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ENKIDU (past)

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His earliest memories were from the orphanage, even if he admittedly didn't have much recollection from back then; he had, after all, not spent much time there.

Enkidu had never known his parents. His mother had arrived at the hospital heavily pregnant and exhausted; after labour, she was only able to muster enough energy to explain her husband's passing months before and to tell the nurses the baby's full name before closing her eyes forever.

At the orphanage, he had always gotten along easily with the other children and with the caretakers, and never had any problems with what the grown-ups had called 'socializing'; but that did not mean that he wasn't occasionally subject to feeling very lonely. He soon learned that the best way to deal with such a complex emotion was to take a larger interest in those around him, a trait that he ended up retaining into adulthood.

He no longer remembered what exactly it was that they did at the orphanage day to day; however, he recalled one specific afternoon in the summer, when all the children had adventured out to go to play at a small, nearby stream.

Enkidu recalled this particular afternoon very vividly, because it was when he had first met Gil.

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Everyone was playing in different areas around the stream. In many cases in fact, Enkidu had been the one to help them in finding the spot each of them preferred, and he was happy to see them all happy.

By occupying his time in such a way, however, he had not found a place for himself, and therefore spent a few minutes looking up and down the river, trying to find a suitable spot to observe everyone else from. He wanted to able to see everyone clearly from this spot, be far enough away to not be too weird, yet close enough to help them in case something happened, because many of the children were much younger than him.

As he walked a bit further down the riverbank, he suddenly became aware of the sound of footsteps that weren't his own. Looking to the side, he was caught by surprise when he saw a blond boy – not one from the orphanage – seemingly of the same age, who was staring straight at him.

Bewildered and curious, Enkidu stared back.

The boy had blood red eyes, eyes full of determined inquiry.

"You helped the others, and now you are left without a spot for yourself."

Enkidu tilted his head to the side.

"Untrue. I've just yet to find the perfect spot to watch over them from."

He did not know this strange boy who had appeared out of nowhere, but there was just something about his majestic appearance that made him a subject of interest.

Enkidu spontaneously added, "Do you want to come with me?"

Blood red eyes flashed with a mix of mirthful surprise.

"You are not very cautious, in making an offer like that to a stranger."

Enkidu smiled.

"Neither are you, in talking to a stranger."

For the first time in what seemed like a very long time, the blond boy gave a smile – or actually, he tilted his lips slightly upwards in what looked more like a smirk.

"I like your spirit. What's your name?"

Enkidu found himself immediately giving an answer.

"Enkidu… Enkidu Eabani."

The blond boy studied him.

"You give me your full name and don't ask for mine in return. What were you saying about talking to strangers?"

Enkidu smiled, once again. This boy was truly interesting.

"I like your spirit too."

The two children grinned at each other, yellow-grey and crimson reaching an unspoken understanding.

"I am Gilgamesh Uruk. Come with me – I want to build a dam down there."

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The other kids kept their distance, very much intimidated by the blond boy, therefore they worked on their rudimental piece of architecture all on their own and in relative peace. The dam turned out very nicely despite it being just the two of them.

They had done a great job with it; so great, in fact, that the small river had not been able to flow as usual nor break through it, and had therefore started to flow over it, creating an interesting looking waterfall. That, however, did not happen before the water remained contained for quite a while, therefore overflowing in the grass where the other kids had been playing.

Gil was silent next to him as he bashfully apologized to the caretakers, but when their reproaches started to bore the blond boy, he dragged him away once again. To this day, Gil had not changed: if something was not deemed worthy of his attention, he would not give it his attention.

Less than twenty minutes after leaving the place near the stream, Enkidu found himself at the doorstep of a large house, in front of which a stunningly beautiful blonde woman was sitting at a table, reading through some files and worksheets, and who looked up at them when they arrived. The resemblance was not blatant, but there was no mistaking the fact that she was Gil's mother.

A few seconds later, a blond man came out of the house, and he raised an eyebrow at seeing his son appear out of nowhere dragging a green-haired boy with him.

Gil didn't seem fazed, and grinned up at his parents, his expression determined and firm.

"Mother, Father, this is Enkidu Eabani. And he is staying."

The ochre-eyed boy should have realized from the beginning that there was something peculiar about this family when both adults looked at him with kind interest instead of giving him odd stares.

The beautiful woman spoke, looking between him and Gil keenly.

"What is the reason you wish to do this, Gil?"

Gil smirked proudly and looked at Enkidu with what he would later come to recognize as respect, and the beginning of a feeling they would both acknowledge as friendship in the future.

