"Did you guys hear?" Kori asked, running to the group.
"Hear what?" Daisuke asked.
"They just found the remains of Lily and Po." She sounded excited. The two had been "missing" for a matter of weeks now. "And they looked into their past, and those we're actually their real names. And they were both actually robbers! Not together, but all around the world, they had stolen artifacts and jewels and a bunch of other stuff."
Daisuke and Yuri weren't sure which parts were true about the whole story. Kori liked to ever exaggerate or to hear a story wrong. It was in her nature to do so, in her blood. It was something of Kori that made things a little spicier in life, even if you had known they weren't true.
"Are you sure they weren't just. I don't know, normal people who had been murdered."
"That's another weird thing…" Kori mentioned as she thought about it. "They had been those victims that had been killed without any trace of death. And we they didn't like you very much. Nor did Doichi. And Kitsune got mad at you guys. Man, people who even get mad at you must be jinxed in life. What is it? Do you guys have voodoo dolls?"
"Where do you come up with this stuff?" Yuri asked.
As the two had talked, Daisuke had seen Ryuku coming to sit at the table. But his face wasn't the same. He was in thought… deep thought. And that was scary when it came to Ryuku. He was usually really carefree and didn't really like to think about much.
"Oh, hey, Ryuku!" Yuri called.
"Hey, Yuri!" he waved back, a huge grin on his face, and he sat down. That's all he did: wave. No hand grasping and attempted kiss today. No fourteenth century talk. Nothing. He just sat down, and he went into eating and back to his serious face.
"Is something wrong with Ryukyu?" Deíji asked Daisuke quietly.. "He doesn't seem well."
"Yeah, that's what I've noticed as well. I wonder if anything happened to him."
"I hope he's okay." She said, brining her hands to her mouth in worry. "He's our friend after all."
"Yeah…" Daisuke said, after thinking of the short time they had been together, but they had been there for each other. "He is." Daisuke hadn't really thought about it, but Ryuku had been a big influence on the group. He was there and gave the group… something. Without Ryuku, things didn't go back to the things were before he came. They were just boring. But it was like that with anybody. The whole group was bored when just one person was gone. Raine had come up with witty remarks, Momo stuffed food down people's throats, Deíji was fun to tease, Yuri and Yuki had to jab each other's egos once every blue moon, and for some reason, the group liked Daisuke.
Daisuke watched Ryuku eat his food, just poking at it a little. Daisuke didn't know what was wrong with him, and he wished he had.
"Do you think he ate something bad?" Yuri asked Daisuke.
"I don't think so. I mean, he just looks serious, not in pain. But he's also spacing out. I mean, I'm sitting right next to him, and he can't hear a word I'm saying. Isn't that right Ryuku?"
Ryuku's ears perked at his name. He turned around put on a his normal face when he looked at Daisuke.
"Wha? I didn't catch that."
"See my point?" Daisuke asked.
"See what point? What are you guys talking about now? Are you guys making fun of me?! That's not cool, I was thinking."
"That's what we were scared of." Raine said coldly, and the group laughed.
"Well, if you guys want to see something really scary, you should take a look at Raine with shorts on. Talk about wide hips."
"Sh…shut up!" Raine said, blushing in embarrassment.
"I'm pretty sure you wouldn't want me to hand out these swimsuit pictures of you, do you?" Ryuku asked, holding up five pictured of a different angle of Raine swimming or laying on a towel in her bathing suit.
"Where did you get those!?" she shouted.
"A bored kid like me has nothing better to do than use his ninja skills to take embarrassing pictures of his friends."
"Man, Raine. Ryuku's right; you're hips are pretty wide." Kori laughed.
"Oh, I wouldn't be talking, Kori." Ryuku grinned. "I have the… let's say, 'popsicle' picture."
Kori grabbed him by the collar and shouted at him.
"I don't know how you got those, but if you show them, I will shove them so far where the sun don't shine, it'll show up where your saliva meets your gullet!"
"Nice threat." Daisuke applauded.
"Well," Yuki said. "It looks like he's being his normal self again."
Daisuke looked at him. There was his normal smile, but there was something different about it as he teased Kori some more. It was all faked, Daisuke could tell that. The whole thing was a stage play. He wasn't sure how many people in the group had seen the whole thing, but he knew that Ryuku was lying about his feelings. Something was really hurting him, and Daisuke was curious to find out what, or who, it was.
