Chp. 7: Searching For Truths
As silence engulfed the Fujino mansion only one person was left to her thoughts of protecting her beloved daughter from going through more heartache and pain.
Days turned to weeks and weeks turned to months for Natsuki and her friends. They realize that coming up with the perfect way to investigate Akemi Fujino was harder than they all thought. The woman new how to cover her tracks well. And every time they thought they had a lead it turned out to be a dead end but they decided to keep pushing through thus for the sake of their dear friend Natsuki and they will keep on looking until they find the proof that can solve this whole mystery surrounding the supposed death of Shizuru Fujino.
"Hey guys I know that we checked out the doctors of Fuuka General Hospital and found nothing from them, so I think that we should focus on asking the nurses instead" stated Mai Tokiha to her friends
"Mai, I think that is a great idea because those stupid ass doctors aren't giving up any information on Akemi or anything related to that damn woman" grumbled an irritated Nao Yuuki..
"You know Nao you have a point there cause we can find ways to get information from the nurses easier than the doctors because unlike doctors they don't have to worry about the Hippocratic Oath thingy" said a smiling Chie.
"Well they could still keep their mouths shut to if they were paid to do it but that can also get us the answers to our questions as well c
because we cam also give them money to give us the information that we need" said a grinning Aoi as she sat on her girlfriends lap.
"Okay then it's been decided that we will go back to that fucking hospital with lots of money in our pockets to use to bribe some the nurses that are willing to talk to us but you know we need to make sure that we ask them about a specific date though" says Natsuki as she scratches her chin.
"Yeah mutt you're right about that and the date is the day that you got out of the hospital cause that's the date that I thought I saw that Sandra chick as well" stated the short red head.
"Yeah so that date in question is May 18 right Natsuki, Nao" asked their tomboyish friend.
"Chie, you are correct my dear friend that is the exact day that I got out of that damn hospital" replied the blunette.
"So first we get the funds and then we hit Fuuka General again with a new mission on how to get what we want and I Natsuki Kuga do hereby state that this meeting is adjourned" she says with a sly grin.
"We'll see you guys later and again thanks for the help cause you don't have to get involved in this at all but I am so grateful that I have wonderful friends like you" says Natsuki as she looks at each of her dear friends with a bright smile adorning her face.
"You're welcome you numbskull and don't think anything of it cause we all know that you would do the same for us in a heart" says Mai as she reaches out to the blunette and brings in for a hug.
The other three women look on with a pout but they soon join in the loving embracing as each of them pray to themselves that they can find the information that Natsuki needs to ease her heart as well as her mind.
-SAME TIME KYOTO: FUJINO MANSION-
"Sandra how is my dear kitsune doing with her studies today" asked Akemi Fujino.
"She is doing very well Akemi-san and I am glad that you allowed me to join in the home tutoring as well, because if I had to be away from Shi-chan for a whole day I would just die of loneliness."
"I know how you feel about my daughter and I will try my best to help you gain the same love that you have from my daughter" said Akemi with a smile.
"Are you through with your studies for today Sandra" she asks.
"Yes all my studies are over for the day but Shi-chan has decided to double her lessons so that she can complete them as early as possible so she can start work for the family company in Fuuka as you promised her" Sandra said with a weak smile.
"So she is still dead set on working in Fuuka instead of her in Kyoto, and for her stubbornness I hope nothing bad happens to my kitsune so please take care of her as always Sandra."
"I will always look after Shi-chan because she is the love of my life even though I can't get her to love me in return" she said with tears in her eyes.
Akemi Fujino reached out and took the young woman by the shoulders and brought her to herself for a warm loving and sympathetic embrace.
"Shizuru-sama, you are doing a wonderful job with your studies and at the rate that you are going I believe that you will have everything completed within three more months, maybe two" said a woman in her mid thirties with short shoulder length black hair and silver colored eyes as she grades the most recent tests that Shizuru has taken.
"Thank you Noko-sensei for everything because if I didn't have your help with forging ahead with all the things that I needed to do in order to graduate early I wouldn't be able to get to where I need to be" said the crimson eyed young woman.
"You will go far in everything that you do Shizuru-sama" she said with a bright smile.
"Ookini, I will continue to do my best so that I can make my mother and everyone who have been supporting me proud, and I also hope that moving to Fuuka will cause some sort of memory recognition within about what I did there" said Shizuru with a sad smile.
"I know that you will recover you lost memories Shizuru-sama so please smile for me one of your true smiles because those sad smiles shouldn't adorn your lovely face" Noko-sensei said as she reached out and caressed Shizuru's left cheek.
