TribalPuri, ElementalPuri
Title: [Untitled]
Author:Hamburger Jack
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Suggestive themes
Disclaimer: Konomi-sensei owns Prince of Tennis. Not me. Boo.
Notacias: Just a little something... that's a lie, it's totally epic now. D;
"And this one!" the boy held up the tiny seedling, nestled in the mound of dirt cupped between his hands.
"Minami says I'm coming along nicely!"
Akutsu, who was laying on a branch, looked at the seedling and exhaled loudly. The resulting tiny wind, blew the seedling back and threw a bit of dirt in the boy's face.
"I don't care about plants."
"But -but you have to!"
Akutsu put his head on his arms and looked away.
He didn't.
Everyone in the forest tribe had a power like that. Flowers, herbs, trees, vines. They could grow things. They protected the forest and the forest protected them, sheltered them, gave them food.
Akutsu wasn't born into the tribe. He was different.
While his mother had a way with herbs and teas leaves, she'd been rebellious in her young. She'd run from the forest and seen other things, other places.
When he was a little boy she'd told him stories about wind swept plains, the howling opera of gales through canyons, and the sweet melody of breezes in the tree tops. She told him about places where plants didn't grow at all and how not every plant had leaves, some hide spikes and grew right out of the sand, just as green as anything in the forest.
He didn't much care about the plants, but he cared about the wind.
Akutsu couldn't grow anything. Anything. But he could run through the tree tops faster than any of the other guys and jump across clearings like he was floating on the air. When he got angry he could blow the thatched rooves right off the village huts.
There wasn't a wind tribe near them. There was a water tribe, far away and near the shores and the earth tribes that lived scattered across and under the mountains. There were even mixed tribes and the Fire tribes to the east.
But no wind tribes.
"...Akutsu?"
He turned his face back and the boy was still standing there, the seedling still in his hands.
"It's nice Dan."
The boy smiled and ran off, calling for Minami.
****
****
"We don't live on t he ground, that's why you've never seen us." Mizuki put his hands on his hips and tossed his head slightly. A small wind blew around him, playing through his hair. "We're much too good to live on the ground with you people."
"You people?" Kite crossed his arms over his chest, the thick, black tattoos that flowed over his arms making him look even more formidable.
Mizuki watched, hiding his fascination well as one slid up Kite's arm and under his shirt to wrap around his neck and snake across his face. He'd read about the shadow tribe in books but he didn't think they were real.
They lived in the shadows they said, operating at night when their magic worked best. If it were even magic. Maybe they were like his own power, apart of him always.
He no more thought about his use of the wind than blinking his eyes and even though his grasp of the Light was weak, he could still use it.
"Ground... people." Mizuki said, knowing it sounded insulting.
"Ground. People." Kite just kept staring and Mizuki became uncomfortable.
Mizuki wanted to explain, he did. He didn't have much contact with other tribes, they lived on the ancient floating Aeries. He wasn't one of the heretics who'd gone Ground eons ago. And where were those deserters now? Living in canyons and caves, defaming the name of the Wind Tribe.
Pride grabbed him suddenly and he lifted his chin.
"Yes. Ground people. We live above the clouds, over all of you. Pure and untouched by the corruption of this... earth. We're heavenly."
"Light tribe abandoned the rest of the People in their hour of greatest need. You are cowards. Fickle and inconsequential, like the wind. We don't need Wind tribe either. But back to the matter at hand... trespasser -."
"We own everything the light touches!" Mizuki said, pointing.
Kite's black tattoo swam over his eyes, giving him a mask. "Your light doesn't touch here."
Mizuki was about to speak up, but suddenly it was very dark. Mizuki looked down at the shadows weaving around his feet and he stepped back and turned, beginning to run.
"Yoshirou!" Mizuki called, beginning to panic.
There was a burst of light and Kite shielded his eyes, dazzled. When he blinked it away, Mizuki was in the arms of someone, looking frightened and scandalized.
He was in a toga and sandals, like Mizuki, but his skin was just as dark as any member of the Shadow tribe. He wore a silver circlet with wings coming out of it around his head and looked quite official.
"Those who harm members of the the Light tribe are subject to most divine retribution..." the tanned man said.
"Yoshirou, Yoshirou!" Mizuki whined, tugging at him. "He's got tattoos that MOVE."
"I see them."
"He tried to kill me." Mizuki said, looking over his shoulder and narrowing his eyes at Kite.
Kite just continued to stare at Mizuki, amusement in his eyes.
"Let's go home, Your Grace." the man herded Mizuki away, the young man looking back over his shoulder at Kite and sticking out his tongue.
They stepped onto a patch of clear ground and seemed to be lifted right off of the earth and into the sky before disappearing in a flash of light.
The shadow tattoos on Kite's face swirled on his cheeks and then swam back down his neck and he smiled, turning away to go back.
Interesting.
****
****
Kirihara got his hands smacked again and again, the pain starting to get to him. It was getting annoying and it was starting to hurt and the Matron caught the look on his face and gave him one final whack, putting down her cane and looking down at him.
"You cause ANOTHER injury today. Fire is our tool! To tame and to use for the betterment of our tribe and allies! It is not your toy!"
Kirihara bit his lip, then spoke up. "I can do whatever I want! It's my fire! You're just jealous I'm the best! I'll crush you! I'll crush you!"
The woman stamped her cane on the ground. "Out!"
"You're not my BOSS!" he shouted, leaving the hut.
Kirihara's hands hurt. They did. And as he walked through the village, people looked at him knowingly, smirking or shaking their heads.
It was his fire, he could do what he wanted. It was an accident.
If that stupid girl hadn't been so weak she could have re-directed the flames.
His hands hurt, they really did.
He wouldn't be able to fire tame for days until they stopped hurting.
His eyes began to sting and he began to run, taking the familiar paths that led him right to where he wanted to be. He went right into the tent without ceremony, ignoring the visitor.
"Yanagi."
The man held out the pouch of herbs to the woman. "These will help."
"Thank you." she bowed and got up, leaving the tent. Yanagi followed her out, securing the tent flap and looking at the boy.
"...Akaya..."
Kirihara bit his lip and Yanagi took a look at his hands.
"...they'll break if you keep getting punished."
"It's not my fault!" he said, his voice cracking.
"We tame the fire and use it as our tool -."
"You don't even have the Fire, you don't know -."
"I don't need to have it. I know what if can do." He sighed at the damage. "I'll get you something for the pain... and the swelling."
"She's a mean old bitch! I don't want to learn Taming from her!"
"Oh... you want Sanada?"
"No!" the boy whined.
