It had been a week since they had started traveling together. Raphael was getting extremely tired of Lee. He wouldn't think that he would become such a nuisance to him. He could've just slit his throat and get it all over with, taking the shard as his own. For some reason though, he didn't want to. He didn't quite know what was holding him back.
"WILL YOU JUST SHUT UP!" Raphael finally screamed. Lee immediately stopped his humming.
"I can't help it! That song is in my head!" Lee said.
"I don't care!" Raphael yelled back.
"I wish I had my ipod player with me, then I can just have the song at my fingertips," Lee said in a sulky voice. At that point, Raphael stopped and turned around.
"Is that your new phrase or something! That's the 116th time you said that!" Raphael said, greatly annoyed.
"No, it's just the 90th time!" Lee said.
"116th! I was counting!" Raphael came back with. Lee crossed his arms.
"Whatever..." he said, placing his hands behind his head. Raphael shook his head and continued walking.
"What the hell is an ipod anyway?" Raphael asked.
"I told you. It's a device where you can store your favorite music digitally," Lee answered.
"I heard you the first time. I just don't understand that," Raphael replied.
"You just look for songs, pay for them, and download it onto the ipod's memory," Lee replied. Raphael stopped and turned around again.
"How do you fit a musician into a little box this big!" Raphael yelled, using his fingers to express the size.
"It's not a musician!" Lee replied.
"Then how-"
"I knew you wouldn't understand it. Okay, there is this thing called 'recording' that people in my time do. The musician comes into the studio and records the song onto a compact disk, or a disk that stores information," Lee explained.
"It's still hard to really comprehend," Raphael said.
"What is it that makes it so hard!"
"What does the ipod have to do with any of that!" Raphael yelled in utter frustration.
"That's what I was getting at. There are people who will transfer the information from the disk onto a computer," Lee said.
"There's that damned word again! WHAT IS A COMPUTER!" Raphael yelled.
"A computer is a device that stores and processes information from coded data," Lee explained. Raphael gave him a blank stare.
"They can get on your nerves, but they are very helpful too," Lee added.
"...And...Exactly what is coded data?" Raphael asked.
"Oh! There's no hope for you!" Lee yelled, throwing his arms up. Raphael could tell at this point that he had finally given up on trying to explain a word to him. He turned around and just kept walking. Perhaps it's just something so far advanced in the future that he would not be able to comprehend it at all. The two men simply continued walking along.
It was about two more miles until they finally spotted some sort of civilization ahead. Raphael stopped. Lee nearly ran into him.
"What! Why did we stop?" Lee asked. He looked over Raphael's shoulder and saw what he saw.
"It's a town," he said.
"Yes. We can finally get a bath and some rest and you can stop complaining," Raphael said.
"I wasn't complaining," Lee said.
"Not complaining! 'Oh, you stink so much! Where is the nearest body of water? I'm tired! I stink! I should've brought some deodorant!' Tell me that isn't complaining!" Raphael said.
"Okay...so I was," Lee said. Raphael sighed and walked off.
"I wasn't prepared for a trip like this!" he said after him, "besides, one of those incidents, you farted!"
"No, I didn't,"
"You did too!"
The two men walked closer to the village. It was fairly small. Raphael noted fishing nets and boats in the village. He could tell that this was a village that did a lot of fishing for their revenue. It would make sense, considering that there is a river nearby it. He didn't care. Just as long as he could do something to shut this man up.
"There are finally some signs of life other than you!" Lee yelled. Raphael gave him a slight fixed stare, then continued walking.
"We have to find a place to rest," He said. Just then, a young man walked up to them.
"Hello there! Welcome to the town of Thuban," he said, "I can't help but notice that you have a rapier,"
Raphael gripped the hilt of his sword. If the man was noting his weapon, then obviously his motives weren't good.
"So what if I have a sword. Why does that concern you?" Raphael asked, still questioning his reasons.
"Well, there is a tournament that will take place here tomorrow," the man said. Raphael's countenance changed.
"You have my attention," he said. If there was one thing he loved, it was competition.
"Well, I was wondering if a swordsman like yourself would be interested," he continued.
"Where is it at?" Lee asked, barging into the conversation. Lee wouldn't have minded having to fight either, especially with Raphael.
"Follow the path up the road. There will be signs leading you," He said, walking off.
"Well, it looks like we are in luck. If I win this tournament, I can probably earn us some money," Raphael said.
"What? Don't you already have money?" Lee asked.
"Yes, but it was only enough for me," Raphael answered.
"You selfish bastard!" Lee retorted.
