(AN, yeah for those who noticed I got some characters mixed up and forgot that Renkotsu was called Renkotsu, but it's fixed now, so for those who noticed I apologize, for those who didn't, oh well lol, also the song later on it "These Hard Times" by Matchbox Twenty, no I don't own it or Inuyasha, I just own Zuki and Yasu :D as always R&R!)
Zuki was pacing back and forth in her bedroom, Kagome was sitting on her bed while Sango was at the desk. Miroku, Inuyasha, Sesshomaru, and Rin had all come back to her apartment. Sesshomaru and Yasu worked at the same office so they were friends, Zuki suspected they were in the kitchen chatting over a beer, Rin and the other boys were messing around on her brothers Playstation 3.
"You know, if you keep pacing like that you're going to make a trench in the middle of your room," Sango said lazily. Zuki shot her a glare and kept her pacing, her mind was reeling. Zuki kept clenching and unclenching her fists, it was bad enough to find out the super hot guy you were dancing with who decided to grope you was the cousin to two of your friends. Zuki might not have been so mad if he hadn't been such a jerk about everything.
"I can't believe he said that!" She shouted out suddenly, making Kagome and Sango jump.
"Well, you did give him a black eye," Kagome said trying to reason with her fuming friend. Zuki stopped and turned to glare at her.
"I gave him a black eye because he though it was appropriate to grab my ass!" She shouted flinging her arms out to her side. Kagome flinched back then sighed and shook her head.
"I know, I agree with you, he deserved it and I would be pretty pissed too, but it just isn't worth the energy to get worked up over some stupid guy," Sango said also trying to reason with her.
"He called me a cock tease and then proceeded to exaggerate the 'brief' kiss we had on the dance floor, he also made it seem like I was humping him practically begging to fuck him! I think that that is plenty to get worked up over!" Zuki shouted. She had opened her mouth to say something else when her bedroom door opened.
"Jeez, what's with all the yelling?" Ayame asked walking in. Ayame took one look at her glowering best friend and took a small step back.
"Uh, did I do something?" She asked timidly. Zuki let out a frustrated sigh then took deep breaths.
"No, I just met Sui and Huchi's cousin Bankotsu, turns out he's a real charmer," she said sarcastically. Huchi was Renkotsu's nick name, at first they had called him Rin but then everyone was getting confused with which Rin they were talking about, so they started to call Renkotsu Huchi, after the Japanese god of fire. It was a well known fact that Renkotsu was a pyromaniac.
"What happened?" Ayame asked moving to sit next to Kagome.
"Well, it started out great, after you and Kouga left, which you have to tell me about later by the way, this really hot guy who was an amazing dancer started to dance with me. We danced for a couple songs but stopped when some sappy song came on. Well I had turned around to talk to him and he kissed me, I didn't mind the kiss one bit, but then be proceeded to grope my ass, and I'm pretty sure his other hand was heading for my chest! Well I gave him a black eye, and then Huchi decided to introduce us. Sure, he could have been civil about the whole thing but no, he had to start going off talking about how I had practically begged him to kiss me and grope me and augh!" Zuki threw a book at the wall when she yelled. Ayame's eyes were wide with shock.
"What an asshole," she said softly. Zuki snorted and resumed her pacing. Sango opened her mouth to tell Zuki to stop but decided better of it.
"So, Ayame, what did happen between you and Kouga?" Sango asked the smirk obvious in her voice. Ayame blushed furiously but also grinned.
"Well, he took me outside, and at first he didn't say anything just kept looking at the ground and the sky, well anywhere but me, I was about to ask him what was wrong, and well, he kissed me!" Ayame blurted out the last bit as quickly as she could. Zuki stopped her pacing forgetting her anger to join in on her friends joy.
"Oh Ayame that's wonderful! What happened next," Zuki asked forgetting all about Bankotsu.
