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Fandom: Yu-Gi-Oh GX
Title: Of the Darkness: Chapter 14: Greeting Guests
Family: Ryou & Shou
Other Characters: Camula
Word Count: chapter: 1,068||story: 15,774
Genre: Family, Supernatural||Rated: PG-13
Challenge: Written for the Diversity Writing Challenge, section J, #006, multi-chapter with 15-25 chapters; Written for the One Sibling Boot Camp, prompt #50, shade
Notes: It's an AU. It involves vampires.
Summary: Shou invites his brother in after Ryou returns from a long trip away. That is his first mistake. It only gets worse from there.
Ryou stood just outside the Great Hall, Camula's orders still ringing in his ears, unchangeable and inescapable.
Put them at ease. The shadow mage will be difficult to deal with; his kind always are, but do not hint that I am here. If any of them are aware of a vampire, deflect the interest to the best of your ability. Do not put yourself in danger.
Unspoken, unnecessary, was that if he stepped out of line in any way that he could – and those ways were few indeed – then Shou would suffer for it. She still stood by his side, smug in her acqusition of them both, to use against one another.
Putting all thoughts of hope and deception out of his mind, he entered the hall. His first reaction was that there weren't three people there, but four, and he at once tasted the air to see what he could find out.
Three he recognized right away: Fubuki, Yuusuke, and Kenzan. The faint odor of the oils Fubuki used to keep his instruments in good condition was one he'd known since childhood. Yuusuke tasted of smoke and the magic he breathed as he breathed air. Kenzan, as always, held the scent of the great lizard he was when he did not look like a human.
Fourth was another mage, one that spoke of crackling thunder and bright lightning. It wasn't one that he knew, and that meant something to watch out for.
Almost as soon as he entered the room, Kenzan turned, his tongue darting out, then looking at the others. "Marufuji-san!" He declared, bright and cheerful, before a frown twisted his features. "Where's little Marufuji?"
"Shou's not feeling well, unfortunately," Ryou replied with a hint of weariness, as one would normally have after tending to a sick family member for days. "He fell ill shortly after we sent our letters to you and there was no time to let you know."
Frequently mages could scent lies. It depended on their specialty and if they wished to do so. Without knowing more about this strange wizard, Ryou decided to choose his words with the utmost of care, more than he would have for his friends, who knew his every speech pattern by heart.
"What's the matter with him?" Kenzan wanted to know, taking a step forward, worrying flickering in his eyes as they shifted from slitted lizard to human round.
Ryou shook his head. "It's complicated to explain, but he's already on the mend, and should be strong enough to join you for dinner." He'd already had his, after all, and the strength of the blood sang through him.
His eyes dropped to the rest of the group there. Fubuki barely waited another moment but bounced over to give him an enthusiastic hug around the shoulders. "Man, it has been so long since we've seen each other! I feel like I should be about a foot shorter and still not know how half the songs I do!"
"No matter what size you are, you're always going to be trouble," Ryou replied, a small hint of a smile turning up one corner of his mouth. He could almost forget the problems they had with Fubuki there. Almost.
When he turned toward Yuusuke, his eyes met pale lavender ones that narrowed thoughtfully the moment they met. Yuusuke examined him in a single heartbeat, but only gave a polite nod. Ryou could feel a certain wariness that didn't come from Yuusuke at all. He knew who it did come from, however, and he kept silent on that fact. He'd managed not to speak of this to Camula and he would keep not speaking of it to her for as long as he could.
Now he looked at the fourth, the stranger, who wore head to toe black along with a slightly annoyed look. "And this is?"
Fubuki appeared next to the newcomer, wrapping one arm comfortably around him. "Marufuji Ryou, lord of these lands, I present to you Manjoume Jun, Thunder mage extraordinaire, and former suitor to my sister." His brown eyes twinkled with mischief. "Only I persuaded him that he'd be better off with me, and I've been convincing him of that regularly ever since."
What came out of Manjoume Jun's mouth after that wasn't very coherent, but Fubuki didn't seem to care. Ryou thought for a moment or two.
"Manjoume….I've heard of your family, I believe. Very wealthy, very tied into kingdom politics."
The young man turned up his nose. "I try not to talk about them very much. My brothers and I don't see eye to eye on a lot."
"They have no idea of what they're missing out on," Fubuki added before he threw in a shrug. "But, let's not talk about boring people like them."
Ryou nodded; this Manjoume Jun didn't seem as if he'd be much of a problem, aside from someone else for Camula to sink her fangs into. Thunder Mages tended to be a bit on the spicy side, though. He didn't know if she'd be interested.
"It's getting late," Yuusuke said, his voice as quiet and soft as ever. "Perhaps we could get some rest and talk more in the morning?"
"Good idea," Fubuki agreed, the others nodding. "What about dinner, though?"
Ryou had already seen to that. "I think we have something ready that can be served soon. I'll have your luggage dealt with and the table set up. Welcome, all of you."
Servants came, silent and ghost-like, not looking at anyone, but taking the guests' baggage and vanishing out the door as quickly as they could. Ryou's state wasn't commonly known, but the fact a vampire stalked the halls was, and no one wanted to be out more than they needed to be.
"Is something wrong?" Fubuki asked, eyes narrowed a fraction. Ryou shook his head at once.
"They're worried about Shou, that's all." That, too, was true. But more because so many of them suspected what had happened than anything else.
He gestured for them to follow him to the dining hall; he had excuses set in place for why he wouldn't eat with them, but he would have to come up with more soon enough. These were his friends. They would not always accept 'I already ate' when it came to sharing meals.
Especially not Yuusuke. Not when a shadow mage's eyes knew the undead on sight.
To Be Continued
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