Waiting For You
By Modular Blues
(Acknowledgement: Thanks to C.W. for inspiration.)
(Author's note: The dialects and the "Tokanji" are fictitious languages.)
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"If you don't feel like doing it, just leave. Don't act pissed-off in front the customers!"
The manager of the hairstyle salon sounded angry enough that everyone in the shop froze. Even the customers who didn't understand the local dialect could sense that something was definitely wrong.
A few seconds later, the manager exited her office seething. The hairstylists looked at one another in confusion, but managed to carry on as if nothing had happened.
It was still pouring outside, one of the usual bouts of summer rain. The intensity almost surpassed the storm three weeks ago, as if the entire Gypsum Isle was about to be submerged.
"What the hell? I'm not a robot. How can I possibly be happy all the time!" Inuyasha grumbled to Masuto, his friend and fellow stylist. Inuyasha put his head under the faucet and let the water cascade down his hair.
"Calm down, man. How would she know that your girlfriend just broke up with you?"
Inuyasha snapped his head up and lashed the water at Masuto, "Keh! Who told you we broke up! And I didn't say I'm quitting. She made it look like she doesn't want me here anymore."
Despite his angry complaints, Inuyasha actually enjoyed being a hairstylist. In addition to earning some money for college, he was also helping out the family business since the manager was his aunt. But today, he was so upset about his girlfriend that he was losing his professionalism.
To add to the situation, the manager was just screaming at him in front of his colleagues and the customers. Inuyasha felt like he would have to leave just for spite. He started heading out in a plain T-shirt and jeans, grabbed his backpack on the way, and drew the attention of the manager.
He was a few feet away from the front door when it burst open and a drenched girl suddenly collapsed against him.
Inuyasha stood there, shocked and unable to react. The girl seemed very exhausted, and only after a long moment did she whisper, "Hair cut…"
Then all of a sudden she exclaimed, "I. Need. A. Haircut!" The salon once again fell quiet.
She fainted immediately after. Inuyasha propped her up and glanced at his aunt. The manager shrugged, "Your customer. Take care of her."
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"Where am I?" Half an hour later, Kikyou regained consciousness. She saw him sitting by the bed.
"Huh?" Oh man, Inuyasha couldn't understand her northern dialect at all. "Uh, you're on my bed?" he could only answer back in his eastern dialect, which she obviously didn't comprehend.
"What?" Kikyou asked.
"Well, you asked me where you are, so I said you're on my bed." Inuyasha pointed to the bed and she finally understood.
"Of course I know I'm on a bed! I mean what is this place? How did I get here?"
She spoke too fast and Inuyasha couldn't get it at all. She made a gesture and spoke a few words in Tokanji, which hopefully he could understand.
"Oh I get it. You're in a hairstyling salon." Inuyasha did a hair-cutting motion with his hand. She seemed to understand.
Inuyasha asked her, "Are you feeling alright? Should I get you to a doctor?"
He stared at her and found that she had a graceful although distraught complexion. She shook her head.
"You mean you're fine?" Inuyasha asked.
"I don't get what you're saying." she replied.
Fortunately, Inuyasha understood the Tokanji for what she said.
"Oh, you mean you don't get it." Inuyasha tried to answer in the northern dialect, but failed miserably. Kikyou laughed. She shook her head. Inuyasha grinned sheepishly.
The manager came in, and fortunately she knew the northern dialect well enough. After a short conversation with Kikyou, she told Inuyasha, "The girl's fine and she wants you to cut her hair, so she's all yours."
Inuyasha was suddenly glad that she specifically asked him to do it. His earlier intention to quit was forgotten in an instant.
Kikyou couldn't understand the exchange between Inuyasha and the manager, so she smiled. "Haircut?" she asked Inuyasha in the eastern dialect.
Inuyasha grinned. Of course, he thought. His angst over the breakup evaporated in her pristine smile.
After Masuto washed and conditioned her hair, Kikyou sat in the styling section. The manager came over as the interpreter. "What kind of hairstyle would you like?"
Kikyou replied, "I'd like shoulder-length hair plus a trimming for my bangs."
The manager's northern dialect wasn't perfect, so she decided to let Kikyou pick from the photo book instead. They discussed while the manager turned the pages.
