[yamae] 美男と野獣 2/?
Author: myself ( hyuuga_princess / mugendainomousou on tumblr)
Pairing: Yamada Yuuki x Maeyama Takahisa
Genre: AU? O: /romance
Rating: safe
Words: 3,733
Summary: A different spin of the classic.
Notes: This chapter was mostly written while I was in buses going to Uni or work and the handwritten version is sooooo messed up XD It was hard to make out my own letters while typing it up! So, D2 finally make their appearance! Because it might be hard to recognise the kids at first, before their names are mentioned, I'll say it here. Jinnai and Ohmi have their Harudoko 2012 hair. Arai has his TRUMP hair, maybe a little longer. Shiramata, Negishi and Ikepi have the same hair (and glasses) they had as Elits/Moreau and Pietro in TRUMP. Shion has the Harudoko 2012 hair. Mitsuya's hair is in the color of what he had in TRUMP, but it's as long as it was in his Personal DVD with Kenki~ Kenki's hair is the same, like it was in the DVD too. Tohru's hair is obviously silver, but it's as long as it was in the TRUMP makings. Junjun has the blond hair he had in the TRUMP makings, and Shoutarou normally his black hair. Yukito has the same hair he had in Suzuki Sensei, and Akutsu has the same hair he had in Aozora no Tamago. If you want any more clarifications, just leave a mesage :)
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The next morning, the snow had covered all the streets and was almost a meter high. The path and the trails in the forest were buried under it and the sky was shining an icy blue color. Most of the people who’d stopped for the night at the inns in the big town were devastated and discouraged; so much snow would take hours to clean. Yuuki didn’t share the same opinion. The temperature had dropped several degrees but his cape was warm, and even though the owner of the inn he stayed tried to stop him, he went on his way. He’d insisted on going back home while there was still light out; that way he wouldn’t get lost even if the snow had covered the road. He bid them all farewell, put his books in his backpack and got out on the street.
When he was entering the forest he noticed the shadow of what looked like a lurched figure following him and he turned to look behind him; there was no one there. He stood very still for a few moments but nothing else moved; there wasn’t even the slightest breeze to swing the twigs and naked tree branches. A few feet behind him, some of the members of the circus troupe were running around half-loaded carts, connecting the platforms with the animal cages with eachother and draping long dark pieces of fabric over them. Some of them already had one over, but Yuuki wouldn’t be able to see what resided in each cage anyway; he was too far. Shrugging, he went on his way.
As he had no reason to hurry now, he took his time. He checked his surroundings on every turn and was able to cross to the middle of the forest without any incidents. From then on, though, almost as if initiated by a change in the inexistent wind, curiosity kicked in and he remembered the talks he had heard the previous night. The mayor himself had admitted that the tower actually existed, that it was definitely somewhere in the woods. I you were crazy or drunk enough, he’d added, probably you had what it took to try and find it. Yuuki wasn’t either, although maybe he had enough non-common sense and a raging imagination, and those two combined never left you with good results, and yet he still felt a strong pull by the quiet forest. He was strongly inclined to get lost in it and try and find that tower, if only to see for himself if it lived up to any of the legends surrounding it. He shivered at the idea of it being the hideout of every thug in the area but he had no money and no relatives to ask ransom from; he’d be useless to them. Reassured, he strayed from the path on the first offshoot, turned on his left and walked in the snow, his legs diving deep into it now, every step leaving him wetter and wetter. The snow had piled up so high he was drenched up to his thighs after only a little while, and yet he was so excited he couldn’t feel the cold almost at all.
He walked and walked, deeper into the forest until he lost count of his steps and the sunlight became dimmer and dimmer. He wasn’t easily discouraged but his backpack felt heavy, he was hungry and the fading light wasn’t much of a help either. He only barely realized that the ground had started to go upwards, almost like a hill, and then he found himself in front of a wall of rose trees.
Almost 10 meters high, swirling and twining like vines around something, the roses climbed up, embracing the stones of what seemed like a building.
Yuuki had to rub his eyes. Everything was covered in snow and that made it difficult to tell things apart, but he would swear he could see yellow, orange and blue roses blooming underneath. He took one step closer to look at them properly and then several steps back and looked up; not very high, not at all for a tower, this building stood there for certain. Once he’d stepped back a little everything fell into picture; he’d found it. He was at the tower of the legend! With a startle, he realized he was actually standing on a balcony; that was how low the tower had sunk into the soil.
“I’ve found you!” he whispered, excitement washing over him. He put out a hand and brushed a few branches away; a brass design made its appearance. It was the lining of a door, ornate, with a glass pane inlaid with silver and some other gem that sparkled once the light of the moon fell on it. Yuuki noticed only then that night had already come down on him and he stopped being cautious. Sniffing his freezing nose, he blew his breath on his hands, clapped them together to bring the blood back into them once more and pushed at the grand wooden doors in front of him.
