This is an idea I've been messing around for a while. I was fiddling in my mind to make it work but I ended up getting the whole thing done in a night.

Function Pair

All she could do was sigh looking at the half full glass of white wine in front of her. The music was just loud enough to register as comfortable background music but not loud enough to block out attempts of holding a conversation. She would rather prefer the obnoxiously loud music due to how much she gets spoken too at these functions. As the most mobile of the members of the Shirogane family, she was obligated to attend all of these events to keep up the appearance. The downside to all of this is the formal attire and she couldn't really hide her gender at these events. So Naoto did her best to try and fade into the background, not attract attention and wait the evening away so she could go home, hold a good book and cuddle with her boyfriend.

Unfortunately due to how important the current function she was attending, she had a formal dark blue dress with a slit along the revealing half a leg with the dress with a medium low cut showing a hint of cleavage. It was just enough of to bring all sorts of unwanted attention as various men in the room eyed her up unapologetically. With a hint of make up giving a little more colour to her cheeks, lips and eyes, it made her feel more like a glamour model than a representative of the Shirogane Estate, irony being Rise would be proud of her if she saw her like this. It made her growl in frustration, even more annoyed that her significant other couldn't be with her to keep her company and keep all of these prying eyes away, the things she did to keep her private life and work life separate. In a grumble she leaned on her elbow, wanting nothing more than to be at home, not caring if she looked undignified.

"Gods I hate it here…" The Sleuth muttered to no one.

"Shirogane-san?" Naoto begrudgingly looked up. Slightly annoyed that someone wanted to speak to her.

"Oh, hello Mahara-san," The response had as much politeness as she could muster right now, which was that much. The well dressed, black haired man with glasses in front of her was the head of the detective department in Osaka. He was relatively younger than a lot of the other guys here but he was still 5 years her senior. While she didn't have any incredibly deep ill will towards him, he had a tendency to have his head up his ass as Naoto would describe it.

"How come you are sitting on your own? Networking not going well?" His expression had a hint of a smile at how exasperated she looked. Naoto only scoffed.

"Not like I would want to network, nothing here would improve my life anyway." The comment shrugged off his mock concern, close to blowing him off entirely.

"It's a shame, we know how well regarded the Shirogane dynasty is in the world of police work. Seems like you just need someone to assist you in the daily life of being a detective." His suggestion at face value may have seemed like concern but she could sense the innuendo in his tone. It did nothing but make her annoyed but she took the bait anyway.

"What are you implying Mahara-san?" Biting back the acidic undertone from her voice, she made it sound openly curious, wanting him to explain his reasoning.

Seeing him shift in posture almost like he was inviting him to join her, if anything, that annoyed her however.

"My offer from before has not changed at all. I'm hoping that you have interest especially with how much work the Shirogane Estate takes on. Maybe some normalcy-"

"Save it," Naoto's words came out a little sharper than she would like. She took a moment to decompress before she continued knowing it could come off really badly. She may have not wanted to be here but she still had a reputation to uphold. "With all due respect Mahara-san I don't think that's needed for someone like me. As I've already said to you and countless others, I'm not interested in teaming up with anyone unless I trust them and unfortunately…"

Quickly she scanned the room; while she tried to be polite about it she couldn't help but feel disgust at being around the people in this function. A majority look down on her for being a woman, some had even ties to criminal organisations and others see her as a pay day or a life of a famous name through her Shirogane heritage. The person she was speaking to being in the latter category.

"…There aren't many people I would trust with my life, and if I don't trust them with my life how can I trust them to work with me?"

The question was philosophical, made to provoke some thought into why she was the way she was but Mahara was seemingly uninterested in her personal insight and work ethic.

"I think you are just too uptight about things. Maybe you should just lower your guard a bit and let things flow."

The answer just made Naoto sigh internally so hard she almost choked.

"I've seen and experienced things that you couldn't have possibly fathomed. Once you have that you will quickly learn why I am as defensive as I am." He raised his eye brow curiously, seemingly laughing off her past.

"It can't be that bad, everyone here has dealt with things like this unless there is something specific with the Shirogane Estate, and if that is the case then my offer still stands." She couldn't help shaking her head disapprovingly before her social filter came out.

"Why are you so interested in me?" She had to ask, she was sure she had asked this before but she probably blocked the answer out of her mind. Something about it probably irked her more than she expected.

His smile turned sly, thinking he was putting on his charm. Something about that expression just made her upset and feel awful.

"You are successful and a hard worker and not to mention you are definitely easy on the eyes…"

Naoto grimaced but played it off as a cough.

Eww…

"It's hard not to be interested in you all things considered." Naoto's raised eye brow showed she wasn't entirely impressed by his reasoning. Finally deciding she had enough she sat up right, feeling now is the best place to make a stand about this.

"So if that's the case, what makes you any different from anyone else here? What you talk to me about is no different to anyone else that drops by with this. Also since we are already here, if this is your ability to court me then I can say with a guarantee that it isn't working."

