"Mizuki-sama. Yuuta-kun has arrived."
"Bring him in." A voice was heard from within the dark room. It belongs to a man standing, looking out the window. A few seconds later, the door opened.
"Mizuki-san!" Yuuta kneeled down while saying. He stood up after.
"Yuuta!" The one called master, turned around. "I haven't seen you in such a long time." He said closing their distance. "And you don't need to call me that. Mizuki is fine."
"You are still my liege, Mizuki-san." Yuuta kept his posture tall with an air of dignity and respect. "You called for me?"
"Ah yes." Mizuki eyed Yuuta closely. "I need you to go on a mission for me."
"At your service."
"I want you to assassinate the eight men from the Kingdom of Peace."
"Location?"
"They are currently hiding in the castle of Hyoseirokkai. Unfortunately, King Kutei Dai's strongest men are there as well. This is going to be a dangerous mission. That is why, I want you and 10 other Masters to go on this mission together." Mizuki explained.
"We need a blue print of the castle."
"That's taken care of. A spy will be waiting for your arrival at Hyoseirokkai. He will direct you and the others. All you need to do is inform the others and prepare yourself for tonight." Yuuta nodded.
"If that is all, may I be excuse."
"Of course." Yuuta bowed. As he reached for the door, Mizuki called to him.
"On the last note." Yuuta turned facing Mizuki. "I don't fully expect this mission to be successful. If our men are on the verge of losing, retreat immediately. I don't want any heavy casualty on us. Also, concentrate on one person. Do anything to kill the Sage. Your mission will be successful as long as he is killed."
"Yes."
"Good Luck."
o0o0o0o0o
"Fujiii!" Eiji called out as he got out of the dressing room.
"In here!" Fuji replied. He was still in the room, next door to Eiji's.
"Are you finished?" Eiji straightened his new clothes with a happy smile on his face.
"Uhh." Fuji's voice was reluctant. "I think so."
"Nya, then come out. These clothes are so comfortable and cool." He played with his clothes, amazed with the different clothing style from his own country.
"Okay." The door opened slowly. In front of him was Eiji gaping with his mouth dropped to the floor. "What?" He blushed. "Eiji." The red head didn't budge, so he called again, louder. "Eiji!"
"Huh? Oh, Sorry." Eiji regained his composure. He moved around scrutinizing Fuji from head to toe. "Whoah Fuji, when did you turn into a girl?" He yanked at Fuji's outfit. "They're…girl's."
"How would I know?" Fuji pouted. "I can't go out like this. It's embarrassing." Suddenly his face lit up. "Wait."
"Eek." Eiji sensed Fuji is up to something and it probably wasn't safe to stand around. He took a few steps back, away from where Fuji is standing. "W-hat w-what is it, Fu-Fuji?" He gulped.
"I know." He looked to Eiji slyly. "We're going to exchange our clothes with each other."
"What? No way." Eiji shouted and dashed out through the door leaving a frowning Fuji behind.
"Hmph. I'll show him. Leaving me behind uncared for." Fuji narrowed his eyes at the running figure of Eiji. He sighed, "Guess this'll do for now." He sighed and left the changing house with cautious steps. He looked around to ascertain that no one would see him in the ridiculous girl outfit. Strange, no one is around. He made his way toward the castle. When he turned left at the door, he felt something hit him hard, or the other way around.
"Oofph." Fuji lost his balance and wobbled backward. "?!" He felt a hand holding onto his arms, preventing him from falling backward. He opened his eyes and saw a young man with silver hair in front of him smiling. "Saeki-san."
"That's me!" He said cheerfully. Saeki helped Fuji balancing on his feet before letting go. He eyed Fuji up and down. "Hmm. Something looks really off, but I couldn't put my hands on it."
Fuji felt uncomfortable under the scrutinizing eyes, but he just kept quiet and looked at Saeki. His face was concentrated. Not long after, both of them heard footsteps approaching. Saeki whipped his head up and looked behind Fuji. "Ahh. Yo, Yukimura." His grin was back on his face again.
"What are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be at the dinning chamber?" Yukimura asked Saeki as he approached them. His gaze shifted to Fuji. "Ah. And what do we have here?" He smiled amusingly.
Saeki sniggered with a sudden realization. "I think someone gave him the wrong set of clothing."
"Apparently, yes." Fuji nodded. "Could you get me a new set of men's clothing?"
