Big Eyes, Small Mouth (BESM): In the Shadows of the City - [Fic] Blue as Sky [Complete]

[z-Skye]

Skye had a problem. She’d known it as such for a while; but now it was beyond what she could handle. She’d bottled it away for weeks now, but she knew that her control was slipping. The way she’d lost her temper with Jim was just one symptom. She was losing her grip on herself.

It was the stress, too much pressure bearing down on her all the time. She had noticed that her appetite had dropped off; her lost weight frightened her, a little. But there wasn’t room inside of her anymore for anything but pain and vengeance. The final straw was her break down.

She’d been washing up after practice in the temple, carefully splashing water on her face when she looked up in the mirror. A girl with empty blue eyes stared back at her, a slight look of surprise on her face. It’d been so long since she’d actually looked at herself that it took her a moment to remember that was her reflection.

It was a cold shock to realize she’d expected to see a demon looking back at her.

Something inside of her snapped, and Skye slammed her fist into the mirror with a scream. The shards of glass twinkled into the sink. She didn’t notice the cuts on her fist until they started to hurt. Wincing, she picked the glass out and bandaged the hand, then cleaned up. As she did so, she felt what she was doing; subduing the pain and pushing it deep inside. I’m going to die of an ulcer.

If the demons don’t kill you.

And there it was. It was the Sword of Damocles. All of her thoughts, her entire being centered around the demons – where they were, what they were planning and the constant worry of ‘can they be stopped?’

She needed a break. She couldn’t go on vacation, but she could get away for a while. Could, if she knew where to find some fun. She didn’t, but she knew who did.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Skye knew that going to the school was a risk. She was a foreigner, believed to be dead, who would be deported if the authorities caught her. She didn't want to be caught; she couldn't avenge her mother if she were sent to Germany. And she didn't have family there, either.

But her willingness to take this risk was just one more sign of how shattered she was. Skye had chosen a path, and nothing would sway her from it, not even who she'd have to deal with to get it, or the extremes she'd have to go to.

Her hood was up on her jacket, and a mouth mask covered her face. They were common in Japan, where it was considered polite to avoid passing disease to others. It was a decent disguise that let her blend into the crowd.

Students she knew were walking past her. Most weren't glancing at her. Despite this being exactly what she wanted, it made her feel lonely and isolated - or like she didn't exist anymore. Maybe that's what she was: a ghost. Shivering, she thrust her pale, Caucasian hands deeper in her pockets.

Skye shifted her weight on the motorcycle's seat and mentally urged him to hurry. She didn't know how much longer she could wait for him.

[Kazuo]

Kazuo wasn't about to admit it to anyone, but ever since all this crazy shit with Demon Heads and monsters from hell, school had almost seemed like a refuge for him. Kazuo'd never bothered to pay much attention in his classes before, and that certainly hadn't changed just because Hell had started to invade the lands of the living, but now sitting around in a clean classroom and just vegging out for an hour at a time was a truly welcome reprieve from most of his nights these days. The world goes to hell (literally) and all the 'good' kids start having troubles with focusing on school, while he - the 'bad' kid - suddenly finds school to be something to look forward to. Go figure.

But the school day was over now, and it was time to head on out; maybe go kill some smelly demon-thingies or something; probably get himself slashed up all to hell and ruin yet another perfectly good set of clothes; maybe die - for real this time. So many different possibilities, Kazuo just couldn't wait...

Kazuo was still sliding on his leather motorcycle jacket as he came around the corner of one of the buildings and saw the figure seated on his bike. His brows drew together in anger immediately, and he picked up his pace as he prepared to kick the snot out of whoever was stupid enough to sit on his brand new bike. His old bike had gotten wrecked a few weeks before all the madness when he'd tried to ride it home after an all-night drinking and partying binge, and he'd only just recently managed to replace the thing.

"Oi!", he called as he approached, "get offa my bike!".

The hooded figure turned, and despite the hood and the mask, Kazuo suddenly realized who he was looking at. Huh, he thought, thought she'd dropped out er whatever.

He stopped and smirked at her for a moment before closing the distance between them, he didn't know what she was doing here, and on his bike, no less, but somehow he couldn't help but think that he'd wind up paying for it somehow.

"Skye", Kazuo said as he came to a stop next to his motorcycle. "Somethin' I can do for you?"

[z-Skye]

His shout drew attention, and she winced as she turned towards him. Kazuo seemed to relax when he saw it was her, though, and she decided he wasn’t going throw her off the bike. It had seemed risky when she’d done it, but she found herself doing risky things, just to do them. It was just one more reason to find a safe way to blow off some steam.

Skye glanced around warily as he called her name, hoping no one heard. “Yeah,” she said in answer to his question. She licked her lips and grimaced when her tongue hit the inside of the mask. Skye cleared her throat, some last vestige of pride making it hard to ask for his help.

“And…?” Kazuo asked leadingly, and Skye glanced past him at a student that was staring at them. Was she being recognized?

“Can we talk somewhere else?” she asked softly.

Kazuo stared at her and shrugged. “Sure, we can go to the temple-”

“No!” she said, reaching out a hand to forestall him. “Wait, no. Not the temple.” Seeing him starting to lose patience, she quickly said, “Look, you always know where to find a party. Take me somewhere I can have some fun for a while. I need… I have to get away from the temple for a while, just have some fun. I don’t know where to go; you do.” She was quiet a moment and then, to show her sincerity, she added, “Please, Kazuo.”

[Kazuo]

As Skye's confession came out Kazuo's eyes squinted with amusement and his mouth quirked with a small smile.

When she finished speaking he replied, "So Skye Fell wants ta party the night away with me, huh?" Kazuo's smile got wider and he muttered, "I guess the world really is comin' to an end."

Kazuo pulled out his riding gloves and began to slide them on as he gave Skye a once-over, taking in her hoodie and face-mask. "Yeah, sure, I know of a few places we could go tonight", he said finally as he swung a leg over the bike's seat and sat down in front of Skye. Over his shoulder he added, "But first, we gotta take you somewhere you can get yerself cleaned up. If yer gonna soil yer soul all night long, then ya might as well dress the part, neh?"

"What?", asked Skye, feeling confused. "I'm not really in the mood for any of that, Kazuo. Please, I just want to go somewhere, not take hours getting ready to go there..."

Kazuo just looked back over his shoulder at her again, a smirk on his face, and answered, "Trust me, girl, you won't be thinkin' that way once ya get there. Now come on, I know just the place ta start. An ex o' mine dragged me there once." And with that he gunned the engine of his bike, popped it in gear and pulled out of the school parking lot.

[z-Skye]

Skye didn’t have time to argue before Kazuo gunned his bike. Instinctively, she grabbed at his waist as inertia pulled against her. The wind whipped back her hood and she buried her face in his back, trying to hide her identity, in case one of her classmates cared. She wasn’t sure they would, but she didn’t want to take chances. Of course, being seen with Kazuo would automatically discount her being Skye Fell.

