Okay, this chapter is the continuation of that little cliffy I had on chapter four. And, as promised, this one is longer. There's also one reviewer who said something about Mimi & Matt having sex…well, all I can sayis that the rating will eventually rise as we go on further with the story. Thank you all for the reviews! lol
Kaye - about your question, it meant that Mimi's seeing it through her point of view.
Chapter Five: Maruko Iratoshi
Sheer desperation drove Mimi's reaction. It felt as though everything was zooming out of control & she had to hang on to it somehow. Her hands flew up to grab her tumbling hair & she spun around, tearing her shoulder out of Matt's grasp.
"My hat!" she shrieked at him in outraged protest.
His face was set in aggressive determination, his blue eyes blazing a mocking triumph, & he took absolutely no notice of her protest. In lightning-fast speed, he reached out & whipped off her sunglasses, leaving her face totally naked to his view. Naked & hopelessly vulnerable to positive identification.
"So!" His mouth curved into a nerve-shaking smile of sardonic satisfaction. "We meet again. Very intriguing…reincarnation."
Mimi's mind jangled over what he said. The shock of being so abruptly & effectively unveiled was still pounding through her. Her hands remained stuck in her hair. All she could do was stare hopelessly at him as he folded her sunglasses & tucked them into his shirt pocket.
"They're mine," she said, fighting to regain some control.
"Safe-keeping," he assured her & in another startling action, strode right pass Mimi heading towards the door which he not only closed but also guarded, preventing her from escaping. "As well as safe from any interruptions," he added.
Like a powerful magnet, Mimi gazed after him, standing half-turned & watching him, totally mesmerized by what he intended to do next. Her hear was beating so fast she felt like it will explode. Slowly, her hands slid from her hair & her arms dropped limply to her sides, defeated in their quest to ward off the moment that had come, regardless of her efforts to stop it. Her hat was forgotten. Yamato Ishida dominated her entire consciousness.
"From heavenly fairy princess…to dark lady of vengeance," he commented with a wry smile. "Do you enjoy playing mind games?"
The question jolted her mind back into some semblance of working order. "You weren't supposed to recognize me."
His eyebrows lifted challengingly. "So you wanted the upper hand of checking me out while I was under fire from the lovely Katya."
"Something like that," she admitted.
"My relationship with Katya was on the rocks before the party. Neither of us were happy with each other."
"Then why are you still together?"
"The party was planned some time ago. It seemed…" he shrugged, "very ungracious to take back the invitation." His eyes glittered with a surge of desire that encompassed Mimi. "Though I've regretted that mistake ever since," he softly drawled, raising goose bumps on her skin.
"You didn't care about her feelings," Mimi shot back in wild defense, remembering the seven-year-old memory of how he didn't care about her feelings, either. He thanked her for the twenty-first birthday gift she gave him, then put it aside. But when the sexy bimbo with the sports car gave him the same gift…which was a lot of money…he wore it for everyone to see whose offering he prized more.
"Some feelings can override others," he answered.
Yes, like feelings below the belt. Nothing to do with his heart, Mimi thought, fighting to retain some sensible perspective on her experience of his actions.
"They can even reach past superficial disguise," he went on, stepping away from the door & walking towards her, instantly raising the tension & enveloping her as he continued talking to her. "There I was, looking at the broken wings & suddenly I FELT your presence in this office."
He couldn't, Mimi fiercely reasoned, not wanting to believe it. Probably a desire to transfer a lingering fantasy into substance.
"My head actually started tingling," he said, closing the distance between then at a slow pace.
Mimi felt her own head starting to tingle with the intensity of feeling he was projecting at her. Had she done that to him while she stood looking at him, recalling how it felt when he kissed her?
"An extraordinary sensation," he continued. "Like a shower of magic setting off waves of intense awareness."
Her stomach flipped, whether in panic fear or some treacherous excitement she had no idea, but she was certainly experiencing intense awareness now as he came closer & closer. It didn't occur to her to move backwards. Her whole concentration was wrapped up in watching him. She even forgot to breath when he pointed at her clothes.
"When I turned around to find a stranger in black, I thought all my instincts were out of it." He stopped barely an arm's length away & his eyes mocked her belief in being unrecognizable. "Then you spoke…and the voice was unmistakable."
Her breath whooshed out on a gust of anger. If that was true, how come he didn't recognize it as Mimi Tachikawa's voice when she sung on Saturday night? Hadn't he even bothered to listen to her all those years that her family mingled with his? Or maybe he had a short…a very short…memory span. Either way, Mimi seethed over his recognition.
