Tempus Fugit …

XO'MagickMoon'OX

A/N: Special thanks to poxmaker, who inspired this entire chapter. Thanks so much! Thanks for giving me your ideas and helping me out. Hope you like it!

Chapter 4: Lost in Translation

The boardwalk creaks beneath us as we make our way across it to the beach. Kazahaya is carrying a bag with our towels and I'm stuck carrying the chairs. The sun glares down at us, tainting the air with a smothering humidity. But the breeze coming off the ocean on the other side of the boardwalk balances this out a little.

I look down at Kazahaya. "Why did you bring a bag today? We didn't need it yesterday," I say.

He grins. "I wanted to bring a few extra things today that would be better carried in a bag."

I cock an eyebrow. "Like what?"

"Well, I have the towels, of course, and sunscreen and two water bottles … and this." He rummages around in the bag while we continue to walk and pulls out a book. Not just any book, but the Japanese to English dictionary.

"So, what? You expect to try to have a conversation with someone using that thing?"

He nods, still grinning proudly, as if he's some sort of genius … which he most definitely is not.

I sigh. "You know how difficult that's gonna be, right? Nearly impossible, even. First of all, you'll have to flip through the pages to find what you want to say, and then you're going to have to figure out how to pronounce what you want to say, and then on top of that, you'll have no idea what the person is saying in return. This person is going to have to have an incredible amount of patience. Either that, or they'll have to be desperate to talk to you."

"But …" I can hear the hope dying on his tongue, and I feel an immediate stab of guilt. "But I bookmarked some pages I thought would be useful, and I read the beginning that explains about pronunciation, and the dictionary goes both ways, you know. Japanese to English, and in the back it's English to Japanese, so I can try to find what it was the person said in the English to Japanese section and figure it out what they said that way."

It doesn't sound that logical to me, and it will still be difficult, even with his plan. But I decide not to point that out to him. Let the boy have his fun, and if worse comes to worse I'll be there to help him out. "All right," I say. Then, as an afterthought, "Where'd you get that thing, anyway?"

"Oh, Kakei gave it to me. He said we might be needing it."

We get to the beach and strip down to our swimsuits, which, for me, just means taking off my sandals. As we're about to get in the water, I hear a familiar bout of giggles from behind us. I groan as Kazahaya turns and sees those girls from yesterday. He waves, and they wave back, and then Kazahaya hurries back to shore. Idiot … what's he doing now?

Damn. He's getting the dictionary, isn't he?

I turn. Yup. It's the dictionary.

I hate that thing.

I stand by our stuff as he starts flipping through the pages and walks towards the girls. I refuse to get involved unless I have to. So I just pull out my chair and sit down, looking over my shoulder to watch him.

He says something to them that sounds like a greeting. Their eyes widen, and they say the same back. Hmph. Maybe his plan will work after all.

Eh, nah … this plan is doomed to fail.

But who can blame him for trying?

The conversation continues. I can't hear what's going on exactly, but I think they might actually understand some of what he's saying from they're expressions. They're blushing like mad; obviously they find his determination as cute as I do.

Then, a group of guys … well-toned, handsome guys (probably jocks) … come up behind the girls carrying some drinks and snacks. They look …

Pissed.

Uh-oh. The blonde girl … the one with the blue bikini … turns to one of the guys who has a head of ink-black hair and icy-blue eyes. He puts the food and drinks he was carrying down on their towel and wraps his arms around the girl's waste, glaring at Kazahaya all the while.

No, this is definitely not good.

The blonde turns to make some sort of introduction, I suppose, but the guy's not having it. His arms leave the girl's waste to shove Kazahaya. The dictionary falls from his grip and lands in the sand. I stand up and begin to make my way over to the group. Time again to save the idiot.

None of the guys really notice me approaching, seeing how they're too busy spitting what sound like threats at Kazahaya. I stoop down and pick up the dictionary, flipping hurriedly through the pages. From what I can gather, these guys think Kazahaya was hitting on their girlfriends.

I flip to a page Kazahaya had bookmarked by folding the corner. It says a few things like "He is my friend", "She is my friend", "He is my boyfriend", "She is my girlfriend" … I can work with that.

By now the guys have Kazahaya by the wrists, still yelling angrily at him. The girls look a bit worried, but I think they're finding more amusement out of this than anything. I skim through the book again and find what I'm looking for.

Now I'm standing right beside Kazahaya, and I don't think I've ever seen him more relieved. But when I put my arm around his waist, his eyes narrow suspiciously.

Looking back to the dictionary, the English phrase tumbles awkwardly out of my mouth, "Excuse me." I let go of Kazahaya to flip through the book again. The boys are staring incredulously at me. I continue, "I think … there is … a mis … un … derstand … ing … misunderstanding."

