Sakura: I can't believe it! It's finally being published! *happy dance*
Die: ... Meh. It'll be nice to get it off my computer desktop though... I'd like to be able to SEE Chazz again on there.
Chazz: Wait, you have a picture of me on your desktop?
Die: Um... No comment.
Sakura: I'm surprised you don't have a pic of Aster on your desktop...
Jaden: Yeah, you always go gaga for him!
Die: ... That's because there aren't any good pictures of him that I like... that are appropriate if my mother saw it... She doesn't know I'm a yaoi fangirl.
Sakura: Well, if that's that, onto the story!
Die: Wait, we still need someone to do the disclaimer!
Sakura: ... *turns to readers and lawyers* We own nothing that involves Yu-Gi-Oh and it's franchise. The only thing we own is the OCs and the idea for this story!
Jesse: Enjoy the story!
Prologue, Part One
A light breeze blew as the morning sun shined. The sound of hooves on the old forest road were heard over the merry chirping of the woodland birds. Over the horizon came the sight of men, armed and hard-eyed, marching in perfect formation with a small caravan of covered wagons taking up the rear. Leading this party was a man in black armor, the spikes and the helmet design giving him a sinister look while the crimson red cloak flowing behind him harkened back to high stature. One of the soldiers, spiky black tresses adorning his head, rode his gray stead next to the noble's midnight stallion.
"Haou-sama," the soldier stated, his steel gray eyes serious, "in no ways do I mean disrespect, but is it wise to have just left that patrol? The reports-"
"I know very well what the reports said, Manjoume-san," the lord named Haou spoke. "Ryo and his squad can handle the raiders. It's been long overdue to visit home. And I could use Judai-chan's hugs…"
Manjoume blushed, the hard seriousness melting away at the thought of the three-year-old cutie. Haou allowed a small smile to grace his face and golden eyes. Any thought of the small brunet could bring a smile to anyone who knew him. "I hope he's not giving Edo any trouble," the soldier murmured, reaching up to play with a little beaded trifle around his neck before he realized what he was doing and dropped his hand. "I mean, Judai-sama can be quite the handful when he gets it in his mind that he wants to be difficult."
Haou chuckled, remembering the fit little Judai had thrown when he'd learned both his older brother and his favorite playmate were leaving him behind. He'd terrorized the guards and thrown his dinner at everyone who had tried to enter his room until Manjoume had promised to come back as soon as he could and that he would take Judai's favorite stuffed animal, a fluffy white dog he'd named 'Lightning', to keep him safe while he was gone. He opened his mouth to reply, but then another of the soldiers, also with black spiky hair under a foreign hat keeping it tame and bandages over his right eye, brought his own chestnut mare close to Haou's stallion.
"Haou-sama, do you here that? Most of the sensitive-eared men have been getting uneasy about a sound for half an hour," the foreign-accented man asked his master. In fact, Haou had been hearing something disturbing close to the hysterical crying of a small child. The sound was coming from the left side of the woods, its faintness due to distance.
Haou hummed in thought for a moment, debating the pros and cons of pausing his mission for a little while, then said, "Then go and investigate, Jim. Take Manjoume and some of the men with better hearing with you just in case. The humans have been getting desperate in their self-declared 'war'." Jim, turquoise eye blazing, directed a bristling Manjoume and some of the squad members towards the source of the disturbing sound.
Minutes past before one of the men Jim and Manjoume took came running back panting, fear and panic in his eyes. He cried, "Medic! We need the Medic! Sho! Alicia! We need medical attention!"
Haou grabbed the man's shoulders, forcing him to stop his wild shouting. With a rough shake, Haou commanded, "Ichigo, what happened? Did you get attacked?"
"No, far worse! We found two children, one the same age as Judai and crying hysterically… the other- so much blood- so many lashes!" Ichigo yelled, his pupils dilated with panic.
Haou paled. Two children? And one is-
A small bluenet male and a taller woman with platinum hair came forward then on a pair of gentle bay mares, medical kits filled and ready to treat the injured. "Lead the way, man!" Haou ordered, following Ichigo at full speed, Sho and Alicia a breath behind them. The smell of blood hung heavily in the air, and with it an equal sense of a hidden power like nothing Haou has ever felt before in his long life. The sound of choked sobs and comforting 'shh'es could be heard as Ichigo lead them to a small clearing. What they saw was a shock.
