Disclaimer: The author of this fanfiction does not, in any way, profit from the story. All creative rights to the characters belong to their original creator(s).
The Reclamation of Paralon
by Pout
Chapter 6: The Infamous Kisarazu Twins
The guards at the gate gave them a funny look and a thorough patting down as the three street rats left the manor. “That’s an invasion of privacy,” Kamio was mumbling.
Momo guffawed and elbowed him in the ribs. “Oh shut up. You liked it. I saw you giving the blond your best bedroom eyes.” He tore off down the road but Kamio caught up to him in seconds and proceeded to try and wrestle his friend to the ground.
Eiji looked over his shoulder as the manor got smaller and smaller behind them as they walked further and further away.
“Come on, Eiji! We’re gonna be late!” Momo beckoned as he dragged Kamio along. The shorter thief had his arms wrapped around the other’s neck and was refusing to let go despite the obvious ineffectiveness of the chokehold.
Eiji trotted up beside them and asked, “What exactly are we meeting the Kisarazus for?”
“Didn’t you hear? That damn merchant is trying to take over the Stack o’ Cards,” Momo said, speaking perfectly fine for all that Kamio was trying to wring his neck. “The Kisarazus can help.”
“Help?” Eiji said in disbelief. “As in help the Lord Ellestor, their high-side counterpart? You’re kidding.”
“Hey, if the guy moves in, it’ll affect the twins, too. Tell him, Kamio. And get off already.”
Kamio let go and brushed some dirt off his knees. “Once he moves in, there’s gonna be a power shift for sure. And all those people are gonna end up on the street: that’s competition. And all the muscle-men he’s gonna bring in with him, you know how those brawns like to catch a little bounty on the side, they’re gonna be trouble when a chase starts up. There’s more of a chance that they’ll get caught and all the bribes will start to get real expensive.”
“You know how the Kisarazus don’t like people treading on their grounds,” Momo said. “God, one of Atsushi’s boys almost took my eye out this morning! They’re like dogs guarding their piss marks, I swear.”
“You really think they’ll help?” Eiji asked.
“Who knows? But we should try.”
“Ryou, here they come.”
Kisarazu Ryou looked up from under the bridge and stuck his hands in his pockets. It was getting colder these days. His long dark locks were tied back at the nape of his neck and he considered letting them down to insulate against the chill. “What do you think they want?” he asked his brother.
The other Kisarazu had cut his hair short in an attempt to provide a visual aid for differentiation between the two twin brothers. So far, it only had minimal effects. “Something to do with the Stock o’ Cards, probably,” Atsushi answered. “I hear they came with the Lord of Ellestor himself this morning.”
“What? They went straight?”
Atsushi shrugged. He looked up to see that Yanagisawa had intercepted the group of three and was leading them down under the bridge.
Ryou stood up and said, “Let’s see what this is all about.”
“Keep watch,” Atsushi directed Yanagisawa as the group of three from Geddervont joined them.
“There’re some people about, ya know*,” Yanagisawa said. “I’d keep it short, ya know.” Atsushi nodded and sent him on his way.
“Atsushi, Ryou, it’s been a while,” Kamio said carefully, sensing the inadvertent tension they had caused. “How’s the scene around here these days?”
“Cold,” Ryou said evenly. “What’s this I hear about you and the Lord Ellestor?”
Ignoring his brother’s direct approach, Atsushi stepped forward and nodded in greeting to the three arrivals. “What happened to Geddervont?” he said conversationally. “Did the market dry out? There’s room here for three more.”
Kamio chuckled then turned serious. “Not for long.”
Ryou took a step forward. “What’s that supposed to mean?” he growled.
“Explain, Kamio.”
“There’s trouble coming for you guys,” the speedster replied. “You heard about the Stack o’ Cards?”
“That doesn’t have anything to do with us. We don’t run that area. Not profitable,” Ryou said.
“There are other problems, Ryou. Think about it. They put up a whore-house and you’re screwed when you make a run and get caught by one of the new muscle-men. It’s gonna be expensive to pay them off.”
“We don’t get caught,” Ryou said.
