" Owlie's Round One Chapter for FY Hotwire Team Fic"

This chapter was written by Simone D. Bennett, if for any insane reason (I can't think of any except to link it to other Fushigihotwire or Fushigi Yuugi websites)you want to use some of it, please contact me first for permission at: Owlfriend@aol.com. Thanks.

OWLIE'S DISCLAIMER:: Any images I have used here are not my own, even if I re-colored them for various fan fic purposes. They belong to the artists of the original animes. The picture on this page comes from the anime "You are Under Arrest" and "Fushigi Yuugi". This pic is a combined effort in various alteration programs between myself and Juilet. I just changed the colors of the dresses, hair and eyes to fit the characters. Juliet added Tasuki into the background. Please don' sue me. This is just for fun and I plan to make no money off this at all! If you are the artist and this pic offends you then write me first and will remove it. All Character names are original (invented by me or other people in the Fushigihotwire newsgroup) except for those that are known Fushigi Yuugi characters and they belong to Yuu Watase and the various companies connected with that manga/anime series. I hope you guys won't sue me either--I love your stuff!!!

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Ariana laughed to herself, actually her publisher's words had been "every damn stinking yen", but he had smiled when he had agreed to her idea of staying at a traditional Japanese inn whenever they were exploring a town outside the major cities. It would put a special angle on their new travel book and also give Rae a ton of opportunities for incredibly beautiful photos.

"What are you laughing about, Ari?" Rae still sat behind the wheel of the rental car that they had procured in Tokyo for the side trip. Ariana put her hand on top of the roof of the car and ducked her head inside. Rae looked stressed; it hadn't been an easy trip out of Tokyo, even though the drive in the country had been a scenic one.

"Poor Rae-kun! Don't worry Rae, very soon you and I will be soaking in a traditional Japanese bath and all that American road rage will go down the drain with the bath water by the time we are done!" Ariana winked at her friend. "Besides, I've got some sake in a carton and some plastic cups in one of my bags so that we can drink in the bath." Ariana wiggled her eyebrows, "Let the festival begin!"

Rae rolled her eyes, then managed a tired smile, "Calgon-san take me away!"

Ariana laughed again and turned to see a very quiet Japanese man in a uniform patiently waiting for her to finish her conversation with her friend. "Konichiwa."

He bowed to her and then in very good English he continued, "Welcome to the Nichibotsu Ryokan. Excuse me; I am here to assist you in checking in. What is your name please?"

Ariana bowed in return, "Domo arigato. We are registered under my name, Ariana Morgan-san and we have two rooms."

The man bowed again, "Hai! Please proceed to the front desk and I will take care of your luggage. Simply go to your room once you have registered and I will meet you there shortly."

Ariana nodded, then said in a low voice in Japanese "Hai. Do you have valet parking? I think my friend would rather not drive anymore today. The Tokyo traffic has worn the poor woman out."

The man nodded in polite sympathy and replied in Japanese. "Leave everything to me, Morgan-san. We are here to make your stay a most relaxing one. Your request is easily fulfilled."

Ariana bowed her head to him and then poked her head into the car again, "Get out of the car, missy. This wonderful man is going to take care of our bags and park our car for us while we check in. Come into the lobby with me and I'll take care of the registration."

Rae looked at her gratefully, "Thank you, Ari. And by the way, when we go back to Tokyo you are driving. Just thought I'd warn you."

Ariana laughed, "Yeah, yeah, I hear you loud and clear. I'll worry about it later. We have the whole festival between then and now."

Rae stepped out of the car and Ariana waited for her to join her at the gate to the inner gardens of the ryokan, leading into front of the building. She linked arms with her friend and they proceeded into the garden. As they closed the gate behind them, Ariana felt as if they had entered another world. They were surrounded by beautiful spring greenery and artfully placed at different points in the garden were arrangements of stones and statues; there was even a beautiful natural stone waterfall that filled the area with its bubbling sounds.

Ariana turned to look at Rae and saw her standing, her eyes closed, breathing deeply. Ariana waited until her friend opened her eyes and smiled at her. Rae blushed when she realized her friend had been watching her. "I already feel better." Rae explained, in an apologetic tone.

Ariana nodded and gave her a warm smile in return. "Good, let's go inside so we can check in and then the relaxation will really begin."

The two women walked towards the front door of the ryokan and entered the building. The lobby was artfully decorated in a combination of traditional Japanese furniture and modern chairs in such a way that the two blended together seamlessly. Once again the Japanese talent for blending aesthetic form with function impressed Ariana. The owners of this hotel had managed to make the lobby hospitable to western and eastern tourists alike.

Rae had that calculating look she got in her eyes when she was thinking of setting up one of her photos in her mind. "You sure it?s ok if I go look around in the lobby while you check us in?"

Ariana made a waving motion in dismissal. "Yeah, go ahead and look around, I know better then to get any sense out of you once your Muse comes to visit."

