My apologies. I realise how slow this story is moving, but I plan to wrap it up in about four more chapters after this. I promise not to write too much more about Nami, because i don't want this to seem like an OC fic. I really want this to focus on that loveable whackjob Ryuusei. PLUS following chapters definitely won't be al long! :) Anyway, enough from me, here's your chapter. :)
"So you see, the difference between winning and losing is the blader's spirit. A blader and their bey are more than just competitors in a battle. A Bey's attacks are sourced from the strength of the person who it's connected to. They're partners. Just like Pegasus and I are partners." Ryo says with a smile.
"But how," Nami asks, finally tearing her eyes away from Pegasus. "It's just a spinning top, right?"
"No, no, no, it's much more that a spinning top."
The two fall silent and they can hear nothing more than the soft sound of their shoes on the pavement as they walk along slowly.
Finally, Nami stops in her tracks and holds her arms out wide, Pegasus still in her balled hand. "Well, this is my stop. Home sweet home."
Ryo looks to see a small building. It clearly houses two platforms. The red-bricked exterior is covered in overgrown vines and the windows are frosted over. It's definitely nothing amazing, but for a young girl like Nami, it's a palace in disguise.
"It's not much, but it's enough," she says as she makes her way up the short flight of steps with Ryo hobbling along in tow.
"It's perfect," he whispers under his breath.
Nami bends down and takes off one of her shoes. Ryo merely watches as she retrieves a single key from that same shoe and he decides not to question her as to why exactly she chooses to keep her house key in her shoe. She clicks it into the keyhole, turns it, and pushes the door open.
Beyond the door is a flight of steps that sit to the right of a small room. There's a door on the left wall, and Ryo can see, even in the darkness, that there is another door leading to what is probably the apartment complex's shared back yard.
"Wanna come check my apartment out before you go home?" Nami asks him, craning her neck to meet his eyes. "I feel like I should get you a drink or something. Anything to say thank you."
"It's okay, no need to thank me. Besides, what would your dad say about me coming upstairs. This is the sort of thing parents usually want notice about."
She starts hopping up the stairs anyway. "Oh no, Father's not here."
"He works this late?"
Nami has already reached the second flight of steps that heads in the opposite direction above Ryo. Her head pokes over the railing as she talks to him. "Sometimes he works for days! But that's not what I'm saying. He doesn't live here, only I do."
Somehow managing to climb the steps with his crutches, albeit awkwardly, he asks, "On your own?"
"Just me myself and I."
"If your father's so overprotective, how did you get away with this one?"
"It was his idea. He's overprotective, yes. But he's also very adamant about me growing into a responsible adult. I didn't complain, I was just happy to be able to be independent. Besides, this place is super close to the train station."
When Ryo reaches the top of the second stairs, he see's Nami standing at the end of a hallway that's lined with only a few other doors. There aren't many other residences in the complex, and briefly, Ryo finds himself wondering about the security of the place. Why is he so concerned about Nami all of a sudden?
Again, he watches as she removes her other shoe to collect a second key, and then she unlocks the door to her apartment.
Stepping out onto the balcony that is adorned with well looked after potted plants, he is met with a refreshing scene. It's a piquant view of calm, homely looking houses and it would be hard to believe that the scenery would change to such an industrial one on the other side of the building. The moon is rather large tonight. It hangs much lower than what is usual. Its position is so out of the ordinary that Ryo can't help but notice. Bright yellow lights glow from the windows of other houses and he wonders about the lives of those people. He has always been the sort to catch himself pondering small things like that.
"If we're lucky, the neighbours might start arguing again. They've always got something fun to listen to."
Nami joins him on the balcony with two glasses of strawberry milk in her hands. She meekly hands one to Ryo and says, "I hope you like strawberry because I don't buy regular milk. This is all I've got."
"No problem. You eavesdrop on your neighbours?"
"Don't kid yourself. Everybody's guilty of eavesdropping and they're so loud that it's impossible to block it out. Besides, it gets pretty boring around here sometimes."
Understanding, Ryo nods. He then has to double take as the redheaded girl chugs the whole glass of milk down in one gulp. She grins up at his surprised eyes and asks if he'd like dinner.
Without waiting for a reply, she leads him inside to her kitchen and busies herself heating a drizzle of oil in a frying pan. She sets a chopping board, knife, a head of lettuce and a few tomatoes on the bench in front of Ryo and tells him to get to work. He does.
