Disclaimer: Weiss Kreuz and its characters sadly do not belong to me.
Warnings: AU, eventual yaoi (it might take a while for me to get there)
Pairings: Eventual Ran/Ken, Youji/Omi
Author's Note: This story is set in a world that is entirely of my own making because there will eventually be elements of fantasy in it.
Blood Summons
By Rapunzel
Chapter 5
"And just where do you think you're going?" a deep voice asked him sternly.
Ken gulped. The glare directed at him by those astonishing eyes had him pinned. "I...I have to pee," he stammered. It wasn't a lie; he did have to pee. He'd simply given the escape attempt higher priority than his bladder.
The intensity of the glare lessened slightly, and Ken found it possible to tear his gaze away from the eyes long enough to give their owner a once-over. The man was slender and very pale with bright red hair. Currently, his rather sharp features were set into an expression of mild annoyance.
"You surely don't need my permission, do you?" He eyed where Ken's hands pressed into the mattress to support him with one eyebrow raised slightly.
Ken bristled at that. "I tripped," he said indignantly by way of explanation. With as much dignity as he could muster, he pushed himself up off the bed, only to realize that sudden movements might not be such a good idea. His shoulder protested and the room seemed to tip alarmingly. Standing very still, Ken waited for the spell to pass.
When Ken's vision cleared again, he observed that the redhead had decided to get up. Even fresh out of bed and wearing only a pair of leggings and a rumpled shirt, the man had a rather commanding presence, Ken noted, and remembered the glare that had been aimed at him earlier.
The man walked over to his still sleeping companion on the floor and gave him something between a nudge with his foot and an all out kick. "Kudou, get up," he commanded.
The blond man called Kudou swatted at the offending appendage and rolled over with a grunt. "Go 'way, Ran," he muttered.
"Get up," his partner repeated. "Our guest is awake."
Ken was confused. One the one hand, the man, whose name was Ran if his partner was to be believed, referred to him as a guest. However, the tone with which the word was said made it sound more like an insult. Yet if these men didn't want him here, why the hell had they brought him back?
"What does our guest want?" Kudou asked sleepily, making no move to get up.
"I want to know what the hell I'm doing here," Ken put in, deciding that it was high time he spoke up.
At the sound of an unfamiliar voice, the blond sprang up like a shot. "You're awake," he observed.
"That's what I just said," the redhead snapped irritably.
Kudou ignored him. "How are you feeling?"
Ken considered the question. If he stopped to think about it, he really wasn't feeling all that great. His wounds hurt, and he felt unusually tired. The odd feeling in his head had lessened once he stopped moving, but it wasn't quite gone. Still, Ken wasn't going to tell his captors that. He figured it was better if they didn't know how shaky and unwell he was feeling. Anything to avoid seeming vulnerable. And maybe, just maybe, if their intentions in bringing him here were only to help him, they might let him go if they thought he was no longer in need of their help.
"Better," Ken answered simply, neglecting to say better than what.
"In that case," Ran said, "perhaps you wouldn't mind answering some questions."
Ken did mind; the statement made him wary and alert. An interrogation so soon after his awakening didn't sound promising. It sounded as if these two men knew exactly what he had been up to the night before, or at least had a fair idea. Still, it wouldn't do to give anything away just in case they didn't know. With that thought in mind, Ken decided to try to cut off the questioning before it started. "I think I'm the one who should be asking questions here," he said, trying to sound sure of himself. "You still haven't told me what I'm doing here."
The blond man stretched and smiled benignly at Ken. "I think," he said, "that introductions are in order here. I'm Youji, and this," he gestured to the redhead next to him, "is Ran. He's the one who found you last night and brought you back here."
"Why?" Ken demanded.
Youji raised an eyebrow. "You needed help, obviously."
Ken glared at him suspiciously. "Then what's all this about asking questions?"
Ran opened his mouth and was promptly elbowed in the side by Youji. While he glowered crossly at his companion, Youji went on, "Well, we would like to know a little about who we're helping. Your name would be good, for starters."
Ken considered them. Somehow he doubted that his name was all they wanted to know. They had brought him back for a reason, although he wasn't sure just what that reason might be. Obviously it involved getting information out of him. Ken didn't know which he would rather face, Ran's direct and intimidating questions, or Youji's seemingly innocent and disarming conversation. He also wasn't sure how to answer the question just put to him. Ken really didn't want to give these two strangers his name without knowing their intentions towards him, but they had given him their names, and it would be rude not to respond. Besides, they had only told him their first names, which meant that he wasn't obligated to provide a family name.
