Gato: Here is yet another Taiora fic from me. It will be a songfic, but the songs are what inspired me, and will only be there for one chapter, possibly two. Also, there are a lot of original characters, and this story will follow their lives as well as Tai and Sora's. I have not decided how to end this story as of yet, but I have three possible endings in mind. Once I get that far, I may make a decision, or I may just put up all three. We'll see. I'd greatly appreciate your support/comments on this story. Thanks.
Irie: She owns the plot and her original characters. Is all. And is the same for all chapters.
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Sora Takenouchi pushed a wayward strand of red hair off her face and ginned at the customer across the bar. He called something to her, but she could barely discern his words over the din of bad music and drunken cries. Sora braced herself against the counter and called to the man, "What was that, sir?"
"I said I'll have a gin and tonic," he replied loudly. Sora nodded to indicate she heard, and quickly busied herself with a glass and a bottle of the specified alcohol. Seconds later, she pushed the drink toward the tall man. He took a sip, grinned in satisfaction and shoved ten dollars in Sora's direction. She efficiently provided him with change and moved on to the next customer.
The man studied the red-headed barmaid over the rim of his glass. She wore her red hair in a ponytail at the nape of her neck. Eyes the colour of the sunset seemed to sparkle when she spoke and drew attention to her soft features. She wore minimal make-up, just a touch of glitter on her eyelids and a pale lipstick. Her clothes accented her body, though not by choice, or so he assumed. She worked quickly and efficiently, always providing drinks and change with a bright smile. He placed her in her very early twenties.
Though he had traveled to many different ports in his life, the man had never seen anyone quite like his barmaid. She seemed more real, more natural than any other woman he encountered in the past. Quickly, he drained his glass and turned in search of his friends. He found them in a booth not far from the bar, chatting with several girls clearly much younger than themselves. The man shook his head and joined his friends in one of their favourite hobbies.
"Ah, here's the man we were telling you about!" Joshua cried, patting his friend on the shoulder as he sat down. The man grinned at the girls who giggled in reply. He knew the error in teasing these poor girls, and yet participated.
Joshua ran a pale hand through his bright blond hair and winked at one of the girls. A faint colour rose in her cheeks and she whispered something to her friends. The man merely laughed. Joshua, the youngest of the group, enjoyed this 'game' more than the others. His grey eyes gleamed when he found a set of girls he thought he could manipulate. His friends found this more amusing than degrading, though on some levels they all realized the cruelty of their actions.
Sean, a handsome Scott, shifted in his seat. He surpassed Joshua in age, but only by several months, and he always felt slightly uncomfortable in these situations. Though Joshua's best friend, Sean disliked the way Joshua played with girl's emotions. Sean steadily drank his beer in an attempt to deflect a blonde girl's attention. Unfortunately for Sean, she noticed his accent.
"So, are you from Ireland?" she demanded, enraptured.
Sean choked on his beer and Joshua laughed loudly. The girl seemed not to notice either of their reactions. Her pale blue eyes remained fixed on Sean's green orbs. He finally turned in her direction, tossing some wavy brown hair from his face. "No," he said slowly. "I'm from Scotland."
"Oh," the girl replied knowledgably. "Is that far from Ireland?"
Sean looked as if he wanted to continue drinking his beer, but etiquette dictated many of his actions. He forced himself to answer. "Not really. I take it you've never been to Europe."
"Well, no." The girl pouted. "But I do own something from almost every European designer! I mean, I have…"
The blonde began to catalogue her entire wardrobe for Sean, who showed as much interest in her clothes as he would in a wad of gum.
Stephen, the oldest of their group, basked in the attention he received from two of the girls. He possessed a glamorous attractiveness, almost like that of a movie star. Girls practically fell over themselves when he looked in their direction. He currently had his arm around a brunette and whispered something in her ear.
The man turned to Joshua. "Aren't you eve going to introduce me to our lovely companions, Josh?"
