Chapter 73: New identities

What could have been mistaken for a failed attempt to flirt was obviously stemming from a fundamentally different origin. The request still didn't fail to draw a confused offense to Namie's expression.

Mairu and Kururi were less bothered and more surprised as Izaya noticed the need to go into more detail.

"I know none of you possess any knowledge about this time period, but believe me when I say the second someone spots you with clothing made with a material and a craft unknown to humankind you will be burning faster on a cross than you can even start to tell your name."

"Witch hunts?" Namie deduced correctly and her expression slipped into one of recognition and dread. "Fuck," she whispered while touching her lips as the curse slipped. Gaze trailing to Izaya's siblings she realized quicker than them what kind of situation they had been thrown into.

They were three women too.

Mairu and Kururi were young but in this era just at the right age to get married off and burned as soon as they spoke the wrong words at the wrong time.

"Here is the story," Izaya started speaking again, tearing the depressing ideas off Namie's mind as he addressed her directly. "You are of royal blood but your estate got attacked by bandits. A fire broke out and they stripped you of your clothes and belongings but in a moment of inattention you managed to flee."

Honest surprise shifted the woman's mood as she blinked, "Wait, why am I royal?"

She was used to Izaya exaggerating his plans as well as his lies, but this seemed on an even grander scale than usual.

Lowering his voice just slightly, Izaya looked up and down Namie's body.

"Your skin. Your nails. Your hair," he announced each part in plain eyesight, "You look too pretty and well kept to be a farmer. You lack bruises on your hands from daily work and should know enough latin to feign your way around. The same doesn't account for physical labor or anything made by hand." Sighing softly he reached for his temples as he realized the downsides of their modern age. "We are all used to simply buy what we need instead of crafting anything ourselves and it would show."

This wasn't going to be easy.

He needed decent covers.

Covers that were hard to be blown and protecting them at the same time.

Eyes trailing towards his sisters he raised his voice again, "Mairu and Kururi were your personal attendants," he announced and the two siblings looked at each other, "Your job consisted of preparing baths, cutting up fruit and catering to every need your lady had, understood?"

Kururi nodded as it was her natural response. Turning towards their newest member Mairu seemed to have different concerns.

"And Leo?" his teeth were grit from trying to bite back the pain his wound brought as Izaya wrecked his head.

"You were the errand boy," he decided, "An orphaned child that Namie found at some point. Used mostly to deliver letters but upon returning to the estate you saw it was on fire and one of the attackers shot you with an arrow." Because a bullet wound was nothing this age would have heard off. At least not the kind that pierced the body.

And gladly the physicians and medics of this age held close to no knowledge about the human boy. They wouldn't recognize a difference and merely attribute anything off to coincidence.

Leo's eyes were furrowed in pain, making it seem as if he were disagreeing with what izaya had said, but nodded to confirm. "So I'm a dumb kid that's only good for using his legs?" He summarized Izaya's freshly baked backstory.

"That way we can prevent anyone from abusing any of you," Izaya clarified, but paused for a second. "Also pretend you can't read. It might come in handy if people start letting their guard down around you."

Considering their current situation, information was a number one priority. Who was living at the monastery? Why was the church attacked? Where was priest Marcius and what were the conditions for him to become cursed?

"What if they ask me about my family? About my relations?" Namie suddenly asked and Izaya's eyes narrowed.

Right.

There weren't too many nobles around, but pretending to be someone alive might very well backfire at the worst time.

"You lost your memory," Izaya decided, "Mairu will tell them she saw one of the bandits knock you down and ever since you have troubles recalling anything from your life."

Approval reflected in Namie's eyes as she seemed to grasp the amount of possibilities this option brought. Pretending to be a noble was one thing. Pretending to be one of any nobles around was going to be harder to pin down.

"And since we are too young and sheltered we don't know much either," Leo concluded with tight lips and Izaya nodded.

"But won't they find out?" Namie argued, "I'm sure there are not many nobles around, wouldn't a lie like that stick out like a sore thumb?"

Certainly.

Were this any time but 1753.

