The Lily Thieves for Sagely-Sea!
Title: The Lily Thieves
Recipient: sagely_sea
Pairing/Characters: Sanada/Tezuka, Tezuka/Shiraishi, Atobe, Yukimura, Fuji, Echizen
Rating: R
Warnings: Violence, mentions of prostitution, more plot than romance
Disclaimer: I don't own Prince of Tennis. If I did, Echizen would have more family problems >>;
Summary: Tezuka and Sanada are knights of the country and King. While robbery isn't their usual sort of job, this is no ordinary robbery.
Notes: Thank so much to my beta who told me when I was a fool and to all the people who helped me with characterization of people I’ve never attempted before.
The rain outside was blowing against the stained glass windows quite impressively. It made all sorts of threatening sounds, and that was one of the main reasons that Tezuka wished that he wasn’t in the waiting room to speak with the King. The other was that waiting for the King always made Tezuka feel like a small child, about to be reprimanded for doing something wrong. He hadn’t done anything wrong, so he had nothing to feel guilty for, but it was a lingering sensation that wouldn’t leave him.
He turned to glance at Sanada, who looked a lot more at home in the noble clothing and the formal way of sitting. Of course, Sanada’s family had a long line of association with nobility, while Tezuka’s grandfather had been the first of their line to meet the King in person, for acts of valiance for the country. It made sense, but Tezuka envied how comfortable in his own skin Sanada seemed, sometimes.
Sanada caught his glance and pulled a face. Despite Tezuka's perpetual poker face, Sanada could usually catch his emotions, probably because Sanada's older brother had the same sort of poker face as Tezuka. "As much as I admire his majesty's thoroughness with everyone he meets, waiting is quite tedious." He looked rather disgruntled and Tezuka was about to reply, until the deceptively meek Irie peeked in through the waiting room door.
"Ah, you're both here. The king will see you now." said Irie, cheerfully. "He looks mad, I'd be cautious."
Tezuka just nodded. Irie liked to lie and make the people waiting for the king nervous, so he could see their reaction. Tezuka wasn't sure why King Yamato hadn't fired him, but he wasn't the king. There was probably some reason. Something about testing the mettle of all newcomers.
"Just to check, Tezuka, you didn't kill the crown prince in annoyance? " asked Sanada lowly, as they adjusted their capes and walked in. Tezuka pursed his lips, in response. He found Prince Horio annoying to tutor, but not enough to kill.
King Yamato sat upon the throne imperiously, but upon seeing Sanada and Tezuka, he smiled. "Knights, it is good to see you. I have a task of utmost importance for you."
Was...was Yamato not speaking in riddles? Tezuka wished there was a way he could capture this moment and keep it forever to replay, over and over. He was sick to the teeth of cryptic riddles about the state of his swordplay or a comment on the weather meaning that he was wearing his cape indoors.
Sanada nodded as they both knelt down in front of his throne.
“The breeze sweeps through the protectorate of the mountains. Those that glitter are whisked away, and in their place, magnificent beauty is left.” said Yamato and Tezuka had to suppress the twitch in his eyebrow. Would it kill Yamato to not make everything a riddle or some kind of life lesson?
Still, at least Sanada seemed just as confused as Tezuka and tossed him a quizzical look. Tezuka shook his head, imperceptibly. They’d figure out it afterwards.
“And what would you have us do about it, sir?” asked Sanada, lowly.
“Find the breeze and stop it’s progress, immediately. Return the fickle gifts to those who treasure them above all else.” said Yamato. “And quickly, before the breeze turns into a gale.”
“Yes, my lord.” said Tezuka, with a nod. Breeze were people, these gifts were probably stolen, so then the breeze was a thief? And magnificent beauty left in their place? He wasn’t sure. Maybe Sanada had an idea. “As fast as we can.”
Yamato smiled, benevolently. “Take a few days off to finish this. You will not be required to continue your normal knight duties.” But of course, he and Sanada would do them anyway, that was just how it worked. Especially the training and the cleaning, because without them, it was unlikely the other knights would muster the discipline to do so.
“Yes, my lord.” he and Sanada said in unison and Yamato dismissed them. Unusually quick for Yamato’s usual meetings, but Tezuka couldn’t help but be grateful. The moment that they had backed out of the room, Sanada’s frown became very prominent. “Magnificent Beauty...that’s a calla lily.”
Tezuka blinked. “Pardon?” he asked. He had hoped that Sanada had possessed a clue, but Calla Lily was quite accurate. He adjusted his spectacles and waited for Sanada to elaborate.
“Breeze are thieves, all that glitter are jewels and the people who care about jewels too much are the nobles. Didn’t you hear Oshitari complaining about it yesterday? His family’s estate was the fifth to be robbed.” said Sanada, “The King wants us to find the Lily Thieves.”
The Lily Thieves...Tezuka thought he remembered Atobe whispering about it to Inui during training, but he paid very little attention to anything but himself during training, so he wasn’t sure. “Details?” he asked, as he unclipped his cape and slung it over his arm.
Sanada nodded as he followed suit. “According to Oshitari, six nobles have been robbed of their most precious jewellery, over consecutive nights. Whatever they like to show off at parties, to show how rich they are..” He stopped to pull a face at Tezuka and Tezuka could only silently agree. Arrogance was not a desired trait in anybody. “The doors are locked in the morning, and there’s never any sign of break-in. The only sign that something happened is a single black calla lily left right outside the area where the jewel is stored.”
“An inside-job?” asked Tezuka, as they wandered out to the battlements on the way back to their shared dorm.
Sanada shook his head as he stopped and looked out across the land. “To six different places? I don’t think so. They are just good at getting in and out.”
“What makes you think it’s a small group of people?” Tezuka asked, playing devil’s advocate. He too thought it was a smaller group, but he liked to know Sanada’s reasoning. “For all we know, it could be a huge group, with a servant in each house to steal the jewels.”
Sanada frowned. “The actions of the thieves are as arrogant as the nobles they steal from. The lily doesn’t need to be there, they could have a virtually undetected robbery. People would just blame the servants for misplacing the jewels or losing the jewels. But they leave the lily there, as a sign of pride. If it was a large organization, they wouldn’t be so obvious. There would be at least one person to say that it’s a stupid idea. Not to mention, the robbery is done exactly the same way, every time. A large organization wouldn’t be able to assure that neatness with every thief.”
Tezuka nodded. The unsaid was that Sanada recognized the action as something he would probably do. They both knew Sanada’s pride was something they fought against.
“Then as I see it, there are two places to start investigation from.” said Tezuka, as he adjusted his glasses and pushed back his hair, from the ways that the wind was blowing them. “Look into who has been selling black calla lilies and follow up those people. The other, is to try and figure out if there’s a pattern between the houses getting robbed and lie in wait at the house most likely to next get robbed.”
Sanada nodded, as he placed a hand over his face. “I’ll take the second task, more nobles are willing to talk to me. I’ll take Atobe with me, he’ll make up for the five people that hate my guts.” he said, with a slightly strangled expression. Tezuka’s mouth twitched at the side; he knew how much Sanada hated Atobe and it never failed to amuse him.
“Are you sure you won’t kill him by accident?” he asked, mirroring Sanada’s question from before.
Sanada glared at him and punched him in the side, lightly. “As if. I’d ruin their carpets and then they won’t tell me a thing.”
Tezuka couldn’t stop a slight smirk touching his face. “Right. I’ll take the first task. I think I know how to find it out.” Technically, this person and his information was just a little illegal. But, the person didn’t hurt people, he just didn’t license his business properly. “You might want to drop by Inui to see if he can see any connections before you go interviewing people.”
Sanada nodded, as they finally straightened and started the walk back to their dorm room, passing the various rooms of other knights and servants in the East Bunk. “I’ll do that. Shall we meet at the Dragon Inn tonight, then?”
Tezuka manoeuvred past the large procession of morning servants rushing to their jobs, with a slight grimace, and pulled Sanada with him. By this time usually, they were already training, he wasn’t used to this influx of population.
He nodded grimly, as they finally pushed the door to their room open; the Dragon Inn was fairly close to the castle. “Do you think we will be able to stop the robbery tonight?” he asked, as he stripped off his fine clothing and switched to something more appropriate for the street. Sanada, on the other hand, was switching to something even more formal and difficult to move around in.
Sanada paused, halfway between putting on his shirt, and turned around to face Tezuka. Tezuka always felt a little awkward when they were changing together, but Sanada never seemed to have that problem. “Probably not.” said Sanada, as he pulled his shirt on and started buttoning up the front. “But we should try, as is our duty.”
Tezuka just nodded, as he folded his clothes neatly as tucked them into his closet. He took out a dark, plain cape and hooked a plainer sword than his usual fare, to his cape. He looked much less like a knight, and more like a mercenary. Better.
Sanada eyed Tezuka’s clothing with something that might have been worry. He clapped his hand on Tezuka’s back. “...Look after yourself.” he said, squeezing Tezuka’s shoulder. Their eyes met and Sanada looked like he was going to say something else. Tezuka waited, but Sanada looked away and let go of his grip on Tezuka.
Tezuka was almost disappointed, but just nodded, in response. “You too, Sanada.” He flicked the cape over his head and left their shared room.
(X)
Tezuka disliked how most unorthodox people decided that they wanted to conduct businesses in shady taverns. What was wrong with a library, or a garden? Somewhere where Tezuka’s reflexes didn’t feel like he was about to snap and lay the law down on a second’s notice, by arresting everybody in the tavern. With a slightly put-upon sigh, Tezuka took a seat near the corner and ordered a beer, to nurse over as he waited for his contact. It was the morning and it was far too early to drink, but he had to blend in, anyway.
He had some time, since his contact wasn’t all too good with early mornings, so Tezuka had some time to think.
Tezuka sort of disliked these times of rest. While he preferred the solace of his own thoughts, he also preferred working all the time, so he could prove himself as worthy of respect. Despite being heralded as the best fighter in the kingdom and known everywhere for his mature demeanour, he was still respected by very few. It irked him that their society was so classist. His family had fought their way up to the top, but they would never be fully respected and treated equally, because they were ‘new money’.
His parents pretended like it didn’t bother them, especially his mother who liked to see the good in every situation, but Tezuka saw how much it affected them. In comparison to Sanada, whose family were old money, but worked just as hard as Tezuka, it was unfair. There were very few families that wouldn’t treat Sanada with the respect he demanded, yet there were slight sneers of derision and outright challenges everywhere that he went.
The system meant that no matter how hard you worked, you could never fully be respected at the top. It disappointed Tezuka, and it was the reason for so much discontent in the kingdom. It wasn’t that Yamato was a bad King, since he treated all of his soldiers and people equally, no matter whether they were new or old, but his nobles were another story altogether.
Tezuka was pulled out of his thoughts by a short figure in a large, black hood take a booth close to the entrance. He didn’t ask for anything to drink or eat, a sign that he was open for business. Tezuka decided to move fast, before half the tavern decided they wanted to make business with the famous mercenary. He signaled a waitress and asked them to bring some non-alcoholic cider for the table there.
The waitress looked a little confused, but did as she was asked. When the short figure bent over to the waitress to ask who it was who’d sent the drinks, she pointed in Tezuka’s direction. Tezuka gave it a few minutes, before he got up and joined his contact at the booth. From under the cape, a pair of golden cat-eyes glared back at him.
“Sir Tezuka.” said the voice of the child, Echizen.
“I told you to not call me that.” said Tezuka, dully. He was in a disguise and they were in a shady bar, what part of that indicated it was a good idea for Echizen to call him by his title? “How have you been, Echizen?”
“Well as you can be.” said Echizen, nonchalantly. “You look tired.”
Tezuka didn’t answer, though it was true; a knight’s life wasn’t easy. Echizen stared at him for a bit longer, before taking a sip of his drink and scowling. “Che, you’re a cheapskate. No alcohol?”
“You’re a child.” said Tezuka, dryly. Echizen Nanjirou may have encouraged deviancy, but Tezuka didn’t think it was right. He was young enough to be Echizen Nanjirou’s son, yet, he still knew better than to use his family as gambling pieces, to win him extra points.
Echizen nodded pensively, as he took another sip of the drink, with a slight scowl. “So. You must want something. You don’t do social trips. You calling in your favour, now or something?”
“Not really. I have a job for you. I’m looking for something.” said Tezuka, as he pulled out his coin purse and slid out two gold coins to Echizen. “Flower sellers who sell black calla lilies.”
Echizen’s eyes widened, before, he glanced down at the table. He shook his head and slid the coins back to Tezuka. “I can’t take that job.” he said, almost instantly. “You’re following the Lily Thieves.”
Tezuka frowned. He’d consulted Echizen three times after he and Sanada had rescued the young boy and his elder cousin from slavers, and every time, Echizen had taken just one day to track down anything he needed, without hesitating. Echizen was one of the best mercenaries, despite his age. If Echizen was turning this down....
“They are powerful, then? The thieves?” asked Tezuka.
Echizen bit his lip and worried it. “You could say that.” he said, and his voice sounded like a child for a moment, instead of the cocky adult that he pretended to be, most of the time.
