By: athira80
A soft knock at the door disturbed the Samurai just as he was about to enjoy his first pipe for the day. Trowa put his gaze on the door and frowned. He finally forced himself to get up off the corner of the room and walked towards it. Two men were standing before him as he slides the door open.
"Samurai Trowa Barton," one of the men said as he handing in Trowa a piece of paper, folded in into two "We have a request for you from the Temple."
Without replying anything, the Samurai accepted the paper and revealed it. It said,
Dear Blessed Samurai,
In the name of the three Gods and the Temple, we urgently need your skills to protect a summoner. You are the one and only chosen Samurai who will be assigned to protect a Summoner since your skill surpasses all the others. The Temple would be pleased to give you a salary of ¡300,000. If you will accept this letter, meet the Summoner in front of the Temple of Bevelle at 10 am tomorrow. We would greatly appreciate your help in this matter.
May the Gods bless you always.
Yours sincerely,
The Temple of Bevelle
As he put his eyes on the very last line of the letter, Trowa eventually replied "I just retired from being a Samurai," he could see the reaction of the two men as they frowned at Trowa's answer, disappointed, "But, I guess this will be my last mission..."
This time, Trowa heard the two men sighing with relief, "We greatly appreciate your co-operation, Trowa-sama and may the Gods bless you always", the men were bowing several times, "We will see you again tomorrow, Trowa-sama." They hurried out, eager to tell this news to the temple.
As he closed the door behind him, he started walking towards where he put his Katana and sat beside it. He touched it and said, "The time has begun my friend."
*****
Trowa yawned as he walked through the sakura forest in the next morning. He hadn't woken up so early for a long time. As he finally arrived, he saw the same two men who had come over to his house yesterday. They were waiting for him at front of the Temple gates.
"Trowa-sama! The Summoner has been expecting you..." the man turned and called the Summoner from behind the gate. "The Samurai has arrived!".
Trowa's eyes went wide as he saw the Summoner. He had thought that he would have to protect some kind of an old man, but that was not so. The figure seemed familiar to him, as if he already knew him. An alleyway with men bullying a young boy flashed past him…
"Qu...Quatre?" Trowa said quietly, "You're...you're the Summoner?"
Quatre nodded and smiled, "I'm so glad to see you again, Trowa-sama." Quatre bowed.
"Eh...just call me Trowa from now on." Trowa said as he waved both of his hands in front of him, not wanting Quatre to behave formally toward him. Quatre only smiled at his reaction.
*****
The two monks guided Trowa and the Summoner to the Temple. As they finally reached the inside of the Temple, the two men walked slowly and sat in front of the three statue Gods; Suzaku, the Fire Bird; Seiryuu, the Water Dragon and Byakko, the Wind Tiger; they were all made out of gold. Quatre and Trowa followed from behind and sat behind the two monks.
"Eeya yui...Nobo Meno...
Lembini...Yoju Yobo...
Hasatekanae...Kutabae..."
The two men sang an ancient hymn as the Samurai and the Summoner bowed and kissed the statues feet. It was a ceremony of journey and unity. As they finished, each of the men held a pot and a small bell. As they swung the pot, it created a smoke of essence, which filled the whole room. Then finally, they all bowed together and walked out from the Temple.
"May the Gods will guide you through your journey," the man said, "But, before you go, remember your mission."
"Thank you." Quatre said as he nodded.
As soon as they left the Temple Trowa asked, "So, how come all the sudden you have become a Summoner?"
"Because... I want peace in this country and world." Quatre answered.
"But...I had heard that most of the monks and Summoners had given up hope. And I never thought that I would meet one for a long time."
"That is why..." Quatre paused, "I won't give up and I will try my best."
"Where do we go now?"
"We have to go through to the Yojimbo's Forest. It's going to take awhile to go through the forest. After that, I think we'll be able to reach the Temple of Spira. It stands right on the mountains peak," Quatre explained, "From there, I hope our prayers will be heard so we can Summon an Echo... and you should know what that is."
"I know that an Echo is the servant of the three main Gods." Trowa answered, "And that most of the Summoners have failed to summon him."
"Not me, I've only just became a Summoner." Quatre grinned.