The roar of the motorcycle filled her ears and her body, something she felt as much as heard. Skye lifted her head from Kazuo’s back once they were away from the school. The wind tore at her hair, and she felt her twist tie pull away. She didn’t stop it; the sensation of coming undone was wonderful. Tipping her head back, she smiled at the chill wind coiling over her skin and snapping at her clothing.

All too soon, Kazuo slowed, stopping in front of a store. It was a nail shop, and Skye leaned forward and around him to stare at him. “Are you serious?” she asked.

His dark eyes were bemused as he met her blue gaze. “O’ course,” he told her, pulling out a cigarette and lighting up. “Getcher ass movin’. Don’t wanna be here all night.”

The younger, less angry version of Skye would have argued, ironically. As it was, Skye was tired of fighting. Bracing herself with his shoulders, she hopped off the bike, then paused. “Are you paying for this?” she asked softly. “Because I have no money.” He looked at her and she softly added, “I can pay you back.”

He sighed and dug out a couple of sheets of yen. Nodding her thanks, Skye took the money and went inside. She ordered a manicure and pedicure, taking her time selecting the polish with surprising care. It was surprising simply because of how much she cared and how much she enjoyed it. But after weeks of demon-hunting, this simple activity was a pure delight.

She exited the building half an hour later with soft-pink shaped nails on both fingers and toes. Kazuo just motioned for her to climb back on the bike; he was showing a surprising amount of patience with her right now. She wondered if he were used to waiting for women to pamper themselves. She climbed back behind him and got a grip on his waist again. This time, when he took off, she was ready and didn’t have to make an embarrassing grab.

The next stop appeared to be a dank cellar – or so was the impression given by the exterior. “What are we doing here?” she asked as Kazuo killed the bike.

“Getting’ a dress.” Kazuo got off the bike, but instead of lighting up, began to saunter for the door.

“Here?”

Kazuo grinned. “Best shop in Japan.” He skipped down the stairs and rapped on the door; after a moment, it was opened. Skye sighed and followed, sticking close to his heels.

Inside, it appeared to be a warehouse. Kazuo immediately began talking to the man who’d let them in, who looked more likely to be selling girl’s dirty underwear on a street corner than dresses. But Kazuo’s banter with the man soon revealed the truth; this man was smuggling stolen designer clothing into the country.

The man turned and stared at her, his little eyes traveling over her. “What size are you, pretty girl?”

Skye narrowed her eyes at him, but merely gave her clothing size. He disappeared into the maze of boxes. “You know the oddest people,” Skye said, looking at Kazuo closely.

He shrugged. “He owes me money from a card game.”

“And you’re spending your debt on me? I’m flattered,” Skye said, smirking a little. Before Kazuo could reply, his associate returned with something blue in a plastic sheath. “Where are the fitting rooms?” she asked as she took the dress.

Kazuo’s friend laughed as he passed her matching shoes. “No changing rooms, but I’m sure we won’t mind if you want to try it on here.”

“No thank you,” Skye said coolly. She folded the dress over her arm and turned to Kazuo. “Are we ready to go?”

Kazuo nodded and headed out the door. They got back on the bike and Skye wasn’t surprised when he took her to a salon. He gave her a bit more money and she replied, “Thank you.” She was keeping track of how much he gave her. It was well past dark by now, and she turned to him. “Coming in?”

He gave her a disdainful look. “No,” he grunted. “I’d rather wait.” He pulled out a cigarette and lit up again as she gave him a one-shouldered shrug.

“Ok,” she said. “This could take a while.”

“I know,” he said, leaning against his bike. “The longer ya talk to me, the longer I’ll have to wait.”

Skye sighed and went inside. The women inside were happy to do her hair and make-up, and even let her use a room to change into the dress. To her delight, they didn’t go crazy with her hair, opting to simply curl it and pin it up into a cascade of curls. When she mentioned that she was on a motorcycle, the woman took it back down and just let the curls run free. The makeup was also applied simply, though this was at Skye’s insistence.

The woman stepped back and turned Skye to the mirror. The blue-eyed gaijin blinked in surprise. It had been so long since she’d tried to look pretty that she’d forgotten what it looked like. She gave herself a hesitant smile, admiring the way the blue dress highlighted her eyes, making them look bluer than before. Her makeup made her pale skin look as soft as silk, hiding the recent neglect. The curls framed her face, making her face look less care-worn. “Thank you,” she said, giving the woman change as a tip. Her old clothes were gathered up into a bag for her.

Taking a deep breath, Skye paused inside the door, then pushed through in a burst of movement. Outside, she posed for Kazuo and asked, “Do I meet your standards now?”

[Kazuo]

Kazuo was leaning against his bike when Skye came out, smoking one of his near-ubiquitous cigarettes, and she was surprised to find that he too had changed his apparel - though in his case the transformation was much less dramatic. He'd lost his button-up school shirt, along with the generic navy blue pants, and was now wearing a pair of dark gray pleated slacks and a white polo shirt just tight enough to emphasize the well-formed musculature underneath. Skye could only assume he'd run home to change while she'd been busy in the salon. It made sense; who wants to go partying in their school uniform?

Kazuo whistled at the vision Skye presented as she came out the salon's door in her new blue dress and done-up hair. He clapped his hands appreciatively and said, "Ferget my standards, bijin! Ya look like a genuine tarento! They won't know what hit 'em."

He grabbed his leather jacket from where it was draped over the bike's handlebars and slid his arms into it saying, "Now let's get outta here an' go eat! I'm starved." He got on the bike and gunned the engine, tossing his cigarette to the pavement once he had it started and beckoned for Skye to get on as well.

A little put-off that, after all the time she'd just spent getting ready for a night out partying, Kazuo only seemed interested in food, Skye suddenly realized that she was actually sort of hungry. Still, while she had asked Kazuo to show her a good time tonight, she hadn't asked him to take her on a date, and that's almost what it was starting to feel like.

Almost as if sensing her reservations, Kazuo added, "Hurry up, willya? I know a great izakaya over Shibuya-way - real cheap too - but it'll be hell tryin' ta get a table if we get there much later."

This news perked Skye right up. An azakaya was something uniquely Japanese, and was something like a cross between a fast food joint, a homey diner, and really good bar. In essence, they combined good food with copious amounts of booze, and one could legitimately wonder why the rest of the world hadn't yet caught on to the idea. Skye did her best to get on the bike behind Kazuo without allowing her dress to turn the maneuver into a free show, and then Kazuo gunned the engine and they were off.

Kazuo rode his motorcycle the way he swung his swords in battle, which is to say that it looked he had no real idea what he was doing, and frequently seemed to execute obscenely dangerous maneuvers through and between surrounding traffic for no reason other than just to see what would happen, but somehow he managed to get them through the heart of Shibuya and to their destination in a record time that would do any cab driver proud.

He pulled down an unassuming street, almost an alley, parked his bike, and led Skye down a series of steps into what the sign said was 'Bistro 35 Steps'. Through the front entrance, and they found themselves in a large, boisterous room, already near-to-bursting with customers. They were greeted enthusiastically by more than one passing waiter, as well as two of the chefs behind the main bar - which she could already see boasted quite the selection of alcohol.

"How'd you find out about this place?", Skye asked Kazuo, already warming to the atmosphere around them.

