DISCLAIMER: When it's mine, I'll let you know, K?

AUTHOR'S NOTES: Remember when I discovered Rent? Yeah, I've become obsessed with Aida now... Rent's still my favorite, by all means, but I saw Aida on Tuesday and *ahem* borrowed the OBC recording from my friend, sooooooooo it's getting stuck in my head. Believe it or not, my favorite songs are Zoser's... Although I love just about everything on here. And Heather (the Aida on the CD) is so much easier for me to understand than Paulette (tour Aida), but, well, I don't know. And of course, Adam Pascal. But I think I like the touring Amneris more than the CD one... The woman we had reminded me so much of Ana Gasteyer, from SNL, it was great!

Another random thing, but more connected. Has anyone except me noticed the decreased posting rate? The FY section seems to be losing steam. Wonder why that is... Slightly strange, since when I first came here, sometimes there would be enough new posts or updated posts to fill up a screen and a half. Oh well, not up to me, we're all busy. I for one have to do my research paper organization soon --;;;;; As in "the next couple hours."

Okay, getting to actual notes about the story/chapter! This is one of those chapters that appears choppy to me - and indeed, this is the chapter that got the biggest remake in the revision stage, ever. I took great entire chunks and rearranged them, wrote filler, and hoped it went together. If it seems to move fast, it's probably because this is one of those chapters that took me months to write, and I kept getting impatient - after all, it's all one day to them, but it was eight weeks to me... I can't help it ^^;;;;; Okay, like I said last time, don't expect anything. Stuff that seems to be resolved isn't necessarily, but will continue to pop up later... That's one of the best ways for me to deal with "rushing," I've found, is to leave it unresolved and bring it up later. I've written entire stories that got held together that way ^^;;;;;;; Sowwy if it seems weird is the summary, I guess. Okay, review replies!

Kris, Kris, Kris... you shall want to kill me later, more likely than not. Then agaaaaaaaaaain, if you dooooooooooo... ~grins~ I wouldn't try it. And yeah, Chomei's a decent person, just a little screwed-up because of his overbearing father. He's proving to be interesting, and Tomo-interactions probably will be too ~smirks~ I got plans...

Ahh, Skittles. Twists. Pretzels! I like pretzels ^_^ Sorry, that was somewhat off topic... yeah, I'm a twist fanatic, can ya tell?

STORMLIGHT! What IS it with you?! You're my TWO HUNDREDTH reviewer! ~majormajormajor glomp!~ You were 50th and 100th too, I think! Sheesh, you -always- know when to pop up! But good intuition! ~grins~ And he's not an insensitive cod. He's a clueless clod ~firm nod~ And I ain't tellin' anythin'! This is one of those thing I refuse to spoil, aside from consulting beta-readers about the future plot. And even then, that's... two people? Heh. '^____________^' I's evil.

Sanoooooooooo! Sheesh, Chomei is just getting his feet, and people call him freaky! Poor boy! ~huggles him~ He just needs some self-confidence. And remember people, the kiss wasn't serious! Sheesh, it was to get Chomei off his back. I'm saying sheesh a lot... And if you want light, then wait around '^_^' It'll be awhile before true "lightness."

Evil Hunter, that had absolutely NO effect on me. And this doesn't really get answered in the story, so I'll answer it here because it's a relevant question with no real plot spoilers. Soi went to Reijie-chan and Risako because a) she wasn't up for destruction that night (which the 'boshi quadruplets seem to be excelling in) and b)Reijirou knew and Kadiri asked her not to spread it around. In other words, I needed her there, so I came up with reasonable excuses for her to be there ~grins~

Chibigreen, you got it! I think you're the first one to comment on the similarity in names in this whole thing. I honestly expected someone to pick it up before this. I didn't want to use their "real" names (Ryuuen, Genrou, Saihitei, etc), so I decided to go for names that began with the same roman letter (Reijirou, Gesshin, Suezo, etc). It worked with everyone except Subaru and Tokaki (because they're Doulin and Lanva, respectively, and the site I was using didn't have names for their gender that began with D or L) and Ashitare (because I don't know his real name. Does anyone?). Way to spot it!

Draconsis... Kowai... ^^;;;;;; Oh, and maybe you can explain it to me (and maybe explaining'll stop you from maiming): why does everyone want him and Risako together? All the shounen ai people seemed to have faded away; it's giving me the creeps ^^;;; Are they planning a subversive attack? (Wait, I forgot, they already had one!)

Bashou, is it gonna make yoooooouuuuuu jealous? ~grins~ And don't forget, I can always recall Kinji! Abuse of glompees is not permitted! And it might be cute, but honestly, Reijie's so scared of him now that even if he sorts himself out and finds out he really is gay, nothin' would happen. Poor Chomei... And yeah, you told me ~grins~ A few months ago, actually. And I'LL WORK ON IT! Dangit, he'll turn out better off then a lot of 'em... Just hold your freakin' horses!

