This is a roleplay between Mushy and I. No one else. Got it? Don't post unless you're one of us.

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Amani sat at a bench in the courtroom of the local art college. His lunch sat next to his sketchpad, which he was currently using. He was exercising one of his many talents; fashion design.

Bright red eyes scanned over the courtyard until they found what they were seeking. He smiled softly and hurried over to the bench where the young man with long, two-toned hair sat, his pencil attacking paper with inspiration. He slid onto the seat next to him, letting out a sigh of relief that he'd manage to make it while they were both on break.

"I made it," he said cheerfully, watching his brother work on a new design. "How's class?"

"It's class," he replied, looking up at the older man next to him. Though they were brothers, they looked almost nothing alike. Only someone who payed very extremely attention could see that the shapes of their faces resembled each other. And that was only if they were side-by-side.

"Well, at least you're on break, right?"

"And you managed to get away from the hospital."

"Yeah, that's always nice," he said with a light laugh.

Khatte's eyes drifted from the door of the music room to the overweight messenger bag at his side. The weight was giving him grief as he waited for Vivian. Besides the flick of his wrist to check a watch, he had hardly moved for several minutes. He pulled out a book, easing the weight of his messenger back if only slightly, and leaned against the wall to read while waiting.

It didn't take long for Vivian to walk out of class, but by then, Khatte was already absorbed in his book. She flicked his wrist lightly to get his attention.

"Did you want a ride to the library again?" Vivian asked with a bright grin on her face.

Khatte looked up from his book to the twinkling green eyes of his friend and gave her a brief nod. He took note of the page he was on and tucked it back into his bag. Both of them walked down the hall, towards the entrance to the parking lot.

"I thought it would be easier to get a ride from you rather than walk to the bus station," Khatte said, sticking his hands in his pockets to fish out some cash he'd put in their earlier. He took out a five and stuffed it into Vivian's hand. "It's gas money."

"It hardly makes up for all the times you've bummed a ride," Vivian said, chuckling as they opened the doors and stepped out into one of the college's many parking lots. "But thanks anyway."

"When do you get off work today?" he asked, finally setting his pencil down and closing his sketchbook. He shoved it into his backpack and pulled his lunch over to him.

"Well, I have about three hours to myself, then I'm on call for another sixteen hours. I'll be sleeping at the hospital tonight. I'm going home to clean up and hopefully get a little nap after this. Is there anything you'd like me to take for you that you don't need?"

"Yeah, actually," he said, opening up his backpack and pulling out two heavy text books. "Could you take these for me? I nearly crashed on the way here, they kept shifting around."

"I'll take them. Be careful when riding, alright? Do you want me to leave the car at home for you?" he asked, taking the books from his brother.

"It's supposed to be really windy tomorrow morning, so if you could leave the car for me, I'd appreciate it."

"Alright. Just be careful, you need to add more pressure to the break pedal than usual. It's acting up. I'm going to have it looked at this weekend."

"It's better than getting blown over on the highway."

"True."

Amani's eyes moved to his cellphone, which was now vibrating across the table. Picking it up, he flipped it open and put it up to his ear. "Yeah?" he answered. After a moment and a few more words, he hung up his phone and stuffed it into his bag.

"Cindy wants me to have lunch with her," he stated.

"Then go have lunch with her."

"Are you sure?" he asked, looking over at Zaitsu as he put his drawing pad and pencils into his backpack. "I know it's rare that you can get a break like this..."

"It's fine. Go have fun. We can spend time together this weekend, okay?" He stood up, tucking the books underneath his arm.

"Alright. I hope your shift goes well," he replied with a nod, putting his lunch that consisted of several Chinese take-out boxes into the bag from which they came and situating them in his bag in a way that they wouldn't spill. He stood up and threw his back onto his back and picked up the motorcycle helmet that had been sitting on the table and put it under his arm.

"I'll be fine. Take care," he said, beginning to walk away.

"You too!" Amani called after him, heading towards the music room at a run. He held his helmet against his chest as he hurried through the students in the halls and towards the parking lot that he'd left his bike in.

Vivian paused just outside the doors to the parking lot, on the steps, to shuffle through her purse for her car keys. After pulling her keys out, she shuffled through her purse a little more, and sighed with distress.

