The mid August wind blew leaves everywhere. Autumn was officially around and making its presence known with the lower temperatures. But still, the cold didn't keep him inside, being forced to rake leaves off the front lawn. Sayoko and his mother didn't want the lawn strewn with leaves for when customers came over. Cye gave a small sigh and continued on. The sound of another rake working nearby sounded in his ears and he cast a small smile to his brother-in-law. At least Ryuusuke was also willing to HELP him. Cye's mind burned as he bent toward his work. Ryuusuke. It'd been an interesting time with his family and Ryuusuke since before the war. Things were a little shaky in the past with the elder male, but after that whole diving incident, everything was more than fine now. Cye was glad. Ryuusuke was a pretty nice guy, and he was good for his sister. A hand went to brush a stray, wind-blown tendril of hair from his mouth as he took a small break. His hands were starting to feel the effects of the wooden rake and they hadn't even gotten half the lawn done yet. He bit back a sigh and looked around the block, breathing in the cool air. At least he was outside... Cye double blinked as an all too familiar car nearly skidded to a stop in front of the front lawn. An amused smile propped up his mouth as he waited for Kento and Rowen to exit the car. Cye watched Rowen almost gratefully...or was that SHAKILY?...get from the car and stop in front of him. "Remind me to get my OWN car one of these days!" Rowen burst out, wide eyes watching Kento follow his path. Cye grinned. "You're old enough for a license. And you're a rich kid. Go buy a car." Kento stopped and draped an arm around Cye's shoulders with his usual, jovial grin. "Aww...Ro LOVES driving with me!" He mused in denial, looking to his friend. "Makes him realize how much he appreciates life!" Rowen playfully scowled at Kento, trying not to grin at the double meaning to his kanji. "Ain't THAT the truth!" He retorted. After giving a brief glare to Kento, his attention gave up. "So...you going to come with us now or are we all meeting there?" Cye raised a brow. "What's the point in us all wasting gas? We'll ride together." He grinned. "Even Ryo." Kento shrugged. "At least he KNOWS about it." He answered, removing his arm from Cye's shoulders to stretch both. "I just hope this place Mia picked out is GOOD." "Well Ryo SAID he didn't want to do anything major or drawn-out cause he's got work and classes tomorrow." Rowen answered, scrunching his nose up. "Not even I would turn down a chance to party on my BIRTHDAY!" Cye grinned. "You'd stay up later than us on a NORMAL day." He retorted, going back to his job. "But Sayoko and mother want these done and...I was picked to do it." He lamely answered, looking to his task. Kento grinned. "More like the pinned you to the task, eh?" He queried. Deep blue swung over to Cye's 'elder brother'. "Hey Ryuusuke-san." Ryuusuke looked up and nodded with a smile. "Kento-san." He greeted back. After seeing Rowen as well, Ryuusuke decided on a small break and stopped to the trio. "What's going on?" Kento and Rowen looked to each other. Cye looked from Ryuusuke to catch part of that look. His eyes mildly widened. "Nothing Ryuu-san." Rowen innocently answered, giving his shortened version for Ryuusuke's long name. His fingers twisted together in a mock troubled appearance. "It's just...well..." "Our friend's twentieth birthday is today." Kento finished, giving a small, pleading look. "And we've gotta go get ready for it soon. And here we find Cye out raking leaves." "Guys..." Cye warned, trying to keep from smiling. "I'm QUITE capable of handling this." "Where are you guys going?" Ryuusuke asked, as if not hearing Cye. His eyes swung from Kento to Rowen. Kento brightened in remembrance of the restaurant. Being in the restaurant business had its perks of knowing other companies. "It's some fancy place our friend Mia knows of. She's got the arrangements for six and right now it's..." Kento trailed off as Cye looked to his watch. "Two thirty." He answered, looking to his mischievous friends. "You two...that's three and a half HOURS left. Even if you come BACK to pick me up, I'll have PLENTY of time to get the front AND back yards done, get ready, and probably get a little bit of homework done by the time you four show up again!" Ryuusuke clapped a hand on Cye's shoulder, gaining his attention. "Aw, go ahead and go with your friends Cye-ototo-chan." He urged, giving a nod. Cye's brow rose. "You only live once. Go out and have fun." Kento leaned close to Rowen. "I KNEW I liked this guy..." He whispered, fighting hard not to snicker. "No Ryuusuke-san." Cye denied, lightly gripping the wood handle. "Just because Kento and Rowen try to guilt you into letting me off early doesn't mean you have to give in!" Ryuusuke shook his head, waving a hand off of Cye's insinuation. "Nonsense! I need the exercise anyway. I'm getting soft in my old age." He took the rake from Cye's nonexistent grip and was already walking back to the steps. He leaned Cye's rake against the house wall and continued on as if nothing happened. "Well?? You HEARD the man Torrent!" Kento lowly mused, grabbing a wrist. Without waiting for Cye to gain his bearings, he drug Cye up the porch stairs to his house and past his mother and Sayoko in the kitchen. Rowen jogged past with an evil grin tilting his lips. The three stopped in Cye's room. "Get what you need and let's shuffle along." With a sigh, Cye went for his much used travel pack and went through his closet for something suitable to wear. Not even ten minutes later, the three piled into Kento's car, Rowen saying that CYE could take the front this time. As Kento pulled away from his house, Cye looked to his friend and gave a small smile. "Thanks for springing me guys." He quietly answered. "No problem fish-boy." Rowen mused from the back. "Who wants to rake leaves on a beautiful Saturday afternoon ANYWAY??" "My sentiments EXACTLY." Cye agreed, leaning back in the seat with a grin. Kento's matched his as they took the path to Sage's to get ready. