The Amazon and the Fairy

“Isn’t this great?” Yugi yelled over music.

The Asian Goth glowered at him sending wave after wave of telepathic hate. Yugi thought if he didn’t lighten the mood quickly that he would be killed by her Medusa-like stare.

“C’mon…I mean we’re out amongst people…” He desperately tried to sound optimistic.

“Yugi.”

“So many different kinds of people in ones place. It’s awesome! And listen to that awesome music!” He pointed to a prep, then a emo, and then another Goth.

“Yugi.”

“Yeah?” Hope shined in the little boy’s eyes.

“I hate you.”

“Crash and burn,” Little Yugi sighed as he combed his lithe fingers through his mane, “How was I supposed to know you hated screamo?”

Nao’s death glare became even more intense, “The Flogging Molly and D’espairsray posters in my dorm…”

“You could have very diverse tastes! I know for a fact that you also like Happy Hardcore!” Yugi squeaked.

“The dart board in my room has a picture of Thursday on it! Each head has at least 2 darts in them. You know for very smart guy you aren’t that observant at times.”

“It’s a gift,” Yugi said sarcastically downing his soda.

“Screamo is reason enough why I shouldn’t have come to see your friend’s band.”

“You’re in luck then cause his band doesn’t play screamo music.”

“Oh thank fucking God.”

“They’re alternative kind of j-rock,” He glanced at the amount of non-emo looking folk who he knew were waiting for Jonouchi-kun’s band.

“More tolerable that screaming emo boys on stage,” Nao spat out which earned a few glares from the emos.

“Nao…please not now,” He groaned and grabbed her shoulders shaking her a few times, “For one minute can you not express your opinions in such a harsh manner? For one minute just keep you big mouth shut!”

“Wow, where’s the polite boy Imet at the beginning of the year?” She allowed the shorter one to shake her up and then tenderly plucked his hands from her shoulders, “Oh c’mon daddy I’m not that bad,” She said as she gave him her best puppy eyes look.

“I am not your father,” Yugi rolled his eyes.

She glomped him nearly bringing him down onto the club floor, “But daddy…you said you’d get me a pony! Don’t try to weasel your way out of it by telling me you’re not my father therefore to making me forget about your promise of getting me a beloved pony.”

“You’re weird.” He shook his head and decied played along for her amusement, “Not until you be a good little patient girl and talk to Jonouchi-kun’s sister after their set.”

“No weirder then you,” Nao joked and then said disgustedly. “Tch wait a sec, if his band is j-rock why are the emo freaks up there?”

“This particular club thought it would be a good idea to have a mixed bands night…unfortunately the mixtures of people like Goth, emo, and preps are causing this tension in the air,” Yugi pointed at a group of Goths and sorority girls glaring at each other.”

“For good reason too.”

“Not all emos are bad,” Yugi playfully punched her arm, “Just like I learned not all Goths are poetic freaks of nature who share characteristics with those of vampires.”

“Meh…I guess its cause I’ve met too many melodramatic attention whores in my lifetime,” Nao looked at her small companion seriously, “And I for one would like to be compared to a werewolf rather than a vampire because of my love for raw meat.”

“Sashimi doesn’t count Nao.”

“Awww,” She gave him the sad kitty eyes treatment this time, “But daddy how else will I be special?”

He stood on his tip toes and patted her head gently, “But honey you’re already special. That’s why you ride the short bus.”

“Yeah fuck you,” Nao pushed him playfully.

Yugi gave his friend a broad grin, “You walked right into that one and you know it.”

“Thank you! You all have been a great audience!” The current vocalist on stage yelled.

“Should’ve boo’ed them then,” Nao said in regret.

Yugi elbowed her side, “Not now, besides Jonouchi-kun’s band is up next.”

“Now please give a warm welcome to Red Contacts!”

“Whooo!!!” Yugi cheered and whistled loudly, “Yeah!”

Nao clapped out of respect, “Yay…I am oh so excited.”

A wiry blond with poofy hair man wearing a short sleeved blue shirt with a white undershirt and hip hugging jeans stepped up to the mic. Even though he had a lithe frame there were hints of muscle on those arms. His smile was equivalent to that of a 1000 watt light bulb. Honey colored eyes captivated a good portion of the females in the front row probably a few men too.

“Thanks to Bleed for warming you guys up!” The blond said excitedly and pumped his fist into the air, “Let’s start up with intros for those of you that don’t know us! We are Red Contacts!”

The blonde strutted over to the guitarist, “Here we have my little sis Shizuka!”

