The radiant chandelier that hung the elaborately decorated hall demanded her complete attention from the moment she entered the building, the lights reflected in its crystals so fixating that she was completely surprised when she heard her name said from somewhere below her. Looking down, she came face to face with a familiar and bashful looking youth who, whilst kneeling, had extended a gloved hand towards her. Suddenly remembering where she was, the girl deigns to extend a delicate hand onto the boy’s outstretched palm.
He stands, beaming, and leans over to kiss her hand. A gentle sensation washes over her as his lips draw away from her skin, and he takes her other hand into his. As he pulls her closer towards him, the first note of the piece reverberates around the hall, and all the partnered men in the hall take the first step forward, including the one whom she was shackled to by the hand. Unprepared, she stumbled back a pace, but the boy used his firm hands to steady her and took an arm around her waist. Blushing both due to her clumsiness as well as the intimacy of the action, she takes her next step to the side, as the boy steps in such a way that sets her up for a pirouette.
 
As she is spun, the hall seems to swirl before her eyes in a cacophony of light and sound, and when she returns to the grip of her partner she feels as if she wants to pause to regain her breath. However, she gained no such respite. The tempo began to build in intensity and the floor became a flurry of increasingly disorganized bodies. She became nearly incapable of keeping up with the ever quickening steps and movements of her partner and in the exhilarating rush was nearly carried by him instead of matching his footwork. And as the rapid arm and footwork continued to speed up she could feel the boy’s grip loosening, and eventually slip…
 
--
“Hisao.”
 
The girl sat bolt upright in the bed, whilst the boy she danced with who was attempting a peaceful night’s sleep stirred beside her.
 
“Rin it must be 3am in the morning,” Hisao murmured to her, deciding not to get up. “Can’t it wait until tomorrow morning?”
 
“Get up for just a moment,” Rin told him abruptly, taking absolutely no heed of his very obvious desire to go back to sleep. Hisao knew better than to struggle against her when she had one of her ideas, so he wearily pulled himself out of the bed and stood next to Rin.
 
“Can you kneel down for a moment, Hisao?”
 
Hisao didn’t bother arguing and knelt down in front of her, his curiosity overriding his dignity at this point. They must have looked like an interesting pair, Hisao wearing nothing but his checked boxers kneeling before Rin with naught on her but an open shirt and panties.
 
“Take my hand, Hisao.”
 
“Excuse me?” Hisao replied, wondering if he misheard.
 
“Oh, I’m sorry,” Rin replied. “I forgot my manners. Please take my hand, sir.”
 
Hisao stood and laid a hand on Rin’s small shoulder, then looking into her eyes ask her; “What are you doing?”
 
“What does it look like, Hisao?” She asked him whilst tilting her head quizzically, “I’m obviously trying to dance.”
 
“And how do you think you’re going to manage that, if you don’t mind me asking?” Hisao said, with a slightly more irritated tone than he was attempting to express. “You don’t have arms.”
 
“Oh, really?” Rin raised her stumps up and then let them down in a rather exaggerated fashion. “Well, I was hoping you would lead anyways.”
 
“Rin, I haven’t danced since I went with Iwa-… Since a very long time ago,” Hisao said. “And even if I was a champion ball room dancer, I really don’t think it’s possible.”
 
“Dancing is all about the footwork, don’t you know?”
 
“You’ve danced, Rin?”
 
“I've seen that movie with the penguins.”
 
“I still really don’t see how we’re going to do this, Rin-”
 
“Fine, let me take lead,” Rin said quickly, and stepped into Hisao who barely had enough time to move his foot backward.
 
Picking up on her intentions, he takes a step to the side and then turns and moves close to her.
“I really don’t think we should do the next part!”
 
“Spin for me, Hisao!”
 
On her prompt and rough kick to the buttocks, Hisao turns and attempts some sort of acrobatic fucking pirouette around Rin, but ends up tripping in the middle of the move and ends up face down on the floor.
 
“You messed up the footwork on the last quarter-turn, Hisao, everyone knows that the last quarter is key to completing le pirouette à la seconde,” Rin said whilst standing above him. “How long has it been since your last practice?”
 
Hisao’s muffled reply seemed something that sounded suspiciously close to a crude saying ending with “off, Rin”.