Sudden Impulse

By Red Guard

Disclaimer: I do not, did not and probably will not own Suikoden or any of the characters appearing in or associated with it. Konami owns the characters and events appearing in this work.

Author's Notes: Right, now to try my hand at a short and fluffy Suikoden story, I hope I do not do too badly.

Chapter 5: Disappearance

-----IIIII-----

Morning always broke early in the grasslands, and Fred Maximillian always rose at dawn. Regretfully, Chief Hugo wasn't much of an early riser and made that pretty clear when Fred tried to rouse him. Fred gingerly touched his forehead as he made his way outside; he hoped that the angry red mark would not turn into a dark bruise. As he made his way around the village, he reminded himself that Hugo threw a very good punch.

He spotted Luce, the jolly mother hen of the village, doing her rounds, and called out to her. "Luce? I'm sorry, but do you know where..."

She grinned broadly, a knowing twinkle in her eye. "Yumi? She's resting over there. I don't suggest that you bother her, it's quite early for you two to start playing around."

He felt a blush coming on. "Playing around? Me? Captain of the..."

"Yes, yes, I know," Luce interrupted him. "Now, excuse me, but I've got to finish off the morning chores."

He gaped in shock as the woman who interrupted his speech walked off. What was the world coming to? How could he, a great knight, not be able to finish his trademark speech? The indignity of it all.

He was still busy cursing under his breath when he reached Yumi's guest house. "Miss Yumi?" He whispered, worried that he might wake her.

"Lord Maximillian?" a soft voice replied. "Is that you?"

"Yes, it's me. May I come in?"

"Of course you can."

He pushed the door aside, and saw Yumi sitting at a table smiling at him. "Couldn't get any sleep?"

"I slept rather well." He took a look at the spartan room. With few decorations, the large bed dominated the area. A breeze wafted in through an open window, and he thought that he smelled the remains of a fire as he passed the fireplace. "Did you?"

"More or less," Yumi sighed.

He stood at the table and bowed low. "I wish to apologize for the way I treated you yesterday."

"What?" her jaw dropped in surprise. "What are you doing?"

"I have come to the realization that I treated you improperly. Please accept my apologies, Miss Yumi."

The shock was still evident on her face. "What are you apologizing for again?"

"I do not know what came over me, but when I attempted to assist you..."

"Oh," Yumi turned slightly pinkish. "That."

"My honor is sullied, and I know that I do not deserve your forgiveness, but please accept my sincerest apologies. I will forever be in your debt, Miss Yumi."

"Don't worry about it," she said softly. "It was my fault."

"I have ruined the name of the Maximillian Knights, Miss Yumi. I have tarnished the gleaming shine of our great banners, Miss Yumi. I have..."

"Lord Maximillian," a slightly amused voice interrupted him. "Do not worry about it."

"What?"

She threw her hands up in exasperation. "It's not that early is it? Forget about what happened yesterday. It was my fault."

"I do not understand, Miss Yumi," he was perplexed. "How could it possibly be your fault?"

Yumi shook her head slowly. "I don't think you'll be able to understand."

"Unacceptable."

"Lord Maximillian..." she began.

He reached out and took her hand. "Miss Yumi, make me understand."

"You won't..."

"I will," he insisted.

"You're not going to give up are you?" she whispered.

"No," he said firmly.

"Before I say anything, please do something for me."

"What's that, Miss Yumi?"

"Call me Yumi."

-----IIIII-----

Hugo groaned as he sat up. He hated mornings. He hated waking up at the crack of dawn, and most of all, he hated being woken up while he was still enjoying his sleep. But, on second thought, he should have at least told Fred to stop shaking him before he decided to throw a punch. Muttering a bevy of curses to himself, Hugo climbed out of his bed and began the long routine to prepare himself for the day ahead.

Soon enough, the Karayan chief found himself once again idly inspecting the village without any real intent in mind. He nodded to the blacksmith, gave an appreciate gesture to the troops that were training and smiled at the shopkeepers. Village life was as peaceful as ever.

"Hugo!"

He groaned. It was Luce, and she was going to torment him with the latest gossip.

"Hugo!"

He plastered a sweet smile on his face and turned to face the large woman. "Good morning, Luce."

"Good morning to you too, Hugo," she was more anxious than usual. "Do you know where our guests are?"

"No. I'm sorry."

"How unbecoming of a chief," Luce huffed indignantly. "You have guests in the village, and you don't even bother to figure out where they are?"

Hugo groaned. "I just got out of bed. I can't know everything the minute I rise."

"That's no excuse. You had better run along and find them," she ordered. "I'm cooking a lovely brunch to see them off with, and it would be horrible if they weren't around to enjoy it. Be a dear and tell them to come along as soon as possible."

Once again, in his short life as a chieftain, Hugo found him utterly run over and able to do absolutely nothing about it. "No problem," he muttered.

Luce gave him a big grin and ran off to continue with her work. Hugo just watched her in resignation.

-----IIIII-----

"I still don't understand."

"Fred..." Yumi buried her head in her hands. "How many times must I go through this?"

"What are you unhappy about?"

"My sister!" she almost jumped out of her chair as she shouted. "How many times must I say it? How could Yuiri do that?"

"What did you expect her to do?" Fred was being impossibly thick.

"She was supposed to stay in the village. She was a warrior, a leader, and I knew that her place was back home." Yumi sunk back into her chair. "Why did she do that?"

"But didn't you leave?"

"This isn't about me!" she felt the tears come. "This is about her! Why did she leave the village? I was the one who was supposed to find my way, not her! She had everything, and she left it all behind. For what? For the Zexens? For the Butcher? Why?"

"Yumi."

She didn't listen. She couldn't listen. "How could she do that? How could she betray everything that she stood for?"

