A/N: Getting closer and closer... to the good stuff! So excited! By the way, life is going to be somewhat hectic for me soon since I'm starting school again next week and moving at the end of the month. So, just be patient, please and thank you. Enjoy!
Sayo's American Adventures #4: California Girls
"So," Kandi started, pacing around the dance studio while Sayo sat on the floor by the mirrors, drinking from her water bottle.
"Yeah?" Sayo prodded, after swallowing a mouth full.
"Would you be interested in going to the beach?" Kandi asked like an interrogator, bending over Sayo with a serious face.
"Sure, I like going to the beach," Sayo smiled and nodded her head, preparing to take another drink.
"Do you think Melissa and the guys would want to go too?" Kandi asked, a little less confident than last time. Almost as if she figured Kawamura would immediately decline knowing that she was going too.
"I'm sure they'd come too," Sayo nodded her head, a small smile on her face. She knew about Kandi and Kawamura's differences, and how that effected their relationship.
"All right, prepare yourself," Kandi stood up straight, her confidence coming back in full force. "We're gonna go to the beach next weekend."
"Okay, just remember to tell the others," Sayo nodded her head, leaving this plan all up to Kandi. "This is your idea."
"All right, I'll let them know…" Kandi sighed in defeat. She had hoped Sayo would help her get the news out to the others…
"Beach?" Yoshida asked Sayo, confusion filling his voice, yet his face told her he was troubled.
"Yeah," she nodded, waiting for him to tell her whatever it was that was troubling him.
"That's nice and all, but…"
There it was. She knew there would be a "but".
"I don't have swim trunks here…" he muttered out, feeling like a complete idiot. You're going to California. Of course you're going to need something to swim in! Idiot! He wanted to yell at himself.
"Oh," Sayo nodded. So that was it… "Actually, I need a new suit too…"
"What?" Yoshida blinked at her rapidly. Did he hear her right? A new suit…
"Yeah, I've lost some body fat since we left Japan, so the swimsuit I brought doesn't quite fit right anymore…" Sayo answered him, pursing her lips together. This wasn't good. She didn't know the first place to look for a swimsuit, let alone if there would be any to her liking here.
"Oh," Yoshida nodded his head, understanding what she meant. So he was still an idiot after all. Even Sayo had brains enough to bring a swimsuit along.
"Don't worry, we'll go tomorrow after practice," Sayo told him with a smile and headed into her room, ending the conversation there. Before he could say anything.
"Right…" he mumbled a minute after she was gone and plopped down on the couch in front of the TV.
So, the week passed them all by, and they were all piled in Kandi's little four door coupe, on their way to Huntington Beach. The car ride was long and cramped, but it was a lot of fun. It was Sayo's first American road trip. Well, what she considered a road trip, anyways. When she told Kandi and Melissa that, they laughed and corrected her. A real road trip was at least four hours of non-stop car riding time.
After Kandi had parked the car, everyone unloaded, stepping just far enough away from the car so the others, in the back seat, could get out and stretch without hitting each other. Kawamura and Yoshida both had their trunks on with a shirt covering their torsos and sandals on their feet. Yoshida only knew what Sayo's swimsuit looked like since he'd gone shopping with her for it. As for Melissa and Kandi, he had no idea. So this would very interesting.
Kandi wore a baby blue strapless romper over her bikini with a pair of Nike Velcro sandals on her feet. She tucked her towel under her arm and looked out at the beach, squinting as the sun shone in her eyes. "Dammit!" Kandi muttered as she brought her arm up to her face for shade. "Forgot my sunglasses…"
"That's always how it goes, isn't it?" Melissa chuckled as she stepped up next to Kandi, her large, towel-stuffed tote bag tucked snugly under her arm as well. She had on a Racerback tank top over her bikini top, and a long sarong tied around her waist. Her feet adorned flip flops with little flower decorations on them.
Sayo stepped up next to the two Americans, her sleek shades hiding her eyes. "Yeah, sucks to be you, Kan-chan," Sayo teased, smirking at her friend. Melissa took that moment to pull out her own large, leopard print sunglasses from her tote bag.
"Not fair!" Kandi cried indignantly, crossing her arms over her chest like a child. "Where did those even come from…?" she wondered out loud, peering suspiciously at Melissa's bag.
Sayo and Melissa merely chuckled at Kandi's antics.
"Hey girls, are we going to actually go down there, or are we standing up here all day?" Kawamura asked, already bored, and tired of standing on the pavement. He may have shoes on, but that didn't change the fact that he could feel the heat through his sandals.
"Ah, yeah, let's go!" Kandi forgot about her lack of sunglasses immediately, and headed down towards the beach.