"I left my glasses in the music room!" She said with exasperation, zipping her purse up quickly. "I'm going to have to go back and get them. I guess I left them by my sheet music."

Khatte could only nod at her, his eyes scanning the parking lot. He saw a man with two-toned hair running their way. When Vivian noticed Khatte looking away, she followed his gaze. Her eyes lit up and she smiled, lifting her hand up to wave.

"Hey, Amani!" She called out.

"You know him?" Khatte said with surprise. "I swear I've seen him around at the library now and then."

"Yeah, he comes to the music room often."

His pace slowed, his head turning towards the person calling his name. He walked over to the two people and gave a slight wave to Vivian.

"Hey. Haven't seen you for a couple days," he said as a way to make light conversation. He shifted his helmet underneath his arm while he stood still. He didn't really see a point in holding it to his chest if he wasn't running.

"Yup. Are you headed to the music room?" Vivian glanced at Khatte briefly before turning back to Amani. "I have to go back in and get my glasses."

Khatte shuffled slightly. He always felt awkward when someone he knew was talking to someone he didn't. Vivian noticed this out of the corner of her eye, and directed a thumb towards Khatte.

"This is Khatte. He's a friend of mine. Khatte," she began, pointing towards Amani. "That's Amani. He comes to the music room often and the girls talk him into dancing."

"I caught onto that part," Khatte said with a small grin. Amani looked like he had his arms full, otherwise he would have extended a hand to shake.

He gave a soft smile and nodded towards Khatte, letting go of his helmet with one hand and extending it towards him as an offer to shake.

"I'm not heading for the music room, Cindy called me and wanted to meet for lunch. Want to join us? I think she'd be happy to see you."

Khatte took Amani's hand warmly and shook it, feeling a little embarassed that he hadn't just offered his own sooner.

"Oh, that'd be great!" Vivian said. She turned to Khatte. "Want to come along, too?"

"Sure, I might as well." Khatte said with a shrug. He hadn't eaten since breakfast and his tall frame required more sustenance. Vivian turned back to Amani.

"All right, I'll fetch my glasses from the classroom." With that, she headed through the doors of the building. The door slammed behind her as she took off at a run down the hall. Khatte watched as she left and then turned to Amani.

"I've seen you at the library before," he said casually. He didn't want to stand there in silence and seem antisocial or rude; he was far from it, though sometimes he could come off very awkward. Amani's outward appearance was always catching his eye at the library. While he often passed the same faces as he drifed past the tables and bookshelves, Amani stood out. Not by his face, but his clothes and hair.

"Yeah, I'm always around there. Or here, or at work," he said with a light laugh. "I haven't seen you around here, though. You visiting then?" he asked, moving to lean his side against the wall, trying not to squish the food in his backpack.

"I'm far from being an art student," Khatte said with a light laugh. As far as he knew, they'd never let him in with a portfolio of stick figures, and his music talents were even worse. On more than one occasion, he had messed with the instruments Vivian kept at her apartment, and on every one of those occasions, Vivian reposessed the instruments. Eventually, he was banished from touching them ever again, because he didn't have the patience to let her teach him properly. "I'm just here to hang out with Vivian. I've known her for eight years."

"Ah. I've only really ever seen her in school. I don't think we went to the same highschool. I run into her here and there sometimes, but that's about it. Mainly we just see each other in the band room." He reached up and batted his silver bangs from his face, tucking them behind his ear.

His cellphone rang again, and he quickly began digging around in his backpack, pulling it out and answering. "Yeah? Hey, chill Cinds. I'll be there soon enough. I ran into Vivian and her friend. It okay if they tag along? 'Kay. Later." He hung up his phone and put it back in his bag, where he preferred it to be when he was driving somewhere.

He looked towards the door to the school, sighing a little and leaning against the wall again. "I guess she's having trouble finding her glasses," he mused.

Khatte listened to Amani's explanation, following it with nods. When the cell phone rang, he grinned and listened to Amani's side of the conversation with amusement and looked around at the other students wandering through the parking lot. He turned his head abruptly back to Amani when he heard a click from Amani's phone.

"I guess she's having trouble finding her glasses."

"Maybe they broke?" Khatte said with an amused grin. "Nah, she always loses them. If it's not the band room, it's somewhere else. She's lost them for days at a time in her own apartment, even though she keeps that place tidy - unless you count drumsticks stuck between cushions and sheet music piled up on her desk."

