I'm pretty excited today, I got my hands on a copy of the Last of Us and I can't wait to get to it! It has been a long time since I have been this excited for a game, I miss the feeling. Well, any ways here is number seven.

Disclaimer: Are we still debating this?

[Chap7]

Natsuki sat at the club with Mai as they waited for Nao to come back to the table with refreshments. All of the room mates were celebrating again, this time it was for Natsuki's new found momentum at work. After her first sale Natsuki began to open up and grow. The last few weeks had Natsuki feeling like she might actually pull her job off.

"You saw your dad at the office?" A nod, "This is very disturbing, he was pretty upset with you the last time." Mai said vaguely.

"He's always upset with me, Mai." Natsuki said unimpressed.

Mai frowned. Natsuki's dad had always been a difficult man to say the least. He wasn't a man of many words unless he lost his temper and whenever that occurred… Mai herself had only been witness to that event once and it had been very unpleasant.

"That's not even the worst thing," Natsuki paused, "He was total trying to set me on fire with his glare and then he went straight to my boss' office and started yelling at him! I don't know what they talked about, but it didn't sound good."

"Have you talked to your boss about it?"

"I've tried but he always changes the topic. I don't know if that's good or bad." Natsuki remembered the times she had asked about it, her boss would get the 'deer caught in headlights' look and brush the topic aside. The man would not tell her and hell had not frozen over enough to get her to approach he dad about it. Natsuki glanced at her phone; she couldn't even remember the last time her dad had called her. Did she still have his number?

"It's too bad you had to see him on the day of your first sale, which, might I remind you, is the reason we are here celebrating?" Mai pointed out, extending a hand besides her as if Natsuki had forgotten that they were out getting drinks. "I'm trying to buy you a drink and all you've ordered is rum-less coke."

Speaking of that, Natsuki took a sip of her coke, "You know I've cut back after-" Natsuki cut herself off before slipping. She felt a familiar color rise on her face and immediately attempted to hide it. It was pointless though and Natsuki could only hope that the lights where dim enough to cover it, since apparently she couldn't trust herself. "-it almost cost me my job…" She finished lamely.

If Mai noticed her slip she did not show, instead she teased, "Yeah, you came in late on your first day. That's pretty bad, even for you!"

Natsuki scoffed, "And believe me, I have yet to live it down!"

Natsuki reached for her coke again. "Natsuki, I've been meaning to ask you something," Mai waited for her friend's attention before continuing, Natsuki gave her the 'go' before taking another sip, "Other than finding your rhythm at work… have you met anyone interesting?"

Natsuki paused with the cup tipped over her mouth, "Lots of people, everyone is pretty lively over there." She evaded; she knew what her busty friend meant of course, yet that wasn't a topic Natsuki wanted to have with a buzzed Mai. Honestly, for all of her wisdom, Mai was a hopeless romantic, give her a hint and she'll tear you bare for the whole story.

Mai huffed. "I meant interesting, interesting Natsuki." She made quotation marks with her hands, "Come on, you know what I meant!"

Natsuki sighed, looks like she has to shut down this conversation, "How're you and Tate doing?" That should work; those two always had something going wrong with their rocky relationship and Mai would jump at any chance to unload.

Mai eyed her slightly put off, she had figured out a while ago that Natsuki would use her relationship whenever she wanted to dodge a subject and she didn't know what to think about it still but for now- she put on a smug smirk- it would fail, "We've actually been doing great lately,"

Natsuki closed her eyes, well damn; if she couldn't even use Tate as a distraction then what good was he? Maybe she should have gotten wasted if this was the conversation they were having.

Mai's gaze continued as she spoke slowly, "I was just wondering if you felt more comfortable at work, if you'd made friends other than Nao."

"Mai that's ridiculous, Nao is not my friend."

Mai ignored her, "And you won't answer, is anyone giving you trouble?" She pondered out loud, "Or maybe there is someone?"

"There isn't"

"It's not that guy Nao always teases you about s it?" Mai thought for a second, "What was his name? She says he's got a scar…"

Natsuki almost shuddered at the mere thought, "Ugh, Mai it's not Takeda."

Mai snapped her fingers, "That's it! You sure?"

Natsuki nodded quickly.

