Warnings: Laaaaaaanguage.

Notes: Okay. For those of you who are interested, "Oh Better Far To Live And Die" is a song from the Pirates of Penzance by Gilbert and Sullivan. Maybe you guys might wanna listen to the song before reading this chapter, just cuz it might be funnier if you knew the tune…but for those who don’t really want to, here are the real lyrics to the chorus:

~*~

Oh, I am a pirate king!
And it is, it is, a glorious thing to be a pirate king!
I am a pirate king!
And it is, it is, a glorious thing to be a pirate king!
It is!
Hurrah for the pirate king, hurrah for the piiiiiiiiraaaaaate king!

~*~

**nod** And now, without further ado…The Story. ^_^;; Hope you guys like, thanks for the reviews, and thanks for reading! ^___^

As the only member of the traveling party that had remembered to bring along a CD collection, I felt it was my solemn duty to provide my fellow reincarnates with ample entertainment for the long journey ahead. Oh, yes, there were those who protested (Genrou), but Myojuan was driving, and he saw little problem in slipping in a few of my CDs to pass the time. Maybe he just wanted to piss Genrou off. Hehe. So I took them through Elton John’s Aida and Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Heart’s Club Band, and actually earned very few complaints. However, when I stuck in the soundtrack to The Pirates of Penzance, Gen-chan nearly went berserk.

"How the fuck can ya listen to this turn-of-the-century crap??!" he protested from the back, and I looked back at him and stuck out my tongue.

"Shhh!!" I said. "I can’t hearrrr over your annoying voice!"

"Quiet," admonished Sai. "Listen. It’s cultural."

Genrou snorted. "Yeah? So’s fuckin puttin spikes through your nose, in some countries, and ya don’t see people doin that for fun!"

"But I’ll be true to the song I siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing!" I sang along with the music. "And liiiiiiiiiiiive and diiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiie…"

"A fuuuuuuuuuuckiiiiiiiiinnnn spaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaazz!!" Genrou inserted, glaring at me. Sai clicked in disapproval, but it cracked me up, and I had to go on…

"Foooooooooooooooor Iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii am a fuckin spaaaaazz!!" I sang, still laughing. "And it is, it is, a glorious thing to be a fuckin spazz!!"

"Ryuuen!" Sai exclaimed, wide eyed at my language, and I completely lost myself to laughter. Kevin Kline sang on in the background, but I was gone; even Gen-chan was laughing, though he was apparently trying to disguise it as some sort of severe coughing fit. When I finally looked up at Sai, it was through tears of mirth, and one glance at his stunned, quirky expression made me start all over again; finally, I heard him chuckle, too. "You know, it’s been quite a while since you had that Pepsi One."

I nodded cheerfully. "Yup. I’ll be hitting a slump any minute now."

"And the fuckin world rejoiced," Gen-chan muttered, then coughed again.

Sai’s look was bothering me a little, because it was…worried, in a way. He was studying me like I was behaving strangely, or as if, for some reason, I shouldn’t be acting the way I was acting. With a slightly sinking feeling, I figured he probably thought I was trying to cover up any lingering uneasiness from the Chuin thing, and he wasn’t exactly wrong…but I couldn’t mope about it all the time. I didn’t want to mope at all, and precisely becaaaaaaause I didn’t want the silly idiot to worry. Maybe if I tried really hard, kept the Normal Me act up for a long time, he’d start believing it was real.

It wasn’t hard anyway, and to tell the truth, I wasn’t hiding that much. It was easy to forget on the road. It was just a road trip, like any other, like the one we’d taken to New York. It had been fun. It was going to be fun.

"C’mon, though; the music is goooooood!" I insisted. "Gilbert and Sullivan! It’s classic! My mom and I used to watch this movie all the time when I was little!"

"Huh. Small wonder ya turned gay."

I reached back and whacked him with my pillow.

"Children," came Myojuan’s tired voice, "Please. No horseplay in the car."

On cue, Gen-chan and I both made neighing sounds.

"Should I tranquilize them?" Sai offered.

