Or Promises and Lies- Chapter 7
It was a frozen paradise. Trees were capped with white hats and boughs of snow. All was still. The animals from the flighty bird to the burrowing shrews were gone. One was gone to a far land, flying, while the other was deep underground, slumbering. It was cold. Icicles adorned various things, acting as natural ornaments, tinkling in the breathy wind. They glistened in the late afternoon sun.
Light pieces of white fluttered down from the blank sky to land gently and delicately onto their destination point. They were the carriages and the wind their horse. The ground was covered with them, like a giant, soft blanket.
R.R. stood outside staring up into the sky, his breath puffing visibly into the air. It was finally snowing. He outstretched a hand and watched the snowflakes land on his palm, only to melt into clear water. He smiled as he remembered a certain green-haired witch's words to him, inspired by the very spectacle happening before his eyes. He was still as he reminisced his past. Her voice echoed in his mind.
"Lelouch…" Then, there was another voice, this time for real.
"R.R.!" Suzaku called. R.R. had a statement on his lips, about to correct the boy about his name, but then remembered when and where he was. A hand went to his neck and he traced an invisible slice on the pale skin.
He gasped in a breath of air as a snowball was thrown at his head. Some stray clumps slithered down his jack and shirt. He instantly arched his back and wrung his shirt out, trying to get the freezing snow out. After he had gotten rid of the cold substance, he could still feel the icy feeling remain on his back. He turned around to glare at the perpetrator. Suzaku's grinning face looked back at him from behind a thick hat and scarf.
"I got you!" R.R. quickly scooped a handful of snow and compressed it. Then, he whipped his arm around. The boy screeched his face was suddenly filled with the white fluffiness. He pouted and grabbed his hat from where it had fall upon impact. "I'll get you back for that." R.R. just laughed back at him silently.
The two threw snowballs at each other relentlessly, trying to beat their companion in the frigid cold. Their faces were alight with innocent laughter as they dodged, scooped, and threw. As if sharing their happiness, snow swirled around them, dancing merrily to a melody and song only they knew.
Finally, R.R. and Suzaku eventually ran out of energy and collapsed to the soft ground. Surrounding them was countless footprints and trussed up snow. It looked like it was a battleground of war, which was wat it was of course. Habitually, they linked hands.
"That was fun!" Suzaku giggled.
'It was.' R.R. agreed. 'We should do this again sometime.' The boy made a positive sounding sound. They lay on the ground like this for some while until Suzaku spoke up.
"R.R.?" he asked.
'Yes?' The boy fidgeted a little uncomfortably.
"We'll be friends together, forever right? We'll never forget each other?" R.R. paused for a moment, his hand tightening. "R.R.?" The man smiled sadly, but Suzaku didn't see the expression from his position on the ground.
'Of course,' he said, his chest tightening at his lie. They elapsed into silence again. This time, R.R. was the one who started to talk.
'Suzaku, may I ask a question?' Suzaku nodded.
"Okay." There was a pause.
'Do you know why the snow is white?' R.R. whispered quietly. 'Do you know why it's the color it is?' Suzaku tipped his head and shook his head.
"I haven't really thought about it. Why?" The man lifted a corner of his mouth in a faint smile.
'Oh, I don't know.' He breathed. 'Why don't you try and guess?' Suzaku kicked the snow in frustration.
"I don't know why!" R.R. smiled.
'Patience,' he chided, eyes twinkling in amusement. 'Patience, my dear little Suzie-chan. If you don't wait, how will you achieve anything in the end? How does a crane receive its meal everyday? By waiting time and again. By being patient, you can do almost anything and get anything you desire.' After hearing this statement, Suzaku fell silent.
A few minutes later he asked, "Was that long enough?" R.R. tried to hold in his laughter, but couldn't. Laughter flooded the boy's mind. Suzaku frowned. "I fail to see how this is so funny." The man changed positions and turned over so he was on his front.
