Old Coyote Kyle/Kazu

The further Kyle hiked up the mountain, the thinner the air got. He knew his limitations. There weren't many positive qualities about him - he wasn't social, talented, or a genius, exactly - but if there was anything to be said about him, he hoped that it would be that he knew himself.

"Right here," he announced to the open air as he plopped down his stuff. His "stuff" consisted of a backpack and the guitar that he was trying to teach himself how to play. Unfortunately, he sounded more like a dying cat whenever he tried, and being around other people was embarassing. So he escaped up to the mountain, where no one could hear him. No one at all.

He sat down on a tree stump and picked up the guitar. It was secondhand; he had bought it for a great price from one of his neighbors back home. Mr. Delgado had arthritis in his hands and couldn't play anymore. So he gave his guitar to Kyle, essentially, only charging him a fraction of the original price. And in return, Kyle had taken excellent care of it. And now he was determined to learn how to play it.

Why was Kazu on a mountain? Who knew, she just was. In fact, Kazumi had never been to the mountain before, so here she was! For whatever reason, Kazu had brought her gutiar along with her and was sitting and playing it while singing random lyrics she made up as she went. A very strange creature indeed. But, Kazumi had been a very cheerful person latley, not that she wasn't cheerful everyday, but latley more than usual.

Even though it was summer, It was still cold up on the mountain, so kazu had worn a long-sleeved shirt and a jacket and her hair was down today. Of course, she wore her thin black chocker.

For a minute, Kyle almost fooled himself into thinking that the guitar playing that he heard was his own. But he sure as heck wasn't singing, so he knew he wasn't quite alone. Picking up his guitar and his backpack, and hoisting the latter up on his shoulder, he ambled over to where he heard the voice.

It didn't take him long to spot his company - a girl, dressed in a sweater (even though it was summertime). She had a nicer guitar than he did - something he noticed right away - and, even though her back was turned to him, he recognized her from a long time ago. "Kazumi?"

Kazu stopped playing and glanced behind her shoulder. "Kyle!' She squealed happily. "Fancy meeting you here! It's been a while, how've you been?" Kazu placed her guitar down, ran up and hugged Kyle for a moment. "It's really nice to see you again. Would you like to come sit with me?" Kazu moitoned over to a seat next to her guitar.

Kyle blinked. He wasn't used to being rushed and tackled by girls - where he came from, they pretty much ran the other way. This town is backwards, he thought. "I've been pretty good," he replied. "How about you?" He looked at the place where she was sitting, considered it in his head for a second, and then nodded. "Okay," he agreed, sitting down. He angled the guitar on his knee and put his hand on the body. He strummed once, absently, and tried to identify the chord in his head.

Kazu sat back down and looked curiously at what Kyle was doing. So he plays gutiar too! She thought. "Ummm, if you like, I could teach you a few things." Kazu offered after watching him for a few moments. 'I mean, i'm no expert myself, but I play fairly well." Kazu strummed a few chords on her guitar and hummed them as she played them.

Kyle looked at her. "Um." It wasn't a moment of hesitation, which so many of his moments were. He was going to agree, he already knew that. But his mind didn't like to stay in the present. It automatically skyrocketed to the future, what would happen as consequences of his actions. Mostly, he was thinking about the dangers of getting too close to someone, because he had no idea when he would have to leave again. If he would have to leave again. And he had learned, over the years, that your friends don't wait for you.

But, how was playing the guitar with someone going to automatically invest him in a relationship like that? It wasn't. He was overthinking, as per usual.

"Sure," he said, propping the guitar up and placing his fingers on the strings.

A borad smile spread across Kazu's face. "Alright!" she said happily. "Ok, so first off, how much do you know so far? That way we can start off where you're leaving off and not go through all the boring stuff." Kazu giggled a bit and pushed some of he rhair behind her ear. "I'm ready when you are."

This was a moment of hesitation. "Um." Is that really the only word I know? Kyle winced. "Ah, not very much," he confessed, looking down at his hands. "I kind of...acquired the guitar. Not very conventional in the least. But no one ever taught me how to play it, so I'm kind of making it up to go along." He looked up and offered her a rare smile. "In fact, I was kind of hoping for no one else to be up here today. Not that I don't want you here!" He instantly regretted his choice of words, and quickly backpedaled to explain himself. "What I mean is, it's actually kind of embarrassing, how badly I suck. And I don't really want to subject myself to the humiliation of other people hearing it. It might cause internal bleeding."

He broke off from his rambling, finally, and stared out over the side of the mountain. He didn't usually talk that much. He didn't usually have that much to say. Maybe he was suffering from a lack of oxygen.

Kazu placed her hand on his shoulder and smiled gentley. "Hey hey, it's alright, I don't mind a bit. You didn't hurt my feeling sor anything..." There was an awkward silence bewteen them, then Kazu went on. "The first few weeks I practiced on my guitar, my fingers hurt so much I had to have someone hand-feed me!" Kazumi laughed. "But that's just becuase i'm spoiled. Don't worry, you can suck in front of me as much as you want, I won't mind in the least." Kazu paused, and something came to mind. "Hey, I'll give you lessons if you like, you don't have to pay anything...but I understand if you really don't want to..."

Kyle grimly held up his fingers. They were freshly cut, bleeding from the harshness of the strings. "I don't have callouses yet," he said. "Hopefully, they'll come soon." He paused. "Um. Lessons are okay, I guess." He smiled, a little wry. "I thought I could do this by myself, but it's a lot harder than they make it seem. I could use some help. If you actually wanted to help me, though. I'm not the best student. I'm pretty impatient and I get frustrated easily."

Kazu closed her eyes and smiled. "That's ok! I have a lot of patience, I'll make sure to help you with every little thing, so don't be afraid to ask questions, ok?" Kazu frowned at Kyle's fingers. "Firstly though, let's get your fingers taken care of." Kauzmi grabbed her bag she had brought with her and rummaged through it until she found a small bottle of hydrogen peroxide and some bandeges. "May I see you hands?" Kazu asked.

"uh, okay." Again with the uh. I need a new vocabulary. He held out his hands, palms facing up. "Do you always carry medical supplies with you?"

He used to have callouses on his hands, from playing the piano, kind of. But that was a long time ago.

"Uh-" he caught himself in the middle of saying it. He shook his head and started again. "So...lessons. When do you want to, ah, start?"

Kazu put some peroxide on a cotten ball and gently cleaned the fingers on Kyle's right hand one by one, then proceded to wrap them up with bandages, which she did more slowly and cautiously. "Yes, you never know when you'll need them." Kazu said awnsering Kyle's first question. "Whenever you want to start is fine with me, where would you like to meet? You could come to my house or we could meet elsewhere."