A/N: Well, I remember promising a long chapter for everyone…so here's one. I congratulate myself for having updated this story in less than a month. Haha. Please don't hesitate to tell me when I get characters quite OOC. Arigatou gozaimasu.
Disclaimer: I own FoR in my dreams only…Don't sue me.
HOUSE ON THE HILL*
Kurei was still the same, wearing his red suit and black boots and long finger nails. His manners didn't change a bit—quite haughty, throwing everyone particularly his half-brother insults of various kinds and degrees.
In fact, the only difference one could observe was his mask or the lack of it.
This, Recca obviously noted. "Pretty proud of your scar now, bro?" he taunted as he went to examine a rare sculpture.
"Touch that one and you'll be filled with scars you won't be proud of."
"You really are Kurei. I thought back in the ship you'd have a different soul. "
"That is close to impossible," Kurei dismissed him with a flick of a hand. He turned to Kagero.
"Daijobuka, Kagero-sama?"
"Daijobu, Kurei-sama. Arigatou."
"Yanagi-chan?"
Yanagi gasped but answered in a firm voice, "I'm all right, Kurei-sama." She tightly held unto Recca's arm.
"Nande, it is as if you did change, Kurei," Recca pointed out.
Kurei smirked, "I thought, since I can't accept our relationship as siblings, and I still remember how you dared compete against me, then I'll transfer the little human affection I have to your loved ones. Even if it means I have to accept how lowly your friends are." His eyes directed to Domon, Fuuko, Mikagami, and Ganko who were still at the entrance. Ganko obviously cowered at his gaze. Kurei wondered whether it was because of his scar or because of the recollection of how cruel he had been.
He had no time to contemplate upon this since he noticed someone was missing. At the time that he was about to ask where Kaoru Koganei was, he saw the young boy immensely enjoying the company of Raiha. How come he had not seen the kid as happy as he was with Raiha than he had been with him? He had not directly said it but most of his allies knew that Koganei was one of his handpicked favorites.
The boy sensing his eyes turned to his former master. He met his gaze unflinchingly and said, "Ohayou, Kurei-sama." Kurei acknowledged him with a nod and beckoned all of them to the dining area of his splendid mansion. Kaoru waited for Kurei to completely turn his back. He, then, let a shiver pass throughout his body.
The Hokage clan did not let the opportunity to survey Kurei's mansion pass. It was a splendid old castle built on an island that was surprisingly unexplored yet. Nobody except Mikagami and Kagero, was bothered how it was though when all islands should have been named by now. They were contented knowing that the castle was safely built on a strong foundation. Not only that the castle was built by Uruja's power but it was also camouflaged by nature from the unfriendly eyes of government agents. The castle looked like it was embossed from the foliage and rocks of the mountains. Given its location, one could see approaching ships and discern whether it's an enemy or not. Since it was covered by mosses and boulders, passerbies could think that the castle was just a product of their imagination.
Its façade was nothing compared to its interior. It was a replica of the Uraboutousatsujin Battle Arena in terms of grandeur. Koganei could see his fangs clearly mirrored by the marble floor, carpeted at the middle. The pillars supporting the castle were made of cement, yes, yet untrained eyes the Hokage team had, they knew that each had gold and silver mixed with the structure. The ceilings with their multilayered chandeliers arched their way to heavens. Gold-plated lamps festooned the entrances to corridors and rooms. The windows served as live portraits of nature, framed with intricately carved marble.
Kurei. Kurei loves grandeur. NO. Kurei is grandeur personified, Recca thought with awe. How come his brother was rich and he was dirt poor, satisfied with the humble earnings his father had?
Fuuko tried tugging at a royal red curtain. It was quite heavy for a light-looking curtain. She made a mental note to ask Kurei if she could have at least one. It would be nice having those curtains adorn her bed. She saw a golden ring holding the curtain together like a ponytail. "Domon, is your nose ring missing? You can have one of these."
"This is the Fuuko-san that I like, ready to punch the nose-ring gorilla anytime," Kaoru Koganei said while trying to balance an empty flower vase with his Kougan Anki. Domon Ishijima tried to knock him with his knuckle but the younger kid just dodged it with a quick step. Good for him but not so good for the vase. It almost hit the floor but Mikagami saved with his shoe.
The Ensui wielder said through the corner of his lips, "Don't provoke gorillas, Koganei. They do more stupid things when they are angry."
"Mikagami, I heard you!"
"Domon-kun, it's not as if he's trying to hide it from you in the first place. Mi-chan has always been like that," Fuuko said, absentmindedly following the crowd as they went deeper into Kurei's castle.
Mikagami looked at Fuuko with wonder. It was one of the rare moments that the fuujin wielder actually sided with him. All right, she had bouts with Domon since the latter did not seem to stop his advances. However, she did not really despise the ringed master. Choosing between the tall, handsome, intelligent, Mr. Perfect Tokiya Mikagami and the brawny, good-for-nothing-looking, dumb Ring Master Domon Ishijima, she would rather go for the latter unlike the double-digit-IQ-ed fan girls that the Iceman had. No matter how stupid the argument was, as long as, it concerned her friends, Fuuko would go for them. That was why her remark was quite off key for her. Had she suddenly became smart—no, too harsh—intelligent—she was not that stupid—realistic?
