A/N: Thank you to everyone who commented that the file didn't upload quite right.

Chapter 3

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Shizuru didn't give Natsuki all of the responsibilities being her personal assistant would normally do. Some of the tasks were too important to give to chance. Starting with the cliché requests of tea, food, and keeping Shizuru on schedule, Natsuki waited patiently to be trusted with more. Natsuki understood that this was Shizuru's livelihood and given her history as a potential flight risk would mean Shizuru would really have to test the waters.

The clock struck 4pm without Shizuru's notice since she was hard at work writing the next chapter for her novel. When the clock read 4:15pm, Natsuki quietly entered the dark office with the authors usual cup of tea and some lunch. Natsuki knew not to disturb Shizuru while writing, however, she also knew that the older woman could work all day without rest or nourishment. "I'll leave your tea and lunch here, Shizuru. I'll come back for the tray in 45 minutes."

To the untrained eye, Shizuru's movements would have seemed like she hadn't heard Natsuki at all. Typing away at the keys and not even a whisper of acknowledgement, Natsuki knew of the woman's quirks all too well. The subtle inclination of long tan hair leaning in Natsuki's direction gave the younger woman the signal that Shizuru had heard her perfectly clear. Leaving the room, Natsuki briefly reminisced on the days that it would anger the blunette when she didn't have a clear response to her words while the woman was writing back in high school.

Natsuki used to think that it was rude and cold to not acknowledge a person when they were speaking to them. Then one day Natsuki was watching close enough to notice this quirk, she laughed at herself a little because what was once before an annoyance became rather cute. It took Natsuki a while to realize that she was this way when working on a new motorcycle project. Engrossed in something so important to her, that moving her attention from it because of the buzzing of something in the background could make her lose her focus and ruin the project flow entirely.

The "office" phone rang in the other room. It was a landline that Shizuru used for important calls and/or the calls she didn't want to answer. Natsuki waited a beat to see if Shizuru would hurriedly emerge from her room to answer it, but there was no sound of extra movement coming from the other room. She's trusting me to answer it.

Natsuki rushed to the phone, dizzy with the absurd happiness at being given a chance to earn more trust back. "Hello, Natsuki speaking." She answered slightly breathless.

"Ah, I'm sorry I believe I have the wrong number."

"If you're looking for Ms. Viola, I'm her new personal assistant."

There was a pause on the phone that made Natsuki's heart pound in her ears. Did she mess this up now that she had finally gotten a chance to prove herself further?

"New personal assistant?"

The tone on the other end of the line made Natsuki's hair on the back of her neck raise in agitation. "Yes, I've been hired to assist in Ms. Viola's affairs. How may I help you?" she ground out as politely as possible.

"If you can't recognize me over the phone, then you must be new."

"I apologize for not being acquainted." Natsuki's blood began to simmer in her veins.

"Whatever. Tell her Tomoe called."

Then she hung up.

Natsuki took a deep breath before slamming the phone back on its cradle. There was a pad of paper and a pen on the same stand as the phone. She wrote, "Tomoe called." Just as Natsuki was about to leave the note in Shizuru's study, the petty side of her decided to wait until it was time to gather up Shizuru's plates. At least she was informing Shizuru at all. Grinning gleefully, Natsuki gave herself a mental pat on the back for handling the situation so well.

…

Natsuki left the note by Shizuru's hands as she gathered the now empty dishes on the tray. Shizuru gave attention to the note long enough to stop writing for the day. "Natsuki," she croaked, "you have permission to hang up on Tomoe whenever she calls." Looking over her shoulder, Natsuki warred with her feelings between being "given permission" and looking forward to Tomoe's next call. Amused, Shizuru left her place from her desk to help Natsuki with the dishes.

As they washed and dried together, Natsuki itched to ask who Tomoe was anyway. Why would this rude woman call, if Shizuru wanted nothing to do with her? "By the way," Shizuru's voice cut effortlessly through Natsuki's buzzing thoughts, "I have an in-home meeting with my agent this week."

