Love is Just That Way
Chapter Three: Meeting of a Billionaire
"Wow! So this is Japan! It's so cool!" Just like a tourist, Kate 'oohed' and 'aahed' everything in the vicinity. Her amethyst eyes sparkled in delight at the overpriced airport items. "Huh? Are those rice balls! RICE BALLS! I haven't had any ever since you made some for the faculty party six months ago! Let's go get some!"
The cerulean haired girl nearly dragged the jet-lagged Mimi across the entire airport in a few quick strides. Surprisingly enough, the trip had not affected her in any way except for her appetite. Mimi, on the other hand, was not as fortunate as her buddy and already turning slightly green as she paid for the snack.
Mimi had made rice balls for Kate when they had just been starting out. One, it was cheap, two, it was nutritious, barely passing the minimum of healthy, and three, it was cheap.
Kate, an absolute American at heart, was absolutely fascinated by the oriental food and somewhat reluctant to actually eat it when she came face to face with it. However, after some pressuring from Mimi, an interesting combination of both with sweet talk, and bodily harm, Kate had tried her first authentic Japanese rice ball.
Since Mimi was the one who made it, Kate loved it. So, for the past few months, it was always rice balls. Rice balls sprinkled with a little cinnamon sugar for breakfast, rice balls stuffed with the cheapest bit of beef she could find for lunch, and grilled rice balls with thinly sliced fish from their neighbor, a fish monger. The dessert was sweet rice balls with lightly toasted sesame seeds on top. Mimi was very creative when it came to making rice balls with their limited income.
After the second month of eating nothing but rice balls, Mimi had all but quit eating the little balls of rice, making them with the slightest hint of green against her cheeks. Kate, having an iron stomach, just ate it happily; always giving a thumb up as she quickly finished her share and immediately started on Mimi's share while Mimi nibbled lightly against her first one.
Thankfully, Mimi didn't have to live on rice balls for long. Sometime during their third or fourth month, Mimi by some means managed to get the attention of a fashion editor, allowing her work to be seen on one of New York's best magazines: Eighteen.
Now, Mimi barely made them anymore, if at all. They lived in New York after all, one of the most famous places to get any kind of oriental food you wanted in less then a minute's phone call, and delivered in ten minutes or less or the food was half off. Yet, to the stubborn Kate, no rice ball was like Mimi's unless it came directly from Japan.
Ordering herself overpriced water, Mimi watched as her friend wore the young girl behind the chrome counter ragged trying to get all of the rice ball selection the little mini-mart provided, which was a lot. With about fifteen different flavors of rice balls in her arms, some that included pepperoni, Mimi slapped down the money for the food. When the two young women left the stand, Kate had around fifty US dollars worth of food in her arms.
"These rice balls are absolutely delicious! Are you sure you don't want one Mimi?" Kate extended an uneaten rice ball to Mimi. "Here, this is uh…" she checked out the label, "Jalapeño flavored."
Mimi blanched. 'Dear god no…'
"No thanks Kate." Mimi gingerly moved the rice ball closer to Kate, "I already ate in the airplane. Airplane food. Yum." Mimi rubbed her stomach to show the cerulean haired girl. "Besides, all I want to do is rest."
Kate cocked her head at Mimi curiously before shrugging it off, continuing to munch on her little 'treasure' with as much gusto as before.
Mimi settled herself down near one of the cold, plastic benches that the airport provided. Laying her head back to stare at the ceiling for a moment, Mimi closed her weary brown eyes. Slowly, she evened out her breathing, trying to slowly ease the tension that had been building up around her shoulders and abdomen.
In the back of Mimi's mind, she couldn't help but be envious of Kate who was as chipper as a squirrel, already eating her twentieth rice ball. Her cheeks were inflated slightly, the other thirteen flavors already mingled in the inside of her cheeks. Two more flavors to go. Whoo.
'How this girl stays slim after eating so much, is beyond me…'
The sound of a loud gulp and her drink disappearing from her hand made Mimi look up, seeing her friend, lap covered with empty rice ball packages, and quickly draining her drink, made her blink.
"Man," Kate gasped, breathing hard as she tried to catch her breath, absently chewing the little bits of rice still somewhere in the dark recesses of her mouth. "That was good!"
Mimi slowly blinked once, twice, a third time before closing her eyes and leaning her head back once more. She was too tired to be dealing with all of this.
"Mimi! Is that you?" A loud, and extremely familiar voice echoed throughout the airport, immediately making Mimi snap open her eyes. Energy rushed throughout her body as she sat back up, eyes immediately scanning the vicinity of the owner of the voice.
