"Ja! I will see each of you later!"

Jasmine and Dawn, both sitting on the couch Keitsu had just walked past, raised their eyebrows above their glasses. Dawn tilted her head to one side idly curiously while Jasmine held up her right hand to halt the Japanese girl. Jasmine took a quick glance from her head to her feet to take in her outfit fully; a clashing contrast of a small white button-down t-shirt and a black and white checkerboard-print skirt, accented by a bright red tie hanging from her neck. Her otherwise-exposed legs showed from in between her fishnets, losing themselves in a pair of large, clunky platform shoes on her feet. Though wild, it was a favored outfit of the outspoken foreigner and, thus, was regular to see, which made her outfit less of a worry, but not her intentions.

"Hold on. Where are you going this late?"

"I am not late," Keitsu responded matter-of-factly, with a smug grin. "The concert does not begin for a few hours."

Jasmine sighed deeply from her nose and shiftly glanced to the side. Though Keitsu managed to misinterpret her question once again, she got some information that she needed. "A concert, then?"

"Hai!" Keitsu said with a small squeal, clutching her hands together and holding them to her chest. "It is this night that the band Rhapsody is playing in this town! I have been filled with bubbles of excitement since it was announced!"

Jasmine furrowed her brow and looked downward slightly. Bubbles of excitement?Before she could question Keitsu further on her oddly-worded phrase, Dawn took the minor pause to make her voice heard.

"That's odd, Kate, because even though you've been so excited, I haven't heard you talk about when you got the ticket..."

Keitsu paused for a moment, looking into Dawn's wide, innocent eyes. Quietly, Keitsu turned away from the two on the couch and put a hand to her mouth to hide a cheeky smile, mischief in her eyes. "Hehee~... You would not talk about something you did not do, ne?"

With a sudden start, Jasmine stood up in one swift motion, causing Dawn to shrink in her seat and shriek. "Wait just a second!" Jasmine challenged. "Do you mean to tell us you're going to a concert you haven't bought a ticket to?! What honestly makes you think I'm going to let you do that, Kate?!"

Leaning back in surprise as Jasmine leapt up so suddenly, Keitsu placed her hands under her chin in a childish fashion and pouted her lips as well as she knew how. "Ja-san," she pleaded with her contracted yet formal nickname, "please do not speak so loudly! You look so frightening!" Keitsu closed her eyes and continued to cower slightly and mutter about Jasmine scaring her in a low tone of voice. Jasmine crossed her arms across her chest and tapped her foot on the ground impatiently throughout Keitsu's plea.

"Don't think trying to pull the cute-little-kid routine is going to help you! That never affects me, you know!"

Keitsu froze, her eyes suddenly opening. After blinking a few times, her mouth curled into an altogether more devious smile, her eyes squinting menacingly, with Jasmine in her sights. "Hehee~"

Though her stance remained strong, Jasmine's eyes began to widen very slightly. Oh god. I know that look. I know that laugh.

"Ja-san..."

Shut up.

"Perhaps you right." Keitsu slowly began to close the distance between the taller girl, never once breaking the gaze between them. As Keitsu inched closer, her arms stretched out, reaching toward Jasmine, her fingers making gentle carressing motions in the air. "Perhaps the concert is not the most fun I could have tonight, ne? Perhaps Ja-san wishes me to stay and..."

Her sentence trailed off as she stood toe-to-toe with Jasmine, sneaking her hands around her sides and planting her pointed fingernails into her sides, poking at her skin through the thin t-shirt she was wearing. With a sly, toothy grin, she quickly stroked her fingernails down Jasmine's sides, electing a quick jump and yelp from the sensitive girl, which she attempted to disguise as a mere intake of breath.

Jasmine closed her eyes and pushed Keitsu back from her shoulders. "Okay! Fine! Leave, go, just don't stick around here any longer!" After pushing the more sinister girl away, she rapidly waved her hands back and forth in an emphatic disapproval. Keitsu responded with a more gleeful smile and half-skipped to the front door. She turned and waved a hand at her friends.

"Ja!" she said in an almost sing-song voice, as she pulled the door open and shut it behind her as she left for her concert. Jasmine and Dawn both stared at the shut door for a moment.

Dawn tapped Jasmine on the shoulder. "Was it such a good idea to just let her leave like that...?"

