Summer Shopping (Ryu)

[kazue]

"Hey, just cause she liked you doesn't mean she doesn't hate others. She is cruel cruel woman when she wants to be. Yea, but my mom doesn't give up. A good example would be when she got shot. She watched like three friends die that day and she got shot twice...She still ended up burning down some old warehouse and kicking the ass of many many people, even shot. So, I think even with your dad being as talkative as a rock...She'd still go after him if she liked him."

Kazue finished with putting her clothes away and pulled Aiko and Bandit from the bag. She blinked at them and set them on one of the chairs in her room. Neither pet woke. They just kept sleeping.

"Oh yea? That is cool. Only thing my mom ever did in school was be a cheer leader, and join that gang I mentioned earlier. They protected the school. You know, I think she mentioned they had pillars at her old school. She was friends with most of them I bet."

Kazue blinked and watched Shiro nibble at his treats. She smiled and then looked up at Ryu as he talked about the different clubs they wanted to start.

"Oh Drama club sounds fun. Speech club... I'm not really sure about that one...Host club? Wait you mean like that one anime?"

Kazue imagined Ryu as part of the host club and her blush almost returned. She had to quickly think of something else and since Ryu mentioned maybe appointing her head of Drama Kazue blinked and smirked at him with a bit of a giggle.

"Are you saying I'm dramatic Ryu-chan? You know, I'd be hurt if running the drama club didn't sound like so much fun."

She laughed a little to her self.

"Well, I vote for drama club... that host club idea doesn't sound too bad either."

She giggled trying to hide her blushing cheeks from him.

"So I've never lived in this part of New York before... mom and I used to live on the outskirts near farm land and stuff. What is there to do around here?"

[Ryu Hikari]

"She'd have to follow him to Japan then, because he'll be going back there pretty soon, he only came for vacation for three weeks. He was friends with most of the other Pillars he was with, one was his best friend at one high school, and the other is his really close friend from another school, the Superintendent of our school."

Shiro nibbling at the treat, his kitten ate pretty neatly, so not a lot of crumbs fell and ended up landing in the saucer of water. Why was he not surprised Kazue would like drama club though?

"Yeah, like that one anime... I have no idea what the person that suggested it was thinking though..."

His player does. Smirking at Kazue, once Shiro had finished munching on his treat, Ryu would give his kitten a gentle pat on his head and leave him be, Shiro resuming lapping up the water again.

"Of course not, Kazue-san, but you seem to be the most experienced with clubs and the best candidate to run a club. You'll have to come to the club opening though, because I can't guarantee you the title immediately, but you've got a good shot at it."

Continuing to smirk at her, sarcasm aside, looks like drama club was the most popular choice... and Host Club. Well, with one girl. He wasn't sure about the other female students, to be honest. Pretending to not see Kazue blushing, as he took a sip from his ginger ale, a bit of a frown would appear on his face.

"... I don't know, to be honest. I've only been in New York for about a month now, and most of my time was spent studying, since school wasn't out yet. I only found that Japanese restaurant because one of my friends told me about it. Maybe the two of us should go out and play tourist one day."

Want to bet someone would mistake the two of them as a Japanese couple tourists? Shrugging casually, at least this way, the both of them could explore New York City, and not get weird looks from the locals. Besides, it's always more fun being in a group, well in this case, a couple duo than by yourself.

"I wouldn't mind going around New York City with you, to be honest..."

[kazue]

"Oh yea, you mentioned that earlier. How do you feel about your dad being in Japan and you guys being here? I mean.... my mom is all I have. When she isn't around the house is quiet. Almost eerie."

Kazue said as she watched Shiro for a little bit. Bandit and Aiko snored sleepily on one of her bedroom chairs and for a moment Kazue scrunched up her nose and looked at them. She reached over and lightly nudged them. Little paws batted at her hand as if to tell her to stop. Kazue did it till Bandit sat up groggy looking and glared at her. She giggled and he got up, knocking Aiko from their resting place. He jumped down onto the fox and walked to Kazue's door.

"Of course, that would be terrible of you to not let someone else have a go at running it. You can totally count me in though. I'll show up and hey who knows... if I get to run it... maybe I can draft you in for a play or two."

She smiled and got up. Aiko sat up, fur looking crazy as she stared at the people around her. She stood up, fell down again. A soft murr came from the groggy Aiko. She lazily lumbered to her partner in crime and sat on his tail. Watching two pets groggily try to function and get out of their owners room was amusing. Kazue opened the door for her pets and Bandit shot out to go sleep in Silk's room where the worst he had to deal with was her throwing clothes onto him. Aiko hadn't been expecting Bandit's sudden movement and was flipped forward onto her face. She woofed pathetically and a giggling Kazue leaned down to help her up.

"Oi oi... Aiko-chan... go kick his butt."