"Fuuko-chan, when have you had the time to figure Mikagami out?" Recca grinned at his childhood friend. "Don't tell me you—"
"That will be quite interesting!" Yanagi Sakoshita exclaimed, speaking freely for the first time since they entered Kurei's domain. "Mikagami-kun and Fuuko-chan together…"
Fuuko slowly inched herself away from Mikagami and stared blankly at the healer. "Nope, nope, iie…thank you very much…"
All of them halted at what seemed to be a big hall. There was a long table at the middle, laden with food from the different parts of the world. Domon gulped, "This feels like heaven." Kaoru and Recca nodded in agreement. They had a good and filling lunch in the yacht but it seemed years ago now that they were shown a better bounty.
"Iie, this feels like Last Supper."
The three obviously hungry boys looked at Tokiya Mikagami stonily but before they could react, Kurei gave a hearty laugh.
"Just as I thought. My dear brother still lets his guard down in front of food. Haven't you learned anything?"
"Nani? So you are going to poison me? I didn't know you could sink lower!" Recca positively glowered at his half brother.
Kurei smirked at him. A purple aura emanated from his body. "I have better plans of defeating you, otouto."
Yanagi let out a gasp again and Kagero steadied her. Ganko whimpered, "Kurei-sama…" Kondo clutched at his master's skirt, willing to be subjected to her small punches than Kurei's fire.
One chair squeaked against the floor. All of them turned at the sound and saw Fuuko making her self comfortable at the far end of the table. She seemed unperturbed about the proceedings. "I don't know about you but I am going to eat. I'm famished."
Before anybody could stop her, she popped one tomato into her mouth. The Hokage Clan looked at her incredulously.
"Fuuko-san!"
"Fuuko-chan!"
"Fuu-chan!"
She swallowed hard and coughed. She sputtered and gasped for air. Ganko was at the verge of tears when Fuuko grabbed a goblet of water and sighed appreciatively. "That was one big tomato!"
"Don't scare us again, Fuuko-neechan!" Ganko shouted.
"Don't worry imotou, daijobou."
Recca sighed. "If Fuuko can eat it then I can't see any reason for us not to eat."
Mikagami still had doubts about it since the Fuuko he knew ate just about anything but he let Yanagi Sakoshita to pull to a chair for him beside the fuujin wielder.
"Itadakimasu!"
….
"This seems like a paradise!" Domon Ishijima yawned, patting his bulging stomach. The clan was traipsing to their rooms. "We have food, rooms, training grounds…this is a vacation…"
"I can't say anything better than that," Recca said sleepily, dragging his feet to the stairs. "I haven't been so full for a very long time."
"Pity pity, I can't eat so please stop talking about it!" Kondo screamed.
Kaoru prodded the stuffed animal with his forefinger. "I gave you food awhile ago but you refused it. Ganko will wash you anyway."
In all of these commotions, Tokiya Mikagami maintained his composure and acted as the senior who knew more than the others did which a matter of fact was true. He had a good discussion with Kagero about the grudges of ninjas.
After awhile, the excitement died down. Everyone wanted to go to bed but the night seemed too young to waste for such inactivity. They got tired of mocking Kondo and insulting each lost its appeal. At last, Recca snapped his fingers, indicating that he thought of something brilliant.
"Let's play cards."
"Hey, minna don't tell me you still haven't finished your game of cards?"
"Eh?"
"When I went to Kagero-san's house to confirm about this trip, you were playing with those?"
"Oh, we're having best of 5's in Poker daily," Recca calmly told the befuddled Fuuko. He started shuffling the cards and when satisfied, he distributed them equally to the competitors: Domon, Kaouru and himself.
Fuuko sighed. "I'll leave you alone then. I'll just sleep."
"You're not going to watch us? Fuuko-chan, I need you to cheer me up!" Ishijima interjected, leaving his cards unguarded from the opportunity-grabber, Kaoru.
"Iie. I'm afraid it is going to be pathetic for me to see my friends who can beat any enemy can't beat each other in a game of cards. Come on, Ganko, I think you need to sleep now."
Ganko obediently went beside her older sister and looked enviously at Kaoru who was concentrating on his cards with his tongue sticking out. Kaoru waved a hand at her and said, "I'll win the lot for you, Ganko-san, and we can show Fuuko-neechan that cards aren't that bad for kids."
"I know it's not half as bad as your Kougan-anki is. Demo, I think Ganko should pay more attention to sleep now if she wants to grow taller and as beautiful as her Yanagi neechan."
At the mention of her name, Yanagi Sakoshita woke up from her trance in looking at how Recca manoeuvred his cards here and there. She stood up blushing, "Oh, right. Gomen nasai, Recca-kun, I think, I'll go ahead and sleep."
"But Hime—"
"Don't worry, Recca, I'm with her," Kagero calmly put an end to her son's protests. She nodded to Tokiya and bowed to the others.
