I'm back bishesssss~
Hey guys, I really, really don't have a reason for this extreme lateness, I just didn't wanna write. But now I'm back, I guess. I'm really hesitant about this chapter, but there are some surprises, I suppose also Shigehiro is really too much fun to write. Also, don't trust Imayoshi guys. Just… don't.
Answering the comments:
HopeSproutWings: Ah. You found it. Have a milkshake as your prize my sharp-eyed reader~
Anyway, enjoy~~
Chapter 7: On Letters from a Friend
It snowed lightly on Sunday, draping the streets in a blanket of white and chilling the air back to uncomfortable temperatures. Tetsuya sat with his legs under the kotatsu and watched the sun rise from the windows, a glass of green tea held in his right hand and pages filled with the deranged scribbling of his great grandfather in his left. He had taken it upon himself to research the artifacts of Seirin after his get together with Takao and Midorima and he was rather surprised to find files in his grandmother's safe detailing the nature of most of the clan artifacts. Apparently, his great grandfather had worked as a spy and scribe to the king.
Among the numerous notes about jewels and necklaces, secret techniques and enchantments, there was one inconspicuous page written in green ink about the Kiyoshi Raid. The Oha-Asa had belonged to one Kiyoshi Hanatarou who was called an oracle by the people of Yosen. Based on what Tetsuya could decipher, the keeper, in this case Kiyoshi, was able to predict the future, both of the nations and of people, to a scarily accurate degree. He was also gifted with multiple elemental magics and had mastery over several types of weapons including the naginata, the glaive and bludgeoning weapons. When they had gone to apprehend him and seize the book, he effortlessly dispatched the entire armada and gave instructions to his great-grandfather to never interfere with his clan henceforth. The rest of the paper was filled with unreadable symbols and notches that looked like a language that Tetsuya did not know.
Tetsuya found it odd. The Kiyoshi were a clan of very hidden practices and rituals. There wasn't much documented about them except that their dogmatic approach against Seirin was suddenly destroyed when the clan head joined Seirin at the end of the third Purge. No one knows about the circumstances of that crossover, but many people whispered about threats against the clan and another genocidal move by Seirin, so to find such details about them, even if it was just one of them, hidden in the walls of his grandmother's house made him both wary and excited.
He sighed heavily and got up, stretching out the kinks in his shoulder and back and tying up his hair with a stray elastic. The weather wasn't exactly favorable, but he still had to shovel the snow just in case anyone decided to show up and he had to pick up groceries. He had exercised earlier in the morning so his muscles were just beginning to ache with the strain of overexertion. Tetsuya was getting better, he was able to flow from one form to the other effortlessly and his breathing remained even throughout the entire hour and a half, but without a sparring partner, he couldn't know if he would be able to fight effectively.
He started walking towards the kitchen when his laptop trilled loudly underneath the large piles of papers strewn over it and Tetsuya's heart dropped to his toes. There were only three people who ever emailed him and of that ridiculously small number, his family made up two thirds. He quickly placed his cup on the counter closest to him and rushed back to his computer, hastily stacking the papers on the floor next to him to get to the keyboard.
His monitor was a simple dark blue wash and his shortcuts were all encrypted in Latin, Kagura had always stressed the importance of keeping his private files just that. Private. Tetsuya wasn't exactly what he'd readily call 'techno-savvy', he only knew enough about how computers worked to be able to do basic encryption and file scrambles, but it helped that he'd continuously mess around with the encryption techniques until the files and messages were little more than billions of bits of data completely impossible to decipher, let alone actively piece together. He typed in his password and opened up his inbox, nearly flinching backwards in surprise when he saw who the email was from.
Shigehiro actually messaged back.
