Painted Sky
PM apologizes before-hand for the less than sparkling and decidedly short chapter. The chapter length can be explained, however, by the fact that she has been constantly revising the outline and has once again removed scenes from this chapter and placed them in other chapters to make the story a little more believable. ^.^
Yes, yes. Excuses, excuses.
Anywho, with that said, this chapter takes place on Wednesday, so we're skipping over Tuesday because PM is lazy and doesn't feel like writing it. ^.^ Okay, so that's not the real reason… it's just that any scenes in Tuesday didn't seem to be necessary to the overall plot so PM decided to cut it. After all, PM really is lazy and doesn't want to write anymore then she needs to… which doesn't explain for the length of this story.
Or the length of these author notes…. *sweatdrops*
^_^ Many thanks to rayemars-san for her lurvely beta-reading, as well as the reviewers: goddess of insanity and pauru (That is the great mystery of life! Even more important than how many angels can dance on the head of a needle (that's how it goes, right?)! Yes, the dice! *giggles*), Alana Hikari-Chan (Well, I guess the dubbers can't have the wee little children drooling over sex-god-characters-who-have-REALLY-nice-asses… you know, corruption and all. :P), Anime Girl Sasami (X_X Stephen Crane came up in Quiz Bowl… I guessed from that and even though I didn't know the character, I got the book! Thank god for Great Illustrated Classics… *giggles*. Anyhow… wow, wow, wow. I love reading your reviews because they make me think so much; yes, before you ask, PM can think! *tries to look sincere* And I'm glad you like the OCs… ^^;;. It's not that I'm fond of them but… well, I guess they do grow on me after a while. Although Yuriko is taking a bit longer than most… *pouts before placating herself with candy corn* Me likes candy corn. ^_^), Tuulikki (*glompu* Daijoubu da~! Humor, eh? Methinks I need to start writing serious fics just to prove that I can… XD), Akemi Ishtar (Technically, this fic does involve a couple OCs, which you have already met… are they all right?), Rowan and Sakura (*bops Sakura with a mallet* Don't be so mean to Rowan! Writing just takes a while… I've been writing for a little over three and a half years, but I'm still developing myself. And is it a problem about the footnotes? Because I'm thinking about putting the Japanese word before it if it's a translation… I can't really do that for random notes though. ^^;; And Yami the prostitute comes from a joke I have with a friend… we call him that because of the leather, chains, and buckles. :P), Nero, Jake, and Kage-sama (Serious and hilarious at the same time? :P But not at the exact same time, right? XD), Bronze Eagle (Oo;; Oh come on, don't feel guilty! ^^;; It's nice of you to review period, and you shouldn't feel obligated until I come after you with a jack hammer. *nods sagely* Anyhow, yeah. I can't see Ryou straight. Like Ryuuji, he just sends off these vibes that scream out… uhh, never mind. And yeah… Shizuka is with Honda in this story, although it will most likely be minimal. Besides, at least by this point they're probably all in their twenties or so. ^_^ Hope you had a happy Halloween!), purplechaos04 (^_^ Thank you thank you! Although I'm beginning to think these characters introspect a bit too much… *mauls them*), and Fate VII (Awww… *huggles* Hope you get plenty of sleep and do well on your essay! ^_^). Sankyuu, minna~!
~ Kyouryouku (Cooperation) ~
Despite the fact that the past several days had contained a great deal of screaming and slamming of doors, Tuesday was comparatively quieter in comparison to its predecessors. In fact, one might even go so far as to say that it was calm and relaxed… well, as calm and relaxed as a day could possibly be when it required the ability of two young men to walk on eggshells around each other. At every moment, their audience braced itself in case there should be an explosion of furious words and accusations, but despite the constant glaring when he was sure that the other person wasn't looking, words were kept to a minimum.
Zero, in fact.
