Written for Akabeko for the yaoi-challenge obscure fandom challenge.

The Longest Night

Previously, in Silver Diamond . . .
Brave Touno Touji, who was blind but now can see, was captured by the impostor Prince, who had turned out to be a Sanome. His two minions were no less surprising: the monster Senrou Chigusa, who had turned out to be a Pervert of the highest order; and the ill-omened Shigeka Narushige, who was strikingly beautiful but had not revealed any other surprising secrets (so far).

If you found all this confusing, please spare a thought for poor Touno Touji, blind and unwanted outcast only a day ago, and now captive to these strange and terrifying miscreants, on the very first day of his very first mission.

Act 3, scene 1.5:
Like any sensible villains who had been unexpectedly trapped in an alien world without proper supplies ("Here, take the packs, I'll drag this fellow."), they had bound Touji's wrists with peculiarly weighty manacles of some gleaming inorganic material that was not any kind of rock he had ever seen, and set a venomous ("You are indeed as villainous as Lord Kinrei says! Impostor Prince!" "I'm sorry, I really don't know what you're talking about.") and very vocal serpent ("Why is this snake talking?" "You have something against snakes talking, punk?") to guard him while they rifled disrespectfully through the packs of invaluable seeds the great Kinrei had handed him personally, a gift from the true Prince to aid him in his task. He hadn't even had time to examine all its contents himself!

He could only seethe helplessly as the dreadful Senrou picked up a pouch and upturned the contents on the table ("Hey, stop that, those are mine!" "They don't have your name on them." "What are you, five?!" "Don't insult Narushige!" "I wasn't talking to him!"), while Shigeka sorted though the seed packets with graceful fingers.

They murmured to each other softly, taking turns to identify and explain each variety to the impostor Prince, who by his interest and expressions of surprise was obviously a simple ignorant instrument who knew nothing of even basic plants as pillowfluff-vines ("They're a little thin, but they make warm bedding if you have nothing else") and condensation-gourds ("You can't get more than a few drops out of them at a time, but every drop of water counts.").

How could anyone live so long without learning such things? Even he knew these seeds, by touch and smell at least, from the rare occasions when it was necessary for him to handle them. Or perhaps the impostor Prince had never any need to use these ... Touji thought of the luxury that implied, and shivered at the memory of the deep, dense green that surrounded, almost seemed to encase, this strange house of strange and unnatural materials.

Now they were even letting the impostor Prince touch some of the seeds to bring them forth so he could see what the plants were like, apart from the more dangerous ones like sleep-pollen and riflewood. The waste made Touji flinch, and the snake snapped something rude and testy at him that he was too disheartened to pay much heed to, frightening though the thought of dying a prisoner might be. He couldn't see any way out of his predicament, and he could only wonder why they had not killed him in spite of the obvious inconvenience of holding him prisoner. Certainly, the snake complained enough, of everything from his smell ("But I am clean!" "You just smell funny!") to how he couldn't keep still and caused it to suffer motion sickness, and it obviously wanted to participate in the examination of the packs up close as well.

The next pouch they emptied made both Senrou and Shigeka frown and look concerned; Touji leaned closer as well, wanting a closer look, and the snake did not protest. None of the seeds were familiar to him.

There were strange colorful beans, ridiculous-looking trifling things that, had Touji been free instead of a prisoner, he would have thrown out the window with indignation, so pointless did they look. The impostor Prince seemed pleased and fascinated by the bright colors ("My grandfather once read me a story that had beans like these,"), though it seemed the others had dismissed them the same way. The beans were scooped up and dropped back into the pouch without further consideration.

There were rope-vine seeds, or seeds that looked a lot like them, only slightly fuzzy. Were they moldy? How disgusting! Obviously thinking similar thoughts, Shigeka carefully scraped these up and wrapped them with a piece of something thin and flat, like paper, only white. Senrou looked oddly thoughtful as the seeds were put away.

