A Song For Meeting (Kai/Shirogane. Gaoranger. F - Fantasy)
Title: A Song For Meeting
Fandom: Hyakujuu sentai Gaoranger
Rating: G
Prompt: F - Fantasy.
Summary: "So that's your pushy little Healer, is it?"
AN: Gaoranger/Valdemar fusion.
Shirogane trudged through the mud, clutching his harp case tightly to his chest as he walked, trying to keep it as dry as possible; his flute case was tucked as securely as possible under his arm. It couldn't be much further to Waymeet, he kept telling himself as the rain continued to fall, plastering his hair to his head and soaking him all the way through in spite of his precautions. It couldn't possibly be too much further and then he could dry off and hopefully get some warm tea into him.
He sneezed several times in rapid succession, then shivered as more rain droplets found their way under his travelling cloak and down the back of his neck. Oh, this was a right mess he'd found himself in, wasn't it? His first solo outing as a fully-fledged Bard outside of Haven and he was probably going to come down with something the Healers would scold him for. Well, how was he supposed to know the storm would just come up out of nowhere like this? He was no weather witch, he was a Bard, damn it; his Gift lay in different directions.
He sneezed again and glumly realised that his incessant shivering probably wasn't a good sign. Well, when he reached Waymeet he could fix that. If he ever got there, that is and he was beginning to wonder if he ever would. How much further could it possibly be? He just had to keep moving, that was all, just concentrate on putting one foot in front of the other until he got there. It wouldn't be much longer now.
Stumbling over an errant root, Shirogane went crashing to the ground, face down and it was with some relief that he realised the weather had finally got to him, that he was hallucinating or something, because there was no other explanation for having gentle hands resting on his shoulders, or the muttered sound of some creative swearing.
***
He was hot, he was freezing and he couldn't stop shivering, no matter how tightly he wrapped the bedroll around himself, but he- he needed to know... his harp, his flute, they--
"Your harp's fine," someone told him. "Your flute too." Then there was a sigh. "Bards; always caring more about their instruments than themselves, you're almost as moronic as Heralds and those great big lumps that call themselves horses."
It wasn't a voice he recognised but it sounded young; young and male and, if the cracks were anything to go by, his voice was just breaking. It would probably settle into a pleasant tenor, Shirogane decided sleepily, wondering how well the boy could sing.
***
When he finally woke properly it was to an aching head and an aching body and a vision of dark, gloomy beige. He frowned. Where was he?
"Don't try to move," a voice told him firmly; a woman's voice. He frowned again, because that didn't quite tally with the voice he'd been hearing before and there was a definite difference between that voice and this one. He looked around for the source of the voice - ah, he appeared to be in a tent, that answered that question - and found it belonged to a woman somewhere in her mid-twenties or so; her blonde hair came to just below her chin and she was dressed in the mint green robes of a Healer. Huh. He must have been wrong about the voice, then. And damned lucky, too, if he'd managed to stumble onto a Healer all the way out here.
"Um, thank you," he managed, clearing his throat but still a little dismayed at how hoarse he sounded. Hopefully it wouldn't last: singing was such a part of being a Bard and-- "How long have I--"
"Several days," she replied calmly. "But I'm not the one you should be thanking."
That was when Shirogane realised the light pressure around his right hand wasn't a bandage after all and that, no, the weight on his thigh wasn't his harp. He looked down into the sleeping face of a boy no more than sixteen, if that and blinked in surprise. Now this tallied more with the hazy memories he had of someone talking to him soothingly. Looking down at the boy Shirogane could almost hear the hearts breaking, as they doubtless would be by the time the boy had reached Shirogane's own age of nineteen years old.
"Don't be fooled by that face," the woman told him in amusement. "He's nowhere near as angelic as he looks while he's sleeping. He's got a sharp tongue on him, believe me."
Thinking back to some of the creative cursing he seemed to remember hearing, Shirogane couldn't argue with that. "Well, thank you anyway, Healer-- um..."
"Dana," she told him, her eyes twinkling with warm amusement. "My name is Dana." She nodded at the boy still holding lightly onto Shirogane's hand. "And he's Kai, just for future reference."
***
"You are a moron," were the first words out of Kai's mouth when he realised Shirogane was finally conscious and aware.
"...what?" That was really not what he'd been expecting. Dana, however, seemed to have been expecting something like it for all she did was smile as she mixed together some sweet-smelling tea.
"I said you're a moron," Kai repeated with exaggerated patience. "What in the name of the seven hells did you think you were doing out there? Why didn't you just stay at Waymeet until morning? The storm would have passed by then and you would have been fine."
"But I--" He'd never reached Waymeet, what was the boy talking about?
"Oh, I'm sure you have a 'reason'," the young Healer sighed. "Bards, almost as moronic as Heralds sometimes."
Shirogane bristled. He wasn't that much of an idiot. "I never got to Waymeet," he said defiantly. "Otherwise I would have stayed there. I was hoping to reach it before the storm broke but obviously I was further away than I thought."
"I'll say," Kai said after a long pause. "Waymeet's back the way you came, about a day away." He paused again, his eyebrows shooting up into his hair. "How could you possibly miss a village the size of Waymeet?"
Shirogane flushed and wished the floor would open up and swallow him: there was something incredibly stinging about the young Healer's scorn. It looked like he was a fair bit out of his way and he'd probably have to add several more days to his journey home. In spite of his scorn, though, Healer Kai was at least professional and Shirogane had no complaints about his medical treatment, even if he objected to Kai's critical commentary about his common sense, not to mention his obviously abysmal sense of direction.