Jasmine's head snapped back to Dawn with a ferocity that made Dawn yelp in fear and a stare that made her cower with worry. Sitting back in the couch and crossing her arms with a huff, Jasmine responded only by lifting her bare feet up, one at a time, and placing them on the table in front of her with two loud thumps. Both Dawn and Jasmine stared at the Indian beauty's impressively large feet on display. After a silent moment, Jasmine turned her sight back on Dawn and crossed her right leg over her left to tap Dawn's leg with her toes. "Well?"

Dawn watched in rapt attention as Jasmine's right foot found its way back on the table beside her left one. "O-Okay..." she muttered, half to herself and half to no one in particular. She rose to her feet and walked around to the other end of the table, kneeled down on the floor in front of Jasmine's feet, and paused to take in the sight of Jasmine's size 11 soles in her face, awaiting her, inviting her. Jasmine's toes wiggled and spread, to allow Dawn a quick sight at her now-smiling face, now more encouraging. The longer Dawn stared at and admired her large, soft soles, the more her eyes began to glaze, and she began to lick her lips...

-----

This was the first time the band Rhapsody had gathered to play in this town, so the concert center was suitably filled with the air of excitement. The area outside the front entrance was filled with masses of buzzing fans organized in a vaguely single-file, snake-like line, extending from the main entrance to and fro across the pavement, extending all the way to the curb at the side of the road leading past. Many wore their Rhapsody t-shirts to the occassion, and many others toted hand-written, cardboard signs under their arms to hold up during the show. Though they were as varied in size, color, clothing and gender as the humans of the world itself, they had all gathered for one sole, shared purpose; to hear the music of Rhapsody.

Keitsu was nowhere to be found in this crowd.

Rather than standing out front with the ticket-bearing crowd, Keitsu snuck her way around the side of the building and peeked out around to see what was going on in the back. Her efforts were rewarded with the site of the band's van being parked near the back entrance, as people she didn't know - assumedly the band's roadies - went back and forth carting equipment into the building. Luckily, there didn't seem to be much security with them at all, just the roadies. Since all their attention was on bringing in equipment, it made it an easy job for Keitsu to sneak her way to the van while remaining out of sight.

When she made it to the van, a heavily-built Caucasian man hefted up one of a pair of speakers, and turned around to walk it into the propped-open door. "Can anyone get this other speaker for me?" he called back.

Before anyone else could respond or even think, Keitsu was on top of things. "I have it!" she chirped, wrapping her arms around the speaker and sliding it out the back of the van.

Once she succeeded at this, she learned why the heavily-built man was only carrying one.

After yelping suddenly and lowering herself to the ground to avoid dropping the speaker onto the concrete, Keitsu gritted her teeth and adjusted the speaker in her arms in an attempt to ease the load. Other than giving her a different way to hold the speaker, it failed to help. Instead, she chose to simply gut it out and try to get it into the building, that being her number one goal at the moment. She didn't need that spine to rock out, anyway.

Thanks to the massive piece of equipment being pressed against her face, Keitsu couldn't quite see in front of her, but as the trip only required her to turn directly around and walk straight forward, she managed to walk a slow but sure line from the back of the van to the doorway. Though the trip was possibly thirty or fourty feet at best, when carrying a speaker that weighed a ton, the entire trip felt like she was trying to scale a mountain rather than enter a building. Luckily, she didn't have to go too far past the door's threshold before she felt a couple people in front of her take hold of the speaker themselves.

"Here, we can take this the rest of the way," grunted a female voice. When the speaker was lifted out of her arms, Keitsu heaved a sigh of relief for her arms and let them rest at her sides.

"Domou arigaaa--" she began, but trailed off when she realized that the two women who put the speaker to the side upon seeing her were a girl with multiple piercings, short, spiked purple and black hair, blue and black clothing, and black boots, and a taller, Hispanic woman with long, black hair, gold hoop earrings, a strapless pink top, and jeans.

Getting caught by the roadies or security, she could deal with. She was less prepared to get caught by the actual band.

"Ah, anou~" Keitsu stammered in an attempt to find something to say, which was a new feeling for the outspoken wildcard. "Itou..."

"Hmm," Regina pondered, pursing her lips in thought, "you don't look like any of the roadies I know..."

"I'm pretty sure we didn't hire any new ones," Kanasta added.

"Even if we did," Regina said, placing her hand on her chin and looking Keitsu up and down, "I think I'd remember one that looked like this!" The first thing Regina had noticed about this strange girl was her shockingly bright red hair, almost identical to the shade of her tie. Her checkerboard skirt brought Regina's view down Keitsu's fishnet-clad legs down to her large, black and white shoes. Each article of clothing simply brought more questions and interests into Regina's mind, one of which that was already curious to a fault.

