Kiri: Chapter 5

“Wait, wait, wait,” Kite said waving his hand in front of himself. His expression was wry as he glared at the older man. Tapping the cover of the book he had laid onto the kitchen table, he leaned heavily on one elbow. “This doesn’t make any sense, Ryo.”

Sighing, Ryo tapped the book right back at him. “It will.”

“But she just—“ Kite broke off clenching his fist in frustration. “She was winning! She almost—“

“You haven’t finished the story,” Ryo pointed out again patiently. He had to fight back his grin at the utterly frustrated sound the boy made.

Baring his teeth in a growl that was only half mocking, Kite pointed his index finger directly at the man’s chest. “I’m just about done with the book though!”

A slow grin spread across the Asian’s face as he leaned forward to ruffle the messy auburn hair. “I promise, that much at least is explained in this book.”

Kite was about to start arguing again when he stopped and his mouth fell open wide. “Y… You mean…”

“Mmm, I did say that I was working on the sequel didn’t I? I could have sworn I did,” Ryo said curling a long finger thoughtfully under his chin. His dark blue eyes sparkled merrily at the flabbergasted expression of the youth across from him. Unable to help himself he began laughing.

“It’s not funny,” Kite said sulkily as he crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back in the wooden chair.

“Oh don’t fret about it.”

“I’m not fretting about it!” Kite sat forward quickly to jab a finger at the offending text. “I’m frustrated!”

Rolling his eyes with an indulgent grin, Ryo pushed his chair back and lifted their dinner plates from the table and carried them to the sink. Turning on the water, he placed the stopper in the drain as he glanced back at the boy.

“Well, sorry,” he said in a slightly wounded voice. Returning his attention to the dirty dishes, he frowned deeply. “I’m working on the next book as fast as I can. My publisher’s deadline for me is in December. It should be ready for the stores in early May.”

“That’s almost a year from now!” Kite’s voice was aghast, and Ryo shrugged slightly.

“There’s really not much I can do about it,” he explained as he washed and rinsed the pots and plates from their dinner. “I’m writing as fast as I can to get this one out. I’m already beginning to plan the third book—“

“It’s going to be a trilogy?” Kite asked with a groan as he laid his head down on the table.

With a short bark of laughter, Ryo shook his head. “Lord no! It’s just the next book in the series. It’s not following Abigail in the third book.”

“Her niece?”

Ryo hummed noncommittally and shrugged slightly. “It ruins the story for you if I tell you up front, now doesn’t it?”

Petulantly and with narrowed eyes, Kite answered, “No.”

Smiling patronizingly over his shoulder, Ryo shook his head. “Yes, it does, and you haven’t even finished Heartwood yet.”

“Yeah.” Kite lifted the book and stared at the cover for a moment before tapping the spine on the table. “But I’m tired of reading. It’s giving me a head ache.”

“Well it’s all you’ve done today,” Ryo pointed out as he began washing the last glass. “I was surprised that I managed to drag you away to eat dinner tonight.”

Grinning up at the older man, Kite shrugged. Stretching his arms over his head, he groaned loudly. He propped an elbow on the tabletop and leaned his chin heavily against his hand to watch as Ryo let the water out of the sink.

“Hey… Do you want to go for a walk for awhile before it gets dark?”

Pulling a towel from the drawer near the sink, Ryo leaned a hip against the counter and gazed out the small window. His eyebrows drew together in a deep frown then he nodded.

“That would be okay,” he said slowly. “I’m going to get some aspirin. Why don’t you get your shoes on? I’ll be ready in just a few minutes.”

“Yeah, sure,” Kite said as he pushed himself up out of the chair. He glanced back to find Ryo rubbing his forehead leaning over the counter in obvious pain. He hesitated frowning. “Are you okay?”

“Huh? Yeah, I’m fine,” Ryo said, lying though his teeth. He straightened with a forced smile. “Go on. I’ll be there in a minute.”

Still uncertain, the auburn haired youth nodded once and scooped Kyon-Kyon into his arms as he left the kitchen. The kitten looked up at Kite curiously before settling in the supporting arms.

Sighing softly, Ryo sagged in relief before wincing. Pain arched from his right temple and curved over the eyebrow. He walked over to the cabinet beside the refrigerator and searched through until he located a prescription bottle near the back. Removing it, he closed his eyes as the pain flared in a burning arc across his forehead. Ryo opened the bottle and shook out one of the pills. He swallowed it dry before going into the living room where Kite was waiting just inside the front door.

“Ready?”

“Yep. Are you sure you’re okay?” Kite asked opening the door.

“Yeah, it’s just a headache,” Ryo said with a half-laugh as he nudged the boy from the apartment. “I get them all the time.”

Locking the door behind them, Ryo led the way down the staircase and across the street to the grassy knoll in front of the house of his university’s president. He loosely tucked his hands into his worn khakis before dropping his head back and rolling his neck.

“Do you ever come to campus?” the Asian man asked as he glanced down at the boy beside him.

Kite shook his auburn head as he looked around with interest at the old Victorian styled home. Smiling contentedly, Ryo inspected the red brick structure with its white columns and dressings. Three rocking chairs sat unused on the wide front porch amid a small forest of potted ferns and flowers.