He glanced towards the door, expecting Vivian to show up. It would be so very like her to show up as they were talking about her. The light reflected off the glass on the doors, keeping him from seeing into the hall, so it was more blinding than telling. As predicted, the door moved and the reflection of the sunlight shifted, and Vivian emerged from the hall.

"They fell onto the floor and now they're a bit scratched," she said with a sigh, holding them up and frowning. She took the case out of her purse and took out a wipe cloth, and as she worked the fabric on her lenses, she turned to Amani. "So where are we meeting Cindy?"

"That new Italian place that opened up at the Westside Mall," he replied, heading towards the parked vehicles. He walked over to his motorcycle and sat his helmet on it, before tightening the straps of his backpack to make sure it wouldn't shift around while he was driving. Once done, he tied his hair back using a purple ribbon he wore around his wrist, then picked up his helmet again.

"I'll meet you there!" he called to Vivian. Pulling on his helmet, he mounted his bike and kicked the engine to life. Revving it, he backed out of the parking space and sped off towards the exit of the parking lot.

"That's a nice bike," Vivian said with a pleased grin as she eyed the motorcycle, nearly all the teeth in her mouth showing. Khatte recognized the look in her eyesand could only manage a weak smile to return to her while they got into her car. Aside from the new paint, which was a bright cherry red Vivian was fond of, it looked like an ordinary 2002 Honda Accord. Once turned on, the speakers blasted rap. Khatte was used to it, despite his sensativity to music that was up a few decibels too high.

Vivian's engine seemed to purr excitedly as Vivian adjusted her glasses and took out of the parking lot in as stable a manner as she could muster. Khatte rested an elbow against the passenger door and watched her, nervously wondering what she would do. He knew that lately, because of seeing this guy Simon, her interest in cars had greatened. Though she'd always been a bit reckless anyway with her music and lead foot. She'd avoided wrecks, and all but one ticket (of all things, parking on a street at 8 PM when parking wasn't allowed after 7 PM), and Khatte had gotten used to her driving over the years.

"Having fun?" He said with amusement.

Vivian's grin only seemed to widen more, and she shrugged. "Eh, I suppose. Let's get to that mall, shall we?"

Vivian slid eased out of the parking lot and turned onto a residential street. A block down, she slipped onto the main street, her speed picking up significantly.

A grin spread across thin lips under a tinted visor as Amani sped from his hiding place after the Honda. He immediately became visible to Vivian, and stalked down her car, quickly coming within only feet of her rear bumper.

Suddenly, he tore away and overcame the car on the passenger's side, the roar of his engine loud in his pursuit.

While Vivian only seemed to grin at the challenge, and sped up the Honda, Khatte turned his head sharply to follow the noise of the motorcycle. He watched Amani swing to the side, and scooted away from the door as Amani's motorcycle closed in on that side.

"He's too close," Khatte squeaked nervously.

"He's fine," Vivian said, driving steadily forward, her speed picking up. "Let's see just how fast he can go."

Khatte felt her ease down even more on the gas, and wondered just how fast she intended to go with a motorcycle in such close proximity. He didn't dare glance over at her gauges though; his eyes were fixed on the short distance between Amani's motorcycle and the right side of the Honda.

The motorcycle kept steady pace with the Honda, slowly edging its way closer until less than six inches remained between between the two vehicles. Suddenly, Amani's fist rapped on the window, before the motorcycle sped off, outracing the Honda and tearing off down the road ahead of them.

As Amani's fist reached out and tapped on the window, Khatte grinned, despite the fact that he swore they would crash at any instant into each other. When Amani's motorcycle tore off in front of them, Vivian hissed.

"Damn it, he's not getting ahead that easily!" Vivian said, flooring the gas pedal.

"Vivian, don't!" Khatte said, but the lurch in his stomach as the car picked up intense speed made it hard for him to breathe, and he couldn't be heard over the sound of the car's engine and the wind blowing around the car.

A little ways ahead, Amani's bike reared up onto it's back tire, riding along that for several moments in a taunting manner, before increasing its speed and vanishing between and ahead of two cars.

Due to the cars up ahead, Vivian was forced to slow down her Honda, easing onto the break while she watched jealously as Amani sped in between the two cars and weaved his way ahead.

"That's completely unfair," she pouted. "Maybe I should get a motorcycle."

