"Welcome to my humble abode, Makino-san, after you-" He appeared unassuming and unthreatening but Tsukushi narrowed her eyes carefully anyways as Tsukasa Domyouji held the door open for her and she walked in with her briefcase. She was careful to gingerly walk in her heels because they were digging into the backs of her feet after the long walk over from her office, sometimes she really should just take the cab but she couldn't bring herself to use luxuries like that easily and at this time of night the buses always ran painfully slowly. "I have to admit when you called to tell me that you would be coming this late I was-"
"Yes I understand how inconvenient this would be for you but I thank you again for moving our meeting to a time that I could fit."
"Yes, your firm is probably drowning you in work aren't they?" She growled unwillingly and saw the man in front of her smirk delightfully. "Well I didn't make that chess move so there's no need to be rabid with me."
"Doesn't change the fact your queen is the one attacking my knight and I can hardly keep up with her. She can move anyway she wants." Just as Makino mentioned moving she felt her ankle twist and cried out softly.
Tsukasa grabbed her arm steadying her out of reflex and felt a small lump lodge itself between his mouth and his throat when her eyes locked with his. Immediately he let her go and snorted. "Don't feel so bad, at least you're not her pawn."
"Shall we get to work?" Tsukushi felt the need to be extremely professional even more after their strange exchange. If she was professional, she could definitely maintain a safe distance from this man and that would keep both her and her fledgling company with her family safe. "Please pass over your counter offer."
"We've conceded to giving you 5% more equity as non-voting preferred shares with a higher dividend yield of Domyouji Zaibatsu in exchange for your father foregoing any directional right to the resort or Domyouji Zaibatsu."
"Of course," She rolled her eyes laughing putting the paper down with more force than he'd expected from the tiny human being in front of him.
He faltered for a second, trying to determine the best way to put this clause into real words. "Your father- well he just isn't the type of man who would suit our type of operations here."
"No you're right," Tsukushi agreed as she read through the offer. Tsukasa tried to maintain his composure but he was a little bit floored with how well she was taking the idea that his company would be deposing of her father shortly after acquisition. "I can concede that someone like him wouldn't fit in with you if we were to take this offer. He actually has a heart. I couldn't handle him working here either."
Ahh….so that was where she was coming from. He smirked and flipped the page on the next part of the offer. He couldn't disagree with her but he did want to see if she really thought that way, even about him after he'd been nothing but accommodating towards her. "So you think we're all heartless?"
"Aren't you? Clause 2 in section 15 indicates that not one member of our existing or past staff including the chairs and executives can choose to work in the hospitality industry for the next 5 years. Is that the longest non-compete clause you've ever heard of or what?" She smirked as she read through his handiwork, eyebrow raised, head nodding along. He couldn't help but feel smug as he saw her smirk as she perused the rest of the text, admiring his skill and tenacity in getting his job done. "You might as well have added in that Domyouji Zaibatsu is patenting the idea and never using it-"
"Clause 36 in the same section! Glad we're on the same page Makino-san. I have to say you're really impressing me." He smiled proudly and Tsukushi couldn't decide if he was just trying to make fun of her or whether he was actually this overjoyed with himself.
"Say, Domyouji-san…can you answer something for me?"
His phone buzzed so he found himself otherwise engaged with reading Soujiro's text message indicating he was to rush to the end of this meeting. Besides all she really needed to do was take it back to get it signed by her family and the major shareholders of the company. He didn't really want to spend Monday night with Tsukushi Makino of all people. "Sure- but I'd like this meeting to be over in the next three minutes because-"
"What ruined you?"
"Excuse me?" That got him to put his phone down and take a closer look at the little Makino who looked like she was taking her shoes off? What on earth was she getting at? "Getting a bit too comfortable are we?" The snide tone in the edge of his voice did not go unnoticed.
"You know, I walked here…I walked here because I have limited money to waste on you considering all of my parents income is now in limbo because of the Kyoto hotel freeze…I walked here and I hurt my feet in these stupid heels because I didn't keep runners at my desk. And I had to deal with the hand that was dealt to me." She put her feet up on the chair beside her wincing as she saw the large red welt on the backs of her feet, followed by blood coming out of the tiniest of tears in her skin. Tsukasa felt his stomach turn and twist into knots the more she continued to speak. "So what ruined you? At what point did you look at people and their lives and see figures and numbers instead of dreams? Where on earth did you learn that it's okay to do that to someone whose fighting for their lives while you try your hardest to end it?"
Tsukasa raised one eyebrow pointedly looking at her ready to mouth her off but Makino Tsukushi could care less as she appeared entirely too fascinated with her ankles. He stood up to walk over to her desk and couldn't help but hiss in pain even if he wasn't the one with the blood leaking past his heels. "Holy shit, where'd you walk here from? Nara?"
"I got this by working my ass off to get where I am today so companies like you can come and take everything away from me and my family."
"You don't have to take the offer. You can send it back-"
"But don't we?" She gingerly stood on her foot wincing as she leveled herself. "At some point, won't there be no other option, right?"
He was silent for a while, Makino saw his normally slipped on façade of kind lawyer with a heart of gold drop from his face. His eyes narrowed and he groaned and then when he opened his mouth he said the thing she least expected. "How bad are you hurt?"
"What?" Of all the things she said, that's what he noticed? When she was pouring her heart out on the struggles her family had faced this is what he noticed?