"Sora?" Mimi looked frantically around for a redhaired woman. Her eyes widening at what she saw. Sora, the shy, gawky little girl she knew back in high school was no more.
There stood a beautiful, young woman that Mimi had had the delight in seeing when she skimmed the hottest Japanese magazines for inspiration and the latest trends. Sora had grown over the last several years. Her hair had remained short in an adorable bob, barely reaching her slender shoulders. Long legs were incased in a pair of form fitting jeans, Mimi immediately noticed that they were the newest ones from her line last month, and an adorable orange T-shirt that said, "Look Up" on her chest, and an arrow pointing up toward her face. Another wonderful Serenity piece. She had no jewelry except for a ring on her left hand, the diamond twinkling brightly as the sun coming from the many airport windows hit it.
Yet, with all that had changed on the outside of the young redhead, the same sparkle of warmth still resided in those striking ruby colored eyes that had first made Mimi talk to the quiet girl back in elementary school.
"I can't believe it's you Sora!" Mimi murmured softly, already feeling the searing tears starting to prick the edges of her eyes. Taking one step toward the girl, it immediately turned into a dash as she raced toward Sora. Who cared if she was wearing heals? A little public humiliation was fine if it was for a friend.
Mimicking Mimi, Sora immediately sprinted toward the brunette. She had better luck because she was wearing sneakers, but it made no different as she threw her arms around Mimi. Both crying as they gave each other a heart wrenching hug.
"It's great to see you again. You look great," Mimi whispered into her friend's ear, her voice raspy as tears continued to fall down her cheeks.
Behind them, Kate had found another rice ball and was eating it while she tearfully watched the two women finally meet each other after so many years. It was like something from the Lifetime channel back home.
"Yeah, it's been a while. You look great," Sora grinned through tears, stepping back slightly, her arms still around Mimi, to get a better look at the brunette. "You've changed also."
Mimi finally pulled away, grabbing a packet of tissue from her purse, handing a few to Sora, she took her own, wiping away the tears from her eyes, hoping that she hadn't smeared any mascara anywhere.
Someone coughed behind the two friends.
It was Kate. The girl waved happily with the rice ball-less hand, smiling brightly. In a flash she was in front of Sora, happily shaking hands with the somewhat surprised redhead.
"Hiya! MynamesKatherinebutyoucancallmeKate.ImMimisfriendandbusinessassociate," Kate said in one breath. Amazingly enough, she didn't look at all out of breath.
Sora paled, distressed at not being able to understand the American. "Um...uh..." She was at a loss for words.
Mimi sighed and shook her head, a large smile on her face. "Kate, you spoke too quickly again."
Kate cocked her head cutely to the right and gave Sora another brilliant, all American smile, "Sorry about that. Whenever I'm happy or excited I talk really fast."
She politely cleared her throat and placed a serious face on herself, making Mimi turn away, choking back her laughter. "Please, allow me to reintroduce myself. My name's Katherine, you can call me Kate. I'm a business associate of Mimi's and a friend of hers too." She bowed a little bit. "It's very nice to meet you."
"I-It's no problem. And I'm also pleased to meet a friend of Mimi's. " Sora smiled gently, leaning to the side away from Kate to see Mimi's body trembling. Kate followed Sora's inquisitive eyes, seeing Mimi nearly choke in her laughter.
Shrugging it off, Kate did the second part of her greeting. "It's so nice to meet you!" Kate hollered, enveloped an unexpected Sora into a big bear hug. "Mimi talks about you a lot! I'm so happy to finally meet you!"
Mimi turned around, managing to choke back down her laugher. She smiled at the scene before her. No matter what, Kate never changes, not in the least bit. However, to her shock, Sora was slowly turning a light shade of blue from lack of oxygen.
"Kate! Let Sora go right now!" Mimi cried, trying to separate her energetic friend from her slowly suffocating one.
"Eh?" Kate looked down to see a blue faced Sora, almost completely out of air. "Oopsie, my bad."
"I'm alright, no harm done," Sora said through large gulps of air, a comforting smile on her face. Even when near the brink of death, Sora was just too kind.
Kate, even though Sora had said she was fine, was currently crying a lake. "I'm so sorry! You could've dieeeeeeeed!"
"Kate, I think…" a thought came to Mimi when she saw a familiar, half eaten item on the bench. "Is that a rice ball over there?" Mimi pointed to the bench.
"Where!" Kate snapped out of her reverie at the sound of 'rice ball', "Where is it?"
