The Video in this chapter is a beautiful example of Akemi's dancing. ——————————————————————
Now it was Akemi's turn. The lights went out and Akemi smiled softly as she walked out onto the stage only to blink. The water was gone? She realized as her eyes adjusted, that a man was standing near the lights with multiple floating balls of water around him before heading to the garden to put the water into one of the many ponds.
She smirked. *Smart.*
She turned to face the crowd as Kurenai turned on the lights.
The crowd murmured in intrigue. "I'm Akemi Akahana, but you all can call me Kurohime. It's a pleasure to perform for you all."
She grabbed her katana scabbard...
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and then immediately grabbed the blade handle with her left hand and removed the blade before tossing the scabbard towards Shota.
Shota reached up and caught it with a smirk as he spoke loud enough for all the men in the room to hear. "Knock Them Dead Honey!"
Akemi smirked at him as he winked while he took a sip of his Sake. He smirked over the other occupants of his table staring at him with unhinged jaws.
She smirked and whistled getting all eyes on her as she signaled the girl in charge of music to play her requested song. It was a traditional song but she knew Hizashi knew the meaning behind its tranquil yet sad tempo.
*Don't hate me for this Hizashi but Kurenai was braver than I ever was with Shota. Unlike me, she dared to find out the truth for herself.*
She spoke. "This performance goes out to a dear friend. His loyalty towards his brothers secret denied his own heart of a happiness I have only now been made aware of. My heart bleeds for him and for his lost love. I pray that my friend can find it in his heart to reconcile with his lost love. For she misses him dearly."
Hizashi's eyes narrowed. *Oh come on Akemi, not you too?!*
Kurenai thought the same. *Damn those girls they likely told her what I said to them when they got me drunk that one time.* She sighed. *Clearly you want to help Akemi, but I'm afraid of how he'll take this. intervention from you*
Hizashi was beyond pissed and worse for him is that he has to come back here until they get all the Intel Kurenai needs for the Interrogation Core. Dammit he just can't win today!
He sighed heavily and watched as Akemi started her performance of the sword dancing techniques she's learned from taking Korean sword dancing classes during junior high.
She had the second sword hidden on the elaborate folds of her kimono. Akemi saw Shizuki's glare over that hidden weapon being unknown to her, but it wasn't anything more than a wounded pride for the nineteen year old girl.
When she finished the audience applauded her. she dared to lock eyes with a frowning Hizashi Yamada as he sat with his arms crossed in his seat at the bar. He was likely going to have a word with her later but she didn't care. He needed to get past his distrust of Kurenai and see the bigger picture. Kurenai was heartbroken, and far braver than Akemi ever was with that secret truth about those past two years of Shota's bounty hunting days. Akemi didn't care if she'd have to trap the man to a chair by her hair like what Rapunzel did to Flynn Rider in that Disney movie. If that's what it took in order to get him to think about his past with Kurenai, in a less demeaning way, and focus on the path to reconciliation then she'd gladly do it! For the sake of the mission, and his heart she'd gladly act out the part of Rapunzel with Eri being her version of Pascal!
