Gravitation Fan Fiction ❯ Date with Destiny ❯ Date with Destiny ( Chapter 1 )

AN: Companion piece to "Dear Diary" with spoilers from "Remembrance of a Dead Man". Shuichi leaves Eiri between "Rememberance of a Dead Man" and this story.

What an entertaining evening this will be...

Patiently waiting for her two victims, er...friends, Judy Winchester peered from behind her menu to glance at the front door of the restaurant. She was wearing make up that made her look like a Japanese woman, complete with a short black-haired wig that went barely below her chin. Grinning, she looked back at the menu in anticipated excitement.

Rage stepped into the restaurant, heels making a soft clacking sound on the marble entryway. As per the tradition, started three years ago when Judy and she needed a night out, traditional dress was banned and Rage, the ultimate tomboy in a skirt actually looked like a girl for once.

Her short red hair, usually brushed and done, was lying in gentle ringlets around her head. Purple and gold ribbons curled through it, making it shiny and eye catching when she turned her head. Her make up was dark, yet tasteful, blacks and purples with a slash of red lips.

Black crystal chandelier earrings graced her ears; catching the light and reflecting it back as she spoke with the waiter. The sequins on the straps of her dress adding to the shine.

She wore a strapped shift dress made of satin, with a gauze overlay that floated around her legs, body and arms. The gauze overdress had sleeves that slipped down her shoulders and across her hands, attaching to black crystal rings on each of her middle fingers. It rested in a torn, hanky style hem that brushed her knees and calves lightly, the edging of sequins the only thing to weight it down.

A flash of silver as she turned and if one looked closely, they could see a knife strapped to her thigh, which for some reason only added to the new air of mystery and sensuality surrounding her.

She followed the waiter to the reserved table, taking her seat, sipping carefully from her water goblet, eyes studying everyone around her.

Eiri blew smoke in the face of the man trying to seat him, just wanting him to go away and stop following him around. He could find the table on his own, thank you very much. Batting aside the man's attempts to take his jacket, he kept it on, collar up, eyes narrowed with casual annoyance as he peered around the restaurant.

He hardly needed the man to lead him to the table, the idiot had pointed to it the moment that he asked.

Whatever the hell this was, he hoped it was over and done with fast. There was a girl sitting at the table he was walking towards, but he didn't recognize her.

Sliding into his chair on the other side of the girl, he peered through his sunglasses and set his cigarette in the ashtray.

What's going on? Who.... hey!

He burst into amused laughter, sitting back with a smirk on his face as he studied Rage from head to... well, waist. The table was in the way of going any lower. "Well, look at you. How fortunate of me. You actually look like a half decent woman."

He took off his sunglasses, but not the jacket, letting it protect him on both sides. He still didn't like this. Eiri didn't see why such an invitation and strange meeting was set up just to talk to Rage. He could do that any day. "What's up with the letter, Rage? What do you want that you couldn't just call me on the phone for?"

She jerked her head up, staring at him, blinking in almost open-mouthed shock. Not the most elegant of expressions but he definitely wasn't what she was expecting. "Eiri...what...why are you here? Where's Judy?"

She was going to kill her friend. Really. She was going to strangle her, and then gut her. Judy Winchester was a sick, twisted woman. The bitch.

He resisted the urge to stick a breadstick into her open mouth… that would have been kind of funny. But, he wasn’t really in the mood to have a gun drawn on him in the middle of a public restaurant. But, he was in the mood to be a nice guy. A sort of nice guy. A tolerable guy? He wasn’t too sure himself, but it seemed in his best interest to be on his best behavior until this all worked out.

"Trust me, if I had known Judy’s letter would put me here with you, I would have thrown it away. I have no idea. I came here out of sheer boredom. I had no idea you would be here; this was just the table I was directed to. You do look nice, by the way. Makes me sad you didn’t come dressed up just for me." He smirked, grabbing his cigarette from the ashtray to put back between his lips, signaling that he would do no more talking unless someone came and explained something to him.