Yukimura smiled softly, "But, you look so cute. Are you sure you want to change into men's clothing?"
Fuji laughed nervously. "I prefer not to cross dress."
"If that's the case, let's get you changed." Fuji nodded.
"I'm going get going first. See you both later." He winked and walked away. Fuji and Yukimura turned and walked to the wardrobe.
o0o0o0o0o
Eiji entered the dinning hall heaving heavily, from the running. He spotted Shiraishi, Sanada, Jirou, and Marui sitting at the same round table; Kaido and Yanagi were sitting at a nearby table with Inui and Oshitari.
"Kikumaru!" Marui called out. Eiji walked jovially toward their table.
"Hiya, everyone." He took his seat. "How was your training?" He asked Marui and Jirou happily.
"Urgh. Sanada was in Sanada Mode," Jirou said exasperatedly, head on the table. "We were chased hysterically around for hours."
"You're lucky, you don't need to go up against him." Marui whined, while Eiji laughed hard. "He was crazy!"
"Mm hmp!" Sanada cleared his throat and gave a reprimanding glare, stopping Eiji from laughing.
"By the way, weren't you with Fuji?" Shiraishi asked curiously. Eiji earned the same curious look from everyone at the table.
"We were! But something happened." Eiji frantically waved his arms around. "His face was lit up like this, nya" Eiji mimic Fuji. "And he was giggling, really scary. I was scared, so I ran away." Eiji sighed, glad that he escaped from Fuji.
"What?" Marui looked at Eiji confusingly. The red head was absolutely making no sense at all. The others had the same reaction as well.
Sanada shook his head and sighed, "I'll go look for him." He stood up and walked out the hall. When he turned at the corner, his shoulder slide against someone else's lightly. He turned his head and saw Niou glaring at him. None said anything, continuing walking. The hell? Sanada thought to himself. He shook his head.
He walked in the direction of the kitchen. He looked around and spotted a maid walking toward him. "Excuse me." He asked politely.
The maid bowed to him, "Yes?"
"Have you seen the ambassador? A young man this height." The maid looked confused. Sanada tried in vain to describe Fuji. It wasn't his thing. "Paled skin, brown ha--."
"He's right here." A voice came from behind him made him jumped a bit. He turned around and saw Yukimura and Fuji standing with a grin on their faces.
"Oh. Where'd you go?" Sanada asked with a tint of worry.
"You didn't need to look for me. I know my way around." Fuji said gently.
"You're so fortunate to have someone always looking after you and so caring like him." Yukimura teased. Heat crept onto Sanada's face, making him blush uncomfortably.
"Ne, don't tease him." Fuji chuckled. "He's really shy."
"Fuji!" Sanada's voice was deep.
"Just kidding. Let's go." Yukimura nodded. He and Fuji walked side by side in front while Sanada walked behind. Occasionally Yukimura turned his head around to peek at the stoic boy behind him.
?! Sanada was confused at Yukimura's action, but he wasn't bother by it. He's cute. He smiled inwardly.
o0o0o0o0o
A moment later Fuji, Yukimura, and Sanada arrived at the dinning hall. All the tables were filled except for the one in the middle, no one was sitting there. Saeki was hovering over the table where his men were sitting. He waved his arm when he saw them. Hearing footsteps approaching, the three standing at the door way whipped their heads around to see King Kutei, Atobe, and Tezuka. They moved to the side.
"Your Majesty!" Everyone chorused in unison as they bowed.
"Please. Take your seats." The King said and everyone did as they were told. He looked to Fuji. "Let's take our seats as well." Fuji nodded and they made their ways to the empty table. On the right of Fuji seated King Kutei, then Atobe and Tezuka followed. On his left was Yukimura then Saeki. There were still three seats left. Fuji wondered why.
Soon, three young ladies walked into the dining hall. They wore royal clothes that looked very decent and beautiful. "Lady Ayame. Lady Kyoko. Lady Minori." Yukimura greeted them. They bowed to King Kutei before filling in the empty seats.
"Fuji-kun. These are my younger sisters. Ayame, Kyoko, and Minori. And, this is Fuji Syusuke, ambassador of the Kingdom of Peace." Fuji courteously nodded his head politely, in which they did the same in return.
"Everyone, tonight, we have respectful guests from our neighboring Kingdom. Let us all welcome their presence this feast." The King announced holding up his wine glass. Everyone followed, "Cheers!"
