Twenty-Four Tries. [Reserved; Chase/Kazu]

Chase sighed as he folded his denim-clad knees up to his chest and rested his chin on his kneecaps. His faithful guitar was lying in its case beside him, glinting in the bright sunlight. There was a light breeze blowing through the quiet lake area as he waited for Kazu. I hope she comes quickly. I'm starving, he thought, listening to his stomach growl. He hoped he had gotten the date and time of their meeting right; he had a knack of misunderstanding details. It got lost in translation.

Next to his guitar, an open notepad with some of Chase's own songs was resting on the lush grass. He had hoped it would provide some inspiration. After all, you can't have music without a muse.

Kazumi jogged down the path. Her hair was pulled up into a small pony tail that bounced as she ran. She wore long blue jeans and a red tank top, one of her more relaxed looks. In one hand she held a notebook a penicl, and a small stack of paper, in the other, a cooler. She ran up to Chase and smiled "Hiya." She said trying to catch her breath. "Am i late?"

Chase smiled when he saw Kazumi and pulled his guitar out of its case, into his lap. "Nope, you're just on time," he called back, sneaking a glance at his wristwatch. He had, in fact, been early for a change. He looked greedily at the cooler in her hand, and then at the notebook in the other. "Shall we eat or write first?" he asked, lowering his voice as she approached.

Kazu laughed. "If your hungry." she said messing up his hair. Kauzmi plopped down next to her, her expression turned very serious. "Just so you know, i travled across many, many countries and stayed up all night long. It was foggy, and the only thing keeping me awake was that terrible howling..." "Just kidding!" Kazu said smiling. "Actually, i got up extra early so i could make it fresh." Kauz reached into the basket and pulled out a gaint cookie, two bottles of water, and chicken fingers in a container. "Sorry it's not much, i made everything home-made though." 'I Ate before i left. The water bottle is to keep my thought moist y'know?"

Chase sniffed. "Well, you shouldn't have gotten up early," he said, still grateful as he reached into the cooler, digging around. "I would've been fine with anything. You didn't have to go through all that trouble for lil ol' me." He chuckled, and added, "But that was sweet. Thanks." He grabbed the chicken fingers and popped part of one in his mouth, chewing thoughtfully. "You wanna split the cookie with me?" he asked, reaching for it and splitting it into two.

"AH! no, that's alright." Kazu said waving her hand sin front of her face. "BUt thank you!" "And it was a pleasure cooking for you!" "I have to make sure you're eating enough you know." Kazu;s eyes wondered down to Chase's waist. "You're skinny enough as it is." Kazu teasingly poked him in the ribs. "Wouldn't want you to start looking like dracula!"

Chase made fangs with his fingers and growled. "Rawr." He chuckled and settled against the tree that just so happened to be behind him. He patted his stomach and said, "I'm so fat." He pushed his stomach out and splayed his fingers. "I think I'm going on a diet." He pulled his shirt back down, grinned, and explained, "I'm kidding. You know that, right? I'm too hungry to be anorexic." He ate another chicken finger to prove his point.

Kazu laughed. "Ya, i know." "If you don't mind, i'm going to warm up while you eat, is that ok?" Kazu took a big breathe of air and start warming her voice up. She sang tounge twinsters and sang "Fa" at diffrent octives and notes. Then she hummed to herself. Kazumi picked her bottle up and took a swig of water.

Chase licked his fingers and listened to Kazumi warm up. For the most part, he sat quietly, adding a nod or a hum of his own occasionally, but when she hit one note, she was a little flat. "Hmm," he murmured, picking up his guitar. "Sorry to interrupt," he apologized, tuning his instrument expertly. "But one of your pitches was out of tune." He strummed the correct pitch and said, "You were just a teeny bit flat." He offered an encouraging smile and, pushing aside the remainders of his lunch, said, "Well, I'm ready to start when you are."

Kazu turned red. "AH! i'm sorry...i'm a little nervous since i don't normally sing in front of people." "Ummmmmm" Kazu's eyes searched the ground for something to distract herself with. Truth is, i haven't sang for anyone since my father died.... "I uh......" Kauzmi let out a sigh, trying to gather her composer. "Ya, i'm ready."

Chase could feel her unease, so he started strumming lightly to try to distract her. "It's okay," he said good-naturedly. "That's the whole point of warming up. Don't be nervous." He finished playing a chord and rested his hand on the strings. "OK. Let's begin, shall we?" He pulled his notebook onto his lap and, looking over at hers, asked, "Well, what do you have so far?"

Kazu's eyes wondered over to Chase's guitar. "Well, although what i said was a joke earlier, i ddi stay up late writing something last night." Kazu tooker out her notebook and flipped through the pages, where a lot of unfinished works were. Kazumi's eyes brows pushed together, searching for the correct song. "Ah!" She said. "Found it!" Kazumi layed the notebook in front of Chase. "I Really haven't got a song for it yet...so i figured i'd watch you play guitar then write something down. All you have to do is struma few notes for me, then i'll be able to peice together ideas."

