The Universe
Chapter Four - Untitled
*~*~*
Touma's hand was frozen over the handle of the door. One twist and he'd be safe in his room, THEIR room, easily folded into his lover's arms. Seiji would never know, would never have to know that half an hour ago his lips had been locked with Ryo's. He could simply lie.
To Seiji?
Gods, the very thought made him sick to his stomach. He could no more lie to Seiji than he could make the stars fall. He quickly pulled his hand back as if the handle might burn him and stumbled back a step. He couldn't face him. Gods, just not right now. He turned and almost fell down the stairs. Away... he had to get away...
He paused at the foot of the stairs. He'd had this problem before; no car. But that was remedied if he was willing to 'borrow' Nasutei's jeep. After a moment of reflection he realized that he was, and slipped towards the kitchen. Nasutei sat at the table but her face was buried in her arms, so he was relatively safe. He leaned into the door just enough to slid the keyring off it's hook. All she heard was a slight jingle, and by the time she looked up he was already gone.
*~*~*
Kaiya opened the door and then leaned against the frame with a raised eyebrow. "So I wondered how long before you'd be showin' up here." She commented idly. "I was at Acropolis tonight. Lovely show you and lover-boy were putting on up by the bar."
Touma just ran a hand through his hair. "Whatever. Are you going to let me in or what?"
Kaiya crooked the eyebrow higher, an innate talent of hers, and realized that Touma wasn't in the mood for her particular brand of sarcasm tonight. "Yeah. Get your skinny ass in here."
Touma muttered a thanks as he slid past her into the three-room apartment. It was as eclectic as the girl herself, done in mostly shades of red and blue. Red was Kaiya's favorite color; blue was evidence of Nai's presence. Kaiya assessed him quickly. Blue hair damp - was it raining? - the black leather jacket he normally wore sliding down off on shoulder unchecked, and an utterly lost look on his face.
She crinkled her nose. Damn it. Why would anyone come to her when they obviously needed sympathy?
"Jacket." She said, holding out a hand for the wet garment around his shoulders. When he made no motion to remove it she came up behind him and all but took it off for him. He made no movement or sound to stop her, just ran his long fingers through his damp hair again. Kaiya considered her options. "Soooo... ya want a beer?"
"That..." he flopped down on the couch, "...would just about make my day, Kaiya. Thanks."
Her stockinged feet thumped against the carpeted floor as she tromped into the kitchenette and bottles clinked together as she rummaged through the refrigerator. "What's with all this 'light' sh*t... I've told Nai not to put this crap in my fridge... ah, here we go!" She pulled out two long necked bottles and slammed the refrigerator closed with her hip and headed back into the living room, dropping onto the couch beside Touma. "So, let's hear the whole story."
Touma took a long swig from the bottle. "Let's not and say we did, ne?"
Kaiya rolled her eyes. "Oh, so I'm just supposed to let it go, ne?"
"That would be preferable." He agreed.
Kaiya sighed, and then glanced surreptitiously at her watch. "Whatev'ah. It's time for me ta check in with Nai. Make yourself at home." She stood. "Not that I thought you would do any less." She stretched, cat-like, and then padded once more into the kitchen.
The number she dialed was no that of her girlfriend's hotel in Tokyo. It was to somewhere much closer. She tapped her night-black fingernails against the countertop impatiently as the other end of the line rang once... twice...
"Hello?" She didn't recognize the voice, but often she got strange people picking up the phone at this number.
"Yah, can ya put Seiji on the phone?" She asked quickly, and there was a moment of rustling and a muttered call of 'Seiji, there's a girl on the phone for you!' before the boy she'd asked for actually appeared on the other end.
"Seiji here." He said, calm and precise (as always). Kaiya sighed to herself.
"Look, blonde boy, I want ya ta be straight with me. What the HELL did you say to my Touma-chan to send him running over to my place in the pouring rain, huh?" She snapped, soft enough only so that Touma couldn't hear her in the next room.
"What are you talking about?" Seiji sounded honestly confused. "Touma's over there? I haven't seen him since this morning. He ran off in Nasutei's jeep about half an hour ago."
There was a pause. Kaiya blinked. "F'real?"
"Yes for real. Touma is over there?" There was some exclamations of 'who are you talking to?' and 'where?' in the background at that statement, and Kaiya worried her lip, over an old scar that had once been the location of a silver hoop.
"Er yeah." She paused. "Well in that case, listen. I think ya better come over here. Ya know where my apartment is, right? Just DON'T bring nona your friends, 'kay?"
Seiji seemed to think about that. "Yes, all right. I'll be right over."
Kaiya hung up and flipped her violet hair out of her eyes. Hmm, now's the predicament, to tell Touma or not to tell Touma. It would be easier on her just to let Seiji in when he showed up and sneak out before her blue-haired friend knew what was going on, but that wouldn't be nice… and besides, Kaiya was of the firm opinion that running away solved nothing (hence inviting Seiji over in the first place).
"I was just talking to your koibito." Kaiya said, up front. Touma jumped up off the couch.
"NANI?"
"And he's coming over here to talk to you, and you are going to sit right down there and explain everything to him, including why you came over here, ya get me?" She continued.
"Kuso, Kaiya! Why…"
"I'm your friend, remember?" She said, tilting her head. "I get the right to meddle in your life when meddling is required. Now sit down and drink your beer 'til your koishi gets here." With a hand on his dampened tee-shirt she pushed the protesting Trooper back down on the couch. At the defeated frown he shot her she smirked. "Hey, you wanna fight?" She mocked, before heading back to the kitchen for another beer.
*~*~*
Seiji had only been to Kaiya's apartment once before, and even then he'd never been inside. Touma he knew had gone there quite frequently when he'd got sick of dealing with the lack of privacy at Nasutei's. Seiji didn't actually know how Touma had met Kaiya; he'd assumed that it was at Acropolis but he'd never thought to ask. He knocked on the door, feeling just a little out of place.
It opened almost immediately, and Seiji almost didn't recognize the girl with no makeup on and no silver rings through various parts of her face. The only familiar thing was the purple hair. He blinked, she looked completely different this way.
"Stop staring." She demanded. "I know I'm gorgeous but you're queer as a three-dollar-bill, speaking of which Touma's inside and I'll leave you two alone." She slipped past him into the hall. "Try not to make a mess." She added with a wink, before she all but skipped down the hall to the elevator.
Seiji watched after her for a second before slipping into the room and shutting the door behind him. The soft click was enough to alert the blue-haired boy to his presence, and he looked up from the beer bottle in his hand.
"Uh… hi." Touma said uncertainly.
Seiji shifted his weight from foot to foot at the less than enthusiastic greeting. "Kaiya seemed to think there was something we needed to talk about." He said.
Touma gave a dry laugh and took another swig from the beer bottle. "Yeah… yeah." He agreed, shaking his head as if trying to clear it. "Yeah, we kinda need to talk."
