Chapter 2: Journey's start, and a first bishonen.
Ryu was lost. There was no other word for it, and he never was one to hide the truth, at least from himself.
Nearly two weeks ago, he remembered, he had come out of the orientation building, split off from the other newbies, and went to get the rest of his equipment. After acquiring his equipment, he had headed straight out of the city and into the forest he had appeared in. He had wandered aimlessly in the forest without seeing anything but birds, trees, and bugs. He was close to panic now.
If he didn't catch a bishonen by tomorrow he was going home. And once he was there, he wasn't sure if he'd be able to take it, knowing he had had a chance to leave behind that hellish life for this one.
With the possibility of going home now looming in his mind, he was determined to catch a bishonen today, or die trying.
Unfortunately, he was so focused on that vow in his head, that he completely missed the fact that he had left the small path he had been following. Or the fact that he was walking toward a cliff over a steep hill.
Till he walked off it.
"Wha-"THUD! "Oof!"
And proceeded to roll down the hill, running into every...
WHAM!! "Ack!"
...rock...
CRASH, RUSTLE RUSTLE. "YEOW!!"
...bush, complete with thorns...
THUD, BONK BONK. "Oof...OW OW!!"
...tree, dropping large, hard fruit...
ROLL ROLL DROP "AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!"
...still rolling until going off ANOTHER cliff...
THUD. "Uhhhhhn...damn that hurt..." "Uhn..."
...falling ten feet and landing on a person nice enough to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and break his fall.
It took Ryu nearly a minute to collect his wits and get the presence of mind to sit up. He turned around, still sitting on his unfortunate landing pad, and opened his mouth to thank the person below him, but also to apologize profusely.
He stopped and stared at the young boy beneath him, his mouth falling open in shock.
(Red hair...Green eyes, slightly dazed...Large, familiar but illegible Japanese character on forehead...Big gourd...)
"Gaara of the sand..."
As Gaara blinked and began to do more than twitch feebly, Ryu pulled out a bishball and tapped him on the shoulder. He vanished into the ball, and Ryu fell the rest of the way to the ground with a soft bump, looking intently at the bishball. It shook for a moment, rather feebly, then gave a soft 'beep' and lie still in his palm. For a moment Ryu sat there, his mouth hanging open as he stared at the bishball in his hand.
Then the fact that he was staying here sank in. He wasn't going home. He had caught a bishonen.
"YES!!"
Ryu once again jumped up and pumped his fist into the air, then proceeded to do his victory dance. Ryu had just finished moonwalking, followed by a spin, bishball still in hand, when he heard clapping.
"Nice. Very nice. I've been trying to catch Gaara for a while now. And yet you do it in a second. And from the looks of things, quite a spur of the moment action."
Ryu jammed his foot in the ground to stop his spin facing the newcomer. The man was in partly in shadow, and he walked out into the light, revealing black hair done in a three-foot braid, with two white bangs dangling in his face. The young man was wearing a black long sleeved shirt with a blue dragon circling the right sleeve, with a silver necklace and pendant, black jeans and black shoes. The young man was about Ryu's age, maybe a little older. And a Sasuke, dressed as he had been in the series, with a thick blue t-shirt, and white shorts, shortly followed him.
Ryu guessed the Sasuke was a san, but couldn't be sure. Ryu opened his mouth to speak, but his words died when he felt the bishball vibrate slightly. He looked down at it in surprise before grinning, and holding the ball up.
"Come on out Gaara."
A beam of light shot out of the ball and expanded to form the bishonen that Ryu had just landed on and caught. The red haired shinobi glared at everyone before settling on Ryu. Ryu crossed his arms, Gaara followed suit, and a glaring contest was under way. The young man who spoke interrupted it, speaking again.
"Geez, ease up guys."
Gaara and Ryu looked at him, both blinking in slight surprise.
"I'm Ryoki, a new trainer hereabouts'. What about you?"
Ryu grinned, and started tossing Gaara's bishball up and down with his right hand, his left now in his pocket.
"Ryu. Gaara's my first capture, and just in time too. Another day, and I was going home. Oh yeah, just remembered..."
Ryu reached into his pack and pulled out the dex. He opened it, and pointed it at Gaara.
"Beep beep...Name: Gaara. Nickname:?"
Gaara threw Ryu a death glare, and Ryu shrugged before replying.
"No nickname."
Gaara's glare subsided to only 'slightly-death' glare.
"Let me go."
Ryu looked at Gaara with slightly narrowed eyes.
"And why would I do that? And why are you so upset? All I did was capture you."
"And that means I can't go home, or-"
"You can't go home anyway Gaara."
