Disclaimer: You know the deal, don't own
----------------------------------------
The wind shrieked through the rice-paper walls like a thousand demons as Syuusuke walked soundlessly down the corridor. The Fujin clan house was the largest in Seigaku village, as befit the most powerful of the four ninja clans, even the house of the leader of the village was smaller, though more elaborate.
No one bowed to the eldest son of the head of the Fujin clan, the members of the offshoot houses that stayed in the main clan house had ceased to acknowledge Syuusuke's presence after his father had gone into a rage at them. Few members of the lesser houses dared even speak to him. Things had not been easy since the second son of the family had disappeared.
Syuusuke shook his head; sad thoughts of his younger brother would get him no closer to finding him. There were rumors of course, there always were. Some possible, even probable and some so strange they were obviously not true. Sadly it was the latter ones that seemed to catch on and spread like wildfire.
"You're wanted."
Fuji turned to acknowledge the heir to one of the lesser branches of the Fujin clan.
"Saa, not by my esteemed father, surely," he smiled down at the younger boy.
"Tch, you would have a long way to go if you thought that," Ryoma smirked up at him. Fuji merely waited, still smiling; there was no rushing Ryoma, "Tezuka-sama wants to see you."
Fuji raised an eyebrow in surprise. To what did he owe such an unexpected honor?
------------------------------------------
Tezuka sat, waiting. There wasn't much else to do but sit and wait- Ryoma was out as his errand boy and the grounds were totally silent but for the rustling of the trees in the wind. He kept his eyes fixed on the treeline on the horizon, waiting for movement.
Five minutes passed, then ten. There was nothing. Tezuka stretched one leg out, then the other.
"Ryoma should have been back by now," He murmured softly, eyes dark.
Something fell solidly on his shoulder and it took all of his self-control not to jump and yell. "Who says I wasn't back, buchou?"
Tezuka turned, slowly, as not to betray his racing heart and give Ryoma a reason to smirk. The boy stood casually; almost hard to tell apart from the inky tones of the evening due to the dark swathes of clothing he was wrapped in. Tezuka's eyes darted left and right- then up, just for good measure. Nothing. No sight of what he had sent for.
"Where is the Fujin boy?" He demanded, tone sharp. Man, if Ryoma thought that Tezuka wasn't full of business when he sent him on such an important mission he would kill the boy himself. The fate of Seigaku rested on this.
--------------------------------------------------------
"I am here, Tezuka-sama," Syuusuke detached from the shadows as if he were stepping from a portal. Only the best that Seigaku had to offer could even hope to trick the head of their village, but both Syuusuke and Ryoma were counted among the best.
"Good, I would be most disappointed if Ryoma had failed me," Tezuka's gaze said quite clearly what would have happened to the boy if he had failed, heir or not. Tezuka was not very old, Syuusuke believed he was around his own eighteen years, and Ryoma was only four years younger, but all of the best clans had an in training leader at the same time the new head was installed, it saved panic if the head were to die unexpectedly. Which happened quite frequently among many of the lesser clan, you had to be good to get close to the head of one of the greater clans, really good.
"Then there is no problem, Tezuka-sama," Fuji smiled. Ryoma was the only one allowed to call Tezuka 'buchou'. It was a privilege of being the next in line.
"That is where you are wrong, Syuusuke. Very wrong."
-------------------------------------------------------
Tezuka stood up from where he had been waiting and give his shoulders a roll, relaxing as much as he could in such... company. Syuusuke was staring at him expectantly, and Ryoma was staring at a... rock. "The kingdom is about to go into complete offensive measures." He stated calmly, gauging Syuusuke's reaction.
There was none. He kept smiling, and Tezuka tried not to get too annoyed.
"I don't understand," Syuusuke said in a very 'I might understand and I might not but ha, you don't know' way. "Would you care to explain what this has to do with me?"
"Yes." Tezuka motioned shortly at his encampment, a few sturdy buildings nested inside an ornamental gate. A few lights were on- his men, no doubt, preparing for any possible outcome of the situation, planning and strategizing. Tezuka liked to fool himself like that. Yes, his men were hard at work, industrious and noble and...
"Anyway." Tezuka began to walk. "I'll show you to my quarters."
-----------------------------------------------------------
Ryoma did not follow the two older men, instead choosing to; apparently, devote himself to the detailed study of one of the rocks in the garden. Syuusuke knew better, of course, the men delegated to Ame-no-Koyane House, the house of the head of the clan, were supposed to be among the best, but no one could ever sacrifice the best to serve in dangerous times and thus the level of . . . expertise within Tezuka's person men had suffered greatly.
