Akemi was pissed.

She was absolutely certain they were supposed to met two hours ago. She had come fully prepared and excited by this dumb yet romantic idea, even performing a few dance steps along the way.

And now here she was, muffled in her coat as the night got darker and colder, only illuminated by the weird colors of the plants around her she could see through the special glasses, having to stretch and jog to keep herself fully awake and functional.

Akemi got a text.

And whether she did or not, suddenly there was soft music playing. A sad tune, one from an old movie about the universe keeping love away, as if that's how it should be.

Of course the universe didn't know shit as far as Shokomaru was concerned, he was late and trying not to die, but there were always more obligations at a miai, weren't there?

He came out of the dark, holding a small, but high quality music player in one hand, and in the other a bottle of expensive sake, and when it's said expensive that's meant to be fucking expensive, like blue crystal bottle of Friendly Traveler expensive.

"Good evening, madam", he said and put the music player down on a bench, then the sake and cups. And he faced her, bowed with a foot behind him and a hand to his chest, extending the other.

"May I have this dance?"

Akemi took her hand:

"After making me wait for so long? You better rock it."

And she pulled forward, pushing him into a closed embrace dance, merciless right from the start. Only the relatively slow pace of the music prevented her from doing worst.

The experience had little in common with a club dance. The air was cold and pure, the floor uneven and soft, the lenses-filtered colors out of this world, the audience missing. Tonight they were dancing for themselves, on their terms, in their own little universe.

He held her hand while leading, moving them around slowly to the music. It felt nice, but he knew she was right. He was very late.

"Your hands are cold", he observed, warming them with his own. "I've let you down, seems I do that to a lot of people."

Akemi looked at him, suddenly worried, squeezing her hands hard into his own:

"Did yet another bad thing happen on your way here?"

"No, no", he chuckled and pulled her in to rest he chin on his shoulder. "I mean being late. Nothing really happened."

Though he did already smell like sake. He danced them back and forth a few times, guiding her hips with his hand to get her to step around and shimmy a little.

"Worried about tomorrow?"

Akemi twitched slightly at the alcoholic odor:

"Social obligation?

Could use a drink myself indeed. The bottle is a good idea. But not before a few dances first."

She tried to calm down, to actually support his dancing with her own instead of being a brute.

"You'll have to be more precise about your question, I just have too many things on my mind to answer it as is."

"Are you ready to fight?" he said after a few more steps, then he gently twirled her in a spin, their hands held above he head and drew her back in. "I guess that's what I mean."

"And yes, social things. I've made a mess of the evening, can you forgive me that?"

The dance went on, step after step, calm, relaxing, reassuring:

"Depends if that's the kind of political mess that will put you in danger for good reason at all. I'm already doing enough of that for us too.

And ready? As much as I could be. Which might or might not be enough but there is nothing I can do to change that anymore.

But for what? Not so sure. There's a tsukai on the loose. An Eriko who has once again put herself in danger. And in both cases the Lion is taking charge with a subtlety and a sense of cooperation that make the Crab look tame in comparison. They really did take badly the death of one of their owns.

Oh, and there is that magical portal thing to a bad realm too."

She rolled her eyes.

"We're just missing some kind of alien invasion and that will be the perfect miai."

The slower song came to an end gradually, hitting some morose notes as it did. Shokomaru listened to Akemi's worries and nodded.

"Sounds tough, what do you plan to do? I was thinking that forming a response force to fly in on an ornithopter to aid the ground push at the temple would be best, actually. Arriving just as the assault group reaches the perimeter, they could distract the defenders allowing them to close on the objective and provide reinforcements, but likely a Lion has already thought of that."

He realized he was talking business too, and shrugged, hugging her.

"An alien invasion might be a nice distraction too", he joked.

There was an awkward silence before the next song started:

"The plan sounds good commander but you will have to take it to someone of your rank. Now that everyone and their friends are involved I have returned to be yet another soldier with no deciding power whatsoever.

Speaking of which: what are the commander's plans for tonight?"

"isn't that obvious?" he said and squeezed her fleshcraft hand, then brought it up and kissed it on the knuckle. "And if you won't choose, i'd like to draft you for the operation just the same. This isn't a Spider or Crab matter specifically, anyway."

The next song started playing, an ambiguous melody about impossible places.

"Clan distinctions have been muddled for some times anyway. Part of it is natural, as half the people here are expected to switch clans soon, but we might have been pushing it way beyond what they had in mind.

What's the famous quote already? From the Osprey, I learned dance..."

She very gently pushed him into a light dip, just his upper body bending backward a bit, nothing that impressive and dangerous, keeping in mind everything Mumei has taught her.

"I don't know if it's more hilarious that you dip me at all, or that I actually find it fun", he said and switched hands on her, returning the favor. Though he looked as if he might plunge right into her dress as soon as her back arched to bend back, he didn't. "In any case, I'd love to say you've gotten a lot better, but I'm no judge and and you could dance circles around me before anyway."

"I did. And you did too. I'm still one step ahead but that's because I have been actively working toward it."

She stepped aside from him, only holding him by one hand and threw away her coat with the other, revealing in full the dress she was wearing under it, a dark blue asymmetric dance dress (no glitter, left arm fully covered with opaque sleeve and glove, right arm now naked).

As she closed the distance again, she whispered:

"From the Crane I have learned fashion..."

He smiled, laughing. A happy laugh. "And learned well, that's quite the get up..." he stepped back and took in her look, he seemed hungry. "I don't deserve even that", he said and closed to distance to her again, putting his hands on her hips he leaned in and whispered. "Clearly you should take it off, but that can wait..." and he took lead position as the guitar solo hit, keeping her crushingly close. "I hope people talk about us here after we've left, not that the Phoenix busy bodies say nice things, but I rather enjoy our barbarism."

She smirked:

"For sure you haven't put much efforts in your own get-up so far. Pro tip I've myself rediscovered here: There is a word of possibilities once you awake to the idea there are other clothes than suits.

As for being worthy... That's not up to you to decide isn't it? If I think you are then you are."

She squeezed herself even closer, bent the knee so that their faces brushed exactly against each other... Then, at the last second she stepped aside and spun under his arm, increasing the distance once again.

"From our dear Phoenix friends I've definitely learned to not give a shit about what others think and expect of me."

"Because...appearances are bullshit", he smiled at her, their hands held, arms length away. "And there's nothing wrong with suits, they're casual and my uniform looks like something ripped off scifi show", he smirked and spun back into her, as if she had pulled him as the lead, grabbing her neck and pulling her down as he bent back, a reverse dip?

"If i could, i wouldn't be caught dead in it", he smiled. "You know...this is a really long guitar solo..." his eyes wandered toward the music player a touch.

"Your uniform is indeed the last thing I want to see you into. I am reminded we are soldiers each time I look at my left arm, that's enough as it is. Just... Surprise me maybe? There are cool robes for men too. Ask your subordinates if you're out of ideas."

She glanced at the music box:

"You can switch it if you wish. Unless you have something else in mind?"

She slipped her natural hand into his shirt, ruffled it against his bare skin, forced open a few buttons, brought him into an embrace... And then went on to unfold her arm and move away as if it has all been part of the dance.

"From the Scorpion I learned teasing. And don't pretend you don't deserve it after making me wait for so long."

"People deserve what they get, that's true", he agreed and took both her hands, looking her in the eyes. "And I don't deserve you, and you don't deserve me, but what I love about this is that it doesn't matter."

He pulled her close and kissed her gently once.

"I want you to have me and I want to have you, if a fortune gave us this inch, I'll take a mile."