Natsuki's ears perked up quickly. Another chance?

"What does that mean for me exactly?"

"I have some materials that need preparing. I'll work on them with you for now until you get used to it."

Shizuru chuckled at her puppy's eager face. Natsuki forgot all about her questions about Tomoe just as Shizuru had intended.

…

"Have a safe trip back!"

The two women shooed Shizuru's literary agent, a fussy red-headed woman by the name of Nao, on her merry way back to the city where fresh manuscripts were ready to be printed and published. Nao had picked up Shizuru after a rumor that had gone around claiming that there was a literary genius in the heart of Kyoto. Always looking for a golden goose, Nao raced herself down to the timeless place and found Shizuru. At the time, Shizuru had been between deciding whether or not to publish her work. She knew that it was great work, and that her collections would sell very well, but Shizuru didn't know if she wanted her work to be tainted by commercialism. If it weren't for Nao's pushing and excessively annoying pleading, Shizuru would have happily allow her works to collect dust.

Shizuru didn't write for anybody else aside from herself and one other person. After the first of her works were published, Shizuru felt a slight invasion of privacy she wasn't expecting. When she voiced this to Nao, her curt response was along the lines of "well, you can't take it back now." However, Nao wasn't completely heartless. She took Shizuru to an open mic reading night as a "good work" present. Grateful for the evening out, Shizuru enjoyed herself. It wasn't until the last bit of the open mic session that Shizuru understood Nao's reasoning to bring her here.

A young woman came up to the stand carrying a familiar maroon bound book, and read one of Shizuru's excerpts with such a passion that left her speechless. Hearing the written words coming from someone else's lips reminded Shizuru that this was the response she was looking for when she first started writing. Her work was meant to be shared, meant to be relatable, so that others going through the same thing knew that they weren't alone. As she had felt when Natsuki left. That was the reason why Shizuru kept writing, kept publishing and kept Nao.

It still didn't take away from the fact that the woman was very loud and demanding. Shizuru learned quite early on that she wouldn't miss a deadline out of the sheer fact that Nao would blow her top and stay at her home until the manuscript was finished. The tan headed woman had a lot more patience than her friends, but she was nowhere near a saint.

Natsuki didn't like Nao. As soon as Nao came to visit, she gave Natsuki a none-to-discreet sizing up before giving a toothy grin. "Found another one, did she? That was fast." Natsuki didn't know what that was supposed to mean, nevertheless she didn't like it. Natsuki followed Shizuru's pace during Nao's visit. Get her in, then get her out, Shizuru seemed to say. The blunette was all too happy to oblige. After Shizuru's literary agent turned the corner, they breathed a collective sigh of relief to watch the red-headed woman go.

Natsuki went to prepare an early lunch and brew a pot of tea as a reward for another deadline met. It didn't occur to Natsuki how much preparation went into being an upcoming world- renowned author, but she was very much glad to be a part of it. Although she would probably never say it, she was proud of Shizuru and her success.

Happily cutting onion for their gyūdon, the office phone rang. With Shizuru out for a quick walk to the butcher shop, Natsuki answered the phone. "Viola residence."

"If you hang up on me this time, I will burn the place down."

Natsuki was hoping that over the course of the few weeks of hanging up on this rude woman, she would go away. I guess not all pests can take a hint. "Tomoe, is it?"

"You're damn right. Now put her on the phone."

"Shizuru isn't here at the moment. I can leave a message."

"The hell you will!"

The phone went dead on the other end of the line, but Natsuki felt uneasy. It felt as if this conversation was not yet over.

"I'm home." Shizuru sang, and hummed a pleasant tune as she removed her shoes. The tune stopped as Natsuki entered the front room, face as hard as chiseled stone.

"Who the hell is Tomoe?"

A/N: I hope that you all are having a great week! It's almost the weekend. We can do this! Readers please be aware: next week's chapter may contain details of self harm. If this triggers you, please DO NOT READ next weeks chapter should the warning still apply. Thank you again to all readers and commenters, I greatly appreciate you.