Rae didn't even acknowledge Ariana's comment, just wandered away from the entrance area into the seating area. Ariana shook her head and walked over to what had to be the registration desk. At the desk was a young looking Japanese woman in a pink kimono with cherry blossoms. She was speaking very quickly and intently to a woman, who wore a simpler, more relaxed looking kimono. Ariana couldn't keep up with what they were saying to each other, but she recognized the words "vacancy" and something about it costing the ryokan lots of "money", but after that she lost track of the words. The woman in the pink kimono was obviously upset by the tone of her voice, but her face and gestures betrayed none of her emotions. Ariana thought it better she wait until the two were done their conversation before she tried to register in the hotel.

It only took a moment for "Pink Lady", as Ariana was now calling her in her own mind, to see Ariana standing there and then she blushed and bowed, "Gomen nasai! Welcome to the Nichibotsu Ryokan. I am the manager here, Takadai Kure-ko. May I be of some assistance?"

Ariana bowed her head in return, "Hai, Takadai-san. I would like to check in for my friend and I, we have reservations for two rooms under the names of Ariana Morgan and Rae Ward."

The lady walked over to a computer monitor, typed at the keyboard, paused a moment and then smiled tightly, "Yes, here you both are right here. You have two very nice traditional Japanese rooms that open up onto small porches that lead out into the main inner gardens. I think you will like your rooms very much." The manager turned to get the room keys off a pegboard marked with different room numbers and hung on the back wall of the reception area. As she turned away Ariana heard her mutter, "Too bad she doesn't have more friends then maybe we'd fill more rooms."

Ariana looked at the key wall and noticed that there were far more room numbers with keys still hanging on their hooks then there should have been during festival time. Suddenly it dawned on Ariana what the manager was so worried about; a bunch of tourists must have cancelled their reservations at the last moment, leaving many empty rooms, no one to fill them, and ultimately no money to fill the ryokan?s bank account.

"Sumimasen, Takadai-san, but perhaps I can help you with your overabundance of rooms." Ariana said in a low voice when the manager turned to hand her the room keys. Takadai-san stopped before handing her the keys and for the first time looked Ariana straight in the eyes. For the briefest moment Ariana saw hope in the woman's eyes and then a veil of composure fell covering any hint of emotion.

"Look, I write travel books. I had some interesting talks with the concierge at the hotel we were staying in while in Tokyo. Because of this I happen to know that they were desperately trying to find rooms in the Mt. Fuji area for tourists who wanted to take side trips to the various Cherry Blossom festivals. Let me give you that concierge's card, I know I have it in my purse..." Ariana rummaged in her purse until she found her wallet, then found the desired card and handed it to her. "Perhaps they can fill up your hotel for the rest of the week, even if you do lose some money tonight."

Takadai-san exchanged the card for the room keys and looked down at the card. She raised her eyes again to Ariana and this time Ariana could see the human woman behind the business-like façade. "Domo arigato, Morgan-san! Please, if there is anything I can do for you while you are here, please let me know."

Ariana shrugged, "Hmmm?well tomorrow I could probably use some maps of the area and some information about some local Shinto shrines if it can be managed. Also directions to our rooms would be lovely."

Takadai-san laughed, "Hai. Of course, I think we can easily arrange those things for you. I will tell the concierge to have the information you need on the local shrines and some maps at the front desk for you in the morning. And to get to your room just follow that hall to the right and go down all the way to the end of the hall and your two rooms are at the end of the hall on the left hand side right next to each other."

Ariana smiled, "Wonderful. Arigato." She turned away and walked over to where Rae was looking at a framed antique kimono that was hanging on a wall. Ariana walked over to her and dangled the keys in front of Rae?s eyes, "Let's go, I have our rooms."

Rae turned to her, "Isn't this lovely?" She gestured towards the kimono and Ariana noticed the dreamy look in her eyes.

Ariana nodded and chuckled, "Yes, of course you know how much I love antique textiles, but right now what I really would love is a nice hot bath and some sake and then a nice walk in the garden. What do you say?"

"Sounds wonderful, let's go." Rae made a little bouncing motion in excitement and Ariana pointed down a hallway and the two women proceeded to their rooms.

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Several hours later, after they had bathed and changed into the yukata and special wooden sandals that were supplied with every room in most ryokans, Ariana and Rae wandered out into the main gardens. It was getting near sunset and the two had noticed fliers in their rooms that said that in the center of the gardens there was a small area where they could purchase drinks and sit and sip them at their leisure. Ariana had even noticed that on some days the inn had performances of the ancient tea ceremony ritual in this space, and she hoped that one day while she was here she could experience it. For now, any liquid refreshment was the need of the moment, the sake they?' shared in the Japanese bathing room had helped them relax but it had done nothing to quench their thirst, and to be honest Ariana was getting tired of bottled water.

The two women strolled around the gardens, their voices low, unconsciously affected by the serene surroundings. Other visitors in yukatas walked by them and as they passed Ariana and Rae would bow or nod their head to them in acknowledgement of the beauty they were sharing.

