The Price of Loyalty |Korin|

Re: The Price of Loyalty |Korin|

feeds@yuku.com (Air) — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 12:06:40 GMT

A flicker of amusement played over Air's features, deepening the smirk and lighting his eyes with a cold fire. "So you do have some backbone in you," he murmured thoughtfully. He paused to give Korin another look, his sharp eyes roaming up and down the librarian's face. Before he had written the man off as plain - not worth his time to do more than scare him. Now, however, there was an interest there. That spark of venom-laced defiance, however politely phrased, had been a...

Re: The Price of Loyalty |Korin|

feeds@yuku.com (Minobe Korin) — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 11:53:54 GMT

At first Korin could barely hear through the sudden pain, fire in his cheekbone that seemed to spread in jagged lines through his head. But as the words dripped like poison into his ear, the only thing Korin could think was how did you know? He couldn't be guessing, he knew too many specifics for that. The man was right. All those things Rou had been invovled in, had sometimes been the cause of.

But one name hovered in his mind, and as the stranger released his hair, he...

Re: The Price of Loyalty |Korin|

feeds@yuku.com (Air) — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 04:15:51 GMT

Air's mouth twisted into a devilish smirk. "Its unfortunate, isn't it?" he asked, although the question was rhetorical. He did not think that Korin was going to respond to anything he said at this point. "You always seem to end up on the receiving end of injury because of someone else's mistake." Slipping his hand into the folds of his kimono, Air withdrew a slim knife. Its blade and handle couldn't have been more than half an inch to an inch wide.
...

Re: The Price of Loyalty |Korin|

feeds@yuku.com (Minobe Korin) — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 04:02:19 GMT

Korin's breathing seized up and he nearly choked. Without his glasses the man's face blurred, too close, although Korin could see every detail on the ceiling. He half-heartedly cursed Rou for being the indirect cause of him being caught up in this situation, but most of his mind was taken up with simple panic. He forced himself to calm down a little, his breath rasping against his throat. He knew the man wasn't going to kill him. He still had to deliver that scroll. But what was...

Re: The Price of Loyalty |Korin|

feeds@yuku.com (Air) — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 03:51:46 GMT

"But that wouldn't drive home the message, would it?" Air asked, a maliciousness in his voice hereto unheard. Reaching out, Air grabbed a fistful of Korin's hair and forced the other man's head back so that it was resting on the back ledge of the chair, forced to stare up at the ceiling. Letting go long enough for him to get a better grip, Air adjusted Korin's position until he had him how he wanted him. "You will want to remain very still," he warned,...

Re: The Price of Loyalty |Korin|

feeds@yuku.com (Minobe Korin) — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 03:43:56 GMT

The name was a shock. Rou had told him about his past life, had told him that he had killed people, and done things he was ashamed of, but he had never told him that Rouichi Tokushima was an assumed name. For some reason Korin found that harder to accept than whatever crimes Rou might have committed in the past. Someone's name was very intricately tied with how you saw them.

Korin knew whatever the scroll contained could not be welcome to Rou. A better friend, he thought...

Re: The Price of Loyalty |Korin|

feeds@yuku.com (Air) — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 03:22:03 GMT

"He never told you?" Air asked softly. It seemed as though his voice did not go beyond the quiet whisper he seemed to favor. His dark eyes glittered with ever-present amusement. This was the heart of the matter. That was the look of horror starting to dawn in the librarian's eyes that Air had wanted to see. " 'Rouichi Tokushima' is a token name. Your friend," there was the barest hint of irony in his voice, "never had a name. He was a faceless,...

Re: The Price of Loyalty |Korin|

feeds@yuku.com (Minobe Korin) — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 03:04:46 GMT

Korin frowned, finding it hard to concentrate through the buzz of fear. Brothers, family squabbles - what? What was the man talking about? But as he listened, elements of the story started chiming disturbingly. Framed for a crime, a lord of such stature. Where had he heard this story before?

But as the man said the word slave, Korin's eyes opened in shock as it all fell into place. "Rou," he breathed.

His head jerked around to look at the...

Re: The Price of Loyalty |Korin|

feeds@yuku.com (Air) — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 02:55:00 GMT

"I'm certain that I don't," the stranger replied softly.

Air watched Korin for the calculated amount of time to build the most tention before he continued speaking. "Let me tell you a story Minobe Korin," he began, sounding a tad more light hearted than he had before. Emotion? No. Merely the buzz of excitement. He wanted to see what would happen when the man before him finally realized what was going on. "There were five brothers once. They grew up...

Re: The Price of Loyalty |Korin|

feeds@yuku.com (Minobe Korin) — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 02:25:46 GMT

Korin moved his head away from the voice in his ear, the skin on his shoulder almost wanting to writhe away from the man's touch. "Fire?" he said, bewildered, when the man straightened up and what he said actually sunk in. "I don't know anyone called Fire." Was it even a name? He racked his brains, but drew a blank. "Maybe you have the wrong person?"

