Blind for you/ Prolouge

[LittleRooster]

The grocery bags felt heavy in the summer heat. The sun beat mercilessly on the top of his head, beads of sweat trickling down his back in damp trails that moistened the fabric of his shirt. His weary legs ached from walking all the way to the grocery store when he should have just driven. Sometimes the extent of his own stupidity caught him by surprise. He really needed to think things through completely before deciding to take a leisurely stroll at high noon with the sun fat and gloating in the cloudless sky overhead.

Kureno paused to take a break in the shade of a large tree lining the gate to the Main House, his breath coming in shallow pants as he set the bags on the grass so he could adjust the collar of his long-sleeved shirt, trying to coax the motionless air into cooling his overheated skin. Akito would probably yell at him for being sweaty and gross when he went to see her. Hot, humid summer days always put her in a bad mood.

Sighing, he stooped to re-gather his plastic-contained burdens. Normally, he liked when Akito let him go outside the Main House, but today he really wished she'd opted to send one of the servants to the store rather than him. The bags felt ten times heavier as he continued along the gate, dragging his feet through patches of emerald green grass and avoiding pools of sunlight whenever possible. He had long ago mastered the ability to travel the lesser-known paths through the Inner and Outer Circles with silent ease, and now he did so unthinkingly, his footfalls little more than a chorus of whispers in the summer afternoon.

He froze dead in his tracks upon seeing an unfamiliar figure prowling along the wall that divided the Inner and Outer Circles, stooping to peer through the thick columns of wood that made up the high barrier, hands in the pockets of his tan slacks to keep up the fa�ade that he was just out for a casual stroll. Innocent intentions or not, the man was sight-seeing on private property. Right beyond that wall was Akito's garden, and beyond that, her suite of rooms and probably the Juunishi goddess herself. Too close for comfort.

"Excuse me," Kureno said sharply.

The man whirled, shadows and sunlight shifting on his longish black hair, hand twisting in his pocket and feet spreading apart. Kureno recognized the stance, and his heart skipped a beat as the frantic thought fluttered through his mind that he was about to get shot.

The stranger blinked, returning to himself, the flesh around his almond-shaped eyes relaxing slightly. He removed his hands from his pockets. "Forgive me, sir. I didn't know anyone was there." He bowed politely, hands at his sides.

Kureno didn't bow back. "What are you doing?"

"Just a bit of sight-seeing," the man said levelly, a ghost of what sounded like an Osakan accent lingering in his voice. "You know, you walk very quietly."

"There's nothing here for you to see," Kureno replied, ignoring the man's comment. "You'd better leave. This is private property."

The stranger shrugged, broad shoulders moving underneath his loose white shirt. "I didn't mean to intrude. The Souma family owns one of the oldest and largest estates in the city. I just wanted to see a piece of history for myself."

"Leave," Kureno snapped, surprising himself with his own hostility, "before I call security."

A thick, dark eyebrow quirked, but the man didn't even look slightly offended by Kureno's unfriendliness. "I'm very sorry, sir," he drawled as he began to saunter away from the wall. "Though I have to say that I don't think you'd be able to do much of anything with those bags dangling off your arms. I didn't know servants were allowed to throw their weight around so much."

An unfamiliar flush of anger spread over Kureno's cheeks. "I'm not a servant, and I have more weight to throw around than you think. If you don't leave right now--"

"I'm gone, man," the stranger interrupted, obviously amused by Kureno's flurry of threats. "See you later."

Kureno grit his teeth, biting back another stream of harsh words. He watched as the man casually walked past a small family home and stepped out onto the main road, moving away from the looming gates that barred the Inner Circle, away from Kureno's home, away from Akito. His instantaneous dislike for the man was surprising, but understandable given the situation. Still... he hardly ever lost his temper like that.

Sweat rolled down his nose, and he sighed, identifying at least one contributor to his foul mood. Now that the surge of adrenaline from his encounter with the stranger had receded, his arms were feeling even more tired than before. However, even as he resumed his walk back to the main gate, he couldn't help glancing suspiciously in the direction the man had disappeared in.

Kureno soon found himself in front of the great wooden doors of the Inner Circle, but his gaze was locked on the figure shrinking in the distance. The man certainly didn't seem ashamed to be intruding on the Soumas' private property, and as Kureno watched with eyes that used to be as twice as sharp as a human's, he thought he saw the man look over his shoulder at him, eyes gaping chasms of cold darkness in his face. He felt a chill course down his back, his flesh trying to crawl off his bones.

Whatever the man had been doing outside the Main House, Kureno was dead certain it wasn't sight-seeing.

