01<@Ardweden> [Tuesday, January 13, 2004.] 01<@Ardweden> [Winter break is over and everyone's back in school. That means the Tokyo Tech Automotive Club is back in session as well! They've been fixing up their vehicles lately for their next race, and Haruko's taken on a lot of that responsibility, possibly in an effort to make up for the awkwardness her love life maaaaay have caused.] 01<@Ardweden> [It's the end of the day, now, and a lot of the club has gone home. Haruko's in the clubhouse, tending to the wounds she sustained while ice skating over break. They were feeling better, but all of the work has aggravated them a bit.] 01<@Ardweden> [Start!] 06* Haruko has disassembled part of engine for her diesel bike, inspecting tuning it to keep high efficiency without relying on a modern ignition system. That said, at this point she largely just has the parts in front of her and is staring at them while apply a heating pack to her left knee, which started hurting again earlier today when she overexerted herself. 01<@Ardweden> [While Haruko applies the pack, someone else wanders into the room. Haruko may turn to see the source of the new shadow, but he makes his identity known effectively immediately: "Kinsha?" Yeah, that's Ken Hibiki.] 06* Haruko was idly paging through a few fairly obsolete technical manuals she found at a literal garage sale. They're barely available in libraries, because really, why would you need a bike that didn't have the advantages of circuitry this day. "Yeah, Hibiki?" She doesn't look back just yet. 01<@Ardweden> ["The hell happened to you? You hurt yourself while fixing your bike?"] 06* Haruko snorts. "Give me a little more mechanical credit than that. No, this was my trying to learn to ice skate a bit too fast. As you and your braided lady friend may recall." 06* Haruko does mark her place and sets down her book. 01<@Ardweden> ["Oh *yeah*. Learn to skate, Kinsha. You nearly made me knock over, uh... what's her name... whatever." Ken walks closer and crouches to look at Haruko's injury. "Your lame hockey friends were doing a pretty awful job."] 06* Haruko gets a thin smile on learning that Ken hasn't somehow found the one but quickly loses it as he walks over. "It was only my second time on the ice Hibiki and I was fool enough to insist on trying to twirl twice. You seriously telling me you'd have taught me better somehow?" 01<@Ardweden> ["Duh. I wouldn'tve let you do something so dumb." He pushes Haruko's hand and heating pad aside so he can look at her injury, if she lets him.] 06* Haruko snickers and resists for just a moment, letting his hand brush hers before it gets swept away. Haruko does know her bandages rather well, the underlying gauze has a couple layers as it's been augmented and cleaned with peroxide more than once. There's a little bit of new blood showing under the present bandage but it looks like the outer area is regrowing the parts where she was skinned 06* Haruko and the bruising is starting to fade. It doesn't look like there's much underlying damage if she'd just slow down for a week or two and take it easy. 01<@Ardweden> [Ken frowns, and he prods the bandages a little bit. He's a lot more gentle than Haruko may have thought he'd be. "You need new bandages," he says, pointing out the blood that's just starting to show. And Ken's back on his feet, looking for the ever present medical supplies in this place.] 06* Haruko frowns. "You're probably right." She then takes a moment to finish hiking up that leg before starting to roll up the coveralls on her other leg once he comes back. "You know your stuff." (s/hiking up that leg/hiking up that cuff) 01<@Ardweden> ["Well yeah. I'm not stupid." Ken comes up with all the appropriate medical accoutrements and starts arranging them nearby in the order he's going to use them.] 06* Haruko respects the medical process and lets him go about his work for a moment while studying him. She lets him guide her just a trifle more than is really necessary just to let him show off his mastery. 01<@Ardweden> [Ken does, and gladly! But he's not really a jerk about it - that same gentleness is there in his touch even though it's not really in, well, the rest of him (this is Ken, after all), and he quietly goes about dressing Haruko's injury.] 