Hey, everyone! Another Chapter's here. I finished it almost a week ago but my Wi-Fi had died down. It got renewed today, so.. here's Chapter 9 of LAW. Hope you enjoy it.
AmyGolden1104: Hey, there! Oh no, I didn't feel offended. You don't have to worry. I told you already that I accept positive criticism. Thank you for your suggestion. I'm happy that you said it. I was aware too that the story was being a bit boring. It's my first one, that's why. Hope you enjoy this one.
sarah2001: Thanks for the review. Updates might be dead slow now, because I'm totally occupied. But never mind! Here's the next chapter! ^^
AniSeanna: Thank you so much for the review. I'm trying my best to mold it into a good story, if not the best one! Hopr you like the chapter. :)
"Okay, now. Let me introduce all of you to your trainer..." He said and pointed out in the direction of a tall, well-built man, who had a deep cut mark on his left cheek.
As soon as Tenma saw him, he felt his memories from the nightmares flooding back. He was the same one he had attacked when he was little. He was the man who had slaughtered his whole family.
"...Kageyama Reiji." Shirou completed his sentence while Tenma looked at him in horror.
~Time Skip~
(3 months later)
Normal POV:
Tsurugi Yuuichi's face glowed due to the sunrays falling up on his pale face. It was winter and the morning sun had never felt more soothing. Still shivering from cold, he put his hands under the purple kimono he was wearing.
It hadn't even been a month since he had descended on the seat of the Landlord, but almost everyone on the countryside respected and followed his footsteps. It was all clear today; as he had arranged a special meeting of the people, which most of them had attended. There wasn't any reason necessary to do so. He only felt the need.
They interacted with their new landlord, and everyone had a satisfied look on their faces. They discussed history, the current economical state of the country and finally, the War.
"What do you think of the war, Yuuichi-sama?" A red-head asked the navy-haired teen.
"War is inevitable. When people gain power, they start getting out of control and this, results in wars." He plainly answered and continued, "It doesn't matter what we think as an individual. A war has broken out here and God knows how long it'll take to end. But we must give it our all, isn't it?" He finished with a smile.
"But almost all the teenage and young men have decided to fight. What good will it bring if they all lose their lives?"
He didn't have any answer to that question.
"My own brother is fighting for the sake of the nation. And I'd be proud if he dies a proud Japanese." He answered after thinking for a while, closing his eyes.
They had many discussions after that, but Yuuichi was feeling a bit uneasy. To be honest, he was freaking afraid of his little brother dying on the battlefield. He fought the lump in his throat and tried to maintain composure.
After what seemed like a couple of hours, he noticed Eito from the corner of his orange orbs. He raised an eyebrow at the ageing man and gestured him to come over.
"Is this something related to the investigation?" He enquired. Eito nodded his head with difficulty.
He noticed that something wasn't right and his eyes widened and jaws dropped when Eito delivered the news.
"American uniforms, you say? Where are they currently?" Yuuichi asked him softly.
"They're heading out of the station towards the town. They took a caravan. I know the driver."
"Good, let's go then." He got up and excused himself for the early dismissal of the session.
Yuuichi and Eito reached the station pretty soon. Eito, after recognising the driver, hurried towards him. Yuuichi followed. It took the driver quite some time to come out of his shock after seeing the landlord himself standing before him. He was literally about to fan-boy over Yuuichi but the navy-haired boy stopped him and explained him about the situation, promising to reward him handsomely.
They boarded into the driver's old caravan, and the man ordered his horses in the direction where he left the Americans.
Fifteen minutes later, they stood near the outskirts of the town, near the woods. "We're here, Yuuichi-sama." The man declared.
"Are you sure you left them here, in an open place?"
"Yes, my lord. I'm sure of it."
"Where could they have gone, Eito-san?"Yuuichi asked softly to the said man.
"Well, we've to look around, my lord."
Yuuichi turned back to his own caravan. "Stay here and don't attract any unwanted attention. Hide in these woods, if needed. We'll be back soon."
