"A play?"

"Us?"

"What play?"

Questions were launched at once to the curly haired girl as she stood in front of them with a letter in her hand. A three-year boy stood beside her with his head bowed.

"Please, I hope that the basketball team would consider in helping the drama club for just this once," the boy said, "Our club is sorely lacking of funds and we thought that if we hold up a show this year with the basketball team as the main attraction, lots of people will come this time. Of course, we will divide the money we get from the show equally between the two clubs."

Miyagi looked at the boy who dared to stand beside his Ayako with narrowed eyes. The boy, Oda, was as tall as him with neatly brushed hair and light brown eyes, now hidden as he bowed respectfully in front of them.

"I don't think we have time to take up extra activities. We have basketball practice every afternoon after school and every Saturday," said Akagi sternly.

"Perfect!" exclaimed Kogure, "then we can take Sundays for the show's rehearsals!"

"There will also be lines to memorise" the captain reminded him , "I don't think they'll ever get the lines through in such a short time!"

"C'mon Akagi," Kogure chastised, "we once managed to get them to pass their resit exams in just one night. I believe that we can do it!"

"Anyway," the captain of the drama club quickly cut in, "we have the lines taped and it will be played while the actors act on the stage. All the actors have to do is to lip sync and act."

"See! It'll be a piece of cake," Kogure said beaming slapping Akagi at the back.

"But..." Akagi tried again.

"We can do with one or two new basketballs..." mused one boy from the team.

"Or probably some extra refreshments after the practices..." said another.

Kogure smiled, "Well Akagi?"

Akagi was also having that thoughtful look, "Maybe we can get that new revolutionised mop for the gym..."

The team sweatdropped.

"Well, how about the rest of you guys?" Ayako asked the rest of the team.

The others shrugged and nodded, Rukawa remained his usual stony facial expression and Hanamichi....

"AHAHAHAH!! The world will get to see another talent of the tensai besides basketball!"

"Do'aho, you have no talent to start with," came a bored voice.

"Why you!!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The basketball team sat together with the drama club in the school's auditorium. Oda passed out the scripts to each of the main characters; Akagi, Mitsui, Miyagi, Ayako, Rukawa and Hanamichi. Each of the main characters have a subsitute in case something happens to them that will affect the show and the rest of the team including a few of the drama club members will be the extras.

"Alright," Oda began, "each person from the basketball team will have one of the drama club members assisting you on your acting rehearsals. The subsitutes will also have to listen very carefully because you might once in a while assist the main characters when they forget what they are supposed to do by whispering to them behind the curtains."

"This play is made by one of our members called 'A Beauty's Curse'. Ayako will be Urea, the beauty. Sakuragi-san will be the fisherman......"

"WHAT?!" Hanamichi yelled grabbing Oda by the collar, "Why should the tensai be reduced to being a mere fisherman?!"

BAM!

"Ahhh!" the red-head cried clutching at his head.

"Read the script, Sakuragi. The fisherman is the main character of the story second to the beauty," Ayako explained nodding to Akagi her thanks as he sat back down to his seat.

"Oh! Ahaha...... I knew that......" Hanamichi grinned still rubbing at his bruised head.

Oda straightened his shirt, cleared his throat and resumed his explanation of the play, "The fisherman, Lille, is detested by the villagers because of his red hair, thinking that he is a blasphemy of God's creation. However the villagers still depend on him for their fish because among the fishermen in the village he would be the only one to brave the wild seas where fish was abundant. Because of his gentle nature he would sell the fish at a small price and the villagers like to take advantage of that."

"Gentle nature?" a voice snickered.

"You're saying I'm not gentle?!" Hanamichi demanded pushing Mitsui roughly at the shoulder and standing up.

"Yeah, right! You're now all Prince of genteel!" Mitsui said sarcastically also standing up with challenge in his eyes.

"SIT DOWN AND SHUT UP!!" roared Akagi.

The pair instantly did as they are told but still kept eye contact with one another from the corner of their eyes.

"Excuse them. Please continue," Akagi told the troubled drama club captain.

"Uh, yeah," Oda tugged at his collar as a bead of sweat ran down his forehead, "Ummm... the people who likes to torment Lille are the sons of the most prominent families of the village including the son of the head-villager, Basteel, which will be played by Rukawa-san."

A suspicious gleam instantly came from Rukawa's eyes.

