Piranha's Retreat: Chapter 2
Tonight was going to be hell, and I'm proud of it! I was going to the mall to find the perfect dress for the Animal Rights' ball with my best-friend since collage, Utau Hoshina. Who in fact, is one of those rare few people who I know for a fact is famous. As I awaited her fancy arrival, I changed into something more comfy then a skirt. Yup, and you know it, my faithful old blue jeans. God, casual clothing was the best thing in the world.
"Reiko, we really have to work on your wardrobe soon." A pretty voice scolded me from behind as I watched the 'innocent' little piranha's swim around their fishy tank. "How else are you going to pick up a handsome boyfriend?"
I turned a little too fast, and almost fell flat on my face before being helped back up by my blond-headed friend.
"I'll update my wardrobe once I have a handsome boyfriend to impress." I said, wishing that I had Chestnut by my side; I'd die if I have to get a new wardrobe. "Utau, you really need to learn how to greet somebody."
"I'll learn how to greet somebody once you learn how to flirt." She shot back. I sighed, she was never going to learn how to greet somebody!
"Are we going to that hell-hole they call a mall? Or are we going to stay here arguing if I can get a boyfriend?"
"We're going, do you have everything?"
I dramatically put my head to my forehead, "Why must everyone assume I'm as thick as a coconut?" I cried dramatically and faked it all the way.
"Because you are, now let's go!" Utau grabbed my arm, and dragged me to her limo, as she laughed hysterically as I pretended to be a prisoner going into a cop's car.
At the mall, Utau must have tried on at least a million or so dresses, each very pretty on her. Not like I could compare to her majestic beauty and supermodel body, my dark brown hair looked so plain next to my green eyes and slightly tanned skin. Heck, if my hair was green, I'd look like a tree gone wrong, the color of bark would look completely pale compared to normal bark, and then the fact that having a nose and a mouth was not usual for a tree.
Utau finally found her perfect dress, which happened to be a purple cocktail dress with more shimmer then you could say a very complicated tongue twister in a day completely correct. But that's when it happened, we ran into that Hatori dude.
Well, I ran into him, or walked into him, or even accidently fell on him. I can't tell which, so why bother remembering?
"Ms. Reiko! It's a surprise seeing you here." Utau arched her eyebrows, realizing that we met sometime before, god, there was going to be a top rate interrogation once Hatori left! SAVE ME!
"Fancy seeing you here, Mr. Hatori, you aren't following me are you?" I asked lightly, and pretended to dust myself off before offering my hand to help him up. He accepted, and he had a surprisingly firm grip, something I didn't happen to remember from this morning.
"Nope, I'm here with my cousin, Ayame. He needs to get some fabric, for reasons I dare not ask." He mentioned his other cousin, as he tilted his head to a guy (or girl, I couldn't tell which at first) with gold eyes and long silver hair looking at a bunch of cloth. "May I ask you what you're doing here? I was under the impression you worked longer shifts."
"Already did my jail work today, started since 9 in the morning, gotta take a break sometime, otherwise I think I may die of boredom." Stating the obvious, and ignoring his other question, "Have you met my good friend Utau Hoshina?" I asked all innocently just as if she was going to die with her observational skills.
"No, I believe not, how are you, Ms. Hoshina?" he said, reverting his attention to my friend. I breathed a sigh of relief as I took out some water and drank deeply.
"Good, Mr. Sohma. Why do you call Reiko by her first name and me by my last name?" she asked sweetly.
"She never told me her last name." Hatori stated simply.
"Why is that, Reiko?" Utau was going to die, once I found my perfect dress.
"Cause I hate it when men look up my phone number in the phonebook and call me at all hours. It happens to ruin my rest." Utau knew perfectly well that I never told my last name to strangers. Her name, on the other hand, was a different story.
"Hatori, I found it! The most perfect cloth for my darling little brother, nothing but the best for my Yuiki!" The overexcited cousin said, sauntering over to Hatori, while setting off the security alarms.
"I have to go now." Hatori said, managing a look of annoyance on his face of perfect seriousness.
"'Kay, see you some other time!" I called, watching him stalk over to Ayame, who was being spoken too by some security guards, it was a funny sight.
"Reiko, spill." Utau commanded as we went back into the store, to scavenge something for myself.
"He's a guest at the Piranha's Retreat; I escorted his family to their rooms. End of story. Well, except for the fact one of his cousins, I think his name is Shigure, is a complete arrogant ass." I said, mechanically lifting up a puke green dress. "What about this one?"
"Absolutely not!" Utau almost shrieked in her highest pitched voice, while snatching it out of my hand. Did I mention she attracted the confused looks of the store clerks?
Uh oh, that dude called Ayame flounced his way over, looking like he wanted to help any fashion mayhem that had caused a pop star to shriek.
"Hide me, please!" I yelped quietly, as I tried to hide behind Utau.
"I've heard a scream for the help of me, Ayame Sohma, and my assistant Mine!" he declared in his most obnoxious voice he could possible use. A girl with black pigtails and round glasses looked at me with scrutiny. "How may we be of assistance?"
"Help her find her sense of style, Mr. Sohma." Utau said, betraying me to the fashion devil. I was about to make a run for it, but unfortunately, the girl, Mine, grabbed me, and was talking fashion like there was no tomorrow.
"I will kill you, Utau, once I find the perfect dress." I threatened, only to be out of breath to be with a few billion dresses thrust at me by a maid.
"But you'll at least have the perfect dress!" Utau sang.
