Onmyou Taisenki Fan Fiction ❯ Onmyou Taisenki: Rebirth ❯ Chapter 3 ( Chapter 3 )

As the morning sun rose into the sky, the first rays of dawn's light were greeted by the singing of birds, chirping insects, cold mist of the early day covering the earth and one very loud yell from a certain feline warrior. Opening his ruby eyes Kogenta was greeted to the warmth of an unfamiliar body and the soft snores of a young human boy. It took the warrior cat a moment to remember where he was and how he ended up there and once his memories settled he promptly yelled out and kicked away the boy. The human rolled away from him and then settled with a rough thump off of the futon onto the hard wood floor, all the while never stirring.

 

The feline samurai looked at the boy with awe as he noticed that his attack hadn't jarred the human. Looking over the young man and seeing a small string of drool appear on the side of his mouth Kogenta looked disgusted and then sighed before rubbing his claws on the bridge of his nose. Lokking down at the human something about the way he slept just made him want to…do something…violent. Kogenta being Kogenta decided to go with his natrural instincts in this situation and picked the boy up by his shirt collar and stare into his sleeping face.

 

“Hey, kid! Wake up already, kid! HEY, I SAID WAKE UP ALREADY!!!” Kogenta yelled into the boy's ear but only received small murmurs from the human child in reply

 

Kogenta was already not feeling to pleased about being in some strangers' house and even less the fact that now he begrudgingly owed this person his life. Dropping the boy back to the hard wood floor Kogenta watched as the boy settle himself into a comfortable position and then curl into a ball. The blue and white furred samurai balled his hand into a fist and then proceeded to bury his knuckles into the kid's head when the boy turned over suddenly. Kogenta's fist met wood, then broke through to the hard, cold ground and the feline could only curse out loud. He turned to look at the human who was still asleep and then he sighed again before taking hold of the kid and pulling him up and shaking him.

 

“Hey, brat. Wake up already!” the enraged feline shouted into the boy's face

 

The human child only let out a quiet snore and then seemed to drift into deeper sleep. Kogenta felt his nerves twitch and it took the last of his already nonexistent patience to not hurt the kid even more than he wanted. A soft sigh from the young man brought Kogenta's attention back to him and the feline looked down to see shimmering violet eyes opening to look directly at him. It took the samurai a moment to bring his thoughts back into focus because he had never seen such captivating eyes like this boy's before. There was something about them made Kogenta stare longer than he wanted.

 

“Good morning.” The soft and sleep laden voice of the young human chirped

 

“wha…?” Kogenta tried to ask but at the incredulousness of the situation he could barley speak a complete sentence

 

“I'm glad to see that you're feeling better but could you put me down now, I have to open the teahouse soon.” the young man asked without any fear in his voice while in the claws of the feline warrior

 

Kogenta set the human back to the floor and then looked at him with his mouth agape and right eye twitching. The boy chirped his thanks before rushing out of the bedroom into the living room leaving a very disturbed Kogenta behind. The feline samurai got to his knees and then slowly stood before making sure that his sword was on his side and exiting the room to find the human child. In the living room Kogenta scanned around and saw what the boy meant before by teahouse, the room looked smaller than the other he had slept in but the style was the same as the other teahouses he visited. A traditional room filled with bonsai, flowers, simmering rice, burning firewood, and the rich smell of freshly brewing tea.

 

The samurai sat down at one of the low sitting tables and watched the young tea maker proceed with his daily routine. The boy moved with practiced ease as he made the tea and cooked the rice while stroking the fires underneath the pot the food simmered in. The young man moved with a lot of grace as he worked by himself and never missed a step in cooking and made sure everything was just right. Kogenta had to hand it to the kid that he knew what he was doing and the samurai could applauded the child for his work and efficiency.

 

“Thank you! That means a lot. The food will be ready in a second.” the human said while getting two china bowls out of the cabinets, two ceramic cups from the dish rack, then setting them down on a serving tray and fixing the food for himself and his guest

 

“I didn't say anything!” Kogenta barked while crossing his arms and turning away to look out the window on the side of the house

 

“Really, I thought you did. Oh well, here you go!” the boy said while placing the steaming food in front of the samurai and sitting down on the other side of the table

 

The feline looked at the food and then the boy who was smiling at him before the warrior took a pair of chopsticks in his clawed hand and started to dig into the food. The young tea maker watched the warrior eat with relish before he smiled and started in on his own bowl of rice. The meal was silent, to say the least, but it seemed to suit the two individuals who were lost in their own thoughts. Once the food was eaten and the tea was drunk the young boy take away the dishes to clean them in a basin of water and returned with two refilled cups of simmering liquid.

 

Setting the ceramic dishes down the young man looked into the ruby eyes of the feline warrior who was looking up at him in question.