Yanagi took him and treated his hands, putting cooling salve on them and something for the pain. He had the boy do a few hand exercises and rubbed each of his fingers.
"Your Trial will be soon. Once you become a recognized Tamer, you can have warriors training. Yukimura will like that."
"I want to be at his side now!" Kirihara was relaxed now, though his hands still throbbed from the beating they'd taken.
Hands were an important tool for a Tamer, as was a sharp mind. You had to focus and control the fire with your hands and your thoughts. You couldn't be out of control for a second or the fire would feed on it.
"In time."
"I don't want that!" he spat, Yanagi shushing him with a kiss on the forehead.
"Yanagi... why don't you have the Fire?"
"Not everyone in the tribe has it. It is a Gift from Asol, our Lady of Fire."
"She lives in the sun and blesses us with each day with warmth, her sacrifices herself at the end of the day and we honor her with our night fires." Kirihara repeated.
"Besides, I do not need it. I have my place. Everyone doesn't need to be a Tamer or a Warrior. Some of us need to heal, some of us need to hunt. Some of us need to gather."
Kirihara watched Yanagi's face, the shining scar over one eye where he'd been burned getting in between two friends, two rivals, as they tested their Taming.
He hesitated and spoke up. "Asol heals the earth, she love and warmth bring us from the death of winter."
"Yes, this is true."
"She... um... is the warmth within us all."
Yanagi was done rubbing Kirihara's fingers. "That is also so."
They stared at each other and Kirihara's face turned red.
"Asol also..." he murmured, Yanagi leaning towards him for a kiss.
"Healer! Healer Yanagi!" someone called outside of the tent.
"Yes?" Yanagi answered, giving Kirihara a kiss on the cheek instead. He went to undo the flap, someone coming in with a bleeding leg.
"He was clearing brush so they could do a control burn on he nearby forest."
"Ah... Akaya... please, heat water for me. Do not use your hands."
Kirihara's eyes lit up. "YES!"
Taking fruit from the Giant Bat trees was tricky. Most of the tribe did it by luring away most of the resting bats with the scents of riper, juicier fruits or lulling them to sleep with Dreamy Weeds, but Akutsu was much more direct.
He had a wooden sword he'd crafted (the tribe didn't like hunting animals and certainly didn't keep their bones unless they needed tools) and he was fearless off the ground.
In the highest canopies, where the branches were thick like roads, Akutsu ran through the trees barefoot. Under his arm, huge, swelling and juicy, was a Fourth Day Peach. They were called that because by the fourth day after maturity, they were massive. By the fifth day, they were over-ripe and ready to drop. While the tribe did have a a few fruit growers among them, they mainly grew Pink plums and Bara oranges, the later being a sweet, citrusy fruit that shed its own peel as it ripened, opening like a rose.
There was a shrieking call and Akutsu took a chance to look behind him.
While he only saw one bat, he knew that call had been to the others. The wild peaches grew deeper into the forest. Most of the bigger fruits did. The tribe came out to tend the wild gardens, to keep the trees parasite free and to maintain the ecosystem.
As a child, Akutsu had mainly made a nuisance of himself, ripping and cutting grasses he would come to learn were the herbs his mother helped cultivate, annoying the animals, getting chased by Blackberry Bees, and running through the trees to bring all the angry birds and bats down on the tribe.
As a result, Akutsu wasn't allow to come with the tribe on farming days. He just wasn't. Even his mother had enough sense to shoo him away when she was going to go out gathering herbs.
He barely recognized any of them and when they did find something she needed, it was already crushed under Akutsu's feet.
There were more shrieks and Akutsu rolled his eyes.
He jumped and dashed through the canopy, shielding his face with an arm as he got to the edge of the trees and leapt.
He opened his eyes to see a bat swoop below him and heard another fly past his head. They wouldn't hit him. Now that they were in open sunlight, they'd use their Echo power, the light blinding them a bit.
Akutsu let himself fall towards the ground, the peach secure in his arms. There was a rush of air, just before he hit the ground and instead of landing with a thud and possibly breaking his ankles, he landed lightly, the wind blowing through his spiked hair.
He looked up and the bats were circling, their calls quiet now, their echo power leading them back to the safety of the canopies.
Akutsu wouldn't go back into the forest now. He'd have to go around, skirting through the small trees and grasses until he rounded the fruit grove forest and got back into familiar territory.
It wouldn't take him forever.
Akutsu secured the peach under his arm again, it was beginning to smell sweet and fragrant (a good and bad sign), and began to run, unsurprised when the wind came unbidden at his back.
He'd get home much faster now.
****
****
"Mizuki."
Mizuki was ignoring his handler and was hanging out of the window, looking at the ground, far, far below. The Aerie they lived on was high in the air, above the mountains and clouds, but on a clear day you could see right to the surface and Mizuki loved it.
"Mizuki... please, they need your decision."
The young man stopped leaning out of the window and looked back at the other man.
Akazawa was dark skinned and golden haired. It was an interesting look among all the fair skinned peoples of the Aerie, but he liked it. Akazawa had a way with the Light, so it didn't matter. His aura glowed brightly and he could make the wind do what he wanted.
"I don't want to decide." Mizuki said, going over to him. He took his hands in his and looked up at his face. "I don't have to have a betrothed from the other Aerie, do I?"
"It's tradition. There are several candidates, among them, the proxy Aura of their people."
"I don't need another one of those. That's what I'm for."
"She is Aura Light."
"And, I am Aura Wind. It doesn't matter. If I expose my self to the Mirrors and Crystals in meditation, I'll gain mastery over it soon."
Akazawa gave him a gentle look. "It does not matter to me... if you were Aura... or one of the lay people."
They had been together since childood, he and Mizuki. Growing up together in the Nest with all the other children, they sought out each other and only each other. But once Mizuki was chosen as Aura, things were different.
Marked for a strength over Wind or Light, Mizuki wound up beating out several other candidates in the tests and had chosen the relics correctly at the end.
He could have chosen to throw everything from his former "life" away, but Mizuki wasn't like that. He took Akazawa with him. He chose others with varied abilities to be his council, he was generous and kind and merciful.
Akazawa squeezed his hands, Mizuki leaning up on his toes to kiss him.
"You must not." Akazawa said. He let Mizuki's hands go and gave a bow. "Aura, they must have your decision."
Mizuki stared at his friend -at his body guard then lifted his chin. "If... we are in need to new blood... I'll search the Ground."
Akazawa gave him a shocked look. "Your Grace, you cannot, especially after the other day -."
"I will do as I please. I am Aura." Mizuki walked away then. "We will find the Grounded and we will test their strength and we will see if they are ready for redemption."