AS she felt the hand of her sensei caress her cheek, Shizuru Fujino smiled a true smile as her face lit up in soft pink hue followed by her stuttering the following words to her sensei "Oo-Ookini N-N-Noko s-s-sensei."
"See you are more beautiful when you smile" said Noko as she removed her hand from Shizuru's cheek.
-SAME TIME BACK IN FUUKA-
In a smoke filled bar located in the red light district of Fuuka, a pudgy man with a black Afro sits at a table located in the very back of the bar away from eavesdroppers and prying eyes. The entrance door opens suddenly revealing a figure dressed in black biker leathers carrying a helmet in hand. As you study the figure more closely you can tell that the person is very curvacious woman with long cobalt hair with eyes as green as emeralds. She makes her way to the table that the pudgy Afro head was sitting at and she takes a seat right in front of him. She pulls out a thick envelope from within her biker suit and slides it across the table to the man and once in his hands her sends her a file with the initials AF written across it in bold black letters. After grabbing the file she looks at the man and nods a silent thank you and then she stands to leave said bar with helmet and file in hand. The man waves her a goodbye and then he pockets the envelope and leaves as well.
"VVVVRRRROOOOOOMMMM VVVVRRRROOOOOOMMM VVVVRRRROOOOOOMMMM" is the sudden noise that is heard outside the bar as the biker babe zooms out of the parking lot heading towards her next destination.
"Dammit, when the hell is that mutt getting back here" grumbled a red headed vixen none as Nao Yuuki.
"Give her time Nao, cause you know she has to be careful when she is looking for information on things by using someone like Yamada, who deals with black market people as well possible gangsters as he collects the information she needs" replied a busty red headed woman.
"Hey, listen guys I think that I can hear a motorcycle heading this way and I bet that it is Nat-chan heading back this here to let us all know what she found out" said a tall blackish gray headed woman with a wide grin on her face.
The sound grew louder and louder until it could be heard right outside the apartment building that the women were in as they waited on the arrival of their tough biker friend. The sound was cut and they knew immediately that said biker was making her way back to her apartment and it wouldn't take her long to get to where she was heading. A jingling sound could be heard as the sound of keys being inserted into the keyhole of the front door to the apartment and once inserted the door finally clicked and opened as a blunette pushed open the door and stepped into the apartment with a frown carved upon her beautiful face.
"Natsuki are you okay, please tell us something" says the busty woman with concern written on her face as she noticed the frown across her friend's face as she enters the apartment.
Natsuki threw her keys into a bowl located on a table sitting the front door, and she placed her helmet down gently onto the same table where she had thrown her keys onto. After putting her things away she made her way over the living room and sat down on the leather sofa sitting in front of her television. She laid her bead back on the sofa and placed her right arm over her face and let out a deep sigh before sitting upright and pulling the file folder out of her leather jacket that she had on over her biker leathers.
"Hey guys, this is what I received from Yamada but I haven't read it yet, cause I wanted to wait until we could all read the contents of this folder together" she said as she looked all four of her friends in the eyes with a small sad smile adorning her face.
"Thank you for considering us as important enough to read the files contents with you Natsuki, but you could've read it alone on your own since this means so much to you" replied the busty woman known as Mai Tokiha.
"No Mai, you guys are helping me out on this and that is why I should do this with all of us here to know the contents inside this damn folder" she said.
Natsuki places the folder on her lap and slides her index finger down the side to unseal the folder because it was taped up for privacy. After running her finger down the side to open the folder she places her left hand on top of the folder and opens it. Once said folder was open the first thing that the women could see were photos of two women that they all knew so well. All five of them had frowns marring their beautiful faces as the two women in the photos were entering Fuuka General Hospital and leaving said hospital on different occasions cause they were photographed from different in one of the photos. Natsuki handed the photos to her friends and as they each looked at the different photos they began to show frowns upon their faces which grew in anger the more they looked at them.
"Natsuki, this is Akemi Fujino-san and Sandra in these photos, oh god I can't believe that this is really real" said Mai.
"Mutt, hurry up and read some of the information inside that damn folder would ya" stated Nao with an angry glare directed at the photo of Akemi Fujino as she leaves the hospital with a smile gracing her face.
"Look here guys, did you notice that these photos have dates of when each one was taken, and this one here was taken on a Thursday April 19 and that exact day was three months ago right Aoi. Babe do you remember what happened on that very day at the Flaming Phoenix" asked the blackish gray haired woman with spectacles known as Chie Hallard.
