Gogul jumped slightly as Shoko dropped a stack of files on his desk. There weren't many people who could sneak up on him like that. He sighed and turned in his chair to grin up at her. "Since when did you start delivering files?"
The young woman shrugged, grinning. "Eh, Okyo looks more flustered than usual today so I offered to help her out."
"Nice of you," Gogul replied, shifting a little to the right so she could plop down into the free chair beside him. "What're you up to today?"
Shoko shrugged. "The usual. Meetings up the ass all day long."
Gogul raised an eyebrow. "Heard you had a little hostage situation to take care of this morning. What was it? SWAT too busy doing their nails?"
"Oh, that? Pointless. I was done in two hours!" Shoko laughed, "And, yes, it was a 'consultation'."
"So you did all the work."
Shoko nodded. "Of course." She leaned forward in her seat slightly to pick up the old Rubik's Cube Gogul kept on his desk. She was sure he kept it there solely for decoration, it was a complete jumbled mess. Most people of his intelligence had moved on to more technologically advanced methods of exercising their brains. "You mind?" she asked, raising an eyebrow inquisitively.
The big man waved a hand, shaking his head as he turned back to his computer screen. "Still, musta been nice to see some action."
Shoko chuckled, crossing long legs as she fiddled with Gogul's ancient puzzle. "I can't believe you haven't solved this fucking thing yet," she muttered, flashing him a crooked smiled when he jabbed her shoulder.
"No time!" he laughed, "Unlike some people I have work to do!"
The young woman snickered. "You must be talking about Sengoku. I'mplenty busy thank you very much!"
"I heard that."
The pair jumped slightly and turned to see Sengoku standing over them.
Shoko scowled up at him. "What're you doing here?"
Sengoku had spent most of last night in the hospital after getting shot during his last case. It had just been a flesh wound but the doctor had given him two days off to heal up.
His expression immediately became defensive. "We're just gonna grab lunch, then I'm going home!" he exclaimed, waving a hand between himself and Gogul.
Shoko turned to look at her friend, eyes narrowed suspiciously. When Gogul nodded distractedly, his gaze not budging from his monitor, she relaxed, grinning, "You two are such fairies."
Gogul burst out laughing, Sengoku rolled his eyes. "You're welcome to tag along and chaperone!" the hacker laughed.
The young woman sighed, plunking the Rubik's Cube down on top of the file folders she'd brought for him. "Love to. But I've got a meeting in fifteen." She stood, surreptitiously poking Sengoku in the stomach as she moved past him. "You," she said firmly but quietly enough that no one except the three of them would hear. "Behave."
Sengoku rolled his eyes. "I promise!"
"Good." She smirked and made an 'I'm-watching-you' gesture at him as she walked over to her desk.
Sengoku turned and followed her, perching himself on the edge of her desk, watching as she gathered up her things and put them in her purse. "So, are we still on for tonight?" he asked quietly.
She glanced up at him and smiled. She'd almost forgotten she had invited him over for dinner at her place for that evening. Considering she'd suggested it a couple of days ago, and they'd barely seen each other in that time, she'd half-expected him to have forgotten by now. "Are you feeling up to it?"
He grinned down at her and nodded. "I think I can manage," he chuckled. "Want me to bring anything?"
Shoko shook her head and stood up, slinging her purse over her shoulder. "Nope. We should be okay." She smiled broadly and wrinkled her nose at him. "I'll see you later," she sang happily, turning to wave at Gogul as she stalked off towards the elevators.
As soon as she was out of sight, Sengoku moved to sit beside Gogul, collapsing into the chair beside him and planting his feet up on the desk. Without looking, Gogul growled at him, "Feet off the desk." He heard the smaller man snicker as he swung both legs down, lounging back into a wide-legged sprawl.
A moment later, Gogul stopped what he was doing and sat back in his chair. "You two seem happy," he mumbled as he began to rummage around in his drawer, seemingly for his wallet.
Sengoku smiled slightly. "Yeah, I guess we are."
"Having dinner at her place tonight?"
"Yup."
"She cooking?"
The younger man's grin was smug. "Uh-huh."
"Lucky fucker," Gogul muttered.
Quite surprisingly, Shoko happened to be a phenomenal cook. Apparently, years of cooking for her super-traditional Japanese father and freeloading older brother had had the effect of turning the rampant tomboy into a domestic goddess. It wasn't something she advertised however. Almost no one in the department had the vaguest notion that she could even boil an egg and Sengoku and Gogul had expected to die of food poisoning the first time they'd been invited to her place for dinner. To say they had been pleasantly surprised was an understatement. Gogul had never seen Sengoku eat so much in one sitting and he himself had since made an arrangement with Shoko for her to bring him a homemade lunch on his birthday from now on.
Sengoku laughed, expression changing slightly as Gogul sat up and began rummaging around his uncharacteristically cluttered desk. "What's up?"
The big man shook his head. "Nah, just looking for my wallet," he answered distractedly. He lifted the file folders Shoko had brought, peering underneath to see his wallet sitting there. The action happened to knock the Rubik's Cube onto his keyboard. He glanced over, his brow furrowing as he picked it up, turning it over in his hands, gasping quietly at what he saw. "Whoa."
His colleague leaned over to see what was so interesting. "What?"
Gogul swivelled in his seat and showed Sengoku. "She finished it."
Sengoku blinked, eyes widening when he realized what he was looking at. The Rubik's Cube had been completed on all sides. He glanced up at his colleague and frowned. "You're shitting me. Shoko did that?"
"Yeah, it was a fucking disaster when she started playing with it." He paused thoughtfully then laughed, "Pretty impressive considering she was here for less than five minutes before you showed up and she was carrying on a conversation the entire time." He noticed the perplexed expression on Sengoku's face and slapped his shoulder, tossing the Rubik's Cube into his lap. Sengoku fumbled slightly to catch it, mouth slightly agape. "Looks like your chicky's a little prodigy."
There was a momentary silence as Sengoku placed the toy thoughtfully back on Gogul's desk. The hacker could practically see the wheels in Sengoku's head turning. It was probably best to get the hell out of there before the younger man started asking more questions. He smacked his 'friend' lightly on the back of the head, grinning when he pulled himself to his feet and scowled up at him. "Where ya wanna go?"
At lunch, Sengoku was unusually quiet, picking at his food disinterestedly. Gogul did his best to keep the conversation light and as far away from the subject of Shoko as possible. But to no avail.
After half an hour of virtually mono-syllabic conversation on Sengoku's part, the young man sat back in his seat and folded his arms across his chest, leveling a determined glare at his co-worker. "Who is she?"
Gogul looked up briefly from his burger and shrugged. "Whaddya mean? You know who she is."
Sengoku rolled his eyes in irritation. "You know what I mean!"
The big man replied almost reluctantly. "You mean, who was she?"
"Yeah."
There was silence as Gogul thought carefully about next choice of words. "Have you asked her this question?"
Sengoku sighed, shoulders slumping a little. "I've asked her what she did before."
"And?"
"She said she was an assassin."
Gogul shrugged as he took a bite of his food. "There you go then."
The smaller man set his jaw and glared at his friend. "I wanna see her file." He noticed the big man choke slightly.
"No fuckin' way!"
"You've hacked into it before!" Sengoku snapped.
That was true. Gogul had only known Shoko a few weeks longer than Sengoku but he knew his knowledge of the young woman far exceeded her boyfriend's, not because she had been more forthcoming but because Gogul had taken the liberty of hacking into her personal files just hours after their first meeting. He could still remember the horrified expression on her face when she'd found out what he had done and had made him promise not to tell anyone anything of what he had read.
Gogul slumped in his seat and frowned at Sengoku. "Why do you care who she was? Isn't it more important who she is now?"
Sengoku relaxed a little, picking up his fork and poking at his eggs. "I know but…sometimes, I dunno, I just wonder how she got here. And every time I ask her, she just shuts down." He set his fork down and waved a hand. "I know it sounds paranoid. It's just that, just when I'm settling in, just when I start thinking I'm content, something like the Rubik's Cube thing happens and I'm fucking back to square one, being reminded that I don't know anything about her. And she knows fuckin' everything about me! How is that fair?"
Gogul sighed and sat back in his seat and folded his arms across his chest. He could kind of see where Sengoku was coming from and, for a moment, he considered telling him at least something. But he immediately thought better of it. "I'm not hacking into her file for you and I'm not tellin' you shit," he said firmly.
The younger man pouted slightly and slouched deeper into his seat. "Some friend you are," he muttered.
"I'm her friend too!" Gogul laughed. He paused for a moment to think about what to say next. It wasn't his place to tell him anything and he was sure Shoko would kill him if he did. "Look, if it really matters to you that much, you should talk to her."
With a loud sigh, Sengoku nodded somewhat reluctantly.
Gogul gestured towards Sengoku's half-eaten meal. "You done?"
Sengoku nodded. "Yeah, let's go," he replied as he slid out of the booth.
The two men paid their bill and parted ways. Gogul watched Sengoku head down the street towards where he'd parked his car. As soon as he was out of sight, he began his walk back to the station. Might be a good idea to give Shoko a heads up so she knows what she might be in for tonight, he thought grimly.
Shoko was still in a meeting by the time Gogul got back to the office. He did some work at his desk for half an hour to see if she would return before heading off to the meeting he knew she had later that afternoon. When she didn't appear, he decided to send her an email. She'd have her tablet with her, she never went anywhere without it.
About ten minutes after he sent it, he got her reply: "OK. Thanks for letting me know."
He smirked to himself and typed: "You gonna tell him?"
"Maybe. I'll let you know," came the reply a few minutes later.
Gogul grinned to himself before glancing over at the clock. Three thirty. He'd been there for over fourteen hours now. Time to head home. He quickly powered down his computer and grabbed his coat, hoping Hasegawa wouldn't call him before he got out of the parking lot.
It was nearly six thirty by the time Shoko pushed open the door to her apartment. What a long fucking day! She quickly toed off her heels, tossing her purse onto the floor of the genkan and headed straight for the bathroom to shower.
She emerged ten minutes later, somewhat refreshed, cursing in alarm when she realized Sengoku would be there in less than half an hour. As she hurriedly pulled on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt her thoughts turned to Gogul's email from earlier that afternoon. It hadn't come as a surprise that Sengoku was getting anxious about her coming clean on who she had been in her old life, everyone wondered about it at some point. But, as certain as she'd been that this day would eventually come, she'd never quite figured out how to approach it.
From the moment she'd met Sengoku, she'd known what she was getting herself into. He had been a bounty hunter before and even though he felt that made him closer to being a criminal than a cop, Shoko had never been completely convinced. And although he'd been surrounded by the criminal element since he was eighteen he was not like her and the others. He'd come from a good family, was well educated and, if it hadn't been for his parents' murders, would have, no doubt, had an extremely bright future with the police.
And, here he was, with her of all people. She generally didn't think highly of the stock she came from: a former yakuza boss for a father and a former Russian-ballerina-turned-bar-hostess for a mother. Add to that her mother dying in childbirth with her and her father never letting her forget it: her childhood had been nothing short of miserable.
That's not even the worst of it, she thought darkly as she finished pulling her waist-length black hair back into a braid. Sengoku could handle the stuff about her childhood, hell, he pretty much knew all the pertinent details, and he still hadn't decided that dealing with all of her 'baggage' was too much of a price to pay for the pleasure of her company. No, she was more worried about the stuff that came later: her professional background. That was what kept her up at night.
It wasn't that she was ashamed of what she'd done or who she was, quite the opposite. She was, secretly, damn proud it. But she liked Sengoku. Very much. She wasn't quite ready to admit to herself or anyone else that she might actually be in love with him but she knew her feelings had moved beyond the 'like' mark a long fucking time ago. But he was, in her book, 'normal'. More normal than her, anyway. And the last time she'd told a normal guy about her old life, it hadn't ended well.
As she sauntered down the hall to the kitchen, deep in thought, it occurred to her that she could always postpone the inevitable by distracting him somehow. Maybe if she went bra-less under the filmy cotton t-shirt she was wearing, Sengoku would be more willing to overlook how little he knew about her past and be content with the actual knowledge that he had access to a woman with great tits who was more than happy to let him fuck her senseless on a regular basis.
But, no, that was too degrading, to both of them. Sengoku wasn't stupid. He'd know the moment he saw her that she was trying to pull one over on him. And, besides, the whole seducing-a-man-to-get-your-way trick had never really been her forte.