"Good, honestly from what Nao's told me about him I don't think I could get along with him." Mai said relieved as Natsuki agreed. Mai tried again however, "Although, if it had to him I guess I could try to-"

"It's not him!" Natsuki cut her off.

Mai laughed, she then proceeded to name every person whom she heard her two roommates talk about at home. She watched Natsuki's face turn from amused- at the thought of some like Aoi and Chie- to disturbed when names like Maria's popped up. Hell, she even threw Mr. Fujino in the picture.

Natsuki found herself chuckling at some, if anything Mai was a great listener.

Mai whipped a tear from her eye, "I'm running out of names here, help me out!" She reached the bottom of her glass, good thing Nao was bringing the next round. Mai searched through her memory for anyone she might have missed. Natsuki always made these conversations difficult. "Ohh, I know who I missed-"

Natsuki looked up, waiting to see who Mai would amuse her with next as she too emptied her coke.

"-or could it be that you are corrupting little Shizuru?" She added dramatically.

Before she knew it, Natsuki found her soda going in the wrong direction. She started coughing violently as her lungs expelled the liquid. Mai jumped and reached to pat Natsuki's back.

'How does Mai even remember Shizuru? Nao only mentioned her once!'

"Natsuki, are you ok?!" She handed her friend water, "Here!"

Natsuki wasn't paying attention to her though as Mai's word echoed in her head. 'Corrupting…' Her cough slowed to a stop as the water helped. Natsuki couldn't believe she let the conversation stray like that; maybe she should have let Mai believe it was Takeda. "Geez Mai, you really think I'm desperate enough to chase a kid around?"

"I was joking…" Mai defended.

"I know, I know." Natsuki cleared her throat, she noticed Nao walking back, "took me by surprise is all." She said quietly.

Mai however, noticed the way Natsuki's body sagged, her friends shoulders slumped and her back slouched. The red head noticed the way her friend curled into her seat she was about to comment when Nao stepped in distracting her so instead Mai cheered as her next drink was placed before hear while Natsuki welcomed Nao's complaint about the wait at the bar. As the conversation changed, Natsuki pushed her darkening thoughts out of her head.

[Chap7]

"I'm glad we came here, you have no idea how long we've been looking."

Natsuki shook the woman's hand before shaking her husband's. She handed them the keys as she put the paper work in order.

"Every time I like something she always complains." The man said lightly as his wife slapped his shoulder.

She mock glared at him, "That's because all you ever think about is yourself!"

They shared a few more line of banter before turning to Natsuki again, "I'm just happy we had something in our stock that accommodates you both." She said charmingly. This couple made her third sale of the week, if she kept up pace maybe she could get in the top ten.

"Yeah, now we can show it off!" He gave a thumbs up as his wife groaned.

"Is that all you ever think about?"

He looked at Natsuki and put his hand up next to his mouth as if he was speaking a secret, "Se what I mean with all the hate?"

Natsuki smiled and put her hands up, backing off and not taking sides. The couple quickly finished their banter and left in their car. Natsuki walked towards her desk, she noticed Nao coming up behind her.

"Another sale, huh? Nice, you're doing good." Nao congratulated.

Natsuki put the paperwork in her desk for now, "Thanks, It's about time for lunch, you ready?"

Nao shook her head, "I gotta pass. There are a few more things I have to take care of."

Natsuki rolled her eyes, "Come on, you can't still be upset about your rank."

"Maybe I just want to better myself." Nao crossed her arms and turned her nose up.

Natsuki turned back to her desk, "In that case, my bad, you have a long way to go. Good luck, miracles happen once in a while."

"This is exactly why we can't have nice things, mutt…" Nao growled.

Natsuki turned to her friend, "You got third place Nao, and there are plenty of people below you, hell I didn't even place! Why can't you be satisfied?"

"You talk as if beating you is monumental," Natsuki was about to yell but Nao continued, "Look, I just want to do this, ok? I don't want to slack off and fall down the chart."

Natsuki looked at her friend seriously, "Nao you're talented at this. You are not going to just drop out of the blue but if this is your way of making sure, have at it."

Nao stood with eyes wider than usual, the mutt just complemented her. Wow. "Erm, well thanks…"

"Anytime." Natsuki stood, "I'm going to get going though, I want to make it in time for the afternoon rush." They called it a rush, but the amount of people that walked in only increases moderately. Still, Natsuki wanted to see if she could maybe bag another sale today. Two in one day, that sounded great.