Elwing, yep, that chapter ended, just for you ^_^ And yeah, I know the Kadiri/Keisuke thing sounds somewhat far-fetched, but in some corner of my mind it makes sense (maybe because they both seem to have a hard time with romance, who knows, I can't explain it), so it's staying. But I happen to like Keisuke, so I'm giving him a break ^_~ And, um... not really...

Lib-chan, like I said, it's coincidence ~shrugs~ Can't really help it. But I think it turned out well ^_^ And Chomei's pretty less-freaky than Chuin, after all (he's definitely NOT a stalker for one thing) and possibly more relaxed. He's... interesting. Looks like he'll be fun to manipulate.

Arashi, I'm sorry! I hope the paper turned out all right anyway... Actually, I'm ignoring my own research paper for Lit to type up these notes... ^^;;;; It's contageous. And go ahead and say stuff! Saying stuff gets responses (most times)! And heck, maybe you'll have an insight that no one else did, like Chibigreen did last chapter. I love hearing opinions and suggestions! Go right ahead! And I'll try and work on more Gesshin and Tasuki, okay? Gesshin's pretty prominent in this chapter ^_~ The characters just show up when I need 'em to, I don't really have a formula... Thank you!

Flying heart ~cracks up~ Sing-songy, aren't we? And you might possibly scare me more than Draconsis, after all this isn't the first time you've done that!

Hmm.... Guess there's not much more for up here.



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Reijirou debated for a long time that night about whether he should go the next day or not. He had followed Risako back to her home because his conscience really wouldn't leave him alone if he didn't follow through on his promise, but he had stayed well behind her and hadn't let her know what he was doing. He didn't want to die by her hand, after all. But it wasn't strictly necessary for him to be there any more. Miaka hadn't had any problems last time, and Suezo and Hotohori could take his place, and Nuriko would still be there. It wouldn't be the end of the world if he wasn't. But his conscience (something he'd gotten from Nuriko, he guessed acidly) kept coming back and nagging him about responsibility and duty and more besides. He spent a loooooooooong night trying to figure it out and finally got to sleep sometime around three in the morning, without even having changed out of his clothes from school, work, and the party.

He was awakened in the morning, far too early for his tastes, by the door to his room banging open loudly. "Man! What're ya still doin' in bed? And- What th' fuck man, why din' ya change? What the hell is wrong with ya?!"

"Go 'way Gesshin," he said, blinking in the blurry redhead's direction. If he looked hard enough he could see Nuriko and Tasuki out in the hall, talking. Funny, he didn't remember Nuriko coming back the night before… He let his head fall back onto his pillow. "'m not gettin' up today."

"Damn man, what'd ya do, spen' th' night on th' town or somethin'? It's eleven already, ya never sleep this late!" Despite his tone and gruff words, Gesshin was obviously worried about his friend. He grabbed the desk chair and pulled it over, turning backwards and straddling it, peering anxiously at Reijirou all the while. "What's goin' on? Ye're never like this. What 'appened?"

"Nothin' happened. Just leave me alone." Reijirou voice was severely muffled by the pillow.

"Fuck that 'nothin' happened,' somethin' obviously did. Ye're a rotten liar." Despite his much greater strength, Reijirou couldn't resist as Gesshin grabbed him by the ankle and pulled him off his bed, landing with a thud on the floor. Gesshin ignored his plentiful curses to stare him down. "I've known ya six years now, man. I know when somethin's bothering' ya. Ya can't hide it from me, an' if ya think ya can, ya got a whole lot less brain than I gave ya credit for."

"Damnit, LEAVE ME ALONE!" Reijirou roared, jumping up to yell straight in Gesshin's face. "NOTHING'S WRONG! NOTHING! JUST LEAVE! ME! ALONE!"

There was a minute of silence. Reijirou could feel Nuriko's and Tasuki's startled stares on him, but he didn't care. He just didn't care anymore. Gesshin just watched him, face void of all emotion. He didn't care about that either. He didn't care about Nuriko, Tasuki, the mission, or the fact that he'd nearly died. He just wanted to be left alone.

"Fine." Gesshin turned and walked, frighteningly calmly, out of the room, closing the door behind him, shutting Reijirou off from his best friend and the two concerned seishi.

He dropped back onto the bed with a sigh. "Great Reijirou," he muttered to himself, "what'd you do that for? Now you've got your best friend mad at you. What the hell is wrong with you?"

But he was fairly sure he knew what the problem was. It wasn't really the kiss, although it played a large factor in the problem. It wasn't that Risako was raging mad at him, although that was probably caused by the problem.