She got herself a beer from the fridge, cracking it open and taking a swig, leaning back against the counter and bit her lip thoughtfully. A moment later she sighed and set about starting dinner, hoping the distraction would keep her mind off what was to come.
When Sengoku did arrive half an hour later, she'd been thoroughly surprised when he came up behind her, placing his hands on her hips. "What's for dinner?" he asked, nipping at her neck playfully.
Shoko turned her head to smile up at him. "Niku-jaga."
Her boyfriend's eyes widened delightedly and he did a little air punch. "Yesss. I'm fucking starving!"
The young woman grinned. "Good."
She watched him from the corner of her eyes as he moved away and stalked over to the fridge to get himself a beer. He seemed to be in a good mood. Maybe too good, actually. What was he trying to do? Was he going to lull her into a sense of false security and then launch into an interrogation later? Or maybe he'd decided to let sleeping dogs lie and not bother with any of that for this evening. Shoko's brow furrowed and she pursed her lips pensively. No, it was more likely the former possibility. With a sigh, she decided it would be better if she brought the issue up. Perhaps he'd give her points for being forthcoming.
Shoko turned to face him, letting her hip rest on the counter. "I talked to Gogul today," she said, taking a sip of her beer.
Sengoku flinched but quickly recovered. "Don't you talk to Gogul every day?" he asked sarcastically.
Shoko's eyes narrowed slightly, her smile fading, not appreciating the humour. "You know what I'm talking about," she replied quietly, setting her beer on the counter and folding her arms across her chest.
There was a brief hesitation on Sengoku's part as he gathered his thoughts. A moment later, he pushed himself up to sit on the counter, shifting to face her slightly. "I just think it's unfair," he said simply, shrugging his shoulders.
"What is?"
Sengoku snorted and folded his arms across his chest. "That you fucking know everything about me and I know pretty much jack shit about you," he snapped irritably, good humour suddenly gone.
Maybe this was a bad idea, Shoko thought, gritting her teeth. She'd really just wanted to have a quiet night together, not end up in a massive argument about something that, in her opinion, didn't matter. But it really had to be done. Even she was getting tired of the other people in her life, her brother, Aiko, Gogul and Benten, not to mention Hasegawa, knowing who she was, being able to be completely herself around them, only to be walking on eggshells around the person who mattered the most. "Well, technically, you know what I did before I joined the Cyber Police," she replied, knowing it wouldn't be good enough.
Without hesitation, Sengoku looked up at her, jaw set in determination. "You know what I wanna know."
Shoko felt her heartbeat quicken and took a breath. "You wanna know my codename, right?" She glanced over to see him nod, face serious. "Why does it matter?" she asked, her voice suddenly becoming a whine, gazing at him almost pleadingly as another wave of doubt washed over her.
Sengoku's expression softened fractionally and he let out a sigh, slumping back against the wall behind him. "Look, I know you've earned your freedom and you've earned your fuckin' privacy. I just get the impression that you're hiding something big, what with the sealed file, you changing the subject whenever I ask and the fact that no one else wants to talk about it." He paused and looked at her, trying to get a feel for what she was thinking. "Don't you think it'd be better for me to hear it from you than from someone else?"
The young woman nodded faintly. Sengoku was probably right about that much. But she was sure he had no idea just how fucking enormous the revelation would be for him. She raised an eyebrow. "Do you think you'd care this much if you hadn't been a bounty hunter before?"
Her boyfriend tilted his head to one side considering the question. "Probably not," he said frankly. "Is that why you don't wanna tell me? You're afraid I'll judge you?"
"That's partly right." Shoko ran a hand through her hair and groaned. She knew her next words would set his mind racing but she decided to say them anyway. "Look, if I tell you my codename, you'll know everything you need to know."
Sengoku's brow furrowed in thought already trying to work it out for himself. There weren't many criminals who'd gained that level of notoriety. Maybe only a handful, really. He found it hard to believe Shoko of all people belonged to that group. But maybe it wasn't so far-fetched. He knew Shoko was very intelligent, much more so than she let on. Mechanically speaking, she was also exceptionally gifted and, although she'd never admitted it herself, Yoshiyuki had let it slip one evening that Shoko was actually an engineer. The fact that there was no computer she couldn't crash was another matter entirely. And she was physically, extremely strong, thanks to a fake left arm and he was sure she had other prosthetics and implants she hadn't told him about. Plus, there was her military background. He knew she'd been running black ops missions for Japanese military intelligence for at least a year when she was in her early twenties. So, maybe it wasn't too far off the mark to suspect that she had been someone…special.
He glanced up at her finally, realizing she was waiting for him to say something. "Okay, how about I guess?" he asked, smiling slightly at her.
Shoko laughed softly and rolled her eyes. "Fine."
She stood patiently as he began to rhyme off a few names, most of which were more meant to be mildly offensive to her pride than honest guesses. It seemed for a moment that Sengoku wasn't being all that serious.
And, then she heard it. He was going through the names so quickly, she'd almost missed it. "Lucifer."
He saw her back straighten suddenly the moment he said it. His eyes widened and his jaw dropped. "That's not funny," he said, voice suddenly weak.
For another moment, he still thought she was joking but, when she remained silent, keeping her eyes averted, he knew she was serious.
'Lucifer' was, for lack of a better word, a super-assassin that had killed over 250 people all over the world, toppled governments, 'retired' mob bosses and drug lords and was, without a doubt, one of the most prolific and successful killers-for-hire in recent history. The bounty on Lucifer's head had been enormous, over 4 billion yen. Sengoku, along with probably every other bounty hunter in the world, had kept her on their list of 'dream' bounties. Unfortunately, she had also been a fucking ghost. No one knew what she looked like, gender, nationality, background, absolutely nothing. And, now, here she was, standing right in front of him. He'd never in a million years considered the possibility of even meeting her, far less finding out he'd been carrying on a fucking relationship with her!
Shoko finally got up the nerve to speak although she kept her eyes down. "I never liked the name Lucifer. I guess some bounty hunter called me that once and the name stuck. I always thought it made me sound like I was some kind of monster," she said quietly.
"Well, you kinda were," she heard Sengoku mutter almost inaudibly. She lifted her head to look over at him, biting her lower lip nervously. He was hunched over with his elbows on his thighs, rubbing his temples. A moment later, he groaned, "I think I'm having an aneurism."
Shoko took a few steps towards him and moved to put a hand on his shoulder only to have him flinch away slightly.
"Don't." His voice was an octave lower than normal. "Just gimme a minute."
The young woman nodded silently. She glanced around, not sure what to do, deciding it would be better to leave the room. She grabbed her beer can and walked out into the living room, leaving Sengoku alone.
Sengoku sat silently for a few minutes, still trying to come to terms with what he'd learned. For months he'd thought he wanted to know who she was but, now that he did, he was beginning to think he'd rather not have known after all. It made sense though. All those little things he'd noticed, all of the quirks in Shoko's personality, suddenly everything fit.
And yet, for some strange reason, the more he thought about it, the more irritated he became. He couldn't quite put his finger on the reason. He'd known from the beginning Shoko was no saint, known that, for her to be working for the Cyber Police, she must have killed someone. She had never really lied to him. So why the fuck was he pissed off? Was it some kind of latent professional pride? Jealousy even? It was definitely a novelty for him to discover his girlfriend was at least his equal, if not superior. Or was it the fact that it was beginning to dawn on him that Shoko had been pretending to be something she wasn't?
Sengoku shook his head quickly, trying not to give in to his paranoia, and gazed in the direction of the living room, sighing. Guess I better go talk to her.
He slid off the counter and went to the fridge, grabbing two more cans of beer before loping off to the living room. Shoko was curled up in the far corner of the sofa, head down, lips pressed together in thought. Without speaking, he handed her a beer, which she accepted with a quiet 'thanks', and moved to sit at the other end of the sofa.
Shoko cracked open her beer can and took a sip. "So, what now?" she asked quietly, not looking at him.
Sengoku stayed silent for a moment, considering. "Mm, I don't know," he murmured finally.
Finally, Shoko lifted her head to gaze at him. "If you need time alone to think about things, I'd understand."
Her boyfriend furrowed his brow at her inquisitively. "Why didn't you just tell me when we first met?"
The young woman shrugged, looking lost for a moment. "I wanted to but…," her voice trailed off, unsure what to say next. A moment later, she began again, "I wanted to tell you but I didn't want that to be the first thing you knew about me. I was worried you'd never get past it."
"So you decided to tell me now? After knowing me for almost a year?" he asked disbelievingly.
Shoko rubbed a hand across her forehead in frustration. "I told you I was a fucking assassin!"
"You didn't tell me you'd killed 250 people!" Sengoku exclaimed, almost cracking a smile at how absurd it sounded to him that the pretty girl sitting in front of him had knocked off almost twice as many people as he had.
He saw her roll her eyes in irritation and look away, muttering something that sounded suspiciously like, "263, actually", under her breath. His eyes widened. "What?"
Shoko glared at him and replied, "I said, '263'. I've killed 263 people, not 250."
"You're proud of that?!" Sengoku cried in disbelief, jaw dropping momentarily.
She frowned, realizing that the correct emotion in this situation was shame and looked down into her lap, and shrugged, mumbling, "Kinda."
Sengoku rubbed at his eyes and groaned. "You're a fucking sociopath!"
Shoko's head whipped around to level an icy glare at him. "Take that back."
Sengoku blinked. He'd never heard her use that tone of voice before: dark and threatening. Still, he remained calm, raising an eyebrow at her coolly. "You don't think you're a sociopath?"
"Do you think you're a sociopath? You've killed almost as many people as I have, if you count the cyber-criminals you killed when you were a bounty hunter," she replied, her gaze never wavering from his face.
"That's different."
"How is it different?" she snapped, not giving him a chance to respond. "You've killed people for the money, so've I! Get off your fucking high-horse!"
Sengoku stood quickly, his face drawn into a deep scowl. "I don't wanna talk about this."
Shoko smirked up at him maliciously. "Why? Does the truth hurt?"
"Shut up," he growled from between clenched teeth.
Pressing her advantage, Shoko jumped to her feet and closed some of the distance between them, glaring into his face. "What's wrong? It's fine to be one of us when it's on your own terms but as soon as someone calls you out for what you really are you can't take it? You're such a fucking cowa---", before she could finish, she felt the palm of Sengoku's hand smack her hard across the face. She recovered immediately and retaliated, smashing her right fist into his jaw, feeling a certain satisfaction when she saw him take a step back to steady himself.
Sengoku stood stunned for a moment, not sure how to react. That had fucking hurt! Was her right arm fake too?!
He wiggled his jaw and turned back to glare at her. If she wanted to fight, he sure as fuck wasn't going to disappoint her. But when he saw the left side of her face, already reddened and starting to swell, whatever hostility he'd felt began to dissipate. Her expression, however, didn't exhibit any reaction to whatever pain she was in. She stood glaring at him, lips pressed together, fists clenched at her sides.
They glared at each other for what seemed like forever, the enormity of what had just happened slowly dawning on them. Long moments later, Sengoku opened his mouth. "Shoko, I'm…," he began, wanting so badly to apologize for hitting her. He'd never hit a girl before. And the fact that he had, made him almost sick to his stomach. But the words never came out, strangled by a wave of embarrassment.
Shoko's expression softened slightly before she looked away. "You should go," she said, her voice almost inaudible in an effort to keep her composure. There was no way she was going to cry in front of him, no fucking way.
Sengoku straightened up, gazing down at her, wanting to say something, anything that might make things better. But he couldn't find the words. He nodded faintly then turned and walked down the hall to get his coat and shoes.
Shoko stood in the living room, listening to the sounds of him leaving, waiting for the door to shut. When it did, she collapsed backwards onto the sofa, pulled herself into a ball and started to sob.
"He hit you?!"
Shoko glanced up at Aiko and groaned, rolling her eyes, none too pleased to be recounting this story yet again. She'd already been through this with Hasegawa and Gogul after they'd asked her on two separate occasions earlier that day, "What's wrong with your face?" Both men had been appalled that Sengoku had hauled off and smacked her, Hasegawa less so than Gogul, simply asking if she'd hit him back. There had been an unmistakable look of amusement on her boss' face when she'd reported that she had.
"He looks worse," she muttered, smiling smugly with satisfaction. She'd seen him very briefly in the morning, and been pleased to note the rather large bruise along the left side of his face.
The older woman raised an eyebrow. "Still, he never struck me as the type of guy who'd hit a girl," she said thoughtfully, taking a bite of her burger.