*

Heat reminded Akito of death. Stench. Bodies festering and swelling like overripe fruit, full of maggots and rotting away into nothing.

Why she thought of such repulsive things every time summer arrived, Akito hadn't the slightest clue. Maybe it was because she felt sweaty and disgusting, and the contents of her thoughts wanted to match the bacterial filth breeding on her sweat-damp skin. For the fifth time in the past hour, she rose off the futon and angrily flung off her coat before lying back down, arms spread wide and legs sprawled to disperse the thick, moist cloud of heat that was trying to suffocate her.

The tactic worked for a moment or two, but its success was short-lived, just like she knew it would be. Her skin became chilled as the air touched the saline dampness trickling from every pore on her body, and she let out a frustrated growl as she once again reached for her silk coat, wrapping it around her like a pair of comforting arms.

Comforting arms. Now, that was something she did not have at the moment. Where the hell was Kureno? She sent him on one simple errand, and he disappeared for a ridiculously long amount of time. What had he done? Walked to the store like an idiot, thinking that he would enjoy the pretty, sunny day? Over breakfast, he'd commented on what nice weather they were having. Akito had retorted angrily that the day was too hot to be anything but miserable and sent him out of her presence before he could say anything else moronic.

Now, he'd been gone for forever, and some weak, terrified part of her mind was saying that one of these days when she told him to go away, Kureno wouldn't bother coming back. It would be easy to hide out in the city for a few days before skipping town and disappearing into the countryside. The networks of the Souma family spanned far and wide, but on the very edges of the power structure, resources were thin. Kureno could leave Japan if he wanted to. He knew how to read and speak English, and his auburn hair and eyes didn't immediately identify him as Japanese. He could go to England. Or America. He could disappear like a ghost in the dark, and she would never see him again.

Akito huddled deeper into the folds of her coat, shivering. What if he had done just that? What if he had finally left her? The last words she spoke to him were in anger. He would always remember her as the skinny, bad-tempered girl who yelled at him.

She turned the dark prospect of Kureno abandoning her over and over in her mind, trying to poke holes in the idea with logic, but it annoyingly stayed afloat in the ever-present sea of doubt and insecurity in her mind. Finally, she couldn't take the morbidity of her thoughts any longer and got to her feet, resettling her coat around her shoulders and marching over to the fusuma.

She barreled through the anteroom, and stepped into the shadowy hallway. "Yoko!" she called.

Immediately, she heard the padding of feet as the maid appeared a little ways down the hall. "Yes, Akito-san?" she asked nervously, noting that her master was in a bit of a temper.

"Where's Kureno?" Akito demanded. "Hasn't he returned yet?"

To her surprise, the woman's dark head bobbed in a nod. "Yes, sir. I saw him come in about half an hour ago. He took the groceries to the kitchen."

Kureno had been here for half an hour, and he hadn't come to see her yet? That was simply unforgivable.

"Go find him," Akito ordered, barely able to contain her anger. "Tell him that I wish to have a word with him. Tell him I'm not pleased."

The maid bent at the waist in a deep bow, her hands clasped in front of her. "Yes, Akito-san. Right away."

Akito turned on heel and stalked down the hall, wishing there was something in range to kick or throw. She knew it. Kureno didn't like to be around her. He was sick of constantly having to be at her side and probably seized every opportunity to get away from her for a few precious moments. The realization made her chest hurt, which only made her want to destroy something, anything to make the ache go away.

The heat of her anger was making her sweat, and as she stalked into the room where she usually received guests, she yanked the coat off her shoulders and flung the dark, floral-patterned material onto the wooden table with a noise of utter frustration.

"Akito?"

She let out a grossly feminine yip and frantically tried to pinpoint the source of the concerned voice. Kureno stood just inside the open shoji doors, rays of sunlight making his auburn hair look alive with strands of pure crimson.

"How did you get there?" she demanded. "Where did you come from?"

"Outside," he said, pointing in the direction of the garden. "Are you alright?"

She strode over to him, but found that most of her anger had evaporated in the face of his worried expression. "Where have you been?"

"I went to the grocery store," he explained. "And then I brought the groceries home and changed my shirt."

"And then you decided to take a long stroll around the Inner Circle?" she finished, still irritated. She hated when she was upset and he acted perfectly calm about it.

His auburn brows puckered a bit as he cast a disturbed glance outside, where the foliage was full of green leaves and brightly-colored flowers of summer. "I saw a man hanging around outside the gate. He seemed a bit suspicious to me so I was checking the inner side of the wall to make sure there was no way he could get inside. I also alerted security and told them to keep watch at all of the guard posts."