“Then they are scary.” said Tezuka, finally. “They aren’t powerful, because there aren’t many of them, correct?”
Echizen was quiet as he took another sip from his drink, shifting in his chair, slightly. Tezuka sighed a little. Patience. “If I call in my favour and pay you...” He slid across three gold coins and two silver coins.
Echizen stared down at the money, his catlike eyes concentrated on the gleam of the money, before nodding and sweeping the money away. “Yeah. There aren’t many of them, at all.”
“Then the people who sell calla lilies...” said Tezuka, hesitantly.
The young boy blinked, lazily. “I can only give you a list of flower sellers here. I don’t know who sells what.” He pulled out his pen and started writing on the napkin that came with his drink. Tezuka glared at Echizen. Echizen definitely had the resources to find out who sold black calla lilies. Tezuka had given him a lot of money and he’d called in his favour, which the knight had been saving for when he was desperate. Those two combined meant that Tezuka required more than this.
Echizen finished writing the list and handed Tezuka the napkin, before summoning the waitress. “Hey, can I get three sweetmeats?” The waitress nodded and Tezuka tossed Echizen a quizzical look. Echizen hated sweetmeats, with a passion, because of his dislike of fruit. So...
He glanced down at the list. Third on the list was a place called 201 Nursery. Was that where the thieves were getting the lilies from? Echizen just smiled, cryptically at Tezuka’s glance. “You can have the sweetmeats.” he said, as he adjusted his cape to cover his face entirely. “Because I’m nice like that.”
Tezuka just snorted, softly. “Thank you.” he said, stiffly.
Echizen just clinked the money together, under the table, with a slightly incredulous expression. “I’m not altruistic. You don’t need to pretend like I am. Don’t die or I’ll be sad.”
Tezuka just shook his head as he stood up. “I’m not planning on dying, Echizen.” He pocketed the napkin and the sweetmeats as they were delivered and left the tavern, thinking about a direction in which to go.
(X)
The first thing that Tezuka noticed about the flower nursery, at the edge of the city, was how idyllic it was. The flowers were everywhere, with sweet-smelling fragrances wafting through the air. Around them were green bushes and grasses and near the back, seemed to be fruits vegetables, and for some reason, cacti. It was easy to spot the black calla lilies amongst the colours. Almost no other plant was that shade of colour. Next to them were white roses and some sort of yellow plant.
Near the front of the whole nursery was a small house-like structure that spoke about orders and sales.
But Tezuka wasn’t interested in that. He looked around for an employee, and spotted a blond man, crouched down by a tall, thin, reedlike plant. “Hello.” he said, as he walked up to the man.
The blond man look up from his task and smiled apologetically at Tezuka. He wiped the sweat off his brow with his forearm, removed his gardening gloves and stood up. “I’m sorry, I didn’t notice you come in! You’re a lot quieter than our usual customers. My name’s Shiraishi, I’m on duty at the moment. How can I help you?” He held out his hand to shake and Tezuka took it.
Tezuka nodded stiffly. “It’s fine. I was here looking to buy some flowers for my mother.” White roses were customary for solemn, non-romantic occasions, weren’t they? “I heard that the roses here were good?”
Shiraishi’s face brightened as he started walking Tezuka over to the area that the black calla lilies were in. “Our roses are some of the best.” he extolled, with a huge smile. “If you’re looking for your mother, white roses are some of the better options. How many do you want?”
Tezuka looked at the roses almost ponderingly. “They’re beautiful. But only two or three. Not too many.” he said, finally, thinking both of his mother’s love of simplicity and his coin purse.
“Not as beautiful as you.” was a small mutter from Shiraishi, and as Tezuka turned towards him, Shiraishi just smiled warmly, and innocently. “Three roses it is.”
Tezuka’s gaze slipped to the calla lilies naturally. “These are unusual...I didn’t know that you could get black flowers that aren’t dying.” he said, as he looked at them.
Shiraishi laughed, as he bent down to cut the fattest roses from the plants. “Ahh, yes. That’s because the lilies aren’t exactly black. They’re actually purple, but the purple hue is so deep, that it looks like it’s black. It’s quite misleading actually, but people like it.”
“Is it popular? You sell many of them?” asked Tezuka, almost casually. Out of the corner of his eyes, Shiraishi’s smile momentarily fell, to an expression of slight fear, before his sunny smile replaced it again. Threatened by the thieves to keep quiet? It seemed that way.
“You’d think so!” laughed Shiraishi, as he cut the last rose. “But we don’t sell that many since they don’t last so long. Only one or two nights. They’re more of a private pleasure. Myself and my coworkers like them.”
Tezuka paused, before softly smiling. “Perhaps I shall boost their popularity. May I have one purple lily?”
Shiraishi’s smile was more cautious than it had been, more clouded with judgement. “Of course you may!” he said, but that joy to greet Tezuka had vanished. Interesting. If he prodded any longer, Tezuka was sure that he wouldn’t get an answer, so Tezuka just nodded as the four flowers were bundled together and tied neatly with a ribbon. “That’ll be two silver coins and three bronze.” said Shiraishi, as Tezuka opened his coin purse. He had been right to buy less flowers, they were quite expensive.
“Thank you for your time.” said Tezuka, as he left the garden. No doubt, Echizen had been right about this nursery. The thieves got their flowers from this place. That would be one interesting fact to tell Sanada and a lead in itself. The flowers at the scenes were fresh, which meant that the thieves had to reach the Farm every day. If they staked it out for one day....
Still, it was something less concrete and tedious work. He hoped that Sanada had been able to find something better.
(X)
Sanada was already in the Dragon Inn when Tezuka reached there, a stony expression on his face as he glared down at his beer. Had...Sanada started drinking already? That wasn’t like his dorm-mate.
“You found...?” asked Tezuka, as he slipped off the hood from his face.
“Nothing.” said Sanada grimly. “Nothing concrete. I asked Inui what could link the houses, he couldn’t find anything that made any sense. They are all very close together inside the city, but this city is small, so that is already guaranteed. They are all rich and proud of it. They all have jewels. That describes every noble here. We live in the Capital City, everyone’s proud to be around the King.”
Tezuka bit his tongue as Sanada talked, but as he wound down, Tezuka’s mouth twitched up, almost imperceptibly. “That is not the only reason you have already started drinking before sundown. How frustrating was Atobe?”
“Very.” said Sanada, gritting his teeth. “He kept distracting the nobles away from the questions I was asking and...insinuating things.”
Tezuka was very tempted to ask what exactly Atobe was insinuating, but Sanada looked like he was going to kill something, so he refrained. “I made a little more progress than you did. I found the place where the thieves purchase the lilies. They also have to purchase the lilies, daily. However, the thieves have thoroughly intimidated the owners of the nursery. I’d have to build a rapport with the worker there to gain any progress about who they are.”
“So, we made no progress today.” said Sanada, with an irritated glance. “Wonderful.”
Tezuka nodded. “Peace. It was unrealistic to expect substantial progress immediately.”
Sanada gritted his teeth, before his eyes cleared a little. “I do know something new. All of the servants were asleep when it happened. The last servant sleeps at midnight on nights without parties and at three in the morning on days with parties. Since there were no occasions this week, the thieves have to come between midnight and four in the morning, the first wake-up call for servants.”
“So we have a timeframe...which helps. It also means that we can try and narrow in on a house now, and choose to shadow it tonight.” pondered Tezuka, as two plates arrived for himself and Sanada. Sanada had evidently ordered for him and accurately guessed what Tezuka liked. They both politely thanked the waiter, before turning back to the conversation.
“Let’s not shadow the house tonight.” said Sanada, as he surprisingly sliced his food with neatness. Perhaps not as drunk as Tezuka had thought. Now that Tezuka noticed, Sanada was pretty observant. While Sanada ate pretty much the same thing every night, Tezuka often switched up. Had he really been looking so closely at Tezuka’s food? “We’re not prepared to be alert at that time, we may miss something because we are tired. Tomorrow, we should finish whatever duties we have, explore the areas around the houses during daylight, and then sleep early, just before sundown. And then we will be ready to be awake at the early hours.”
Tezuka nodded his agreement as they ate in silence for a while, before something occurred to him. He pulled the flowers out of his bag. “Here.” he said, as he pushed them over. “The lily. Is it the same lily?”
Sanada shook his head with a glance that was both filled with confusion and guilt. “I have no idea.” he said, seriously. “It’s the same type of flower, that’s a calla lily and it’s black. But I didn’t get to see any of the lilies left behind. I don’t know if they’re the same.”
“Then if we let tonight’s robbery happen, we may be able to compare these flowers.” said Tezuka, running a fingers on the roses, before stowing them away into his pocket.
“It sits uneasily with me, Tezuka.” said Sanada, with a frown. “Who knows who it will hit?”
“...someone who deserves it.” said Tezuka, quietly, so no one else but Sanada would hear. “Someone who will not truly miss it, except for a chance to show off their gems.”
Sanada frowned at him as he placed down his cutlery on his plate, and Tezuka knew from the slightly guilty look in his eyes, that it had been what both of them were thinking. “Either way.” said Sanada, coughing a little, “It’s a crime. Against nobles, at that. And we have to stop it.”
Tezuka nodded, as he finished his plate. “That wasn’t debatable.” he said. They just didn’t need to be hasty in their actions. “Let’s not be careless, that is all.” It wouldn’t do to arrest the wrong person because they had hurried.
Sanada nodded in confirmation as he smoothed down his clothes, Tezuka noted that he had changed back to the typical knight’s tabard, looking less like a noble. It suited him better than the pomp and circumstance. They were both knights at heart.
“You’re quiet.” said Sanada, and Tezuka’s eyes flickered upwards from where he had been staring. That was fairly typical for Tezuka, so Tezuka wasn’t sure what Sanada was really talking about, before he remembered that his subtle hints in body language were usually what tipped off Sanada.
“I met Echizen today.” said Tezuka, quietly. “Is he not technically a crime?”
Sanada flinched. They had both rescued Echizen and his elder cousin from slavers, with a little illegality. Technically, slavers were completely legal in the land from which they had rescued him from, but since he was a citizen of Yamato’s kingdom, they had been able to rescue him and free him, albeit into the underworld. They both knew he existed, but his information network was unparalleled.
“No farm will let him work, because he is tainted by slavery. No guild will accept him because he is too young. What else is he supposed to do for money? And he does not hurt people, nor threaten them. He trades, like guilds.” justified Sanada, with a frown. “These people are stealing, Tezuka. They are harming people. There’s a difference.”
“And who are we to say that Echizen is right and the thieves are wrong?” asked Tezuka.
“Who is the king to say such things?” demanded Sanada, in return. “He’s as human as any of us! It’s...it’s about doing what’s right. Doing the thing that will help the most people. As we’ve always done.” Sanada sighed and ran a hand through his hair, his face tired. “We’re getting too old for this.”
“We’re not even thirty.” said Tezuka, with a slightly wry look. “I thought you were stronger than that, Sanada.”
“Politics is a young man’s dream and an old man’s realm. For those who are stuck in the middle, it is just a disaster.” quoted Sanada, before letting a tiny smile touch his face.
Tezuka just shook his head as he placed his share of the money on the table and stood up. “Come, let us finish our duties now, so we shall sleep some tonight.”
Sanada nodded as he adjusted his cloaks around him. Tezuka swept out towards the door, brushing past a man with abnormally long, brown hair, as he waited for Sanada in the doorway. The moon was almost full. It would be a good lighting for the nights of investigation to come. Sanada reached the door, with a pensive look, almost as if he wanted to say something, but as a small girl passed through them on her way out, his lips tightened together and he strode out, back towards the castle.
Feeling underwhelmed, Tezuka followed him, looking back at the girl who’d interrupted them with a slight frown.
(X)
The next day, Tezuka found himself frowning at Atobe over breakfast. “The house next to your parents’?” he asked.
“Yes.” said Atobe, uncharacteristically sober. “They’re very worried about their property now. But something’s strange. The flower changed.”
Tezuka frowned. “What?”
“A white rose, would you believe it?” asked Atobe, with a slight laugh. “They’re changing their image, perhaps.”
“White is also associated with death.” interjected Sanada, as he took a seat next to Tezuka. “They’re not changing their image, they’re trying to throw us off their tail.”
“Perhaps it is an imposter.” said Atobe, with a light smirk. “A copy-cat using the methods of the thieves.”
“No.” said Tezuka. “They are the original thieves.” His thoughts flickered back to the farm. He’d bought both white roses and a black orchid. “And they aren’t throwing anyone off the trail. They are being arrogant and giving us clues, because they feel that we cannot find them, even with clues.”
Sanada and Atobe both turned to look at him, as Tezuka rummaged through his pack, with a slowly increasing frown on his face as he came up. The flowers were missing... “Sanada, I didn’t give you the flowers, did I?”
Sanada shook his head. “You took them yourself...are you saying you don’t have them anymore?”
Tezuka’s face tightened. The flowers were gone, most likely pickpocketed the night before. But why, flowers weren’t the usual target of thieves. So...the flowers had been taken on purpose by someone relating to the case. Because, if they were gone, it meant that Tezuka had no point of reference to compare the flowers left at the scenes and the flowers at the nursery. To gain the point of reference, Tezuka would have to return to the nursery, but he couldn’t help but think how it seemed that was exactly what the thieves wanted.