"I'm Ken," he said finally.
"Well, Ken," Youji said, "we noticed that you seem to be in a bit of trouble. Care to tell us what's wrong?"
'No, I don't care to tell you,' Ken thought sourly. Trying to explain Kase and his betrayal to two people he had never met before was not an appealing prospect, especially since Ken was trying his hardest not to think about it himself. Looking away, he said, "It's a personal matter."
"Ah." Youji's voice sounded knowing. "So who's the woman?"
"What!" Ken whipped his head back around to stare at the blond man. "What woman?"
Youji shrugged. "You said it was a personal matter, so I assume that means there's a woman involved."
Ken went bright red and shook his head violently, then stopped when he remembered his previous revelation about sudden movement.
Ran snorted. "Does everything with you come down to women, Kudou?" he asked rather acerbically.
"No, not everything," Youji answered simply. He didn't elaborate, but instead turned back to Ken. "So, if there's no woman involved, what on earth happened for you to get into such a nasty scrape?"
"None of your business," Ken answered shortly. His attention was divided between the questions being put to him and the rather odd dizzy feeling that had become more pronounced since his rapid head movements.
"It is our business," Ran said coldly. "We picked you up, we should know what we rescued you from."
"You didn't have to pick me up," Ken pointed out. "I didn't ask you to."
"So you'd rather I left you in the street to die?" Ran asked skeptically.
Ken deflated a little at that. "Look, I'm grateful to you for saving my life," he said, "but that doesn't mean I have to tell you all my personal history." He was suddenly feeling very, very tired. Maybe he could go lay down if they would simply stop asking him questions...
"We're not trying to pry," Youji said soothingly, "but we would like to know what happened. If nothing else, we need to know if we've put ourselves in danger by helping you."
Ken would have answered that, but he was too busy trying to figure out why the world seemed to have lost all its color. His vision consisted of washed out shades of gray, and things seemed to be growing fuzzier. The ringing in his ears was back, and it seemed to grow louder with every passing minute.
Youji paused and surveyed him critically. "Ran," he said, almost conversationally, "please grab him before he faints."
Ken opened his mouth to say that he wasn't going to faint, but nothing came out. He felt someone grab his shoulders and try to steer him, and he had to close his eyes against the movement. When he managed to open them again, he was flat on his back and on the bed once more. Ran and Youji stood one on either side of him, apparently unaware of his return to consciousness. Ken quickly closed his eyes again and listened to them conversing.
"...blood loss," Youji was saying. "He seems to be running a mild fever too. No wonder, after those injuries. We probably should have seen the signs sooner."
"If he wasn't feeling well, he damn well should have said something," Ran grumbled.
"Oh, come on, Ran. With you glowering at him? He's probably already feeling threatened enough. Though I do wonder why he's so jumpy," Youji mused. "It's like there's something going on that we don't know about."
"Of course there is," Ran snorted. "We don't know anything about him as of yet. But I don't care what's going on with him, I just want to know where the hell he got that crest."
"Well, you're doing a shitty job of finding out," Youji pointed out. "Honestly, Ran, didn't anyone ever teach you that intimidation is not the way to get information out of someone? It just makes them clam up."
"Your method doesn't seem to be working any better," Ran shot back. "This is turning out to be a waste of time."
"You're the one who decided to bring him back here," Youji replied. "We could have been out and looking for Takatori already, but instead we're dealing with him. Don't blame me if your planning is ruined, because you're the one who ruined it."
"He had the crest," Ran muttered, half to Youji and half to himself. "If we could just find out where the hell he got it, it would be worth the delay."
Youji sighed. "You're obsessing about that crest. We don't even know that it necessarily connects him to Takatori."
"Where else could he have gotten it?" Ran asked sharply. "He probably works for Takatori and that's how he got hold of it."
Ken bristled at that. He didn't work for Takatori; that was Kase. Kase, who had connived with the bastard to set him up. "I do not!" he cried angrily.
Ken instantly regretted his outburst as two pairs of eyes fixed on him. 'Great going, Hidaka,' he chided himself mentally. 'Open mouth, insert foot. I should have just stayed quiet.'
"So," Youji said, his careless tone belying the intense scrutiny he was subjecting Ken to, "you don't work for Takatori. But you obviously know him."