"But the Grounded are -."
"Enough Akazawa. Leave me." Mizuki quickened his pace and disappeared into the Great halls.
****
****
"Concentrate. The flames are wavering."
Kirihara wanted to open his eyes and glare at the woman, but he kept his mouth shut and instead clenched his hands. He'd meshed his fingers together in concentration, but his mind was wandering and she was really getting on his nerves.
In front of him, the small fire he was supposed to be keeping steady leapt up high, weaving and roaring. Kirihara opened his eyes and got to his feet.
"AWESOME!"
"KIRIHARA!" his teacher snapped, lifting her cane and coming for his hands.
"NO!" he growled.
The fire left the pile of sticks and coal and came to wrap itself around Kirihara like a snake, like a barrier. The woman moved her hand in a sharp gesture and the fire began to pull away from Kirihara, began to weaken.
"Stop it!" he shouted, frowning and focusing his anger on the woman.
His flames grew and they spun around him, growing and growing until a massive fire loomed behind him. The woman's eyes widened.
"D-demon!" she said, pointing. The other students were frightened and she told them to run, to get someone.
Kirihara laughed, advancing on the woman. He'd get his revenge right now for all the punishments he'd gotten today.
His train of thought was interrupted when he was abruptly backhanded across the face. The flames dissipated instantly.
Kirihara held his face and stepped back, tripping and falling on his behind. Standing over him was Sanada.
Sanada who led the Warriors of Asol, Sanada who was the right hand of their Prince, Sanada who grabbed his teacher's cane snatched up his wrist, forcing him to hold his hand out.
"You will learn today Kirihara -."
"NO!" he cried, trying to get away.
"Sanada!"
The man stopped immediately.
They bowed as Yukimura walked over to them. The man bid them rise and he looked down at Kirihara, who's cheek was swelling, who's legs were stained with dirt and ashes.
"...they tell me your flame is powerful."
Kirihara just stared.
"But that you have no control. You expect to be one of my warriors and you can't even control a single campfire?"
"I... I can..." Kirihara said weakly. "She -It's not my fault!" he spat suddenly. "She's always caning my hands and she's boring and I'm more powerful than her."
Yukimura silenced him with a look. "She was my taming teacher. ...Are you saying you are better than me?"
The color drained from Kirihara's face. "I..." he shut up and just blinked.
"If you are more powerful than her and her teachings are boring, perhaps you can best me then?" Yukimura lifted a hand and several balls of flame encircled him. "You're better than me right?"
"No, I can do it Yukimura."
"Silence Sanada. I did not ask you."
"Yes my Prince." Sanada kneeled then and Yukimura advanced on Kirihara, the boy backpedaling.
"Well? Will you fight, or will you be punished?"
"I..." Kirihara's heart was beating fast and he got to his feet, waving his hand down in a cutting motion. Flames erupted from around his feet, circling his body and coming to loom behind him. The flames were a snarling serpent and Yukimura merely gestured to the audience.
"Clear the area. Get the Water-bearers on stand by. We fight."
The teacher looked at her former student, now her lord. "Prince... forgive him, he is young -."
"Be gone woman, your part is done."
Sanada got off his knee and stomped once, a circle of flame closing in around both of the combatants.
The balls of flame around Yukimura began to move, spinning faster and faster and then without warning, he lifted his hand and bid them go. Kirihara was unprepared, to say the least.
Tasked with maintaining his own flames, which were huge and consuming his energy, he didn't have enough concentration to fend off Yukimura's attack.
His flame serpent bit at the balls of fire, its form being blown apart and consumed as Yukimura dragged Kirihara's flames away from him. he bid the balls of flame to lick at Kirihara's bare legs, heat up the air around him, mess with his concentration and Kirihara tripped, his flames petering out.
Yukimura stood back and watched, Kirihara on the edge of the flame circle.
"You will never be a warrior."
Kirihara clenched the dirt. "I will."
"You won't. Sanada, we're done -."
"I WILL!" he yelled, the flames of the circle jumping higher.
The fire roared and when Kirihara looked back at Yukimura, the Prince could see flames in the boy's eyes. His skin was smoking and flames began to come off of his body. His tunic began to burn as his skin was bathed in flames and Kirihara got up with a roar and ran at him, forming a spear of fire.
"AKAYA!"
Kirihara faltered just long enough for Yukimura to put his hand on his chest, on his smoking, flaming body and and say one word, "No."
Kirihara's flames were extinguished and in that moment he felt as if all the wind had been knocked out of him. He flew back and hit the ground, all the flames around them extinguishing.
The last thing Kirihara knew was Yanagi leaning over him.
"...Seiichi, what have you done to him?"
And he blacked out.
Yuuki looked at her son and at the giant peach pit sitting on the table.
"What did you do now?"
"I didn't do anything." he said, frowning.
"...the bats are angry."
"Maybe they have fleas."
"...Jin."
He ignored her and went to his room.
It was always something he "done". And it was never good.
She came to the entrance of his room and looked at him and then came into sit on the small cot there.
"Do you know where you came from?"
"Babies are grown inside Zilla Mangoes and then you guys chop them down and there's a baby inside. Blah blah, I know."
Yuuki giggled. "It's cute that you remember that, but... I mean... really?"
"Gee, I don't know, I guess I fell out of a tree one day or something."
"You came from me and your father... who was not of this tribe."
Akutsu feigned disinterest, but he'd never heard anything about his father before so he made sure to listen.
"He was from far away from here and had skin like yours, light and untouched by the sun. Whenever I was with him, the breeze always blew and if the wind was too harsh, he could tell it to stop. He could run faster than anyone I've ever seen with the wind at his back... do you know what I'm trying to say?"
"That I'm different." he muttered.
He already knew that. He wasn't stupid. He didn't look like anyone in the tribe. He was taller than anyone in the tribe. Hell, even though Muromachi was dark like an acorn, he could still grow things.
"We are ...Earth tribe. We grow things. There are Earth tribes that move the earth and move the sand... my father's father was that sort of Earth tribe. But you are... Wind tribe."
Akutsu didn't say anything.
"...I think it's time for you to go and seek them out."
"You're kicking me out."
"I'm not, I just think -."
"You don't want me anymore."
"You will be eighteen summers soon and I -."
He got up and left the hut.
"Jin, Jin please -."
"Don't call me that name. Shut up!"
"Please come back, don't run away right now, listen to me!" Yuuki came after him, the other villagers staring.
"Stay away!" he grumbled, continuing to walk away from her.
Yuuki caught up to him and grabbed his arm. "Jin, please, I love you and -."
