Mako was right; it was him. Nephrite. She hadn’t seen him again since they met at that bar, but she did remember mentioning where she worked to him. Had he come here to find her, or was he just in the neighborhood and wanted something to eat? Perhaps both?

He seemed to be seriously pondering his choices, standing on his own in the middle of the bakery, muttering something to no one in particular. Oh, dear. Mako sure hoped he didn’t turn out to be one of those crazies.

She smiled at him when he finally got to the front of the line. He seemed surprised to see her. “Yes, I can’t just sit in the back and do nothing, can I? I prefer to actually run my shop,” she said with a grin. Of course she had enough employees to sit around and do nothing, but it made her feel restless. When she wasn’t on the cashier, she would be back there baking all the bread and pastries herself.

She followed his gaze to her shoulder and self-consciously pulled her sleeve. It was unfortunate that her uniform had short sleeves; she had considered wearing a jacket or something to cover it but it was way still way too hot and she would just invite even more odd looks. She was surprised at the sound of genuine concern in his voice, and touched, too. She had never had anyone—let alone a stranger—care so much about her well-being before.

“Oh, it’s nothing, just a scrape. I wasn’t paying attention when I was working late at night… There are lots of sharp tools in the kitchen, apparently. Who knew?” she said with an awkward laugh. “Anyway, what’ll you have?”

As much as she would like to chat with him, there was a line behind him. Mako wondered if she could leave the register to someone after so she could talk some more with him… but maybe he was in a hurry and didn’t even want to stick around and talk to her.

"Well, as long as you're okay..." Nephrite said, deciding not to push her further. It looked a little more serious than a simple kitchen accident if her whole shoulder was wrapped, but if she didn't want to talk about it, he wasn't going to keep asking. It was interesting that Makoto didn't just do paperwork at her bakery. Most people would love to not have to do all the physical parts of baking if they were the boss, but she seemed to take a more hands on approach. Nephrite could tell she put a lot of effort into her shop judging by how many happy customers she had despite being a small business. 

"Hm....I think I'll have two of your pork buns and a coffee," he said. "And maybe later I could get you a coffee? Somewhere else than here, I mean." Nephrite had no idea what made him want to ask her out now of all times, but the words were already out of his mouth by the time he realized he had done it. Just what had gotten into him? He was in the middle of a job, and he was trying to impress a girl? But he hadn't seen Makoto in almost a whole month, and despite meeting her not long ago, he wanted to see her again already.

Mako nodded, preparing his order, when suddenly his next question made her freeze. Was he…? She looked back at him, and she could hear her employees started giggling and nudging each other. Even the customers in line behind him were smiling.

“Here you go,” one of her employees swiftly put together Nephrite’s order in a bag and handed it to him. “If you want to take a break, you should, Makoto-san. It sounds like you could use one.” Still dazed, Mako glanced at the younger girl, who just winked at her. She had completely dropped the ball and froze at Nephrite’s question, and her face flamed.

“Ahem… yes, I think I shall do that,” she took off her apron and quietly slipped out of the counter. She stood waiting near the corner table while Nephrite paid, massaging the back of her neck self-consciously, wondering what had just happened.

Did he really ask her out on a date?

He hadn't gotten a straight answer, but Nephrite thought her silent reaction was pretty positive. Makoto hadn't exactly laughed in his face and told him no yet, so maybe there was hope. He couldn't keep himself from smiling as he finished paying his check, taking the bag from the other employee. 

He saw her leave the counter to stand in the dining area, and decided to sit at the table closest to her. 

"So is that a yes on the offer or no?" Nephrite asked, teasing her a little as he set his bag down. "Sorry if I threw you off."

Mako blushed at the question, knowing that she already liked him since that first moment he managed to guess what she did for a living by merely looking at her. He intrigued her, and she definitely wanted to get to know him better.

“It’s okay. I just… normally don’t get asked out in front of an audience,” she admitted, only half joking. She sat down across from him, noticing that almost every one of her employees were surreptitiously glancing at them. Some even purposefully walked by doing menial tasks trying to eavesdrop. Honestly, why were they so nosy? Was this because she never told them about her romantic life or lack thereof?

