Disclaimer: I don't own the series V. B. Rose. It is the exclusive property of the amazing Hidaka Banri and her talented hands.

Note: This was originally supposed to be done for a government class for extra credit, but I never quite got around to it. Oh well. Enjoy this anyway; maybe I'll be nice and give you some fluff at the end. Please note that this'll probably suck royally, since things usually do when I'm writing with particular characters for the first time.

Paper Roses

20FacesChizu

Ageha stared blankly at the beading pattern in front of her. It was a beautiful lily pattern, perfect for a spring wedding such as the one it was going to be attending. The bodice was a smooth, antique style, and the sleeves reached down to points above where the bride's middle fingers would be. But staring down at the meticulous work in her hands, she was beginning to wonder if the pattern was doing what it was supposed to. It was the first time she'd tried this one; it wouldn't be surprising if it took a little adjustment time…

But she'd just straight-out started on the dress… so…

Even as she hauled herself up off of the white-cushioned work-stool, her legs were shaking and threatening to give out from under her. If she really had messed up this dress, this gorgeous, amazing, sparkly, princess wedding dress, Arisaka-san really would have her head. A couple of times, maybe. Her sandals clacked quietly against the wooden floors as she passed through the open threshold and started up the stairs. Fourteen stairs. Just the usual fourteen stairs.

7…

6…

… 5…

Well, she felt bad enough to even procrastinate on those usual fourteen little stairs, which was now none, since she'd reached the landing already.

The sunlight was filtering through his office doorway in a deceptively angelic way, and she braced herself one more time before creeping up to his door (this time wary of her heels) and knocking lightly.

… No response? She tried again, and then peeked around the corner.

In a dull old pipe-chair, which was rather misplaced in amongst the finery and elegance of the shop's décor, Arisaka Yukari was hunched broodingly before his desk. It certainly wasn't Mitsuya, since that shining blonde hair was just too bright and beautiful to miss…

"Umm… Arisaka-san…?" A brief, short grunt told her that he was listening, but would definitely not remember whatever she said later since his brain was currently elsewhere. "Arisaka-san, can you tell me if this pattern looks right...?"

He heaved a rather heavy sigh, leaning back in his chair and dropping his pencil to the wooden desktop, fingers running through his shining gold locks. Ageha imagined that she could see his happiness flying away on that sigh, and considering that she had possibly just ruined a wedding dress for a rather disagreeable client, it was the least she could do to continue to creep across the floors without making much of a sound. She wanted to run away crying when she made a floorboard creak. Dress now in his hands, Yukari scrutinized it for a nerve-killing moment.

"It's fine. You're just not used to the pattern so it didn't look right."

He handed it back, not looking up at her. The high schooler was too busy heaving a relieved sigh to be bothered by it. At least she hadn't ruined it! And that noisy and disagreeable customer (honestly, she wanted to pat the future husband on the back and give him her condolences) wouldn't have a single thing to complain about at the final fitting~. Well, that coupled with the awesome handbag idea she'd had when she first saw the dress design.

Looking down, Ageha was about to express her happiness and thanks, but she noticed that Yukari had already been absorbed back into his work. The dark circles that were almost ever-present under his eyes looked a little deeper, and so did the frown-lines on his forehead, and the scowl on his face. Not feeling nearly as intimidated as before (especially since she knew that she wasn't going to incur his rather violent wrath), she took a whim and left the dress on Mitsuya's desk that resided to the left wall of the room, and then trotted out to the corridor and down the hall to the kitchen. Though there were mixes for cappuccinos, various fruit juices, and Earl Grey tea (which Yukari had admitted he was rather fond of), Ageha dug out a small green-and-white box from the back of the pantry, plainly labeled as Green Tea and set some water on to boil.

A simple china cup, lined around the rim with a little bit of ivy, appeared before him without any warning. His eyes had already decided on their own to follow the hand holding it up to the slender wrist, the creamy arms, and then, to a brightly-smiling face.