"If I had known it was you I wouldn't have dressed up, but thank you." Okay, complete lie but still. He didn't need to know that. She signaled a waiter and ordered a martini and whatever Eiri wanted, feeling the urge to get drunk. She was going to KILL Judy. "Since we're here, are we actually going to have dinner or just stare at each other? It's already paid for according to the waiter."

He was perfectly content with sitting and staring since that tended to make people uncomfortable and rushed things along. Then he could get home and go back to work, or Shuichi, whichever one was more in his favor at that moment. "Okay. I’m hungry." He ordered gin and tonic, putting out his cigarette in a display of courteousness since smoke tended to sicken people’s stomach. Making her stomach roll and puking up dinner would probably also get a gun to his head.

"You know Judy better than I do. Any idea why she would do this?" He lifted his menu, talking to her as he scanned it for something that looked appetizing.

"To torment me. She finds it amusing to toy with my life. She's driving me insane by giving me what I want." Rage hid behind her menu, glaring at the words unseeingly. Bitch, Bitch, Bitch, Bitch...ooo, lobster and crab.

"What you want? You want a date with me? I can't imagine why, I am a terrible date. Moody, quiet, dispassionate. Not a lot of fun at all." But he smiled at her over his menu, finally just tossing it down onto the table with a shrug. I just close my eyes and point. That’s what I get. Takes the trouble out of guessing. Blame it on fate. By t he compassion of Buddha, I will end up with something not completely foul.

She set down her menu, sighing at him. "Can we just not discuss what I want. It always ends up with you laughing at me." She sipped her drink, crossing her legs under the table, her foot brushing over his thigh in the process. She picked up a breadstick and looked on it before carefully placing it between her lips, to not smear her lipstick, sucking the butter off.

Am I that cruel, Rage? I don’t always laugh at you. At least not on the outside. I promise, for the remainder of this date, I will only use my silent voice when I laugh at you.

Deciding to get comfortable, he stripped off his jacket and turned to drape it over the back of the chair. Reaching forward, he plucked the menu from her. "I’ll order for you."

She blinked before shrugging, deciding to just go with it. "Alright." She sipped her drink, watching him, smiling softly to herself. Truthfully, she did want a date with him. Okay she wanted more but a date was nice. He was an intresting man. Fun to be around in a way few men weren't.

Could he actually be nice and keep up good behavior? She doubted it. But it would be interesting to watch. Maybe she should ask him to dance, just to see his reaction. After all, they were in a secluded, but still a public restaurant. A girl slow dancing with Yuki Eiri? Tongues would wag.

"Don’t worry, I won’t purposefully order you something disgusting." He was glad that she was trusting him.. Most wouldn’t. It WAS in his nature to pick something that would make them spit up just to watch them cough and hack. After all, a gentleman always ordered for a lady. It was just what was done. And Eiri did know something about what to do to please women (outside of the bedroom, even) because he had to. It was how he wooed them into buying his novels and making him a rich, rich young man.

"I’ve never been in here before. It always looked a bit too romantic for me. Not only that, it’s a bit public. The last thing I ever need is the press reporting on my homosexual romantic outing with lead singer of Bad Luck, Shindou Shuichi. I’m sure they’ll enjoy this just as well. I’d tell them you were my sister, but… I doubt they’d believe that. We look nothing alike." The waiter came and he spoke in a low murmur, winking at Rage since he was purposefully not letting her hear what he was ordering for her. She would find out when it was set in front of her.

She cursed herself for blushing at his wink and drained her glass, staring at the candles on the table. She silently thanked her father for his...exotic...tastes, pretty sure that no matter what he ordered she could choke it down with a smile on her face.

Though she'd probably be sick later.

She sighed softly, running her finger through the flame of the candle, fast enough that it didn't burn her but slow enough to be amusing. "They already know your sister, anyway."

