Kiri: Chapter 8

“Skye? Kite called just a minute ago to say that he was staying with a friend tonight,” Mark called from the kitchen as the back door was opened. He was preparing the lasagna for dinner and attempting to keep an eye on the two-year-old who was staring raptly at the idiot box as it jingled off the alphabet.

Pulling off her long jacket, Skye frowned as she hung it in the closet and then walked into the kitchen to grab a bite of corn from one of the pans on the stove. Chuckling at her husband’s malcontent over her snacking, she pecked him on the cheek before hugging him tightly.

“Did he say who he was staying with?” she asked with a wrinkled forehead after Mark returned her kiss.

“No, just that he wouldn’t be coming home tonight. He left a number—I wrote it down by the phone—if you had a problem with it, and being the good ‘Daddy’ I decided to let you deal with setting the rules.”

“Oh, thanks!” Skye groused as she left his embrace and picked up the scrap of paper from the countertop. Her frown deepened as she recognized Ryo’s number almost immediately. Folding the piece of paper, she glanced over at her husband’s back side as he bent over to check the contents of the oven.

“Nice tush,” she commented, grinning as he wiggled it in response. Running her fingers though her damp brunette hair, Skye headed towards the bedroom pausing for a moment on the way to kiss Brittany’s blond head. “I’ll be back in a moment. I want to give him a call.”

“Okay. Dinner will be ready in about fifteen minutes if you want to take the time to get some dry clothes on, too,” Mark called after her.

* * * * *

Kite’s back went ramrod straight for the second time as the phone rang from in the kitchen. The first time it had been Ryo’s mother asking if he wanted to come home for dinner on Saturday. Now he watched like a hawk as Ryo got up from the desk in the bedroom and made his way to the phone.

“Hello?”

Crawling off the bed, the auburn haired boy crept into the kitchen to stare at the older man quietly from the doorway.

“Yes, he is. Do you want to talk to him?”

Dread knotted Kite’s stomach as he waited tensely for his sister to tell him he had to go home.

“No, he’s doing much better,” Ryo said with a smile, turning his back to the boy and propping a hip on the countertop. “He went to a couple of my classes with me, and we’ve been reading and drinking hot chocolate since then.”

There was a long pause, and Kite looked on in confusion. Was it possible that she wasn’t going to make him go home? His heart skipped a beat in elation at the thought.

“Yeah, sure. No, I really don’t mind. He’s no trouble. Uh huh…”

Kyon-Kyon rubbed against Kite’s leg, and he choked off a startled yell before stooping down to lift the gray ball of fur, which began purring in his arms. Sighing, he looked back over at the black haired Asian. Green eyes trailed over the khakis that he always seemed to be wearing, and he noted with an odd sense of bemusement that they tended to show off the lower half to great advantage. His face turned an intense shade of scarlet as Ryo glanced back over his shoulder at him.

“No, I don’t mind at all. I live in the University Suites across from campus. Apartment 213… Yeah, we’ll be here. All right see you in a bit. Bye.”

Kite’s green eyes were wide again as Ryo hung up the phone and set it back into its cradle. His grip on the young kitten tightened, and he squeaked softly before the boy set him back down on the ground.

“She’s coming here?”

Ryo nodded his head and studied the youth with a slight frown on his face. “Did you honestly think that she wouldn’t want to check on you?”

“Well, I…”

Shaking his head, the taller man walked forward and caught Kite’s shoulder giving it a gentle squeeze. “She’s your sister. Of course she’s going to worry about you after you weren’t in school today. Besides, I don’t think she was going to make you go home. She just wants to check on you.”

Taking a deep breath, Kite turned wide hope-filled eyes up onto the older man. “Do you really think she’ll let me stay here?”

Shrugging noncommittally, Ryo squeezed his shoulder again and walked past the boy and into the living room to sit down on the couch. He pulled his glasses off and sat them on the small table near him before letting his head fall back with a loud sigh.

The kitten trotted into the room and leapt into his lap, curled into a ball, and stared at him fairly demanding to know why he wasn’t being adored like the royalty he thought himself to be. Dropping a hand heavily on the gray head, Ryo scratched the rapscallion under the chin, which set him to purring furiously.

Kite settled down beside Ryo and drew his legs up on the couch chewing nervously on his thumb. “Did she say how long it would be before she got here?”

“Hmm? Mmm… She said about ten minutes or so,” Ryo answered in a mumble.

Swallowing hard, Kite studied the closed eyes and the slight frown on the other man’s face. He bit his lip and turned his gaze away after a moment.