"He isn't," Shoko said quickly, not exactly sure why she felt the need to defend him. "I kinda had it coming."
Aiko snorted incredulously. "Where've I heard that one before?"
"In this case it's true."
"So, what made him snap?"
Shoko sat back in her chair and puffed her cheeks out, wincing slightly at the pain the movement caused. "I told him who I was---," she began only to be cut off by Aiko.
"I thought he already knew who you were!"
"Let me finish!" Shoko snapped irritably, folding her arms across her chest.
Aiko made a face and picked up her drink, bringing the straw to her mouth. "Okay, continue."
"I told him who I was, he kind of freaked out and called me a sociopath which pissed me off because I'm not a fucking sociopath and I have the psych exams to prove it, so I told him he should get off his high horse and stop pretending like he's better than me and then I called him a coward for not admitting that he's really just as bad as the rest of us." Shoko paused to take a breath and looked Aiko up and down almost dismissively, "Well, not you, obviously."
Unphased, her friend tilted her head to one side inquisitively. "So, you hadn't told him who you were before yesterday?" she asked, seemingly oblivious to everything Shoko had just said.
Shoko slumped in her seat slightly and gazed morosely out the window at the street outside. "Not exactly."
"What does that mean?"
The younger woman shifted uncomfortably in her chair for a moment, hating being interrogated by someone she felt was supposed to be supportive. "I told him what I did before, yeah."
"But not about the Lucifer thing?" Aiko asked, raising her eyebrows in surprise. She saw Shoko shake her head, looking rather disinclined to answer. "Why not?"
"I don't know," Shoko replied with a shrug. A moment later, she said, "I guess I thought it was better to wait until he knew me better so that when I did decide to tell him, it wouldn't matter as much. But then...," her voice trailed off not wanting to finish the thought.
It turned out she didn't have to because Aiko chimed in, "But then the longer you waited, the more you liked him and the more you started to worry about his reaction." She waited for a moment to see if Shoko would say anything, when she didn't, she said, "Right?"
Nodding reluctantly, Shoko sighed, "I don't know what to do."
Aiko smiled sadly. "You want my opinion?"
"I have a feeling I'm gonna get it anyway," Shoko muttered, rolling her eyes.
The older woman laughed. "And you'd be right!" She regarded her with what Shoko liked to call the 'mommy look'. "You should just give him some space. Don't call him, don't talk to him beyond the necessary pleasantries, just let him be alone for a while to figure things out."
Shoko frowned, considering Aiko's advice. She was probably right. In any case, it seemed that neither she nor Sengoku was all that keen on extending the olive branch right now. They'd barely seen each other in the twenty-four hours since their argument and neither had made an effort to even call the other. Space was probably what they both needed at the moment. "Okay."
Aiko's face suddenly broke into a mischievous grin. "I can help you with that if you want," she giggled.
"How?" Shoko arched an eyebrow skeptically at her best friend.
"You know that trip to Cancun Toshi and I were supposed to go on next week?" she asked. Shoko nodded, vaguely remembering Aiko mention something of that nature a few weeks ago. Aiko continued, "Well, turns out, Toshi had something come up at work so he won't be able to go afterall. Wanna tag along in his place?"
The younger woman looked unsure for a moment, narrowing her eyes slightly. "Wasn't this supposed to be a family vacation?"
Aiko shrugged. "Yeah so?"
"So, aren't your kids going with you?"
"Yeah. Don't worry, you won't even know they're there!" she laughed sarcastically
The hell I won't! Shoko thought darkly, shuddering at the thought of having to share a hotel room with Aiko's three children. The youngest one wasn't so bad, actually kind of cute, but the eldest two? Ye gods, they were hellspawn! Undisciplined, noisy and just plain bratty, she was constantly fighting the urge to belt one or both of them over the head whenever they were in her presence.
Apparently, Aiko could sense her trepidation and chimed in. "You could get your own room if you want," she said in a sing-song voice.
Shoko was still tempted to refuse but, then again, it had been ages since she'd had a proper vacation and even longer since she'd actually left the country. Maybe it wasn't such an awful idea. And it would give Sengoku the space he needed. She relaxed slightly and smiled lopsidedly at her friend, "Okay, I'll come. When do we leave?"
It had taken some convincing to get Hasegawa to give her two weeks off on such short notice but, after some coaxing, he had, reluctantly, approved her request. She had a feeling he'd only approved it because she'd told him she was going with Aiko and her kids, considering he'd made an off-handed remark that it wasn't a 'real holiday'.
On the Sengoku-front, she had been heeding Aiko's advice. They hadn't spoken to each other for almost a week now and she was certain he was also doing his best to stay out of her way. She hadn't counted on it being so difficult, though, not realizing how involved he'd become in her everyday life. She missed his funny emails, their constant texting back and forth, the general companionship and, naturally, she missed the sex. It was all made worse by the fact that she, at the very least, saw him once a day, usually in passing, which only served to remind her what she was missing. But she was determined to stick with it and hope that, just maybe, he was beginning to miss her just as much.
The night before they were scheduled to leave, Aiko had made arrangements to sleep over at Shoko's apartment. Her husband had generously agreed to take care of the children on his own so his wife could have some uninterrupted 'girl time' with her best friend. Shoko hadn't really understood why Aiko thought they needed 'girl time' before they went on a two-week long vacation that would consist of nothing but that. But she supposed, considering there were three children in the picture, Aiko wanted one night of relative peace and quiet before she was left alone with her brood.
Aiko had shown up already packed, frowning at Shoko who was just starting to throw things into a suitcase. "Don't they teach organization and efficiency in the military these days?" she mused as she watched the younger woman scurry back and forth between her closet, suitcase, bathroom and back.
"Shut the fuck up!" Shoko barked from the bathroom.
"You know you're gonna have to watch your mouth around my kids!" she giggled as Shoko hurried back in, tossing a handful of cosmetics and sunscreen into her case.
Shoko snorted. "Right, like your ten year-old couldn't teach me a few new curse words!"
Her friend laughed and rolled her eyes. "Tell me about it."
The tall young woman smiled and stood, hand on her forehead as she surveyed her packing. "Oh, toothpaste," she muttered before stalking back to the bathroom.
As soon as she'd left, the phone rang. Aiko turned to look at the caller ID, grinning when she saw the name: Sengoku Shunsuke. She leapt up from her perch on the edge of Shoko's bed and sprinted to the bathroom, nearly colliding with her in the hallway. Shoko stared down at her friend, startled for a moment. "What?"
"The phone's ringing," Aiko replied, smiling brightly.
Ignoring her, Shoko sighed and pushed past. "I can hear that. Is it really too much to ask for you to answer it?" she asked irritably as she marched over to the bedside table where the phone sat. Unlike most people, she kept an old-fashioned phone in her bedroom as she couldn't understand why anyone would want a fucking vid-phone in their bedroom of all places. Just as she was about to answer, she saw the phone's display, her fingers twitching away from the receiver as a wave of panic struck her. She rounded on Aiko, face taught, "You answer it."
"What? Why?" Aiko shrieked, horrified.
"Tell him I'm not here."
Aiko frowned up at the young woman. "How does that make any fucking sense?"
Shoko scrunched up her face in frustration and pushed Aiko towards the phone. "I don't care what you say, just answer it before it goes to voicemail!"
The older woman flashed her a final glare, taking a breath before she picked up the receiver, "Hello?"
There was a brief silence on the other end and she wondered if maybe he'd hung up. A moment later, there came a rather hesitant, "Hello?"
Aiko grinned at Shoko. "Who is this?" she asked coyly, snickering as Shoko rolled her eyes in exasperation, turning and walking to her closet. Her friend could never remain serious about anything for very long.
"Who do you think it is?" came the cheeky reply. He was well aware that Aiko thought he was cute though 'a hot piece of ass' had been her actual choice of words.
The older woman chuckled, trying to sound seductive. "Hm, sounds like a sexy voice from the doghouse."
"Yeah, that's why I'm calling," Sengoku replied. A second later, he asked, "Is Shoko there?"
Aiko eyed her best friend's backside as she rummaged around in her closet, tossing the odd pair of shoes over her shoulder onto the floor behind her. "She is but she's busy right now."
"What's she doing?"
"Doing? Or wearing?" Aiko giggled, seeing Shoko turn quickly to face her, eyes narrowed in disgust, mouthing the words, "What the fuck is wrong with you?".
She heard Sengoku chuckle softly on the other end of the line but he didn't take the bait, "I'd rather she tell me herself."
Aiko snickered and covered the mouthpiece with her hand, whispering, "He wants to talk to you."
Shoko lifted her eyes to the ceiling and muttered a curse under her breath. Obviously, Aiko wasn't going to lie on her behalf. She got up and strode towards her, hand outstretched to take the phone.
Her friend smiled sweetly and lifted the phone to her ear, "Here she is."
Glowering, Shoko snatched it from her friend and retreated into the spare bedroom, shutting the door. "Yes?"
There was silence on the other end as Sengoku seemingly gathered his thoughts. Before long, he said, "Feel like talking?"
Shoko sighed and collapsed onto the bed, rubbing a hand over her face. "Sure, why not?" she groaned somewhat reluctantly.
"Want me to go first?"
"I think you should," she replied rather coldly, not ready to let him think he was anywhere close to being forgiven.
Sengoku took a breath. "Okay, um, first off, I'm sorry I hit you. I know I should be fuckin' ashamed of myself and I am. There's no excuse and I'm sorry," he said very quickly, sounding as if he was trying to get the words out before his pride could stop him.
For a moment, Shoko was too stunned to speak. She'd never heard Sengoku apologize before. He was usually too stubborn and proud to admit he was wrong. Come to think of it, she'd never apologized for anything either, for similar reasons. But, quite honestly, the fact that he'd hit her had never really been the issue. She was more upset that he'd treated her like some kind of scumbag even though he should know her better than that by now.
As it was, however, she decided to acknowledge his apology. "It's fine. I've been hit lots of times before then," she said quietly, genuinely trying to make him feel better.
"I know," he replied quickly, "that's kind of why I'm sorry I did it." He paused for a moment and then said, "I kinda wanted to be in the minority of guys that hasn't hit you."
Shoko couldn't help but laugh. "You make it sound like I've been a punching bag in all these abusive relationships." She heard Sengoku groan and she could practically hear him rolling his eyes.
"I didn't mean it that way."
Shoko smiled to herself. "Well, it's not like I let you get away with it," she snickered.
Sengoku laughed. "Fuck no! My face still hurts!"
"Sorry about that by the way," she said, her tone turning serious. "I should've tried to be the bigger person."
"That's okay," he replied, "you wouldn't be you if you weren't scrappy."
Shoko laughed and rolled over onto her stomach, relaxing a little. "And, I guess, I apologize for calling you a coward. If I actually thought that, I wouldn't want anything to do with you."
"S'okay." He took a breath. "And I don't really think you're a sociopath."
Shoko rolled her eyes. "Well, thank you for your professional opinion!"
"You're welcome!" Sengoku chuckled. "That really pissed you off didn't it?"
"Yeah!"
"Why?"
Shoko pursed her lips, thinking for a second. "Because I'm not. I mean, yeah, I made a career of killing people and it was something I was really good at. Something I'm still good at. But I would never kill just anyone. That's why I left the military in the first place, so I had more choice when it came to the assignments I took."
"Choice?"
"I've never killed a kid, or a woman who didn't already have it coming. Any assignment that had even the slightest chance of collateral damage, I refused," she said firmly. "In the military, you can't make those kinds of decisions."
Sengoku 'hmm'-ed pensively. Before he could say anything, Shoko spoke up, feeling like this conversation wasn't really getting to the bigger issue that needed to be resolved, "So, where do we stand?"
"Y'mean, us-wise?"
"Yeah."
Sengoku was quiet for a moment. "I think I can live with it."
"You sure?"
A long silence followed and she wondered if Sengoku was ever going to speak up. A few moments later, he said, "I think so." Then he said, "Well, at first, I honestly thought this was a fucking deal-breaker," he added quietly. "I mean, let's face it, in terms of our backgrounds, childhoods and all that shit, you and I are really fucking different. And then, finding out you're a killing machine on top of all that, kinda made me wonder if it would work."
Shoko raised an eyebrow, tilting her head to one side considering. Was this somehow supposed to make her feel better?
But Sengoku wasn't done. "But then, I didn't talk to you for a week and, every time I saw something funny on the internet, I wanted to send it to you and, if something happened during the day, you were the person I wanted to talk to. I miss you," he said quietly, muttering the last part as if he wanted to say it but didn't really want her to hear.