'You've been around me too often. You're starting to even talk like me.' With a terrified look, Suzaku clapped his hand around his mouth hastily. His eyes were wide.
"I don't want to talk like you! You're old!" he mumbled, but snapped his mouth shut, worried he had offended his friend. He needn't have worried. R.R. was the exactly opposite. The man's mouth crinkled upwards.
'That is correct Suzaku. I am old, older than you could even imagine.' He said with an unusual tone. Suzaku lowered his hand when he realized R.R. wasn't going to be upset with him anytime soon. He nodded thoughtfully, interpreting the statement his own way.
"Yeah, being eighteen is pretty old. I can't imagine what I'll be like when I'm that old! Will I be tall? Short? I don't want to be a mean person…" He trailed off, thinking about his future self. R.R. smiled.
'I know you'll be just fine when you're older.' Suzaku shifted his eyes to look at the man.
"How are you so sure everything?" To Suzaku's despair, as always when asked this particular type of question, R.R. just got that mysterious smile again and remained silent outwardly and inwardly both, putting a finger across his lips in a shushing gesture. The boy sighed and sat up. "We should be getting back." R.R. nodded, stood straight, and helped the other up.
Together, they made their way back to the house. Along the way they had started a game of chase and started down the path. Suzaku laughed loudly as he tackled R.R. around the legs. They tumbled to the ground and there was a small, audible popping sound. R.R. winced at the noise. Suzaku immediately got up, worried.
"Are you okay, R.R.?" he asked. "That sounded bad. Where is it?" The man just held up his wrist. It looked odd, and sideways for some reason. The boy raised a hand curiously. R.R. let him, not showed the slightest note of pain on his face. Suzaku poked and prodded the joint. He wiggled the joint up and down without that much trouble. In his opinion, it seemed fine, even if it was a little off in place. He decided to fix that and grasped firm holds on the hand and arm, but was stopped by R.R.
'I'll do that.' The man gently moved Suzaku's hands off his arm and braced the dislocated wrist against the ground. He pushed, and the joint popped back into its socket. The boy jumped at the noise.
"Doesn't it hurt when you do that? It sounds like it." R.R. just smiled and motioned that they should hurry back to the house.
Once safely out of the cold, the two stripped out of their wet clothes and stepped into a hot bath. They both sighed as the hot water eased away any remaining icy fingers in their bodies.
"R.R.?" Suzaku said to begin a conversation. The man cracked open eye in response. Taking the sign as a positive one, the boy continued. "What happened back there?" R.R. reached for his hand to reply.
'Back when? The snowball fight?' The man asked feigning ignorance, stalling. He was hoping the boy would drop the topic. He wishes weren't heard.
Suzaku huffed in annoyance. He knew the other was sure of what he had meant. He held up a wrist and wiggled it back and forth.
"This. When you're wrist went all funny." R.R. acted surprised, his face conveying shock.
'Oh, why didn't you say so earlier?' Suzaku gave him a look, raising an eyebrow. The man almost laughed at the serious expression the boy was giving him. Almost. 'Alright, alright, my wrist had a minor dislocation. Happy?'
"What's a 'minor dies-loc-ectshun?" R.R.'s eyes shone at the pronunciation, but other than that, there was no sign of his mirth.
'It's dis-lo-ca-tion, Suzie-chan, dis-lo-ca-tion.' The boy tried to say the word again, his mouth working on saying the new, foreign word.
"Des-lo-cet-shun?" He tried, he face cutely scrunching up.
'No, dis-lo-ca-tion.' R.R. patiently coached Suzaku how to say the long word.
"Des-lect-at-on?"
'Try again. Dis-lo-ca-tion.' Idly, R.R. wondered how Suzaku managed to butcher up a normal word in an unnatural way. It must be his younger age, he thought. The Suzaku he met when he was ten did not have problems like this.