"We, the kiss was great and if just left me weak in the knees, but after he kissed me he gave me this big long speech about how he hadn't ever really seen me before, and when he saw me sing, and then making out with you Zuki, he said he saw me in a whole new light. He apologized for being such a jerk over the whole engagement, and he asked me on a date!" Ayame was bouncing up and down on the bed unable to contain her joy. Zuki flung her arms around her friend and gave her a fierce hug.
"I told you it would work!" Zuki said triumphantly. Ayame just nodded happily blushing slightly and thinking about the change in Kouga.
"I am so happy for you Ayame," Kagome said squeezing her friends arm slightly. Ayame grinned at her.
"I'm sure it will be nice not to have to worry about him attacking you every chance he gets," Ayame laughed. Kagome joined in with a nod and soon the four girls were laughing, their laughter carrying down the hall into the living room.
"What do you think they're laughing about?" Miroku asked looking at the digital fight taking place on the screen. Inuyasha and Kouga were playing Mortal Kombat, Kouga was winning.
"Who knows," Kouga said barely paying attention as he pulled off one of the harder moves and managed a K.O. on Inuyasha. Inuyasha threw his controller on the floor angrily as Kouga jumped off the couch with a victorious shout.
"You know Inuyasha, maybe if you played as much as Kouga you would be able to beat him," Rin said sweetly. Inuyasha just glared at his sister-in-law. She saw the glare and jumped up giggling and skipped to the kitchen.
"Feh, this is a stupid game anyways," Inuyasha grumbled crossing his arms. Miroku laughed silently and shook his head, Kouga was still doing a victory dance.
"Glad to know you can dance Kouga," Zuki said laughter in her eyes. Kouga just grinned at her while he continued to dance. Ayame giggled slightly then went and sat on the futon. Inuyasha glanced up at Kagome blushing slightly.
"What are you playing?" Sango asked moving to sit in one of the armchairs.
"Mortal Kombat," Miroku said not hiding the boredom in his voice.
"Oh really? I'll play you Kouga," Sango said ignoring Miroku. Kouga nodded then went and sat next to Ayame sitting so their hips were touching. Sango got the controller that Inuyasha had thrown in his fit of anger and sat down on the floor in front of Miroku, using his legs as a backrest. Zuki watched her friends happily from the entry to the living room. Kagome walked over and sat next to Inuyasha smiling at him happily, they both blushed slightly then turned to watch the TV. Zuki smiled inwardly then retreated to head into the kitchen. Yasu and Sesshomaru were sitting at the kitchen table sipping kirin beer and talking, Rin was on Sesshomaru's lap listening happily. Rin waved at Zuki bouncing a little, Zuki laughed a bit at Rin's ability to be happy and giggly all the time. Zuki walked over to the fridge and pulled out a kirin lemon and sat down opposite her brother.
"So, Zuki, mind telling me what you were shouting about a few minutes earlier?" Yasu asked taking a swig of his beer. Zuki flushed slightly, not out of embarrassment but anger at remembering the asshole that groped her.
"Some jerk, who happens to be Sui's cousin, groped and kissed me on the dance floor, then proceeded to tell everyone that I 'threw myself at him' baka," she spit savagely. She saw her brothers face darken a bit then shook it off.
"I gave him a black eye," Zuki said happily drinking some of her drink. Yasu smiled a little then went back to talking to Sesshomaru. Sesshomaru worked higher up in the same company as Yasu, they were discussing company polotics.
"I wouldn't worry about Bank, Zuki, everyone knows you wouldn't do that," Rin reassured her. Zuki gave her a grateful smile before looking at the table thinking, sadly, about Bankotsu. Thinking about that lying scum mad her blood boil with rage. Yasu noticed Zuki's face had twisted into a grimace and she was gripping her drink so tight, Yasu worried she would shatter the glass.
"Zu, the kirin lemon didn't do anything to you, let it go," he said chuckling softly. Zuki whipped her head around to look at him her face turned to confusion. She looked down at her drink, made a small 'oh' sound, then released it.
