[Semi-open] Hellkitten

Hawke sits in one of the music classrooms in the school, blowing a few notes into his melodica every now and then, awaiting some inspiration.

I haven't thought about home in a while... I wonder how dad's band is coping without him. Are they still together..? Possibly... but the lead guitarist and singer is a pretty big role to fill in such a short time... and dad wasn't easily replacable. The things he could do to that guitar were unholy. Sublime.

A sudden spark of inspiration hits Hawke, and he begins to play one of his father's more ska-themed songs.

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kw2cVaMfsbY)

He'd brought his trusty loop pedal with him, and played the simple chord patterns on various instruments he could find around the room and set them onto tracks. For the trumpets and saxophone he simply used different octaves on his melodica. The drum parts were a little tricky, so he dropped Satoshi a text to see if he wanted to come for a quick jam session and experiment with his machine.
About twenty minutes later, he'd programmed the machine to play the song automatically, and all it needed was someone singing along and the drum kit.

"I had nine lives and I lost all of them, I've been searching in the night and I've been searching in the rain..." Hawke begins to sing to himself, getting more confident as the song wore on.
This was the first song his father had ever written, and it was the kickstart to his career. It also earned him the name of "Hellcat": Tiberius "Hellcat" Hawke.

How do I manage to find myself in this situation over and over again? Wandering through the corridors aimlessly, just looking for something to interest me.

I'd been walking for roughly an hour, I got lost on the way to my music lesson so I gave up and began exploring. I was listening to my Ipod, a little band called "The Cat Empire", who are my favorite... the frontman had the most enthralling voice you could imagine, and his personality was beyond compare... The interviews she'd heard of him never failed to make her laugh.

It was at this point that my headphones do the annoying thing they are want to do and fall out, but weirdly the music doesn't stop. I can hear the song I was JUST listening to coming from behind a nearby dor, with someone who sounds uncannily like Hellcat singing. Obviously, in my excitement I burst through the door and shout "Tiberius!"

"I had a plan but that was where it end-"

"Tiberius!"

Hawke almost jumps out of his skin at the sound of his name, and as the door slams open revealing a fairly petite, but tall girl with short blonde hair and fantastic blue eyes.

"Yes? Can I help you?" He replies, slightly confused.

"IloveyourmusicsomuchandIwanttomarryyouandhaveyourbabies!!!" I let out in one big gush. Then clap my hands to my mouth. "I mean, er... hey!" and flash my best grin."What's a famous singer such as yourself doing in a place like this?!"

Famous music?! What is she talking abou-.... oh. I see what's going on.

"Um, I think you have the wrong idea... I'm not Hellcat... I'm his, er... son."

"Ahh so Tiberius has a fan of his legacy empire of music here, eh?"

Haha-so now I know her weakness. Score one: me!

*E*"Gotchyer tex' 'bout the interesting problem of yer's, bredduh. I never heard theh piece before but-hot DAMN-do I like it."

"yeh don' mind me altering it to fit my style more, do yeh?"

The slow but tricky beat seemed quite flexible and boy would I love to fit myself in it!

*J* "By the way, if you need a piano player other than me, you have one drooling down your arm right now. Just for future reference."

My face has my trademark grin practically plastered on. I can't help but chuckle.

"Y-you're his son?!" I say, eyes lighting up with glee. "Hellcat lives here?!"

I then hear Satoshi's comment about piano playing "You.. you wanna play with me sometime?"

"He's ah... he's dead." Hawke says, looking down at his feet. "And playing together would be cool, I guess. Heh, I could be Hellkitten."

He sends a text to Satoshi "Shall we ask her if she's interested in the band? "

"DEAD?! He can't die! I loved hi-.."

Oh dear. That's his son. Nice going, Kuri.

"I mean, err, I'm sorry for you.. loss.." I then look at Satoshi, silently pleading for him to help me.

I notice Kuriko looking in my general direction after putting on a 'need help' face. After she turns toward me fully that face becomes more pushed like she's trying to tell me she needs help.

I swear, sometime I need to tell her about how easy her face is to read

...or maybe I can just let it go and use that for the future. After all, it is always hard not knowing what another thinks of you.

Either way, I should heed her wish. I can't stand when a girl looks at me like that.

