CCD ficbit again

[sakon76]

The shuriken flew from Suoh's fingers and landed within a hair's breadth of where he wanted them to. He frowned and crossed the range, tugging them out of the target. Even if his aim was still off, though, his strength was returning: Suoh had to pull hard to retrieve the weapons.

He whirled, sensing a presence, the throwing blades automatically fanned between his fingers.

Idomu stepped out into the moonlight, softly clapping his hands together. His smile was appreciative. "You really are amazing, Takamura."

Suoh slipped the shuriken back into their forearm sheaths. "Not amazing enough, I'm afraid."

"Still." Idomu sat down on the balustrade, turning his face up to the sky. He was relief-lit in the light, sharp angles of shadow painting him like a chiaroscuro work. Suoh looked at the other man curiously.

"Why are you doing this, Yuudaiji-san?" he asked.

Dark eyes blinked. "Doing what?"

"I know he'd never take you over unless he had your permission. Rijichou... it's not his style to become a vengeful ghost."

"You still can't say his name, can you?" Idomu questioned. "Not even after he's dead. That seems sad, somehow."

"You've lived abroad too long," Suoh replied. "What name or title I call him does not matter so much as what I mean by it when I say it. And you're avoiding the question."

Idomu sighed and looked back toward the sky. "Practically, it makes sense. If what he says about the coming of the end of the world is true--and this is Nokoru; I don't think he's capable of lying to us--then what's six months or so of my life? I can give it to him easily if it means that I'll *have* a rest of my life afterwards."

The tone was too easy; the words too light. "It's not that I disbelieve you, Yuudaiji-san," Suoh said civilly, "but I can't help thinking that you have another reason to be his host."

Idomu turned shadowed eyes on Suoh. In there depths there appeared to be a reflection of the full moon. "You'd be right, Takamura. Do you think I miss him any less than you do? You're not the only one who defined their life by him." With a sad smile, Idomu turned to go inside the large, Western-style mansion. Suoh watched him go, then turned in a blur, flinging a single shuriken at the target.

This time, his aim was dead on.