WHO: Kaname Chidori and Johnny Domino.
WHAT: Kaname and Johnny encounter each other in the states.
WHEN: June 24th.
MISSION: Cut Johnny's hair!
WATCH OUT FOR: Sappy heart-to-hearts, then arguments.

Finally, back on home soil! Johnny Domino's past month in Japan was not a pleasant experience. From capturing White Unicorn to taking notes in class, the young man felt he has had quite enough of the Japanese culture and was more than happy to be shipped back home.

His one regret, perhaps, was not getting to see Kaname in person one last time before departing. He kept notes for her, just as she's requested (and by 'kept' we mean 'copied'), and he stopped by Meiya's place to drop them off in person - but he never managed to see Kaname. He has not seen her at all ever since they parted ways at the Cafe.

It felt a little lonely.

No matter. Kaname's an infuriating girl anyway. Domino would much rather frolick around the US than spend another day in the land of the rising sun, even if it meant he might get to meet that Chidori once again. That's right, he would much prefer to stand in line at a busy library because of an overdue book he forgot to return before leaving for Japan, even if it meant NEVER SEEING KANAME AGAIN!

The librarian gives Johnny a cold look when he steps up to the counter. "If it isn't Mister Domino," she intones, adjusting her glasses on the tip of her nose. "Keep this up and you'll pay for my pension." She does not smile. Librarians never smile.

Domino holds back a sigh, silently paying the fine. In the back of his mind he wonders what Kaname is doing right now.


Kaname Chidori happens to be not far from Johnny Domino; in fact, she's standing right at the entrance of the library the moment he begins to pull the bills from his wallet.

But unlike Johnny Domino, Kaname doesn't have any late fines to pay for; in fact, she's here to return a book (on time) for her younger sister, Ayame, who happens to currently be at volleyball camp.

It's been a few years since Kaname has been back in the states; the architecture of the city she had lived in during her elementary school years has changed substantially--in part due to the massive landscaping caused by the colony drop the year before. Still, Kaname was able to find the library with little difficulty; it actually wasn't very far from the condo her father shared with her sister.

She pushes the door and steps inside, a rush of cool air to greet her at the entrance. She makes her way to the book slot, drops the text in, and turns back towards the door.

Perhaps Johnny Domino won't ever get to see Kaname again, after all!


Johnny Domino starts counting the bills. His head is lowered, a concentrated frown on his face. One bill... two bills... three bills... oh god, how could a month cost so much? His mother was going to wringe his neck.

When Kaname arrives, Johnny doesn't look up. He's too busy counting the money. He barely sees her figure peripherally, his hair obscuring Kaname from view. Then Domino pauses and begins counting again. The librarian curls her lips in a sour expression: "Mister Domino, this is a library, not a grocery store."

Johnny twitches: "Man, that book wasn't even that good to begin with!"

The young man looks up as he says this, agitated by the librarian's attitude. And that's when he catches sight of Kaname. Or rather, Kaname's back. He blinks, gaze shifting away from the spinster woman behind the counter. "Mister Domino," the woman says, "everyone's a critic." But Johnny pays no attention to her. He peers at the departing woman with great interest. Could that be?.. no, it couldn't... could it? She has the right hair. And she LOOKS right. But Kaname isn't... is she?

The mystery woman disappears from view. HOLY CRAP!

Johnny snaps into action, calling out, "H-hey, WAIT!" A few people emit a hissed "Shh". Johnny ignores them, running to the door. He calls over his shoulder to the librarian, "KEEP THE CHANGE!" Even more people go "Shh" at Johnny, before starting to shush one another in a neverending cycle of shushes. The librarian rolls her eyes. Why does Johnny Domino always /do/ this?

Outside, Domino chases the mystery woman who may or may not be Kaname. "Excuse me, hey hey hey!", he calls.


Kaname had every intention of having a nice, peaceful afternoon at her father's condo--that was until she heard a familiar voice call out from behind her.

Familiar? Who could she know from around here? It'd been years since she'd last been here, and she was sure that most of her elementary school friends had probably already forgotten her; those that didn't probably wouldn't recognize her--her hair had grown a lot since she last wore an American school uniform.

Kaname spins around, only to find a familiar purple-haired figure racing up from behind her.

"J-Johnny?!" This was the last person she expected to see /here/!


The woman turns around as Johnny calls out (so do a number of other people, but Domino doesn't care about them).

And YES! He knew it! It IS Kaname!!

