Happy Birthday, Taylor! (No Longer Open!)

Akashi grinned and pushed forward giving Taylor a kiss on the cheek before she pulled away and slid out of the booth hopping up and grinning. "Don't worry, Taylor-chan, that is all I require, heehee." She said a little devilishly before pulling her shirt down and showing off her boobs. "Waaaah! Thank you!" She seemed to act a little girlish at the compliment. "Y-You really like? I.. I actually wore this for you! Mina-chan is always trying to get me into 'normal' clothes but they are so restrictive! And... I dunno, I guess I just like a more traditional look. But yes! I wanted you to see that I could dress like I live in this century! I'm glad that it works!" She turned around and looked down at her butt approvingly before waddling to the booth she set her presents down in happily.

"Yosh!" She said. "I have many presents for Taylor-chan! I .. I didn't know what to get you so when I saw something I thought you liked, I just went ahead and got it! So... you'll prooobably think they are all lame but don't worry... I kept all the receipts and we can go shopping and you can pick out some things you like instead."

Akashi then put on the pile of boxes down on the table. There was also a little bag too and Akashi set that aside and pulled it out. "Ok, so! I was kinda saving this for myself and Mina-chan but since I didn't know Natalia-chan was going to be here, I think that it will be fine for all of us to share!" She pulled a small box out of the bag and opened it up. It was filled with assorted fancy chocolates and Akashi gave Natalia's head a pat and smiled. "So! Enjoy!"

While she did that, she pushed a box towards Taylor and gave it to her. "I know that it's not nice to open presents in front of the gift giver BUT! I checked up on American birthdays and I guess this is cool. I guess. So! Go ahead and open it up!"

Inside the first box was a pair of silky blue pajamas with a kanji embroidered on the pocket of the top, two pairs of kneesocks, one were rainbow striped and the other were white with red trim and toes with Kanji on either side of the very top just below the trim. Below that was a black bra that looked snug and seemed to approximate Taylor's size.

'Um... that last thing was sorta tough to pick out. I barely ever wear the things and I kinda had to eyeball your size, um actually, and I'm not entirely proud of this, I did sneak a peak at your size once when you were in the gym BUT I SWEAR it was only to check the size and not for anything creepy like undressing you in my mind or anything!"

Akashi was blushing deeply and then turned and looked at the counter. "HEY WHERE'S THE DAMN FOOD ALREADY!?" She shouted loudly.

Natalia looked at all the gifts trying hard not to pout and control her envy, but when Taylor talked at her she showed her characteristic mischiveous smile, moving closer to Taylor raising an eyebrow.

"I got you a match against me in a PPV... And I promise I won't hurt you...too much" she said giggling. "...and if you want a catsuit like this, I can get you one that matches your hair...but don't get your hopes up high...you are not going to look this good..." she added once again ending her sentence by showing Taylor her tongue.

Natalia noticed then what seemed to be a waitres, blushing and politely waiting to take their order. She leaned on the table so she was no longer facing Taylor but looking at the waitress. "I want two cheeshamburgers ...with bacon.... and those fried sliced potatos and... A milkshake... Yessss...and....I think that'll be it... Too much American food doesn't seems to be such a good idea..." she added looking at the waitress while under the table she poked at Taylor's belly.

"Damn, man, talking trash to me on my birthday? That's rough. I don't even know if I... if I..." She hesitated and then lost her train of thought as the waitress approached. She batted Natalia's hand away.

"Um, I'll just have a hamburger, no cheese, lettucetomatohotsauce. Fries are good. That should be it. I'm not a sumo like these other two." The waitress nodded and smiled politely before walking away. Taylor looked at the box of chocolates and narrowed her eyes at Natalia. Without taking her eyes off of her, she very deliberately reached into the box for a chocolate and popped it in her mouth.

Taylor felt a little too bashful to even thank Akashi properly. She felt a little embarrassed that all this stuff was for her. She lifted up each item in the box, one at a time, and took the time to feel the fabric of the pajamas. "Wow. These are way better. Have you seen my old pajamas?" They were white and pastel blue with yellow ducks on them. She wasn't proud of it.

