SWEET VANILLA

4

Jien did spend the rest of the day with me, as it happened. We found his friends in the village square late that afternoon, their work for the day over. Jien hailed them with a loud, "Hey-ho, boys!" and strode towards them.

Kazuei turned around first, his narrow face split by a surprisingly broad grin, raising a hand in greeting. "Jien!" He saw me and his eyebrows shot up, impressed. He hadn't been at the clearing earlier. "Damn, Jien, who'd your kid brother murder?"

"Gojyo-babe!" Seiya called, bouncing up from his seat on the edge of the fountain. "How you feelin'?"

"This is nothin', guys," I laughed as we approached, gesturing with my good arm at my thoroughly bandaged body. I could feel the grin on my face, twin to Kazuei's. Jien's friends always made me feel better. I could only hope to be half as good and strong as they were, some day. "I don't feel it at all!"

"Sheee-it," Raiden whistled as we joined them. "Hear that, Jien? Your bro's so tough I bet he could drive nails with his pinky."

"Damn straight," Jien snorted. He ruffled my hair, and I made a face at him.

"Quit it, Jien."

"Better pay attention to him," Tando advised. "The punk'll scratch you to death. Bite your ankles clean through."

The conversation drifted around as easily as we did. Seiya's sister had just had a baby. Raiden's girlfriend was wailing on him for smoking. Tando'd just returned from a trip to a nearby town. Jien told aggrieved tales about working part-time at the local restaurant. And Kazuei…

"I got a kickass weapon at the Weaponmaster's," he bragged. "It's this long metal staff with blades at both ends. At one end there's a half-moon blade, and at the other is a wide flat blade. Molecular sharpness, gentlemen." His hands flowed in the air as he demonstrated. "The Weaponmaster said humans can't use it all."

Raiden glared at him with friendly resentment. Tando just laughed. "Neither can idiot youkai," he pointed out. "You give yourself a paper cut every time you get your paycheck."

"My ass! You just don't recognize talent when you see it."

"Well, you sound awfully sure of yourself. Let's see this weapon of yours," Raiden grumped.

Kazuei grinned like -- well -- a demon, and out of nowhere, it seemed, he produced the weapon.

In the molten sunlight it sparkled. The blades on both ends seemed surrounded by a soft haze, as if the air really had been split by their sharpness. Kazuei held the weapon like he knew how to use it. "It extends," he explained to his fascinated audience. "The blades shoot out if you nudge them with your power. The staff is hollow inside and the blades are connected by chain links."

"That sounds difficult," Jien said judiciously. " I can't believe the Weaponmaster let a clown like you walk out of the shop with it."

Kazuei twirled the weapon languidly, getting a dirty look from Seiya, who had to dodge what would have chopped off half his neck and the shaggy blue hair that was his pride. "Shit, Jien, I know how to handle this baby. It's hard at first, but once you know how to use it, it flows, it's magic, it's music, it's nothing at all."

"Such a poet," Seiya caroled.

"It doesn't sound hard at all," I scoffed. "You're just hamming it up because it's cool-looking."

"Yeah, punk?" Kazuei grinned and shoved the weapon at me. "Have a go."

"Gojyo," Jien said warningly, and I knew he was telling me not to aggravate my injuries.

"I'm fine," I said testily. "I'm not gonna break in half just grabbing the thing." Damn my stupid arm and my stupid paper ribs. I grabbed the weapon.

And staggered. The thing weighed a ton! Jien moved towards me as if to support me, and I scowled at him. He stopped, but he didn't look happy about it.

"Heavy?" Kazuei smirked.

"Considering I got a broken arm, I think I'm doing pretty well," I shot back.

He laughed and nodded in acknowledgment. Holding the weapon up was a strain, especially with just one arm, but I wasn't just gonna drop it. I roused my weak power in a rush that pinched my breath, and the half-moon blade shot out with a strength that knocked me onto the ground, hard. Raiden whirled to the side just in the nick of time. Tonda burst out laughing at the look of cross-eyed surprise on his face.

"Kid, you all right?" Kazuei knelt beside me on one side. I glanced to my other side, where Jien hovered.

"I'm fine," I said loudly. Actually, my side was aching and my arm hurt like my bones were made of shattered glass, but this was too cool. I grinned. "Kazuei, this is the most awesome thing I've ever seen!"

"It's my baby," Kazuei crooned. He winked at me. "Glad ya like it. You know I'd just break into tears if you disapproved."

"I know," I assured him. Seiya snickered.

Kazuei reached his hand out. "Much as I love to see you stumble around with it, you're gonna kill someone if you keep shooting those blades out without warning. Give it here, kid."

My face fell. "Aww, can't I mess around with it a little longer?"

"I think 'mess' best describes the probable results of keeping that weapon in your hands any longer," Tonda said primly.

