Warnings: Nothin I'm aware of. Shounen ai. Duh.
Notes: Hi, guys!!! **wavewave** Okay, so, this chapter is really really short; it's actually only half the size of a normal chapter. But I really wanted to post something today, to prove to y'all I'm not dead in a gutter somewhere. ^_^;; Lots of people have written me really nice emails that I haven't replied to yet, and I'm sorry! I promise I'll get to them soon. **nod** Likewise for the bunch who are patiently waiting for their AS character test results…sorry!! Seriously, blame my teachers! I have twoooo papers and twoooo presentations due on Monday when I get back from school, and have basically been writing papers nonstop for three months. **dies** But never fear! In two weeks, my semester ends, and I'll be able to do many more productive things. ^___^
Until then, I hope you don't mind this little mini-chapter. I'm leaving to drive seven hours in the car to Thanksgiving in a little under half an hour, and therefore, I cannot write more. **tragic** But I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving, and those of you who don't have Thanksgiving, have a good Thursday! ^_^
YET ANOTHER STORY
Chapter 25:
Optimism
"So," said Ayuru, "you would like me to have a heart-to-heart discussion with…Chuin." It was morning, and most of the others had gone down for breakfast. Houjun, Sai, Ayuru and I had remained behind to talk a little about going to see Miboshi; my hair was still slightly damp from the shower, and I was sitting cross-legged on the bed, swaying back and forth and grinning despite our imminent battle.
"Won't you, Ayuru-chan?" I begged. "You're both Seiryuu seishi and all, and he might feel more comfortable talking to you. And, well…I think he really needs to talk, after what he's been through."
"He does seem to have a certain…affinity toward you," Sai put in, a hint of amusement in his voice, and Ayuru cocked an eyebrow at him.
"Please, no da," Houjun put in quickly. "Please consider it. Ryuuen or Saihitei could try, but I think guilt for…a certain conflict between them might prevent him from truly opening up, no da."
Ayuru still looked doubtful, so I jumped in again. "He doesn't have any friends; he's really lonely, and all he needs is someone to talk to." And someone to looooooove. "And Houjun's right; I don't think he'd talk to us about anything deep."
Something glinted in his eyes, and he let his gaze slip to the floor. Letting out a sigh, he finally conceded. "On the condition that I return from Miboshi's lair in one piece," he promised, "I will talk to him."
Because ya liiiiiiiiiiiike him!!!
"Thanks, Ayuru," I said, trying to contain my grin and not give the game away.
The others came noisily into the room just then, shouting that they'd smuggled some breakfast for the rest of us, and Ayuru excused himself to go eat. I looked up at Sai and beamed.
"Matchmaker, matchmaker, make me a match…" I sang quietly, giggling, and he chuckled and shook his head.
"How do you even know he swings that way, no da?" Houjun grinned.
I shrugged. "I just saw him looking at Chuin. I can tell." Dude, I have a gaydar!!!!
"All right; back to the plan, if you please," Sai said, pulling softly and playfully on my hair to make me shut up. "Is everything clear?"
"Sure." I nodded. "Bring you in to Miboshi, you'll pretend I've betrayed you and back away, Ayuru will charge at me like he's mad but turn around just in time to nuke Miboshi and you'll watch our backs, and then Houjun'll do the exorcism thing."
"We'll be warded against being turned," Houjun reminded us for the umpteenth time, "but not against her powers, na no da. So we have to keep our hearts as strong as possible, and see past her illusions if she chooses to use them, no da."
"And whatever other powers she's collected," Sai put in. "We know for certain she has Tokaki, Subaru, and Soi…so she can teleport, manipulate time, and control the weather, as well. Plus, whatever fear-sensing power she used on Ryuuen."
"Crap, she can control the weather?" I said, mock-serious. "Hope she doesn't rain on our parade."
Houjun gave me a funny look, and Sai put his hand over my mouth. I giggled and kissed his palm, and he pulled me against him fondly.
"Sai," I said suddenly, prying his hand away so I could talk. "Do you have… You don't have a sword, do you? And your powers, well, they… You kinda need a sword for them, don't you?"
"Well, as it turns out…" He smiled rather sheepishly. "I do have one."