“Well, I suppose I am apparently on break right now, so I do have some free time. Unless you meant some other time? I didn’t know if you mean now or... Well, you did say ‘later’ so I guess…” she stopped when she realized she was on the verge of babbling. Gosh, she was terrible at this.

“I… just… yes,” she concluded finally, lamely.

If he had not changed his mind yet after that performance, she would be amazed.

Nephrite released the breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding, both happy and relieved that she hadn't outright rejected him. It would have been awkward enough if she had just said no and gone back to work. He had to admit that she was cute when flustered though. He'd have thought she'd be more used to getting date offers. 

"Well I didn't originally plan to go now, but I can reschedule if you're off now. I think there's a cafe I passed by on the way here we could go to..." Nephrite suggested.

Mako blushed when Nephrite said he didn’t mean right now. Of course he didn’t mean right now. That was silly. Thankfully, for some insane reason he was still open to doing it on the spur of the moment.

“That sounds nice,” she nodded, agreeing. “It’ll give me a chance to check out the competition, as well,” she added with a mischievous smile. Sometimes she liked to buy things from other bakeries nearby just to see if they were getting better than hers, but so far she hadn’t found a worthy competition yet, if she did say so herself.

“Please, lead the way.”

"It would be my pleasure." Nephrite stood up from their table and went to open the door for Makoto before they left her bakery. He winced slightly when he pushed it open with his bad arm, but the pain faded fast. He was lucky his arm was still even usable after wrestling with that werewolf...

"Check out the competition, huh? And what would you do if you found a place with better food than your own?" Nephrite asked as they walked down the street. He wasn't serious, but he couldn't see her as the type of person for sabotage.

“Make mine even better, of course,” Mako answered easily, honestly. “Try to learn what made theirs so good and top it.” She would never do anything untoward to anyone else trying to make an honest living. It just wasn’t her way.

“So have you solved whatever case brought you here yet?” she asked, wondering how much longer he was going to stay in town. He did say his job took him everywhere and… as much as she liked him, she needed to know their long-term possibility before she even started thinking about it.

"I couldn't imagine you sneaking into their shop in the dead of night to steal their secrets anyway..." Nephrite said with a laugh. At the mention of his case, he sighed. 

"Not exactly. I was close to catching him last night, but he slipped away... He left me a nice cut to remember him by though." Nephrite touched his stiff arm and grimaced. "I should have expected him to play dirty. But until I can corner him, I think I'll be here for a while." Rei was not going to be happy, and he didn't want to think about the witch right now anyway...

He led her to a smaller restaurant on the second floor of a nearby bookstore. The two person tables gave a good view of the street with the building's large windows, and it had a quiet atmosphere to go with the smell of fresh coffee and baked goods that hung in the air.

"I actually haven't been here before, I just heard rumors that it was one of those hole-in-the-wall cafes that don't get much attention," he said as they walked in.

Mako looked over at Nephrite worriedly. “You got hurt? Are you okay?” she asked, noticing that he held one of his arms awkwardly. Maybe they shouldn’t be out on a date if he wasn’t feeling well. Why did she push to do this now? She felt guilty, but at the same time glad that he would be here for a while at least. Although… just what kind of bad guy was he chasing? She hated the thought of him getting killed. Maybe it was time to involve the police or something?

As they stepped into the restaurant, she inhaled the pleasant aroma of coffee, bread, and cakes. “Ah, they have my favorite it seems. Cherry pie,” she noted, more to herself than to Nephrite, as the familiar smell of the cake wafted into her nostrils.

Nephrite gave her a reassuring smile. "Like I said, it's just a cut. Don't worry about it." He felt kind of bad for mentioning it now. He didn't want her to make a big deal over his arm, and he'd rather not be reminded of his failure to catch the werewolf.

"Hm, cherry pie?" How'd she know that? He didn't see any in the display case... Nephrite glanced at her, and then turned and sniffed at the air. All he could really pick out with accuracy was the coffee blend. He wasn't very well versed in baking, so maybe he just couldn't tell the difference between certain cakes and pies without seeing them. Maybe it was in the back, cooling. "I can ask to see if they have any ready, if you want a slice," he offered as they walked over to the counter.

