~*~
"It wasn't chivalry," Saihitei--whom Ryuen had just introduced me to--was saying.
He'd lowered himself gracefully into the chair on my left, while Ryuen had returned to the seat directly across the table from me, and now the two were absorbed in conversation and pretty much ignoring me. Not that I minded, of course--fading into the background was something I did extremely well--but, actually, I wasn't getting the usual being-ignored vibe from these two. It was more like...like both of them were so aware of my presence that they were ignoring me for the sake of not being obtrusive, or... I shook my head. It was an odd feeling, and a difficult one to define.
Saihitei cleared his throat, then, which snapped me
out of my thoughts--I watched his eyes flicker up from his coffee and onto
Ryuen, who was currently breaking off little pieces of the danish and sticking
them in his mouth. "It was common
courtesy," the tall man continued.
"They were late for a class, and as I wasn't in much of a hurry, I
let them go in front of me." He
shrugged. "Any decent person
would've done the same."
Ryuen looked up at that, and for a minute I couldn't decipher his expression at all...but, then, his face broke into a grin, and he leaned forward to give Saihitei a quick, affectionate kiss on the cheek. "You're too decent sometimes, I think," he commented as he slid back into his seat. The smile returned. "But, hey, that's okay. I wouldn't have it any other way."
For a moment, Saihitei actually appeared to be blushing...but, then, he shook his head a little, sending long strands of hair sweeping down over his cheeks, and by the time the hair fluttered back into place, whatever it was had faded away.
And then, unexpectedly, I found his eyes on me. "So, Doukun," he said pleasantly,
"what is it that you're studying here?"
I blinked, and for some reason, drew a complete blank for almost a full second before anything like speech came into my head. "I-I'm undecided," I managed at last. I cleared my throat. "But, I'm leaning towards either Physics or Mathematics, or perhaps Chemistry or Biology or Statistics...although I've heard that Statistics is an extremely dry field of study, and so perhaps it'd be a better idea for me to maybe just minor in Statistics and double-major in Physics and..." I trailed off, realizing that they were both staring at me with wide eyes, and felt a blush of my own come into my cheeks. "I'm undecided," I finished quietly.
Ryuen grinned, stretching up a hand to wipe some of the danish crumbs from his lips. "I get the impression that you've thought about this a little bit before."
I flushed.
"Y-Yes, a little."
"Well, that's excellent," Saihitei announced, head ducking into a firm nod. "There are very few college freshman who are taking their futures seriously, but it looks like you are."
Something inside of me frowned, gave my mind a little tap. Hey, um...did I tell him that I was a freshman?
Oh, come on, Doukun. Look at yourself. Could you be anything else?
But...
How'd he know I was in college to begin with, anyway? I don't look like a college student any more than Ryuen looks like a boy.
I shifted in my seat, hiding a slight frown beneath the last of my iced mocha.
He most likely just made an educated guess. You're sitting here in a college coffee shop with a bookbag full of college books. What else could you be?
S...Still. Something's...weird about these two. Something's...something's really strange.
"Hey," said Ryuen suddenly, eyes lighting up,
"Sai and I were just going over to the pizza place to meet up with some
friends of ours. If you're not
busy...wouldja like to come? I'm sure
they'd love to meet you."
I raised an eyebrow, now fully certain that I had
somehow stumbled into an episode of The Twilight Zone, because there was no way
that this was actually happening.
"Ahhh...I don't know. I
really should get back to my room. Lots
of studying to do, after all..."
But, Ryuen was already out of his chair, and before I knew what was going on, he'd taken my arm, drawn me up out of my seat, and was leading me towards the door. "Oh, don't be silly," he said, guiding me through the crowd of prospective coffee-buyers. "It's not like you can't leave any time. It's just down the street."
And, with any luck, Kristen would still be there. Great.
I dug my heels into the ground, and despite the fact that I was eerily sure that Ryuen could've flung me over his shoulder and carried me if he'd really wanted to get me out of there, he stopped, too, and released my arm. We were only a few feet away from the door, still wrapped in a cocoon of Starbucks customers, but Ryuen was standing close enough to me that I didn't have to shout for him to hear me.
"Really," I said, feeling nervous without
knowing why. "I'd like to come,
but I...I can't. I'm sorry. I have a lot to get to work on." As Ryuen was suddenly looking like I'd
stepped on his dog, I grimaced and added, "I-If it were a Friday, or
something, it'd be different, really.
It's just that's it's Tuesday, and I have a lot due tomorrow,
and--"
"Ooh, great!" Ryuen exclaimed. "Great! I'm glad you feel that way! So, we'll see you on Friday, then, huh?"
I blinked. "Ahh...what?"
By now, Saihitei--who apparently had been throwing away our empty cups and disposing of the danish--had caught up with us; he moved into place just behind Ryuen and rested his hands on the smaller man's shoulders, gave them a gentle squeeze. For a moment, I thought he was going to be on my side, maybe ask Ryuen politely to stop trying to drag me into the middle of their social lives...but, instead, he nodded and gave me a friendly smile.
"We're having a little get-together of friends on
Friday," he explained slowly.
"There'll only be...seven or eight of us, but...well, we'd love for
you to come."
I shook my head a bit helplessly, confused and frowning and not sure if I could find the breath to answer. "But...but, you just met me," I managed at last. "We've known each other for--" I glanced at my watch. "--ten minutes. Why...why would you want me to come?"
