Mark of the Firefly (Tsukkiyama)

Lying in Wait

When Yamaguchi next awoke, his face was buried in the crook of Kageyama's neck as said boy clung to him with an iron grip. Needless to say; it wasn't the most pleasant-smelling situation. Even after the cold washing from the previous night, Kageyama was more than a little ripe. Still, the fall chilled fast and warmed up slow, so Yamaguchi wasn't opposed to the extra heat. It was almost funny, knowing that the stoic boy was so contentedly cuddled up with, well, anyone really.

Ten years ago, something like this would never happen; Kageyama would sooner put a knife in Yamaguchi's neck than snuggle up with him for warmth. The slightly younger boy had resented Yamaguchi for almost five years for reasons Miwa had to explain because her little brother refused to. All those years ago, when Kazue died and the Kageyamas took Yamaguchi in, Kageyama had problems with sharing. Up until then, he had been the darling of his whole family, used to endless praise and doting. But with poor little Yamaguchi around, Kageyama was no longer the center of attention. From that day on, he went out of his way to be extra nasty to Yamaguchi specifically. He'd push the other around, steal the things he needed for school, that was when they still had the means to go, and would break Yamaguchi's most recent project. For all the heckling and bullying, however, Yamaguchi sensed a lack of real malicious intent. Kageyama wasn't the only person to give Yamaguchi trouble, but in a backwards sort of way, his bullying was the nicest. While other children would make fun of his freckles and lack of a mother, Kageyama would deliberately avoid those topics. Never once did the grouchy boy bother Yamaguchi in a way that actually hurt him. Maybe that was the reason Yamaguchi would consistently go out of his way to show the other kindness. So, it became that the two boys went from one-sided enemies to begrudging friendship. One-sided kindness soon turned into quiet respect, and slowly but surely, Kageyama's hostility turned into horseplay. It became considerably harder for the other kids to bully Yamaguchi with big bad Kageyama Tobio there to protect him. Ever-diligent Yamaguchi had turned the most antisocial kid in the whole scrapping town into his closest friend.

The memory made Yamaguchi chuckle lightly as he untangled himself, taking care to not wake his sleeping friend. The storm was over now, eerie silence hanging low over the area; no need to stay in the cellar. Kageyama barely stirred as Yamaguchi made his way up the ladder and into the run-down kitchen. Taking a quick glance out the dirtied window, it was obvious that the most recent celestial storm had been a big one. A nearly opaque and sickly green haze of poisonous smog hung low over the fields, obscuring the view of the mountains beyond. With luck, there would be a good pool of artifacts for Kageyama to pick from, assuming he was quick enough to get there first. They still had a full day before the gas dissipated to a safe concentration, but to reach the far end of the field before anyone else, Kageyama would need strength. And strength came from food.

Food was really the only way to wake up Kageyama anyway; his one-track mind left room for little else besides food, scrapping, and gambling games. Not that Yamaguchi had much food to serve, prices were high, and there hadn't been a good celestial storm in almost four months, just piddly little showers that left much to desire in the way of mechanics; needless to say, funds were low. Still, he managed to scrounge up some eggs, bread, and even a little cheese. It wasn't much, certainly not enough for someone used to sprinting across fields carrying heavy loads, but it would have to do. No one in the scavenging town had any room to be picky anyway; good food was hard to come by in the barren lands up north, even harder if you didn't have the coin to pay for it. Yamaguchi was lucky that his employment was one of the more stable ones, even if the earnings were meager.

Finally catching the scent of eggs being fried in thrice used grease, Kageyama blearily clambered up the cellar ladder. Ever the conversationalist, he simply grunted something vaguely resembling a thanks and tucked into the meager meal. Kageyama ate like it was the first and last food he'd ever taste, shoveling it in his mouth in massive forkfuls, and then chewing slowly to try and savor what little flavor it held. It made Yamaguchi feel a little guilty, sure the Kageyamas had a larger income, but it came less often. Miwa worked hard, but places this far away from the rest of the empires were hesitant to hire a woman, work for her was even harder to find and lasted for only short periods of time. Kageyama worked hard too, running out into the fields to get the best pickings and pulling reckless stunts like going out mid-storm, but it wasn't always enough. Which was exactly why he turned to gambling, Miwa didn't know where the extra money came from, but it kept the loose ends tied. Kageyama was a natural at it, terrible as he was in all other social situations; he sure knew how to read a bluff. Whether he actually liked gambling was another question entirely, but Kageyama would do anything to keep his sister in good health.