“Oh, they do have it. I can smell it clear as day,” Mako said certainly, then wondering if that was weird. She didn’t mean to sound like… a hound or something. “And yes, I would love one, please.”

Sharper sense of smell was definitely something she was accustomed to having, though strangely it seemed to come and go. At any rate, it was always useful for baking, so during the times when she had it, she tended to make her best creations.

Nephrite had to laugh at how much certainty Makoto had, and he really did hope she was right, if only to prevent any disappointment. 

"I guess we'll figure it out now," he said. He walked up to the counter, not having to deal with a line because of the cafe's obscurity. "Can we get two cups of coffee? And... do you have any cherry pie here?" The man at the register looked surprised.

"Actually, we just added it to the menu today," he said. "We didn't get the chance to put it out yet, but you can certainly order it!" Nephrite grinned and pulled out his wallet. What were the odds of that happening?

"Great, I'll take one slice of that then too." After getting their order, Nephrite led Makoto to one of the empty tables. 

"Well it's a good thing I didn't bet against you, or I'd have lost!" he said after sitting down.

Mako grinned almost smugly when the man behind the counter told them that they indeed just added some cherry pies to the menu. She was never wrong, especially not about her favorite! She was glad she could have some, it was just what she needed today after her awful morning.

“Let it be a lesson to never bet against me,” she replied as she sat down. “This looks just delicious. It’s just like how my mom used to teach me to make it…”

She trailed off, not realizing that she had just divulged a private information. Even now, she still thought about her parents every day, but most especially when she was eating this dish.

"Lesson duly noted," Nephrite said, smiling back. He paused from sipping his coffee when he heard her next comment, and noticed her enthusiasm die off. Her mother taught her to bake? But why would that make her react this way? His mind was already picking apart the sentence, looking for clues like he usually did when on a case. 

Did she no longer have a good relationship with her mom, or was the truth more somber than that? 

He put his cup down on the table gently. "Is that how you got into baking?" he asked, trying not to tread too hard on a sensitive subject. If she wanted to steer the conversation to something else, he'd leave her an opening to do it.

“Yeah, I mean, I’ve always been interested in food and cooking, but it helps that my mother really encouraged it. We spent a lot of great days baking together, having a feast…” she sighed wistfully as she looked outside, remembering those happier days as she momentarily walked down memory lane.

She realized she didn’t mind telling Nephrite more about herself, and after all, wasn’t that the point of having dates?

“Sorry, I don’t mean to put a damper on the conversation. My parents died when I was quite young, but I still miss them all the time.”

"No, don't worry about it. I understand that kind of feeling" Nephrite said. He hadn't expected Makoto to open up to him this much, but it seemed like she was really impacted by her parents, even if they were gone now. It faintly reminded him of his own. His path had pretty much been chosen since his own birth, his parents training him from a young age in hunting monsters.

"...To be honest, the reason I'm here on this case is because a friend of mine was murdered not long ago." The thought of Jadeite's death was still a hard one to process.

He did? Mako looked up from her pie, interested.

When she heard what Nephrite said, she was so surprised her hand flew up to her mouth. “Oh my gosh… That is terrible. I’m so sorry.”

That was quite a bit to reveal on a first date, even more than what she had. But she was grateful that he had shared it with her, because now she felt like she understood him a bit better. Why he tried so hard to catch this guy, even when it got him hurt.

“Look… you obviously know who it is, since you’ve come face to face with him. Why don’t you report him to the police? I realize that you want to catch him yourself since it’s personal, but… they might be able to help. I just…” she swallowed, then continued a bit embarrassedly, “I don’t want to see you get hurt. Especially just for revenge…”

Nephrite was about to tell her how the police couldn't help, when she floored him with her next words. She cared about him that much? He wasn't sure how to respond to her plea, and his tired eyes fell on the table between them. This case was important to him and Rei, and not to mention Jadeite's family, but... there was a very good chance it could kill him. Makoto was clearly worried, but this wasn't the average murderer. The police could never catch a werewolf, not without far more blood being spilled. It was his responsibility to take care of it.

He let out a long sigh and looked back up at her, a worn down smile on his face. 

"This guy I'm chasing... he's not something the police could handle. Even if I told them what he looked like, they could never find him, let alone catch him. I have to do it. Not for revenge, but for this city's safety."

