Renée Deschamps bounded up the steps to Kirika's studio, emerald eyes glittering with excitement. The twenty-four year old Frenchwoman was Kirika's art professor: a brilliant artist in her own right and a notorious playgirl. Wooing Kirika over the past year had been the longest seduction Renée had ever undertaken, but Kirika's combination of unrealized talent, unappreciated beauty and unexplored sexuality had proven completely irresistible to the green-eyed brunette.
So armed with her beauty, her brilliance, her charm - and the confidence that came from dozens of male and female conquests - she had set out to seduce the young Japanese girl under the guise of a professor turned devoted mentor. She was greatly aided in this by the fact that while Kirika possessed a depth that was far too mature for her age, she was curiously childish about a great many things. Renée had found it exceedingly easy to move from simply teaching Kirika art to educating her about fashion, music, film, people and life in general. To her own surprise, she found teaching Kirika a genuine pleasure. The Japanese woman listened attentively and absorbed everything, but kept her own independent counsel. Over time, she had quietly developed her own opinions and tastes.
At first, Renée had been quick to ascribe Kirika's growing sophistication to her tutelage, but had gradually realized that the younger woman had possessed an innate refinement from the start - only no one had ever taught her to cultivate it. Physically, she was naturally graceful - and after she had learned to walk without her characteristic shuffling, downcast gait - almost elegant even. Temperamentally, she was reserved, given to subtle changes in expression, and almost completely non-judgmental in her views. Artistically, Renée had to concede that the girl possessed a promise of real genius. Her work was quiet, yet suffused with vitality, stillnesses giving way to motion or dynamism through the gleam of an eye or the clench of a jaw. In a way, Renée thought that Kirika's art reflected her personality perfectly: at first glance, one only beheld a lovely, stoic stillness; but upon further study, one discovered hints of a desperate, roiling passion. Renée positively relished the thought of being the one to unlock all the fire underneath the ice.
Only, all her efforts to go beyond simply educating Kirika had proved largely unsuccessful. Time and again, Renée had found her intentions gently rebuffed, even before she had translated them into actual advances. That was one other thing Renée had learned about Kirika - the young girl was uncannily perceptive about other people's behavior. Hence, in the absence of overt successes, Renée learned to settle for tiny victories - the more frequent smiles coming from Kirika, the warmer glances, the gradual disappearance of polite reserve. The waiting was almost painful in its intensity, but Renée believed Kirika was worth it.
And today's effort should have led to another small victory - for Renée had managed to obtain tickets to a sold-out art show that Kirika had wanted to attend. Only Kirika was surprisingly absent from her studio. Renée frowned, and then shook her head in annoyance at herself. Of course. Kirika had told her the other day that she would be out on Saturday to pick up a friend from the airport. She sighed irritably. The show would run for at least another week. Time enough to come back and ask Kirika out on a date.