CHAPTER 5!!
Lei and Ryou made it just in time for the bell as they half walked, half ran to school. Lei, who's heart was pounding for more reasons than exhaustion, began to worry about what Ryou might do during class while she was gone. What if he sat with the girls? What if…
Lei suddenly gasped and almost chocked on her saliva.
What if he went to the wrong toilet?!
As they slowed down at arrival to the school, Lei poked Ryou in the arm
"Ryou…promise me you'll go into the boys toilet, alright?" she asked tersely. As soon as the words came out, Lei regretted them straight away.
"What?" Ryou suddenly snapped quite uncharacteristically, "You want me to what?"
For a few moments, Ryou stared at Lei in disbelief, and Lei stared back blankly. She really didn't know how to convey her point in a way that Ryou wouldn't think she was entirely mad
"I said…um…Ryou, you're a boy, ok? And um…you should act like one too! And do the things boys do!" She said quickly. Ryou gave a riveting stare and said nothing for a while
"…Lei…I'm already wearing the wrong school uniform here, and now you want me to go in the boy's toilets? That's…so…wrong!!" He wined in protest, his brow furrowed in disbelief
"Ryou!" Lei hissed, keeping her voice down as a small colony of students walked past
"…you have to! Or else…if you don't…" Lei stopped suddenly.
Though highly comical, the thought of a swarm of terrorised girls screaming and running out of the toilets like they had seen a ghost somehow forced a wince to cross Lei's face
"…You'll regret it…a lot,"
Ryou grumbled despite his usually agreeable personality. Lei didn't blame him…if she was a guy that had been brainwashed, no doubt she wouldn't be taking the situation too well either.
Seeing Ryou did not reply, Lei decided to keep a close eye on him whenever she could, and perhaps ask a few of her other friends to help her.
Now this is where we introduce another character to this epic tale. Tall, lanky, blonde…and an unhelped chick magnet, this of course, was a young male by the name of Malik Ishtar. Lei had met him in her Science class not long ago, and they both struck up a conversation when they found out both of them were friends with Yugi and co. After not long Lei managed to pick up that Malik was, to put it bluntly, madly in love with Ryou, despite the fact that he was a guy. It wasn't too hard to ease out of him, for he seemed quite open about the otherwise controversial matter.
Nevertheless, Lei knew that out of all the people in the whole school, Malik would probably be the one to trust with the issue at hand, especially since she knew he would not poke fun at or show Ryou any prejudice because of his problem. If anything, he'd be the one who'd be the most cool about it.
Lei's mind spun as she wandered down the corridor, strained by all the different way she could have put the problem to Malik, for she knew the way that something is conveyed effected the way one saw it.
Suddenly, Lei caught a glimpse of blonde upon a lanky tan figure whip around the corridor
"Malik!" She cried as she broke into a run. Slowly a head peeped though the corridor, complete with curious lilac eyes. Malik remained silent for a few moments as he recognised Lei
"Lei?"
Lei abruptly stopped when she was a good distance from him
"Malik…" she began, but found it hard to continue from there. What could she say? What if someone was listening? Either way the explanation she had at hand sounded ridiculous…
…you see Malik, yesterday me and Ryou were walking home and got stalked by this freaky woman who pointed some weird thing at Ryou and now he seriously thinks he's a girl…
She just didn't see that working.
"Ok…this is quite…well, sudden, but…" Lei drew in a deep breath, "…to put it in the simplest way possible, Ryou thinks he's a girl and I need your help to assure his well-being," She breathed, before holding her breath as she waited for Malik's response.
Sure enough, it wasn't anything too simple.
Malik squinted at Lei, as if to scrutinise a speck of dirt on her face
"What?" He asked in disbelief, his head shaking in short bursts as Lei mentally grumbled.
