Ok, I know I should be working in my crossover, but this idea just popped and I wanted to take a chance and see if it was worth something. As to my crossover, I'm stuck at the damn party and school isn't helping, so as soon as I can I'll post it, 'kay?

A stitch at a time

It was the beginning of another court year, that implied lots of paperwork, all the law firms in the country would be nuts. Everyone would be returning from vacations, organizing information and paper stacked over their desks. But nothing like this was happening in a certain office on the 25th floor, where the law firm Haijime & Seijuro and associates was located. In that office, even though the desk was stacked with papers, the owner of that same office was pacing around. He was very tall, with dark black hair, that covered his amazing ice blue eyes and looked very soft to the touch. His thin lips were set in a frown and his nicely shaped eyebrows were matching them. He wore a black suit, with a long jacket, and a dark gray tie.

He was interrupted by a woman that entered his office, with a thigh skirt and a matching shirt.

"What is it, Sunihi?" He asked his secretary.

"Well, Shinomori-san, I've your appointments for today. After lunch, you've a phone conference with the defense lawyer from the Kay versus Isao case. After that, you have to confirm if you'll go to tomorrow lunch with Cotterell, depending on Soujiro's response. Then, you have a meeting with your tailor."

Aoshi nodded and Sunihi left, leaving him alone again. Summing it all up, he had a phone call with the lawyer from hell, who talked and talked, had a preview for a lunch the day after, which he could only hope Soujiro with get him of, and a small light at the end of the day, when his tailor would tell him funny stories while showing him his new stuff.

Not that Aoshi liked it better during vacations. He actually didn't have then, since he kept on working on his processes. He hardly felt like it would do him any good to go to a foreign country, to a sunny beach and fry himself alive and, worse of all, do all that alone. Aoshi liked solitude, he really did, but he was starting to feel the cold and lonely apartment at the end of the day. So, now that everyone had returned with lots of stories to tell, that he really didn't mind not listening to, he felt like HE deserved those vacations.

Trying to get all those melodramatic thoughts out of his logic brain, Aoshi sat in his leather chair and called his secretary to phone that damned defense lawyer. The irritating man's voice entered his brain at 20 km per hour and left at 80. He kept on instilling about his clients innocence. While the man talked and talked, his cell phone rang. Aoshi grabbed his phone, ran out of the office and picked up the call on the corridor.

"Hai?"

"Shinomori-San? This is Omasu, from Nenji's, to check if you are coming today."

"Hai, I am."

"Alright, then. See you later." And then she hang up and Aoshi returned to his office, where the other lawyer was still talking. It was amazing how a single person can do a monologue and mistake it with a dialogue. Five minutes more and Aoshi would be ready to jump out the window. Thankfully, Soujiro, a college of his, entered.

"Look, Aoshi," he whispered " I won't be able to make it tomorrow, so you'll have to go. I'm sorry man." Aoshi nodded. "I'll give Sunihi the papers."

Just great! He was going to listen to that ape talking on the other side of the line for hours, with his mind set on the prospect of a lunch in an Argentinean restaurant, with large steaks and boring business men, that wouldn't talk business but women, cars, vacations and other idiotic stuff. Aoshi couldn't do much more than sunk in his chair and wish that the other guy would have a heart attack or something.

"… my client didn't know he was using her money! It's his accountant fault, not his. He had the right to use the money in his account for his beach house…"

Jesus fucking Christ! Did that man really believe in what he was saying or had he written the speech before?


Misao couldn't believe it. A house of her own! She never thought that her grandfather would allow her to live alone, let alone give her a house! Sure, she had lived two and a half years in Italy, away from him, but she lived with two girls, not alone. Maybe he had considered that working five hours at the clothes shop with him was enough for a twenty-two year old, soon to be twenty-three.

Misao looked around herself. Jiya had gotten her a loft. It had a medium bedroom, a living room, which she planned on using for a studio, a small kitchen, connected to the living room, and a bathroom, which Jiya had rebuilt and had placed a large Jacuzzi, she intended on using two times in her life. Her Jiya was mad! When she had asked him about the Jacuzzi, he had said something about making a great place for smooching. Silly man!

Misao carried her last suitcase to her new room. She had arrived that morning from Italy, where she had been attending classes on fashion, which was her job. Her room had been decorated with a blue motto, her double bed had dark blue silk sheets, her window curtains were also blue and she even had long, blue bed curtains.

Misao's new dresser wasn't big enough for her seven suitcases packed with clothes. Most of them were her own creations during classes, that she intended on putting for sale at her Jiya's shop. Well, they'd have to be the best, considering Jiya's shop was a very well known shop, all over the country, with very expensive clothes. Actually he had already opened another two shops, one in Kyoto and another in Osaka.

"So, I'll unpack two or three cases and then I'll go greet everyone at Nenji's. If I'm not to tired, I'll even start working today." Misao planned. Actually unpacking wasn't all that easy, considering she didn't have the space to put her stuff. She would have to buy another dresser, with a good set of drawers. After two hours she had just unpacked her essential and private things, her drawing material and some clothes, when the phone rang.

"Yes?"

"Misao? It's Soujiro. I called your grandfather and he gave me this number. So, you've come back for this, ne?"

"Hi, Soujiro! Yes, I think this time I'll stay for a while. You know, help out." Answered Misao. Soujiro had been her boyfriend when she had received the scholarship to go abroad and they had tried a long distance relationship, but Misao got word of him going out with other women and they had broke up. Actually, they had had a really bad fight over the phone, but they ended up staying in connection with one another. They were friends no, that's all.

"So you want to have lunch with me tomorrow? I have a thing set, but I can pass it on to another guy." They were friends, weren't they? Misao stopped unpacking and looked herself in the mirror. He wouldn't try and renew their relationship, now that she was back inside the country borders, would he?

"Ah… I don't know. You got that thing and I…"

"Oh, but I have another guy who can do it for me. Come on!" Well, what did she have to lose?

"Alright. Tomorrow you can pick me up at Nenji's, at about 1 p.m., okay?"

"Great! See you then."

When he hang up, she wasn't so sure she had done the right thing. He had cheated on her! Apparently, to him, there was nothing more fun than dating an arts student. She could actually see him bragging about the weird girl he had been dating and now she was going to lunch with him? Well, one thing he hadn't managed was to get her in his bed. He had tried numerous times, telling her they had to move on with their relationship and even when she told him she was a virgin he had continued. She had had small, inconsequent flames with three or four Italians, her friends tried to set her up with, but she was a twenty-two year old woman and still a virgin. Not that she mind it much, but she had been nursing the thought that she was ready to have a serious relationship with a mature man, that would make her develop and feel good about herself. Well, she wasn't all desperate after a man! She just stood waiting for the love of her life to get her and carry her to the sunset!

So, tell me what you think, ok? Some reviews would be nice! JA!

MaRiAnA