Suitcases clinked against the rails in the hallway of the exit ramp of the plane, metal wheels squealing against the roar of a nearby engine. The airport was crowded by voices, like a guttural hydra of sound. With each dead end of language, each conversation cut short, two new ones sprang to fill the void. In the thirteen plus years since he'd last been to Japan, nothing much had changed. There were still too many voices. The air was packed thick with no room to breath. Through the insufferable chatter he picked out key points of information. 'Yes, the news media was still covering the crisis in China. No, it still wasn't owning up to its own responsibilities towards helping them. One man even went so far as to compare Japan's inaction to another historical event known by much less friendly terms. Something to do with Nanking...' Shin shook the conversation off. It was too opinionated for his ears. Popping the suitcase up on its wheels against his leg, he turned to look back through the crowd of faces for the one familiar one he'd shared a flight all the way to Japan with. Cat-eyed mutants and cream-skinned foreigners made finding Koga hard. The fact he seemed to blend in with some of the humans sporting their own designer genetically altered adaptations made finding one reptile boy in a sea of faces a frightening task.

"Ryuuichi?" Shin called, wheeling his suitcase around and taking a step back towards the on/off ramp to the plane. "Koga?"

Man, if he lost him here what would he tell the higher-ups? For some reason, Shin still felt like the big brother even when Koga was old enough to drink and drive. Furrowing his brow and cupping his hands around his mouth, Shin called out once more. "Koooooogaaaaaaa?"

A snake-tongued splicer eyed him in passing. "Sssshut up, phreak!"

Shin shook his head. Wrong lisp. And he'd told him to stay close, too. This was not good... misplacing someone in the five minutes between off-ramp and lobby usually isn't.

((written in English for your convenience))

Koga dropped the charm and was almost immediately pressed for his signature at the air port gate after scratching his name down on a lot of papers for what reason he didn’t know but they seemed to be happy about it. So he walked his naked lizard body that was in offensive do to the convenience of the reptile form. He glanced around for shin and was making his way behind him as appreciative stares kept coming he was causing a ridiculous occurrence of attention. He didn’t hate the attention but was nervous the only other time this many people had looked at him they were circling in for the kill. To chase his crazy looking self out of there But with plenty of bowing nods and “polite excussssessss me”’s in his second tongue. He finally made it up to Shin and caught someone talking trash to his big brother, No, it wasn’t blood but if anybody was family in this world it was Shin.

He was about to answer Shin when he instead decided to bare down on the punk. “Watch you’re ssself you little possser before you get ssschooled by the real thing.” Koga bared his wickedly sharp teeth and caused the flaps on the side of his throat to flare.

“Hey Ssshin-kun ssssorry about that , mossst of thessse people are treating me like sssome sssort of rock ssstar. Lets get out of here fast.” He pulled his bag up on his shoulder and grinned at the young man again as he still stood there stunned. Though the way Koga grinned lately wasn’t the textbook picture of friendliness.

“Ah, there you are.” Shin let out a sigh of relief as Koga popped up and talked down the pathetic imitator. He smiled as the man scurried off with his tail between his legs. That was good. No confrontations.

“…Lets get out of here fast.”

Popping his bag back down on its wheels, Shin nodded. “Yeah.” Slipping through the crowd like Moses at the Red Sea, they made their way to the exit. People seemed to shift out of their way as they went. Smirking, Shin glanced back at Koga. “Heh, think you were right about the ‘rock star’ thing. Just wait until later.”

~*~

Bright red fabric outlined the sleek chrome stars thrown into the mesh of the black net on display, highlighting each metal disc like a dot in the sky. Rainbow-colored red herrings hung in-between the chrome coronas, connecting those dots into a constellation of merchandise, spelling out in shining neon letters ‘Buy, buy, buy!’ The setup hung in the window behind the sign for the pawn shop, reflecting the neon red. The rest of Tokyo flashed twice as bright.

From the airport’s exit, the nearest karaoke shop was a few blocks away. The back seat of their cab was the perfect place to marvel at the city’s bright lights.


“Would you look at that.” After all the years away, it still impressed Shin.

((OOC: You can find us a nice karaoke bar. Have the cab drop us off.))

“Do I even want to know?” he mumbled as he followed Shin through the airport, He made like any other Japanese man that was in a hurry He bowed his head slightly lifting his eyes only to keep him on track and then put them back on the floor to avoid eye contact, amazingly the trademark transferred over even onto his Komodo dragon like frame.