"I think 'mess' best describes what you must see in the mirror every morning," I grumbled as I handed Kazuei his weapon back.

Raiden and Seiya laughed, and Raiden poked Tonda. "Hear that?" Raiden snickered.

Tonda just raised an eyebrow and gazed at me coolly. "And with that long hair of yours, the edge you have over me is what?"

Jien took my good arm and helped me up while I stared at Tonda, wide-eyed. He'd mentioned my hair and he just said it was long. That was it. Nothing about the half-breed mark.

Seiya waved his fingers in front of my face. "Yo? Gojyo-babe? Tonda's not that hot."

I bared my teeth at his fingers. "Get your hand out of my face or I'll do it for you."

"Seiya doesn't think I'm hot," Tonda wailed in a pouting falsetto. "Raiden! Defend my honor!"

"You have none."

"You suck balls, man." Tonda crossed his arms and pretended to sulk.

Raiden opened his mouth, and Seiya cut him off. "Don't do it, Raiden," he advised. "It's too easy."

Tonda mock-glared at Seiya. "That was the point. Gods know Raiden's wit needs sharpening."

Jien tried hard to keep a straight face. "Not in front of Gojyo, guys."

"I understand everything you're saying," I let Jien know. Of course, I didn't really.

Seiya whooped. "Corruption!"

Kazuei laughed. "Well, boys, I hate to say it, but I gotta head home. I'm starving."

"You're always starving," Raiden informed him. "It's a miracle you're not dead yet."

"No miracle." Kazuei thumped his chest. "I'm just one tough sunuvabitch."

"When I'm fully healed, I'm gonna learn how to use that weapon," I told Kazuei, staring straight up into his pale gray eyes. "And next to me, you're gonna look like somebody's grandma."

"I'm terrified already, bucko." Kazuei grinned. "Looking forward to it."

"You'll sure look amusing tangled up in the chains," Seiya mused.

"Bite me," I retorted. "No, don't. I'll get rabies."

Kazuei waved. "So long, gentlemen."

Eventually, Seiya, Raiden and Tonda drifted off as well. Seiya had to babysit, Raiden's girlfriend was a battle-axe according to all reports and would fry his ass if he were late, and Tonda, well, who knew about Tonda.

Jien and I headed back into the village. The late afternoon was dissolving into evening, and though the accord was unspoken, we knew that neither of us wanted to head back to Mother's house. Though I definitely preferred the village to the enclosed hell of Mother's four walls, I always felt self-conscious walking through crowds of people. And I always got stares. Always.

The curious gazes burned my skin. I heard a little girl's high voice pipe up behind me, "Ma, what happened to him? Is he on fire?" The mother shushed her.

That triggered a landslide of memories. My head echoed with remembered comments, less innocent than that of an ignorant little girl. A boy a bit older than me had scoffed, "Shit, what kinda guy wears his hair like that? Oh, it's a taboo kid, forget I asked." A woman had gasped, "Maki, look at that little kid's eyes! Do they look red to you?" An old guy surrounded by a posse of other old guys had grunted in explanation to a muffled inquiry, "Red hair and eyes -- yeah, halfbreed little shit. Don't know what it's doing in our village." An older woman had advised her daughter: "Don't join up with the youkai, dear, or your child will be marked just like that." She had pointed her knobby finger at me without shame.

I felt mortified and humiliated and so self-conscious that every cell in my body ached, and I shuffled along hoping to become invisible.

Out of nowhere, Jien stopped short. "Man, Gojyo," he said, sounding exasperated, "would you quit doing that?"

I looked up at him through my hair. "What?"

"That." He sighed, reached out, and tucked my hair behind my ear. "Your hair is your hair. Not a curtain, for the gods' sake, and not a veil. Don't you hang your head. You got nothing to be ashamed of."

I gave him a Look and wordlessly held up a hank of my hair for him to inspect. A girl a little bit older than me looked at us curiously, and I bitterly hoped she could see my hair as perfectly as she probably wanted to, gossipy bitch. The waning sunlight bathed the world in crimson and gold.

He made an impatient sound. "So you're half and half. So what? Kazuei looks like he's half octopus, half vampire bat when he's in full youkai form. No one cares. No one I know holds what you are against you."

"I know someone you know who holds it against me."

Jien's face softened as he looked at me, and he crouched down to be at eye level with me. "You'll hold your head up with pride yet, Gojyo," he said softly. "You don't realize it 'cause of Mom's damn brainwashing, but really, you're a great kid. The guys think you're the coolest little man they ever met, and they're not big fans of kids. But you, you're something else. You've always been special, you hear me?" He took some of my hair in one hand and tugged it gently. "Everyone who's not a fucking deranged psycho sees how beautiful you are. You're my punk kid brother, okay? Keep that in mind."

"Jien…"

He let go of my hair, patting it back in place, smoothing it down. Then he stood. "I know what'll help you out."