Saint Seiya Fan Fiction ❯ Walking the Other Way ❯ Initiation ( Chapter 1 )

I am very aware of the fact that the guys are brothers/half-brothers in the series. When you meet a pairing here that puts two half-brothers together, don't bother reporting me for incest or anything. In my story, the only real brothers are Shun and Ikki, all the rest are just their friends.

 

Standard disclaimers: I don't own Saint Seiya, and I'm not making money out of this.

 

 

 

Walking the Other Way

A Saint Seiya Gift fic

 

DragonRuler

 

Chapter One: Initiation

 

With a lazy cat-like stretch Ikki turned in his bed. His body launched up as he heard a sudden sound nearby, his fists ready to protect him and his brother.

 

“It's just me,” that same brother said as he cautiously walked into the room.

 

The black-haired man relaxed immediately and threw his legs out of the bed.

 

“Just thought I'd wake you, since you hate losing half your day.”

 

His brother acknowledged this with a short hug. Then he walked up to the window, through which the happy sunlight and a warm, sea-scent carrying wind entered the room. Ikki breathed in deeply and Shun joined him to stare at the view on this Sunday morning.

 

“Though I still think you don't sleep enough,” he added under his breath.

 

Ikki chuckled and caught the soft smiling eyes of Shun, who was glancing at him to see his reaction.

 

“That might be so,” a voice with a deep, almost purring timbre said. “I dislike wasting time.”

 

“You say that every time. I just wouldn't like to see you drop to the floor one day, because of lack of sleep.”

 

Shun's eyes were wide as they imagined the scene, his fantasy was quite inventive. The other merely laughed out loud, throwing his head back. They both turned and left the room, Ikki taking a shirt and a pair of pants along on his way out.

 

“The day I drop to the floor because of something isn't for the near future. Not even for this lifetime,” the Lion added with a grin. “You still need to be in the bathroom?”

 

“Yeah, but you go. I'm feeding Moy first.”

 

The bathroom-door slammed shut as Shun walked down the stairs. Somewhere halfway he almost tripped over Moy, a big black cat who was making a racket. The brown-haired youngster bent through his knees to lift the cat in his arms, where she started purring on the spot, her green eyes narrowing to tiny splits.

 

“You hungry again,” he murmured as he put her on the cupboard. The cat mewed as she stared eagerly at the well-known moves of her friend. Shun was looking out the window again as he fed her and forgot about time for a moment.

 

Sunday was his favourite day in the week; both his brother and he were home. They had the time to do what they felt like, and that often ended in friends coming over. As if on cue the doorbell rang, just as Ikki entered the living room and kneeled down at the table.

 

“Already,” he asked.

 

“Probably Shiryu,” Shun remarked.

 

He threw the empty can away and disappeared down the hallway. Moy delightedly smacked her food.

 

“Hi,” the newcomer said with a curt smile.

 

Ikki looked up from his tea and nodded. With a swift move, the long-haired man kneeled down besides his hosts.

 

“I'm guessing it'll take Seiya and Hyoga till late afternoon to get here,” he grinned shortly.

 

“Uh-hm,” Shun affirmed through a few bites.

 

“You didn't bathe yet, did you?”

 

Shiryu's thin eyebrow was raised and his eyes twinkled in amusement. It wasn't in Shun's nature to have guests while he wasn't prepared yet, even when those guests were friends of him. After the comment Shun blushed to his ears, and ran off to the bathroom.

 

“You love getting him uneasy, don't you?”

 

The Dragon turned his head to Ikki, a soft smile on his face.

 

“It's rather interesting to observe, besides at least now I won't be turned to ice by the mere look on Hyoga's face.”

 

“Like that ever stopped you before.”

 

“True.”

 

Ikki snickered. His little brother was so easily out of balance and terribly shy. How Hyoga and he had ever gotten together was still a mystery to the rest of them. Hyoga was rather silent and unreadable for outsiders, and he had succeeded in steering clear of Shun for a long time before acknowledging it. Until Seiya had set them up on a journey together, just the two of them. Ikki remembered the look on both of their faces when they got back, one slightly shocked and one plain beaming because they'd finally found each other. Seiya was often teasing them since then, trying to probe into the relationship -curious as ever- but was neatly ignored. The sparks in their eyes said more than enough though, like the passionate tension between them did as well. Sometimes they couldn't hide anything. The Lion was happy for his brother and musing a bit in the past.