The room Tezuka led him too was sparsely, but efficiently, furnished. There was a small writing table with a cushion behind it for Tezuka and a nice patch of floor for Syuusuke, which suited the latter just fine, thank you.
Tezuka wasted no time once they were seated, "It is about your brother."
Syuusuke could have stayed perfectly emotionless through almost anything, but those five words nearly broke his perfect mask. As it was there was merely a lapse before he managed to pull himself together enough to respond.
"What about my brother?" the words were as emotionless as he could make them, contrasting the frantic beating of his heart.
"His . . . whereabouts have been discovered." Tezuka said slowly.
"You are avoiding telling me something, Tezuka-sama. Why?"
A lesser man would have fidgeted, but Tezuka would not be the head of a ninja village if he were a lesser man. "You will not like what I have to tell you, Syuusuke, but I need to be sure that you will follow all my commands in this, as in all things. I cannot have you outside of our laws, especially on this issue."
The honey-haired boy lowered his eyes. He had not thought Tezuka so perceptive, but perhaps he was a fool for underestimating one so highly esteemed.
"I understand, Tezuka-sama. I will obey you, in this and all things. My skills are yours to command." He murmured.
"Very good," Tezuka opened an ornate box that sat on the writing table, removing a scroll, "Here is what we know."
------------------------------------------------------------
Tezuka wasn't fooled- there was no way on Kami-sama's green earth that Syuusuke would really obey him- nor anyone- but it was nice to have him say so. Like a promise from a snake or something like that. Tezuka palmed the scroll thoughtfully, starting a bit when Syuusuke's voice broke the silence that had fallen.
"Quit playing games, Tezuka. Open it."
Ah, there it was. So different from the unconcerned, nonchalant Fuji of a few minutes ago- was Yuuta really that precious to the boy, to make him break his creepy-ass, smiles-and-sunshine shell? Tezuka almost felt jealous. He opened the scroll slowly.
"As you must know, your brother has been missing for over a month." Tezuka set the scroll on his knees and folded his hands. "He has been found."
Fuji's heart was on his sleeve, and Tezuka could see that it was seconds from breaking. He took pity on the boy and allowed his face to soften. Kinda. Hopefully it was comforting. "He's not dead," Tezuka delivered, watching Fuji's eyes open, blue and amazingly...blue. Tezuka looked away.
"But he's not safe, either."
Fuji didn't shut his eyes. It was making Tezuka feel a little ill, like Fuji was kicking the living daylights out of him with some kind of mind power, extracting the information. "What do you mean?"
Tezuka braced himself a little. This was not going to be pretty, but he had installed precautions just in case Fuji... lost himself. "Your brother has defected from the kingdom of Seigaku by his own will. He is now..."
"He. Is. Now. What." Fuji was suddenly very close and very large. Tezuka fingered a shuriken sewn in the lining of his sleeve, eyes slits.
"Your brother is now employed in Rudolph," Tezuka said stonily, "As royal bodyguard of the crown prince."
-----------------------------------------------------
There were no explosions, the world didn't stop turning, birds didn't fall from the sky and fish crawl from the sea, though by rights one or all of these things should have happened as far as the boy gripping Tezuka's desk so hard the wood had started to creak was concerned.
"What?" the single word was breathy, as if the speaker were having trouble getting enough air into his lungs to breathe, let alone speak.
"He is serving as a bodyguard to the crown prince of Rudolph," Tezuka repeated slowly.
Yuuta . . . left? Had wanted to leave? Had left his position as heir to the Fujin clan to be a bodyguard for some spoiled prince? Impossible! There was simply no way, he couldn't.
"He did, Syuusuke. I know this is a shock, but there is good news," the other boy hadn't realized he had been speaking aloud; his perfect mask was shattered on the floor.
"Good news?" Syuusuke was not one to linger in the depths of depression, and forcefully he began to pull himself away from the twisting black hole that seemed to have appeared in his stomach, pulling all of his consciousness towards it.
"Yes, we cannot allow him to stay where he is. It is simply too dangerous," Tezuka was speaking slowly, as if to the youngest of children when they first began their training in ninjutsu at the age of three.
"Dangerous? How?" normally he would have been able to figure it out, but his brain was still working overtime to pull his body from the icy grip of shock.
