*Author's Notes: Some of you may wonder why the hell I'm wasting time writing this little story instead of getting to work on the real "Lost Ones" fic. Well, the truth is that I'm merely trying to rid myself of some writer's block on both "Lost Ones" and my Slayers fic "Kakurenbo." I'm forcing myself to update in order (see my bio), and I'll focus completely on "Lost Ones" as soon as I finish the next chapter of my Slayers fic. Anyway, I thought I'd just post this little story until I post chapter four of "Lost Ones." Hope it makes some of you even more eager for the next installment of "Lost Ones." Enjoy!
Michi G.
Shesta was coming down the stairs when he heard Gatty honking his horn. "I'm going, Kaasan!" he announced as he went to the door.
"Okay!" his mother called from the den. "Have a good time!"
"I will!" Shesta went out the door and gently closed it behind him. He smiled at the dark car parked in his driveway and went inside it.
"It's been a while since this, huh, Shesta?" Gatty said while his friend buckled his seat belt.
"You think there's something wrong with Dilandau-san?" Shesta said, not needing to answer Gatty's question. The grateful look on Shesta's face was enough proof that their night off was a treat.
Gatty began to pull out of the driveway. "Sort of…" he admitted. He waited until he had straightened his car onto the street and set the car into drive before continuing. "Remember how he was mumbling about some girl today?"
"Couldn't forget that."
"Well, I think that made him decide to spend time by himself."
"Makes sense, I guess," Shesta said. He rolled down his window and laid his arm halfway outside of it. "It makes me a little worried he might be going crazy."
Gatty laughed and almost let go of the wheel completely. "I think he's been that longer than we've known him."
"I'm serious," Shesta said, frowning a little at Gatty. "We both know that Dilandau-san isn't what you'd call 'balanced,' but his madness has a method. I mean, the crazy things he does, or rather, has us do, have an order to them. Dilandau-san is good at making sure we don't get into trouble; what if he starts to get careless and tells us to do something that makes us end up in jail?"
"The reason I don't worry about that too much isn't because I want to go to jail," Gatty said. He leaned back into his chair when he came to a stop at a light with several cars ahead of him. "I sort of think of this whole Ryuugekitai thing as a game."
"A game?" Shesta could tell Gatty was serious by the look in his eyes.
"We do a lot of dangerous shit," Gatty said, "but we never get caught. We have a lot of power, and it increases a little each day. Now, I think even Dilandau-san would admit that this situation won't last forever, but I think the game is to see how long we can last as the Ryuugekitai."
"That depends a lot on Dilandau-san's welfare."
"Iie; I think it depends on us."
"Us?"
Gatty straightened and put his hand back on the wheel as he started to move forward again. "The Ryuugekitai is nothing if we six don't back up Dilandau-san. We might be his lackeys, but we're also his friends. His good friends."
Shesta sighed. "Sometimes I feel like I'm thirty years old or something," he said. "The Ryuugekitai is like a business."
"Yep," Gatty agreed. "Demo, we have the night off, so let's enjoy ourselves."
"Uhn," Shesta said. His smile returned. "Who were we just talking about anyway?"
"No clue," Gatty said, sharing his smile. "I think it was it some pickle guy or something." The two of them laughed. "He'd kill me for saying that."
"Oh, yeah," Shesta said. They laughed again, spending the rest of the car trip making jokes about the "pickle guy."
*****
"So, what you do this afternoon?" Gatty asked as he sat down across the table from Shesta.
"Well, Will and I played some video games and I took Livvy to buy some new clothes," Shesta said. "She might end up being a very tall girl."
"Taller than you?" Gatty laughed when Shesta rolled his eyes at him. "Not that I'm saying you're short or anything…"
"You're really starting to sound like the Gatty I beat up in sixth grade," Shesta said, folding his arms over his chest.
"Excuse me?" Gatty said, putting a hand to his ear as if he couldn't hear. "I think the one that got beat up back then was you."
"Ready to order your drinks, gentlemen?" a female waitress said before Shesta could retort. That was when Gatty and Shesta realized she was there.
"Uh, hai…" the two said. Then Gatty said, "Shesta, you can go first."
"Um…" Shesta rubbed the back of his head and smiled sheepishly. "What do you recommend?"