"Akagi-san will be the village master and the other tormentors will be Mitsui-san and Miyagi-san as Karl and Axel," continued Oda looking at the two.

Mitsui looked up at him and suddenly his lips curved upwards in an evil smile, "Reeeallly?" he drawled turning to look at Hanamichi evilly.

Hanamichi felt a bad trepidation coming up.

"One day Lille brought back a beautiful mysterious girl he saved from seas. Basteel was jealous that Lille has already made the girl his wife and began a hate campaign against the fisherman, branding him a practitioner of black arts whenever something bad happens around their village. In the end, Basteel and his friends managed to kill Lille and then his wife, Urea, laid a curse on the village in anger before she killed herself in front of them."

"What?!" Miyagi shrieked as looked at the last page of the script play, "He gets to kiss Ayako in the last scene?!!"

Akagi looked at Kogure sitting beside him and asked, "Why did you say this being a good thing for us?"

"Uh, to get time off from basketball for some R & R, "the spectacled boy said weakly.

"Does this look like we will be having some R & R to you?" Akagi gestured with his arm at the group before them.

Miyagi was going after Oda, telling him to change him with Hanamichi or else. Ayako had instantly slapped her papar fan at him. Rukawa was still having that gleam in his eye and Mitsui was rubbing his hands in glee, looking at Hanamichi who was starting to sweat.

"Umm... something good might happen..." tried Kogure.

"I doubt it," came Akagi's dry answer.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"How will the dubbed voices be played?" Ayako asked Oda as all of them walked on the stage getting to their places for their first rehearsal.

"Well," Oda began, "My assistant and I will be in charge of the tape and we will play it once we have the signal from the actors. It will be easier than just playing the tape all the way because since this is the first time all of you have acted some mistakes are bound to happen on the stage during the play and the timing will be all screwed."

Then Oda walked down the stage and called out to them, "Ok, the first scene will show Lille selling his fish and getting a lot of customers despite their bad words behind his back. Then Basteel, Karl and Axel will come and start bullying him around, taking his catch left over and leaving him without pay."

Oda as the director signaled to his assistant and a song played through the tape recorder resounding loudly in the auditorium before a cheerful voice spoke up, calling out to people to come and buy his freshly-caught fish. Other voices were then heard in whispers gossiping about the red-haired fisherman's family before those voices raised up answering the fisherman's call. The dialogue went up to fifteen minutes. At that the assistant switched off the player.

"That will be the first part of the scene," said Oda, "The props for this scene will be a few tables to make a market and some plastic fish. Sakuragi-san, you need to syncronize your movement to fit with the dialogue."

"Got it," Hanamichi called giving the thumbs up.

"Now comes Basteel, Karl and Axel" The player started again and evil sounding voices can be heard jeering at the main character. At the word from the player, "Let's get him!" Mitsui and Miyagi rushed up to Hanamichi and began pounding and kicking the red-head who was surprised at the attack. Rukawa sauntered up to the fighting group but when he reached them he gave the same vicious attack the two was giving to the red-head, probably with more force.

Ayako slapped her forehead, Kogure sighed and Akagi began folding up the sleeves of his shirt; a beginning of a head-bash treatment.

"Eheh...they are very into it, aren't they?" Oda called up to the three seniors.

"You have no idea how much," Ayako replied.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was a full house that night at the auditorium. The actors were getting ready behind the curtains, each of them feeling very nervous.

"Relax everybody," Kogure told them to ease their nervousness, "it'll be easy. We had plenty of practice. Just act and then later we can get our money."

"Easy for you to say," Miyagi grumbled tugging at his costume for the nth time, "You won't be out there on stage."

"You are an embarrasment! Look at me! I'm not nervous at all!" laughed Hanamichi.

Miyagi pulled the curtain a little, showing off the crowded place. All of Shohoku and some people from outside Shohoku was there, eager to see the star basketball team of Shohoku act. Their popularity have shot up after the IH tournaments.

The pierced boy let go of the curtain and turned back to Hanamichi who had now turned frozen, "You were saying?"

"Sakuragi?" Kogure called to the shocked boy worriedly, "Oh no! Now you've done it!"

Suddenly the red-haired's body was forcefully pushed forward and he fell to the floor angry. Hanamichi turned around and saw Rukawa lifting his extended foot back down after the kick.

"Do'aho," was all Rukawa said to him before he turned back to the others, "We will not ruin our reputation because of one play."

