For disclaimers, please see part one.

Author's Notes:
Wow, that was a pretty decent stretch between updates. My apologies. The reasons were a mix of writer's block, technical issues (BSOD sucks) and medical issues. Who gets silly from antibiotics, anyway? Apart from me, that is. Blah. None of those have been resolved yet, by the way. Just a warning.

Anyway, update! Thanks for waiting around for it, and enjoy.

A Million Reasons; part III

There, But For the Grace of God...

"Ojou-sama?"

The sound of her secretary's voice abruptly tore her from the information displayed on the monitor in front of her, and she blinked as she turned her gaze to the small intercom system set next to her phone, from where the voice had originated.

She exhaled and pressed a button on the device. "Yes, Yamuri-han?"

"The graduate student from Fuuka University is here."

So soon? She cast a glance at the digital clock in the lower corner of her screen, and felt one of her eyebrows arc slightly in surprise at the time displayed. Indeed, it seemed that 9 AM had rolled around quite a bit faster than she had expected.

Her eyes shifted to regard the folder still sitting neatly in her inbox.

Quite a bit faster, yes. Enough that she had yet to even open the file, and thus was sorely unprepared for the meeting.

Ara.

She contemplated pleading a lack of time for the interview at the moment, her gaze darting around the silent office as her mind worried at the problem. Certainly, it wasn't a lie. She had hundreds of files to read through, and matters that required her attention had somehow managed to pile up even though the division had been open little more than a month.

But that really wouldn't be fair to whomever was in the outside office with Yamuri-han, would it? And now would be the most opportune time to take care of the interview, rather than wait and have to set aside phone calls as well as e-mails once the office accustomed to her presence.

Besides, improvisation was something she had always excelled at.

She pressed the button again. "Ookini, Yamuri-han. Please send her in."

The handle on one of the doors was pushed downwards, and she placed her palms against the top of her desk, beginning to rise from her seat. The motion made her neck bend slightly, enough that all she initially could see of the figure entering her office was their legs.

Long, slender legs that moved with a strong, confident and yet curiously indolent stride.

Something pricked at the back of her mind, and made her pause halfway through rising. I know that walk.

The door closed with a soft snick, and she slowly lifted her head so that her eyes could see the picture that her mind had already painted. The confirmation, however, still hit her hard.

My word... she thought as she took in the sight of the young woman standing before her. She felt slightly dizzy, and only vaguely registered the thump as she fell back into her seat in a decidedly ungraceful manner. "Natsuki?"

She knew that her surprise was showing on her face as she saw a glint of humor appear in the other woman's eyes. "Hey, Shizuru. Long time no see."

"Indeed," she somehow managed to agree through the haze that had suddenly clouded her mind. Part of it stemmed from the shock of it all, she dimly recognized. While she had hoped to see Natsuki again upon her return to Fuuka, she hadn't expected her old friend to waltz back into her life so... suddenly. Unexpectedly.

Beautifully.

It was a little disconcerting, she allowed as she continued to stare unabashedly at the professional-looking woman in front of her, how it felt as if Natsuki had unerringly reclaimed her place in the executive's life just by entering the room. How gazing into those oh-so-familiar green eyes again made everything just... click. As if she'd never left in the first place.

Well, mostly. In the past it had usually been Natsuki who was the one left speechless, while Shizuru herself had been the one to just smile amusedly at whatever the situation was. Their positions were reversed at the moment, but she couldn't say that she minded all that much.

I certainly have missed that smile.

That too, had changed, she idly noted. It was more open that she remembered it, somehow. More... free, perhaps? More easily earned?

She liked that idea, and it made her smile back.

Fidgeting just slightly under the scrutiny, Natsuki raised an eyebrow and gestured to one of the available chairs in front of the desk. "Mind if I siddown?"

"Ah." A blink. "Of course. Please..." She rose from her seat and indicated the chairs in much the same way that the younger woman had done. "Forgive me. Surprise seems to have set aside my manners at the moment."

A snort at that remark, while Natsuki strode closer and seated herself. "Since when was surprise the only cause for that?" she asked as she settled her briefcase next to the chair and leaned back a little. "Your manners flew right out the window back at the Academy, too, if I remember correctly. At least where I was concerned."

Shizuru tilted her head a little as she sat back down.Confidence, her mind chittered at her. That was probably the biggest difference between the teenager she had left behind and the woman who now stood – or sat, rather – in front of her. There was a sense of comfortable self-awareness about the younger woman, a distinct kind of calm that had replaced the constant restlessness that the executive remembered so well.

She watched Natsuki fidget a little more under her steady gaze, and bit back a smile. Perhaps that restlessness isn't completely gone.

So there were still some parts of Natsuki that she knew. That was reassuring in the extreme to know. She also knew, however, that the woman sitting across from her was a stranger in many ways – an adult in her own right who had come to be that way through experiences that Shizuru herself knew very little of.

She seems happy, though, she privately considered as she watched the green eyes watch her. More whole, perhaps? "No, surprise wasn't the only cause," she then said, and let a small smile show. "Natsuki seems to simply be a bad influence on me, now as well as then."