"Well, then lets pretend that this is a blind date. You forget all about me, and I’ll forget all about you, and we will sit here as strangers who want to get to know one another. You think I can make a better first impression than I did last time. You have to admit, it was a stellar first impression." He laughed, wondering if he covered himself in butter, would she lick him the same way. Damn her and damn phallic imagery. "Since a man always introduces himself first… to ensure that he is not a threat to the woman, so I shall. I’m Yuki Eiri, what’s your name, honey?"

She laughed, smiling slightly at him, unable to resist. "Baretta Reiji, but most call me Rage." She held out the hand not holding the breadstick, smiling at him. She brought the breadstick back up to her lips, tounge darting out to take a small lick.

"Baretta Reiji, huh? Sounds like a dangerous name. You don't have a knife inside of your stocking, do you?" It was Rage; of course she was armed with some sort of weapon. Knife in the stocking, and gun somewhere... no telling where. The girl could pull bazookas out of thin air. He reached over and took her hand, feathering his fingers under the palm, kissing the back of it. After all, you didn't shake hands with a woman.

"You're good. I have one strapped to my thigh. Now find the gun." She closed her eyes as his lips pressed against her skin, smiling softly. Yes, he could play the gentleman well. It was just a test to see how long he could keep it up.

He kept her hand, folding it inside both of his to stoke the top and palm lightly. "Find the gun, hm? I don't suppose you'd be so unoriginal as to strap it to the other thigh? Are you wearing boots, could be in there." He leaned over, standing up a bit to look over the table to see what sort of footwear she had on.

She held out her crossed leg, showing off her black stiletto heels and black stocking clad ankles, a small smirk on her lips. She then stretched the leg out more, giving him a few up to the bottom of her thigh where the knife's tip could be seen. "Nothing on this leg. And nothing on the other since I couldn't cross them if there was a gun there." She lowered her leg again, still sucking on the breadstick, though a different piece of it, having eaten the tip when he was looking at her leg. "Unless you'd care to check?"

"Not there, hm? Well…you don’t seem to have an under the arm holster, or a hip holster. I haven’t a clue where you would keep a gun. I suppose that’s the point, isn’t it? Keep it from being noticed. Because what happens if I try to attack you after the date, unhappy with just one kiss? I’d know where your gun was, and it would be useless against me.

Then again, I don’t think you’d shoot me for attacking you. You seem like a girl that gives it up on the first date. How kind of you to repay me for my tolerance in such a manner." Damnit, wasn’t I supposed to be a gentleman? Old habits died hard… he just needed to crack his head on the pavement and take it out for good.

She raised an eyebrow, moving her upper leg, pressing it between his legs lightly. "Aren't you supposed to be a gentlemen, Yuki-san? That wasn't very nice, to call me a slut." She tapped his groin lightly before crossing her legs again. As she moved back in her chair, her arm brushed across her left breast, pressing the material to it. There was a small lump that broke up the curve of her breast.

"My sincerest apologies for implying such a thing about a lady." When was Eiri every really sorry for anything? Never. But hey, you had to play the game. He sat back, grabbing his gin and tonic from where the waiter presently tried to set it, out of the air, right from his hand. The bulge in her dress was obvious for only a moment, and Eiri resisted a comment about deformed nipples. "You keep it in your top, huh? Easy access? What if a man tries to stick his hand down there? Grab the knife from your thigh and chop it off?"

"Most men don't notice it unless they're looking at my breasts. And by the time they try to stick their hand down my dress I have it removed. The knife is usually for the stomach or groin." She ordered another martini, crossing her legs to the other side, after stretching them out slightly, brushing the outside of his thighs again.

"Tell me about yourself, Yuki-san. What does a pretty, probably rich judging by dress, playboy cum gentlemen do with his life?"

