Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ Lost Boy Chronicles ❯ Lost Boy: Confessions ( Chapter 4 )

Title: Leaving Never Never Land: The Story of “The Lost Boy”

Parts: 4 of ?

Rating: Don't know. Will probably get to R

Pairing: Ryoga/Kuno

Warnings: Don't know exactly what to put here.

Disclaimers: Rumiko Takahashi owns these guys, not me

Notes: [Indicates thought] “indicates speech”

Feedback: I'd be ever so grateful.

 

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Chapter 4 Lost Boy - Confessions

 

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Kuno came back with some paper and pencils. Ryoga sat on the floor with a dictionary. The bandana'd boy smiled up at Kuno. “I know what a ball is now.”

 

“That's good.” Kuno sat across from him, so that their knees touched. “Like I said before, we don't leave this room until we've figured this thing out.” They stared at the paper for a bit.

 

Paper sat in front of them, unmarked. It didn't look like it was going to be written on anytime soon. Kuno's paper had a formless doodle in one corner. Ryoga's had the words “so very screwed” scrawled on it. Like the papers, their minds were void of ideas.

 

Time passed by slowly. Silence stretched out endlessly. Finally, Ryoga stood. “I can't concentrate like this. How about we just give up and call it a day? I can go to bed and we can start again tomorrow morning.”

 

Kuna was very tempted to take up the proposal. He knew that if they started procrastinate, nothing would ever get done. “How about we do this thing step by step? If we get a theme, everything else will fall in place.”

 

Ryoga stared at Kuno. “You really don't give up, do you? Well, here's an idea.” Ryoga took a pencil and scribbled down, “story book characters.” Then he triumphantly thrust it at Kuno.

 

Kuno looked at it and then back at Ryoga. “That's a pretty good idea, Ryoga.”

 

Ryoga studied Kuno for a second. “Hey! I haven't seen you come up with anything.” He protested, before he realized what the other man had said.

 

“Calm down. I said it'll work, didn't I? But now, here's the big problem. We've got the theme, now we need everything else. Any ideas?”

 

“What do I look like, a party guru?” Ryoga snapped at Kuno. He wasn't angry at Kuno, he was angry at himself. Angry because he couldn't be very helpful in this. It hadn't been more than a minute ago that Ryoga didn't even know what a ball was.

 

Kuno could tell Ryoga's temper was getting short. He chalked it up to being stuck in the house all day. He made a quick decision. “Come on, Ryoga. We're going out. Got to get costumes.” He grabbed the shorter boy and ushered him out of the house. They got into Kuno's red Corvette. As they drove they talked over the metal music blasting over the radio.

 

“So, what's you're favorite story book character?” Kuno asked. “So we can have an idea of what to look for.”

 

Ryoga answered quickly. For him it was no contest. “Peter Pan. What about you? I wouldn't be surprised if you liked the handsome prince charming.” [Because you look so much like him.] His mind finished.

 

“Actually, I can't stand the guy. I've always liked the Mad Hatter.” Kuno commented. He thought about a never ending tea party. One where Ryoga was his only guest. That vision seemed to be like a glimpse of heaven.

 

Talk of books slowly evolved into other things. They discovered they both liked the same music. That became a new subject. These subjects kept changing like the scenery outside. Conversation sped along without direction. It finally settled onto a hard topic. One they had been trying to avoid.

 

“So...” Kuno started reluctantly. “Any family or anything back where you come from?”

 

Ryoga stopped smiling. The bottom of his world had just dropped from under him. [What would Kuno think if he knew?] He asked himself. He answered as simply as he could. “No. All I have is me.” He did want to say more, but he was afraid. Afraid of how Kuno would react.

 

Kuno reached over and turned off the radio, plunging their little world into silence. he put a concerned hand on Ryoga's leg. “You can't keep it in you know. I'll start, and you can just talk whenever your ready. I'll listen.” Kuno took a deep breath and started. “I had a perfectionist mother. For her, I couldn't do anything right. My father and her were always fighting, at least when he was home. She died when I was eight, from cancer. My dad was hardly ever around. He's always been in Hawaii. I've suspected for some time now that he has another family down there. One he loves a lot more than me. It's been that way for a long long time. I'm twenty now, and have been the only one living in that big house for twelve years.”