Yuuichi huffed and puffed and was annoyed. He couldn't think of where they could've gone. He was tired. It was almost an hour before they'd started their search.
"Do you think we should head back, Yuuichi-sama?" The ever humble Eito asked.
"No, I don't want to leave. Besides, I have this instinct that this is going to get us one hell of important information."
"As you say, my lord."
"Look, Eito-san!" Yuuichi's voice was filled with delight when he saw a house totally made of wrecked-up wood.
Both of them nodded and as if realising the same thing, hurried towards the house.
They took utmost care not to make their presence be felt. Yuuichi could hear roars of laughter coming in from the house.
"There's no mistake, they're here, Yuuichi-sama." Eito said and the teen nodded in response.
They made their way up the stairs leading into the house, stood leaning against the wall on the woody porch, both on each side of the window. And listened. As carefully as they could.
"I must say you're very gallant, sending your own son out to die." A voice articulated.
"I don't think of him as my son. You better stop saying that." Another voice quivered.
'I know that voice, that's Oto-san's!' Yuuichi's orange orbs widened. He looked over to Eito, who seemed to understand his state of mind.
"And why is that, may I ask?" A third voice piped in.
"Don't poke your nose into my personal matters, got that?" Tsurugi Hiroshi barked. He continued after calming down a little. "Anyways, this is the least I'm doing for Amemiya. This is a small town and I couldn't afford a better place for you two."
"Oh, don't worry about that, Tsurugi-sama. We've seen worse, believe me." The first voice said.
"By the way, did you check out the secret military base Amemiya told me about?" Hiroshi said with a tinge of nervousness in his voice.
"Yeah, we just looked up on it, superficially. We'll check up on it tomorrow and report it to you." The first voice revealed his plan.
"Amemiya-sama will personally come to meet you up and that's why, you must keep that report guarded with your life." The third voice warned, being a bit cocky.
"I know that. You don't have to keep reminding me." Hiroshi sighed and asked, "When will you be heading for Hokkaido?"
"The day after." The first voice said lazily with a big yawn.
"And you think they'll let you in to join them at this time of the year? I thought the exam had ended."
"We've taken care of that, already. No need for your concern." The voice shot back.
Hiroshi sighed, "Do you two want to come out with me for some sake? There's a nice place nearby." He offered them.
"And yeah, Kurama, and Kariya, you wouldn't want to wear those uniforms of yours in this area. People are bound to get suspicious." Hiroshi warned them.
"Hai, hai. We got that. Give us a moment to change and we'll head out." They both answered.
Yuuichi heard the chair creak the wooden planks underneath and got alert. He signalled Eito to get out of the porch. Eito frowned when Yuuichi climbed high up a tree and gestured him to follow. Man, that boy was expert at climbing.
They saw three heads coming out of the old, ragged house. Yuuichi wasn't too surprised to see his own father coming out; he had already assumed that much. But the other two persons were a total stranger to him. One of them had teal-coloured hair, with dark black eyes, an evil smirk plastered on his face. The other one looked rather innocent, with somewhat green hair and dark brown eyes. They walked away outside the boundary surrounding the house, and Yuuichi kept an eye on them till they were out of sight.
After a while, both of them got down the tree. Yuuichi wasn't able to jot down the broken pieces of the puzzle. Why was his father there? Who were the other ones with him? And who was this Amemiya person? There were just these questions but no one to answer them. He hurried off to his house, after ordering his driver to speed up the caravan as much as possible. He was getting restless.
He had made up his mind - he had to let know his little brother of this situation.
It was freezing cold in Hokkaido, now that it was December. Piles of snow were scattered everywhere. A team of four was roaming aimlessly around the town, joking and laughing; and watching cute little kids make snowmen of different shapes and sizes.
It was a weekend and Kyousuke & Tenma, Shindou & Kirino had made plans for a simple outing. They were quite bored and strained and Kirino was the one who had come up with a beautiful plan. The pink-haired boy sure was a good planner. They had gone out for shopping and were on their way to a Japanese restaurant, which offered exclusively Ramen.
