Let the party get started!!!
CHAPTER 2: A BLAST
The young Kasshu couple followed behind Chibodee to his room after being told by someone on the hotel staff that their luggage would be brought to their room.
While walking, Domon had his arm protectively around his wife giving the look of death to any man who passed them, daring them to say something to her so that he could let them have it.
Seeing this, Chibodee shook his head holding in his laughter as they reached the door to his room.
When Chibodee unlocked and opened the door, both Domon and Rain never expected to hear so much noise as if there was a crowd of people in it. The Shuffles and friends had been the only ones expected to be heard, but they didn't appear to be in the room. It was empty. Walking into the room to see where all the unfamiliar voices stemmed from, Domon and Rain saw that their friends were in fact there, but outside on the balcony. The Neo-Japan team realized that this was the balcony that Chibodee had mentioned earlier.
Suddenly headed back into the room from the balcony, the young Sai Saici yelled as if it was a matter of life and death, "We need more beads! I've only got one left!" Upon seeing the beautiful Rain Kasshu, Sai was just about to ask her what she'd show for a bead till Chibodee, who was standing behind the married couple, furiously shook his head no to the youngest fighter.
Seeing the warning in the boxer's wide eyes, Sai then noticed that the King of Hearts didn't look pleased at all. "Ugh, hi Bro!" Sai said trying to look totally innocent as if he hadn't been waving beads down at the women on Bourbon St. tempting them to expose themselves to him.
"The Neo-Chinese fighter must be stopped!" George de Sand exclaimed stomping into the room from the balcony. "If he ask Miss Marie Louise if she wants a bead one more time, I promise to throw him off the balcony!" On the side of George was the Princess smiling up at him so glad that the Knight obviously didn't want anyone else's eyes on her.
"Why George," Chibodee said as if impressed, "I can't believe that you were out there taking in the sights."
"Well, shame on me!" George exclaimed embarrassed about it. "Shame on this whole city for that matter! Shame on you for inviting us here, Chibodee Crocket!"
"Get a grip, George," the boxer said headed to the balcony while Rain and the princess hugged each other hello; giggling over how the Knight had acted.
Wishing he could push Chibodee off of the balcony along with Sai, George thought, 'I should have locked myself in my hotel room as soon as I got here.'
Meanwhile, Domon grabbed Sai by the back of his shirt and picked him up off the floor. In a scolding voice the King of Hearts said, "Sai Saici, aren't you a little too young for this?"
All Sai could do was to make a frightened smile as if he couldn't help himself.
After calming down enough to tell Rain hello, George took another breath and said, "I think we should lock the little…pervert in the bathroom. He is getting totally out of hand."
Before Sai could protest, Chibodee was back inside looking for something, but the upset look growing on his face showed that he was having no luck finding it. "Damn!" the boxer yelled. "Sai, you must have taken my stash of beads!"
Not believing that Sai had been so out of control, Domon calmly said to him, "And, where is Cecile?"
"Come on, Bro. Put me down…please," Sai pleaded while his feet were running in the air.
Releasing Sai, Domon found himself grinning when Sai's feet ran him straight into the wall as soon as they touched the floor.
"Good," a deep serious female voice said walking off of the balcony and into the room. "We cannot believe him," Nastasha said of Sai's behavior.
"We?" Chibodee asked seeing Nastasha standing by herself.
Upon realizing that Argo hadn't returned into the room with her, the Neo-Russian woman turned to look back as she called outside, "Argo!"
"I can see Argo is getting the hang of this," Chibodee said proud that the Neo-Russian fighter wasn't scared of Nastasha's possible reaction.
"Quite the contrary," Argo said walking in after hearing the boxer, "Some idiot was trying to climb up the pole of the balcony, obviously wanting to get to my Nastasha."
Understanding how Argo felt, Domon said, "Did you rip the idiot's head off?"
"I didn't have too," Argo said before actually smiling and nodding a hello to the King of Hearts and his queen. "Someone on the staff of this hotel has told me that they grease up the poles so no one can make their way up the balcony and I can tell you that it works. The guy slid down the very few feet that he had managed to climb up."
"Well," George said appalled, "This is ridiculous! I don't blame Cecile's brother for not letting her come."
"Oh," Rain said sadly. "I hope that he changes his mind and lets her."
"We're here, Rain!" Chibodee's crew exclaimed happily after they entered the room. They had gone for a walk around the beautiful hotel.
Continuing on with his ranting, George said, "The Princess and I do not like this city! Right, Miss Marie?"
Before the Princess could say anything, she turned a deep shade of red and couldn't help but smile.
