Disclaimer: I don't own anything but the idea! Oh, I own some of the characters but not many.
Fleeing footsteps echoed through the silent array of tents, the entire thing the boy could hear was his heart pounding in his ears, his panting breaths as he ran and the calls of the men chasing him. He leaped from a ledge, quickly scrambling back underneath it, holding his breath until the men had gone past. He burst out chuckling, sliding his mask up slightly to reveal his grinning mouth and pulled the apple he stole from the folds of his shirt.
Taking a bite of the bright red fruit, savoring the way flavor burst into his mouth once his teeth broke the red skin. The sweet flavor of the juice trickled down his throat and he sighed, fruit was a rare treat even for someone like him. He grinned and slid out of his hiding spot, "Just what do you think you're doing?" a voice said and the child stiffened, moving the apple from his lips in favor of sliding his mask back down to hide his face.
He turned around and waved the apple around a bit, "Isn't it obvious? I'm eating an apple." He said with a tilt of his head, a boy his age glared at him from behind his own mask, a man walked out of the shadows behind him and looked distastefully at the thief boy. "That apple was for the prince of the Yao clan for the feast of when he is found. By stealing that you have gone against Xing." He said and the thief couldn't contain his laughter.
"For the prince of the Yao clan? Wow! This is the first time I've stolen something royal! Well to late now, it's my apple and I am not giving it up!" he said before taking off running, back down the way he had come from, grabbing the knife he had left behind to run from the guards. His white mask could be seen clearly now, it was shaped like a fox face, it was painted a bright shade of white with an orange triangle in between the ears, pointing to the middle of the mask, the chin of the mask was too painted orange, the mouth of the fox was painted the very same shade of orange and a simple line of string holding the mask to his face. His black hair shone in the moonlight, his bangs covered his right eye and the right ear of the mask poked through his hair, the rest was tied back with a brown strip of cloth.
The boy froze with a yelp when the guard trainee dropped in front of him, his face still hidden by his black, white and red mask. "You are a constant pest. I will not stand for it anymore." He growled and the thief sighed, his apple would spoil at this rate, so while humming he lifted his mask enough to take another bite of the apple. The trainee's eyes widened as he did so and the thief couldn't help but smirk.
"Want a bite?" he offered taking out his knife and cutting a good portion off of the fruit, holding it out to the trainee, who quickly shook his head and growled. "You dare offer me something that is not yours?" he hissed taking a step forward, the thief was quick to raise his knife, taking another bite of the fruit, finishing it in a few famished bites. He grinned again and tossed the core at the guard, covering his face completely with the mask.
"What is the name of the fool who dares steal from the prince of the chosen clan?" his opponent hissed, "Rin." The thief said with a tilt of his head and the guard blinked, shock showing in his eyes. "Rin? The Fox god of thieves?" he said and Rin nodded, grinning behind his mask.
"Tomoka always had a peculiar sense of names. Why I was named this is still unknown to me but I do not fear you knowing what I am called for you will not leave alive." Rin said rushing forward, knife in hand; he gripped the guard's mask, tugging before leaping back, the mask coming with him. The guard gasped and glared at Rin, the thief gaped at the trainee, "You're a girl? Come on! It's no fun fighting and killing a girl!" Rin whined dropping the girl's mask to the ground.
"You're lucky I took the oath of thieves!" he hissed before disappearing into the night, "Lan Fan. Where has that thief gotten to?" the man asked and Lan Fan turned around, "I am sorry Grandfather. He has gotten away but not before he said his name."
"Thief! Get back here!" a voice yelled and laughter came from the running teenage boy, though it was muffled slightly by the mask he was wearing, the pearly white mask seeming to glow in the sunlight, three line painted orange pointing downward to the middle of the mask. The eyebrows of the fox were too painted orange along with curved lines going down and in towards the middle as well starting from the cheekbone of any human face, orange ribbon was used to keep the mask tied tightly to the teen's face. "Too slow!" he mocked leaping into the air and running, his bangs lifting off the mask to reveal the right eye of it, his midnight black hair seemed odd next to his tanned skin, a white silk ribbon tied back the rest of said hair.