All eyes turned to Sasuke, who was eyeing Gaara with distaste. Ryoki questioned his bishie on the matter.
"You didn't mention that bit. Why can't he go home Sasuke?"
Sasuke didn't answer. Instead he merely glared at Gaara, who glared back. After waiting for an answer for half a minute, Ryu guessed that one wasn't coming.
"Tell you what Gaara. Once I catch another bish, I'll let you go, if you still want to go. Deal?"
Gaara instantly nodded, and stopped intentionally glaring at everyone. It didn't do much, as his face was better suited for glaring than anything else. Ryu nodded back, and placed Gaara's bishball in his belt. He then swung his pack off, dropped down into a crouch, and opened the main pouch. He pulled out two boxes; one was plain metal, unmarked, while the other was white plastic, with a red cross on the front.
Ryu opened the metal box first, and pulled out a simple refrigerator capsule. He pressed the button, and then tossed it a few feet away. With a slight 'bomb', the capsule vanished into a gas cloud, which cleared to reveal a moderately sized fridge. Ryu stood and walked over to the fridge, opened it, and pulled out a coke, and a plastic bottle filled with a slightly green, but mostly transparent liquid. He then gestured to the fridge.
"Help yourselves."
While Ryoki leapt forward with eagerness, and Sasuke and Gaara came forward with a greater display of discipline, all three of them intent on raiding Ryu's fridge, Ryu walked over to a tree stump and sat down. Then, while mentally cursing himself for not wearing his jacket despite the warm temperature, Ryu pulled off his tank top. He hissed slightly, which drew the attention of the other three in the clearing. Sasuke and Gaara had merely grabbed bottled ice teas, and then moved off to areas where they made themselves comfortable. Ryoki on the other hand...
Ryoki turned away from the fridge for a second, a burrito jutting out of his mouth like a cigarette, to see what the hiss was, and then turned back to the fridge. He emerged a second later with cheese, bread, mayonnaise and mustard, and three kinds of deli meat, all somehow juggled with one hand. In the other hand, he had two bottles of Dr. Pepper, and a container of chip dip. Clamped in his mouth, alongside the burrito, which was somehow constantly disappearing while its unfortunate neighbor was not, was a bag of chips.
Ryu opened the first aid kit, and pulled out a piece of cloth. He then opened the bottle of the green liquid, the coke lying forgotten for the moment, and poured some of the liquid onto the cloth. As he did this, he spoke to Ryoki.
"You know, when I said 'help yourselves', I didn't mean eat the whole fridge."
Ryoki merely grinned, which wasn't seen behind the burrito, which was only just remaining, and the chip bag, and shrugged. He walked over to a patch of shade, provided by a tree, and sat down on the ground. He arrayed the foodstuffs about him in a semi-circle, and finally polished off the burrito, allowing him to speak.
"I figured I'd raid your fridge this afternoon, you'd raid mine tonight."
Ryu shrugged, and applied the wet cloth to the greatest collection of scratches. He hissed slightly as the scratches stung like hell for a moment, then the stinging faded, and he moved onto the next set. Soon he had placed the cloth over every scratch on his upper body, hissing at the contact every time the cloth was applied. Now Ryu set the cloth down, kicked off his shoes, then removed his pants, leaving himself clad in only his underwear. He then picked up the cloth, and after pouring some more green liquid on it, applied it to the scratches decorating his legs. He hissed every time the cloth was applied again, but was soon done, and put the cloth into the first aid kit, and re-capped the bottle of the green liquid.
Ryu then pulled on his pants and but left them un-buttoned and the belt un-buckled. He then grabbed his tank top, and pulled it on. But as he did so, Ryoki glanced at Ryu out of the corner of his eye and saw several scars that were visible when the other boy lifted his arms over his head to pull the shirt on.
After he had tucked his shirt in, buttoned his pants and buckled the belt, Ryu stood and walked over to the fridge barefoot, the bottle of green liquid in his right hand. When he reached the fridge, he opened it with his left hand, and returned the bottle, then closed the fridge. He walked back over to the stump and sat down, just as a breeze blew through the area. The breeze blew the hair of everyone about. It made Gaara look as if he had blood red flame sitting atop his head, while Sasuke had the look of black spikes, dancing every which way. Ryoki's braid was picked up by the wind, and was blown about slightly, while the white bangs danced wildly in front of his face.
Ryu's hair blew about, and he picked up the coke, opened it, and downed half of it in a couple of gulps. As he tilted his head back, light hit his blowing hair just right to reveal the flame red highlights in his hair. Ryu finished drinking half the soda, and leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. His left hand, unoccupied with the soda, dangled aimlessly, while his right hand dangled, but retained a hold on the cold beverage.