Momoshiro refrained from rolling his eyes. “What about all the people that are going to get kicked out of their homes?” he asked. “Even if you don’t care about them, think about where they’re going to end up. They’re gonna crowd the streets. You said there’s room for three, what about a hundred?”
“He said there was room for three,” Ryou growled. Why did everyone treat them like a single unit? “Besides, that just means we’ll have more hands under us. Nothing wrong with that.”
“Nothing wrong with that so long as you’re still holding the reins,” Momoshiro continued. “The merchant’s shady. He sets up, I guarantee you’ll have a power struggle on your turf.”
“What? You think he’s connected?” Atsushi asked. The last thing they needed was an affiliated gang rolling around their territory.
“He has a royal deed. What do you think?”
The twins shared a look then turned back to their audience. “Well, what the hell do you expect us to do about it?”
Kamio smirked. “Not much, just pay him a visit and take the deed off his hands.”
There was a pause before Ryou smiled slowly and asked: “Is that all?”
“That’s all.”
Atsushi nodded, sealing the deal. Then he crossed his arms across his chest and grinned, “So, what do we get out of it?”
While the Kisarazus went off to do what they did best, the gang stayed in the lookout spot with Atsushi’s right hand man, Yanagisawa. He stayed near the window, keeping a close eye on the distant ship. Meanwhile, Eiji was questioning his comrades quietly in the corner.
“What happened to you guys? We’re helping Lord Shishido, do you understand that?
Momoshiro shrugged and yawned. “It’s sad that all of those people are going to get kicked out. We had to do something.”
“Oishi said he thinks Lord Shishido will end up paying anyway. So why go through all this trouble?”
Kamio rubbed the side of his nose. “We just don’t want to see that slimy merchant get away with the money. It’s too big a job for someone that ugly to pull. That’s all.”
Eiji smiled, seeing through Kamio’s false demeanor. “You guys turned soft!” he accused.
“We did not!” they protested. Eiji tittered openly.
“Well, what about you?” Kamio pointed out. “Since when does a street rat call the heir to the kingdom by his name?”
“Good point,” Momo said, backing him up. “What were you two doing while we were gone, hm?” He wiggled his eyebrows for good measure.
“Oh, shut up, Momo,” Eiji said, whacking him upside the head. “So you think we might be going a little straight?”
Kamio shrugged. “We’re just doing one good deed for the high-siders. That’s all. Don’t get ahead of yourself.”
“What about Oishi’s fight?”
“There it is again,” Momo teased.
“Are we really joining or not?” Eiji persisted.
Momoshiro and Kamio exchanged looks. It was rare to see Eiji get so serious.
“We spent the whole day with Lord Shishido,” Momo began. “It was weird to see it, but he really does care for the people in Stack o’ Cards.”
Kamio nodded reluctantly. “The Regent’s got his claws in everything. It’s getting really ugly. I think the Lord Ellestor was right: he’s getting out of hand.”
“When street rats actually care about politics, it’s pretty bad, don’t you think?” Momo joked.
“What do you think, Eiji?” Kamio asked.
Eiji was smiling. “I don’t know how we’re gonna help him, but, well, now that we don’t have a spot to run, there really isn’t anything better to do, right?”
Two and a half hours later, the group sat bored out of their minds waiting for the Kisarazus to return. Kamio had even gotten bored of inspecting all the knick-knacks he had pulled from the Ellestor manor. The guards had not been especially thorough in their search, particularly the blond. Momoshiro had fallen asleep long ago and was drooling on the table.
“That’s the signal, ya know,” Yanagisawa announced suddenly from the window. “Looks like they got it, ya know.”
It was four in the morning and the lap of the waves against the pier had begun to lull Eiji to sleep. His sugar high had long since disappeared and now he was crashing hard. He managed a dull, pathetic, “Yay.”
“They ought to be back soon, ya know. It’ll take them a while to go around, ya know. But I don’t think there should be any real problems now that they’re off the ship, ya know. Thirty minutes tops, ya know.”
Kamio looked up at him with lidded eyes. “That is so annoying,” he muttered.
Twenty minutes later, the twins entered the hideout brandishing the pilfered documents.
“What did I tell you? We never get caught,” Ryou said feeling terribly accomplished.
