ATTENTION~!: Now, before anyone starts reading this fic, we wanna make it totally clear that this is a companion fic to our other story 1 New Friend Request. It can be read alone, but we just wanted to make sure that anyone who wasn't reading that fic new about it's existance. Or something like that.
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Chapter 1: The Harajuku Incident (Part One)
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Once upon a time, there was a princess from a faraway land an ocean away. One day, she decided to embark on a journey to better herself for her people. On this journey, she was hoping to improve her marital art level, her knowledge of other culture, and gain insight on how other's outside of her home lived. She traveled to a new land with people different than her own, thinking that she may learn of new laws that she would deem appropriate enough to use for herself. After a troublesome past of her own, she wanted to right all the wrongs that she had made by having a strong sense of justice so that her people could see how their soon-to-be leader had changed for the better. It was her one true goal at the time.
On her travels, she came across many new characters. Some where welcoming, others not so much. Two in particular took a great liking to her. An eccentric young male and his cohort in mischief. Because she was new and from somewhere they had not seen, they stroke up a friendship as quickly as they could, wanting to lead her into their many adventures.
That, is more than likely, where the story begins...
"That's great and all Hina-chan," a voice cut into the story. "Buuut, why is Ten-chan a princess? She seems more like a knight or something.. robust."
"Are freaking kidding me?" another more masculine voice put in. "Robust? She's not a man."
"I don't really think he meant it that way," a feminine voice countered. "Asakura-san is just very... blunt on things like personalities. Not that it's not a bad thing."
"Ne~," the first voice whined. "I told you to call me Haku! Haku!"
Hinata leaned back into her seat, her head almost hitting the window of the train as it sped down it's path. She did so to get a better look at the the girl standing in front of her. While glancing at TenTen the first time, one would notice right away that she was clearly female. Still, there was something about the way that she carried herself that made others take another look. While her brown hair was more or less always picked up in a childish fashion with that wide part in her barely there fringe, it hardly discerned from the fact that her posture was not that of a child's at all. Even standing a bit leaned over as she was now, she was upright, the angle of her arms positioned with one holding onto the hanging rope and the other on her hip displayed some sort of strength as the muscle in her arms would contour reflexively with every movement. The stance of her feet on the ground where a little wider than what any other girl would have positioned herself, making her seem as though she was ready to break into action in case of an attack or something else potentially dangerous. Even the very air around her was alerting all those around her that she was not a girl that could be easily slapped around.
Hinata sighed and thought that Haku was right. TenTen was not a princess, or if she was, she would be something more of a samurai princess. Her mood improved then and she brought out a pencil from her hand bag. She could work with that idea.
"Samurai princess?" Haku read over her shoulder. "You should write manga, y'know."
"D-Don't read over my shoulder!" Hinata exclaimed and blushed while hiding her new notes.
Haku laughed and brushed some of his hair behind his ear. "I'm serious though, you have one helluva an imagination. Who knows what kinda stories you come up with in that crazy head of yours."
"It's not really anything that great," Hinata muttered and looked over at the boy sitting next to her.
Doing that, she couldn't help but think that if she wanted to base her princess on one of her friends, she should have chose Haku. True, he was a boy, but he was by far the prettiest girl out of the three of them. When she had met him, his hair was a lot shorter than it was now. At least enough to tell it was a boy's cut. Since entering high school though, he was allowed to let it grow out, particularly since he was so fixated on wearing the girl's uniform rather the one that was assigned specifically for those of his gender. Whether he was able to get away with it because the administration had yet to figure out he was a boy, or because they allowed it because he could pull it off so well, was never really brought to light. Really though, any of them could hardly care less.
His cross dressing habit and androgynous face were not the only reasons why Hinata figured him to be confused for a girl most of them time. Like TenTen, Haku just had that kind of presentation to him. He was a soft spoken person, unless excited or angry, then was a little more eccentric then usual. There was also something gentile in the way he moved, while walking or sitting still, it was always there. What many girls strived for in their social graces, came naturally to him, and played well with everything about him that made him seem female. It was more amusing than it was insulting, for some odd reason.
"It's a lot better then what a lot of other people come up with," Haku went on, shifting in his seat to face more inward in their group, all the while keeping his legs close together so that his skirt wouldn't shift upwards. "I was in Akihabara one time, and some of the doujins I saw where pretty elementary school and stuff. Singular plot lines, simple vocab, ecetera, ecetera..."
"Isn't that what someone said to you when you made a doujin?" the other male in their group asked playfully.
Haku was not amused. "Watch yourself, Mitchi, I'll get you."
"If I didn't know what you were capable of," the red head said, "I would not take that seriously."
