Walking back from school, the two boys wrestled playfully with each other, a game that soon took on a hint of friendly fighting. Sohryu laughed as Touda lunged at him, then grabbed a handful of muddy ground and flung it at his friend. Touda was too slow to evade the projectile and it splattered on his chest.
"Hey!" he cried, laughing, and picked up his own mud, chasing after the giggling dragon.
He took aim at his target.
He launched the mud ball.
Sohryu ducked.
The mud hit dead center.
And Touda froze.
Golden eyes widened in shock and horror as he took in the mud dripping down an expensive robe. A tremor of fear raced through his body as his eyes traveled up the tall form of the Protector of the East, took in cold, gray eyes in a stony face.
"Touda," the dragon rumbled.
All blood left his face.
He had just hit the God with a mud ball
"Dad!" Sohryu cried and ran back to where his father was confronting his best friend.
"What shall I do about this?" the older dragon asked rhetorically.
"It wasn't his fault!" Sohryu called and stood between them, facing his father with a fearless expression. "It was my idea."
"You planned to get a mud ball onto my ceremonial robes?"
"No! We were just playing and I ducked. I didn't see you. It's my fault, not Touda's!"
"So what do you suggest should the punishment be?"
Sohryu balled his hands into fists. "It was only a game, father!"
"If it hadn't been mud but something more harmful? What then? If you are to blame, then you must take responsibility for your actions, son."
"Dad..."
"I'd say a month of house arrest and no dessert would be enough, don't you think?"
"A month?! Dad!"
Touda listened to the conversation, frozen, terrified, but when he heard the plaintive cry, he swallowed his fear for a moment.
"Sohryu's not to blame," he stammered, voice cracking. "I threw the mud. I should have seen there was someone there. I'm to blame."
He looked at the much taller man and tried not to let his absolute terror show. Stern gray eyes regarded him thoughtfully.
"Well, then I've to think about your punishment, too. But for now there is some matter that needs my attention, and I'll be late because I need a change of clothes." The elder Sohryu turned and walked away.
Touda cringed at the words and bit back his despair.
"A month!" Sohryu muttered, kicking at the muddy ground. "Damn!"
Touda didn't hear much more. He walked back into the palace in a trance. He entered his room, still muddy, and crawled into the wardrobe, uncaring that he soiled some of the other clothes again.
And then the tears broke lose.
They spilled out, ran down his cheeks unchecked, and he didn't even try to stop it.
He had messed up. He was going to get punished. It would be harsh because he, a simple shikigami, had attacked the Protector of the East.
They would make him leave.
They would throw him out.
Touda had no idea where his father was and he would be alone.
Crying into the expensive silk, sniffling, he sank into himself with despair.
He didn't want to leave! He liked it here. He had a friend in Sohryu. Outside these walls there would be nothing. No family, no friends.
He had to make up somehow.
Somehow...
Touda had had to gather all his courage to slip into the huge room, a room that dwarfed him, a room he had been to only once. It had been frightening back then, too. Now it was terrifying him even more.
There was no one there. The servants that filled these halls by day had retired and only one man had remained. The Protector of the East was sitting on his throne-like chair, frowning at papers as Touda crept closer. Suddenly the dragon looked up and the boy froze.
Gray eyes fixed the small intruder with a hard look, then eyebrows climbed in surprise.
"Touda?"
Touda swallowed several times, trying to suppress the urge to run. Even if he did, he had no place to run to. This was his only chance. He had learned enough about honor and choices from Genbu's lessons and the books he loved so much to know that a warrior had to stand his ground. He had dreamed of being a warrior one day.
"Why are you here?" the elder Sohryu asked.
Small hands curled into fists and he bit his lip as his body refused to stop shaking.
"I..." he croaked. "I came to apologize, my lord. It was my fault your robes were dirtied and you were late for a meeting." The words came, not very strong but firm, and he tried to meet the fearsome gaze with as much courage as possible. "I ask you not to punish your son. He did nothing wrong. It was my fault. I will take my punishment, but..." He swallowed as the firmness made way for a plea. "Please don't send me away!" he cried.
Sohryu looked at the small shikigami, took in the tremors, the fierce intention to see this through like a grown-up, and part of him had to smile at the courage this little one displayed. Huge golden eyes pleaded with him to accept the apology as the words came forth, but when the boy asked him not to send him away, something inside of him froze.
"Send you away?" he repeated, stunned.