"STAY AWAY!" he snapped. He'd meant to shake her off, but instead he flung her back, far back, the wind coming through the village in strong gusts.
Someone's roof came off and Akutsu just stared at his mother and she stared at him, her eyes filled with tears.
"Jin."
And he ran away, the woman calling behind him.
****
****
Mizuki had wanted to get away from the arguing Elders as soon as possible. What he'd done was unheard of. Not take a bride? Impossible.
They HAD to take a bride from the other Aerie, they had to keep up the alliance, get new blood into the Aerie.
He didn't care. Akazawa didn't care.
He would rather be Akazawa's bride than be with some stranger.
He'd told them all as much. And they told him what they always told him.
"You are the Aura!"
And all the responsibilities that came with it.
Spiritual leader, political leader, leader, leader...
He didn't want to lead anything. He wanted to be free. Free like the wind...
So he decided to run away for a little while.
He didn't have the Light moving power like Akazawa did. He couldn't focus on the grand mirrors and reflect into them and into other places, but he had his wind.
He jumped right off the Aerie, at first bewildered and panicked at the wind in his toga, in his face and hair, but then he'd relaxed and let it caress him. It was his friend after all. He let it guide him down to the ground below, wondering how the Grounded had made their journey when they'd left the Aeries.
Apparently, so long ago, there'd been Light Aeries and Wind Aeries and not wanting alliances, some of the Wind clans had gone Ground. Forsaken their vows, forsaken their homes again and gone back. They'd left the ground so many eons ago to escape the war and disease the times had brought. They'd used their powers to lift their cities into the sky. Those were the first Auras. Beings so powerful, they were God touched with Light or Wind...
Mizuki knew he was nowhere near that level.
He was no "true" Aura.
When he made it to the ground, he was tired. His face felt wind burned and he went to find the shade, finding security beneath a tree. He sat and stared up at the sky.
He couldn't even see the Aerie from here, shielded by Light and clouds corralled by the wind.
He pulled his knees up to his chest and wondered if Akazawa would look for him. He put his head down and let his eyes close.
He wondered if Akazawa would care.
****
****
Kirihara was barely awake, but he could hear talking. Heated voices, that reminded him of when he lived in the home hut with his parents.
He could hear Yanagi's voice, quiet and angry and the Prince's voice, light and tense.
"You could have hurt him! You did HURT HIM! He has a fever now -."
"Kirihara is a wild fire. He has to be tamed. They want to remove him from the clan and break his hands. Would you have that?"
"I would never allow -."
"I have final say."
"So, you would let them do that?"
There was silence.
"Then you would find another Healer."
"You cannot leave the clan."
"I can do what I want. You are still so arrogant, just like Sanada. You two and your pride -you are just like him! He needs your guidance!"
"I won't suffer him with my Warriors -."
"Then we leave."
"No one leaves." Yukimura said in a serious voice. "We leave when our bodies are ash, no more."
"Leave my hut."
"I am the Prince, all huts are mine."
"I will not tell you again." Yanagi was serious and Kirihara was tempted to get out of bed.
"...I will leave, but because we are friends. Think about what I said."
Kirihara heard Yukimura leave and listened to Yanagi move around his hut before coming back in to his private rooms, where Kirihara slept.
"...you are awake." he said.
Kirihara turned over and Yanagi came to him, checking his temperature with a hand and pushing his hair out of his face.
"What did you do today... everyone is so upset."
"At me." Kirihara said.
"You were almost consumed by flame. It is as if Asol took your body for an instant, you were so hot."
Kirihara stared.
"...that demon of fire, that serpent, you must not use it until you can control it -."
"They want to kick them out. They want to break my hands!"
Yanangi leaned over him, hugging him on the bed. "I will never... let them hurt you." He whispered.
And he wouldn't.
They lived with it, they tamed it, but very few of them knew the dangers of fire. Burns were actually rare and they were fairly resistant to the sun tanning or baking their skin, it was another gift from Asol, their Lady of Fire. But Yanagi knew. And he knew Kirihara knew.
A young boy, few up and afraid of the fighting in his home, he'd lashed out terribly watching his father hit his mother and the hut had burned down. It had been a fast and all consuming fire. His mother barely getting out.
She died of smoke in her lungs and his father's body had gone to ash.
He'd spent days in the healing hut, where Yanagi had been healing and training himself so long ago. Yanagi's own encounter with fire a vicious one.
He'd come between Sanada and Yukimura on their last and only argument, both of them testing their Taming.
He'd nearly been blinded, the scar on the side of his face, just near his eye. It was small now, pinker now. If he hadn't had the healing gifts it could have been worse.
He spent days here, away from both of them, away from everyone but his teacher, until the small boy had come. He was mostly alright, but he had terrible nightmares and the coughing sickness that came after encountering too much smoke.
He spent all of his time with this boy, soothing his nightmares, telling him about Asol, their Lady, trying to teach him bits of control when he learned he had the Fire gift.
And he fell in love with him.
Everyone had two names. The name of their mother, the one she gave to you when she whispered as you took your first milk, and the name of your father. The name of the clan.
Yanagi whispered to him now.
"Akaya..."
"I can learn, I'll do what you say now."
Yanagi looked at him, cupping his face in his hands. He caressed his cheeks, his skin still hot from fever.
He had nineteen summers, but Kirihara was still a child.
If they ran from this place, maybe that was something else they could escape.
"...I don't want them to break my hands. I want to be a warrior."
"Still?"
"Yes." he said, staring into Yanagi's eyes. "I'll show the Prince I am worthy."
Yanagi could see his admiration there.
"Do you love the Prince?"
"He is closest to Asol on this earth, yes, I love the Prince. ...Do you love the Prince?"
"No." Yanagi said simply.
He waited and Kirihara lowered his gaze. "...Lady A-asol chose one... being to be her avatar on this -."
"I know."
"And the Prince -."
"He knows."
"So you have to love -."
"You." Yanagi said, staring at him, his hands still on his face.
Kirihara went red and he tried to look away. He remembered the other day, he remembered many days. Yanagi smoothing back his hair, kissing his forehead, kissing his cheek. Sharing his food and taking him out to gather herbs.
"Healer Yanagi!" someone called.
Kirihara pulled away, tried to get away, but Yanagi pulled him back, got his attention again. He looked into his eyes.
"...Akaya?"
"Yes." he muttered.
"Yes?"
Kirihara nodded.
"HEALER YANAGI! ARE YOU IN THERE?"
Yanagi turned and shouted in a much happier voice, "YES! I AM!" He turned to Kirihara then and kissed him on the mouth, leaving him to go attend to his new patient.
Kirihara sat there and it felt as if his body were aflame.