Of course, this might have been due to the fact that both young men were being closely watched by Kuroyama-san, who had decidedly no patience for any trouble that the two might choose to stir up. Thus, they both wisely decided to keep their mouths shut and attentions focused on what the speaker had to say, resisting the urge to mutter rudely or strain their ears in case his rival had anything offensive to say.
But to be frank, as well as realistic, there was really only so long that the two could stay in this situation before something would break. After all, Kuroyama-san was not going to be there to separate them forever. In fact, everyone was certain that the short-tempered, white-haired man was not particularly interested in spending the rest of the seminar making sure that the two behaved, and it would only be a matter of time before he stopped being aware of them… that is, until the next decidedly embarrassing argument. Not to mention the fact that the business world… and to a great extent Domino City itself… was simply not big enough so that the two could avoid each other for the rest of their days, leading to the profound (as well as disturbing) revelation that eventually, both would have to give up a little of their pride in order to reach a truce.
And it would be better for both if that truce happened to occur sooner, rather than later.
~ * ~
Since it was rather impractical of Ryuuji to direct his substantial amount of anger at nonexistent and mythical fates [1], and since he had exhausted himself fantasizing about interesting (and not to mention grotesque) ways of abruptly ending Kaiba Seto's life, Ryuuji decided to figure out why Kuroyama-san hated him so much. Or, so as not to be completely egocentric, why the speaker hated both him and Seto enough to submit them to the cruel and unusual punishment of working together… again.
Although to be completely fair, it really had nothing to do with Kuroyama-san. The raven-haired man had simply not acted fast enough to find a partner before everyone was paired up, and it was not in Seto's personality to search out a partner either. Thus, before either of them could blink, the two of them were stuck together and once again in a potentially dangerous state.
Kuroyama-san had refused to separate the two, although he had given them wary looks that seemed to speak volumes of his resignation that he would be losing two members of his audience. Ryuuji personally found that pretty hypocritical, although he wasn't sure why, and he had to bite his tongue to keep himself from saying so.
Seto, on the other hand, was treating the situation in the same way he treated most irritants; simply put, he ignored Ryuuji's existence. This was, however, to be proven difficult due to the fact that Ryuuji was a particularly loud and decidedly impatient young man who was very desperate to make his presence known if only for the fact that he didn't want to waste any more of his money. After all, as had been so often reiterated before, Ryuuji had paid a fair amount of money to get to this seminar and he didn't want to discover that suddenly, because Seto was unrelenting in staying the usual pain in the ass that he always was, he wasn't going to be getting anything useful out of it.
Still, even with that knowledge fully imprinted in his brain, it took a great deal of effort for Ryuuji to drag himself close enough to Seto so that the brunette could no longer imagine him away. After all, it was difficult for anyone to ignore a face scowling right into his own… even for someone who was more or less paid to imagine his social problems away.
"What?" Seto spat out, resisting the urge to swat Ryuuji's face away as if he was an annoying insect. Something that Ryuuji certainly deserved, in his mind at least, considering the game inventor's annoying habits and prior behavior up to this point. It was somewhat understandable, as well as plainly obvious, that Seto was completely uninterested in pursuing a civil relationship with Ryuuji… and looking into those cold blue eyes, Ryuuji had to bite his tongue from expressing the exact same desires.
"Well, in case you didn't notice, this little exercise Kuroyama-san cooked up requires something known commonly as teamwork. Do you understand that concept Kaiba?" Ryuuji immediately snapped back, dropping any disillusionments that he could somehow manage to… well, seduce Seto into actually being cooperative for once. He wasn't quite sure that cooperative was a word in Seto's vocabulary, even when Mokuba was involved.
"With you?" Seto's eyebrow twitched, and the question made Ryuuji roll his eyes. It wasn't as if Seto had been sleeping throughout the entire… well, then again, maybe he had, but he doubted the possibility that Seto could fully ignore the fact that they had, by some freakish twist of fate, somehow been forced together.
