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Lee pulled up to the front of a restaurant in the middle of the city with Sakura on the back of his motorcycle. She carefully got off, removed her helmet, quickly fixed her hair, and then handed the helmet to Lee.

Sakura turned around and began to walk towards the entrance of the restaurant, but she stopped as she felt a soft, warm hand on her shoulder and a caring voice say, “Hold on.” She turned around and looked up into Lee’s bright green eyes as he spoke lovingly, gently reaching out and brushing her hand with his fingertips.

“Look… I’m not sure if I should believe the fact that you love Rune… but, I’ll accept your decision. The only reason I don’t trust him is because I care about you.” Lee paused briefly, took a deep breath, and then continued, “Please, Sakura. At least be careful.” Letting go of her hands, Lee turned to walk to his motorcycle; he was stopped short at the curb by a pair of arms wrapping around his waist as he felt someone’s head gently lay against his back. He heard Sakura softly whisper, “I’ll be careful. I promise.”

They stood there like that for a few seconds, minutes, or perhaps hours before Sakura let go of his waist and let Lee go on his way. She stood there staring at the corner where Lee turned, hoping for him to turn around and take her back to the hotel. She pictured him whipping back around the corner, braking right in front of her, tossing her the passenger helmet, and telling her to get on…

“Sakura?” said a voice. Sakura snapped back to reality and turned to face Rune, who was standing next to her. He was wearing dark blue dress pants, a white dress shirt, and black dress shoes. “You okay? You seemed… distracted,” Rune asked.

Sakura gently shook her head from side to side, smiled sweetly, and responded, “I’m sorry, no, it's my fault. I thought you’d pull up in front so I waited for you to come around the corner. I was daydreaming while I waited - sorry to worry you.”

Rune gave a sweet smile and replied, "well, don't drift too far. We'll miss our dinner reservation." He offered his arm, allowing her to feel the silky-aged folds of his careworn jacket. As they strode to the entrance of the restaurant, Rune leaned close enough for Sakura to feel his breath on her ear as he whispered conspiratorily, "besides, you looked so innocent and beautiful, standing back there. Wish I'd had my camera."

Sakura blushed warmly and smiled once more, feeling any anxiety she’d felt about the night melt away as she watched her date confidently acquire their table. How could Lee have imagined something could go wrong with a gentleman like Rune escorting her?

Lee sat miserably at the bar of the club he had chosen that night, Le Rouche Marquet, drinking a mixture of vodka and Coca-Cola. As he sat there, a scantily-clad girl slinked up and took the barstool next to him; she had smooth naturally-tanned skin, mahogany-chestnut hair, hazel eyes, and a body that made men from age eighteen to a hundred-eighteen all follow her strides across a room with their roaming eyes and lewd thoughts.

“Hello there, handsome,” she purred to him, eyeing his half-empty glass and moving her hand so that her fingertips grazed the edge. “Need a refill?”

“Nah, I’m good.” He shrugged a bit, lowering his head just slightly as he turned and eyed her, shaking his hair out of his eyes. “How’re you, Serafina?”

The hooker shrugged her dainty shoulder. “Not bad. Business is good – it’s tourist season, and we always get lots of new eye-ballers in our little menagerie of fun.”

Both Lee and Serafina laughed at her joke, Lee just a tad louder due to the excessive amount of alcohol he’d consumed in the last hour in a pathetic attempt to drown his guilt. He had felt so horrible about what had happened and wanted to apologize to Sakura.

Sakura… just her name made him tingle all over, scaring and mesmerizing him equally. Her entire being, exterior and intertior, enticed him in a way no one else did. Even though Lee was talking to this wonderful distraction, his mind was on Sakura and wouldn’t let go of her. The few moments that they had in front of the restaurant made Lee feel happier than he had been since they’d arrived in Brazil. The image of what it must have looked like as she was picked up by that sleaze-ball of a friend he claimed to have made his blood boil… instantly, he felt like he needed a release. Something to take his mind off the two lovebirds and their fun. He slammed his mug down on the bar, instigating a jump from Serafina, and turned unsteadily to stare at her.