"Come on," Without asking for her permission Tsukushi found her fingers were now entrenched with his. They left the room, the carpet outside cushioning her swollen heels in a way that she couldn't help but let out a moan in relief. Tsukuasa clenched onto her hand tighter as she struggled to keep pace with the towering figure who appeared to run through these hallways. "I guess being poor means you can't afford the bus either?"
"I needed the time to cool off before I came here and yelled my head out at you because of your mum. When is she going to come do her own dirty work?" For the second time this evening he stopped, thankfully in front of the door to his private office as he twisted the knob.
"Miss Makino, you may as well come to terms with that because I rarely see my mother myself." At that she snorted as he grabbed a tissue and a bottle of gin he kept hidden in the back of his desk drawer. "Do you not believe me?"
She took a seat on the couch by the window and saw him follow suit. "Why would I?" Catching her by surprise, the young Domyouji heir pulled her feet from the ground into his lap. Her mouth slacked open, but shell shocked she couldn't seem to find the words as he rubbed the soaked tissue into her legs and she yowled loudly. He felt her muscles tense under his fingers. "Have I ever given you a reason to believe I'm a liar?"
"Can I be truthful? You don't exactly come off all that sincere…and this…is uncomfortable." She tried in vain to pull her legs off him but he held them extremely strong in his grasp somehow brandishing some sort of miracle salve lotion that was making the burning sensation she felt in her legs subside. "What is this about?"
"What is what about?"
"You can't tell me you usually take your oppositions to the dance floor or rub alcohol on their injuries."
"Normally they aren't as challenging as you...and they're a lot more predictable." She felt her cheeks flush as he threw her a cheeky smile. His response did nothing to quell the questions inside her head. "I really didn't spend time with my mother as a child, and I still do my best to spend as little time as possible with her. I garner it helps me feel like I'm not her child but the truth is I am and you're right. I don't know anything about what it's like to have dreams because all I've ever been is a figure to those around me. So I can't help it, I look at everyone and I see a dollar sign attached, even you Miss Makino." He pushed her leg upwards to examine his handiwork, the swelling was calming and the blood on her skin was all wiped up. He turned to look at the face of the woman attached to this body and found her staring at him her head tilted to the side. A few moments passed and he let his eyes slide slightly downwards. "You know, I am done now…you should bring your legs down because at this angle if I bend just the slightest I can see up your skirt." She squealed immediately and brought her legs to her chest like a child. "Shy?" She didn't respond except to stare out the window. "Like no man has found his way up your legs-"
"Certainly not without my permission." Somehow she found herself snickering with him and had to admit to herself reluctantly that part of her enjoyed spending time with Domyouji Tsukasa and she could only blame it on the idea that she spent too much time working and had not had a decent date in years. And yes, sadly this pseudo-agreement was the closest she had come to a date in too long.
A fact she was becoming extremely aware of every time he grabbed her hands, stared at her a little too closely, or reminded her why he wasn't such a bad guy after all. Thankfully for now he seemed to be looking at his phone which allowed her to have ample time to admire the way his strong jawline tensed reading the message. Despite her best efforts, her mind wandered to what kind of message it was- maybe it was from his girlfriend yelling at him for being late because of work-
If she was being fair though, something about Tsukasa Domyouji came off as screaming he would never allow himself to get involved with some girl.
Not that he was gay…but you know. Something about him screamed commitment phobe and ambitious to a fault to her.
All the more reason to stop watching the way his adam's apple was bobbing up and down. Wondering what else could make it move as fervently as it was right now..."So I guess this means we're done for the night…and I should try to catch a train other than the last train for once in my life." She started slowly to level herself on her feet and saw him immediately start up from his seat. His hand fell on her shoulder and her heart jumped into her throat. She immediately threw it off and tried to steady herself.
Domyouji thankfully didn't seem to be too shaken up by the quick way she'd reacted. "I can drop you home…I think for now you should give your feet some rest."
"They've been through worse." She smiled back kindly and saw his eyebrows furrow. "But thank you for your concern." She began to hobble towards the door and Tsukasa couldn't help but stare after her incredulously.
Any woman would have been happy to get a ride home, this late at night especially. And it wasn't like he was going to try anything suspicious…he spoke out of some genuine demented form of concern for his opponent. For exactly one millisecond, Tsukasa pondered the idea of grabbing Makino Tsukushi by her peculiarly attractive waist and throwing her over his shoulder. He certainly couldn't imagine her resting calmly in his hands if he lifted her into his arms, and piggy backing her was not an option-
But grabbing her over his shoulders and bringing her back to the couch for a slightly more salacious scolding was becoming more appealing the more he thought about it - in fact he was just about to go through with an almost automatic urge to do so when he heard Makino Tsukushi open her mouth "Are you okay?" Her voice broke through his thoughts and he found himself blinking foolishly.
Thankfully, as soon as that odd image of his face on hers had entered his mind, it left. "I'm fine, let me at least drop you to a subway stop."
"That I'll agree to." She bowed gratefully and smiled up at him. Tsukasa knew she was waiting for some kind of gesture from him that would be kind and reminiscent of the odd character he'd been playing with her so far.
He just stood their stoically looking at her until he walked past her leaving her confused in his wake. He rubbed the back of his head.
He couldn't let whatever that was happen again.