Chapter 2

The next afternoon found Emishi with Jubei and Sakura, who were trying to comfort some children whose block had been wiped out that very morning. There had been seven friends who lived in the building that had been targetted, and now only four remained. Kids in the Infinite Castle grew up too fast - even though now, with the remaining children huddled together and crying, they looked their age.

Jubei stood by silently as Sakura knelt before them, wiping the tears from a little girl's eye with the end of her scarf. "Can you tell us what they looked like?" she asked. "Were they all wearing something - a hat, a jacket, a bandanna...?"

The little girl shook her head, still sobbing. "They... they were big..."

"And scary," the boy next to her sniffled. "They looked really scary..."

That was all the information they'd been able to gather so far on the attackers - they were big and scary - and Sakura turned to her brother with a helpless sigh. She paused when she saw that his face was turned away; it had happened so recently, they still forgot sometimes that Jubei was blind.

Seeing the look on her face as she was abruptly reminded, and the looks on the faces of the children standing before the two Kakei siblings, Emishi decided to step in. "Hey, hey - they looked scary, you say?" he repeated curiously, squatting down in front of the children. "Did they look like... this?"

The oldest boy, who couldn't have been more than ten, frowned sullenly as Emishi turned his eyelids inside out, rolled his eyes back into his head and sucked his cheeks in. "No... that's stupid."

"Yeah, maybe you're right," Emishi agreed. "I bet they looked like... this!"

He crossed his eyes, drawing his mouth wide with his thumbs and sticking his tongue out, and the younger boy and girl giggled, despite their sniffling. "No, not like that," the younger boy told him, and even the older boy's scowl seemed to be warring with a slight smile.

"Hmm, hmmm..." Emishi pondered, rising to his feet and pacing slightly, pretending to adjust his glasses to cover the movement of him slipping something into his mouth from his pocket. He scratched his head, thinking, and loosening his hair tie in the process. "Ah - I know!" he said brightly. "They looked like... thith!"

All four of the children giggled this time, when Emishi turned to them suddenly with his hair hanging in his face and gigantic fake beaver teeth. "No, no!" the younger boy and girl told him. "Not like that!"

"Theriouthly?" Emishi lisped behind the fake oversized incisors. "I'm lotht, then..."

"They looked more like... they had armbands," the oldest boy began to explain. "And they had guns..."

"Uh huh...?" Emishi prompted, kneeling down to listen, still wearing his unusual accessories.

Jubei sat down as well, and the little girl carefully sat down in his lap as her older friend began to describe the attack. The littler boy did likewise after a moment, sniffling only a little now. Sakura shot Emishi a look of bemused gratitude, and Emishi grinned back behind his fake teeth before turning back to listen to the boy's tale with interest. "I thee... quite a thtory..."

It was yet another fledgling gang, one of dozens that wanted to carve out some part of Lower Town for themselves. Emishi had related once, but now that he'd seen more of life and of the world, it struck him as strange that anyone would want to claim this place as their own. It wasn't much to look at. But in here, people took whatever they could get, and held on as tight as they could, until it crumbled in their hands. It was better than having nothing to hold on to.

There weren't many options for people without some unique talent in the Infinite Castle, when it came to careers. You could protect your friends (which sadly enough was a full-time job), or you could join a gang, and those who couldn't stand to do either usually wound up getting killed or actually committing suicide because they had nothing left that mattered. Either you had suspicious eyes, or you had sad eyes, and the sad eyes made you an easy target for the people with suspicious eyes.

Emishi didn't like letting people walk around with either if he could help it - it was his unique talent. The way the children laughed as he put his silly joke glasses on the little girl, all their eyes becoming less sad, was a victory more fulfilling than any he'd ever won by using his whip.

Thinking about it later, as he sat back and listened to Sakura and Jubei report the new gang and its marked territory to MakubeX, he couldn't help but feel nostalgic for a battle that had gone on for years without a clear victory. He thought about walking to Madoka's mansion again, but decided against it - that battle had been over before he'd ever gotten there. There were plenty of battles in Lower Town that had only just begun, even if they somehow didn't feel as important.

