November 4th was fast approaching, and as important as voting for the president was, this issue seemed more important than ever.

Much to the outrage of the gay community, the Christian right had battled it's way past the California Supreme Court and had gotten enough signatures to put the issue of gay marriage in the voter's hands. And now, both sides were having their final showdown.

One week before elections, everyone, it seems had gathered in front of the LA courthouse to attract attention from the media and the rest of the public. Fortunately for the protestors, the "storm" of the season had finished its passing through the Los Angeles metropolitan area two days prior, leaving the Southern California sky its usual dingy blue.

The large mass of people that had gathered was split down the middle. On one side, not surprisingly the left, stood the pro-gay marriage activists waving rainbow flags, wearing queer bomb shirts, and holding signs with Uncle Sam saying, "I want YOU to come out of the closet." Even without their shouting, they succeeded in catching everyone's eyes, their bright colors drastically contrasting against the off-white of the courthouse and the dull, dirty, eggshell hues of the surrounding buildings. Even the healthy palm trees seemed glum and unexciting compared to the Rainbow parade.

The other half, made up of primarily Christian protestors, waved signs that quoted passages of the Bible, holding up giant cardboard crosses painted in silver and gold, and even waved the Bibles themselves in the air. While they were far from boring, they certainly fit the décor more than their opposites.

Both sides had been yelling themselves hoarse since about 9AM and it was already noon. In a rare cooperative moment, both groups put their signs and props down, almost in sync, and proceeded to sit down on the smooth lawn that had been paid for with tax dollars.

Something peculiar was happening… Normally, once the cell phone display clock struck twelve, the streets teemed with cars, buses, motorcycles, or really any other mode of transportation. But today, it seemed, was no ordinary day, for as the protestors put down their signs, the roads cleared. The only motor vehicle that would pass by was the occasional MTA bus heading towards some unknown destination on its winding course.

After a moment, people finally stopped commenting on the rarity that was an empty street in downtown LA and tucked into their hearty lunches of peanut butter sandwiches and Capri-Sun 10 real fruit juice pouches.

Then, out of nowhere, a rumbling emerged from the cocktail of metropolitan ambience.

As the rumbling grew louder, the majority of everyone who'd gathered paid the noise no mind. That being said, a small group of pro-gay-marriage activists exhaled loudly in mock annoyance. One girl with a lip piercing mumbled, "Showoff," as the motorcycle that appeared roared past the courthouse and wheelied its way around the corner before the mass of protestors heard the engine cut. Seconds later, the rider arrived, swaggering confidently towards the two camps.

The same girl stood up slowly, stretching and fluffed her brown pixie cut before taking a few steps toward the rider.

"Takashi, we get it, you can do tricks on your bike. We don't need a demonstration every time you show up…late, I might add."

"Jess, that was just for you, and you know it," Takashi smirked.

Jess sighed and rolled her eyes as she watched Takashi walk the few steps to her and, apparently, his group of friends in the gay supporter mass.

Moments later, after an hour of relaxation, conversation, the sun had reached its hottest point of the day so far. In another rare moment of cooperation, the two protest leaders nodded to each other in agreement, as the streets began filling up with a lunch rush, and stood up immediately. The others, from both sides, followed suit and began the protests again.

…o0O0o…

A few hours later, the large numbers that both protestor armies commanded began dwindling. Jess and Takashi, along with the other three in their group walked around the corner to their parking spots. As they turned the corner, passing the small garden of dingy bamboo, Jess let out a huge squeal of delight as Takashi's Ninja® came into view.

"Is it new?" she sighed, looking like a 10 year old in a candy store.

"Yeah, just drove it off the lot, why do you think I was late?" he said, pulling her past his new bike and walking her to her small and unimpressive blue Toyota Corolla.

"It's…so…pretty…" she marveled.

"Yeah… well forget about it," he said with a smile, seeing Jess's mind turning, "you are NOT going to get to drive it."

She pouted a little, then laughed. "You'll let me ride it…" she trailed off, unlocking the doors of her car.

Takashi, upon seeing her get in the car, waved and began walking backwards towards his Ninja®. While he continued walking, he saw Jess wince, but before he could register the look, he heard a loud "OW!" and felt something, or someone rather, hit his back.

He turned, already murmuring apologies. But before he could show his sincerity, the smaller black-haired stranger yelled, "What the heck man?! What, you couldn't turn around before you started walking?!"

"Hey! I said I was sorry! And why the hell didn't you look where you were going!" Takashi retorted, immediately on the defensive.

"Well if you could walk in straight line, I'd be able to sidestep you!"

"Oh… well…" Takashi trailed off as he stared into the stranger's eyes. In all of his flustered indignation, Takashi had failed to notice the other's particularly striking features. Takashi realized he was staring creepily, noticing the wary expression that had crept its way onto the stranger's face, and shook his head a little. "What's your name?" he asked curiously, much friendlier than he had been during the moments beforehand.

"Uh…who wants to know?" the other replied gruffly.

Takashi grinned sheepishly and introduced himself. "I'm Nathan Connelly…"

The stranger raised an eyebrow, "I think you mean 'Creeper.'"

"Nope, just Nathan," he winked. "Now it's your turn. What's your name?"

He sighed, rolled his eyes and muttered something incomprehensible.

"Sorry, what was that?"

"Ju," he said a little louder.

"Jew? That's a religion, not a name," he sniggered. Realizing how rude he'd just been, he added, "I'm sorry about that… I, uh… make really stupid and offensive jokes sometimes…"

Much to Nathan's surprise, Ju was trying desperately to hide his laughter. Ju could barely keep a straight face as he replied, "Um… yes. That was terrible."

"So…" Nathan said, scratching his head a little, "Did you come from the protest?"

"Yeah," Ju was starting to loosen up, "I just came from there, but I'm on my way back to school."

Nathan's eyes lit up, jumping to the conclusion that he was protesting the proposed Amendment that forbade homosexuals from marriage, "You know," he started, "you have the most amazing eyes." Nathan stared deeply and meaningfully into Ju's gold-speckled brown eyes.

"Uh, yeah… okay," Ju took a large step back, "Well, if you'll excuse me…" Ju quickly sidestepped Nathan and began walking towards his car. It was only as Ju passed by that Nathan spotted the small Bible in his back pocket.