Adult-FanFiction.org : Anime

Red and Blue, Black and Blond	By : lemonykisses Category: zMisplaced Stories [ADMIN use only] > Games Views: 994 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own the game .hack//GU or characters within the game. I am not making, nor ever made any money or profit from this game or merchandise related to the game or company(ies). I'm also not making any money or profit from writing this story. Than

Chapter List
- 1
- 2
- 3
Disclaimer: I do not own or work for the .hack//GU series. I do not profit from writing this story or stories to come. This is for my own amusement and I want to share.

Shout �outs from reviewers:

Masuda-san: Yay, my first review! No I wasn�t disappointed that you reviewed twice. In fact my b/f laughed his ass off at your silliness. Yes, he supports me writing yaoi, he�s a crazy himself. So mucho love to him. I�m glad you liked it. "-androgynously beautiful damsel in distress Kaoru is saved by the hunky Ryou"- Wow, I really wrote like that hm? I really tried to keep in character but it�s very hard with Ryou/Haseo. But for Kaoru/Endrance, I had so much fun, LOL! Thank you so much for the positive review and I hope I get another from you soon!

Axel: LOVE(!!) Your name BTW. I think I�m a fan of you already, LOL! Thanks for the positive review and here you go. Hope you like! :)

Notes: Gaspard�s g/f belongs to me :)
PLEASE READ!!! - Don�t flame me on having Reiko/Pi and Takumi/Yata get together. I know it�s a complete May-December relationship, but I really like the idea. Plus if Takumi is married, oh well, you can tell me all you want. It also goes for Ovan/Kaede. I know he�s in his twenties. So if Kaede is much younger or much older- oh well. I tried looking up all I can about her. I�m saying she�s around Ovan�s age. It�s fan-fiction, and I really did try to look up everyone as much as I could. That and talking with my b/f who knows almost everything about .hack (except the whole Sora/Haseo thing. I told him that after looking it up and he still denies it, LOL)
*******************************************************************************

Chapter 2 � Jazz Rules

*****************************The next morning******************************

"Hey Ryou! Get your lazy, slept-in ass up!" A male voice called cheerfully from behind his front door. It was rather close and startled Ryou awake, but his eyes refused to open. He felt completely warm in his bed, and to get up was blasphemy. Snuggling closer into his very warm pillow, the pillow suddenly shifted slightly to accommodate him and sighed-
That woke Ryou right up and he sat up with wide eyes.

"Endrance!" He cried out and backed up over the edge of the rolled-out bed, falling promptly on his back with enough force that knocked the wind out of him. As he gasped for air he heard movement and saw ocean blue eyes gazed down at him over the edge with a curious look in them. Blond locks clumped from sleep and strands stuck out in odd angles.

"Hey! Ryou! We can hear you in there!" The voice called out from behind the door and banging issued forth from a fist against the door.

"What were you doing in my bed?!" Ryou asked with anger tingeing it.

"Forgive me, but I had a nightmare and I couldn�t sleep by myself. I�m sorry." The last part came out as a whisper in regret.

Ryou had to grab his chest from the piece that he thought was indigestion last night stirring again. "It�s- It�s fine. Next time wake me."

The rest of Endrance�s face then emerged from behind the mattress and a soft smile was on his thin lips. He nodded in understanding.
Finally after another few minutes of banging and yelling, Ryou opened the door and was promptly greeted with a full-on tackle to the floor, courtesy of Kudou Shingo, Matsu�s player.

"�Bout damn time you answered the door! We were beginning to think you played on �The World� last night, fell asleep, and drooled on the you hand console then got electrocuted!" The 25-year-old then got up and helped the 18-year-old up.

"Oh, Ryou. We didn�t know you had company," Tomonari Kasumi, Kuhn�s player said in slight surprise.

"Oh uh- Guys, this is Endrance�s player-" Ryou stopped, realizing he has no idea what his real name is. "Uh-"

"Ichinose, Kaoru," The wilting husky voice came from the taller man and he took a short bow, very uncomfortable about meeting new people.
"Oh! Endrance- I mean Kaoru! It�s nice to finally meet you. It�s me, Kuhn," the fair-haired light-skinned man said and extended a hand. He was just a few centimeters shy of Kaoru�s towering height, otherwise they looked about the same proportion-wise. "But, my name�s Kasumi, Tomonari. You can call me �Nari-san�."

