Soujiro was not entirely sure what to say to Tsukushi now that he'd dragged
her to the bar. He tossed back his drink and ordered another one, while
Tsukushi continued to glare abstractedly at the polished woodgrain of the
bar in front of her.
"So why are you so angry tonight?" he asked at last. "You looked ready to kill something when I saw you in the street."
"Eh? It's nothing!" Tsukushi brushed aside his concern. She really didn't want to talk about her latest issues with Tsukasa and Rui. At least, not in so public a place. She tried changing the subject, "So what ever did happen between you and Yuki?" Tsukushi was genuinely curious, and even several months after the last scene she'd witnessed between the two at Soujiro's house, Yuki still wouldn't talk about what had passed between the two of them.
This was not a topic Soujiro wanted to talk about either, as he still wasn't sure how he felt about Yuki, and even if he did know, he wouldn't know what to do with his feelings. He was not good at dealing with complex emotions. So, he shrugged aside Tsukushi's question, "You know I wouldn't hurt your friend, Tsukushi. I'd be too afraid of what you might do to me in revenge." He smiled disarmingly, but a warning light shone through his deep eyes. He did wonder though, what advice Tsukushi would give if he were to be honest for once and talk to her about his life?
So many topics to avoid, so many tender subjects. Don't go there! What was there to say, if they couldn't open up at all about what was really going on inside their heads? Unaware of what similar thoughts were currently running through Soujiro's mind, Tsukushi played with her drink, wishing for a moment of honesty, but she didn't feel comfortable talking in a place like this. The noise, the smoke, the press of people around them, all of it was combining to make Tsukushi feel even more uncomfortable, Or perhaps it was just that she was beginning to tune in to the angry glares that shot her way when her back was turned.
Soujiro, with his heightened awareness of the female mood, was definitely beginning to sense that the atmosphere in the bar was getting distinctly chilly. Perhaps bringing Tsukushi in here might not have been the best idea. It might be wise to leave now before someone like Asai came over and made a scene.
Soujiro sighed in irritation and slammed his empty glass on the bar. "Let's get out of here!" he suggested abruptly, "This place is too stifling. I can't even hear myself think. Maybe we could go some place quieter."
But it was too late to leave without a scene.
Tsukushi felt a tap on her shoulder. Turning around she was confronted by a willowy red-head, who would have been remarkably pretty, had not her face been twisted into an ugly snarl of disdain.
"And just what do you think, gives you the right to be talking to my dear Nishikado?" The redhead spat spitefully as she stared down her nose at Tsukushi. "You're far too ugly, and, by the looks of it, too poor to be worthy of his attention. Why don't you get out of his sight before we're all blinded by your ugly face?"
Tsukushi felt herself getting hot with anger. What right did this bitch think she had to talk to her this way, when Tsukushi hadn't even wanted to come to the bar in the first place. And what the hell was so special about Soujiro that she wasn't worthy to talk to him? Gah! She jumped to her feet, and opened her mouth to snap a furious reply.
But before the words left her mouth, she was startled into silence by the sudden pressure of Soujiro's arms wrapping around her as he stood to confront the interloping girl. Possessively embracing Tsukushi, Soujiro smiled predatorily over her shoulder, and lazily interrupted with, "Ah, Ami, what are you so upset about? Don't you know that you could never compete with this girl? Why don't you give up? You were never very good in bed anyway."
While Ami gasped in outrage at this string of drawled insults, Soujiro proceeded to upset the room of avidly watching females still further, by bending down to kiss Tsukushi lingeringly in the lips. He didn't let up until Ami had at last stalked off back to the clique of snotty females from whence she'd come.
Tsukushi was probably the most upset out of all the women in the bar. What was Soujiro thinking, kissing her like that! She was not one of his toys to be picked up and played with! But she refused to show her irritation in front of all these strangers, but just wait 'till she got the boy alone! She mentally debated whether to break his nose, or just his jaw.
"Don't make a scene, let's just get out of here quietly," Soujiro coolly whispered in Tsukushi's ear as he slowly released her. Throwing some money down on the bar to pay for their drinks, he pulled her towards the door.
"Hey wait! What do you think you're doing! Let me go! I didn't even get a chance to pay!" Tsukushi started yelling the second they left the building, "and don't ever do that to me again! Didn't I tell you not to touch me?"