"So, Ryoki, how did you end up here?"
Ryoki finished making his sandwich, and put the items away in the fridge, then walked back toward the sandwich, all the while making his reply.
"I was at school a couple of days ago, and panicking cause' there was a rather large test the next period, which I totally forgot to study for. I decided to check my e-mail, for some reason I can't remember, and the next thing I know, I appear in mid air, inside a jail cell. Took three hours for the guards to find me, and another five for me to convince them the truth of my story, all the while they were laughing their asses off. At the time, I thought that they were laughing at how bizarre my story sounded, but later on I figured out that they were laughing at my misfortune. Of course at that time, I figured out why one of them brought a camera. Damn bastards. What about you?"
Ryu took a small drink of the coke before replying.
"I was on my way home from school, and I stopped at a computer shop to check my e-mail. I wake up in a tree, on a rather weak branch. Then I plummet to the ground, and some weird girl with a braid longer than yours shows up with Sesshomaru following her around. She leads me to the nearby city, and then leaves after showing me the Orientation building. That was nearly two weeks ago."
"You seem to fall a lot..."
"And you need a hair cut."
Ryoki was outraged.
"WHAT!? Hey, I LIKE my hair!!"
Ryu chuckled as Ryoki grabbed his braid and stroked it for a moment, then let the hair go, and grinned. He then crammed the last of his sandwich into his mouth, and stood.
"Well, we better be moving along..."
Ryu didn't move from the stump.
"You go ahead, but I'm gonna camp here. I've had enough movement for one day."
Ryoki considered him for a moment, then shrugged, and sat back down.
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Later that night, a fire blazed in a hole, surrounded by a circle of stones, and over the fire roasted a chicken. Ryoki sat cross-legged in front of the fire, slowly basting the chicken while Ryu was lying back against a pillow on his sleeping bag across the fire from Ryoki. Gaara was sitting in front of the fire cross-legged, staring into the flames, while Sasuke leaned up against a tree, just inside the sphere of light cast by the fire, his arms crossed, and his head resting against his chest.
Ryu lay back, with his hands cupped underneath his head, looking up at the stars, visible through the tree's canopy. He felt the heat from the fire, and for the first time in a long time, he felt happy. While camping was a new experience, not totally to his liking, he was still away from home, and never going back. Never going back to that hell...
"Dinner's ready."
Ryoki's statement brought Ryu back to the real world, and he sat up, accepting a thigh and drumstick from Ryoki, who had already carved off a part for himself, and was now carving a healthy portion for Gaara, then Sasuke.
Ryu didn't bother with utensils; instead he merely picked up the chicken and bit into it, ignoring the heat the meat radiated. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand to get rid of the meat juices, then nodded his satisfaction at Ryoki before consuming the rest, and tossing the bones away.
Ryoki and the bishonen showed more restraint the Ryu, waiting till the chicken cooled a little, and then eating.
Once everyone was done, they all relaxed, and a comfortable silence stretched. Ryoki leaned back against his own sleeping bag, still rolled, and studied Ryu over the fire. After a moment of quiet reflection, Ryoki stood up and rolled out his sleeping bag. He crawled into it, and was soon asleep, his back to the fire.
Ryu followed Ryoki's example. He stripped down to his underwear, and crawled into his own sleeping bag. For a moment, he just lied there, staring up at the stars. Then he remembered the last time he had done this, just stared up at the beautiful stars, far overhead...
:Flashback:
A thirteen-year-old Ryu sat on the roof of a house quickly falling into a level of great disrepair. The paint was peeling, the lawn and garden were overgrown with weeds, and shingles were missing from the roof in great quantities. Ryu himself looked almost as battered as the house, with worn and stained clothing, his knees drawn up to his chest with his arms wrapped around them, and his eyes just visible above them. The eyes were staring unseeingly out at neighborhood that the house was in, and then they focused, and Ryu's face lifted up to stare at the stars overhead. He stared and dreamed.
But as Ryu's face came into view, unhidden by his knees, his face was revealed to have a copious amount of dried blood, that had poured from his nose, smeared all over the lower half of his face.
Ryu viciously tore himself away from the memory, and with an angry shake of his head, he lay back, and fell asleep.
-------------------------------------- ---
The next day dawned bright and early. And Ryu gave a muffled curse as the sun hit his unprotected face, bringing him back to the world of wakefulness.
"Bloody hell...Damned sun. GO AWAY!!"
And with that, Ryu pulled the sleeping bag over his head, in a somewhat successful attempt to block out the sunlight.
Ryoki sat up and looked around, blinking. Of course the fact that he was blinking was made rather mute as he was wearing an eye mask, effectively keeping out the sun, and everything else.
