Dawn

***A/N***
Thank You AliceM! Merry Christmas to you too! Hope everyone’s holiday was full of good-cheer! Here’s the next installment ladies and gents.
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Yuri knew he was staring. He knew that someone was eventually going ot point this out, a part of him hoped it wouldn’t be the teacher that was standing somewhere in front of him. He could hear the teacher’s voice, it sounded like a low hum in the background. But the more that Yuri tried to bring his mind back to what was going on in class, the more elusive his focus became.

“Yes, sir. That’s what Yuri is always saying too!”

Yuri’s head popped up at the sound of Murata’s voice ringing out next to him. He glanced guiltily to his side to look at Murata quickly before shooting his head forward again as he again heard his name called; this time by the teacher who was now approaching.

“Is that true, Mr. Shibuya?”

“Y-Yes, sir.” Yuri had absolutely no idea what he’d just heard himself agree to. He just hoped Murata hadn’t thrown him to the lions. He held is breath and tried hard to look like he knew what was going on and believed that the ‘yes’ he’d just given was the right answer.

“I see. Very good then, Shibuya, I’m glad to see you are beginning to take the initiative in aiding your fellow students in study lab.”

Yuri felt the gathered tension leak from his body at the teacher’s words.

“Perhaps you’ll continue in this vein as you are going to be leading study hall for the rest of this week. Please try to pay attention while you are attending my class in the future, Mr. Shibuya.”

At these words, Yuri felt all of his muscles clench in embarrassment as he tried to sink further into the chair. From the corner of his eye he could see Murata sink down in his chair in the aisle next to him as well. Before any other calamities could befall him Yuri heard the final bell ring; signaling the end to both the class and the day. He sighed in relief.
As he bent and reached below the chair he was sitting in to grab his book bag he heard one final comment from the instructor.

“Shibuya, Murata don’t forget that study hall will be held in room 4-A this week.”

Yuri let his head drop onto the desk in front of him, the sound of his face hitting the surface sounding as a loud expletive in the suddenly quiet room. Yuri, muffled a groan. He hoped that it only sounded loud to him since it was his head, it would be truly embarrassing if anyone else had-

“Is there a problem, Mr. Shibuya?”

Yuri raised his head to look at the suddenly irate teacher that was now looming over him. “No, sir. There is no problem, I just slipped, sir. Accidentally.” Yuri prayed his teacher would let it go.

“Perhaps you should report to the school nurse then, before you report to study hall. You will want to be sure and be in good health as you’ll be leading study hall for the next two weeks, Shibuya.” The teacher’s instruction was given in a short voice.

“Yes, sir” Yuri replied as he gathered his things and excused himself from the classroom. He left the class and headed down the hall towards the nurse’ station. He felt someone draw up next to him and looked over to see Murata walking at his side.

“Yuri, are you okay?”

“’M fine.” He mumbled back. When he got to the door of the nurse’ office he turned around to look at Ken. He saw how Murata brightened and tried to look like he had no worries. “I really am okay Ken, you don’t have to follow me to make sure that I get to the nurse’ office. I am a big boy you know.”

“Ah yes, Gunter always seemed so adamant that you are indeed a ‘big boy’, your highness, and what with your frequent trips in the nude-“

“Murata!” Yuri screamed as he suddenly jumped the few feet separating them to take his friend’s head and manually shut his mouth before he could utter anything more.

“What is going on here?” The unexpected voice penetrated the scuffle between the two young men in the hallway. As two sets of dark eyes suddenly shot up to look at the three figures in front of them. A rather disgusted cough came from the youngest of the trio as he slouched against the hall and shook his head at the sight before him. Yuri looked from his brother to the dark tinted glasses of the distinguished gentlemen standing next to the school’s principal, who was currently wearing a rather confused look.

“Umm.” Yuri couldn’t think of anything to say. He felt Ken twist out of his grasp with a huff and felt immediate relief as Murata seemed to take the situation in hand and diffused it with a chuckle as he began an explanation.

“Well you see Shibuya here wasn’t feeling too well and I was merely helping him down the hall to the nurse’ office.”

“We were coming to find you actually. The principal was just escorting us to your last class so that we could collect you, when your instructor informed us that you had been detained with study hall. Graciously the principal has rescinded this temporarily in light of the family emergency.” Shori paused in his smooth recitation to nod briefly in the direction of said principal before he continued. “As we’ve now found you though, I suggest strongly that if you both are quite ready to leave we really should depart now.”

“I still am not quite sure why if this is a family matter, Mr. Shibuya, that young Mr. Murata would need to-“ the principal was interrupted in his query by the older imposing figure stepping in front of him briefly. He looked up to meet the eyes that lay hidden behind the darkened lenses.