 

Moy bumped against Shiryu's knee and tried to snatch away a piece of meat from his plate. The cat protested as Ikki nudged her in the butt and chased her away from the table. Mewing she sat at her windowsill and glared at the human, who wasn't in the least impressed.

 

“Did you bring the plans?”

 

Shiryu nodded and pointed at his backpack that was still in the hallway. Right then Shun walked down the stairs again, hair damp from the water.

 

“Little bro, can you bring Shiryu's backpack along? It's in the hall.”

 

“I know,” Shun grinned. “I put it there.”

 

He dropped the thing on the table, grabbed the rest of his half sandwich and sat down, chewing while watching Shiryu unfold the papers. With a few quick moves two blueprints were visible, held in place by cups and plates.

 

“This is the one you suggested,” the long-haired man pointed for Ikki. “And this is what Seiya came up with.”

 

A soft knock on the door made the three of them look up, but it was Shun again who moved to open the door.

 

“Lazybones,” he mumbled.

 

Shiryu grinned at his protest while Ikki just ignored it.

 

A wide smiling Seiya barged in as soon as he could, whirling round with Shun in his arms.

 

“Hey, put me down! You ..”

 

“Hiya, Shunnyboy! How's it going?”

 

Before the brown-haired victim could answer, Seiya turned round again and wanted to kick the door shut. Neither of them noticed a hand keeping it from falling close.

 

“Let me go, you energetic weirdo!”

 

“Do you mind,” a soft voice said.

 

Seiya looked over his shoulder and Shun struggled to do the same, but his position didn't really allow him that. He did make it to stare under Seiya's arm and saw an upside down blonde familiar face.

 

“Hyoga,” he blurted out.

 

Within a few seconds he escaped from Seiya's strong arms and jumped into Hyoga's.

 

“Hi, blue-eyes.”

 

Hyoga's sea-blue eyes shone with lights as he tied his arms around his lover's waist. They exchanged a quick kiss, then joined the others. It was clear from the dark look in the taller blonde's eyes that he had other things in mind for his little lover, but they had to wait till after business. Shun didn't notice and sat there innocently.

 

Seiya kneeled next to the table and leaned on his elbows, staring at the blueprints, a troubled look on his tanned face. The young man wasn't too good with maps, but his orientation in the wild was excellent. With a few tosses and turns, he thought he got it right and studied it.

 

“Seiya, dear, you're holding it upside down,” Shiryu smiled.

 

The other grinned, not in the least off balance by the remark, and simply turned the papers again.

 

“Now it does make more sense.”

 

“So, we have two houses. `s Just a matter of deciding which one,” Ikki stated, a quick glare at Seiya who was still making faces.

 

“This one -a museum I think- has laser protection, and all the interesting parts are on the first and second floor, downstairs is just the entrance hall and the vestibule. Way in on the roof, but slight trouble of getting there unnoticed. Inside the rooms are each of them on code-lock, but all the same one, so if we break one, we break all doors at once. Lousy system if you ask me. Then again, we are talking someone's personal collection,” the architect said.

 

“Well, whoever's collection it is, he would've been better off asking you, Shiryu, then they wouldn't get in the mess they're about to get in.”

 

“A personal collection?” Shun looked amazed. “He must be rich…”

 

“Probably some collector, inheritance or something.”

 

Seiya's dark eyes were big and shining in anticipation. Wiggling in his position he leaned over to the other map.

 

“What's this then,” Hyoga asked before Seiya could.

 

“This,” Shiryu answered while pulling the blueprint from underneath the other one. “.. is the one Ikki suggested.”

 

“The Tokyo Dome,” the black-haired man confirmed.

 

“The casino,” Shun squeaked.

 

He stared at his brother in amazement, the bright green eyes wide in wonder.

 

“You know, I always wondered what got into you to go along in this.”

 

Ikki shot a dark look at both his brother and the blonde lover of the latter. When would they stop with this doubting already? He hated to be questioned, and rarely answered to it. Now he merely snorted, and decided to give them an answer, take it or leave it.

