"Inertia"

(A blasé piece of fanfiction by amara enid)

[Notes: OK…my second forthcoming Xenogears fanfic. This one is revolving around Fei Fong Wong (that name…O_o;). Your average “day in the life of” work of fanfiction. This one is set not during the game like my Shitan piece, but a week before the start of the game. Be prepared for absolutely no plot. In other words, it’s much like First Glance. O_o;; I can hear the people screaming in fear already. Keep in mind that I was eating one of those packets of “Fun Dip” when I was writing this (read: Fun Dip is coloured sugar with a little candy dipping stick.) That should account for some of the psychoses. And once again, I take liberties with the storyline. So nyah. I also changed the layout of the Uzuki home a bit…

/What the HELL is with this piece of hair?!/

For as long as Fei Fong Wong could remember, he had always possessed a long head of hair, which he kept pulled back in a lengthy ponytail.

/Every freaking day I put my hair back and every freaking day this one STUPID piece of hair refuses to stay put!/

Yes, Fei was suffering from (in his opinion) a life-long bad hair day. Just one piece, one tiny piece was all it took for Fei to go from cheery to positively nuclear. He eyed the dreaded lock of hair that was now (as it was everyday) content to jut crazily outward in front of his face. He batted at it irritably, much like a kitten would bat at string. This drew him an odd look from the older man sitting at the other end of the table.

“Fei?”

“Mmm?” Fei did not look to the man or stop his batting, he remained focussed wholly on the task of beating the hair into submission.

“Something bothering you?” the older man asked apprehensively.

“Mmm.” Fei remained pre-occupied until one of the house maids bustled into the room, holding two trays which themselves held omelets. She smiled a toothy grin and set the plates down in front of their respective owners and went back out of the room just as quickly as she had come in, whistling to herself.

Fei looked down to the omelet, and his older companion did the same. Looking down was a large mistake for Fei, because the dreaded piece of hair fell down again. The older man still absorbed in unfolding his napkin and whatnot, Fei scrunched his face up and blew, directing his forceful gust of wind toward the piece of hair. It blew backwards and out of his face for the moment. Fei, however, knew he had won the battle but lost the war—the piece of hair would be back later at it’s own convenience.

“Are you going out today?” the older man asked suddenly, around a mouthful of breakfast. Fei looked up, chewing his own bite of food.

“Maybe,” he replied without giving it much thought.

There was a silence, the only noises being the ones from the waking town outside and the noises of utensils on plates.

“Going to work on some of your paintings?” the older man queried again.

“Maybe,” Fei replied with the same non-committal air. He downed the rest of his milk and ate the last bite of his omelet.

“You were hungry,” the older man observed. “The way you eat, it amazes me you can remain in such good shape,” he remarked, eyeing Fei’s lean, well-muscled form. Fei shrugged.

“I’m active,” he said. The older man sighed and waved his hand. “You’re excused, Fei. If you’re going to do anything today, you need to finish that painting that you’re giving to Timothy and Alice as their wedding gift. It’s in a week, you know.”

“Hmm?” Fei asked suddenly, stopping at the dining room door.

“The wedding, dear boy.”

“Oh yeah. Sure thing,” Fei said, already out of the room before the older man could reply.

He continued his meal and a few moments later the maid came back in, still whistling.

“He’s turning more and more into your typical teenager,” the older man observed, wrinkling his already profusely wrinkled brow in thought. “In his own little world.”

The maid laughed. “Give him a break, Chief Lee. He is a typical teenager—he’s only 17. Let him ‘zone out’ when he wants to. Lord knows he’s an upstanding young man, so I don’t think you need to worry about him.”

Chief Lee smiled faintly. “Yes, yes, perhaps you’re right. He sort of reminds me of myself at that age. Your ordinary village boy. Hard to believe someone dropped him off here and he wasn’t born here.”

The maid clucked her tongue and began cleaning up Fei’s used dishes. “Indeed. He’s had enough time to adjust now—everyone loves him. He’s just an average teenage kid.”

“Yes,” Chief Lee remarked, lost in thought. “Average kid.”

/It’s hot in here,/ he thought to himself. Lahan was known for it’s humid weather, and Fei knew he should have been used to it by now. But it still got to him at times.

He hadn’t been painting all day—he had only just recently come in to paint. His morning had been spent trekking around the village, pummeling any monsters he ran into. It kept him in impeccable shape, not to mention kept him in practice. His relentless practice of martial arts was sort of odd to everyone in the village, but no one said anything because they all loved him so much. If it meant anything to them, they just kept it to themselves.

After the morning of trekking and pummeling, he came back into the village. He exchanged a few words with some people who stopped him, and played a quick game of tag with some local kids who were genuinely bored and were looking for something to do.

Now he was standing in his little room in front of an easel, painting the gift that was to go to his two friends as a wedding gift. He was having a hard time painting it though, almost like he didn’t want to.

Fei sort of felt like that if he didn’t paint the picture, the wedding would never come.

And he was more than a little guilty to admit that it was because of the way he felt about Alice. They had always been good friends, closer than Timothy and himself had ever been, and suddenly out of the blue a few weeks ago Fei discovered he liked Alice as more than a friend. Of course, Murphy’s Law states that anything that can go wrong will, and about a week after Fei’s stunning revelation, Alice’s family and Timothy’s family agreed that it would be satisfactory if the two were to be married.

