Disclaimer: The fan fiction writer sat in front of the computer as she heard an "aroo" from beside her desk. Looking over to the where the bark originated she sighed, "I know, Koroku, I do not own you, Suikoden, or any of its characters. You're still Konami's and this is just fan fiction," with that, the dog nodded in approval and wandered out of the room.
Description: Cecile calls Koroku to morning guard duty...
Guard Duty
Koroku and Cecile
Guest starring: Thomas and Albert.
Koroku happily dug a hole in the endless grassy field hundreds of miles away from Budehuc Castle. There were no knights, no horses, no cats, nothing but the little dog and large animal bones just lying about for him to gnaw on and bury where ever he wanted. This simple field was the stray's paradise and no one else was there to take it away from him. There were no humans to wake him up from his naps, no one to chase him away when he wanted to take a swim, and no one to question his choice of bundle color. It was-
"Good morning, Lieutenant Koroku!" Cecile shouted into the small wooden house with her armor reflecting the morning sun. "It's time to guard the front gate." she said with a smile knowing that she had finally found Koroku before he started his daily adventures around the castle.
Koroku, caught off guard by the early intrusion and disappointed that his dream was not reality, opened one light amber eye and gave a piercing bark at the knight in oversized armor. He was usually up and wandering the castle halls by the time Cecile came around to call him to duty, but today he unfortunately did not wake up soon enough to avoid her. If it was last week guarding the castle would have not bothered the dog, but that was before his barks at the front gate scared Lady Chris' horse into causing a horrible domino effect that ended with three bruised knights and a hysterical white tornado of a horse that would never forgive him; Cecile had forgiven him far too soon, however.
"Come on, Koroku! This time nothing bad is going to happen at the gate, I promise. I even brought you breakfast." Cecile then backed away from the little doorway and revealed a bowl of fresh dog food. She knew the little caramel dog could never resist a free meal.
At the notion of breakfast, Koroku opened his other eye and dashed out of his shelter towards the stone bowl with an ecstatic bark. Watching his tail wag like a sped up grandfather clock, Cecile took a seat on the tavern doorstep. Once Koroku was full he gave a quick bark in Cecile's direction and bounded into the girl's lap.
"I take it you're done?" Cecile asked with a smile, the animal gave a yelp and human-like nod in response. "Then, let's get to work," Cecile said, standing as she gently sat Koroku down on the ground, and began her march to the front gate. Koroku followed as his tail continued to wag; he had forgotten entirely about the prior front gate incident.
With Koroku in tail, Cecile came to a sudden stop before the gate and glanced about as if someone was already waiting to sneak past her. Koroku, nearly running into his captain, made a slight whimpering sound and blinked in confusion.
"Aroo?" Koroku asked, as he backed up, tilting his head inquisitively.
Cecile pointed to her left, "Stand over in the grass, lieutenant," Cecile ordered in her best commanding voice as she took the opposite side. Koroku complied; he never liked it when Cecile used that tone of voice.
"Now, stand up straight and don't move around too much so you look imposing," looking at her underling critically she nodded once Koroku achieved the proper effect. "There you go! Er, I mean, nice work lieutenant! That's an improvement from last time."
Koroku gave a single quick park in acknowledgement of Cecile's approval and looked out towards the grasslands alertly, well, as alertly as a lazy stray dog could in bright sunlight that caused him to pant uncontrollably. But, as Cecile stood vigilant in her shining armor, Koroku, having nothing to entertain himself with, began to feel his eyes droop. After a few minutes of desperately trying to hold the pose Cecile had directed, the vagabond dog gave up the effort and leaned forward on his white belly and dozed off in the grass, slowly beginning to revisit his dream field.
Long after her canine companion started to nap, Cecile realized that her second in command was not minding his duties to the castle. "Koroku!" she tapped her pike on the ground in attempt at waking the slumbering dog. "Attention, lieutenant!" Cecile ordered in her commanding voice appalled at the dog's unknightly behavior. "ATTEN-TION!" she repeated.
Koroku opened his eyes and stretched his limbs nonchalantly, enjoying the dirt beneath his paws, not at all shaken or stirred to action any more than usual.
"Stop fooling around! Guarding the gate is a serious and important responsibility. If we don't stop those…," Cecile surveyed the area and noticed an odd sight that she could not believe, "those," Cecile blinked and rubbed her eyes as Koroku sat up and followed the girl's gaze, "Harmonians?" Cecile said questioning her own vision.
"Aroo!?" Koroku replied as he saw the four approaching figures, three clad in armor and the forth wearing an all too familiar long white coat that made the dog growl. The dog remembered the coat as one Cecile told him to look out for once before.
