Suoh knocked on the door three seconds after the bell tower had finished chiming ten p.m. Nokoru--NokoRI--opened it, looking perfect. She was wearing something long and blue that showed off her shoulders and matched her eyes. She clutched a small purse in one hand. "Shall we go?" Suoh asked, smiling. "Certainly." Nokori stepped out onto the front veranda and closed the door. She was startled when Suoh offered her his arm, but took it after a second. He escorted her to the car and held the door for her as she got in. "Where are we going?" she asked a few moments later when Suoh was also in the car, fastening his own seat belt. Suoh smiled. "It's a surprise." CCD: Shiroi Bara 2 by Kristin Huntsman Released December 27, 1998 Nokoru wanted to know exactly what was going through Suoh's mind. First, him asking Nokoru (dressed as a woman) out for the evening... second, treating Nokoru in the same chivalrous manner as Nagisa... and third, without a reason why. This was definitely not Suoh's usual modus operandi, and Nokoru didn't know what to make of it. He watched the scenery passing outside of the car window. They were heading into Shinjuku, and he wondered why. Pedestrians and neon-colored shop signs and happy couples walking and talking caught his eye. A mother and father, their daughter between them, strolling down the street, a young man formally escorting a young woman down the sidewalk, and a group of three teenage girls he recognized from the campus, smiling and laughing and teasing each other. Nokoru sighed a little, watching all the life and people of Tokyo with the faintest brush of sympathetic happiness glossing up the corners of his painted lips. "Thinking of something, Nokori-san?" Suoh's voice and the name he used caught Nokoru a little off-guard, but he didn't let it show. "Not much. Just of how happy everyone seems tonight." @}-->----- Suoh smiled to himself as he found a parking place miraculously near their destination. He helped Nokori from the car and offered her his arm as he escorted her towards the club where he had made reservations for the two of them. It was a matter of moments until they were inside and instantly seated at a private table. He might not be an Imonoyama, but Suoh and his family certainly still had more than enough money and power to get such respect. "Suoh," his friend said softly, looking across the table at him with large blue eyes, "what are we doing here?" Suoh picked up his menu. "Having dinner," he replied, "and perhaps dancing later, if you want." Nokoru stilled. "Suoh..." he said, his voice losing the dulcet edge that it had when Suoh's Rijichou was pretending to be a woman. Suoh set his menu down on the table. "Rijichou," he said, using Nokoru's formal title of Chairman, "you need to get out. Don't think that I don't know perfectly well that you spend your evenings at home in that mansion being miserable. Therefore, I am taking you on a date." @}-->----- A DATE?! And Suoh had come up with this idea on his own?! Nokoru was surprised enough that he didn't have an easy reply for a moment. he supposed, Nokoru smiled and let the mask slip back into place. "I didn't know you danced, Suoh," he said sweetly. "Tell me, does Nagisa-jyou know about this plan of yours?" Suoh nodded. "Of course," he said of his fiancee. "She approved of the idea." Nokoru's eyes wandered to the dance floor. "Then, just to see you at it, I'll hold you to that offered da...." His voice trailed off. "Suoh, isn't that Akira and Utako-hime?" he asked. @}-->----- Suoh's eyes followed Nokoru's. It was. he swore to himself. He repeated the oath as Ijyuin's eyes lifted from Utako-san's, as though sensing his, and searched across the club until finding him... and Nokoru. Akira said something to Utako, indicating their direction, and the two changed direction to head directly for their table. "Kaichou..." Suoh said. Nokoru smiled at him, that certain glint of confident recklessness which Suoh knew all too well glinting in the blue eyes. "Let's see if we can avoid Akira figuring out who I am," he challenged. @}-->----- Akira caught sight of a familiar shade of blue hair and immediately tracked it from the corner of his eye to the center of his sight. It *was* Takamura-san, he realized, pausing. Utako-san, her arm in his, stopped with him and followed his gaze. "Isn't that Takamura-san?" she asked, seeing what he saw. "And who's the girl he's with?" "I... don't know," Akira said, studying the blonde at his sempai's side. He didn't recognize her from the school; maybe she was a relative? Utako's eyes narrowed a little. "Let's go meet her!" she said brightly, pulling Akira along with her as she headed for the table where the two sat. "Wait--Utako-san!" Akira said uselessly. Their waiter trailed along behind them. @}-->----- "Ijyuin!" Takamura-san sounded slightly discomfited, Utako noted as she continued studying the blonde at his side. Such a delicate face, such lovely long hair, such liquid blue eyes, shimmering.... If