Description: The day after Katana's truck slammed into the Suiryuu, the ship's chief of security washes the cares away with a relaxing dip in the pool. However, she's reminded that the world goes on differently for people other than her, thanks to a visit from the SNF Junior League star...
Wow, what a weekend! Sakura never would've suspected an entire =truck= would attempt to plow its way into the Suiryuu, but she's also seen a lot of other incredible things in her time here.
After the stress of the incident last night, though, Kasugano took a nice =long= sleep. It's just a little past 2pm the following afternoon, and Kasugano's prolonging the break from her duties, taking a leisurely swim in the Suiryuu's swimming pool. It's not quite as large as the pond she's used to, but it can't be as brackish. Chlorine is a welcome change, to say the least.
After a few laps, the bikini-clad Taiyo grad rests her arm against the lip of the pool, snagging the virgin daiquiry that she'd set there earlier and sipping away. This... makes it all worth it, she thinks to herself, sighing contentedly.
After all the problems he's had-- and the problems with the Pacific students on board-- the likes of Kenji Ashima needs a break. Dressed to relax for once in his life in a t-shirt and long shorts, the black-haired Gedo student strides out onto the deck and toward the chairs and benches near the pool, seating himself carefully-- as his left arm is wound down to the fingers in bandage, arm itself laid into a sling. Getting onto the ship was tough, fighting Marisol stressed it out a bit... and for a moment, without having to deal with his roommate on the ship... peace.
Driving his thumb into the pages of the manga held in his hand and resting a capped bottle of water on his chest, the student council secretary looks the farthest thing than what should be seen on this boat-- a contender!
But as the young man's about to get back to his reading, his eyebrow quirks. There's something afoot here.
Somehow, all this time, he's failed to notice a girl. In the pool. "... Why, good afternoon," he says, jaw rolling into a bit of a grin.
Kasugano really should have noticed =him= earlier. Maybe she DID and just played it off like she didn't. Unlikely, but possible! It's pretty clear she notices him once he opens his mouth, though, glancing up with the half-grin of someone pleasantly distracted from a busy schedule of nothing, nothing, and more nothing.
... Kasugano realizes she hasn't quite met this young man, yet she's heard a lot about him. Junior League champion, or some such, right? Taking another good, long sip of her drink, she hauls herself out of the pool, sitting on the concrete lip and waving back to the young man. Her heels splish-splash across the surface of the pool as hse looks over at him -- the notion of 'pool' being too good to totally ignore, after all. "You're... uh... Kenji... Ashima, right?" Smiling broadly, she chirps afterwards, "Sakura Kasugano. Chief of security. Pleased t'meetcha."
Sakura Kasugano, also known as The Voice That Shouted Over The PA System Roughly Twelve Hours Ago Right Before All Heck Broke Loose. You should see how small the print is on her business cards.
Chief of ... -what-?
In the back of his mind, Kenji has his doubts. Claiming to be the security officer on the ship when ... she looks around his age, maybe a little older? But the most upstanding member of the Guardian Kings isn't going to let that show, not while he's got to speak with a girl! "Ah, so my reputation preceeds me!" he says, briefly setting the manga at rest on his forehead. "I bet it's for fighting, though. Or I get remembered as the kid that wears his school uniform."
Rising from his seat and dropping the manga on the chair, he walks over, sling and all, and plunks a hand on his hip. "Hoh? No... I do know you, don't I? Weren't you in K.O.F. once before, too?"
Setting out his good hand to catch himself, the student council secretary helps himself to a seat at the edge of the pool. "And what brings you out here?"
Kasugano gets a rush from saying that. For some reason, people just can't seem to fathom the idea of a high school graduate running security for a ship this large, and this chaotic! Their loss, really. Brushing her chlorinated hair out of her eyes, she nods back in reply. "Well... =yeah=... we're on a boat dedicated to fighting, 'for the people' and all..." She can't help but snicker, really, looking up at the young man. She should get up and shake his hand, but that might make the chivalrous one feel at unease. And really... she likes things to be nice and relaxed! ... besides, he sits down. How nice of him!
