The River

12

Aideena belongs to me.

Ryuuto fell into a river and Aideena tries to find out what he was doing.

His boots squelched as he walked into the hotel, getting some dirty looks from the staff there and some odd questionable looks from the other hoteliers too; while he made his way towards his room.

He frowned as he came to his floor; it's like they've never seen anyone wet before. He wiped his hair back and shivered as he felt a droplet slide down his spine; At least no one saw me fall in, or are around now. He almost made it to his room without anyone stopping him when out of the corner of his eye he saw a familiar flash of red hair; Oh let that be someone else…

"Ryuuto what happened?" That soft Irish lilt asked him, as she walked up to him with concern and he knew that the concern in those dark green eyes would turn into something else.

"Nothing," He looked away and opened his door, hoping to get inside and close it on her before she asked any more questions, but she came in right behind him, gently pushing him into the room and closed the door behind herself.

"You're soaked," She stated and moved to get a towel, walking over to him she began to rub dry his hair; "What happened?" she asked again.

"I… Just fell,"

"Where?" She thought it might have been in the pool, although she knew it was unlikely, they were there for business, he had no reason to go past the pool; He's done something stupid…

"The river," He said with a blush as her chest was right in front of his line of sight, although he tried to look elsewhere with every sharp movement he was brought a little bit closer to them and pulled back a bit.

"What?" She exclaimed and paused what she was doing to look at him; "Then get in there," She pointed to the bathroom; "Go have a shower. How did you fall in?"

He shrugged, grateful that she had stopped drying his hair; "I just slipped," He began to move towards his suitcase when she once again pushed him towards the door; "Aideena I need…" I can't wear these wet clothes again, is this a punishment of some kind?

"I know, you just have a shower before you catch a cold," She told him firmly; "I'll get your clothes out for you,"

He nodded and smiled slightly as he closed the bathroom door and let out a breath, glad that she never asked any more questions; like why he had been near a river when the clues clearly showed that he should be in a more desert area; She wouldn't appreciate it anyway. He thought to himself and began to wonder if he could ever find anything that she would like; Doubt it.

He took off his boots and began to remove his clothes, dropping them in the corner of the bathroom without a care and turned the shower on before he noticed that the main towel was already on the heated towel rail and smiled; She does care, I know she does but… He pushed the thought away and went into the warm water, feeling a lot better already.

Aideena heard the shower go on; He's such a handful. She shook her head and went through his suitcase, noticing all his clothes were nearly all the same; Well, guess I was wrong, he does wash his clothes.

She placed everything for him on the bed and heard the shower turn of; He's done already? Ronan takes longer! How can he have showered properly…? She though in surprise as the bathroom door opened and Ryuuto stepped out, towel wrapped around his waist and his hair freshly washed, dripping onto the carpet.

She looked away from his and grabbed another hand towel from the open wardrobe and threw it at him, hitting him in the face.

He pulled it off his face and began to rub his hair, surprised; "You're still here?"

"You were faster than I expected." She said with a shrug, denying to herself that she was enjoying the look of him right now, denying that she was blushing in his presence.

"Well yea," Ryuuto just looked at her; "You have longer hair,"

She laughed and shook her head; "Ronan doesn't even shower that fast," She informed him and he frowned for a moment, before he remembered who Ronan was.

That's her brother, how did I forget that? "Well I just like to be fast," He told her and dropped the towel to the ground as she walked into the bathroom; "Eh, aren't you going to…" He felt a blush creep up his cheeks and then noticed her picking up his clothes; "Hey what are you…"

"They need washed," She told him; "I'll go and take them to the laundrette, I saw one as we arrived yesterday,"

"But…" he began to protest.

"Get changed Ryuuto. I'm sure the others are wanting to get going and right now you have the best idea of where to start,"

"You have to be there too," He pointed out and went over to take his clothes back, thinking that they would be fine if he just hung them up to dry.

"I'll meet up with.." She backed away with a small smile, one hand startling to open the door when he turned her around to face him fully; "Hey!"

"I've been doing this for a long time you know," He reminded her, his hands on her shoulders and she nodded slowly.

"so you always fall into rivers?" she teased him and smiled as he removed his hands from her shoulders and frowned.

"Tch, no," He said and she laughed, shaking her head.

"What were you up to anyway?" She asked him the question that had been bugging her for a while, putting a hand on his chest to stop him from taking his wet clothes back.

He looked down at her hand that was on his chest, and hoped she couldn't feel that his heart rate speed up, he also saw how pale her skin was compare to his own; "I saw something… a flower,"

"A… Flower?" She repeated and looked at him; "Why…?"

"I wanted to get it for you," He looked up into her eyes and felt his blush return, then he noticed her hand move off his chest; I shouldn't have said that.

"Ryuuto I…" She blushed, biting her lip and looked at him again; "You don't need to get me a flower,"

He took a few steps away from her and crossed his arms; "I figured you wouldn't appreciate it,"

She blinked at him, stung by his words; "You were soaked through, just because you wanted to get me a flower?"

"Yea," He said with a slight nod; "I know, it's stupid," He tried to mimic her accent and she giggled.

"Actually, it was sweet of you to do that," She said with a smile; "But I don't need a flower from you," She put the wet clothes down next to the door and walked over to him; "We're on an adventure," She reminded him and wrapped her arms around his back, pulling him into her for a hug and then backed1 away before he could react; "I'll meet you and the other's at the appointed site," Quickly she picked up the wet clothes and left the room before he could say or do anything else.

She wasn't mad. He thought to himself with a sigh and picked up his note book, writing down something in the back that had a small picture of someone and then flicked to the front, looking at the clues.

"I wonder…" He moved to get changed, that thought staying in his mind.