A Forbidden Rhapsody: Chapter 5: Allies and Guardians
This is specially for ryoma_nakamada and yelrihs_jefan who cannot stop bugging me to complete it. Thank you. I love. (:
Title: A Forbidden Rhapsody: Chapter 5
Chapter Title: Allies and Guardians
Author: theivorykeys
Fandom: Hey! Say! JUMP
Pairing: NakajimaYutoxOC
Genre: Romance, Fantasy, Suspense, Adventure
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: I own Yuto and nothing save for the plot and OC
Type: Multi-chapter
Notes: It's written in the third person POV but then, it is also told from the first person POV. Loads of mentions of NEWS, some KAT-TUN and Arashi. Please forgive the OOC-ness of Yabu and most of the others. Phew, there's so much to absorb here. I hope that you'll enjoy this chapter as much as you have enjoyed the others.
Summary: Elementals are all male. An strange incident on New Year's Day leads to the discovery of a strong-willed, hard-headed, orphaned and adopted female Elemental. Her Element is unique and the only one to have ever existed. Yet, the person she's destined to be with is the only person who cannot touch her. Nakajima Yuto is drawn instantly but he has no idea why. Sparks fly and one wonders if they have been destined by the stars.
[paragraph]
The winds rustled in the leaves. Cars drove by at leisurely speeds. There was nothing out of the ordinary with two teenagers walking down the street in the middle of the night. It was after all, a norm. Yet, if you looked closer at their body language and the expressions on their faces, you'd find that they were indeed out of the ordinary. A boy and a girl would have been holding hands if they were lovers or pressing their arms close together if they were merely friends, laughing and enjoying themselves. Yet, the two maintained a small distance between themselves, not very noticable to others and their expressions were sombre as if someone had died. In a way, something, not someone had died.
She looked up at him and when their eyes met, she quickly turned away. If you looked closely enough, you could see the blush that was slowly forming on her cheeks. And it was not due to the cold. They still did not touch each other but you could see the electricity sizzle between them. Or was that the Elemental bond that linked them across time?
She stopped on the street for a moment, her partner staring weirdly at her as she lifted her head as if sniffing the air. He muttered something to her and she nodded, sighing deeply. He nodded and raised a hand to squeeze her shoulder lightly but his hand shot back before he could touch her. Scowling slightly, she turned from him and walked on, her eyes focused directly in front, not looking anywhere else like a normal person out for a midnight stroll would.
He followed after her at a leisurely pace but his long stride made it easy for him to catch up with her. As soon as she felt his presence beside her, she slowed down visibly but she still didn't look anywhere else but in front. Some might think that she had such an affliction that caused her to only look straight. Some might say that she was purposely ignoring her partner. In some way, that was true.
The pair of them entered into a darker side of the town where red-light districts rose in abundance. Still, she continued to look directly ahead. He walked slowly beside her. Not once did they look at each other or speak but one could see that there was a kind of mutual understanding and method of communication between them. Call girls around them, loitering in the doorway of their businesses cooed out to him but he just gave them a polite smile and followed his partner who when he was not looking was scowling at the way that he greeted each and every call girl that called out to him.
She muttered something to him and he just grinned, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his jackets. Members of host clubs reached out and enveloped her in their drunken embraces, muttering sweet nothings to her but she just gave them a brief smile, eased out of their embraces and continued on walking. Her partner said something to her and she scowled. One could tell that whatever he had said was supposed to tease her.
Then, she stopped, her eyes scanning the area around them. They had left the red light districts and the host clubs behind and were now in a darker area where gangs loitered, threathening each and everyone that crossed their path. Suddenly, she darted into the alley beside which she had stopped and he darted after her, even quicker than a normal person would be able to. She was grinning slightly to herself though the grin was short lived.
Standing outside a rotten door, she felt around for the tiny little indentation that she had been so familiar with her whole life. Smiling slightly as she found it, she pressed it and a series of locks from the inside creaked and squealed as their rusted parts moved to unlock the door before them. Sure, she could knock down the door easily with all it's rotting wood but she didn't want to leave any evidence that they had been there. He raised his eyebrows but said nothing as the rotting door before him slid open almost noiselessly, his awe with the girl already growing to an unimaginable height.
She ushered him into the darkness that surrounded the small corridor that the door revealed and she was quick to follow behind him, not a word uttered between the both of them.
[paragraph]
Debris covered the floor around them, remnants of the blast. They picked gingerly at the rubble and glass, cleaning up as they went, their Elemental powers coming in use for something so mundane. The rest of the NEWS members were there, cleaning up and helping the injured. Silently, though they all knew of the danger that Yuto and the girl were in, they couldn't help but wish that he was there so they could heal faster. "Who were they if they weren't the same people as before?" Yamashita Tomohisa asked Yabu as he bandaged the younger boy's forearm, a large gash caused by flying pieces of glass.
Yabu winced slightly as Yamashita pulled the bandage tight over his wound. "We did not know that they had Elementals with them. Usually, we would have been able to identify Elementals but there wasn't the telltale sign," he muttered, absentmindedly running his hand over the bandage.
Koyama frowned slightly as he gently brushed his hands over Chinen's bleeding forehead. He could soothe pain but he could not heal, not like Yuto. He looked to Yamashita who gave him a very grave look. "Do you know what this means?" Koyama said, gravely as he gently lay the sleeping Chinen on a clean sheet that had to serve as a bed for the time being.
Yabu looked to Yamashita and then to Hikaru who had been standing nearby and listening as he washed away the plaster and dust that had fallen when the clash of two fire Elementals had caused an explosion. Their attackers had taken the confusion from the explosion as a cover to leave when they had realised that the two they had come for wasn't there. Yamashita nodded gravely. "They've got tainted blood. Our prophecy is becoming truer by the minute," he said.
Koyama sighed and then sat down on the floor. "I call a Round Table this moment," he said, solemnly. "Yamashita Tomohisa, Nishikido Ryo, Tegoshi Yuya, Masuda Takahisa, Koyama Keiichiro, Shigeaki Kato, Yabu Kota, Yaotome Hikaru, Daiki Arioka, Inoo Kei, Yamada Ryosuke, Okamoto Keito and Morimoto Ryutaro."
Yabu raised his eyebrows slightly. The other JUMP members hadn't been seriously injured except for Takaki who had suffered the worst of the explosion and the rebound of his Element. He had been burned a little but Elementals had extraordinary healing powers and he would heal quick enough but he was mentally exhausted. A Round Table was a grave matter, although the name sounded rather hilarious for something so serious.
No one called a Round Table unless there was something very, very dangerous happening that needed the full attention of the Elemental race and this was one of the ten Round Tables called so far in the past three decades. A Round Table could happen just about anywhere but you had to be summoned to a Round Table before you could join it and once your name had been called, you had to join it or...no one really knows what would happen if you didn't join a Round Table as no one had ever done that but some said that you could fall into a comatose state. Either way, those were the rules as had been practiced by the very first Elementals.
They gathered in a circle on the floor, not bothering about the debris and the dust that they sat on. Once everyone had settled, Koyama began. "I, Koyama Keiichiro, member of the Elemental divison NEWS and guardian to the Elemental division Hey! Say! JUMP have called a Round Table to bring to light the oldest of prophecies and the roles of the Elementals who have been destined to be a part of this prophecy, gathered in this room, whether conscious or not and two other Elementals by the names of Murakami Tomoyuki and Nakajima Yuto who are at the moment not present."