"Ooh..." She held up the socks and looked them over. She did love just about anything that covered from foot to knee. She had more knee socks than anything shorter, and she had more knee-boots than any normal shoes. "I think..." She held up the white and red pair. "I'll wear these for our match." She raised an eyebrow at Natalia, but reserved her usual grin.

When she got to the bottom of the box, she laughed. She covered her mouth afterward, a little embarrassed, not wanting to seem like she was laughing at Akashi. She picked up the bra and stretched it out a couple times, checked the tag to confirm the size. She giggled. "Sweet. Now if this for Johnny or for you?" She teased Akashi to see how red she could make her. "Do you want me to try it on now?" She asked and reached around behind her for her bra strap.

"Man..." She whispered. She absently pulled the pair of rainbow socks on over her hands. She held up one hand to Akashi like a sock puppet and made it talk. "Arigato, Akashi-san." She said with the most grating American accent possible. She brought the other sock puppet up and the two looked at each other before looking at Natalia. They growled.

She looked back at Akashi. "But seriously, thanks, like, a lot. Man. Nobody, I mean I never... you know, I... dammit, I'm so pathetic." She looked down at the table. "But... thanks. I'm glad you're my friend." She felt like she was going to cry, so she honked Akashi's nose with a sock puppet, and then both of them were staring at Natalia again. Taylor narrowed her eyes. "Get her." She said, and both sock puppets rushed her and began furiously yapping and nipping at her face and hair from all angles.

Natalia started back at Taylor, narrowing her eyes and frowning cutely. "Hey! You said you didn't ate chocolate!" she complained pouting. "Liar!"

Whila Taylor talked with Akashi and looked at the other gifts, Natalia tried to surreptitiously pull the box of chocolates from under Taylor's nose and into her own area of control. Just as Natalia took one of the chocolates and put it in her mouth
, the sock puppets were unleashed.

The blue-eyed cutie gasped trying to laugh and eat chocolate at the same time and soon she was choking, her lovely face turning red as she tried to fend off the sock puppets. She tried to lean back to escape the wrath of the puppets, but she was trapped against the window. Finally she managed to swallow the chocolate and coughed a little. "Mom Akashiiii! Taylor is being mean again!" she whinned.

Akashi chuckled at the banter between Natalia and Taylor and how the two played their chocolate chess match. She covered her mouth with her hand, still standing over the two of them. Well, she still had presents to pass out! But first, she watched in delight as Taylor received her gifts. Akashi had a big, happy grin on her face.

'I haven't, unfortunately, you never wanna snuggle anymore!" Akashi said sticking her tongue out with a bright grin. But she was glad she hit the mark with her first gift.

YOSH! Akashi thought as Taylor opened the socks. Another win when she saw Taylor's face light up. Even saying she would wear them during the match. Akashi adjusted her gait to puff out her chest haughtily. It seemed like she knew Taylor better than she thought, which made her feel great. "Really!? Taylor-chaaan!" Akashi was ready to overflow with emotion.

And then the bra came. Well, Akashi was a little embarrassed that she was pulling it out in public but then again, Akashi had little shame even if she was embarrassed over having no shame. "Ah.. ah..." Akashi was taken aback a bit. "W-welll... I won't complaaaaain if it's for meee, but I guess Johnny-kun can take one for the team for me." Akashi said and winked.

Akashi laughed when Taylor made a sock puppet. "hehe, Domo! Sock-chan!" Akashi said all a giggle. Akashi remained grinning even as Taylor honestly thanked her. "Oh stop. Because you are happy, I am happy. That is how friendship works, Taylor-chan." Akashi then pointed at Natalia. "And despite your best attempts to be pathetic and mopey on your Birthday, you are still surrounded by friends who care for you, so." Akashi stuck her tongue out and pushed the next box forward only to be caught by the nose. She let out another laugh.

