Ran and Kazuha try out pole dancing. Chaos and a crush ensues.

Ran x Kazuha

Warnings: grammar mistakes

Also there's a brief discussion about domestic violence. Nothing happened, just an accusation. But I thought I might warn anyway. It happens in the passage where Ran and Sonoko see each other.
Be careful.
And light angst here and there, the rest is more humorous. I think.

•••

Ran chugged her tea into her mouth and swallowed harshly, before putting her cup back on the table. Her fingers were still gripping the handle, so tightly that the bones on her hand turned white.

But she didn't pay any attention to that, she was more trying to process the proposal her friend Kazuha had made. She must've misheard it. Yeah, that made sense. There was no way Kazuha had asked Ran that.

"Pardon, would you maybe repeat what you just said?"

Kazuha let out a sigh, almost shifting uncomfortably in her chair. Luckily for them, the café the friends are currently sitting in, wasn't crowded at the moment and the seats next to them were empty.

Still, Kazuha nervously looked around her, before learning towards Ran and whispered: "I wanted to try out pole dancing, but I also don't want to attend the course alone."

So Ran hadn't misheard it at all, Kazuha had really said it.

"Pole dance?", she repeated. "How did you come up with pole dance?"

"Please don't tell me you're one of those people who sexualise pole dance."

"Kazuha, anything but that!" Ran quickly retorted. Oh, she really needed to make clear that she was just surprised, nothing more. After all, it wasn't a common suggestion.

Kazuha's face had the uncomfortable expression again, as she continued: "I saw this film on the TV and the whole premise looked so fascinating! So I started my research and found a place where you can actually learn how to pole dance!"

Ran noticed the sudden shift in her friend's demeanour, suddenly excited and giddy, like a child who had gotten some sweets.

"Of course, I won't force you, especially if you're feeling uncomfortable with pole dancing. But I assure you it's much more than everyone makes it be."

"Let me think about it. A night is enough, I might give some serious thought. But I hope it's not expensive."

"Yeah, about that..." Kazuha smiled, but Ran could tell that it wasn't a real one. "We'll get the first two months free but after that, we need to pay about 5000 yen for each month."

"Five thousand yen?!", Ran yelled, getting reactions from the other guests and the barista, who looked rather concerned at them. Ran waved apologetically to the round and brought her attention back to her companion, who now gave her a worried look.

"Kazuha, this is too much", she continued then. How am I supposed to pay this amount every month? And I don't think I can ask my father if he could lend me some money."

It wasn't like Ran struggled with money- the rent for her flat wasn't expensive, she rarely ordered takeout food, preferring to cook her meals and prepare her snacks in her small and comfortable kitchen and she always made sure to update her book, where she would make notes about her monthly expenses. There was always enough money left for her to buy material for school or new clothes, but such a huge amount for the training sessions?

"I mean, does he even need to know what you need the money for?", Kazuha asked with one raised eyebrow, before she took a sip of her tea. Her other hand was placed at her jaw and she slightly pouted, making her look adorable.

"Probably not, but I hate lying", Ran insisted. She'd rather put the effort to go through a drama when she needed to convince him instead of lying and having bad feelings about it.

"Yeah, that could make sense." Kazuha nodded slowly, before straightening up. "But as I said, I don't want you to do something you're uncomfortable with. So don't worry about me talking you into this, at least let me tell you about the experiences then, when I attended the sessions on my own."

"Kazuha, I could still try that free months thing though. And I think during that, you'll probably gain more confidence and don't need my assistance when I'm not around anymore."

Kazuha made a thoughtful face. "Yes, that could actually work. If that's alright for you though."

"Sure, sure", Ran nodded. "How hard can it be?"

°°°

Pole dance was actually very, very hard. And Ran was totally ready to admit that the people, wo did this for a living, deserved a huge amount of respect.

When she and Kazuha entered the hall, Ran didn't know what to expect from the lesson first and became a bit nervous. Since she had never used a pole until today, what if the other people immediately noticed how inexperienced she was and would laugh at her for being clumsy?

