WELCOME

[aika kiyoshi hiori]

Aika, boredom having struck him beyond belief, reached for the cellphone the was lying on the small bedside table to his left. He decided to call Ritsuka, his life-long partner and lover, to see if he had arrived yet. They had taken separate trains there and he told him to meet him at the hotel. Because there was nothing particular to do around here, he figured he'd call him and find out just where he was. Just for the sake of knowing. Plus, and he would never admit this to Ritsuka, but he missed the sound of his voice. The whole nine hour train ride over here without his voice to bother him was very lonely.

He quickly dialed his number, having memorized it ages ago. He never was one to change his cell phone numbers but Aika was sure that Ritsuka went through cell phones like he went through candy. The fact that his lover was clumsy with expensive things as well also served towards the fact that he couldn't keep a cell phone for more than a month. He shook his head at the thought as a small smile crept across his face.

Silly, silly boy he thought to himself as a laugh escaped his mouth. He listened for the dial tone and was pleased once he heard it. He waited one ring for him to pick up. Two....and then three.

I hope he picks up he thought in worry. If he didn't, he decided that he was going to call again and again until he did. He was paranoid about his lover and he had good reason to be. The idiot was clumsy and naive, he would fall for anything and with his adorable puppy-dog looks, he was sure to get kidnapped by someone on the street. The mere thought made Aika wish he would pick up the phone even more.

[ritsuka nao miyage]

Ritsuka looked around the train station with worried eyes and a dumbfounded expression. He was supposed to take exit B32… but for some reason he found himself lost in the C’s, trying to frantically find someone who knew how to get to the main entrance. He was already late with meeting Aika at the hotel, but the two should have known better than to take separate trains to London. Ritsuka always happened to get lost somehow… he could already imagine Aika’s frustration with him.

Ring. Ring.

Ritsuka jumped at the unexpected ring tone that suddenly blared from the speakers of the bulky phone that Aika had insisted he buy. Despite the phone’s massive structure Ritsuka had already lost around three of the phones, and he was on his fourth currently, and it was surprising he hadn’t lost it already, in the midst of trying to find his way around the train station. Ritsuka smiled sheepishly as he dug the phone from his bag, which was hung carelessly over his shoulder as he placed it to his ear gingerly.

“I’m lost,” He wailed into the phone, his voice raising a few octaves to overpower the great amount of commotion behind him. There was no need to say hello or ask who the speaker was on the opposite line, for there was only one person who knew his number- spare his parents, but they wouldn’t be calling him at this hour. His mother was probably working furiously to accommodate the amount of guests signing in at the hot springs, while his father was no doubt still busily working, his dexterous hands flipping through various portfolios, his eyes hidden beneath thick-rimmed glasses.

No, the one person who was calling him was none other than Aika, who had probably arrived on time and in one piece- where as Ritsuka was just the opposite, slow and irresponsible. He hadn’t even left the train station yet, and the chances of him finding a carriage to take him to the hotel was slim to none- so he was a good ten or twenty minutes from arriving, provided he found the exit within the next few minutes.

“We should have just taken the same train,” Ritsuka whimpered into the phone, his pale lips turning into a soft frown as he continued to walk around with one objective in mind- finding the exit, though, he was easily distracted by an elderly woman with a cart of scones and other bakery items for the passengers that were to board the train. Ritsuka looked onto them with a sudden interest and nearly skipped towards the woman, until of course the voice on the other end cut him off, and he recoiled from the cart, disappointing the elderly woman as she looked onto the young boy in admiration.

“Come, come.” She insisted, holding up a tray of cookies, her eyes intent on Ritsuka. But he turned swiftly, and stumbled slightly as he did so. No, he had to resist temptation… He had to make it back to the hotel. He had already been deprived of seeing Aika for over eight hours now, and needless to say, it put him in a foul mood and by foul he met happy- for when Ritsuka was in a good mood he was overjoyed and nearly bouncing off the walls with energy, for lack of a better phrase.

“I miss you.” He said into the phone then, holding it closely to his face as he kissed the opposite end gently.

[aika kiyoshi hiori]

Aika wasn't surprised in the least when his boyfriend wailed into the other line that he was lost. He should have known this was going to happen. What was he even thinking when he decided that they take separate trains? Aika should have known that his boyfriend, who was distracted easily and was too cute to possibly ignore, was going to get lost somewhere. Especially in a place he knew absolutely nothing about. Aika sighed and ran a hand through his black hair, sitting up to plant his feet on the ground.

"I figured you'd get lost," he mumbled into the receiver. He blankly stared at the opposite side of the hotel room, the mauve color of the walls catching some of his interest.

