Cooking Lessons Part 4 - Till death do us part.
Title: CL Part 4 - Till Death Do Us Part
Rating: PG-13?
Pairing: None yet
Finally <3
The contract negotiations had been going on for the better part of an hour--but like cooking a delicate souffle--it only took a split second of not being completely aware of her surroundings for it to all fall apart.
Another sip of tea and her eyes darted to the chattering waitresses nearby behind the counter and the different types of cakes and pastries held within the glass case. Hmm--she was hungry.
Focus.
One of the younger women walked around the counter, still laughing and made her way casually to Akira's table. Yuki relaxed as the woman flirted easily with both men and came back with their glasses. Her eyes narrowed in on the younger woman's face and she realized something.
The woman was absolutely stunning. Face, hair, body, makeup everything.
Yuki was immediatly suspicious of her--women that close to perfect didn't work in places like this; they didn't need to work. Especially not in Japan, where many still believed in women being taken care of.
As soon as the suspicion hit her she was going over all the informaiton that Akira hd given her.
"He thinks that he is better than everyone else; he only deserves the best. It's all about appearances, about the show and absolute control." Akira's thinly veiled disgust, but respect for what the other man was capable of sent a shiver down her spine at the word control
She eyed the waitress behind the counter again as she replayed her intereaction with Akira and his partner in her mind. Every smile, every step, every shake of her hips were the exact same. No variation. Not a bit of eyeliner or curl was out of place on the woman--no way all of that morning's work was still flawless.
She could just be lucky, or obsessive about fixing herself--but was she willing to write that off as a coincidence along with everything else? On that note--how did her legs NOT hurt in those heels, those heels that none of the other waitress' wore?
The woman was taking out her wallet and ringing up something on the regist before taking out her own money and putting it in, gently placing the receipt in the pocket of her apron and picked up a small, dark colored pastry on a saucer from the counter and brushed inconspicuously by the other waitress.
"He collects beautiful women and breaks them like wild horses. Lives by the 'women should be seen and not heard' mentality and believes with every fiber of his being that fear is better than respect." Privately, Yuki was surprised that he did buisness with the Mimasaka family then--and wondered if there were things that she didn't know.
Yuki was on her feet as soon as the word 'complimentary' fell from the waitress's lips and took the walk to Akira's table at a hurried stride. Glaring down at Akira's buisness partner she gently pushed the plate away from her friend--"Poison or something of the like. I'd bet my life on it." Akira looked up at her with wide eyes--alarmed that his rival would know who she was now. Guilt already filling his eyes thinking that he had put her in danger.
That fact that he wasn't questioning her suspicion made her heart swell with pride.
"You are betting both of your lives on this false accusation!" The man's voice was hardly louder than a normal conversational tone but she could still hear the coldness adn the rage and it caused her to flinch.
He calmed down minutely after sending a meaningful glare at the waitress, his hand tight around her wrist,"Well Mimasaka I see you've started your own collection--this one would never be worthy of being with mine, but not a bad choice I suppose. Its too bad she cost you our deal." When his eyes went from Akira to her a feral grin overtook his face and Yuki had never felt more like prey her entire life, and a plan that had been formingi n the back of her mind took over and she fell to her knees.
Her frantic voice broke as she spoke, wide eyes looking up at Akira's rival as she felt the forced prick of tears behind her eyes, "Please don't hurt me, Mimasaka-sama said he would punish me if I let anything happen to him and I just couldn't deal with--" She choked on her own words as she looked away, a sob coming from her throat, "Please don't hurt me too." The man's eyes had widened with shock, although Akira had managed to keep his composure and confusion to himself, and several tense moments passed before the chauvanistic bastard shoved patted her head roughly. With a pleased smile on his face he picked the pen back up from the table and signed the papers that had been set before him some time ago, "It seems you've finally grown into your own as a man. I can respect that. Pleasure doing bussiness with you Akira." They both stood and shook hands, and as Yuki pulled herself into his chair--shaking from nerves--him and his servant girl were gone from the store.
"I can't believe that he fell for that." Yuki sighed and let her head fall onto the table, the tense energy that had kept her going drained from her body and left her little to keep her sitting up straight.
"I can't believe you took that risk! He knows your face now." Yuki's body stilled and became tense again as she slowly sat back up looking at Akira's face anxiously.
The person staring back at her was not her Akira. Not one of her closest friends, not the man who made her hot cocoa whenever she came over crying after she saw Sojiro with another woman, not the man who slept next to her in his bed all night holding her so often without ever trying anything, not the man who let his little sisters dress him up and do makeup on him--she didn't know this man.