"Sorry," she mumbled putting her hands in her lap. Yasu gave a small smile to his younger sister then resumed the conversation he was having with Sesshomaru. Rin turned to strike up a conversation and noticed that Zuki was looking angry again. Rin jumped off her husband's lap then proceeded to drag Zuki onto the balcony off the kitchen.
"You know, if you're so mad you should do something about it. When I get mad I practice judo," Rin said in her normal bubbly fashion. Zuki couldn't ever imagine Rin getting angry, but she took her advice to heart.
"Thanks Rin," Zuki said squeezing her friends hand. Rin nodded then flounced back into the kitchen. Zuki glanced back into the kitchen and decided to look at Tokyo from the balcony instead. She didn't go out on the balcony off the kitchen very often, when her parents were in town they would eat breakfast outside if it was warm enough. Zuki preferred to go to the balcony that had the view of the bay. At night Tokyo was beautiful, Zuki could almost make out Tokyo tower, she made a mental note to go there at night. Zuki knew that Rin had given her good advice, the only problem was that Zuki loathed judo. She enjoyed watching her brother compete, but she had never gotten the hang of the moves. Zuki wasn't sure what she did would be able to express her anger and let it vent, she knew she could write a song, but she didn't want to give Bankotsu the satisfaction of knowing that her got to her. At that moment Zuki remembered her other passion, dancing. Not club dancing, but stage dancing. She had been an avid tap, ballet, and hip hop dancer almost as long as Yasu had been doing judo. While her brother was out beating the shit out of other people, she would be in a leotard or sweats dancing her heart out. Zuki smiled knowing that she would be able to get her anger out doing either tap or hip hop. She made another mental note to head to her dance studio tomorrow. With that happy thought she went back inside and had fun, watching Sango beat Kouga again and again on his favorite video game.
Zuki was standing in the middle of the floor, in her sports bra and dance pants. She had decided that she would do hip hop and see if that helped her relax at all. Zuki hadn't let her friends know how much she danced, they knew that she had classes every Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, but they had never come to a recital. Zuki finished warming up then went over to the stereo system to pick out a good song to dance to. She was glad that her instructors let her use the studio whenever she wanted, it was peaceful, about two hours before they opened so she knew she would have privacy. Zuki decided on "Hey Baby" by No Doubt. She plugged in her iPod and tuned it to that song, with a ten second delay so she could take her starting position. Zuki sat on the floor one leg under her with her other knee pulled into her chest. The music started and she looked up quickly, she started to feel the music and jumped up to her feet. Zuki loved the way she felt when she danced, dancing and singing were her passions, and being on the stage felt like home to her. Moving with the music pulling off hard moves that she hadn't done in awhile, she felt her anger slowly dissipate. By the end of the song her boiling blood had cooled to a simmer. Zuki frowned feeling she was still angry, at this thought she walked over to her bag and pulled out her tap shoes. Knowing what song she was going to play, she ran over to the stereo system and tuned it to "Angry Dance" (AN how fitting :D) from the musical Billy Elliot. She had given the stereo a five minute delay so she had time to change her shoes. After she got her tap shoes on, she practiced a couple simple steps to get her feet warmed up before the song started to play. The song helped her express all the rage she was feeling, with each step and each move she knew that dancing was doing the trick. Zuki hadn't noticed however that there was an unwelcome guest watching her through the window in the door. Zuki felt the sweat roll down her neck and temple. Her thighs were burning, beggin for relief, but she wasn't going to stop until all her anger was gone. Her feet pounded harder into the floor, Zuki was glad that the wood was sturdy enough to take the beating. At the end of the song Zuki collapsed to the ground panting, sitting on her heels she gasped for air a smile creeping onto her face. Her happiness was cut short when the sound of clapping filled the room. Zuki jerked her head to look at the stranger who had entered without her knowing, it was Renkotsu.
"Huchi, what are you doing here?" Zuki asked glad it was a friend.
"My aunt got a job here teaching ballet, your lucky Bank would rather flirt with the other instructors then come and watching you dance," he laughed. Zuki groaned and moved to take her shoes off her shoes tapping as she shuffled over to her bag.