 

“Police payment is low. You of all people know that, Shun.”

 

“Just like us,” Seiya shrugged. “Besides it's not like we're going to make a full-time job out of it.”

 

He didn't mind that much and certainly didn't care about Ikki being a cop. Life had gone downhill here for a long time already and he'd seen a lot of people take measures into their own hands, even at the orphanage. Economical crisis and a lousy government could do a lot to people's values, make them go lower than ever.

 

The young brunette hadn't expected himself to ever consider criminal offences, not with one of his best friends being a cop, but what can you do when life makes you change directions. Seeing his orphans starve to death wasn't his idea of a life, so he'd decided to choose for their lives and his own.

 

“Aye, and it was me who came up with it, not our dear cop.”

 

Seiya grinned wickedly at the others.

 

“You're all too sweet to think of such a thing,” he smirked.

 

“Maybe we're just sane enough to realize the insanity of this project,” Hyoga noted.

 

“It might be insanity, yes, but like we said before .. It's not like we have much of a choice,” Shun smiled at no one in particular.

 

“So, which one will it be?”

 

“Like I was saying about the museum, it's protected with outside alarm and lasers during the night, and a mere lock inside. Easily broken through, unlike the casino. That's actually .. well, we'd need some real professional material, and no stupid mistakes to pull that off. Once we get in we're in the safe zone,” the architect pointed.

 

“Why not start with households instead?”

 

“I still think we should just rob a bank,” Hyoga grimaced. “It might be a cliché, but that way we at least have some immediate results in our hands and there's less of a risk.”

 

The last words were spoken to Ikki who wanted to protest that they'd have money when they choose the Dome as well.

 

“If we choose the museum, we end up with artwork that's worth a lot, but which we need to sell on the black market first,” the blonde continued. “And who's going to pay for paintings at this moment?”

 

“Think so too,” Shiryu nodded. “But the Dome is a big risk .. “

 

With a frown Shiryu's dark green eyes rested on the blueprint of the casino. It was a very big risk, actually too big of a risk for beginners to take, but it was tempting. If they pulled it off, they needn't worry about money for the rest of their lives, when handled with care.

 

Seiya bit his lip, also thinking it over.

 

“Yeh, well, do we need to hit on something that big? I mean, we could also stick to mere households, they're less protected as well. Less protection, less chance of getting caught,” he said logically.

 

“That's avoiding the issue. Everything is protected these days,” Ikki's deep voice said. “No matter what we choose there's always a chance of getting caught, but if we think of a good strategy, we won't be seen. Doing so, we might as well try for the big stuff than linger on in small insignificant places. I don't plan on making a career out of this.”

 

He was always rather gruff, which probably came with the job, but now there was an extra edge to it. Even Ikki wasn't too excited about the whole thing, he wanted it to be over as soon as possible, yet he also wished to do a good job. At which he'd nearly always succeeded, an occasional misstep (of colleagues) not counting.

 

“Don't forget, we are beginners … Chances are that .. “

 

He hesitated.

 

“Like Shiryu said, it's a big risk. Chances are that we make mistakes,” he bit through his teeth.

 

“Since when do you make mistakes,” Shun giggled at his brother.

 

The Lion closed his eyes, a soft smile at the corner of his mouth. Shun had blind faith in him. Always had been the case, ever since they were small kids. Ikki couldn't count the times he'd protected the little brunette from trouble. Trouble then being taller guys, pestering the petite sensitive being, which was so easy to pick on.

 

Shun never fought, when he was a kid he was scared to death and started crying. Most of the times it would end up with a grumpy and injured Ikki, taking his brother by the hand and head back home, while the others regretted their former attempt to harass Shun deeply.

 

It was clear they were stalling their decision out of fear. It would be a border crossed, something they'd never thought they'd do, and once a line is crossed it always gets easier to do it again. Before you know it you're at home in those new regions and that was not their goal. Ikki saw it in the worried and frowning lines on his friends' faces, he could tell by the way they were all bringing up arguments to just *not* choose something.

 

Fine, then he'd decide.

 

“We try the museum. I have some addresses where they'll definitely take some artwork from us.”

 

“Contacts on the black market, ey?”

 

“Baka,” was the snorted reply and Seiya played to be hurt, falling on his back making strange noises.

