By: Kai
Disclaimer: I do not own the Samurai Troopers.... But, I believe that I am in legal possession of this story.
Notes: Ack. Ryo and Touma shounen-ai... Not something you see everyday. People are usually under the illusion that Touma and Seiji are together. *shrug* I just don't see it. Anyway, so, here it is, my first completed, and acceptable, Samurai Troopers fanfic. And, feedback is always nice.... E-mail me at Kai@gundamwing.net, or review. But, e-mail's always nice.
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There was a soft hum coming from the slightly open window, as rain dropped in sheets to the earth, and the wind gusted angrily between the drops. The room, small and simple, was filled with a soft, grey non-light, that fell onto all the planes and valleys of the bed sheets indiscriminately. Shadow upon shadow hung over the room's occupant, who slept, unperturbed by rain or wind.
Outside the small apartment, the streets were empty, puddles forming in the dips in concrete; the strip of road host to only the occasional passing vehicle. Everyone in the city seemed to have found a crook in which to hide themselves from the dusty blue night.
However, there was one person, half drowned, and falling over himself as he trudged along, who seemed to have yet to find his place in this tight cocoon of twilight. Cursing halfheartedly under his breath, he staggered through the rain, hugging his sweatshirt tighter against his chest. Rain splattered against his shoulders and dark hair, soaking him through to his core.
"I ... Hate... The rain..." He stammered, jaws chattering together. Pausing, he cast his eyes up at the towering apartment buildings. "It better be around here. And he better be home."
He kept walking, eyes darting from building to building. Finally, he sagged against the glass doors of one, shivering hand blindly seeking out the handle. He seized it, and pushed his way into the building, his stance slowly correcting itself as he left the rain behind. Another twenty steps to the elevator; he clung to the railing that ran around three of the compartment's walls as the elevator climbed 5 floors. With a ding, the doors slid back, and he stumbled out into the hall.
*Room 5F, room 5F...* He cast a quick glance over his shoulder, making sure he was on the right floor. Turning a corner, the room came into view, its door like some sort of beacon to the drenched young man in the hallway. *That's it.*
He knocked. And waited. Then knocked again. And waited again. His brow furrowed. Impatiently, he knocked a third time, and as a reward for his persistence, he was answered with a sleepy, "Coming."
Shuffling, then the sound of bare feet padding across the hard wood floors. The slide and click of the lock, and the bolt, and then the turning of the door knob... "Yes? . . . . Ryo?"
Touma's eyes widened at the sight of his rain soaked friend. "Come in. You're soaked. What are you doing here?"
Ryo gave Touma a half smile. "I told you I'd come by your new place one of these days." He glanced around quickly. "Not bad, but kinda small, isn't it?"
"Well, it's not Nasutei's place or anything but... What's wrong?"
Biting his bottom lip painfully, Ryo fought back a grimace. "I'm not feeling to good."
"You need to get out of those clothes. You'll get sick." Touma began to tug at the sweatshirt.
"Uh-huh..." Eyelids drooping, and limbs swaying, Ryo gave no sign of what he was going to do until his knees buckled, and he collapsed neatly into Touma's nearby arms.
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*Mmmm... Warm...* Instinctively, Ryo snuggled into the warmth a little further, smiling in his delirium. *Haven't been this warm in a while.*
The warmth was suddenly interrupted by a coolness on his forehead, then his cheek. *Hey, I know this feeling...* His eyes fluttered open, then focused on Touma, bending over him, hand pressed against Ryo's fevered face.
"Good, you're up." Touma pulled his hand away, and busied himself with rearranging Ryo's blankets. "How're you feeling?"
Ryo blinked a few times, eyes adjusting to the light in the room. It was the same dim light that was outside earlier. "I'm okay. What time is it?"
"About seven. You've only been asleep for two hours or so." Touma stopped playing with the blankets, and sat back on his heels. "Why didn't you have a coat or something?"
"It wasn't raining when I left."
"But this rain storm's been on the weather for weeks now. You could've known. You should've."
Ryo managed a small shrug. "It wasn't in my mind at the time." They looked at each other for a few moments, before Ryo looked away, focusing his eyes on the ceiling. "So, how are things? Since you left?"
Touma rubbed his lips together thoughtfully before speaking. "Not bad, I guess. There are times, though, that I wish I didn't leave, but what can I do about that now, right?"
"You could come back."
He gave a quiet laugh. "I hope you didn't come here to try and bring me back." He met Ryo's eyes again. "I'm okay here. I've gotten used to things."
"Oh." Still watching each other, they remained silent, listening to the rain song that trailed in through the window. "Everybody's okay at home. Jun moved out, so it's a little quieter. Seiji spends a lot of his time out these days, meditating and doing priest stuff. Shin graduated from some cooking class he was taking, so he's got a job at some big restaurant in the city. Shuu goes with him a lot, claims he's a food critic." Ryo shook his head, but his face was entirely devoid of any feeling. "Nasutei's fine. Doing typical Nasutei stuff; research, translating old documents, artifact collecting. You know."
Touma swallowed. "What's going on with you.. And her..."
Ryo's eyes drifted shut. "So, you're still convinced of that." His eyelids shot open, and he glared at Touma with hard eyes. "You got that whole situation all wrong. I never said I had any feelings for her at all. She's the one that confessed a crush to me. The whole thing ended there. I made sure it did."
"Right."