"We are back in medieval times," Izaya explained, "And as much as that sucks, it works in our favor too. Delivering messages and exchanging intel is slower than ever before. It will take them weeks to discover our lies if not longer depending how we play them." The most common ways to relay information depended on the slowest forms of transport. Messengers riding on horses. Merchants. Letters.

All media that was easily manipulated and cast aside as false. Not to mention the option of a message being lost on the way due to the messenger getting killed or vanishing on the way.

"Right," Namie mumbled, readjusting the setting that she had constructed in her mind. She didn't seem entirely convinced yet as she met Izaya's gaze once more. "But even a few weeks are a limit. You aren't denying they will blow our cover at some point," she declared.

And this time Izaya had no way to deny that she was correct.

"You are talking to the greatest information broker of all time," he announced boldly, with much more confidence than he felt. It wasn't even that he didn't believe in his actions or abilities but much rather the unpredictability of what was to come. Managing medieval times was one thing.

But what about incubi?

What if there already were some? Some opposed to their introduction? Some that possessed abilities similar to Shizuo and him?

The possibility of an immediate elimination upon discovery was not something Izaya could boldly overlook. "If I don't find out what we need within a week's time we will simply move on and use what we got to head to our next goal," he announced and seemed to extinguish Namie's flames of doubt at least temporarily.

Sighing deeply she showed a frown before dropping her shoulders in defeat. "Sounds like a pain in the ass and nothing I would want to think about," she announced, and met Izaya's gaze. "Better leave that to you."

A supporting smile, soft but slightly disturbed grazed her lips.

And Izaya found himself understanding her current state of mind better than he liked.

He also wished he could have someone take his place.

"You?" Kururi suddenly asked and nodded towards Izaya and Shizuo.

Right.

"You two remain my siblings," Izaya quickly added, "We heard of the assault through a rumor handed around by travelers and found you. On the road. You were trying to get help or go somewhere safe." A quick glance was cast towards Shizuo as well. "We are brothers too."

The blond seemed anything but fond of the idea as he raised an eyebrow in perplexion.

"Brothers?"

Izaya couldn't blame him, what they were was pretty far from people related by blood. But that's why this cover was so direly needed.

"I would rather keep you close than far and I doubt anything apart from brothers is allowed to remain together," Izaya explained, and even Shizuo seemed to understand the issue at hand.

Sodomy.

Depending on the area, time and people present, it might be something practiced by nobles, something frowned upon by common people or in the worst case a reason for execution.

Izaya wasn't keen to gamble which one it would be.

Shizuo realized as much, and more.

Because Izaya had just basically admitted openly that he felt safer with Shizuo by his side.

Which was the truth, and nothing to be surprised about and yet it was a declaration revealing a degree of vulnerability that he wasn't used to seeing Izaya display.

"Any complaints about our cover?" Izaya questioned before Shizuo got to speak, and their newly formed group shook their heads.

A slight shiver trailing down Kururi's spine caught Mairu's attention next.

"Are you cold?" She asked, and her sister nodded.

Of course.

This forest was anything but a decent place to stay. It was humid because of the river, darker than any night Izaya had ever seen back in the city, and cold.

A flame igniting out of nowhere suddenly danced in Leo's palm as he smiled, "Here."

"No, don't," Izaya quickly hissed and the flame dispersed as quickly as Leo was startled. "I know it's cold, but bear with me. If anyone sees you we are all dead," Izaya explained and Leo looked around in quick fear.

Izaya did the same, but despite his hard words it was highly unlikely that someone was actually watching them inside the forest.

The monastery had been burning and people screaming, anyone nearby had probably gathered at the church, be they fond of it or not.

"We will be moving first," Izaya declared and looked at Shizuo.

As if having been given an order he simply nodded with not a shred of complaint.

"You are leaving us behind?" Namie seemed less excited about Izaya's plans.

"I can stop time. My ability allows me to move while everyone else can't," Izaya explained, figuring that now was not the time to keep their abilities a secret any longer. "Shizuo is an exception that remains unaffected." Izaya added and nodded towards the direction of the burning church. "We will check out the monastery. Just a little. Steal a few blankets too. Except you want to walk up naked to them."