When Ritsuka said his response about the train, Aika scoffed. "Yeah, I know what you mean. I seriously don't know what I was thinking when I suggested we take separate trains. I should have known this would happen," he moaned into the phone, aggravated at the fact that he was going to have to wait longer until he got to see his boyfriend. Truth be told, the long hours on the train ride without him were torture and he hoped that when he got to the hotel, his bouncy, adorable boyfriend would be waiting there for him. But lo and behold, he knew he was expecting too much and wasn't surprised when the idiot told him he was lost. So predictable.

A small smile crept across Aika's face though when Ritsuka softly whispered into the phone that he missed him. A small sound cracked in his ear and he assumed that Ritsuka was kissing the end that you usually spoke into. A pang of regret hit him at the fact that he was angry in the first place. It wasn't the boys' fault. He let his anger dissolve as the smile grew.

"I miss you too, koibito," he whispered, returning the kiss on the opposite end as well. No matter how angry he always got, Ritsuka was able to do the tiniest of gestures and Aika's bad mood would always fade away. It was no wonder they worked so well together. This made Aika laugh a little as he laid back down on the bed.

"I haven't stopped thinking about you since I got on the train," he muttered, closing his eyes.

[ritsuka nao miyage]

Ristuka recoiled as Aika returned him with a sudden irritation in his voice. But he shouldn’t have expected any less, and Ristuka’s heart sank. Why did god deprive him of any sense of direction what so ever? He knew it only irritated Aika and he hated making Aika wait, or making him angry. “I’m sorry.” He whined into the phone, his eyes flickering up to the bold letters indicating the different train landings. The air inside the station was damp and musty, and smoke distorted his easily distracted vision as he attempted to stay focused and find the right path that would lead him to the exit. He had found his way back to the main lobby of sorts- where many of the train routes intersected and looked for a sign, an exit, anything, but it was proving to be difficult. Ritsuka knew English well enough to speak it, but he couldn’t read it- he had never had the patience to learn how to write it, and thus he was limited to kanji. Unfortunately, no signs were written in such, and an ugly scrawled English script laughed down onto him, mocking him.

Ritsuka frowned, irritated.

“Excuse me sir, do you know which way I need to go?” Ritsuka asked one of the men dressed in a pristine uniform standing in the middle of the intersection; the man had a blue cap tossed carelessly on his head, and strands of his brunette hair were plastered to his forehead from sweat. “I don’t know how to get out of here,” Ritsuka complained almost pathetically as he withdrew the phone from his face and placed his hand on the end which he should have been talking into, but he hoped that his hand covering the mouth piece might prevent Aika from hearing him asking for directions. Ritsuka idolized Aika really- and he wanted him to be proud of him. He wanted to be able to tell him he had found his way out on his own, though the two knew this certainly was not the case and never would be the case.

The uniformed man lifted a finger and pointed down one of the opposite hallways, without saying another word, and returned to the other busy travelers who were frantically waving tickets around him. Ritsuka turned in the direction the man had pointed to and smiled. A few hundred yards down he could see a wide opening, where light spilled into the train station. Of course, it was raining, but the light was bright in contrast with the dark, smoke-filled expanse of the train station. Ritsuka tightened his grip around the suitcase in his hand and bolted forward, weaving through the crowd of people as their voices became fainter. He was moving at a fast pace- but not his maximum speed, for using such speed would certainly draw unnecessary attention to him, and though it appeared as though he were going fast- it felt as though he were going painstakingly slow. He knew he could run much faster.

“I know, I had to sit next to this old lady and she wasn’t entertaining at all, all she did was slept and her husband yelled at me in some language I couldn’t understand. But I think he wanted me to settle down or something… But do you know how small the cars are on that train? And the hallways are even smaller… It felt like the train ride would never end.” Ritsu rambled into the phone, his chipper voice a constant stream into the phone in his hand. Ritsuka had never particularly liked sitting for an extended period of time- and with the absence of Aika, it had made the experience nearly unbearable, and thus his boundless energy had built up to an incomprehensible amount.

Maybe it was a good thing he had to walk to the hotel- burn off unnecessary energy.

[aika kiyoshi hiori]

Aika laughed a bit as he listened to his scatterbrained boyfriend ramble on and on about some old woman he sat next to on the train. That made him regret his decision about separate trains even more. Once Ritsuka was done, he smiled. He rolled over onto his side and absentmindedly played with a loose hem on the blankets.

"You don't say. Man, I really regret the separate train idea now," he said. He felt so guilty that Ritsu had to spend the nine hour train ride without him and not only that, he had to spend some time with an old lady AND have some man yell at him in some foreign language.