Eiri didn’t have much experience in shoving his hand down girl’s dresses. Rather, he did, but it was always upon invitation. "Must suck to be you, then… carrying around two weapons. You must find yourself on the defense quite a bit. Almost enough to make a person never want to leave the house." He crossed his own legs; never letting his face change when she touched is thighs. This was all done on purpose, a part of his game. He remained just as calm and collected as always.

"What do I do with my life? Hide in dark rooms away from the sun and sky. Write sex scene after sex scene on a computer. Pass out when coffee can no longer sustain me. Wait. You don’t want to hear that kind of stuff, do you? That makes me sound absolutely unsociable." Which would have been the correct term to use when it came to him.

"Correct, but I'm guessing that's all true when it comes to you. What sort of sex scenes do you write?" She raised an eyebrow at him, taking a dainty bite from another bread stick before turning to watch the band, closing her eyes as the violinist moved around the room, practically floating away on the music.

"It all depends on which sort of sex scene I need. Hard and dirty, smut, using words like slippery, shaft, piston, and throb. And then I have sweet, romantic love scenes where it’s all about delicate heat, sighs, and clinging.

So I get paid to be a pervert. What better job is there for a man, right? Besides porn, which I exclude out of principle that I’m far too good, and not enough money would ever be enough to just give myself to someone." He pulled back, having been leaning against the table as far as he could into her while sitting so that the waiter could set down the Confit de Canard that they were having for dinner.

She turned back to him, blinking at the food, wondering what it was. "Both sound equally good, and you wouldn't be a good porn star. Too good looking." She smiled at him, sipping her drink as she studied the food again.

Eiri was actually trying not to stare at her breasts, or watch the way she licked the breadstick, or the flesh exposed each time she moved her legs. She could be a sexual object any day and night of the week, but for right now, she was a date. A woman. Someone to charm and talk to, to develop a personal interest in that went beyond sex. If he stopped at sex, she would be sold short.

Stupid dates.

He smiled and began to point at what was on the platter. "It’s duck. Preserved duck. Crushed Juniper berries, mandarin, garlic." Eiri leaned into her again. "Nobody else knows this, but I’ll tell you. Everything tastes better with Garlic. Well, not everything. The last thing I want is garlic flavored milk."

"It does, does it? She raised an eyebrow and gently ran a finger over the garlic before raising it to her lips, sucking it clean, eyes closing as the herb bit at her tounge, moaning softly. She opened her eyes to look at him, still sucking on the finger.

He downed the rest of his gin and tonic in one gulp, letting it burn down to his stomach, settling warmly. The sweet taste of lemon keeping him from cringing. She was being a tease on purpose. Here he was making an effort, and she was teasing him. "Now, now, honey, don't stop there. There are lots of things here for you to suck on and enjoy. So many delicious flavors."

"Be a gentleman and feed them to me? I find nothing more romantic." She smiled sweetly, looking completly innocent and pure. Something she was far from.

Why not? Sounded like it could be a lot of fun. In a quick motion, he slid his hair over so that they sat as side by side as they could at a round table. He draped an arm around the back of her chair, letting that propel him in a position leaning towards her, gripping her shoulder lightly.

He was tempted to just shove entire garlic clove in her mouth to see how she'd react... but that sort of fun could be saved for another night. He didn't really want to see that.

Picking up the shiny, silver fork, he collecting a small bit of the duck, making sure that it had some of the brushed berry and mandarin on it. This, he brought to her lips, offering it to her. Filling the space between, he moved to speak into her ear. "You can tell me if you like how it tastes."

She shuddered at his voice in her ear and opened her mouth for the food, her tounge moving out slightly to taste the duck, a small moan escaping at her first taste.

He stayed close to her, gently massaging her tiny shoulder with his cupped hand. Returning the fork to the plate, he brought her back a slightly larger bite since she had seemed to like it. Her response was interesting, that was for certain, and he couldn't help but tease her for it. "I wonder, is it the duck you like so much, or something else?"

