A/N: I don't have any reasons why this took so long…I just want to say sorry!
Lucky Suki 9
Nao looked right and left repeatedly. Behind her were Natsuki and Shizuru. The chestnut haired woman was smirking as she watched Nao inspect the surrounding outside Shizuru's office. Natsuki on the other hand was frowning, her arms crossed over her chest and one foot tapping on the floor.
Oh my Natsuki looked cute this way… Shizuru thought as her gaze traveled from Nao to Natsuki.
"What the hell Nao?" Natsuki asked a bit irritated.
Nao straightened herself and looked back at Natsuki before smiling, "I was checking if there's anyone we can try it out…" the red head said and then shrugged her shoulders.
"There will always be people around here we can try this 'bad luck' of yours Natsuki." Shizuru said grinning, "But I think we should put some bet about this."
"Bet?" Nao and Natsuki simultaneously asked with their eyes focused on the chestnut haired woman
Shizuru nodded and smiled, she tilted her head to the side looking like a little girl trying to convince someone to do something.
Oh…Shizuru is cute like this! Natsuki internally said
"You and Chie-han were supposed to teach me this poker game right? So why don't we start gambling now?"
"As in?" Nao asked nervously then looked at Natsuki, "If that's the case I'm betting against Natsuki," Nao said walking away from Natsuki and standing at Shizuru's side. The taller woman looked at the red head amused.
"Baka Nao! I'm your friend and you're leaving me behind?" Natsuki wailed,
"Oi Pup…we both know that you never won any game in your life so I'm just securing my money!" Nao explained.
"Hm…money? Who says anything about money Nao-san?" Shizuru asked
"Ehh…we are betting so what else are we going to bet on?" Nao asked in bewilderment
The Fujino woman smirked and looked at Natsuki, "How about…"she made a thinking pose and dropped it after some time, "…how about if I win…I get to give Natsuki a bath and if Natsuki wins, she gives me a bath? How does that sound?" she asked smiling, her head tilted on the side, hands clasped together and are placed under her cheek.
Natsuki and Nao looked at the "oh so innocent" look on Shizuru's facial feature, and Natsuki has no other choice but to nod her head in agreement. Nao on the other hand rolled her eyes when the bet sunk in.
"Ehh…isn't that the same…no matter who wins…Natsuki will lose?" She thought and looked at Natsuki's shining eyes. "Well…money or not, I'm betting against Natsuki," Nao concluded taking the two women's attention on each other and to her.
"You are a very good gambler indeed Nao-san," Shizuru said
Nao shook her head, "With the way you are betting, I wonder why you still need tutoring from Natsuki,"
Shizuru's answer was a giggle followeb a shrug of her shoulders
Natsuki frowned and huffed, "Just wait and see Nao, just wait and see," she mumbles which caused the crimson eyed woman to snicker. Nao smiled and Natsuki's frown deepened. They were like this when Mai and Mikoto suddenly passed by them,
"Mai-san, Mikoto," Shizuru called causing the two women to stop and turned to look back at the three.
"Shizuru-sama?" Mai said smiling
The taller woman stepped closer to her sister and Mai, dragging with her a blushing Natsuki and a grinning Nao. Then she pushed Natsuki towards Mai and Mikoto who looked at Shizuru as if she had grown another head or something. "Could you two do me a favor?" Shizuru asked sweetly in her Kyoto-ben,
Mai looked at Natsuki whose face was so red she could almost be likened to a ripe tomato, then she looked at Shizuru, "Is there any problem with Natsuki? Is she ill or something?" Mai asked in her most innocent facial expression which brought Nao to burst into laughter, and Shizuru to glare at Nao who tried to calm herself but failed,
"Oi!" Mikoto said pointing a finger at Nao whilst frowning, "Why are you laughing at my MAI!" Mikoto's claim on Mai brought the carrot topped woman to blush but not as deep as that of Natsuki,
"Kami, I can't believe this house is full of ripe tomatoes!" Nao said still laughing
"Baka!" Natsuki said after giving Nao a death glare
"Ahhh Shizuru-sa…"
"Mai?"
Mai smiled shyly, "What is your favor Shizuru? If me and Mikoto could do it then we will be happy to oblige you."
"Oh that is so sweet of you!" Shizuru said getting into the act without any difficulty at all
Darn…this woman should be an actress, I'm sure she'll be much better than that red head…fake actress… Nao thought and her laughter died down, jeez, what the heck is the name of the doctor's assist again?
