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rallamajoopStill no new proper chapter on Ghost Stories this week, with CLAMP's inconvenient cliffhanger hanging over things. In fact, it looks like we'll only be getting one new holic chapter between now and the end of the year, which doesn't give me great faith that anything much will be resolved within the next month. :/ But, as I've mentioned before, I've got a good supply of ideas for side stories in this universe that won't fit into the main plotline - and one of them already written. So consider this a kind of filler, I guess.
The respect Syaoran developed for Kamui and Fuuma didn’t come from their reputations alone. In fact, his first meeting with Kamui was memorable mostly because he nearly sparked a diplomatic incident, the sort that could have gotten their whole camp killed.
Until that day, spreading the weather reports had been a job Doumeki and Kurogane had dealt with, but Kurogane had never had much patience for dealing with Fuuma in person, and it had worn thinner with every visit. In those days, Syaoran had hardly left the camp. Just going far beyond the border used to make him twitchy, but he calmed down gradually as the years passed, until inevitably, his reluctance to leave passed even Kurogane’s reluctance to go. They didn’t really need that reason, it was little more than a routine chore, and there was plenty of sense at trying different camp members at new tasks. However, Kamui himself did not automatically see it that way.
“Where is Kurogane? Is this a visit for reasons other than the ordinary?” he inquired, when the unusual messenger duo had arrived.
“Usual reason. Storm due in tomorrow. He sent us to take care of it,” Doumeki explained, keeping as brief as he could get away with.
“And this is?” prompted Kamui, eying Syaoran, who had looked just about ready to leap on anything that moved since they arrived.
“He’s called Syaoran,” said Doumeki. “He’s been with our camp for a few years.”
“So now Kurogane sends children to deal in his place?” Kamui suggested, unimpressed.
“Oi!” blurted Syaoran.
Doumeki glared at him, but it didn’t have much effect. “Kid needs the experience away from camp.”
“If that were the case, why wouldn’t he accompany the boy himself? Has keeping our goodwill lost value to him?”
“Oi!” said Syaoran again, not taking well to being ignored. “Just what are you trying to say about Kurogane?”
“If he leaves such tasks to his underlings, that he’s a schemer or a coward,” said Kamui.
Those were also the days when, in Syaoran’s limited world experience, Kurogane held a position of respect that not even Fye with all his incomprehensible technological wizardry shared. Syaoran didn’t understand that Kamui had a habit of bitching just for the sake of bitching, or that Doumeki would have been able to end the subject peacefully within a few more exchanges. Such a blatant insult to Kurogane’s reputation did not sit with him at all.
The exchange that followed was over almost as quickly as it happened. Syaoran leapt at Kamui, lightning fast, but the slim young man moved faster. With no more than two blurred motions of his hands, Syaoran had been thrown back again to land flat on his back several paces away.
Doumeki took the one action he could think of that wouldn’t result in them both getting killed – he turned away from Kamui and pointed his own gun at Syraoran’s head. “If you want either of us to leave here alive, don’t get up.”
The boy’s eyes were wide with shock – both at his enemy’s demonstration and his ally’s betrayal, and he didn’t move an inch. When fifteen seconds had passed without either of them collapsing in a spray of blood, Doumeki let himself turn around again, slowly.
Kamui looked angry, but not murderous, which was probably a damn sight better than they deserved after that display.
“Let me apologise for my companion’s behaviour,” said Doumeki, sincerely. “He’s too stupid to know better. We’ll waive the fee for this trip.”
“You’d do well to teach him better manners before he gets you into worse trouble,” said Kamui. His posture radiated danger.
“I’ll see to it personally,” Doumeki promised. “Get up,” he told Syaoran. “We’re going.”
For the first twenty minutes of the journey from there to the Tower, Syaoran was silent.
“Shizuka, I’m sorry,” he said at last, hesitantly. “I… nearly got us into a lot of trouble, didn’t I?”
“You nearly got us killed,” said Doumeki. “Kamui is known to kill people for less than what you did today. As soon as we got close to the building, there were sentinels watching us as well. They’re loyal enough to him to attack if they ever suspect he’s under any kind of threat.”
“But… what he said about Kurogane…”
“People like him can say what they like.”
“How does he move that fast?” asked Syaoran, nervously.
“He wasn’t made leader of the Diet Building without reason,” said Doumeki, knowing the answer ‘no-one has any idea’ wouldn’t satisfy Syaoran for a second.
