The Thief
Chapter 3
Disclaimer: I don't own. I make no money. Please don't sue me.
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Kura was very rudely awakened sometime later. He didn't know where he was at first, only that he wasn't in his own bed at his home and he had to thwart an automatic instinct to thrash in surprise. He had woken in confusion several times while in prison, and sudden movement always ground the metal into his bruises mercilessly. Then Kura remembered that he wasn't wearing his chains any longer.
Odion kept nudging Kura with one foot and Kura growled in irritation before finally rolling to his knees, grumbling the whole time. He felt like he could eat Dumb Beast III and Useless the Younger and still be hungry, but his head felt clear. Kura yawned and stretched before rubbing his face where the grass has left its bumpy pattern.
"Let's go," Kaiba said with impatience from atop his horse. "We let you sleep long enough."
"I hate horses," Kura grumbled while Odion pushed him into his saddle. "I'm hungry. Hey, watch it! I rather like that arm. And I'm hungry."
"Will, you stop complaining?" Kaiba snapped. "Here," he handed Kura a piece of cheese and tore a hunk of bread from a larger loaf.
Kura grabbed them and devoured his meal, setting everything he wasn't actively eating in his lap so that he could eat with one hand and hold onto the saddle with the other. He really, really hated traveling by horse. It was stupid. He wanted to ask Kaiba why they hadn't bought a cart, but his mouth was too full. Usually he would have asked despite that, but he didn't want to waste any time that could be spent devoted to his food.
It was dusk by the time Kura and the others passed by Methana. They did not stop in the small town, but kept right on riding into the night. There was only a sliver of moon in the sky and so the road was almost pitch dark.
Kura shivered in the cool air and thought back longingly to his earlier nap. Gradually his eyes fluttered closed and his head dropped low on his chest. Then someone was shaking him and he blinked open his eyes. Odion was walking along side his horse, making sure he stayed awake. Kura scowled at him, but it was interrupted by a yawn.
"Keep him awake," Kaiba called back to Odion, "The last thing we need is for him to fall off his horse and break something."
When they at last reached Matinaea, Kura's side felt black and blue. It turned out that in addition to shaking him awake, Odion would resort to pinching.
Kaiba led the group up to the front of the two storied inn and dismounted, handing his reins to the groom that came out at their arrival. Kura slid off his horse and sighed, grateful to be back on the ground.
Kaiba told the owner of the inn that he was a traveling landholder and that he had a prearranged reservation.
The owner was pleased to see them all, said something else meant to flatter those of wealth, and the group started towards the door, but Kura was stopped by the owner's wife.
"Not that one," the wife said, pointing to Kura and wrinkling her nose. "He smells terrible. I won't have him in my dinning room, or sleeping in my clean beds. We run a business of repute, not some shoddy saloon."
"Dear," the owner whispered pleadingly, but his wife wouldn't budge and resolutely shook her head.
"No, absolutely not. Not even if he's your lordship's son. Which," she looked disapprovingly at Kura, "I hope he's not."
Kura blushed hotly in anger and embarrassment. Yes, he smelled, he got the point already.
After much negotiating, the Kaiba and the owner's wife finally came to an agreement. No, Kura would not stay in the barn with the horses (thank the gods), but he'd sleep on the floor, and he'd bathe immediately. Kaiba handed the woman another silver coin to seal the deal and she pocketed it, giving directions to the water pump in the courtyard.
"Make sure you get him clean," Kaiba said as Odion led Kura away.
It turned out that the pump was in the middle of the courtyard. A wall, two sides of stables, and the back of the inn made up the courtyard and Kura scowled. It was anything but a private place to wash.
Kura was still lamenting the location of his bathing place when he felt Odion grab hold of his shirt at the waist and jerk it up. Instantly awake, Kura snapped his arms to his sides, keeping his shirt from going over his head. Kura glared at Odion and took a step away from him. "I can wash myself," he hissed.
Odion shrugged and stepped over to the pump. "Just make sure you do a good job of it," he said and began to pump the water.
The water gushed out of the pipe at the height of Kura's waist and Kura stuck his hand out experimentally. "It's cold," he complained. Still, he stripped off his shirt and dropped it carelessly to the cobbled ground. His shoes were next and then, because he wore no stockings, his trousers.
