SOUR GRAPES

Chapter Seven

"Whatever you do Bikky, do not make any sudden movements. Understand?" Ryo muttered from the side of his mouth. Bikky whimpered his agreement and clutched tightly at the sleeve of his guardian's jacket. He looked fearfully around at the stampeding shoppers, feeling trapped and vulnerable like the many miserable souls who get caught in the perfume aisle of department stores and are inevitably sprayed to death with the latest French scent in elaborate glass bottles. Both males looked at the people coming out of expensive clothing stores. They were either sticks wearing dresses with painted on faces, or a particularly slimy yet garden variety of male miscreant- picking clothes for his latest female possession to wear.

The walls bounced with the eerie and hollow tunes of a long forgotten pop band who rose to political power when their fame was at its peak, impacting present day society by allowing only fluffy slippers of pink colouration to be sold in stores. It was like being inside a music box of a thoroughly sick giant. Everything was going around in circles. Enough to make you sick if you stood in the same place for too long, like drinking a milkshake on a merry-go-round.

Ryo steeled himself by taking a deep breath and gripping Bikky's shoulder. He had promised to help the lad find a gift for Carol. And if by doing so it was the last thing that he ever did, Ryo wanted it to be the gift of a lifetime (as well as possibly having a hundred foot, solid gold statue of him built in his memory and placed in the middle of the city).

"Are you ready?" Ryo said.

"Not in the least," said Bikky, "but at least I'll have the satisfaction of knowing that you didn't die by the hands of the Evil One." Sad to say that Ryo didn't have to enquire as to whom Bikky was referring to when he mentioned the 'Evil One'. It was one of the many variants Bikky had devised for Dee's name. Ryo felt a surge of regret when he thought about the stupidly loveable Dee. If only he hadn't promised Bikky to take him out! If only he hadn't blown Dee off so easily! He could have escaped the gleaming confines of this hellish cuckoo clock prison! He was trapped forever! Nooooo!!

"Oi, Ryo! Move out of the way!" Ryo was pulled to the side by Bikky to allow a diminutive man scuttle past, carrying a pile of packages that he could barely see over the top of.

"Oh, I'm so sorry sir-" Ryo called back into the pulsating crowd. He may have been apologizing to the electronic center map because the response would have been exactly the same.

Like two lost explorers battling their way through perilous and tiger invested jungles, Bikky (the leader) and Ryo (the pack mule) journeyed onwards into the great unknown of reflective floors and vaulted ceilings. It was midmorning when Bikky deemed it necessary to halt for a refreshment break by a convenient ice-cream booth. The pair had trekked for hours without so much spotting a sparkle of a jewelry store. The situation was looking bleak. Ryo was compelled to do the annoying and patented licking-his-hanky-then-wiping-it-over-Bikky's-face-to-clean-spilt-ice-cream bit. Now feeling as though he'd very much like to crawl into a hole and die of embarrassment, Bikky pulled down the brim of his baseball cap and shuffled onwards.

At lunch, they discovered that they weren't on the accessory/jewelry floor at all, after asking the nice girl behind the Curry Counter. The leader's feet dragged and he instead allowed his faithful pack mule to drag him steadily along. Down an escalator and up two floors in a lift they found their El Dorado. A city, err, I mean floor of gold and silver trinkets.

Bikky's eyes widened as he saw people dripping with gems exiting stores and chatting happily to one another.

"Is this what it's like to be rich?" He asked in wonderment.

"Maybe," murmured Ryo, "I don't know…it's all…so…shiny." On the verge of delirium, Ryo wandered away with Bikky in tow. They stumbled along for a while before Bikky recognized the sign of the store, which had printed the catalogue he had been looking at earlier the other night in Ryo's apartment. A bright combination of down and up lights made the contents of glass display cases glare as the sun on a clear summer day. A squat and bored looking sales woman was hovering by a display of diamond studded watches, readjusting their position for what was most likely the zillionth time that hour.

"Umm, hello?" Bikky squeaked, unsure of himself and his surroundings. The woman jumped, upsetting the valuable wares. She stuffed them back into the cupboard before quickly turning to speak to them.

"Good afternoon, gentlemen." she said primly, "How may I help you?" Ryo was pushed forward by Bikky to deal with her. He spread his hands across the glass topped counter so as to not blind himself completely by the light shining up from below.

"Ohh, ahh…yes. My small friend is looking for something…"

"Really?" The beady eyes fixated themselves upon Bikky. "And just what did you have in mind, dear?" Bikky bit his lip as he pulled the glossy catalogue, albeit crumpled, of the store from his back pocket. He hated it when adults thought they automatically had the right to call you stupid things like 'dear' and 'love', especially strangers just because you were younger then they were. It was enough to drive a body up the wall.

"Umm…I was thinking about…I don't know…maybe a bracelet or something? It's for my friend."

"I see…" The woman smiled knowingly as she fumbled around for the keys to a particular cabinet. "Well let's take a look at what we've got here. I'm sure we'll find something she likes."

"SHE?" Bikky spluttered in horror. Now she was making assumptions- never mind that they were true-SHE?! Ryo smiled warmly and patted the boy's head. He himself had a vaguely similar experience in high school…that was when he had clearly defined ideas of heterosexuality. The woman made a few sickly simpering noises as she unlocked the cabinet and pulled out the tray of bracelets and necklaces, all neatly labeled and pinned precisely to a black foam backing so they stood out even more.

"How about this-"

"No." said Bikky resolutely.

"Well then, we've got this lovely-"

"Nope."

"An exquisite-"

"Nah."

"Young man will you at least let me finish?"

Bikky looked sheepish and mumbled something that sort of sounded like 'sorry' if you strained your ears enough.

"What did you have in mind Bikky? Did you already decide the other night?" Ryo said.

"Well…yes, sort of. I kinda wanted your opinion. I've got no idea about bloody jewelry." Bikky indicated a tiny silver bracelet hiding on the far corner of the tray. Dangling from it on a short length of chain were a few brass stars, stamped from sheet metal. It was pretty in a simple way. Ryo knew Carol would love it. She never was into the kind of gaudy trash her peers were.

"It's perfect." Ryo said bracingly.

"Really?" Bikky replied. Both of them were ignoring the twittering sales woman. "I don't know…" His face burned but he dug out his wallet and handed over a portion of his hard-earned cash to the manicured claws of the woman.

They left the store and by a Divine miracle, they mercifully escaped alive from the shopping center and caught a bus over to where Carol lived. Ryo waited for Bikky outside her apartment. He looked very smug and even attempted whistling a song with no tune whatsoever.

"I take it she liked your present?" Ryo said, holding open the door for them both.

Bikky had his hand over his cheek to hide a lipstick mark. "I'm pretty sure she did." he grinned.

TO BE CONTINUED…

a/n:

Well, my laziness and exams aside, the time has come to do some serious updating! I'm sorry to all my readers! Please don't beat me! curls into a defensive ball Though seriously, I hope to accomplish a lot more writing now that the holidays have kicked in officially.

More shout outs:

Tyger

heart of flame

Kitty in the Box

Chris-Redfield26

Ryo

Shirubaa Kitsune

Thanks guys. Hope to see you all again real soon!

Phe-chan