YAMI NO MATSUEI – DESCENDANTS OF DARKNESS
THE BEGINNING OF A BEAUTIFUL RELATIONSHIP…OR NOT?
Chapter Twelve: The Night for Green-eyed Monsters
"He's been gone for close to three hours now. I hope he's all right," thought Tatsumi as he once again glanced at the wall clock against the wall in front of him. His eyes were getting more watery as his fever rose higher, the only relief that he could do was to rub his un-spectacled eyes with the back of his hands.
The television was still on although Tatsumi was simply utilizing it as a radio and a substitute companion since Watari was not back yet. He gave up on his glasses and just placed them on the night table since his eyes were watering badly as he began to sneeze substantially more. He did not care anymore if he could only manage to see a blur without the glasses since his eyes bothered him a lot and his headache worsened as time went on.
As fatigue overcame Tatsumi, he fell asleep in a sitting position while he stayed in bed. He had been waiting for Watari's return but his sick body could only last so long.
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Watari and Ran were whiling the time away laughing and sharing their respective wealth of information until Watari noticed that the sun was about to set from the door leading to the deck.
"Oh no… I'm late…" said Watari as he blinked, feeling tense as he remembered Tatsumi. He then told the younger man, "Ran, I'm sorry. I have to leave."
This time, it was Ran's turn to blink. "I kept you too long. I'm sorry."
With an apologetic smile escaping his lips, Watari told Ran, "No apologies necessary. Thanks for the tea."
The server who waited on Watari and Ran went to the kitchen, placed some chicken noodle soup inside a large Styrofoam container, and then handed it to Watari with a bow and a word of gratitude as the two gathered their belongings.
"When will I get to see you, Yutaka?" asked Ran as he stood up along with Watari. When he noticed that his question caught Watari off-guard, he genially added, "My company's having a party and I don't have friends or family so I still have room for four guests under my name. I'd love it if you could come to the party. It's four nights from now."
"I…" said Watari, the blonde scientist doing his best not to stammer. "I'm not alone in this trip, Ran. In fact, he's sick right now and I have to return to him."
"My suite is over there," explained Ran as he pointed to his right. "Where's your suite?"
"Same direction," said Watari as he gathered up his bags.
Ran beamed, smiling much warmer than he already had been doing. "Great! Let us walk together then, and I do hope that your friend gets well soon. It's such a shame to be in such a cool trip and not be able to enjoy it."
As the two walked, Watari asked, "You said that you don't have any friends or family?"
Ran explained in a calm manner as he hugged the paper bag he now carried for further support, "I don't go out much. I have friends – virtual friends. My social existence is mostly online. I do role-playing games, blogs, stuff like that. If I get bored, I read books, play videogames, work on new programs, or work out at the gym. I get along well with my co-workers, but after work we all do our own thing. I don't have friends outside of work and I rarely go out. As to family, my father passed away when I was young. My mother remarried and has been living with my stepfather for five years now. Since she remarried, she has a life of her own and she never called me since then. I'm the only child, and she took Dad's death pretty hard."
"I've heard of stories wherein parents treat their children awfully," said Watari, recalling Hisoka's life story as he talked with Ran. "Why do you think your Mother's been distant from you?"
With a soft smile and lighthearted calmness, Ran replied, "I guess that I remind her too much of my Dad. She felt that he abandoned her when he died."
Watari sighed. "That's rather unreasonable…"
"I still love her, Yutaka. I'm not waiting for the day that she and I would have a closer relationship, but if that time ever comes I'll let the chips fall where they lie. If that day ever comes, it would probably turn out as if nothing wrong had ever happened between us. She has her reasons for doing what she did. There's no use blaming her or dwelling on things that have already happened."
"You're rather forgiving…."
Gazing deeply in Watari's eyes, Ran replied, "I've made a life for me. I love what I do and I see that people enjoy the things that I create. That's a blessing to me. I'd rather spend my thoughts and energies on my blessings rather than my woes"
The blonde scientist smiled. He knew deep down that he was a good judge of character, and he could feel that Ran did not bear a bitter bone or emotional axes to grind. He had a good conversation with the younger man, and there was an amiable aura that the latter exuded.
Finally, one of them reached his destination…
The two were now in front of Tatsumi's door. It was evident from the way that they moved and looked at each other that they still wanted to talk some more, but unfortunately that time needed to be cut short.
"It's nice talking to you," said Ran, his expressive brown eyes reflecting the warm smile that came from his lips. "I'm at the end of this hallway – the last suite on the left. I do hope that you and your friend could make it to the party. I'll slip in the invitations underneath your door when I get a chance."
