A/N: Actually, I don't have much to say about this piece right now. It's a bit of an... odd? off beat? idea. Please give it a chance, and I hope you enjoy it.

Disclaimer: Basilisk and its cast (as gorgeous as they are) are not mine

Claimer: Amaya, her parents, Takumi, and a good amount of the plot concept for this story are mine. If I should invent another originol character throughout the course of the piece, I'll let you know.

Warnings (chapter by chapter): mild language, implied drug abuse

Firefly Effect
Warm Rain

Amaya was startled when she felt someone grab her arm; she was just outside the gates of Sunpu Castle, still clearly in view of the guards. Instinctively, she released the catch holding the short throwing knife in her right sleeve, dropped the woven basket that had been slung over her left arm, and whipped around to press the knife to her assailant's throat. "Son of bitch, I'll teach you to…" She trailed when she realized the man hadn't fought back and was instead staring at her with large, confused, dark blue eyes.

When it became apparent to Yashamaru that the girl was simply going to stare at him with a knife pressed against his throat, he gently reached up and took her right wrist in his hand to lift it away from his neck. The girl didn't resist. "I'm sorry to have startled you," he told her with a bit of a sheepish grin and rubbed the back of his head with his free hand.

Amaya tugged her hand free from the man's loose grip and tucked the knife back into it's sheath, hidden beneath the sleeve of her kimono. She snorted. "You really shouldn't sneak up on people like that. I could have killed you." She was adjusting her kimono sleeve to make sure it fully covered the knife sheath.

Yashamaru laughed. Somehow, he doubted that, but he didn't feel it necessary to inform the small female of the fact. She glared up at him, catching the definite meaning behind his snickering anyway, and Yashamaru was forced to put his hands up in defeat, else he lose his guide to food.

"So, did you have any reason for stopping me? Or can be on my way?" she asked as she bent to pick up the basket she dropped. Not one to miss an opportunity, Yashamaru bent to pick up the basket first, offering it back to the girl with irresistible smile.

Amaya grinned just a little and shook her head and reached to take her basket back.

Yashamaru held it just out of reach.

"You ass!" she snarled and made a desperate snatch at the basket.

Yashamaru laughed again and danced back a few steps, just out of reach of the girls flailing arms. He was even kind enough to catch her with his free arm when she stumbled over a buckled cobblestone in her attempt. Now with the girl in one arm and her basket in the other, Yashamaru could do nothing but grin, a facial expression which faltered when he became aware of her reaching to unhook her knife again.

"No need for that, I assure you, my dear," he informed her gentlemanly as he hoisted her back onto her feet with one arm. "I have every intention of returning this – " he lifted the basket in an absent gesture, " – as soon as you take me somewhere that I can find food." As if to reiterate his point, his stomach growled irritably at him.

Once again, he had left his captive staring dumbly at him. "Are you serious?" she finally managed to sputter.

Yashamaru hung his head and nodded solemnly.

Amaya took advantage of this and snatched the basket off his arm. Yashamaru was briefly afraid that he had lost his best opportunity to find food, but the girl just sighed and shook her head. "You could have just asked, you know. I was already on my way into town."

Yashamaru's eyes gleamed. "Thank you so much!"

Amaya just rolled her eyes and turned back to walk in the direction she had been going. It took Yashamaru a moment to realize she expected him to follow before he darted to catch up with her in the bustling crowds shuffling along the main street. "I'm Yashamaru," he introduced with another smile as soon as he was shoulder to shoulder with her, well, elbow to shoulder maybe.

The girl seemed to think a moment before finally turning her face up to look at him. "Amaya," she informed him.

Yashamaru grinned down at her. "Nice to meet you, Amaya-san."

Amaya afforded him a small smirk, hidden daintily behind her sleeve, and a shake of her head. His grin, if anything, grew a little bit wider.

They walked a little ways in silence except for the occasional apology when one would brush into the other due to the tight press of bodies on the street before Amaya felt the need to question Yashamaru. "So, you're obviously not from around here," she tilted her head to look at him while she was talking. "Where are you from?"

"Tsubagakure," he answered, looking down to meet her stare, never having been one to not look at someone when he was talking to them.

Amaya's eyebrows rose a little in barely contained surprise. "That's the Iga stronghold, am I right?"

Yashamaru's eyes flashed, and he smiled proudly. "It is."

"So," Amaya skipped ahead of him a ways so she could turn look straight at him while walking backwards, "Does that make you an Iga ninja?"

Yashamaru's smiles just kept getting broader and broader. "It does." He was waiting for Amaya to appear impressed as compared to curious.