"Dis-lecto-ca-shun?" R.R. just shook his head. "Desl-e-ku-shun? Dis-le-kee-shun?" There was a shake of the head. Suzaku was beginning to get frustrated at the word. "Dis-la-ki-tion? Dis-lo-ca-tion? Dis-le-ca-tion?" He shot out quickly.
'Yes.' R.R. said suddenly. 'That's right.' Suzaku frowned.
"Dis-le-ca-tion?" R.R. shook his head again.
'No,' he said. 'It was the one before that one. Dis-lo-ca-tion." Suzaku took a deep breath.
"Dis-lo-ca-tion? Dislocation? Is that right?" R.R. smiled.
'That's right. Try it again now, just to make sure.'
"Dislocation!" He looked to the man for confirmation. When he received it, he grinned. "Dislocation, dislocation, dislocation, dislocation."
Suzaku jumped out of the bath, happily repeating the new word he had learned.
"Dislocation, dislocation, dislocation." He chattered. He loved the sound. He loved how he hissed between his teeth for the 'dis', how he could feel his tongue twist for the 'lo', how the air sounded in the back of his mouth for the 'ca', and how his lips moved to made the last part of the word, 'tion'. It was fun!
He dried himself off and changed clothes. He said a brief goodbye to R.R., and left the bathroom.
Suzaku was bounding happily down a hall, while chanting his newly discovered word in different tones. First, he tried a high one, and then a low one. After those, a mixture between the two was said and he giggled. He tried experimenting with different pitches.
"Dislocation, dislocation, dislocation…."
Then, he was struck with a sudden thought. Even though he knew how to say the word, he didn't know what it meant. He stopped to think. R.R. was still in the bath, so he shouldn't ask him. He didn't really want to ask Jiro, the bodyguard was a little mean, and scary to be honest. Toudou-sensei was probably busy doing something or other, and wouldn't appreciate being bothered. Chika-chan was also busy working around the house, but she probably wouldn't mind.
Suzaku smiled and began looking for the maid. He found her in the study room dusting the shelves off. She was humming gently under her breath, moving the duster back and forth.
"Chika-chan, I have a question for you!" he said. Chika didn't turn around, instead reaching up for a particularly high shelf on her tip-toes.
"Yes, Suzaku?" she asked, sneezing a little as dust went up her nose. "What is it?"
"What does 'dislocation' mean?" the maid raised an eyebrow, rubbing her nose.
"Where did you hear that?" Suzaku giggled.
"R.R. said that's what happened to him when we fell on the ice! But he did something to it so it's all okay now. It didn't look like it hurt a lot." Chika's expression suddenly grew worried.
"Are you sure he said it was a dislocation? And where was it?" Suzaku nodded, no knowing the concern the maid was feeling at his words.
"Yes! R.R. taught me how to say 'dislocation' so it has to be right, and it was on his wrist." He raised said joint and pointed to it. Then he added something else as an afterthought. "It did look a little funny though, being unstraight and all" Chika absentmindedly corrected the boy's word usage habitually as she put her feather duster down carefully.
"'Unstraight' is not a word, Suzaku-sama. Now, where is R.R.? I need to ask him something." Suzaku smiled and led her to the bathroom where he was previously. Luckily for the two, R.R. had just finished dressing. He blinked, surprised at the two's sudden appearance. Chika crossed her arms.
"What is this I hear about a dislocated wrist?" The boy tugged at her sleeve and whispered to correct her. "It's dislocation, Chika-chan." The maid ignored him for the time being. She held a hand out. "Give it to me and the frying pan will stay in the kitchen." R.R. stubbornly didn't give her his 'injured' wrist. Inwardly, his thoughts were racing.
He shouldn't have told Suzaku what it really was. He should've said was just a scratch, or something. He cursed at himself for his foolishness and lack of insight. He should've seen this coming. He wryly smiled in his mind. Suzaku's curiosity always did prove to throw an extra variable into his plans, a monkey wrench if you will.