Meanwhile, Inuyasha stared at the girl's reflection in the mirror. He observed every single detail that happened to be projected there. Since she never looked in the mirror's direction, he could stare all he wanted.
Why would she rush to a salon so hurriedly in the pouring rain and demand to cut off her hair? Inuyasha wondered curiously. He was in a daze when she turned and looked in the mirror. Their eyes met.
Kikyou found him staring at her and she turned away shyly. Three seconds later, she looked in the mirror again, and found him still staring at the same spot. But this time, Inuyasha turned away and blushed a little.
She examined his hesitant glance. When Inuyasha looked again, he found her watching him and his blush turned deeper.
Their silent exchange lasted no more than a few seconds, but the ripples echoed far and wide in their hearts.
After the manager figured out what Kikyou wanted, she explained her new hairstyle to Inuyasha. "I'll drop by later to make sure everything's alright." Inuyasha nodded and smiled at the girl in the mirror. This time neither turned away.
Inuyasha ran through a bunch of conversation starters in his head: Hey, you live in the city? Did you come here by yourself? Are you still in school? Or maybe: Why did you rush here in a hurry?
How should I talk to her? Inuyasha pondered. He felt her hair for texture and gauged how he would go about styling it.
Meanwhile, Kikyou was thinking about the same thing: How old are you? It's really great that you're a professional hairstylist at your age! What music do you like?
Actually, when Inuyasha was staring solidly at her a moment ago, she was also observing him through her peripheral vision. Finally, she made the first move: "How old are you?"
"Huh?" Inuyasha lowered his head and looked at her.
"I said, how old are you?" Kikyou repeated the Tokanji more slowly and hating herself for not knowing the eastern dialect.
"Oh, twenty-one." Yes, she talked to me… No longer as bashful, he ventured in Tokanji, "And you?"
"Twenty." Kikyou smiled.
"Your Tokanji's pretty good," remarked Inuyasha. "I had a hard time learning it in school."
"Really? Me too. But I like my professor." Kikyou paused. "Which university do you go to?"
"I'm at the Polytechnic Institute, mechanical engineering major."
"Ah. I'm an economics major at Central University. What do you plan to do after graduation?"
"Hmm I don't know for sure. Maybe I'll stick around here. Meet new and interesting people." Inuyasha smiled.
Kikyou laughed, and Inuyasha found his troubles dissolving in her delightful laughter.
They sank into silence again. Yet from time to time when Inuyasha examined her hair from the mirror, she would answer with a serene glance. Inuyasha carefully trimmed her hair, gently holding her head steady with his fingertips. He asked her to turn slightly to adjust the angles as his scissors and comb glided through her hair.
"Oh…" Kikyou squinted her eyes.
"Did a piece of hair got in your eye?" Kikyou nodded. Inuyasha shifted forward, "Just a sec."
He squatted in front of her and lightly blew a puff of air against her right eye. The breath scattered the hair fragments and sent new ripples through their imagination.
Thirty minutes later, Kikyou sported a new look of shoulder-length hair. After washing it, she returned to her seat.
Inuyasha asked, "Would you like some mousse?" Kikyou nodded.
There were special plastic gloves for the hairstylists so they wouldn't get their fingers sticky. Inuyasha did not wear them this time, because he wanted a closer, more personal touch. He took the mousse bottle, squeezed out some and rubbed his hands together. Then he threaded his fingers into her hair, applying some water with an aerosol can from time to time.
Inuyasha gradually shaped the hair into her desired hairstyle. When he was done, he felt a tug in the back of his mind – because this meant that she would be leaving now.
He could have told her that he was done, but he took out another can of hair gel and repeated his movements all over again. After he finished reiterating the procedure in slow motion, he reluctantly asked, "Okay, what do you think?"
"It's great, you have amazing skills!" Kikyou answered.
Inuyasha beamed. He signed the receipt, placed it in the check holder and handed it to her. He simply left after he directed her to the front desk, and she felt strangely disappointed.
When she opened check holder, Kikyou saw a smiley face with a note: Ten minutes later, meet him at the intersection of Palm Avenue and East Shore Road.
Kikyou grinned and turned to find him giving her a wink.
