Across Countries
By: Sedi
You people... *points finger at readers* ... ARE SO GOOD TO ME! ^_^ I didn't expect to get this many reviews for just two chapters of this story, but I guess I was wrong. ^-^ Sorry I didn't get that last chapter up sooner; I was really busy with other crap. So, I decided to work extra hard on this chapter so you people can enjoy it sooner. ^,^ Also, ff.net is screwin up my fics so that you can't tell when a new scene starts, so I'm going to have to use the dreaded annoying lines so you guys can tell where a scene ends and a new one starts. I apologize. ^^'
----------------------------------------------- (Bleeeh! Aaagh..! *falls on the ground, twitching*)
Chapter Three: Saying 'Bye to Italy
Rei couldn't believe it. He's survived three more days of Enrique's torment and torture. Finally, It would be only one day before he could get out of Italy and out of what the blonde teen called "clothing". The Italian clothes weren't even comfortable, and just didn't look right on a Chinese guy.
'When I introduce him to China,' Rei thought, 'I'm going to make him wear Chinese clothing. See how he likes wearing something that is totally foreign to him. Stupid prick.'
All week, after they had gone to the mall, Rei had restrained himself from exploding on Enrique again, but the anger kept building up in him and he felt as if he were going to burst any second on someone, which he didn't want to do, especially if the person were an innocent bystander and not the nuisance himself.
'Well, he did tell me a lot about Italy, and gave me a nice perspective of it, you have to give him that. The only thing I want to know is his father. I haven't met him, or even seen him, all week!' Rei sighed as he tapped on his labtop. So far that week, the only people who had responded to his e- mails were Kai from Japan and Emily from the States. He was just now responding to Kai. 'I guess the others don't use their computer as much.'
The only person Rei had told about his problem with Enrique was Kai, and he would often reread Kai's last e-mail sent to him to get more confidence, and to keep his temper in check.
[Rei,
Don't let Enrique get to you. You'll just be showing weakness if you blow up on him again. Show him who's the better person, and put up with him. But remember, if he really deserves a good kick in the groin, give it to him. And if he really gets up your ass, just tell him off, but remember, don't yell. Be as calm as you can.
-Hiwatari]
In Kai's letters when Rei was in Japan, he didn't come off as humorous or even slightly nice, just very serious and sometimes even insensitive. But Rei found the e-mail to be quite comical, even thought he would probably never kick Enrique in the nuts, or even attack the boy on purpose.
'I guess I'll just have to put up with him until we end up in China and he gets sick of me and decides to go home.' Rei closed his labtop and put it away in his bag, then climbed out of the bed.
The Chinese teen was planning to spend his last day in Italy relaxing and avoiding Enrique as possible. "A day off never hurt anyone," he had told himself the night before. "And Enrique probably wouldn't want to see me either. It'll give us both a break from each other."
Rei then looked over at the nightstand by his bed and noticed a rather thick notebook lying ontop of it. Curious, he picked it up and skimmed through it. In the notebook, in perfect handwriting in the Italian language, were notes that were obvious about Italy. Rei, having studied many languages, read a bit of the notebook, and confirmed that indeed Enrique had kept his promise and had given him the notebook about Italy.
"I guess he isn't a total bastard," Rei said aloud.
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Enrique dully tapped a high key of a grand piano, then put his right elbow on the keys, resting his head in his hand. A deep sigh escaped his lips.
"Master Enrique," Piddlesworth pleaded, "please practice! If you don't want to, then tell me what's wrong and I might let you out of piano lessons for today, and I won't even tell your father."
"It's nothing, Piddlesworth." He tapped another high key, then went down to the low keys and started tapping them, not really playing a melody. "I'm just tired. I'm not used to going around this city four days in a row, flapping my mouth like the apocolypse is coming."
Piddlesworth laughed softly, then stepped up behind Enrique. "And you're nervous about being away from home for so long, aren't you? Or are you afraid of traveling alone with Master Rei?"
"It's nothing, really," Enrique replied thickly. "I'll practice. Can you get me something to drink please? My throat's getting a bit dry. It's been dry all week, thanks to 'Master Rei'."