As lunch ended, Ryuku had gone off to Advanced Calculus while the others had to go to English 4. As they walked, they continued to talk about Ryuku and why he was acting so strange.
"Maybe he's failing a class right now." Raine threw out an educated guess.
"No, Ryuku wouldn't worry about something that important. It has to be a little less educational."
"Maybe his parents are fighting at home. He never talks about his family or anything about himself. Perhaps that's it." Deíji guessed as well.
"No, that doesn't seem right either." Yuki said.
"Perhaps he's in love with somebody we don't know about yet."
The whole group was quiet. Why was it the most stupid thing said was usually the one that made most sense in the group?
"Do you really think that's it?" Daisuke asked.
"I thought he was in love with Yuri." Momo said.
"Yeah, so did I." Yuri said. "But when I said hi, he said hi like a normal person. He didn't do his weird talking or touching my hand like he normally does."
"You noticed that, too?" Daisuke asked.
"Well, who do you guys think it is? Do you think they're in our group?" Yuri questioned.
"Does he hang out with anyone else?" Kori asked in a confident tone. But she always used that tone when she spoke of love or romance. "Who else could it be than somebody in our group. Question is, which one of us is it?"
The girls look at each other in suspense. Knowing Ryuku, it could have been any of them. He had been so unpredictable, so mysterious, even in his funny, easy going attitude. Nobody really could guess who he liked if it hadn't been Yuri. He had treated them pretty much all the same. He didn't show any more favoritism towards anybody else.
But all the other girls couldn't help but feel– or it is hope?– that it was them. Ryuku could be a quiet, kind, book worm when he decided to be. He had loved literature of all nature, and he was really easy to talk to towards Deíji. Sometimes, easier than Daisuke. But when he wasn't quiet, he teased people a lot, just like Kori. And just like Kori, half of it was flirting, and the other half wasn't. But, when he needed to be, he could keep his mouth shut and just stand out in the circle, but he looked like he could read Raine's mind at times. All he would have to say was: "Hey", and Raine would feel like he could see into his soul sometimes. But, eh was hungry a lot. Something that was good for Momo. And he seemed kind of fun, and he seemed like he had liked video games at times. All in all, Ryuku had seemed like a large catch for the group.
"Well, I'm pretty sure that's it obvious that the whole thing is me." Kori said in utmost confidence.
"And what makes you think it's you?" Raine questioned. "The rest of us have an equal chance as you do."
"So," Kori asked, grinning ear to ear as she got into Raine's face. "You're after the bait as well?"
"Of… of course not! That's preposterous. I couldn't like that fool!"
"You're blushing is telling me otherwise." Kori said.
"I have to agree on Kori with that for once, Raine. It's not like you for you to blush like that." Yuri teased. "You really like Ryuku don't you."
"Well, if you guys all like him, I don't mind standing out of the way." Deíji said quietly. Kori threw her arm around Deíji's shoulder.
"Are you kidding me?" Kori laughed. "The more the merrier. Besides, life wouldn't be a competition if it didn't have a quiet book worm to dominate."
"Kori, you're not helping!" Yuri shouted.
"Ryuku's a good test dummy for some of my Christmas food. And maybe when we're done with that, he'll want to kick some butt on Halo with me." Momo said with a smile.
"So, you're after his heart, too, Momo?" Kori asked with a smirk.
"Sounds more like she's after him with her stomach if you ask me." Raine said dryly.
The girls went off, talking and arguing about the Ryuku situation, but Daisuke stood behind in thought. The girls don't seem like they're far off from their guesses. But if he was in love with somebody besides Yuri, why hasn't he told me about it? We're guys! Does he think I'll make fun of him for it?
Daisuke couldn't get the thoughts out of his head for the remainder of the period.
It's happening again. Ryuku thought. Once again, it's happening.
Ryuku stood on the school roof, looking out towards the bottom. His heart raced, and he could feel the very pressure of his energy at that very spot. He gripped part of his chest, hoping that the pain would go away with the exceeded pressure.
"Dammit," he said with a grunt. "Why does it have to happen now. Can't it wait for a couple of hours."
