I don't own 'em...never will...so yeah. Tomo x Nakago o.O I was surprised too! Dedicated entirely to Tsuki-moon! Remember not to sweat the small stuff Tsuki! Oh and Chuin is Tomo's real name is case you don't know! ^^

                                                            Play Your Part

Tomo sat up in bed abruptly. Another nightmare, they had been getting worse. Ever since he had joined the opera troupe....

"Tomo? What was it this time?"

            Tomo turned his eyes, gazing into a pair of azure orbs. "Iie...don't worry Nakago-sama, I'm fine."

Nakago studied his face for bit and Tomo shivered. He always hated that Nakgo could see through everything, through the face paint, through the strong voice, till he was near being naked. Tomo looked down at the soft sheets. How many nights had he spent in these now?  He couldn't help but wonder why he still went back to them.

            Tomo felt a strong pair of arms wrap around him and pull him back down to the bed. He settled against Nakago's chest and turned his face into it. Nakago always had this musky scent about him...usually soft but twinged with gunpowder.

            Tomo sighed deeply and snaked an arm around Nakago's waist, his ear pressed down, he could hear Nakago's heart beat. He smirked, so he was human after all.

            "Tomo it would best for you to forget about the past. It will interfere with other matters."

            You should be the authority on that, Tomo thought idly. Tomo had found out long ago that Nakago had been the last of the Hin tribe, and then made into the Emperor's toy, although he never dared to say anything on the topic.

              "I will try Nakago-sama," came his reply. Try. Of course he'd try. He was always trying! Trying had been killing him since the day he was born into this wretched world. His parents never accepted him, shunning any possibility of love. He remembered the day he was sold to the opera troupe. His parents stony faces gazing back at him. His own eyes filling with tears and screaming at them, begging for it not to happen. He didn't want to leave the village, not for this!

            The harsh jerking and jibes from the actors for Chuin to start acting like a man and just accept that his family had no use for him anymore. Chuin seemed to cry for hours that night. His racking sobs tearing through his body, his body trembling in fear and rage. He never even heard the door slowly creeping open....

            "Tomo?"

            Tomo snapped out of his reverie, "Hai Nakago-sama?"

            "You are doing it again. Seeming to leave this plane of reality-"

            Tomo frowned, "Except I don't have my shin," he concluded. Nakago nodded. Tomo sighed, "I just keep thinking about the past...I don't know why, I just can't help it."

            Nakago was briefly silent. "Have you been going into your shin?"

            Tomo immediately felt humiliation burn against his cheeks and he hung his head. "Hai."

He couldn't help it; others used methods to escape reality, the shin happened to be Tomo's. He always knew it wasn't the truth, unlike the people he trapped inside of shin. He knew in the back of his mind that he is in an illusion. But he ignored the truth, and found solace in his own ignorance, in his shin.

Nakago brushed some hair from Tomo's face. "It is forgivable, do not worry."

Tomo stared out into space. When were things going to be normal for him? Could they ever be normal for somebody like him?

When he was younger and the door slowly opened to his room Chuin never heard the padded footsteps to his bed. He felt the bed shift under somebody's weight and he jerked from his sobs and stared wide eyed a man, much older than himself to be sure. The man was all dressed up, wearing layers of multicolored face paint and in heavy garbs.

He couldn't make out the man's face even though Chuin could see how much taller the man was than himself. The man had deep green eyes; Tomo never forgot that shade of green.

"Villains make this world interesting. It is what you shall be Chuin, it was your part to play." Chuin frowned, his brow furrowed in concentration.

"Demo...I don't want to be a villain." The man sighed deeply and got up from his bed, and walked towards the door. "Did you hear me?! I don't want to be a villain!" Chuin screamed at the top of his lungs.

The man paused and held his palm against the door. "It's not your fault Chuin. This was chosen for you a long time ago. You are a villain. Play your part Chuin, that's all you have left to do." And with that the man left Chuin alone on his new bed, shaking with rage and suppressed fear.  

Tomo felt himself trembling again, how many years later was it now? It hadn't seemed like years to him....

Nakago sighed deeply, "Tomo just accept the past and move on, there is nothing more for you to do. Seiryuu is waiting for us to fulfill our destiny."

Tomo stilled and repeated the last words in his mind, "Play my part..."

"Hai, we all play our parts Tomo," Nakago rumbled, staring down at Tomo.

Tomo looked up at Nakago, villains. They played villains, and it was time to accept that. Tomo smiled and rested his head deeper against Nakago: he had always been the best actor in the troupe, everyone had said so. Now it was time to play a different role. Tomo could do that...he was born for it.