"Miss Marie Louise!" the Knight said shocked that she could like such a place.
"I'm so sorry that you are upset, George, but everyone has been so nice."
About ready to pack his bags, the Knight said, "Those men are being nice because they want you to…to…show them something!"
"Not true," Chibodee said wanting to help the Princess out. After thinking some more, he said, "Well okay, so some of them want to see her, but that's not what Mardi Gras's about."
Sitting down on a chair with his legs apart and his hands on the arms of it, Domon said, "I agree with George. We should leave."
Pleased with the King of Hearts, George moved over to him and shook his hand.
As Nastasha nodded a hello to Rain, Argo moved over to their leader. "So," he said in his serious voice, "Are we leaving, Domon?"
As Sai threw himself on the floor throwing a tantrum just at the thought, Chibodee became quite upset himself. It only took seconds for the boxer and Domon to start arguing over whether they should stay in New Orleans or not.
Listening to Domon who was letting Chibodee know just what he thought, Rain saw her chance to sneak on to the balcony. After succeeding in making it onto the balcony, she couldn't believe how packed Bourbon St. was with people. There were tons of men and women below who seemed to be having quite a good time. Everyone looked so very happy here, while in other parts of the world…it was just a normal day.
There were policemen on horses and some standing on corners paying very close attention to the crowd, but it appeared that the crowd wanted no problems; that no fights were in mind only the desire to simply let loose and have a good time.
"Hey, pretty lady!" some guy screamed from below when he saw Rain. "Forget throwing me a bead, why don't you just throw yourself down? I'll catch you, Darling."
All Rain could think to do was to raise her hand to show her wedding ring.
"Damn," the guy joked, "Happily married?"
Smiling, Rain shook her head yes.
"Can't blame a guy for trying," the man said just before he and a couple of his friends threw some beads up to her. That was when Rain…and Domon, who she didn't know was now a few feet behind her, realized that it really was up to the individual on how out of hand things got. She watched the guys move on to continue to have a good time.
"I'm glad you let them know that you're happily married," the King of Hearts said making his wife jump in surprise.
"Domon," she said innocently, "I didn't know that you were out here."
Moving next to his wife to look over the balcony down at the people below, he said, "While I was arguing with Chibodee, I noticed that you disappeared."
As Rain leaned into her husband, she felt him automatically put his arm around her waist, "I think everything's going to be okay, Domon. Everyone just wants to have a good time."
Domon only let out one of his famous grunts.
"After all," Rain said, "Those men threw me a bead and I didn't show them anything."
"I should hope not," Domon said trying to stay calm though he still couldn't believe what was going on around him.
"You know I wouldn't do that," Rain said glad that her husband wanted her all to himself.
Holding back that he would have killed the guys if they would had demanded her to show something for a bead, the King of Hearts said, "Yes, no one's forced to do anything according to Chibodee, but to only enjoy themselves."
Feeling good about being in the city, Rain asked, "Did Chibodee convince you to stay?"
Answering Rain's question, Nastasha said, "Yes, the pain in the neck has."
Both Domon and Rain turned to see the Neo-Russian team walking on to the balcony hand in hand.
Smiling at the three strong willed people on the balcony with her, Rain asked, "How did Chibodee convince you all to give Mardi Gras a chance?"
Rolling her eyes, Nastasha said, "He said if we go to a…parade, we would see what Mardi Gras is really all about."
"When is this parade?" Rain asked trying to hide her excitement from wanting to go.
Hoping it wasn't a bad idea to attend a parade, Domon said, "From what Chibodee said, some parades are already…rolling; have started."
"It is suppose to be enjoyable," Argo said as if thinking that they should give it a chance.
Watching the adults below once again, Domon said, "Rain, we could never bring Hoy and Ming here to celebrate Mardi Gras."
"Actually," Argo said, "I spoke a good bit to a person on the hotel staff and he told me that although children shouldn't be on Bourbon St, there are plenty of other spots in New Orleans and the Metro area where children won't see anything that they shouldn't."
"Speaking of little rug rats, Neo-Japan team," Nastasha said with interest in her voice, "Will there be a young Kasshu among us anytime soon?"
Again as in the past, both Domon and Rain became tongue-tied at the thought of having such a responsibility.
Upon seeing this, Argo smiled and said, "I know you two will make great parents one day."
With a smirk, Nastasha added, "Maybe one day soon."
Wanting to change the subject, Domon said, "What's going on with you two?"
"That's right," Rain said glad that her husband turned the tables on to them. "Any serious future plans?"
Looking down at the woman who had won his heart, Argo said, "Nastasha and I do have some news and a question for each of you."