There was a little blue-haired boy with big, emerald eyes clinging to the side of a larger boy who could have been his twin, the elder unconscious and surrounded by darkened dirt. The smaller child was smeared in crimson, some of the liquid even having dried on his chubby face, but it was clear that most of it came from the bigger one, who was covered in cuts everywhere, the deepness ranging from the shallow kind almost like a paper cut to deep wounds where the skin and muscle flapped openly to reveal yellow slabs of fat. The little boy was blubbering, refusing to let go of the injured bluenet until Jim, covering his nose with his hand, gently coaxed him from his companion's side to allow Manjoume to put pressure on the wounds.
"Sho! Get over here! His fever needs to be brought down! Alicia, he's bleeding too much, try to stop the flow!" Manjoume shouted, pressing his tunic into the back of the injured child, Jim close by doing his best to comfort the toddler who clung to his tunic desperately. Sho and Alicia wasted no time, sprinting to the young boy's side in hopes of saving his life.
Haou called the soldiers with them to him. "Search the area. If you find anyone remotely suspicious, capture them and bring them to the squad for interrogation," Haou commanded, his men separating into teams of three to do as they had been commanded. "Is the child well enough to transfer back to the squad?" Haou asked.
"Maybe, Alicia?" Sho replied, turning his head to his love for a second opinion.
"He should be fine now, the wounds look worse then they are. Like someone deliberately made them just to cause pain…" Alicia answered. Then to everyone's surprise, Haou walked over to the tortured bluenet, healed most of the uglier wounds with his power, then picked him up gently. The bluenet snuggled weakly into Haou's chest for comfort. Haou looked over to Jim to see the toddler in his arms asleep from crying so hard, his little head hidden in the crook of Jim's neck. Giving a silent command, Haou and his band began to walk back to the rest of the squad.
The soldiers sent to scout came back empty-handed; they couldn't find who had abused the children into such a state. The rest of the squad weren't too happy with the news, especially Haou for some odd reason, but no one could do anything until the eldest of the two boys woke up, so Haou ordered the squad members and the caravan members to set up camp. Between setting up patrol schedules and supervising the camps set up, it was time for noon meal before Haou, tired beyond belief, found a chance to enter his private tent to rest for a bit.
There he saw Manjoume acting as guard, Sho and Alicia caring for the young bluenet—making Haou feel jealous for some odd reason—and Jim making sure the toddler didn't choke on the food he was given to eat, which he did with a hunger rivaling that of a savage animal. The sight made Haou's anger towards the worthless excuse of a human being—for the boys were obviously humans—skyrocket to the heavens, and he had to repress a hate filled growl so he wouldn't scare the toddler and because Jim gave him a warning glare not to.
The older boy was still asleep on a bed of furs, Sho making sure he stayed that way with a herbal potion that filled the tent with a relaxing scent as Alicia directed a savory broth down the boy's throat so his body had something in it to begin healing properly. The boy was still in the clothes they found him and his brother in, the healers unsure of what kind of reaction they would get if they tried to change them.
The sound of rustlings from behind told Haou someone was entering his tent. Turning, he saw Ichigo and his team enter. They bowed deeply then showed what they found when they went scouting a second time.
"Haou-sama, we found something in the clearing the boys were found in. We thought we could find a clue as to the monster who," Ichigo paused, tossing his head in the elder brother's direction. Haou nodded, understanding perfectly. "We found this." Ichigo held up a necklace with a multi-colored thread chain and a pure egg-shaped crystal. It was beautiful in its simplicity, the crystal charm glowing and pulsing with power. "Its power is the same we felt in the clearing… and the same the boy gives off."
"Good work, Ichigo-san. You and your team have my leave," Haou replied. Ichigo and his men gave a deep bow, giving Haou the necklace before leaving. Haou turned to Jim's direction, the toddler having finished with his meal and looking close to falling asleep. Haou slowly walked to the tiny bluenet, so as not to scare him, and knelt in front of the little one to get his attention. The drowsy baby started when Haou's uncovered face came into view, pale emerald eyes wide in awe at the strangely-colored eyes in front of him. Haou held up the necklace so the child could see it.
"Is this yours, little one?" Haou asked softly. The child looked confused, then looked around before coming to the conclusion he was the one being addressed.