Nothing happened. Careful not to slip on the glitchy stone tiles of the balcony he was standing at he took another step closer and another look at them. Along the glittering glass and the brass ornaments, at the very centre there was a handle, just one, and no lock visible. Justifying this as normal, because it was originally a door that stood several feet above the ground, he put his hand on it and opened it.
It took more force than it looked like it would require. The door was heavy but its creaking sound quieter than what he’d imagined. He opened it wide and walked in, a sudden breeze bringing snow inside after hi. It had just started snowing again, and the wind was chilly once more. Yuuki walked further into the room, forgetting to close the door behind him.
His footsteps were muffled by a thick carpet; in the dark he couldn’t tell if it had any designs on it, but it was torn on some places and that was visible because the floor was almost white underneath. The air wasn’t stuffy, which meant that the room hadn’t been abandoned, even if it looked like it was. Everything was free of dust, but torn fabrics were draped everywhere he laid his eyes. It was almost as if there had been no doors and curtains had been used to separate the rooms…
Something cracked under his feet. Yuuki stopped walking and kneeled down to see what it was. It looked like a picture frame, only there was none in it. He let it down again and kept walking until he got out of the room and into a corridor, carpeted with an orange, velvety carpet. He looked up and down; on his right, the corridor just went on and on and on his left there was a staircase split in two; one part continuing upwards and the other leading down. Deciding that if History and his fantasy novels were anything to go by kitchens in such places were always on the ground floor, he picked to walk down the staircase and see if there was anything to fill his stomach, which had started giving loud growls by now.
As he went down the stairs, he started hearing voices. They didn’t sound dangerous or evil in any way, so he was encouraged to keep walking towards them, almost falling into a light sprint now.
“…and Micchan said to take his portion to his room because Master thinks he’s getting a cold; I reckon he’s right, I’ve never seen him shiver as much as he did tonight-“
“Excuse me… Umm… Hello?”
Yuuki had turned into a brightly lit room and was happy to see that he had found the kitchen; yet the scene that unfolded in front of his eyes was beyond inexplicable.
Nearly a dozen people were in there and none but one were sitting down on the long dining table. There were people folding laundry, someone was cooking, people washing a few dishes, two of them cleaning the shelf above the fireplace… Taking a close look he realized they were all boys, despite the fact that some of them looked too cute for that. And all that motion stopped the moment he called out to them.
“A human!” someone shrieked, and a pandemonium rose. They all left their positions and pulled him in; gathering around him, they started touching him everywhere, asking him questions all together and pushing and pulling at him from all sides. Yuuki didn’t know how to react; he just held onto the bag with the books he’d bought tightly and kept stepping backwards until the back of his knees hit the wooden bench beside the table and he fell backwards. Luckily, he managed to maintain a sitting position and didn’t humiliate himself falling flat on the stone floor.
“How did you get here?” the shortest boy had come forward and close to him, waving a large chunk of something that looked and smelled like a soap bar. “How did you find the entrance?”
“Eh?” Yuuki had lost his words… He shook his head and then one of the teller boys around him, with dark brown hair and dirt on his clothes came closer to him too.
“I think I’ve seen you before. You… where are you from?”
“I… I don’t know, actually.” Yuuki managed to say. “I mean, I live in the small town but I’m not from here. I was found by the people next to a rice field when I was a baby and they all brought me up together.” He scratched his head. He looked around a bit more; there was a pair of short boys, one with black hair and another with hair in the color of corps in summer he was sure he’d seen before…
“The small town, huh? That’s where I’m from!” A large boy with long copper brown hair that was lost in a hideous hat pointed at himself with a wide, goofy smile. Yuuki noticed that he had very full lips but also very small teeth. “Where do you live? How come I’ve never seen you around? I mean, I did leave the city 5 years ago but…”
“What’s going on here? Why aren’t you lot doing your jobs?” A voice was suddenly heard, startling everyone and making them jump.
“Aah! Mitsuya-san!” some of them called out.
A thin and frail-looking young man came into the room. He had big eyes that overflowed with kindness even though it was obvious that he was maybe a little angry at the moment. His hair was a sweet golden shade of copper and tied in a small spiky ponytail and his crossed arms seemed very strong, despite looking like twigs. He walked into the kitchen and looked around, his eyes stopping on everyone’s half-finished tasks.
“What on earth has gotten into you? Have you forgotten-“
“Micchi! Come and see, come and see!” the shortest boy went up to him and pulled at his sleeve, trying to make him walk faster. “A human came!”
