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The Temptress by Baine

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The Temptress
Chapter 3
By Baine
Email: ladybaine at gmail dot com
Posted: December 16, 2006
Hey everyone! Thank you for all of the reviews so far! I’ve gotten more than I ever thought I would for this fic. I’ve been so nervous about it, but it seems that everyone else really likes it!
For those who are worried, I promise that the chapters are getting longer now. The ones already posted were to build suspense and introduce you to the characters and the situation, so there was a reason that they were brief.
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The Temptress
Chapter Three
By Baine
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Breathe in...and out. And one and two and three and four. Now kick...kick!
Usagi breathed heavily as she followed the movements of the instructor moving across her TV screen. She always found that a good round of kickboxing kept her limber and on her toes.
It was good therapy, too. She still hadn't figured out what to do about Chiba Mamoru. Kick-boxing allowed her to work out her frustration and start anew. Actually, so did sex, but she wasn't about to bring someone new into the picture and screw up all of her carefully-laid plans.
She frowned in thought, paused the video, and reached for her bottled water. She had downed half the bottle when she heard a knock at the door. Grabbing a white terry towel from the table, she quickly blotted her gleaming face and neck as she walked to the door.
Upon opening it, however, she froze and could only gawk. A tall man stood in her doorway. He was so tall that she had to crane her neck to look at him. He pushed his shaggy blond hair out of his eyes and smiled at her, his forest-green eyes twinkling with merriment.
Her throat suddenly dry, Usagi gulped and met his steady gaze. "May I help you, sir?"
He grinned lopsidedly and shoved his hands into his pockets. “Aw, no need to be so formal, Usa. It's me, Motoki. Have you really forgotten me?"
Her hand tightened on the doorknob. "I, uh—Well, no. I mean—What are you doing here?"
She swallowed nervously, attempting to remain calm. It wouldn’t do for her to pick up on how nervous she was. He must suspect her. Why else would he be here? She plastered a smile onto her face. She couldn’t let him know that she already knew everything about him! After all, they had been out of touch for so long. What was she supposed to say? I’ve been researching everything that there is to know about your partner, so of course I know all about you, too? She didn’t think that statement would go over very well.
His smooth voice interrupted her turbulent thoughts as he shrugged his broad shoulders. "Would you believe me if I said that I was in the neighborhood and just wanted to say hi?"
"After two years?"
"So I've been busy since getting my Masters."
"Hmm." She eyed him skeptically. "So, uh...what really brings you to the neighborhood?"
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Mamoru leaned back in his chair with a frustrated sigh as he watched yet another former classmate walk out the door without giving him any further information. He had thought he’d finally gotten somewhere, too. Mizuno Ami had been the class president, which meant that she had once been acquainted with former class treasurer Karae Rui, the first victim. Ami claimed that she had been out of touch with Rui for years now and that they ran with different crowds in high school, so they had never been particularly close to begin with.
He rubbed his forehead tiredly and brushed his unruly bangs out of his eyes before sitting forward once more, tapping at his notebook with a ballpoint pen that looked as though it had seen better days due to the fact that whenever Mamoru was nervous, he always tended to gnaw on his pens. This one was no exception. He could judge how hard a former case had been when looking at how battered his pens ended up.
He forced a smile as a tall woman with deep, violet-black hair sauntered into the room, her red tube dress barely covering her. He watched warily as she lowered herself into the chair across from his desk and crossed her ankles, showing off her scarlet pumps as she leaned closer to him.
“Fancy meeting you again, Mamoru-kun,” she murmured, her voice low and seductive. “You couldn’t wait until next month’s class reunion to get re-acquainted, could you?” She leaned her hand against her chin, showing off crimson nail polish and a diamond-encrusted Tiffany’s ring. “Should I close the door so that we can...talk?” Her violet eyes skimmed his figure hungrily.
“Hino-san, I asked you here today to talk to you about your fiancé, Hitora Jede.”
“Such a tragedy, isn’t it? He was great in bed, too...though not as good as you surely are.” She gave him another suggestive look through hooded eyes.
Mamoru gazed at her impassively, ignoring her advances. “What can you tell me about your whereabouts on the night of August 15th?”
Her eyes widened dramatically. “Why, I was away for Obon! I told the cops that in my statement! You don’t think—I’m not under investigation, am I?”
