"Ashura, come back!" Yasha beckoned for his beloved child, who obeyed without question. The warrior turned to look at the newest member of the group, a brunette with aqua blue eyes and ivory skin. Kujaku had picked him up while wandering the country-side, which made the brunette suspicious enough. Add his unusual clothes, funny accent, and questionable manner, and you had the makings of an enemy.
"Hey there, kiddo!" The man's voice was like Kujaku's, light-hearted and playful. "What's your name?"
The young prince looked at the man suspiciously before answering carefully, "I'm Ashura."
"Ashura? Wow, what a pretty name! I'm Ryuichi, by the way. Call me Ryu!" Ryuichi grabbed both of Ashura's hands and held them tightly, smiling like an idiot. After a few seconds of this, Ashura decided that he liked Ryu. He reminded the boy a lot of Kujaku, after all. He laughed, which caused Ryuichi to laugh.
Yasha, however, was less than amused at the little show. "Well, Ryu. If you don't mind, would you please go set up camp so that we can get a decent night's rest?"
"What? That's BORING!" He was whining like a little child. It made Ashura laugh until his little gut couldn't take it anymore. Yasha, getting angrier by the second, grabbed Ryuichi by the front of his shirt and forced the brunette to meet him eye to eye. "Listen, you!" the warrior growled. "I'm not playing games right now. You better get to work, unless you'd like me to kill you as though you were a goon of the God King's!"
The singer didn't understand. Why was the big man so angry? He reminded Ryuichi of Yuki, who always seemed to be angry with him and Shuichi whenver they played together. Shuichi was always able to abate the novelist's anger by acting all affectionate towards him. Maybe the stranger was the same. In the most seductive tone he could muster in his current state, he whispered, "Does Yasha-chan need a kiss?"
Then, all went black for the vocalist.
Ashura sat at the edge of a cliff overlooking a green meadow. The moon shone through patches of clouds, illuminating his raven black hair, white skin, and gold eyes. One tear after another slid down his face and landed in a puddle by his bare feet. THe incident with Yasha and Ryu replayed in his mind over and over on a loop. The brunette's bloody face haunted him. Oh, why did he have to provoke Yasha like that? He threw his fist against a nearby boulder, screaming, "YOU IDIOT!"
"Who's an idiot?" Ryu's voice startled Ashura out of whatever trance he had been under. Fresh tears fell, but the singer quickly wiped them away. "Don't cry. A pretty thing such as yourself shouldn't be crying."
For a few moments, they sat there silently. An owl hooted from its tree. Finally, Ryuichi turned to the boy and smiled sadly. "What has upset you enough to drive you to the brink of this lonesome cliff?" Apparently, his mature side had kicked in.
"Why does Yasha hate you so much?" Ashura's voice was hardly heard over the sounds of the night, but the brunette heard.
"Well, let's see. I kind of act like his friend, Kujaku. Maybe he doesn't like people like that. Then there's the fact that I came from another world. Maybe he just hates anyone that comes within a ten inch radius of you." He finished with another of his cildish smiles, but it was more genuine than a majority of them. He held his arms out, and Ashura took them silently.
Ashura leaned against Ryu, holding him by the waist and burrowing his head into the man's shoulder. Ryu ran his hand through the prince's raven hair, marveling at its silkiness and length. They stayed like this for the rest of the night, falling asleep in each others arms.
It would have been the beginning of a romance between Ryuichi and Ashura. Sadly, the morning after shattered any chance of that. Yasha found the two of them cuddled together and lost it. He knocked Ryu back into his own world, then went after Kujaku for taking the nightmare to him. Kujaku was able to evade him, as he was used to doing.
End!
