The Universe
Chapter Five - Never Can Tell
Author's Note: The poem I use in this chapter was written by my friend Caroline Williams and published in our school's literary magazine. Caroline is talented, ne? It's really long so I cut out a portion of it.
*~*~*
I can't tell why I trust him as I do
With all the innocence of a tender child
I can't tell what made his eyes that perfect hue,
Or why, when I kissed him, Aphrodite smiled.
I can't tell why I long to be with him…
…Though over and over again the answer I've sought
I can't tell why, for I myself know not.
~*~ Never Can Tell ~*~
*~* Caroline Williams *~*
*~*~*
Ryo just sat on the couch, head leaned against one palm, eyes open but unseeing. Shin and Nasutei exchanged an uncertain glance. This… this was not healthy. Shuu probably would have thought something similar, if had not left some time ago to look for Touma.
"Uhm… Ryo?" It was Shin who spoke, easily sliding his thin form onto the couch beside Rekka. "Do you uhm… happen to know why Touma ran off?"
He turned to him slowly, blue eyes dull, and it took him a second to register his question. Even more slowly he shook his head. "…No. I don't know why he ran off." A pause. "Why would I?"
"Oh." He said, looking once more to Nasutei for the briefest of moments. "No reason. I just thought that you might have an idea, since you were out with him earlier."
"No." Ryo said. "I don't."
It was at the comment that Nasutei jumped up out of her chair and veritably STOMPED across the room, leaning down over Ryo, causing him to shrink back into his seat. "How can you sit there and LIE like that, Ryo? Don't you have any shame?" She hissed. But this close, Ryo could see that the beginnings of tears shone in her eyes. "So just tell me. Tell US. WHAT exactly did you say to Touma that prompted him to just run off without telling anyone where he was going?"
Ryo blinked up at her. Now really, how could he argue with that. "I…" He started, blushing the color of his armor, but Nasutei wasn't going to let him off just because he felt humiliated. She leaned fractionally closer, her voice softer but just as insistent.
"You told him, didn't you?" She whispered knowing the answer long before Ryo ever nodded in agreement. The redheaded girl took a step back with a long, drawn out sigh, hanging her head weakly for long seconds before she finally looked up to him. "You're going to f*ck everything up, you know that?" She said. It was not an accusation. She was sympathetic. But that didn't make her words any less true.
*~*~*
Touma twisted the beer bottle between his two palms, the glass making a dull scraping noise against the wooden coffee table. It really unnerved Seiji to see Touma so uncertain. I mean, the archer was certainly not a poster boy for composure but whatever was on his mind was apparently especially difficult for him to deal with.
"Touma." He laid a hand on the blue-haired boy's shoulder; the contact caused him to jump away in surprise. He flushed in embarrassment for the action.
"Er… Seiji…" He tried, but then said no more.
"Touma, you know that you can tell me anything, right?" Seiji prompted.
Touma looked up, met his eyes for a second, then quickly looked away. "Hai. I know." He said softly.
Seiji sighed in frustration. "Then Touma, please. Just tell me. Whatever it is I promise that it will not change anything."
Touma let out a sharp, bitter laugh. "Oh, don't be so certain of THAT." He murmured.
"Touma, please just tell me." Seiji said, his voice getting a bit of an impatient edge.
Touma took a deep breath, held it for a second, and then released it very slowly. He paused for a second when that was done, and then spoke very softly and very precisely. "I was bored so I got Ryo to take me into town on his bike. We ended up at Acropolis. I thought he might like it, thought we might get a few beers and a few good dances before we had to go home. You know, have a little fun."
He paused and took a swig from the beer bottle in his hand, either to delay the explanation or because he wanted o get sincerely trashed, or maybe both.
"Well, I wish that we'd had a couple more beers than we did, because then I'd be able to rationalize what he did next." He moved as if to drain the bottle, paused, thought better of it, and placed the beer back on the coffee table, before deciding that he wanted it after all and downing the rest in one draft.
In other words, he was fidgeting horribly and didn't seem to be preparing to continue.
"Maybe it'll be easier if you just tell me really fast, okay?" Seiji said. He really didn't like the way the story had been going.