Ryuen stared at me for a long time, and I got the
impression that there was a lot more going on behind his eyes than I knew, that
something immense was happening here and no one had bothered to send me
the memo or something... And, then, his
left eye dipped into a wink, and he smiled.
"I'm a good judge of character," he said brightly. "And, besides. It's your birthday, right?"
"Yes, but...it won't be on Friday."
I'm sure they'd be lost without that wisdom, Doukun...
"Ehhh, that doesn't matter. Look, I've spent enough birthdays of my own
without anybody to celebrate with me, and I can tell you, it's no fun. So, just...consider it my birthday present
to you, okay?"
I gave an exasperated sigh. "But, you don't even kn--"
Right in the middle of my sentence, though, something slammed into my from behind, and I went stumbling forward. Somehow, Ryuen managed to catch me before I went face-first into the floor, and even though I hit into him pretty hard, he lifted me back to my feet...really easily. Blinking and surprised and finding the wind mostly knocked out of me, I grabbed onto his arms to hoist myself back up, starting to turn to see just who had hit into me...
...and found myself staring into two of the deepest, richest blue eyes I'd ever seen in my life.
For perhaps a half a second, things seemed stereotypically frozen; I looked at her, she looked at me...
She's...she's so...
A million words came to mind, all flooding into my brain at the same instant.
Beautiful sophisticated elegant breathtaking amazing perfect.
I saw us walking hand in hand together down the street, me carrying her books, her smiling and squeezing my fingers every few steps. I saw me buying her coffee, bringing it to her, then sitting there with her in a sun-filled Starbucks and laughing over our favorite books. I saw us watching T.V. together in the dorm lounge, her head resting on my shoulder, my arm around her, holding her close...
Do you, Doukun, take this woman to be your lawful wedded wife? Ohhh, I do! And, do you...er...Beautiful Girl, take Doukun to be your lawful wedded husband? I do!! Of course, I do! Then, by the power vested in me--
"Hey, kid, watch where you're fuckin'
going."
...
Crumble crumble crumble.
I stared at her in shock, mouth hanging open, unable to breathe deeply enough to ask what in the name of God was going on. Sh-she was perfect!! Tall, slender, well...um...formed, with silky golden hair and those eyes! Those eyes!! I'd never seen a blue this blue...! And, yet, she...she was scowling at me, pink lips pursing together in irritation, and I was shocked by the level of hatred in that stare.
Ryuen's grip on my shoulders tightened a bit, and he steadied me enough so I could--hypothetically, at least--stand on my own. I wavered a little, still stunned, but somehow managed to stay upright.
"Always great to run into you, Ayuru," Ryuen offered, sounding startlingly-less than the cordial, pleasant boy I'd met minutes earlier.
A...Ayuru?
Ayuru gave Ryuen a witheringly-cold stare, drawing the purse she was holding closer to her chest. "You, too, of course, Ryuen." Her eyes flickered up to Saihitei, and was it my imagination, or did her eyebrow lift, just slightly...? "Saihitei," she acknolwedged, lips twisting into a dark smile. "I don't think I've seen you for...oh, a lifetime, at least." The smile lifted. "How's the family?"
It's always strange, trying to define something that happens on a level beneath conscious level...but, whatever the case, I suddenly had the very strange feeling that there was a lot more going on here than it seemed, and that...somehow...it had to do with me, too.
Before Saihitei could answer, Ryuen had pushed me behind him, sending me thudding into Saihitei's chest, and was stepping forward. Ayuru was taller than he was by at least a few inches, but he still managed to look threatening as he stopped right in front of her, jabbed a finger at her face. What he said next was so low that I could barely hear it, and what I did catch...I shook my head. Well, it was just impossible. Why on earth would he say that?
Must've misheard.
Ayuru left immediately after that, looking flushed and angry, and swept over to the shortening line of Starbucks customers to, I assumed, order some coffee. I couldn't help but watch her, mesmerized by the fluidity of her movements, the grace and the beauty and the...aggggghhhh. She'd called me a "kid!" She'd been rude and cruel and vulgar, and had obviously been less than polite to Ryuen and Saihitei, whom I found myself liking very much despite the fact that we'd only just met, but...
I sighed, giving her one last longing glance. She was wearing stylish black stretch pants and a blue tanktop, had a navy blue purse slung from one shoulder; her hair was long and straight and full, glistening like gold in the sunlight...
"Uh-oh." It was Ryuen.
Suddenly realizing I'd been staring for a great deal longer than I should've been, I blushed and turned back, faced my new companions with what I assumed was a sheepish smile. "She...she wasn't very nice at all."
Ryuen was regarding me suspiciously, eyes narrowed and
dark. "No. She wasn't." He stared at me for a few more seconds, looking like he was about
to grab me by the shoulders and shake me...but, then, abruptly, he brightened,
and the smile was back on his lips.
"So! What about
Friday? You coming?"
I sighed.
"Sure, I suppose. Where
should I--"
"Here," Ryuen interrupted, tugging a folded up piece of green paper from his pocket and depositing it in my hand. "Write your email address on here, and we'll email you sometime before Friday to let you know where to go and when and stuff."
I did so, and--with the green paper tucked back into his jeans pocket--Ryuen gave me one last winking smile, and then took Saihitei by the hand and led him outside. As they went, I couldn't help but wonder at what I thought I'd heard him say to Ayuru, and what--if I'd heard right--it could possibly mean.
You've been pissed off ever since you got reborn as a girl...
I shook my head, more confused than ever, and walked outside.
~*~