"Calm down already!" Soujiro glared right back at the crazed woman before him, "It was the fastest way to make her back off without creating even more of a scene. I really hate it when chicks fight in public. It's so embarrassing." He ended this ridiculously supercilious remark with a disdainful sneer.
Tsukushi frowned and reached for her wallet. His logic sort of made sense. Maybe. In a really twisted kind of way, and it's not as if she wasn't used to guys kissing her without permission by now, anyway. . . But she was damned if she was going to let him get away with paying for her too. Holding out a handful of yen at him, Tsukushi muttered, "I'm still paying for my drink. Take it so I can go home!"
Soujiro just continued to glare at Tsukushi's outstretched hand. "I don't let women pay when they're with me," he snorted haughtily, "it offends my sense of chivalry."
"What sense of chivalry?" Tsukushi thought this was the lamest excuse ever, considering his previous behavior.
Soujiro crossed his arms and started down at the short girl. Must she always fight everything so hard? He was beginning to feel like Tsukasa, and that just wouldn't do. "Give it up," he sighed, "I'm Not Tsukasa. I'm not going to argue with you. I don't have the energy for it. But neither am I going to let you pay when I dragged you to that bar, and when it's my fault you had to listen to that bitch. So stop being such a bloody brat. OK?"
Tsukushi held her position a while longer, then sighed and gave in. "Next time I'm paying for you." She muttered at last, as she tucked the bills back in her purse.
"Fine, whatever," Soujiro was starting to get cold standing out in the dark street with the gusty winds ruffling through his short hair. "Let's just get out of here, and go someplace warm and quiet."
"Huh? What? Didn't you listen to me? I have to go study!"
"Oh don't worry about that, " Soujiro replied carelessly as he searched the street for a cab, "I'll help you - What've you got to study anyway?"
As Soujiro was more than slightly tipsy, Tsukushi wondered just how much help he'd actually be. But she had to admit she was curious as to why this odd boy was so reluctant to let her leave despite their fight. She figured it had to be something to do with the strange look he'd given her when she asked about Yuki. After all it couldn't be. . . No-There was no way Soujiro could possibly be interested in her! There was no chance Tsukushi would ever go for Soujiro, not when she already had two guys fighting over her. She just did not need a third. Ah well, if she was wrong, and he did actually try something perverted, she could always beat him up and run away. Right. It wouldn't be a problem.
Reassuring herself thusly, Tsukushi hesitantly stepped into the waiting cab.
Several minutes later, she thought to ask, "Umm.. Where exactly is it we're going?"
Soujiro thought about this question for several moments, then snapped his fingers as if an idea had suddenly come to him. Grinning insouciantly, he produced, as if by magic. . .
"A hotel-room key?!!" Tsukushi's eyes bugged out of her skull, "All right! You can let me out right here! I'm going home!" She started edging for the door. If necessary, she was prepared to jump out at the next stoplight.
"Relax!" Soujiro laughed at the stricken expression on the girl's face. She really was so paranoid sometimes. It was fun to play with her mind like that. He shrugged in mock innocence, "Well, I already paid for it for the night, and I can't take you back to my parents' house! Not at this hour. And I refuse to spend time in that pit you call an apartment. . . so, come on! It's quieter than the bar, and there's space to spread out your books to study. I'll behave myself, I promise. I'd never do anything a girl didn't want me to." He batted his long eyelashes disarmingly at Tsukushi, "But If you wanted to, I know some great ways to help take a break from your studies."
Tsukushi was hardly reassured by this continual teasing. She edged closer towards the door, purse clutched firmly in hand.
Soujiro sighed, and dropped the act for a second. He did not want to be let alone again. If Tsukushi were to leave, he knew he'd just head straight for another bar and drink himself into a stupor, that is, if he didn't first try to lose himself in the stale pleasures of the flesh with some stranger yet to be met. Turning darkly pleading eyes on Tsukushi, he asked more seriously, "Please? I. . . I need to talk to someone. . . . You know my friends wouldn't understand, and. there's no one else.."
Tsukushi winced at the change in Soujiro's tone. She'd almost forgotten again, that he really wasn't the shallow joker he always seemed to be. And she did have a favor to repay for the other night too. She'd turned to him then. It was only fair if he demanded restitution now.
So, what else could she do? Tsukushi nodded slowly, and managed a weak grin. "Even looking like that, you're still not going to be able to get out of helping me with my homework. You Promised!"
