Yet Another Story

by Purple Mouse

Sequel to 'Another Story.' ^_^ The beginning of the spring semester for Ryuuen and his reincarnated friends. They thought the hard part was over, but as it turns out, they were wrong. Ryuuen's POV; shounen ai (Ryuuen + Sai, WOOHOO!!). Ch. 23: MELODRAMA!

18. Pillow Talk but not the gross kind!

Warnings: Sap. Lah di dah. And yes, more random singing. Woohoo! Ahh…and despite the fact that the chapter title does have certain connotations, it fits the chapter, so blehhh. I will state for the record that there is no talk of sex in this chapter. They just…talk in bed. And that can be pillow talk, too!!!! Jeeeeeez…

Notes: Ahhh, here it is! YAS! ^_^;; My humble apologies to everyone who's emailed me without a reply. ^^;; (Especially you, Kryssa!!) I promise I will get around to emails soon. **nodnod** I'm still overburdened with reading and research, though, so that's my excuse. You may ask, "Mouse-chan, why do you have time to update your stories and not reply to your emails??!" To which I will reply, "Uhhhh…Iunnoooooo!! I'm sorryyyyy!!!" and cry. But I'll get back to you soon. ^_~ Honto ni.

YET ANOTHER STORY

Chapter 18:

Pillow Talk

(…but not the gross kind!!!)

Miaka called Sai's cell phone at about seven o'clock to see if we were okay and on our way. He'd barely said hello to her when I started bouncing in my seat, begging him to let me talk to her.

"Lemme talk, Sai! Lemme talk lemme talk lemme talk!"

"Excuse me," he said into the phone, without changing his expression. "I believe Ryuuen would like to speak with you, and it appears to be urgent." He passed it over to me, and I beamed at him, holding it to my ear.

"Whazzaaaaaaaaaaaap??!?!" I said, and she giggled on the other end, repeating my greeting. Even though she couldn't see me, I smiled; I loved Miaka, I truly did. She was like another sister to me…she had been my sister, in fact, in the other life. Well. Not technically, of course. But after I became friends with her, and aware of my duty to protect her…it was like getting a second chance with Kourin. I hadn't been able to save Kourin, but I could still save Miaka…and I had, hadn't I? I had. But even in this life, we were similar in many ways, maybe even more similar than Kourin and I were at the moment. Kourin and I had been almost inseparable as young children, but as we grew up, we developed different interests, different ambitions. We never clashed over them, we were just…two different people.

I should call Kourin. I haven't seen her forever.

"How's everything going?" Miaka asked above the sounds of the highway. In the background, I could hear Doukun going on about something that sounded scientific and complicated, and I smiled even wider.

"It's good!" I replied. "We're headed toward…uhh…Nebraska, I think. We're in Iowa right now."

"Tell her who we fuckin found," Genrou piped up from the back.

"Really?" She sounded surprised. "Nebraska?? That's where we are!"

I blinked. "It…it is?"

"Yeah! There must be lots of seishi over here, then!"

"Well, we can arrange to meet somewhere, then!" I exclaimed, excited. She babbled something to Houjun, who was probably driving, and he babbled something back.

"Houjun says if it's convenient, we should definitely all be together. But for now, we have a lead, and he says we should keep following it," she relayed. "He says it's possible that we're being led to two different places anyway, so it's best not to interfere with it."

I nodded. "Okay, sounds good. Let's keep in touch about where we are, then."

"Okay. …Is… Uh, did you get…him to come with you?" was her next question, her happiness slipping just slightly.

I sighed. "Yeah, Ayuru's here." My eyes wandered to the man in question, and I thought I saw his shoulders tense.

There was a slight pause. "Is he…okay?"

"He's…he's nice, Miaka," I said, trying to keep my voice low. I didn't know whether I should let Ayuru hear me or not, since I didn't want to appear as though I was plainly sucking up to him—which I wasn't—but I didn't want him not to hear me and therefore think I was saying nasty things about him. "I think you'd like him. He's different; he's…nice."

She let out a sigh, as though she didn't quite accept it. I didn't blame her, because unless she met him, she'd still think of him as Nakago.

"He likes the Dixie Chicks," I added, in way of character-building, and she gave an incredulous giggle.