Tears swam in those serpentine eyes. For a child that harbored such potential, such power, he appeared almost fragile. Sohryu had seen the terror in the boy the day he had been brought in this very place by his father, the man pleading with the Protector of the East to accept his son as a protégé. He had been scared by his son's potential and had asked the highest of all shikigami for help.
Sohryu had sensed the developing aura and so had Genbu. His fellow God had only nodded at him to accept. The child was powerful, probably a dormant high level shikigami, slowly developing fierce powers, but all that paled compared to the raw despair of a five-year-old who was afraid to be alone.
Sohryu rose and walked over to the boy, who was shaking so hard, he was hardly able to stop himself any more. A tear spilled over and it broke the dragon's heart to have instilled such fear in him.
"I'm not going to send you away, Touda," he said softly as he knelt down before the child.
"But I made a mess! Your robe... and the meeting..." Touda whimpered.
He reached out and stroked over the boy's black hair. "The robe has been cleaned and the meeting wasn't that important. And it can only start when I'm there, so it's not like I missed anything."
Touda sniffled, still fighting the tears.
Sohryu wrapped an arm around the slender child and pulled him close. "It's okay, Touda. I'm not angry. You can stay here as long as you want."
It was like a dam breaking and Touda cried into the silky robes. Sohryu just held him, then picked him up and rose. Small arms automatically went around his neck and he smiled. He carried the child back to his room, ignoring the startled looks from the servants. When he opened the door, he looked into a guest room, not a child's room. There was hardly a sign that this was Touda's realm. There were books, but no toys. The bed was neatly made, but no toys either. Compared to his son's room, which was overcrowded with toys, this was spartan.
"So, this is yours, hm?"
Touda sniffled and looked up, then nodded.
"You like it here?"
Those wide, golden eyes evaded his gaze and Sohryu gave a rumbling laugh.
"I take that as a no. Have you ever been to my son's room?"
A nod.
"You like it?"
Another nod.
"Slept over?"
Now it was a negative.
"Why?" the elder dragon asked carefully, pushing back some black strands from the tear-stained face.
"It's Sohryu's room. This is mine," Touda mumbled.
"How about you two share a room?"
The boy stared at him with wide eyes.
"But... it's Sohryu's room. You can't make him move into mine!" he protested.
"I was more thinking along the lines of having you move into his. There's plenty of space and you two are such good friends..."
Touda swallowed.
"How about we ask Sohryu?"
And he was off to his son's room, which as just a few feet down the corridor. Sohryu was naturally there, since he had arrest, and he jumped up when his father carried in Touda.
"Touda?" he cried.
Sohryu set the boy down and his son hugged him.
"You okay?"
Touda sniffled a yes.
"I was thinking, son," the Protector of the North said and got his son's attention, "that Touda's very lonely in his room, and you two are such good friends, you could share this room."
And Sohryu beamed. "Yes! That's so great!"
"It also means you share the house arrest, but since it's two now, we cut it down to two weeks."
"And dessert?" Sohryu whined.
His father chuckled. "Two weeks," he said and turned, leaving the two boys alone, hearing a huffed 'damn' from his child. He closed the door behind himself, then thoughtfully looked at the lacquered wood.
Touda had shown great courage, but he had also given Sohryu a peek into a wounded soul. The boy had no idea who or what he was, what power he had, what kind of shikigami he could be. He was scared, but also brave.
He smiled a little.
The future would be interesting.
Days turned into weeks, turned into months and finally years. Seasons changed and so did the two boys who had become fast friends. Both were growing up, studying together under Genbu and Rikugo, and Touda was like a dried out well hungrily looking for more knowledge.
Knowledge is the only thing no one could take from him. It was something he had been taught early on, even before he had come to this magnificent palace. Worldly possessions could be stolen, could be lost, could be taken from him. The knowledge was in his head; it was his alone. Throughout his childhood he had become a survivalist, a hardened boy who didn't trust easily. He had come to trust some people now, he wanted to have friends and he liked Sohryu a lot. He was like a brother he had never had.
Still, they were very different, starting from their status at birth.
And above all hovered the knowledge the young shikigami had that concerned his true form.
Touda, now a young man of nearly sixteen, was torn between two worlds. One was dark and horrifying, a mirror of his fear concerning his other form. The trauma of his childhood was still strong and he hadn't changed his shape ever since that terrifying moment so many years ago. After Sohryu's question when they had been little, no more had followed. Either his friend had forgotten about it or he had simply decided not to question him any further. Whatever it was, Touda was glad.
But things were still changing, ever-changing, and the biggest change was about to happen...