Angel Sanctuary Fan Fiction ❯ Angel Dust ❯ Rainy Day ( Chapter 3 )

Disclaimer: Country music burns my soul.

 

AN: Okay, so some of it's okay, but... moving on. Chapter three! And to think, the first page or so only had to sit on my computer for about a year before I finally got to work on it... Incidentally, is it just too bizarre to see these characters talking even half-way normal? (sweatdrop) Just wondering...

 

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Chapter Three: Rainy Day

 

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For Alexiel, the next week passed by in a blur. Things in her new group of friends were obviously a bit strained, and when she'd talked to Kurai over the phone one night, she'd told her that Setsuna still hadn't talked to her about her confession. The more Alexiel hung out with him, the more she saw that Setsuna was a pretty nice guy, but that didn't stop a lot of her spare time from being taken up with thoughts of socking him one if he didn't stop being such a coward. All in all, she was almost surprised when the weekend rolled around.

 

She was more surprised by the restaurant Rosiel told her to meet him at, however. She stared up at its impressive front from the sidewalk for a moment or two, before shivering and hurrying in because it was starting to sprinkle.

 

The inside was equally impressive, of course. A waitress glanced at her and asked if she was looking for a young man, by any chance, and she said she was so the woman led her away through the maze of tables and booths. As they walked, Alexiel took the opportunity to look the place over. Soft music and lighting and lush, dark colors created what she couldn't help but term a romantic atmosphere. Rosiel came into sight and she immediately caught his eyes, and raised an eyebrow at him.

 

“Win the lottery?” she quipped, once the waitress was out of hearing range. He just chuckled and shook his head. “Well, you are definitely paying for this, anyway. WacDonalds would've been fine by me, you know. I'm underdressed-”

 

“But it wouldn't have been fine,” he insisted. “We haven't had time to really talk since before middle school...” Her expression softened, and he smiled brightly. “So I want you to tell me everything that's happened to you since then... everyone you've met, everything you've done... I want to hear more about this Kira Sakuya.”

 

She laughed at him. “Fine, fine - but only if I get to ask you some questions too. Who's that guy you're always hanging out with? You never even introduced us, but he's always around.”

 

Rosiel looked genuinely startled. “Oh, you mean Katan? I didn't...?” But he shrugged it off, because just then the waitress returned to get their orders and effectively put a stop to the conversation.

 

Once she was gone again, Rosiel leaned forward, looking serious. “Now, about Kira... how long have you known him?”

 

There was that soft look again, though he was pleased to note that it was a touch pensive. “Oh... Ninth grade. We started going out last year.” She beamed. “My longest relationship yet; it's great.”

 

Rosiel's face was a study of gentle yet earnest concern. “Then why do you look... sad?”

 

She stared at him a moment, and waved it off awkwardly. “What're you talking about? I really like him.”

 

He leaned further forward, watching her eyes. “You've been with him since last year - but you're not comfortable saying you're in love with him?”

 

Her mouth fell open, and then she sighed and rubbed the back of her neck. “Okay, you got me there... I mean, it's not like he's quite a keeper. Not my soul mate or anything. There's... uh... not exactly a lot of talking involved...” Rosiel's hand clenched under the table, but his control of his expression remained flawless. Alexiel shrugged, oblivious. “Sometimes I think we're too alike, if that makes sense.”

 

He nodded sympathetically, and flipped some stray hair over his shoulder. “Well, I'm sorry to hear that. But I'm glad you're not trying to ignore the problem...”

 

She shrugged again. “Oh well. Let's talk about something else, okay? Like, hmm, your hair...?”

 

And they did talk about his hair. And they talked about all the friends Alexiel had had since their parents had separated, and the places she'd been, and the teachers she'd had, and the hobbies she'd found... They talked about Katan, too, though from the offhanded way Rosiel spoke of him, Alexiel supposed they mustn't be very close. He seemed to be the only friend Rosiel had at all, however, and Alexiel found herself a bit worried about her brother... He didn't give her the chance to say so, however; he didn't seem to want to talk about it. He steered the conversation, instead, toward the time before their parents divorced, when they were still little kids.

 

Alexiel laughed at the mention of one of their childhood friends. “You mean the boy down the street, who always carried around that stuffed rabbit? God, I used to tease him so bad about that... Yeah, I have no clue what happened to him.”

 

He chuckled. “Me neither... Oh, and do you remember the field behind our house? Where the yellow flowers grew every spring?”

 

“Oh, yeah!” she agreed excitedly. “We build a fort out there... We were such crazy kids...”

 

“Crazy...” He appeared to turn the word around in his mind, testing it, and then he nodded. And he smiled softly. “I kissed you back there once.”

 

She flushed. “Oh my gosh, you did?”

 

“Just a few days before mom took you away?” he prompted, eyes locked on her face.

 

Her mouth formed a small `o' in recognition. “Oh, yeah... I was crying, because I thought I'd never see anyone there anymore... I didn't cry very much even back then, and you never did know what to do with a crying girl anyway.” She laughed as her awkward blush cooled.

 

His smile widened slightly because she remembered. “You know...” he said quietly, “I've never kissed another girl since then.”

 

Her lips were turned down in a slightly pouting, confused frown when he suddenly leaned forward to brush his own against them.

 

Alexiel felt strangely disconnected somehow, as she jerked back ramrod straight against the back of her chair, wide-eyed. Rosiel's eyes showed her nothing but innocent surprise... and a ghost of anger already growing. “What the fu...” she whispered.

