Part Five: Shadows in the Rain

They spent an uncomfortable week trying to keep out of each other's personal space. Andri slept alone on the top bunk, ate, and absentmindedly pored over Shudoshi's book collection, blushing at appropriate times. Shudoshi just got bored.

It was bad enough that Andri /would/ wander around in either a half-closed velvet robe or an unbuttoned white dress shirt and tight black pants (Shudoshi wasn't sure whether he was actually a tease, or if it was just unconscious), but that he seemed to be completely disinterested was the last straw. Shudoshi took to playing little games with him, just to keep him on his toes.

The gently garlicky coffee was the first step. Andri was obviously more out of it than previously thought, for he drank it down without a blink away from the copy of Baudelaire's works that he had found loitering on a shelf.

Salty eggs and bacon with chili peppers went down with obvious relish. The itching powder was borne with poise. Was Andri even human? Fine then. Time to get serious.

The eighth morning was bright and cheery, and Shu had been up for hours preparing his day. Andri wasn't allowed to ignore him. Not today, not for anything. He had carefully set up the speakers to the sound system in strategic places, ordered a tasty (and normal) breakfast, and managed to acquire a very special CD, for which he had to do much pleading and whining.

"Rise and shiiine, sleepy!"

The voice cut through Andri's dreams just enough to rouse his ire. The sudden hammering guitar did the rest. As the familiar bass hum built up to a full throb, Andri's temper exploded.

"Stopitstopitstopit!! WILL-YOU-CUT-IT-OUT!!!"

He jumped off the bed wearing only his underwear, and ran over to where Shudoshi stood, one hand still on the volume control. A sharp smack and the sound disappeared, along with Shudoshi's grin. After the gentle thump of the switch hitting the ground, the only sound was Andri's short, sharp breaths. His eyes were wide and mad, and his eyelashes trembled.

"That...seemed a little overdone, Andri."

"...Andri?"

His shoulders were quivering, but he didn't say a word, just stared up with those bizarre lavender eyes.

"Are you okay? You didn't hurt me, okay? Hello? Earth to the Hedgehog?"

"I don't -ever- want to hear that song, any of those songs, again. Especially not this early in the morning, Shudoshi."

Taken somewhat aback by the show of anger, Shudoshi bowed slightly and apologized. His plan had worked, sort of. Despite the obvious anger in the tone of voice, it was still gratifying to hear his name spoken aloud by his Owner.

Andri held out his hand. "Give me the cd, and any of the others you've got. I don't even want them to be in the same room as me."

"But-"

"Give."

Shudoshi scowled lightly, but pulled the silvery disc out of the player. The green and blue designs flashed merrily as sunlight hit them.

"Box, too."

Shudoshi grabbed the box from the top of the stack of cds, and held it out.

Andri glared at the disc, and then at his own solemn, blue-tinted face staring out from the box cover. It was his first cd, 'Life Underwater'. Better that than 'Drowning', which was the one that had made him famous. At least 'Life' still contained some worthwhile music.

"Anything else?"

"No. That was hard enough to get..."

"I don't care. I don't even want to think about...anything related to real life."

"Seems like you just don't want to think."

"That's probably true."

"But...I'm getting bored!"

The outburst took even the speaker by surprise. Shudoshi hadn't known that he could even sound that petulant. "I'm sorry, sir. It's not my place-"

"No, I'm the one who should be apologizing." Andri fluffled his messy hair (which was beginning to show its dark roots). "I've been doing my level best to absolutely ignore you. As if by pretending you don't exist I can ignore the fact that you're a slave here. Stupid me. Forgive me?"

He looked so silly, standing there in underwear, his hair in a shambles, and a vaguely pleading look on his face, that Shudoshi couldn't help but smile.

