The Gathering of the Gods

Side Story 5- Cye and Kento

"A nurse? My perfectly good son is going to throw away all his talent to become a nurse?" Cye winced.

"Father, I am going as a nurse because then I can take care of you if something happens. This is a war father, not a game. And we need people to nurse the wounded more then we need met to inflict the wounds!" Cerulean eyes rolled at his son's antics.

"Cye, leave the nursing to the women."

"But father…!"

"No Cye. That's final. You'll come, and you will fight. And if you have to die for your cause, so be it."

"But Father!"

"No. Now I expect to see you on the field tomorrow. And if not…"

"I'll be in trouble. I know father." The man gave his son one last look, as he headed into the room that his ill wife was resting. Cye rolled his eyes.

"Try to stop me father." He muttered to himself as he walked into his room. Waiting for the rest of the people within the house to retire, he snuck into the closet, grabbing his mother's old nurse outfit. Smiling, he shoved it in a bag, along with soft satin slippers. All he'd have to do was take this bag with him, wear his combat clothes, go to the bathroom, change, and never come back. He smiled to himself. He was such a little deviant sometimes. Grinning brightly, he tucked the bag under his bed, as he climbed under the sheets. Tomorrow would be a long night.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Where did he go?" Cye tried not to smile as he listen to his father try to find him. Yanking the medical kit over his shoulder, Cye walked past his father with a smile.

"Good day sir." He stated, bowing his head. His father bowed back as Cye laughed. His father was such a pathetic idiot sometimes. Cye knew he was rather… feminine, and he had just proved that he could fool his own father into thinking he was a female. He lost himself amidst the field in a few minutes, and didn't even realize that the battle had begun. Racing around, he attempted to tend to the wounding, trying not to let himself get wounded or even killed. It was a tough task when his town's opponents were magicians.

Kneeling down next to a severely burned man, Cye attempted to tend to the harsh wounds, not sure if he could actually help this person live. Reaching to check the pulse once more, he sighed. Too late. It seemed that he'd been too late the entire day. Groaning in frustration, he leapt behind a tree, barely missing an oncoming fireball. Releasing the breath he had been holding, he rose to his feet and crept closer to the field. And was unprepared for the full force of a spell to send him flying into oblivion.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Moaning, Cye awoke as he rolled over to his side, ignoring the abrupt pain that shot through his left shoulder. Forcing himself to his knees, and cursing for wearing the damnable skirt, he rose to his feet, and then stumbled as he realized that his right thigh was just as painful as his left shoulder. He moaned in self-pity, as he glanced around at his surroundings. And realized that he was not alone. There indeed was a man leaning against a tree, watching his every move with intensity.

"Ok, if you're going to stand there and watch me, either help me up or kill me and get it over with." Cye stated angrily as the person laughed softly. Cye made a double check of the man's appearance, noting in the back of his mind that the man's clothes were deerskin, something that he had never seen before. He also noticed that the man was built unlike his or the magicians town. He was strong and heavily built, not slender and rather frail like he himself was.

"Well, can't you talk?" Cye asked in annoyance as the man simply smiled.

"Ok. Fine. I am a bratty teenage girl that is in dire need of some manly assistance, so get the hell over here and help me!" Cye wailed, as blue eyes rolled.

"You are not a girl." He stated as he walked over to Cye, kneeling next to the wounded nurse. Carefully, he pushed up Cye's skirt, to be rewarded by a sharp smack over his head by the medical kit.

"Stop that you brute!" Cye cried out, glaring at the man as he pulled his skirt back down.

"Ok, I was just going to help."

"Well, I'm not going to let a stranger look up my skirt! You pervert to think that I'd…"

"My name's Kento. I'm from the bear clan. Yes, I am a barbarian. The stories you've heard about us our false. We are not brutish, nor are we lacking in intelligence. Now, if you would kindly excuse me, I have to tend to your wound." Cye stared in shock at the man. So this was what a barbarian looked like! Wow, so barbarians weren't stupid, and they weren't rude, and now he realized that they weren't ugly. He blushed. Bad thoughts.

"I'm finished, though you most likely will not be able to walk for a while. The flesh wounds were rather harsh. You're arm only hurts because it took the impact. It's just bruised; it should heal in a little. Now I can tell just by meeting you that you are not going to like the idea, but I am going to carry you back to our campsite until you are well enough to be sent home, alright?" Cye glared at the barbarian.

"Like hell I am going back to where you live!"

"Oh, do silence yourself! All I'm doing is trying to help you, and you're refusal of my assistance is not helping your cause. Now, silence before I have to hit you over the head and shut you up."

"I will not…!" And hitting him over the head was exactly what Kento did.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Where the hell am I?"

"For a man dressed as a woman, you sure are snooty. And demanding."

"Oh shut up Tarzan!"

"I am not a man raised in the jungle." Kento stated matter-of-factly as Cye rolled his eyes.

"Close enough…" Cye muttered, as Kento sighed. It was then that a plump, heavy-set woman with a bright eyes and a smile on her face, entered the room.

"Why, you must be Kento's new friend! It's nice to see that someone here is befriending an outsider."

"Mother, I really wouldn't call us friends…" Kento muttered as he bandaged Cye's head wound that had accidentally been caused during the knocking out process.

"Nonsense! You saved his life, surely he is your friend for doing that for him!" Cye snorted.

"Just because he saved my life does not mean that I'm his friend. It simply means that I am in his debt." She sighed.

"Are all outsiders like you honey?" Cye shrugged.

"Well, we're not all cross-dressers if that's what you mean." He stated simply, as the woman flushed.

"Well, that wasn't exactly what I meant…" Her voice trailed off as she set new sheets down at the foot of the bed. Cye smiled brightly as Kento shook his head, watching his mother silently exit the room.

"Way to scare my mother out of your presence."

"It was a reasonable question." Cye pointed out. Kento refrained to comment. Cye watched as the muscled figure set to making the bed, swiftly and fluently tossing the old sheets aside and replacing them with the fresh clean ones.

"Kento, can you come here?" Cye asked as the boy shrugged, and walked over.

"What do you need?" He asked, unprepared for lithe arms to snake around his neck and pull him close, and gentle lips to caress his own.

"Wha...?" He questioned as Cye laughed and released him.

"Your mother was right, I do owe you." Cye stated as Kento's face flared red.

"Umm… umm…" And quickly, he kissed back.

"Huh?" Cye asked as Kento smiled slyly.

"Well, I was guessing that people in your country do that when they are friends, do they not?"
"Uhh… sure. Do it again!" And so they did.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

""Mother… I'd like you to meet my… ummm…" Cye glanced over at his mother, whose cheeks were stained with the tracks of salty tears.

"Mum, what's wrong?" Cye asked as his mother turned to him.

"Oh god! My baby! You're alright!" She rose in her bed, her face red and feverish, as Cye walked over to her small frame and took her in his arms.

"Mother, I'm fine. Of course I am. Why wouldn't I be?" His mother looked up at him with small, mournful blue eyes.

"They didn't tell you?" She asked as Cye shrugged.

"Tell me what mum?"

"The war… Your father... he's dead."

To be continued….

A/N: knew I couldn't just let them have a happy side story, could I? Had to go kill the dad at the end? Oh well… Can't win them all! Well, ja!

~Angel