"Please don't be so hard on Master Rei," Piddlesworth said. "It's not his fault that you don't like him. You know he is trying his best to be friends with you. And like I said, you need to be more openminded." The butler left the music room, leaving Enrique with his thoughts.
"Why should I be more openminded? It's not like people are openminded to us. Just because Italy was on the wrong side of the line in World War II doesn't mean that we're evil now." He continued tapping on the keys of the piano. "Rei is the only foreigner I've met who doesn't act like a tourist, and actually respects us."
The blonde teen slid his right hand across the keys, then broke out into Pachabel Canon.
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Rei searched around the house, trying to find Enrique. After giving up, he wandered around the kitchen area to see if he could find a butler or servant, but found no one. When exiting the kitchen, he crashed right into Piddlesworth.
"Oh, I'm sorry, Mr. Piddlesworth," Rei quickly apologized, helping the older man up. "I didn't see you there."
"It's quite alright, Master Rei." Piddlesworth gently brushed himself off. "If you're looking for Enrique, he's in the music room. Just take a right when you see the first floor bathroom and you should find it easily."
"Wow, you read my mind, thank you." The Chinese boy quickly walked off, still embarrassed about crashing into Piddlesworth like that. "And again, sorry!"
-----------------------------------------------
Enrique had ended Pachabel Canon then went into Vivaldi's Winter. After nearly halfway through the song, though, he heard a door squeak open and immediatly stopped. "Hey Piddlesworth, back with the drinks already?" He turned around, and to his surprise saw Rei standing in the doorway.
"It's just me. I bumped into Piddlesworth earlier, so I guess he'll be back soon." Rei walked up to the piano, and looked at the sheet music infront of Enrique. "Why did you stop? That sounded great."
"I felt like it," Enrique replied, sliding the cover over the piano keys. "What are you doing here?"
'Why did I even come here when I knew he'd be so rude?' Rei thought, then answered, "I just wanted to thank you for the notes. It's much appreciated, even though you didn't have to throw my notebook in the fountain. You could have just told me."
"Don't thank me, I said I'd give the notes to you so I did." The Italian teen swung his legs over the piano bench so he'd be facing Rei. "We're leaving tomorrow at six in the morning, if you needed to know that too. So I suggest that you get your stuff ready. But remember; you can't take off the clothing I got you until we reach French, capish?"
"Yeah, sure." Rei refrained from rolling his eyes and sat at the piano, then lifted the cover back up.
"What are you doing?" Enrique asked, quickly swinging his legs back over the bench and defensively facing Rei.
"Well, since you're not going to play, then I will," Rei said simply. 'I'm finally getting under his skin now.'
But Rei thought wrong when Enrique just shrugged and stood. "Okay, go ahead. Whatever. I don't care." He walked across the room and leaned against a wall to wach the Chinese teen.
Rei licked his lips as he looked at the keys. He hadn't played for a while, so he wasn't sure if he was all that great anymore. But instead of letting his thoughts keeping him back, he let his hands dance across the keys, the tune of Carol of the Bells filling the music room.
When the song was over, Rei looked at Enrique as if asking for his opinion. All Enrique said was, "Nice," in a sarcastic tone of voice. He walked over to the bench and sat down by the Chinese boy. "A little rusty, though."
"Thanks for noticing," Rei muttered, but Enrique decided to ignore that remark and pick up where he left off on Winter. "So, you like playing the piano, Enrique?"
"No," Enrique answered flatly, keeping his eyes glued to the keys as his hands sped over them.
"Why not? You play very beautifully. How can you not enjoy something that you're so good at?"
"Because my father forces me to do things that I don't like, that's why. And if I don't try, then he'll ground me or take away my yacht or something." He shrugged, causing himself to slightly slip on the keys, but he quickly picked up the tune again. "Which is why I try in everything I do. Besides, I want to be successful like him."
"But you don't want to be like him."
Enrique slipped again. Angrily, he shut the cover and turned to Rei. "You don't know anything about him. So I suggest thinking before you say something like that, okay? You haven't even met my father, so don't be so judgemental."