"Oh," Kaoru said and looked at Tomonari�s hand. He hesitated to take it, and the other man got the idea, taking it back. He cleared his throat. "Uh, this is Shingo, Kudou-"

"Matsu�s player." The redheaded tanned-skinned man said defiantly.

"Yes, well-" Tomonari started a reached for the back of his head with one hand as the other rested on his left hip in a very familiar gesture that his character does online.

"So are you going to the picnic also? Did Saki-chan tell you about it?" Kudou asked with his arms crossed and a sly grin to Ryou.
"Idiot! Stop calling me that!" Ryou growled and tackled the redhead. Both get right into a grappling match on the floor, with Ryou mostly cursing and Kudou laughing his ass off.

"Uh, don�t mind them," Tomonari said as he made his way near Kaoru without getting knocked over by the ball of tangled limps. "So are you coming to the picnic?"

"Picnic?" Kaoru asked in confusion.

"Yeah, didn�t Ryou tell you? Pi�s player Reiko organized this almost eight months ago. Every two weeks we all come together at Hibiya Park to hang out, catch up, all that. It�s an all day event."

"Oh." Kaoru looked down uneasily.

"Yeah, Ichinose, you should come! We need another player for volleyball!" Kudou said while sitting proudly on Ryou, obviously the winner in their tussle.
"GET OFF ME, SHINGO!" Ryou roared. "I thought Hippos like you were put on diets at the zoo!!"

"Hey, you calling my ass �fat�?" Kudou took much offense to that and they continued their fighting.

Kaoru couldn�t help but smile with a soft giggle at them.

Tomonari noticed that and looked at him with a smile. "You can just come and eat, Kaoru. No pressure."

"Kaoru looked at him for a moment, then he looked at the floor with a sad face. "I think I�ll pass."
That got Ryou�s attention. "Kaoru I�m not letting you out of my sight!" He said as he struggled to get out of Kudou�s hold, finally with success because everyone stared at him.

"I�m sorry, but did you just make a possessive statement at Ichinose?" Kudou asked with humor bubbling up.

"No-I-" A blush crept up Ryou�s face in embarrassment and anger. "I didn�t mean it-"

"Oh, our little Saki-chan�s gotta crush on someone!" Kudou sand with a sickening-sweet voice as he pinched Ryou�s right cheek.

The teen growled and slapped the hand away.

"I meant, that I didn�t want Kaoru to raise up my electric bill playing �The World�, so he�s coming with us!" He said angrily, but Kudou laughed loudly.
"You can�t fool us, Saki-chan-" A punch in the mouth had shut him up.

"My name�s not �Saki-chan� you ass!" Ryou roared, getting Tomonari to giggle.

"Okay, Kudou, I think you�ve played around enough. Yuuichi�s gonna start yelling if we don�t get Ryou in the car fast enough." He helped the redhead up as the younger rubbed his bruised cheek. "We�ll be waiting outside." He led the grumbling man out with him and shut the door.

Ryou set his fist he used to his side and unrolled it, fingers popping loudly in the room. He then flexed it quickly back into a fist, getting it to pop several times again.

"Are you hurt?" Kaoru asked in concern.

"Hm?" The teen asked in distraction then lifted his fist while looking at it, uncurling his fingers. "I�m fine." He then let it back down as he looked at the blond. Just something I do after I punch someone, kinda like a tic." He sighed, changing the subject. "Well, seeing as I didn�t wash clothes yet, I think I can find something you can wear."
"Hase-Ryou-" Kaoru started in his usual Endrance-like voice.

"You take a shower first. Don�t take long." Ryou interrupted and went down the hall. "Bathroom�s across the bedroom. I�ll get you some towels."

Kaoru nodded to Ryou�s back and did as he was instructed. When Ryou gave him the towels the blond turned to go into the bathroom, but the raven-haired teen grabbed his left arm to stop him.

"Let me check your wounds real quick."

"Oh." Kaoru then nodded and leaned in the set the towels on the sink. He then turned to face Haseo as he lifted the white T-shirt Ryou gave him last night.
With doctor-like precision, Ryou gently pulled the gauze where it didn�t hurt too much to reveal scabbed cuts and scraps. "Nothing looks infected. Now let press on your ribs again." Kaoru lifted his right arm, giving Ryou access, and enjoying his rough hands on his skin. They felt so strong and trusting.

