After the morning rollcall, the chief called a small group of officers into his office. Natsumi, Miyuki, Aoi, and Yoriko all stood at attention, waiting to hear their orders. A small smile tugged at Natsumi's lips as she thought about rollcall. Nakajima had been beset with questions about how he had managed to get his nose broken, and he'd only been able to stammer out a few lame sounding excuses. He finally settled on "I wiped out my bike going around a curve," but nobody really believed it. They all settled their gazes on the most likely suspect, instead. Natsumi noticed all the speculative looks she got from Miyuki and some of the other officers, but even if she did get into trouble, she thought it had been worth it! The chief loudly clearing his throat brought her back to the present, and she focused her attention back on him. The dark hared, mustached man was quite capable, having risen through the ranks rather than being appointed. She sometimes wondered what the traffic patrol would be like without him around. "At ease," he said, and the officers all sat down. "There's been a rash of gay-bashings in our district," the Chief said with a frown, the sort of look he usually gave any kind of criminal activity "and so far the undercover officers have had no luck finding the perpetrators." "So what have the officers been out there doing?" Aoi asked him curiously, sitting in a most ladylike way in front of his desk. It looked even odder compared to the very casual way the other three officers were sitting. He frowned, checking over his pages of notes, "Walking through the area of the attacks, primarily." He looked up, "Which I think is the primary problem. There wasn't anything to convince the bashers that they were gay." "You want to send a few couples out instead, looking suitably romantic," Yoriko said with a thoughtful nod, adding "It could work." "But why pick us?" Natsumi asked, sounding just a bit uncomfortable. She didn't like to think that her interest in girls might be so obvious. "I'd like to use officers who are already very comfortable with working closely together," he said with a mysterious little smile. He continued, "People who know each other well enough to pretend that they are involved." "That makes sense," Miyuki said, giving Natsumi a thoughtful glance. Aoi stood up straight, a dangerous twinkle in her eye as she said, "I'd like to volunteer, sir!" Yoriko followed her to a standing position immediately. Miyuki and Natsumi exchanged a look filled with silent communication before standing up together, "I'd like to volunteer!" He smiled, handing out papers to each of them. "Pair up, and try to dress appropriately. We'll start tonight," he said. They walked out of the office silently, and then gathered to confer. "What did he mean, dress appropriately?" Miyuki asked the others curiously. She wondered what would be appropriate to wear going out to hunt for gay- bashers. Natsumi hesitated, and Aoi spoke up, smiling with a slightly impish look as she said to them, "Natsumi, you get to dress a bit more boyish." She then looked Miyuki up and down thoughtfully, before saying, "You have that black party dress still, right? The tight one that you complained was a bit too small? Wear that." Before Miyuki could protest, Yoriko gave Natsumi a thoughtful glance. "How did Nakajima get his nose broken?" she asked her curiously. Natsumi suddenly found herself under the three young women's rather focused gazes. Rather lamely, she quietly offered up, "He fell down?" Aoi snorted out her amusement at that, and Yoriko rolled her eyes and sighed. "You have got to learn to lie a bit better than that," a smiling Aoi scolded her gently. With a laugh, she and Yoriko walked off together. Letting them move away to a same distance, Miyuki softly asked Natsumi, "Did you have something to do with Nakajima's broken nose?" Natsumi didn't answer her immediately, so Miyuki looked up to meet her partner's eyes. She met Miyuki's dark eyes, trying to think of a good enough story before finally giving up. 'I never could lie to her believably,' Natsumi thought to herself a bit wearily. "Yes, I punched him out," she confessed to Miyuki quietly. "You really shouldn't have done that," Miyuki softly scolded her and then she smiled at her fondly, "but thank you, anyway." She leaned forward and kissed Natsumi gently on the cheek, before walking back towards the squadroom. Miyuki slowed down, seeing him standing there waiting by his bike. She needed to go back home to go get the dress, so she had to go right by him. 'You can do this,' she thought grimly, and kept on walking. "Miyuki," Nakajima said softly, and then he trailed off uncomfortably. The much smaller woman looked up to meet his eyes. "Nakajima," she said quite coldly, "is there something I can do for you?" He winced at her tone. "I just wanted to say how sorry I am," Nakajima said to her softly, looking away from her piercing gaze. "You have a lot to be sorry for, Ken," she answered, deliberately using his first name. Miyuki sighed softly, asking him, "Why did you do that to me?" He looked at her a moment, then decided to tell the truth. "I met her just a few months ago. I really did wipe my bike out, and she stopped to help me out," he said quietly. He smiled a bit, "I was so embarrassed by the accident I didn't tell you about it, or meeting her either. I saw her a week later at a bike show, and we started meeting regularly." He put his hand behind his head, blushing a bit as he continued "Eventually I started to have deeper feelings for her, and her for me. But I didn't know how to tell you about it all, after I held it back from you so long." "So instead you got engaged, and only told me after I asked you out?" she said bitingly. Nakajima winced again as she continued, "You took the easy way out, Ken." Her expression seemed to soften just a bit as she said to him, "Don't do it again." With that, she pushed by him into the parking garage to get her car and go home. Natsumi knotted her tie, settling it down the front of the white shirt she wore. She adjusted her leather racing jacket, and then checked to see if the ironed crease of her pants was still there. She shook herself, trying to get relaxed. 