Shoko smiled to herself. "I miss you too."
"Really?" He sounded genuinely surprised.
"Well, yeah!" Shoko laughed. "I've talked to you almost every day for a year and every day without fail for the last six months! 'Course I miss you!"
She heard Sengoku laugh. "You miss my cock!"
Shoko rolled her eyes, snickering. "Aaaaaaand, he's back."
"Speaking of which," Sengoku began, definite smirk in his voice, "fancy a little make-up sex?"
Shoko closed her eyes and smiled dreamily. She'd been gagging for a good, hard fuck for days now and, truth be told, she'd been hoping to reconcile partly because she was missing the intimacy. Of course she'd missed him on the more emotional and social level but, like he'd said, she had missed his cock. But…
"Believe me, I'd love to but I have to get up fucking early tomorrow! If I go to your place, I'd have to come home afterwards and god knows what time that'll be," she groaned, genuinely frustrated, flopping back onto the bed.
"So, I'll come over to your place," Sengoku replied simply.
"Aiko's here."
"Fuck."
"Yeah, she'll be in the guest room," Shoko said, desperately trying to work out a way for them to get a decent screw in before she left for two weeks.
"So, your bed's free?"
Shoko giggled at his persistence. He must be really horny. Her mind began to wander. That meant he'd be that little bit rougher with her. He'll probably spank you and pull your hair…just the way you like it. She squeezed her eyes shut, pushing her mind's hormone-crazed ramblings aside, growling softly, "You know how she is. She'll be listening in on us all night!"
Sengoku snickered. "But we're used to that. Your brother's heard us going at it plenty of times."
"That's different," she said firmly though not quite sure how Yoshiyuki hearing her have an orgasm was somehow more acceptable than the alternative.
"You're weird," Sengoku murmured with a laugh. He paused a moment then came back with another suggestion, "I know, I'll come over and we'll have a quickie in my car."
Shoko snorted. "No!"
"Why not?" Sengoku asked, chuckling. "It was so awesome the last time!"
Shoko shuddered. They'd had sex in Sengoku's car before…once. It had been such an uncomfortable and unsatisfying experience, they'd decided it would never happen again.
Ignoring his sarcasm, Shoko pressed on. "We should just wait until we can be alone," she answered. Before Sengoku could suggest anything else, she said, "Let's just wait 'til I get back."
Sengoku groaned, "That's a whole two weeks away!"
Shoko rolled her eyes. "It's two weeks for me too y'know!" she snapped. Sengoku went quiet. Not wanting to start another fight, she asked, "Are you mad?"
"No, of course not," came his reply a few seconds later. He truly didn't sound angry, just disappointed. After a moment's silence, he perked up, "Think how fuckin' good it's gonna be if we wait another two weeks!"
His girlfriend grumbled, wriggling her backside at the thought. "I don't wanna think about it."
He laughed. "Too horny?"
"Yes," Shoko grunted.
"Hn, me too," he said, his voice was muffled which Shoko figured was from him burying his face in his pillow. She heard a slight rustling as he changed position, his voice clearer this time, and absent of the usual facetiousness. "So, when do you get back?"
"December 29th, in the evening, I think," she answered after thinking about it for a second.
"And I guess you'll be going to Benten's New Year's party?" he asked expectantly.
Shoko's eyes narrowed. "Yeah, are you?"
"Uh-huh."
The young woman smiled to herself. "So, I'll see you then, if not sooner?"
"Yeah. Gimme a call when you get back. If I'm not on a case, I'll swing by."
"Will do."
Sengoku yawned. "Anyways, have fun. Do a shot of tequila for me."
Shoko laughed. "I'll send you a picture of it."
"Oh, that reminds me," he said, sounding cheeky all of a sudden, "don't suppose you could send me some wank material while you're there?"
Shoko giggled. "I think that can be arranged."
"Okay. I'll let you go."
"Alright. Take care."
She heard Sengoku snicker. "I'll try," he replied sarcastically. "G'night."
"'Night," she answered, before they disconnected.
Shoko sat up on the bed and looked down at the receiver in her hands, happy smile on her face. She was glad that they seemed to have worked out their differences but wasn't too happy she'd be thousands of miles away for what now seemed like an eternity.
But, for the moment, she had lots to do and bags to pack. She pushed herself off the bed and sauntered back into her bedroom, hoping Aiko wouldn't interrogate her about getting the details of her conversation. Fortunately, the older woman was immersed in a phone conversation with her husband about the latest unacceptable thing their eldest child had done. With a relieved sigh, Shoko set about getting the rest of her packing done.
For the most part, their shuttle trip to Cancun was rather uneventful other than the odd incident of Aiko snapping at one or all of her kids to 'shut the hell up'. Shoko had been a bit disappointed to discover they were all seated in economy class. She'd always sprung for first class back when she'd had the ample funds to do so. But she kept her mouth shut, gritting her teeth as her knees bumped against the seat back in front of her. Aiko had smirked at her, sliding daintily into her own seat and crossing her legs. "Sucks to be 5'9" doesn't it?" she sighed, gazing at her friend, smug smile on her face.
"5'9" and a half, thank you very much," Shoko grumbled before setting about finding a more comfortable position, folding her arms across her chest and hunkering down to sleep for the rest of the journey.
The trip passed fairly quickly and before they knew it, they were at the hotel hurrying to their rooms to get changed for the beach.
Shoko hadn't taken the time to check out Aiko and the children's room but she'd heard the squeals of delight as they tore through the place. Thankfully, she'd booked a separate room next door and, once the door was closed, she was pleasantly surprised at how quiet it was. Her room was fairly large, situated on the top floor of the hotel, with a huge king sized bed and enormous marble-tiled bathroom complete with a rain-head shower and skylight. The window was open going by the billowing white curtains and the wonderful salty smell of the ocean permeating the room. She took a moment to part the curtains and inspect the wide, private balcony, grinning when she realized she had a full ocean view. Sengoku would be so jealous. With that, she fished her phone out of her bag, snapping a picture and sending it off to him with the subject: 'Wish you were here?'
A few moments later as she was putting some of her clothes away in the chest of drawers beside the bed, she heard her phone chime. With a grin, she tapped at the screen and saw Sengoku's reply: "Fuck you. But yes."
She giggled and pulled her bathing suits out of her suitcase, opting for a hot pink string bikini number that she'd bought on a shopping trip with Benten before she left. At first she'd been unsure about the colour but when the albino had pointed out how nicely it set off her bronzy-pink skin tone, she'd decided it would be a nice addition to her collection.
A few moments later, there was a knock at the door, followed by Aiko yelling, "We're going to the beach! See you there?"
"Yeah!" Shoko called as she pulled off her clothes and tossed them in a pile on the bed.
Before leaving her room, she pulled on a lightweight grey hoodie to cover up on the way to the beach, grabbing her phone, wallet and room key and stuffing them into a small bag before hurrying out.
By the time she reached the pool deck, Aiko's kids were already splashing around in the pool's shallow end and their mother was waiting to be served at the bar, waving when she made out Shoko's statuesque form and beckoning her over.
"I got you a margarita," she said happily, looking thrilled to be on vacation, pushing the frozen drink towards Shoko as she seated herself. She eyed her friend appraisingly, reaching over and snapping the stretchy fabric of Shoko's bikini bottom against the shapely backside, making the younger woman flinch away and flash her a warning look. Aiko ignored her, raising a skeptical eyebrow at her friend. "Hot pink? Really?"
Shoko stuck out her tongue, resisting the urge to say something catty about Aiko's cankles. Instead she brushed it off and beckoned to the bartender, "Shot of tequila please."
"Tequila?" Aiko asked, eyebrow still raised.
"Uh-huh. We are in Mexico afterall," Shoko murmured with a smile.
T he bartender set the shot glass of golden liquid down in front of her, taking note of the blue all-inclusive bracelet the young woman was wearing before moving on to another customer. Shoko took out her phone and snapped a picture of the shot glass. After sending it off to Sengoku, she set her phone to vibrate, placing it back in her purse.
The two women sat at the bar happily chatting and drinking for a couple of hours, leaving the children to their own devices. At about three o'clock they decided to set up camp on the beach. Shoko spread out her towel and settled down onto her stomach, untying the strings of her bikini top to avoid tan lines. This beach permitted topless sunbathing going by the number of women sitting around with no top on. For a moment she considered following suit but remembered that she had a nice spacious balcony to lie out on in complete privacy.
Aiko, of course, whipped off her top and lay back onto her towel, sighing happily. She glanced at Shoko and frowned. "C'mon! Take it off!"
Shoko turned her head to face away from her friend, cheek resting on her forearms. "No thanks."
"Why not?"
The younger woman yawned loudly. "Maybe tomorrow," she murmured, lethargic from the combination of lack of sleep and alcohol.
Luckily, Aiko wasn't in the mood to argue and the women drifted off to sleep in the late afternoon sun.
Shoko awoke about forty-five minutes later, lifting her head to look around. The beach was still crowded with people. She reached behind her and re-tied the strings of her top, before moving to sit back on her heels and reaching for her phone to check the time. The screen illuminated and she saw she'd received another text message from Sengoku. She opened up the list of previous messages she'd received from him to retrieve the new one…and froze.
Beneath his latest message, sent five minutes ago, was another one she was sure she hadn't read. But, for some reason, it had been opened already. Was she losing her mind? She quickly tapped on the text in question and read it: "I'm gonna fuck you so hard you won't be able to sit down for a month. Just thought I'd let you know. Having fun?" Nope. She definitely hadn't read that one yet. So, why the hell was it showing up as opened?
She looked over at Aiko, brow furrowed suspiciously. The older woman was just rousing, sitting up and rubbing her head. "Uggh, I think I had too many margaritas," she groaned.
"Aiko," Shoko said, "did you touch my phone?"
The older woman blinked at her and immediately shook her head. "No, why would I?"
Shoko shook her head. "There's a message here that I didn't touch but it's showing up as read."
Just as she finished her last sentence, Aiko's eldest, Takashi, ran by, kicking sand onto her towel. Shoko pulled a face as she brushed at her belongings. Who else would touch her stuff without permission? There was really only one person she could think of. She glanced at Aiko and frowned. "You don't think Takashi…," she said, not really wanting to finish her sentence, it irritated her so much.
Aiko's eyes widened slightly and there was an immediate look of guilt that made its way into her features. "Actually, I did see him hovering around your things about twenty minutes ago," she admitted, face flushing in embarrassment.
"That little shit," Shoko muttered, clenching her teeth angrily. She flashed Aiko a glare, "You realize that kid's gonna be a fuckin' rapist someday."
The older woman chuckled, lifting her chin in mock pride. "Yup, he's my budding little sex offender." She could see the wheels in Shoko's head turning, considering her options for revenge. Revenge on a ten year-old might have seemed unfair to most people but most people didn't know Takashi. She was his mother and still considered him to be an insufferable brat, 'The Anti-Christ' as Shoko called him. She grinned at her friend and winked, "You gonna dish out some old-school discipline and beat his scrawny ass?"
Shoko pulled on her hoodie and folded her arms across her chest, glaring over her shoulder at the ocean. Her gaze wandered for a moment to the straw bag Aiko had brought. There was an apple sitting on top of the towels she'd stuffed into it. Immediately, she had an idea and plucked it from the bag, jumping up to standing. "Are you gonna eat this?" she asked quickly.
Aiko shrugged. "Probably not," she replied, glancing up briefly from the magazine she was reading. Her brow immediately furrowed inquisitively, "What do you need it for?"
The young woman smiled maliciously. "Illustrative purposes," she answered, before making her way down to the shoreline, leaving Aiko to wonder if maybe she should follow, more to see what her friend would do than to actually protect her son. But she decided against it. Shoko would take care of it.
Takashi was in the middle of splashing water at his youngest sister, while the older sister looked on yelling at him to stop, by the time Shoko reached the water.
"Oi!" she called, prompting all three children to stop what they were doing and look up. She pointed at Takashi. "You," she said, making a come hither motion with the index finger she was pointing with, "C'mere."
The shit-eating grin the boy usually had painted across his face vanished. He glanced at his sisters and reluctantly waded out of the water towards her.
Shoko pointed at the ground gesturing for him to stand in front of her, dark brown eyes fixed on his face. "Look at me," she ordered, her voice firm, jaw set.
Takashi obeyed, looking up at her nervously.
Just going by the expression on the boy's face, Shoko knew he was the guilty party. But she decided to give him a chance to redeem himself, "Did you touch my phone?"
