The Long Awaited Date [Hiro]

[Hinata Hyuga]

Hinata was almost four hours into her work shift. Only one hour left. In her fitted cream colored polo shirt and brown dress pants, the kunoichi walked down the back of the lanes sweeping up dropped food, tracked in dirt, and assorted debris left by the bowlers. A few lanes down, a pair of bowlers started to get angry with each other and pushing the heavy stone balls into each other. Soon enough one threw the ball into the return and stormed off, the other walking off after him still arguing.

Through the P.A. built into the Console, the manager called Hinata. "Hey, throw the ball down the lane there so we can clear the board. After that you can come clock out." Hinata pressed the button and told her okay through the P.A. going to the lane, she grabbed one of the balls and stopped. This was the first time she held a bowling ball. She was just placed here in this job to give her something to occupy her self. She seemed to have a need to work. She wasn't sure why though. She saw how the other's bowled and took a similar stance. her right foot in a 45 degree angle set behind her left foot at a mirrored angle,placed in a T formation. She brought the ball up to her face, looking just over the top of the ball. Fingers in the appropriate grip and her left hand helping to steady and support the weight. taking a deep breath, she started her approach, swinging her arm back and releasing it down the side of the lane. The rotation of the ball curved it inward and hit between the one and the two pins sending a cascading ripple through the pyramid toppling all the pins. That was what she was supposed to do after all right?

[Ichiro Yoshi]

Hiro had been at the bowling alley for several hours, actually. When they'd actually discussed the whole date thing, he'd sort of kind of missed the whole actual time for when the date was supposed to happen. He knew it was after school, and he knew he was supposed to be meeting Hinata at the bowling alley, but he'd had one of his infamous blackouts right when she'd mentioned the whole three hours part.

Which meant that the poor boy had gotten there way before Hinata could have possibly left. Instead of seeking her out directly, Hiro had approached her boss, some leftover idea of manners having told him that was what you did when you were going to pick up a girl. Said boss had pointed out that Hinata still had most of her shift to do, then chuckled at Hiro's obvious discomfort, before promising to try and get Hinata off a little early. Of course, that also meant that a rumor would swirl that the shy Asian girl had a "hot date."

Hiro wouldn't have exactly called himself "hot." He still wasn't entirely sure how to handle himself. He felt like he hadn't worried much about dressing, and he knew full well that he hadn't had hair before his Shift. So he generally just guessed at how he should dress and style his hair, mostly basing it off magazines and stuff he'd found off the internet. He did have the benefit of having a ninja's body though: all lean with hard muscles. Over that he'd opted for something simple: a button up shirt and a pair of denim jeans. The shirt was mostly white with a blue dragon crawling over the sides, which felt somehow right to the young man. The jeans were the skinny sort, and "acid washed" which as near as Hiro could tell meant "worn." At least they had pockets for his weapons, so that was a plus.

Hiro was, however, in a good position to watch as Hinata bowled. His eyes widened and he offered some applause when the pins went scattering. "Great job, Hinata! That's, what, a strike, right?" he grinned, rising and taking a few steps toward her. He looked down the lane, his smile widening. "Looks like you're better at this game than I am, that's for sure."

[Hinata Hyuga]

Hinata had noticed Hiro through her shift, but because she was the type that did what she needed to during a mission or assignment and ignored pretty much everything else, she didn't spend any time looking around and chatting. This was her first day on the job after all. His arrival early and asking her boss when she got off gave her boss the ammo she needed to tease the new hire. From the time Hinata clocked in at the computer, she took every opportunity to mention hot date, give her credit for scoring a boy that cute this quickly, and other such shots. Most noticably was when they were slow and both at the shoe counter, Mrs. Smith leaned over and asked if the two kissed yet. This caused Hinata to turn beat red and fall face first onto the counter with an obvious thunk.

After bowling the strike, she heard Hiro's clapping and compliment, she turned beat red again, but didn't collapse like before. "Th-thank you, Hiro-kun." she then had a quick paced walk back to the computer to grab her bag and sign out. Her manager came up behind her and handed her an envelope. "I normally don't do this, but here is your wages for today. I'll just deduct it from your check in three weeks. But since this is your second day in Tenebrae, you might need the funds." Hinata accepted the envelope with a small bow. Something that took the Manager by surprise but with a smile before sending her off with one more comment about getting some that they both could hear. This caused hinata to turn beat red yet again and wobble a bit, as she almost fell down. She was able to collect herself and walk over to her "hot date."

