To Dance By Moonlight

Chapter Eleven

Bokuto looked down at the body of Mika, the missing Fox Clan dancer, her sightless eyes still open, and her head tilted in an awkward angle. She'd been buried enough that without other signs leading to the grave, no one would have ever found it. His hand clenched around the scrap of fabric and two gold coins he held.

"Bury her properly," he told his men, his voice low and dangerous. "Please bring Akane to the Sheikh's tent, and be gentle about it. Say nothing to her other than we found out about her dancer."
"Yes, sir."
"Alert Nekomata, too. I'll meet you in fifteen minutes."
"Yes, sir."

After the two men left, and the others started giving the lady a proper burial, Bo turned and headed straight for Kuro's tent. But on the way, he stopped when he came by the Crow Clan's tent. No light, and not a sound was heard within. He huffed. Well, of course not. Everyone was sleeping. But the doorway was open, and a few walls sagged, as well as the top of the roof, to let in the cool night air.

He was about to resume his way to Kuro's tent when movement gained his full attention. He waited, and was rewarded when Akaashi showed up, walking out of the tent. His hand came up to run through his dark hair, and then his head turned slowly to each side, as if he was looking for something. Then, he started walking again, only, he wasn't too steady. Had he been drinking? Was he looking for somewhere to be sick and not disturb his clan?

Bo knew he had to get back to Kuro with his findings, but...

When Akaashi stumbled and fell, Bokuto was already on his way, running to the younger man's side.

"Akaashi, are you alright?" he asked as he helped him to his feet.
"M'fine," came the quiet, but slightly slurred reply. "Need t'find Kei."
"But he's back in the tent, isn't he?"
"Need t'find Kei," Akaashi repeated, knocking away Bokuto's hands and walking again. "S'not safe."
"Akaashi?"

Confused, Bokuto followed the man until he was in front of him, and then gently grasped his upper arms. In the light of the moon, he could see Akaashi's eyes were unfocused, hazy, as if he were...

"Let me go!" Akaashi suddenly cried out, struggling to get out of Bokuto's hold. "Let me go, let me go, let me go!"
"Akaashi, let me help you."
"NO! KEI!"

At a loss, Bokuto almost let him go, but then he saw Tsukishima run out and find them instantly. Behind him, several of the ladies followed him out. In moments, Tsukishima was at Akaashi's side.

"I'm here, Ji. I'm here, love," he said quietly to the still struggling man, glancing at Bokuto and reaching up to lay his hands over Bokuto's.
"What's wrong with him?" Bokuto asked.
"When he's stressed, he starts sleepwalking," Tsukishima explained calmly, gently prying Bokuto's fingers from around Akaashi's arms. Bokuto released him immediately. "I can take him back, my lord."
"Will he be okay?"
"Once I get him back to our pallet, he'll be fine. Don't worry. He'll be better in the morning. Probably won't remember this even happened."
"Has he? Ever remembered after sleepwalking, I mean."
"If he does, it's as if he dreamed it, and he'll pass it off as such."
"I see."
"Thank you for your help, my lord, but I'll take him back."
"Okay."
Bokuto watched as Tsukishima gently guided Akaashi back to the tent and their clan. But before they disappeared into the now lit interior, he gained Tsukishima's attention.
"You can call me Bokuto. Both of you can."
Tsukishima grinned. "I'll tell Ji that. You can call me Tsuki."
"Thank you, Tsuki."
"Good night, Bokuto."
"Right. Good night."

Bokuto waited until they were back in the tent before he turned and made his way back to Kuro's tent. He really wished he could have followed them, helped Akaashi settle down, hold him in his arms and comfort him. Maybe another time. Right now, they had a huge problem on their hands, and at the center of it all were two beautiful young men who only wanted to be free of their shared nightmare. And he would do everything in his power to see that done.

~*~

On the table lay the scrap of fabric and two coins. The men had given their reports and were gone, ordered to not speak of this to anyone else. No one around the table spoke, nor did they move. The only sound came from the shuffling feet of the serving girl who had brought them all a late night snack. And wine.
"I'm sorry," Kuroo spoke gently to the Fox Clan leader, who was crying softly. "The Emir and his men made sure she was buried properly."
"Thank you, your highness."
"We can show you where, if you'd like," Bokuto added.
"Yes, thank you."
"Please, if you need anything else, do not hesitate to ask."
"Thank you, sirs." She slowly rose to her feet, with the help of Nekomata. "I'll go back and let my clan know about Mika."
"Just let us know when you want to see the grave."
"I will. Thank you, your highness."

Once she was gone, the three men stayed quiet a little while longer before reaching for the wine and snacks. They ate as if it had been days since their last meal, all the while thinking on what they needed to do to keep Tsuki and Keiji safe. At least now, they had a better idea of what they were dealing with. And that they had enemies in their own camp.

Wonderful. Absolutely fantastic.

"Any leads on our spies?" Kuroo asked Nekomata.
The man nodded. "There are two, both of whom joined us several months ago. Neither of which has really ingratiated themselves into the corps. They simply do what they're told, although that isn't much, either."
"Do we know where we recruited them?"
Nekomata thought for a moment, and then told him the name of the town. "Didn't think anything of it, as we recruited a few others with them."
"To be fair, you didn't have cause to think anyone was infiltrating us."
"What do we do about them?" Bokuto growled. Kuroo and Nekomata both looked at him with surprise. "We can't let them stay."
"I mean, we could let them go, but without cause..."
"Do we really need a reason? Say we only needed them for a short while. Temporary help. We can let them go at the next oasis."
"We could, yes, but then we'd also have to let go of the others we hired with them. And they've done well in their positions."
"You're too kind, Kuroo."
"You make that sound like it's a bad thing."
"In this case, it can certainly work against you. We have a couple of enemy agents in our midst, who killed a woman while embedded in our ranks. If we're going to protect Akaashi and Tsuki, we have to get rid of them."
"No, we can't," Nekomata interrupted. "At least, not yet. If we just let them go at the next oasis, they can run back to their clan and get reinforcements. And we can't just kill them, as they could very well be replaced. I'd prefer dealing with the enemy we know rather than have to go through the trouble of discovering new spies. Keep your friends close and your enemies closer. They already know we're headed home. We may very well have the rest of the Eagle Clan come knocking on our door."
"Are you saying we can't handle them?"
"Without knowing their numbers, I can't give you the answer you want."
"Enough!" Kuroo shouted over them. "We have enough to deal with, let's not fight amongst ourselves."
"We need to do something, Kuro! You said so yourself, you don't want a repeat of Tsuki's panic earlier. And Akaashi is so stressed, he's sleepwalking..."
"Is that why you were late?"
"It was only a few minutes, but yes. It was."
Kuroo smirked at his friend, but didn't say another word about it. "We all need sleep. We'll be packing up later today, and leaving this afternoon. We have a few days' travel to the next oasis. We'll think of something."