"What the...why can't I see...?..."
He reached up and felt his face, finding the eye mask. He gave a slight jump of surprise, and pulled it off.
"Oh...Ah, bright!"
For a moment, he sat there, letting his eyes blearily adjust to the light. Once he could open them and see properly, Ryoki looked around the clearing. Gaara sat in front of the fire, prodding it with a stick and bringing it back to life. Sasuke was leaning up against a tree, perfectly balanced so he wouldn't fall over in his sleep.
Ryoki grinned as he picked up a small pebble, one that had caused him much grief in the night till he had woken up and moved the damn thing as well as grabbed his eye mask, and lightly threw it toward Sasuke. The throw was slightly off, and would've hit the tree trunk next to Sasuke had the bishonen not caught it.
And promptly slipped off the tree, and fell to the ground.
Ryoki cracked up laughing as Sasuke climbed back to his feet, glaring at Ryoki and muttering under his breath, trying to salvage his dignity. Ryoki loved taking people down the occasional peg, and Sasuke was no exception.
Once Ryoki's laughs subsided, he glanced at Ryu, who was still in his sleeping bag, hiding from the sun. With an evil grin, Ryoki pulled out a capsule, and pressed the button on top. Once the gas had cleared, Ryoki's own fridge stood where he had tossed the capsule. Ryoki opened the fridge, and pulled out a bucket with a lid, and pulled the lid off, revealing water, and with no small amount of ice. He then calmly walked over to Ryu, and slowly lifted the bucket into the air, grasping it at the rim away from Ryu, and the bottom. He then lifted it up a little more, and started to tilt it-
"As if life wasn't short enough."
-and stopped tilting it, but kept it slightly tilted, the water just before the point where it would poor out. Ryoki considered Ryu's statement for a moment, and then spoke.
"You're right. Life isn't short enough."
Ryoki then upended the bucket full of freezing ice water over Ryu.
A trainer three miles away looked up, as did his bishies, at the sounds of enraged screaming, and what sounded oddly like a metal bucket being used to beat someone... After a moment, the sounds stopped, and the trainer and his bishies glanced at each other, shrugged, and then went about their morning routines.
Ryu pulled on his shirt, and tucked it into his pants, the same clothes he had worn yesterday. Since he had only a few changes of clothes, he was trying to make his clean clothes last. The only piece of clothing that was different from yesterdays was his underwear, since his old pair was now soaking wet, and stowed away in his backpack. He glanced over at Ryoki while buckling his belt.
The other trainer now lay on the ground, still in his PJ's, with a decidedly dazed and battered look about his face. A dented, and deformed bucket lay on the ground next to Ryoki, one of the dents looking strangely like Ryoki's face...
Ryu walked over to Ryoki's fridge, with his fridge capsule in hand. He pressed the button and tossed the capsule next to Ryoki's fridge. Once the gas cloud cleared, Ryu opened his own fridge and started transferring items from Ryoki's fridge into his own. Once Ryu felt he had taken enough, he closed and capsulized his fridge, and put the capsule away. He then proceeded to raid Ryoki's fridge for breakfast, grabbing two air pressure cans of whip cream. As he stood, he hooked his right foot on the fridges door, and swung the door closed, then tossed a can to Gaara, who caught it, then glared bemusedly at it. He watched as Ryu popped the cap off his own can of whip cream, shook it vigorously, then placed the nozzle before his mouth, and pressed the nozzle to the side, spraying a liberal amount of cream into his mouth. After a moment, Ryu released the nozzle, and swallowed the whip cream.
Gaara, looking at the whip cream can as if he was sure it could never work, followed Ryu's example. He popped off the cap, shook the can, and then sprayed a small amount of the cream into his mouth to test the taste. For a moment he sat there, blinking. Then he tilted his head back, and sprayed a mouthful of cream into his mouth. Ryu chuckled, and looked at Sasuke. The dark haired bishonen was watching him warily.
"I'll see you later Sasuke. Tell Ryoki that the food from his fridge was payment for yesterday, while the whip cream was payment for this morning. Oh yeah. If we ever meet again, tell your trainer that next time, I'll get a bish to seal him inside an ice block."
Ryu then brushed his wet hair out of his eyes, and walked out of the clearing, Gaara following, swallowing another mouthful of whipped cream.
A few minutes after they had left the clearing, Ryoki came around. He sat up, and gingerly felt his face. After a moment, he noticed the disturbance in the dirt near his fridge and walked over to investigate. Sasuke had an evil grin on his face as his trainer reached the fridge and opened it.
(3...2...1...0)
"Wha...he stole...He Stole The Whip Cream!!! TRAITOR!!!"