"Not really," Ken muttered sullenly, wishing he could still pretend to be passed out.
"But you've heard of him," Youji pressed.
Ken shrugged.
Ran seemed to be growing impatient. "Well, have you or haven't you?" he demanded.
"Sure," Ken answered, trying to sound disinterested. "Who hasn't?"
"So then I'm sure you knew that this," Youji held up the medallion that Ken had taken the night before, "is his."
"I didn't know that, actually," Ken answered, which was true. He had assumed that the medallion belonged to whoever owned the house he'd burgled, which, according to Kase, was not Takatori.
"So he didn't give you that crest?" Ran asked sharply.
"No," Ken replied. "I don't know him. I don't even know what he looks like."
"Where did you get it then?" Ran asked skeptically.
Ken hesitated. Up until this point, he'd been able to answer their questions truthfully, which was good, as he hated lying and knew he wasn't very good at it. However, he couldn't tell them that he had gone into a stranger's house and taken it. "I found it," he said at last. It wasn't quite a lie; he simply didn't say where he had found it.
Unfortunately for him, this omission was noted by his captors. "Where did you find it?" Ran demanded.
Ken squirmed uncomfortably under the glare the redhead was giving him. "I found it," he repeated lamely.
Ran's glare increased in intensity, and he opened his mouth to demand again to know where, but Youji interceded. "If you don't remember exactly, that's all right. But if you could show us a general area, that would be helpful."
Ken considered that. Youji had evidently sensed his reluctance and was offering him an escape of sorts. He had a chance to claim ignorance and simply give them hints without telling them exactly where he'd been last night. Maybe, if they took him with them, he could slip away while they were looking. By now, the news of the robbery was probably common knowledge, but hopefully by the time they figured out that he was the thief, he could be gone. It was worth a shot, anyway. Anything was better than staying in the room with the redhead glaring at him.
"Okay," he said. "I'll show you the area."
/-/-/-/
Things never went the way one planned them, Ken reflected. He'd been hoping to escape from his two "hosts" at the earliest possible opportunity, but he hadn't counted on his body betraying him. Ken had fully intended to take Ran and Youji out near the house he had been to the previous night and turn them loose, but as it turned out, he hadn't even made it down the stairs of the inn before he'd nearly passed out again. He almost wished he had fallen fully unconscious. At least then he wouldn't have been awake to endure the humiliation of having Ran and Youji practically carry him back to the room.
Ken had expected them to be angry at having to wait, but they hadn't been. Youji had simply shrugged and said that such things were unavoidable. Even Ran, who was obviously chaffing at the delay, didn't seem inclined to be angry at him. Ken found that a little odd, since the redhead had obviously been irritated with him earlier.
Currently, he was back in bed in the room at the inn. Youji had gone out earlier, saying that he was "going to have a look around." It was now evening, and he had not yet returned, leaving Ken alone with Ran. Ken almost felt sorry for his new roommate, who had had little in the way of company all afternoon, since Youji had been gone and Ken had been asleep. Ran had woken him up for supper, which he had had brought up to the room. They had eaten in silence, neither one particularly hungry. Now Ken was sprawled on his back in bed, trying not to go mad with boredom while Ran sat at the small writing table and looked over papers of some kind.
Abruptly, Ran set the papers down on the table and sat back with a heavy sigh. He rubbed his eyes tiredly, then reached into his breast pocket and pulled out something small and slender. Ken, who had turned his head to watch the other man, squinted at it until he identified the object as a small bracelet. Absently, he appraised the object, noting that it was probably fairly valuable, but that it was slightly too small to fit the wrists of most women he knew.
Ran leaned back in his chair, apparently unaware of Ken's scrutiny. He fingered the bracelet almost reverently, a look of sorrow and longing on his face. Ken's breath caught in his throat. He hadn't thought that someone who was so closed off could look so obviously in pain. It made him feel a stab of pity for the redhead who had so coldly interrogated him earlier. At the same time, he couldn't help but notice that Ran was a very attractive man when he wasn't scowling. Hell, he was probably attractive even when he was, but his glares tended to render the receiver unable to notice such details.
Watching him, Ken remembered Youji's earlier assumption about how most personal problems related somehow to women. In Ran's case at least, that assumption seemed to be correct, and Ken found himself wondering about the woman who could inspire such a forlorn look.
Swallowing once, Ken found his voice. "So who is she?" He wondered if perhaps the past tense would have been more appropriate, but reminded himself that there was no evidence that the female, whoever she was, was dead.