While Regina's eyes scanned, Keitsu's mind raced. When again their eyes met, Keitsu settled for her old standby of saying whatever first came to her mind.

"Konbawa! I am called Keitsu Chintetsuda! I am very fan for your music! When I read your band was visiting our town for a concert, I wished to find if I could sneak in!"

Both of the band members paused. Regina blinked a few times, and Kanasta opened her mouth wordlessly. When Kanasta failed to come up with a response and closed her mouth, Regina held up her hands in confusion. "Why...why didn't you buy a ticket, then?"

"Anou...I thought sneaking in on my own would allow me to tell a story that was more interesting to hear..." Keitsu glanced down at the ground, almost embarassed.

"So," Kanasta finally said, tapping her lip with her finger thoughtfully. "rather than buying a ticket and ensuring you'd get to see a band you like in concert, you instead chose to attempt to sneak in and risk getting caught and not being able to see the show, not because you wanted to avoid the price or get in for free, but because it would make a more interesting story?"

Keitsu kicked the ground idly with her foot as Kanasta talked, and when she finished, Keitsu looked up and smiled sheepishly. "Itou, hai..." Still smiling, Keitsu pantomimed bopping herself in the head with her fist and stuck out her tongue playfully. "Ore wa baka ne..."

When Keitsu confirmed Kanasta's story as true, Regina couldn't hold back any longer and burst into laughter, leaning over slightly and supporting herself with her hands on her knees. She closed her eyes and her chest heaved with the strength of her laughter, which lasted for a few minutes before she regained her professional air and wiped small tears of laughter from her eyes. "Oh man," she breathed, "that's too great! Isn't that the best thing you've ever heard, Kannie?"

"Uh," Kanasta paused, unsure how to respond, "I...guess so? Even so, if you don't have a ticket...Keitsu, right?...if you don't have a ticket, we're gonna have to send you home..."

"Aw, c'mon, Kannie!" Regina shouted, throwing her arms up in emotion. "Katie here went through a lot of trouble doing this! She even carried one of those huge speakers! Even Bruce could only hold one at a time! That must've been a chore for this poor girl! She's got her determined face on!" Regina turned to Keitsu and whispered to her fiercely, "Hey, Keitsu! Get your determined face on!" After staring in confusion for a second, Keitsu realized what Regina was telling her to do, and she scrunched her face up in a glare, furrowing her brow and holding her hands up underneath her chin. Regina turned back to Kanasta and gestured to Keitsu. "See? Look at her adorable little determined face!"

Kanasta put her hand to her forehead and shook her head, sighing. "As determined as she was, it's still not right to let her in for free. It'd be unfair to the throng of fans out there."

Regina tapped her chin in thought and turned to Keitsu. Once again, the star vocalist looked the Japanese fan over. After scanning her eyes up and down Keitsu a couple times, Regina began to smile and nod her head. "Hmm...I have an idea, I think..." Regina fished around in her pockets for a scrap piece of paper and a pen, and after locating both, held it up against the wall and scribbled something down on it, handing it to Keitsu afterwards. "Alright, Kate, here's what we're gonna do. Go and enjoy the show like everyone else, but once it's over, head straight backstage and come see us. Show them this and tell 'em Regina sent you, and that she'll take care of everything. Alright? Can you do that?"

Keitsu looked to the piece of paper in her hand. Written onto it was a quick, scribbled message reading "Backstage pass", with her signature under it; "Regina Venus". Keitsu's face light up and she nodded emphatically. "Hai, hai! I can do it! I will do it!" Regina stood back and gestured down the hall, and Keitsu took off to the main concert area, crying out, "I am excited!" all the way. When the clearly-excited fan had left their sight, Kanasta turned back to Regina and crossed her arms.

"Yeah. You really took care of her, alright." Regina simply smiled and waved a finger at Kanasta reprimandingly.

"I have a plan for her, don't you worry. And we have to give her some credit for carrying in this speaker for us."

"I suppose," Kanasta sighed. "Speaking of which, are we gonna carry that in?"

"Nah," Regina said, making her way down the hallway, "we'll leave it for Bruce. He can bring it whenever he's got time. C'mon, let's get ready." Regina turned and continued down the hallway, and after a moment, Kanasta began to follow.

Meanwhile, the built roadie carrying in the first speaker had just entered the door and lifted up the speaker carried in by Keitsu just as Regina said. He lifted it with a grunt and held it with a sigh.

Maybe someday, he thought, as he carried the speaker down the hallway, she'll learn that my name is Brent...