"Hmm," said Myojuan, "actually, I think we ought to let Ayuru deal with it. What do you say, Ayuru?"

That was enough to stun us into silence, and as Genrou sputtered something nasty, I stared with big eyes at the former shogun. The yellow-haired man looked at Myojuan calmly, then turned his head only slightly and said, "Stop." Followed by which, he returned to his normal position: sitting motionless, staring out the windshield like he was some sort of mannequin made to sell vans to big-chested blonde women.

Myojuan cocked an eyebrow, glancing at him briefly. "Good effort."

"I try."

"So, um, Ayuru," I said politely, trying to integrate. "What kind of music do you like?" It was funny and rather disturbing, picturing Ayuru bopping to any kind of music. I saw him more as the quiet, cultural opera type, like Treize from Gundam Wing. He was silent for a while; I thought he might not answer me, and my shoulders slumped, thinking my attempt at friendship had been rejected. After a few moments, though, he spoke up:

"Well, Ryuuen…I don’t get much time to listen to music. But I enjoy The Eagles, as well as James Taylor."

I blinked. "…Really?"

He nodded, but still didn’t turn back to look at me. "And also the Dixie Chicks."

This stunned the rest of us into deafening silence, and we sat there, mouths hanging open, for a good minute and a half. If there had been crickets in the van, they surely would have been chirping like crazy.

You’ve gotta be kidding me. The freakin DIXIE CHICKS??!!

But the more I thought about it, the more human it made him. Sure, it seemed odd; but there he was, a normal guy with normal musical tastes! Even though Nakago boogying to "Here’s Your Trouble" was…quite an image, ehehe. With a giggle, I broke the ice that had filled the van and reached for my CD case, flipping through pages until I found what I was looking for.

"Well, here!" I said cheerfully. "I have their CD, the first one; we can listen if you want. Just take Pirates out; we can always listen to that one another time."

Almost hesitantly, he turned; his face was expressionless, but I could still see a bit of uncertainty in his light blue eyes. I deepened my smile to reassure him, reaching out to give him the disc, and he accepted it. He didn’t smile, not on his face…but once again, his eyes showed me all I needed to know.

I felt Sai looking at me, and moved my gaze to him. He was staring at me with a look of such fondness on his face, such love, that my smile turned sheepish even as my cheeks turned pink. I shrugged; I had only been trying to be nice, after all. But apparently, in Sai’s eyes, I had just committed some utterly selfless sacrificial act.

Awwww, shucks…I was just being nice.

Stifling a lovesick giggle, I pulled my knees up to my chest and lay my head on them. Sai was so funny sometimes, acting like I was the noble one and he was…what? Chopped liver? Tuna? Imitation crab meat?

I started humming along with the CD Ayuru had put in, and was surprised to find that not only was Ayuru singing along (sure, he was keeping it low, but I could tell), but Myojuan and Sai, too!! "Mehh?!!" I exclaimed. "You like them, too?!"

With a shrug, Sai threw me a wink. "Who doesn’t like the Dixie Chicks?"

"ME!!" Gen-chan growled behind us.

"Bayyyyyyyyby, I could luuuuuuuv you betterrrrrr," Myojuan and Ayuru sang quietly, and I nearly died for the second time.

"Sounds like something Nuriko’d sing to Hotohori," I giggled. "I’m gonna break the spell she’s got on you-oo, you’re gonna wake up to fi-iiind…I’m your desire, my intentions are true-oo…" I meant it as a joke, but Sai immediately looked incredibly hurt, reaching out to take my hand.

"Ryuuen," he said, "I know I’ve said this before, but…no matter what happened in the past, I’m here now. Now and forever. You know that, right?"

Frantically, I nodded. "I know! I know, Sai, I didn’t mean to…"

But he only squeezed my hand across the aisle of our two seats, and smiled. His face said that he understood, that he was only reassuring me; he didn’t want me to doubt him. I hoped he knew I didn’t. I’d have to make a point to tell him.

"So," said Ayuru, calmly conversational. "Are you two together?"

Eeeehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh…crikey, I forgot. He doesn’t really know anything about us, does he? Ehehehe. I turned red, sharing a shy smile with Sai.

"Nah, Nakago. They’re fuckin bridge partners," Genrou said. We all ignored him.

"Yes; he’s my boyfriend," Sai replied congenially, never taking his eyes from mine, and I beamed. My heart fluttered, and I really had to take a few deep breaths to prevent insane giggling.

"How long have you two been together?" was the sergeant’s next question. Evidently, our joint affection for the Dixie Chicks had acted as a battering ram to whatever barriers had been between us. His tone wasn’t strained, like some people sounded when, knowing we were both guys, they politely asked for relationship details, pretending they were supportive when in reality the idea made them uncomfortable. I took Ayuru’s openness as a good sign, because really, if he were a homophobe, it’d be one hell of a long car trip.

Sai gave a little laugh, tilting his head slightly to face our new companion. "Technically?…Four months, I think, right, sweetheart?"

"Mm," I agreed dreamily, and Genrou groaned.

"Four months," Sai repeated, and shrugged. "But we go much farther back than that, as I’m sure you’re aware." I reeeeeeeeeally wanted to jump out of my seat and hug him, but feared it would not be considered proper van decorum, in which case I would receive quite a reprimand from Myojuan.

"That’s…that’s good," said Ayuru, and he sounded sincere. He was nodding, his mouth turned up in what could have been a very small smile. "I’m happy to hear that you’ve found each other again."

"Me, too," I said with a nod, and Sai smiled, kissed his fingers, and placed the fingers on my nose, teasing. I giggled.

"All right, everybody; who’s for a pit stop?" Myojuan called, and silence once again reigned supreme.

"Well, shit! I am, Trucker Bob!" Genrou drawled, and I snickered.

"Do we need gas?" asked Sai.

"Yeah; we should’ve stopped before we left, but I didn’t even think about it," our chauffeur said. "But we’ll stop at the next place we see, maybe get some breakfast…or lunch."

I was hungry, but I didn’t feel like eating. Knowing that Sai would never allow that, I decided that a bag of pretzels and some more soda would be fine, since it wouldn’t go bad if I didn’t consume it all at once. Sighing, I looked out the tinted window at the flat, frosted fields flying by and wondered exactly where we were. I hadn’t really been paying attention, distracted by being happy and singing along with the Beatles.

"Hey, Juan?" I said, pronouncing it correctly. "Where are we? Still in Illinois?"

"Iowa," he corrected me. "We’ve been in Iowa for a little under an hour."

"Hmm. I forgot how many farms there are in Iowa," I said. "Feels like home." We were headed west, following Ayuru’s hunch, without a true destination in mind; it was kind of like looking for Houjun in New York City, aimless drifting on a larger scale. But I knew to trust seishi bonds, and I hoped this episode would work out as well as the last one had.

The nearest gas station was a tiny little place, off to the side of the road with nothing surrounding it. It looked like something out of the 50s: a battered white wooden building, tanks that appeared ancient. The sign, whitewashed planks with red and blue paint, read, "Marty’s American Gasoline!!! Finest Gasoline, 100% Pure!" Well, that was a relief. And, at least we weren’t getting any German gasoline, or anything.

"This place looks rather run down," Sai said quietly, as if he was afraid the natives would hear him. "Do you think it’s all right to stop here?"

"I’m sure it’s fine," Myojuan said as he pulled up in front of a pump. "And besides, it’s important to support the private business enterprises."

"Are you sure we should let Gen-chan out of the car at a gas station?" I said warily as we piled out into the cold. "The place might blow up."

"Ahahahahaaa," Gen-chan laughed mirthlessly, and made an interesting face at me.

At first glance, the place looked deserted, and I wondered if it was actually closed. But there was an "Open" sign hanging in the window of the little snack shop, and as we cautiously entered, we saw that there was a little old guy at the counter…fast asleep. He had bristly, gray hair and a beard and mustache which fluttered as he breathed, and little spectacles were sliding off the end of his nose. If he’d have been wearing a vest instead of a red-striped shirt, he’d have looked like someone out of a Western.