"Oh dear god no," Khatte said in a low voice, and despite his grinning he really did feel that way about her getting a motorcycle.

Vivian smirked at him. "What? You would buy me a helmet before I could, I bet."

Khatte shrugged it off and turned to look out the window. The car picked up pace as soon as Vivian managed to pass the cars that had been blocking her from keeping up with Amani.

"Yes, I definitely need a motorcycle." She glared forward as the motorcycle and Amani became nothing more than a dot. Luckily, they were almost to the resturant.

The motorcycle slipped out of sight, only to find a parking spot next to the all too familiar 2003 yellow Toyota Camry. Amani made his way into the crowded mall and to the restaurant, before the Honda could even make it into the parking lot.

He found his way to his friend's table, setting down his backpack and his helmet and taking a seat next to her. He pulled out his lunch of cold Chinese food and a pair of chopsticks and began eating.

"Playing around on the road again?" asked the girl. Her hair was naturally brown, though had many highlights of a bright shade of bubblegum pink.

He looked up, an innocent look on his face. "Do I always play on the road?" he asked, his voice mimicking a tone suitable for the expression on his face.

"I'll take that as a yes," she said with a sigh, shaking her head a bit and taking a bite of a breadstick.

"I outran her easily. She's lucky there was so much traffic, she wouldn't have stood a chance," he replied with a grin, swallowing his noodles.

Vivian pulled up into the parking lot, and got out quickly, slamming her door shut. Khatte followed out slowly, amused that Vivian so was so fired up. She was walking much faster than he was, but he managed to catch up as she paused to admire his motorcycle.

"I'll be talking with Simon tonight," Vivian said, her eyes still full of the glow they'd had before she'd left the parking lot of the college.

"Are you going to tell him about your short little ride, and how you lost?" Khatte asked, tucking one hand into his jeans pocket, and using the other to open the door for Vivian and him. He followed behind her into the resturant.

"Of course not. I'm going to ask him about motorcycles."

"You can't afford one," Khatte stated. Vivian ignored him, instead scanning the resturant. Once she spotted where Cindy and Amani were sitting, she took off her glasses and put them in her case and back into her purse. Looking straight forward, with a huge smile on her face, she led the way and slid into a chair at the table.

"Hello Cindy." Vivian said, her mouth opening to a grin, and then she smirked at Amani. "Impressive motorcycle, by the way."

Khatte held in a chuckle and sat down at another chair, setting his messenger bag down at his feet.

"Yamaha," he said through a mouth full of noodles.

"I knew it!" Cindy hissed, smacking Amani on the shoulder and causing him to choke a little. "How many times do I have to tell you to quit racing against cars? You're going to get yourself killed!"

"What are you? My girlfriend?" he asked through his coughs.

Cindy blushed brightly to match her hair and turned her stare to her lap. "Hi Vivian. Who is your friend?" she asked softly, clearly embarrassed by Amani's remark.

Amani eyed her with a raised brow, but quickly turned his attention back to his lunch.

Khatte watched Vivian with amusement. He could just see from the look in her eyes that she was taking a mental note that Amani's motorcycle had been a Yamaha. She seemed oblivious to the playful exchange between Amani and Cindy, but Khatte caught the question and extended a warm hand out to Cindy.

"It's Khatte," he explained. "I'm a...childhood friend of Vivian's."

Vivian seemed to snap out of her thinking - or likely, it was daydreaming.

"Oh sorry about that. My mind wandered. He's like my brother, rather just any friend. I'm also his chauffer."

"I give you gas money...sometimes." Khatte shuffled in his chair, feeling slightly defensive, until he remembered that he'd given her gas money today, which was nearly the last of his money. "Um, Vivian? Would you treat me to lunch?"

Vivian let out a sigh. She had suspected as much.

"So much for that gas money, eh?" She said, but she was used to it, and she knew Khatte well enough to know he'd return the favor in some way or another.

Amani reached into his backpack and fished out his wallet, extracting a fifty dollar bill from it and tossing it across the table at Vivian. "Consider it payment for the gas you burnt up in your sad attempt to catch me. And payment for the gas next time," he said with a grin.

"I really wish you wouldn't race," Cindy sighed, glancing over at Amani.

"You know, not even my brother gets on my case about it, so I don't know why you care so much."