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Stepping from Mia's jeep, the six stopped in the parking lot. Kento whistled. "Good thing you advised us to dress fancier than normal Mia." He suddenly announced. Mia smiled and nodded. A hand smoothed the ankle-length, simple brown dress down after that long ride in the car. "Well...Ryo needs something special on his birthday." She answered, leading the way. She kept back a little to keep in time with Ryo and wrapped an arm around his. She gave it a gentle tug and gained his attention. "Even if you DON'T want much for your birthday...think of it as a present between us all." She smiled, looking into his beautiful eyes. Ryo returned the heartfelt grin and almost sheepishly nodded. Being taken care of like this, and being in plush surroundings wasn't common for him. Ever since he moved into his apartment for high school, Ryo was used to depending mostly on himself. Having his friends around helped fight loneliness, but more often than not, Ryo didn't mind staying out of places like these. He'd rather much be out in the forest surrounding Mia's estate than wear a black tie. One hand absently tugged at it, feeling it was a little too tight. But he rarely wore anything like this and it was mildly uncomfortable. Heaving a mental sigh, knowing his friends MEANT well, Ryo allowed himself to be drug inside and stand in the short line for seating. The place was decked out in original Japanese trimmings. From the jade dragons sitting next to the modern cash register to the fish one would see in a feudal style garden. The waitresses had on baggy black and white kimonos in a mockery of modern day waitress wear. The servers the same. The one that seated their group was no different. Kento looked around the area. The lighting was mostly in Japanese lanterns. He had to admit, the low lighting made the place even classier than his first minute glance. This place was going to be expensiiiiivvveee. Cye looked to the wide, circular booth. It was done in mahogany with carved Japanese characters for life, longevity, luck, and fortune under a glass lining. He had to smile at the thoughtfulness. Whoever started this put a lot of thought into it. Sage looked around at the people dining. There were more foreigners here than actual Japanese. He wanted to smile at the ironicy, but forced himself not to. Why was it that people not of their own background tended to eat in places like this? His brow twitched upon seeing normal western utensils in some of their hands. He just hoped this place had CHOPSTICKS. Rowen checked out the menu in the rack and was happy to see there was a Japanese side. This place was great in his opinion. Though he never heard of it before, even though he asked Kento if he knew about it, Kento said he still didn't know that much about his competitors. But, Rowen knew that, if the opportunity arrived, he would have to come back here again. This was some place. Mia chose well. Rowen wondered how she knew about it, but being the richest of their group, she probably ate here all the time. After easily spotting what she wanted for tonight, Mia put the menu back and looked around the open area. Along with plenty of booths and tables, a small instrumental section sat off to one side. A shiny black, grand piano held a flute on its closed lid. A beautiful-looking harp sat off to one side. Two comfortable-looking chairs and the piano bench completed the picture. What was slightly odd about the area was the red rope keeping bystanders two foot away. But Mia knew better, knew the inside reason for that rope. No one was allowed to just go up and request songs. That velvet blockade kept everyone out for good reason. And Mia was the only one privy for that information. A waitress stopped and gave a small bow. "Konban wa minna." She said. Good evening everyone. A few bowed their heads in returning greeting, immediately going in for main orders. It wasn't hard to pick something to eat, since this was their nationality. The only thing would be to pick something out of everything that SOUNDED good. After the girl left, everyone sat back and waited for the tea to come. "This's really nice Mia." Ryo commented, giving a small grin. He gave a small thank-you nod when Mia looked his way. "Thanks for thinking of it. Even if I DO have to wear a tie." Mia grinned. "YOU'RE the one that put it on." She wryly retorted. "You don't see the others wearing one, do you?" "That's cause you won't find me DEAD in a tie." Kento cheekily answered, smirking. "Amen to THAT Kento..." Rowen answered. Cye and Sage just