Fei was heartbroken, but didn’t show it. He smiled and congratulated the two. Ever since then, though, he couldn’t stop feeding meaning into every little move Alice made. Every sigh she gave, every step she took, every word she spoke seemed to be glaring signs that she did not love Timothy but loved him instead. (Well, at least to Fei.) He had been trying to hide his little infatuation with Alice, but he was quite afraid that at least two people knew. One was Alice’s maid (who always seemed to be sympathetic to Fei and let him visit with Alice quite often, even when she was supposed to be preparing for the wedding) and the other was Yui Uzuki, the local Doctor’s wife. It was just something in the way that Yui’s eyes glittered knowingly whenever Fei mentioned Alice or anything pertaining to her that made Fei think that she was onto him. He was extremely thankful that Chief Lee hadn’t picked up on it; he would have been severely ashamed that Fei was so reckless as to get in the way of a marriage.

Finally after a few moments with more thinking being done than painting, Fei washed his brushes out and laid them away with an overwhelming feeling of self-disgust.

/What’s the matter with me? I should be happy for Alice and Timothy!/

Fei was experiencing the pains of a teenage crush that had been yanked forcefully from him by some devices that seemed wholly evil to him. The only other girl he had found himself interested in was the local bartender’s daughter, Inez, but she too had been married off about a year ago.

Fei now came to realize that he had liked her for purely aesthetic reasons—it was something about the red hair that just drew him in. He felt like he remembered the red hair—the red hair seemed so perfect and right to him. Plus, she had been…well, well-endowed and Fei had been 16. Like any other 16-year-old, his hormones and his newfound masculinity tended to get the best of him at times.

“Next thing you know, he’ll be marking trees and claiming territory,” the maid had said to Chief Lee one night regarding Fei at that age.

Fei shook his head once, briefly, to clear it of all reminiscing. During the shake the dreaded piece of hair fell again. Fei did not attempt to move it and fumed quietly, glaring at it instead.

/Stupid piece of hair…I’ve got half a mind to cut you off. I’ve got half a mind to just cut it all off./

He walked out of his room, in a semi-haze, not really knowing where he was going or why. He tromped up the stairs and out the front door, right past the poor maid who asked him where he was going. He didn’t even hear her speak.

Outside, Fei inhaled deeply of the dusk air. It was so humid you could almost see it, reach out and grab it to store it away for later, but Fei found it didn’t bother him as much now that he wasn’t enclosed in his room. Lahan’s children (and they were plentiful) were out in full force at this time of the day, when the sun had just dipped below the horizon and the sky was painted a various spread of luminous pinks and purples. Fei looked up at the sky, the rose and lilac hues painting his bronzed skin an odd glowing colour. He suddenly snapped his eyes to the exact point where the sun had gone down.

/DAMN! I haven’t eaten since this morning and the sun just went down! No wonder I’m so freaking hungry!/ He thought about turning to go back into the house, but then he saw something that made the thought stop dead like it had run into a wall.

Across the street and down a little ways, Alice had just thrown open her shutters and was leaning on her windowsill. Her room was illuminated slightly and Fei stood there agog.

/Stop staring! Everyone’s going to know if you keep staring!/

He heard some children not too far away calling his name, inviting him to play capture-the-flag with them, but he stood frozen in place. He didn’t think he could have moved if he wanted to, because he had given his body many orders to stop staring and start moving—but all in vain. He was rooted to the spot, staring at Alice’s lovely form.

She tucked some of her long black hair behind one of her ears and leaned her face in both of her palms, gazing out into the painted sky. Suddenly she turned and looked behind her, like someone within had summoned her, and she ran from the window, leaving Fei with a sort of emptiness. The window seemed to have lost it’s glow and so did the dusk. He commanded his shoulders to stay in place and not sag in sorrow and surprisingly they obeyed.

/Alice. I wish you weren’t getting married to Timothy. I would gladly marry you, and I think you know--/

Fei’s train of thought was cut off by a ball hitting him square in the side of the head. He rocked to the side, in a state of temporary shock. He brought a hand up to the side of his head and looked to his side with a frosty glare on his face, angry for having his mental oath cut off.

A short, red-headed little boy grinned back at him in spite of his wicked glare. “Yo, Fei! What are you in La-La Land about?”

Fei tried to smile at the mirthful boy. “Nothing important, and now thanks to you, I’m out of it.” Dan laughed.

“Yeah! You gonna play or what? You usually do.” He spread a small hand towards a group of children, most of them rowdy and loud. Dan grinned again. “We’re ready to play the best game of capture-the-flag ever!”

Fei rubbed the sore spot on his head, managing finally a strained smile. “Hmm…I’d like to play with you guys tonight, but I was actually thinking about going up to visit the Doc and his family.” Dan sneered.

“Alright, but I think you’re just too scared to play with us!” Some of the kids laughed and some gasped at Dan’s courage to tell Fei something like that. “You go up to see Doc almost every day.”

Fei began to walk towards the end of the street and the end of the village. “Oh, Dan! It’s been three or four days since I last went!”

Fei pushed the persistent image of Alice out of his mind and focussed instead on the trail in front of him, knowing that one slip could cause his consequential death. At last the trail began to smooth out and the cliffs on either side began to fade and he saw the small, familiar sign at the top of the rise, peeking through the light evening mist.

