Chapter sixteen
Cleaner
XX
The abbey was as old as it was large and completely out-dated. The stone walls and floors were all a dull grey tone, without a hanging or a rug to break its monotony. The windows were wide and arched and the doors heavy and bolted with iron locks.
Kurogane grunted as heaved a large wicker basket full of damp white sheets out into the grounds. He winced as he moved from the shady inner cloisters to the sunny grounds where the sun could burn into his back all it wanted.
The man silently cursed as he carried the basket across the short grass to the washing poles where the racks of pristine white bed sheets were fluttering in the wind. The washing poles stood in long rows parallel to each other, all blowing one way. Kurogane set down the basket at the foot of the first pole and glanced around.
The grounds were too large for him to see where the boundaries began and ended but they were almost as boring and repetitive as the abbey. Grass stretched as far as he could see. A few trees here, a few trees there. A bunch of bushes, some weeds, and that was all that there really was.
Looking around his more immediate area, Kurogane frowned when he realised that the one splash of colour in this sea of green had somehow disappeared. Fai was supposed to be hanging the washing not slacking off.
"Where did that lazy moron go?" He sighed to himself and took off in search of the man, picking at his itchy clergy robes and grumbling under his breath.
He did not have to search for long before he found the blond man standing at the foot of the largest tree on the abbey's grounds. It was a giant thing whose branches overshadowed them and whose roots could have served as beds for little children.
"What are you doing?" he asked as he stole upon the shorter man.
Fai, also decked in the same white and green robes as Kurogane, showed no surprise when he heard his voice so close to his ear.
"Kuro-chan," he glanced at him then pointed at the branches of the tree. Kurogane followed his gaze up into the highest reaches of the tree where a white sheet was fluttering in the wind, snagged on the branches.
He sighed. This was so annoying. The tree's bark was way too smooth to climb up and, being the monster of a tree that it was, even its lowest branches was way out of his reach.
"How'd it get up there?"
"The wind blew it up there of course," Fai turned to him. "If you give me a boost, I think that I can reach one of the lower branches."
Kurogane frowned and knelt down for Fai to climb on. As he stood, Fai's arms outstretched to grab the nearest branch. The man triumphantly hauled himself up and swung his body around the branches.
"Watch where you're climbing, idiot!"
"I'm almost there!"
He craned his neck skywards as he watched Fai precariously climb from branch to branch, easing himself closer to the run-away sheet. He stretched out his fingers, grunting as he reached as far as could, hoping to grab hold of the sheet.
A sudden, powerful gust of wind made Fai draw back and cling onto the swaying branch. Kurogane barely contained a worried yell but before his words found a voice the wind died down again and the sheet was fleeing into the west.
Fai stared at the disappearing sheet incredulously. "Kuro-chan! Go after it!" he cried.
Grumbling about all the trouble that one sheet was causing them, he obligingly followed it westward.
By the time he found it, it was no longer white. The sheet had fallen into a small ditch, still muddy from last night's rain and had dyed itself an attractive shade of brown.
"Damn," he picked the sheet up from the corner with a look of distaste. The abbey being as old as it was, he would have to scrub it clean with his hands again.
Just as he was cursing the sheet for its latest escapade, one of the clerics stumbled upon him with the dirty sheet.
"Oh, Kurogane, did it escape you? Come with me and let's get it cleaned up. I have many more sheets for you to clean," he gestured for the man to accompany him back to the abbey.
Kurogane scowled at the cleric's back and followed.
The people of the abbey seemed to expect cleaners to do everything. They may have been giving them food and board but as he passed the kitchens, seeing the princess tending to the fire whilst the kid ran around with a mop to the sound of an angry cleric's bark, he felt more like slaves trapped until they could leave again.
The man that he was with gave him more sheets to clean and sent him promptly on his way. Honestly, how many beds could one abbey hold? The scrubbing left his hands red as he cursed every stitch and inch of fabric in his hands. The piles of bed sheets left him busy into the later hours of the evening until the sun had gone down and the bell for supper had been rung.
