Disclaimers: Ich spreche keine Englisch.

Warnings: Sap! Shounen ai! Sap! Shounen ai! Sap! Random dancing! Sap! Genrou swearing! Sap! Reeeeeeeally lame chapter title! Sap! ^^;;;;

Notes: Woohoo!! I finished another chapter before I have to leave! But, alas, leave I must, come Sunday morning. Thanks to all who said they’d write! **hugs** I’m gonna miss you all…but really, a month and a half isn’t thaaaaaaaat long… ^^;; Really. Anyway. This chapter is, er…pretty pointless, really. But it was fun. ^__^;; Don’t drown in the sap!

We stepped into the house to find Gen-chan waiting for us, standing by the wall and looking pissed, his arms folded across his chest. Sai asked him what was wrong, and he shoved a piece of paper in his face.

"Fuckin Houjun and his goddamn posse left already! Did they call? Fuck, no! Did they wait for us to fuckin get back and talk to ‘em before they fuckin drove off to fuckin Wisconsin?? Fuckin hell, no!!"

Although my heart sank with the knowledge that the others had already gone, I covered my mouth to hide my smirk. Gen-chan, minus the obscenities, was acting like my mom; however, I felt it would have been unwise to point out such a thing at that moment.

Sai read the note patiently, nodding. "It’s good that they left. The longer we stay here, the less time we’ll have to find the other Seiryuu, and the more time Miboshi will go uncontested." Gen-chan spluttered a bit at this, but Sai was right. He was always right.

I stumbled around the main floor to find Myojuan and ask him what kind of frozen pizza he wanted, and found him out cold in one of the armchairs in the den. I never really knew healing took so much out of him; well, scratch that. I did know. Nuriko knew. But the only other time I’d seen him heal someone, I’d been—surprise—too panicked to really notice that he’d probably looked more run-down than the rest of us.

"Ryuuen!" Sai called from the kitchen. "Do you want an apple or something to eat while the pizza cooks?"

"Shit, man, that’s right! You didn’t have anything today except that fuckin soda," Genrou reminded me kindly, forgetting to rant about the others leaving in favor of lecturing me about male anorexia. He wasn’t serious; I think he was actually grasping for straws, trying not to remind me why I hadn’t eaten anything. But I tuned him out when I remembered that Sai had been with me almost constantly since this morning, and I hadn’t seen him eat, either.

I watched my boyfriend for a while, reading the pizza’s cooking instructions as intently as he might read an article on Russian foreign policy, and wondered how I could possibly love someone so much. I loved him so much that it made me want to cry, which is highly illogical, to say the least. After he put the food in the oven and wiped his hands on a towel (never on his pants, like me…not my Sai!), I went over and hugged him, just because he was him.

"Love you, Sai," I murmured against his chest, closing my eyes. His arms went around me, holding me close against him, and I…

"Fuck," Genrou complained. "Man, I’m goin in the other room if you’re gonna be like that! Mits is fuckin comatose, but at least he’s not gonna fuckin drown me in his fuckin lovey-dovey sap!"

"Genrou," said Sai good-naturedly, squeezing me, "leave us alone."

My best friend lingered there for a moment, staring at us blankly before turning on his heel and leaving the kitchen. I giggled at his sudden submission.

Sai, meanwhile, had made no move to let me go, and I was content to keep it that way. My eyelids were growing heavier and heavier, and if we hadn’t both been standing up, I think I probably would’ve fallen asleep right there. After a few minutes of peaceful hugging, he cleared his throat and said, "Hmm…I thought I’d spend the night on the couch, since I’m very tired, and it’s actually more comfortable than the bed. Would you be interested in joining me?"

I paused, letting this sink in, and smiled.

"Mm-hmm," I replied, nodding into his chest, and we were silent for a while longer, listening to Genrou watch TV in the other room. With a slight ache in my heart, I realized I’d almost forgotten about Chuin with everything that had happened: whacking Taiitsukun, discovering Nakago…it seemed like the day had lasted forever. But one mention of bed, and it all came flooding back. I tightened my arms slightly around Sai, certain that it was him, and if I stayed with him all the time, then…

But I wasn’t over it. It wasn’t nearly as strong as it had been in the morning, but it was still there, like an annoying mosquito in my head.

It wasn’t the fact that I might have been raped if I hadn’t opened my eyes that bothered me, because I hadn’t been raped, and it barely qualified as close. What really scared me was the whole illusion element. They’d said that it was okay, because Tomo was the only one of the Seiryuu who could change his shape like that, and he’d been apprehended. But what if they were wrong? What if others had figured out how to do it, or Miboshi taught them how, or something?