"You're joking, Ryuu-chan!!"

"Nooo, I'm serious, it's true!" I laughed, and I heard the others chuckling around me, too. Well, Myojuan and Sai and Tom, at least. Gen-chan was probably rolling his eyes.

She laughed, too, and I heard her turn the phone away from her mouth and announce to the others what I'd just said. The surprised noises they made at this gem of reincarnated knowledge made me giggle even more.

"That's really funny," she said, trying to contain herself, but soon, she grew solemn. "But…be careful around him, okay? He's…he's unpredictable."

"Okay," I agreed.

"How are you?" Her voice was softer.

"You already asked that."

"No, I didn't. How are you?" she repeated.

I didn't want to answer her, and struggled around for something to say. "I'm okay," I finally said.

Don't talk about this, Miaka. You'll ruin everything.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah." I wondered how Chuin was doing, suddenly remembering that he was in the same car as Miaka and the others, but forced myself not to ask. I didn't need to open those doors at that point. Everything was going so well. "Ahh, guess what! Guess who we found!"

"Don't change the subject, Ryuu-chan, please."

"No, no, really, guess who we found!"

She sighed, clearly not liking my tactics, but if it got us away from the subject, I didn't really care. "Who? Another seishi?"

"Not exactly," I giggled. "But it's someone from the book."

"Someone from the book?? You found someone else from the book??!" She was excited now. Mission accomplished.

"You'll never guess who it iiiiiiis," I sang, leaning back in the seat and folding my legs up to sit cross-legged.

"It's not a seishi??"

"Nnnnope."

She thought. I could almost hear the little gears in her mind working. "Is it someone from…the palace?"

"Kiiiiiinda," I teased.

She rattled off the names of advisers, and I denied each one. She began naming women in the harem, and I kept on denying them.

"Give me a hint!" she pleaded.

"Mmmm…okayyyy, but it might give it away."

"SO???!!! I wish you'd just tell me!"

I laughed. "Easy, girl! Okay, uhh, let's see. Mitsukake had two great loves in his life. One was Shouka, and the other waaaaaaaaas…."

"OH MY GOD!!!!" she shrieked, causing me to wince and hold the phone away from my ear. Genrou, meanwhile, was cracking up and poking fun at poor Tom, who retaliated by grabbing Genrou in a headlock and pulling his hair. Miaka went on and on about our discovery, babbling like an idiot, and then asked if she could talk to him. Grinning, I handed the phone back to Tom, who promptly dropped Gen-chan and accepted it.

"It's Miaka," I told him. "You know, the miko?"

Blinking dazedly, he put the phone to his ear. "Uhhhh…hullo? …Ehehehe, yeah, me, too, believe me! …Uh…yeah, I still like fish…"

As the girl spoke to her long-lost feline friend, I relayed what she'd said—minus the question about my own well-being and the uncertainty about Ayuru—to the others. Tom soon passed the phone to Gen-chan so he could rave about finding his tessen, and from the sound of things, she cautioned him about using it dangerously. He was…slightly offended.

"For fuck's sake, Miaka, I know what I'm fuckin doin with the thing, it's not like I don't!! It's not like I've accidentally fuckin torched entire towns…NO, I will not use it to make fuckin smores when we see ya again!!!!! It's a fuckin weapon of mass destruction, not a fuckin campfire accessory! Ahh, shit, don't whine…"

Eventually, with the rest of us laughing silently in the background, he said goodbye to Miaka and clicked the cell phone off, handing it back to Sai, who carefully placed it back in his pocket.

"Juan," he called, "she wanted to talk to ya, too, but I said you were drivin the fuckin van and we didn't want her to fuckin squeal and surprise ya and make ya crash and kill us all."

I looked toward Myojuan, who gave a thumbs up.

"Man," Gen-chan was saying, shaking his head and digging around in his bag. "That girl cares way too fuckin much about food." And with that, he unwrapped one of his gas station cupcakes and took a huge bite.

~*~

We stopped at a Holiday Inn a few hours later, exhausted from our day on the road. Our two rooms were joined by a go-between door, so we kept close together; after Gen-chan started a minor debate about who should room with whom, I quickly suggested that Ayuru share a room with me and Sai. I knew Gen-chan wouldn't want to stay with him, and I didn't want the poor guy to feel like the last one picked for the team. Or, in this case, the bed.

