It was half past two and Sakaki was passed out from trying to drink Akisame under the table. Kensei had hit the dance floor a while ago with Shigure and was now harassing a group of semi naked young women dancing together.
The elder and Akisame were continuing their drinking contest. So far the elder master was winning.
Which left Apachai alone to observe the people on the floor below.
They looked like they were having so much fun that he sort of wanted to try going down there and asking one of the women to dance, but after a moment or so of mental debate he recalled that he didn't know how to dance. So dancing with someone would probably be a bad thing.
He saw Kensei dancing with a pretty girl in a slinky black dress and smiled.
At least someone was having fun. Apachai thought as he scanned the room, observing the various interactions. He stayed there in his spot, with his elbows resting on the railing that seperated the top second floor from the first, for so long that his elbows were starting to hurt a little bit from where he had been resting some of his weight on them.
He was about to move away from the railing and rejoin the others at the table behind him when he saw something that caught his attention. Something that looked so strangely out of place in the club that he started to follow it with his eyes without realizing what he was doing.
The 'object' in question moved under a blue light and Apachai sucked in a breath as he caught sight of pale silvery blond hair with pink highlights, pulled back into a thick braid, small ears, a slender neck, delicate build...
A woman. He was watching a woman.
The moment this regestered with him he felt his face heat up yet he couldn't look away.
She was just dressed so classy. So innocently. She didn't fit in with the rest of the crowd. In fact she stuck out like a sore thumb. She was also drawing a lot of attention to herself without seeming to realize it.
He watched her weave her way through the crowd, pausing form time to time to look over her shoulder, a worried look on her face- Apachai found himself moving towards the stairs, his unblinking stare fixated on her.
She looked like she was in trouble. And if that was so, then as a defender of the innocent; he could do nothing but make himself available to come to her aid.
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Shayera Karina Minamoto, heiress to the Minamoto fortunes, was shaking like a leaf. Who could blame her after what had just happened.
She had been out for a late night stroll because she hadn't been able to sleep and had noticed that she was being followed. After several minutes she had also noticed that the footsteps were getting closer and had started to turn around when she had seen the silvery grey of a gun being pulled.
Acting on instinct, she had taken off running and somehow managed to keep track of the person running after her until she had reached a corner right outside of the club and started to run across the road.
The person following her had stopped and just stood there on the curb, confusing her enough to stop and turn to see what he was doing. At which time a car came barreling out of nowhere and had almost hit her.
She had managed to dodge being hit by the car and run into the club without a second thought. It hadn't occurred to her until once she was inside that whoever was after her might come in and shoot the place up, or plow their car through the wall then shoot the place up.
Which was why she was trying so hard to get to the other side of the room, away from the front door.
She stopped several feet from the bar and looked around, noting the windows, and other things. Trying to think up a way that she could get out of here without someone getting hurt when she felt the air stir behind her and turned around so quickly that she slammed herself into what felt like a brick wall before she fell.
She was fully prepaired to hit the floor and get some new bruises when she felt strong hands gently grasp her shoulders and pull her upright. She looked up...and up and felt her eyes widen a little bit in alarm as she caught sight of the guy that she had run into. Oh...my...
He was a big guy, standing at six foot eight with a body builders build. He grey eyes were focused on her face, a concerned look on his face as he removed his hands from her shoulders and leaned down a little bit.
"Hey, you okay?" He asked, his voice a deep soft rumbling sound that would have been drwoned out by the music blairing over the speakers if he hadn't have been right there in her face. She opened her mouth to say something but her mind had stopped working for the moment and all that would come out was a pathetic sounding squeak.
The guy knelt down in front of her and once again placed his hands on her shoulders, then slipped them down her arms to her hands before maneuvering her so that her back was turned and trailed his finger tips along her spine. And she was so frozen in fear that it never even occurred to her to smack him or tell him off.
No she was too worried that if she said or did anything he might rip her head off. God knew that he was certainly big enough to do such a thing. She felt his fingers stop just shy of the small of her back a second before he forciablly turned her back around and frowned.
She didn't seem to be hurt, although she did have a few bruises on her, he could tell by the way she had twitched and jerked when his fingers had come into contact with the tender flesh while he had been checking to make sure that he hadn't accidentally hurt her when she had slammed into him.
"Hey, tell me your name." It wasn't a question, nor was it very politely said. Apachai was worried that she may be hurt so he would ignore propriety for the time being and make it up to her later.
She squeaked again and he sighed and picked her up earning a startled yelp from her a second before she wrapped her arms around his neck and started crying. Crap. One would think that she believed he was going to eat her alive or something.
He sighed and awkwardly patted her back as he turned and started to make his way back to the stairs figuring that if Akisame wasn't too drunk then he could look her over to make sure that she was okay.