Did he risk it being a trap...? Or did he stay back?
“Atobe, do your parents laud their jewels to their dinner guests?” asked Tezuka, having never attended one of Atobe’s lavish dinners, despite several invitations.
“Who doesn’t?” asked Atobe, with a slight shrug. “My parents are as of guilty of that as anybody.”
“Then they’re most likely the next on the list.” said Tezuka as he straightened, pushing away his untouched plate. “Take over my duties for me today, I have an idea of how to catch them.” He stood up and started to walk away, and Sanada followed him.
Atobe had a look of slight frustration on his face as Tezuka left, but Tezuka knew that Atobe would take over Tezuka’s duties gracefully, because of the threat to his parents. Sanada bit into his apple as they strode down the hallways, a slight smirk on his face as he munched. No doubt enjoying Atobe’s irritation. “The plan?” he asked, as soon as they were far enough from the hall.
“Since they’ve removed the flower, to compare and gain solid evidence, we’d need to return to the nursery. However, that’s exactly what they want. Nevertheless, I’m going to do it anyway. You just have to stay out of sight and watch and make sure to pull me out of trouble if there is something I cannot handle.” said Tezuka, seriously.
Sanada’s face became very serious. “You’re going to walk into a trap? Knowing it’s a trap?”
“Better than not knowing it is a trap.” said Tezuka, as he adjusted the sword on his waist. With a sigh, Sanada nodded his assent.
(X)
The nursery was just as sweet-smelling as the it had been yesterday, but Tezuka felt more on edge now. Were the thieves surveying the nursery, or were the employees of the Nursery the thieves? It was a tricky question, and Tezuka could only hope it was the former, thinking about the blond man from yesterday.
As he stepped closer to the front desk, a man with wavy blue hair stepped away from the seedlings he was planting and walked up to Tezuka. “Hello, welcome to 201 Nursery. My name is Yukimura, how can I help you today?” he said, with a warm smile, which felt more fake than anything that Tezuka had seen from Shiraishi the day before.
“I wished to purchase some more white roses for my mother...she admired the ones from yesterday.” he said, pretending as if they hadn’t been taken by somebody.
Yukimura smiled, warmly, not even acknowledging the lie. Perhaps the workers of the nursery were not involved; he hadn’t even blinked. “Of course, right this way. How many would you like, sir?” he asked, as he brushed back his hair and navigated Tezuka past the multitudes of flowers.
“Perhaps four.” said Tezuka, mentally apologizing to his coin purse.
Yukimura nodded as he stretched up to cut the flowers, but Tezuka wondered. His smile hadn’t been real at all. Did he know who Tezuka was? “Yukimura?” he asked, quietly. “Do you know where Shiraishi, the worker from yesterday is?”
Yukimura’s eyes flickered to Tezuka’s, with a slightly coy smirk on his face. “I’m afraid I don’t know where Kura is. It’s his day off but he’ll probably be somewhere in the City. Shall I leave a message for you?” His eyes widened as he pulled the last of the four flowers down and walked back to the desk.
“No, that won’t be necessary.” said Tezuka, watching Yukimura’s movements for anything that would mean that Tezuka was in trouble. Nothing was to be seen, as Yukimura wrapped the flowers neatly and jotted down something on the orders sheet. Tezuka frowned, perhaps it hadn’t been necessary to ask Sanada to accompany him. “Thank you for your trouble.”
Yukimura just smiled back up at him, as he handed Tezuka the flowers. “That’s three silver coins and one bronze.” Tezuka handed over the money and Yukimura waved cheerily at Tezuka as he left.
Tezuka kept walked until he reached the bend in the road where Sanada was waiting. “Nothing suspicious.” he said, with an almost confused look towards Sanada.
Sanada scowled. “Let’s go compare the flowers, come on. Inui has it, for safe-keeping.”
Tezuka nodded, his gaze flickering back to the nursery, momentarily. Had nobody acted because they’d known that Sanada was there? Or was he thinking too hard? Whatever it was, he hadn’t liked the smile on Yukimura’s face, and Tezuka trusted his instincts. Even if Yukimura hadn’t reacted to his lie, the workers at the nursery knew something.
(X)
Tezuka disliked being dismissed by anyone other than the King. He especially disliked being dismissed by someone who was supposedly too busy for them. It was disappointing that Inui was otherwise unavailable because he had blown himself up, but that had been no need for Oishi to kick them out of the Infirmary.
Then again, Tezuka glanced towards Sanada, who looked like he was about to explode with rage, and mused that perhaps Oishi had been justified in throwing them both out. “Sanada, calm yourself. It’s bad luck, that’s all.” he advised, sternly.
“He blew himself and the evidence up!” exploded Sanada, looking positively enraged.
“You think I’m not angry as well?” asked Tezuka, with a slight twitch of his eyebrows. “However, we can only make Inui clean the stables once he’s recovered. And scaring servant girls to tears is not going to bring the evidence back.” He said, as he watched another girl drop her towels and run away bawling.
Sanada didn’t look much too comforted by that fact and Tezuka twitched again, as yet another girl accidentally met Sanada’s eyes and ran away in tears. He gripped Sanada’s wrist and pulled him away from the castle, striding through the corridors in silence. The people in the streets of the City were far less likely to be frightened by Sanada’s glares.
Tezuka dropped his hand, with a little reluctance. “You shouldn’t let things faze you so easily.” said Tezuka, evenly, as they took a more even walking pace through the town. “You’ll let your guard down amongst your anger.”
Sanada just shook his head. “And now you sound like my grandfather.” he said, with a slightly amused look on his face.
“Is it such a bad thing?” asked Tezuka, with a slight smile. He liked Sanada’s family and Sanada’s grandfather especially. For of all of their riches, they were not braggarts and they treated everyone the same, regardless of class systems.
“It would mean that sparring would be more like not trying to break you, if you were my grandfather.” retorted Sanada. “I prefer it this way.”
Tezuka did as well. He enjoyed their spars, it kept him on his toes and helped improve his skills. Sometimes Sanada even won, and those were always days that Tezuka felt more determination than ever. “Not if I was your grandfather, if I was to sound like him. He is wise.” clarified Tezuka, evenly.
Sanada rolled his eyes and crossed his arms across his chest. “I’ve been trying to keep my guard up and keep my temper down. It’s just...we were so close to verifying that the nursery was the one supplying those flowers.”
Tezuka nodded; he understood Sanada’s frustration, but he just didn’t think it prudent to show it to the whole world. He paused a little as they walked past Atobe’s house. And over there, wasn’t that Oshitari’s house?
He paused and frowned as he glanced around them. It was a mostly housing district, where the rich came to be close to the King during the summer, and later retreated to their country estates, with sprawling acres of fertile land during the winter. These houses here were opulent, but cramped, as most of the City was. But it was the King’s city and that made people proud to be there. But this wasn’t a solely housing district. Nearby shops, small, unmarked places that weren’t houses...places where the thieves could hide or even be targeting.
“Sanada, did you and Inui ever place all of the houses on a map and see how it looked?” asked Tezuka, addressing Sanada’s quizzical look.
Sanada shook his head. “They’re too close together and randomly selected.”
“Perhaps not.” Tezuka suggested. “The library is not far from here, is it?”
(X)
“It’s a circle around that small shopping district.” said Sanada, as he looked over Tezuka’s shoulder, where Tezuka was making marks on the copy of the city’s map. “How did we not notice that?”
“There is an unmarked building in the direct centre.” said Tezuka, as he used his pencil to measure the circle. It wasn’t completely perfect, but he felt that an unknown building was more likely to be the target than a grocery store and a blacksmith.
Sanada straightened up. “Let’s go and see what it is.”
Tezuka rolled up the map, placed it into his bag, before falling into step with Sanada. “That was a large clue to miss.”
“It was too obvious.”
“You shouldn’t overestimate our opponents. Their arrogance will be their downfall.”
Sanada scowled angrily, before schooling himself and assuming the quiet frown that Tezuka was more used to. “My mistake.” he said, stiffly.
Tezuka just nodded. “Don’t get careless, Sanada.”
They arrived at the unmarked building from the map and Tezuka frowned. What was inside? Was it something regarding their mission? Sanada, on the other hand, just rapidly paled at the sight of the unadorned and non-conspicuous building. “Tezuka, it’s a brothel.” he hissed, looking mortified.
Tezuka had several questions. Such as, how did Sanada know that, was there something he was missing and if there wasn’t, did Sanada frequent brothels often? Which couldn’t be, since they roomed together and Sanada was always around, except for the nights he visited family. Instead, he settled for, “Does that have any importance to our case?”
Sanada flushed. “I don’t know! Maybe?” he hissed, looking very uncomfortable to be there. Not a frequent visitor then.
Tezuka had to hide the slight smirk. “Since you seem so knowledgeable and comfortable about this, perhaps you should go and ask some questions of the proprietors.”
Sanada’s face was now entirely red and he glared at Tezuka, with a heat that could instantly vapourize ice. “Fuck you.”
Tezuka just adjusted his glasses, unable to stop the slight twitch to his mouth. “It’s broad daylight, Sanada.” he said, as he walked up to the door and pushed it open, letting Sanada follow, whose face looked more like a ripe tomato at Tezuka’s words. That wasn’t to say that Tezuka wasn’t uncomfortable about doing this, but he had always been better at hiding his emotions and this was a necessary evil.
“I didn’t mean-” Sanada protested as they walked into the slight stuffy waiting room, that was covered in hanging silk clothes and cushions.
“You don’t have to worry about your reputation because it’s broad daylight.” clarified Tezuka, feeling a slight heat in his ears, as he realized what it had sounded like.
“Ah.”
There was a slight rustle that distracted from their awkward conversation, as a pretty girl drifted towards them, looking coy in practically nothing. “Can I do both of you?” she asked, suggestively rolling her body.
Tezuka tried to not look at her. “We’re here to see the owner.” he said, cautiously. He had thought that the majority of the girls would be sleeping already, since they were supposedly the night birds.
“Oh, but he’s not fun at all! Wouldn’t you prefer me? I’m much prettier than he is! I mean, even if you aren’t into girls, I’ll make it worth your while.” she said, with a lecherous wink.
Was this typical behaviour for a prostitute? Tezuka didn’t think they were supposed to be so forceful, were they? He glanced up at her eyes and they seemed almost desperate or panicked. She didn’t want Sanada and Tezuka reaching the manager? Or was it something else?
“Sorry, we’re not interested.” said Sanada, with gritted teeth. “We want to speak with your boss.”
“You know what they say, talk is cheap.” she said, with a dainty giggle, that sounded uncomfortable. Tezuka frowned again. She didn’t seem confident at all. And that desperation in her eyes had increased.
With a subtle hand gesture, Tezuka pointed towards the area past the curtains to gesture that Sanada reach it. Sanada tossed him a look that asked ‘what about you?’ Tezuka gestured towards the woman and the flowers in his bag. Sanada looked skeptical, but pushed past the curtains to go towards the manager’s room anyway.
She looked a little disappointed, but turned towards Tezuka with a slightly fervent look in her eyes. She hadn’t made a single move to stop Sanada from leaving, so she wasn’t afraid of covering up something...which meant something else. He sighed and pulled out his coin purse. He swore, one day, Sanada was going to be the one paying people for information.
“What’s your name?” he asked, evenly. Her eyes had immediately fixated on the money bag. She wanted money. Well, that made more sense, didn’t it?
“Kotoha.” she said, with a happy smile. “How would you like me?”
“I’m not having sex with you.” said Tezuka, firmly. “I want some information and I want you to answer me completely honestly.”
She looked a little startled and put out of her rhythm. “Pardon?” she asked, almost in disbelief.
“Information.” said Tezuka, a little more kindly. “Do you know anything about the Lily Thieves?”
“What?” she asked, looking completely clueless and just a little disappointed. “No...I haven’t heard about it...”
“Have you seen any of your customers with these flowers?” asked Tezuka, as he pulled out the white roses. He could have done with the black lillies right then, but circumstances definitely didn’t approve of him owning them. Or rather, the thieves didn’t approve.
“No...” she said, her voice more quiet as she crossed her arms across her chest. “I haven’t seen anything. I...can I do anything else? I do a really good handjob.”
The disappointment in her voice was almost too much to bear. How poverty reduced people to almost inhumane states. Tezuka shook his head and held out a gold coin and a silver coin to her. “No, I don’t think so. But, thank you for your time.” he said, quietly and politely. “Have a good day.”
Her face brightened as she took the money and smiled softly at Tezuka as she took the money. “Thank you sir! If I see anything around here like that, I’ll be sure to tell you, sir!” she said, as she fled back through the veiled curtains towards the side.
Tezuka looked around, through the curtains ahead of him. He couldn’t see Sanada there, which meant that Sanada had probably already reached the manager. There was no point in getting lost in looking for Sanada. He’d wait here. He turned around to take a seat on one of the divans that scattered the waiting room, when his eyes fell upon someone who definitely hadn’t been there five minutes ago.