'It feels almost like I'm getting ready to go out on a date,' Natsumi thought to herself with a rueful little smile. She stepped out of the locker room only to be met by Aoi, who looked her over top to bottom thoughtfully. Aoi reached out to gently loosen the tie a bit before noting, "It looks a lot better this way." She was dressed in a fashionable business suit, stylish and refined looking. She almost looked like a CEO who had just gotten off work. In the ladies' room that was just off from the locker room, a careful Yoriko was helping Miyuki with her makeup for the evening. "I just can't wait till they all see you in that dress," she said with a little laugh. "I can't believe Aoi talked me into wearing it," Miyuki mumbled back, a faint blush coloring her cheeks. She took the opportunity to ask something that had been bothering her lately, "Are you and Aoi seeing each other?" Yoriko blushed a bit herself, "Is it that obvious? Yeah, we've been going out together for a while." She laughed a bit, "That's why we were so surprised by this assignment." She looked at Miyuki slyly, "So what's happening with you and Natsumi?" "Me and Natsumi?" Miyuki echoed her quietly. Yoriko looked a bit abashed, "Well, Aoi thought that she was interested in you, but I noticed she likes to see everyone paired up. I guess not?" Miyuki had a rather odd look on her face, as if she had never really considered that idea before, and wasn't too sure how she liked it. "No," she answered her quietly. "At least," she added softly, "I don't think so." Suddenly, Miyuki saw a lot of little things Natsumi had done since she first knew her in a whole new light. There was a little twinkle in her eyes as Yoriko advised her, "Don't let thinking about it bother you too much." She looked in the mirror, unbuttoning a few buttons before smiling in satisfaction, "Come out a few minutes after me, okay?" When Yoriko stepped out, Natsumi had to fight the urge to laugh. Like Aoi, she also looked like she had stepped out of a business, but her suit jacket was undone, her skirt short, and her white blouse unbuttoned enough to show the rise of breasts. "Are you actually trying to get arrested?" Natsumi said, shaking her head at the sexy pair. Still, they looked like they were a couple, and that was the point of this little charade. She was just a bit surprised at how well they seemed to fit together, honestly. 'Almost like they're a couple in real life,' she found herself thinking. Yoriko laughed softly. "You think we're hot, you should see Miyuki," she grinned, and pretended to wipe sweat from her brow. Just then, the young lady in question walked, or maybe slinked, into the room, and for just a moment Natsumi simply forgot how to breathe. Miyuki's hair was pinned up so that a few stray curls came down to frame her perfectly made up face. But what was really stunning was the sexy little black dress that tightly hugged her from about mid thigh all the way up to her neck, leaving a delicious bit of cleavage clearly visible. She looked so totally different from the daytime police officer that she was, it was almost stunning. "How do I look?" Miyuki asked, turning in a little circle so that they could see her from both the front and back. Natsumi couldn't even speak, all she could manage was a loud wolf whistle, bringing out a delighted smile from Miyuki. "Thank you, kind sir," with a broad smile Miyuki gave her a mock curtsy, and then she stepped up to gently take Natsumi's arm. Aoi nodded, "You do look good together." She smiled, offering her own arm quite gentlemanly to Yoriko, and they all walked out together. They parked their unmarked police cars not too far from the district where the gay-bashings had happened, and then split up to cover more ground. It was a cold night, and Miyuki found herself shivering in her short dress. A arm was placed over her shoulder, and she blushed slightly as Natsumi pulled her close. "Do you want to wear my jacket?" Natsumi offered to her softly. Miyuki smiled over at her, struck yet again by how kind she could be to her. "Thank you," she said to Natsumi softly, "this is just fine." Miyuki snuggled into Natsumi's arm, and noticed how very handsome she looked, dressed up like she was and with a faint blush to her cheeks, showing that she had a softer side, too. Natsumi felt Miyuki looking over at her, and fought to keep from blushing any harder. It didn't help how pleasant it felt to hold Miyuki close the way she was. The blood was ringing so badly in her ears that she didn't even hear something Miyuki had just said. "I'm sorry, what was that?" Natsumi asked her softly. "Yoriko and I had an interesting little conversation while she was helping me to get ready," Miyuki said with a little smile. She looked over at Natsumi, and quietly said, "It seems that Aoi thinks you might be interested in me." Natsumi's face went bone pale. "I..." she started to say, when Miyuki reached over to shush her. She stepped over to her, pressing her body up against Natsumi's own, so close that her breath was gently tickling her ear. Whispering softly into Natsumi's ear, Miyuki said, "I think I hear someone coming up the alley. Look over my shoulder?" "Right," Natsumi whispered back to her even as she reached into her coat to check on her holstered