/Heh. No deceased. Gets me every time./ Fei still remembered when someone had actually dragged a dead body up to the Doc, and asked him to do something about it. Like before, Fei still remembered the look on the Doc’s face as he tried to think of a way to put it nicely—there was no way in hell he could do anything for a dead person.

Fei walked up the small beaten path that led to the mountain top home’s door, and looked himself over, making sure he was presentable. He shivered slightly as he pulled the chain that would ring the bell—down in Lahan it was humid but once you climbed all the way up to the summit of the mountain it was quite chilly. A minute later, no one had answered yet, so he went to grab for the chain again. Right before his hand grasped the small brass chain, a very harried looking Yui threw open the door. Fei looked at her for a moment, one eyebrow raised in a display of disbelief. Yui? In disarray? It was something he had never seen before in his life. Now she looked a little winded and wore a sort of “oh great, what next?” look on her plain face.

“Something the matter?” Fei asked after an awkward second. Yui ushered him inside and it was then that Fei heard the sounds of what sounded like a scuffle going on upstairs. He looked to the shorter but older Yui and she sighed.

“After all this is done, I think I shall go outside and change the sign again,” she said wearily. “No lunatics.”

Fei blanched visibly. “Lunatics?”

Yui motioned for him to follow her and he stepped cautiously around a chicken and followed her to the outside door.

“Watch your step, Fei; it’s dark,” she admonished, ascending the steps to one of the upstairs rooms. Fei followed her and his curiousity got the best of him after a moment.

“What do you mean by ‘Lunactics’, Yui?” She sighed again, stopping in front of one of the doors. She turned to face him and now the sounds of the scuffle were louder than ever.

“You’ll see,” she said with a dry humour, and then she opened the door. Fei looked inside and saw nothing but the Doc and two other people, two women. Midori sat on a chair in the corner of the room, looking up at something, but Fei didn’t pay her much mind. She was always looking around her and never speaking much. The room was one of the library rooms, stuffed with books. The ceiling was a little higher on this one though, and there was a ladder that went around the sides to help one retrieve books.

Fei looked at the two women with Doc, and then turned to look at Yui oddly.

/They don’t look like lunatics to me. I wonder if Yui’s the one who’s lost it./ Fei stepped inside, only to have Doc shout at him and the two women scream fearfully. Fei’s eyes widened and he looked at them.

“Wha—“ he was cut off when someone behind him screamed and he was knocked to the floor by a falling body. Fei heard Yui gasp and he felt her hands on his leg, pulling him back. He looked up at the man scrambling off his back and he groaned. The man giggled insanely and climbed back up the ladder quickly before Doc could grab a hold of him. The two women tittered nervously and looked up at the man.

“Phillipe! Please come down,” one called. The only response was a book flying across the room and the woman shrieking. Doc stood near the spot where Fei had been tackled, and he nodded to Yui.

“You two can come in now,” he said. Fei righted himself and entered a bit quickly, not wanting to be pounced on again. The man at the top of the second library ladder (who was clearly the lunatic) laughed at him and pointed.

“I got you!” he hollered. “I got YOU!”

Doc sighed and rubbed his forehead. “Indeed, you were clever enough to catch Fei. But now will you come down, Mr. Gaspard?” The man stuck his tongue out at Doc and, plucking another book from the shelf, tossed it down at him. Doc stepped quickly to the side and the book hit the floor where he used to be harmlessly. Yui looked above her once and entered. The man (now known as one Phillipe Gaspard) pounced again, but Doc saw it coming and yanked his wife out of the way, causing the poor crazy man to hit the floor with a thud. The two women rushed over and Doc stepped around Yui, all making ready to grab him. But Gaspard had other things in mind and scrambled out of capture quickly, fleeing across the room and up the other ladder, right next to Midori. Yui stretched her arms out to Midori and beckoned.

“Come over here, darling. You shouldn’t be sitting right there.” Fei stopped her.

“She should stay. If she moves, he might jump on her, and since she’s only a kid, it could hurt her.” Yui looked troubled at the prospect of Midori having to sit there, but she kept quiet.

“Yes, Fei is quite correct, Yui,” Doc added. “As odd as it sounds, I’d rather have Midori sit there instead of trying to move. The patient seems to have some odd infatuation with…jumping on people.” Yui looked at Doc, one corner of her mouth curving upward.

“Astute observation, Doctor Uzuki,” she remarked dryly. Fei kept his jaw from dropping by sheer force of will. He had never heard Yui make any sort of saucy remark to her husband, she always just nodded and complied. Doc looked at Yui and flashed her a tiny smile. He turned to the two women.

“This man is your…brother, correct?”

“Yes,” they answered simultaneously, looking at each other. “He’s our little brother,” the first one replied. Doc nodded.

“Do you think you could assist me in catching him?” Doc asked expectantly. From what Fei could tell they had been of no help whatsoever in the apprehension of their brother. Fei stepped forward.

“I could, Doc. We could just pin him.” Doc looked at Fei, smiling.

“I don’t want to kill him, Fei. I want to help him. These women are his sisters, so I think they would be most efficient in helping me to catch him.”

Fei nodded and looked back at Yui, who was watching Gaspard with unease. Midori seemed totally unaware of everything, instead she had picked up a doll she had brought in with her and was now smoothing it’s dress.

“Let me try again,” the other sister said. “Phillipe! Won’t you come down and stop jumping on people?” Phillipe went to throw a book at her, but thought better of it, instead removing his shoe and tossing it. The throw was lopsided so instead of the target being his sister, it was Fei and the Doctor. They both ducked, the shoe sailing harmlessly overhead.

