The Shocking Truth

Kamiko glared at the tanned amazon woman with sparkling green eyes and spiky lemon yellow hair. She noted that the scantily clad woman was holding Renji's hand. There was something surprisingly familiar about her.

"Harri?" she murmured, narrowing her eyes as if to see her more clearly. The woman faintly resembled a college friend. But that was so many years ago.

"Kami!" the woman squealed, rushing down the stairs to her.

The standoff taking place on the staircase had garnered the attention of the hosts and their guests. When the impulsive loud outburst occurred they thought for sure a fight was about to ensue. All eyes were about to witness the scandalous event that would soon take place.

"Shit!" Shuhei repeated with a little more oomph this time when the big blond snatched Kamiko from his arms.

"H-H-Harribel!" the shocked woman managed to stutter right before the blond woman claimed her mouth for a passionate kiss.

"Holy hell," Renji muttered behind them as the kiss continued.

"Oh, damn," Shuhei gasped having a literal front row seat to the action. He could have reached out and touched the women – and man, did he want to!

By this time the men had forgotten all about their guests because they were far too interested in their Lady Boss and her… girlfriend? The clients were in awe themselves; some curious, some disgusted, and all wondering exactly what kind of services this place offered.

"Harri!" Kamiko squeaked, staring at the woman that she had not seen in many years.

"Oh, Kami! I've missed you so much. You've got a fabulous boyfriend here! He's so sweet and he loves you so much!" she exclaimed, continuing on extolling Renji's fascinating attributes.

Kamiko could not hear her because she was too busy dying of embarrassment. This unexpected appearance of a blast from the past that would bring up so many questions was an unwelcome intrusion into her already mixed up life.

"Okay, Miko. Are you ready to hear that 'excuse'?" Renji asked mischievously, looking at his dark haired, red faced girlfriend with a self-satisfied expression on his face. "One day about two weeks ago, I answered the phone at home, and it was this lovely lady calling. She explained that she was a friend of yours from your university days and wanted to come see you. We've been planning this surprise visit for you. Now, my love, it's your turn to explain."

"Harribel and I were close friends many years ago," she responded, purposely being vague.

"I can see that. Just how close?" he asked with a libidinous smile on his face. He was enjoying this and she could only imagine what was going through his or any of the rest of their heads. The silence in the place was deafening as they all waited with baited breath to hear the answer.

"Um, well, uh…you see, damn, uh, Harribel was a social experiment you could say," she said, wincing from her friend's scathing glower.

"Social experiment?" the blond snapped with apparent indignation. "If you call the best two years of our lives a social experiment so be it, Kami. You still know how to hurt my feelings after all these years."

"Two years?" Renji and Shuhei repeated in tandem.

"Shut up, you guys!" Kamiko snapped. "We had a relationship then decided it was not right for us. But we stayed friends," she explained, feeling as if her head might burst into flames at any moment because she kept getting hotter and hotter from her ever deepening blush. She pondered if it was a clinical possbility to die from embarrassment.

"Seeing you now, I wonder why I ever went back to men," Harribel said, reaching out to run her fingers through her friend's hair before giving her more kiss on the lips.

Kamiko could practically hear the drool puddling on the floor from all the men. Damn.

"Oh, sweetheart, I think the three of us have a lot to talk about," Renji chuckled, turning to walk back into the office.

"He's right, we do! I've missed you so much," Harribel stated with overzealous enthusiasm as she grabbed her friend by the arm to pull her up the stairs.

Skeletons have a way of popping out of the closet at some of the most inconvenient times. Here was hers standing in front her: tanned, blond, and beautiful. Her friend had become a model effectively rendering all that time and money spent at university completely useless. At least Kamiko used her business management degree virtually every day. It had been boring and arduous but she made it through and here she is. Harribel hugged her and kissed her again much to Renji's great delight. Kamiko would bet a ton of cash she would be getting sex a hell of a lot more often after this visit.

They talked about their college days: pranks they pulled, classes they struggled with, parties they went to, and professors they had crushes on. Kamiko had four more exceedingly interesting professors to introduce to Harribel. She avoided the subject of their relationship while Renji and her friend 'Harri' continued to constantly gravitate back to it. It was college for god's sake. A time for experimenting and trying new things. It's the period in one's life when they figure out who they are and what they want out of life. Or so Kamiko thought. She had it all figured out back then. She knew all the answers and her future was solid. What the hell happened?

"So what was it like when she –" Renji was abruptly cut off by Kamiko rising and announcing she was going downstairs.

Kamiko needed a drink, the alcoholic chocolates, something to cope with overwhelming awkwardness. She sat down on the barstool and she instantly had the rapt attention of her two gorgeous bartenders.

"Don't!" she exclaimed, holding up her hand to halt them. "Don't start asking questions or I'll fire you."

"Dammit," they grumbled.

Kensei loaded a tray with champagne, glasses, and a few of the chocolates to carry the order to a host and his guest. Since he could not ask questions, he might as well get back to work.