“A human?!” the boy named Mitsuya raised a perfectly lined eyebrow and then his eyes finally fell on Yuuki.
“Um… hello.” He said.
“What are you doing here?” Mitsuya asked, his arms tightening in their fold.
“I… was going home from the fair and then … I heard legends from the locals last night and wanted to see for myself if they were real.” Yuuki replied honestly. Before Mitsuya could talk again, two more people came into the room.
“I’m starving! Can we have dinner already? Say, can we? There’s meat tonight, right?”
Two older boys appeared and made for the table. One had long silver hair and the other one had brown and shorter, yet still long, a bandana tied in it. They both had a sword in their belt and a bow on their back and wore similar clothes that seemed designed for combat.
“Ryou, who’s that?” the silver-haired guy asked, shaking his head towards Yuuki. His chin was brought into the light and Yuuki noticed the stubble covering it.
“I just came down from Young Master’s chambers; that’s what I was asking to know too.”
“My name is Yuuki, Yamada Yuuki. I’m an orphan brought up by the kind people in the small town. I love reading… I teach the little boys and girls of my town how to read and write. I heard legends about this tower last night so I started searching for it to see if they were true.”
“The small town?” The brown-haired boy asked. “But those people are scared of their own shadow! Where did you find all that wit?”
“Apparently, he’s no local’s offspring. He told us he was found by the locals, when he as abandoned as a baby, just before you came in! And I’d say, he doesn’t look the part at all, does he?” the boy who had been cooking, a face all smiles and waving a giant wooden fat fork trotted towards the one who’d spoken. “We’ve got veggie soup for dinner tonight but I baked a big meatbun just for you, Shou-chan!” he said and hugged his waist.
“Youichirou-san, that’s unfair! We were out all day and carried so many heavy things back home and all we get is veggie soup?” One of the shorter boys complained, pointing at himself and yet another short boy.
“There’s crispy bread and dipping sauce too! You make do with that!” Youichirou stomped his foot on the floor. He still hadn’t let go of the guy named Shou; in fact, he was now pouting, leaning his head on his shoulder. And he didn’t seem to mind.
“Ah!” Yuuki suddenly exclaimed, pointing at the two boys who were complaining about dinner. “I’ve seen you two in town! You come to my town on Tuesdays, on the fruit-veggie-fish market, don’t you? Every week, in the street next to the library!”
“HUH? Is that how you “took cover” and “no one noticed”? If anyone else has seen you…!” the frail boy eyed them sternly.
“Ryou, calm down.” The boy with the dirt on his clothes put a hand on his shoulder. “How’s the Young Master?”
He gave a sigh.
“He’s not at all well. I think he must’ve caught a cold, but his fever is not high enough to give him illusions or anything, and yet he’s saying some peculiar and incoherent things. And he’s not even half-asleep! He’s wide awake and talking about the performance; apparently someone in the audience left in the middle of it and by their look he felt like they didn’t enjoy themselves… Half of what he says comes out in snarls though, so I’m not sure I heard everything right.” Ryou closed his eyes and sighed.
“His transformations are getting scarier and scarier as his birthday approaches. Barely forty days are left; what are we going to do?” the boy holding the green chunk of soap muttered with a solemn look.
“Master is so handsome when he’s not-“
“Shhh! You idiot!” the silver-haired boy hit the head of an other, younger one. He was dressed in a very elegant and frilly suit and had beautiful long hair that nearly reached down to his shoulders.
“But, Tohru-niisan, he’s right!” A boy with droopy eyes and hair in the color of corn came forth, clutching a broom. “He gets more and more hideous every night, lately, and miserable too! If we, his servants don’t help him then who will?”
“That’s not what I meant!” Tohru scolded him, showing Yuuki with his head again. “Does he need to know about Master’s condition?”
“Wait a minute! So it’s true? The enchanted prince really lives here?” Yuuki asked, his eyes traveling from face to face. “Isn’t this story old? Were you all enchanted to never age?”
The boy with the horrible hat gave a throaty laugh.
“Old? That’s just a legend. But if you know it then there’s no need to hide anything from you. Only, what have you actually heard? It might be off, time-wise and not only; Master was cursed 6 years ago.
“Atsushi!” the lot exclaimed, some of them kicking him or hitting him, even with the things they were holding.
“What? What did I do wrong? He knows already, and even if he didn’t, Yukito talked about his transformation; anyone would notice something like that!” Arai tried to justify himself.
“That still doesn’t give us the right to flat out Young Master’s condition to a total stranger!” Ryou walked up to him and jabbed his index finger at his collarbone.
