Disclaimer: I don’t even have a life. Think I have all this stuff? --;; 19-2000 is a cool song by the Gorillaz that gets stuck in everyone’s head. ^_^ Yes.

Warnings: Lotsa bad language. **nod** Ummmm…silly banter. Tickling. Maybe sap. Shounen ai. **shrug** Slight Pennsylvania bashing. :P

Notes: I’m tired. And I’m watching America’s Funniest People. Insomnia is fun. Anyhoo, thanks for reading this over, Cereal-chan! ^_^ Thanks for reading, everyone, and I hope you guys like this. ^_^()

"Ryuu-chan," Genrou whispered.

I squeezed my eyes shut tighter. It was dark—we’d been driving all day long—and everyone but Myojuan and Saihitei was asleep. Well…and Genrou, it seemed. And now…me. "Mmmph," I said, burying my face in my pillow.

A hand settled on my shoulder, shaking me slightly. "Ryuu-chan!"

Sigh. "Whhhzzzz?"

A slight pause. "I…I’m really fuckin sorry, about the whole insult thing…"

"It’s just…some of my friends—Kouji, even—they say it all the fuckin time, and it just fuckin popped out. I really didn’t mean to make ya cry."

Turning my head, I let out a breath. "Gen-chan," I said quietly, "it’s okay. It’s over. I’m not mad."

"I just don’t fuckin think of ya that way, ya know?" he continued, musing. "I don’t think of ya like yer gay. Yer too cool fer fuckin labels like that; yer just you. So it just didn’t fuckin register in my pea-sized brain that it’d hurt ya so bad."

I smiled at his words, and craned my neck to look at him. "Thanks, Gen-chan. I appreciate you saying that."

"You can still hit me if ya wanna."

I giggled. "Naw, that’s okay."

"Crack me a fuckin good one, huh? Right in the kisser. C’mon." He actually looked like he was bracing himself.

Moron. "Look," I said, speaking slowly. "I don’t want to hit you, okay? It wasn’t our finest hour, but it’s overrrr. You don’t have to keep acting like you accidentally murdered my brother, or something."

He snorted. "I don’t think murderin fuckin Rokou could ever be fuckin accidental."

"Heyyy," I warned. "He’s my brother. Watch it."

"Oh, by the way," he said, leaning in closer. "I got a fuckin bone ta pick with you."

"Oh?" I raised an eyebrow.

He nodded. "Hell yeah. It’s about the way you and Doukun keep singin fuckin 19-2000."

Mildly confused—but happy that the subject of the Infamous Insult had been dropped—I pushed myself into a sitting position and folded my arms. "What?"

"You two fuckin munchkins keep singing ‘Got the cool shoeshine,’" he said wisely. "It’s ‘Get the cool shoeshine.’ ‘Get the cool fuckin shoeshine.’" So fuckin start singin it right, will ya?"

I blinked. "Wha? It’s totally not!"

"Bet yer fuckin ass it is," he affirmed, tipping his nose into the air.

"It’s not! It’s ‘got’!! The kid’s saying ‘got’!!"

"Buddy, I’ll show ya a fuckin lyrics page sometime."

"Hmph!" I said. "Well, if you’re gonna be a lyrics snob, you should be aware that it’s ‘vapor trail,’ not ‘paper trail.’"

"Ehhh?!"

" ‘There’s a monkey in the jungle, watching a vapor trail…’" I sang.

"PAPER trail!"

"Ah. You must’ve skipped that part of the lyrics page." I stuck out my tongue.

"I didn’t need to fuckin read it, cuz I know the goddamn words!"

"Hello? Will ya think about it? ‘Watching a paper trail’? What the hell is that supposed to mean? It makes no sense!"

"It doesn’t have to make fuckin sense," he growled. "It’s…a fuckin…song."

"Since when do songs not have to make sense?"

"Since the fuckin Beatles wrote ‘I Am The Walrus."

I giggled. "Ah. Well, you do have a point."

He smiled smugly.

"But it’s ‘vapor.’"

"Gahhhhh, it’s not!!"

"ShhhhhhhhhhhhhHHHH!!" I hissed. "You’re gonna wake everyone up!!" Glancing at the front of the van, where Saihitei had taken Taka’s place shotgun, I saw my boyfriend lean over and look behind him. I grinned idiotically and waved. It was dark enough so that he probably couldn’t see the grin, but he waved back, and I fell back against the seat with a happy sigh.

"Shit," muttered Genrou.

I swiveled my head in his direction. "Mmmm?" Warm and cozy thoughts. Warm and cozy thoughts. Sai sai sai sai sai sai sai sai sai…

"You guys’re just so fuckin meant fer each other," he continued quietly, shaking his head. "It’s fuckin disgusting. Gahhhh, the whole Destiny thing, not the fuckin guy thing. But…I think that’s great, man. I mean, I’m really happy you two are so great for each other. Fuck." Genrou tilted his own head back, resting it on the back of the seat. "Goddammit, when the hell did I get to be such a fuckin sap?? It’s your fuckin fault, ya know, you and Sai and your cutesy fuckin romance."