No, the problem was, honestly and truly, that he was beginning to seriously doubt his own orientations and choices. He had before, but Chomei's attempted flirting the night before, and then everything that had happened with Risako, had expanded it tenfold. He'd never really been serious about a girl; the dates he'd gone on were more "as friends" than anything else. And he'd never kissed anyone. He'd just thought he had better things to do than get hung up on romance stuff, but what if all that was because he really was interested in guys after all and had just been denying it until then…?

A soft knock sounded on the door, and it slowly swung open. Nuriko's shaggy head peeked in, cautious and concerned. "Reijirou? Are you okay…?"

"Nuriko, come in and shut the door." His voice was like a robot's, flat tone and no emotion. Nuriko blinked in surprise, then quietly did what he was told. Reijirou slowly looked up once the door clicked shut. "I've got a question for you. Please be truthful."

Nuriko opened his mouth to speak, then closed it and just nodded.

"Do you love Hotohori?"

His eyes widened in surprise at his modern counterpart. Reijirou looked as if his world was falling apart. Somehow he knew that wasn't the real question, or at least it wasn't the heart of the matter. "That's not important," he began in subtly comforting tones. "Something else is bothering you, what is it?"

"Just answer my question," Reijirou snapped.

"No, I will not." Nuriko's tone was firm but not forceful. "That's not the problem. What is the problem?"

"IT'S THE FUCKING PROBLEM!" For the second time in five minutes Reijirou exploded off the bed, but this time he swung hard and fast at the person he was exploding at.

Nuriko easily ducked the out-of-control punch and grabbed Reijirou's wrist, pulling him off-balance and yanking his arm up behind his back, making Reijirou cry out in pain. "No, it's not," he said easily. "Now, what happened last night?"

"Let me go you shit!"

"Answer me first."

"DAMNIT! All right!" Reijirou calmed down, forcing himself to take slow, deep breaths, settling down into the least painful position he could manage to find. "Last night, Risako called me at work and asked if I'd take her to a party her friend Chomei was giving because her parents wouldn't let her go anywhere alone."

"Smart of them."

"We get there and I don't know anyone, she gets swept away by some of her friends from soccer. I sit on the couch by myself. Then Chomei sits down and we start to talk. It's going all right and I figure the night may not be a total waste, but then Chomei starts hitting on me."

Ah-hah.

"I get away as fast as I can, find Risako, and tell her to do whatever it takes to keep him away from me. She pushes me back into his line of sight and he starts approaching me again, but before he can get there she… she pulls me down and kisses me."

"What?" Nuriko stared at the back of his head in disbelief. "All this moping and fussing over one kiss?"

"NO!" Reijirou finally managed to wrench out of Nuriko's hold, whirling and glaring at the person who should understand him better than anyone in the world. "Now I don't know! THAT'S the problem!"

"Don't know what?"

"Don't know what I should be doing, that's what! I don't know if I should like guys or girls or green tentacle monsters from Mars! I don't know if everything I've done 'til now is a lie or not! I don't know what I should be doing!"

"Calm down Reijirou," Nuriko commanded, pushing him back to sit in the desk chair that was still in the middle of the floor. "Calm down. Why should you doubt yourself?"

Reijirou half-looked, half-glared wordlessly up at the seishi. That one look was all Nuriko needed to comprehend.

"I see. Well…" Internally he was getting desperate. He'd never worked out his own problems in this area, so how was he supposed to help Reijirou? But he was probably the best they had. "Before… all this started happening, did you ever… think about a guy in… that way?"

"No," he said mournfully. "And rarely girls," he added before Nuriko could put in words of encouragement. "That's part of it. Was all that just a scam? A cover-up? My way of hiding the fact that I liked guys? I was probably the least romantically-inclined person I knew in high school. Was that some sort of signal?"

"Hey, come on," Nuriko said, trying to be cheerful. "It's all right to be a late bloomer. I knew some people who never bloomed at all, and they were perfectly happy. And other late bloomers, too. Usually they were the smartest, they knew they were really in love before they chose to spend their lives together."

"Yeah," Reijirou agreed half-heartedly. "I don't know what some of my friends would have done if they married their first girlfriends…"

"See? Smart. Is there some other reason you're… doubting things now?"

Reijirou cringed, just a little, but Nuriko could easily detect it. It was exactly like his own, after all. "With the kiss…" Nuriko remained silent, waiting for him to speak. "With the kiss, I felt… stunned. I don't remember feeling anything else. No love, no like, no hate, no shame, nothing else."

"Well, I don't blame you. It was kind of abrupt." Nuriko sat down on the bed, watching him carefully. "Reijirou, truthfully, I don't know how to help you. This is one of those things you're going to have to figure out on your own."

"Yes you can help me," he replied in a low tone.

"How?"

Reijirou looked up, sad and serious. "Do you love Hotohori?"

