(Just a quick note – thanks to A Girl Named Goo for pointing out my silly mistake **laughs** yep, I'm an idiot ^__^ Chapter 1 altered accordingly)

As you mean to go on…

Age 11/10

[Juubei]

Sure-footed feet race up the grey stone steps, so fast they almost fly over the rising surface in their impatience to get to where they want to go. Juubei turns when he reaches the top, too excited to give the surrounding buildings more than a cursory glance. He all but dances in impatience as he calls down to his mother and sister making their more sedate way towards him, "hey! Hurry up, come on!" His feet feel like they have springs attached to their soles, so difficult is it to keep them still, and when Sakura glances up and laughs at his enthusiasm he can't bear to stand around and wait for them.

"Mother, I'm going on ahead!" he calls, and before she can call him back and tell him to behave himself and remember to make a good impression he is gone. Make a good impression? Of course he knows he needs to do that – this is without a doubt the most important day of his eleven years of life. Today, for the first time, he's going to meet with the Lord of the Fuuchouin clan, not to mention…

…Not to mention the one a tiny corner of his mind can't help but think of as his Fuuchouin. The heir to the entire clan, only a year younger than Juubei himself, to whom he will pledge his life in service. There's no feel of being forced in this idea, Juubei has been raised to consider this the highest honour for as long as he can remember. And today is the day – at long last, the day he will finally meet the young master whom he was born to protect.

Is it any wonder, then, that he's never felt quite as alive as he does right now? He can feel each hair on his head fill with the heat of the late summer sun, almost as if it had come down from the sky to rest upon his shoulders. The smells of summer flood him, so alive and vibrant he can't help but think of them as the scent of green and yellow – how could any thriving plants, any rushing stream, any wide blue sky smell like this, he wonders.

He is so caught up in the day itself that he has been lost for a good five minutes before he realises. Not good. He is supposed to proceed directly to the main reception hall where his father and the Fuuchouin chief are waiting for him… but exactly where is that, again? Maybe he shouldn't have left his mother and gone ahead alone.

Not going to be worried. Not going to spoil this day. Juubei heads along the gap he finds himself in between two large buildings. Not worried. The complex is bigger than he imagined, and he feels vaguely awed at the thought that although he has lived on the estate his entire life, this is a new world opening up to him. He has never had reason to be here – in fact this whole area has been off-limits to him until today, and he has no idea where he is. He walks on.

Rounding another of the long low buildings, each of which is easily twice as big as his own house, he's thankful to see one of the ornamental gardens that surround the main living quarters. He sighs, more relieved than he'd care to admit to himself. Now he's on the outskirts of the complex, it should be simple enough to circle back to the place where he had left his mother and Sakura. From there he's sure he'll be able to find the reception hall. Juubei starts forward determinedly, then pauses. Wait… what was that just now?

There! There it is again!

"Koto…?" he murmurs to himself as he strains his ears harder. Quiet, muted by distance and vegetation, still… floating on the sweet-smelling breeze come the faint strains of the instrument. But it isn't coming from the complex, Juubei is sure. If anything… it's coming from that direction, away from the closely clustered buildings. Now he's looking, Juubei can see the neat path through the rock garden actually continues through the bamboo plantation that frames the area.

One foot already on the path, he pauses in a moment of indecision. He really needs to be going, he has somewhere he needs to be, but…

Again comes the sound, the gentle plucking of the strings carrying across the hazy afternoon. And quite suddenly, all hesitation vanishes. Juubei plunges forwards down the path, as thoughtless and heedless of his actions as if the piper in the story were making those irresistible sounds, drawing him ever on, far away from Hamelin. Perhaps some sensible part of his mind rationalises that he's going to ask for directions, perhaps he just goes without a second thought.

Where eager feet raced up steps, now they pick their swift way along the path, trotting over a small bridge that arches elegantly over a shallow koi pond and almost tripping in their haste as he passes through another grove of bamboo. Juubei slows as the sound grows clearer, his feet losing their urgency as he strains for all that he can hear. Slower, slower… he puts out a hand to the small sapling growing by the edge of the grove, and the sun, fractured and faceted into brilliant pinpoints of light by the trees that crowd around the small clearing, dazzles him for a moment. He blinks away the wheeling flashes that speckle his sight, and steps forward.

It's a teahouse… that is the first thing his bewildered senses come up with. Old, very old, but still younger than the rest of the compound. The sunlight plays around it, highlighting its outer ornamentation and throwing its interior into an inviting shade. And inside--

Kami, his mind whispers, crosspatching for a brief moment with a memory many years old. A tiny, delicate figure seated in perfect seiza position before the instrument, eyes closed as they lose themselves in the music. The air seems to turn to glassy water, magnifying tiny details and blurring the background into insignificance. The clean-cut lines of the deep fuchsia kimono, the tiny glimpse of the paler pink undergarment at the throat and wrists that matches the elaborately tied obi belt perfectly… the child's rich brown hair, thick and glossy and only a shade darker than his own, hanging down to brush against the jaw line and leaving the nape of that long elegant neck exposed… Juubei feels the blush come to his cheeks as he takes an involuntary gasp of the fragrant summer air.

