Hey Happy Readers, just to warn you, there's yaoi, much, much violence in the hopefully near future and this is AU. So if you don't like the our favorite guys loving each other and killing people in an alternative universe, then don't read this freaking fic. Remember that Hiruma owns nothing. Now prop your feet up, grab your favorite flavor of Pocky and enjoy the show.
The Paths We Take
Part I
Stopping in the shade of some trees, Seiji adjusted his white and green shirt that was under his flexible cuirass that protected his chest, stomach and back. His feet were clad in black boots that went half way up his shin and went over his white pants. Strapped to his back was a large sword that he always carried around and slung over his shoulder was a satchel. It had been a long day of traveling and he was all for setting up camp. He pushed his short, blond hair out of his face and turned around to check on his companion. The younger boy that was behind of him was nearly tripping over the long, white robe he wore, trying to catch up with Seiji. He had knee high white boots that were streaked with dust and under his robe he wore a flexible cuirass like Seiji, except it didn't go past his chest and the shirt he had on was blue. A pouch hung from his shoulder and clasped in his hand was a staff. At his waist was a long dagger and his hair was kept out of his face with a black headband. The boy was sixteen, three years younger than Seiji. He looked up at Seiji and scolded at him, he hated the smug look on the blond's face. Then, he tripped over his robe, almost landing flat on his face, but strong arms caught him before he fell.
"Touma-chan, you should be more careful, we don't want you damaging that pretty face of yours," Seiji teased.
Touma glared at his friend, then wiggled his way out of Seiji's arms. Taking out his small pad of paper and a pencil he struggled for awhile to figure out how to construct the sentence he wanted to say. He scribbled down something and showed it to the blond. On the piece of paper, it said "You sleep alone to night" and Seiji could only laugh at the statement. The smile on his face was both from the message and the fact that Touma was getting better at his writing. Even if there were some mistakes in it, it was better than when he first started teaching Touma to read and write. Though Touma could understand the language perfectly, things had still been complicated when they first met. Touma was mute and when they first met he had literally ran into Seiji, he tried to tell Seiji that he was being chased and he needed help, but the only way he could communicate with Seiji was body language. By the time Seiji got what Touma was trying to say, it was a bit too late, for the mercenary hired to kill the boy had caught up Touma. That's when Seiji got rid of Touma's problem with one slash of his sword. Ever since then, Touma was always faithfully at Seiji's side, or a few feet behind of him, trying to catch up. It was still a mystery to Seiji why someone was trying to have Touma killed, but it was too much of a long story for Touma to write out or try to tell him with signs. They had been traveling across the land for three years now and Seiji was very content with the warm body that snuggled up with him at night.
Ignoring Touma's little comment, he asked, "What do you think? Shall we camp here?"
Touma bobbed his head up and down.
"All right, let's go get some firewood and then we'll settle down for the night." Even though Seiji had no doubt in his mind that Touma could defend himself and put up a good fight, he was still uneasy whenever the boy was by himself. There was someone after his life and they had some close calls in the past. It also unnerved him that Touma couldn't scream for help or even make a sound for that matter. They couldn't keep running forever, soon someone was going to find them and the blond dreaded what would occur. If anything ever happened to his Touma-chan, Seiji would definitely be after blood of the one responsible and then some. No matter what, he had to protect Touma.
Seiji was startled out of his thoughts as he felt small, warm hands wrap around his left hand. Touma was smiling gently at him and mouthed 'Don't worry', the boy could always clearly read Seiji's emotions. After pressing a quick kiss on the blond's cheek, he made a motion for them to get the fire wood.
"Wait," Seiji pulled Touma into a hug and held the younger boy in his arms. Touma just closed his eyes and leaned into the warm embrace. Seiji was having one of his weird moments, when he got unusually touchy, but Touma didn't mind.
Sanada Ryo tapped his fingers against the railing of the boat, looking down at the clear water of the river. The boat moved sluggishly, for the river was moving eerily calm that day. He sighed and idly wondered when they were going to reach the town they were heading towards. He hoped it would be soon, he wanted to get off this boat as soon as he could. As the last rays of the sun sunk down into the west, Ryo slipped his black shirt back on, it had been a hot day and wearing clothes made it more unbearable. The air cooled and a light breeze swept through, making Ryo shiver slightly.
"You don't want to be standing so close to the railing," Ikari, Ryo's best friend, warned him. "The river's going to get a bit rough."
"I see that." Ryo stepped away from the railing. "Do you know what our next job is? Oji-san never told me what it was."
"He said that we're after some wizard, doesn't have a name though. I'm going to really like this job, he's positively gorgeous, young too," Ikari fished a picture out of her pants pocket and gave it to Ryo to look at.
Taking the picture, he raised an eyebrow at it, Ikari was actually right about this one. "Are we killing this one?"