06* Haruko waits until he's done with her left before pulling up her right cuff well above her knee. She's then carefully stretches her leg while lifting it so that it's at eye level for the crouched boy. "How's my right look?" 01<@Ardweden> ["Well, I uh." Ken's cheeks might be coloring slightly, but it could also be a trick of the light, as he gently grabs Haruko's leg. He inspects it closely enough that Haruko can just barely feel his brath as he does so. And right about now, Maki comes walking in, maybe looking for Haruko or maybe looking for something to eat.] 06* Maki calls out, "Hey, Haruko, did you want..." Then she gets a look at the situation and raises an eyebrow. "Uh. Am I... interrupting something?" 06* Maki 's tone of voice makes it very clear that she knows she's interrupting *something*. 01<@Ardweden> [Ken drops Haruko's leg in surprise! Then realizes he just did that and catches it. He is bright red.] 06* Haruko makes no sudden moves. "Ken was inspecting my skating injuries. He assures me he wouldn't have let me do something so foolish on the ice." She turns over to look at her roommate, making sure Ken can't see her face for a moment and consciously willing her to scram. "He's actually fairly good with first aid." 06* Maki crosses her arms. "A regular Boy Scout. Good to know!" 06* Haruko keeps eye contact with her roommate. "Oh that reminds me, I found some possible leads to help your bike search. We should talk about that. Later. In our room." 01<@Ardweden> [Ken busies himself with fixing up Haruko's injuries again. All business. Yes.] 06* Maki blinks. "You're serious." 06* Haruko takes a breath. "You know I've managed to keep irritating this dang wound, particularly with dance practice. Hibiki's really helping." 06* Haruko also softens her look. "I mean it, we'll talk." 01<@Ardweden> [Ken smirks, any blushing gone. Of course he's helping!] "Okay," Maki sighs. "You should be careful. I'm just gonna grab dinner on my own, then, and I'll see you later. Looking forward to bike leads!" 06* Haruko smiles for a moment at Ken after Maki heads off. She can't quite keep up her steely facade as she comments "Maki's a good roommate, she looks after me." 01<@Ardweden> [Ken shrugs. "Don't know what she was worried about. I wasn't gonna do anything." He sets Haruko's leg down, taking it easy. "Should be all set, Kinsha."] 06* Haruko smiles. "Thank you Hibiki." She carefully pulls her knee up to herself before gently stretching it, satisfied. "And of course you wouldn't trying some sort of trick. You said earlier, when you ask someone out, you just do it. No awkwardness or hesitation, right?" 01<@Ardweden> ["Uh, yeah." Ken rocks back on his heels, arms resting on his knees, and he looks up at Haruko, his brow creasing. What is she getting at?] 06* Haruko lets out a breath and just strives to maintain her Kinsha- ness. "So, you going to make me do the asking then?" 01<@Ardweden> ["What? No! I mean, no!" Ken shakes his head, trying to clear it, then peers at Haruko. "Look, if you want to learn how to ice skate that badly I'll show you. Sunday, okay? I'll get you dinner, too. I know you're broke all the time."] 06* Haruko tilts her head, charmed. "I think I'd like that." She then closes her eyes for a moment, "But I should say what you already know. I'm kind of a confused mess sometimes. I don't really know what or who I want or in the end or where any of this is going. I'll be honest about it but that's all I can promise." She opens her eyes, looking up at him. "Still want to take my broke butt out to dinner?" 01<@Ardweden> [Ken rolls his eyes. "Well yeah, Kinsha. I offered, didn't I?" He stands and points out her deconstructed bike. "You gonna finish that?"] 06* Haruko smiles and gets up. "Yeah, but you can help if you like." 01<@Ardweden> [Ken shrugs, leaning down to look at the bike. "Sure, why not. I don't want you to hurt yourself again before we go skating."] 06* Haruko smirks slightly as she gets to work. "Excellent, I look forward to finding out just how good you are." 01<@Ardweden> [And so, they actually worked on a bike.] 01<@Ardweden> [End!]