I beamed, warmed from inside. "You were always a sap, Gen-chan. You just hide it well."

He grunted, but strangely enough, didn’t try to murder me for what I’d said.

~*~

It struck me as slightly amazing that Myojuan could stay up all night, and not fall asleep at the wheel and kill us all. But he did. Maybe he didn’t trust anyone else to drive his friend’s van. I heard Saihitei ask if he wanted to switch about five times, but Myojuan always refused kindly, and took another swig of the giant Thermos O’ Coffee he’d purchased at the last gas station we’d stopped at.

Well, anyway. The horrendously long trip was finally coming to an end. It might be interesting to know that Ohio and Pennsylvania are two of the longest states in the civilized world, and that driving across them is as tedious as hell. "What state are we in now?" we’d ask, and the reply would be, "Pennsylvania." Three hours later: "What state are we in now?" "Pennsylvania." Five million years later, still in Pennsylvania. It was as if we’d been caught in a time loop, or were driving around in circles, or something. So, as soon as we saw signs that said "New Jersey," probably around eleven o’clock at night, Gen-chan and I let out whoops of happiness that woke everyone else up with a jolt. We had a little mini-party, and broke out the Rice Krispie Treats Taka had purchased at the same place Myojuan had gotten his coffee.

"Fuck!! I never wanna see fuckin Pennsylvania again!" Gen-chan groaned.

"Yes," said Doukun. "Too bad we have to drive back the same way we came."

There was a slight pause, and Gen-chan whimpered and dropped his head back again. "Whyyyyy, God??"

All conversation ceased as we approached the city, the lights shining like grounded stars in the darkness. None of us had ever been to New York City before, and it was truly an awe-inspiring sight. We drove through the Lincoln Tunnel and emerged into the city itself, flashing lights, neon signs, billboards…It wasn’t that much different from Chicago, but…dude, it was New York City!!

And…it was really big.

I couldn’t help but feel a tiny twinge of despair clench in my chest. There are so many people. It’s…it’s so big. How are we ever gonna find Houjun here? It’s the whole needle in a haystack cliché! If he doesn’t want to be found, he WON’T be! Of all the places to go…

No. I shook my head slightly. Don’t get into that habit. Don’t get all pessimistic; it won’t help anything, and it’s useless. If you start looking on the dark side of things, it’ll be hard to stop.

I raised my chin and smiled, closed-mouthed, at the buildings as they passed.

~*~

Unbeknownst to me, Saihitei had called to reserve rooms for us at a hotel, so that’s where we headed. We had two rooms again, and kept the separation as The Couples Room and The Other Room. They weren’t adjoining this time, but they were across the hall from each other, which was good enough for us.

Miaka and I said goodnight to Myojuan, Doukun, and Genrou, fairly dragging ourselves into the room. When Taka and Saihitei came back with the luggage—there was some vague, foggy voice at the back of my mind that was telling me that carrying stuff should probably be my job, considering my powers, but it didn’t quite register—Taka laughed at our expressions.

"You two look like the Living Dead!" he chuckled. "You can’t be that tired! Didn’t you sleep in the van?"

We turned to face him, and, as if reading each other’s minds, advanced on him slowly, keeping our expressions neutral. Eyes widening, he took a step back.

"Gahhh, okay okay okay, stop! You’re freaking me out!"

But we kept going, backing him up against the wall and trying not to blink…and when we couldn’t move any farther, and we couldn’t keep our faces straight any longer, we pounced on him and started tickling, giggling insanely. He screamed like a girl and tried to fend us away, but to no avail! Our combined strength was too much for him, especially since I was using my seishi powers for the forces of evil. Wahahaha!

Somehow, he managed to gain the advantage and started tickling me, and I had a bit of trouble working up the strength to retaliate because I was laughing so hard. When I cried for Miaka to help me, she jumped on Taka’s back and covered his eyes with her hands, giving me the chance to scramble away. Saihitei came in a few moments later to find Taka wandering around the room blindly, trying to find me again, his little girlfriend hanging from his back and covering his eyes, and me trying to ward him off by going at him lightly with a pillow, giggling.

"Help!" I squeaked as he shut the door behind him, darting around and using him as a shield. Apparently, Taka had not heard Saihitei enter, and, following my voice, ran right into my boyfriend with outstretched arms and started tickling. As I fell to my knees and proceeded to die laughing, Saihitei took a giant, startled leap back, dropping luggage on either side. Miaka, meanwhile, had lost all power in her muscles when Taka had started tickling Saihitei, and had slid to the floor, mirroring my own side-splitting laughter.

His eyes now uncovered, Taka blinked at his victim, and froze on the spot, paling a bit.

"H..h…Heika!" he stammered.

Saihitei smiled wryly, straightening his shirt. "Please, don’t call me that."

"Eheh…" Taka put an embarrassed hand to his head. "Sorry…I, ahh…I couldn’t see."

"It’s all right," my boyfriend said with a nod, his smile deepening. "But we should get to bed now, if we’re going to really start looking for Houjun tomorrow." He looked pointedly over at me and Miaka, who had convened at the foot of the bed, still giggling madly.