“This is growing crass,” Doc stated, sounding very frazzled with the whole situation. “Mr. Gaspard! Come down from there or I will resort to drastic measures!” Yui shrugged and looked at him.

“What can you do, Shitan?” she asked him after a moment of nothing but Gaspard’s giggling and chanting of “I got you”. “He’s up there and you’re down here, and if you approach him he pounces on you.” Doc grumbled, fuming. “I know that, it’s plain to see he has an advantage on us.” His voice was slightly acidic and Yui fell back in line, not asking him about it again. Fei sighed and indicated Gaspard.

“If we could only get close to him, we could pull the ladder down and spill the guy on the floor. He wouldn'd be able to go anywhere then,” he said. Doc nodded.

“But we can’t get close. He already got me once before you arrived, Fei.” He grimaced and rubbed his back. “I’m going to feel that one for a while.” Then he smiled. “You’re in a violent mood tonight—first you suggest we pin him, then yank the ladder from beneath his feet. Like I said, we want to help him, not kill him.”

Midori giggled, a rare thing. Doc sighed.

“Odd she should think this whole thing funny. Look at where’s she’s sitting—she’s in the most danger of us all,” Doc noted.

There was a moment of silence, broken suddenly by Gaspard screaming and shaking the ladder so it rattled against the shelves. Yui winced and the two sisters looked at each other in alarm, little Midori put her hands over her ears and scrunched her face into a scowl. Doc paused, in thought. He seemed totally unaffected by the screeching and banging. Fei wrinkled his nose and looked at Gaspard with an odd look on his face.

/What made this guy so damn CRAZY?! Man! And why does he have to make such a racket?!/ Fei scowled at Gaspard but the latter did not notice, just kept right on screaming.

Before Fei could get the word “shutup” out of his mouth in a command, someone else did it for him.

“SHUTUP!”

Everyone in the room except Gaspard turned and looked at the source of the outburst. Little Midori was getting down from her chair, with a hateful look on her face the entire time. “Shutup!” she said again. “You’re too loud!” Gaspard stopped his screeching and banging and hopped off the ladder. For a moment all time froze, and Fei was sure the next second Midori was going to be smashed under the crazy man. But he landed next to her with ease and glared right into her face, remaining in his crouched position so they were the same height.

“I’m going to get you too,” he said to her. She frowned back at him, her tiny face seething with rage.

“Be quiet,” she said in her childish voice, warped into seriousness by her own ways. “You’re so stupid. Stop making so much noise.”

Gaspard glared at her a moment more then stood, running in an off-kilter fashion over to the bookcase again. This time he did not go back up the ladder, but turned and screamed at her.

“I’m GOING TO GET YOU!” he hollered, tearing books out of the shelf and tossing them randomly. No one had said anything this entire time, just sat there staring at the crazy man and little girl.

Midori stood, unflinching, staring at him with superior coolness. Yui looked like she was ready to faint, and Fei silently inched closer just in case she might. Doc had moved backwards and over against the other wall. Fei looked at him for a moment, a question in his eyes—“What are you doing over there?”—and the Doctor simply looked back at him—“Don’t worry.”

Gaspard turned to his sisters, grinning. “I’ll get you.” Fei wondered if that was the only thing he was capable of saying. Gaspard turned back to Midori.

“I’ll get you,” he said, reaching behind him to pull a book from the shelf. He raised it over his head, poised to throw it at the little girl in front of him, but before he could release the book, a shoe flew across the room and clocked him square in the forehead, causing him to drop the book and clutch his face. Fei looked back at Doc, who had been the source of the shoe-toss. He had picked up Gaspard’s own discarded shoe and used it against him. Yui ran out and grabbed Midori, then ran back near her husband. Gaspard stumbled for the door, holding his head and moaning, and then another surprise came from the Doctor. He took a running start and dashed for the weakened Gaspard, tackling him. This elicited more screams from both the two sisters and Yui, and Fei watched in absolute shock as the green, white, and brown (the colour Gaspard was wearing) mass tumbled across the floor and hit the door. Evidently, Yui had not closed the door all the way when she had entered, and the partially closed door gave way against the sudden weight.

The green, white, and brown mass that was Gaspard and the Doctor rolled out the door and down the steps with a great deal of noise and ruckus.

The room was in silence for a moment, and suddenly little Midori looked at her mother who stared out the door in total shock.

“He fell down the steps, Mother,” she said plainly. Yui looked at her once, then set her down and hurried out the door, followed closely by the two sisters and Fei himself.

Once outside, Fei could just barely make out the forms of the three women hurrying down the steps. /When did it get so dark?/ Fei wondered. /I can’t see a thing. And how are they going so damn quick? With those long skirts too…/ He thought better of it. /Well, I suppose if my brother or my husband had just rolled down the stairs I would be quicker than usual too./

Fei just barely heard the sounds of a small scuffle and then Gaspard began to scream again. He vaguely heard above the screaming the sisters apologizing and Doc asking where his glasses had gone. Fei felt a tiny tug on his pant leg and he jumped inadvertently, looking down. Midori was gazing up at him, holding up a lantern. He took it from her and lit it, walking down the suddenly illuminated steps. Yui was hunched over the steps, looking for Doc’s glasses. The two sisters were standing there, fretting, as usual.