"You see Mai, Nao here asked me to help her with something regarding contracts and the like, and as you know, Natsuki here hasn't been 100% herself yet, so if you two could just please accompany her? We won't take long, 5 to 10 minutes is all I ask." Shizuru said, her eyes glinting and was focused on Natsuki who was doing her pout
Mai and Mikoto smiled, "That won't be a problem, I am sure we'll have a great time together, right?" Mai said and then she faced her companions, one was happily nodding and the other one nodded tentatively with a pout on her face. "Natsuki, don't look like as if I'm going to put you to death or something," Mai joked
"Don't you mean, Natsuki putting you to death?" Nao grumbled
Shizuru and Mai looked at Nao but it was Mai who spoke, "I didn't get what you said Nao-san? You were eating your words,"
Nao smiled widely and tried to look as innocent as she can muster, "I was mumbling about some contract, ignore me."
"Ohhh…" Mai said and turned to leave with Mikoto and Natsuki when Shizur pulled her back and the taller woman whispered, "Mai-san, if possible, could you also introduce Natsuki to all our staffs?"
Mai looked at Shizuru, her facial expression bears the question "why" but she did not voice it and just nodded her assent. "We are going now,"
Shizuru nodded and Nao waved her hand to the departing trio, then Nao faced Shizuru, "What now?"
Shizuru grinned, "We investigate,"
"I like the sound of that."
XXX
Sometimes…large palm plants inside a house are worth keeping. This is what Shizuru and Nao were thinking as they hid themselves behind these large plants while they "investigate on Natsuki." Shizuru kept on looking at her watch timing Natsuki's interaction with Mai and Mikoto. She then looked at Nao, "What are we suppose to look out for anyway?" She whispered to Nao.
"Well…anything that seems bad luck?"
"Like what?"
"Well I don't know? When it was in my barber shop, I end up either cutting all of my customers hair, pricking an ear or the chair with my client would suddenly collapse, so something bad like that?" Nao explained
"Was that immediate?"
"The moment she comes in, it'll take a second or two tops!" Nao said a bit excited and her voice raised a notch a bit
"Ssssh…Mai-san might not hear us, but I know Mikoto, she has this uncanny skill of hearing even the faintest sound." And true to Shizuru's word, Mikoto looked at where they were hiding and frowned but said nothing.
"You think she heard us?" Nao asked
"Maybe she heard some sound but I don't think she heard us that much cause if she does, she'll call us out for sure."
5 minutes have passed
"it's been 5 minutes and nothing's happening to Mai and Mikoto yet," Shizuru said sighing, "I feel like we are actually hoping that something bad should happen to them!" she said before shaking her head
"Well it's a bet,"
"Yeah but 5 minutes and nothing happened? You think you two overreacted?"
"I don't know why it's turning out like this too"
Their conversation was halted when Chie and Aoi suddenly came, greeted the three and stayed there to chat. Shizuru started counting on time again. 5 minutes has gone by and still nothing major is happening and the two could see the frown on Natsuki's face getting deeper which means the blue haired woman herself was wondering how on earth are these women remains unaffected by her curse. That's when Nagi suddenly appeared with a large grin on his face, he was holding a new coffeemaker he brought that exactly looks the same as that of Kanzaki's previous coffeemaker. He greeted the women and when he reached Natsuki's place, his eyes widened as he felt himself slipping off the floor and his hands released the precious coffeemaker in the air. He landed on his butt and the coffeemaker landed on the marbled floor in hundreds of pieces.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Nagi screamed not minding his aching ass but the broken equipment he was supposed to present to Reito to appease his aching heart.
Shizuru and Nao looked at each other and then they went out of their hiding and pretended that they were on their way to get Natsuki. Upon reaching the group, Shizuru watched Chie and Aoi helped Nagi who stood tall despite his limited height and turned to leave the group with tears in his eyes.
"That hurts, I wonder if it was Nagi's pride or if it was just his pocket that hurt, that coffeemaker must cost a fortune," Chie said as she watched Nagi went his way then she looked at the new arrivals, "Hello Shizuru, Nao-san, I was wondering if you already started the tutoring session," Chie asked grinning lecherously
"Well Chie-han, as a matter of fact, I am already getting my first lesson from Natsuki at the moment."
"Really?" Natsuki and Chie both asked then the taller woman looked at Natsuki, "You don't know?"
"Ara…how come Natsuki was so forgetful!" here, Mai, Nao and Aoi were just watching the conversation
"But…"
"Come on Natsuki, aren't you teaching me how to bet?" Shizuru said more than asked
"Ah yeah Natsuki is teaching Shizuru to bet," Nao smiled in agreement
"Bet on what?" It was Mai who voiced out the question
Shizuru smiled, "I'll explain later but I like to borrow Natsuki for a while," Shizuru said and then she hurriedly pulled Natsuki to her and dragged her towards the kitchen
"Oi!" Natsuki whined but she let herself be dragged
"OI you are forgetting about me!" Nao shouted and ran after the two.
