Late.

"I'll be late." Alexandra muttered unsatisfied as she stepped out of the shower and wrapped herself in a towel. Getting out of the bathroom, desperately trying to get her hair dry as fast as possible, her eyes encountered the invitation to Kasumi's birthday resting on her nightstand along with the spilled contents of her bag, inclunding an airplane ticket. Shaking her head slightly as she remembered the journey she had taken back home in order to solve all the legal problems that appeared after her father's death. Although the stay had been pretty unpleasant, the results were satisfying.

"Late." she remembered herself as she picked up the bodice of her suit. Although she hadn't had the time to watch many anime or play videogames, she was a ware of few characters. Her pick for Kasumi's birthday, Zoey from Tokyo Mew Mew. Just as the dress was finally on her body, the horn of the cab rang clearly.Groaning, as the horn could be heard again, she picked up the boots in one hand and the bag with the rest of the accesories in the other along with Kasumi's gift.

Running bare footed trough the mansion and ignoring looks from both other mansion residents and the cab driver, she climbed inside the car and barked the directions while rumagging trough the contents of the bag in search for her tail.


~~~

"We're here miss."

The brush of the mascara was quickly removed from her eyelashes as she watched the cab driver with confusion. Shifting her eyes to the window, she swore under her breath. "Damn." Throwing the mascara inside the bag, she pulled out her wallet and paid the driver. Fixing her pink hair and ears, she stepped out of the car and smiled. She felt good being back.

Admiring the beautiful Moon Kingdom setting, and sometimes scanning the people that already were there, her eyes searched for Kasumi. As she walked, tail moving behind her, the bell attached to her tail bow made a short sound at every step she took. "Kasumi! Happy birthday!" she said as soon as she had reached the girl. "You look wonderful." she smiled. Her hand extended and opened up to reveal a small box which contained her gift for Kasumi. Shifting her eyes to Shin, finally noticing the red rose he held out to her, she smiled approvingly then turned back to the birthday girl.

Jewel glanced down and noticed Thor with a smile. She'd always loved dogs, and this gentleman was special, as he was the first being to greet her when she arrived to the Mansion not so long ago. She reached out to scratch Thor behind the ears affectionately.

Shana knew she was late, and despite being friends with kasumi, she had been dreading the day. She liked the idea people would be in costume, still large gathering of people had always been her weak point. Fear, terrable overwhelming fear gripped her like a predator. She had told kasumi she would be thare though. She tried to think up several excuses not to go, but each sounded lame to her after a few minutes of rationilizing it. Rubbing her head she wondered why she was hiding her secret, these were mutants, they would understand the pain and pressure of her isolation could they not? The risk however was to great no, she had to hide it, untill she was fixed, until she was better. Running a hand down her flat chest, she automatically reached for her breast forms, before realizeing she would not be needing them tonight, no something smaller would work better. kasumi was going to love this costume, she hoped she knew the Anime.

She had tried to dye her hair the night before and for once it had worked somwhat well, she had manged to make her hair a silverish-blue. Not quite the right color for the character but that was all right, Dyes rarely worked right on her hair anyway, her hair tilting anything she colored it with blue. With make up she made Purple lines across the back of her face, lined with her ears and going just before her eyes as well as a crescent moon on her forehead. She then put on the white Kimono which felt good against her skin, she looked to make the sleeved were dyed red just right before tieing the kimono down as wella s the bottum of the costume. The Kimono with the Hakama bolloned out near the bottum making it look like pant legs, another thing that helped was the long tail, completely hollo for weight reasons, the tails was pinning in place at her shoulder The armor of Sesshomaru had been the hardest part of the costume but satisfied she sheathed her swords, both fake of course.

She still looked like she had a chest though it looked smaller, which she would tell people she bound her chest. With a sigh, she opened a small zipper in the tail and put in her wallet and other things including a small present for Kausmi. She had made that section a bit like a purse so that she would not have to carry it with the costume. She was glad Sesshoumeru looked feminine normally it really helped pull things together.

