The Enchanter - ch.2
Jul. 15th, 2009 10:31 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
Title: The Enchanter
Part: 2/?
Betas:
dgm_loves_brawl and
fullmetalkatu (for a part)
Rating: PG/PG-13
Characters: Kurogane, Tomoyo-hime, Yuui&Fay, Ashura-o
Plot: (spoilers to ch. 185 more or less - what comes after in TRC isn't involved) Fay dies fighting against FWR. After all has ended, Kurogane goes back to Nihon alone. But.. what if the mage wasn't the one intended to Kurogane? Could possibly be in Nihon another blonde magician, the ninja is very soon destined to meet?
(ch. II) In the end, Kurogane has the chance to speak with the blonde boy face to face.
Disclaimer: I sadly don't own anything.
Notes: translation from italian (original's mine too). (---> original here <---)
Link to previous chapter
Kurogane was waiting next the entrance of Tomoyo’s chambers. Dawn was just breaking, and the palaces’s corridors were still silent.
Sunlight was making its way through the windows, colouring the white walls with a pale pink.
It was a quiet and clear dawn, the sun rising from the woody hills surrounding the palace. A sight which would have cheered up every tormented soul from the black of the night.
But Kurogane had stood awake during his watch, and darkness wasn’t something that could frighten him... it was an enemy to control and to hold at bay.
His eyes fixed on the dark, his senses altert to the slightest noise in the darkness had helped him to control the feelings and emotions which were shaking inside him.
He had kept them as far as he could, not trying to make them clear. There were only a few firm points, which kept coming to his mind, and around those there was only great confusion.
The mage had died. The guy arrived to the palace the day before was only his dimensional counterpart... how many of them did they meet in their travel across dimensions? People sharing the same look and soul, but who weren’t the same.
But Kurogane had learnt to be honest about his feelings. And he knew he was upset, because seeing him again so suddenly...
He stared at the door next to him. He would have kept waiting until Tomoyo would have come out.
He wasn’t tired at all, despite the sleepless night – in any case, he wouldn’t have been able to fall asleep.
He didn’t have to wait for long.
He heard some steps, beyond the tiny walls, and the door opened slowly, letting a maid come out.
She started as she saw the ninja stainding silent against the wall.
“Tell the princess I want to speak to her.” He said, sharply.
The maid, who was about to run an errand, nodded quickly and went back in the room.
A moment after, she was again in the corridor, inviting Kurogane to enter.
The ninja stepped resolutely in the antechamber.
Tomoyo’s rooms were still filled with shadows, but some sparkles near the walls underlined the refinement of the furnitures and decorations: delicate porcelains, and two big mirrors with inlaid frames.
The princess approached him wrapped in a long, red dressing gown, where floral embroideries seemed to be intertwined with her long black hair, scattered on her back and chest like a soft and bright blanket.
“Good morning, Kurogane.” She said with a smile.
The priestess could not know, but those were the last words he wanted to hear as a greeting that day.
“Princess Tomoyo...”
“I know why you are here – she answered nodding – Just give me some time to dress, and we shall talk about it walking in the garden, while the air is still fresh.”
Kurogane nodded and left to wait for her in the corridor.
He didn’t have the chance to talk her the night before. Of course, he couldn’t speak with her while she was sitting on her throne, but even after, as he tried to ask her something, she silenced him with an authoritative sign of the hand.
Damn it, he thought, such tiny hands, and still gestures which never left space for any reply.
It didn’t take long before Tomoyo left her room, which surprised Kurogane: the maids usually would take a long time to dress her properly. He wasn’t good at evaluating such kind of things, but it seemed to him that her hairstyle wasn’t as accurate as always, and that she was wearing less ornaments than usual... maybe she had hurried up in order to talk to him?
They set out for the exit, while two quiet maids followed them some steps behind.
In the garden, they were welcomed by the smell of wet leaves and by the birds chirping. A blackbird skipped before them on the path, and immediatly disappeared jumping in a flowerbed.
The ninja stared openly at the princess, waiting for her to talk. But Tomoyo seemed to have some difficulty in finding the words. In the end, she began with: “We all know that everything that happens is hitsuzen.”
Kurogane’s lips tightened. He hated those words.
