Hi guys! I'm sorry it's been long since updating, I've been kinda crazy-busy but now I'll have some time to spare :P I already started writing the next chapter, so I hope to get it on here soon! I want to dedicate this chapter to abandoned dogs and cats on the streets. Remember, adopt a friend for life! :)
V
Lauren Goodman and Robert Goodman were having pouchè eggs with turkey ham and freshly squeezed orange juice for breakfast, accompanied with the daily toasts with marmalade, usually left over for Natsuki's hurried brunch before work. It was 8 o'clock in the morning, the normal breakfast time for the Goodman elderly couple.
"Lauren." Said the old man softly, as he always did when talking to his wife.
"Yes my dear?" Answered his wife in the same manner.
"I'll be today at this Fujino girl first work day, alright?"
"Are you sure Robb? I thought you weren't feeling very good lately. And I'm quite positive the girl will do well, or at least she seems to be capable."
"That's not what worries me." Robert answered quietly.
"But what else could be worrying you, darling?" Said Lauren in a skeptical voice.
"She's..." The elder man paused to choose his words carefully. "Unusual." He concluded.
"Does it seems so for you?"
Robert nodded.
"Well, I find it natural for her to be unusual for us since we are country people and she's been raised in a huge city, things are very different back there..."
"No, it's not about that, Lauren. It's something different. I can't explain it." said Robert.
"Well then, you can presence her work today if it eases your mind, I suppose." Lauren agreed.
Mr. Goodman nodded again and drank a big gulp of orange juice.
Natsuki laid down on her bed, staring at the ceiling while her grandparents had breakfast. It was a grayish morning, and the weather was slightly rainy. She could not stop thinking about last night with Shizuru and still wondered if it even actually happened. Her breathing went up and down slowly and her chest felt comfortably warm. She cuddled inside the sheets and smiled as flesh memories came back to her, Shizuru's blonde hair on her face and her small nose rubbing her neck...
"Oi! NATSUKI! Get up already, slacker!" Robert's hoarse voice rang like a fire alarm inside the cowgirl's ears, making her jump out of bed, grabbing the nearest pair of jeans and one of the many plaid shirts she used. She hurried downstairs long before expected, surprising Mr. Goodman and joining him on the table as he went through the newspaper with a cup of hot coffee and a wooden smoking pipe. He stared from behind the large sheets of paper as she chomped toasts with bacon, taking large gulps of orange juice.
"Thought ya wouldn't even hear me', 'was 'bout to call ya 'gain." He dragged the words with the pipe clenched to his teeth.
"Not this time', I did hear ya' gn'pa." Natsuki kept on chewing breakfast.
"Wha's the hurry kid? There's still some time left before workshop opens." Robert looked at her granddaughter inquiringly. Natsuki slightly choked on orange juice and coughed.
"Need to visit Mai before." She answered quietly.
"Wha' could be so damn important ya' even woke early huh?" He held the pipe with his left hand and folded the newspaper.
"N-Nothin' 'mportant, Im just gonna..." She couldn't come up with something to tell her grandpa.
"Anyway. Don't be late, see ya later." He stood up and left Natsuki.
After finishing her hurried breakfast, Natsuki grabbed her helmet and a black leather jacket, got on her shiny Ducati and rode all the way to Mai's salloon.
"Mai! Mai, are ya here?" She pushed through the cantina doors.
"Natsuki...?" Mai's sleepy voice called from upstairs, and Natsuki went following it.
"Oi, Mai, are ya sleeping?" Natsuki ran upstairs and entered Mai's bedroom without much concern. Mai and Mikoto were all rolled inside the bedsheets, Mikoto deeply snorting.
"Mai, please wake up man, I need to tell ya about it!" Natsuki pulled Mai's arm, who slowly incorporated on the bed, rubbing her eyes.
"Tell me about it... Natsu..." She was making an effort to wake up, scratching her eyes.
"Mai, we kissed! You were right! It was so freaking good man!" She told Mai about dinner with her grandparent's and the little scape on Natsuki's star-viewing hill.
"Woah, Mrs. Goodman invited her to dinner? That's great, it's always good to have a fair relationship with family..." Mai was now fully awake and just as excited as Natsuki.
"Yeah... She even gave her a job at the workshop, though not sure what she'd actually think if she knew..."
