The very moment that Dizzy blinked awake and realized where she was, she began turning red in embarrassment. Of course she started blushing! What girl could find herself in the same position and not? In fact, she felt strangely proud of herself for freezing in horror rather than moving or doing something that would've attracted attention.
"You know what?" asked the black-haired boy whose hair was pressed against Dizzy's cheek as she continued, because she didn't want to attract attention, to rest her head over his shoulder. He asked this as he walked along a road that Dizzy recognized quickly as the one that led to Luke Ferdinand, the orphanage where she had been staying for almost two months now. "After all these times going to functions at San Giovanni in Laterano, I'm just about ready to finally admit that the ones you invite me to are way, way too long."
He was walking along the single lonely country road that led to Luke Ferdinand's orphanage from the city of Rome. "Oh, are you now?" replied a girl with long brown hair in a tone of pretending to be hurt. "That's so mean, to say that what I practice for are too long. After all the time I spent, and then inviting you personally to come watch me!"
Down the road the two walked, back to the orphanage from one of the services that they occasionally attended in Rome.
"Boring too," the boy, Ranma, continued without a hint of shame. "They'd drive me to sleep if I wasn't so used to them already."
Dizzy could feel Ranma smiling as the girl leaned over and... hit him? Pinched him through the coat? She didn't know. "How cruel, such words. I'll surely faint dead on the spot." The girl, her friend Maria, gifted with musical talents, often performed at functions in the city.
"Ha, as if! Oh, maybe if you've completely forgotten who I am during all the years we were—"
"It was not years, you. Four hours at most. And the service, which you attended, was only two."
And Ranma joined her whenever she managed to pull him along. And Dizzy had come this time as well. It had been a beautiful evening, and not really as long as Ranma tried to make it sound.
"—gone, but if you don't believe it was too long, I'm sure Dizzy'll back me up. Look at her, your neverending repeats have completely wore her out and sent her to sleep. Dal segno al coda, dal segno al coda, over and over, every piece!"
Dizzy quickly pressed her eyes together tighter, willing her wakefulness not to be noticed. Her face was hanging over Ranma's shoulder, and her body was being carried on Ranma's back with Ranma's large gray coat sheltering them both from the chilly January night. It was not the best position to be in when faking calmness. The feel of her body resting against Ranma's back, and her legs around Ranma's waist, and his own arms supporting her balance, was something Dizzy was definitely not thinking about right now.
"It's only because it's late," Maria replied after a moment. Did she look? Dizzy didn't know, since she couldn't see with her own eyes closed. "It was nothing to do with the service or my performance. She's usually in bed by now."
Ranma complained playfully at Maria's words. "Sure Maria, sure. Whatever you claim." Always feigning boredom, Dizzy had noticed early on. He was always feigning boredom whenever Maria's interests came up.
Maria must've been very used to it, because she always responded the same way. "You're terrible, do you know that?" she asked yet again. "Ever since I met you, even on that first day up until now. Simply terrible."
Dizzy suddenly got the impression that Maria was frowning, much like a small kitten would frown at a random leaf that floated across the road in front of her. Not a very serious frown, but Maria wasn't very serious with Ranma, or anyone.
"Oh come on. How was I terrible the first day I met you? I don't even remember it anymore."
Ranma was grinning now, as he liked to do. Dizzy could hear it in his voice.
"You didn't forget. You're always telling that story to the kids whenever they beg you. It makes me embarrassed."
There was a moment of silence, and Dizzy suddenly knew that in response to some wicked memory, Ranma was grinning even brighter, and Maria was frowning more at that disagreeable sight. Such a wicked child, Ranma was, even though he was older than she was. "Well," he said at last, "someday when we don't have very shy little girls hiding in their rooms all day, maybe I won't tell everyone how to annoy them."
Indignation, that was the only face Maria could possibly be showing at such a terrible response. "Have you been up to that? That's so mean!"
Dizzy peeked. The orphanage gate was coming into view, and there were only a few lights on in the house at this time of night. The way from the gate through the courtyard wasn't very well lit, but that was hardly necessary with the wide paved path, and the two seventeen-year-olds—plus herself as passenger—entered through the wrought-iron gate. Home sweet home.
"Well, you know me," Ranma replied happily.
"And Dizzy?" Maria asked. "Have you subjected her to this sort of thing to get her out of her shell before?"
"The possibility exists," Ranma answered undefinitively. "I don't have all so many tricks up my sleeve that I do different things with every girl I meet, you know. Besides, this girl fit in a lot more quickly than most kids, so it wasn't a real problem. She had you, after all. Now you, on the other hand, didn't come out too easily back then."
"Well, I certainly hope you don't embarrass any girl like me. It would be very bad." Maria turned her head away grumpily.
"Don't worry, don't worry," Ranma laughed. "It'll just be a precious memory between you and me, which we'll carry with us for the rest of our lives, and on cold winter nights we'll occupy ourselves with those warm thoughts."
"Don't say such horrible things! What if someone hears us? I'll never hear the end of it!"
"I won't tell a soul," Ranma promised with the sincerity of a child promising not to share a big secret that he was going to spill the instant he was out of sight. "I promise!"
Definitely, Dizzy thought, the instant he was out of sight.
"And Dizzy? What if she heard us while we were talking?"
"Dizzy? Ha ha, too late there!" Oh no, he knew! "She's been awake since way back. Take a look at her face. See how it's just a little bit more red than it should be?"
