"Are you out of your mind?" The voice was low and full of disbelief.
"Nah, don't be such a wimp." Another, more amused voice replied.
"I'm not! I'm just not reckless like you!" The first voice responded with clear exasperation.
"Keh."
The exchange came between two little inu youkai pups lurking under shrub hedges. Both dressed in fine upper-class cherry blossom silks, the younger of the pair having his hair disciplinedly pulled up, the older wearing his silvery-white mane down and wild. Both looked very alike, apparent kin, but their expressions and mannerisms exposed a great difference between them.
"This is daft. You know Yuno-sama guards her prized plum trees with the vigor and wrath of an angry bull," the younger one commented, pressing his ears flat against his head, a sign of nervousness. The elder, undeterred, waved him off while keeping his gaze focused through the shrubs.
"Yah, yah... But rumor has it they're the sweetest plums in all known realms." His muffled voice came through the dense growth of leaves and twigs.
Trying to inject reason into their endeavor, the younger pup clutched at the elder's yukata, "Father will have us flogged if we're caught!"
The older pup smirked, revealing tiny fangs, his adventurous spirit undampened "Ha, not just that! He's gonna have both my hind and your hind. Then he's going to combine them as a one great big pelt. Then he'll hang it in the great hall as a forewarning to his future offspring what happens when someone disobeys him!" His voice rose with excitement by every new horrific scenario he came up with.
The smaller pup's lower lip quivered in fear, but the more venturesome pup didn't pay attention as he was too preoccupied wiping drool off his chin.
"Just look at that!" He squealed through the foliage and grabbed his younger counterpart by his chin and dragged his face through the bushes.
On the other side of the hedges, a view of a small, harmonious garden was laid before them. Neatly planted and organized beds of flowers draping the outlines of fully ripe plum trees. The succulent, deep mixture of dark blue and red fruits hung heavily off the delicate branches. The sight appetizing enough to give a young, mischievous inu youkai palpitations.
"Do you really think father would..." The younger pup swallowed ungainly, but the older one confidently cut him off.
"Absolutely."
Desperation evident in his eyes, the younger one released his grip on the yukata, "I don't want to become a pelt just because of your wild schemes!" The little one almost sobbed and curled his hands into fists.
Unfazed, the elder quickly devised a plan. "When I say 'three,' we dash to that large tree on the left. I'll climb, and you stand watch below. Catch the plums I toss down. Got it?"
"No."
"Good. One."
"You're mad."
"Two."
"We're doomed."
"Three!"
"Don't do thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii-" The last word was dragged out as the little pup himself was dragged out the bushes to the other side of the hedge.
Both ran as fast as their feet carried them and stopped before a lanky and short tree that boasted the biggest and brightest plums in the garden.
His neat hair full of small twigs and leaves, the smaller of the two inu youkais stood at the foot of the tree, more occupied in straightening out his hair and outfit rather than paying attention to his companion that rustled on the perch of the plum tree. The branches were just barely strong enough to withstand the weight of the little thief.
"Ow!" The nervous pup yelped, a juicy dark purple fruit smacking him on the head.
"Oy! You're supposed to be on guard! Focus!" The elder scolded from the tree, lobbing another plum downwards.
The younger managed to catch this one, though with evident annoyance. "Quit it!" he whispered sharply.
"Too late now, the tip is already wet." The older one snickered and continued to toss fruit after another to his small accomplish.
"What does that even mean?"
The tree shook and rustled, more fruits making their way down.
"You wouldn't get it. It's a grownup thing."
"So you don't even know what it means?"
"I do, too!"
"I know you don't!"
"Shuddup!"
Trying to hoist a lap full of plums in his arms and in the heat of the argument, the boys failed to observe their surroundings and came to a screeching halt in their robbery when a piercing howl echoed around the garden.
"JUST WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING?!"
Startled, the elder lost his grip, tumbling from the branch to the ground.
"Shitshitshit! Good doing cat-brain, I told you to keep watch!" He cursed while trying to scatter up from the ground. He had hit his tailbone pretty hard. Saved his father the effort.
"Just shut up and RUN!" The younger's voice was high with panic as he bolted towards the hedges.
The threat of, "I'LL GET YOU BOTH!" filled the air as the boys sprinted without a backward glance. The maddened voice and threats grew closer just as the boys finally reached the hedges and squirmed their way through the child-sized path hole. Still, taking no chances, they kept running until the hedges were a distant sight.
Out of breath, the duo found refuge behind an outbuilding in their own territory. After several minutes of panting and recovering, the elder broke into relieved laughter.
"Don't be so quick to celebrate," the younger one grumbled, resting against the building's wall. "Yuno-sama knows it was us."
The elder smirked, "Maybe. But she can't prove anything. Especially if we get rid of the evidence!" He cackled and grabbed greedily a plum out of the large pile they had managed to gather.
"You're unbelievable," the younger one chided, but was once again ignored. Instead, the older pup crudely slammed a plum on his palm.
"Direct this to the hole that makes sound on your face. Enjoy and be quiet."
The younger pup grimaced but didn't put the fruit away. He examined the lustrous texture of the skin and the impossibly deep purple that spoke of perfect ripeness. He conceded and took a bite out of it, a trail of orange juice dripping down his jaw as he reveled in the taste.
His eyes widened.
It tasted sweeter than anything he had ever had. Made that much sweeter by the adrenaline still bubbling in his veins and the tingles he had in his belly.
He found his older brother looking at him with the smuggest and widest grin possible.
"Told ya."
A/N: To my old readers, this used to be the chapter 16, but from here on out, I'm revamping the whole story to pace the drama better. You'll see some diverging happening in the next chapter, but all the stuff you loved in chapters 13-17 up until I originally stopped updating this story, will be preserved in one form or another. I'm writing around the text I already have, mainly adding and moving stuff around. This is like a director's cut of my story that hopefully ends up being better than what it originally ever was. That, or I'm 'bout to Spielberg this whole fic.