Kura stood shivering and as naked as the day he was born in the courtyard. The water splashed over his legs and gooseflesh rose on his arms and legs. "Shit," he cursed, "It's cold."
But the other option was having Odion wash him, so Kura took a deep breath and stepped into the direct gush of water. A patter of feet made him look up and he say Useless the Younger coming across the courtyard with a bundle in his hands.
"Don't get those wet," Odion said to the other boy. "And go get a couple of sacks from the stables."
When Useless came back, Odion handed Kura one of the bags and a block of soap. Kura wet the bag, lathering it with the soap, and then began to scrub. It felt like he was washing off a year's worth of dirt from his skin. Kura rinsed off and then soaped up again before Odion could stop the water. He dragged the sacking over his shoulders and back the best he could, and then scrubbed his face and neck before rubbing the soap directly into his hair. Clean, he was finally going to be clean.
The younger Useless stood quietly by and Kura wondered what the boy thought of him. The iron around his waist had left deep purple bruises and he was covered in flea bites and soars, though the worst ones were on his wrists. Where the manacles are scraped and chafed there were raw, sore spots that were partly covered in dark scabs that looked black against his prison fair skin.
The well bred, high class boy had probably never seen anyone with injuries on his body like Kura's. Indeed, the boy was starring again, his brown eyes wider than Kura would have though possible and literally radiating innocence.
"Stop looking at me," Kura snarled and the boy blinked and then turned bright red, ducked his head and whispered an apology. Kura rolled his eyes and turned his attention back to his bath.
Once Kura had cleaned all the dirt and grim from his body and hair that he could, he knelt in front of the water, trying to find where the water would fall most gently on his wrists. His whole body was shaking with cold and it was only by sheer stubbornness that his teeth did not chatter.
Odion stopped the water and looked at Kura's wrists. "Leave them," he said. "I'll take care of them inside." He handed Kura another piece of sacking to dry off with and then gave him the clothes that the younger Useless had brought out. Kura looked at them and then searched for his own clothes. Useless the Younger was gathering them up and Kura jumped in front of him, stopping him.
"My shoes," Kura growled. It was growling or chattering teeth, and he was not about to appear weak in front of a child so much wimpier than himself.
"B-but," Useless stuttered, "The Magus said to burn everything."
"Not my shoes," Kura replied stubbornly, trying to look as dangerous as a wet, undressed, skinny boy can look. He had the shoes specially made for moving undetected in people's houses. The rest of the clothes he didn't care about and could be thrown to the flames with his blessing.
"You may have them," Odion said at last, releasing the Useless of deciding what to do "But if the magus insists, you will give them back."
"Fine," Kura agreed, rolling his eyes and searching for a dry place to get dressed. He put on the trousers first, tucking them into his shoes and tying the belt around his thin waist to keep them up. The shirt was next, followed by a short-sleeved, dark blue overshirt that came down to his thighs and didn't bind when he crossed his arms over his chest. He checked, just to make sure.
Kura paused, realized that his expression was almost happy, and looked over to where Useless and Odion where standing, watching him. Kura scowled. "I'm hungry," he said, and started back towards the inn.
In the dinning room, Kaiba and the other Useless were waiting, dinner set before them. Before Kura even saw it, his nose told him it was stew. And it smelled good. The younger Useless slipped by and took his seat at the table but Kura was stopped by Odion.
"I want to see your wrists first," Odion said. Kura sighed and scowled, but he had no choice, so he looked longingly at his food while Odion washed and dressed his wrists with the relief kit Kaiba had packed. It was a neat, clean job, and Kura was impressed, not that he'd say so.
"About time," Kura said, jerking his wrist out of Odion's hold so that he could eat.
"Not exactly the grateful sort, are you?" Useless the Elder said with a sneer.
"Why don't you just shove your dinner up your-" Kura was interrupted by a sharp poke in his side from Odion's spoon.
"That's enough," Odion said.
Kura grumbled to himself, but then realized how good his dinner was and turned all his energy to eating.
While Kura ate, he listened to the others around him talk and found that Useless the Elder was named Malik while Useless the Younger was Ryou. They were not brothers, but they were both apprenticed to Kaiba.
Kura ate until his head rested on the table, and even then he tried to continue. Finally he fell asleep with his head pillowed on his arm, the last bite of stew still in his mouth.
~TBC