"How come I've never seen you dance?" Huchi asked following her. Zuki shrugged. "I dunno, you all knew I danced, I guess I just never put much thought into inviting you guys, most of my recitals are out of town now," she said sitting on the bench to put her street shoes back on. She pulled a white towel out of her bag and wiped down her sweating face and neck. Zuki shoved the rest of her belonging into her bag and pulled on the flats she had worn to the studio. Huchi seemed okay with her answer and grabbed her bag off the floor.
"C'mon, I want you to meet my aunt, she is going to be teaching the advanced ballet glasses now, so I'll get you an in with the teacher," he said with a wink. Zuki laughed and shook her head as they walked out of the studio together. They chatted walking down the stairs to the lobby and office area, at the bottom Zuki heard the familiar voice of a certain boy.
"Um, Huchi, I don't want to see your cousin, I might throttle him," she whispered hoping her voice wouldn't echo into the lobby. Huchi rolled his eyes and kept walking. Zuki reached out to grab him but he was gone before she could. With a growl she clenched her fists and walked down to the lobby.
"Zuki, this is my aunt Odori Sakiko, Obasan Sakiko this is Zuki, she is going to be one of your favorite students," Huchi said introducing them. They exchanged pleasantries and bowed, Zuki made sure to ignore Bank as much as she could.
"I will be honored to be taught by you Odori-san," Zuki said with another deep bow.
"Oh, no need to be so formal Zuki-chan, Renkotsu and Suikotsu have told me so much about you already, please call me Sakiko," the woman smiled warmly. Zuki smiled back and clasped her hands in front of her, she could feel Bank's eyes on the back of her head glaring at her.
"So, you do ballet, what else do you do? Chiyo-san has told me that you are a regular here," Sakiko said sweetly. Zuki grinned and nodded her head.
"I take ballet, hip-hop, and tap. I also teach the younger children ballet and tap."
"How wonderful! I am so excited to be teaching you," Sakiko said warmly. Zuki simply beamed, even if this woman was the mother of Bankotsu, Zuki knew she liked her.
"Ma, lets go, I'm bored," Bank said loudly behind Zuki. Zuki flinched at the anger that dripped from his words, it took all her will power not to turn around and punch him again.
"Bank, I have to stay here for the rest of the day, if you want to leave so badly then you can go with Renkotsu," she said curtly. Zuki smiled at the way Bank's mother shot him down.
"Oh, sorry Bank, I'm gonna be staying here for awhile, maybe Zuki could give you a ride." Zuki's jaw dropped as she stared at her drummer.
"What?!" They both cried in unison. Zuki glared over to Bank and he glared right back.
"You two are adults, learn to work it out," Renkotsu said. Zuki looked at her friend pleadingly.
"Huchi, don't," Zuki said a slight whine in her voice.
"Oh no I would rather take the subway then ride with this baka," Bank said crossing his arms.
"What did you call me?" Zuki said quietly rounding on him. She smirked when she saw that his right eye had turned black and blue from the punch the night earlier.
"I called you a Baka, got a problem with that?" Zuki clenched her fists, instead of punching him however, she grabbed her bag and bowed her farewell before stomping out of the studio.
"Why that horrible, ignorant, augh!" Zuki couldn't find the words to describe Bankotsu. Zuki threw her bag in the back seat of her brothers car. Her bike didn't have the room for her giant dance bag so she borrowed her brothers car.
"Hey, you wait!" Zuki turned just as she was about to get into the drivers side to see Bank running up to her.
"I have a name, and what the hell do you want?" She demanded turning to face him with crossed arms.
"Yeah, I need a ride, I don't have the train fair, so please?" He asked like it was the hardest thing for him to do.
"Why the hell should I give you a ride. I don't give rides to baka assholes," she said seething. Bank bit back a retort, he really didn't want to walk home.
"Will you give me a ride if I apologise?" he said barely over a whisper. Zuki contemplated this for awhile before nodding. Bank took a breath in then looked at the groun.
"I'msorry," he said very quickly and quietly.