And it wasn't from the fever.
Author:Hamburger Jack
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Suggestive themes
Disclaimer: Konomi-sensei owns Prince of Tennis. Not me. Boo.
Notacias: Just a little something... that's a lie, it's totally epic now. D;
"And this one!" the boy held up the tiny seedling, nestled in the mound of dirt cupped between his hands.
"Minami says I'm coming along nicely!"
Akutsu, who was laying on a branch, looked at the seedling and exhaled loudly. The resulting tiny wind, blew the seedling back and threw a bit of dirt in the boy's face.
"I don't care about plants."
"But -but you have to!"
Akutsu put his head on his arms and looked away.
He didn't.
Everyone in the forest tribe had a power like that. Flowers, herbs, trees, vines. They could grow things. They protected the forest and the forest protected them, sheltered them, gave them food.
Akutsu wasn't born into the tribe. He was different.
While his mother had a way with herbs and teas leaves, she'd been rebellious in her young. She'd run from the forest and seen other things, other places.
When he was a little boy she'd told him stories about wind swept plains, the howling opera of gales through canyons, and the sweet melody of breezes in the tree tops. She told him about places where plants didn't grow at all and how not every plant had leaves, some hide spikes and grew right out of the sand, just as green as anything in the forest.
He didn't much care about the plants, but he cared about the wind.
Akutsu couldn't grow anything. Anything. But he could run through the tree tops faster than any of the other guys and jump across clearings like he was floating on the air. When he got angry he could blow the thatched rooves right off the village huts.
There wasn't a wind tribe near them. There was a water tribe, far away and near the shores and the earth tribes that lived scattered across and under the mountains. There were even mixed tribes and the Fire tribes to the east.
But no wind tribes.
"...Akutsu?"
He turned his face back and the boy was still standing there, the seedling still in his hands.
"It's nice Dan."
The boy smiled and ran off, calling for Minami.
****
****
"We don't live on t he ground, that's why you've never seen us." Mizuki put his hands on his hips and tossed his head slightly. A small wind blew around him, playing through his hair. "We're much too good to live on the ground with you people."
"You people?" Kite crossed his arms over his chest, the thick, black tattoos that flowed over his arms making him look even more formidable.
Mizuki watched, hiding his fascination well as one slid up Kite's arm and under his shirt to wrap around his neck and snake across his face. He'd read about the shadow tribe in books but he didn't think they were real.
They lived in the shadows they said, operating at night when their magic worked best. If it were even magic. Maybe they were like his own power, apart of him always.
He no more thought about his use of the wind than blinking his eyes and even though his grasp of the Light was weak, he could still use it.
"Ground... people." Mizuki said, knowing it sounded insulting.
"Ground. People." Kite just kept staring and Mizuki became uncomfortable.
Mizuki wanted to explain, he did. He didn't have much contact with other tribes, they lived on the ancient floating Aeries. He wasn't one of the heretics who'd gone Ground eons ago. And where were those deserters now? Living in canyons and caves, defaming the name of the Wind Tribe.
Pride grabbed him suddenly and he lifted his chin.
"Yes. Ground people. We live above the clouds, over all of you. Pure and untouched by the corruption of this... earth. We're heavenly."
"Light tribe abandoned the rest of the People in their hour of greatest need. You are cowards. Fickle and inconsequential, like the wind. We don't need Wind tribe either. But back to the matter at hand... trespasser -."
"We own everything the light touches!" Mizuki said, pointing.
Kite's black tattoo swam over his eyes, giving him a mask. "Your light doesn't touch here."
Mizuki was about to speak up, but suddenly it was very dark. Mizuki looked down at the shadows weaving around his feet and he stepped back and turned, beginning to run.
"Yoshirou!" Mizuki called, beginning to panic.
There was a burst of light and Kite shielded his eyes, dazzled. When he blinked it away, Mizuki was in the arms of someone, looking frightened and scandalized.
He was in a toga and sandals, like Mizuki, but his skin was just as dark as any member of the Shadow tribe. He wore a silver circlet with wings coming out of it around his head and looked quite official.
"Those who harm members of the the Light tribe are subject to most divine retribution..." the tanned man said.
"Yoshirou, Yoshirou!" Mizuki whined, tugging at him. "He's got tattoos that MOVE."
"I see them."
"He tried to kill me." Mizuki said, looking over his shoulder and narrowing his eyes at Kite.
Kite just continued to stare at Mizuki, amusement in his eyes.
"Let's go home, Your Grace." the man herded Mizuki away, the young man looking back over his shoulder at Kite and sticking out his tongue.
They stepped onto a patch of clear ground and seemed to be lifted right off of the earth and into the sky before disappearing in a flash of light.
The shadow tattoos on Kite's face swirled on his cheeks and then swam back down his neck and he smiled, turning away to go back.
Interesting.
****
****
Kirihara got his hands smacked again and again, the pain starting to get to him. It was getting annoying and it was starting to hurt and the Matron caught the look on his face and gave him one final whack, putting down her cane and looking down at him.
"You cause ANOTHER injury today. Fire is our tool! To tame and to use for the betterment of our tribe and allies! It is not your toy!"
Kirihara bit his lip, then spoke up. "I can do whatever I want! It's my fire! You're just jealous I'm the best! I'll crush you! I'll crush you!"
The woman stamped her cane on the ground. "Out!"
"You're not my BOSS!" he shouted, leaving the hut.
Kirihara's hands hurt. They did. And as he walked through the village, people looked at him knowingly, smirking or shaking their heads.
It was his fire, he could do what he wanted. It was an accident.
If that stupid girl hadn't been so weak she could have re-directed the flames.
His hands hurt, they really did.
He wouldn't be able to fire tame for days until they stopped hurting.
His eyes began to sting and he began to run, taking the familiar paths that led him right to where he wanted to be. He went right into the tent without ceremony, ignoring the visitor.
"Yanagi."
The man held out the pouch of herbs to the woman. "These will help."
"Thank you." she bowed and got up, leaving the tent. Yanagi followed her out, securing the tent flap and looking at the boy.
"...Akaya..."
Kirihara bit his lip and Yanagi took a look at his hands.
"...they'll break if you keep getting punished."
"It's not my fault!" he said, his voice cracking.
"We tame the fire and use it as our tool -."
"You don't even have the Fire, you don't know -."
"I don't need to have it. I know what if can do." He sighed at the damage. "I'll get you something for the pain... and the swelling."
"She's a mean old bitch! I don't want to learn Taming from her!"
"Oh... you want Sanada?"
"No!" the boy whined.