A few fingers prod into him, and he bit back a cry to make a grunt of pain. Ryou prodded some more in the same pressure, as if ignoring Kaoru�s pain.
After a moment, he stopped. "Yeah, they�re not broken, but it�ll take a couple of weeks for them to heal."

"Fortunately," Kaoru said with dryness, making light.

Ryou smirked slightly. "Yeah." He then backed up. "Alright, go take your shower."

Kaoru nodded and went it while shutting the door behind himself. He sighed and started up the shower, making it nice and hot. Even though the water pelting his bruised skin hurt, the heat made it soothing at the same time. He did as Ryou said about taking a short shower, but then he noticed that there wasn�t a shampoo or conditioner bottle in there.
Suddenly there was a knock at the door. "I need to give you new bottles of shampoo and conditioner. I forgot to put them up after I went shopping yesterday."

"It�s unlocked," Kaoru called quietly and the door opened. He watched as Ryou�s blurred body came close to the frosted glass doors, and it seemed he was walking awkwardly. With amusement Kaoru realized he was walking backwards.

Ryou then knocked on the glass door. "Here."

Kaoru obediently slid it open slightly and took both bottles, but not before accidentally brushing his hot and wet hands against Ryou�s cold and dry ones.

Ryou on reflex let go of the bottles suddenly but Kaoru caught them. Ryou then mumbled something as he quickly walked out of the room and shut the door.

It took Kaoru a moment to realize he had said "Sorry."
Nearly five minutes later, swooning with happiness over the smell of the expensive-smelling shampoo and conditioner, he dried his hair with a towel first when there was another knock. "I have some clothes for you. They�re small, seeing as you�re tall, but they�re comfortable."

Kaoru wrapped the towel around his small waist and opened the door slightly. A small pile of folded clothes appeared from the crack.

Kaoru took them gently. "Thank you," he said low.

There�s was hesitation before Ryou said, "You�re welcome", then shut the door back.
He used Haseo�s brush and brushed gently at his hair, taking the tangles gently out, which was a hard chore.
"Are you done yet?" Came from the other side.

Kaoru sighed in defeat at his hair. "I�m still getting dressed, sorry."

"Well, hurry up. I�ll tell Shingo and Kasumi to take a drive or something instead of waiting. Oh, I�ll also need to dress your wounds again."

Kaoru listened to him walk away and looked at the slightly foggy mirror again. Such a beautiful face, yet gaunt and caved-in from malnutrition. Silently he got dressed.
When he came out Ryou was against the wall with his arms crossed and his clothes and First Aid kit against his chest.

"What took you long?" He asked almost too rudely.

Kaoru hesitated. "I-I�m sorry, I needed to brush out my hair-" He looked away, ashamed.

Ryou saw that look and that piece he thought was indigestion once again came back and danced a jig in his chest.

He fought to take hold of his chest in front of the older man. "Oh, it-it�s okay." He said with some kindness forced in. "You can use my brush."
Kaoru�s eyes lit up and he looked at Ryou. "Thank you. I�ll be sure to remove my hair afterward." He then went in for a second to retrieve said-hair tool and tiptoed around Ryou to go into the livingroom.

Ryou felt air leave his lungs when he saw the look of acceptance in Kaoru�s eyes, and fought the urge to smile.

/Seriously, what�s wrong with me?/ He then set his clothes on the cover of the toilet and joined Kaoru into the livingroom, who was taking the black shirt Ryou gave him off himself.
Ryou felt like wincing, even though he had seen the wounds already. He applied iodine, put fresh gauze, and taped over the cuts and scraps. "There."

"R-Ryou? Can I ask you a question?"

"Already did," Ryou said with a slight smirk, but judging by the confused look on Kaoru�s face he rolled his eyes with a sigh. "Never mind, what is it?"

"Did you-� get into a lot of fights?" Kaoru asked low, not sure if Ryou understood what he asked.

But Ryou did. "Let�s just say that I�ve changed a lot since the Sage Palace tournament when Skeith went berserk on Magus." He then went to put the First Aid kit back up in the linen closet.

"Oh." Then the blond looked down as he slipped the shirt back on and sat down on the couch.

Ryou watched him while in the doorway to the bathroom. /Why does he have to look so damn sad all the time?/ "Hey, Ichinose?"

The blond looked at him with questioning dark blue eyes.