His eyes reflected only coldness, his eyes and posture were aloof and she wanted to reach out to him and pull him back to her, throw away her dignity and tell him she didn't like him being so far away. It may seem extreme but Akira had always been the warmest of the F4 towards her, always felt welcoming and she had always felt safe around him. Her rock that she could lean on any time who she could trust to not overreact and help her in anyway.
She didn't know what to do if she had suddenly lost that rock.
"Akira...?" Her voice was weak as she reached for his face and blinked stupidly when her hand was brushed away like a fly, "Akira you wanted me to watch out for you, thats why you had me here..isn't it? That pastry could've--" He cut her off suddenly, and for the first time since she was a child, as Akira stood from his seat briskly, his movement lacking of his usual relaxed, confident gestures that made him unique.
He stood above her, a hand on her shoulder that was holding her down too tightly--"Akira--" It was hard to her speak, her heart hurt so much like his hand was constricting her throat and heart instead of her shoulder. "When I have came to the decision of if this sudden surge of idiotic, recklessness will be tolerated I will contact you." It was a numb and waif like Yuki that drifted out of the store and to another sanctuary.
-------------
Rui's bed was twice as big as Yuki's, it has 5+ pillows depending on the day and light blankets that left the person using them uninhibited but still warm. HIs bed was firm, but still cushy and soft causing one to sink down a bit as they sat down into the soft sheets that seemed to flow through one's fingers like water. It was situated in such a way that if one were to curl up in the middle during the day, a sunbeam's gentle warmth would sing them to sleep--but the same sunbeam wouldn't hit their eyes were they to rest the usual way on the bed.
Yuki had always said though, that her favorite thing about Hanazawa Rui's bed was that it smelled of him. Because of these things Rui was not usually surprised whenever Yuki randomly decided to take a name in his bed while he sat nearby, reading or playing violin. He had grown accustomed to seeing her there, and had even slept several nights there with her--in a completely platonic way of course--so Rui was very familiar with Yuki's sleeping habits. He knew when she had had a bad day, a happy one--or simply been exhausted.
Today, had quite obviously been a terrible day.
The woman lay in his bed, curled into herself with all of his blankets and sheets wrapped tightly around her, clutching onto a wad of them and a smaller pillow at the same time. He stopped for a moment as his gaze drifted over her hair, with it's almost ridiculous length it spread out around her and reminded him of electricity somehow, it was tangled now and some of it was covering her face; this would normally drive her crazy but now it was nothing. Her eyes were shut and he knew, just because he knows Yuki almost as well as he knows himself(which, admittedly, isn't very well at times) that she isn't asleep.
Without a second thought his jacket was discarded haphazardly along with his shoes as he moved to sit down next to where her hands were, his hand gently reaching out to brush her hair from her face. Before he could say anything though Yuki let go of everything she had been gripping onto so desperately and shot up from the bed, her arms suddenly wrapping around his neck and shoudlers and pulled him down to awkwardly lay by her. He was trying to situate himself so he could lay there without his muscles screaming at him instantly and being too uncomfortable so he barely heard her whisper, "You're not going to dismess me for being stupid too are you?" Then she was asleep--just like that, without any other explanation or the loosening of her limbs.
His ressited the urge to wake her up and assure her that he wasn't going to dismiss her and ask her who HAD so he could make sure they regretted it when he remembered--"Yuki is helping me with something today." had told him over the phone--the unspoken words are loud--she is helping me with a job, don't call, don't ask. Akira was very picky about who he involved in the family business--for good reason, and allowed very few details to anyone not under contract--even Rui and Yuki knew no one Akira dealt with except his second and his closest bodyguards. Akira went through great lengths to make this happen and after a slip up incident a few years ago no one questioned his actions.
It took a long time for Akira to start letting Yuki help him--and even then--she was only given the barest details, and used only from far away and on jobs when Akira knew she wouldn't be seen or used against him in any way.
A memory came to Rui with sudden clarity, of Memu and Emu's tutor who Akira had started using as a casual spy for one of his rival's local business; all the man did was sit across the street at the local starbucks from said company and listen with one of his tech devises and take notes on who came and left.
The man was found dead a few weeks after that particular aspect of his employment began--but it wasn't just that he was found dead, his face carved and mutilated nearly beyond recongnition, one pink ribbon tied around where his eyes had been--his body was within Memu and Emu's favorite slide and a small, out of the way park at a church over an hour from their home that the tutor had taken them too to learn about plants and play.
