Disclaimer: Don't own anything, just borrowing.
(A/N: Speed typed between job applications. Please excuse any spelling or grammatical errors.)
Sore ga Ai, Deshou?
Chapter Eight: More of the Same
The boat plodded to a halt just short of Hagi's rocky shore. This was to be Andy's first year running the course and he was determined to be the best. Hanzo-sensei had to boot Kazutaka out of the boat as had become the tradition since Andy's arrival in the Shiranui clan. Mai giggled at their antics while Kazu continued to argue with Hanzo over why he should be allowed not to participate, that he was a pacifist and that out side of training Mai-chan he didn't practice ninjitsu anymore.
Andy dove into the water headfirst and began swimming towards the shore while the others bobbed there arguing. He had been looking forward to this trip to Hagi all spring and was anxious prove himself to the rest of the clan. He wrung his hair out upon reaching the shore, it had grown fairly long in these past two years, he tried to shake-dry his dark forest-green tunic and pants as best he could but to no avail, the humid Japanese summer refused to allow him any version of dryness.
But he told himself he would eventually dry as he ran through the Course.
Kazutaka came trudging up the rocky beach behind him, mumbling and grumbling about how much of a hard-ass Hanzo-sensei was and how it was unfair to make him run this stupid trial every year. Andy just rolled his eyes, over the years he'd learned that, for all Kazu's complaining and disapproval of his family's politics he really did love his father and only kept up the act of a rebellious son for Mai's sake, because he wanted her to be an independent thinker and not just a mindless puppet of the Shiranui, be cause he knew that that was exactly what Nagare wanted to turn her into so that he could control her through her prospective marriage to Koinosuke.
When they were younger Mai had told him that the reason why Hanzo hadn't shot the idea down flat was because Mai would need Koinosuke's support when she inherited the position as Head of the Family, he feared that she may not be respected because of her "bad blood" that she inherited from her mother. But it was only recently that he'd figured out that Nagare was pushing the marriage because he planed to control Mai through Koinosuke and rule the family like that.
Andy had grown to share the popular dislike of family politics.
Kazutake sat on a large boulder just short of the tree line and pealed off his tabi and wrung each of them dry (or at least as dry as he could get them). He then pulled out a plastic zipp-lock bag that he had placed his two paper folding fans in to keep them dry during the swim to shore. He tested each one to make sure they had survived the trip and would be usable in a fight before hiding one up his sleeve and the other just under the collar of his tunic.
"So, Andy-chan." He said. "Your first time running the Course. Are you exited?"
The boy gave a shrug of indifference but inside he was bubbling with excitement and was struggling to contain himself. The Course was an obstacle course of sorts. Members of the Shiranui clan would navigate their way to the villa on the other side of the island whilst dodging traps that had been scattered throughout the island, and fending for them selves, searching for their own food, clean drinking water and safe places to sleep. Andy may be young, this may be his first time running the Course, he may be inexperienced as a ninja, but he knew he was gonna dominate this Course!
After living on the streets of South Town, sleeping next to drug addicts and schizophrenics, fighting stray dogs for discarded scraps of food, learning to pick pocket people and running from the cops, he was confident that he could handle a little ol' obstacle course in a forest.
"You're technically supposed to do the Course on your own." Kazu was saying. "But it's perfectly acceptable for the kids to ask for help from the adults whenever they cross paths. There's no shame in asking for help from a more experienced ninja."
"Okay." Andy was confident that he wouldn't need any help.
"Do you want any help?"
"No."
"You sure?"
"Yeah."
"'Cause, ya know, I grew up doing this. I know where all the safe water is and-"
"I'll be fine, Kazutaka-sama." The boy cut him off, momentarily wondering if it wasn't really Kazu who was asking for the help. "My brother and I were both survivors back home, I'll be a survivor here too."
"Well, okay then." Kazu pulled his tabi back on over his feet. "Just scream bloody-murder if you need anything." He stood and disappeared into the trees.
Andy followed suit, crossing the almost uniform tine that separated the rocky beach from the island forest. The moment he did, what felt like a twig snapped under his foot and Andy had only a moment to register the sound before a rough cord closed around his ankle and hauled him up into the trees. He hung there, upside down, his arms crossed over his chest.
'Well, I'm off to a fun start.' He mentally kicked himself.
…
Ojisama pulled the boat up to the dock and Mai-chan helped her grandfather unload Andy's and Kazutaka's travel bags along with their own. She was a little jealous that Andy got to start the Course this year while Ojisama had decided to hold her back another year before she would try it.
Saichi met them at the dock, bowing low and smiling broadly. "Congratulation, Hanzo-dono, you beat Nagare-sama this year."
"Oh, happy day." Ojisama replied in a monotone.
