The two playboys stumbled in surprise, and nearly dropped the drinks they were carrying. Neither could quite believe their eyes at the scene they beheld.

"Rui?!.." Soujiro whispered to Akira in stunned disbelief.

"And Makino." Akira agreed incredulously, in equally low tones.

"Well, umm. . . it looks as though we might have been outflanked. . . How the hell did this happen?" Soujiro hissed the question.

"I have no idea! How could he do this to us? I mean, Rui never goes for the girls! How could we have known what a tactical error we were making by leaving him alone with her?"

"Well, let us hope this is just a temporary setback. We may have lost this round of battle, but the war for Makino is not yet over! . . . I absolutely refuse to lose to Rui, of all people," Soujiro pursued stubbornly.

"Indeed." Akira nodded. "I think, then, that it's time to make our presence known."

"Ahem." Soujiro cleared his throat loudly. This sound finally broke through to Rui and Tsukushi, who sprang apart instantly. Tsukushi's face exploded with a bright red flush of embarrassment. Rui merely looked . . . Amused.

"Ah, you're back at last," he greeted.

"Umm. . . yeah," Soujiro agreed, "Sorry it took so long." He looked at Tsukushi quizzically, "did you miss us?"

"Oh. Um, yeah. Thank you for getting the drinks, have a seat, isn't this place cool!?' Tsukushi stammered uncomfortably, her blush heightening even more than she'd thought possible.

"Can I have Rui's place?" Soujiro teased, amused at Tsukushi's obvious discomfort. But she was too flustered to muster up an adequate response, and just stared at him blankly.

"Ah, leave her alone," Akira intervened, "Is he bothering you, Makino? I can make him go away. Him too," he nodded at Rui, "just say the word and I'll teach these two perverts not to bother you anymore."

"Hey, who are you calling perverted!" Soujiro protested, "I don't do anything you wouldn't do!"

"Except for the 15 year age difference," Rui mocked the play on words.

"You keep out of this!" Soujiro protested, "You were kissing Makino! You have no right to comment!"

"Indeed, Rui, what were you thinking taking advantage of a defenseless girl like that?" Akira continued in his 'defender of the innocent' mode, (another ploy that often worked wonders with the ladies).

"Defenseless? Hardly!" Rui snorted, but a shadow of guilt passed over his face, as he reflected on the truth of his pursuit of Tsukushi in her moment of weakness.

"Stop fighting!" Tsukushi recovered enough to shout. "I. . . . umm.." she started to continue in a lower tone.

"It's OK. You don't have to explain to us," Akira soothed gently, "Let's just start over where we left off earlier."

"Ah. . . Thank you," Tsukushi blushed briefly again, as the table lapsed into an uncomfortable silence. Akira, as usual the first to recover his composure, besides Rui, that is, who had never lost his to begin with, broke the silence with another funny story about the time his mother had insisted on going clubbing with him, and been mistaken as his girlfriend; inciting all his ex-lovers into the most amazing fits of jealousy over the 'younger woman.' Even Rui was eventually reduced to fits of uncontrollable laughter at the comedy of errors that resulted. Tsukushi found her moody reflections and acute embarrassment fading into the background as she giggled along with the others and watched Akira's laughing eyes, entranced, as his story unfolded.

"Hmph," Soujiro snorted to himself, discomfited at this turn of events, "Akira, even Rui, is doing better than me at getting this girl's attention tonight! Something's got to be done. After all, my reputation as a playboy could be riding on this!" He cast about for a plan whereby he could get Tsukushi alone for a while, as Rui had, or at least gain her undivided attention, as was Akira's skill. "Aha! How could I not have thought of this earlier?" Soujiro mentally kicked himself for being so slow.

Coincidentally enough, as Akira's tale drew to a close, the throbbing dance music on the floor below shifted to a slower, more seductive rhythm. From his vantage, Soujiro could see the singleton dancers deserting the floor in waves, as couples moved in to claim their places, gently swaying together with the evocative melodies around them.

Soujiro turned towards Tsukushi, and, placing an earnest, yet confident, expression upon his face, asked gallantly, "Would you care to dance?"

