The Rescheduled Musical Adventures of an Assassin

[Diana]

She huffed, letting the heavy backdoor of the club slam shut behind her. Kaera Matshida didn't seem like the sort that would go to seedy bar, let alone be the manager of a band or singer. Barely at adult height, she wore a simple little sun dress that looked like she belong in a 1950s kitchen. Around her wrist was several bright pink glow bracelets, her girly guilty pleasure about these sort of events. When she wasn't task managing, she could be caught twirling glow sticks around in the dark and giggling as if she were fourteen.

Tonight wasn't going as planned, though. Then again, things rarely ever did seeing as her star never deemed it worth his time to show up as scheduled. The part that made her the most mad was that it was his ONLY job! Show up, sing, done! Kaera handled the rest. From making sure the stage was set, the crew was there, that the nights were booked and paid.

He was two hours late. The owner of this less-than-fine establishment had already complained at her three times about the business he was losing. Stage crew walked out an hour ago, which meant everything was going to have to be done.. with that technical word she couldn't think of, because she was too mad to think!

Now she was reduced to staring at the back door with a clipboard in hand. The minute he walked through, she was going to throw it at him.

 

[Hitomi Forsyth]

Takuya Sakurai knew he was going to be in trouble once he got back. He'd gotten into a scrap before he'd managed to get to his target and it had eaten up two full hours of his limited time, so he had missed the person he had actually come to take care of, which made him angry because normally he was careful and quick, apparently not today, he was later than usual. His manager was likely to murder him, although he knew she wouldn't actually attempt to kill him but still, he knew she'd flip when he came back because blood was splattered on his nice white button down shirt, some had even gotten in his super bleached hair. With a sigh he decided he would just have to deal with her, though she was so short compared to him it was kind of funny when she got really angry at him, this thought makes Takuya chuckle a bit.

As he wanders through the streets of Tokyo he looks around at all the lights, trying to decide on if he should enjoy the light; like the light that spread through his normal life; or ignore the light and hide in the dark as his other job required, before he was a singer of anything, he was an assassin, of course his manager didn't know this, couldn't know it. With another sigh he finally arrives at the club he should have been at hours ago and walks through the back door knowing what he would face the moment he came through the door his hands were already in a position to knock something away should it be thrown at him.

 

[Diana]

Like a prophecy doomed to happen, that clipboard zipped across the room. Unfortunately Kaera had TERRIBLE aim and it slammed against the wall a good foot away from his body before it clattered to the floor.

"Are you TRYING to get me fired? Do you even LIKE singing? That stupid bar owner slapped my rear THREE TIMES all in the span of me trying to make sure we don't get thrown out of here before you even show up!" While she was shouting, she stomped across the room to snatch up her clipboard and dust it off. Up it raised as if she were going to start cracking him over the head with it, when she paused. Confusion washed over her features as it lowered and she stepped over to him.

"What is all this? What happened to you?" Her fingers brushed over a red splotch on his shirt. It looked like fresh blood, even still a little tacky to the touch. Kaera's eyes widened and for the briefest of moments she looked concerned as she poked and prodded him to turn him and see if he were gashed anywhere. Once she realized she might look like she was worried, her expression switched back quickly to her usual scowl.

"You're fine, aren't you. Another street fight, I guess? Meanwhile we have no crew to put on your show with! Takuyaaaaa, why do you do this to me?"

 

[Hitomi Forsyth]

Takuya rubs the back of his head trying not to laugh as Kaera misses him by a mile with the clipboard. Instead he scrunches up his nose, look disgusted and lets out an annoyed grunt with a roll of his eyes. "Wonderful so if he slapped your butt that many times don't you think you ought to file a harassment claim against him? Oh right, you don't work here." He gives her an ice cold smile before brushing a hand through his hair to get it out of his eyes. "Besides I'm here now, if they can't be satisfied with just my singing then I'm not that good am I, or do you think I can't do it on my own Miss Manager?" He smirks as he messes with his angry manager, probably only succeeding in making her angrier.