~*~

“How could I not?” he returned. “This isss like New York done right.” And to a pair of a laid back technology loving guys, it was among the truest of statements. A lot of the ride was kept in a touristic silence and awe. Koga for his part didn’t really remember Japan that much and when he had been here he had been asleep while they were in Tokyo both times. He was almost worried that somehow the jet lag would spring on him and then take over out of nowhere causing him to sleep the rest of the trip. Luckily the whether was nice tonight and wouldn’t require him to through on any battery powered self heating clothing.

He wasn’t quite sure where they were going but it was obvious that the Cabby knew because He hadn’t asked them for directions which meant that while he was putting the luggage in the trunk, Shin was furthering his somehow Evil yet rock star connected plans. Just a short Drive later they came up to “Sing Sing Your Heart Out!” Records and microphones adorned the building front. And as the car stopped moving Koga resisted groaning. Shin had all but told him, if he broke the riddle then he could have started running by now. At least they would have private booths right? Koga nodded to himself and was determined to keep up. He was still a bit shy if he let himself be and more than self conscious with his illusion down, but if he stayed determined he wouldn’t let him self fall to embarrassment.

He let shin take care of the fair and then got out and got their bags, lifting them so that Shin wouldn’t have to bother. He didn’t face the bar, just incase they might not be going there and gave his mentor any last minute ideas.

“And there, and there, and there, and there. There, that should cover it.” The yen piled up in the cabby’s hand like an X marking the spot of capitalism. The cabby nodded with each bill added to the stack, finally giving his regards to Shin’s mother when the fare was all doled out. Like a race car driver, his tires squealed away into the night. Shin stared at the tire trails where the cab had once been, then turned to aim an eye at Koga and the karaoke bar they’d selected. Really, it hadn’t been his choice to come here. Honestly, karaoke was the furthest thing from his mind. An old girlfriend of his told him before he’d gotten on the plane, when he first let her know he’d be in Tokyo, “Go here and do this. You’ll thank me.” Not being one to pass on a cool tip, he’d taken the advice and here they were. Shin always was the amiable type.

Following the lizard man into the establishment, Shin looked around. It wasn’t the type of karaoke bar he’d been expecting, no not at all. Instead of being the kind of joint where you paid for a room and got a little karaoke machine for the night, this was far more… bar-oriented. Yes. Far more alcoholically-fueled. That was one way to put it. From the white-collar worker with his tie over his forehead like a headband and his shirt’s neck popped open to the girls in the audience swaying to his rendition of ‘Born to be Wild’, the whole thing gave off a very charged feel.

“Definitely not the kind of place a couple of crazy kids could spend the night…” Shin muttered, looking over his shoulder at the man behind the bar top, scrubbing it down with a cloth. “Good thing we aren’t kids anymore… excuse me. Is there a hotel upstairs?”

The passing bouncer swung his head side to side, no. “Hotel’s across the street. We do have a few rooms upstairs, but…” He looked from Shin to Koga, then back to Shin. “I don’t think you’d be interested in those rooms.” Shin blinked.

“…Oh.”

“BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORN TO BE WIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIARUDOOOOOOO~!!!!!”

A screaming wail cut through the bar and Shin covered his ears, shooting the white collared worker a scathing glare. He turned to aim a hesitant look Koga's way.

"What do you think? Go get a room across the street first, then come back, or have a few drinks here and risk it?"

The man on the microphone staggered off the stage and a pretty girly got on to replace him. She held the microphone close to her mouth, like she was kissing a fish. Her lipstick was redder than a stop sign, and twice as bold. Shin suddenly wanted to go find another bar…

Dingy, dank, dark, bleh?...yet he had seen much worse. Over the years he had gone through all sorts of cese pools to clean them out an up. This on might not be criminal unless bad Karaoke was a crime.


“definitely not children,” He agreed as his eye twitched but luckily it came off just as a lizardy thing to do.

**“Hotel’s across the street. We do have a few rooms upstairs, but…” “I don’t think you’d be interested in those rooms.”

Koga could be belligerent at times and would push some matter that he didn’t quite get but do to the consensus back home that mutants were crap magnets, sometimes made him push things that he didn’t get the undercurrent too and he honestly didn’t understand, if they weren’t good enough for this place or if it wasn’t good enough for them.

~~“…Oh.”

He tilted his head looked at the bouncer. “ Why wouldn’t we be interesssted” he said in a low voice.

**“BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORN TO BE WIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIARUDOOOOOOO~!!!!!”

