Disclaimer: -_-() **twiddles thumbs**

Warnings: If you’re not a fan of shounen ai, ya might not wanna read this. ^_^

Notes: Thaaaaaaaaank you for editing, Kaze-chan!! **gives Kaze-chan candy, but only one piece per day** ^_^ And thanks also to Hime, who pointed out that same-sex marriages aren’t actually legal in Hawaii. -_-() (They took the right away??? Ch! And I thought tolerance was supposed to get progressively better!! Argh.) So as soon as I can, I’ll go back and change "Hawaii" to "Holland" in Chapter One. I’m SURE it’s legal in Holland. No, really, I swear! I was wrong the first two times, but I just heard it on Will & Grace last night!! ^_^ Just pretend that’s what it says now, kay? ~.^;; heh heh. Okay, and while I’m at it: thanks to everyone who reviewed!! And thanks to everyone who’s actually reading my stuff!! May the Four Gods bless you with much Fushigi Yuugi merchandise. ^_^ (Like WALL SCROLLS!!!) ^_^

"Thanks again," I told Doukun as we headed out of the history building after class. "I can’t believe I didn’t wake up on time! I’ve never overslept before!"

"There’s this fascinating appliance called an alarm clock," he joked. "I’ve heard they’re extremely useful."

"I’ve never needed one before, though," I frowned. "I used to have a great internal alarm. Hmm. My timing’s probably just screwed up because I have later classes this semester than I’ve ever had before."

He shot me a sarcastically sympathetic look. "It’s a tough life, isn’t it?"

"I’m just glad Michaels wasn’t too mad," I continued.

"Well, you were only ten or fifteen minutes late. That other girl—the one no one really knows?—has missed two whole classes so far. Do you think she’s dropped?"

I shrugged. "Well, that other guy decided not to write a thesis at the last minute. It’s like ‘Survivor,’ or something. One person a week voted off the island."

That made him laugh. "So, what’s up for you today?"

"Not a whole lot. Geology at noon, German at two…homework in between…and then I’m going out to dinner, I think."

He blinked, surprised. "Really? With who?"

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhchuin," I mumbled, wrinkling my nose. "So what’s up with you?"

"Did you say Chuin??" Doukun exclaimed, his eyes wide. "You’re going out with Chuin?? Your freaky stalker guy??"

"I’m not ‘going out’ with him!" I said firmly. "We’re just going as friends."

"I thought he had a crush on you."

I frowned. "He does."

Doukun gave me a small smile. "Does he know you’re ‘just going as friends’?"

"It doesn’t matter what he thinks. All that matters is what I think. A ‘date’ takes the mutual agreement of both parties involved. And it is not a date."

~*~

"So, I’m so glad you finally decided to go out on a date with me!" Chuin said with a grin, leaning his elbow on the table and swirling the straw around in his Sprite.

I rubbed the bridge of my nose, which had begun to irritate me. He’d picked me up promptly at six; I’d been cowering in the door-frame of my dorm, wincing at every car that passed, as if my subconscious were screaming at me through a megaphone that I really didn’t want to do this. But I’d be strong…I’d be a nice guy. Let him down gently. Mother of God. Did he really have that much of a crush on me??? Friends. Focus on being FRIENDS. Crap. He barely even knows you. He’s barely an ACQUAINTANCE, for crying out loud!!

"Read any good books lately?"

I blinked. "Um…what? Sorry."

Chuin smiled over his soda. "That’s okay. Read anything interesting lately?"

"Oh…no, not really," I replied. "I’ve been pretty busy, you know…I have this huge paper and…"

"Ah! That’s right! You’re writing a thesis!"

I blinked. Did I ever even tell him that?

"Your thesis advisor’s Professor Michaels, right?"

Okay. Officially creepy. "You…know my schedule?"

He turned the slightest bit pale. "Ummm, I’m pretty sure you told me."

"I don’t think so."

After staring at me for a while, he gave a nervous chuckle, cleared his throat, and started playing with his napkin.

All right, I thought, now’s your chance… ‘Look, Chuin, you know we’re just friends, right?’ That’s all you have to say. ‘You know we’re just friends, don’t you, you frightening, scary, obsessive, stalking…’ No, no…Be tactful. ‘WHY DON’T YOU JUST LEAVE ME ALOOOOOOOONE????’

"Chu…" I began, but he interrupted.

"Y’know, you’d look really cute in drag?" he said confidentially, a hopeful expression on his face. "Ever considered it?"

AND…it was my turn to stare at him.

"Ummmmm……okay. Right. I’m leaving now," I said incredulously, grabbing my stuff and throwing my napkin on the table.

Amazingly enough, the psychopath actually looked surprised. He stood up and tried to follow me. "What? What’s wrong?"

Without a word, true to my promise, I socked him in the face. There was a resounding crash as I headed out the door, but I didn’t turn to see the damage I’d caused. With luck, they’d charge it to Chuin "Lock-Me-Up-I’m-A-Freaking-Pervert" Ryo’s account.