smirked. Mia shook her head at the lot of testosterone surrounding her. "What I put UP with..." She mumbled, mostly to herself. "You still love us though." Rowen quickly kidded, reaching across the table to poke her arm. Blue eyes rolled. "Don't really have a CHOICE in the matter." She answered, giving a quick wink to show she was joking. Just as seven o'clock rolled around, a small group of women strolled from a set of side doors. Mia watched with a small smile as one of them untwined her arm as they stopped in front of the piano. The youngest of the pair sat down and slowly fingered the keys as the other two sat in the provided chairs. "Hey...they got ENTERTAINMENT here too??" Kento asked, blinking. The group watched as everyone picked at their instruments. The harp's soft melody sounded as a young brunette absently picked the strings. The flute quickly blew a few melodic notes as another middle-aged brunette added a tiny melody of her own. Lastly, the piano slowly went through the scales. The harp changed its melody and followed, the flute piping in last. "What did you EXPECT Kento?" Mia asked, giving him a small, odd look. "This place is for the classy. They don't have romantic lighting here for nothing. The music is beautiful though." She added, almost as an afterthought. "How much DO you eat here Mia?" Sage asked, giving her a small raised brow. Mia grinned. "Just enough to know what songs are my favorites." She vaguely answered, giving him a quick wink. Sage's head only shook in bemusement. As if to prove her point, an arm snaked over Cye to the wall and pulled a piece of white paper from behind the menus. Quick to appease his curiosity, Rowen did as well, being the closest to the wall. Seeing few pieces, Mia let the others read over the paper and mentally kept track of the ones she wanted to play first. Knowing the pianist was a plus in her book, since what she intended on doing was normally not ALLOWED. "If you'll excuse me Kento...I think I'll go freshen up." She asked, waiting for Kento to slide from the booth. After a quick stop from the lady's room, Mia made a small detour to the roped off area and kneeled down to keep from being overly noticed. She was lucky that the piano hadn't started yet. Once the first piano song played, by solo or with the other instruments, her friend wouldn't stop until she was finished. With a few breaks in between for pauses of songs and the others' pieces, it would take a few hours to go through the few dozen songs the trio knew. "Konban wa Kimon-chan." Mia whispered, leaning in a little bit. Kimon's head swiveled at that familiar voice. A small smile graced her face. "Konban wa Mia-chan." She quietly greeted. "What're you doing here tonight? Ogenki desu ka?" Are you well? "Daijoubu." I'm fine. Mia smiled. "Treating a friend to a birthday dinner." She answered. After a quick peek to her table, in plain sight, she looked back to Kimon. "Will you play a few songs for me? Spoil me a little?" "Anything for you Mia-chan. What did you want me to play when I get a chance?" "Well...not to break you from your routine but-" "You know very well I have all the songs memorized. It's just a quick note to my two players to let them know what I'm doing." Mia smiled in gratitude. She wanted to show off her friend's skills to her OTHER friends. "Play for me 'Tranquility', 'A Special Moment', 'Thankful Dream', and 'A Touch Goodbye' to end it." A raven brow rose. "Four songs? I WILL spoil you Mia-chan. But I'll do it." Kimon answered, her lips tipping up. Mentally, she rearranged from what she was ORIGINALLY intending on playing and sought out the first notes to place the words with the music in her head. "As soon as the two finish playing 'Kôjô No Tsuki'." "Arigatou-gozaimasu Kimon-chan." Thank you. "Kochira koso Mia-chan." The pleasure is mine. Kimon quietly replied. She turned away when the fabric brushed back down as Mia stood and casually walked away, as if she always interrupted her work. When Mia got back to the table, she had everyone's full attention. "You know that girl Mia?" Ryo asked, a brow tilted. Mia nodded and slid into the seat with Kento after her. "I'm one of her friends, yes." She answered, a knowing smile on her face. "She goes to college in Tokyo, doesn't she?" Cye suddenly asked. Mia's gaze swung to his, finding it diverted over her head. "How did YOU know Cye??" She breathed, giving him a wondering look. "Because I saw her a few times one day." "Hey YEA...now that you mention it Cye..." Rowen muttered, leaning over the table. How was it possible that they missed that stick-like figure and long black hair? Possibly because that stick-like figure was in a thick, beautiful kimono, and her hair was up in a bun...a tiny braid the only indication to her lengthy hair. Much the same as her companions. Not to mention the musical band was across the room and they were on the far wall. In the low lighting, the music was heard more than its players seen. "That's HER." "That's who?" Ryo asked. "I've never seen her before..." Going to the same college with the others, Ryo knew even though his schedule was busy, he knew a few dozen of his classmates. Someone with hair THAT long would be easy to spot. Mia grinned. "She doesn't take any Biology classes Ryo." The piano started 'Tranquility' with slow beats, as if the player had all the time in