Disclaimer I don't own any of the HYD characters nor the original plotline of HYD, but I certainly own this particular plot and all the characters I created for it...

Apology : for taking so long to update... I had my own 'salsa night' yesterday, and I didn't feel like turning my computer on when I got home quite late...

Note : I made some research in the salsa dancers websites, and the club that I'm mentioning – Salsa Caribe – really is one of the hottest latin clubs in Tokyo. For those who care, it's approximately two block south of the Roppongi Dori. There is a real salsa scene in Japan, as amazing as it may seem, as proved by the internationally acclaimed 'Orquesta de la Luz', which, as it name doesn't indicate it, is a Japanese salsa band, led by the singer Nora Shoji – if I'm not mistaken. If you ever have the chance, check their music out, it's great salsa ! ;o)

Thanks : as always, to my reviewers ! Az09 – who has her own note in the beginning ;o) and for her remark on my English who allowed a correction –, snuffyTHEmonkey – yes, Toronto is east of San Francisco, but west of Paris, so it depends on where you chose to put the reference ;o) –, Juliana – I've always wanted to go to Quebec, my mother told me it's beautiful place, and as to the twistedness of my mind, well, it's been proved already ;o), but I can really see Tsuyoshi Abe from the Japanese drama cry in this particular situation –, yellowroses – well, I didn't update that fast this time but I still hope you'll enjoy this –, len – ah, the friend zone, the red zone as some of my guy pals call it, he's in the worst possible place to win, but let's still see what happens –, and kashuneko – I'm glad to find someone who agrees with me that strong men who cry for a good reason and not all the time are sexy, thank you, as for what is going to happen in the triangle, well, it wouldn't be fun if I made it easy for any of them, would it ? I told you, I'm evil, I like to make the characters suffer... ;o)

Sorry for all the blabber, and hope you enjoy this new chapter !

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20-A salsa night and a secret told

Soujiro had managed to put in Rui and Tsukasa's heads that their next friendly group outing should be in a latin club, in order to admire their friends' progress in latin dancing. Of course, Akira and Sophie were the last ones to learn this, but it was not such a bad surprise – after a little more than a month and a half of classes with Shizuru and Kensuke, they felt more than ready to meet the dance floor together.

The choice, after some hesitations and a request for advice to their salsa teachers, had been on Friday night at the 'Salsa Caribe' club, in the Roppongi area – one of the hottest salsa clubs in Tokyo, if not the one.

Tsukushi had not been thrilled at first about the choice of activity, especially since she couldn't find any tiny fiber of latin dancer in herself, but she was kind of glad to get an opportunity to see Sophie dance.

She was at the Dessays' to get ready – Tsukasa and Akira were supposed to pick them both up before going to the club. Sophie was putting on the salsa dress her mother had offered her to celebrate her first salsa night out. A nice knee-length asymmetric lycra dress, with red and yellow embroidered exotic floral patterns, leaving bare part of back. It made a very nice outfit paired with her bright red suede salsa shoes. And since salsa dancing was most often resulting in her feeling too hot, she had gathered her curls in a high hponytail, with some loose curls out, not to get extra-sweaty because of it. And of course, there was a very light make-up – mostly to highlight the eyes – that completed the overall effect quite well.

"You look positively stunning, Sophie ! Like a real professional dancer !

- Well thanks, Tsukushi."

Sophie blushed from the spontaneous compliment that had just been made to her. Tsukushi went on.

"I swear, you do look like a real latin dancer. I'm so excited that we all get to see you and Akira dance together !

- Well, don't get your hopes up – we're still very much beginners... Even if we are making some progress.

- Even so, I'm still sure we're going to have fun... Still, I wonder which of the three Flowers got the idea."

Sophie turned from the mirror where she was checking her hairstyle to raise an eyebrow to Tsukushi.

"You mean it was not Mimasaka's idea ?

- No, Rui, Soujiro and Tsukasa told him they wanted to go to a latin club to see you two dance together. He accepted the idea as a good one, but he didn't originate it.

- It's either Rui or Soujiro, then, she reflected with a thoughtful smile. If it was Tsukasa, you would know, right ? Well, anyway, don't worry, she added with a wink, I'll make my own investigation."

"Come on, Sophie, don't act like you're all shy. You know we're all dying to see you salsa dancing with Akira !"

Sophie glared at Tsukasa in cold annoyance. What a base revenge he was trying to get. He'll regret pushing her – but later. Because she well knew that he could see she was still trying to put herself at ease and in the mood, but was intimidated by all the talented dancers on the dance floor. Akira leaned towards her and whispered softly in her ear.

"We'll go when you feel ready. And he'll feel stupid when he sees the way you move. To his eyes, we'll own the dance floor..."

The proximity of his mouth to her ear was somewhat unsettling. She shifted in her seat. And she turned towards him. He was smiling encouragingly. Well, to hell with it ! Not like the earth would swallow them or something if they messed up a pattern. And while dancing, she never saw any of the other couples anyway – everything else in the world disappeared to her when she was following the lead along the inebriating music. And she had become familiar with Mimasaka's lead and moves – she was comfortable dancing with him.

So she nodded to him, he extended his hand, and she put hers gracefully into his. After a cocky grin to his friends, Akira led Sophie to the dance floor. The orchestra was beginning a new song – the very classic 'El Negro Bembon'. Tsukushi smiled as she saw her friend took a deep breath in – she could tell Sophie was intimidated. After all, it was her first try at salsa out of the dance class, and in front of her friends.

