Abroad

I know it's been almost a year since the last update and I've probably lost all my readers, but writing moves slow in my world. Too much other stuff, ya know?

I hope you keep enjoy the story and can wait. I will try to get a new chapter up soon.

BTW, thank you to all the reviewers. You really are the ones that are keeping this alive!

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They would laugh about it later, but in the here in now, the students were struck with horror about navigating the complicated transit system. True, they had Sensei and Treize to usher them onto the correct buses, trains and subways, but soon neither man would be there for help. Each student perked up their ears and tried to catch as much detail about the stops they were getting off at and the direction they were headed.

By the time the group made it to the subway, the wear and tear of ushering all the American students was taking it’s toll on the two men’s patience. Jumping through the doors of the subway train, the group was stuck at the end of the car with nothing to hold on to. A trill of an electric bell went off warning the people on the platform the doors were closing. The train made a jerky start leaving the platform. Never having ridden a subway in his life, Duo had not braced himself for the initial take off. Toppling backwards, he was lucky some of his friends behind him had managed to stay upright and caught him before he could hit the ground.

Standing on his own two feet again, he sheepishly looked over at Sensei and Treize.

“You looked surprised that the train moved. What did you think it was going to do,” Sensei asked with aggravation in his voice.

“You can tell these kids are fresh off the boat,” Treize said to Sensei like the students couldn’t hear him.

Duo was nonplussed. He had never heard himself described as ‘fresh off the boat’ before nor did he ever think he would hear those words directed at him. The last thing he wanted was for all his actions and comments to be laced with the excuse that a foreigner didn’t know what was appropriate.

Duo was trying to make small talk with Hilde but he antsy. There was a constant feeling of eyes on him. It had started on the bus and hadn’t stopped since. Duo had been catching Japanese people outright staring at, not only him, but also the whole group. They were like walking celebrities. Seemingly not one person in all of Japan could comprehend there were foreigners in their midst. Duo tried to be polite and flash them a quick smile. Yet every time, the people would quickly turn away or burry their heads back in what they were reading. They may have only been out for an hour or so today, but already the attention was beginning to rub Duo in the wrong direction. The attention wasn’t necessarily positive or negative. It was simply a curious kind of attention but it was frustrating. All out shock and horror from just one Japanese person would be better than this!

Frustrations aside, Duo concentrated his energy on pushing through the crowd to exit the subway car. Coming out of the subway entrance Duo noted that the city didn’t look much different from any other major city in America… that is if you could ignore the sea of Japanese people strolling along the sidewalks.

After the obligatory rules and meeting times from Sensei and Treize, it was time to be set loose in the city. It was hard to know what to do, where to go, or what to see first. If IT–the ever-elusive most important thing to do on a trip—were there, they would eventually run into it, right?

The first store they came across was a little corner store that was open to the outside. It was filled with clothes and shoes. Easily identifiable from a distance so it was the first place Duo, Quatre and Trowa walked into. There was a tiny staircase that led up to a second storey filled with more clothes. It allowed them to see how the fashion here varied from the USA. Surprisingly, there was not much difference. The major theme of all the clothes seemed to be English writing. No matter what it said, it was spelled out proudly across the clothing. One particularly attractive zip up spelled out IRELND across the back instead of Ireland. Despite the attractive styling, Duo quickly put the shirt back. Wearing that around in the States later was just make him look silly.

The group spent the day running around the city taking in the sights. They were traveling in smaller groups only to find each other again on the street and trade good sight seeing areas. The girls of course took off into their own direction claiming it was a ‘boy free’ day. Milliardo, who had gotten into a heated discussion of Japanese culture with Treize, took off with the advisor. Sensei seemed to have his own agenda. That left the three friends time to roam alone. Above one of the train stations was one of the tallest buildings in the city, which was the perfect photo opportunity for everyone. This was the city they were going to be living in for the next 6 months and with downtown being only a 20-minute train ride, this was going to be their stomping grounds. The city was still new to them and it was inevitable that they would soon find the best places to shop and spend their money. Save the money today and spend it on great things later. Soon the sun was setting on the city—meaning that it was really only about 5—signaling that it was time to return to their designated meeting place. Very few people had spent money on shopping.

Back at the dormitory, dinner was eaten with less gusto that normal and the students managed to drag themselves from the dinner tables to the lounge or their bedrooms.

“Shit I’m exhausted,” Duo said stretching himself out on a couch leaving just enough room at the end for Hilde to sit to pull her knees up to her chest. “My jet lagged body didn't know how to handle all that excitement.”

Quatre hummed in agreement and gave a jaw-popping yawn. “I’m out. I need some sleep,” he said from his slumped position on the couch.

“No use waking him later. I’m turning in too,” Trowa said rising holding out a hand to pull Quatre up.

“Oyasumi,” Hilde wished them goodnight as Trowa was holding open the door for Quatre to walked through. Two mumbled voices floated back wishing her the same. Smiling at Trowa’s obvious gesture of affection to Quatre she turned to point it out to Duo. However, Duo lay sprawled with a big secretive grin on his face.