Now having successfully calmed himself, R.R. began to think up a plan to get out of this situation. Multiple plans ran across his mind at a fast pace, but none of them suited his tastes exactly. Knocking out Chika and Suzaku would cause further unaffordable complications in the future. Saying he lied to Suzaku wasn't such a good idea either. The boy wouldn't take it well. It would leave a bad impression of him to Suzaku, the 'lie' appearing to have been from a mere whim. He also didn't think dislocating his wrist again would go unnoticed. What was he to do?
Suddenly, his eyes widened. He just had an idea! He mentally checked it over for any errors two times, but found none. It was foolproof! In his mind, it was all laid out neatly for him. All he had to do was initiate it. Everyone would do the rest for him, like a chain of events. He smiled disarmingly and prepared to put his plan in action.
Unfortunately or fortunately, depending how you viewed it, he never got to even start it. His hastily, but carefully constructed plan fell to piece in front of him right before his eyes. And it was all because of one man's untimed arrival.
"Chika, Suzaku, R.R., what are you all doing in front of the bathroom?" Toudou demanded. His entryway to the said room was blocked by the three people. R.R. panicked and waved his arms in front of him, unrealistically willing the man to return to where he had come from. It didn't work.
Chika used this opportunity to snatch one of R.R.'s wrists with a successful cry as Suzaku exclaimed to the man in surprise.
"Ah, Toudou-sensei!" The boy brightened up with a thought. He could ask his sensei what 'dislocation' meant. Chika-chan didn't tell him… Though from her reaction, it didn't seem like a nice thing. Actually, it seemed very bad. "Do you know what 'dislocation' means?"
R.R. stifled a groan when he heard the question. If there any hope that he could execute his previously made plan, there was none now. It was ripped to pieces brutally like a thin piece of paper.
Toudou's expression was a variation of surprised and stoic.
"Dislocation?" he asked. "Why do you want to know? Did something happen?" Suzaku grinned, not knowing the turmoil and horror R.R. was feeling right now with every word he said. He nodded.
"Yeah! R.R. said he had a 'dislocation'!" Chika nodded in agreement and showed the tutor the wrist she caught.
"Here, you check it." She said, holding the arm forward. Toudou accepted the offered appendage, careful not to jostle it.
"Is this true, R.R.?" He asked as he tested the mobility of the joint, searching for any negative reaction from R.R. The man shook his head. Suzaku's face fell. Toudou's grip on his wrist tightened.
"But that's what you said!" He cried, his eyes tearing. R.R. tried knelt down and wiped the tears away soothingly. He smiled.
'What? Little Suzie-chan is crying? Who would've thought? Can't you take a joke? Chika got the wrong wrist. Remember? I dislocated my right one, not my left.' He held up his other wrist. 'It was this one. Not the one Toudou has right now and is squeezing the life out of. Do you think you tell him that? That he has the wrong wrist?'
Suzaku dried his tears, almost laughing at himself. Now that he looked back on it. Crying over such a small matter seemed so childish now. He didn't want to act like and be treated like a small child anymore. He looked R.R. straight in the eye, but something seemed different in that look than the ones in the past. It was more… mature. In it were a strong will of steel and power.
"I'm not going to cry! I'm older now. My name is Suzaku Kururugi and my father is the Prime Minister of Japan! It's not Suzaku-sama, Suzie-chan, or just Suzaku. It's Suzaku Kururugi! One day the whole world will know my name and respect it!"
R.R. smiled, feeling the emotion pride swell in his chest at the boy. Perhaps this was the change he had been waiting for. The Suzaku he met in forest was Suzaku, but wasn't the Suzaku he knew from when he was ten. Now looking at the boy in front of him, something seemed to lock in place with a resounding thud.
The world wouldn't know what hit them, but first could he have his wrist back?
Yay! Chapter 6 is up! I had lots of fun writing Suzaku's learning of 'dislocation'. And now he's all grown up! /sniff sniff/ Lol. Please tell me if you have any comments, suggestions, or found any errors here.
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Shini