Disclaimer: Again, I don't own Ronins, and Mandy Moore wrote this song, and Veronica is based off of one of my buddies. This is for you, V.
I'll always remember
It was late afternoon
Cye stretched from his homework. College could be such a drag! Not only that, he rather missed Japan. He decided to attend SUNY Oswego mostly because he heard they had a good biology program and plus it was by a lake. That was the advantage... unfortunately being away from his friends and family was the major downsides of being in the states. Sage was practically half a day away so visits were few and far between. He had friends here, but none were as close to him as the Ronins were.
Looking out the window, he saw Lake Ontario. He felt as if it were calling him in, but it was a little too cold to be going swimming. Hell, maybe he'd go to the school pool later. He gave a random glance to the clock and groaned. The dining hall was closing in 5 minutes! He grabbed his coat and keys, locked the door, and raced outside and dashed to the last food hall that was open for the night. Not looking where he was going, he crashed into someone.
It lasted forever
And ended too soon
"I'm sorry!" He apologized, helping the girl up.
She rubbed her elbows. "My fault. I should have been looking where I was going." She had long dark hair, darkish skin, and hazel eyes. She was about his height and was wearing a long sleeved purple shirt and flared pants. Around her neck was a pentacle. Cye had never seen such a pretty girl, and there had been a lot of pretty girls in his life. "We better hurry or they'll close before we get to eat."
"Right," Cye smiled and they raced up the stairs.
Once they had their food they went their separate ways, Cye sitting over with some of the foreign students and the girl with her friends across the room. Cye watched as she took her seat then pushed her out of his mind. She probably had a boyfriend and he'd probably never be able to be a part of her life.
You were all by yourself
Staring up at a dark gray sky
I was changed
Another rainy day. Cye shifted his backpack to both his shoulders and opened his umbrella. He was looking forward to his bio class Monday: they were studying sea creatures and he was impressing his professor with his knowledge of them. For now, it was Saturday and he was heading to the library to study.
"Hey Cye!"
He turned around to see Niobe, a pretty redhead with green eyes wave at him. She was soaked to the bone with rain. He waved back and waited for her.
"Hi.." She panted, having to run up to catch him. "Wanna go to Shawn Cassidy later tonight? I'm dragging a whole group of friends with me."
Cye placed the umbrella over Niobe's head. "Sure. Where you headed?"
"I'm meeting my boyfriend at the entrance. He's come all the way from California to see me." She did a little happy dance.
Laughing, Cye said, "I'll walk you. You could catch cold wandering around wet like that."
"Thanks."
Later that night Cye called Niobe to see where they were meeting. She said they'd pick him up, there was someone that she wanted him to meet. He quickly changed into slacks and a long sleeved shirt. Granted it wasn't his normal wear, but he wanted a good impression on the newcomer.
A knock on the door announced that Niobe arrived. With her was the girl that he had bumped into a few days ago. Cye let them in.
"Cye, this is Veronica Laurel. Veronica, meet Cye Mouri."
"Hi," He said.
"Konnichiwa," Veronica replied. "Niobe told me you were Japanese. I was there last summer. I'm in love with your culture."
"Love isn't the word...." Niobe muttered to Cye. "More like obsessed."
Cye laughed. "I'm glad you enjoyed my country. Where did you go?"
Veronica talked about her trip while the trio went to the comedy show. Cye did his best to explain some of the questions she had, which only came up with more questions. He didn't think any American could be so interested in a foreign culture.
In places no one would find
All your feelings so deep inside (deep inside)
Cye had been close, like a brother, to a lot of girls. Veronica was no different. She confided in him about almost everything. But for the first time, Cye wasn't just a listener. He also confided in Veronica. He told her things that not even the guys at home knew. Of course, he kept the armor and battles a secret. And he also kept a secret from her that he was hiding from himself: he was falling in love with her.
The warrior of Torrent, as much as a romantic that he was, refused to fall in love often. This was strictly because when he fell in love, the other person rarely felt the same. And again, Veronica was no different. So he wouldn't admit to himself that he was in love. He was content in being in denial.
But the Nile isn't just a river in Egypt...
It was then that I realized
That forever was in your eyes
The moment I saw you cry
Cye knocked on Veronica's dorm room. He had heard from some of her neighbors that she had been skipping classes all day, and the auburn boy was worried about her being sick. She had been in the hospital once this year already and he wanted to make sure she was still alive. When no one answered, he knocked again.
The door opened and Cye saw a tear streaked face. Veronica had tried to make it look as if she hadn't had mascara trails running from her eyes, but had failed miserably.
"Veronica, are you ok? What happened?"
Veronica let him in and closed the door. Then she buried her face in his chest and started crying again. He put his arms around her and led her to the bed. The pillow was really wet from tears. Something really bad must have happened; Veronica never cried in front of people.
He sat there in silence until she was ready to talk. "I'm sorry.... I'm getting your shirt all wet."
Cye smiled gently. "It's ok. It'll dry. What happened?"
Veronica lifted her head to look at him. And despite his refusal to admit to himself his feelings for the girl, Cye felt his heart swell when he looked into her eyes.
"Jeff and I broke up yesterday."