“You will probably ask me if I already foresaw what happened yesterday... but, as you know well, the answer is no. I can’t see in dreams anymore, and I never dreamed that they would have come to our palace, Kurogane.
But if nothing happens by chance, in this world... and not only in this one... then I’m sure that a meaning can be found in this meeting as well.”
The ninja stump his feet a little too heavily, walking. He knew about the hitsuzen and all that stuff, damn it. He heard it to the nausea. “It’s unavoidable” here, “it’s not by chance” there...
“And it would be too much, to hope to understand the meaning, wouldn’t it?!” he said in the end. There wasn’t anger or annoiyance in his voice, only a background of frustration.
If it’s hitsuzen, why thinking about it, why troubling, trying to change the situation...?
“Kurogane! – cried Tomoyo, suddenly stopping, and staring carefully at him – Nothing happens by chance... but this doesn’t mean that we must watch the flow of the events and be trampled on by them! Hitsuzen exists only because we exist, together with our choices and actions. Any meaning that events can have, it’s up to us to find it.” She said cheerfully – which amazed Kurogane, who felt anything but cheerful.
“Oh... by the way – she went on, walking – I knew about the two twins’ name, even if I wasn’t sure about their identities, of course... what are you doing? Aren’t you coming?”
Kurogane had stopped, frowning at her, but with two steps he was again at her side.
“Don’t be angry – the princess went on, always cheerful – but I didn’t really feel like revealing it to you. I wasn’t sure myself, and I... didn’t want to make you worry.”
“...make me worry?”
“Well... Kurogane, how would you have spent the last two weeks, if you had known that you were going to see Yuui again?”
“That guy... well, one of the two... no, none of them is the mage.” Kurogane answered, brusquely.
Tomoyo nodded. It was probably better to let that subject drop, for now.
“Anyway, you should have controlled yourself better, yesterday night... when they saw what you were doing, the guards were to the point of arresting that poor thing.”
The ninha frowned, irritated “If you wanted me to stay calm, maybe you should have let me some time to prepare myself psycologically... and, for once, you could have told me what was about to happen!”
“That spell was meant to entertain, Kurogane. He meant no harm.”
The ninja shook his head. He knew it very well... but that wasn’t the first time he saw that spell, and in that other occasion the mage had used that magic bird to attack him, while he was defending Ashura-o... but before he could reply to the princess, from somewhere in the garden came a shrill voice, not unknown at all, speaking in a incomprehensible language.
Under the heavy headpiece, the ninja’s eyes darkened.
Tomoyo herslef felt her heart jumping in her chest, but she kept quiet... and, instead, she had an idea.
“Kurogane, I think I’d be glad to talk to their leader. Wouldn’t you go and call him? I’ll wait for him in my chambers.” She said cheerfully, and she went back to the palace, without even waiting for the answer.
Kurogane watched her walking away, quite annoyed. She could have lost her ability of seeing dreams, but certainly she had kept the talent of behaving in mysterious and unpredictable ways.
The ninja unwillingly went on the path. An order from the princess was an order, even if it came from a momentary whim, but this didn’t change the fact that Kurogane knew very well who was hiding behind the blossoms of the bushes, and that he didn’t feel like talking to him.
The voice rang again, closer. He seemed cheerful.
But this time Kurogane heard a second voice, deeper, but soft and musical. The tone was calm, but the ninja recognized it immediatly... istintively, he handed the sword’s hilt, but then he stopped.
No, this Ashura-o hadn’t slaughtered anyone, and he wasn’t trying to kill the mage, or to make the mage kill him... Kurogane knew it. Rationally, he was aware of this. But in his mind, that voice was indissolubly linked to the word “enemy”.
“Kurogane!” cried Souma, silently reaching him from behind. The woman stopped by his side.
“Princess Tomoyo said I had to take someone to her chambers... and that I had to come with you.”
Kurogane nodded brusquely and began walking again. He had stopped without even noticing.
At last, the two ninjas went round the umpteenth corner of that labyrinthic garden, and they found themselves in front of a small lake, with a gracious inlaid wooden bridge arching over it.
The sun was now higher in the sky, and the little waves rippling the water looked like scrapped lines of light.
On the bridge Ashura-o and Yuui – because in Kurogane’s mind, those two figures were indissolubly bounded to those names – were watching the water surface, and they immediately turned as they heard the ninjas’ steps on the path’s gravel.
