Title: Yama snippets
Pairing: Kurogane x Fai, pre-pre-slash you could call it.
Words: 1092 (2728 total and counting)
Rating: PG-13
Genre: General, in general; things start moving, a bit
Spoilers: Fai's backstory, Kurogane's backstory, and the events up to and including Yama
Disclaimer: I own nothing; Clamp does. Isn't that lovely?
Summary/Notes: We're not shown Yasha's land at all in the Yama/Shara arc, but we do see Ashura's castle/citadel, and it is identical to RG Veda's Ashura-jou (or Zenmi-jou, as one is the reflection of the other, with Ashura-jou being underground… anyway…), which means that TRC's Ashura rules over a land identical to RG Veda's Ashura, which leads me to think that it would be the same for Yasha.
What we see of Yasha's people in RG Veda is that they're potentially nomadic, living in elaborate tents (the larger of which, for the nobility/assemblies, being raised on stone pillars, with stone steps leading to some of them, and pillows/mattresses on the floor), near to/in the middle of a forest, in a mountainous region. You can see what I mean in a nice (not so) little flashback Yasha has in RG Veda, here: http : / / www. mangafox. com/ manga/ rg_veda /v06 / c000 /80 .html (the flashback lasts for about 30 pages ^^; one very good example is here, if you'd rather not browse: http: / / www. mangafox. com/ manga/ rg_veda / v06 / c000 /95. html )
I've tried to make use of the little we know, and until now the details have definitely been lacking in the fic, but I think it might help if you had some visual of what I think Yasha's lands might have looked like. So. Yeah.
Their eyes turn black on the sixth day.
Kurogane spots this when he looks at the mage too long at the end of yet another quiet hour, watching him as he stares emptily on. At first he thinks his eyes are only shadowed but Fai blinks toward him at the long attention and Kurogane frowns. When he makes his way over to the mage, crouching before him, his eyes widen; Fai's eyes do just the same.
"Your eyes are black," he says needlessly, voice scratchy from disuse, and he points at the mage's face. Fai points back at him, pressing his hand under one of his eyes at the same time, and Kurogane blinks, then nods. Fai frowns and looks around. He waves his hand between them at eye-level then points at the men in the distance, then motions between them again.
All the people they've seen here have jet-black eyes, but Kurogane can't tell what this means or what, in fact, the mage is saying; he shakes his head and shrugs, and Fai sighs in frustration.
Kurogane sits beside him, closing his eyes in wait, and before the day ends they get some word at last.
Six guards come by to round them up, leaving their hands unbound and Souhi resting against Kurogane's hip (he still can't decide whether these people are stupid, overconfident, or better at stealth than he's ever dreamt) They're brought to a large tent, raised on stone pillars, lit by fires, and several people inside turn round as they're led in. The man in charge, the same one from the week before, practically radiates mistrust, and so does everybody else.
Kurogane knows he can knock the lot of them out if he just reaches for his sword, but they cannot afford to leave this place in case the children do come by, so he stands still and watches the men glare.
They start questioning them once again, or rather only him; the people not speaking stare at the mage instead, looking for some reaction to their words.
The questions sound off like before – who they are, how they got there, what their plans are and why – and Kurogane doles out the same answers. He doesn't speak about the feathers or of the different worlds, but he does mention travels, a boy, a girl and a white pet, and a strange, unknown power that'd brought them there that night, wherever there had been. His own questions are thoroughly ignored, to his barely reigned in annoyance, and before they're sent back each of the men comes by to stare deep in their eyes, always taking twice as long with the mage.
The same six guards escort them to the pen, but Souhi still isn't taken away, their hands still aren't bound, and nobody had spoken about executions, so Kurogane waits for the next day with little worries, or at least no more than before.
There is still no sign of the children, and that begins to bother him.
xxxx
Their eyes turn black on the sixth day, and Fai has many questions but no real way to ask them. His frustration has lessened now that he's got used to the silence and the words he can't understand, and with these people finally making a move he has something to focus on so that his thoughts don't stray.
Their eyes could have changed colour from something in the food, he thinks, or in the water, or the air. Or maybe from the faint magic that he can sense each night. He doesn't feel different himself, or weak in any way, so he tries not to mind the change; not if it helps these people trust them.
For the past three days they've been brought before the clan, and while several faces are the same, most of them are new every time. He thinks they're being shown off to the people, and every man steps up to look them in the eye. He doesn't know what they ask Kurogane, but after three such days he thinks the question that he hears are on the whole the same, judging from the sound and the shape of them, and the mounting annoyance he sees in Kurogane's face. Which means their answers, too, are brought before the people.
He thinks there are debates after the guards take away, that their fate is decided, and Fai tries to stomp on his restlessness at there being so little he can do or know.
His face is blank each time he goes into the tent, his eyes are cold and sharp, and he watches the ones who are there every time, trying to glimpse their thoughts just as they try to read his own. When they come near to stare he looks them in the eye, and every one of them searches for something in his face; he doesn't dare shift his expression – and this is why he never speaks – who knows what they might think to find, or hear; who knows what they might do.
xxxx
They are questioned for five straight days.
On the fifth day, when their patience is close to snapping, when Kurogane wants to break out, all waiting be damned, when Fai is brimming with pent up unease, on that day they are asked to join the people's ranks.
Kurogane explains it all with a lot of frustration and many useless signs while everyone looks on, hands steady on their swords.
From all his words, careful and slow, and making not one bit of sense, Fai only understands Celes, Yasha, and Kurogane pointing at his sword. It dawns on him, after a while, and Fai bows down like he's seen the men here do, like Kurogane almost hadn't, knee down and hand on chest, and swears out his allegiance.
The words he speaks are meaningless, doubly so for not being understood.
They are given their own quarters, weapons and gear to arm themselves. The armour is heavy and awkward – Fai does away with most of it while Kurogane frowns, not that he's any better, keeping so little for himself.
The first battle has him discarding even more – he cannot move with it – and Kurogane shouts at him while busy knocking men away. Fai doesn't care.
The world twists and skews every night, and in spite of the senselessness of each word spoken around him, Fai tries not to go with it. He clings to every sun-lit day, and waits and waits and waits – but at least now he's not waiting alone.
A/N 2: Once again, please hit me around the head with a blunt object if this sounds scratchy/annoying/ooc in any way. Like I said before, straight and simple narration of facts doesn't come all that easy to me, and having almost no dialogue whatsoever is no help at all. Thanks~!