Trowa smiled, "I'm sure you will be able to summon him." he said as he patted Quatre's back. Quatre turned to him, surprised and smiled as he heard Trowa's reply. As soon as they finished their conversation, they started walking towards the Yojimbo's Forest.
The forest pathway was easy to follow despite it being covered with dry leafs and branches along the way. As they walked further on, the forest became increasingly darker and denser. They started feeling more and more lost. As they stood in the middle if the forest, the Summoner looked around anxiously. He felt nervous as he shivered, although it wasn't from the cold. He could feel that something was stalking them.
"What is it, Quatre?" Trowa turned his head, "I don't see anything."
"I can feel something. Like something is following us," Quatre's eyes widened as he saw four wolf-like-creatures with black coloured fur and glowing pairs of eyes. They growled as they clenched their teeth, hungry for their prey. "You won't be able to see them, but I can." Quatre said, trying to explain what he saw.
"How will we be able to defeat them?" Trowa looked around wondering, sliding his katana out.
"Don't worry. I'll tell you which direction they'll come from. I will guide you, ok?"
Quatre could see one of the wolf beasts crouching, ready to attack. It took several minutes later before it jumped towards them. Without hesitation, he shouted out,
"Trowa! Above!"
In an instant, Trowa swung his Katana from on top of his head and straight to the ground in full force.
"MA-JIN-KEN!"
The sword created a lightning crescent and goes straight to the beast. Thus, it split up into two. As the body fell onto the ground, the smoke came up from it and the body eventually disappeared.
The other beasts growled, looked very mad as they saw one of their company died. Without hesitation, they decided to attack them. This time, simultaneously.
"Trowa! Two left and one on the right!" Quatre shouted once again.
Trowa swung the sword again, "MA-JIN-KEN!"
He struck two of them and Quatre noticed that the other one missed the attack. Quatre turned his head behind him and there he found it. Quatre quickly pulled a piece of paper with an Ancient Japanese writings on it from his sleeve, and held it between his fingers in front of him as he murmured a spell. Then, he threw the paper towards the beast as the paper transformed into a white bird. The bird went straight to the beast's chest and created a flame from it. As the flame spread the whole body of the beast, it eventually became dust and vanished as the wind blows hard.
"Quatre, are you alright?"
"Yes, I'm alright. Thank you..." Quatre said in a weak smile.
"We didn't realize that we're in the Yevon's Rage area, where most of the beasts are lurking around here, finding for their prey", Trowa said.
They continue their journey once again. After several hours walking, Trowa could hear Quatre started to moan. He turned his head towards Quatre to see whether he was alright.
"You alright?" Trowa asked.
"My feet are killing me."
Trowa noticed that the Summoner needs a rest. He didn't feel that time had gone pass so quickly. Trowa quickly observed the area to see a place to rest. Luckily, he saw a small cave, which stands not far from where they were standing. Felt relief, he said to the Summoner.
"Quatre, there's a little cave over there. Perhaps we could get some rest and call it a day."
Quatre nodded in agreement, "Yes, we need some rest..."
*****
Rain had finally come at the end of the day as the two sat together inside the cave, knowing that they couldn't continue their journey for the time being. It was very lucky for them to find a cave before the rain came. As they sat for quite a while, there was a grumbling noise coming out from Quatre's stomach. He quickly holds his stomach with both of his hands. Quatre blushed, felt ashamed.
"Are you hungry?" Trowa asked.
The boy nodded shyly.
"Wait here. I'll go get you some food." Before Quatre could say anything, Trowa quickly ran out from the cave, into the rain and vanished. Quatre felt guilty at first, then he decided to wait. Several minutes later, Quare saw the Samurai came back as he stood in front of the cave as he entered it, holding a deer on his shoulder.
"Sorry, this is the only one I could find for you." He said as he put the deer on the ground.
Quatre couldn't say anything. He looked on the deer then he put his gaze on Trowa. The Samurai was soaking wet because of the heavy rain. He sacrificed himself for me? Quatre thought. Then Quatre noticed that the Samurai was smiling at him, warmly. Quatre's face softens as he smiled in reply.
"Thank you, Trowa-sama...I really don't know what to say."
Trowa shook his head in response, "Don't worry. It's my job to be a Guardian."