"That's right!" they said, confidence flamed by Rukawa's simple words, "We'll show them a play they'll never forget!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The play went along fine at first. The first scene where the three bad guys hit the main character was done with enthusiasm as expected. Plastic fish were flying everywhere and the table prop nearly toppled down in the fight. The bullies walked away laughing (with the exception of Rukawa) with some plastic fish in their hands leaving a wounded (in reality) boy on the stage. After the curtains fell down to end the scene, an angry voice can be heard from backstage, "COME BACK HERE AND I'LL FIGHT YOU FOR REAL THIS TIME!" and a scuffle was heard to hold back the enraged boy who was now sporting a few bruises and cuts.

With the exception of Miyagi growling everytime Hanamichi held hands with Ayako, the middle part of the play went by without any trouble. Hanamichi and Ayako were walking off of the stage to end the scene and the curtains were brought down when suddenly Ayako slipped on the steps before she managed to catch herself.

"Ayako! Are you alright?" Miyagi cried running up to her.

"I... I think so...." Ayako said trying to stand up but a sharp pain in her ankle forced her to sit back down on the floor again,"......I think not..."

"What happened?" Oda asked them.

"I...I think I twisted my ankle," Ayako winced.

"Oh no! What'll we do?! No one else can play Urea!" moaned Oda.

"What about her subsitute?" asked Akagi coming up.

"She called in earlier saying that she got the flu. I said that it was ok since I didn't think that anything would go wrong," Ayako told him.

"Isn't there anyone else who could play Ayako's part?" Hanamichi asked.

"The only people who helped me practice Urea's character were Akagi and Kogure," Ayako said suddenly after a thought.

"Hmm...what if..." Miyagi trailed off before snatching a wig from a box of props, "One of you guys can become Urea!"

BASH!

"Ouch!" cried out Miyagi clutching at his head.

"BAKA! I am not going to become a girl!" Akagi yelled.

Oda, Miyagi, Kogure, Hanamichi and Ayako tried to envision Akagi in a long black wig with make-up and a gown.
"I agree," coughed Oda, "I don't think you'll make a believable girl."

Suddenly, Rukawa walked up with Mitsui, ready to play the scene where they kill Lille in front of Urea.

Kogure's face lit up. "Rukawa!" he said pulling at the boy's arm, "When Akagi and I helped Ayako with her role, you were around to listen, were you not?"

"So?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After a few minutes they managed to get Rukawa in Urea's costume. He protested at first but Akagi reminded him that Urea's absence will most certainly affect the play and not to mention the reputation of the team. Of course, the threat of Rukawa riding the bench for five games also managed to get Rukawa to make his mind up. With the help from Ayako, the costume was modified with extra cloth from the prop box to fit in Rukawa's height and after she applied some make-up on the boy's face and the long black wig.....

"Rukawa! You look gorgeous!" Miyagi hooted.

"Ahahah! Your beauty is a girl's beauty! I would hang my head in shame if my masculinity is at stake in front of all of Shohoku!" Hanamichi laughed.

Rukawa laid a punch on Hanamichi's face. The red-head sat up dazed, with another new bruise at his cheek, and then glared angrily at his rival.

"You were saying about my masculinity?" Rukawa asked slowly.

Before Hanamichi could launch himself on Rukawa, Mitsui asked with a non matter-in-fact tone, "Hey, isn't Lille and Urea supposed to kiss in this scene?"

Hanamichi instantly went pale.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

More than a few minutes later they managed to get Hanamichi to get on with his role as Lille. They compromised that the two won't have to kiss because Urea's long hair would fall covering their faces in that scene. All they have to do is to get close enough to make it believable. Kogure as Rukawa's substitute took the role of Basteel.

"Ladies and gentleman," Oda called out to the audience, "I apologise for the delay. Due to some unavoidable technical problems, there are some changes in the cast. Playing Basteel will be Kogure Kiminobu and Urea, the beauty will be played by Rukawa Ka-" suddenly he was cut off by a hand shooting from behind the curtains and pulling half of his body into the closures of the backstage. He emerged a moment later all flustered and continued, "....uh Rukawa Kanako"

"Huh? Rukawa Kanako?" Yohei said in surprise, "Is she Kaede's sister or something?"

