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Chapter Nine: Date Night

A/N: Time for chapter! Yay! Hope you all enjoy the read!

"In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life. It goes on." -Robert Frost

"How is it that everyone has a date tonight?" Ji asked. "Even Jayden."

Antonio looked at Jayden, who was trying unsuccessfully to keep his bangs out of his eyes. "Beats me."

"Me too," Jayden admitted. "I don't know why, but she finds my social awkwardness cute."

"She's the one then," Antonio informed him. "Trust me Jay, not many girls like that. Most would probably laugh in your face."

"Well Lorrie's not like other girls," Jayden said, straightening his shirt for the hundredth time. "Now that the whole samurai thing is over maybe I can have a shot a real relationship with her."

"The fact that you're happy about that is very good," Ji nodded. Though, he was still a little apprehensive about the fact that Jayden had been secretly seeing a girl behind his back. He smiled as he watched his son checking his clothes again. "Jayden, relax. If this girl is as special as you say she is, then she won't mind that your shirt is a little wrinkled."

"Yeah, but as you've reminded us a thousand times, I'm a head of the Shiba Clan. If I'm going out in public I have to look good. Plus, it doesn't help that I have to take a car to our date. How am I supposed to explain how and why I have a driver?"

"You're rich," Antonio said like it was obvious. "Come on Jay, she went to a private school on a scholarship. I don't think the idea of rich kids bothers her."

"Well it bothers me. I just, don't want to make her uncomfortable."

Ji started chuckling. "That is the exact same thing your father said when he went on his first date with your mother."

"And look how well that turned out," Jayden said. "Not very well."

Ji shrugged. "You win some, you lose some."

Tiara came out and laughed. "Jayden, stop playing with your shirt."

Jayden looked up at her and frowned. "Why are you dressed like that?"

"I'm going on a date."

"Isn't your shirt to low cut?"

"Jayden, I will stab you. It's fine. There's no need to be over-protective."

"So this Akito boy, he can fight?" Antonio asked.

"He sure can. He's an excellent marital artist."

"Excellent," Ji said. "Then he can get to knew you're family by sparring with Jayden, Lauren, and Antonio."

"I'm gonna take him down," Antonio promised.

"He'd probably let you win just to get in Ji's good graces," Tiara informed him.

Antonio laughed. "Ha! I haven't been able to do that for years. I wish him luck."

Jayden shocked his watch. "I should get going. I don't want to be late."

"Have fun!" Antonio called. "Don't do the touchy-touch!" Tiara shook her head and smacked him. "Ow! What?!"

Lauren cleared her throat. "Tiara, I'm the only one who can hit him."

Antonio turned around and smiled. He got up and kissed Lauren's hand gently. "You are a goddess of beauty mì amor."

"Do have like a book of the cheesiest lines in history?" Tiara asked, despite the fact that Akito had said very similar things to her in the past.

"Come on, we don't want to miss our date," Lauren said. "We hardly ever go out somewhere nice."

"I find it more romantic to cook for mì princess like a queen."

There was a knock on the door cutting off Lauren, who was about to reply. Ji went to answer it. "Relax you two," he said to Antonio and Lauren. "A nighlock wouldn't knock on the door anyways." He opened it a studied the boy standing there intently. "Can I help you?"

"Is Tiara Sterling, I mean, Tiara Shiba here?"

"Lucky for you, she is." Ji let him in and Akito's eyes widened.

"Akito!" Tiara hugged him.

"These are for you," he said handing her flowers.

"You remembered," Tiara said softly, looking at them with adoration.

"Remembered what?" Antonio asked.

"The night was first kissed," Tiara said. "In the gardens by his house. Underneath a full moon and-"

"The he turned into a werewolf. Ow!" Lauren elbowed him in the ribs.

"Shh."

"And a blanket of twinkling stars," Akito finished. "She'd told me sometime before lilies were her favorite flower. That's why I took her to the gardens. There was hundreds of them. And why I'm giving her some. One for each amazing year I have known her."

Tiara smiled and kissed him. Ji cleared his throat and gave her a look. Antonio smirked, glad he wasn't the only one getting Ji's no-PDA-look. "Sorry. Akito, this is Ji. He's Lauren and Jayden's, and mine I guess, gaurdian. Ji this is Akito."