Blinking shortly, Namie looked down her body.

As if realizing only now that once she discarded her clothes she was going to be naked she sighed before nodding her head.

Right.

Getting rid of them didn't only regard their shoes, or their shirts. Everything. From accessories to her underwear.

"You should wash up too. Just in case." Izaya announced, a bit more quietly, as he addressed Shizuo's current appearance.

He was covered in blood from head to toe.

Izaya hadn't seen the exact way Shizuo had torn these police officers apart, but the amount of blood, clots of skin and what might as well have been organs at some point gave away enough to guess what kind of carnage it had been.

Shizuo himself didn't really notice at all.

Only now that Izaya spoke of it he looked at his hands. His torso. His legs.

Everything.

Seeing as the river was near it took not more than a few steps to rush into the arguably cleaner liquid of water.

No word was uttered, not glance spared as he doused the crimson off his body.

Stabbing cold pierced his skin like needles as the water was much colder than their surroundings, but Shizuo didn't really notice.

The color of pink started traveling down the stream like a carpet of cherry blossoms, drifting away his sins, as if they had never happened in the first place.

Faces of the police officers flashed before his eyes. Their expressions. Their screams. The moment the light vanished from their eyes.

And a moment of guilt resurfaced somewhere from the back of his mind. Because he had killed. He had truly and undeniably killed.

First Vincent, now them.

And yet the second he felt his conscience troubles he saw Izaya's face. Saw Izaya's expression when that damned police officer jumped off that wall with the intention to kill him and everyone else present.

And somehow, that single image was enough to eradicate any guilt to be felt.

Because he had tried to kill Izaya. Vincent had. The police officers had.

They only got what they deserved.

Stepping out of the water after the last of the cherry blossoms disappeared down the river, Shizuo joined their small group once more.

"And we will remain?" Namie asked while looking at Leo. "How is your wound?"

Right he was injured.

Leo frowned, but showed a smile nonetheless. "Hurts." It was half a joke, a hint of sarcasm swayed in there as well as the bitter truth.

Finally unfreezing from her stupor Namie moved over.

"Show me that."

The fabric was shoved aside and the wound uncovered. The light in this forest was anything but bright, but after remaining here for a bit of time their eyes had gotten used to the darkness at least enough to be able to make out the shape and color of Leo's injury.

Izaya was no doctor, but as far as he could tell it was at least a clean shot going all the way through. And simply considering Leo hadn't yet passed out or simply died, no major artery seemed to have been hit either.

This kind of injury would be no issue at a hospital or with treatment. A bif of disinfection, a tetanus shot here a bit of wound dressing there and he would be as good as new in a few days time.

… but in this age?

So far Izaya had only considered the offense of this age. The weapons. Politics. Witches being burned. Healthcare had not yet reached his mind, but now that it did it dealt another blow to his guts.

Infection was one of the number one reasons for death. Doctors that didn't try to make you feel better by bleeding were nonexistent.

"Can you help him?" Izaya whispered as he joined Namie on the ground.

She was their only hope.

As far as his knowledge of the human body went he could deduct a lot, but actually fixing a wound and making sure no one died was something out of his scope.

And Namie seemed not much more optimistic.

"You go check out the monastery. I will take care of this," she spoke, with the confidence of someone who was at least convinced they were able to help and Izaya nodded.

He was very well aware that Namie was more of a scientist than a doctor, but even so she owned way more knowledge about the human body and its regeneration than he did.

"It's good to have you," he whispered, actually serious, with no hint of jokes.

And Namie froze for a second. Because apart from feeling appreciated beyond what she was used to, she knew that this kind of compliment was something Izaya offered because he knew he was missing the power to act in her stead.

"Flattery won't make me save your sorry ass later, just so you know," she argued, but showed a smile. They were going to make it somehow. They had to, right?

to be continued~

Alright now that we have our new identities- let's start to investigate xDD