Domino stops in front of the girl, peering at her from behind his purple bangs. The traces of his fight with Duo are still adorning his eye, but it might not be visibly noticeable. What WOULD be noticeable is the smile slooowly spreading across Jonny's face.

"Ha, it's you," he comments. "I knew it! Hi."


All right, this was definitely weird. And the fact that Johnny Domino was smiling was definitely weirder. He wasn't up to something, was he?

Knowing Johnny, there really is no telling.

"What are /you/ doing here? Why aren't you in class?"

And when did his hair get so long? Did she just not notice until now?


Kaname mentions class, and Johnny's smile is wiped off in an instant. God, why was Johnny pleased to see her, anyway? Damned female.

"Hmph, this is America," he responds. "I /live/ here."

And then, in an act of pure defense, Johnny goes on the offense. "Why aren't YOU in class?"

Domino tugs a few strainds of hair behind his ear when he asks this. They slip back out again.


"After everything that happened last week, my father thought I should probably spend some more time with my family," she says. "So, I took a leave of absence."

Fortunately, the school had been highly accomodating; Miss Kagurazaka had gone out of her way to make sure that Kaname had all the assignments for the next two weeks--though Kaname hardly imagined she'd spend that long away from school--especially when classwork would be a welcome distraction from her own worries.

"You know," she says. "You really could use a haircut." She doesn't mean for it to slip out that way, but it comes out in the same nagging tone she uses when she begins when they're discussing homework.


Johnny successfully manages to turn the subject on Kaname. That's much better.

Unfortunately, before Domino can formulate a response regarding Kaname's leave of absence, the girl manages to turn it right back on Domino. Even worse, she attacks his hair. Oooooh, she did not just go there.

Johnny's expression darkens. "What do you mean, haircut? I'm not cutting my ponytail!"


"I didn't mean /that/! I mean your bangs!" Kaname points a solitary finger at Johnny's fringe. "It's in your eyes!"

Kaname lets out a small sigh; why does he have to misunderstand /everything/ she says?

"I can understand not getting it cut in Japan, but there's no language barrier stopping you here."


Johnny leans away from Kaname's finger as she points. You stay outta his hair, woman!

"It is NOT in my eyes," he insists, repeating his action from before, tucking a few strands behind his ear. "See?"

The hair slips out in defiance. Urk! Domino realizes this is bad. Any moment now Kaname will point at this as even more proof that he needs to get it cut. There's only one way out of this: Offense - the best defense.

"YOU get a haircut."

Also childish.


And just as Johnny suspects, Kaname Chidori /does/ turn this back on him, and she does so with one apt syllable:

"See?"

And then he tries to twist it back around at her, just like he did before. Why does he always have to be like this? It's so infuriating! It's almost as if he's a little kid!

"Don't even /try/ to turn this on me! I just got /my/ hair cut!"


Oh god, why does Kaname have to act like Johnny's a little kid? She's so infuriating!

And with that final comment, Johnny's best defense crumbles like dust. But Domino will never give up. No matter how much things seem hopeless, he will /not/ say die!

"Agh, if it bothers you so much, YOU cut it!"

Yes! The masterful stroke of a desperate man. A risky gamble, but Johnny feels almost certain Kaname will shy away from this challenge.


Because he acts that way!

"Fine!" she says, taking the gamble. "I /will/!"

She grabs Johnny by the wrist--her grasp surprisingly strong for a high school girl, then pulls him towards her father's condo, located a few blocks away from where they stood a moment before.

The area surrounding the library /nice/; a lush park takes up the lot next to the apartment, the grass kept short, the bushes well-manicured. A terrier on a leash barks at them as they pass, the owner smiling apologeticlally, but still Kaname continues forward, only to draw to a sudden halt at their destination.

Kaname pulls a passcard from her pocket in one swift gesture, and runs it through the card reader at the entrance. A light flashes green, and a soft click can be heard from the door. Hand still gripping Johnny's wrist, she pulls him inside.

A elevator ride up to the 6th floor, and Kaname makes her way down the hallway; keys are pulled from her pocket, pressed inside the keyhole, and the door is unlocked.

Her grasp on Johnny is finally relinquished.

"All right," she says, flicking the light on in the hallway. "The bathroom's right there," she says, pointing to a door up to the side of the entranceway. "Get ready in there."


Johnny Domino has taken a gamble... and LOST.

