closed log † ongoing [backdated]

[clownsprout.livejournal.com]

When; January 17
Rating; PG
Characters; Allen Walker [clownsprout] and Sakura Haruno [betterthanthen ]
Summary; Thanks to Ino's matchmaking, Allen takes Sakura on a dinner date at Pandora's.
Log; It was already dark when Allen arrived at the doors of Pandora's. He had come a little early, just to make sure that Sakura would not be left waiting. He was dressed nice enough; he wore his uniform, clean and pressed. He'd thought to bring flowers or chocolates, but he decided not to. After all, he knew next to nothing about Sakura, nor was he hoping for this date to turn into anything further. This was merely something he agreed to in order to be polite; his original plans had been to get Lavi to go on the date. Not one to leave a girl, hanging, though, here he was. He'd never been on a date before, but he was trained by the biggest womanizer in the universe. He was pretty sure he could do this right.

And so he waited.

Comments

[betterthanthen.livejournal.com]

The only reason Sakura was going to the encounter was because she felt the obligaiton to clean up Ino's mess. After all, maybe the boys her best friend had set her up with were nice guys, and maybe they had gone out of their way to get to these dates, and it wouldn't be fair if she behaved like an anti-social bitch (which she was not; workoholism was a different thing) and stood them up because she was intent on keeping to her word.

Hell, she even put on nice clothes, or as nice as possible; a white, long-sleeved shirt and a pair of jeans, as her attire for this not-a-date. She would've gone dressed in her usual clothes, but Pandora's was a restaurant, and Sakura had some class, too. Somewhere.

Plus, eating out would be good enough, and maybe this boy was also nice. In a platonic way.

Once he (hopefully) recognized her, because she sure as hell did not know who he was.

[clownsprout.livejournal.com]

Luckily (well, maybe) Allen did recognize Sakura from the pictures that Ino had posted onto the network. It wasn't hard to notice her; after all, the only other girl he'd known with pink hair had long pink.

A little nervous when it came to girls (and new people in general), Allen hesitated before approaching her. She had pink hair, so white hair wouldn't be strange, right? Hopefully the scar didn't freak her out either...and as far as his hand...well, he had gloves for that. He gathered nerve. This was a one time thing only, he was sure of it, and the look on Miss Sakura's face showed that she wasn't all that interested in dating either. He finally went up to her and smiled.

"Miss Sakura? Good evening. I'm Allen Walker. I'm you're date tonight."

[betterthanthen.livejournal.com]

He looked so nice, too. And shy, and all. She almost felt bad to say it, but she had to. She did not want to lead anyone as nice-looking on. "Uhm...hi, Allen-san. It's nice to meet you too. Actually, you..."

A pause, and she cleared her throat. "You know that Ino set me up, right?"

[clownsprout.livejournal.com]

Allen kept his smile. He felt bad for her. He opened the door to the restaurant for her and waited for her to enter...if she wanted to enter at all.

"Yeah. I figured that was the case. I'm sorry that we both have to be here, but let me treat you anyway. It'd be wrong of me not to after you made the effort to come."

[betterthanthen.livejournal.com]

He was too nice. It made her feel bad, but at the same time--hey, food. "Haha, actually, wouldn't it be wrong for me to take advantage in this case?"

"How about we split?"

[clownsprout.livejournal.com]

Allen seemed a little caught off-guard at that.

"N-No! Even if it's not a date, the man should pay. I-I mean, I'm not trying to be disrespectful! It just...doesn't seem right for a girl to have to pay..."

[betterthanthen.livejournal.com]

Sakura paused, then leaned in slightly. "Actually, it's a little discriminating to say that a girl should just sit back and let the man pay. Why girl and now woman? Why man and not boy? Balance it out."

Her tense smile dissolved, and she stepped inside the restaurant. "Besides, we're splitting and that's that."

[clownsprout.livejournal.com]

"Is that how you feel?"

He frowned for a short time. He hadn't thought he had tried to discriminate against her or anyone! He sighed a little. Obviously, he had offended her or something, and dinner hadn't even started. Good going, Allen. It was a good thing Cross wasn't around to see.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mind to offend you. We'll split."

[betterthanthen.livejournal.com]

"You didn't offend me, don't worry. I mean, you didn't say it in an offenssive way. And I'm sure there are cute girls out there who'll like being taken care of, but I've already done my share of that, and it didn't work out," she blabbered, trying to put him at ease again.

[clownsprout.livejournal.com]

"I'm sorry to hear that. But I believe that even if a lady is strong, men should treat them well. Maybe it's the time period or area I've come from. Anyways, if you prefer it this way, I don't mind," he said with a smile. He followed her into the restaurant, and having reserved a table, there was no time spent waiting for a table. Allen thought to pull out her chair for her, another gentlemanly custom he'd been taught, but decided against it. He took his own seat.

"Not to pry, but is there a reason why Miss Ino may have tried playing matchmaker for you?"

[betterthanthen.livejournal.com]

She took hers. Suprisingly, she wouldn't have minded the seat pulling, but that was just how strange Sakura, and girls, were.

"Eh, because I inherited our friend's cat after she left," she answered, frowning and pulling a face. "Now she thinks I'm going to turn into some cat lady, but it's just one cat, and grow old and lonely, and that just because she's getting action, I should lower all my moral codes and jump into whomever's bed or something. Or...or she thinks she can cure me from becoming a cat lady."

[clownsprout.livejournal.com]

Allen glanced at her from looking at the menu. He didn't really understand this 'cat lady' business, and he definitely didn't care about Miss Ino's love life, or Miss Sakura's love life for that matter. But he listened anyway.

"That's quite an...abnormal way of thinking things. You ladies are both young so I don't think rushing into bed with someone is the way to get a proper relationship...I-I mean, not that it's my business! But as you said, I wouldn't think it moral to sleep with just anyone. Then again, she did set you up on proper dates."

[betterthanthen.livejournal.com]

"So far... And no, I agree, I don't think I'm at an age to have a relationship. Or at a point in my life, anyway." Even though three years back, she had her sights set on one, marriage and children all planned out. How things changed.

"Anyway, enough about that--tell me about you. What's your world like?"

[clownsprout.livejournal.com]

Allen nodded. He could agree with her easily.

"I live in England, before the 1900s. It doesn't have half of the technology this place does, though..."

[betterthanthen.livejournal.com]

"Same with my world. Especially not the network devices or the mobile phones. All of them seem so complex, and yet apparently for others, they're primitive."