"Was it English? The language that the man yelled at you in? Cause if it was, I'm not going to help you there. I can't even remember how many times I told you to learn English," he said, shaking his head and laughing again. Ritsu was so stubborn, sometimes as stubborn as Aika was. Perhaps that was the only quality that they shared with each other. Truth be told, they weren't a lot alike. Aika was the sexy, cool, collected, calm and romantic type. Ritsuka was the cute, hyper, bouncy, stubborn and hopelessly uncoordinated type. How they got along so well, let alone fall in love with each other, continued to boggle Aika to this day. He laughed at the notion before disregarding the loose hem on the blanket and rolling back over onto his back with a huff.

"So, how long then is it going to take you to get here? I don't want to wait much longer," he said, immediately regretting his choice in words because they made him sound like he was angrily impatient. Which he wasn't, he was just unwilling to go another second without seeing his boyfriend. He sighed. "Sorry, I didn't mean for that to sound so rude. It's just that...I really miss you, Ritsu," he said, actually managing to sound pathetic as he pouted a bit. This was a side that he showed only to Ritsuka. If anyone else ever saw this side of Aika, they'd probably think hell was freezing over. That small pout completely destroyed his cool and collected persona that he had worked so hard to obtain.

He then decided something as he looked at the ceiling. "Listen, I want you to get off the phone with me and concentrate on finding the hotel. I know how easily distracted you are," he scolded. He laughed inwardly at the reaction that Aika knew was going to be on Ritsuka's face as he waited for the long whine that was sure to come. "Aishiteru, I'll see you soon, okay?" he asked, smiling and not hanging up until he heard Ritsuka's confirmation.

[ritsuka nao miyage]

“No, it wasn’t English… I think it was Russian, or German, or Italian… or Spanish.” Ritsuka furrowed an eyebrow, trying to remember just what the old man had spoken in. It had been quick and fluid like Spanish or Italian, but it had a roll to it- like a growl in the pit of the man’s chest that one might find in Russian or German. So he wasn’t entirely sure which language the man had spoken in, but it was angry nonetheless, and understandable, by the way he pointed his pudgy finger towards Ritsuka as if he were making too much noise while his wife was trying her best to sleep. But Ritsuka didn’t think it was that difficult for the old woman, she had been snoring away, and Ritsu had had fun doing impersonations of her piggish snoring. Poor woman, she sounded congested really, but that was probably why the man had gotten so upset with Ritsu. But it was all in good humor, no offense to either of the two, though the man seemed to believe otherwise.

“I don’t know, a few minutes maybe?” Ritsuka returned with a slight edge to his voice. They both knew this was a ridiculously short amount of time for Ritsu to reach the hotel, but he had always been optimistic in these kinds of situations. So who knew, maybe the hotel was just around the corner. “How long did it take you Aika?” Ritsu questioned softly as he made his way to the exit. The rain revived his senses, clearing the smoke from his nostrils, as he stepped out into the clean, cool air. The streets were empty really, most of the civilians had ventured inside upon the ill weather, thus leaving him without a carriage, and a quick one-way ticket to Aika, who was already and conveniently on time at the hotel. “It’s ok, I miss you too.” Ritsu spoke cheerfully, smiling softly to himself as he heard Aika’s melodic voice pout on the other line. It was quite unlike Aika to act in such a way- he did so every so often, but only in front of Ritsu, where as if they were in front of other people, no such personality would be evident in Aika’s demeanor. No, he was sophisticated, obedient, and calm, the extreme opposite of Ritsuka. So they balanced each other out really, how they came to love one another was beyond him- usually people hated others who had extreme differences in characteristics. However, it was not so in this situation. Opposites attract, Ritsu assumed.

“Ahh, Aika, b-but I can pay attention, honest!” Ritsu protested into the phone, as he stepped into the streets, tilting his head upwards to allow the rain to sweep across his pale face. He closed his eyes, trying to imagine Aika standing besides him, but alas, he was not, and was probably in the confines of the hotel, not standing like a fool in the rain, getting soaked. He had better hurry if he didn’t want to catch cold… But then again, vampires were immune to such human diseases, and so, he hadn’t needed to worry about such matters, though it gave him an excuse to move that much faster and with as much determination. He really just wanted to be with Aika again.

“Okay.” He answered, his voice full of disappointment as he pouted on the other line. There was no use in arguing- he would probably not win whatever argument Aika had brewing in his defense. But Ritsu had always avoided arguments, mainly because he lost them easily, or more specifically, Aika won them with an expertness and flawless fashion. “Fine.” He spoke stubbornly into the phone. He really didn’t want to end his conversation with Aika- he had been deprived from his voice for far too long… couldn’t he just listen to it for a little while longer?

