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Untitled

Series: Steam Detectives

Word Count: 351

 

Last Revised: 2003.12.10

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He was once twelve years of age and was so small, he could draw himself to his full height and barely reach her elbow. She called him 'Narutaki-kun'. (He let her, though they both knew it didn’t suit him.)

 

He was more than an extraordinarily smart child; he was the city's prime detective. He had the oddest pursuits: opera, coffee, toy miniatures, megamatons, classical music. Sometimes she watched him stand in the hall and pull on his heavy trench coat with its tools and pockets and secrets and wondered how he would have turned out if his parents hadn't died, if he hadn't been saddled with responsibility at such a young age. (Sometimes she wondered about other things, like the way her chest tightened whenever he gazed at her in concern, or whenever he said her name in a way that didn’t sound like the way he said all other names. But she would always refuse to linger on those things; would smother those thoughts with her pillow, try to get some sleep.)

 

They often took walks together, the young detective and his nurse/secretary, and people smiled at them, murmured to each other behind their backs. What a lovely partnership, they said. Then they stopped to watch as she paused at the corner, just a step away from the edge of the sidewalk, to reach out for his hand before they crossed the street. (He let her, though they both knew he was capable of taking on greater perils than this, of facing things more terrifying than rush hour traffic.)

 

On his thirteenth birthday, she gave him a kiss. A very short one that lasted only three seconds, right on his forehead. Afterwards he laughingly remarked that what he really wanted for his birthday was a train model or a miniature car, which prompted her to seek revenge (through the biggest injection needle she could find in her first-aid kit). He apologized afterwards, but even when she went to bed that night, she found herself still frowning about it. But she forgave him eventually. He was just a boy, after all.

 

 

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http://www.geocities.com/naikouteki/