tight black pants, black cat ears, tail and WHISKERS*
Tsurara: :3 *meows continuously in an - oh-so-cute! - way wearing a light blue short tube dress, light blue large bow in her hair and cat ears and tail of the same color*
Kubinashi: -_-' *is impassive and is dressed in a red t-shirt, red jeans with a red cat-tail, ears and whiskers*
D.T: KYAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH! *nosebleed* A-Anyways, our special guest for today, is a very good friend of mine and an adorable kitty herself, MARISESEKI! *crowd coos at the cute girl*
*A 5'8 fair girl, white hair, red cat eyes, a white hoodie with cat ears, white jeans, her tail waving about casually and white sneakers falls from the sky and lands on her face and quickly stands up*
MariMari: Nyaaaaaa! Hiya! You guys look soooooo cuteeeee! Hey Hika-chi I'm on POL Studio! * Wavesfuriously at the the readers!*
Kana: Ah, you're so cute, Mari-san!
MariMari: Nya same to you Kana-chan! Wanna go on a date? *raises eyebrow seductively* Just kitten! *huge grin*
Kana: *giggles* Sure! I'd love to!
Rikuo: W-Well, welcome to POL. *scary aura* Though I really hope it wasn't you who ordered the cat-themed disclaimer . . . . .
MariMari: Nya! Oh I did order it! But I had a cat bikini planed for you hehe! *gives a noogie*
Rikuo: *faints due to embarrassment*
Tsurara: KYAAAAAAHHHHHHH! Kawaii-desu! Arigatou, MariMari! You're pretty you like to try modelling?
MariMari: Nyaaaaa! Tsurara-chan! Gimme an autograph! An AUTOGRAPH! Who cares about modelling! Nyaaaa! Just gimme an autograph! Ok gonna stop now nyan...
Tsurara: I'd love to! *writes her name on MariMari's hand*
Kubinashi: O/O O-Oh, u-uh, hi. Hope you enjoy here, Mari-san. By the way, you have a beautiful name.
*hugs*
MariMari: *bear hugs!*Nya Awww thank you! Kubi-Kubi!
D.T: Meow! MariMari, please do the disclaimer, sweetie~!
MariMari: Nya ok! D.T. owns nothing! Except her life and the cat costumes I bought for her! *suddenly, small kittens enter the studio*
D.T, Kana and Tsurara: AWWWWWWW! So adorable! *start playing*
MariMari: Nya! CATZZZZZZ! *plays with them all* Heaven...
Rikuo and Kubinashi: *try to sneak away to get out of the ridiculous outfits*
D.T: Enjoy reading, minna! Thank you to Patriot7scout for following!
MariMari: Nya! Enjoy the chapter! See ya catlings! *sees Rikuo and Kubinashi* Oh no you don't! *Forces them to wear female cat dresses* Nya kawaiiiii! Nyan!
Rikuo and Kubinashi: TT-TT Save us . . . . .
Ch. 22 – Smile
It's so cold . . .
Kana rubbed her cold arms with her palms, trying to heat them up. Goosebumps had burst out on her skin but the cold temperature refused to lower. Her denim jacket's sleeves barely reached halfway to her elbow and pulling them down turned out to be futile, as they stretched back up again. So all she could do was shiver and nuzzle deeper into the soft leather seat.
Leather . . . seat?
Hazel eyes immediately fluttered open as the 20-year old sat up, noticing she was inside a car; a luxury car, to be more precise. Her neck ached a little from the uncomfortable position she'd been sleeping in but as she stretched her stiff muscles, memories from not too long ago came rushing to her.
The brunette broke into a large blush and covered the lower part of her face with both her hands. Was it . . . a dream?
A crisp, fairly familiar voice from the front seat broke into her flustered thoughts. "Good morning, Ienaga-san." Kana snapped her head towards the manly voice, her hazel eyes boring into the back of a male with long, silky-looking black hair. It looks even silkier than Saori-chan's. She immediately recognized him as Rikuo Nura's bodyguard – as one of Rikuo Nura's two bodyguards. Where's Hardy though? She smiled a little at her own inner joke.