The singer didn't even respond to Kaera's original anger though, nor to the concern he had caught on her face, "I enjoy singing, if I didn't I wouldn't do it, I told you this before Kaera." He says it saying her name in the few times he actually calls her by name, that usually meant he was frustrated with her. He takes a deep breath and shakes his head brushing her hand away from the sticky blood, well it's more of him slapping her hand away from it. "I got into a brawl yes, I didn't start it either, they started it. It took me awhile to finally beat them." He didn't mention that they'd never bother him again because they were dead, he shoves the thought out of his mind and sighs once more.

"I've got an idea, considering it's a club...don't you think there's someone here who knows how to play guitar or drums? If we're lucky both perhaps? Ask the audience to get involved." He turns his gaze to a crack in the curtain that revealed some of the crowd who were still waiting while listening to some sort of rave music for the time being. "It's worth a try, don't you think?"

 

[Diana]

"One day you are going to end up dead in a ditch and I am going to dance on your grave!" In reality, she would probably be rather upset by it. Kaera was concerned about all that blood and the fighting business. He got in to an unusual amount of trouble.

There was no sense in arguing about it now, though. Huffing, she stalked passed him to leave the back and could be scene bustling around the club skittering from table to table to talk to the people sitting there. The idea was absolutely stupid, but she was giving it a shot. The chances of finding someone in the audience that could skillfully play guitar was slim to none.

So when she did find someone she was not only surprised, but jumped at the chance. Of course, she had to pull money out of her own pockets to pay him off. It would be okay in the long run, wouldn't it? Eventually SHE would be getting paid! Kaera handed over a wad of cash, instructed the guy to hop on stage with one of the guitars, and returned backstage.

Now she was bustling through, like a little tornado trying to get things ready, shouting orders at Takuya every time she passed him. "Take off your coat! I found you a guitar player. I have song sheets for him, so don't go doing anything weird. We have an hour, and it better be the best hour you've sang in your life!" Kaera didn't give much room to protest, she was behind him and pushing him towards the stage.

 

[Hitomi Forsyth]

"I truly doubt you'll dance on my grave." He says to her with a grin before watching her run off into the club and being made to follow orders in the once again busy; mostly with Kaera's actions; backstage. Sometimes he really struggled to keep up with his manager, she flew around like a panicked dog sometimes. This thought makes him chuckle and with a grin he decides to mess with her a little, just to see what kind of interaction he could get out of her, "You shouldn't be such a panicked pup, Miss Manager. Someone might find you cute and kidnap you." He laughs at his jab at Kaera and grins as he is shoved around behind the stage.

Once he steps onto the stage though Takuya's attitude completely changes. He stands up tall, the mic never leaving his hands completely. As the guitar player starts his voice echoes out. His voice sounds most like a tenor, which is reflected in his speech because his voice isn't particularly deep, although there are songs where he is completely capable of using a deep voice. When he actually focuses it's more than obvious that he's better than his 'lazy' attitude said. His first impression on people was always the worst, probably because he wasn't exactly 'lazy' but always busy with things. Takuya is talented and he uses the allotted hour well playing the crowd the whole time and doing his best.

Once the hour is up Takuya grins at the new guitarist and gives him a hearty pat on the back before disappearing back behind the stage to face off with his manager once more. "Well, Miss Manager, did I make up for it, at least a little?" Now he was sort of sweaty from bouncing around all over the stage, but it suited him. One of the few times he actually seemed cheerful around Kaera was when he had actually finished a gig, even though the time before the actual show was usually pretty hectic and chaotic.

 

[Diana]

Kaera spent the rest of preparations being red faced and flustered. There was nothing cute about her doing her job, and no one with sense would ever kidnap her. There wasn't time to argue with him about it, though. There was the show to put on.

She really shouldn't have spent the hour watching from backstage from behind the curtain. But his shows were her guilty pleasure. When Takuya wasn't being a huge pain in her rear and was actually on stage singing, he was a completely different person. He was enchanting and amazing to listen to. This was why she put up with his crap. He really could be a great star if she worked hard enough for him.

A good show always put her in a better mood, so when he was done and back to his usual comments, she was too pleased to take the bait. Beaming a smile and working with her clipboard. "It was great! Maybe we should do more sessions with just your voice and a guitar. But the lighting needs a little extra work."

She stepped away for a few minutes to chat with the bar manager. By her strained smiled he could tell that it wasn't a good discussion. No money exchanged hands and when she walked away she got a pat on the ass, and looked rather annoyed about it.