Ran jerked, and his face went from pained to closed off in under a second. "You're awake," he observed, managing to sound surprised and accusing at the same time.
Ken ignored the comment, pulling himself up into a sitting position. "Who is she?" he asked again, nodding at the bracelet.
"No one who concerns you," came the cold answer.
Ken frowned. "No need to get so pissy. I was just asking."
Ran didn't answer, and the two of them sat in silence for a few minutes. Then Ken said almost absently, "She must have awfully small wrists."
Ran shrugged. "Not necessarily. She hasn't worn this since she was twelve."
"Really?" Ken said. "Wow. You've known her that long?"
A half smile flitted across Ran's face, but it was gone so quickly that Ken thought he must have imagined it. "I've known her all her life."
"A childhood friend?" Ken guessed.
Ran shook his head. "My sister."
"Really?" Ken flopped back onto the bed and put his hands behind his head, staring up at the ceiling. "You're lucky, having a sister. All my family is dead." He had no idea why he volunteered that particular piece of information to someone he barely knew. Only that it seemed a fair exchange for what Ran was telling him.
Ran was silent, seeming not to know what to say to that.
"What's her name?" Ken asked at length. He figured he might as well take advantage of what seemed to be a safe subject that Ran seemed willing to talk about.
"Aya," Ran answered after a moment's pause. He seemed to be studying Ken intently.
"Aya, huh? That's a pretty name," Ken remarked.
"A familiar name, perhaps?" Ran asked suggestively. The intensity of his stare had not abated.
"Naw," Ken answered. "I can't say I've met any girls named Aya." He frowned. "Why, do you think I might have met your sister?"
Ran shrugged and waved it away. "It was merely a possibility."
"Yeah, I guess," Ken said. "It seems kind of unlikely though." It puzzled him, in fact. Why would Ran think that Ken might have met his sister? There was no particular reason why he should have. The way Ran fingered the bracelet made him think that she was probably a good distance away, or at least far enough that her brother hadn't seen her in a while. And even supposing that they did happen to be at the same place at the same time, Ken probably wouldn't have interacted with her. If she was like her brother, she was probably way above his class and station. Still, Ran seemed to think that he might recognize her name.
"What does she look like?" Ken asked after a moment's pause. He might have at least seen her.
"She's... pretty," Ran said at length.
Ken's lips quirked into a half smile. "I'll bet she is, if she looks anything like you."
The minute the words came out of his mouth, he could have kicked himself. Shit, he hadn't just said that out loud, had he? Wasn't there supposed to be some sort of verbal editing process that took place somewhere between when the words originated in the brain and when they left the mouth? Somehow, he always seemed to skip that process. Ken could feel a blush slowly moving up his face, and he glanced at Ran nervously to see how the other man had taken the comment.
Ran simply raised an eyebrow and managed to look very mildly confused and disinterested at the same time. Ken winced as the redhead opened his mouth to speak, to chastise him, no doubt, but thankfully whatever Ran had been about to say was cut short as the door to the room was flung open.
Youji strode purposefully into the room, shutting the door noisily behind him. He glanced at Ken briefly, noting, "Ah, you're awake. Excellent." Then he sat down at the foot of the other bed.
"What took you so long?" Ran grumbled.
"I got caught up talking to people," Youji said easily. "I have some news that I think you might be interested in." He focused his attention mostly on Ran, but still flicked occasional glances at Ken, as if prepared to gauge his reaction to whatever he was about to say.
"Well, let's hear it then," Ran demanded impatiently.
"Well," Youji began, obviously pleased to have the full attention of everyone present, "you wouldn't happen to have heard of a man named Kase Kouichiro, would you?"
Ken's face went dead white, and the ringing in his ears began again. Suddenly, it seemed very difficult to breathe. They knew. Youji knew, and he would tell Ran, and then he was doomed. He wasn't just a thief anymore, now he was a murderer as well. They would hang him, and he would go to hell where Kase would be waiting for him...
"So," Youji's voice cut through the background noise in his head, "I take it you have heard of him."
Ken swallowed hard, but was unable to reply.
"Who is he and what does he have to do with anything?" Ran demanded, sounding surly.
