WARNING: One sided: WolfYuu, ShinMura and MuraYuu. We'll see how this changes in time. Rating also may change.

Mockingbird

Ken was sitting in what was going to be his temporal bed for the following weeks, or months, who knew. Deep inside his heart he was conflicted about ever coming back to live at the Shrine.

Speaking from tradition and costume, he, as the Maou's advisor and strategist, was supposed to live at Blood Pledge Castle all along, but things just happened in a certain way and he ended up on the Shrine. Although saying that his personal desires weren't a factor on his dwelling situation in the beginning would be a lie.

Ken wondered what Shibuya's thoughts were about all of this, his sudden apparition just when Wolfram had left. He might have been a little goofy for many things still, but with time Shibuya had learned quite a few things, some even from him, which Ken regretted a little sometimes.

Being able to lie, to act in a certain diplomatic way or to read other people's face expressions are vital aspects or politics, true; but Shibuya learning all of that meant Ken couldn't let his guard down. He didn't want to end up like Wolfram once Shibuya realized his feelings.

He knew the obvious differences between both cases, the main one being Ken firmly believed Shibuya actually had feeling for Wolfram and was just too set on his earthen ways to admit he could fall for someone of the same sex. That also affected him, being a man too, but well...

Aside from the differences, he knew his friend well enough to know that if he ever found out about his feelings he wouldn't want to hurt him, and of course he wouldn't want to lose him, but he could also never return them, even if Ken never dared to dream of something like that, even if he was fine just staying beside him as a friend, things would never be the same.

He sighed quite heavily and looked down to his own chest. He was wearing one of Shibuya's pajamas he borrowed since he hadn't really planned on staying, or planned at all, when he had ridden to the Castle that day.

He felt downright pathetic. This was just so not like him.

A sudden knock on the door took his attention elsewhere and figuring it was probably one of the maids bringing him a nightgown, that he would absolutely refuse to wear, he said to come in without a second thought. However the person who walked in wasn't who he had expected.

"Hi there, finding the room comfortable?" Yuuri said playfully, trying to sound like a butler to mock Murata who hadn't even turned around to look at the door.

"Well yes, in fact I am" Ken replied playing along and putting on a smug face. "Although we could really use some ac in this place don't you think?" he added dropping the act and standing up. He tried to ease the heat by separating the fabric of the pajama top from his chest. Frankly, if he was back in the shrine he would just sleep nude.

"Yeah I know, but don't mention it to Anissina" Yuuri said, remembering the results of the last time someone had talked about earthen technology with the crazy redhead.

"And tell me, to what do I owe the honor?" Ken asked sitting back down on the bed, but on the other side, looking in Shibuya's direction and noticing he hadn't taken his hands off his back since he entered. He gave him a suspicious look to which Shibuya answered with a goofy smile.

"Well you see... I kinda broke my bed today" he said looking down and to the side, like a small child who was just caught doing something naughty.

Ken broke into a fit of laughter, while his friend turned three shades of red. Once he was able to calm down he asked "How the hell did you managed to do that?"

"Well... I know I'm supposed to be over this kind of thing by now... and it hadn't happened in almost two years! But you see, I was angry... and anyways when I realized what I was doing I held back my marioku but the bed was already broken" Yuuri stuttered while Murata kept on laughing to his heart's content.

He was a bit embarrassed, yes. But come on! He had only been aware of his marioku for less than ten years, normally in that amount of time you don't learn to control even half of it and he had really improved in the past couple of years. Besides, he had a good reason to be upset at the time...

"So that's what happened. I was wondering about the gossips I heard before dinner. The maids have a whole different story, let me tell you" In deed, there were several theories as to how the royal chambers had been trashed, although Ken didn't know that by that the maids meant actually breaking a solid mahogany bed, quite the accomplishment if it had happened in the way most of the girls rathered believe, a very M rated way.

