Title: Aoi Kodoku; Blue Solitude
Author: Nekocin
Type: AU series
Genres: Romance, General, Drama?
Warnings: Out of Character, some Original characters (that don't have much purpose), maybe melodramatic, (please don't hurt yourself by reading this, if you dislike or hate Mao-Mariah; I don't bash characters, and please don't read if you dislike-or-hate the pairings mentioned here under)
Pairings: (main) Kai+Rei(Ray) and mentions of Boris(Bryan)+Yuri(Tala) or Kai+Tala (because Yuri is such a sexy guy!)
Additional notes: shounen ai, yaoi, inspired by my cousin's love life XP, I'll be using their Japanese names (since I'm more comfortable with their real names; though, I have no trouble reading their dubbed names in other people's fanfiction).
Disclaimer: (Bakuten Shoot) Beyblade, Beyblade 2002, Beyblade G Revolution don't belong to me. Neither does the song "Aoi kodoku".

(AU) During a party, Rei could not find a ride home and had no choice but to ask for help, which lead him, more or less, to the mysterious Hiwatari.

(!) New note: Finally the whole chapter is here! There were some glaring errors, typos in the teaser; edited them by the way. Please enjoy! m-.-m

1. Beginning A: Rei

VRRRRRROOOOOOOOOMMMMMMM!

His ears cringed when some hotshot tore across the streets, passing the bus in which he was sitting, with screeching tires and unnecessary loud honking. Narrowing his eyes in annoyance he caught a glimpse of the driver—a kid, who -most likely- did not have a driving licence in his possession, and scowled. "Hooligans,"

He rubbed his sensitive ears before tightly hugging the grocery bags to his chest.

Even though he'd already settled in he still couldn't get used to the brash city life—it continued to surprise him. Like the many high buildings that made him wonder if they could really touch the sky. Or the city's large population that could form twenty-five villages or more, according to his calculations. Or even the 'troublemakers' that made him wonder why no one was punishing them for their deeds.

Though, he shouldn't be complaining—he is living in a big city. Period. He's supposed to blend in and mingle within the crowds. He took a deep breath and cleared his mind, before staring outside his side of the window. A small smile tugged his lips.

-What will be on tonight's menu?-

Amused for some reason, he pressed the button next to his window, indicating that on the next stop he would get off.

He turned the door handle of apartment number 3432 under the name Kinomiya, entered carefully and closed the door behind him while habitually calling out "I'm home!"

No one answered though. His flat mate was probably still at work.

After toeing off his soft cotton shoes in the genkan, he headed into the kitchen and put his groceries on the kitchen table. He suddenly noticed something big pinned on the refrigerator's door.

It was a big card written in scrawny-looking scribbles, saying:

"Rei,

I'll be coming home late. I have some business to attend at my friend's. So make sure you leave enough for me tonight. I might get home earlier, though.

Takao

PS: I know that you keep forgetting to look for messages on the fridge, so I had decided to write my message on this big carton. Neat, huh? (smiley face)"

Rei grinned, nodded as if his flat mate could see his agreement and proceeded to unload the grocery bag on the table.

It had been a week ago since he and Kinomiya Takao met through a small add-article. He was searching for a cheap apartment near the Institute he was going to attend, while Takao was looking for a flat mate to split up the monthly rent just because that way costs wouldn't bleed his wallet dry. Thinking back on their first encounter, Rei suppressed an annoyed scowl, while stocking Takao's refrigerator and stock cabinet.

He fidgeted when Kinomiya's brown eyes scrutinized him.

"Can you cook?" Kinomiya inquired suddenly, leaning forward out of curiosity.

Rei blinked, raising his eyebrows at the topic, but did not complain. "—yes. Yes, I can. Why do you ask?"

Kinomiya grinned sheepishly and scratched the back of his neck meekly. "Well, you see—I'm not much of a cook. I'm afraid I might send you to hospital for food poisoning-,"

Rei stared. Food poisoning? And he paled.

"-so, the kitchen is all yours! Oh, by the way, can you clean too?" the other added quickly as an after thought.

"—yes. Doesn't everyone know a thing or two about cleaning?"