"He doesn't have to do with anything anymore," Youji answered gravely. "He's dead. Died in a fight, apparently. Rumor has it that his knife was found with him, and it still had traces of blood on it, meaning that he probably managed to wound his opponent pretty seriously." He turned to study Ken, who was still sitting up in bed, despite feeling as though he were about to pass out. "I take it he was the one who did that to you?" Youji asked, gesturing to the bandages on Ken's chest.
Ken licked his lips nervously and whispered, "He tried to kill me."
"And so you killed him in self-defense," Youji answered easily, nodding in understanding. "Makes perfect sense."
Ken nodded hesitantly. Self-defense. Youji made things sound so simple. He made it sound almost as though Ken hadn't murdered his best friend.
Ran was frowning at both of them. "Why did he want to kill you?" he asked.
"I don't know," Ken murmured hopelessly. Intellectually, he supposed he did know. Monetary gain was the ultimate reason. But his mind still couldn't accept the fact. "I don't know," he repeated, louder this time. "We were supposed to be friends." Supposed to be. Apparently, Kase's definition of friendship was a little different from Ken's.
"Would it have had anything to do with the robbery at Katakura's?" Youji asked.
Ken swallowed hard and forced himself to stay calm, not to panic. He supposed he ought to have been expecting that, but Youji's words still threw him for a loop. "You know about that?" he asked, his voice barely audible.
"What's this?" Ran asked sharply.
"A robbery at a house owned by a nobleman named Katakura," Youji informed him. "Supposedly, he was entertaining a guest to whom he owed a lot of money. However, before the money could be paid over, it was stolen. The thief or thieves escaped. Everyone is talking about it. The man who died, Kase, was assumed to be the thief, but somehow I don't think he was alone." Youji's piercing green eyes fixed on Ken.
"So you do know," Ken muttered hopelessly.
"Some," Youji answered placidly. "I'd like you to tell us the rest."
"Why bother?" Ken asked listlessly. "You seem to know all about it already. I'm surprised you haven't turned me in by now."
"Now why would I do that?" Youji mused. "As far as everyone else is concerned, Kase was the thief. He was wounded while escaping and has paid for his crimes with his life. End of story."
Ken shook his head. "They'll know I was involved. Kase was my only friend; of course they'll connect me with him. And I had a reputation as a thief even before I was one."
Ran was looking at him strangely. "You're being offered a way out, and you ignore it. Are you that eager to be punished?" he asked disbelievingly.
Ken shrugged. "It'd be no less than I deserve."
Ran gave him a sharp look, but fell silent.
"Well," Youji said, "what you feel you ought to do is your decision, but we won't turn you in if you help us."
"Help you with what?" Ken asked without much interest.
"For starters," Youji said, "you can tell us if you got this at Katakura's house." He held up the medallion which had become the source of so many of Ken's troubles.
"Yeah," Ken answered. "I got it there. Kase pointed it out to me. Turns out he was using it to set me up. It was supposed to mark me as the thief when they found my body."
"You got it from that house?" Ran asked sharply. "Then that means that Takatori was there!"
"Was would be the operative word, unfortunately," Youji said apologetically. "I just came from the Katakura place, and you can be sure that there are no guests there now. In fact, the family may not be there much longer either."
Ran huffed in disappointment, but Ken sat up a little straighter and asked, "What do you mean?"
"Well, the Katakura family is practically destitute now," Youji said. "They apparently owed Takatori money, and after the theft occurred, they had to sell everything to pay him back."
Ken's fist clenched. "That's not right," he murmured, more to himself that to either of the other two. "This is all wrong. No one was supposed to get hurt. We were supposed to be stealing from Takatori himself, not from some poor sap who just happened to be on his bad side."
"Was that your plan then?" Youji prodded gently
Ken nodded and suddenly found himself pouring out the whole story. His job, his fall from grace, his partnership with Kase, the last, disastrous theft, and Kase's betrayal. Ran listened on in silence, Youji in sympathy, nodding in all the right places. Parts of the story were painful to tell, but at the same time, it felt good to get some of it off his chest.
"Really," Ken finished, "I don't know much. Kase took care of all the planning for this one, so I guess I'm sort of a waste of your time." He shot a glance at Ran covertly from under his bangs, aiming his last statement at him. Ken knew that Ran had been especially concerned with getting on Takatori's trail as quickly as possible.
Ran regarded him back, his face betraying no emotion. Youji, however, waved away the statement. "Actually, you probably did save us some time, but it doesn't really matter at this point. Takatori's long gone by now, and even if we had gone looking on our own, we wouldn't have found him in time."