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The rain stopped and the sky was miraculously sunny. They strolled to the end of Palm Avenue, past the science museum and the cultural center.
Kikyou gazed across the sandy beach. "Oh this is beautiful! What's across the bay? And what are the skyscrapers over there?"
Inuyasha pointed. "Across from here is the financial district. Over there is the Hayden Tower next to the Marlin Bay. To the right is the Central Banking Building, and right down there is Celestial Harbor."
Kikyou was excited to see everything and go everywhere. Inuyasha was eager to show her every single tourist spot on the island. As they walked along the beach, the colors of dusk diffused across the darkening sky. The buildings across the bay lighted up one by one, sparkling like stars.
"How long are you planning to stay?" Inuyasha asked.
Kikyou looked down, "I'm leaving tomorrow morning."
"Huh? Tomorrow?" Inuyasha's hope fizzled.
"I'm actually not here to tour." Kikyou said.
And then Inuyasha found out that she had a boyfriend who's an exchange student from Gypsum. He's back home for the summer and she wanted to visit him, but he always found excuses. It's his birthday today and she decided to pay him a surprise visit. She was hoping he would at least like her gift.
"And when I found his address, he wasn't there."
"Aw that's too bad."
"What's even worse, his mom told me that he's at a birthday party with his girlfriend. As I passed by Planet Hollywood, I bumped into them coming downstairs all chummy."
Inuyasha became silent. So she had a boyfriend and came here just for him. That moment when she burst into the salon must be soon after she saw them… Maybe the haircut was like a catharsis, cutting away the sorrows.
"How about you… do you have a girlfriend?" Kikyou turned the question at him.
"Um…" Inuyasha hesitated. "Maybe. Probably."
"Oh, I guess no chance for me then…"
Inuyasha smirked in bitterness. No chance? He's like her ex-boyfriend already.
"Forget that guy. I'm sure there're better ones out there who'd care for you much more."
"No matter, I'm depressed about this whole thing already…"
A brief moment of silence.
Then Inuyasha changed topic. "Have you ever been on a ferry?" He would like to cheer her up. She said she hadn't and would love to.
Inuyasha was more than glad to oblige. They headed over to Celestial Harbor and rode the ferry across Marlin Bay, with the most gorgeous sunset they have ever seen.
After they got across, they sat near the docks and watched the seagulls. Kikyou was deep in thought.
"I think I'm going to drop by my uncle's apartment around here and stay there for the night," said Kikyou.
"Oh you're not going back to Gypsum? Then at least we should grab a bite at Mike's Resort. They have great food." Inuyasha offered.
"Thanks, good idea. I'm starving."
It was late by the time they got out of the restaurant and back to the docks. They sat on a bench, enjoying the night breezes and each other's company.
"Thank you, I feel much better now."
"Will I get to see you tomorrow?"
"I have to get back to the city early in the morning."
"Can we keep in touch?"
"I don't know, seems that everything I try to hold on to slips away from me…" Kikyou paused. "Actually, when my hair grows out, I'll come and you can cut my hair again."
"Then you must beef up on proteins so it grows fast." They laughed.
"Hey, give me your hand for a sec." Inuyasha held her hand and dug out a pen to scribble something on it. He asked her to turn away and close her fist and not look at what was written. "You can look at it after I leave."
Kikyou closed her fist tightly. Inuyasha gasped, "No don't hold it too tight, it'll break!" She relaxed her hand but didn't understand why.
"Guess this is goodbye." sighed Inuyasha. He really wanted to embrace her and look deeply into her eyes and kiss her gently, "Please stay."
Yet he did not.
Inuyasha left on the ferry. Kikyou watched the ship fade into the scattered street lights across the shore.
She opened her hand and saw a smiley, a heart, and "Inuyasha" written there.
Don't hold it too tightly, because it's fragile and delicate.
Inuyasha watched her figure growing ever smaller. He thought about her story and his almost ex-girlfriend. Suddenly he realized what kind of a relationship he truly wanted.
He decided not to leave the salon after all. Then she would be able to find him the next time she comes. His practically-ex would be surprised that he'd agree to breakup. But Inuyasha was determined to keep it a secret.
A secret upon the Gypsum Isle.
Inuyasha gazed up at the starry sky, and discovered that he didn't even know her name.
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