(Nuriko: Ne, Mouse-chan!!! Work on your thesis!!!

Nuriko: ^^;;;;;;;; )

Warnings: Language. MAJOR shounen ai in this chapter. MAJOR sap. --;; Angsty. Gahhh.

Notes: Ryuen claims that "I Could Fall In Love" by Selena is a good music choice for the second section of this chapter. ^^;;; Trust her, I guess. Hehe. Lalala, I’m tired, and I hope you guys like this chapter. ^^ It might be more interesting than the last one, if you’re up for the sap thing. **shrug** Have fun!

"We’re never gonna fuckin find him," groaned Genrou, sprawled out face-down on the hotel bed.

"We will," said Myojuan firmly. "I know we will. This was only the first day of looking; it would be naïve to believe we’d find him this easily."

We all nodded, but sullenly. I knew we wanted Myojuan to be right. But after the failure of the long, cold day, it was hard not to lose faith.

"Yeah," I said with a grin, surprising myself. "I mean…we did tell our parents we were gonna be gone for the whole week, right? We can’t have expected to succeed right away. Not really, anyway."

"Ryuu-chan’s right!" Miaka said firmly, standing up and clenching her fist. "We’re being stupid! We’ll find Chichiri, no matter what! Even if it takes us all winter!"

"All wiiiinter…" Taka moaned, hanging his head.

"I doubt it will take that long," said Saihitei.

"We should keep the same course tomorrow," Doukun instructed. "Those clues have to mean something. He didn’t show up at either location today, but he might tomorrow."

Genrou raised his head. "But what if we’re completely fuckin wrong? What if we’ve got it all fucked up?!"

"What else could it insinuate?" said Doukun with a shrug. "There’s only one river that’s near the Statue of Liberty. I think if we go again, Houjun might be there."

"Yeah, what if we’re walking around the city and he’s right where we were today tomorrow?" I said, stumbling over the last few words, awkward as they were. "That’d be pesky and ironic."

"I think we should return to the same places," Saihitei agreed. "I know it’s tedious, but it seems like the wisest choice."

Most of us nodded to show our approval. Miaka, who seemed to be on a Sailor Moon kick, exclaimed, "Yeah! We shall overcome boredom for the greater good!!" And Genrou just sighed dramatically and covered his head with a pillow.

~*~

I screamed. It tore from my throat roughly, hoarsely, like I didn’t have enough air in my lungs to do it right. I tried to open my eyes…I tried to open my eyes, but I couldn’t…I had to watch…I had to…

There were hands on my shoulders, warm hands, but I shrank away from them; all power to scream had dissolved, leaving me only with muted exclamations and tiny whimpers to ward off whatever had grabbed me…

"Ryuuen!"

And suddenly, there was darkness… There was darkness, but I knew I had opened my eyes, because it was bright when they were shut. Snowy white.

My vision was tinged with glowing red, which seemed to be coming from my chest…and in the red light, I could see…a face.

Saihitei.

I was shaking and sweating, like the previous two nights, chest heaving painfully, gasping. It was the dream. It was the dream again…

"It’s all right… Nuriko, Ryuuen, it’s all right, sweetheart…it was just a dream. You were having a bad dream, but it’s over now." The hands drew me up into a sitting position, stroked my damp hair, held me close against a warm, beating heart…

Because I remembered.

I remembered the dream I’d forgotten.

Choking, I tried to shove myself away from Saihitei, desperate to talk. "I remember! I remember…I remember…" My voice was still raw, and I clutched at his chest frantically, trying to grab onto him. My eyes were swimming; I could barely see…

His hands went to either side of my face, holding me still. "Shhhhh, shhh!!" he attempted to quiet me, trying to keep his calm, but I knew I was scaring him; I couldn’t help it. "I know…I know, it’s all right…"

"H-Hotohori-sama…it was so cold…" I swallowed, shaking, now speaking in little more than a pathetic squeak. "And…it…it hurt…" And I lost it; I just started crying. I was too upset to even think about the fact that I was embarrassing myself, or that I was being a hindrance.

"Oh, gods…I know…" Saihitei stroked my cheek with a trembling hand, his own face contorting into a mask of anguish. "I’m sorry…I’m so sorry! I should have been there with you…I should have gone with you…you wouldn’t have been alone then. I’m so sorry I left you alone…"

What’s this? What’s this? No…he’s not supposed to cry. Hotohori-sama can’t cry. Not because of me!

Lightly, I brushed at his eyes with my own hand, feeling the wetness there; the surprise at his reaction had lessened my own sobs, though tears still poured down my cheeks. Reaching up, pressing his lips together, he took my hand in his and closed his eyes, squeezing it tightly.