"No. With the wall," he finally gritted out.
"Not surprising. It's a much better partner than you will ever be," Seto replied smoothly, tilting his head slightly as he gave Ryuuji a long glance over. He thought that Ryuuji was being a bit presumptuous in all of this… thinking that he was the only one who gave a damn about the seminar. It wasn't as if Seto didn't think the same; he just didn't want to act on those thoughts when it involved a certain dice-obsessed freak of nature.
"Kaiba!" Ryuuji yelled loud enough for Seto to wince but for nobody else to hear. Seto wasn't sure how that worked out, but when it involved any of Yuugi's friends, he stopped accepting reality and gave in to the fantastic. Ryuuji had certainly proved not to be an exception to this concept at least, and Seto shrugged off the impossibility of what had just happened and continued to watch Ryuuji with the usual calm that made most people shy away.
But not him… why not him? Even Yuriko gave him distance when he was in this type of 'mood'… and most of his acquaintances were wise enough to do the same thing. Only Mokuba didn't bother… but then again, he never really had any reason to, did he? The few times that Seto was cold to Mokuba had been anomalies… each one stuck out in his mind and each one he regretted, prompting him to avoid that kind of situation as much as possible.
Ryuuji though… he wasn't backing down.
Yami no Yuugi had been the same way… in that presumptuous, arrogant manner of his. Although from the way he acted, Yami no Yuugi clearly was under the mistaken impression that he wasn't too prideful. But was that one of the things that attracted him to his former rival… that and the fact that he had been the only person to defeat him?
He would have shaken his head and rolled his eyes in typical Kaiba Seto behavior, but he didn't because he did not want to give Ryuuji any mistaken impressions. In a situation like this, those types of misconceptions could be dangerous… look at what had already happened! The two had been quite idiotic to actually believe that the other was interested in the first place, and that had led to this entire mess. Everyday, Seto had to deal with the continued desire to go back and give his past self a beating in order to prevent the situation from happening (or even better, go back in time and deal out punishment to Ryuuji)… and the feeling sprang up every time he found himself looking into those green eyes.
Not to imply that he cared, of course.
He nearly wanted to laugh. Care? Care about what, exactly? That was the question that had been bothering him for most of the past week… why did he care about these thoughts that he didn't quite understand in the first place?
Well, he didn't.
"What?" he repeated, continuing to give Ryuuji the same cold, emotionless look. Nothing was going to break his shield now… not now, of all times.
Ryuuji was staring at him with an incredulous look, almost as if he couldn't believe how dense Seto was being.
Finally, as slowly as he possibly could without bursting a vein, he stated as slowly and clearly as he possibly could so that there could be no doubt whatsoever of what he had just said.
"We need to work together."
Seto's expression never changed. "All right."
He couldn't help but be amused by the variety of emotions that flashed across Ryuuji's face, starting with shock to anger to an incredulous mistrust that carried the feeling of extreme doubt of his intentions.
"Is that all you have to say?"
When Seto didn't respond to do that, Ryuuji immediately continued, unable to keep himself from stopping. He hated it when people changed on him so quickly… that was one of the best things about Honda. Honda was stable, and not very moody. He didn't do anything that was completely unexpected, and even when he did it wasn't big enough to shock Ryuuji to this extent. Unlike Seto. Unlike that blasted brunette sitting there with a smirk on his face.
He wanted to strangle him.
"I mean… no arguments? No complaints about how you don't want to be stuck working with me? No lectures about how your pride won't take it and how someone as lowly as me doesn't deserve to work with someone as high and mighty as you? None of that?"
"Yes."
"That's frightfully considerate of you, Kaiba."
"Rest assured that I did not take any of your feelings into consideration when I made this decision. However, under the circumstances, I find it more in my favor to work with you rather than become the laughingstock of the business world," Seto immediately replied, the tone of his voice seeming to imply that Ryuuji was no more important than a tiny insect scuttling across the woodwork, barely visible to the naked eye.