“I’ve never seen anyone move like that before,” Syaoran admitted, near breathlessly.
“Fuuma of the Tower is reputed to be an even match for him.”
“The Tower – where we’re going next?”
“Right.”
When they got there, both Fuuma and Syaoran were much better behaved.
The respect Syaoran developed for Kamui and Fuuma didn’t come from their reputations alone. In fact, his first meeting with Kamui was memorable mostly because he nearly sparked a diplomatic incident, the sort that could have gotten their whole camp killed.
Until that day, spreading the weather reports had been a job Doumeki and Kurogane had dealt with, but Kurogane had never had much patience for dealing with Fuuma in person, and it had worn thinner with every visit. In those days, Syaoran had hardly left the camp. Just going far beyond the border used to make him twitchy, but he calmed down gradually as the years passed, until inevitably, his reluctance to leave passed even Kurogane’s reluctance to go. They didn’t really need that reason, it was little more than a routine chore, and there was plenty of sense at trying different camp members at new tasks. However, Kamui himself did not automatically see it that way.
“Where is Kurogane? Is this a visit for reasons other than the ordinary?” he inquired, when the unusual messenger duo had arrived.
“Usual reason. Storm due in tomorrow. He sent us to take care of it,” Doumeki explained, keeping as brief as he could get away with.
“And this is?” prompted Kamui, eying Syaoran, who had looked just about ready to leap on anything that moved since they arrived.
“He’s called Syaoran,” said Doumeki. “He’s been with our camp for a few years.”
“So now Kurogane sends children to deal in his place?” Kamui suggested, unimpressed.
“Oi!” blurted Syaoran.
Doumeki glared at him, but it didn’t have much effect. “Kid needs the experience away from camp.”
“If that were the case, why wouldn’t he accompany the boy himself? Has keeping our goodwill lost value to him?”
“Oi!” said Syaoran again, not taking well to being ignored. “Just what are you trying to say about Kurogane?”
“If he leaves such tasks to his underlings, that he’s a schemer or a coward,” said Kamui.
Those were also the days when, in Syaoran’s limited world experience, Kurogane held a position of respect that not even Fye with all his incomprehensible technological wizardry shared. Syaoran didn’t understand that Kamui had a habit of bitching just for the sake of bitching, or that Doumeki would have been able to end the subject peacefully within a few more exchanges. Such a blatant insult to Kurogane’s reputation did not sit with him at all.
The exchange that followed was over almost as quickly as it happened. Syaoran leapt at Kamui, lightning fast, but the slim young man moved faster. With no more than two blurred motions of his hands, Syaoran had been thrown back again to land flat on his back several paces away.
Doumeki took the one action he could think of that wouldn’t result in them both getting killed – he turned away from Kamui and pointed his own gun at Syraoran’s head. “If you want either of us to leave here alive, don’t get up.”
The boy’s eyes were wide with shock – both at his enemy’s demonstration and his ally’s betrayal, and he didn’t move an inch. When fifteen seconds had passed without either of them collapsing in a spray of blood, Doumeki let himself turn around again, slowly.
Kamui looked angry, but not murderous, which was probably a damn sight better than they deserved after that display.
“Let me apologise for my companion’s behaviour,” said Doumeki, sincerely. “He’s too stupid to know better. We’ll waive the fee for this trip.”
“You’d do well to teach him better manners before he gets you into worse trouble,” said Kamui. His posture radiated danger.
“I’ll see to it personally,” Doumeki promised. “Get up,” he told Syaoran. “We’re going.”
For the first twenty minutes of the journey from there to the Tower, Syaoran was silent.
“Shizuka, I’m sorry,” he said at last, hesitantly. “I… nearly got us into a lot of trouble, didn’t I?”
“You nearly got us killed,” said Doumeki. “Kamui is known to kill people for less than what you did today. As soon as we got close to the building, there were sentinels watching us as well. They’re loyal enough to him to attack if they ever suspect he’s under any kind of threat.”
“But… what he said about Kurogane…”
“People like him can say what they like.”
“How does he move that fast?” asked Syaoran, nervously.
“He wasn’t made leader of the Diet Building without reason,” said Doumeki, knowing the answer ‘no-one has any idea’ wouldn’t satisfy Syaoran for a second.
“I’ve never seen anyone move like that before,” Syaoran admitted, near breathlessly.