"He was next in line to the Fujin clan of Seigaku, he knows too many of our secrets to be allowed free. We have sent notice to the village where he did his study exchange, they will surely want to help us as he was privy to their secrets as well," Syuusuke's brain barely registered that he had heard Tezuka speak more in the past ten minutes, had it only been ten minutes? It felt so long ago, than he had in his entire life.
"What will happen to him when we bring him back?" the ice had thawed from his brain and the mask was being rebuilt.
Tezuka's golden eyes showed only a hint of sadness, but it was enough for the perceptive boy to notice, "I honestly don't know."
-------------------------------------------------------
"But as for now our kingdom is bereft of a prince," Tezuka said in a low tone, "And if your father finds out about Yuuta's situation, all hell shall break loose."
Syuusuke's face darkened. "War."
"War is something Seigaku cannot afford at this time," Tezuka urged, feeling all of a sudden very impatient. "Which is why only few know of this situation, yourself included. As well as... others. We must act."
Syuusuke frowned, not really listening. "How is it that you managed to get this information and not my father?"
Tezuka shrugged. "I had one of my men kill the messenger who was relaying this-" he picked up the scroll "-to your father."
Syuusuke stared at him. Then he smiled.
It was a good time to end the meeting, Tezuka decided. "I will give you tonight to think over this information. We- myself and a small team- will be traveling to Rudolph after the next evening. You would be a formidable asset, Syuusuke."
Syuusuke left without a word. Tezuka sighed in relief.
--------------------------------------------------
The decree, if you could call a message delivered to select individuals in the dark of night that no one but those involved knew about a decree, went out that same night. Two members from each of the four noble houses were to gather in Ame-no-Koyane House before dawn. There they would meet the envoys sent from Hyoutei, the village where Yuuta had studied for his exchange period.
The sky had that pre-dawn sort of dark. Syuusuke had never been one to believe that it was darkest just before dawn, it simply didn't make sense to him, but seeing the sky as it was, he was almost swayed.
Each person arrived individually and silently, clothed in muted colors over the dark gray of their uniforms (Contrary to popular belief, black did not slide into the shadows half as well as a good gray did). Syuusuke inspected each person as they seemingly appeared from nowhere inside the dark room.
From the Fujin clan there was him, obviously, as well as Ryoma. Syuusuke had questioned the intelligence of having both the head of the village and his next-in-line on the same mission, but had not voiced his concerns aloud. Tezuka had to have some idea what he was doing.
From Ryujin clan there was Kikumaru and Kaidoh, from Kenrojijin, Oishi and Inui and Momo and Taka from Raijin. Not a one was not well known within Seigaku, Syuusuke found himself pleased with the selection despite himself. The only question was the envoys from Hyoutei.
Dawn had already begun to creep up the sides of the mountains and there was no sign of their comrades. The honey-haired boy stole a glance at Tezuka but the other man did not seem phased by the apparent lateness of their allies.
Tezuka must have known the envoys better than Syuusuke had suspected, for just as the first rays of the sun shimmered over the mountains a small group appeared before them, lit dramatically by the rising sun.
--------------------------------
Tezuka began to step forward upon sighting Hyoutei- they were an honorable group of people and should be greeted as such. Well, honorable as in they wouldn't stick a kunai in his neck or tape a 'ninja-chop me' sign on his back.
Tezuka frowned. Actually, he wouldn't put that last one past Atobe.
As Tezuka slowly made his stately way towards the slow-approaching group, a soft tug on his sleeve brought his attention elsewhere. Downwards-elsewhere. He blinked into a huge pair of hazel eyes staring up at him, the dim sunlight glinting off of them.
"Buchou. I am going with you."
Tezuka nodded, not really wanting to tell Ryoma no. If the kid wanted to go... the kid could go. A glance behind him informed him that the rest of his newly-arrived men were staying behind, watching their progress. Fuji waved at them, a true smart-ass. Tezuka wanted to tape a 'ninja-chop me' sign to his back, but had better manners than that. Plus, if Fuji found out he would stick a kunai in his neck. Or cereal.
Anyway.
So Tezuka and Ryoma trotted along towards the ever approaching silhouetted of what supposedly was Hyoutei, making enough progress that within two minutes the group stopped, just close enough for Tezuka to make out their features and details. They all appeared a little worse for the wear- a small red-head was sagging against a taller boy even, obviously lacking stamina. Tezuka suppressed a smirk. Seigaku ninjas had the stamina of... tigers. On speed.
A rich voice cough in a 'LOOK AT ME' way, so Tezuka did.
"Atobe," Tezuka said flatly. "Good to see you."
