Really lovin the reviews, guys and gals! They're about the only thing keeping me going.

So as I was trying to sleep last night, one technical error was keeping me up. There's no way Natsuki is 18 like she claimed she was in Ch5. Cuz she was 18 when she and Mai broke up, NOW she's definitely older. I've edited Ch5 so that she's now claiming she's 21. I'd say, 2 ½ years has passed by since the break up with Mai happened.

RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING

"Urgh……" Natsuki mumbled without waking up.

"Aaaaaargh!" Irritated, Natsuki threw more clothes over her head as she refused to open her eyes. Who the hell calls so early in the morning!?

"Gawd damn it!" Natsuki swore as she grabbed for her phone form under the couch and yelled rudely into it, "WHAT!?"

"Good afternoon to you too, Kuga-san." A professional and collected voice answered through the receiver.

Eyes wide and mouth agape in surprise, Natsuki quickly cleared her throat, sat up, and said as politely as she could, "I'm very sorry, Fumi-san. I had a very long night. ACHOO!" Natsuki sneezed into her hands. The bath towel that she had slept in threatened to slip off her body at the sudden movement. Her throat hurt and her nose was runny. Apparently she had been so drunk in her memories and despair last night that she had forgotten to put clothes on, let alone bandage her injured foot which consequently has dried blood caked on it. The bluenette didn't remember falling asleep, but her aching body and cloudy mind said otherwise.

"Oh my, Kuga-san, you sound really sick. No wonder you didn't show up for work. I was surprised that you weren't there when I came to inspect branch 11 today." Fumi said, sounding genuinely worried.

Oh crap, I forgot the company inspection was today!! Natsuki started to panic which made her head spin. "Again, I'm very sorry, Fumi-san. I'll be over there in 10 minutes tops!!"

"There's no need—" Fumi stopped when she found herself talking into a dead line. Always so impulsive, Kuga-san. Fumi smiled, shaking her head. Though something nagged at the pink haired divisional manager. She knew Natsuki. Natsuki was nothing if not hardworking. She always came to work the earliest and only left after Fumi turned off the lights. The bluenette loved being at the garage. And those qualities are the sole reasons why Fumi had entrusted almost entirely branch 11 HIME Garage to the young girl around a year ago. But I wonder what made Natsuki forget about the inspection…I doubt just a simple cold can stop her from coming to the garage. She's a very stubborn girl after all. The divisional manager couldn't remember Natuski ever missing work when Fumi was the branch manager before she promoted Natsuki. The bluenette seemed almost addicted to her job from the first day Fumi had hired her as a mechanic and Fumi doubted that being raised to branch manager would change the bluenette's behavior. *sigh*

After Natsuki hung up the phone, she quickly tried to scramble around for a pair of clean jump suit, but a sharp pain shot up her leg as soon as she moved. "Aw, maan." She said as she tried to sooth her injured foot. The injury reminded her of last night, how her wall crumbled away into oblivion and a storm of memories and forgotten pain rushed at her like an unstoppable tsunami. After the storm had passed, Natsuki felt considerably lighter without the steel wall weighing her down. She was no longer bothered by the constant pressure in her chess from continuously suppressing her anguish and sorrow over something that happened almost 3 years ago. Feeling surprisingly relieved and free, the bluenette almost smiled at her wound before she caught herself and said instead, "Stupid foot. You're gonna make me late!"

She clumsily held her injured foot up as she hopped into the bathroom to wash away the dry blood. Not bothering to wrap up her foot, she quickly brushed her teeth, washed her face, and pulled on a new pair of jump suit. The bluenette soon found out that putting socks or shoes on her injured foot was out of the question, so she put on one shoe on her ok foot, grabbed a roll of bandage, and hopped outside. Damn it, where's a cab when you need one!? She stood waiting against the gate with her injured foot a few inches from the ground. 30 more seconds and I'm getting on my bike, wounded foot or no. Right when the bluenette counted to 25, a glossy black Jaguar pulled up to the curb in front of her. What the..? When did cabs get so fancy?? The back tinted window started to roll down and Natsuki can see soft brown hair lightly covering a pair of deep crimson eyes.

"Ara, Natsuki. What are you doing out here?" Shizuru asked, extremely pleased that she ran into such a delightful surprise on her way to lunch. Then she noticed the foot in the air. A gashing wound the length of half her pinky marred the bottom of Natsuki's flawless pearl white skin. Alarmed, Shizuru jumped out of the car, kneeled and cradled Natsuki's foot for a closer inspection.