Yanagi took him and treated his hands, putting cooling salve on them and something for the pain. He had the boy do a few hand exercises and rubbed each of his fingers.
"Your Trial will be soon. Once you become a recognized Tamer, you can have warriors training. Yukimura will like that."
"I want to be at his side now!" Kirihara was relaxed now, though his hands still throbbed from the beating they'd taken.
Hands were an important tool for a Tamer, as was a sharp mind. You had to focus and control the fire with your hands and your thoughts. You couldn't be out of control for a second or the fire would feed on it.
"In time."
"I don't want that!" he spat, Yanagi shushing him with a kiss on the forehead.
"Yanagi... why don't you have the Fire?"
"Not everyone in the tribe has it. It is a Gift from Asol, our Lady of Fire."
"She lives in the sun and blesses us with each day with warmth, her sacrifices herself at the end of the day and we honor her with our night fires." Kirihara repeated.
"Besides, I do not need it. I have my place. Everyone doesn't need to be a Tamer or a Warrior. Some of us need to heal, some of us need to hunt. Some of us need to gather."
Kirihara watched Yanagi's face, the shining scar over one eye where he'd been burned getting in between two friends, two rivals, as they tested their Taming.
He hesitated and spoke up. "Asol heals the earth, she love and warmth bring us from the death of winter."
"Yes, this is true."
"She... um... is the warmth within us all."
Yanagi was done rubbing Kirihara's fingers. "That is also so."
They stared at each other and Kirihara's face turned red.
"Asol also..." he murmured, Yanagi leaning towards him for a kiss.
"Healer! Healer Yanagi!" someone called outside of the tent.
"Yes?" Yanagi answered, giving Kirihara a kiss on the cheek instead. He went to undo the flap, someone coming in with a bleeding leg.
"He was clearing brush so they could do a control burn on he nearby forest."
"Ah... Akaya... please, heat water for me. Do not use your hands."
Kirihara's eyes lit up. "YES!"
Taking fruit from the Giant Bat trees was tricky. Most of the tribe did it by luring away most of the resting bats with the scents of riper, juicier fruits or lulling them to sleep with Dreamy Weeds, but Akutsu was much more direct.
He had a wooden sword he'd crafted (the tribe didn't like hunting animals and certainly didn't keep their bones unless they needed tools) and he was fearless off the ground.
In the highest canopies, where the branches were thick like roads, Akutsu ran through the trees barefoot. Under his arm, huge, swelling and juicy, was a Fourth Day Peach. They were called that because by the fourth day after maturity, they were massive. By the fifth day, they were over-ripe and ready to drop. While the tribe did have a a few fruit growers among them, they mainly grew Pink plums and Bara oranges, the later being a sweet, citrusy fruit that shed its own peel as it ripened, opening like a rose.
There was a shrieking call and Akutsu took a chance to look behind him.
While he only saw one bat, he knew that call had been to the others. The wild peaches grew deeper into the forest. Most of the bigger fruits did. The tribe came out to tend the wild gardens, to keep the trees parasite free and to maintain the ecosystem.
As a child, Akutsu had mainly made a nuisance of himself, ripping and cutting grasses he would come to learn were the herbs his mother helped cultivate, annoying the animals, getting chased by Blackberry Bees, and running through the trees to bring all the angry birds and bats down on the tribe.
As a result, Akutsu wasn't allow to come with the tribe on farming days. He just wasn't. Even his mother had enough sense to shoo him away when she was going to go out gathering herbs.
He barely recognized any of them and when they did find something she needed, it was already crushed under Akutsu's feet.
There were more shrieks and Akutsu rolled his eyes.
He jumped and dashed through the canopy, shielding his face with an arm as he got to the edge of the trees and leapt.
He opened his eyes to see a bat swoop below him and heard another fly past his head. They wouldn't hit him. Now that they were in open sunlight, they'd use their Echo power, the light blinding them a bit.
Akutsu let himself fall towards the ground, the peach secure in his arms. There was a rush of air, just before he hit the ground and instead of landing with a thud and possibly breaking his ankles, he landed lightly, the wind blowing through his spiked hair.
He looked up and the bats were circling, their calls quiet now, their echo power leading them back to the safety of the canopies.
Akutsu wouldn't go back into the forest now. He'd have to go around, skirting through the small trees and grasses until he rounded the fruit grove forest and got back into familiar territory.
It wouldn't take him forever.
Akutsu secured the peach under his arm again, it was beginning to smell sweet and fragrant (a good and bad sign), and began to run, unsurprised when the wind came unbidden at his back.
He'd get home much faster now.
****
****
"Mizuki."
Mizuki was ignoring his handler and was hanging out of the window, looking at the ground, far, far below. The Aerie they lived on was high in the air, above the mountains and clouds, but on a clear day you could see right to the surface and Mizuki loved it.
"Mizuki... please, they need your decision."
The young man stopped leaning out of the window and looked back at the other man.
Akazawa was dark skinned and golden haired. It was an interesting look among all the fair skinned peoples of the Aerie, but he liked it. Akazawa had a way with the Light, so it didn't matter. His aura glowed brightly and he could make the wind do what he wanted.
"I don't want to decide." Mizuki said, going over to him. He took his hands in his and looked up at his face. "I don't have to have a betrothed from the other Aerie, do I?"
"It's tradition. There are several candidates, among them, the proxy Aura of their people."
"I don't need another one of those. That's what I'm for."
"She is Aura Light."
"And, I am Aura Wind. It doesn't matter. If I expose my self to the Mirrors and Crystals in meditation, I'll gain mastery over it soon."
Akazawa gave him a gentle look. "It does not matter to me... if you were Aura... or one of the lay people."
They had been together since childood, he and Mizuki. Growing up together in the Nest with all the other children, they sought out each other and only each other. But once Mizuki was chosen as Aura, things were different.
Marked for a strength over Wind or Light, Mizuki wound up beating out several other candidates in the tests and had chosen the relics correctly at the end.
He could have chosen to throw everything from his former "life" away, but Mizuki wasn't like that. He took Akazawa with him. He chose others with varied abilities to be his council, he was generous and kind and merciful.
Akazawa squeezed his hands, Mizuki leaning up on his toes to kiss him.
"You must not." Akazawa said. He let Mizuki's hands go and gave a bow. "Aura, they must have your decision."
Mizuki stared at his friend -at his body guard then lifted his chin. "If... we are in need to new blood... I'll search the Ground."
Akazawa gave him a shocked look. "Your Grace, you cannot, especially after the other day -."
"I will do as I please. I am Aura." Mizuki walked away then. "We will find the Grounded and we will test their strength and we will see if they are ready for redemption."
"But the Grounded are -."