She urged Aiko who just sleepily yawned and dropped to the floor for another nap. She didn't care about being nudged. Kazue would scoop the fox up and shut her bed room door. She would set the fox on her bed and then kneel down near Ryu and Shiro. Her hand reached out and gently rubbed at Shiro's ears. She would look up at Ryu and smiled.

"We should, but we should also totally play the part. Get a camera and some funny tourist clothes and point at everything like it is the most amazing thing ever."

She giggled.

[Ryu Hikari]

"It does get a bit lonely at times, and I do miss him, but he stays back in Japan for a reason, to provide the best he can for us. He worked hard to send us to New York City, to live in that big house. To be honest though... the noise level is no different whether he is here or not, it's still the same."

While Kazue tormented-- I mean, woke up her two lazy pets, Ryu'd smiled slightly hearing Kazue giggle from Bandit waking up and knocking his partner in crime to the floor, jumping down on top of her and using her as a landing cushion, before heading to the door.

"No way sister, I'll come to the opening night of the plays, but actually partake in them? There's bound to be plenty of other guys out there that would bend over backwards to work with you."

After Aiko ended up flipping forward on her face from Bandit shooting out the door after Kazue had opened it and to more quieter pastures (Yeah right...) and flopped back down onto the floor to take another nap, Shiro had finished drinking his water and Ryu had to keep his kitten from falling asleep, lest he wished to deal with a nauseous kitten. Shiro mewing sleepily at Kazue rubbing his ears, before nestling down beside Aiko, Ryu would smirk down at her.

"And speak in deplorable English and sometimes talk to each other in excitable Japanese."

And pretending to hold up an imaginary camera, Ryu would slowly rise up off her bed and move back and forth like he was taking pictures, making sure not to disturb Aiko or Shiro.

"Rook Kazue! It Times Square!"

It's harder to do than it sounds...

[kazue]

"Well... my mom usually gets the bodyguards to watch me if she has to leave. Sometimes I can get them to play with me or go swimming, but it gets really lonely still. Not like living with my mom who will scream if I splash her. They just smile and keep floating around like a buoy."

Kazue lived a pretty lonely life with out her mom. She didn't like to think about it. Kazue blinked at Ryu and smiled.

"Oh come on! You'd totally make an awesome Romeo!"

She teased. A smirk crossing her lips as she looked at the tired Shiro who would nestle in beside Aiko. The fox would curl up around the little kitten and nuzzle it as if it were her favorite teddy bear. Kazue just smiled and stood back up moving the empty saucer onto her dresser to be removed later.

"Haha! Yes terrible English and excitable Japanese."

Kazue repeated watching Ryu act out the picture taking. She giggled and tried to stop so she could respond.

"Ah! Amazingu!"

She said in horrible English before pretending to take her own pictures. It hurt a little to even think that way. If they actually did that she wondered how long they would be able to keep it up.

"Oh, hey... My mom said we are doing some sort of family dinner in a day or so. She said I could invite a friend. Really... you are like the only person I know well enough to bring. Would you wanna go?"

She asked with a tilt to her head.

[Ryu Hikari]

"Yeah. Sure, and you'd make a great Juliet."

He retorted, smirking back at her while his kitten took a power nap, curling up into a ball as Aiko curled up around him and nuzzled him, making Shiro appear even more like her favorite teddy bear. Continuing to smirk away as Kazue fell apart giggling from his Japanese tourist act, he'd then pretend to take pictures of her, waving his arm around and gesturing at her to make the peace sign.

"... I never realized how hard is it to pretend to have deplorable English..."

It made his brain hurt a little to pretend English was his second language, and in truth, it was, Tagalog and Japanese being his first languages. He wasn't sure how long the both of them could keep the act up, but if worst came to worst, they could always just talk to each other in Japanese instead.

"Hm? Oh... Sorry, I'd love to go, but I have to go to a family dinner of my own, and I think my dad would be pretty displeased if I didn't show up."

Rubbing the back of his neck, Ryu would give Kazue a small sad smile, he really would've liked to go with her to the dinner... No it's not a date/meet the parents, they weren't even dating, and they were too young to go to prom yet anyways.

"But hey, if you get bored, just text me, and I'll keep you entertained."

And pulling his cellphone out, he'd go and exchange phone numbers with her.

[kazue]

Kazue as Juliet? Ryu as Romeo? Oh that was such a terrible image to give the young girl. Her blush returned and she laughed nervously to try and hide the thoughts popping into her head about the situation.

"I know. I think if we try that we should pack like some Advil or something cause I'm pretty sure we'd get a headache."

She said softly now thinking about them going out and trying hard to be tourists. The bad English would probably make them both crazy yet it still sounded like it would be a lot of fun. Kazue blinked and nodded at Ryu's words. It was too bad he wouldn't be able to go with her. Kazue would have enjoyed being able to talk with him.

"Ah well, what can ya do ya know? My mom always said family comes first."

