"Black Lion of Middle Earth."
Chapter 10
"The fellowship of the ring…plus Raion."
Elrond smiled as he watched the young ninja awake from his oblivion, still oblivious to the very uncomfortable position his body was in.
"Good morning, Master Raion." The elf lord stated, amusement clear in his voice. "I trust your sleep was undisturbed."
The younger elf let out a large yawn before rubbing his eyes with his fists.
"I slept like a little genin after his first sparing match, Elrond-san." Raion answered his voice strained. "And I feel like one too." He added after rubbing sleep of his eyelids. "My back stings."
The wise elf lord chuckled.
"I'm not surprised, my young friend." He said, mirth in his voice. "Considering the size of the bed you've chosen, I'm actually shocked you lasted that long."
Light silver-blue eyes, blinked at him.
"What do you mean, Elrond-san?" The younger elf asked, confused. "This is the bed I was appointed to yesterday. There was nothing wrong with it when I came to my room."
"Tell me, Master Ninja…" The Lord of Rivendell started, walking towards the nearby window. "Do you have the tendency to sleep-walk at night?" He asked, making his voice sound casual.
"No, my Lord." Raion answered shaking his head a bit painfully, due to the wood pressed against it. "At least…nobody ever told me I did. Why?"
Elrond looked back at the elf youth on the child-sized bed, with a mirthful smile.
"It seems like your body disagreed with my choice for your resting place, my dear child. And has wondered off to find a better one." He said, watching the pail silver-blue eyes widen. "Though, in all my infinite wisdom, I cannot phantom why it chose this particular room to break into…" Elrond wondered out loud, bending over and picking up the broken lock on the floor.
Raion was terrified at the lack of control over his body, not to mention its disrespectful behavior towards his host.
As a ninja he was trained to always be on guard, even if everything around him spoke of safety and no visible threats. The world was a deceiving place and one should trust nothing but his guts and rely solely on his training and experience, if there is to be any chance of survival.
It wasn't that he distrusted Lord Elrond, quite the opposite in fact, but it was better to be safe than sorry.
His masters spent countless of sleepless nights trying to teach his young body to slip into light meditation instead of falling sleep, during the nights.
Though the new method didn't sit well with him at the beginning- since it wasn't as good as sleeping- he could see the benefit of being aware of your surrounding during the night, especially if your roommate happened to be Meshiru-san.
And he has just thrown all that hard work out the window.
Kicking himself harshly, he promised to train advanced water techniques first thing after today's meeting. Since they, rightly so, were his 'Achilles heel', it was only fitting to use them as punishment to keep him from ever losing contact with the surrounding reality, in the nearby future.
Knowing he had to apologize for his disrespect, the young ninja tried to sit up…only to discover he was stuck firmly between one end of the bed and the other.
"What the-?" Raion muttered, struggling with all his might to free himself from the uncomfortably tight prison. "I can't move!" He cried out in the most un-elf and un-ninja like fashion, during his futile struggles for freedom.
Elrond chuckled at the look of distress in the younger elf's eyes, deeming it humorous that a warrior with skills that were the stuff of legends, could have trouble getting out of a bed.
"Here, Master Ninja," He said stepping up to the trapped elf. "Allow me to give you a hand."
It took a while but finally Raion was freed from his wooden trap.
"Take it easy now." Elrond said, gently and slowly pushing the ninja's back into bending. "Your spine has been locked in the same position for six hours straight, so it will be a little stiff for a couple of hours." The healer explained watching Raion's painful expression as he finally bent all the way. "I would recommend frequent exercising to uncramp the muscles and limit the pain, though if it's too much I can give you a few painkilling herbs-"
"No, no, Elrond-san." Raion breathed out, cutting of the elf Lord with a wave of his hand. "There is no pain. I'm fine, really." He then straightened up a bit to quickly for his hurt back, to emphasize the point and bit his bottom lip like a mad warg under his mask, to stop himself from groaning in displeasure. "S-See?" He asked, hoping the elder elf didn't notice how his voice sounded a bit strained. "No pain whatsoever."
The lord of Rivendell raised his legendary eyebrows.
"Are you sure?" He wasn't sure where to go with this one. On one hand Elrond knew the boy was in pain and was desperately trying to downgrade his hurt, which could hinder, not only his recovery, but also his effectiveness in combat, but on the other he didn't know him well enough, nor held any commanding authority over him, to order the child to take painkillers.
As a healer, he could really do was hope the ninja would make the reasonable decision and took the herbs.
Unfortunately for Elrond, Raion turned out to be just like his sons.
"I'm sure, Elrond-san." The ninja said sending up slowly and bending his back backwards, much to the displeasure of both his muscles and his bones, who cracked loudly in protest. Oh...that felt good. He thought bending over one more time. "Now…you said something about a meeting, my lord." Raion added, looking back at the Rivendell elf.
Elrond watched him awhile longer before slowly nodding his head and motioning for the shinobi to follow him.
"Yes, this way please." With those words he left the dusty, old room, leaving a trail of footsteps behind him. It was that precise moment when Raion took his first real look at the room he snuck into.