"Umm. . . sure," Tsukushi replied, eager, now that the story was over, to keep herself distracted before memory swept her away again.

"Great!" Soujiro flashed a killer smile of delight, while Rui and Akira looked on sourly. He extended his hand to Tsukushi, and helped her to her feet. They set off, arm in arm, down the stairs.

Behind the couple, Akira turned to Rui, and, dropping his suave act now that Tsukushi was gone, inquired, "OK, now what the hell was all that about before? What's going on between you and Makino?"

"I could ask the same about you and Soujiro," Rui calmly replied, "just what do you think you're doing?"

"We're just trying to cheer her up!" Akira protested.

"Uh huh," Rui remained skeptical, "That's what I'm doing too." With this pronouncement he turned to watch events unfold on the floor below.

Soujiro led Tsukushi out onto the dance floor. She was a little tense, as she'd not really ever danced to the slow songs with a guy before-Doumyouji had never taken her out clubbing. Nevertheless, in the spirit of the night, she was willing to give it a shot. Again, the drink she'd just finished made it easier for her to feel comfortable standing so close to Soujiro, encircled by his warm arms, as they moved to the music. While himself a skilled dancer, Soujiro was uncertain of Tsukushi's abilities, and did not press her into any complicated steps. And, knowing her normal reluctance to engage in any overtly sexual display, (despite her scene with Rui, Soujiro thought sardonically), he did not press her to stand too close. "Always give the girl the freedom to make her choices," he thought to himself, "just make sure she can't help but choose you." He smiled lazily down at Tsukushi, his bright eyes glinting through a few stray locks of his straight black hair, as his hand slowly caressed her back.

Tsukushi looked wordlessly back up at him. She honestly had no idea what to say in this sort of situation. So she answered his smile with a tentative one of her own, "He's the playboy," she thought to herself, "let him come up with the conversation." Here her thoughts were interrupted by the shiver his hand on her back sent up her spine. She blinked and looked away from him, as a blush crept across her face, "this is more intimate than I thought it would be," she thought as the electric tingle of sensation continued.

Soujiro decided it was time to do more than merely dance, so he opted to open the conversation with one of his more successful gambits (not that he was used to failure in the world of seduction, but it never hurt to try your best, especially when dealing with perverse commoner women, he reflected. . . )

"You know, Makino, you are truly an amazing woman," Soujiro delivered this cliched line with such passionate sincerity, that most women who heard him were convinced that not only had they never heard it before, but that Soujiro was the most perceptive man alive for uttering it to them.

Tsukushi was not like Soujiro's other women.

Soujiro's words merely took her aback, and she almost started laughing at this unexpected line. Tsukushi managed to control her mirth, however, and looking him straight in the eye, demanded. "And just how many other girls have you said that to?"

If there had been even a hint of coy flirtation in her tone, Soujiro would have responded with his usual smooth denials that no one else could have elicited such feelings from him. However, this was Makino, and her direct question could not help but startle him into an honest answer. "Well, umm . . . a lot," he admitted, a bit shamefacedly.

"And how many times have you actually meant it?" Tsukushi continued her probing.

"Not very often," he sighed, "maybe once or twice. I meant it this time." As the words left his mouth, he was startled to discover he meant them. No, he did not have a great desire to bed Makino, and wouldn't try were it not for his bet. But, having watched her struggles with, for, and because of Tsukasa, he did have to admit, she truly was an amazing girl.

Tsukushi was shocked by the change in his tone. It was as if his façade of the suave lover had cracked open, and a few shreds of grating honesty were forcing themselves out.

"It's a nice thought," she replied at last. "But I'm just a common weed. . . . And you don't need to act the playboy around me all the time either; I know there's more to you than that," she added.

It was Soujiro's turn to be shocked by the turns in the conversation. "What the hell is going on here?" he thought. "This is Not how the script goes!"

"What has Yuki told you?" he demanded, thinking that something Makino's friend had said must have prompted her comment. "I'm just a simple lover of women!" Soujiro protested again.