Then, jarring me from my worries, Sai started humming something…something that sounded like…

…The…um…why’s he humming The Nutcracker?

I blinked, wondering at the sudden musical interlude; he started swaying back and forth in time with his humming, taking me along with him, and I couldn’t help the smile that spread across my face. Before I could say anything, he had wrapped an arm around my waist, grabbed my hand in his, and had begun waltzing me around the room like some Disney heroine in drag. His was "da"-ing along to the song now, his face playfully serious, a parody of a serious Victorian nobleman at a fancy dress ball (with his, ehehehe, male dancing partner). We spun past the fridge, around the island in the center of the kitchen, round and round like a whirligig…and pretty soon, once I had gotten over my surprise, despite my tiredness, I was laughing out loud as we danced. He was laughing, too, a deep chuckle that started in his chest; eventually, when we were both too dizzy to keep going for much longer, he lifted me a few inches off the ground and twirled me once or twice before slowing to a halt.

We were both laughing and panting a little, and I collapsed against him again, once more feeling the hunger pangs spread through my stomach. But I ignored them, preferring Sai to food in this instance.

"Well!" I declared. "That was…unexpected!"

He chuckled some more. "I’m the one who told you you used to be an ancient Chinese crossdresser, and the dance was unexpected?"

"You have a point."

"I think we all should go to bed early tonight, right after dinner," he continued, changing the subject randomly. "Myojuan is exhausted…you look like you’re about to pass out…"

"’M’not, Sai."

"Yes, I know, I know," he said rather teasingly, patting me on the back. "And since we’re leaving tomorrow—because we have to, you know—it would be good to get a full night’s sleep."

"What about…what about Nakago? What if he comes by, and we’re all asleep?"

"I’ll put the phone right by the couch," he said, "and if the doorbell rings, I’ll hear it. It’s happened before; I’ve fallen asleep in front of the television, and the doorbell has woken me up. And he might not even come; I don’t think we should stay up all night waiting for him, waste all that energy, and have him not even show up."

"Sai…"

"Hm?"

I swallowed. "When we were at the station…I hated him. Nakago. I really, truly hated him."

Bringing his hand up, he stroked my hair. "You feel bad about it, don’t you?"

"I guess…I’ve never really hated anyone before. Well…my third grade teacher came close, and I’m not too fond of Hitler. But I don’t normally hate people, especially people I’ve never met, and people who haven’t really done anything wrong…in this life, anyway. It’s just, I’m…It’s confusing, Sai! He killed you, he killed Myojuan… I remember all these things, but all of a sudden, he’s different. He’s not Nakago; he’s Ayuru. He let Gen-chan go after the fire…and even though he sent that fireball thing at Gen-chan today, he didn’t mean to! I mean, he apologized, for crying out loud! And I know Miboshi hasn’t gotten him yet, because if he’d been in tune with his former seishiness, he probably would’ve tried to kill us on the spot, right? And he wouldn’t’ve let himself look so lost after he fried Gen-chan, would he?"

"It’s confusing," Sai agreed. "But he’s not the same. Rebirth can change people, sweetheart, and Ayuru has definitely been changed."

"It’s weird, though," I sighed.

"You don’t hate him. You just hate the things he did."

I leaned back in his arms, fixing him with narrow eyes. "You’ve been talking to my mom, haven’t you?"

"Yes," he said. "I told her I’m madly in love with her second son, that I plan on spending the rest of my life with him, and that I shall buy him enough socks to fill a small cruise ship…and, my, but that’s an interesting color you’re turning; is that considered fuchsia, darling, or mauve?"

I felt my face darken even more, and leaned forward to hide my face in his shirt. "Mmmfhhh."

"I’ll have to move you into the living room. You match the curtains there." He played with my hair affectionately, a slight tremor of laughter in his voice. Pulling back, he kissed me gently, still trying to avoid the bruise on my lip, and stared into my eyes with the kind of unconditional adoration I’d only ever received from Sai. My own eyes were rather glazed over with love of their own, peering into his and welcoming the return of the Love-Him-So-Much-I’ll-Cry feeling spreading through my body, filling me throughout.

"You’re beautiful," he murmured, all teasing gone from his face and tone.

I blinked stupidly, slowly placing a hand to my burning cheek. "Umm…" my eyes trailed to the side, and I bowed my head. "Um, Sai…you’re not really helping the face thing…"

But he wouldn’t be stopped that easily. He touched my chin lightly with his fingers, tilting it up so that I looked at him again; the golden eyes regarded me intently, shining. "I mean it," he said softly. "Beautiful. The most beautiful person I have ever known, or ever will know."