With the formalities over, Yamashita said, "As you all know, we have been taught the ancient prophecy since we discovered we were Elementals and taught to be prepared for whatever the prophecy might bring us. But there is more to it than the Elders are allowed to teach. The prophecy not only speaks of a bond between two Elementals."
Masuda Takahisa picked up from where Yamashita paused, his happy-go-lucky nature abandoned for the seriousness of the matter at hand. "It also speaks of a group of Elementals with tainted blood that would betray their own race. Their bond with nature would be severed but they would keep their Elements. Their Elements would be dirty and unpure, tainted with the evil that it had done."
Tegoshi Yuya continued, "Other Elementals would not be able to detect their presence as they no longer are considered Elementals despite their Elements. They would stop at nothing to eliminate all who stand in their way and they have a special preference for the race that they had betrayed."
The JUMP members absorbed the information, the things that they had been taught as children and known by heart taking a new twist.
[paragraph]
"So, this is where you stayed when you were abandoned, eh?" Yuto asked, brushing aside non-existant layer of dust that had collected on the surprisingly-in-good-condition stage before trying to make a comfortable bed out of the curtains and blankets that I had brought him.
I shrugged lightly, finding my old bed in the corner of the stage, a layer of dust having settled on it. I took an old, moth-eaten rag that lay on the floor and proceeded to beat the dust from my old bed. The rest of the place was clean however, much to my surprise but I didn't voice it out. As Yuto settled down a few feet away from my old bed, I couldn't help but wonder. I knew that my old pack had abandoned this place a few months after my departure but there was something bugging me. Something told me that that was not quite the truth. I wondered. I wondered if they hadn't actually left the place but only pretended to.
"You worried that there's something wrong with this place?"
I raised an eyebrow and glared at Yuto who was shaking out a pillow that he had found abandoned somewhere in one of the corners of the stage. He fluffed it a little and then sneezed as the dust rose. "Can you not do that?" I asked, frowning a little as I found the pillow that I had once used stuffed into a corner of my now rather clean couch of a bed.
"Do what? Sneeze?" Yuto asked, grinning widely from ear to ear.
"No, that reading my mind thing," I said, simply, settling down on my bed, rolling and shifting around to make it a little more comfortable. Glow-in-the-dark stars were visible on the wall above me and I half-smiled, folding my hands behind my head.
"I might be an Elemental but I don't read minds. That's Daiki's Element. All I do is heal," he muttered, lying down on his makeshift bed. I looked at him skeptically. "You're very easy to read. Especially when you concentrate."
"So does it go to say that you look at me a lot?" I asked, turning away from him lest he see the crimson flush that had crawled into my cheeks. I wonder what had drove me to say that and it made me fear.
I heard Yuto chuckle softly but if I hadn't had heightened senses, I wouldn't have been able to hear it. "Could be, could be not," he said and I heard the rustle of blankets as he moved but I still dare not turn. I could feel his gaze on me.
But as he didn't say anything after that, I frowned and turned on my side to face him. Much to my surprise, his back was turned to me and not staring at me like I had expected. "What's that supposed to mean?" I asked, lying down flat on my back, my eyes tracing the patterns that the glow-in-the-dark stars made.
I heard the rustle of the blankets as he turned but I didn't look to see if he was looking at me. "Could have, could have not," he replied and I could hear the smirk in his voice. In a much softer voice, he muttered more to himself than me but I heard it anyway, "I wonder if you know about the bond."
Yet, before I could say anything, he added in a louder voice, "Why do you think this place is still so clean if you claim that it has been abandoned for some time already?"
That certainly had me snapping back to reality. I chewed my bottom lip slightly as I pondered over it. A few months after I had left the pack and adopted by Okaasan, I had visited this place once or twice just for old time's sake to find that it had been abandoned and I had found out from a member of another pack that lived on the other side of our territory that they had split up. Although I had found it odd that they would split up seeing as we had been one of the least prosperous packs and had to do anything we could to survive, I didn't investigate furthur. But, deep down inside, I had doubted that they had really split up as the pack leader, Yusuke had been adamant that we stick together no matter what.
Now that we were back to the scene of the crime, my old notion resurfaced and once more my doubts resurfaced. The old hideout was still as clean as when I was last here, perhaps even a little cleaner and most of the bedding was clean and everything was neat. I remembered that Yusuke was always a neat freak and hated when things were tossed around the floor unless it was near our sleeping area. "Yuto-kun, I think the pack I used to run with never left," I said, turning to him.
His hands were folded behind his head in a leisurely manner and his eyes were closed but I could tell that he wasn't sleeping. His heart was a little faster than normal and his breathing wasn't deep. "Hmm?" he said, sitting up and looking directly at me.
I felt my cheeks heat under his stare but I met his stare for stare, not wanting to be the one to back down. "Are you sure?" he asked, stretching slightly and with a blink, broke the connection.
I told him about what I had found out from the neighbouring pack's member and how I had a feeling that they had never really left, only pretended to. Yuto was silent as he lay flat, staring at the ceiling blankly but I knew from experience that whenever any of the Hey! Say! JUMP branch stared blankly, their minds were actually working like a bunch of over-oiled clockworks. I stared at the glow-in-the-dark stars again and smiled slightly as I remembered how I had begged Kaori, Yusuke's sister to get the stars for me and then had shimmied up a ladder with her, decorating the sleeping space that the both of us had shared. She had insisted that if she got the stars for me, I'd have to decorate them as she wanted to and since I had so badly wanted the stars, I had agreed.
So, she decided how to place the stars and I just helped her. Back then, I thought it was just a pretty pattern but now, I saw something other than random patterns forming. Yet, as my mind had finally deciphered it, my eyes fell shut and I let the exhaustion of the day sweep over me.
[paragraph]
"Why would the Elders keep this kind of information from us?" Yamada asked, frowning slightly, his voice not in the least disrespectful but rather curious. "Wouldn't it be better for us to know rather than not be prepared for it?"
Shigeaki Kato shrugged slightly and said, "We do not question the decision of the Elders but..." He looked around the circle. "I think it's time that we finally challenged their decisions to keep us in the dark to the true danger that we are now facing."
The others nodded in agreement but the younger ones looked rather skeptical at this sudden decision to question the Elders. All their lives, they had been taught that the Elders were supreme. The Elders were not to be challenged but respected and honoured. They had been taught that the Elders were the ones that kept the balance of the Elemental race. That they were all powerful and were wise beyond belief. That they had saved the world countless times from destruction. That they had mastered their Elements till they could be master no more. Yet, here their sempais were, ready to question the rules of the Elders.
"And how do you propose that we do it? Challenge the rules and codes of the Elementals that the Elders had created?" Yabu asked, the leader in him emerging.
Koyama sighed deeply and said but looking at his other team members before saying so, "We did not want to involve the juniors in this but since here we are as fate had decided, then so be it. For months now, we have suspected that there is something strange going on in the higher authorities of Johnny's Entertainment, something even higher than Johnny-san himself. Something isn't quite right in the board of Elders. We believe that a Corrupted has emerged. So, we, KAT-TUN, NEWS and Arashi have banded together to try to figure out what it is and bring it down."
Sharp intakes of breath could be heard from the JUMP boys and they were silent as they stared at their sempais. They were in extreme shock. Corrupted! No one has heard of a Corrupted for ages. The last time a Corrupted existed was during the Elemental War and they had been extinct since then. Or at least that was what they had been led to believe. "A Corrupted?" Keito exclaimed in a hiss. "Aren't they extinct?"