"…it's the truth Malik. Me and Ryou…" Lei drew in a deep breath and mustered all her effort and courage
"…we were walking home yesterday and we decided to take a shortcut through an alleyway, but you see…we kinda got stalked by this freaky woman named…Serradise or something, who possessed this weird sceptre thing that had an eye on it that looks like the eye on Ryou's ring and your rod. Anyway, after some bickering, she pointed the sceptre at Ryou and…well, now he's in serious delusion," Lei explained, talking unnecessarily fast.
Malik stood staring at Lei, as if frozen in time. His lilac eyes, usually filled with deviousness, seemed cold and lifeless as he tried to register the fact that, for him, stood too good to be true.
"…so now Ryou thinks he's a girl?" He mimicked in disbelief. His head began to slowly shift from side to side, his mouth hanging open lazily. Lei could do nothing but nod mechanically
"…So," Malik stuttered, his blatant stupefaction evident on his tanned face
"…what am I suppose to do? You know that I…" He trailed off nervously. Lei immediately interjected with fervent nodding
"I know Malik, that's why I'm telling you. I need someone to watch over Ryou and…you know, make sure he does the right things and everything, and I figured that out of everyone, you'd take this the best," Lei paused for effect and bowed her head slightly, setting a look of cheekiness on Malik
"…I can trust you to not…err…take Ryou's state to you advantage…right?"
Malik raised an eyebrow slightly at her in disbelief
"…why would I?" He asked slyly, pushing back a sheet of blonde hair as he spoke. Now it was Lei's turn to raise an eyebrow
"…You tone doesn't make me trust you very much, but just…watch out for him alright? I'm having a feeling keeping Ryou 'normal' to the public isn't going to be easy,"
With that Lei could do nothing but turn around. There wasn't anything left for her to say, or a reason left to linger in Malik's presence
"Alright Lei…I'll do what I can," She heard Malik say behind her as she walked, apprehension tight in her stomach.
The day dragged on and Lei managed to keep her worries at bay. Fortunately for her anxiety, she wasn't in any of Ryou's classes to watch over and worry over him, but sometimes the thoughts couldn't help but slip though Lei's guard. Flicking them away, she was determined not to let them get to her.
After school however, when Lei did not have the need to concentrate anymore, the stress and apprehension seemed to catch up to her, knocking her in the stomach with a wave of nausea. Needing to relieve her stress, she decided to detour to Ryou's house in order to discuss the issues with him. Somehow, the girl did not feel he had enough wisdom for it to be safe for him.
After picking up Rinell, she dropped her sister home and made her way over to Ryou's house, feeling that it was the only way to give herself peace of mind.
After a while of walking along the now familiar route, Lei found herself knocking upon the finely polished wood of Ryou's door.
"Come on Lei! The door's open!" Ryou called from his room as Lei stepped into the house. Weaving her way through the living room, she located the entrance to Ryou's room, blocked off by a plain white door.
Pushing it open, Lei looked in to find Ryou sitting on a small stool, leaning his body towards a full-length mirror. To her horror, between his fingers he held a tube of luscious rose red lipstick, using it to craftily caress his relaxed lips. After he was done making sure every visible inch of his lips were well smothered with redness, he smacked them together and sat back, looking at himself critically.
"Hmm…you know Lei…I don't think rose is my colour. Perhaps if I try this hot pink one I have over here…" He reached over to the neatly aligned lipstick tubes, his hand hovering over them until he finally found what he was looking for.
Lei stood, petrified. What had he done!? It was bad enough he thought he was a girl, but acting like one too?! And to make things worse, his act had to follow the extreme end of the scale. At that point, Lei didn't know whether to laugh or to cry. Sure, the sight of Ryou wearing a lip full of lipstick was funny, but the fact that it screamed out the extent of Lei's problem was enough to bring her to her knees in dread.
"Ryou!!" She suddenly yelled, her hand snatching the intense pink cosmetic out of his reach. Ryou looked at her, surprised
"Wha-Lei? What's wrong?"
The girl's mouth rapidly opened and closed several times. Lei knew what she wanted to say, and she wanted so much to say it, but somehow her collage of words seemed to have gotten tangled and broken whenever they went from brain to throat.