"If I had known you were going to pop out of the sky, I would have gotten more money, believe me," Raphael said. Lee got silent. He was right. There was no way anyone would have predicted anything like that.
"Okay, so I guess we have a competition to go to," Lee said. Raphael smiled and nodded in agreement, then realized he used the word 'we'.
"You're going in too? Don't make a fool of yourself!" Raphael said. He doubted this man knew a thing about fighting competitions. Little did he know how wrong he was.
"What? You don't think I could do a thing or two?" Lee asked. Raphael couldn't help but laugh. Lee glared back at him. He didn't like being underestimated.
"Well fine. But that means we need to go to an inn and rest up for tomorrow," Raphael added.
They found a small lodge to go to for the night. Raphael was paying a man so that he could have a room. "I need a room for two," Raphael said. The man stared at the two men with a perplexed stare.
"One bed or two," He asked. Raphael wondered why the man would ask such a stupid question.
"What else? Two beds," Raphael said.
"Well, I wasn't sure if you two were..." The man said. Raphael's eyes shot wide.
"Do I come off as gay to you!"
"Well, I don't know! You two seem really close!" The man said. Raphael grew angry.
"I mean...you guys are together a lot! A lot more often than most men are! I couldn't help but to think you were..." The man continued. Raphael grew angrier. He grabbed the hilt of his sword.
"I'm going to shut up now," the man said.
"It would be wise," Raphael replied, letting go of the hilt. The two men finally walked to their room.
After taking not the nicest bath, Lee went to get ready for bed. He pulled back the covers and lied down. Raphael walked into the room after his bath. He was wearing his pants, but no shirt. Lee couldn't help but notice the man's bare chest. He didn't think that Raphael was so fit underneath all of that thick clothing he wears. His smooth toned chest and chiseled abs were intriguing him. He couldn't help but smirk.
"Well, aren't we such a prettyboy?" Lee joked.
"Shut up. You should be talking," Raphael said.
"Are you saying that I'm cute? I didn't think you went that way, Raphael," Lee said. Raphael freaked out.
"SHUT UP!" He screamed at the silver haired man.
"You know I'm beautiful. You can just say it," he said teasingly. Raphael pulled back the covers on his bed and blew out the candle that was giving light to the room.
"I'm just going to ignore you and get to sleep," He said.
"Good night, honey!" Lee joked. Raphael sneered at Lee. Just as he was ready to calm down and rest, Lee began to hum that annoying tune again. Raphael pulled the pillow over his head.
The next morning Raphael woke up to the smells of something burning. He turned his head at Lee's bed. He was gone. He could hear some yelling downstairs. Yup, Lee was cooking today. He didn't know why. Maybe he lied that to the chiefs that he could cook and they believed him. Those gullible idiots. Raphael slowly got out of bed, put on his shirt, and grabbed his sword to get ready for the day. He did have a tournament to get ready for after all. He walked downstairs to get Lee.
He came downstairs to the site of Lee standing in an apron with a plate of partially burned breakfast.
"Well, it looks like Sleeping Beauty is up," he said. Raphael glared at him with his huge bags under his eyes. His hair was still messed up.
"Wow, you look great like that. Almost sexy," Lee said sarcastically. Raphael glared at him some more. He wasn't too sure if he was serious or not. From the way he's been acting, he would almost think he was almost completely serious.
"Want some breakfast? We have pancakes," Lee said, showing him the burnt bread that was suppose to be pancakes. Raphael was about to say no, but he was hungry. He didn't want to be famished before a fight. He finally nodded his head and sat down. Lee slid the plate in front of him. Raphael stared at the food some more. It looked like a plate full of charcoal.
"Bon apétit," Lee said. Raphael picked up his fork and slowly began eating. The food was disgusting according to him. To yell out loud about it would be very rude, but he was on the verge of doing so with every chew.
"So, do you like it?" Lee asked. Raphael looked up and falsely smiled.
"I know it's burnt, but I haven't cooked that kind of food in a while so..." said Lee. Raphael just nodded his head. It wasn't just the fact that it was burnt that made it revolting. Even if it wasn't burnt it still tasted way too salty. Raphael just continued eating it.
"You're not much of a talker in the morning, are you?" Lee asked. Raphael put down his fork.
"I had enough," he said.
"But you barley ate at all. There is still food left," he said.
"I know," he replied. He didn't want to take another bite of the food. It was burnt, bitter, and too brackish and possibly poisonous. He left the table.
"Let's get ready to leave," he said to Lee. Lee followed him. After much preparation (mostly waiting for Lee), the two men when off on their trip to the event.
That's Chapter 2. I really hope you like this story! I work hard on it.