Regardless of all that--Rui and Akira were going to be exchanging words soon.
Rating: PG-13?
Pairing: None yet
Finally <3
The contract negotiations had been going on for the better part of an hour--but like cooking a delicate souffle--it only took a split second of not being completely aware of her surroundings for it to all fall apart.
Another sip of tea and her eyes darted to the chattering waitresses nearby behind the counter and the different types of cakes and pastries held within the glass case. Hmm--she was hungry.
Focus.
One of the younger women walked around the counter, still laughing and made her way casually to Akira's table. Yuki relaxed as the woman flirted easily with both men and came back with their glasses. Her eyes narrowed in on the younger woman's face and she realized something.
The woman was absolutely stunning. Face, hair, body, makeup everything.
Yuki was immediatly suspicious of her--women that close to perfect didn't work in places like this; they didn't need to work. Especially not in Japan, where many still believed in women being taken care of.
As soon as the suspicion hit her she was going over all the informaiton that Akira hd given her.
"He thinks that he is better than everyone else; he only deserves the best. It's all about appearances, about the show and absolute control." Akira's thinly veiled disgust, but respect for what the other man was capable of sent a shiver down her spine at the word control
She eyed the waitress behind the counter again as she replayed her intereaction with Akira and his partner in her mind. Every smile, every step, every shake of her hips were the exact same. No variation. Not a bit of eyeliner or curl was out of place on the woman--no way all of that morning's work was still flawless.
She could just be lucky, or obsessive about fixing herself--but was she willing to write that off as a coincidence along with everything else? On that note--how did her legs NOT hurt in those heels, those heels that none of the other waitress' wore?
The woman was taking out her wallet and ringing up something on the regist before taking out her own money and putting it in, gently placing the receipt in the pocket of her apron and picked up a small, dark colored pastry on a saucer from the counter and brushed inconspicuously by the other waitress.
"He collects beautiful women and breaks them like wild horses. Lives by the 'women should be seen and not heard' mentality and believes with every fiber of his being that fear is better than respect." Privately, Yuki was surprised that he did buisness with the Mimasaka family then--and wondered if there were things that she didn't know.
Yuki was on her feet as soon as the word 'complimentary' fell from the waitress's lips and took the walk to Akira's table at a hurried stride. Glaring down at Akira's buisness partner she gently pushed the plate away from her friend--"Poison or something of the like. I'd bet my life on it." Akira looked up at her with wide eyes--alarmed that his rival would know who she was now. Guilt already filling his eyes thinking that he had put her in danger.
That fact that he wasn't questioning her suspicion made her heart swell with pride.
"You are betting both of your lives on this false accusation!" The man's voice was hardly louder than a normal conversational tone but she could still hear the coldness adn the rage and it caused her to flinch.
He calmed down minutely after sending a meaningful glare at the waitress, his hand tight around her wrist,"Well Mimasaka I see you've started your own collection--this one would never be worthy of being with mine, but not a bad choice I suppose. Its too bad she cost you our deal." When his eyes went from Akira to her a feral grin overtook his face and Yuki had never felt more like prey her entire life, and a plan that had been formingi n the back of her mind took over and she fell to her knees.
Her frantic voice broke as she spoke, wide eyes looking up at Akira's rival as she felt the forced prick of tears behind her eyes, "Please don't hurt me, Mimasaka-sama said he would punish me if I let anything happen to him and I just couldn't deal with--" She choked on her own words as she looked away, a sob coming from her throat, "Please don't hurt me too." The man's eyes had widened with shock, although Akira had managed to keep his composure and confusion to himself, and several tense moments passed before the chauvanistic bastard shoved patted her head roughly. With a pleased smile on his face he picked the pen back up from the table and signed the papers that had been set before him some time ago, "It seems you've finally grown into your own as a man. I can respect that. Pleasure doing bussiness with you Akira." They both stood and shook hands, and as Yuki pulled herself into his chair--shaking from nerves--him and his servant girl were gone from the store.
"I can't believe that he fell for that." Yuki sighed and let her head fall onto the table, the tense energy that had kept her going drained from her body and left her little to keep her sitting up straight.
"I can't believe you took that risk! He knows your face now." Yuki's body stilled and became tense again as she slowly sat back up looking at Akira's face anxiously.
The person staring back at her was not her Akira. Not one of her closest friends, not the man who made her hot cocoa whenever she came over crying after she saw Sojiro with another woman, not the man who slept next to her in his bed all night holding her so often without ever trying anything, not the man who let his little sisters dress him up and do makeup on him--she didn't know this man.
