Storm Front-10

The next day, Jun's band came by to practice after lunch. They had just "hired" a new lead singer, by the name of Taro Hayashi. He had a beautiful tenor voice, and had expressed a desire to learn to play the guitar.

Jun and Taro "hit it off" immediately. He was a fun-loving guy with a great sense of humor, very different from the serious and often clueless Ken.

Taro stayed after the practice session to talk to Jun about taking guitar lessons. They laughed and talked together in a corner booth for what seemed like minutes, but actually had been hours.

Around dinner time, Ryu, Joe and Ken swaggered in and took their usual positions at the counter. They immediately took notice of their Swan, laughing and talking with a dark- haired guy in the corner.

"Psst! Hey, Jinpei!" Joe whispered.

Jinpei shot Joe a dim-witted glance and walked over to him. "What is it, Aniki?"

"Shhh…keep your voice down. Who's the guy over there with Jun?" Ryu leaned in with Joe to get the "scoop".

Ken picked up a newspaper and pretended not to listen, but it was obvious to the others that he wanted to know, too.

"That's the new singer in her band, Taro. She gets all giggly and gooey when he's around. He's taking guitar lessons from her."

"Looks like they're having fun with the guitar lessons, huh, Ken?" Joe couldn't resist nudging the Eagle and rubbing it in.

"I don't know what you're talking about, Joe." Ken scowled and pretended to be reading an article.

Joe pulled down the paper to look Ken in the eye. "Don't play dumb with me, Ken. You know what I'm talking about."

"You don't know anything," He jerked the paper back from Joe, and turned away. "That guy looks suspicious to me. How the hell did he know Jun was looking for a lead singer anyway?"

"So you were listening, after all!" Joe chuckled. "It's called a newspaper ad. Ever heard of it?"

Ken glared at Jun and Taro.

"If you know so much about him, where does he come from, huh? And why haven't we seen him around the joint before?" Ken's eyes narrowed as he regarded his teammates over the top of his newspaper.

Joe turned back to Ryu and Jinpei. They both shrugged at him in unison.

"You know, Sis never mentioned where he came from." Jinpei observed.

Finally, Taro got up and said "goodnight" to Jun, thanking her for her time and walking out the door as four pairs of eyes followed him as he left.

They all wanted to know exactly who this new man in Jun's life was.

Jun smiled as she glided back behind the counter and began wiping at it absent mindedly. She had enjoyed teaching Taro. He was musically talented, and had already learned the tunes she had shown him. She sent him home with "homework", hoping that the next lesson would be just as rewarding as the first. It felt good to be appreciated.

Jinpei interrupted her train of thought. "Hey, Sis, we were wondering where this Taro guy came from…"

"You numbskull," Jun frowned, "I told you he responded to my ad in the paper. He auditioned for us yesterday, and now he's a part of the band." She eyed the rest of her teammates, her face beaming with pride. "You should hear him sing. He's so righteous!"

Jinpei, Ryu, Joe and Ken all shot wary glances at each other as they watched their swooning teammate. She definitely had a weak spot for musicians.

"Blech! Enough of that, already," Jinpei continued the interrogation. "What Ken wants to know is 'where does he come from?'"

Jun shot an angry glance at Ken. "Ken?"

Then she continued indignantly, "What does it matter where he comes from? He just moved into town, ok? I'm not going to hold him down and squirt him with a fire extinguisher and interrogate him just because he's new."

"Oh, that was a low blow." Ken scowled. "At least I'm not Miss Happy-Go-Lucky, trusting in every jerk that shows me a little attention! You need to be more careful about who you befriend."

Jun's face reddened as she spat back at her commander. "I'll thank you to stay out of my life, Ken! I'm a big girl, and I can take care of myself! It's not your business who I decide to 'befriend'…and I'm not as naive as you think I am! At least I've learned who I can count on to be a friend around here…and it's certainly not you!"

Ryu, Jinpei and Joe sat at the counter with their mouths gaping, as Jun scurried away up the stairs to her apartment, slamming the door behind her.

Joe broke the silence. "Well, you certainly blew it this time, Ken."

Jinpei shrugged, "I'm sorry, Aniki…"

Ken stood up solemnly and walked out the door without saying a word.