----

The concert that night was impossible to explain in words. The young evening outside had dimmed to an aged night as not a soul in the building cared. All eyes and attentions were firmly on Rhapsody, who had succeeded in delivering a wild show rife with excitement, passion, and love for everything involved. Even as the notes of the band's final song were ringing in the crowd's ears, they cried for more. Even as the final encore drew to a close, they needed more. But though the night had been active and enjoyable, it had to slowly draw to a close as the hundreds upon thousands of pleased and still-raucous fans filed out of the building.

All but one.

Still humming a choice song played that night, Keitsu made her way against the flow of the crowd, past the stage that had once held the band, and toward a lone security guard standing between her and the backstage room she was destined for. She paused in front of the bespectacled man with short, brown hair holding a clipboard, and paused to fish the paper given to her by Regina out of her pocket. She plucked it free and handed it to the guard staring her down. "I give you this," she said, pausing to lean forward and read the name off of the guard's nametag, "...Zetto." Taking the paper from Keitsu and eyeing it suspiciously, he looked back to her.

"It's Zach," he muttered, "and hang on." Zach adjusted his glasses and skimmed through some of the papers on his clipboard. He found one which had been signed by Regina beforehand and placed Keitsu's pass next to it, comparing the two side-by-side, to see that the signatures and handwritings of both papers were identical in every way. He put his clipboard to the side and handed the paper back to Keitsu, now smiling at her. "It checks out, so you can head back."

Keitsu didn't leave immediately; instead, she continued to smile at the guard. "One of my friends is named..." Keitsu paused, trying to word out the pronunciation in her head. Failing, she returned to speaking, "...that name. I call him Zetto. It is much easier for me to say. Are you familiar with him, perhaps?"

Zach smirked. "I'm pretty sure he wasn't named after me or anything," he said, rolling his eyes and waving her back. This time, Keitsu eagerly skipped past him and made her way to the door leading her into the band's personal room. She paused, placed her hand on the doorknob, and after thinking to herself, removed it and knocked on the door instead.

"It's open," a voice called out, a voice Keitsu recognized as Regina's. With her consent, Keitsu opened the door and walked into the band's backstage room.

The walls were made of simple brick, the only decorations on the walls being various posters scattered about the room of bands and events that had been held there previously. Keitsu noticed that, continuing the tradition, there was now a poster on the wall advertising the band Rhapsody. Her eyes were drawn to a large green couch sitting against one of the walls, with rips and patches in the fabric but otherwise looking very comfortable, having been in the same room for so many years and being used as a resting spot for so many musical legends, one of which was currently taking up the couch for herself. Regina swung her feet to the ground and stood up when Keitsu opened the door and smiled. "Good to see you made it, Kate!" Regina said, walking toward Keitsu to greet her. Keitsu allowed her eyes to scan about the room fully for the first time; a second look taught her that D was sitting in a corner at her keyboard while Kanasta was perched on the arm of the couch, dangling her sandals off her toes. Keitsu's eyes only lingered on Kanasta for a second before turning to Regina again. "So, I'm pretty sure, as a fan, you know who we all are?"

"Hai!" she said, nodding and pointing to D. "She is called D," she confirmed. At the mention of her name, D looked up at the girl and paused.

"Hi," she said quietly, before going back to her keyboard.

Keitsu then pointed to Kanasta. "and she is named..." Keitsu paused, working through the name in her head before coming to a pronunciation, "Kanasuta." Smiling a bit, Kanasta waved.

"Hello again," she said, with a slight laugh.

"Awesome!" Regina laughed, clapping her hands together. Keitsu looked about again silently for a moment, taking everything in at once.

"Sugoi...it feels weird..." she muttered, mostly to herself, thought Regina heard her anyway, as evidenced by her laughter.

"Come on, then, make yourself feel a little more comfortable!" Regina took Keitsu by the hand and guided her over to the couch where she originally lay, as Kanasta was standing herself. When the two were standing at the couch, Regina gestured for Keitsu to lay on the now empty couch. "Go on, just sit back and relax right here."

Keitsu's mind was spinning a bit and she could only allow herself to be guided onto the couch, laying with her arms against one end and her feet resting at the other. Regina nodded quietly and lifted up Keitsu's legs to sit down where her feet were resting, with no resistance from the seemingly-dazed fangirl. And if Keitsu didn't notice Regina sitting her feet on her legs, she only barely noticed one of Regina's legs stretching over Keitsu's and holding her ankles down.

Of course, once D made her way behind Keitsu's head and started holding her arms back, then even Keitsu had to realize something was up.