Then it hit her: she had not even thought of what her grandparents would think if they knew about Natsuki being... Gay? Did this mean she was actually gay? She had always knew guys just weren't her fave dish but it was different to actually have some kind of relationship or whatsoever with a woman, specially with her grandparents watching very closely. And this was the first time she was, indeed, in the oportunity of exploring and learning about the being with a girl affair. People in Alasville were normally very narrow-minded and prejudiced, not to say extremely religious, even nuns ran and handled Alasville School (which was actually middle, elementary and high school... hey, it's a small town!) without anyone having a problem with it, on contraire: everyone totally agreed with it.
"You shouldn't worry about it now Natsuki, it's too soon! For now, maybe you should try to keep lo profile and see how things develope." Mai said and changed the subject. "Natsuki-chan, seducing outsiders with astrology talk! Look at you, my little baby is growing!" Mai winked and pulled Natsuki's cheek, mocking her.
"Shaddup! And it's not astrology, it's astronomy, dumbass... I'm about to see her in an hour, and... My grandpa said he was gonna be there today, which I think is kinda weird, I mean, at his age and with his health, he can barely stay ten minutes on his feet."
"Really? But it's been long since Mr. Goodman doesn't actually works there right? You think he suspects something?" Mai regreted to add more worrying on her friend.
"I dunno... He was a bit odd today, more than usual. I guess there's where I got my awkwards from. Anyway, I have to go Mai, m'grandpa want me early." She grabbed her helmet and walked towards the door.
"Yeah, I bet Shizuru wants you early too!"
"Shut it Mai!".
Shizuru sat down on her bed and waited for it to be time to leave to the workshop. She grabbed paper and pen and decided to write a letter to her best friend.
Dear Haruka,
How are things back in Kyoto? I miss you a lot. I hope you understand my reasons to leave, though you didn't answer my last letter. I'm sorry if I hurt you or made you angry, but I really can't stay without talking to you, so please, at least read what's been going on in my new home.
Today is my first day at a real, non family related job, though I still believe it wasn't the normal way to get a job. It's an interesting story to tell, actually. One could say it was serendipity, if I believed in such. Three days ago, just arriving Alasville, I crashed on the cutest cowgirl you could ever imagine. With the hat, plaidshirt, and everything. She rides a Ducati instead of a horse, of course. Natsuki K. Goodman. After being as kind as she possibly could and helping me in every way, I got to meet her grandparent's, she lives here with them. Mr. Robert and Mrs. Lauren Goodman. Her lovely grandmother invited me to a welcome dinner yesterday, and after telling her I was an arquitect, she offered me a steady job at a carpentry workshop they own. Can you imagine that? Me, working at a carpentry workshop? Anyway, it was the best I was gonna get in here, as there are not many other options. I accepted, of course, and after that, I had a secret and improvised date with Natsuki on a hill on the skirts of the town. She talked to me about constellations. Is that corny or what? I don't care if so, she's dreamy, Haruka. You wouldn't believe it from her at first, but she's turned out very different of what she appears to be. She's a couple of years younger than me, I just hope her grandparents don't threat of killing me for kissing her child, like last time back in Kyoto. A dreadful story I wish I could forget. But anyway, I'll try to get internet and a phone soon. No, no mobile signal, maybe for the best. Don't want my mother to call (harrass) me everyday, trying to get me back in the company, I do miss her and dad, even though. Dad more than everything, but well, it can't be helped. I hope you and Reito come visit, the place is like a real life Clint Eastwood movie, with saloons and barns. I'll write my address on the envelope so please answer! Regards for your family, and all the guys back in Kyoto.
Hugs, love and kisses,
Shizuru Fujino.
She read the letter again, thinking about her dear friends, and trying to stop her mind from wandering in the past, however not very succesfully. Her heart shrinked just by remembering her ex girlfriend's crazy family. Rich parents are insane when it comes to preserve the family reputation, and as Rika Fujino, her ex's family wasn't an exception to the rule. Shizuru sighed and shook her head away from memoirs, leaving to her first day at work with the Goodman's.
The doorbell rang through the Goodman's flat and inside Natsuki's ears.
"I'll get it!" She yelled, and ran downstairs. She checked herself on the mirror and breathed deeply before opening the door.
"H-hi?" To her surprise, it wasn't Shizuru standing on her front door, but instead, Midori Sugiura, a family friend and principal of Alasville School. Midori's eyes were red and sunken, she had been crying recently.
