What The Cat Dragged In

What The Cat Dragged In

DISC: I do not own Fruits Basket or its characters. I do not own Azumanga Daioh or its characters. I don\'t own anything. I just borrow these things to make me feel better about my own ownin\'-nuthin\' life.


One day without sleep is doable. However, each hour that you remain awake without the refreshment of sleep increases the effect exponentially.

Sakaki crawled out of bed when the alarm went off and dragged herself into the shower. The hot water refreshed her just enough so that she remembered flashes of the night before. Legs rubbing against each other in longing. Flopping around the bed like a fish out of water, she tried again and again to fall asleep, but emerald eyes and the feeling of something missing kept her heart racing – almost as if she had been taking amphetamines.

She had actually fallen asleep multiple times, but her body did sleep-calisthenics for the few minutes she was under and the end result was actually that she felt less rested than she would have if she had stayed up, say watching a movie marathon on TV.

Yawning emphatically, she finished up her shower and toweled off.

On her way to class, she picked up a white chocolate mocha latte from Starbucks. While coffee was not normally her thing, it was apparent that without the extra stimulation from the espresso in the drink, she was not going to make it.

She made it to her first class on time, and slid into a desk. Only those who knew her well would normally have noticed her exhaustion – Sakaki was just the kind of girl who seemed aloof and cool at all times. But Kyo was able to figure it out all on his own. Of course he had some extra clues. Like when he slid in next to her, she didn\'t even glance at him. That, of course, made him think that maybe she was mad at him still for biting her. So he apologized, \"Sakaki-san, I just wanted to apologize again for the other day. I see your hand is still bandaged. Is it doing better?\"

She didn\'t respond – she\'d gone into that sleep-deprived state where you\'re not really unconscious, not really asleep, but not really conscious either.

\"Sakaki-san?\" She said nothing. That\'s when he noticed the glazed look in her eyes. He grabbed her bandaged hand to inspect it. \"Sakaki-san?\"

She jumped and turned toward him – thankfully not spilling her latte. \"OH! Sohma-kun! Sorry. I… uh… didn\'t see you come in.\" `That\'s funny. I didn\'t notice he was in this class the first day.\'

\"Don\'t call me Sohma-kun, okay? Just call me Kyo. Sohma-kun is my cousin, and I hate that guy!\"

\"You hate Hatori-san?\"

\"No. Not him. A different cousin. `Hatori-san?\'\"

She blushed prettily. \"He told me I had to call him that – that all his other patients do.\"

\"Yeah, cuz we\'re all his cousins!\" She blushed and turned away as he voiced the same thing she\'d thought. \"But don\'t get me wrong – he\'s a great doctor.\" He paused for effect. \"Speaking of which… how\'s your hand?\"

\"Oh. It\'s okay. Mostly healed. I just have the bandage on still because… well, I\'m a little tired today, so I didn\'t want to trust myself to take extra care of it.\"

He cocked his head questioningly at her but said, \"Ok. Well, I\'m just glad I didn\'t hurt you permanently. You… You seem like you\'re a pretty okay person, and I really don\'t know why I… why I bit you in the first place.\"

Her silver laugh didn\'t tinkle quite as much through her exhaustion, but it was still very disarming. \"You really did react just like a cat.\"

\"Do cats really bite you?\"

\"Almost every cat I\'ve ever met has bit me.\" She looked terribly sad as she said that. \"One time, a whole neighborhood of cats turned on me. If Yamamaya hadn\'t come and chased them off, I don\'t know what would have happened.\" Kyo could read her thoughts very clearly – the terror of being set upon by an army of cats, and beneath that, the sadness that the cats didn\'t like her and the longing to be accepted by them – followed by a cute smile at the memory of her own cat defending her.

\"Well. That\'s just not right. But maybe… maybe you\'ll have better luck in the future.\" `I\'ll have to send the word out. Any cat who gives her a hard time will have to deal with me!\' He nodded his head at her as if he\'d just made up his mind about something.