The blonde boy suddenly got away from the parapet he was leaning on.
“It’s the angry big doggie!” he screamed, running to hide behind Ashura-o, who scolded him with a glance.
Kurogane frowned, while a vague irritation began pervading him. It seemed like ages since he last felt that maddening annoyance... and that idiot not only did call him “angry big doggie”, but he did even use Nihon language on purpose, so that he could understand the words.
“Good morning, sir. We’re searching for your leader.” began Souma politely, talking to Ashura-o, quietly ignoring the irritated expression on her companion’s face.
“Good morning to you! Well... I’m the leader.”
“Princess Tomoyo would be glad to have a talk with you, sir. Would you follow me to her rooms?”
“I surely will.” Ashura nodded, smiling calmly.
He gave the young magician a nod, and he went away following Souma.
The boy watched him leaving with a worried gaze, then he gave a bright smile to Kurogane, who hadn’t moved yet, and was still keeping a very angry expression.
Oh well – thought the ninja, gathering what was left of his calmness, like he was about to face a battle – obviously this was what Tomoyo wanted – putting him face to face with the mage... no, his counterpart... oh, whoever the guy was. Well, if this was what she wanted, then he wouldn’t have let her down.
“Why, you didn’t get offended because I called you angry doggie, did you?” said the boy cheerfully, jumping to seat on the bridge’s parapet.
Anyway, the resemlbance was amazing... no, they were really identical...
“It’s just... you know, yesterday you reminded me of a big watchdog that begins howling without any reason!”
He talked with a strange accent, while his azure eyes stared at him from behind his ruffled fringe... two blue eyes... no, he only resembled him.
“...can you speak, as well as barking?” he asked, bending his head with a puzzled gaze.
“Stop comparing me to a dog!” was the sharp answer.
“Aww... well, do you have a name?”
“I do, but I’m not telling you.”
“...so, can I call you Mr. Doggie?”
“Stop it! You don’t need to call me in any way!”
Kurogane hated finding himself standing before that idiot, who was having fun. Because he didn’t find the situation funny at all.
“And what about you, instead... are you Fay or Yuui?”
The boy glanced at him surprised, but he immediatly stuck his tongue out.
“It’s a secret! – he announced, amused but also slightly annoyed – You should know that it’s not wise to tell your name to the first person you meet, don’t you? Furthermore, you haven’t told yours to me, Mr. Doggie.”
Kurogane stared at him, bad-tempered. His bad glance seemed to soften the blonde.
“Anyway... who do you would like me to be?” he winked.
Kurogane felt that something, in an undefined somewhere in his soul, was breaking into pieces. Who would I like you to be..?
But, as usual, he reacted with irritation. The guy had to be Yuui. He didn’t think that even the idiot’s twin could be so unpleasant.
“Mmh... well, I admit it’s unfair... – the other went on, winking – I know your name, after all.”
To the threatening glance of the ninja, the boy answered shrugging his shoulders “Your princess called your name yesterday night... you’re Kurogane, aren’t you?”
“Tsk.” Was the only answer from the warrior, who turned to watch the lake.
The blonde stared at him with an astoundend expression “You look a little bit too stressed, you know? Have you worked too hard because of the feast...?”
“Stop saying stupid things. People like you get on my nerves.”
The reply came after some moments. “Oh... I’m sorry.” The boy slided down from the parapet and silently began walking away through the wooden bridge.
“Where are you going now?!” cried Kurogane, surprised. The boy’s voice had sounded really sorry.
“Well... I was annoying you, wasn’t I? So I’m leaving...” he answered, uncertain. The teasing smile had disappeared from his face.
Kurogane breathed in deeply. Tomoyo would have scolded him, if she had known that he had made the boy walk away because of his rudeness.
“You are Yuui, aren’t you?”
The smile appared again on the boy’s face, just like a flame, while he stepped dancing towards Kurogane. “Why should you care? You won’t distinguish us... but you can call me Yuui if you want! Maybe I’m really Yuui, eheh!”
Kurogane tried to ignore the anger. Just a normal conversation, that was he was aiming at. Even if the art of conversation wasn’t something he was good at.
“That spell you made yesterday... that was true magic, wasn’t it? It wasn’t just a simple illusion.”
