Disclaimer: I don't own anything. If I did, I'd have Shizuma wrapped in a Christmas bow and beneath my tree. Since I don't, I'll sit here and cry.

Author's note: Here you guys go. This explains much, though it's unbeta'd for grammar. Sorry it took so long, my sister's baby decided to be born, and for which I was at the hospital with her for a few days. So now I am a aunt to a 7lb, 2oz girl named Lacey. This took me a while to write, but I wanted it done by Christmas as a gift to you guys.

Together Again:
Chapter Five
Her Baka


It was rare to be summoned away from home to another country. It was even more rare - to Shizuma - to be summoned by a grandmother who barely knew her name. She did not know why she was summoned. In fact, she did not know anything about the woman, only the rumors she had heard from both of her parents. Despite the random rarity, however, Shizuma's curiosity was piqued to say the least. She had no idea what this woman wanted, yet through the elegant handwriting, Shizuma was able to determine that the matter was very urgent.

A frown soon twisted across the former-Etoile's face. 'Oh my, that won't do,' Shizuma thought to herself as she scanned over the letter's entails. Apparently a plane ticket had been sent for a single passenger to Paris, France. Though it was not the trip that made her frown, it was the time listed onto the ticket, which was scheduled for the next day at eight-thirty in the morning. 'Nagisa is expecting me. I can't possibly make this trip.'

"Oh no, Shizuma," the voice of her mother said behind her, recognizing the look upon her daughter's face instantly. "You are going and that's final. Mama did not just send that ticket just to be ignored."

"Mama," Shizuma turned and pouted. "You know I can't be there that quick."

"You will, daughter," Shizuma's mother corrected. "I will see to it personally. Now go pack your belongings. We've no time to waste."

Shizuma cringed at the tone her mother had used with her. Stern and unbending. It was a tone which Shizuma knew left room for no arguments. It was simple. She would go and she would hope to God, that Nagisa would forgive her for this.

***

"You went to Paris?" asked Nagisa with a tone of disbelief. Her auburn eyes were plastered onto the silver-haired beauty who sat across from her. After eating her breakfast, Nagisa had been ushered into quickly dressing by a teasing Shizuma. Needless to say, Nagisa was not very happy once she had finally managed to get the casually designed dress onto her body. No, she was left more frustrated than ever, due to Shizuma's "accidental" touches.

The two of them were now seated across from one another onto a luxurious patio. As if made to reflect Shizuma's tastes in life, the patio displayed a touch of elegance and a touch of charm, while seeming softened by unique floral arrangements. 'I wonder if she made them herself?' Nagisa thought while glancing towards a vase of flowers which sat within the center of a glass patio table.

As soon as the redhead was completely dressed, she was ushered down stairs and out the door by an impatient silver-haired beauty, which did nothing but further Nagisa's frustration and irritation. Granted, she wanted to know herself, but what was the big deal? Why the rush?

Nagisa sighed inwardly, as her russet colored eyes lifted to glance at the goddess who sat across from her. Surprise quickly overwhelmed Nagisa as she caught Shizuma's cheeks stained with a faint blush. 'My! She's blushing!' mentally exclaimed the redhead who had caught the rare sight, yet outwardly she couldn't help but stare at those reddened cheeks, which seemed to grow redder as soon as Shizuma realized that she had been caught. 'Score,' cheered Nagisa's mind, as she fought to suppress her mirth. Nagisa didn't fully succeed in this and a soft snicker escaped her lips, leaving Shizuma to glower at her and grumble.

"Yes, Paris." answered Shizuma, after finishing her grumblings.

"I'm failing to see why it was important for the secrecy," Nagisa replied with a touch of sarcasm leaking into her voice. Previously, she had expected Shizuma to explain why she had kept it secret, however all she got was a vague answer. 'Stubborn woman.'

Shizuma merely smirked at Nagisa before voicing her reply, "Maybe it was because my grandmere requested it to be a secret, ne?"

A coppery eyebrow was hitched against Nagisa's forehead, "You are being very vague."

"You have no taste for suspense do you?" Shizuma retorted, still wearing her smug smirk.

"Not today," the redhead answered honestly. "I fear you've already drained all the patience I have left."