\"Thanks, Soh- I mean Kyo-kun.\"

He nodded at her again – he wasn\'t a big smiler, after all. And the teacher chose that moment to start up the class.

After class was done, they got swept up by others in the class and didn\'t really talk to each other again until their last class of the day, which they also shared.

At the end of Freshman Composition, Kyo went up to the girl to ask her if she\'d like to come by the house to study.

\"Oh, I\'m so sorry, Kyo-kun, but I have to go work now.\" She covered her mouth with one hand as she yawned forcefully. He had noticed her yawning a lot in both classes.

\"You weren\'t kidding when you said you were tired, were you?\" She shook her head no, and he continued, \"Well… if you can\'t come over today, maybe some other time…\"

\"That would be very nice, Kyo-kun. I\'ll see you later.\" She turned and headed off to her class.

`Heh. She seems pretty nice. And it would be cool to see if Kagura is afraid of someone so tall… If I was going out with Sakaki-san, Kagura might leave me alone… But if I was going out with Sakaki-san, then Tohru…\" His thoughts continued in this pattern his whole trip home. He knew he wasn\'t really interested in her – other than as an interesting friend, but it would be pretty cool if she could help him get Kagura off his back. As he continued home, he met a stray cat, and passed him the message about being nice to Sakaki – told the cat to spread the word. `There. Maybe that will help make up for me biting her. I STILL have no idea why I did that.\'

XXX END SCENE XXX

Hatori was extremely grateful for two things: routine and Rolaids.

Routine allowed him to glide through his day without a whole lot of deep thought. This was very important because he was not sure he was even capable of deep thought any more. Two days without any sleep and he felt like his brain was ice-skating on the top of a lake of frozen mental capacity. If he had been required to fish out a deep thought, the effort to chip a big enough hole through the ice to extract a thought – assuming of course he was lucky enough to catch the thought in the first place – might have resulted in an aneurysm.

And the Rolaids were also very important. Because he was drinking so much coffee just to stay awake enough to follow his routine that his stomach actually hurt. While food would probably have been a better solution than antacids, the fact was his cupboard was bare. He had eaten the last of the ramen the night before – the last of ANY food in his house – and hadn\'t even realized it.

God must have been smiling on him that day because his day went by quickly and without incident. When he\'d finished his schedule at the clinic, he went to check on Akito.

\"Ah. Hatori. Sorry to disappoint you, but I haven\'t died yet.\"

A stern tone in response, \"Akito-sama, not only is that comment based upon a false presupposition, but it is also rude.\"

\"You\'re right, Hatori,\" she responded smiling at her dragon, \"I know you have always cared for me.\" She stopped and looked up at the tall doctor curiously. \"Something\'s not right,\" she declared. \"Are you getting ill, Hatori? You know I don\'t like you to visit me when you\'re ill.\" She said it softly – not as if she meant to punish him for misbehaving, but with a tone of genuine concern.

\"I am healthy, Akito-sama. Just… a bit tired.\" His admission was a bit grudging.

She looked him up and down with narrowed eyes. \"A bit tired.\" It was obvious he was exhausted. \"This will not do. Your services will not be needed tonight. I will not have you becoming ill because you are not taking good enough care of yourself.\" Her gaze was intense as if searching for weakness. \"I would also wager that you haven\'t been eating properly, have you?\"

As if in direct response to her question, his stomach growled loudly. She bit back a laugh as he proclaimed, \"That wasn\'t what you think. I\'ve merely had too much coffee today and require another antacid.\"

She gave him a look of benevolent disbelief. \"Your orders for tonight are as follows, and you will obey them exactly: You are to obtain a nutritious, well-balanced meal – and that does not mean ramen and a piece of fish. You may have one of the cooks prepare you a full dinner, or you may visit a restaurant in town. You will not visit with Shigure, however – he will get you too riled up, and I don\'t need you getting ill. Once you have had dinner, you are to take the night off and relax.