Nao’s looked up to see the girl Yugi set her up with and when her eyes glazed upon the figure on stage her heart stopped. She actually felt like she was going into cardiac arrest. It was girls like these that made Nao prefer women. Even in that plain black t-shirt and jeans that clung flawlessly on her slightly curvy figure she, that ethereal being on the stage, was still the perfect specimen. Shizuka’s eyes shined brighter than any of the lights produced by the stage and her hair was a light mahogany that put any polished wood to shame. This was a vision of beauty and innocence, she was everything Nao wasn’t. She watched as her new desire produced a riff so incredible that it made everyone even the “emos” stop and look in awe.

“And on drums Otogi!” The singer continued pointing to the black haired pretty boy in red and a tall brown haired man with a weird pointed hair style. “Honda on bass!”

“Nao?” Yugi poked her a few times, “You okay?”

Her eyes continued to be fixated on Shizuka. She couldn’t move…she couldn’t think…This perfection had frozen her in place, frozen her in time. Nothing else was important enough to break her out of her trance.

Yugi smiled warmly, “So you finally saw her?”

Nao forced the muscles in her neck to give Yugi a slight nod.

“She’s…wow…”

Yugi grinned triumphantly, “I knew you’d like how she looked.”

“And ,I Jou, on vocals!”

“No catch right?” Nao pressed, “Not a snob or a bitch?”

“She’s very sweet,” Yugi assured his star struck friend, “Hell she’s even nicer than me.”

“That’s not hard,” The Goth muttered, Yugi rolled his eyes.

Nao continued to watch the band but Shizuka in particular. Her long slender fingers gracefully plucked and strummed the guitar stings much like an angel would play her celestial harp. However there was one thing wrong that Nao noticed about Shizuka and that was she was timid. Even on stage one could tell that the movements, the emotion she produced on her instrument were not matched by her body language. Her shining eyes wouldn’t meet those of the audience and when she tried to sway to the rhythm of the music it failed miserably. Jerky, awkward, and uncertainty was what was produced which if concentrated on long enough it could take away from the beauty of the music.

Her brother Jou was a totally different story. He knew how to work the crowd just like Nao’s favorite singer from D’espairsray, Hizumi. Amazing voice, sexy alluring moves, and dominance were what he apparently chose to express in his set tonight. It had its affect too because with a glance around the room Nao assessed that most of the women in the club were here to see him. Not that that Honda or Otogi didn’t look good, they were pretty yummy in Nao’s opinion. Jou slithered down the mic like a snake until his knees were on the floor then hit all the girls in the front row with a seductive gaze. Nao swore she heard one of the girls faint.

“Sexy,” Nao commented offhandedly then turned her attention back to Shizuka.

“Yeah,” Yugi nodded in agreement, “You have no idea how long it took him to do moves like that without making an ass of himself.”

“If I were in the mood for cock I’d do him.”

“Nao!” Yugi blushed a deep red, “That’s my best friend you’re talking about. I’d rather not think about his penis.”

“Jou’s penis, Jou’s penis…” Nao repeated rapidly while poking his stomach.

Yugi covered his little ears, “The image burns!” He wailed.

“Miss, please stop harassing the customers or I’ll throw you out!” A deep voice ordered.

“What?!” Nao spun around to face her accuser a tall muscular man with short spiked hair and gray eyes in a black muscle shirt and black pants, “I can explain…” Her eyes widen in surprise, but after the initial shock she punched the stranger’s arm, “Tony, what are you doing here?”

“I’m a bouncer, but I only work a few nights a week,” Tony said then looked down at Yugi and joked, “Who’s the squirt? Do I have to throw you out for bringing a minor in here?”

Nao punched his forearm harder this time causing Tony to wince in pain, “Don’t make fun of him. This my friend Yugi, Yugi this is Tony one of my sparring partners.”

“Sorry for calling you squirt. It’s just you’re about my little bro’s size,” Tony apologized as he took Yugi’s hand and shook it firmly.

Yugi shook his head, “It’s okay. I’m kind used to people making fun of my size.”

“You shouldn’t be,” Nao interrupted, “You should hurt…”

“Even when you’re not at the gym you’re still as violent as ever,” Tony interrupted and ruffled Nao’s hair, “Well you folks have fun and if anyone starts giving you trouble just holler!”

“Alright later Tony,” Nao waved and then turned back to Yugi, “So how much longer are they up there?”

The young duelist looked at his cell phone, “About 10 more minutes then they’ll meet at us the bar.”