After a time they reached the central area of the garden, and a small roofed building where a few servers were getting tea and other drinks to serve to people who sat on benches that were scattered around the building. Ariana's mouth started to water as she saw one waiteress carrying a plate of some kind of sweets and she started to feel hungry as well as thirsty. Ariana made a beeline for the only empty bench and waited anxiously for the servers to notice them and take their order.

Ariana was so busy looking around for a free waitress that it took two times of Rae poking her arm to get her attention. "What?"

Rae lowered her voice to a whisper and said, "Look over there at that bench to the right, there's a some really cute guys sitting over there."

Ariana raised an eyebrow, "They'd better be bishonen cute or I?ll be pissed at myself for looking at them if I miss getting the attention of a waitress. This better be good!" Ariana didn't mean to sound cranky, but her blood sugar was getting low and she knew she'd have to get something to eat fast if she was going to make it to dinner. She turned slowly until she was facing Rae and surreptitiously peered around her head to look over her friend's right shoulder.

Ariana started grinning stupidly. Rae wasn't kidding when she said those guys were cute. One was an oriental guy with tousled red hair and what appeared to be fangs when he smiled. He stood out the most of the three guys, but his two friends were just as attractive, just not as colorfully eye-catching. One of the other two was another oriental guy with flyaway black hair and some of the greenest eyes she had ever seen outside her own. The final guy she couldn't see so well, but he had lovely blue-black hair trimmed just above shoulder length. What made him stand out were his delicate profile and the fact that he was wearing not the hotel?s standard yukata but one made of some beautiful purple cotton material with willow trees printed on it.

Ariana faced Rae, "Ok, drinks are on me, you were right, those are the cutest guys I?ve seen since we got to Japan. I'd drool, but I'm too dehydrated."

Rae laughed, and Ariana noticed that the cute guys over at the bench raised their heads at it?s rich and merry sound. The guy who had had his back towards them turned at his friends? insistence and when he did he met eyes with Ariana. It took the greatest willpower for Ariana not to let her jaw fall open. This guy had extremely wide Elizabeth Taylor violet eyes ringed by dark lashes. The rest of this guy's face was not just cute, it was beautiful. Ariana didn't know if she was looking at a girl or a guy for a moment, but really didn't care, because suddenly he/she gave her a bright smile and got up and walked over to them.

"Uhmmm, Rae...those guys heard you laughing and well now one of them is coming over to..." Ariana stopped talking as she realized that the guy was close enough to hear her if she continued speaking.

Rae sent her a look of sheer terror, which Ariana felt was overdoing it, even for Rae?s normal shyness with cute guys. Ariana prepared to be the friendly one until Rae had composed herself.

"Konichiwa!" The guy bowed and then stood up and gave her a little wave. "I'm Nuriko and those two ruffians over there at the neighboring bench are my friends. The red head is Tasuki and the other one is Kouji."

Ariana stood up and bowed in return then offered her hand in a Western greeting. She could tell that this young man (and standing this closely to him she could see from the shape of his body under the thin yukata that he was a man despite his small bones and stature) was used to Western ways by the informal way he had greeted them. Perhaps he had been schooled in America or had been born there and was just visiting Japan as a tourist just like they were? Either way, his English, although with an unplaceable accent, was perfect. With Nuriko's casual behavior and open smile, Ariana knew that offering her hand to the man to shake had been the right thing to do.

"Konnichiwa. I am Ariana Morgan and this is my friend Rae Ward." Ariana looked over at Rae when she mentioned her friend's name and was gratified to see that Rae was already standing and bowing as if she wasn't discomfited by the situation at all.

Nuriko bowed at Rae and then reached out to shake her hand. Rae blushed and then offered her hand in return. "A pleasure to meet you Rae-san." Nuriko smiled and then said, "Are you two here for the festival or for business?"

Ariana and Rae looked at each other and laughed. Ariana noticed the rather perplexed look on Nuriko?s face and suddenly felt she should explain their laugher so that he did not think they were laughing at his attempts at conversation. "Gomen, sorry we were not laughing at you. A little of both actually. We are writing a travel book on Japan. We have come here for the Cherry Blossom Festival and to this ryokan to write about the experience for our book. Or I should say I am here to write the book, Rae here is the photographer for the book."

"We do not have as industrious a reason for being here." Nuriko smiled, "The friends that you see here are only a part of a huge party of us that have descended like locusts on this ryokan. We are simply here to take a vacation and enjoy the cherry blossoms."

"And to meet lovely young women!" Suddenly Ariana realized that Nuriko?s two friends had somehow snuck up next to Rae and were standing next to her. The green-eyed one had to have been the one that had spoken because he had the most mischievous glint in his eyes as if he dared the girls to argue with him about their supposed good looks. Ariana decided she would ignore the comment completely.

Nuriko sent a disapproving look over at his friend, "Kouji-kun you are going to scare my new friends away if you talk like that. They aren't college girls on Spring Break; they are writers and photographers. They make an honest living unlike some people I could mention!"