His eyes reflected only coldness, his eyes and posture were aloof and she wanted to reach out to him and pull him back to her, throw away her dignity and tell him she didn't like him being so far away. It may seem extreme but Akira had always been the warmest of the F4 towards her, always felt welcoming and she had always felt safe around him. Her rock that she could lean on any time who she could trust to not overreact and help her in anyway.
She didn't know what to do if she had suddenly lost that rock.
"Akira...?" Her voice was weak as she reached for his face and blinked stupidly when her hand was brushed away like a fly, "Akira you wanted me to watch out for you, thats why you had me here..isn't it? That pastry could've--" He cut her off suddenly, and for the first time since she was a child, as Akira stood from his seat briskly, his movement lacking of his usual relaxed, confident gestures that made him unique.
He stood above her, a hand on her shoulder that was holding her down too tightly--"Akira--" It was hard to her speak, her heart hurt so much like his hand was constricting her throat and heart instead of her shoulder. "When I have came to the decision of if this sudden surge of idiotic, recklessness will be tolerated I will contact you." It was a numb and waif like Yuki that drifted out of the store and to another sanctuary.
-------------
Rui's bed was twice as big as Yuki's, it has 5+ pillows depending on the day and light blankets that left the person using them uninhibited but still warm. HIs bed was firm, but still cushy and soft causing one to sink down a bit as they sat down into the soft sheets that seemed to flow through one's fingers like water. It was situated in such a way that if one were to curl up in the middle during the day, a sunbeam's gentle warmth would sing them to sleep--but the same sunbeam wouldn't hit their eyes were they to rest the usual way on the bed.
Yuki had always said though, that her favorite thing about Hanazawa Rui's bed was that it smelled of him. Because of these things Rui was not usually surprised whenever Yuki randomly decided to take a name in his bed while he sat nearby, reading or playing violin. He had grown accustomed to seeing her there, and had even slept several nights there with her--in a completely platonic way of course--so Rui was very familiar with Yuki's sleeping habits. He knew when she had had a bad day, a happy one--or simply been exhausted.
Today, had quite obviously been a terrible day.
The woman lay in his bed, curled into herself with all of his blankets and sheets wrapped tightly around her, clutching onto a wad of them and a smaller pillow at the same time. He stopped for a moment as his gaze drifted over her hair, with it's almost ridiculous length it spread out around her and reminded him of electricity somehow, it was tangled now and some of it was covering her face; this would normally drive her crazy but now it was nothing. Her eyes were shut and he knew, just because he knows Yuki almost as well as he knows himself(which, admittedly, isn't very well at times) that she isn't asleep.
Without a second thought his jacket was discarded haphazardly along with his shoes as he moved to sit down next to where her hands were, his hand gently reaching out to brush her hair from her face. Before he could say anything though Yuki let go of everything she had been gripping onto so desperately and shot up from the bed, her arms suddenly wrapping around his neck and shoudlers and pulled him down to awkwardly lay by her. He was trying to situate himself so he could lay there without his muscles screaming at him instantly and being too uncomfortable so he barely heard her whisper, "You're not going to dismess me for being stupid too are you?" Then she was asleep--just like that, without any other explanation or the loosening of her limbs.
His ressited the urge to wake her up and assure her that he wasn't going to dismiss her and ask her who HAD so he could make sure they regretted it when he remembered--"Yuki is helping me with something today." had told him over the phone--the unspoken words are loud--she is helping me with a job, don't call, don't ask. Akira was very picky about who he involved in the family business--for good reason, and allowed very few details to anyone not under contract--even Rui and Yuki knew no one Akira dealt with except his second and his closest bodyguards. Akira went through great lengths to make this happen and after a slip up incident a few years ago no one questioned his actions.
It took a long time for Akira to start letting Yuki help him--and even then--she was only given the barest details, and used only from far away and on jobs when Akira knew she wouldn't be seen or used against him in any way.
A memory came to Rui with sudden clarity, of Memu and Emu's tutor who Akira had started using as a casual spy for one of his rival's local business; all the man did was sit across the street at the local starbucks from said company and listen with one of his tech devises and take notes on who came and left.
The man was found dead a few weeks after that particular aspect of his employment began--but it wasn't just that he was found dead, his face carved and mutilated nearly beyond recongnition, one pink ribbon tied around where his eyes had been--his body was within Memu and Emu's favorite slide and a small, out of the way park at a church over an hour from their home that the tutor had taken them too to learn about plants and play.
Regardless of all that--Rui and Akira were going to be exchanging words soon.