“Shiraishi.” he said, with a surprised look.
“That was kind of you.” said Shiraishi, with a slightly wistful smile. “There are few people who would have done that, when she didn’t even give you any information.”
Tezuka was quiet in response, as he quickly studied Shiraishi’s clothing and body posture. Dressed nothing like the other woman, so he wasn’t a member of the brothel. He was visiting the brothel at this time of day? But no, he lacked the sated look that most men in the castle gained after sex and he did not look ruffled at all. He was a visitor but not for the services. How odd.
“You are in here at the wrong hours.” said Tezuka, finally, since it seemed that Shiraishi was content to just look at Tezuka, almost appraisingly.
“So are you. Isn’t that a coincidence?” said Shiraishi, his eyes glinting with amusement.
“Perhaps. But you clearly saw that I was conducting an investigation, while you have no clearly defined reason to be here.”
Shiraishi’s smile sharpened and his gaze turned from appraising to assessing, with a little more caution. Tezuka felt like he was being judged and he unconsciously shifted to stand a tad taller. “There aren’t many people who would have done that.” said Shiraishi again, as if he was convincing himself.
Tezuka just waited for Shiraishi to finish thinking. Shiraishi, as an employee of the 201 Nursery was visiting this brothel in his spare time for no actual reason. A brothel in the centre of all of the houses robbed and a man who probably sold the flowers to the thieves--and had told the thieves that Tezuka had bought white roses while investigating. There was next-to-no doubt that Shiraishi had something useful for Tezuka’s investigation, and if he was willing to give it up....
Shiraishi got up from the chair, with a languid stretch. “I guess good deeds should be rewarded. Or else no one will pursue justice.” he said, with a slightly wry smile. He grabbed Tezuka’s hand and pulled out a stick of charcoal. He neatly wrote the name of a tavern that was slightly further away from the castle than Tezuka liked, and wrote a time of day, later at night than Tezuka would have liked. It would mean that he and Sanada would be cutting corners to stake out the nobles houses that night.
Shiraishi glanced up to see that Tezuka had seen the messages, before he kissed Tezuka’s hand and pulled his lips along the words, until they were no longer visible as anything but a black smudge. He just shot Tezuka a significant look as he walked away from the brothel licking away the black along his lips, sensually.
Tezuka just pursed his lips and sighed. Apparently, Shiraishi didn’t know the meaning of subtlety, but if that was supposed to put him off wanting to collect on the information, Shiraishi would be mistaken. Admittedly, he wasn’t happy about what he might have to do. Sex wasn’t something to be taken or given lightly. It was supposed to be done for love; that was what his mother and father had always said.
But sex wasn’t much but power, nowadays. And it wouldn’t be unpleasant with the other man, in any case. He’d just hoped that...
There were footsteps from behind him and Tezuka turned over his shoulder to see Sanada, with a triumphant smirk on his face. “You found....?”
“Let’s get out of here.” said Sanada, firmly, as he grabbed Tezuka’s upper arm and pulled him out of the brothel, in seven firm steps. Once they were out on the streets again, Sanada seemed a little more relaxed.
“Well?” asked Tezuka, as they started walking back towards the castle, at a slightly more relaxed pace that the one they had taken to get to town.
“The manager knew nothing about the thieves. Which was expected, why would he care?” Sanada said, curtly. “But, when I mentioned all of the houses that were robbed, he recognized the names. Every household has at least one member who is a regular at the brothel.”
Tezuka’s eyebrows rose a little. Well then. That was convenient. “Is that so?”
Sanada’s face looked contemptuous. “I asked whether there was one particular member that they all visited, but he said that they used several girls, so I just got a list of all of the girls. But their names aren’t real.”
How inconvenient. Tezuka held his hand out for the list and frowned. “Is that...blood?” he asked, noticing a few drops of faded brown on the edge of the paper.
“He needed some persuading of the non-monetary kind.” Sanada said, sternly and Tezuka decided it was probably not wiser to ask. Instead, he just leveled a firm glare of disapproval at Sanada’s methods, and glanced down at the paper. The names were generic fake names, few sounding like something they would actually be called.
But more than anything, three names stood out. “These three.” said Tezuka, tapping them with his finger, noticing how the black smudge hadn’t faded away just yet. It made him feel almost guilty. Did he mention Shiraishi to Sanada? He probably had to, since Tezuka wasn’t ever late to things and would almost certainly be late to their watch on the houses tonight.
“What about them?” asked Sanada, before he reread their names and nodded. “Flowers.” Rose, Jasmine, Sakura.
“There’s got to be a link between them.” Tezuka said, with a nod.
“It could be a decoy.” Sanada pointed out as he crossed his arms across his chest. “It’s too obvious. They’re clever.”
“They’re arrogant.” Tezuka retorted, again. He wondered how often he’d have to point this out. “They’re so confident that they cannot be caught. They sent me the clearest message by using white roses instead the black lily. They said ‘we know you’re investigating, but we don’t care.’ That’s arrogance.”
Sanada’s jaw tightened. “But they stole the flowers. They didn’t let us keep a comparison of the flowers, and I am starting to think that Inui’s explosion wasn’t a coincidence.”
It was a good point and one that Tezuka wasn’t sure how to combat logically. He just had an instinct that told him he was right about this. Instincts had kept him alive in the past, when fighting armies of men or being ambushed. He didn’t want to easily ignore it. “The flowers are probably the key to discovering their identity, which is why they were stolen. Or perhaps it was even to make this more interesting for them. Nevertheless, I am fairly certain that these three girls are the focus.”
Sanada nodded. “I’ll trust you.” he said, as they passed the guards at the gate of the castle. “Then, one of us has to go back to the brothel and ask about the girls. And the other has to keep watch over the houses.”
Wasn’t this his chance? He could get the information from Shiraishi and the girls at the same time and Sanada wouldn’t be suspicious. He could be gone the whole night, if he needed to be and have a proper explanation. Still, Tezuka didn’t like lying. He didn’t want to lie.
“I have another source as well.” said Tezuka. “I saw Shiraishi inside the of the brothel. The woman didn’t have any useful information, but he offered an exchange for information.” He didn’t mention what the exchange entailed.
“You suspect him, don’t you?” asked Sanada, with a little surprise tinged in his eyes. “Why would you accept his information?”
“With a grain of salt obviously.” Tezuka dismissed, as they wandered past the training grounds and through the armoury. “He offered the exchange, so obviously there will probably be something wrong with it. But he might give me other hints in the process of meeting with him.”
Sanada was quieter for a longer time than Tezuka had expected and he turned to glance at Sanada’s face. It was more closed-off than Tezuka had seen for some time. “Sanada?” he asked.
“I should come with you. What if something happens?” Sanada asked, pensively.
“Nothing happened at the nursery despite it being set up like a trap. They knew you were there.” Tezuka said, pursing his lips together momentarily. “Have faith, Sanada. I can fight my way out if I need to. Need I remind you who it is who had won the majority of our matches?”
“Majority. By two matches. Such a majority.” mocked Sanada, but his face still looked concerned. “Just...take care?”
“Always.” said Tezuka, letting a smile touch his face. Sanada returned it, before they parted ways, to finish their duties within the castle.
(X)
As Tezuka looked around the streets for the appropriate street-sign, he mused that he had been spending far too much time in taverns over the past few days. He hoped that it wasn’t a trend set to continue. He disliked the atmosphere, especially when they felt as shady as the one that Shiraishi had chosen.
Had Echizen been comfortable in coming close to the city, Tezuka was sure that this was where the younger boy would have set up camp. Luckily, unlike his meeting with Echizen, he had no reason to wait. Shiraishi was already there, chatting avidly with a pretty serving girl, who was laughing heartily.
Tezuka approached a little slower than his usual stride, allowing Shiraishi to notice him and dismiss the serving girl. Shiraishi smiled a little upon seeing Tezuka, and leant forward, as Tezuka took a seat at the table.
“You look stiff, you should relax a little.” said Shiraishi, with a slightly amused smile. Tezuka just glared and ignored him, as he took a seat at the table. “Have a drink or two, loosen up.”
“I don’t like to drink.” said Tezuka, with a frown.
“Hmm.” said Shiraishi, with a slight smile playing at his lips. “You’re quite disciplined, I’m impressed.” His face tightened and he looked more serious. “But, is our agreement consensual? Do you want to? Because forced anything, especially forced sex is wrong. Because that’s slavery.” He looked sorrowful and bitter and angry. Tezuka knew there was a story behind that and it made him angry that slavery was still allowed to be around in some countries at all.
“Do you wish to talk about it?” he asked, quietly. “I can do something about those people.”
Shiraishi looked up with a little surprise, before he smirked a little. “Too many clues inside that story. I don’t think so.”
Tezuka blinked, in surprise. Too many clues...why would someone who was pressurized by thieves say anything like that? “You’re confirming that you are the thief, then?”
Shiraishi laughed as he shook back his blond hair, cheerfully. “Take it as you will. Either way, you cannot arrest me without proof for there are no eyewitness accounts. And if you do, you will never be able to pronounce me guilty in the jury trial.”
Well, that was true, but it didn’t make Tezuka less irritated to be dangled clues in front of his face. “I consent.” he said, through his slightly gritted teeth. “But I’ll ask the questions before anything.”
“Indeed, we might get distracted.” Shiraishi said, with an amused smirk and Tezuka just stared him down. “But before anything, I want to confirm...you’re Tezuka Kunimitsu? The famous knight?”
That was right, he hadn’t actually told Shiraishi his name, as protection. But he was quite recognisable, even out of anything that looked like a typical knight. “That is correct.” Tezuka said with a nod. “How many of you are there?”
“Three people. I won’t say who.” said Shiraishi, cheerfully, as he leant back in his chair and stretched out his arms, showing a bandage loosely wrapped around his hand. Tezuka’s eyes flicked up to it and frowned a little, marking it away as a clue. “That’s the fun part to find out.”
“Why are you targeting nobles?” asked Tezuka.
“Why not?” was Shiraishi’s quick answer, as his lips quirked and he shrugged slightly. Tezuka was both frustrated and amused. It was a challenge to pull anything out of Shiraishi, there was no doubting that.
Still, Tezuka had confidence in himself. That had merely been the prepared answer, he wanted the real truth. “Is it because of the brothel and the three women? Rose, Jasmine and Sakura?” asked Tezuka prodding further.
“You’re barking up the wrong tree.” Shiraishi murmured, as he swilled the drink in his cup, not really touching it. “The most I can give you is that you should stop thinking about the brothel and start looking at the nobles with increased fervour.”
“It’s not just because they had sex with those women?” asked Tezuka, with a frown. Shiraishi just smiled blandly, and adjusted the sleeves of his cape. Tezuka frowned. He was asking the wrong questions. “Who will you be targeting next?” tried Tezuka instead, frustrated to be playing someone else’s game so perfectly. He was being entirely controlled by Shiraishi and it angered him.
Judging by Shiraishi's widened eyes, he hadn’t been expecting such a direct question. Good. Shiraishi softly laughed, but there was something bitter in there. “I can’t tell you yet, Tezuka. Give me three days. Then all of this will stop. You can even arrest me if you like. Not sure if the others will like it, but it’s probably for the best.”
They were planning on stopping? Which meant that there were a certain of number of people marked out as targets, and that he and Sanada only had a limited amount of them to catch the Lily Thieves. “Where would you suggest to look about the nobles?”
“Dig up their backhistory. Their dirty laundry. It’s not too difficult.” Shiraishi snorted slightly, his eyes amused. “Everyone has their secrets, but some are more harmful than others.”
Was Shiraishi implying that the nobles deserved their misfortune for reasons beyond being rich? Tezuka’s eyes narrowed. It was a lot of information, that Tezuka would need to think over later with Sanada and discover which parts were true and which were now. For now, he had a bargain to uphold. He nodded as he got up and Shiraishi languidly followed him up.
“I have a room already reserved.” said Shiraishi, as he walked towards the stairs. Tezuka remained silent, not really knowing what to say as he followed Shiraishi up the stairs.
He hadn’t done this before. He’d looked at his fellow trainees and sometimes at the pretty serving girls and ladies of the court, but he’d never visited a brothel or even engaged in a relationship with anyone. He’d been waiting for someone to open his mouth and spit it out. But it didn’t seem like it was forthcoming any time soon.
Still, he was fairly sure that Shiraishi already knew that he was inexperienced, as he opened their room and shut it behind him, softly, quite clearly not locking it.
Shiraishi smiled a little nervously. “You’re sure-”
Tezuka leant forward and interrupted with a firm kiss, as he tilted Shiraishi’s chin up, in order to make their kiss easier. It was a little stiff and uncertain, but it made his point. “I’m sure.” he said, as he leant back in for another kiss, where Shiraishi’s tongue pulled around his mouth, gently.
He liked Shiraishi, really. In another life, where he had known Shiraishi for longer or where he wasn’t chasing Shiraishi as a criminal, he mused that they would have been good friends, if not more. As it was, this was only really lust, but he supposed he could enjoy it a little. But it wouldn’t do to let his guard down, not now. Not with Shiraishi.