She made her way to the party, her first few steps being nervous and small, but within a few feet of the car, she made straightened up, figuring whoever would see her, would see her now. She knew she looked diffrent then useual she was curious to see if they would reconixe her, now that she let her face look a bit more boyish. Her heart still raced, more so as she enterd the place and was able to look around, their were a few people she thought she knew. She saw a Yuna from Final fnatasy, the costume looked well made to, she also saw what looked like an Inchgo, but the hair was tossing the look off, then she spotted, kasumi who looked gorgeous in her dress, Shana made her way over quickly, pulling the gift out from the tail. Smiling at Kasumi she offered the gift before speaking. "you look Great kasumi" she said her voice giving her away if their had ever been a question before. it also looked like Kasumi had found herself a cute boy, she was quite happy for her. Looking around, she realized she did not know many people here, the ichigo was Sam by the looks of it as well.

Kasumi looks to Shin soon she is blushing some as she smiles more as she nods "That is a good idea and yes we do have a band they will be here any second now." As soon as she spoke the band starts playing Kasumi beams as she nods. She takes the rose form Shin she has a dreamy look in her eyes. Soon the song played it is Tuxedo Mirage one of of Kasumis favorite songs of all time.

She sees Alexandra as she smiles more as she takes the gift form her "Thank you so much. I am so happy that you can be here." Soon she hugs Alexandra Kasumi opens the gift looking at the bracelet as she beams and smiles more "Oh it is so wounder full thank you so much." Kasumi slips the bracelet on the wrist were her pearl bracelet is she smiles huge.

Soon Kasumi sees Shana as she waves to her "I am so happy that you made it also. Oh my you make such a good Sesshoumeru" She smiles more as she hugs Shana "Shin this is Shana. Shana this is my boyfriend Shin." Kasumi beams as she speaks that Kasumi takes the rose with her free hand as she smiles more. Kasumi looks back to Shin as she nods softly blushing more. Even with the makeup her bush can be seen.

Some of her long white hair falls over her shoulder she has a star locket around her neck that goes with her dress so well the new bracelet. She did not know that this night was going to turn out so well so many people is showing up. She is lovering this night she never knew so many people will be here this night. But she is happy that they are all here. She smiles more as she opens the gift that Shana gave her wondering what it is.

A hug from the birthday girl and few words later, and Alexandra pulled herself away from Kasumi in order to let her greet all her guests properly. Her tail bell sounded as she stepped away and tail waved from side to side with a fluid motion. Her new pink eyes, scanned over the crowd, searching for familiar faces and at spotting one, waving.

One of them caught her attention, and although her mind searched trough her anime knowledge, by the time she had gotten near Sam she had yet to figure what character he was. "Hey there." she spoke, as her hand reached for his back for a short moment. It felt so strange being near him, and while she usually had no problem with what to do and what to say, he seemed to have her unable to find the right words or actions.

Pink eyes moved on to the Batgirl he was talking with, trying to guess who was hiding behind the mask but after running several faces trough her mind, she decided that she hadn't met the girl yet. "Batgirl. One of my favorites." she stated with a smile, as one of her hands extended. "I'm Alex."

((OOC: Jewel, feel free to control Thor. He’s been walked and told to be on his best behavior today. Might not. Have fun walking around at the party with the pooch. ))

Was that? Why yes, that was Tuxedo Mirage. How clever the bands were to humor him with his theme. A daring smile lit his lips. They’d be dancing shortly, he knew it. Just as soon as they finished greeting people. He waved at Alexandra as she went off to talk with Sam. “Thanks.” Ichigo and Ichigo. That amused him far more than it should.

He turned as Kasumi introduced her to one of her friends. Shin extended a hand. “Nice to meet you.” Inuyasha… yeah. That was the anime this person was dressed for. As the slightly-effeminate, yet always bishounen Sesshoumaru. Frankly, (s)he pulled off the look with aplomb. He finished shaking with a nod. His attention swung back to the birthday girl.

She was blushing. Heh. He extended a hand her way too. “Care to dance?”

The sudden drop of his stomach as the butterflies threatened to lift up his throat and fly away with no more than a look at the woman. One moment he was talking to Deja in a great Batwoman costume the next his jaw was literally dropping at the sight of the woman he had spent his birthday with. With out meaning to his attention escaped his surroundings and all those around him till he focused on Alex in some sort of cat costume. He didn’t know what kind of show had a character such as her in it but if the character looked as half as good as Alex in the suit he assumed it must be one of the most famous cartoons in all of Japan, and or China.