"Ryou! This…this is getting bad!" She huffed, fixing him with a serious stare. Walking up to him, she made sure their eyes locked firmly
"Boys," She breathed, "Do NOT wear make up! Alright?!"
Lei was beginning to feel her frustration break. Her desperation was raging so high it seemed to have overflowed through her mind, causing her to reprimand even someone so innocent as a little Ryou with lipstick smudged over his mouth. Lei raised her hand, clutching onto the tube
"See this?" She yelled firmly, waving the hot pink lipstick in Ryou's confused face
"This is your enemy! Boys do not like lipstick! Boys do not like makeup!! They like cars and planes and weapons and skateboarding and…and…and anything OTHER than makeup!!" Her arms flailed about now, waving swiftly and firmly in tune to her aggravation.
Ryou's gaze drifted softly at Lei and, as she caught the glance, was certain for a moment he was going to cry
"But…" He shyly retorted, "…I'm…not a boy,"
Lei struggled to contain herself. Taking a deep breath, she grabbed one of Ryou's shoulders
"Ryou. I've told you before…you are male by nature. Now…I don't care what you think…no matter what you say, you will still be a boy."
Her eyes darted towards his vast collection of cosmetics
"Where did you get all this makeup from anyway?!" She suddenly inquired. Ryou shrugged
"I just bought it," He answered. Lei's eyes widened so dramatically it appeared that she was trying to pop them out of her sockets
"You WHAT?!" She gasped, staring at Ryou in utter disbelief. Ryou gracefully swung in his stool to face her nonchalantly
"Yeah…this afternoon after school…I had a sudden urge to go shopping so I went and bought it all. It was so cheap! Hey! You know they have this really cool shop next to the supermarket that sells mascara for-"
"RY-OU!" The scream ripped through the room, every second of its worth shaking with rage. Lei scrunched a fist around her hair
"I-you don't…argh!" The frustration was so great it clogged up within her mind, blocking her ability to think straight. It was bad. Someone from school could've easily seen him!
"Don't worry Lei! No-one noticed!" Ryou reassured, "…I got a few looks…but I think it was because they were jealous at how much money I had to spend!"
His tone was so light and happy…fluffed with such pure innocence. Lei sighed and allowed her eyes to roll up to the ceiling. It wasn't his fault he was like this…it wasn't his fault that Lei had to yell at him so.
Looking down to the crinkled carpet, Lei was silent for a few moments
"Ryou…" Her words stopped at that. Her bank of things to say was now empty. She had said all there was to say yet it just seemed to flitter through one ear and out the other, away into the open.
"Just…just…oh I don't know!! Do me a favour, stay away from make up ok?" She pleaded. Ryou shrugged in a rather clueless fashion
"Um…alright I guess," He muttered blandly, looking a little disappointed as his newfound hobby became forbidden.
Lei's exhaustion from her efforts caused her head to droop down. Suddenly, her eyes caught onto her watch and noticed the hour. With a gasp, Lei remembered that she had to arrive home quickly as she had promised to go shopping with her mother. Immediately straightening up, she turned to Ryou
"I'm sorry Ryou! But I promised my mum I'd go shopping with her,"
Ryou's eyes lit up, elated
"REALLY?! Can I come? Oh please Lei!!"
"No," The answer was instant and sure. Spinning around, Lei began to make her way out of the house, briefly apologising to Ryou for her rash behaviours.
The visit surely hadn't done anything to help her anxiety after all, she realised wearily as she wandered down the streets again under the dimming sunlight.
A:N/ Review me pleeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaasssssssssssseeeeeeeeeeeee!!! And...you know what? Because I'm feeling stubborn, i'm not going to write CH6 until i get at least 3 review. Come on people...3!!! It isn't bloody much to ask for! It isn't going to kill you, to cick the little square at the bottom left of this page that says 'submit review' and type something!!!
Lervarscerra: hit Flare...that will do. Now shuddup.
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