Shirayuki
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Chapter One – White as Snow
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Mana Walker was nine years old when Cross found him wounded and abandoned against the snow. Even after a year of travel together, Cross had not yet managed to crack the boy's wall in the form of an earnest, polite façade. Everything that Cross had demanded of the boy, the child had accomplished to his grudging approval. And if Cross was anything, he was practically impossible to please. And a womanizer.
And he used Mana's looks toward those exploits as well.
But Cross was not satisfied. Mana treated everyone with the same politeness that both drew people in but kept them at a distance at the same time. All people aside from beautiful women in the process of being charmed by Cross would prefer to converse with the boy. Even Timcanpy, Cross' tiny golden golem, had begun to attach itself onto Mana more frequently than to Cross. Those individuals who come to terrorize Cross into paying his debts would often visibly melt when confronted by the child, especially since Mana would actually work to pay them off.
All in all, Cross found life… "BORING!!" He shouted, pointing his gun towards Mana. "That fake smile of yours is becoming despicable."
Mana's smile faltered as he was actually startled by the gun his short-tempered master raised towards him. In his surprise, he dropped the bottle of fine wine he was holding and it shattered into a million fragments of glass on the floor. There was a moment of silence before a roar of fury burst from Cross' mouth and he loomed like a crimson devil over the poor child.
"You idiot! Do you know how much that bottle of wine costs! And look at it now! It is wasted!" snapped Cross as he quickly traversed the distance between him and the boy, grabbing another bottle of wine along the way.
Of course Mana knew exactly how much the wine cost—he paid for it after all, but the rage in his master's face was still of demonic proportions. The look of terror on Mana's face was nothing short of utter dread. It was the look one would give if Death itself was approaching to retrieve one's soul. But of course, in Mana's world, his raging drunk Master invokes more horror than death. He shut his eyes and braced himself for the severe lashing he expected would descend upon him.
The familiar sound of a bottle smashing upon the ground startled Mana, but when the pain never came he opened his eyes. All he could see was the second bottle's glass remains among a puddle of wine on the floor. His eyes then snapped to his master's face, where rather than the demonic snarl that warped the handsome face moments before, a mischievous, mocking smirk of triumph twisted Cross' lips and glittered in his eyes.
"Idiot student," Cross snorted in disbelief at the look of utter confusion painting Mana's face. "You're not smiling that ridiculous smile anymore." The smirk widened as Mana's confusion turned to righteous outrage.
"Master that was not fair!" groaned Mana upon realization that he had been tricked. "I'm not always smiling."
Cross took a sip of wine from his glass and fixed an eye on his fuming student. "Yes, I'm quite familiar with your other expression as well: blank. Think of these as your lesson for today: terror and anger. Aren't you glad to learn something from your great, knowledgeable master?" It was quite the breakthrough for Cross despite his mockery of it. He smiled even as he watched a seething Mana attempt to calm himself down. He then stood up and grabbed his coat. "Who knows, maybe tomorrow I'll teach you all about women and pleasure."
"I have no intention of going where you do with those women," Mana said flatly as he began packing their belongings. The last time Cross tried to "teach" him that particular "lesson," Mana had been besieged by cooing, overly-perfumed women who found it proper to coddle and suffocate the snowy child against their ample bosoms. It is another common source of Mana's recurring nightmares. "And there are still master's debts to be repaid."
"Such intelligent words and strong work ethic for one so young!" laughed Cross. He ruffled Mana's white hair and made his way out the door. "Get to bed early tonight. We have a very important place to be tomorrow." That having said, Cross closed the door behind him.
Mana was taken aback by that statement. General Cross had never expressed any sense of either urgency or desire to go anywhere before. His skepticism was not unfounded however, for although Mana respected his master greatly, the man was not exactly the prime example of a role model. Completely the opposite of…
"… Mana…" The boy whispered as he made to clean the spilled wine. "What would you do?"
From the other side of the door, Cross lit a cigarette after hearing the boy's softly whispered pleas. He had been aware early on that "Mana" was not the name of the child. One does not often cry out one's own name in heartbroken despair in the midst of sleep. But Cross still pretended to give him the benefit of the doubt. The child had his own painful reasons in doing so, of that he was certain.
Cross let out a breath and watched the smoke dissipate like fine dust on a windy day. His musings were then interrupted by the ring of a telephone a few feet to his right. He grasped Timcanpy from the folds of his robes and activated the dormant golem into life before connecting it to the phone. Cross then lifted the receiver to his ear and addressed the other person on the line with an indifferent tone. "What is it?"
"General Cross, it is about the boy currently travelling with you. You have received a new mission from Headquarters, if I am not mistaken?"
"Get to the point," snapped Cross, hating when they wasted time with such formalities. His frustrations were not sweetened by the fact that his last cigarette was close to burning out. "I already told you morons that the brat won't be coming with me."
"We understand that, but the boy still indirectly poses a problem."
Cross raised a disbelieving eyebrow at the tentative reply. "Oh? And why is that?"
"General Yeegar was killed this morning," reported the other person on the line.