Fei surpressed a laugh when he saw where the Doctor and his patient had ended up. At a decent sized landing in the middle of the steps, there lay Gaspard, sprawled flat on his stomach, streaming and kicking his feet. And kneeling with one knee on either side of Gaspard’s back was Doctor Uzuki, holding Gaspard’s hands behind his back. He looked severely rumpled, his hair was in total disarray and his clothing was a little dirty. Not to mention he had lost his glasses. The Doctor was practically blind without them, and he had lost them during the tumble.

“Now, Mr. Gaspard,” he said, not without a hint of smug triumph, “now you will allow me to sedate you.” Doc looked up and blinked a few times, squinting furiously. “Have you found my glasses yet, Yui?”

“I-I’m still looking,” she replied, looking all about her with a worried expression on her face. Fei looked over to his left and there, teetering perilously on the very edge of the step were the Doc’s glasses. He bent and saved them from utter destruction due to falling and handed them down to Yui (who in turn placed them on her husband’s face, since his own hands were employed in holding Mr. Gaspard’s in place.)

“Is he hurt?” one of the sisters asked Doc, with a slightly angry tone.

“He’s quite alright,” Doc replied, although it was lost in the din of Gaspard’s shrieking.

Fei laughed. “That should be enough action for an old-timer like you, Doc!” Fei knew the Doctor wasn’t so old to be called “old-timer” but he enjoyed getting a rise out of the usually calm man.

“You’ll be this old someday too, son,” Doc said, putting emphasis on the word ‘son’ like it was a bad word. This time the Doctor had gotten a rise out of Fei. The Doctor smiled faintly, gripping Gaspard’s wrists tighter when he began to struggle with new fire.

“Fei, go back into the room and retrieve the powder for me, would you?” Fei handed the nearest sister the lantern while the Doctor began to climb off of his “victim”, and he turned to go back up into the room. He chuckled at the disarray of the room and noted that Midori once again sat in the chair, playing with her doll. He grabbed the little bag of powder off the table, wondering idly how in the world Doc figured he was going to get Loony-man to take it, and turned to go back out. At the bottom of the steps, he saw that things had switched slightly and Gaspard was on his back, Doc holding him on one side and Yui assisting on the other. Gaspard wasn’t totally insane in one sense; he knew who the weaker of the two detaining him. Poor Yui was getting quite a handful from her husband’s charge, but Fei didn’t hear her complaining or even say “ouch” once.

Fei handed the bag of powder to Doc who opened it with one hand while holding Gaspard with the other.

“Well,” he said, battling against Gaspard’s struggles, “this is going to be interesting.”

“I’ll help,” Fei offered. /Why is he having Yui help him when he knows I’m right here? I’m a lot stronger than her./

“No.” Doc said it shortly. “I won’t risk getting you hurt, Fei.”

“So it’s OK for your wife to be hurt?” Yui turned to him this time.

“I’m alright, Fei. It is just as the Doctor says.” She turned back to Gaspard and only the Doc caught the look of anger in Fei’s eyes.

“Excuse me, but would you help my brother and talk later?” the more belligerent sister asked. The other fidgeted with the ends of her hair, absolutely mortified. Doc nodded and gripped tighter, preparing the bag of powder.

“Sorry, Mr. Gaspard. It has to be done,” Doc said without real apology. He waited until Gaspard opened his mouth to scream again and poured in some of the powder, spilling some in the process. For a few more minutes, Gaspard rolled and screamed and kicked, but then they began to slow down. His movements became more lethargic and his screams faded to slurred babbles. Finally he went totally slack like a piece of rope and Doc motioned for his wife to release the patient.

He lay asleep on the landing. Fei turned to the sisters.

“Anything in particular Doc was supposed to do for your brother?”

The belligerent sister shrugged. “Make something to end his ranting fits, and perhaps just have a look at him.” She shot Doc a heated glance. “I didn’t expect to have him bum-rushed like some sort of ruffian.”

Doc folded his arms over his chest and frowned. “I think that you ladies can see that it was quite necessary.” One sister nodded meekly and the other just gave Doc a look that made even Fei uneasy. Doc turned to Fei.

“Now, Fei, you can assist me. Would you mind helping me carry Mr. Gaspard downstairs into a room?”

Fei nodded, handing the lantern to the calmer sister. “Sure. He can’t stay out here all night.” Fei walked down to the man’s feet and got a hold of them, hefting his end. Doc grabbed the head end and together they walked back down into the lower level of the house, the calm sister following them with the lantern providing light. Fei and Doc placed the man in a spare room meant for patients and Fei turned to leave, but Doc stood in thought. You could always tell when he was thinking—Fei knew the stance well—arms crossed over his chest, one hand up-stretched to grip his chin lightly. Sometimes, one foot would even tap against the ground.

Fei smiled slightly at the appearance of the familiar stance and hung by the doorframe. “What’s up?”

Doc made a ‘hmmm’ noise. “Well, Fei…I was just pondering the fact that when he wakes up he’ll have free reign of the place.”

“How long will he be under for?” Fei asked curiously.

“Few hours.” Doc spun to face Fei. His eyes clearly showed that his mind was working and piecing things together.

“Doc. You seriously aren’t thinking what I’m thinking you’re thinking, are you?”

“That depends on what you’re thinking I’m thinking. I may be thinking of something totally opposite than what you think I’m thinking about.”