:Author's comments:
Well, that sums up the second chapter. So, what'd you all think?
Ryu was lost. There was no other word for it, and he never was one to hide the truth, at least from himself.
Nearly two weeks ago, he remembered, he had come out of the orientation building, split off from the other newbies, and went to get the rest of his equipment. After acquiring his equipment, he had headed straight out of the city and into the forest he had appeared in. He had wandered aimlessly in the forest without seeing anything but birds, trees, and bugs. He was close to panic now.
If he didn't catch a bishonen by tomorrow he was going home. And once he was there, he wasn't sure if he'd be able to take it, knowing he had had a chance to leave behind that hellish life for this one.
With the possibility of going home now looming in his mind, he was determined to catch a bishonen today, or die trying.
Unfortunately, he was so focused on that vow in his head, that he completely missed the fact that he had left the small path he had been following. Or the fact that he was walking toward a cliff over a steep hill.
Till he walked off it.
"Wha-"THUD! "Oof!"
And proceeded to roll down the hill, running into every...
WHAM!! "Ack!"
...rock...
CRASH, RUSTLE RUSTLE. "YEOW!!"
...bush, complete with thorns...
THUD, BONK BONK. "Oof...OW OW!!"
...tree, dropping large, hard fruit...
ROLL ROLL DROP "AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!"
...still rolling until going off ANOTHER cliff...
THUD. "Uhhhhhn...damn that hurt..." "Uhn..."
...falling ten feet and landing on a person nice enough to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and break his fall.
It took Ryu nearly a minute to collect his wits and get the presence of mind to sit up. He turned around, still sitting on his unfortunate landing pad, and opened his mouth to thank the person below him, but also to apologize profusely.
He stopped and stared at the young boy beneath him, his mouth falling open in shock.
(Red hair...Green eyes, slightly dazed...Large, familiar but illegible Japanese character on forehead...Big gourd...)
"Gaara of the sand..."
As Gaara blinked and began to do more than twitch feebly, Ryu pulled out a bishball and tapped him on the shoulder. He vanished into the ball, and Ryu fell the rest of the way to the ground with a soft bump, looking intently at the bishball. It shook for a moment, rather feebly, then gave a soft 'beep' and lie still in his palm. For a moment Ryu sat there, his mouth hanging open as he stared at the bishball in his hand.
Then the fact that he was staying here sank in. He wasn't going home. He had caught a bishonen.
"YES!!"
Ryu once again jumped up and pumped his fist into the air, then proceeded to do his victory dance. Ryu had just finished moonwalking, followed by a spin, bishball still in hand, when he heard clapping.
"Nice. Very nice. I've been trying to catch Gaara for a while now. And yet you do it in a second. And from the looks of things, quite a spur of the moment action."
Ryu jammed his foot in the ground to stop his spin facing the newcomer. The man was in partly in shadow, and he walked out into the light, revealing black hair done in a three-foot braid, with two white bangs dangling in his face. The young man was wearing a black long sleeved shirt with a blue dragon circling the right sleeve, with a silver necklace and pendant, black jeans and black shoes. The young man was about Ryu's age, maybe a little older. And a Sasuke, dressed as he had been in the series, with a thick blue t-shirt, and white shorts, shortly followed him.
Ryu guessed the Sasuke was a san, but couldn't be sure. Ryu opened his mouth to speak, but his words died when he felt the bishball vibrate slightly. He looked down at it in surprise before grinning, and holding the ball up.
"Come on out Gaara."
A beam of light shot out of the ball and expanded to form the bishonen that Ryu had just landed on and caught. The red haired shinobi glared at everyone before settling on Ryu. Ryu crossed his arms, Gaara followed suit, and a glaring contest was under way. The young man who spoke interrupted it, speaking again.
"Geez, ease up guys."
Gaara and Ryu looked at him, both blinking in slight surprise.
"I'm Ryoki, a new trainer hereabouts'. What about you?"
Ryu grinned, and started tossing Gaara's bishball up and down with his right hand, his left now in his pocket.
"Ryu. Gaara's my first capture, and just in time too. Another day, and I was going home. Oh yeah, just remembered..."
Ryu reached into his pack and pulled out the dex. He opened it, and pointed it at Gaara.
"Beep beep...Name: Gaara. Nickname:?"
Gaara threw Ryu a death glare, and Ryu shrugged before replying.
"No nickname."
Gaara's glare subsided to only 'slightly-death' glare.
"Let me go."
Ryu looked at Gaara with slightly narrowed eyes.
"And why would I do that? And why are you so upset? All I did was capture you."
"And that means I can't go home, or-"
"You can't go home anyway Gaara."
All eyes turned to Sasuke, who was eyeing Gaara with distaste. Ryoki questioned his bishie on the matter.
