Shelter from the rain/Karaoke [ENDED]

"So... She's a fighter? Wow!! God, I'm really jealous of you, being able to sense other fighters. I wish there was some weird sense for sacrifice's, but all we do is take damage, not anything cool like manipulate words..." she babbled, eyes now locked on the young woman sitting alone. Her mind kicked into overtime and she spoke a few thoughts aloud to her other half. "I'm not positive, but I don't think she wants to fight. What do you think? She looks drunk, and I really don't think it's an act. If it is, she's an AMAZING actress... Did Ritsu send her here? We haven't trained or anything yet, so maybe she's here to take us to Seven Moons? Hm... She hasn't spoken to anyone other than us here, and she looks kind of anxious, maybe worried, so her sacrifice probably isn't around. She'll be fighting on autopilot if we do end up in battle." Juuri looked back to Ai. "I can't size her up, does her ring seem powerful?" she inquired, secretly studying Ai. There was no doubt in Juuri's mind that her fighter would win any battle, of course. There was no way for Juuri to think badly of Ai. 'She may not look big, but I'm pretty sure there's a LOT of power in there. She could probably floor this May... I wonder what her true name is?'

Ai continued observing the blonde while listening. She nodded a little bit as Juuri spoke. "I agree that she doesn't seem like she wants to fight. However she is strong, well to me she seems to be. And why would Ritsu send her after us? I mean after all we've never had a spell battle before."

May sighed as she ran a hand through her hair. She was slowly drying off. May looked around. She studied the pair from before. Ai seemed powerful. She guessed Juuri was the Sacrifice. She couldn't fight. Not in this state. Her Sacrifice was furious with her so she probably on her own. May looked at the ground. Why did she always have mess things up? She sighed once more as she wiped her eyes that had gathered tears. She hated being weak. Despised it.

It seemed as though May caught the girls studying her, so Juuri turned around once more, blushing because she had been busted. "I know why Ritsu would want us. We haven't been in a battle yet, that's true. But we also haven't been to a training session. We really need to, because that's where we'll learn how to call each other and truly use the unit thread." Thoughts of a mysterious woman's previous explanations ran through the girl's mind, and she shivered as the hairs on the back of her neck stood. She looked at her fighter. 'God Ai, please don't ever leave me like that...' Juuri begged silently.

"Ugh. Training. They'll separate us and we'll have to find each other, but of course there'll be obstacles between the beginning and ending points." The sacrifice didn't want to think about that at the present time, so she pushed a strand of silver hair over her shoulder and turned back to where May was sitting, looking quite put off. "Come on, we shouldn't keep her waiting. She looks like she's about to fall out, and I want to sing! Listen, he finally stopped!"

Ai nodded wordlessly as she glanced to the stage. What Juuri said was true the man was gone and they were now looking around for someone else to sing. "Um I really, really hope that girl doesn't think we're going to attack her. That would be very bad. And you can sing?! That's really cool."

"Well, you go talk to her. You're pretty subtle when you want to be. Make sure she knows we're not going to try to attack or anything. I mean, fighters have some weird sensing power, maybe you guys can communicate better too." The girl joked, eyes locked on the stage. "Meanwhile, I'm off to sing, finally! Oh and yeah, people say I can sing. Watch me and make your own opinion, ok?" She winked as she ran off in the direction of the man holding the microphone. When she got to the table, Juuri began flipping through karaoke books. 'Come on... Come on... Evanescence, I know you're in here somewhere... Where's all the English?!' She thought, becoming quickly frustrated. But instead of Evanescence, her eyes found something even better. 'Faith Hill. Amazing woman, even if she is a country singer. Which song is it?' She pondered contently. 'This Kiss.' 'Ooh... How cliche. I love it. Let's do this one!' She decided, picking up the cd and reading which number it was to the dj.

May sighed in relief as the horrible singing was gone. She looked up to see Juuri with the mike. May stood up and walked to a couch that looked comfy. She laid her head back and closed her eyes. May wondered if work would go any easier tomorrow. She was worried about it. She didn't want to miss any more work. May opened her eyes to hear an english song play. Intresting.. May thought.

Ai skipped over to May happily while Juuri was on stage. She couldn't wait for her partner to start to sing, she only wished she could. She was too shy to ever know how she sounded. Smiling and sitting beside May she glanced around. Juuri said she should be subtle, but she didn't know how subtle she could be with this. Just deciding to go with whatever came to mind she thought for a moment.

'No, that won't work. Neither will that. Maybe mentioning Ritsu, nah, that couldn't work, could it. Or maybe I should just be straightforward and ask if she is a fighter. No she might freak out then. But maybe that could work!' Snapping quickly from her thoughts she observed the girl from the corner of her eye before she addressed her.

"Um, is it alright if I tell you something? It is going to sound totally crazy but still..."