Shirogane thought he should be more put out about that than he actually was. Oh, of course, the barbed commentary stung but Healer Kai was something of a mystery to him, one he wanted to figure out while he had the opportunity. For one thing there was a look to Kai's features that spoke of strong Shin'a'in heritage, but the Shin'a'in were notoriously insular and rarely left the Dhorisha Plains to mix with peoples other than their own. Maybe he was wrong, though, because the reddy-brown colour of Kai's hair was clearly natural and the Shin'a'in were as dark-haired as Shirogane himself.
The second mystery was that in spite of his running commentary Kai insisted on seeing to Shirogane himself, refusing to let Healer Dana do anything. Part of that was no doubt due to Kai being on his internship circuit, visiting the various Houses of Healing along a certain route to see how they worked. He supposed that was to make sure that a new Healer would have some familiarity with other Houses of Healing outside of the Healer's Collegium, should they ever be assigned there. However, Shirogane suspected that being on Internship was only part of it, even if the drive to prove yourself to your instructor was something he was only too familiar with: his own Internship had only been last year, after all and Kai was very young to be taking his now.
The third mystery was the pair of wooden... sticks, - tonfa, Kai called them - although they seemed very short to be any kind of weapon and why would a healer even carry a weapon? "So because we're Healers we shouldn't be able to defend ourselves?" Kai asked incredulously. "Please, spare me. Besides, these aren't fatal, even if they do leave one heck of a bruise."
Really, Shirogane didn't know why he was so surprised: basic self-defence classes were mandatory at both the Bardic and Healer Collegia, precisely because they could be sent anywhere in the country and while Valdermar was a peaceful place by and large they still had problems with raiders on the borders; it wasn't wise to travel without at least the basic knowledge of how to defend yourself.
Fourthly... Kai was really young to be taking his Internship now: that usually occurred around eighteen or nineteen years of age, when all your lessons were completed, so Kai would have to be exceptionally talented if he was out already.
"How old are you?" he asked eventually, after a couple of days contemplation and Kai scowled.
"Why?" he asked suspiciously and Shirogane shrugged, trying not to smile.
"Just curious."
Kai spent a moment thinking it over, then shrugged himself. "Fourteen," he replied, his tone daring Shirogane to make an issue of it. "Fifteen in a couple of months."
"That's pretty young to be on Internship," Shirogane mused and Kai scowled at him.
"Yes, because you're so very old yourself, Grandpa."
"Hey!"
Kai ignored him in favour of pouring something into the mug Shirogane had been using for his medications and shoved it in Shirogane's hand. "Shut up and drink that."
Shirogane lifted the mug to his lips but recoiled as the smell reached his nose. "That smells vile," he protested and as he didn't remember drinking anything like this before he was convinced this was an under-handed means of payback. He turned to Dana, appealing to someone with a clearer head than Kai. "Do I really need to drink this?"
Kai crossed his arms defiantly but Dana merely raised her eyebrows at him. "Didn't your parents teach you not to argue with a Healer?"
Damn, they were both against him now. "Come on," Kai said impatiently. "Drink it or I'll hold your nose and pour it down your throat."
Judging by the stubborn expression on his face, Shirogane had no doubts the boy would do just that, so he braced himself and swallowed the entire contents of the mug in one go. "Lord of Light, that's disgusting," he gasped and Kai smirked.
"Things that are good for you usually are."
It was a good thing his roommate wasn't here, Shirogane reflected sourly. Hayate would never let him hear the end of it if Hayate ever found out he'd been verbally trounced by a fourteen year old.
~~Five Years Later~~
"You don't learn, do you?"
Shirogane recognised that voice from somewhere; it was familiar, he just couldn't quite place where he knew it from right now. That would be the pain from his broken ankle interfering, he thought sourly. Normally he'd have placed the voice right off. He forced his eyes open and looked around, sighing when he realised he was in the House of Healing on the Collegia grounds. How had he got back here? Last thing he remembered was having the bad luck to get caught up in that tavern brawl and somehow managing to break his damn ankle. Well, it could have been worse, he reminded himself. It could have been a wrist he broke; at least a broken ankle wouldn't stop him playing.
Wait a minute. House of Healing. That voice...
He looked around and sighed when he recognised the face glaring down at him. The high cheekbones were the same and so were the full lips tightly compressed into a solid line of disapproval; the only difference was the refinement of those features that came with maturity. Healer Kai was definitely all grown up now.
"You're going to make me drink that disgusting concoction again, aren't you?" he sighed, closing his eyes in resignation.
"If you don't behave I just might," was the dry response. "But otherwise, no. It's for influenza, not broken ankles. And how did you manage that, by the way? Too caught up in composing sad, sad love songs that you weren't paying attention to where you were going?"
Shirogane blushed but held his tongue. Aside from the fact he hadn't actually been working on a ballad, the Healer wasn't that far off the mark. Healer Kai sighed and shook his head. "That doesn't surprise me."
"I'm not that bad!" Shirogane protested, stung once again by the dismissive tone. How did the Healer have this effect on him? he wondered in frustration. It usually took a lot more than this to make him so defensive; his ego wasn't usually so easily bruised as it was whenever he was around Healer Kai and Shirogane was at a loss to explain it.
