The Guest
Chapter 4

Yesssss!!! I actually finished this chapter. I've had the worst case of writer's block for this story and my other PoT fanfic: The Last Rose. I'm having a tough time with them for some reason. Maybe I'm too bogged down with details (I'm a detail fiend)! With this chapter though, I'm pretty vague and just went with what came to mind, so I hope you don't mind too much. I hope you like it!!

Italics denotes thought

sigh...

What did she get roped into this time. If there was a moment where souls could groan the loudest, today would be the day. Maybe if her soul groaned loud enough, God would hear it and send a miracle her way. But, for now, all Sakuno could do was sigh inwardly.

She stood in the foyer, waiting for Ryoma to come back downstairs and put his shoes on. There could be a silver lining in this, she thought as she watched Karupin weave his body in between her legs, a motion that he seemed to be fond of ever since she came to stay. At least I got my wish to go outside. But it wasn't what or how she had planned it. That monk, no, Ryoma's father, had suggested that she went with Ryoma on his errands to make sure that he completed them all, or so he said.

"My son can't be trusted, so could you, Sakuno-chan, join him to make sure he goes to the right places?"

"How could I say no?" she mumbled as she nervously tapped her foot on the floor. She was going to be the little tagalong. It was almost similar to the time that her Grandmother asked Ryoma to take her to get her racket restrung. Just a little tagalong. And he made her cry. And she ran away. But, he did find her, offer her a Ponta, and then helped her with her tennis. So it wasn't really all that bad. Maybe today won't be that bad.

"Are you ready?"

Ryoma's voice snapped her out of her thoughts. She quickly nodded her head and kept it down so Ryoma couldn't see her blushing. Oblivious to his errand partner, Ryoma opened the door, called out a farewell, and then headed out on to the sidewalk.

It seemed like a beautiful day earlier in the morning, but the sun was allowed to linger a little longer in a clear blue sky, turning the entire outdoors into a gigantic furnace. It was just plain hot. The few people who dared to brave the conditions moved in slow motion trying to expend as little energy as possible. The birds and the squirrels were nowhere to be found. Only the symphonic chirps of the cicadas could be heard.

Eiji wiped the sweat from his brow as he looked at his watch for what seemed like the hundredth time. This was the first time that Oishii was late for anything. They had planned to meet in front of the music store at 12:30. It was already 12:45 and Eiji was afraid that he would melt right then and there if he had to wait in the heat any longer. Just as soon as he was about to give up, Oishii flew from around the corner.

"Wah, Oishii, hidoi yo!!! It's sooooo hot and I've been waiting soooo long!!!!"

Oishii bent over with his hands on his knees trying to catch his breath. Even though it was sweltering, he ran all the way from the bus stop to the music store to try to make it on time. He finally stood up and took a deep breath.

"Gomen nasai Eiji. My father needed me to help him out this morning and it took longer than I had anticipated."

Eiji sniffed and kicked an invisible rock, trying to look as dejected as he could.

"You could have at least called."

"Gomen." Oishii said once more, knowing that Eiji was just being his normal dramatic self. "Saa, let's go ahead and go in the store before we turn into pools of sweat."

At that request, Eiji immediately perked up and bounded through the door. Oishii just smiled at his friend and doubles partner. Eiji was loud, moody, and unpredictable, but at least he was easy to please. As Oishii walked through the door, something caught his eye and he stopped and looked through the glass. He shrugged his shoulders since the image was gone; although it did look like two braids going around the corner.

"A…ano, Ryoma-kun?" Sakuno asked almost in a whisper.

"Mmmm?"

"Isn't that one of the shops that your father wanted you to stop at?"

"We'll get that one later."

That was the only words that were spoken between the two since they left the house an hour ago. There really wasn't much to talk about. At least for Sakuno. Last night's mishap was still on her mind. She couldn't understand why it was so hard for her to let go. It wasn't as if he had seen her without…well, that was the ONE thing she didn't want to think about. The only thing that kept the incident off her mind was the task that was at hand.

As they continued down the street, she tried to repeat the list over and over in her head. It wasn't a very hard list and the tasks weren't too difficult as well. There was one task that Ryoma's father had to whisper in Ryoma's ear. Sakuno couldn't even begin to guess what that last task was, but it sure did make Ryoma mad when he found out what he had to do.

There was one other thing that bothered her though. Ryoma wasn't even going to do anything for his father until he mentioned playing tennis. Is he truly only driven by tennis? She thought as she stared at the back of his head.

"Are you coming?"

Sakuno didn't realize that she had completely stopped while she was thinking about Ryoma and his father. She let out a breathy apology as she hurried to catch up to him. Sakuno shook her head to get all thoughts except for the errand list out of her head. If she continued to daydream and let her thoughts wander, it would take them forever to finish all the errands and Ryoma wouldn't get to play tennis. As they rounded the corner, Sakuno thought that she had recognized someone walking into the music store that they were going to go into later. But to catch up with Ryoma, she couldn't stop to get a good look.

"We need to go into this store."

"Ah, hai."

Just like a little puppy, Sakuno followed Ryoma through the open door. A little jingle signaled their entrance and an old gentle face appeared from behind the cluttered counter to greet them with a toothless smile. Sakuno looked around and was taken by surprise at the type of store they were in. It was poorly lit, even with the sun shining brightly through the store's picture window. She could make out dried flowers and other things hanging from corners of each shelf and certain areas of the ceiling. Jars and jars of some kind of liquids or powders were lined up behind the counter. The only thing that stood in the middle of the store was a small table with candles on top, some pillows placed around it and a small bowl of dried flowers and leaves. Although it looked dismal, the entire store was filled with pleasant aromas that seemed to put Sakuno at ease.

