Chapter 6:

After lunch, Usa promptly deposited the two of us on the "Tube" with Oyster cards, and sent us off to see the Tower of London.

"I have to practice," she explained as we walked into the busy fray that was the London Underground station.

"Can't you come along with us?" I asked, disappointed. "We haven't seen you in ages. Besides, you can take a day off, right? You don't have classes today, right?"

"That is beside the point," she answered crisply. "The neverending circle that is piano practice must whirl on. You must be aching for it too, right?"

"True," Ryou said thoughtfully. "Mind if I have a go when we get back?"

I rubbed the tips of my left hand fingers and was surprised that in even in the last few days of hectic activity, the callouses were starting to wear smooth. "Ne, can we practice together?" I asked.

"Sure," they answered simultaneously.

"Not at the same time," I covered up a slight grin. "Unless you want to try."

"Pass," again simultaneously.

The two of them immediately proceeded to burn imaginary holes through each other's foreheads with acidic glares.

"Okay. You've got the map I gave you?" Usa, dismissing him loftily, asked. Ryou nodded. "If you could find your way to my apartment from Heathrow airport, getting back from the Tower should be a piece of cake. Oh, and if you feel like it, I would recommend looking out over the Thames from the bridge, too. It's very romantic," with a sly wink at me.

"How would you know?" Ryou chimed in. "What guy would get close enough to you for you to know?"

"Um...let's go get the train," I said hurriedly, as Usa opened her mouth to respond. Quickly, before these two get started again! Sigh. Ryou was awfully immature around Usa.

The blazing neon glare of advertisements greeted us everywhere, posters neatly lining the escalators descent, huge panels emblazoned with movies and beer plastering the sides of the walls at the bottom. The sound of someone playing jazz saxophone rang down the halls from where the player free-spiritedly gave nods to passers-by who dropped off bulky worthless change into his case.

As we entered the train, I couldn't help but gape around at the variety of ethnicities that crowded the tiny chamber. The train we'd taken into London early that morning had been practically abandoned, but now, as morning peak hour started, I found my elbow jabbing into the purse of a black-hooded Muslim woman, and my nose inches from the backpack of an Indian man, talking on his cell. Different looks; different clothing, different speech. Even if you'd run a Japanese subway train through a kaleidoscope, it wouldn't have had this much variety.

Ryou's face was more or less impassive as he cast a guarded gaze around and held his arm around my shoulders protectively. "Watch your pockets," he reminded me.

"I know," I whispered back.

I'd been through this before...and yet it was still so different.

Perhaps what made it most different of all was whom I was with. I didn't know if I should enjoy his company more or not...but guiltily, I had to admit...

I missed doing this with Len.

.

"You're such a girl."

"Eh?" I looked up from where I had been absorbed by the fascinating rainbow glitter of the diamond tiara of Queen Victoria. "That's obvious...but why are you saying that now?"

He sighed, watching my gaze float along with the tiara as the moving floor whisked us by. "You headed straight for the Crown Jewels. Didn't you want to visit the chapel or the dungeons first?"

"I dunno...I guess...our time is limited, so I thought we'd come see the main thing first," I said confusedly. "Oh look! It's the First Star of Africa! OMG, it's so huge!"

He chuckled slightly as I tried to shift in vain as it passed. The crowd of people behind us prevented me. I had a sudden vision of the lines tracing a domino pattern out the vault and into the half-hour wait line outside.

"It's so beautiful..." I gushed, quickly losing interest as Queen Elizabeth's coronation crown passed into view. "Ahh...the Mountain of Light! Ooh...shiny..."

"You really like diamonds?" he asked with a surprised glance.

"What girl doesn't?" I said happily. "Diamonds mean romance, and getting engaged, and marriage, and..."

"You know originally not all engagement rings were diamonds."

"Eh?"

"The diamond engagement ring became popular in the 1920's as a result of the Dubiers company. I think I'd prefer to give a girl a ring with a little more color," he added thoughtfully, gazing at the passing Orb, divided by pearls.

"You think about these things ahead of time?" I mentioned curiously.

"Mm hm," he answered absentmindedly, his hand searching around a bit at his side before finding mine and holding onto it tightly.

I swallowed hard to keep the butterflies from flying out of my mouth. Even Len had never gone this far in implications. Ryou and I had barely even kissed, and he was already mentioning stuff like this. The two of them were like fire and ice, so completely different.

"Show's over," he said suddenly, as we reached the end of the moving floor.

"Aww...can't we do it again?" I asked, disappointed and sneaking a glance back as the shuffle of people around us jostled us forward.

"No."

"Pwease?"

"No. Besides, I was hoping to see the organ recital at Westminster Abbey this evening. I want to make sure we have time, so we need to keep moving."

We emerged outdoors and were slammed with the bright afternoon light. The cobbled pavement was full of people moving quickly to their various tourist highlight targets, and above the buzz of foreign tongues, beyond the high grey stone walls that layered intricately, protecting the forbidding square building in the middle, I could very faintly hear the din of London traffic, the sound of a jack hammer pounding on a construction sight, the lonely blast of a freight ship pulling along the Thames.