 

“Something else you need mister samurai?” the young tea maker asked while sitting himself down and taking his cup in hand

 

“Mister samurai?” questioned Kogenta while looking at the boy in disbelief

 

“Aren't you a samurai? The way you used your sword the other day was just like the way my grandfather said samurai used their swords.” told the young man with child like wonder and amazement

 

“My name isn't `Mister Samurai' its Kogenta and where am I anyway?” the feline warrior asked while he tried not to be frazzled by the human's obvious hero worship

 

“Oh, I'm very sorry Kogenta. You're just on the out reach of the capital in the Illisian fields.” rattled off the boy

 

“The capital huh? How did I get here anyway?” Kogenta asked while taking his cup in hand putting the warm tea to his lips. He didn't remember walking here and he couldn't smell a horse or any other type of riding animal nearby

 

“I carried you!” said the human with much pride and a smile on his face

 

Kogenta nearly dropped his cup as he snapped his head to the boy and then looked the human child up and down before laughing out loud. He put his face on his arm lying across the table and then beat his other hand on the floor while laughing his head off.

 

“Y..you…carried…m…me. Yeah right now really how did I get here, kid?” the samurai said when he finally controlled his laughing fit

 

The human looked miffed and then stood up and pointed to himself.

 

“I told you I carried you here and my name is Riku!” the young man exclaimed with self-confidence

 

“Impossible. You look like a stiff wind could send you sprawling to the ground.” Kogenta looked the boy in his violet eyes to see if there was any trace of deception within him

 

“I don't lie. Grandfather said that lying is a terrible thing to do and never to do so.” The young man said while looking down at the feline hurt but still confident

 

“Prove it! If you can pick me I'll believe you but if not you're nothing but a liar!” Kogenta crossed his arms over his chest and huffed while looking dead at Riku

 

The young tea maker walked over to the warrior, bent down to stare at eye level with the feline before scooping him in his arms and hauling the samurai up. Kogenta gasped when he was lifted from the floor into the air and even further when Riku stood up. Both the samurai and human stared at each for a moment before Riku set his burden back down onto the cushion and sat at his place on the side of the table with a smile on his face.

 

“See I told you I could. I carried you all the way here from the forest.” proclaimed Riku toKogenta with his chest puffed up

 

The samurai sulked and turned his head to the side while muttering something Riku couldn't here. When he turned back to look at the boy Kogenta took a better look at the human and checked for any sign of something supernatural about him. But looking at the young man he seemed like an average and almost plain human, except for those violet eyes. Kogenta tried to remember what he heard about violet eyes but his head was still groggy from waking and he shook it away before he could remember what he knew.

 

“How did you pick me up? I weigh at least fifty pounds more than you and all of its muscle. You have to be at least two thirds of my weight, wet!” Kogenta accused the boy while pointing at him

 

“I don't know all I did was lift you up. You didn't seem to weight much then and not even right now.” Riku told the feline while drinking his tea with a innocent smile on his face

 

The human took little notice of the fact that the samurai was almost insulting him but maybe it was because the fact was true that Riku took little mind to this. Finishing off his tea, the young man went and unlocked the door while Kogenta watched him with a glare on his face. The young tea maker turned around to look at his guest and then smiled at the feline before sitting back down at the table.

 

“I have a question for you, Kogenta. Why were you in the forest yesterday?” Riku asked while looking at the feline with his wide and innocent eyes

 

The feline cringed at the boy's question and looked down with a black haze over his face. That was a question that had been on his mind ever since the samurai woke this morning. He tried to think back to yesterday but mot of it was a blank. Kogenta could remember the day before and the assignment he was carrying out but after that the only thing the warrior recalled was the boy and the demon that tried attacked them. The mission he was on; something about getting to the capital and then the road he was traveling on being guarded, him taking a side route and then…nothing. It was as if his memory had been blotted out by something

 

Rubbing his knuckles on the side of his head Kogenta tried to jog his memories but nothing came from the dark haze of his mind. Feeling something touching his gloved hand the feline gazed up to see Riku looking down at him. The look in the boy's eyes was unfamiliar to the samurai but in his chest he felt a hint of something almost comfortable, bloom. The warrior shook it away and scowled at the human and the small hand that was touching him before he started to growl.