"Sa-chan!" Yoshida called to Sayo from behind the car. Sayo turned around and took a few steps towards him. He threw her towel at her with a smirk. "Take that with you."
"Thanks," Sayo nodded her head, and turned back around to follow the others down. Yoshida shut the trunk and followed as well.
They were somewhat early, so there weren't too many people there. Because of that, they were able to find a good spot that wasn't too close to anyone else. "Here!" Kandi laid out her towel on the sand, claiming her spot. Melissa stood a few steps away from Kandi and sat her bag down next to her. Delicately, she pulled her towel out of her bag and laid it out in front of where she was knelt down. Sayo laid hers out in between Kandi and Melissa.
"What do you say we show off our dancer bodies?" Kandi smirked at Kawamura, who only rolled his eyes at her.
Nevertheless, they both stripped off their extra layers. Kawamura peeled his shirt off, and a few of the girls around them stopped what they were doing and stared. He had abs. Kandi slipped out of her romper to reveal a hot pink string bikini. That wasn't surprising to the others, honestly.
"What do you think?" Kandi struck a pose with her hands on her hips, that smirk still on her lips. She knew Kawamura wouldn't comment.
"Looks good, Kandi," Melissa answered with a smile. Sayo nodded her agreement.
"Not bad Kandi," Yoshida nodded his head, giving her a thumbs up.
"Kawamura-san got quite a few girls to look over, let's see what you can do, Yoshida-kun," Sayo smirked, challenging her partner. She knew the man couldn't stand to lose, no matter what the setting was.
"Hmm," Yoshida smirked and slowly peeled his shirt off in the most sexy way he could imagine. Of course, with that flat, toned stomach of his, what girl could possibly resist to take a peek? Kandi almost swooned herself.
"Not bad," Sayo nodded her head, trying not to laugh at the stunned expression on Melissa's face. Sayo knew that that little show of his was mostly for Melissa.
Melissa blinked a few times in an attempt to return to her senses, and pulled her tank top over her head and off her body. It revealed a sea foam colored halter bikini top that made Yoshida stop. Then, after tossing her shirt into her bag, she untied her sarong, and tossed that in too. The bottoms were a skirt, same sea foam color. It worked pretty well with her skin tone. Yoshida had to remember to breath.
"I'm the only one left," Sayo sighed as she pulled her white t-shirt over her head, and flung it onto her towel. The guys around them stopped for a moment to take in her form. Then, she carefully slid out of her frayed jean shorts. Carefully, because her cell phone was in one of the pockets. Once she had them off, she pulled the phone out.
"Hey, Yoshida-kun," Sayo turned to him before the other girls had left.
"Hmm?" he was still staring at Melissa…
"Will you take a picture of me and the girls?" she held her phone out to him, pointing to the camera button on it.
"Uh, yeah, sure," he nodded, taking the phone, and snapping himself out of his trance. He readied the camera as the three girls posed in front of him. "Ready? Say cheese!"
Sayo stood in the middle with her arms crossed behind her head. Melissa and Kandi both flanked her from either side with an arm around Sayo's shoulders. It was only then that Yoshida realized that Sayo was, yet again, wearing that cherry blossom earring. Today it was visible and in plain sight. Sayo had her hair up in pigtails.
Kandi and Melissa headed out towards the water after Kawamura, who had left a few minutes ago. He definitely was not one to wait around. "Here you go, Sa-chan," Yoshida handed the phone back to Sayo.
"Thanks Yoshida-kun," she smiled at him and took her phone back to view the picture.
"I see you're wearing that earring again," Yoshida commented with a small smile.
"Yeah," Sayo nodded, only half invested in what he was saying. She was too busy sending the picture to Saya before it got to be too late.
"I'm going ahead," Yoshida told her and headed off towards the water after the others.
"Be there in a second," Sayo called after him. Finally, the message sent. She slipped her phone into Melissa's bag for safe keeping while she was out in the water. She was pretty sure Melissa wouldn't mind anyways.
She slipped out of her converse and ran to the water where the others were frolicking around already.
Saya sat down on the couch after a long day of school. She sure was beat. Closing her eyes, a wonderful memory from the past couple weeks flashed in her mind. It certainly had been a wonderful date. No fighting, no bickering, just being a couple. For once.
She was startled by her message alert sounding on her phone. "Hayato?" she wondered aloud before she pulled it out of her pocket. She wasn't expecting anything from him today. Blinking curiously, she opened the message.