Ryou hesitated a bit, unsure of what to ask him because he wanted him to stop looking sad. "Did-Did you use a lot of shampoo and conditioner?"
"No, Ryou."

"Oh. Good, this shit�s expensive but it�s the only kind that smells alright to me without it being too girly, you know?"

Kaoru�s eyes sort just went through him for once before he inclined his head slightly and nodded slowly. Obviously he was disagreeing with Ryou, but knew it was polite to agree so not to offend his host.

Ryou saw it after it was too late and blushed slightly. /Great, I just made a bash against him/ "Well-I-I mean-" He tsk�d in anger then shut the door before digging the hole any deeper.
Kaoru looked at the door a bit longer, in his head, then silently went back to brushing his hair with practiced care and love. /No matter how girly I appear to you, Ryou, you still won�t accept me as more than a friend/
*******************************************************************************
"Well it�s about time!" Reiko exclaimed in exasperation as the three missing men now showed up with one extra.

"Oh, Ryou, you brought a friend?" She asked as she stirred the salad that she was making in a large plastic bowl.

"Uh, Reiko, this is Ichinose, Kaoru. Endrance�s player," Ryou introduced and the blond bowed in politeness, obviously uncomfortable about being outside also.
It took a good ten minutes of coaching the blond to come outside and Ryou held back a snort when the blond flinched from the sunlight.

Yuuichi introduced himself to Kaoru and got the same reaction as Tomonari did, but the fair-haired comforted his younger brown-haired boyfriend.

Then with Kudou�s wild driving in Yuuichi�s exported Impala, Kaoru all but sat in Ryou�s lap, holding on for dear life. Ryou at first quietly shoved him off the first few times, but resigned with a sigh and let Kaoru cling to his arm. The older man obviously distraught with Tomonari and Yuuichi yelling constantly at Kudou to slow down before they get pulled over.

Even though it was Yuuichi�s car, the teen explained that Kudou was singing "This Is the Song That Never Ends" in a loud English voice all the way to Ryou�s apartment and forced Yuuichi to give in.
But as soon as they got to the park and Kaoru reluctantly let go Ryou, the raven-haired teen felt as if he was stripped naked. That piece stirred once more in Ryou and he fought back from clenching his chest again. The way that Kaoru clung to him, if felt� nice� as if he was the other man�s protector and savior- /What am I talking about? Kaoru�s a guy! And I�m not gay!/
"Ryou! Reee-youuu!" Kudou practically screamed in Ryou�s ear, making the younger man punch him in reflex, catching the redhead in the ear this time when he attempted to pull away.

"Ow! Fuck man!" Kudou laughed out in pain as he cupped his ear. "There is such thing as holding back!"

Ryou cracked his fingers and knuckles again in the usual manner. "Oh, you know me better than that, Shingo." He gave a devilish smirk that made Kaoru gasp low. /It�s like looking at Haseo when he does that./
"Hey, Ichinose!" Reiko called out. She had a hand on her obligatory-protruding pregnant belly. "Would you mind helping me fix up lunch?"

Kaoru nodded, relieved to be away from the roughhousing, but saddened to be away from Ryou.

"Thank you so much. I don�t dare let Takumi-san known that I�m getting a bit exhausted."

Kaoru was informed earlier that Reiko and Takumi Hino, Yata�s player had got engaged a few weeks ago and they�re having their first child in under a month. It seemed a lot of relationships happened around Kaoru, but he never noticed because he was so engrossed in �The World� to care. In fact he only went on adventures/missions with Haseo, which was the closest to a date Kaoru could get.
/My heart does belong to you, Hase- Ryou/ He looked up at the raven-haired doing a sparring match of kick-boxing with Kudou. Both were evenly matched it seemed. /I�m in your debt for your kindness/
It was very hard for Kaoru, but he did track down Ryou�s home address, given that he was bleeding and gasping in pain from the bruised ribs on his right side. Luckily his father never went for the eyes this time, or hacking would�ve been more challenging. He didn�t even pack, just grabbed what money he had stored up in case of his father going too far and he would have to get to a hospital. /Because the bastard would let me rot in my room before owning up that he�s a �wife-and-child-beater�/. He then took a cab to the closest train station, traveling over four hours in pain, but he held it in. He never shed a tear to draw attention on himself. He even tried to clean himself as best as he could in the bathroom that was provided on the train. But as soon as he got off he was shoved into a railing from an impatient businessman, and stars flared up in Kaoru�s eyes from the bar cutting into his right side.