Joshua started and laughed. "Of course! How could I forget? Now, let's see if I remember all of the names, shall we? Right over here," he said with a motion to the blonde who only wore European labels, "we have Candy. Then, the brunette with Stephen is called Victoria…"
"Tori," the brunette corrected, flipping hair over her shoulders. "I go by Tori."
"Right," Joshua continued. "So that's Tori then. Over here, beside me, (he pointed at another petite blonde) is Kayla. And finally, right across from you, with the auburn hair, we have Alexandria."
"Lexi," the girl said with a coy smile. "I would love it if you would call me Lexi."
The man returned her grin. "Well then, Lexi it is."
"And I don't think I caught your name," Lexi said softly. So softly, that the man had to lean toward her to hear.
"Oh, me? My name is…"
"Can I get you any more drinks?" A soft voice interrupted the man. Sean, glad for a reason to look away from Candy, looked up quickly. The man watched with surprise as Sean did a double take. Sean wasn't the type to care much about appearance. The man turned to look at the girl while Joshua reeled off a list of drinks. He could see what made Sean stare. The girl certainly possessed an exotic look that many would categorize as beauty. Dark brown ringlets cascaded past her shoulders, accented every so often by light brown highlights. A sparkly clasp held some off the curls off her face. Expressive hazel eyes observed the table, and set off her tanned skin. She possessed more shape than any of the girls seated at the table, something which the man found refreshing. Jeans hugged her hips and a long black shirt seemed to add to the darkness of her skin.
"So, just to double check, I have two Polar Bears, one Jolly Rancher, one Strawberry Daiquiri and four beers?" she asked, listing off the words clearly over the din.
"That's everything," Sean said quickly. His vibrant eyes did not leave her face, though the waitress remained oblivious.
"Perfect," she said as she scooped up their empty glasses. "I'll be right back with your drinks."
"So Sean," Stephen teased, "looks like you found yourself a new girlfriend."
"Oh bugger off," Sean replied. "I just wanted to make sure she got our order right."
Joshua laughed callously. "Right, and I'm the Queen of England."
"Hey, if that's who you really want to be, I won't get in the way of that," Sean returned.
"So," Lexi said flirtatiously. "Don't you want to know anything about me?"
The man stared at the petite girl before him and sighed. "Sure. What would you like me to know?"
"Well, I'm originally from Georgia, but I moved to Canada a couple of years ago. You can probably tell that I've still got a bit of an accent. Anyway, we moved because…"
He quickly grew bored of Tori's history and looked around the bar in search of a distraction. Dim lights lit the large room and cast their glow over the twenty-odd booths. A throng of thirsty individuals clamored about the bar, all in different states of intoxication. The man noticed that with the exception of the red-headed barmaid and their waitress, all these girls looked frighteningly similar. Most appeared unhealthily skinny, while others approached that mark. Their hair hung in straight sheets, whether by nature or by hand he couldn't tell, in varying lengths. The majority of the girls had blonde hair, and he suspected that some of the colour came from bottles. The majority wore tight or revealing clothes – often a combination of both – and too much makeup. And yet, at every port of call, he and his friends pursued these girls. The cycle remained constant: arrive at a bar, find girls), talk, flirt, drink and take them back to the hotel.
"Okay," a familiar voice intoned. Sean turned away from Candy in mid-sentence. She pouted angrily in reply. "So, I have four beers that I assume are for the guys, right?"
"You got that right, doll," Stephen said cordially. The waitress, unfazed by his comment, expertly placed the heavy mugs before their respective drinkers.
"And, the Polar Bears went to these two blonde ladies. Miss," she said to Tori, "you had the Jolly Rancher and that leaves you with the Strawberry Daiquiri." She placed the glass in front of Lexi and grinned. "I hope you enjoy. If you need anything, my name is Ale, so just shout and I'll come right over."
"We'll keep that in mind," Joshua said with a suggestive wink. Ale smiled placidly and returned to the bar.
"Did anyone else hear her accent?" Stephen questioned, looking over Tori's head.
"Yeah," Sean said slowly. "It was pretty obvious."