"I didn't know Rukawa-kun has a sister. Or maybe she's his cousin," wondered Haruko. She was sitting together with her two friends on her left side and the Sakuragi Gundan on her left.

Then the curtains were pulled up and Hanamichi appeared together with a beautiful girl who was as tall as he was.

"Wow!" Yohei whistled, "What a babe!"

Haruko's eyes widened. She must be Rukawa-kun's sister to have his same height.
Nevertheless she hissed to Yohei, "Hush! They're starting now."

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

The couple on the stage was peacefully enjoying the scenery when suddenly three people appeared and starting harassing them. Full of anger, Basteel took out a dagger and stabbed Lille in the chest. Urea cried out running towards her husband.

"Lille, my love, please don't leave me! I can cure you!" weeped Urea laying her dying husband on her lap.

"I knew it! They ARE practitioners of the black arts!" spat Basteel.

"No, Urea, no," coughed out Lille, "I'm far too wounded to be cured. Please, don't weep for me. Go and live a new life away fom here. I have suffered in this place long enough and I don't want you to do the same."

"I... I can't...." sobbed Urea.

"Hush, my love," said Lille weakly clutching his bleeding chest with his hand and lifting his other hand towards the beauty's lips, "Now give me one final kiss before I leave."

Urea closed her eyes and leaned down sobbing brokenly.

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

"Get closer!" hissed Ayako from behind the curtains.

"Any closer and we'll have our noses touching!" hissed Hanamichi back.

"Get closer or it'll be the bench for both for ten games!" threatened Akagi who was standing beside the manageress, his character not needed for that part of the scene.

Rukawa leaned more closer letting Hanamichi's fingers touch his face. Then he descreetly let the long tresses of the wig fall down to cover their faces.

The player played a sad poem while the couple was to kiss. Hanamichi was forced to look at Rukawa's face looming in above him. His fingers felt the soft skin of Rukawa's face as he looked at his eyes. It was the nearest he has ever been with Rukawa and the blue eyes held him captive with wonder. The warmth of Rukawa's body enveloped him as the boy kept his arms around him to support him.

Rukawa looked at Hanamichi thoughtfully. He usually see the red-head as an egotistical fool of a monkey but now he sees differently. Hanamichi was looking at him with those brown eyes which normally looked at him in challenge, hate or suspicion. This time they seemed to reflect innocence as the red-head looked at him in .... wonder? Hanamichi's cheeks had suddenly acquired a red tinge making him look endearing as the red-head's fingers slowly moved to caress his lips.

Hanamichi's mind was already in a dazed state that he did not reject Rukawa's lips closing up on his own. In fact he closed his eyes and looped his arms around Rukawa's neck bringing him closer to feel more of those lips that felt soft under his touch. It wasn't as soft as he had thought but the firmness made him go breathless.

Ayako, Akagi and Oda looked from behind the curtains pleased. Although the wig was covering the couple's faces, their movements made everyone in the audience believe that they were making out.

"I never thought they could do it" Ayako said relieved, "they make it look so believable!"

"Hmm.. I think its near the time where Lille takes his last breath and Urea cursing the village to a wasteland," said Oda listening to the poem being played.

They waited for a certain verse and then looked at Hanamichi and Rukawa. To their surprise the two was still locked in an embrace. Then they panicked when the poem had ended but the two seemed to not be making a move to continue the play.

"Rukawa! You're supposed to get up and curse the village now!" hissed Ayako frantically.

Rukawa instantly lifted his head and looked up at Kogure, Mitsui and Miyagi in surprise. Then he managed to get the cold mask back on as he slowly placed Hanamichi (who quickly shut his eyes to fake death) on the floor and stood up.

***********

The village master came running up to them and demanded for an explanation for the scene before his eyes. Urea looked at him and said calmly, "Your son has killed my husband. Now I ask you, sir, what you will do about it."

The village master slapped his son on the face in anger before slowly turning back to the young widow, "I am sorry for your loss. We will have a trial and..."

"And the villagers will condemn me of witchcraft and he will go scott free!" spat Urea, "Even if there were witnesses the people will side with them. How can they believe me when the only witnesses to my husband's death are those two and the murderer himself!"

"Now see here..!" began the village master.

"No, you hear, sir, and all of you. Pass my message around the village that I curse this land to become a waste. The land will become too infertile that nothing will be able to grow here, even grass! This is to pay back for all the suffering that you have given us all this time," declared the angry beauty.