Ryuuji too might have felt it in his best interest to just shut up and accept the sudden freefall of good fortune, but he was not the type of person who could easily keep his mouth shut.
"It's not like you needed my help to do that in the first place."
Seto's eyebrow twitched and his jaw visibly tightened, but still he managed to keep his voice distant even as he entertained different varieties of torture, "I'm offering a truce."
"Would you like me to get on my hands and knees and beg for it?"
"If that would make you feel better, you have my permission to do so. I'd prefer it if you just said yes so we can put that night behind us."
"Do you really think it would be that easy?" Ryuuji found himself asking before he could control himself… not to imply that he regretted it, of course. Ryuuji was not the type of person to regret his actions unless he saw potential deadly harm as part of the equation. "Do you honestly think that if you just say so, we could pretend none of it ever happened?"
"I never said we were going to pretend that none of it ever happened. I'd just rather not spend the entire time dwelling on it."
"No one's making you."
"Are you enjoying this?"
"I'm not a masochist."
"Could have fooled me."
"For someone who is so desperate to make a truce, you sure aren't putting a lot of effort into it," Ryuuji snapped back bitterly, finally turning away. After all, it was his turn to go into a sulk and glare at the wall as if it had something extremely offensive scrawled all over it.
"You're not helping matters."
"Am I to blame for that?"
Seto would have snapped back but at that particular moment he caught Kuroyama's eye, immediately causing him to back down as he brought his voice down to a low hiss, "I don't need to deal with this, you know."
Ryuuji didn't answer that; he already knew, after all. Instead, he continued to give the brunette that openly defiant and mocking look… that look which nobody ever gave him, not even Yami no Yuugi. Yami no Malik had, somewhat, during the Battle City battles… but that was different. That was an expression that could easily be dismissed as the madness of a complete psychopath… and while one could reasonably argue that Ryuuji was indeed insane and in serious need of medical attention… nobody could compare to that being….
"But you are."
The expression… it wasn't mocking anymore, but merely curious. Curious to see why Seto would be putting himself through this if, as he had so clearly stated before, he didn't really have to deal with this situation. He could ignore it… certainly he could afford that.
So why didn't he?
Seto opened his mouth to say something… anything that would return the situation to him. How odd that three tiny words and an expression completely devoid of ill intent could reduce him to this state. Wasn't it usually supposed to be the other way around?
"I am," he finally acknowledged, leaving the next step up to the raven-haired man sitting next to him, staring at him with that odd look in his face which seemed to be contempt and… wonder?
Ryuuji could only blink at the unexpected answer.
He really did hate it when people were this unpredictable.
~ * ~
Honda yawned as he leaned against the seat, wondering what could be taking Ryuuji so long. He had a variety of explanations, each of which seemed to grow progressively worse as the list starting at a visit to the emergency room and continuing on until it climaxed at his roommate killing a certain blue-eyed billionaire and being sentenced to death row after a very speedy trial.
Okay, so maybe the last one was a bit ridiculous… but one couldn't exactly say that about the first possibility, could they? Especially considering Ryuuji's rather volatile temper for the past couple of days… months… years… lifetime?
Best to keep that particular thought to himself, rather than risk that before-mentioned temper being turned against him. Although truthfully, he was starting to get pretty used to it. As long as no physical harm was actually received, Honda managed to remain civil about the entire matter.
Covering another yawn as he tried to push out all those nasty thoughts, Honda resisted the urge to just drive off without Ryuuji. Considering how Ryuuji had spent all of yesterday glaring holes into his head on the trip home, he couldn't help but feel very justified in entertaining that notion. Honestly, Honda thought that Ryuuji was overreacting to the entire situation… although he never bothered to tell him that face to face. No, that time would come when Ryuuji was conveniently strapped down by a straightjacket and Honda was outside a two-hundred mile radius. And even then, he would want plenty of armed personnel watching his back in case something should happen.