Jeff had been Veronica's boyfriend of three months, and she had been in love with him. In fact, love wasn't even the word. Jeff went to a different school then she did, and the distance was sometimes a strain on the relationship. He didn't say anything, knowing she didn't want to hear it. Instead, he grabbed a box of tissues and handed it to her. She took it and blew her nose.
The moment that I saw you cry
Eventually Cye felt that he could talk. He gently brought the subject around to other things even though he knew her mind wouldn't be completely off the problem subject. He talked about swimming in the ocean and about his whale friend back at home. Cye smiled when he finally got a smile from Veronica.
"Thank you Cye... You're a good friend."
Cye didn't let her see how much that phrase hurt. "You hungry? We can order out, my treat."
"As long as it's Chinese."
Cye agreed and ordered food. He managed to get a few more smiles out of Veronica before going to bed at four in the morning. In fact, she had fallen asleep in his room because her roommate was being rather insensitive. Cye covered her up and took the floor.
It was late in September
And I've seen you before (and you were)
You were always the cold one
But I was never that sure
Cye dived into the pool. Even though it was chlorinated, it still felt good to be back in his element. The weather had turned to ice and snow, and it wasn't ideal weather for swimming. Not to mention that it was dangerous to be near the lake during this time of year.
After surfacing and side stroking to the shallow end, Cye realized that his towel was missing. He left it on the side... Grumbling, Cye climbed out to look for it. There were other people at the pool, but they were more interested in themselves then him. He wandered down the hall to the locker room, looking for the culprit, until Veronica jumped out at him and startled the living hell out of him.
"Give me a heart attack! Sheesh!"
Veronica laughed and handed him the towel. "I had to get your attention somehow."
"Well you're going to regret it." She was in a purple bathing suit, which made his next move all the easier. He picked her up over his shoulder, walked her over to the water, and dumped her in. The entire time she was laughing and trying to get loose. Now she spat water at him. Cye jumped in next to her. She splashed him in return. Half an hour later they were still dunking each other and trying to out do the other with tricks off the diving board.
Veronica swam over to the shallow end in an attempt to get away from Cye and at least get a better chance of dunking him under the water. But Cye was too fast and tackled her. They both went under and when the came back up, Veronica was still in his arms. They both looked into one another's eyes. Cye, following what his instincts were telling him, started to lean forward to kiss her, but Veronica pushed him away.
"I better get going... I have class..."
"Right..." Cye said, berating himself for being an idiot. "See you at dinner then."
You were all by yourself
Staring at a dark gray sky
I was changed
In places no one would find
All your feelings so deep inside (deep inside)
It was then that I realized
That forever was in your eyes
The moment I saw you cry
What had just happened?? Veronica dried herself off and got dressed, musing over the recent events. Sure, she liked Cye; she liked him a lot. But she was still hurting over Jeff. Yeah, it's been a few months, but Jeff had been the first guy she really ever cared about. And now here's Cye, who has always been patient and willing to giver her the world...
She couldn't take disappointment again. She refused to let herself fall for him.
Veronica went back to her room and got online. Great, her best friend Erin was on. She quickly IMed her and gave her the normal long spiel about recent events.
Erin: Ok.... Fine, don't say hi, just run me over with all your problems, lol.
Veronica: Sorry, hi.
Erin: So you really like this guy and he sounds really really sweet. Go for it.
Veronica: That's just my problem. I want to... but I don't think I can take the disappointment again.
Erin: Take chances, dammit! Not everything is out to get you... ok, maybe everything is, but go for it. Cye sounds really nice. Crap, I gotta go. I'm going to be late for math again. Laters.
Veronica: Bye.
Veronica sighed. It was a pain in the ass having Erin in a different school. But she had a point.... She should try this out with Cye...
But what if...?
No, no more 'what if's'. Veronica was going to tell Cye she wanted at least one date with him.
I wanted to hold you
I wanted to make it go away
I wanted to know you
I wanted to make your everything, all right....
Cye sat in his room, reading Romeo and Juliet for the millionth time. Sometimes he felt like his life was something Shakespeare would write. Why couldn't he get the courage to tell Veronica how he felt? He closed his book and let his face fall onto the pillow. Again, the image of Veronica in his arms floated in front of his eyes and the feel of her against him made him want to go to her room and demand for her to listen to him.
But that still wasn't motivation enough. Yet what was going to be? Watching her die like Juliet watched Romeo? Gah, he read too much.
A knock on the door snapped him out of his thoughts. "It's open!" He called without lifting his head.
"Cye? I got something to tell you..." Veronica closed the door.
Cye immediately sat up. "Great, cause I do too..."
"You go first," Veronica said.
Cye took a deep breath. His heart was going a million miles a minute in his throat. "Veron, I... I'm in love with you. I've been in love with you since day one."
Cye fell silent as he awaited an answer. The silence seemed forever. "He couldn't read Veronica's face, her head was bowed. Finally she took a deep breath. "I love you too Cye. I'm just afraid that this is a dream and that I'll wake up."
In places no one would find
All your feelings so deep inside (deep inside)
It was then that I realized
That forever was in your eyes
The moment I saw you cry
Cye took Veronica in his arms. "It's not, I promise."
Veronica put her arms around Cye's neck and kissed him. "Good."