Dancing with the STARISH

The trouble of creating Salsa

"You want me to do what now?" Mai questioned the President as they stood in his office. Ringo said that it was of great importance, but this is ridiculous.

"You will be entering this years celebrity dance contest with..." There was a drumroll as he pulled on a golden rope that opened the curtain, "Mr. Jinguji!"

When the curtain opened Ren stood there and gave a lazy wave, "Hey." He was a bit surprised that he was chosen over the Natsuki since the tall blonde had more dancing experience than him, but he's just going to go with the flow.

"Um hi?" She waved back then looked back at Shinning, "Is there a reason behind all this?" Not that she hated the flirt or anything but this was all so unexpected.

"Of course! Miss Nanami and Mr. Jinguji created a song last week and it sounded perfect for one of the dance categories!" He explained with flare.

"So this has nothing to do with your rival entering his idols in the contest?" She asked bluntly. This morning she saw on T.V that Raging Entertainment is entering their own, Eiichi Ootori and some unknown dancer, into the competition.

The boss was silent for a moment, "Nooooo it doesn't."

'Liar,' she thought.

"Anyways don't fail! Or you're fired," The president had them literally ejected out of his office with a press of a button.

"Ahhhhhhhh!!" The two started falling and crashed into the lake with a loud splash. The two resurfaced from the water and gasps for air.

'If he wasn't signing my paychecks, I would yell his ear off!' Mai thought angrily as she crawled out of the water with Ren. "Hey are you okay?" she asked him.

"Yeah I'm fine," he chuckles and pushes his wet orange loves out of his face, " I always thought I was dripping with good looks."

Mai gave him a deadpanned look, "Did you just quote Tamaki Suoh from Ouran High School Host Club?" She started wringing the water out of her hair.

"Yeah it's a good show..." he admitted.

The dancer next to him started chuckling, "Can't be surprised about that. I bet most of your pick up line came from there." She teased as the two got up. Their clothes were still wet and starting to stick to their bodies, " Hey we should get out of these clothes."

"We haven't even worked together for that long and already you're trying to get me naked" Mai rolled her eyes at his little joke.

"Boy please." She sharply turned, whipping her damped hair in his face before walking to the building. 'This is going to be a long work week,' she thought.

'This is going to be a fun work week,' Ren though as he followed behind her. 'And Ranmaru can't beat me up for it.'

~Day 1~

Mai listened to the music and was able to take a guess which category Shinning put them in: The salsa. 'Hmm this seems like something up his alley,' she thought as she straps on her dancing heels. She looked at the clock and sighed. He's not late but he was pushing the envelope. Mai was in the middle of tying her hair into a ponytail when she felt someone breath against her ear

"I hope I didn't keep you waiting long," She jumped and turned around to face the flirtatious man.

"How the hell-" she calmed herself, "No....you're on time...barely," she muttered the last part out. "Anyway ready to salsa?"

"As I'll ever be," he said as he tossed his jacket to the side and she pressed play on the stereo.

~Day 2~

"You have to keep up Ren," she said at they twist and turned across the room. They did quick back rocks or the 1 2 3 step.

"Princess how about we slow down since the tempo isn't that fast," he suggested.

She looks like she was about to contend but decided to let it go provided that this is a different situation. If this was a group project then naturally she's in charge because too many cooks will ruin the dish; however, this is her partner and this is also his song so any ideas he has she has to at least consider them.

"Alright I'll slow it down," she said.

~Day 3~

Ren wanted the dance to be a bit more passionate and risqué and Mai had to agree because the traditional moves we're working for him. Also, she was starting to get bored with the moves they had now.

"Mai, you seem uncomfortable with me."

"What makes you say that ?" she tilted her head in confusion

"You're 8 feet away from me and grinding against air."

Mai blushes and turned around to face him. It's true she did feel a bit uncomfortable. Could you blame her? They only talked like once a week and it's usually just 'Hi' and 'Bye'. Now they have to be on each other like a turnt up couple at prom. "I'm sorry...I just feel like I'm being sexual with a stranger."

"Fair enough. Let's take a break."

~Day 4~

Mai and Ren decided to hit the town and see if they can get over the co-worker barrier. The saxophonist's carefree attitude was a lot helpful when it comes to setting up a nice environment. However, the group of girls stalking them was ruining the mood.

"Hey don't look now but you have a pack of thirsty girls stalking you," The dancer said.

"Yeah, that happens a lot..." He chuckles and rubs the back of his neck "Sometimes it's a curse to be this good-looking," he said playfully.

She giggles lightly, "I would gently shove you but I feel like your side chicks will have me executed."

"Well that won't do," He wanted her to be relaxed and she won't be able to do that with fan girls around. Ren took her hand and pulled her along as he ran into a crowded area.

"Woah! Where are you taking me!" she asked as she tried to keep up with him.

"Just trust me," he replied.

The two made a sharp turn into a backdoor of a building. Once the dancer caught her, she looked at her surroundings. The walls were red velvet and you can feel the bass of the music coming off of them. Right now there were in an elongated hallway and they saw strobe lights at the end of the path.

"Where are we?"

"Velvet Heart. The answer to our problem," he leads her down the hall till the reached the end. Mai squinted her eyes when a white light flashed and the fun began.