Chase looked at the notebook, thought for a second, and then nodded. "So, you want to see if you're inspired by my music?" He realized how it sounded only after the words had escaped his mouth, but he pressed onwards anyways, not thinking much of it. "OK. I can totally do that." Leaning back against the tree's trunk again, he flexed his fingers, and then started to play. "Were you thinking more upbeat, fast, and lively, or slower, more somber? Or somewhere in between?" He had already started to play, absentmindedly letting his fingers and the guitar do the talking for him. He was a ventriloquist of sorts; however, instead of a dummy, he spoke through his instrument. It was a second nature to him.

Kazu smiled. "Actually-now don't laugh-i play by ear." "Well, not really play, more like write." "MY father taught me how to listen to notes and know what they are, so i could write them down.' "Therefore if i listen to notes, u'm able to put them together into a song." "Ah! that sounded too weird." "Anyway, i was thinking more a somber one for this song...." a strange look crossed over Kazumi's face. Sadness? Perhaps?

Chase shook his head. "It didn't sound weird," he reassured her. "I know what you mean. I write songs, myself, sometimes. It's just hearing the right melody that can push it forward sometimes." He nodded at her request for a more somber tune, and slowed down his tempo and played a different chord. "Like this?" He paused, playing for a moment, and then asked, "So your father's a big music fan, huh? Does he play anything, himself?"

Kazu looked up, a shocked expression crossed her face. Then it calmed down. "yes! He is good at everything! Piano, guitar, heck, he even plays the saxaphone!" "My fathers the best man ever! He's just......not around a lot anymore...." 'He's always traveling...." For a second, it looked like kazu had a tear in her eye. But she rubbed her eyes and yawned. "Sorry, just tierd, anyway, let's get started."

Chase frowned. Kazumi was talking fast, tripping over her words. Her voice hitched, and she ducked her face away from him at one moment. She rubbed at her eyes, and he started to reach out to her, stopping the music, but she looked back up. "You're just tired?" he repeated, a little skeptical. "Are you sure?" He frowned again, willing to move on if she wanted to, but wanting her to know that she could talk to him, too. "What's wrong, Kazu?"

Kazu's lips mashed together to revent tears from coming out. 'You don't remeber, huh? It's ok...." "We should move on, time stops for no man y'know." "Want me to sing the lyrics to you first then we can get an idea for the tune?" Kazumi smiled, all signs of sadness gone. But one of the many benifits of being Kazumi, is the ability to hide your true emotions, and bury them deep inside.

Chase only heard the first part of her paragraph of speech before confusion set in. Whatever it was that he was forgetting, it was important, and he was an idiot for forgetting. He racked his brain, trying to think back to any serious conversations about Kazumi's father they might of had...

And then it hit him.

And then he hit himself.

"Aw, Kazu," he groaned, smacking himself in the forehead. "I'm sorry. I'm a jerk." He eyed her apologetically. "I'm sorry, really." He didn't think he needed to rehash it again by elaborating his apology; hopefully, she knew what he was saying sorry for. "I'm sorry," he repeated for the third time, reaching over and hugging her.

Kazu watched as Chase searched for an answer. Then when it hit him, he started to aplogize over and over. Looking very upset and apologentic. Then, he hugged her. Kazumi felt all the heat rush to her face, turing it red. "Ah no, it's ok, really." "You just forgot...it happens to anyone." "I really don't mind."

Chase frowned, troubled. "I don't believe you," he said. "You don't look fine. You look sad. Because of my idiocy." He held his palm up to his head and, trying to lighten the situation, said, "I can hit myself again if it'll make you feel better." A blanket of awkwardness befell them, and he lowered his palm. Clearing his throat, he repeated, "I really am sorry. I'm not the most sensitive person in the world." He picked up his guitar and began to play again, biting his lip.

Kazu looked at Chase for a minute, watching him trying to find the right words. Then he leaned agenst the tree and started playing. Kazumi smiled. She closed her eyes, took a deeo breath, and start making up lyrics to the song.


Hush hush now young one even though the sun is gone
I will be here holding you and singing our song.
Hush hush now my darling stop you're crying and go to sleep,
for when the day breaks and the moon's gone all that fear will disapear.

Kazumi sang more beautiful then she had ever probably sung before. Her voice was full and filled with emotion. Although it was not sad, but more of happy and soothing.

Chase listened as he played, adjusting the tempo and playing a different chord when he felt it necessary. She certainly had a pretty voice; that was a given. She was singing with emotion, conviction, and anyone passing by could tell that she really meant it. When she closed her mouth again and kind of leaned back, Chase gave a little clap. "That was really good, Kazu," he praised sincerely.

"Thank you!" Kazu said giving a slight bow. "I'll be here till Thursday!" "Ah and make sure to tip your hobos, they work hard too." Kazumi winked playfully. "See, everything's fine!" 'I promise!" Kazumi leaned over and kissed Chase on the cheek. But this time, it somehow seemed diffrent. Not the usal friendly "hello goodbye" kiss, but something a little more, something a bit diffrent. AT least it felt that way to Kazu, and it felt strange.

Chase was used to kissing Kazumi on the cheek, or receiving one, but this time she hesitated for just a moment longer. He blanked out for a second, but refocused as quickly as he could. "OK," he said, nodding a little bit and coughing. "If you say everything's okay, I believe you." He stood up, and kissed her quickly on the cheek in reciprocation. "I'll see you later. We should hang out sometime, Mia and you and I."