KateiKyōshi Hitman Fujino! Welcome to the Mafia.
Chapter 2.
Slowly, the young woman with black hair stirred; beginning to drift out of her dreamland and become conscious of her surroundings. Half-sitting up, the groggy girl rubbed at the bleariness in her eyes and groaned.
"Stupid dream, I swear to never ever watch a gangster movie again..."
"Ara? I'm deeply hurt that you think of me as a stupid dream... perhaps you'd prefer a naughty dream involving me, Natsuki~?."
Startled by the other voice, Natsuki snapped her eyes open. She realized that she wasn't in her own room, rather sitting in a stranger's bed and the girl from her dream - nightmare - was in front of her, smiling.
"Where am I? I was sitting in the park, and..."
Natsuki frowned as she tried hard to recall the events that occurred right before she woke up. This nut approached me, and then I remember something hitting my head.... Natsuki turned accusing eyes on the woman as she gasped loudly.
"YOU KIDNAPPED ME?!"
A demure laugh and then a gentle sigh silenced her.
"Please be a good girl and stop saying such a foolish thing, let me explain to you properly. First, you are in your dormitory room... I brought you back here after you fainted and hit your head rather hard. Secondly, I am not a kidnapper. I am merely following my orders, and the reason I brought you here and not home was so that we could talk in private."
After sitting dumbfounded for a few moments as she soaked up this information, Natsuki swung her legs over the side of the bed and silently got up. Walking towards the small window, she looked outside and indeed saw the university campus sprawled out as far as her vision could reach. So she's not lying, I am indeed in one of the dorms, but.... what does she mean by "Your dorm"? I don't have one... unless...
Her mother's threats from earlier echoed in her head.
Mom organized a room already?!
Natsuki felt the presence of the other gracefully moving up behind her, and she turned around to face the strange woman. The expression in those rich carmine eyes was soft, and the polite smile that sat upon those equally soft-looking lips temporarily threw Natsuki off guard. An outsider would probably think that this charming young woman had only good intentions, but Natsuki would never fall into the trap. She knew that one should never trust appearances.
Deciding to withdraw from the potential threat, Natsuki swiftly side-stepped around the woman and sat back down on the bed. She swallowed deeply before speaking.
"What do you want with me?"
Shizuru attempted to reduce the distance between them and sit down beside Natsuki, but upon seeing the other girl flinch as she approached and a cautious glare thrown her way, she decided that sitting on the chair opposite the bed was a good compromise. Like the woman of etiquette she was, Shizuru crossed her legs and folded her hands upon her knees, casually glancing upwards to meet shining emeralds but instead was greeted by two orbs filled with anger and impatience.
The honey-haired woman decided to ignore Natsuki's obvious bad attitude and began her explanation.
"I came here because I was requested by the current Kruger family head, the Ninth, to train you and help you become an admirable Mafia boss."
Natsuki sweatdropped, not understanding what the woman in front of her was talking about. And frankly, who could believe such nonsense?
"I don't get it! Why me? I mean, what does this have to do with me?"
Shizuru sighed and went on.
"The Kruger family's first boss retired and crossed to Japan. He is your great, great, great... and so on... grandfather. In other words, since you inherited the Kruger blood, you are a legitimate candidate to become the next boss."
Natsuki stared back at the calm woman, confusion and distrust apparent. She just wasn't buying it.
"I've never heard about this." With a frown, the teen continued.
"Anyway, I'm not interested."
Seeing the frustration on Natsuki's face, the hitman stood up and approached the young woman, putting on her best smile and reassuring the girl with a warm tone of voice.
"Do not worry, as your tutor I will train you to become a great Mafia boss and everything will be alright. Just trust me, Natsuki, I am the best at my job."
The dark haired woman was not fooled by the placid air of her enemy, life had taught her that she should never give her trust and always keep her guard up. She narrowed her eyes and spoke coldly.
"I don't remember hiring you."
The young Kuga saw the indignant look cross the other woman's face; for a moment she had felt as though the roles had changed and she was now the bad one, but she quickly kicked the thought out and remembered that all of this started because of what this Fujino had done to her.
Enough playing around. Natsuki could not sit idly in the company of this psychopath, though nor did she want to fight against someone who clearly has mental problems. However, she deduced that it was the only way to escape this nightmare, therefore her strategy was to disrupt her opponent with a surprise attack and winning herself enough time to flee and get home. With a malicious smile, she prepared herself to execute her plan.