Takamura was cheating on her dear Nagisa with this woman, Utako swore, she'd rip out the bitch's hair and eyes with her own hands. But those eyes... blue as a lake, blue as silk, blue as rain or tears... looking at her, so calmly.... she felt. Knew them well... why did she know them? "Ah, let me introduce you," she heard Takamura saying, calmer now, more in control. "This is a friend of mine and Nagisa-san's...." They were the eyes of someone she knew, the conviction grew.... "Kireisa. Nokori Kireisa," the blonde said in a sweet, soft voice. ...Nokoru-san's eyes? "Would you like to join us?" the blonde queried. "There's room enough, and I'd like to meet Suoh-san's friends...." "Utako-san?" Akira asked, turning to her with an inquiring look on his face. "O-of course," she said, nodding. Suoh and Nokori moved to one side of the booth and Akira and she slid in, leaving the two women at the edges of the table. Nokori was watching her as she sat.... "Excuse me, but I have to use the ladies' room!" Utako said, standing back up as soon as she'd sat down. "Nokori-san, won't you come with me? You know, girls' chat, getting to know one another while fixing makeup, that sort of thing!" She grabbed the other woman's (woman's?) hand and dragged her off before she had a chance to protest. @}-->----- The jig was up. Nokoru knew that as Utako locked the two of them into the lounge of the ladies' room. "A very clever disguise, NokoRU-san," the young woman said as she turned to face him, hands on her hips and a slight anger on her pretty face. Nokoru laughed. "I should have guessed you'd know who I was," he said, perching on the edge of a counter and swinging his legs underneath. "After all, you're very sharp, Ohkawa-hime." She glared at him. "What are you doing with Takamura-san? And why are you dressed like that?!" "No need to be angry," Nokoru said, waving his hands before him to ward off her temper. "It's innocent! Really it is! You can ask Suoh!" Utako continued glaring at him, and he sighed. "Suoh asked me to come out with him tonight. That's all, really. I had no idea he wanted to take me out on a 'date.' He says Nagisa-jyou agreed to his plan. Why, I've no idea. As for why I'm dressed like this...." He sighed again, looking down at his hands before trying to continue. They were gloved, and delicate-looking. "It's because you're a cross-dresser, right?" Utako surprised him by asking. He looked up into a face that was smiling now. "You move too easily in skirts and heels," she explained. Nokoru waited as she looked him up and down, examining. Finally Utako shook her head. "It's not fair that a *man* should look so good as a woman!" she exclaimed. In spite of himself, Nokoru smiled at her annoyed tone. "You won't tell Akira, will you?" he asked as Utako moved to look into a mirror, touching her lower lip with one finger, carefully smudging the burgandy color applied to it. "Nope," she promised, the reflection of her eyes flickering to him. "I like him naive." @}-->----- Suoh waited nervously for Nokoru and Utako to return from the ladies' room. And Akira's questioning didn't make him any more at ease. "Where did you meet Kireisa-san, Takamura-sempai?" Akira asked, his eyes innocent of any clue. Suoh coughed. "We've known one another for several years now," he replied, trying hard not to get caught in a lie, though he couldn't exactly tell Ijyuin the truth either. "She's a friend of Nokoru-san's...." "Really?" Akira looked thoughtful. "I wonder why he never mentioned her... but then, all women are friends of Nokoru-san's, aren't they?" Akira smiled brightly, significantly adding, as always, to Suoh's blood pressure. "Oh, here are Utako-san and Nokori-san," Suoh said with relief, standing as the two "ladies" returned to the table. From the smiles and hints of mischief on both of their faces, he guessed that whatever had occured in the restroom had gone well. And Utako-san knew. He could see that in the gleam in her eye. Then he groaned inwardly, realizing that with the evening had gone from a simple date to a game for the women of "teasing Akira." /Nokoru-san...!/ @}-->----- Nokori smiled, knowing exactly what was going through Suoh's mind as she sat back down next to him. And she couldn't very well help it that he was right, now could she? Her smile at him was perfectly innocent. Suoh looked less than convinced. She and Nagisa, the best of friends now, used the familiar "-chan" with one another. She made up a personal history for herself which included being a childhood friend of the youngest Imonoyama before she'd had to move away to America at age seven. She'd only just come back to Japan recently, she added, for an extended visit to family. They ordered their dinners. She utterly charmed Akira as "Rijichou's friend," and even Suoh eventually relaxed a bit. Utako completely played along. After dessert (a chocolate cake that was nice, but not quite as good as the ones Akira made) had been delivered and devoured, along with