But realizing that the black-haired bi-shounen looking man was waiting for an answer from her, she replied, "G-Good morning." Wait – that sounded so WRONG. Plastering a sweet smile on her face, she spoke in a refined voice, "Where is Nura-san?" If Hikage Daito Ryu works for the Nuras, there's a high chance he's associated with them. I must be careful not to reveal too much or say something wrong – though Rikuo-san may have already told this man that I know about their . . . , she was forced to swallow a lump in her throat, . . .secret.
Kuro made no move to turn back but acknowledged the brunette with a short nod. "Rikuo-sama had to attend an important meeting so he could not leave you back home." Tsurara's screeching from the other end of the phone when she'd called his master still rung in his sensitive ears. "I'm afraid he won't be in Japan for a week." His master had pressed on the fact that he should inform Kana Ienaga about his absence – though not about the fact that he was going on a long overdue trip to the Bahamas with his bipolar childhood friend.
"A-A week?" the brunette looked startled at the news, her hazel eyes widening into an almost impossible size before her eyes finally returned to their normal size and a sad frown tugged at her lips. Kuro thought she looked kinda cute and innocent with that face.
Adjusting the rearview mirror, so that the brunette could have a look at his mischievous smirk, he said in a naughty tone, "Ah, but don't worry, Ienaga-san. He still wants to hold his proposal."
As he predicted, she burst into many shades of red, ranging from a light pink to a deep scarlet. Her lower lip quivered and she seemed like she was searching for a clever retort to come up with but no words escaped her shaking lips. In the end, after stabilizing her breathing, all she could muster was an unsure, "Oh but he hasn't offered me a ring yet."
"He was about to do that before you fell unconscious, Ienaga-san." Kuro could not stop smirking and the brunette became even more embarrassed if possible, hiding her face between her dainty hands. Even her ears were burning crimson. How cute. "Well, I think you should just sit back and think about it for awhile, Ienaga-san. I'll drop you home."
Kana was about to ask how he knew about her address but realized it would be a futile question. They had assassins working for them – of course they'd know about a simple thing as her address. Rikuo Nura had even seen her house. That makes me more worried. That means they can come in the middle of the night to my room and . . . and . . .
She covered her face again, mentally screaming at herself for having such dirty thoughts. I HAVE TO stop spending too much time with Saori.
Realizing that her "companion" didn't want to pursue anymore conversations with her, Kana let her rigid body relax as she leaned into the patent leather seat, taking in the strong smell of a coffee-flavored car perfume with an underlying scent of cigarettes. It kinda smells like Rikuo-san, she thought, running her fingers over the patent leather. Cigarettes – they're just like him. Addictive . . . but harmful to health.
Not having anything to do, Kana just let her gaze fall to the outside, afternoon Hokkaido. It seemed to be pretty sunny for autumn but most people nonetheless carried scarves and coats with them, taking precautions against the traitorous weather. People momentarily turned to look at their – Rikuo Nura's – car, gasping or whispering amongst them in admiration – not like it was any surprise to her. Rikuo-san does have quite a fashionable taste in cars, after all. There was mildly less activity outside than on usual days for some reason. She again found her thoughts wandering on the police car blast this morning, hazel orbs shifting towards Kuro. I wonder if he knows anything about it . . .
Suddenly, a flash of blond caught the brunette's eye and she immediately stood up, forgetting she was inside a vehicle and hitting her head clumsily on the roof of the car. "Are you alright, Ienaga-san?" Kuro's timing was perfect as he applied a brake on the car, his voice more amused than concerned. Small tears pricked out of the corners of Kana's eyes as she rubbed her head, smiling a little and muttering an "I'm okay." There goes my image in front of Rikuo Nura's bodyguard . . . . . .