Fei’s mind pieced out the sentence. /Sometimes I think he rambles too much./ “Tying him up? Strapping him down?”

Doc nodded. “You were correct.” A tumble of dirty blonde hair announced Yui leaning her head in the room.

“The sisters have left for Lahan,” she said softly. “They’ll be back in the morning.” Doc nodded.

“I think they were angry with me, eh?” he said, smiling. Fei laughed. “No, really? I think that one would just as soon have pounced on you, Doc!” Yui smiled faintly.

“Are you two hungry? I just remembered I hadn’t even time to cook dinner before the arrival of our poor mentally deranged guest…”

If it would have been possible, Fei’s stomach would have been chanting hallelujah when he heard the word ‘dinner’. Especially from Yui’s mouth. /Dinnerdinnerdinnerdinnerfoodfoodfoodfoodfood…when was the last time I ate anyway?/ Fei’s face went through various acrobatics when he remembered it was early that morning. /No WONDER I’m so damn hungry! Jeez…cook something quick, Yui./

“A bit hungry,” Doc said. “Fei?”

“Starving,” he admitted. Yui smiled. Doc gave a heavy, theatrical sigh.

“When are you not starving, Fei?” he asked.

Yui’s head left the doorway, and as she walked down the hallway the two men heard her say, “You were the same way, Shitan…”

Midori climbed down from her chair to follow her mother, who was gathering the dishes off the table.

“Fei ate more than all of us together,” the child remarked with her strange seriousness. Doc laughed.

“Observant child,” he said to Yui, who gently stacked plates on top of each other.

“She got it from you,” came the reply.

Mother and daughter left the room, the former toting the dinner plates and the latter clinging with a small hand to the back of her mother’s long skirt.

Doc smiled at Fei, standing. “Will you be taking a spare room tonight, Fei? It’s rather late and the path is so dangerous in the dark.”

Fei shrugged. “I really shouldn’t. I don’t think Chief Lee knows where I am…”

“Tell him you were here,” Doc said, removing his glasses to clean them on his shirt. “It would make me feel much better if you put up here for the night.” He raised his glasses to the light. “Damnation. I think one of the lenses has been scratched…”

Fei sighed, knowing that when Doc insisted on something he was like a dog with a piece of cloth. He wouldn’t let go no matter how hard you tugged and how much you yelled. Fei gave in and handed the dog the cloth. “If it really makes you feel better, Doc, I’ll stay. But I’m blaming you if I get yelled at.” Doc ‘hmm’ed faintly in reply, still absorbed in examining the scratch in his glasses.

Fei looked down the hallway, towards the room where Gaspard lie. “Shouldn’t we…umm, secure Mr. Gaspard…?”

Doc looked at him suddenly, slipping his glasses back on. “Huh?”

Fei pointed towards the other room. “You know…”

Doc looked behind him. “What?”

Yui had walked back into the room, unnoticed, to gather the silverware. “The lunatic,” she said suddenly, softly. Both men turned to her in shock.

“Awfully quiet,” Fei remarked. Yui simply smiled at him kindly and left the room with a handful of dirty silverware.

Doc looked towards the other room suddenly, remembrance flooding his features. “Ah! Of course, Fei! The patient!” He started out of the room, the opposite direction from Gaspard’s room and the kitchen. “Wait here, Fei.”

Fei complied and stood in the dining room, staring at the walls, mentally yelling at himself whenever Alice would try to creep back into his head. After about 5 minutes Doc had not returned and Fei began to get bored. He rocked back and forth on his heels, and began to whistle softly, looking around the familiar room blandly.

/Amazing. The room hasn’t changed in as long as I can remember but there isn’t a speck of dust anywhere. Talk about meticulous cleaning,/ Fei thought idly.

Some more time past and Fei dwelt upon the subject of dust again. /What’s that stuff made of anyway? Maybe Doc’s house is like, immune to it./

He looked down to see a chicken walk leisurely past his foot. /Or maybe Yui’s a cleaning freak. She doesn’t have anything else to do all by herself up on this mountain./

Fei noticed a small pile of peas on the table where Midori had “accidentally” pushed some off her plate. (It was a well known fact in the Uzuki household that Midori loathed peas.) He looked around to make sure no one saw him, then scooped a few up, turning and taking careful aim for the unsuspecting chicken who was blissfully unaware of it’s impending thwack by a slightly cold pea.

He tossed the pea with a quick snap of his wrist and it sailed fluidly across the room, impacting with the chicken’s head. It “bawk”ed softly and looked around, quite confused. Fei snickered and took careful aim once more, this time the tossed pea hit it in the back. The cry of “bawk” was much louder this time. Fei tried it one more time, once again smiting the chicken in the head.

One more time was all it took.

The chicken made it’s cry of “bawk” again, except it sounded more like “BAAAAAWWWK!” It flew across the room, “bawking” all the while. Fei blinked and looked at it as it sailed directly for him. He ducked and frowned as a feather floated back down onto his head. The chicken continued to fly around the room screeching and of course, Murphy’s law states that anything that can go wrong will, Doc picked that precise time to reenter the room. He looked suspiciously at the enraged chicken and the stunned Fei. Then he lifted up his foot and looked at the squashed pea on the bottom of the shoe.

“Fei.” Fei looked at him sheepishly. “Eat your food, but do not throw it at chickens.” Fei felt absolutely ridiculous, especially when Yui and Midori poked their dirty blonde heads out of the kitchen door.