He almost collapsed to his knees on the floor, but mustering all his energy he stood tall, limping to a parked taxi and huffed out Ryou�s home address.
/I think what I love you most, Ryou, is the fact that not only did you let me in, but you aided me without asking all those questions you should�ve asked/

"Kaoru, I think the salad�s been stirred enough," Reiko said with some humor in her voice.

Startled, the blond looked down at the bowl, then to his right at the fair-haired slightly older woman. She then took the bowl gently from him and handed him a huge bag of potato chips and a large empty bowl.
*******************************************************************************
Everyone came it seemed and the large wooden public picnic table was completely full of people and food.

Starting from one head of the table was Takumi, Reiko on his left, then Iori Nakanishi; Saku/Bo�s player, with Kouta Maki, Gaspard�s player and his girlfriend Mai Yamamoto. Next to her was Tonomari and Yuuichi together, Ryou, and Kyoulo Kaga, Kaede�s player. On the opposite head was Masato Indou; Ovan�s character, who finally awoke from his coma two months ago. Unfortunately he kept his memory of everything he did, but accepting his guilt, he was now a happy man with Kyoulo as his girlfriend. His sister Aina was next to him, with Kaoru on her left. Then Kudou sat to his left, Chigusa Kusaka; Atoli�s player with her girlfriend Shino Nanao(1), Moe Kubo, Tabby�s player, and Min Myeon-Do; Sirius� player and his close friend Chika Kuramoto; Alkaid�s player.

Antares� player, Mikihisa Ogata couldn�t make it once again with his wife.
"Oh! Kumi-san! You have to give me the recipe for your barbecue, my boyfriend would so love this!" Chika exclaimed in excitement.

Takumi chuckled low. "A chef never reveals his secrets." He then picked up Reiko�s hand and kissed the back of it lovingly.

Kaoru picked at his salad as he gazed at it, in his own world.

Ryou watched now and then, making sure the blond was eating. /Wait, what do I care if he eats? I mean, if he�s not hungry-/ Suddenly something thumped him in the head. He looked to see it was a chewed piece of sweet roll then looked up at the opposite side of the table. Knowing exactly who did it, he saw Kudou paying special attention to his food as Chigusa and Shino giggled with mirth at him.
"Shingo!" Ryou yelled and threw the roll back at him. Kudou ducked enough to miss it and looked up at him with fake-surprise.

"What?! Why�re you throwing food at me, man?" Kudou threw another chewed roll.

Ryou ducked from that. "Don�t be an idiot!" He then grabs a tomato spear from the salad bowl and throws it at Kudou.

Kudou blocks it with his arms and it bounced off his right one to hit Aina, who shrieked indignantly.

"FOOD FIGHT!!" Mai exclaimed and hit Shino right in the face with a spoonful of mash potatoes. The brunette girl squealed and took a handful of her own to chuck at, getting both Mai and Kouta.
In a split second an eruption broke out with Reiko, Takumi, Kyoulo, and Masato taking cover under the table. Screaming and gales of laughter erupted over them.

"Well I think this is going to be cut short," Kyoulo said matter-of-factly.

Masato then grinned. "Then we should at least have fun." He grabbed Kyoulo�s shoulders and with her screaming in protest he forced her up to join in the fight.

Takumi chuckled and glanced at Reiko, who was not at all amused. "Don�t even think about it, mister," she threatened. But Takumi saw through that as all of her threats and leaned over to kiss her gently as he rubbed her protruding belly.

She sighed into their kiss, loving him all over again.
While he wanted to cower under the table, Kaoru was forced to be Kudou�s shield, which freaked him out and almost sent him into a fit if it wasn�t for seeing Ryou getting distracted with Kaoru�s fit and getting a face-full of pudding right in his face, courtesy of Shino. Kaoru and Ryou were so shocked that both men stared at each other for a split second, before Kaoru started laughing small, but couldn�t contain it any longer. His laughter was high in pitch, yet soft and there was still huskiness to it.
It made everyone stop all at once to stare at him, since "Endrance" laughing with happiness" wasn�t among the list of things to do when at the park with all your friends.

"Wow," Chigusa, Atloi�s player said low in astonishment. "I�ve never heard Endrance laugh before."