"You didn't mention that bit. Why can't he go home Sasuke?"
Sasuke didn't answer. Instead he merely glared at Gaara, who glared back. After waiting for an answer for half a minute, Ryu guessed that one wasn't coming.
"Tell you what Gaara. Once I catch another bish, I'll let you go, if you still want to go. Deal?"
Gaara instantly nodded, and stopped intentionally glaring at everyone. It didn't do much, as his face was better suited for glaring than anything else. Ryu nodded back, and placed Gaara's bishball in his belt. He then swung his pack off, dropped down into a crouch, and opened the main pouch. He pulled out two boxes; one was plain metal, unmarked, while the other was white plastic, with a red cross on the front.
Ryu opened the metal box first, and pulled out a simple refrigerator capsule. He pressed the button, and then tossed it a few feet away. With a slight 'bomb', the capsule vanished into a gas cloud, which cleared to reveal a moderately sized fridge. Ryu stood and walked over to the fridge, opened it, and pulled out a coke, and a plastic bottle filled with a slightly green, but mostly transparent liquid. He then gestured to the fridge.
"Help yourselves."
While Ryoki leapt forward with eagerness, and Sasuke and Gaara came forward with a greater display of discipline, all three of them intent on raiding Ryu's fridge, Ryu walked over to a tree stump and sat down. Then, while mentally cursing himself for not wearing his jacket despite the warm temperature, Ryu pulled off his tank top. He hissed slightly, which drew the attention of the other three in the clearing. Sasuke and Gaara had merely grabbed bottled ice teas, and then moved off to areas where they made themselves comfortable. Ryoki on the other hand...
Ryoki turned away from the fridge for a second, a burrito jutting out of his mouth like a cigarette, to see what the hiss was, and then turned back to the fridge. He emerged a second later with cheese, bread, mayonnaise and mustard, and three kinds of deli meat, all somehow juggled with one hand. In the other hand, he had two bottles of Dr. Pepper, and a container of chip dip. Clamped in his mouth, alongside the burrito, which was somehow constantly disappearing while its unfortunate neighbor was not, was a bag of chips.
Ryu opened the first aid kit, and pulled out a piece of cloth. He then opened the bottle of the green liquid, the coke lying forgotten for the moment, and poured some of the liquid onto the cloth. As he did this, he spoke to Ryoki.
"You know, when I said 'help yourselves', I didn't mean eat the whole fridge."
Ryoki merely grinned, which wasn't seen behind the burrito, which was only just remaining, and the chip bag, and shrugged. He walked over to a patch of shade, provided by a tree, and sat down on the ground. He arrayed the foodstuffs about him in a semi-circle, and finally polished off the burrito, allowing him to speak.
"I figured I'd raid your fridge this afternoon, you'd raid mine tonight."
Ryu shrugged, and applied the wet cloth to the greatest collection of scratches. He hissed slightly as the scratches stung like hell for a moment, then the stinging faded, and he moved onto the next set. Soon he had placed the cloth over every scratch on his upper body, hissing at the contact every time the cloth was applied. Now Ryu set the cloth down, kicked off his shoes, then removed his pants, leaving himself clad in only his underwear. He then picked up the cloth, and after pouring some more green liquid on it, applied it to the scratches decorating his legs. He hissed every time the cloth was applied again, but was soon done, and put the cloth into the first aid kit, and re-capped the bottle of the green liquid.
Ryu then pulled on his pants and but left them un-buttoned and the belt un-buckled. He then grabbed his tank top, and pulled it on. But as he did so, Ryoki glanced at Ryu out of the corner of his eye and saw several scars that were visible when the other boy lifted his arms over his head to pull the shirt on.
After he had tucked his shirt in, buttoned his pants and buckled the belt, Ryu stood and walked over to the fridge barefoot, the bottle of green liquid in his right hand. When he reached the fridge, he opened it with his left hand, and returned the bottle, then closed the fridge. He walked back over to the stump and sat down, just as a breeze blew through the area. The breeze blew the hair of everyone about. It made Gaara look as if he had blood red flame sitting atop his head, while Sasuke had the look of black spikes, dancing every which way. Ryoki's braid was picked up by the wind, and was blown about slightly, while the white bangs danced wildly in front of his face.
Ryu's hair blew about, and he picked up the coke, opened it, and downed half of it in a couple of gulps. As he tilted his head back, light hit his blowing hair just right to reveal the flame red highlights in his hair. Ryu finished drinking half the soda, and leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. His left hand, unoccupied with the soda, dangled aimlessly, while his right hand dangled, but retained a hold on the cold beverage.
"So, Ryoki, how did you end up here?"