"Umm, thank you for your help," she spoke, still keeping her eyes on the rapidly disappearing figure, "But I think I'll drop here." The sentence had Kuro alarmed. He thought about locking the doors but that would just frighten the girl. So he decided to cling to words.
"But why, Ienaga-san? I can just drop you home. It won't be any trouble for me," he said, doing his best confused and innocent act. Although, there were a million possibilities as to why she was so eager to leave running through his head. Does she know something about me? She could be a spy. Or maybe she just saw someone important. Could she be working for . . . he shook his head at the unfeasible possibility. No, she can't be so intelligent. If she was – I'd have known at least something about her.
However, Kuro could not stop the brunette as she got out of the comfortable, air-conditioned Audi into the blaring afternoon Hokkaido sun. But before rushing after the blond figure, Kana bowed in his direction and smiled softly. "Thank you, Kuro-san. I really appreciate the ride. Give Rikuo-san my regards." And with a short wave, she rushed off in the opposite direction.
Kuro stared after her for a few seconds before calling a familiar number. "Kappa, Kuro reporting. I've lost sight of Kana Ienaga. She's in the South Mall block. Alright." With a short few words, he was done. As he started up the Audi and began driving towards the Nura Headquarters, a ghost of a smile flickered on his face. She seems to be more observant than I gave her credit for.
"Sao-ri!" Kana called out with panted breaths as she rushed through the crowded streets after the familiar blonde, who was constantly appearing and disappearing among the large throng of people. The brunette had never been good at P.E and she could not even count how many legs she stepped on or how many curses she received. "SAORI MAKI!" she shouted in a larger voice – she could care less about the weird stares she was getting. She needed to talk to Saori about today morning – she couldn't wait for Monday.
Fortunately for her, Saori heard the second time and stopped and looked confusedly around the crowd, before her gaze fell on the flailing Kana. "Kana-chan!" a smile bloomed on the blonde's face as her friend stopped in front of her. "How are you-"
"What the hell were you doing?" Kana fiercely whispered, leaning closer to her blonde friend's face. She could not stop for formalities anymore. Curiosity was killing her.
A look of utter confusion crossed Saori's face before her eyes widened and her mouth formed an 'O.' Sheepishly grinning, she rubbed the back of her head and laughed uncomfortably "Sorry, sorry. You know it's my habit to send photo-"
"I'm not talking about the photo, Saori!" Kana face-palmed as her blonde friend gave her another confused look. Sighing, the brunette looked around before dragging the startled Saori to a nearby café, who was wondering what kind of evil spirit had taken possession of the usually calm and sweet girl.
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Kubinashi bent over the wrecked piece of metal that was once a sturdy police jeep, his narrow red eyes scrutinizing the piece of junk carefully. Experience had taught him no matter how tough and wrecked up the case may seem, even the most organized criminals left behind some trace which would spell their own doom.
Unfortunately, it isn't happening in my case,he mused as a bitter smile inhabited his face. His arm was feeling a little better but still stung from last night. Turning to one of the officers working on the case, he asked "Do you know what kind of bomb was used for the explosion?"
The man nodded and said "Although we're not sure about the exact type, we know it was of a lower grade than the C-4. Not meant for colossal damage." Kubinashi nodded and muttered a "Thank you." My suspicions were right. They did not want any harm to come to the normal civilians. They just wanted the DNA results destroyed.
"Detective Kubinashi!" he heard Inspector Kejoro call out for him. It was a little unnerving to see the goofy smile on her face replaced with a stern expression but he knew it was a loss for her –two of the officers who died had been her teammates. "The timing for the placement of the bomb is said to be around 9:30 – 10:00 p.m. last night."
The blond's eyes widened. "That's impossible," he immediately replied, maintaining his calm voice. "Hikage Daito Ryu was with me that time – he couldn't have been here planting bombs under police jeeps." Kubinashi was positive about it; he'd checked the time before calling Itaku. It had been 9:43 p.m. And since the police station was quite far away from the dirty alley where he had his fatal encounter, no one (even if they used the fastest means of available transport) could make it in the alley before 30 minutes.