Koroku carefully walked to the center of the gate way as Cecile tried to determine what to do with the trespassers once they arrived. The girl sighed realizing she would just have to do her best and stand tall until she had proper instruction from Master Thomas on what to do with the bunch. It was odd seeing Harmonians in Budehuc, there had not been any around since the masked bishop's defeat months ago, and what they were doing in the grasslands now was a mystery to Cecile. Even more perplexing was what Albert Silverberg was doing with Harmonian escorts. Albert had been in league with plans to destroy a true rune not too long ago, which was not deserving of anything other than shackles, something Cecile noted he did not have.
"Aroo?" Koroku called out as the Harmonians stopped at the main gate.
One of the helmed figures looked down puzzled at what he heard, never had a dog seriously asked him a question before but this one clearly made an attempt at it. "What is the meaning of this? A dog is guarding Budehuc?" he asked, turning to his companions. The other knights began to chuckle as Koroku held his ground.
"No, knights guard Budehuc and that dog you speak of is a knight and also the second in command!" Cecile replied holding her weapon out threateningly.
"I knew Budehuc was an odd place, but surly they can do better than a little girl and a dog as their first line of defense." The red headed Silverberg said as he made his way in front of his armored escorts. "It's good to see you, Miss Cecile."
"It's Captain Cecile to you, and what business do you have at Budehuc Castle, Albert?" the small girl asked not at all impressed as she looked straight into the much taller man's dark green eyes. "Destroyers like you are not welcome here! You should be in a dark hole somewhere where you can't hurt anyone!"
"The Four Destroyers were defeated and I have moved on, presently I have been most unfortunately stationed here as an emissary between Budehuc and Holy Harmonia, Captain." Albert smirked slightly at his extra emphasis on Cecile's title which made the girl frown and Koroku growl warily.
"I don't believe you." Cecile plainly stated.
"Believe it. I was sent here by Bishop Sasarai himself." The strategist stated as if it was an important mission, but truthfully Sasarai just wanted to keep this particular strategist out of Harmonian affairs. "I also have papers directly from the bishop." Albert added, taking an envelope with the official seal of Harmonia out of his coat pocket and handing it to the teenage knight.
Cecile looked over the envelope's seal and bit her lip, it looked authentic enough, but she was not the one to judge. She turned to her left and addressed her ally, "Koroku, take this to Master Thomas, he's might be in the meeting room." She then kneeled beside the dog and placed the envelope between his parted teeth. The Harmonian guards chucked slightly at the thought of the dog's saliva upon the official document, chuckles that caused Cecile to scowl even more. With the paper firmly within his grasp, Koroku pushed himself to a run towards the castle.
"Are you going to keep us from the castle until your second in command returns, or can we go deal with more important matters without further delay, Captain?" Albert asked as he pushed his bangs back from his face. He had again put a mocking infliction on the titles just to frustrate Cecile.
"You're not permitted inside until Master Thomas gives you permission; it's as simple as that."
"And how long will that take?" Albert asked, looking back to the knights standing behind him.
Cecile tried to make herself look taller as she took a quick look at the knights and then shifted her eyes back to the speaker. "As long as it needs to, Master Thomas is not going to let someone like you just walk in! You tried to blow up the continent! I won't forget that, and no one else will either!"
"That mutt had better hurry up then," one of the guards whispered to his peers, much to Cecile's disgust. "This place is giving me a headache."
Koroku ran as fast as his four legs allowed towards the castle, he even ignored the calico cats that were running about, which was no small feat for the easily distracted canine. Climbing the outer stairs two at once, Koroku reached the massive wood doors of Budehuc castle in record time and pushed them open with all his weight. The doors scarcely missed slamming on his tail as he entered the tiled room with newly repaired walls. He made his way into the meeting room with the same urgency. Koroku always found the dimly lit meeting room exciting, the large statues of knights and expensive paintings intrigued him, especially for a short dog that saw the world from the ground up. Refocusing on the matter at hand, Koroku easily found Thomas in his usual attire sitting at a mahogany desk looking over a series of scrolls. The master of the castle looked up in confusion at what appeared to be an invisible ghost entering his office, he soon realized otherwise as he heard the panting of a familiar dog at his side.
"Koroku? What are you doing in here? Is something wrong with Cecile?" Thomas asked seriously, Koroku had never come to him out of playfulness and Thomas never expected any different from him. Rightfully so, Thomas reasoned as he noticed the official Harmonian seal between the dog's clamped jaws, "Oh my! What have you got in your mouth? Is that for me?"