But before she could get any further, Natalia and Taylor started going at it. Her face wehn from red from laughter to bright red.

"M-m-m-m-MOTHER!?" She gasped. "Ah.. er... ah... "D-don't make me seperate yout wo!" She said and turned her head away from them. "T-Taylor-s-san.." She said meekly, her face turned. "O-please open the next p-present."

This box was considerably smaller than the others and when it was opened, it had a bunch of CD's in it. She knew Taylor liked music but didn't really know what she had or what she listened to. Int he box was a Thee Michelle Gun Elephant CD witht heir theme on it.

"I didn't know if you had it or not..."

A Yoshida Brothers and an X Japan CD were there.

"I like the first one, I picked them for my theme. The second one I guess is heavy and rocky but older... or so they tell me, eheh...."

Followed up by a Misfits Album and a Rise Against album.

"It took a while for them to explain to me that "punk" was actually a music too... I think you might have that last one though and Misfits just seemed like Taylor-San! Um... I'm sorry..." She said apologizing profusely for her attempt at trying to pick out music, lowering her head.

"I don't know if I'd say I'm surrounded be friends, Akashi. There's just you and Catwoman here, and she wants to get paid to beat my face in. Whatever, though, you can't always get what you want, can you?"

Taylor pulled the socks off of her hands and stowed them in the box. She took the next box and tore it open. "Ooh!" She exclaimed and pulled the CD's out. When she moved to Japan, she brought her iPod, but not her actual CD's. It wasn't the same.

She sifted through the pile. She hadn't really heard Thee Michelle Gun Elephant beyond their theme, so she was pumped to have that, and Akashi's music, and RISE AGAINST! It was on her iPod, of course, but she'd listen to the CD as soon as she got home. She'd never heard X Japan, but she loved hearing new music and she trusted Akashi's judgement, even if maybe she shouldn't. Lastly she came to the Misfits.

"Ah, the classics too!" She grinned. "You got something classic, something new, my favorite, and our music! That... actually, that means more to me than I thought it would. Akashi, you're killin' me, here, you're gonna make me cry and stuff and I don't want to. Not in front of Catwoman." Her face tightened up a little as she became emotional. She reached out and grabbed Akashi's hand and gave it a squeeze.

"There's something I think I might buy, too..." She had thought for a while that she might spend some of her fight money that had been accumulating in an account on the most ridiculous stereo she could find. Maybe now was the time.

The day had gone like clockwork, but Ciara couldn't care less. From midmorning to just recently she had taken care of Lysandra's "trivial" fieldwork, running around the seedy underbelly of this city and getting in touch with informants, black market contacts, gang leaks, and even a group of higher-ups in the prominent Yamaguchi-gumi family. None involved had wanted to invite the ire of Ms. Tremaine, lest they call down ICEPS on their heads, but that hadn't hindered Ciara's anger at having to witness firsthand the very worst that the city had to offer such a wide scale. Predictably, the She-Wolf was in a crummy mood. Having to put on a pair of jeans that was a bit tight and a baggy sweatshirt just to fit in didn't help either.

Letting another hiss of frustrated air out from between her teeth, Ciara ran her eyes up the sidewalk, looking for somewhere to just grab a tasty, greasy meal to bury her irritation for the night. Once she found it, Ciara made a beeline for the small diner. Once upon a time, Ciara would have shunned American food outright, but endless brutal months on the front lines with nothing but MREs that tasted like processed hell had done wonders for her taste buds' tolerance.

The soldier shoved her way through the door and into the warmer, tasty-smelling atmosphere of the diner. Her ears were immediately assailed by happier noises and conversation that she expected absent at this time of night, especially in a place like this. Regardless, she was about to shrug the noise off, trudge over to a stool and order from the man at the counter until she registered the name "Akashi."

Turning around, Ciara indeed spotted the proud, fun-loving champ over at a corner booth, giving out presents to a chick with blue ponytails and-Aw, Hell No. The She-Wolf made up her mind in an instant. She could eat back at the building with Lysandra and Katsumi, it didn't matter. Turning her head quickly, Ciara pulled the hood over her head, afraid that the cheek turned towards the celebrating girls had shown her scar a moment too long. "Double cheeseburger with a coke and fries, please."