“Wait!” Nao shouted.

Yugi startled nearly spilled his drink, “What? What!”

“Shizuka too?”

He sighed, “Yes her too.”

“Jesus Allah Buddha Christ!” Nao swore and started frantically looking through her pockets, “How do I look? How’s my hair?”

“You look fine…”

“I need a mirror!”

Yugi seized the panicking girl by the shoulders and shook her, “Get a hold of yourself! And stop breathing so much, it looks like you’re hyperventilating!”

Nao stopped and gave Yugi a look of panic. A pearl of sweat could be seen dripping from her temple, “I can’t help it…”

“You haven’t been this anxious since you took anatomy mid terms…I got an idea stay here for a minute,” Yugi walked away towards the dj booth.

“Do I have a choice?” Nao leaned back onto the bar and cradled her caffeinated drink.

“You’ve been awesome! Thank you! Now you’re resident DJ Rawr will spin some tunes while Zebra Spots sets up!” Jou yelled excitedly and then the curtain fell.

Yugi ran back to Nao, “How about some dancing to shake the nervousness away? It always helps me.”

Nao groaned, “Yugi I don’t think…”

Nao paused as a song came up on the speakers.

You know this boogie is for real.

“Canned heat?”

“One of your favorites,” The boy grabbed the girl’s hand, “C’mon!”

“Yugi…ack!” Nao tried to struggle away from Yugi’s death grip but her attempts were in vain.

I used to buy my faith in worship,
But then my chance to Heaven slipped.
I used to worry about the future
But then I throw my caution to the wind.
I had no reason to be care free
No no no, until I took a trip to the other side of town
Yeah yeah yeah, you know I heard that boogie rhythm
Hey- I had no choice but to get down down down down.

Yugi began the groove by literally dancing circles around Nao, moving his arms and legs to the beat. Every so often he would jab Nao with his fingers to get her moving. The stubborn girl looked around her at the mixture of emos, preps, and Goths dancing around here and just stared.

“These people are fucking terrible!” She hissed at Yugi and pointed at man trying to imitate Napoleon Dynamite’s dance.

“Like you know how to do any better,” Yugi challenged knowing that would press the right buttons, “You probably don’t have it anymore since it has been so long.”

“Oh it’s on little man!”

……………………

Shizuka was at the bar with her band mates having a sherry temple. Supposedly Yugi had brought a friend with him that could help her with her “problem”. After a few attempts earlier in the year she had almost given up hope. Sadly she looked to her older brother who was occupied with a tall professional looking businessman.

“Probably another turn down,” Shizuka whispered quietly to herself. It was always like this.

She turned her head to the dance floor where Yugi said he’d be with his friend. There she witnessed a few girls in heavy makeup and little brightly colored skirts pointing and laughing at a Gothic girl who was arguing with Yugi. Unlike her tormentors she wore navy wide legs pants with lots of zippers and chains and a yellow tank top. Her face wasn’t as heavily painted as theirs too just some lipstick as far as she could tell. The guitarist squinted her eyes and saw many piercings upon her face. Usually she was very squeamish about piercings, but on the Goth girl they didn’t look too bad.

Shizuka watched her as she went up to the girls a smirk. With renewed confidence and rage to burn she took to the center of the dance floor. She loosened her shoulders with a few shrugs and started…

She began limp and started popped her arms to the rhythm of the music. Her head bobbed from side to the bass. Like the grace of a crane she lifted her legs and walk sideways quickly. Other dancers suddenly became aware of Nao and stopped their dancing to watch the nimble girl. Her dance reminded Shizuka of the “canned heat” video.

Dance, nothing left for me to do but dance,
Off these bad times I'm going through just dance
Got canned heat in my heals tonight baby

The girl lowered herself to the ground until she was on her knees. She began to walk on her knees but still keeping in time with the music. At this point Yugi stopped his own dancing and looked at the bar where Jonouchi-kun and the rest of the band were. He focused his attention on Shizuka who was watching Nao with great interest and waved her over. Shizuka nodded and walked quickly to the dance floor to get a closer look at the action.

Gonna dance, gonna dance my blues away tonight
Dance, come on got canned heat in my heals tonight
Canned heat in my heals tonight.

After spinning on her knees a few times Nao leapt up and started moon walking in the large circle that was created. A wicked thought crept into the dancer’s head as she approached the girls. Somehow Shizuka was able to locate Yugi in the crowd that had formed.

“Who’s that?” Shizuka questioned innocently.