"I said I was going to like this job, I'd hate to kill a pretty thing like him. Thankfully we're only kidnapping him."
The Sanada clan was known throughout the land as ninjas for hire, willing to do anything from murder to a simple threat for the right price. Ryo's parents had been killed when he was young, so he lived with his grandparents for most of his life. When he was seven, his family adopted Ikari, an orphan, who quickly adapted to the ways of the Sanada clan and became one of their greatest fighters. She was like a sister to Ryo, when she wasn't bugging the hell out of him. Ikari was a year younger than Ryo, making her only seventeen. Despite having killed many people in the past, they were both nice kids. They didn't feel guilty for killing people or making their lives less enjoyable, that was just apart of their life. The two friends were now off on their own, this was the first time they were going to do a job by themselves. Usually one of Ryo's relatives would accompany them, however this time Ryo's grandfather decided that it was time that Ryo and Ikari to go on their own. It was exciting to go by themselves, they'd do everything the way they wanted to do them. Ikari was especially excited, this was her chance to prove to some of the Sanadas that she was just as good as them. Some members of the clan looked down to her because she was adopted, now Ikari could show them that she was excellent at what she did.
"Who's the employer?" asked Ryo.
"I don't know. It's a friend of Oji-san's, do you have any clue who it might be?"
He shook his head. "No."
"Well, it doesn't matter. We just have to do this job right, nothing can go wrong." This was Ikari's only chance, if they screwed up this job, she'd never gain the respect of the members of the Sanada clan. Only Ryo, his grandfather and a few others had respect for her. She had to show them her worth and that she was just as good as the grandson of the greatest fighter ever known in the Sanada clan. Also, Ikari wanted to make Oji-san proud of her, if it wasn't for him, she probably wouldn't be still alive. The old man looked at her like a granddaughter and she had to do something that'd show him how much her family meant to her. Doing this job perfectly would be a good start.
"All we're doing is kidnapping someone, we've done harder jobs many times before. This one shouldn't be too difficult." Ryo shrugged. He was confident that things would run smoothly for them. Wizard or not, this guy wouldn't stand a chance against two Sanada ninjas.
"I hope you're right," Ikari sighed softly.
Just then, the boat suddenly began to rock, as the river's water began to move rapidly and sent them down stream where the water was unmerciful to those who didn't know how to survive in these conditions. Ikari and Ryo held onto whatever they could get their hands on for support. What happened next was totally unexpected as the boat hit some large rocks in the middle of the river and both of them were practically thrown off the boat.
"Stop! Thief!" a voice shouted as the young man took off with fifty gold pieces and seventy silver pieces all neatly placed in a sack. Despite the heavy bag he carried, he was amazingly fast and easily out ran the police officer that was trying to catch him. The young man was able to give the police officer the slip, by melting into the shadows of a tall building and simply disappearing from sight. Once again, the thief known as the Torrent, escaped the claws of justices. He was called the Torrent, because like the water, he was strong, swift and unstoppable. He had been stealing for years and has yet to be caught at least once. The Torrent made his way out of the small town and went towards his hideout. Deep in the forest, there was a small clearing with a tiny house. That was one of the many hideaways the Torrent had, but this was the one he used the most. He could see the shadow of a woman moving around inside and all he could do was grin. Silently entering the house, he walked up behind of the woman and quickly grabbed her, covering her mouth in the process.
"What do you think you're doing in here?" he hissed in the woman's ear.
The woman elbowed him in the ribs and he let go right away. She took a step back glared at him and smacked him on the side of the head. "Why do you think I'm here? I'm your fucking sister, remember, Shin? Gods, what's gotten into you? Scaring the hell out of me like that."
"Sorry, Nausti." Shin apologized to his older sister, rubbing his head carefully. Damn, she could hit hard when she wanted to.
"I guess everything went well, since you came home alive," Nausti turned back to the wood stove and stirred the soup she was making.
"It was too easy and not even worth my time. Though the store had more money in it than I thought." He put his bag on the table and sat down. Nausti put a cup of tea in front of him, which he took with gratitude. Even if she could get on his nerves sometimes, Shin couldn't ask for a better sister. Really, how many people would put up with a thief as a little brother? Nausti always took good care of him, even if she didn't approve of what he did. A few years ago, he had asked his sister why she took care of him. Her answer was that he was the only family she had left and she wanted to make sure that he knew that he was loved by his older sister. Shin often thought about giving up on being a thief, just to make Nausti happy. But before he did that, he had to make sure that a certain ninja clan would stay off his back for good.
What the hell will happen to Ikari and Ryo? Who is this wizard they're looking for? Is it Shu? Anyway, where the fuck is Shu? Why is this mysterious ninja clan on Shin's back? What's the real reason behind Nausti putting up with Shin? Why the hell is Touma mute? Why does Seiji care about Touma's well being so much? Why is the title of this story so dumb? Why am I still asking these dumbass questions? Why are you still reading this? Find out in Part II and many other parts in "The Paths We Take".
