Passing Destinies
Chapter Four
"So then we got to Teska and Oishi showed me around the town, which was great because they had all these little shops by the road. One had these neat little glass containers, one had silver weapons, oh my gosh there was the coolest sword there and oh look! There's a dog chasing a squirrel outside," the orange haired teen rambled on, unknowing that his audience was half asleep.
"Does he ever shut up?" Echizen murmured.
The white mage shook his head sadly, "I'm afraid not. Unless he falls asleep, which I must admit happens at the most random times."
"You think you could make that random time now?" Kaidoh hissed.
Fuji chuckled at the comment. He scanned around the room before asking, "Now where has my brother run off too?"
"How do you do that with your eyes closed? It's so neat! Is it like x-ray vision? Or some form of magic? You're not a sorcerer are you?" Jiroh inquired, bouncing in his seat.
"It's a gift," was all the smiling brunette would say.
"I think Eiji is outside with the talking cat," Tezuka answered.
"That sounds like a dangerous combination," his lover remarked with a smirk.
"Well let's go find him! I'm sure he's in the middle of something cool! Like using your cat in some high stakes game of poker where Karupin meows once if the guy is bluffing and twice if he actually has a good hand. That would be awesome!" Jiroh squealed as he bolted out of the room.
"I'm about this close to ringing his neck. Do you really need another white mage?" Kaidoh remarked.
"My data shows that the kingdom has only three mages that are effective. One is in essence useless since she is not allowed to leave the castle. Another is injured and currently under bed rest and the other is currently on a mission in an undisclosed location," Inui informed.
"Undisclosed as in my father said go find some monsters to kill and he went off to find them. Who knows where he is now," Echizen murmured.
"We need Jiroh. I just hope I have time to train him before anything bad happens. That's always the difficult part when a new white mage is turned," Oishi explained.
"Is it hard to train a white mage?" Fuji asked.
"Not hard. Just takes a lot of discipline and focus. If you can't stay focused it really difficult to learn anything," the black haired individual stated.
"Oh cool! Everyone come quickly! This is so cool!" the new white mage screamed from outside.
"We're doomed," the prince muttered.
"I suppose we better go before he comes back to drag us all out," Syusuke said with a smirk. He made his way out of the room, then the building. The others followed closely behind him. As soon as they hit the street the hyperactive teen was upon them.
"Come on! You're too slow!" he complained, grabbing Fuji by his hand. He then dragged him across the road.
The group blinked in surprise at the large group of people surrounding the town square. In the center of the mass stood one lone individual; garbed in crushed velvet outfit, with several scarves of various colors wrapped around his waist and draping down his legs. His short gray hair was set perfectly, without a strand out of place. He had an air of self-importance around him, as if he were the best person in the world.
"Now ladies, there's plenty of me to go around. I'll gladly perform personally for any of you, for a small fee but of course. But trust me any small fee is worth it for perfection," the teen informed, proudly.
"Where here of all places does he have to show up?" Echizen exclaimed, rubbing his forehead to try and stop the headache that had already started. He began muttering, "Please don't let him see me, Please don't let him see me."
"Well what do we have here? My dear prince it has been awhile since I've visited the castle. I do believe this is in need of song," the flashy teen exclaimed, spotting the royalty in the crowd. The women squealed, all thoughts of the prince gone as the teen began to sing.
"Life has ending
Even lights of passion glowing
Ichidokiri no butai sa
Keep on dancing
Till the night turn into daylight
Tamerawazu ni You've got to break out
Life is fighting
Knowing no one never stay along
Subete wa jibun shidai." (1)
The audience cheered as the young minstrel continued to sing.
"He doesn't sing that well. Why is everyone cheering? (2)" Eiji whispered as he came up to his brother.
"So is this where you ran off to?" Fuji asked; glad to see that his brother was safe and sound.
"Yeah, I wanted to see what the commotion was about. Karupin told me that his name's Keigo Atobe and he's a traveling minstrel that likes to go to the castle a lot," the red head stated.
"My father seems to think he's the greatest singer in the world. I don't really see it. He just sucks up to me because I'm the prince," Echizen claimed.