“Nevermind,” Doc said to them. “Don’t ask.”

Yui looked at the slightly calmer chicken, but didn’t say a word to Doc. Doc tossed Fei a roll of tape.

“It took me so long to find it because it was lost in my tool and whatnot in the shed. It’s the strongest utility tape I have,” he said almost proudly.

/Good God. Man’s just like a father to all those tools and inventions—sometimes I think he’s a machine himself./ “Must be strong then.”

“Indeed. Let us proceed,” Doc said with a business-like air, walking to the bedroom where Gaspard lay. Doc produced his own roll and began taping Gaspard’s feet together.

“I guess we could…tape his arms to his sides?” Doc suggested, looking at the man carefully after he had secured his feet.

“Not much else we can do,” Fei said, beginning to wrap the tape around the man’s body. This task took considerably longer, considering the man’s body was unresponsive, limp, and unwieldy. Finally the body was taped to satifaction and the two men left the room. Fei handed his roll of tape back to Doc and yawned.

“I’m beat, Doc. You?”

The Doctor shrugged. “All in a day’s work. After the dead body incident, nothing shocks me anymore.” He shrugged again. “Not really all that tired. I was hoping to get some reading in before I retired…perhaps some more work on that infernal Land Crab…” Doc took up his thinking stance, the two rolls of tape held in his other hand. Fei smiled.

“Well, I’m going to hit the sack. Goodnight, Doc. Tell Yui and Midori I said goodnight to them too.”

Whether Doc heard him or not, Fei wasn’t sure. The only response he got was the familiar, faint “hmm.”

She stood in her pajamas, leaning against the windowsill. The window was open again (despite her mother’s warnings that she would get sick before her wedding and that was a bad omen; Alice didn’t care much about that) and Alice was leaning with her head in her hands out into the warm night. There was no breeze, and the humid air hung there like a fog.

/”He”/

/Him./

She sighed and looked around the darkened village of Lahan. The only lights came from people’s windows and the old tavern down the street. Even there it was dim and quiet, and Alice felt almost criminal for still being awake when she had specifically been ordered to bed.

/”Get in bed, Alice. You need to get your rest…this week is going to be very hectic. You’re getting married in 7 days.”/

/Seven days…oh, God./

The truth of the matter was, Alice didn’t want to be married. She loathed it, she hated the very notion of it. It wasn’t that she didn’t like Timothy; no, he was nice enough. But she didn’t LOVE Timothy.

She hated the notion of marriage so because all it seemed to her was a convenient arrangement. At least hers was, anyway. No one cared if she loved Timothy or not. And worst thing was, she had absolutely no say in the matter.

She sighed again, feeling her bangs ruffle slightly from the sudden gust of breath.

/All the way up to Doctor Uzuki’s in the dark? And at this time of night? I hope he returned already. It’s so dangerous, even in the daytime./ She stared out at the bright stars. /Oh, Fei, I worry so much about you. You’ve been in your own little world lately…/

Alice had been paying special attention to Fei lately—that was because she liked him. She had finally admitted to herself that it was him that she wished she were to marry about 2 weeks ago.

/Oh! Why couldn’t you have been born here, Fei? Just because you’re not from here my parents don’t think you’re suitable for me…/

She knew she couldn’t tell anyone—not even her maid—because it would make everyone upset and cross. Plus, they would just tell her she was too young. That she didn’t know what love was and she didn’t know what she really wanted or what was good for her. She had almost told the Doctor’s wife one night at a big gathering down in the village. She didn’t know why she almost spilled her secret, it was just something about the Doctor’s wife’s soft-spoken sweet ways that made even the most secrative people want to tell her everything.

Alice leaned further out of the window, looking up and down the street for any sight of Fei.

/Where is he?! He should have been home long ago. I vow and swear, he makes me so nervous sometimes with his ways…why on earth does he feel the need to disappear to wherever and not tell anyone?/

But Alice knew that was wrong. He had told someone—in fact, many people. He had announced to the children that he was going to Doctor Uzuki’s house earlier. It was just the fact that he never told HER where he was going.

/This is ridiculous. He’s not obligated to tell me anything! I’m just his friend he doesn’t have to drop in and tell me everything he’s going to do!/

But even admitting to herself (in her mind) that he was just her friend, that’s all he would ever get to be hurt like nothing else. It tore her heart in two and she heaved another sigh, returning to her original spot on the windowsill, staring out at the stars. But she couldn’t stop herself from occasionally looking down the street for the familiar figure.

/God. Am I getting so out of shape that merely chasing a loon can put me out of sorts?/

The ceiling above him was a hazy blur, and he could distinguish only fuzzy shapes (unless the viewed object was extremely close, then he could see it with more clarity.) He heard the light footsteps on the outside stairs and he squinted in the general direction of the door. When it opened and he saw the general shape of his wife enter he let his head fall back on the bed.

His lower back hurt like all hell and he had made a mental note to himself to never again ignore the warnings of Gaspard’s sisters. He hadn’t listened when they first arrived and that got him leapt upon. Now his back was paying the price.

He felt a light weight on the bed next to him and he looked over, squinting furiously. Yui laughed, looking down at him.

“You squint so hard sometimes. Doesn’t it give you a headache to try and see things without your glasses?” He nodded and she handed them back to him, the latter slipping them on while the former came into focus.

