He looked down at Momo and wondered when she was going to wake up. As he did, he noticed the odor of her hair. "Nice smell," he observed. Momo worked with oil and grease and metal; As a result, her hair had an earthy smell to it. He observed the way her long red hair, now unbraided, cascaded in waves down her back, her shoulders, gently brushed against her face. He wrapped his arms more tightly around her in response to a sudden protective feeling. "Roy's right, brains and beauty…."
She began to stir, the moaning sounds of awakening escaping her throat. "Mmmm…" She tried to stretch, and nearly head-butted Ryu in the chin. "Mmmm…"
"Good morning," Ryu said softly.
The engineer froze. Where was she and who was holding her? She quickly leaned away and sat up to look into Ryu's concerned face. Her chest started heaving again as she remembered the previous night's events. The dream, Ryu…
Ryu could see Momo trying to fight back tears. "It's okay, Momo…" he tried to reassure her.
Momo still looked at him with frightened eyes. "You're…not a dream…right?"
"Not as far as I know."
Momo pinched herself, then relaxed. "Okay, I'm really here, you're really here…" she noticed where she sat, "…and your legs are probably asleep."
"No, I'm fine," Ryu replied. "Are you okay? What happened?"
Momo's eyes widened again. "I…I can't…talk about it right now…okay?"
Ryu nodded. "Okay." He watched as Momo stood from his lap. "Cute PJ's, by the way."
Momo smoothed a blue background with white bunnies before blushing. "Thanks."
Ryu stood, dusting off the back of his pants, then noticed the doorway. "Ooo. Sorry about your door."
"What about my door – Oh, my!"
The doorway to her room had been pushed several inches inward, crumbling the stone around it.
They both stared a full minute before Ryu found his voice again. "I…didn't mean to do that."
It was early evening by the time Ryu returned to the treehouse he and Rei shared. He rubbed his neck as he made his way up the walkway to the front door.
Rei was there to greet him.
"What the hell's the matter with you, Ryu!" He yelled as they entered the fort. "Wakin' up yellin' in the middle of the night, scarin' the hell out of me! Then taking off like a bat outta hell!"
"Sorry, Rei…"
"Sorry, my ass!" Rei knew he sounded like a mother hen, but didn't care. "First, you stomp around the house with something eatin' you, then you pull this." He glared at his friend. "So where were you, anyway?"
"Momo's tower."
The Woren blinked. "Momo? Why there?"
Ryu finally snapped and stomped around the room, waving his arms. "I don't know, okay? One minute I'm sleeping peacefully, the next I'm scared, and the next I…felt like I had to go to her tower!"
Rei took a step back. He had never seen Ryu this angry since having to fight Teepo in Myria's fortress. "Was she…okay?"
"No! She was crying! Really hard! I didn't know what to do, so I…" He shook his head still trying to understand a concept foreign to him. "…I just held her. She calmed down really quickly after that."
Rei calmed down enough to digest the new tidbit of information. "Wow…Doesn't that just beat all…" A sly smile grew across his face. "Doesn't that just beat all…"
"Look, I'm sorry Rei, I didn't mean to…" Ryu noticed his friend's contemplative state. "What?"
Rei looked up quickly. "Hmmm? Oh, nothing important. Oh, and it's cool, Ryu." He clapped a hand on Ryu's shoulder. "I think I understand."
"Understand what?"
Rei grinned lopsidedly. "That's for you to find out yourself."
Ryu blinked a couple of times. "O-okay. Anyway, Momo asked me to stay at her tower for a while. Said she needs the company, and she has a couple of things she wants me to do for her."
"I'll bet," Rei said without irony. "Did she ask if she could study you?"
"Yeah. How did you-" Ryu remembered who they were talking about. "Never mind."
"Okey-dokey." Rei gestured to Ryu's bedroom. "Need some help packing?"
"Thanks," Ryu replied as he pulled out a travel bag.
Ryu was never one to collect 'stuff', and it showed. By the time he was through packing, he had managed to nearly fill one sheepskin bag.
"Man, you don't have much, do you?" Rei jibed.
"Yeah, I guess I didn't need your help after all." Ryu smirked as he one-armed the bag over his shoulder. "Well, I guess that's it." His smirk faded to a frown. "But I feel like I'm forgetting something…"
"Bet you left it at Momo's place," Rei offered, grinning again.
Ryu didn't notice Rei's facial contortions. "Yeah, that could be…" He headed toward the front door. "Well, I don't know when I'll be back. She didn't say how long she'd need me."
Rei nearly burst out laughing. Nearly biting his tongue he said, "Don't worry, I'll hold down the fort."
Ryu nodded with a smile, then turned and ran at full speed to the end of the first section of the walkway. As he reached the end, he began to emit a bright glow. The glow angled upward from the walkway and faded to reveal Ryu in one of his many serpentine forms.
Rei watched the dragon until it disappeared over the horizon.
"Yeah, buddy, you're just what she needs…"