“That’s Nao,” Yugi beamed, “And she’s gonna help you with your problem.”

Shizuka cocked her head to the side, “She’s not what I expected.”

“You don’t think she can help you?”

“Yugi,” Shizuka sighed gently, “It’s just…so many failures…”

Yugi reached up and gave her shoulder a reassuring squeeze, “If anyone can help…it’s her.”

When she got close enough to her potential prey ‘ye materialistic looking gals’ she slapped her heel with her hand when the song said “canned heat in my heels”. Then turned to face the girls and utilizing all her training she did a back flip nearly taking out the face of one of them. She knew her job was done when she heard a few bodies drop on floor from shock and improper balance. Satisfied she struck her pose and a loud applause was heard, but there was one person’s cheering that was heard more clearly than the others. Curious she turned to where the sound came from and lo and behold Yugi and next to him….Shizuka.

“God hates me…” Nao mumbled and began to turn in the opposite direction.

Yugi lunged forward before Nao could bolt away, “Nao, this is Shizuka. Shizuka this is Nao!”

“Uh hi,” Nao bit her tongue and offered her hand unable to do much else.

“Hello, it’s a pleasure to meet you,” Shizuka smiled shyly and took the other’s hand and shook it tenderly.

“I should go see Jonouchi-kun!” Yugi announced as he backed away into the crowd, “Have fun Nao!”

“Yugi you little shit…” Nao muttered under her breath.

“Pardon?” Shizuka looked extremely confused.

“Nothing!”

Both of them looked at each other nervously not knowing what they should do next for. Their next course of action couldn’t be decided especially after being abandoned by the only one that linked then together…Yugi. Nao looked up at the stage and saw the new band was ready to play.

“Good idea would be to get off the dance floor,” Nao blurted out “So we don’t get trampled by dancers.”

“That sounds good,” The quiet girl agreed.

“So…” Nao said slowly trying not to sound cliché, “can I buy you a drink?”

Shizuka blushed a light pink causing Nao’s heart to flutter, “You don’t have too…”

Nao waved off her words, “But I insist,” She took Shizuka’s hand and led her to the bar.

“Such soft hands for being a musician,” Nao thought dreamily, “I wonder what they would feel like touching…other things.” The Goth mentally slapped herself for thinking such things and tried to get the dirty imagines out of her head.

She turned casually to Shizuka when they reached the bar. “So what’s your poison?”

“Um…water?”

Nao quirked an eyebrow causing her silver eyebrow ring to wiggle, “Water…you sure you don’t want a soda?”

“Oh!” Shizuka blushed in embarrassment, “I kind thought you wanted me to order alcohol…I was…well…”

Nao assessed the girl’s movements such as the twitching of her index finger and the uncomfortable shifting of her feet, “You wanted to turn down my offer but didn’t know how to do it or rather than tell me you ask for water to be kind of nice. Also to make it come off than you don’t drink alcohol. Which you don’t anyways I assume.”

This stunned the timid girl who at the moment was unable to find her voice, “I…well…”

“Hey, I meant soda by the way. You don’t old enough to drink.” Nao joked at which Shizuka nodded but then the Goth smiled reassuringly, “It’s cool, but seriously now that we got that out of the way, want a diet coke or sprite? At least order something with sugar or artificial sweetener if that’s how you swing.”

“Diet Pepsi…please.”

“Awesome,” Nao waved over the bartender and ordered a mountain dew and a diet pepsi then turned her attention back to the withdrawn girl, “So…how long have you known the tri-colored short one?”

Shizuka took a sip of her soda, “Yugi? Five years? I think…I’m not that sure. I don’t have the best memory.”

“Ah…”

“Could I ask a personal question?”

Nao felt strong lust bubble inside herself. Shizuka must want to know about her personal sexual habits. This is what their meeting was setup for as Yugi hinted. Surely this was all to help solve both of their ‘problems’. “Sure...fire away.”

“Well…isn’t Nao a boy’s name?”

Queue anime sweat drop on herself, Nao at that point almost fell over in surprise if it weren’t for the fact that she was gripping the side of the bar, “Uh…”

“Oh I’m so sorry! Was that too personal? I knew it was…oh my gosh I’m so sorry.”

“No…it wasn’t too personal…I thought you were gonna ask something else,” Nao quickly regained her balanced and composure, “My real name is actually Naomi, but people…they think I’m too honest. Hence the name Nao…as you know means honest in Japanese.”

Shizuka nodded, “I see.”

