Disclaimer: Don't own. Never have. Never will. Stop asking.

Sooo...my computer has something seriously wrong with it. In the past few months, it has gone from about 20 GB to (the last time I checked) 10.2 MB. Yes, I have put things on it, but not almost 20 GB! Worse, about half an hour ago, I checked and there was about 50 MB - yesterday afternoon there was over 700 MB and the day before that over 1 GB. Now tell me there's not a problem here!

To summarize the paragraph with all the numbers, my computer is losing hard drive space much too rapidly. I don't know what the result of this is and I'm worried I might lose everything, or something, so I'm posting now. Yes, you can blame (or praise) my computer problems fro the quick update.

Hee hee - I forgot how much I loved Christian's part of this song, so instead of putting in random lines just to let you know where I am in the scene, I'm pretty such I typed up all the words that Nini would've heard. Unintentionally. I couldn't help it, his voice is so beautiful in this song... *goes dreamy eyed* *shakes self quickly* Whoa, what just happened to me? Never mind. Enjoy! *forces quick smile and ducks away, embarrassed*

Chapter 6: Nervous

"His eyes . . . upon your face." Nini tried to ignore him and go back to her own dance. She reached out toward Argie. "His hand . . . upon your hand." Shakespeare continued, voice shaking. Nini backed away. "His lips . . . caress your skin." Argie also turned from her, his expression of unfathomable pain. She couldn't understand it – it was just a dance, right? "It's more than I can stand!"

Foolish boy, Nini thought sadly, without her normal accompanying scoff. She told herself that was because of the dance – how could she scoff in the middle of a dance?

As Nini and Argie left the dance floor in opposite directions, nearly everyone else in the hall paired up and walked onto it. It was part three of Roxanne's Tango, when instead of two people improvised, a much larger number had to dance very strictly learned steps. Nini never stayed for that part, because the more carefully choreographed a dance was the more boring, as far as she was concerned.

Instead, she danced with the fence that separated the dance floor from the rest of the hall. "Why does my heart cry?" Shakespeare sang. "Feelings I can't fight!" Nini pretended to look at Argie – still singing about Roxanne pitifully – while actually watching Shakespeare slowly make his way through the dancers. "You're free to leave me, but just don't deceive me, and please, believe me when I say: I love you!"

Nini marveled inwardly at his ability to work with words as he left the building completely. She sat down during an interlude in the middle of Roxanne: Part Three, but not for very long. Argie started singing again and Nini watched as the dance began once more, much wilder than before.

Almost before she knew it, the violin began screeching the fast notes that were supposed to begin Part Four. Nini smiled and stood up. Shakespeare wasn't here anymore, sadly, but that didn't mean they couldn't finish the dance. She started back towards the dance floor, grinning at Argie and dancing seductively by herself once more. She reached the floor and danced into the midst of the other dancers. She couldn't quite comprehend why seeing all the men throw aside their partners as they saw her gave her such great pleasure, but it did.

She held her arms in the air and stepped carefully through the stagehands who were all trying to get to her once more. They formed into a circle around her as the Diamond Dogs they'd been dancing with crawled away dejectedly and almost fearfully. Nini laughed and threw her head back, spinning wildly in the center of their circle.

She fell – as if by accident – into the arms of one of the men. She found herself completely out of control, being pushed from one partner and pulled to the next violently. Finally she reached Argie and out of a relief that wasn't entirely acted, she threw her arms around him. She knew what was coming next, but for just a few seconds she forgot and felt just as the real Roxanne must've as Argie turned her around and she felt his arm across her throat.

For a fraction of a second, she knew her life was entirely in his hands. It was just a dance, but he could kill he just as easily in a dance as anywhere else – and he had been more sincere this time. Then the pressure was released and he let her go. Nini fell into the center of the circle, lying there as though dead just like she was supposed to at the end of the song.

Silence.

Nini let the silence stretch for a full minute before opening her eyes. She heard an audible sigh of relief from the stagehands as she stood up and she grinned at them all, shaking her head and rejoining Arabia, China, and Mome.

"Good show, Nini." China said. "Your best yet I'd say." The others laughed in agreement.

"Mm-hmm," Nini said and grinned again. "Did you see their faces – they thought he actually killed me!" They laughed once more. "Wish Shakespeare'd stayed to watch the ending though. That's the best part and he missed it."

"Somehow I don't think he's all that sorry!" Arabia giggled.

Nini smiled but was interrupted by Argie who sat down next to her. "Hey, Nini . . ."

She groaned, knowing why he was there. "Not tonight, Argie." He started to protest but she pressed a finger to his lips. "Not tonight. Oh please, I'm really tired." She begged. He stood up and walked away, clearly disappointed. She turned back to the others, and was surprised to see them staring at her with identical looks of astonishment. "What?" Wasn't she allowed to refuse the Argentinean if she wanted to? Then again, had she ever? Now that she thought about it – no, she hadn't. "I'm tired." She repeated, but they looked skeptical.

"You've never been tired after dancing Roxanne before. You say it just gives you energy." Mome pointed out truthfully.

"Yeah, well, I'm tired tonight!" she cried exasperatedly. "And to prove it, I'm going to bed." She glanced at a nearby stagehand that'd been watching her hopefully since she'd brushed off Argie. "Alone." She added to him.

As Nini went back to her room, she kept hearing Shakespeare's voice, echoing eerily in her head. Your free to leave me, but just don't decieve me... She wondered why he would say something like that. And if it were true. If Satine actually did break up with him, would he really just let her? ...and please, believe me when I say: I love you! She sighed, unable to fathom Shakespeare's song.

Nini's steps slowed as she passed Harold's office. She thought sh could hear faint voices coming from within. Nini had never been brought up to mind her own business (no, really?), so she pressed an ear to the door and listened intently. After a few seconds she was able to make out some words and what she heard filled her with an indescribable dread.

"...It's the boy...bewitched her...want her back...the show will end my way...she will come to me...I'll have the boy killed..."

Nini gasped and stumbled away from the door. A few minutes later, she found herself back in her room without quite knowing how she'd gotten there. She sank onto the bed, breathing heavily and wondering why those words had affected her like this. And what had provoked the Duke to say them.

Obviously something had gone wrong. Sparkles had given herself away or not shown up at all. Whatever had happened, it had made the Duke angrier than ever. Angry enough to kill Shakespeare.

Oh god...he's going to kill Christian... She thought, suddenly feeling panicked and jumped to her feet. For the next hour or so, she was unable to think about anything else. She couldn't keep still either, feet pacing nervously around the room and she couldn't seem to figure out what to do with her hands - they would move of their own accord from holding her head to her waist to wringing themselves in front of her without pause. ...kill Christian...

Finally, she gave into extreme exhaustion and reluctantly went to bed.

Who knows when the next update will be - computer problems mixed with the fact that I'm not sure how to start the next chapter - but never fear: If my teachers keep giving me homework like they have been, I will not lack for inspiration.

Please review! Did I forget to put that on the last chapter? Oh well, if I ever do it again, please do review anyway because I love reviews and reviewers are my best friends (on Fanfiction) - My best friend for this story is LadyDoroAnne because she's reviewed every chapter. Have I mentioned that her Lord of the Rings fanfics are absolutely awesome? I haven't? Well, they are. You should go read them. After you press the little review button and tell me what you think of this chapter.