the world. The group was quickly silent as they watched her play. Her head was bowed in near concentration, eyes closed. There wasn't even an open sheet of music for her to play off of. Mia gave a quiet, contented sigh and propped her head up to listen. She always loved this song. "She's more of a music major really..." She absently answered, closing her eyes to listen. Cye listened in rapt attention at the song. Whoever wrote it was a genius. The player also guided the feel of the song and he had to admit, she was brilliant. A born natural...or someone with many years experience. The way those slender fingers caressed the keys, like she was holding a child. Cye knew she loved to play. She must've had MANY years of practice. When the song daintily plucked the final chords, there was no clapping from anyone at the small pause. Mia watched in constant curiosity as Kimon sat with closed eyes and bowed head, hands momentarily on the keys before they moved to different ones and started 'A Special Moment'. Even though she watched Kimon play MANY times before, she would always be in awe at her talent. Especially with the way she handled the piano as she did. Playing without music...having it all memorized. Mia always told her friend that she should become a professional pianist, but the girl always politely turned her suggestion down. Mia didn't know why, after KNOWING how well Kimon could play, but didn't press her whenever she asked. Kimon did as she pleased, and she didn't want to pry. As their dinner came shortly into the middle of 'Thankful Dream', Mia raised her teacup in the air. "This song is called 'Thankful Dream'." She reported, giving a smile. "And it's MY thankful dream to be able to know you five after so long and still CONTINUE to see each other, even after our lives have gotten more hectic with the real world intervening. I just hope that we can keep our friendship as strong as it had been since we got back to our...real lives." "To fighting the REAL world!" Ryo quietly kidded, widely grinning. Rowen and Kento snickered as the six quietly clinked their cups together and sipped the hot green tea. "So Mia tell me...how do you know the piano player?" Cye asked, waiting for his dish to cool down. Mia put her chopsticks down and wiped her mouth. "Her mother was an assistant in my grandfather's teachings at the university. They often worked together, and a lot of the teachers at the college know her. Myself included, but we spend some time together when we can." Blue eyes looked across Kento to her friend. "It's not easy. She's more independent and rarely accepts my help on ANYTHING when I offer. I told her MORE than once she needs to be a professional pianist, but she always tells me she'd rather just be a writer like her mother...though I don't know WHY..." She finished that last part under her breath, careful not to give away too much of her friend's inside history. Whether Kimon chose to say anything was up to her, but Mia knew her friend was a very private person for many good reasons. Even after a year of knowing the extremely thin girl, Mia had yet to know that much about her. "Interesting..." Rowen trailed, casting a few glances to the player. "What's her mother's last name?" His mother was a journalist...maybe, by some chance, he knew the woman. It was possible that maybe she taught at the university by now. "Married? It's Ataki." Mia absently answered, grabbing a noodle from her wonton soup. Cye's brow rose. "I know that last name...I've got a teacher by that." He answered, giving Mia his attention. "Would THAT be her mother?" He queried, remembering not too long ago when the unnamed girl sat in his English Lit class and talked with his teacher. But the woman seemed a little older than what he guessed. "No. There's no female Ataki teaching there anymore." Mia's head almost solemnly shook. "But the current Ataki can't be her father. He doesn't have much as far as education goes..." Mia mumbled, staring off into space. "I think she has an uncle with that name. He teaches a few Biology classes at the university." Cye's brow rose in old-fashioned curiosity. As the conversation momentarily halted before everyone's food went cold, Cye's glance snuck to the piano player as she finished up 'A Touch Goodbye'. Curiouser and curiouser... After a few more songs of playing, an hour or two had to've passed. The flute and harp joined in on some of the songs. There was a small bout of silence before a few looked over to find the trio leaving, probably for a break. Just as they arrived, the flute player entwined her arm with the pianist and walked by her side to the door they entered. Not even twenty minutes later, only the flute and harp player returned. With a thoughtful mark on his brow, Cye observed the two as they went into a few songs with themselves. He knew one as 'Defune', for it dealt with the sea. The other, 'Jôgashima no Ame' in its dealing with a lighthouse. 'Defune' was slow to an almost solemn point, but 'Jôgashima no Ame' lightened up as the song progressed. The two were good. The evening was a fascinating one, the day interesting all together. Cye wanted to ask Mia more about the girl, but didn't feel like prying right now. Maybe fate would allow the two groups of friends to get together and introduce each other. She looked like a nice, hard-working person...