"N-no, is Jeh-hu-nii," the child answered, pointing to the sleeping boy.
"Thank you, little one," Haou smiled, "what's your name?"
The child pointed to himself in question and, at Haou's gentle nod, answered excitedly. "Johan!"
Haou chuckled at the cute reply and gave Johan his thanks. He got up at the same time Jim did and they both walked over to the furs—Jim to put Johan to sleep next to his brother and Haou to place the necklace where it belonged. Haou signaled his subjects to follow him outside, so the children could get a decent sleep and Haou to check on the camps' doings.
"Come on, Koharu!" a raven-haired teen pleaded, nudging her side as the caravan passed by them. "Just a little one! I won't be able to make this score without your help!"
She rolled her eyes, she hated this thieving business, but since she and Daichi had been friends for a long time, she would do as the boy asked. She raised her hand to her face, her chin resting directly behind the first two knuckles of her right hand as she blew over the joint on the two pointed fingers, the remainder curled into a fist while her thumb rested beneath them. Slowly, ever so slowly, the shaft of air turned into a snake made entirely of fire. The creature threw itself at the covering, causing massive yelling to be heard from within before he grinned. "Let's get this over with," she muttered, drawing her rapier and letting her powers shift through it to create the fire licking along the steel.
"That's my Hibiki," he praised, drawing his own blade and summoning forth water to coat its length. The two were little more than street rats, and if they had to survive by stealing from the pompous nobles who ruled their kingdom, then so be it.
Screams could be heard over near Haou's tent, so the soldiers nearby and Haou ran to the source. It turned out to be Johan, yelling about not leaving something. The person who was holding him was the older bluenet they found injured. He was trying in vain to calm down his brother, his orange eyes wide with panic and fear. The soldiers didn't know what to do, seeing as they had orders to protect the two children and keep them from harm.
Haou kneeled by them, taking the two boys into his lap like he'd do with Judai back at the castle and pet the littler one's hair, shushing him quietly as he did so.
The eldest froze, shocked that someone was holding him like... he was important. Johan's cries subsided, seeing as this man was nice and gave him food. Jim came through the crowd of shocked warriors, and almost ran to Haou's side. Johan fully stopped crying when Jim picked him up. The older bluenet broke out of his shock, and threw a punch at Jim.
"Hey, hey, I don't mean ya any harm!" Jim yelped, dodging it, though he hefted little Johan higher to make sure the boy avoided the punch.
"Get your hands off him! We're not going back!" the bluenet yelled, continuing to throw punches at Jim, also doing his best to not hurt his brother and grab him, but Haou snatched the child before he could do real damage.
"Calm down, little one," the brunet murmured. "You don't have to do anything if you don't want to."
The bluenet started to fight Haou's embrace, looking like he was close to losing whatever sanity he has left. Haou had to tighten his hold on the panicking child.
"We're not goin' back! Let me go!" the older bluenet screamed.
"I won't take you back!" Haou roared, his topaz eyes gleaming. "I won't ever let you go back. Either of you."
The child continued to struggle, not hearing Haou's oath.
"Jeh-hu!" a tiny voice cried out. 'Jeh-hu' turned to see Johan looking at him with teary eyes.
"He no hurt, he nice. No go back!" the toddler cried out. The elder bluenet looked to be calming down, and he turned his head to finally see glowing gold eyes.
"The little one is right," Haou murmured, relaxing his hold slightly. "I won't let you two be hurt again. If someone, anyone, wants you that you don't want to be with, to get to you, they'll have to get rid of all my powers and kill me first."
Jim nodded. "And all of us here'll keep ya safe," the Australian promised with an easy grin. "It's over now, you're safe here."
'Jeh-hu' calmed down more, but still had suspicion in his eyes.
"You're not from the Saotome kingdom..?" the boy asked, face screaming for a positive answer. His breathing sounded more evenly escaping his lungs now, and his body shook from exhaustion.
"No," Haou answered, chin high as he pulled little 'Jeh-hu' to him. "I'm Haou Yuki, King of the Elementalists."
"I'm Jehu, not 'Jeh-hu'. Johan for some reason can't put the two syllables together..." Jehu corrected absently, "And there's no such thing as an 'Elementalist', so you must be lying," Jehu's eyes still held suspicion, but exhaustion weighed them down as Jehu drew closer to Haou's warmth.