"Hmm," she appeared to be thinking in an exaggerated disinterested manner. "What's an Iga ninja doing all the way in Sunpu?" she finally asked.

"I'm here with Ogen-sama."

Amaya stopped and put her hands on her hips to peer up at him. "That doesn't really answer the question," she informed him.

Yashamaru found himself realizing she was right and reached up to scratch his head. "Actually, I don't really know why Ogen-sama brought me here with her. I haven't heard from her at all since she went to talk to Shogun Ieyasu."

There was a definite glint of disbelief in Amaya's eyes just before she turned around and started walking again, forcing him to dodge by several people so he was side by side with her. "What?" he asked, tone slightly childish.

Amaya giggled and looked up at him with laughing eyes before shaking her head. "Oh, nothing."

"Hey! You don't believe me do you?"

"I never said that," she answered, voice dripping playful sarcasm, just before she disappeared through a curtained shop door. Not expecting the maneuver, he ducked in after her just in time to watch the swish of another curtain she must have slipped past. He moved to follow her, but a large man stepped in his way, obviously not intending to let him past.

"Uhm… Amaya-san!" he shouted over the much larger man's shoulder, "I don't suppose you're bringing back food, are you?" Yashamaru shied away from the large figure's irritated glare.

He heard an exasperated sigh, and Amaya ducked out past the curtain and around the guard. "Can you not find food for yourself?" Her basket was gone, which allowed her to more easily place both hands on her hips when berating him. "You're in the middle of town; there are a dozen places for you to eat at. Shoo!"

Yashamaru stared at her blankly.

Amaya rolled her eyes. "If you really want, you can meet me at the little sushi stand two shops down, but I'm going to be a while here."

Yashamaru continued to stare.

"Unless you really plan to eat medicinal herbs, I suggest you leave." She glared at him to further emphasize the point.

"Oh, right." Yashamaru pivoted on his heel and left.

Amaya's shoulders slumped and she sighed heavily, wondering why she had bothered to drag the gorgeous blue eyed, black haired "ninja" around, and in that thought she found her answer, which only caused her to sigh a little more heavily.

"Is that your lover, Amaya-kun?" a voice that was slightly ragged with age crooned from within the curtained room.

Amaya rolled her eyes, absently wondering if they could get stuck that way, and lifted the curtain to the side to let herself back in. "Shut up, Takumi-san," she snapped half-heartedly at the old man, who sniggered at the lack of answer the order provided.

"So, what does your dearest mother need from me today?" he asked.

Amaya reached into the neck of her kimono and struggled to withdraw the list from the binding around her breasts, then handed it to Takumi. His eyebrows went up in a slightly startled expression. "What in the world does your mother want with all these for?"

"Probably to kill my father," Amaya answered absently as she browsed the labeled jars and pots of imported or illegal plants.

"What?!" Takumi blurted.

Amaya sighed. "Jiro," she clarified.

This caused the old man to giggle, "Of course." He reached up and snapped a branch off the nearest plant, wrapped it in paper, tied a string around it, and scrawled a barely legible label on it. He piled several more similar packages into Amaya's basket. "Tell your mother I'm sorry, but I'm completely out of Rosary Peas, and that it will take time to get a hold of golden chain or foxglove. I'm also missing a few of the mushrooms she wanted. What in the world is she doing, though? Going into the drug business?"

Amaya shrugged. "Wouldn't put it past her."

Takumi rolled his eyes. "Am I to assume she needs her standard amounts of blue lettuce and honeysuckle, too, for Shogun Ieyasu?"

"Oh yes! Of course!" Amaya blurted, realizing she had nearly forgotten her mother's standard order along with the list of special requests.

Takumi added large a bag of blue lettuce and ducked out briefly to fetch the honeysuckle, the only non illegal or imported substance in Amaya's order. As he scrawled out the total cost of the extensive purchase, he chatted amiably with Amaya. "So how is that belladonna Akane-san is growing coming along?"

Amaya laughed. Her mother wasn't nearly as good at growing plants as she was mixing and mashing them, but she had insisted she have her own nightshade plant because she found uses for its parts so often. "It's not dead yet," she answered with a grin.

"This might be a record for her," Takumi teased, "A whole two months." He abruptly changed subjects to inform Amaya of the final cost.

"She's lucky Ieyasu likes her," Amaya rolled her eyes and dug the necessary number of bills out of her obi, "Or she could never afford orders like this."

Takumi just clicked his tongue. "It's what that bastard Shogun gets for sleeping with his doctor's wife. He's got to pay her to keep hush hush about it."

"Mhmm," Amaya nodded in uncaring agreement; she preferred not to talk about her mother's trysts with the Shogun. Takumi handed her several bills in change. "Good bye, Takumi-san. I'll probably see you next week, if not sooner." She turned to leave the shop.