gun. She saw two young men emerge from the shadows and advance on them, one carrying a broken length of pipe. The pipe wielding man swung at Natsumi, who pushed Miyuki to safety as she agilely side stepped the blow. "We're police!" she cried out, then she flashed her badge as she added, "You are both under arrest for attempted assault." "Shit," the other goon muttered, and tried to turn around and run away. But before he could get very far Miyuki casually stuck her foot out to trip him, sending him sprawling to the ground and in the process he managed to knock himself out. "Well, that was easy," Miyuki commented dryly as she knelt on his back to pull his arms back and put the cuffs on him. The guy with the pipe decided to go after Natsumi, swinging at her head. She hissed in pain as it grazed her forehead, drawing blood, and she quickly pulled the pipe right out of his hand. A single blow put him down to the ground. "Why don't they ever just surrender?" Natsumi asked just before slapping the cuffs on her prisoner. "You've been hurt!" Miyuki exclaimed, pulling her goon roughly up to his feet. The cut was just above Natsumi's eyebrow, causing a little trickle of blood to flow down into her eyes. Miyuki was suddenly struck with the urge to hurt the pipe wielding thug very, very badly. Back at the station's locker room Miyuki gently cleaned the head wound before putting a bandage on it. They had turned over the thugs to the cops and radioed Aoi and Yoriko to meet them back at the station. "Thanks," Natsumi said when Miyuki finished up. Miyuki reached out to gently tug at Natsumi's tie, a little smile on her face. "You really look handsome like this, even with the bandage," she said softly. Natsumi blushed fiercely, looking down at the floor. "You know," Miyuki said softly, "we never did finish our little talk earlier." She pushed gently under Natsumi's chin, making their eyes meet as she asked her, "Was Aoi right? Do you have feelings for me?" 'Just can't seem to lie to her,' Natsumi thought, even as she said softly, "Yes, she was right. I do care for you, Miyuki." There was an odd look on Miyuki's face, as if she really wasn't expecting her to actually say yes. "I never knew," she said softly. She looked at Natsumi searchingly before asking her, "How long have you felt this way?" With a sad little smile, Natsumi said, "Not too long after I first met you, actually." She looked thoughtful, "Back when I first met you, you were such a pain, but even then I couldn't look at you without feeling my heart skip a beat." "You've felt this way about me for so long?" Miyuki said in surprise. She shook her head as she asked, "Why didn't you tell me?" Natsumi gave a soft sigh, trying to think about what the right thing to say to her was. "I didn't want to scare you away from me with this, Miyuki," she said softly. She reached out to take Miyuki's hand, gently adding "We're best friends, and if that's all we'll ever be then I'll be content with that." She smiled, "I just want you to be happy, Miyuki." Miyuki smiled, a few tears glimmering in her eyes. Without any warning she leaned forward, gently pressing her lips to Natsumi's own. Natsumi brought her hands up to take her shoulders, then she stopped herself, lowering her hands again. Miyuki drew back to look up at her questioningly, and Natsumi smiled at her ruefully. "I'm sure this is a shock to you," Natsumi said to her gently, "and I don't want you to do something that you might regret." "I don't think I could ever regret having someone like you love me," Miyuki answered her very calmly. Natsumi blushed at that, and Miyuki softly added "I think I love you, too." Natsumi looked searchingly into her eyes, and in Miyuki's sweet gaze she only found love there. Natsumi chose to start the kiss this time, and put her heart into it. She heard Miyuki sigh softly, her lips parting, when suddenly... ...Aoi and Yoriko walked in to the locker room. Aoi whistled loudly, then grinned, while poor Yoriko blushed, putting her hands over her eyes. She made sure she could still peek out between her fingers, though. The two jerked apart, blushing fiercely. Aoi laughed, "Don't let us stop you." As Aoi and Yoriko left, they could hear Yoriko saying to Aoi, "I guess you were right about the two of them." A little pause, and, "So what did we bet again?" "Slave girl for as night," Aoi answered her with a throaty laugh. "Next time, we lock the door," Natsumi laughed softly, blushing fiercely. A also blushing Miyuki nodded to her firmly. She got up and walked over to the locker room door, closing and locking it with a loud click. Miyuki leaned against the door and in a sultry tone of voice asked her, "Now, where were we?" ------------------------------------------------------------ Author's notes: The idea of Miyuki and Natsumi having a romantic relationship is mostly the product of my own imagination, coupled with some fairly suggestive pieces of official YUA art. And some interesting bits of dialog, too. "I don't like pretty boys. They remind me of me..." Natsumi, from #1 of the comic books. In what I've read of the English translated manga series, Natsumi and Miyuki live apart, so I've given them separate residences in this fic. Maybe this is why they moved in together in the TV series? ^_^ Yes, I know Ken is somewhat OOC, though I hope his actions are at least understandable. I felt that someone had to be the bad guy in the break-up, and the only other way I could do this would be to actually kill him off or something. So sue me... Aoi and Yoriko is another product of my overactive imagination, and more pieces of suggestive art. But boy, they sure are cute together. I wonder if they qualify as Shoujo-ai?
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