[aika kiyoshi hiori]

Aika immediately felt guilty that he had tried to rush the boy off the phone so quickly. He sounded so sad when he muttered his one-word responses that Aika sighed heavily and ran a hand down his face, almost as if he were trying to wipe his own features off. He then shook his head and laughed a little.

"Since you're so damn good at changing my mind, I guess I can stay on the phone for a little while longer. But you'd better not get distracted! If I hear you mutter 'I'm lost' or 'I don't know where I am' or 'Which way am I going again?', I'm hanging up on you, you got me?" he threatened, pointing a finger at the receiver even though he knew Ritsuka couldn't see the finger. He was sure he could hear the threat in his voice, though. Aika heard the sound of rain pouring outside his window and then listened to where Ritsuka where and heard it too. He jumped.

"Idiot! You're outside in the rain and cold! Hurry up and get here and by god you'd better not be soaked!" he warned, worrying about Ritsuka even more now. Goodness, at this rate, Aika was sure to sprout a few gray hairs with the amount of worry that he harbored for his idiotic boyfriend. Even though he couldn't age anymore and gray hairs were out of the question, the thought made him shudder. He then decided that he shouldn't get so angry at Ritsuka so he calmed down considerably.

"Alright, describe to me where you are. It didn't take me too long from the train station to find it. Maybe fifteen minutes at the most," he said, groaning as soon as the time limit came out of mouth. Fifteen minutes?! He had to wait fifteen whole minutes until he could see Ritsuka again?! Shit, that sucked. He was sure that Ritsuka could hear the groan in his tone.

"I know I'm acting like a baby right now but I don't want to wait fifteen more minutes! And don't you DARE mention this to anyone, do you hear me?" he warned, realizing that Ritsuka was going to think this was adorable and knowing him like he did, the babbling fool was going to spread this to all of his friends and soon, no one was going to treat him with respect anymore.

[ritsuka nao miyage]

“Yayy!” Ritsuka cheered happily as Aika declared that he would stay on the phone with him as long as he didn’t get distracted, though this was nearly an impossible task for the boy- he tried his hardest to stay focused, squinting his eyes with a sudden determination as he gripped the handle of his suitcase and walked down the middle of the road, rain pelting against him, as he splashed through every puddle possible, the water splashing up his shins and dampening his pant legs. He shivered as the cool water met his skin, though didn’t utter anything in the phone, for he was met by the suddenly furious tone of Aika, who near threateningly demanded him to get out of the rain and under some cover.

“I’m not in the rain!” Ritsuka defended and lied, as he hurriedly ran to the opposite side of the street- to where the buildings harbored shelter from the rain that seemed to be coming down in continuous sheets, with no intention of stopping. “Aika, you’re no fun.” Ritsuka proclaimed, obvious pout in his voice as he spoke into the phone with his boyfriend. Ritsu barely ever used the word boyfriend- to him, it didn’t adequately describe their relationship. He didn’t really have a word that could adequately describe Aika- but boyfriend had never done him justice.

“Uhm- I’m on a street… and there’s a-“ Ritsuka looked around, desperately trying to find something that could specify his location for Aika. “A BAKERY!” Ritsuka suddenly exclaimed, as he ran to the shop, pressing a hand up against the glass as he peered inside. Damn, closed. “Uhm… and there is a shoe store- and one of those fancy hat shops that the girls go to… and right next to that a book store… and…” Ritsuka looked around, biting his bottom lip. “That’s it I think.”

“Aika, you’re so cute.” Ritsuka mused, sticking out his tongue playfully as he listened to Aika whine on the other line. “Aww, but why not? Can I at least tell Hikaru-dono?” Ritsuka questioned, knowing fully-well the answer. Aika hated to be seen as a child- whereas Ritsu hated being seen as an adult. Quite the difference between the two. However, Ritsu showed his adult side only to Aika, and Aika only showed his childish side to Ritsu. So it worked out, though these two polar opposites were rarely shown, but when they were shown it was a source of amusement for the two. For in reality, Ritsu had grown up- he just chose not to, and Aika still had some child-like characteristics in him, he just chose to hide them. But when the two were together, there was no reason for them to hide them, mainly because they loved them regardless of their flaws and perfections. Ritsu had come to accept Aika’s ill patience just like Aika had come to accept his juvenile temperament.

“Ughh! I hate this. I just wish I could be at the hotel…” Ritsuka cried in frustration, his pace slower as he eyes scanned the streets dully.

Where was that hotel?