Chapter Four

Hanamichi tried to convince himself that he was extending the lesson simply because he had to improve quickly in time for the prom. When Mrs. Takuhiro had popped by earlier to see how he was doing, she had also informed Ruiya that there were no other classes scheduled that day and to lock up whenever they were done. Hence, he had jumped at the opportunity to further the day's education, forking out another hour's worth of fees on the spot.

Because really, the truth of it was that dancing was turning out to be incredibly…well…addictive.

He had to admit that Ruiya moved well. In fact, if he wasn't trying so hard to get his steps to look like that, he might have been able to pay more attention to the incredible hip action that she displayed, as well as the strangely captivating grace she danced with…

But, oh well.

"…back and two, forward and three, roll the right hip, step and four…"

"Wait," he stopped dead in his current twist of limbs, and pointed accusingly at the cream-clothed hip of the instructor, "How do you do that?"

An eyebrow arched at him, and he bit his lip.

"That!" he tried to explain, shaking his head in frustration, "How do you move…you know!" he tried to fight the blush that stained his cheeks, "The hip thing!"

"Ah." He thought he saw a slight twitch in her cheek. "That natural action stems from the shifting of your weight from one foot to another, but remember that you have to simultaneously –roll– the hip back like this." She put her hands on his waist, adjusting his position so that he yelped in protest at the discomfort, "Continue that figure-eight roll through and through."

He tried copying the action, but his legs refused to sidle sensuously no matter which way he –rolled–. Deep in concentration, Hanamichi didn't notice when Ruiya glanced up at the clock, and then walked to the radio to switch it off. He only broke out of his trance when the lights went off, engulfing him in darkness.

"That's it for today," Ruiya said softly.

*** ***

Rukawa watched from the doorway as the tall figure trudged away. As he was about to turn to go into the studio, the figure suddenly purposefully straightened up. A small smile of amusement crept onto Rukawa's lips before he wrenched it off and spun around, letting the door close behind him.

Surprisingly, after the disastrous first hour, Hanamichi had begun to improve, if not steadily then surely. Whether it was because the redhead was just following his own movements, or had a previously undiscovered affinity for the arts, Hanamichi had definitely been enjoying himself. And it showed, because the fiery power forward had always been expressive, emotions plain writ on his face. When he was upset, one could tell, and when he was excited, one could see that too, see it in his eyes, his actions, and hear it in his loud, sometimes incredibly annoying laughter.

Maybe I'll get through this yet.

He looked at the clock again. It was still early. Perhaps he would practice on his own for a while before leaving. Walking to the lesson room and flicking on the lights he had just switched off, he moved to the radio and began thumbing through the CD selection.

*** ***

Grinning foolishly to himself, Hanamichi replayed the steps he had learned that day in his head.

And a-one and two, a-three and four. Spin, spin, stop…and a-one and two.

This was turning out to be one of the best ideas he had followed through in a long time. Due to the finals, extracurricular activities had been suspended a month before, and he had actually cared enough about this particular exam to stay at home and study for it. Which meant that he had barely gotten any exercise for close to two months now, because running around and climbing the school staircases could hardly be called an adequate replacement for the type of exertion he was used to…

A more pressing issue suddenly chose that specific time to occur to him.

Oh, no. Who am I going to ask?!

Of course, when the problem had presented itself, there was no way he could go around it like that.

No. He had to fret.

Obviously, I can't ask Haruko because she's with Yohei! Hmm…I could stick with the gang! But how can I do that? Me, an intelligent, good-looking eligible bachelor! It simply won't be seemly!

He was now deeply perturbed by this matter, which by all means should have been the most obvious and therefore given the most thought. Now what was he to do?

Argh…

*** ***

[Three days later]

It was his second lesson, and he liked to think that he was making progress. The salsa steps seemed to come slightly easier, for one thing. Added to the fact that he was finding the simple waltz he was being taught fascinating. And he could actually catch the beat now. It certainly had nothing to do with the fact that when he had gone home on Saturday, he had downloaded all the songs that Ruiya had played and practiced counting to them.

Nope, this small success was definitely a mark of his intrinsic intelligence.

"Don't look down!"

Hanamichi yelped, his limbs splaying as he jerked back to attention. "Okay, okay!"

Ruiya glowered at him from the old, cheap couch he had never noticed before, in the furthermost corner from the door. "You're not concentrating!" she rebuked him sharply.

He fought the urge to walk over and smack her. Hanamichi Sakuragi would not bully a mere girl!

"I am concentrating," he insisted feebly instead.

She snorted, then uncrossed her legs, rising to her feet.

Well, even if the heart is black and the mouth is foul, the legs are amazing, Hanamichi thought dully to himself.

"Since you are obviously incapable of coordinating yourself, I will partner you throughout the whole sequence instead of standing beside you and giving you the exact steps. This time, you will have to work out the mirror image, but it should—thank God—be easier for you to actually move in time with the music."

"You don't have to be so sarcastic, you know." It slipped out of the redhead's mouth before he could stop to think, and immediately, he clamped his hands over his lips, horrified as a feeling of intense doom settled in the pit of his stomach..

Strangely enough, Ruiya chose to ignore that particular lapse.

Instead, the dark-haired dancer moved to the radio table. Muttering under her breath, she adjusted a few settings with familiar ease before walking to the middle of the room.

"Come here."

Who is she to order the genius around like this? he thought glumly, shuffling his feet towards the intended spot. As a hand came up to his face, he ducked automatically, a growl rising to his throat. "What are you doing?!"

Ruiya did not look amused as she let her hand fall back, and it was only then that he realized she had formed some sort of a box with her arms, her right hand extended up with its palm facing him, and her left arm curving around.

"This is your basic position in partner dancing, since I assume you are not taking up these lessons for solo performances."

He felt his cheeks flush in embarrassment for his reaction, because when she put it that way, it did seem kind of obvious, looking just about like some of the dancers he vaguely recalled seeing on television once. Of course at that time he had hardly paid attention to them.

He tried to move backwards as unobtrusively as possible, wanting to regain his comfort zone before attempting the box action. Awkwardly, he brought his arms up and tried to position them in the same way, then remembered that it was supposed to be a mirror image. Hesitantly, he switched the handhold and then stopped abruptly, not sure about what to do next.

"I'm your partner now, Hanamichi Sakuragi, not your video instruction manual. Contrary to what you might believe, the hands of both parties involved actually come into contact, and not remain a distance away from each other."

Reeeeeally now? I hadn't noticed! He could feel his face flaming.

They stood there silently, looking at each other for what seemed to be an indefinite amount of time, a scowl on his face and a neutral expression on hers all the while. After about five minutes of non-activity however, when it became apparent that he wasn't just steeling himself to try but was just going to stand there imitating marble, Ruiya sighed heavily.

And then reached for him.