"But what you said in the coliseum-" Rei started, but was quickly interrupted by Enrique.
"Forget what I said at the coliseum, okay?" Enrique stood up, sending Rei a look that said "forget about it or die", then added, "I was being stupid. Let's not talk about this again, okay? I want to enjoy France, even if it does mean being stuck with you." The blonde teen quickly walked out of the room.
Rei stared at the door Enrique left out of, surprised at the other teen's sudden outburst. 'Why is it that when we get into a friendly conversation, he's always backing out of it?"
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Rei, Enrique, and Piddlesworth ran through the airport terminal as fast as they could, clutching their luggage, the two teens yelling at each other.
"Why did you have to oversleep?" Rei shouted at Enrique.
Enrique's response was very typical of him, and quite expected by Rei. "It's your fault, you shouldn't have come to Italy in the first place, so if we miss this flight, I'm sending you on the first flight to Japan!"
"I live in China!" Rei screamed back.
"Whatever, they're all the same to me!"
"I knew we should have taken the private jet," Piddlesworth mumbled to himself. "I can still fly it too..."
The three pushed past people, until finding a counter with a sign above it labled "Italy Air". Enrique and Rei slung their luggage on the counter, almost hitting the woman behind it, then grabbed their tickets out of their pockets and held them up to her.
"Hurry!" they both screamed at the poor woman. "It's that idiot's fault!" They both turned and glared at each other, then eyed the woman, who nervously checked the bags and put tags on them. She gave them their tickets back and directed them to where the airplane enterance would be.
"Thank you!" Both teens yelled, then ran off. They didn't get far before Piddlesworth grabbed ahold of their shirts, pulling them back.
"I'm going to be going now, boys. I called a close friend of your father's, Enrique, to pick you up at the airport and help you around Paris. Enjoy your stay there." As soon as Piddlesworth let go, the two boys immediatly sprang away from him.
"We're going to miss the flight!" Both yelled.
-----------------------------------------------
"Well," Rei said, grinning, "We made it."
"They made me take off my shoes and they felt around them," Enrique said. "Disturbing." He looked out the window, and buckled his seatbelt.
"Never flew before?"
"I told you, I've never been out of Italy before, so I never needed to." Enrique squirmed in his chair to get more comfortable. "But this is nice, so I have no complaints. Unless the plane crashes. Then I'll just sue the airplane company."
Rei smirked then replied, "Enrique, if you are able to sue them while you're dead, then the world has come to an end." He too buckled his seatbelt, then put on headphones attached to the armrest of his seat.
In a few minutes a stewardess explained safety precautions (which Enrique listened intently to, but Rei ignored), and soon the airplane was soaring the skies above Italy. Rei closed his eyes, listening to a soft rock station on the radio while Enrique stared out the window, looking at the little dots which were buildings and cars.
When Rei looked up a half an hour later, he noticed Enrique slouching in his chair, looking quite pale. He reached across Enrique and closed the cover over the window, then returned to closing his eyes and listening to the music.
Enrique grinned queasily but gratefully, then also closed his eyes. 'Maybe being with Rei won't be as bad as I had thought in the beginning. He's friendlier than anyone else I've known. I guess it'll be better to be stuck with him than anyone else, even the girls.'
To Be Continued...
[1] The States: This is what some countries call the United States of America. I thought it would be appropriate to have Rei call them that, since he is from China after all.
[2] Pachabel Canon and Winter: Pachabel Canon is a song composed by Mozart, and Winter is by Vivaldi, both being very good. I love them. I know there are no piano parts in those songs, but I just thought of the titles off of the top of my head. I didn't feel like going through all of my classical songs until I found songs with a piano in it.
So many Mary-Sue fics in this section... It's making my head spin... @_@ Anyway, I'm not going to update A New Dawn until I get five chapters of Across Countries done, just incase anyone in the future who reads this is wondering why I haven't updated it. And also, for future warning, I'm going to be moving to another town soon. It could be anytime from now to the beginning of summer (my landlord's bein a bitch because of my cat, but we were gonna move anyway so poo on her). Which means that I won't be able to update any fic for an amount of time. Just a warning.