Tsukushi looked up at him sadly, "Ah yes, you and your 'once-in-a-lifetime- opportunities.'" She sighed, "Yuki tells me nothing, though I wish she would. Still, I've seen you in action before. You flirt constantly, and the ladies flock to you, but you are no happier than Doumyouji, or I. In some ways, I think you are less happy, because you choose your lovers lovelessly. "

Soujiro was shaking his head in violent negation, but still he was caught by her meditative words.

"You hide your pain, and you play the field, but it doesn't bring you joy or comfort, because it is all so empty of passion" Tsukushi continued, still staring up at him.

"No!" Soujiro denied, "I can't be hurt. You can't be hurt if you love no one."

"But you can't choose whom you love, either. No matter how you may deny the feeling," Tsukushi smiled regretfully. "And sometimes the good parts of being in love even make the pain worth it. But rejecting the truth never helps anything."

Soujiro stared down at Tsukushi, wondering, "when did she get to be so wise?" Still, he did not wish to hear any more; he did not think he could bear to have thoughts of Sara brought to mind right now, after he had tried so hard to avoid the memories. "Please shut up, " he whispered hoarsely, his pain-filled whisper still managing to cut through the music to reach Tsukushi's ears. "Just don't say any more."

Tsukushi blinked in surprise at the change in his demeanor, but nodded slowly, "I'm sorry, Nishikado," she murmured, "I didn't mean to be so cruel when you all are being so kind to me." She flashed him a small smile, "I'll be quiet now."

"I can almost understand why Tsukasa fell in love with this commoner girl," Soujiro reflected. "Good thing she's not my type," he amended his thought with some relief. Then, "Argh, I'm going to have to concede the bet now! There's no way I can win after this." A rueful look flashed across his face at this revelation.

Tsukushi, noticing the strange expression, looked at him quizzically, but true to her word, kept her mouth shut. She looked so cute, standing there so close to him, with that innocently confused look in her eyes, that Soujiro suddenly had a moment of channeling Rui, and abruptly bent down to kiss her.

As his lips touched hers, Soujiro came back to himself with a start, "What am I doing?" he thought, "What the hell is wrong with me, that when this girl says a few words to me I lose all control?"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," he babbled hastily, taking a step back, "I don't know what came over me!"

Tsukushi merely looked stunned, as yet another blush erupted across her face. "I let Nishikado Soujiro kiss me??!!" was the only thought she could manage to form, "What was I thinking? I have no idea what's going on here any more."

Somewhere along the way, they'd both lost control of the situation, and neither quite knew what to say. Luckily, the song was winding down, and it was almost time to leave the floor. Despite their emotional turmoil, the couple had actually done a pretty passable job of continuing to dance through their conversation. As they danced the last few measures, in silence, with their gazes averted, Tsukushi came to a realization. "I'm not afraid of him anymore. I used to be so scared by the playboy attitude, that I never saw the boy beneath. I do now, and I'm no longer afraid of him. Even that odd kiss. . . I was more startled than anything else." She finally looked up again at Soujiro as the music ended.

"It's OK," she said reassuringly, taking his hand to lead him off the floor, "I won't tell them if you won't."

Soujiro, nodded slowly, and, unbidden, a grin spread itself across his face, as he pondered the utter improbability of this whole situation.

"That's more like it, Nishikado!" Tsukushi laughed as Soujiro put his charmer face back on.

"You can call me Soujiro, you know," Soujiro murmured down at her, "You've known me long enough, and after all-we have kissed!" He'd recovered enough by now to joke about his little slip.

Tsukushi looked surprised, but then nodded, "OK, but only if you call me Tsukushi."

"It's a deal!" Soujiro smiled, looking a little less like a playboy and more like a normal guy, the more he relaxed around her.

Seeing this incremental transformation, Tsukushi suprised them both once more, by rising on her tiptoes to kiss him softly on the cheek.

He looked down inquiringly at her, but she merely smiled and took his arm, as they headed for the stairs back to the balcony.

To be continued.

I hope there's enough cuteness in here to satisfy your cuteness cravings. If not, Oh well-I can only write what my mood swings send to me