Domon only raised an eyebrow at them as Rain said, "Yes?"
Shaking her head at how crazy things seemed at the moment, Nastasha said, "Because of where we are I understand why no one noticed."
Though Domon hadn't a clue of what Nastasha meant, his blue-eyed wife picked up the hint and quickly looked at Nastasha's finger. "You're engaged!" Rain exclaimed with excitement in her voice upon seeing a beautiful ring.
Glancing at Argo, Nastasha said, "I told you that Rain would be the first to pick it up."
"That's great guys," Domon said shaking Argo's hand as Nastasha let Rain actually hug her, though hesitant at first.
When Rain released the Russian woman, Nastasha didn't want to beat around the bush so she said, "This is where the questions that Argo spoke of come in."
Because Nastasha became quiet, Argo silently decided to ask his question first. "King of Hearts, will you be my best man?"
Shocked and truly flattered, Domon looked at his wife who was smiling proudly at him and then he turned back to Argo and said, "Yes, Argo. I would be honored."
"I suppose it's my turn," Nastasha said trying to keep her voice hard, "Rain, I'm sure you know the question."
Knowing it and very touched, Rain said, "Yes, I too would be honored to be your Matron of Honor, Nastasha."
With that said, Rain moved to hug Nastasha again as Domon patted Argo on the back.
Intruding in on them, Chibodee exclaimed, "Come on! The parade should be reaching the other side of the hotel in a minute!"
"We're going down there?" Nastasha asked not sounding happy at all as she looked at the crowd below.
"Calm your nerves, Nastasha," Chibodee said causing Argo to give the boxer a not so pleasant look. "We won't be down in the crowd for this parade. There's a stand on the other side of the hotel that we can watch it from."
"A stand?" Domon asked wondering what the boxer was talking about.
"You'll see," Chibodee said nodding his head to the door, hinting that the only way they'd see the on going parade was if they left the room.
.
Around the other side of the hotel, the Shuffle Alliance and friends began to watch the parade pass by. Being in the stand was a great advantage because they were raised up almost as high as the floats passing by. The stand looked almost as if it was a very small stadium with bleachers to sit on, but of course everyone was standing up. There was a cover up above to keep the sun or any threat of rain off as well. What Nastasha liked the best was that not just anyone could take a spot in the stand; only hotel guest.
To everyone's surprise and even George's, he began to enjoy himself immensely. The parades in this city weren't just to be watched but to catch things from, such as beads and plastic cups. Every parade has a different theme for each year and this parade's theme this year was 'Heroes'. Each parade also had its own king and queen and the king in this parade raised a glass to toast right in front of the stand. George seemed to take it very personally since the king had looked at him making the Knight feel very privileged as if the king was a real king of a real country. Also, because George was a piano player who loved music, he enjoyed the bands between each of the huge, colorful floats, as the musicians actually danced by with their instruments in hand.
Ms. Marie Louise was dazzled watching George in such high spirits. Every time he caught a bead he placed it around her neck and she'd reward him with a kiss on his cheek.
When Sai wasn't standing up screaming like a maniac to someone on a float to throw him something, he was literally crawling around the ground to pick up the beads that no one had caught. With a very mischievous smile on his face he quickly stashed the beads into his pockets knowing he would need them later that night on the balcony.
Argo and Nastasha weren't attempting to catch beads as of yet but even Nastasha became quite pleased when a rose, though plastic, landed almost in her hand. Smiling as she looked at it, Argo said, "A beautiful rose for a beautiful woman."
Looking as if she didn't buy it at first, she then said, "Argo, I guess Mardi Gras is not all that bad."
This wasn't Chibodee and his crew's first Mardi Gras so they were having a blast making new memories. The Neo-American fighter was so thrilled when he caught a pair of purple, green and gold Mardi Gras underwear that he put them on over his pants looking totally ridiculous. Chibodee had been right to tell everyone to bring bags to put the stuff they would catch in. The louder that Shirley, Cath, Janet and Bunny screamed, "Hey! Throw me something Mister!" the more was thrown to them; from long beads to cute little stuffed animals. They were catching a ton of stuff from each float and it was all free!
In the back of everyone, the King of Hearts watched with amazement, keeping his eyes on a certain beautiful blue-eyed woman who was standing with Chibodee's crew screaming along with them to the floats. There was no way that he could deny that he loved seeing his very responsible wife having so much fun. She looked to be having as much fun as a young child would be having and again sweet memories of when they were so much younger ran through his mind.