 

“I'm in love with you,” he said simply.

 

The tears in her own eyes were stinging quite painfully, by the time she'd battled her way back through the maze of tables and booths into the pouring rain.

 

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The blood was really pounding in Kurai's cheeks by the time she decided to ring the doorbell a second time. She hadn't even been sure if she was invited - what if they were ignoring her?

 

For years, it'd been a school-year tradition for the three of them to get together every Saturday night for movies and popcorn and general hanging out. They'd rarely missed a week. Now, though...

 

Before she'd even brought her hand back from the button, however, the door was open by a harried-looking Setsuna. Sara stood on tiptoe to peer over his shoulder. “Sorry 'bout that, Kurai,” he said, and rolled his eyes. “I heard you the first time, but somebody had to start yelling in my ear-”

 

Sara elbowed him in the small of the back and shoved him out of the doorway. “Come on in. I'm gonna go start the popcorn...”

 

While she went off to the kitchen, Setsuna and Kurai went to the living room. Setsuna started riffling aimlessly through the video cabinet; Kurai smiled shyly at his back, aware that this was the first time they'd been properly alone since the last time she'd been in this house... “Um, Setsuna?” His shoulder muscles tensed visibly, but she was not to be put off. “About what I said the other day-”

 

He turned around abruptly, and shocked her with a deep bow. “I'm sorry! I should have talked to you about it... We should have talked about that right away...” He grimaced visibly.

 

“Yeah, you should've,” she said with a cool lack of sympathy. “But since you said sorry... it's okay.” She smiled brightly. “You like someone else, right?”

 

He blushed. “Well, I-”

 

She waved it off. “It's okay. Really!” She smiled in a bemused sort of fashion. “I'm fine actually. I didn't think I would be, but...”

 

“Really?” he asked anxiously.

 

She rolled her eyes. “Yeah. In fact...” She smirked, and nodded her head pointedly towards the kitchen. “You have my blessings. Don't take so long to talk about it this time, would you?”

 

He blanched. But before he could say anything, Sara came in bearing a giant bowl of popcorn and smiling innocently. Kurai took in how his eyes slid reflexively to hers, and bit her lip lightly...

 

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Katan reflected, as he idly watched the rain, that he probably wouldn't be getting any sleep tonight. He was, after all, on his fifth cup of coffee.

 

Not that he'd wanted that much coffee. It had simply been something to do...

 

The soft evening murmur of the café wrapped around him like swaddling clothe, and the steam drifting out of his coffee mug obscured his view of the window. He'd had to keep ordering more coffee so they wouldn't kick him out. Currently he was excusing this total lack of desire to leave to himself with the fact that it was really starting to come down out there, now, but secretly he knew that he'd been putting off going home since even before it'd started.

 

The fact of the matter was that he didn't spend many evenings at home. His spartan room was evidence to this - he slept there, but that was really about it. Most of his stuff was at Rosiel's house...

 

He'd gone home after school today, discreetly ignored the fact that his single mother had `company' as he grabbed a quick dinner, and barricaded himself in that empty little room... and pretty soon, he'd made a very unusual discovery. The room was so empty that it seemed to be making him claustrophobic...

 

So he'd been in this coffee house ever since. He found he felt much more comfortable here. A forgotten newspaper lay on his table, open to a page about some war, somewhere... The rain was really much more interesting.

 

He wondered, twirling the funny little straw 'round and 'round in his slowly cooling coffee, how things would end tonight for Rosiel and Alexiel. The man's intentions were so obvious to him; he couldn't believe Alexiel hadn't figured it out. But then again, Rosiel was not your ordinary three-dimensional person. You had to know how to look at him right, kind of from the side and round-about instead of head-on... Though he hadn't always been so crazy. When Katan had first met him, he remembered, he'd idolized him.

 

But it wasn't like that anymore. He'd gotten worse and worse... Now, Katan supposed, he just stuck around for lack of anything better to do. Or maybe it was a bit more than that - maybe, like in his room, he didn't know what else to do.

 

The cars still whished past in the street outside, flashing their headlights across his face, but the traffic on the sidewalk had pretty much let up. Everybody who'd been caught in the storm unprepared had found shelter by now. Occasionally, someone huddled under an umbrella would hurry by. That might have been why the person who staggered slowly into his view, without so much as a coat to protect him from the onslaught, caught his eye. Then again, it just as likely could've been that incredible hair, plastered to his back though it was...

 

The only lasting sign that he'd been there at all was the coffee spilling across the little table onto the floor and soaking into the newspaper.

 

Katan flung the café door open with such force that Rosiel jumped and looked back at him. They simply stared at each other for a few moments, and the rain began to soak into Katan's clothes and hair too, and he knew just exactly what had happened. Rosiel leaned against a lamp post for support, and Katan got an odd and fleeting sensation that something that'd been building up for ages had ended, and it was time to move on to something new... He shrugged it off as all the caffeine in his bloodstream. “Rosiel...” he muttered weakly.

 

Rosiel smiled lazily at him. “Ah, Katan... You are always around, aren't you?” His eyes slid shut, and his body started to slide to the ground.

 

Katan rushed forward to catch him, draped his coat across thin shoulders, and helped him home.

 

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AN: T.T As of the time I'm writing this, I have to take the ACT tomorrow. I blame all the drama and angst on this. But I have coffee with cinnamon in it - (c) Bulma Wannabe ;) - so I guess I'll be okay. (slightly twitchy grin)