"Yeah, latter." Nao walked off.

Maybe she should bring a book from now on if she going to have lunch by herself more often, that ought to kill the time.

[Chap7]

Natsuki was bored; it was lunch time and she was alone at the table. Not that she minded but usually Nao was there to keep her company, instead her friend was still obsessing over last month's ranking. It was odd to have a day free of Nao at work.

She checked her phone tiredly. No new messages.

Natsuki put it away; of course she wasn't expecting anything else. She turned to her food again and heard a chair in front of her move. Natsuki looked up and saw Shizuru sittings across from her. She didn't notice she was staring until the girl eyed her with amusement, "Ara, hello Natsuki."

"Um, hi." Shizuru didn't make it a habit to come in until after lunch usually, unless they had an early meeting or something. Not to mention that the younger girl was sitting at her table as if it was a normal thing they did.

Shizuru didn't take her eyes away from Natsuki, "You look confused." Then she proceeded to get her lunch out.

Natsuki cleared her throat, "You don't usually come in this early, what's the occasion?"

Shizuru paused for a slight second, it was a small pause but older one caught it, Natsuki had a feeling that whatever it was that Shizuru had expected her to say, that last line wasn't it. Shizuru hummed as she continued to put her food on the table, Natsuki didn't say anything else and instead waited for the girl to speak again. That is how conversation goes, after all.

"My grandmother pulled me out of school today." Was all that Shizuru said with her eyes closed and shoulders slumping.

Now it was Natsuki's turn to look amused, like any other teenager it looks like Shizuru sounded bored just remembering it. "So what did granny have you do, mark her bingo board?"

A corner of Shizuru's mouth lifted briefly. "I wish," She pulled out a drink, "She gave me a project instead."

That sounded weird, "Don't you have school for homework, already?" Shizuru also had extracurricular activities and the office work to boot, why would her grandma add more to it? Now that Natsuki thought about it, Shizuru was a very busy girl, Natsuki couldn't remember a time that she herself had so many things pilling up at the same time. College came close but it was only because of the many deadlines and work from different subjects at once

"My grandmother likes to keep me busy, she says it builds character." Shizuru answered.

Natsuki snorted, she could think of at least one solid example of why that logic failed, "All it does is make you bitter." She blurted, unconsciously reaching for her phone. The words escaped her mouth before she knew it and Natsuki found herself looking away, this conversation didn't need to go there. She missed Shizuru stare, the way the younger girl seemed to study her and instead decided to keep the conversation rolling, "What's it to her? How busy can she possibly be?"

Shizuru tilted her head and thought about it for a bit, "I figure that as the head of the family her days are still very long."

"Are you serious? Here I thought she'd have retired and passed the title on to one of your parents." Natsuki couldn't picture herself being in granny Fujino's shoes and not have passed the torch on by now, she had capable people to take over, if Mr. Fujino keeping his business successful was anything to go by.

"Easy is not her style, I'm afraid." Shizuru shook her head, "I've been going to naginata and tea serving lessons because of her since I can remember." She remembered the reasons her grandmother had given her for those lessons, balance in opposites. While the naginata would make her strong and sharp, tea serving would make her smooth and patient. Eventually her grandmother would push more things onto her like learning music and encourage her-strongly- to join the student council.

"Really?" Natsuki was surprised to hear that as she looked at the girl in front of her, Shizuru was a very diverse individual, she shouldered responsibility outstandingly well.

"Really." Shizuru said softly. Wanting to move on from her grandmother, she continued. "Ara, didn't Natsuki's parents ever encourage her in any hobbies?"

The question instantly made memories pop up in Natsuki's head, "Of course! My… My dad especially, he used to take me to the shooting range." She saw Shizuru's disbelief though her eyes, "I'd watch him at first. Shooting would relax him."

The older of the two noticed the interest taking over Shizuru's face at hearing that. After the girl's run in with her dad though, Natsuki couldn't blame her; it was hard to picture a man like Shinobu ever taking an activity easy.

Natsuki remembered staring from her chair as her dad took aim carefully, 'Watch closely Natsuki, I'll get this one right between the eyes!' She would wait eagerly while he took his time, probably just to make the anticipation in her grow and keep Natsuki on the edge of her seat. He would close one eye and just as he had said, the bullet would always hit its mark. Natsuki had never met a better shooter.