“How much is true?” Yuuki asked then. “No wait; before that, could you tell me your names? It’ll be easier for me to understand that way, I guess…”
“The~n!” the boy in charge of cooking pointed at the big dining table. “Everyone take your seats while I do the finishing touches to our dinner! Mountain Ricefield-kun, you too, you too!”
“Mountain Ricefield…”
“Your name is Yamada, right? In Foreignerspeak, your name would mean Mountain Ricefield!”
“Youichirou! Stop scaring people away with your knowledge!” Shou called out as they all took their seats around the table with a lot of noise. “I’m Jinnai Shou. I was with the prince at the main palace and was sent out here as his wife’s guard when they got engaged. I guess now I’m more of his guardian…”
“I’m Kamitsuru Tohru.” The silver-haired boy winked at Yuuki. “I was with the prince too; sometimes I’d help him sneak out of the palace when he was a teen… I was sent out with him and Jin-chan here, to be his guard. Now, me and Jin-chan are just guarding the grounds from normal people who might come trespassing. Like you.” He pointed at him with his elbow; both his hands and all his fingers were in his hair now and he was doing tiny braids with them.
“And that is probably something you’ll have to be afraid of. Tsuru-chan here getting his hands in your hair, I mean.” Ryou mentioned, punching Tohru’s shoulder. “I’m Mitsuya Ryou, general caretaker, housekeeper, nanny of the selfish ones and mother hen of everyone in this here, actually.” He finally smiled, and Yuuki understood why he gave himself that title. His smile was gentle, full of a tenderness that only a mother’s smile could show. Ryou turned and pointed to the others.
“The tall one at the end of the table in the working suit is Yamaguchi Kenki. He’s the oldest of everyone, although five of us are older than the Young Master; he’s the gardener and takes great care of all plantlife around the tower.
“Those colorful roses…” Yuuki started.
“At the entrance? Yes, those were his idea! Now the goofball by the stove is Ohmi Youichirou. You just come to him when you’re hungry or if your clothes need fixing; he’ll patch you up in both cases. See the shorties over there? The blond one is Tsuchiya Shion and the black-haired one is Ookubo Shoutarou; as you already might have figured out by now, they’re in charge of filling us up with food supplies and whatnot. Those droopy-eyed kids next to them are Shison Jun and Ikeoka Ryousuke; they sweep and mope and keep the place clean. On the other side, see the tallest kid? And the long haired one next to him? Negishi Takuya and Shiramata Atsushi. They take care of the library and the books in it.”
“Library? Books?!” Yuuki’s eyes opened wide and a look of excitement washed over his face instantly. “How many are there?”
“How many--?”
“Uh-oh. I think we got ourselves another bookworm here. Hey, you just got a companion!” Shou nudged Youichirou as he started serving. It didn’t escape Yuuki’s glance that Youichirou had indeed cooked a different dinner for him and that his portion was bigger than anyone else’s. Youichirou shot a look of adoration at Shou before moving to the next person.
“I doubt he reads as deep things as I do!” he said, dramatically dismissive and served large portions of his veggie soup in everyone’s plates.
“I like fantasy and history!” Yuuki called out to him, but he got no reply.
“I’m Nishii Yukito and this is Shin-chan, the best person around!” The shortest kid exclaimed, pointing at himself and the boy sitting across fro him at the table. “We’re the best pair of washers! I do the laundry and Shin-chan washes the kitchenware!”
“Nice to meet you, my name is Akutsu Shintarou. Mountain Ricefield-san…” Shintarou let out with a muffled laugh, and then turned his attention to his skirt. He had a really manly voice but he was clad into a full maid dress and an apron curling with frills and ribbons. He even had a pair of ribbons in his hair. Yuuki didn’t know what to think of him.
“That’s us!” Ryo beamed at him as he took a seat next to him, as he was instructed. “Most of us were with Young Master already from the time he lived with his father; only a few of us came afterwards. Kids like Ikepi and Junjun there~” he pointed at them with his head, “they would be starving in the street if Young Master hadn’t taken them in. Shion and Shou-chan were the same; that’s why they know both the towns like the palm of their hand! And so, we trust them with bringing us everything we need!”
“Wait a minute! What about me? What am I?” Arai yelled, standing up and holding his hand high. “You didn’t even let me introduce myself! I’m Arai Atsushi and I have the most important job in here!” he breathed in with pride. “I make Master happy when he’s sad! I cure his anger-“
Arai was never able to finish his statement. A howl that made the furniture shake echoed through the tower and then turned into a series of growls and loud snarling sounds… And yet more howling.
“What’s happening?” Yuuki stood up, alarmed. No one around him had batted an eyelid, though; they just continued spooning their soup in their mouths like nothing had happened.
“Master is changing.” Kenki said. “If he caught a cold, then he’s probably more frustrated and angry than usual.”