Kinomiya shook his head and grinned. "Not everyone—not me, not really,"

He sighed. "Fine. I'll do both if you insist—,"

Kinomiya immediately gave him some friendly slaps on his back that made him wince. "Great! You're accepted!"

What will we have? Curry?

He grabbed the nearest apron—unfortunately, a frilly-looking white apron with red heart-shaped pockets, which Takao had teasingly bought for him. He himself didn't really get the joke until Takao had burst out laughing when he had gingerly put it on to see if the apron fit.

Well, what did Kinomiya expect from him? A villager, who grew up under the watchful eyes of traditional leaders; a villager who grew up within a secluded area situated between high mountains, among animals and nature; a villager who didn't know the differences between modern robes of both female and male. What did he expect?

Of course, Takao didn't really mean to pull something crude like that just to insult his origins. The jab had been unintentional; it was something Takao was quite used to doing when he's with his friends. He wouldn't hurt anyone intentionally.

Shaking his head absently, he gathered the basic ingredients for supper, which he was about to prepare.

Oh well, he would get used to the city life after a few more days, he noted, coming back to his previous thought when he had been in the bus. Which reminds him—he should write a letter home. His friends were probably worrying sick about him. After all, he -did- leave without saying good bye—well, sort of. Good-bye letters are technically not equipped with the ability to speak.

Smirking to himself, Rei added more spice to the Indian curry he was trying to mix.

The basics were rather hard to follow at first. Most of the ingredients sounded alien to him—probably because he had never tried out over-spiced food before.

Where could one find nigellia seed; comijne seed; fenugreek seed; coriander seed? How could one recognize them?

Fortunately, he had found an old cookbook, containing recipes of foreign dishes, somewhere hidden and forgotten in his traveling bag that explained how to find the seeds. He'd (sort of) bought the book at the time when he was just a little curious twerp who liked doing grocery shopping with the women in his village.

No, wait, correction.

One of the women had bought it for him as a present, saying that since there weren't a lot of women around to cook for the whole village Rei might as well go help them (even when he was still a little brat).

Ah, those had been the happy times—being little, carefree, young and untainted of whatever the harsh reality had in store for him. He felt nostalgia washing over him.

A loud bang of the door being closed none-too-gently and "I'm back, Rei!" snapped him out of his depressed thoughts and he jerked his head back in surprise. His flat mate is back. "Come over quick! I've got something to tell you! Where are you?"

Rei rolled his eyes as he heard sounds of someone stumbling over the genkan, and struggling to kick off his sneakers rather unsuccessfully.

"Where else would I be?" he responded dryly and looked over his shoulder just in time to see his flat mate trudging into the small kitchen with his nose raised in the air and eyes closed, looking rather blissful for some reason.

"What's that smell? That oh-so-tingling smell?"

Turning back to the food he was cooking, he placed his palms on either side of his hips, puffed his chest proudly and introduced his new menu. "Indian cuisine of course—pan with curry filling and potatoes,"

"Pan? You mean that's bread you're making?" Takao leaned over to take a closer look at the whatever-its-name Rei was preparing. "It looks—weird,"

And indeed it was.

The supposed-to-be bread was actually a large, round and flat pancake-look-a-like. He had never seen bread like this one before.

"—I know. I just want a change in our menu," Rei grinned, turned down the fire a bit and fixed his undivided attention on his flat mate. "Besides, you're my first tes-I mean-guest to eat this. So feel privileged,"

"Oh, I do. You're simply the best cook I've come across so far. Are you by any chance the Kitchen God in your previous life?" Takao quipped with childish delight.

His face instantly heat up in embarrassment. "T-that's not true! Back in my village, Mao's cooking is ten times better than mine!"

"You're so modest! Which reminds me, do you have something planned for this week's Saturday night?"

He blinked at Takao's hopeful look and shook his head hesitantly. "—no. Why do you ask? Are you going somewhere again?"

Rei sighed. "Fine, I'll stay home. It's not like it's of any importance to look around here. I'll just explore the city on Sunday,"

"Woah, woah! Re-track. Re-track, will you. What do you mean by you're going you stay home? I haven't even told you the something I was called over at my friend's for," Takao pointed out nonchalantly and nodded, a thoughtful look crossed his face.