"Of course not," the Healer agreed blandly. "Because other Bards miss a prominent village by five miles or so all the time; because other Bards don't think to get under shelter in the middle of a rainstorm; because other Bards don't pay attention to a tavern fight spilling out onto the street right in front of them. Do you not have eyes? Or ears? How could you possibly miss it? It's not like tavern fights are quiet after all, or--"
"Kai!"
The young Healer broke off mid-harangue and turned to the slightly older man standing behind him. "What?" he asked irritably but the man just smiled peaceably.
"I think Alyssa wants your help with something. She was looking for you a few minutes ago."
Kai huffed and stalked off; leaving the tattered remains of Shirogane's pride to reassemble themselves and the people who'd been watching the scolding went back to whatever they were doing. The other Healer seemed to be about Shirogane's own age and he wore the same slightly amused expression that Healer Dana had, back in that tent. Did everyone find it so amusing? Shirogane wondered grumpily. It wasn't that funny.
"Well, you've certainly made an impression," the man said cheerfully. "Kai doesn't usually get that sarcastic unless you've done something extremely stupid. I'm Kakeru, by the way."
"Shirogane," Shirogane replied, inclining his head in greeting. "And... we've met before," he admitted. "He didn't have a very high opinion of me then either and I don't think that's changed in the past five years or so."
Healer Kakeru's eyes went wide as he did a slight double-take, taking in the scarlet robes that proclaimed his status as a Bard. "You're that Shirogane?" he exclaimed. "I heard about that when Kai got back off Internship. Did you really miss Waymeet by ten miles?"
"Five," Shirogane replied defensively. "It was only five." And no, he definitely wasn't helping himself here. Lord of Light, the boy must have gone around telling everyone. He groaned and flopped back down onto the bed, closing his eyes in mortification. "He must think I'm a complete idiot." Eyes closed as they were, Shirogane failed to notice the thoughtful expression that flickered across the Healer's face, or the way the man turned to stare in the direction Kai had gone.
"If it's any consolation," Healer Kakeru said cheerfully, "if he didn't think you were worth the effort he wouldn't have been quite so melodramatic. He usually only puts that much effort into it if he thinks you're worth his time."
"That's not helping," Shirogane muttered, staring at the ceiling and wishing his blushes would fade already.
"Oi, Kakeru, stop pestering my patient," came Kai's voice behind them again - obviously the problem, whatever it was, had been sorted pretty quickly - "Bard Shirogane needs to rest. And preferably find where he left the working part of his brain."
"Be nice," Kakeru murmured, giving Shirogane a reassuring pat on the shoulder before he strolled away, leaving Shirogane to the not-so-tender mercies of Healer Kai. However, the Healer kept his sarcastic commentary to a minimum as he checked the cast and the bandages, his questions mostly of a medical nature rather than demands to know where his common sense had vanished to.
Just then a little girl in a pink dress came in, probably no more than ten years old, escorted by an older Healer and Kai gave him a pat on the shoulder before saying, "I'll be back in a minute."
The little girl's face lit up as she saw him and Shirogane watched as Kai crouched down to be more on her level, his fingers lightly trailing over the beginnings of a bruise on her cheek. Shirogane frowned: how had the girl gotten so beaten? There were laws against that kind of thing and they were enforced as well as these things could be. If this girl was from an abusive home why hadn't she been taken away from there? Surely a Healer, of all people, wouldn't just stand by and do nothing.
"How many this time, Saya?" Kai sighed, checking her over quickly but calmly; Shirogane didn't hear her answer but Kai shook his head. "You know, if you insist on taking on the local bullies you're going to have to change your tactics," Kai told her. "They're bigger than you and there's more of them." The girl set her jaw stubbornly but didn't reply. Kai simply shrugged and picked her up to sit her on a bed. "Alright, let's see if we can patch up these knees, shall we?"
And, sure enough, the girl's knees looked like they'd taken most of the damage, but that was easily taken care of; Kai bandaging them up quickly and easily before handing the girl a small mug. "Willowbark tea," Kai told her and she sighed but took the mug anyway, swallowing it in one go. Shirogane was impressed; that took guts. Kai took the mug back off her and handed over a sweet to 'get rid of the taste'. The girl took it and scampered out, leaving Kai shaking his head as he walked back over to where Shirogane was watching.
"Why didn't you do anything about the bruises?" Shirogane asked curiously, not entirely happy with the young Healer for that. Obviously the man wasn't going to use the full extent of his Gift on something like that but surely he could have done something. How could he just let the girl go with bruises like that? Kai quirked his eyebrows at him, something like amusement dancing there before it vanished.
"You don't approve?"
"No." Not that it made much difference, really.
Kai simply shrugged. "The first and only time I did something about the bruises she started crying and wouldn't stop," he said. "To her they're, I don't know, badges of honour or something; she won't let me Heal them so I don't offer anymore." He shrugged again and returned to checking over Shirogane's ankle, Shirogane himself feeling distinctly guilty for thinking such uncharitable thoughts about the man. "Saya's very protective," he added. "When she sees someone being picked on, she does something about it; and with a sense of justice like that one, she'll probably end up being Chosen in a few years; she'll spend more than enough time in here then. Okay," Kai finished. "I'll just get the crutches and you can go. Just try not to walk into any more tavern fights, okay?"
Shirogane gritted his teeth and told himself that strangling the man wasn't a very Bardic thing to do. At least after this he wouldn't have to see Healer Kai again.
***
"Are you stalking me?" Healer Kai sighed, hand resting gently on Shirogane's forehead. "It's beginning to stretch the boundaries of coincidence now, you know."