"What else is there?" She faked innocence as she ate the new piece slowly, eyes closing as she savored the piece, a look of bliss on her face. Food was an indulgence for her. One of the few true passions she enjoyed. She rolled the taste over her tounge, trying to stifle a second moan.

"Hmm, I don't know. I wonder what else there could be." He picked up some of the side dish, a fried cheese with bacon and garlic, feeding that to her next.

She moaned aloud this time, her eyes closing yet again, savoring every bit of it, her expression one of pure bliss. One Eiri had only seen twice before.

"I never knew you to be such a sensualist, Rage. Physically, yes, but never in this manner." He had yet to take a bite himself, but his hunger had faded away. It was far better to watch her eat the food than eat it himself.

"Food's a guilty pleasure for me. I took cooking classes with two of the best chef's in New York when I was sixteen and seventeen. I can't help it. There's just something so sensual...so...pleasurable about the taste...texture...feel of food."

"You’re the same way about taste as I am with smell, only I don’t know my reasons." Yuki filled up the wine glass for her, not letting it reach the middle of the glass, another one of his subtle efforts to make her comfortable. A man who gave a woman too much wine was seen as wanting to get her drunk, and of course, wanting only one thing. Social customs were certainly strange. "Here, drink this. It goes a lot better with the duck than liquor."

She smiled and kissed his cheek gently before sipping her wine. She shifted slightly in her seat, leaning against him, his arm wrapped more around her as she allowed him to feed her another bite, humming happily. Her curls brushed over his cheek, the smell of chocolate and vanilla floating from them, the scent of roses stirring from her skin as she moved her arm past him to reach her napkin.

"Let me get that for you." His hand immediately went out to grab the napkin, sliding his hold from her shoulder down to her waist, having slid his chair over just enough that they sat pressed together. Picking up the clean, white napkin, he placed it in her hand for her, shaking it out a bit so that it would be soft against her lips. She's never smelt the way she smelled then, and he buried his nose in her neck, knowing he might be tickling her with the way he began to breath to explore every scent.

She closed her eyes, the napkin falling from her hand as his breath brushed over her neck and shoulders. "Eiri..." She swallowed, raising her hand to touch his hair gently.

He liked being touched that way. Everyone needed a sweet touch every now and then, not just a hot, heated grope of passion. "You smell like… romance?" If there was a smell, that was it. Flowers, candy, and vanilla. Warm, delicious smells that invoked romance. He picked his head up, trailing his nose up her chin, moving towards her lips very slowly.

"It's a night to be something different...some one different. To be beautiful...instead of me." She turned her head towards him, tilting her head slightly, wanting to kiss him, but unable to move more then that, afraid he would turn away, laugh, do something to break the moment.

"What ever made you think that you’re not beautiful? If you don’t think you can be beautiful, though much to my negation, we can be ugly together. Don’t be someone different. I like who you are. This is still you." The turn of her head was just right. Just another slip of an inch and a tilt of his head, and he was tasting wine and garlic on her lips, slightly wet from the drink still. He kept the kiss light, feather soft, though his tongue went to slowly slide around her mouth.

She whispered his name into his lips, kissing him back, matching the lightness, her tounge barley playing over his in a teasing touch, sharing more of the tastes from dinner and the chocolates she had indulged in before.

The sound of his name, especially whispered, pleased him greatly. It confirmed this moment, his reality in it, and hers. Together. He sucked on her tongue, hoping to go past the delicious tastes left to linger from her few sample bites, to the raw taste of her mouth.

Of course he knew what she tasted like... in more places but one, but this was different. And in being different, it gave everything an all-new life. A better appreciation.

His other hand came to rest against her neck, lightly feathering the soft bottom flesh of her ear. He wasn't sure how long he kissed her. It could have been seconds or hours, but eventually he pulled away and looked over. Bless the waiter; he had brought him another gin and tonic when he was occupied. And he really, really needed it.