Mai sighed as she balanced her travel bag on one shoulder and Andy's on the other. This was going to be a long few days before either he or her father returned from the course. The moment her uncle arrived things would get so tense; she didn't want to have to put up with that alone. True, her father wasn't well respected within the family and Andy wasn't exactly the best person to offer comfort, but they were the only other people in the family (aside from Ojisama) that she liked.
Mai would have given anything at that moment to be on the far side of the island running the Course with Andy. Dodging traps and navigating their way to the villa together. He may not be the best at offering comfort but Andy was defiantly her first choice to watch her back if she ever needed someone to.
The nightingale floor chirped and squeaked as she crossed it on her way upstairs to dump their travel bags off in their respective rooms. Mai sat in the nadeshiko room crossing her legs in front of her, a sort of passive rebellion, sitting on her knees with her legs folded under her might be "proper" for a lady but was really uncomfortable most of the time. Besides, it wasn't like anyone was here to rebuke her anyway. It was more a personal rebellion.
She sighed and reached over to her travel bag and removing her red and white tunic and decorative tails. She couldn't run the Course this year but she could still train on the field out back and if she wanted to be a match for Andy when he got back then she'd need that training.
Once again her mind wandered to him and she wondered how he was doing, how far he had gotten…
…
Andy seriously wished he had nails right now. The knot in the rope that held him captive by one ankle was so tight and the cord so small he really needed some to get it untied, nails or a knife. Shame he practice a "hands free" weaponless style. Freeing himself was made especially had by the fact that he was hanging upside down and the blood rushing to his head was making him dizzy. Some great ninja he was turning out to be.
"Kazutaka-sama!" The boy screamed. He couldn't have gone to far, could he? They'd been separated barely five minuets.
"Well, what have we hear?"
Andy tried to swing himself around to see who had spoken, using the tree from which his trap was hanging from to pivot enough to face the beach. Shizune, Nagare's daughter, stood just inside the tree-line, her arms crossed over her chest and her son, Koinosuke, standing by her side with an expression of schadenfreudien glee plastered over his face.
"Seems Uncle Hanzo's little pet got caught in a trap." She smiled her own smile of schadenfreude. "Should we help the poor little creature?" She asked her son.
"I'd appreciate it if you would." Andy said, knowing that neither of them cared what he thought. Shizune was weighing how much she and her father would appreciate being rid of the American eyesore against how angry Hanzo-sensei would be if Andy "disappeared" during the Course.
"Ojisama says we have to do the Course on our own." Koinosuke reminded her.
"You're right about that." She agreed. "But we can't have him gnawing his own leg off either." Shizune took out a kunai, from where Andy had no clue but he had gotten used to concealed weapons just materializing in the hands of the Shiranui family by now. She cut the line that held him captive, causing him to drop none to gently to the ground.
"Domo." He muttered, knowing full well that he wasn't welcome.
"Hn." The woman just shrugged of his thank you and returned her weapon to its concealment.
"You're lucky we happened by, Hakujin." Koinosuke sneered, no doubt attempting to goad him into a fight. While Andy had no qualms about beating the snobbish brats face into the dirt, he wasn't about to do that right in front of the boy's mother. He'd bide his time and get the annoying git latter.
"C'mon, Koi-chan." Shizune ushered her son away, leaving Andy on the ground, and disappeared into the trees much like Kazutaka had.
…
Mai had just stepped onto the training field when she heard Saichi chirping along the nightingale floor. She turned to see the old woman struggling to carry three heavy looking travel bags one of which was a military issue duffle bag, the kind her grandfather had kept from his time in Manchuria and Midway and she knew that her uncle had arrived.
"Let me help you with that." The girl said, rushing to the old woman's side.
"Oh, there's no need for that, Hime-sama." Saishi brushed Mai's hands away. "I may be old, but I'm not feeble. Besides, Hnazo-dono and Nagare-sama are taking tea in the garden side room, they might want you to join them."
"Please, Saichi-san?" Mai pressed. "I'd like the excuse to not have to go in there and sit through another one of Uncle Nagare's boring lectures about how everything about me is wrong."
The old woman scrutinized her for a moment or two longer before saying, "Alright. The story is I'm not feeling well and asked you to help me with the luggage as people arrive."
"Thank you, Saichi-san." She bowed in gratitude.
…
Andy trudged through the thick foliage, ducking under low hanging branches or hopping over raised tree roots. He was not used to this. He was used to semi-flat concrete sidewalks, dinghy and narrow allies with dumpsters and low hanging fire escapes to obstruct a person's path. They may have been cracked, grafitied and sometimes smelled of human waste but they were level, flat, functional and easy to navigate. There were no trails on Hagi, he had to find his way himself and hope not to get lost.
On top of that, the day was hot and humid and while the thick canopy of foliage did block out most of the sun, it did nothing to dispel the humidity of the thick summer air. Andy's clothes, sticky with sweat and still damp from his swim to shore, clung to his body in odd bunches and uncomfortable ways.