As he chops away, he decides to make conversation. "Do you always bring in strangers off the street?" It's a trivial question, but there is definite concern behind his jokey tone.
"You're no stranger. I know your name, you know mine."
"That doesn't sound very convincing."
Nami goes to her refrigerator and retrieves a stack of beef patties. There must be no less than twenty individual patties, and this number prompts Ryo to ask another question.
"You expecting company?"
"Nope. Just you."
"Why so many patties then? Surely, we won't eat that much…"
"Five each, two patties to a bun. Sounds good to me."
"Two patties to a bun, huh?" He ignores the staggering number of five burgers each.
"Sure, having just one feels like missing out. I bet you could even triple the beef, but there's not enough patties to do that." She almost seems upset.
Ryo shrugs and goes back to chopping. He listens as Nami splatters the slabs of processed meat into the pan, and then he hears her squeal in pain. He flings his body around and practically leaps across the kitchen like he is the star of a broadway ballet show.
"Nami, are you alright!"
She holds up her index finger, lips pouted. "I'm fine but I burnt myself on the pan…"
He puts an arm around her shoulders and ushers her over to the sink where he runs some cold water, grabs her arm, and holds her hand under the tap.
"Here, you need to run some cold water on it. It'll stop the stinging…" he says without meeting her eyes. His face is twisted with concern.
Nami looks at him, her eyes soft and yet questioning. They flitter from one feature to the next, just watching. "This is kind of cute, you know."
"What's cute, you burning yourself?" his voice breaks as he laughs.
Nami doesn't share his humour. Her tone is as smooth as ever. "No, you. You're cute."
Ryo's eyelids snap back and he pulls away like he himself has been burnt. He goes back to chopping the rest of the tomatoes. He changes the subject immediately. "You should be more careful."
She sighs, turns off the tap and continues on with cooking the meat all the while feeling a slight bit stung by Ryo's reaction to her small advance towards him.
Over dinner, Ryo and Nami exchange some small talk. Nami tells him humorous incidents that she has been witness to involving Mr. Tendo and she tells him more about her father. Apparently, the girl never knew her mother, and her father refused to tell her where she went. Then, because Ryo himself was unable to stomach a whole five double beef hamburgers, she finished off his leftovers along with her own. He doesn't speak much about himself at all, yet he's comfortable with that. He doesn't yet know why, but everything Nami says about herself, he etches into his brain. He wants to know everything about the girl who sits opposite him. He already knows that she has a stomach the size of a small country.
Then, he helps her pull a mattress out onto the balcony. She lies down, wraps herself in a blanket that depicts small cartoon ladybugs and invites Ryo to lay next to her. He declines and opts to sit on the tiled flooring next to her.
"Ryuusei, I've been talking about myself all night. Tell me about your life. What are your parents like?"
He had a feeling that question was coming...
"You don't wanna listen to me, it's pretty boring."
She rolls over and rests her head on her arm, looking at him with stern conviction. "Well, if I didn't I wouldn't have asked."
Filling his lungs with air, he stares up at the night sky. He decides that he can tell her about some of his life.
"My parents are dead," he states blankly.
Nami props herself up on her elbow. "Oh gee, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to, I always ask the worst questions." She starts slamming her palm into her forehead softly. Ryo grabs her wrist to stop her and gives her a quick half-smile before letting go.
"It's okay. I don't really care..."
"Huh?"
"I don't care. They weren't parents to me. My father never wanted me... He'd tell me I was stupid, that I might as well give up now because I would never go anywhere in life. So, he took me out of school and made me work for him."
"Ryuusei, you're not stupid at all. I bet you could be real successful one day. You could even own your own company. You have that ambition, I can already tell. I'm picturing you behind a desk in a flashy suit. You'd have a pretty assistant, and everyone would go to you for guidance. I can see it now." She stares off into nothingness, actually envisioning the scene she has just described.
He pauses, and Nami looks back to him, wondering why he has stopped talking.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing, nothing." He doesn't dare tell her that he is fighting back a tear because he hasn't heard someone say something like that to him since his grandfather passed.
"Continue, I want to know more..."
He nods.
"My mother was so wrapped up in her own business that she never took any time to know me. I know that sounds selfish, but growing up, you kind of need a mother, don't you?"