And sure enough, when Myojuan cleared his throat and the poor guy was startled into waking, I saw that he was, in fact, wearing a black corduroy vest.

"Sorry to bother you, sir," Myojuan said, "but should we pay for gas before pumping, or the other way around?"

The old guy blinked blearily, pushing his glasses up his nose. "Ehhh," he said in a creaky voice, "Scuse me fer dozin; middle of the day, and all, and not a customer to speak of!"

"That’s all right," Sai said diplomatically. "It’s not a busy day for travel."

"I’ll call Tom out to fill ye up," said Western Reject Guy, and before Sai could protest the unnecessary service, he’d put a hand to his mouth and screamed, "TOM!!!! We got customers, boy, where’d you go??!"

There was a crash from the back room, and we all jumped—okay, maybe not Ayuru—and a young voice was soon shouting back. "Dammit, old man!! I told ya not ta scream like that, didn’t I?!!"

"What the hell ya doin back there??!" the cashier demanded, putting his hands on his hips like a cartoon. "You better not be messin with the paints again, after I told ya not to!"
"Ahhh, go ta hell!"

"I’ll take ya with me, boy, cross my pebble-sized heart, I will!"

"Waaahhh," I whispered to Sai, "it’s like having two Genrous together in the same room!" Sai was wincing slightly, too polite to interrupt or to leave; Ayuru and Myojuan were just standing there, cool as cucumbers, waiting for the vocal exchange to lead somewhere. Genrou, I saw, was ignoring the whole thing, nonchalantly cruising the snack shelves and filling his arms with Hostess cupcakes.

After a few more rounds of shouting, myself and Sai (and, though they didn’t show it, probably Myojuan and Ayuru, too) growing increasingly uncomfortable, a young man close in age to me and Genrou emerged from the back room. He had shaggy, whitish-blond hair that had been dyed dark brown at the tips, and a roundish face with a pointed chin; he wasn’t very tall, from what I could tell, but he was still taller than I was. The baggy jeans he wore, as well as his customary Gas Station Worker shirt, were splattered with red and yellow paint, and he had a smudge of the same colors on his nose. He rubbed at the smudge calmly as he saw us, and sniffed.

"Guys need a tank filled?"

The old guy went nuts. "Boy, if that room back there’s as messy’s you are, you can start huntin for another goddamn job!!" Without replying, Tom stepped outside; Myojuan blinked once, and followed him, apparently off to see to the van, and Old Guy immediately changed his face to appeasing. "My humble apologies," he said, and I didn’t like the sudden oozing kow-tow sound of his voice. "Boy’s got his head in the clouds nine days outa ten; is it just the gasoline you’re wantin, or you intending to purchase all the packets your friend there’s picked up?"

Sai smiled, but I could tell he didn’t like the guy any more than I did. "I think we’ll look for a while," he said. "Thank you for your help." Then, turning to me, he said more softly, "Would you like a sandwich, or something? They have some pre-made in the fridge, do you see?"

Even though I hadn’t wanted anything beforehand, the possibility that Old Guy might’ve had a hand in making those sandwiches did not appeal to me one bit, so I said, "A bag of pretzels, maybe? It’d be less messy in the van, anyway." I was right; he didn’t really agree with my choice, I could tell by his slightly cocked eyebrow, but there wasn’t much of a choice there, anyway. We picked up a few bags of pretzels, sodas, and some Doritos for Myojuan, and Ayuru selected bottled water and a bag of M&M’s.

Genrou had cleared out the entire section of snack cakes, much to the pseudo-hidden disdain of Old Guy, but Sai didn’t comment, and took the appropriate amount of money out of his wallet. Without saying anything, Ayuru put enough money for his own things on the counter, and before Sai could protest, pushed through the door to join Myojuan by the van.

We took our stuff, bade the annoying man farewell, and headed to the driveway just as Tom burst in with a gruff "Scuse me." I paused in my tracks, holding the door open with my shoulder, as he strode purposefully into the back room, accompanied by more shouts by his employer. Sure, he cut a really sympathetic figure, Old Guy did; it was like he thought that any yelling not directed at us would go unheard, and only the slimy politeness would reach our ears. What a freak.