Yuuri groaned and rolled his eyes, picturing a very close version to what the gossip actually was. People really had no tact.

"Whatever, I'm staying here tonight. Look!" Yuuri said, his face glowing with excitement when he finally took his hands from behind him and revealed a fairly tall stack of magazines.

At first Ken didn't really understand why that would be so exciting, but taking a closer look his face also lit up for a second.

"Shounen Jump*!? How did you get them here?" he asked.

Yuuri smiled and felt overjoyed he had managed to actually surprise the oh so wise Great Sage. Having someone like Murata as a friend could sometimes be exasperating, never being able to hide anything from him and being completely stripped with a single look.

"I got Shouri to send them to me. I'm not really sure how far ahead the actual publication is, but I hadn't had time to read anything anyway"

Yuuri had never been much a manga fanatic to tell the truth, but he learned that sometimes, when you're away from your homeland for long enough, you start to miss the most unexpected things.

Each taking a different issue to read while sitting on the bed, somehow they were both suddenly filled with the same nostalgic feeling. Was it really true that there was a time in which things were always so fun and simple? It seemed so distant somehow.

"You know" Ken said after suddenly realizing something "It's not like we can get a futon for you like back home". His tone was a bit mocking and inviting, he wanted to see how Shibuya would react, hiding behind the joke, of course.

"Oh I'm fine sharing the bed" he answered not taking his eyes off the magazine.

To say Ken was shocked would be an understatement. His eyes flew so wide open that his glasses rolled a little down his nose. Thank goodness Shibuya wasn't looking, or so he thought.

"Wait... I mean... the bed is really big and... eh..." Yuuri started freaking out once his own words echoed inside his head and he caught a glimpse of Murata's expression. When had he become so weird? He was just so used to sharing a bed with another guy that he didn't gave it a second thought before answering. He knew Murata was just kidding with that inviting tone, but maybe now it seemed like he took it seriously and he so did not!

Ken just smiled for himself, following Shibuya's trail of thought, so evident in his changing expression, just a bit hurt by the obvious rejection to the idea in Shibuya's mind.

"Don't worry about it" The bed was big, after all.

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...oOo...

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Silence fell upon the castle after the laughter on one of the rooms on the Maou's wing slowly died down.

Two uncomfortable japanese guys lay awake on the two opposite sides of the bed, making a point of staying as close to their respective edges as possible without actually falling to the floor.

They had been like that for about an hour and were both convinced the other one ought to be sleeping by now.

Yuuri felt a slight change in the weight distribution on the bed and realized Murata had turned in his sleep, in his direction. The almost silent turn was so very different from the olympic flips he was used to, that it almost made him chuckle, but he didn't want to wake his bedmate.

He was actually really tired, he had hardly gotten any sleep the night before and had been running around the castle the entire morning to try and get his head out of his problems.

And yet he still couldn't sleep.

Yuuri could hear Murata's even breathing almost synchronized with his from behind his back and found himself wondering how did the glasses guy** look when he slept. It wasn't the first time he slept close to him, but it was the first time that they did it in the same bed.

Thinking about it, probably because this wasn't the Maou's bed, even though it was big, it was quite smaller than the one on his room, so when Murata turned he wound up fairly close, enough to just roll over and take a quick glance without much fuss. But he couldn't let his curiosity get the best of him, he didn't want to disturb Murata's sleep.

He wasn't quite sure what it was, but he had noticed his friend was acting strange, different from his usual self; and Yuuri was worried, specially knowing how Murata was completely incapable of asking for help or letting himself be weak in front of others. He wished Murata would share some of that enormous weight he always seemed to carry with him, they were friends after all.

It was actually a very rare thing to see Murata visiting the castle just for no reason, and above that, staying. Usually, when he had a fight with Shinou, he would visit, complain a little about his babysitting duties and play some pranks on people, probably to feel better himself. But he would always come back after.