"Did you get any information about where he was going?" Ran asked.
"Unfortunately, no," Youji answered. "He seems to have left very suddenly for some reason, but no one I talked to knew why or where he had gone."
Ran made an annoyed sound in the back of his throat and looked as though he wanted to tear his hair out. Ken wondered briefly just why finding Takatori was so important to the redhead, but pushed aside the question. He had more important things to worry about.
"So what are you going to do now?" he asked.
Both of his companions turned to look at him, seeming slightly startled by the question.
"Well," Youji answered finally, "I have a few ideas, but it's really up to Ran. It's his sister we're trying to find, after all."
"His sister?" Ken asked, casting Ran a confused glance. The one the redhead had been talking about earlier? That sister? "What about her?"
"She was taken by Takatori years ago," Ran grumbled, casting an angry look at Youji as if he were not happy with the blond man for letting the purpose of their trip slip.
Ah. That explained Ran's depression and his drive to find Takatori as quickly as possible. "She was taken from here?" Ken asked.
"Not here," Ran replied. "At our estate."
"Then shouldn't you start there?" Ken asked.
Ran glowered at the suggestion, but Youji looked thoughtful. "You know, he has a point. We probably should go there, just to see if there're any hints left."
"The whole thing happened six years ago," Ran snapped. "There's nothing left that could help you."
"Maybe not," Youji conceded. "But we have to do something until the next time Takatori decides to appear in public. Do you have a better idea?"
Ran scowled, but remained silent.
"So, it's settled then," Youji said with satisfaction. "We'll head there as soon as possible."
"What about me?" Ken asked. He knew what to expect, but he had to ask. His usefulness to them, assuming he had ever had any, had been used up, and they would probably simply send him back to do whatever he had done before. Except that he couldn't do that anymore. Kase was gone, and even assuming that Ken wasn't implicated in his death or the theft, he still had nowhere to go and nothing to do. The thought of trying to steal by himself was not only unappealing, but also dangerous. They had gotten into some nasty scrapes with two of them; he wasn't sure he would survive by himself. But he wasn't sure he had any other choice.
Surprisingly, it was not Youji who answered him, but Ran. "If I take you with us, will you assist me in any way possible?"
Youji and Ken both stared at him in surprise. "You're offering to let him come with us?" Youji asked, astonished.
Ran shrugged. "He's a thief," he said simply. "His skills might prove useful when it comes to obtaining information. I'm not above employing illegal methods to get what I need, and I assume you aren't either." He turned to Ken. "Well, what do you say?"
Ken blinked in surprise. Ran's cool appraisal of his usefulness was a little disconcerting, but Ken reminded himself that the redhead barely knew him, and so was more likely to judge him by skill level than personality. Besides, what Ran was offering certainly beat any alternatives he could think of. "All right," he said finally. "Just tell me what you need me to get."
"Excellent," Youji said. "In that case, since you seem inclined to include other people in this, perhaps you wouldn't mind if I brought someone else in as well."
Ran's eyes narrowed. "Who? You never mentioned anything about this before."
Youji gave Ran a disarming smile. "That's because you seemed so hell bent on secrecy and not including anyone else before. But I have a friend who has helped me with information gathering in the past, and I think his skills might prove very helpful on this job."
Ran ran his hand through his hair in a gesture of annoyance. "This is getting out of hand," he muttered.
"Now, now," Youji said, mock scolding him. "You can't play favorites. If you're going to include Ken, you might as well let my friend in too. The more the merrier, right? Besides, if I correctly remember where you said your estate is, his home should be right on our way. That way you can meet him if you like and decide for yourself."
"Fine," Ran conceded. "But he gets told nothing unless I say otherwise, understood?"
"Understood," Youji said. "With your permission then," here he mock bowed to Ran, "I'll just send him a note to let him know we're coming."
"Let him know it may be a little while," Ran warned. "We're not ready to travel just yet." He shot a meaningful look at Ken, who ducked his head in embarrassment. They weren't ready to travel yet because he needed time to recover. He'd managed to slow them down yet again. He peered at Ran through his bangs, wondering if the redhead resented the delay. He didn't seem to.
As Youji sat down at the small writing table, a thought occurred to Ken. "I need to send a note out too," he blurted.
"To whom?" Ran asked, eyes narrowed suspiciously. His hard expression softened slightly, however, as Ken explained, and he finally nodded his agreement.