Shigehiro Ogiwara was just about the only person in the entire world who knew all of Tetsuya's dirty little secrets and still didn't care. It helped that he was born into one of the last pureblood clans in Rakuzan, but his family had moved him to Shuutoku to be with his big brother and to get him away from the madness at the main house. He used to live across the street and when Tetsuya was still too new to Shuutoku and his grandmother's peculiarities, Shigehiro used to sneak over the threshold and 'borrow' (read kidnap) Tetsuya to play in the fields. When Tetsuya had begun training seriously, Shigehiro had requested that Kagura make him an apprentice too (so that Tetsuya wouldn't have to go through hell alone, he remembered the idiot saying). They were inseparable for two years, but then…
Then Kagura decided that they knew enough to give them jobs.
Tetsuya still had nightmares about the night of their last job together. He could still smell the blood on his hands, the coppery scent filling the small room and Shigehiro's wide, frightened eyes and… Tetsuya immediately inhaled and stuffed that memory deep inside of his subconscious because, no, he wasn't going to start throwing up his tea over something that happened over a year ago, he lived with the woman that forced him to do that and he was just going to learn to deal with the sickening feeling pooling in his gut and the distrust that bubbled in his head whenever Kagura mentioned 'work'.
Anyway, Shige, right.
The brunet boy was taken by one of the main house monkeys (his words, not Tetsuya's) on a retreat of sorts. He had limited ways to communicate and little to no human contact save someone he referred to as a 'goddamn shadowy bastard' (because that's the extent of his maturity and it made Tetsuya's lips curl in poorly hidden mirth every time he complained about his babysitter) and Tetsuya, despite knowing that he would never get even one eighth of the letters that he sent, still wrote him little updates on what was what and who he was keeping an eye on. It was silly of him to try to keep clinging to Shigehiro, especially after what he'd done to him, but he was Tetsuya's only friend for so long that he really couldn't help himself, even after Kagura had banned him from communicating with Shigehiro on a particularly bad night.
Tetsuya couldn't help the wide smile that split his face when he opened the email and saw a picture of Shigehiro looking as jovial as always writing something crude on a pale, silver haired man who was fast asleep in permanent marker. Shigehiro had definitely grown, he was two years older that Tetsuya himself and had a narrow face still plump with the last vestiges of baby fat. His mess of short, straight brown hair looked thinner than usual and his left eye now had a very noticeable vertical line running through it, which made Tetsuya cringe, but he looked healthy. Good.
'I'm sorry for being such a horrible friend, but wifi's really dumb up on mountain tops and the bastard doesn't wanna leave the grounds for anything. He's really stubborn
Anyway, no, you little pessimist, I didn't get eaten by a Lightning Beast, but I did manage to steal an egg from a phoenix because I got hungry and the bastard never gives me anything to eat, something about being 'able to survive in any condition' or something lousy like that. I swear he spouts vague bullshit like that just to piss me off, but I've adapted to his dumb habits.
I'm really sorry I can't tell you exactly where I am or where we'll end up (mainly because I don't know myself, the bastard) but it's wolf country and we're hiking west, so do with that what you will. Since we'll be stepping on a few toes when we pass through, I'll make sure to keep an eye on the princess and I'll pass your message on to your old man for you because I'm just that great.
It's really stressful up here and I wish you were around because the silence is stifling, but you probably still have crap stamina and for all your really cool abilities, the bastard still would throw you halfway to Tokyo for trying to interfere (because I know you know where I am now, you smartass). I asked him about your little… uh.. problem(?) with your control and he said to find someone to beat you until you had no choice but to master it. Or go spend some days trying to find the Emerald Dog that's sleeping in the woods. Mythical beasts are hard to hide from, I know personally now.
I wanna tell you so much more about my adventures but the bastard's gonna wake up and then we'll be moving again, so this is all I can fit. Take care of yourself and no, dammit, I don't and will never hate you for what you did so stop beating yourself up and keep working and go get napkins because I can smell the tears of your future self you big baby,
Shit, Bastard's awake, wish me luck,
Shige.
P.S. Tell Kagu that I forgive her. She's a crazy old bat, but her lessons are continuously saving my life, so she's forgiven, or whatever. You know I'm bad at these things.
P.P.S. Kaijou's prince is missing and the current emperor has the mental capacity of a five-year-old. Don't come east unless you have a really good reason, tell the old bat that too.