When Ryuuji was involved, something usually was guaranteed to happen.
At that particular moment, Honda took the time to look in the rear view mirror and his eyes nearly boggled out as he found himself staring at the most insane hallucination he had ever seen in his life: Otogi Ryuuji and Kaiba Seto walking side by side, looking deeply engrossed in a conversation.
Immediately, Honda started to check for something that showed that the situation was involuntary. Handcuffs, blood, police in the back, ambulances, chains… anything to explain what was right there before his eyes. To his growing surprise and amazement, he saw absolutely nothing that could remotely constitute as an explanation, and so it was of no surprise that he was still in a state of shock when somebody remarked, almost cynically, "Well, that was rather unexpected."
Honda might have jumped out his seat (and in the process hit his head against the car's roof) if not for the fact that his seatbelt was keeping him in, and instead he turned to look at a rather tall, distinguished man standing right in front of his car with an odd look on his face as he too watched the approaching pair.
As they came closer, he could hear odds and ends of the conversation, floating in the air in an almost mocking manner as they seemed to hang in front of him before suddenly disappearing without a trace.
"I told you that it was the first answer."
"You should have been more sure of yourself then."
"I was sure of myself. You just didn't listen… although I should have expected that from you."
"If you had been more sure of yourself, then I would have listened."
The raven-haired man snorted, "Yeah right. You never listen to "
Seto merely raised an eyebrow at that, "I didn't hear you complaining when we decided that we were finished."
"That's because you never bother to listen in the first place."
"It's hard to believe that, especially when it is coming from you."
Honda couldn't help but sweatdrop as he heard the bickering, which was already starting to cause him a headache (he couldn't help but wonder how they managed to deal with each other without also getting headaches of their own). It looked like despite the attempts to be civil with one another, the promise apparently did not extend past bloodshed. Although to be truthful, they didn't look as angry at each other than they probably had been for the past couple of days. And they certainly weren't ignoring each other, which was had happened the previous day….
Still, the entire situation seemed to be extremely odd and rather unexpected. Almost as if it was happening too quickly, as Honda had before predicted that it would take another three years before the two could be in the same room together without completely ruining the atmosphere.
"Otogi?" he called out almost hesitantly, as if trying to convince himself that the person standing before him was not the same person who had been having a temper tantrum last night.
"What?"
Honda could only start to sweat nervously as he found three sets of eyes staring at him with a variety of emotions, ranging from amusement to confusion and annoyance. Quickly, he held up his hands as he laughed nervously, "I… iya [2]… just… are you ready to go? We need to go meet up with Yuugi and the others, remember?"
That was, in short, one of the worst excuses he had ever created in his life… but at least it was a truthful one. Seto, at least, wasn't going to grill him about it and even if Ryuuji was annoyed, he couldn't exactly say anything to contradict what Honda had just said.
"Hm," was the only thing Seto said as he walked over to his car, his driver following him closely. No good-bye, no farewells, no nothing. He just turned and walked away, and nobody could honestly say that they minded because in a way, they were just so used to it that they couldn't really find anything to say.
Despite that though, Honda seemed to be frozen in his current state of shock, and it wasn't until Ryuuji had placed a hand on his shoulder that he suddenly jerked back to life.
"What are you doing?" Ryuuji asked, staring at him with an expression that seemed to state that he was in need of medical attention. This, however, could only be responded with the exact same expression as Honda struggled to search for the right words to say.
"What… what am I doing? What were you doing, eh?" Honda immediately shot back as he stared at Ryuuji with wild eyes. "You… and him… civil… how?!"
In a way, he almost felt like wailing from all the confusion that he was feeling. Luckily though, he managed to suppress all of those feelings as he continued to wait expectantly for some type of explanation that could calm his nerves. Drugs, money, stand-in's, robots… anything! Anything to explain that he wasn't hallucinating!