Though Minami wasn't the only boy in their group, he was the only one that looked the part. He was standing up on the train with TenTen, notable slouch in his posture even while leaning against one of the standing poles, both hands in his pockets and looked like he rolled out of bed and put the first thing he saw on. While it does sound stereotypical, at least the others didn't look so half-assed when they got dressed this morning. Another stereotype would have been to say that it was only expected of a gamer. Really though, it was what everyone thought.
"I've never seen Asakura-kun when he's angry," Hinata said to no one in particular. "Wonder what he's like."
"It's actually kinda scary," Minami told her. "I mean, yeah, he looks like a total bishounen, but isn't that when you know that someone has killer mode or something?"
"Dammit!" Haku exclaimed. "My name is Haku! Haku!"
"You sound like a parrot."
"Shut up, Mitchi!"
Hinata let a small smile slip onto her features at their antics while TenTen went ahead and laughed out loud.
"I like being around you two a lot better than Haruno-san and Yamanaka-san," she decided to inform them. "I feel like I have to watch what I say around them a lot."
"That's because you do," Haku told her. "Those two girls are just so Prince Yuki Fanclub, they will turn anyone they can on you if you say something they don't like. Almost like the F4, but not so extreme. Or popular. Just enough to screw you over."
"They aren't that bad," Hinata attempted to defend the two in her own quiet way.
"Says the one who doesn't talk in front of them anymore," Haku retorted.
Hinata bit her lip and lowered her eyes while she put her notebook back into her bag. "They-... They weren't always, like that..."
Minami extended his leg and gave Hinata's foot a light kick so that she would look up at him. "He didn't mean to say it like that," he told her.
Haku threw an arm over Hinata's shoulder and brought her closer to him. "Never! I'm just so pissed that you're still friends with them after they told you they'd disown you for liking CLAMP."
"B-But, I just can't leave them!" Hinata exclaimed softly. "I've-I've known them for so long. To just, to just drop a friendship-"
"It's not even a friendship anymore, Hina-chan," Haku tried to explain and let her go. "Friends don't try to mold you into their idea of what a girl their age should be."
TenTen looked on the scene quietly, not being able to put any of her own input since she was still new to the whole situation. To give her thought on it though, she would have to agree with Haku. From the passing moments she had with the two girls while in Hinata's company, there was a drastic difference in the way Hinata acted with them and how she was now. She decided that she liked this Hinata better.
Minami cleared his throat. "Hey, this is our stop."
"Finally!" Haku shouted and leapt up from his seat. "This is going to be awesome!"
Following Haku out of the train, the quartet made their way from the platform and back into the general public. Their destination: Shinju Bridge.
"So how sure are you about this whole Kagamine (1) concert?" Haku asked the red head.
Minami shrugged. "It was just something I saw on forums. You're the one that didn't bother to look into it more."
"Well, why not?" Haku waved off, as though he wasn't the one that just asked about it. "Tons of idols do random surprise concerts like this and start the rumor themselves so people will come. Yeah, it's probably true."
"So then, why are you asking about it?"
"I wasn't."
"Whatever..."
"May I ask," TenTen began. "Just where are we going and why?"
"I didn't tell you?" Haku asked her.
TenTen shook her head while Hinata spoke up, "You didn't tell me either."
"What did he do?" Minami sighed.
"He just kinda came in, told me to get dressed, and we left," TenTen replied, Hinata nodding that the same had happened to her.
The red head turned to his she-male counterpart. "Why?"
Haku shrugged. "Why not?"
"Anyway," Minami decided to explain to the two in their group that had no idea what was going on. "Last night I was in our garage-"
"Wait," Haku interrupted. "That's new to the story you told me. Why were you in the garage?"
Minami seemed hesitant to answer. "My mom put all my computers and consoles in the garage and said that I would have to use that because my room was getting too cluttered and there would be no way for me to study properly with so many distractions."
Haku laughed heartily. "Oh, it's official, you're an otaku."
"So are you."
"But I've never hid that fact," Haku concluded proudly. "Anyway, continue."
The red head clenched his jaw slightly before continuing on with his story. "So I was on-line, RPG'ing and everything and went to check out the forums before logging out. There was a thread about there being some kind of secret show near Shinju Bridge. Most likely Harajuku Street."
"It's not that large of a street though," TenTn observed.
"No," Haku agreed. "But it could be nearby. That's how these things usually go."
"Because you do this kind of stuff all the time, right?" Minami rolled his eyes.
"I would, if you were more fun."
They approached their destination not soon long after. It was crowded, normal for a Sunday yes, but today seemed to hold even more people than usual. The cosplayers were there, no question, dressed out in their finest and having their own fun. There were a lot more out of cosplay than usual though, obviously those that had heard the news and decided to check out the venue themselves.
"I feel half-assed," Minami said.
"You should," Haku told him. "I told you not to bother if you weren't going all out."
"You're cosplaying?" Hinata asked the red head.