Kato shook his head ever so slightly. "We have reason to believe that Corrupteds have never been extinct and that they merely went into hiding when the Elemental War came to an end and their leader was killed. And we believe that their current leader is on the board of the Elders and has corrupted one of the elders," Koyama said, gravely.
[paragraph]
There came the softest of clicks and instantly, I was awake. The stage area was dark, seeing as we had turned off the lights for fear that someone on the outside might see the lights and come to investigate. I flipped onto my back and strained my ears for the click, my heart racing, my eyes still tracing the glow-in-the-dark stars. Beside me, I could hear the rustle of cloth that told me that Yuto too, was awake and listening. The click did not come again.
"Yuto," I said, softly, unaudible to the ears of normal people. "Did you hear that?"
In the darkness, I could see him nod and I noticed that he was sitting straight, even straighter than he normally would as if he was tensed for flight or in this case, battle. He was still, as still as a statue and very slowly, I mimicked him, getting up and scanning the whole theater for any sign of movement. I placed my feet on the floor and very, very lightly, dropped to the floor and remained crouched in the shadows.
Just then, there came a loud creak and a long string of muttered curses. "You know none of us can really defend ourselves, right?" I whispered, my hands balling into fists at my sides, prepared to hit whatever that came too close.
In the dark, I could see the gleam of Yuto's teeth when he grimly smiled and my heart skipped twice. I took a deep breath and steeled the crazy feelings that arose. "Not like your Element doesn't kill," he hissed and I had to resist the urge to punch him. That certainly quelled anything that I felt for him.
There came another creak and now, footsteps. And it sounded like more than one person. I started to tingle. The tingle that told me that another unidentified Elemental was near. My eyes flicked to Yuto's to see if he knew who it was but the surprise in his eyes as he met mine was even greater than my surprise at finding another Elemental. He shook his head slightly at the unvoiced question. "How is that possible?" I mouthed.
Before he could reply, there was a loud curse and a hissed order to search the place followed by the pounding of feet on the wooden floor below the stage where the dressing rooms were. I looked over to Yuto who had rolled into the left wing of the stage where the shadows were darker, motioning me to hide and I slid under my makeshift bed. Eventhough he had hid first, I knew that it wasn't in fear. I knew that he was trying to give us the advantage of surprise and much as I despised to say it, I appreciated him for that for I would have stood in the middle of the stage with my fists at the ready.
The pounding increased and the trapdoor in center and front stage was flung open, a slender, male body emerging, a ball of energy floating in his hand, illuminating the darkness around him. From the right wing entrance, two more with floating energy balls ran forward, their energy spheres throwing even more light around the stage and I had to shrink furthur under my bed and three more emerged from the left wing entrance. One of them had a long shard of electricity in his hand while the others had their energy spheres. "Did you find anything?" came the one who had emerged from the trapdoor.
The others shook their heads and the one with the electricity shard shot a small stream of electricty at the wires, illuminating the stage. Instantly, light flooded the stage and I had to cringe slightly for Yuto's makeshift bed still sat in the middle of the stage. As the one who had emerged from the trapdoor whom I assumed was their leader stood and stared at Yuto's makeshift bed, I took that chance to examine the small group who stood before me, igniting the tingling that only an Elemental could.
They didn't resemble anything that my old pack did. This group looked dangerous with the serenity on their calm faces, the energy balls still glowing in their palms and the electricity shard crackling. Their leader toed the piles of blankets that made up Yuto's bed and then sighed. "Must be another of those come-and-go's who seem to be able to step beyond the boundaries," he said, clicking his tongue impatiently. "We should really put up stronger wards."
Picking up the pile of blankets and refolding it into a neat pile, one of them stacked the blankets in a cupboard on the left wing of the stage where I prayed that Yuto wouldn't be seen while another pulled out a rectangular tea table from one corner of the stage. As they fell into the routine of sharing their spoils of the day, they visibly relaxed and as if they were wearing a second skin, their appearances melted away to reveal the person underneath. And surprisingly, their leader was...
"YUSUKE?!" I exclaimed from my hiding place and instantly, I clamped a hand over my mouth, shocked at my own outburst.
Yusuke Satoshi was-and apparently still is-the leader of the pack that I used to run with and funnily, it didn't surprise me. He was the eldest of all of us and ran our pack like a military camp with strict rules though there weren't any punishments meted out should we make any mistakes, though. There were always about ten of us, the older ones leaving and Yusuke always seemed to bring home new members after one leaves though it was I who had found Yusuke and his pack and not the other way around. As their skins melted away, I recongised Kaori and had to bite my lip from crying out. "Hello, hello," came a mocking voice as a pair of boots stopped in front of my makeshift bed and a pretty face met mine, his teeth gleaming. "What do we have here?"
I shoved the pretty face away and crawled out from under the bed, dusting my clothes as I did so and shaking any cobwebs from my hair. "Cheri-chan?!" Yusuke exclaimed, the plastic bag of food almost dropping from his hands as he stared at me in disbelief.
To my right, I heard Kaori squeal and I was tackled to the ground as the older girl held me in a hug so tight that I had to struggle for air. "Murakami-kun!" I heard Yuto shout and the sound of him rushing forward but there was a thud as if he was knocked to the ground.
I could hear him struggling to break free from the grip of whoever was holding him down but he was soon quiet. Probably one of them had held an energy sphere to his face. "Kaori-chan," I muttered, gently shoving the elder girl off me as I had always did. "I think I should go rescue my friend."
"Oh, oh," came her voice as she stood up and helped me to my feet. "He's your friend? Gomen ne, Cheri-chan. Sorry, Cheri-chan. We didn't know."
Kaori motioned for Yusuke and another of the pack to let go of Yuto who indeed, had a glowing energy sphere shoved into his face, the glow illuminating the fury and determination on his face. Yuto sprang to his feet and proceeded to try to attack one of the pack who was standing nearby. Yet, before he could, Yusuke shook his head and held on to the fist that Yuto was about to punch with. "That's not such a good idea. He controls electricity and you wouldn't like to be electrocuted."
Yuto frowned and then relaxed, seeing that no one was attacking him and that Kaori was fussing over me, lifting strands of my hair and muttering that it seriously needed a trim. "Cheri-chan," Yusuke said, turning to me as he settled down at the tea table, folding his legs neatly beneath him as I always remembered him doing. "I think you have a lot of explaining to do especially to your friend."
I sighed and sat down at the table.
[paragraph]
He made his way slowly into the house, stepping across the debris that littered the floor, grateful for the mask that covered his mouth and nose so he wouldn't be able to breathe in the harmful dusts in the air. The other nine of his team followed in his lead, toeing aside smaller pieces of debris that got in their way. As they ventured in furthur from the large gaping hole in the wall, they discovered that the Elementals that they had been ordered to attack tonight were gathered in a circle, their faces serious. As he appeared from around the corner, one of them noticed him and his team and he quickly leapt to his feet, his hands blazing a dark green.
Before Keiji could do anything, a tree root grew from the very spot that they stood on and entrapped their ankles, preventing them from moving an inch forward. The roots grew upwards and sprouted vines that twined themselves around Keiji and his team. "You're lucky that our fire Elemental is unconscious or I would have ordered him to burn you to a crisp," he said, calmly and as he flicked his wrists, the vines tightened. "You have no rights to be here after the damage that you've inflicted."