"Nuriko…" he whispered tremulously.

"Don’t cry," I said in a small voice. "Don’t cry…please…"

And he opened his arms and hugged me close, rocking back and forth almost unconsciously, offering sobbing apologies in my ear as I cried into his shoulder. At first, I was a little frightened that he wasn’t listening to me. It scared me that he was so upset, and I was too much of a mess myself to try to comfort him.

But…

Then I realized that he needed this. He needed to get rid of all the guilt he’d built up since Nuriko had…since I had died in the Book World. And he would never have done so if I wouldn’t have remembered what had happened.

~*~

When I woke up, I was warm.

For once, Saihitei was awake before me, and he brushed my bangs from my eyes as they fluttered open. I peered up at him blearily, saw the dried tracks of tears on his face, and reached out a hand to try to brush them away. He smiled and caught my hand as he had the night before, twining our fingers together, and leaned down to kiss my eyelid.

"Hi," I whispered, studying his face.

"Hi."

Despite having just woken up, I felt drained, somehow. Weak. But as always, I managed to conjure up a smile. "Didn’t disturb you last night, did I?" I asked, attempting to be funny.

He shook his head. "I’d rather be disturbed than leave you alone with whatever haunts you."

Heart clench. "That’s poetic."

"They say the best poets are men in love."

"Who says?"

"I do."

"Ahhh, I see."

There was a slight pause as he peered intently into my eyes, trailing his finger gently down the center of my forehead and off the tip of my nose. I giggled.

"We should get up. We were planning on leaving around ten; that’s in an hour."

I nodded, though my bones groaned at the thought of another full day of walking. Saihitei gave me a second kiss, this time on the lips, and rose to get ready. Sitting up and scratching my head, I let out a large yawn, looking across at the other bed to see Miaka doing the same. With a grin, I waved at her.

She waved back, and climbed out of her and Taka’s bed to join me in ours. As she approached, I was startled to see that her eyes were red and swollen.

"M…Miaka?" I said, my own eyes wide.

"Hmm?" She wrapped her arms around my chest, resting her chin on my shoulder.

"Um…" I began, fumbling. "About last night…I didn’t…"

"Ryuu-chan," she said softly, giving me a squeeze, "shut up."

I sighed. "I didn’t want to die. I didn’t want to leave you."

"I know."

"I’m sorry I wasn’t stronger."

She laughed a little, then sniffed. "You’re the strongest person I know. And I mean that. Don’t forget it."

"That’s funny," I said, stricken with sudden memories of Miaka, rooted in the past. "That’s funny… I was gonna say the same thing about you."

"Me?" Miaka snorted, the model of elegance. "You’re crazy."

"I’m not crazy. I remember. I was there."

Slight pause.

"…Ryuuen?"

"Yeah?"

"Short people rule."

I giggled. "Yeah."

~*~

Miaka and Taka went down with the others for the continental breakfast, and I imagined that the hotel management would soon be regretting that the breakfast was free. The previous morning, she’d eaten all of the muffins, and most of the donuts, too. I myself didn’t really feel like eating. It’s a symptom of crying, I guess: either you’re really hungry after you cry, or you feel really gross and stomach-churny. And the latter is how I felt after I had the nightmare.

Saihitei stayed up in the hotel room with me while everyone else ate. Apparently he was feeling gross, too. I was still moderately shaken from my recent surge of traumatic memories, and he sat with me on the bed and let me lie my head in his lap, petting my hair so gently that it almost put me to sleep again.

"Sai," I said sleepily.

"Hm?"

"I didn’t mean to upset you."

There was a relatively long silence.

"You didn’t upset me."

"But…I made you cry," I reminded him weakly.

"Ryuuen, you did not make me cry. It was my own heart that decided that for me."

More silence.

"Sai?"

"Yeeees?"

"I just want you to know that…my last thoughts, before… They were of you."

The hand on my head slowed for just a moment before resuming its previous rhythm.

"Thank you," he whispered, and I closed my eyes, at peace.

~*~

That day was almost exactly the same as the day before, except this time, Miaka, Taka, Saihitei and I went to the river first, and the others checked out the Statue. I hoped Genrou wouldn’t cause more problems getting on the boat. Even more than that, I hoped that poor woman with the traumatized kid didn’t decide to pay a second visit to the place.

If she did, she’d be in for an unpleasant surprise.

The one piece of good luck we had was that it wasn’t quite as cold as it had been before. We were near a body of water, which meant that, naturally, we were subject to a fair amount of wind. But even the wind seemed to be weaker, which was a major relief, considering I was so tired I could barely move.