Nami nods. Unfortunately, she is able to understand him completely.
"Sometimes, she'd tell me she hated me too, because ever since she had me, my father stopped paying attention to her. They were always fighting. Always. My sister used to look out for me, but then she got a boyfriend and forgot about me... Then one night, Mother was driving Father home from work. I wasn't there because I had to stay and work late, but I'd heard them arguing in the car before they left. They were fighting about me again. Of course. Mother wanted me home to help with dinner, but father needed me to finish up at work. When I got home, my sister was crying. Her boyfriend was there. I asked what was wrong, and she told me that our parents had an accident. She blamed me. Her boyfriend felt sorry for me, I could see the sympathy in his eyes. I'll never forget it."
"Ryuusei..."
"It's okay," he repeats. "Like I said, they were never there when I needed them. The only one from my past who I can honestly say I loved and who loved me back, was my grandfather. He died too, I cried over him for months."
"You miss him a lot, don't you?" She knows this because of the sadness she can hear in his voice as his last sentence trails off.
"Every day. Every single day."
Silence surrounds them as a gentle breeze blows through the balcony, causing the leaves of the pot plants to dance around as though they have come to life.
"Do you happen to know of a place called Koma Village?"
"Koma Village? You sure that's even a place? I've spent so much time studying Geography, and I've never even heard of it?"
"That doesn't surprise me. Grandfather said it was secret. He would go there every few months and stay for weeks, none of us knew what he was doing. He brought back Pegasus from there on one occasion."
When no such reply falls on his ears, he glances over and finds that Nami has fallen asleep. Smiling, he picks her up in his arms. She is of average size, but because Ryo is so big, he feels like he is holding a small child and it almost causes his sore ankle no angst. He places her on her sofa, not wanting to enter her bedroom, and tucks her into her blanket tightly. He checks every door and window, making sure all the locks are working, and then he goes to leave. In his hand, he holds the crutches. Just as he lays his free hand on the doorknob, he hears Nami talk in her sleep. He can't understand the soft murmuring and unintelligible language of dreams, but when he hears her mutter his name, he cannot help but feel his heart swell with something he is not sure he has ever felt before.
He leaves the apartment, and instead of going back to the train station, he lets the night hours pass him by as he walks aimlessly in the city streets. A million things run through his mind, but for the first time, his thoughts are peaceful ones.
The sun is a mere half hour away from fully exposing itself, and the train station is set in the blue filter of pre-dawn light. Night shift workers are finally making their way home, and very few others are making their way to work, but Ryo stands in front of Mr. Tendo's Kiosk with a determined expression. He even bids a good morning to some of the people who pass him, and to his surprise, they show no hesitation in returning his greeting.
Out of seemingly nowhere, comes a voice Ryo has grown to love. "Boy, don't you sleep? What you doin' here so early? And your ankles better, I see."
"Mr. Tendo! Good Morning! Thank you for lending me these," he passes him the crutches he no longer needs. "I feel like I can get around without them, now."
"That's what I like to hear."
Ryo stalls, but then he blurts out, "There's something I want to ask you."
Tendo unlocks his kiosk door and ushers Ryo in before him. He begins setting up shop and tells Ryo to ask away.
"See Sir, I was wondering if you could hire me. As a hand, you know? I could help you with a lot of things around here, and you wouldn't need to pay me much at all. I just desperately need work, and-"
Tendo stops, puts his hands on his hip and stares at Ryo with a sly smile. "You wanna job so you can impress Nami, don't you? You wanna buy her things."
He's a wise one, that old Mr. Tendo. A wise one indeed.
"Ryo rubs the back f his neck. "Sorta..."
"Well, I'm all for you workin' here. But even though you're old enough, I'm gonna need your parent's consent."
Uh-oh.
Ryo decides to come clean. "Sir, I-"
"I'm an old-fashioned sort."
"I don't really-"
"Like to make sure it's okay with the parents before I take any kids on board. I know it's somethin' I'd like to know, if my-"
"Mr. Tendo. Sir!"
He glances up at Ryo, paused mid sentence.
"I don't have any parents. Matter of fact, I don't have a home. I sleep in the fifth train bay from here. Please, just don't tell Nami..."
Please excuse any typos or mistakes that might be in there. I'm in a bit of a rush this morning and had to push this out before I leave.
Thanks for reading, guys. You're awesome! :)