"Nice to meet you Mr. Ji."

"Nice to meet you Akito," Ji said, returning Akito's bow.

"And that guy hanging off of Lauren is her boyfriend and Jayden's best friend, Antonio."

"Ahola," Antonio greeted. Another elbow in the ribs form Lauren reminded him to return the bow. "Nice to meet you Akito."

"You too. You're the boy Jayden is threatening the life of."

"Stick around here long enough and I won't be the only one."

Akito smiled. "I think I could handle Jayden."

Antonio suppressed a chuckle. "Yeah, we'll see."

"We need to go," Lauren reminded him. "Nice to see you again. Come on."

"But I wanna stay and pick on him," Antonio whined.

"Come on," she dragged him out the door. "By the looks of it they'll be plenty of time for that later."

Antonio laughed and the two of them headed for their car.

"We should get going too," Tiara said. "Ready?"

"Of course. Good-bye Mr. Ji."

"Good-bye Akito. Don't stay out too late Tiara."

"I won't."

Ji watched them go and looked around. He stopped and smiled. "Silence," he whispered. "I have the whole house to myself."

-Samurai Ranger Life-

Jayden tapped his fingers nervously against his leg. They stopped at an apartment building and he glanced around. This is the right address.

"Is this the place, sir?" the driver asked.

"Ah yes it is," Jyayden answered. "Just uh...wait here please."

"Yes, sir."

Jayden got out and walked towards the building cautiously. The door opened as he approached it and Lorrie came out. "Hi," he smiled.

"Hey." She hugged him.

"Ready?"

"Ready as I'll ever be."

"Well...great. Let's go." He led over to the car and held the door. "After you."

"Such a gentleman."

He shut the door when she'd gotten in and hopped in on the other side. He nodded to the driver who pulled away. "You look nice."

"Thanks. You too. So, where're we going?"

"Uh, a seafood restaurant Antonio recommend. You remember Antonio, right?"

"Oh yeah. He's the one who was always with your sister Lauren."

"Right."

"Cool."

"Do...do you like seafood? Because-"

"It's ok," she laughed. "I like seafood."

"Great. Should be fun then. Antonio says the food is good, but not as good as his."

"Well I've never had his food, but it must be good."

"It is. Maybe sometime you can come over and he can make it for you."

"I'd like that."

"Great." Jayden glanced away, hoping he didn't look as nervous as he felt.

-Samurai Ranger Life-

"Why do we have to eat in a place that only serves shrimp and scallops for seafood selections?" Antonio complained.

"You don't like shrimp?" Lauren asked, confused.

"Wouldn't know, I've never had it."

"You're never had it?! I didn't think there was a single fish in the ocean you hadn't eaten."

"Everyday is a new surprise."

"Then you should try some, to see if you like it."

"I can, but it'll be the last thing I ever eat."

"What're you taking about?"

Antonio sighed and pursed his lips a little. "I'm allergic to shellfish."

"You're allergic to a type of fish?"

"Unfortunately yeah. My dad couldn't believe it. A friend of his gave us some clams, and we fried 'em up for dinner. I took one bite, and a minute later my throat and tongue were swelling; I was sweating. It was bad. Got to a hospital in time, luckily. But boy, did it scare me."

"Wow."

"Yeah. I can't even touch the stuff. If I do my skin gets all by to and itchy."

"The how are you a fisherman?"

"I don't go fishing for shellfish. I catch regular fish. The closest I get to exposure is using equipment someone uses for catching the stupid fish."

"So, no shrimp or scallops."

"Nope. Preferably."

"Ok then. So what'd want?"

"Well I can't have fish, so...I don't know."

Lauren laughed. "How about some steak?"

"I guess." He reached across the table and took her hand. "You look beautiful."

"You've said that already."

"I know, but every time I look at you, it's like...there aren't even words."

Lauren smiled she she saw the adoration in her eyes. I love you wasn't just a phrase for Antonio. It was the way he truly felt about her. "I love you."

"I love you too."

They leaned across the table and kissed, leaving their server momentarily speechless. The man cleared his throat. "Uh...are you ready to order?"