/-/-/-/
Katakura turned to sadly survey what had once been his house as another cart of furniture rolled past him. He had sold almost everything in his possession, but the money had barely been enough to cover his debts. As a result, he had almost nothing left to keep his family on while he looked for a new dwelling and tried to rebuild his life. Looking at the house and bidding farewell to his former life was difficult, but it was better than facing the tearful faces of his wife and daughter.
"My lord!" The voice of one of his former retainers broke him from his thoughts.
Katakura turned to face the man with a lightly pained smile. "There's no need to address me that way," he reminded. "I'm no one's lord anymore."
The man ignored him and thrust a piece of paper into his hand. "My lord, this just arrived for you. I... uh... took the liberty of reading it before I brought it, since it wasn't sealed. I thought you should see it immediately."
Katakura frowned in puzzlement, but dutifully opened the note and read.
"Katakura,
I am deeply sorry about your recent loss. However, if you look in the river just upstream of Fisherman's Quay, you may find something to alleviate it.
An apologetic well-wisher."
Looking back at the note's deliverer, Katakura asked, "What's all this about?"
"I was wondering the same thing," the man said. "I got together a few of the boys to comb the bottom of the river in the spot mentioned. I think you should come and see what they found."
Although still confused, Katakura allowed himself to be led down to the river, where he saw a few of his former servants soaking wet and hauling a heavy looking cloth sack out of the water. Two such sacks were already laid out on the bank, and one of them had been opened. Katakura gasped in astonishment at the sight of gold coins peaking out through the opening in the top of the sack. Dropping to his knees, he started to sift through the contents of the bag with his fingers. When he came across an emerald bracelet that he recognized as his daughter's, he began to understand.
"The stolen goods," he whispered. "They were here all along."
One of the younger servants, fresh from the river, approached him and said apologetically, "That's all we found, m'lord. There musta been more, but it's not here."
Katakura smiled warmly up at the young man. "That's just fine," he said. "It's enough." He looked at the bags in front of him, measuring their worth. There was plenty to provide his family with food and lodging while giving himself a chance for a fresh start as well. "It's enough," he repeated.
Tbc...
Author's Notes: I profusely apologize for the lateness of this chapter. Chapter 5 was evil and took forever to write, and it turned out way longer than I intended it to. Then my beta reader and I took consecutive vacations, slowing down that part of the process. However, I can assure anyone who cares that Chapter 6 will not be as long in the coming.
And thank you to everyone who commented on the last chapter!
quietladybirman: Hi! I actually did notice that you had me on your alerts list, but it's still nice to hear from you. Don't be sorry about not reviewing earlier; I'm terrible at leaving reviews too. I'm glad you like the story so far. As for the use of canon, I've been trying to keep the characters' histories as close to canon as possible, since I'm a strong believer in the influence of their pasts on their present personalities. However, the storyline itself will probably end up deviating from canon pretty drastically by the end. But that's to be expected in an AU. I worry about Ken to when I read fanfics. I don't know why, but he does seem to invite trouble. Anyway, I'm glad you don't mind waiting for updates, since I can be pretty slow at times. -.-;; Thanks for commenting!
NekoAnime: Yes, I know, another cliff hanger. I'd say I'm sorry, but I'm really not. Anyway, at least this chapter hasn't ended that way. Yes, Takatori is evil. Ran and Youji remind me of brothers too sometimes. The sort who barely speak to each other at times but will still be around when the other needs them. Or maybe I'm just overly sentimental. Anyway, thanks for commenting!
HeatherR: Yes, Ran dragged him home! It would have made for a much shorter story if he hadn't (not to mention killed the pairing, and I can't have that). As for Aya, you'll find out more about her and the trouble she's causing in later chapters. Thanks for commenting!
keishin: I'm glad you don't mind the cliffhanger; I've received death threats before for leaving them in other stories. I'm trying to stick with the series in terms of character history, although the story will start to deviate from that. I'm sorry Aya's so easy to forget about, although she doesn't appear much in the original series, and when she does, she's more of a catalyst for Ran than anything else. But she will appear soon, I promise. Thanks for commenting!
M.E: Bad beta reader, screwing with my comment count! Just for that, no Omi until Chapter 7! Actually he wasn't going to appear until Chapter 7 anyway, but you already knew that. And I do not cling to the "pick on Ken" trend! I don't discriminate; I'll pick on everyone eventually. It's just taking me a while. Anyway, I did find my missing scene, so Omi will be appearing as scheduled.