Guys Don't Like Me

Chapter 15

  After standing in the kitchen stunned for five whole minutes, Ryuu finally turned and went to Kazu's bedroom, where she - whoever she was - was already back in bed.
"Um...Kazu?" he asked, peering through the doorway and ducking as a pillow was thrown at his head. "Kazu? Can we...uh...talk?"
"About what?"
"About...uh...this. Situation," Ryuu got out.
"Just let me f**king sleep," female Kazu snapped, and Ryuu winced.
"Please, Kazu?"
"Ryuu, if you make me get out of bed, I will f**king murder you."
"Kazu?"
"F**k you, Ryuu."
"You're tired, aren't you?" Ryuu observed from the prolific profanities spewing forth from this girl's mouth.
"..."
"Well?"
"If you know, then go away and let me sleep," she muttered, clearly exercising as much restraint as was possible.
Ryuu took a deep breath. "Look, Kazu. I don't understand what's going on here. I'm your only friend-"
"You're not my only friend."
"Katsu doesn't exactly count," Ryuu countered. "Look, I'm your best friend-"
"Says who?"
"-and I deserve an explanation."
"An explanation for what?" Kazu asked, turning over and trying to ignore Ryuu. "Can we do this tomorrow?"
"An explanation for what?! Kazu, you have- you know, those...and...that," Ryuu stuttered, unable to put names to the images, but he was clearly thinking of the two things that this new Kazu had that he didn't, and yes, he was blushing.
"Shut upppp Ryuu. I'm tired..."
"That's it," Ryuu muttered, going over to the bed and yanking back the blankets.
Kazu tugged them back, rolling over with them in a suicide grip, but Ryuu - the male in this situation, possessing greater physical strength - took them back and scooped up Kazu into his arms. "You're coming with me so you can explain what the heck's going on."
It was only when Ryuu got into the living room did he realize that first off, he was holding a half-naked girl in his arms, and his hands were touching the bare skin of her legs, and that by holding her, her chest was directly adjacent to his chest.
Deeply blushing, he practically dropped Kazu on the couch.
"Damn it, Kazu," Ryuu muttered, looking away so Kazu wouldn't see how deeply red his face was. "Put on some clothes!"
Kazu eyed him with half-lidded eyes and moved her hands to the buttons of her shirt. "It's too warm in here. Maybe I'll take this off too-"
"STOP IT, KAZU! KEEP YOUR CLOTHES ON!" Ryuu yelled, panicked as he grabbed Kazu's hands to stop her from corrupting his innocence, and when he realized that his hands were holding hers, he immediately dropped them, making his blush look like radiation burn.
Kazu just stuck her tongue out and stretched out on the couch, getting comfortable. "Well? What do you want from me?"
Ryuu couldn't look at Kazu yet, so he talked to the curtains instead. "Well, f**k, Kazu, you're a female."
"You shouldn't swear in a girl's presence," Kazu said offhandedly. "It's not polite."
"You weren't...you know...a girl...yesterday," Ryuu continued.
"Wasn't I?" Kazu asked, rolling her eyes.
"Look," Ryuu said, finally turning to face Kazu with a serious look in his eyes (although he was still blushing). "I need to know why you're...like this."
"Why?" Kazu asked, barely batting an eyelash.
Ryuu frowned. "Because I'm your friend, Kazu!"
Kazu looked at her nails. "Mmhmm."
"KAZU!"
She finally looked up, her eyes hard. "Fine, jerk. Ask away."
Ryuu swallowed. "Is it...you know...permanent?"
"You mean will I always have boobs and a v-"
"DON'T SAY IT!" Ryuu yelled, covering Kazu's dirty mouth, but she just glared at him and licked his hand, making him jump back and shriek quietly.
Kazu just sighed. "I don't know?" She looked toward the window, frowning. "When the sun sets, I become like..." She shrugged. "This."
"And then the sun rises-" Ryuu picked up, and Kazu nodded.
"And then I go back to being the Kazu everybody knows and hates."
Ryuu frowned. "Not everybody hates you."
Kazu gave Ryuu an are-you-shitting-me look. "No, the other people just stalk me, obsess over me, or try to put me into unmarked white vans."
"Come on, nobody ever tried to abduct-"
"Twice."
That shut Ryuu up for a moment. Then, "Who else knows?"
Kazu closed her eyes. "My mom. Another guy."
The mention of that delinquent's name made Ryuu scowl. "How did this other guy find out about it?"
Kazu opened her right eye into a slit. "He broke into my house of the middle of the night and discovered me sleeping in my female form," Kazu said, her eyebrows raised, and Ryuu realized that she was making fun of him.
"And just how was I supposed to know that you'd be - you know - not male?" Ryuu replied, but Kazu just yawned.
"You weren't supposed to know, because you were never supposed to stalk me at night."
Ryuu didn't let Kazu's words get to him this time. "Why does it happen?" Ryuu asked, and Kazu was silent for once, no witty sarcasm following.
"I'm going to sleep," Kazu announced unceremoniously, rolling over so she was nestled into the couch, and Ryuu's mind flashed back to a thought he'd had when he'd first entered Kazu's house.
Part of him expected to just find Ryuu sleeping on a couch, and the lonely image hurt his heart.
Ryuu's mouth tightened into a slight frown, and he went back to Kazu's room and brought back the blanket and tucked it around Kazu.
But I can't just leave her...him...here by herself...himself, Ryuu thought, his thoughts conflicting.
Lonely...Kazu is always so lonely...
Ryuu decided to spend the night at Kazu's to drive the loneliness, if not away, at least a few feet farther from Kazu's shadow. "Kazu? I'm going to spend the night, okay?"
"Mm."
Ryuu leaned his back against the couch and decided that, although he wasn't comfortable, he could make due with it for one night.
If only to drive the loneliness away just a bit...