"Natsuki, is your grandma home? I need to talk to her." Midori said blankly with a dead serious face.
"Yes, 'course, please come in. Are you ok? Eh... D'ya want some tea, coffee?" Natsuki offered her a seat in the living room couch. The walls were covered with flowered tapestry, and matching furniture, with many wooden featturetes. The main colours were beige and pale pink.
"Hot tea would be great, but please first I must talk to Lauren immediatly." Midori let herself fall on the couch.
"Right away." Natsuki went running to Lauren's bedroom behind the stairs and knocked the door, which her grandma opened.
"Yes my dear? Is Shizuru here already?" Lauren asked.
"No, it's Midori. She says she needs to talk to you, it's pretty important I guess..." Said Natsuki in a low tone.
They both walked back to the living room and Natsuki left them to talk alone, and meanwhile she prepared hot water for tea. The doorbell rang again, and this time it was Shizuru.
"Good morning, Natsuki." Shizuru's smile quickly faded when looking at Natsuki's serious face.
"Is there something wrong?" She softly caressed Natsuki's cheek. Natsuki raised a finger to her lips to tell her to stay quiet, took Shizuru's hand and guided her to the kitchen.
"Sorry." Natsuki whispered. "We have a guest, Midori, a family friend. She just came, she seems very upset and asked to talk to my grandma right away. I have no idea what's up." Natsuki explained.
"I hope it's not too bad. Is it ok for me to be here? Should I come back later?" Shizuru asked.
"Don't worry. We have work anyway, I guess we'll start when they finish."
"Finish what?" Robert Goodman asked from the kitchen door, making both Natsuki and Shizuru jump.
"Midori came looking for grandma." Natsuki pointed at the living room. His grandfather left them and went to his wife.
"Robert!" They heard Lauren's cry from the living room. The door closed again, and now only muffed voices could be heard.
"That doesn't sounds good, better go check." Natsuki rushed out. Shizuru stayed in the kitchen, unsure that she should stay, but as she didn't want to interrupt and it would be rude to just leave, she served tea instead.
"Let's see, where would I put the tea if I was Lauren Goodman?" Shizuru thought to herself. She looked at her right and found a row of small rounded crystal bottles. All of them had different spices written with golden letters."Green tea, there you are." She grabbed five tea cups from the cabinets, poured green tea on all of them and placed them on a tray. She sighed and look out at the kitchen window, when something caught her eye. A stray mutt was sniffing on the garbage outside the house, ripping and pulling out all the plastic bags. It was a tall, skinny dog, with half length gray hair. His paws, chest and stomach seemed to be, what was once, white, and his nose and eyes were covered with black hair. He had some black spots of hair in the rest of his body. The dog started chewing happily what seemed to be a rotten slice of bread. A couple of pidgeons landed on the garbage bins to try steal something to eat, but the dog barked at them, making them fly. The stray dog jumped and chased behind them happily. An idea crossed Shizuru's mind but was interrupted.
"Oi, thanks for the tea Shizuru. Hey... uhh... Can you come with us to the living room? Midori and grandma want a word." Natsuki rubbed the back of her head.
"Me? Oh... Yes of course, Natsuki." She turned towards the tray, but Natsuki grabbed it. "Hey, allow me, Shizuru." The blonde girl smiled and walked to the living room.
"Good morning Mr. and Mrs. Goodman. I hope I'm not interrupting." Shizuru entered the living room.
"Good morning dear, and of course not, we called for you with Natsuki didn't we?" said Lauren in a nasal tone, cleaning her nose and eyes of crying. "Oh, Shizuru, this is Midori Sugiura, principal of Alasville School, and Midori this is Shizuru Fujino." Midori seemed more stable than before. She extended her hand and shook Shizuru's firmly.
"Nice to meet you, Fujino-san."
"Nice to meet you too, Sugiura-san."
"Well, Shizuru, I called you here because I have, again, an offer for you." Lauren regained her composure. "Midori, if you please."