* * *
Pairing: Yamada Yuuki x Maeyama Takahisa
Genre: AU? O: /romance
Rating: safe
Words: 3,733
Summary: A different spin of the classic.
Notes: This chapter was mostly written while I was in buses going to Uni or work and the handwritten version is sooooo messed up XD It was hard to make out my own letters while typing it up! So, D2 finally make their appearance! Because it might be hard to recognise the kids at first, before their names are mentioned, I'll say it here. Jinnai and Ohmi have their Harudoko 2012 hair. Arai has his TRUMP hair, maybe a little longer. Shiramata, Negishi and Ikepi have the same hair (and glasses) they had as Elits/Moreau and Pietro in TRUMP. Shion has the Harudoko 2012 hair. Mitsuya's hair is in the color of what he had in TRUMP, but it's as long as it was in his Personal DVD with Kenki~ Kenki's hair is the same, like it was in the DVD too. Tohru's hair is obviously silver, but it's as long as it was in the TRUMP makings. Junjun has the blond hair he had in the TRUMP makings, and Shoutarou normally his black hair. Yukito has the same hair he had in Suzuki Sensei, and Akutsu has the same hair he had in Aozora no Tamago. If you want any more clarifications, just leave a mesage :)
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The next morning, the snow had covered all the streets and was almost a meter high. The path and the trails in the forest were buried under it and the sky was shining an icy blue color. Most of the people who’d stopped for the night at the inns in the big town were devastated and discouraged; so much snow would take hours to clean. Yuuki didn’t share the same opinion. The temperature had dropped several degrees but his cape was warm, and even though the owner of the inn he stayed tried to stop him, he went on his way. He’d insisted on going back home while there was still light out; that way he wouldn’t get lost even if the snow had covered the road. He bid them all farewell, put his books in his backpack and got out on the street.
When he was entering the forest he noticed the shadow of what looked like a lurched figure following him and he turned to look behind him; there was no one there. He stood very still for a few moments but nothing else moved; there wasn’t even the slightest breeze to swing the twigs and naked tree branches. A few feet behind him, some of the members of the circus troupe were running around half-loaded carts, connecting the platforms with the animal cages with eachother and draping long dark pieces of fabric over them. Some of them already had one over, but Yuuki wouldn’t be able to see what resided in each cage anyway; he was too far. Shrugging, he went on his way.
As he had no reason to hurry now, he took his time. He checked his surroundings on every turn and was able to cross to the middle of the forest without any incidents. From then on, though, almost as if initiated by a change in the inexistent wind, curiosity kicked in and he remembered the talks he had heard the previous night. The mayor himself had admitted that the tower actually existed, that it was definitely somewhere in the woods. I you were crazy or drunk enough, he’d added, probably you had what it took to try and find it. Yuuki wasn’t either, although maybe he had enough non-common sense and a raging imagination, and those two combined never left you with good results, and yet he still felt a strong pull by the quiet forest. He was strongly inclined to get lost in it and try and find that tower, if only to see for himself if it lived up to any of the legends surrounding it. He shivered at the idea of it being the hideout of every thug in the area but he had no money and no relatives to ask ransom from; he’d be useless to them. Reassured, he strayed from the path on the first offshoot, turned on his left and walked in the snow, his legs diving deep into it now, every step leaving him wetter and wetter. The snow had piled up so high he was drenched up to his thighs after only a little while, and yet he was so excited he couldn’t feel the cold almost at all.
He walked and walked, deeper into the forest until he lost count of his steps and the sunlight became dimmer and dimmer. He wasn’t easily discouraged but his backpack felt heavy, he was hungry and the fading light wasn’t much of a help either. He only barely realized that the ground had started to go upwards, almost like a hill, and then he found himself in front of a wall of rose trees.
Almost 10 meters high, swirling and twining like vines around something, the roses climbed up, embracing the stones of what seemed like a building.
Yuuki had to rub his eyes. Everything was covered in snow and that made it difficult to tell things apart, but he would swear he could see yellow, orange and blue roses blooming underneath. He took one step closer to look at them properly and then several steps back and looked up; not very high, not at all for a tower, this building stood there for certain. Once he’d stepped back a little everything fell into picture; he’d found it. He was at the tower of the legend! With a startle, he realized he was actually standing on a balcony; that was how low the tower had sunk into the soil.
“I’ve found you!” he whispered, excitement washing over him. He put out a hand and brushed a few branches away; a brass design made its appearance. It was the lining of a door, ornate, with a glass pane inlaid with silver and some other gem that sparkled once the light of the moon fell on it. Yuuki noticed only then that night had already come down on him and he stopped being cautious. Sniffing his freezing nose, he blew his breath on his hands, clapped them together to bring the blood back into them once more and pushed at the grand wooden doors in front of him.