The rest of the day was mundane and boring. With the thick gas hanging in the air, no one wanted to risk leaving their buildings, as such, the two boys were confined indoors. For the first few hours, Kageyama played card games with Yamaguchi. It was an old set, an artifact itself, with strange markings in red and black shapes and symbols. Neither knew what the cards meant, but the cards with symbols on them had countable figures denoting their worth, the rest had faces of men and women on them, such a curious system. Kageyama was still the superior player, even with an unfamiliar deck, but that didn't mean Yamaguchi couldn't hold his own; he was probably the only person in a thousand kilometers who could read Kageyama's bluffs. The games didn't last long though, the ravenette needed rest before the gas thinned out; they both figured the storm had stopped in the early morning, and Kageyama would need to be up by then. So, with nothing else to do and no other company, Yamaguchi busied himself with cleaning the house until he was tired enough to pass out next to his friend on the shabby bed.

Kageyama's shuffling woke him up in the wee hours of the morning, too early even for the goddess to raise the sun. The last dregs of the gas hung lightly over the fields, but it would be easy enough to ward off with a cloth mask. Just one of the many tricks Kageyama had learned in his years of scavenging. With enough speed, and more than a little favor from the goddess, there might be some good finds. Even the smallest artifact could provide a month's worth of food if repaired well enough and embellished with enough flair. Good artifacts meant good business for Yamaguchi, which meant another year of not starving to death. It was all anyone could ask for in this podunk junker settlement. Helping his best customers benefited Yamaguchi, and Kageyama was a wonderful business partner, so he gave the young scrapper the few dried foods he had left and sent him on his way.

The waiting was always the worst part, sitting there with nothing to do, anxiously begging for business and the safety of his friend. Scavenging took hours, and when there was great need after a couple fruitless storms, people would get violent. Kageyama was no stranger to scraps and fistfights, Yamaguchi knew that, but it didn't ease his fear. There were whispers around town that some people were planning on taking weapons out onto the fields to defend their finds, and Yamaguchi didn't like it one bit. Knives and crossbows were far more dangerous than fists.

Desperate for reprieve and something to occupy his mind, Yamaguchi set himself upon the mechanical trinkets Kageyama had already provided. The first was a music box, long and almost cylindrical like a log, the mechanics for these types of things were simple but delicate and prone to breaking. They also fetched a pretty penny for their sweet melodies and shiny exteriors. This particular one had clawed golden feet at each corner of its rectangular base. The porcelain body had a few nicks and fractures along the exterior, nothing that Yamaguchi could fix, but was beautifully decorated with a glazed image. All parts of the decoration were foreign to Yamaguchi, a sparkling blue pond cast in the shade of a thick trunked tree laden with pink blossoms on its stooping branches. Standing gracefully in the water were several long-necked and legged birds with sparkling crowns of gold inlay, and on the shore watching them was a woman draped finely decorated robes of red, her dark hair in a tight bun. The second item was a bejeweled egg, also porcelain with golden feet. This one appeared to be a locked box of sorts, set to open in the middle at its fattest point, the lock was jammed. Crisscrossing across the deep blue exterior was a latticework of gold and green stones; someone would surely pay a hefty price for this. The final item was less impressive in its beauty but by far the most interesting in terms of mechanics. It was a pocket watch, simple and bronze, but the inside contained a piecewise image of stars, planets, and foreign numerals. If he had to guess, Yamaguchi supposed that it was meant to track the movement of the heavens around the world of its origin, some kind of navigational device maybe.

Right as he resolved to start on the bejeweled egg, there was a knock upon his front door. Looking up at the sky, it was already noon. Some of the unluckier scrappers would be heading back soon to repair, clean, and price their wares. It seemed that Yamaguchi had the first of what was bound to be many customers.