Part II
Recipient: sagely_sea
Pairing/Characters: Sanada/Tezuka, Tezuka/Shiraishi, Atobe, Yukimura, Fuji, Echizen
Rating: R
Warnings: Violence, mentions of prostitution, more plot than romance
Disclaimer: I don't own Prince of Tennis. If I did, Echizen would have more family problems >>;
Summary: Tezuka and Sanada are knights of the country and King. While robbery isn't their usual sort of job, this is no ordinary robbery.
Notes: Thank so much to my beta who told me when I was a fool and to all the people who helped me with characterization of people I’ve never attempted before.
The rain outside was blowing against the stained glass windows quite impressively. It made all sorts of threatening sounds, and that was one of the main reasons that Tezuka wished that he wasn’t in the waiting room to speak with the King. The other was that waiting for the King always made Tezuka feel like a small child, about to be reprimanded for doing something wrong. He hadn’t done anything wrong, so he had nothing to feel guilty for, but it was a lingering sensation that wouldn’t leave him.
He turned to glance at Sanada, who looked a lot more at home in the noble clothing and the formal way of sitting. Of course, Sanada’s family had a long line of association with nobility, while Tezuka’s grandfather had been the first of their line to meet the King in person, for acts of valiance for the country. It made sense, but Tezuka envied how comfortable in his own skin Sanada seemed, sometimes.
Sanada caught his glance and pulled a face. Despite Tezuka's perpetual poker face, Sanada could usually catch his emotions, probably because Sanada's older brother had the same sort of poker face as Tezuka. "As much as I admire his majesty's thoroughness with everyone he meets, waiting is quite tedious." He looked rather disgruntled and Tezuka was about to reply, until the deceptively meek Irie peeked in through the waiting room door.
"Ah, you're both here. The king will see you now." said Irie, cheerfully. "He looks mad, I'd be cautious."
Tezuka just nodded. Irie liked to lie and make the people waiting for the king nervous, so he could see their reaction. Tezuka wasn't sure why King Yamato hadn't fired him, but he wasn't the king. There was probably some reason. Something about testing the mettle of all newcomers.
"Just to check, Tezuka, you didn't kill the crown prince in annoyance? " asked Sanada lowly, as they adjusted their capes and walked in. Tezuka pursed his lips, in response. He found Prince Horio annoying to tutor, but not enough to kill.
King Yamato sat upon the throne imperiously, but upon seeing Sanada and Tezuka, he smiled. "Knights, it is good to see you. I have a task of utmost importance for you."
Was...was Yamato not speaking in riddles? Tezuka wished there was a way he could capture this moment and keep it forever to replay, over and over. He was sick to the teeth of cryptic riddles about the state of his swordplay or a comment on the weather meaning that he was wearing his cape indoors.
Sanada nodded as they both knelt down in front of his throne.
“The breeze sweeps through the protectorate of the mountains. Those that glitter are whisked away, and in their place, magnificent beauty is left.” said Yamato and Tezuka had to suppress the twitch in his eyebrow. Would it kill Yamato to not make everything a riddle or some kind of life lesson?
Still, at least Sanada seemed just as confused as Tezuka and tossed him a quizzical look. Tezuka shook his head, imperceptibly. They’d figure out it afterwards.
“And what would you have us do about it, sir?” asked Sanada, lowly.
“Find the breeze and stop it’s progress, immediately. Return the fickle gifts to those who treasure them above all else.” said Yamato. “And quickly, before the breeze turns into a gale.”
“Yes, my lord.” said Tezuka, with a nod. Breeze were people, these gifts were probably stolen, so then the breeze was a thief? And magnificent beauty left in their place? He wasn’t sure. Maybe Sanada had an idea. “As fast as we can.”
Yamato smiled, benevolently. “Take a few days off to finish this. You will not be required to continue your normal knight duties.” But of course, he and Sanada would do them anyway, that was just how it worked. Especially the training and the cleaning, because without them, it was unlikely the other knights would muster the discipline to do so.
“Yes, my lord.” he and Sanada said in unison and Yamato dismissed them. Unusually quick for Yamato’s usual meetings, but Tezuka couldn’t help but be grateful. The moment that they had backed out of the room, Sanada’s frown became very prominent. “Magnificent Beauty...that’s a calla lily.”
Tezuka blinked. “Pardon?” he asked. He had hoped that Sanada had possessed a clue, but Calla Lily was quite accurate. He adjusted his spectacles and waited for Sanada to elaborate.
“Breeze are thieves, all that glitter are jewels and the people who care about jewels too much are the nobles. Didn’t you hear Oshitari complaining about it yesterday? His family’s estate was the fifth to be robbed.” said Sanada, “The King wants us to find the Lily Thieves.”
The Lily Thieves...Tezuka thought he remembered Atobe whispering about it to Inui during training, but he paid very little attention to anything but himself during training, so he wasn’t sure. “Details?” he asked, as he unclipped his cape and slung it over his arm.
Sanada nodded as he followed suit. “According to Oshitari, six nobles have been robbed of their most precious jewellery, over consecutive nights. Whatever they like to show off at parties, to show how rich they are..” He stopped to pull a face at Tezuka and Tezuka could only silently agree. Arrogance was not a desired trait in anybody. “The doors are locked in the morning, and there’s never any sign of break-in. The only sign that something happened is a single black calla lily left right outside the area where the jewel is stored.”
“An inside-job?” asked Tezuka, as they wandered out to the battlements on the way back to their shared dorm.
Sanada shook his head as he stopped and looked out across the land. “To six different places? I don’t think so. They are just good at getting in and out.”
“What makes you think it’s a small group of people?” Tezuka asked, playing devil’s advocate. He too thought it was a smaller group, but he liked to know Sanada’s reasoning. “For all we know, it could be a huge group, with a servant in each house to steal the jewels.”
Sanada frowned. “The actions of the thieves are as arrogant as the nobles they steal from. The lily doesn’t need to be there, they could have a virtually undetected robbery. People would just blame the servants for misplacing the jewels or losing the jewels. But they leave the lily there, as a sign of pride. If it was a large organization, they wouldn’t be so obvious. There would be at least one person to say that it’s a stupid idea. Not to mention, the robbery is done exactly the same way, every time. A large organization wouldn’t be able to assure that neatness with every thief.”
Tezuka nodded. The unsaid was that Sanada recognized the action as something he would probably do. They both knew Sanada’s pride was something they fought against.
“Then as I see it, there are two places to start investigation from.” said Tezuka, as he adjusted his glasses and pushed back his hair, from the ways that the wind was blowing them. “Look into who has been selling black calla lilies and follow up those people. The other, is to try and figure out if there’s a pattern between the houses getting robbed and lie in wait at the house most likely to next get robbed.”
Sanada nodded, as he placed a hand over his face. “I’ll take the second task, more nobles are willing to talk to me. I’ll take Atobe with me, he’ll make up for the five people that hate my guts.” he said, with a slightly strangled expression. Tezuka’s mouth twitched at the side; he knew how much Sanada hated Atobe and it never failed to amuse him.
“Are you sure you won’t kill him by accident?” he asked, mirroring Sanada’s question from before.
Sanada glared at him and punched him in the side, lightly. “As if. I’d ruin their carpets and then they won’t tell me a thing.”
Tezuka couldn’t stop a slight smirk touching his face. “Right. I’ll take the first task. I think I know how to find it out.” Technically, this person and his information was just a little illegal. But, the person didn’t hurt people, he just didn’t license his business properly. “You might want to drop by Inui to see if he can see any connections before you go interviewing people.”
Sanada nodded, as they finally straightened and started the walk back to their dorm room, passing the various rooms of other knights and servants in the East Bunk. “I’ll do that. Shall we meet at the Dragon Inn tonight, then?”
Tezuka manoeuvred past the large procession of morning servants rushing to their jobs, with a slight grimace, and pulled Sanada with him. By this time usually, they were already training, he wasn’t used to this influx of population.
He nodded grimly, as they finally pushed the door to their room open; the Dragon Inn was fairly close to the castle. “Do you think we will be able to stop the robbery tonight?” he asked, as he stripped off his fine clothing and switched to something more appropriate for the street. Sanada, on the other hand, was switching to something even more formal and difficult to move around in.
Sanada paused, halfway between putting on his shirt, and turned around to face Tezuka. Tezuka always felt a little awkward when they were changing together, but Sanada never seemed to have that problem. “Probably not.” said Sanada, as he pulled his shirt on and started buttoning up the front. “But we should try, as is our duty.”
Tezuka just nodded, as he folded his clothes neatly as tucked them into his closet. He took out a dark, plain cape and hooked a plainer sword than his usual fare, to his cape. He looked much less like a knight, and more like a mercenary. Better.
Sanada eyed Tezuka’s clothing with something that might have been worry. He clapped his hand on Tezuka’s back. “...Look after yourself.” he said, squeezing Tezuka’s shoulder. Their eyes met and Sanada looked like he was going to say something else. Tezuka waited, but Sanada looked away and let go of his grip on Tezuka.
Tezuka was almost disappointed, but just nodded, in response. “You too, Sanada.” He flicked the cape over his head and left their shared room.
(X)
Tezuka disliked how most unorthodox people decided that they wanted to conduct businesses in shady taverns. What was wrong with a library, or a garden? Somewhere where Tezuka’s reflexes didn’t feel like he was about to snap and lay the law down on a second’s notice, by arresting everybody in the tavern. With a slightly put-upon sigh, Tezuka took a seat near the corner and ordered a beer, to nurse over as he waited for his contact. It was the morning and it was far too early to drink, but he had to blend in, anyway.
He had some time, since his contact wasn’t all too good with early mornings, so Tezuka had some time to think.
Tezuka sort of disliked these times of rest. While he preferred the solace of his own thoughts, he also preferred working all the time, so he could prove himself as worthy of respect. Despite being heralded as the best fighter in the kingdom and known everywhere for his mature demeanour, he was still respected by very few. It irked him that their society was so classist. His family had fought their way up to the top, but they would never be fully respected and treated equally, because they were ‘new money’.
His parents pretended like it didn’t bother them, especially his mother who liked to see the good in every situation, but Tezuka saw how much it affected them. In comparison to Sanada, whose family were old money, but worked just as hard as Tezuka, it was unfair. There were very few families that wouldn’t treat Sanada with the respect he demanded, yet there were slight sneers of derision and outright challenges everywhere that he went.
The system meant that no matter how hard you worked, you could never fully be respected at the top. It disappointed Tezuka, and it was the reason for so much discontent in the kingdom. It wasn’t that Yamato was a bad King, since he treated all of his soldiers and people equally, no matter whether they were new or old, but his nobles were another story altogether.
Tezuka was pulled out of his thoughts by a short figure in a large, black hood take a booth close to the entrance. He didn’t ask for anything to drink or eat, a sign that he was open for business. Tezuka decided to move fast, before half the tavern decided they wanted to make business with the famous mercenary. He signaled a waitress and asked them to bring some non-alcoholic cider for the table there.
The waitress looked a little confused, but did as she was asked. When the short figure bent over to the waitress to ask who it was who’d sent the drinks, she pointed in Tezuka’s direction. Tezuka gave it a few minutes, before he got up and joined his contact at the booth. From under the cape, a pair of golden cat-eyes glared back at him.
“Sir Tezuka.” said the voice of the child, Echizen.
“I told you to not call me that.” said Tezuka, dully. He was in a disguise and they were in a shady bar, what part of that indicated it was a good idea for Echizen to call him by his title? “How have you been, Echizen?”
“Well as you can be.” said Echizen, nonchalantly. “You look tired.”
Tezuka didn’t answer, though it was true; a knight’s life wasn’t easy. Echizen stared at him for a bit longer, before taking a sip of his drink and scowling. “Che, you’re a cheapskate. No alcohol?”
“You’re a child.” said Tezuka, dryly. Echizen Nanjirou may have encouraged deviancy, but Tezuka didn’t think it was right. He was young enough to be Echizen Nanjirou’s son, yet, he still knew better than to use his family as gambling pieces, to win him extra points.
Echizen nodded pensively, as he took another sip of the drink, with a slight scowl. “So. You must want something. You don’t do social trips. You calling in your favour, now or something?”
“Not really. I have a job for you. I’m looking for something.” said Tezuka, as he pulled out his coin purse and slid out two gold coins to Echizen. “Flower sellers who sell black calla lilies.”
Echizen’s eyes widened, before, he glanced down at the table. He shook his head and slid the coins back to Tezuka. “I can’t take that job.” he said, almost instantly. “You’re following the Lily Thieves.”
Tezuka frowned. He’d consulted Echizen three times after he and Sanada had rescued the young boy and his elder cousin from slavers, and every time, Echizen had taken just one day to track down anything he needed, without hesitating. Echizen was one of the best mercenaries, despite his age. If Echizen was turning this down....
“They are powerful, then? The thieves?” asked Tezuka.
Echizen bit his lip and worried it. “You could say that.” he said, and his voice sounded like a child for a moment, instead of the cocky adult that he pretended to be, most of the time.