Shirogane glared up at him half-heartedly. It wasn't as if he'd planned on any of his recent trips to the House of Healing and today was no exception; it was just his luck that Healer Kai always seemed to be there when he was.
"You should pay more attention to what you're eating," the Healer scolded him gently, slowly tilting his head back to check his breathing. "You're just lucky you were on Collegium grounds or you'd be a lot worse off. Moron."
It wasn't as if he'd planned on having an allergic reaction, Shirogane thought rebelliously. He'd never had allergies before, how was he supposed to know he'd have such a bad reaction to something that looked so much like an apple? However, his throat still felt tight and sore so he couldn't exactly tell the Healer that. He did notice, though, that the now-typical 'moron' lacked its usual bite, sounding more... worried than anything else and when he closed his eyes he pretended he didn't feel the fingers gently brush his hair out of his face before the light touch disappeared.
***
Shirogane paid little attention to the soft slap of feet on the wooden floors of the training salle, his eyes never leaving his opponent until Hayate feinted to the left and locked their training staffs together in an attempt to get him to drop it. Shirogane hung on grimly: word had gotten back about Bard Zak getting... waylaid by raiders on the Hardorn border and if the Herald hadn't gotten there when she had... Well, it was an object lesson that Bards needed to be able to defend themselves and it was a lesson Shirogane intended to take to heart.
In the end, though, the bout was called a draw by the referees and both he and Hayate relaxed. It had been a while since they'd sparred - physically anyway, verbally was another matter - and he'd forgotten just how fast his friend was.
"Not bad," Hayate grinned, reaching up to unfasten his hair again, letting it fall back to just above his shoulders. "And you thought you were out of practice."
"I am out of practice."
Hayate rolled his eyes, then paused as he looked over Shirogane's shoulder, eyes widening in surprise. "Hey, look at that," he muttered and Shirogane turned his head to see just what had caught Hayate's attention. There, on the opposite side of the salle were two whirling figures in Healer green, one of which was joltingly familiar.
"Kai," Shirogane muttered, feeling as if his jaw had dropped to the floor. Those must be the tonfa he'd seen before, and now he knew why Kai carried them: maybe they wouldn't be fatal but he was positive they could do a lot of damage in those clearly capable hands.
"Kai, huh," Hayate purred, leaning casually on Shirogane's shoulder. "So that's your pushy little Healer, is it?"
"He's not my Healer," Shirogane protested, to which Hayate responded with a blatantly sceptical look. "He's not."
"Of course not," Hayate shrugged. "Whatever was I thinking?"
"He's not," Shirogane repeated, feeling that Hayate really wasn't quite getting this.
"Whatever you say," Hayate grinned. "I'm sure there's another reason you haven't seen any other Healer on your last few visits."
Shirogane opened his mouth to contest that clearly untrue statement, then he frowned. Hayate... wasn't wrong. He hadn't really thought about it but he really hadn't seen any other Healer than Healer Kai. It was as if the man had decided to adopt him as his personal disaster project or something and on his subsequent - and not nearly as frequent as everyone seemed to think - visits, Kai had always been the one to see to him.
He wished he knew what that meant. Also, he'd like to know why it was that he couldn't stop staring as Kai and his opponent - possibly Healer Kakeru now that Shirogane got a good look at him - wound up their sparring and froze with their weapons firmly blocking each other before the referees called a draw on that bout as well. Tucking his tonfa under his arm, Kai grinned, then mock-scowled as Kakeru ruffled his hair affectionately and there was absolutely no possible reason for him to be so short of breath right now, there really wasn't: he hadn't been eating anything that would set off an allergic reaction like the one he'd not long got over and he wasn't so out of shape that the sparring had truly winded him, so no, there was no reason at all for why his chest felt so tight or why he was so out of breath.
"Right," Hayate said consideringly. "Not your Healer. I'll keep that in mind."
Shirogane was about to swat at his friend's head when Kai happened to turn and spot him, his face lighting up with a wide smile that had Kakeru turning as well and Shirogane was at a loss to explain the utterly delighted expression on the taller man's face as he looked between Kai and Shirogane himself.
"Oh and I think they're coming over here," Hayate murmured in his ear and this time Shirogane did swat him, for all the good it did him; Hayate standing there and smirking as he fumbled through a conversation and chipping in with completely unhelpful comments and why was Hayate his friend again?
"Um," he hazarded, "I'm, I mean we," he jerked a finger in Hayate the traitor's direction, "are playing at the Concert Hall tonight. For the Karsite delegation, technically, but it's not as formal as a Court performance or anything. Um, you should come if you get the chance. Both of you, I mean," he added hastily, tearing his gaze briefly away from Kai to include the other Healer in the invitation.
"Sure," Kai shrugged, glancing sideways at his friend. "If we're not too busy tonight we should be able to come. Right, Kakeru?"
"Huh? Oh, of course," Kakeru agreed cheerfully, ignoring the no doubt sharp elbow to his side. "Wouldn't miss it."
There was a long, awkward silence before Kakeru cleared his throat. "Well, we should be going," he said brightly. "Otherwise we won't be able to make it tonight. See you later." And with that he grabbed hold of Kai's arm and tugged him off towards the salle's exit.
"Not your Healer," Hayate said again.
"Shut up."
"Not like you just invited him out or anything."
"Shut up."
"Just so you know, if you wind up using phrases like 'making beautiful music together' I'm disclaiming all friendship with you."