Again, Yuui – well, anyway, in the ninja’s mind that face was bounded to that name... so why not calling him that way? – seemed surprised by his statement.
“Yes, it was. Pure magic. But it wasn’t dangerous at all... I’d never use a dangerous spell in a show, trust me!” he aswered with too much passion.
Kurogane stared at him. His red gaze, fixed in the other’s eyes, seemed to impress him, and he immediately looked away, as a cunning smile ruled on his face once again.
With a somersault, he clapped his hands and the fire bird from the night before suddenly appeared over his head.
“It’s a phoenix!” he cried, while the animal was perching on his arm.
Its feathers seemed to be burning with an inner fire, made out of tiny flames.
“It’s of the same scarlet as your eyes!” said Yuui, who found himself staring at the reflection of that fire in the ninja’s irises.
He made the bird fly over the lake “It’s a magnificent creature, isn’t it? So graceful and majestic... but even so frail...” he moved his hands, and the phoenix plunged towards the lake’s surface.
As it skimmed the water, it disappeared in a puff of smoke, giving birth to a moltitude of tiny ripples.
“But, you know, what’s beautiful about the phoenix, it’s that it revives again everytime!” he laughed, turning back.
Kurogane followed his glance to discover that the bird was perching on the parapet behind them, and it was softly smoothing its plumage.
The ninja’s gaze darkened once again. That wasn’t a living being, it was just a spell, and that was the only reason it could be turned on and off so easily. A real life, instead...
***
... a real life isn’t an illusion, and can’t be taken back with magic.
Yuui knew this, but even so he enjoied those little games with magic.
He entered the room he shared with Fay. His twin was sitting next to the window, staring at the outside with an absorbed gaze.
“I’ve just met an odd guy. He wanted to know who I am, you know. He even guessed I’m Yuui. But it doesn’t matter, anyway.”
He came near Fay and embraced him, leaning the head on his shoulder. “He can think whatever he wants... but he can’t distinguish us...”
One of Fay’s hand raised to caress his brother’s hair. They were a single person, and nothing could pull them apart.
Sorry for the long wait, but you know, exams, RL stuff. See you as soon as I can ♥
Thank you to anyone who'll read and commenti this, anyway. :')
Part: 2/?
Betas:
![[profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
Rating: PG/PG-13
Characters: Kurogane, Tomoyo-hime, Yuui&Fay, Ashura-o
Plot: (spoilers to ch. 185 more or less - what comes after in TRC isn't involved) Fay dies fighting against FWR. After all has ended, Kurogane goes back to Nihon alone. But.. what if the mage wasn't the one intended to Kurogane? Could possibly be in Nihon another blonde magician, the ninja is very soon destined to meet?
(ch. II) In the end, Kurogane has the chance to speak with the blonde boy face to face.
Disclaimer: I sadly don't own anything.
Notes: translation from italian (original's mine too). (---> original here <---)
Link to previous chapter
Kurogane was waiting next the entrance of Tomoyo’s chambers. Dawn was just breaking, and the palaces’s corridors were still silent.
Sunlight was making its way through the windows, colouring the white walls with a pale pink.
It was a quiet and clear dawn, the sun rising from the woody hills surrounding the palace. A sight which would have cheered up every tormented soul from the black of the night.
But Kurogane had stood awake during his watch, and darkness wasn’t something that could frighten him... it was an enemy to control and to hold at bay.
His eyes fixed on the dark, his senses altert to the slightest noise in the darkness had helped him to control the feelings and emotions which were shaking inside him.
He had kept them as far as he could, not trying to make them clear. There were only a few firm points, which kept coming to his mind, and around those there was only great confusion.
The mage had died. The guy arrived to the palace the day before was only his dimensional counterpart... how many of them did they meet in their travel across dimensions? People sharing the same look and soul, but who weren’t the same.
But Kurogane had learnt to be honest about his feelings. And he knew he was upset, because seeing him again so suddenly...
He stared at the door next to him. He would have kept waiting until Tomoyo would have come out.
He wasn’t tired at all, despite the sleepless night – in any case, he wouldn’t have been able to fall asleep.
He didn’t have to wait for long.
He heard some steps, beyond the tiny walls, and the door opened slowly, letting a maid come out.
She started as she saw the ninja stainding silent against the wall.