\"I will see you tomorrow, Hatori, and I expect to see you better rested.\" He sighed and nodded, and she smiled largely at him `She really is in a good mood today!\' \"You may leave me now.\" She turned back to her garden and he quietly let himself out.

XXX END SCENE XXX


`Better not drive,\' he thought. `Not when I\'m this tired.\' He yawned as punctuation to his thought. With long, slow strides, he made his way to town. No real attention paid to exactly which streets he took, his goal was a certain strip with several nice, yet moderately-priced restaurants. He was startled when he realized he\'d stopped just outside an apartment building – just outside one particular apartment.

Groaning as he remembered the girl opening the door and inviting him in, he worked to banish the thought of her naked, her tiny mouth on his cock. This was inappropriate. He\'d never had a wild imagination before. He didn\'t understand what was happening to him.

With great deliberateness, he turned from the apartment building and continued on his way.

In front of him were several choices – Okinawan awamori, Hokkaido seafood, Southern Kyushu cuisine, Italian, a steakhouse, and a French bistro. Since he was more interested in food than drink, the first choice was out, and he\'d never really felt comfortable eating at a seafood restaurant. French food just was not his style. Steak would be a bit heavy, probably not a good thing since he\'d been eating so light lately.

Kyushu or Italian? He looked back and forth between the two. He\'d tried the Italian place before and it was pretty good. The Kyushu restaurant, however, was new – last time he\'d been down here, it was a sushi bar.

A flash came to him of his college days with Shigure and Ayame, making late night runs to La Boheme. (AN: La Boheme is a chain of Italian restaurants in Japan that are open VERY late – til 5am!) Gure and Aya would order Spaghetti and Meatballs and try to re-enact Lady and the Tramp. But they never managed to get the same strand of spaghetti. So instead they\'d just suck on the noodles for hours, sauce splattering their clothes. Once Ayame had figured out that the stains from the splashing was caused by sucking the noodles, the attempt at movie re-enactment quickly stopped. He chuckled softly.

That settled it. He headed toward the Italian restaurant.

The atmosphere was just as he remembered: lighting dimmed, wine bottles and fake grape vines covering the wall, checkered tablecloths, candles on every table, and the smell of garlic permeating the air. He smiled.

\"One, sir?\" The hostess was smiling at him, and he noticed she was wiggling a bit more than would be natural for anyone – she was obviously trying to get his attention, attention on her breasts at least. He sighed, and didn\'t fall for it.

\"Yes, please.\" She turned and wiggled her hips excessively as she guided him to a table. He looked around the room – they were doing pretty good business for a Wednesday night – there were 7 other tables full, and the whole restaurant only had 16. And since a young family had entered right after him, they would be over half full.

\"Here you are, sir.\" She bent forward to expose more cleavage as she sat him down. He didn\'t even look at her.

\"Thank you,\" he replied, sitting and picking up his menu. She gave a pouty sigh and stomped off.

He breathed a sigh of relief. This was a different hostess from the last time he was here, and he preferred the old one, who was professional and not obviously looking for her M.R.S. degree. He buried his face in the menu, looking for what he\'d already decided he wanted to order. When he was satisfied, he closed the menu and leaned back, closing his eyes and trying to relax.

XXX CHANGE OF PERSPECTIVE XXX

Okay, so one day without sleep didn\'t make too much of an impact on her work. But the second day was testing her abilities.

So far, she\'d spilled three drinks, and mixed up the orders at her first two tables of the night. None of the spilled drinks had landed anywhere but the floor, and the mixed up orders only involved setting the plates in front of the wrong people at the table, but still. She knew better. She was grateful that she hadn\'t made any further errors on the five other tables that had come in since then.

