Character(s): Ryo, Byakuen
Warning(s): Gen fic, character study, Episode 5 compliant/companion piece
The Stillness In The Air
The thing is, Byakuen might be the first one to growl and turn at the presence of an enemy, but Ryo isn't surprised when the tiger does.
The quiet has been gnawing at him for a while, too, and if Byakuen hadn't reacted, he would have.
It was obvious, in retrospect, that they had been followed.
Because, see, Ryo has grown up in the woods, in an isolated log house a distance away from the nearest village. His father had always found more inspiration and peace in nature than surrounded by concrete and cars and streetlights, and his mother's parents, who had essentially raised Ryo while Sanada-san was flying from one country to the next for his job, were quite happy to leave the city behind and live the simple country life as well.
It makes commuting to school a pain, especially in winter, but Ryo doesn't mind, because he has always grown in and has learned to like nature and its treasure as well. More than that, he's quite familiar with the normal sounds and ambiance one might expect outside of the big metropoles.
Ryo is used to hearing birds and other animals rummaging around during the night and the day, and he knows how to identify most of them by cry and almost all of them by sight. He's used to the sound of the wind in the foliage of trees and to the buzzing of insects in the sun, he's used to the soft sound of running water and of a fish jumping out of a stream, he's used to hearing the birds flapping their wings and the occasional growl of a bear wandering too close to his house.
If there is a thing he knows for sure, it is that nature is NEVER completely quiet.
And right now, as they wait at the entry of the Akiyoshida cave, …
Ryo KNOWS something is wrong moments before Byakuen growls.
It's just too quiet, too still. Not FULLY quiet, because water still rushes in the nearby stream, and he can still hear birds at least, but… those aren't normal noises they're making. Not calls for each other, simply trying to locate where their fellows are, but cries of distress, of tension.
Animals have excellent instincts; they know, just as Ryo knows, that there is a danger looming around, and those who can have already deserted the area. He had thought it weird that they hadn't seen any deer yet, when he knows there is a small population nearby, he has seen the traces they left in a puddle of mud and other little signs hinting at their presence.
Youja have followed them here, Ryo thinks grimly as he stands in front of Jun and Nasutei and spreads an arm to ward and protect them, ready to fight for them.
Youja are here for him and for Seiji, who is still asleep, and who they think will be easy prey.
Well, let them try, he thinks as he calls out for the enemy to reveal themselves.
No matter how many they are, Ryo isn't going to make things easy for them…