The bad luck, however, came in a nice big parcel of Bad Stuff. At the top of the list was the fact that we still couldn’t connect to Houjun. Following were lesser evils, such as the aforementioned fatigue, the hunger that had begun to set in since we’d arrived, the feeling of hopelessness and uselessness, and the fact that Taka stepped in dog poop on the way down to the shore.

(Okay, so we laughed at him, which kinda made it good. But he was pretty irritated, so…bad.)

Finally, we called it quits and headed back to the little coffee shop, which had become our Secret Headquarters, New York Branch. The others were already there. Maybe it was a Statue of Liberty Thing, leaving early. I dunno.

Genrou, Doukun, and Myojuan were sitting at a table by the window, eating sandwiches. I circled around behind Genrou and gave him a noogie with an evil grin. He flailed his arms and managed to get mayonnaise all over my sleeve. "FUCK!!!! Ya fuckin say hello first?"

"Hellooooo," I said, taking the window seat next to him.

He glared at me. "Why the fuck do ya look so fuckin tired? Why’re yer eyes red? Fuckin contacts actin up?"

Genrou, the Ever-Tactful. Ryuuen’s Solution: Change The Subject. "Good sandwich? Need some more mayo?" I displayed my messy coat sleeve to him, cocking an eyebrow.

"What’s up? I assume you would’ve called Sai’s cell if you would’ve felt anything, huh?" Taka said, without much hope.

"Yeah. Big fat fuckin nothin," said Genrou. "And I’m never goin to the fuckin Statue of Liberty again. At least, not on a fuckin boat."

Saihitei let out a long breath and sat down on Genrou’s other side, propping his head up on his elbows. Miaka bounced into her seat with a chipper, "Well, maybe we’ll be more lucky when we swap!"

"Maybe we should just give up," Doukun sighed. "As much as I hate to say it…we know he’s not dead. And he’s an adult. He’s mature. He can take care of himself."

"He’s also fuckin nutso," Gen-chan kindly reminded us.

"Well…confused might be a better word," Saihitei mumbled.

As they discussed the situation, I put my chin in my hand and let my gaze wander out the window. I was just too tired to help with the thinking. It was moderately busy on the street outside the shop. Normal people with normal lives were driving their cars, walking their little dogs, riding their bikes…not worrying about whether one of their reincarnated friends was wandering around the town with a flower pot on his head, declaring himself the King of the Mooncalves.

I smiled to myself.

There was a little restaurant right across the street, a sandwich shop like this one, only a little nicer, maybe. There was a big, ornate sign painted on the window, in silver and blue, all swirly and kinda Celtic in design. Next to it, there was an old-fashioned drug store with…

Wait.

My heart leapt into my throat, and my hand fell limply down to the table.

Jaw dropping almost to my chest, I read the name of the place across the street.

‘The River.’

And at a little table, right underneath the sign, sat a man in a purple dress shirt with powder blue hair, his bangs sticking almost straight up and drooping just slightly to the side…

Notes: AAAhhhhhhhh!!! Did anyone see that coming? Was it cheesy? Predictable? Maybe? Well, there’s Chichiri for ya. **gestures with hands** See? Woo! I apologize for the nightmarish (no pun intended) sap in this chapter. ^^;;; It is rrrrather abundant. Ah well. **shrug**

ANOTHER STORY AKUGI

Ryuuen: AAAHHHHHHHH!!!

Saihitei: NURIKO!! It’s okay! It’s just a nightmare!!

Ryuuen: Oh, thank the GODS!!! **wipes sweat from brow** Whoah…that was awful!!

Saihitei: **hugs** It’s okay. I’m your pillow. I’m here for you.

Ryuuen: **sobs**

Saihitei: So…what was your dream about?

Ryuuen: Gahhh, it was so scary! I dreamed they made a third OVA and they made me a girl!!

Saihitei: …

Ryuuen: …Sai?

Saihitei: …Mm?

Ryuuen: This is the part where you kiss me and tell me it’s okay and it was just a dream.

Saihitei: Eheh…ummm….

Ryuuen: **stiffens** S-Saihitei? Why aren’t you saying it?

Saihitei: Well, it might not be so bad being a girl, ya know? ^^;;;;

Ryuuen: Wh…what???!!! **cries** Whadda ya mean???

Saihitei: **changing the subject quickly** Do you like newts?!

Ryuuen: ?!?!?!?!

(Hai, it’s true!!! **sob** He’s a girl in the OVA3. How very sad g.g )