Still, she had to get some sleep tonight – even if that meant taking a sleep aid. Normally, she didn\'t approve of those type things, but desperate times called for desperate measures. She yawned again, and finished her 7th cup of coffee so far this shift. Then she headed to her next new table – a one-top.

Hatori opened his eyes as a glass of water was set in front of him, followed by a basket of fresh garlic bread. \"Good evening sir, can I get you something to drink?\"

He looked up just as she finally focused in on who it was at the table. \"Azuma-kun?\"

\"Hatori-san?\"

They remained frozen for a moment, as they drank in the other. `Even better looking than I remembered.\'

For her job, Sakaki was wearing tight black pants, a white shirt and a green bow tie, and a black bib apron. Her hair was up in a tight bun that drew attention to her amazing cheekbones and big brown eyes. His jaw was hanging slightly open, and for some reason he wanted to pull her into his lap right that second. `But that doesn\'t make sense. What? What was it I was just thinking? Where? Dinner. Right. Akito sent me for dinner.\'

\"You… you work… I didn\'t know that you worked here, Azuma-kun.\"

\"Um. Yeah. This is where I work.\" `That was brilliant, Sakaki. You\'re the conversationalist tonight.\' \"It… pays the bills – college, and everything else.\"

He smiled at her a bit goofily and nodded. Then stared at her gorgeous eyes. His heart seemed to be beating irregularly – probably the sleep deprivation.

`Emeralds. Sparkling.\' She returned his stare. `Not fair. He\'s too…\' She pulled herself out of reverie and blinked her eyes. \"Uh, right. So… Can I… can I bring you something to drink, Hatori-san?\"

He broke away from her gaze and blushed. Without looking at her, he replied, \"I can place my whole order, if you\'d like.\"

\"Okay.\" She\'d seen his blush, but couldn\'t make sense of it.

Still, looking anywhere but at her, he stated, \"I\'d like a glass of chianti to drink. For dinner, a Caesar salad and the chicken arrabiata.\" The lovely girl carefully notated his order.

Nodding, she inquired as if on automatic pilot, \"Will that be all?\"

He looked up at her and their eyes caught. \"For now,\" he replied, surprising himself with his own intensity. The dragon was becoming a bit restless and ready to play.

Her stomach jumped up to swallow her heart at the look in his eyes. Suddenly, she didn\'t feel tired anymore – a rush of adrenaline sent her floating from his table to fill his order.

He watched her hips as she receded toward the bar. The gentle swaying was perfectly in time with his heartbeats. His reluctance to involve her in his living hell was fading into the grey exhaustion that encased his being, dissolving into forgetfulness, almost as if he had used his own talents upon himself. The dragon was hungry, and had now chosen his prey.

She placed the order for the chianti at the bar, and the bartender smiled at her. \"Well, you\'ve perked up!\" the older woman said. Her eyes glanced toward the gentleman at the new table, then back to Sakaki. \"I can see why! Yyyyyyyyum!\" She winked at the girl.

Sakaki looked down shyly. \"I\'ll be right back, I\'m just going to place his order.\" She spun and headed toward the kitchen. Hatori\'s eyes burned into her hips, she felt a heat start to build there that previously she had only felt during her dreams the past two nights. As she disappeared through the kitchen door, Hatori\'s smile turned into a smirk that Shigure would have envied.

In the kitchen, she began placing her order. When she had finished placing it, one of the other waitresses, Mitsune, pulled her aside. \"Oh my GOD! Sakaki! How did you luck into getting that guy in YOUR section!\"

Another coworker, Ryoko, agreed, \"Yeah! He\'s so HOT! Man, if my three-top had only come in two minutes earlier, then you\'d be waiting on them, and *I\'d* have gotten lucky.\"

The girls giggled as Sakaki looked at them with a confused expression. \"What do you mean?\" she asked. \"You\'ll make more money off your three-top than I will off a single, won\'t you?\"

Mitsune & Ryoko rolled their eyes. \"It\'s just not fair that she lucked into that table and she doesn\'t even know enough to take advantage of it.\"

\"Yeah! And how does a girl as pretty as you make it to college without knowing… well, anything?\" The girls laughed at her, then apologized as they saw a look of hurt on her face.