Taken aback, Rei smiled sheepishly. "Sorry,"

"It's all right. I assume you're free on Saturday. Great! Now we can hang out together and have some more -quality time-,"

"Quality time? But we see each other every day,"

"That's not -quality time- to me. I would like to be truthful to you since we are living together,"

"I don't understand. You've been lying to me all this time?" He eyed his housemate dangerously.

"Ack! No! I guess I should rephrase that. I want to overthrow the barriers that keep us so far apart. I can tell you aren't quite comfortable around here yet, probably because I'm still a stranger to you. To banish this—this—this tension let's go have an all guy's out on Saturday night. I'll introduce you to my friends," Takao had never sounded this mature and intelligent before.

Takao's new attitude, unlike his usual teasing and childish demeanor, was quite overwhelming. Which meant he had to retrace his steps when resuming the character analysis he was doing on his flat mate, Rei thought absently. Analyzing people was just one of the many weird quirks being Kon Rei; very few known were perhaps his affinity with white tigers, his strange possessiveness of his beautiful long hair, his misunderstood naivety, his masochistic pride... and so on.

He wondered absently if he should refuse. After all, who knew what kind of people Takao hung out with during the weekends—maybe they're from the darker sides of society, random people who are trying to fool him.

Takao seemed to have read his mind and exclaimed, a horrified expression set in place, "You can't back away! My friends are expecting you! They are going to be pissed if you don't show up,"

"So I don't have any say in this, do I?" Rei pointed, his eyes twitching in annoyance. "Fine. I'll come along,"

"Thanks. My friends are such spoiled brats, aren't they? Anyways, let's eat. I'm hungry!" He leaned over to the wok and took a long whiff of the cooling curry filling, completely missing Rei's unusual mischievous smirk.

Ten minutes later Takao tumbled over his chair, struggled to get on his feet, while screaming "Hot! Hot! Hot! Hot!" and (almost) threw himself under the kitchen sink's water tap.

A secretive smile tugged on the corners of his lips. Indian cuisine is known for its unique spiciness. He brought his teacup to his burning lips, hiding the smirk, and feigned indifference towards his flat mate's colorful cursing.

Spicy food might teach Takao a lesson or two about eating quickly as if they were having some kind of eating contest. He wouldn't be surprised if Takao gets stomachaches every day.

Thus, life with Kinomiya was just as good as entertaining. He's the perfect -test subject- to Rei's experiments after all—not that the victim noticed himself being examined like a lab rat, that is.

Within two days both the refrigerator and the stock cabinet were cleaned out, all because of Takao's ridiculously huge appetite.

Rei entered the nearest convenience store (that could only be found within 10,000 meter radius if he took the local bus) and grabbed one of the store's plastic baskets, before taking a random direction to the back of the store.

It's tiring to go shopping for groceries (almost) every day. Which reminded him to go find a part-time job before the new school year at the Institute begins and before Takao's wallet was thoroughly bled out (Rei's using Takao's money to buy groceries after all).

Perhaps working in a convenience store wouldn't be so bad, he noted while pointedly looking at the direction where one of the store's staff members was struggling to stock the packs of toilet paper on the highest aisle. The poor guy was too short.

Rei turned his attention back to his task. He threw several cups of noodles (with different kinds of mixes and seasoning) in his basket and turned to a different food section—only to have the wind knocked out of his lungs when someone small bumped into his mid-section and forced him down none-too-gently on the tiled floor.

"Oomph!"

"—ow—my back," Rei gritted out at last, feeling disoriented. Somebody up there had knocked quite some sense into his mind. His head was currently suffering the after effects of having someone knocked into his stomach—black spots, dancing stars, spinning and whirling.

Spinning.

Whirling.

Ow.

The strange weight on his lap was immediately lifted, or jumped off on its own.

"Oh my god! Are you okay? I'm so sorry. I was so busy running around that I didn't see you coming. I'm truly sorry. Here, let me help you with these,"

Dazedly, he sat up and watched a frantic blonde gather the cup noodles into his basket.