---------------------------------------
Atobe was very disappointed in Gakuto for ruining his perfect entrance. They had left an hour early to be sure they had enough time to get to Seigaku before the sunrise, they had actually had to crouch behind the hill for close to thirty minutes waiting for the opportune moment, but it had all been worth it. Then Gakuto had to ruin it by trying to feel up Oshitari.
Of course he understood that everyone looked absolutely dashing in their uniforms, he had hired only the best designers after all, but did Gakuto need to be so blatant? A small voice in his subconscious suggested that the other boy could just be really tired, but surely that was ridiculous. Didn't everyone go to bed at 6 and get up at 2:30 precisely to be sure they were ready for a trip? The extra hour off had been tough but well worth it for their entrance.
The head of the village of Hyoutei flipped his hair in annoyance and turned to watch Tezuka and some younger boy coming toward them. His arrogant smirk turned to a slight frown when he saw Tezuka notice Gakuto, that was not what he wished to be emphasized. He cleared his throat discreetly.
"Atobe, good to see you." Of course it was. It was always wonderful to see him.
"So it is, Tezuka," he flipped his hair, arrogantly this time.
"Come, I will introduce you to my people, then we can get going," without another word Tezuka turned and moved back toward the small outer building where shadowy shapes waited.
----------------------------------------------------
Tezuka turned his back on Hyoutei, a move of trust or something like that, and began to walk back towards his encampment, Ryoma in tow.
"Buchou," Ryoma murmured lowly, "Is that Hyoutei?"
Tezuka sighed. "Some of them. A part of Atobe's royal guard, at least."
"Oh." Ryoma paused, silent. Then, "Purple is a mada mada dane color. For a ninja."
Tezuka could not help but to agree full heartedly. What had Atobe been thinking when he outfitted his squad in purple silks? Honestly, of all the fabric in the world- never the matter. It was trivial. They were a minute away from his awaiting troupe, and Tezuka raised a hand, beckoning them over.
The two groups met at the 'point where Tezuka and Ryoma were standing' point at the exact same time, coming to a halt in a flurry of purple silk and grey cotton. There was an awkward silence. Both sides stared each other down, neither wanting to break the silence. It was as if-
"SUGOI! His head is shaped like an egg!"
Well, that was easy enough. Tezuka felt the corners of his lips rise slightly as Atobe twitched and turned to glare at one of his men, while his own man, Oishi, looked vaguely offended.
---------------------------------------------
Syuusuke could not help but smile, of course he had already been smiling so no one really noticed the difference when his real smile broke through the automatic mask one. The thin, orange-haired, which looked . . . unique against the purple silk of his uniform, ninja was jumping up and down, yanking a vaguely irritated looking gray haired man's arm and pointing to Oishi.
"Do you see, Kei-kun? Do you?"
Tezuka was trying very hard not to laugh, which added with the obviously injured pride of the gray-haired boy led him to the only possible conclusion, "You are Atobe-san I presume?"
The other boy turned to look at him, still ignoring the hyperactive boy on his arm.
"I am, and who are you who has the pleasure of addressing Ore-sama?" Ryoma almost died. It was Tezuka's turn to look vaguely embarrassed as his second barely stopped himself from falling to the ground, shaking with laughter.
"He is Fujin Syuusuke, it is his brother we are going to retrieve," Tezuka said quickly, as if he didn't trust the honey-haired boy to be nice.
"Ah," Atobe sniffed, turning his attention to Ryoma who was still catching his breath.
"This is Echizen Ryoma of the Fujin clan, my second, there is Oishi . . ." Fuji tuned him out and turned his attention to the group that Atobe had brought with him. They seemed far inferior to the ninjas of Seigaku, one small red-head was leaning against a taller blue-haired man as if he were tired . . . or groping him . . . where was his other hand?
"I have brought with me eight members of my guard, two from each house since you said you were doing such and it seems very chic for us both to follow such form," Ryoma almost lost again, but luckily Atobe's attention was turned away from him.
The tired/horny red-head was Gakuto from the Raijin Clan, the taller boy he leaned against Oshitari, a member of Hyoutei's Fujin Clan. The orange-haired jumpy boy was Jiroh from Raijin clan. The others were Ootori, another member of the Fujin Clan, Shishido and Hiyoshi from Ryujin Clan, and Kabaji and Taki from Kenrojijin Clan.