Another snort, although this one was a bit more amused. "Idiot."

She chuckled. Ah, Natsuki... how I have missed you. Missed this. "Ara?" she said out loud, letting her eyes widen slightly while she touched a single fingertip to her cheek. "Is that any way to address the person you wish to end up working for?"

The green eyes narrowed slightly at the tease, and she swore that she could hear a soft growl issue from the younger woman's throat. "Wish nothing," Natsuki said and sat up a little straighter. "I'm here for two reasons. One, the university felt that I was the best choice for the job, and two, I wanted to see what happened to you."

She then leaned back once more and sighed, dropping her gaze to her lap. "I wanted to see what had happened to my best friend."

Shizuru looked down as well, and picked up a pen for her hands to play with. She hadn't expected that. Hadn't expected such an open display of vulnerability from someone who used to go to great lengths to hide the fact that she even had any.

Yes, Natsuki was definitely a different person in many ways.

"I told you why I left."

"Yes."

A pause. "You feel that I was wrong to do so."

Another pause, this one filled by the soft sound of cloth shifting against cloth, and she chanced a glance across the table to see her old friend fold her arms. "Actually, no. I don't."

She blinked, surprised and knocked off stride for the fourth time in as many minutes. "Excuse me?"

Natsuki's lips twitched, just a little. "I don't think you were wrong to leave," she repeated. "We both needed that... to grow up by ourselves and not live in each other's back pockets all the time. No, your plan was sound enough." She paused, and sent the executive a dry glance. "The execution of it, however, left something to be desired."

She wasn't entirely sure if the younger woman was referring to her abrupt and unannounced departure, or the fact that she hadn't attempted to stay in touch through the past seven years. Perhaps, she reasoned, it was both. She clearly had some fences to mend in that aspect, but she had at least expected that much.

"True enough," she admitted, inclining her head slightly in agreement. "But..." She paused, trying to gather her thoughts. "Natsuki is, as I said, a bad influence. Had I told you that I was leaving, or contacted you later, I would have ended up returning whether you asked me to or not."

"Hm." The younger woman seemed to digest this information. "I wouldn't have asked, you know. Not back then."

"I know."

"Now, though..."

She cleared her throat softly and waited for the green gaze to meet her own, then shook her head. "Now... you don't need to ask. I'm here to run this division, and that's not going to change in the foreseeable future."

"Uhn." A nod of apparent satisfaction. "Which brings us back to what I'm here for."

Ah, yes. "The interview." Shizuru rested her elbows on the desk and cocked her head. "Do you really wish to go through with it? I'd hire you on the spot without it, as I hope you know."

A slender, dark eyebrow quirked. "If you think I'm so dumb as to not know that, I might have to be insulted." Natsuki smiled, just a little. "But if it's all the same to you, I'd really rather get the job for being a worthy candidate, and not for being an old friend of yours."

That, the executive considered, was certainly fair enough. Any assistant of hers would be under close scrutiny for a good, long while, and Natsuki knowing that she had gotten the job for her qualifications rather than their friendship would go a long way towards making her feel comfortable, rather than conspicuous.

"Very well." She reached over and picked up the folder from earlier. "Then let us begin, shall we?" The folder was flipped open, and one particular paragraph caught her eye immediately. "Ara? Natsuki blew up a chemistry lab?"

The woman on the other side of the desk just groaned.

"Now, as to what your duties would be," Shizuru was saying some indeterminate amount of time later, as she leaned back in her seat and rested her chin on top of her loosely interlaced fingers. "I'm afraid that will vary quite a bit depending on the day of the week, phase of the moon..." Her lips quirked. "... the precipitation in Tokyo and Miami respectively, that sort of thing."

"Hm." Natsuki nodded gravely, although her eyes did carry a slight twinkle of amusement. "So you don't really know either, huh?"

"Haven't the faintest idea, no," the older woman cheerfully agreed. "This will be as much of a new experience to me as it will to Natsuki."

"Wonderful." Natsuki shifted slightly in her chair and cast a glance at the passing clouds beyond the large windows. A thought occurred to her, and she leaned slightly to one side in order to remove a folder from her briefcase.

In doing so, she ended up catching the sleeve of her blazer on the chair's armrest, and scowled at Shizuru as the older woman chuckled in amusement. "I don't suppose that this... getup... is one of those things that won't be necessary on a daily basis?"

"I'm afraid not." The executive shook her head. "Business formal is the only type of accepted clothing during normal hours. Should you be here after hours, however, you can dress as you like." A pause. "Within reason."

Natsuki glanced up as she settled the folder in her lap and fished her glasses from her check pocket. "Something tells me that there's a story behind that statement," she muttered, almost as if to herself, and settled the slim, cat's eye frames on top of the file expectantly.

Shizuru gave the spectacles a mildly curious look, but said nothing on that particular subject. "Well, one of our former department managers up in Kyoto was battling a weight problem, and had taken to working out in his office after hours." She reached out and gave her mouse a jostle to bring her screen back to life. "Which would all have been fine with the company if one of his friends hadn't told him that you lost more weight by exercising in the nude."