The black-haired guy says something … one word that Kazahaya understands. He translates for me. "He said, 'What?'"

Again I ruffle through the book, and say, "This … boy is no th … reat … no threat … to your girlfrie … nds … girlfriends … because he is … my boyfriend."

The guy's eyes widen. A smirk forms on his face. The girls look horrified, and the other guys are doing all they can to keep from bursting out in a roar of laughter. The black-haired boy waves his hand dismissively and says something sharply that sounds like an insult. I glare at him, though he seems to understand that I have no idea what he just said.

And I guess it's no fun insulting people if they can't understand you, right?

So he snatches the dictionary from me, skims through the back and finds the word he's looking for. He points it out, still smirking. I read it. "Faggot/Fag," I pronounce in English. My face turns red as I read the Japanese translation.

Those jackasses are going to pay …

I drop the dictionary and throw my fist at the guy's face, all the while wondering why people have to be such bigots. I mean, is it that wrong to be gay? Why do people always need to insult others just because they feel a certain way about someone? Love is love, right? Nothing can change that.

My fist connects with his jaw. He gasps and stumbles backward. The others look mortified, and the girls start screaming.

The guy glares at me, and hisses something that ends with "… you fag!"

I actually understood that part, and the rest of it sounded like a challenge. So I bound forward and am about to throw my other fist into his stomach when someone stops me. I feel a delicate, yet unyielding, grasp around my wrist and an arm around my waist, holding me back. I turn and see Kazahaya, looking up at me with pleading eyes.

"Rikuo! Stop!"

My tense body relaxes. … How can refuse? I turn to glare one last time at the other guy, who it seems is being held back by his girlfriend. He holds her protectively against her as he glares back, a shadow of a smirk on his lips.

I think I've had enough of the beach today.

I grab the discarded dictionary from the sand, now ruined and torn. Kazahaya looks dazed by it all as we make our way back to our things. Obviously he didn't understand much of what just happened, only that the girls' boyfriends were angry at him, that I came to his rescue and excused his behavior, and that the guy said something that sent me off the deep-end.

I pull out the water and drink some. My throat is parched, my mouth dry. Anger will do that to you. The water trickles down the back of my throat, and it compensates for the refreshing dip in the ocean we're going to miss. Right now I just want to leave.

Then I toss everything into the bag and fold up my chair before pulling on my shirt and sandals. Kazahaya does the same, and is uncharacteristically quiet all the while. I would expect him to start chastising me for saving him again … something along the lines of "I had everything under control! Why couldn't you have just stayed out of it for once?" Then he'd spend the next twenty minutes pouting and glaring at me before he'd finally cool off and regain his common sense, at which point he'd realize that he did need me to save him, and then he'd make some crude apology and thank me.

But nope. He's just … quiet, almost thoughtful and contemplative.

We leave the beach, kicking up fine grains of white sand as we do so, and step onto the boardwalk. This time I'm carrying the bag and he's stuck with the chairs.

He looks up at me nervously.

"What?" I snap, still irritated by the whole thing with the girls.

"Rikuo … what did that guy say to you that made you so … furious?" he asks calmly, though I can tell he really wants to know.

But I can't tell him. If I do, he's going to want to know why the guy was calling me … calling us … gay. Then I'm going to have to tell Kazahaya that I told them that he was my boyfriend. He's going to ask why I told them that, going to ask why I couldn't have come up with a better cover story, and I'm going to say that it was the first thing that popped into my head. Then he's going to wonder why that was the first thing that popped into my head, and it'll just keep snowballing from there … I can't tell him.

If I tell him what really happened back there, he's going to explode. No matter how cool and calm he seems to be acting now, I know he'll definitely explode. It's bad enough that Saiga and Kakei always seem to try to be pushing us together, and it's bad enough that I'm always teasing him. If he knows that, all kidding aside, I really told someone we were gay, he's definitely going to explode.

And right now, I'm not in the mood for that.

So, I simply say, "It was nothing … no big deal."

"Rikuo!" Kazahaya whines, some of his Kazahaya-ness returning. "It was obviously a big deal because you hit him! You turned all red, got really angry – angrier than I've ever seen you before – and you hit him! What did he say?"

"Nothing," I persist.

"Rikuo –"

"Drop it." The severity of my tone shuts him up. "It was nothing. Now just drop it."

Kazahaya huffs. "Fine."

He pouts for another five minutes. Once he's calm again, he says, "Are we going to start Kakei's job now?"

I sigh and nod. It's finally time to start that goddamn job, as much as I'm dreading it. I just know that something bad is going to happen.