Stepping out into the darkness, I adjusted my bag and stomped off down the sidewalk. The nerve of that guy!! He barely knows me, has me raised up on some kind of damn pedestal…and he has the audacity to suggest that I cross-dress??? I didn’t even want to think about the weird little fantasies his psychotic little mind had cooked up… Gaaahhhhh, ewwww!!! I had nothing against people who cross-dressed; after all, it was their choice. But you don’t just go around asking random people to dress as women!! Even if they are small-boned and…well…Aaaaaahhhhhhhrrrrggghhhhhh!!! I had to grow some facial hair, or go around shirtless every day, or something.

I was angry as hell, and to top it all off, tears began to well up in my eyes. What, ya gonna CRY like a girl, stedda dressing as one?? But it really had upset me. Why had I ever agreed to this?? How stupid and naïve was I, to think that two years of infatuation could be cured by one dinner?! I never wanted to see Chuin again, that was certain!

After a while, my furious pace slowed as the heat of the moment died down. I was only wearing jeans and a sweatshirt, and the chill of the night was beginning to get to me. Crossing my arms tightly across my chest, I shivered and plodded onward; the restaurant wasn’t very far away from the dorm, but I still had a fair ways to go. I began wishing it had been me who had the car, and Chuin who’d been abandoned without vehicular access, forced to walk home in the cold. I didn’t know how far away he lived, because I, for one, was not a stalker.

I was walking by the small park, a good half a mile or so away from home, when I heard and felt a car pull up beside me. My whole body tensed, my heart beating rapidly, and I felt in my pocket for my keys; if held correctly, keys could make an effective weapon against muggers and creeps, or so I’d been told.

"Ryuuen! Come on, get in the car!"

Although some of my fear disappeared when I realized it was only Chuin, what little of it that had abated was soon replaced by renewed anger. I marched on determinedly.

"Look, I’m sorry, okay?" he whined, driving at a snail’s pace close to the curb. "I’m sorry! But you can’t walk all the way home!"

"Go away."

"Will you just get in the car?" he pleaded.

"There’s no way I’m getting in a car with you!" I yelled, walking faster. "Go away!!"

He stopped the car, opened the door, and got out.

Chuin Ryo came across as a fairly unobtrusive person, he really did! But he was bigger than me, and like I’ve said before, I didn’t really know him. The most unobtrusive people can possibly be the most violent, I’ve heard…and with the freaky comment he’d made in the restaurant…I guess I knew him even less than I thought I had.

I sped up even more, still clutching my keys. "Please…go away! I’m fine, all right? I’ll be per…I’ll be perfectly fine walking home by myself…"

"Can I just talk to you?" Footsteps…catching up…and he reached out and grabbed my arm.

I lost it. I wrenched away and tried to kick him in the groin, but I missed and got his knee instead; he gave a yell of surprise and stumbled, and I bolted, running blindly, off the sidewalk and into the trees. Stupid!! I yelled at myself. You don’t run into a forest when someone’s trying to catch you!!! Don’t you watch ANY horror movies??? But as soon as I tried to alter my course, he was there, behind me, and grabbed my arm again.

"Let me go!!" I yelled, trying frantically to break free.

"Will you stop it??!" he roared, pulling me back. "I just want to talk to you!! Stop running!!"

I tried to kick him again, panting hard with fear, but fright had made my limbs freeze up and I couldn’t manage much. "Please…please…" I choked desperately.

"Let him go."

Chuin froze, still latched tightly to my arm; the voice had come from a tree to our right, and we both turned to see a black-clad figure standing there, regarding us calmly.

"Wh…what do you want, pal?" Chuin asked.

"I’ve already told you," said the figure. "I want you to let the boy go."

"We’re just having a talk…"

"Excuse me. I don’t believe I have any sort of complicating speech impediment." Stooping down, the stranger took a fallen branch from the ground; again facing Chuin, he held the thing as if it were a sword, as if challenging him. "Let go. Now."

And he let me go.

Treebranch Dude gestured to the car with his ‘weapon.’ "Get going."

Chuin shot a look at me, then nodded, feigning composure. "We’ll talk tomorrow, Ryuuen; good night."

"Not if I can help it, creep," I muttered after him, my voice still shaking slightly, as he got into his vehicle and drove away.

Now, by all rights, I should have been more afraid of Treebranch Dude than I had been of Chuin. Chuin, I at least sort of knew; this guy in the black coat was a complete stranger. But, strangely enough, I hardly felt any sense of urgency once Chuin had gone; somehow, inexplicably, I just wasn’t afraid of him.

"Are you all right?" he asked, and stepped out of the shadows.

"Y-yes…yeah. Um…thank you," I said weakly, trying to will my nerves to settle. He was taller than I was, and had long, dark hair…I couldn’t see his face for the darkness, but I could see the moonlight glinting off his eyes.

"Allow me to escort you back to your residence," he offered, depositing the branch on the ground.

"Oh, you don’t have to." I was rapidly regaining my senses, thank goodness. "It isn’t far…and he won’t be back, I don’t think, if that’s what you’re…"

"I insist," he said smoothly, and ushered me to the sidewalk. "My name is Saihitei. And you are?"

