Disclaimer: I own none of the characters that I use in my story beside
myself. Duh. Would I be writing fan fiction if I owned the characters? Oh,
and I don't own the parts of the play Romeo and Juliet by William
Shakespeare that I use in this play.
AN: I'm really pushing to finish this story before I go to camp. Only three more chapters to go! I think I can do it. (But some support would be nice... review please!)
This chapter is going to be returning to the humor that previously presided in this fic and has somehow vanished over the past two chapters. Enjoy!
And I kind of withheld this chapter a few days because of the dismal amounts of reviews I had... however, because of this withholding, it's probably the best chapter that I've published so far. (I got to polish it until it shone.) So I hope you like it!
The First Night
Back stage was bustling with excitement. Shouts of 'Break a leg!' 'Good luck!' and 'WHERE THE HELL IS MY COSTUME!' filled the room with a near deafening sound. Several of the actors poured over their scripts in corners in a desperate attempt to memorize lines they still didn't know. If someone could somehow harness the amount of nervous energy that was buzzing around the room, they could probably power a small town.
Sanosuke had turned his headphones on in an unsuccessful attempt to drown out the mayhem around him. Even cranked up to the highest volume, the music still did not hide the chaos swarming around him. His stomach felt like it was filled spiders. Breathing out, he let himself relax a little. It wasn't really performing that made him this nervous; he knew his lines well and knew that character better. It was the fact that he was going to have to perform with Megumi. With an awkward silence between the two of them, it was going to be hard to look at her like he loved her without doubt making him look away. The fact that he was actually in love with her would, counter-intuitively, hurt his acting instead of helping it.
He was still in the dark about how Megumi felt about him: she had avoided talking to him for nearly a week. Though he didn't show it, it troubled him deeply. His view on the situation had lost any of the optimism it once had: he had lost nearly all hope at this point. It was hard to imagine that after this much time she still didn't know what to think. More likely she didn't feel the same way and wanted to avoid an awkward confrontation.
He picked up his play and flipped to a long line that he didn't know very well. His fingers stuck to the paper. Was he really that nervous? More spiders in his stomach answered that question. He sighed. It was going to be a strange performance.
"I do but keep the peace. Put up thy sword, or manage it to part these me with me." Yahiko poked his sword at a very irritated looking Saito. Saito, honestly, wasn't a very good actor. However, he was perfect for the role of Tybalt. Tybalt, in the play, was always angry. Saito was eerily like the character that he played in this sense: Sanosuke had never seen him crack a smile.
"What, drawn and talk of peace?" Saito said, eyes narrowed. A senior to Yahiko's freshman, he was a good foot higher than the boy that he faced. It was quite a funny scene, actually. "I hate the word." Saito hissed. A few actors on stage took a little step back. "As I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee. Have at thee, coward." He yelled. The fight was a supposed to be faked, but Saito was getting into it. Yahiko winced as the wooden sword hit his side hard.
More actors streamed onto stage, saying their lines quickly and joining into the frenzy. Many of the actors followed Saito's lead and really got into the fight, throwing punches and hitting at the other characters. Several boys in the audience started placing bets on who would come out victorious in the fray. Aoshi, as the character the prince, burst out onto stage. He looked a little surprised about the actual violence that was happening. He grabbed Saitos shoulders and threw him off of Yahiko, who now had a bloody nose and a black eye. Saito flew through the air, sailing through the curtains that marked the sides of the stage and crashing loudly into the multiple chairs backstage. Aoshi didn't look very concerned with his fellow actor, merely continuing with his lines.
Saito limped on stage from the sides and waited, scowling with anger. Low laughter rippled through the audience as he reappeared, and this only made him bitterer. As Aoshi finally finished his lines and turned with grace to strut off stage, he walked into Saito's outstretched leg and fell flat on his face. The audience went into uproarious laughter. Saito smirked.
All the cast exited the stage except for Montague, Lady Montague and the injured looking Yahiko. Saito and Aoshi shot death glares at each other once they got back stage. Sanosuke didn't know whom he would put his money on to win the fight. Both of the two were very tough and a little bit insane. Whatever the outcome, it would be one ugly fight.
It went smoothly from there until the third scene in act three. Romeo, having just heard the news that he was to be banished from Verona, broke down weeping. This itself got some laughter: the idea of the tough guy, Sanosuke Sagara, weeping over banishment was pretty humorous. It took all the will power that Sanosuke had not to break the act and glare at the people who were laughing at him.
The nurse, Kaoru, entered the scene. This particular scene was a little strange, being one of the few times when Kenshin and Kaoru were together on stage. Sanosuke always thought there was some strange chemistry in the air. And then there was the fact that Kaoru was prone to laughter.