"Shut up."
Seriously. Why was he friends with Hayate?
Fandom: Hyakujuu sentai Gaoranger
Rating: G
Prompt: F - Fantasy.
Summary: "So that's your pushy little Healer, is it?"
AN: Gaoranger/Valdemar fusion.
Shirogane trudged through the mud, clutching his harp case tightly to his chest as he walked, trying to keep it as dry as possible; his flute case was tucked as securely as possible under his arm. It couldn't be much further to Waymeet, he kept telling himself as the rain continued to fall, plastering his hair to his head and soaking him all the way through in spite of his precautions. It couldn't possibly be too much further and then he could dry off and hopefully get some warm tea into him.
He sneezed several times in rapid succession, then shivered as more rain droplets found their way under his travelling cloak and down the back of his neck. Oh, this was a right mess he'd found himself in, wasn't it? His first solo outing as a fully-fledged Bard outside of Haven and he was probably going to come down with something the Healers would scold him for. Well, how was he supposed to know the storm would just come up out of nowhere like this? He was no weather witch, he was a Bard, damn it; his Gift lay in different directions.
He sneezed again and glumly realised that his incessant shivering probably wasn't a good sign. Well, when he reached Waymeet he could fix that. If he ever got there, that is and he was beginning to wonder if he ever would. How much further could it possibly be? He just had to keep moving, that was all, just concentrate on putting one foot in front of the other until he got there. It wouldn't be much longer now.
Stumbling over an errant root, Shirogane went crashing to the ground, face down and it was with some relief that he realised the weather had finally got to him, that he was hallucinating or something, because there was no other explanation for having gentle hands resting on his shoulders, or the muttered sound of some creative swearing.
***
He was hot, he was freezing and he couldn't stop shivering, no matter how tightly he wrapped the bedroll around himself, but he- he needed to know... his harp, his flute, they--
"Your harp's fine," someone told him. "Your flute too." Then there was a sigh. "Bards; always caring more about their instruments than themselves, you're almost as moronic as Heralds and those great big lumps that call themselves horses."
It wasn't a voice he recognised but it sounded young; young and male and, if the cracks were anything to go by, his voice was just breaking. It would probably settle into a pleasant tenor, Shirogane decided sleepily, wondering how well the boy could sing.
***
When he finally woke properly it was to an aching head and an aching body and a vision of dark, gloomy beige. He frowned. Where was he?
"Don't try to move," a voice told him firmly; a woman's voice. He frowned again, because that didn't quite tally with the voice he'd been hearing before and there was a definite difference between that voice and this one. He looked around for the source of the voice - ah, he appeared to be in a tent, that answered that question - and found it belonged to a woman somewhere in her mid-twenties or so; her blonde hair came to just below her chin and she was dressed in the mint green robes of a Healer. Huh. He must have been wrong about the voice, then. And damned lucky, too, if he'd managed to stumble onto a Healer all the way out here.
"Um, thank you," he managed, clearing his throat but still a little dismayed at how hoarse he sounded. Hopefully it wouldn't last: singing was such a part of being a Bard and-- "How long have I--"
"Several days," she replied calmly. "But I'm not the one you should be thanking."
That was when Shirogane realised the light pressure around his right hand wasn't a bandage after all and that, no, the weight on his thigh wasn't his harp. He looked down into the sleeping face of a boy no more than sixteen, if that and blinked in surprise. Now this tallied more with the hazy memories he had of someone talking to him soothingly. Looking down at the boy Shirogane could almost hear the hearts breaking, as they doubtless would be by the time the boy had reached Shirogane's own age of nineteen years old.
"Don't be fooled by that face," the woman told him in amusement. "He's nowhere near as angelic as he looks while he's sleeping. He's got a sharp tongue on him, believe me."
Thinking back to some of the creative cursing he seemed to remember hearing, Shirogane couldn't argue with that. "Well, thank you anyway, Healer-- um..."
"Dana," she told him, her eyes twinkling with warm amusement. "My name is Dana." She nodded at the boy still holding lightly onto Shirogane's hand. "And he's Kai, just for future reference."
***
"You are a moron," were the first words out of Kai's mouth when he realised Shirogane was finally conscious and aware.
"...what?" That was really not what he'd been expecting. Dana, however, seemed to have been expecting something like it for all she did was smile as she mixed together some sweet-smelling tea.
"I said you're a moron," Kai repeated with exaggerated patience. "What in the name of the seven hells did you think you were doing out there? Why didn't you just stay at Waymeet until morning? The storm would have passed by then and you would have been fine."
"But I--" He'd never reached Waymeet, what was the boy talking about?
"Oh, I'm sure you have a 'reason'," the young Healer sighed. "Bards, almost as moronic as Heralds sometimes."
Shirogane bristled. He wasn't that much of an idiot. "I never got to Waymeet," he said defiantly. "Otherwise I would have stayed there. I was hoping to reach it before the storm broke but obviously I was further away than I thought."
"I'll say," Kai said after a long pause. "Waymeet's back the way you came, about a day away." He paused again, his eyebrows shooting up into his hair. "How could you possibly miss a village the size of Waymeet?"
Shirogane flushed and wished the floor would open up and swallow him: there was something incredibly stinging about the young Healer's scorn. It looked like he was a fair bit out of his way and he'd probably have to add several more days to his journey home. In spite of his scorn, though, Healer Kai was at least professional and Shirogane had no complaints about his medical treatment, even if he objected to Kai's critical commentary about his common sense, not to mention his obviously abysmal sense of direction.
