I don't feel like Dancing
Some time ago, in an alternate universe:
"Dancing?" Shizue asked, staring over at Junko as she sat and studied yet another text that Emiko wanted her to read. She was getting through it alright, but it was pretty clear that the whole afternoon was shot, and considering she still had to act as the Dark Sorceress tonight, this was a bit of an annoyance.
Maybe, she thought, she was too used to the lax discipline of Reef teachers, the way they basically let their students do anything at all.
She looked over at Junko, who was wearing a skirt and a blouse, clearly trying to fit in with whatever she saw the dancing crowd as being like. Shizue's own clothing probably wasn't dancing fit, but it wouldn't matter that much.
What did matter was that she was busy.
"Yeah, dancing," Junko said, and then she began to do the Eri dance, with a look that said 'you remember what dancing is, right Shizue-chan?'
Shizue rolled her eyes, "But aren't we both busy?"
"We're never too busy to have fun," Junko said, "And it'll be informative. You can learn about dancing habits here. And… uh, how to move really fast and so on. C'mon, Shizue-sama…"
She looked at Shizue with big, wide eyes, "I bet there will even be new friends to meet. We could talk about friends and bond."
Shizue looked at those eyes for a little while, dark and slightly trembling, the whole of Junko's self held up in front of Shizue, in a way. The other girl was dressed to dance, and since Shizue didn't actually know what was appropriate dance-wear, then maybe she was too.
Standing up slowly, Shizue made her decision. "Sure, why not?"
*****
Rika was washing… what was that? Shizue looked at the scrubs and the water and saw greenish brownish reddish chunks of something slide off of it and despite having killed someone before, despite having seen blood and death, her stomach was churning.
"So, what do you say?"
"Right now? Right now I want to lay down in a bath and read poetry and dream that the thing I love isn't also a mess," Rika said.
"Wait, you love...oh, thing," Junko said, "Um, it's a mess?"
"A patient died on me today, got stabbed everywhere and I was chakra exhausted and they threw up on me as they died," Rika said, wincing at her own words, then looking down at what she was diligently watching.
"I know it must be hard to lose a patient--" Shizue began.
"Happens often enough," Rika said, "Despite everything we try. We get people in who can't afford it, so that means druggies and hard-luck cases go to us. The man was some two-bit thief probably, but he was screaming in pain when he got there."
Rika looked disturbed, and glanced off into the distance, "Cursing like he was a sailor."
Junko flushed, "But now's the time to forget that sort of thing, right? Bad things happen to everyone, and Yuichi said that you'd been complaining about him."
"Look, it's just that if he's going to workout and train taijutsu here, it's not that large of an apartment," Rika said, and then wrinkled her nose.
"The smell?" Shizue asked, remembering how the gym with Saya smelled sometimes.
"Yeah. And when I asked him about it he just said that maybe he should make a 'scent based' Genjutsu…"
"He meant," Junko protested, "So that you wouldn't smell the sweat and working out and so you'd both be happy."
Rika chuckled, "True, he isn't Seiichiro, who probably would do some sort of stink bomb genjutsu…"
Junko opened her mouth to defend her rival and then paused and said, "Okay...yes." She was flushing. "But think about it. You can get your mind off of all of that and meet some cute gu...irls. Girls."
"And are you going to meet someone cute?" Rika asked, rolling her eyes, "We're twelve and shinobi and we'll be gone from here in a few weeks. The chance of any of us dating anyone or even flirting if they are not one of us is nothing."
"Well, but there's looking?" Junko suggested, desperately, "Plus, I'm sure…"
Shizue coughed, blushing, "Are we really going to talk about this?"
"Maybe, I mean Yuichi talked to me about that stuff sometimes," Junko insisted, "I think? It seemed like it, though I hadn't really known…" she made wild gestures.
Shizue looked over at Junko who was clearly doing some form of interpretative dance to get the message across.
"Know what?" Rika asked, baffled.