Sanosuke grabbed the rubber dagger from his belt and threatened to kill himself. Kaoru grabbed out of his hands. Her grip, however, was bad: the knife flew out of her hands with the momentum and flew into the audience, hitting an innocent seventh grader in the head and knocking them out. Kaoru bit her lip in an attempt not to laugh or blurt out "Sorry!"
"Hold thy desperate hand!" Kenshin reprimanded him, his voice low with faked fury. "Art thou a man?" This statement was ironic, coming from a guy so feminine looking. Kenshin had been mistaken more than once for a girl. From the front. "thy form cries out thou art, Thy tears are womanish," at the end of womanish, Kenshin's voice chose to crack, going high and girlish. The audience exploded with laughter, and Kenshin turned bright red. Kaoru too was laughing, her face pink. Sanosuke jabbed her in the stomach with his elbow to try and get her to stop as Kenshin finished the rest of his long line flawlessly.
'It's your line!' He hissed. Kaoru looked up.
"Oh, what?" She gasped, than turned red as she realized that all the eyes were on her. She rushed her next line out. Sanosuke put his head in his hands, embarrassed for the both of his friends.
They managed to get the rest of the scene to work smoothly, without any more losses of control or accidental humor. The next scene contained a brief love scene between Romeo and Juliet and some implications that made some of the less mature members of the crowd go into fits of giggles. (Sanosuke had to act shirtless.) Even through the awkwardness Megumi and Sanosuke finished the scene without any major accidents. There was, however, a lot of pinkness in cheeks that shouldn't have been there, and a few of the more observant members of the audience noted this and wondered.
Megumi hated acting out the next scene. It wasn't really that her lines were hard; she had some long sections, but there were much worse parts in the play. No, that wasn't the bad part. It was whom she had to act with.
Namely, Kanryuu.
Simply put, he was creepy. He got way to into his role, and Megumi got the feeling that he an obsession with her outside of the play. He shot her very odd looks in the hall, and a lot of the time she got the feeling that he was watching her from out of sight.
Luckily, their characters only met once in the play. The meeting, however, was a little bit scary.
"Poor soul, thy face is much abused with tears." Kanryuu said, much to close to Megumi for comfort.
"The tears have got small victory by that, For it was bad enough before their spite." Megumi said, taking a small step back.
"Thou wrong'st it more than tears with that report." He purred, edging closer to her.
"That is no slander, sir, which is a truth and what I spake I spake it to my face." She was close to the edge of the stage now, and could not back up any more for the fear of falling backwards and making a complete idiot of herself. So many actors had done such a good job of that, and she really didn't feel the need to join them at the moment.
She winced as his hand caressed his face. She badly wanted to slap his hand away from her. It would have been somewhat in character, but she resisted. Neither of the moves had been blocked out before the night.
"Thy face is mine, and thou hast slandered it." He spoke. Megumi hated that line. She thought it was perhaps the strangest and creepiest line in the play. But the way that Kanryuu said it made it ten times worse.
Now, if it was Sanosuke's line, it wouldn't be half bad-
What the hell was she thinking? She rushed off her next line, a little confused as to where her mind had been going and blushing just enough so that Kenshin could see it. She stepped to the side, toward Kenshin and away from Kanryuu.
Watching from behind the scenes, Sanosuke saw the fear in Megumi's eyes, and his fists clenched.
Relief was the emotion on most of the actors face as they stepped onto the stage to take their bows. Yahiko's eyes were swelling, and Saito and Aoshi both limped. After Saito had kicked Sanosuke a little too hard in one of the scenes, Sanosuke had actually punched him a few times hard. It didn't do much to add to his general appearance. Both Aoshi and Saito looked bad from the fight that had happened back stage.
Sanosuke and Megumi stepped out from different sides of the stage, joined hands in the center, and bowed. Sensing that she was a little bit shaky, he squeezed her hand in reassurance. She looked over at him in surprise and he smiled at her.
"You did well." He said.
"You too." She replied. They finally parted to their separate parts of the stage for the giant bow. Megumi, somehow, ended up next to Kanryuu. Great. Just great.
He grabbed her hand hard, pulling her closer next to him. She shivered in disgust. She hated this. She hated him. She tried to pull away a little, but he was stronger than she was.
They bowed once.
"So what are you doing after the play?" Kanryuu asked. "Cause I think you should come with me and my friends."
Megumi remained silent, feeling like she was going to retch. They took another bow. Sanosuke, from the other side of the stage, noticed her discomfort and the way that Kanryuu whispered in her ear. His eyes narrowed.