"Angry that your deception didn't turn out the way it should be?"
"I don't believe you. Why remove my hat if you were so sure?"
"To stop you from leaving."
"And my sunglasses?"
"I hate talking to people who hide their thoughts behind dark glasses. In short, I wanted to see your eyes."
"You had no right."
"You walked in here to get at me. You weren't asked to do this job. You chose it because it involves me. I think that gives me the right to ask why…& see the answer in your eyes."
Mimi didn't want to answer him.
"You can't keep away?" he asked softly, seductively.
"Yes, I can," she retorted, resenting his power to attract even against her will. "This was business. Why should I refuse a job because you're in it? You have no power over my life, Matt Ishida."
His eyes flashed a sharp challenge. "Then it won't matter if you give me your name."
"I've given you what I've been paid to give you. You have no right to know more," she argued.
"You weren't paid to respond to my kiss as you did," he shot at her with blazing conviction. "And yes, Katya did ruin the situation, but don't tell me it was only business that brought you here today. You thought it was a safe way to see…to know…if what you felt then could be felt again."
Her heart felt like it was being squeezed. She did want him…had always wanted him…but how could she feel this turbulent desire for a man who broke her heart many years ago? Her gaze flicked to the broken fairy wings.
"I wanted to fix them for you," he murmured.
At least that one's more easily fixed than a broken heart, she thought savagely, returning her gaze to his, her inner agitations increasing at the raw flare of need & want she saw. Did HE have a heart to break?
"Why?" she choked out.
"Because they were part of the magic that happened between us. It was perfect, & to have anything belonging to you, or that moment of us coming together, leaving it broken feels wrong.
He certainly hadn't felt that way seven years ago, Mimi told herself, but somehow the reminder was losing its power to armor her against the feelings he stirred. It was different now. He cared now, or was it her own need to believe he did?
He reached out & gently stroked her cheek. "It was real…what we felt was real. It's real not, too. Which proves it wasn't just fantasy."
Her skin heated & tingled under his touch. For the life of her she couldn't move. With feather-light fingertips he seemed to be infiltrating her blood-stream, making her pulse beat faster & faster. His voice was drumming through her brain & heart, setting off echoes she couldn't stop.
"And it wasn't one-sided. You kissed me back. You were WITH me."
With him…with him…with him…
The yearning welled up in her like an unstoppable tidal wave. The sexy bimbo with the sports car was sucked away. So was the black-haired witch, Katya. This was HER time with Matt…the man she loved, hated & dreamt about. Why not have it? Why not?
His fingers drifted into her hair. His head bent, his mouth coming closer & closer to hers. Her whole body craved the kiss that was coming, everything within her poised to match it with that one previous, sensational experience. Would it be the same? Would it be more?
His lips touched hers. She closed her eyes, her entire being focused entirely on the soft sensuality of this initial pressure, an intensely erotic caress, lips sliding over hers, exploring, tasting.
Her tentative assault on his mouth triggered a more aggressive possession of her own & Mimi was instantly caught up in a passionate entanglement that was certainly not the fluffy stuff of dreams. The wild explosion of sensation was like a cascade of firework overtaken by more & more fantastic effects.
She loved it, exulted in it. Her arms curled around his neck, wanting to hold him close, hot & hard & male, pressing the unmistakable strength of his desire for her, man & woman surging towards intimacy that demanded urgent fulfillment & everything within her craving it, sizzling with need.
"Matt!"
The call of his name was like a whip-crack, slicing through their private togetherness, yet they were so deeply immersed in each other that neither wanted to stop.
"Matt! Have you completely lost your mind?" came the harsh exasperated demand.
Matt's slowly expelled breath tingled over her lips as he interrupted their kiss to growl, "Get out, Tai."
"Oh, great! I bring Sora Takenouchi along to check you out personally, & the fairy princess is already history."
Sora? Mimi's eyes flew open. Her sluggish brain snapped to red alert. Sora could mess up everything!
"Mimi!"
Shock of horror from Sora, her mouth was gaping as she released the fatal name that could link to a memory Mimi couldn't bear to have raised in Matt Ishida's mind. Mimi Tachikawa…the pink quid girl…it would ruin what they shared now. Totally ruin it. Panic welled up in Mimi as she stared at her friend who was standing beside Tai Kamiya. How could she stop any further revelation?