Takashi shook his head, "No," he answered.
She immediately noticed a slight twitch in his left eyebrow and the sudden break in eye-contact. "You're lying."
He looked up at her defensively. "How do you know?" he snapped, only to drop his gaze once more at the sight of her narrowed eyes.
Shoko sighed and pulled up her sleeves. "Let's try this again," she said, "did you touch my phone?"
This time Takashi looked down at his feet, nodding almost imperceptibly.
"Look at me," Shoko said again, reaching out and gently lifting his face by the chin. When she was sure he wouldn't look away, she removed her hand and lifted the apple she was holding with her left. "If you ever touch my things, or cause any more trouble for your parents, or me, again, this is what will happen to your head." Without flinching, she clenched her left hand into a fist and crushed the apple, letting the flesh and juices ooze between her fingers to trickle down her forearm.
Takashi's eyes widened, mouth dropping open, colour draining from his face in horror, gaze shifting rapidly from Shoko's face to the crushed piece of fruit in her hand.
Shoko raised an eyebrow. "Do we understand each other?"
The boy shrunk back and nodded quickly.
"Good," Shoko said with a firm nod, shaking her left hand to get rid of the remains of the apple. She waved her clean hand dismissively. "You can go."
Takashi nodded again, still dumbstruck by what he'd seen, before running back into the ocean.
She watched the children resume playing then walked down to the water to clean her hands. With a final glare in Takashi's direction, satisfied that he had been sufficiently traumatized, she turned and headed back up to where she and Aiko were sitting. If the little brat did anything else to piss her off this trip, she'd be more than shocked.
Sure enough, thanks partly to Shoko's intervention, the rest of the trip passed much more smoothly. There were no more invasions of privacy and no more snotty outbursts or temper tantrums from any of the children, let alone Takashi.
Aiko spent the last week of their stay more with the children than with Shoko, something the younger woman was grateful for.
Shoko used the time to indulge in some nude sunbathing on her balcony, worried that, if she didn't, she would have horrendous tan lines by the time she got home. As it was considered unfashionable in Oedo to be too dark, the proudly pale-skinned Aiko had done her best to remain as out of the sun as possible after the first week opting to get just enough of a tan to be able to show she had been on vacation. Shoko, however, having been born with naturally tanned skin, rather liked the tall, dark and sultry look and, by this point in the vacation, had developed a beautiful, deep bronze tan.
She spent the rest of her time going for early morning runs on the beach, before flaking out on the sand for the rest of the day, sipping margaritas while sexting back and forth with Sengoku. They'd been driving each other crazy the last two weeks with Sengoku sending her dirty emails describing what he was going to do to her when he saw her again and Shoko sending him the odd picture of herself in various states of undress. She'd been sure to mention to him that she'd been fingering herself to sleep every night since they'd made up, too. Sengoku had been intrigued, demanding that she show him…which she'd refused. Maybe someday though.
As it turned out, Sengoku was busy when she arrived back in Oedo. She'd sent him a message letting him know she was back and gotten a rather abbreviated reply that he would be busy for the next couple of days. He usually got that way when he was on a case and he almost never told her anything especially when it came to his deadlines, if he happened to have one. Apparently, he thought she would worry and, to be completely honest, she did sometimes.
So, not wanting to distract him, she resigned herself to spending the next few days on her own. Hasegawa had sent her a pile of work to do almost the moment her shuttle landed so it wasn't as if she was completely free. Benten had also called her quickly the day before New Year's Eve to ask if she was still coming to his party and if she knew whether or not Sengoku was still planning on attending. She'd let him know that, as far as she knew, they were both going and then asked the albino jokingly if there was a dress code. He'd snorted in mock disgust and told her, yes, there was, and if she showed up in something he'd seen her in before he'd have to rescind his invitation.
Shoko had laughed and hung up the phone, gaze wandering to her open closet, grinning to herself. Guess I should go shopping then.
At around 6 o'clock on New Year's Eve, Sengoku had finally closed the case he was working on and was in the midst of finishing up his report. He glanced at the little time display in the corner of his monitor and grumbled irritably. After almost two days with no sleep, he wasn't exactly looking forward to Benten's big party. He was sure he wouldn't be going if it weren't for the fact that Shoko would be there. Of course, seeing that he was so tired, he was more than a little bit peeved at the possibility he might not have the energy to do all the dirty things he'd told her he would do. But, he was hoping he'd at least be able to take a nap on the ride to Benten's apartment. Given the traffic at this time of day, it would probably take over an hour to get there.
With that in mind, he'd had enough foresight to bring his clothes for the evening to work that day: a black suit and black shirt. He'd considered wearing a tie but decided against it at the last minute, not sure how formal Benten wanted his guests to be.
He hit the file button and grabbed his clothes, before making his way to the locker room to shower.
When he emerged half an hour later and was heading back to his desk, he noticed that the office was nearly deserted except for the few poor fuckers who were stuck working the holiday. He hoped to hell Hasegawa didn't call him in for the next few days but he had a feeling he was in the clear for at least tonight and tomorrow.
He flopped down in his chair and began gathering up his things, too distracted to notice that Aiko had emerged from Hasegawa's office and was heading towards him. When he finally looked up, she was already standing over him, making him jump slightly.
Aiko grinned down at him, giggling. "Jumpy much?"
Sengoku rolled his eyes and laughed. "I was worried you were Hasegawa for a minute." He raised an eyebrow. She looked like she was heading off to a party of some kind given the little black cocktail dress she was wearing, her short black hair slicked back and parted on one side. "What're you doing here?"
The older woman made a face. "Had to drop something off to the big boss." She smirked and jerked her chin at him. "You look handsome."
Sengoku returned the smirk and looked her up and down. "And you look tanned," he said, knowing Shoko's friend, being the slave to fashion that she was, would be immediately self-conscious.
Aiko gasped and quickly looked down at her arms, frowning slightly. "Really?"
The young man grinned and shook his head. "Nah, you just look like you've been on vacation for two weeks," he chuckled as he grabbed his duffel bag and pulled himself to his feet.
"Oh, good," Aiko sighed, filthy grin making its way across her face. "You should see Shoko."
Sengoku smiled, genuinely this time. "I know, she sent me pictures." He turned and began to walk to the elevators as Aiko fell into step beside him. "Actually, there's something I've been meaning to ask you," he said, glancing down at her.
The older woman raised an eyebrow and pressed the button to summon the elevator. "Oh? What?"
"How did you and Shoko meet?"
Aiko cocked her head to one side and flashed him a coy smile. "How do you think we met?"
Sengoku shrugged. "I always assumed you met through work," he replied, nodding towards the far elevator as the door slid open silently. "After you."
They got in and selected their stop, Sengoku resting his backside against the railing and shoving his hands into his pockets, regarding Aiko interestedly. Before long the petite woman spoke up, "Most people think we met through work," she said with a chuckle, "and, technically, that's true." She glanced up at him. "Did you hear about that big terrorist incident a couple years ago?"
"There's one every fucking week! Which one?" Sengoku laughed, rolling his eyes.
Aiko smirked. "True." She shook her head and continued, "Anyways, there was one case where these terrorists happened to take over the building that housed my youngest kid's daycare." There was a brief silence as she looked over at Sengoku to make sure he was listening. "Shoko was the officer in charge of 'resolving' the situation," she finished, making a little quoting gesture with her fingers.
Sengoku raised an incredulous eyebrow. "Meaning?"
"She went in and wiped them out," Aiko said simply, shrugging.
"Maybe I don't wanna hear this," Sengoku muttered, tilting his head back to look up at the ceiling, squeezing his eyes shut.
The elevator chimed as they reached the lower parking level and they stepped out onto the foyer. Aiko smiled at Sengoku, reaching up to place a hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry, it's not all bad news," she said reassuringly. "Yumi's alive because of her."
Sengoku blinked. "Oh?"
Aiko sighed. "When Shoko got to the daycare floor of the building, there were, I think, three guys. She killed the first two no problem but, when she got to the third, the asshole decides to grab one of the kids as a bartering piece." She stopped and rolled her eyes. "My kid."
"Maybe he thought she was sent to negotiate," Sengoku chuckled.
The older woman snorted and rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I'm sure Hasegawa hired her for her negotiating abilities." She immediately shook her head and continued, "Anyways, he grabs my kid and puts a gun to her head. So, Shoko shot him."
Sengoku's eyebrows shot up. "That's a fucking risky shot!"
"But my kid's alive. I don't think there are very many officers, even in SWAT, who would've had the ability, let alone the confidence, to even consider taking a shot like that," Aiko said quietly, expression unusually somber.
Sengoku nodded thoughtfully then grinned, "So, what? You looked her up after that?"
Aiko laughed, gazing down at her feet self-consciously. "Well, it was mostly because Yumi wanted to meet her, but yeah." She paused and smiled grimly. "Shoko was pretty different back then."
"How?"
"She didn't talk much, had no sense of humour. Actually, she was a bitch," Aiko replied with a laugh.
"She's still kind of a bitch!" Sengoku snorted good-naturedly.
"Yeah, but this was different," Aiko said, shaking her head. "I think she put a lot of pressure on herself to get out of the whole collar situation. She's loosened up a lot since then."
"Hm, I guess so," Sengoku mumbled.
She giggled suddenly and smacked his shoulder with the back of her hand. "I am glad you two are back together though!" she exclaimed, wanting to change the subject to something more chipper. "You two're cute together!"
Sengoku couldn't help but laugh. "Cute isn't really how I would've characterized us."
The older woman shrugged. "Yeah, I guess that's true." She flashed him a dirty grin. "Anyways, I guess you've got a big night ahead of you! And I'm late for my party."
"Yeah me too," Sengoku sighed. "Happy New Year."
Aiko turned and began to make her way to the row her car was parked in. "You too! Tell Shoko I said 'hi'!" she called, waving as she rounded the corner.
"Will do!"
Sengoku smiled to himself as he collapsed into the driver's seat of his car, quickly setting the coordinates for Benten's apartment. Upon hearing the engine start, he adjusted his seat back and stretched out, drifting to sleep, excited about the evening to come.
When he arrived at Benten's apartment it was nearly 9 o'clock. The albino had glowered at him as he entered for being so late, but immediately fell back into his role of host, offering him a drink - a scotch on the rocks to be exact – and letting him know off-handedly that Shoko was on the veranda. Sengoku had scowled to himself for being so easy to read. Apparently, Benten had noticed the darker man casting his gaze around the huge open-concept kitchen-dining-living room looking for the young woman.
As he made his way through the crowded room to the balcony, he glanced around for Gogul, spotting him in the far corner deep in conversation with one of the IT nerds he recognized from around the office. When he saw Sengoku, he nodded and grinned, pointing towards the balcony and yelling over the din, "She's out there."
Sengoku rolled his eyes and mouthed, "I know", in reply before pulling the sliding glass door across and stepping out. The veranda was spacious and luxuriously furnished, completely encased in retractable glass shutters to retain the heat, and offered a spectacular view of the city's upper level.
He spotted Shoko standing by the railing, looking out. She was wearing what looked to be a burgundy lace cocktail dress that hugged her tall, lean frame, accentuating her narrow waist and shapely rear. Apparently the ten kilometer runs she did on the treadmill every morning had the effect of giving her an ass Sengoku hadn't seen since he'd left Brazil – round and firm. It was one of his favourite parts of her and, of course, finding out that she also really liked to get fucked there had been an added bonus.
"Hey, bitch," he greeted, tugging her hair gently as he came up behind her, moving to lean on the balcony railing beside her.
Shoko looked up at him and smiled sweetly into his face. "Hi, asshole," she replied, giving him a friendly nudge with her shoulder.
Sengoku gazed at her for a moment, admiring her dark beauty, the deep brown eyes, the thick black hair falling in loose curls around her bare shoulders, the smooth caramel skin. In the three weeks they'd been apart, he'd almost forgotten what she looked like. And the last time he'd seen her, she'd looked as if she'd wanted to kill him. Now she was looking back at him with the familiar soft warmth that was uniquely her. He managed to recover fairly quickly, however, and brought his face closer, peering at her, laughing, "Are you wearing makeup?"
"Shut up," she giggled, turning her head away in embarrassment, kicking him in the shin lightly. Makeup was something Shoko rarely found time for. She occasionally wore mascara and sometimes applied a little bit of gloss to her lips but, for the most part, she remained fairly unadorned. Tonight, though, she'd made the extra effort of lining her eyes with black and applying a little bit of shimmery red eye shadow. She'd even sprung for some blush and a deep red lipstick. It was more for Benten than anyone else, certainly not for Sengoku. He was so used to seeing her barefaced, he thought makeup made her look…'funny'.