Manjoume bristled at that. "Haou-sama doesn't lie!" he growled, ice crackling in the air as it hardened the ground by his feet until one of the others brought it to his attention with a nudge. "Haou-sama, you should just find a place for them to stay on our way back, Judai-sama will be worried if we dally too long."
"No," the brunet stated firmly, topaz eyes narrowing. "They're coming with us. Judai will understand."
The ravenet's jaw tightened as he bowed stiffly. "As you command, Haou-sama," he ground out, straightening with a jerk and stalking from the tent.
The ride was tiring to the small children, but Johan napped most of the way. Because of Jehu's various attempts to escape, Haou kept the boy close by, much to Jehu's displeasure. In this case, 'close by' meant riding directly in front of the ruler, his arms on either side of the young bluenet as he guided the horse confidently. Behind them, Johan rode in front of Jim so that he wouldn't fall off while he was sleeping, but the entire duration of the ride, Manjoume would glance around impatiently, his horse picking up on his feelings and dancing beneath him despite the tight check the soldier kept on the reins.
Jehu was miserable during the ride. His brother was riding separate from him (there was plenty of room in the saddle even though they both had gained a little weight since their rescue), and worst of all: he was riding in front of him!
Finally, Manjoume could take it no longer and darted up to Haou's side. "Haou-sama, permission to ride ahead to our destination?" he asked, the dark steed still prancing underneath him.
Haou sighed, not liking the arrangement but finding himself able to do little to prevent it. "Granted," he allowed briskly, the word barely out of his mouth before the ravenet shot off in a flurry of dust and gravel.
Seeing this, Johan tugged on Jim's tunic, whispering some words into the kind man's ear before he trotted up beside his ruler, the littler bluenet grinning at his brother.
Jehu pepped up when his brother came into sight. He gave the toddler a goofy smile, and moved his nearest hand to tickle the chubby tummy.
"Manjoume-san's been getting too riled up these few days," Jim stated, smiling when he heard his charge's joy-filled laugh.
"Noes, Jeh-hu-nii! No tickle!" Johan cried.
"Nope! This is too much fun!" Jehu replied.
The corner of Haou's lips twitched upwards at watching the children's antics. "What do you expect?" he asked Jim, purposefully ignoring the awkward hold on the reins he'd had to take to indulge Jehu. "He misses my little brother, no matter how much he may not be willing to admit it out loud when Judai himself isn't there to force it out of him."
Jehu stopped his playful torture so he could turn as best as he could to ask, "You have a brother? And why does that guy with the stick up his ass miss him so much?"
Jim covered Johan's ears when he heard the first hint of the curse, leaving Johan to blink in confusion when all the sound around him got muted.
Haou sighed, softening as he thought of his cute little brother. "Yes, Judai's my little brother," he answered, "and to make a long, convoluted, and completely-unexplainable story short, Judai attached himself to Manjoume pretty much from the day he first set his eyes on the man, clinging to him regardless of whatever mild insult was thrown his way, so Manjoume has pretty much become his keeper. He's also developed a soft spot for my little brother, though he'll deny it if you ask him."
"How does that happen?" Jehu asked, scrunching his nose.
Haou shrugged. "I don't know, probably because Judai's a lovable kid and Manjoume's just stubborn."
Jim snickered. "I'd be careful if I were you, Haou-sama," he chuckled. "If you're not careful, you might just have to call Manjoume-san your brother-in-law!"
"Jim! Le' go! I wanna hear sounds!" Johan yelled, trying to take Jim's large hands off his head with his tiny ones.
The Australian chuckled again but complied with an easy-going "As you wish, 'lil turtle."
"No turtle! No 'lil!" Johan argued. The toddler tried to stand up on the saddle, but Jim kept forcing him to sit down.
"If ya don' behave, 'lil turtle, I'll have to kiss ya!" Jim teased.
Johan's cheeks glowed a bright pink, his big eyes growing wide. Then he sat down as if he was going to do as he'd been commanded. "Kiss, pwease!" Johan cried.
Jehu's eyes grew wide as he saw how his baby brother interacted with the elder. Johan never behaves that way around people!
If Jim was surprised, he didn't show it. He leaned down, gently kissing the toddler on the forehead. "Are you gonna behave now, 'lil turtle?" he asked.
