http://clampfix.fanworks.net/ccd-fix/clan3.txt </head><body><pre>Okay! Beware, because this is where Wakaba really starts getting evil. A Clan-Destine Vacation Part 3 by Kay Willow That night, Suoh insisted on sleeping between Nokoru and Akira, although both of them thought that this was an unnecessary precaution and accused him of being paranoid. However, as a restrained and controlled youth, he refused to gloat when they were awoken at four in the morning. A simple twang was all the warning they had, but Suoh had been in the light trance-sleep he assumed in lieu of real sleep whenever he was around his parents. A twang was all he needed to render him wide awake, flinging himself to his left to shield Nokoru with his own body and taking his sleeping bag with him. They rolled twice from the force of his landing, ending with the startled President underneath him and one of his favorite throwing knives in his hands, prepared to toss them if it seemed like Ijyuin was also in trouble. But there was only a single arrow, and it had been aimed straight for Nokoru's heart. If Suoh hadn't moved him, he truly would have died. But then, that was the test, wasn't it? If he was an unworthy guardian, it would be the person he'd sworn to protect who would suffer. A shrill screech came from the room where Wakaba had decided to spread out for the night - outraged, not pain-filled, which meant that Rei had succeeded in shielding her but had then accidentally maneuvered her into a position she didn't appreciate. The scream woke up everyone who might, conceivably, not have been woken by the attacks - and the loud slap that followed made them all completely alert. Suoh listened carefully, but didn't hear anything other than footsteps. It seemed Ryoko had succeeded, as well. "S... Suoh?" Nokoru began timidly. Suoh turned to blink down at his Kaichou, and it was a moment before he realized their own position. He moved back hastily as Akira straightened in his bedroll, and was on his feet and out of the room before Nokoru could follow suit. Wakaba was huddled against the cabin's inner wall in a set of silken pajamas, fuming silently. She raised a quivering hand and pointed at her door. "I've just been ASSAULTED!" she informed Suoh indignantly. "Do you mean by your assassin or your bodyguard?" he demanded of her, annoyed. <You don't appreciate what a Takamura can do, Wakaba-san, and I can only hope you realize it before I wind up strangling you for your ungrateful whining.> Ryoko and Meri came thundering up the hall, both of them checking their headlong dash as Nokoru moved out of his room in their path. Ryoko was in a simple sleeping-robe - no matter how modern her day-dress was, she was still a traditionalist at heart - and Meri was clad in only a jacket as far as Suoh could tell. Both of them were flushed from their attack and Ryoko was holding a fistful of shuriken. Rei staggered out, one cheek solid red. "What did you HIT me for, Wakaba-sama?" he demanded incredulously. "There was an ARROW about to KILL you!" "You put your hand on my chest," she seethed at him, blushing. Ryoko gaped at her. "What's your problem, woman? The kid just saved your life!" She twitched her shuriken away. "I don't want you to touch me," Wakaba hissed with startling vehemence, ignoring the older girl. "Not now, not EVER. Do NOT touch me, anywhere, for anything." "Here now," Nokoru cut in. "Aren't you being a little harsh, Nimiurai-san? He was only trying to help you--" As if realizing only then that she had gathered an audience, Wakaba froze. Suddenly she burst into tears and hurled herself at Nokoru, nearly sending him tumbling to the floor. "Oh, Imonoyama-sama! I was so FRIGHTENED!" Suoh's face tightened in a scowl. The woman was not only shameless, she was cruel. Something about the expression on Rei's face - quiet acceptance, without surprise or anger - nearly broke his heart. Suddenly remembering, Suoh demanded, "Where's Kasumi-chan?!" Everyone froze. "Owww..." piped an unhappy soprano. "Aniue, it HURTS!" Suoh hurried down the corridor to meet Kasumi with the others at his heels, minus Nokoru and Wakaba. Kasumi, clad in a rather ridiculous cotton nightdress and looking remarkably vulnerable for the ninja terror that they all knew she was, stood in her doorway. There was a gash across her right cheek, and blood dripped down her face. With a hurt expression much like any other wounded child, she stretched out her arms to him. "What happened?" he asked her, picking her up and settling her in the crook of his left arm so he could check the cut. "The arrow came out of nowhere," she complained. "And I thought there was an attack, so I jumped forward to get my naginata." She sucked in a pained breath as he ran his fingers along the edges of the wound. "It skimmed me, but it missed mostly. Aniue, why is Hahaue attacking us already?" Ryoko slid up to them - <Where did she learn to MOVE like that?!