“Tell the princess I want to speak to her.” He said, sharply.
The maid, who was about to run an errand, nodded quickly and went back in the room.
A moment after, she was again in the corridor, inviting Kurogane to enter.
The ninja stepped resolutely in the antechamber.
Tomoyo’s rooms were still filled with shadows, but some sparkles near the walls underlined the refinement of the furnitures and decorations: delicate porcelains, and two big mirrors with inlaid frames.
The princess approached him wrapped in a long, red dressing gown, where floral embroideries seemed to be intertwined with her long black hair, scattered on her back and chest like a soft and bright blanket.
“Good morning, Kurogane.” She said with a smile.
The priestess could not know, but those were the last words he wanted to hear as a greeting that day.
“Princess Tomoyo...”
“I know why you are here – she answered nodding – Just give me some time to dress, and we shall talk about it walking in the garden, while the air is still fresh.”
Kurogane nodded and left to wait for her in the corridor.
He didn’t have the chance to talk her the night before. Of course, he couldn’t speak with her while she was sitting on her throne, but even after, as he tried to ask her something, she silenced him with an authoritative sign of the hand.
Damn it, he thought, such tiny hands, and still gestures which never left space for any reply.
It didn’t take long before Tomoyo left her room, which surprised Kurogane: the maids usually would take a long time to dress her properly. He wasn’t good at evaluating such kind of things, but it seemed to him that her hairstyle wasn’t as accurate as always, and that she was wearing less ornaments than usual... maybe she had hurried up in order to talk to him?
They set out for the exit, while two quiet maids followed them some steps behind.
In the garden, they were welcomed by the smell of wet leaves and by the birds chirping. A blackbird skipped before them on the path, and immediatly disappeared jumping in a flowerbed.
The ninja stared openly at the princess, waiting for her to talk. But Tomoyo seemed to have some difficulty in finding the words. In the end, she began with: “We all know that everything that happens is hitsuzen.”
Kurogane’s lips tightened. He hated those words.
“You will probably ask me if I already foresaw what happened yesterday... but, as you know well, the answer is no. I can’t see in dreams anymore, and I never dreamed that they would have come to our palace, Kurogane.
But if nothing happens by chance, in this world... and not only in this one... then I’m sure that a meaning can be found in this meeting as well.”
The ninja stump his feet a little too heavily, walking. He knew about the hitsuzen and all that stuff, damn it. He heard it to the nausea. “It’s unavoidable” here, “it’s not by chance” there...
“And it would be too much, to hope to understand the meaning, wouldn’t it?!” he said in the end. There wasn’t anger or annoiyance in his voice, only a background of frustration.
If it’s hitsuzen, why thinking about it, why troubling, trying to change the situation...?
“Kurogane! – cried Tomoyo, suddenly stopping, and staring carefully at him – Nothing happens by chance... but this doesn’t mean that we must watch the flow of the events and be trampled on by them! Hitsuzen exists only because we exist, together with our choices and actions. Any meaning that events can have, it’s up to us to find it.” She said cheerfully – which amazed Kurogane, who felt anything but cheerful.
“Oh... by the way – she went on, walking – I knew about the two twins’ name, even if I wasn’t sure about their identities, of course... what are you doing? Aren’t you coming?”
Kurogane had stopped, frowning at her, but with two steps he was again at her side.
“Don’t be angry – the princess went on, always cheerful – but I didn’t really feel like revealing it to you. I wasn’t sure myself, and I... didn’t want to make you worry.”
“...make me worry?”
“Well... Kurogane, how would you have spent the last two weeks, if you had known that you were going to see Yuui again?”
“That guy... well, one of the two... no, none of them is the mage.” Kurogane answered, brusquely.
Tomoyo nodded. It was probably better to let that subject drop, for now.
“Anyway, you should have controlled yourself better, yesterday night... when they saw what you were doing, the guards were to the point of arresting that poor thing.”
The ninha frowned, irritated “If you wanted me to stay calm, maybe you should have let me some time to prepare myself psycologically... and, for once, you could have told me what was about to happen!”
“That spell was meant to entertain, Kurogane. He meant no harm.”
