If it's for her own happiness, then I don't mind being trampled on. I will be a rabbit and she will be a lion, so that she may devour me in order for her to survive. I will be the glass to contain her, the wine. I will be the vase for her flowers, and the stems to give her water to continue living. If only I was like a vase or a flower, and not have to feel this pain inside.
"Hey, honey! How were the sweets? Did you save any for me?" Masane asked as she heard the click that the automatic door always made when about to slide open. The ever-stoic Reiji Takayama walked in, not really paying any mind to Masane, and said to her,
"I hope you weren't referring to me, sweetie." A frustrated expression was on Masane face as she hit the recliner chair with her fists.
"Of course not you — !" she started. Rihoko bounded into the room wearing a joyful expression and skipped to her mother. "Rihoko! How are you kiddo? How were the sweets? Did you save me any? 'Cause this bum didn't." she asked her, finishing her last sentence in a whisper.
Rihoko nodded cheerfully and replied, "Yep! Me and Mr. Takayama brought some back to our room!" She leaned closer to her mother and put her hand between her mouth and Masane's ear. "But, to tell you the truth, I don't think he really wanted to. Maybe he thinks they'll make you fat?" she said, trying to whisper. Takayama and Segawa were discussing something at the time but the older man of thirty-four turned around to declare,
"I heard that! And I didn't want to bring the rest of the desserts to your room because we weren't supposed to eat all of the samples!" Masane retorted and this sort of playful teasing and arguing continued for another minute or so, all the while with Rihoko and Segawa looking at the bickering two and occasionally each other with bored expressions on their faces. The 'argument' concluded with Masane storming out the room, dragging Rihoko (who waved good-bye to the two men) with her, saying that they were about to devour the rest of the food. Reiji was left grumbling to himself and rubbing his forehead with his muscular palm.
"I can talk to the cook and kitchen staff later, if you like sir. I'll explain to them what happened, more or less." Segawa offered. Takayama nodded.
"I trust that you will make it believable, Segawa." he commented. By this, he meant that if the young man said what was actually the truth or a story that would make the company Takayama at fault for the loss of all the samples, then a bill would be charged to Takayama, personally. The party that would take place the next day was in celebration of the a very successful business deal where it was originally thought that Douji Group Industries could ever take on and make.
"Yes, sir." replied Segawa. He gave a short bow to the Director and began to walk out of the room with his clipboard in his hand. Upon thinking of the details of the ball, Reiji suddenly remembered something.
"By the way, Segawa," he said to his assistant.
"Yes, sir?"
"You wouldn't happen to know if Masane has a dress picked out for tomorrow, would you?" Takayama asked, he was already rubbing his temple with his forefingers, doubting that the woman even owned such a thing. Segawa raised his eyebrows and pushed up his glasses. Light from the setting sun reflected from his glasses, making his eyes unclear, although it could be guessed what his expression was.
"…I don't believe so, sir, would you like me to order one for her?" he enquired. Takayama shook his head. He walked towards the door, Segawa opened it for him and the two exited.
"That won't do. She'll have to try on some herself. And, knowing that woman, she might choose something inappropriate for such an event and so we will attend with her." Reiji Takayama stated. They were approaching the room occupied by the two Amaha. The door was unlocked, as predicted by the two men, Takayama knocked twice, turned the knob of the door, and opened it, followed by the form of Masane falling backwards from the bed a few feet from the door.
Hiroki's eyes looked up in surprise to see her falling. He was about to make a move to catch her, or at least cushion her fall, but all that resulted was his clipboard being gripped tightly by his hands. Reiji had already stepped forth and caught her. A glint of light from his glasses hid the emotion of one of his eyes, but luckily for him no one was paying attention to him.
Takayama helped Masane back to her feet. "Just what in the world were you doing?" he asked her, wiping a smear of yellow icing from his hand on a handkerchief handed to him by his assistant. She turned around and laughed as she scratched the back of her head with her hand.
"We were jumping on the beds and eating those yummy cakes!" she said, she gave him a cheesy smile, hoping to calm his annoyance of her. Rihoko leaped impressively from her bed to the bed closest to the three.