It was clear to him that this must be an old room of one of the Lord's son's, which looked to be out of use for quite some time. All the toys were covered in ten centimeters of dust, making them seem color and lifeless to the onlookers. The walls were in a similar state, what was once a brilliant green was now a dull gray, with the leaf symbols outlined with the dust. Everything looked as if a winter cloud appeared and sprinkled it all with snow.
Of all the available rooms in this palace… He groaned inwardly as he walked after his host. Why did I walk into a children's one? He was annoyed by himself now. First he falls asleep despite all the training he withstood in order to stay aware at night, and now he found out he broke into a child's room because his bed was apparently too big for him.
Raion snorted and wondered what his masters would say if they were alive right now.
Probably something about dishonoring the entire clan of shinobi and seppuku being the only way for him to ever die with dignity.
And Meshiru would laugh his pants off. Probably is, wherever he ended up after death.
Yeah…the new mission was going by wonderfully.
In other words, they wouldn't be very happy with him. Furious would be more like it.
"I was wondering, if you don't mind me asking…" Elrond's voice broke him out of thought as they walked through another rather lengthy, corridor. "What could you possibly dream of, to break into a room in the middle of the night?" The elder elf looked over his shoulder at the black haired elf, with a small smile playing on his lips. "Must have been quite a dream."
Raion blushed beneath his black mask and looked down embarrassed.
It was bad enough an elite ninja like himself, would allow his mind to be careless enough to even do such a thing. If he also had to explain the dream that supposedly made him do it, would make him look like he lost a few marbles. Because nobody will make him believe that: Him falling asleep instead of meditating + little boy crying in the woods = him sleepwalking and breaking into a locked up room.
No. He'd rather burn alive and allow orcs to dance on his ashes, than tell the lord of Rivendell what happened in that dream.
"I'd love to satisfy your curiosity, My Lord..." Raion said, looking up at the elder elf. "But I'm afraid I don't remember what exactly happened in that particular dream."
What? He asked his disapproving conscience. I am obliged to answer the question, not tell the truth.
Elrond looked disappointed by his answer, probably expecting something really mind-blowing to flow out of the ninja's mouth, as he told his story.
"Oh well…" The lord sighted regretfully, turning back to facing the road. "Not all mysteries can be solved…perhaps for the better."
Raion couldn't possibly agree more.
"But…" Elrond continued. "If it ever begins to be a problem, I'd recommend for you to come see me." He said, his tone serious. "I take pride in my healing abilities and your case of spontaneous sleepwalking, would be a very interesting one to solve."
Before the younger elf had the chance to answer, another voice joined their conversation.
"Ada! Master Raion!" Aragorn walked over to them from a large meeting place located outside, a big smile on his bearded face. "Glad for you to finally join us." He embraced his father and gripped the younger elf in a friendly arm-squeeze. "We were getting worried our dear guest got lost in the palace and you spent the following half hour, looking for him." He joked earning himself a small smile from Elrond and a narrowed pretend-glare from Raion.
"Actually…you're not far from the truth, Estel." The dark haired elf began, ignoring the wide eyed look on his companions face.
"Really?" Aragorn smiled suggestively at Raion, who sent him his best 'don't-even-think-about-it' look. "Do tell."
"I'm afraid that will have to wait for another day, my son." Elrond's face suddenly turned serious. "We have much more important things to discuss at the moment."
Hearing that, Aragorn's face changed as well. Gone was the lighthearted smile and twinkling eyes, in their place was a serious frown and steel cold gray orbs.
He nodded and led them to the meeting room he exited from before, it looked like it was made in the middle of the kingdoms large gardens and there was a lot of people already there.
People Raion could not recognize.
There was another man, one with lighter hair and brown eyes standing in the back, glaring at him suspiciously. Next to him stood four young children, looking at him with fear mixed with wonder and awe, as if they couldn't decide whenever they were scared of how he looked or amazed at what he was. Besides the younglings was a figure not much taller but with a lot lore hair, a dwarf that was glaring at him with his beady little brown eyes. Next was the only figure that didn't seemed angered or scared by him, as well as the only person, besides Elrond and Aragorn, that he personally knew, the wizard that really liked the color gray, Gandalf. He, unlike the others, smiled at him in a friendly like manner all the while smoking a wooden pipe.
There were also others as well as a small rock table with a tiny gold ring atop it, but Raion didn't pay the any attention.
A small voice in the back of his skull told him that those seven individuals were the people Gandalf and Aragorn spoke of in "The Horseless Horseshoe", the ones he'll be spending the majority of time during the mission.
And they already didn't like him.
"Everyone," The ranger began. "May I present to you, Raion, ninja of the Western Temple and the ninth member of the Fellowship."
Their reactions upon hearing made him think one, single thought:
I remain to be corrected.
JA107: Sorry for the slow updates, folks! It just so happens that I'm a very (multiply that 'very' a couple of times) lazy person and need a specific form of encouragement called 'reviews' and 'favorites', to make me want to move my behind and type XP.
Anyhoo, hope you enjoyed the chap XD.
Thanks to everyone who reviewed this in the past! I really appreciate it! XD
See u soon guys!
JA107 over and out.