Oh yeah, I was writing a story, wasn't I? I'd write faster, but unlike all the characters in the story, I have these things called 'classes.' Incidentally, there is a disclaimer in chapter 1, but for those of you who missed it:
I do not own Fushigi Yuugi. I could say that I owned Jake, but Tomo would probably kill me. If Suboshi is ever for sale, please let me know. I'd like to own him. And now: the story.
Taka sat in the common room, not staring at the door to his dorm. Staring at the door would not provide him with any clues as to what was going on inside. He knew it wouldn't be right for him to be in the room, but basic politeness couldn't totally subjugate his curiosity. Amiboshi, now Kai, hadn't wanted to come. He wasn't at all pleased at the idea of seeing his little brother. Just as Shun said, he was afraid. And now that Taka had finally persuaded Amiboshi – Kai – to come up for a visit, he was worried about how their visit was proceeding. Clearly it couldn't be going too badly; they'd been alone in the room together for...Taka checked his watch…one minute and thirty-six seconds. Determined to let the twins have some time together undisturbed, he picked up the book he had to read for English.
She is Beloved and she is mine.
What if Kai's fear was reasonable? Not that he was quite sure just what Kai was scared of, or even if Kai himself knew. But Shun was Suboshi and Suboshi was insane and somewhat obsessive regarding his brother. Taka had never seen the two of them interact; for all her knew, Suboshi could torture his big brother for fun. But he wasn't hearing any screams of pain and they had been in there for … two minutes and ten seconds. Taka flipped back a few pages in the book, looking for where he left off.
…she cried because she had no self.
Shun wasn't Suboshi. At least not the Suboshi he had known. Still crazy, but medicated and aware that his mind didn't work quite the same way as everyone else's. Shun wasn't really all that bad. Not someone he's set up with his little sister, true, but someone who didn't deserve it as bad as he had it. Kai didn't either, though. Kai deserved it even less than Shun. He really hoped he had done the right thing in convincing Kai. Well, no one had died in the first… three minutes and fourteen seconds. He was going to do his homework.
There is a loneliness that cannot be rocked.
He had chosen the wrong book.
Resigned, Taka put down his English homework and proceeded to count the seconds on his watch.
At 273 seconds Jake walked in. Taka had expected Tomo to come by himself to see what was going on, but he supposed sending Jake made sense. Neither Kai nor Shun would react well to seeing Tomo. Jake could provide information without freaking anybody out too much. At 360 seconds, Jake spoke.
"What isn't Chuin telling me?" Taka lost count of the seconds.
"What?"
"How do you know him? Why does your girlfriend hate him? And why would I think he's crazy?" It took Taka a minute to figure out what Jake was talking about. Tomo still wasn't owning up to being Tomo. Jake did deserve to know, but Taka knew he probably wasn't the best person to tell him.
"You shouldn't hear it from me."
"Then who should I hear it from? Chuin's not going to tell me." Jake rested his head on his hands. "I only want to know him better."
"He thinks that if you do, you won't like him anymore."
"He should know me better than that."
"But you don't know him better than that." Taka tried to figure out just how to explain it. "When Miaka and I knew him, he…wasn't exactly a good person."
"Tell me something I don't know." Jake snorted. "He was a prick when I met him, too."
"It goes a bit beyond that. The things he did, which I'll leave for him to tell you, weren't bad things; they were evil. If Chuin were the same person I knew, I could never forgive him."
"Evil?" Taka could tell Jake didn't quite feel the full weight of the word.
"Truly evil." Taka nodded. "If you knew that you had been wholly and unrepentantly evil, would you want to tell anyone? Especially someone you wanted to like you?"
Jake was starting to reply when Kai left the dorm. He seemed of a mind to just leave quickly and silently, but then thought better of it. As if very focused on an idea, he approached Taka.
"It was very nice to see you again, Taka?" The name came out half-questioned.
"You too, Kai. Um…how did it…uh…?" Taka didn't know how to finish the sentence. Kai studied the floor.
"Fine. Well, I gotta get going. Hope I see you again, soon. Miaka, too." As Kai left, Taka was amused to note that a slightly uncomfortable Kai had mannerisms strikingly similar to a slightly uncomfortable Shun. He couldn't have told the two of them apart.
"Is that the guy you were asking Chuin about?" Jake asked. Taka nodded.
"That was him. Meaning I should check on my roommate. Just … give Chuin some time. He'll tell you." Taka left Jake in the common room.
The book Taka's reading is Beloved by Toni Morrison. The quotes are all in there, somewhere. It's kind of a creepy book, but it does make one think of Fushigi Yuugi. In any case, review!