“I like it.”

Ryo chuckled at the amazed tenor of the youth’s voice. “You haven’t even seen the rest of the university. There’s a building that’s sinking, one that has a crack running from the roof to the basement, and then there are the condemned dorms—“

“Why were they condemned?” Kite asked with interest.

“Hmm… Let’s see now,” Ryo mused as they reached the sidewalk and turned left heading into the heart of the campus. “If I remember the tale correctly, they were built in the late sixties or early seventies, and apparently when the workers were mixing the concrete they mixed it wrong. So—“ He paused waving his hand in a rolling motion as they passed by the Kennedy administration building. “About five years after they built it, it started to fall apart.”

“Why didn’t they fix it?”

“Bureaucracy,” Ryo said with a sharply arched eyebrow. “It’ll get you every time.”

“Are you joking with me?” Kite asked suspiciously.

“Oh, no actually. It really is falling apart. It’s been closed for thirty some odd years.” Ryo paused tucking a strand of his black hair that had fallen into his eyes behind his ear. “I think they’re my favorite buildings on campus. There’s this great old tree in the courtyard. It’s my favorite place to go and hide for a while.”

“You really like it, huh?”

“Oh yeah, it’s a great place to sit and relax.”

“No, I mean school. You really like it right?” Kite corrected with a shake of his head.

“Oh, that…” Ryo frowned slightly as he lowered his head to study the cracks in the sidewalk as they moved past the library. “Yeah, I guess I really do. Why?”

Kite was silent for a long while, and the older man looked down in concern. He couldn’t see the youth’s down turned face, but the slumped shoulders worried him.

The boy’s voice was soft a few minutes later as he said, “I hate it.”

“Kite,” Ryo said in a soft voice. He reached over to grip the back of the slender neck and squeezed gently as he looked around. “Come on. James-Hunter halls are over here.”

Guiding the way across the green grass of the lawns, Ryo led the way to a pair of dorm buildings that had fences around the lower level. The two L-shaped buildings formed a square surrounding a gigantic old oak tree in the center of the courtyard.

“This is that condemned dorm?” Kite asked looking around.

Nodding, Ryo walked over to the old tree and placed a foot on the rough bark. With a grunt of effort, he pushed off, jumping as high as he could and catching the lowest limb with his right hand. Swinging to catch the limb with his other hand, he pulled himself up onto the branch and straddled it to look down at the auburn haired boy below him.

“Jump,” he commanded, laying onto the branch and stretching out his hand.

“Jump,” Kite repeated looking dubiously at the hand hanging nearly four feet over his head. “You are kidding right? I can’t jump that high.”

“Sure you can,” Ryo said reassuringly. He smiled down at the doubtful green eyes. “Come on. I’ll catch you, I promise. Just jump as high as you can.”

Rubbing the back of his neck, Kite shrugged as he shook his head slightly. “You’ve giving me a lot of credit here.”

Ryo grinned. “Only what you deserve.”

“Fine, fine…” Kite looked up at the hand again and winced. Swinging his arms, he jumped as high as he could. Making a grab for the dangling hand, their fingers just scrabbled against each other before the boy fell back to the ground. He stumbled backwards a little as he landed.

Laughing at the scowl turned upon him, Ryo leaned down a little lower. “Come on, you were so close! Just a little higher, and you’ll be there.”

Growling low in his throat, Kite jumped again.

“Gotcha!”

Kite’s voice was triumphant as he caught a hold of Ryo’s wrist. The older man grunted as he slid sideways on the branch before steadying himself. Straining, he pushed himself into a sitting position and pulled Kite up to sit in front of him. He took off his glasses to wipe beads of sweat from his eyes before smiling widely at the boy.

“I told you,” Ryo panted with a challenging grin.

“Yeah, yeah, you told me,” Kite said sticking his tongue out at the older man. He sighed and looked around through the thick branches of the old tree. “This is really pretty neat.”

“Mm-hmm, that’s why I like it here. The best part is that not many people come here, and even if they do, they don’t usually look up into the tree so it’s really secluded,” Ryo said moving higher to recline in a crook of a thick tree branch.

With slight difficulty, Kite scooted himself forward and leaned back against the tree trunk. He closed his eyes as he shifted to a more comfortable position against the rough bark.

“Kite?”

“Yeah?”

“Do you really hate school?” Ryo asked with a deep frown as he watched the darkening sky though the leaves above him.

Kite was silent for a while before he sighed deeply. “Yes,” he admitted in a quiet voice.

“Why?”

“Because the people make fun of me,” Kite said miserably.

“Oh?” Ryo leaned over to look down at the boy. “How so?”

“It’s nothing,” Kite said shaking his head. He rolled off the branch, landing easily on his feet. “Let’s get back. It’s getting a little chilly out already.”

Concerned, but willing to let the topic go for now, Ryo made his way down from his perch. “Sure. I need to write a while longer, and I want to sleep early tonight.”

Burying his hands into his jeans pockets, Kite walked slowly beside the older man as they walked back across the sunset lit campus.

***
End Chapter 5
***

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