BACKSTAGE PASS Stage 2: Sayo's Trailer

Sayo was slicing cucumbers when she heard a loud rapping on the door of her trailer.

"Who could that be at this time of night?" Daystar's Mom asked as she handed her friend a can of tuna and the pepper shaker. "Do you think we've picked up someone from yet another time zone?"

"I dunno," the Japanese girl replied. She wiped her hands on her apron, then untied it at the back, pulled it over her head, folded it neatly and placed it on a nearby chair. "Hold the fort?" she joked, offering the American the cleaver and letting her friend work her magic on the chopping board.

"Coming!" the double black girl called out as she ran toward the door. She smiled as she saw who'd been knocking. "Lord Wolfram! Your Majesty! This is, er, a pleasant surprise. Let me just get my asbestos suit..."

Yuuri sweatdropped as he put a hand over a sputtering Wolfram's mouth. "No need for that, Sayo-chan. We just dropped by to -- "

The blond bit the hand restraining his speech and hit his fiance repeatedly with the script. "Sayo-chan?! Since WHEN has she been Sayo-chan?"

The Japanese girl involuntarily took a step back and felt behind her for the fire retardant suit she kept by the door.

Daystar's Mom looked up from the chopping board and frowned. "ENOUGH! You two are such children, honestly!" She brandished the cleaver at the two boys; light glinted off its razor-sharp blade. "You show up here at an ungodly hour and then you make such a ruckus? Don't you have any manners? I have half a mind to call up a dragon to take care of the pair of you."

Sayo sweatdropped and made placating motions with her hands. "It's okay, really, it's all good. There's no need for dragons." She sneaked a look at the angry fire-element wielder in the doorway. "Besides, I just got this trailer, and I'm not completely sure they've finished all the fireproofing..."

"Sayo," the double-black monarch said, taking over the conversation at last, "we'd just like you to make a few changes in this script for us. Name your price and it will be paid."

Sayo smiled and shook her head. "I'll do it for free, sire. I'm thankful to be here with you and Lord von Bielefeld. What'd you like us to do?" She grinned at Daystar's Mom, who had gone back to chopping vegetables. "We work together."

Wolfram shook himself free of Yuuri's grasp and glared at the girl menacingly. "I want a lemon."

The girl smiled brightly at the beautiful blond boy. "Oh, is that all?" she asked. A moment later, she happily produced a bright yellow, juicy-looking lemon from out of nowhere and held it out to the prince. It rolled around innocently in her palm as she shifted her weight back and forth from her heels to her toes. She blinked in confusion when Wolfram's face turned red with suppressed rage.

Comprehension dawned on her slowly. "Oh! Did you want it sliced?" Without waiting for an answer, she tossed the lemon back to Daystar's Mom, who made quick work of it with the blade she held. The lemon fell in neat slices on a cold porcelain plate.

For a moment, Yuuri felt compelled to say "Tadah!" but the look on Wolfram's face shut the king's trap promptly.

Sayo blinked twice when she saw that Wolfram's face didn't change. "No good?"

Yuuri sweatdropped and held Wolfram around the waist in an attempt to drag him bodily out of the trailer. "Er, we'll be back tomorrow morning Sayo, when Wolfram's not so… red. Good night!" the boy king said, bowing low before the two women and backing away with a fuming Wolfram in his arms.

When the door closed, Daystar's Mom smirked. "You knew what they wanted, didn't you? And it was no citrus fruit."

Sayo smiled at her and made a small humming sound as she walked back to the kitchen counter and began to arrange prawns on top of the lemon slices from earlier. "These go best with lemons," she remarked cheerfully.

Daystar's Mom shook her head. "You didn't know." She looked about ready to smack herself, but changed her mind when she saw she still held the knife. One way to ruin a midnight snack was to chop one's own head in two.

The double black tilted her head to one side and bit her manicured forefinger, being careful not to damage the polish. "Sure I did. I read about lemons and prawns in Sakai-san's French cookbook," she said to the foxy, bluish-gray-eyed brunette.

Daystar's Mom shook her head once more and sighed in resignation. "It's a great thing your FanFiction-dot-Net readers don't know this side of you."

Sayo blinked. "What do you mean?" she asked.

Put down the knife before you throw it at her, Daystar's Mom thought to herself. "Sayo, they want lemon in the *script*, not their dinner."

The Asian girl made a pouty face and protested, "But that can't taste very good..."

Daystar's Mom looked pleadingly to the heavens, now obscured by roofing. Why? *Why* do I bother? She thought as she considered banging her head on the nearest wall. Finally she turned to her young friend. "You really do have a one-track mind. We'll talk about it after dinner."