"Yep, that's me! I was on the team that won K.O.F. in 2005..." Granted, she hasn't won anything substantial =since=, but let's not bog this conversation down with the whole truth!
"Mmm... just relaxing. Did the truck wake you up last night? I would blasted it out of the sky if I wasn't so =sleepy= at the time..." And she was sleepy -- having stayed up for nearly 24 hours straight.
She gives her drink another sip, pausing to idly brush some errant water droplets off her hand.
"Oh yeah. I hear a rumble, a crash, and then the next thing I know the jerk I'm rooming with is screaming at the top of his lungs and won't quiet down. If I hadn't brought a pair of headphones with me, I don't know if I would've managed to get -back- to sleep last night." He might be embellishing a little bit, but hey, it's well within his rights!
"Oh! Wow, so that really is you. I should've gotten an autograph or something, my little sister would've killed me." Itching at his neck where the cloth of his sling's been rubbing across his skin all day and night, the Gedo student grins a little. "Although all of this 'fighting for the people' business seems like it's a little silly and overblown. I mean, this is just a tournament, right? And there's cameras and junk taping the fights, right? So it's either televised or they're gonna sell DVDs of this."
Girl. Wet. Swimsuit. Pool. This is going so well for him so far-- she's made no indication she wants to break his face off yet. Could it be...?!
A chance?!
... Sakura wonders if she was the one who got Luc fired up. Eh, he probably doesn't need much, from what she knows of the young man.
"... Heh... sorry about that. I really ought to be watching the surveillance more, I guess, but it just gets so =boring= stuffed in that little room with the weird little TV monitors everywhere..." The security room, like =many= of the small rooms on this ship, has a tendency to be not only stuffy... but a bit creepy, too. Going out upon the boat itself, now that's fun!
"Heh... I got some photos back in the room! Wouldn't want you to go home empty-handed or nothin'... Besides, seems like we'll be here a while longer." Kasugano casts a glance over her shoulder, back to the harbor. It looks like they'll be moored here for a while, really, until the cranes can make some headway.
"... Well. It's not, totally," she speaks in a bit lower tone, glancing back to Kenji with a faintly impish grin. "Not sure =what= yet, but Sei and Riko don't do =anything= with only one intention in mind. They usually got two, three, four different reasons for doin' any given thing, but you'll go crazy tryin' t'figure out whatever they got in mind. Best you can do is make sure you're on their good sides!" Which is... kind of why Sakura's working with them. Puts herself in good graces. "But yeah. Some of your matches have already =been= televised. And the DVDs? I'm sure someone will, sooner or later. Good luck finding the cameras, though..."
Kasugano's bare shoulders shrug as her feet kick about in the pool water, her gaze directed to the shimmering surface. What Kenji sees as a chance, the tomboy sees as nothing more than a simple conversation! "Heh... so what do you think the grand prize of all this is, then... if it's 'just a tournament?'" Brown eyes peer back at him as she tilts her head askance, looking back at Kenji over her shoulder. "Money?" asks her playful grin.
Kenji laughs. "I'll have to bother you for something, then. She's pretty much the only sparring partner I've got, considering I usually end up having to keep myself from getting my head punched off once I head off to school, so it's kinna my fault she got into likin' fighting and stuff."
Sei and Riko... that guy, Seishirou? Not that he remembers the opening ceremonies that well, he was a little busy trying to have a conversation with another one of the people on the ship during that. Still, the young man can only grin. "What? No. I'm invincible, good side or not," he says with a good natured laugh, patting his arm. "Well, either way..."
Tapping his thumb against his chin, the student secretary looks deep in his thoughts. "Y'know, I never bothered thinking too hard about what the prize is. I figured money, but I'd done enough of those Saturday Night things that I've probably got enough cash to pay off my first year of college when the time comes. I decided to go ahead with the invitation because I knew my friends were going to be here, too. You probably saw them-- Tenma Kiryuu and Hakuya Suigetsu. Anyway, I knew I'd never be able to live it down if I didn't come too..."