I could feel my eyes widen. "Huh?" I'd never even seen Sai look at a sword, let alone possess one. "How'd you do that?"
"Ayuru gave it to me."
…Scuse me?
"Ayuru gave you a sword?"
He nodded, the smile becoming more amused. "That's right. He brought it in his bag; apparently, he thought it might come in useful. But he gave it to me when you were…gone." A slight flicker of pain danced through his eyes despite his grin, and my heart clenched. "I think he was trying to calm me down, as if he was giving a lollipop to a child to make the child forget that he'd just had a rather uncomfortable shot."
"So he gave you a sword," I said, more than slightly befuddled.
Sai cocked his eyebrow at me. "Indeed. He did."
"Do you know how to use it?"
"I believe my memories of the technique are intact, yes."
My boyfriend is a SWORD GUY!!!
"That's so coooool!" I breathed, eyes wide.
"You're cooler," he teased, the goofiness twitching at the corner of his mouth.
"No, you are."
"No, you are."
"No, you are; you've got cool sword power stuff, and you're smart and nice and, y'know, not so bad to look at."
"Oh, yeah?" He narrowed his eyes and lowered his head to touch his nose to mine. "Well, you're Ryuuen."
"Ahh…hhhhem…no da," Houjun coughed, as I tried not to melt. "I'll…go see what they brought us for breakfast, no da…um…and I'll give Kouran a call…" He rose from his chair, straightening his shirt.
That snapped me out of it, and I grew suddenly and amazingly worried that he'd drawn certain conclusions that shouldn't have been drawn. Without thinking, I blurted, very loudly, "we're not gonna have sex!!"
Houjun froze, his eyebrows shooting up until they almost reached his hairline; beside me, I felt Sai move a hand to his temple and rub it.
Oh. My. God.
"I mean we haven't ever…um… Nothing we do is what you might…think it might…be..." Now, I know I've been mighty embarrassed over the course of my life, but this particular event would probably win the Grand Prize. What can I say, though? It was weird to think that my friends might think that Sai and I had done…something…and even if we had, it'd still be weird. I knew Miaka and Taka had done stuff, and I really didn't wanna think about that, because, likewise, it was weird. And with Genrou, well, I'd known him since preschool…
Okay, Ryuuen…can we stop thinking about people having sex now?! PLEASE?!
"It's…ahahaha," Houjun said, looking slightly embarrassed himself. "To tell the truth, I wasn't even considering…that, no da. It's just that you two haven't had any time alone…to do anything," he put in quickly, "for a long time, and considering what happened yesterday, I thought you might appreciate it, no da."
Could my face turn any redder? Well, we were going to find out. "…Oh," I said in a small voice. "Um. O-okay."
He smiled reassuringly. "Don't worry, no da. My mind's clear out of the gutter, na no da." Giving us a wave with two fingers, he slipped out the door in search of food and a phone.
Letting out a long breath, I turned sheepish eyes to Sai. "Can I bang my head against something hard now, please?"
"Oh, I don't think that will be necessary," he replied, brushing the hair away from my face. "I know you're nervous where that area is concerned, and Houjun won't tease us. Just be grateful it wasn't Genrou or Tom in here with you."
"Sorry if I embarrassed you," I mumbled, tilting my head to rest it on his shoulder.
"Surprised, but not embarrassed," he said, and put his arms around me. "Now, listen…when we fight Miboshi, you get to me as soon as you can, all right? I want you close to me, just in case something unexpected happens."
"Sai, I don't want you to worry about me when you should be watching out for yourself…"
"Well, I'll worry much less if you're close to me."
"I'm a seishi, too," I sighed, frowning slightly. "I should be able to take care of myself so no one will worry."
"You're a seishi who's only had his memories for a few months," he said firmly. "And while many things about being a celestial warrior are innate, you're not used to any of this."
"Neither is Ayuru," I insisted. "He's only known for a few days. Are you gonna ask him to stand near you, too?"
"Ayuru is a policeman. He has spent the past ten years enforcing the law. He carries a loaded weapon. Whereas you have been stuck in a college dorm room writing papers about the Great War for nearly one-fifth of your life. I assure you, I mean this in the fondest possible way, but you, my darling, are a nerd."
