Echizen Ryouma had been in Kasugayama for a week, and one of Uesugi’s warriors for three and a half days, before he ran into trouble. It was different than the trouble he’d expected.
One of the older and, in his briefly considered opinion, obviously lesser samurai was watching Ryouma while he practiced cuts alone. He’d known to expect that; people generally did watch him and it didn’t make any more difference to him than the slight tickle of sweat running down his neck or the small roughness against his palm where the wood of the practice sword had been chipped. It was when the man started talking to his friend that trouble started.
Not for Ryouma, of course. Not yet.
“So that’s supposed to be one of our new warriors? What, are the generals taking on pages, now, and letting them walk around with their fathers’ swords strapped on, pretending they’re samurai?” The man’s friends chuckled with him.
Since Ryouma wouldn’t have touched his father’s sword if it had been delivered as a gift with the Emperor’s compliments, he snorted.
The talkative one straightened up from the wall where he’d been leaning. “You! What was that? Are you disrespecting your betters?”
Ryouma straightened in turn and eyed the loud-mouth coolly. “No.”
It took a moment, but eventually the implication penetrated and the loud-mouth started turning red and stepped forward with a hand tight on his sword. “Why you…”
A corner of Ryouma’s mouth turned up. It was always so easy; too easy, really, but he did get some amusement from teaching idiots not to make assumptions. His weight shifted and his shoulders relaxed as he waited for the loud-mouth to come into range.
A shadow filled the doorway. “Enough of that, Arai.” The newcomer smacked the loud-mouth briskly across the back of the head. “You know how Taishou feels about fights. You want to lose your head? And the kid’s too?”
“Momoshiro-taii!” the loud-mouth sputtered. “But…!”
The newcomer raised his brows and the loud-mouth hunched his shoulders and backed away. The newcomer cocked his head at Ryouma, still standing and quietly watching. “If you didn’t know, fighting in the clan is forbidden, here,” the man smiled.
Ryouma shrugged a shoulder; he doubted it would matter. Fights found him and he found fights, no matter what the rules were. The newcomer paused and looked at him harder, eyes suddenly gleaming. “Of course, training hard, on the other hand, is encouraged,” he murmured. He plucked a wooden sword off the rack and stepped out onto the floor, grinning. A streak of sunshine from one of the windows made his inviting glance even brighter.
Ryouma eyed him for a moment and grinned back. This one looked like a better challenge than the loud-mouth; if he was a captain he should be at least a little good. Ryouma slipped into the dusk between the slanting bars of gold light and set his feet.
After six exchanges Ryouma was smiling for real and shifted his sword to his left hand. He’d been right; Momoshiro was strong. He ignored the murmurs from the watchers around the walls, as inconsequential as the dusty breeze blowing in the door. Momoshiro’s teeth flashed white at him. “That’s more like it.”
Ryouma’s grin turned wicked and pleased. This Momoshiro had seen that he wasn’t leading with his strongest hand. It looked like a captain, in Uesugi’s forces, really was a little good. Good. That made this match worth something.
The next pass sent them both staggering back with impressive bruises starting, he could tell, and Ryouma spun around, feet sliding over the sleek wood of the floor, ready to lunge in at full strength.
Momoshiro stepped back. “Good practice,” he declared. “I’ll have to be sure to defeat you quickly, next time.”
Ryouma considered this and nodded, resting his practice sword over his shoulder. “Later, then.” A corner of his mouth curled up. “When your leg is healed, Taii.”
The captain blinked at him and laughed. “I like you.” He reached out to rumple Ryouma’s hair as he left, now limping a bit though there was no blood showing through the bandage Ryouma was sure must be wrapped around his calf.
He glared a bit after Momoshiro’s broad back and smoothed his hair back down and settled back to his solitary practice, ignoring the whispers and glances around him. A tiny smile lingered.
Maybe he would like it here.
End
*insert excited squeaking here*
*and bouncing, too*
Fun fun fun! *dances*
“You! What was that? Are you disrespecting your betters?”
Ryouma straightened in turn and eyed the loud-mouth coolly. “No.”
My favorite part, definitely. *grin*
*snickering* He is such a cocky little brat, he really is. So adorable and dangerous. *pets him*
ooh! i love the purple layout on your fic journal. sweet and luscious =)
*hugs*
k
*snugs* I’m quite fond of it. This and the essay journal turned out nicely enough that I haven’t felt called to mess with the colors for months and months. *grins*
oh! oh! oh!
dammit–why isn’t there more of this already? do you realize I’m stuck at my desk for the whole day with hardly *anything* to do??? and it’s only 9:30!!! [cries]
Actually… I have to admitt, secretly, I didn’t expect to like this very much. I generally don’t appreciate AU’s or many rewritings, and I get overly annoyed with myself when something I write that isn’t meant to be seems terribly out of place with the original story line…..
