AUTHOR'S NOTES: Hello, everyone! Hope you had a nice week. I had a very unproductive one since I didn't write anything but classes are starting once again and well, I'll just have to find the time, huh? Here's the chapter you've been waiting for (or so I think XD). Will Natsuki have the guts to ask Shizuru about... you-know-what? Read and find out. And don't forget to review when you're done. ;P

Chapter IX: Dinning With Ms. Fujino

"Here." Shizuru handed me the menu. "They have a very good steak but that's only my suggestion, choose what you want." she smiled charmingly.

"Steak you said? It's good enough for me." I laid down the menu, I was finally starting to relax but it may have been the wine my friend had ordered.

"Hi, Wagner! How are you?" she greeted the waiter, a young blonde fellow, thin, with green eyes and… and…

"I'm great, Ms. Fujino, and, as usual, so are you!" Shizuru giggled. "Still not up for some coffee at my place?"

"Sorry, but you haven't been my type for quite sometime now, Wagner."

"Oh, well, I understand. So, what would you girls like?"

"Two steaks, please."

"Always the best for our best customer." and with that Wagner left us.

"He's something, isn't he?" Shizuru turned back to me chuckling.

"Shizuru, ahn…" I leaned closer to her. "He has breasts!"

"Natsuki," I could see she was making a great effort not to laugh and I can only imagine how I looked at that moment. "Wagner's a transsexual, the only surgery he's still missing is the mastectomy but when I met him he was still a woman called Wanda."

"That explains a lot." I smiled at the opportunity that was presented to me. "I think it's nice that people are different from each other, imagine how boring the world would be if we were all the same."

"You sound like my primary teacher… 'Differences are a funny part of life' she used to say." she smiled absentmindedly and nodded to Wagner when he left our plates. "Let's make a toast."

"A toast?"

"Yes, to our bright futures." she lifted her cup in front of our eyes.

"Or so we hope." I chuckled, touching my cup to hers and then taking a sip.

"Hum… Mine's great." she said after the first forkful.

"It's as good as you said."

"I'm glad, after all, I chose the restaurant."

"I'll let you do so more often." she chuckled, it made me happy we had managed to create such a comfortable, easy atmosphere. "Ah, Shizuru, there's something I've been meaning to ask you."

"Ask me? Well, go on."

"It's just that, doing what you do… I heard some rumors and I wanted to be sure I wouldn't screw up when I answered these people."

"I know what you want to ask me." she looked seriously at me. "And I have been expecting you to since the day we first rode to Mr. Osgood's place."

"Then why didn't you just tell me? These doubts have been consuming me!"

"I didn't wanna destroy our friendship and, since you didn't ask I thought you had already gotten to your own conclusions."

"So you…"

"Yes, I am. And I'm trusting you with that information, it could mean the end of my career if it escaped to the press."

"Don't worry, I'll keep it with me and it won't change our friendship in any way." I don't know why but I reached for her hand, it was cold.

"Thanks." she whispered.

"Just another question…" I smiled apologetically and she chuckled motioning me on.

"Did you and Wagner…? You know…"

"Yes, when he was still she but it was a one night thing." she shook her head, a playful smile at her lips and I laughed at how weird they looked together in my mind, if I had known better at the time I would have noticed a touch of jealousy in my voice as well.

"Does Mary know?" I asked remembering the governess' words during my first day in my new house. 'She's just very… awkward sometimes, her habits and personal life', and personal life.

"Of course she's heard the rumors and I'm sure she suspects but I've never admitted anything." she cut her steak. "Why? Did she tell you something?"

"She implied there was something horrible about you, but that was right after I moved in." I thought Shizuru would be upset, angry even but she only smiled in wonder.

"She can't say much about me for her daughter's a homo too."

"She mentioned she had a daughter but I could never have guessed…"

"She's a tomboy, her name's Elizabeth, she's a few years older than us but she looks younger." my friend chuckled at the memories.

"Mary said she was about thirty."

"Yes, that's how old she must be now, she was twenty eight last time she visited."

"You had an affair with her too?"

"No, she was dating a French model when she came." her wine colored eyes captured my green ones. "But it does sound like you're jealous, Natsuki-chan." her tone was teasing and I could feel my face burning to the roots of my hair.

"Me? Jealous? What are you talking about?"

"I'm just kidding." she said apologetically.

"I forget this playful side of yours sometimes, Shizuru." I managed a nervous laugh, something had struck me at that moment… Could I really be… Jealous? I didn't remember being jealous of anyone before… How could I suddenly… and jealous of Shizuru of all people! I refused to accept such an illogical idea.

"Should we order the dessert?" her change of subject was more than welcome.

"Yes, any suggestion?"

The rest of our dinner was uneventful, Wagner flirted again with Shizuru as we asked for our desserts and my friend, answering to a request of mine, described how the Osgoods' trial had been, she even commented about the expression of Mr. Osgood's ex-wife and the witnesses' as questions were asked, and finished telling me just how happy her client and his partner had been at the results.

"That's what makes my work worth it." that quote of hers made me smile, how beautiful her heart was no one, except me, would ever know.

It was the first night in weeks that I slept with an easy mind, despite the jealousy matter, which I accepted to be only Shizuru's teasing personality, and the pacing I was getting so used to that I barely heard anymore. I dreamed though and it was a very disturbing dream…

We were still in the restaurant but there was no one else, only the two of us. Shizuru was drinking tea and I was reading the newspaper as if we were in our living room. An article about chemicals caught my attention and I was so distracted as I read it that I didn't see my friend leave her seat and walk over to me, she may even have teleported, I couldn't know. All I know is that, suddenly, she was behind my chair, leaning over me, her mouth almost touching my ear.

"Na-tsu-ki…" she whispered slowly and I shivered. "I want you…"

"Sh-Shizuru!" I got up almost knocking down my chair and the table, her smile only widened and her arms enlaced my waist pulling me to her, chest against chest. "You want me too, I know… Don't be afraid to admit it."

"Let me go…" I whispered, it was as if I had lost all strength, I was melting in her arms, I was enjoying the feeling of her body against mine.

I woke panting, my skin sticky with sweat, I pushed the covers aside, the cold night air making me shiver, and ran to the bathroom for a shower. What was going on with me?