Ariana shot a questioning look at Rae and considered asking Nuriko what he had meant by that last comment to Kouji. Her thoughts were interrupted when the red head made a snorting sound, crossed his arms over his chest and spoke in a superior tone, "Oh can it Nuriko, you are just mad that someone around here has prettier hair and eyes then you do!" He gave a slight head dip in Rae?s direction and then raised his eyebrows and gave Nuriko a fang-toothed grin.

Ariana couldn't help herself; she started giggling at Tasuki's comment. It was true that Rae's hair and eyes were just as beautiful, although different then Nuriko's in coloring, but it was perplexing to her that a guy's beauty would be compared to a woman's, even if that guy were of fragile stature. Ariana figured this must be some old joke between the two friends and clamped her hand over her mouth to control her laughter. She sent what she hoped was an apologetic look over at Nuriko, and he simply winked at her.

"Gomen nasai, Ariana-san, Rae-san." Nuriko said in a calm voice, then suddenly turned around and bonked Tasuki on top of his head. Tasuki cringed in pain and reached up to rub the spot where Nuriko had hit him, but instead of hitting him in return he just shrugged and grinned again. Nuriko rubbed his palms together as if washing his hands of the whole affair, and then he leaned over and spoke to the two women in a confidential tone, "Sometimes I find it is necessary to teach these two lessons in how to behave in polite society."

Ariana opened her eyes wide and nodded in mock seriousness, as if agreeing with Nuriko's disciplinary actions. She knew her attempts not to laugh would give her true feelings away, but for some reason she thought that Nuriko had probably gotten just the type of reaction he'd wanted from his audience anyway.

"So." Nuriko said blithely, as if the previous incident had never occurred, "Do you two enjoy going to kareoke bars?"

Ariana was about to answer that they did when suddenly Rae jumped in. "Oh we LOVE them! Do they have one here? Ariana, maybe they have one of the songs we like on their machine!"

Nuriko's eyes lit up with new interest; "There is a kareoke contest tonight in honor of the festival over at the modern hotel up the street. I'm going to enter the contest, but a bunch of my friends are just going up there to hang out and have a good time. Would the two of you like to join us or do you have other plans for the evening?"

Tasuki smiled at both of them, "Sure, come along if you want! But I warn you; once Nuriko gets that microphone in his hand no one will be able to shut him up. Numerous times when we've traveled together on the same bus he?s taken over the intercom system and we've been forced to listen to him sing his entire repertoire of bad pop music."

Nuriko started to turn beet red, but Ariana did not think it was from embarrassment. She began to wonder what kind of pain Tasuki was going to experience next. Luckily Rae diffused the tension by laying a gentle hand on Nuriko's arm, "Oh Nuriko, I'm sure you have a lovely voice. I'm looking forward to hearing you sing. Perhaps you will win the contest, then won't we be proud of our new friend!"

Ariana, impressed with Rae's quick thinking, smiled evilly at Tasuki and added, "Perhaps one of your friends could even buy you a celebratory round of sake for you. Of course, if they don't, I will."

Tasuki?s eyes widened in surprise at Ariana?s suggestion and Kouji burst out laughing, "Oh, we are in trouble now Tasuki. These two are sneaky."

Kouji turned his startling green eyes towards Ariana and grinned and pointed at her, "If you look really closely Tasuki, I think Red here looks a little bit like your sister, Aidou."

Tasuki just growled at Kouji and gave Ariana a quick once over, then shook his head, "I can't tell if she looks like my oneechan or not, she's not running after me with a stick, it would be hard to compare the two."

Ariana smiled sweetly, "My name is Ariana, not Red, Kouji-san. And I'm sorry to disappoint you, Tasuki-san, but I'm afraid I don't know you well enough to chase after you with a stick. Maybe after we know each other better, perhaps by the end of the week!"

Nuriko was the first to speak after the laughter had died down, "All right, it?s settled then. I think since the two of you both like kareoke and you seem to be able to hold your own with the two bandit boys here you'll survive the rest of the gang. You might even enjoy yourselves. I'm sure they will all enjoy meeting the pair of you. The contest starts at11: 00 PM, so we should get together around...say 10:30pm?"

Ariana realized she had just let Nuriko accept his own invitation for the both of them, but found she didn't mind at all. A night with these guys at a kareoke bar might be fun. They certainly seemed friendly enough, and despite Kouji's flirtations, these guys acted as if they were more interested in making friends with them then trying to pick them up for a one-nighter. When Ariana turned to see how Rae felt about this she realized even if she hadn't wanted to go that the eagerness she saw in Rae's eyes would have made it impossible for Ariana to refuse Nuriko's offer.

"Hai, domo Nuriko-kun, we would love to come with you and your friends to the kareoke contest. It sounds like great fun! We'll meet you in the ryokan's lobby at 10:30 PM then?"

Nuriko gave her a happy smile, "Wonderful! Perfect! I will go tell Hotohori-sama and the others right away! Come on guys, let's go!" He smiled and bowed, and his friends did the same. The three of them disappeared down the paths of the garden, seemingly swallowed by the foliage.

As soon as the three men left them, a waitress in a kimono came up to them to take their orders. Still stunned with the sudden turn of events of their social lives, Ariana ordered some hot tea and some kind of sweetened rice cakes and Rae ordered the same with some kind of almond cookies so that the two could share different tastes.