"Is it really that big of a deal?"
"Yes!"
Ryuuji simply shrugged and said in the tone of voice which showed his quickly depleting interest in continuing the conversation any further, "We reached an agreement."
"An agreement? An agreement? That's it? That's all you're going to tell me?!"
"Yes."
Abruptly, Honda's sanity returned although he did continue to look at Ryuuji for a moment or two longer, as if still in disbelief that this really was his friend. Or, if it was Ryuuji… whether or not it was really Ryuuji's brain. Somebody could have performed an operation on him and given him a lobotomy, right? That was a plausible explanation, rather than Ryuuji's short answer of 'We reached an agreement'. That didn't say anything about what kind of agreement it was, after all. For all Honda knew, the agreement could have been a medical contract that Ryuuji had been forced to sign before he was suddenly whisked away to something similar to Doctor Frankenstein's laboratory!
Instead of voicing his thoughts, Honda shakily turned the key and started the car, sneaking quick and very conspicuous looks at Ryuuji whenever he thought that the other man wasn't looking at him. Which was essentially the entire time, as Ryuuji was too busy staring out the window to notice what Honda was doing.
He couldn't help but think about what Honda had asked… mainly because he wasn't sure how to answer Honda's question. True, they had reached an agreement of sorts to forget about what happened that fateful night… but they had made those types of promises before to no avail. Why was it that suddenly it would start to work, just because they had made the promise to each other? What type of incentive was that, when the two truly hated each other at the time they made their decision?
Or maybe they hadn't really hated each other.
Ryuuji would have blanched but managed to keep everything under control, instead choosing to roll his eyes at that strange possibility. Not hate each other? That sure would make it hard to explain why the two had been snapping and getting at each other's throats… even if it did explain how they were able to get over their differences so quickly.
But they hadn't really gotten over their differences. They had just made an agreement. End of story.
He couldn't help but frown as he watched the buildings flash by, there one moment and gone the next, as if they had never existed. Everything seemed so fleeting… so short-lived. So had their anger with each other, apparently, although not all of it had been done away with just because of the agreement. Ryuuji still felt a great deal of annoyance towards Seto for trying to blame the whole situation on him, and it would probably take a while longer before he ever completely forgave him.
Otherwise… he had never really hated the taller man before the incident. During high school, he had barely known Seto except as the person who was constantly stalking Yami no Yuugi in hopes of finally winning a duel against him. The two had never seen each other during college, since Seto had gone off to Tokyo University while Ryuuji had stayed in Domino City, and it wasn't until after graduation did the two start to see a little more of each other in chance meetings brought on by their respective commitments to their businesses. There had always been a spark of annoyance, and… something.
He had been surprised when Seto had suddenly offered him a chance for them to put aside their differences and cooperate. The activity that had been laid before them was not an extremely difficult one, but it did require a great deal of communication between both parties and that was something the two were decidedly having problems with. The surprise and need to prove to Kuroyama that he was not as argumentative as he seemed… with higher authorities, at least… had caused Ryuuji to accept the proposal.
Most likely, it would have happened eventually, without one or the other pushing for it. But he could find nothing to complain about with what had happened… except for that nasty bit of shock, at least.
Seto wasn't the easiest person to get along with, but neither was Ryuuji.
Perhaps that was why they found it easier to get along with each other than with anyone else.
Commentary:
[1] Authors not withstanding.
[2] A more informal way of 'iie', no.
*visibly winces* Yes… that was a short chapter. I was going to have a scene after this but I thought it was too quick after chapter three, so I moved it to a different chapter. Unfortunately, I didn't really have anything to move into this chapter, so it just ended up being shorter than usual….
*blinks and then stabs outline repeatedly*
For something that is supposed to be helping me, you're causing me a bloody amount of hell, don't you think? *stabs it again*
*outline cackles evilly*
*PM drops knife and runs for her life, screaming*
Pikachumaniac