-Max-, said the golden pin on the white, red-striped uniform of the blonde.

"I'm okay. I'm okay. It's only a dull sting in my back-," Which was a lie. The sting hurt like hell. He managed to smile though.

It did not look like Max had heard a thing for the latter was suddenly busy studying Rei's face up close. How did he get so close?

Rei fought back an embarrassed blush when he watched Max's eyes widen in shock. Did he really look that hideous?

"Oh my god! You must be the one living with Takao!" Max exclaimed at last and calmly pulled him back on his feet.

"—if you mean Kinomiya, yes I am. What is it to you?"

Max instantly forgot he had knocked over a customer and started enthusiastically shaking Rei's hands with his face beaming up at the other's.

"I'm -so- glad I get to meet you this soon! Takao has told me all about you--well, your cooking most of the time, actually. But that's beside the point. You are definitely not what I had in mind when Takao attempted to describe you,"

"—ah, Kinomiya talks about me behind my back?"

"Yeah. He rattles on and on about you that everyone starts to suspect that he probably has a crush on you or something," Max made a strange face for a second, and then went back to beaming up at the taller of the two.

"So—can I help you with anything since you can barely stand up straight?" Which was not true. "Oh wait, let me carry that basket for you!"

"No need. I can handle it," He protested and pulled the basket out of Max's reach. The latter pouted. "Thank you for the offer, though. I'll be on by way now, erm—"

"Max. Mizuhara Max. Sorry, forgot to introduce myself." He sheepishly scratched the back of his neck. "We'll be seeing you tomorrow night, I hope. It will be fun!"

So he's one of Takao's friends. Max didn't strike him as someone spoiled and bratty—

"I'll see you later some time. Got to help my friend with those packs of toilet paper," Max waved and abruptly ran off.

He felt 'something wicked was coming his way' all right, and suspected it had something to do with Saturday with Takao and his friends.

He narrowed his eyes distrustfully at Max's retreating back before resuming his grocery shopping. The dreadful feeling did not disappear when he returned to apartment nr. 3432.

His suspicions grew when Takao brought two of his friends (Kyouju and Daichi) over that night to talk about something supposedly important. He didn't really understand the snippets of their conversations that went over his head as he served ice tea and crackers the guests. Something about best food, interesting contest, grand party, double-edged bet, sadistic host called Ivanov—

Nothing of their conversation seemed related, much less relevant in Rei's mind. Perhaps Takao and his two friends were practising 'ways of how the female brain works'.

He had read somewhere about women being able to talk about several subjects at the same time without getting confused—which was quite impressive and—well, impressive. He was immediately reminded of the many times Mao, his adoptive sister back in the sister, had attempted to include him in her conversations with the women of the village as they prepared the delicacies for upcoming traditional feasts. Which only led him to confusion and many, many headaches.

"Have you heard about Ming Ya's newborn?" One of the High Counsel's daughters, a woman in her mid-thirties, spoke up suddenly as she effortlessly cut the pile of already-peeled onions into little pieces. She blew the strands of hair, which had escaped her tight bun, from her face and paused to pushed them behind her ears with the back of her hand.

"Oh yes, quite a charming lad," the woman sitting next to her, Mao's grandmother, commented while cutting carrots into small slices, squinting now and then. For someone who was trice the age of any woman in the circle, she really had keen eyes—to be able to cut carrots that evenly at such a delicate age was unheard of, unless one were to meet Mao's grandmother face-to-face.

"The Elder agreed to call him Long," Mao added eagerly, turning her attention from the pot of mashed potatoes she was stirring to Rei, who was sitting next to her. "Isn't that right?"

"—yes. Shui Long or something," Rei said quietly as he carefully peeled the onions, eyes watering every two to four seconds before blinking his tears away. Why exactly was he sitting there, surrounded by all the women of the village, again?

"Shui Long—Water Dragon. That's quite a powerful name! The Water God will bestow us with lots of water this whole year, I hope. Tsk," Mao's grandmother's neighbour commented approvingly, habitually clicking her tongue as if something was stuck between her teeth while crushing the already-peeled potatoes into mash with the help of her large wooden spoon. She scooped the crushed potatoes in the spoon and leaned over to her left to pass the goo to Mao's pot.