“Hey, ‘Fina,” he began, his words slightly slurred, despite his best efforts to keep them steady and macho-sounding. “What say you ‘n’ I go right on upstairs and – woah-!” As he leaned closer to her, he slipped from his stool, falling to the floor in a disheveled and disoriented thud.

Serafina gasped and flew to his side, helping him to his feet as the bar laughed at his mistake and Lee tried to make their laughing faces stop spinning. “Are you okay, angel?” She inquired, bracing him against her as he regained what little balance he had left. He turned to face her, pinning her to the bar and putting his arms on either side of her, effectively cornering her, and rubbed against her, whispering his hot beer-covered words into her ear, “Let’s go upstairs. Now. I need some… attention. Care to give me the usual?”

He felt her ease up as she realized he was not going to harm her, and immediately turned on her business/sex-life face, rubbing one hand against his cheek and let the other roam up the back of his disgruntled shirt. She growled, “You sure you can handle me? I mean… you’re not at the top of your game. I don’t want to….” Her tongue grazed his ear as she finished, “…make it anything less than an enjoyable night for you.”

Lee shuddered, pleased at the physical contact, and whispered back, “Then I’ll pay you what’s fair… in the morning. I’m a man of my word.” He turned and slid his hand firmly into her back denim-skirt pocket, pushing her with him as he staggered to the familiar stairwell in the back, hearing her giggle and the other men groan that the best girl in the bar was “in use”.

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After dinner, Sakura and Rune strode into the lobby of their hotel. Sakura had begun to feel a bit uneasy with Rune’s hand on her hip. Sakura assumed that it was something that was being caused by the wine he drank during dinner.

As they went up the stairs, Sakura began to think about the moments she held Lee in her arms… even when he wasn’t returning the hug, she still felt safe with him close by. These thoughts kept her away from the strangeness that was Rune, who had begun to sway as he walked, rather worrying her and making her wish she’d never agreed to the date in the first place.

Upon reaching her bedroom door, Sakura pulled out the key from inside her purse since Nyoko, Rahatani, and Lee were all out. Rune walked in with her and, before she could say good-night and feign sleepiness, asked, “Can I use your bathroom?”

Sakura nodded, gesturing to the bathroom with a wave of her hand. As Rune went into the bathroom, she sat on her bed thinking on different ways to let Rune down without hurting him too much.

About 20 minutes later, Rune still had not emerged from the bathroom. Rather freaked out at the thought that something had happened, Sakura got up and went to knock on the bathroom door. When he didn’t respond after the first knock, Sakura knocked again and asked, “Rune? Are you alright?” The door finally opened, but something was definitely wrong.

Rune’s eyes were bloodshot, his skin seemed to have a red tint, and his breath smelled strongly of alcohol. He drank some wine at the restaurant, but not enough to have made him seem like this. Sakura’s eyes glanced at the bathroom floor and horrified her as she saw an empty whiskey flask.

He’s been drinking, Sakura thought to herself as Rune took a step towards her. He then took another step towards her and she stepped backwards. Rune then spoke with a slur, “Sakura…. I love you. I always have.” He continued to advance and Sakura continued to move away. “I’ve always wanted to touch you. To feel you. To make love to you… you’re so beautiful… and tonight, I’ll get what I want.”

Rune gripped her wrists, dragging her across the room. He then threw her onto the bed, and climbed on top of her. Rune placed his lips on Sakura’s and began to grab every part of her body, his breath coming short and ragged as he breathed the whiskey’s stench into her, making her feel horribly sick and inducing the sensation of her skin crawling. Sakura began to struggle and push him off, but she stopped when she felt a stinging on her cheek and her head jerked violently to one side.

He had slapped her.

Rune spoke with his drunken slur, “I’ve wanted this for a while now and nothing’s gonna stop me. So don’t fight it.” His hands continued to roam as he found the edges of her clothes, renewing his assaults on her as she tried to scream at the top of her lungs, but nothing came out of her.

No one had slapped her. Ever. The realization that he had stung Sakura so hard that tears began welling her eyes.

She wanted to call out to someone, anyone, but was still speechless. Her thought then began to race. He’s going to do it… and I can’t do anything about it, she thought as she felt Run grab her shirt.