The Musician

Chapter 6

Snip, snip, snip.

The hairdresser evened out the layers of damp black hair on the head in front of him. "You know darling, you should condition more often." The man started the conversation casually as he would with other customers, "It'll soften your hair and keep it healthy, not to mention that the curls won't tangle as easily."

"I'll need to buy some before I go home then," Shion agreed, his hair was rather damaged. Absently he mumbled to himself in his western tongue, "It can get quite naughty." He chuckled to himself. Surprisingly the hairdresser heard and understood it from how he burst out laughing.

"Now that was a good one." The hairdresser blew some bangs out of his eye and grabbed a clip. He ran a fine-toothed comb through Shion's damp hair and stopped. "Oh, well look at that, there's one now." There was a throaty sound from him as he had a dirty joke come to mind. Shion saw the man frown, the phone had been ringing for a while now and he shouted over his shoulder, "Kizuna! Phone! Stop sleeping on the job!"

From the front desk, Shion heard a clatter and a thump, a sound of fright followed, "Ah–Y-Yes! Hello, this is the Kakoiishi hair salon, how may I help you?"

Shion had to complement the man on his multitasking skills. "You're fluent in English." It wasn't a question.

"Yeah, lived in Canada for most of my life—tilt your head down please—I was adopted and well, here I am." Shion could see his grin in the mirror and had to wonder how he could say something that personal so lightly.

Drying his hair was the fun part for the hairdresser as it was highly amusing to see the curly hair start to gain volume and frizz up in front of him. After putting in a hair treatment solution, he straightened the hair and started trimming it to get rid of some bad split ends. Moving to his bangs he noticed something. "Your eyes are quite pretty you know, it's a shame you hide them," the man said to him.

He usually covered his blue eye with his hair, but sometimes it wouldn't cut it. Occasionally the wind would blow his hair around, or if he rubbed his head it would move, so he closed his eye whenever he thought someone might be able to see it.

"You don't have to be shy darling, it looks nice and it's unique," the hairdresser smiled.

"It causes unwanted attention," Shion said a bit harsher than intended. The man didn't delve further into the topic, if it was personal he wouldn't pry.

• • • • • •

"Yes, thank you, it looks great," Shion thanked the hairdresser. He had done a wonderful job, his hair was straight and shiny, a complete change from his regular unrestrained curly fury. He couldn't help but run a hand through his hair in fascination at the smooth feeling. With it completely straight as it was now he noticed that it was longer than he thought. It was resting at the base of his neck, just around the collar bone. "Excuse me. May I use your restroom?"

"Of course darling, go ahead!" His hairdresser was already working with another customer and chatting away happily.

With the go-ahead, he grabbed his bag and changed in the washroom. He had the clothes he got ready the previous day in his bag. Shion looked himself over once and nodded, he wouldn't recognize himself in a mirror if he didn't know any better—though that was with his glasses off.

Putting the frames back on, he sighed. I just knew I needed these... He really didn't want to wear them. They were uncomfortable.

Contacts.

The task was grudgingly painful and he ended up poking his eye when he flinched, but otherwise got them in. His green eye stung like a bitch and looked red though.