Opening his mouth to speak, Ryo broke off into a fit of coughing. Touma leaned forward to help Ryo into a sitting position, then kept his arm around his shoulder. Ryo's coughs tapered off into nothing, but he stayed sitting up, gasping for breath. Defeated, he sank against Touma, nestling his face into the other young man's neck. "I don't feel good. Don't argue with me now."
"You should probably go back to sleep."
Suddenly, Ryo shivered violently against him. Touma looked down at him, concerned. "What is it?"
"I'm cold again," Ryo whispered, breath in warm tufts against Touma's skin. "Will you stay with me?"
"I didn't go anywhere before. . ."
"That's not what I meant." He pulled back, and in one swift, and surprisingly strong motion, he pulled back his sheets, and tugged Touma under them.
Touma tensed. But as Ryo continued to shiver, he relaxed, arms circling the trembling frame next to him. After a few minutes, the trembling ceased, and Ryo's breath became shallower.
Touma raised a hand to Ryo's cheek, running his thumb along the gentle curve slowly, then he reached up to brush the flyaway brown bangs out of Ryo's eyes.
"I love you," Touma whispered in an exhale, his voice softer than the flutter of butterfly wings.
There was nothing pulling Touma into sleep this time; everything that his dreams had ever thrown at him was lying curled against his chest. Memories of a handful of moments rose to the surface of Touma's mind, memories of a time he had thought Ryo wanted to erase.
It had been raining that day, just like it was today, and everyone in Nasutei's oversized house seemed to be missing. It hadn't been too long before Touma had moved out.
He was reading in his room, when Ryo had walked in, looking a little pale, and claiming to be nauseous. Apparently, he had been out in the rain, and had gotten wet. Very wet.
The scene from there had played out similarly to how it had today-- fainting, waking up, then Touma had ended up holding him while he slept.
Later that night, Ryo had woken up, just as the storm was beginning to blow full force. The wind howled and rang around the house, thunder crackling in the eerily light night. And that night, half due to the unreality of it all, Ryo and Touma surrendered themselves to a random moment of passion-- and therefore altering the state of their relationship forever, whether or not either of them wanted to admit it.
They hadn't talked about it afterwards, but, now, in retrospect, Touma realized that was probably why everything had gone wrong. Nasutei had, indeed, soon told Ryo that she had always had some romantic feelings for him, and that she thought that they should try to work something out between them. And, although Ryo had turned her down, saying she was more like a sister to him than anything else, and that he was interested in someone else, Touma got the idea that maybe things would be a lot better if he moved out, and gave Ryo and Nasutei an oppurtunity to explore any chances they did have together. And that had been about a year ago.
Details of the one night he had with Ryo fought their way to the top of the cascading thoughts; little things, like Ryo's scent, the press of bare skin against bare skin, and the time afterward, when they had just laid there, listening to the rain that Ryo hated so much splatter on the roof, and against the windows. And Ryo's decision that maybe rain wasn't such a bad thing after all. The secret smile that followed that sentence.
Touma lowered his eyelids, his heart aching as he drew parallels between that night and this one. Right down to the dimness of the room, every detail was the same. Instinctively, his arms tightened on Ryo. He was sure of one thing; if the same situation did come to be, he wouldn't let Ryo walk out without hearing everything Touma had felt for the past however many years. Not that that was going to be easy.
Comforted by his new found resolution, Touma drifted into a dreamless half-sleep. He was aware of the growing storm, and the chill blowing in through the half-opened window, but the majority of his attention was focused on Ryo, and the rhythm of his breathing, and the soft flutter of his heart, against his own.
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*I remember. . . .* Letting his eyes open, Ryo ran his hands up Touma's back, gathering handfuls of Touma's shirt in his fingers, then buried his face against the other's chest. *I missed this.*
"Touma... Hey, you awake?"
Pulling back, Ryo found himself eye to eye with Touma. He didn't care to hold onto the gaze, so he just resettled himself against Touma's chest. Gratefully, Touma rested his cheek against Ryo's dark hair; he didn't want to have to look at him when he said what he wanted to say.
"Remember that time before you moved out, when it was raining, and we--"
"Yeah," Touma breathed, wrapping his arms more securely around Ryo's back.
"Well, we never talked about what happened then." Ryo felt Touma's heart speed up against his cheek. "And I just wanted to tell you that--"
Hands trembling, Touma interrupted. "I love you, Ryo."
Neither of them had anything else to say then. The thunder wove itself into the room, punctuating Touma's confession accurately enough. Ryo shivered again.
"What's wrong?" Touma pulled back again, gazing at Ryo with worry in his eyes.
"Nothing. It's just the thunder." Ryo reached up to Touma's face, laying his palm against Touma's cheek, and running his thumb along his bottom lip. Ryo smiled, the corners of his mouth kicking up just slightly.
Touma managed a smile back, his heart still hammering against the confines of his ribcage, every nerve piqued for what he knew was going to come out of Ryo's mouth next.
"I love you, too," Ryo whispered, face closer to Touma's now, the words barely a breath on Touma's jaw. In the next instant, lightning flashed, illuminating the scene with unexpected poignancy, the flash reminiscent to that of a camera, instilling the moment in both minds for the rest of their lives.
"Good. I was getting worried for a second there," Touma replied. Smirking, he lowered his lips slowly over Ryo's, letting the familiar lightheadedness wash over him.
Ryo pulled back for a second, studying Touma's face. "D'you mind if I stay with you? Nasutei's place is getting kind of small."
"Are you sure? This place may be too small for the two of us..."
"I'm sure we'll make it work." Gently, he laid a kiss on the corner of Touma's mouth. "You know--"
"Hm?"
"Maybe rain's not so bad after all."