"No, you were jumping and eating the cake! I was just jumping!" the girl chided.
"Oh, you know that's what I meant Riko!" There seemed to be some smeared icing of several colors on Masane's top, and crumbs of the sweets scattered all over the bed, around it, and where Takayama had caught her. The older man straightened his tie
"Right…well, clean yourself up Masane. It's doubtful that you have an appropriate dress for the ball tomorrow so we are going…," Takayama stated, he then sighed, "dress shopping…" Masane's eyes went wide and her jaw practically dropped. She turned to Rihoko, grabbed her hands, and cried,
"We're going dress shopping!!!" In the background of the two females' whoops and cheers, Segawa was calling the service to send up some attendants to clean up the room. Takayama cleared his throat amidst the celebration to say that they would be leaving in five minutes and so had better hurry up. Rihoko Amaha jumped off the bed and alighted to the floor and dragged her mother to the bathroom.
"C'mon mommy! We're going shopping!" she yelled. They heard a faucet turn on and water run and the clatter of clothes-hangers banging against each other.
"Director," Segawa said, "Is it okay for the girl to come along? I don't believe that children are prohibited but—."
"No, it's fine. She could actually be beneficial to us. I heard that Masaya Wado will be attending the party, and if we're in the company of a child like Rihoko then he may be a bit more pleasant towards us." Takayama said to him.
Segawa nodded and flipped out his cell-phone. "Understood, I will request a children's tailor for the boutique we are going to." he said as he dialed in some numbers. Only seconds after Reiji and Segawa were exiting the room did the two girls madly dash out of the bathroom.
"Sorry we took so long!" Masane said loudly. Her outfit looked just as it had only three minutes before, but it was likely that she had a closet full of the exact same shirts, jeans, and jackets. Segawa checked his wristwatch.
"It's only been three minutes." he said with a laugh."Let's get going!" Reiji gruffly said, power-walking out the door. Masane looked angry and stormed after him yelling,
"Wait up ya big gorilla!" She continued to yell at him in the way she did when aggravated and talking, although her words were indefinable from where Segawa and the girl were. Segawa sighed and fixed the temples of his glasses. He looked down to Rihoko.
"Well, miss Rihoko, we had better get going!" he said to her with a smile. She nodded enthusiastically.
"Yep!" she skipped ahead of him and he locked the door behind them. A minute later they filed into the car chauffeured by Segawa himself and they drove off to the expensive store where they would buy the dresses and other things. Four women greeted them at the door of the boutique. All but one were around in their late twenties, the other one being in her late thirties or early forties; two escorted Rihoko to one area of the room and two escorted Masane, Takayama, and Segawa to the other side.
"So, Miss Rihoko, how old are you?" asked the older of the ladies. She had dyed brown hair with many noticeable streaks of platinum blonde pulled tightly against her scalp into a strange bun with three ornate black and green chopsticks sticking out of it. Rihoko put on a forced smile and replied cheerfully,
"I am six years old!"
"Oh, that's nice dear!" the lady replied as she and the other woman continued making measurements of her. The other woman had orange hair in soft waves down to her shoulders with some pleasant blue eye-shadow on. She said to Rihoko,
"Forgive us, Miss Rihoko, we aren't very used to fitting children so this may take a little while longer than your mother." Rihoko beamed. Finally, she was being spoken to like an adult!
"Oh, that's fine!" she said.
Meanwhile… Masane Amaha was being fitted into several dresses that weren't even suitable for the ball. Such as a maid dress, a fan-service-like cat-costume, a Lolita-style dress, and a tiger-print dress. All of which Reiji and Segawa had to put their hands to their foreheads, in embarrassment and/or disapproval, and shake their heads. She was put into some undesirable frumpy gowns, and cocktail dresses, as well as leather outfits and sailor-fuku.