Shirogane thought he should be more put out about that than he actually was. Oh, of course, the barbed commentary stung but Healer Kai was something of a mystery to him, one he wanted to figure out while he had the opportunity. For one thing there was a look to Kai's features that spoke of strong Shin'a'in heritage, but the Shin'a'in were notoriously insular and rarely left the Dhorisha Plains to mix with peoples other than their own. Maybe he was wrong, though, because the reddy-brown colour of Kai's hair was clearly natural and the Shin'a'in were as dark-haired as Shirogane himself.
The second mystery was that in spite of his running commentary Kai insisted on seeing to Shirogane himself, refusing to let Healer Dana do anything. Part of that was no doubt due to Kai being on his internship circuit, visiting the various Houses of Healing along a certain route to see how they worked. He supposed that was to make sure that a new Healer would have some familiarity with other Houses of Healing outside of the Healer's Collegium, should they ever be assigned there. However, Shirogane suspected that being on Internship was only part of it, even if the drive to prove yourself to your instructor was something he was only too familiar with: his own Internship had only been last year, after all and Kai was very young to be taking his now.
The third mystery was the pair of wooden... sticks, - tonfa, Kai called them - although they seemed very short to be any kind of weapon and why would a healer even carry a weapon? "So because we're Healers we shouldn't be able to defend ourselves?" Kai asked incredulously. "Please, spare me. Besides, these aren't fatal, even if they do leave one heck of a bruise."
Really, Shirogane didn't know why he was so surprised: basic self-defence classes were mandatory at both the Bardic and Healer Collegia, precisely because they could be sent anywhere in the country and while Valdermar was a peaceful place by and large they still had problems with raiders on the borders; it wasn't wise to travel without at least the basic knowledge of how to defend yourself.
Fourthly... Kai was really young to be taking his Internship now: that usually occurred around eighteen or nineteen years of age, when all your lessons were completed, so Kai would have to be exceptionally talented if he was out already.
"How old are you?" he asked eventually, after a couple of days contemplation and Kai scowled.
"Why?" he asked suspiciously and Shirogane shrugged, trying not to smile.
"Just curious."
Kai spent a moment thinking it over, then shrugged himself. "Fourteen," he replied, his tone daring Shirogane to make an issue of it. "Fifteen in a couple of months."
"That's pretty young to be on Internship," Shirogane mused and Kai scowled at him.
"Yes, because you're so very old yourself, Grandpa."
"Hey!"
Kai ignored him in favour of pouring something into the mug Shirogane had been using for his medications and shoved it in Shirogane's hand. "Shut up and drink that."
Shirogane lifted the mug to his lips but recoiled as the smell reached his nose. "That smells vile," he protested and as he didn't remember drinking anything like this before he was convinced this was an under-handed means of payback. He turned to Dana, appealing to someone with a clearer head than Kai. "Do I really need to drink this?"
Kai crossed his arms defiantly but Dana merely raised her eyebrows at him. "Didn't your parents teach you not to argue with a Healer?"
Damn, they were both against him now. "Come on," Kai said impatiently. "Drink it or I'll hold your nose and pour it down your throat."
Judging by the stubborn expression on his face, Shirogane had no doubts the boy would do just that, so he braced himself and swallowed the entire contents of the mug in one go. "Lord of Light, that's disgusting," he gasped and Kai smirked.
"Things that are good for you usually are."
It was a good thing his roommate wasn't here, Shirogane reflected sourly. Hayate would never let him hear the end of it if Hayate ever found out he'd been verbally trounced by a fourteen year old.
~~Five Years Later~~
"You don't learn, do you?"
Shirogane recognised that voice from somewhere; it was familiar, he just couldn't quite place where he knew it from right now. That would be the pain from his broken ankle interfering, he thought sourly. Normally he'd have placed the voice right off. He forced his eyes open and looked around, sighing when he realised he was in the House of Healing on the Collegia grounds. How had he got back here? Last thing he remembered was having the bad luck to get caught up in that tavern brawl and somehow managing to break his damn ankle. Well, it could have been worse, he reminded himself. It could have been a wrist he broke; at least a broken ankle wouldn't stop him playing.
Wait a minute. House of Healing. That voice...
He looked around and sighed when he recognised the face glaring down at him. The high cheekbones were the same and so were the full lips tightly compressed into a solid line of disapproval; the only difference was the refinement of those features that came with maturity. Healer Kai was definitely all grown up now.
"You're going to make me drink that disgusting concoction again, aren't you?" he sighed, closing his eyes in resignation.
"If you don't behave I just might," was the dry response. "But otherwise, no. It's for influenza, not broken ankles. And how did you manage that, by the way? Too caught up in composing sad, sad love songs that you weren't paying attention to where you were going?"
Shirogane blushed but held his tongue. Aside from the fact he hadn't actually been working on a ballad, the Healer wasn't that far off the mark. Healer Kai sighed and shook his head. "That doesn't surprise me."
"I'm not that bad!" Shirogane protested, stung once again by the dismissive tone. How did the Healer have this effect on him? he wondered in frustration. It usually took a lot more than this to make him so defensive; his ego wasn't usually so easily bruised as it was whenever he was around Healer Kai and Shirogane was at a loss to explain it.