What a strange store. What a strange store to send a son to.

"Yookoso!!" an aged voice came from the old woman behind the counter.

"Obaaba. Oyaji needs the usual."

"So, he sent you here again did he? What a bonehead. Your father hasn't changed, Ryoma-chan. He hasn't changed a bit. I'll give him his usual, but it's gonna be a while before he can get some more. And you tell him he needs to come for this himself, the lazy, no good…" The old woman continued to nag as she walked through the beaded curtain into the back where her murmurings couldn't be heard any longer.

"Ryoma-kun, what is this place?" Sakuno asked with a hushed voice as if the woman would magically appear in front of them if she spoke any louder. Everything was so strange. She had never been inside any store like this. She didn't even know that a place liked this ever existed.

"Apothecary."

Eh?! Sakuno just nodded her head. She really didn't understand and she had never even heard that word before. But whatever it was and whatever it meant, she wanted to stay a little bit longer. It felt so relaxing and so peaceful. That peace was soon broken as the shopkeeper returned from the back.

"…and you tell him that he's supposed to use this sparingly. The idiot is probably using way too much and that's why he needs more now. I just gave him that supply two months ago. Who does he think I am? His own personal assistant that he can call on whenever he feels like it? Don't you grow up to be like him, Ryoma-chan, you hear me?"

Ryoma looked dully at the older woman and said "I'm not like that man."

"And it's a good thing you're not!! Or I would have kicked you out of my store for such a stupid request. It's only because of your cute little girlfriend that I'm actually doing any of this. What's your name child?"

Sakuno's head shot up and immediately flushed pink. "Uh…ano…ano…" She stammered trying to get the words out; but Ryoma got to it before she did.

"She's not my girlfriend."

"Not your girlfriend? That's a shame." The woman pouted as she adjusted her glasses and squinted as to get a better look. "Come here child, let me look at you."

Sakuno stood still as if she was frozen. She had no idea who this woman was, and she was a little frightened. But as the woman continued to wave her over, a sense of guilt poured over her. Her parents and her grandmother had always taught her to be respectful to her elders, no matter how creepy they were.

Inch by inch, Sakuno moved closer to the old shopkeeper who seemed to waggle her wrinkled fingers in the air greedily, reaching out for the poor, scared 12-year old. "Now, let's see what we have here. Nice skin, shiny hair long braided hair, smells pleasant, tiny frame, nice hips for childbearing…hm hm hm."

Sakuno's face remained red as the old woman continued on and on about her. She felt like an item that someone was trying to sell. The woman's babbled on and Sakuno snuck a glance at Ryoma. He was still standing in the same spot with a look of complete boredom on his face.

"You sure she's not your girlfriend?" the old woman asked once more. "Well, it's a good thing that you're not. The Echizen family can cause a lot of trouble for a pretty little one like you. Rinko-chan went away to America, then came back married to a bumbling buffoon. Such a sweet girl, just like you. Here, I'll give you this. You sprinkle this under your pillow at night and put a dab behind your ears when you wake up and you will be able to get any boy your heart desires. Make sure he has a good head on his shoulders."

"Domo arigato gozaimasu." Sakuno bowed as she held the little vial in her hands. She wasn't really sure what it was that she was given, but it would have been very rude if she had not taken it, no matter how embarrassed she felt.

"We'll be going now." Ryoma said as he grabbed the little package off the counter and walked towards the door. The tiny bells jingled announcing their exit just as it did their entrance. Sakuno turned and gave another small bow before following Ryoma out into the streets. Just as the door closed a figure emerged from the back.

"Obaasama, it's finished."

"Ah, Kaoru-chan. Take a break and have some tea with me. You know, I just saw the cutest little girl, she's probably around your age. You should have a girl like that: nice skin, shiny long braided hair, smelled pleasant, a tiny frame, and nice hips for childbearing. When are you going to find a girl like that?"

"Ssssssss." Kaido just blushed as he listened to his grandmother chatter on.

"Oh, Kaoru-chan, could you put away this away for me. It's the list for one of our customers."

Kaido grabbed the paper to put in the tiny file cabinet by the door. He made his way through the cramped maze of boxes and bottles that lined the walls. He shuffled through the files until he found the one he was looking for.

"Eh?" he looked at the file, then looked at the name. "Echizen?"

Translations:

"hidoi yo!!": "that's mean" Eiji is telling Oishii that it was mean of Oishii to be late and make him wait in the hot sun.
"gomen nasai": "I'm sorry"
"yookoso": welcome (this is normally what shopkeepers and clerks say as you walk in a store. Sometimes they say "Irrashaimasu")
"obaaba": either grandmother or old woman (used derogatorily if meaning old woman—I'm sure you can guess which context Ryoma is using it in)
"oyaji": another way of saying "dad" in male speech (can be heard in Initial D and other animes with less than standard and normal fathers)
"domo arigato gozaimasu": a very polite way of saying "thank you very much".

TAA-DAAAAH!! I apologize for this story being soooo random, but, like I said, I was just writing what came to my mind. I'm just happy that I actually got enough to put down as a chapter. This'll be that one random chapter that everyone has.

I used the word apothecary for the store that Ryoma and Sakuno go into. It kinda doesn't fit, but I figured that Ryoma would use a word that Sakuno wouldn't understand. Especially if she had never been in a store like that before. It's a mix between an aromatherapy store and a Chinese drug store I used to go to and buy ginseng shots (little vials of liquid ginseng that you pop open and drink for a burst of natural energy). Whatever Nanjiro needs from there…well, I'll leave that to your imagination (ke ke ke ke).