His brows lift, beaming a little nervously. "That, and the invitation was buried in the door on one of those kunai things. My dad would've killed me if I didn't follow through with this!"
"Only sparring..." Pause. "She's a fighter?" Kasugano thinks on the words that just came out of her mouth, and realizes aloud, "Man, what a ridiculous question to ask, huh? Sorry!" It's just that if Sakura were to 'spar' with her brother she'd likely put him into the hospital -- she'd forgotten that not everyone has that problem! "That's great she wants to rumble here and there though, sounds like a pretty sweet sister!"
Kasugano eyes the arm in the sling, as if she's only now noticing it for the first time. ... Well, she might just =be= noticing it for the first time, really, judging from her widened eyes! But it's something she gets control of after a chuckle. "Oh, good! We need more invincible people in this world!" Grinning broadly, she pulls her feet out of the water, sitting indian style -- and only then would the bruises on her shins become visible. Sure, she heals a bit quickly... but it's not been =that= long since her fight.
"Ah... and yeah. Talked with Hakuya not too long ago actually. Seems like a nice guy... though he's kinda nervous Seishirou would be lurking in the shadows or something." She pauses for a moment and raises an eyebrow, looking back at Kenji. "Hey, uh... Seishirou and Riko didn't... uh... kidnap you a few months ago, did they?" Based on Hakuya's and Arika's testimony, it seems like a valid question!
If only Sakura had the chance to see what lies under the thick layers of gauze and padding-- numerous band-aids and a little bit of tape line the majority of his left arm, as well as the twisted and discolored flesh from hanging in the side of the boat's chains for so long. But he's soldiered through it! He climbed up the rest of the ship with one arm, he's gotten into one fight on board already-- and he's still here!
His tone lowering, Kenji looks a little more serious. "No, they didn't. But they're lucky I wasn't around when they managed to pull all that off, or else I would've given the two of them the hurting of a lifetime." His gaze lowers as her legs come out of the water-- natural reaction!-- but he notes the bruising with the slight squinting of his eyes. Well, she -is- a world-caliber fighter...
"Wait," he says, only realizing things now. "The guy that's running this is the guy that kidnapped my friends? What the hell kind of reason does he have for doing something like that? Is he out of his mind?!"
Kasugano scratches her cheek mildly, taking another sip of her daiquiri as Kenji speaks. It's a nice day to just... relax for a little while, really! So she's enjoying every moment of this non-work, that's for sure. Setting the drink down, she chuckles a bit -- yeah! Beat Sei and Riko up, that'd be awesome! She was about to say something to that effect before Kenji spoke up.
"Mmm? Oh, were there any other than Hakuya?" She's ... admittedly a bit curious now. But she continues, regardless, "Well... really? You wouldn't be here if they weren't at least remotely interested in you as a fighter, I can tell you that much. And if they kidnapped your friends... well, they're fighters too, right? I'm sure Sei and Riko just wanna know what you're capable of when you're put to the test."
She smirks faintly, leaning forward so she can waft her hands through the water. The girl's drying up rather quickly, after all! Smiling at the soothing sensation, she looks back to Kenji. "They have a weird way of showin' their appreciation, but I think they mean well enough. One of those, heh, 'Shut up! It builds character!' moments or somethin', right?"
There were-- but Kenji's somewhat on his guard now, left to listen to the story and tell his own in the presence of someone who works for the very man that took it upon himself to snatch his teammates away to god-knows where. Scratching his cheek, the Gedo boy looks a little more in the 'solemn' catergory. "Still... kidnapping people isn't right."
Without realizing it, the 'chance' became a more serious conversation involving the nights when the power of the Guardian Kings was reduced by two-thirds. Kenji's hand sets down on his knee, chin shifting hard to the side and looking determined. "I'm not as strong as the two of them, but all three of us are fighters. Yeah," he says, nodding. "I just can't agree with those methods. Nobody at school would try that kind of thing, not even those jerks from Pacific. Comin' here has been enough of a test," he remarks, hand turning to drive his knuckles in against his knee. "Damn."