> - and cradled the girl's unhurt cheek, staring into her eyes. "No shock or signs of poisoning," she announced. "It looks like the arrow was clean." Suoh nodded. "And it looks like the damage isn't too bad; it doesn't need stitches--" "What makes you think Takamura-san did this?" Akira asked suddenly, watching Kasumi with concerned eyes. "She's probably been attacked, too!" "Do you see her out here?" Kasumi countered. Meri handed Suoh a handkerchief, having found one in her jacket's pockets - come to think of it, it was even Ryoko's jacket. Suoh began dabbing at the blood on his sister's face as she continued, "Hahaue does this all the time. But we're not supposed to be attacked until we get to Hokkaido!" Akira blinked. Meri clutched the jacket tighter around herself, shivering. "What time is it?" she asked. "It's too late for this!" "Seven past four," Nokoru told her, having sufficiently comforted Wakaba to the point where she was willing to move again. He held out a warmer jacket to Meri, smiling pleasantly. "It's a bit early, actually." She accepted it gratefully. "I just want to go back to sleep," she grouched. Ryoko straightened immediately, nodding her agreement. Akira shuffled backwards a few steps, bumping into Rei who was returning from the medicine cabinet with a fair-sized bandage. He applied it wordlessly, and for once Kasumi didn't insist that nobody touch her other than her Aniue. "How can you think of going back to sleep?" Wakaba demanded haughtily. "Someone tried to KILL us tonight! I know I shan't be returning to sleep!" "Good for you," Meri told her calmly. "You can tell us what the sunrise looked like." Ryoko wasn't so civilized; she sneered at the younger girl and said in English, "(If she got any more shallow we'd have to measure her personality in negative numbers.)" "(Give her a break, please,)" Nokoru asked politely. "(Her family isn't politically important enough that she's ever been attacked before.)" His fan told a different story: it read "Spoiled" in big, red, English letters. "(I really wasn't speaking about her handling of a life-or-death crises,)" Ryoko told him. "(I was referring to her ability to casually abuse her Takamura - a thing which so very few possess and which so very many want - when all he was doing was helping.)" Nokoru frowned. There really wasn't much to say to that, not with Rei watching him with sad brown-gold eyes and a fiery red cheek. Akira said sweetly when Wakaba would've protested the incomprehensible conversation, "Perhaps I could fix you some tea, Nimiurai-sama. To relax you and settle your nerves." She stared at Nokoru for a long moment, as if weighing the possibility of getting more sympathy from him. Then she said graciously, "I would appreciate that, Ijinue-kun." "Ijyuin..." Suoh wavered uncertainly as the two boys he'd assumed responsibility for split in two different directions; Nokoru to their room and Akira to the kitchen. He set Kasumi down on the floor and headed after his Kaichou. Nokoru was standing by his pallet, staring at the arrow embedded in the floor. Somehow, it had completely managed to avoid tearing a hole in his sleeping bag. The young Imonoyama looked up at his protector with fathomless eyes, dark with solemnity. "Why did she hit him?" he asked quietly. "She knew that he only wanted to help. I thought anyone who has a Takamura has to earn the privilege. If she isn't a decent person, then how..." "Wakaba-san acts before she thinks," Suoh said, equally quiet. He cursed himself for lying, and all the gods above for bringing on this situation in the first place, but he couldn't possibly betray the soft appeal in Nokoru's eyes. 'Because you need to make him happy', he'd told Kasumi, and it would bring neither of them happiness if he shattered Nokoru's primary beliefs - that all women were worthy of his efforts towards them, and that the Takamura clan was above all natural laws in the same way he himself was. Nokoru usually believed himself to be completely omniscient, and there were moments when Suoh was inclined to agree, but it was a rare occasion indeed that the Imonoyama actually asked someone outright for reassurance. Suoh was not about to let him down on that count. "She didn't speak to Rei-chan after snapping at him. She was probably regretting being so hard on him." Nokoru pondered this answer and apparently found it satisfactory; he began to smile again in that sweet, gentle manner that never failed to elicit a response in the person he smiled at. In spite of his preoccupation, in spite of his concern, and in spite of himself, Suoh felt his lips quirk upwards. If his Kaichou was content, who was he to deny that to him? Even if he did understand Wakaba in a way that his brilliantly, deliberately naive charge never could. *** Breakfast the next morning was an affair. Akira had made the meal since he couldn't get back to sleep, and there was nearly a fistfight when Ryoko once again put her foot in her mouth and demanded to know which foods the poisons were in. Wakaba acted like some sort of queen, sitting rigidly with her spine so straight that rulers would've been jealous, looking down her nose at everyone, especially Ryoko and Meri whom she seemed to have taken a serious dislike to. Nokoru was the only one in a good mood; Suoh was furious at Wakaba, and also at Rei for not standing up for himself. Rei was completely silent throughout the morning meal, staring down at his food and hardly eating - nearly offending the now hypersensitive Akira all over again - and Kasumi seemed to be sulking about having gotten scored by the arrow. Hahaue was also in a bad mood, displeased that anyone had been bled by the night's relatively mild attack. Chichiue looked displeased with the entire situation; he'd never approved of Hahaue's training methods, but he would never have commanded her to change her ways for fear of upsetting the delicate balance between the Takamura head and her One. Everyone was very relieved when the man who had been hired to man the ferry - funny that they hadn't seen him, what with all the commotion last night - called that they would be docking at Hokkaido in