Chapter Five

The Midnight Castle

It was slow going, picking our way through the thick underbrush without a light. Our only guides were the faint twinklings of the stars and the swollen, gibbous moon through the canopy of leaves. The boy (who had finally introduced himself as Yugi Amane) was still feeling weak, leaning on me just as much as I was leaning on him. We were an odd, broken pair, but at last, both scraped, bruised, and breathing heavily we arrived at a pair of wrought iron gates, gleaming black as obsidian in the moonlight.

"Hallo!" Amane called, cupping his hands over his mouth, his breath puffed out in frosty plumes, I shivered in my sparse clothing.

"Who goes?" an unfamiliar male voice answered back. I squeezed Amane's arm, feeling nervous.

"It's just me, Aoi," he called back, I started at the name.

"Aoi?" I asked.

"Aoi Akane-san," he said, in a much more courteous tone than he had addressed the man earlier, "he's our guard, more or less."

I didn't dare ask what 'more or less' meant, I was too focused on the name; our languages and monikers were astoundingly similar. Our differences were glaring, but moreso was our sameness. What other things might we have in common?

"I have a friend named Akane Aoi-san," I said, as a young man with bright orange hair appeared on the other side of the gates, holding a lantern in one white gloved hand.

"You do?" Amane asked. The gates clanked and squealed as the orange haired boy unlocked them, "how is it spelled?"

"I…" I hesitated, what did he mean 'spelled'? "I don't know" I said, hanging my head, he gave my shoulder a comforting pat.

"That's alright," he said, "no need to be embarrassed."

"Who's this?" asked the orange haired boy called Akane.

"This is Yashiro Nene-san, she's been hurt, can you call Yako?"

Akane frowned, scanning me with large, brick brown eyes, after apparently determining me not a threat, he turned smartly on his heel and strode off towards the castle. Amane offered me an awkward smile, and we headed through the gate together.

"He's not as gruff as he seems," he said, not sounding sincere in the least.

Amane led me through the "courtyard" a large stone platform lined with crawling weeds and dead plantlife, there was a dusty 'fountain' in the shape of a trident in the center of the courtyard. And in the corner, shrouded in creeping vines was a brick well, crumbling from age. It was a shadowy, derelict place. Our steps echoed on the stone, bouncing off the high stone walls. He led me up the steps to the castle door, and pushed it open with some effort. A shaft of dirty yellow light spilled out over the courtyard. The scent of age, and dust and mold nearly knocked me off my feet. These people were living in ruins. The floor was covered in some sort of thick carpeting that felt almost sticky under my bruised feet, but the further I went into the castle, the tidier it got. Soon we were walking along warm crimson and gold hallways with swirling patterns of landflowers that I didn't know the names of.

"This is beautiful," I murmured, awestruck. I turned in a slow circle, taking it all in.

The structures we had underwater could be beautiful, we even had a cathedral in the pacific, but there was something almost magical about landfolk architecture.

"Thank you," said Amane, shoving his hands deep into his pockets, he lowered his voice; "I hate it here."

"You do?" I asked, surprised, "why?"

He only shook his head in response, and hurried down the hall. He led me into a large room and shut the door behind him. He leaned against the door frame, a mischievous smile on his face, he raised a finger to his lips.

"There's no such thing as privacy here," he whispered, "I should be more careful of the things I say, the walls have ears you know," he let out a short, humorless chuckle.

"They do?" I asked, horrified. He laughed harder at that.

"You're a riot, Yashiro-san," he said.

"What are you being careful of?" I asked, hastily changing the subject. He leaned forward, putting his mouth very close to my ear, his warm breath tickled my skin, he smelled like sea-salt, and under that something warm and spicy.

"It's my brother," he whispered, his lips grazed my skin and I shivered, he had pulled back, looking tentatively at the door. "I hope he's still asleep."

"Who is Yako-san?" I asked, sitting on the bed, it was surprisingly soft, and I gasped a little as I sunk into it.

"She's obnoxious, and…" he cocked his head to the side, "..she's here."

As if on queue, a beautiful woman with sandy blonde hair bustled in. She wore a sweeping pink and red robe with long sleeves that nearly drug on the floor. Her hair was tied up in a neat little pile at the base of her neck with pink ribbon. Her eyes were wide, but not friendly, her painted lips were twisted into a scowl. She looked me up and down, then made a small, dismissive noise, as if she disapproved of what she saw. Her gaze flickered to Amane.