"Ahh! N-Nani?!" Keitsu yelped, struggling against both Regina and D. But Regina's legs were too strong and D had her arms hooked in a way that made struggling useless. As if that wasn't enough, Kanasta then walked up to Keitsu's midsection and sat herself down on her waist, thus making movement literally impossible. Once Kanasta found a comfortable, non-painful place to sit, Regina started to slip Keitsu's shoes off her feet.

"Now now, Kate, don't bother yelling. The only other people around anymore are the guards, and we specifically told them we'd be having some fun in our room before leaving. And we'll start having fun right when we get these shoes off, won't we? We want our biggest fan to be comfortable, don't we?"

When Keitsu's shoes fell to the floor with a startlingly loud set of thuds, she yelped in fear and tried to pull any part of her body away to gain some form of leverage against the three girls ganging up on her. Again, it was a useless effort, made even more useless with Kanasta's weight pressing her to the couch. D strengthened her grip on Keitsu's arms, Kanasta adjusted herself to face her victim, and Regina was busy looking over Keitsu's size 9 feet, covered only by her fishnet stockings, letting her red toenails shine through.

"What excellent feet you have, Keitsu," Regina complimented softly, with a slight gleam in her eye. "But I don't know about these stockings here. Forgive me for doing this, but hey, maybe you can think of these as a souvinere from tonight, huh?" Regina slid her fingers between the material of Keitsu's stockings and the soles of her bare feet, and with a swift, strong tug, one of Keitsu's feet were swiftly and cleanly bared, as the snapped bits of her stockings hung limply at her ankles. Another swipe and tug brought the other to the same fate, both falling uselessly to the floor as nothing more rested between Keitsu's soles and Regina's fingertips. Keitsu's toes began to curl and spread reflexivly, and Keitsu closed her eyes in preparation.

"I-Iie..." she muttered through gritted teeth.

"I don't know what that means," Regina said with an almost sinister grin, "so let's get started!"

Since Regina's legs were holding Keitsu's ankles in place, both of her hands were free to tickle Keitsu's feet, but Regina chose to test the waters by sliding the fingertips of one hand down each sole, slowly and gently. As if on cue, Kanasta began stroking her fingers up and down Keitsu's sides, dragging her nails across Keitsu's shirt and tickling through it to the skin underneath. Though calm and measured, this methodical assault on her sides and feet had already begun to take a toll on Keitsu's ticklish body, and in her surprise, her eyes opened suddenly and she already began to laugh.

"Looks like our little sneakster made the mistake of being ticklish, didn't she?" Regina taunted as she began to scratch her fingernails rapidly up Keitsu's wide soles, making the tickled victim's laughter increase in pitch each time she began to scratch at her soles. Kanasta continued to focus her fingernails on various spots, scratching and tickling with each hand in one spot for a few seconds and then moving on to a new spot at random, changing up her assault and earning a new batch of laughter each time in the process. As Regina's nails moved upward Keitsu's feet, her toes curled firmly in a futile attempt to slow down the torture, which only served to incite the evil tickler inside Regina.

"Are Katie's toes gonna need some special tickle time, are they?" Regina cooed in a voice one would use for a child, poking at Keitsu's toes and tickling them individually until Keitsu's sudden yelps of laughter caused her toe spead her toes once more. When she finally did, it only invited Regina's fingers in between the stalks of her toes, driving Keitsu up the wall with tickled laughter.

"Ahaaahahahahahaa! R-Reginaaahahaaha!" Keitsu attempted to plead through her laughter, but Kanasta's pokes to her exposed underarms replaced anything after that with more laughter.

"Yes, that's the name of the girl torturing your ticklish feet, exactly!" Regina began to giggle herself as she brought her other hand into the action, using each hand to tickle a seperate foot, giving Keitsu no respite from her tickling torture. Between Regina's focus on her feet, Kanasta teasing her exposed sides and armpits, and D helping to render her completely immobile, Keitsu began to realize something.

She no longer had any control.

What little movement she had previously been allowed had now been restricted by all three girls holding her tight to the couch, rendering Keitsu completely immobile. Kanasta managed to sit herself in such a spot that restricted both her legs and upperbody, thus almost restraining Keitsu on the level that four girls would instead of three. If Keitsu's upperbody twitched or moved, Kanasta's hands would dart somewhere else to compensate. If her feet wiggled about, Regina would either hold them still with one hand and tickle with the other or simply move her hands in tune with Keitsu's feet. She could do absolutely nothing. All she could do was laugh.