"Here Kate," Mimi threw the half eaten rice ball into the hair. Miraculously, it evaded Kate's hungry hands however it didn't miss her jaws as Kate jumped up, catching it into her mouth.
She yipped for joy, "RICE BALL!" Forgetting about her near case of involuntary manslaughter, she ate it greedily, forgetting all about the earlier events.
Sora smiled at the scene. No wonder Mimi had warmed up to this girl. She was…lively. Looking at Mimi, the brunette was also smiling at the scene. Mimi sensed Sora's gaze at her and turned, smiling at her.
"Interesting friend," Sora said softly, chuckling lightly.
"Of course."
"Yo Sora! Where are you?"
"Eh?" Mimi looked up, seeing a somewhat familiar spiky hairdo sticking up from the crowd.
"Tai!" Sora answered back, waving her hands furiously to her fiancée. On her face was pure, open joy as she gazed happily at her the spiky haired boy. Mimi couldn't help but feel a pang of jealousy in her chest, wanting dearly to have that sort of expression on her face one day.
Tai was a good distance away, but even then Mimi could still see him very well. Well, his hair really. Tai had big hair. Although big was an understatement, it was just…BIG.
After the aftershock of his hair wore away, he was actually a very good looking as far as Mimi could tell. A slim and not overly muscled body, to her veteran eyes, he had the body of a sports player still. In the back of her mind, she could vaguely remember hearing a soccer play with the name Taichi back a couple of months back.
Tai finally caught up to the three girls, a friendly grin on his face. When face to face, Mimi realized she had to look up slightly to get a good look at him. Her head barely went over his shoulder so she had to bring her head up a few good inches to look eye to eye. She wanted to first give the man that Sora had fallen in love with a good impression of confidence. However, Mimi didn't factor in having to actually look up to talk to him like a small child looking up at an adult so her first impression in her mind's eyes went kaput.
At once, Mimi was pleasantly surprised she didn't have to be nervous in front of this man. Just by looking into his eyes, she saw that he had the warmest brown eyes she had ever seen. A kind, welcoming gentle glow in those liquid chocolate eyes that made Mimi automatically feel at ease which was a rare thing indeed for the young brunette. In the inside, Mimi glowed happily, Sora had chosen well.
Tai's smile only glowed brighter as she raised a hand in greeting at him. To her even great surprise, he not only took it, but pulled her forward into a crushing bear hug. "So this is Mimi, eh?"
He cocked his head to one side and gave Mimi an endearing boyish smile. "Nice to meet'cha. I've heard a lot about you from my beautiful Sora." He winked at the redhead, making her blush crimson. "It's good to finally meet the infamous Mimi."
A slight blush formed on Mimi's face as she slowly relaxed in his tight, but gentle embrace. It had been a while since someone had hugged her like this. Sure…there were these formal hugs where they lasted a brief two seconds, mostly publicity stunts. Yet…Tai's hugs made her feel she was actually recognized as a person rather than some thing to make a person's popularity rise.
"Yeah, nice meeting you too," Mimi replied softly, lightly pulling away, "Sora did well choosing you."
The happy-go-lucky grin faded away into a full blown embarrassed smile, his face now the color of a dark cherry. He chuckled nervously, absently rubbing the back of his head, "That's what I say, but she still denies it at times."
Sora, if possible, blushed even deeper. It didn't help when Kate elbowed her gently, a wicked sparkle in her violet eyes. "Thank you…"
To break the silence, Mimi said the first thing that popped into her mind, "He any good?"
Kate immediately turned a light shade of pink. She pounded on her chest, trying to dislodge the piece of rice ball that she had accidentally swallowed. She bowed her head, trying not to choke and laugh openly at the same time.
It took several seconds for Sora to register what Mimi was asking, but when she did, Mimi swore Sora was about to pass out with all the blood that was coming up to her cheeks. Tai had turned around, still rubbing the back of his head, but now looking down at the chrome floor tiles as if it was the most interesting thing in the world.
"I'll take that as a yes," Mimi said innocently, a pleased smirk on her face as she looked at the blushing couple squirm slightly.
"Hey Tai, Sora! Where are you two?"
A soft, but deep baritone voice made the soon to be married couple look up, a relieved look on their face as their eyes simultaneously looked for the owner of the voice.
The crowd that had pushed themselves in front of Tai when he had first appeared had dispersed. It was almost as if a king had gone through. Almost.
The crowd parted in a single, nearly straight line, most of the people who had parted was women, an ecstatic look on their faces. Good reason too as a blonde man coolly walked down the parted crowed. An uninterested look on his face, he turned back toward the crowd and nodded his thanks.