"No problem, as long as you stop ignoring me. Just, you know, don't think of me as your slave, think of me as, um..." He wanted to say 'valet', but knew what would happen. Andri, reminded of his darling Clem('entine', Shu wanted to add), would smile sickly, slowly turn away, go back to bed, and not emerge for the rest of the day. So instead he smoothly said, "...As your friend. Pretend we're here for a six-month vacation together. There's a lot more to the Palace than just this room, you know."

"Really?"

The smile that hesitantly broke across Andri's face was almost too much for poor Shudoshi. He immediately wanted to sweep him up and dance him around the room. "Pfiff," he thought, "small people. They're just too cute."

Then he noticed the vague pink spreading across his cute Owner's face, and the next thing he knew, Andri was tiptoeing carefully to the closet. Who knew, the boy had a streak of modesty after all.

Or perhaps he had simply finally noticed what Shudoshi was wearing, or, more accurately, not wearing.

After some fussing over clothes, accessories ("You won't wear that collar, will you? Oh, don't make that face! Please!..." and "Andri, I won't tell you not to wear it, but the color of your hairtips clashes horribly with that particular blue. It makes you look like an American flag, besides."), and even hair, ("...won't you consider just growing your hair out so it's actually brushable? The way it is now, well...You look like you've got a peculiar and permanent case of bedhead." "Shut up. How do you keep _your_ hair that color, anyway." "???") the two made it out of the room. Shudoshi carefully instructed Andri to keep the Key visible at all times.

"Why?"

"So they'll know you're an Owner, and not a new Key under training with an older one. Not that anyone would stick anyone with me for those purposes, but..."

"What do you mean?"

"I...well," Shudoshi shook his head a little sadly. "I have a bit of a bad reputation."

"Oh. Okay."

That was it. Not even a hint of curiosity. Strange boy.

They neared the Atrium with its luxurious hanging gardens and four separate swimming areas, and Andri looked a little nervous. It amused Shudoshi. He was, after all, a rock star, and should be used to scrutiny. Hmm. Perhaps that was the problem right there. He didn't want to be scrutinized. Just inside the vine-strung entranceway, Andri saw his first Key and Owner outside of his own. A man with brilliant blond hair falling to his hips was styling the graying hair of an older woman. He was draped in a sapphire blue sarong, and his skin was charmingly tanned. The woman took little notice of them as they passed, but the man lifted a hand to Shudoshi. He returned the greeting, calling out, "Hey, Teryn! How's the life?"

In a surprisingly quiet voice, the blond replied, "Well enough, Shu. 'Bout time you had a new Owner, isn't it? Cute one, too." The woman lifted her chin and gazed at the tall, blueish-haired Key and his tiny bleached-blond charge, smiled gently, and patted her Key's hand. Andri noted the elaborate knotwork key dangling from her wrist, but Shudoshi was already pulling him onward.

They ambled throughout the Atrium, Andri exclaiming from time to time as a particularly lovely flower or wonderful grotto caught his eye. He did feel a little overdressed (or perhaps underdressed) in his jeans and over-sized teeshirt, but Shudoshi seemed happy enough, so he accepted his attire as good enough. Shudoshi couldn't avoid grinning at Andri's sudden relaxation. It was nice to get out of the room, too.

He decided that a swim was definitely in order.

"Come on, Andri, I don't think I hear anyone at the last pool, let's take a dip."

"...um..."

"Aww, come on. I don't care if we don't have anything to wear, people always skinnydip here, unless they're showing off their swimsuits."

"It's not that. I, uh..I..."

"You what?"

"I can't exactly swim."

"You can't?! Then I'll teach you. It's pretty easy, I swear. You'll get the hang of it really quickly, I'll bet."

He tried very hard to tell himself that he was not looking forward to having a slippery little body clinging to him, but wasn't succeeding. Andri looked quite uneasy with the prospect.

"Don't worry, there's a shallow end, if you don't want to try, you can stay there. Three feet is only up to, like, your waist or something, and if you want to try, well, I swim quite well, so I can save you if you start to drown."

"Well...okay."

Shudoshi rejoiced very quietly.