"You kidding?", he asked, glancing over his shoulder as he led her purposefully towards one of the few empty tables. "Everybody knows about this place!" Then he smirked and shrugged and added, "Cept you, cuz yer sutcha square."

To which Skye just rolled her eyes. She certainly knew about the place now.

Once they were seated at their table a waitress came over and presented them menus, saying that she would be back shortly to take their orders. Kazuo pointed out the seared mackerel to Skye, which was the house specialty, but said she could get whatever she wanted. "This place is actually pretty cheap. S'why I like it here - great place ta kill time till the good clubs open up, an' it don't cost ya an arm'n a leg."

"Oi! If it ain't Kazuo 'Kurusu' Kanai, the man, the myth, the legend!", someone shouted at them from back the way they'd just come. Kazuo looked up in the voice's direction with a scowl, but it was immediately replaced with a look of surprise and then a smile at who he saw approaching.

"Sho!", he exclaimed.

"What's up, braddah?", the object of Kazuo's surprise asked as he neared their table.

"Where the hell've you been?!", Skye's fellow 'chosen warrior' asked the newcomer.

"I was just gonna ask you the same thing, kiddo!", he responded affably as he invited himself to join Kazuo and Skye and sat down perfunctorily at their table. "No one's seen you in weeks man."

"Yeah", muttered Kazuo, suddenly evasive, "I been busy. Sorry."

The newcomer grinned generously and said, "No worries, bro. Just introduce me to the lady, and all's forgiven."

"Oh, right." Kazuo suddenly seemed to remember again that Skye was there with him, and that she didn't know everyone he did by default. He looked back at her and said, indicating the newcomer, "Skye, this is Sho Yamamoto. Sho, this is Skye Fell", then he leaned in a little towards Skye and added, "most people call 'im 'the General' though, cuzza his family name."

'The General' Yamamoto looked to be perhaps a year or two older than Skye or Kazuo, but no more. He was skinny, almost to the point of frailness, with thick shaggy hair with some highlights in it, and an exuberant smile that seemed to light up the room all by itself. He was wearing faded jeans, sneakers, and a t-shirt emblazoned with the words 'Lingerie is Love Jewelry'. Despite his being a pale-skinned Japanese kid, there was something almost Rastafarian about him somehow, and he seemed more at ease in his own skin than anyone else Skye could remember seeing in recent memory. Sho wasn't especially handsome, and he didn't cut the striking (if intimidating) figure that Kazuo did, but he practically radiated an easy-going charm that seemed to invite people to smile and relax around him. Skye could easily imagine that 'the General' was popular at parties.

Sho dipped his head in greeting to Skye and then addressed Kazuo while seeming to speak to both of them, "So what finally dragged you out from whatever rock you've been hiding under, kid?" But before Kazuo could even begin to answer, the General grinned hugely and exclaimed, "Hey! I'm meeting a whole group of people here tonight - they should be here any minute. You two have gotta roll with us tonight! We're gonna go club-crawling, soon as we get a good buzz going."

If it were possible, his grin actually seemed to grow larger and more exuberant, and the General asked, "So? You two game?"

[z-Skye]

The motorcycle drive scared Skye. After months of demon fighting, she should have been jaded to danger and fear, but the truth was that without her fans, she was just a girl. The first obscenely dangerous trick that he attempted drew a soft cry from her. Strangling an actual scream, she threw her arms around his waist and clung to him. She spent much of the ride with her eyes pinched shut.

Arriving at the 'Bistro 35 Steps' was a relief in more than one way, but the terrifying ride was rapidly forgotten. Skye had never been at an azakaya before, but she had heard of them from her friends. Her mother had been to them many times; she’d promised to take Skye to one when she turned eighteen. That would never happen now, but Skye pushed that thought away. She was here to have fun, not turn maudlin.

The interior was a pleasant shock; the feel of the sound in the room went all the way to her bones. She grinned happily as she passed through the press of the crowd, following Kazuo whip-thin body through the press of people. She felt a hundred times better already and the night hadn’t really started.

Sho’s arrival was a bit startling. She wasn’t used to people liking Kazuo immediately. Skye couldn’t remember ever being happy to see him. She nodded when introduced but didn’t say anything to him. She liked Sho immediately, which was a little confusing. He didn’t seem like the type of person she’d like.

So at his invitation, she looked at Kazuo, and even his emotionally retarded self saw the eagerness in her expression. So the scarred teen nodded and said, “Sounds cool.”

“Awesome,” ‘the General’ said, nodding and grinning. He and Kazuo began to catch up on old times, while Skye sat back and listened. It was an eye-opening experience for the young girl, but she soon had more to distract her. The booze arrived, followed closely by the aforementioned group of people. Skye tried to remember all the names that were given to her, but she didn’t have much luck. Then Kazuo took one of the two beers he’d ordered and set it in front of her. “Thank you,” Skye said, giving him a smile. She took her first drink of alcohol.

And nearly spit up her first drink. It tasted awful, and only her understanding that it wasn’t supposed to be drunk for taste kept it down. Kazuo had an irritating smirk on his face as he watched her, but it was Sho who called her out. “Your first time?” he asked.

Skye nodded. “Yep. I’m out tonight to get completely blasted.”

“Then you’re out with the right guy,” Sho grinned. “This one time…” He launched into a long story about getting smashed with Kazuo, and the results of that night. Skye half-expected Kazuo to be upset or embarrassed – she would have been – but Kazuo didn’t seem to mind. He laughed with the others and slapped his hand on the table. Their food came and more booze, and Skye began to feel odd, almost light-headed. She noticed in a detached way that she was laughing more, sometimes about things that weren’t very funny. There was a deliciously warm feeling spreading through her body, making it easy to smile.

Getting drunk was fun.

[Kazuo]

Getting drunk and then going in search of a sizzlin' hot dance club was funner!

But getting drunk is the first part, so let's go over that!

After the food had arrived and everyone had had a chance to settle into their meals, Kazuo and Sho insisted that they start up a drinking game, and since they had a fairly large group to work with the choice was immediately obvious. Skye, being the epitome of the proper young woman that she was, had never heard of it, but Kazuo insisted that "dobin chabin hagechabin - ichi ni san!" was an old classic.

At first glance, the game seemed similar to "pin pon pan" (a game that even Skye had heard of), but it was more difficult in execution and it more or less guaranteed the inebriation of everyone involved. The game started with one person saying "dobin" and then pointing at someone else in the group - it didn't matter who - who then said "chabin" and then pointed at someone else. That person then had to say "hagechabin", and then point at someone else and say "ichi!". 'Ichi' then pointed at another person in the group whose job it was to point at still another person and say "ni". Finally, 'Ni' had to point at someone and say "san!". Then it started all over again.

Sounds simple, right? Not so much.

How to lose: fail to point when your turn comes around. Point when saying hagechabin instead of when saying ichi (cuz ya gotta say both if someone points at you while saying chabin, but you only point on ichi). And finally; point at someone who's already had to drink when saying san. If you do point at someone while saying san who's already taken a drink, then you both gotta drink!