"Guaranteed to blow away your fatigue, or so says Makoto-kun."

Her curly pink hair was bound up in a rather messy bun that was falling down. She'd probably hit her head while digging around in the pantry or something. And instead of waiting for him to take the cup from her, she just sat it on the desk, careful of all the mess, and proceeded to set the tray she'd brought along with her on top of his file cabinet, regardless of the carefully stacked Tower of Pisa of manila files he'd been going through.

"Thanks. I appreciate it."

"It's okay. Kuromine-san is out today, right? This is the least I can do."

In the back of his mind, the Yukari-raeg persona decided to put a nail through the Mitsu voodoo doll it kept handy.

"Is there something you needed?" When he asked, Ageha looked like she was going to crack up, but he stifled it. Suspicious.

"What're you working so hard on? You looked more worried than usual." The young man couldn't help but grimace.

"It's the accounting. Tax season's around the corner, nothing's balancing, and Mitsu's money habits are as outrageous as he is. And the economic downturn is just... upsetting a little. That's all." He was sure the scowl on his face got deeper behind the rim of his teacup, a fact that was more or less confirmed when he saw her worried face. His fingers dug into his hair again. "Don't worry too much. It's not like we're going under or anything. Because we do both custom and rental, this is a pretty stable business. It's just that Rosa will have more business than Velvet."

The reaction had been almost immediate, in fact. Within a few days of the crash, he'd had at least six cancellations of custom orders that he could think of, though all of them had simply gone to Rosa to rent a dress instead of canceling their weddings. He told Ageha as much, and she nodded solemnly.

"They don't want to cancel something as planned or as special as a wedding just because of a financial crisis like that, so usually they'll just make a few money-saving adjustments to their plans, like switching from buying a custom dress to just borrowing a rental. My dad told me that once when the market had a downturn and this happened, ten years later a lot of his customers came back, got their custom dresses, and had a sort of 're-marriage' ceremony with the dress they originally wanted as a celebration for their anniversaries. In the end, it actually brought him double the business." Ageha refilled his cup with the tea, and he noted that she'd already memorized that he took his with two cream, no sugar.

"That makes sense. Oh, I hope Hibari-chan does that someday!" Of course, now her siscon was coming into view, and there were flowers that seemed to be floating everywhere, but Yukari ignored it and drank his tea, amusing himself by watching her begin to plan her sister's second wedding. Which was still ten years away, if the precedent was anything to go by. "And Madoka-chan will be soooo adorable dressed up in a miniature pink version of her mommy's dress! And I'll make a grown-up version of the baby wedding rabbit I did for her! And, and-!"

"Ageha, they just got married in May. It's only November, and still the same year. Don't get too ahead of yourself."

"... That's true. I've got to somehow manage to get Kuromine-san and Ichihashi-san together between now and then at the least."

As Ageha grabbed an unidentified wedding dress from Mitsuya's desk and skipped off down the halls happily, her shoes somehow forgotten by the door, Yukari couldn't help but help but watch her go. He fiddled with a napkin for a minute, before walking over to the railing around the balcony, calling Ageha out of the downstairs workroom.

"Is something wrong, Arisaka-san?"

"Not really."

He tossed the napkin, twisted into the perfect likeness of a rose, down her her, and admired her blushing face for a minute.

"I hope they're not the only ones who learn they're perfect for each other between now and then."

And with that, he went back to stewing over the account books. Unknown to him, one Shiroi Ageha was downstairs steaming over how fantastic the inner circle is.

AN: Okay, first story for VBR! Does anyone besides me get a total kick out of Ageha? She's awesome. She's hilarious and she's totally not even doing it on purpose. I'm as amused by her as Yukari and Mitsuya-sama. (Yes, -sama, because I adore the Mitsu/Tsuyu pairing. I don't care who you are, they are FRIGGIN AWESOME.) Anywho, moving on. R&R peeps, because I get lonely easily. Helping to establish a small fandom isn't easy.

Next Project: Charisma Blush