"Yeah babe that was the day that those two women came into the restaurant for lunch and their reservation written under the name Akemi-Fujino right?" asked the brunette known as Aoi Senoh.
"You're damn skippy babe that is the correct day that Sandra and her brunette friend that looked and acted exactly like Shizuru-san came into the Flaming Phoenix to eat as well as take a rare bottle of Dom Perignon with them when they left.
"THAT BITCH, THAT FUCKIN' BITCH I'LL KILL HER DEAD AND NO ONE AND I MEAN NO ONE WILL STOP ME FROM DOING IT" yelled our pissed off biker as she stood up and started pacing back and forth in front of her leather sofa as her fists clenched and unclenched digging deeper into her skin with each motion that she made.
"Calm down Natsuki, we will get to the bottom of this shit and make Akemi Fujino-san pay for all her lies and underhanded shit that she pulled on everyone and I mean everyone regarding the truth about Shizuru-san's supposed death" said Mai as she went to comfort her friend as she tries her best to ease her anger as well as her suffering.
"B-b-but M-M-Mai sh-sh-she is a-l-live I-I-I k-k-knew i-i-it a-a-and so-so-somewhere -d-d-deep in-inside of-f-f m-m-my h-h-heart a-a-and s-s-soul I-I-I c-c-could f-f-feel h-h-her pre-pre-presence" said Natsuki as she started to stutter while sobbing in her friends arms, as she held her closer to herself in a warm loving and secure embrace.
"It's going to be okay Natsuki and I think that we all know by now that SHE is alive because Akemi Fujino and that Sandra woman wouldn't have any reason to be here in Fuuka if there wasn't something fishy going on and I bet my last dollar that it has everything to do with the supposed death of Shizuru-san" she said as she tightens her hold on the blunette woman.
"Hell yeah, Mai is right mutt we need to go through these damn papers and see what kind useful information is written in there, because I'm betting my ass that we didn't find out as much as that damn Yamada guy did" said Nao as she walks to the forgotten folder on the floor.
She picks the folder up off the floor and then sits down on the leather sofa that Natsuki was sitting on previously. As she gets herself comfortable on the sofa she uses her right hand to open up the folder and take out the first white sheet of paper with writing on it. Skimming over said paper she comes to a stop and looks up at the woman that still holds her heart with a sly grin plastered on her face. Natsuki just happens to glance over in Nao's direction and she looks at her with questioning eyes.
Pulling away from Mai's loving hold she says "What's that look for spida?"
"Oh my god here is a list of the damn staff members that were working at Fuuka G during the last three months and then some" she said still grinning.
"Okay Nao we get it, so please tell us why you have that god awful grin on your face" states Mai.
"Well there are people on here that we talked to and got nowhere with, but there are also people that weren't included on our list of leads as well" she said as her grin grew even wider than before.
"Really Nao, will you call off the names of the people that we didn't know about" said Natsuki as she takes a seat on the other end of the leather sofa that Nao was already sitting on.
Noticing the distance between her and Natsuki, Nao shook her head of unwanted thoughts and then focused on reading the names off the paper. She skimmed down to the first name that hadn't been on their list of possibilities.
"First is a woman named Aiko Fujita who worked the receptions desk four days prior to the date on the photo with that fuckin' Akemi Fujino in it, as she left the hospital" she said in an angry tone.
"Okay Nao, please highlight the names of the new people that we need to talk to" said Aoi as she hands her a yellow highlighter that she had found resting on Natsuki end table located by the recliner that she and Chie were sitting on.
"Thanks Aoi" replied Nao as she highlights the woman's name.
"Next we have another receptionist whose name is Eiko Norita, and she was actually working the day that Akemi was leaving the hospital" said Nao with a smirk.
"Hey the other people on here are women so that makes things work in our favor a lot more don't you think guys" said Nao with a sly twinkle reflecting in her lime hued eyes, as she looks over at Chie who picks up on what the red headed vixen is talking about right away.
"Hey Nao, you're right because we are women who love women and we know how to get information that we need by using a little finesse as well seduction in the right way" Chie responded as she pulled Aoi closer to her chest.
"Nao, you are brilliant" said Natsuki as she finally figured out what the red headed vixen was talking about and the realization of this knowledge made her show a sly smirk as it crossed her face.
"Okay now that we have these names we should divide them up between us and use our charms on them to get the answers that we seek" replied Nao.
"Well how many women are on that list Nao" asked Mai with curiosity as she stares at the woman.