Yuichi took that moment to step in, flushing, "It's nothing, Junko-chan. Haven't told them yet, not sure of it anyways."
"If it's Seiichiro, I'm telling you, he's not a...judgey, no that's not a word at all. Judge.. mental person," Junko argued.
Rika sighed, "We're talking about this."
"We could always cut it short by going ahead to the dancing," Shizue said.
"I agree though...what do you want to tell us?" Rika asked, and she leaned forward, looking at her scrubs and giving up for the moment in disgust, pulling her hands out. They were slick with blood and other things, so she hurried over to the sink to wash them.
Yuichi hesitated and looked at Rika, then at Junko, and then finally most nervously at Shizue. The boy, a scrapper and a half with bruises on his knuckles and a rough-hewn look even at the age of twelve, was nervous.
"What is it?" Shizue asked, "Not a big deal to tell us, is it?"
"Not really, I was just wondering if you already knew, or something," Yuichi said, "I rarely saw you around here.. .though perhaps that's because of Seiichiro-kun, I don't know."
"I've been busy," Shizue pointed out, "We all have, Yuichi-kun."
Yuichi nodded and stated in a plain, flat voice, "I'm not attracted to girls."
Oh, Shizue thought, then she realized the implications, or what was meant to be said by that, and she blurted out, "Oh… okay then." She flushed, aware that that was far from the best reaction, but Yuichi looked more confused than shocked.
"You aren't? Huh, well, are you attracted to guys?" Rika asked.
Yuichi thought, "Probably, yeah."
"...I guess that makes two of us?" Shizue offered, a weak note of humor amid her confusion. Not that it was a big deal, actually, though a part of her had been trained to see it as a big deal. The other part, though. "My mother actually had a friend who liked other men, so I'm not going to judge, and it'd be pretty silly for Rika-chan to judge you since…"
"Yeah," Yuichi said, "It's not really that important, though." He stretched slightly. "I mean, is it?" He popped his knuckles one by one and then did so again, and Shizue realized it was a nervous habit.
"No, it isn't," Shizue agreed. Whether or not it was didn't matter, since she knew what answer he wanted and needed. She hadn't really know Yuichi, and so the information didn't slot into anything except her memories of what people like him had gone through in Reef.
Junko looked thoughtful, and then she shook her head and said, "Wanna go with me and Shizue and Rika to go dancing?"
"...when did I agree?" Rika asked, then said, nervously, "I don't even have anything to wear…"
She paused, "Am I turning into Saya, Shizue-chan?"
Shizue chuckled, "No, no you aren't. We can wait a few minutes for her to change if she wants to go, right?"
"I guess… though time is of the essence. The flyer said that they close at six PM, and Shizue has to leave for the big theatre thing," Junko said.
Shizue frowned, something seemed off about that.
Rika eventually changed into a kimono that was somewhere between formal and informal, and Yuichi after a few moments of indecision just decided to continue to wear his own clothes, which were long pants and a plain white shirt, a style that was apparently popular but also just as apparently chosen because it was simple.
"Wait, we have one more person to get," Junko declared, "And then we shall be five."
******
Akachi opened the newspaper and pointed to where it said that the first pre-trials had begun for some of the leaders of Reef and Island. "You see this guy? Horrible jerk, sold people as slaves, he's going to go down hard and be hanged before the year is up." Akachi looked at the four of them and said, "That's about what dancing feels like to me: hemp fandango. Awkward and painful."
Rika rolled her eyes, "Quit the act, I've seen more horrible things today than you have, so you're not going to unnerve me."
Shizue, on the other hand, was a little startled, "Someone sold slaves in the Archipelago?"
"All the time," Yuichi said with a shrug, glancing over at Akachi, who blinked in surprise and looked closer at Yuichi, as if his casual demeanor held some new promise.
"Okay… well, wow," Akachi said, "Tough crowd. But seriously, that's what it'll be. A bunch of twelve year olds are going to go to some sort of nightclub in the middle of the day and dance?"
