WHO: Ayame Chidori and Johnny Domino.
WHAT: Ayame runs into Johnny after softball camp.
WHEN: The afternoon after the Johnny haircut.
MISSION: Eat ice cream.
WATCH OUT FOR: A cranky Johnny.

It's another scorching hot day in New York City, and Ayame Chidori is one of the many looking for relief from the heat. No matter how many hours she spent out in the sun practicing at camp, she never could get used to the unusually warm summer weather.

The vendor knows Ayame well; she sometimes stops by (as she is today) after practice, a gym bag slung over her shoulder. "The usual?"

"Yeah," she chirps. "Thank you!"

Ayame glances out of the window, and in doing so, catches a glimpse of a familiar string of long, purple hair. It couldn't be, could it? The guy from the day before!

She turns back towards the vendor, who is placing the last scoop of chocolate atop her waffle cone. Ayame's hands planted firmly on the counter's edge. "Also, a vanilla cone!"

"For a friend?" he asks, his brow furrowed.

"Yeah, kind of!"

"It'll be just one more second."

A minute later, Ayame is outside, holding two waffle cones, one vanilla and one chocolate. She sits next to Johnny, then, arm extended, offers the vanilla one to him.

"I hope it's okay; I didn't know what flavor you liked," she says. "You're Kaname's friend, right?"



Johnny Domino was feeling a little pathetic. But only a little.

He wanted to apologize to Kaname. The day before ended on such an unsatisfying note, his fury receding and eventually turning into frustration and regret. After she cut his hair - and stayed away from his ponytail, to boot! And even said they were friends!..

Domino told himself he'd apologize. He walked all the back to her apartment complex the next day, looked up up up at the many stories of the building, and then turned around and circled the neighborhood. She probably wasn't home this early in the day, he reasoned. He'd wait for later.

When later came, Johnny stopped in front of the apartment complex, looked up up up... and turned around to take a stroll through the nearby park. It was too hot to apologize, he reasoned. He'd wait for it to cool down.

It didn't cool down. By the third time Domino looked up up up, he was already preparing his apology in his mind, imagining himself telling Kaname how stupid she was but that he forgave her-- god, it was hopeless. Johnny turned around and left.

He's sitting on a bench now, not far from the apartment complex. Staring off into space and wondering just what his next move should be. He's feeling a little pathetic. And hungry. But only a little.

That's when his thoughts are interrupted by food. Vanilla ice-cream, popping up right under his nose! Holy crap! Blue eyes blink, noting the hand attached to the ice-cream cone, then passing across the arm extending to the side, before locking on the girl sitting down next to him. She looks... familiar. Suspiciously familiar.

When Johnny stormed out of the condo the previous day, he wasn't in much of a state of mind to keep a good record of Ayame in his mind. But she looks so familiar. And she knows he knows Kaname. Hrrrmmmm...

Domino doesn't respond right away. He contemplates the ice-cream. Slowly his hand reaches for the treat-- Did Kaname send this girl? Is there poison in the ice-cream?! --gently takes it. "Maybe," he says, unable to hide the lack of trust in his voice.

"Who are you?" He does not lick the ice-cream.


"Ayame," she says cheerfully, between bites of ice cream. "I'm Kaname's little sister."

Ayame doesn't look very much like Kaname; in fact, she better resembles her mother,with the same short hair and swept bangs. If it weren't for her sandy blonde hair, she might have very well looked like a younger version of her mother.

"You guys were fighting the other day, weren't you?" Ayame glances over at Johnny, waiting for a response. When he doesn't issue one immediately, she points at his ice cream cone.

"Are you going to eat that?"


Oh, now Johnny remembers. This was that girl he caught sight of the day before. No wonder she looked familiar.

"Didn't know she had a sister," he comments, giving Ayame a sidelong glance. He never would have guessed she was related to Kaname. She doesn't look anything like her big sister. Which means she looks the exact opposite of a big infuriating BITCH--

Domino mentally jerks back, berating himself for thinking that. Unfortunately, Ayame only refuels these emotions when she asks her question. Were they fighting yesterday?

"Your sister's a--" beat, "--jerk."

Frown.

"Mmph," he concludes, sticking his lips into the ice-cream. He's eating it, he's eating it, don't pressure him.


Well, if he wasn't going to eat it, she definitely was!

"I live in the United States with my dad. Kaname came here to visit with us. I'm not surprised she hasn't mentioned me, though," she says, teeth crunching against her waffle cone. In her group of friends, sisters (younger or older) usually only came up when someone was issuing complaints.

"She mentioned you, though," Ayame offers helpfully. "She had some good things to say about you." It's a half-truth; Kaname had ranted and raved about Johnny for the better portion of an hour and a half, she had managed to pry a few (begrudging) compliments from her occassionally.

"She said you saved her life when her apartment was attacked."


Johnny stops sucking on the ice-cream. He pulls the cone away, leaving his lips smeared with vanilla. The young man licks around, cleaning his mouth while listening to Ayame.

There's a momentary darkening in Johnny's mood when Ayame says she isn't surprised Kaname never mentioned her. Yeah, figures, Kaname sas he can come talk to her about stuff, but she never tells him such a mundane detail as having a sister. That's just so INFURIATING!!