Even at such a young age, he was already very imposing every time he spoke.

"Because he is worthy, Mother."

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Perhaps, at first, Enkidu had not caught the precise meaning of 'staying'. Gil had not meant for him to stay for dinner, or stay over for the night; he had meant for him to move there.

All it took was a few days, and Lugalbanda and Ninsun Uruk – after having a talk with him to make sure he agreed – started the procedure to obtain legal guardianship over him. Both he and Gil were too young to fully understand the magnitude of what they had done, but since they got to play together without anyone interfering, they didn't think much about it.

Enkidu was not blind though: he knew that the Uruk family was being very, very generous towards him, and he had some difficulties in wrapping his mind around their spontaneous acceptance of him as he grew up.

He did not get to know Lugalbanda very well, because he died a few years later, but he knew that he had been a very firm, stern-looking man, who had a soft spot for 'his boys', as he called the two of them, even though he was often absent because of work.

The lack of a paternal figure in his and Gil's life was hardly felt by Enkidu though, because there was her. Ninsun Rimat-Uruk.

She had welcomed him in her life with a readiness that had astounded him, and she had implicitly yet unquestionably taken up the role as his mother. He had at first tried to keep himself polite by respectfully calling her 'Madam', but her regal yet very warm behaviour towards him had always made it hard to maintain that level of awkward formality. In the end, he called her 'Mother', just like Gil – because that was even more than who she was, for both of them.

A very sharp and remarkably insightful woman, she had raised them alone, and neither of her two children had ever made a mystery of the fact that they deeply admired and respected her, for she was truly a formidable person.

For reasons that Enkidu only understood once he was a little older, Ninsun changed her surname back to her maiden name after her husband's death, making them also frequently travel between Japan, Europe and the US. When later on he and Gil began the work together on the rebirth of the unstable Uruk Company and Gil used his exceptional capabilities to found Uruk Enterprises and to start to make it flourish, Ninsun moved away from the US. There had been an intense conflict with Lady Ishtar Caster for quite a number of years, originated from old family disputes and kept alive through Lady Ishtar's jealousy and relentless – but unsuccessful – attempts at undermining her, even going as far as trying to basically push her daughter Medea on Gil, as a possible bride.

Gil himself hadn't been interested in the least; Lady Ishtar had been extremely underhanded in her efforts to damage his business, and while she had never come close to actually succeeding, she had caused enough real problems for Gil to develop a furious hatred for her. In fact, he despised her and her family's ways so profoundly that both he and Ninsun didn't even bother to interact with the Casters above the necessary time to make it clear they wanted nothing to do with them.

Ninsun had returned to her homeland in the Middle East, from where she had continued managing her own corporation. Both he and Gil had regular phone calls with her, because even if she no longer lived with them, she meant to keep in touch with her sons.

Enkidu always thought that she had been very good to both of them and had done well in raising them into reasonably respectable people. She had given them affection, care and her own good example to follow; she had not just demanded their respect, she had also earned it; she had taught them a lot and made sure to give them the widest possible cultural experience. They always valued her opinions and her advice, and to this day, after so many years, she still remained a person both of them looked up to.

She was the one to inspire them to go into the field of business; before Lugalbanda's death, she had been headmistress of the Central College in New York, but she had kept that position only until her arch rivalry with Lady Ishtar had been settled (with her victory, of course) before moving on to found her own company.

She was also the only one who could keep up with Enkidu's occasional mischief and give him a run for his money, as much as he was reluctant to admit it.

If there was one thing, one single thing, that Enkidu could complain about when it came to his Mother, it was the fact that she wasn't humble at all. In fact, that flaw was what had made it possible for Gil to have so much arrogance. Given his field of work and the people they had to deal with on a daily basis, it was actually good for him to have such a large ego, and it had never constituted a problem – at least, not until later on. Ninsun had often punished them, and adequately so, when they exaggerated in their mischief as children, but she had not taught her sons humbleness.

Gil was very capable in the business field; he was ruthless and merciful in equal measures, whenever it was needed, and his confidence was indispensable to accomplish that. Truth to be told, sometimes Gil was so impressively terrifying that Enkidu was secretly glad about the fact that they were not enemies, but instead best friends and brothers.

Speaking of which, when the Uruk family had obtained legal guardianship over Enkidu, he had been readily accepted as part of the family, and that had made him notice that there weren't any other friends around. In fact, compared to him – a person who was always sociable and ready to talk to everyone – Gil had very few people in his life he could call friends. While others would have found it concerning, Enkidu had learned an important lesson in the Uruk household: not to care about what other people thought.