He was going to have to take care of this creep for her.
AN: How did you like it? The having to take a bow with someone is a personal experience. Eugh.
Please review!
AN: I'm really pushing to finish this story before I go to camp. Only three more chapters to go! I think I can do it. (But some support would be nice... review please!)
This chapter is going to be returning to the humor that previously presided in this fic and has somehow vanished over the past two chapters. Enjoy!
And I kind of withheld this chapter a few days because of the dismal amounts of reviews I had... however, because of this withholding, it's probably the best chapter that I've published so far. (I got to polish it until it shone.) So I hope you like it!
The First Night
Back stage was bustling with excitement. Shouts of 'Break a leg!' 'Good luck!' and 'WHERE THE HELL IS MY COSTUME!' filled the room with a near deafening sound. Several of the actors poured over their scripts in corners in a desperate attempt to memorize lines they still didn't know. If someone could somehow harness the amount of nervous energy that was buzzing around the room, they could probably power a small town.
Sanosuke had turned his headphones on in an unsuccessful attempt to drown out the mayhem around him. Even cranked up to the highest volume, the music still did not hide the chaos swarming around him. His stomach felt like it was filled spiders. Breathing out, he let himself relax a little. It wasn't really performing that made him this nervous; he knew his lines well and knew that character better. It was the fact that he was going to have to perform with Megumi. With an awkward silence between the two of them, it was going to be hard to look at her like he loved her without doubt making him look away. The fact that he was actually in love with her would, counter-intuitively, hurt his acting instead of helping it.
He was still in the dark about how Megumi felt about him: she had avoided talking to him for nearly a week. Though he didn't show it, it troubled him deeply. His view on the situation had lost any of the optimism it once had: he had lost nearly all hope at this point. It was hard to imagine that after this much time she still didn't know what to think. More likely she didn't feel the same way and wanted to avoid an awkward confrontation.
He picked up his play and flipped to a long line that he didn't know very well. His fingers stuck to the paper. Was he really that nervous? More spiders in his stomach answered that question. He sighed. It was going to be a strange performance.
"I do but keep the peace. Put up thy sword, or manage it to part these me with me." Yahiko poked his sword at a very irritated looking Saito. Saito, honestly, wasn't a very good actor. However, he was perfect for the role of Tybalt. Tybalt, in the play, was always angry. Saito was eerily like the character that he played in this sense: Sanosuke had never seen him crack a smile.
"What, drawn and talk of peace?" Saito said, eyes narrowed. A senior to Yahiko's freshman, he was a good foot higher than the boy that he faced. It was quite a funny scene, actually. "I hate the word." Saito hissed. A few actors on stage took a little step back. "As I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee. Have at thee, coward." He yelled. The fight was a supposed to be faked, but Saito was getting into it. Yahiko winced as the wooden sword hit his side hard.
More actors streamed onto stage, saying their lines quickly and joining into the frenzy. Many of the actors followed Saito's lead and really got into the fight, throwing punches and hitting at the other characters. Several boys in the audience started placing bets on who would come out victorious in the fray. Aoshi, as the character the prince, burst out onto stage. He looked a little surprised about the actual violence that was happening. He grabbed Saitos shoulders and threw him off of Yahiko, who now had a bloody nose and a black eye. Saito flew through the air, sailing through the curtains that marked the sides of the stage and crashing loudly into the multiple chairs backstage. Aoshi didn't look very concerned with his fellow actor, merely continuing with his lines.
Saito limped on stage from the sides and waited, scowling with anger. Low laughter rippled through the audience as he reappeared, and this only made him bitterer. As Aoshi finally finished his lines and turned with grace to strut off stage, he walked into Saito's outstretched leg and fell flat on his face. The audience went into uproarious laughter. Saito smirked.
All the cast exited the stage except for Montague, Lady Montague and the injured looking Yahiko. Saito and Aoshi shot death glares at each other once they got back stage. Sanosuke didn't know whom he would put his money on to win the fight. Both of the two were very tough and a little bit insane. Whatever the outcome, it would be one ugly fight.
It went smoothly from there until the third scene in act three. Romeo, having just heard the news that he was to be banished from Verona, broke down weeping. This itself got some laughter: the idea of the tough guy, Sanosuke Sagara, weeping over banishment was pretty humorous. It took all the will power that Sanosuke had not to break the act and glare at the people who were laughing at him.
The nurse, Kaoru, entered the scene. This particular scene was a little strange, being one of the few times when Kenshin and Kaoru were together on stage. Sanosuke always thought there was some strange chemistry in the air. And then there was the fact that Kaoru was prone to laughter.