"Yabu-kun," Daiki said, breaking through the barriers that the Round Table provided and placing an arm on Yabu's outstretched hands. "They're not the same people we encountered earlier. Their minds are pure of any evil thoughts towards the Elementals."
Yabu looked from Daiki to Keiji and his team, a frown forming on his pretty face as he mentally weighed the matter out. To kill those who stood before him, garbed in black much like the ones they had previously fought or to heed Daiki's words and release them from the torture he was about to inflict. "If Daiki speaks the truth, then it is best you release them, Yabu-kun," Koyama said before turning to Keiji. "But mark my words, if you are here to inflict harm, we will not spare you a second time."
Yabu growled lowly and slowly, he released the vines and roots that held Keiji and his team in place. As soon as they were released, Keiji motioned and they dropped to their knees, their weapons cast aside and their heads bowed low. "Elementals, we seek for your help and protection. In return, we offer you our services, skills and knowledge."
Yusuke and his band settled around the table with Yuto joining them last, sitting opposite me, his eyes betraying none of his emotions. As I told my tale beginning from when I had left the pack up till the night before leaving out what had happened the night of the Unfortunate Incident, I could see that Yuto was trying his very best to keep his emotions under check. Fury was not an emotion that Hey! Say! JUMP idol Nakajima Yuto usually portrayed. When I had finished, I looked around the table and Kaori grabbed my hand in a comforting gesture. "Ah. So desu ne," Yusuke said, pouring himself a cup of tea from the pot that sat in the centre of the table. "Ah. I see."
"I see?! I see?!" I thundered in disbelief. "Is that all you can say? I see?!"
Yusuke said nothing as was his nature and sipped his tea in a very gentleman manner like those from the days of the samurai, staring into space. "Would you like to know how it is you came to find us rather than us finding you?" he asked, putting down his teacup and looking at me.
Without waiting for an answer, he continued, "We are the Guardians of the Runes. We guard the ancient carvings in the ground that the Elementals of the olden days had carved for their many rituals, most of which are forgotten to this day. There are many types of Runes scattered across the country and the world. Each Rune is used for a different purpose and there is only one kind of each Rune. The Rune that we guard is the Rune of Binding or in a shorter form, the Binding Rune. In case you're rather slow and silly in the head, the Binding Rune binds.
"But the Binding Rune has one condition. It can only bind opposites together. And to call forth it's ancient power, the Bindies must approach the Rune with an open heart. It can be any opposite. Be it enemies, lovers who have been held back by their families. As long as there is a sort of opposite in their relationship, the Binding Rune will bind their hearts and minds together. They will be one."
I frowned slightly. "I take it that you also know what an Elemental is."
Yuto's mouth however was open in awe and amazement. "A Guardian? You're a Guardian? I mean," he sputtered, looking at every face at the table. "I mean, you all are Guardians? But...But..How can this be? Guardians haven't been heard of since forever. Even before the Elemental War. They're practically extinct. Yet..."
Yusuke nodded slightly at him. "That, Nakajima-kun, is also true. As you should know, a Guardian is bonded to his or her Elemental whether the Elemental realises it or not. Even before they are born, a Guardian baby is assigned an Elemental."
"But, if you're not Elementals, then how can we feel the bond sensor in us tingle?" I asked and it was Kaori who answered: "As a result of the bond between a Guardian and an Elemental, an Elemental can recongise his or her Guardian with the tingle. But only an Elemental can sense his or her Guardian and not another Guardian. Are you getting me?"
"Unfortunately, most the Guardians are unbonded and have never had contact with their Elementals," bitterly said one of the girls who had round, round eyes and long lashes as well as skin so far that it glowed.
"And why is that?" Yuto asked, looking at her with such a look that a strange feeling bloomed in my gut which made me want to punch the lights out of the girl.
With a scowl that did nothing to marr her pretty face, she continued, "Before the Elemental War, during the golden age of the Elementals, the Elementals had shunned the Guardians and turned them away, dismissing their services. The Elementals thought themselves as greater than the rest and had no use for the protection that the bond between an Elemental and a Guardian could offer. They had been cast from the Elemental circles and regarded as a nuisance.
"As a result, Guardians went into hiding and never revealed themselves to the Elementals. We continued to look after our respective Runes in hiding and silence. There are only very few known Guardians who are bonded to their Elementals. About five in the world."
"What exactly does a Guardian do?" I asked and the girl scowled once more.
"You Elementals are so stupid. I thought you guys were supposed to be smart and all that."
"Mitsume-kun!" Kaori chided, glaring at the girl whom Yuto seemed to be extremely engrossed with staring at. "Remember your place."
Yusuke sighed and lifted a hand, cutting off Mitsume in mid-insult. "Mitsume-san, please remember your place. You are a Guardian and much as you dislike the Elementals, remember that you have your very own Elemental and when the time comes, you will have to protect him or her."
Mitsume just scowled and looked away, fingering the short dagger that she wore at her waist. "So, I take it a Guardian is a bodyguard of some sort for an Elemental?"
"Much like that. But we're not exactly bodyguards. We're more like guides through the process of being an Elemental."
"So, which one of you is my Guardian?" I asked, looking at Yusuke for an answer.
He shrugged slightly and said, "Guess who, Elemental."
"YOU?!" I asked in a rather scandalized manner. "You're my Guardian and you never bothered to tell me after all the years of running with you?"
Yusuke grimaced at my tone but he calmly said as if it was a normal thing, "Your Elemental powers had yet to bloom and since your powers have not emerged, the bond hadn't been established. Until that night when you had packed your things and left. By that time, it was too late to tell you everything."
I nodded in understanding and then asked, "I asked one of the boys from the neighbouring pack and they told me that you had split up. And it was after I had left."
Yusuke nodded and grimaced. The others hung their heads in silence and closed their eyes as if in prayer. "It wasn't supposed to happen. There is a group of rogue warriors that work for a mysterious leader who has the powers to sense an Elemental awakening who, as my sources tell me, are looking for the Prodigy. That night after you left, a bunch of guys all dressed in black came in and attacked the place, leaving no stone unturned as they trashed. Nothing could stop them. Most of us were sacrificed that night. Most of them not even Guardians. Just helpless orphans on the street that we took in to give them a place to stay.
"They had come in search of you. And in the process, to escape being captured and interrogated, we ran away and hid, splitting up as we did so but only momentarily. We used one of the powers that we Guardians have called a Glamour to help us disguise our appearance and hide the scent of a Guardian."
I sucked in a sharp breath. "And yet you still return here?"
Yusuke nodded. "We believe that the Binding Rune lies beneath the theater. That's why we are so drawn to this area. And this is the only living area where we wouldn't be discovered."
Before I or he could continue, Mitsume scowled at Yuto who seemed to be enamoured with her. "There's something wrong with this guy."
I raised an eyebrow and waved my hand in front of Yuto's face but he still seemed to be staring at her, a lovesick smile on his face. I could feel a strange emotion blossom in me and I felt like yanking Yuto away and smacking Mitsume hard across the cheek. Then, I remembered that Yuto could also feel a tingling that I had assumed was the bond between Elementals. But with the explainations that Yusuke had provided, it dawned on me and as horror spread through my entire body, I fought to keep my exterior calm.