“Then they are scary.” said Tezuka, finally. “They aren’t powerful, because there aren’t many of them, correct?”
Echizen was quiet as he took another sip from his drink, shifting in his chair, slightly. Tezuka sighed a little. Patience. “If I call in my favour and pay you...” He slid across three gold coins and two silver coins.
Echizen stared down at the money, his catlike eyes concentrated on the gleam of the money, before nodding and sweeping the money away. “Yeah. There aren’t many of them, at all.”
“Then the people who sell calla lilies...” said Tezuka, hesitantly.
The young boy blinked, lazily. “I can only give you a list of flower sellers here. I don’t know who sells what.” He pulled out his pen and started writing on the napkin that came with his drink. Tezuka glared at Echizen. Echizen definitely had the resources to find out who sold black calla lilies. Tezuka had given him a lot of money and he’d called in his favour, which the knight had been saving for when he was desperate. Those two combined meant that Tezuka required more than this.
Echizen finished writing the list and handed Tezuka the napkin, before summoning the waitress. “Hey, can I get three sweetmeats?” The waitress nodded and Tezuka tossed Echizen a quizzical look. Echizen hated sweetmeats, with a passion, because of his dislike of fruit. So...
He glanced down at the list. Third on the list was a place called 201 Nursery. Was that where the thieves were getting the lilies from? Echizen just smiled, cryptically at Tezuka’s glance. “You can have the sweetmeats.” he said, as he adjusted his cape to cover his face entirely. “Because I’m nice like that.”
Tezuka just snorted, softly. “Thank you.” he said, stiffly.
Echizen just clinked the money together, under the table, with a slightly incredulous expression. “I’m not altruistic. You don’t need to pretend like I am. Don’t die or I’ll be sad.”
Tezuka just shook his head as he stood up. “I’m not planning on dying, Echizen.” He pocketed the napkin and the sweetmeats as they were delivered and left the tavern, thinking about a direction in which to go.
(X)
The first thing that Tezuka noticed about the flower nursery, at the edge of the city, was how idyllic it was. The flowers were everywhere, with sweet-smelling fragrances wafting through the air. Around them were green bushes and grasses and near the back, seemed to be fruits vegetables, and for some reason, cacti. It was easy to spot the black calla lilies amongst the colours. Almost no other plant was that shade of colour. Next to them were white roses and some sort of yellow plant.
Near the front of the whole nursery was a small house-like structure that spoke about orders and sales.
But Tezuka wasn’t interested in that. He looked around for an employee, and spotted a blond man, crouched down by a tall, thin, reedlike plant. “Hello.” he said, as he walked up to the man.
The blond man look up from his task and smiled apologetically at Tezuka. He wiped the sweat off his brow with his forearm, removed his gardening gloves and stood up. “I’m sorry, I didn’t notice you come in! You’re a lot quieter than our usual customers. My name’s Shiraishi, I’m on duty at the moment. How can I help you?” He held out his hand to shake and Tezuka took it.
Tezuka nodded stiffly. “It’s fine. I was here looking to buy some flowers for my mother.” White roses were customary for solemn, non-romantic occasions, weren’t they? “I heard that the roses here were good?”
Shiraishi’s face brightened as he started walking Tezuka over to the area that the black calla lilies were in. “Our roses are some of the best.” he extolled, with a huge smile. “If you’re looking for your mother, white roses are some of the better options. How many do you want?”
Tezuka looked at the roses almost ponderingly. “They’re beautiful. But only two or three. Not too many.” he said, finally, thinking both of his mother’s love of simplicity and his coin purse.
“Not as beautiful as you.” was a small mutter from Shiraishi, and as Tezuka turned towards him, Shiraishi just smiled warmly, and innocently. “Three roses it is.”
Tezuka’s gaze slipped to the calla lilies naturally. “These are unusual...I didn’t know that you could get black flowers that aren’t dying.” he said, as he looked at them.
Shiraishi laughed, as he bent down to cut the fattest roses from the plants. “Ahh, yes. That’s because the lilies aren’t exactly black. They’re actually purple, but the purple hue is so deep, that it looks like it’s black. It’s quite misleading actually, but people like it.”
“Is it popular? You sell many of them?” asked Tezuka, almost casually. Out of the corner of his eyes, Shiraishi’s smile momentarily fell, to an expression of slight fear, before his sunny smile replaced it again. Threatened by the thieves to keep quiet? It seemed that way.
“You’d think so!” laughed Shiraishi, as he cut the last rose. “But we don’t sell that many since they don’t last so long. Only one or two nights. They’re more of a private pleasure. Myself and my coworkers like them.”
Tezuka paused, before softly smiling. “Perhaps I shall boost their popularity. May I have one purple lily?”
Shiraishi’s smile was more cautious than it had been, more clouded with judgement. “Of course you may!” he said, but that joy to greet Tezuka had vanished. Interesting. If he prodded any longer, Tezuka was sure that he wouldn’t get an answer, so Tezuka just nodded as the four flowers were bundled together and tied neatly with a ribbon. “That’ll be two silver coins and three bronze.” said Shiraishi, as Tezuka opened his coin purse. He had been right to buy less flowers, they were quite expensive.
“Thank you for your time.” said Tezuka, as he left the garden. No doubt, Echizen had been right about this nursery. The thieves got their flowers from this place. That would be one interesting fact to tell Sanada and a lead in itself. The flowers at the scenes were fresh, which meant that the thieves had to reach the Farm every day. If they staked it out for one day....
Still, it was something less concrete and tedious work. He hoped that Sanada had been able to find something better.
(X)
Sanada was already in the Dragon Inn when Tezuka reached there, a stony expression on his face as he glared down at his beer. Had...Sanada started drinking already? That wasn’t like his dorm-mate.
“You found...?” asked Tezuka, as he slipped off the hood from his face.
“Nothing.” said Sanada grimly. “Nothing concrete. I asked Inui what could link the houses, he couldn’t find anything that made any sense. They are all very close together inside the city, but this city is small, so that is already guaranteed. They are all rich and proud of it. They all have jewels. That describes every noble here. We live in the Capital City, everyone’s proud to be around the King.”
Tezuka bit his tongue as Sanada talked, but as he wound down, Tezuka’s mouth twitched up, almost imperceptibly. “That is not the only reason you have already started drinking before sundown. How frustrating was Atobe?”
“Very.” said Sanada, gritting his teeth. “He kept distracting the nobles away from the questions I was asking and...insinuating things.”
Tezuka was very tempted to ask what exactly Atobe was insinuating, but Sanada looked like he was going to kill something, so he refrained. “I made a little more progress than you did. I found the place where the thieves purchase the lilies. They also have to purchase the lilies, daily. However, the thieves have thoroughly intimidated the owners of the nursery. I’d have to build a rapport with the worker there to gain any progress about who they are.”
“So, we made no progress today.” said Sanada, with an irritated glance. “Wonderful.”
Tezuka nodded. “Peace. It was unrealistic to expect substantial progress immediately.”
Sanada gritted his teeth, before his eyes cleared a little. “I do know something new. All of the servants were asleep when it happened. The last servant sleeps at midnight on nights without parties and at three in the morning on days with parties. Since there were no occasions this week, the thieves have to come between midnight and four in the morning, the first wake-up call for servants.”
“So we have a timeframe...which helps. It also means that we can try and narrow in on a house now, and choose to shadow it tonight.” pondered Tezuka, as two plates arrived for himself and Sanada. Sanada had evidently ordered for him and accurately guessed what Tezuka liked. They both politely thanked the waiter, before turning back to the conversation.
“Let’s not shadow the house tonight.” said Sanada, as he surprisingly sliced his food with neatness. Perhaps not as drunk as Tezuka had thought. Now that Tezuka noticed, Sanada was pretty observant. While Sanada ate pretty much the same thing every night, Tezuka often switched up. Had he really been looking so closely at Tezuka’s food? “We’re not prepared to be alert at that time, we may miss something because we are tired. Tomorrow, we should finish whatever duties we have, explore the areas around the houses during daylight, and then sleep early, just before sundown. And then we will be ready to be awake at the early hours.”
Tezuka nodded his agreement as they ate in silence for a while, before something occurred to him. He pulled the flowers out of his bag. “Here.” he said, as he pushed them over. “The lily. Is it the same lily?”
Sanada shook his head with a glance that was both filled with confusion and guilt. “I have no idea.” he said, seriously. “It’s the same type of flower, that’s a calla lily and it’s black. But I didn’t get to see any of the lilies left behind. I don’t know if they’re the same.”
“Then if we let tonight’s robbery happen, we may be able to compare these flowers.” said Tezuka, running a fingers on the roses, before stowing them away into his pocket.
“It sits uneasily with me, Tezuka.” said Sanada, with a frown. “Who knows who it will hit?”
“...someone who deserves it.” said Tezuka, quietly, so no one else but Sanada would hear. “Someone who will not truly miss it, except for a chance to show off their gems.”
Sanada frowned at him as he placed down his cutlery on his plate, and Tezuka knew from the slightly guilty look in his eyes, that it had been what both of them were thinking. “Either way.” said Sanada, coughing a little, “It’s a crime. Against nobles, at that. And we have to stop it.”
Tezuka nodded, as he finished his plate. “That wasn’t debatable.” he said. They just didn’t need to be hasty in their actions. “Let’s not be careless, that is all.” It wouldn’t do to arrest the wrong person because they had hurried.
Sanada nodded in confirmation as he smoothed down his clothes, Tezuka noted that he had changed back to the typical knight’s tabard, looking less like a noble. It suited him better than the pomp and circumstance. They were both knights at heart.
“You’re quiet.” said Sanada, and Tezuka’s eyes flickered upwards from where he had been staring. That was fairly typical for Tezuka, so Tezuka wasn’t sure what Sanada was really talking about, before he remembered that his subtle hints in body language were usually what tipped off Sanada.
“I met Echizen today.” said Tezuka, quietly. “Is he not technically a crime?”
Sanada flinched. They had both rescued Echizen and his elder cousin from slavers, with a little illegality. Technically, slavers were completely legal in the land from which they had rescued him from, but since he was a citizen of Yamato’s kingdom, they had been able to rescue him and free him, albeit into the underworld. They both knew he existed, but his information network was unparalleled.
“No farm will let him work, because he is tainted by slavery. No guild will accept him because he is too young. What else is he supposed to do for money? And he does not hurt people, nor threaten them. He trades, like guilds.” justified Sanada, with a frown. “These people are stealing, Tezuka. They are harming people. There’s a difference.”
“And who are we to say that Echizen is right and the thieves are wrong?” asked Tezuka.
“Who is the king to say such things?” demanded Sanada, in return. “He’s as human as any of us! It’s...it’s about doing what’s right. Doing the thing that will help the most people. As we’ve always done.” Sanada sighed and ran a hand through his hair, his face tired. “We’re getting too old for this.”
“We’re not even thirty.” said Tezuka, with a slightly wry look. “I thought you were stronger than that, Sanada.”
“Politics is a young man’s dream and an old man’s realm. For those who are stuck in the middle, it is just a disaster.” quoted Sanada, before letting a tiny smile touch his face.
Tezuka just shook his head as he placed his share of the money on the table and stood up. “Come, let us finish our duties now, so we shall sleep some tonight.”
Sanada nodded as he adjusted his cloaks around him. Tezuka swept out towards the door, brushing past a man with abnormally long, brown hair, as he waited for Sanada in the doorway. The moon was almost full. It would be a good lighting for the nights of investigation to come. Sanada reached the door, with a pensive look, almost as if he wanted to say something, but as a small girl passed through them on her way out, his lips tightened together and he strode out, back towards the castle.
Feeling underwhelmed, Tezuka followed him, looking back at the girl who’d interrupted them with a slight frown.
(X)
The next day, Tezuka found himself frowning at Atobe over breakfast. “The house next to your parents’?” he asked.
“Yes.” said Atobe, uncharacteristically sober. “They’re very worried about their property now. But something’s strange. The flower changed.”
Tezuka frowned. “What?”
“A white rose, would you believe it?” asked Atobe, with a slight laugh. “They’re changing their image, perhaps.”
“White is also associated with death.” interjected Sanada, as he took a seat next to Tezuka. “They’re not changing their image, they’re trying to throw us off their tail.”
“Perhaps it is an imposter.” said Atobe, with a light smirk. “A copy-cat using the methods of the thieves.”
“No.” said Tezuka. “They are the original thieves.” His thoughts flickered back to the farm. He’d bought both white roses and a black orchid. “And they aren’t throwing anyone off the trail. They are being arrogant and giving us clues, because they feel that we cannot find them, even with clues.”
Sanada and Atobe both turned to look at him, as Tezuka rummaged through his pack, with a slowly increasing frown on his face as he came up. The flowers were missing... “Sanada, I didn’t give you the flowers, did I?”
Sanada shook his head. “You took them yourself...are you saying you don’t have them anymore?”
Tezuka’s face tightened. The flowers were gone, most likely pickpocketed the night before. But why, flowers weren’t the usual target of thieves. So...the flowers had been taken on purpose by someone relating to the case. Because, if they were gone, it meant that Tezuka had no point of reference to compare the flowers left at the scenes and the flowers at the nursery. To gain the point of reference, Tezuka would have to return to the nursery, but he couldn’t help but think how it seemed that was exactly what the thieves wanted.