Nothing happened. Careful not to slip on the glitchy stone tiles of the balcony he was standing at he took another step closer and another look at them. Along the glittering glass and the brass ornaments, at the very centre there was a handle, just one, and no lock visible. Justifying this as normal, because it was originally a door that stood several feet above the ground, he put his hand on it and opened it.
It took more force than it looked like it would require. The door was heavy but its creaking sound quieter than what he’d imagined. He opened it wide and walked in, a sudden breeze bringing snow inside after hi. It had just started snowing again, and the wind was chilly once more. Yuuki walked further into the room, forgetting to close the door behind him.
His footsteps were muffled by a thick carpet; in the dark he couldn’t tell if it had any designs on it, but it was torn on some places and that was visible because the floor was almost white underneath. The air wasn’t stuffy, which meant that the room hadn’t been abandoned, even if it looked like it was. Everything was free of dust, but torn fabrics were draped everywhere he laid his eyes. It was almost as if there had been no doors and curtains had been used to separate the rooms…
Something cracked under his feet. Yuuki stopped walking and kneeled down to see what it was. It looked like a picture frame, only there was none in it. He let it down again and kept walking until he got out of the room and into a corridor, carpeted with an orange, velvety carpet. He looked up and down; on his right, the corridor just went on and on and on his left there was a staircase split in two; one part continuing upwards and the other leading down. Deciding that if History and his fantasy novels were anything to go by kitchens in such places were always on the ground floor, he picked to walk down the staircase and see if there was anything to fill his stomach, which had started giving loud growls by now.
As he went down the stairs, he started hearing voices. They didn’t sound dangerous or evil in any way, so he was encouraged to keep walking towards them, almost falling into a light sprint now.
“…and Micchan said to take his portion to his room because Master thinks he’s getting a cold; I reckon he’s right, I’ve never seen him shiver as much as he did tonight-“
“Excuse me… Umm… Hello?”
Yuuki had turned into a brightly lit room and was happy to see that he had found the kitchen; yet the scene that unfolded in front of his eyes was beyond inexplicable.
Nearly a dozen people were in there and none but one were sitting down on the long dining table. There were people folding laundry, someone was cooking, people washing a few dishes, two of them cleaning the shelf above the fireplace… Taking a close look he realized they were all boys, despite the fact that some of them looked too cute for that. And all that motion stopped the moment he called out to them.
“A human!” someone shrieked, and a pandemonium rose. They all left their positions and pulled him in; gathering around him, they started touching him everywhere, asking him questions all together and pushing and pulling at him from all sides. Yuuki didn’t know how to react; he just held onto the bag with the books he’d bought tightly and kept stepping backwards until the back of his knees hit the wooden bench beside the table and he fell backwards. Luckily, he managed to maintain a sitting position and didn’t humiliate himself falling flat on the stone floor.
“How did you get here?” the shortest boy had come forward and close to him, waving a large chunk of something that looked and smelled like a soap bar. “How did you find the entrance?”
“Eh?” Yuuki had lost his words… He shook his head and then one of the teller boys around him, with dark brown hair and dirt on his clothes came closer to him too.
“I think I’ve seen you before. You… where are you from?”
“I… I don’t know, actually.” Yuuki managed to say. “I mean, I live in the small town but I’m not from here. I was found by the people next to a rice field when I was a baby and they all brought me up together.” He scratched his head. He looked around a bit more; there was a pair of short boys, one with black hair and another with hair in the color of corps in summer he was sure he’d seen before…
“The small town, huh? That’s where I’m from!” A large boy with long copper brown hair that was lost in a hideous hat pointed at himself with a wide, goofy smile. Yuuki noticed that he had very full lips but also very small teeth. “Where do you live? How come I’ve never seen you around? I mean, I did leave the city 5 years ago but…”
“What’s going on here? Why aren’t you lot doing your jobs?” A voice was suddenly heard, startling everyone and making them jump.
“Aah! Mitsuya-san!” some of them called out.
A thin and frail-looking young man came into the room. He had big eyes that overflowed with kindness even though it was obvious that he was maybe a little angry at the moment. His hair was a sweet golden shade of copper and tied in a small spiky ponytail and his crossed arms seemed very strong, despite looking like twigs. He walked into the kitchen and looked around, his eyes stopping on everyone’s half-finished tasks.
“What on earth has gotten into you? Have you forgotten-“
“Micchi! Come and see, come and see!” the shortest boy went up to him and pulled at his sleeve, trying to make him walk faster. “A human came!”