And, wrenching her eyes shut as tears began to form, she did exactly that. Her mouth opened as wide as it could and she attempted to force out as much laughter as loud as she could. Her tears slowly rolled down her cheeks as her laughter became more rapid-fire and violent. Her earrings shook in tune with her head as it whipped from side to side, her hair matted with sweat from the wasted exertion in her struggles. Her soft soles were teased by constant ticklish senstations, sending jolts of ticklish energy up her legs, which escaped from her mouth in the form of laughter. With nothing left for her body to attempt, her only option was to laugh louder and harder.

Regina was having the time of her life stroking her fingers across Keitsu's soles and seeing what ticking methods delivered which reactions. Stroking from left to right, scratching up and down, spidering her fingers across the soles, and everything in between all managed to earn new and interesting reactions from Keitsu. And yet, as new and exciting they were, there was also a slight feeling of familiarity. Thought she had never tickled Keitsu's feet before, the size of them as well as the soft, light skin of the soles of her feet brought to mind a familiar pair of ticklish feet, a pair of tanned size 9s with soft, sensitive soles and light skin, skin that she teased and loved night after night in private. It was new, interesting, exciting, and yet gave Regina a warm feeling inside, a familiar feeling that brought joy and love to her heart. She placed a hand underneath one of Keitsu's ankles, lifted her foot up, and began to suck on Keitsu's big toe.

Having one of her toes sucked on was an entirely new experience for Keitsu, and one that brought on a suitably new reaction; the pitch and scale of her laughter increased exponentionally when Regina's tongue met her toe, and when her lips began to kiss and caress them, her laughter turned from frantic, tortured screams to uncontrollable, girlish giggles. Regina was using both of her hands to support Keitsu's foot to her mouth, which allowed the girl a moment of peace aside from Kanasta gently tickling and poking at her sides, which earned all-too-adorable squeals of surprise and, one could easily tell, pleasure.

It was difficult to tell who was more lost in the sensations, Regina or Keitsu. Regina had moved on to suck on and lick each of Keitsu's toes in turn, while Keitsu was reduced to little more than a giggling, babbling wreck, now suddenly having her toes licked at playfully and almost amorously after such a torture session. The attention Regina was paying to Keitsu's toes was nothing short of euphoric, and whenever her tongue would dart out and slide underneath Keitsu's toes, she would let out a sudden squeal that dissolved into laughter and giggles for the next few seconds. Regina used this to her devilish advantage, waiting until Keitsu was as relaxed as she could be from the toe attention only to have Regina's ticklish tongue poking about between the toes that had previously spread in relaxation, making an inviting target for her tongue in the first place. Coos begat squeals, became laughter and giggles, before returning to little more than pleased murmurs.

Keitsu had long since given up on talking. Her begs fell on deaf ears when she could spit them out between hysteric laughter. And now, even when given the chance to relax and finally say something that could be heard...she had nothing to say. She didn't want to say anything anymore. She had no more pleas, no more begs for mercy. All she wanted was Regina's tongue and mouth exploring her toes. Even if she could move a minor inch, she wouldn't have. The only movement from her was to position her feet in ways that would allow Regina to hold and suckle them lovingly.

And all of a sudden, it ended all too soon. Regina slid Keitsu's toes out of her mouth and shifted her legs to set her ankles free. After giving a long, slow lick up each of Keitsu's soles, dragging out long, extended giggles and moans, she put Keitsu's feet down on the couch and stood back up. Kanasta had already stood up long ago, and D had already moved back to her keyboard. How long ago they had let Keitsu go, she was unsure. However, even though she was free, she couldn't move an inch. Even after taking a few breaths, only one word could find its way out of her throat.

"M...M...More..."

"More...?" Regina kneeled down beside Keitsu's head and wrapped her arms around her neck. "No, no, darling. Keep in mind, we've only just met." Regina smiled warmly and leaned in, placing a gentle kiss on her forehead, causing Keitsu to coo again in delight. When Keitsu opened her eyes again, she saw Regina smiling at her; not evilly or cheekily, but lovingly.

"We have to save the more wild stuff for when we get to know each other better."

Keitsu giggled again and wrapped her arms around Regina's shoulders, burying her face in her shirt and smiling idiotically. Regina patted her on the back gently and moved her arms to her back and around her waist in order to lift her up off the couch. "Alright, babe, how about we get you home for the night? I think you've paid quite enough for your ticket, hm?"



----

Outside, the night was silent. The neighborhood was darkened save for lights lining the streets, and no sounds traveled the air but for the chirping of crickets.