"Yeah, that and her waistline," Josh laughed.
"Shut up," Sean muttered with a malicious glare.
The man shook his head. "Sometimes I worry about you, Joshua."
"What?" Joshua protested. He made a disgusted noise and turned his attention back to Kayla.
Lexi placed her glass forcefully on the table in an attempt to get her companion's attention. The man turned in her direction and she smiled seductively.
"So, I've told you all about me," she said. "Why don't you tell me about yourself?"
The man nodded indulgently. He took a moment to remember the lies he and his friends decided upon before they entered the bar. "Well, I'm a photographer," he began with a glance at his friends. Stephen scratched his right ear – the sign that the man had used the right lie. "And I'm in town for a convention."
"Really?" Lexi asked, enraptured. "What type of photography do you do? Models or nature?"
The man took a swig of his beer. "A bit of both. I try and focus on nature, because I find that models tend to be too fake – too manufactured."
"I totally agree," Lexi gushed, nodding her bottle blonde head. The man knew he could continue to talk about the convention, but she would never ask for more information. She wanted one thing, and a ticket to a non-existent convention wouldn't satisfy Lexi.
"So, I do a lot of landscapes and seascapes. I'd have to say that the ocean is my favourite thing to photograph. It's always changing, always moving…" he drifted off for a moment. "I actually own a boat."
"Do you?" Lexi's eyes shone. "I love to go sailing."
"Oh, it isn't a sailboat. It's more like a yacht. I suppose you could call it a mini-cruise ship. We're trying to get a lis…"
"Hey, you know what?" Joshua called loudly. The man stopped in mid-sentence and stared at Josh.
"What?" Kayla asked, her lips in a full pout. The man noticed her smudged lipstick and some red glitter on Joshua's lips. He laughed silently.
"We need more drinks," Josh continued hastily.
Stephen pulled his face away from Tori's and surveyed the table. "No we don't."
"Yes we do," Joshua insisted, adjusting the collar of his shirt – the sign for trouble. Josh placed a firm hand on the man's shoulder. "Why don't you help me?"
The man followed his friend up to the bar. He spotted the red-head and motioned her over while pulling his wallet from his pants.
"What can I get you, sir?" she asked kindly.
"Two beers," he called as he placed his wallet on the bar. She nodded and briskly moved away.
"Okay, what's the big problem, Joshua?" the man asked.
"What are our rules?" Joshua returned in form of a reply.
"I don't see what this…"
"What are our rules?" Joshua insisted. "We never stay in one place for more than a week. We pass ourselves off as skilled tradesmen. We hit a different bar every night and make sure never to get attached to any of the girls. You made these rules up, remember?"
"Of course I remember." The man sighed, paid for the beer and turned back to his blond friend.
"And, what is the last rule?"
"We never mention the boat. We never mention the one thing that we do legitimately, because it could identify us. The boat is very visible, and will be well-known by the time we leave. We never talk about it because we don't want people to talk or make connections." The man took a long swig of beer.
"Exactly." Joshua knocked back half of his beer. "You need a reminder of the rules, man."
"Right. I didn't know that you started wearing red sparkles, Josh," the man returned coldly and stalked back to the table.
Sean had slowly edged himself away from Candy, and now sat at arms length from the shallow blonde. The man snickered, and sat directly between the two. Sean looked grateful while Candy sulked.
"Where did you go?" Lexi questioned.
"More beer," he replied shortly with a shake of the nearly empty bottle.
"D'you want to maybe get outta here?" Lexi's words slurred together. The man shook his head and finished the bottle.
Joshua arrived at the table, his lips free of the offending glitter. He winked at Kayla and she responded with a leer. Sean noticed and shuddered. Stephen noticed nothing other than Tori's lips.
Josh cleared his throat, but no one turned in his direction. He spoke regardless. "It's getting pretty late. Almost everyone's pretty much gone. Why don't we get these gorgeous ladies out of here?"
Stephen finally looked up. "Sounds like a plan to me." Tori grinned triumphantly.