"Well, how about our special lemonade?" the waitress said, removing her hand from her mouth. She had been trying to cover up her laughter. "It's pretty popular here."
"Yeah, that sounds good." Shesta glanced at Gatty who snorted.
"I'll have a Starless Night," Gatty said. He now met Shesta's gaze with a grin. Shesta frowned at him.
"All right, I'll have your drinks in a little while," the waitress said before leaving.
"Nan da?" Shesta asked.
"Do you know what this club's special lemonade is?"
"Uh…no…" Shesta wondered if it had been such a good idea to go with Gatty to this new club he swore was a nice place to unwind.
"It'll taste like lemonade," Gatty said, "but that's not what the majority of it is. It's mostly a blend other alcoholic drinks."
"Oh, God," Shesta said, putting a hand on his forehead. "Why the hell didn't you tell me that before I got it?"
Gatty shrugged. "I ain't your momma."
"No, but you are a pain in the ass," Shesta snapped. He continued to frown when Gatty laughed. "You know I don't like drinking."
"Yeah, I do know that," Gatty said. He rested his elbow on the table. "I also know that we both came in here with fake ID's. Now isn't it better to act like we're twenty-three, or do you want to ask the waitress for a soda and make her think you're possibly a little younger than you claim to be?"
"All right, all right," Shesta said, "you made your point. I just don't wanna end up like I did last time we went to the Z. It was hard to explain to my siblings about my hangover."
"Hmm." Gatty reached into his pocket inside his shirt.
"Nani?"
"Eh, bestu ni (nothing)," Gatty said. He pulled out his half empty carton of cigarettes and took one out. "I just don't understand how you manage to take care of your brother and sister and at the same time keep Dilandau-san from saying that you're neglecting your job as a Ryuu."
Shesta shrugged. "I guess I'm just used to it," he said. He smiled as Gatty light his cigarette. "The stress, I mean. I'd never say it's been easy, but sometimes Ryuugekitai business takes the stress off being the 'man of the house' and vice-versa."
"Never thought I'd hear you say that," Gatty said. He tilted his head back and inhaled, then exhaled some smoke. "From the very beginning, I'd never thought you'd make it in the Ryuugekitai."
"I know that," Shesta said, folding his arms. "I'm more observant than you think."
Gatty just smiled and rested his cigarette on a plastic tray. Shesta stared back at him, losing more of his smile the longer he saw Gatty's. He coughed a little when the smoke began to fill their area, but Gatty didn't bother to do anything about that. Shesta, in turn, didn't bother to ask Gatty to put it out. It was better for Gatty to be smoking than for him to be muttering about needing a smoke. Shesta guessed that was Gatty's way of handling the stress of a Ryuu.
"Here you are." The two once again realized that the waitress had popped up when they weren't watching.
"Thanks," Shesta said as he received his "lemonade." He looked at Gatty as if accusing him.
"Yeah, thanks," Gatty said, pretending not to notice Shesta's look.
"Um…" the waitress said when she had finished giving them their drinks. Gatty and Shesta gave her their attention. "Are you guys really old enough to be in here?"
"Uh…" Shesta said, scratching his head. Is it that obvious? he wondered.
"Mochiron (Of course)," Gatty said easily. He took a sip of his drink. "We go to ASU; I'm majoring in chemistry and he's majoring in business."
"Hontou?" the waitress said, eyes widening. "You guys go to Asturia Southern University? Wasn't it really hard to get in?"
"Nah, not for two smart guys like us," Gatty said. He motioned with his hand to Shesta. "Ne, buddy?"
"Yeah, it was a real cakewalk," Shesta said. He began spinning his straw around in his drink. "It was like we didn't apply at all…"
"Wow…" the waitress said. She smiled at them. "Sorry about second-guessing you guys. You just look a bit young. Enjoy your drinks."
Shesta pretended to be coughing about the smoke in the air instead of the waitress's winking at them. "So, what's in that drink you have there anyway?" he asked.
"Oh, this and that," Gatty said, grinning at Shesta's cover-up. "Hey, who knows; maybe you'll like your drink."
"Doubt it," Shesta said. He raised a brow, looking behind Gatty.