The Paths We Take
Part I
Stopping in the shade of some trees, Seiji adjusted his white and green shirt that was under his flexible cuirass that protected his chest, stomach and back. His feet were clad in black boots that went half way up his shin and went over his white pants. Strapped to his back was a large sword that he always carried around and slung over his shoulder was a satchel. It had been a long day of traveling and he was all for setting up camp. He pushed his short, blond hair out of his face and turned around to check on his companion. The younger boy that was behind of him was nearly tripping over the long, white robe he wore, trying to catch up with Seiji. He had knee high white boots that were streaked with dust and under his robe he wore a flexible cuirass like Seiji, except it didn't go past his chest and the shirt he had on was blue. A pouch hung from his shoulder and clasped in his hand was a staff. At his waist was a long dagger and his hair was kept out of his face with a black headband. The boy was sixteen, three years younger than Seiji. He looked up at Seiji and scolded at him, he hated the smug look on the blond's face. Then, he tripped over his robe, almost landing flat on his face, but strong arms caught him before he fell.
"Touma-chan, you should be more careful, we don't want you damaging that pretty face of yours," Seiji teased.
Touma glared at his friend, then wiggled his way out of Seiji's arms. Taking out his small pad of paper and a pencil he struggled for awhile to figure out how to construct the sentence he wanted to say. He scribbled down something and showed it to the blond. On the piece of paper, it said "You sleep alone to night" and Seiji could only laugh at the statement. The smile on his face was both from the message and the fact that Touma was getting better at his writing. Even if there were some mistakes in it, it was better than when he first started teaching Touma to read and write. Though Touma could understand the language perfectly, things had still been complicated when they first met. Touma was mute and when they first met he had literally ran into Seiji, he tried to tell Seiji that he was being chased and he needed help, but the only way he could communicate with Seiji was body language. By the time Seiji got what Touma was trying to say, it was a bit too late, for the mercenary hired to kill the boy had caught up Touma. That's when Seiji got rid of Touma's problem with one slash of his sword. Ever since then, Touma was always faithfully at Seiji's side, or a few feet behind of him, trying to catch up. It was still a mystery to Seiji why someone was trying to have Touma killed, but it was too much of a long story for Touma to write out or try to tell him with signs. They had been traveling across the land for three years now and Seiji was very content with the warm body that snuggled up with him at night.
Ignoring Touma's little comment, he asked, "What do you think? Shall we camp here?"
Touma bobbed his head up and down.
"All right, let's go get some firewood and then we'll settle down for the night." Even though Seiji had no doubt in his mind that Touma could defend himself and put up a good fight, he was still uneasy whenever the boy was by himself. There was someone after his life and they had some close calls in the past. It also unnerved him that Touma couldn't scream for help or even make a sound for that matter. They couldn't keep running forever, soon someone was going to find them and the blond dreaded what would occur. If anything ever happened to his Touma-chan, Seiji would definitely be after blood of the one responsible and then some. No matter what, he had to protect Touma.
Seiji was startled out of his thoughts as he felt small, warm hands wrap around his left hand. Touma was smiling gently at him and mouthed 'Don't worry', the boy could always clearly read Seiji's emotions. After pressing a quick kiss on the blond's cheek, he made a motion for them to get the fire wood.
"Wait," Seiji pulled Touma into a hug and held the younger boy in his arms. Touma just closed his eyes and leaned into the warm embrace. Seiji was having one of his weird moments, when he got unusually touchy, but Touma didn't mind.
Sanada Ryo tapped his fingers against the railing of the boat, looking down at the clear water of the river. The boat moved sluggishly, for the river was moving eerily calm that day. He sighed and idly wondered when they were going to reach the town they were heading towards. He hoped it would be soon, he wanted to get off this boat as soon as he could. As the last rays of the sun sunk down into the west, Ryo slipped his black shirt back on, it had been a hot day and wearing clothes made it more unbearable. The air cooled and a light breeze swept through, making Ryo shiver slightly.
"You don't want to be standing so close to the railing," Ikari, Ryo's best friend, warned him. "The river's going to get a bit rough."
"I see that." Ryo stepped away from the railing. "Do you know what our next job is? Oji-san never told me what it was."
"He said that we're after some wizard, doesn't have a name though. I'm going to really like this job, he's positively gorgeous, young too," Ikari fished a picture out of her pants pocket and gave it to Ryo to look at.
Taking the picture, he raised an eyebrow at it, Ikari was actually right about this one. "Are we killing this one?"
"I said I was going to like this job, I'd hate to kill a pretty thing like him. Thankfully we're only kidnapping him."