Ryoki finished making his sandwich, and put the items away in the fridge, then walked back toward the sandwich, all the while making his reply.
"I was at school a couple of days ago, and panicking cause' there was a rather large test the next period, which I totally forgot to study for. I decided to check my e-mail, for some reason I can't remember, and the next thing I know, I appear in mid air, inside a jail cell. Took three hours for the guards to find me, and another five for me to convince them the truth of my story, all the while they were laughing their asses off. At the time, I thought that they were laughing at how bizarre my story sounded, but later on I figured out that they were laughing at my misfortune. Of course at that time, I figured out why one of them brought a camera. Damn bastards. What about you?"
Ryu took a small drink of the coke before replying.
"I was on my way home from school, and I stopped at a computer shop to check my e-mail. I wake up in a tree, on a rather weak branch. Then I plummet to the ground, and some weird girl with a braid longer than yours shows up with Sesshomaru following her around. She leads me to the nearby city, and then leaves after showing me the Orientation building. That was nearly two weeks ago."
"You seem to fall a lot..."
"And you need a hair cut."
Ryoki was outraged.
"WHAT!? Hey, I LIKE my hair!!"
Ryu chuckled as Ryoki grabbed his braid and stroked it for a moment, then let the hair go, and grinned. He then crammed the last of his sandwich into his mouth, and stood.
"Well, we better be moving along..."
Ryu didn't move from the stump.
"You go ahead, but I'm gonna camp here. I've had enough movement for one day."
Ryoki considered him for a moment, then shrugged, and sat back down.
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Later that night, a fire blazed in a hole, surrounded by a circle of stones, and over the fire roasted a chicken. Ryoki sat cross-legged in front of the fire, slowly basting the chicken while Ryu was lying back against a pillow on his sleeping bag across the fire from Ryoki. Gaara was sitting in front of the fire cross-legged, staring into the flames, while Sasuke leaned up against a tree, just inside the sphere of light cast by the fire, his arms crossed, and his head resting against his chest.
Ryu lay back, with his hands cupped underneath his head, looking up at the stars, visible through the tree's canopy. He felt the heat from the fire, and for the first time in a long time, he felt happy. While camping was a new experience, not totally to his liking, he was still away from home, and never going back. Never going back to that hell...
"Dinner's ready."
Ryoki's statement brought Ryu back to the real world, and he sat up, accepting a thigh and drumstick from Ryoki, who had already carved off a part for himself, and was now carving a healthy portion for Gaara, then Sasuke.
Ryu didn't bother with utensils; instead he merely picked up the chicken and bit into it, ignoring the heat the meat radiated. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand to get rid of the meat juices, then nodded his satisfaction at Ryoki before consuming the rest, and tossing the bones away.
Ryoki and the bishonen showed more restraint the Ryu, waiting till the chicken cooled a little, and then eating.
Once everyone was done, they all relaxed, and a comfortable silence stretched. Ryoki leaned back against his own sleeping bag, still rolled, and studied Ryu over the fire. After a moment of quiet reflection, Ryoki stood up and rolled out his sleeping bag. He crawled into it, and was soon asleep, his back to the fire.
Ryu followed Ryoki's example. He stripped down to his underwear, and crawled into his own sleeping bag. For a moment, he just lied there, staring up at the stars. Then he remembered the last time he had done this, just stared up at the beautiful stars, far overhead...
:Flashback:
A thirteen-year-old Ryu sat on the roof of a house quickly falling into a level of great disrepair. The paint was peeling, the lawn and garden were overgrown with weeds, and shingles were missing from the roof in great quantities. Ryu himself looked almost as battered as the house, with worn and stained clothing, his knees drawn up to his chest with his arms wrapped around them, and his eyes just visible above them. The eyes were staring unseeingly out at neighborhood that the house was in, and then they focused, and Ryu's face lifted up to stare at the stars overhead. He stared and dreamed.
But as Ryu's face came into view, unhidden by his knees, his face was revealed to have a copious amount of dried blood, that had poured from his nose, smeared all over the lower half of his face.
Ryu viciously tore himself away from the memory, and with an angry shake of his head, he lay back, and fell asleep.
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The next day dawned bright and early. And Ryu gave a muffled curse as the sun hit his unprotected face, bringing him back to the world of wakefulness.
"Bloody hell...Damned sun. GO AWAY!!"
And with that, Ryu pulled the sleeping bag over his head, in a somewhat successful attempt to block out the sunlight.
Ryoki sat up and looked around, blinking. Of course the fact that he was blinking was made rather mute as he was wearing an eye mask, effectively keeping out the sun, and everything else.
"What the...why can't I see...?..."