As Yusuke looked at Mitsume, her face turned into one of horror and disgust and she wailed, "HE'S MY ELEMENTAL?!"
NEXT CHAPTER
PREVIOUS CHAPTER
Title: A Forbidden Rhapsody: Chapter 5
Chapter Title: Allies and Guardians
Author: theivorykeys
Fandom: Hey! Say! JUMP
Pairing: NakajimaYutoxOC
Genre: Romance, Fantasy, Suspense, Adventure
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: I own Yuto and nothing save for the plot and OC
Type: Multi-chapter
Notes: It's written in the third person POV but then, it is also told from the first person POV. Loads of mentions of NEWS, some KAT-TUN and Arashi. Please forgive the OOC-ness of Yabu and most of the others. Phew, there's so much to absorb here. I hope that you'll enjoy this chapter as much as you have enjoyed the others.
Summary: Elementals are all male. An strange incident on New Year's Day leads to the discovery of a strong-willed, hard-headed, orphaned and adopted female Elemental. Her Element is unique and the only one to have ever existed. Yet, the person she's destined to be with is the only person who cannot touch her. Nakajima Yuto is drawn instantly but he has no idea why. Sparks fly and one wonders if they have been destined by the stars.
[paragraph]
The winds rustled in the leaves. Cars drove by at leisurely speeds. There was nothing out of the ordinary with two teenagers walking down the street in the middle of the night. It was after all, a norm. Yet, if you looked closer at their body language and the expressions on their faces, you'd find that they were indeed out of the ordinary. A boy and a girl would have been holding hands if they were lovers or pressing their arms close together if they were merely friends, laughing and enjoying themselves. Yet, the two maintained a small distance between themselves, not very noticable to others and their expressions were sombre as if someone had died. In a way, something, not someone had died.
She looked up at him and when their eyes met, she quickly turned away. If you looked closely enough, you could see the blush that was slowly forming on her cheeks. And it was not due to the cold. They still did not touch each other but you could see the electricity sizzle between them. Or was that the Elemental bond that linked them across time?
She stopped on the street for a moment, her partner staring weirdly at her as she lifted her head as if sniffing the air. He muttered something to her and she nodded, sighing deeply. He nodded and raised a hand to squeeze her shoulder lightly but his hand shot back before he could touch her. Scowling slightly, she turned from him and walked on, her eyes focused directly in front, not looking anywhere else like a normal person out for a midnight stroll would.
He followed after her at a leisurely pace but his long stride made it easy for him to catch up with her. As soon as she felt his presence beside her, she slowed down visibly but she still didn't look anywhere else but in front. Some might think that she had such an affliction that caused her to only look straight. Some might say that she was purposely ignoring her partner. In some way, that was true.
The pair of them entered into a darker side of the town where red-light districts rose in abundance. Still, she continued to look directly ahead. He walked slowly beside her. Not once did they look at each other or speak but one could see that there was a kind of mutual understanding and method of communication between them. Call girls around them, loitering in the doorway of their businesses cooed out to him but he just gave them a polite smile and followed his partner who when he was not looking was scowling at the way that he greeted each and every call girl that called out to him.
She muttered something to him and he just grinned, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his jackets. Members of host clubs reached out and enveloped her in their drunken embraces, muttering sweet nothings to her but she just gave them a brief smile, eased out of their embraces and continued on walking. Her partner said something to her and she scowled. One could tell that whatever he had said was supposed to tease her.
Then, she stopped, her eyes scanning the area around them. They had left the red light districts and the host clubs behind and were now in a darker area where gangs loitered, threathening each and everyone that crossed their path. Suddenly, she darted into the alley beside which she had stopped and he darted after her, even quicker than a normal person would be able to. She was grinning slightly to herself though the grin was short lived.
Standing outside a rotten door, she felt around for the tiny little indentation that she had been so familiar with her whole life. Smiling slightly as she found it, she pressed it and a series of locks from the inside creaked and squealed as their rusted parts moved to unlock the door before them. Sure, she could knock down the door easily with all it's rotting wood but she didn't want to leave any evidence that they had been there. He raised his eyebrows but said nothing as the rotting door before him slid open almost noiselessly, his awe with the girl already growing to an unimaginable height.
She ushered him into the darkness that surrounded the small corridor that the door revealed and she was quick to follow behind him, not a word uttered between the both of them.
[paragraph]
Debris covered the floor around them, remnants of the blast. They picked gingerly at the rubble and glass, cleaning up as they went, their Elemental powers coming in use for something so mundane. The rest of the NEWS members were there, cleaning up and helping the injured. Silently, though they all knew of the danger that Yuto and the girl were in, they couldn't help but wish that he was there so they could heal faster. "Who were they if they weren't the same people as before?" Yamashita Tomohisa asked Yabu as he bandaged the younger boy's forearm, a large gash caused by flying pieces of glass.
Yabu winced slightly as Yamashita pulled the bandage tight over his wound. "We did not know that they had Elementals with them. Usually, we would have been able to identify Elementals but there wasn't the telltale sign," he muttered, absentmindedly running his hand over the bandage.
Koyama frowned slightly as he gently brushed his hands over Chinen's bleeding forehead. He could soothe pain but he could not heal, not like Yuto. He looked to Yamashita who gave him a very grave look. "Do you know what this means?" Koyama said, gravely as he gently lay the sleeping Chinen on a clean sheet that had to serve as a bed for the time being.
Yabu looked to Yamashita and then to Hikaru who had been standing nearby and listening as he washed away the plaster and dust that had fallen when the clash of two fire Elementals had caused an explosion. Their attackers had taken the confusion from the explosion as a cover to leave when they had realised that the two they had come for wasn't there. Yamashita nodded gravely. "They've got tainted blood. Our prophecy is becoming truer by the minute," he said.
Koyama sighed and then sat down on the floor. "I call a Round Table this moment," he said, solemnly. "Yamashita Tomohisa, Nishikido Ryo, Tegoshi Yuya, Masuda Takahisa, Koyama Keiichiro, Shigeaki Kato, Yabu Kota, Yaotome Hikaru, Daiki Arioka, Inoo Kei, Yamada Ryosuke, Okamoto Keito and Morimoto Ryutaro."
Yabu raised his eyebrows slightly. The other JUMP members hadn't been seriously injured except for Takaki who had suffered the worst of the explosion and the rebound of his Element. He had been burned a little but Elementals had extraordinary healing powers and he would heal quick enough but he was mentally exhausted. A Round Table was a grave matter, although the name sounded rather hilarious for something so serious.
No one called a Round Table unless there was something very, very dangerous happening that needed the full attention of the Elemental race and this was one of the ten Round Tables called so far in the past three decades. A Round Table could happen just about anywhere but you had to be summoned to a Round Table before you could join it and once your name had been called, you had to join it or...no one really knows what would happen if you didn't join a Round Table as no one had ever done that but some said that you could fall into a comatose state. Either way, those were the rules as had been practiced by the very first Elementals.
They gathered in a circle on the floor, not bothering about the debris and the dust that they sat on. Once everyone had settled, Koyama began. "I, Koyama Keiichiro, member of the Elemental divison NEWS and guardian to the Elemental division Hey! Say! JUMP have called a Round Table to bring to light the oldest of prophecies and the roles of the Elementals who have been destined to be a part of this prophecy, gathered in this room, whether conscious or not and two other Elementals by the names of Murakami Tomoyuki and Nakajima Yuto who are at the moment not present."