"I heard he was named after Ya Ming's great-great grandfather, the 4th Head during the second Dynasty. Right, Rei?" Mao accepted the goo, threw in a cup of water into the pot, before resuming her stirring. She then turned her eager eyes to Rei.

"Uhm-," Before he could answer, Mao's only girl friend MingMing interrupted him with an enthusiastic, "Oh! Now I remember! My great grandmother had always talked about Aunt Ya Ming's great-great grandfather when she had been still alive!"

Then all the women started to babble at the same time, leaving Rei no room to answer Mao's question. And it didn't look like Mao minded. She was too busy discussing something-or-another with one of the women, whom Rei had last checked one of the rice-planting females.

"Tsk. Had she been his pupil?"

"I don't suppose that's even true,"

Damn. He'd cut himself—again. Quickly grabbing the injured finger, he pressed as many drips of blood out of the wound, letting them fall on the ground just to prevent any blood infections, and slipped his injured finger into his mouth.

The women continued to chatter at the same time, forgetting his presence completely.

"So they were a couple? How shameful!"

"She wasn't even married at that time, I think. It was quite a surprise when she confessed she liked your great-great uncle—a man twice her age, wasn't it LanLan?"

"No, that's not true. You must have heard wrong. She was his pupil,"

"Excuse me? Women back in those golden days of mine didn't get privileges of being men's pupils like nowadays. So what made you, young ladies, think that the generation before mine had any freedom for being one?"

"I suppose that's true, grandma. Then how does MingMing's great grandmother relate with Aunt Ya Ming's great-great grandfather?"

"They weren't even related in a sense. Not really. I figured she must have been his apprentice of sorts at some point,"

"Tsk. So she had been his concubine?"

"That cannot be right. Being a female apprentice of a man usually mean she was his servant girl of sorts,"

"No she wasn't! Aunt Ya Ming's great-great grandfather had left some important notes concerning the ancient scripts of First Neko-jin to ever walked in the mountains in her hands!"

"Tsk. I thought it had been a lie when your mother told me about the hidden scripts of Neko-jin in her house, MingMing. But now that you mentioned it—how does the young Shui Long look like?"

"Healthy and loud as usual, grandma,"

"That's barbarous! He should be quiet and meek! Like a lamb,"

"Tsk. You forget he has only one-sixth of Neko-jin blood running in his veins,"

"Don't talk like that! You're already one-fifth!"

"There's nothing to worry about. Once he reaches his fifteenth year, his roots will dominate those barbaric characteristics. Neko-jin blood is stronger than you lot think. Even if there's only a one-millionth running within your body,"

"Tsk. I can't believe Ya Ming chose to marry a man outside our tribe. Tsk,"

"But you can't help but admire how good they look together, right Lan?"

"—I suppose you can say that. The outsider doesn't look bad himself—,"

"Tsk. Hmhmhm. I can hardly blame the poor girl. All the men here are either -trice- her age, already bonded or too young to even spend a proper wedding night with!"

"I know. But still! If my grandson had been born a few autumns earlier, I would have happily asked for Ya Ming's hand. She's quite a loveable help in the kitchen,"

"Grandma! Don't talk like that! What if Rai heard you?"

"He wouldn't do anything to me. I -am- after all your grandmother. Your grandfather would have agreed to the marriage anyways,"

"Tsk. You youngsters nowadays want -love-, want what-is-it-they-call-it-again ro-ro-romanzu-zu? Anyways, tsk. You youngsters are seeking love, ro-ro-romanzu-zu and eternal beauty. Tsk. You lot are so cushioned within your mother's embraces nowadays, never knowing that you are spilling so much energy and hoping the unreachable dreams,"

"Why won't you lads grow any faster?"

Rei blinked when all eyes were suddenly on him. "Yes?" He cleared his throat nervously, hiding his finger behind his back.

"I'm sure Rei would've made quite a wonderful husband!"

"Oh yes, he will. He cooks. He sews. He cuts firewood. He is a fierce fighter and so on,"

"If I weren't so bonded with my husband, I would have immediately put my claim on you!"