Genrou grudgingly accepted this arrangement, though I have a feeling, after our talk in the van and all the other stuff that had happened, he'd wanted to be in the same room with me. While this was sweet, I didn't think it was very diplomatic to stick the two "new people" into the same room, so I didn't let on that I knew he was disappointed. He and Tom had been getting along well since the restaurant incident, aside from a few hair-pulling and teasing incidents, so I figured they'd be fine together.

Ayuru opted to take a nightly shower rather than delay our departure with a morning one, so he hopped right into the bathroom and started running the water. I changed quickly into my pajamas while Sai was looking at the room service menu, and brushed my teeth dry, spitting into a plastic cup, so I didn't have to wait for Ayuru to finish before going to sleep.

"Would you like something?" Sai asked, holding up the menu at me.

I shook my head. "If I eat something this late, I won't be able to fall asleep. And I just brushed my teeth."

He placed it back on the table and fixed me with a look. "You hardly ate anything at dinner."

"I couldn't help it," I giggled, crawling into bed. "We got kicked out before I had the chance. What I had was good, though…and at least it was free."

"Well," he said sternly, "you're going to have a large breakfast tomorrow, whether you like it or not."

"Okay, Aunt Jemima." I made a face at him, and smiled. He smiled, too, but frowned immediately afterward.

"Oh, Ryuuen…I forgot," he murmured, taking a step closer to me. "I forgot about the bed thing…should we move the mattress to the floor?"

I was confused for a while before I remembered my recent foray into bed-o-phobia. I hadn't even thought about it when I'd climbed into the hotel bed, so maybe… "I…I'm okay," I told him, smiling. "I'm okay with this. I didn't even notice."

"Are you sure?" He still looked worried.

I nodded, grinning and raising my arms above my head. "I'm cuuuuured!" Well. At least there's ONE thing I don't have to worry about anymore.

He hesitated, but finally decided I wasn't bluffing. Hurrying to my side, he kissed my cheek in celebration, then told me he was going into the other room to wash his face. I nodded, and to my relief, he left the go-between door ajar so I could hear him. (Some things, unfortunately, would take longer to fade.) I could also hear Tom and Gen-chan arguing about whether to watch The Godfather or The Crocodile Hunter on TV, and poor Myojuan begging them to turn it off and go to bed.

Tuning them out, listening to the water running in the bathroom, I stared thinking of random things for no apparent reason, purposely avoiding beds and my leftover idiosyncrasies. And when Sai came back, gently suggesting to the TV-watchers that they let the driver of the van get his sleep before closing the door between us once more, I couldn't help but voice one of these random things.

"Sai?"

"Hm?"

I hesitated. "Do you…do you really think I'm beautiful?"

He turned to look at me questioningly, undoing the top buttons of his shirt, and I shrank down in the bed, hiding my nose with the quilt. "Ryuuen…yes. A thousand times yes. I don't say such things lightly, you know."

With a despondent sigh, I tried to ignore the fact that he was shrugging out of the shirt and starting on his pants. It didn't work, and I blushed, staring at the ugly brown flower pattern of the hotel comforter. "But…boys aren't supposed to be beautiful."

"Sorry?"

I pulled the thing down to my chin so it wouldn't muffle my voice. "Boys aren't supposed to be beautiful," I repeated, mumbling.

He folded his clothes and placed them on the chair, and I knew it was safe to look at him again. For some illogical reason, it wasn't seeing Sai in his boxers and undershirt that bothered me; it was watching him take off his outerwear. I'm just weird like that, I guess.

"My darling," he said, jovial, "you, of all people, should know that societal views on gender should not be listened to. It doesn't matter whom the media portrays as looking one way or the other. You're beautiful, and you're you. Do you think it matters to me whether you're a boy or a girl?"

"I know it doesn't," I said quietly. "And…well. Now that you mention it, I've never really seen myself as a boy or a girl; I'm just me. I never really identified with the stereotype of either."

"As it should be," he nodded, smiling and crawling into bed. "If everyone thought the way you did, just did what they wanted instead of what society wanted, they'd be the happier for it. With reference to gender ideals, of course, not killing random people in the streets."