"Nice talking to you, too," was Watari's reply. "We'll attend the party. I hope that Seii's well by that time."
The smile from Ran became warmer – something that Watari took as rather charming. "Good. I'll wait for both of you at the party. Thanks again for the help earlier, and I'll see you. I hope that your friend gets well soon."
The two exchanged slight bows and then Ran turned around, walking away from Watari and heading towards his suite.
Watari opened the door and closed it behind him. He was about to turn on the light and then stopped as someone in the dark spoke out….
"Are you all right? Where have you been?"
A ruefully-smiling Watari turned on the light and then faced Tatsumi, the latter sitting on the bed. He caught a glimpse of Tatsumi's shadows flickering around the latter as if they were keeping their master company. "I bumped into Miyazawa Ran at the deck. He had a hole in his bag, so all his stuff poured all over the floor. I helped him out. He and I had tea while we talked."
"I see…" murmured Tatsumi, his face flushed and his eyes still very much watery. His voice sounded as if he was suffering from aches – typical symptoms of a full-blown flu. "I was worried about you. You said that you'd be back in an hour. You could've called me, especially since you've bumped into one of our reasons for being in this ship."
The blonde scientist frowned a bit. He did feel bad already since he was late in returning to Tatsumi. The guilt became worse as the secretary reminded him that he did have a cell phone with him, so he could have just called Tatsumi to let him know that he was going to be out much later than promised.
"So what do you think of Miyazawa Ran?" asked Tatsumi, his watery blue eyes focused on Watari. Although his tone was even, he did not show to Watari that he could notice some subtle things from Watari since the latter returned to him. He would rather hear and see it from the blonde scientist rather than jump to conclusions.
And so Watari shared what he had found out about Ran to Tatsumi, with Tatsumi falling more and more silent as Watari's tone changed from guarded to animated. Tatsumi could tell that there was endearment laced in Watari's tone the more that Watari talked about the intelligent, handsome, nerdy, and down-to-earth young engineer.
"So we have a party to go to four days from now?" Tatsumi murmured, his temper stewing deep inside him although his tone was calm. His eyes were the only way for anyone to tell as to what was going inside him.
Tatsumi was unaware that his shadows flickered and reflected his moods so openly before Watari.
Noticing those shadows and as to how Tatsumi's eyes had that quiet yet unnerving gleam to them, Watari calmly suggested, "I'll peel some apples for us. I also bought you some soup. It'll help you recover faster."
"I'm not hungry, Yutaka," said Tatsumi as he took a subtle sigh. He was telling the truth. He was rather hungry earlier but the wait and the irritation quelled his appetite.
"But you have to eat!" blurted out Watari with a glare aimed at his patient. "Why are you being stubborn again?"
"I'm not being stubborn. I'm not hungry anymore. Maybe later, I will…but not now… I just want to rest."
Watari's glare became far more dangerous as his temper began to boil due to Tatsumi's refusal to eat. "You need to eat something. I'm not going to tell you twice."
"Yutaka, I'm not feeling well. I'm nauseous. If I eat anything, I'll vomit it out. My stomach feels raw right now. I also have a throbbing headache."
"Because you need food! Just eat a couple of slices of apples to coat your stomach."
"Fine," Tatsumi growled quietly with a silent glare, his temper bubbling more towards the surface. As Watari peeled some apples for them to share, the quieter he became.
One could cut the tension-filled air with a knife. The two lovers respectively felt that tension weigh down upon them as time went on.
As he continued paring and cutting apples, Watari deadpanned after he and Tatsumi spent thirty minutes being silent with each other, "Why don't you spell out what's on your mind, Seii?"
"There's nothing to say," was Tatsumi's reply in-between small and forced bites of apple slices.
"You sure know how to make someone feel rotten. I was late. I didn't call. I'm sorry," said Watari with his words bearing the irritation and guilt that he had over the situation.
The blonde scientist's words made Tatsumi's already-volatile temper flare up even more, yet he still kept his calm voice as he told Watari, "It's been done. Let us not talk about it. You're safe. That's what's important."
Feeling as if he was once again hitting his head against a brick wall, Watari placed the plate of apples and everything in his hand on the nightstand table. With quiet intent, he told Tatsumi, "No. We're talking about this now. You're sick. Something's bothering you. If you're angry with me, then spill it out."
Tatsumi's eyes narrowed. "Do you want me to vent out due to my well-being, or to pacify your guilt?"
"I don't know what you're talking about," said a miffed Watari as he silently quelled a snort that threatened to come out from him.
"I sure don't know what I'm talking about," Tatsumi quietly retorted, his razor-sharp gaze focused on Watari. "Why don't you enlighten me about that?"
