“When are you going to stop behaving like an idiot, Ryo?”

He glared at her. “When are you going to stop with the bullshit, Saeko?”

She rolled her eyes. “I’m serious, Ryo. Why do you make her suffer like that? She loves you. Don’t you understand how hard it is for her? Why can’t you see?”

“Don’t go there, Saeko?”

“She’s trying so hard not to let it show, but you can see it on her face each and every time you bother one of your clients. Or me. Or Miki.”

“Saeko.” There was a warning in his deep voice.

“I know you love her, too, Ryo.” She smiled sadly. “It’s even more evident now. This accident hit you hard, didn’t it? You realized she could be whisked away from you at any moment.”

“Saeko...”

“Why are you so stubborn? Everybody knows you’re in love with her. Everyone! What do you think to accomplish by pushing her away? She isn’t getting any safer. And you’re both suffering.”

“You don’t understand, Saeko.”

“Then help me understand.”

“Drop it.”

“Ryo—”

“I said, drop it!” he hissed.

She clucked her tongue. “As you wish. But sooner or later you’ll have to face it, Ryo. Sooner or later, she’ll realize it’s all just a ruse.”

X Y Z

Kaori was still seething, chocking her “Ryo anti-stress“ dummy.

The nerves on the bastard! Only two days ago he was calling her—albeit in his thoughts—baby and sweetheart, this morning he was regretting she didn’t blush in front of the expanse of his naked, manly chest...And what does he do the minute Saeko waltzes in? He goes into brute mode. How dare he? How dare he think about calling her baby and sweetheart only to end up conjuring images of him writhing on their living room floor with a naked woman in his arms?!

The poor “Ryo anti-stress“ dummy ended up in a heap beside her closet.

The outrage! The injustice!

Where was the wrath of God when a girl needed it? Couldn’t He just strike that pig down? Burn him into a crisp with a lightning bolt? Turn him into a toad? Make his attributes disappear? Or better—shrink them! Yes, that’d be the just punishment for such licentious thoughts!

Her lips wobbled and her eyes filled with tears as she dropped onto her bed. How could he?

But how could he not? Saeko was beautiful, sophisticated, sexy…

Everything Kaori wasn’t.

Why had she woken up? She’d rather have died than woken up with this accursed ability. At least before, she was ignorant of what was going on in Ryo’s head every time he jumped a woman. Now, she knew. In detail. And that image, the image of all that ivory skin exposed to Ryo’s touch, gaze, and tongue—she shuddered—will remain etched in her mind for all time.

Who was she? The fantasy image didn’t look like Saeko. As the matter of fact, she didn’t look like any woman Kaori knew. Who was that phantom of a woman? She didn’t see her face, she could only hear her moans—another shudder! Who was she? Someone from his past? A woman he loved long ago?

A woman he still loved?

Who was that vision?

Picking up "Ryo anti-stress", Kaori enfolded it in her arms and lay down onto her bed. Hiding her face against the red fabric of its T-shirt, she started sobbing quietly.

X Y Z

“Oh, really?” Ryo leaned back on the sofa, crossing his arms over his chest. “And how will she realize something like that?”

Saeko’s eyes twinkled. He didn’t bother to deny his true feelings for Kaori. “I don’t know...A bird might tell her.”

He grinned. “She’d never believe it. I swear, that girl has the lowest self-esteem I’ve ever seen.”

“And whose fault is that?”

He watched her in silence. Yes, he was a moron when it came to Kaori, but he had to do it. He had to pretend not to feel anything for her. He had to tease and insult her mercilessly. He knew it was futile, everybody did indeed know he felt deeply for his partner, but he still had to do it.