Slowly, the formerly prized cigarette fell from Cross' lips and lay forgotten on the floor. Cross' eyes dilated in the dark as shock settled in at the news of the death of the oldest and most esteemed of the Five Generals. "How did he die?"
"His heart was missing. We have neither witnesses nor evidence to point towards the identity of the murderer, but we have our ideas." After the reply, neither side spoke as the brutality of the situation settled over them like a heavy cloak. Sanctuary was nowhere, not even among those who held power.
Cross finally broke the thick silence. "Komui."
"Yes, General Cross?"
"I will take over for Yeegar, but you will not monitor me," replied Cross with a commanding tone of voice. He was asking for a lot, especially with the death of a General, the security demanded by Headquarters will increase exponentially. And yet he needed to walk this path alone. Cross could already hear the outcry against this proposed plan rising from among Komui's people, but he was mildly surprised when the dissent was efficiently shut down.
"Very well, I will personally see to it…"
"Then I leave it to you."
"And the boy?"
Cross' lips twisted to a smirk as he vainly tried to suppress his sadistic impulses. "Do not worry about the boy. He will be left in safe, capable hands."
The general had hung up the phone and left before Komui's mind could even process and ask more questions about the furtive nature of his reply. He could not waste any more time and he had work to do.
"Tim, I'm counting on you."
The golem showed as much approval as it possibly could and Cross laughed. Of all the living creatures that seek to understand even the slightest whit about him, only the tiny golem truly knew his motivations.
Cross chuckled. "Mortals can be such idiots."
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Mana woke to the sensation of flapping wings near his ears. He rubbed his bleary eyes to clear them of sleep and saw Timcanpy nudging itself against his cheek to rouse him. He yawned and got on his feet to pull back the curtains when he realized that several things were not as they should be.
Without the sadistic, boisterous General Cross Marian, the room looked decidedly empty. Mana sighed. This would not be the first time the crimson-haired general had left him to his own devices for the sake of escaping his debts and cavorting with women. But taking another look around, Mana saw the apparent gravity of the situation when all of the wine bottles left intact from yesterday's escapades were suspiciously missing. As the reality sank in, Mana stiffened and dove for his small suitcase. He leafed through the large pile of receipts and even larger set of bills, searching for the envelope where he kept the money safe from Cross' often profligate spending.
Terror made way for anger when Mana realized that the envelope was gone. He sighed in defeat, but when he moved to close the suitcase, the edge of a particularly crisp, white envelope peeked out from the edge. As he pulled it from the pile, he immediately knew that the envelope contained something other than money.
"Tim, what is this?" Mana asked the golem before putting down the envelope on top of his suitcase. The golem flew down and bit one corner of the envelope to turn it over. Written on the back side was a name that was unfamiliar to Mana.
"General Froi Tiedoll?" Mana read questioningly. He looked towards Tim with a puzzled glance and the golem immediately opened its mouth to reveal a train ticket. "You want me to deliver this letter to him?"
Tim nodded as its favorite human/chew toy took the ticket. Mana took a look at where the ticket was headed for and the time of departure, wondering when Cross had even bought it. "Train for London, leaving at 8 a.m. today." Mana quickly glanced at the clock on his nightstand and as if mocking him, the long hand clicked to relay a time of 7:56 a.m.
Mana violently finished packing and tore towards the station before the murderous desire to curse General Marion Cross' head off could be completely processed in his ten year old mind.
In the distance, said general felt a cold, malicious chill sweep through his figure.
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"Yuu." The kind General Tiedoll adjusted his glasses and smiled at the scowling face of his adopted son.
"What do you want, old man?" It was all Kanda could do to keep his thirteen year old self from snapping expletives that he knew Tiedoll did not approve of.
Tiedoll's eyes twinkled as he drew another graceful charcoal arc on his canvas. Kanda was always so much fun to tease. "What would you say if I told you that you are going to have another brother?"
Kanda did not hold back his growls at the announcement and his scowl became an outright glower. "What you choose to do is up to you, old man. But if you ask me, you already have too many idiotic troublemakers running around." He glared at the forms of the hyper Daisya and more composed Marie flying kites outside.
"Oh Yuu, I never thought of the three of you as idiotic troublemakers," sighed Tiedoll. "You are all my very cute sons."
"Three of us!? Don't group me together with those morons out there!" raged Kanda as his fingers itched as the desire to draw his katana and demand retribution for the insult grew overwhelming. But knowing that he would never harm his adopted father, Kanda stormed out in a huff, followed by soft, amused laughter from Tiedoll.
Tiedoll wiped the tears of laughter from his eyes with a handkerchief. Despite his own wants for his children, his sons always grow up too fast that they reach the point where they are no longer affectionate with their father. His thoughts continued even as his golem approached him with a message from General Cross. Despite the fact that the tragic news of General Yeegar's death was still fresh, Tiedoll was thankful to him for granting him another son.
Maybe this time, his new son might enjoy being spoiled by his father.
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End Chapter One
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Author's Note:
- Thank you for the lovely reviews. Here is the first chapter of the story, as the prologue must not have contained too much to really say anything about the story. I got this out quickly, but as the rest of the chapters come out depending on how much time (and motivation) I have to write, they will take longer. But I didn't want to leave such a small tidbit for my readers.