Hence, the timing in the report was wrong.
"But the fact that the bomb was placed during that time doesn't change," the brunette seemed to be adamant on her reports. "There was a thorough checking of the jeep before 8:00 p.m for any such harmful alterations – we knew Hikage Daito Ryu would try some dirty means like that to remove traces of the DNA." He could hear a poisonous bitterness in her voice as she took his name. "However, even our most experienced officers remarked there was nothing wrong with the car at that time. Then, the DNA samples were placed in a secret, safety locker inside the jeep – inaccessible for even the most skilled hackers. After that, strict security was placed around the jeep until the results were being transported to the main office until . . ." he could see she had to take in a deep breath to calm herself ". . . the explosion occurred."
"So if there was so much strict security placed around the bomb at that time," his red eyes bore into her brown ones; he could see a glassy sadness behind those resolved orbs, "What do you mean when you say that the bomb placement took between 9:30-10:00 p.m. then?"
A small, amused smirk momentarily flickered on the buxom's lips before being replaced by her hardened scowl. "The officers who were on duty at the time, Inspector Ryota and Inspector Mame, reported to have experienced some disturbances in the office at that time." Staring at the blond's raised eyebrow, Kejoro wiped a dainty handkerchief over her sweating forehead before elaborating in a slow voice, "Inspector Ryota and Inspector Mame were placed on duty of keeping a thorough watch out on the jeep for the time period of 8:00 p.m to 11:00 p.m. At approximately 9:05 p.m, inspector Ryota took a coffee-break and went into the canteen to fetch a cup."
Kubinashi nodded for he remembered seeing the cat-eyed fellow coming out of the canteen while rushing out to infiltrate Tsurara Oikawa's car.
"However, 20 minutes after he returned, Inspector Mame went to the washroom and that was when some strange sounds could be heard from the lower room." The police jeep to transport the DNA had been placed in a highly confidential electronic garage with a built-in room to supervise it at all times.
"And thinking it was Hikage Daito Ryu trying to sneak in; Inspector Ryota walked out of the room, without waiting for his partner and went to investigate in the neighboring room for the person. However, it turned out to be a petty thief who was trying to break in one of the cars in the neighboring garage and ran away at his approaching footsteps. Insp. Ryota just shrugged it off and returned to the supervising room and was soon joined by Insp. Mame." Kejoro's fists visibly tightened. "It was in that one moment that the bomb must've been placed."
"So, what you're implying is that the person just snuck in during the absence of both the inspectors, without getting caught by the scanners or several of the police officers, placed the bomb under the jeep and snuck away again?" Kejoro opened her mouth to speak but the blond continued, "Not to mention he had only what – 2 minutes – to do it and that too without Ryota seeing them?"
"Hikage Daito Ryu has performed many such 'miraculous' activities before," Kejoro cut in as soon as Kubinashi paused. "Although, it does seem a bit odd but there is a ventilation system which hasn't been checked yet." She smirked for a milli-second. "We've been waiting for you to do the needful." Kubinashi just blinked at her but clenched his fists inside his pockets. He had more questions to ask – he could not waste time getting angry on her.
"So, before the transportation in the morning, the jeep wasn't checked again?" the detective asked, red eyes glowing with interest.
Kejoro shook her head. "The commanding officer forgot to give the order and everyone else just ignored it."
"And who was this commanding officer?" Kubinashi asked, a half-amused smile forming on his face.
Kejoro sighed as she dabbed at her sweaty face again, glaring at the blinding sun. "Inspector Itaku." Or maybe she'd been glaring at the thought of the careless inspector.
Figured as much,mused Kubinashi. Taking out his notebook from the pocket of his brown overcoat (Kejoro often mused if it had some kind of air-conditioning system installed in it), he quickly wrote a few notes and muttered, "I wanna talk to Insp. Ryota and Insp. Mame." Kejoro nodded. Kubinashi, lost in thought for a few seconds, suddenly asked, "Also, would it be possible to have an interview scheduled with Tsurara Oikawa?"