Nuriko's eyes widened slightly, but he gave no other outward signal to his inner turmoil. He'd been trying to avoid this topic, but it had finally caught up with him. "Truthfully… I don't know. I can't know," he cut in before Reijirou's protests could gain much momentum, "because I can't find out. Look." He sighed, shaking his head, absently reaching up to finger a strand of hair, all that was left of his once incredibly long braid. "I did. I loved him. And I died when I was changing. Would I have still loved him if I hadn't died, even with all the changes? I don't know. I'll never know if I'd have loved Miaka more than him, or the same, or if he would still be my universe. But you know all that. And now fate has given me another chance to figure it out - albeit under slightly different circumstances.

"But I can't find out." He looked at Reijirou, and his eyes were just as serious and sad as Reijirou's own. "We're growing apart. You and I, we're being separated. We can't have that happen. Your uncertainty, my ignorance of this world… It's all combining to form a chasm between us, one that's getting bigger every day. We can't have that, because it could prove fatal. If we don't trust each other fully, with everything, if there is even a suspicion of doubt… You could die. And I would vanish again, but this time I would vanish into oblivion. Never to be called again… Our soul might not even be reincarnated after you died." Reijirou gaped wordlessly. He hadn't known the extent of the death that would be suffered. "We can't have that, you know that as well as I. So we have to trust each other more than we've ever trusted anyone before. And I know if I'm in love with Hotohori that you… You wouldn't mistrust me, but your own uncertainty about yourself would get bigger, and bigger, and bigger, and the trust would strain and fracture under that weight. You wouldn't be able to concentrate. Someone might end up dead, you, Kadiri, Gesshin, it doesn't matter, they'd be dead. So I've avoided finding out if I still love him, because I don't want to chance any of your lives. So please, if you want to keep us together…" Nuriko looked up. "Don't make me find out."



~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~




They sped through the city, more dangerously than ever as Gesshin was at the wheel. Gesshin's total experience behind the wheel of a car came from the five hours Reijirou had spent one weekend teaching him to work the gearshift, brakes, gas, and turn signals. And he was too young to get a license legally. Gesshin's driving was probably, with the slight exception of getting attacked by Ashitare, the scariest thing Reijirou had ever endured.

But Nuriko had forbidden him from driving, having rightly figured out that handling a car usually took a considerable amount of concentration - but unfortunately not having learned that the skill was acquired and Gesshin had never acquired it.

"SLOWDOWNSLOWDOWNSLOWDOWN!" Reijirou pleaded.

"FUCK OFF MAN!" Gesshin yelled at the driver of a taxi that was blowing his horn. The taxi driver was actually observing the speed limit. Gesshin was going at least thirty over.

"RIGHT! YOU NEED TO BE IN THE RIGHT LANE!"

"Oh yeah!" Gesshin commented, extremely intelligently, and swerved suddenly into the right lane, without the benefit of signaling, nearly causing a multiple-car pileup.

Reijirou cowered in the backseat, Nuriko next to him, praying heartily for his life.

"Remind me never to let him do this again!" Nuriko yelled above the wind generated by Gesshin's speed. "We're gonna die here!" he moaned.

"You CAN'T die!"

"Yeah, but YOU can! What a way to go!"

Tasuki, of course, seemed to be just as enthusiastic about the life-and-death experiences as Gesshin was, whooping and cheering him on with many happy curses at the top of his lungs.

When they screeched to a stop in front of Risako's building half an hour early, Reijirou could definitely smell the burned rubber coming off the tires. And they were still in the street. "All right! OUT!" He yelled, surging up from the backseat and giving Gesshin a shove that sent him tumbling into the passenger seat, straight through Tasuki. "You're NEVER driving my car again!"

"It's a pieceuvshit anyway, ya say so yerself!" Gesshin protested, rubbing his head where it had banged against the door. "Why nooooooot?"

"You're gonna KILL US, that's why!" Reijirou climbed into the front and sat down possessively in the driver's seat, taking pity on the poor abused vehicle and gently coasting to the nearest parking space. "Before you even touch the wheel again we're having a LOT more driving lessons in nice, deserted parking lots."

Before he could do anything, Gesshin had reached over and slapped the wheel. He was wearing a very fanged grin. "I touched it."

WHAM. Reijirou's punch sent him tumbling over the door to land on his face on the concrete.

Tasuki wisely stayed well out of the way as Reijirou exited, slammed the door, locked the car, and stalked into the building. Nuriko stayed behind to help the dazed Gesshin to his feet, hiding a smile: it hadn't gone exactly the way he planned, but his little distraction had definitely gotten Reijirou out of his mood for a bit.

Reijirou slammed the gate to the parking lot behind him with a loud, reverberating clang, not waiting for the other three. He was starting to stalk around the cars in the direction of the actual door to the building when a familiar voice reached his ears. "Reijirou-kun! Over here! Help, please!"