A few awkward moments of silence followed and during that time a fairly handsome fellow tapped Shizuka on the shoulder. One could easily tell that he had one too many drinks for the night. From the way he was acting he looked as if he owned the world.

“Hey doll…would you like to dance with me?” He casually leaned against the bar almost falling over.

“No…no thank you,” Shizuka’s head was down and her words were barely audible.

“C’mon I think we’d have a shwell time…” He slurred and made a grab for her arm, but a hand with black nails shot out preventing him to do so.

Nao glared at him feeling her rage rising quickly, “She said no.”

The drunk man glanced at Nao, “I didn’t hear a no so there wasn’t one…What are you her mother?”

“Leave.”

“Tch and what will you do if I don’t?”

“I’ll break your nose,” To make her point she dig her nails painfully into the drunk’s arm until he flinched.

Shizuka’s eyes widened in alarm at Nao’s words, “Nao please…Don’t hurt him…Can we just leave?”

Nao’s defiant stare softened when she turned back to the pacifist girl and she groaned, “Yeah…we don’t need to deal with trash like him…Let’s go find your brother and Yugi.”

Nao turned her back and the drunken man roared, “Hey, listen when I talk to you!”

“Look out!” Shizuka screamed as she covered her eyes.

The drunken man grabbed a beer bottle from the bar and lunged forward to whack Nao. Nao turned swiftly, ducked, and delivered a low spinning kick to the man right at the shins. He toppled ass first.

“What’s going on here?!” Tony shouted.

Tony rushed to the scene pushing customers causing a couple of them to fall or spill their drinks. When he arrived onto the scene there was the drunk flat on his back and Nao falling back into a defensive stance. Tony glared at his sparring partner which did not help the situation at all because he found himself receiving an equally angry glare if not angrier.

“You got one minute to tell me what happened here.”

“I didn’t want to get my head bashed in with a bottle,” Nao explained to him, “You give me enough injuries went WE fight. No need to have more.”

Tony looked at Nao and then at cowering Shizuka behind her and got a decent scenario of what happened.

“Quick as always,” Tony bent over and hoisted the drunk by the collar, “C’mon out you go…”

“Nao!”

“Shizuka!”

A group of boys came barreling through the crowd. The forerunner was Jou followed but Yugi, Otogi, and Honda.

“You okay sis?” Jou asked with concern, “What happened?”

“Some drunk guy wouldn’t leave me alone,” Shizuka was still a little shaky, “ Nao stopped him from taking me, but when we about to leave he attacked Nao.”

Yugi stepped at Nao, “You ok?”

Nao nodded, “I took care of him.”

Jou looked with appreciatation at Nao, “Thanks for taking care of my sis.”

Shizuka stood in front of Nao. Her mood did a complete 360, because she was now beaming with joy and a hint of confidence, “I think Yugi is right you can help me!”

Nao looked mildly confused and could feel the goal of getting laid was drifting away, “Pardon?”

“Didn’t Yugi tell you?” Shizuka questioned.

Yugi wringed his hands in nervousness, “It was a surprise.”

Jou groaned, “Shizuka, I told you they’ll be other record companies.”

“No…brother I have to do this or we’ll never get a record deal.”

Nao was now even more confused, “Can someone please tell me what’s going on before my head explodes with anticipation?”

“The record companies we’ve talked would like to take us…but the band has one weak link…me,” Shizuka looked as if she was about to cry so Jou wrapped a arm around her slim shoulders to comfort her, “We play well they say, but when I’m on stage…I think you noticed.”

Nao swallowed audibly before answering not wanting to answer but had to anyways, “Yeah I did.”

“I need someone to help me gain more confidence…more assertiveness…” Shizuka offered a weak smile, “And after what I witnessed from you tonight I actually think you can help me. So can you?”

“Of course,” Nao agreed right on the spot unable to deny this siren, “I would absolutely love too!” She said faking the happiness in her voice as best as she could.

“So can we start tomorrow?!”

“Yeah…sure…I’ll call you.”

“Thank you so much,” Shizuka jumped onto Nao and hugged her tightly. Nao relished in the warmth the little girl provided. “We have to go now and put our instruments back in the van. Bye!”

When Red Contacts left Nao turned to Yugi and glowered so intensely at him he thought it would’ve melted his face. With each thunderous step she took Yugi would take that many uncertain steps back.

“I…am …going…to…fucking…KILL YOU!” Nao seethed her hands reaching to his slender pale neck, “I am going to snap you like a twig!”

“Nao…temper…” Yugi backed away from the angry female, “I am so screwed…”

“That you are…”