She was still in uniform when she approached him. "Sorry I made you wait so long. Smith-san told me about a...pizza joint...nearby that we can pick one up at." She stood close enough so her quiet voice could be heard over the sounds of a busy alley. Her hand came up and removed the rubberband from her hair letting it all go free before slipping on her hoodie and zipping it up.

[Ichiro Yoshi]

"You're welcome. Is there anything I can do to help?" offered Hiro, gesturing. He'd tried to make the offer earlier, but there hadn't been much of a response. Mostly because Hinata seemed focused, which Hiro definitely admired, but also because Hiro wasn't sure he should be offering. Hinata wasn't the only one feeling embarrassed, though Hiro was pretty sure that Hinata's manager kept staring at him in a manner not exactly comforting.

But apparently Hinata had everything under control. Hiro ended up heading for a stool, where he perched uncomfortably while Hinata finished packing up and getting her pay. Hiro ended up getting slightly distracted, first by what he thought was a Space Heroes pinball game (it wasn't), then by a handful of girls who had decided that staring was a good idea. Hiro had just turned from them when Hinata showed up, and his smile couldn't have been larger.

"Don't worry; I'm the one who, uh, messed up the times and stuff," offered Hiro. He rubbed at the back of his head for a few moments, his smile turning slightly bashful. All such presentation ended at the mention of pizza. You'd have thought Hinata had suggested they go make out, judging by Hiro's expression. "Yeah, I totally know the place. I walked past it on the way here, and there's totally good food there. don't worry, I can definitely pay for it," he dug into his pocket, producing a handful of coins, mostly marked "5." "I've been saving up since I got here. You know," he shrugged, "eating rice and cafeteria food and stuff."

Wow, did that sound lame. Flushing, Hiro shoved his hand and the money back into his pocket. "So, yeah, you want to head out? Did you, uh, want to get changed first or something?" Hiro shifted, looking toward the door, then at the manager, who, along with a handful of other employees, was quite obviously watching. Didn't they have work to do or something?

[Hinata Hyuga]

Hinata just pushed the hand back and pocketed the envelope in her hoodie's front pocket. "That won't be necessary. I said that I would get it when we were at the lake." She was slightly worried if he was saving up like that. She knew deep with her core that nutrition was essential for keeping fit. And if he was training like at the lake, then he would need all the strength he could. Her train of though was broken by the question if she needed to change. "Oh, I didn't bring spare clothes. I'm just going to change back at home." As she walked to the door, she stopped and looked back to her manager, giving her a little bit of an evil eye that sent her and the other girls back to work. She was going to get it for sure tomorrow at work, but they had thier stuff they had to do and hopefully they saw how mission oriented she was.

Looking down the street she saw a video rental store right next to the pizzaria. "I hope you know what is good on a pizza. I've never had one before." She also looked to him. "Should we rent the videos first or get the pizza?"

[Ichiro Yoshi]

Hiro managed to look almost scarily determined for a few moments: "I can afford it, really. I want to treat you and... stuff. That's what guys are supposed to do," and the way he said it made it sound as though he fully believed it. He even nodded confidently, holding it for a few moments while there was debate about dressing only to realize that he might have just put his foot in his mouth. Play it cool, Hiro, play it cool ran through his head. He just needed to keep moving, act like this was totally cool. everything was cool. Cool as ice.

There was movement, outward movement, and what Hiro thought was a glare or a look or something that he really hoped didn't have much to do with him. He shot a look of wonderment over his shoulder, only to get what he swore was a wink from the manager. What was with people? Especially people here, they were all... weird.

"What?" was Hiro's intelligent response to Hinata's query. He swallowed and looked up at the shop. Make a decision, you can---OH CRAP INCOMING--- A flash, everyone looking to him as he held up his hand. He could make the decisions; he was a leader, the leader, and being the leader meant taking responsibility and--and he was standing on the street, blinking. Hiro tried to recall if he'd heard anything, maybe a plan about getting the pizza and the movies? Hiro looked up, seeing the two stores side by side. Yeah, that had to be it.

"We should order the pizza," Hiro pointed at the restaurant, trying to look authoritative, "and while it's cooking, we can go pick out some videos," Hiro was totally planning on looking up the first season of Space Heroes. Hinata must experience it. Must.

