The Universe
By Djinn Hashiba-Maxwell
Djinn: Dear lord, what have I done. *shakes head*
Incidentally, I omitted the third stanza of Byron's 'When We Two Parted'.
When we two parted
In silence and tears,
Half broken-hearted
To sever for years,
Pale grew thy cheek and cold,
Colder thy kiss;
Truly that hour foretold
Sorrow to this.
The dew of the morning
Sunk chill on my brow-----
It felt like the warning
Of what I feel now.
Thy vows are all broken,
And light is thy fame;
I hear thy name spoken,
And share in its shame.
In secret we met-----
In silence I grieve
That thy heart could forget,
Thy spirit deceive
If I should meet thee
After long years,
How should I greet thee?-----
With silence and tears.
Lord Byron
When we Two Parted
"Yukiko-obasan?" Kaiya called, her voice echoing in the large house. She turned back to Touma who was standing in the doorway and shrugged. "She's not here." She said needlessly.
"Obviously. So where is she?" Touma replied, leaning against the doorjamb.
"Dunno. Auntie Yukiko is notoriously flighty. Looks like we have the house to ourselves." She winked teasingly at him, her good nature returning now that she was a good sixty miles from the source of her problems. "I hope you can control yourself, blue." She said as she disappeared into the kitchen.
Touma took the opportunity to look around the foyer. The house rivaled the Yagyuu mansion in size, three stories and - on a rough estimate - probably upwards of twenty rooms. The foyer and front room both had high ceilings, the second floor having a balcony that overlooked the open space. The decorating was done in darkly stained wood and tasteful shades of tan and brown. Even Seiji would have been impressed.
Touma grimaced as if there were a bad taste in his mouth. He couldn't believe the way that Seiji and Ryo had been behaving. He was sure that Ryo had provoked his lover quite a bit to get Seiji mad enough to hit him, but still . . .
"Hey, we've got a note!" Kaiya called from the kitchen. "Kaiya, if you show up, feed neko-chan." The purple-haired girl giggled. "Oh she knows me sooooo well. Where is that Satan spawn she calls a cat anyway?" Kaiya reappeared in the hallway for a second before disappearing through another doorway. Touma could hear her ascending the stairs.
"Is this the house you grew up in?" Touma called in what he deduced to be Kaiya's general direction. She had been orphaned at the age of four, her Aunt Yukiko was her guardian. Touma had never met the woman, but apparently Kaiya's overly cheery and exceptionally spontaneous demeanor was learned from her.
"Nah, Auntie Yukiko just stays here during the summer. I come up most weekends to putter around. That probably why she knew to leave the note." Kaiya's voice drifted down over the balcony. "Here neko neko neko . . . "
THIS was a summer house? Touma had known that Kaiya's guardian was not poor, but he had never realized that she came from such a wealthy background.
"DAMN, Kaiya. Next time you offer to loan me money, I'm gonna take you up on it! You never told me you were loaded!"
He could hear Kaiya's laugh. "Well really now. How do you think I pay for me and Nai's . . ." He voice suddenly trailed off at her girlfriend's name, and Touma could picture her scowl. He could imagine how Kaiya felt right now. Society didn't exactly approve of relationships like the ones they had, and Touma himself often worried that Seiji might leave him for a girl. It just seemed like he couldn't compete with the other gender, how he had landed Seiji was a mystery to him.
And what information he had garnered seemed to suggest that Nai had just come home and said 'Oh koi, by the way - I slept with a guy while I was in Tokyo. And it's not as good as I remembered.'
God, if Nai wasn't a girl Touma would have hunted her down and beaten the crap out of her by now. How she could be so callous towards Kaiya he'd never know. For all her bravado, Kaiya had been badly hurt by Nai, and Touma was beginning to think that Nai might be more like her older sister than he'd originally thought.
"AHA!! GOTCHA!!" There was a sound of someone jumping on the second floor, then a long plaintive meow. Touma blinked as Kaiya appeared on the second floor balcony, cradling a small black and white tabby. "Found her!" Kaiya exclaimed triumphantly. "Touma, I'd like you to meet the devil." She said, holding the cat out at arms length. "Her name is Isis."
Touma cocked his head at her. "So the devil is a cat. And it's female."