I stifled a yawn and shrugged off the sleepiness that was threatening to creep up on me. Though the flight over had been uneventful enough to catch a good amount of sleep, normal travel exhaustion was laying its familiar hands on my shoulders.

"You okay?" I asked Ryou, who had circles under his eyes, too.

"Yeah." He shrugged. "You're holding up well."

"I've done this before. You?"

"To tell you the truth, this is the first time I've been outside Japan," he told me. "I'd already broken my ankle by the time the soccer team at school went to Australia."

"Do you like it?" I asked him. "Traveling? London?"

"Mm...I don't know about the traveling bit, but London is...nice." He smiled. "Alive. It's fun."

I wasn't sure if I agreed with him yet but...it was nice to see him having fun anyway. It seemed like it had been awhile.

.

"Beautiful."

"Yeah, it is." I gazed out at the sun, starting its westward descent, casting blinding glints off the ripples of the ever-moving Thames. The tall, clustered spires of the Tower Bridge rose immeasurably high in front of us, guarding the river.

"Wasn't talking about the scenery." He nudged me and smiled, drawing my wandering gaze to his eyes.

"I'd thank you, but that was really corny," I said flatly, nudging him back.

He laughed softly at me and turned from the rail to face me fully. "You're spoiled, you know? What, is this Tsukimori's fault?"

His face immediately said he realized his blunder. "Sumanai..." he mumbled bashfully. "I said that before I thought."

I can't help but forgive you when you look like that. "It's not a big deal," I shrugged, trying to convince myself it was true.

His expression was changing, now, from penitence to purpose. "What?" I finally asked, noting he was starting to lean forward a bit.

"Front, Center was right. This bridge is romantic."

I have a feeling I know why he's leaning forward...Like a mouse under the shadow of an owl, I stood petrified, unable to turn away from his gaze.

I want you to kiss me, here, now. I don't want you to kiss me. Just do it quickly so that I can quell this uneasy feeling! But I feel so guilty because...you've been with me all day long, and I've been thinking of Len...

"Relax," he murmured, his bang brushing against my forehead as he grasped my shoulders gently and tugged me closer. "I like you so much, Kaho...can you return that for me, just a bit?"

"Not here," I gasped, my brain whirling. "There are...so many people here...I'm embarrassed..."

In the end I chickened out. What's with the excuses, Kahoko? You want it as much as he does.

"Ah, I see." He accepted it easily and pulled back. "Sorry. I shouldn't have pressured you. You're right. Those guys over there are watching us. It's a bit creepy."

"It's fine..." No it's not! Yes it is! Make up your mind already, Kahoko!

The Thames was beginning to glow orange, except where bright spots of white wavered along the shores, as evenly spaced as the street lights above. The light lent extra softness to his face, covering the hardness of his carved cheekbones and jaw, muting the intensity of his gaze.

"We should get going," I said at last. "You wanted to see the organ recital..."

"It's probably over already," he told me, looking at his watch. "I wanted to watch the sun go down with you here, so I lost track of time."

"Back to Usa's apartment?"

"Yeah. I'm definitely hitting the sack early tonight."

.

"I don't hear her in there."

"Me neither. She should be pounding away at that keyboard, right?"

"Did she leave?"

"The door's unlocked." Ryou tested the door knob and pushed it just an inch open. "Maybe she left it open for us?"

"Should we wait for her?"

He gave me a grin. "Weren't you the one who said 'Not here' on the bridge? Isn't this a good opportunity to be alone?"

...Oh geez. That's what you're thinking about? "Um..."

"I'm kidding, kidding. C'mon, she wouldn't want us to wait outside."

"Yeah..." I conceded, and the two of us were silent for a moment, regarding the door to Usa's apartment.

Ryou finally cleared his throat. "Shall we?"

I opened the door, and as I did so, I hit something on the floor.

"Ow."

We stepped inside to see a dazed and mildly surprised looking Usa, lying on the floor and blinking up at the ceiling.

"What are you doing down there?" I asked her, mystified.

"Was practicing. Now on floor. What time is it?"

"Half past seven. You're going to hurt yourself someday, you know."

"Shuddup." She grunted and pushed herself up onto her elbows. Ryou reached down to give her a hand.

"You okay?" he asked as he pulled her up and steadied her.

"Fine. Just spinny and wobbly." She wended her way back to the piano bench.

"You seriously should be more careful," he chided her. She responded with a raspberry and, "Did you guys bring back food by any chance? I'm starving."

Ryou held up the bag of fast food we'd bought on the way back. "Are you good with French food?"

She regarded it suspiciously. "As long as it doesn't have truffles in it. Jacques has been trying to convert me to truffles. Says it's 'refined' to like them."

"Hardly." The three of us made a picnic on the floor and divided the goods.

"Whatcha been working on today?" Ryou asked her as he bit into a hard croissant with ham and cheese.

She reached up onto the piano and handed him the score. "Ravel. It's a beast."

"Why?" I asked curiously. "Ryou and I did 'Pavane por une infant defunct' a little awhile ago. I thought it was really nice, slow and peaceful and open sounding."