Still, when she returned to Takuya, that better mood hadn't faded yet. "He's going to let us do another show here, you're really lucky. I think it's raining outside now, do you have an umbrella for getting home with?"

 

[Hitomi Forsyth]

Inside Takuya was glad that his manager seemed in a better mood but his outer shell rarely ever revealed how he was really feeling so he grimaces, "Just a guitar huh? That doesn't sound as fun as listening to drums." He really did prefer drums over guitar sounds, though he wasn't sure why, it had always just been how Takuya was, even when he was really young.

When she takes off to talk to the bar manager he watches quietly, when he sees the man touch Kaera in a way that was obviously not wanted he walks forward to meet her, mostly to hide the fact he was giving an extremely frightening glare at the bar manager her seemed to get a horrified look on his face fairly quickly; after all Takuya still had blood in his white hair.

Finally he returns his attention to Kaera, "Yeah I've got an umbrella." He lied, he liked the rain and enjoyed walking in it, he also didn't want to be too near Kaera very often and he knew, being a good manager that she was, she would offer him a ride home if he hadn't said he did indeed have an umbrella. "Also...I'm not lucky, he's doing it because of you...Seriously, Kaera," uh-oh there it was again him calling her by name in a frustrated tone. "You should stand up for yourself better, the only reason guys do that to you is because you let them get away with it!"

 

[Diana]

"It's not that big of a deal and if I complain he might not let us book here again. Then we're going to have one less place for you to play, and you're not exactly high in everyone's good graces when you show up late all the time!" Kaera was a little red faced and flustered. Of course she didn't like when people got pawsy, but sometimes you just had to deal with stuff.

Speaking of which, her phone was going off. Kaera stepped to the side a bit to answer. "Hullo? Um. Yessir. Of course he made it. Uhm... well. Two hours. I under-" Oooh, that was loud. She held the phone away from her ear for a moment while the man on the other end shouted a bit. When he was done, she pressed it against her ear again. "We have rehearsals tomorrow and he won't be late. Even if I have to shackle him to my leg and drag him there personally. Yessir."

When she hung up the phone, the color from her face had drained away and her hands were a little shaky, but she hid that through keeping them busy scribbling something down on her clipboard. She had a scowl for Takuya.

"The rehearsals tomorrow are really important. If you don't show up tomorrow, my boss is not going to let us record a demo track. And if we don't get a demo, I can't redistribute it so you can get a fan following, and without a fan following we're not going to get more gigs! So you WILL show up tomorrow, won't you?"

 

[Hitomi Forsyth]

"I don't care if I don't do another gig here, I'd rather not see you...." Takuya stops himself mid-sentence and covers his mouth glaring a bit. "Never mind it's my fault I know." He lets out a sigh and says nothing more on the subject making it a point to drop it.

He cringed with her when he heard the person on the other end of the phone yell at Kaera, which made him sigh again as he mutters slightly under his breath before she gets to close to hear everything but she does catch 'wish she would' and 'go away' which had been said together rather quickly, because that was Takuya's odd habit. He talked to himself, fast and sometimes answered himself but he didn't think there was anything wrong with his mental health so he didn't say anything to Kaera about talking to himself.

When she walks up to him scowling he grimaces, well that wasn't good and he couldn't make any promises, he had to go after the target that escaped again tomorrow reluctantly he lies to his manager though and grumbling says, "Okay...I'll...be there....on time..." It took him a long time to mumble these things out sometimes, and those were the times when he wasn't very good at acting like an ass. He was tired today and didn't particularly feel like being rude either, so he would really try to be there on time, No promises though... He thinks to himself not voicing it.

"Anyway, I'm going to try and deal with some of the fans, so you go on ahead and head home okay?" He tried to smile, he could only manage to keep up that damn grimace though. He wasn't particularly fond of lying to his manager but what else could he do? Say 'hey, yeah I'm an assassin and that's why I'm always late so yeah you're life is in danger now because of me.' No, no he could not just randomly say that so waving at her he goes to talk to some of the people in the main room.

 

[Diana]

Kaera caught some of his grumbled words and frowned. He wanted her to go away, which wasn't surprising, because he didn't exactly like her or even try to work with her. As always, she pretended like she didn't notice and like it hadn't hurt her feelings. As long as he showed up to work, she wouldn't get in trouble and she could do her job.