“A human?!” the boy named Mitsuya raised a perfectly lined eyebrow and then his eyes finally fell on Yuuki.
“Um… hello.” He said.
“What are you doing here?” Mitsuya asked, his arms tightening in their fold.
“I… was going home from the fair and then … I heard legends from the locals last night and wanted to see for myself if they were real.” Yuuki replied honestly. Before Mitsuya could talk again, two more people came into the room.
“I’m starving! Can we have dinner already? Say, can we? There’s meat tonight, right?”
Two older boys appeared and made for the table. One had long silver hair and the other one had brown and shorter, yet still long, a bandana tied in it. They both had a sword in their belt and a bow on their back and wore similar clothes that seemed designed for combat.
“Ryou, who’s that?” the silver-haired guy asked, shaking his head towards Yuuki. His chin was brought into the light and Yuuki noticed the stubble covering it.
“I just came down from Young Master’s chambers; that’s what I was asking to know too.”
“My name is Yuuki, Yamada Yuuki. I’m an orphan brought up by the kind people in the small town. I love reading… I teach the little boys and girls of my town how to read and write. I heard legends about this tower last night so I started searching for it to see if they were true.”
“The small town?” The brown-haired boy asked. “But those people are scared of their own shadow! Where did you find all that wit?”
“Apparently, he’s no local’s offspring. He told us he was found by the locals, when he as abandoned as a baby, just before you came in! And I’d say, he doesn’t look the part at all, does he?” the boy who had been cooking, a face all smiles and waving a giant wooden fat fork trotted towards the one who’d spoken. “We’ve got veggie soup for dinner tonight but I baked a big meatbun just for you, Shou-chan!” he said and hugged his waist.
“Youichirou-san, that’s unfair! We were out all day and carried so many heavy things back home and all we get is veggie soup?” One of the shorter boys complained, pointing at himself and yet another short boy.
“There’s crispy bread and dipping sauce too! You make do with that!” Youichirou stomped his foot on the floor. He still hadn’t let go of the guy named Shou; in fact, he was now pouting, leaning his head on his shoulder. And he didn’t seem to mind.
“Ah!” Yuuki suddenly exclaimed, pointing at the two boys who were complaining about dinner. “I’ve seen you two in town! You come to my town on Tuesdays, on the fruit-veggie-fish market, don’t you? Every week, in the street next to the library!”
“HUH? Is that how you “took cover” and “no one noticed”? If anyone else has seen you…!” the frail boy eyed them sternly.
“Ryou, calm down.” The boy with the dirt on his clothes put a hand on his shoulder. “How’s the Young Master?”
He gave a sigh.
“He’s not at all well. I think he must’ve caught a cold, but his fever is not high enough to give him illusions or anything, and yet he’s saying some peculiar and incoherent things. And he’s not even half-asleep! He’s wide awake and talking about the performance; apparently someone in the audience left in the middle of it and by their look he felt like they didn’t enjoy themselves… Half of what he says comes out in snarls though, so I’m not sure I heard everything right.” Ryou closed his eyes and sighed.
“His transformations are getting scarier and scarier as his birthday approaches. Barely forty days are left; what are we going to do?” the boy holding the green chunk of soap muttered with a solemn look.
“Master is so handsome when he’s not-“
“Shhh! You idiot!” the silver-haired boy hit the head of an other, younger one. He was dressed in a very elegant and frilly suit and had beautiful long hair that nearly reached down to his shoulders.
“But, Tohru-niisan, he’s right!” A boy with droopy eyes and hair in the color of corn came forth, clutching a broom. “He gets more and more hideous every night, lately, and miserable too! If we, his servants don’t help him then who will?”
“That’s not what I meant!” Tohru scolded him, showing Yuuki with his head again. “Does he need to know about Master’s condition?”
“Wait a minute! So it’s true? The enchanted prince really lives here?” Yuuki asked, his eyes traveling from face to face. “Isn’t this story old? Were you all enchanted to never age?”
The boy with the horrible hat gave a throaty laugh.
“Old? That’s just a legend. But if you know it then there’s no need to hide anything from you. Only, what have you actually heard? It might be off, time-wise and not only; Master was cursed 6 years ago.
“Atsushi!” the lot exclaimed, some of them kicking him or hitting him, even with the things they were holding.
“What? What did I do wrong? He knows already, and even if he didn’t, Yukito talked about his transformation; anyone would notice something like that!” Arai tried to justify himself.
“That still doesn’t give us the right to flat out Young Master’s condition to a total stranger!” Ryou walked up to him and jabbed his index finger at his collarbone.