She smiled to not make him feel bad and then pulled out her cellphone.

"Yea come to think of it I should have gotten it from you at the party."

She giggled a bit as she exchanged numbers with Ryu. It was nice to have a friend to call.

"You text me too if you get bored. Maybe I will sneak away from my dinner and come steal you from yours."

She giggled a bit more.

[Ryu Hikari]

Pretending he was suddenly interested in examining his fingernails, he'd pretend not to notice the blush on Kazue's face... again, or hear her laugh nervously. Only when she had completely gotten over her blushing fit, would he finally look up and over at her.

"Or we could just talk to each other in Japanese, save us both from nursing a massive headache from pretending our English is less than stellar and using the Advil."

Smiling sadly at Kazue, he really wished he could've gone with her to the family dinner, hell, he wished he could ask her to go with him to his family dinner, his father had said he could invite a friend to come along. He was pretty sure Mai would've love to have Kazue there to talk to.

"Yeah... Maybe next time."

Continuing to smile sadly, he'd suddenly be hit with a flash of inspiration and pulled his cellphone out of his jeans pocket.

"I think we were a little preoccupied with everything that happened at the pool party to worry about exchanging numbers. Besides, what would've the other students think?"

Pretending to gasp at her in mock surprise, he'd then smirk at her, in all the excitement, he had forgotten to ask her back then. Though... Come to think of it, at the time of the party, they weren't really friends yet, more like acquaintances, but now, they really were friends not to mention having crushes on each other.

Stowing his phone back in his pocket after they had exchanged numbers, he would smile slightly at her and nod.

"Of course. Promise you'll sneak away from your dinner if I sneak away from mine."

He'd then hold his hand out, just his pinky outstretched, for a pinky promise. He couldn't remember the last time he had done this, it was probably back in elementary school, which was quite a while ago.

"I'd better get going, either wise Mai's going to worry I ran off with Shiro and will never come home."

[kazue]

"Haha, oh the confused look on a New Yorker's face when we ask for directions in Japanese. We soooo have to do that."

Kazue giggled. Ryu looked sad that he couldn't go to her family dinner and Kazue didn't want him to be sad about it. She smiled and reached over with her fingers. She placed the tips of her index fingers on each side of his mouth and gently pushed up to force him to smile.

"Oh so charming..."

She giggled and smirked her father's trademark smirk. When Ryu put out his hand with his pinky out Kazue blinked. There was a small flashback to her mother doing the same thing and immediately Kazue smiled real big and put her hand out with the pinky up. She curled her slender little pinky around his.

"Hai hai. I pinky promise Ryu-chan."

After the promise was made Kazue would nod. She didn't want adorable little Mai worrying about her brother. It was then she suddenly remembered.

"Oh! Ryu... Here take this to Mai. I was trying to figure out how to give it to her... I don't fit in it any more but I thought it would look nice on her."

Kazue procured a pretty sky blue and soft pink Kimono from her closet. She folded it neatly and put it in a bag. She made the bag look nice with tissue paper and stuck a little card in there thanking Mai for having been so nice at the party.

"I'd let you take one home for your self but I think my kimono's would clash with your hair."

Kazue giggled.

"You can put Shiro in there too. That way he can nap in comfyness. Don't mock me... that is now a word."

[Ryu Hikari]

"Very funny..."

Ryu would retort in a semi-muffled voice, his eyes narrowing in what would be his father's infamous smirk... if he could smirk, that is. Reaching up, he'd gently pull Kazue's arms away from his face, his expression changing into the smirk. Holding his pinky out to her, he'd smile ever so slightly more seeing the huge smile on her face, the two of them curling each others pinky around the other.

"Good. Then it's a promise, Kazue-chan."

Pulling his hand away, Ryu would gently shift Shiro out from under Aiko's arm, making sure not to disturb the sleeping fox, and was considering plopping his kitten on his shoulder to get him home, as he looked over at Kazue.

"... Thanks Kazue. I'll make sure to remind Mai to thank you properly herself."

It really was a beautiful kimono. Watching Kazue as she neatly folded and stowed the kimono away into a bag, carrying Shiro in his arms, he couldn't help but wonder what Kazue would look like in a kimono. She'd definitely look really beautiful in one.

"Ha ha, very funny. I'd probably look better in a male's kimono anyways."

Smirking at her, he'd nod and gently lower his kitten into the bag, Shiro rolling over and continuing to gently snore away.

"I didn't say anything. Say bye to your mom for me, I'll see you later, Kazue. Call or text me if you need anything, or just want to talk."

Heading out of her room, he'd then make his way to the front door, and hanging the bag on his handlebars, he'd open the door and wheel his bicycle out, closing the door quietly behind him, but not before waving to Kazue. Heading to the elevator, he'd push the down button, and the moment the doors opened, pressed the button for the lobby, and headed out of the hotel soon after, and back home.