"Well I think it only takes the form of a cat. And as for the female part, was there ever any doubt?" Kaiya said with a wink.
Touma shook his head slightly. "Kaiya, when was the last time I told you that you were certifiably insane?"
"Half an hour ago, when I said that guy with the walker was worth ten points if I hit him head on." Kaiya replied. "And really, you don't have to repeat it. I'm aware that I'm nuts. But you're the one that's upset that two hot guys are fighting over you. That's most girls' dream." She disappeared from sight, heading for the stairs back down to the first floor, never releasing the cat.
Touma snorted at that. "I'm not most girls." He replied. "Is that YOUR dream?"
There was a smirk in her voice. "My dream involves two girls mud wrestling naked over who gets to be seme in our three-way." She responded.
"And here I thought Nai was the one that was into kink." Touma winced inwardly as the words slipped out before he could take them back. There was a long, pregnant pause where the only sound was Kaiya's feet on the stairs. "Touma thought it better not to call any further attention to his words by apologizing for them. Finally Nai appeared, her face unsmiling but not the pale, grey color it became when she was fretting or upset.
"Kai . . ."
"Come on, Touma-chan. Let's go see what Auntie Yukiko has to eat around here." Kaiya cut him off, dumping the cat unceremoniously to the floor.
Touma gratefully allowed Kaiya to change the subject, and followed her into the brightly colored kitchen.
"I'm not sorry, so don't expect me to say that I am." Seiji said, arms crossed as he leaned back against the doorjamb, his cool, unconcerned voice returning. Shin didn't even dignify that with a glance, tilting Ryo's head back as he held a soft, damp cloth to his bloody nose.
It was about that time that Shuu lumbered down the stairs, looking absurdly pleased with himself. The grin however faded when he saw the scene played out before him.
"What happened to him?" He asked Seiji, jerking his thumb at Ryo. The blonde merely shrugged and looked away.
"Seiji hit him." Shin supplied. Removing the cloth to check if Ryo's nose was still bleeding.
Shuu blinked. " . . . why? Just 'cos he's got a thing for Touma?"
Three pairs of eyes suddenly went wide, staring at him in total shock.
"What?!? Why does everyone think I'm completely clueless??" He demanded.
Ryo rubbed as his nose a little, trying to get it partially unstuffed. "Sorry man." He said, sounding somewhat embarrassed. "It's just that . . . well usually, you kinda are."
"You're one to talk . . ." Shuu grumbled as he headed for the refrigerator. Suddenly his head snapped up and he looked around the room. "Hey, speaking of blue-boy, where is he? I thought I heard him get up earlier . . ."
"Hai, he probably went off to clear his head." Seiji said calmly. "I wouldn't worry. If he's really late I'll call Kaiya." Seiji had come to accept that fact that Touma needed time to be alone long before they were together.
Despite the fact that Seiji had belted him, there seemed to be no tension between Kourin and Rekka now. Seiji was not throwing his ice-glare at their leader, and Ryo was not scowling. Maybe him getting thwaped by Seiji had been a good thing.
"Lessee . . . I know Auntie has some liquor around her somewhere . . . she's nothing if not well stocked." Kaiya said, chewing on a nectarine all the while.
Touma shrugged as he opened the kitchen cabinets one by one. He'd been drinking a lot more as of late, but at least if Kaiya was here he could justify it as social drinking. Besides, it's not as if he didn't have a good reason to be drunk.
"Damn!! Where is it?" Kaiya demanded out loud. Touma turned to see her take a huge bite out of the ripe fruit in her hand, a trail of juice trickling down her chin. Her pierced tongue deftly flickered out to catch it before it fell.
Touma felt a pang of . . . something . . . and blinked in surprise. Kaiya wore no lip-ring since the unfortunate affair with Lin, and at the moment the two silver rings in her eyebrow seemed charming, the gilded stud in her nose sparkling exotically. She wore no make-up, not that Kaiya ever NEEDED make-up, but she wore it just the same. At least most of the time she did. She looked better without it, her impish nature showing through more easily.
Jesus Christ! Touma shook himself. He couldn't believe he had just appraised Kaiya like that. Rather desperately he went back to searching for the booze.