Kidnapping people =isn't= right, no. Kasugano narrows her eyes somewhat, at that. "Yeah, an' don't think I =agree= with it, either! Just sayin', there's probably reasons b'hind it. An' they didn't try to brainwash you or change you or anything." One might realize this holds a rather significant difference to Sakura, after having been subjected to all of the above within the past few months, really.
But... even still. "Eh, you're probably right..." she mumbles, curling her hand about her drink. It seems like Sakura's a lot less relaxed now than she was a few moments ago -- which is a point made obvious as she suddenly springs back to her feet. Maybe that 'chance' evaporated a bit too fast, hm?
"I'll talk with 'em in a bit. S'all I can do at the moment." Sipping at her drink, the young woman strides towards the beach chairs, where a clean white towel awaits her.
Though, she stops for a moment. Was that too abrupt? Glancing back, she favors Kenji with a brief smirk. "Man, got serious there for a moment, didn't it? Wasn't this s'posed to just be a =tournament?="
That's Sakura's roundabout way of saying she's sorry for running her mouth too much, really.
Reasons or not...! It looks like Kenji's gone and become a little more aggrivated just thinking about it, from the shift of his shoulders and the tension in his jaw. Hopefully the good-natured student council member reputation he has won't shatter by the time this tournament is over!
"Yeah, well... make sure he knows I wouldn't mind having a talk with him too."
Isn't it? Just a tournament, that is. "I dunno. It got a little serious for me the second I ended up havin' to do this whole thing with one arm. Kinna sucks when the whole way you fight centers around punchin' stuff, y'know?" Note the exacting lack of the phrase 'style'-- something that the Ashima boy is proud of, a bit. His style is having none-- coupled with that fist that hits like a sledgehammer and the way he changes up his motions, but never neglecting his defense. "... Anyway... I think I might just need to sleep it all off. I'm betting there's a ton of paperwork piling up for me when I get back to school."
Leaning back at the pool's edge, Kenji hooks his arm behind his head and sighs, staring up at the sky. "Relax... yeah."
Kasugano doesn't really say anything else that might get the guy a bit =more= ticked off. Really, she feels like crap for even taking the guy down memory lane like that. All she wanted, really, was one simple answer -- who else was kidnapped? But now she's got to go asking and dredging up memories from the other competitors too.
Maybe that's the reason she's frustrated.
"Relaxin's good, yeah." The girl's mostly dry by this point anyway, what with the warm weather and all, but her hair's still sopping wet. Toweling it off for a moment, she lets the towel drape itself about her shoulders as she gives the boy a melancholy smile. "Was nice talkin' with you, 'side from the depressing stuff." She'd be a bit more uplifting, of course, but it just seems like her positive image of Seishirou and Riko is bound to be torn down at every turn. That's one problem with trying to make everyone into a friend, isn't it?
But even with her mildly soured mood, Kasugano can't help but =try= to lighten the mood a bit: "Oh, and just so you know... y'owe me a fight when your arm's better!" Grinning, she snaps a quick salute to the boy.
Relaxing is good, yes. Relaxing... at the pool... with a girl... in the afternoon... alone...
Way to blow it, Ashima.
Kenji's weight shifts as he sits himself back up a bit, his good arm helping to push up his weight. "Nice meeting you, too. It'll be quite the story to tell my sister, heheh. If she doesn't kill me for it first."
He points first, the gesture becoming a thumbs-up. "Are you out of your mind?" he asks, grinning widely and cheerfully. "I'll take you on anytime, hurt or not!" he exclaims, calling after her. "I'm fighting on this stupid boat with one arm, anyway!"
Well, at least it didn't go as horrible as it -could've-.
Log created on 20:33:14 09/21/2007 by Sakura, and last modified on 02:06:01 09/22/2007.