\"We don\'t mean anything mean by it, Sakaki-san,\" Ryoko said. \"Really. It\'s just hard to not envy someone as pretty and nice as you.\"

Mitsune nodded and squeezed her arm, and Sakaki shook her head uncomprehendingly and walked back into the dining room, toward the bar pick up Hatori\'s drink. `They think I\'m pretty and nice?\'

As she walked back to his table, holding his glass of chianti, he watched her approach out of the corner of his eye. It wouldn\'t do to scare her off. A portion of his brain was screaming at him, \"No. She\'s too good for you – too young. Leave her alone.\" But he was tired – too tired to fight, and the dragon within him had no such qualms.

She set the glass in front of him, and in a flash, he\'d captured her wrist with his left hand as his right took the glass. He continued to hold her hand as he lifted the glass, swirled it to test the legs of the wine. He looked up at her, his eyes dark as he inhaled the bouquet, then put the glass to his lips and took a small sip. He rolled the drink in his mouth, savoring the flavor, as the hand that was holding hers stroked the back of her hand with his thumb. His eyes did not leave her face until he saw a flash from her own eyes, and he saw her swallow deeply as if afraid she would drown in his emerald depths.

He smiled at her. \"Delicious.\"

She had a feeling he wasn\'t really talking about the wine, but responded, \"It\'s our most popular wine.\" His smile grew, with a slightly predatory gleam that made her remember all over again the feelings with which she\'d awoken the past two mornings.

Something in her made her decide that she was tired of running from whatever this feeling was. So she smiled at him, thinking, `I\'m not sure what it is that you want, or where this is going to lead, Hatori-san, but if you lead me, I will follow.\' Her heart was sure that this beautiful man was worth anything she could give.

He read the challenge in her eyes and the dragon was pleased. Very pleased. He let her hand go, trailing his fingers down her hand as he did. His reward was seeing her shiver at his touch, her breasts jostling slightly. A part of him was becoming anxious to rip that shirt off her so that he could touch them unhindered. But the game was still afoot. It was too soon.

She bowed as she left the table, and then almost ran back to the kitchen to catch her breath. Once she had herself back under control, she finished up her remaining tables. It was a fairly slow night, and she only had two. Both had already finished dinner and rejected the concept of dessert. She had but to bring them their check and cash them out. She took care of that quickly and efficiently. She wasn\'t closing tonight, so Hatori would be her last table.

Back in the kitchen Hatori\'s salad was up, so she brought that out to him. As she set it down, he smiled at her, and she found herself smiling back. \"Yes,\" her smile was saying to him. \"Yes.\"

She left to clear off her two tables, who were making their way out of the restaurant, and had left her quite acceptable tips for the night. She smiled and pocketed them, then began to take care of her end-of-shift tasks: refilling the sugar packets, making sure every table had filled salt, pepper, hot peppershakers. Filling the parmesan shakers and placing them in the large condiment refrigerator. That was it for her, other than her last table.

Meanwhile, Hatori was enjoying the Caesar salad. The anchovy dressing was quite well made, and he was terribly hungry. He buttered some of the garlic bread and alternated bites. As the food hit his system, it imbued his body with a bit of the energy he had been lacking. Akito was right. He did need a good meal. And some sleep.