The moment safely dispelled, Soujiro flashed a smile in return, as the cab pulled up to their destination.
To be continued..,.
"So why are you so angry tonight?" he asked at last. "You looked ready to kill something when I saw you in the street."
"Eh? It's nothing!" Tsukushi brushed aside his concern. She really didn't want to talk about her latest issues with Tsukasa and Rui. At least, not in so public a place. She tried changing the subject, "So what ever did happen between you and Yuki?" Tsukushi was genuinely curious, and even several months after the last scene she'd witnessed between the two at Soujiro's house, Yuki still wouldn't talk about what had passed between the two of them.
This was not a topic Soujiro wanted to talk about either, as he still wasn't sure how he felt about Yuki, and even if he did know, he wouldn't know what to do with his feelings. He was not good at dealing with complex emotions. So, he shrugged aside Tsukushi's question, "You know I wouldn't hurt your friend, Tsukushi. I'd be too afraid of what you might do to me in revenge." He smiled disarmingly, but a warning light shone through his deep eyes. He did wonder though, what advice Tsukushi would give if he were to be honest for once and talk to her about his life?
So many topics to avoid, so many tender subjects. Don't go there! What was there to say, if they couldn't open up at all about what was really going on inside their heads? Unaware of what similar thoughts were currently running through Soujiro's mind, Tsukushi played with her drink, wishing for a moment of honesty, but she didn't feel comfortable talking in a place like this. The noise, the smoke, the press of people around them, all of it was combining to make Tsukushi feel even more uncomfortable, Or perhaps it was just that she was beginning to tune in to the angry glares that shot her way when her back was turned.
Soujiro, with his heightened awareness of the female mood, was definitely beginning to sense that the atmosphere in the bar was getting distinctly chilly. Perhaps bringing Tsukushi in here might not have been the best idea. It might be wise to leave now before someone like Asai came over and made a scene.
Soujiro sighed in irritation and slammed his empty glass on the bar. "Let's get out of here!" he suggested abruptly, "This place is too stifling. I can't even hear myself think. Maybe we could go some place quieter."
But it was too late to leave without a scene.
Tsukushi felt a tap on her shoulder. Turning around she was confronted by a willowy red-head, who would have been remarkably pretty, had not her face been twisted into an ugly snarl of disdain.
"And just what do you think, gives you the right to be talking to my dear Nishikado?" The redhead spat spitefully as she stared down her nose at Tsukushi. "You're far too ugly, and, by the looks of it, too poor to be worthy of his attention. Why don't you get out of his sight before we're all blinded by your ugly face?"
Tsukushi felt herself getting hot with anger. What right did this bitch think she had to talk to her this way, when Tsukushi hadn't even wanted to come to the bar in the first place. And what the hell was so special about Soujiro that she wasn't worthy to talk to him? Gah! She jumped to her feet, and opened her mouth to snap a furious reply.
But before the words left her mouth, she was startled into silence by the sudden pressure of Soujiro's arms wrapping around her as he stood to confront the interloping girl. Possessively embracing Tsukushi, Soujiro smiled predatorily over her shoulder, and lazily interrupted with, "Ah, Ami, what are you so upset about? Don't you know that you could never compete with this girl? Why don't you give up? You were never very good in bed anyway."
While Ami gasped in outrage at this string of drawled insults, Soujiro proceeded to upset the room of avidly watching females still further, by bending down to kiss Tsukushi lingeringly in the lips. He didn't let up until Ami had at last stalked off back to the clique of snotty females from whence she'd come.
Tsukushi was probably the most upset out of all the women in the bar. What was Soujiro thinking, kissing her like that! She was not one of his toys to be picked up and played with! But she refused to show her irritation in front of all these strangers, but just wait 'till she got the boy alone! She mentally debated whether to break his nose, or just his jaw.
"Don't make a scene, let's just get out of here quietly," Soujiro coolly whispered in Tsukushi's ear as he slowly released her. Throwing some money down on the bar to pay for their drinks, he pulled her towards the door.
"Hey wait! What do you think you're doing! Let me go! I didn't even get a chance to pay!" Tsukushi started yelling the second they left the building, "and don't ever do that to me again! Didn't I tell you not to touch me?"
"Calm down already!" Soujiro glared right back at the crazed woman before him, "It was the fastest way to make her back off without creating even more of a scene. I really hate it when chicks fight in public. It's so embarrassing." He ended this ridiculously supercilious remark with a disdainful sneer.