"Neither have I," Chikusa piped in, looking a bit frightened.

Suddenly Saku reared her ugly head in Iori. "Oh, Master En!" She cried out in happiness and nearly dove over the table to latch herself onto the older man�s waist. "You�re truly happy!"
Kaoru stopped abruptly as he fell to the ground with the small boy on him.

Ryou felt a sudden flair of anger swarm over him and before he knew it he had jumped over the table too, grabbed Iori off the blond, and held the little boy by the collar nearly two feet off the ground.

"Haseo, put me down!" Saku�s voice cried out of the little boy as little hands pried and scratched at his a wrists.

"Ryou, put him down!" Reiko cried out when she came from under the table after hearing the food fight had been interrupted. Both she and Kyoulo nearly tore the little boy�s shirt as Ryou had a death-grip on Iori�s clothes.

Realization dawned on the raven-haired teen as anger drained out of him, as well as color from his face. /Did I just attack a little boy?/ Hands shaking he put them to his face to hide the look of horror on his face. /I attacked a little boy because he hugged Kaoru/

"Ryou-" He heard Shino began so close to him but he started to move, slammed into a body he was sure was Shino�s without faltering, and continued his way even as he heard her grunt when she fell hard on the ground.

He ran right to the men�s restroom with everyone staring at his retreating back.
Kaoru meanwhile stayed on his back, completely in shock of what just happened above him. It did hurt when Iori came at him and knocked him tot he ground, but not hard enough to have Ryou jump at the little boy in his defense. /He-You were protecting me?/ Now completely confused on the mixed signals, he wasn�t even aware that Kudou had picked him up onto his feet with no resistance.

"You okay, man?" The redhead asked.

"Yes, I-" He stopped to look down at the teary-eyed Iori looking up at him.

"Oh Master En!" Saku�s voice rang out and she went to reach for him again, but hesitated once in her short life of existence in the small boy. Completely distraught, Iori took off, followed by Shino and Chigusa to comfort Saku.
Ryou splashed cold water on his face from the sink then took the paper towels that were handed to him by Tomonari, who stood beside the sink. Yuuichi stood against the supported part of the toilet stalls with his arms crossed over his chest.

There was silence as Ryou washed his face and neck, even when he dried himself off, but as soon as he tossed the used paper towels Yuuichi finally spoke up.

"So, wanna fill in on when you became a bully?"

"Yuuichi!" Tomonari balked in distaste.

"It�s alright, Kasumi," Ryou began in a calm voice while holding a hand up to him to silence the older man. "I can take care of my own battles."

Yuuichi actually scoffed loudly in sarcasm. "Good because there�s no excuse for causing so much trauma to that little boy. He�s screwed-up as it is-"
"Yuuichi, that�s enough." His boyfriend interrupted then sighed and looked at Ryou. "Ryou, I know for a fact that you weren�t provoked to attack Iori like that. So what happened?"

Ryou looked away and hissed out in exhale. "I don�t know!" He grabbed his hair and leaned on the sink by his backside. "Ever since Ichinose came to my apartment suddenly late last night-"
"Wait, you mean that he spent the night there?" The older of the three asked.

"Yeah," Ryou sighed and let his hands fall to his sides. "He was in so much pain from his father beating him last night. I never gave him my home address but he somehow tracked me down." He shook his head. "I guess that as the last straw with his father."

"Are you serious? Did you call the police? Why didn�t you tell us?!" Yuuichi exclaimed, already in "older brother" mode Silabus tended to get into with new players in "The World".

Ryou narrowed his eyes at the Canard member. "Because it wasn�t my business to tell." He then looked at the floor. "And he begged me last night not to call the police. I mean, he didn�t have any broken bones that I could find. And I�m an expert, trust me. I-" he sighed abruptly, closing his eyes and pointing his face to the ceiling.
"Listen, Ryou-san," Tomonari suddenly said I a calm voice that sounded like a serious Kuhn.

Ryou opened his eyes and looked at the taller man.

"While I can�t condone in you hesitating in calling the police-" He came over and put a friendly arm around the younger man�s shoulders. "I�m very proud of you for taking care of Endrance�s player." He then smiled low. "It takes a lot of guts to handle an emotional case when you�re not use to such extremities," he finished with light humor to his tone, having the raven-haired teen shove him away with a scoff.
"Listen, Ryou, just be careful. Who knows if Kaoru turned off his computer when he left last night." Yuuichi added.
*******************************************************************************
With spare blankets they would use for sitting out in the grass when done eating, they were now used as seat covers so the food wouldn�t stain the interiors.

