a/n: Hello, all. This is my first FAKE fanfic. I haven't seen the anime (heck, I don't even know if it has an anime series). But, I have read a couple of the manga, which I enjoyed, hence: I am writing this. For already mentioned reasons, some characters may be OOC, and I may not be aware of the more intricate character relationships. But bear with me- I'm sure you'll like this. I don't own anyone from the series, yadda yadda, so don't sue me because I have no money anymore.

~Phe-chan.

SOUR GRAPES

Summary: Bikky is hospitalized due to food poisoning. What caused it? Ryo's not talking to Dee. Mystery, humor, and awkward moments mixed together with a spatula of doom.

One:

"Dee? What are you doing out here?" Carol, a young girl of sixteen paused outside a white door in an unknown general hospital. The man she was speaking to was Dee- a New York cop between the ages of twenty and thirty years. Dark hair fell into his eyes as he jerked his head up to glare at her. "Ryo won't let me in."

"What? He isn't speaking to you?" Dee groaned and got up from the cold floor he was sitting on.

"If he was, do you think I'd be out here? My, you're dense."

"At least Ryo's not mad at me." Smirking, Carol shifted the bunch of flowers she was holding to her left hand, and opened the door, leaving Dee spluttering in jealous rage. The brilliant light white light of the room almost blinded Carol as she stepped inside. The curtains were thrown back from the window, and strong morning sunlight streamed in. Everything was sterilized, white and remarkably neat and tidy. Sitting in a chair by a hospital bed, another adult man dozed lightly. He was Western in appearance, with fair skin and hair, but as Carol softly pulled out dead flowers from a nearby vase, he opened an eye; the iris was almost completely black.

"Ryo, have you been here all night?" Carol put a hand on the man's forehead and looked at him with worry written all over her face. Ryo nodded sleepily as he stretched and yawned. "How is he?"

"It's difficult to say. I can hardly get a nurse or the doctor to stay in here long enough to tell me anything." Both of them sat together and looked at the motionless body of a teenage boy in the bed. Tubes were coming out of his mouth, and the stark cleanliness of the bed sheets looked strange against his chocolate coloured skin. Naturally blonde hair was thrown across the pillow.

"You know that Dee's outside, don't you?" Carol casually commented. Ryo snorted and stood up to tuck in the boy's bed sheets around him. "Know, care…what's the difference?"

"Well, will you at least tell me why you look like you've swallowed a lemon? Your face is too nice for that kind of look." Ryo smiled thinly and allowed Carol to give him a friendly hug around the waist.

"When Bikky had to be taken to hospital," Ryo glanced at Carol's upturned face, "Dee was at my place. He laughed. He said it served the little monster right, even up to the point when Bikky was on the floor convulsing, and I had the phone in my hand, dialing for an ambulance. That's why I'm not talking to him. He disgusts me."

"Ahh." Carol patted the man's arm sympathetically. "Try not to worry so much. Bikky's got a strong, healthy body. He'll pull through. You'll see."

Ryo ruffled her hair. "Thanks Carol. I'll see you tonight?"

"Count on it!" Smiling, Carol quietly left the room, clicking the door shut. Dee sprang upon her.

"I want every detail, however grimy."

Carol smirked, "My, my. You've certainly changed your tune. But wait…. I seem to be too dense to recall…" Right eye twitching, Dee pulled out his wallet.

"All right, how much do you want?"

"Twenty."

"Five."

"Fifteen."

"Ten."

"Done!" Taking the ten dollar note from him, Carol leaned in close and whispered, "Ryo's not talking to you because…"

"Because…."

"He's mad at you!" Laughing, the girl ducked from beneath Dee's flailing fists and ran down the corridor.

"Wha? DAMN YOU, WENCH! SWINDLER! I ALREADY KNEW THAT! GIVE ME BACK MY MONEY!" Dee stamped his foot in rage and roared violently.

"QUIET!" An elderly nurse materialized in front of him and clipped him sharply around the head. "This is a hospital, young man. Not some hooligan horse track." Abashed, Dee stared at his shoes.

"Yes Sister. Sorry Sister."

"If this happens again, I'll drag you out by your ears, understand?" The much larger man quailed before the overwhelming aura of the angered Sister.

"No need, I'm taking myself out." Pulling on his coat, Dee shot a look at the closed door of Bikky's room before sauntering out the main entrance. It looked like he'd be eating alone tonight. Damn! And just when he was in the mood for Japanese food, too.