"Nan da?"
Shesta lowered his head and his voice. "It's those seniors I told you about earlier."
Gatty did the same. "Nani? The ones that claim they're gonna bring the Ryuugekitai down?"
"Aa. Dilandau-san doesn't know this yet because he's working on that problem with that Fanel guy, but I think we outta take care of 'em before it reaches Dilandau's ears."
"Hmm…" Gatty took his cigarette again and drew in a breath. "Maa na (I guess). If they recognize us, there's gonna be trouble anyway."
"Yes, there's gonna be trouble…" Shesta said, seeing that the leader of this group had already noticed them. He let out a breath. "I thought we were just gonna chill tonight."
Gatty took a short look behind him and smirked when he faced Shesta again. "Trust me, it won't take very long," he said. He continued to smoke as the group approached their table.
"Well, well, well," one with short, spiky black hair said. "If it isn't Gatty and Shesta of the Ryuugekitai. How lucky is this?"
"Hey, Shesta, we're celebrities," Gatty said. He tapped out his cigarette. "And we've only been at Zaibach High for a year."
Another senior with red hair in the same hair cut as his friend, cracked his knuckles. "You little sophomore punks!" he said. "You may have been bad last year, but this year it's payback!"
"Yeah," the third spiked-hair senior agreed. He was the only one wearing a hat over his dark brown hair. "I'll admit Dilandau's a fucking crazy bastard, but you guys just hide behind him. I'm sure once you six are gone, Dilandau will be less of a threat."
"I ain't paying for one more fucking ART card, ya hear me??" the first one said.
"Well, it's not like we force anyone to buy them," Shesta said. For a moment he almost thought of taking a sip of his drink, but he knew he couldn't defend himself very well under the influence. "They're just there for the students' general protection."
"Protection my ass!" the first said. He slammed his fist on their table. "Get the hell up! We're gonna take a walk outside."
Shesta raised a brow and looked to Gatty. Gatty nodded and the two got up from the table. The trio of angry seniors escorted them to the back exit of the club, leading to a dark alley behind the building. Shesta noted that their opponents stayed by the door while he and Gatty were boxed in by the wall about ten feet behind them. Gatty coughed a few times, making Shesta wonder if he were well enough to fight. He knew Gatty didn't have the carton of cigarettes until after school, so he figured he had spent a good bit of his afternoon smoking.
"Don't look at me like that, Shesta," Gatty said. Shesta nearly jumped, unaware that his friend had been looking at him from the corner of his eye. "If you think I'm gonna fall down dead, you're mistaken."
Shesta couldn't help but grin, despite the three looming seniors blocking their escape. Of course, neither Gatty or Shesta would dare escape from the fight; if Dilandau somehow found out, he'd give them a worse beating than any group of disgruntled students ever could. They would both rather engage in a fight they couldn't win, than to make Dilandau angry with their cowardly actions.
"Heh, I'm gonna enjoy this," the dark-haired one said.
"We're gonna be the heroes of Zaibach High," the red-head said. He was the first to step forward.
"Just before we beat the hell out of you," the dark-haired one said. "We thought you'd want to know the names of the guys who are gonna bring you Ryuu shitheads down."
"Ah, wait just a second," Shesta said, pulling out his organizer. He pulled out its pen and readied himself to record what he was going to say. "Okay, I might forget this tomorrow…"
"Why you little--!" the red-head said, raising a fist.
"Don't worry about it, Neil," the leader said. He smirked as Shesta wrote down the name. "I'm Jerry and this other guy is Chris. We're the RAT, the Ryuugekitai Annihilation Team!" His friends nodded proudly.
Gatty gave Shesta a look, but Shesta was writing everything down. "Uh, huh…the Ryuugekitai Annihilation Team…" he said, finishing up. He slipped his electronic back into his pocket. "Well, I guess the name suits you three."
"Yeah, the three blind mice, or should I say RATS?" Gatty added. He and Shesta laughed.
"Yeah, laugh while you can," Jerry said. "Let's get to it, guys!"
"Finally!" Neil said. He hesitated no further to start swinging at Shesta.