“Ryo…”

“Mm-hmm?”

“Do… I mean…” Kite fumbled for the words to ask the question he wanted. “Is it really alright with you that I’m here?”

“Huh?” Ryo lifted his head and looked over at the scared expression on the youthful face. “Sure. Why wouldn’t it be?”

“Well, because you’re in college, and I’m just in high school, and we haven’t known each other long—“

“I’ve known you long enough to consider you a friend,” Ryo said cutting Kite’s ramblings off sharply as he closed his eyes again. “You’re always welcome here.”

Kite stared at him for a while before turning away to curl against the armrest as he waited for his sister to come. The near silence in the apartment stretched between them broken only on occasion by the sighing on the wind around the door or windows. The rain fell steadily though it had lessened from earlier in the day until it was more of a sprinkling than a deluge.

Ryo’s mind leapt from thought to thought randomly usually getting brought back to Kite as the boy shifted nervously next to him on the couch. He felt another hand begin stroking the kitten in his lap and allowed his own to still its movements. Sighing softly, he relaxed into the soft cushions of the sofa.

The decisions he reached then were the only ones he could have. If Skye wanted her brother to return home, he would not protest. If she let him stay, he knew that he would thank her graciously for he had come to enjoy having the younger boy around. He wasn’t that much younger than Ayami, and he was cute.

The deep blue eyes flashed wide behind his glasses as his jaw clenched. He would not be going in that direction with the boy, he vowed resolutely. They were friends only.

A few minutes later, there was a sharp knocking on the front door, and Ryo sat Kyon-Kyon over into Kite’s lap. He opened the door and smiled broadly at his former teacher.

“Come in,” he said stepping back to let her pass him. His sharp eyes took immediate note of the bag she was carrying—a plastic shopping bag, which she sat down by the door as she took off her coat. Closing the door, he took her coat and draped it over the back of a chair to dry and then offered her a seat on the couch. “I’m sorry to make you drive out here in this weather.”

“It’s all right, Ryo,” Skye said with a warm smile as she settled down beside her brother. “It really wasn’t that much of a hassle.”

Kite was quietly stroking the kitten’s back unwilling, maybe unable face his sister just yet. Watching him, Ryo felt a twinge of guilt and pity at the sweatshirt covering the bruises from the day before. He had nearly forgotten them, and Kite hadn’t allowed them to affect him overly much.

“I just wanted to bring over some of Kite’s clothing and a little money if you wanted to order pizza for dinner.” Skye’s words cut into Ryo’s thoughts, and he glanced over to see her smiling at her brother. She reached out and gently straightened the auburn hair.

“You mean I get to stay?”

Skye nodded her head with a bright smile. “Yes, if Ryo doesn’t mind you staying here another night—“

“It’s fine with me,” Ryo interjected with a wide smile.

“Mark was a little upset though. He made lasagna tonight because he knew you liked it…” Skye trailed off with a grin as Kite leaned over and hugged her tightly.

“Thank you!”

“You’re welcome. Now,” her voice became firm and maternal. “I want you to go to school tomorrow. I have your homework and books and make-up work that you missed from today. You’ve got work tomorrow too right?”

Kite nodded his head with a small pout marring his face. “Yeah, from four until nine.”

“Well, I’ll drop you off and pick you up then.” Skye’s words weren’t harsh, but they brooked no debate. She rose to her feet and leaned over to kiss the top of Kite’s head. “Goodnight then, and I’ll see you tomorrow morning.”

Smiling despite himself, Kite wished her goodnight as well, and Ryo rose to his feet to retrieve her coat. The look she cast him as she stepped though the door had him following her outside and into the drizzling rain.

“If he gets to be a problem or is a burden to you, just let me know, and I’ll come pick him up,” she said with a stern frown. “I don’t want him being an annoyance for you.”

Shaking his head, Ryo smiled warmly though chattering teeth. “He’s no problem. I’ll drop him off at school tomorrow.”

“Alright, thank you, Ryo,” Skye said and turned to go down the stairs.

Returning to the warmth of his apartment, the Asian man shivered as his damp clothing chilled his body. Just as he got the door closed, Kite threw his arms around him and hugged him tightly before he cheered.

“I get to stay!”

“Yep, now go do your homework.”

“Aw man…”

Laughing quietly, Ryo watched the boy pick up his bag and carry it into the kitchen to spread his books out on the kitchen table. Shaking his head with a grin, he followed him and accepted the money Kite dug out of the bottom of the bag. With the boy’s blessing, he called in a pizza order and then joined the youth at the table to help him with his work.

***
End Chapter 8
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