Throwing down his scrubbing board and soap, he briefly wondered why Fai had not met him yet. Usually the man felt it necessary to 'collect' him before proceeding to claim their evening meal. Surely the man would not miss the well-deserved chance of food.
Then he remembered.
He was not sure whether to be worried or amused, but he found that the latter predominated.
As slowly as he could, he stood up and slipped into the abbey grounds, making his way to the largest tree in the area.
"Kuro-tan!" his name was hailed as soon as got within a five-foot radius. Something small and brown flew from the branches, hitting him squarely on his head.
"Argh! What the hell?" he peered up into the mass dense of leaves then down at the thing rolling besides his foot. "Did you just throw a pinecone at me?"
"That's because you left me!" Fai sat in the tree, playfully shouting down from the branches.
Kurogane scowled at him. "You were the one who told me to run after that damned sheet!"
"But I expected you to come back afterwards!"
"I forgot - " he barely stopped himself from saying before he was struck by another barrage of pinecones. Rubbing his sore head, he growled, "Dammit! Throw another one and I really will leave you up there!"
"Get me down," Fai had his hands loaded and poised for another assault.
"Maybe I should just leave," he fought the smile struggling its way onto his lips.
His eyes suddenly took on a serious light and he looked at Kurogane sternly. "If you leave, I'll set the squirrels on you. They're highly trained and deadly," he gestured to the other branches where his infamous army were not doubt lying in wait.
"Now I'm definitely leaving," Kurogane snorted. He turned to leave the blond stranded up there, but as soon he turned his back he felt another pinecone hit him.
Severely testing his patience, he turned back round to face the annoying wizard.
From his perch, Fai swung his legs into the air, adopting a new strategy. "Let me down," he dropped his voice to a husky tone. "I'll make it worth your while," he promised.
His attempts, however well executed, to seduce Kurogane from the high branches of a tree were skewered by a very loud growling from his stomach. Fai quickly put a hand over it to quieten it, but from the look on Kurogane's face he had no doubt heard his stomach begging for food.
"Are you hungry?" he could hardly contain his amusement. It was not everyday he found himself in such an agreeable position of power. "Well, I'm sure the pinecones will taste good if you give it a while," he smirked, to which a pinecone went promptly sailing past his ear.
They both remained silent for a moment, Kurogane enjoying every minute of it whilst Fai gathered more ammunition to strike the smug-looking man.
Eventually, as Fai had gathered the most of what was around him, Kurogane stepped forwards and positioned himself under the branches with his arms open wide. "Jump down," he ordered.
"Will you catch me?" Fai looked down at him dubiously, unsure of what had brought about the sudden change of heart.
"Maybe," he felt his small, triumphant smirk spreading even wider. Oh, how he loved this. "If you agree to do both our shifts," he compromised.
Fai opened his mouth to protest but the absolute look of victory on the other man's face told him that this battle had already been lost.
With extreme reluctance, he conceded a nod and tried not to look at Kurogane's satisfied expression as he slipped from the branches and fell.
Kurogane safely caught him in his arms, still smirking with pleasure.
"I will make you regret this," Fai promised, frowning discontentedly at him.
"I'm sure that you will," he motioned to set the man on his feet.
"No way," Fai held on. "I've spent most of the day with my feet up. I'm not going to break that now."
Kurogane hesitated then shrugged. "Fine," he nodded and swung him from his current bridal-style position to hang over his shoulders like a sack of potatoes.
He was certain that the wizard was coming up with a thousand and one different plots for vengeance, most involving him not getting any for a while, but at the moment, he was feeling too damn good to care.
Sorry for the long wait. The next chapter shouldn't be up in too long - where Fai attempts to sue the Easter bunny for animal cruelty and Kurogane gets into a fight with cupid.