-Samurai Ranger Life-

"So," Akito said, taking Tiara's hand. "Where are we going?"

"I thought we'd go see a movie."

"Sounds fun."

"I plan to be in the dirty for a while."

"Well, at least you are. I can't believe my dad has to go back tomorrow. He's only been here a couple days."

"Did you miss him?"

"A lot. I mean, I love my new family. Lauren and Jayden and Ji are fantastic, and they made me feel so welcome. But, my dad is...my dad. He's the one who raised me and was there for me. I just...whish I could spend more time with him."

"Your father is an important man. He does a lot of good with his diplomacy."

"I know." She looked over at his dark eyes. "Sometimes I just think that job will be the death of him."

"He'll be fine. If it's anyone who's tough, it's Ambassador Sterling."

"I know."

"Don't worry so much. You're much too pretty to worry, especially since he can take care of himself."

"Hey, I was the real running of our household. I'd be surprised of he could've remembered to turn the oven off."

Akito laughed. "You really have that little faith in him?"

Tiara sighed. "You should be taking my side."

"I've always felt that Mr. Sterling and I should stick together."

"Male bonding. Well you'd better be ready to bond to he the new men in my life. And believe me, it'll be a challenge."

"I'm always up for a challenge."

"I know you are."

-Samurai Ranger Life-

Later that night, Lorrie walked out of the restaurant hand-in-hand with Jayden. The two of them were laughing and smiling like it was nothing. Jayden led her over to the car and held her door for her. "You know Jayden," Lorrie commented as he got in on the other side. "you're quite a classy guy."

"I'm classy?"

"Yeah. All night you've been holding open doors, pulling, my chair out-"

"Do you not like that?" Jayden asked, suddenly concerned he'd offended her in some way.

"No silly. It's sweet. You're like the poster boy of chivalry."

Jayden blushed a little and looked away. He wasn't used to blushing, but for some reason with Lorrie is seemed to happen a lot. "Did you have a good time?"

"I had a wonderful time. I'm sorry if I talked a lot."

"What? No! You're life is really interesting. Way more interesting than mine is."

"You're life is interesting I'm sure."

"All I really do is play the guitar."

"That's a cool hobby."

"But that's it. You go to college and you volunteer at an animal shelter."

"Well you could do all that stuff too. Why don't you?"

"I don't know, I just...it's hard to explain. I just don't usually have a reason to get out much."

"Well, you could come volunteer with me sometime. How about this Wednesday?"

"This Wednesday? So like...another date?"

"Sure. We can call it that."

"I take it this one went well then."

"Yes. I'd say it did."

"Cool, so Wednesday?"

"Wednesday."

"Cool." They stopped at her building and Jayden hurried to get out so he could open her door. Lorrie laughed. "Uh...goodnight."

"Night." She kissed his cheek and went inside. Jayden smiled and got back in the car. He sat back against his seat with a crazy grin on his face.

"Shall I take you home sir?" the driver asked him.

"Yes please," Jayden said. "She's amazing. Isn't she?"

"A very nice young lady sir."

"I had such a blast. This has been a good night."

"I'm glad you had a good time sir."

"Yeah." Jayden gazed out the window in a daze. "I did."

-Samurai Ranger Life-

"See?" Lauren asked. "You survived the night without having fish."

"Just barely. I feel a little light-headed."

"You're a baby."

"Stop!" Lauren laughed. Antonio put his arm around her casually. "See how much fun it is when we go out?"

"Well...I guess so."

Lauren sighed and leaned into him. "I love this. Just the two of us."

"Well until we find our car."

"Yes. But for now it's just us."

Antonio kissed the top of her head. "Just us."

-Samurai Ranger Life-

Akito made sure to walk Tiara safely to her front door. "Here we are. When will I see you again?"

"Some other time I'm sure. Night."

"Night, my Flower." He kissed her then left. Tiara watched him cross the yard and leave through the gate. She went inside and found Jayden, who looked a mile high. "Someone had a good night."

"It was the best."

"Are Antonio and Lauren back yet?"

"Yeah, they went to bed already."

"Separately or..."

"Together."

"Wonderful. Well, I'm off to bed. Don't stay too late."

"I won't. Night Sis."

"Night Bro."