While holding up his glass, Fuji stole a look at Tezuka that was surprisingly returned promptly. Tezuka didn't look nervous nor flinch when Fuji caught his eyes. Amused, Fuji gave him a wider grin before taking a sip from the glass. Dinner was splendid and long. At last, it came to an end. They bid each other good night and went back to their rooms.
"Whoah, I'm so full I can't even walk." Eiji said as the eight Peaceans walked down the hall to their rooms.
"I'm so tire and sleepy." Jirou yawned while stretching.
"Mhm. We all had a long day today." Fuji said. "Everyone, take a good rest and I'll see you all first light tomorrow." Everyone nodded and excused themselves to go to their rooms. Fuji was the last one to go in.
The moon was bright that night and the wind was subtle.
"I think he's the one." A voice whispered on the roof. There were 12 figures in black clothing, covered from head to toe, leaving only their eyes exposed.
"Let get this over quick." The leader of the group said.
Over on the other side of the castle, a certain someone couldn't seem to go to sleep. He decided to get up and went outside. It's a full moon today. He looked up to the sky with a lost expression on his face.
"Tezuka" He turned around and saw his friend.
"Inui." Tezuka looked back up the sky.
"Can't sleep?" Inui inquired, moving next to his friend.
"Hn." Tezuka nodded. "I feel unsettled and don't know why."
"Your instinct has never been wrong." Inui said carefully. "If my prediction is correct, there is a 95 percent something will happen tonight. The air is disturbed."
Tezuka casted a glance at Inui. "And your predictions have never been wrong."
Boom!
"What was that!?" Tezuka's ears jerked up.
"What was that noise?" Oishi asked from behind at the same time of Tezuka's response.
A second later, smoke rose up into the sky in a column. "It's coming from the east wing." Inui's tone was serious. "Tezuka." It was too late, Tezuka was no where to be seen. "Wake them up. I'm going ahead." Oishi nodded. Inui jumped on the roof and dashed after Tezuka.
o0o0o0o0o
"Fuji! You Okay?" Shiraishi was standing in front of Fuji, guarding him, with Sanada. Apparently, both Masters heard movements on the roof before the attack. When they got out of their room, fire balls were coming at them, to be precise, at Fuji's room. They were in time to deflect the fire balls, which resulted in a huge explosion in the middle of the courtyard. Fuji joined them quickly after.
"I'm fine."
By that time, Jirou, Marui, Eiji, Kaido, and Yanagi also left their room, joining side with Fuji. They encircled him in a protective manner of defense.
"There are 12 of them." Yanagi inquired.
"But I only see 10 of them." Marui asked quietly. The smoke was still blocking their view. So, they stand put as they heard no movements from the enemies' side.
"One is hiding on the roof. The other is all the way in the back of the ten." The fog cleared out more, revealing the enemies positions as Yanagi described.
"Who are you?" Sanada asked sternly.
"It doesn't concern you. Hand over the Sage!" The guy in the middle threatened.
"It's our concern when the Sage is involved!" Jirou deflected.
The assassins moved around quickly, surrounding the 8 Peaceans (AN: people from the Kingdom of Peace).
"They are masters of assassins. Be careful." Yanagi warned.
"That's bad. We're outnumbered. Not to mention Kaido and Yanagi are experts. And Jirou, Marui, and I are only elites." Eiji calculated the situation.
"I haven't entered a battle for so long." Fuji informed. "Let's do our best."
"Stay focus!" Shiraishi was nervous, not for himself, but for his comrades.
"There's no other choice." Sanada calmly said. "Let's go all out."
"Hn." The group agreed mutually.
"Attack!" The leader yelled out and his men jumped in on the order. Soon the heat of the battle rages between the men under the brightly lit moonlight.
The leader and 2 others gained up on Shiraishi. Shit! I'm overpowered. Even though he was a Master, having to up against 3 other Masters was an utter defeat. Shiraishi shouted as he began his attack. "Entaku!" Four elements combined and made a spin around the three, closing in, hitting them critically. They got thrown to the floor in different directions.
Fuji stood calmly in a corner, assessing the situation. After assessing Fuji's safety, Shiraishi lunged toward the assassins to carry on his assault; however, they recovered quickly and dodged his attacks.
Sanada was also up against three men, like Shiraishi; it was giving him a hard time. As the situation gave him no choice, he decided to lock onto his mode. "Fuu Rin Ka In Zan Rai." He murmured the spell under his breathes. At least his berserk mode kept him strong enough to hold the three down.