Taka stepped over and crossed his arms. "Should we drug ‘em?"

"Not a bad idea."

"Ahahahaha! Sorry!" I laughed, wiping a tear from my eye and pushing myself weakly to my feet. Miaka clung to my arm, almost bringing me down with her again, but I managed to haul her up pretty easily, and we made our way to the bathroom to brush our teeth.

Minutes later, I was crawling into bed with Saihitei, dressed in my blue plaid flannel pajamas and my Fishie Socks. When Taka and Miaka were settled, as well, we bid each other good night, and Taka reached over to flip off the bedside lamps.

"Night, Sai," I whispered with a sigh—ack, no pun intended—as I snuggled into his arms. It was nice to have a boyfriend, heehee, in case I haven’t mentioned that enough recently.

"Goodnight, sweetheart," he replied softly, giving me a customary goodnight kiss that sent customary shivers up my spine. I steeled myself against the urge to "Ehehehehe" and relaxed against him, not having long to wait before I faded into sleep.

~*~

I stared at the ceiling again, heart beating like a rabbit’s, breath coming harshly, hair hanging in damp clumps on my forehead.

But I hadn’t been able to remember the last one, and I couldn’t remember this one, either. So I had no way of telling if it had been the same. And it scared me. Whatever I’d dreamed about had obviously scared me, too, given the fact that I’d waken up in such a nervous state. But what scared me even more was not being able to remember it.

"Ryuuen?" came a sudden, hushed voice beside me. It was Saihitei; we’d rolled apart in our sleep, it seemed, and had wound up on our backs.

"Ryuuen…are you all right?" He turned onto his side, propping himself up a little on his elbow.

"Y-yeah," I managed. "I’m just…thinking, I guess."

"About what?"

I took a deep breath, focusing on the ceiling, and decided to skip the whole nightmare thing and begin with something else, something I hadn’t spent much time thinking about, because the subject made me feel sick. "Saihitei…"

"Mmm?"

"Well…" I swallowed, fisting my hands in the covers and pulling them even more tightly around myself. "What if…what if Houjun’s dead already? What if he came here to kill himself, like his friend died at the river? What if we look and look for him, but he’s already dead?"

Despite the gross sweat factor, he smoothed back my hair with a gentle hand. "Shh. He’s not dead."

"How do you know, though?" It was funny, but as soon as I’d voiced that tiny, repressed thought, I really started worrying about it. I mean, obviously, Houjun hadn’t exactly been thinking straight when he’d left. According to Saihitei and Taka—and Miaka—Chichiri had lost his best friend in a flood, let go of his hand when he thought he could have saved him. What if the guilt of the past had gotten so great for Houjun that he’d felt the need to end his own life in repentance?

But why the heck would he go all the way to New York to kill himself, for crying out loud? Why? What was so important about this place?

"Well," Saihitei sighed, putting his arms around me once more and pulling me to his chest. I was still shivering from my forgotten nightmare, but hoped it wasn’t that noticeable. "When a seishi dies, the other seishi who serve the same god can feel it. It’s like…a kind of hole being torn in your heart. Like a part of you is being ripped away. You… You wouldn’t remember the feeling, I don’t think, since you…were the first to die, and didn’t have the opportunity to sense it from others. But you haven’t felt anything like that, have you?"

"I don’t think so."

"Neither have I. And believe me…when you feel it, you’ll know. You’ll know."

I hoped I’d never feel it. It sounded awful, and I didn’t like the thought of losing anyone close to me; even only moderately close, like Houjun.

~*~

Notes: Oookay, uhhh…interesting little foray into flashback. --;; And, aaaaarghhh, my continuing apologies to all the Chichiri People, but he’s coming up soon! I promise! ^^;;;; Hmm, this fic is actually almost done. O.o;;; Honto ni! Only three or four more chapters to go. ^^;; Whoah. Aaaand, once again, I didn’t have time for a serious editing job on this, soooo… ^^;;; forgive me! If you see problems or OOC-ness, tell me tell me! I will fix it! **solemn vow**

For The Record: I really am not sure about the true lyrics to 19-2000. ^_^() I could swear that it’s "Got the cool shoeshine!" But Ryu-chan says she went to a site that said it was "Get!" And Arashi thinks so, too! Hmm. Maybe it’s just my baka mid-west ears. ^_~ All I know for sure is, it is "vapor," and not "paper." ^__^ (thanks, Ryu-chan.)

Ryuuen: **narrating** Apparently, Taka had not heard Saihitei enter, and, following my voice, ran right into my boyfriend with outstretched arms and started tickling.

Taka: Tickletickletickle!!!!

Saihitei: TEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEEE!!!!! **laughs like Mickey Mouse**

Ryuuen: O.O;;

Miaka: Umm…

Ryuuen: Uhhh….yeah. **leaves the room**

Miaka: Where’re ya going??!!

Ryuuen: I’m going across the hall to see if Gen-chan will be my boyfriend.

Saihitei: **falsetto** But Ryuuuueeeeeeennnn!!!! It’s our destiny to be together!

Ryuuen: **flees in terror** NNNOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!