As they waited for the waitress to return with their orders Ariana said to Rae, "You know, I do believe those are not only the best looking, but also some of the most interesting guys I have ever met in all my travels, hands down. There is something different about them..."

Rae laughed and poked Ariana in the arm, "Now aren't you glad I pointed them out to you? Before this afternoon we had no plans greater then going back to our rooms after dinner and reading and then going to bed early, now we've been invited to share kareoke with some nice guys and their friends. Our first social contacts in Japan! I didn?t even feel like a gaijin or a tourist around them!"

Ariana thought that in their own way these men, even though they looked like they could be Japanese in some respects, seemed oddly like foreigners or outsiders themselves. Perhaps that is why Nuriko had been so willing to establish contact with them so quickly. Ariana shrugged to herself and leaned back on the bench to wait for her tea and cakes.

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Rae had dragged Ariana out of her room and down the hallway to the lobby just in time to make their 10:30 PM appointment with their new acquaintances.

"You'd think we were going to the Imperial Palace the time you spent over choosing that jacket to wear tonight," Rae grumbled at her good-naturedly.

Ariana laughed, "I see even you managed to dig something besides jeans out of your suitcase tonight, so don?t get started with me." Ariana brushed some imaginary hairs off her prized jade green silk jacquard riding jacket that she wore buttoned over a black tank top and a flared skirt that hit her just above her knees. Ariana wasn't a fashion slave by any means, but she made a point of wearing the appropriate clothes for the appropriate occasion. Besides, she'd worked hard to match the color of her eyes, the color of her outfit and the green and black jades in her favorite necklace. When all was said and done, when Ariana dressed for non-utilitarian purposes, she dressed to please herself and no one else.

Rae blushed, and glanced down at her own outfit guiltily. She wore a pretty maroon colored peasant skirt and a black three-quarter-length sleeve T-shirt cinched at her waist with a metallic belt that matched her silver and garnet dangling earrings. Ariana thought Rae looked great.

Ariana patted her on the shoulder, "Hey, don't worry about it sweetie, if we don?t dress up a little no one will ever notice us compared to those kawai guys we'll be sitting with. Besides we are going to sing tonight, we have to look good!"

Rae brightened at the mention of her second favorite past time: kareoke, "I hope they have something we can sing together!"

Ariana waved her away, "Hey, we could always do some Stevie Nicks or Madonna as a duet if we have to, although I'd prefer some En Vogue."

Rae elbowed Ariana gently in her side; "I am NOT singing that "Whatta Man!" song with you! What will these guys think of us then?"

Ariana sighed and gave Rae a long suffering look as they entered the lobby and saw the huge group of guys standing around, seemingly waiting for them to arrive. Ariana?s return comment to Rae froze in her throat, what the heck had they gotten themselves into when they'd accepted Nuriko's invitation?

"Too many cute guys..." Ariana whispered into Rae's ear in a mechanical robotic like voice,"Must...self...destruct."

Rae laughed out loud and pointed towards the group, "There are a couple of girls there...see?"

Ariana took a closer look at the group and spied two girls, one blonde, and one brunette with auburn highlights standing close to each other and giggling. Beside the brunette stood a very handsome oriental guy with wide blue eyes, who stood with his arm around her waist, smiling and laughing with the two girls and shaking his head as if he couldn?t believe whatever they were saying.

Ariana took a breath of relief, at least they weren't going to be the only females in this group of what did she count...seven, no eight guys. She heard Nuriko's voice call over to her, "Hey, Ariana and Rae-san! Glad you could make it! We're just waiting on Hotohori-sama and then we'll take off. Let me introduce you to everyone. Minna, these are the two published authors I told you about. This is Ariana Morgan-san," Nuriko gestured towards Ariana and she bowed and then waved to the group, "And this is her friend and photographer for their books, Rae Ward."

Rae smiled shyly and bowed and waved as well. The entire group bowed and smiled at them in return. Ariana swore that Tasuki winked at them but she couldn?t be sure. What a scamp that guy was. He was trouble that was for sure, no wonder he had a sister that chased him around with a stick.

Nuriko then went through the process of introducing them to everyone else. "You already know Tasuki and Kouji so I won't go through the formal introductions with them. "The nice blonde girl is Yui. She is Miaka, the other lady's, best friend; they've known each other since practically forever. This guy with the stars in his eyes is Miaka's beloved, Tamahome."

The young man in question smiled at both of them, "Please feel free to call me Tama, everyone else does except Miaka."

Nuriko leaned closer to Ariana and whispered, "Yeah and she says it over and over to him ad infinitum. It can get almost as bad as her cooking."

Ariana grinned and whispered back, "Thanks for warning me. I'll monitor my blood sugar levels when I?m around the two of them since they are so icky sweet, and I won't eat anything she cooks unless forced to."