"EeeehHawke!"

I walk over right behind Kuriko and put a hand on her left shoulder and then after another half a second put another hand on her right before whispering "trust me" into her ear so quietly that it hardly looks like I'm whispering. It takes advantage of her hightened hearing sense.

My voice becomes impregnable. Like that of a king's chief adviser of executive affairs or a pet owner telling a pet-sitter specifics on how to take care of his or her pet.

My speech also becomes proper English instead of speaking 'bro.'

Like a whole new me. This is both the serious me and the me that uses his mind instead of conciousness.

This state of mind gives off a completely different aura signature than my normal. As such I othen consider it a different person even if all it is is the rest of my more resessive mind wanting a say in things.

This version is much more of a clear thinker. He is the writer, the poet, the artist, and the musician of myself.

When I act like him is when I am being completely serious and speaking of others. So when I sound more like this state of mind I clearly mean business.

"This is miss Hatsuhara. She can play both guitar and piano."

*E* "I've yet to hear how good she is but if she can play two instruments it is reasonable to suggest she plays them quite well or at least one quite well while the other she may be a beginner."

(Still English) "I advise we see how good she is before we offer her a position because the amount of good she is on each instrument may determine what areas we should musically focus on."

My overall vocal signature lightens up a bit, though my voice still sounds like that of an adviser's.

"And I have the personal reasons both of seeing how much of a Ray Charles we have and exactly how compatible she is with my overall personality."

I shoot Tiberius a smaller version of my grin before rubbing Hatsuhara's head with my right hand a little forcfully and then stepping forward next to him.

My right pointer and thumb on my jaw while I look at her.

"So what do you think? Something about her tells me she is more than just a grupie but there are always variables for such a matter."

"I suggest we do not truly tell her this is an audition and instead say it is a jam session."

"It is intirely true but it is letting her know stuff on a need-to-know basis and I feel that is the best approach."

"If we tell her everything I fear she may become nervous-more nervous than playing in front of a crowd would make her-and not be able to play her best and that of course would make this whole situation ineffective."

*Japanese* "How much English do you understand?"

I'm speaking to her now.

Smiling, Hawke replies in English "Satoshi, I worry about how devious you are. I feel like you're playing me at every opportunity!"

Why the hell would he say something in English in order for me to not hear, and yet ask if I understood AFTER? This guy is intriguing.

What with me being a devoted follower of Hellcat, and him being English, my goal of marrying him after handily disposing of his wife would be considerably harder if we didn't share a common language. I managed to pick up a fairly sizable chunk from the music, but the interviews were difficult to understand. I'd taken several extra-curricular classes in my time at school, German, French, Further Maths, even IT. They were simply to further my knowledge about the world, and improve my chances of making it when I grew up. But English... now English was simply to fulfill a sick fantasy. I figured that everyone had some secret in their minds, and this was mine. I genuinely did everything I could to become the perfect woman for Hellcat. I knew that I would never ever meet him, and it was even less likely that I would be able to seduce him, but it felt good to know that I at least tried.

Now, my English is far from perfect. But I'm not half bad. And I understood Satoshi's brief monologue... but some things he said make me think it would be more advantageous to have the upper hand.

Being blind, facial expressions were alien to me, I had never actually seen one. But my mother, being a proud woman... tried to make me look at least normal. She would sit down with me for at least half an hour a day and practice facial expressions. Through this, I picked up a great deal of body language tricks, and I would even go so far as to say when acting I could act more sincere than most people.
My face a mask of innocence, but not overdoing it by any stretch of the imagination. "That was English?! Sorry Veachy-kun, German and French are as far as my language skills stretch."

Hmm...I think it's about time for an outright strike and see how she holds up.

She is really warmed up to me so it shouldn't sound too douchey to her.

Let's see how you do under pressure with speech, miss Hatsuhara. I've already seen how dominant you can be over me but now I want to see how much I dominate you in my ball court.

My voice returns to be light and warm like normal but only a little more. Kind of like a parent lecturing a child in the most loving way possible.

"English is a universal language. Nearly every country at least has it as it's main secondary language to the point where it is featured on many road signs as translation."

"If I can recognize a language as being Arabic or African, anyone can recognize English. That includes you."