Or what if they looked at her with a judging expression because her outfit was too short? She only wore a sleeveless crop top and shorts and while Kazuha also wore the same amount of clothes, it still left her with worry.

But she realised she was overthinking it, as Ran inspected the other participants and saw that they pretty much wore similar clothes. Even the three guys had a rather revealing attire.

"All right!" Their instructor clapped with her hands, gaining everyone's attention. It was a rather tall woman with a muscular body. She had dark hair, tied into a ponytail and brown eyes, which inspected all the participants. The outfit consisted of leggings and a white shirt, Ran could see the black sports bra underneath the shirt. She smiled at them and looked generally nice, but Ran got the feeling that she could be very strict if she wanted to.

Their instructor introduced herself as Rei Fujiwara and insisted that everyone should just address her by her given name, and after Kazuha, Ran and a third newcomer with the name of Kiyoko also quickly introduced themselves, the practice began.

What looked easy on films, TV shows and probably also strip clubs, was a hard work. As soon as Rei said that the three newbies should firstly make themselves comfortable with the pole, while she explained the other participants today's program, Ran tried to make a move like she saw it on the media.

One leg was wrapped around the pole, her arm above her head, also hugging the bar, but when she tried to lift herself up and make herself moving around the pole, she realised it.

Ran was moving exactly zero centimetres, her arm slowly started to hurt, as she tried to repeat it for a few times. Her skin started to sweat, faintly glistening on her arms and face and even though she had the possibly needed stamina to not break down after a few moments, Ran still panted lightly.

At least Ran wasn't the only one making a fool out of herself. She looked how Kazuha was doing and sighed when she saw how her friend was also struggling, as well as the third newcomer Kiyoko. The latter puffed her cheeks in annoyance, while trying to hug the pole with her whole body.

Eventually, Rei noticed their almost pathetic attempts to compete with the other, more experienced participants and finally approached them.

"Miss Ran, the pose you chose isn't bad, but maybe you should try to balance it out, since you're a beginner. Here, let me assist you."

With her instructor's help, she finally managed to make a graceful pose, but as soon as Rei let go of her, she felt like she had turned the switch and almost fell onto the ground.

"Don't worry", Rei encouraged. "Everyone starts somewhere, I also had no experience when I started, so if you keep training and practising, you will able to make the poses you like."

Ran nodded, thankful for these words. After Rei went other to assist Kazuha and Kiyoko, Ran slapped her cheeks lightly and breathed deeply. Alright, she's trying again.

°°°

Despite the official pole dance lessons, Rei had also recommended another training unit, the stretching, which she would held one day before the actual training unit.

"It's a fundament, if you're asking me. With the stretching, you'll become more flexible and it makes pole dance easier. I would highly suggest to the newcomers, so that you grow more accustomed to the pole."

So that meant two days of the week are now reserved for pole dance and stretching. Given the fact that she still did karate on other two two days a week meant that she probably had less free time from now on.

"So, are you coming next week again?", Kazuha asked on their way home. She seemed like she had her fun during their first lesson and Ran admitted that it wasn't as bad as she'd initially thought, albeit very, very hard. Maybe the fact that she already practised karate made things easier, stamina wise.

"Yeah, I enjoyed it. Thank you for dragging me there."

Kazuha puffed her cheeks: "But I said that-"

"Relax, Kazuha", Ran giggled. "I truly had my fun, thank you for asking me. I'd gladly come to the stretch and the actual pole dance lesson again."

"What a relief", Kazuha sighed and stared at her bag. "I mean I said I would probably doing it on my own, but having your back actually feels lighter, you know?"

Ran smiled back. "I probably wouldn't do it with anyone else."

And when Kazuha beamed and insisted on inviting Ran to drink tea and eat cake, she was very happy to oblige her request, unaware of the fluttering feeling in her stomach.

°°°

Okay, if Ran had to name another negative aspect of pole dance, apart from the high price and that it was harder than she thought, it was the fact that she had a major muscle soreness when waking up the next day. And not only that, she noticed some bruises appearing on her inner thighs and arms.

If she hoped she could go through the day at the university and the karate lesson, she was heavily mistaken.