The heat of the sun was sure to ruin his thief's make-up if he did not get out of the light, chuckling he disappeared through a patch of thickly woven brambles that managed to draw life from the sand of the desert. Humming the thief pulled a pear and peach from his shirt, sliding the mask up to reveal the lower half of his face, taking a bite of the peach and he twirling the pear on the end of his finger. He walked into a clearing with trees which was definitely a sight to see in Xing.
"You've got to stop doing that you know, Rin." A voice said and the thief froze, the peach half way to his mouth, "Hey! Lan Fan!" Rin laughed taking another bite of the fuzzy fruit in his hand, "I can't help it! Fruit is such a treat for me, I just can't not steal at least one piece when I see some!" he said popping the pit of the odd colored fruit out with his tongue and spitting it out across the clearing.
"I do not get it. I bring you enough food and drink to last you for the rest of your life yet you still depend on thievery." Lan Fan sighed and Rin shrugged, "It's how I was raised, you forget that." He pointed out sitting down in the middle of the clearing, taking out a pouch that hid wine, he popped open the cap and tipped the pouch back, parting his lips. After taking a small drink of the sweet strawberry wine he closed the lid and tucked it back into his shirt, if there was one thing good about the baggy Xingese clothes is it was easy to hide stuff in it.
"Strawberry wine? Again, stealing from the prince's returning feast..?" Lan Fan asked taking off her mask and Rin laughed again, "Once again, can't help it! After only having basic wine you get sick with the flavor so you prefer a better tasting wine, higher quality. Though the pouch sometimes saps the flavor, I can only wonder what it tastes like from the best golden goblet that the Emperor gets to drink from." He sighed lying back against the cool ground, the trees overhead made excellent shade to keep this area cool, Lan Fan dropped from the tree she had been crouched in, walking over to the teen's side, "You never fail to amaze me." she said reaching for the boy's mask, in an instant Rin was up on his feet on the other side of the clearing.
"Ah-ah-ah. No touching the mask." He said waving his finger at the girl as though he were scolding a young child, Lan Fan sighed and stood, "You've seen me without my mask and yet, over the years we've spent with each other I've never seen your face." She said and Rin frowned behind his mask, "You're saying you want me to take off my mask?" he asked and the guard nodded.
"Fine. But only for a minute." The life long thief said holding the mask in place with one hand as the other reached back and untied the ribbon, slowly pulling the mask from his face, Rin let out a breath forcing his eyes open. His sense of the dragon pulse was strong enough that he never needed to have his eyes open or eye holes in his masks, not that it mattered, he'd been born with his eyes closed and they stayed that way naturally. Lan Fan gasped and quickly pulled the rough sketch of what Ling Yao, the prince of the Yao clan, would look like if he were this age, she held it up and compared the thief to the drawing.
"What's that?" Rin asked tilting his head, though his hair was longer than the boy in the drawing it was definite, "Prince Ling. I am sorry for disrespecting you for all these years." She said crouching in a respective position, "Wha-? I'm no prince sweet cheeks, and my name definitely isn't Ling. Though Rin and Ling aren't all that different in pronunciation or spelling, so it's sensible that you could get them mixed up." Rin said waving his mask around in the air a bit before he moved to replace it.
"Grandfather! Come quickly!" Lan Fan yelled and the thief stared at her in disbelief, "You brought that old man? You promised that you'd only ever come alone!" he nearly wailed, quickly reaching back to tie the ribbon again before the mask was ripped from his hands, Lan Fan jumped back as quick footsteps announced that the older guard was here. "I trusted you! And I stopped stealing gold, silk and silver! And this is how you repay me? Bringing me food and wine so that I wouldn't starve to gain my trust only to smash it into a thousand pieces!" Rin yelled quickly drawing his Dao sword from a nearby bush, he took up a defensive stance as he faced Fu, the oldest of the Yao clan guards.
Review if you want me to continue.