Re: The Price of Loyalty |Korin|

feeds@yuku.com (Air) — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 02:17:36 GMT

The dark-clad man idly placed his hands on Korin's shoulders, touching with just the tips of his fingers. Leaning forward, he whispered into the librarian's ear. "To Fire," he said, breath ghosting over the other man's cheek and stirring strands of dark hair. He spoke as though the name were a secret - as though it were somekind of grave piece of information. He wanted the name to sink in for a reason. "Its easy enough," he said, straightening up.

Re: The Price of Loyalty |Korin|

feeds@yuku.com (Minobe Korin) — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 02:00:44 GMT

Korin's eyes followed the man's every move, turning his head slightly as he walked behind him, with Korin stuck between not wanting to let him out of view and not really daring to move. He looked at the scroll instead. "Who to?" he said. It didn't even cross his mind to refuse. He suspected that the man was lying and that there woudl be difficulties - had it been a normal message there would have been no need for him to come in the middle of the night like this - but...

Re: The Price of Loyalty |Korin|

feeds@yuku.com (Air) — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 01:49:42 GMT

Air laughed quietly. The sound was not pleasant. It was the noise made by the lion to the mouse the moment before pouncing. "The message is not for you," he supplied, stepping around the desk leisurely. His fingers ghosted over the wood with a phantom-like touch, trailing after his every step. "I want you to deliver this message to an associate of mine." He stopped directly behind Korin, where he had begun. "It should not be too difficult a task for you."

Re: The Price of Loyalty |Korin|

feeds@yuku.com (Minobe Korin) — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 01:43:27 GMT

Korin sat, feeling his heart still thudding in his chest. He found himself very glad there was the barrier of the desk between him and the man. He was clearly not going to get any information that the man didn't want to give, but he had one more try. "Is the scroll a message for me? Or is it just for decoration?" He probably shouldn't have let himself add that last bit, but the candlelight and the darkness and the danger radiating from the man were making him light-headed...

Re: The Price of Loyalty |Korin|

feeds@yuku.com (Air) — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 01:33:48 GMT

"You may ask any question you desire, Minobe Korin," the dark haired stranger replied, keeping an almost unblinking stare on the other man. "Whether your will get an answer is entirely debatable." An elegant wave of his free hand cast a gesture at Korin and his chair. "You may want to sit down." It was not a request.

Re: The Price of Loyalty |Korin|

feeds@yuku.com (Minobe Korin) — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 01:26:42 GMT

The minute the man laid his hand on his sword, his stance seeming to show nothing but relaxed amusement, a couple of things crystalised for Korin: that this man could probably kill him more easily than swatting a fly, and that Korin really did not want to know who he was. "No," he said slowly. "I don't think I do." His eyes went down to study the scroll, but it gave no clues to anything. "Can I ask why you're here?"

His nightmare was that Namiko...

Re: The Price of Loyalty |Korin|

feeds@yuku.com (Air) — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 01:14:26 GMT

Air watched the man known as Minobe Korin, his sharp stare boring into the librarian with the intensity of a burning star. Slowly, Air removed his hand and rested it very deliberately on his sword. The man was already frightened of him, that much was certain. "Do you really want to know?" he asked softly, the total lack of emotion in his voice hiding his dark amusement.

Re: The Price of Loyalty |Korin|

feeds@yuku.com (Minobe Korin) — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 01:06:27 GMT

"A message?" Korin said, assuming it was for him and automatically putting out his hand. But as he reached for it, the man shot him a look of such intense threat that Korin drew his hand back as if burned. Whatever the scroll was, Korin wasn't supposed to touch it now.

His eyes went back up to the man's face, but he couldn't hold his stare even for a moment. "Yes," he said, answering the stranger's question. "Minobe Korin, head librarian. Who...

Re: The Price of Loyalty |Korin|

feeds@yuku.com (Air) — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 01:01:14 GMT

"Minobe Korin?"

His voice was as smooth as black silk, but every word he spoke rang with the danger of a concealed knife. He spoke quietly, barely above a whisper, and the tone said he already knew who the man was. Why did he need to ask? He didn't. Lifting one hand, Air gracefully plucked a tightly bound roll of parchment from a pocket and placed it on the librarian's desk, leaving his fingers resting on it. The scroll was tied with a length of black satin.

Re: The Price of Loyalty |Korin|

feeds@yuku.com (Minobe Korin) — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 00:37:19 GMT

Korin didn't mind working late. He liked the peace, and enjoyed knowing that interruptions were highly unlikely. There was no sound in the library save the soft swish of his brush on the paper, and if you starined your ears you might think you heard the quiet sound of dust settling on bookshelves, coating the books and scrolls with another layer of time. The hours ticked by.

Korin was near the end of the records now. He was just putting the finishing strokes to a line when the...

The Price of Loyalty |Korin|

feeds@yuku.com (Air) — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 00:08:17 GMT

The candles in the library had burned low, casting long shadows that stretched like ghosts across the room to haunt the shelves. Korin sat alone at his desk casually reading through the day's records, his ink brush dancing across a page to his right as he took inventory. It was late and the other librarians had left for the evening, returning to whatever homes and beds awaited them. The solitude and quiet left the dark library feeling cavernous and empty.

...