"So, Miss Hatsuhara, if you say you didn't recognize it, that leads me to believe you, not only recognized it but you understood enough of it.-Am I wrong?"

"Now,...I will ask you this again-and I want you to answer me truthfully."

I may bend and polish my words but I rarely lie and it's virtually non-existent for me to lie for an unjust reason. So that is one thing I am different from her in. Instead of bending her words she changes the entire meaning. A formidable method even if it isn't very chivalrous.

"How much English do you understand?"

"I've told you already, Satoshi, none at all! I had an inkling that it was English, but I don't understand much, let alone speak it. I wish I did though. It's be nice to actually know what the bloody hell Hawke's dad is going on about..." I say, looking down to my side, with a wistful expression. "A few words I recognise, such as hello and goodbye and the mere basics like that, but anything further than 'How are you?' [She purposefully dampens her accent here, adding some classic Japanese mistakes to throw Satoshi off the trail] and I'm in no-mans land. What did you even say to Hawke? I'm quite offended that you would talk a language a cute and innocent young girl can't understand when you are in her presence!" I say, adding my classic flirtatious pout and stamping my foot in mock anger.

She originally has me going.

Then she begins playing the game with the same rules of the 'sexism/racism "How DARE you!"' card which put's me back on top of her.

Over acting is still bad acting.

My thought escapes my lips as a mumble. Someone like Tiberius may not understand, but at the hands of a blind girl it is possible that it is not only audible but understandable.

It's a bad habit I have for when I am thinking a lot. It shows up temporarily like my stammering does but only when I am thinking to myself instead of speaking it aloud.

"Ovr act'n'ss'ill bed act'n'..."

I walk up to her and this time read her face instead of her voice.

She's clearly successfully mastered masking her vocal signature of any imperfections when speaking something a bit far-fetched as well as making facial expressions-but one thing's for sure, she did not master hiding facial expressions.

The only way that can be mastered when blind is with a mixture of CLOSE help and experience.

I perform one more unusual talent of mine that I never thought would ever be useful because I've never even thought about finding alternative ways of reading a blind individual.

By using the same technique as peripheral vision I lock my eyes forward. Solely relying on peripheral vision but that includes looking in front.

This allows for a more dull (but equal all round) vision so I can keep my eye on a wider area.

[Try it! It's very difficult, and I don't think I could ever teach it, but it's an interesting trick to learn even if it isn't very useful for any situation.]

I give Tiberius a facial expression of 'trust me' and silently put a finger in the middle of my lips motioning for silence.

'Trust in me and just be quiet.'

*E* "Then you won't understand me if I speak more in English, right?"

I speak so only Kuriko can hear me. I'd rather Hawke not hear this and then publicly question my motives.

That may cause a failure.

I take a few steps forward, leaving me pretty close to my target. Her face even closer with my slightly bent-down position so her face is directly in front of mine.

I begin to act nervous (completely unlike me in a situation like this, though my act is generally good. Not over or under-acting. This is due to my personality changing in the 8th year of school from the most quietest thing ever to the loudest, most ballsy guy anyone's ever seen.)

(In short, I have experience.)

I'm acting like I know Hatsuhara doesn't understand English but what I'm saying is only possible to say because of that.

What also helps with my acting is-again-I don't lie much ever at all. I just polish and bend my words so in a way I am speaking an exaggerated truth.

These conditions that Hatsuhara didn't have work to the advantage of the performance.

*E*"Well...Hatsuhara...Eh-...I mean Kuriko-chan...I really like you.-You're...interesting,-you're kind...heh-you're damn-well adorable..."

All throughout this I am making myself believe my feelings are that strong. Altering my mental beliefs just enough to keep my voice believable.

I allow my facial expressions to change (if they didn't I may not be able to convince my consciousness this is real) but I don't stop staring at Hatsuhara's face. Reading every little change.

Something I cannot do to someone who can look right back into my eyes and face.

"And I know we haven't seen much of each other, but-...but I want to see more of you from now on..."

I sigh and lower my voice like I'm talking to myself. Making sure I am still audible.

"Hhheeehhhhh...now all I have to do is somehow get that off of my chest in a better language than this..."

Well. He's a bit close now isn't he? I expect he's studying my face... a bit rude if you ask me. Just because I'm blind doesn't mean you have a free pass to do something someone with their full senses couldn't. Time to teach him a lesson.