That was also a reason why Gil had been absolutely livid when society had begun to subtly or not-so-subtly hint at him to get married. While he completely disregarded other people's opinions, he had no choice but to be careful around the power of the media, since it was going to influence his business field, and their inquiries about his private life were starting to become insisting. He couldn't care less about what they thought about his status as a bachelor, but they seemed intent on focusing precisely on that and give it widespread attention.

Enkidu could not deny the fact that he did begin to worry about those traits of his best friend – independence and arrogance – once it became apparent that society was not backing down when it came to asking him to find a spouse.

Because of his important position and his prestige, it was inevitable that they would start questioning his bachelorhood, even though he did not have the slightest intention of changing that any time soon, especially since there were despicable people like Medea Caster (now Medea Kuzuki) and many, many other gold-diggers around.

Enkidu himself was safe; during the time in which Medea had unsuccessfully attempted to use her charms on Gil and interfere with his business deals, he had heard rumours start from the Caster family about his presumed homosexuality, and had decided not to bother correcting anyone on their assumptions. Letting them believe whatever they wanted to believe was after all incredibly easy and incredibly amusing in equal measures; he had taken to heart the lesson of not really caring about what other people thought about him.

Uruk Enterprises had been growing more than they had expected, and both he and Gil were very satisfied with – and proud of – it. Enkidu had a position as head director of a part of the offices, and he was very fond of his job. He knew that Gil did not play favourites when it came to workplaces: if he had not been competent, he would not have had his position, regardless of his best-friend-basically-sibling status.

Being in this specific position allowed him to meet many people, and he had not lost his invaluable capability of conversing easily with everyone. On behalf of Uruk Enterprises, he was also one of the trustees of the Central College – both he and Gil respected the place their mother had been head of for numerous years – and therefore met several students who wished to take an internship at the company.

One of those interns was a lovely woman, just a few years younger than Gil and himself: Arturia Pendragon, better known as Ria. She had very polite mannerisms, but it was her inner steel, which could easily rival Ninsun's, that made her stand out. Because of a comment that their colleague and 'friend' Iskandar Velvet had made, Enkidu brought Gil to meet her, and it did not take long for him to see that his best friend already knew her, and had in fact quite a fixated interest in her.

After a bit of resistance, Enkidu managed to coax out of him that, even though she was still in college, he had hired her as a part-timer because she had proven to be skilful.

It was done on just a hunch, a fleeting feeling, a fantasy perhaps; but Enkidu knew that he had made the right choice when he decided to begin to organize, directly and indirectly, a few evenings out, in which both Gil and Ria were included.

It wasn't that he wanted to play cupid; maybe he just wanted to be the unconventional cupid though.

Watching them interact was very, very amusing. Gil could aloofly deny it all he wanted, but his eyes were always on her when she was in the same room. On her side, it was different; Enkidu didn't know her well enough, but he was quite certain of the fact that she was maddened by the way Gil constantly and willingly pushed her buttons, and she quickly came to reply to him in kind – which only had the result of making Gil even more interested in her.

It was all truly funny to witness.

However, Enkidu would not have expected Gil to actually ask her to marry him. The day Ria slapped his best friend in public made him feel a conflict of two main emotions. The first one was distress about his best friend's plight, and that he had been proven right about the fact that Gil did indeed have a little too much arrogance, at least when he had to deal with people outside of his business field, in everyday contexts. The other emotion was surprise, because the young woman, Ria, was more than he had expected her to be and had put Gil in his place with unanticipated and completely unafraid firmness.

No one less than awfully brilliant could do something like that to his best friend; only Mother had so far been capable of it. Enkidu was forced to wonder if Ria could truly be the only woman who might be a match for Gil in more ways than one.

Of course, that was only to be if the two of them developed feelings for each other, otherwise it was not going to be anything more than some entertaining bickering.

It was however true that he only found out that their brief conversation had been a proposal after Gil had reluctantly admitted to it, and that had been the one occasion in which Enkidu had had to do his mightiest to resist the urge to facepalm.

Who in their right mind could ever think of proposing in such a manner? It was too much, even for Gil.

It was therefore unexpected when those two ended up getting engaged merely a day later and getting married less than three months after that, especially since it was clear that, while there was some superficial interest and curiosity for each other, their relationship was neither deep nor sincere enough for a marriage.

Enkidu was told the real reasons for the arrangement a bit later; he felt sympathy for Ria's predicament with her family, and it displeased him that they did not have the time to truly get to know one another before forcibly getting married. He knew, however, that Gil did have a code of honour, and would not make Ria's life miserable, no matter how unpleasant the circumstances of their union were.