A moment later she glanced up at him. "Too much?"
Her boyfriend shook his head before leaning in and whispering in her ear, "You look fucking beautiful."
Shoko blinked, stunned for a moment. She'd grown so accustomed 'compliments' like, 'I'm gonna fuck you so hard when we get home', it was strange to hear Sengoku say something genuinely nice. "Thanks," she said quietly, looking him up and down. She couldn't tell if it was simply that she hadn't seen him in so long but he looked damn good this evening. The all-black ensemble suited him although she thought it made him look oddly slim. Either way, she found herself suppressing the urge to cup his genitals and see if he was ready to find a quiet place to fuck.
Apparently, Sengoku was thinking along the same lines because a moment later, he leaned in again and said in a low voice, "Wanna get lost?"
She smirked, teasingly. "Already?"
Sengoku chuckled and shrugged. "We don't have to leave. Can't we just go somewhere a little more private?"
Shoko grinned, nodding as she turned to leave the balcony. "I think I know just the place," she replied, grabbing his hand momentarily to give him a pull towards the entrance to the apartment.
He followed her through the crush of people in the living room, down a long corridor, dodging the odd guest and trying not to look as if they were up to no good. Finally, he saw Shoko duck into one of the rooms. With a quick glance around him to make sure no one was looking, he followed her.
He found himself in a large deep-carpeted sitting room: a big black leather couch at one end, a large widescreen television at the other with a glass coffee table in the middle. Shoko was standing by the huge floor-to-ceiling window that made up the far wall. She looked over her shoulder as he made his way over and snaked an arm around her waist, kissing her gently. Sighing into his mouth, she turned to face him, wrapping her arms around his neck as he slid his hands down her back to knead her buttocks.
Shoko pushed him in the direction of the sofa, giggling as he collapsed backwards, pulling her with him. She hiked up her dress a bit and straddled his lap, toeing off her heels so as to not damage Benten's expensive-looking leather sofa. Sengoku shifted his backside slightly to a better angle then buried a hand in Shoko's hair and pulled her down to him, planting a long, deep kiss on her mouth. He moaned softly as she flicked her tongue over his, her hands moving to his waistband to undo his pants. Eager to proceed, Sengoku slid his hands up the smooth, firm skin of her thighs, underneath her dress to cup her buttocks, chuckling when he realized she wasn't wearing any panties. He broke away to grin up at her. "Planning ahead?"
"Easier access," Shoko laughed, kissing him slowly as she freed his erection, taking him in her hand and circling her thumb over the head, grinning when he thrust unthinkingly against her.
Sengoku reached into the right pocket of his pants and fumbled around for the condom he'd stuffed in there as an afterthought before getting out of the car. He'd bought a pack in anticipation of the cocktail party he'd attended with Shoko six months earlier having been unsure, at the time, of her preferences in that area. They turned out to have been a bit of a waste of money but they did come in handy at times like this when they were horny, in a semi-public place, nicely dressed and wanted to avoid a mess. He winked at her as he pressed the condom into her hand, "Wanna do the honours?"
His girlfriend smiled slowly and took it from him before tucking it into her dress in the space between her breasts. She answered Sengoku's inquisitive look by brushing her lips over his, running the tip of her tongue along his jaw before whispering in his ear, "I want you to come in my mouth."
Sengoku shivered, cock twitching at the idea. He reached between their bodies and guided himself to her cunt, biting his lip as Shoko began to lower herself onto him.
She rolled her hips slowly to work herself further onto his cock and give herself time to get accustomed to his girth. Before she could finish, Sengoku gripped her hips and thrust firmly into her, closing what space was left, making her gasp and wriggle in his lap. She giggled and rested her forehead against his as they took a moment to relish the intimate contact. A moment later, Sengoku smirked and kissed her. "You're really wet."
Shoko moaned and began to thrust earnestly against the rigid heat inside of her. "And you're really hard," she chuckled breathlessly, sliding her hands through his hair and nipping at his jaw.
Shoko set a hard but leisurely pace and Sengoku did his best to remain still, more to keep from coming too quickly than anything else but, at the same time, trying to both appreciate and ignore the feel of Shoko's velvety warmth gripping his cock and the sight of her sexy, lithe body in his lap.
He sat up, partly to alter the sensations on his end, and to level the playing field on hers, biting gently at her neck, and slid his hands up her legs to cup her ass, squeezing firmly then spreading her buttocks apart. Right away, he felt Shoko stop moving as she became aware of what he was up to. Gently, he pressed his middle finger against her asshole, careful to go slowly since he wasn't lubricated. In any case, his angle prohibited him from getting any deeper than the first joint of his finger but Shoko's expression – eyes closed, blissful smile on her lips – and the way her cunt had suddenly tightened like a vice around him, told him he was on the right track.
Shoko opened her eyes, leaning back a fraction, to look at him, smiling broadly when she saw the impish grin on his face. Wordlessly, she bent to kiss him, hard, shoving him back against the couch, hands gripping his shoulders. She gasped as Sengoku pulled her harder onto his cock, his finger pushing deeper into her ass. He grabbed at her hair with his free hand, tugging gently as she rammed down a few more times and came, painfully hard, cursing loudly as she convulsed.
Sengoku whimpered and squeezed his eyes shut, biting his tongue to distance himself from the feeling of being milked by a tight, wet, spasming cunt. It took all his willpower to keep from thrusting hard a few times and coming deep inside her. And, fuck, it seemed to go on forever! He was beginning to wonder if she'd ever stop when, a few moments later, to his relief, Shoko shakily collapsed against him, exhausted, seemingly unaware that he was still erect and aching inside her. After giving her a few moments to recover, he patted her ass and called her name, his voice tense.
With a happy sigh, Shoko eased off of him, smiling as she slid down between his thighs and ran her tongue up the shaft of his cock. Sengoku barked a word of protest, not interested in being teased, only to shut up as his girlfriend swirled her tongue around the head of his cock and sucked him deep into her throat. Unable to hold back any longer, he clutched at the back of Shoko's neck, thrusting further into her throat and came, hands clenching in her hair a little more roughly than he intended. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he realized he could feel her gagging and pulled back a bit. Minutes later, he flopped back onto the couch, panting, eyes closed. He opened them a moment later to find Shoko smiling up at him from between his legs. She wiped her mouth and climbed back into his lap, wedging her backside between the arm of the couch and his thigh, draping her legs crosswise over his.
"Was it worth the wait?" she asked, kissing his cheek. She wrapped her arms around his neck and rested her chin on the top of his head.
Sengoku tilted his head back to look at her, smiling contentedly. "Totally worth it."
Shoko giggled. "I concur." She ran the backs of her fingers through his hair for a few moments before she realized Sengoku was staring at her. "What?" she asked, tilting her head to one side, an amused quirk to her lips.
Her boyfriend shook his head. "Nah, it's just…," he trailed off. Seconds later, he sighed and glanced at her before averting his gaze to a point just in front of him. "I still can't believe you're fucking Lucifer," he muttered almost to himself.
"Don't you mean you're fucking Lucifer?" Shoko muttered back with a smirk.
Sengoku burst out laughing. "Yeah, I guess that's true."
"Kinky, ne?"
"It woulda been kinkier a few years ago. Too bad our paths didn't cross back then," he said thoughtfully.
"Well, technically, they did," she murmured.
Sengoku perked up, turning to stare at her. "Where?"
Shoko smirked. "In Oslo about three and a half years ago," she said simply.
There was silence as Sengoku, seemingly, scoured his memory for some trace of her. When he came up short, he regarded her skeptically. "I'm sure I would've remembered you if I'd seen you before," he said doubtfully.
"I don't think you saw me. But I saw you," she quipped with a shrug. "We were staying at the same hotel."
Sengoku shuddered, rolling his eyes. "Fucking roach motel."
Shoko laughed. "A roach motel is warmer than that fucking dump!" She raised an eyebrow teasingly. "I would've thought you'd have stayed in nicer joints than that."
"Well, maybe if I'd caught you I would've had the money to stay somewhere nicer!" Sengoku drawled sarcastically.
"Oh, shut up, you did alright," she muttered, then added, offhandedly, "I wasn't worth that much back then anyways."
Sengoku frowned. "I don't think you were even on the list back then."
"I wasn't."
His eyes narrowed suspiciously as he suddenly remembered why he had been in Oslo, interested as to why Shoko just happened to have been there at the same time. "Wait, why were you in Oslo?"
Shoko didn't miss a beat, expression suddenly smug. "Why were you there?"
The dark young man folded his arms across his chest, furrowing his brow. "I was there to bring in some arms dealer." He paused for a moment, trying to recall the name. "Carlsson, I think, was his name."
"And what happened?" Shoko asked, eyebrows raised.
Sengoku frowned. "A day after I arrived, I heard on the news he'd been found dead in some seedy hotel room."
"How'd he die?" she pressed, looking down at her fingernails.
Sengoku scowled at her, jaw set, beginning to get the distinct feeling she was playing with him, and continued, "He auto-erotically asphyxiated himself." He immediately saw Shoko press her lips together, trying to suppress a smile.
"Awful," she commented, calmly, though her voice betrayed her sarcasm.
"He didn't auto-erotically asphyxiate himself did he?" Sengoku asked, already knowing the answer.
Shoko shook her head sadly. "'Fraid not."
"It was you."
"'Fraid so."
Sengoku groaned and slumped further into the couch, covering his face with his hands. "Fuck, that was you," he growled to himself. A minute later he looked at her, eyes wide. "You know how much fucking money I lost out on because of you?"
The young woman shrugged, half-smiling at him, amused that he was upset about something that happened so long ago. Then again, Sengoku was not known for his capacity to forgive and forget. "I dunno, how much was he worth to you?"
"Fifty-fucking-million!" Sengoku exclaimed.
Shoko pouted, cooing sympathetically as she gently smoothed his hair back from his forehead. "Aw, Shun-chan! I made twice that!"
Sengoku gaped at her. "Wha--? Fuck off!"
She nodded proudly. "And I got a bonus ten million for making him look like a pervert!" she crowed happily, bursting out laughing at the horrified expression on her boyfriend's face.
"That's so fucking unfair!"
Shoko shrugged unsympathetically. "You should've joined the dark side if you wanted to make the real money."
Sengoku tilted his head to one side in consideration and sighed, "I guess that's true."
Intent on restoring his good humour, Shoko leaned in closer and kissed his cheek. "There is another reason I brought the Oslo thing up," she said quietly.
"Y'mean it wasn't just to rub it in my face how fucking awesome you were at killing people and making shit-tons of money?" he snorted.
"No, I thought you were cute," she giggled, feeling herself blush.
Sengoku stared at her, that familiar smirk back on his face. He raised an eyebrow. "Cute?"
Shoko pressed her lips together and smiled, nodding silently.
"Did you know who I was?"
"Not at the time," she replied with a shrug before looking him up and down appraisingly. "I knew you were trouble though."
Sengoku laughed. "You should've made a move. I might've been interested."
Shoko rolled her eyes. "Idiot, I just said I knew you were trouble!" she giggled. "Why do you think I did so well? I never fucked around, especially not with guys like you!"
Her boyfriend chuckled and pinched a nipple through her dress before reaching in and plucking the condom from her cleavage. "But right now you don't mind?"
With a giggle, she kissed him as he shifted out from underneath her and pulled her further down the couch so she was on her back, positioning himself between her legs. "As long as we're done in time for the midnight toast, not at all," she snickered, running her hands through his hair as he began to trail kisses down the inside of her thigh.
"What time is it now?"
Suppressing a whimper, she glanced at the delicate silver watch on her wrist. "Eleven o'clock," she replied, gasping when his tongue flicked teasingly over her clit.
Sengoku looked up at her, grinning evilly. "Good. Lots of time."
It was almost 8 o'clock when Sengoku awoke the next morning, roused by the early morning light peeking through the blinds on his bedroom windows. He stared at the ceiling blankly for a few moments then turned his head to glance at the clock on the bedside table, smiling contentedly as the memory of last night's activities came back to him. It had been a while since they'd fucked like that. They were usually so busy and kept such different schedules at times that, when they did finally get time alone, the sex was more like a booty-call than making love. Not to mention the fact that they almost never got to actually sleep together as one of them was seemingly always called away early. Sengoku swore Hasegawa did it on purpose just to fuck with him. Shoko, who was more generous in her opinion of their boss, usually just shrugged it off as an 'occupational hazard'.