Takumi waved good bye after her. "Tell Akane-san that I hope she's doing well."

Amaya nodded slightly just before she disappeared through the curtained door.

She was startled when she sat down at the sushi stand and someone greeted her. "I was beginning to wonder if you were coming, Amaya-san," a bright voice chimed.

She turned just slightly to find herself staring into familiar dark blue eyes. "Yashamaru…" she trailed. She'd almost forgotten she'd offered to meet him here at all, and she realized, also, that she never really expected him to anyway.

"So, did you get anything interesting?" He reached to lift the cloth that was draped over the basket's contents, only to have his hand smacked away and the basket lifted and replaced on Amaya's other side.

"No, not really," she answered, and turned toward the chef that was waiting to take her order. "Two kani… uhm, two amaebi, and… do you have any temaki?" [1

The chef nodded.

"Two of those, too, please." She leaned her elbow on the counter and leaned her cheek on her palm so she could look at Yashamaru. "Well, did you find anything to eat?"

He nodded with a large smile.

"That's good. I was half afraid you were going to tell me you needed money, too."

Yashamaru gave her look of exaggerated astonishment, as though he was offended by the mere suggestion that he would expect to borrow money from her, and appeared to want to say something to that point, but the sushi chef reappeared with an ornate rectangular tray with Amaya's sushi on it. She thanked him pleasantly before picking up her chop sticks and daintily lifting a piece of sushi to her mouth, delicately biting off a piece. She was aware of Yashamaru's stare through the entire piece of food, and it was rather distracting. Slightly annoyed, she set down her chopsticks and turned to face him. "What?" she demanded.

Yashamaru immediately looked away. "Nothing. I'm sorry. It just looks really good."

Amaya blinked at him. "Then order some for yourself, maybe?" she offered.

Yashamaru flashed her a sheepish grin. "Well, I'm kind of out of money."

Amaya rolled her eyes (they were definitely going to get stuck like that if she kept this up) and extracted several coins and bills from the folds of her obi, then handed them to him.

"No, no, no…" he immediately began to protest, which earned him an exasperated sigh from Amaya.

"Just take it," she snapped, though without much force behind it, "It's not like its my money, and there's definitely more where that came from."

Yashamaru just barely resisted questioning the statement before turning to order his own meal from the sushi chef.

They ate mostly in silence, though there was a brief break for conversation when Amaya pointed out the speed at which Yashamaru had inhaled his food. To which he felt the need to inform Amaya that she ate her own meal much too slowly. Notably, Amaya just ignored him and continued to nibble her food. When she finished, Yashamaru was still there and still staring at her silently. "What?" she asked again, pretty or not, Yashamaru's presence was starting to grate heavily on her nerves.

He just shrugged and turned to stare up at the menu above their heads.

"Oh, like I'm supposed to believe that. If you're still hungry just say so," the tone came out less than inviting and she felt momentarily bad. Amaya inhaled deeply, calming herself. "Seriously, it wouldn't be a problem."

"No, it's not that," he answered, voice sounding a tad solemn, staring down at the counter now.

Amaya bit her lip and craned her head a little to look him in the face, nearly having to rest her head on the counter to do so. "What is it then?"

Another sheepish, slightly tinged with guilt grin was her answer. "I don't remember how to get back to Sunpu Castle," he stammered out as quickly as he could.

A fit of giggles from the girl sitting next to him was the response he got, and it took Amaya several minutes to calm down enough to speak. "So you were just going to follow me home?"

Yashamaru nodded.

"And you thought I was going to believe you were a ninja?"

Yashamaru snorted and crossed his arms over his chest. "Fine then, I will find my own way home."

Amaya was startled to find that she was actually disappointed by the idea and sighed. "You don't have to do that, I guess. I wouldn't mind the company."

Yashamaru looked at her clean sushi tray, not a grain of rice, nor fleck of seaweed left on it, then back up at Amaya's face. "So, are we ready to go?"

Amaya quirked an eyebrow up at him. "Who said I was going home?" She thanked the sushi chef one more time as she stood and smoothed down her kimono, which was slightly rumpled from sitting so long. She pointedly picked up her basket off the stool she had sat it on before Yashamaru even had a chance to reach for it.

He glanced skyward at the clouds which were taking on hues of pink and orange with the oncoming sunset. "Uhm… If we're not going home, where are we going?" he asked curiously.

Amaya batted her eyelashes at him playfully and started walked away. "Just someplace I like to spend a lot of time," she answered with a shrug. He found himself watching the slight sway of her hips intently as she walked, trying to decide if the motion was intentional before realizing that she would leave him behind at the sushi stand if he didn't hurry to catch up.