Did he risk it being a trap...? Or did he stay back?
“Atobe, do your parents laud their jewels to their dinner guests?” asked Tezuka, having never attended one of Atobe’s lavish dinners, despite several invitations.
“Who doesn’t?” asked Atobe, with a slight shrug. “My parents are as of guilty of that as anybody.”
“Then they’re most likely the next on the list.” said Tezuka as he straightened, pushing away his untouched plate. “Take over my duties for me today, I have an idea of how to catch them.” He stood up and started to walk away, and Sanada followed him.
Atobe had a look of slight frustration on his face as Tezuka left, but Tezuka knew that Atobe would take over Tezuka’s duties gracefully, because of the threat to his parents. Sanada bit into his apple as they strode down the hallways, a slight smirk on his face as he munched. No doubt enjoying Atobe’s irritation. “The plan?” he asked, as soon as they were far enough from the hall.
“Since they’ve removed the flower, to compare and gain solid evidence, we’d need to return to the nursery. However, that’s exactly what they want. Nevertheless, I’m going to do it anyway. You just have to stay out of sight and watch and make sure to pull me out of trouble if there is something I cannot handle.” said Tezuka, seriously.
Sanada’s face became very serious. “You’re going to walk into a trap? Knowing it’s a trap?”
“Better than not knowing it is a trap.” said Tezuka, as he adjusted the sword on his waist. With a sigh, Sanada nodded his assent.
(X)
The nursery was just as sweet-smelling as the it had been yesterday, but Tezuka felt more on edge now. Were the thieves surveying the nursery, or were the employees of the Nursery the thieves? It was a tricky question, and Tezuka could only hope it was the former, thinking about the blond man from yesterday.
As he stepped closer to the front desk, a man with wavy blue hair stepped away from the seedlings he was planting and walked up to Tezuka. “Hello, welcome to 201 Nursery. My name is Yukimura, how can I help you today?” he said, with a warm smile, which felt more fake than anything that Tezuka had seen from Shiraishi the day before.
“I wished to purchase some more white roses for my mother...she admired the ones from yesterday.” he said, pretending as if they hadn’t been taken by somebody.
Yukimura smiled, warmly, not even acknowledging the lie. Perhaps the workers of the nursery were not involved; he hadn’t even blinked. “Of course, right this way. How many would you like, sir?” he asked, as he brushed back his hair and navigated Tezuka past the multitudes of flowers.
“Perhaps four.” said Tezuka, mentally apologizing to his coin purse.
Yukimura nodded as he stretched up to cut the flowers, but Tezuka wondered. His smile hadn’t been real at all. Did he know who Tezuka was? “Yukimura?” he asked, quietly. “Do you know where Shiraishi, the worker from yesterday is?”
Yukimura’s eyes flickered to Tezuka’s, with a slightly coy smirk on his face. “I’m afraid I don’t know where Kura is. It’s his day off but he’ll probably be somewhere in the City. Shall I leave a message for you?” His eyes widened as he pulled the last of the four flowers down and walked back to the desk.
“No, that won’t be necessary.” said Tezuka, watching Yukimura’s movements for anything that would mean that Tezuka was in trouble. Nothing was to be seen, as Yukimura wrapped the flowers neatly and jotted down something on the orders sheet. Tezuka frowned, perhaps it hadn’t been necessary to ask Sanada to accompany him. “Thank you for your trouble.”
Yukimura just smiled back up at him, as he handed Tezuka the flowers. “That’s three silver coins and one bronze.” Tezuka handed over the money and Yukimura waved cheerily at Tezuka as he left.
Tezuka kept walked until he reached the bend in the road where Sanada was waiting. “Nothing suspicious.” he said, with an almost confused look towards Sanada.
Sanada scowled. “Let’s go compare the flowers, come on. Inui has it, for safe-keeping.”
Tezuka nodded, his gaze flickering back to the nursery, momentarily. Had nobody acted because they’d known that Sanada was there? Or was he thinking too hard? Whatever it was, he hadn’t liked the smile on Yukimura’s face, and Tezuka trusted his instincts. Even if Yukimura hadn’t reacted to his lie, the workers at the nursery knew something.
(X)
Tezuka disliked being dismissed by anyone other than the King. He especially disliked being dismissed by someone who was supposedly too busy for them. It was disappointing that Inui was otherwise unavailable because he had blown himself up, but that had been no need for Oishi to kick them out of the Infirmary.
Then again, Tezuka glanced towards Sanada, who looked like he was about to explode with rage, and mused that perhaps Oishi had been justified in throwing them both out. “Sanada, calm yourself. It’s bad luck, that’s all.” he advised, sternly.
“He blew himself and the evidence up!” exploded Sanada, looking positively enraged.
“You think I’m not angry as well?” asked Tezuka, with a slight twitch of his eyebrows. “However, we can only make Inui clean the stables once he’s recovered. And scaring servant girls to tears is not going to bring the evidence back.” He said, as he watched another girl drop her towels and run away bawling.
Sanada didn’t look much too comforted by that fact and Tezuka twitched again, as yet another girl accidentally met Sanada’s eyes and ran away in tears. He gripped Sanada’s wrist and pulled him away from the castle, striding through the corridors in silence. The people in the streets of the City were far less likely to be frightened by Sanada’s glares.
Tezuka dropped his hand, with a little reluctance. “You shouldn’t let things faze you so easily.” said Tezuka, evenly, as they took a more even walking pace through the town. “You’ll let your guard down amongst your anger.”
Sanada just shook his head. “And now you sound like my grandfather.” he said, with a slightly amused look on his face.
“Is it such a bad thing?” asked Tezuka, with a slight smile. He liked Sanada’s family and Sanada’s grandfather especially. For of all of their riches, they were not braggarts and they treated everyone the same, regardless of class systems.
“It would mean that sparring would be more like not trying to break you, if you were my grandfather.” retorted Sanada. “I prefer it this way.”
Tezuka did as well. He enjoyed their spars, it kept him on his toes and helped improve his skills. Sometimes Sanada even won, and those were always days that Tezuka felt more determination than ever. “Not if I was your grandfather, if I was to sound like him. He is wise.” clarified Tezuka, evenly.
Sanada rolled his eyes and crossed his arms across his chest. “I’ve been trying to keep my guard up and keep my temper down. It’s just...we were so close to verifying that the nursery was the one supplying those flowers.”
Tezuka nodded; he understood Sanada’s frustration, but he just didn’t think it prudent to show it to the whole world. He paused a little as they walked past Atobe’s house. And over there, wasn’t that Oshitari’s house?
He paused and frowned as he glanced around them. It was a mostly housing district, where the rich came to be close to the King during the summer, and later retreated to their country estates, with sprawling acres of fertile land during the winter. These houses here were opulent, but cramped, as most of the City was. But it was the King’s city and that made people proud to be there. But this wasn’t a solely housing district. Nearby shops, small, unmarked places that weren’t houses...places where the thieves could hide or even be targeting.
“Sanada, did you and Inui ever place all of the houses on a map and see how it looked?” asked Tezuka, addressing Sanada’s quizzical look.
Sanada shook his head. “They’re too close together and randomly selected.”
“Perhaps not.” Tezuka suggested. “The library is not far from here, is it?”
(X)
“It’s a circle around that small shopping district.” said Sanada, as he looked over Tezuka’s shoulder, where Tezuka was making marks on the copy of the city’s map. “How did we not notice that?”
“There is an unmarked building in the direct centre.” said Tezuka, as he used his pencil to measure the circle. It wasn’t completely perfect, but he felt that an unknown building was more likely to be the target than a grocery store and a blacksmith.
Sanada straightened up. “Let’s go and see what it is.”
Tezuka rolled up the map, placed it into his bag, before falling into step with Sanada. “That was a large clue to miss.”
“It was too obvious.”
“You shouldn’t overestimate our opponents. Their arrogance will be their downfall.”
Sanada scowled angrily, before schooling himself and assuming the quiet frown that Tezuka was more used to. “My mistake.” he said, stiffly.
Tezuka just nodded. “Don’t get careless, Sanada.”
They arrived at the unmarked building from the map and Tezuka frowned. What was inside? Was it something regarding their mission? Sanada, on the other hand, just rapidly paled at the sight of the unadorned and non-conspicuous building. “Tezuka, it’s a brothel.” he hissed, looking mortified.
Tezuka had several questions. Such as, how did Sanada know that, was there something he was missing and if there wasn’t, did Sanada frequent brothels often? Which couldn’t be, since they roomed together and Sanada was always around, except for the nights he visited family. Instead, he settled for, “Does that have any importance to our case?”
Sanada flushed. “I don’t know! Maybe?” he hissed, looking very uncomfortable to be there. Not a frequent visitor then.
Tezuka had to hide the slight smirk. “Since you seem so knowledgeable and comfortable about this, perhaps you should go and ask some questions of the proprietors.”
Sanada’s face was now entirely red and he glared at Tezuka, with a heat that could instantly vapourize ice. “Fuck you.”
Tezuka just adjusted his glasses, unable to stop the slight twitch to his mouth. “It’s broad daylight, Sanada.” he said, as he walked up to the door and pushed it open, letting Sanada follow, whose face looked more like a ripe tomato at Tezuka’s words. That wasn’t to say that Tezuka wasn’t uncomfortable about doing this, but he had always been better at hiding his emotions and this was a necessary evil.
“I didn’t mean-” Sanada protested as they walked into the slight stuffy waiting room, that was covered in hanging silk clothes and cushions.
“You don’t have to worry about your reputation because it’s broad daylight.” clarified Tezuka, feeling a slight heat in his ears, as he realized what it had sounded like.
“Ah.”
There was a slight rustle that distracted from their awkward conversation, as a pretty girl drifted towards them, looking coy in practically nothing. “Can I do both of you?” she asked, suggestively rolling her body.
Tezuka tried to not look at her. “We’re here to see the owner.” he said, cautiously. He had thought that the majority of the girls would be sleeping already, since they were supposedly the night birds.
“Oh, but he’s not fun at all! Wouldn’t you prefer me? I’m much prettier than he is! I mean, even if you aren’t into girls, I’ll make it worth your while.” she said, with a lecherous wink.
Was this typical behaviour for a prostitute? Tezuka didn’t think they were supposed to be so forceful, were they? He glanced up at her eyes and they seemed almost desperate or panicked. She didn’t want Sanada and Tezuka reaching the manager? Or was it something else?
“Sorry, we’re not interested.” said Sanada, with gritted teeth. “We want to speak with your boss.”
“You know what they say, talk is cheap.” she said, with a dainty giggle, that sounded uncomfortable. Tezuka frowned again. She didn’t seem confident at all. And that desperation in her eyes had increased.
With a subtle hand gesture, Tezuka pointed towards the area past the curtains to gesture that Sanada reach it. Sanada tossed him a look that asked ‘what about you?’ Tezuka gestured towards the woman and the flowers in his bag. Sanada looked skeptical, but pushed past the curtains to go towards the manager’s room anyway.
She looked a little disappointed, but turned towards Tezuka with a slightly fervent look in her eyes. She hadn’t made a single move to stop Sanada from leaving, so she wasn’t afraid of covering up something...which meant something else. He sighed and pulled out his coin purse. He swore, one day, Sanada was going to be the one paying people for information.
“What’s your name?” he asked, evenly. Her eyes had immediately fixated on the money bag. She wanted money. Well, that made more sense, didn’t it?
“Kotoha.” she said, with a happy smile. “How would you like me?”
“I’m not having sex with you.” said Tezuka, firmly. “I want some information and I want you to answer me completely honestly.”
She looked a little startled and put out of her rhythm. “Pardon?” she asked, almost in disbelief.
“Information.” said Tezuka, a little more kindly. “Do you know anything about the Lily Thieves?”
“What?” she asked, looking completely clueless and just a little disappointed. “No...I haven’t heard about it...”
“Have you seen any of your customers with these flowers?” asked Tezuka, as he pulled out the white roses. He could have done with the black lillies right then, but circumstances definitely didn’t approve of him owning them. Or rather, the thieves didn’t approve.
“No...” she said, her voice more quiet as she crossed her arms across her chest. “I haven’t seen anything. I...can I do anything else? I do a really good handjob.”
The disappointment in her voice was almost too much to bear. How poverty reduced people to almost inhumane states. Tezuka shook his head and held out a gold coin and a silver coin to her. “No, I don’t think so. But, thank you for your time.” he said, quietly and politely. “Have a good day.”
Her face brightened as she took the money and smiled softly at Tezuka as she took the money. “Thank you sir! If I see anything around here like that, I’ll be sure to tell you, sir!” she said, as she fled back through the veiled curtains towards the side.
Tezuka looked around, through the curtains ahead of him. He couldn’t see Sanada there, which meant that Sanada had probably already reached the manager. There was no point in getting lost in looking for Sanada. He’d wait here. He turned around to take a seat on one of the divans that scattered the waiting room, when his eyes fell upon someone who definitely hadn’t been there five minutes ago.