All of sudden, everyone hugged her, slapped her arm and Ran couldn't believe she hadn't noticed it earlier. It seemed like everyone was touchy as hell and it would be undoubtedly suspicious if she'd tell them to stop doing this.

Plus, since her thighs hurt, Ran tried to go through the halls and rooms as normal as possible, but somehow she was still convinced that everyone was looking and talking about her. And probably not in a nice way.

Ran wondered if Kazuha also had to deal with the aching, when someone materialised in front of her desk. Her tense posture quickly softened when she recognised Shinichi.

"Ran, is everything alright?", he asked, Ran could hear the concerned tone in his question. Still, she wasn't willing to reveal her newest hobby to him yet, so she replied: "Yeah, I'm fine. Why are you asking?"

Shinichi took his time to answer her question, he firstly made himself comfortable next to her before opening his mouth again.

"Because I saw you going down the hallway and I don't know... it kinda looked a bit painful?"

"Yeah, I had some activity going on yesterday. It was fun, but I also hope the aching will lessen, when I'm doing it regularly."

"I beg your pardon?"

Ran didn't realise the double meaning the last sentence carried, so she was surprised when Shinichi's eyes widened and his face became red as a tomato.

"Really?", he sputtered out then. "Oh wow, I'm happy for you. Who's the lucky person?"

"I did it with Kazuha. At first, I was kind of suspicious but I did have my fun. But as I said, one of the downsides is the pain afterwards."

"Huh? You did it with her? Okay, not to be insensitive but what did she do to you for you becoming so wrecked?"

Ran narrowed her eyes. "What? Wrecking? She didn't to anything to me. What are you talking about?"

"You just told me that you've slept together?"

"We did what?!"

Her eyes became as big as a football and she stared at Shinichi in shock, like that one time he confessed to her that he had just lost her phone because of a case. After Ran got over the initial shock, she erupted into a raucous laughter, so loud that their fellow students stopped their conversations and stared at them in concern.

Shinichi hid his face in embarrassment, unable to look at his best friend, while Ran wiped the tears off her face. Even though her whole body was aching mercilessly during her laughter, she felt a bit relieved, because it somehow felt refreshing too.

"Shinichi", Ran wheezed then. "How did you come to that conclusion?"

His hands still hiding his face, as he replied: "Your posture was like that and then you mentioned about some activity you had yesterday, I couldn't help it. Don't laugh at me, even I can make a wrong conclusion!"

"Figures", Ran chuckled. "So much for being called the Great Detective of the West."

"Shut up! And besides, it's not like I would have a problem with it", Shinichi continued.

"I know, you're literally seeing Hattori", Ran snorted fondly, grinning when she saw how his expression became softer.

"But I mean it. Because I genuinely thought that you've started to see each other. And honestly, I wouldn't even be surprised."

"How so?" Ran was confused. She had never thought of Kazuha like that. Sure, who was she to not acknowledge how beautiful she was and the easy and comfortable setting they had when they're hanging out, but to be actually infatuated with her?

The thought made Ran laugh again, startling Shinichi, who just got over his first embarrassing moment.

He was being ridiculous, how did he come to that conclusion now? Maybe he spent way too much time with Hattori, who has this talent to not think things through sometimes and act impulsively.

After she had calmed herself down and used a tissue to clean her face from the tears, she took Shinichi's hands off his face and went over his still flushed face.

"I can assure you there's nothing going on between us and she didn't do anything to me... except for convincing me to do so."

"I don't understand, please elaborate."

Ran sighed. Fuck it, she's going to tell him.

He was her best friend after all and probably wouldn't care about her pole dancing. Even though she'd agree with Kazuha- it needed to be normalised- there were plenty of people who didn't share this mindset. Still, she changed her mind and wanted Shinichi to know too.

"All right, listen to the following statement, I'm only telling you this once. Kazuha and I have decided to try out pole dancing."

"Huh?!" Shinichi exclaimed in a loud voice, making the other stare at them again. This time with an annoyed glare, because how dare Shinichi and Ran are holding a conversation!