"Yes. Well, an unfortunate success happened yesterday. Alasville School, which I am principal of, is also managed by a catholic religious group. Many nuns work there as teachers and counselors, but, however, one of our beloved sisters, Yukariko-sensei, had a terrible accident yesterday, which is weird because no one really knows what happened. She is now in Alasville hospital, and is to be moved today to Kyoto's General Hospital. Her state is very delicate now, and won't be able to come back to school for a long time. Now, you may be wondering why am I telling you all this, and my point is, Yukariko used to teach Math and Algebra at Alasville School, but not anymore. I am curious on how high is your dominium on this area? We don't normally allow external people to teach in our school but as you may notice, it is quite hard to get a decent teacher in our small town, specially in a Maths area. Would you be willing to teach at Alasville School? I know the question is rushed and unplanned, but the semester is about to start in less than a month, and if we are gonna do this, it better be fast. But don't worry, There are barely three middle school groups and three high school groups. Oh, maybe you would get a couple of elementary groups, but not a lot, plus the groups are quite small, no more than 20 or 25 children or teens. Please think about it, it would be great if you decided to work at the school." Midori finished her explanation.
"Wow, Mrs. Goodman and Sugiura-san, your offer flatters me, and I actually am skilled in the maths and algebra area, but I have never gave a single math lesson in my entire life, I just finished college a couple of months ago, are you sure I could fit in the team?" Shizuru answered worried.
"Of course yes! Besides, there is absolutely no one who could get a better curriculum for teaching maths in Alasville. Can I take that as a yes then, Fujino-san?" Midori insisted.
"I would love to but how about the Carpentry Workshop, Mrs. Goodman?" Shizuru looked back at Lauren.
"Shizuru, if you still want to work at the workshop, we can fit a schedule once you get your classes at Alasville School. Besides, the school work is far more important now, and we won't need a lot of help from you. Maybe you could just come two or three times a week, I think that would be more than fine." said Lauren.
"Well then, I suppose I can do the best I can to help in the education of Alasville youth." Shizuru accepted her new job as a professor in a speech-like manner.
"Excelent! For Yukariko-sensei's health and for the success of our new Alasville School Math's teacher!" Midori raised her cup of tea in a toast.
After according to meet in a couple of days with Midori for further initiation in Alasville School, Midori left the Goodman house. It was too late for work anyway so Lauren and Robert decided to go to the hospital to check on Yukariko-sensei, so Shizuru and Natsuki stayed home.
"So... You are gonna be a maths teacher. Can't believe it yet." Said Natsuki.
"Yeah, me neither. But well, Sugiura-san seemed very desperate so I really couldn't refuse. Will Natsuki still like me even if I'm a nerdy math teacher?" Shizuru pouted.
"Oi... I'm glad I'm not on your class. I would probably fail, you would distract me way much to understand what you'd say." Natsuki smirked at Shizuru.
"Ara, Natsuki has been a bad girl, no homework? I'll have to disciplinate you." Shizuru pulled Natsuki from the collar of her jacket.
"How exactly, Fujino-sensei?" Natsuki grabbed Shizuru's waist, and pulled her for a kiss, but a metallic sound followed by flutter and barks interrupted them.
"Wha' da hell?" Natsuki flinched and let go of Shizuru in a anti-grandparents reflex.
"Hey, it's the dog I saw before! Does it has any owners you know of?" Shizuru leaned on the window to have a better view.
"No, it's always sneaking in the garbage, once I even saw it jump and bite a pidgeon. I think he ate it. Smart dog." Natsuki said.
"I have an idea, do you have some ham or bacon?" Shizuru asked.
"Yeah, there's some left from breakfast." Natsuki went back to the kitchen, coming back outside with bacon-bait. The stray dog was chewing some garbage when it looked back at the girls with its ears up, very interested in the bacon Shizuru was holding. Shizuru started whistling and calling the dog.
"Come here boy! Come here!" Shizuru broke the bacon in a couple of pieces and threw one at the dog, whom gulped it without chewing.
"Natsuki, do you have any kind of rope or something?" Shizuru asked.
"Yeah, but... Why would you want to tie the dog?" Natsuki asked, confused.
"I want to adopt this dog! I always wanted a dog but my mother hates them... And this one seems to need a warm place to sleep." Shizuru answered.
"Are you sure? It's a street dog... What if it bites you?" Natsuki asked worried, and Shizuru laughed.
"I think I'll survive Natsuki! Plus, he seems to be healthy, despite being really skinny. Now, can you please be a darling and give me some rope?" Natsuki left inside for a moment and came back with the rope.
"I'll tie it, you just keep on callin' and whistling."
"Come boy, come for bacon! Yumm!"