But Yuuichi scrubbed himself as much as he could in the public restroom since he threatened Kudou his life if he didn�t let the younger man drive home this time. It wasn�t unusual to see Yuuichi threaten Kudou offline, and it was hilarious to watch Kudou sulk afterward.
Kaoru picked mashed potato and bits of jell-o from his hair to preoccupy himself.

"So did you have fun, Kaoru?" Tomonari asked as he turned from the front passenger seat to look at him.

Kaoru removed a bit more of jell-o, then looked at Ryou, who looked out of the car window with his chin resting on his open palm and his elbow resting on his knee.

"�Course he did, he was laughing!" Kudou said beside him and pulled the man to him with an arm around his neck.

Kaoru almost freaked out but gently got out of Kudou�s hold.

The redhead didn�t even notice as he recapped the whole food-fight as if a sport�s announcer.
Kaoru continued staring at Ryou, and the raven-haired felt watched so he looked around finding Kaoru looking at him.

Kaoru smiled lightly and Ryou�s eyes narrowed slightly.

"Don�t stare at me. It makes me uncomfortable." He then looks back at the window.

Kaoru�s smile faded and he looked at his lap. /I still love you, Ryou/ He then went back to picking food out of his hair.
Ryou continued staring out of the window, obviously ignoring Kudou�s excitement at the long-awaited food fight he predicted would happen sooner or later since the whole meet-up started. /I shouldn�t have snapped at him like that. But it was his fault that I attacked Iori like that. Damn him and his closeness./ He even physically shuddered, hoping it was revulsion he was feeling and not warmth.
After talking with Yuuichi and Tomonari, they all agreed that he had to let the police know about Kaoru�s condition, and somehow get the man to file a report against his father. He would even have to get a restraining order, seeing as Ryou described how beaten up Kaoru was last night.

As for Iori, he apologized, but was surprised to find that Saku had left, leaving a confused Iori looking up at him. All Ryou could do was roll his eyes at that.
The teen had come to a realization a long time ago that he was and will always be a loner. Even though he had caring friends online and off, nothing had changed much from the pain inside his heart.

His parents died in an automobile accident when he was barely five and the court ruled that he would be cared for from his father�s uncaring brother and sister-in-law. He sealed up those emotions long ago just to bear the pain of being alone; and when he started "The World R:2"(2), he was actually happy to be part of a guild where they needed him because he had "potential". Losing Shino, Alkaid, Atoli twice, and eventually Ovan, it very nearly killed him to have emotions again and experience pain over and over. But now that everyone came back, fine and normal, it seemed his emotions wanted to stay.
Soon his happy self faded right back to indifference, uncaring, and just plain rude, which turned a bunch of friendships 180. The only ones who acted the same to him were Matsu�s player, Kuhn�s player, and Endrance (of course). Everyone else seemed to wait on him to PK them it seemed, watching him, being careful around him.

He smirked low in thought. /Maybe I should to make them stop looking at me all the time./ It was well-known that after he gave the Xth form back to Zelkova, that he can revert to any of the first three forms as he pleased. Not only that some part of the Xth form stuck into his data where he can still level-up, unlike the game where it stopped at 150. Currently he was well over 500. Not only that he could still hack into random areas outside of "The World", seeing as Pi could never remove the program without injuring Haseo�s data. For fun, he learned about computer programs and how they worked, resulting in changing data to where he can make the beasts and monsters in areas with the same level of strength as him, so he can still fight. He could also rig traps on treasure boxes, which he found very amusing when PKers went to open them because he could rig the trap to spring only on them, or a few annoying regular players... like Tanu�
Once again, Haseo and Ryou were the oddballs again, unlike Endrance and Kaoru. Ryou sighed low, fogging up a portion of the window. Speaking of the older man, sooner or later Kaoru had to eventually get a life of his own. He can�t live at Ryou�s house forever, even if it�s only been one night.

/You�re not a charity case, Ichinose./
*******************************************************************************
Later that night, after both had another shower each, Ryou took Kaoru to a movie rental place, and wasn�t very surprised to find that the hikikomori(3) didn�t know a thing about movies.

