Author Note: Something a bit different. Happy Birthday Zetsu :)

It was raining heavily as Tomas and Kuai watched the village settle down for the night. Orange light filled dark huts as lamps winked on and the day's labourers headed home.

They were staking out a potential new servant for the Temple. The applicant came from a village further down the valley and had the fortune of not knowing that the Lin Kuei were very careful with who they hired.

"This guy's boring, Kuai."

"Keep watching, he might get up to something when we're not looking." It was a very low priority mission as they were not yet old enough to be trusted with anything more serious. Kuai was determined to give it his all however; he wanted one day to be given missions as important as his brother, and not to let him down when he did.

"Seriously though, you think Bi-Han had to go through all this stuff to get to where he is now?"

"Probably." Kuai said defensively and a little indignantly. It was true he had wondered the same thing number of times already this evening.

"Not likely!" Tomas shook rain out of his eyes. "Can you imagine him sitting watching some dumb villager go about his normal life? This is Sub-Zero we're talking about. He'd probably just murder the guy and say he's too dead to make a good servant."

"Bi-Han's not like that." Kuai said, not entirely convinced of his own words. He narrowed his eyes as a lantern was lit in the hut they were watching. Tall grasses below the window bent and whispered with the continual patter of raindrops. A slight wind caused shutters to flutter and rattle.

Tomas hung his legs over the edge of the thatch roof cattle byre they were sitting on. The dirt track below had a thin rivulet of murky water flowing down it. It caught on earth clods and began to grow into a slick thick river.

"Damn. This rain is something."

Kuai sighed, silently agreeing with Tomas. He felt foolish sitting to attention in the gathering dark with only the continual pour of rain all around them. The scent of fresh wet vegetation hung on the air, along with the smell of storms. There was a rumble of thunder far off.

A pot inside the house whistled as it came to boil. Steam wafted through the layers in the hut's thatch roof, turning gold in the lantern-light and sent tearaway by the wind and rain.

"I'd kill for a bit of whatever they're eating. Smells good."

"You always think with your stomach."

"Not hard when you're dying a death of cold. All this to check a servant isn't a Shirai Ryu spy."

"Or an anything untoward. We can't let just anyone into the Temple. We have to be sure of their loyalties."

"Textbook Grandmaster quote. Well done, Kuai. Full marks on being proper, zero marks on being fun. Make that sub-zero marks on being fun."

Kuai scowled at Tomas. In the dull light, his friend's mask shone slick with rain.

"I am fun," Kuai muttered, mostly to himself.

"Urgh these things are uncomfortable when they're wet." Tomas unhooked his mask and pulled it off. He lowered his hood and shook his strange wispy silver hair free. It was soaked straight in seconds. "That's better."

"Tomas! What if someone sees!?"

"What if someone sees two Lin Kuei half a mile from the Lin Kuei Temple? I dunno, Kuai, I guess they might put two and two together."

Kuai glared at him. It was true the mask was uncomfortable. He had not got used to wearing it. His brother almost never took his off. Kuai wasn't quite sure how he did it. Kuai paused to battle with his own guilt, then hesitantly removed his mask. It did feel better. And all the thick smells of the storm on the air were so much stronger. Everything felt closer, and more intense.

Tomas smiled,

"There you are. Feels like I've been with a mission with Bi-Han uptil now."

"He's a good role-model. So I'll take that as a complement."

"Sure thing, but it wasn't meant as one."

Kuai gave him a look. Tomas grinned. They lapsed back into an easy silence.

Kuai could hear the rain hit individual leaves and stones. It was loud all about him. And peaceful. Like all the world had become one room of rain. He heard the clink of crockery as a meal was finished unseen in the hut opposite them. Shadowy figures entered the room lit with lantern light, the only room with a window they had a view to. The figures moved about the room, indistinct but chattering quietly to one another. Kuai indicated with a finger. Tomas nodded, and they watched in attentive silence. There were two people in the room. Kuai watched as they drew close and conspiratorial to one another. He leaned forward to catch any snatches of words they exchanged. The two people did not speak, but instead stepped in and kissed one another. The kiss lasted some time, then broke apart. The people moved away from each other and the lantern was shuttered, sending the room dark.

"Damn." Tomas whispered. "Full of plans to overthrow the Lin Kuei that guy."

Kuai tried to resettle himself on the wet thatch, having nearly lost his balance as he leaned forward to hear the exchange that never happened.

"Had to be sure," He muttered. He was embarrassed at having witnessed a moment so personal.

"Why do you suppose they do that?" Tomas propped his chin up on his hand as he crouched thoughtfully.

"Do what." Kuai said, mostly without interest as he was trying not to slip off the wet straw of the byre roof.

"Put their lips together like that."

Kuai shrugged. The actions and lives of civilians were largely beyond him to comprehend.

"Probably an affection thing."

"Hmm." Tomas was quiet and thoughtful again.

The rain was getting heavier. It shimmered like fine curtains, rippling through the air and splattering blurts of mud as it constantly battered the track below. Kuai shivered, he might have command of ice, but being damp through to the bone still chilled him.

"Let's try." Tomas interrupted his line of thought.

Kuai blinked, baffled.

"Try what?"

"Find out what it's like."

Tomas was very close to him all of a sudden, moving with more ease over the slippery thatch. Kuai leaned back uncertainly.

"It's probably forbidden..."

"Probably. But we don't know for certain." Tomas reached out a hand and cupped Kuai's chin. His hand felt warm compared to the cold wind. Kuai stopped leaning back and edged a little forward.

"But it looked like a… I don't know… Like it was meant to be a special thing..."

"You're my best friend, isn't that special?"

Kuai could see Tomas more clearly now. His eyes were bright and curious as his face nudged closer. Thunder rumbled far off again and the continual rush of rain dampened all other sound.

"Don't tell Bi-Han..." Kuai put in suddenly, when their lips were a breath away from touching, "I was trying not to make any mistakes on this mission so that he would-"

Tomas pulled Kuai's chin in and completed the connection, touching their lips together.

Kuai stopped thinking. The contact was gentle and personal and close and special and unlike anything he had ever felt from another human being before. He let his eyes close and the rain slid over his maskless face and moved like tears down his bare skin. Tomas pulled away slightly, but stayed close.

"That wasn't so bad." He said, and Kuai was glad to hear he wasn't the only one who was a little breathless. "I can see why the civilians like it."

"Tomas-" Kuai sounded urgent as his mind started to plough through Lin Kuei regulations again.

Tomas pressed his forehead to Kuai's and looked at him, blinking heavy raindrops out of his eyelashes,

"I'm not going to tell your brother – I don't have a death wish. Can you just stay quiet for one moment about what the Lin Kuei do and do not want, they have us every other minute of our lives."

Kuai went quiet. He thought again of the sensation of Tomas' lips on his. He gave an unconscious nervous smile.

"There." Tomas whispered, "Much better."