Kaido and Yanagi teamed up on one, aggressively cornering their enemy. Eiji, alone, fought with two; while Jirou and Marui stayed together and fought with the rest three.
What's worse, their elemental energy continued to deplete gradually. If the battle went on longer, they could possibly loose.
Fuji stood warily as he assessing the battle on the side line. His bright aquamarine eyes were opened for better precision.
"Fuji!" He snapped out of his concentration to Shiraishi's shout, and turned his head to the left quickly to see the leader charging toward him quickly. The leader seemed to get out of Shiraishi's watch and made a move toward Fuji without further delay.
"Heh! You should be more focus instead of standing uselessly in one corner wrapped up in your world like a coward." The man behind the mask jeered.
Fuji was able to dodge the previous attack directed at him and now they stood facing each other bravely.
Fuji didn't show any nervousness or intimidation from the man's mock. His expression was cold and serious.
"And here I thought the Sage of the Peace Kingdom is exceptionally strong." The man continued with his mocking voice. Fuji's friends could not move away from their current positions to come to his aid. "Let's make this quick. Twist Spin!" A hurricane of water, fire, and earth approached Fuji in top speed, yet he move an inch.
Fuji prepared mentally for the attack, but before he could make his move, another attack saved him.
"Phantom Curse!" A deep voice bellowed from the roof. From the sky, a massive beam of all four elements hit the hurricane away from Fuji, missing him by a foot. The owner of the attack jumped down from the roof and landed to stand front of Fuji.
"Te-Tezuka-san." He said faintly, surprise was in his voice. His eyes softened at the figure in front of him, shielding and protecting him.
"Are you okay?" Tezuka asked without turning around, eyes focusing on the leader of the assassins.
"Yes, thank you."
Who the hell!? Yuuta, the leader, was pissed off that his attack got owned so easily. He charged toward Tezuka and they started another heated battle.
Sanada was getting tired soon. Shiraishi was in better shape because the number of his opponents reduced to two, while Sanada was still up against three. He huffed heavily. He had no more elemental energy left to stay berserk. He backed up and dodged away from the recent attack.
"Die!" One of his opponents shouted. All three of them released their attacks together, directing them at Sanada. His eyes widen at the incoming assault, but before everything happen, he heard a melodious voice.
"Muga no Kyouchi." Yukimura chanted. The attacks deflected back at them. Sanada turned his head around and saw midnight blue hair fluttering across his savior's face. He swiftly joined Sanada, who was on one-knee kneeling on the ground. "Are you alright?" His voice was soft.
"I'm fine." Sanada's voice was rough, from the ragged breathing. "Thank You." He stood up, with Yukimura holding on to his arm. Yukimura helped him walk to Fuji.
"Niou, Kuwahara, Kirihara." Yukimura commanded. "Take care of them!"
"Understood!" The three answered in unison and charged toward their opponents without a second thought.
Yukimura settled Sanada down, resting his back against the wall. His eyes closed from exhaustion. Fuji sat down by him. He placed his hands on Sanada's head and closed his eyes before chanting a healing spell. It didn't take long before Sanada had his breathe tranquilized again. He gave Fuji a thank-you smile, in which Fuji smiled in return. Abruptly, he turned his attention back to Tezuka's battle to see the advantage was still on Tezuka's side.
Soon, Atobe and his men arrived. In an act of instant, both Atobe and Hiyoshi flew over and joined Jirou and Marui in their battle. At the same time, Echizen, Oishi, and Momoshiro arrived on the roof.
"Finally here?" Inui came not so long after Yukimura, but he decided to stay on the rooftop, overlooking the scene.
"Hm." Oishi responded. His eyes wandered, but stopped when he saw a red head fighting against two black head. He motioned to Echizen and Momoshiro, who understood and jumped off the roof with him.
Urgh. Eiji was dead tire. Oh Crap! It was too late to dodge the kick from his opponent. The impact made him fly backward promptly. Before he touched the ground or the wall, a shadow swiftly caught him and flew across the courtyard. He was surprised to find Oishi, who had caught him.
"Are you injured?" Oishi asked with concern. He helped Eiji settle down.
"I-I'm f-fine." Eiji voice was ragged.
"Stay here. I'll be right back." Oishi squeezed his shoulder lightly and took off, joining Echizen and Momoshiro.