"Reiko, Hatori told me about you, he said that you would make a great hostess for any party!" Ayame trilled, this is why I don't go shopping, ever. Why me? "Mine, what do you think, should she try on something green?"
"Sure, Ayame, that color would look so cute on her!" the girl said, looking only too excited.
"Must breathe now!" I gasped, I think the clerks of the store needed open heart surgery, their store, after all, was being overturned by a fashion dude.
"Ahh, something loose, I suppose, but nothing to revealing, I wouldn't want Hatori to get the wrong impression." Hatori came to see what was going on, only to be shocked with what his cousin stirred up in such a short time. Utau, of course, was texting somebody, most likely her boyfriend, Kukai Soma. "Mine, your right! Green does look cute on Reiko. Now, only the style left."
Utau was laughing, hard, like she had to pee in her pants. "Utau, call the ambulance, I think I'm going to die with stress!"
"Hatori is a doctor, no need to call the ambulance, I'm sure he'll patch anything up that is wrong with you, won't you, Haa-san?" Bringing to my dim-witted attention span, that Hatori was watching the whole scene. I blushed. And Utau laughed even harder. She even took a picture of this.
"Ayame, leave Ms. Reiko some peace. I'm sure you wore her down enough already." Surprisingly, the evil dude left me alone at once, causing me to tumble with all the dresses. "I'm sorry for the disturbance my cousin gave you."
"No problem," I managed to gasp as accepted his hand up, "at least I found the perfect dress for the Animal Right's ball. Chestnut will be thrilled!"
"Chestnut?" the confusion outlined his features. Seeing as I haven't changed at all, I started to put back the dresses on the rack.
"My dog, since animals are allowed, I decided he'll be my date. He is handsome after all, and plus, he's my entire act." I blushed a bit more; luckily, the fact that my hands got to do something helped me out a lot. I kept only one dress out of the rack, a pretty green dress, simple, barely any shine to it, except a faint glimmer. And a simple silver sash told me that it wasn't a complete waste of time here.
"Aren't you going to try that on?" Hatori asked, in surprise, I only found myself to be laughing.
"Try it on?" I asked, like it was a foreign idea, "Yes, I will, once I get home. If I don't like it, I'll return it and find another dress."
"Reiko is funny like that." Utau chimed in, she was lucky she was my best friend, otherwise she'd be killed with a single blow to the head. She had it lucky, I only punched a little bit hard on her arm. "Ow! What was that for?"
"Ratting me out to the fashion king over there." I hissed, pointing to the guy who needed a haircut.
"He's the very best, Reiko, you should be happy he was willing to help for free."
"At least he didn't kill me this time, Utau, now you know why I don't like shopping!"
"Because of random strangers that happen to help you with your shopping experience?"
"Bingo." I said, plainly. Then remembering Hatori, I turned to him, "Sorry for the delay in your departure, Mr. Sohma, I'll be going now." I curtly said rubbing me hands over my temples; a headache was burning away from the inside or my brain.
"Goodbye, Ms. Reiko." Hatori said before leaving with his two companions in tow.
"Wanna try that dress on now?" Utau asked, once the guests were gone. I heard the collective sigh of relief from the store clerks.
"Why not? At least I'm not holding that puke green dress. It was hideous." I said, we linked our arms and headed to the dressing rooms.
"You knew?" Utau asked in a stage whisper.
"The whole time, I just wanted to draw the attention of Mr. Drama King first. See what they thought would look good."
"Sometimes I don't know if I should fear you or not."
"Dunno, but how does this look?" I asked, coming out, and twirling in the green dress.
"Perfect, and took a whole lot less of trying on dresses to find this dress than my dress."
We purchased our merchandise, apologized to the poor store clerks, and made our way back to the hotel. Mother took one look at me, after I said goodbye to Utau, and motioned me to come over to her.
"Your father told me he wanted to see you soon. I don't know why, but you shouldn't keep him waiting." I looked at her, her face was drained, and I knew better then to contradict her. I made my way to the room that I knew my father was in. Only to come to complete darkness, and the sound of someone struggling to breathe coming from where I knew the bed was, and it was even louder than all of the equipment.
"Reiko, you came." My father said, struggling to say the words.
"Of course, Papa, but you need light." I said, keeping the façade of happy, while opening his curtains. More of his hair fell out today, making him almost completely bald. The tubes coming through his body was a sight for sore eyes, and he looked defeated today.
"I'm going to die soon, Reiko." More forced words.
"No you're not, Papa, you're going to win the fight." I said optimistically, lying through my teeth.
"I'm dying, and you know it, daughter." His old self came through this time, to come to a fit of coughing. "I just wanted to say that I wanted to see your first child, your husband, your wedding. I wanted to walk you down the aisle."
"Papa." I said, to be interrupted by a weak rumble of words coming from his mouth.
"Promise me you'll find happiness, Reiko, promise me!"
"Of course, Papa." I said, while the nurse came in, to bustle my turtle butt out of there.
I walked slowly to my own room, only to collapse into my bed. Defeat grew from each corner of my body. My father was dying of lung cancer, all caused because he smoked.
A large bundle of fur told me that Chestnut was there, comforting each part of my body. Eventually, perhaps after hours, the brief visit to my dad wore off, and I went out to jog with my only brother. A huge, furry, funny brother. The headache I accumulated from before burst into my head again, pounding each corner of my meager existence.
Once Chestnut did his business, we went back inside, and I downed a couple of Advil tablets. Not even bothering to unpack my new dress, I fell asleep, shoes and all.
Authors Note: This chapter has been edited (roughly)