And aside from that, witnessing the interactions between those two on an almost daily basis was too much of a treat for him to relinquish it.

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Sitting in his car, as he waited for the lights to turn green at the crossroads, Enkidu pondered over his best friend's marriage, his fingers lightly drumming on the steering wheel.

Ria and Gil. They were two such persistent people. When thrown together in a situation, they were pricelessly entertaining; being both stubborn and having wills of iron, they clashed constantly, going from the most minor of things to the most important ones.

As months went by after their marriage, some things had begun to change and, slowly but surely, the interactions between them had had a shift. Not a very significant one, that was true, but the shift had been there nonetheless.

Gil had always had a thing for her, whether he admitted it or not, and Enkidu tried to tease him about it as often as he could, because the amusement coming from it was endless, especially since his interest in her seemed to have deepened as time passed.

Enkidu could not suppress a smirk from appearing on his lips as he thought about how Gil had even put his precious work aside when Ria had not been feeling well. Enkidu had of course taken full advantage of the situation – it was too good of an opportunity not to have some harmless fun at his expense – but he had not expected Ria to take her revenge on him. That woman could sure give solid whacks.

Ria was a petite person, but very firm in always standing her ground with a perfect mix of dignity and determination. And Gil… was Gil. He wouldn't back away from a challenge like the one she constantly posed to him, especially since she attracted him. Their verbal spars were wonderful, even though they did tend to give the incautious listener a migraine after a while.

The fact that Gil enjoyed the time he spent with her was plain to see, even if Enkidu had fewer occasions to be with him – he had taken up several travelling duties from Gil after he had married – but what truly surprised him was the fact that reserved Ria began to show to be interested in Gil, too.

It was hard to tell, given that he didn't know her as well as he knew Gil, but her attitude towards the man she had married had somewhat changed. She seemed to be curious about his past, which meant that she was feeling the desire to get to know him better. She had also come to show respect for his opinions, far more than she had done a year before. Whether she realized it or not, her eyes were also on her husband more often than not, displaying the fact that she seemed to have some trust in him, even enough to occasionally rely on him.

Enkidu shook his head as he reflected on it. Seriously, those two were too busy antagonizing each other and focusing on other things in their lives to truly look at each other.

They had some things in common, even if they refused to acknowledge it. For Ria, the most important thing was her family, and therefore she was fiercely loyal to it. For Gil, his own family and his work were the things that mattered more than anything else, and therefore he did all in his power to preserve them. They had different forms of loyalties and beliefs, but they were both able to understand each other's devotions far more than they cared to admit.

They were of course both prideful and stubborn as well, of course.

Maybe – especially considering the developments that had occurred lately, and the fact that they were now on a trip together – maybe there could be hope… hope for those two obstinate, oblivious people to find something more in their marriage.

It was probably time for him – Enkidu – to give them a hand in it. Or at least, a more determined hand, and not just a teasing one.

As he had firmly decided on his own some time before, he did not intend to play cupid – he intended to play the unconventional cupid. All he wanted was just give them a small push in the right direction; nothing invasive, nothing intrusive, just a hint to finally make them move forward from this situation of stalemate they seemed to be trapped in, and help them understand.

Of course, it did not hurt that it would be very interesting for him to witness.

Since he was already on the subject…

Ria and Gil weren't the only possible couple that had captured his interest in the recent period. From his unlimited resources, he knew that Ria's sister, Irisviel, was getting more and more comfortable with nurse Kariya Matou, the estranged uncle of that horrible Shinji from the Matou company. The man, Enkidu knew, had not had the best life until this moment, with having been thrown out of his family, losing the woman he loved and whatnot, but he seemed to have slowly become very taken with sweet Irisviel.

Their blooming romance deserved a chance to prosper. Both had had enough darkness in their lives; they had more than earned some unburdened happiness.

And as for himself…

Enkidu could not deny that in the offices in Hong Kong he had met a young woman, dark of hair and sharp of mind, who had something about her that had made it impossible for him to tear his eyes away from her while she was in the same room. It had taken some time, but he had finally asked her to have tea with him, and she had accepted.

All those romances needed to have an eye kept on them.

Yes, Enkidu decided as the light finally turned green, this was what he would do. Make his friends delicately take the first step down the right path, and make sure everyone got the happiest possible ending.

As he pressed down on the accelerator and began to turn the wheel to take the street on the right, Enkidu barely had the time to notice an enormous truck speeding past the red light and approaching him from the left, before he heard the deafening sound of the impact and everything became black.

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