--wait, Kaname mentioned him? Really? What? Domino's head turns ever so slightly at Ayame when she says this. The darkned mood vanishes, replaced with curiosity. Then the young man proceeds to fully stare at the younger girl following her admission of 'good things were said'. This seems to have fully caught his attention.

"Wuh," he responds.

But then... Domino seems to deflate a little. Was the only good thing Kaname said about him the fact that he protected her when her apartment blew up? Johnny looks away, choosing to work on the ice-cream some more. It's a convenient excuse to not react to Ayame right away.

"Yeah, well," he finally says, sweet vanilla mingled with bitter words. "I don't think your sister and I like each other very much."


If Johnny's words weren't enough to relay his negative attitude to the youngest Chidori, certainly his bitter tone /was/.

"People don't normally protect people they dislike," Ayame remarks. The edges of the cone are eaten, exposing a new hump of chocolate for her to chew on. "You even got in a fight with someone over her. I saw it on Neo YouTube. It's been the top rated video in Education ever since it was first uploaded."

She looks over at Johnny.

"She also says you're better at math than you give yourself credit for."


'I was just performing my duty', part of Johnny's brain reacts to Ayame's initial remark.

'This had nothing to do with duty', the other half of Johnny's brain counters.

Neither of these reactions is communicated verbally. Johnny does emit a sort of surprised little 'mrp' when Ayame mentions the fight with Duo. Good god, it was on Neo-YouTube? A top rated movie? And Ayame saw it?! Domino looks at her with narrowed eyes. He can feel himself going on the defensive. Ayame is putting him on the spot.

Suddenly Johnny can very much believe this little girl is Kaname's sister.

Then the math comment comes. For some inexplicable reason, Domino doesn't take it well. "Math? Better at math?!" The cone cracks a little as Johnny tightens his grip. "Is that all she cares about?" It looks like the young man wants to say something more, about to burst with a rant... but it never comes.

Johnny just looks away, taking out his aggression on the ice-cream. He can barely taste it.



Ayame bites her lower lip; Kaname might have been right about Johnny being a difficult person to deal with.

As difficult as it was for her to admit, she had thought that fault was with Kaname; as much as Ayame liked her older sister, she knew that she was not exactly an easy person to deal with. Brash, fierce, quick-to-anger, it took a special sort of person to get along with someone as straight-forward and loud as her older sister.

Despite his negative reaction to her words, Ayame remains ever-upbeat and ever-determined.

"Does my sister's opinion mean a lot to you?" The question is not meant to be intrusive, only curious.


"Wha?" Domino stops biting on his cone with a vengeance. He gives Ayame an intense stare, one that might be hard to read. However, it should be obvious this stare expresses the exact opposite of Domino's next words:

"Why the HELL would I care what that troglodyte thinks?!"

For a moment Domino wants to get up and leave. Storm off like he did with Kaname. But this mental failsafe of Johnny's does not trigger quite as naturally as it used to. For some reason, the subject of Kaname keeps him rooted to the bench.

"Your sister is freaking INSANE," he continues. "You're her sister, can't you see it?"


And it is that intense gaze of Johnny's that keeps Ayame from rushing to her sister's defense at Johnny's insult; she's seen Kaname do the same thing. She'd go on a rant about one thing or another as if she couldn't stand it, but the truth was she really cared about it.

"Kaname can be difficult to get along with," Ayame concedes, turning her gaze skyward, "But she's got a lot of good points, too." She taps an idle finger against her cheek, then turns her gaze back towards Johnny.

"I know she probably doesn't show it, but I think Kaname likes you a lot."


Ayame may not rush to Kaname's defense with eyes blazing, but from Domino point of view, Ayame is indeed sticking up for her relative. There's a snort of disbelief from the young man -- 'good points' indeed, keh -- followed by a roll of the eyes.

It is because of this attitude that Johnny has a knee-jerk reaction to the final comment: "Probably? Of COURSE she doesn't show it!"

The young man turns to glare at his ice-cream, the treat rapidly melting inside the gnawed-on cone. He doesn't resume eating. Ayame's words are sinking in.

"..likes me a lot, huh?" His voice is quieter now. He doesn't look back at Ayame. Instead of remarks, perhaps more to himself than anyone else: "Wouldn't that be nice."


Ayame pauses in mid-bite at his reaction, her teeth sunk halfway through either side of the cone. Her eyes peer out at Johnny, trying to make heads or tails of his expression.

She bites through, and chews for a long moment, making use of this time to carefully consider what to say.

"Do you like Kaname?" she asks, finally.


Johnny keeps staring at his cone, eyes unfocused. His mind is on something far from ice-cream. If Ayame had asked him any other question, Domino's initial reaction would have no doubt been a hazy 'mmm', as the young man would be half-wading in his own little world still.

But this is not the case. Not with this question.

The words hit Domino's brain straight on, their implication clearing whatever fog had accumulated across Johnny's consciousness. Does he like Kaname? Ayame doesn't find out.

The young man stands up, looking down at Ayame with a hostile expression-- no, the hostility is gone in an instant. Domino keeps himself restrained.

"You know," he starts. Pauses. Then continues, perhaps not what he originally meant to say: "Thanks for the ice-cream. Vanilla was fine."

And just like that he walks away.