[Chapter One]
The rain pattered out a dismal rhythm on the brim of my hat as I walked into Nataku Detective Agency that fateful Monday morning. At first, it seemed like all Mondays. Tiring, depressing, and an entity to be loathed, only made worse by the cold, damp weather and the fact that my car, piece of crap that it is, had refused to start that morning, requiring me to hail a cab, a trying ordeal both on the patience and the wallet.
"In a bad mood today, Boss?" came a teasing voice as I entered the building. I scowled and grumbled something about having secretaries who can be in good moods on Mondays being an insufferable and unjust situation.
"What was that, Mr. Chang?"
Angrily whipping off my hat, I sent a slew of raindrops flying across the room. "I said that it's five of eight on Monday morning, I'm already having a bad day, and the last thing I need is some intolerable woman mocking me in my own office!" I shouted at my secretary.
Sally rolled her eyes. "In case you've forgotten, Boss," she replied, "I can proudly claim these six square feet to be my office. Your office is down the hall and to the left." Then she returned to her paperwork, a patronizing, motherly smile, half concealed on her lips. My scowl deepened. She was mocking me. Entering my office, I removed my trench coat, and attempted to hang it up on the coat rack in the corner. I only succeeded in getting entangled in my wet coat, however, and having the entire rack come crashing down on me. This bad day was only becoming worse.
"Need a little help there?"
Huh? A strong hand mended my snarled situation and set everything straight with militaristic efficiency. I whipped around to face the man behind me, a dark scowl betraying my great frustration. "I'm doing perfectly fine, Yuy, despite the fact that life has decided to hit Chang Wufei with every disaster possible on this fine Monday morning and that everyone insists on taunting me to no end!"
Judging from the smirk on my co-worker's face, Heero Yuy was not to be excluded from those mocking me today. I was just about to glower at him and storm to my desk when the sound of the front door opening and closing interrupted me. "It's exactly eight o'clock, Barton," I called. "Can't you get here any earlier and help the rest of us open up?"
"I made it here on time. That's good enough," came the perfectly calm, even answer that I knew I'd be receiving. I sighed. Why do I even bother?
Trowa Barton walked into my office. "Having a bad day?" I glared at him. He stared dispassionately back. "Right. I won't ask." With that, my two co-corkers left me alone and miserable in my dingy, old office.
Heero Yuy and Trowa Barton. The three of us aren't exactly the formula for a lot of cheery chit-chat, but there weren't two men I would rather have by my side in the event of a crisis. True, I prefer working alone and I've been told that I myself can be rather difficult to work with. (I've had words such as overly-blunt, arrogant, self-righteous, impatient, short-tempered, sexist, anal retentive, etc. frequently attached to my name. Sally told me once that the "arrogant" thing might come from the "attitude" I give people. Well, it's not my fault if those stupid bastards don't understand that I am the best in the business, too honorable for my own good, and would rather risk death than failure on a case. She just shook her head and laughed. Stupid woman.) Still, I certainly wouldn't want to be considered an enemy to either of them. They have the potential to be deadly- as do I.
With a huff, I sat down in my chair and glared at my empty office. That venture proving fruitless, I sighed and picked up the newspaper that Sally must have put on my desk before I got in this morning. Oh, the day when we could move out of this damn rotting building and into someplace nicer. It served its purpose, I suppose, no broken windows or ceilings falling in or anything. Still, the moody heating system, the water stained ceiling panels, the floors that wouldn't come clean no matter how hard you scrubbed, the damp smell that lingered all year.... Well, you get the picture. Nataku Detective Agency deserved a better home than this.
My glum reverie was broken by suddenly realizing that Sally was talking to someone out front.
"May I have your name, Miss?"
There was a slight pause. "I- I'd rather not..." said a soft and trembling female voice.
Hmph. Stupid woman. I'd find out her name eventually and Sally was not what you'd call a threatening-looking person. Pointless, pointless, pointless.