"Of course not," the Healer agreed blandly. "Because other Bards miss a prominent village by five miles or so all the time; because other Bards don't think to get under shelter in the middle of a rainstorm; because other Bards don't pay attention to a tavern fight spilling out onto the street right in front of them. Do you not have eyes? Or ears? How could you possibly miss it? It's not like tavern fights are quiet after all, or--"
"Kai!"
The young Healer broke off mid-harangue and turned to the slightly older man standing behind him. "What?" he asked irritably but the man just smiled peaceably.
"I think Alyssa wants your help with something. She was looking for you a few minutes ago."
Kai huffed and stalked off; leaving the tattered remains of Shirogane's pride to reassemble themselves and the people who'd been watching the scolding went back to whatever they were doing. The other Healer seemed to be about Shirogane's own age and he wore the same slightly amused expression that Healer Dana had, back in that tent. Did everyone find it so amusing? Shirogane wondered grumpily. It wasn't that funny.
"Well, you've certainly made an impression," the man said cheerfully. "Kai doesn't usually get that sarcastic unless you've done something extremely stupid. I'm Kakeru, by the way."
"Shirogane," Shirogane replied, inclining his head in greeting. "And... we've met before," he admitted. "He didn't have a very high opinion of me then either and I don't think that's changed in the past five years or so."
Healer Kakeru's eyes went wide as he did a slight double-take, taking in the scarlet robes that proclaimed his status as a Bard. "You're that Shirogane?" he exclaimed. "I heard about that when Kai got back off Internship. Did you really miss Waymeet by ten miles?"
"Five," Shirogane replied defensively. "It was only five." And no, he definitely wasn't helping himself here. Lord of Light, the boy must have gone around telling everyone. He groaned and flopped back down onto the bed, closing his eyes in mortification. "He must think I'm a complete idiot." Eyes closed as they were, Shirogane failed to notice the thoughtful expression that flickered across the Healer's face, or the way the man turned to stare in the direction Kai had gone.
"If it's any consolation," Healer Kakeru said cheerfully, "if he didn't think you were worth the effort he wouldn't have been quite so melodramatic. He usually only puts that much effort into it if he thinks you're worth his time."
"That's not helping," Shirogane muttered, staring at the ceiling and wishing his blushes would fade already.
"Oi, Kakeru, stop pestering my patient," came Kai's voice behind them again - obviously the problem, whatever it was, had been sorted pretty quickly - "Bard Shirogane needs to rest. And preferably find where he left the working part of his brain."
"Be nice," Kakeru murmured, giving Shirogane a reassuring pat on the shoulder before he strolled away, leaving Shirogane to the not-so-tender mercies of Healer Kai. However, the Healer kept his sarcastic commentary to a minimum as he checked the cast and the bandages, his questions mostly of a medical nature rather than demands to know where his common sense had vanished to.
Just then a little girl in a pink dress came in, probably no more than ten years old, escorted by an older Healer and Kai gave him a pat on the shoulder before saying, "I'll be back in a minute."
The little girl's face lit up as she saw him and Shirogane watched as Kai crouched down to be more on her level, his fingers lightly trailing over the beginnings of a bruise on her cheek. Shirogane frowned: how had the girl gotten so beaten? There were laws against that kind of thing and they were enforced as well as these things could be. If this girl was from an abusive home why hadn't she been taken away from there? Surely a Healer, of all people, wouldn't just stand by and do nothing.
"How many this time, Saya?" Kai sighed, checking her over quickly but calmly; Shirogane didn't hear her answer but Kai shook his head. "You know, if you insist on taking on the local bullies you're going to have to change your tactics," Kai told her. "They're bigger than you and there's more of them." The girl set her jaw stubbornly but didn't reply. Kai simply shrugged and picked her up to sit her on a bed. "Alright, let's see if we can patch up these knees, shall we?"
And, sure enough, the girl's knees looked like they'd taken most of the damage, but that was easily taken care of; Kai bandaging them up quickly and easily before handing the girl a small mug. "Willowbark tea," Kai told her and she sighed but took the mug anyway, swallowing it in one go. Shirogane was impressed; that took guts. Kai took the mug back off her and handed over a sweet to 'get rid of the taste'. The girl took it and scampered out, leaving Kai shaking his head as he walked back over to where Shirogane was watching.
"Why didn't you do anything about the bruises?" Shirogane asked curiously, not entirely happy with the young Healer for that. Obviously the man wasn't going to use the full extent of his Gift on something like that but surely he could have done something. How could he just let the girl go with bruises like that? Kai quirked his eyebrows at him, something like amusement dancing there before it vanished.
"You don't approve?"
"No." Not that it made much difference, really.
Kai simply shrugged. "The first and only time I did something about the bruises she started crying and wouldn't stop," he said. "To her they're, I don't know, badges of honour or something; she won't let me Heal them so I don't offer anymore." He shrugged again and returned to checking over Shirogane's ankle, Shirogane himself feeling distinctly guilty for thinking such uncharitable thoughts about the man. "Saya's very protective," he added. "When she sees someone being picked on, she does something about it; and with a sense of justice like that one, she'll probably end up being Chosen in a few years; she'll spend more than enough time in here then. Okay," Kai finished. "I'll just get the crutches and you can go. Just try not to walk into any more tavern fights, okay?"
Shirogane gritted his teeth and told himself that strangling the man wasn't a very Bardic thing to do. At least after this he wouldn't have to see Healer Kai again.
***
"Are you stalking me?" Healer Kai sighed, hand resting gently on Shirogane's forehead. "It's beginning to stretch the boundaries of coincidence now, you know."