Man, when was the last time I fought? Shesta wondered as he dodged Neil's punches without much thought. Hmm… maybe it was during that Atlantis trip when Dilandau got us into that rumble with those thugs…
"Hey, where you lookin' at??" Neil said, getting frustrated with his lack of contact. He kept throwing punches at Shesta, but he always moved out of the way. "Stand still you little fucker!"
Shesta didn't mind him much, continuing to dodge while he halfway watched Gatty. Chris and Jerry had went two-against-one on him, soon backing Gatty against the wall. Shesta ducked under one of Neil's flying fists and went behind him, so that he could have a better view of Gatty. Gatty, meanwhile, was trying to figure out how he was going to handle the two of them when he was backed into a corner. If he tried to dodge, he was sure the other would try to hit him in his limited space; Jerry stood to his right, while Chris was to his left. Gatty frowned and guessed he'd have to take a little damage.
"You're looking a little scared, sophomore," Chris said. He grinned when he tried to punch Gatty in his stomach, but was blocked by the younger's arms.
Gonna have to rely on Shesta a little… Gatty thought just before Jerry tried to punch him in his face. He was successful in avoiding another hit, but wasn't able to handle Chris's subsequent attack. His middle was left open with him protecting his face, so he neither was able to stop Chris from hitting him, nor expected him to try the same thing twice (he had hoped they would be more creative). Gatty slightly coughed, but wasn't stupid enough to let himself focus on his pain.
"What, you ain't gonna fight?" Jerry asked, trying to slam his elbow into his face.
Gatty narrowed his eyes and managed to sway to his right so that Jerry's elbow hit the wall. The older boy howled in pain and drew his elbow back to rub it. Immediately Chris kicked Gatty in the shin, not only causing him enough pain to make him verbally express it, but making him fall down onto his bottom.
"Ooo…" Shesta said, eyes widening when Gatty fell. In his distraction, Neil punched him in the face. Shesta stumbled backwards and held his cheek with a scowl.
"Ha! There's still more!" Neil said, thinking he could knock the wind out of Shesta by ramming into his middle.
"Che!" Shesta said, deciding to give Neil a taste of his own medicine. Shesta ran backwards for a very short moment, giving him some distance to also chare forward while Neil was moving, and then rammed straight into Neil's charge.
Neil was stunned that someone that looked as weak as Shesta was able to knock him onto his back with so little momentum. Not only that, but his arms hurt like hell. Shesta snorted and took advantage of his shock to stomp on Neil's thigh. Neil cried out in pain and cradled his throbbing leg. Shesta rubbed his face, taking only a second to think about something Dilandau had taught him: once your enemy's down, make sure he stays down. Shesta didn't think Neil would get back to his feet very soon.
"…of shit…" Neil muttered, cringing as he spoke. "God, my leg!!"
"Don't forget your face," Shesta said, without raising his voice. Shesta was a little surprised Neil slid so much on the ground when he kicked him in the face.
Shesta, forgetting about Neil now that he was dealing with a hurt leg and a bleeding nose, checked how Gatty was doing. Gatty was still on the ground, doing his best to avoid the endless kicks by Jerry and Chris. It was all he could do to almost ball himself up and shield himself with his arms. Shesta frowned and eyed a metal-looking trash can. Not caring if the lid would stay on or not, he lifted it up and rushed up to Jerry and Chris.
Chris turned back to see Shesta with the trash can before Jerry noticed. "Whoa, heads up!" he said, ducking just before Shesta threw the can at them.
"Hu--" Jerry was pushed back into the wall with the trash can, his head hitting the brick hard enough to make him slump to the ground. Gatty managed to move out of the way just as Jerry landed beside him.
"Onore!!" Chris went for Shesta, taking no notice of Gatty.
Gatty got to his feet while Chris was rushing up to Shesta and motioned for Shesta to keep the fool going forward as long as he could. Shesta nodded just slightly and ran up the alley until his back was against the club's doors. He faced the incoming Chris, smiling a little at how fast Gatty was gaining on him. Chris didn't bother to turn back which accounted for his complete lack of prepare for Gatty knocking him in the head from behind. It wasn't enough to make Chris fall down, but it did make him stop just short of Shesta and stumble around disjointedly.
"Kusotare me (Shithead)…" Gatty said. He grabbed Chris by the waist and slammed him down to the ground.