... Unfortunately for Natsuki, Fujino Shizuru was not someone you could take down easily.
As soon as the muscles in Natsuki's arm twitched, preparing to swing upwards and strike the so-called "Hitman tutor", her opponent had moved with inhuman speed and grasped both of her wrists, flinging them behind her back and pinning her to the bed. Natsuki was stunned as she tried to register the movement - this woman had managed to turn the attack to her favour in just a fraction of a second!
"Ara! How rude of you to attack me like this! Did you really believe that you would be able to defeat me!? Have I not told you that I am a trained hitman?"
"Well it was worth a shot, right?" Said the raven haired women with a sarcastic smirk on her face, her struggling attempts dying gradually as she realised that the woman above her had her in a full lock position that she wouldn't be able to break out of. Damn.
The hitman leaned closer to Natsuki, her breath was tickling Natsuki's chin as Shizuru regarded her with a teasing yet chiding look in her eyes. Natsuki gulped and felt her face heat up against her will as her opponent moved up to better make eye-contact with her before she broke Natsuki's dazed state with a quiet piece of advice.
"Ara, such an impertinent child, you need also know that those who sow the wind reap the whirlwind. It is not good to be reckless, lest you put your family in danger."
When Natsuki heard that her family could be in danger because of her, she quickly closed her eyes, breathed deeply and stopped struggling altogether. She started trying to think calmly of a way to avoid putting her mother at risk - Natsuki didn't care about what happened to her, but what mattered the most was protecting her family. She gave in.
"Alright... I won't attack you again, but please keep my mom out of this, she has nothing to do with this..."
Her words apparently convinced her enemy and soon her arms were free and the other woman moved back. Sitting up again, Natsuki turned to talk to the hitman eye to eye but was surprised to see on Shizuru's face a bright smile that would have made even the most gifted TV presenter envious. Her chirpy attitude pissed Natsuki off immensely.
"So it's a game for you, huh? But you know what, you are messing around with the wrong person. I will never let you lay a finger on my mother, you will have to kill me first." Natsuki said in a threatening voice to the woman in front of her. Shizuru sighed exasperatedly. I will certainly have to kill, eventually... The blonde woman held her student's gaze.
"Like I thought, it is too much information for you to absorb in such a short amount of a time. Very well, you can go home, but promise me that you will think about our talk."
This woman was certainly playing with her nerves; how can she let her leave just like that!? While it was illogical, Natsuki decided to not ruin a golden opportunity like this. Without saying a word, she rose and walked towards the door but a voice stopped her.
"Ara? Have you not forgotten something?"
Natsuki did not bother to turn around and said in a quiet, husky voice:
"I promise."
Once home, she ran toward the kitchen frantically searching for her mother, eyes brimming with worried tears when she failed to spot her mother immediately. Walking through the doorway carrying a tray, Saeko was nearly bowled over as her usually unemotional daughter flung herself at her and wrapped her arms around her tightly.
"Wha-? Natsuki? Are you alright sweetie?"
"Yeah mom, I'm alright now… Please forgive me for what I said this morning, I will not yell again and I will protect you no matter what, I promise."
Saeko sweatdropped as she awkwardly shifted the tray into one hand so she could gently place her free one around Natsuki's shoulders.
"Silly daughter... What on earth are you talking about?"
"Nothing mom, it's... nothing."
To avoid alarming her mother, Natsuki decided that it would be wiser to keep secret what happened to her. She spent the rest of the evening in the kitchen keeping company to her mom, she could not help with the cooking since she had not inherited her mother's culinary skills but staying in her family's warmth was all she wanted.
- Meanwhile-
Observing the mother and daughter eating dinner through the kitchen window, a pair of piercing purple eyes was watching them from the shadows outside. They lingered especially on the younger girl, who was copiously pouring mayonnaise over her food.
"So that is... next Kruger candidate, Kuga Natsuki."
A/N: I was truly surprised to see that many of you have liked this story, I was expecting that you will all find terribly awful, but I'm glad that I have gotten a good reviews and constructive criticisms, thank you.
A great Thanks to komett for beta-ing this chapter, she did an awesome job.
komett: No worries, it's my first time being a beta... I hope I did it right ^_^;; In any case, it's easier than writing my own stories :P