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Watching the two of them eat together, how they unconsciously responded
to each other Tina Foster felt a faint, sad smile steal over her face,
but she banished it as quickly as possible. "Excuse me," Tina rose, the
blonde smiling at Aoi gently, "I loved dinner, thank you."

As Tina quickly left Aoi blinked, her short black hair falling in her
eyes then looked at the young man beside her, "Kaoru-sama, is something
wrong with Tina-san?" She frowned, "She doesn't usually leave the table
so suddenly."

"Do you want me to...?" Kaoru moved to get up.

"No, finish your dinner," Miyabi rose gracefully, "I'll go see if she's
all right." The formally dressed redhead slipped from the room, walking
quietly through the two story mansion, eventually finding her outside by
what was normally the guest quarters.

"Miyabi-san?" Tina turned, and the taller woman was faintly surprised to
see the glitter of tears in her eyes. She looked comfortable in her
T-shirt ad slacks and for a moment Miyabi felt oddly overdressed in her
woman's suit.

Uncomfortably Miyabi asked, "Are you all right?"

Faintly Tina smiled, reaching up to wipe at her eyes. "Sorry," she
hiccuped softly, "something just hit me, and..."

Miyabi could guess what it was and she felt a flash of sympathy for the
young girl. Tina had always been painfully obvious in her feelings for
Kaoru, and if she finally clued in on the depth of his feelings for Aoi
it could be quite a shock. "I'm sorry," she reached out to squeeze the
girl's shoulder, hoping to provide some comfort.

"It's all right," Tina shrugged a bit uncomfortably, "I guess I've
always seen that Aoi liked Kaoru, but realizing that he returned her
feelings.. it threw me." A pause, "Does your heart ever stop hurting, I
wonder?"

"It does lessen eventually," Miyabi murmured reassuringly, remembering
her initial dismay over Aoi's connection to Kaoru. The distress had
eased a lot as she realized how much they both cared, but it had never
really done away.

Tina looked up at her, there was a long moment of silence...

..then she quickly slipped directly right behind Miyabi, grabbed her
breasts and gave 'em a good squeeze. "You sure have a great set," Tina
squeezed them with enthusiasm.

"Tina-san!" Miyabi roared.

"Sorry," Tina finally let them go, grinning up at the older woman
impishly. They settled side by side at the railing as she added, "I just
wanted to break the tension a bit."

"There's better ways of doing it," Miyabi said with a blush, trying very
hard not to think about how it had felt.

"Spoilsport," Tina teased, a little disconcerted at how pleasant it had
been to hold Miyabi's breasts in her hands.

"And proud of it," Miyabi answered promptly. She studied Tina, glad to
see the signs of tears were gone and asked, "Are you going to be all
right?"

"I think so," Tina answered, a faint blush coloring her cheeks.

"Good. So," Miyabi looked down at her curiously, "what sort of story do
you want to tell Aoi and Kaoru to explain why you left your dinner?" A
faint smile, "Because you know that they're going to be worried."

The look on Tina's face was priceless as she realized that Miyabi was
right, their two good natured friends would want to know. "Hmm," the
blonde murmured as her mind raced, "maybe I smelled something burning?"

"Oh no, I am not letting you set something on fire for a cover story," a
stern looking Miyabi said quickly.

"A flood?" Tina asked meekly.

"No way," Miyabi gave her a suspicious look, wondering if she was being
teased, "for much the same reasons."

"Aww," Tina pouted. "Robbery?" she offered.

"What do we do," Miyabi asked her skeptically, "dress up Taeko-san as a
thief? Even Kaoru-san wouldn't buy that."

"But it sure would be cute," Tina chuckled, imagining the busty,
slightly clumsy girl dressed up as some costumed thief. With a sigh they
both mused on it a moment then Tina brightened as she blurted, "Uzume!"

"The ferret?" Miyabi blinked.

"We'll just tell everyone that I forgot to lock up Uzume," Tina
explained her idea cheerfully, "and that you came to help."

"That could work," Miyabi finally conceded, the two women walking
together back to the main house.

"Besides," Tina looked up at her with a teasing grin, "everyone knows
how fond you are of that little critter, so you'd be glad to help."

"I am not fond of it," Miyabi grumbled as they both headed back to the
house, a faint blush coloring her cheeks.

"Sure, sure," Tina chuckled, stretching her arms up behind her head.

0o0o0o0o0o0

Over the next few weeks Tina found herself seeking out Miyabi at odd
moments, sitting down and talking with her. Oddly the older woman seemed
to enjoy Tina's company, putting aside her work to relax and talk, or
even go play with the ferret Uzume for awhile. And all the time Tina
found herself looking forward more and more to those meetings and her
time with Miyabi.

"Hey!" Tina laughed as she got Kaoru in a headlock, happily mussing up
his hair.

"You're in a good mood," Kaoru struggled weakly, then the two walked on
to their classes. He looked at her curiously, "So what's up?"

Tina hesitated, the two walking along for a moment. "How well do you
know Miyabi-san?" she finally asked.

"A bit over a year," Kaoru admitted, "why?"

Tina smiled, her expression thoughtful. "She did me a favor recently,"
she said smiling, "I'd like to thank her, but I'm not sure how."

"The Uzume incident?" Kaoru asked, a faint smile on his face.

'Wonder if he knows we made it up?' Tina thought but answered, "That's
right. Any ideas?"

"Good question," Kaoru blinked, his expression thoughtful. "I mean,
Miyabi tends to be very work oriented, driven even, and I'm not sure
what she'd like..."

"I could always give her a pet," Tina blinked.

"Oh no," Kaoru laughed, "she has enough to do with dealing with Uzume, I
think."

They walked on a moment then Tina murmured, "Driven and work oriented,
huh?" A smile appeared, "I think I got it."

Tina went home a bit early and conferred with Aoi first, getting
everything set up for her plan, then she headed upstairs to Miyabi's
rooms and office. "Yes?" Miyabi called out when Tina knocked on the
door.

Pushing it open Tina saw Miyabi sitting behind the desk, dressed as
usual in her stylish business wear. She looked good, and the addition of
a set of small glasses gave her a oddly cute look. "Are you busy,
Miyabi-san?" Tina asked with a smile.

Miyabi took off her glasses, her face relaxing into a smile. "Just
finishing up some paperwork," she said, "why?"

From behind her back Tina produced a picnic basket and asked, "Would you
like to have dinner with me?"

Miyabi hesitated, "You didn't cook it, right?"

"I don't want to poison you," Tina laughed, "Aoi made it as soon as she
saw me messing around in the kitchen."

"Then I'd love to, Tina-san," Miyabi smiled.

"I'll see you when you finish up." Tina hesitated in the doorway,
wondering if it might be too forward then said, "You can drop the san,
if you like."

Miyabi looked startled, then she smiled once more. "Then you can call me
Miyabi," she looked at her fondly, "Tina."

Tina hummed to herself happily as she headed downstairs to wait for
Miyabi. She didn't know where this friendship was going, or if the
feelings she had around Miyabi were just friendship or something more,
but she was certainly looking forward to finding out.

End

Notes: Pure fluff based around reading and watching Ai Yori Aoshi, no
more or less. Tina Foster, despite her tendency to happily squeeze
women's breasts is straight in the series, though I do wonder a bit
about Miyabi. She is oddly jealous over how happy Kaoru makes Aoi, and
may harbor deeper feelings for Aoi.