But last night had more than made up for it. They had stumbled through the door to Sengoku's apartment around 2am, pleasantly drunk, laughing and kissing, pulling at each other's clothes before gleefully deciding to have a bath together. Three hours, and a tube of lubricant, later, they were spent, completely exhausted, Shoko lying limply beneath him, face buried in a pillow, a flushed, quivering mess. They had fallen into a dead sleep after that. Neither of them was much for cuddling but Sengoku distinctly remembered feeling Shoko hook her foot around his as they drifted to sleep.
With a happy sigh, he turned to look for her, smiling when he saw her lying on her side facing away from him, bed sheet just barely covering her hip, allowing a tantalizing glimpse of the top of her buttocks. Going by the slow, steady sound of her breathing, she was still fast asleep. He grinned. Apparently, he'd tired her out. Carefully and quietly, he shifted a little closer, coming to rest just behind her and propping himself up on his elbow.
He regarded her thoughtfully for a moment, running appreciative eyes down the length of her body, wondering if she might be interested in some morning recreation when his gaze came to rest on the pale scar that ran all the way around her left shoulder, made all the more noticeable with her tan. From the moment he'd seen it, he'd been intrigued as to why Shoko had seemingly made no effort to correct something that marred her otherwise flawless complexion. She was fastidious when it came to applying creams to her newer scars and, having been in the line of work she was in, no doubt knew the importance of having no distinguishing marks. So, why she'd 'kept' this particular one was a mystery to him. The one time he'd asked her where it came from, Shoko had immediately told him she didn't want to talk about it and he'd quickly changed the subject.
He forced his thoughts to more enjoyable topics, leaned in and kissed her shoulder before planting more firm kisses down her ribcage, snickering when he heard her whimper and wriggle away from him, murmuring something like, "Do whatever you want to me, just don't wake me up!"
Laughing, Sengoku slid a hand over her hip and pressed himself against her, his morning erection prodding between her buttocks. He felt her flinch slightly away, body tensing. "I'm joking!" he growled good-naturedly, biting at her neck. "Y'okay?"
Shoko turned her head slightly to look back at him. "Yeah, just a little sore."
He grinned down at her. "Well, I did tell you you wouldn't be able to sit down for a week," he said smugly, laughing when Shoko rolled her eyes.
"Ugh, you're such an asshole," she groaned as she rolled onto her back and stretched, smiling up at him sleepily. "Lucky you're a great fuck."
Sengoku laughed and kissed her. "You too." He moved to prop his cheek in the palm of his hand. "So, whaddya want to do today?"
Shoko shrugged. "What do you want to do?"
With a grunt, Sengoku pulled himself to sitting and stretched his arms over his head. "I'm pretty fucking hungry!" he said with a yawn. He turned his head and looked over his shoulder, eyebrows raised inquisitively. "Wanna go out for breakfast?"
"Okay!" Shoko chirped enthusiastically. She almost couldn't remember the last time they'd gone out for a meal together. "What do you feel like eating?"
There was a bit of hesitation on Sengoku's part as he considered the question. Shoko could see him fold his arms over his chest and tilt his head back in thought. Before long, he answered, "Pancakes."
Shoko frowned then pushed herself up to sit beside him, wincing at the change in pressure on her backside. "Okay." She pushed the sheets aside and hopped out of bed. "I'm gonna shower," she yawned, stretching her arms up and out as she stalked towards the door to the bedroom. As she turned the corner, she flashed him smile over her shoulder, raising her eyebrows expectantly, "Are you coming?"
Without hesitation, Sengoku jumped up and closed the distance between them, grinning into her startled face as he spun her around and slung her over his shoulder, laughing as Shoko struggled momentarily, though without any real conviction, and snapped, "Don't fucking drop me!"
Sengoku paused and looked over his shoulder, "And what if I do?"
Shoko swatted his backside, making him flinch. "If you want a blowjob in the next five minutes, I'd advise against it," she replied nonchalantly, bursting out laughing as Sengoku gasped theatrically, tightening his grip around her hips and carried her off to the bathroom.
An hour and a half later they were seated comfortably across from each other at a crowded old-fashioned diner in the city's upper level, about a five minute walk from the station. The place was almost always rammed with people regardless of the holiday and, by the time they were seated, Sengoku had been ready to chew his own hand off.
Once they were eating, though, his mood lifted exponentially. Shoko hadn't seen him this chatty in a long time which usually meant he was either in a really good mood or about to crash from sleep deprivation. Considering that he'd been on a case for the last two days, she supposed it was more of the latter. She made a mental note to make sure they didn't stay out too long.
They chit-chatted back and forth, Sengoku asking her about her vacation and Shoko asking how he'd passed the time in Oedo without her. He made a point of inquiring how she'd handled being around Aiko's kids. Shoko had responded nonchalantly by telling him what she'd done to Takashi. Sengoku laughed so hard she was sure he was going to choke on a piece of pancake.
Half way through their meal, she noticed Sengoku was eyeing her curiously. Each time she looked up from her meal, she would catch him looking at her only to flick his gaze away at the last second. She sighed to herself. He usually did this when he wanted to know something but was trying to keep his mouth shut. "Would you stop doing that?" she asked quietly, taking a sip of her coffee.
Sengoku blinked then smiled and she was prepared to swear she saw him blush. He slouched further into his wide legged sprawl on his side of the booth. "Sorry, I was just wondering about something," he answered, shaking his head.
"What?" She raised a fine black eyebrow inquiringly.
He frowned thoughtfully and took a sip of his coffee. As he set the cup back down, he took a breath and gazed at her, "How'd you get caught?"
Shoko's face fell fractionally and Sengoku thought he caught a glimmer of sadness in her expression as she averted her gaze to the street outside. Just great, he thought, another thing to add to the list of shit not to talk about. A few moments later, she glanced at him, forcing herself to smile slightly. "Does it matter?"
Sengoku shrugged and leaned forward in his seat. "Just curious, I guess. It just seemed like one day you were on the wanted list and the next day you weren't. And last night you said you never fucked around with guys like me so it makes me wonder what happened to you."
Her eyes flickered to his. "For someone who doesn't like to talk about his own baggage, you really are nosey, you know that?" she asked with a wry smile.
Her boyfriend spread his hands and flopped backwards. "Hey, no pressure. If you don't wanna tell me, that's okay."
Shoko fidgeted in her seat momentarily then picked up her fork and quickly took a bite of her food, chewing thoughtfully. Finally, she sighed, "I didn't go out with a bang if that's what you wanna know."
"I guessed as much."
She gazed at him appraisingly for a second, considering her options, then folded her arms across her chest, sitting back in her seat and crossing her legs. "Promise me you won't say anything sexist," she said firmly.
Sengoku gaped in mock innocence. "Me? Sexist? Never!" he cried, laughing when she rolled her eyes.
"Oh, please, I can already hear your fucking voice in my head! I know what you're gonna say," she snorted incredulously, slouching further into her seat.
He raised his eyebrows expectantly, smiling. "Oh? And what would I say?"
"'It's not your fault. You're just a woman!'" she sneered, mimicking Sengoku's alpha-male Japanese perfectly.
Sengoku burst out laughing, shaking his head. "You realize your voice goes up when you impersonate me, right?" he snickered.
Shoko raised an eyebrow, smirking smugly. "And I've heard your voice goes down when you impersonate me, so what does that say?"
"Did Gogul tell you that?"
"Uh-huh."
"That fucker!" Sengoku cursed good-naturedly, screwing up his face and balling his fists comically in frustration.
The young woman laughed softly then bit her lip, flicking her eyes up to meet his, eyes almost pleading. "So, promise not to be a jerk about it?"
Sengoku closed his eyes, smiling grimly. "I promise."
Somewhat reassured, Shoko took a deep breath, trying to figure out where to begin. Finally, she opted for the direct approach and said, "My fiancé sold me out."
There was a stunned silence on Sengoku's part as her words slowly sank in. He furrowed his brow and tilted his head to one side. "You were engaged?"
Shoko nodded slowly, nervously pushing a hand through her hair. "Yeah."
Sengoku shifted in his seat, mouth opening and closing a few times as he considered then reconsidered asking the questions that entered his head. "Did he know who you were? What you did for a living?" he asked finally.
"Not in the beginning, no," Shoko responded enigmatically.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
Shoko grimaced. "It means, when I first met him, I kept my professional life private."
"And he never suspected anything?" Sengoku asked quickly, raising an eyebrow incredulously. "I mean, shit, if my girlfriend was jetting off to some backwater every week, I think I'd suspect something."
"That's because he wasn't you," Shoko muttered, rolling her eyes.
"So?" Sengoku gazed at her expectantly. "How'd he find out?"
There was an uncomfortable silence as Shoko fought the urge to simply end the conversation right there. This was not something she was comfortable talking about. Even thinking about it made her cringe. And Sengoku wasn't exactly the best shoulder to cry on. She was positive he would laugh at her when he found out how she'd been caught. Not because he was intentionally being mean but because he was just generally insensitive that way.
After a good minute of squirming, Shoko sighed, lowering her eyes to the half-empty plate in front of her. "I told him," she said quietly, feeling her face flush in embarrassment.
As she suspected, Sengoku never flinched, but immediately launched into another question, "Why the fuck would you do that?"
Shoko shrugged. "I loved him, I guess," she answered almost inaudibly.
Sengoku blinked, taken aback by her honesty. That wasn't the answer he had been expecting. Shoko never seemed an overly emotional person and certainly not the type of girl that would throw away everything she was for a man. He gazed at her sympathetically for a moment, choosing his next words carefully. "So, you wanted to be honest with him."
"Yeah, I guess," Shoko murmured. She folded her arms across her chest, brow furrowing in an effort to verbalize her feelings. "I actually quit when I got engaged."
"Quit?"
Shoko nodded. "Yeah, I finished my last job, I closed out all my accounts, started the process of selling the warehouse I used as a workshop," she listed, flicking her eyes up to his for a moment and chuckled, "I even started selling off my weapons on the black market."
"And that wasn't good enough?" Sengoku asked.
"At first, I thought it would be," she replied. "But the closer I got to the wedding, the more I started to feel like my whole relationship with him was a lie." She paused and took a sip of her coffee, setting it back down carefully before continuing. "And it was! I mean, he didn't know who I was, not really anyway. It really started to bother me."
Sengoku leveled a disbelieving glare at her. "You must've known you were taking a risk telling him something like that."
"Of course!" Shoko snapped, offended. "I'm not stupid!" A moment later, she relaxed and shook her head, sighing to herself. "I guess I thought there was a possibility he would see the gravity of me telling him my deepest, darkest secret and cut me some slack, maybe give me some credit for trying to do the honourable thing."
Her boyfriend chuckled. "Showed you were serious at least."
The dark young woman blinked. "About what?"
Sengoku raised an eyebrow incredulously. "About him," he replied, slightly unnerved by the sudden twinge of jealousy that ran through him just then.
Shoko laughed self-consciously and rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I guess."
"So how'd he take it?"
"Mm, he didn't believe me at first," Shoko replied with a shrug.
Sengoku folded his arms across his chest and turned his head slightly to regard her skeptically from the corners of his eyes. "And how'd you get him to believe you?" he asked slowly, already guessing at the answer.
He immediately saw the blush in Shoko's cheeks as she lowered her eyes to her lap, biting her lip. Finally, she said, "I showed him."
"Showed him?"
Shoko waved a hand almost irritably. "Proof of who I was," she said quickly. Anticipating his next question, she added, with a defeated sigh, "I took him to my workshop."
"Did you at least blindfold him so he wouldn't know where it was?" Sengoku asked expectantly.
Shoko scrunched her eyes shut. "No."
Sengoku tilted his head back and groaned loudly. "So, you basically handed him all the evidence he would need if he wanted to cash in on your bounty."
With a sigh, Shoko nodded. "Looking back on it now, I think I was more worried he'd leave me than about him going to the police," she said quietly. She saw Sengoku nod thoughtfully then concluded her story, "Anyways, a few days later I came home to find three SWAT teams waiting for me in my apartment."
The young man laughed, "Geez, overkill?"
Shoko snickered. "Apparently someone thought I would put up a fight."
"Did you?"
She shook her head. "That would've been the worst thing to do. If there was any chance they didn't have enough evidence to nail me, there was no point blowing it by killing a few police officers."
Sengoku nodded again and remained silent for a few moments before another thought occurred to him. "You could've gotten the death penalty," he murmured, thinking out loud.