The gray dog walked slowly towards them, sniffing the bacon and licking his mouth, until it finally reached where Shizuru and Natsuki were kneeling. Shizuru gave him another piece of bacon and scratched behind his ears while Natsuki tied the rope on his neck.
"There, that knot won't slip so he won't be hurt. Congrats for your new dog." Natsuki handed Shizuru the rope of her stray mutt, which she grabbed proudly.
"Aww, look at this handsome boy! I have to think of a nice name for such a good looking guy." Shizuru kneeled and patted the dog's backbone. The stray dog rolled over his back for Shizuru to rub his belly, and started moving one of his back paws fastly when his new owner rubbed his tummy. Natsuki laughed out hard.
"Hey! You're gonna steal her if I'm not careful, won't ya boy?" Natsuki joked.
"Ara, don't be so selfish Natsuki, you gotta share with Boy." Shizuru joked back.
"Boy? Is that how ya gonna call him?" The cowgirl asked.
"Yeah, I like it, I think it fits him, don't you, my good Boy?" Shizuru scratched behind Boy's ears, and Boy barked, some kind of howl more likely, as agreeing with Shizuru, making the girls laugh again.
The night before.
The young woman's dream vanished when she heard a crystal breaking. She stood up and turned on the lamp on her night table. The blonde woman looked through the door's eyehole but it was too dark to see anyone.
Maybe one of the sister's need help, I should go see.
Yukariko opened the door and walked through the darkness of the corridor to the place where the sound came from.
"Hello? Anyone there, is everything okay?" The nun said out loud and kept on walking, looking for anyone in need.
"Anyone needs any help? Hello?" She repeated, and looked through the corridor, she was now next to the spiral staircase.
"You." A low voice answered, pushing her strongly downstairs. Yukariko Sanada didn't even have time to scream, she inevitably fell 'til the end of the staircase, and stayed unconscious until the morning. When a sister finally found her, she had a broken arm, severe head contusions and a broken rib that almost plunged one of her lungs. She was taken to emergencies immediatly, and barely survived.
The sheriff's deputy arrived when they noticed there was a broken window. He parked in front of Alasville Convent and examined his surroundings, but there was nothing suspicious, except the window.
"Hello, my name is Masashi Takeda, and I am the sheriff's deputy. I've been informed Yukariko Sanada apparently fell from the stairs accidentally, but there is a broken window? Is there a reason anyone would like to harm Sanada-san in any way? Was the window prompt to break for any other reason than someone breaking it?" The deputy asked the sister who found her.
"I don't believe so sir, Yukariko sensei was very caring and loving, why would any one want to hurt her this bad? About the window, yes I do believe it is strange for it to be broken, but there is no sign of struggle. Please, I will show you if you follow me, Takeda-san." the old woman walked the officer to the place. He kneeled and inspected the pieces of broken glass, but there wasn't much. He was about to stand up but then he saw it, the smallest piece of dark blue cloth in attached in a piece of glass. He took a picture of it before grabbing the glass and the cloth, with gloves on, and saving it in a re-sealable zipper plastic bag with a big yellow tag that read EVIDENCE. He stood up and showed the elder nun the evidence he gathered.
"Sister, did anyone touched the pieces of glass before I got here? Do you recognize this cloth?" the woman half-closed her eyes trying to see the piece of cloth better.
"No sir, the robe we use is completely black with white, and this is blue, so I don't believe any of us could would be the owner of this cloth." the sister said.
"Very well then, I will get a team to search for prints, I hope that's okay with you. It's for the best sister, I think this could be just an accident, but let's take it as a preventive measure, just in case it wasn't."
"Yes, of course sir, thank you for your help." the nun and the deputy walked back to the entrance and he sat inside the patrol. He grabbed the walkie-talkie.
"Here deputy Takeda, from Alasville Convent, do you copy me?" he unpressed the button.
"Hey, Yuuichi here, roger that, what's up?"
"What's up?! Can't you talk like a real deputy? Whatever… I believe the nun falling to the stairs wasn't an accident, can you send an investigation team here?" Takeda wasn't gonna let anyone disturb the peace and order he worked so hard everyday to keep, and it annoyed him deeply that Tate Yuuichi didn't take his job seriously.
"Oi, take it easy, we're in Alasville Sheriff's Department, not in fucking Chicago chasing Al Capone! I'll send it now."
"Roger, over and out." Takeda answered annoyed and hanged the radio. He walked out of the car and waited for the team to arrive.