AN: Awe… I read my reviews again and just felt so happy that I was motivated to write another chapter! There's a little angst in the beginning, but then it's more love and fluff and love that's not so fluff. We'll just see how it goes.

R+R PLEASE!

For a moment I thought that nothing had changed between us. Shizuru was teasing me with no end in sight, but then she got my phone. I tried to stop her, but she read it anyway. I knew, even without looking, that she had found the poem. It was the equivalent of a guide to my feelings for the past year.

Shizuru handed me back my phone, never turning to look at me. "I'm sorry, Shizuru. I didn't really know what I was doing when I wrote that one. I hate it, actually."

"No, no, no…" she said in a voice that shook. "Don't be sorry. That's too much…"

"Shizuru…" I could sense that impending doom. It felt just like that night when she told me how she felt. I could practically see that look of horror on her face as I pushed her away. It sent a wave of dread through me that nearly stopped my heart as I waited for some sort of response, some explanation.

"How could I do that to you?" she asked of no one in particular. "All those years I claimed that I loved you. I did so many terrible things in the name of love and when you finally felt something, I ran away. How can you stand to be in the same room with me after all that?"

I grabbed Shizuru by the shoulders, holding her close. "I told you," I said with as much conviction as I could put in my words. "I love you. Nothing else matters now because we're together."

"It can't be that simple though." she protested. "I don't want you to have to forget an entire year for my sake. You shouldn't have to do these things for someone as meaningless as me."

At this I pulled back, staring at her. Shizuru wouldn't meet my gaze, her wine-colored eyes filling with tears. I could see it in her gaze. She honestly believed that she wasn't worth the time of day. Down to the very source of all those teasing remarks and heart-attack-inducing smiles she thought I could and should just move on.

"If you were meaningless, I wouldn't have ever picked up a pen." I stated, firmly. "If you were forgettable, I would be lying dead in some ditch by now. I can't move on because you're the only really good thing that's ever happened to me. I'm here now because I want to be. It's not out of pity or some source of responsibility or whatever else you think it might be. I'm here because you make me happy and no matter how hard I tried when you first left, I couldn't get you out of my damn head."

"Natsuki…"

"Shizuru, I love you. I don't want to forget you, ever. You mean so much to me. If you hadn't left, I would have never truly realized how important you really are." I continued, getting sort of lost in my own daring speech. "I'll admit that it was hard. I didn't know what happened to you or what I did to make you hate me, but now I don't care anymore. Just as long as I can have you, I'll forget everything. I'll leave my whole life behind if I can just be with you. So don't you dare think you're meaningless or forgettable, because I can't live without you."

Shizuru just nodded, seemingly unable to speak. I wiped the tears from her eyes, kissing her. Her lips were warm and sweet as my fingers slid into her hair. I inhaled the sweet scent of her skin and thought that it had to be more addictive than any drug, more potent than any other aroma. My free hand came around her back, pulling her closer. The temperature in the room seemed to increase with every second that passed and yet I only wanted to get closer.

She pulled back for a gasp of air. "You're too kind to me…" she whispered, her arms coming around my neck.

I pushed her down onto the couch, bent over her. "It's isn't kindness when I'm taking what I want."

The night's entertainment was filled with stifled moans and heavy breathing. It all seemed to be a blur and yet painfully clear as I selfishly took in all of Shizuru. Urgency was mixed with passion and the combination exploded through the room. Emotions were laid bare as everything not pertaining to this aching need disappeared in my mind.

We somehow made it to Shizuru's room and fell onto the bed. Our lips parted again and mine fell to her neck, leaving a trail of kisses from the base of her jaw down to her shoulder. My hand slid up her waist, slipping beneath the fabric of her shirt.

I paused only once to look down into those crimson eyes. The emotions in them now matched my own, but I wanted to make sure she was okay with this. I wasn't going to make her do anything she didn't want to do. I would wait until the end of time if that's how long it took. None of that mattered if she was happy.

But now her hands tangled in my hair, pulling me down until our lips met again. And with that the night continued.

POV of a curious co-worker

"Kirihara," I looked up from my desk to see Mina standing in the door with a look of genuine horror. "We think a body-snatcher took Shizuru."

"What are you talking about?" I asked, walked out to look at the main office.

"Mine, she's coming through the door!" Hiburagi called.

"You guys should have seen her going through security." Derricks even looked surprised at this point and my curiosity was peaked. I looked up at the entrance and the blonde in question appeared. Shockingly enough, she was smiling and was glued to the tablet she had been given her first day – the one she never touched.

Shizuru sat down at her desk and we all took the opportunity to surround her. She turned to face us in her chair, a cup of green tea in her hand. "What's up?" she inquired.

"Is that a Kyoto-ben accent?" Hiburagi inquired.

"Indeed," she replied, taking a sip of her tea. The face she had while she was doing it was so alien that I almost believed them about the body-snatcher. During the entire time she had worked with us, I hadn't once seen any sort of look of enjoyment on her face. I had simply thought that she was incapable of feeling joy.

We all watched in fascination as Shizuru went about her day. Even Haguro noticed that she was off. There was definitely something wrong, we decided. That girl must have died. Shizuru must have had a nervous breakdown. Now we were all just waiting for her to start stabbing us with those knives that she never seemed to run out of. It wouldn't be long now.

There was a loud thud and I was certain it had finally happened. I turned to see who she had stabbed first, but instead is was Hiburagi searching through her tablet, scrolling through the files. "Keep a lookout for me." he said, searching the history. "She's good. She's already deleted the history."

"This wasn't part of our profile. She would have snapped by now if that kid died, right?" Derricks asked, looking around.

"Ara, ara, what is everyone doing around my desk?" We all felt a chill at that tone of voice. It was still sweet, but held a very evil and dangerous undertone. It was the fastest I had ever seen anyone clear a desk.

This kid was terrifying.

"How are you today, Shizuru?" Mina asked, keeping a wary distance from her best friend.

"I'm fine. You're not, though, are you?" she observed with a devious smile. "Ara? Is my new approach at life not making you comfortable? I can go back to my anti-fun self again if you want me to."

"No, it's just that you seem different." I chimed in. "Did something happen?"

She made a very dramatic thinking pose, tilting her head towards the ceiling before shaking her head. "I can't really think of anything that happened recently. I haven't been here the last few days though."

That was code for: None of your damn business.

It didn't take but five minutes to guess what happened, though. Apparently the others couldn't see it, even when a certain raven-haired girl was nearly arrested for parking a Ducati in front of a government building. It was obvious, though. No matter what kind of advice I had given my co-worker, she was still head-over-heels for the heiress to a crime empire.

But when I saw that look in the younger girl's eyes, I knew I had been wrong and so had Shizuru. She was anything but expendable. I had no doubt that the biker would do anything for her and, at this point, that was exactly what I was afraid of.

"Ara? Natsuki came to see me. I feel so important!" Shizuru teased.

Suddenly a blush came over her companion's face that was so unbearably cute it even attracted the straightest of women in the room. "Shut up! You told me your boss needed to see me."

"Did I?"

"Shizuru!"

AN: It was short but I didn't want to do too much in this chapter. But look! Shizuru is back!