"Don't get drunk and go home with strange women!" she shouted at his back.

Kaera snatched up all her things and shoved them in to a ridiculously oversized purse. She had forgotten to bring her jacket and an umbrella of her own, but luckily her car was parked just outside behind the bar. Once she made sure everything was packed up by the stage crew and going to get sent back to the studio, she left through the back exit.

It only took a quick dash through the rain to get to her car... where she had apparently forgotten to roll up the windows so now there was a big puddle all on the insides. Kaera groaned when she plopped in to the wet seat. The key went in to the ignition and turned...

Nothing happened. Not a sound, not a growl, not a whimper from her car engine. Even the headlights didn't want to come on! Kaera cursed out loud and clonked her head against the steering wheel. She'd have to ask for a ride from the bar owner.

 

[Hitomi Forsyth]

Takuya doesn't actually go and talk to people, he waits in the shadows of the curtains and counts to sixty about five times before heading out the backdoor without an umbrella, he doesn't immediately notice his manager's car and just stands there looking up at the sky in the rain letting it thoroughly soak him through to the bone. He really loved rain so this felt nice to him and his eyes closed for a moment.

He heard a car horn suddenly though and looked around startled out of his mind, had someone figured out who he was and come for him? This was his first panicked thought, he second was far less worrisome and more annoyed, no way...was Kaera's car...not working at all? Takuya sighed under his breath and walked over to the car door and tilted his head a bit with a sigh. "I see you didn't roll up your windows, as per usual, and you complain at me about being forgetful."

His eyes were a strange sort of blue, a cerulean color that made people want to keep eye contact with him, but at the moment those cerulean blue eyes were locked onto Kaera with a bit of a glare. He seemed pretty pissed, though it wasn't directed at her, he kept glancing at her old car before muttering. "Jeez, You need to get rid of this rust bucket...Honestly if it keeps failing you like this...It's late you know..." He sighs a bit and kicks the car's tire lightly so as not to make his manager angry. Takuya had this odd feeling that she was about to put herself into a bad situation so before she can say anything he tilts his head at her and manages a smile; not a grimace or a smirk, just a smile, "I guess you're walking home now. Well that just won't do to have you so tired Miss Manager, you could never handle me if you weren't properly rested. Come on." He says as he opens her door and grabs her hand pulling her out of the car; which he shuts the doors to and pulls her along behind him headed down the street.

"My place is closer than yours. I've got a place you can crash, we'll be up early enough in the morning that you can call a tow service to come and get your car, it's too late right now." In the back of his mind he knew he would have to take off tomorrow at some point even if he had to sneak off but one of the things he couldn't stand was when Kaera seemed to have trouble that he wasn't causing her, he might seem a little sadistic because of that but honestly he liked singing, he just wasn't good at showing that he did indeed like his manager, the least he could do to show appreciation was offer her a place to crash right? "If you've got a problem with it I don't know what to tell you but I will not let you go home under the supervision of that touchy feely bar manager. I don't like him." It was a simple thing and he really wasn't leaving her with any choice even going so far as to take his coat off and tossing it over her head so she wouldn't get completely soaked on the walk to his apartment.

 

[Diana]

Kaera was tugged out of her car and being pulled down the street before she could make any kind of protest. What was HE angry about? It was her car and her problem! The sudden smile disarmed her, though, and for a moment she forgot what she was going to complain about. It was a little bewildering to have him offer to do something nice. Stay at his place? It would be filled with bottles of booze, pizza boxes, and probably forgotten panties from loose girls. She almost missed his statement about the bar manager.

"He's just a harmless old pervert. You don't have any rights to complain, you know! If you-" Plumph! His jacket was dropped over head, which left her fussing a bit with it. Slipping her arms through the sleeves to put it on, and being rendered speechless and flushing furiously again. She was TRYING to be mad at him, he had to stop doing unexpectedly nice things.

"We will be waking up early tomorrow." she stated after several silent moments, once she found her voice again. "Maybe this time I can actually get you to rehearsal." Kaera tugged the jacket tighter around her shoulders, subtly giving it a sniff. It smelled like his cologne or soap and fresh dirt. Strange, but she kind of liked it.