“Where did you go?”
“Kamakura Beach.”
“Why didn’t your fiancé go with you?”
“He said that he had to work. By work, he meant that he had to go screw some leggy blond because I wasn’t good enough for him. Do you know how much it hurts to know that he cheated on me? Me! I’m the best sex that he’ll never have again!”
“So when he cheated on you, it gave you an excuse to dump his sorry ass for your new boytoy—the one that you went to Kamakura Beach to shack up with.”
“I—How did you know about that?” She glowered at him through narrowed eyes.
“Lucky guess. That, and the bellboy told all...including details about your sordid fling with him.
She glared at him and clenched her fists. “Do you think that I would have stayed with Jede after he cheated on me like that? It wasn’t the first time, either. It was just...well, it was the first time he came back without all his limbs attached. Just rewards, I say. Any man who screws with Hino Rei will find himself screwed later on in life.”
“Are you telling me that you put someone up to this so that you could punish him for his infidelities?”
“Hell no! I knew he cheated, true, and, yeah, he pissed me off. I stayed with him because when we were together, we had such mind-blowing sex that the world around us shattered into pieces and it was only him and me. I wouldn’t have willingly deprived myself of something so amazing.”
He blinked and observed her anew. Loath as he was to admit it, her proclamation made sense. She always had been interested in one thing when it came to men. “Do you, uh...Do you have any clues as to who would want to hurt you like that?”
She tossed her head and scowled. “The only person that I can think of is that hoe, Aino Minako. Do you remember her? Captain of the Cheer Squad? She always tried to steal my guys in school. If he had a dick, she went after him—it didn’t matter who she hurt in the process. She was always jealous of me because I had bigger boobs and better hair than she did. My legs were longer, too, and let’s just say...the boys always did like me better, even if she was a bit more...athletic...between the sheets.”
“Do you have any other information that could help us with the case, Hino-san?”
“No, but if I do...” She lightly used her tongue to outline her lips. “...You know how to find me.”
“Right then.” He shook his head ruefully. “Thank you again for making time to stop by despite your busy schedule.” He stood up and led her to the door. “Have a great afternoon and stay out of trouble.”
She gave him one last once-over before sauntering out the door towards the elevator. Mamoru shut his door and leaned against it wearily, massaging his aching temple once more. At least she had been able to supply him with a possible suspect—Aino Minako, a lanky blond who once ruled Juuban High.
“So, what can I do for you, Motoki?” Usagi asked, her hands steady as she concentrated on pouring him a cup of tea.
He smiled ruefully as he accepted the cup from her before looking down into its murky brown surface and idly swirling the liquid around with a spoon. “Well, to tell you the truth, I came on business.”
She glanced at him from the corner of her eye, feigning indifference as she brought a plate of cookies to the table. “What kind of business?”
“Well, you know that I’m a detective now, right?”
“Yeah.” She slid into the chair across from his and picked up a cookie.
“Well, uh—oh. Was I interrupting you from something?”
“Huh?” She looked at him, startled, only to see his eyes suddenly focused on the towel around her neck. “Oh. No. I was just exercising.”
“Why do people feel the need to exercise in the middle of summer? I mean, it’s goddamn August and we’re in the middle of a freaking heat wave. It’s hot, it’s sticky, and it’s humid. Why would you want to be even more uncomfortable than you already are?”
She blinked at him before smiling in amusement and shrugging her shoulders. “Pain is beauty?”
“I guess.” He tilted his head at her. “You never were one for exercise, Usa. I remember that after school, you’d always be sitting around the arcade.”
“Yeah, but I’d be running to and from school. Once I stopped doing that, I needed some new form of exercise if I wanted to keep my figure.”
“True.” He glanced briefly at her chest before looking away, his cheeks a light shade of cheek.
Usagi hadn’t even thought about the fact that her workout clothes were so revealing. It was interesting to see the effect that she was having on him. Maybe it was enough of a distraction to make him forget why he had come...? She smiled sweetly, sitting up and thrusting her chest forward in the process, making the move seem accidental. “Do you want me to change? I can if I’m making you uncomfortable...”
“No, no. You’re fine.” He blushed and cleared his throat. “Anyway, I came here in relation to a case that I’m currently working on.”