"Yes, but I'm a superhuman nerd," I reminded him.
"I know. Sweetheart…I just don't want anything to happen to you if I'm not there to protect you. Can you understand that, at least? I know you can protect yourself, but if something should happen…" His arms tightened across my back. "Do it for me, then, because I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I couldn't protect you."
Emotion after emotion drilled itself into my heart. Normally, I would have agreed quickly to Sai's request, not for my own benefit, but because I did understand the guilt he felt. I also understood that there really wasn't anything I could do to assuage that guilt. But I was now faced with my own guilt. I wanted to prove I could look after myself, I really did. There was a certain security that went along with knowing someone was looking out for me, but as a seishi, I shouldn't fall victim to such things. I'd sort of already showed them I was self-sufficient with the whole Captured By Miboshi thing, but that had only made it worse.
Well, come to think of it, recent events in general had not been conductive to the idea of Me as a Competent Self-Taking-Care-Of-er. Or whatever. First there was Chuin, then there was the aftermath of Chuin, then there was my traumatized reaction to seeing Gen-chan Chii-ified by Ayuru, then there was more Chuin aftermath, and only then do we come to the Captured By Miboshi thing.
Why the hell am I so needy?? I never used to be so needy!!
…Then again, I never used to have friends getting fried or people disguised as my boyfriend trying to rape me.
"Ryuuen," said Sai, gentle but firm. "Promise me you'll do what I ask."
Sigh.
"I'll get over to your side as soon as I can," I promised quietly. "But if I need to fight, I'm fighting. I don't want you to have to fight for both of us."
He kissed my ear. "It's a deal."
We sat there for a few moments, listening to our friends chattering in the connecting room. Apparently, there was some dispute as to exactly how many bagels they'd actually smuggled up, in contrast with how many bagels had actually arrived at the room. Miaka was vehemently denying having anything to do with their mysterious disappearance.
"I wish you didn't have to go," Sai said, so quietly that I had to wait a few seconds before replying as I deciphered exactly what he'd said. I wasn't sure he'd meant to say that, because it wasn't like Sai to say things that made him sound so young, even vulnerable.
Pulling away, I met his soft eyes and smiled. "I know. I wish nobody had to go. But you know we do. It is our duty and our destiny!" I said dramatically, tilting my chin up. "And I am the slave of duty!"
I was rewarded with a tiny grin. "Is that another Gilbert and Sullivan song cue?"
"I'll take a rain check."
He nodded.
"We can use it if Miboshi decides to use Soi's seishi powers on us."
It took him a few seconds to get my stupid joke, but it made him laugh anyway.
"And anyway," I continued, a bit more seriously, "Suzaku can't let anything awful happen to us. This is our second chance, right? This is the life in which we're all supposed to be happy, to make up for all the bad stuff before. And it wouldn't make sense to have everyone be so happy and then let a stupid floating sorority girl ruin it all."
Sai's smile grew a little sad. "I wish I had your optimism."
"Here, you can borrow some," I said, and pressed my palm to his forehead. "Zzzzzzzzzz! There; you are now infused."
He chuckled, closing his eyes. "Thank you. All right; now, let's make one more promise."
"Hm?"
Mouth curving upward, he looked up once again. "After this, no more adventures."
I nodded. "All right, Bilbo. I hope so. But seishiness is seishiness, after all, and we might not be able to help it."
"But if we can, we will," he insisted.
"Most definitely," I agreed.
A shadow in the doorway alerted us that someone had moved to stand there, and, looking up, we saw that it was Gen-chan. His hair tousled and his face uncharacteristically solemn, he gazed at both of us and sighed.
"They're ready if you are," he said, and with Sai's hand resting on my shoulder, we got up and followed him into the next room.
TBC…
Notes: Ehehe, again, sorry it's so short. ^_^;; Hope it's okay. Oh, and I didn't have time to edit it much…I will as soon as I can!
Jaaa!
YET ANOTHER TYPO:1) What Mouse-chan Originally Wrote: "Ayuru is a policeman. He has spent the past ten years enforcing crime."
2) What Mouse-chan Originally Wrote: "Sai put his other arms around me…" O.o; Exactly how many arms does Sai HAVE?!?!Octopussai: Well, now that you mention it…
^_~