With the formalities over, Yamashita said, "As you all know, we have been taught the ancient prophecy since we discovered we were Elementals and taught to be prepared for whatever the prophecy might bring us. But there is more to it than the Elders are allowed to teach. The prophecy not only speaks of a bond between two Elementals."
Masuda Takahisa picked up from where Yamashita paused, his happy-go-lucky nature abandoned for the seriousness of the matter at hand. "It also speaks of a group of Elementals with tainted blood that would betray their own race. Their bond with nature would be severed but they would keep their Elements. Their Elements would be dirty and unpure, tainted with the evil that it had done."
Tegoshi Yuya continued, "Other Elementals would not be able to detect their presence as they no longer are considered Elementals despite their Elements. They would stop at nothing to eliminate all who stand in their way and they have a special preference for the race that they had betrayed."
The JUMP members absorbed the information, the things that they had been taught as children and known by heart taking a new twist.
[paragraph]
"So, this is where you stayed when you were abandoned, eh?" Yuto asked, brushing aside non-existant layer of dust that had collected on the surprisingly-in-good-condition stage before trying to make a comfortable bed out of the curtains and blankets that I had brought him.
I shrugged lightly, finding my old bed in the corner of the stage, a layer of dust having settled on it. I took an old, moth-eaten rag that lay on the floor and proceeded to beat the dust from my old bed. The rest of the place was clean however, much to my surprise but I didn't voice it out. As Yuto settled down a few feet away from my old bed, I couldn't help but wonder. I knew that my old pack had abandoned this place a few months after my departure but there was something bugging me. Something told me that that was not quite the truth. I wondered. I wondered if they hadn't actually left the place but only pretended to.
"You worried that there's something wrong with this place?"
I raised an eyebrow and glared at Yuto who was shaking out a pillow that he had found abandoned somewhere in one of the corners of the stage. He fluffed it a little and then sneezed as the dust rose. "Can you not do that?" I asked, frowning a little as I found the pillow that I had once used stuffed into a corner of my now rather clean couch of a bed.
"Do what? Sneeze?" Yuto asked, grinning widely from ear to ear.
"No, that reading my mind thing," I said, simply, settling down on my bed, rolling and shifting around to make it a little more comfortable. Glow-in-the-dark stars were visible on the wall above me and I half-smiled, folding my hands behind my head.
"I might be an Elemental but I don't read minds. That's Daiki's Element. All I do is heal," he muttered, lying down on his makeshift bed. I looked at him skeptically. "You're very easy to read. Especially when you concentrate."
"So does it go to say that you look at me a lot?" I asked, turning away from him lest he see the crimson flush that had crawled into my cheeks. I wonder what had drove me to say that and it made me fear.
I heard Yuto chuckle softly but if I hadn't had heightened senses, I wouldn't have been able to hear it. "Could be, could be not," he said and I heard the rustle of blankets as he moved but I still dare not turn. I could feel his gaze on me.
But as he didn't say anything after that, I frowned and turned on my side to face him. Much to my surprise, his back was turned to me and not staring at me like I had expected. "What's that supposed to mean?" I asked, lying down flat on my back, my eyes tracing the patterns that the glow-in-the-dark stars made.
I heard the rustle of the blankets as he turned but I didn't look to see if he was looking at me. "Could have, could have not," he replied and I could hear the smirk in his voice. In a much softer voice, he muttered more to himself than me but I heard it anyway, "I wonder if you know about the bond."
Yet, before I could say anything, he added in a louder voice, "Why do you think this place is still so clean if you claim that it has been abandoned for some time already?"
That certainly had me snapping back to reality. I chewed my bottom lip slightly as I pondered over it. A few months after I had left the pack and adopted by Okaasan, I had visited this place once or twice just for old time's sake to find that it had been abandoned and I had found out from a member of another pack that lived on the other side of our territory that they had split up. Although I had found it odd that they would split up seeing as we had been one of the least prosperous packs and had to do anything we could to survive, I didn't investigate furthur. But, deep down inside, I had doubted that they had really split up as the pack leader, Yusuke had been adamant that we stick together no matter what.
Now that we were back to the scene of the crime, my old notion resurfaced and once more my doubts resurfaced. The old hideout was still as clean as when I was last here, perhaps even a little cleaner and most of the bedding was clean and everything was neat. I remembered that Yusuke was always a neat freak and hated when things were tossed around the floor unless it was near our sleeping area. "Yuto-kun, I think the pack I used to run with never left," I said, turning to him.
His hands were folded behind his head in a leisurely manner and his eyes were closed but I could tell that he wasn't sleeping. His heart was a little faster than normal and his breathing wasn't deep. "Hmm?" he said, sitting up and looking directly at me.
I felt my cheeks heat under his stare but I met his stare for stare, not wanting to be the one to back down. "Are you sure?" he asked, stretching slightly and with a blink, broke the connection.
I told him about what I had found out from the neighbouring pack's member and how I had a feeling that they had never really left, only pretended to. Yuto was silent as he lay flat, staring at the ceiling blankly but I knew from experience that whenever any of the Hey! Say! JUMP branch stared blankly, their minds were actually working like a bunch of over-oiled clockworks. I stared at the glow-in-the-dark stars again and smiled slightly as I remembered how I had begged Kaori, Yusuke's sister to get the stars for me and then had shimmied up a ladder with her, decorating the sleeping space that the both of us had shared. She had insisted that if she got the stars for me, I'd have to decorate them as she wanted to and since I had so badly wanted the stars, I had agreed.
So, she decided how to place the stars and I just helped her. Back then, I thought it was just a pretty pattern but now, I saw something other than random patterns forming. Yet, as my mind had finally deciphered it, my eyes fell shut and I let the exhaustion of the day sweep over me.
[paragraph]
"Why would the Elders keep this kind of information from us?" Yamada asked, frowning slightly, his voice not in the least disrespectful but rather curious. "Wouldn't it be better for us to know rather than not be prepared for it?"
Shigeaki Kato shrugged slightly and said, "We do not question the decision of the Elders but..." He looked around the circle. "I think it's time that we finally challenged their decisions to keep us in the dark to the true danger that we are now facing."
The others nodded in agreement but the younger ones looked rather skeptical at this sudden decision to question the Elders. All their lives, they had been taught that the Elders were supreme. The Elders were not to be challenged but respected and honoured. They had been taught that the Elders were the ones that kept the balance of the Elemental race. That they were all powerful and were wise beyond belief. That they had saved the world countless times from destruction. That they had mastered their Elements till they could be master no more. Yet, here their sempais were, ready to question the rules of the Elders.
"And how do you propose that we do it? Challenge the rules and codes of the Elementals that the Elders had created?" Yabu asked, the leader in him emerging.
Koyama sighed deeply and said but looking at his other team members before saying so, "We did not want to involve the juniors in this but since here we are as fate had decided, then so be it. For months now, we have suspected that there is something strange going on in the higher authorities of Johnny's Entertainment, something even higher than Johnny-san himself. Something isn't quite right in the board of Elders. We believe that a Corrupted has emerged. So, we, KAT-TUN, NEWS and Arashi have banded together to try to figure out what it is and bring it down."
Sharp intakes of breath could be heard from the JUMP boys and they were silent as they stared at their sempais. They were in extreme shock. Corrupted! No one has heard of a Corrupted for ages. The last time a Corrupted existed was during the Elemental War and they had been extinct since then. Or at least that was what they had been led to believe. "A Corrupted?" Keito exclaimed in a hiss. "Aren't they extinct?"