“You look tired,” his wife observed, removing the two clips from her hair.

“Not as tired as you,” he countered. She set the clips on the table where Shitan’s glasses had just been sitting, and turned to look ahead with a frown on her simple face.

“You must have seen the signs too,” he said after a moment.

Yui sighed, her shoulders drooping forward slightly. “Very clearly,” she admitted. “It won’t be long.”

Shitan rolled over onto his stomach. “Would you rub my back right here?” he asked, touching his lower back. Yui complied and Shitan closed his eyes, finally feeling some of the pain beginning to ebb. “You’re worried,” he said after a moment. She paused then resumed, along with her answer.

“I suppose I am. Within Fei lies something very powerful—“

“I know. It had simply been repressed, not destroyed, and you know that. We knew peace wouldn’t last forever.”

“He’s having violent tendencies,” Yui said, as if she hadn’t even heard Shitan. “They’re very tiny, but they’re there.”

“You didn’t see the look in his eyes when I told him he couldn’t help with Gaspard,” Shitan said, the very words bringing the image back to him again. “His eyes were frightening.”

“I guess I was hoping against fate when I wished things would stay like this forever,” Yui said sadly, working at easing knots out of her husband’s back.

“You realize that I may have to leave or put myself in danger when he awakes,” Shitan said after a moment.

There was a silence and finally Yui answered.

“I understand,” she said softly. “We’ve talked about it before. You would go because Midori needs someone to take care of her, and watching Fei was the job assigned to you in the first place.” Shitan nodded.

“Correct,” he said, motioning for her to stop. He rolled over and sat up. “You’re right, he’s having violent tendencies and he’s holding things inside. I can see it. It’s making it easier for ‘him’ to fight his way out. It won’t be long now, and we’re probably going to have to resort to our plan.”

“Yes,” Yui answered. “But that doesn’t mean I have to like it,” she added a moment later.

Shitan sighed. “I won’t argue about it with you. I won’t.”

Yui was silent, and in her silence Shitan knew she was arguing in her own way.

“I won’t,” he added in a more warning tone. “I don’t want to argue with you when we may have so little time left together.”

“I wasn’t going to say anything,” she said very quietly. “You’re right. We should be prepared.”

“Yes,” Shitan said, feeling a little guilty at how his wife’s tone sounded. He removed his glasses and pretended it didn’t bother him. “Are you going to be upset now?”

“No,” she answered, attempting nonchalance. “I’m fine. Don’t worry about me,” she said sweetly. “Worry about you. You’ve had quite a rough day,” she said with a smile.

He nodded, noting that her kind tone and gestures couldn’t hide the sadness in her eyes.

“Let’s go to sleep, darling,” she said, looking away quickly. He knew she was afraid he had seen her true emotions.

“Let’s,” he said, watching as she got up and went away from him. “Let’s.”

Shitan couldn’t be sure, but sometime during the night, he thought he saw her get up and pace the room, finally retiring to bed, sniffling.

/But then again,/ he thought, /it could have been a dream. Her and everything she does always were like a dream to me. Perhaps, in light of what may happen in the future, a fleeting dream./

/Maybe it was something I ate,/ he thought blandly as he yawned. /I don’t get it. I’m tired, but I can’t sleep. It’s like part of me doesn’t want to sleep./

He turned onto his back and frowned up at the ceiling. /I feel like I should be up./

The moonlight came into the room in a small square, the soft night sounds entered also via the ever-so-slightly open window. He looked over at it occasionally, but found that the hideous shed that Doc did all his tinkering in obscured what would have been a lovely view. Since there was nothing going on, and he didn’t have anything else to think about, Alice crept back into his mind.

He sighed, causing the piece of hair to go awry again. He ignored it in his deep train of thought.

/I really need to get her out of my head. She doesn’t like me as anything more than a friend and she would be more than upset if she found out about this. Her along with everyone else in the village. Especially Chief Lee. Chief Lee who’s done almost everything for me since I was a kid—taken me in, fed me, clothed me, loved me like his own. The least I owe to him is to act sensible. It’s a small thing to do for someone who’s done so much for me./ He sighed, looking over at the window again. He quickly looked away, because the deep midnight azure of the night sky reminded him of Alice’s eyes.

/There I go again. I’ve got a week to get her out of my mind for good. I’ve got to at least try. A week, man. Seven days./ He groaned, rubbing his face with his hands, thoroughly distraught.

/In seven days Alice and Timothy’s wedding./ Fei rolled over. /I feel like I should be up and about, doing something. Something inside of me just doesn’t want to sleep./

/Seven days. Man, is that going to be one hell of a day./

Blah…OK, who caught the thing about the red hair in there? Eh? Come on…I know there are some people out there who are thinking “Oh-HO, I know what that means!”

Yeah, I liked writing the crazy guy scenes. He reminded me of myself. I used a name from A Tale of Two Cities—Gaspard. He’s the guy whose kid gets run down and then he goes off and kills the Marquis. I liked him. A lot.

Towards the end of this I was listening to some music—Orgy in particular. The song “Platinum”, not because of the lyrics, but because of the way it sounds. Ignore the lyrics and listen to the music. Aah…bliss. Weird wannabe eighties techno freak music gets me going.

Anyways. Stay tuned to silence and death for a PE fanfic, some poetry, and some original stuff…

…Have a lovely day, and remember Shitan’s sound advice:

“Eat your food, but do not throw it at chickens.”