"You called for me?" she dipped her head in the facsimile of a bow, without any of the regard the motion would normally infer.

"Yes, Yashiro-san here is hurt, she was in a ship wreck and her legs…"

"Alright," the woman cut him off, waving her hand dismissively, "I can handle it from here," she turned to me, her eyes like amber flecks of ice. "where is the pain?"

"Oh, um…" truth be told, the only pain was from the bruises and scrapes on the bottoms of my feet. I didn't have any serious injuries, nothing that would warrant serious medical attention. But I didn't want to anger this woman,

"I think my ankles are where the most damage is." I said. I snatched a glance at Amane, who was inching quietly towards the still open door.

"Let me see," Yako knelt down before me, and gently lifted my left leg, "how strange," she murmured, "it's very swollen, but there's no discoloration. how were you hurt?"

"It-it was a shipwreck…"

"I understand that, but what specifically happened to your ankles?"

"I don't…" my head was spinning, I was beginning to feel nauseous.

"She may have some head trauma," said Amane, on his way out of the door.

"Where do you think you're going?" Yako stood up and put her hands on her hips. Amane gave her a guilty smile.

"To bed?"

"Tsukasa is already awake, there's no point sneaking back to bed now," she said bluntly, turning back to me.

"I think the best thing we can do here is get you washed and then I'll bandage you up," she said, "you might as well watch her while I go run a bath." she smoothed out the skirt of her robes. "I'll be back soon." she departed without any further ado, gliding through the door as silently as she had come. Amane shuffled back into the room, looking embarrassed,

"Well, this night has certainly been eventful," he said with a wan little smile.

"Is Tsukasa your brother?" I asked, he only nodded, leaning up against the door frame, looking tired. Exhaustion usually ages a person, but it left him looking like a sleepy little kid. "You aren't close?"

"We're very close, he smothers me," he said, "it's not his fault it's just…" he erupted into another fit of coughs, on hand covering his mouth, the other fisted at his chest. When he was finished he gave me a guilty little smile.

"You're not well," I said.

"No, I'm not." he gave me a shy little half smile, "but that's no secret." I dropped my gaze to my hands, unsure of what to say. Amane shuffled over and sat next to me on the bed, crossing his legs. "Don't concern yourself with my health though, Yashiro-san, I'm fine, it's you I'm worried about," He looked at me out of the corner of his eye, "do you know if there were any other survivors, of the shipwreck I mean?"

"I don't...I don't know, I kind of blanked out there I guess, I just found myself here…" because a strange landboy collapsed and stupid Nene had to play savior. I wasn't pulling off this human thing very well, I was quite literally a fish out of water.

There was a soft knock at the door, and Amane went stiff beside me. "Come in," he called, his voice cracking on the words. The other boy stepped in, the one with the sunset eyes and the sinister smile. He didn't look so sinister now, just sleepy and confused. He stood in the doorway, rubbing his eye and yawning.

"What happened Amane?" he asked, his gaze flickered over me, but just for a second.

"There was an accident," he said, "I found Yashiro-san here collapsed on the beach," he turned and gave me a look that warned me not to correct him, "she was in a shipwreck."

"A shipwreck?" the boy, Tsukasa looked at me surprised, "that's horrible, are you okay?"

This is not at all what I had expected from the boy that had haunted my nightmares with his menacing glare for the last few nights. He was small, and childish, and completely non threatening, and yet…

"I'm sorry to have woken you," said Amane, looking more submissive than I had yet seen him. Tsukasa smiled affectionately at him.

"What were you doing out so late, A-ma-ne~? You know it's not good for your health."

"I…"

"Excuse me," Yako came bustling in carrying a stack of pastel yellow cloth, "The bath is ready," she said to me, then turned to look at the boys. "You two need to get to bed, any questions can wait until the morning when we've all had some rest, it's nearly midnight now."

Midnight? Was it truly that late? The boys hung their heads like scolded puppies.

"Go on," Yako shooed them, then turned back to me, "come along."

XxXxXx

The bathroom was huge, and full of thick, fragrant steam. In the center of the room was the tub, full of green herb infused water. I got undressed and she led me down the white tile steps to the bath. There was something incredibly relaxing about warm water, and I sighed as I sank in. My sore, gravity compacted muscles relaxed in the water and I arched my back.