As should be obvious by now, this game is basically just one big excuse to get really drunk, really fast. And that’s just what they did!

For a while, time seemed to go a little funny and events all sort of ran together. Not that Skye was missing any details (that she was aware of, anyway), but things just didn’t seem as ‘distinct’ - for lack of a better term - as they usually did, and time kind of lost all importance. What things did seem like, though, was Good Fun!

At some point in the evening, no one afterwards could’ve really said when or how, the decision was made to leave the azakaya and go hit the clubs. If the bill for all their food and drink was ever paid, Skye didn’t see it happen, but no one came chasing after them as they left, so someone must’ve taken care of it… right?

Skye was informed by one of the girls in Sho’s group (she couldn’t remember the girl’s name by this point in the evening if her life had depended on it) that they were going to hit the Ruby Room first.

“Is that a good club?” she asked.

To which Kazuo, a little bleary-eyed but otherwise (and rather amazingly) still not showing his Drunk yet, answered, “S’alright. Kinda small, you ask me. But it opens up at seven, an’ everythin’ else worth goin’ to aint open ‘til ten or eleven. ‘Sides, they’re hostin’ the ‘Bad Noise!’ concert tonight.”

The same girl gasped in excitement at this, “They are?!” This question was apparently rhetorical, because she immediately turned to the other girls in the group and they all seemingly attacked each other with excited whispers.

“What’s ‘bad noise’?” asked Skye, who found herself walking between Sho and Kazuo, and so managed to avoid the Excited Whisper War still taking place off to one side.

This time, it was the General who answered, his exuberant grin still in place and seeming to have only gotten brighter as he’d gotten drunker. “It’s a group that organizes live shows at various clubs. They’re well known for bringing in all kinds of really great bands and DJs and stuff.”

With a sly smile and a wink he added, “Tonight’s theme is ‘Spacey, Sexy, and Sassy. Should be fun, eh?”

The ‘Ruby Room’ turned out to be a fairly posh-looking club, and it shared a location with a hip-looking restaurant called Sonoma that, Skye was informed, served ‘California Cuisine’ (whatever that was) and which also stayed open until 5am, just like the club itself.

When they arrived they could hear the thumpin’ beats of the first band, ‘Bespa Kumamero’ (the Spacey part of the show) pouring out from within. At first Skye thought there would be problems when she saw that the men at the door were checking IDs, but when their group reached the door Sho immediately struck up a conversation with both bouncers and the next thing Skye knew, she and everyone else in their party (about half of whom, she was sure, were just as underaged as she was) were inside.

As advertised, the Room was indeed ‘kinda small’, but in Skye’s opinion it was better described as ‘cozy’. It was also incredibly loud, and already the house was just about packed out. The club’s tiny dance floor was filled to capacity with young people bouncing and dancing with an almost frantic energy, the interior lights flashing and sweeping in a myriad of colors that illuminated but never revealed. The combined effect would have been a heady one even if she hadn’t been drunk.

Kazuo passed close by her on his way out to the dance floor and shouted something at her that she couldn’t hear over the pounding music, and then he vanished with a smile into the pulsating throng of Japanese Youth. An instant later Skye could see his head as he bounced a little higher into the air than those around him, and then he disappeared back into the crowd.

[z-Skye]

Skye followed along on the drinking game, groaning with good-natured annoyance when she messed up and had to drink. It was a great game for getting drunk, especially as rounds passed and it became harder and harder to focus. Harder for her, anyway – Sho and Kazuo seemed just as sharp as ever, and any mistakes they made were not due to inebriation. In fact, they caught everyone else’s mistakes long past the point that Skye could remember the rules.

The cooler night air helped clear some of the fuzziness, but not enough to bother her. She walked along between the two men easily, listening to them talk about the clubs and bands on the roster tonight. The whispering concerned her a little, though only because she knew what girls whispered about when left to themselves. The concern that they might be plotting against her seemed a minor issue compared the much more important concern that it’d been a while since they’d drank, and she might lose her buzz soon.

About two blocks away from the club, Skye suddenly became aware of the two men on either side of her. It was nothing she’d ever allowed herself to feel before, but she sensed their masculinity as a startling pulse of energy. Lowering her eyes, she tried not to feel it, but it was still there, a throbbing ache that shivered deep into her body. She was glad when they arrived at the club and she had something to distract her.

The group she was with wasted no time in getting onto the dance floor. Kazuo may have been the first, but he wasn’t the only one who left her standing, lost in the chaos. Sho took pity on her, giving her a gentle shove that had her stumbling into the mass. Like Kazuo, he shouted something at her that was lost in the wall of noise. She’d had just enough time to steel herself against the onslaught and now she embraced it, throwing herself into the dancing morass.

Soon, Skye had lost most of her alcoholic buzz, but she’d gained another. The natural high of a body moving without pause soon had her soaring – like flying but without leaving the ground. The pretty gaijin found that she had no lack of partners as she moved to the rhythm of the beats. The music wasn’t her style, but that was easy to forget. It had a beat; that was all that was important.

At some point, she found herself dancing with the General, grinning at him with sloppy exuberance. She’d never know whether he had thoughts of taking advantage of the situation; tonight, he was the perfect gentleman. Then another partner claimed her, spinning her off into the music, and her dance with Sho was forgotten.

A few hours later, the others realized that the performances were pretty much done, and that some cooler places would be open. They began to round up their comrades, which was pretty easy because most of them knew the patterns of the night and had started to make their way toward the door. But one of their number didn’t know the etiquette or timing of clubbing and wasn’t aware that she was supposed to be going anywhere other than deeper into the dance floor.

“Where is she?” one of the girls huffed impatiently.

“We should go,” a second one said.

“Can’t,” Kazuo said, bouncing on his toes to see into the crowd. “Said I’d show her around.” More than that, the young teen understood what she hadn’t asked of him but he’d still more or less agreed to do. He’d agreed to watch out for her and to not let her get hurt. He had her back, like in the battlefield, only this involved less blood and death. In theory.

Kazuo and the General told everyone else to stay put while they plunged into the crowd, looking for their “lost lamb”. It was Sho who found her, dancing near the D.J.’s booth, and dragged her out. “So we’re going to another one?” she asked as she stumbled into the General.

Sho chuckled as he gently righted her. “Yeah, we’re going to a bigger, cooler place. It’s WAREHOUSE702.”

“Lead on, so long as they have music and beer,” Skye laughed.

“Where’d you find this one?” Sho asked Kazuo with a chuckle. “She’s a natural partier.”

“It’s always the quiet ones,” Skye quipped, then giggled at her own wit.

“Ain’t it though,” the General agreed, throwing Kazuo a bemused look.

Once again, Sho seemed to know the magic charm to get them all inside without the use of IDs. The inside of WAREHOUSE702 was cavernous with flat screens and laser lights anointing the front stage. A live band was already putting the ridiculous sound system to good use, creating sounds that were felt as much as heard. This time, Skye was one of the first onto the floor. Her slim form pushed into the press of bodies, even as she looked over her shoulder and gave Kazuo one last coy smile. Then the gaijin was gone like the Cheshire Cat.

