Author's note: I haven't written any fanfiction in quite sometime, so please excuse anyone being OOC. Also, this is set in the present, so I guess I can blame any quirks on reincarnation. I know it's short, it's supposed to be, I just wanted to write something and this just kind of spilled out. Also, in case you couldn't tell, the setting is at a mixer of sorts hosted by the company Tasuki works for.

Warnings: Some Tasuki swearing, yaoi, hint of lime.

Pairing: TasNuri

Our eyes met from across the room, his and mine. His were like two champagne-colored diamonds flecked with grains of lavender and rose. Mine were brown. Not chocolate, not golden, just brown.

I was staring. I was watching the way the light glinted off his hair, making a halo around the crown of his head. I followed the long ponytail hanging over his shoulder, brushing lightly against the immaculate black fabric of his tuxedo. I let my gaze slip down slender legs concealed by carefully pressed pants to the shiny, un-scuffed tips of his black shoes.

When I looked up next, he was looking back at me. He caught me staring. I looked away sheepishly, cursing under my breath. When I finally got the courage to glance up again, to see if he was still looking at me, he was gone. My mouth fell open, forming the words of a silent complaint.

"Having a nice night?" a silky voice asked in my ear. I jumped, spilling some of my drink. I turned around and the jewel-eyed stranger was there behind me. He was looking at me curiously.

My cheeks felt flushed and hot. "Uh... yeah." Aren't I fucking articulate?

The fey man smiled, the corners of his eyes crinkling and drawing my attention to the little mole under his left eye.

"I didn't mean to stare or anythin'," I mumbled. "I just thought I'd seen you before or somethin'." Which wasn't true. The man standing next to me did seem kind of familiar, I knew I would have remembered seeing someone who looked like him.

He was still smiling. "It's not a problem. I'm used to people staring at me - usually because they're trying to figure out whether I'm a man or a woman." He cocked his head to the side. "You didn't have that problem, now did you?" His gemstone eyes glittered playfully.

I felt the flush return to my cheeks. "Of course not. I could tell you were a guy." And I stared anyway, the voice inside my head added. I ignored it. "I've never seen you at one of these mixers before. Do you work here?"

He shook his head. "No, I'm here with my sister. She didn't have a date and didn't want to come alone." He indicated a girl on the dance floor. Her hair was long and curled, and she shared her brother's eyes. She was dancing with a young man and seemed pretty smitten.

"Oh, she's one of the interns, isn't she?" I asked, watching the pair dance. "I think you've been replaced as her date."

He smiled wryly. "Kourin never has had any trouble meeting boyfriends. It's enough to make a guy jealous."

He waited for that bit of information to sink in, watching me to gauge my reaction.

I averted my gaze. "Uh, yeah, lucky her," I murmured, letting him come to his own conclusions. He just kept smiling, looking up at me through a curtain of thick black lashes. I nervously fingered the buttons on my suit jacket. "So... d'ya wanna dance?" I managed.

He lit up the room with the look he gave me.

We danced cheek-to-cheek for most of the evening, stopping only to grab a drink from the bar (a beer for me, something red and fruity for him). At one point his sister tapped him on the shoulder, said goodnight, and left with along with her young man.

When we finally stumbled out of the door as the party was ending, a light rain had started to fall. His hair started to curl a little bit in the humidity, mine clung to my forehead in limp tendrils. I swore to myself, amazed that anyone could be so sloshed, sweaty, and damp, yet still be the most beautiful man I'd ever seen. The alcohol brought a pink glow to his smooth cheeks, and the carefully-arranged ponytail had been tied up in a hasty bun.

We hailed a taxi, and I gave the driver the address of my apartment building. When we arrived, we hurried through the door and into the elevator, hands and lips seeking contact, a few soggy shirt buttons impatiently undone. We got to my floor both slowly and not slow enough.

I fumbled with my key, trying to simultaneously focus on the lock and the hot, wet mouth on my throat. Finally I heard the lock click and turned the knob, and I'm not sure if I made that noise or if it was the door groaning open.

We fell upon the bed, hair and clothing disheveled, our breath coming in gasps.

It sounds so fucking cliche, but that was the most passionate sex I've ever had in my life. It wasn't until after we had finished that I realized I didn't even know my lover's name. We fell asleep holding each other. His thin arms were wrapped tightly around me, my hands tangled in his hair.

When I woke up the next morning, he was gone. Instead of his head resting on the pillow next to mine, there was an envelope. I reached for it, tearing it open and extracting the folded letter tucked inside.

It read: "Dearest Tasuki,

You're not going to understand this, but I have to tell you anyway. We've both lived our lives many times over, and I've loved you in some way or another in all of them. I didn't leave you because I don't love you, or because I don't think that you could love me. I left you because I'm still scared of hurting you. Maybe I'm just not ready to finally be happy, or maybe I'm afraid of losing you. I'll keep trying, though, and we'll be together someday.

Until then,

Nuriko."

And that's when I remembered where I'd seen him before.

Owari