"But that's great for you!", he added then. "Though I need to admit I can't really imagine you actually pole dancing. Maybe you can give me some pictures for my mind to work with it?"

Ran hit his arm, while he started to laugh. "You perv, you're not getting anything. Besides that, my performance yesterday was horrible. Even for a first timer, it definitely wasn't something you'd like to see."

"What? Don't be so hard on yourself, Ran! Everyone starts at zero, you didn't become a karate master by chance and I didn't become a good detective by chance. Besides, if you're really into pole dancing, practise, practise, practise until you get results you can be proud of showing me."

Ran nudged his arm again, but she smiled this time. "Thank you Shinichi, I'm going to try my best! Even if the muscle soreness and the upcoming bruises will be the death of me."

"I mean, what did you expect", he shrugged. "It's sport after all. Anyway, how did your father react to these news?"

"Oh, he doesn't know. And I'm not quite sure how to inform him that I'm going to need more pocket money starting in two months."

Before Shinichi could make a comment, their professed entered the auditorium and immediately urged everyone to become silent. Shinichi and Ran decided to postpone their conversation until the break and gave their lecturer the attention.

°°°

After one lesson of stretching and another round of pole dancing, Ran fell onto her bed in an exhausted manner. Her limbs were practically burning and she wished that she could just take a bath to relax a bit.

Even though a few weeks had passed since Ran and Kazuha started pole dancing, the aching she would get after one intense training only lessened a bit. But on the other hand, the improvements she had made were also starting to manifest, and now she was able to hug the pole without Rei's help.

So the pain was worth it, even though Ran wanted to sleep right now.

But Sonoko was coming to her apartment soon and quite some time had passed since the last time she'd seen her other best friend. She will just get through it, for Sonoko's sake. Plus, she could probably distract Ran from her sore muscles, with tales about what happened since their last meet-up or what's going on in either lifes.

However, when Sonoko finally rang the bell and she opened the door for her, Ran was a few seconds later pulled into a crushing hug and hissed at the jolt of pain, which obviously didn't go unnoticed by her best friend.

"Ran? Is everything alright?", Sonoko inquired instantly. Ran bit her lip to suppress the relieved sigh when Sonoko let go of her. Why does the aftermath of the training have to be this painful? She will probably never get used to it.

She tried to ignore the current aching and instead focused on her other best friend. Sonoko's eyes were looking at her with concern, the smile she has was slowly disappearing, making place for a frown. Ran quickly decided to scan her hair, which was now longer than she used to wear it in high school, almost having shoulder-length. Sonoko was dressed in a black shirt with white dots and a black skirt, her with grey painted nails were holding the sports bag before she let it fall on the ground to hug Ran.

Bringing her back to the present, where Ran's body felt like burning and her mind was still pleading for a relaxing bath. But as she'd already decided before, that could wait, Sonoko was more important and she really needed to put her in ease.

"Yes", she gritted between her teeth, after Sonoko became impatient and started to poke her left cheek. And because she didn't look convinced, Ran added: "I have started to work out yesterday and my aching comes from that. Don't worry, as soon as I do it regularly, the soreness will lessen. Just refrain from hugging me so tightly, even though I missed you too and I'm so happy that you're visiting me."

Her last sentence made Sonoko beam again, Ran had to laugh at her and was thankful that the wrinkles on her face did vanish and were replaced with adorable dimples and their short tense moment was practically nonexistent.

"So, are you ready for the greatest sleepover?", Ran asked then, receiving an eagerly nod by Sonoko. She grabbed her backpack again and entered Ran's apartment properly. Sonoko stared at awe at the comfortably setting of the small flat, making comments here and there and also asking some questions about it, which Ran was happy to answer.

Soon, after making and eating dinner, preparing snacks and zapping through the canals on TV for a short while, Ran and Sonoko were now in the former's room, laying on the floor with sweets, crisps and some soft drinks spread around the floor and exchanging stories about the events that happened to them in the last few weeks.

And like with Shinichi, Ran had asked herself if she should tell Sonoko about her newest interest, she'd probably care even less than him; she's the kind of person who'd probably visit the