"W-wait wha--"

Kaname moves to grab him, the young man too surprised to react in time. The first few moments of getting dragged through the streets are spent with Johnny's brain trying to figure out of Kaname is being serious. The fact that she keeps dragging him and refuses to let go does not fill Johnny with confidence.

The next few moments following that are spent with Johnny's mind trying to figure out whether he should try to resist or not. He tried turning this on her and failed, then he tried seeing which one of them will blink first, and... Kaname refused to blink. What else does he have? He can't think of anything!

Finally, the remainder of the journey is spent with Johnny's mind trying to figure out whether he should just be a stubborn idiot and refuse for no good reason at all. Understandably, Domino is a little too engaged in mental spazzery to notice the neatly trimmed bushes and elegant patches of grass. By the time the two enter the elevator, Johnny is overcome by a sense of ... almost morbid curiosity.

If things get too hairy (haha), Domino might try to hatch a daring escape plan. But maybe, just maaaybe... he should stick around? Also sweet zombie Jesus, the condo is nice.

"Uhh," Domino begins, peering around. He enters the bathroom. Oh... my... god... Johnny can see his reflection in the tiles. The young man boggles.

He is unsure just what Kaname wants him to do to 'get ready'.



He needs to take his hair out of the ponytail, of course.

When Kaname returns a few minutes later, it's with two sheets draped over one arm; she she carries a pair of clippers in one hand, and a chair (presumably swiped from the kitchen) in the other.

"You can sit there," she says, depositing the chair in the empty space in front of the sink. A mirror sits on the wall atop it, which should allow Johnny pretty good coverage of his hair as Kaname cuts it.


Johnny does indeed set his ponytail loose... but that's as far as he goes. Because at that point the young man becomes way too engrossed in his own reflection in the floor. Yeah, who cares about the mirror located a short distance away? Mirrors are so mundane. But the floor?!

Thus, when Kaname arrives, Domino is crouched, peering intently at the tiles and making faces.

"Oh," Johnny is interrupted by Kaname's orders. The young man sighs, pulling himself away from his latest entertainment. "No touching the ponytail," he says before sitting down. Ugh, he's putting his hair in Kaname's hands here... the damned girl had better appreciate this.


"I'll see what I can do."

"All right," Kaname says, tying the small pink sheet around his neck; a flax yellow sheet with an outdated blue floral pattern is draped over it, then tied at the neck as well.

She pulls his hair out from beneath the sheet, letting it cascade over his back. This is the first time she's seen his hair down like this, and surprisingly, it actually looks pretty good.

"Is this too tight?" she asks, leaning forward.


Johnny considers whether he should start yelling that he can't breathe.

"No, it's fine."

Wuss.

He eyes Kaname's reflection as she hovers behind him, blue eyes hidden behind his bangs. At the first sign of those scissors going near the hair in the back, the boy is out of here. And then he suddenly asks: "Have you ever done this before?"



"Of course not. I've played around with Kyoko's hair, but this will be my first time actually cutting."

The tips of her fingers trace a path over the top of his head; she lets out a small 'hmm'. She's watched her share of hairdressers work their stuff, but now that she's at that point, she realizes she doesn't have any idea where to start.


Johnny stops breathing. Did she just say 'of course not'? Oh god, she did. Domino is placing his hair in the hands of a /psycho/!

The temptation to enact one of his emergency escape plans is nigh-overwhelming. People who grow a ponytail fall into two categories. Either they don't care about their hair and what happens to it, or they CARE about their hair.

Johnny CARES!

"..maybe you should," Johnny pauses. Maybe she should forget about it. Maybe she should let him go. Maybe she should forget this ever happened! "..start from here..."

Domino twists his arm, bringing it around the sheets and indicating at the hair around his forehead. He's probably doing this to make sure she is keeps away from the hair in the back. But still, why is he helping her mutilate his beloved purple strands?



Kaname is a little hesitant to start with, but leaning forward ever-so-slightly, she pinches a section of his bangs back from his forehead, then clips.

The strands fall in a pile on the floor.

"I never got to thank you," she says, without stopping, "For what you did the other night."


Johnny's eyes follow the clipped hair as far as they can without moving the entire head around. Byebye hair...

Then Kaname talks, and Domino feels a bit awkward. He interjects before the girl can continue: "Well, thank you for not thanking me." Which is, on itself, probably a very awkward way of saying that Kaname doesn't have to thank him, who knows.

"I was just..."

Domino almost says he was just performing his duties. But he wasn't. His duties had absolutely nothing to do with it. And his final sentence trails off, unfinished...