[Hinata Hyuga]

Hinata gave him a look when he mentioned doing one while the other cooked. She was not aware it took so long to make this pizza. Now she knew why it cost more than a bowl of ramen. When he finished pointing out the locations, she nodded and walked over down the sidewalk, amking sure to keep pace with him.

Her lack of dating knowledge had no root in the fact she forgot everything of her life before. She thought this was just her first date in tenebrae, but truly this was her first date ever. She had no instincts or muscle memory to rely on and this left her feeling a little more vulnerable than usual. Though for some reason, standing next to Hiro, she still smiled. This smile didn't mitigate her usual shrinking nature as her arms were folded in front of her. As they came to the crosswalk, the Jitterbug in her pocket went off with the basic ringtone. She pulled out the bluetooth earbud, which honest felt more comfotable to her than placing the device up to her head. Clicking the button, she answered the phone. "Hello?... Smith-san?.........Yes I am with him." There was a pause and her face went immediatly beat red and her glasses dropped further down her face. When she looked over to Hiro, she seemed to stumble a bit and immediatly clicked the bluetooth off and removed it stuffing it in her pocket. the blush would not go away though.

[Ichiro Yoshi]

Hiro had nodded and kept moving, more or less. It wasn't going to take long before they'd get to their destination, and just when they'd landed outside the pizza place, he heard the jingle. While Hiro didn't have a Jitterbug of his own (he'd had another communicator on him when he Shifted, and he still kept it on his shelf, mostly out of nostalgia; it hadn't produced more than static since he'd gotten here), he certainly recognized the tone. After all, it was the official phone of Tenebrae Estates.

Smith-san? Or was that Smithson? Hiro felt the urge to ask, a little pang of something that definitely felt like jealousy, not that Hiro was an expert in sorting out his feelings toward girls. In fact, he seemed to recall having awkward conversations with people about girls. Weird. weirder still: the memory that came with that involved a freckled redhead who didn't appear to be a mutant anything. Did Hiro actually have a normal person in his past?

"Ready to head in?" he asked, turning to Hinata. Hiro pointed over his shoulder, indicating the pizza place, just in case that wasn't already obvious. He tried a smile too, though he really was trying to act cool, even if part of him was wondering who this Smithson guy was. wasn't his place to pry, really.

[Hinata Hyuga]

Hinata nodded and took a deep breath in trying to collect her thoughts. After stepping in they found themselves without a line in front of them. The menu board was quite noticeable, though the reaction of Hiro's face anytime pizza was mentioned seemed like he was an afficienado for the food. Walking up to the counter, she pulled out her pay envelope and pulled out a twenty, keeping it discreet so the untrustworthy couldn't have an opening. Not knowing a thing about pizzas, she just turned to her date and smiled lightly, trying to let the blush completely recede. "Why don't you order your favorite? I know nothing of these pizzas, other than they are a type of pie."

The cashier was a little confused by this, sort of having a look of 'Who doesn't know what a pizza is? Is she from another planet?' But he just stood there looking to Hiro to decide.

[Ichiro Yoshi]

Hiro held the door open and stepped aside, letting Hinata in first. He soon followed, and the smell of pizza flung several memories into the forefront of his mind. Thankfully, Hiro had practice working around them. He managed to actually walk forward even while getting bombarded by flashes of what appeared to be humanoid turtles arguing over pizza. By the time Hinata turned to him, Hiro was totally in the world, so much so that he was able to nod to her and smile.

"It's not that hard, even my brother could do it, and he was a bit, uh, slow," offered Hiro. He gestured to a menu that hung overhead. "There's the various toppings they put on pizza. You pick what you want, tell it to that guy," Hiro gave "that guy" a look that indicated that acting as though explaining pizza was weird would end in a brutal beating, "what you want, and he fills out the order. The pizza's, like, this thing with meat and cheese and stuff. It's awesome."

Hiro nodded confidently, complete with folded arms across his chest. This, he could do in his sleep. He looked up at the menu, his eyes scrolling. Strange, but he didn't see marshmallows or bologna or any of the things he seemed to remember his brother ordering. Just normal stuff, which Hiro was definitely behind. "Pepperoni's usually a safe bet," he offered, pointing, "but I'll eat whatever. My brother put the weirdest stuff on it," Hiro shrugged a "what can you do" shrug before looking to Hinata. There was a "go ahead" gesture. This was important: she needed to experience ordering a pizza, and Hiro was there to make sure nothing went wrong.