"Ooooookayyyyyyy," I laughed nervously, trying to get him to change the subject—I wonder if I can get a sunburn from the inside?—and took a deep breath to inquire after the status of our dinner. But he stopped me quite effectively by kissing me again, and I…well…I suppose "melted" would be the technical term for it. I closed my eyes and leaned into…

"God-fuckin-dammit!!" exclaimed Gen-chan. "You’re not fuckin done yet??!"

Without removing his lips from mine, Sai reached behind him to grab something from the counter—"something" turned out to be an Asiago cheese bagel—and throw it right at Gen-chan. The action was soon followed by a satisfying thunking sound as it bounced off of my friend’s head. I immediately started laughing at the stunned look on his face, making the bruised side of my mouth hurt, but only a little. Laughing pretty much ended the kiss, unfortunately, but Sai hugged me anyway, beaming.

"I’m glad you think I’m a fuckin good source of free entertainment," Gen-chan huffed, glowering.

"Aw, Gen-chan," I cooed, "we love you, too."

"Not like that, you don’t," he accused, pointing a finger at us.

We both raised an eyebrow at him.

"Well, fuck," he grumbled. "Don’t just fuckin stand there staring at me. Go on, if you wanna fuckin kiss, then kiss, for cryin out loud…just don’t ignore the fuckin food when it’s done! No way I’m eatin fuckin burned pizza!"

And he turned and left again, just like that. Man, is he weird sometimes. As I giggled at his retreating back, I felt a hand on my face, and soon discovered that Sai had every intention of listening to Gen-chan’s instructions.

~*~

After eating as much pizza as I could, growing warmer and sleepier with every bite, I opted for another shower, just because…well…I don’t really know. I honestly wasn’t still stressing over Chuin, but…I just…had to. Sai came upstairs with me without even asking, and I was too relieved to protest.

It took less time this time, which was a good thing, definitely. We had collectively decided to camp out in the den—ultimately because of me, though it had been Sai’s idea—because we’d decided it was a good idea to keep together, in case anything should happen. No one complained about sleeping on the couches, maybe in part because Sai hadn’t been lying when he’d said they were more comfortable than regular beds.

I put on flannel pajamas and my fuzzy frog socks, and Sai grabbed blankets and pillows from the linen closet to take downstairs. Myojuan, who had done little in the way of nightly preparation save removing his shoes, was snoring in the gray armchair; Gen-chan had curled himself up in the other recliner, sitting dangerously close to the television, flipping through channels until he found either America’s Funniest Animals or The Cosby Show.

Sai handed Gen-chan a blanket, and I helped him drape one over Myojuan, feeling like somebody’s mom. Then, wrapping an arm around me, he ushered me to the soft, gray, very inviting couch, and spotted me as I climbed on (what, like I’d fall?? But it was sweet, so oh well). My eyes slid shut as soon as my back came into contact with that of the sofa; Sai, clad in his usual undershirt and boxers for bed, crawled up beside me and covered us both with a blue woolen blanket and a down quilt.

"Can you breathe?" he asked, quietly jovial, as I pressed up against him, snuggling.

"Yeah," I whispered. Whatever fears I might have had, whatever panic might have seized me…Sai made them all go away. Just by being there, just by being him… loving me, not abandoning me…he made me feel safe.

"I love you, Ryuuen Chou," he said, holding me closer to him.

I shivered with happiness. "I love you, too…always have."

And as I felt the much-needed sleep overtake me, listening to my boyfriend’s deep, even breathing…a charming, dulcet voice crept across the silence of the den, pricking gently into my ears just before I drifted off…

"Gahhh…what fuckin gay soap opera did you guys come from, anyway?!"

Notes: Ehhhhhh…interesting ending, I guess… ^^;;;;;;;;;; I thought I’d be nice and not have a major cliffhanger, ehehe. Anyhoo. I hope no one is now dead from sap overdose. ^^;; And you know what I just realized??!?! The past EIGHT CHAPTERS have taken place on the same DAY!!! O.o;;;;; Weird!! Anywayyyyyyy, I hope you guys liked it. Thanks for reading!! **wave** I’ll see you all when I get back! Have fun!

Sai: I love you, Ryuuen Chou!

Ryuuen: I love you, too…er…. ^^;;;

Sai: …???

Ryuuen: What the hell is your last name?!?!?!?

Sai: --;;;