It's only a quiet inhalation, lost amongst the chatter of the leaves all around, but it is enough. The notes cease and the child snaps a sharp dark glance in Juubei's direction. "Who's there? Identify yourself!"

The tone is confident and authoritative: the voice of one used to being answered. But it is not that which gets Juubei's attention, rather the long koto string that snaps through the air, almost invisible save where it catches the sun and glitters like a diamond thread. It is only pure instinct that flashes out one of his long needles to counter it, and saves Juubei from a nasty lash. "Juubei!" he calls out quickly, "I'm Kakei Juubei!"

"Kakei?" The delicate little face is transformed in an instant, so that Juubei wonders if he really saw the steely glint in those honey brown eyes that now sparkle with warmth and vitality. "You're Juubei?" Small feet slip gracefully into the geta sandals placed on the step of the teahouse, and the child comes to stand only a few paces from him. Placing a hand over the place where the folds of the kimono overlap, the light voice continues, "so you're going to be my doctor when we're older? I'm Kadsuki!"

"Ahh, y-you're Kadsuki?" Juubei honestly doesn't know what to say. His eyes have widened to approximately twice their usual size and he opens and closes his mouth a few times before any more words will come, his cheeks burning increasingly brighter. "Wait, t-the heir to the Fuuchouin clan is a girl?"

Kadsuki laughs. "I'm a boy," he insists, but he doesn't seem angry at Juubei's mistake. The small part of Juubei's mind that doesn't seem to be frozen solid like the rest wonders if he's used to that assumption being made about him. He's certainly prettier than any girl Juubei can ever remember seeing…

"This is just a family rule," he continues, indicating his clothes with a small smile. He seems unaware of Juubei's still-open mouthed stare, or else he politely ignores it as a well brought up Fuuchouin should. "Before the age of fifteen we have to wear kimono when we practice the koto," he explains.

"Oh… i-is that so?" is about the most intelligent thing Juubei can come up with. Kadsuki laughs, whether at the statement or Juubei's general cluelessness he can't tell, but the bright, happy sound in the summer light is infectious, and after a moment he joins in, their laughter mingling and floating up and away, lost in the expanse of the wide blue sky.

[Toshiki]

Summer rain is always the worst kind.

The water beats heavily down on the dusty lane, raising craters in the dust that has accumulated on the ground all this long summer. The heavens are clouded over, deep and endless variations on grey stretching as far as the eye can see, now opened up and slamming down watery missiles as if someone up there has a personal vengeance to carry out against the small huddle of figures sitting on the bench beside the bus stop.

Rain pounds down onto a unprotected head, matting soft hair and turning it from its usual flaxen shade into a river of dark gold. Rivulets glide down Toshiki's spiky bangs and collect at the ends, sending droplets dripping to run along his nose and down his cheeks. He doesn't attempt to clear his vision, doesn't react in any way at all. He hasn't spoken a word since the man by his side found him.

The other few passengers waiting for the bus, mostly old ladies with arms full of poodle, keep their distance and stare darkly at the pair from under the bottoms of their umbrellas. Shun is wearing the familiar and well-trusted robes of a local monk, but the foreign-looking kid is dressed like some cheap hoodlum, all ripped denim over a black shirt with the English words "I'm Only in It for the Beer!" printed in red under a grinning smiley-face. Shun puts 'where on earth did the kid get those clothes' high up on his mental list of Things Not To Ask Uryuu About, and shakes his head slightly.

"Forty-five miles," he says quietly, "that's quite impressive, Uryuu. No money, no supplies, and you go for three weeks before we find you."

Toshiki doesn't lift his eyes from the mud that's evolving between his planted feet. If anything, it begins to rain harder. Shun would offer him the use of his umbrella, but he knows it's pointless. The kid treasures his pride to such a degree that he would happily drown with that slightly contemptuous look on his face before he would let anyone from the temple hold out a hand to pull him into a nearby life raft. Beneath that tatty jacket it is obvious the boy has lost a lot of weight, even if Shun couldn't feel the changes in his ki that tell of too many hard nights and too little sleep and even fewer square meals, and yet he knows that if he hadn't decided to come looking, Uryuu would never have come back to the temple on his own. Too much to ask that he admit he still needs somewhere to call home, someone to look after him. Of course there are children younger than he who have lived all alone on the streets for years, but this one has grown up under the protection of the temple and is not yet tough enough to be without it, whatever he might want to think.

But the fact that he put up no struggle when Shun finally tracked him down to the lonely underside of a motorway bridge, the fact that he simply lowered his eyes and followed without a word, says more than Toshiki himself ever would. Stubborn the kid may be, and exasperatingly prideful, but he isn't stupid, and he isn't suicidal either. He knows what's best for him, even if he doesn't like it.