"I'm eleven," Junko pointed out, "And we're shinobi."
"Yes, yes," Akachi said, "But… seriously guys?" Akachi sighed and said, "Why don't we all just go out to eat instead? We can all argue until we pick the best place possible and blow all of our wages."
"That doesn't sound that interesting," Junko pouted.
"...you know I'm going to agree, and yet here we are, drawing out the misery because none of you can…"
"Go because it'll be more enjoyable than you think, and you can watch us try to learn new dances," Shizue said, "The music will also be interesting."
Akachi looked at her and crossed his arms, "Yeah, sure it will."
"And now practiced sarcasm," Rika said, annoyed.
Yuichi looked from Akachi to Rika to Shizue for a moment, fixing each of them with a level gaze, "We are on a deadline, aren't we?"
"Well, yes," Shizue said, "I do need to go to the theatre."
"Fine, then, but I'm not changing clothes," Akachi said, and then he paused, shifting his stance, "And I'm taking the newspaper. I need to stay informed."
*****
They walked down the street towards a part of town that was neither bad nor good. Instead, well, it was the entertainment district. On one edge of the district this meant gambling and shops for games and dancers and jugglers, and on the back ends were the liscened brothels, the gambling dens that were even less friendly...it was a two-faced world, Shizue supposed, and since she was an actor, well.
She knew it all too well.
This dance hall, at least, was on the right side of things, a wide, squat building that looked entirely and completely empty. There were no lights on, and Akachi looked at it and said, "Ah, yes, dancing."
Junko frowned, "What time is it? Did it close already?"
She hurried forward to look at the sign, and said, "Uh…"
Rika said, "It doesn't close at 6 PM, does it?"
"No…" Junko said in a small voice, "It… opens at 6 PM. But that's okay, we can…" she trailed off and turned to look at Shizue and her shoulders slumped even more. "No we can't, you have to leave Shizue-chan."
Akachi looked at her and then said, "Hey, just...don't worry, we can go to a sushi place nearby, it's of above average quality and I'd give it four out of five stars if I reviewed things for a newspaper…" he was babbling.
"And I bet it serves coffee?" Rika asked.
Junko chuckled, and Akachi nodded along, seeing what Rika was doing.
"We could always come another time," Yuichi said.
"But not with Shizue-chan," Junko pointed out.
"Well," Shizue offered, looking at Junko standing there on the cobbled street looking hopeless, "If you go out and learn the dances you could come back and teach me how to do them for whenever we next have a chance. This won't be our last city and thus it won't be our last dance hall."
Shizue was pretty sure she was telling the truth.
Junko smiled now and said, "Deal, Shizue-chan. I'll show you my moves for real next time…"
Akachi shook his head and Rika smiled faintly as they continued on towards Akachi's sushi place, though Shizue wondered the whole way what sort of restaurant sold both sushi and coffee.
Well, whatever worked.
That night, working the Dark Sorceress, she imagined the puppet dancing across the stage and smiled faintly and looked out into the audience, at the crowds of people, some young and some old, and considered that this wasn't that different than the dance hall, or at least she hoped it wasn't, because this was exposed and connected all at once.
Shizue supposed, with good humor, that dance moves would just have to be added to the list of things she studied tirelessly.
*****
A/N: So what does semi-canon mean? These events didn't happen (and indeed, some of it might be too compressed anyways) but the facts are true. If you'd bothered to talk to Yuichi even once, he'd probably have been willing to open up about his sexuality, but you didn't.
Other things are also facts, including how it's going in the Archipelago.
But the events of this didn't happen.
So, yeah.
Notably, this was written today in a bit of a rush, and I hope it qualifies as good fluff.
I have a Patreon now, and
@Sivantic comissioned me by donating $9. They'll get another next month, and what they asked for was, and I quote, "Shizue fluff." They then added that it should include Junko, so here we are.
Hope you enjoy the Omake. The actual update is tomorrow.