A few times, Rain turned and motioned to her husband to come stand by her but he preferred to stand back and watch as he gave her a smile, reassuring her that he didn't mind her having such a good time. However, the King of Hearts wasn't able to stay back in the distance for long. Being that the theme of the parade was "Heroes", the sight of a float that looked like the Burning Gundam made Domon unconsciously start to walk over to Rain and the others so that he could get a closer look. All of the Shuffles and their crew were thrilled and there on the Burning Gundam float were people dressed as Domon with their red capes and some as Rain in their little pink dresses. The next float that passed looked like the Gundam Maxter, which caused Chibodee to be so excited that he almost jumped on to it right from the stand.
After just catching one bead, even Domon found himself smiling and wanting to see how many more of the plastic beads that he could catch. Along with everyone else, he began screaming to every float that passed for someone to throw him something. It was an understatement to say that everyone was having a great time. They were having a ball trying to see who could catch the most and they laughed even louder than they all ready were when Domon yelled, "Throw me more Mister or I'm going to use my Burning Finger on you!"
"Damn!" Chibodee joked back, "We don't have our gundams here to help us out!"
"Rain!" the King of Hearts exclaimed pretending to be serious, "Get in touch with Karato and tell him we need our gundam sent here now!"
Laughing as she looked into her husband's eyes, Rain said, "I think that would put him in the mental institution!"
Laughing back, Domon smiled at his beautiful wife as she turned her pretty eyes back to the float and he decided that this was one day that he never wanted to forget with her and their friends.
Now actually having quite a good time herself, Nastasha yelled to a passing float, "I demand you to throw me something now!"
After that float, a band had stopped in front of the stand and played a very up beat Mardi Gras song. Impressed, George said while everyone was cutting up and Chibodee's crew dancing, "They are really very good." When the band was finished and began to move on, everyone started to clap and whistle.
Sai was smiling big as he said, "I love how they danced while playing their instruments!"
So happy as he watched his friends, Chibodee said, "I knew y'all would end up loving this! Shirley, get on my back and I'll lean you closer to the next float that passes!"
"You read my mind!" the red head exclaimed climbing onto Chibodee's back.
"Oh, George…that is such a good idea," the Princess said making him blush when she climbed onto his back before he even agreed to do it, but his smile returned as the next float neared them.
"Guys," Domon said still standing next to his wife, evident that he was having a good time because of how much fun he was having trying to catch everything that was thrown, "Instead of screaming 'Hey, throw me something', let's all scream loud at one time over and over, 'Hey, hey, hey, hey'."
"Awesome idea, Neo-Japan!" Chibodee exclaimed wondering if Domon had a twin that had taken his place this day.
"Domon!" Rain said with excitement in her voice, "I'm so glad that you're having a good time!"
Forcing himself to calm down while he tried to look serious once again, he couldn't help but let a smile slip out for his wife as he gave her a quick, sweet kiss before saying, "This is…a blast."
So delighted with her husband's enthusiasm, Rain grabbed him by the collar of his tan jacket and whispered to him, "Wait till I get you alone tonight."
"If you keep talking like that," Domon said with a gleam in his eyes, "I'll have you in the room in less than a minute."
Beginning to laugh, Rain said, "No, not yet. Here comes the next float!"
Smiling as his wife turned to it, Domon secretly stuffed a bead into his pocket thinking that he'd use it to entice his wife later that night in their hotel room.
"Well, come on and scream, Neo-Japan! This was your idea!" Chibodee yelled.
All at once everyone started to scream very loudly, "Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey!"
.
By the time the parade finished passing the hotel, the Shuffles were all ready questioning when the next parade would pass. After finding out that the next one would be in about two hours when it was dark, no one was ready to just go back to the room and wait, except for Sai who wanted to hang out on the balcony. Suddenly getting an idea that included an ice-chest, which was in his room, Chibodee asked if everyone was hungry and everyone exclaimed an enthusiastic yes. "Good," the boxer replied. "Let's eat and we'll catch the next parade after."
As the Shuffles and friends walked to a nearby restaurant, luckily no man asked Rain to show anything of herself. That surely would have made the King of Hearts lose his happy mood very quickly and his attack instinct activate. Everyone who saw the Kasshu couple instantly took note of Domon's arm, which was securely around Rain's shoulders and they saw the possessive look in his eyes and his hard expression. No one wanted to mess with the man wearing the red bandanna even the ones who weren't sure if he actually was the real Domon Kasshu. After all, some people were known to dress up in their costumes before Mardi Gras day! Stranger things had happened in New Orleans. Nastasha loosening up and having a good time was one of them.
