Here's part 7 of Crimson Sky, titled "Storm Warning."  Constructive C&C are
welcome.  Hope you like it.

Shuichi Minamino

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CRIMSON SKY
Part 7 Storm Warning 


"Hey Derrick, I'm gonna run over to Reshion's and deliver something." Ryan
announces as he grabs his coat and exits the door. "tell mom I'll be back
in half an hour." 

"Yeah yeah, sure thing," his brother mutters from the kitchen. "hey, it's
your turn to make dinner tonight!!" 

"Sorry man, I'll do that tomorrow. Later man!" Ryan slams the door behind
him and runs across the street to Reshion's apartment. He takes a deep
breath before ringing Reshion up. He knows that he has to act normal if he
wants to find out about anything about Reshion. For a brief moment Ryan has
the urge to turn back, maybe it's not such a good idea to do this after
all. What if Reshion is one of those people sent out to kill him? 

"I really should stop thinking too much," Ryan mutters as he enters the
building. He pushes the door bell at the first apartment on the right. 

"Come on in," Reshion says as he opens the door. "do you want to drink
anything?" 

"Water's fine. Thanks," Ryan replies and sits down on the sofa. It's rather
rare to see hospitality coming from Reshion. Actually, Ryan has not even
expected Reshion to ask him into the house, maybe Reshion isn't as cold as
he seems. Ryan picks up a picture by the lamp and examines it. There are a
man and a woman in the picture, Ryan assumes that those are Reshion's
parents. They do look Italian, but they in no way resemble Reshion, very
strange indeed. Ryan stands up and glances at the other pictures on the
wall, each photo is either a picture of Reshion's father or mother. There
are a few pictures of Reshion, all of them look rather recent. There's
something strange about these picture that Ryan can't quite put his finger
on. 

"Ryan, your water." Ryan jumps at Reshion's voice. He has not expected
Reshion to appear behind him. 

"Oh, thanks a lot," Ryan takes the glass of water and gulps down a mouthful
before reaching inside his backpack and pulls out the homework. "he expects
this done by Monday. It's a partner project and it's due on Monday." 

"Two days?" Reshion glances at the content briefly before directing his
attention back to Ryan. "Partner project? Mandatory?" 

"Yeah, mandatory in that you have to find a partner. There's no school
tomorrow so you may have to call people up for partners." 

"You got a partner?" 

"No," Ryan looks up at Reshion. "Why, wanna do the project with me?" 

Reshion shrugs. "If it's mandatory, may as well." 

"All right!" Ryan beams. "Man, we're gonna ace this thing. We're gonna rock
them!! So, when do you wanna meet and work on it?" 

"Tomorrow." 

"Cool," Ryan smiles. Yes, he's going to ace the project all right, he knows
that he and Reshion will make a good team. Ryan takes another sip of the
water while trying to think of something else to say. If he's going to find
out more things about Reshion, he'll have to figure out a way to stay
longer. "So, how's your...hand? I mean from this morning. I mean, I really
appreciate the ride to school, I wasn't late after all." 

"It's fine," Reshion doesn't show Ryan his healed hands, that won't be a
good idea, nor is it necessary. 

"Okay, that's good," An uncomfortable silence follows after that. For a few
minutes the two boys sit in silence, with Ryan trying to think of something
else to say while Reshion just staring out the window. When he can come up
with nothing else to say, Ryan decides that it's better to leave then to
sit in awkward silence with Reshion. 

"Well then, I better get going," Ryan comments. "I'll see you tomorrow at
noon at the library." 

"Fine." Reshion escorts Ryan to the door and stops when he hears the
telephone ringing. 

"S'all right, I know my way back," Ryan says as he puts on his coat.
"thanks for the water." Ryan closes the door behind him and exits the
building. For some reason, he always feels strange when he is around
Reshion. He doesn't know why but there's just something about Reshion that
is bothering but intriguing him at the same time. He just doesn't
understand this guy at all. One minute he can be so cold but the next
minute he'll be nice enough to offer someone something to drink. 

The smell of dinner fill the living room as he enters his home. Ryan
announces his return and hangs his coat up at the rack. He picks up a photo
album and puts it back into the shelf. He stops suddenly as suddenly
realize why the photos at Reshion's home troubled him so much- there are no
child pictures of Reshion. In most families the parents usually have the
pictures of their child during their early years on the wall but in
Reshion's house, all of the pictures are recent. In fact, even with those
recent pictures they are rather rare in number, as if there hasn't been
enough time in Reshion's life for him to have his picture taken. 

"Nah...I'm thinking too much again," Ryan says aloud to himself as he
enters the kitchen. "I need to stop reading those mystery murder novels..."
But somehow, for some unknown reason, Ryan has a dreadful feeling that he
is not thinking too much, and that there is more to Reshion than what meets
the eye. 

------------Crimson Sky: Storm Warning End (TO BE CONTINUED)------