The other women who suddenly got intrigued followed.
XXX
Shizuru brought Natsuki to the kitchen and introduced her to all the helpers there. The helpers in the kitchen were mostly women and their male helpers usually worked on either the garden or on their garage. During the whole time Natsuki was in the kitchen, there were no accidents that happened. The cooks was able to their job without any glitches, the dishwashers finished the dishes intact, etcetera, etcetera.
"I don't understand it," Nao said in deep thinking,"I swear, the whole time I knew Natsuki, when she comes to my shop all hell breaks loose, how come it never appears here?"
"What the hell are you talking about?" Chie asked bewildered
"I think the word is not 'never' Nao-san," Shizuru said
"What do you mean?" Natsuki asked because she too is getting more confused.
"For the love of Kami! Will you two explain what you are saying?" Chie said loudly but Shizuru, Nao and Natsuki kept on their line of conversation
"To prove my point, let's move on," Shizuru said dragging Natsuki to their garage while nao follows,
"OIIII!" Chie yelled but followed along with the rest
XXX
CLANG!
"AWWWW!"
The moment Natsuki entered the garage, the mechanic who was fine tuning the sports car had an accident. Nao looked up and saw a hanging engine via a chain and is now swaying dangerously,
"oh-oh…" Nao said catching the other female's attention, "I think we better leave before that engine there…" she said pointing at the hanging engine, "…falls on someone,"
Another 'AW' was heard from somewhere near them and the ladies did not wait for a major catastrophe to happen and pulled Natsuki outside the garage.
"You see my point?" Shizuru asked
"No…I can't see any point actually," Chie said exasperatedly
Shizuru, Nao and Natsuki looked at Chie, "Perhaps we could meet in my office so I can explain this further." Everyone nods their head in agreement and the women headed to Shizuru's office.
XXX
"So?"
"Calm down Chie, let me start from the beginning, you see Natsuki here came to me after my brother told us that I am to play poker in her stead because of her injury," She watched as the others nod their head, "Natsuki here told me the truth of her coming here. She was sent here by Masashi to bring bad luck to Ani." She said and smiled at Chie's angry feature
"YOU…"
"Wait!" Shizuru stopped Chie from attacking Natsuki
"I did feel there's something wrong about this two! I just feel it!" Chie said indignantly
"Hear me out okay?" Shizuru said sternly stopping Chie's tirade, "Anyways, if Natsuki and Nao-san did intend to bring us harm, then I don't see why they would come to me and confess, would you agree with my reasoning? Mai? Aoi?" the two silent women nodded their head
"Natsuki was okay as far as I am concerned," Mikoto added
"I agree,"
"Look, Natsuki didn't do anything wrong, she was hired by Masashi for the mere fact that she's got this strings of bad luck connected to her and that whoever comes near her gets that bad luck, it's like as if it was a curse," Nao said in defense of Natsuki
"And hence the bet," Shizuru ended for Nao.
"I didn't get it, how did that end up with a bet?" Aoi asked trying to comprehend what's happening
"I bet them that Natsuki is not bad luck!"
"How?" Mai asked nervously as she had an idea how it has come to be.
"We pushed Natsuki to you…trial and error?" Shizuru smiled sweetly at Mai
"What?" Chie said and stood up, "You mean you tested her bad luck on Mai and Mikoto and you never tell them, and we got connected with them? What the heck are you thinking Zuru? What if the bad luck was real?"
Mai who was a bit angry nodded her head in agreement with Chie
"That's the good news then, my findings in just a short period of time is that, Natsuki is both bad luck and not bad luck,"
"WHAT?" Everyone asked in unison
"Look, Nao-san here was sure that when Natsuki enters her barber shop, all chaos starts. When she was with you, nothing happens remember? Not until after Nagi came and he had that unfortunate accident. So I brought her to the kitchen, there nothing happens, but when I brought her to the garage, the moment she stepped inside, accidents starts happening."
Silence as everyone contemplated on this
"So what does that means?" Natsuki asked nervously
"Look here, in this house who had the accidents since Natsuki stepped foot in here? No one but Ani and Nagi. Who works in our kitchen? Only our female workers, and in our garage? The male workers. Now where did the accidents happen as quickly as Nao-san described? Nao –san said that the reaction was instantaneous, so where did it happen? I say Natsuki, your bad luck is limited only to the male species."
-end chapter 9-
Sorry for the late update, I'll try to update more. Now that I'm not too busy at work and that I'll be undergoing operation and will have a long time of recuperation period, I probably could update regularly. Thanks for the continued support.