She blinked slowly, as if waking from a dream, watching him as he drank the gin and tonic before reality crashed in around her and her eyes widened slightly. She lowered her gaze back to the table, biting her lip before sipping her wine, wishing it were something stronger, something that would make reality shut off for a while and just let her enjoy life.

"It’s almost like Christmas." Since Christmas in Japan was technically a lover’s holiday, that is. He felt sick to his stomach, but it wasn’t a bad kind of sick. A nervous twist, rather. Made it feel light and unable to carry more than just liquid. Jumpy. That was it. He was feeling jumpy and swimmy at the same time. He looked over at Rage sipping her wine, leaning away to get air as he studied her.

"Do you need anything?" Might as well be… nice… and ask.

"I need you to act like your normal bastard self." She whispered the words, not looking at him, instead staring at the way the light played through her wine, curls hiding her face.

That made him laugh, and he rested his chin on his hand to look at her, smirking, though not in the mocking sense. Amusement at what she had said, not her stupidity for saying it. "Do you? Well, in that case, allow me to rephrase. Do you need anything? Because if you do, get it your goddamn self. Better?" He reached over, putting a finger on her wine glass to lower it, forcing her to look at him.

She looked at him, her eyes slightly sad. "Better. I don't think I can fall in love with this Eiri as much as the other one. Excuse me." She set her napkin on the table, standing, reaching for her purse, clearly intending on leaving.

Eiri was instantly confused by her sadness, reaching out to clutch her wrist, trapping it in his hand. The look he gave her was purely confused, if not a little agitated. "You said you needed me to act like my normal bastard self." He stood up and let go of her wrist, intending to follow if she decided to leave the restaurant.

She reached out and touched his cheek gently. "I'm going to be completly honest, Eiri. And you can laugh at me, or make fun of me, or whatever...but after I finish. I didn't come back to Japan this time for Shuichi. I came back to follow another man who intrigued me more. What I feel for Shuichi is friendship and lust. He's cute...but really not my type.

Since I've been here I've been falling more and more in love with the man I came to chase. A man who’s beautiful, sensual, sexual, very wicked, devilish, mean, cruel...basically perfect...and very much taken.

You said I give you too many mixed signals? Well here it is loud and clear. I am in love with you, Yuki Eiri. I have been for a while now, weither you’re a bastard or the romantic.... it’s just a lot easier to ignore when you're pissing me off.

I can't...every time you touch me it breaks a piece of me, Eiri. I don't know how much longer I can keep letting it happen before I'm no longer anything. There's no glue that can put me back together after you leave to go back to him.

Judy knew this. That's why she set this up. To give me what I wanted. A date with you. She just didn't realize that it would hurt so much."

"Who says that you need glue? Why can’t we just stay in pieces? We’ll just grow smaller and smaller until we finally disappear completely. Love is a cheap emotion, Rage, you should know that. What does love give us but suffering? You see? How you feel? How I feel?" He wasn’t sure why he was getting angry, but his voice was rising, and the patrons were beginning to look up from their quiet meals at them. With a deep breath, be managed to lower the tone of his voice and fake a semblance of calm.

"I’ve been told that I was loved before; Rage, but it meant nothing. Don’t you know that you can’t love me? I’m fucking unlovable." He wanted so badly to feel loved. Not just wanted and desired, but loved. That was what pissed him off, the need growing inside of him that was so simplistic, foolish, and naïve. Against his better judgment and the persona he had shaped for the past six years. "I don’t know if I can believe anyone anymore."

But he wanted to more than anything.

"Why do you have to believe anyone, Eiri? Just let them love you." She kissed him, softly, tenderly, using the kiss to try to give him some of the emotion he was craving before turning for the door again.