Turning back to the group, his gaze completely swept past Mimi and Kate, focusing entirely on Tai and Sora, "Did you find your friend Sora?"
Sora's smiled brightened considerably before she shoved Mimi in front of her toward the blonde. "Of course! This is Mimi Tachikawa, my old childhood friend. And this," Sora pointed to Kate, who was now patiently sitting beside Tai, who was sitting on the bench, "Is Mimi's friend Kate Simmons."
"He," Sora pointed at Matt, "Is Yamato Ishida, and an old friend of Tai's. He's going to be the best man of the wedding."
Kate looked at him with a smile on her friendly face as she got up, walking up to him boldly. His cool mask broke down when she smiled sociably at him, extending her hand politely. "Hiya! It's nice to meet you!"
Matt blinked at the hand before slowly extending his own hand. As if by slight of hand, his cool mask was replaced with a polite smile that Kate found familiar when Mimi was talking to clients was on his face.
"It's a pleasure, please call me Matt," Matt said calmly, shaking her head with the same coolness she felt radiating off of him.
She mentally shook off the feeling as she shook it his hand before quickly pulling away, scuttling back at Tai who looked at her in mild concern. She shrugged it off.
'What a weird guy…' Kate cocked her head to the side as she watched Mimi introduce herself. Somehow…she received the same vibe from him as she did when she first met Mimi…
Mimi didn't notice Kate's slight change in behavior as the girl moved back to her original sitting spot. The brunette was too concerned with what was in front of her. She was shocked to see all those women immediately move as he walked past. He was good lucking, but it wasn't like he was famous or anything…was he?
Matt blinked at Mimi, seeing not lust in her almond colored eyes, but curiosity and slightly suspicion. That was a new one to chalk up in his mental list. Shrugging it off, he extended his hand and gave her his lady-killer smile. The success rate was ninety-eight percent depending on how drunk the woman was.
"It's a pleasure to meet you Ms. Tachikawa."
"Ditto," Mimi replied back bluntly, grabbing his hand and shaking it as if she was talking to another client. She nodded her head, completely unfazed by the smile.
Success rate plummeted to ninety-seven now.
Before Matt could dwell on how his near full proof smile could have gone awry, Kate suddenly spoke up.
"Have I seen you before?"
Sora and Tai looked at each other, grinning. Answering the question for him, Tai smacked him in the back as guys usually do. "You must have seen him in a magazine cover. This is THE Yamato Ishida." He gave Matt a mocking bow. "He's one of the youngest billionaire's EVER."
"Dude..." Kate's face showed clear shock, her eyes wide as she looked up at Matt as if he had suddenly grown an extra head and it was singing "Mary Had A Little Lamb."
Mimi just looked at him with the same professional look she had given him before. She had met men like him before, and immediately swooning over a pretty face and a full wallet was something she refused to do. Matt Ishida may have been a world renowned billionaire, but she had too much pride to behave the way he expected her too.
"Oh yeah," Sora added, breaking the cool silence that had settled over the blonde and brunette. "You two will be staying at his mansion. It's way too hectic at our house right now. You too don't mind, do you?"
'So…I have seen him after all…' Mimi thought to herself mentally before speaking. "As long as we are not imposing, I don't think we would mind, do we Kate?"
"Of course not!" Kate cried enthusiastically. She couldn't wait to stay in a real life mansion. Right now she was itching for a good bed, and beds in mansions were king-sized which meant there was a slim chance of her falling off of the bed like she would with hotel beds.
"Is that your luggage?" Tai pointed at the luggage conveyer belt, seeing a few dozen feminine looking suitcases appear.
"Yup," Kate replied as she quickly dashed toward the luggage thingy where she and Mimi's suit cases were now moving. Tai, being a gentleman followed her. Sora followed Tai while Matt followed just to follow.
Mimi looked on at the group, a content smile on her face yet…her eyes slowly turned a murky brown as she look at the window a few feet away. Below were the busy streets of Tokyo. 'Please…god…don't…don't let me see him while I'm here…'
Unknown to her, a pair of emerald green eyes were watching Mimi with utter scrutiny, scanning her pristine and expensive looking clothing with unhidden greed. "You've been doing well since you've gone. Better enjoy what you got now dear. I'll make sure you come back to me Mimi, just wait and see," he murmured lowly. Lowering his slightly frayed forest green cap to cover his dirty blonde hair, the man disappeared into the crowd.
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SS: Comments are greatly appreciated! Once again, none of these characters belong to me except for Kagami and Kate.