"That's all right, Miss," Sally quickly reassured her. "Mr. Chang's office is the first one on the left."
"Thank you," replied the voice. I straightened myself up in my chair as there was a soft knock on the door.
"Come in," I called.
The door opened. I did a quick once-over of the mysterious visitor. The young woman who entered looked about my age, certainly no older than twenty-four. She was wearing a dark grey business suit and a large hat that cast a shadow over her entire face. Light brown hair fell out from under her hat and down her slim shoulders. Judging from her appearence, she seemed rather on the rich, upper-class side of things (which immediately set me wondering as to why the hell she'd come here). I narrowed my eyes.
"Have a seat." She obeyed and sat. Then, she remained silent, just sitting there, fiddling nervously with her pocketbook. At one point, she quickly glanced upward but looked away just as quickly, as if she were uncomfortable under my gaze. Given the fact that my eyes were narrowed into suspicious slits and I was scowling like there was no tomorrow, she was probably justified in feeling somewhat uncomfortable. It was only what I should expect from some upper-class slip of a woman, anyway. Still, despite my instant dislike toward this mysterious woman, part of me was reluctantly forced to admit that it was impressed by the aura of innocent dignity that she exuded, if you'll excuse my waxing poetic, even in the midst of her current nervousness and anonymity.
"What do you want?" The young lady froze, looking slightly startled. What was she expecting? An invitation to tea? I'm a detective, I get to the point. She looked up and a pair of large, frightened blue eyes met my gaze.
"Mr. Chang, I..." she trailed off, then took a deep breath and began again, her voice still soft, but steadier now, no longer trembling. "Mr. Chang, this is my first time consulting a private detective. Please forgive me if I'm a little nervous. The last week or so has been very trying for me. You see..."
"We are very sorry for your loss, Miss Darlian." The young lady's head jerked around in surprise. A shadow that had been silently leaning against the doorway stepped forward. "Forgive me for intruding like this, but I could not help overhearing, and I wish you to know that you have no reason to withhold information from us. We are not to be feared," said the slim young man as he walked forward to stand next to my desk.
"W-who are you?" she asked, still a little shocked.
"You can call me Trowa Barton."
Miss Darlian managed a quietly dignified smile. "A pleasure to meet you, Mr. Barton."
"Back to business," I said through gritted teeth, sending a glare in Trowa's direction, experiencing great irritation with both my co-worker and my client. "Why are you consulting us?"
Miss Darlian took a deep breath. "As you probably know, my father, Vice Foreign Minister Darlian, was assassinated last week. The FBI is investigating, but... Something doesn't feel right about it all. Not that a murder can feel right, but... Oh, God, how can I explain this?"
"Take a deep breath and calm yourself," came the even, cool voice at my side. Taking Trowa's advice, she paused for a moment.
"I feel... I feel as if there is something more behind this, something more than what the police are saying. Also... Also... I feel as if my own life is in danger." At this point, she looked like she was on the verge of breaking down in tears. Such womanly weakness only served to increase my irritation. I was just not in the mood.
"Like your life is in danger?" I questioned, raising an eyebrow.
"I'm probably just being paranoid, I don't know, but lately it seems as if my entire world has been cracking apart and I'm being flung into something, I don't know what, and, and...." Luckily at this point, Sally arrived as if on cue and led the Darlian girl out of my office and into the "lobby." (I'm loathe to call that thing a lobby, for fear of doing great insult to all self- respecting lobbies out there.) Hmph. At that moment, Sally probably had her arm around the frightened slip of a client, offering girlish comforts and sisterly advice. Women baffle and annoy me.
I scowled at Trowa. "And what was with that little appearing act? Don't you trust me with my own job?"
"Not when you're required to deal with emotionally delicate females."
I simply let my eyes close as I slid down into my chair. Why was this happening to me? Why was no one taking me seriously today? Why was I being thrust into such an unjust scenario? Why, why, why? "Thank you for the opinion, Mr. Sensitivity," I muttered.