Akira and her took the dancing position. They locked eyes. And then, something almost magical happened – they danced. Like there were just the two of them on the hardwood floor, like the music was just designed to match their footwork. He made her spin, turn all around him, always in motion, following the intoxicating rhythm of the latin music – playing with the sound of the congas, the claves, the piano, the coppers, flirting with the breaks, all the time smiling, putting together everything they had learned together in the dance class, and improvising as their bodies told them to.

As the song drew towards its end, they were both nicely blushed from the effort and their eyes were sparkling with excitement. They danced one more dance together, a slower cha cha cha. And when the final note died, he took her hand and brought her back around which the table where their friends were seated.

They were actually a sight to behold in themselves. Tsukasa's mouth was opened, Tsukushi was smiling and trying to get Tsukasa to close his mouth, Rui's eyes were laughing, and Soujiro was putting on the 'I don't really care what's happening anyway' show, succeeding moderately well, with a detached smile on his lips, clapping absently with his hands. The plan had not completely worked out the way he had hoped it would. Those two were actually kind of good together – in only a month and a half, they had built enough chemistry to look like long time dance partners. And she was actually smiling to him – again.

"Nicely done. You've really been busy... The progress made in such a short time is impressive !

- I'd like to see you take three hours lessons three times a week with a perfection maniac like Shizuru Abe. She never lets the slightest mistake go uncorrected. 'Fix that arm', 'your hip is not exactly parallel to the one of your partner', 'that lead is not convincing', 'don't try to help him'. The woman really can be a pain, added Akira with a joking 'please pity me' expression on his features.

- Shut up, Mimasaka – stop boasting. You already knew a lot about latin dancing before the class. And it helped – it helped us both, in fact.

- Are you looking forward to receiving all the compliments, Miss Dessay ? That's not how it works... This is a partners' work !

- I'm not – and it certainly is. I'm just trying to give them all the elements they need to judge the improvement of each party. Elements your proud moronic self is denying them, she added with a grin. But I will grant you this much – you danced correctly, Mimasaka..

- Pfff, he sighed. You lack the honesty necessary for this... Your eyes and your smile were telling another story on the dance floor than the one your mouth is uttering now, he said with a playful smirk.

- Like you would know, she remarked with a raised eyebrow. Like you would know."

This had to stop – they were almost flirting in front of them, and nobody was doing anything about it ! Well, he was going to. He got up and extended his hand towards her in the true rules of the art.

"Care to dance with me for this one ?"

A surprised Sophie turned towards Soujiro. She grinned, nonetheless.

"Well, why not ? After all, I'm still allowed to dance with other guys."

Akira frowned, but sat down next to Rui, as Soujiro was leading her to the dancing area once again. Since the pair lacked the fine tuning of the previous one their dancing was less impressive and less polished, but still nice, despite a few goofs.

During that interlude, Tsukasa tried to tell Tsukushi that it might be a very nice idea for them to try salsa dancing together. The answer was definite.

"No way in hell !"

And Tsukasa saw his hopes of softening Tsukushi into moving like that blow away. He sighed.

On the other side of the table, Akira was sitting with his eyes fixed on Soujiro and Sophie dancing. He had a discreet smile on his lips. As he watched her begin some of her favorite shines, Akira whispered softly his inner thought at that sight.

"I think I'm turning into some kind of crazy masochist."

Rui turned towards his friend with an expression of disbelief on his calm features. Even if the remark had not been addressed directly to him, he felt compelled to understand the meaning of it.

"What are your talking about, Akira ?

- Well... The girl is threatening to castrate me at least three times a day, she tries to slap me every time she finds I don't behave appropriately towards her – and she thinks that it is happening a hell of a lot often –, and she seems to believe I go by 'moron' rather than by 'Akira'. Considering all this and the fact that I might be beginning to like her, it is the only possible explanation..."

As the half confession was beginning to reach Rui's understanding, Akira's meaning still didn't make any sense. It just didn't go with who he was – and who she could eventually accept in her life, according to what he knew of her.

"Who are you and what did you do to the Akira I grew up with ?"

Akira blinked, woken up from his awake dreaming by the sudden change in Rui's tone of voice. He straightened in his chair and ran his hands in his hair.

"I know it must sound crazy. Especially when you think how much she despises my former way of life."

Rui raised an eyebrow doubtfully at the choice of adjective.

"Former ?"

Akira scratched his chin, pointedly avoiding Rui's stare.

"I haven't had sex in nearly two months, Rui. And that is only because I did not seek to. I just haven't been feeling like picking up random women these last few weeks."

The statement seemed surreal, coming from the infamous spiritual reincarnation of Casanova. After the womanizing frenzy pre-summer break, everyone – including Rui – had safely assumed it was still going on.

"Does she...

- No. She doesn't. And that's also why you're not telling her. Anything. And nobody is."

Well, that was what Rui was the best – keeping secrets. But this was going to be tough to keep. Or not... It's not every day you can drop by mistake "By the way, Akira Mimasaka has forsaken the company of women because he might be in love with you. Ooops !".

Sure, Akira had not said the exact "L" word, but Rui was still smart enough to guess that there was more to the 'like' that had just been voiced than Akira would care to admit yet – or ever. Rui's eyes came back to the dance floor where Soujiro was still trying to show off his latin dancing skills with Sophie.

The young Hanazawa could not prevent himself from swearing under his breath.

"Holy shit !"

Now, this was definitely not going to be entertaining. And neither of the participants knew it yet. He did not think the F4 could handle two conflicts of the sort and survive them.

But well... He might still be wrong. He hoped.

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Ah, Ah, Ah ! I told you I was evil. And at least one of the three has more or less discovered how he really feels... Nice way to say it, no ? I must confess I was looking forward to the 'turning into a crazy masochist' line...

Tell me what you think !

NB : italicized everything I uploaded... I had to do the styles all over again... Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!