Although she didn't seem it on the outside, Juuri was a bit nervous as she took the stage and the music started. The twang of guitar began, catching onlookers attention and quieting them down. All eyes were on the silver haired girl, and she noticed some questioning faces. She could feel the thoughts of the crowd all in unison, thanking God the man previous to her finally retired the stage, and hoping she wasn't as horrid as he had been. 'I wonder how many of them know this song. Heck, I wonder how many of them even know English...' She pondered as the intro came to a close, her cue approaching quickly.

Before she really had time to think about it, the sweet words of Faith Hill came spilling out of the sacrifice's mouth. Juuri was naturally a soprano, and her voice was loud enough to be heard, but still soft. It sounded pleasant in the mic, at least, to her. She hoped it sounded as good to everyone else.

"I don't want another heart break, I don't need another turn to cry... No. I don't want to learn the hard way, baby hello. Oh no, goodbye. But you've got me like a rocket, shooting straight across the sky~."

As she continued into the chorus, Juuri smiled at the people watching her, carefully sizing them up to see what they thought. Most seemed fairly impressed, a few had turned away, not being interested in an English song. Her purple eyes found Ai and May, sitting together on a couch in a lounging area. They seemed to be watching her, but Juuri thought they may have been talking also. 'Who knows. I don't think May wants to fight, and her sacrifice isn't here. Well, most likely isn't here. She seems sad, maybe they fought? Hm...' She turned her attention back to the music, continuing her upbeat song about love.

"Cinderella said to Snow White, how this love gets so off course~, oh."

May chuckled at the choice of song. Faith Hill... She thought amused. May hummed with the song. She turned to Ai and smiled. "Yes. I am." she replied already know what Ai was asking. May looked up and smiled. She could sing next. Her voice wasn't actually half-bad. She chuckled once more as she went back to watch the currently singing girl. After a few minutes of thought May stood up. "I am terribly sorry but I must go now. Goodbye." Msay said as she walked out the door following her thread that connected her to Kyo.

[May has left "Shelter from rain/Karaoke" and gone to "Cafe~Cafe"]

Ai watched the girl leave in a stunned silence. Shaking herself away she turned her attention back to Juuri. She really was quite a good singer. It kind of inspired her, she herself would've loved to sing but she didn't think she could do it. If she really sounded as horrible as she thought then she would be booed right off stage. No for right now she was content as an observer.

Juuri watched May abruptly stand and leave. Hoping Ai hadn't scared her off, Juuri impatiently finished her song and hopped offstage as people clapped. 'About time they heard something that didn't sound like it was dying! She thought proudly, walking briskly to her fighter. "Why'd she leave?" She asked curtly. "Ah, sorry. I'm not trying to be rude. Did you want to sing? We can always talk later about it. I mean, she's gone now."

A man's voice sounded through the intercom, informing the people in the karaoke bar that it was 11:30, and they would be closing in half an hour.

"Oh my God, Ai. When were you supposed to be home?!"

Ai paled slightly and began to shake. "Oh, no! I was supposed to be home an hour and thirty minutes ago!" Ai quickly pulled out her phone and hit the two button; it was speed dial for her house. It rang once. She swallowed the lump that had formed in her throat. All she heard was silence. Clearing her throat she managed to sqeak out a 'hello'. After about two seconds she had to hold the phone away from her ear as her grandmother screamed at her.

"YOU'RE AN HOUR AND THRITY MINUTES LATE!!! WHERE IN THE HELL ARE YOU!!!? "

Ai tried to pacify her with the knowledge that she'd be home in a few minutes, but it didn't satisfy the girl's grandma.

"YOU'RE IN TROUBLE!!! COME STRAIGHT HOME, NO DETOURS!!!! "

Ai sighed and hung up the phone and looked at her partner. "Sorry you had to hear that. It's been fun but I think I should be getting home before my grandparents are even angrier."

"Oh man, I'm SO sorry. And I don't even have my car to bring you home." Juuri apologized. She was at fault for Ai being late, after all. "How long do you think you'll be grounded? Or... Do you even GET grounded?" She asked curiously, although there was an air of hastiness surrounding the pair. They began making their way to the door.

Ai shook her head quickly. "No I've never been grounded but this may be the first time. And please don't blame yourself for me being late. I was the one who totally forgot about the time. And besides I may be able to get them to shorten my punishment." Ai's was very anxious it wasn't like her grandparents to be all that forgiving, even if it was only a first time offense.

"Okay." The girl stated dejectedly, hand coming up to open the door. She glanced around the open room and noticed quite an amount of other patrons scooting their chairs back or paying their bills. 'At least we'll beat the rush.' She thought, meanwhile hoping her fighter wasn't going to be in too much trouble. "Call me if you get a chance and let me know how bad it is? okay?" She asked as they exited the building. The rain had stopped, and now the weather was chilly, but pleasant all the same.

[Juuri has left "Shelter from rain/Karaoke" and going to "Gift hunting at Gamestop"]

Ai stared after her patner's dejected form then turned to walk home.

[Ai has left CITY CENTRE and is going HOME.]