Tsukushi frowned and reached for her wallet. His logic sort of made sense. Maybe. In a really twisted kind of way, and it's not as if she wasn't used to guys kissing her without permission by now, anyway. . . But she was damned if she was going to let him get away with paying for her too. Holding out a handful of yen at him, Tsukushi muttered, "I'm still paying for my drink. Take it so I can go home!"
Soujiro just continued to glare at Tsukushi's outstretched hand. "I don't let women pay when they're with me," he snorted haughtily, "it offends my sense of chivalry."
"What sense of chivalry?" Tsukushi thought this was the lamest excuse ever, considering his previous behavior.
Soujiro crossed his arms and started down at the short girl. Must she always fight everything so hard? He was beginning to feel like Tsukasa, and that just wouldn't do. "Give it up," he sighed, "I'm Not Tsukasa. I'm not going to argue with you. I don't have the energy for it. But neither am I going to let you pay when I dragged you to that bar, and when it's my fault you had to listen to that bitch. So stop being such a bloody brat. OK?"
Tsukushi held her position a while longer, then sighed and gave in. "Next time I'm paying for you." She muttered at last, as she tucked the bills back in her purse.
"Fine, whatever," Soujiro was starting to get cold standing out in the dark street with the gusty winds ruffling through his short hair. "Let's just get out of here, and go someplace warm and quiet."
"Huh? What? Didn't you listen to me? I have to go study!"
"Oh don't worry about that, " Soujiro replied carelessly as he searched the street for a cab, "I'll help you - What've you got to study anyway?"
As Soujiro was more than slightly tipsy, Tsukushi wondered just how much help he'd actually be. But she had to admit she was curious as to why this odd boy was so reluctant to let her leave despite their fight. She figured it had to be something to do with the strange look he'd given her when she asked about Yuki. After all it couldn't be. . . No-There was no way Soujiro could possibly be interested in her! There was no chance Tsukushi would ever go for Soujiro, not when she already had two guys fighting over her. She just did not need a third. Ah well, if she was wrong, and he did actually try something perverted, she could always beat him up and run away. Right. It wouldn't be a problem.
Reassuring herself thusly, Tsukushi hesitantly stepped into the waiting cab.
Several minutes later, she thought to ask, "Umm.. Where exactly is it we're going?"
Soujiro thought about this question for several moments, then snapped his fingers as if an idea had suddenly come to him. Grinning insouciantly, he produced, as if by magic. . .
"A hotel-room key?!!" Tsukushi's eyes bugged out of her skull, "All right! You can let me out right here! I'm going home!" She started edging for the door. If necessary, she was prepared to jump out at the next stoplight.
"Relax!" Soujiro laughed at the stricken expression on the girl's face. She really was so paranoid sometimes. It was fun to play with her mind like that. He shrugged in mock innocence, "Well, I already paid for it for the night, and I can't take you back to my parents' house! Not at this hour. And I refuse to spend time in that pit you call an apartment. . . so, come on! It's quieter than the bar, and there's space to spread out your books to study. I'll behave myself, I promise. I'd never do anything a girl didn't want me to." He batted his long eyelashes disarmingly at Tsukushi, "But If you wanted to, I know some great ways to help take a break from your studies."
Tsukushi was hardly reassured by this continual teasing. She edged closer towards the door, purse clutched firmly in hand.
Soujiro sighed, and dropped the act for a second. He did not want to be let alone again. If Tsukushi were to leave, he knew he'd just head straight for another bar and drink himself into a stupor, that is, if he didn't first try to lose himself in the stale pleasures of the flesh with some stranger yet to be met. Turning darkly pleading eyes on Tsukushi, he asked more seriously, "Please? I. . . I need to talk to someone. . . . You know my friends wouldn't understand, and. there's no one else.."
Tsukushi winced at the change in Soujiro's tone. She'd almost forgotten again, that he really wasn't the shallow joker he always seemed to be. And she did have a favor to repay for the other night too. She'd turned to him then. It was only fair if he demanded restitution now.
So, what else could she do? Tsukushi nodded slowly, and managed a weak grin. "Even looking like that, you're still not going to be able to get out of helping me with my homework. You Promised!"
The moment safely dispelled, Soujiro flashed a smile in return, as the cab pulled up to their destination.
To be continued..,.