two glasses each of a very nice, very bubbly champagne, Utako noticed the band and sent over a whispered request via their waiter. A moment later, the song which Nokori knew to be Utako and Akira's began playing, and the Treasurer was led rather willingly along to the dance floor, where the two danced a private waltz together. Nokori noted with a smile the aura of sparkling happiness Utako gave off at being with her fiance, and sighed wistfully. The two of them looked so nice together--she was a little envious. @}-->----- Suoh stood as the waltz ended and another began. "Shall we?" he asked, offering his hand to Nokoru. The blond blinked. "You were going to hold me to that dance, I believe," he reminded his Rijichou. "I was, wasn't I?" the other asked in bemusement, and stood, accepting the hand. Suoh smiled and led his friend towards the dance floor, where somehow they fit together and moved wonderfully as a couple. Suoh knew better than to ask how Nokoru had learned to follow rather than lead in formal dancing. Either way, the Chairman was a remarkable dancer. They moved around the floor easily, Suoh's hold on Nokoru impersonal yet friendly, while the other relaxed into his touch, trusting Suoh implicitly. Every time they passed Ijyuin and Utako-san, the latter gave Suoh a small, wicked grin, knowledge flashing in her dark eyes, and Suoh sighed. He didn't want to know what report Utako might give to Nagisa-san later of this evening. As it was, Nokoru being so close and in the female role was disconcerting enough. Especially since, beneath whatever light perfume Nokoru was wearing to complete his role, Suoh could smell the other's natural scent and realized disturbingly for the first time that the very way Nokoru smelled was androgynous. Suoh sighed quietly to himself. He'd thought he didn't have any problems with this... after all, he'd known about Nokoru's cross-dressing since elementary school, and he was fairly sure he didn't have any prejudices against Kaichou's suspected homosexuality. So why, then, was he feeling so agitated? The only answer he could find was that perhaps he didn't have a problem with Nokoru's actions but rather one with his own reactions, and that worried him more than the other possibility. @}-->----- Nokoru kept his eyes fixed on Suoh's jacket, not daring to look up. His heart was going wild, and he knew far better than to trust himself on some things. But he kept his nervousness from his body and moved easily, his mind not even touching on remembering the steps and how to follow, his body simply *doing* it. Suoh would notice if he tensed up in any way or seemed to be doing anything but being absorbed in the dancing. Silk against his ankles as they glided across the floor... and Suoh's hand on his waist, Suoh's heartbeat touching his where their palms met. Nokoru thought, knowing that full well now rather than simply suspecting it. He was reacting entirely too much to the simple physical contact with his friend, and a part of his mind, walled off from the rest and lined with math and science and all the simple, logical things he loved, was calmly taking notes and calculating the meaning of each urge and sensation. Nokoru smiled a little to himself and shut what he was feeling completely away in that walled room, just for now. @}-->----- Somehow the night ended well, and "Nokori" and Suoh parted from Ijyuin and Utako-san without further incident. Suoh sighed in relief as he and Nokoru drove back to the Chairman's mansion at CLAMP Campus. Nokoru was oddly silent through the drive, looking out the window rather than at Suoh. "Nokoru-san?" Suoh asked. "Yes, Suoh?" "Is something wrong?" "No." Nokoru finally turned to look at Suoh. "I was just thinking life was easier, at least for me, when we were children." Suoh shifted gears and accelerated. "How so?" "I didn't have to worry about who I was," the Chairman sighed, and looked back out the window. Suoh hesitated to tread in the deep waters of Nokoru's blue eyes, and let the matter alone until Nokoru broke the silence one last time, when they were just pulling up in front of the mansion. "Suoh?" Nokoru asked. "Yes, Kaichou?" Nokoru looked down at the delicate hands in his lap. "I had a wonderful time tonight. Thank you very much for inviting me out." Suoh watched as a lock of the blond hair slipped forward. "Please, don't do it again." Suoh blinked. "Why not?" Nokoru sighed. "Because I could come too easily to see what Nagisa-jyou sees in you, Suoh, and neither of us needs that. But thank you for tonight." The Chairman slipped out of the door. "I'll see you in the office tomorrow, Suoh," Nokoru said quietly. "Good night." "Good night, Kaichou," Suoh responded, and the door closed. He watched until Nokoru was safely inside the mansion, then eased the car into first and left, disturbed. @}-->----- @}-->----- @}-->----- Author's Ramblings: A year and two days after the first, here is the next part of Shiroi Bara. Hope you enjoyed. Happy holidays!