 

“The reason you are touching me is?” Kogenta asked while holding in his temper, a feat in itself

 

“I just wanted to say that you can stay here until you know where you're going, free of charge.” Riku told Kogenta while looking at he feline with an innocent look on his face

 

Kogenta tried not to cringe again as he thought about the look that the boy was giving him and the way it reminded him of all those little brats in the orphanage he frequently visited. The warrior cat turned his head and gave a grunt before picking up his now cold tea and downing it in one gulp. Even cold he had to admit that the human made pretty good tea, far better than the stuff he ordered in those over priced restaurants. Looking down at his empty cup Kogenta debated whether to ask for another serving or just forget about it. When, without warning, the ceramic dish was taken from his clawed hand and whisked away by Riku. He was about to yell at the boy that he wasn't finished when a fresh cup of stemming liquid was put before him.

 

Kogenta looked down at the green beverage that had his reflection in it and then back up to the human who was smiling at him. It was almost getting annoying that the boy could read him like a well-printed book. Taking the cup in hand and sipping the hot tea Kogenta gave a grunt before returning to his musings. Riku on the other hand had finished his third cup and was returning to his room to don his traveling clothes.

 

This would be the second day his grandfather had been away but Riku knew of the things he was supposed to accomplish while the old man was gone. His chores were simple considering that neither he nor the old man needed much; clean the walkway, chop more firewood, check on the rice storage, count how many herbs he had left, and make sure Kogenta was comfortable. The last he for personal sake, Riku had a feeling that the feline samurai would be around for a while and he wanted to leave a good impression on him so that maybe one day the warrior would come back.

 

Why he wanted a rude, impatient, and loud creature like Kogenta to return was a mystery in itself but Riku felt safe with the samurai around. Maybe it was his crimson eyes that had a fire about them that was comforting and just a bit on the roaring side that made Riku feel like nothing could hurt him with the feline around. Somewhere in his heart Riku felt as if he could tell all of his deepest secrets and dreams to Kogenta and one day they might come true. It could just be childish hero worship, since he had always wanted to see a real life samurai in person and not just the few men who passed by, then again it could have been the fact that he never had a guest he felt connected to. Strange since the only person he remembered ever since he was little was his grandfather, the young man couldn't even remember the face of his parents but Kogenta felt almost like…

 

Riku shook his head and continued changing clothes before he returned to the living room to find Kogenta gone. The cup he had used was on the table but the feline was nowhere in sight. Why a feeling of dread and loneliness crept into his heart he would wonder about later as the boy rushed from the teahouse to look for the feline. The young man looked around but he didn't see the white and blue stripped feline samurai anywhere. Bowing his head Riku returned inside and picked up the cup Kogenta had used before taking it to the basin and washing the dish.

 

Crestfallen, the young cinnamon haired human rubbed his eyes and then thought about what an idiot he must have been. Of course someone like Kogenta wouldn't stay with him for longer than it took him to get his wind back. No one ever stayed with Riku for long, how could they when even his grandfather left him alone. Laughing out loud the young man put the dish in the rack along with the others to dry and the carried the basin outside to dump the used water. Outside Riku couldn't help but look around for any sign of the feline but only the fading mist of morning greeted him.

 

Walking over by the river, Riku cleaned the basin in the running water before setting it aside and looking at himself in the face. He wondered what was wrong with him that people seemed to want to leave him behind like an old pack. He wasn't an ugly boy, he was well groomed for someone who had lived in the country all his life, his auburn hair was well kept and neat, his face was as cute as a cherubs', his skin was little tanned, his body was toned from the physical exertion he put on it day to day, and he looked like the picture of health all be it a little skinny. So what was the reason people seemed to run from him? Riku punched his reflection and watched it ripple before settling and then put his face in the water and then let out all of his frustration in the river. Air bubbles rose up and then exploded on the surface of the rushing river before Riku pulled back up and then coughed up the water he had swallowed.

 

He coughed a few times before regaining his breath and then turned to head back to the teahouse. Riku sullenly walked back to the teahouse and nearly drop the basin at the sight before him. Standing on the front of the walkway was Kogenta with his arms crossed looking pissed off. Riku rushed over to the feline, not caring that he was spilling water all over the ground, and then stopped in front of the samurai.

 

“Kogenta! Your back! I thought you left!” Riku panted while trying to talk

 

“I went to see if there was a path up the mountains to the capital but all I found was an old road that hadn't been used in years. You lied to me!” Kogenta accused Riku while pointing a single claw at the young man and staring at him with murder in his eyes

 

Riku was so glad that the feline samurai hadn't left that he paid little attention to being called a lair and just stared at Kogenta. A small smile broke from the boy's face and then Riku started laughing out loud. His laugh was full of relief and joy and it confused the warrior who looked at him like he was mentally deficient. The scene could have been from an old dream or one of the romantic tales that bards told about long lost friends and heroes returning from never ending journeys to meet their loves.

 

Once Riku stopped laughing he ushered the feline into the tiny teahouse and sat down at the table with him. Putting the now almost empty basin to the side, Riku looked at Kogenta who was both confused and angry at the young man and decided to alleviate the samurai's worries.