A pair of headlights emerged from the mist of the wee hours of morning, rapidly closing in on their destination.

The soft but constant purring of the engine filled the air as the Rhapsody van parked itself on the side of the road in front of Keitsu's home.

"Still need me to carry you?"

"No..."

"Do you want me to carry you?"

"Yes..."

Regina smiled.

"Okay."

With a set of slides and slams, the van doors opened. Kanasta and D came out on their own, but Regina took a minute to balance Keitsu in her arms as she hopped out of the van and looked up to the house they parked at.

"Is this the place?"

"Mhm."

"Alright, let's get you inside so you can get to sleep. Kanasta, you have her shoes, right?"

"Right here."

"Cool."

Two pairs of boots and a pair of sandals walked through the grass, onto the porch leading up to the door. Since her hands were free and D was bringing up the rear, Kanasta knocked.

After a moment of silence, the door opened. Behind it was a very tall, lanky, shirtless man. His blonde hair hung down past his neck, and he stared at the group behind red-tinted glasses. His chin harbored a small goatee, with a pair of khaki pants ripped at the ankle being his only visible piece of clothing on him.

All three girls paused. They weren't sure what to say.

"Greetings," he said, quietly.

The three responded with more silence. Regina was at a loss for how to greet him, or even who he was. This, she thought, is awkward and weird.

"Who's at the door, Mitch?" came a female voice from the room behind the man. He was joined by a woman who was just as tall as him, if not taller, with very dark skin. She, too, wore glasses, though her's looked to actually be meant to improve her sight. She had long, black hair, and a simple white t-shirt and pajama pants completed her outfit. Her eyes scanned from Kanasta, back to D, over to Regina, and then to the crumpled mess in Regina's arms that, at one point, was Keitsu.

"Uh oh." Jasmine sighed. She stepped forward and held out her arms, and Regina swapped Keitsu over to her. She took a deep breath and began to speak again.

"Hello, my name is Jasmine Agrata, and this, as you may or may not know, is Keitsu Chintetsuda. I can anticipate that she has done something stupid and slash or dangerous and has possibly costed you a decent amount of money. If you would like to inform me exactly the amount of damage caused..." she continued to drone on and on in a clearly prepared speech. Regina had to hold up her hand to interrupt her, which she didn't seem to expect.

"Uh, n-no, she's okay. No damage was caused and we all had a perfectly good time. Actually, I have to admit, it's our fault she's like this."

"Yours," said D.

"Mine," clarified Regina.

"Oh," Jasmine said, "I'm used to Kate wandering out and causing trouble, so I had that speech prepared for when something like this happens. Would you like to come in?"

Regina looked back to Kanasta and D, and turned around again, smiling. "You know, I think we will."

----

"...and that's how we ended up on your doorstep."

Jasmine shook her head silently. "I cannot believe it. I cannot believe it. I told her not to go there without a ticket, and not only does she get to see the show, but she spends the night backstage being tickled senseless by the band themselves!"

Jasmine and Regina were sitting together on the couch. Mitch was lounging in the corner, and Kanasta and D were sitting on the floor in front of the couch. All of their footwear had been left at the door. Regina and Kanasta were barefoot, and D was in her black and red stockings. Regina had already walked Keitsu into her room and put her to bed, and was now speaking to Jasmine in the living room with her bandmates.

"Well, it seemed like the most interesting idea I could think of. It never occured to me that she was into it!"

"Well, it's not so much a bad thing that you did. I'm just in such disbelief as to her luck! Of all the bands to sneak into, she sneaks into the one that'd punish you with little more than tickling."

"Actually," Regina said, holding her knees to her chest, "if it was anyone else, I think I would've turned them away. But I had to respect her excitement and devotion, and..."

Jasmine raised an eyebrow. "And? You trailed off?"

"Well...the more I looked at her, the more I really wanted to tickle her. She just...seemed like the type."

"The type?"

"Well, to not only be ticklish, but to possibly enjoy it."

Jasmine leaned back and smiled.

"Well, you certainly have an eye for that kind of thing. I only know a couple people that like being tickled as much as her, and most of them live in this household."

"Really?" Regina shifted herself to look at Jasmine.

"Yeah, pretty much," Jasmine nodded. "I'll tell you this much, I think you'd be right at home here."

Regina paused, and tapped her chin with her finger. After looking around the living room, she turned back to Jasmine. "Right at home, you say?"

"Pretty much. You'd have plenty of people to talk to and mess around with."

"And this is a pretty big place, huh?"