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The allure of the battlefield still tugged at Emishi, however, and a few weeks later he gave in. Standing in front of Madoka's mansion, he gaped at the sight he saw.

Shido was mowing the lawn.

Shido didn't mow lawns, Emishi's brain protested. Shido didn't even like mown lawns. Shido was a man of overgrown fields and untamed brush and forests untouched by human hands - not perfectly groomed, evenly green lawns!

"Hey! Shido!" he called, but Shido couldn't hear him above the noise of the lawn mower. He waved his arms madly, jumped up and down, but as Shido was headed in the other direction, it did no good.

Well, Madoka had said he was welcome any time, Emishi supposed, and with a sigh, he finally just walked up closer to the house. Shido still hadn't noticed he was there, with his back turned and the noise of the motor covering Emishi's approach, and Emishi's cheer returned as he followed along just behind Shido, stepping when he stepped to avoid even the slightest sound.

The mower reached the edge of the yard, and Shido turned - only to find Emishi standing right behind him. "Surpriiiise, Shido-kun!" Emishi declared cheerfully as the Beastmaster actually jumped.

"Emishi!" Shido scowled at him slightly, but turned the mower off. "What are you doing sneaking around here?"

"Stalking you, of course." Emishi grinned. "I just thought I'd come see how you were doing. But, er, Shido-kun," he added, frowning slightly in confusion, "what are you doing?"

Shido shrugged. "I'm mowing the lawn."

"Well, yes, I kind of figured that out," Emishi stated impatiently. "What I mean is... why are you mowing the lawn?"

Perhaps it was his imagination, but Shido seemed to color slightly. "It saves Madoka from having to hire someone else to do it. And she's letting me live here, so-"

"No, no, that's not it!" Emishi insisted. "I thought you liked long grass! I know your friends do... the rabbits and mice can hide in it, the cats can stalk through it, all swishy-like..."

"Eh, Madoka moves in a different circle than you or I," Shido tried to explain, leaning on the handlebar of the mower and rubbing the sweat from the back of his neck. "In a neighborhood like this, if you don't mow the lawns, it's considered an insult to those who own property next to yours - it makes them look bad if the place next door is overgrown and shaggy."

Emishi looked down at the grass that had yet to be cut - it was no longer than four centimeters at best, and an unnaturally even four centimeters at that. "This... is overgrown and shaggy?"

"By their standards." Shido turned back to the lawn mower, lowering his voice, and Emishi could hear the faint sound of a violin playing scales through one of the open windows. "I don't like it either. But it has to be done, and I should get back to doing it."

"Oh..." Emishi deflated somewhat. "But I came all this way to see you..."

"Sorry." Shido did look somewhat regretful, beneath his usual unfathomable expression. "I'll probably be done in about an hour and a half, if you want to wait around. My friends are all out in back - Madoka lets me keep a part of the yard there long for them, with none of those chemicals to make it greener."

"Ah... how nice of her..." Emishi fidgeted uneasily - this was not the sort of world the Shido he knew could belong in, even if a little pocket of his world existed within it. His world should be wide, vast, dangerous - it should have no rules governing its boundaries. It wasn't his decision, though, and so he nodded. "I'll be out back, then..." Something occurred to him, and he looked puzzled. "Shido-kun - it doesn't look like you have that much left. Will it really take an hour and a half?"

"Not to mow the lawn," he replied. "But when I'm done with that, I need to clip the bushes."

Emishi tried not to let it show on his face that his brain had just completely shut down.

Despite the soothing sounds of the violin through the window, he was still twitching a minute later, when he'd rounded the corner of the house, and spotted several familiar furry faces lying in the shade, partially buried in the longer grass. "Kitty-kun!" he exclaimed, as one of the cats saw him and trotted towards him, jumping into his lap as he knelt. He stroked the cat's belly for a moment, pleased at the way he purred, then picked him up to approach the rest of the animals. "And here's Bunny-samaaaa!" The rabbit's ears perked up, but she answered with a massive yawn. "Oh, fine - be that way, your royal highness," Emishi teased, petting her on the nose. At least they would never change.