"And how in God's name will you do that?" jeered Basteel although a note of nervousness was heard in his voice and seen by the way he held himself.

"By my blood," said Urea coldly as she slit her own throat. Then she dropped dead beside her dead husband.

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

A few squemish girls from the audience shrieked from the act and shrieked louder when the sound of a thunderclap was heard as if sealing the fate of the village. The curtains came down at the end of the scene and when it came up again, the two main characters were replaced by extras to join Kogure, Mitsui, Miyagi and Akagi as villagers. Akagi and a three extras acting as the village elders took the centre stage talking to themselves.

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

"The crops have all withered and died suddenly. Even the grass is gone leaving our livestock to die in hunger. The seas have become too rough and other than Lille no one dares to go catch any fish," an elder said.

"We should move and find another place to live. This place had become a wasteland!" another elder commented.

The village master came down on one knee and placed his hand on the ground.
"Look at it," he told them, "Even the colour of the soil has changed to a rusty brown. As if blood has seeped into the soil and dried up preventing all life from living."

He finally stood up and sighed, "The land where we have lived for ten generations has now been reduced to a wasteland. The curse was our undoing."
Slowly he walked away trailed by the elders to call upon the people for finding another place to live.

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

The curtains came down and instantly the audience clapped and cheered. The curtains came up again showing the actors all lined up on stage giving them a final bow and the crowd cheers became more louder. After a few minutes the curtains came down again and the happy people on stage gave each other hugs, high fives and pats on the back.

"Woho! That was great!" Mitsui exclaimed, "I never thought acting in front of a live audience could give you such a rush! I could do this again!"

"Speak for yourself," said Akagi in a cold tone. The play has added pressure to him other than leading the basketball team, since he always has to keep Mitsui and the three juniors to behave everytime they feel the need to hit at each other during rehearsals.

"The play is a big success because of the tensai's brilliant acting!" Hanamichi boasted to them.

"Yeah," Miyagi agreed, nodding solemnly, "you looked good lying dead."

"Of course, I..... Matte!" Hanamichi yelled.

"Oi Hanamichi!" called out a familiar voice.

Hanamichi turned around to see Yohei squeezing his way through the people on the stage with the Sakuragi Gundan on tow.
"You looked good out there!" Yohei praised slapping Hanamichi at the back.

"Why, thank you Yohei! Now here's a guy who knows talent when he sees one!"

"So, where's the tall beauty?" asked Noma looking around.

"Huh?" Hanamichi looked at him dumbfounded.

"Y'know, the girl who became Urea at her last scene," Takamiya reminded him.

"Oh! THAT girl! Hehehe! She's... owww!"
Ayako stomped on his foot grinding it thoroughly as she spoke, "She's gone to change and then she'll have to go straight home."

"Is that true?" Ookusu asked disappointedly.

"Not unless you want them to believe that you were so lovey-dovey with Rukawa on stage, you better play along," reminded Ayako under her breath so that only Hanamichi could hear her.

"Uh... yeah, that's right," Hanamichi said quickly.

"Hey Hanamichi! I didn't know even the guys have to wear make-up in a play," Yohei said suddenly.

"Yeah we have to so that our faces wouldn't look too pale in the spotlight. Why? Do you have a problem with that?" Hanamichi asked, daring him to laugh.

"Heck no! It's smudged though," Yohei grinned.

"What?"

"The lipstick."

Hanamichi's face became red as he quickly rubbed off the remaining artificial colour from his lips. "Uh, must've smudged it on something earlier on," he mumbled from behind his sleeve.

"But didn't you kiss..."

"Hey, gotta go! I need to change and go back home!" Hanamichi said quickly rushing past the crowd towards the dressing room.

"But aren't you going to join us at the party later?" Kogure called to him.

"Nah! All of you just go ahead! It's getting late and I want to get to bed early. Oyasumi nasai!"

He was gone before anyone could say anything else.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Once Hanamichi arrived at the dressing room he shut the door and leaned back on it as he heaved a big sigh of relief.

Then he stopped in shock when he saw Rukawa standing in front of him. The boy had already changed out of his costume and his backpack was slung over on his back.

"Uh.. you're not coming to the party?" Hanamichi asked when he finally came back to his senses.

"I don't like parties," Rukawa answered. There was no trace of emotion on the boy's face that Hanamichi have in abundant at that moment.