Kato shook his head ever so slightly. "We have reason to believe that Corrupteds have never been extinct and that they merely went into hiding when the Elemental War came to an end and their leader was killed. And we believe that their current leader is on the board of the Elders and has corrupted one of the elders," Koyama said, gravely.
[paragraph]
There came the softest of clicks and instantly, I was awake. The stage area was dark, seeing as we had turned off the lights for fear that someone on the outside might see the lights and come to investigate. I flipped onto my back and strained my ears for the click, my heart racing, my eyes still tracing the glow-in-the-dark stars. Beside me, I could hear the rustle of cloth that told me that Yuto too, was awake and listening. The click did not come again.
"Yuto," I said, softly, unaudible to the ears of normal people. "Did you hear that?"
In the darkness, I could see him nod and I noticed that he was sitting straight, even straighter than he normally would as if he was tensed for flight or in this case, battle. He was still, as still as a statue and very slowly, I mimicked him, getting up and scanning the whole theater for any sign of movement. I placed my feet on the floor and very, very lightly, dropped to the floor and remained crouched in the shadows.
Just then, there came a loud creak and a long string of muttered curses. "You know none of us can really defend ourselves, right?" I whispered, my hands balling into fists at my sides, prepared to hit whatever that came too close.
In the dark, I could see the gleam of Yuto's teeth when he grimly smiled and my heart skipped twice. I took a deep breath and steeled the crazy feelings that arose. "Not like your Element doesn't kill," he hissed and I had to resist the urge to punch him. That certainly quelled anything that I felt for him.
There came another creak and now, footsteps. And it sounded like more than one person. I started to tingle. The tingle that told me that another unidentified Elemental was near. My eyes flicked to Yuto's to see if he knew who it was but the surprise in his eyes as he met mine was even greater than my surprise at finding another Elemental. He shook his head slightly at the unvoiced question. "How is that possible?" I mouthed.
Before he could reply, there was a loud curse and a hissed order to search the place followed by the pounding of feet on the wooden floor below the stage where the dressing rooms were. I looked over to Yuto who had rolled into the left wing of the stage where the shadows were darker, motioning me to hide and I slid under my makeshift bed. Eventhough he had hid first, I knew that it wasn't in fear. I knew that he was trying to give us the advantage of surprise and much as I despised to say it, I appreciated him for that for I would have stood in the middle of the stage with my fists at the ready.
The pounding increased and the trapdoor in center and front stage was flung open, a slender, male body emerging, a ball of energy floating in his hand, illuminating the darkness around him. From the right wing entrance, two more with floating energy balls ran forward, their energy spheres throwing even more light around the stage and I had to shrink furthur under my bed and three more emerged from the left wing entrance. One of them had a long shard of electricity in his hand while the others had their energy spheres. "Did you find anything?" came the one who had emerged from the trapdoor.
The others shook their heads and the one with the electricity shard shot a small stream of electricty at the wires, illuminating the stage. Instantly, light flooded the stage and I had to cringe slightly for Yuto's makeshift bed still sat in the middle of the stage. As the one who had emerged from the trapdoor whom I assumed was their leader stood and stared at Yuto's makeshift bed, I took that chance to examine the small group who stood before me, igniting the tingling that only an Elemental could.
They didn't resemble anything that my old pack did. This group looked dangerous with the serenity on their calm faces, the energy balls still glowing in their palms and the electricity shard crackling. Their leader toed the piles of blankets that made up Yuto's bed and then sighed. "Must be another of those come-and-go's who seem to be able to step beyond the boundaries," he said, clicking his tongue impatiently. "We should really put up stronger wards."
Picking up the pile of blankets and refolding it into a neat pile, one of them stacked the blankets in a cupboard on the left wing of the stage where I prayed that Yuto wouldn't be seen while another pulled out a rectangular tea table from one corner of the stage. As they fell into the routine of sharing their spoils of the day, they visibly relaxed and as if they were wearing a second skin, their appearances melted away to reveal the person underneath. And surprisingly, their leader was...
"YUSUKE?!" I exclaimed from my hiding place and instantly, I clamped a hand over my mouth, shocked at my own outburst.
Yusuke Satoshi was-and apparently still is-the leader of the pack that I used to run with and funnily, it didn't surprise me. He was the eldest of all of us and ran our pack like a military camp with strict rules though there weren't any punishments meted out should we make any mistakes, though. There were always about ten of us, the older ones leaving and Yusuke always seemed to bring home new members after one leaves though it was I who had found Yusuke and his pack and not the other way around. As their skins melted away, I recongised Kaori and had to bite my lip from crying out. "Hello, hello," came a mocking voice as a pair of boots stopped in front of my makeshift bed and a pretty face met mine, his teeth gleaming. "What do we have here?"
I shoved the pretty face away and crawled out from under the bed, dusting my clothes as I did so and shaking any cobwebs from my hair. "Cheri-chan?!" Yusuke exclaimed, the plastic bag of food almost dropping from his hands as he stared at me in disbelief.
To my right, I heard Kaori squeal and I was tackled to the ground as the older girl held me in a hug so tight that I had to struggle for air. "Murakami-kun!" I heard Yuto shout and the sound of him rushing forward but there was a thud as if he was knocked to the ground.
I could hear him struggling to break free from the grip of whoever was holding him down but he was soon quiet. Probably one of them had held an energy sphere to his face. "Kaori-chan," I muttered, gently shoving the elder girl off me as I had always did. "I think I should go rescue my friend."
"Oh, oh," came her voice as she stood up and helped me to my feet. "He's your friend? Gomen ne, Cheri-chan. Sorry, Cheri-chan. We didn't know."
Kaori motioned for Yusuke and another of the pack to let go of Yuto who indeed, had a glowing energy sphere shoved into his face, the glow illuminating the fury and determination on his face. Yuto sprang to his feet and proceeded to try to attack one of the pack who was standing nearby. Yet, before he could, Yusuke shook his head and held on to the fist that Yuto was about to punch with. "That's not such a good idea. He controls electricity and you wouldn't like to be electrocuted."
Yuto frowned and then relaxed, seeing that no one was attacking him and that Kaori was fussing over me, lifting strands of my hair and muttering that it seriously needed a trim. "Cheri-chan," Yusuke said, turning to me as he settled down at the tea table, folding his legs neatly beneath him as I always remembered him doing. "I think you have a lot of explaining to do especially to your friend."
I sighed and sat down at the table.
[paragraph]
He made his way slowly into the house, stepping across the debris that littered the floor, grateful for the mask that covered his mouth and nose so he wouldn't be able to breathe in the harmful dusts in the air. The other nine of his team followed in his lead, toeing aside smaller pieces of debris that got in their way. As they ventured in furthur from the large gaping hole in the wall, they discovered that the Elementals that they had been ordered to attack tonight were gathered in a circle, their faces serious. As he appeared from around the corner, one of them noticed him and his team and he quickly leapt to his feet, his hands blazing a dark green.
Before Keiji could do anything, a tree root grew from the very spot that they stood on and entrapped their ankles, preventing them from moving an inch forward. The roots grew upwards and sprouted vines that twined themselves around Keiji and his team. "You're lucky that our fire Elemental is unconscious or I would have ordered him to burn you to a crisp," he said, calmly and as he flicked his wrists, the vines tightened. "You have no rights to be here after the damage that you've inflicted."