Nuriko chuckled and ignored the suspicious look that Tamahome threw at him. He moved the two girls along to the next cluster of his friends. First Nuriko introduced them to a very tall guy with a short brush cut named Mitsukake. Ariana thought he looked the most masculine of the entire batch of guys so far, sort of like a lumberjack. Next, Nuriko introduced a rather contented looking guy with striking steel gray hair, who despite his rather radical hair cut seemed to be the oldest of Nuriko?s friends, named Chichiri. Finally, Nuriko presented them to a set of twin brothers who looked to be about the same age as Miaka and Yui, named Amiboshi and Suboshi.

All four of them greeted Ariana and Rae with warm smiles and polite greetings. Chichiri gave them the warmest smile of them all and suddenly Ariana realized that he was quite good looking, but as soon as he stopped smiling his face became smooth and bland again, almost like one of those masks in a Noh play. Ariana figured he had spent years schooling his face into that look of calm complacence and wondered why he felt he had to hide his emotions besides his carefully constructed facade.

Chichiri asked them a question about how they were enjoying their trip to Japan so far. Ariana was about to answer when she heard Rae say breathlessly, "Oh, we have enjoyed ourselves so far, but this is the first time we've done anything socially with someone we weren't interviewing for the book, so we are very excited."

Ariana gaped at Rae; it was so unlike her to just blither out her feelings like that to some guy she barely knew. Rae caught Ariana's stare, realized what she had just done, and blushed furiously.

Ariana cocked a wry eyebrow at her, but said nothing. Rae was smitten! What a surprise! Of all the hot guys in the room Rae had gone all starry-eyed over the tall, skinny gray haired guy! Not that Chichiri was any less good-looking then the other guys, it was just that Ariana thought that someone more outgoing, like Tasuki, would be Rae's type. Outgoing guys took the pressure off of Rae by allowing her to react to them, and not forcing her to initiate conversation. It seemed that Rae's tastes had changed since arriving in Japan and who was Ariana to argue when it came to such things?

Ariana heard someone clear his throat behind her and turned when she saw the smiles of recognition on the faces of the men in front of her. This must be the belated "Hotohori-sama", as Nuriko had called him. Either that or it was a tall beautiful angel that had lost his wings and tumbled to earth. Ariana would have sold her soul for his long smooth hair and the slanted butterscotch colored eyes that smiled at them in greeting. She hoped he was as nice a person inside as he appeared to be on the outside. She was really sick of good-looking guys who assumed that a gift from the gods meant that they should be treated as the very same gods' gift to women. Sometimes beautiful guys were gay and thought they were the gods' gift to men, which was only slightly more acceptable to Ariana then the straight stuck up guys, as they weren't trying to impress HER, only compete with her.

"Hotohori-sama!" Nuriko grinned up at his friend; "these are the two ladies I was telling you about at dinner, Ariana Morgan-san and Rae Ward-san. They are going to join us tonight in song and merriment."

Ariana bowed at Hotohori and he returned the courtesy. "Very nice to meet you, Hotohori-san."

Hotohori smiled again and said politely, "Nuriko has told me that the two of you are here to write a travel book. I am a voracious reader of books of all kinds. Ariana-san, I do believe I may I may have read one of your books...essays on a summer you spent in Egypt...is that correct? It was quite humorous and informative at the same time. I am sure your current work will be as interesting, you will have to send me a copy when it gets published."

Ariana was truly surprised that one of Nuriko?s friends had actually read her books, but she supposed if Hotohori was a biblioholic as she herself was that he read a little bit of everything. "Certainly, Hotohori-san, it would be my pleasure." She bowed her head in acknowledgement of his compliment to her earlier work. "Perhaps as the night wears on you and I will find we've read some of the same titles over the years and we can discuss our little addiction."

Hotohori laughed out loud this time, a rich warm laugh, which was very much like a male version of Rae's. Ariana breathed a sigh of relief; it seems that this work of living art had not only a sharp mind, but the sense to laugh at his own foibles as well. Maybe they could be friends.

"All right, Ariana-san, do not get this man started on the topics of books tonight or he?ll never let you out of sight long enough to get up and perform at the kareoke contest." Nuriko spoke in warning to her.

Chichiri suddenly spoke up, "Oh Nuriko is only afraid you won't pay any attention to him when he gets HIS chance to perform his song, don' let him fool you that he is protecting YOUR interests, Ariana-san, no da?"

Nuriko flushed, and then chuckled with the rest of them. "Yes, so I like to sing and I like an audience. So sue me."

"Not necessary, Nuriko-kun," Hotohori interjected, still chuckling, "We are all here to see if you can steal this kareoke prize away from the locals. I promise I will not say one word about anything or anyone until you are done performing, and then after your performance I will speak of nothing but praise for your talent."

Nuriko just waved away Hotohori?s compliments, but Ariana could tell he was greatly pleased that his friend would be there to cheer him on. What sweeties these two guys were! They seemed to know each other as well she and Rae did. It warmed her heart to see such a close friendship between men.

Nuriko looked at his watch and then called out to the others, "All right minna, let?s get moving, it's a little after 10:45 PM already and the contest starts at eleven. If we don't hurry up we?ll be stuck without seats for the evening."