This was his job, and he could not abandon it, not even for Makoto. If anything, he was protecting her in a way. This werewolf needed to be stopped.

"But...I promise I'll come back in one piece." His hand moved to touch her's on the table. "Just for you."

Mako didn’t really understand what he was saying. Not something the police could handle? What was it; a ninja? One of those super-trained assassins? And what made Nephrite capable of handling such a person? She sensed that there was more about his life that he wasn’t telling her, but she supposed it made sense since they only just got to know each other.

She was, however, surprised when he promised to come back for her. Her cheeks warmed as he touched her hand, and she smiled in embarrassment. “Well. That’s… very sweet. And I would certainly hold you to that promise. I know we haven’t known each other long, but… well, I do hope justice will be served for the sake of your friend.”

She wondered if being able to punish whoever was responsible would actually make her feel better about her parents’ death. “My parents were actually murdered, too. The police never found out who did it. It was a very strange case. I wonder sometimes if knowing and bringing them to justice would give me peace.” She knew he was a detective, but... would it be wrong to ask him to look into a more than ten year old cold case?

Nephrite was relieved that she didn't push him further on the issue of his case. There wasn't much more he could say without revealing things he definitely shouldn't... The details Makoto gave him about her parents deaths were very coincidental. Two murders in the same area, and neither of them were solvable by normal means. Or maybe they were more than just chance... Was it just his current mindset that made him think the two cases were connected in any way, or was he actually onto something?

"... Justice is a fine line to walk, isn't it?" he said to her, thinking out loud. "You tip over to one side too far, and it becomes nothing but vengeance." And vengeance could really consume someone. "Maybe not knowing who killed them is better in the long run. Or easier a burden to carry, at least..." 

__________________________________________

After they finished their impromptu date and Nephrite walked Makoto back to her bakery, he went back to working on his case. The call with Rei had been...unpleasant to say the least, but it seemed that fate was still on his side, as the witch told him that the werewolf was still around. He had time to catch it before it completely disappeared for the month.

That night, he drove his van back into the park again, ready for Round 2. With more silver on him than last time, he followed the walking path deeper into the woods than before, making sure to stay aware of every sound around him. He wasn't about to get tackled again... Something cracked behind him, and he whirled around, crossbow already in hand. 

The full moon illuminated the broken stick on the ground, and he narrowed his eyes. There wasn't anyone he could see, but something was following him. And he wasn't sure if it was the werewolf this time....

Vampire Minako

Watching Nephrite was so fun sometimes. After all, she did so love siccing him on her enemies, those nasty werewolves. But she couldn’t believe what she’d seen today.

“You have officially hit a new low, hunter,” she said languidly from atop the tree branch she was perched on, somewhat hidden by the foliage.

Nephrite and Minako kind of had an arrangement, so she wasn’t worried about him staking her. Maybe he would if she aggravated him enough—she certainly wouldn’t rule it out—but her information was generally always good enough to let him spare her for another day.

“I can’t believe you actually went on a date with the werewolf.”

Nephrite spun around at the familiar voice, and narrowed his eyes at the woman in the tree. Minako... She seemed to get a kick out of following him around on cases, but she was a good source on the supernatural activity in the area. Otherwise, he wouldn't tolerate the vampire at all. As long as she didn't do anything violent directly in front of him, he could let her slide.

"What are you talking about now?" he asked, relaxing for the moment. his hand never let go of the crossbow though. A new low? How could anything he had done compare to what a vampire did on a daily basis?

Her next words caught him off guard. "I don't recall taking any beasts out anywhere. The last time we met, it tried to have me for lunch, in case you missed that part!" What kind of mind game was she trying to play with him?

Vampire Minako

Minako laughed her somewhat hysterical giggle, thoroughly amused by Nephrite’s blatant ignorance and obliviousness.

“Oh for goodness’ sake, I have no idea how you’ve managed to survive this long. You humans are just so… dumb,” she rolled her eyes.

“Yes, dear, she almost had you for lunch, then you took her to lunch.” She waited, wondering if Nephrite would connect the dots. No, probably not. She should not give him more credit than he deserved. “That brown haired-girl who has the wound on the exact place you wounded the werewolf is the werewolf, you idiot.”