 

“There is a path around the mountains that should take you directly to the capital. It would be a bit covered with grass and such but there is a path there. My grandfather often had to stop me from following the road into the city when I was younger. The path that leads ups the mountains was once used by an army long ago and a band of thieves that lived in the mountains until the royal guards came and disbanded them, almost a decade ago.” Riku told Kogenta while never once taking his eyes from the feline

 

“I checked the side of the road and the only thing I found was a half torn pack and some broken wood.” Kogenta said while crossing his arms over his chest and turning to the side, his tail flicked angrily and a small, golden bell chimed almost angrily in the room

 

The news of the pack stopped all of Riku's cheer and made the young man`s heart skip a beat. He looked back to the feline with trepidation in his soul and then over to the area where his grandfather kept his old pack and walking stick.

 

“Kogenta, what did the pack you saw look like? Was it brown with a few green stains on it?” Riku asked the samurai in dread

 

“Yeah. So what about it?” the warrior asked while keeping one eye half open on the boy

 

Riku rose up from his seat at the table and before the blink of an eye darted out of the teahouse. Completely stunned, Kogenta took a moment before following the boy outside and across the field. The feline was amazed by the speed the young man could muster because it didn't seem normal even for a boy his age. Kogenta could almost outrun the wind, on a good day and he should have had no problem chasing down one human child but he had to fight and push his legs to the limits just to keep Riku in eyesight.

 

When the frantic boy had stopped finally he had come to the place Kogenta had told him about. Riku looked around and then down to a beaten up pack that was lying on the grass covered road. The young man picked up the bundle gently and then brought it to his chest before he started to shake. Kogenta moved closer to Riku and then listened as he heard sobs come from the young man. The feline warrior was startled to see such a reaction from the normally cheerful human and it made him uncomfortable to see Riku upset. Rubbing the back of his head Kogenta wondered about why a beaten up and torn old rucksack would cause the tea maker such grief but then he remembered what the boy had said earlier. It had something to do with his grandfather and going to the capital and when the samurai looking at the crying human Kogenta guessed that the bundle belonged to the old man.

 

Kogenta surmised that more than likely bandits had come taken whatever the old man had and if hadn't had anything… The samurai looked around the area and then down to a couple of tracks that made by humans much earlier. Since it hadn't rained the imprints were still pretty fresh and the warrior could make out some of the details. It looked as if there was some kind of struggle and one of whoever was here got dragged away. Kogenta followed the markings up to the side of the mountains to a beaten path that could be easily overlooked.

 

Kogenta assessed that more than likely the bandits had met the old man yesterday and had taken him away, for whatever reason, and the old guy might still be alive if he could talk his way out of them killing him. Looking to Riku, Kogenta saw that the boy had stopped crying and was looking down to the ripped pack in his hands like it was his only precious thing in the world. Kogenta nodded to himself before walking over and putting a clawed hand on the young tea maker's shoulder, amazed that he had some muscles underneath his shirt, and turned the tear faced young man towards him.

 

“There may be a remote chance that the old man is still alive.” Kogenta said while looking at Riku who stared at him with wide and wanting eyes

 

“Don't get too excited. I said maybe. They may have killed him and dumped the body but I'm going to go up the mountainside and see if he's still alive.” the feline warrior told the young man while leading him back to the way they had came

 

“I want you to go and wait for me. I'll be back but I won't make any promises to you.” the feline said while watching the boy take a few tentive steps away before turning back to look at Kogenta

 

The feline knew he was going to get a long speech about how the boy should go and help rescue his grandfather and the whole song and dance about he wasn't a coward and all that. While they wasted time the old man could be dying with ever second they wasted so Kogenta just crossed his arms and tapped his sandal-covered foot on the hard earth.

 

`I trust you.' Kogenta wasn't sure if he was seeing right but he was almost positive that Riku hadn't opened his mouth but he young tea maker had spoken.

 

Shaking his head Kogenta watched Riku look at him with hope in his eyes before the boy turned his auburn head and walk into the distance. He tried not to notice but a small trail of silvery tears flew into the wind behind Riku when the young man almost halfway back to the teahouse. Kogenta's already stressful mission just got even more frustrating because now the feline warrior had to make sure the old man was alive or be haunted forever by the boy's tears.

 

Slumping his shoulder, Kogenta raised his head into the air and then took the path into the mountains. The feline warrior steeled his nerves and clutched his sword firmly to his side and strode ahead, ready to face whatever stood before him. Be it bandits, monsters, other warriors or even on dead old man, in his line of work nothing could really shake him once Kogenta was convicted to completing his mission. Not even the broken heart of one young tea maker he owed his life to. He had lived to long for such things…hadn't he?