And at those words from Ranma, Dizzy could just feel her face going rosier by the second. No, no, denial! Dizzy kept her lips and eyes shut. "And you," Maria demanded to Ranma, mercifully allowing that denial to continue because she could probably read the embarrassment right off Dizzy's blushing face. "You knew, didn't you?"
"Of course I noticed when she woke up. It's not hard. For example, it's slight, but she started quivering. Like now, for instance."
Dizzy began hiding her face behind Ranma's neck as they neared the front door, as if trying to disappear. Oh, the shame!
Ranma brought Dizzy to her small room, and set her down bonelessly on her bed. He looked at her blushing face, and then chuckled when she refused to meet his eyes with her own. Girls....
Well, actually, he would normally feel pretty awkward in these situations too, but he had carried girls of various younger ages around more than a few times in this lifetime, so he was a sight better at hiding any discomfort at the concept than the blue-haired girl in front of him.
"It's been a long day," he said, after crouching down so that the girl met his eye level even if she wouldn't meet the eyes themselves, "so hurry up and go to sleep. I can tell what you want to ask, but we still have to get up tomorrow, so don't let Maria sneak into your room and keep you up another hour tonight."
When Dizzy didn't respond, as he knew she probably wouldn't now that he had both needlessly piqued her interest in a subject she liked hearing about and needlessly embarrassed her so she wouldn't do what he told her to do, Ranma smiled anyway. "Good night," he said, and left her to change and go to sleep.
In the dark hallway—lights out meant lights out at Luke Ferdinand, or else the kids would never go to sleep—he knocked lightly on the nearby door that led to Maria's room. "Come in," her voice pronounced softly, and Ranma peeked his head in the room.
"Lights out," he declared sternly when he saw that she had turned on a lamp, and was sitting at her desk. Not that Maria was a child who needed lights out at a particular time anymore, but it was habit for them both. "You have school starting next week, so better fix up your sleep schedule before then."
"I know," Maria replied sweetly. "Don't worry so much about me. You have your own school to worry about."
Ranma snorted. "Mine's not worth the worry. Just get yourself in that bed. And don't go sneaking off to Dizzy's room. You know I'm onto that habit."
"I won't," Maria promised with the sincerity of a child promising not to play a bad trick that she was going to pull the instant she was out of sight.
Ranma started sweating, knowing perfectly well exactly how sincere Maria was being. "Well," he finally replied after putting that thought out of his mind, since there was no good in dwelling on it anyway. "Good night, then."
"Good night, Ranma."
With another simple good-night smile, Ranma left. His own room offered him some rest and a little true peace of mind. After all, it didn't have girls in it.
As soon as Ranma left... okay, not quite "as soon", but not that far off, Maria snuck out of her room and went over to Dizzy's. As Ranma had said, it was a habit now, and had been since they became friends. Maria liked Dizzy and Dizzy liked Maria and they enjoyed chatting, but there wasn't enough time in the day with all the busyness of the orphanage and bother of kids running around. So whenever they had a chance, one would go into the other's room at night, and they'd stay up a bit later than everyone else.
Of course, as soon as she came in, Dizzy asked Maria the question that was on her mind, which was "So what did Ranma do when you first came?" Maria quailed in embarrassment. It wasn't really the first thing she'd want to talk about, precious memories of the past or not.
But Dizzy liked hearing stories about the orphanage, its kids, and the past that she missed while away, and even though she would never badger Maria for something private, Maria never held out too strongly either. It took but a little persuading before Maria finally broke down and began telling Dizzy the story.
"The day I came to this orphanage was a foggy one, I remember," she began, "and it was a gloomy time in the spring. My parents... well, I don't really talk about it even now, but it's not very exotic or tragic as some, probably.
"I was a little sick when I first came, and a little woozy from medication, but the doctors who looked me over said I wasn't contagious or anything, but most everyone stayed away from me at the time. It was understandable, but I was only seven and I was very sad about moving to an orphanage. When I first came, and saw the building and the deserted courtyard in the fog, I was a little frightened. But then, nothing looks good when you're young and sick and it's almost raining. The rain matched my mood, I guess.
"I was always a quiet girl before I came to Rome. I didn't say much, and I was never really that healthy, so much that my parents were sometimes worried I wasn't finding friends or I wasn't eating right or things like that. On that first day, I was introduced to the caretakers here and the other children, but I was so quiet I must not have made much of an impression. The rest of the children were really quiet too, but I didn't know why until later. I just thought that was how things usually were.
"The first few days I didn't play much with anyone. Everyone understood that I was sick, so only the adults came to talk to me and I ate away from the other kids just in case. I knew that was how it should be even then, but it still felt very lonely to me.
"Then one day, I was walking through the kitchen, and I saw a boy sitting there that I hadn't seen before, not at the introduction or any of the other times the kids were together. I guess I was a little curious that day, because he didn't look like he was from anywhere around here, so I found myself walking close, thinking I would ask who he was. He was just sitting on a chair with his back to a corner, slouched, looking like he was completely asleep.
"So I walked up nervously, holding onto my blanket since it was a pretty cold morning and I was wandering about without dressing more warmly for some reason, and then I reached over to shake him awake. And before I could do it, I looked at his face and realized that his eyes were wide open underneath the mess of hair that was all over his face and that he was wide awake and had been watching me the entire time. And when I froze, he turned his head a little and looked at me closer and the first thing he said to me was—"
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(Posted Tue, 28 Nov 2006 06:12)
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