"What was that? I didn't quite catch it."
"I'm sorry! Okay? Happy?" Bank threw his arms out to the side.
"Well, better then nothing, get in," Zuki said before she sat down behind the wheel. Bank ran around to his side a jumped in the car.
"Nice car," he said checking out the interior of her brother Nissan March.
"Tell that to my brother, I don't have a car," Zuki said pulling out of the parking lot.
"So what? You have to pawn of your brother, how lame," Bank laughed thinking her was making fun of her.
"No, I have a Ninja 250R," she said. Bank's laughing was cut short.
"You ride a ninja?" he asked with wide eyes. Zuki glanced over at him and snorted, now his jaw was on the floor.
"Yeah, got it when I got my license," she said pulling up to a stop light. "So where am I taking you?" Zuki asked looking over at him. He was staring at her with a weird look in his eyes.
"Hello? Where do you live," Zuki said giving him an incredulous look. Bank shook his head and looked up to where they were.
"Oh, uh Roppongi Hills," he said turning to look out the window. Zuki let out a strangled cry and gaped at him.
"Yo-you can't live there!" Zuki demanded.
"Sorry, I do," he said not looking at her. Zuki growled then floored the car, if she had to live in the same building as this guy she sure as hell didn't want to be in the same car as him for longer than necessary. Zuki was posotive she broke a few laws getting home, but when she pulled into the parking garage, it wasn't Bank's turn to gape at her.
"Why are you going in the parking garage?" he asked looking around. Zuki grumbled before replying maneuvering the car onto the parking ramp.
"Because I live here," she said shutting off the car so the parking attendants could see to it.
"Why the hell do you live here?!" He yelled running to keep up with her. Zuki hit the button for the elevator so hard she was sure she broke it, thank kami they had fixed it two days ago.
"I live here because my parents bought an apartment here," she said rolling her eyes as she stepping into the elevator. Zuki punched the button for floor 25 and growled when bank punched the button for floor 24. The ride up to the 24th floor was far too long for Zuki, she kept glancing over at Bank catching him glancing at her. When they reached the 24th floor, Bank almost fell out of the elevator.
"Thanks for the ride!" he shouted as the doors closed. Zuki closed her eyes and massaged her temples, all of her dancing to get out her anger was now down the drain. Zuki dragged her feet to her home and stumbled into the apartment.
"I'm home!" she called out as she kicked off her shoes and slipped on the slippers. Zuki didn't hear Yasu in the kitchen or living room, she suspected he was in his room studying. Zuki tromped off to her room to get out of her smelly clothes and take a nice hot bath. After her bath Zuki made herself a cup of tea and went to sit out on her balcony and enjoy the bustle of the city. Zuki curled up in the squashy outdoor arm chair and enjoyed the cool wet air as she sipped her tea. After twenty minutes, her tea was gone and she was dozing off slightly when a guitar from below started to strum. It was a slow song and Zuki could hear the sadness in it, it was only a few seconds before she heard the guy playing sing. Zuki felt her stomach flutter and she knew if she had been standing her knees would have given out, his voice was amazing.
Morning falls like rain,
Into the city life, there goes another night.
Losing my breath in waterfalls
The music stopped abruptly with a bad chord and an angry shout. Zuki knew the feeling of writing a song and not being able to get the right words. Zuki felt that she could help the guy so she leaned over the ledge.
"Waves," she shouted down to him. She heard him grumble, but he picked up the guitar and sang again
Losing my breath in waves
Knowing that every crash, is bleeding the hour glass.
He stopped playing and she heard him write some more stuff down before he started to play again.
Taking the strife, from all our lives.
Everyone keeps talking,
They'll promise everything, they don't mean anything.
We may lose our focus,
There's just too many words, we're never meant to learn.
He stopped playing again and moved to try to look up a the girl who helped him but she was gone.
AN: Hmm who is this mysterious stranger? Well I know, but that's because I can see my own mind, it's quite a scary place, I don't recommend visiting :D R&R!