He sat against a wall, looking down at the school yard. Life was precious, fragile, and only at these moments did Ryuku realize it. Every time this happened, it seemed that he had become a little more wise. But it was a lot of pain for wisdom. He knew that the pain he was goin through wasn't anything bad, just a test of courage and strength. He grunted some more in pain. But why did it have to hurt so much?
He thought about how everybody was acting at lunch. They were worried about him, and how he was feeling. Daisuke, Yuki, Yuri… Sweet beautiful Yuri. Although, now, he couldn't see her in the light he had used to be able to see her. Sure, she was gorgeous, but there was something else. For some reason, he had fallen out of love with Yuri. But it was high school, so maybe it was natural.
But what if he was never in love with Yuri in the first place? A random thought, and he knew that he hadn't thought of it himself. It was something else in his mind that had told him that. But if he hadn't felt love for Yuri, then who were these sudden impulses and feelings felt towards. A picture had gone through his mind quickly. Oh, gawd… he thought. Oh, jeez… you've got to be kidding me. I'm in love with… her? How could this have happened?
At the same time, everything had seemed normal. The whole thing as if he had only been looking in the wrong direction with his eyes, not his heart. But… her? This was going to twist the group up, that was for sure. And, he knew that it wasn't going to be the same way he treated Yuri. For some reason, Ryuku knew that he would have to act different, more like… the real him. That was a scary thought.
And during this little epiphany, this self-realization, his pain had gone away. It was a sign. He knew what he had to do, eve if it was going to be hard to do. Sometime soon, very soon, he would have to reveal his love for the girl that he so deeply cared about. And boy, it wasn't going to be easy on anybody.
"Hey, Ryuku!" Daisuke called out in the crowded halls. Class was about to begin, but Daisuke desperately needed to talk to Ryuku. Ryuku turned around to see a hurried Daisuke, slightly bumping into people as he raced down the halls, hitting walls and lockers.
"What's up?" Ryuku asked with a raised brow, wondering if Daisuke had harmed anything on himself, or anybody else.
"I've been needing to talk to you." Daisuke said, panting.
"Oh really?" Ryuku raised his brow even higher. He crossed his arms over his chest, and looked at him in the eyes. "What about?" his questioning seemed lifeless, like he wasn't really paying attention.
"Are you okay? You've been acting weird all day." Daisuke's voice pointed out that Ryuku was acting strange that very moment, and when Ryuku's eyes lit up and he smiled, Daisuke knew it was an act.
"What do you mean?" Ryuku pondered in fake-joy. "I'm a-okay." He said, slapping Daisuke's shoulder to show him his giddiness.
"Ryuku," Daisuke said as he looked at Ryuku square in the eyes, his emotion definitely getting to Daisuke. "Don't' play games with me. We're friends, aren't we? You can tell me things. We're partners, I have to know that you trust me, because I trust you with my life."
"Alright, alright, alright." Ryuku said quickly in defense. "If you really must know, there's this girl that I kinda… like."
"And it isn't Yuri?"
"'Fraid not." Ryuku said with a stretch up in the air, his voice straining for sound as he reached for the heavens.
"Well, can you tell me who it is?" Daisuke questioned again.
"I don't think I should yet."
"Oh, c'mon." Daisuke said, tugging on Ryuku's sleeve. "Pleeeease? I won't tell anybody."
"Well, it's somebody that we all know, so you don't have to worry about that." Ryuku said with confidence.
"Is she in our group."
"That would be narrowing it down a little too much." Ryuku grinned, and gave Daisuke a wink.
"Aw, c'mon man."
Just then, the late bell had rang, and Ryuku stepped foot into his class, just to say he was in the class when it rang, but he still faced out towards the hallway.
"Sorry. I can't tell you any more than that. But, I just want you to know that I do trust you, okay?"
"You swear?" Daisuke asked, starting to head back to his class.
"I swear. Now, you should run to class before your teacher gets too upset."
"Thanks, Ryuku. I really needed to hear those words."
As Daisuke had taken off, he felt something. He wasn't sure what it was. It was like what ever Ryuku had said, it was planned out, As if he knew what Daisuke was going to say in advance, and prepared for a speech that seemed convincing. Daisuke didn't know if the feeling was there because it was real, or if it was a gut feeling, but he couldn't get it out of his gut for the next couple of days.