"We should probably get out of here before he finishes singing. My data shows that the probability the people will come after us after the song is very high because the prince is here," Inui informed.
"Definitely a good idea," Tezuka agreed. He turned to move only to stumble as he tripped. He blinked in shock, his gaze on the ground. "Jiroh is on the ground."
"He fell asleep because of the singing," Kikumaru said with a laugh. Several of the others snickered at the comment.
"I can't help it if my voice is so soothing it can put even the most enthusiastic of individuals asleep," a smug voice said from behind them.
Eiji flushed as he realized the singer was behind him. He quickly darted behind his brother.
"I know everyone would just love to hear another song but I'm afraid I must part for a few minutes. I'll only be gone a short while. Feel free to wait for me because I promise I shall return to this very spot," Atobe announced to the crowd, "Kabaji, grab the boy."
"Whoa! He's huge!" Kikumaru exclaimed as the tall figure stepped up to them. He said nothing as he lifted the orange haired teen with no effort, throwing him over his shoulder.
"Shall we take our leave?" the singer stated and with a flurry of silk he turned, walking towards the closest inn.
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The teen gasped as he raced down the darkened street. The town was silence except for the random chirps from various insects. The world was a mass of noisy chaos for the exhausted individual however. He cried out as he tugged at his locks of curly black hair, "Why won't you leave me alone!"
"They're coming to get you." "They're going to hurt you." "Get away from there. Get away! They're going to drug you." "The drugs hurt so badly. Please make them stop." "I don't want to hurt anymore."
The slender male screamed as he dug his fingers into his head, forcing short nails as deep as they would go. He ripped at his skin, the blood slowly dripping from the small wounds.
"I have to get away. They'll leave me alone if I get away," he muttered. He winced as he glanced at his right arm, which was caked with dried blood. 'I think I got all the glass out.'
"Run away. Get away from there." "Get away from the bad place." "They're going to hurt us." "The drugs hurt! They hurt!"
"I already broke through the glass window to get out of the place. What more do you want? Leave me alone!"
He collapsed to the ground, his body demanding rest. 'I have to keep moving. If I get to the library I'll be safe. They'll quiet there.'
"Get up!" "What's wrong with you? Why are you resting?" "We don't have time for rest. They'll get you if you rest."
He cried, wiping tears from red eyes as he forced himself up. With shaky legs he continued down the road, finally sobbing when he reached the desired building. He threw himself against the locked door, banging on the wooden frame.
"Yanagi! Yanagi! Where are you?" he screamed, "Help me."
He curled up in a ball against the wall of the building, repeating the other's name over and over again.
"Oh Akaya," a voice said softly.
Kirahara cried out, throwing himself against the other male.
"They won't leave me alone. They wanted me to leave the hospital so I did. Make them leave," the teen whimpered, rocking against the warm figure.
"Come on. We'll get you inside. Get you into some dry clothes and you can spend the night," Renji stated, keeping his voice at the same gentle tone.
Kirahara nodded, sighing in relief at the silence in his head. He didn't understand why but ever since he had met the librarian the voices would quiet. When the quiet man held him the constant screams would completely vanish. Yanagi had claimed it was a gift that he was born with, an ability to calm even the most scared individual. 'Frankly I don't care what it is. I just need him.'
The librarian pulled the injured teen into his arms, chiding him about how light he felt. 'Why am I so fascinated with this fragile creature in my arms?' With one final look around the street to make sure the teen had not been followed Renji carried the distraught individual into the building.
TBC…
The song that Atobe was singing was one of his Image songs. The name of the song was Energeia and I got the lyrics from if anyone is interested.
Ok I just couldn't help myself. Everyone seems to love Atobe's singing voice from all the various CDs he has out but I really can't stand it.
Yay muses! giggles So I cleaned up the other chapters and changed some of the names. So hard to figure out PoT with all the last names thrown around… makes it hard to figure out what name to use half the time. But yay I finally got to put in Kirahara… I've wanted to write his part for awhile.
Nagi – I'd like to know how you're going to keep them all straight. Do you have a map there somewhere?