"It has to be, since five people live here."

Regina turned around again and looked at Kanasta and D. She didn't say a word, just rose one eyebrow. Kanasta rolled her eyes, but she smiled, and nodded back. D shrugged. Regina nodded again and turned back to Jasmine. "Do you think you'd mind if we wanted to take you up on that?"

"Hm?"

"I mean letting us crash here for a bit. Even though we're a rock band, we can keep the volume down, and if it comes to rent, we'll be happy to pay anything you ask. So what do you say?"

Jasmine looked at Regina, mulling everything over in her head. She thought about what Regina put Keitsu through, the conversation she had just had, and the mental image of Regina holding a half-asleep, half-broken Keitsu in her arms. Then she sighed, but smiled at Regina as well.

"You don't have to worry about noise, none of us will care. And because of what you told me, and because you're a famous rock group and all, I don't think we'll have to worry about rent. You're welcome to stay as long as you like."

"Excellent!" Regina leaned forward to high-five both Kanasta and D.

"My bedroom is the biggest," Jasmine continued. "If any of you are comfortable sleeping with each other, you two can take mine. I'll probably sleep out here somewhere. Whoever isn't sleeping in my room might be able to take the couch if they're alright with it."

Regina and Kanasta both looked to D. D's eyes shifted between them both.

"Alright," she said simply.

"Okay," Regina said, "Kannie and I will take the offer on your room and D doesn't mind the couch here. What about you, Jasmine?"

"If I can't sleep on the floor out here, I'll find somewhere else to sleep, don't worry."

"And what about...um...?" Regina craned her head over to look to where Mitch was sitting previously. When she fell silent, she heard a quiet snore, followed by silence.

"Yeah," Jasmine said, "he's fine."

"We should probably get some sleep," Kanasta said, "it's been a bit of a long night."

"Yeah, I'm feeling pretty tired myself. Let's call it a night and get used to these new sleeping conditons. And thanks again, Jasmine, for letting us all stay here. You won't regret it."

"No problem. I'll take you on a tour and introduce you around tomorrow. My room's down the hall to your right. It's the one with the largest bed, you can't miss it."

"Thanks, Jasmine." Regina leapt up and walked down to the hallway leading to all the rooms, Kanasta following close behind. "Night, everyone!"

"Night, you guys." Jasmine responded

"Night," D muttered.

Jasmine walked to the closet by the TV and pulled out a couple of spare blankets and a couple sets of pillows. She took a set of each and walked them over to D. "Here you are...D, right? I hope these will be enough."

"They're fine."

"Alright." Jasmine walked back over to the floor where she was setting her place to sleep up. After setting up her pillows and getting ready to crawl under her blanket, she looked over to D, who had already stretched out, resting her head on the pillow and hanging her stockinged feet over the edge of the couch. Jasmine paused and sat up again. "Hey, D...just as a warning question...how open are you to having people mess around with your feet and stuff?"

D paused and stared at Jasmine. "I don't like being tickled," she said flatly. Jasmine paused for a moment, and nodded.

"Alright, here." She stood up and walked over to the couch, and adjusted D's blanket so it covered her feet as well. "There you are. Just to make sure you don't wake up and notice your socks are missing." She smiled a bit, but D simply closed her eyes and began to fall asleep. Jasmine wandered back to where she set up her bed for the night. But before laying down, she paused. She looked back over to D, sleeping soundly on the couch. And after looking at the floor a bit, she moved her pillows and blanket a little bit closer to the couch where D was sleeping, curled up under her blanket, and fell asleep.

----

"..."

"...hey, Gigi?"

"...yeah, Kannie?"

"What do you think about Keitsu?"

"...I think she looks like a lot of fun. Really excitable and wild, but fun to tickle senseless...kinda like someone else I know."

"...Heheh."

"What about you?'

"I like her. I think she's sweet."

"...Is that all?"

"...Well...something kinda sets me off..."

"What...?"

"...It's...it's the way she..."

"The way she...?"

"...pronounces my name."

"...what."

"It...she pronounces it weird."

"She's Japanese. She's gonna have trouble with it."

"Yeah, but the way she says it...she pronounces it kinda like 'Kama Sutra'."

"..."

"..."

"...Phhhahahahahaha!"

"What?!"

"Ahahahahahaa!!"

"Stop laughing!!"

"O-Okay, okay, I'm sorry, really, I am."

"..."

"Kannie, just go to sleep."

"Fine...night, Gigi."

"Night Kama."

"REGINA!!"

"I'm sleeping snore~"