Donten ni Warau/曇天に笑う Time for yourself

Tenka had decided to take a little walk. It was not really particurarly stressful; Soramaru was doing chores, Chuutarou was accompanying him for help, and Shirasu was in the process of cleaning their temple. Tenka told his best friend – his servant, Shirasu had disagreed, but Tenka had insisted on friend – to continue his duties if he wanted to – he just wanted a little peace and quiet for himself. Being the big brother and chief of the Kumoh meant having many responsibilities and expectations: You may be respected and loved by the people you protect, by your brothers, and even by your friends, but they, at the same time, all wanted some kind of behaviour. The townspeople wanted their problems solved if they couldn't manage to do it themselves, his brothers needed him as their pillar, and Shirasu relied on him as his master. Plus, the Yamainu kept, in their own way, on bugging him. While Tenka certainly was all for laughing, smiling, joking, and occasionally whacking some sense into his brothers, he still needed a small amount of time to himself, hiding a little behind his fan since the day he had to shoulder the burden – the duties – as the head of the Kumoh.

He looked around the forest. While wandering around, he had entered the forest and was now standing on a large clearing with a meadow, decorated by some Azaleas, white Camellias, Zinnias, Pansies and many more. Also, there were slight signs of the ruins of a wooden house, though the remains looked really old – or well-destroyed. It was a quite colourful, yet really beautiful meadow, even If it was quite possibly artificial. He slowly walked through it, silently smiling and appreciating the view, when he heard a wooden snap. While the presence was not surprising as he turned around, he still sighed a little, keeping the lower half of his face covered.

"What is it, Shirasu?", Tenka inquired. He had told the white-haired man to stay at home for the moment, and he usually wasn't one to disregard orders, even if they weren't formulated as ones.

"My apologies", Shirasu replied, "but it has come to my ears that a criminal was seen around the village and headed towards the forest. Therefore, I deemed it necessary to inform you, as Soramaru and Chuutarou are still occupied at the market."

The head of the Kumoh repressed a sigh as he closed his eyes. Shirasu was aware of the raven's battle experience. This was strange, at the very least. He then heard an object cutting through the air, but Shirasu easily deflected the projectile thrown at him. The eldest brother raised his gaze upon the offender, then at his defender. He absentmindedly noticed that Shirasu was quick and dependent, but – probably accidentally – had crushed a white Chrysanthemum under his foot. It was a little saddening to watch the contrast between the now crushed delicate petals and the still lingering image of the healthy flower. His opponent – opponents, Tenka corrected as he himself smacked knives that were thrown at him away – were not nearly as careful as the two locals with the meadow. They were outside forces, yes, but…

Tenka really liked that field. Seeing how his two little brothers were always overjoyed when able to spend their time with their idol, they would have beamed with the intensity of the sun itself at the sight of the flower field. That image, that possibility, these plans were foiled by those criminals. Oh, and judging by their previous actions, one could also assume they tried to kill him. He couldn't have that, now could he?

"Thanks, Shirasu, for protecting me. Not that I'd need it", Tenka smirked. The addressed only looked at him briefly and replied "I only served my master. We should now take these criminals to prison, shouldn't we?"

Tenka only nodded in response as the men charged at them. While the head tried not to harm the sight and moved as few as possible (He still crushed some daisies and irises with necessary steps), Shirasu acted more efficiently, also snuffing out the life of the plants if it was needed. Tenka evaded dagger blows, deflected them with his now closed fan, and whacked the criminals unconscious. Shirasu did the same thing, avoiding bloodspill as much as possible. After one or two mere minutes, all bandits were taken care of – or so Tenka thought as he was quickly pressed down by his friend, avoiding the hungry tip of an arrow. As soon as he was a little submerged in the Flora, the white-clad man moved away to take the final enemy out, his eyes unmoved the whole time.

When they had properly tied up all of the thugs and called the police for reinforcements and help (Which translated into transferring the duty of returning and locking away the attackers to them), the duo cast their eyes over the clearing. Even though it wasn't worth calling the fight one, the evildoers still destroyed an almost remarkable part of the plants. The once beautiful sight was now a little hindered due to the ripping, squashing and breaking of delicate petals, stems and leaves. Tenka groaned.

"They still destroyed so much… I really wanted to bring Soramaru and Chuutarou here. They would have loved this and praised me as their big brother…"

"They would still appreciate the thought. You should be grateful to be still alive."

Tenka couldn't help but chuckle. "What do you think of me, exactly? Those idiots could never keep up with this big brother!" he laughed.

"My apologies, I never meant to question your abilities, let alone your authority. But please do remember that you need to watch after your own safety", Shirasu said unmoved while glaring.

Tenka unfolded his fan again to hide the lower half of his face. "I'm well aware of that. Chuutarou and Soramaru still need me, after all." His frown lighted up somewhat as he spoke. "What would you think of picking a bouquet for them? While many of the flowers were destroyed, I still think that a lot of them are in good shape. They could theoretically even start planting some themselves if they were to place them into vases."

Shirasu smiled at the suggestion. "It seems like an interesting idea. They will surely be thrilled."

"Don't I always have the best ideas?", the Kumoh boasted and laughed. "Anway, let's start. Please help me, Shirasu. We should finish before they'll return, after all. They should not be worried by our absence."

The ninja complied with the request and the silently got to work, the incident quickly deemed unimportant.


End file.

Donten ni Warau/曇天に笑う, Family, Friendship