Akito frowned deeply, more perturbed by Kureno's paranoia than the fact that there'd been an unwelcome visitor poking around the wall. "What did this man look like?"

"About my age. Dark hair. Dark eyes."

"A man with dark hair and dark eyes in Japan? He must stick out like a sore thumb."

Kureno shrugged, not acknowledging the sarcasm. "I didn't like him, and your rooms are close to the gate. It made me uncomfortable."

She sighed. It was rare for Kureno not to like someone, and even rarer for him to admit it openly. Though he didn't broadcast it, Akito knew the former Bird was one those annoying people who liked to believe that every person had some sort of good in them. It was probably fortunate she rarely let him outside the Main House, or he'd be in for a rude awakening. The world beyond the walls of their home was an ugly place full of ugly people.

Akito tugged on the sleeve of Kureno's blue polo shirt. "I want to take a nap. We have to attend that stupid dinner tonight."

Kureno frowned, an expression she found very irksome. What right did he have to be displeased? It wasn't like she enjoyed attending the bimonthly dinners arranged by the prominent families in the city. The ceaseless boasting of financial successes. The smell of many different colognes intermingling. Everyone anxious to rub shoulders with the young bachelors of the enigmatic Souma family. It made Akito sick to her stomach. The dinner tonight would no doubt spawn several business proposals, a few attempts to court her favor, and maybe even a sudden marriage proposal or two from families willing to offer their eligible female relatives to the lord of the Souma in order to pool their resources with the old, wealthy family.

Akito wondered what they would say if they knew she had no intention of ever marrying a woman. Would they offer their sons as sacrificial lambs in the females' stead? Would rumors abound of Souma-san's suspected homosexuality? She might just let them believe that, if it would make them leave her family alone.

"Wouldn't it be alright to skip tonight's dinner?" Kureno suggested. "We can say you weren't feeling well."

"I skipped the first dinner of the month. If I miss this one, I'll get letters and flowers and annoying visitors asking about my health."

Kureno placed his hands on her shoulders and squeezed gently, russet-colored eyes overwhelmed with worry. "Akito, I don't think this is a good idea. That man's appearance and the upcoming dinner are too big of a coincidence. What if someone tries to kidnap you again?"

Dark eyes turned skyward in a gesture of exasperation. "Kureno, no one has tried that for years."

"But that doesn't mean they've given up," he insisted, undoubtedly remembering the handful of times the Juunishi had been sick with worry at the reports of suspicious person within the walls of the Inner Circle.

Fortunately, none of the attempted kidnappings had ever succeeded. The closest anyone ever came to kidnapping the head of the Souma family was when Akito was five years old. She'd been playing with Hatori and Shigure in the garden one evening when a man suddenly stepped from his hiding place behind a tree and snatched her around the waist with one arm. Even after all this time, she remembered the distinct reek of aftershave emanating from the mass of heat and muscular hardness at her back. She could feel the man's bruising grip around her ribcage, his hot breath panting in her ear.

And she very clearly remembered Shigure, all of thirteen years old at the time, jumping at the man before he could turn and flee, viciously biting his hand and worrying at the skin until blood welled up around his teeth. The man had cursed and tried to shake him off, but to no avail. In the end, he had resorted to kicking the boy, and even as Hatori, with helpless tears streaming down his face, tried to pull his goddess from her assailant's grasp, Akito had started shrieking at the top of her lungs at the sight of that man's boot being driven into Shigure's tender stomach.

In the end, security had to pin the man to the ground and pry Shigure off of him. Akito remembered his tearstained cheeks and the blood clinging to his lips. Shigure had two broken ribs that healed nicely, but Akito's would-be kidnapper ended up with three paralyzed fingers and a long prison sentence for attempted kidnapping. No had tried to steal her away from her family since then.

"You worry too much," Akito told Kureno, pulling him away from the doors and in the direction of her bedroom. "Now, let's go take a nap. I don't want to be falling asleep at the dinner like I was last time."

Kureno obeyed, but his anxiety was still evident in the crease between his eyebrows, in his distracted manner, in the way he squirmed restlessly while Akito attempted to sleep in the curve of his arm. She could feel the weight of his preoccupied thoughts like a pair of hands pressing down on her shoulders, and though she eventually fell asleep, her dreams were haunted by the memory of her kidnapping attempt. Only, in this nightmarish fabrication, the man wasn't there to kidnap her. He wanted to take her far away from her family, rape her until she was raw, and then leave her for dead in a dark place where no one could hear her scream for help. It was horrible and awful and made her want to castrate every man on the planet, but the worst part of the nightmare was that Shigure wasn't there to rescue her