Guess she had to spell it out for him. Minako gave a long-suffering sigh. Must her undead life always be so hard?

Makoto's shoulder... Nephrite thought back to that morning, when he noticed her bandaged arm. Was that really the same wound he had inflicted on the werewolf with his crossbow?

But she had said it was a kitchen incident. Was that a lie? Werewolves were desparate creatures, the colder, more logical part of his mind thought. In the back of his head, Nephrite already had come to the same conclusion as Minako.

But he just couldn't accept it. Not her. Nephrite refused to picture Makoto that way. It must have been a mistake, some sort of trick Minako had created to toy with him.

"You're wrong..." he said, though he was looking at the ground instead of the vampire. Without waiting for a rebuttal, he turned and started running back to his van. He'd check on Makoto right now to be sure of himself....

The moon had been full again, and the wolf was back. It had transformed inside the apartment, and as a direct result, everything was trashed completely. The wolf had scoured all the rooms in search for something to eat and had found no other occupants. In its rage and frustration it had thrown everything to the ground and thrashed all the rooms.

At some point in her life, the owner of the apartment had grown paranoid enough about the strange happenings in her life to install additional security locks on her door. Unfortunately, a lot of the locks’ parts were made from silver.

It made the door pretty much impenetrable for the wolf, which frustrated it even more. It had tried to break right through the wood, but every time it touched the silver it got weakened, so it only managed to half mangle the door.

By the time the night was out, what was left in Mako’s apartment was a disaster zone and a girl with her clothes almost torn to shreds with burnt marks everywhere on her skin.

Nephrite's van pulled up to her apartment building as the moon set below the buildings, and he hurried to lock it after he got out the front seat. He slowed down only enough to no scare people as he burst into the lobby. 

"Do you have a Kino Makoto living here? What's her room number?" he asked the confused woman.

"Uh, number 25 on the second floor..." she said. He thanked her and took the stairs before she could even question him. 

"Makoto...?" he called, hopefully loud enough to hear through the door. He knocked, and pulled back in surprise when the door shifted. Why was it so loose in the frame? The lack of an answer concerned him. If the werewolf really was in there, he needed to get in now. Nephrite took a few steps back, and then charged shoulder first into the weakened door. It broke open, and he was greeted by the destroyed living room. In the center of all the ripped up carpet, furniture, and knocked down objects, was Mako. 

"Are you okay?" He was instantly by her side, checking her for injuries. Why was she covered in so many burns, and what had shredded her clothes like this? He grabbed a somewhat intact sheet off the couch and draped it over her for some kind of modesty. She was still breathing, at least...

Mako was having the worst hangover ever.

Or at least what felt like it, anyway. Her head was pounding hard, and her entire body was hurting. She groaned when she heard someone’s voice and attempted to open her eyes. The light felt like it was searing her eyelids and she quickly closed them again.

“Ow.”

Why was she on the floor? Why wasn’t she on her bed? What the hell happened?

Alarm jolted her by way of adrenaline and she reopened her eyes, panicking when she realized her clothes were hanging by a thread. There was a sheet over her, but otherwise she might as well be naked.

“Nephrite?” Her eyes widened when she caught sight of his face near her. She realized that she was still in her apartment, even if it was barely recognizable. “What the… What on earth happened here? Why are you in my apartment?”

For one confused second, she stared at him in distrust, pulling the sheet tighter around herself and scooting ever so slightly away, wondering if he was responsible for the state she was in.

Nephrite relaxed and let her move away, just happy that she had woken up at all. It stung a bit to see the accusing look in her eyes, but he'd take that over finding another corpse of someone he cared about.

"Believe me or not, I walked in and found you on the ground," he said, doing his best to keep his eyes anywhere but on her. "I was working on my case and followed a tip that let me to your apartment, but when I called for you, I didn't hear anything, so I got worried... Everything else in here was already torn up before I came in. Well, except for the door..." he glanced back at the door loosely swung open from his shattering of the locking mechanism.

"I'll pay for a new lock." he offered, rubbing the back of his head. "But I'm definitely sure that the guy I was chasing did this, somehow. Do you remember anything strange happening tonight?"