The younger woman blinked. Then blinked again. "Wha... buh..."

"The cleaning staff didn't appreciate walking in to see him doing aerobics in that state."

"I... I..." Natsuki ran a hand over her face and shook her head. "I guess that explains the 'former' part of the story."

"Mm hmm."

It was an outrageously absurd thought, the biker privately considered. But the mental image of the poor guy being caught with his pants so literally down was certainly amusing, and she snickered briefly. "Well, I'll make sure not to repeat his mistake."

Shizuru smirked. "Ara, ara... and here I was looking forward to playing the cleaning staff to Natsuki's manager."

Complete silence. And then, "Sh-Shizuru!"

The executive laughed. "I certainly have missed you, Natsuki." She pointed the end of a pen at the scowling woman. "It's been far too long since I last saw you turn that shade of red."

"Shut up." Natsuki scowled a little deeper, then sighed and slipped her glasses into place as she lowered her gaze to the file in her hands and willed the blood to recede from her face. "We're supposed to be professionals at the moment. Let's act like it."

The older woman sighed in a very woebegone way as she got up and stepped around the desk, perching on the edge of it just in front of her old friend. "Natsuki has no sense of humor," she remarked sadly.

Natsuki pointedly ignored the pantyhose-clad legs in front of her and kept her attention on the paper in front of her, although the words didn't seem to be making a whole lot of sense at the moment.

Then two fingers touched just below her chin, and she froze in surprise as she felt her face being gently lifted. Warily, she glanced up, and found her gaze nothing short of captured by a set of eyes the color of flawless rubies. Shizuru was studying her intently, and she could feel another blush coming on at the scrutiny. Oh, hellinahandbasket... What is it about that woman that turns me into a teenager all over again?

"Hm." Shizuru tilted her head pensively and stroked the tips of her fingers over Natsuki's chin in an almost absentminded touch. "Natsuki has acquired glasses."

The almost painful obviousness of that sentence managed to clear the biker's head, and she quirked an eyebrow in response as she pulled her face away from that uncomfortably soft hand. "How incredibly astute of you to notice," she grumbled sarcastically. "Next you'll be telling me that the sky is blue."

"Ara, if Natsuki didn't know that, then perhaps it's a good thing she's still in school," the executive teased. "And with her new glasses, she looks every bit the good little schoolgirl, too." One hand came up to ruffle the long, dark hair, even as she watched Natsuki steam. "So cute!"

And that was the straw that broke the proverbial camel's back. "Will you stop that?!" Natsuki shoved the ruffling hand away and rose to her feet with an angry snarl on her face, the folder catapulting off her lap and sending loose sheets of paper swishing through the air. "I'm not a damn kid anymore, alright?"

She glared at the older woman as Shizuru took a surprised step back. The astounded expression on the executive's face would - at one time - have made her smile, but now it just irked her, since it meant that Shizuru honestly hadn't expected her to get upset.

The papers settled on the carpeting around them, and in the sudden, loaded silence of the room, even the soft sounds of their impact seemed loud.

"Ugh, whatever." Natsuki slid off her glasses and pocketed them as she rubbed her forehead and fought down a sting of supreme disappointment. "I came here for a job interview, but obviously that's not going anywhere." She turned on her heel, snatched up her briefcase and strode off towards the door, her posture rigid and her brows lowered in a scowl. "Gimme a call when you're actually willing to go through with this."

"Natsuki..."

Another step.

"Natsuki."

Two more, and she was almost at the door.

"Kuga-han!"

She paused with one hand resting on the door handle, and turned her head. Shizuru had settled back down behind her desk, where she now gestured to one of her visitor's chairs. The one she had just vacated. "Please, have a seat."

She wanted to leave. She really, truly wanted to just open that door, walk out and slam it behind her as hard as she possibly could. Leave the building and let this damn woman deal with the fact that she was an adult now. And that she didn't appreciate being treated as some stupid, silly kid in way over her head.

But she had missed Shizuru. Damn it all to hell and back, she had missed the older woman as if it was a part of herself that had vanished. And... she chanced a looked into the crimson eyes on the other side of the desk, where she found traces of sorrow, pain and even a bit of fear. And Shizuru had missed her too, it seemed.

So what was she going to do, she wondered. Walk out that door and let those years of hoping just... go poof? Leave and lose them both what might just be the only chance they'd have at rebuilding their friendship? All because of her temper?

There probably would be an odd justification in doing that... in leaving Shizuru in much the same way that Shizuru had left her back in high school. But if life had taught her one thing, it was that two wrongs never made a right.

She brushed a sheet of paper off of the seat before sitting down and folding her arms over her chest. Shizuru looked almost pathetically relived, she noted, and for a split-second, it almost seemed as if her eyes were glistening.

Well, she thought with wry humor. There, but for the grace of God, I guess.

Natsuki crossed her legs at the knees and sent a glower across the table. "So talk."