Yashamaru was starting to wonder if he really should have found his own way home as they left the populated area entirely and began to travel on a well warn dirt path. He was just about to inquire as to their destination again when Amaya plopped down without any grace or poise whatsoever in the grass. Yashamaru followed her gaze and saw the dark orange of the setting sun twinkling over the Abekawa River. "It's pretty here," she remarked absently as he sat down beside her. "And it's relaxing, so much quieter than the city and so much more tranquil than Sunpu Castle."

"Definitely," Yashamaru agreed, stretching one leg out in front of him and bending the other up toward him so he could drape his arms over the knee.

He was startled when Amaya suddenly stretched her arms out and fell onto her back, seemingly unaware of the amount of the leg that was now visible around the skirt of her kimono which had hiked up above her bent knees and pooled around her thighs. Yashamaru blushed and looked away. The change of scenery appeared to have a profound effect on the girl splayed on the grass next to him with her eyes closed and a lazy smile on her face. "So," Amaya cracked an eye open at him, "Are you really an Iga ninja?"

"I am," he answered definitively.

"An Iga ninja who doesn't know why he's in Sunpu and can't get from Sunpu Castle to the center of town and back? You are certainly a very strange ninja, Yashamaru."

At this he raised an eyebrow at her. "And you are not strange?"

Amaya made a face at him. "What's strange about me?" she asked incredulously.

Yashamaru put his first finger to his chin and tilted his head back in a exaggerated thinking expression. "You have throwing knives in the sleeves of your kimono."

Amaya shrugged. "A girl can never be too careful."

"You have a basket of things from an herb shop that I wasn't allowed to enter and that you won't let me see."

"Well, it's none of your business." By now, Amaya had sat back up, and she cast an innocent glance at Yashamaru over her shoulder.

"And apparently, you have an unending supply of cash, which is the strangest thing of all as you appear to be a Sunpu Castle errand girl."

Amaya's eyes went wide at this observation. "What kind of errand girl owns a kimono like this?" she demanded, gesturing with one hand at the dark red fabric and navy blue obi.

"Well, then, if you're not an errand girl, who are you?"

She snorted at him, crossed her arms over her chest, and stuck her nose in the air. "Why should I tell you that?" She was easily maintaining an air of condesation, but her insides were churning. Her exact place in Castle Sunpu was a little hard to explain.

Yashamaru took advantage of Amaya's posture and slipped his hand under the cloth of her basket and yanked out the top most package. Amaya heard the rustling of paper too late to stop him.

"Blue lettuce?" he read the label out loud, "Isn't this stuff…"

He didn't have time to finish because quite suddenly he found himself underneath Amaya with her knife at his throat for the second time today. "Give me that back, and I might not kill you," she growled, pressing the knife hard enough that it drew a faint line of blood.

That was enough of a serious threat for Yashamaru to take action, and in half the time it had taken Amaya to pin him, her knife was knocked from her hand and her wrists were bound by his Gokujou. She was staring at him with frightened, teary eyes, clearly not having expected any kind of retaliation on his part at all. "Now, I'm really sorry about that," he said earnestly, wiping the blood from his throat with one hand, "But I really don't appreciate blood letting, if you know what I mean." He carefully retracted the threads, slowly so that if Amaya jerked away she wouldn't slice herself on one.

"Who… who are you?" she stammered.

"Yashamaru, of the Iga ninja. I thought we went over that and were talking about who you were."

She was examining her wrists closely, checking to make sure they weren't injured, though she never took both eyes off him.

"Amaya-san, I really didn't mean to scare you. Are your hands okay?" He gently took her forearms in his hands and turned them slightly to check for injuries, though knowing he wouldn't find any. "You look okay to me," he declared with a warm smile.

There was no warmth in the glare he received as Amaya continued to rub her forearms, then reached for the mishandled bag of blue lettuce. Yashamaru's hand closed on it first and Amaya immediately jerked hers back. "We're not really going to play this game again are we?" she asked irritably, though her voice was noticeably smaller then before.

Yashamaru almost debated the idea, then offered the bag back as a peace offering. "That stuff doesn't grow around here, I thought," he stated conversationally as Amaya tucked it back into the basket.

"It doesn't," she answered.

"I bet it's expensive."

"It is."

"You're really not going to tell me who you are, are you?"

Amaya started at the sudden frankness of the question, then sighed. "I guess it's only fair…" she trailed, "Since you told me who you were." She stretched her legs out in front of her and leaned back on her hands, staring up at the dark purple sky with its fading red and orange hues. "You must know about Shogun Ieyasu's illness, right?"