“I believe that we’ve already explained everything to your satisfaction. Thank you for your time this afternoon, Sir, but I believe that we will be leaving now.” The gruff baritone brooked no room for any additional questions or comments. In fact one might say that the sheer power of his voice gave proof that the man with the silvered hair would allow no interference at all in the matter. And with that Shori, Yuri and Murata turned to follow Bob out of the school and into the awaiting car in silence.

Once they were all seated in the back of the chauffeured car the silence was broken first by Murata. “It’s very good to see you again, Bob, but-umm why exactly are we seeing you again?”

An eyebrow lifted above the shades that Bob wore. “As king of the Great Demon Kingdom of Earth, do I
need a specific reason to see any of my subjects?”

Ken deflated in his seat. While Yuri who had been silent up until this point gave both Shori and Bob a considering look before he asked in a low voice, “Is this about our earlier conversation Shori?”

His brother gave a small smile, “Yes. What you said made me think, Yuri, it made me think about a lot of things. I had some questions after you left so I called Bob. Since he is the king of the demons of Earth, I though he might be able to answer some of my questions. He has a bit of a different perspective on the situation than my own, and frankly if he’s able to help I think it’s worth it for you to talk to him about it.”

Yuri grunted. It was more than he expected Shori to say. He could feel Murata’s gaze on him and shifted slightly away from Ken on the seat as he directed his next question to Bob.

“I assume Shori has told you everything then?”

“Shori has given me an overview of the situation. He has stated that you believe you are having difficulties readjusting to this world. That you are under some stress and confusion at finding your place again in this realm.” Bob paused slightly to watch the scathing glare that Yuri shot Shori. “I am lead to believe that you question whether or not the gates between our worlds are completely or permanently sealed.”

“But-“Murata suddenly jumped as though he’d been shocked by electricity.

Yuri raised his hand to cut him off and responded, “Yes. I need to know if-“

“Yuri!” Murata raised his voice again to talk over Yuri. “Yuri you should have-“

“Ken! Not right now okay. Just give me a minute here, all right?” Yuri again tried to silence his friend as he looked over to Bob who was smiling at their exchange.

“I do not believe that the gates between our worlds are permanently sealed. I know that our ancestor first came here with the knowledge that he could never return, and I know that you journeyed here under the assumption that you would never be able to return, but I have lived long enough to question such things. If the gates were truly sealed then I find myself asking how it would be possible for other souls to make the journey between worlds. I would question how it would come to be that we on Earth would have such ready knowledge of Shin Makoku or how they in turn would know about us here and how to communicate with us.” Bob threw a quick glance to the slouched form of Shori sitting next to him before he continued, “It has even been brought to my attention recently that even though I may be older than anyone can remember, there are more things in the heavens than those here on earth may know.”

“But does that mean-“ Yuri’s voice tapered off as Bob raised his hand.

“It means that I do not think that the gates are permanently sealed. I do not know for certain. I would suggest that if you really want the answer to that question, you ask the one sitting next to you. Isn’t that right, Sage?” Bob turned his head to gaze at the figure that sat opposite him. Yuri’s head swung quickly to the right to look at his friend. He could see now how Murata was sitting against the leather of the seats, his head downcast as though not wanting to look at anyone else in the car lest he draw unwanted attention to himself.

“Ken?” Yuri’s voice questioned in disbelief.

Murata’s head rose and everyone could see the small smile of mocking irony that graced his face. “Yes, Your Majesty? Did you have a question then? Or is it just that you finally decided that it was time you spoke to-“

SMACK. A loud crack sounded as Yuri’s open hand connected with Murata’s face, swinging it forcefully to the side and cutting off the poisonous line of questions. As Murata’s head swung back around to glare menacingly at Yuri for having dared the assault Yuri’s voice cut through in stern tones.

“Shut up right now! How dare you Ken? How dare you? You knew how I felt. You’ve known this whole time. You watched me lose my mind, going back and forth over my choice; you even teased me about it! And now you sit there and-“

SMACK. A second equally deafening slap was heard as Murata’s hand connected this time with Yuri’s cheek, throwing his face back into the car’s seat.

“How dare I? I have forgotten more lives than you will ever remember, you idiot! I am the one who was there with you from the beginning. Yes, I questioned your decision. Yes, I teased you out of your depression. Yes, I believed I knew what your problem was. But I don’t know, Yuri. I was waiting, hoping for you to come to your senses and talk to me about it. That’s why I keep bringing it up, moron! I trust that you will remember even amongst everything else you seem to have so conveniently forgotten, that this is me! Me! The one who still believes in free will.”