He glanced to his right, in the direction of the voice, and saw Hoshiko waving in his direction next to a tiny maroon Honda. He didn't have anything against her, but he still grumbled under his breath, out of tune with the world in general, as he shuffled over to where she was. He didn't realize until he was about five feet from the car that Risako was in it, wrestling with several grocery bags, attempting to pull them out of the backseat without tearing them. He stopped dead in his tracks, fear replacing the intense confusion and anger he'd been carrying. He briefly considered running for it, but it would be kind of hard to as the fastest person he knew (Tasuki) and the strongest person he knew (Nuriko) were helping his best friend through the gate at that point. He forced himself to keep walking in the Daishis' direction.

"Give us a hand, dear," Hoshiko said as he approached the car, pretending not to notice his hesitation. She also had grocery bags hanging from each hand, and was looking slightly anxiously at the open trunk of the car. Reijirou could see a large stack of folding chairs in there. "We brought these from the dojo in case we needed more chairs, can you bring some up for me? Oh, Gesshin-kun, can you help?" she called over his shoulder.

He turned to see Nuriko barely catch Gesshin as Tasuki's grip on him abruptly dissolved in the shock of actually seeing Subaru. "HOLY FUCKIN' HELL!"

"You always were one for being blunt. Gesshin-kun, please?"

As much as he protested and vehemently denied it, Gesshin really was a gentleman and typically unable to resist a plea from a female. He struggled to his feet, still a little punch-drunk from being flattened by Reijirou, threw of Nuriko's arm, and walked over to the trunk without being told what to do, and pulled out a couple of chairs.

Reijirou, however, wasn't in any mood to be helpful. "Why isn't Ryobe-san doing this?"

"He's cleaning upstairs," Risako answered as she pulled herself out of the car. "Mom got him to wear a frilly apron!"

"Glad I'm not married to her," Reijirou muttered. Fortunately Hoshiko had already started to the door and couldn't hear him - or if she did, she ignored it. Risako gave him a bit of a puzzled look and started after her mother.

"Na, why don' ya two help?" Gesshin looked pointedly at Nuriko and Tasuki, but mostly at Nuriko. "Ye're freakin' strong, ya could do this all at once."

"I can hear it now… 'HELP! HELP! THERE'S BIG 'EAVY THIN'S FLOATIN' SIX FEET IN TH' AIR!' " Tasuki pitched his voice incredibly high to imitate a panicky female, grinning all the while and dancing around.

"SHUT UP!" Reijirou roared at him, about out of his daily allotment of patience, especially with his ragged nerves. Tasuki stared at him wide-eyed, Gesshin dropped both his chairs in surprise and whirled to see what was happening, and Nuriko was beginning to look depressed again. Reijirou said nothing, just grabbed the chairs Gesshin had dropped and stalked off to the door.

He went up the stairs and to the apartment door, which he kicked at a bit too hard, leaving a minor dent near the bottom. He didn't care. Risako opened the door, a darkly curious look on her face that he paid no attention to. He brushed past her and into the apartment. "Where does your mother want these?" he snapped, indicating the chairs.

"Just put them down there," she said, gesturing vaguely at the floor. He dropped them with a clatter and started back to the door, but was stopped by a hand gripping his wrist. He glared down at Risako. "What are you doing?"

"I think we need to talk."

"No we don't, now let me go," he said, panic once again beginning to well up in him.

"Yes we do. Now." She spoke in low tones, no doubt to keep below the hearing of her mother. She didn't give him a chance to protest, simply turned and dragged him back in the direction of her room. He glanced helplessly at the door, wishing desperately for some form of help, even Tasuki at that point. But none came, and he reluctantly followed her.

Risako turned into her room and stood in the middle of the floor, arms crossed, a surprisingly calm expression on her face. "Have a seat," she said when he entered. He glanced around as he sat on the bed, still the only type of "seat" in the room. She'd cleaned since the last time he'd been in there; the floor was now visible and the only sign of dirty laundry was the toe of a sock sticking out of her hamper in the corner. The post-it notes on the walls seemed to have bred and multiplied as well, but other than that there wasn't a whole lot of difference. She closed the door, shutting off the sounds of the vacuum cleaner that were coming from down the hall, and dropped onto the bed next to him without any hesitation. He had to control himself to not scoot away.

"What's wrong with you?" she asked bluntly. "One kiss shouldn't be enough to send you that far over the edge. Especially a kiss that didn't mean anything."

"That's…" He trailed off before he could really begin. It wasn't the type of thing he wanted to discuss with anyone, let alone Risako. "That's none of your business."

"You're damn wrong, it is my business. I didn't mean to, but I guess I made it my business last night." She looked up at him, suddenly tired. "Do you hate me that much?"

"What? No! I don't hate you at all! It's just-" He brought himself to a halt again, but Risako wouldn't take the hint.