---------------------------------------
...this. This was boring. And. And Kei-kun was mean, ignoring him like that. Jiroh yawned expansively, releasing Atobe's arm from his hold. Later on he would just have to ignore him back, the jerk. Jiroh wrinkled his nose and tried to suppress another yawn. Yawning wasn't a very ninja-like thing to do, and Atobe had told them all to try to appear as cool as possible to these Seigaku guys. Like he had something to prove or something. Psh.
After Atobe and Tezuka introduced their men, Jiroh expected them to disperse for a while, maybe rest up in Tezuka's house before they left for Rudolph. Jiroh seriously could've used a nap after all of that boring walking- he would even forget about ignoring Atobe if he could use the other boy for a pillow. But no, Tezuka drew Atobe aside and began to talk to him in hushed tones, leaving the two teams to shift around, staring at each other. Jiroh squinted at Tezuka and Atobe. They sure were leaning in close for just talking.
Yeah. He would be ignoring Atobe at all costs. Jerk.
Jiroh crossed his arms and 'hmphed', looking at the ground. But the ground was boring and thusly kinda made him sleepy, so he started to look for other things to look at.
...Like the Seigaku guy staring at him. Jiroh waved. The boy waved back, eyes closed and smile pleasant. Jiroh grinned. What a cool guy, waving back at him like that! Even though he had been staring... eh. "Hi!" Jiroh said in a hushed tone, despite the fact that no one was really listening. Everyone else was busy staring at the ground. Or... doing Oshitari-Gakuto things. "I'm Akutagawa Jiroh!"
The other boy stepped closer, eyes still closed. He kinda looked like a girl, which was cool, because some people said Jiroh was girly sometimes too. Even though he wasn't, not really. He just had bouncy hair and a small build. And long eyelashes.
"I'm Fujin Syuusuke," The other boy said, talking in the same hushed tone as Jiroh had. Jiroh was pretty sure he was doing it just to amuse Jiroh- and it worked. Jiroh lit up like a light bulb on crack. Cool! He had someone to talk to!
-----------------------------------------------------
Syuusuke smiled and listened to Jiroh, learning a little bit more about Hyoutei's . . . quirks with each sentence. Jiroh didn't know if Gakuto was tired or horny either, but he was betting that it was tired because he probably stayed up late last night with Oshitari, and of course Oshitari wasn't tired because he's a genius. He also learned that Jiroh was not supposed to refer to Kei-kun as Kei-kun in public, but rather was supposed to call him Atobe-sama or, if he was in a good mood, Atobe. Which led to quite the questions as to the relationship between the two.
"And then Gakuto did this super fantabulous back flip!" Syuusuke had not known that someone could talk for so long without a break, perhaps Hyoutei did have some secret techniques if they had a ninja who didn't need to breathe.
"Saa, how interesting, but it appears our leaders have finished their impromptu conference and are ready to head out, finally," he nodded towards where Tezuka and Atobe were walking back toward the group, Atobe looking a little more miffed than he had before.
"Is everyone ready to head out?" Tezuka addressed the group as a whole, so evidently the leader of the mission had been decided and it was not Atobe. Aw, poor little purple-clad flaming pansy. Hmmm, Syuusuke thought, it seems I am tad crabbier than I thought I was. Don't worry, Syuusuke, picking on Atobe makes everyone feel better, it's not just you. Saa, thank you authoress-chan. Fuji, I think we need to talk about the fourth wall. Saa, maybe later, right now we need to go and rescue my brother! So if you would be so kind as to write us on the beginning of our journey . . . Fine, fine, but don't say I never did anything for you.
Everyone nodded and Jiroh turned away from the rising sun. "Let's go! We're heading west!"
"Um . . . actually, we need to go more to the north," Tezuka said, pointing.
"Oops, sorry," Jiroh smiled bashfully up at Syuusuke, rubbing the back of his head, the taller boy just smiled. He had no idea what was going on.
"Come on, do not make Ore-sama wait," Atobe huffed, still angry about not being in charge, and began walking.
---------------------------------------------------------------
A/N: Sorry for the bad Saiyuki reference . . . it was a weird night.
P.S. Voodoodoll asked me to explain Syuusuke's surname. Ok, so here's the deal-e-o, I am a major geek and did a lot of careful planning as to the set up of the little ninja society thing. That spawned the four clans (they are actually by elements/Japanese gods –wince-) so I ended up with Fujin, Ryujin, Kenrojijin and Raijin. Well, I noticed Fujin had Fuji in it and that was the clan I wanted Fuji in anyway. So I figured, hey, lets make him part of the main house of that clan and just add a 'n' to the end of his surname. So that's why it's the way it is, sorry if it caused any confusion.