"About the... umm... kiss... uh... I... "

"Just forget about it."

Hanamichi looked up at the fox-eyed boy and turned his head down, mumbling under his breath, "Yeah, but you were a damn good kisser."

Rukawa's eyebrow arched up surprise, "So that means you have kissed before?"

"Huh? No! Uh... I... shit!" Hanamichi cursed himself knowing that he was already turning as red as his hair. He had no idea that Rukawa would hear that!

"Then how do you know I kissed that well, do'aho," snorted Rukawa.

"I... uh... T-Temme! What did you call me!"
Automatically Hanamichi went for Rukawa and grabbed his collar to pull him close.
"You try and call me that again you... " Hanamichi stopped realising that they were again as physically close as they were during their final act on stage.

That feeling came back again to Hanamichi as he stared into those intense blue eyes, feeling the warm steady breath of Rukawa on his face. Again he did nothing as Rukawa leaned forward and brushed his lips onto his own. The dark-haired boy pulled back for a moment and then kissed the red-head longer this time. Rukawa decided to change tactic and opened his mouth to touch his tongue on Hanamichi's lips.

Hanamichi felt the the moist tongue playing along his lower lip and he gasped, opening his mouth involuntarily. When Rukawa managed to find and tease Hanamichi's tongue for a duel, they were already breathing heavily and at last they parted in need for air.

"Why are you doing this? Why am I doing this? I mean we're both guys!" Hanamichi asked breathlessly.

"Because I like it," Rukawa said and although he was trying to keeping his tone natural he was panting lightly.
"You don't like it?"

"Well... I... I do but... I mean... you... me..."

"If you like it then there's no problem, right?" Rukawa stated it more than a question and kissed him again.

Hanamichi broke the kiss after a few moments and asked in a ragged breath, "Are you sure you haven't kissed before?"

"Natural talent I guess. Looks like there is more than one skill I am better at than you."

"Hmph! You dare challenge the tensai?! I'll show you a true natural talent!" Hanamichi declared grabbing Rukawa's face for another kiss. Hanamichi's kiss was careless and uncoordinated but he made up the lack of talent for enthusiasm. Rukawa groaned from the passionate action and gasped when Hanamichi lost his balance and hit the door forcefully onto his back, pulling Rukawa with him still in lip-lock.

Rukawa placed his hands on the door at the sides of Hanamichi's face as he tried to steady himself when suddenly he heard voices coming dimly from outside. His conciousness was already full of the red-head under him and he just ignored it but when the doorknob was jiggled and a knock sounding from the door, the two jumped away from the door and each other quickly.

The door swung open and Mitsui, Miyagi, Akagi and Kogure walked in.

"Hey," Mitsui asked Rukawa and Hanamichi, "why was the door locked?"

"It... it wasn't locked," Hanamichi told them trying to control his breathing.

"But I tried trying to push it open and it won't budge," Mitsui told them curious.

"Forget about the door. It's probably broken or something," Akagi said, "Now hurry up and change if you want to go to that party."

"Rukawa. Aren't you coming?" asked Kogure looking at the pale-faced boy. But somehow at that moment his face looked less... pale.

"No, I don't think so," he stated evenly. "Oyasumi nasai," he told them as he bowed and then walked out.

Hanamichi tried not to stare at Rukawa's back as the boy walked away. He quickly changed and bid the others a good night before rushing out to see if he can catch up to the fox-eyed boy.

He did not have to go far because just at the corner of the gate outside the auditorium stood Rukawa. Hanamichi grinned and began jogging up to him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Inside the auditorium, actors mingled with their fans and friends. Drinks flowed and food passed around as they talked and laughed. Outside a few metres away two figures walked side by side enjoying the night air and just each other's presence. It wouldn't have been possible before but that has changed. All because of one play.



~THE END~

P/S: Whatcha think? I'm kinda unsatisfied with it, 'coz I can't seem to fit Hanamichi's crush on Haruko in here ... but what the heck. I'm already tired with it and I want to finish it off quickly.

P/SS: The idea of the story for the play I had taken from a Malaysian tale called "Mahsuri's Curse". In that story the ending of the beauty (Mahsuri) is more gruesome, believe me *wince*. And I think it was a true tale. I think those near the region of M'sia has heard of it?

P/SSS: If anyone knows, do you write after the P/S : (1) P/SS or (2)PP/S?