"Yeah," he sighed. "I'm supposed to be Matt."
"Who?"
"Death Note?"
Hinata shook her head sadly.
"If it's not CLAMP related, Hina-chan has no idea," Haku laughed. "I'm Blast's Nana. Figured a music theme would go better today."
"Isn't that just how you usually dress though?" Minami pointed out.
"Shut up."
As they walked around, they both viewed the cosplayers and scouted for possible locations for alleged concert. They weren't the only ones, and absolutely none of them seemed to have come up with any plausible locations. There simply wasn't enough room on the street, the bridge, anywhere in the nearby area.
"It better have been near here," Haku said. "Because if it isn't-"
"What?" Minami interrupted. "You're not gonna do anything about it."
Haku looked mildly offended. "I might."
"No you won't."
"Don't tell me what I won't do."
TenTen watched the two snap back and forth at each other with mild alarm. She might not have been around them for too long, but it had been long enough that she knew that this was somewhat normal for the two. Hinata on the other hand, ignored the two and just watched the cosplayers, particularly the Lolitas.
She watched the way they acted independently and with each other. Most of the time, she critiqued them silently. On how a certain garment wasn't worn properly, or how some articles would be better left off the outfit entirely, even on how they acted. Most of them were either too proper or too liberal with their actions. None of those nearby seemed to have a proper balance between the two.
"Something on your mind?"
Hinata jumped a bit at the voice intruding on her thoughts. She turned to her left and saw TenTen looking at her imploringly. She didn't say anything, just blushed a little and shook her head. She looked away from the other girl's gaze and settled for the floor where a cable caught her eye.
It seemed out of place somehow, hanging down from the side of the building like it was. Hinata followed it up with her gaze, seeing it run all the way up to the rooftop where there was something obstructing the view from anyone to see the very top. With that in mind, she looked around the corner and into the narrow alleyway and saw a bunch of heavy duty cords running up and down, strewn across the ground and even hanging out what would be back windows.
"Oh my gosh," she whispered. "Asakura-kun!"
"Hina-chan, really," the boy said, a little frustrated. "I've asked you I don't know how many times-"
"It's going to be on the roof," she informed the quietly.
They rounded on her. "What?!"
Haku calmed down first and told them all to hush up. He huddled them all together so that no one else would be able to hear them.
"Okay," he said. "Now what was that?"
"It's going to be on the roof," Hinata said again. "There's a cable hanging and it goes around. If you look, there's a lot of them."
Haku peered over her shoulder and saw for himself all the equipment strewn in the dark alley. He even got a glimpse of someone carrying in some large speakers going in the back way.
"It's gonna be on the roof," he repeated. "We need to get somewhere we'll be in the best spot. Maybe on the floor of a nearby building? That would probably be the best-"
He stopped suddenly, running out in front of a bunch of passing people, pushing them out of the way just to get a better look at the building in front of them.
"There's apartments ontop of this," he muttered to no one in particular. "That could mean something."
"Haku?" Minami called out to him. "What is it?"
"I just had the best idea ever," Haku announced, walking back to their small group proudly.
Minami looked reluctant to ask. "Is it legal?"
Haku acted like he hadn't heard. "One of my finest, if I do say so myself."
"Is it legal?!"
"What is it, Asakura-kun?" Hinata asked the male.
Haku smiled at them, ignoring the fact that Hinata had called him by his surname yet again. "The best idea for an adventure ever."
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(1) Kagamine Twins: Vocaloids. Hey, we made Miku real, we can make the other's real too. ;p Btw, can you guys let us know if you prefer 'Len' or 'Ren'? We're at a disagreement here. :\
Disclaimer: Hahaha! We're doing this fic in my format. One disclaimer only, yos~! Btw, Naruto own not do we. Ownership to Masashi Kishimoto it does. Yoda I attempt to speak like. Fail it does.
Laith: Heey~ peeps!
Haldor: OMG.. another fic? When we haven't even finished 1NFR?
Laith: But this is important to 1NFR!
Haldor: So sure... Anyway, all ya'll that read that one, 'member when TenTen told Hinata that the J-Tour concert better not be a repeat of Harajuku? Yeah, that's where we're starting off in this fic. The Harajuku Incident is what happened that Ten was so not excited to make a repeat of.
Laith: Yeah, we cut down a lot so that it's not that epic 30 chapter story we outlined.
Haldor: Yeah, now it's like... 15 or something.
Laith: Still a lot shorter then what was happening before.
Haldor: Part 2 should be up... next week along with another 1NFR chapter. So drop us line, tell us if doing this was a good idea or not.
Laith: It is a good idea dammit. You wanted to do flashback chapters.
Haldor: How are those any different from your "back step" chapters? (DTS reference)
Laith: ... That fic is completely different.
Haldor: Yeah, whatever...