'Greetings dear cousin! Checking in here with a picture! Love you~'
"Ah!" Saya gasped as she scrolled down to find a picture of Sayo in a bikini, flanked b two Americans. "Hmm…"
Saya sat there, studying the picture for a moment or two. Then a few more minutes. Suddenly, a light bulb flicked on in her brain. A devious smile spread on her lips and she quickly sent the picture out. After it was sent out to a particular person, for a particular reason, she went back to the picture. It wasn't until then that she noticed the earring hanging in Sayo's ear.
Damn, she wished she would be able to see the person's face when they saw this picture…
'Hayato-kun, you see this right? I take it you know what to do with it then…'
Hayato scurried home as fast as he could after receiving the message from Saya. There was no way in hell he was going to miss the face he was going to make when he saw this!
Hayato stood a few steps from their front door as he sent the picture out. If he timed it right, he'd be able to see the look of excitement (maybe) and shock (probably) on the guy's face. He needed to see this face. To know that he still was living, and could feel. Like a normal person. Cause he hadn't been acting like that lately…
As soon as the message was sent, he hopped to the door and entered the apartment. "Tadaima!"
"Okaeri," Ryu mumbled, flipping his phone open to check the message. Hayato watched him, fumbling with the door blindly as he tried to shut it without slamming it or looking.
'Ryu, look!'
A moment of silence as Ryu scrolled down the page to the picture. Ryu couldn't stop himself from showing the emotion he felt. It spilled out instantaneously when his eyes landed on her figure on his phone.
There, Sayo stood, flanked by two Americans, who he could really, truly, care less about, on the beach in a bikini. She was so pale in comparison to her companions that she stood out. And the dark colors of her bikini helped with the contrast. That was one of the things his eyes focused on, reluctantly. Her top was a bandeau style halter, brown and aqua striped. Her bottoms were brown bikini shorts with belt loops, like it came with a sash or belt that she didn't like or something. Then, his eyes traveled back up to her face, lingering, again reluctantly, on her flat stomach that was a little toned from all the dancing. When his eyes reached their destination, they studied the smile on her face, and the way her eyebrows arched, indicating that she was happy. Then, the pink caught his eyes. He saw that she was wearing the earring he'd given her. (Image Link: akizakura9. deviantart art/ California-Girls-368014797 )
His heart fluttered in his chest.
Finally feeling Hayato's eyes on him, he saved the image to his phone and closed it, along with his eyes.
That bastard!
Later that night, Hayato snuck into Ryu's room while he was sleeping. This would be payback for Sayo. Not that she knew what was happening here. It was an innocent gesture on her part. There was no way Sayo had sent Saya that image so it would make it's way to Ryu.
However, Hayato knew this image would reach all the way to Sayo. The catch was, Ryu wouldn't know about it at all.
Ah, how peaceful and childlike Ryu looked while sleeping. A smirk formed on Hayato's lips and he snapped a picture with his phone quickly, before the beast awoke. Then, he slipped out like a ninja. Well, as close to a ninja as Hayato could get…
He immediately sent it to Saya.
'Hey, send this to Sayo-chan!'
Saya stared at the message confusedly for a moment. She was half asleep… What was he up to? Didn't he have to work tomorrow? Why was he up this late? Then she saw the picture and couldn't help but almost squeal. It was such an adorable sleeping face.
So. She complied with her boyfriend's evil scheme, and sent the picture.
Sayo and Yoshida had just finished putting their things away. It had been a long, hot day at the beach. And tiring too. All Sayo wanted to do was shower and sleep.
"Why don't you shower first?" Yoshida asked her. He was trying to satisfy his case of munchies from the car ride back.
"Ah, sure," Sayo nodded tiredly. A quick shower, she decided. That was all she could afford. Otherwise, she'd be falling asleep inside the shower. She didn't want that.
About five minutes later, she was in her room, toweling her hair dry and slipping into her pajamas. Looking over at her nightstand where she had placed her phone after they had returned home, she saw it was blinking. She had a new message. Maybe it was from Saya. Curiosity overcame her and she opened it to find out.
'Looks like so much fun~ Here's a little gift'
Sayo was confused by the second part of the message. A gift? What gift? There was nothing under the text. Then she noticed it was still scrolling down. This confused her even more until the edge of an image finally started to pop up. It was a man's sleeping face.
Sayo's jaw hit the floor as she realized just whose sleeping face she was staring at. A fierce blush dominated her entire face. How could he go from such a stoic face to such an innocent, childlike face!?
As she continued to gaze at it, her shocked expression morphed into one of happiness.
She saved the image onto her phone, and replied to Saya.
'Thanks for the gift *blush face*'
And then she went to bed, wondering when she would be able to see that childlike sleeping face in person.