Shirogane glared up at him half-heartedly. It wasn't as if he'd planned on any of his recent trips to the House of Healing and today was no exception; it was just his luck that Healer Kai always seemed to be there when he was.
"You should pay more attention to what you're eating," the Healer scolded him gently, slowly tilting his head back to check his breathing. "You're just lucky you were on Collegium grounds or you'd be a lot worse off. Moron."
It wasn't as if he'd planned on having an allergic reaction, Shirogane thought rebelliously. He'd never had allergies before, how was he supposed to know he'd have such a bad reaction to something that looked so much like an apple? However, his throat still felt tight and sore so he couldn't exactly tell the Healer that. He did notice, though, that the now-typical 'moron' lacked its usual bite, sounding more... worried than anything else and when he closed his eyes he pretended he didn't feel the fingers gently brush his hair out of his face before the light touch disappeared.
***
Shirogane paid little attention to the soft slap of feet on the wooden floors of the training salle, his eyes never leaving his opponent until Hayate feinted to the left and locked their training staffs together in an attempt to get him to drop it. Shirogane hung on grimly: word had gotten back about Bard Zak getting... waylaid by raiders on the Hardorn border and if the Herald hadn't gotten there when she had... Well, it was an object lesson that Bards needed to be able to defend themselves and it was a lesson Shirogane intended to take to heart.
In the end, though, the bout was called a draw by the referees and both he and Hayate relaxed. It had been a while since they'd sparred - physically anyway, verbally was another matter - and he'd forgotten just how fast his friend was.
"Not bad," Hayate grinned, reaching up to unfasten his hair again, letting it fall back to just above his shoulders. "And you thought you were out of practice."
"I am out of practice."
Hayate rolled his eyes, then paused as he looked over Shirogane's shoulder, eyes widening in surprise. "Hey, look at that," he muttered and Shirogane turned his head to see just what had caught Hayate's attention. There, on the opposite side of the salle were two whirling figures in Healer green, one of which was joltingly familiar.
"Kai," Shirogane muttered, feeling as if his jaw had dropped to the floor. Those must be the tonfa he'd seen before, and now he knew why Kai carried them: maybe they wouldn't be fatal but he was positive they could do a lot of damage in those clearly capable hands.
"Kai, huh," Hayate purred, leaning casually on Shirogane's shoulder. "So that's your pushy little Healer, is it?"
"He's not my Healer," Shirogane protested, to which Hayate responded with a blatantly sceptical look. "He's not."
"Of course not," Hayate shrugged. "Whatever was I thinking?"
"He's not," Shirogane repeated, feeling that Hayate really wasn't quite getting this.
"Whatever you say," Hayate grinned. "I'm sure there's another reason you haven't seen any other Healer on your last few visits."
Shirogane opened his mouth to contest that clearly untrue statement, then he frowned. Hayate... wasn't wrong. He hadn't really thought about it but he really hadn't seen any other Healer than Healer Kai. It was as if the man had decided to adopt him as his personal disaster project or something and on his subsequent - and not nearly as frequent as everyone seemed to think - visits, Kai had always been the one to see to him.
He wished he knew what that meant. Also, he'd like to know why it was that he couldn't stop staring as Kai and his opponent - possibly Healer Kakeru now that Shirogane got a good look at him - wound up their sparring and froze with their weapons firmly blocking each other before the referees called a draw on that bout as well. Tucking his tonfa under his arm, Kai grinned, then mock-scowled as Kakeru ruffled his hair affectionately and there was absolutely no possible reason for him to be so short of breath right now, there really wasn't: he hadn't been eating anything that would set off an allergic reaction like the one he'd not long got over and he wasn't so out of shape that the sparring had truly winded him, so no, there was no reason at all for why his chest felt so tight or why he was so out of breath.
"Right," Hayate said consideringly. "Not your Healer. I'll keep that in mind."
Shirogane was about to swat at his friend's head when Kai happened to turn and spot him, his face lighting up with a wide smile that had Kakeru turning as well and Shirogane was at a loss to explain the utterly delighted expression on the taller man's face as he looked between Kai and Shirogane himself.
"Oh and I think they're coming over here," Hayate murmured in his ear and this time Shirogane did swat him, for all the good it did him; Hayate standing there and smirking as he fumbled through a conversation and chipping in with completely unhelpful comments and why was Hayate his friend again?
"Um," he hazarded, "I'm, I mean we," he jerked a finger in Hayate the traitor's direction, "are playing at the Concert Hall tonight. For the Karsite delegation, technically, but it's not as formal as a Court performance or anything. Um, you should come if you get the chance. Both of you, I mean," he added hastily, tearing his gaze briefly away from Kai to include the other Healer in the invitation.
"Sure," Kai shrugged, glancing sideways at his friend. "If we're not too busy tonight we should be able to come. Right, Kakeru?"
"Huh? Oh, of course," Kakeru agreed cheerfully, ignoring the no doubt sharp elbow to his side. "Wouldn't miss it."
There was a long, awkward silence before Kakeru cleared his throat. "Well, we should be going," he said brightly. "Otherwise we won't be able to make it tonight. See you later." And with that he grabbed hold of Kai's arm and tugged him off towards the salle's exit.
"Not your Healer," Hayate said again.
"Shut up."
"Not like you just invited him out or anything."
"Shut up."
"Just so you know, if you wind up using phrases like 'making beautiful music together' I'm disclaiming all friendship with you."
"Shut up."
Seriously. Why was he friends with Hayate?