“Shiraishi.” he said, with a surprised look.
“That was kind of you.” said Shiraishi, with a slightly wistful smile. “There are few people who would have done that, when she didn’t even give you any information.”
Tezuka was quiet in response, as he quickly studied Shiraishi’s clothing and body posture. Dressed nothing like the other woman, so he wasn’t a member of the brothel. He was visiting the brothel at this time of day? But no, he lacked the sated look that most men in the castle gained after sex and he did not look ruffled at all. He was a visitor but not for the services. How odd.
“You are in here at the wrong hours.” said Tezuka, finally, since it seemed that Shiraishi was content to just look at Tezuka, almost appraisingly.
“So are you. Isn’t that a coincidence?” said Shiraishi, his eyes glinting with amusement.
“Perhaps. But you clearly saw that I was conducting an investigation, while you have no clearly defined reason to be here.”
Shiraishi’s smile sharpened and his gaze turned from appraising to assessing, with a little more caution. Tezuka felt like he was being judged and he unconsciously shifted to stand a tad taller. “There aren’t many people who would have done that.” said Shiraishi again, as if he was convincing himself.
Tezuka just waited for Shiraishi to finish thinking. Shiraishi, as an employee of the 201 Nursery was visiting this brothel in his spare time for no actual reason. A brothel in the centre of all of the houses robbed and a man who probably sold the flowers to the thieves--and had told the thieves that Tezuka had bought white roses while investigating. There was next-to-no doubt that Shiraishi had something useful for Tezuka’s investigation, and if he was willing to give it up....
Shiraishi got up from the chair, with a languid stretch. “I guess good deeds should be rewarded. Or else no one will pursue justice.” he said, with a slightly wry smile. He grabbed Tezuka’s hand and pulled out a stick of charcoal. He neatly wrote the name of a tavern that was slightly further away from the castle than Tezuka liked, and wrote a time of day, later at night than Tezuka would have liked. It would mean that he and Sanada would be cutting corners to stake out the nobles houses that night.
Shiraishi glanced up to see that Tezuka had seen the messages, before he kissed Tezuka’s hand and pulled his lips along the words, until they were no longer visible as anything but a black smudge. He just shot Tezuka a significant look as he walked away from the brothel licking away the black along his lips, sensually.
Tezuka just pursed his lips and sighed. Apparently, Shiraishi didn’t know the meaning of subtlety, but if that was supposed to put him off wanting to collect on the information, Shiraishi would be mistaken. Admittedly, he wasn’t happy about what he might have to do. Sex wasn’t something to be taken or given lightly. It was supposed to be done for love; that was what his mother and father had always said.
But sex wasn’t much but power, nowadays. And it wouldn’t be unpleasant with the other man, in any case. He’d just hoped that...
There were footsteps from behind him and Tezuka turned over his shoulder to see Sanada, with a triumphant smirk on his face. “You found....?”
“Let’s get out of here.” said Sanada, firmly, as he grabbed Tezuka’s upper arm and pulled him out of the brothel, in seven firm steps. Once they were out on the streets again, Sanada seemed a little more relaxed.
“Well?” asked Tezuka, as they started walking back towards the castle, at a slightly more relaxed pace that the one they had taken to get to town.
“The manager knew nothing about the thieves. Which was expected, why would he care?” Sanada said, curtly. “But, when I mentioned all of the houses that were robbed, he recognized the names. Every household has at least one member who is a regular at the brothel.”
Tezuka’s eyebrows rose a little. Well then. That was convenient. “Is that so?”
Sanada’s face looked contemptuous. “I asked whether there was one particular member that they all visited, but he said that they used several girls, so I just got a list of all of the girls. But their names aren’t real.”
How inconvenient. Tezuka held his hand out for the list and frowned. “Is that...blood?” he asked, noticing a few drops of faded brown on the edge of the paper.
“He needed some persuading of the non-monetary kind.” Sanada said, sternly and Tezuka decided it was probably not wiser to ask. Instead, he just leveled a firm glare of disapproval at Sanada’s methods, and glanced down at the paper. The names were generic fake names, few sounding like something they would actually be called.
But more than anything, three names stood out. “These three.” said Tezuka, tapping them with his finger, noticing how the black smudge hadn’t faded away just yet. It made him feel almost guilty. Did he mention Shiraishi to Sanada? He probably had to, since Tezuka wasn’t ever late to things and would almost certainly be late to their watch on the houses tonight.
“What about them?” asked Sanada, before he reread their names and nodded. “Flowers.” Rose, Jasmine, Sakura.
“There’s got to be a link between them.” Tezuka said, with a nod.
“It could be a decoy.” Sanada pointed out as he crossed his arms across his chest. “It’s too obvious. They’re clever.”
“They’re arrogant.” Tezuka retorted, again. He wondered how often he’d have to point this out. “They’re so confident that they cannot be caught. They sent me the clearest message by using white roses instead the black lily. They said ‘we know you’re investigating, but we don’t care.’ That’s arrogance.”
Sanada’s jaw tightened. “But they stole the flowers. They didn’t let us keep a comparison of the flowers, and I am starting to think that Inui’s explosion wasn’t a coincidence.”
It was a good point and one that Tezuka wasn’t sure how to combat logically. He just had an instinct that told him he was right about this. Instincts had kept him alive in the past, when fighting armies of men or being ambushed. He didn’t want to easily ignore it. “The flowers are probably the key to discovering their identity, which is why they were stolen. Or perhaps it was even to make this more interesting for them. Nevertheless, I am fairly certain that these three girls are the focus.”
Sanada nodded. “I’ll trust you.” he said, as they passed the guards at the gate of the castle. “Then, one of us has to go back to the brothel and ask about the girls. And the other has to keep watch over the houses.”
Wasn’t this his chance? He could get the information from Shiraishi and the girls at the same time and Sanada wouldn’t be suspicious. He could be gone the whole night, if he needed to be and have a proper explanation. Still, Tezuka didn’t like lying. He didn’t want to lie.
“I have another source as well.” said Tezuka. “I saw Shiraishi inside the of the brothel. The woman didn’t have any useful information, but he offered an exchange for information.” He didn’t mention what the exchange entailed.
“You suspect him, don’t you?” asked Sanada, with a little surprise tinged in his eyes. “Why would you accept his information?”
“With a grain of salt obviously.” Tezuka dismissed, as they wandered past the training grounds and through the armoury. “He offered the exchange, so obviously there will probably be something wrong with it. But he might give me other hints in the process of meeting with him.”
Sanada was quieter for a longer time than Tezuka had expected and he turned to glance at Sanada’s face. It was more closed-off than Tezuka had seen for some time. “Sanada?” he asked.
“I should come with you. What if something happens?” Sanada asked, pensively.
“Nothing happened at the nursery despite it being set up like a trap. They knew you were there.” Tezuka said, pursing his lips together momentarily. “Have faith, Sanada. I can fight my way out if I need to. Need I remind you who it is who had won the majority of our matches?”
“Majority. By two matches. Such a majority.” mocked Sanada, but his face still looked concerned. “Just...take care?”
“Always.” said Tezuka, letting a smile touch his face. Sanada returned it, before they parted ways, to finish their duties within the castle.
(X)
As Tezuka looked around the streets for the appropriate street-sign, he mused that he had been spending far too much time in taverns over the past few days. He hoped that it wasn’t a trend set to continue. He disliked the atmosphere, especially when they felt as shady as the one that Shiraishi had chosen.
Had Echizen been comfortable in coming close to the city, Tezuka was sure that this was where the younger boy would have set up camp. Luckily, unlike his meeting with Echizen, he had no reason to wait. Shiraishi was already there, chatting avidly with a pretty serving girl, who was laughing heartily.
Tezuka approached a little slower than his usual stride, allowing Shiraishi to notice him and dismiss the serving girl. Shiraishi smiled a little upon seeing Tezuka, and leant forward, as Tezuka took a seat at the table.
“You look stiff, you should relax a little.” said Shiraishi, with a slightly amused smile. Tezuka just glared and ignored him, as he took a seat at the table. “Have a drink or two, loosen up.”
“I don’t like to drink.” said Tezuka, with a frown.
“Hmm.” said Shiraishi, with a slight smile playing at his lips. “You’re quite disciplined, I’m impressed.” His face tightened and he looked more serious. “But, is our agreement consensual? Do you want to? Because forced anything, especially forced sex is wrong. Because that’s slavery.” He looked sorrowful and bitter and angry. Tezuka knew there was a story behind that and it made him angry that slavery was still allowed to be around in some countries at all.
“Do you wish to talk about it?” he asked, quietly. “I can do something about those people.”
Shiraishi looked up with a little surprise, before he smirked a little. “Too many clues inside that story. I don’t think so.”
Tezuka blinked, in surprise. Too many clues...why would someone who was pressurized by thieves say anything like that? “You’re confirming that you are the thief, then?”
Shiraishi laughed as he shook back his blond hair, cheerfully. “Take it as you will. Either way, you cannot arrest me without proof for there are no eyewitness accounts. And if you do, you will never be able to pronounce me guilty in the jury trial.”
Well, that was true, but it didn’t make Tezuka less irritated to be dangled clues in front of his face. “I consent.” he said, through his slightly gritted teeth. “But I’ll ask the questions before anything.”
“Indeed, we might get distracted.” Shiraishi said, with an amused smirk and Tezuka just stared him down. “But before anything, I want to confirm...you’re Tezuka Kunimitsu? The famous knight?”
That was right, he hadn’t actually told Shiraishi his name, as protection. But he was quite recognisable, even out of anything that looked like a typical knight. “That is correct.” Tezuka said with a nod. “How many of you are there?”
“Three people. I won’t say who.” said Shiraishi, cheerfully, as he leant back in his chair and stretched out his arms, showing a bandage loosely wrapped around his hand. Tezuka’s eyes flicked up to it and frowned a little, marking it away as a clue. “That’s the fun part to find out.”
“Why are you targeting nobles?” asked Tezuka.
“Why not?” was Shiraishi’s quick answer, as his lips quirked and he shrugged slightly. Tezuka was both frustrated and amused. It was a challenge to pull anything out of Shiraishi, there was no doubting that.
Still, Tezuka had confidence in himself. That had merely been the prepared answer, he wanted the real truth. “Is it because of the brothel and the three women? Rose, Jasmine and Sakura?” asked Tezuka prodding further.
“You’re barking up the wrong tree.” Shiraishi murmured, as he swilled the drink in his cup, not really touching it. “The most I can give you is that you should stop thinking about the brothel and start looking at the nobles with increased fervour.”
“It’s not just because they had sex with those women?” asked Tezuka, with a frown. Shiraishi just smiled blandly, and adjusted the sleeves of his cape. Tezuka frowned. He was asking the wrong questions. “Who will you be targeting next?” tried Tezuka instead, frustrated to be playing someone else’s game so perfectly. He was being entirely controlled by Shiraishi and it angered him.
Judging by Shiraishi's widened eyes, he hadn’t been expecting such a direct question. Good. Shiraishi softly laughed, but there was something bitter in there. “I can’t tell you yet, Tezuka. Give me three days. Then all of this will stop. You can even arrest me if you like. Not sure if the others will like it, but it’s probably for the best.”
They were planning on stopping? Which meant that there were a certain of number of people marked out as targets, and that he and Sanada only had a limited amount of them to catch the Lily Thieves. “Where would you suggest to look about the nobles?”
“Dig up their backhistory. Their dirty laundry. It’s not too difficult.” Shiraishi snorted slightly, his eyes amused. “Everyone has their secrets, but some are more harmful than others.”
Was Shiraishi implying that the nobles deserved their misfortune for reasons beyond being rich? Tezuka’s eyes narrowed. It was a lot of information, that Tezuka would need to think over later with Sanada and discover which parts were true and which were now. For now, he had a bargain to uphold. He nodded as he got up and Shiraishi languidly followed him up.
“I have a room already reserved.” said Shiraishi, as he walked towards the stairs. Tezuka remained silent, not really knowing what to say as he followed Shiraishi up the stairs.
He hadn’t done this before. He’d looked at his fellow trainees and sometimes at the pretty serving girls and ladies of the court, but he’d never visited a brothel or even engaged in a relationship with anyone. He’d been waiting for someone to open his mouth and spit it out. But it didn’t seem like it was forthcoming any time soon.
Still, he was fairly sure that Shiraishi already knew that he was inexperienced, as he opened their room and shut it behind him, softly, quite clearly not locking it.
Shiraishi smiled a little nervously. “You’re sure-”
Tezuka leant forward and interrupted with a firm kiss, as he tilted Shiraishi’s chin up, in order to make their kiss easier. It was a little stiff and uncertain, but it made his point. “I’m sure.” he said, as he leant back in for another kiss, where Shiraishi’s tongue pulled around his mouth, gently.
He liked Shiraishi, really. In another life, where he had known Shiraishi for longer or where he wasn’t chasing Shiraishi as a criminal, he mused that they would have been good friends, if not more. As it was, this was only really lust, but he supposed he could enjoy it a little. But it wouldn’t do to let his guard down, not now. Not with Shiraishi.
Part II