An Amount Owed In Gold [Closed]

Have you ever been in a situation where you have to do a double take because you thought you saw something? You ever thought you felt someone touch you, but when you looked nothing was there? In other words, have you ever seen a ghost? Natalie hasn't, but she knows someone was there. There was a chill shivering down her spine. She woke up and looked around and shrugged it off. She went back to bed, woke up a couple hours later, and saw a card? She hadn't put it there and when she read it, her heart skipped a beat. "Scar...letteli..." That name horrified her. "I didn't pay them back..." Natalie remembered too well. She kept reading the note and saw the amount owed: 22,782 gold.

The next three days were hell. Natalie was extremely stressed out. She ran around looking for a job, begging for people to give her a chance, but no one was hiring and others had bad blood with her. These three days she spent without seeing Izumo once, which was odd and probably making her feel worse. She ended up sitting in an alley, that warning card crunched up in her hand. The outcome of this was driving her insane. The Scarletti were ruthless to those who didn't keep up their end of a bargain. At that time, Natalie was desperate, otherwise she never would have done something as stupid as borrowing money from them. Now, she was stuck and unsure of what to do.

"I can't bring him into this..." she thought as she stood up and began walking across the way to a familiar and safe place, "But I can't not see him either." Natalie took in a deep breath and stuffed the card into her purse. She looked nice. Her hair was down, make-up there but faint, and was wearing a black suit with a lavender colored undershirt. She stepped into the bar, hiding the worry she had to the best of her ability, and went and sat down. She said little and just watched him with a longing smile, one that she actually didn't mean to show, but couldn't really help it. If he asked her about a drink she'd simply say, "Water." A most unusual choice for her and he would know it easily.

Natalie asked for water, but he knew who better than that. She could only smile when he pulled out the vodka. "You sure?" she asked. She always had to confirm, but she knew he was. He poured her the drink and Natalie happily took the first sip. He asked her what was up and she looked down to the glass. She ran her index finger along the sides and shook her head. "Just not the best of weeks..." she explained with a casual sigh, "I need a job, but not many people are hiring and those who are... Well, they don't want to hire me. Kind of expected, but... Been looking for three days, which really isn't that long, but I was hoping to find something quick... Running real low on cash and could use the boost." "So what about you? How's your day been? Well, the past few days actually..." Natalie took another drink and relaxed. She knew that hearing him talk would make her feel better.

"Yeah, finally." she smiled and nodded. He had a calm day, good. One thing that worried her beyond belief was the idea that the Scarletti would confront him over her problem. She remembers them as ruthless and evil people. If she had known their cruelty before hand, she wouldn't be in this situation. "Yeah, I'm definitely tired, but being around here has a habit of making things a bit better." Natalie placed her elbow on the counter and rested her head against her hand. He leaned in to give her a kiss and she immediately leaned back, returning the kiss. Natalie went lightheaded every time she got to do that. She had a habit of keeping her eyes closed a second or two longer than he would after the kiss was broken, even if it was just a little peck. She blushed when he mentioned his trust in her, but it also made her feel sick to her stomach. "You think I could? I mean... I'd rather not put you out since things are going to be slowing down until summ-..." Natalie froze and seemed to daze out as she looked away from him. "I'm not so sure that's a good idea... I should find something else, but I can help out whenever you need me." she looked to him again and smiled, keeping herself composed.

Izumo's logic was sound and she nodded once he finished. "Okay. I can do that." she said and looked off with a dreamy smile. She had a few thoughts going through her head and had a habit of daydreaming sometimes. The sound of a door slamming form another building snapped her out of it, causing her to jump and look around. "Um..." she suddenly sounded nervous and looked to Izumo, "Why don't I sweep up a bit? I can clean up the tables after I'm done, and no I'm not starting today. I just have nothing better to do and wouldn't mind helping out a bit. I can start another day." Natalie took off her jacket and tossed it on the coat rack near the door. She then pulled out a band and tied up her hair before going to get the broom to begin cleaning up. "There we go."

