If Monday had been confusing, I'm not sure how I would classify Tuesday. I had expected for Naru to tell me to go shopping, as Mori-san had told me he would.
And he did.
But I did not expect for him to accompany me.
Nor did I expect him to drag me into a shop that there was no way I could ever afford.
If I was to be perfectly honest with myself, I hated shopping. Or rather, I hated shopping with other people there and watching me. I hated the look they got in their eyes when I picked something I liked and that they thought was awful. But Naru did not let me pick at all.
The first shop was full of traditional kimonos. All of them made from satin or silk and there wasn't a price tag in sight. I remembered something my mother had once told me: if you had to ask the price, you couldn't afford it.
"You are unmarried, so I supposed a furisode wouldn't be completely inappropriate." He muttered as he perused the silks. He had already waved away the eager assistant and I was stood rather awkwardly in the middle of the shop, too afraid to touch anything.
"But girls don't wear them until they come of age and legally can marry." I replied quietly.
"Girls can marry at the age of 16 with parental consent."
"Beside the point; try this on." He waved the assistant over and indicated the folded fabric. The assistant pulled me into the changing rooms and assisted with the kimono. It was pale pink embroidered with delicate gold flowers. The pattern was suited for spring, not winter, not that I expected Naru to understand that. It had the long sleeves as expected of the furisode style.
Once the assistant had tied the rich purple obi, she pushed me back into the main shop to show Naru. To be honest, I felt slightly ridiculous. If I had to wear a kimono of any sort I wanted to wear my mother's which fit me beautifully. Of course it wasn't nearly as nice as this one and had a few frays because it'd been passed down for so long but…
"Perfect." He said, looking me up and down once with his cold gaze before turning back to the assistant. "Arrange for it to be folded correctly and have all the relevant accessories with it, we'll be back in two hours for it."
Once I had changed back into my usual clothes, Naru led me out of the shop and down the street.
"I can't afford that kimono Naru!" I complained.
"You aren't paying for it." He replied simply.
"Why? Why are you doing this?" I asked as I hurried alongside him.
"To keep you safe." He said.
"Surely not coming at all is safer!"
"No. The police have already dragged you in once."
I continued to protest, but he stopped answering my questions. I sighed and gave up. Naru dragged me into another store and forced me to try on several smart daywear dresses. I felt like some sort of doll, being pushed around and into outfits for his amusement.
He ended up purchasing five different dresses and a few jackets to wear over them. They were the sort of thing I imagine one would wear to see stern grandparents in or for an interview. They weren't quite business wear, but not really every day either.
Next was a shop full of western style ball gowns. Again, there was a lack of price tags. I waited with my arms folded as Naru browsed.
"Wait." He said suddenly. I looked round to see him smirking. It wasn't his usual smirk, it looked slightly more dangerous. Before I could ask anything, he turned to the waiting assistant and spoke. "Take her to the changing rooms and blindfold her, I want it to be a surprise."
Scowling, I did as I was told and let the confused assistant cover my eyes with a strip of fabric. I had to admit, changing without being able to see anything was a pain in the butt. Not to mention awkward when the assistant informed me I would have to remove my bra.
Ten very difficult minutes later and after the assistant had laced me into some sort of bodice; she guided me out of the changing rooms. I could feel the fabric of the skirt brushing against things as I walked and could feel how smooth the fabric was, but I had no idea what on earth I looked like. This man enjoyed frustrating me too much.
"Beautiful." I heard him say.
"Can I look now?" I asked, unable to keep the annoyance out of my voice.
"In a minute." His voice suddenly sounded a lot closer. I felt large warm hands on my bare shoulders that gently turned me around. He gently released the blindfold from my eyes.
It took a few seconds for my eyes to readjust to the light, but when they did; my mouth fell open at the sight in the mirror.
I did not look like myself. The plain bodice gave my body more shape than I thought possible. It gave me a waist and the illusion of some cleavage. The full skirt, propped up by petticoats, was long and though it trailed slightly on the floor, made me look a little taller. Or perhaps I was just holding myself differently. There were no fancy details on the dress; it was just made of plain uninterrupted blood red satin that shimmered in the light so that some parts looked as dark as the night sky.
I did not look like the awkward 16 year old girl that I was, but a confident young woman.
Without realising it, tears had come to my eyes.
"Don't cry."
I looked up at his reflection, and then turned to face him for real.
"Yasuhara taught you to dance." He stated. "Show me." Naru held out his arms and I took up the position, ignoring the fact that I had bare feet. The skirt of the dress pushed backwards as I moved closer to him.
"He complained that I wouldn't let him lead." I said. "And he said that's why I kept tripping, because I wasn't following his signals."
"I don't intend to let you make the same mistake." Naru replied in a low voice. And he didn't. Though gentle, he led our dance with more force than Yasuhara-san had done the previous night. I could feel my body trying to make mistakes and yet he guided me out of them as we danced to a mental 1-2-3 rhythm. After a minute or so of silence dancing, my eyes never leaving his, he twirled me around and drew me in a lot closer than we had been when dancing.
I stared up at him with wide eyes and instantly regretted the harsh words of only a few days before; right now, I wanted nothing more than for him to kiss me.