"It's just what?"

"I don't have to answer," he snapped.

"Yes you do. What. Is. It?"

This was so much worse than Nuriko. Nuriko understood him better than almost anyone else. He could talk to Nuriko more easily than anyone. Risako was not Nuriko. But he wasn't able to hold up under her persistence any better than he could hold up under Nuriko's. "I'm confused."

"About what?" The snappish, demanding note had dropped out of her voice.

"…Things."

"Well that helps none. What 'things'?"

"About…" His face flushed redder than it ever had in his life, and he ducked his head to hide it. "About whether I should like guys or girls," he mumbled.

Nonetheless, she heard it. "The hell? Why would you be confused about that? Is this because of Nuriko?"

He nodded, almost too ashamed to go on.

"Well, shit, that's a no-brainer."

"What?" He glanced up, confused.

Risako just sat there, plainly looking as if she thought Reijirou was being an exasperating ninny. "You like who you like. That's it, that's all, close the case, retire the jury. Nothing more, nothing less." She shook her head. "You weren't much into the romance life in high school, were you?"

"No, I had other things to do."

"There's your answer. You don't like anyone yet. Lemme clue you in on something, hot shot: you were considered prime material back then. Probably still are."

"The hell does that mean?"

Risako grinned mischievously. "You were what some girls called a 'good catch.' Not a bad student, great athlete, likable, well-liked, well-known, lots of other qualities. I'm not gonna tell you just how many people had crushes on you at some point or another. Even I did, at one point." She blushed faintly pink at admitting that.

Reijirou blinked in surprise. "You did?"

She nodded. "Uh-huh. Me and half the females in our class. I got over it though, fell for someone else." She gave him a little grin. "Then realized he was an idiot. But it's not about me, it's about you. You don't care now, and that's fine. You'll know when you do. And it may be a girl, it may be a guy, who cares. If you like a girl at one point it doesn't mean you should always like girls, and vice versa. So stop trying to label yourself and just live your life."

"Oh… Thanks, I think…"

"Feel a little better at least?" she asked, the slightest hint of concern in her voice.

"Yeah… Surprisingly, yeah…" He nodded slowly, a slow grin spreading over his face. "You just made a whole lot more sense in a few words than Nuriko did in two hours."

Risako laughed, and suddenly it was the best sound in the world to him. He'd been afraid he'd made her so mad she'd never forgive him. "I'm a girl. Nuriko does make a very convincing girl, but there's still some differences."

"Yeah, not to mention you're not a thousand years out of practice."

"Nah, only one. Come on, let's go wait for the others." Risako levered herself off the bed and to her feet. "You're the first, but this group seems to like showing up early. And was it just my imagination or was Gesshin driving?"



~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~




Reijirou, in a much better mood that he refused to explain to Nuriko, helped Gesshin bring up the last of the chairs. He personally didn't think they were needed, as people seemed to like sitting on the floor just fine, but he wasn't about to argue with Hoshiko - she was making sandwiches and using a knife that looked way too pointy for his own liking. But they were only going to set them up if it was necessary.

The speaker buzzed about five minutes after their last trip to the parking lot, and Risako trotted over to answer. "Who is it?"

"It's Miaka and Taka!" Miaka's chipper voice replied. "We're here!"

"Great! You remember which number, right?"

"Yeah, we'll be up in a minute!"

Hoshiko came out of the kitchen, carrying a plastic platter with sandwiches arranged on it that she placed on the coffee table. "Was that Miaka-chan?"

"Hai. She'll be here in a second."

Ryobe burst out of his and Hoshiko's bedroom, half-blind. The cause of the blindness was very apparent: the frilly apron (that Reijirou and Gesshin got a big kick out of) was twisted around his head. "Get this damn thing OFF me!"

Everyone else broke down in laughter, and it was a minute before Hoshiko could stand up straight and go to her husband's rescue. "Calm down, you're only making it worse!" She patiently unwound the apron, used to these strange occurrences. When she pulled it off everyone could easily see Ryobe's devilish grin right before he kissed his wife full on the lips. Reijirou wasn't sure the apron had been an accident.

"They're like newlyweds," Risako muttered.

A knock at the door made Hoshiko and Ryobe break apart as Risako stood again. "And commence phase one," Reijirou said under his breath to Gesshin as Risako opened the door.

"Hi Miaka, hi Taka!" she greeted them as they stepped in the door, pulling off their jackets and kicking off their shoes.

"Hello Risako, how are-" Miaka stopped abruptly as she caught sight of Hoshiko and Ryobe.

"Miaka? What is it?" Taka paused in mid-sleeve to peer anxiously at his wife. When she pointed, he glanced in that direction, then quickly back. Then his brain caught up with his eyes and he jumped. "MASTER!"