Koga, Clapped his hands subconsciously, others were clapping and he followed the cue. Never mind shin’s glare. Though due to his mutation his Hearing was more through his tongue than his none existent ears so the pitch and Level of noise was reduced drastically.

~~"What do you think? Go get a room across the street first, then come back, or have a few drinks here and risk it?"

“If ssshe sssingsss anything from Madonna or Celine Dion I demand we leave, otherwissse we can risssk it.”

“You’re the one that brought ussss here, We could at the very least grace them with one song?


**“”Like A virgin! Touched for the very…”

Koga Groaned and then laughed. “When did we get boring? There was a time when we would have taken thisss asss a challenge. Can we ssssave thessse people from bad mussssic and an audible thrasssshing?”

Koga rolled his neck and then slapped some cash on the bar. “We need a couple of Sssaki bombs, where isss your music catalog? Sssomething hasss got to give.” He smiled that wicked smile again at Shin, they had gotten into a lot of trouble over the years, but he wasn’t sure they had been in a worse situation.

>> Koga Groaned and then laughed. “When did we get boring? There was a time when we would have taken thisss asss a challenge. Can we ssssave thessse people from bad mussssic and an audible thrasssshing?” Koga rolled his neck and then slapped some cash on the bar. "We need a couple of Sssaki bombs, where isss your music catalog? Sssomething hasss got to give.”

"Boring? Quite the contrary. Let's order up a song and show these people what being an American Idol's all about!” He snapped up the first shot glass the bartender poured out, slid into a seat, and rested his elbows on the bar counter as he looked out over the room. Another drink danced its way to Koga as the bartender set the catalog down, open to the very center of Rock and Roll. Shin spun in his seat to face it, trailing his finger down the long list to the ‘O’s.

“How about Okkusenman? You got that?”

The bartender shook his sober head. “No video game music.”
“Aww, and it’s such a good song too! What, so just jpop and jrock? A bunch of American songs hippies would have on their itunes and zunes?” Shin arced an eyebrow. Bobblehead bartender nodded along. Alcohol filled another shot. “So what song do you want to sing, Koga?” The menu flipped over to the lizard man like a tumbleweed in heavy wind.

He grinned at shin as he predictably fell directly into the trap of not being boring and thus taking the challenge in stride.

“So what song do you want to sing, Koga?”

Koga tilted his head back sinking the Saki bomb down into the depths of his stomach. He answered by raising his finger into the air and letting it drop onto the page. Kamakazi Karaoke, no looking and taking whatever you get. He looked down following the his arm all the way down his arm and laughed as he came down to it. Only happy when it rains by:Garbage..there was worse out there, but this was by no means a good pick.

"Ssshould I get usss a couple more ssshotsss?"

“Garbage!? Yeah, we’ll be needing some more courage for this one. Order up.” The counter slipped away from his back like falling rocks as he pushed towards the center of the room to check out the equipment. An old man looked up at him from under the brim of his ten gallon hat, eyes hung at half mast. The ice in his drink chinked together like the tail of a rattler, and one snake-toed boot tapped lightly on the floor. Dirt and grime coated the floor of the karaoke stage, and a lonely microphone hung on its stand. Its cord trailed like a river, stuck in a wind. With a thud, Shin hopped up on stage and tapped the microphone.

“Check check, one two. Testing, testing. Can we see the video first to get an idea of the song. We’re singing some garbage song about rainy days and love… hai hai. Arigato.”

~~“Garbage!? Yeah, we’ll need some more courage for this one. Order up.”

“two, no make it four more.” He said to the bar tender as he tossed some more cash on the bar.

He downed his two and then carried the other pair up to shin, on the way to the bar he smirked at the old man’s boat and couldn’t help but comment. “ Don’t get any idea’s old timer.” The old man sat up slightly and didn’t realize what he was talking about until he nodded toward his attire. And the old man shook his head and offered a polite smile. Not too encouraging of the lizard man’s comment but not discouraging either.

~~“Check check, one two. Testing, testing. Can we see the video first to get an idea of the song. We’re singing some garbage song about rainy days and love… hai hai. Arigato.”

Koga leapt onto the stage and let out an exuberant “whooo!” it was comical coming from him. He offered the pair of shots to Shin. He leaned toward the mic and grinned, “If you like what you here we will take on any requessst any challenge!” He looked at Shin and held the laughter to his eyes, If nothing else he would either teach shin not to take him to a karaoke bar, or he would doom himself to making sure Shin had a great time and curse himself to trolling Kclubs the rest of this trip.