 

Ryoga spoke softly, almost inaudibly. “I've been on the streets since I was five. I had a family once. A mom and a dad. I think we had a nice house too. I don't remember a lot of it really. But something very bad happened...” Ryoga trailed off. He was silent for a while. Kuno respected that silence as he pulled into the parking lot of the shopping complex.

 

“Something very bad happened.” Ryoga's voice was very pained as he drifted back into his buried past.. “Thee were bad people. But why? Why are they talking to my parents? My mommy and daddy are good people.” Ryoga's eyes took on a far away expression. In his mind, he was reliving the night he had tried to forget. He couldn't hear Kuno's desperate voice trying to call him back into reality. He had started. There was nothing to do now but finish, weather he wanted to or not.

 

Ryoga began to talk faster. “I'm in my room. I'm a bad boy. I'm supposed to be asleep. But the bad people are keeping me awake. But if I stay there, they'll go away. They'll go away. But they don't. I get out of bed and they are hitting daddy. they have something in their hands. Guns? Yes. That's what those are. Now they're attacking mommy and they see me. They're going to get me. Mommy is yelling at me. Telling me to run away. I do.” Ryoga's eyes are no longer distant. They brim with tears. “And...” he continued in a small voice, “I've been running ever since.”

 

Kuno was astonished. He didn't know what to do. He reached out and hugged Ryoga to his chest. “I'm sorry.” He murmured, stroking the other boy's hair. “So very sorry.” For Kuno, apologies and hugs weren't enough. The man he held deserved more than that. “I promise that you'll never have to run away again. I'm going to keep you safe forever. I swear.” It had been a promise meant for himself alone. Ryoga had head it anyways.

 

“You promise?” Came the muffled reply from the sobbing boy.

 

“Forever and ever.” Kuno held the boy until he quieted. When the sobbing subsided, he just sat there and held Ryoga tight. Regardless of the stares aimed at him from outside the Corvette. He was surprised when the other boy shifted and opened the door. Kuno looked at Ryoga with a confused expression.

 

“Well. What are you looking at? We just can't sit in the car all day and mope. We have things to do!” Ryoga exclaimed, wiping has hand across his eyes to rub away stray tears. He was trying to put on a happy face, and Kuno could tell.

 

“It's okay, Ryoga. We can do this later.”

 

“I'm just fine.” Tears started flowing again. “Okay. Maybe I'm not. But that doesn't mean I'm going to put my life on hold. I'm going in. You coming?” Ryoga left Kuno. He was glad when Kuno exited the car also. He had always thought the rich people had these perfect lives. Kuno had shown him differently. [That's why I think I'm starting to fall for him.] He thought. Then he fought that thought violently.

 

Kuno was impressed by the display of inner strength. It took a real man to do what Ryoga had just done. Kuno now knew the other boy had been through Hell. [But that just makes me love him more.]

 

He followed Ryoga in through the double doors. The other boy stood with his mouth open. There was a mild look of shock in the boy's eyes. Ryoga's mouth snapped shut when he felt Kuno's hands on his shoulders.

 

Kuno felt the muscles stiffen under his hands. Ryoga was going to hit him, and there was nothing he could do to stop it. The punch he thought was coming didn't. Instead, he heard the boy whisper something in a awe filled voice. It ended with “so big.”

 

Kuno understood why Ryoga was filled with awe. he too had been entranced with the sheer size and splendor of the mall when he was younger. In a way, he still was. Ryoga obviously was. He was trying to look every direction at once, wanting to take it all in. The double decked carousel caught his attention for a second. He watched the fantastic beasts going around to polka music. Squealing happy children made believe they were real. Ryoga wished he could ride them as well, but he was way to big for that.

 

He looked away from the horses and shining lights. Miles and miles of shops of every kind stretched before his vision. He didn't even know where to begin to look. He tugged at the sleeve of Kuno's sweater. “How are we going to find anything here? I mean, what if we get lost?”

 

“We won't get lost. Here, take my belt loop if you have too. Just follow me. I know where I'm going.”

 

True to his word Kuno did. They stopped by a book shop first. There Kuno picked up a picture book. The showed it to Ryoga. “That's Peter Pan!” He gawked at the picture. “Everything else is fine, but I am not wearing tights!” His outburst got them kicked out of that store.

