"You have the silliest ideas sometimes!" laughed Raina. "Of course I just want to dance!" She paused. "Although if a blond Knightmare pilot did show up, I'm not going to complain. But I'm not going to abandon you! Bros before hos... or rather hos before.... no wait... Never mind! Point is, I'm finding you a partner first!"

As they got closer to the dancing Kiara heard the music. A relatively fast song was playing at the moment but she guessed it wouldn't be too long before the slower, couple related songs started being played. "Good luck with that," she commented airily.
Some people were milling about in groups while others were standing in dark corners, trying not to be noticed as they observed the dancers. A few people were dancing in groups and some in pairs but they were just warming up at the moment. Kiara didn't see anyone she recognised though and that was a good thing because that meant no one would have a chance of recognising her.

*you were going to pair your character with Suzaku's cousin or brother or something weren't you? We could do that now if you like, sicne we're running out of CG xD*

((Something like that although I can't remember how we were going to introduce them to it. I guess now is as good a time as any while Raina is in the arms of her very own knight. Since he's gunna be an OC what do you think personality wise? Appearance wise I'm thinking green eyes like Suzaku and similar build but with black hair instead.))

*since he's your characetr's LI, it's entirely up to you ^^*

Raina was disappointed to see that Gino was not yet there, but the dancing had only just begun. Already girls were disappearing into the school and coming out wearing ballgowns. The boys similarly dressed in tuxedos.
"I don't suppose you brought a dress with you, Ki-chan?"

((So since Gino is your LI do you want to be the soul controler for him or should we just keep sharing like we've been doing?))

"...you're kidding right?" Kiara deadpanned. "Where exactly am I going to carry a dress in this outfit?" She had dressed to disguise and the only things she was carrying at the moment were a few knives in her boots and hidden in the sleeves of her jacket in case she got into a sticky situation that she couldn't talk her way out of. "Besides, what's wrong with waht I'm wearing?"

*well since he's not an OC you're free to control him too. I don't mind :) You could probably keep me right, I don't want to make him too out of character*

Raina shrugged. "I thought I may as well ask. You're hardly going to fit in at the dance wearing that, and you don't want to attract attention do you, Ki-chan? Come on, I'll lend you one of my dresses."

((Okay. Just thought I'd better make sure since he's the one Raina's going to be going after. He's just so much fun!))

Kiara nodded her head in acceptance. Wearing a Cross Academy uniform might work during the day but at night during the dance it would look a little too conspicuous. Oh well. She should be able to fit into one of Raina's dresses since they were about the same size and build.
"Are you still in our old dorm room?" she asked, making her way towards the girls dorm building.

"Yeah, I share with some other girl now," said Raina. "I don't know her name though. I think it begins with M... Or maybe P..."
She shrugged, and started pulling dresses out of her wardrobe. She picked a gold one for herself and handed a different one to Kiara. "What do you think?"

Kiara eyed the garment warily for a moment before taking it. It was light blue, strapless, and flared out at about teh hips with a light coloured belt like thing to show the different parts of the dress. There were some little gemstones in the upper part of the dress, forming little swirling patterns. "Nice," she commented. It looked like it would be quite a good fit too and because of the length no one would notice if she wore her boots which was good since she was not changing into high heels. She'd prefer to keep her spare knives on her, just in case. "Hopefully you'll catch a certain someone's eye in that," Kiara commented, gesturing to teh dress Raina was holding. "It looks like it'll match his hair."

"I was only thinking about matching my eyes," said Raina innocently, but then she winked. "You might want to keep that wig on, Ki-chan. I don't think anyone would notice though if your eyes changed colour. You have nice eyes!"
She began to change into her own dress. It was light and breezey, with gold sequins sewn onto the fabric, so that it shimmered in the light. She'd bought the dress ages ago for one of Milly's parties - although she couldn't remember which one. After a while they all blurred into one.

"Sure..." Her tone dripped with sarcasm as she changed into her own dress. It felt comfortable and rested nicely on her slight frame. She gave an experimental turn and found that it didn't hinder movement which was good. She glanced in the morror before reachign up and carefully taking out the contacts. She winced slightly, hating touching her eyes. How had she managed earlier? Oh yeah she wanted to see Raina. She rubbed at her eyes fiercely, clearing the slight listing as they watered. At least the contacts hadn't slipped into the back of her eye. That would've been rather unpleasant. She turned to Raina and raised an eyebrow. "Ready to go?" she asked mildly, gesturing towards the door.

"Ready!" Raina linked her arm into her friend's. "Let's go dance!"
The dancing was taking place out of doors, and she had to admit that the setting was lovely. Well, what was more romantic than dancing beneath the stars? Arthur the cat sat and watched, seeming content, as people twirled around in front of him. Raina caught a glimpse of Lelouch standing up on the roof. He seemed to like it up there. There was no sign of Rolo or Suzaku. Viletta had also disappeared, she noticed. Lelouch must have blackmailed her already about her relationship with Ougi,

"We will get hime one of these days," Kiara commented, glancing up at Lelouch. "He can't dodge us forever."
There were so many people dancing. She thought she saw Shirley somewhere around, probably looking for Lelouch. Wll too bad for her sinc he wasn't here. Arthur was sitting quietly near them and Kiara reached out and scratched the cat behind the ear. It made a purring sound and she scratched a little harder before being distracted as someone bumped into her from behind. She glared at whoever it was, seeing that it was some girl she didn't know. The girl blushed, stammered out an apology adn ran away.
"Nice to know I can still do that," she commented to Raina, smirking. "Now...any sign of Gino?" She was hoping that Raina would see the blonde and forget about her although she somehow doubted that would happen. When Raina set her mind to something...it was best not to get in the way.