"You know your sister," she felt his hand on hers. "Would she do that?"

"Of course not. Yuiri would never leave the village," she mopped her face with her hand. "But Yuiri would never wear Zexen clothing, and she would never allow herself be embraced by that Butcher. That was not my sister, that was..."

"Yumi, this isn't really about your sister, is it?"

"Of course it is!" she wailed. "My sister is the darling of the tribe. The future leader. The greatest warrior. My sister is everything, but now..." She sobbed loudly, unable to carry on.

"Yumi," Fred whispered as he brought his arm around her shoulders. "You're blaming yourself aren't you?"

"If I didn't leave. If I didn't insist on going. If I weren't so selfish, then..."

He pulled her into a tight embrace. "You can't blame yourself for what your sister did."

"If I had just stayed, then my sister would not have left. How can it not be my fault?" she buried her head into his chest. "I failed her again. I failed everyone."

"Yumi!" Fred placed his hand on her cheek and lifted her face towards his. "Listen to me. You are not a failure. You've done great things in your life, and you should be proud of that."

She tried to turn away, but his grip was firm.

"Your sister has chosen her own path, as you have chosen yours. So what if she has decided that she preferred to stay with the Zexens. You didn't tell her to do so. You have no guilt in the matter."

"But..."

"Yumi," he wiped her tears. "Believe in yourself. I do."

"Fred..." she whispered to him. His earnest gaze bored into her soul. "I don't know."

"Yes you do," they drew closer.

"Why?" she asked softy.

"Why what?"

She pressed her lips against his, and she felt him draw her closer. Thoughts of her sister, of the village and of her own guilt faded away.

Nothing much mattered any more.

-----IIIII-----

Hugo stood outside the guest house, still very peeved. "Chief Hugo, message boy extraordinaire," he muttered under his breath. "I love this job."

"Yumi?" he called.

Infuriatingly, there was no answer.

"Fred?" he tried.

And once again, only the whisper of the wind answered him.

"Yumi?" he repeated loudly. "Fred? Are you in there?"

His frustration was growing to astronomical proportions. He was about to barge into the house when he heard a massive crash. It came from within the house. Did something happen to Yumi? Did assassins make it into the village and attack his guests? Did Fred suffer a mysterious malady that caused him to suffer from random blackouts? There was only one way to find out.

"Don't worry! I'll help you!" for an instant, Hugo wondered whether charging in was the best course of action. After all, Yumi could be in an embarrassing state of undress. But, he was the Chief, and this was his village, so in theory, he could do anything that he wanted. And right now, he wanted to barge in. So he did just that.

What he saw when he entered the room was not entirely unexpected. Sweet, lovable Yumi was straddling the knight, and the position of Fred's hands were definitely encouraging her. Her hair was disheveled, her lips were swollen and her eyes were red. Fred,on the other hand, had most of his clothes pretty much ripped apart. Both were staring at him, with identically guilty looks.

"Well..." Hugo tried to bring himself to say something about their current situation, but failed miserably. "Luce is making a lovely meal for you. So after you've finished, please come down and enjoy brunch." He grinned at both of them and slowly backed out of the house. "I'm sorry if I spoiled the moment. Please carry on. I'm sure the whole village will understand. Do enjoy yourselves."

With that, he turned around and dashed away.

Yumi's agonized wail pierced the morning air.

-----IIIII-----

"Chief Hugo!" one of his guards came running to him.

"Can't you see I'm busy?" Hugo took another stab at the huge piece of meat that lay before him. "Go and bother someone else."

"Many people have agreed that we are going to be visited by the cataclysm."

"Whatever gave them that idea?" he carved another potion out and laid it on the plate.

"There was an evil omen this morning."

"What was it?" Hugo made a mental note to add 'Brunch Server' and 'Meat Carver' to his list of occupations that he had.

"A banshee-like scream split shattered the peace and tranquility of our morning," the guard quivered visibly. "Everyone I talked to heard it. It must be a warning from the spirits, or it could be the mark of a demon. We are in grave danger."

"Oh that." Hugo remarked as he threw a bunch of potatoes onto the dish. "Don't worry about it too much. Nothing will happen to the village."

"Are you certain, Chief Hugo?"

"Of course!" he placed his fist across his chest. "I, your Chief, guarantee that the shriek that you heard this morning will never, ever affect the fortunes of this village."

The guard was suitably awed. "Thank you, great chief. I will tell the others now."

Hugo watched the guard run off and shook his head. Maybe he had been too hasty. But who would have expected Yumi and Fred to be ravishing each other in the guest house? Oh, the stories that he would tell those who would dare to stay the night in this house.

As if on cue, he heard Fred's voice. "Chief Hugo!"

"Yes, Fred?" he pried his attention away from his kitchen duties and faced the knight. The very worried knight. "I see you managed to find a change of clothes."

"That's not important!" Fred pantomimed. "Yumi's missing!"

"I'm sure she just went for some morning air. You how know those Alma Kinan are."

"You're not listening," the knight reached out, grabbed Hugo and shook him vigorously. "I've searched the whole village for her. Her bag is not here. Her clothes aren't here. And most importantly, she is not here! Yumi's gone!"

"Ah," Hugo tried to make sense of this disastrous situation amidst all the shaking. "This is not good."

-----IIIII-----

Author's Note : Fun eh?

Once again, sorry for the late update, but eh... at least I'm still writing right?

Nothing much to add at this stage so err... I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and will wait anxiously for the next one in the not so far future... well... let's hope so anwyays.

Thanks to GreatLight432 for pre-reading my work. His hard work makes this piece a million times better.

Anyways, please remember to email me at red UNDERSCORE aurum AT yahoo DOT com for any suggestions, critiques, reviews and the like. Please don't flame me, I have a fragile ego.