Room 502, Tuesday Afternoon

[withoutverona]

After talking to Edward and fighting a whale in management class, Romeo went back to his room to lounge on his bed with his Japanese notebook.

He was trying very hard not to think about ... well, about anything he and Edward had spoken of. It had been an unsettling conversation.

[OOC: For one, but open before her!]

Comments

[withoutverona]

Romeo stiffened. "Would he have me killed?"

It wasn't a happy subject, no matter how bold you were.

[dojima-hime.livejournal.com]

"There's other ways to go about it." Yurika closed her eyes, going through different scenarios in her head. "There's a few that come to mind, but he could visit your father under the guise of being my family's priest, and suggest he remove you from school. That our relationship is perhaps going somewhere your family might not want."

Yurika was sure Ted Montague liked her just fine - as Romeo's girlfriend. She doubted he was too keen for a new daughter-in-law quite so soon.

"That would probably be the first option. The second would be that he could simply remove me from the school, and have me start the mission early. Have it put about that I got expelled, again, and no one at home would be surprised. I'd finish the year at a Tokyo school, while working part-time at the STN-J before full insertion."

She licked her lips, mouth suddenly dry. "If neither of those were feasible, then an unfortunate accident might occur."

[withoutverona]

Romeo nodded in grim understanding, and looked at the sheets and the strewn clothes. "Would you forgive me if I said none of that put me in the mood to -- well, to continue on our path?"

The flesh was willing, in Romeo's case, but the spirit was weak.

[dojima-hime.livejournal.com]

Yurika didn't answer verbally at first. She just curled up against him, eyes still closed as if they were about to take a nap together.

"Kikuza," she muttered finally. "I bet he put a GPS in my phone and did this on purpose. I should have someone take it apart and make sure."

[withoutverona]

Another time, Romeo might have tried to distract her from paranoia with a kiss, or asked if GPS was really precise enough to tell one side of the hall from the other.

But today .... "Rikku's good at that kind of thing," he pointed out quietly.

He still was trying to get his head around how very much the priest hated him.

[dojima-hime.livejournal.com]

It wasn't that Juliano hated him. Yurika had a small suspicion that the priest was actually slightly fond of Romeo. He probably felt it better for him to be in Verona and unhappy than to get in the way of a Witch with a vendetta against Yurika.

Although fond or not, nothing would be allowed to jeopardize the mission. Yurika herself was expendable, even as valuable as she was. Some random human boy was doubly-so. There was no room for sentiment in the Intelligence Division of SOLOMON.

"If I handed it over to Rikku, she'd end up modifying it so it sparkles or glows or works as a can opener," she joked, brushing her hand over his hip. "Which could be kinda handy."

[withoutverona]

Romeo didn't know Juliano enough to tease out the man's more complicated motives, even if his brain had worked in that way. In his mind, either someone liked him (and wanted him to be close to Yurika) or they hated him (and wanted him away).

It was possible that, someday, someone should show him the word co-dependent in the dictionary.

In any case, he smiled lightly, tightly, at Yurika as he handed her a t-shirt so she wouldn't get cold. "The hime should have a sparkling cell phone, to match the charms you have on it," he decided.

[dojima-hime.livejournal.com]

Pointing out 'co-dependent' would require Yurika know what a healthy relationship looked like in the first place. She just thought he was being romantic. Insane, but romantic.

As it was, she smiled back and shrugged into the shirt. "I kind of have a lot of them, don't I?" she laughed. "Most Japanese girls my age do. You should see my desk drawer - I've got a whole collection, and I swap them out depending on my mood."

[withoutverona]

The sad thing was, Romeo would have said he was being romantic, too.

"I like them," he said. "Do you think I need some as well? I could borrow a few of your out-of-use ones, perhaps the little shoes..."

[dojima-hime.livejournal.com]

"Shoes? Really, aijin?" she giggled, shaking her head. "If you start being more fashionable than I am, we're going to have a problem. You're handsome, but I get to be the pretty one."

It was...frustrating. She wanted to smack Juliano upside the head. She wanted to be in the mood to pounce on Romeo so they could just ignore the phone call entirely. She wished she had let the damn thing go to voicemail, even if answering it had been the right thing to do.

"So, think you have time to help me with my homework later?" she asked lightly. "I get more done studying in here than when I'm alone in my room. Then we can pick out some accessories for your phone, and keep it from getting too terribly girly. I bet you'd like some of the ninja ones I have..."

When in doubt, avoidance usually worked pretty well.

[withoutverona]

He kissed her on the tip of the ear, lightly, before speaking. "I have time for whatever you'd have me do," he promised, and for once that wasn't at all dirty. "Ninja charms or studying."

[FTB!]