By: Sedi
You people... *points finger at readers* ... ARE SO GOOD TO ME! ^_^ I didn't expect to get this many reviews for just two chapters of this story, but I guess I was wrong. ^-^ Sorry I didn't get that last chapter up sooner; I was really busy with other crap. So, I decided to work extra hard on this chapter so you people can enjoy it sooner. ^,^ Also, ff.net is screwin up my fics so that you can't tell when a new scene starts, so I'm going to have to use the dreaded annoying lines so you guys can tell where a scene ends and a new one starts. I apologize. ^^'
----------------------------------------------- (Bleeeh! Aaagh..! *falls on the ground, twitching*)
Chapter Three: Saying 'Bye to Italy
Rei couldn't believe it. He's survived three more days of Enrique's torment and torture. Finally, It would be only one day before he could get out of Italy and out of what the blonde teen called "clothing". The Italian clothes weren't even comfortable, and just didn't look right on a Chinese guy.
'When I introduce him to China,' Rei thought, 'I'm going to make him wear Chinese clothing. See how he likes wearing something that is totally foreign to him. Stupid prick.'
All week, after they had gone to the mall, Rei had restrained himself from exploding on Enrique again, but the anger kept building up in him and he felt as if he were going to burst any second on someone, which he didn't want to do, especially if the person were an innocent bystander and not the nuisance himself.
'Well, he did tell me a lot about Italy, and gave me a nice perspective of it, you have to give him that. The only thing I want to know is his father. I haven't met him, or even seen him, all week!' Rei sighed as he tapped on his labtop. So far that week, the only people who had responded to his e- mails were Kai from Japan and Emily from the States. He was just now responding to Kai. 'I guess the others don't use their computer as much.'
The only person Rei had told about his problem with Enrique was Kai, and he would often reread Kai's last e-mail sent to him to get more confidence, and to keep his temper in check.
[Rei,
Don't let Enrique get to you. You'll just be showing weakness if you blow up on him again. Show him who's the better person, and put up with him. But remember, if he really deserves a good kick in the groin, give it to him. And if he really gets up your ass, just tell him off, but remember, don't yell. Be as calm as you can.
-Hiwatari]
In Kai's letters when Rei was in Japan, he didn't come off as humorous or even slightly nice, just very serious and sometimes even insensitive. But Rei found the e-mail to be quite comical, even thought he would probably never kick Enrique in the nuts, or even attack the boy on purpose.
'I guess I'll just have to put up with him until we end up in China and he gets sick of me and decides to go home.' Rei closed his labtop and put it away in his bag, then climbed out of the bed.
The Chinese teen was planning to spend his last day in Italy relaxing and avoiding Enrique as possible. "A day off never hurt anyone," he had told himself the night before. "And Enrique probably wouldn't want to see me either. It'll give us both a break from each other."
Rei then looked over at the nightstand by his bed and noticed a rather thick notebook lying ontop of it. Curious, he picked it up and skimmed through it. In the notebook, in perfect handwriting in the Italian language, were notes that were obvious about Italy. Rei, having studied many languages, read a bit of the notebook, and confirmed that indeed Enrique had kept his promise and had given him the notebook about Italy.
"I guess he isn't a total bastard," Rei said aloud.
-----------------------------------------------
Enrique dully tapped a high key of a grand piano, then put his right elbow on the keys, resting his head in his hand. A deep sigh escaped his lips.
"Master Enrique," Piddlesworth pleaded, "please practice! If you don't want to, then tell me what's wrong and I might let you out of piano lessons for today, and I won't even tell your father."
"It's nothing, Piddlesworth." He tapped another high key, then went down to the low keys and started tapping them, not really playing a melody. "I'm just tired. I'm not used to going around this city four days in a row, flapping my mouth like the apocolypse is coming."
Piddlesworth laughed softly, then stepped up behind Enrique. "And you're nervous about being away from home for so long, aren't you? Or are you afraid of traveling alone with Master Rei?"
"It's nothing, really," Enrique replied thickly. "I'll practice. Can you get me something to drink please? My throat's getting a bit dry. It's been dry all week, thanks to 'Master Rei'."