“What do you know,” Hilde asked in a drawl as she smiled even wider and leaned closer.

“I might have caught those two red handed this morning,” Duo said throwing his arm up behind his head for a pillow.

“Holy shit! That was fast,” Hilde exclaimed.

“Oh no, I don’t think they’re having sex yet,” Duo said catching her meaning. “I just think they are starting to realize how adorable cute and jealous they will make everyone.”

“Oh, I’m happy for them. It sounds like this has been a long time coming.”

“It has. More than you know. But listen, you can’t let on that you know what I am telling you. Quat came in this morning a made me swear that I wouldn’t tell Trowa anything… although I really have no idea what there is to tell. This shit is pretty obvious, ya know? But still Quat wants them to figure this out on their own. So you aren’t going to say anything and I’m not going to say anything. Capeesh?”

“Yeah yeah. Cross my heart and all that. So give me the details!” As Duo related the morning’s story, the two couldn’t keep the yawns out of the conversation. Without much gossip to tell, they were soon off to bed.

“Say goodnight to the rest of the virgin vaulters,” Duo called out to Hilde as she ascended the stairs.

“Goodnight Duo,” she said with a chuckle.

Tuesday came a lot quicker than Duo would have liked. After the tour of the city, their days had been boring but relaxing. Outside of classes, this was the first thing Duo had done since Saturday. In planning for this first meeting, Duo had gotten the itinerary from Treize on what topics they should cover but Treize had assured him that general conversation would be sufficient.

Their meeting place, decided through some rapid-fire emails throughout the weekend, was going to be held on campus outside of one of the cafeterias. The patio offered a nice view of one of the few grassy areas of the campus and the student traffic was low.

Coming out of the cafeteria, coffee in hand, Duo spotted Heero already sitting at one of the tables. Approaching, Duo threw out a hello and took a seat. There was no bowing here. If Duo was teaching English, he was going to practice American customs too. Pushing the coffee to the side of the table, Duo extended his hand across to Heero who received the handshake. “Good to meet you Heero.”

Heero nodded. “And you,” he replied.

“You just got finished with classes, yeah?”

“Yes.”

“What classes did you have today,” Duo asked popping open his warm coffee he had bought from the vending machine. It still amazed Duo that there were vending machines that sold warm canned coffee as well as cold soda.

“I had my two engineering classes today,” Heero answered.

“Oh, are you an engineering major then?”

“Yes.”

“You like it?”

“Yes.”

“Why engineering?”

“I am good in math and science classes.”

“Bet the pay for an engineer isn’t too bad either,” Duo joked.

“Engineers are sufficiently paid,” Heero said stoically.

Confused, Duo played with the tab of his coffee can. Heero could form sentences with large words when he wanted, but his answers were surprisingly short. Heero never seemed to be searching for a way to phrase something or thinking about his vocabulary. The answers came quickly and correct. “So you are in your second, third year here?”

“This is my second year.”

“And how long have you been studying English?”

“Since I was young.”

“By your parents?”

“No, by tutors.”

“Ya know, that’s smart to start a kid learning a language at a very young age.” It was time for Duo to stop the investigatory grilling and get some conversational flow going. “I wish I had the chance to do that as well. Makes it easier to be able to think in two languages I guess. Well you would know, wouldn’t you? You seem to be good with English. The first language I took was Spanish, but I was horrible at it. Then again I was in the 6th grade and had no interest in studying languages. Japanese in college has been a lot more interesting for me, especially the studying abroad part. Have you thought of going abroad to America?”

“Yes.”

“Would you do the study abroad English program between our two colleges then?”

“I do not know.”

“I had the chance to meet a lot of the Japanese students that came last year. They all seemed like they had a blast... I mean like they had a lot of fun. Did you know anyone that went last year?”

“Yes, some of them were my classmates.”

“No friends of yours, huh?”

“No.”

This was like pulling teeth. “Well if you ever do think about coming over to the States, the program between our schools isn’t bad at all. I am sure you would love my college. I can show you some pictures or something sometime.”

There was a lull in the conversation. It likely would have gone uncomfortable if not for two of the cafeteria ladies from the dorm walking by. Duo thought was strange to see them this far from the dorm, then again nothing on the campus was very far from the dorm. They were chittering away and quickly noticed him sitting there.

“Hallo,” one woman called out to him waving a raised hand.

“Konnichiwa,” Duo cheerfully called out to them. They giggled and talked rapidly amongst themselves, something usually reserved as something young teenage girls would do. However older Japanese woman all had an air of youthfulness about them, so the actions weren’t out of place.

“I wonder where they are going,” Duo spoke aloud. “What is in that direction?”

“Parking lots.”

“You know, I realize that I don’t know this campus as well as I would like. You mind taking me on a tour?” Hopefully this would give Heero more of a chance to speak.

Nodding in compliance, Heero picked up his bag and waited for Duo to collect his stuff before taking off in the general direction the lunch ladies had gone.