A quiet giggle came from behind him, and he looked back towards the house, to find Madoka at a window. Her blank eyes were looking upwards, but she addressed him anyhow. "Emishi-san, is it?"

"Yes - that's me," Emishi replied with a grin and a wave that he was aware was pointless. "I hope I didn't interrupt your practicing, Madoka-han?"

"No, I was just curious, because I heard footsteps outside," she assured him. "There are not many people that Shido lets into my yard who don't just come up to the house."

She made it sound as if Shido was her guard dog, Emishi thought, and he indulged in a frown, since she couldn't see it anyhow. "Ah, well, I'd have come to greet you, but Bunny-sama required my attendance," he said, looking back down to the rabbit. "And you know how she is... very demanding mistress..."

Madoka giggled again. "I suppose so... Anyhow, you're free to come in and wait for Shido to finish, if you like - and if you'd like to stay for dinner a bit later, I can inform the cook..."

"Oh, er..." Emishi was torn. Why did she have to be so nice? He couldn't be angry about losing Shido to her world when she was offering him food. "Well, I can hardly object to the idea," he admitted. "Thank you, Madoka-han!"

"You're welcome," she replied, and her smile seemed genuinely happy. "Since you're such a good friend of Shido's, I'd like to get to know you better."

"Ah ha ha..." Emishi laughed sheepishly, scratching his head. "From such a pretty girl, I can't help but be flattered!"

Once she had gone from the window and the sound of her violin floated through the air once more, his expression turned slightly sour. "Like to get to know Shido's friends better," he muttered, dragging a bit of string through the grass for a handful of cats to pounce upon. "Then why does she make him hide them away in the back yard?"

The rabbit twitched her nose at him, chewing contentedly. "Oh, you're no help," he chastised her.

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Late that night, Emishi sat on the rusted fire escape of a run-down shell of a building, staring out into darkness mottled by the dim and dingy lights of those who lived on the streets below. Madoka's cook was wonderful, and her company had been pleasant. Shido was happy. Emishi was happy that Shido was happy. But the second the door closed behind him, cutting off the bright artificial light that shone from within, the happiness seemed to vanish from him.

It wasn't that the trip back was bad. It wasn't that he didn't feel more comfortable once he was back in more familiar surroundings. But Shido, he thought as he gazed out over Lower Town, had once called this place home as well. Just like a dog who had given up a life of freedom and chasing prey and howling at the moon with friends, in exchange for warmth and light and pats on the head.

Which was nice, admittedly. But not one of Shido's usual companions was inside, except for Mozart - and that dog was so unlike the stray canines of Lower Town in nature that he might as well have just been a small, furry person. Did the proud lion mind being left in the back yard? Did Kitty-kun ever meow at the back door, asking to be let in? Did Bunny-sama ever get hungry?

Emishi supposed that Shido wouldn't let them be unhappy. After all, his animals were his soulmates - or so he'd always claimed. But sometimes people grew apart - they didn't have anything in common anymore. And to Emishi's eye, Shido seemed to be turning more and more into Mozart, as opposed to the proud leader of a strong pack, each time they saw each other.

Emishi had run with that pack, not minding at all that his humanity was just another species to Shido. And with the pack leader gone...

"Emishi."

The soft-spoken voice surprised him. "MakubeX-kun...?" he uttered curiously, turning to look at the serious-faced boy. "Do you need me to do something?"

MakubeX shook his head, and sat down next to Emishi, dangling his feet through the bars of the fire escape. "Not at all - we noticed you've been sulking. Sakura's worried."

Oh, for heaven's sake - if MakubeX of all people was checking up on him for sulking, he really needed to pull himself together, Emishi supposed with a laugh. "Oh, it's nothing. No need to worry about it - there's just a few things I've had on my mind. Now," he stated decisively, "if there's anything you need me to do, just-"

"No, Emishi." MakubeX shook his head again. "It's about Shido, isn't it? You always seem so distant when you come back from visiting him."

Well, the kid always was good at putting two and two together, thought Emishi. "Perhaps... but nothing important," he assured MakubeX. "None of my business, and nothing you need to worry about, when you're busy running Volts. Thank you for your concern, though..."