* * *

Humming a tune to herself, Carol unpacked groceries she had just purchased on Ryo's kitchen counter. Tomatoes, cheese, mushrooms, and other assorted vegetables went in the fridge, while she searched for a place to put a bag of dry pasta. Since Bikky was hospitalized two days ago due to food poisoning, Carol had been told where the spare key to Ryo's apartment was, so she could let herself in when she liked. As a surprise, she was attempting to make dinner for her benefactor. He had enough on his mind to worry about. Poor Bikky…Carol bit her lip. Even though it was just a minor medical problem, she couldn't help thinking about her friend, how he would be all alone at night in a huge empty building. The reasoning part of her mind said that he wouldn't be alone. There were night shift nurses who checked on patients all the time. But they weren't the same. Sighing, Carol flopped on the sofa and flicked on the television. Bikky would be out of hospital in a week, surely. All bright eyes and full of perversion- his normal self. She floated indulgently in the memory of their first kiss while channel surfing. So engrossed was she, that she barely heard the front door opening

"Ryo?"

"Hmmm?" A voice mumbled a reply as it moved towards the bedroom.

"I'll start dinner in half an hour or so, kay?"

"Mmmhmm." That was it. Ryo must have been tired from the hospital, so he wanted to take a nap. Carol turned the volume of the TV down. Determined to prove her worth, she set about envisioning plans for her culinary masterpiece, or disaster. One or the other.

* * *

Stumbling out of the elevator, Ryo groped in his overcoat pocket for his keys. He left Bikky's side when the nurses finally convinced him that the teen wouldn't magically spring back to life if he sat and stared at him for long enough. A wonderful cooking smell was drifting through the halls, coming from his apartment? Curious, Ryo let himself in and took off his shoes and dumped his coat and backpack on the floor.

"Carol? You here already?" He wandered into the kitchen where she was setting the table for two.

"Huh? Oh, you're awake Ryo! Good! Dinner's almost ready."

"What are you talking about? I just got home a few minutes ago."

"Don't be stupid. I heard you come in after I had just finished with the groceries. I talked to you!

"Carol…"

"Yes?"

"That wasn't me." The glass Carol was holding slipped from her grasp and shattered on the floor.

"Dear God!" Trying to calm her down, Ryo took a spatula in hand as a weapon and crept towards his bedroom. The door was ajar. A muffled breathing was heard from within. Inch by inch, he tiptoed to the edge of the luxurious bed. The quilt was lumpy shaped. The middle of the lump rose and fell with each breath it took. Steeling himself, Ryo ripped back the covers and mercilessly attacked the assailant in the dark with his kitchen utensil of doom.

"OOUUUUWW! WHAT THE HELL? RYO? WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?" Dee was thrown out of the bed and crashed heavily on the floor.

"DEE?" Ryo kneeled on the mattress, feathers flying around his head. His eyes were wild with disbelieving anger. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN MY APARTMENT?" The dark haired cop faltered for a moment, floundering as he tried to find the right words that would save him from this awkward predicament.

"I came to see how you were holding up, you ungrateful little…and this is the thanks I get?"

"It is usually customary to seek the householder's permission to enter before breaking into their home."

"I didn't break in! I used the spare key hidden in the potted plant!"

"How would you know- forget it. I'm going to sleep now, Dee and when I wake up, you had better be gone." Gripping the spatula tightly, Ryo tromped from the room, leaving his partner sitting bewildered in a cloud of feathers.

Carol's fears that a convict, who liked taking advantage of pretty young girls, was asleep in Ryo's room were dispelled when she saw Dee stagger through the kitchen and slump in a chair at the table.

"Why didn't you say it was you when you came in?" She asked indignantly. The man waved her questions away and put his head in his hands.

"Damn, I could use a drink." Carol poured something red into a glass and handed it to him. "Cordial?" He said skeptically, "What are you, three years old?"

"That or nothing." She replied coolly. "So, I heard some yelling through the walls. Was Ryo rough on you for breaking into his house?"

"I DID NOT break in!" Dee stressed the words.

"Well whatever you call it, it seemed to me that he was pretty upset to find you in there."

Dee did not reply, but instead- gazed at the silverware on the table, his face the picture of misery.

"Are you hungry?" He jumped, startled out of his reverie. "I'm not placing any bets that Ryo will come out and eat the dinner I prepared especially for him, that's all."

"Gee…thanks….I think?" Carol took his plate and dished him up something that was simmering on the stovetop. "What do you call this creation?" He poked the mess with a fork.

"Don't play with it. Just eat. It's a surprise." Resignedly, Dee began to eat. Yeah, the surprise being that I'll be six feet under tomorrow morning… Swilling the rest of his drink, Dee got up to leave.

"Thanks for feeding me, Carol. I appreciate it."

"No worries, but Dee?"

"Yeah?"

"Don't pull another stunt like this again. Ryo's having a hard enough time sitting up with Bikky at the hospital, without you making things difficult."

Dee frowned at her, with an air of adult superiority. Who was she to tell him what to do? "Whatever." Pulling on his coat, he paused in front of the closed door of the room that Ryo was holed up in. His fingers brushed the knob, but he thought the better of it. Well, at least he couldn't hide in there forever. Tomorrow was another working day. He he he.