"You're just full of surprises aren't you? I never would have thought you had a girlfriend," Shuhei murmured, pouring her a glass of white wine.

"I never would have thought you were so stupid. I said no questions," she muttered, forcing herself to delicately sip the wine.

"The question was rhetorical and the last one was a statement," he pointed out. "Want me to bring something upstairs for all of you?"

"Yes, please. I'll have the rest of this bottle of wine and you can pick out whatever for them," she said, leaning over the bar to steal one of the strawberry daiquiri dark chocolates.

"Hey! Stop that you thief," he snapped, attempting to slap her hand.

"I can't steal what I bought," she reminded him.

"Hmmm…I suppose you're right. I know one thing you stole that you shouldn't have."

"Oh, yeah? What's that?"

"My heart," he said with a smile.

"Oh, you are a clever one. Don't worry, sweetie. You'll have your turn to charm some rich woman out of her money," she told him.

"And her panties?" he queried raising an eyebrow.

"Whatever you do on your own time is your business. Not here in the club," she stated quite seriously receiving a dumbfounded look from him.

"So there is a way to get away with it?"

"There's always a loophole. My ex-husband taught me that. Read the contract carefully. It states 'on the premises during working hours sex with clients is strictly prohibited.' However, it also states that you cannot become the exclusive 'property' of one guest. No girlfriends and no stalkers. Those will get you fired too as a disruption to your job," she explained. It was amazing how the words rolled so easily off her tongue.

"I think you missed your true calling. You should have been a lawyer." Shuhei grabbed the tray he had prepared from them and headed up the stairs with her following behind him. When he entered the room, he halted so swiftly he almost dumped the tray. He saw his other boss sitting there with his tongue down the throat of the busty blond 'friend' of his Lady Boss.

"Shuhei, what – " The words died in her mouth when she saw what he was looking at. Kamiko suddenly recalled why she had parted ways with Harribel and had not attempted to contact her in all these years. It is sometimes strange what the mind is capable of forgetting. She wished she had remembered that Harri had made it a habit of stealing boyfriends right out from under her nose.

Kamiko gathered herself, setting her emotions aside like her ex-husband had taught her. There was business to attend to and no time for emotions. Although he was a complete asshole, she had learned some valuable lessons from Byakuya. She walked over to the lip locked couple who had not noticed her yet. Grabbing Renji by the top of his ear and twisting it, she smiled when he broke the kiss by howling in pain. After letting him go, her attention was on Harribel who was grinning in a smug, self-satisfied manner at her.

"You haven't changed at all, have you?" Kamiko inquired, shaking her head in disappointment and disapproval. "Oh, except for the massive amount of plastic surgery that gave you those ginormous hooters. All that dental surgery to fix your fucked up teeth must have cost you thousands."

It was Kamiko's turn to smile as the smirk fell right off the model's face. She seized Harribel by the three random braids that hung down her back and used them as a means to steer her from the room. Once again all eyes were on them as she dragged the woman down the stairs while the humiliated and angry blond cursed and screamed. At the bottom of the stairs, she flung the woman who was a foot taller than her forward. She watched as Harribel stumbled and fell to her knees in her tiny almost nonexistent skirt.

"Kensei!" Kamiko bellowed, glaring at Harribel who was giving her an equally deadly stare.

"Yes, ma'am," he responded barely keeping the smile from his face. His feisty Lady Boss never ceased to entertain him. He would do anything to be near her just to see what she would get into next. He loved his job.

"Please, take this trash out. It's starting to stink up the place," she snarled, baring her teeth at the woman who was now on her feet.

"You hateful little bitch!" Harribel screamed, rushing toward her only to be caught by Kensei in a bear hug. "I did it to get you back! I wanted to hurt you as much as you hurt me! How could love them more than you loved me? You're a heartless, cold …" Her voice disappeared when Kensei disappeard out of the front door with her slung over his shoulder.

"You really know how to win friends and influence people don't you?" Renji asked, standing behind her. "Has anyone ever fallen in love with you that didn't become your enemy and hate your guts?"

"I don't know, Renji," Kamiko said, turning to look up at his face. "You tell me."

"Would you like to talk about this? See if we can work things out?" he queried, holding out his hand for her.

"Sure," she answered, taking his hand. "Do you remember what I said to you when our relationship first started? The proposition I made to you?"

Renji struggled to remember but it seemed so long and he could not recall her words. Apparently he had not taken her words seriously enough to even commit them to memory much less heed them. He thought he would handle things differently, his own way, and she would come around to his way of thinking. He was beginning to see his part in the disintegration of the relationship.

"Our relationship was supposed to be another business deal for me. No emotions involved," she remind him once they were in the office. "I told you I wasn't ready, but you didn't listen."

No, he had not. Renji thought it would be so easy to get her to fall in love with him and they would be happy and have the perfect relationship.

"Okay with that being said," she paused, sitting down beside him. She traced his lips with her finger. "Let's discuss that kiss, shall we?"