"But really," MakubeX insisted. "The happiness and wellbeing of my friends is important." He folded his hands in his lap. "If you want to talk, Emishi, I'm willing to listen." He gave Emishi a small smile. "Provided you talk about more than your jokes."

Emishi paused. He looked so earnest, so open and inviting, that Emishi found he was unable to stop himself. Before he knew it, he was on his feet, pacing the length of the fire escape, gesturing wildly as he poured out all he'd been thinking since that first dinner party at Madoka's. How Shido didn't talk about the same things she did, so he just listened; how he was doing yardwork for her; how she'd put his animals in the back yard; how she talked about him like he was a pet, no different than Mozart.

"And she keeps that dog on a harness. A harness!" Emishi ranted, turning back to MakubeX, who still sat calm and patient, head tilted slightly to one side as he listened. "Shido doesn't like animals being harnessed! But now, now... he's on a leash himself. And he doesn't seem to care - maybe he doesn't even know! And... and I don't like seeing him like this," Emishi finished. "Like a tamed animal..."

"Hmm..." MakubeX considered for a moment as Emishi sat down again, leaning his forearms against the railing and staring down at the cluttered streets. "As for Mozart being harnessed, I think it should be pointed out that he wears the harness so that he can help Madoka-san to get by with her disability."

"Because he was trained to do just that from birth," Emishi muttered.

"But does Mozart seem unhappy to serve her?"

Emishi hesitated, then sighed moodily, seeing what MakubeX was getting at. "No... But Shido is different. Why would he willingly put his neck through someone's leash?"

"Perhaps it's not a leash, exactly," MakubeX suggested. "Perhaps it's more like a yoke - the kind that binds two oxen together to pull a plow or a cart, so that the strength of both can be utilized together. And the strength of two, working together, is stronger than the strength of either one alone - or sometimes, the combined strength that they possess independantly."

Emishi quieted, listening as MakubeX went on. "Sometimes it's difficult, with two oxen that have never been yoked. One will try to go faster, the other will lag behind... or one will try to turn one way, while the other tries to turn aside to the other. But once they have learned to work together, they can go further and faster than they could otherwise."

Emishi could see the point in his illustration, but one detail didn't seem to work out. "But with a pair of yoked oxen, there is a driver telling them which way to go, and what speed," he pointed out.

MakubeX smiled to himself. "In the Old Testament, in the book of I Samuel, there is a story about the Philistines stealing the Ark of God from Israel. Plagues came upon them when they'd taken it back to their own territory, and they wondered if God was punishing them. Their wise men suggested that to find out if the plagues had come by God's hand or by chance, they should take two milk cows that had never been yoked, and attach them to a cart with the Ark placed upon it. As soon as the cart was hitched, the two began to move up the road together, neither pushing ahead or turning aside, and returned the Ark to the Israelites. No one was driving them, aside from God himself."

Emishi's eyes widened. "So, Shido and Madoka... the gods of Babylon City are-"

"No, Emishi," MakubeX cut him off, slightly amused. "In this case, I only meant God. Or fate - whichever you choose to believe in, in your serious moments."

"Oh..." That was something of a relief, but didn't actually make Emishi feel that much better about things. "You think they're blessed, eh...?"

"As is anyone who finds a love so deep that they will put their neck through a yoke, just to be beside their beloved." Gazing absently out at the city, MakubeX turned to Emishi in surprise as he heard a sniffle. "Emishi? What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Emishi told him, wiping his eyes dramatically. "It's just... so beautiful...!"

MakubeX smiled, and there was another victory for Emishi Haruki.

Even if, he admitted to himself after MakubeX had gone, after the initial romance of the idea had worn off, it didn't help his situation that much at all. There was more to it than Madoka and Shido and any sort of balance of power between the two of them, but Emishi hadn't talked about the rest. Not that MakubeX wouldn't have understood, but he'd talked seriously enough for one day.

MakubeX had advised him to talk to Shido about it, if he was troubled over his relationship with Madoka. Maybe he would, Emishi thought as he rose and looked off towards the outside world. But not just yet - as an aspiring comedian, he knew that timing was everything.