“Fuuma of the Tower is reputed to be an even match for him.”
“The Tower – where we’re going next?”
“Right.”
When they got there, both Fuuma and Syaoran were much better behaved.
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no subject
Date: 2007-12-07 09:32 pm (UTC)i love your story, and i look forward to reading it with anticipation each week, just like the xxxholic and TRC chapters, except better cuz i know you post EVERY week with no breaks! ^__^ thank you for that, you help keep a fangirl sane.
"Doumeki took the one action he could think of that wouldn't result in them both getting hilled" -->> should be "killed"? XD
um, i know i haven't commented on your fics before b/c i'm a lurker
stalker, but i loved reading your discworld crossovers and pirate AU's too. your writing is so wonderful and enjoyable to read and you have such a way with words and funny turns of phrase that twists me into giggles!! please keep writing!p.s. your hand-made pipefox plushie is so adorable and cute!
no subject
Date: 2007-12-08 01:06 am (UTC)Not much of an achievement, I must say - it's really not that busy around here.
except better cuz i know you post EVERY week with no breaks!
Um, well, no, I don't. I didn't update it last week, this week is filler and next week I'm going to be far too busy to get anything up, short of a miracle. As I've said previously, I'm having great trouble writing for the new character I've just introduced while the canon has left us on a cliffhanger which I'm half suspecting is going to be crucial to her whole roll in the series - and it may well be over a month before that's properly resolved. Right now everything's a bit up in the air. Sorry to disappoint, but while I have been doing my best to keep updating this regularly, it really isn't safe to count on me being more regular than CLAMP are.
"Doumeki took the one action he could think of that wouldn't result in them both getting hilled" -->> should be "killed"? XD
Ah, right. I'll get that fixed.
um, i know i haven't commented on your fics before b/c i'm a lurker stalker, but i loved reading your discworld crossovers and pirate AU's too. your writing is so wonderful and enjoyable to read and you have such a way with words and funny turns of phrase that twists me into giggles!! please keep writing!
Thanks, always pleased to hear my work is being enjoyed. ^_^
p.s. your hand-made pipefox plushie is so adorable and cute!
Yeah, he's turned into a surprisingly big hit with everyone. XD
no subject
Date: 2007-12-08 12:16 am (UTC)So are you going to write more
backstory!fillers? I hope there will be some centering on Chii, or maybe more on the Tower/Diet interaction. Hehehe. Or maybe even about the Complex and how it really works. At least until CLAMP decides to stop being evil and tells us what really happened to Kohane.no subject
Date: 2007-12-08 01:11 am (UTC)I don't plan on writing any more side stories right now - this was one I'd just written a while back and was keeping for a situation like this. I've got lots of others planned, but most of them would be more appropriate to share once the main story is done. Right now, I'm mostly working on parts of the story which don't involve Kohane directly - backstories for the other characters and such, which I'll be working in before too long. But in general, given that I've been going on this thing since July, I hope it's not utterly unreasonable that I might need to take a bit of a break. ^^;
no subject
Date: 2007-12-10 04:36 pm (UTC)Syaoran didn’t understand that Kamui had a habit of bitching just for the sake of bitching, or that Doumeki would have been able to end the subject peacefully within a few more exchanges. Haha! I love Kamui, but that is so so true. :P
At some point I would love to see one of the earlier meetings where Kurogane has to interact with Fuuma.
I love how often you update, but I can totally understand needing time to work things out especially with CLAMP being evil. Don't worry, I'll still be here when you’re ready to post again. (Considering I can't even manage a new chapter a month with my continuing fic I have no right to complain) And I wouldn't complian if you worked on other stuff as well in the meantime :P TRC/Holic Movie!AU
no subject
Date: 2007-12-12 01:52 am (UTC)At some point I would love to see one of the earlier meetings where Kurogane has to interact with Fuuma.
I don't have anything like that planned so far (and god knows I've got enough other things planned for this world) so no promises there. Although, considering my current working theory is that half the reason Kurogane won't visit the Tower anymore is that he got that sick of Fuuma flirting with him on every visit, maybe you can imagine roughly how their meetings must have gone. XD
Considering that the new holic chapter is out and has indeed not resolved *anything*, I really don't know what I'm going to be doing with this story in the next couple of weeks. Maybe I could try a bit more Superhero!AU. Or I may just stick with writing the non-Kohane bits that are still to come. I'll have to see.