P.P.P.S. I just remembered that it's January and I have no clue when I'll get to send this to you so happy birthday, or belated birthday, depending on the situation.
Okay. Now I'm really done. Bye 'Tsuya .
Tetsuya tasted the salt of his tears before he registered that he was actually crying. He hadn't heard from Shigehiro for almost a full year and he wasn't mad or resentful. He was having fun and though he had gotten a great deal ruder, it was still Shigehiro.
Tetsuya wholly embraced the ridiculously warm, fuzzy feeling sitting in the center of his chest and if he went off to pick up the groceries with a smile on his face, well, it's not like anyone noticed.
On Monday, Tetsuya went to the park with two of his great grandfather's journals and a basket filled with meat and fruits.
He made his way to one of the small, snow kissed inclines and spread two blankets, one for himself and the other for the array of animals he'd be feeding during the day. The sunlight was soothing, almost cool on his neck and Tetsuya knew that it was perfect weather for what he was planning on accomplishing.
He pulled a large, round plate from his basket and set it down to the north of the blanket. He arranged half of the beef slabs in a concentric pattern in the middle of the plate and filled the spaces with sweet strawberries and persimmons. He sprinkled olive oil over the arrangement and said a short prayer before pulling out a second plate and filling it with birdseed, assorted fruits and nuts and two smaller pieces of pork.
When he was finished, he looked over to the forest's edge that was no more than a couple meters north of his offering site and nodded to the small collection of herbivorous animals that had gathered at the scent of food. They clamoured around the plate, each gratefully eating their fill and though there were a few lingering sniffs, they left the other plate alone.
Tetsuya sat on his blanket and fetched a bottle filled with a very melted concoction of vanilla flavor liquid and settled down to read, excited to finally get started on learning more about the history of his family. Kagura often mentioned that the Kuroko weren't a clan, they were assassins. They didn't have traditions, they had rituals and most importantly, they didn't have friends, just people not worth disposing of.
Tetsuya was a bit intimidated by his grandmother's stalwart belief in all of this and the way that she had raised him was a wonderfully accurate reflection on it, but he grew used to her ways and simply tried his best to make her proud. It was the least he could do, he supposed.
Halfway during the day, Tetsuya felt more than saw a familiar lanky build topped with messy, ebony hair strolling towards the forest.
He didn't have the time nor the patience to deal with strangers, especially not while he was trying to mentally coax a mythical beast to come out of its hiding, but the tattooed man was stubbornly ignoring all of the signs hammered into the lawn saying to keep out of the underbrush and was about to walk straight into the forest. Tetsuya contemplated leaving him to be devoured by the serpents that slithered around the border for exactly three seconds before he resigned himself to his annoying complex and threw an apple with surprising accuracy and strength at the man's head.
Not surprisingly, Imayoshi caught the fruit and bit into it almost absent-mindedly. He turned to face Tetsuya and broke out into a wide smirk that made Tetsuya really wish he hadn't just saved his life. Then he waved far too energetically for someone that was at least thirty-five (and that was being generous, Tetsuya had looked up the tattoos and those particular ones were positively archaic) and bounded towards him, all smirks and squinty eyes.
Tetsuya stuffed his great grandfather's journals back into his basket and pulled out a bag of beef jerky, taking a bite out of a stick and offering one to Imayoshi as he plopped heavily onto the blanket, scaring away the skittish deer that had finally shown up and managing to irritate Tetsuya even more.
"I really didn't expect to see you here, Kuroko-chan! Do you remember who I am?"
Tetsuya kinda wished that Imayoshi choked on his stick of beef jerky but inclined his head politely, "I do Imayoshi-san. I was simply enjoying the weather."
Imayoshi snorted in the annoying way adults did when they realized that, yes, Tetsuya was that ridiculously formal all the time. "I was chasing fiction," he chuckled freely.
Tetsuya took another bite of his beef jerky and hummed, "I thought adults didn't believe in things such as the Emerald Dog."