He glanced up and saw the leggy brunette at another table, filling the salt shaker. `Dear god, she really is amazingly beautiful,\' he thought. The dragon was starting to become possessive and he could hear a voice inside say, \"Tonight, she will be mine.\"

He dropped his fork and looked at the girl bent over a table. The black pants clung to her and emphasized her hips, bringing forth a moan that rumbled deep inside his chest. `No!\' he thought. `She deserves more. I won\'t let her be used as a one night conquest for your desires.\' The dragon within smiled at him and said, `Who said this was for one night? She\'s exquisite. And you heard what she said about us.\' Hatori put his head in his hands as he remembered her saying, \"If God won\'t take care of his animals, then I will. I want to show them that not everyone requires obedience to be loved.\" He knew these probably weren\'t her exact words, but they were the ones his heart had heard.

`See. She wants us. She wants to love us. She loves animals. She\'s perfect for us.\' The dragon\'s voice was rhythmic, seductive, and Hatori found himself being hypnotized. A small part of himself knew he was rationalizing. The dragon wasn\'t really speaking to him. He was just finding a reason to do what he wanted. And god knew he could not deny that he wanted this girl. Dear god, he wanted this beautiful, sensitive woman. And not just for one night.

Why did he always fall so hard, so fast when he fell?

She saw his dinner was up, and picked it up, carried it out to his table. Setting the food in front of him, she noticed his lips for the first time. They looked soft. `Why on earth am I looking at his lips?\' she thought.

\"Thank you, Azuma.\" His smiling eyes, she noticed, were twinkling. They seemed more at peace, more decisive, more certain, less predatory, but not less demanding. Demurely, she beamed at him. His glance was cast across the restaurant as a young couple that was obviously in love was being seated. \"Will that be your table then?\" He had noticed that the last two tables that had come in went to the other wait staff.

\"Uh. No. You\'re… my last table of the night, Hatori-san.\"

His countenance grew more intense. `Excellent,\' he thought. \"Good,\" he said softly.

She cocked her head in question. \"Excuse me, Hatori-san? I didn\'t quite catch that.\"

The shaking of his head told her he hadn\'t said anything – it was just her imagination. He began to tuck in to his meal, and she left him to eat in peace. It was quite delicious. Just as he remembered. But a part of his brain was imagining alternating bites to him, then feeding her. He saw her tiny mouth open as he placed the food there. Her plump lips closing sensuously over the fork as he pulled it out. He shook himself out of his reverie and concentrated on just eating the delicious meal laid out for him. He would have time to contemplate another delicious meal once (and if) he managed to get that one laid out for him later. He groaned softly. `I really must be spending too much time with Shigure.\'

Pacing in the kitchen, she asked Mitsune & Ryoko once again if she could do anything to help them.

\"Well… you could go home and let ME finish up your one-top for you,\" Ryoko jokingly replied. The dirty look Sakaki shot her was unprecedented. Holding up her hands to ward off the taller waitress, she looked to Mitsune for support. \"See! I knew she couldn\'t possibly be THAT oblivious!\" She nodded and smiled, \"No, there\'s nothing I need. But I wish you the best of luck!\" Ryoko spun and left the kitchen to check on her table.

Sakaki glanced at Mitsune who just smiled and said, \"We\'ll want details later, girl.\" Her grin grew at Sakaki\'s consternation, and she exited the kitchen laughing. Sakaki shook her head, her brows furrowed.

Sighing, she grabbed a bowl of Minestrone and sat at the table in the kitchen to eat her own dinner: Minestrone soup and small piece of lasagna. After working in the restaurant businesses for the past three months, she had gotten used to eating fairly quickly. She made quick work of the soup and took a quick bite of lasagna, then went to check on her table.

\"Is everything okay, Hatori-san?\"

His eyes bored into hers. \"Everything is delightful.\"

She blushed. \"Can I get you anything else?\"

His eyes had not left hers, and were delving into her soul. \"Not just yet, Azuma,\" he purred her name.

Trying not to visibly react, she nodded and then spun away, back to the kitchen and her own meal. The trek back took a great deal of effort because the lack of sleep seemed to be making her knees not want to work right. They felt spongy. Melty.