 

They wondered the mall from one end to another. Kuno insisted they get Ryoga some new cloths while they looked for costumes. He kept trying to get the other boy into sweaters and kaki pants. But after much deliberation, they decided on a more alternative style of dress. Baggy carpenter pants and baggy shirts followed flannel button ups into Ryoga's new wardrobe. Sometimes, Ryoga would try to throw a bandana in with the rest. That had started yet another argument.

 

“Another bandana! How many is that now, Ryoga?”

 

“Five. Counting the one I have on.” He herd Kuno sigh loudly. “I know. They aren't dignified.”

 

“No they aren't. I don't see why you wear them anyway. What use are they?”

 

“I don't know. I've just always had one. I'd feel necked without one. I'm not complete without my bandana.”

 

“How about a hat?” Kuno suggested, producing a baseball hat.

“Hats are dumb. I'm wearing my bandanas and that's that.” And that was the end of the argument. They agreed that Ryoga could wear a bandana whenever he wasn't playing at being butler.

 

Kuno insisted that he try each and ever outfit on, for approval. The mock fashion show was enjoyable for both of them. Sometimes Ryoga would even find some racy item, and try it on. He liked to see Kuno's reaction. There was a trill in seeing the vague predatory look Kuno game him when he pranced in front of him with muscle shirts and tight jeans.

 

“So, do you think these green pleather pants are too tight?” Ryoga asked, striking a ridiculous pose in front of Kuno. The pants were almost too tight. It would tale two people just to peel Ryoga out of them. Kuno just stared, soundlessly. Ryoga looked so hot in everything he wore, it was hard not to grab him and kiss him right there. But Kuno wanted to show some restraint. That, and he didn't know how the other boy would take it.

 

Ryoga was continuing. “These would be prefect for the costume. Instead of tights.” Kuno could just nod enthusiastically and pray to God that he wasn`t drooling. They bought the pants and continued the trip.

 

The trip lasted for another hour after the purchase of the pants. Ryoga couldn't hold anymore bags, and Kuno was having a difficult time keeping his libido in check. But they had accomplished their mission. Both costumes were sitting in the bags along with Ryoga's new cloths.

 

They hopped back into the car, and headed home. The digital clock said it was nine. Outside, the moon had come out, a thin smiling crescent. The stars twinkled and the drive back was a happy one. They discussed what else they need to do for this party to go off without a hitch.

 

“We've got our theme, and our costumes. We still need invitations, food ideas, and music.” Kuno went through the mental check list as they pulled into his driveway.

 

They piled out of the car and into the house. Ryoga paused in the doorway after Kuno entered it. There was something terribly wrong the placements of rocks on the stoop. Ryoga recognized the pattern immediately. Tarou had been there. This was one of his warnings. Kicking the rocks away he entered and locked the door behind him. “That'll be easy.” He sounded a bit off as he piled his bags in the parlor. Ryoga was off. He was worried. He knew what Tarou was capable of. But what he had seen was just a warning. Something that he didn't take to seriously.

 

“Oh no you don't. You're going to live here for any length of time, you're going to have a real room with a real bed. Up stairs with you.” Kuno herded Ryoga up the stairs. He noticed the bandana'd boy looking around, like something was going to jump out and attack them. Kuno hoped it was just nerves.

 

Ryoga had never been in this part of the house before. It seemed to be just one big room. And there was nothing in the room except for the chandelier on the ceiling and the wood on the floor. There was another stair case in the middle of the wall on one side. “This is the ball room. This is where the party is going to be. Which reminds me. We`re going to have to decorate this place too.” Kuno announced, before hustling Ryoga up the next flight of stairs.

 

The third floor was made up entirely of rooms. Ryoga peaked into one room, pushing what he had seen on the stoop to the back of his mind. The room had a Hawaiian theme going on. There were fake palm trees and hula skirts on the walls. “Let me guess,” he said dryly. “Even when he's not in Hawaii, he's in Hawaii.” Kuno nodded, knowing exactly who Ryoga was referring too.

 

They continued on down the hall. “Here we are.” He announced and flung the door wide. The room was large. Not as big as what Ryoga referred to as the Hawaiian room, but still