[Kazuo]

Kazuo almost hated to admit it, but he'd been having fun so far. This had been a really good idea on Skye's part, though he was concerned (in that tiny part of his mind that was still capable of feeling concerned for others) at her reasons for wanting to be here. Skye wasn't out to have fun, as much as she was out to forget, and he knew how that usually ended. Not that he was going to judge her for her behavior or anything - pretty much the only reason Kazuo ever went out and partied was to forget.

It was ironic really; both he and Skye had grown up with only their mothers to look after them. But where Skye's mother had apparently done a semi-decent job of it and had actually seemed to care about Skye, Kazuo's mother had stopped paying attention to him about ten minutes after his father's funeral was over and if she'd ever felt anything other than disgust for him she'd never let it show. And whose mother was it who had died at the hands of their enemies and whose was still alive?

In Kazuo's opinion, the gods had a shitty sense of humor.

Sho saw the "gaijin" smile at Kazuo before she disappeared into the crowd and nudged his scarred friend with a shoulder as he chuckled at him. Kazuo smiled lopsidedly back at him and shrugged, then he went in after her.

It took him a moment to find his teammate, but it wasn't that hard. Even in Roppongi the natives far outnumbered petite foreign girls with white-blonde hair. Kazuo sidled up next to her, dancing and bouncing along with the music. Leaning in close he shouted over the thumping beats so that Skye could hear him and asked, "So're ya having fun yet?"

[z-Skye]

Somehow, in the seconds she’d been out of Kazuo’s sight, Skye had managed to score a bottle of cheap wine, which was she was diligently working on when he sidled up to her. She would have had to sucker it off someone, but who that might be was a mystery. For all Kazuo knew, she’d summoned it with some bullshit mystical power. That would actually be cool, save that it sounded too cool for the shit they usually had to do. More likely someone gave it to her.

Skye was relaxed and as close as she could be to happy. The alcohol was making her feel even more loose and floaty than it normally did. Her eyes were glassy and her face ecstatic as Kazuo leaned down to shout at her. “So’re ya having fun yet?”

“Ficken ya!” she hollered back, looping an arm over his neck. It wasn’t often this close to her, and given the way the floor kept rocking back and forth, she needed the support. She didn’t stop dancing, and her body bumped arhythmically against his. She pushed the bottle against his chest – mostly because she would have missed had she tried to put it in his hand – and said, “Thanks to you, I’ve had so much fun! This is awesome! Want something? Something to drink?” She rocked the bottle gently against his chest, as if the sloshing of the liquid would induce him to drink.

She lapsed into silence, but she had the nagging feeling she should say or do more than she had. The alcohol, the dancing, and the recreational additive to the wine were messing with her. She wasn’t herself, but that was exactly what she wanted. Out of the blue, she blurted, “I dreamed about kissing you.” There was no shame on her face, and the previous Skye Fell would have died before admitting that. But this Skye had only a drugged, happy look as she grinned up at him, full of chemically-induced good-nature.

[Kazuo]

When Skye pressed the bottle of cheap wine to Kazuo's chest, his hand instinctively reached up to grasp it. Technically, 'cheap' wine was pretty much the only kind you could find in Japan - and it wasn't all that cheap either. His country was justifiably famous for its saki, and in recent decades Japan had started producing some damn fine beers as well, but it was not a nation known for its fine selection of vino. Still, it was alcohol.

As Kazuo's hand closed over the bottle his fingers closed over Skye's as well, and between the lights, the music, and her state of inebriation it took Skye a moment to notice and release her grip on the wine. Kazuo brought the neck of the bottle to his lips and was right in the middle of taking a swig when Skye blurted out her confession of having dreamed of kissing him. It was all he could do to keep from spewing the entire contents of his mouth into the dancing throngs as a fine alcoholic mist.

He just barely managed to get the wine down without choking on it, but he still had to cough a few times afterwards. Kazuo used the time as an excuse to gather his wits and recover from hearing what, he would have sworn at any point before tonight, was the last thing he would ever hear come out of Skye Fell's mouth and directed at him! Once he felt it was safe to start breathing again, Kazuo gave his dance partner a smile that was maybe two parts sly and one part self-conscious.

"Oh yeah?", he finally asked, as nonchalantly as he could manage. "So was I any good at it? In yer dream?"

[z-Skye]

Skye giggled at his question, brushing a pale lock of hair out of her eyes with a clumsy gesture. It wasn't that funny, but she enjoyed the way he asked it, and the fun look on his face when he asked the question. While he coughed, she concentrated on her dancing, trying to make her movements look better than they were. It wasn't as easy as it should be, and by the time he asked his question, she was ready for a distraction. She didn't answer immediately; instead she let him hang while she wrapped her hand over his and took another swig from the bottle - all without giving him time to let go.

She wasn't too even doing it, and Kazuo helped rather than let her dribble wine down her front. Licking an errant bit of wine off the corner of her lips, she grinned widely and said, "Well, ya, I guess. I mean it was a dream, so you had to be good. It was the night after that thing... the shooting thing... and instead of letting me out of the car, you kissed me. Lots. Lots of different ways."

He remained quiet as he let her continue to ramble and buy herself ever deeper. Every sentence out of her mouth only made this better, as she said, "It was lots of times... repeating, you know? Only you didn't smell bad, and the door of the car was unlocked, and you weren't driving... It was nice, sure. But that's a dream, right? It's always nice in dreams, because... well, it is. I was imagining it, and I guess I imagined it was good.”

The music changed tempo, and Skye spent a few seconds trying to match the rhythm. Instead, she mostly bumped into Kazuo like a drunken teen in heels, which is exactly what she was. Giving up on dancing again, she peered up at him and asked, “What about you? Ever dream about me?”

[Kazuo]

Kazuo remained quiet because he was busy taking frequent and lengthy swigs of cheap wine. It wasn't that Skye's drunken confession made him nervous or uncomfortable (though it was a bit awkward), it was just that if this little confession of hers came back to haunt him later on ("How could you let me say those things, Kazuo?!") he wanted to be able to say he was good and drunk at the time. Considering what a belligerent asshole he was even while sober, Skye could hardly fault him for just standing there and letting her dig her way into a five-mile pit if he was tanked at the time. Not that that would stop her from blaming him anyway - assuming she could still remember any of this tomorrow - but at least he'd have an excuse. These things were important.

And man, she was really digging. Those guys at TauTona had nothin' on this chick.

Giving up on dancing again, she peered up at him and asked, “What about you? Ever dream about me?”

What the hell was this?! Truth or dare? Che...

"Uh...", said Kazuo. Maybe chugging half a bottle of wine in less than half a minute hadn't been such a hot idea. "...no." Right! There you go. Honesty. That's always the best policy!

For motherfucking douchebag idiots! Are you an idiot, Kazuo?! Are you?!?!

"But! Uh...", he said, recovering (relatively) quickly - or trying to anyway, "Those dreams a yers sound kinda nice. Maybe I oughtta start."

Yes! Great recovery! You sure showed her what a total Reek-Oh Swahvay you are right there, jackass. Yessir, you did!

Fucking idiot.