"Please don't be so hard on Master Rei," Piddlesworth said. "It's not his fault that you don't like him. You know he is trying his best to be friends with you. And like I said, you need to be more openminded." The butler left the music room, leaving Enrique with his thoughts.
"Why should I be more openminded? It's not like people are openminded to us. Just because Italy was on the wrong side of the line in World War II doesn't mean that we're evil now." He continued tapping on the keys of the piano. "Rei is the only foreigner I've met who doesn't act like a tourist, and actually respects us."
The blonde teen slid his right hand across the keys, then broke out into Pachabel Canon.
-----------------------------------------------
Rei searched around the house, trying to find Enrique. After giving up, he wandered around the kitchen area to see if he could find a butler or servant, but found no one. When exiting the kitchen, he crashed right into Piddlesworth.
"Oh, I'm sorry, Mr. Piddlesworth," Rei quickly apologized, helping the older man up. "I didn't see you there."
"It's quite alright, Master Rei." Piddlesworth gently brushed himself off. "If you're looking for Enrique, he's in the music room. Just take a right when you see the first floor bathroom and you should find it easily."
"Wow, you read my mind, thank you." The Chinese boy quickly walked off, still embarrassed about crashing into Piddlesworth like that. "And again, sorry!"
-----------------------------------------------
Enrique had ended Pachabel Canon then went into Vivaldi's Winter. After nearly halfway through the song, though, he heard a door squeak open and immediatly stopped. "Hey Piddlesworth, back with the drinks already?" He turned around, and to his surprise saw Rei standing in the doorway.
"It's just me. I bumped into Piddlesworth earlier, so I guess he'll be back soon." Rei walked up to the piano, and looked at the sheet music infront of Enrique. "Why did you stop? That sounded great."
"I felt like it," Enrique replied, sliding the cover over the piano keys. "What are you doing here?"
'Why did I even come here when I knew he'd be so rude?' Rei thought, then answered, "I just wanted to thank you for the notes. It's much appreciated, even though you didn't have to throw my notebook in the fountain. You could have just told me."
"Don't thank me, I said I'd give the notes to you so I did." The Italian teen swung his legs over the piano bench so he'd be facing Rei. "We're leaving tomorrow at six in the morning, if you needed to know that too. So I suggest that you get your stuff ready. But remember; you can't take off the clothing I got you until we reach French, capish?"
"Yeah, sure." Rei refrained from rolling his eyes and sat at the piano, then lifted the cover back up.
"What are you doing?" Enrique asked, quickly swinging his legs back over the bench and defensively facing Rei.
"Well, since you're not going to play, then I will," Rei said simply. 'I'm finally getting under his skin now.'
But Rei thought wrong when Enrique just shrugged and stood. "Okay, go ahead. Whatever. I don't care." He walked across the room and leaned against a wall to wach the Chinese teen.
Rei licked his lips as he looked at the keys. He hadn't played for a while, so he wasn't sure if he was all that great anymore. But instead of letting his thoughts keeping him back, he let his hands dance across the keys, the tune of Carol of the Bells filling the music room.
When the song was over, Rei looked at Enrique as if asking for his opinion. All Enrique said was, "Nice," in a sarcastic tone of voice. He walked over to the bench and sat down by the Chinese boy. "A little rusty, though."
"Thanks for noticing," Rei muttered, but Enrique decided to ignore that remark and pick up where he left off on Winter. "So, you like playing the piano, Enrique?"
"No," Enrique answered flatly, keeping his eyes glued to the keys as his hands sped over them.
"Why not? You play very beautifully. How can you not enjoy something that you're so good at?"
"Because my father forces me to do things that I don't like, that's why. And if I don't try, then he'll ground me or take away my yacht or something." He shrugged, causing himself to slightly slip on the keys, but he quickly picked up the tune again. "Which is why I try in everything I do. Besides, I want to be successful like him."
"But you don't want to be like him."
Enrique slipped again. Angrily, he shut the cover and turned to Rei. "You don't know anything about him. So I suggest thinking before you say something like that, okay? You haven't even met my father, so don't be so judgemental."