Yashamaru nodded.

"My… father is his doctor. My mother is from a long line of apothecaries."

"A fitting couple," Yashamaru noted with a grin.

Amaya couldn't help but grin back, "Yeah, that's what everyone says."

"And the Shogun lets you live in Sunpu Castle just because of that?" Yashamaru asked, slight hint of incredulization in his tone.

Amaya searched for an answer. "Uhm… yeah."

This time it was Yashamaru's turn to look disbelieving. "And he sure pays your family a lot." He poked Amaya's obi, which he knew still had money hidden away in it for emphasis. She shied away from the gesture with a good humored glare, then shrugged.

"I can't say I mind," she replied with a smirk.

"Why do I get the feeling you're not telling the whole truth?"

Amaya didn't protest his accusation and shrugged again. "Well, there wouldn't be much you could do about it if I wasn't." She lifted herself to her feet then smoothed and brushed off her kimono, only realizing once she was on her feet that her knife was still not in her possession. It was laying on the ground beside Yashamaru. She blanched, uncertain if she should reach for it.

Yashamaru noticed her dilemma and picked up the weapon in question. "It's nice," he complimented, admiring the detailing on the handle as best he could in the fading light. "A gift bought with your father's paycheck, I'm sure?"

Amaya winced, but in the dim light, Yashamaru didn't catch the expression. "Yeah."

In a risky move, he tossed the knife back to Amaya.

She glared at him, but still caught the knife deftly by the hilt and in one smooth motion slipped it back into its hidden sheath. She snorted. "And what would you have done if I hadn't caught that?" she asked casually.

"Caught it for you," he flashed a grin that was all teeth and the Gokujou wrapped around his right arm rippled in the dark. Amaya shied away from the appendage.

As they made there way back to Sunpu castle, Yashamaru lifted his hands up behind his head and looked down at Amaya. She didn't notice, or didn't bother to look up at him because he was staring at the top of her head when he asked, "So is it safe to assume you believe I'm a ninja now?"

Amaya looked up at him, biting her lip to keep from grinning, but one corner of her mouth still quirked up in a smile. "I suppose," she relented.

Yashamaru was about to say something snarky in response when he felt a raindrop, and then another several followed. The drip drop quickly matured into steady downpour, and Amaya squeaked feeling the precipitation start to seep through her kimono.

"I do believe it's raining," Yashamaru stated the obvious with another trademark grin.

Amaya just scowled at him and hugged her basket of plants to her chest, protecting them as best she could from the rain, then picked up her pace to a slow jog that Yashamaru had no trouble keeping up with; however, it was a good twenty minutes more travel before they would reach the shelter of Sunpu Castle, and the sun had long ago set leaving nothing but the faint light of street lamps to walk by.

"I could carry you," Yashamaru suggested, having to shout over the roar of the rain.

Amaya looked up at him, face slightly flushed with exertion and probably cold. She chewed her lip and looked as though she wanted to say no. A crash of thunder in the distance decided her. "Okay."

She was effortlessly lifted in Yashamaru's arms, and their pace doubled now that he could move at his own speed.

Yashamaru set Amaya down once they were under the shelter of Sunpu Castle's wall. "Thanks," she told him, running a hand through her hair to push wet, wayward strands out of her face.

"Eh," Yashamaru shrugged, "Not a problem."

As the gate keeper let them both through, Yashamaru felt the need to ask one more question. "No hard feelings about earlier, right?"

Amaya gave him a confused look, and he gestured his own forearms to clarify.

"Oh! Of course not!" she answered with a genuine smile.

Yashamaru smiled back. "Good." He startled Amaya by wrapping his arms around her shoulders in a brief embrace. "Then will I see you tomorrow."

It took Amaya a moment to regain her composure, and she was quite sure her face was flushed with the heat of embarrassment. "Uhm… sure, if you want, I guess," she answered.

He flashed her one more smile and looked like he might have been about to say something else, but an irritated, rasping elderly woman's voice interrupted him. "Yashamaru, where the hell have you been?" Iga Ogen demanded from a little ways down the hall.

Yashamaru glanced over his shoulder at her. "I think that's my cue to leave." That really was the last heart warming smile he offered her before he turned to meet with the old woman down the hall who was glaring murderously at him.

Amaya stared after him a little longer than was proper before turning on her heel and heading back to her family's quarters. In the corner of her mind she knew she should be worried about her mothers inevitable reaction to her damp purchase, but she couldn't seem to focus on that problem. The rational part of her brain had taken a back seat to the romantic part.

[1 crab, shrimp, and spicy tuna

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