Imayoshi smiled easily, stretching his hand for another stick of beef jerky and shrugging, "Some adults are strange."
Tetsuya nearly sniggered at that, didn't he know just how true that was. He mentally sighed though, he didn't like the guy but he did have a responsibility to make sure a tourist didn't die on Shuutoku soil, especially not now when the population was searching for any reason to throw blame at the metas and their 'witchcraft'. "It's illegal to cross into the forests Imayoshi-san. More so since you don't know what exactly you're looking for."
Tetsuya saw Imayoshi's smirk widen and curl disturbingly at the ends and he blantantly ignored the cold chill that ran down his spine as the man stretched for his third stick of jerky, "Oh? I hadn't realized."
"That's why there are signs everywhere, Imayoshi-san. I trust that you can read in our language."
Imayoshi blinked (even though his eyes weren't even open) and barked a harsh laugh, "I didn't realize you were the forest patrol, Kuroko-chan." He stood up and stretched even though he hadn't been sitting on the blanket for long, "Alright, I'll leave. See you around kid."
And then he was gone. He didn't walk off, or ran or whatever, he simply stood up and disappeared. Tetsuya had never seen anyone pull off instant teleportation like that before and it made him believe even more firmly that Imayoshi was neither tourist nor telepath. Tetsuya wasn't sure whether he was worth all the warnings that were beginning to pop into his mind whenever he thought of 'Imayoshi Shoichi', but he would look into it all the same.
Tetsuya reached for another piece of beef jerky and nearly cursed.
Imayoshi had taken the pack and left.
It would be six in the evening when the setting sun had turned the park's lawn into a weird shade of orange-green that Tetsuya's offerings were answered.
Tetsuya was packing up having learned quite a bit from his great grandfather's journals when there was suddenly a small, friendly bark accompanied with a deep voice resonating in his head saying, More.
Tetsuya's right hand was sparking to life before he even turned around and the mocking laughter that greeted his caution made him pause.
Sitting very comfortably on the blanket was a small, adorable dog with intelligent blue eyes and six tails.
The dog stared firmly at Tetsuya before nodding and motioning to the empty plate with his muzzle. Tetsuya immediately re-opened his basket and placed the remainder of the meat slabs on the plate for the stray to guzzle down and sat back down to wait for the dog to finish eating.
When the dog was done he stood on his small paws and turned to face the sky, tails swishing smoothly behind it and howled. It was a terrible sound that threatened to burst Tetsuya's ears and do physical damage to his body with its frequency. It was a sound that vibrated the earth to its core and ripped the sky asunder with a beam of emerald light. The trees whipped in a frenzy and Tetsuya was struggling to cope with the assault on his senses when the blinding emerald light simply engulfed his sight and body.
Tetsuya could feel nothing.
There was nothing to see or hear, just a sea of greens dancing idly around him, washing his body with a feeling of emptiness so strong that he couldn't help but be certain that he had just experienced death.
Tetsuya Kuroko, are you not?
He couldn't talk, his body was simultaneously light and heavy and his tongue was no exception but the disembodied voice needed no answer.
I have been called by many men, great and humble, but never in all my centuries of life have I ever been called to action by a mere pup.
Tetsuya couldn't even muster the energy to smile at the compliment, but he was finally able to will his body to move and he eloquently responded with a shrug. There was still nothing but emerald light washed in shades of chartreuse and juniper but he could feel its presence surrounding him like an ocean.
The voice hummed appraisingly and the small dog from before stepped out of the curtain of colour, eyes now a startling shade of deep jade, an oriental staff held firmly in its mouth.
I am known as Terrarum. You have caught my interest, pup.
Oh good lord, donito with this one…o
I had fun writing the chapter, if only because I was able to introduce you guys to Shigehiro and now you guys have his circumstances to consider. I don't really have much to say, but, whatever.
I'll probably explain about Terrarum in the next chapter, because, spoilers but I hoped you guys enjoyed the chapter~
See ya~