"Took you long enough," Ryobe remarked with good-natured kidding.

"Subaru-san!" Miaka cried happily, running forward to hug the older woman.

Hoshiko smiled and hugged her back tightly. "I told you everything would be all right, didn't I?"

"Phase one completed," Reijirou remarked. Gesshin just gave him a strange look.

Small group by small group, the rest filed in in the next few minutes. Soi still looked a bit annoyed, but Kadiri was doing something Reijirou would have sworn she'd never do - looking like a love-struck girl. Murai, Mitsukake, and Setsuko filed in, apparently discussing the perils of driving in the city (Reijirou gave Gesshin a significant look). Morin, Hokusai, and Chichiri barely paused in their intense and spirited debate on some book or other to say hello, while Hotohori and Suezo greeted everyone cordially and friendly, stopping to chat with Risako. Yui and Tetsuya were immediately swept up in the multi-way conversation between Miaka, Taka, Hoshiko, and Ryobe. Amiboshi, Suboshi, Katai, and Shirai snuck in at the last second, the modern twins looking fairly guilty about something everyone chose to ignore.

At two Risako grabbed the phone off its stand and waved her arms for attention. "Hey! Everyone! Quiet!" The hubbub gradually died down as people realized what was about to happen. When it was finally gone, Risako tapped in Chomei's number on the keypad, then put it to her ear and waited. A minute passed before she started talking. "Hey, Chomei-kun, it's Risako. What? Oh no, the party was fine! No, we were just busy. Ne, you wanna come over now? No, Mom and Dad don't care. About 15 minutes? All right, see you then." She brought the phone down and pressed the button, ending the conversation. "About fifteen minutes, as you all heard the first time. What now?"

"Now it's my turn," Tetsuya said, trying to politely shoulder his way through the throng. Risako handed him the phone when he got close enough, and he dialed the bookstore. "Daisuke, it's me. Is Keisuke there? Yeah, give it to him." A pause. "Keisuke? We're all set over here. Leaving now would be a good idea. Of course I do. All right. We'll be waiting." He hung up and gave the phone back to Risako, who put it back in the receiver. "About twenty minutes, maybe less, depending on traffic."

"Ne! Sandwiches!" Miaka cried.



~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~




It was more like twenty minutes before Chomei's bus pulled up at the closest stop to the Daishis' building and Chomei alighted. Risako and Reijirou, who were spying on him through the gate to the parking lot, spun and raced back upstairs to the apartment. The door opened for them and they dashed inside, only slightly winded. "He's on his way! Anyone have any clue what's going to happen?" Risako asked.

"He might be frightened away if this many people are on the other side of the door," Hokusai said sensibly. "Maybe most of us should hide."

"But it would probably scare him more to have ten or so unknown people simply pop out of the woodwork," Murai countered. "It sounds like something out of a horror movie already; let's not make it any worse."

Next to Reijirou, Risako groaned. "Oh, honestly, all of you. You're a group of reasonably intelligent people who sound like you're making a decision about a game of hide-and-seek. I'll go out and prep him. Come on Reijirou!" She ran to the door without a backward glance, leaving a slightly overwhelmed Reijirou to scramble after her.

"She's your daughter," he heard Ryobe say as the door closed behind him.

They ran, one after the other, down the same steps they'd shot up just minutes before, their thudding feet echoing time and time again on the metal stairs and making it sound as if there were a troupe of soldiers instead of two teens. They both jumped the last two stairs and landed with respective thuds on the floor before Risako reached for the door. She started to open it, but Reijirou leaned forward and pushed it closed again. "One question."

"What?"

"Why the mad dash?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. Come on!" She tugged open the door again and dashed out, but didn't get three feet before she collided with something large and soft and fell on her rear.

"Risako-san, are you all right?" Chomei asked, reaching down to help her to her feet once again. "You're not hurt?"

She accepted his proffered hand and pulled herself up again. "Yeah, I'm fine. Nothing new." Reijirou stayed quietly in the background, halfway through the still-open door. Regardless of whether he'd solved his problem or not, regardless of whether Chomei'd believed Risako's trick the night before, the older boy still made him nervous. It was a feeling he just couldn't shake no matter what he tried.

Risako dusted herself off and smiled brightly at Chomei. "Well, go on! Everyone's waiting upstairs, you'll get to meet some new people."

"You're not coming?" Chomei asked in surprise.

"No, Mom asked us to go to the store."

"Us?" Chomei looked up for the first time since the door opened, and Reijirou barely kept from retreating through the door as they made eye contact for the first time that day. "Oh… Hello…" Poor Chomei's tone had dipped from amusement to sadness so fast that it actually almost hurt. He must… actually like me, Reijirou thought with a mental shudder. He really was sorry that the person Chomei liked couldn't return his feelings, that was always a sad situation, but why did that person have to be him? His life was complicated enough as it was!