Sean racked his brain for any excuse to leave Candy at the nearly empty bar. Finally he said, "I'd love to, but I can't. Early morning and all. I think I'm just going to head to sleep." Sean knew that the excuse wouldn't satisfy Candy, but he intended to return to his room alone.
"So, where are you lot staying?" Lexi asked, her intentions clear.
"A hotel a couple blocks east of here," the man answered, unenthusiastically. He couldn't comprehend why he had the urge to follow Sean's suit.
Josh took Kayla's hand and began to walk toward the door. Stephen quickly followed, Tori draped over him, her painted lips glued to his ear.
Sean kissed Candy's hand and offered to walk her home.
"Forget it," she stuttered angrily. She stormed away from the booth and latched herself onto a guy several feet away. Sean shrugged heavily and trudged from the bar with one last glance at Ale. The dark waitress was too preoccupied with clients to notice.
The man finally locked eyes with Lexi. She smiled seductively, her last attempt to get what she wanted. After a silent debate, the man gave into carnal instincts. "Let's head out, shall we?"
"Of course," Lexi replied happily.
The pair left the bar along with the remaining guests. Behind him, he could hear Candy's syrupy voice as she flattered her newest catch.
"You aren't worried about your friend?" the man asked.
"You mean Candy?" Lexi queried. "No. She's a pretty big slut, and she knows how to handle herself in these situations. To be totally honest, I'm surprised that your Scottish friend turned her down. Not many guys would do that."
"I suppose," he replied, putting his hand to his wallet. He felt the pocket empty and paused, checking all his other pockets. "Crap."
"What's wrong?" Lexi demanded, unhappy about the pause.
"I think I left my wallet at the bar. I'll be right back." He dashed toward the alcoholic establishment and found it empty with the exception of two barmaids. Ale wiped down tables and the red-head cleared shot glasses from the bar.
The man approached the bar and Sora looked up. She grinned and said, "Can I help you, sir?"
"This might be entirely futile," he began. "But I think I left my wallet here. Did you happen to find one? It's black leather, Italian, with a…"
"Is your name Taichi Kamiya?" the red-head asked.
"I…yes it is," he said, startled. "How did you know?"
Sora placed the wallet on the bar and pushed it in Tai's direction. "It's the only wallet we found tonight, and I checked the ID. I'm glad you came back for it, otherwise Ale and I were going to see how much we could get for it on the black market."
Tai smiled, amused by the humour and reality of the two young women. Ale approached and dropped her cloth a barstool.
"I still say we could have gotten over a six hundred just for the wallet alone," Ale joked.
Taichi remembered the way Sean looked at this particular girl and asked, "Ale. That's not an English name, is it?"
Ale grinned. "Well spotted. It's a Spanish name. I'm from Mexico."
Sora laughed and leaned over the bar. "That's right. She's our lovely import. She came with the Corona."
"Funny," Ale replied dryly. "And I suppose you came with the sake?"
"I did indeed."
Tai suddenly remembered Lexi, waiting outside for his return. "I should probably get going. Thanks for finding my wallet…"
"Sora," the redhead said happily. "And it was no problem. Thanks for your business."
"We hope to see you again soon," Ale added.
Tai left and quickly found an impatient Lexi by the front door.
"What took so long?" she demanded.
"They couldn't find it," he lied, his mind still with a certain red-head.
"Well, why don't we head to bed?" Lexi suggested.
"Yeah, come on."
And, as he had done with countless other women in countless other cities, Tai led Lexi to his hotel room, locked the door and let his animal instinct take control.
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Gato: There is chapter one. This will be a songs will come in much later, and will be – or so I hope – very appropriate and helpful.
Irie: Didn't you say you were sticking to an order of when to update your stories.
Gato: Yeah, well. That plan kind of died. Oh, for anyone who reads The Reprocitions of Pain…that story is on hiatus. I will be working on this, Mysterious Tempest and Cooking for Idiots as of now.
Irie: Now, time for YOU to review! Do it. Doooo it. DO IT!