"It's still weird sometimes," I said. "People I don't know always think I'm a girl, and they give me coupons for mascara, and ask me to sample perfume and free handouts of Midol and all that stuff…don't laugh at me," I giggled, swatting him with my extra pillow. "They do. And it shouldn't bug me, but it does."

"Well." He lowered his head onto his pillow, facing me so we were almost nose to nose. "Would it make you feel better if I told you that people thought I was a girl until I was sixteen?"

My eyes went wide with shock, and he wiggled an eyebrow at me. "Sai! No way!"

"Mm," he affirmed. "I still had my hair long, but I never liked to pull it back. I was thinner, and my voice wasn't as deep. My clothes were always clean, as well."

I was bewildered. I had never considered Sai to be in the least bit effeminate, despite his nice skin and long hair, so this was strange news, indeed. He chuckled at my expression, and I giggled, too, having been stricken with a thought.

"What's so funny?" he asked, pretending to be hurt. "Are you mocking my youthful plight?"

"If we would've met each other back then," I said, giggling harder, "people would've thought we were lesbians!"

He saw the ironic humor in that, and continued laughing. "Well, at least we still could have joined the GSA."

"Well, we could have no matter what! 'Gay/Straight Alliance,' right?" I winked. "Rokou had such a hard time with that. He joined it for me, you know, and then everyone in the high school picked on him, too. He didn't quit, though. Gen-chan calls him a coward, and he is, to some extent; but he sure wasn't a coward when it mattered."

Sai smiled. "I'd love to meet him."

"Eheh," I said. "I think we can put that off for a few years, at least."

"Why?" He looked confused.

I opened my mouth to remind him that my father didn't know I was gay, but then shut it again, not being able to remember if Sai and I had actually talked about that yet. I'd told him about Rokou, Kourin, Mom and her hippieness… Crap.

"Ryuuen?" Sai poked me gently in the chest. "Why so long?"

"Uhh." I rolled my eyes, embarrassed. "Well, it's like this…"

He waited patiently as I studied the ceiling, trying to think of some non-embarrassing way to get my point across.

"Would you mind dressing up as a girl when you meet my dad?" I asked brightly, then hid my head under the blankets.

There were a few long moments of silence before he rested his hand on my quilt-covered head and said, "You haven't told him?"

"Mmph," I said.

"I can't say I ever had this problem," he continued gently. "My parents both died before I dated anyone, so it never came up. But…are you planning on telling him?"

"No," I said. "Not at this juncture. No."

He was quiet for a little bit. "But your mother knows, right? And both of your siblings?"

I nodded.

"Are you afraid to tell him?"

By then, I was having oxygen problems, so I lifted up the edge of the blanket to free my nose and mouth, but kept the rest of me covered. "I'm not…afraid," I said. "I just don't want things to be awkward, and I know they would be. I'm not afraid he'll disown me or stick me in therapy or anything like that. He's not like that. It would just be…weeeeeeeird."

"What did your mother say when she found out?"

"It wouldn't be the same, Sai! She's a democrat; he's a republican!"

"I didn't ask whether it would be the same or not. I asked what she said."

I let out a little breath, moving my jaw to the side as I thought. "She…she said she thought so. She said I liked Archie from Horatio Hornblower way too much to be straight."

His hand shook, and I heard him try to muffle a snicker.

"And then she started crying," I continued softly, "and I thought it was because of what I'd told her. But she was smiling, too, and…she hugged me and said it wasn't because of me. It was because…she knew I was going to run into all sorts of people who would look down on me for that; it would be a hard life, she said, and she would never wish a hard life on any of her children." Why was this so much easier to say when my eyes were blinded by the covers? "And she kissed me and she told me I was brave, and that she was so proud of me for telling her…"

Another pause, and then he had drawn the ugly comforter down, revealing my ruffled hair and the tear that had somehow snaked its way down past my nose. I don't know how that happened.

He stared at me for a while, petting my hair back down, before leaning forward and kissing me on the forehead. "You are brave," he said, nearly whispering. "And I'm proud of you, too."