Kamio and Eiji inspected the deed and shook their heads as they examined the royal seal. Assured that all was in order, Kamio kicked Momo’s chair to wake him up and handed the documents back to the twins.
“Remember the deal,” Atsushi said to the three as he pocketed the deed.
“Of course,” Eiji said as he yawned and stretched.
“Good work, boys. We’ll see you tomorrow,” Kamio said with a mock salute as they filed out of the hideout.
The three friends ambled along down the deserted street feeling tired but very pleased with themselves when a shine of blue light flickered out from the darkness to their left. They turned, only to stop short when they were greeted by a waving, smiling, open-eyed Fuji.
“That’s creepy,” Momo murmured under his breath.
The mage walked out of the black alleyway and pinned them with an unwavering gaze. “Hello,” he greeted, his voice pure ice. “May I ask what you three are doing outside of the manor at this time of night?”
Sure, jump right into the interrogation, Eiji thought. Was it just him or was the mage’s staff knob glittering more than usual? He stomped down on a yawn.
“Er, we can explain,” Momo stammered.
“We were just meeting up with some old friends,” Kamio said.
The mage nodded. “The Kisarazus. Yes. I wonder what things you might have spoken of.” There was a threat in there somewhere.
“We did something good,” Eiji said, wanting to quickly diffuse the situation. “Well, okay, it was kinda bad, but for the most part, it was good.”
“Shut up,” Momo sing-songed as he elbowed the smaller man.
“We didn’t tell them anything about…you know,” Eiji mumbled. He was tired and words seemed to be dribbling out of his mouth of their own accord. “Well, they do know we’re buddied up with the Lord Ellestor.”
“Shut up,” Kamio whispered.
“But we didn’t tell them anything really important. We just asked them to do something for us.”
“And what might that have been?” Fuji asked calmly.
“Eiji, just shut your damn mouth!” Kamio hissed
Eiji registered the command, but found himself mumbling: “We asked them to steal the deed from the merchant guy so that the people in the Stack o’ Cards could stay in their homes.”
“I see,” Fuji said, his voice considerably warmer now, his eyes squinting happily.
A tired haze seemed to lift from Eiji’s mind and he blinked, realizing immediately that the mage had tampered with him somehow, eliciting information easily from his unguarded mind. “What did you do?!” he demanded. Fuji’s sapphire cap was no longer flashing dully.
“Ah, I extracted some information from you, Kikumaru. I’m sorry, but it was necessary,” the mage explained.
“He put some spell on me!” Eiji cried.
Momoshiro rolled his eyes. “No wonder. And here I thought you’d cracked or something.”
“Thanks for your overflowing confidence.”
“So?” Kamio said, his expression guarded. He looked to the mage expectantly. Fuji just smiled back. “It wasn’t exactly legal, what we did; breaking in, stealing.”
“Ah,” Fuji said with a nod.
Kamio’s jaw dropped. “And we were conspiring with the infamous Kisarazu twins.”
“Yes,” Fuji responded easily.
Momoshiro shook his head. “Che. See? High-siders aren’t nearly as straight as they like to pretend,” he said, throwing his arm around Fuji’s shoulders.
“High-siders?” the mage asked as they started walking back towards the manor.
“Er, yeah. Uh…” Momoshiro had a hard time trying to think of a word that was not street slang, like the copper-droppers or the bent-noses. “You know, respectable people.”
Fuji nodded. “Ah. I see.”
“So you’re not gonna turn us in or anything?” Kamio said, more concerned with present circumstances than proper diction.
“Why would I do that?”
Kamio was confused.
“What you did was a good thing. That deed shouldn’t be legal, royal issue or not. Therefore I see no reason to intervene. Besides, I’m not part of the royal detail any longer. We’re all fugitives now.”
Kamio considered that for a moment before conceding the point, “I guess you’re right.”
“So,” Fuji said, “if respectable people are high-siders, what are non-respectable people?”
“We’re low-siders, of course,” Momo answered.
Fuji smiled. “Ah, very symmetrical.”
*I replaced Yanagisawa’s original “dane” with “ya know.” Not quite the same thing, I know, but “dane” doesn’t really work contextually. Lame, I know…
If you would like to provide feedback on this story, please feel free to e-mail me at: poutonly@gmail.com.