"Because." She drew herself up importantly. I could practically read "music theory lesson" on her forehead. "Ravel was innovative with harmony during his time. It's very easy to memorize pieces by Beethoven or Schubert or even Chopin, because they mainly stick to standard chord progressions. But Ravel has the tendency to creep into chords typical of jazz arrangements and..."

"You don't seem to have a problem with Debussy," Ryou noted, cutting in. "He's just as innovative, you know."

"Well, yeah, but Debussy tends to stick with patterns that are fairly readable, like quartel and quintel chords, and when he does strange chord progressions, he tends to follow a certain interval, like minor thirds or tritones..."

"You're just making excuses for not being good at Ravel..."

"I'd like to hear you try it, you..."

As I watched the two of them dissolve into the sort of music-theory jargon squabble that would be represented in anime as a bunch of kazoos going at each other, I allowed myself a little smile.

It was the most Ryou-ish I'd seen Ryou in months. Perhaps what I'd been assuming was sullenness due to not being able to play soccer was what Ichi had said: Ryou needed competition.

At that, I began to feel a little guilty that here he'd always been trying to pull me up, in music, in academics, in everything, really, when what he needed was a reason to work ridiculously hard, someone to have debates with.

Why am I not that person? Am I holding him back?

As Usa quickly began to lose her assumed cool and allowed herself to raise her voice in that super bossy voice of hers, Ryou rose to the occasion and sat back lazily against the piano bench with the self-satisfied smirk that drove her even more mad. He simply waited and nodded sarcastically at various intervals, until I wondered if she'd get pissed off enough to actually hit him.

The anime-ish thought of Ryou flying through the ceiling and Usa chasing after him in hot pursuit changed the little smile.

Giggle.

"Eh?" The two of them stopped with the suddenness of a hummingbird in midair and turned to face me with shocked looks on their face. The sight made me allow the giggle into a full-on laugh.

And like helium escaping from a balloon, it all exploded forth at once.

After an awkward moment, they joined me. The French food was forgotten as the three of us let loose and held our sides with laughter.

"I don't remember the last time I heard you laugh, Kaho," Ryou said when our giggles finally subsided and we found ourselves flat on our backs, staring at the ceiling. He smiled and reached over to grab my hand. "I love your laugh. It's like wind chimes."

Was it just me, or did Usa just tsk?

I let out a long sigh. My long-neglected laugh muscles were starting to hurt. Suddenly I felt sleepy.

"Hmm...I could seriously fall asleep right here." I closed my eyes contentedly.

"Ah. Good point. Shoot, who gets the bed?" Usa asked seriously. "I have a sleeping bag, but..."

"Ryou, you can take the bed," I told him. "It would be awkward if you had to share the floor with either of us."

"No way. I will not allow that under any condition," Usa said firmly. "No way I want him to sleep in my bed. On the floor he goes."

"Don't treat him like a dog, Usa. Anyway, he's fine with it, right, Tsuchiura?" I had a sudden evil vein pop up in my head. I do love tormenting my old roommate. "You didn't have a problem with Usa's bed back in my dorm room a couple of days ago."

Ryou shuddered slightly. "That was...different..."

"Wait." The two of us looked up at Usa, who had gotten up and was towering and glowering over us. She shot me a look laced with strychnine. "You. Let him sleep in my bed?"

Oh yes. That's the nice disgusted look I was hoping for. Gorgeous, Usa.

"It's not like it's your bed anymore," I said dismissively.

"Even so, since you don't have a roommate this semester...him being the first to use it after me is just...twitch" So saying, she proceeded to actually twitch. That was fun. I kind of want to do it again.

"And besides that he..." I began.

"Too much, Kaho." Ryou tapped me in the forehead. "Let her be, poor thing."

Usa's eyes flashed a warning signal of gruesome fates that would accompany Ryou to the gates of Hades if he dared to call her "poor thing" again.

"In any case, we're still stuck with the question of who's sleeping where," he continued. "I'd suggest I go over to stay with your gay friend, but on second thought...um, no."

She shrugged. "I'll camp out on the piano bench. It's my kitchen table, my lounge chair, my desk...Why don't you guys share the bed?"

Ryou blushed heavily and shot up to a standing position. "Um, we're not really comfortable with that..." I offered, blushing as well. Usa raised an eyebrow.

"What are you acting so innocent for, huh, Kahoko? You seemed pretty 'comfortable' with Tsukimori, from the sound of it...Oh, shizengemaken."

I avoided Ryou's sudden thunderstorm gaze like the plague and instead directed a look of, "I order you to commit hari-kari, right now, right here" at the by-now extremely flustered Usa.

"I take it he...didn't know..." she muttered, making a dash for the door. "You guys, um...talk it out. I'm going to...get my nails done. Or something."

Exeunt Usa. Chased by a bear.

I scooted several feet away from Ryou's intense glare and stared purposely at the crammed bookshelves.

"Care to explain something, Hino?" he growled at me.

Author's Notes:

Aaaand it gets suddenly awkward. Oh boy.

I really should go back and edit this chapter...it's really boring. I procrastinated and crammed it all in at the last minute. Sorry...