"...Doing your duty, I know," she finishes for him.

Kaname runs her hands over his hair, carefully judging the little handiwork she's done. It appears to look all right--so far, anyway. She pulls up a section of hair she's already cut along with a portion she hasn't, then carefully measuring the two together, snips her scissors once again.

"I'm not so sure I could handle that sort of pressure," she says. "I get all worked up over just a math exam."



Johnny frowns. No... he was /not/ doing his duty. He should correct her. He feels like he needs to correct her. He WANTS to correct her.

He doesn't.

The conversation moves on. "You learn to live with it," Domino comments, ignoring the potential opening Kaname provided him with to whine his little heart out. Then he adds: "Or you go through a psychotic episode." Wait, was that a joke?

"I don't think I'll get used to the jetlag, though," he continues. He's suddenly feeling the effects of it. Sitting here, unmoving, letting Kaname stroke his hair as she works... it's relaxing. And Domino stifles a yawn.


"Oh."

For awhile, Kaname is silent as she continues to cut his hair; occasionally, she stops to look at his head in the mirror, punctuating these long periods of silent with a thoughtful "mmm". Frowning, she goes back to work, scattering hair trimmings across the tile floor of the bathroom.

But even as she focuses on the task at hand, a small nagging worry lingers in the back of her thoughts. Since even before their trip to the beach, she somehow sensed something was wrong, but she couldn't seem to ever broach the topic. It seemed silly to worry over just a /feeling/; as far as she knew, Johnny was perfectly fine.

Or at least he appeared to be.

"Are you okay?" she asks, finally. "I've just... had the feeling something's been wrong recently."


Johnny lets Kaname cut his hair. He can't deny how relaxing it feels, nor how exhausted his mind has become. Unlike certain people, however, Domino refuses to succumb to this exhaustion that has descended upon him. He does not trust Kaname to such an extent so as to fall asleep under her scissors. Not yet.

Nevertheless, Domino's brain slowly vegetates as the young man remains in a passive role.

"Mmm?" Johnny blinks when Kaname next speaks up. "Something wrong?" The repeated words are followed by a standard, "Well, ya know..."

There's a beat. Two beats, in fact. And then Johnny says, "Military stuff. People die. Life goes on." What a weird thing to say.


The fact that it's a weird thing to say doesn't slip by Kaname; she's sure she knows what's happened (or at least she thinks she does), but she needs verbal confirmation.

"Did something happen?"


Last time Kaname asked something like that, Johnny got up and left. Now, unfortuntely, things are no so simple.

Domino fidgets a little. His brain resists, but it seems Kaname has lulled the young man into a false sense of security. After a few moments he explains: "There was an Admiral. She really looked out for me. White Unicorn assassinated her." It's a simple enough story, might as well have ended there. But Domino continues still.

"I was supposed to guard her. She specifically asked for me, you know? And then her shuttle exploded... right under my nose." Domino neglects to mention the part where she was beheaded.

And it is about this point, with his hair no longer shadowing his eyes, that Kaname will be able to see a faded shiner adorning Domino's face.


"That's not something you can ever get used to," Kaname says softly. "You shouldn't think that way. She had to be an important person to you. It's not healthy to keep all of that inside all the time."

Snip, snip, snip. "If you have any problems that you can't talk about with anyone else, you can come to me."

She suddenly stops snipping, and hesitates, as if trying to work up the courage to press forward the words that are sitting on the edge of her lips.

"Because we're friends, right?"


Johnny tilts his head ever so slightly. When Kaname finally finds the courage to say what's been on the edge of her lips, the young man snaps his head back straight with a start.

He looks away from Kaname's reflection in the mirror for a moment, looking down in surprise. Then, "Friends, huh?" And again, "Friends." A smile sneaks its way across Johnny's face. Then he laughs. A happy, rolling laugh.

"I like that." Domino moves his arm again, lifting it up over his shoulder and holding it out, as if seeking to get a hold of Kaname's own hand. "Friends," he repeats.


He looks away from her reflection, and she feels her heart tighten in her chest; she didn't say the wrong thing she, did she?

Then suddenly, she finds her worries completely alleviated with just a few uttered words.

She takes his hand. "Friends," she confirms, smiling; she glances up at the mirror, and catches sight of the bruise on his eye.

"What happened there?" she asks, her voice filled with concern.



Johnny squeezes Kaname's hand in affection. He could get used to this. He really could.

