Russian Blue

by Rainy

edited by Nariel

DISCLAIMER: I do not own FAKE. It is property and creation of Sanami Matoh. Other characters are my own creation. The song here is called "Lost in You", and it's sung by Chris Gaines.

I would like to thank Nariel for being such an ortography nazi. I am the same when it comes to Spanish, so... don't worry. You are not alone...

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Chapter Two

London weather wasn't exactly the kind of thing you would want if you would want to get over depression, even though it's very soothing and at some point relaxing. When Ryo got there it was raining, the sky was a dark gray shade that expressed his exact sentiments at this particular moment in his life. He felt a little guilty about leaving Bikky and Carol behind, but they were old enough to be on their own for a little while (and besides, it wasn't as if they couldn't take good care of themselves, you know?) Meantime, Ryo thanked the clerk and carried his bag up the stairs of that nice little hotel in London.

Nothing fancy. It was more like a vacation location where people could spend some relaxing time. Ryo though the place was just what he needed to get some things straight in his mind. He needed... a walk...

The streets of London resembled those of New York in ways Ryo couldn't put in exact words, yet knew well enough not to go and experience the full length of them. He stopped at a little pub where he find it hard to hear himself think over the loud TV that showed the soccer game and made people there go rowdy every time someone touched the darn ball.

"You alright, mate?" the bartender asked him.

"Yeah... fine," Ryo muttered, standing up and walking out without even touching his beer, but paying for it nonetheless.

Gods! This being alone thing wasn't really working out as he expected! All he was doing was thinking of Dee. At least at work he had something to distract him for a while - and at home, Bikky and Carol made sure he had little time to start feeling as shitty as he felt as he sat down at the park bench.

The man standing on the street light just a couple of feet from where he was and he caused an immediate reaction in Ryo. He'd noticed him when he arrived, he just didn't noticed him well enough to see that this guy had the exact same height as Dee...

He was wearing a long black-leather overcoat that seemed to be dragging at his feet. He was leaning against the light, his head slightly down, smoking his cigarette as the soft smoke came out and made imaginary-like figures in patterns unknown still. His hair was tied back in a little ponytail, black as night itself when there is no moon. Ryo just sat there, looking directly at this stranger. For a minute he wanted to believe that it was Dee, looking mockingly cool as always. But Dee had been dead for a year or so - more, if you count the seconds he'd gone, like Ryo did. Just as he got up and was going to approach this stranger - for unknown reasons, even to him - the guy threw his cigarette to the floor and walked away. Ryo tried (oh god he tried!) to follow, but the stranger walked to the street and called out for a cab. Ryo was left there, alone, staring at the direction the cab took, wondering if his intuition, as well as his heart, was lying to him once again.

No. This had been real. Ryo'd have sworn that when he took the cab his face was exactly as he remembered Dee´s. But then again, heart and fate have that nagging little thing of making you see ghosts when you most need it and somehow this ghost was almost telling him it was time to let go. At least that's how Ryo felt when he got to his hotel room and stared at the ceiling from the comfort of his own bed.

Tomorrow - he told himself - he would go out... and buy some tea...

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The store was little, yet was nice to the eyes. One of those "you can only get it here" stores where there are a lot of things you don't really need but you just got to have (like those knifes that never rust or that thing where you put the egg in and then you put it in the microwave and it makes perfect eggs? Yeah, those kinds of things) and among those lots and lots of things there were tea boxes, all flavors, all brands. There where green, cinnamon, five flower... all the tea that you little heart could desire.

How did Ryo came to this place? Funny you should ask. The hotel manager was very helpful in that aspect: convinced that Ryo needed to get out more (he´d been locked up in that room for two days now, and if you´re going on vacation you might as well go and enjoy it, not be cooped-up in a tiny little room) and so he made the comment that a nice big little store was located just a couple of blocks down the road from the hotel, and it was maybe a good idea if Ryo would go down there, walked a little, get some fresh air...

Ryo thought it was a good idea too...

Granted, he had told himself he would go out and buy some tea (Carol had been nagging him about the subject right before he left and right after he announced he was going to London aka Tea Capitol of the World) the next day after he saw Dee´s so-called ghost... but he hadn´t been just in the right mood to go, you know?

It felt good to feel the air touching his skin, to see the people. He even felt cheery after a while. The store made it all better once he was in. His only thoughts at the moment were if to get the all cinnamony one or to get a more classical tea, like the one that had a very cheesy box with the England flag and a portrait of the Queen drinking the stuff. At the end, he decided to take both. There wasn´t a single person at the cash register, which, you had to admit, was a pretty darn old one, but in a sense it made it all the more cozier.

"Jus´ a minute!" said a male voice under the counter. Ryo leaned foward to see who it was all stuffed in there and was a little surprised when the guy just popped right up and was just a couple of inches from his face. The more surprising thing was that this guy was the same one he saw at the park that night. This... guy...

... looked exactly like Dee...

"´Alo?" the other one said, looking strangely at Ryo, who was looking pretty much shocked and took a while before reacting, "Will tha´ be all?" the nice man asked when Ryo handed over the two boxes of tea. Ryo didn´t realize whether he nodded or just looked stupidly at the guy, but one thing was certain of and this was that he guy started to feel a little harassed by the blond.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

"Ye-yes... yes... umm... ho-how much?"

"Tha´ll be twenty pounds..."

Ryo paid up and the transaction was completed. He had his two boxes of tea nicely in a white plastic bag, and as he turned around, he wondered...

"Excuse me..." he said. The cashier looked up at him.

"Umm... Hi... Umm... Will... Will it be alright if I could ask you your name?"

"My name?" the other looked puzzled, "My name is Gaiev..."

'Gaiev, not Dee' thought the blond as he nodded and headed outside. He didn´t even noticed the streets as he made his way back to the hotel... or at least he thought he was going back, because the truth of the matter was that he´d taken the wrong way, and he only took notice when he realized he´d been walking waaaay too long...

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