"Shizuru!" Natsuki's face turned bright pink from seeing Shizuru cradle her foot like…like the prince in Cinderella. Her heart fluttered at the crimsom eyes' every gentle touch and prod."Shizuru, st-ACHOOOO!" the bluenette sneezed.

"Natsuki!" Shizuru's heart leapt with worry. She gently let go of the younger girl's foot, stood up, and took the bluenette's face in her hands. Leaning in, Shizuru's chest tightened at the younger girl's puffy eyes, pink nose, and chapped lips. Natsuki, have you been crying? Does your foot hurt that badly? "Ara…looks like Natsuki needs a little help taking care of herself." Shizuru half-heartily teased but concern raked her voice.

Light headed from all the blood rushing to her face, Natsuki found herself facing the crimson eyes from only an inch away. The closeness made the bluenette uncomfortable. Or maybe she was uncomfortable because she forgot to breath. Or maybe it was because she can hear blood throbbing in her ears. Whatever the reason, she was definitely uneasy, but before she could say anything, her throat started to tickle a little bit. "AAAAaaa…"

Shizuru quickly stepped aside. "CHOOOOO!" Natsuki barely missed Shizuru, but before the bluentte could recover, the crimson eyed girl grasped her face again and laid soft petals of kisses on the young girl's closed eyes. Don't cry, Natsuki. Please don't be sad.

"It's getting chilly outside, Nat-su-ki." Shizuru whispered softly into the Natsuki's ear before the brunette pulled back, but summer was barely over and the older girl only had on a thin dress shirt tucked into a brown business skirt. "Step into my car and I'll bandage your foot for you." The brunette said as she tucked an arm around Natsuki's waist and guided her to the Jaguar. The kisses and the soft whisper threw Natsuki's mind in a state of shock as she dumbly allowed Shizuru to guide her into her car. But when the bluenette felt the cold leather seat jolt her back, she instantly recovered and remembered that Fumi was waiting for her.

"Shizuru, I have to go back to the garage! I'm in a hurry!" Natsuki said as she again started to panic. How long has it been? 10minutes? 30minute? An HOUR? The poor girl had no idea. Shizuru's sudden appearance had thrown her completely off balance.

"Ara, Natsuki still insists on working in this condition?" Shizuru said disapprovingly as she took the bandage from Natsuki's hand and proceed to wrap the bluenette's foot that she placed on her lap.

"You don't understand! I have a company inspection today! If I don't pass the inspection, I'll get fired! Or worse, they might even close down the garage!" Natsuki insisted, ignoring her throbbing head.

"And where does my Natsuki work?" Shizuru asked without looking up from her task.

…'MY Natsuki'..? the bluenette thought wonderingly, but she said instead, "The HIME Garage down the street."

The HIME Garage? Why does that sound so familiar? Shizuru could have sworn she's seen the name before.

"Taka-san, if you'd please…" Shizuru said while resuming her concentration on Natsuki's foot.

"Of course, ojosama." The driver responded as he pulled out of the curb.

The bluenette sat stiffly the whole ride to the garage. Her face reddened by the minute as she watched the beautiful woman bandage her foot with gracefully deft fingers. The drive should have only taken a couple of minutes, but it felt like an eternity to her. And Shizuru seemed to be taking every second of the eternity to wrap and tie the bandage just so.

Shizuru coincidentally finished right when the car pulled to a stop in front of the garage. Smiling sweetly, the brunette, bided Natsuki a good day and told her not to work too hard.

Surprised, Natsuki was sure that Shizuru would stay for a little bit at the garage. Even more surprising to the bluenette was that she felt her heart sink a little in disappointment. But that can't be right. Why would Natsuki care if Shizuru stayed or not? This is ridiculous. Natsuki thought as she carefully stepped out of the car with one perfectly bandaged foot in the air. "Thanks for the ride. And..for the foo—I mean the bandage. I mean the bandaging." Blushing even more, Natsuki quickly slammed the door shut and hopped off into the garage.

Shizuru protectively watched the bluenette enter the building before she let the driver drive away. *sigh,* she wanted to stay and maybe have some tea, but she was already late to her lunch appointment. If it were any other lunch appointment, then maybe she would have cancelled but this one was quite important. This one was with her father. She suspects that today was the day. Her father is going to make her start following his footsteps at the Fujino Corporation and handle of few projects on her own. Sighing again, Shizuru didn't think that she'd have much time for further racing activities, but she doubted she can say no to the bluenette if she challenged her to a match. For Natsuki, I can make time…that oblivious puppy…does she realize the power she has over me?? The brunette shook her head in answering her own question. She didn't even believe Natsuki's influence over her. Then there was the question of the other person in Natsuki's life…Shizuru hadn't forgotten.