Usagi tilted her head at him, her head whirring. He was about to get too close, he was—“I know! You’re the detective who was put in charge of my case!”
His eyes widened. “Er...your case? What case would that be, Usa?”
Shit. She paused as her brain struggled to come up with something before he could get suspicious of how long it was taking her to respond. “Um...You came here to investigate those threatening phone calls that I’ve been getting, right?”
Motoki sat up a little straighter and his tone became more brisk. “What kind of phone calls?”
“Oh, that’s not why you’re here?” Her face fell and she chewed at the bottom of her lip. “I guess I just figured—”
“Why don’t you tell me what’s going on, Usa?” He placed his hand on top of hers, kneading it comfortingly.
“Well, it’s just—I don’t know.” She shrugged. “For a month or two now, this girl has been calling me and telling me that she’s going to ruin my life. She says that I have it coming to me and that she’s already put her plan into motion. She said that she’s going to steal my identity...steal my life. Whatever that means. It’s kind of scary, really.”
“When did these calls start?”
“Um, towards the end of June. It was right around my birthday.”
“And you never called the cops?”
“I did. They just...never took me seriously.”
“Has anything else weird happened to you besides getting these phone calls?”
“Well, I—never mind.”
“What?”
“No. You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.” She ducked her head, looking demurely at the table. She had him hanging to her every word like a fish on a hook. How had she forgotten just how gullible Motoki actually was? Really, detective work didn’t suit him at all.
He leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms, leveling his eyes at her, a slight frown twisting at his gorgeous lips. “Try me. I’m a detective, remember?”
“It’s just—” She sighed and looked down again. “One morning on my way to work, somebody left a package at my door. I’m working a few temp jobs right now to make ends meet, and I was running a little late, so I didn’t think anything of it. I just put it on the floor inside my hallway and left. I completely forgot about the box until I got home that night. When I opened it...”
“Yes?”
She shivered in revulsion and bit her lip. “It was...well, it was a bloody pulp of flesh. That’s what it looked like, anyway. I’m sure it was just a gag prop from a trick store or something, but I didn’t want to look at it anymore, so I closed the box back up and threw it away.”
Motoki’s eyes widened and he gazed at Usagi intently, his emerald-eyes burning as they darkened with an emotion that she couldn’t identify. “You found what? Why didn’t you call the police?”
“I just assumed that it had been another gag toy. The day before it, I found a fake heart outside my door lying in a pool of ketchup.”
“Did the object resemble any body part or animal part that you recognized?”
“Well...this is going to sound ridiculous, but—Well, it sort of looked like genitalia. It was probably a mutilated dildo or something, but—”
“Usagi, you should have told the police about this! There’s no way I’m leaving you alone in this house.”
“But I don’t have any place to—”
“Nonsense. From now on, you’re going to work as a secretary in my office. You’re only doing temp work, right? We can give you a better salary then that, plus, you’ll be right under our eyes. No one will dare to harm you when there are cops and detectives around. At night, either my partner or I will stay in the house with you. We’re not going to let you become a victim, Usagi. Count on it.”
Motoki stood from the table and adjusted the gun at his side before turning and offering her a hand. “Come on. I want to go back to the station to write this up and prepare the necessary paperwork for your case. You’ll be safe with me.”
Usagi observed him intently before meekly taking his offered hand with a nod of approval and heading out the door, stopping only to scoop up her Coach purse from the table and grab a cardigan from the closet to cover up her current attire. Game. Set. Match!
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Chapter Completion: July 25, 2006
Re-worked: December 16, 2006
AN: Special thanks to my fabulous editor Kel! Also, thank yous go out to Chibi Anonymous and Diana Moon for listening to me rant and rave as I tried to write eight chapters in two days in order to meet deadline...
Thank you also to Tasia Chiba, Azurite, and Lazuli for helping me come up with a better summary for this piece!! Y'all are awesome!!
Like it? Hate it? I’m the one to talk to! E-mail ladybaine at gmail dot com today!
«•´•.(•.¸(•.¸ ¸.•´)¸.•).•´•»
«•´¨•.¸¸. Baine.¸¸.•¨•»
«•´•.(¸.•´(¸.• •.¸)•.¸).•´•»




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