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Raindrops
Pan's First Kiss
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Jason stood in the doorway of the adjoining bathroom , lightly leaning his frame against the jamb. His hand reflexively went to swipe at a dripping lock of dark hair that fell across his eyes, sweeping it away from his face as he pondered the figure on the bed.
Ria.
Unbidden, a sigh escaped the throat of the boy, and almost immediately, his shoulders seemed to slump as though in defeat. Jason walked across the room silently, not wishing to disturb his roommate's sleep. Absent-mindedly, he tugged off the towel around his hips and resumed to towel himself dry. As he did so, his eyes once more returned to the beautiful girl sleeping on one of the two beds in the dimly lit room. Ria was lying on her back, one arm flung up and over her face, as though covering her eyes from what little light bathed the room at the moment. Hrt mouth was slightly opened in sleep. Soft sounds of slumber accompanied each exhalation. For the first time this week, Jason observed, Ria actually looked at peace.
Every night for the past week since Jason had returned from a brief mission with Jess, the auburn-haired girl had been plagued by dreams from which she had awoken drenched in sweat, shaking with an unspoken fear. The sleepless nights had begun to take its toll on Ria. Dark circles had begun to form under her eyes, eyes that seemed to have lost the laughter that had always been associated with the long-haired fighter. She still smiled and laughed and joked around as was her wont, but Jason knew that something was amiss. The smiles were genuine but behind them was an unspoken, wistful sadness; the laughter was gleeful but uncharacteristically over-loud, with a tinge of tears and madness glazing its edges; the jokes , before flung with abandon, were now controlled and dripped with cynicism, of which were often aimed at herself.
With their other friends, Ria was Ria, warm and bubbly, chattering incessantly. But within the confines of their room, Jason was surprised at the sudden shift in personality. His friend was often silent, morose even. Once he had caught Ria looking at him and he had been shocked at the look in those eyes, a look that he had thought he would never see in eyes other than his own: an empty, haunted look, a look that had combined both longing and loathing in the same instant. He remembered again how Ria had flinched under his touch when he had tried to awaken the tossing woman from a particularly bad episode. Although he had schooled his heart into a stony fort of callousness, Jason could not help feeling a little hurt at the wild, feral look that shone through his friend's eyes then. Even though it was fleeting and Ria had mumbled something that had sounded like an apology before falling back to bed, Jason had wondered at the absolute turnaround in his friend's behaviour.
Before, Ria had seemed to enjoy his presence and had seemed to find all kinds of excuses to touch him, to be touched by him, to constantly plague him with his chatter. Jason had realized this obvious attention-seeking strategy of his roommate and, at times, had even welcomed it. However, he had found it hard to acknowledge these strange feelings, that he may have felt the slightest hint of attraction for this slender auburn-haired girl who shared his room. It was hard to accept that sometimes, he wished that they could share more than just a room...It had gotten to a point in which he had just felt like surrendering to his inner desires; in which he felt like just walking up to Ria and dragging her into bed to claim him for his own.
At this thought, Jason smiled. If Ria's past indications had been anything to go by, his actions would have been justified and probably even welcomed.
But that was before...
Jason scowled as he continued to ponder Ria's perplexing change of attitude and his own feelings toward the dreamy girl.
Jason had been meticulously trained to be the perfect combat artist. Passing notions of fanciful attraction could never tempt him, Jason Dlame. More so when it would involve his comrade, his teammate, one he would have to work with and entrust his life.
His life was expendable. His heart was not.
Still, deep inside, Jason knew that he was fighting a losing battle, that the cold, frozen block of ice that had passed off as his heart was slowly, but surely melting. Over the weeks that they had begun sharing rooms, Ria had been constantly on his thoughts. The little innuendos dropped by the girl constantly tugged at his thoughts, driving him to distraction. Despite his constant threats to kill the long-haired girl, an innocent wide-eyed grin on that cheeky face had been enough to wipe out any possible physical follow-ups to his oft-repeated exclamations. Earlier, he had considered requesting a single room but the only available one then had been taken by Jess. By the time such a room had become available, Jason had succumbed to Ria's inexplicable magic and the thought of moving out was long gone from his mind.
Still, keeping his confusing feelings in check had been a twenty-four-hour task.