"I'm glad that everything is running so smoothly here, Kuga-san. You are truly doing a great job taking care of the garage." Fumi complimented a blushing Natsuki.

"Well..heh..thanks for giving me the opportunity." Natsuki said sheepishly as she put away her sales information. "AAchoo…bfffffffffft," Natsuki was blowing her nose for the umpteenth time since arriving to the garage. Seems like her cold was getting worse.

"I'm rather surprised you caught a cold in such warm weather." Fume mused, "Is everything alright, Kuga-san?"

"Yeah…" Natsuki said, slightly embarrassed at the comment.

"You take the day off, Kuga-san. I'm sure Sasaki and Tie can take care of the garage for a day." Fume ordered gently.

"But—AACHOO! I can still watch them—bfffffffffffffffft—I'll just sit back here and make sure—achoo—every things alright." Natsuki stubbornly suggested.

"No, I will not allow it." The district manager said in a tone that expected no more quarreling.

"..FINE!" the bluenette reluctantly gave in and took out her cell phone to call Nao to come get her. That drunkass better answer! She waited impatiently for the other line to pick up and on about the seventh ring she heard Nao answer in much the same way that she herself had answered when Fumi called her.

"Come pick me up at the garage." The bluenette said simply with no explainations.

"Whaaaa..? Where' s your ancient bike?" Nao questioned sleeply.

"Home." With that, Natsuki hung up. She was still pissed at Nao for last night's stunt. The bluenette secretly hoped that the red head's hangover was worse than her own headache. A spiteful wish. But Nao totally deserved it.

"Kuga-san, may I ask you a question?" Fumi was a little unsure if her questioning Kuga would be appropriate. After all, they weren't really friends. Their relationship has always been strictly professional.

"Huh? Yeah, go ahead." Natsuki was surprised out of her reverie.

"The lady…who dropped you off earlier. Is she possibly Shizuru Fujino of the Fujino Corporation?" asked Fumi who was intently staring at Natsuki for an answer.

"Yeah…why?" ask Natsuki warily. She rarely ever see Fumi this hesitant before. Her boss was usually so sure of herself.

"May I ask what your relationship with her is?" Fumi continued, ignoring Natsuki's question.

If it were any other person asking, Natsuki might have refused to answer, but this was Fumi, who took the bluenette under her wing when she needed a job the most and then had the compassion and faith to entrust the entire garage to her. "I'm not sure. I met her last night. I guess you can call her a friend." Natsuki purposely withheld the illegal racing information because she didn't know Fumi's feelings on drag racing.

"I see. According to my superiors, Fujino Corporation is threatening to buyout HIME Garage Corporation." The district manager said professionally, though Natsuki can hear the barest hint of regret in her voice.

"I don't understand. What does that mean for us?" Natsuki hated to admit her ignorance, but she really wanted to know.

"The Fujino Corporation already has a line of garage called the Fujino Mechanics, so they are looking to eliminate competition by taking over HIME Garage Corporation. If the takeover is successful, then they would probably close down and sell a number of the HIME branches so as to not over populate an area with both HIME garages AND Fujino garages. Those HIME branches that are left would most definitely have to change their names to Fujino Mechanics. As for us…whenever a company is taken over, a lot of capital restructuring takes place, which means many people will likely get laid-off." Fumi explained sadly.

Natsuki couldn't believe what she was hearing. She loved HIME Garage. The garage was almost like her home. In fact, sometimes she'd rather spend her nights here rather than go back to the messy, cold apartment. Unlike her apartment, where she didn't know where anything is, she knew exactly where every piece of equipment, parts, scratches, tears are in the garage. No, I won't let this stupid takeover happen. Damn garage is too important to me!

"Fumi-san, I'm gonna stop i—AAChoo—t. I *sniffle* won't let it happen." Natsuki claimed while trying to cover up her sneeze.

Smiling, Fumi nodded. For some reason, Natsuki's statement, no matter how marred it was by her cold, calmed the district manager. She didn't like using the bluenette like this, but she had to save her beloved company. Kuga's relationship with Shizuru Fujino might help their case, but Fumi had no idea what this might end up doing to their friendship. For Shizuru's father, Akio Fujino, was most certainly an aggressive, persistent business man first before he is a father. Fumi knew this because she had met the man once and had never wanted to meet him again. The district manager knew this and she felt sorry for Shizuru Fujino, but for her HIME Garage's sake she had to give it a try.

IT's a battle between Natsuki, Shizuru, and Shizuru's father now! Let's see who comes out on top~

Again, reviews are reeeeally helpful and motivating. So please, tell me what you think