"I'm afraid you have to stand in line before you can claim Rei,"

"Don't be so haughty about it, Mao. After all Rei is really the perfect husband, won't you say so? Tsk,"

--he left the cooking area with a pounding headache, feeling confused and embarrassed. What exactly were the women talking about again? He had lost track as soon as they began with the relation between someone's great-great grandfather and someone's great grandmother, uncovering some sort of secret of their Neko-jin roots.

So confusing.

He was having a headache as he was reminded of the past.

Bringing a hand up to rub his temples, Rei fought the sudden dizziness and plopped down next to Takao on the large cough for three people with a long sigh, closing his eyes.

"Aw, geez, Rei. Don't get sick on me. You should've told me you were feeling unwell. I could've gotten the snacks myself," Takao remarked, suddenly touching Rei's forehead to determine his body heat.

Rei shook his head, gently pushing the hand aside. "I'm fine. Just dizziness. Probably because of the weather,"

Some of his hair came loose from his ponytail.

"I thought it would take a week for you to adjust living under this weather," He could feel his flat mate pouting.

"You seem to have -conveniently- forgotten I had lived my whole life in the village where it hardly gets this cold," He pointed out dryly and pushed back some strands of hair that were tickling his face with a long sigh.

"I did not forget!" Takao retorted defensively, before adding, "And don't sigh like that. You will age much faster when sighing after every few seconds"

"Doesn't matter," He deliberately sighed again just to annoy his flat mate before nonchalantly throwing his right arm over his closed eyes. ("ARGH!" came Takao's frustrated scream.)

"Besides, I still have nine lives left," He added offhandedly and smirked. What would Takao's reaction be if he explained what exactly a Neko-jin was supposed to be?

He had expected curiosity, confusion or even an outright disbelief.

However, he didn't expect an enthusiastic "Cool! You are ours in this life then!" from Takao.

Rei growled when those words finally sank in.

"Takao, he is not an object to lay claim over. We should ask him properly whether he wants to join us or not," One of Takao's friends (Kyouju, was it?), who had been silent for the most part, admonished.

He frowned, not liking whatever he was hearing. What exactly were they getting to?

"It's no big deal. I've already decided he could join," Takao grinned.

Rei lifted his arm from his eyes and looked up curiously at his flat mate.

"Don't be such a hypocrite, Takao! By doing that you're forcing him into something he might not want to do," Takao's other friend (Daichi?) snarled.

"Says the one who lies his way around,"

Rei watched on, as Daichi turned red either out of embarrassment or anger—he couldn't tell. Daichi's eyes were suddenly on him, silently glaring for some reasons unknown.

"Well, don't you guys want a fifth member?" Takao crossed his arms and glared all-knowingly at his friends.

"It is required to have at least five or more people in one group," Kyouju cited.

Rei's curiosity stretched on. The uneasiness he had felt after meeting Max resurfaced as he watched his flat mate interact with the guests.

"This is our chance! We won't find anyone like Rei anywhere else but here," Takao heroically punched his fist in the air.

"What do you mean 'anyone like me'? You were talking about me all this time?" Rei cut in; his curiosity getting the best of him as he leaned in. Takao's friends froze in their seats instantly.

"What's wrong?" he inquired.

Takao dropped his fist and smiled sheepishly back at him. "—oops,"

He raised his eyebrows at his flat mate, patiently waiting for an explanation. Which didn't come out as smoothly he had hoped it would be.

"You might as well tell me what is going on," Rei sighed at last.

"Well—you see, Rei—I haven't been thoroughly honest with you—," Takao trailed off, hanging his head in shame.

"—go on,"

"—well, you see—well, remember what I had told you the other day about my job?"

Rei crossed his arms. "You told me you worked under a friend and-,"

"-and I haven't specifically told you what exactly my job was," Takao rudely cut in. Rei bristled slightly. "Well—that's the first lie,"

"Where exactly do I fit in your lie?" He managed to sound calm, never betraying whether he was angry or disappointed at his flat mate.

"You see—well—," Takao shot helpless looks in both his friends' directions. Neither one showed any sympathy though. Takao scowled at them.