Myojuan slid past me silently, placing the gas fee on the counter as if he hoped the guy wouldn’t notice, and slipped back out, tapping me briefly on the shoulder to signify that we should get going. Though I would’ve been more than happy to leave right away, I hesitated a bit…and right before I turned, Tom came back into the store, a small duffel bag slung over one shoulder and a battered green backpack hanging from the other. He’d put on a black newsboy’s cap and an old army jacket with sergeant’s stripes on the sleeve; it might have been authentic, but then again, it might’ve been one of the newly-marketed store brand army attire things, and worn so much that it looked authentic. Without a word, his eyes set straight ahead, he marched out the door, heedless of the mound of old school, derogatory comments being tossed in his direction.

I blinked after him, but a shout from Gen-chan to get my ass in the goddamn fucking van snapped me out of my trance. Throwing a cheerful wave and "Thanks!" to the now gaping old guy—spite him with manners, hehe—I hurried after the boy with the funky hair, who was now walking with grim determination toward the highway.

"Hey!" I called, my teeth beginning to chatter from the cold. He didn’t turn around, so I sped up until I was walking right next to him. "Hey," I said again, panting from cold, hugging myself. "You’re really gonna go right now? Just like that?" I didn’t know why, but I felt…something. Something inside me was telling me not to let the guy run off alone into the snow. Apart from the logical, humanitarian reasons, there was another reason, one I couldn’t quite put a finger on…

"Kid," he said, a little gruffly, "your friends are calling ya; go back to your van."

He was right; I heard them clearly, Genrou especially, but it still seemed wrong to go back. "It’s…it’s really cold outside!" I attempted insipidly, emphasizing the words with a trembling voice. "At least…hey, let us take you to the nearest town, okay? There’s nothing around here but fields and more fields, and we have room… Ah, come on, don’t be a moron!" I said when he made no move to stop. "I can tell you’re mad, but you don’t have to be stupid on top of it!"

That made him pause, and I almost ran into him. He turned his head to look at me, the corner of his mouth twisting into a small smile, and he watched me for a while, my breath coming in visible puffs in the chill air.

"We’ll give you a cupcake," I offered, and had to backtrack. "W-well, if we can wrestle any away from Genrou."

Spinning fully, he raised a hand to his head and rubbed through his hat. "You’re not afraid I’ll try to kill you, or rob you, or steal your car or somethin? You don’t know anything about me; I’m a total stranger."

I blinked, and realized it was true. The connection I felt with this guy… It was recognition. Somehow, I could remember meeting him before; maybe…

He was frowning, peering intently into my eyes. "Or am I?" he murmured. "Have we…have we met before?"

I swallowed, and gave him a smile, hugging myself even tighter to fight the cold. "Yes," I said, nearly whispering. "Yeah…I think we have."

TBC…

Notes: Ehehehehe. ^^;;

YET ANOTHER STORY AKUGI!! Take One:

Ryuuen: So, um, Ayuru. What kind of music do you like?

Ayuru: Well. I happen to be a successful musical entertainer myself.

Ryuuen: Oh?

Ayuru: **ahemahem** Blue eyes, bluuuuuue…Lalalalalalalaaaaa!!!

Ryuuen: ^_^;;;;;

YAS AKUGI! Take Two:

Ryuuen: So, um, Ayuru. What kind of music do you like?

Ayuru: *NSYNC!!!!!!!!!

Ryuuen: **facefault** **falls over**

Ayuru: **starts singing Tearin Up My Heart**

YAS AKUGI!! Take Three:

Old Guy: You better not be messin with the paints again, after I told ya not to!

Tom: **sniff** Stop stifling my creativity!! You are messing with my ART!!

Old Guy: …

Tom: **fake British accent** I simply CANNOT take any more of this, sir! I cannot WORK under these conditions; I will take my business elsewhere! **storms out**

Old Guy: **grumbles** Artists.