[z-Skye]

Skye silently watched Kazuo run through verbal gymnastics, doing the equivalent of face-planting on dismount. She was very drunk, but she still had enough of her senses to recognize what was going on, without the inhibition to let it go. Normally, she’d veer away from the conversation – normally, they wouldn’t be having this conversation.

But tonight, Skye had her arms around his neck – that was all for balance, truly – and this was a night for breaking rules. Tonight, she grinned sloppily up at him and said, “Kazuo, you are a verdammt idiot.”

She grabbed the bottle and drained it – she’d found it and fair was fair. It also gave him time to think about her wisdom before she continued. “You see, whenever you are asked whether you dream about a hot woman, the answer is always yes. Then you add some sexy details like scalding kisses and roaming hands and the catch of her breath as you nibble her earlobe. I mean, Kazuo, think about this. Even if the answer is no, you say yes, because otherwise, you’re telling the hot woman that you don’t think she’s hot. If you want her to be interested, you have to let her know you’re a little bit into her. I mean, saying no… that’s just like saying you’re not interested, even a little. You understand m… me?”

Skye’s smile fled suddenly as she put the clues together. “Oh,” she said, her face falling while she tried really hard to let him see her dismay. Being drunk, she wasn’t as good at it as she would have normally been, and Kazuo had no doubt what she was feeling. “Oh. You don’t think…”

It wasn’t that she wanted Kazuo to like her or even want her. But it would be nice if he thought she were hot. Just nice. She didn’t want more, but she had so little left. What if she stopped being attractive to men? She’d been pretty for so long she wasn’t sure what she’d do if she wasn’t pretty anymore. Yes, she had the demon-hunting, but that was in no way a benefit. She wasn’t that smart and if she lost her looks, what would she do? What would she have left to treasure?

Her blue eyes dropped to the floor as she disentangled from the taller boy. “Need more to drink,” she said, but not loudly enough to really be heard. She did need more to drink – more to chase away her fears, more to chase away her demons. She couldn’t fight these off with a magic fan; she could only hope to drown them in a sea of drugs.

[Kazuo]

Yep. Biiiiiiigggg fucking idiot.

Kazuo grimaced as he watched Skye's departing back and ran two fingers unconsciously over the horizontal scar that traveled across his forehead. How in the hell had he been talked into this by Skye Fell?! The two of them were from completely different worlds, and they both knew it. They didn't even like each other!

On the other hand, they were also teammates, and they depended on each other with their lives...

Kazuo cursed under his breath (not that anyone would've heard over all the thumping music) as he took off after Skye. "Oi!", he shouted angrily over the music as he caught up with her. He grabbed her by the shoulder and spun her around, not exactly roughly, but with the characteristic Kanai lack of gentleness. "What the hell wuz that all about, hey? Since when do you give a shit what I think about anything?", he demanded.

Kazuo paused for a second and glanced upwards, obviously fighting a battle of some kind within himself and not at all looking forward to saying what he was about to. "Look", he continued, "never mind what I said back there, kay? I'm drunk, same as you, remember?"

He grinned ruefully and said, half to himself, "I'm drunk pretty much every night, actually. Unless we're out fightin' fuckin' demons an' stuff. Anyways, half the time I can barely remember the night before, let alone my dreams, yanno?" What Kazuo didn't say was that he did wake up remembering his nightmares just fine. Especially the ones with Reiko in them, and what the demon did to her...

Kazuo grinned his wolfish grin again and said, "Yer Skye Fell. Of course yer hot! Yer, like, the hottest girl in here!"

Whether his words made Skye feel any better or not, Kazuo still felt like a fucking idiot.

[z-Skye]

Kazuo caught her near the bar. The hand on Skye’s shoulder whipped her around sharply and the room swirled in a drunken stagger – a stagger which Skye emulated before she caught herself on the back of one of the bar chairs. Her blue eyes were blurry – not just with alcohol anymore – as she gazed up at Kazuo as he talked. He seemed to be doing alright, right until the end.

Kazuo grinned his wolfish grin again and said, "Yer Skye Fell. Of course yer hot! Yer, like, the hottest girl in here!"

Her small face twisted up with anger. “Stop saying that!” she cried, shoving at him, her push having no power or grace behind it. “Skye Fell is dead! She died in her apartment with her mother!”

She paused for a moment, but only a moment. Her hands were knotting around his shirt, holding clumps of it tightly. “I don’t care what you think, Kazuo, I cared what a boy thought about me,” Skye said, her eyes wide as she tried not to start sobbing in front of him. “I don’t want to be ugly. I don’t have anything else! I’m not the most popular girl in school anymore, I’m not Skye Fell… I’m just a girl who has to… to… fight and see ugly things and risk death every night! I’ve lost my chance at being a normal girl, and if I lose being pretty, I won’t have anything else but fighting and death!”

Skye realized she was ranting, not that anyone heard them over the music. Releasing his shirt, she said, “And I can tell you because you don’t care. You don’t care about anything, and even though you may laugh at me for being stupid, you still don’t really care. You’re not going to try to protect my feelings and bullshit me because you don’t care. So if you say it, it’s true.”

Ironically, that was the most honest Skye had ever been with anyone in her entire life.

[Kazuo]

Kazuo was quiet the whole time that Skye ranted, and for a moment after she finished as well, but his expression had changed during that time from one of surprised confusion (when Skye had suddenly blown up at him) to one of hardened impassiveness (when Skye had first started talking about how she didn't care what what he thought and that she thought he didn't care at all) to an expression of smirking disdain.

"That's such a fuckin' load a bullshit", he said after another moment.

Kazuo shifted his weight and pointed one long finger at her as he continued, "Look, I know losin' yer mom sucked, but stop bein' so fuckin' melodramatic about it! It ain't like yer the only person in the whole stinkin' world that's ever happened to."

He retracted the finger he'd been pointing at Skye and instead jabbed a thumb at himself, "I know what it's like to lose a parent too, ok?"

Actually, he knew what it was like to lose both parents, and what was more, he'd lost the second parent not because she'd died but because she just didn't care, and in Kazuo's opinion that hurt a lot worse than when they died on you. But that would take too long to explain - and anyhow - Skye had lost both of her parents as well, and more permanently than him, so there was no point in comparing fuckin' battle scars or anything.

"So you want me ta tell you how it is?", he asked her, letting his finger get back to the business of pointing at her, "Fine. Here's how it is: yer still you, whether ya like it're not. If bein' pretty's all ya got now, that's all ya had then! Just cuz somethin' shitty happened to ya, it don't mean ya stop bein' yerself. Yer still you, just in a shittier situation is all."

At this point Kazuo's finger once again ceased its pointing, but only so that it could aid his other hand in gesticulating as Kazuo continued on his own rant. "And what the hell're you talkin' about, 'bein' pretty's all I got'? That's the stupidest goddam thing I ever heard! Even from a girl!"

At this point it was Kazuo's turn to realize that he was ranting. He stopped himself and smoothed out the shirt that Skye had just rumpled up with her fists.