"—I'm not exactly a bad cook myself—and I work under Ivanov's guidance—and—,"

"And?" Rei pressed on.

"Well, there's this -little- cooking contest we will be having at my boss'—uh—banquet and we're short on one member. You are our only chance," Takao immediately clasped his hands together and looked up pleadingly at Rei.

"Please, Rei. Please say you're all right with this. Please say you don't mind entering the contest with us—you don't have to do a lot of stuff. Just cut the veggies. The fruits. Anything easy. Please, Rei, I promise I won't be hard on you as the Head Chef. I promise I'll cook you for a whole month, or better yet—treat you for a whole month if I have to. Please say yes, please! My work is at stake!"

Silence followed afterward. No one said a word, as Rei tried to comprehend everything he had heard so far.

Kyouju and Daichi were still sitting rigidly in their seats. Both watching Rei while holding their breaths as if their potential fifth member—their last chance—would condemn them to hell itself with a simple 'yes-or-no' answer.

Takao was probably the most vulnerable one in the room for he was without-question on the receiving end of Rei's unusual, but furious citrine eyes.

"You know I can just poison you with tonight's supper, don't you?" He spoke up in a relatively calm and yet chilly voice, with burning citrine eyes that regarded Takao, ready to burn holes in the other's head.

– END 1. Beginning A: Rei –

(To be continued in: 2. Beginning B: Rei)

Notes:
-"Aoi Kodoku" does mean "Blue solitude". Originally, this story was titled "Incomplete" because I started writing this while the song was being played on the radio. (So sue me, I like the song!) I've changed it to "Aoi Kodoku", because "Incomplete" sounds way too cheesy every time I read the intro over. "Aoi Kodoku" is a very good group song sung by famous Japanese voice actors. It's quite sad, though, because of the j-pop upbeat-ness, some of you might not even know it's a sad song.
- "genkan" - Japanese homes always have a genkan. It's the place near the front door where everyone should take off their shoes, before entering the house and slipping on indoor slippers. That way the chances of their indoors getting dirtied is slim to none.
- "pan" - "bread" in Japanese.
- "roti" - the abovementioned food is called "roti". It's really a pancake-look-a-like, only with spicy filling (chicken, potatoes, greens etcetera) and lots of curry (it's delicious if one tries it out for the first time). A friend mentioned that 'roti' is 'bread' to the Indians.
- (EAST) Indian curry (or also known as 'masala') is really spicier than any other curry. Though, it doesn't technically taste -that- pepper-ish that requires one to gurgle down water in one go. Just add pepper or black pepper powder and the whole curry is at its hottest (to those who aren't used to spiciness, that is)
- "about the female brains-section" - I read this somewhere in a Dutch Psychology book; thought it was neat to emphasize how confused Rei was about Takao's conversation with his friends, so I added it. Which doesn't mean I'm an extreme feminist.
- Cultural note: Chinese people are very fond of giving their sons the name "Dragon" (Long), because the name represents wealth, might, happiness, strength, wisdom and all those features they have assigned the Dragon. But that doesn't mean every Chinese boy is named Long...
Uhm... and don't dwell too deep into the conversations of the women with Rei getting confused. It's just a spur of a moment thing (It hadn't been my intention to drag that section; sorry about that).
- Citrine eyes - I'm not exactly sure which kind of color Rei's eyes could be perfectly pinpointed to, even after reading so many Rei-fiction (where everyone seem to like giving his eyes the word 'golden'). I called them 'citrine' instead, just because I'm being a bit rebellious to clichés. :sweatdrop:

TheNekoTalks:

:cries buckets of tears: I've finally come up with a story! It took -this- long (2-3 years?) for me to enter this fandom. (How pathetic!) (deleted previous message)
For now, I hope I'll be able to update this as soon as I can (with all my other stories)—you see, when the new school year begins I'll be a Senior. Need to work very hard to get high credits to graduate to University-slash-College-slash-whatever higher school there is after VWO.

Thank you for taking your time re-reading! I apologize for the long notes and for anything that's wrong about abovementioned information.

.:Nekocin:.