"Hmm?" Johnny glances at himself in the mirror. His eyes widen. "Oh! Ooh! oooooh," the young man utters, first in surprise, then in discomfort, then in drawn out awkwardness. He promptly releases Kaname's hand, moving it to poke a bit at the faded bruises around his eye. Goddamnit, why didn't it heal already?!

"It's, uh, you know, it's," Domino falters. He's trying very hard to act like he isn't nervous at all. Too bad Johnny is a bad actor.

"I got into a fight-- er, wait, no," Johnny's brow twitches. "I mean, yes, yes, okay, I got in a fight. Uh." The young man stops there. He can't tell Kaname WHY he got in a fight!


But instead of turning harsh, Kaname's tone (surprisingly!) remains concerned. Apparently, it hasn't yet occurred to her that Johnny may have been in a battle that /didn't/ involve giant robots.

"In a fight? What happened?"


Urp. She had to ask that, didn't she.

"You know!" Johnny pauses, hoping he won't have to continue.


"No, I don't know!"


"Finger," Johnny says curtly. "Eye. Contact. Hurts!" He gives Kaname an almost pleading look. Don't ask anymore questions!


Kaname shoots Johnny a menacing look.

"That might work on someone else, but it's not going to work on me!"


Waugh, weren't they friends?!

Johnny cringes. "I... got into a fight," he says pausing every few words to make sure Kaname's reaction doesn't blow. "At Jindai." Pause. "With one of the classmates." Pause. "He trashed the notes I made for you." Pause. "Actually, that came after I threw him across the classroom." This could get ugly. "But that's because he punched me in the back. Er, that was already after he... poked me hard in the eye after I tackled him to the floor, ummm."

Johnny's eyes dart to Kaname's scissors.

"Can I go now?"


Kaname's expression contorts into one of extreme agitation; it's the same expression that finds itself pulling itself across her face when she has to deal with Sousuke blowing up lockers or setting up traps around campus.

"What did you do /that/ for?! Do you really think that my notes were THAT important?! If I needed to, I could have borrowed Kyoko's!"



"I spent so much time copying them!"

...

"I mean making them! Making the notes!!"

Domino decides his objections may require a change in strategy. So he quickly adds: "Besides, you should have heard him! The way he talked like a jerk, and saying how I didn't even care for yo--"

Waaaait, no, on second thought this new strategy is a bad idea. Johnny clamps his mouth shut before he utters the final syllable. Ugh!


"/Copied/?!" She had been less concerned about her notes during her absence, and more concerned about Johnny paying attention to class enough to do well for his next test.

And to keep him somewhere where he'd have a sense of normalcy for awhile.

But with that admission, Kaname realizes that she's failed in both respects.

But before she can open her mouth to say anything more, Johnny slips up, leaving Kaname momentarily stunned.

"Saying... that you didn't even care for me?"

Kaname looks down, her cheeks flushed red with embarrassment.

She swallows.

"It doesn't matter!" she says, suddenly, with renewed anger. "Whatever he was saying, there was no reason for the two of you two be fighting like that!"


Well, this is awkward.

Wait, no, Kaname's exploding on Johnny again. Nevermind.

Domino becomes increasingly agitated as the young woman unloads on him. Being forced on the defensive like this is not something Johnny particularly enjoys, and this is the third time Kaname put him on the spot in the past hour.

"What?!" Johnny snaps at the final comment. "Don't you go telling me what reason I have and don't have to fight with someone!" The young man stands up, forgetting the amiability the two shared but a moment ago.

"You don't even understand! You're just... you're just... rrrgh!!" Domino struggles with the sheets around his neck, tugging and violently pulling them off. "I'll find my own way out, /thank you/," he says sarcastically. Looks like he's leaving in a huff.


"Well, you're /welcome/!" Kaname snaps back.

And as Johnny makes his exit, he might be surprised to find a small girl with blonde-brown hair standing outside the door. She still has a gym bag over her shoulder; it looks as though she might have just returned home.

But in actuality, she'd been listening to their convesation for awhile; she just hadn't expected their conversation to end /that/ abruptly.

"A-Ah!" Ayame quickly sidesteps out of Johnny's path, allowing him quick passage out of the condo.


Johnny storms off, not even slowing down as his withering glare passes over the little girl. A dark storm cloud follows Johnny to the front door, leaving a trail of rain and purple hair in its wake.

SLAM!

Domino has left the building.