"Let's see there are seventeen women on here and five of us so we get three women each with two other women left over to be given to whomever wants to take them on" she says as she looks to each of her friends.
"Aoi, we need to do this to help out Natsuki" stated Chie as she kissed her girlfriend on the right cheek asking for the okay to do this.
"It's okay Chie we'll both let this slide for the sake of helping a dear friend" replied Aoi as she turns to her lover and gives her a passionate kiss on the lips.
"You guys are wonderful friends and I don't know how to repay you for this" said Natsuki as she looked over in Chie and Aoi's direction with the most beautifulest smile that they had ever seen gracing their friends lovely face.
She then turns to Nao with a questioning look and said "Nao I'm so sorry about turning to you for help on this considering what happened between us, so I'll understand if you refuse to help."
"Mutt what happened between us is water under the bridge and yes I 'Nao Yuuki' will lend my seductive charms to help out in this great cause" she said with a sly smirk.
"Thank you Nao" she said as she scooted closer to give the red head a hug.
"You're welcome mutt and you'll OWE ME one so remember that mutt and don't you fuckin forget" she said as she hugged the blunette back.
"So I guess that only leaves you Mai Tokiha" said Natsuki as turns to the said woman's direction sitting in a rocking chair on the right side of the leather sofa.
"I can't say NO to helping my best friend in her time of need now can I" said Mai as she smiled lovingly at the blunette.
"Okay great now who gets the other two women on the list then" Nao asks.
"Since this is my problem I'll take one of them" said Natsuki.
Looking to her girlfriend for the okay Chie said "I'll take the last one then" after Aoi nodded her head as her answer to Chie unspoken question.
"We have all consented to the mission at hand, so now we just need to get and divide the names of our targets, and Nao I want that woman named Eiko Norita on my list" said Natsuki as her friend starts to write down the names on slips of paper to give out to each of the five women.
After she finished writing down the names and grouping them she hands a piece of paper to each of the other women present in the room. There are three pieces of paper that only have three names written down and two pieces that have four names written on them. The groups are given out as follows:
NATSUKI'S GROUP
Eiko Norita
Aiko Fujita
Sei Endo
Maya Kanzaki
AOI'S GROUP
Akiko Watanabe
Chinatsu Kudo
Emi Takahashi
CHIE'S GROUP
Fumika Suzuki
Gina Arai
Hana Aomori
Izumi Abe
MAI'S GROUP
Jun Inoue
Kaede Higa
Kei Nagasaki
NAO'S GROUP
Mari Ito
Ryoko Tanaka
Yoshie Fujiwara
After everyone looks over their lists of names Chie asked the following "So Nat-chan, when do we go out and start our new investigations/interrogations of these very lucky ladies?"
"I would say that we start tomorrow if everyone is free to do so" said Natsuki as she looked to her friends for their reactions to her statement.
"I'm in for tomorrow Natsuki" said the busty red head.
"You can count us in Nat-chan" said Chie as she and Aoi nod their heads in unison.
"Ahhh fuck it mutt you know that my ass is in as well cause I've got nothing better do anyways" said a smirking Nao as sent a wink in the blunette's direction that got her a slight blush in return.
"I guess we all should call it a day and go home and get some much needed rest" Mai says as she stands up to leave.
"Yeah you're right Mai" replied Chie as she and Aoi do the same as the busty red head.
"Listen up everybody GROUP HUG GROUP HUG" squealed Mai as she motions for everyone to walk closer to Natsuki.
"Okay Mai just this once I'll join in on a group hug" mumbled Nao under her breath emphasizing the words as she spoke.
As all five friends join together in a group hug full of love and devotion, they all thought the exact same thing and that was "Finally we are getting somewhere in this mystery so beware Akemi Fujino we're onto your little cover-up."
Breaking from the hug the women turn around and start heading for the front door to leave. Upon reaching said door, the apartment owner gives thanks to her friends once again for their help and then she opens the door so that they can make their leave. Once her friends are out the front door the blunette shuts it and leans onto the door and begins to let images of a certain brunette haired goddess known as 'Shizuru Fujino' run wild in her head. After the images have flashed through her mind she pushes herself up off the door and heads to her bedroom with a gentle smile making its way upon her lovely face.
A/N
Okay guys here is the awaited 7th chapter and I hope it does justice. I hope you all are still enjoying this story of mine and I hope that you continue to support me in writing it. Thanks again and I'll try to have chapter 8 up in a few days so bye for now and have a great week.