"Enough Akazawa. Leave me." Mizuki quickened his pace and disappeared into the Great halls.
****
****
"Concentrate. The flames are wavering."
Kirihara wanted to open his eyes and glare at the woman, but he kept his mouth shut and instead clenched his hands. He'd meshed his fingers together in concentration, but his mind was wandering and she was really getting on his nerves.
In front of him, the small fire he was supposed to be keeping steady leapt up high, weaving and roaring. Kirihara opened his eyes and got to his feet.
"AWESOME!"
"KIRIHARA!" his teacher snapped, lifting her cane and coming for his hands.
"NO!" he growled.
The fire left the pile of sticks and coal and came to wrap itself around Kirihara like a snake, like a barrier. The woman moved her hand in a sharp gesture and the fire began to pull away from Kirihara, began to weaken.
"Stop it!" he shouted, frowning and focusing his anger on the woman.
His flames grew and they spun around him, growing and growing until a massive fire loomed behind him. The woman's eyes widened.
"D-demon!" she said, pointing. The other students were frightened and she told them to run, to get someone.
Kirihara laughed, advancing on the woman. He'd get his revenge right now for all the punishments he'd gotten today.
His train of thought was interrupted when he was abruptly backhanded across the face. The flames dissipated instantly.
Kirihara held his face and stepped back, tripping and falling on his behind. Standing over him was Sanada.
Sanada who led the Warriors of Asol, Sanada who was the right hand of their Prince, Sanada who grabbed his teacher's cane snatched up his wrist, forcing him to hold his hand out.
"You will learn today Kirihara -."
"NO!" he cried, trying to get away.
"Sanada!"
The man stopped immediately.
They bowed as Yukimura walked over to them. The man bid them rise and he looked down at Kirihara, who's cheek was swelling, who's legs were stained with dirt and ashes.
"...they tell me your flame is powerful."
Kirihara just stared.
"But that you have no control. You expect to be one of my warriors and you can't even control a single campfire?"
"I... I can..." Kirihara said weakly. "She -It's not my fault!" he spat suddenly. "She's always caning my hands and she's boring and I'm more powerful than her."
Yukimura silenced him with a look. "She was my taming teacher. ...Are you saying you are better than me?"
The color drained from Kirihara's face. "I..." he shut up and just blinked.
"If you are more powerful than her and her teachings are boring, perhaps you can best me then?" Yukimura lifted a hand and several balls of flame encircled him. "You're better than me right?"
"No, I can do it Yukimura."
"Silence Sanada. I did not ask you."
"Yes my Prince." Sanada kneeled then and Yukimura advanced on Kirihara, the boy backpedaling.
"Well? Will you fight, or will you be punished?"
"I..." Kirihara's heart was beating fast and he got to his feet, waving his hand down in a cutting motion. Flames erupted from around his feet, circling his body and coming to loom behind him. The flames were a snarling serpent and Yukimura merely gestured to the audience.
"Clear the area. Get the Water-bearers on stand by. We fight."
The teacher looked at her former student, now her lord. "Prince... forgive him, he is young -."
"Be gone woman, your part is done."
Sanada got off his knee and stomped once, a circle of flame closing in around both of the combatants.
The balls of flame around Yukimura began to move, spinning faster and faster and then without warning, he lifted his hand and bid them go. Kirihara was unprepared, to say the least.
Tasked with maintaining his own flames, which were huge and consuming his energy, he didn't have enough concentration to fend off Yukimura's attack.
His flame serpent bit at the balls of fire, its form being blown apart and consumed as Yukimura dragged Kirihara's flames away from him. he bid the balls of flame to lick at Kirihara's bare legs, heat up the air around him, mess with his concentration and Kirihara tripped, his flames petering out.
Yukimura stood back and watched, Kirihara on the edge of the flame circle.
"You will never be a warrior."
Kirihara clenched the dirt. "I will."
"You won't. Sanada, we're done -."
"I WILL!" he yelled, the flames of the circle jumping higher.
The fire roared and when Kirihara looked back at Yukimura, the Prince could see flames in the boy's eyes. His skin was smoking and flames began to come off of his body. His tunic began to burn as his skin was bathed in flames and Kirihara got up with a roar and ran at him, forming a spear of fire.
"AKAYA!"
Kirihara faltered just long enough for Yukimura to put his hand on his chest, on his smoking, flaming body and and say one word, "No."
Kirihara's flames were extinguished and in that moment he felt as if all the wind had been knocked out of him. He flew back and hit the ground, all the flames around them extinguishing.
The last thing Kirihara knew was Yanagi leaning over him.
"...Seiichi, what have you done to him?"
And he blacked out.
Yuuki looked at her son and at the giant peach pit sitting on the table.
"What did you do now?"
"I didn't do anything." he said, frowning.
"...the bats are angry."
"Maybe they have fleas."
"...Jin."
He ignored her and went to his room.
It was always something he "done". And it was never good.
She came to the entrance of his room and looked at him and then came into sit on the small cot there.
"Do you know where you came from?"
"Babies are grown inside Zilla Mangoes and then you guys chop them down and there's a baby inside. Blah blah, I know."
Yuuki giggled. "It's cute that you remember that, but... I mean... really?"
"Gee, I don't know, I guess I fell out of a tree one day or something."
"You came from me and your father... who was not of this tribe."
Akutsu feigned disinterest, but he'd never heard anything about his father before so he made sure to listen.
"He was from far away from here and had skin like yours, light and untouched by the sun. Whenever I was with him, the breeze always blew and if the wind was too harsh, he could tell it to stop. He could run faster than anyone I've ever seen with the wind at his back... do you know what I'm trying to say?"
"That I'm different." he muttered.
He already knew that. He wasn't stupid. He didn't look like anyone in the tribe. He was taller than anyone in the tribe. Hell, even though Muromachi was dark like an acorn, he could still grow things.
"We are ...Earth tribe. We grow things. There are Earth tribes that move the earth and move the sand... my father's father was that sort of Earth tribe. But you are... Wind tribe."
Akutsu didn't say anything.
"...I think it's time for you to go and seek them out."
"You're kicking me out."
"I'm not, I just think -."
"You don't want me anymore."
"You will be eighteen summers soon and I -."
He got up and left the hut.
"Jin, Jin please -."
"Don't call me that name. Shut up!"
"Please come back, don't run away right now, listen to me!" Yuuki came after him, the other villagers staring.
"Stay away!" he grumbled, continuing to walk away from her.
Yuuki caught up to him and grabbed his arm. "Jin, please, I love you and -."
"STAY AWAY!" he snapped. He'd meant to shake her off, but instead he flung her back, far back, the wind coming through the village in strong gusts.