Natalie was in a daze. When he grabbed the broom, she blinked a few times and looked up. She was having a hard time hiding anything from him. She hadn't been this worried about anything before. When he asked her, she stared at him and looked over to her purse, which she left on the bar. "I know..." she said toward what she could tell him. She nodded and nodded and nodded. "Okay, um... I'm scared." she said casually, though it was obvious she was trying not to cry, "For the first time in a while, I'm actually scared to death. Uh.. I-I..." With each word Natalie was speaking, her voice was shaking. She walked over to her purse and pulled out the crumpled up card and handed it to him.

"That was in my room. I went to bed, dresser was clean and... I woke up and the dresser had that on it. They were in my room Izumo. I was sleeping, and they were there. I don't know what to do... I haven't been able to sleep since I found it three days ago. I feel like I'm going to wake up and they're going to be standing there with a sword at my throat." Natalie was shaking so much she was ready to collapse to her knees. It was only the fear that kept the woman standing at this point.

The moment he began asking questions... "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry." she panicked and grabbed onto her own hair. She didn't want him to be mad at her. She didn't want him in the middle of this. "I was scared. I was alone. I was new to the world. I was stupid. I was desperate. I had nowhere to go. I didn't want to return to my family. I had no friends, no one to help me. I was literally selling the clothes and other things from home I had to eat at that point. Grandview is a horrible, horrible place and when that bastard who ran the family found me being rejected for a job, he convinced me it would be okay to borrow some money." Natalie began pacing back and forth, waving her arms frantically as she explained, "I only found out after I said yes and was planning to move here that the interest was so high and that the Scarletti were just... evil. That's really all I can describe them as, evil."

It took a moment for her to calm down, but she did, which allowed him to continue on. He invited her to stay here and she closed her eyes, sighing heavily in relief. She was able to finally stop shaking, but she was completely ashamed of herself and she wasn't hiding it. "Okay." she nodded along toward staying with him, but when Colburn came up, she waved her hand, "No. I can't do that. I won't do that. I don't care how dangerous it is. I don't care if they show up right outside my apartment building." She walked up to him and placed both of her hands on each side of his face. "I would rather die than leave you here alone. I know I can't do shit, but if they can get into my home that easily, leave a note, and walk out while I'm sleeping, I'm sure they can find out about you and if anything were to happen..." She stopped. The thought of him being hurt because of her made her feel sick.

"I know I can't fight. I know I'm not strong. I know I have no power and I probably won't be able to pay that money back, but... I can't do anything that might hurt you. I can't. I can't... I just can't. They took this long to find me. If I disappear, who do you think they're coming to next? If anything... ever happened to you..." Natalie just kept shaking her head and blinking rapidly, like the most horrifyingly appalling film was being shown to her. Her skin went pale and Izumo could easily tell that this was making her feel sick to her stomach. She hadn't said it and was scared to because of possibly being rejected, but Natalie absolutely loved him, more than he understood. She adored him. And to lose him was to lose the only thing in this world that had the power to make her feel complete.

Nat. Not many people called her that, but she loved it when he did. In fact, she loved it when he said her name period. She was relieved when he wasn't mad, but pouted when he said she couldn't hurt a fly. Part of her didn't like that. He was strong and Logan was strong. Her thoughts focused back to him when he hugged her and her name was said again. Shiver. If this man only knew how he was able to make her feel. Well, he'd probably tease her about it. She nodded, "Yeah, I saw." She understood where he was coming from, but it still scared her. And that last comment got a mumbled, "I can't exactly comment on that first one, yet." She didn't realize she said it, her mind flew elsewhere.

"That's not the point. I know you're strong, please don't think I don't. I just don't know how many they'll send and your best friend is out of town." Natalie closed her eyes and walked over to a stool. She sat down and placed her hands on the sides of her head and her elbows on the bar. So he would come with her? She could handle that, but she wasn't sure she could handle the forty-eight hours of separation. Normally, she's not this paranoid. Right now, even an hour was stressing her out. "Tell him. I want him to know." It was just going to give Logan more ammo to use at her. This was another situation, and a much more serious one, where Natalie needed Izumo's help and it could possibly end badly.