"Yes, he's over there, but I said I'd find you a partner first and I meant it Ki-chan." Raina was already scanning the crowd, examinign all the guys with a critical eye. A few of them noticed her and glanced at her curiously, wondering why this strange girl was looking them up and down like they were produce at a market. "How about... him?" She pointed.
Without waiting for a reply, she pushed her friend half-gently towards the young man in question.

Kiara was caught off guard as Raina pushed her. It wasn't a hard push but it had surprised her and she ended up bumping into the guy taht her friend had been pointing at. She quickly straightened herself out and cast a slight glare at her friend over her shoulder before turning back to the guy in question. He was taller than her by quite a bit, probably about the height of Suzaku. His hair was darker than the other though, a midnight black similar to Lelouch's.
"Sorry about that," she apologozed. "My friend was just a little too enthusiastic about finding me someone to dance with."
"Not a problem," the guy replied, straightening himself out. It was then that she noticed his eyes. At first she thought they might've been grey but as she looked closer she saw that they were flecked with hints of green, far lighter than her own dark eyes.

With a satisfied grin, Raina started scanning the crowd for Gino again. Unfortunately he was no longer in the same place he was before. In fact, she couldn't spot him anywhere. She was feeling a mood coming on when a voice at her ear said, "I've just been warned about you."
Caught off-guard, she almost went for her knife, but of course it was just Gino, grinning like before. Raina pouted. "By who?"
"Suzaku. He says you're an unstoppable force of nature."
"He flatters me," said Raina with dramatic false modesty. "Just because of that one time I embarrassed him at a party by dancing with him like he was a lady."
Gino laughed. "Now he didn't tell me about that part! I hope you're not planning to do the same to me."
Raina looked him over as if she were considering it. After a long pause she shook her head. "Too tall. You're safe, I'll let you be the man."
"My masculinity thanks you."
"Your masculinity is welcome."
He led her out into the middle of the other couples.

"I didn't catch your name," the guy said, giving her a clearly flirty smile. Her eyes narrowed, not falling for it.
"That's because I didn't offer it," she returned mildly. "You can go first."
"Fiery, aren't you?" he chuckled. "Alright then. The name's Hikaru." An eyebrow shot up immediately at the name, clearly Japanese and not Britannian. He caught her look and smirked. "Not what you were expecting?"
"Not exactly."
"Are you offended?"
"Hardly," she dismissed. She held out her hand towards him, feeling a little more relaxed. "Kiara." She didn't mention a surname and he didn't ask for it which was perfectly fine by her since he hadn't offered one anyway.
"Well Miss Kiara shall we dance?" he offered her his arm. "To please your friend, of course."
"Of course..." her voice clearly conveyed exactly what she thought of his not so subtle hint but she held out her arm and allowed him to lead her onto the dance floor.

Raina caught sight of Kiara dancing with the young man who she didn't know but had selected because he looked rather fine. Grinning, she gave her friend one of the most obvious winks ever, which neither of them could possibly have missed. It was ok, she wasn't in the mood to be subtle. Not that she ever really was.

Kiara groaned mentally as she saw the anything-but-subtle wink Raina sent her. Really? Deciding to be immature for a moment she stuck her tongue out before she caught sight of the other as she was spun around by Hikaru.
"I take it that was your friend?" His voice was mild, amused and she glared at him slightly but allowed him to continue to turn with her, lifting her slightly off the ground.
"Show off," she commented lightly as she landed on the ground, knees bending to take her weight and balance more easily.
"I try," was the only reply. She gave his shoulder a light hit before they continued to dance.

"Seems like they're having a good time," Gino grinned, looking down at his purple haired partner as they danced. "Why do you think she just hit him?"

Raina shrugged. "She hits a lot of people. She's like that." Her voice dropped to a conspiratorial whisper. "belive me, you do not want to get on her bad side."
Gino laughed. "I can see that."

*time skip? this is getting dull*

((Sure. When should we skip to?))

After an extremely pleasant evening of dance, and saying goodbye to Gino, Raina returned to her friend. She bit her lip. It wasn't practical for Kiara to stay at the Academy. She was known by Suzaku and all the others as a terrorist - she'd be arrested. But Raina didn't want to have to say goodbye again.

Once the dancing was finished Hikaru took a step back and bowed. Kiara felt her eyes roll but she accepted it and, for the fun of it, gave a slight courtsey. The effect was ruined by her smirk but the other didn't seem to care.
"Will I see you around?" he asked.
"Perhaps," she replied, turning and making ehr way back to Raina. "So..." she said, eyebrow rising. "Was Gino a good dancer?"

Raina sighed. "Fabulous, if you must know. It's like he's nobility or something." She snapped out of it. "Don't think you're going to be able to distract me though! Tell me about your mystery man!"
She looked at the figure walking back towards the gates.