One benefit from being blind is that your other senses are heightened dramatically, and you get much more time to spend with them and can do things others cannot. For example, my hearing. Now, a normal person's primary sense is seeing, it's their most obvious. However, when they want to listen to something more closely, then would close their eyes. Simple technique right? Right. However, what many people don't know is that all the senses have a 'kill switch' as it were, the nose you can block the passages, and the ears? I've managed to master the technique of tuning anything and everything out altogether. When I notice Satoshi moving in closer, I begin to tune out so I don't actually have the chance to react to what he says. All I catch is the tail end of "And I know" and like that, I'm blind and deaf to the world. what I do is I focus on the blood pumping in my ears. [Such as when you yawn, the kind of flowing-y but not quite sound]

I wait patiently for a few moments until I believe he has said enough, and make my face a mask of confusion. When I think I've given him enough time to finish what he says [In reality I'd been standing a couple of seconds longer than it took Veach to say his piece] and begin stammering, while making a mental note of GO FOR THE JUGULAR: "S-satos-shi, you're very close to me. I.. I uh... I'm not sure what you're trying to do, but uh.... here goes.." And like that, I move swiftly forward and plant a big kiss right on his lips.

C-C-C-COMBO BREAKER! Lets see how he reacts to that. Irrationality is the key to success with these people, m-girl.

Mo-ther-fu-cker, I might just be practically molesting someone who doesn't understand what I'm doing.

*kiss*

-DAFUQIN'SHT!

Naturally, it is my first kiss.

As someone who matured at an early age and never made any close friends until just about two months ago this is...quite a different experience.

The down side is I never actually told Hatsuhara the reason why I'm here. The fact that I faint and randomly fall asleep.

As a result of my stance, I find myself falling forward into this poor girl's right shoulder.

Peace out.

And I lose conciseness.

My body simply brushes her to the side like my one and true love is the floor.

'BABYCOMEBACK! You can blame it all on-*SLAM!*-eeeeehw...'

And like that I'm out like a light.

Hawke just stands there. Confused.

What the fuck just happened...

By the way-just saying that about now this was me:

I put on a big grin.

"Well that taught him!" Then realise I should probably try to wake him. "Satoshi!" I call gently shaking his shoulder (after scrabbling about for a while to find his body)

When my name is called I awake. My body's natural alarm clock.

After I regain consciousness I give a deep breath and stretch hard.

"ssssffff!....AHhhhh..."

My eyes open slowly and blink twice before squinting again.

"Mm? What happened?"

I can already guess I am in the band club room since I can remember getting a text to go there and how there's instruments around.

"You were very rude and I hit you around the head with a book" I say calmly, trying to keep a straight face. "I kissed your head better though" I say, barely containing my laughter. "You seemed to, ah... enjoy the kiss."

It only takes a couple of seconds for the giggles to explode out in a unholy rage. "Sorry! Can't do it..."

Hawke, aware that Satoshi's head is not something to be trifled with, rushes over to his body and makes sure he's ok.

"How ya feeling man? Light-headed? Dizzy? Tell me if you're gonna pass out on me.." and shoots Kuriko a glare of venom, before realising she can't see it.

There are three holes in this....I'm no douche. ESPECIALLY to girls...and the blind.

The second is I know how to take a knife and hand gun away the same way the Israeli Defense Force does and apparently I let a blind girl knock me out with a book-a heavy, slow book.

And three: There's no way in Hell she kissed me for...just about every reason out in the world there'd be to not kiss a guy like me.

That's practically something I've just accepted a long time ago.

...Seems like we got ourselves a witch among the inquisition.

Liars always have disgusted me.

With a face of frustration I put my hand up and lightly and slowly push both of the people around me back with my arm and palm.

"Hm."

I then lay back down, bring my knees by my head, and kick myself back on my feet (making sure not to hurt either people in the process). Standing up tall.

"Never better. Now what really happened?"

"Well. She didn't hit you around the head with a book but the rest is true. You got very close and personal.and started talking in English to her, which she doesn't understand. I think you were pretending to come onto her... She kissed you in retaliation. You passed out. If you hadn't hit.your head it would have been hilarious" he says with a grin.