Day 11, I accidentally not wrote lots of days

[therealkaichan]

Shiro looked tired, maybe a little bored, but that was not unusual for him. Kurenai knew well when there was something on his mind because of his frown, and in the end that was also not unusual.
"I'm thinking of taking a certain job."
"Good. When do I leave?" Kurenai served the tea and sat on his usual place across the table.
"I'm just thinking."
"I see." Now that was unusual.
"Do you know what they say about the guys at the Fujiwara household?"
"They say they made a pact with a demon. That they offered their youngest daughter to the demon in exchange for power."
"It sounds like nonsense, doesn't it?"
"It does."
"I was offered a job. The payment is ridiculously high."
"What is it."
"We are getting rid of the Fujiwaras and their demon. In exchange, we get to keep half of their estate."
"I understand. I'm ready."
"And what about their demon?"
"I will kill it as well."


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"Huh, so that was the youngest daughter? She's a pretty one."
"He's a boy."
"I see, he's still pretty. Are you keeping him?"
"I suppose. He has no family anymore." Kurenai looked at the silent boy. "He followed me here."
"Boy, do you want to stay?"
"I don't have a house anymore." The boy frowned. "I was never out."
"Then you'll be Kurenai's now." Shiro chuckled, amused. "You'll need a name."
"I have a name."
"A new one. Whoever you were, doesn't exist anymore. So Kuro will do, you'll fit well with the house."


----------

Kurenai thought Kuro was well suited for negotiation. The boy was barely seven, but he had a way with words. It had taken a long time for him to start speaking those words, however. He wrote long stories, he wrote many forms of poetry with perfect metric, but he only spoke when asked to speak.

Kuro had explained that he wasn't allowed to talk to anyone unless asked to, but he was allowed to write and read as much as he wanted, so his thoughts were many and very complex. Thoughts of death, of revenge and loneliness, thoughts too complex for a seven year old boy.

So Kurenai had chosen to cultivate that. He gave Kuro new books, he taught him to sing and play a few instruments. He taught him to serve tea, and to understand both the masculine and the feminine sides of his charm. When he grew up, Kuro would be a negotiator, like many had been before him. He would travel and learn new things, and he would bring new jobs so Shiro's business would continue to grow.

Things didn't exactly go as planned.

One night when Kurenai and Kuro were out, a woman attacked them. Kurenai stopped her, of course, it came naturally to him, and they both were perfectly safe. But Kurenai remembered that expression well on the boy's face.

It was the very same expression he had when Kurenai had first entered the room where the Fujiwara Household's "youngest daughter" was kept.

"Is she dead?" He asked, watching the woman with an almost morbid fascination.
"She is."
"She wanted to hurt you."
"She did. We should be on our way."
"Why did she want that?"
"In this job, sometimes people want revenge. You learn to live with it."
"I understand... Are we bad people?"
"You'll find that good and bad are concepts that don't easily apply to real life. I'd say we are neither."
"Neither... I understand."
"Good. Then let's move, before anyone else arrives."
"Yes, Kurenai."


-----------

He was quiet, watching.

Early that day, Kurenai had done his hair and his makeup. He had enveloped him in many layers of silk and thread, and told him to go with him, and to entertain the strange man. It was easy, Kuro knew of poetry and music, and he could dance just like the ladies that had trained him.

Kurenai had sat by the man, quietly talking to him about something. "Negotiation" he called it. The same thing he wanted to train Kuro to do. As he played the koto, he saw the man's hands wandering, trying to touch Kurenai. He didn't stop playing, but he didn't like this either.

Kurenai didn't like to be touched like that. Not by that man.

So now he was just watching. The man was dead, and Kurenai seemed annoyed. He looked at Kuro, and smiled.
"Are you fine?"
"He's dead"
"He is."
"I want to help you."
"Help me?"
"Yes. I want to help you with these jobs, I don't want to be a burden anymore."
"You are not a burden. Taking a life is not easy, Kuro."
"Why? It was easy for you."
"To take a life, you should first understand the value of it. And then make a choice."
"You kill for him, right? For Shiro."
"Yes. I belong to him, so it's simply natural that I would do this for him."
"And I belong to you, Shiro said it."
"You don't belong to anyone but yourself. Shiro just likes talking in that way." Kurenai sighed, cleaning his knife in the dead man's clothes.
"Then teach me the value of a life. And I will decide."
"Good...That's a deal."

Kuro smiled, sparing a small look at the dead man.

Somehow his smile seemed far more peaceful than any other smile before.