"So... When do you want me to start?" She had a job now at least...

Yes, she was very tense, but dirty little secrets about Logan? "I'm in." She quickly responded. She reached back, grabbed his arms, and pulled them around her. "There... Much better." she giggled and relaxed a bit. She wasn't able to get very much dirt on Logan and he picked on her for just about everything she did. It was gonna be her own time for revenge! Her thoughts of revenge faded when chills started from her ear and slithered from her ear, down her neck, and all the way down to that place between her legs. Natalie crossed one leg over the other, trying to control her own tendencies. She had a plan for that first time, if things didn't go too far sooner than that. His birthday was coming up and that is when she wanted to make that leap. She nodded. "Alright then. Tomorrow."

When he moved away, she immediately missed the warmth. She watched him create the drink and was surprised when it came out to match her hair. That was impressive. She couldn't remember whether she had this drink before or not. She stared at it and took a small sip. Something told her it was going to be strong. His warnings about her memory confirmed that, so she was glad she took a mere sip. It was strong, but it was good. The fruity flavor was perfect, but she was still confused on how the hell this came out as the color of her hair! She took a couple more sips and smiled. "Yum." He asked her something that made the smile only fade a bit. She shrugged. "Fear, I guess..." she stared into the drink. She thought to herself, figuring out a way to explain it. "Well..."

"I'm tired of being a fuck up... Especially for you. Logan was right about all of that. Even if it was never on purpose, a lot of the time I came around here was when I had a bad day or I needed help... Honestly, I didn't know why else to come around. Besides bringing tourists here, it felt like I needed a reason to be here and problems were all I could come up with. I felt weird on the days I walked in without a reason. Most of those days were the ones that Logan would call me out on it... He gave me a break when bad things happened, but if I came in here on a good, he'd say something like 'He ain't givin' you no money' or 'What kind of bullshit you bringing to Izumo this time'. I felt unwelcome if bad wasn't happening. I don't feel like that now, so bringing trouble feels... shameful."

"Not... really... No..." That was almost embarrassing. She had never had a 'true' relationship before now, but had been on quite a few dates. Either the term "soulmate" was too strong with her, or there was something about her that wasn't very "long-term" worthy. Either way, that didn't matter because she finally got that long-term, hopefully. The idea of him breaking up with her was a common fear, but she'd do her best to make sure he never felt that urge. It's one of the reasons why she didn't want to bring him anymore trouble. A woman who is nothing but trouble is not healthy for anyone. Everything about Natalie was calming down now. He was keeping physical contact with her, so that was helping quite a bit. The stress seemed to be fading away and she definitely welcomed more from him.

"He seems to really like her and she was a sweetie. In fact, both of those girls that were here, Serenity and Olivia... They were both very much on that sweet side, cute, naive, a little... childish." Natalie thought for a moment, putting one finger to her lips, "I don't think I could pull that off. I don't have that kind of look." She pinched at her own cheeks. "Anyways... I'm trying not to bring more trouble. It's why I quit my other job, but of course, this shit has to pop up right after. It's my fault for making so many bad decisions, but it would have been nice if it had waited at least a year." And then she got an idea. Her expression brightened, she smiled, and she began bouncing a little on the stool. "Idea, idea, idea, idea. I got one!" she turned on the stool toward Izumo and smiled, "Wanna hear it?"

Of course he did! She giggled. "Okay, so... I quit the Varedia's Guide job, so that's going to drop the customers I usually bring here over the major tourist seasons, but it doesn't have to... What if I act as like an advertising agent, or whatever it's called, for you." Natalie blushed a little, "I hate to say it, but I can use my feminine wiles to bring in as much as possible. I'll go walking along the beach while handing out fliers. Or I could s-... Wait, no. I almost forgot... This place needs to not be turned into a major tourist attraction. Never mind." Natalie shrugged. She was a little disappointed, but she'd rather this place stay as what Izumo wanted it to be. Bringing in too many extra customers would change it and the way other people viewed it. "Maybe I can make deals with one or two of the hotels... They'll just treat us as a highly recommended place when their clients ask where a good spot is."