He looked around himself as if realizing where he was for the first time. "What the hell're we even talkin' about this for, anyway?", he asked incredulously. "We're in a fuckin' awesome club an' we came here to party an' get wasted so we could ferget about all this shit! So you're kind've a bitch and I'm a total asshole - so what? No one gives a shit, goddammit!"

Kazuo gave Skye a half-smirk, half-grin as if he'd just succeeded in completely forgetting about all of the very serious and very depressing stuff they'd just been talking about and exclaimed, "Now let's go find some fuckin' alcohol! I want my buzz back!"

He grabbed Skye by the arm again, but instead of spinning her around so that he could shout at her he started hauling her in the direction of the club's bar with the clear intention of procuring some more booze for them both.

[z-Skye]

Skye wasn’t sure if she liked Kazuo’s rant. She didn’t want to be herself anymore; she wanted to be someone who had never had a mother to love and lose. She wanted to be someone who had been born and raised to fight demons, who knew that she wouldn’t fail at the worst time. She kinda wanted to be a famililess Keiko, without having been Skye, first.

Of course, the realization that she envied the school’s weird priestess was even more depressing than the fact she’d run to the school misfit to get her wasted. Or the fact that she was in this situation at all. She felt like breaking down in tears; the alcohol was accenting her sorrow and sense of loss. She’d been popular. She’d been happy. She’d been normal. And now she couldn’t be any of it. She’d never have her life or her mother back. And she felt like shit because she knew that she was being selfish – her mother was dead and she was equally depressed that she wasn’t the popular girl at school.

Kazuo dragged her to the bar, snagging her a stool as a guy with super-fake blonde hair vacated it. She pulled herself up, finding herself almost the same height as Kazuo, between his slump and her high seat. They were closer to the music and the noise here was deafening. “Stay here,” he shouted, then ducked into the crowd again, moving down the bar to grab the bartender. Skye watched him, waiting morosely for him to return with the booze.

A flash of white caught her eye, and Skye looked at the guy next to her. He was lining up white pills on the bartop. Skye leaned over. “Hey, what’re those?” she shouted.

“E!” the guy shouted back. She didn’t understand and made him repeat himself twice more before he said, “Ecstasy!”

“The drug?” Skye asked and then realized how dumb that made her sound. “I mean, cool!”

The guy eyed her then grabbed one and thrust it into her hand. “First one’s free, chan.”

Skye ignored the pet name; he hadn’t earned the right to use it and she should protest. But the pig was giving her pleasure in a little white capsule, and Skye wasn’t about to turn it down in a snit over what name he’d called her. She shouted, “Thanks!” and tossed the tiny pill into her mouth. Piggy offered her a drink and Skye screamed gratitude again before kicking back a deep swallow of some kind of sake. It burned all the way down, but Skye welcomed it, knowing that it carried the little capsule in addition to its own sweet relief. The guy waited, his eyes gleaming predatorily, for her to succumb, but was interrupted when Kazuo returned.

The guy eyed the scarred man and decided that it was prudent to not look too possessive of the pretty blond just yet. Kazuo didn’t even notice him, thrusting a plastic shot glass into Skye’s hand. He sloppily poured her a drink from the bottle he carried; as she raised the glass to her lips, he was taking his draught straight from the bottle.

However, Skye didn’t get a chance to notice that in any detail. She was too busy dying as the liquid burned a liquid fire down her throat and into her stomach. It was like drinking a lightning bolt, and Skye coughed violently. “Did you just pour me Drano!?” she shrieked at Kazuo before erupting into another coughing fit.

[Kazuo]

Kazuo just smirked and hollered back at her, "Well, I cut it with alcohol first, so quit complainin!"

He pulled himself up into a chair next to Skye, still completely oblivious of the creepy guy with the E, and poured another shot into her glass while she continued to cough and sputter. Once she'd settled down a bit he signaled to her to drink again. He started to holler at her again, but when Skye shook her head in confusion and turned an ear towards him, Kazuo leaned in close and repeated himself.

"Drink up, bijin. If yer lookin to drown yer sorrows, then that there's yer ocean. Happy sailing, eh?" He grinned as he leaned back from her and then took another swig from the bottle.

Too bad no one had ever told either of them that trying to drown one's sorrows never works, because sorrows know how to swim too.

[z-Skye]

They plowed through the bottle together. The creepy dude was confused, because Kazuo was working really hard to get this girl drunk but didn't seem to be taking advantage of it. Maybe he was just a patient operator.

Skye ignored the guy, which was easy because the world was rolling apart into two or three little balls. It was hard to say how that worked, but that's what was going on. Kazuo's ocean was helping her with that sensation, but there were other things going on as well. With the bottle emptied, Kazuo moved to take Skye back onto the dance floor. She was a bit wobbly but enthusiastic. That was also the end of creepy guy, who watched his free tab of E disappear into the crowd.

Skye and Kazuo danced for a while, then headed back to the bar at Kazuo's insistence. A veteran at both partying and getting so drunk you couldn't remember why you'd started drinking to began with, he knew what he was doing. All the moving and drinking would catch up to Skye quickly, especially given her size.

However, Skye was still going after their fourth trip to the bar. She wasn't going particularly straight or steadily, but she was the one pulling him back out onto the floor now. At least she didn't seem sad or depressed anymore; in truth, she could barely remember her problems anymore. Something about... some fans? Whatever, it wasn't important.

What was important was the way everything felt. Life was so wonderful, and everything felt so indescribably cool - the way her dress swished over her legs, the caress of her hair on her shoulders and the texture of Kazuo's shirt when she grabbed his arm. It was all so very interesting - it was like she was alive in a way she'd never been before.

And she understood people. Like, she really got them! Take Kazuo - he was all mean and gruff, but he was just a big softie. Skye knew this about him. In mid-dance, she lunged forward, embraced him around his chest and mumbled something into his shirt. He couldn't hear what she said over the music, and it was just as well; he wouldn't have appreciated Skye's E-laced insight into his character. In short, all that was important to know is that Skye was a very unpredictable and fun drunk.

[Kazuo]

After their... how many times had they gone back and forth from the bar to the dance floor now? Not even Kazuo could remember any more, and Skye seemed to have reached that point of inebriation where the spatial relationship between the bar and the dance floor had vanished, along with her ability to move in a straight line, and the only appreciable difference between them anymore was that one place had alcohol and a bar for her to lean on while the other had music and a Kazuo for her to lean on.

Well, whatever, the point was that at some point, the night had blurred for everyone involved into a wash of lights and sounds and movement, and then everything had gone black...

Skye blinked sleepily, and immediately regretted it. Her eyelids felt like they had five-pound weights attached to them, her eyeballs felt like they'd been pickled in alcohol and then lit on fire, and her head felt like it was being squeezed in a vice while the Bacardi Gremlin took a hammer and pick to her forehead. Why worry about those silly demons any more? Nothing they could do to her could possibly hurt this bad!

She half rolled and half fell out from underneath the veritable mountain of blankets she'd been sleeping under (whose bed was this?) and stumbled into a nearby bathroom that she didn't recognize. Skye hit the light switch and then let out an offended and pained groan as the lights clicked on. She squinted through the blinding lights (they were burning brighter than magnesium flares!) into the mirror at her reflection and groaned again. Skye decided right there on the spot that all mirrors were liars! Take the one she was looking in for example; it was clearly showing her a head attached to her neck that in all ways appeared to be perfectly normal (if a bit puffy around the eyes). Nonsense! She could tell by feel alone that it had to be at least the size of Mount Fuji, possibly larger!

