"Thank-you so much for walking me home!" said Tohru. She, Yuki, Kagura, Hatsuharu and Isuzu were walking through town after picking up Tohru from her night at work.
"Not at all, Honda-san," replied Yuki. "It's not safe for you to be walking alone at this hour."
"Yeah, no problem," added Hatsuharu. Beside him, Isuzu cast Tohru an awkward glance, but didn't say anything.
"And it's fun hanging out with you!" Kagura smiled. The two girls walked alongside one another with Yuki between themselves and Hatsuharu, who was beside Isuzu.
"Uh,do you mind if we stop here?" asked Haru. He was pointing to a restaurnat. "I have to go."
He said it so bluntly Kagura laughed aloud, earning a harsh sideways look from Isuzu.
"Sure, why not?" Kagura smiled.
"Yuki," said Haru. "I'll get lost if you don't go with me."
Yuki sighed, then turned to the girls. "Will you be all right without us for a few minutes?"
Tohru and Kagura nodded, Isuzu ignored the question. Yuki and Haru went inside leaving the girls to an awkward silence.
"So," said Tohru. "Nice weather we had today, wasn't it?"
Kagura laughed tightly. "Um, it rained today Tohru-chan. Don't you remember? Kyo was in such a horrible mood today."
"Oh!" Tohru reddened slightly. "You're right."
Before another awkward silence could esue, Isuzu looked past Kagura and Tohru and demanded "What the hell do you want?"
Tohru and Kagura turned to see four large, scruffy looking men standing a few feet behind them.
"Hey, chill out, sweet cheeks." The one who spoke was obviously the leader. "We just wanna say hi."
"Then I guess you can go now," replied Isuzu coldly.
"Aw, come on," said another. His words were slurred, revealing a slight drunkenness. "We were waiting while your dates went inside."
Tohru and Kagura took a step back towards Isuzu, causing attention to shift to them.
"oh? And what's this?" the leader leaned in close and Tohru could smell the cigarettes on his breath. "Two pretty little things like you being ignored? That ain't right!" His friends laughed as he reached out and grabbed Kagura's wrist.
Isuzu pulled back her arm and punched him square in the jaw. He released Kagura's arm and stepped back. "What the hell?!" he yelled, spitting blood. His friends stepped forward, menacingly.
"Don't you dare touch her," warned Isuzu. Kagura, being held my Tohru, looked up at Isuzu with gratitude and fear.
"All right, all right," he continued, recovering casually. "What do you say you ditch the losers then?"
"Well, you just kind of wandered over here on your own, didn't you?" replied Isuzu.
"Ooh, cheeky." He was completely undaunted and was about to take hold of Kagura again when when Yuki and Haru came out of the restaurant.
"Hey, Rin!" called Haru. "Who're you talking to?"
Before she could reply, the leader cut her off. "She was just saying how she'd like to ditch you and come with - ARRGHH!!"
He was silenced by a sharp blow to the knee administered by Kagura. "Don't you dare say that!" she cried angrily. "Don't you dare lie about her, you disgusting scum!"
Yuki and Haru moved in front of the girls as the gang advanced. The leader charged Haru, but before he could even raise his fists, Haru went Black and created at least four new meanings for the word 'violent'.
One latched onto Yuki's back, only to be thrown off and kicked into a wall. Haru picked up the leader and hurled him into a nearby alley, mutilating several trash cans. The other two, having had absolutly no martial arts training whatsoever, fled into the night.
The leader raised himself from the pile of garbage and glared at Haru.
"Stay where you belong, trash," warned Haru. He took Isuzu's hand and Yuki took hold of the stunned Tohru and Kagura, pulling tham back to Shigure's house.
When I wrote this, I mostly wanted to use some of these smart comebacks. Particularly Isuzu's "You just kind of wandered over here on your own, didn't you?" and Haru's line "Stay where you belong, trash."
I remember reading something in the manga about Isuzu being awkward with Kagura, so I guess I was working at releiving that a bit when I had them stand up for each other.