Being that Domon was indeed the real King of Hearts with the real Shuffle Alliance, it was no surprise to Chibodee that they didn't have to wait for a table once to the restaurant he had been leading his friends to. It also helped that the owner was a huge boxing fan and knew Chibodee personally.
In the very casual restaurant where the waiters and waitresses were overly friendly, the Shuffles and friends sat around four tables that were pulled together to make one big one. Because everyone was still in such high spirits after having such fun at the parade, Chibodee had convinced them to let him order their food. Wanting it to be a surprise, he had pulled the waitress aside so no one could hear what their dinner was going to be.
Sai tried to listen, but the only thing that he had been able to hear was the waitress telling the boxer that he was lucky that there had been a lot of rain in Lousisiana lately because that made what he wanted for dinner in season.
About a minute later back at the table, Chibodee shook his head in disappointment as he said, "I can't believe that none of ya asked what I have in this small ice-chest that I carried here."
Looking as serious as ever, Domon said, "That's because we really don't want to know, Chibodee."
"Well, trust me…you'll like it," the Neo-American fighter said as his crew laughed since they all ready knew what their boxer had brought.
Folding his arms, George said, "Knowing you, I think it is just better if you keep it to yourself."
"Oh, George," Miss Marie Louise said smiling at him, "You must be wondering what Chibodee has brought."
As a smile formed on George's face, he gave in and said, "On the other hand, Chibodee…you were right about saying that we would enjoy the parade."
All ready having a good idea of what the boxer brought, Domon said, "You're not supposed to bring your own liquor into a restaurant."
Argo nodded his head agreeing.
As Chibodee leaned down and opened the ice-chest, he said, "The owner loves me and plus he's friends with the people of the place I bought this from, in fact…our waitress is bringing us some cups now."
Before everyone knew it, the boxer had a gallon of something red on the table.
"What the hell it that?" Domon asked making Chibodee's crew giggle.
"Hurricanes!" Chibodee exclaimed smiling as he started to pour the gallon of red drink into cups. "I'm warning ya, it only takes one to knock ya on your butt."
Folding his arms, Domon said, "I don't want my wife drinking something that is named after a major tropical storm."
"Oh, come on, Domon," Chibodee said continuing to pour the red drink into cups. "She married you so I'm sure she can handle a Hurricane."
Looking offended, Domon exclaimed, "What the hell is that suppose to mean!" Suddenly the waitress and some other waitresses appeared with trays and more trays of…dinner. As each tray was laid before each person sitting at the table, everyone's eyes widened in fear and disgust at what they saw. "Forget my last question," Domon said tempted to push away from the table, "What the hell is this!"
Instantly, Chibodee grabbed from his tray what looked like to be a huge red bug, ripped its tail off, pulled the meat out and stuffed it into his mouth. "Damn, this is good," he said just before sucking the head of the red bug. "I love Crawfish!"
Sai crawled under the table yelling, "They have claws!"
As Chibodee's crew giggled at the shock they saw on their friend's faces, Nastasha stood up and left the table. Poor Argo didn't notice that the love of his life even left, being that he was so disgusted watching Chibodee eat what appeared to be bugs.
Though horror-struck as well, the Princess was too busy trying to hold in her laugh at seeing the look on her Knight's face as he took a knife and gently pushed on one of the Crawfish as if to see if it was dead or alive.
The King of Hearts was upset because he had been looking forward to dinner since he was so very hungry. And, when he'd been hungry in the past he could even handle some of the things that Rain had made that weren't that great, but now there was no way he was going to rip open a small red creature and start eating it. But, what really made him feel the anger inside of him grow tremendously was when he looked at his wife and saw what had to be fear in her eyes. It was as if she was silently begging him to protect her from the small red beast that she was expected to eat. 'How dare Chibodee Crocket think that Rain Kasshu is going to eat such a thing,' Domon thought standing up, pulling Rain by the hand with him.
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Thanks for the reviews since this sequel has been started: GoldAngel2, Ryan, Heaven's Rain, Jess Angel, Redlion2, Rebelchick2978, Sqeekers, Turtle Lover, Fang, Golden Tuna, Hawk Sage, Cuz I Can, Berk, Following Reader, Rain's love-Domon's heart, Cat& her alter ego Henry, Golden Girl 2002, D & R Lover, KotoJuri, Deadguy 23, Hellboy, Ryu Xander Himura, The Fallen Angel of Death, Black Joker Lady, Salina and Jessie. Y'all make me so happy!
Please come back and see what happens when you mix Domon Kasshu with Hurricanes. I hope so much that you are enjoying this. Also, please let me know what you may have liked in this chapter. Thanks, Jen