Shizuma's audacity was piqued then, as she threw a flirtatious wink at Nagisa and gave the redhead a charming smile.

'Baka!'

***

The plane trip was mostly uneventful for the annoyed Hanazono Shizuma. She was booked, first-class, on a passenger flight which lasted eighteen long hours. For Shizuma, that was eighteen hours too long for her not to be close to Nagisa, yet the closer she got to her destination, she couldn't help her curiosity from becoming more piqued. 'What does grandmere want of me?' Shizuma had found herself thinking on the plane. 'Does she want me to marry a potential suitor?' A grimace carved it's way onto Shizuma's face, as soon as the thought came to mind. 'No, they should know by now that I'd never accept.'

It wasn't long before Shizuma's mind drifted back to the descriptions of her grandmother. Claire dePayens was a sophisticated woman, known for her prowless in business, however her rashful behavior was even more outrageous than Shizuma's. Claire was once a woman of instinct and impulse. She lived her life by the moment rather than the years - or at least that is what Shizuma had heard from her mother. Claire was also well-known for her taste in lovers, although Shizuma's mother never detailed on this, Shizuma suspected that they were quite numerous. 'Lustful much, grandmere?' Shizuma thought to herself while containing a snicker.

When the plane had landed, Shizuma was met at the airport by a strapping young man. Dressed in a solid black business suit, the man made Shizuma think of the American Secret Service. At first she didn't see him, yet he made a point to let her know that he was there for her. He did this by gently grabbing her wrist and once Shizuma had noticed him, he gave a slight nod. With his other hand, he gestured for her to follow him. No words were spoken between the two, yet they both understood that he was to take her to her grandmother.

A ride in a limousine was provided for Shizuma. Her driver was the darkly clothed man, who had met her at the airport. Throughout the ride home he remained silent, which did not bother Shizuma at all. She was unaccustomed to dealing to men anyways. The ride was pleasant enough, yet Shizuma couldn't help but to want to stay in Paris for a bit longer, not just to see the sights, but to call Nagisa and see if her beloved could join her. If it was needed, Shizuma would buy the ticket and then meet her girlfriend at the airport.

The trip in the limousine took nearly eight hours in order for them to reach their destination, yet Shizuma did not know where she was. Occasionally, she would find herself dozing off and waking to glance at the markers on the side of the road, yet they did not give any indication as to where she was, leaving her to entertain herself by the romance novel she had brought from home. It wasn't until they reached Vierzon, that Shizuma finally managed to clue together where she was. In fact, it was there that they took a side road into the countryside of France.

From there, they then turned into a large and paved driveway which lead them back to her grandmother's mansion. 'Well, finally!' Shizuma thought to herself, as she closed the book she was reading and waited for the car to stop. When her eyes caught sight of Claire dePayen's mansion, it took all she had not to grin at the sight, for it expressed - or at least Shizuma felt it did - the lifestyle which Claire dePayens lived. Ancient Greek statues lined the drive way, with a variety of nude figures ranging from Achilles to Venus. Where as most of the driveway was black, the section near the house was paved from solid white cobblestone. The mansion itself was made from white brick and concrete, though it's design was a combination of Victorian age architecture and that of Grecian architecture. In fact, when Shizuma first saw the front of the mansion, the first thing that came to mind was the Pantheon in Athens, Greece.

'She certainly has a taste in exotics and beauty,' Shizuma thought to herself, as she felt the car coming to a complete halt. It wasn't long before the "secret service man" stepped out of the car and opened the door for her, while extending a hand in to the car for her to grasp for support. Taking the additional support to lift herself out of the seat of the car, Shizuma soon found herself smiling as she caught sight of a beautiful rose garden. 'Nagisa, I wish you could see this,' The silver-haired beauty ended up thinking as she moved towards the entrance of the beautiful mansion.

"Good god!" A woman's voice called out from behind the doorway, sounding quite impatient. "Jeff, did she get here?"

***

"Nagisa, would you stop that?" Shizuma finally asked, staring at the redhead before her with an annoyed look. "You're not getting it back right now, so just sit still."