Lately he’s been thinking about their predicament and he’s come to the shameful conclusion that all this pretending and lying was for his benefit alone. He wasn’t yet ready to face the feelings she brought up in him, though he’s been feeling this way for a long time. He just wasn’t ready to face it. He wasn’t yet ready to analyze every little nuance of their relationship, he wasn’t yet ready to—

He wasn’t yet ready to let himself go. Because admitting to his feelings for Kaori would mean forgetting everything he’s known his entire life and start anew. It would mean forsaking his old self, getting out of this protective cocoon he’s built around himself, and let go. Let love in. Put himself at the mercy of a woman, start thinking and reacting differently.

Because his life, their lives, would inexorably change. Now, the only one he had to keep safe and alive was him—and her in extreme situations. But when—if—he decided to let Kaori come closer, she’d be his first priority. Even now, whenever Death was breathing down his collar, he found himself more and more often thinking about Kaori and her reaction to his death. She’d be left alone in the world, with no one to protect her, care for her, love her…

With no one to turn to. No one to understand her. If they were together, these preoccupations would augment tenfold. He’d live in constant fear of something happening to him, resulting in her being left alone, at the mercy of whomever decided to kill City Hunter’s woman.

He couldn’t allow that. He wouldn’t allow that!

“Ryo?”

Saeko looked a bit miffed. She’s probably been calling his name for quite some time.

“Hmm?”

“Are you even listening to me?”

“Not really.”

“Will you take the job?”

“Yes.”

Picking up her bag, she pulled out a brown folder, throwing it on the coffee table.

With an arched eyebrow, Ryo leaned forward. Opening it, he found black-and-white pictures of a beautiful young woman, dressed in mourning clothes.

Saeko, scrutinizing him closely, had to smile sadly, noticing there wasn’t even a teensy bit of drool in the corner of his mouth. When Kaori wasn’t around, he could be professional and serious about his job. She was really thankful Kaori has escaped to her room after nailing him to the wall with her mallet. She needed Ryo to concentrate.

“Who is she?”

“Her name is Hitotsugi Amaya.”

Ryo’s head snapped up.

Saeko smiled. “Yes, Hitotsugi Takeru’s widow.”

Hitotsugi Takeru had been the head of one of the most influential—and bloody—Yakuza families in Japan. With connections all around the globe, Hitotsugi had controlled the world economy and politics, being able to get rid of an annoying individual with the slightest flicker of his perfectly manicured finger. His ‘cleaning’ jobs became famous for their atrocity. His thugs didn’t limit themselves to merely killing the unsuspecting victim, they took pleasure in their work, maiming and scarring, burning their victims alive, raping women and children...Soon Hitotsugi had gained the nickname ‘The Beast’, some even called him ‘The Butcher’, even though he didn’t personally participate in the murders.

Everyone had feared him, no one had been safe from the clear instability of his mind and the police could do nothing to oppose him. Whenever someone had tried to do something, to stop the spread of death on the streets, an accident soon followed.

Whatever struck Hitotsugi’s fancy he could have, whomever struck his fancy he could kill...His hand of death had spread even to the streets of Tokyo, where the drug dealers suddenly had free reign, muggings and robberies had increased, along with murders and supposed suicides...A few months before his death, the entire city of Tokyo had become a free turf for every reject of society. Drug dealers, pushers, druggies, rapists, pedophiles, murderers...Everyone could walk freely on the streets, making them unsafe for others even in broad daylight.

Then one day, Hitotsugi Takeru had been shot dead on a windy day as he was alighting from his limo in front of the Shinjuku Sumitomo Building. The search for the sniper had turned out to be futile, but people closest to Hitotsugi suspected it was so, because of the possible implication of the Japanese government, since the best possible place to take such a shot was from the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, only a stone’s throw away.

But the government had had nothing to do with Hitotsugi’s assassination. They hadn’t even known about any plans for the attempt. The plan had been known to only four people; the Chief Inspector of Police, a police detective, the person who had pulled the trigger and his colleague. The kill shot, in fact, had come from the roof of the Shinjuku Police Station, more than a mile away. And only one person could make that shot at such a distance and high wind.

“You want me to protect the wife of the man I killed?”

Saeko smiled slowly.