Sanosuke grabbed the rubber dagger from his belt and threatened to kill himself. Kaoru grabbed out of his hands. Her grip, however, was bad: the knife flew out of her hands with the momentum and flew into the audience, hitting an innocent seventh grader in the head and knocking them out. Kaoru bit her lip in an attempt not to laugh or blurt out "Sorry!"
"Hold thy desperate hand!" Kenshin reprimanded him, his voice low with faked fury. "Art thou a man?" This statement was ironic, coming from a guy so feminine looking. Kenshin had been mistaken more than once for a girl. From the front. "thy form cries out thou art, Thy tears are womanish," at the end of womanish, Kenshin's voice chose to crack, going high and girlish. The audience exploded with laughter, and Kenshin turned bright red. Kaoru too was laughing, her face pink. Sanosuke jabbed her in the stomach with his elbow to try and get her to stop as Kenshin finished the rest of his long line flawlessly.
'It's your line!' He hissed. Kaoru looked up.
"Oh, what?" She gasped, than turned red as she realized that all the eyes were on her. She rushed her next line out. Sanosuke put his head in his hands, embarrassed for the both of his friends.
They managed to get the rest of the scene to work smoothly, without any more losses of control or accidental humor. The next scene contained a brief love scene between Romeo and Juliet and some implications that made some of the less mature members of the crowd go into fits of giggles. (Sanosuke had to act shirtless.) Even through the awkwardness Megumi and Sanosuke finished the scene without any major accidents. There was, however, a lot of pinkness in cheeks that shouldn't have been there, and a few of the more observant members of the audience noted this and wondered.
Megumi hated acting out the next scene. It wasn't really that her lines were hard; she had some long sections, but there were much worse parts in the play. No, that wasn't the bad part. It was whom she had to act with.
Namely, Kanryuu.
Simply put, he was creepy. He got way to into his role, and Megumi got the feeling that he an obsession with her outside of the play. He shot her very odd looks in the hall, and a lot of the time she got the feeling that he was watching her from out of sight.
Luckily, their characters only met once in the play. The meeting, however, was a little bit scary.
"Poor soul, thy face is much abused with tears." Kanryuu said, much to close to Megumi for comfort.
"The tears have got small victory by that, For it was bad enough before their spite." Megumi said, taking a small step back.
"Thou wrong'st it more than tears with that report." He purred, edging closer to her.
"That is no slander, sir, which is a truth and what I spake I spake it to my face." She was close to the edge of the stage now, and could not back up any more for the fear of falling backwards and making a complete idiot of herself. So many actors had done such a good job of that, and she really didn't feel the need to join them at the moment.
She winced as his hand caressed his face. She badly wanted to slap his hand away from her. It would have been somewhat in character, but she resisted. Neither of the moves had been blocked out before the night.
"Thy face is mine, and thou hast slandered it." He spoke. Megumi hated that line. She thought it was perhaps the strangest and creepiest line in the play. But the way that Kanryuu said it made it ten times worse.
Now, if it was Sanosuke's line, it wouldn't be half bad-
What the hell was she thinking? She rushed off her next line, a little confused as to where her mind had been going and blushing just enough so that Kenshin could see it. She stepped to the side, toward Kenshin and away from Kanryuu.
Watching from behind the scenes, Sanosuke saw the fear in Megumi's eyes, and his fists clenched.
Relief was the emotion on most of the actors face as they stepped onto the stage to take their bows. Yahiko's eyes were swelling, and Saito and Aoshi both limped. After Saito had kicked Sanosuke a little too hard in one of the scenes, Sanosuke had actually punched him a few times hard. It didn't do much to add to his general appearance. Both Aoshi and Saito looked bad from the fight that had happened back stage.
Sanosuke and Megumi stepped out from different sides of the stage, joined hands in the center, and bowed. Sensing that she was a little bit shaky, he squeezed her hand in reassurance. She looked over at him in surprise and he smiled at her.
"You did well." He said.
"You too." She replied. They finally parted to their separate parts of the stage for the giant bow. Megumi, somehow, ended up next to Kanryuu. Great. Just great.
He grabbed her hand hard, pulling her closer next to him. She shivered in disgust. She hated this. She hated him. She tried to pull away a little, but he was stronger than she was.
They bowed once.
"So what are you doing after the play?" Kanryuu asked. "Cause I think you should come with me and my friends."
Megumi remained silent, feeling like she was going to retch. They took another bow. Sanosuke, from the other side of the stage, noticed her discomfort and the way that Kanryuu whispered in her ear. His eyes narrowed.
He was going to have to take care of this creep for her.
AN: How did you like it? The having to take a bow with someone is a personal experience. Eugh.
Please review!