Up to a certain point Yuuri was sure there was something going on between those two. He just didn't know how far can you take a relationship when one of the parties is dead. Because of that, he had always felt a little bad for his friend, if he was right and Murata had feelings for Shinou he couldn't imagine it being a simple relationship, he probably suffered quite a bit.

Maybe it was because of his already upset emotional state, but when he imagined how it would be to love someone that's not really there, someone you can't really touch, he felt like crying right there.

Ken had been admiring the sight of Shibuya's back for a while now and found it surprisingly relaxing to just look at how his body would go slightly up and down with every breath.

He figured Shibuya was probably exhausted, his face that day was marked by the lack of sleep and he guessed he probably lost said sleep crying, which is far more exhausting that it seems. With that in mind he wondered when exactly had he last cried, he wasn't sure anymore.

Crying wasn't something easy for the Sage. It wasn't that he didn't particularly like it or that he thought it wasn't manly or something of the sort, he just couldn't do it as easily as most people. Not for lack of motives, by the way.

Right now, his heart as well as his mind were torn around the decisions he'd soon have to make. Ken had always been a man of reason and relied on his intellect to direct his life, but right now, for the first time since he could remember, he felt lost.

Putting aside his knowledge and all of his borrowed memories, he was only a twenty four year old man, nothing less and nothing more, and he couldn't control his heart or to whom it turned to, all he could control were his actions, and he wasn't sure he had the will anymore.

Was he ready to put himself through the life of a martyr? Was that even necessary?

All of those years, all of those lives, lived only with a single purpose, weighed heavily on his shoulders now that his goal had finally been achieved. Because aside from the determination and guilt that followed him because of his objective, that overwhelming desire to come back to that man's side had never, not once, flickered inside of the Daikenja's heart.

He was so confused he felt like screaming. With the man of his memories always inside him and Shibuya right in front of him, both so unreachable, no matter what he did. He felt so lost, so heavily and utterly lost.

Suddenly a sweet but quite loud noise coming from the window made Ken snap, he was trying so hard not to let his emotions show in his body so as to not wake up Shibuya that he was actually very tense, and the sound came so suddenly he actually jumped and found himself sitting on the bed before he could ever know what the sound was.

"Wh...?" Yuuri asked a bit drowsily, he wasn't really sleeping, but he was so lost in thought he didn't even hear the sound and only felt how someone suddenly jumped beside him.

"I... it's a mockingbird, in the desk" Ken said, completely astonished by the sight of the small bird who had actually entered the room through the window and was looking right at them while singing happily.

"What the hell?" Yuuri sat up too and rubbed his eyes a couple of times. He thought Murata was probably half asleep and had just imagined it, but when the bird sang he realized it was true. There it was, clearly visible under the moonlight. "Aren't they supposed to be daytime birds?"

"Yes" Ken said recovering his usual manner of speaking and putting on his glasses that were resting in his nightstand. "Here it's said that if a mockingbird sings at night it's a bad omen" he added while fixing his hair a little.

Yuuri felt something sink in his stomach.

"But it is also said that if one enters your bedroom something in your life is soon going to change for the better" Ken remembered hearing that when he was the Daikenja actually.

"So... which one do you think this is?" Yuuri asked, turning around to see his friend's expression, somehow he felt Murata was feeling the same unpleasant feeling he was.

"I don't know."

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* Shounen Jump is a Japanese weekly manga magazine, centered on the Shounen genre.

** In the novel, Yuuri refers to Murata something as Glasses-kun when they just met, and I've always liked it and found it difficult to translate to english, he says it with good intentions though, not with mockery.

Another chapter in record time. I actually had some free time because of the student movement. We're currently back on strike, although I don't know if this one will last, considering the seven months the last one lasted. [ For more information google Chilean student movement ;) ]

Things still look dark and depressing for our beloved characters... next chapter I'm thinking of maybe letting you know how Wolf is doing back on the Bielefeld's lands, what do you think?