The day was hot and uncomfortable and he was thirsty. Andy found his main goal to be shifting from making it to the villa to finding some water to drink. Kazutaka-sama had said that he knew where all the "safe" water was. Did that imply that not all the water on the island was drinkable? Would the Shiranui family even go so far as to poison some of the water sources on the island in an effort to make the Course more challenging? No, they wouldn't do that. Andy was sure they wouldn't. Kazutaka's mention of "safe" water was probably referring to how easily accessible it was. A water source wasn't exactly safe if you had to repel down to it off a fifty foot drop, now was it? Or if it was infested with piranha or alligators or some other vicious predator (none of which were native to Japan).
Whatever the case, it didn't change the fact that Andy was thirsty and needed a drink.
…
Mai was out of excuses. She had helped almost every family member carry their luggage to their rooms when they arrived, she helped Saichi dust and scrub the whole villa and had helped her prepare dinner up until her grandfather had come to fetch her to dress.
She now sat in her room with her layers of formal robes laid out in front of her and was still trying to figure out a way to get out of sitting with her family. Everyone would be stagily awkward and read their conversations from the same scrip that they used every year. Nagare would broach the subject of her and Koinosuke, her grandfather would brush it off, and silence would descend until the rest of the family returned to their scripted conversations.
"Mai-chan, are you ready yet?" Ojisama's voice called through the shoji screen.
"Just a minuet." She responded.
Mai hurried to strip off her shorts and tank top as fast as she could. She managed to get her pale pink kimono and two layers of robes on before tripping over herself. "Oof! Ow…"
"Mai-chan, are you okay?"
"Hai, Ojisama!" She called back through the screen. "I'll be down soon." And then silently to herself she mouthed the words "Ow, ow, ow, ow! Holy (word an 11 year old shouldn't know)!"
She pulled the remaining layers of robe and hurriedly pulled them over her shoulders. Smoothing them out as best she could, she limped out of her room with a bright but strained smile on her face. "You didn't have to wait for me, Ojisama."
"Its fine, kitten." He offered his arm. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah. Why?"
"Okay. Never mind."
He led her downstairs and didn't comment when subtly used the support of his arm to conceal her slight limp.
"I apologize for my tardiness." Hanzo bowed before taking his seat. Mai was more than happy to get off her feet and sit with her legs folded neatly under her.
"No worries, Ani-ue." Nagare said. "We've only all been waiting for the Head of the family to grace us with his presence."
Hanzo glared at his brother as if to say, 'Shut-it!' but instead said, "Well, I don't recall ever saying no one in this family couldn't eat if I weren't present."
Nagare humphed and turned his attention to his food. "Itedakimasu." He muttered before taking a bite of rice.
"So, Mai-sama," one of the Trophy-Wives began, "I hear you've been busy helping out all day." She smiled sweetly.
Mai wished the really wished the trophy-wives wouldn't speak during these gatherings. They had no idea of the inner workings of the family politics; they were just shiny bobbles one of her cousins thought would pop out good kids. Uncle Nagare was probably going to make so offhanded comment about how carting luggage, scrubbing floors and cooking dinner was servants work and a "Lady" had no business doing any of those things. "Uh, yeah."
"That's very good." Nagare said.
"What?" Mai asked.
"What?" Her grandfather echoed.
"You'll make an excellent wife one day, Mai-chan." Nagare clarified, nodding in approval.
"Of course." Hanzo muttered begrudgingly.
"What?" Mai looked from her grandfather to her uncle in confusion. Had Nagare just approved of something she did? That had just happened, right? She glanced at the Trophy-Wife that had originally made the comment, the woman winked from under her thick dark lashes. Maybe she shouldn't think so low of the TWs anymore.
…
The pond was semi-circular, with low hanging vines dipping their delicate leaves into the water on one side and large smooth stones on the other side, one large bolder in particular jutted out into the center of the pond where the water was clearest, the perfect spot to drink from.
Just as he was about to strut down that nice flat stone to the cool clear water he felt his toe catch on a wire. He had just a moment to register the trap he'd triggered before a large pine log came swinging down from the trees on the collision course with his head. "What the Hell?" He shouted as he half-dodged half-fell out of the way.
"–Heck! I mean 'what the heck?'!" He amended his exclamation as he wadded over to the other side of the pond. "Great. They booby-trapped the water! Who booby-traps water? People need water!"
He pulled himself up out of the water by the low hanging vines. He was soaking wet again and evening was falling but at least he had water. Andy hoped Mai was doing better than he was.
…
(A/N: Oh for the love of al that is semi-holy on the interwebs! Will someone please write an Andy/Mai fic for me? Pretty please with (your favorite hot character) on top. I'm going just a little crazy being the only one writing Andy/Mai fictions. I do like to read as much as I like to write, but it's kinda sad to only have your own fictions to read. They're a really fun pair. Please? (-puppy eyes-)