As her hand left his back Sam smiled and said, ”Hey Alex,” he looked her up and down a he tried to force his face from getting red, ”Nice costume, you look good!” smiling and turning his body to Alex he could feel the awkwardness as he leaned forward and pulled Alex into a hug his gaze locked on hers till the last minute where he turned his head so a kiss that would most likely attract attention to them didn’t occur.

Reluctantly he let go of Alex and turned his attention back to Deja and smiled, ”Alex this is the mansion’s Dream Walker Deja, Deja this is my um…uhhh….f-friend Alex!” trying to look away from Deja and Alex he lifted the large ice sword on his back and set it onto the ground with a loud thud as the tip of the ice blade nicked the floor slightly.

As the unfamiliar music started to play he looked from Deja to Alex and started to back away slowly as out of the corner of his eye he could spot Shin asking Kasumi to dance. Sam could do a number of classic dances and he would have been more than thrilled to dance with anyone its just with the way things were between him and Alex he didn’t want to make anything more weird for her. The tip of his sword dragged slightly as the music continued to play and he tried to make his sneak escape by slowly turning his back and slowly making an attempt to walk away.

Streak looked over at the table that had a few of his friends sitting there. He’d better go say hi before they got too involved in anything. Shawn left the main group as he made his way over behind Alex and towards Sam. Once he was close enough and Sam had broke the embrace with Alex he said, “You’re not gettin’ away that easily Sam.” Streak said as he stopped Sam from backing away from the two girls. “Here let me save you the trouble.” Streak continued and patted Sam on the shoulder. Streak walked up the bat girl, and without even realizing it was Deja said, “Wanna dance batgirl?” She undoubtedly realized who he was but with the mask on he could only guess that they knew each other.

Unfortunately no one had told him that Deja had returned to the mansion. Otherwise he would have been expecting to see her there at the party. The worst part was that he didn’t recognize her right away. Her hair should have been a dead giveaway, but the costume made it hard for him to recognize who it was. Since he’d never seen Deja in a costume it was only natural that he wouldn’t recognize her right away. However, the longer he looked at the girl and tried to see the eyes behind the mask the more he felt that this was the right person to be talking to. Of course the silver eyed mutant would probably have to offer a dance to Lily, seeing as he brought her, but he did want to figure out who this was before someone else did. As soon as she spoke he would know who it was.

SHana ahnded the small box over, which contained a simple necklace with saphire shaped unicorn charm. "hello shin, it is good to meet you" she said pleasently and with a smile. Their were a lot of people here tonight, Shana had been hoping their would be less, but it seemed to make Kasumi happy and that's what really matterd. Shana slipped away from kasumi to allow her a dance with shin. They did look good together Shana decided.

She walked over to a seat and sat down, a littile diffacult do to the tails bulk. SHe preferred to stay just out of the light and to watch others whare she could. SOs he sat thare saying nothing, exceapt hello to those who said hi, until she got thirsty, standing she made her way over to whare the drinks were being served and got a drink of pepsi, ebfor sitting down again, continueing to watch the people in the room. It had always been hard to interact with others, the cocneapts of being made fun of or looking stupid were two prominent in her mind.

Kasumi looks at the necklace "Thank you Shana." She smiles as she puts it around her neck soon she looks at Shin as she nods. Blushing more as she smiles up to Shin. Kasumi rests her hand's on Shins shoulders as she looks up at him with her green eyes. She smiles softly as she starts to dance with Shin. The dress moves with her softly. Her white high heals makes a soft tapping sound as she smiles more.

Kasumi seems to almost flote in the dress that she has on she seems like the real life moon princess. This night she does feel like a princess she is with her prince after all. Kasumi could not help but to smile stand up tall and feel the best this night. Her heart is floteing her mind is free she wants to member everything this night. Her long white hair sways around her with each step that she takes dancing she wonders how this night can get any better.

Nothing comes to Kasumis mind this night is more then perfect. She could not help but to love it. Evey thing about it was more then she ever wished or hoped for. Kasumi only keeps her eyes on Shin she keeps her smile true and proud as her eyes seem to shine like the stars in the sky.

The first song of the night was Tuxedo Mirage. The band knew it well. Yet as they watched the birthday girl step up to her guy, white heels tapping on the floor, the leader of the band shook his head and shifted the tune.