"I used to just sit in the corner until one day, I asked him to teach me." Natsuki recalled the happiness on his face at the time, the way he quickly unloaded the firearm and told her that the first lesson was to get to know her gun. He truly had been a simpler man back then. "We would shoot together ever since. It was the only time we'd never get into an argument."

"You must have looked forward to it then." Shizuru said.

Natsuki nodded, "I did." 'Once we lost that, there wasn't much that kept our relationship steady.' Gloom started to fall on Natsuki over the memories. It took months after they stopped shooting but in that short time years of bonding were ruined.

"Do you still shoot?"

Natsuki shook the thoughts away, "Yeah, every now and then."

Shizuru spoke carefully, "Then maybe one day you'll both find each other again in the same shooting range." She began eating.

Natsuki turned to the girl, confused at the assumption, "I don't know about that, we haven't gone in a while." It had been years since her father shared those moments with her, the man probably carried on as if nothing had changed and Natsuki was fine with that. Hell, Natsuki herself had moved on, she'd gone into the range by herself plenty of times by now. The thought annoyed her.

"That's a shame; your father must miss it too."

The simplicity of the words made Natsuki freeze, she had never really thought about it like that. All that she knew was how it affected her and how her dad just went back to work like nothing happened. He always bounced back easily. "Naww, you're giving him too much credit." She finished bitterly. Natsuki didn't notice the way her glare fell into place nor how tight her spine had become.

Shizuru looked at her; she saw Natsuki's hands tightening into fists and all of the changes in the bluenette's body. "Then I apologize, I did not mean to bring up such a topic."

Natsuki blinked, her irritation washing away quickly and letting her notice the way that her body reacted. "What? You had no way of knowing. It's ok."

Natsuki slowly loosened up. She would avoid talking about her dad usually simply because the irritation that followed was not worth it.

Shizuru leaned towards her, putting her utensils down and for some reason Natsuki found herself leaning back a bit as the girl eyed her. The look in Shizuru's eyes was one that the older woman had never seen before.

"It's not," Shizuru started, "From the beginning I could tell that Natsuki was not comfortable with the conversation yet I still pursued."

Natsuki reached to loosen the collar of her shirt. Shizuru was just a teen; there was no way that she could be that sharp right? Try as she might, Natsuki knew that she was only trying to fool herself, the girl before her was easily one of the most mature people that she knew. Her best friends were Mai and Nao though, so perhaps the bar was too low?

"I had thought that you enjoyed speaking about your father but after my last comment I realized I was mistaken." Shizuru looked directly into the older ones eyes.

Natsuki was not a person used to being read. In fact she was so used to being misread that she even built a mechanism to stop it from happening. Her usual indifference and frigid attitude was usually enough to keep the unwanted analyzers away and she liked it that way. Yet, as she stared at the girl in front of her, Natsuki couldn't help but worry; had she revealed too much?

Natsuki was so deep in her introspection that she did not notice the way her silence was affecting Shizuru. The brunette was stiff, waiting for an answer that was not coming. As the silence stretched Shizuru gave up and settled, she sat back on her chair. "A-ara, kanina Natsuki."

Natsuki on the other hand was trying to think of all of her recent interactions and how they played out. Nothing was different, from dealing with idiots like takeda that thought they had her all figured out to talking with her room mates and always directing when a conversation was getting too deep. That's where Natsuki noticed it; she always knew when to stop talking or how to change the topic in a flash. She knew how to keep her secrets.

Then she thought about all of her conversations with Shizuru, she always spoke too fast or said too much… the girl had a way of getting things out of her. Natsuki felt alarms going off in her head. That's when she felt her face heating up; she could almost picture the blood turning her red.

She saw Shizuru's mouth move to speak and instantly, Natsuki stood and slammed her lunch closed. It was louder than she had expected; it made Shizuru wince. "My lunch is over." Her voice was lower than she had wanted it to be, too. Natsuki didn't look back as she made her way out of the room, forcing her pace to be slow in an attempt to appear a little normal.

Stunned, Shizuru could do nothing more than sit alone at the table feeling thoroughly defeated.

[Chap7]

Well here's another one. Things are slowly rolling along now! Well, as always, drop me a line and thanks for making it this far.