Finally, they came to the last set of seeds. These were quite unusual in appearance -- small, pale beads each with a fine tendril extending from one end. No one could think what their purpose might be, yet they were clearly not worthless toys like the brightly colored beans.

It was the snake that broke the silence first, leaning out so far Touji thought it might fall off altogether, not that he could do anything with Senrou and Shigeka so close. "Hey, you, what are these funny seeds?"

He was reluctant to reveal his ignorance or give them any information they could use, but even as he prepared to answer them with scowling defiance, the snake had swung back towards him, sharp teeth dangerously close. Touji tried to lean away from the threatening snake, swaying dangerously as he did. He had somehow gotten into an awkward kneeling position while trying to get a closer look. "I don't know either! Lord Kinrei didn't have time to explain all the different seeds to me. But it's not a weapon."

"Do we dare to experiment?" asked Shigeka in his grave, intelligent manner. "It might be a trap." Senrou looked thoughtful, while the impostor Prince only looked curious and unmindful of any possible danger.

The point was rendered moot when Touji bumped into the table and one of the seeds rolled off into the impostor Prince's lap. The impostor Prince picked it up without thinking, like a fool, only to yelp in surprise and flip it into Senrou'a hands as the seed split and swelled into a greenish stalk, short, stout and bearing a marked resemblance to a large, slightly drooping mushroom with its cap still closed. "What is that?" demanded the Prince, his hands held up as if to ward it off. "It felt like it was moving!"

Perversely enough, confronted with a mysterious plant close to it in size, the belligerent snake seemed very much alarmed and had slipped down Touji's collar, and Touji just barely avoided jumping up and tipping all the seeds onto the impostor Prince. Shigeka frowned at him, and he felt wronged and aggrieved.

Senrou looked at the odd plant in his hand, and squeezed it experimentally. "It feels warm. Firm, a little elastic." A bead of moisture welled from a small opening at the tip of the cap. He opened his palm and ran a finger down its length thoughtfully.

The plant seemed to spasm, making them all jump, but it was only a very small movement. Touno was still completely lost, but Shigeka was beginning to develop a closed, wary look that suggested he knew what the strange plant was and had no intention of sharing the information.

"Narushige, do you know what this plant is?" asked the impostor Prince with sincere interest, reading his expression accurately.

Shigeka struggled for words. "It's ... it's an applicator," he said at last. It must be something terrible, Touji thought, seeing the unease in his eyes. "A seed applicator," he clarified. Touji thought he was lying. "It's not dangerous." This admission seemed difficult enough that it had to be true.

Senrou looked down at the stalk in his hand. The impostor Prince, reassured, indulged his curiosity and came around the table to get a closer look, sitting down beside Senrou.

"A seed applicator, is it?" Senrou's voice was very dry. He stroked it again, and it twitched, reddened.

"It's kind of cute," said the impostor Prince, leaning in close, wide-eyed. Shigeka appeared to be suffering for some reason. "Like a pet of some sort." ("It's not cute," protested the snake, but it was mostly muffled by Touji's shirt.")

Senrou closed his hand firmly around it when it twitched again, seemingly responding to the impostor Prince's breathing on it. It was turning purple.

Something seemed to occur to the impostor Prince, who straightened with a thoughtful frown. "You know, it looks a little like something I saw in my grandfather's --"

It was at that moment that the stalk throbbed, and the bulbous end exploded, spurting milky fluid over the impostor Prince's face. He flinched back and swiped it off instinctively with a hand, and more stalks sprouted as they fell to the ground around him. The company all stared at the reddening stalks as they writhed on the ground, and then exploded in turn.

Senrou blinked. Shigeka looked desperately unhappy, even pained. The impostor Prince sat stunned and silent for several moments, then stood. "I need to get dinner started," he said in a faint, but steady voice.

Touji saw Senrou pick up one of the seeds on the table, smile, and tuck it away while Shigeka found a rag and began wiping up the mess. Whatever the Pervert had in mind for the strange plant couldn't be good. Touji decided he was better off not knowing. He just wanted the night to be over already.

The end