Skye scowled disdainfully at the deceitful mirror and shook her head (bad idea!) as she stumbled to the toilet.

A few minutes later Skye came shuffling out of the bathroom and made an unsteady beeline for that blessed mound of blankets spread across the oversized bed she'd woken up in. A small part of her mind was still very curious about whose bed it was and, more importantly, where she was, but such concerns would have to wait until after all the cotton in her brain had drained back into that oh-so-soft-looking pillow she had every intention of going back to sleep upon. Skye collapsed onto the bed and immediately vanished under the covers again.

Some indeterminate amount of time passed before consciousness returned to Skye's mind. She rolled onto her back and blinked again, experimentally. It was still an unpleasant experience, but at least it didn't feel like she was dragging sandpaper over her eyeballs anymore, and her head felt significantly smaller. She almost felt human. She glanced over at Kazuo, who was sitting up in bed next to her, shirtless, blinking his eyes and smacking his lips with the exquisite slowness of the terminally hungover... ...wait a minute...

Kazuo turned with bleary-eyed slowness at the noise but froze when he saw who was in bed with him. The two of them stared at each other for an instant of time, she with slack-jawed shock, he with an uncertainly blank expression as his newly awoken mind struggled to wrap itself around what he was seeing. Then Skye shrieked and scrambled to a sitting position as she scooted to the far corner of the bed, nearly falling out in the process.

"Oh my god!", she screamed at him, "What're you doing-", but a low groan coming from under the covers behind Kazuo cut through her words and stopped them short in the way that only an unexpected groan erupting from a remote corner of one's bed can. Kazuo spun around, saw something on the other side of himself that Skye couldn't, hollered something incoherent and scrambled across the sheets until he bumped into Skye, dislodging her from the sheets she was clutching to herself and knocking her out of bed entirely.

Skye shrieked again as she did an involuntary backwards somersault, coming up on her knees next to the bed, all rage and anger at Kazuo ficken Kanai. She slapped one hand on the bed for support, whipped her hair out of her eyes with the other - and found herself looking across the bed at Sho Yamamoto.

"Sho...?", she muttered almost inaudibly.

Unlike Skye and Kazuo, Sho Yamamoto didn't look especially hung over; in fact, he looked particularly well-rested, truth be told. But he did look every bit as surprised to find himself staring across the sheets at Skye and Kazuo as they were to see him.

"Skye?", he asked. He started to get out of the bed, but as soon as the covers started to slide past his waist it became apparent he wasn't wearing anything underneath. "Oop!", he exclaimed, and promptly sat back down and jerked the covers back over himself.

"Ah-regh?!", shouted Kazuo, clearly more disturbed than ever.

"Kazuo?!", asked Sho, as though just seeing his friend for the first time.

Skye, still blushing furiously at Sho's brief exposure and all that it and Kazuo and this entire situation implied, suddenly remembered her anger with Kazuo. She smacked him on his bare shoulders a couple of times as she shrieked, "Kazuo Kanai, Du hurensohn! That hurt!"

"Well what were ya doin' layin' there next ta me anyway?!", he groused as he glared over his shoulder at his teammate, but then stopped short for some reason.

"What am I doing here?", she retorted angrily as she pulled herself to her feet, "I was just going to ask you the sam-OHMYGOD!"

This last incoherency was shrieked immediately after realizing she was in her underwear.

"Oh my god!" She made a grab for the blanket, trying to cover herself, but Kazuo yanked it right out of her grasp, obviously not wanting to lose his own modesty as well. "Gitcher own!", he growled and pointed off behind her, "Yer dress is over there!"

"Ohmigod", Skye muttered as she raced over to her dress.

Behind her, she could hear 'The General' asking, "What's going on? What're you two doing here?"

"What the hell're you doin' here, Sho?", Kazuo demanded in return, "An' why're you naked?!"

"Oh. My. God.", Skye repeated, praying and hoping that she was going to wake up at any moment and find this was all a dream.

"I dunno", muttered Sho in an irritatingly amiable voice, "Hey Skye, you see my underwear over with your dress?"

"Oh my god!", Skye all but screamed, yanking her dress - which she'd found draped over an industrial-looking construct that seemed to be equal parts gynecological table and bondage chair - over her head and pulling it into place like her life depended on it. Where the hell was she?!

"No! I don't see your underwear over here, Sho!"

"Hmm... well they're aren't over here..."

"Where did you two take me last night?!", Skye demanded.

"How the hell should I know?", retorted Kazuo.

"The Sexus", said Sho.

"The Sexus?", asked Skye, confused but already dreading the answer.

"Yeah", answered Sho.

"The Sexus?!", exclaimed Kazuo.

"Yeah", Sho repeated himself.

"What's the Sexus?", Skye asked tentatively.

"Kuso", murmured Kazuo.

"It's a love hotel", answered Sho.

"A love... what? Oh my god!"

"Ku-SOH..."

"What?"

"You took me to a love hotel?!"

"We had to sleep somewhere, and you two were too drunk to tell me where to drop you off..."

"Hey, look Skye", said Kazuo in an unusual (for him) placating tone, "nothin' happened, alright? Nothin-"

"How would you know?", she demanded, "Sho just said - you were too drunk to even know where-OMIGOD!" Skye shrieked yet again and covered her face with her hands.

"Oop!", Kazuo said. He'd tried to stand up as well, only to realize that he too wasn't wearing anything under the sheets. This just kept getting better and better...

Skye exploded. "I can't deal with this!", she exclaimed as she started towards the door, "I can't believe this is even happening to me! I can't believe you two would - Ugh!!!"

She stopped at the door and looked back at the two naked young men huddled on opposites sides of an oversized bed beside whom she'd recently been sleeping up until only a few minutes ago. "Ugh!", was all she said, and then she was out the door, slamming it behind her.

Into the silence that followed Skye's departure, Sho looked sidelong at Kazuo and said, "So..."

Kazuo blew out the breath he'd been holding for the past minute. "What the fuck", he exclaimed to no one in particular. He met Sho's gaze and said, "Dude, where's your underwear?"

"Where're yours, bro?"

"Yeah... good question", he muttered while looking around for the article of clothing under discussion. Or his pants. Or even his shirt, for that matter.

After a moment he turned back to Sho. "Why the hell did you bring us to a love hotel, man?"

"What's wrong with this place? Besides, it's cheaper than a hotel, braddah!" That was actually true.

Sho looked down at himself and then back over to Kazuo with a look of both amusement and concern. "This stays between you and me though, right?"

"Oh, hell yeah", Kazuo replied without even hesitating.

"What about her?", Sho asked with a nod of the head towards the door that Skye had recently departed through. "You think she'll tell anyone?"

"What? That she woke up half-naked in a strange bed next to me?" Kazuo smirked at his friend. "Not a chance in hell!"