"But what you said in the coliseum-" Rei started, but was quickly interrupted by Enrique.
"Forget what I said at the coliseum, okay?" Enrique stood up, sending Rei a look that said "forget about it or die", then added, "I was being stupid. Let's not talk about this again, okay? I want to enjoy France, even if it does mean being stuck with you." The blonde teen quickly walked out of the room.
Rei stared at the door Enrique left out of, surprised at the other teen's sudden outburst. 'Why is it that when we get into a friendly conversation, he's always backing out of it?"
-----------------------------------------------
Rei, Enrique, and Piddlesworth ran through the airport terminal as fast as they could, clutching their luggage, the two teens yelling at each other.
"Why did you have to oversleep?" Rei shouted at Enrique.
Enrique's response was very typical of him, and quite expected by Rei. "It's your fault, you shouldn't have come to Italy in the first place, so if we miss this flight, I'm sending you on the first flight to Japan!"
"I live in China!" Rei screamed back.
"Whatever, they're all the same to me!"
"I knew we should have taken the private jet," Piddlesworth mumbled to himself. "I can still fly it too..."
The three pushed past people, until finding a counter with a sign above it labled "Italy Air". Enrique and Rei slung their luggage on the counter, almost hitting the woman behind it, then grabbed their tickets out of their pockets and held them up to her.
"Hurry!" they both screamed at the poor woman. "It's that idiot's fault!" They both turned and glared at each other, then eyed the woman, who nervously checked the bags and put tags on them. She gave them their tickets back and directed them to where the airplane enterance would be.
"Thank you!" Both teens yelled, then ran off. They didn't get far before Piddlesworth grabbed ahold of their shirts, pulling them back.
"I'm going to be going now, boys. I called a close friend of your father's, Enrique, to pick you up at the airport and help you around Paris. Enjoy your stay there." As soon as Piddlesworth let go, the two boys immediatly sprang away from him.
"We're going to miss the flight!" Both yelled.
-----------------------------------------------
"Well," Rei said, grinning, "We made it."
"They made me take off my shoes and they felt around them," Enrique said. "Disturbing." He looked out the window, and buckled his seatbelt.
"Never flew before?"
"I told you, I've never been out of Italy before, so I never needed to." Enrique squirmed in his chair to get more comfortable. "But this is nice, so I have no complaints. Unless the plane crashes. Then I'll just sue the airplane company."
Rei smirked then replied, "Enrique, if you are able to sue them while you're dead, then the world has come to an end." He too buckled his seatbelt, then put on headphones attached to the armrest of his seat.
In a few minutes a stewardess explained safety precautions (which Enrique listened intently to, but Rei ignored), and soon the airplane was soaring the skies above Italy. Rei closed his eyes, listening to a soft rock station on the radio while Enrique stared out the window, looking at the little dots which were buildings and cars.
When Rei looked up a half an hour later, he noticed Enrique slouching in his chair, looking quite pale. He reached across Enrique and closed the cover over the window, then returned to closing his eyes and listening to the music.
Enrique grinned queasily but gratefully, then also closed his eyes. 'Maybe being with Rei won't be as bad as I had thought in the beginning. He's friendlier than anyone else I've known. I guess it'll be better to be stuck with him than anyone else, even the girls.'
To Be Continued...
[1] The States: This is what some countries call the United States of America. I thought it would be appropriate to have Rei call them that, since he is from China after all.
[2] Pachabel Canon and Winter: Pachabel Canon is a song composed by Mozart, and Winter is by Vivaldi, both being very good. I love them. I know there are no piano parts in those songs, but I just thought of the titles off of the top of my head. I didn't feel like going through all of my classical songs until I found songs with a piano in it.
So many Mary-Sue fics in this section... It's making my head spin... @_@ Anyway, I'm not going to update A New Dawn until I get five chapters of Across Countries done, just incase anyone in the future who reads this is wondering why I haven't updated it. And also, for future warning, I'm going to be moving to another town soon. It could be anytime from now to the beginning of summer (my landlord's bein a bitch because of my cat, but we were gonna move anyway so poo on her). Which means that I won't be able to update any fic for an amount of time. Just a warning.