The brunette looked dumbstruck for awhile before a condescending smile (which always made Kubinashi want to slice off her lips) glowed on her face. "Luckily for you, Detective," she purred, "I have a dear friend who's in the media business."
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The blistering heat outside reflected off of the black-tinted windows of the private jet, the lounge cooled down by the strong air-conditioning. The dark blue jet had the insignia of the famous Nura Company and the booming voice of the pilot echoed "We're ready for take-off."
Not that it was necessary since the jet consisted of only four figures.
In a private chamber, Rikuo leaned back on his plush sofa, sighing as he twirled a glass of crimson red wine. On the large LED screen played a recording of the famous Hollywood movie, "The Hangover Part III." It was one of Rikuo's favorite movies but at the moment, he wasn't interested in watching. Sighing again, he drained the entire glass before placing the empty crystal object on the table before him; mechanically, the glass was taken in and locked in a safe place.
The initial take-off took place as Rikuo lazily stared out the window at the runway, until white clouds obscured his view. His attention returned to the several wine bottles stacked on the opposing shelf.
Sadly, Tsurara seems to have stocked up on only European wine, no sake.He regretted not bringing a bottle of his favorite drink. Relaxing his shoulders, for this was the first vacation he'd been having in a busy three years (and probably the last in more years to come), he muttered to himself, "Just relax, Rikuo. There's nothing to be worried about now. Not until I get back on Wednesday, at least."
From the other side of the jet, he could hear his childhood friend loudly talking on her phone.
"Gosh, no! I told you, I'm going on vacation now! Hell," – there was a slight pause (he bet Tsurara looked out of the window to check if they'd taken off) – "I've even left Japan. Yeah, tell him I'll be back on Wednesday! Who was it again?" A disturbingly long pause. "A . . . detective?" Rikuo's closed red eyes snapped open as the image of a shabby-haired blond flashed through his mind. "What does he want? An interview?" He could hear a loud sigh. "I'll check my schedule and tell you later, Rinko. Text me his number later. Alright! Muah!"
A heavy silence echoed through the jet, disturbed only by the even click-clacks of Tsurara's large heels.
The door to the cabin opened and Tsurara came happily walking in, a lilt in her step. The fair-skinned model was as always fashionably dressed; a tight-fitting, tube-dress was stretched over her slender figure, highlighting her barely-existing curves. Since childhood, Tsurara had always been on the taller and thinner side, unlike her sister Reira.
"Rikuo-kun!" she happily exclaimed, clinging to his arm as she took a seat next to him. Rikuo suppressed the urge to groan as the 24-year old woman rubbed her head against his arm like a cat. Then, suddenly, the rubbing stopped and she spoke in a happy but eerie tone, "I heard you proposed to her."
The Nura heir, fortunately, had no glass to break.
He should've expected it; of course, Tsurara had her means to be watching his every move. So when she'd called (which had been uncomfortably close to the time of his proposal), he immediately knew that she knew. And he'd been afraid, so very afraid when she angrily (of course, in a playful way) reminded him of their forgotten vacation to the Bahamas.
But he wasn't afraid for himself.
He was afraid for Kana.
"Look," he sighed, turning to face his childhood friend, brain scanning seven satisfying explanations, "Tsurara, I need to-"
"It's okay, Rikuo-kun," she continued smiling, her blue eyes wide and smile stretched over her beautiful face. She reached up to his hand and patted it, almost as if chanting to herself, "It's perfectly okay. Really. I'm not bothered . . . just a little disappointed." Her pupils were beginning to dilate. "You're happy, so I'm happy. It's really okay . . . I'm happy for you, Rikuo-kun . . . very happy . . . really . . ."
The sound of crashing glass echoed through the jet.
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Main Antagonist:
Rihan Nura (1 vote) – smcute kana