Shesta looked at his watch while Gatty crouched down beside Chris and began punching him in the face until the boy was unconscious. "Hmm… fifteen minutes," he said as Gatty stood straight again.
Gatty rubbed his fists. "Hey, sorry about that," he said. "I had to wait for you to help me."
"Why didn't you fight back?" Shesta wondered. He noticed that Neil was trying to get to his feet, muttering some curses.
"Laziness, I guess," Gatty said. He rubbed the back of his head. "I was relaxing all afternoon, and I didn't expect we'd run into something like this."
"Curse of being a Ryuu," Shesta said, having been scanning the ground for something he could use. He found a brick and picked it up.
"Your cheek's a little red," Gatty pointed out while Shesta positioned the brick in the air like a football. He watched the brick fly from Shesta's hand, not flinching once when it hit Neil in his chest. The boy shouted out and coughed up some blood before falling back to the ground.
"Yeah, thanks to your 'laziness,'" Shesta said, watching Neil a bit longer to make sure he wasn't going to get up. When he was sure, he smiled at Gatty. "You know, maybe I will drink that lemonade now."
Gatty grinned at him and opened the doors to the club. "Sounds good to me," he said. "Just don't throw up in my car or I'll kill you."
"Try it and you'll get a brick thrown at you too," Shesta said, following him in. He didn't mind when Gatty laughed at him.
The two spent a little time speaking about their fight before they were again visited by the waitress. She flirted with them again, forcing Shesta and Gatty to lie more about going to Asturia Southern University. That led to them receiving her number and learning that she went to Zaibach University. The two Ryuu exchanged glances after the girl (Corky, they had found her name to be) had left.
"Man, this is the first time I've had a college girl hit on me," Gatty said. He took the receipt with Corky's number written on the back.
"Yeah, and all you had to do was lie," Shesta said. He shook his head and drank the last of his lemonade. He really liked the way it tasted, but it made him a little more relaxed than he preferred.
"What, you're not interested?" Gatty said. He pocketed the number even though he doubted he would call the girl. Not only did he think he wouldn't have much time to, he was once again too lazy. It took a lot of work to keep up a lie, especially one about going to such a prestigious school.
"I've already seen a girl I like," Shesta said. He put his hand over his mouth. "Shit, I meant…"
"Who?" Gatty leaned forward and grinned. "You saw a girl you were interested in and you didn't tell me? Come on, Shesta, tell me who."
"I don't know, I didn't ask for her name," he said. He wasn't able to prevent himself from reddening, unable to stop his thoughts from becoming his speech.
"Yeah, I saw a cute girl too and didn't get her name," Gatty admitted. He shrugged. "Demo, the school revolves around us Ryuugekitai; I'm sure I'll run into that girl again."
"Heh, don't let Mimi find out," Shesta said, wagging a finger at him.
Gatty rolled his eyes. "The hell with her," he said. He crossed his arms over his chest, a cocky smile in place. "I made no commitment to her."
Shesta laughed and leaned back in his chair a dazed smile on his face. "I wouldn't wanna be you," he said. He leaned forward again. "I wanna order another lemonade."
"Dilandau-san would pay to see this," Gatty said. He grinned and motioned to Corky so she would come over to their table again. "Let's see how long it takes you to barf."
"Let's see how long you go before reaching for your next cigarette," Shesta said just as Gatty's hand moved toward his shirt pocket.
Gatty smirked. "A hundred dollars."
"Fine with me."
Gatty couldn't believe two hours later that he lost the bet. However, he felt better about it when he was smoking in the bathroom, waiting for Shesta to stop barfing. Gatty didn't know which was better: finally taking the smoke he had waited so long for or knowing that Shesta had been suffering just as long. When Shesta came out of the stall and wiped his mouth, claiming that he thought he threw up his breakfast, Gatty knew his answer. That was worth the hundred dollars he had lost.
***Owari (The End)
--Just a nice little story about Gatty and Shesta. Well, this has helped me a little with my writer's block, so I'm gonna get back to work with the two fics mentioned above. Oh, and I'm sorry about that sorry little fight scene. I'm terrible at writing about fights. Oh, well! Thanks for reading! ^_^