"Beating them up is strange, but I'm used to it. Antagonizing them into fighting you is...not normal."
Minoru laughed. "Easy targets become boring."
"And that's fun?"
"Very. Just think of it as making certain you have a steady clientele."
"Oh lord, no. Don't even joke about that."
He was still smiling, but the humor in his eyes was fading into seriousness. "The two of you did get that straightened out?"
"Yes, but it still upsets me that he did it, even if his intentions were good."
"Have you seen White since your retreat?"
"No. I'm not sure if that gives weight to what Kota thinks of him, or to what I...think I still think of him."
"It gives weight to a thing I have decided. I will not make any more...introductions."
"Will you be terribly upset that I'm glad?"
"No. I have decided it because I thought you would be happy. And because I don't want you to think you're troublesome to me ever again." He picked up the bottle and poured a glass for her, smiling as she took it and poured for him in turn. Champagne wasn't something he had often, but dinner had turned into a celebration of her client's improvement. It could be a celebration of this, too.
It's so little effort to make her happy, and just look at her. For some reason he thought of a day when he and Ibushi had decided to take her out to lunch together to prove to her once and for all that there wasn't going to be blood spilled everywhere. She'd met them at the main offices, and at the last moment, Ibushi had decided that he should have brought flowers. He'd gone charging into the scrap of landscaping around the building, and as nothing was blooming at the time, had presented her with more or less a twig. Miranda had understood the intent, though, and had simply lit up. And I was very jealous of that smile.
Being with her sometimes felt like exploring an alien planet. He certainly didn't know anyone else like her, and he couldn't recall ever having altered his normal ways so much for anyone. He'd never wanted to. It was getting more and more difficult to ignore that it meant something important. She is your place of retreat, just as that temple she goes to is hers. It is time to do something to protect that.
"Welcome back." She was nibbling on something from her plate and watching him patiently, not distracting him from his thoughts until he was back on his own. It was something he'd liked about being around her right from the start.
"Was I gone for long?"
"No. Was it fun?"
"More educational. I see they brought dessert." Not surprisingly this time of year, it was a selection of fresh fruits, which was more indulgent than any other kind of sweet, especially at this time of year. Miranda seemed to exist at a permanent starvation level for any kind of fruit, which he thought he wouldn't have truly understood if he hadn't been to America a handful of times and been absolutely pole-axed by the variety and to his eyes impossibly low prices. He'd eaten to the point of illness on the first two trips. To have gone from that her whole life to this must be maddening for her. So he took a share - she would have been dismayed if he hadn't - but left most of it for her. His pleasure in it was seeing hers.
"I am going to be a difficult customer."
The young woman smiled as if it was an admission she heard a thousand times a day, and it couldn't possibly bother her. "This is a difficult decision, so it being complex is not unusual. What things are you certain of?"
"Only one with absolute certainty: There must be no things that were once alive or that come from living creatures. No pearls, no coral, and probably no amber. They would deeply distress her. They have death energy."
"Is she a Reiki practitioner?"
"Among other things. I think that creates the stress most of all."
The woman nodded, considering. "She may find diamonds too harsh an energy, as well."
"I have never seen her wear any. She likes blue stones, and purple ones." He'd been paying close attention to what she wore during the past two weeks, and he'd seen several of those, including on one of the very few rings he'd ever seen her wear.
"Would something non-traditional disappoint her?"
He smiled. "I think she would like it better."
He watched an answer come up in the saleswoman's eyes. "I think I have just the thing." She went into the case and took out a ring.
The moment he saw it, he knew his shopping was over far more quickly than he'd expected; Miranda would love it. It was a simple, unembellished band of white gold with two rectangular stones set in it lengthwise. The stones were lemon yellow and a color just between lavender and purple. "This is it."
The saleswoman smiled. "The stones are colored sapphires, which should be much more agreeable with her than diamonds. It is said to be a far more gentle and peaceful energy. Do you have some idea what size she will take?"
He held up his left hand. He'd made a bathroom break an excuse to go into Miranda's room, find a ring he'd seen her wearing, and put it on his own smallest finger. A line drawn with a pen around both sides, and he had a size.
"Wonderful. The design of the ring allows resizing if it needs that." She put a sizer on his finger and took down the information. "Either an eternity wedding band with rectangle-cut stones or a squared-off cut in the metal will go well with it."
"I hope to be back for those very soon."
He had something to do first; it was maybe the most emblematic thing possible of their strange relationship arrangement. "I want to show you something before I do what I plan to do with it." He took out the ring box and handed it to Suzuki.
"Good. This is good. She'll like it, too."
"I want you to know that it does not mean I will try to push you out."
"That's also good, because I would not let you." That left only one issue as far as he was concerned. "Does this mean that you have told him?"
You still won't even say his name. Not even his surname. "Yes. He is part of the reason I decided it is time now. He was very unhappy when I told him that she's afraid of him."
"I wondered if you even knew that."
Kota nodded. "He is the real reason she broke off with me, I know that. He is also the reason she has nearly done so three other times."
Minoru had only known about one of those. "It hurts her."
"I don't want it to. It doesn't have to. He is part of my life, and must always be. The same is true of her. What part they have in each other's lives is up to them."
"Even if it's none at all?"
"That would be difficult, and would make me sad, but it isn't impossible. How much different would it be from you and I and how we are in her life?"
Not very much, really. Minoru had to bite back a roar of laughter. He might have agreed not to drop any more men into Miranda's life, but Ibushi hadn't made any such agreement. She was about to be very clearly reminded of that. He thought she probably would like Omega; how much was a separate question, but she liked most people. She's fond of White; this should be nearly effortless.
"If you are here to see if I have any objections, I don't. Just be careful of how you introduce the rest of this picture to her - and of waiting to do it. Too long, and she will feel deceived. She would be within her rights to, you see?"
Kota nodded. "Why does being happy have to be so complicated? It should be simple."
"Maybe it can be. The two of you confound me daily. Why not in that way, too?"
Kota went away obviously happy, but left him in a pensive mood. This IS good, it's the right thing. But maybe I should have done it, and months ago. It was playing out the way it was, though. All he could do was watch, wait, and make sure his own interests weren't left out of the results. And just maybe Miranda's as well.