"Do I look pretty Mr. Segawa?" Rihoko asked in the utmost seriousness. She approached him from the side of the sofa that he sat on. She wore a light-pink dress with thick straps and sheer almost-white pink silk sleeves that fell just off her shoulders. The dress had an off-white sash around her waist with a bow in the back as the dress fell to her knees, billowing out from her waist. She had on white tights and white shoes with a small heel to it. Segawa smiled at her. He straightened the pink clip with a sakura blossom on it in her hair and said to her,
"You look very pretty Rihoko, like the refined young lady you are." She beamed and thanked him. The older attendant lady called out to Rihoko for some final tailoring, and Rihoko went over to her and the young woman, some confidence was noticeable in her expression and stride.
At long last after so many unsuccessful outfits, Masane Amaha exited the dressing room once more. Reiji and Segawa looked up in awe. Although barefoot, the dress of ivory was stunning on her. Hugging tightly her body until her knees, the dress had a slit that parted from just above between her knees and growing wider with the silk feathered and waved at the edges. Thin straps held the torso-area of her dress together near the tops of her breasts, a collar of sheer light-pink fabric made an open collar that followed along the insides of the dress' in the same wavering way as the bottom of the dress was made. The back of the dress' top revealed her back to below her shoulder blades, this area to the top of the neck being covered in that same sheer-light pink fabric. Silk white gloves with loose wavy edges came a few inches above her elbows. From her ear were long diamond-shaped pearl earrings and in her still somewhat messy hair was a large pale lavender fake flower.
"Well, what do you think?" she grumbled. Her legs were spread and her fists rested on her hips in a way very unfashionable for a lady.
"Whoa…" was all Hiroki could manage to whisper. Takayama gazed still in awe. One of the beauticians came from the dressing room and said to the men and woman that the tailoring was finished. She handed Masane a pair of white shoes with thin heels of about an inch and walked away. Masane grumbled and put on the shoes. She walked towards them and down the few steps leading to their sofa complaining,
"I don't see why the hell I have to go—!" Her ankle suddenly moved awkwardly, being in heels and all, and she stumbled down the last two steps, and tripped towards Segawa who was sitting in the sofa before her. The young man grabbed a pillow next to him and put it before him to cushion where she would fall.
"Aahhhh!" Masane screamed as she fell forward and into the poor man, her ribcage being cushioned by the pillow, although the rest of her torso landing more or less on Segawa. Perhaps it was by luck, but Masane's body was tilted to the right of his, and so blocking the view from Takayama of Segawa's blushing face as Masane's breasts pressed against his chin and cheek, her right hand grasping the fabric of his suit on his chest.
The slightest touch of her already made him feel like his sorrows had been washed away, even if for a short while, and a new warmth envelope him, but this new encounter with Masane Amaha was completely unpredictable. He could feel the warmth of her body pressing against him, he could hear the beating of their hearts surging simultaneously, the feeling of her cheek against his temple, and the smell of her hair. Hiroki almost wanted to embrace her at this moment. Almost.
"Mom? What are you doing?" Rihoko asked, for she had popped up to Segawa's side at this moment. All was done with Rihoko's tailoring and she was now back in her normal attire. He heard Masane growl. She tightened her grip on his jacket and pushed herself off from him. From years of training, Segawa's blush had disappeared by now as he re-set his glasses as they had become crooked from her fall.
"Hey, honey! How do you like my dress?" Masane asked, disregarding her daughter's question.
"You look beautiful mommy! And you'll get to see my dress tomorrow!" exclaimed Rihoko. Masane said that she couldn't wait and the two laughed and talked about silly things that they would (not) do at the party the next day.
Hiroki gazed endearingly at Masane, his heart still fluttering from their sudden encounter. He turned his head around to look at Takayama. Their eyes locked, Reiji's grey ones and Segawa's brown eyes. The lingering look in Segawa's eyes quickly faded away and he began writing the checks for the clothes.
Thank you so much, Rpgingmaster and AP-Rhapsody, really, for reviewing chapter one. It's been so long since I've last had a review of any of my stories, so they always really make me feel nice inside, like the feeling of being acknowledged. It was for you two that I decided to write chapter two so soon, so thank you.
It was on the day that I finished chapter one that I as feeling weird because of my on unrequited love, but not in the past two days, so I apologize if this chapter does not match up to the emotional content and/or degree that the first chapter may have held.
Reviews are always appreciated, regardless of how critical, short, or flame-ey.