"Because don't you want to believe that love is something deeper than just words? Don't you want to feel safe in love?" Was she even listening? She was walking away? He wasn't even sure what he had done to make her want to leave. He felt weak and sick, trying to process her kiss and that she was walking out of the door. Quickly, he pulled his jacket from the chair, pulling it on as he followed a foot behind her. Jogging a bit, he came up along the side of her, hands in his coat pockets, eyes on the ground. "I don't think I can stand to be alone."

"Love isn't safe, Eiri. It isn't a nice and happy emotion where everything turns out well and there's a happy ending at the end.

It's pain. It's risk and struggle and fighting to keep what you have. Love is taking that chance and knowing that in the end there could be heartache, but it was made all the better for having that small moment of time with your lover." She finally stopped, searching for a cigarette, cursing when she couldn't find one before looking up at him. She walked over and searched his pockets, stealing his pack and lighter.

"Love is trust. Honesty even when you don't want to hear it. Love knows that there's someone else to share the pain with, as well as the joy.

Love knows that no matter how the end turns out...it was worth the ride. Don't be alone if you can't stand it. But don't throw yourself away either."

"I suppose I am going to have to redefine my idea of what love is. Maybe I got stuck in my stupid teenage-boy-in-love way of looking at it, and I’ve never been able to shake it. I just always thought that when you really, really loved someone, you would always be with them. No matter what. You can fight, abuse each other, but still come back because there’s no other place that you can find happiness.

Poor little Eiri had his frigid heart broken. But…" he trailed off, shrugging lightly. "It was nice while it lasted.

"Maybe that's still true, Eiri. Only time will tell. But just because Shuichi ran off with Slutazawa doesn't mean you can't find someone else to be happy with, at least until he returns to his senses." She lit up her cigarette, blowing the smoke away from him as she returned his cigarettes and lighter to his pocket.

"Even if he comes to his senses and realizes he needs to be with me, the question really is really… do I want to be with him? After what he did, who would want to forgive that and chance it happening again? He ran off with someone else. All the things he said… realizing what a failure I’ve been throughout the entire relationship. I bet he’s settling into the domestic lifestyle nicely now… not even thinking about me. Not the slightest bit unhappy. Not even caring how I feel inside." It was all-mechanical, every word chosen from a stored bank, spoken with air that forced itself involuntarily out of his lungs. Maybe it was all just a dream.

"When I think about it- just thinking about it! It hurts. Every time I look at him, I’ll think about what he did and said. And I’ll always worry that he’ll find someone else… again. And, I bet he doesn’t even miss me. I miss him so badly; I don’t know how I’m still breathing. But, he’s… not the slightest bit upset." He stuffed his hand down into the pocket, securing the cigarette and lighter. Shaking his head, he brought himself out of the stupor he had spoken himself into, his voice trailing into vacancy. Always empty, just sleepy. On second thought, he took out a cigarette out and lit it himself.

"Come on, Rage." He hooked his arm around her waist, pulling her along with his quick steps down the thinning sidewalk, nighttime turning into the evening hours. Couples sat down dinner, families for talk. But they would come to life again as the night crowd spilled out, breathing new life into the streets of Tokyo. Why not be in the midst of it. "Self destruction at it’s finest."

She leaned against him with a sigh. She wouldn't be able to heal him...not tonight at least, but at least she could be there for him. She shifted her cigarette to her other hand and used her now free one to entwine their fingers around his waste, laying her head against his arm as they walked.

"Then again, we could always be boring and go to my apartment, drink tea, and stare at a television while trying to force conversation." He did make an effort to smile when he said that so that she would know that no conversation would be forced on his part. It was always easy for him to speak freely with her.

"Up to you, Eiri. Considering you're situation I think it's best if we do what you want to do to cheer you up. So...whatever." She smiled up at him, standing on tiptoe to kiss his cheek before flicking her cigarette to the side, ignoring the glare from the girl she had almost flicked it into.

"Fuck it, let’s go destroy ourselves," she said, her laughter echoing behind them.

Fin