The Sanada clan was known throughout the land as ninjas for hire, willing to do anything from murder to a simple threat for the right price. Ryo's parents had been killed when he was young, so he lived with his grandparents for most of his life. When he was seven, his family adopted Ikari, an orphan, who quickly adapted to the ways of the Sanada clan and became one of their greatest fighters. She was like a sister to Ryo, when she wasn't bugging the hell out of him. Ikari was a year younger than Ryo, making her only seventeen. Despite having killed many people in the past, they were both nice kids. They didn't feel guilty for killing people or making their lives less enjoyable, that was just apart of their life. The two friends were now off on their own, this was the first time they were going to do a job by themselves. Usually one of Ryo's relatives would accompany them, however this time Ryo's grandfather decided that it was time that Ryo and Ikari to go on their own. It was exciting to go by themselves, they'd do everything the way they wanted to do them. Ikari was especially excited, this was her chance to prove to some of the Sanadas that she was just as good as them. Some members of the clan looked down to her because she was adopted, now Ikari could show them that she was excellent at what she did.
"Who's the employer?" asked Ryo.
"I don't know. It's a friend of Oji-san's, do you have any clue who it might be?"
He shook his head. "No."
"Well, it doesn't matter. We just have to do this job right, nothing can go wrong." This was Ikari's only chance, if they screwed up this job, she'd never gain the respect of the members of the Sanada clan. Only Ryo, his grandfather and a few others had respect for her. She had to show them her worth and that she was just as good as the grandson of the greatest fighter ever known in the Sanada clan. Also, Ikari wanted to make Oji-san proud of her, if it wasn't for him, she probably wouldn't be still alive. The old man looked at her like a granddaughter and she had to do something that'd show him how much her family meant to her. Doing this job perfectly would be a good start.
"All we're doing is kidnapping someone, we've done harder jobs many times before. This one shouldn't be too difficult." Ryo shrugged. He was confident that things would run smoothly for them. Wizard or not, this guy wouldn't stand a chance against two Sanada ninjas.
"I hope you're right," Ikari sighed softly.
Just then, the boat suddenly began to rock, as the river's water began to move rapidly and sent them down stream where the water was unmerciful to those who didn't know how to survive in these conditions. Ikari and Ryo held onto whatever they could get their hands on for support. What happened next was totally unexpected as the boat hit some large rocks in the middle of the river and both of them were practically thrown off the boat.
"Stop! Thief!" a voice shouted as the young man took off with fifty gold pieces and seventy silver pieces all neatly placed in a sack. Despite the heavy bag he carried, he was amazingly fast and easily out ran the police officer that was trying to catch him. The young man was able to give the police officer the slip, by melting into the shadows of a tall building and simply disappearing from sight. Once again, the thief known as the Torrent, escaped the claws of justices. He was called the Torrent, because like the water, he was strong, swift and unstoppable. He had been stealing for years and has yet to be caught at least once. The Torrent made his way out of the small town and went towards his hideout. Deep in the forest, there was a small clearing with a tiny house. That was one of the many hideaways the Torrent had, but this was the one he used the most. He could see the shadow of a woman moving around inside and all he could do was grin. Silently entering the house, he walked up behind of the woman and quickly grabbed her, covering her mouth in the process.
"What do you think you're doing in here?" he hissed in the woman's ear.
The woman elbowed him in the ribs and he let go right away. She took a step back glared at him and smacked him on the side of the head. "Why do you think I'm here? I'm your fucking sister, remember, Shin? Gods, what's gotten into you? Scaring the hell out of me like that."
"Sorry, Nausti." Shin apologized to his older sister, rubbing his head carefully. Damn, she could hit hard when she wanted to.
"I guess everything went well, since you came home alive," Nausti turned back to the wood stove and stirred the soup she was making.
"It was too easy and not even worth my time. Though the store had more money in it than I thought." He put his bag on the table and sat down. Nausti put a cup of tea in front of him, which he took with gratitude. Even if she could get on his nerves sometimes, Shin couldn't ask for a better sister. Really, how many people would put up with a thief as a little brother? Nausti always took good care of him, even if she didn't approve of what he did. A few years ago, he had asked his sister why she took care of him. Her answer was that he was the only family she had left and she wanted to make sure that he knew that he was loved by his older sister. Shin often thought about giving up on being a thief, just to make Nausti happy. But before he did that, he had to make sure that a certain ninja clan would stay off his back for good.
What the hell will happen to Ikari and Ryo? Who is this wizard they're looking for? Is it Shu? Anyway, where the fuck is Shu? Why is this mysterious ninja clan on Shin's back? What's the real reason behind Nausti putting up with Shin? Why the hell is Touma mute? Why does Seiji care about Touma's well being so much? Why is the title of this story so dumb? Why am I still asking these dumbass questions? Why are you still reading this? Find out in Part II and many other parts in "The Paths We Take".