The ninja shook his head. He knew it very well... but that wasn’t the first time he saw that spell, and in that other occasion the mage had used that magic bird to attack him, while he was defending Ashura-o... but before he could reply to the princess, from somewhere in the garden came a shrill voice, not unknown at all, speaking in a incomprehensible language.
Under the heavy headpiece, the ninja’s eyes darkened.
Tomoyo herslef felt her heart jumping in her chest, but she kept quiet... and, instead, she had an idea.
“Kurogane, I think I’d be glad to talk to their leader. Wouldn’t you go and call him? I’ll wait for him in my chambers.” She said cheerfully, and she went back to the palace, without even waiting for the answer.
Kurogane watched her walking away, quite annoyed. She could have lost her ability of seeing dreams, but certainly she had kept the talent of behaving in mysterious and unpredictable ways.
The ninja unwillingly went on the path. An order from the princess was an order, even if it came from a momentary whim, but this didn’t change the fact that Kurogane knew very well who was hiding behind the blossoms of the bushes, and that he didn’t feel like talking to him.
The voice rang again, closer. He seemed cheerful.
But this time Kurogane heard a second voice, deeper, but soft and musical. The tone was calm, but the ninja recognized it immediatly... istintively, he handed the sword’s hilt, but then he stopped.
No, this Ashura-o hadn’t slaughtered anyone, and he wasn’t trying to kill the mage, or to make the mage kill him... Kurogane knew it. Rationally, he was aware of this. But in his mind, that voice was indissolubly linked to the word “enemy”.
“Kurogane!” cried Souma, silently reaching him from behind. The woman stopped by his side.
“Princess Tomoyo said I had to take someone to her chambers... and that I had to come with you.”
Kurogane nodded brusquely and began walking again. He had stopped without even noticing.
At last, the two ninjas went round the umpteenth corner of that labyrinthic garden, and they found themselves in front of a small lake, with a gracious inlaid wooden bridge arching over it.
The sun was now higher in the sky, and the little waves rippling the water looked like scrapped lines of light.
On the bridge Ashura-o and Yuui – because in Kurogane’s mind, those two figures were indissolubly bounded to those names – were watching the water surface, and they immediately turned as they heard the ninjas’ steps on the path’s gravel.
The blonde boy suddenly got away from the parapet he was leaning on.
“It’s the angry big doggie!” he screamed, running to hide behind Ashura-o, who scolded him with a glance.
Kurogane frowned, while a vague irritation began pervading him. It seemed like ages since he last felt that maddening annoyance... and that idiot not only did call him “angry big doggie”, but he did even use Nihon language on purpose, so that he could understand the words.
“Good morning, sir. We’re searching for your leader.” began Souma politely, talking to Ashura-o, quietly ignoring the irritated expression on her companion’s face.
“Good morning to you! Well... I’m the leader.”
“Princess Tomoyo would be glad to have a talk with you, sir. Would you follow me to her rooms?”
“I surely will.” Ashura nodded, smiling calmly.
He gave the young magician a nod, and he went away following Souma.
The boy watched him leaving with a worried gaze, then he gave a bright smile to Kurogane, who hadn’t moved yet, and was still keeping a very angry expression.
Oh well – thought the ninja, gathering what was left of his calmness, like he was about to face a battle – obviously this was what Tomoyo wanted – putting him face to face with the mage... no, his counterpart... oh, whoever the guy was. Well, if this was what she wanted, then he wouldn’t have let her down.
“Why, you didn’t get offended because I called you angry doggie, did you?” said the boy cheerfully, jumping to seat on the bridge’s parapet.
Anyway, the resemlbance was amazing... no, they were really identical...
“It’s just... you know, yesterday you reminded me of a big watchdog that begins howling without any reason!”
He talked with a strange accent, while his azure eyes stared at him from behind his ruffled fringe... two blue eyes... no, he only resembled him.
“...can you speak, as well as barking?” he asked, bending his head with a puzzled gaze.
“Stop comparing me to a dog!” was the sharp answer.
“Aww... well, do you have a name?”
“I do, but I’m not telling you.”
“...so, can I call you Mr. Doggie?”
“Stop it! You don’t need to call me in any way!”
Kurogane hated finding himself standing before that idiot, who was having fun. Because he didn’t find the situation funny at all.
“And what about you, instead... are you Fay or Yuui?”
The boy glanced at him surprised, but he immediatly stuck his tongue out.