She finished her meal without even really tasting it. Her mind just kept picturing the dragon\'s eyes boring into hers, and for some reason, she was imagining her hands up between them, placed on his chest – which was bare. Smooth and hot to the touch. It was just too hot in this kitchen.

And what was she thinking, anyway? He was a professional. A grown man. She was just imagining that he was… was he flirting with her? Did she want him to flirt with her? No. No she didn\'t. Flirting was meaningless. This man… This man was too important for flirting.

`Important? Important how?\' She swallowed hard. A part of her realized that she\'d fallen a little bit in love with this man. For the first time in her life, she\'d fallen. And she knew, every man she ever met from this point forward would be measured by the yardstick of this amazingly kind and beautiful doctor. She sighed as she stood up and put her dishes in the bus bin.

Hiding her sadness, she left the kitchen to take care of him for one last time. She never imagined for one second that what she wanted to come had even the potential of happening.

She glided over to his table, a bit depressed at her realization, just as he finished his last bite and set his fork down on the plate. She masked her feelings with a friendly smile.

\"Will there be anything else, Hatori-san? Maybe… dessert?\" He saw her gently nibble at her bottom lip, and internally he groaned. `Too much,\' he thought, `and not enough. Not yet.\'

Time to take a chance. \"I would love some tiramisu and coffee. But only if…\" His eyes were questioning, seeking an answer in her own. \"Only if I can get them to go, and only if you… will join me?\" There. He\'d done it. He\'d made it plain. It was up to her. If she wanted to play, if she wasn\'t scared of him, then maybe… And if not, he\'d force the dragon to sleep tonight, regardless of how disappointed it would be.

Her eyes were locked to his. The beating of her heart was deafening. Without blinking, she nodded at him in amazement and was surprised to see him breathe a sigh of relief and see his smile soften.

She set his bill down in front of him and said, \"I\'ll take care of dessert.\" He knew she didn\'t realize the double entendre of what she\'d said, so he didn\'t allow his face to smirk. But inside, the dragon was very happy.

She spun back to the kitchen, almost floating. She forced a disappointed look on her face and sighing, said to Mitsune, who was in the back dishing out dessert for a table of her own, \"Mitsune? Do you think I could… take a large piece of that home tonight?\" The shorter waitress smiled comfortingly at her and said, \"Aw, too bad. Well, don\'t worry. He\'s been in here before and he\'s never fallen for ANY of us.\" The girl cut a large piece of the comfort-dessert, and put it in a to-go container. \"Here. Take it. They allow us each to have one piece a week for free. This is yours.\"

She grimaced at her own duplicity, but she was certain that this doctor would not want any rumors started because of her. \"Thanks, Mitsune.\" Then she filled a large Styrofoam cup with coffee and went to cash out her last table.

He had placed cash on top of the bill and was surprised when she appeared without the dessert and coffee. \"It\'s set,\" he said, referring to the bill.

\"Thank you, sir. Have a good night,\" she said in her normal voice. \"I\'ll be outside in five minutes?\" she said softly enough so only he could hear. He looked up, startled and noticed the two other waitresses and the bartender looking at her with sympathetic faces. `Ah! I suppose if they knew I was leaving with her they\'d give her a hard time.\'

He steeled his face, nodded and stood to leave. She brought the check to the bartender to cash it out. Then she tipped the bartender for the night and turned to go clean up Hatori\'s table.

She was met by Ryoko, who was holding her cake and coffee. With a look of commiseration, she said, \"I\'ll take care of the clean up. You go home and relax. Get some sleep.\" Unspoken, her look said, \"Girl, I have so been there. You really liked this guy. And how could you not – he is Hotty Mchot-hot? So drown your disappointment in some tiramisu, and I\'ll cover for you here. I\'m really sorry. And sorry I was teasing you earlier.\"

Sakaki smiled at the girl, feeling a little bad for her deception, but too anxious to meet the man waiting for her outside to really feel as bad as she probably should. \"Thanks,\" she said and headed toward the door.