Saeki and his men arrived with the King on the roof. "Go help him." The King gave order to Shiraishi. Shinji, Kamio, and Tachibana, whom promptly obeyed the order. Saeki and Amane stood guarding the King.
Tezuka was getting annoyed with the battle that was going no where. I need to end this soon. He was in no mood to play around, but actually, he never was. He drew his sword from his back, rapidly slashing at Yuuta, giving his opponent no chance to use any elemental attack.
"…" Yuuta huffed heavily as he moved to dodge. Shit! The tip of Tezuka's sword slashed through his mask and tore it apart to fall off his disarray face. His face was seen clearly underneath the moonlight.
Fuji's face fell as he eyed Yuuta's revealing face. That scar! On the right side of Yuuta's forehead was a scar that resembles a little X. Flashback replayed in his head, the time when he was five. He was playing with his brother on a bank of the river when barbarians appeared from the wood. They were kidnapped, but luckily Fuji was able to escape and promised Yuuta to return with aid. He ran straight back to his village and told his family. They went to the wood and searched for his younger brother, but he was no where to be found, nor the barbarians. Since then, his brother was never found or heard of.
"Yuuta!"
The voice broke Fuji's flashback. He looked up to see Tezuka flying straight at Yuuta with his sword pointing at him. Yuuta was going to get stabbed.
"No!" Fuji yelled from the top of his lung, paralyzing everyone's actions. They stared shockingly at Fuji. Tezuka quickly halted when the point of the sword was a foot away from piercing through Yuuta's flesh. He turned around in instinct.
Yuuta was confused, but nevertheless, he didn't let his chance of escape to slip away. He fired a simple attack at Tezuka, sending Tezuka flying back hard. The hit wasn't supposed to do that much damage, but because of their close proximity, the hit did more than it intended. Fuji flew forward to catch Tezuka.
"Retreat!" Yuuta yelled. Everyone jumped on the roof and left without a trace. But before Yuuta leapt away, he took a glance at his target, who had just saved his life.
"Tezuka." He went immediately into the process of healing. Tezuka had his eyes shut. Please don't let anything happen to him. Fuji's hands hovered over Tezuka' head, and then to the chest.After a short time passed, Tezuka slowly fluttered his eyes open, breathing normally again.
"Hn." Tezuka sat up groaning and rubbed his head.
"Tezuka, Are you okay?" Oishi voiced out concerned.
"Hn." He turned to face Fuji. His face was full of confusion. "What happened?" Tezuka fixed his eyes on Fuji and demanded for an answer. However, Fuji made no avail to answer, so he lowered his voice. "What happened?"
"Sasuke." Fuji said inaudibly, but loud enough for Tezuka to hear.
"Sasuke?" Tezuka said out loud. "Who--"
The Peaceans gasped with shock as they realized what the situation was.
"Fuji, isn't Sasuke the name of your younger brother?" Shiraishi asked.
"Yes. It is."
"B-but, didn't he disappear 10 years ago?" Eiji piqued in.
"I don't know. But--" Fuji paused. His face was full uncertainty. "--he has the scar, at that spot. You saw it didn't you." He looked into Tezuka's eyes.
"The X?" Yuuta's face flashed in Tezuka's head.
"Then it must be him. It couldn't be that coincident." Fuji shook invariably as he desperately grabbed onto Tezuka's arms with tight grips.
Shiraishi sensed Fuji's control had gone hay wire. "We are truthfully sorry for disrupting your peace tonight." He turned and bowed apologetically to the King. "Everything is fine now. Thank You for all of your assistance."
"If that's the case. Why don't you and your friends move to the next wing for tonight? It is pretty much damaged here." He told Shiraishi. "We will all retire back to bed." He commanded and left with Saeki and his men, Atobe and Yukimura's crew soon left after. Shiraishi went over and helped Fuji up from the ground; Oishi did the same to Tezuka. Before Tezuka and his men left, he took a glance over to where Fuji was standing in deep thought to as not noticing that they all had left.
The maids led the Peaceans to their new rooms. The night was quiet again.
AN: Hi all. I'll be busy for the next few weeks, so my update will slow, probably one a week. Thanks to all Reviewers. If you would like anything in the story, let me know and I'll add it in.
I had some hard times trying to describe the clothing they wear, but it was so hard. So, use your imagination to make the story better.
Okay then, see you next time.