Until the sun rose, there was no risk of me turning back, I could fully submerge and remain human. I could also drown.

My thoughts were interrupted by Yako throwing a bucket of warm water over my head.

"What was that for?"

"To wash your hair," she said, as if that were the most obvious thing in the world. I had no idea what the landfolk version of washing your hair was, but I didn't want to look more stupid than I already did so I didn't say anything. I kept quiet as she massaged some sort of aromatic gel into my scalp, I had just let myself relax into it when she threw another bucket over my head. She scrubbed the gel out and stood up, taking the bucket with her.

"Can you manage the rest on your own?" she asked. Placing a waxy lump of something she called 'soap' next to me. I nodded. "When you're finished, just call for me." She left me alone to ponder over what to do with the soap, and over what I was going to do next.

I had taken a couple of left turns tonight, and I had to get back on track, but how? There wasn't much chance of me coming up with a reasonable excuse to leave, and I couldn't risk revealing myself and potentially endangering my whole village. But how in the seven seas was I supposed to get back home? I sunk deeper into the water. After about 15 minutes, I called for Yako, who dried off my hair, and gave me a white silk robe with a simple sash to wear. She led me back to my room and left me alone.

I paced around the room for a while, lost in my thoughts. I wandered over to the window and looked down. My room was on the ground floor. It would be difficult to do it quietly, but it was entirely possible to escape out of the window. The real problem would be the forest, it was much bigger and twistier than I had expected for such a small island.

I had just begun opening the window, seeing no choice but to risk it, when I heard a soft knock at the door.

"Hello?" I called, the door creaked open and Amane walked in, his eyes shifted around the room before finally landing on me.

"You're dressed," he said awkwardly. I nodded, equally as stiff. He dropped his gaze, pointedly avoiding making eye contact. "How're you feeling?" all of the aloof confidence he had displayed before was gone now, instead he seemed uncertain.

"I'm feeling much better now," I said, "Yako-san was very kind."

He snorted, "Now I know you hit your head."

"Is she a sister? An Aunt?" I had noticed the lack of an honorific when he addressed her. He shook his head.

"We aren't related, she used to work for my father, and now I suppose she works for us…"

"Is it just the four of you on the island?" I asked.

"No, there's five of us, well.." he paused, "six now." he gave me such a sweet, hopeful look that my heart sank. If everything went to plan, they'd be back down to five in a matter of hours.

"How are YOU feeling?" I asked, after a moments pause. He crossed over to the bed and sat down, folding his hands in his lap.

"Same as I always do, I guess," he gave me a shamefaced look, "I got scolded."

"By your older brother?"

"He's younger than me, by fifteen minutes! Trust me, that'll become apparent."

Another dagger in my heart. He fully expected, no, hoped for me to stay. His smile seemed so lonely, I gently touched his hand, entwining his fingers with mine. He stared at me in surprise, color creeping into his cheeks.

"Yashiro-san?"

"I'm so sorry!" I bowed my head over our clasped hands, "I'm sorry you're sick and I'm sorry because I can't stay." I was beginning to choke up, though I didn't know why.

"What do you mean?" he asked, "there's no where to go."

"I can't tell you, I just need you to believe me,"

"How am I supposed to believe you if you won't tell me?"

I released his hand and tugged at my hair in hopeless frustration. I had no other options, I had to go for broke.

"Can you keep a secret? Even from your brother?"

"I keep many secrets from my brother," he said steadily.

"I'm from the sea,"

"What do you mean you're from the sea?"

"Haven't you heard of the merfolk? The merrow? The selkies?" I asked. He leaned forward and rested his forehead on mine, staring deep into my eyes. Now it was my turn to blush.

"You don't seem to be feverish," he said pulling back, "perhaps head trauma."

"Fine! Don't believe me, if you're right you'll be proven right when I try to swim away and drown, but if I stay here I WILL die, it takes a matter of minutes for my kind to dry out on land. So I'm begging you, you don't even have to come with me, just lend me a lamp." he was already shaking his head and I covered my face to keep myself from screaming with frustration.

"No, I can't just let you go out into the forest by yourself in the middle of the night," he said.

"Please…"

"So I'll come with you."