"Hi…" Oh so brilliant a reply, ye Master of Wit.

"Well… See you two when you get back." Chomei started forward and Reijirou stepped out of the door to let him pass, determinedly not watching him.

When the door clicked shut he sighed with relief. "What's all that about the store?"

"Convenient believable lie. What's going on with you two?" Risako asked crossly. "I kinda hoped you two'd get along better than this."

"When he's got the world's biggest unrequited crush?! You're dreaming."

"It's not THAT bad!"

"Watch him! It is!"

"Oh, I give up on you," she huffed, turned away from him and flinging her hands in the air in exasperation.

"Fine, do that then."

The door opening behind them cut off their bickering, and they both looked to see Gesshin, then Kadiri emerge from the stairwell. "We got a message fer ya," Gesshin announced in his direct manner. "Ye're s'possed t' wait here an' tell Keisuke an' Daisuke where t' go when they get here."

"Hey, Risako, could I talk to you for a minute?" Kadiri asked, stepping past Gesshin. "It's kind of important."

"Sure Kadiri. What is it?"

"Umm… in private?"

Risako tilted her head at the older woman, but Kadiri gave no other reply. After a minute, Risako shrugged. "Okay."

"Thanks." Kadiri grabbed Risako's arm and nearly hauled her back into the stairwell, the door flapping shut behind them.

Gesshin shook his flame-colored head. "Women. Always gotta be mysterious an' shit. 'm never gonna understand 'em."

"Are any of us?" Reijirou shot back.

"Guess not." Slowly, a fanged grin spread over Gesshin's face. "Na, wanna scare 'em?"

Reijirou looked at him suspiciously. He'd learned never to trust that grin. "How?"

"Jus' barge in on 'em! They start shriekin' so quickly! Then we make a break fer it so they don' bash our noses in." He grimaced uncomfortably at the thought of that painful action.

"Well…" Reijirou didn't trust the grin, but it didn't mean he never went along with it (in fact, most of the time he did). And he owed Risako for thinking that it'd be easy for Chomei and him to be friends in their situation. And it sounded like fun. "I guess, but you're taking the blame for your idea."

He grinned that same grin. "Sure man."

"When?"

"On three." Gesshin and Reijirou both settled themselves into start-off positions, aiming for the door. "'Un… two… three!"

They charged, according to plan.

The door got closer, according to plan.

The door opened. Not according to plan.

Reijirou had taken the lead at the beginning and so nearly fell over as he passed through the space the door should've been in but no longer was. In fact he was off-balance enough for a pair of hands to grab the back of his shirt before he realized they were there, and throw him in the general direction of a door he'd seen before but never paid attention to. It was open now, showing that it was little more than storage space for car parts resting on dusty shelves, but at that moment he couldn't care less about the décor. Instead, he cared about the extra force the helpful hands had given him, making him unable to brake before crashing into the shelves at the back of the mini-room.

A shout came, indistinct to his slightly ringing ears, then some noises that sounded like feet scraping briskly along the floor, then more jumbled words and then a slam and the disappearance of most of the light. Reijirou straightened up and shook his head vigorously before looking around. The door had been closed, and there was someone else in there.

Risako.

They both stared at each other with blank horror on their faces, then began pounding on the steel door. "LET US OUT! LET US OUT NOW OR YOU'RE DEAD!"

"Sorry!" came Kadiri's annoyingly perky new tone of voice - which was only annoyingly perky because she was being incredibly mischievous. "Not yeeeeeet!"

Reijirou grabbed the handle and shook it violently. It didn't budge.

They were locked in.



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AUTHOR'S NOTES II: Okay, you may attempt to maim me NOW. ~takes off running and dives into her impenitrable Armory, slamming, locking, and barring the doors~ I fully expect a lot of people to be frustrated by this chapter, and it's making me grin in devilish delight ~grins~ '^_^' See the horns?

REMEMBER! I HOLD NO EPIPHANIES TO BE SET IN STONE! If you're irritated/frustrated/annoyed/ticked off/angry/anything else at something in this chapter ~is thinking of three sections specifically~ remember that this is me we're dealing with. I'm the one that likes to torture readers with twists. Nothing is set in stone. Wellllllllll, a couple things, like the whole if-incarnation-dies-while-seishi-is-called-then-there-will-most-likely-not-be-another-incarnation thing, are set, but noooooooooot much else ^_~ Go ahead and attack me, I am ready! ~holds up the sakabatou~

Whoooooooo, my birthday's Saturday! ~dances happily~ Man, hard to believe I've been here almost fourteen months, isn't it? Well, it's true, joined right at the end of September last year. Sheesh... This story, and Market, are over a year old. In fact, this one's a couple month's older than my ff.n obsession. But I still love writing them, so it's great. Love you all! Bye!