"I'll have a Miso Ramen." All of them ordered once they were seated. They just looked at each other and gave out soft chuckles.
"No wonder we mingled up quite naturally. Our tastes match, right?" Kirino said.
Others just nodded in response, smiles plastered on their happy faces.
Shindou and Kirino. They looked tough and hard to break from the outside. But from the inside, they were as soft as fruit jellies. Kyousuke and Tenma's first encounter with them wasn't so good to begin with. Shindou and Kyousuke had a bitter fight over a petty thing - bathroom. They were about to kill each other but were stopped by their mates. In no time, they found each other in a certain reconciliation and became the best of friends with each other.
They were both from Osaka and were lovers, just like Kyousuke and Tenma.
Shindou was a brilliant tactician, and his ideas of battling were at par with even Kidou, who Kyousuke thought was the best in the job. No wonder that both had a relationship of rivalry between them. They often got jealous of each other, but in the end, all was okay. Kirino had the knowledge of all weapons ever used. He was like a walking encyclopaedia. Tenma and he were the best of friends. They both loved looking at their mates fight and argue with each other and would always support them.
Tenma's loneliness had vanished. Now that he was surrounded by people of all kinds, he had started thinking of them as his kin. He was losing himself in this small and beautiful world called friendship.
"See you tomorrow, then, Kirino, Shindou." Kyousuke said as he waved them goodbye.
"Good night, Tenma and Rival!" Shindou giggled.
As they were just about to retire to their respective rooms, Kyousuke was called up on by the warden, who was approximately in her late 60s.
"Kyou-chan!" She called out to Kyousuke, who'd known her since the day they'd come.
"Hai, Hitomiko-baa-san. Is there any problem?" Kyousuke asked the ageing lady.
"Not any problem. I had received a telephone call from your brother." She said, her voice a little shaky.
"Nii-san?"Kyousuke's face lit up and a huge grin formed on his face.
"Yes. He has been trying to reach out to you since the afternoon. His last call was just a while ago. He told me to inform you about it as soon as you came back." She took a deep breath to continue, "And, Kyou-chan, he seemed distressed." Kyousuke's brows constricted and Tenma's arched up.
"Can I call him now, please, baa-chan?" Kyousuke pleaded.
"It's way past rendezvous time... But come on, I'll give you a chance." Hitomiko said.
'Should I follow him?' Tenma thought as he subconsciously started to follow Kyousuke. He snapped out of it when he was pulled back by Kirino, "Where do you think you're going? Leave him alone for once!" He said in a teasing tone to Tenma.
Tenma's cheeks became red in an instant, "I guess you're right." He said. 'Why do I take everything as suspicious?' He thought and mentally sighed. 'I'm such an idiot. Let him have his time with his brother. Maybe he was tensed because Kyousuke and he had been out of touch this whole time.'
Kyousuke's face was covered with sweat as he dialled the number. It only ringed once before the call was picked up.
"Hello?" He heard Yuuichi's voice for the first time in three months.
"Nii-san?" Kyousuke said, heaving a sigh of relief.
"Kyousuke! How are you? Where have you been? Is everything okay there? Are you eating well? How's Tenma?" He was bombarded with all sorts of questions.
"Nii-san. Stop, stop! I'll answer every question of yours. Calm down." Kyousuke giggled a little. "I'm doing fine here. Everything is alright; you don't need to worry about anything. I've made a couple of friends too, with who I was out for shopping and dinner. And Tenma's with me, I'm taking care of him."
"That's good. I'm so relieved, now." Yuuichi said. But the tension in his voice just increased with the next sentence, "Kyousuke, I have something to tell you and it is very, very important."
Kyousuke sensed the tension and just let out a soft "Hm."
"I saw Oto-san with two American men today." He was about to drop the telephone when he heard an unexpected news.
"What do you mean by that, nii-san?!" He shouted.
So, that's it. I'll update the next one soon (not sure, though!).
Please read and review! :) :)