I smiled at him, already feeling the rebel tear begin to dry before he wiped it away. "Thanks," I said. "But you know, that's wrong on so many levels. If you keep imitating my mom, I'm gonna put myself in therapy; I'm sure I've developed some sort of complex."

He laughed again, softly. "What did your mother say about telling your father?"

"Aren't we done with this conversation yet?" I sighed.

"Not quite."

I surrendered. "She said she would leave it up to me. She said she would never lie directly to him, but promised, if he asked, to direct the question to me rather than to tell him herself. I don't think he's asked yet. I don't think he wants to know."

"How long has it been since you told your mother?"

I counted. "Four years, I think. I don't really remember. Kourin's known forever; it's like she's psychically linked to me, or something. And Rokou found out when I was fifteen."

"How long have you known?"

"My goodness," I teased, pressing his nose with my forefinger. "Don't we have a lot of questions today! Well, I don't remember that one. It's not something I realized all of a sudden, you know. It just kinda…grew on me. How about you?"

He smiled. "To tell the truth, I didn't know I was gay until I met Miaka and Taka."

…Whaaa?

I blinked. "Uhhh…exactly…why?" Please don't tell me you used to have a thing for Taka please don't tell me you used to have a thing for Taka oh my GOD how weird would that be?!?!?!

"Well." He was playing with my hair again. "Think about it, sweetie. I've remembered loving you since I was able to think. But how was I to know whether you'd been born as a boy or a girl? I didn't know until I met Miaka and Taka, and they told me all about you. That you wore the same sweatshirt every day. That you liked Harry Potter and British history and spaghetti with tomato sauce, and that you had an embarrassing obsession with *Nsync that lasted over a month…"

I was beet red by that point. "Ugh…they told you about that?"

His smile broadened. "But I would have loved you either way. Girl or boy, man or woman…I would have loved you."

Well, for crying out loud, what could I say to that?!?! Not much, as it turned out! I was completely lost for words at his explanation, and could only scoot closer and hug him tightly; he would never cease to amaze me, nor would the fact that I'd somehow ended up with someone like him.

"So, does…" I trailed off. "Does that mean you're bi?"

"No," he replied. "It means I love you."

And I smiled against his shoulder. "You're such a romantic sap."

"I'm not the one who's crying."

"Aww…shut up."

He pulled away, grinning, and kissed my nose. "I claim this nose in the name of His Majesty Saihitei Seishuku, Emperor of Kounan!" he declared imperially.

"What the hell, ya goof?" I giggled. One of the best things about being Sai's boyfriend was the fact that I got to see him goofy like this. He never acted this way in front of anyone else, though, and it made me feel special that he did with me.

The game wasn't over yet, though. He kissed my forehead, then, and said, "And this!" Then he kissed my left cheek—"And this!"—my right cheek—"And this!"—my right ear—"And this!"—my lips—"And this!"—and on and on and on, until I was giggling like a lunatic, trying unsuccessfully to push him away.

When he himself was finally laughing hard enough to deter his mouth from kissing me further, he leaned up again, a huge grin on his face. "Aha! Now I own the entire left side of your head, and half of the right side, as well! Victory is mine."

"My gosh, how uncivilized!" I giggled. "If you would have asked nicely, I would've given it to you of my own free will."

He raised an eyebrow. "Really, sweetheart, that doesn't make for a pleasant picture; I fear you might frighten small children if relieved of half of your head."

The shower shut off abruptly, and I blinked, having almost forgotten that Ayuru was even there. Well. The Shogun of Kutou certainly took long showers.

"Anyway," said Sai, laying back down and pulling me closer, circling my shoulders with his arm. "Complete change of subject. When this is all over, I'd like to take you to Chicago. Would you like that?"

I smiled. "Sure. To do what?"

"I thought we'd see a show."

"Okay," I agreed. "What show?"

"Your choice. I know Miss Saigon is playing this summer. Otherwise there's Ragtime at the Chicago Theater, or La Traviata at the Opera House…and a production of The Mikado at Northwestern."

I giggled. "You certainly know lots about the theater schedule. But I'd like to see The Mikado. I like Gilbert and Sullivan."