How he wanted her, needed her! But why was it so* damn* difficult to say it?
Ironically, although Jason knew that Ria felt the same way toward him, Jason could not bring himself to admit that there was a chink in his emotional armor, a flaw in his portrayal of a perfect killing machine. He could not admit that there was now a weakness in his life.
A living, breathing, walking weakness with a long, auburn-red hair.
He had welcomed the assignment that had required only Jess and himself, hoping that the time away from Ria would help him sort out the strange feelings that haunted his every waking moment alone. He had expected it when Ria had greeted the news with disappointment, even to the extent of offering to take over Jess' duties, much to Jess' chagrin. Jess had been incensed at the thought, considering it a personal affront to his abilities and reputation. His chastening of Ria's bold suggestion had taken a whole fifteen minutes, with the pretty girl clapping her hands over her ears for most of the tongue-lashing. While Jason was surprised that he had actually felt flattered by Ria's reaction, he was even more surprised by the fact that he had actually wished at the time that it *had* been Ria, not Jess, who would be going on the mission with him.
A sudden shifting of the body on the bed brought Jason's head up, snapping him out of his thoughts. A slight frown creased her smooth brow. Upon seeing that Ria had once again settled, the frown disappeared. His concern for his friend's condition had earlier prompted him to resort to underhanded tactics.
***
"Here, take these." Ria's head snapped up from the reports she had been skimming, eyes resting upon Jason's stern face. In his hand the boy held out two pink pellets.
"Why? What is it?" she asked, putting up her palm to catch the caplets that Jason had passed to her.
"Just some tranquilizers. To help you sleep," he answered quietly.
Ria screwed up her face, peering at the ovoid tablets, rolling them around in her palm. "Sleeping pills?" She hated the way sleeping pills fuzzed up her brain and messed up her thinking. She had taken them once before but their nauseating after effects had made her swear to never take them again. And now, two were staring her in the face, given to her by the one person she could never refuse.
"I don't think I...."
"You haven't been sleeping well and it's going to affect your performance sooner or later," Jason cut in coldly, placing a tumbler of water on the table. "I'm not going to have your insomnia interfere with any upcoming assignments, or risk your nodding off in the middle of one."
"Heh! Jason, you know I wouldn't do that. Besides, these things make me sick!"
"Fine. Then I'll save you the trouble of blowing me up on our next mission," Jason turned away, moving toward the door. "I'll just go and jump off the house and attempt to land on me head or something."
"Jason! Wait! Oh shit!"
Jason smiled slightly at Ria's muttered curse. That particular threat always *did* work better than threatening to kill her. He turned to see the auburn-haired woman gulping down the tranquilizers, grimacing at the slightly bitter aftertaste.
"Wek! There! Are you happy now, you creep?" Ria gagged at Jason in exasperation. Jason shrugged, and resumed his exit.
As he left, he could hear Ria's loud sigh as the youth went back to his work.
When Jason had returned to the room an hour later, he found Ria slumped over the desk, amidst loose sheets of technical reports. The tranquilizers had taken effect and the girl was dead to the world. Jason grunted as he lifted his friend to place her in the more comfortable confines of his bed. Ria was heavier than he had thought.
Must be the hair.
He pulled off the other's boots and placed them by the foot of the bed. Next he unbuttoned the black shirt that was his friend's favorite outfit, tugging it off with difficulty while manouvering his friend's limp limbs into cooperating. Jason left the white undershirt on, pulling it down where it had been pulled up when he had removed the black shirt. His gaze fell upon the bruises on his friend's torso, and he wondered where Ria had gotten them. Jason fought the sudden desire that rose up within him, the desire to touch those fascinating patches of discolored skin, to feel the textures there and compare them with the rest of the flesh before him. Jason shook his head, pushing away unbidden images that made his blood rush to his head, making him slightly light-headed. He continued undressing her, undoing the fastenings of his pants and pulling them down Duo's legs. He smiled when he saw Ria's boxers she loved to show off, white ones liberally scattered with tiny yellow, smiley faces. Always the joker, he thought. Even down to her underwear. But Jason's smile disappeared when he noticed more bruises on his friend's legs.
Whatever had happened to her since he'd been gone?