Johan pouted, then settled down for another nap. "No 'lil turtle..." he said sleepily.
Jim could feel stares coming from his side, so he turned his head to see Haou giving him an amused look and Jehu a look of disbelief. "What?"
Haou just chuckled in answer, kicking his horse into a canter. He had a little brother to return to.
"Judai-sama, get down from there!" Edo yelled up to the little brunet clinging to the roof of the castle.
"No!" the boy cried. "I want Jun-kun!"
Edo sighed for the nth time, "Judai-sama! You'll fall and hurt yourself! You don't want Haou-sama to come home to find you hurt, do you?"
"No! I want Jun-kun!" the toddler stated, a cute pout on his lips.
"Judai-sama," the silveret warned, but the kid stayed firm. "Don't make me come up there," he threatened.
"You no dare!" Judai challenged.
"Try me," Edo called, unbuckling his belt and his sword and using his ice to shoot him up to the little royal's level. "Now come on, Judai-sama, let's get you down."
Judai ran off instead, screaming his little head off.
When Manjoume finally arrived, the sight of Judai running on the roof with Edo just behind him almost gave him a shock-induced heart attack. Giving a curse, Manjoume jumped off his horse and, after quickly retrieving Lightning from his saddlebag and ordering the servants to look after his mount and the stuffed animal, ran towards the roof. Manjoume asked his first element to give him a boost, and a breath of fire underneath him gave Manjoume the lift he needed to stop the screaming Judai dead in his tracks.
"Jun-kun!" the boy cried, running to his favorite playmate for a much-needed hug.
Manjoume allowed the brunet to cling to him, even lifting the little boy up into his arms. "Judai-sama, what have I told you about being on the roof?" he scolded seriously. "And I thought you promised to behave for Edo-san while I was gone."
"... you didn' come home on time..." came the small reply, then Judai cried, "You pwomised! You an' Ah-oh-nii-chan didn' come back!" Judai started to sob after that, burying his head in Manjoume's shoulder.
"I'm sorry, Judai-sama," the man murmured, petting the fluffy chocolate locks as he used his ice to create a slide to get down to the little royal's balcony and walk into the elegant bedroom fit for a grown prince rather than this child. "We ran into some unexpected trouble, but don't you worry, Haou-sama's on his way, along with some new playmates for you." He sat down on the bed tiredly, wincing as the days he'd spent in the saddle disagreed with the movement.
Judai sniffed, "New p'aymates?"
"That's right, Judai-sama," the man said, flopping back on the bed and leaving the brunet to sit upright on his lap, "new playmates." His silver eyes slid closed, he was just so tired from riding so hard to get back to his precious Judai...
Manjoume felt the silk covers of Judai's bed fall on him as his little prince cuddled up to his side.
"Let's nap!" Judai exclaimed, looking tired from all the crying and running from Edo.
Manjoume chuckled, allowing the boy to curl closer and even wrapping his arms around the warm body. "I thought you didn't nap, Judai-sama?" he teased lightly, silver eyes gleaming with amusement.
But the child was asleep before Manjoume's tease could be voiced. So taking the toddler's command, Manjoume too fell asleep.
Sakura: *trying very hard not the fangirl at the cute scene*
Chazz: ... What the hell?
Die: Aw, you're such a softie Chazzy! *hugs him, smiling*
Chazz: GAH! GET OFF ME YOU CRAZY WOMAN!
Die: Nope! I like hugging you!
Jaden: *hugs Chazz* I didn't know you cared that much!
Haou: ... What the hell!
Chazz: ... I'd say I can explain, but I really can't...
Haou: Why am I so calm and just? What have you fan girls done to me! *tries to kill the authoresses*
Sakura: *uses powers to stop him from harming me and Die*
Die: Hey, look at it this way, Haou: it could be worse. You ARE gonna get darker later on, we could've LEFT you that way!
Haou: ...
Sakura: Please review, and remember! Any and all flames are going to be used to heat Haou's castle!
Die: *muttering* Yeah, I bet it's toasty warm...
Jaden: What's up with her?
Chazz: Oh, her bedwarmers abandoned her in the middle of the night to freeze.
Sakura: ...Die-chan, you are an Elementalist! Use your powers!
Die: ... Oh yeah...
Haou: Now let's end this thing, I'm getting tired of this... *uses power of darkness to end the chapter before anyone can say anything else*