But damn if I wasn’t swallowing several squeals, grinning like an idiot, and half-jumping out of my seat….. in the teachers’ room.
I think I might hate you. >.>
*grinning* Excellent. *rubs hands*
I think this is the first AU I’ve ever done. *ponders* Pretty sure it is. Normally I just satisfy myself with divergent future. But this… this was begging to happen.
More soon!
Oh Ryoma and his snarky ways. Just one word will do it. ♥♥ Eee, I can’t wait for more! 😀 Think of all the characters you’ve yet to tackle, mm.
*hearts* He’s such an adorable, snarky boy. I do love him so.
And yes! I’m drowning in characters, and trying to figure out who goes where! *clutches hair* I think Akutsu is about to kick down the teahouse, prompting all sorts of mayhem, as soon as I figure out whose pov that one is from. *pokes cautiously at bunnies*
Ahh, violent!Akutsu. ♥ I mean, that’s redundant, but just–Akutsu! ♥
Kya——-~! Thank you for advertising this in![[livejournal.com profile]](http://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
tenipuri! :3
I’ve always wanted someone to write an AU like this! Thank you for making one of my fandom dreams come true! ^_^
I love Sengoku Jidai…
Akutsu kicking down teahouses…it sounds like he’d be under Data Masamune…
I can see Hiyoshi under Oda Nobunaga…(well, in the Gakuensai game he played Akechi Mitsuhide after all…
gekokujou)Thank you, glad to hear you liked it!
*laughing* I actually tried to stay away from most of the major historical figures, lest I trip over real history too badly. Takeda was just such a must-have, for Sanada, and Uesugi followed so perfectly from that… Hiyoshi definitely thinks that gekokujou has not been sufficient in his corner of the world, though. *grins*
Niiice ;-D The way everyone treats the matches in PoT (andd all the other shounen sports series) as if they had someone’s life riding on them gets a bit irritating at times. The attitude suits much better in this AU. Really lookinh forward to the next installment XD
Thank you!
And that is so very true–even moreso for PoT than for most! This way the boys get to be their dangerous selves and not be totally overboard. *grins*
I SQUEE AT YOU. It does seem so much more fitting. They all seem a lot more natural here…yay! Oh look, it’s Rurouni Kenshin only earlier and with the Tenipuri characters! Wheeee~ I expect there will be Much Violence and Blood and Action? :DDD
And gosh, the rewrite of that first meeting and the whole thing… squeeeeee~ Ryooomaaaa~ You clever little brat. Only not so little anymore, since you’re twenty and things. ♥
*bounces around hyperactively*
*hearts* Oh, much more blood and violence and action. And Romance, of course. *evil grin* And humor at the expense of the overly reserved characters every now and then.
I think Ryouma is only about sixteen or seventeen, at this point in the story; he refuses to cough up a solid figure. But very young. Just not, you know, twelve. That doesn’t come out until “Tarnished”, though. *nibbles nail* Maybe I’ll state it in the story notes. Hmmmm, decisions, decisions. But he’s still totally our Little Brat!
More coming!
Ah, Romance. In the heterosexal way (like with Ayame *sporfles*) or the shady, hidden behind paper screens way?
Well, Ryoma’s always underaged. But yeah. At least he’s not freaking twelve. That would be majorly disturbing. I think Ryoma would always be a Little Brat no matter how old he is.
Today? XD
*evil grinning* Eventually there will be all kinds of love, married and illicit and definitely some paper screens in there too. Occasionally, all at the same time.
MASS ORGY~!! Clearly sex is all I ever think about. *shakes head* How unhealthy. :3 But the paper screens! Will they be patterned in bamboo and various other lovely things like that?
I can’t believe I’m only just discovering this now. Love, love, love the thought of samurai!Tenipuri boys. X3
*goes to read the rest*
It’s great to hear you like the idea! I hoped it would entertain people. ^_^
The voice. I think that’s what I like best about this piece – the voice is so quintessentially Echizen. It has his nonchalance and that hint of cockiness. It sounds a tad older than his canon personality, which is perfect considering that he /is/ older in this context. I love that line about how the trouble started – not for Ryouma, not yet.
*very pleased* Excellent! Ryouma is darn hard to get a good mental voice for, since we never get any /examples/ of it; good to know this one works out.