Frustrating on Ryou�s part, he almost lost it a handful of times trying to get Kaoru to decide on a movie. But he kept getting the same response back: "I�ll watch what you want, Ryou." Finally, ready to explode, he chose two action movies with two horrors of his choice, nearly lost Kaoru as he stomped to the register, and threw the money down a little too hard to the cashier.

The female cashier took it all in stride since she watched the two cute men argue over movies, the black-haired one yelling the most. The sly smirk she had on her face was making Ryou want to punch her face in.

Instead he growled, snatched the change from her, then stomped out of the store with Kaoru following gracefully behind while clutching the movies that Ryou forgot.
When they got back to the car the trip was silent and Ryou couldn�t stand that, so he turned on the radio, having some Heavy Metal Japanese band on a good volume setting.

Kaoru looked at the radio with furrowed manicured eyebrows, otherwise there was no other form of expression on the man�s gaunt face.

Ryou noticed that. "Well, what kind of music do you like?" He then switched the station and bubble gum pop came on, making the teen bare his teeth as if the cheery synthesized music was giving him physical pain.

"I�ll listen to whatever you want to, Ryou," came Kaoru�s soft response.
That sent Ryou over the edge. Slamming on his brakes right in the middle of traffic, he ignored the other drivers honking their horns and yelling at him as they drove around him.

"I�m sick and tired of that response, Ichinose!! You�re fucking twenty-one-years-old! You�re allowed to make your own decisions and fuck what anyone says about it!!" He bellowed, having the blond sink deeper into his seat. "I mean, come�on! You�ve never seen a movie?! Never listened to the radio?! Do you actually live on the �The World�?! That�s unhealthy!"

"Ryou please don-" The blond started but stopped.

"Don�t? Don�t what, Ichinose? Please tell me because I am sick and tired of you latching onto me like a lost puppy!"

"Don�t yell at me," Kaoru said almost in a whisper. He looked at the raven-haired with wet eyes and a tear cascaded gracefully down his hollowed right cheek.
Suddenly pain, very physical and annoying pain, struck Ryou in the chest and he grabbed for it with a grunt in pain. He closed his eyes and took calm, slow breaths.

Kaoru stared, not sure what to do. "Are you-"

"I�m fine." Ryou interrupted without opening his eyes. Then he did and changed the channel back to jazzy R&B music with a female singer crooning. He grabbed the wheel and started driving again, not caring that another driver was trying to get around him and had to slam on brakes to avoid hitting him. He ignored the horn blare.
The car ride was in silence again as the song slowly faded into a slightly faster tempo with no singer.

"I like this," Kaoru brought up suddenly, in a pleasing tone.

Ryou doesn�t react at first, but then glanced at the blond, who was staring out of the window. Silently he turned the music up a little more and kept his eyes on the road.

Within a few seconds Kaoru started humming softly along with it.

Ryou glanced at him again and saw the blond�s right foot tap in sync with the music along with his right hand on his right thigh. Ryou looked back at the road, hiding a soft smirk on his lips.

&&TO BE CONTINUED&&
(1) � Don�t anyone flame me for that! Listen: Atoli and Haseo did have an online relationship, but Haseo�s temper always came in between them that Atoli couldn�t take it anymore. Well, slowly Shino and Atoli became good friends, and hung out with each other offline, finding they had a lot of things in common� and one thing led to another� *blushes* Shut up! I know how it looks!
(2) � **SPOILER ALERT**: Ok, it�s not much of a spoiler if you know. But yes, Haseo is indeed the one and only Sora from the original .hack series. After he got Data Drained, went into a coma in the real world, and then awoke from it he had amnesia and years later found his way back onto "The World", only the second version. That is a VERY short description of Haseo�s past b/c a lot of you may have already known. If not, go to Wikipedia.com. Anyways, I explain that because yes, I know of that to anyone one who wants to correct me, as my b/f did when it was I who told him of the Haseo/Sora thing. So, it is clear that only us, the gamers, that Haseo had played "The World" before, but had no memory of it. Ok? Ok.
(3) � Well it�s Japanese for "acute social withdrawal", as in he shuns society to be by himself.
Also I thought it was clever of me to put an obscure title that makes you go "Huh?" while scratching your head. Then you read and roll your eyes at me going "Ah, there�s the title."
- 1
- 2
- 3
You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.
Report Story

Red and Blue, Black and Blond