"Oyasumi!"
…
When she got back from the toilet after a warm shower, she saw Ganko already sleeping in her frocks and shoes. Fuuko smiled. She took Ganko's shoes off and put a blanket around her. She decided to hum a tune. She knew the younger girl was already in dreamland to appreciate her humble music but she did it to feel the essence of being a sister. When she was satisfied, she went to her own bunk and laid herself to sleep.
…only to be awakened by a flash of lightning and the sound of thunder.
She abruptly sat, panting. She automatically put a hand on her Fuujin. Scanning her surrounding, she found nothing different in the room. It was still the same luxurious room that looked so enormous she could fit two of her real bedrooms inside it. It was still as it used to be, undaunted by the rain. The only thing that changed was the time. It was eleven thirty.
Fuuko looked at her younger sister. The blonde headed girl was still fast asleep with one hand poking out from the blanket. The fuujin-wielder sighed. Everything was alright. But would it be?
His eyes flashed in her mind.
She shook her head to dissolve the image forming his mind. After fixing Ganko's blanket, she looked at the window. She parted the curtain to have a good view of the weather. It was hopeless. She couldn't see anything save from the velvety sheets of water pouring from the sky.
Since her mind refused the idea of sleeping, Fuuko decided to join the rest of the gang in the adjacent room. It was no good trying to go back to sleep now, she would just be fooling herself. She hoped under her breath that they were still awake. It had been just two hours since the women left them to play cards. If they were asleep, I'll play with the cards myself.
Seeing there was no light coming from the small space between the door and the floor, she knew she would have to do as best as she could with the last option.
Imagine her horror when she opened the door and found a lamp on at the far corner of the room. It illuminated the silver hair of a sleeping Mikagami. He was cross-seated in front of what looked like a solitary game. A number of cards were still in his hand. My, my. Mi-chan always looks graceful in any situation even in sleeping. She vaguely thought how a person could know everything. HE could even play cards. But this must be his hobby since he was used to being alone.
Instead of asking the sempai to go to his room and sleep, she got a cushion and put it under his head. It did not mind her that one of Tokiya's eyebrow quirked when her hand had a contact with his nape. Intent was she in keeping him deeply asleep so she could play with the cards.
Fuuko looked at what Tokiya had been playing. She smirked. Expect Mi-chan to play something new. Since she could not think of anything new to do with the cards except for the Klondike, she decided to try and finish what Mikagami had started. Why were the cards abnormally many? Weren't there supposed to be four aces? She was seeing, six…no, seven. Mikagami was playing with two decks of cards?
Our Fuujin- wielder focused on unravelling the secrets of the House on the Hill, a type of solitaire played with two decks of cards. The aim of the player is two collect the series of 57 cards regardless of its original deck. Of course, Fuuko was not aware that it was called House on the Hill and it involved lots of rules and all.
It has been her hobby to learn things as how they could be applied in real life. That was why no matter how much her parents and teachers nagged her about studying, she did not give a damn. She used the same technique in the game.
"Kings: Recca, , Kurei…all right, Mikagami, and him…iie, make that Domon.
"Queens: Yanagi, … Who'll be Kurei's? Neon? Ah, yes…Then myself, and Kagero.
As she was mumbling, she noticed something about the cards. She turned one card to look at its back. It was blue. She remembered looking at another one awhile ago and it was red. Holding one fan of cards, she slowly and carefully turned them over.
"Two decks of cards on one table: Hokage and Uruja in one house," she whispered.
Tokiya Mikagami opened his eyes.
…
Probably because everyone was asleep, Tokiya Mikagami was feigning one, and Kirisawa Fuuko was so intent in playing Patience that nobody felt a subdued aura. No doubt that he was strong no matter how much the person wanted to conceal it. He tried to hide in the shadows but his eyes glitter every time a flash of lightning parted the dark clouds. He had been quietly waiting for his prey in the dark. Damn. It had been an unwilling prey. But who had heard of willing preys anyway? He was the victim in the first place. He was the unwilling predator. Another lightning flashed. He closed his eyes.
He heard a noise at the far end of the corridor. It was his master, still in his dark red robe.
"I couldn't help feeling your aura. I have to admit that it is disturbing. Is it because of the storm?"
"I myself am not sure, Kurei-sama."
"You don't know the source of your power? You make me laugh. Isn't it clear that it is inside the room that you're guarding so preciously?" Kurei smirked in the gloom.
Kurei heard the other man sigh. It made his smirk wider. "A caution: I don't care about your business with that girl. However, I invited my brother here for a purpose other than killing him."
"Hai, Kurei-sama."
Kurei turned and dissolved into the darkness.
The solitary soldier continued his musings. He needed not be reminded of that. He knew that already. He even promised that to his prey. He looked at the skies. He did not think that retrieving the Fuujin would be this difficult. But he must make a decision.
Raiha must.
A/N: I decided to use more serious titles to my fic…hehe…well I did warn you guys that I'd give you a long chapter…hope it was not dragging...hehe.