"Yabu-kun," Daiki said, breaking through the barriers that the Round Table provided and placing an arm on Yabu's outstretched hands. "They're not the same people we encountered earlier. Their minds are pure of any evil thoughts towards the Elementals."
Yabu looked from Daiki to Keiji and his team, a frown forming on his pretty face as he mentally weighed the matter out. To kill those who stood before him, garbed in black much like the ones they had previously fought or to heed Daiki's words and release them from the torture he was about to inflict. "If Daiki speaks the truth, then it is best you release them, Yabu-kun," Koyama said before turning to Keiji. "But mark my words, if you are here to inflict harm, we will not spare you a second time."
Yabu growled lowly and slowly, he released the vines and roots that held Keiji and his team in place. As soon as they were released, Keiji motioned and they dropped to their knees, their weapons cast aside and their heads bowed low. "Elementals, we seek for your help and protection. In return, we offer you our services, skills and knowledge."
Yusuke and his band settled around the table with Yuto joining them last, sitting opposite me, his eyes betraying none of his emotions. As I told my tale beginning from when I had left the pack up till the night before leaving out what had happened the night of the Unfortunate Incident, I could see that Yuto was trying his very best to keep his emotions under check. Fury was not an emotion that Hey! Say! JUMP idol Nakajima Yuto usually portrayed. When I had finished, I looked around the table and Kaori grabbed my hand in a comforting gesture. "Ah. So desu ne," Yusuke said, pouring himself a cup of tea from the pot that sat in the centre of the table. "Ah. I see."
"I see?! I see?!" I thundered in disbelief. "Is that all you can say? I see?!"
Yusuke said nothing as was his nature and sipped his tea in a very gentleman manner like those from the days of the samurai, staring into space. "Would you like to know how it is you came to find us rather than us finding you?" he asked, putting down his teacup and looking at me.
Without waiting for an answer, he continued, "We are the Guardians of the Runes. We guard the ancient carvings in the ground that the Elementals of the olden days had carved for their many rituals, most of which are forgotten to this day. There are many types of Runes scattered across the country and the world. Each Rune is used for a different purpose and there is only one kind of each Rune. The Rune that we guard is the Rune of Binding or in a shorter form, the Binding Rune. In case you're rather slow and silly in the head, the Binding Rune binds.
"But the Binding Rune has one condition. It can only bind opposites together. And to call forth it's ancient power, the Bindies must approach the Rune with an open heart. It can be any opposite. Be it enemies, lovers who have been held back by their families. As long as there is a sort of opposite in their relationship, the Binding Rune will bind their hearts and minds together. They will be one."
I frowned slightly. "I take it that you also know what an Elemental is."
Yuto's mouth however was open in awe and amazement. "A Guardian? You're a Guardian? I mean," he sputtered, looking at every face at the table. "I mean, you all are Guardians? But...But..How can this be? Guardians haven't been heard of since forever. Even before the Elemental War. They're practically extinct. Yet..."
Yusuke nodded slightly at him. "That, Nakajima-kun, is also true. As you should know, a Guardian is bonded to his or her Elemental whether the Elemental realises it or not. Even before they are born, a Guardian baby is assigned an Elemental."
"But, if you're not Elementals, then how can we feel the bond sensor in us tingle?" I asked and it was Kaori who answered: "As a result of the bond between a Guardian and an Elemental, an Elemental can recongise his or her Guardian with the tingle. But only an Elemental can sense his or her Guardian and not another Guardian. Are you getting me?"
"Unfortunately, most the Guardians are unbonded and have never had contact with their Elementals," bitterly said one of the girls who had round, round eyes and long lashes as well as skin so far that it glowed.
"And why is that?" Yuto asked, looking at her with such a look that a strange feeling bloomed in my gut which made me want to punch the lights out of the girl.
With a scowl that did nothing to marr her pretty face, she continued, "Before the Elemental War, during the golden age of the Elementals, the Elementals had shunned the Guardians and turned them away, dismissing their services. The Elementals thought themselves as greater than the rest and had no use for the protection that the bond between an Elemental and a Guardian could offer. They had been cast from the Elemental circles and regarded as a nuisance.
"As a result, Guardians went into hiding and never revealed themselves to the Elementals. We continued to look after our respective Runes in hiding and silence. There are only very few known Guardians who are bonded to their Elementals. About five in the world."
"What exactly does a Guardian do?" I asked and the girl scowled once more.
"You Elementals are so stupid. I thought you guys were supposed to be smart and all that."
"Mitsume-kun!" Kaori chided, glaring at the girl whom Yuto seemed to be extremely engrossed with staring at. "Remember your place."
Yusuke sighed and lifted a hand, cutting off Mitsume in mid-insult. "Mitsume-san, please remember your place. You are a Guardian and much as you dislike the Elementals, remember that you have your very own Elemental and when the time comes, you will have to protect him or her."
Mitsume just scowled and looked away, fingering the short dagger that she wore at her waist. "So, I take it a Guardian is a bodyguard of some sort for an Elemental?"
"Much like that. But we're not exactly bodyguards. We're more like guides through the process of being an Elemental."
"So, which one of you is my Guardian?" I asked, looking at Yusuke for an answer.
He shrugged slightly and said, "Guess who, Elemental."
"YOU?!" I asked in a rather scandalized manner. "You're my Guardian and you never bothered to tell me after all the years of running with you?"
Yusuke grimaced at my tone but he calmly said as if it was a normal thing, "Your Elemental powers had yet to bloom and since your powers have not emerged, the bond hadn't been established. Until that night when you had packed your things and left. By that time, it was too late to tell you everything."
I nodded in understanding and then asked, "I asked one of the boys from the neighbouring pack and they told me that you had split up. And it was after I had left."
Yusuke nodded and grimaced. The others hung their heads in silence and closed their eyes as if in prayer. "It wasn't supposed to happen. There is a group of rogue warriors that work for a mysterious leader who has the powers to sense an Elemental awakening who, as my sources tell me, are looking for the Prodigy. That night after you left, a bunch of guys all dressed in black came in and attacked the place, leaving no stone unturned as they trashed. Nothing could stop them. Most of us were sacrificed that night. Most of them not even Guardians. Just helpless orphans on the street that we took in to give them a place to stay.
"They had come in search of you. And in the process, to escape being captured and interrogated, we ran away and hid, splitting up as we did so but only momentarily. We used one of the powers that we Guardians have called a Glamour to help us disguise our appearance and hide the scent of a Guardian."
I sucked in a sharp breath. "And yet you still return here?"
Yusuke nodded. "We believe that the Binding Rune lies beneath the theater. That's why we are so drawn to this area. And this is the only living area where we wouldn't be discovered."
Before I or he could continue, Mitsume scowled at Yuto who seemed to be enamoured with her. "There's something wrong with this guy."
I raised an eyebrow and waved my hand in front of Yuto's face but he still seemed to be staring at her, a lovesick smile on his face. I could feel a strange emotion blossom in me and I felt like yanking Yuto away and smacking Mitsume hard across the cheek. Then, I remembered that Yuto could also feel a tingling that I had assumed was the bond between Elementals. But with the explainations that Yusuke had provided, it dawned on me and as horror spread through my entire body, I fought to keep my exterior calm.
As Yusuke looked at Mitsume, her face turned into one of horror and disgust and she wailed, "HE'S MY ELEMENTAL?!"
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