a half-hour. "I can't believe Rei-chan," Ryoko muttered to Suoh as they waited for their charges to finish packing. "How does he put up with that stupid bitch?" "It's none of our business," Suoh told her, trying to fight down his own irritation. "He probably has a good reason to let her do that." Ryoko scowled at the approaching land. "I'd never put up with that," she said darkly. "Then you are no true Takamura," Suoh answered distantly. Ryoko's head snapped around as he continued, "A Takamura belongs to his One body, heart, mind, and soul. If your One deliberately hurts you, then the best you can do is try to find out why and see if you can help." He turned to gaze at her calmly. "Don't think I'm not upset about this, too. But you can't let your emotions run wild. That was practically the primary focus of our training." Ryoko stared at him, then bowed her head and smiled faintly. "You're right, itoko-san. That's why you're going to be the Takamura head one day, and I'll just be another ninja." "I think he's being too accepting of it," Suoh added as the boy in question emerged from the cabins, carrying almost all of Wakaba's suitcases. "But I'm proud of him. I really didn't think he had it in him." Rei let got of the bags with an explosive sigh of relief. "Those things weigh a ton," he informed them, laughing - and then he winced as the laugh aggravated the rather large bruise on his left cheek. "Is she carrying anything?" Suoh asked casually, ignoring Ryoko's obvious inner struggle. "Or are you playing bell-boy for the trip?" "Wakaba-sama is so carrying things! She's carrying her purse." Rei half-grinned, trying to keep from worsening his bruise. "She bullied your little friend Ijyuin into carrying everything she couldn't fit on me." With a disapproving frown, Suoh marched down the stairs and came nearly face-to-face with Akira, carrying his own backpack and dragging along two pieces of ornate luggage. "Let me carry those, Ijyuin," he said simply. Wordlessly, his friend handed them over. He found Wakaba enjoying the sea breeze in a picturesque manner - her lovely black hair streaming out behind her, one hand to her hat and staring off at the water dreamily, wearing a beautiful but impractical sundress. There was, indeed, a purse at her feet. "Wakaba-san?" Suoh demanded in a completely neutral tone. Immediately, the picturesque manner vanished. She sneered at him and asked coldly, "Was there something?" <Yes. I want you to stay away from my Kaichou, stop being condescending to me, and let my brother do his job without taking any abuse from you!> He kept his face emotionless. "I believe you asked Ijyuin to carry these for you?" "Yes. Such a sweet boy, to be so thoughtful." Her tone indicated that she did not believe that anyone of the Takamura clan deserved the term 'sweet'. Behind her, he could see Kasumi slithering up on all fours, her belly low to the ground. Suoh gave her a warning glance before telling Wakaba, "You will have to carry these, I'm afraid. Ijyuin has his own things to bring." "Are you joking?" she demanded, outraged. "Me, carry those bags?" "If you didn't want or need them, you shouldn't have brought them," he said slowly, making it clear that he was speaking down to her deliberately. "And if you do want or need them, then you ought to carry them. It's nobody else's responsibility. If you don't want to carry them, leave them on the ferry." "I'll have you know that as a Nimiurai, I am--" "I don't care about your family name," he cut her off. Her eyes widened. "The name of Takamura is far better known than Nimiurai. People all across the world have heard of the Takamura clan, and wish to have a Takamura of their own. Half your family's prestige comes from the fact that a Takamura HAS dedicated his life to your service. But what it comes right down to is that whatever wealth and power your family commands, you have no right to hold yourself above those of equal importance. The Ijyuin family is very wealthy and reputed to be very high in the Japanese government, the Takamura family is widely renowned and highly honored, and the Imonoyama franchise is one of the richest industrial groups in the world. If THEY carry their own bags, you most certainly can carry yours." Wakaba's astonished expression was more than worth the unusual effort of speaking so much. Unwilling to say any more than he already had - more than his friends usually heard from him in a week, not including protests about paperwork - he bowed a fractional amount and left the bags there. <One more night. Two more days.> Kasumi scampered up behind him and scrambled up his back to perch on his shoulders. She was small enough and light enough that it didn't slow his dramatically impressive exit. <Then we'll be gone from here, and that woman will never be able to touch Ijyuin again, and it'll be at least half a year before she'll be able to get her claws in Kaichou next.> "Don't family vacations suck?" Kasumi giggled in his ear. <That pretty much sums it up, actually.> DISCLAIMER: T'yada t'yada t'yada, they're all CLAMP's - unless they suddenly decide to give me Nokoru, in which case LOOK OUT WORLD!! *Nokoru generously volunteers a fan: Warning, Danger Ahead!* - and every Takamura except Suoh is mine. Don't take them, or I'll sic Shigeru on you, and he's not a nice person.</pre><p><a href="./">Back</a></p><p><a href=http://www.dreamhost.com/donate.cgi?id=216><img border=0 alt="Donate towards our web hosting bill!" src=https://secure.newdream.net/donate1.gif></a></p></body></html>