Someone's roof came off and Akutsu just stared at his mother and she stared at him, her eyes filled with tears.
"Jin."
And he ran away, the woman calling behind him.
****
****
Mizuki had wanted to get away from the arguing Elders as soon as possible. What he'd done was unheard of. Not take a bride? Impossible.
They HAD to take a bride from the other Aerie, they had to keep up the alliance, get new blood into the Aerie.
He didn't care. Akazawa didn't care.
He would rather be Akazawa's bride than be with some stranger.
He'd told them all as much. And they told him what they always told him.
"You are the Aura!"
And all the responsibilities that came with it.
Spiritual leader, political leader, leader, leader...
He didn't want to lead anything. He wanted to be free. Free like the wind...
So he decided to run away for a little while.
He didn't have the Light moving power like Akazawa did. He couldn't focus on the grand mirrors and reflect into them and into other places, but he had his wind.
He jumped right off the Aerie, at first bewildered and panicked at the wind in his toga, in his face and hair, but then he'd relaxed and let it caress him. It was his friend after all. He let it guide him down to the ground below, wondering how the Grounded had made their journey when they'd left the Aeries.
Apparently, so long ago, there'd been Light Aeries and Wind Aeries and not wanting alliances, some of the Wind clans had gone Ground. Forsaken their vows, forsaken their homes again and gone back. They'd left the ground so many eons ago to escape the war and disease the times had brought. They'd used their powers to lift their cities into the sky. Those were the first Auras. Beings so powerful, they were God touched with Light or Wind...
Mizuki knew he was nowhere near that level.
He was no "true" Aura.
When he made it to the ground, he was tired. His face felt wind burned and he went to find the shade, finding security beneath a tree. He sat and stared up at the sky.
He couldn't even see the Aerie from here, shielded by Light and clouds corralled by the wind.
He pulled his knees up to his chest and wondered if Akazawa would look for him. He put his head down and let his eyes close.
He wondered if Akazawa would care.
****
****
Kirihara was barely awake, but he could hear talking. Heated voices, that reminded him of when he lived in the home hut with his parents.
He could hear Yanagi's voice, quiet and angry and the Prince's voice, light and tense.
"You could have hurt him! You did HURT HIM! He has a fever now -."
"Kirihara is a wild fire. He has to be tamed. They want to remove him from the clan and break his hands. Would you have that?"
"I would never allow -."
"I have final say."
"So, you would let them do that?"
There was silence.
"Then you would find another Healer."
"You cannot leave the clan."
"I can do what I want. You are still so arrogant, just like Sanada. You two and your pride -you are just like him! He needs your guidance!"
"I won't suffer him with my Warriors -."
"Then we leave."
"No one leaves." Yukimura said in a serious voice. "We leave when our bodies are ash, no more."
"Leave my hut."
"I am the Prince, all huts are mine."
"I will not tell you again." Yanagi was serious and Kirihara was tempted to get out of bed.
"...I will leave, but because we are friends. Think about what I said."
Kirihara heard Yukimura leave and listened to Yanagi move around his hut before coming back in to his private rooms, where Kirihara slept.
"...you are awake." he said.
Kirihara turned over and Yanagi came to him, checking his temperature with a hand and pushing his hair out of his face.
"What did you do today... everyone is so upset."
"At me." Kirihara said.
"You were almost consumed by flame. It is as if Asol took your body for an instant, you were so hot."
Kirihara stared.
"...that demon of fire, that serpent, you must not use it until you can control it -."
"They want to kick them out. They want to break my hands!"
Yanangi leaned over him, hugging him on the bed. "I will never... let them hurt you." He whispered.
And he wouldn't.
They lived with it, they tamed it, but very few of them knew the dangers of fire. Burns were actually rare and they were fairly resistant to the sun tanning or baking their skin, it was another gift from Asol, their Lady of Fire. But Yanagi knew. And he knew Kirihara knew.
A young boy, few up and afraid of the fighting in his home, he'd lashed out terribly watching his father hit his mother and the hut had burned down. It had been a fast and all consuming fire. His mother barely getting out.
She died of smoke in her lungs and his father's body had gone to ash.
He'd spent days in the healing hut, where Yanagi had been healing and training himself so long ago. Yanagi's own encounter with fire a vicious one.
He'd come between Sanada and Yukimura on their last and only argument, both of them testing their Taming.
He'd nearly been blinded, the scar on the side of his face, just near his eye. It was small now, pinker now. If he hadn't had the healing gifts it could have been worse.
He spent days here, away from both of them, away from everyone but his teacher, until the small boy had come. He was mostly alright, but he had terrible nightmares and the coughing sickness that came after encountering too much smoke.
He spent all of his time with this boy, soothing his nightmares, telling him about Asol, their Lady, trying to teach him bits of control when he learned he had the Fire gift.
And he fell in love with him.
Everyone had two names. The name of their mother, the one she gave to you when she whispered as you took your first milk, and the name of your father. The name of the clan.
Yanagi whispered to him now.
"Akaya..."
"I can learn, I'll do what you say now."
Yanagi looked at him, cupping his face in his hands. He caressed his cheeks, his skin still hot from fever.
He had nineteen summers, but Kirihara was still a child.
If they ran from this place, maybe that was something else they could escape.
"...I don't want them to break my hands. I want to be a warrior."
"Still?"
"Yes." he said, staring into Yanagi's eyes. "I'll show the Prince I am worthy."
Yanagi could see his admiration there.
"Do you love the Prince?"
"He is closest to Asol on this earth, yes, I love the Prince. ...Do you love the Prince?"
"No." Yanagi said simply.
He waited and Kirihara lowered his gaze. "...Lady A-asol chose one... being to be her avatar on this -."
"I know."
"And the Prince -."
"He knows."
"So you have to love -."
"You." Yanagi said, staring at him, his hands still on his face.
Kirihara went red and he tried to look away. He remembered the other day, he remembered many days. Yanagi smoothing back his hair, kissing his forehead, kissing his cheek. Sharing his food and taking him out to gather herbs.
"Healer Yanagi!" someone called.
Kirihara pulled away, tried to get away, but Yanagi pulled him back, got his attention again. He looked into his eyes.
"...Akaya?"
"Yes." he muttered.
"Yes?"
Kirihara nodded.
"HEALER YANAGI! ARE YOU IN THERE?"
Yanagi turned and shouted in a much happier voice, "YES! I AM!" He turned to Kirihara then and kissed him on the mouth, leaving him to go attend to his new patient.
Kirihara sat there and it felt as if his body were aflame.
And it wasn't from the fever.