His eyes were gazing into my own with such intensity that I was afraid to speak, almost afraid to breathe. I wasn't sure how long we stood like that before he released me.
I let a small smile grace my lips as I curtsied.
"We'll take it." He said to the assistant, who had watched the entire thing without batting an eyelid.
The assistant helped me out of the dress and informed us it would be ready to take away in a minimum of an hour.
"We'll return then."
"Where are going now?" I asked as he dragged me out of the shop.
"Mai, I have seen every single pair of pyjamas you own and none of them are suitable."
"Excuse me!" I exclaimed, causing several people to look round in alarm. "And what exactly am I going to be doing in my pyjamas?!" I hissed.
"Hopefully, sleeping." He replied darkly. "But if someone knocks on your door at night, you cannot answer it in Hello Kitty pyjamas."
"Why not?" I asked indignantly.
"Because it's utterly ridiculous."
And before I knew I was being pushed into yet another store and my face was turning red. Half the store was extremely risqué lingerie, and the other half was sleepwear. Why on earth had he picked this shop of all shops?!
I looked around at him for an answer, but he was smirking again, obviously amused by how mortified I was.
"Jerk." I muttered.
"We can buy you underwear too if you want." He said seriously with mirth dancing in his eyes.
"My underwear is just fine."
"I would beg to differ."
"And why would your opinion on my underwear matter to anyone?" I growled. But my frustration only seemed to gratify him further. "You self-satisfied narcissistic arse."
"I think you'll find that your embarrassment is the thing satisfying me right now. And considering I have spent the whole morning ensuring you look good, I would hardly think that 'narcissistic' is an appropriate choice of insult."
"So you admit you're an arse?" I countered quickly. Naru rolled his eyes.
Twenty minutes later, after Naru had made a few more decisions without asking for my opinion, we left the store and headed to a café for lunch.
"Are you going to be wearing traditional dress too?" I asked as we ate.
"Of course, as will Lin." He smirked at the thought.
"Will you dance with me at the ball?"
"You are going to be Yasuhara's partner." He replied; his smirk fading as he looked away.
"So?"
"It would be unwise. He will look after you."
"He said you would protect me."
"I am."
"Protect me from what?" I asked and he looked round. He stared into my eyes for a long time and I realised from the confusion in his eyes that he wasn't even sure himself of what he was protecting me from.
It wasn't until later, that I wondered if he was protecting me from himself.
And it wasn't until I was at home with my bags of shopping that I decided it was him who might need protection from me. I had made to hang up my new clothes to keep them smart before the weekend, and in the bag with my new pyjamas – that were made of soft midnight blue silk – was more than one set of matching and very tasteful lingerie.
I was going to murder him.
Right after I had found a way to stop my face burning.
"What are you grinning about?" Lin asked from his position in a chair by the window.
"I am not grinning." Naru scowled. Lin rolled his eyes.
"Yes you are. You are pulling the exact face you used to pull after pulling some sort of prank on unsuspecting person." Naru sniggered slightly and looked back down at his book. "Was it Taniyama-san?" Again, Naru did not respond. "What did you do to her?"
"I just brought her a few presents."
"What sort of presents?" Lin was pursing his lips.
"Just something that would make her blush." Naru smirked again. "She'll probably still be red faced tomorrow."
"You need to stop." Lin replied seriously.
"Stop what?"
"Toying with her." He replied. "Stop now, before you fall for her."
"As if you can talk." Naru said bitterly. "I see how you look at Madoka and so does she."
"Madoka is a grown woman who is fully aware of the situation, not a sixteen year old girl."
"Stop looking down on her because of her age, she's only a year younger than me. She has experienced hardships that some grown adults have not." Naru said coldly. "She is as tough as any of us."
"Naru, you know as well as I do that we will not be here much longer. You have commitments and she cannot be part of them." Lin said. "I know how it feels to care for someone you can't have and it hurts. Don't do it. Don't do it to either of you."
"I'm not doing anything."
"Of course you're not." Lin stood up. "But I would have thought that you of all people would know how dangerous it is in this trade to love someone. Goodnight." And he retreated for his bedroom.
Naru watched the man leave and scowled before attempting, without much conviction, to return his thoughts to his book.
Author's note:
"How u a trek so long wid mi story" - What does this even mean Amanda?! I mean I think I would translate that as "how do you take so long with my story" but it's not your story so that can't be right... Please try and articulate yourself more carefully, I am happy to answer your questions but I need to understand them first!
But anyway, onto happier things.
EVERYONE has to go and read the oneshot that AmyNChan wrote for this story. It's not cannon to this story, but it's existence made me so happy. So go and check it out because its really good, its in her Ghost Hunt Oneshots story, chapter 25. I always thought that if I ever wrote something properly and had it published, I would judge my ability on whether or not it was 'fanfiction' worthy. As in, someone else wrote fanfiction for it. And now AmyNChan has written fanfiction for my fanfiction... *excuses self for a minute while I squeal a bit more*.
Okay, calmed down now!
I hope you enjoyed the bit of fluff in this chapter, because the next chapter will be them heading to a creepy old mansion for a suspicious ball...
Please review with your thoughts and predictions! And then go check out the oneshot! And her other stories! :P