Shinjuku Mall.
Sunday | 2pm
Sunlight paints the sidewalk, flowers dancing with the breeze and the bustling city dies down in the parking lot of the mall.
Tenzo stood at the restaurant section of the mall. Not in his usual Brahman attire this time. He exchanged the black coat for lighter colours starting from his earth toned loafers, white socks hiding under his baggy denim pants kept together by a vintage belt, his plain white t-shirt was clean and suited his frame. Topping off his outfit is a crucifix necklace shining slightly.
"You clean up nicely. " Senju hums approvingly at his outfit.
"Thanks. " He nonchalantly responds, trying hard to not sound pleased at her response.
His eyes followed her outfit.
"Wow."
Starting at her feet, Senju is wearing creased white sneakers that somehow looked better dirty, quarter socks with red and green lining, oversized light blue jeans resting on her sneakers, a tight cream white tank top that highlights her delicate blushed shoulders and toned stomach with a six pack lining. Her untamed pink hear was in a neat bun held together by a fuzzy wristband, loose cherry bangs by her eyes, not hiding the hazel pupils, just adding more emphasis on her beauty.
"What?" She pouts cutely at his dumb founded look.
Tenzo closes his mouth before a fly could enter. "You look amazing."
"Thanks. " She turns her head to hide her blush.
Taking the initiative by lacing his fingers with her own.
"Huh?" Senju is taken back by his action, a blush as bright as her hair plants itself on her pale cheeks.
"Let's start with shopping and the rest will follow." He starts leading her into the shopping centre of the mall, keeping his eyes forward, he doesn't intend to tease her right now.
Senju regains her composure. "I hope your little fight club had been making you enough money because I'm about to make your wallet cry." She giggles menacingly.
"Do your worst, Senju. " He challenged.
"Alright ~"
---
"I regret everything. " Tenzo groans from the seat outside the changing rooms.
Senju wasn't kidding about hurting his wallet as the Brahman princess went from store to store, taking her time through every piece of clothing that caught her emerald eyes.
"Nope."
"Cute."
"Maybe on another day..."
His plays back all her comments of clothing that caught her eye. The ones that passed her interest were piled on top of him. He was a humble accessory to her fashion musing and occasional second opinion.
Right now she was in the changing room. She took a handful of clothing with her, adamant on trying each piece of clothing.
"Stay where you are. " She orders from behind her stall.
"I had no plans on leaving. " He grumbles.
"Good ~"
"So are you into fashion or it's just female nature?" He asks.
"Both. " Senju chuckles, "My brother used to hate taking me shopping as a 2 hour maximum trip would expand to 4 hours just on me alone." Senju recalls a joyous memory.
"How about you?"
"My mom was into fashion, mostly Vivien Westwood and Alexander McQueen. She really loved the rebellious designers with strong English accents. "
Senju snorts at my words, "Your mom sounds cool. "
"Yeah, she was." He laments, the realisation that his parents had to live with the fact he died in his world, made his heart ache.
"I'm sorry..." Senju whispers behind the stall.
"It's fine, really. Every time I go thrifting, her voice would nag me to look for niche clothing that would barely fit my frame for the sake of aesthetics. " He jokes.
"Hey, fashion is worth the discomfort. " Senju defended his mom's ideology.
"You and her would've gotten along. " He added.
Senju didn't respond, a smile graces her face as she tries on a red bra that kept her big breast from sagging.
'I love it.' She hums. A mischievous smile crosses her lips.
"Hey, Tenzo. What do you think of this?" She opens her dressing room door to show him the red bra.
"SENJU!" Tenzo shrieks back like a frightened boy, his eyes landed on her cleavage held by the lacy red bra and going down her toned body he sees the panty strings above her denim pants, teasing the matching set of ruby themed temptation.
"Well?" She purrs at his reaction, taking in her upper hand against annoying right-hand.
"Get dressed!"
"Why? You don't like it?" She fake pouts, crossing her arms over cleavage to make him more lustful.
"You are doing this on purpose!" He growls out, his coco-face tinting red.
"Doing what, Tenzo?" Senju acts oblivious to her actions.
"God, give me strength. " Tenzo prays to the higher power.
"Is everything alright?" The dressing room employee calls out.
"Everything is fine!" Tenzo responds, regaining some of his composure to look at Senju.
"You didn't answer my question Tenzo?" Senju rest her hands on her hips, basking in his turmoil.
"It looks amazing Senju. Now get dressed before we get kicked out." He ushers her inside.
Senju doesn't protest and goes back to changing.
"You should've seen your face." She giggles behind the door.
"Shut up!"
"Are you sure everything is okay?" The employee peeks her head inside.
"This can't be my life." He groans
---
After the dressing room conundrum, Tenzo and Senju went shopping to a few more shops before ending their fashion spree as his arms are covered in bags of clothing while Senju walks with no other items but her phone.
"Let's get food. " She jogs over to the restaurant section without looking back at him.
"Wait up!" Tenzo pushes through the pain of carrying the bags and attempts to catch up to her.
By 4pm they sat down to eat, the mall was quiet as many people drifted off back home while these two stayed to enjoy sushi.
"This is delicious ~" Senju praises through mouthfuls of food.
"Don't talk with your mouthful. " Tenzo lightly reprimanded her table manners.
She grumbles something through another bite of rice, snatching a bite from his own dish.
"You could've asked." Tenzo glares at her, but lets her be.
"Here, try some of mine. " Senju shoves a slice of raw fish into his mouth.
"Mhmmhp..." His protest died down as he chews.
"Mhmm..." Senju chews approvingly.
They enjoyed this moment of calmness, no gangs, no training, just peace for however long it will last for.
---
Tenzo walks Senju home, the sun glows orange indicating the arriving sunset. This didn't bother the two as they found a pace to their walk while getting to know each other.
"Did you always have a love for Taekwondo?" Tenzo shifts a bag on his shoulder.
"Not really, I started off with Karate at Mikey's grandfather's dojo before Takeomi opened the gym." Senju spoke.
"Mikey, as in Manjiro Sano?" Tenzo looks at her with shock at the statement.
"Yeah. Our families used to be close when Takeomi and Shinichiro were still Black Dragons. Things changed after Shinichiro disbanded the gang and my brother couldn't let go of his glory days and spent his afternoons drinking away, collecting debt and watching us grow from a distance..." Senju recites her childhood.
Tenzo kept silent, nudging her with his shoulder. "You don't have to trauma dump it's still a date~"
"Oh, now you admit it's a date?" Senju smirks, her mood doing a complete 360.
"I agreed to go, didn't I?" He teases.
"Ughhh –you're annoying. " The cherry blossom princess walks in front of him, a smile tugging her lips.
"Don't forget who has your clothes. " He chuckles.
She glares at him with no real heat.
"Walk faster."
Arriving at her gym, the familiar building felt a bit cold.
Senju kept her legs from entering, looking back at Tenzo's approaching form.
"What's wrong?" He voiced out at her hesitation.
She turns to him, eyes shining with a bit of hope and vulnerability.
"Can I stay over at your place for the night?"