*****
Night eventually overcome the day. The dinner was just so big, it made them to go to bed early. Trowa woke up in the middle of the night as he couldn't find himself a comfortable way to sleep. He then realized that Quatre wasn't sleeping beside him. He turned his head to look for him, but there was no hint of him. Trowa decided to look for him as he started to walk out from the cave. Trowa inhaled the cold breeze, enjoying the weather. As he sighed, he saw Quatre was standing in the middle of the river, stared at the moon. Trowa slowly walked towards him and as he goes closer, he could hear him sobbing silently. He was going to call out his name, but then again, he decided to go closer to find out what's wrong with him. Trowa decided to come into the water and walked slowly towards him. He didn't even care how low the temperature of the water was at that night, even it felt like a thousand of needles had been stabbed into his body.
"Daijoubuka?" Trowa asked calmly.
The Summoner turned his head slowly. Trowa could see Quatre's Aquamarine eyes had gone red and tears had streamed heavily down on his cheeks. Trowa looked concerned. He walked slowly towards Quatre and touched his cheeks, wiped his tears away with his delicate fingers. Quatre couldn't say a word. He ran out of breath since he'd been crying the whole night.
"I...I," Quatre tried to speak, "I've never had anyone or someone who cared about me this much. All of a sudden, my memories of my mother and my father came into my mind. My mother was very gentle and kind. But my ruthless father," Quatre sobbed again, he paused for awhile, then he continued, "He only cared about his power. He didn't care about me, my mother, and then he just vanished all of a sudden, leaving me and my mother behind."
Trowa reached Quatre's back and pulled him closer to his chest, gave him a warm embrace. He could feel Quatre's whole body was shaken.
"My family was a Summoners Tribe. People asked us for help, but they never cared about us in return. Of course I don't expect them to do something in return, but it just made me more upset just to think about it. And until my mother died, no one cared about us," Quatre paused, "That is the reason why I became a Summoner, to continue my parents footsteps, and hopefully if I'm able to summon Echo, people would realize...but then again, I might end up like my mother."
"Don't say such things like that," Trowa quickly cut his sentences, "Of course I care about you."
Quatre quickly pushed off from Trowa's embrace and rose his tone, "You only care about me because you are assigned to be my Guardian!"
"No! That is not what I meant!" Trowa held both of Quatre's shoulders. Quatre was struggling to pushed Trowa's strong arms away from him. He finally shouted,
"Hanase! Hanase yo! Let go off me!"
Without leaving a choice, Trowa decided pull the Summoner closer and kiss his delicate lips. Quatre was paralyzed as his eyes went wide, unable to say anything. And that was what Trowa exactly wanted, to made him quiet. Quatre struggled, tried to get off from his embrace. After several minutes he tried to release himself from the Samurai's grasp, Quatre realized that his effort was useless. He started to forget all his memories of his parents, his people, his past and his mission as a Summoner. At that time, he was no one. He was only a human being who had no objectives and purpose in life. He couldn't feel the coldness of the water anymore. All he could feel was Trowa's warm lips, locked on his. Quatre eventually closed his eyes as he accepted the kiss.
As they both still locked in a passionate kiss, Trowa slowly brought Quatre to the underwater. Bubbles were created as soon as they dive in. Fishes were swimming gracefully surrounds them, creating a spiral shape. And from here on, Quatre completely had forgotten everything. And without a doubt, he would remember this moment. Quatre released himself from the kiss and touched Trowa's cheeks, staring at his beautiful emerald green eyes. Trowa smiled in response. He then caught Quatre was saying something. And from the movement of his lips, he could see that Quatre was trying to say, "I love you..."
Trowa leaned closer and kissed him once again. As they both danced in the underwater, the rays of moonlight from the surface slowly faded away.
*****
As the time went pass, both of them were sitting together by the river. Quatre was quite comfortable having his head rested against Trowa's lap. He enjoyed that very moment. Then, Quatre decided to broke the silence.
"Trowa,"
"Yes?"
"Why did you do it?"
Quatre got up and looked straight into Trowa's eyes as soon as he finished his sentence.
"I told you," Trowa touched the Summoner's cheek, "I do care about you. And no matter what, I'll always protect you."
Quatre smiled, satisfied with the answer.
"Thank you." Quatre said quietly.
He then rested his head once again, closed his eyes and fell asleep until the rays of sunlight arrives.
*****