"Ryuuen," I said, becoming slightly perturbed by this sudden chivalry. Oh, God... bet he thinks I’m a girl. That would explain… But he’d said "boy," hadn’t he? He’d said, "Let the boy go…" Maybe I’d heard wrong. God dammit to hell.

"Ryuuen," he said quietly. "It’s a pleasure to meet you. I must say, I’m glad I was here to help you. That gentleman seemed rather…unstable."

"Aw, he’s just a spazz," I muttered, giving one last shudder for posterity. "I don’t think he really would have hurt me…" Don’t know that for sure, though, do ya, kiddo? "But again, thank you; he had me kinda freaked out." Ouch. Painful understatement. I’d been as near to a quivering mass of jelly as a jellyfish sitting in a pile of jelly having an epileptic seizure on top of a blender.

"Do you know him well?"

"Not really. We lived in the same dorm two years ago."

"I see."

"Do you go to school here?"

He nodded. "Grad school. Foreign relations."

"Oh, yeah? That’s cool…"

We were nearing a streetlight, so I sneaked a peek up at my rescuer, and was startled to see…

Long, sepia hair, tied back into a loose ponytail…golden eyes set in a long, smooth, pale face…

…The guy from my dream.

He looked down at me, probably feeling my eyes on him, and frowned. "Is something wrong?"

Well, ya know, even though I’ve never seen you before, I had a dream about you last night where you asked me if I believed in reincarnation, and I think you’re pretty cute? "N-no, I’m fine," I said.

A smile played about his lips. "Do you find me attractive?"

Oh, good God. A faint blush crept across the tops of my cheeks. "I…"

"Many people find me attractive," he went on matter-of-factly. "It isn’t anything to be ashamed of. You just have good taste, I suppose."

"It’s…you look like someone from a dream I had," I mumbled. Immediately afterward, I had to restrain myself from bludgeoning myself in the head. How did you let THAT out??? He’s gonna think you’re NUTS!!!

But he only laughed. "Do I?"

"Uhhhh, sorry," I said quickly, "you probably don’t…I mean…that was a pretty dumb thing to say."

"It’s all right," he assured me. "I actually get it a lot."

"I just don’t want you to take it the wrong way, or anything…"

"Are you cold?"

I nearly tripped over a crack in the sidewalk. "Ahhmmm, what?"

"It’s cold outside, and you don’t have a jacket," he observed, hands going to the buttons of his own coat.

"Ahhh, no, no, no!!" I exclaimed, eyes bugging out, waving my hands profusely. "No, I…no, I’m all right! Please, you don’t need…"

"I have a blazer on underneath the trench coat," he insisted. "I’m getting rather warm, anyway." He handed the coat to me.

I accepted it uncomfortably. No one had ever offered me a jacket before, for whatever reason…certainly not a perfect stranger. I began to wonder if this guy was a figment of my imagination; maybe this whole thing was a dream. Maybe Chuin had hit me on the head or something, and this entire episode was just some kind of subconscious hallucination.

Feeling guilty, I shuffled to a halt.

He stopped, as well, looking back at me with a somewhat tired expression. "What now?"

"You…you do know I’m…a guy…right?" I said quietly, uncharacteristically shy.

He looked at me questioningly, and I was afraid he hadn’t known, that he’d be angry…but then his face relaxed into a smile.

"Of course," he said. "I’m not an idiot, you know."

My eyebrows went together. "And…you…you’re not, ahh…" Why are you being so nice to me, then??

"Ryuuen," he said, stepping up to me. "I’ve dreamed of you, too, you know."

I was startled. "You have?" Why on earth?? Who IS this guy, anyway??

He nodded. "Yes. I have."

My breath made tiny, cloud-like puffs as it escaped into the night.

"But," he said, still smiling gently, "the only thing I saw was your eyes."

Blinking, I stared up at him, feeling the warmth in my cheeks increase and spread. My…eyes? Why…

But I understood, then. It didn’t matter. It didn’t matter at all.

I smiled, still timid—Yeah, you’re just a bud of blushing beauty, aren’t ya?—and we began to walk once more, silent, side by side.

What can you tell about someone, after all, from whether they’re a guy or a girl? Not much, I suppose.

It’s what’s behind their eyes that counts.

TBC….

^_^

Gaaaaaahhhh, I was in a sappy mood. ^_^ ^_^ I VERY rarely write this kind of thing, but I must have been possessed by the "Hotohori and Nuriko!! Kawaaaaiiiiiiii!!!" Bug. ^_^

Oh, and a small aside to y’all who were perplexed by Ryuuen being gay in this story: it’s just an interpretation! ^_^ But I think I can safely say that, of all the FY characters, Nuriko’s probably the most open-ended as far as "orientation" goes. ^_^ The whole point of the story so far is that it shouldn’t really matter, anyway. ^_^ People in Holland seem to have figured this out already. Wonder what’s taking us so long?! ~.^;;