Ain't got much to say, except thanks for reading and reviewing. I know some authors always respond to each individual comment, but I feel weird doing that, yet I want you to know I appreciate every single comment all the same.
What's In A Name?
Stacks of half-filled cardboard boxes surrounded Ryuuji as he sat at their tiny kitchen table, perusing the newspaper with a red pen in hand. He tapped it against his chin, reading thoughtfully, then circled another posting under the Rentals and Real Estate category. Even though Shiemi's house was open to them Ryuuji was determined to find a suitable place before the end of the month when their lease expired.
Their current apartment was small, but it had served their needs for years. It's not like they had a lot of stuff or needed the space—Rin's biggest concern was always the kitchen anyway. Now, their current room was too small to comfortably allocate space for a crib, let alone all the other supplies they'd need, and they'd have to get an extra bedroom eventually anyways, might as well do it now before they had to worry about moving and setting up for the baby. There was just so much that had to be taken care of in such a short period of time.
Ryuuji had tried to delegate, but the half packed boxes stacked around him were the signs of Rin's success, or rather, his procrastination.
Where was he anyway?
Ryuuji left the kitchen, leaving behind the newspaper, and found Rin in the bedroom. He was sitting on the edge of their bed, a single book in hand and surrounded by more half packed boxes.
Rin looked up as he entered, blushing, embarrassed to be caught slacking, but smiled weakly as he looked back down at the book. It was a book of baby names.
"Found anything you like yet?" Ryuuji asked.
This was another area where Rin was slacking, though perhaps slacking wasn't the most apt description. He simply hadn't picked any names he liked yet, though he'd certainly been looking. Ryuuji on the other hand already had a top ten list of both boy's and girl's names prepared.
"No," Rin said with a pout, "But… Well, I was thinking…"
Ryuuji waited. Rin's occasional hesitancy had annoyed Ryuuji when he was younger, but he was completely used to this little song and dance now. Rin normally spoke his mind without hesitation, as if he completely lacked that filter between brain and mouth, but when he did hesitate it was clear he'd already been thinking hard about it.
"I was thinking… If it's a boy, we could name him Shiro?"
Ryuuji nodded thoughtfully. He wasn't at all surprised by the suggestion. In fact he was more surprised that Rin hadn't suggested it sooner. Given how upset he'd been about giving up his last name—a name Shiro had given him—this was the perfect opportunity to honor the man, and Ryuuji had no complaints.
"Okay, and if it's a girl?"
Rin bit his lip, clutching the book in white knuckled hands. "Yuri?"
There it was, the cause of his hesitation, and if Rin's attitude was any indication he knew exactly what was wrong with that name.
"I have no problems with 'Shiro'," Ryuuji said with a sigh, sitting on the edge of the mattress next to Rin, "By all account he was a good, honorable man, but more importantly, the Vatican, who is still watching you, will probably have no problems with the name either. He was the Paladin after all. But… They might have a problem with you naming your daughter after a woman who defied their order and inadvertently caused the Blue Night." Ryuuji left out the fact that she had given birth to Rin. In his mind that was a point in her favor, but the Vatican did not agree. They still didn't, even after all these years—more than ten years of loyal service.
"I know," Rin said, gazing down at the book, "But I don't really know anything about her, except that she wanted to keep me in spite of what I am, and well, what the hell is the Vatican gonna' do about it anyway?" He glared fiercely up at Ryuuji, as if daring him to protest, before the realization of what he'd said dawned on him. He snapped his mouth shut, his eyes falling to his lap and only darting up to Ryuuji briefly before he added, "Ah… Don't answer that."
At times Rin seemed optimistically naïve, but more often than not it was forced optimism, faked for the sake of his own mental well-being and that of the people around him. He was smart enough to recognize that even though execution hadn't been on the table for years, it didn't mean he was in the clear, or that the True Cross order couldn't screw him over in other ways.
Even now, Rin's rank as a Middle Second Class exorcist was still a sore topic, and as much as Ryuuji thought Rin could still easily make Dragoon—if he put in the practice, which Ryuuji was more than happy to help him with—he tried not to bring it up anymore. He was beginning to think that Rin would be a lot happier—healthier even—if he put some distance between himself and the Vatican. He'd brought that up once before, but Rin had shrugged it off too. What would I even do with myself?
Starting a family would be good for Rin, give him something else to focus on, but even now, without trying, without knowing about it, the True Cross Order was finding other ways to screw with their personal lives.
Ryuuji coughed, pretending to clear his throat while trying to break the awkward silence before it formed. He didn't want to have to tell Rin the name was a bad idea, but it was, and judging by the way Rin sat—his shoulders slumped, his head bowed—he already knew. Ryuuji just wished he had a solution—that he could just make the problem go away—but that's not how life worked.
"We'll figure it out later," he said as he took the book from Rin's slack hands, "We still have a little time before we have to decide."
Rin shrugged, a non-committal half agreement, or a lack of disagreement depending on how you looked at it, so Ryuuji kissed the top of Rin's head and then placed the book back inside one of the cardboard boxes along with a stack of other books being packed away for the move, but then he paused. He moved a book aside and then reached in to pull out his old Japanese-English Dictionary. He'd kept it after high school because the occasional bit of paperwork came across his desk with English on it, but he couldn't remember the last time he'd used it. He thumbed the pages thoughtfully.
"It's a flower, isn't it?"
"Huh?" Rin looked up at him, confused.
"Your mother's name, Yuri? It's a flower."
Rin scratched his head. "I think it's European or something…?"
"I know that, but in Japanese it's also the name of a flower," Ryuuji said, flipping through the dictionary.
"Okay, I guess so," Rin said slowly, clearly not following Ryuuji's thought process.
"Here," Ryuuji said as he held the dictionary open, pointing to an entry on the page.
Rin grimaced. "You know I hate reading English."
"It says 'Lily'," Ryuuji said, rolling his eyes, "It's a flower and… I just figured flowers make good girl's names, and I don't think it's obvious enough that anyone will make the connection, but if they do we can always-" He stopped, running his hand through his hair as he looked away from Rin, feeling self-conscious. He'd gotten excited at the prospect of a solution and he'd started to ramble, but it wasn't about the meaning of the word itself. It was about the meaning behind choosing the name. "Well, I know it's not the same, but I just figured, maybe-"
He was cut off, stunned in to silence and almost knocked off balance as Rin threw his arms around his shoulders in a hug.
Rin pulled back, only to kiss Ryuuji, preventing him from saying another word before detaching himself from him. "It's perfect," he said, grabbing Ryuuji's hands and holding them tight, his eyes dancing as he imagined their possible impending future.
"I don't know about perfect," Ryuuji said, ducking his head to hide the smile that was blossoming on his face as his heart swelled. Rin's mood had instantly lightened, and it was always a little bit contagious.
"I almost want a girl now so her name can be like a big secret 'fuck you' to the Order," Rin said nonchalantly as he released Ryuuji's hands and spun on his heel, a huge grin on his face as he returned to the job of packing up their bedroom.
Ryuuji grimaced and opened his mouth to speak, but stopped. Rin was practically humming as he worked, now efficiently packing their bedroom away in to labelled boxes. One problem solved, another one potentially created? But… Ryuuji wasn't going to burst Rin's bubble now. He'd just have to figure out a fix if the problem ever came up. Besides, Lily was a nice enough name that he might have to re-organize his own top ten list, so instead of saying anything he just shook his head, letting out a sound that was half way between a chuckle and sigh as he went back to the newspaper to continue looking for a new place to live. He'd deal with that problem when it came up. If it came up.
He'd just have to make sure Rin didn't share that little secret with too many people.