"It IS her!" Tai agreed in surprise, taking in the long maple-brown hair wearing a very dark outfit. "What with the clothes?"
"The Sweetest Revenge came in from the with who broke my wings," Mimi gave Sora a meaningful look, hoping to shut her up. "I had to come…"
"Business." Sora caught on, collecting herself enough to glare disapprovingly at Matt. "And HE assaulted you again."
"It looked mutual to me," Tai declared, giving Sora a disapproving look. "Trying to make more damages, eh? She was certainly not fighting, not the slightest sing of struggle. In fact…"
"Do you mind?" Matt cut in. "This is my private office."
"Which happens to be for work, Matt," Tai pointed out. "Remember work? That's what we're here for, aren't we?"
"And I see the delivery has been made," Sora said, expressing equal disapproval of the current use of Matt's office. "Come on, Mimi. You're leaving with me."
"Mimi…" Matt's soft whisper of her name squeezed her heart. She couldn't let him remember her.
"It's Sora's nickname for me," she blurted out.
Matt focused entirely on Mimi, his vivid blue eyes eloquently pleading the cause of a here-and-now involvement in which he wanted to stretch beyond this moment. To her intense relief, there was no flash of memory clouding that desire, nothing but the need to know, to reach out & hold on.
"So what is your real name?" he asked.
Her mind turned, looking for an answer. Her grandmother's name was Maruko, that should be easy to remember.
"Maruko," she replied, but what about her last name? Tachikawa was a dead giveaway. "Iratoshi," she added, using her mother's maiden surname. "Maruko Iratoshi."
He smiled both encouragement & satisfaction in her telling it to him. "So now we're properly introduced." And his voice was like warm velvet, caressing her.
"Right!" Tai snapped. "Not that that's settled…"
"Shut up, Tai. I have more to settle." Matt's expression changed to one of powerful intent as he looked at his partner & Sora beside him. "If you'd be so kind as to leave us alone for a few minutes…"
"Fine!" Tai agreed on a huff.
"I'll wait outside," Sora instructed, giving Mimi a look that asked if she had a hole in her head.
And Mimi briefly wondered if she did as they left, closing the door behind them. Then Matt was turning back to her, lifting the arm he freed, tenderly stroking her cheek & her hair, his eyes telling her how very gorgeous he found the woman she was now.
"Meet me after work. We'll have dinner together. Is that possible?"
"Where?"
"Where do you live?"
That was tricky with Sora all too ready to ran off. If she was to keep her identity a secret, best to keep Matt away from their apartment downtown.
"I'll meet you in the city," she said, showing a reservation about accepting too much too fast.
He didn't argue. "Whatever you wish. Do you know the restaurant, Kimono, near the bay?"
"I'll find it."
"Seven o'clock?"
"Yes."
"You wont disappear on me again?"
"I'll meet you for dinner."
No promises beyond that, Mimi told herself. She may be mad, but she could allow this much time with Matt, just to see if…
"I'll look forward to it," he said, a happy grin spreading across his handsome face as he released her & withdrew her sunglasses from his shirt pocket. "No more disguises?"
Mimi flushed, the deception she was determinedly playing was very high on her awareness scale. "It was my job," she excused.
"I'd like to hear more about that tonight." He gave her the glasses then stepped away to scoop up her hat from the floor. "Sorry about this but I had to take it off," he said smiling a rueful apology as he handed it back to her. "Your hair is too beautiful to hide."
She was hiding much more than her hair, Mimi thought, as she put the hat on. This was a game…a dangerous game…of hide-and-seek. If and when she was caught…would she know how to handle it by then?
"Thank you," she said. "I must go now. Sora's waiting."
"Is she your boss?"
"More like a business partner," Mimi answered evasively.
He didn't pursue the point. "Until tonight then," he said, ushering her out the door.
Just before Mimi made her exit, her gaze flicked to the broken fairy wings, propped against the file cabinet.
Were they both living a fantasy?
She paused in the open doorway to take on last look at him & was instantly swamped by the sexual awareness he generated. His eyes blazed with wanting that had nothing to do with fantasy, and her whole body sizzled with a response that was very very real.
"Tonight," he repeated.
She nodded & left, unable to think, just feeling…feeling what Yamato Ishida did to her…not wanting to let it go.
AN: Phew! Thank god that was done! It took a very long time for me to finish this one. Anyways, Matt & Mimi's first date? What do you think will happen? Will she ditch him? Find out soon!
And don't forget to give your reviews!