She could see his face pull a mock frown, but unperturbed by her words.

"Well you keep a private life Shirogane-san but it's not that private, it's been noted you've been single for years outside of that high school fling you seemed to have." Ok that one brought a sly smile from Naoto, wondering where this was going.

"Oh how come you know about that?" His frown turned back into grin.

"You are not the closed book you think you are, it also made local news at the time so it was pretty public." Naoto shrugged, for a moment forgetting this was a high class event, shades of her beloved shining through.

Seemingly Mahara ignored it the gesture and carried on. "Also unlike all of these fools around here they would never care to learn who you are. Also let's be honest most people here are either pass their prime or trying make themselves relevant again. I like to pride myself on being different, and if we could speak loosely for a moment they are just too old and mostly overweight."

Naoto couldn't help but snort like a dragon at that comment. Even she could admit that was pretty funny. The fact still remains that his company in her space was wearing seriously thin. Unfortunately her response spurred him on, thinking he was making progress.

"The only person you seem to be close with is that assistant of yours. I've seen him in passing occasionally when you're working in the area but you tend to keep him at arm's length, this is the reason why I think you just haven't found someone you could connect with." Naoto's sly smile grew a little more.

"And who's to say I don't connect with my assistant?" The look in his eyes challenged her.

"I wouldn't imagine you of all people sleeping with your assistant. You are far more proper than that, and mixing work like that is beneath you."

Naoto didn't back down. "But what if I did?"

She saw the flash of surprise in his eyes and what she was hinting at. "You wouldn't?"

"Who's to say if I did or didn't. You claim to know that you know me, more than the other people here and I must admit we go through this spiel every time we do this. But if you can't answer that then you don't know me well enough. Also why would it matter anyway, surely the Shirogane name means more than that to you no?"

Mahara's laugh was one of slight nervousness, seemingly caught on the back foot of his own words.

"Anyway if there is anything else that you would want to add to your case, I would put it in an e-mail because I don't think this attempt is going anywhere." She picked up her half filled glass of wine and downed it in one go, seemingly shocking the slightly older detective momentarily. "On that note…"

The sleek watch on her wrist bleeped loud enough that it alerted multiple people around them. Naoto not fazed by this checked it, with display bringing a smile to her face, it springing her into action.

"I'm quite curious what that was about?" Naoto's sly smile was enough to leave Mahara bewildered.

"My lift home actually. I'll give you one thing though…" Naoto subconsciously noted that some of the alcohol she had at the start of the night was taking effect. Perfect timing as the one who was about to deal with it was now here. Her voice suddenly smooth in a way that can make a person's voice hitch. "You are good at passing the time, but I'm bored now. I'm going to find something more entertaining to do and it won't be here."

With that out of the way Naoto pushed against the table making her chair move back, giving her space to stand up and walk towards the door and past the person of conversation.

Seeing his chance leaving briskly, he made one last attempt.

"Need me to accompany you?" He called over the sound of the chatter from others, the music and the clacking of her heels. Without even turning to face him she dismissed him with a wave of the hand.

"No because you are boring."

His frown was deep as he heard all whispers and laughs from the people around him.

In a beeline to the exit, Naoto picked up her jacket from the cloakroom and exited the fancy ballroom with urgency, as quickly as her footwear would permit. Luckily the night was warm enough that there wasn't the evening chill at these late nights, it was only 9:45pm but she needed to bail early. Quickly she scanned the car park for a black hatchback until she saw one, seemingly just finishing parking up, to the point it's headlights were still on, the tinted windows hiding the fact someone was still in there. Taking care descending the stairs from the main door, swiftly she made her way over, the ends of her dress flapping in the light night breeze. As she approached the car the window lowered revealing a cheerful Souji behind the wheel of the car, happy to see his long term girlfriend. Before taking action, Naoto looked around the car park just in case someone was watching.

"Hope you wasn't waiting too long- Hey what are you?"

With sinful intent Naoto pulled the driver's seat door open, her expression hungry. Before Souji could say anything she reached between his legs and under the seat and pulled the lever up and with one swift motion she pushed his chest with her free hand, forcing the seat back, creating space between him and the wheel.

"Woah Naoto, what if someone sees?" Souji said in a bit of a rush ash she mounted him and straddled his waist. Once in she slammed the door shut causing the window to automatically go back up.

"That's what the tinted windows for." Was the breathless explanation as she kissed him deeply. It took a moment for them to break away from each other as they got their breath back. Souji blinked quickly realising something,

"You're tipsy." It only made Naoto's smirk larger, noticing her lipstick on his face.

'He's all mine!'

"I know..." She pushed down the lever on the side of the chair, causing the back of the seat to collapse back meaning Souji was almost horizontal. "And now it's your problem." As she licked her lips at her prey underneath her.

Naoto had a tendency to get very touchy feely when she had alcohol...

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