The video played out in the background and it wasn’t as painful as he remembered the song being it was kind of catchy in a terrible sort of way that made you ashamed for enjoying it. It was nothing if not dated.

Two shots. That was one for each hand. Two shots. They went down like one. Two shots. It wasn’t enough. Shin’s eyes widened as Koga volunteered them for any request. That was a bit much… But the alcohol burning down his throat gave him a blurred sense of confidence.

Bobbling forward to cut in after Koga he shouted “And if you make us sing anything by Madonna, my friend here will personally thank you for the request. Isn’t that right, Koga?” He patted the lizard man on the shoulder with a laugh. Glancing back at the music video playing on the screen, he shook his head. It didn’t look so hard. American music seemed to have less note progressions than other types of pop. The simple beat and refrain were compelling, but nothing a little ‘mirai wa bokura no te no naka’ couldn’t top. “We’ve got this in the bag.”

Koga nodded and grinned in threatening agreement, sure it was a bit hypocritical after saying they would take on any challenge, but hypocrociy was a small price to pay if it avoided them singing Madonna.

“We’ve got this in the bag.”

Koga Nodded and grabbed the Mic. “letsss get thisss thing going!” He then dived in to the first of the lyrics sharing the microphone with Shin once he caught up.


“Im only happy when it rainsss
Im only happy when itsss complicated
And though I know you cant appreciate it
Im only happy when it rainsss
You know I love it when the newsss isss bad
Why it feels so good to feel ssso sssad
Im only happy when it rainsss”

He also threw in a n eighties fist to the beat to see if he couldn’t rile this tumbleweed crowd.

Shin caterwauled alongside Koga through the lyrics, tapping his toe as he went. The people in the audience were lucky they were drunk off their asses. Alcohol helps in the appreciation process for ‘good’ karaoke. Alcohol flowed behind gritted teeth as the man with the snakeskin boots dealt with his ‘hearing problem’ one drink at a time.

As the music came to a close, scattered clapping met Shin’s ears. He looked around with a cocky grin. “Mission complete. Any challengers?”

“Ain’t Goin’ Down Till The Sun Comes Up” The snake-toed man hissed confrontationally. “Garth Brooks. Country.”

The image of a sequined cowboy sprung up on-screen.

“Okidokey. A glass of vodka, please.” The barkeep poured out an entire glass. Shin snagged it and downed it like it was grape juice. He wiped his lips. "Much better."

Koga laughed heartily as the end of the song winded down and they were done from their duties as singers.

~~ “Mission complete. Any challengers?”

**“Ain’t Goin’ Down Till The Sun Comes Up”. “Garth Brooks. Country.”

“If this song wont teach me to keep my mouth shut I don’t know what will. “ he said in a low tone to his partner and crime.

~~“Okidokey. A glass of vodka, please.” "Much better."

Koga held up two fingers and another followed behind the first. And he followed suit though with a hiss at the end that Shin didn’t bother with.

“erhmmm, howdy, howdy, howdy, HOOOOW DEEEE!” he said slowly building up an appropriate accent to go with the song. “ he was smirking again out the corner of his mouth. This song he was going to have to pay attention to the screen a bit more as he had no clue what the lyrics were going to be.

The other Asians around the bar turned to glare at them as Shin cleared his throat. Fingers floated in front of his chest as he inhaled and closed his eyes, trying to adopt a Texan accent.

“Partner… parutanah… paaaahndna… pardner, ayup… there we go. Hold on.” His feet hit the ground below the stage as he jumped off it, landing in a crouch. Stomping over to the snakeskin boot man, Shin snagged the hat off his head. “I’ll be borrowing this, pardner. Reckon you won’t mind, seein’ as you suggested it.” He quipped in perfect redneck American. Wrapping his fingers around the stage, he climbed back up. Footsteps echoed back to the microphone. “Alrighty, let’s get this out and over with…” He muttered as the music started. Shin took a deep breath.

“Six o'crock on Friday evening
Momma doesn' t know she's reaving
'Til she hears the screen door slamming
Rubber squealin', geals a-jamming…”

The words flew out into the audience with a bad Western accent in terribly mangled Engrish. Shin swung around the microphone, waving his arms like a sailor doing a salute.

“Oooooooooh~
Ain't going down 'til the sun comes up
Ain't givin' in 'til they get enough
Going 'round the world in a pickup truck~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~”

He swung the microphone out for Koga to deliver the next line.