"About what?!"
"About Miyazawa Ran, Yutaka."
"He and I just talked. He and I got carried away and didn't notice the time. That's all. I should've been back here because you're sick…" Watari then shook his head and met Tatsumi's gaze in such a silent yet defiant fashion – neither one of them wanting to budge or give in to the other.
"I don't give a damn that I'm sick – do you not get it, Yutaka? I've been worried about you. I didn't want you to return quickly so that someone could take care of me. I wanted you to return on the time that you promised or you could've at least called me about running late. Then I found out that you're so wrapped up in our case that you forgot everything else."
Watari's forehead crinkled as his eyes narrowed much more. Hearing the words wrapped up coming from Tatsumi's lips just did not sound right to him, which prompted him to say, "Are you insinuating that I spent the time flirting with Miyazawa Ran?"
The way that Watari responded stumped Tatsumi, his mind playing another variation of his already-awry thoughts. "Don't put words in my mouth. We're in a case. We both need to keep a level of scrutiny on everyone we encounter in this ship. The young man's obviously charmed with you and that's something that I'm aware of. I'm upset that you're late and were made late because of this young man. I was not upset nor was I thinking that you've been flirting with someone else."
This time, it was Watari who fell silent. His mind ran like clockwork, now realizing that he pushed this conversation far beyond where it was supposed to go.
As to Tatsumi, he did not know how to react. The fever, his headache, and everything else dulled his senses – all while the green-eyed monster named jealousy throbbed deep inside him and nagged his mind.
After the long and awkward silence between the two lovers, Tatsumi's heart grew heavier as his jealous curiosity immensely heightened. His eyes were transfixed on Watari as he asked in a quiet yet intent tone, "Were you flirting with Miyazawa Ran, Yutaka?"
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Ran finished testing a batch of code that he had been working on for months with a smile on his face, his fist clenching vigorously as he whispered with such enthusiasm, "Yes! Damn, it works! I can't believe that it now works!"
The young software engineer's eyes remained glued on the computer monitor as he watched Medea the Enchantress – one of his female characters from his latest work-in-progress video game – undergo a series of movements after being given the command. Her movements were now near-perfectly fluid and awe-striking in Ran's standards.
By this time, Ran honed the major glitches in his latest project named Terra Novum – a sequel to an internationally-popular fantasy role-playing game for the computer, video-game consoles, and on-line gaming.
With these glitches addressed, Ran was closer in delivering his promise – a sequel that would surpass the enchantment and excitement that its predecessor had provided. Although Medea was just one of the many characters in his game, Ran considered each character as if he or she was a real person. He had such an endearing attachment to his work, his passion and fertile imagination surely pouring out into his works.
"Damn, Medea, I'm so proud of you. They're still going to keep their eyes glued on you. They'll just see how much more fireworks you could come up with these new mage powers of yours," said Ran to the computer monitor as if Medea was alive and well to hear his words.
Once he saw that new code finish via the completion of Medea's movements, Ran saved the data and turned off the computer. He only realized how tired he really was when he turned off his machine.
Since he was already dressed and ready for bed, Ran slipped under the covers and remembered things to smile about for today. "I met a really nice, cute, and intelligent guy this afternoon and Medea's now perfect. Today's a very good day indeed. So tomorrow, I'll work on Mercurio's new battle moves after I deliver an invitation to Yutaka."
The young man then yawned and stretched at the same time before he closed his eyes.
Shortly thereafter, Ran fell asleep…his mind slipping him into one of the many fantasy lands that he had brought to life in his games.
Dark mist then crept in and pooled around Ran's bed.
As the night grew deeper, a now-regular nightly visitor that Ran was unaware about crouched by Ran's bedside. The figure of darkness' blood-chilling green eyes glowed merely less than a foot away from Ran's span of sight, with it being able to feel the warmth from Ran's breathing…a nose and a mouth prominently absent from the ghoulish figure's face.
The strange visitor tilted its head as if it was studying every crevice of Ran's face as well as his every movement. It fed off from the joy that coursed so purely and strongly within Ran's being, with its focus pinned on Ran's face. It focused most particularly on how Ran's eyes moved underneath the eyelids as the young man dreamed.
Throughout the night, the mysterious and unearthly being watched the sleeping young man with such curiosity…the figure just waiting for the right time to claim its prize.
End of Chapter Twelve
Normal Disclaimer
I do not own Yami no Matsuei and its lovable characters. However, I do own this fic and Chief Satori, Kowabara, Miyazawa Ran, Medea the Enchantress, Mercurio, Terra Novum, and other original characters and names.