[Hinata Hyuga]

Hinata nodded at the explaination. It was kind of like ramen in a way. Though it doesn't seem to have soup to it. After scanning the ingrediants list she looked back to the guy and offered him a smile. she then looked up to the menu board to go over the ingrediants without missing anything she may want. "Watashi wa gyūniku to ōkina piza o chūmon shitai to omoi, peparoni, pīman, harapēnyo, masshurūmu, painappuru, soshite yobun'na chīzu." When she lowered her gaze to find out the cost, she was met with another look of confusion. She then turned to Hiro and moved a little closer to him so she could whisper to him. "Watashi wa seikaku ni chūmon o shinakatta nodesu ka?"

it was the first time this had happened in the three days since she came to Tenebrae. Others could understand her without any problums normally. But now she seemed to have be misunderstood. Though she didn't realize it, her speech had shifted to Japanese suddenly. It all sound right to her. Though the shift would be over in a second.

SPOILER: Click to show

"I would like to order a large pizza with Beef, pepperoni, Green peppers, Jalapenos, Mushrooms, Pineapple, and extra cheese."
"Did I not place the order correctly?"

[Ichiro Yoshi]

For some reason, Hiro didn't immediately process that his companion had placed the order in Japanese. He heard the words, understood them, and was almost as confused as Hinata was. Why wasn't the guy processing their order? Sure, there had been a lot of toppings and stuff, but it wasn't anything unusual. It wasn't like Hinata had asked for blow-flies on her pizza or anything like that. Just the standards. Yet the guy was looking at her as though she'd kindly asked for meal-worm and marshmallow.

When Hinata turned to ask, Hiro finally caught it, caught the language. He wasn't even entirely sure where he'd picked it up. The Japanese just sounded normal to him at first. Now it was knocking loose a few memories, which whirled about, giving him this strange view of what looked eerily like a bearded rat in a kimono. He coughed into his fist, hoping to cover the strange thought, and gave Hinata a slightly apologetic look.

"You're speaking Japanese," he offered, keeping his voice low, low and completely English. "I understand it because... uh, I think my dad spoke it a lot or something," let's not mention the giant rat for now, "but he didn't get it," he jerked his head toward the guy, then smiled at him. "Sorry, there's, uh, stuff. Shifting and all that junk," he looked back to Hinata. "You want to try again or you want me to give it a go?"

[Hinata Hyuga]

Hinata blinked a couple times. She didn't even realize the shift in language. She then shook her head and turned back to the cashier and repeated. "I would like to order a large pizza with Beef, pepperoni, Green peppers, Jalapenos, Mushrooms, Pineapple, and extra cheese." The cashier was able to enter in the order into the computer this time. After asking her if there was anythning else, she just hook here head and stepped closer. When she was told the total as 18.73, she just pulled out one of the bills marked with a 20 and handed it over. Getting back the three coins back, they were told it would be about thirty minutes before it was done.

Hinata turned back to Hiro and looked to him. "I guess that is it?"

[Ichiro Yoshi]

{remember: coins; we don't have bills at Tenebrae}

Hiro listened to the repeated order, carefully taking in each and every word. It sounded right, but then again, it had pretty well sounded right the first time. Now, however, Hiro could tell that things worked. There was nodding and bills exchanged, and a time set. Hiro nodded and smiled at the guy, trying to apologize for the mishap without being too overt about it. Hinata turned to him, and Hiro nodded again.

"Right, so that will take a while," he jerked his thumb over his shoulder toward the video store, "why don't we head over and check out the video store? Figure out what we want to rent and stuff."

The video store here was a little weird though. They had Space Heroes, and a few other shows that Hiro recognized, but there were great sections of it that were... missing. Hiro figured that Hinata wouldn't notice anything amiss, this being her first time and all. Besides, they had to actually get there first, which wasn't going to happen if they kept standing in the pizza parlor. Hiro raised a hand to take Hinata's, thought better of it, and rubbed his hand against the leg of his jeans, frowning. He tried gesturing for her to take the lead, figuring he could at least do the right thing and hold the door or something.

Man, this dating thing was hard.

[Hinata Hyuga]

Hinata Looked out the door just nodded. "Sure." She caught Hiro's hand out the corner of her eye, and slowly moved her hand out to take his. It was apparently something done on dates. She remembered reading it somewhere, but not really remembering reading it. If that made sense. She moved closer as they went to the door, stepping out first as he held it open she looked to him with a smile.