"What would you have done, Uryuu?" he asks softly, using the name the temple had bestowed on the boy when he was left, tiny and screaming and only a few days old, at their gates in a rainstorm much like this one: the flowing rain for which he had been named. "If I hadn't come for you, what would you have done?"

Toshiki still doesn't reply, but he does lift his head, tossing his head to flick the drops of water out of his eyes as he stares down the quiet road. "…'s coming," he states, rising to his feet as the small bus crests the hill and starts down the gentle slope towards them. He flashes a glare at a pair of old ladies huddled together under their umbrellas, staring pointedly as they quite obviously whisper to one another about him, and Shun stands and puts a hand on the boy's tensed shoulder.

"Tell me something," he says as the bus rattles to a stop beside them and the gaggle of passengers push past them, eager to escape the storm, "I am bringing you home with me, whatever the answer, but… what have you learned from this? You're half-starved, wet, cold, and I shan't ask you what you've been doing to survive, Uryuu, but despite all that… you never tried to come back. Is it really so terrible to be with us? Would you really rather be out here by yourself?"

The half-glare Toshiki gives him, blue eyes empty and lost, simply confirms what he already knew.

[Kadsuki]

"Peach?"

Kadsuki tilts back his head and smiles contentedly at the other boy perched in the crook of the wonderfully gnarled and twisted tree above his head. He had laughed at Juubei's suggestion that he join him, twitching the hem of his kimono with a delicate quirk of an eyebrow. Kadsuki has never climbed a tree in his life. And besides, he's quite comfortable sitting on this cushion, his back resting against the solid bole of the tree, thank you. "Please," he says, cupping his hands together, and Juubei plucks one of the soft ripe fruits from its stem and drops it neatly into the centre of his palms before taking another for himself.

Kadsuki munches quietly, enjoying the feel of the night all around him. The sun set nearly an hour ago, and by now the only lights are those coming from the manor on the hill above them and the line of red lanterns that stretch down the slope through the peach gardens, and also the tiny glowing points of fireflies burning in the air all around like a floating string of fairy lights: a private light show just for the two of them. He has never been allowed out this late before, and he knows that his permission tonight has everything to do with the Kakei boy in the tree above him. The thought makes him smile, and he brings his hand to his lips to lick at the juice from the slightly overripe fruit that has trickled down his fingers. Passing his tongue over the spot on his finger where he was bitten earlier, he is still surprised at how quickly and confidently Juubei treated him, taking the pain away with a smile and the quick flash of a silver needle.

"Ne, Juubei…"

"Hmm?"

"I'm sorry… about earlier." It's not really Kadsuki's fault, of course: how could he have known that Juubei was supposed to be being introduced to his father? When the other boy had shown up during his koto practice, Kadsuki had simply assumed Juubei had been sent out to find him and make his acquaintance. That's why he had taken his new friend for a tour of the complex, beginning with the teahouse and dojo and ending up beside the wide river where Juubei had ended up making that silly promise to him: that very sweet but dreadfully old-fashioned promise that he would protect him forever. Kaduki had laughed and teased him about it gently, but a part of him couldn't help but feel strangely like one of prince Genji's high-flown loves, and the telltale flush that had appeared in his cheeks had probably burned brightly enough for its residue still to be visible when his father and Kakei-sensei had finally found them, Tsukihiko with his silently exasperated dealing-with-my-impossible-son expression while Mamoru had glared icily at Juubei as he introduced him to the Fuuchouin chief. "Kakei-sensei looked about ready to do something really horrible to you with those needles when they found us."

There is a quiet laugh from amongst the interlaced branches above him. "My father wouldn't dishonour his needles with that, I promise you. He'll probably just give me some extra chores around the house or something. Or maybe nothing at all – I was doing my duty after all, wasn't I? Looking after you…" And belatedly, "besides, it wasn't your fault, Kadsuki."

"Mmm, maybe." Kadsuki rests his head against the rough bark of the tree and fixes his eyes on the Juubei-shaped shadow perched over his head. Living his life inside the compound, being taught by a private tutor – the best that money can buy, naturally – Kadsuki doesn't have much experience being around other people his own age. Juubei seems very odd and special in his narrowed worldview, and he has a desire to keep him close by. "If you don't have too many chores… maybe you could come and play with me again soon?" He is sure not to say 'tomorrow'. "Father said you're welcome here anytime, now that you've been officially introduced."

A rustle of leaves and he gets the impression that Juubei is looking down at him through the surrounding darkness. "I'd like to do that. I could come again…" Juubei deliberately avoids saying 'in the morning'. "…Really soon."

Kadsuki smiles and his eyes slowly drift closed, his body relaxing in the warm presence of the other boy. Before he's quite aware of it he has fallen into a light doze, and the dreams carried to him on the balmy summer night are those of earnest blue eyes and strong yet soothing hands, of looks that say loyalty and a touch that promises friendship, no matter where their paths may lead.