The gang collected themselves together and started off on the three-block walk to the hotel that was hosting the kareoke contest. Ariana raised her head and looked up at the stars and the waxing moon and smiled. "Let the adventures begin!" she thought to herself, then linked her arm with Rae's and followed the rest of the group up the street.

********************************************

It was almost two AM in the morning before the finals round in the kareoke contest were about to begin. There had been about 20 different competitors that night, including herself and Rae, and of their group of friends only Nuriko remained in the final line up. Ariana was fighting a buzz she had gotten after starting a third glass of some special alcoholic drink that Nuriko had invented. He'd had the bartender make one each for Rae and Ariana earlier that evening, but Rae, although she said she liked the drink, had professed the mix too strong for her low alcohol tolerance level, and switched to a lighter mixed drink of her own devise. Now only Nuriko and Ariana, who were sitting next to each other, still drank from half-empty glasses filled with the bright purple liquid that everyone else at the table called a "Nuriko's special". Ariana had to admit it was one of the best mixed drinks she had ever had. It had a taste like no other and once swallowed, first chilled the tongue and then burned like fire the rest of the way down your throat into it settled into a quiet pool of lava in your belly.

Ariana had had a great evening and by the looks of things, Rae was enjoying herself as well. The two of them had not been able to find a proper song to do as a duet together and had instead been joined by Tasuki, whom it seemed no one knew could sing, in a rollicking rendition of the B-52's hit song "Love Shack". The choice of songs and, in Arianas opinion, the addition of slightly buzzed Tasuki on stage performing with them, had gotten the three into the semi-finals. Of course, Ariana chuckled to herself, probably not because of their musical talents (the song was not made to show off one's vocal range), but due to their sheer love of the song and Tasuki's crazy antics on stage. Ariana had known that they would never make it to the finals with that song, but she hadn't really been interested in entering the competition anyway as a serious contender. She had just wanted to have a good time.

Rae, whom was the more competitive of the two when it came to singing, actually didn?t seem to mind having not made it to the finals, she had spent most of the night laughing and joking with all the guys at their table, especially Chichiri. Ariana was happy to see that a couple of drinks had loosened her friend up around these strangers. Rae had been quiet until Tasuki had offered to get up on stage with them. Secretly, Ariana suspected Tasuki had offered to join them in the first place because Rae had looked so sad that there were no suitable duets for the two girls to sing together, and not because Tasuki had any great love of kareoke. This noble action on Tasuki's part raised Ariana's esteem for the guy through the roof. Maybe Tasuki wasn?t such a troublemaker after all.

Then again, Ariana mused, shifting her focus from watching her friend interact with Chichiri and the others, maybe she should still keep her eyes on Fang Boy before she made any sweeping judgments of his good intentions. Currently, Tasuki and Kouji were sitting over at a table with two very attractive women, chatting them up and making general nusicances of themselves. Although the longer Ariana watched the two couples the more she realized that all four of them were obviously having a great time. The two women were often doubled over with laughter while Kouji and Tasuki were trying to see who could build the highest castle out of the various cardboard coasters they had begged off the waitresses (or stolen off of other people's tables when they had left and before the busboys came to clean them off).

Ariana shrugged, she'd met the two women earlier, one, to her surprise, had been a much prettier and relaxed version of their ryokan's manager, Kure-ko. Kure-ko had actually been the one to notice them and had come over to chat with them for a while. Of course everyone had immediately invited her to join them, but she said she had friends meeting her there and had gone off to another table nearby where her friends greeted her with cheers. Later Ariana had gone over to talk to them to surreptitiously ask if the manager had been able to talk to the concierge at the other hotel and rectify the empty room situation. Kure-ko thanked her again and said that she had, that is why she was in such good spirits and was able to come meet her friends. Kure-ko laughed saying that otherwise she would have had to use this night to find ways to convince her father, the owner of the inn, that they would somehow recover the money lost during this, one of their busiest times of the year. Ariana had sat with the group for a while and found out that they always met once a week in the bar to relax, catch up on gossip and sometimes sing a little kareoke. Then Ariana had realized it was almost her turn up to sing and had had to excuse herself so that she could talk to Rae and Tasuki about choreography a bit before they went onstage.

After Kure-ko's friends had left for the night, Kure-ko had come to join the rest of "Yuki's gang" (as the manager told them she had nicknamed the guys that had checked in with Miaka earlier that afternoon) at their table. She had used the excuse of wanting to see if Nuriko, a guest at her ryokan, was going to win the contest, but now Ariana wondered if she had just wanted to hang out and have fun. Ariana also suspected that Kure-ko's interest in staying up way past her normal bedtime was not due so much to Nuriko's vocal talents, but due to the crazy antics and rather sexy voice of the other red-head at the table besides herself.