"I know." He rubbed my nose with his. "I do, as well." As I blinked sleepily, he started singing quietly: "Here's a how-de-do…if I marry you…when your time has come to perish, then the maiden whom you cherish must be slaughtered, too! Here's a how-de-do…here's a how-de-do…"

I giggled, as he was singing the female lead, but yawned and humored him with the second verse. "Here's a pretty mess…In a month, or less…I must die without a wedding, let the bitter tears I'm shedding witness my distress…here's a pretty mess, here's a pretty mess…"

"Here's a state of things, to her life she clings…"

Startled, we both realized that neither of us had been singing, and looked toward the bathroom door. Ayuru stood there with a towel around his shoulders, dressed in nothing but a pair of long pajama bottoms and looking as serious as ever.

"Matrimonial devotion doesn't seem to suit her notion, burial it brings," he continued nonchalantly. "Here's a state of things…here's a state of things…"

I turned to Sai and beamed, and we all quietly sang the last part in surprisingly bearable three-part harmony.

"With a passion that's intense
I worship aaaaand aaaadore,
But the laws of common sense
We oughtn't toooo iiiiignore.

If what he says is true,
'Tis death to marry you! (Sai and I pointed at each other teasingly, and I giggled.)
Here's a pretty state of things!
Here's a pretty how-de-do!
Here's a pretty state of things!
A pretty state of things!"

Sai: Here's a how-de-do…

Me: Here's a how-de-do…

Ayuru: Here's a how-de-do…

All of us: For if what he says is true,
I cannot, cannot marry you!
Here's…a…pre…tty…pre…tty…state…of…things!"

By this time, I was laughing almost uncontrollably. What had started out as a sweet little sappy song between myself and Sai had somehow turned into a big-scale chorus number. So when we all went for the last line—"Here's a pretty how-do-do!"—I couldn't even get it out, just hid my face in Sai's shoulder and laughed. Nakago singing an English operetta while drying his hair with a towel was probably the number one source of my mirth.

When it had ended, and I dared to glance up at Ayuru and not laugh, I saw his serious face angled at the door. Following his gaze, I saw Gen-chan and Tom standing there, staring at us like we were trying on high heels, or something.

"You guys," Gen-chan stated bluntly, "are SO. GAY."

Sai and I cracked up, and Ayuru's mouth twitched upward a little.

"Cultured," he corrected.

Tom shook his head. "Uhh…whatever, y'all," he said skeptically, and closed the door once more, leaving us to laugh ourselves to sleep.

TBC…

Notes: Ahahaha…ahem. Okay. Just call me the Gilbert and Sullivan Evangelist. I thought I'd give a brief explanation of the song contained within this chapter, to which the MIDI file can be found here:

http://math.boisestate.edu/gas/mikado/html/how_de_do.html

Anyway. The main gist of the song is this: Ko-Ko is the Lord High Executioner of Japan, and he's betrothed to a girl named Yum-Yum. However, a guy named Nanki-Poo is also in love with Yum-Yum, and what's more, she loves him. So. A letter comes from the Mikado (the Emperor) telling Ko-Ko that he needs to execute someone or suffer the consequences (he hasn't done his job in years), but through a series of complex events, the first person on the waiting list to be executed is Ko-Ko himself. Ko-Ko then happens upon Nanki-Poo, who is about to kill himself because Yum-Yum is engaged to Ko-Ko, and Ko-Ko persuades him to be executed, instead, since he's going to die anyway. To this, Nanki-Poo replies that he'll be executed if he can marry Yum-Yum first: that way, he'll be married to her for a month, but after he's executed, she'd be a widow, and Ko-Ko can marry her as planned. Not knowing what else to do, Ko-Ko agrees to this. (**catches breath**)

A few scenes later, however, Pooh-Bah, an aristocrat who holds most of the titles in the country, makes it known to Ko-Ko, Yum-Yum, and Nanki-Poo that if a married man is executed, then by law, his wife must be buried alive. (This does not happen often, however, since in the world of Gilbert and Sullivan's Japan, the only crime punishable by death is flirting, and married men don't flirt. I think it's supposed to be a satire. --; ) So, rightfully upset, they sing the song above. **nod** Whew.

Sai sings Yum-Yum's part, just because it's the first verse. Then Nuriko sings Nanki-Poo's part, and Ayuru sings Ko-Ko's part. ^_^;;; Ahhhehem. Anyway.