He reached up and felt his face, finding the eye mask. He gave a slight jump of surprise, and pulled it off.
"Oh...Ah, bright!"
For a moment, he sat there, letting his eyes blearily adjust to the light. Once he could open them and see properly, Ryoki looked around the clearing. Gaara sat in front of the fire, prodding it with a stick and bringing it back to life. Sasuke was leaning up against a tree, perfectly balanced so he wouldn't fall over in his sleep.
Ryoki grinned as he picked up a small pebble, one that had caused him much grief in the night till he had woken up and moved the damn thing as well as grabbed his eye mask, and lightly threw it toward Sasuke. The throw was slightly off, and would've hit the tree trunk next to Sasuke had the bishonen not caught it.
And promptly slipped off the tree, and fell to the ground.
Ryoki cracked up laughing as Sasuke climbed back to his feet, glaring at Ryoki and muttering under his breath, trying to salvage his dignity. Ryoki loved taking people down the occasional peg, and Sasuke was no exception.
Once Ryoki's laughs subsided, he glanced at Ryu, who was still in his sleeping bag, hiding from the sun. With an evil grin, Ryoki pulled out a capsule, and pressed the button on top. Once the gas had cleared, Ryoki's own fridge stood where he had tossed the capsule. Ryoki opened the fridge, and pulled out a bucket with a lid, and pulled the lid off, revealing water, and with no small amount of ice. He then calmly walked over to Ryu, and slowly lifted the bucket into the air, grasping it at the rim away from Ryu, and the bottom. He then lifted it up a little more, and started to tilt it-
"As if life wasn't short enough."
-and stopped tilting it, but kept it slightly tilted, the water just before the point where it would poor out. Ryoki considered Ryu's statement for a moment, and then spoke.
"You're right. Life isn't short enough."
Ryoki then upended the bucket full of freezing ice water over Ryu.
A trainer three miles away looked up, as did his bishies, at the sounds of enraged screaming, and what sounded oddly like a metal bucket being used to beat someone... After a moment, the sounds stopped, and the trainer and his bishies glanced at each other, shrugged, and then went about their morning routines.
Ryu pulled on his shirt, and tucked it into his pants, the same clothes he had worn yesterday. Since he had only a few changes of clothes, he was trying to make his clean clothes last. The only piece of clothing that was different from yesterdays was his underwear, since his old pair was now soaking wet, and stowed away in his backpack. He glanced over at Ryoki while buckling his belt.
The other trainer now lay on the ground, still in his PJ's, with a decidedly dazed and battered look about his face. A dented, and deformed bucket lay on the ground next to Ryoki, one of the dents looking strangely like Ryoki's face...
Ryu walked over to Ryoki's fridge, with his fridge capsule in hand. He pressed the button and tossed the capsule next to Ryoki's fridge. Once the gas cloud cleared, Ryu opened his own fridge and started transferring items from Ryoki's fridge into his own. Once Ryu felt he had taken enough, he closed and capsulized his fridge, and put the capsule away. He then proceeded to raid Ryoki's fridge for breakfast, grabbing two air pressure cans of whip cream. As he stood, he hooked his right foot on the fridges door, and swung the door closed, then tossed a can to Gaara, who caught it, then glared bemusedly at it. He watched as Ryu popped the cap off his own can of whip cream, shook it vigorously, then placed the nozzle before his mouth, and pressed the nozzle to the side, spraying a liberal amount of cream into his mouth. After a moment, Ryu released the nozzle, and swallowed the whip cream.
Gaara, looking at the whip cream can as if he was sure it could never work, followed Ryu's example. He popped off the cap, shook the can, and then sprayed a small amount of the cream into his mouth to test the taste. For a moment he sat there, blinking. Then he tilted his head back, and sprayed a mouthful of cream into his mouth. Ryu chuckled, and looked at Sasuke. The dark haired bishonen was watching him warily.
"I'll see you later Sasuke. Tell Ryoki that the food from his fridge was payment for yesterday, while the whip cream was payment for this morning. Oh yeah. If we ever meet again, tell your trainer that next time, I'll get a bish to seal him inside an ice block."
Ryu then brushed his wet hair out of his eyes, and walked out of the clearing, Gaara following, swallowing another mouthful of whipped cream.
A few minutes after they had left the clearing, Ryoki came around. He sat up, and gingerly felt his face. After a moment, he noticed the disturbance in the dirt near his fridge and walked over to investigate. Sasuke had an evil grin on his face as his trainer reached the fridge and opened it.
(3...2...1...0)
"Wha...he stole...He Stole The Whip Cream!!! TRAITOR!!!"
:Author's comments:
Well, that sums up the second chapter. So, what'd you all think?