The stout man gave her a funny look for a second, glanced pointedly at the other group of girls, then back to her. "You want that here or-" he began to inquire.

"To Go." Ciara immediately bit her lip and wished she could sink into the ground. Way too hasty, way too loud, and way too much of her telltale UK accent. As much as she hoped it wasn't a dead giveaway to somebody like Akashi or Natalia...

It took Natalia a few minutes to recover her breath and composture after the vicious sock puppet attack. She brushed her hair with her fingers to get it back in place. "Pffft...Catwoman... You wish..." Natalia said althought nobody seemed to be paying her much attention.

"Oh don't worry, Taylor-chan... You can cry in front of me... I'm not going to think less of you... I couldn't" Natalia said giggling as she looked at the CDs Taylor was getting.

Taking this opportunity, Natalia stole another chocolate and placed it in her mouth, hoping this time she could enjoy it. But then she heard a voice coming from the counter that sounded familiar. It wasn't hard to recognize a woman like Ciara, specially in Japan. Natalia swallowed the chocolate again not without some trouble and once she managed to speak again she raised a hand to wave to Ciara. "Look there... It's Ciara-chan!" Natalia said outloud, trying to call Ciara's attention, oblivious to wether Taylor and Akashi knew her or not.

Akashi was ecstatic when she saw the look on Taylor's face. She had actually managed to pick out good music too! Suddenly she felt her head swell and her ego begin to rise. She bit her lip to keep from cackling at how well she knew Taylor. She held up her pinky to her hand and eyed it. The bond between them was strong and she wiggled her pinky as though she was tugging on the red ribbon that connected them. Suddenly she burst out with a laugh. "haha, awesome! ooooh, Taylor-chaaan, this is so exciting! I can't believe I got all of these presents right. I thought for sure I was going to end up looking like a total fool!"

She panted from her excitement and had to restrain herself from pouncing on Taylor. "Oh! Two more presents, but one is very special and I want to save it.' She said as she took the smallest box and pulled it close to herself. "But!" She said and looked at Natalia. "The other present, even Natalia-chan will enjoy!" She said and beamed brightly at the two.

"Buuut. It really should wait until after the food. "IF THEY EVER DECIDE TO BRING IT!" Akashi yelled loudly and looked at the Kitchen who did not seem to care.

Akashi sighed and sat down next to Taylor, pulling the bigger box near her and grinning at her blue haired friend. "heeee." She giggled but then stopped as Natalia turned and spotted someone. She looked and saw a girl tucked into a hoodie and wrinkled her brow.

"See.... ahhhla...." Akashi said, sounding out the name in bad Japanese English. She knew a Ciara. Which was weird. But she hadn't seen that girl in a while. Well. How many Ciara's could there be? If Natalia knew her as well... which was odd... then she HAD to be from t he AFW, right?

"Austerlitz-san!" Akashi said, trying a different approach as she looked at the skulking girl.

"Oh, Kashi... You showing up is enough of a present for me." Taylor admitted. "I love the presents, I do. But... I love the fact that... you know..." She trailed off to keep from getting too emotional. Akashi knew what she meant. It felt so good, part of her couldn't help but wonder where the catch was, or when the other shoe would drop and something would come along to ruin her night.

She looked at Natalia. She couldn't for the life of her figure out how to feel about her. She considered her an enemy, she was competition. She wanted to hurt Taylor and Taylor wanted to hurt her back. But... her sitting across the booth from her didn't feel wrong. She almost cracked a weak smile, but then Natalia was calling out to some other girl. Her heart sank a little.

She looked up at the hooded girl at the counter, eying her cautiously. She didn't want anything to do with anyone else in the world at that moment, especially... she got a bad vibe from this one. She didn't have the energy to make a scene or anything, so she just looked on quietly.