"It's not as if you can exactly claim that title for yourself."
I opened one eye to glare at Trowa, who was leaning against the wall, arms crossed in front of him. "I can be very sensitive, thank you very much. Just not on days like this." I let my eye fall shut again.
"What is it this time?" came another voice.
I opened my eyes and stood up. "You heard about the assassination of Vice Foreign Minister Darlian, right, Yuy?"
"Hn."
"His daughter was just in here," I continued. "She thinks that there's more to this case than the police are saying and she also believes her own life to be in danger."
"Hn."
Trowa had taken a newspaper from my file of old newspapers. "Relena Darlian...." he began to read, his one visible eye flickering over the page. "Age 24.... Only child of Vice Foreign Minister Darlian.... Mr. Darlian had been on a diplomatic visit to Eastern Europe when he fell victim to an assassin's bullet. The murderer was not apprehended and no one has claimed responsibility for the crime. FBI is investigating. Nothing has been released to the public as of yet."
Silence. The sound of the front door closing as said Relena Darlian left the building. More silence.
"That's it?"
A nod.
"Well," I sighed, "it looks like we have our work cut out for us. Yuy, I'd like you to keep an eye on Miss Darlian and see that she comes to no harm."
He nodded once. Mission accepted.
"Barton," I continued as I retrieved and put on my trench coat, "you're coming with me."
"I'll be right there. There's just a few names and addresses I need to look up."
Yuy and I headed out into the lobby and were walking out the door when the phone rang. "Nataku Detective Agency, Sally Po speaking. How may I help you?" There was a pause as Sally listened. Then, she placed a hand over the receiver and called, "Mr. Barton? It's for you." A minute later, Barton emerged from his office; she smiled as she handed my co-worker the phone. With a sigh, I crossed my arms and stood there waiting impatiently.
"Do you really believe that Miss Darlian is in danger?" I asked.
Yuy narrowed his eyes. "Why not?"
I shrugged. "She just strikes me as... Never mind." I shook my head but could not shake off that feeling that taking this case was not a wise idea.
Detective Yuy raised an eyebrow. "If you have a gut feeling, you should follow it. Just remember not to come to a conclusion before you know the entire situation."
By this time, Barton had finished whatever business he was dealing with and had rejoined us. Time to go. My hand was on the doorknob when the phone rang again.
"Nataku Detective Agency, Sally Po speaking. How may I help you?" A pause. "Just a moment please." She looked up. "Mr. Yuy, it's for you."
I let out an exasperated snort. At this rate, we were never going to leave. Yuy went over and took the phone. Turning to Barton, I asked him, "Who was your call from?"
"A friend."
Oh. That helped a lot. My glance turned back to my co-worker on the phone. A wearied expression of annoyance had crossed his face. He stood there for a moment, before flatly saying, "No," and immediately letting the receiver drop back into the cradle before the other party had a chance to respond. I was about to ask Yuy what the hell that was about when he beat me to the punch.
"Duo."
Barton and I rolled our eyes in unison. It had me completely baffled as to how stoic and silent Heero Yuy could stand living with that overly loquacious, idiotic, irresponsible, obnoxious, annoying jerk named Duo Maxwell. I'd only met him a couple times before, but, needless to say, we didn't get along too well. Rather, I didn't get along well with him, but he obviously thought that he got along with me just fine, which only made things worse.
I gritted my teeth as I grabbed the doorknob. "Let's try this aga-"
The phone rang.
"What the hell is it this time?!" I shouted, letting my head fall forward and hit the door with a loud bang. "Arg!" I stepped back and rubbed my sore forehead, fuming with exasperation.
"It's for you, Boss."
Grumbling various oaths and curses, I stalked over to the phone.
"What the hell do you want?"
"Detective Chang Wufei, if any harm comes to Relena Darlian, I shall hold you personally responsible. It might be wisest for you to drop the case now, while you still have the chance."
The line went dead.
[Prologue | Chapter Two]