“Music from television shows is great, guys. Really.” He chuckled low into the microphone. Somehow, that low chuckle captured the charm of the moment. Shin's hair dipped as he bowed his head a moment, watching a complex step. He couldn’t help but hide a smirk. “But let’s do something special for the Couple’s dance...” The band followed his cue as he turned to them, raising a hand to get them in time. And a one, and a two, and a 3. Tuxedo Mirage spun into Moonlight Serenade. Shin found his hands resting at her sides easier as the ballroom music replaced the anime theme. His hazel eyes met Kasumi's humble green as he spun with her on the floor.

"Later, when things settle down..." A gentle smile welled on his face. "Maybe we can sneak away from the crowd? I still have to give you my gift."

~*~

Behind them at the punch bowl, Thor grinned. He dipped his head into the fruity drink and took in the night. On the table. Bad dog.

Bad, bad.

The first round of introductions was over, and everybody seemed to find their own friends to talk and dance. For Jewel, there wasn't much to do at the moment except for enjoying the party. She didn't mind being new in a crowd of people - parties were a way of life (her old life) for her, and observing the others was truly fun. Not to mention she could learn a lot about them too.
Smiling, she looked around for a place to sit, and she reached out absent-mindedly once again to pat Thor on the head. The dog, however, seemed to have disappeared from her side. Humming with the song and tapping her feet she looked around - just in time to discover Thor's new position, getting friendly with the punch bowl.
Normally, she would have been upset; but 'normally' dogs were not allowed in the ballrooms at all.
Instead of making a fuss, the Southern belle walked over to the table gracefully, picked up a tiny sandwich from a plate, and poked Thor in the side to gain his attention. "Get down from there, darling, before Shin sees you. C'mon, bad boy."

Kasumi looks at the band and smiles "Thank you." She is happy soon she blushes some as she hears the new song as she looks at Shin as she smiles and nods "That is a good idea." The blush is light but yet it can still be seen she can dance like this all night. She could not have a better night herself eveything seems to perfect she has no idea why. So much happend before hand and now this wounderfull night eveything just seems to fade away to this night.

___

The man that is giveing out the drinks and the food he looks at the dog and smiles. He moves the bowl down and gives the dog a pale of cold cuts. KAsumi told the man eveyone is a guest and they should be treated as such the dog is a guest he wants punch and food and the man is doing that for him. The man pats the dog's side as he smiles. This gig is not bad it is a nice night in a killer palce.

The party continued beautifully on into the night. There was dancing. There was music. There... were cold cuts. Thor enjoyed those most of all. As he hunkered low into his plate of meat, others couldn't help but notice the man in the dashing tuxedo steering his date towards the balcony doors.

They moved slowly, but with purpose. Shin led Kasumi gently by the hand. If the smile on his face was cheesy, he didn't care. Old fashioned ways were always more romantic than the 'fangled' new. The music fit, the mood fit. The party had cooled since the first few dances. Where once it had been fired by moonlight magic, now couples had paired off by the punch bowl, or on the sidelines to talk.

Shin held the door to the balcony open for Kasumi. The air outside chilled him as he stood there. It seemed the night had cooled down, too. Behind him, the open sky hung with stars. A little park was visible at the bottom of the hill. Shin lowered his mask with a dumb grin as Kasumi walked through the doorway.

Everyone else had given her presents. Now it was time to give her his.

Kasumi soon finds herself walking with Shin as she smiles with him. She is now on a balcony she looks over the stars the air is a little cold but it is not to bad. Soon her eyes looks to Shin as she smiles more leaning her head on his shoulder "It is nice out here." Her voice is happy and light as she talks to him. Kasumi felt so happy around Shin.

It does cross her mind what he has on his mind yet she trusts him and well. She knows that whatever he is planing it will be something great that is Shin. Soon Kasumi looks up at him as she smiles more she is still bushing a little bit the night is great it seems all like a dream. Her eyes seem to shine softly in the moonlight that is around her. Kasumi is so happy with him she could not ask for anyone better in her life.

Kasumi would not give up anyone for Shin she knows that she never knew that she could find anyone this wonderful in her life. It made her even more happy that she met him that she can be herself with him no mater how odd she is Shin will just smile and take her for who she is and not for who she will become.