"The hell I will," Nagisa retorted, while folding her arms over her chest. "That's mine, Shizuma. I have the right to have my phone back."

"You did have the right, but you abused it," Shizuma stated evenly, looking too smug for Nagisa's liking.

A gritted growl came from Nagisa's lips, as she glanced off to the side. She would prefer to look at anything other than the silver-haired goddess who sat before her. "For the love of god, Shizuma, I just want to check my messages!"

"You'll just have to wait and be good, ne?" Shizuma murmured softly, watching the redhead with interest.

"Bite me!" Nagisa retorted angrily.

"Where at and how hard, dearest?" teased the silver-haired woman in a purr, making the redhead's cheeks flame with color.

Another growl came from the redhead then, making Shizuma grin. 'If Nagisa wants the phone, she'll just have to be patient,' Shizuma thought to herself. 'Or be nice and ask for it...'

It took a moment or two before the redhead to calm down, but even more time for her to decide to make conversation with the platinum-haired woman. "So why were you summoned?"

"Would you believe me if I told you, that she wanted me to start taking over the company?" Shizuma murmured, making the redhead chuckle.

"I would believe it, just is, you didn't need to be secretive about that," Nagisa replied smirking slightly.

"Actually, it was," Shizuma responded leaning her elbow onto the table and propping her head upon her hand. "You see, my grandmother decided to train me for this secretly. She was quite determined to see that the transferring of 'leadership' went smoothly. Granted, I could tell my family and very close friends about it, but nevertheless, I was not allowed to broadcast it."

"Wait, you were able to tell people who were close to you?" asked a dumbfounded Nagisa.

"Yes," Shizuma answered weakly, while thinking to herself: 'Oh my, she looks like she's going to blow chunks all over the place.'

"Yet you did not tell me?"

"...Yes."

"For the love of god, why the hell not!" Nagisa then demanded, her face turning red - not from embarrassment, but from anger.

"Would you believe I was making a surprise for you?" Shizuma asked carefully.

"What kind of surprise takes that long, Shizuma?" said the redhead while studying the woman across from her.

"Oh, one which would allow you to live in France when you were done with school," Shizuma said with a smile.

"What?"

"While I was training under my grandmother," Shizuma started, suppressing the urge to giggle at Nagisa's blank stare. "I took the liberty of having a home built for the two of us."

"Wait, what?" Nagisa responded. "Oh good grief, I don't even want to understand, but let me say this... You Hanazono Shizuma have got to be lacking intelligence somewhere, for you to keep a secret like that for so long, and allowing it to split us up."

"I know," Shizuma murmured and then smiled weakly. "I wanted you to be pleased and had hoped that this would spill over. However the merge of company leadership had stopped me from returning to Japan for quite sometime."

A sigh came from the redhead then, followed by a shake of the head. 'All this time... and she was really trying to do something for me. The baka,.' Nagisa thought to herself, managing to stifle a giggle which she wanted to release. 'I love that baka.'

"Do you forgive me?" Shizuma finally asked.

"Can I have my cellphone back?" asked Nagisa in return.

"We seem to have circular conversations these days," Shizuma stated with a smirk. "No."

"Baka!"

***

Nanto Yaya was very annoyed. No, not annoyed but pissed. Antoinette had managed to call her, scaring her half to death and then asking the stupidest of things. 'Who was Hanazono Shizuma?' Even though Antoinette had transferred to Astraea Hill after Shizuma had graduated, that was no reason for Antoinette not to know who she was. Even more so, there was no reason for the flirt to scare the life of her. Fortunately, Yaya was able to end the call without raising a single point in her blood pressure. In fact, she sent the curious girl after Tamao for information. 'She's up to something,' Yaya's mind thought, however all thoughts ceased when she felt a pair of lips and a warm tongue licking and kissing her neck.

Omake:
Antoinette:-dressed as Rudolph with antlers and bells-
Shizuma: -dressed as Misses Claus-
Rhythia: -dressed like an elf-
Antoinette: Why am I the only reindeer?
Rhythia & Shizuma: We're acting out the Grinch.

Author's footnote: Review please and tell me if anything is wrong! I hope you guys will enjoy it, and I'll try to have another chapter up soon.