The other girl at Tasuki's table had been dragged over to the group's table earlier in the evening by Kouji, and had simply never left. Kouji had spied her sitting alone in a booth by herself, and decided he was going to make her his pet project for the night, announced this to his friends, then went over and started to make friends with her. The girl, who had introduced herself as Lalia Kenshin, and who also staying at the Nichibotsu Inn, was very attractive, but a bit rough around the edges. She swore worse then Kouji and Tasuki did, and drank like a fish but didn't seem to show the affects of the alcohol like Ariana would have. How Lalia could treat her body like she did, and still be the prize-winning dancer that she claimed that she was, Ariana couldn't guess. Lalia seemed to be testing all of them to see if her behavior would alienate them. Ariana had to admit, if the two women had been alone in the same room she might have had to initiate a fistfight over something stupid-- like the girl's disgusting chain smoking habit. Still, as with Chichiri and Kure-ko's personalities, Ariana felt that Lalia?' obnoxious behavior was a wall that she had built around her to protect herself. Unfortunately, Lalia?' ruse was just a more impolite one, then the masks that most other people wore to hide their true selves.

Right now Kouji seemed to be chipping away at Lalia's emotional fortress bit by bit, she looked like she was really enjoying herself and Kouji was basking in all the attention she was giving him. They made a cute couple when Lalia smiled, which she had been doing constantly during the entire time that the four of them had moved to their own table. Ariana decided she would keep her eyes on the couple during the festival, as well as seeing what blossomed for Tasuki and the Kure-ko. There could be a very good human interest story here about love under the cherry blossoms or some other such thing for a side article she had promised to write for "Conde Nast" on the Cherry Blossom Festival.

Ariana was musing about what angle her story would take when she felt the hairs raise on the back of her neck and she got that weird feeling over her throat like she always did when someone was watching her for any extended period of time. Ariana started covertly to look around the room. Eventually, to Ariana's left side, in a booth, sitting all by himself, she saw a man with long silver hair and (of all things!) an eye patch over his right eye looking at her steadily as if trying to figure out if he knew her or not. When their eyes met though, he did not acknowledge her gaze at all, but carefully moved his gaze elsewhere as if he had only noticed her briefly while looking around the room for someone else. Ariana wondered for a moment if she had imagined he was looking at her to begin with, but after a few moments of looking back at Tasuki's table she felt the hairs rise on the back of her neck--this time accompanied by goose bumps raising along her arms. Ariana turned her head quickly and caught him watching her. This time she stared back and took a better look at him. He was very unusual looking and quite handsome. She couldn't tell what race he was, although he looked oriental he seemed to have very light eyes and the silver hair made it impossible to guess his age or his race for certain. He was dressed in a dark jacket and jeans and wore his button down blue shirt unbuttoned at the neck. All in all, quite a hottie, Ariana thought to herself, but still he was being rather rude staring at her like that and not coming over to introduce himself.

Nuriko?s voice next to her ear made her jump in her seat, "Hey, you OK? Do you know that guy? Is he bothering you?" Ariana turned and found her face very close to Nuriko?s concerned one and had to switch gears quickly to adjust.

She smiled, "Oh no, I was spacing out from your drinks. Don't worry about me."

Nuriko looked as if he didn?t believe her, "Are you sure? You looked a little frightened there for a minute."

Ariana's smile grew wider, "Only known me for a few hours and already you are looking out for me! No one looks out for me. I'm always looking out for them! You are an original you know? What a sweetie you are!" Ariana couldn't help herself; she leaned over and gave Nuriko a quick kiss on the tip of his perfect nose, pulling away from him just as quickly so he didn't get the wrong idea about her impulsive act.

Nuriko's cheeks turned a fetching shade of pink, although he didn't lower his eyes. He shrugged, "Hey, it's what I do best!" He shook a lecturing finger at her, "I mean it though, that guy or anyone else bothers you, you let me know. I stick by my friends, especially new friends that give out kisses." Nuriko winked at her and took his finger and tapped Ariana lightly on the end of her nose.

Now it was Ariana's turn to blush, perhaps Nuriko was even more trouble then all her other new friends combined. Not that Ariana would have to watch out for Nuriko but that she'd have to watch HERSELF around Nuriko! It would be so easy to break her rule of not getting romantically involved on her trips with a guy as gorgeous, nice, and funny as he was.

Nuriko suddenly stood up; "Hey it's my turn next!" He showed the victory sign to the table, "Wish me luck!" Then he moved quickly over to the side of the stage area to take his place.

Ariana watched how gracefully Nuriko moved, and noticed once again his fine taste in clothing, his clothes fit as if they were tailored for him. Ariana dragged her eyes away from him to take a last sip of her drink; her gaze catching Rae's who was staring at her open-mouthed in surprise, her eyes glittering with suppressed mirth.

"Don't even think about it, Rae," she said warningly to her best friend. Rae nodded, but her eyes said that she would think anything she wanted to about
Ariana's behavior towards Nuriko. Ariana sighed, she swore to herself as soon as Nuriko sang his song and the winner had been announced she was leaving to go back to the ryokan and get some shuteye. All the sexual tension and the alcohol were getting on her nerves. In the morning she'd get back to her old self and forget all about her foolish thoughts.

She'd already forgotten about the gray-haired man who'd been watching her earlier just a few minutes before.