Koroku gave a weak whimper at the barrage of questions; he had already become confused after the first two, but still willingly gave up the envelope to the just as frazzled Thomas. Opening the envelope, and completely ignoring the dampness of its contents, Thomas read the note to himself, noted Bishop Sasarai's signature, and rubbed his head to get his thoughts in order. Why would someone like Albert be the emissary from Harmonia to Budehuc, he had been an enemy of both places just a few months ago!
"Oh well," Thomas said aloud, "it's not my place to judge who Holy Harmonia employs, as long as everything turns out all right in the end there can't be anything wrong with him being here."
"Aroo?" Koroku said in confusion. Quickly ignoring what Thomas said, Koroku walked behind the master of Budehuc and gave him a nudge towards the side door, Cecile was still waiting outside with the Harmonians and this seriously bothered the canine. If there was anyone Koroku cared for at Budehuc, it was Cecile. Koroku had also taken an instant disliking to the new Silverberg, of course Caesar's stories had not gone totally unheeded by the dog, who listened far more than many realized. Koroku began to nudge Thomas' leg even more.
"Oh? Is Cecile still out there with them, Koroku?" Thomas asked, nearly falling over backwards as the dog pushed him in the opposite direction. Koroku gave a steady bark in reply, and ran ahead of the well dressed teen but stopped short of opening the door to make certain the human was following. "Go on, I'm following you my good fellow," Thomas stated in acknowledgment of the dog's obvious spurring. Koroku then happily opened the door and led the way.
"How long does it take the dog to get from one place to another? I honestly think it would have been much more efficient if you had delivered the letter yourself," Albert said with his eyes on the now expressionless Cecile, who ignored his remark entirely and kept her gaze straight ahead. Even the three Harmonian knights had begun to admire Cecile's persistent professionalism; she had spent over ten minutes now without saying a single thing to Albert's constant comments.
Within minutes a sharp bark came from towards the castle causing Cecile to immediately turn and drop her stone face for a smile as she saw the dog with Master Thomas straggling behind. Her smile lessened as Albert and the Harmonian knights entered the gate without permission, however.
"Greetings, Master Thomas, I am Albert Silverberg the representative from Holy Harmonia. Bishop Sasarai personally assured me I would be welcome here, but your captain of the guard has already done quite the opposite," Albert stated flatly as he walked towards Thomas, followed by a low growl from the canine standing nearby.
"I know who you are and I-I'm sorry about that, I think, I mean, I'm sorry about you feeling unwelcome; but you'll be welcome here now that all the paper work has been taken care of. Right, Cecile?" Thomas asked as Cecile forced her way past two of the armored Harmonians.
"Yes…," Cecile lied through her teeth angrily.
Sensing Cecile's dislike of Albert, Koroku walked up to the red haired strategist's shoes and parked twice noisily. Albert took a few steps back and looked down at the dog with a harsh glare. Cecile stifled a giggle at the exchange and went back to her emotionless expression.
Thomas looked at Koroku in disappointment at the choice of action, "That's enough Koroku, Albert is a guest," as much as Thomas hated to admit it, Albert was indeed a guest of Budehuc with Thomas' very own guarantee. "Cecile, please take Koroku back to his house for the day," the seriousness of Thomas' statement made the Harmonian knights snicker, "and, the rest of you can follow me, please."
Albert was tempted to kick the dog before he followed his host but decided against it to keep in good graces with Thomas. It seemed that Caesar would not be the only pest to deal with in Budehuc Castle after all. Thinking of Caesar, Albert sneered in realization that Sasarai had indeed picked a cruel and fitting punishment for the otherwise cool headed strategist; forcing him to live with animals of all sorts just to prove his loyalty to Harmonia was an idea Albert might have devised for someone else but not himself. The bishop certainly knew what he was doing.
Koroku hastily followed Cecile to escape the piercing gaze of the calculating strategist; the dog also went in hopes of getting something to eat. Poor Koroku had more than enough of guarding the front gate and would take note to get up even earlier from then on to avoid Cecile's morning calls. With a relieved bark as he reached his plain wooden house, Koroku turned to the armored teen in hopes of more free food. Much to the dog's disappointment, Cecile instead left him with a pat on the back and a mischievous smile.
"I'll be back with food in less than an hour for you, Koroku. Right now, I'm going to talk with Caesar," she said as she walked towards the castle doors.
Koroku tilted his head to the side as he watched Cecile walk away and let out a soft "aroo". Tomorrow he would have to find someone else to keep him company; he did not want anything to do with guarding the front gate again. Curling into a furry ball, Koroku lay in his dog house, whimpered as he pawed at his green bundle, and slowly drifted back to sleep.
Author's Note: Well, there's my first attempt at fan fiction. I hope it's not too awful.