Touma snickered at that, and then glanced over at Seiji from under long blue bangs before directing his eyes back to the tabletop. "Well when you put it THAT way…" he said. "Uhm… I guess there's no polite euphemism even in my grandiose vocabulary so… ryokissedme."
Seiji blinked, played it back in his head, grasping the meaning - he thought - the second time. He repeated it back slowly. "Ryo…" he paused, not wanting to say it in hopes he was wrong, yet plowing on diligently, "…kissed you?"
Touma blinked, it sounded more ominous when Seiji said it in the dull, serious tone. In fact the entire situation suddenly struck him as so terribly ridiculous that he burst into laughter, burying his face in his knees, shaking with hiccuping giggles. The alcohol in his system probably didn't help matters. He nodded vehemently to Seiji's assertion of his own confession.
The blank look on Seiji's face showed that he really hadn't the faintest idea how to deal with this information. Frankly he was more surprised that RYO had kissed Touma than he was angry or jealous that someone else had kissed his lover.
He flopped down limply onto the couch, wrapping two arms around the archer's waist and pulling the still giggling warrior of Tenku over to him. Touma leaned his head against the swordsman's shoulder, the occasional giggle still slipping out.
"So…" Seiji said, shaking his head slightly. "Uhm… is there any more beer around here?"
Touma laugh, sounding a little less hysterical now, and nodded. "You kidding? This is Rairakku Kaiya's place!" He quipped, and then rose unsteadily to his feet, and took Seiji's hand when they went to search for more booze.
*~*~*
Kaiya recognized him, surprisingly, if only because he was short and stocky and not dressed like the average Acropolis patron. She glanced at him over a chilled glass of vodka, wondering why he was there before it occurred to her that he was obviously looking for her wayward, blue-haired friend.
She considered her place in his plight. She knew the location of his quarry, however should she divulge that information, the boy in question would likely wish to seek him out, which was not a good thing. Touma-chan and Seiji needed a bit of time to themselves, without their friends around, to work this out, which was why Kaiya had offered them he apartment. She just hoped that the didn't get TOO involved in making up, as it would take weeks to get the weirdness out of her apartment.
She put her now-empty glass back down on the counter and laid a bill beside it to pay for the drink. Hmm. Well. She supposed it was better for them to know that Touma was safe, and she didn't have to really be particularly clear on his specific location.
"Hiya!!"
He obviously didn't recognize her, which she found amusing as she was not what one would call easily forgettable. She was proud when the giggles she let out only sounded a little bit drunk.
"Rairakku Kaiya." She said, thinking the name might trigger his memory. When he tilted his head as her in a confused manner she giggled again. "Touma-chan's friend! The dyke! I was over your place not two days ago!"
Shuu blinked in surprise, and then suddenly exclaimed "Oh! YOU're Kaiya!"
She giggled again. "So. You here for the music or for Touma-chan?"
"He's here?" He asked hopefully.
"Oh, not by a long shot." Kaiya said. "He's at my place with blonde boy. I ran down for a drink while those two had some quiet time 's all." She shrugged. "But I thought ya might be lookin' fer 'im. Well, no worries. I got him taken care of."
Shuu did not seem particularly reassured by this assertion. "Where is he?"
"Like I said, my place." She shrugged. "That's where he goes when he needs to get away from you guys."
"Er…"
"I just didn't want you to worry." She explained. "I'm not going to take you to my place or nuthin' so don't even bother, but he's all right, trust me, so why don't you run on home?" She was shooing him out the large double doors at the entrance to the club, and he was not putting up a whole lot of resistance.
"But!" He started. She paused.
"But what?" She inquired curiously, and he frowned, perplexed. He had obviously not expected her to actually listen to his protest.
"Uhm…"
"Oh yeah!" She smacked her forehead in remembrance. "Can you give a message to yer buddy Ryo for me?" She knew that she should keep her nose out of it but, damn it, she couldn't resist. "Tell that guy that I said if Seiji doesn't kick his ass, then I will. Thanks!" And she gave one last shove which sent him out of the doors and out of her hair. She turned back to the bar.