Murata paused to calm his temper before running a hand through his hair and continuing, “Free will Yuri. You remember that don’t you; the difference between allowing someone to choose for themselves and blindly deciding for them? The difference between letting individual human countries decide if they wanted to declare open war on the demon kingdom and rashly deciding that all humans everywhere were a threat to demons and declaring open war on their species? The difference between letting someone choose their own fate, and possibly having to learn form their own mistakes as well; or deciding that they’re an idiot anyway and just stepping in to fix it for them before they’ve learned anything and thus dooming them to repeat those same mistakes?”

Murata paused for breath again in his tirade before he shook his head in disgust and looked away from Yuri, to gaze at the scenery flying by the car’s window. “I know what free will is Yuri, in fact I still believe in it. Do you?”
The inside of the car was silent of voices, leaving only the steady hum of the car’s engine and the sounds of the traffic outside to drift in to the car’s occupants. After a slow minute Murata looked from the window to turn and look toward Yuri. He could see Yuri staring down at his feet in front of him, his hands clenched tight as they lay in his lap, his knuckles white with strain. Murata raised his hand again towards his friend and saw Shori lean forward slightly in reaction.

As Murata settled his hand on Yuri’s shoulder in comfort he looked across the seat to see Bob’s restraining hand on Shori’s shoulder as well. He felt his lip s curl in response. He felt Yuri turn towards him and shifted to face the friend he had just effectively cut down. He wasn’t prepared for the weak smile or the sheen of tears that hovered in Yuri’s eyes.

“Ken-Ken, I’m sorry. I deserved that. You’re right, I’ve been an idiot and a jerk and probably an ass too.” Yuri gave a sick laugh as he glanced towards the car’s other occupants. “I made a decision that I thought was good at the time, I thought it was what I wanted; what was best for Shin Makoku and for me. I thought I could live with it. But now the more that I think about it, the more confused I am. I don’t know if it was the best decision, heck I’m not sure it was even a good decision or an okay decision. And the more confused I get the more I try no to think about it and the more I try not to think about it the more it’s the only thing I can think about.”

He heaved a frustrated sigh and sank back into the cushion of the seat. “I know that they can handle everything back there. They don’t need me anymore; they can take care of themselves now. I’m too young to be a king full-time. I still have school and university and a family and-I have a life here! I need to live it.” The last was said with such vehemence that no one doubted that the Yuri meant it; the only question was whether he said it to convince them or himself of that fact.

Bob was surprisingly the next to speak. “Yuri, you were born to the demon’s of Earth. Your body was created here and raised here on Earth. Your soul had to be brought here. Your soul was created in the other world. It has lived in that other world and been reborn in that other world. Yes, you have school here and family here and obligations here. But in the other world you also have things to learn and obligations and I think too, family. As a king you have many decisions to make. Some of them you are aware are easier to make than others. And some choices that need to be made are quite distasteful. But they are still necessary.”

Bob took off his ever present sunglasses to stare across the interior of the car with his golden gaze at his apprentices’ brother. His other worldly counterpart. “I have always found the best policy in ruling is to rule for the good of my people. Against what I want or what I would wish personally and instead for what it is that my people need. When that decision is clouded, I find that you have to look at what you know to be true. What facts there are that are inescapable. And from there decide by what justice demands.”

Bob replaced his sunglasses and settled back into the seat behind him. “You are a king Yuri, the decisions you make for your people should be FOR your people. Even if you don’t like them you still have to make them. Besides, after you’ve made them if circumstances are still unpalatable to you, you still have choices. You can either suffer in misery, move the heavens and earth to make something better, or eat the competition until the matter is resolved. You may be a king Yuri, but you are also a demon; I suggest you start acting like one.” A smile graced Bob’s face as he finished and silence once again took over the car.

That is until Shori, who had been relatively quiet throughout the journey spoke up. “Which choice do you usually make Bob?”

“Shori, I am surprised that you would ask that. You know I do not suffer misery, and you tell me frequently that I have moved mountains to make the demon kingdom what it is today. But if you are asking me if I have competition, then the answer is no; I am not aware that I have any competition. I do however live in a chateau remote enough that no one has ever complained about missing bodies turning up and it is also stocked with a refrigerator full of ketchup.” As three faces paled considerably gruff laughter barked from the man in sunglasses.

***A/N***
Yes-yes-yes I know for those of you that caught the "Don't mess with dragons for you are small and crunchy and taste good with ketchup" reference I am aware that demons are not dragons; but come on...this is BOB we're talking about here and I couldn't resist. So, apologies for those of you whom I annoyed, but for the rest of you, hope you got a chuckle!
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