“It’s a secret! – he announced, amused but also slightly annoyed – You should know that it’s not wise to tell your name to the first person you meet, don’t you? Furthermore, you haven’t told yours to me, Mr. Doggie.”
Kurogane stared at him, bad-tempered. His bad glance seemed to soften the blonde.
“Anyway... who do you would like me to be?” he winked.
Kurogane felt that something, in an undefined somewhere in his soul, was breaking into pieces. Who would I like you to be..?
But, as usual, he reacted with irritation. The guy had to be Yuui. He didn’t think that even the idiot’s twin could be so unpleasant.
“Mmh... well, I admit it’s unfair... – the other went on, winking – I know your name, after all.”
To the threatening glance of the ninja, the boy answered shrugging his shoulders “Your princess called your name yesterday night... you’re Kurogane, aren’t you?”
“Tsk.” Was the only answer from the warrior, who turned to watch the lake.
The blonde stared at him with an astoundend expression “You look a little bit too stressed, you know? Have you worked too hard because of the feast...?”
“Stop saying stupid things. People like you get on my nerves.”
The reply came after some moments. “Oh... I’m sorry.” The boy slided down from the parapet and silently began walking away through the wooden bridge.
“Where are you going now?!” cried Kurogane, surprised. The boy’s voice had sounded really sorry.
“Well... I was annoying you, wasn’t I? So I’m leaving...” he answered, uncertain. The teasing smile had disappeared from his face.
Kurogane breathed in deeply. Tomoyo would have scolded him, if she had known that he had made the boy walk away because of his rudeness.
“You are Yuui, aren’t you?”
The smile appared again on the boy’s face, just like a flame, while he stepped dancing towards Kurogane. “Why should you care? You won’t distinguish us... but you can call me Yuui if you want! Maybe I’m really Yuui, eheh!”
Kurogane tried to ignore the anger. Just a normal conversation, that was he was aiming at. Even if the art of conversation wasn’t something he was good at.
“That spell you made yesterday... that was true magic, wasn’t it? It wasn’t just a simple illusion.”
Again, Yuui – well, anyway, in the ninja’s mind that face was bounded to that name... so why not calling him that way? – seemed surprised by his statement.
“Yes, it was. Pure magic. But it wasn’t dangerous at all... I’d never use a dangerous spell in a show, trust me!” he aswered with too much passion.
Kurogane stared at him. His red gaze, fixed in the other’s eyes, seemed to impress him, and he immediately looked away, as a cunning smile ruled on his face once again.
With a somersault, he clapped his hands and the fire bird from the night before suddenly appeared over his head.
“It’s a phoenix!” he cried, while the animal was perching on his arm.
Its feathers seemed to be burning with an inner fire, made out of tiny flames.
“It’s of the same scarlet as your eyes!” said Yuui, who found himself staring at the reflection of that fire in the ninja’s irises.
He made the bird fly over the lake “It’s a magnificent creature, isn’t it? So graceful and majestic... but even so frail...” he moved his hands, and the phoenix plunged towards the lake’s surface.
As it skimmed the water, it disappeared in a puff of smoke, giving birth to a moltitude of tiny ripples.
“But, you know, what’s beautiful about the phoenix, it’s that it revives again everytime!” he laughed, turning back.
Kurogane followed his glance to discover that the bird was perching on the parapet behind them, and it was softly smoothing its plumage.
The ninja’s gaze darkened once again. That wasn’t a living being, it was just a spell, and that was the only reason it could be turned on and off so easily. A real life, instead...
***
... a real life isn’t an illusion, and can’t be taken back with magic.
Yuui knew this, but even so he enjoied those little games with magic.
He entered the room he shared with Fay. His twin was sitting next to the window, staring at the outside with an absorbed gaze.
“I’ve just met an odd guy. He wanted to know who I am, you know. He even guessed I’m Yuui. But it doesn’t matter, anyway.”
He came near Fay and embraced him, leaning the head on his shoulder. “He can think whatever he wants... but he can’t distinguish us...”
One of Fay’s hand raised to caress his brother’s hair. They were a single person, and nothing could pull them apart.
Sorry for the long wait, but you know, exams, RL stuff. See you as soon as I can ♥
Thank you to anyone who'll read and commenti this, anyway. :')