Shoko smiled sadly. "Yeah." Then she brightened fractionally, smiling as brightly as she could manage, "Luckily Hasegawa recruited me."
"Is that why you're always making excuses for that fucker?" Sengoku snorted.
The young woman shrugged. "Well, I'm pretty sure, if it weren't for him, I'd be dead now so, yeah, maybe that's part of it."
They fell silent for a few moments, lost in their own thoughts. Sengoku gazed at Shoko considering what she had just told him. It suddenly made sense why she had been so hesitant to tell him about her old life. She was obviously worried he would decide it was all too much to deal with regardless of how he may have felt about her. But the fact that her fiancé, of all people, had stitched her up the way he did was what bothered him the most. What kind of asshole wants to marry you one day then sells you out to the cops the next? Even if it had been Shoko's fault that she'd let her guard down and trusted the wrong person, she didn't deserve that: to be taken down by some sneaky, two-faced nobody. "You deserved better," he said suddenly, almost without thinking.
Shoko's attention snapped back to him immediately. "What?"
Sengoku closed his eyes. "You deserved better than to go out like that," he clarified.
She stared then narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "That's surprisingly sweet of you."
"I should have caught you!" he said, grinning evilly.
Shoko stuck out her tongue, wrinkling her nose and scrunching her eyes shut. "Yeah, you wish!" she laughed. A moment later she sighed, "Turned out okay though. I'm content with the way my life is now. I mostly like my job and the fact that it's legal means I can sleep more soundly at night. When I think about what might have been, I can't say for sure if I really would've been happy."
"You'd probably have a kid by now," Sengoku muttered off-handedly, laughing at the look of horror on his girlfriend's face.
"Ugh, fuck, what a thought!" she exclaimed, shuddering theatrically as she gestured for the bill. She glanced at him sideways and smiled cheerily. "Are we going back to your place?"
Sengoku shrugged, suppressing a yawn as he pulled on his coat. "It's up to you. I might not be much fun though, I'm really fuckin' tired."
With a relieved sigh, Shoko slid out of the booth and stood, stretching. "Suits me! I'm still jet-lagged," she groaned, reaching over her head with her right hand and clasping her left wrist and pulling firmly, causing her shoulder joint to pop loud enough for Sengoku to hear.
Her boyfriend winced and pulled a disgusted face. "Fuck, I hate it when you do that!" he growled, following her to the front of the restaurant. It was one thing to date a hot, athletic girl, it was quite another to have to listen to all the cracking and popping sounds her joints made when she got up from sitting for a long time or got up in the morning.
Shoko giggled and wrinkled her nose at him cheekily as they handed over their cash to pay. "But you love me anyway!" she joked as she bounced through the opening automatic door, slipping through the crowd of people waiting for a table and stepped out onto the street.
What had been a cold, dreary day on the city's upper level had turned into a lovely crisp, bright winter's day. She breathed in the chilly, fresh air appreciatively and turned to see Sengoku pushing through the last of the crowd and exiting behind her. Smiling happily, she fell into step beside him and they began to make their way back to his car.
As they rounded the corner, much to her astonishment, Sengoku reached over and buried a hand in her hair, squeezing gently at the nape of her neck. He pulled her closer to him and kissed her cheek quickly, immediately pushing her away, shoving his hands into the pockets of his coat as if nothing had happened.
Shoko stopped walking to gape at him. They barely even touched each other in public, never held hands or did anything else openly affectionate. Hitting and pushing each other was usually the extent of physical contact between them when they were in front of other people so the fact that he'd kissed her was nothing less than shocking. She briefly considered confronting him but thought better of it, content to take the gesture for what it was.
Sengoku turned halfway down the sidewalk to look at her expectantly. "You coming?" he called.
Shaking her head and sighing, she nodded and hurried after him, "Yeah."
It was almost six o'clock when Sengoku awoke, sprawled in his bed. They'd gone back to bed right after getting back to his apartment, wanting to capitalize on the luxury of sleep as much as possible before inevitably being called back to work.
Absently, he reached beside him, expecting Shoko to be there but finding the space empty though still slightly warm. He sat up and looked around, listening for sounds of activity in another room. It wouldn't be like her to leave without telling him. A moment later he heard the light swish of the bathroom door opening and closing and the click of the light going off.
Shoko appeared in the doorway, smiling softly when she saw that he was awake. "Did I wake you?" she asked as she closed the door behind her.
Sengoku shook his head, yawning and stretching. "Nah, you didn't make a sound until just now."
"Good," she said, climbing into his lap, straddling his hips and resting her hands on his shoulders. She shivered as Sengoku ran the tips of his fingers up her thighs, hands coming to rest on her hips. He rubbed his thumbs in little circles over her hipbones gently and grinned.
"How's your bum?"
Shoko laughed and kissed him. "Still a little sore."
His smile faded to be replaced by a look of mild concern. "Was I too rough last night?"
"No!" Shoko giggled then cocked her head to one side considering. "I think it was more the number of times we did it there than how rough."
Sengoku grinned as he remembered. "Well, you did seem to be enjoying it," he snickered.
"Oh, I was!" Shoko chuckled and kissed him deeply, wrapping her arms around his neck.
They stayed that way for what seemed like hours, content with exploring each other's mouths, with stroking and fondling. A long time later, Shoko felt Sengoku reach for the waistband of his shorts, lifting herself just enough to let him thumb them off and kick them to the floor. Wordlessly, she pulled her shirt over her head, gasping when he took hold of her hips and gently guided her onto his erection. She was so wet, she sank onto him easily, moaning into his mouth as he began to thrust hard up into her though she noticed distantly he was avoiding grabbing her ass, keeping his hands tight around her waist. When she'd found her bearings, initially overwhelmed by the sensations washing over her, she realized how close to climax she was already. Eagerly, she gripped his shoulders for support as she matched his rhythm, forehead resting against his, their mouths just a breath from each other.
Sengoku moaned and grabbed at her shoulders, pulling her down harder onto him. Shoko took the hint, eager to come herself, and strengthened her movements. Moments later, she felt him twitch and pulse inside of her. She yelped as he grabbed her ass roughly. To her amazement, however, that little stab of pain, as unwelcome as she'd thought it would be, sparked sudden, intense warmth deep in her womb and pushed her over the edge. She cried out as she came, face buried in Sengoku's neck.
What seemed like a long time later, Sengoku bent to look at her, lifting her off his shoulder. "Sorry, force of habit," he said, apparently realizing that he'd hurt her.
Shoko smiled sleepily. "It's okay," she replied, kissing him softly. "I kinda liked it."
Sengoku chuckled. "Little masochist," he murmured, nipping at her earlobe.
A second later, they jumped at the sound of Shoko's phone vibrating on the bedside table. Almost without thinking, Shoko made a move to reach over and answer it only to have Sengoku growl and pull her back, biting at her neck and jaw. "Leave it."
Forcing back a giggle, she settled back down, sliding her hands through Sengoku's hair as he kissed her, drawing her tongue into his mouth. Already, she could feel his half-erect cock pressing against her cunt and the heat building in her groin again.
Her phone ceased vibrating after a few more pulses followed by blissful silence only to be broken as her phone started up again not two seconds later.
They groaned in unison and broke away to scowl at each other. Only one person would keep calling like that.
Shoko pressed her eyes shut in annoyance and reached for her phone, putting the call on speaker before setting it on the bed beside them. "Hello?" she answered innocently, eyebrows raised.
Hasegawa's voice came over the speaker. "I need you."
She happened to make eye-contact with Sengoku as he was making a seductive, pouty face and rolled his eyes back, mouthing, "I need you." She punched his shoulder playfully, suppressing a giggle, and turned her attention back to the call. "Fine. Where do I need to go?"
"Yokohama. I've sent the coordinates to your car," Hasegawa replied.
The young woman frowned. As she lived in Yokohama there was a possibility her boss was under the impression she was the only available choice. "I'm not at home," she said, hoping he wouldn't ask her for more detail than that.
T There was a brief hesitation on Hasegawa's part. Half a second later, he replied, "I know. But it'll be faster if you take care of this."
Shoko glanced at Sengoku, her brow furrowing slightly in puzzlement at how their boss had known her whereabouts. Sengoku raised an eyebrow and pointed to his collar and then his ear, smiling grimly. The young woman grimaced briefly then shook her head. "I'll be there in an hour."
Hasegawa hesitated, seemingly ready to argue with her but apparently decided against it. "Fine," he grunted before disconnecting the call.
Sengoku folded his arms across his chest and raised a sardonic eyebrow at her. "He does know you can kill him at thirty paces with a paperclip, right?"
His girlfriend rolled her eyes and climbed off his lap, swinging her feet to the floor. "He's always like that when he knows I'm with you," she said dismissively as she cast her gaze around the room for her clothes, gathering them up as she found them.
"I take it he doesn't approve?" Sengoku muttered, resting back on his hands as he watched her intently.
Shoko shrugged. "I don't think he cares," she replied thoughtfully. She noticed the look of skepticism on her boyfriend's face and grinned, "He just doesn't want you to think he treats me different than he treats any of you. He has a hard-ass image to maintain, remember?"
Sengoku snorted. "It's only an image if you're not actually like that." He called after her as she turned to leave the room, "Hey, why don't you come back here when you're done?"
The young woman blinked then smiled. "Sure! But what if you're not here?" she asked suddenly remembering she didn't have a key.
Sengoku smiled and shrugged. "In that case I'll text you," he replied simply.
"Okay," she murmured with a shrug, turning and heading off to the bathroom.
Hurriedly, Shoko hopped in the shower and cleaned herself off, not too concerned with being thorough since she knew she was only going to get sweated up again in an hour anyway, mostly concentrating on washing away the sticky, cooling semen that was beginning to trickle down her thighs.
She emerged about ten minutes later to find Sengoku, now dressed in a t-shirt and jeans, in the kitchen rummaging around in a small box he kept on top of his fridge. "Whatcha lookin' for?" she asked with a yawn as she pulled on her coat.
Sengoku grinned and handed her a small credit-card sized envelope. "Found it."
Shoko frowned and took the envelope from him, opening it to see what was inside, eyes widening when she realized what it was. "Is this what I think it is?" she asked doubtfully, arching an eyebrow at him.
"What do you think it is?" he asked coyly, raising his eyebrows expectantly.
She paused for a moment, biting her lip. "It's a spare key?" she asked finally, glancing at him. "To your place?"
"Yup."
Her eyes darted skeptically from the key in her hand to his face and back. She pursed her lips and furrowed her brow. "This is oddly committal of you."
Sengoku burst out laughing. "You might be over-thinking it just a little," he asked, leaning against the doorframe and shoving his hands in his pockets.
Shoko sighed, shoulders slumping, embarrassed she was being so paranoid. "Sorry. Don't take it the wrong way," she groaned, carefully placing the key into one of the inner pockets of her coat. "I just don't want you thinking I'm gonna turn into some Stage 5 Clinger psycho."
"If I thought you were Stage 5 Clinger material, I wouldn't be giving you a fucking key," he laughed, rolling his eyes. "If it makes you uncomfortable, you can consider it a loan."
She smiled and nodded. "Okay."
He watched silently as Shoko pulled on her boots and buttoned her coat, moving to stand on the step of the genkan as she pulled the door open. "But for the record," he said suddenly, breaking the silence, "if you do decide to keep it, I wouldn't be all that upset to come home one night and find you naked in my bed."
Shoko smirked and raised an eyebrow. "Would you like that?"
Sengoku chuckled. "Wouldn't mind," he replied with a shrug.
"Hm, maybe I will," she said with a nod, kissing him swiftly. "See you in a few hours?"
"Yup. Be careful."
She looked over her shoulder and smiled reassuringly as she crossed the threshold. As she reached the elevator, she turned to see Sengoku standing in the doorway, his back against the doorframe. He stuck out his tongue and gave her the finger, laughing when she sneered good-naturedly and returned the gesture.
As the elevator door opened, she waved and stepped in, smiling contentedly as she leaned against the railing, tilting her head back to gaze up at the night sky. No stars. But that didn't matter. Everything seemed right in the world for once.
She took her phone out of her pocket and tapped a message to Sengoku, grinning to herself. "Happy New Year, asshole!"
A moment later, the phone buzzed with his response. She tapped the screen, heart skipping as she read the message: "Happy New Year, bishojo."
Smiling broadly, eyes gleaming, she slipped the phone back into her pocket.
Maybe she would keep the key after all.
© Vin, August 2011