“How much is true?” Yuuki asked then. “No wait; before that, could you tell me your names? It’ll be easier for me to understand that way, I guess…”
“The~n!” the boy in charge of cooking pointed at the big dining table. “Everyone take your seats while I do the finishing touches to our dinner! Mountain Ricefield-kun, you too, you too!”
“Mountain Ricefield…”
“Your name is Yamada, right? In Foreignerspeak, your name would mean Mountain Ricefield!”
“Youichirou! Stop scaring people away with your knowledge!” Shou called out as they all took their seats around the table with a lot of noise. “I’m Jinnai Shou. I was with the prince at the main palace and was sent out here as his wife’s guard when they got engaged. I guess now I’m more of his guardian…”
“I’m Kamitsuru Tohru.” The silver-haired boy winked at Yuuki. “I was with the prince too; sometimes I’d help him sneak out of the palace when he was a teen… I was sent out with him and Jin-chan here, to be his guard. Now, me and Jin-chan are just guarding the grounds from normal people who might come trespassing. Like you.” He pointed at him with his elbow; both his hands and all his fingers were in his hair now and he was doing tiny braids with them.
“And that is probably something you’ll have to be afraid of. Tsuru-chan here getting his hands in your hair, I mean.” Ryou mentioned, punching Tohru’s shoulder. “I’m Mitsuya Ryou, general caretaker, housekeeper, nanny of the selfish ones and mother hen of everyone in this here, actually.” He finally smiled, and Yuuki understood why he gave himself that title. His smile was gentle, full of a tenderness that only a mother’s smile could show. Ryou turned and pointed to the others.
“The tall one at the end of the table in the working suit is Yamaguchi Kenki. He’s the oldest of everyone, although five of us are older than the Young Master; he’s the gardener and takes great care of all plantlife around the tower.
“Those colorful roses…” Yuuki started.
“At the entrance? Yes, those were his idea! Now the goofball by the stove is Ohmi Youichirou. You just come to him when you’re hungry or if your clothes need fixing; he’ll patch you up in both cases. See the shorties over there? The blond one is Tsuchiya Shion and the black-haired one is Ookubo Shoutarou; as you already might have figured out by now, they’re in charge of filling us up with food supplies and whatnot. Those droopy-eyed kids next to them are Shison Jun and Ikeoka Ryousuke; they sweep and mope and keep the place clean. On the other side, see the tallest kid? And the long haired one next to him? Negishi Takuya and Shiramata Atsushi. They take care of the library and the books in it.”
“Library? Books?!” Yuuki’s eyes opened wide and a look of excitement washed over his face instantly. “How many are there?”
“How many--?”
“Uh-oh. I think we got ourselves another bookworm here. Hey, you just got a companion!” Shou nudged Youichirou as he started serving. It didn’t escape Yuuki’s glance that Youichirou had indeed cooked a different dinner for him and that his portion was bigger than anyone else’s. Youichirou shot a look of adoration at Shou before moving to the next person.
“I doubt he reads as deep things as I do!” he said, dramatically dismissive and served large portions of his veggie soup in everyone’s plates.
“I like fantasy and history!” Yuuki called out to him, but he got no reply.
“I’m Nishii Yukito and this is Shin-chan, the best person around!” The shortest kid exclaimed, pointing at himself and the boy sitting across fro him at the table. “We’re the best pair of washers! I do the laundry and Shin-chan washes the kitchenware!”
“Nice to meet you, my name is Akutsu Shintarou. Mountain Ricefield-san…” Shintarou let out with a muffled laugh, and then turned his attention to his skirt. He had a really manly voice but he was clad into a full maid dress and an apron curling with frills and ribbons. He even had a pair of ribbons in his hair. Yuuki didn’t know what to think of him.
“That’s us!” Ryo beamed at him as he took a seat next to him, as he was instructed. “Most of us were with Young Master already from the time he lived with his father; only a few of us came afterwards. Kids like Ikepi and Junjun there~” he pointed at them with his head, “they would be starving in the street if Young Master hadn’t taken them in. Shion and Shou-chan were the same; that’s why they know both the towns like the palm of their hand! And so, we trust them with bringing us everything we need!”
“Wait a minute! What about me? What am I?” Arai yelled, standing up and holding his hand high. “You didn’t even let me introduce myself! I’m Arai Atsushi and I have the most important job in here!” he breathed in with pride. “I make Master happy when he’s sad! I cure his anger-“
Arai was never able to finish his statement. A howl that made the furniture shake echoed through the tower and then turned into a series of growls and loud snarling sounds… And yet more howling.
“What’s happening?” Yuuki stood up, alarmed. No one around him had batted an eyelid, though; they just continued spooning their soup in their mouths like nothing had happened.
“Master is changing.” Kenki said. “If he caught a cold, then he’s probably more frustrated and angry than usual.”
* * *