 

The sudden outburst of energy was very well placed, even if the brown-haired youth didn't realise this. He took away the nervousness and relaxed the thin air again. They continued their breakfast though it was already noon by now. Seiya was yapping about the kids at the orphanage who'd been pulling tricks on Miho again, his colleague.

 

“You wonder where they get their inspiration,” Hyoga grinned.

 

Seiya made an innocent face and blinked his big brown eyes a few times.

 

“No idea, I must admit. Guess they're all naturals,” the Sag grinned widely.

 

The rest of their day was spent much at ease. Ikki calling round with Shiryu, trying to get the practical matter of the project solved. A few times the cop dialled old busts of his, who were either vowing revenge on him or interested to hear how easily the good path was walked away from. They got in contact with someone who'd been in the art-business for a long while, and was willing to help them in exchange for part of the reward.

 

Shun was playing chess with Hyoga, at which he most of the time lost since the blonde was using unorthodox ways to distract the little brunette. Seiya bumped around from one table to another at first, then danced around for while playing the music for the neighbours to hear and ended up in the couch with a book. Now and then he glanced up as he heard Shiryu's soothing voice come from the table.

 

Their choice was made. Together. Ikki looked up from his notes and saw darkness out the window, it was evening already. Moy mewed again from under the window and caught his eye in her light reflecting ones. Shun noticed his brother's change of position and looked at his blonde, concentrating lover.

 

“Blue-eyes, I'm going to make dinner.”

 

Clearly disturbed by the sudden talking, Hyoga looked up, slightly disappointed and made Shun laugh.

 

“I'm losing anyway”, he yelped. “See, with two more moves I'm checkmate. As usual.”

 

He pointed at the white Queen and Bishop who were threatening the black King.

 

“I know, but it's more satisfying to actually finish the game,” Hyoga grinned.

 

“I'll remember that tonight,” the other muttered as he walked off to the kitchen. Hyoga blinked a few times again, not used to such blunt remarks in public.

 

Seiya grinned like a jackass and waited for the blonde to react. He wisely didn't, since he knew Shun was playing and didn't feel like giving more opportunities to Seiya. However, Shun's remark did mean the brunette was planning on joining him home, he realized with a sudden smile. All the better.

 

“Hands out of the pans, Seiya!”

 

Shun smacked the wooden spoon into the greedy hand, which was withdrawn immediately with a pathetic yelp. Grinning Ikki glanced over his shoulder to see Seiya hop around, with his hand under his arm.

 

“Jeesj, Shunnyboy, Hyoga's got a bad influence on you. You never hit me before,” he whined.

 

“It's about time he stood up for himself,” Shiryu laughed.

 

No one saw Ikki's content smile at this statement.

 

“Why? What did I do?”

 

Pouting Seiya remained in the kitchen, but kept a leering eye on the food, in case it was left unguarded. The long-haired man snickered as he observed the little energetic one try again. This time he succeeded and remained unnoticed. Proudly smacking he fled from the room to set the table.

 

“Out of my way,” Ikki mumbled as he moved in with the food. “Or you're showering in this.”

 

Hyoga jumped back, bumping into Shun, who was empty-handed but not for long. With a quick move he curled his arms round Hyoga's waist and nuzzled into the back of his neck. Blue eyes closed in pure satisfaction as they slowly moved towards the table together.

 

“Great food,” Seiya mumbled with a mouthful.

 

“Hey, weren't you working on a new house for that politician,” Shun remembered.

 

“Indeed, they've plenty of money for houses, but nothing for the people. I'm still wondering when I'll get paid so I stopped working on it.”

 

“What, he didn't pay you,” Hyoga asked.

 

“Nope, nothing yet so far. Although when he came to me with the project, we agreed he'd pay when he saw the first plans. He saw them and affirmed they were good, but never paid.”

 

Shun shook his head in disgust. He loathed dishonesty and as a consequence, hated loads of politicians. Even though he was kind by nature, he could have very deep resentment towards people.

 

“It's all the same, this week it grew even worse at the orphanage. Not only do people not want to help us anymore, they steal from us as well,” Seiya growled.

 

“What the hell happened then,” Ikki scowled. “You never told us. Got any info?”

 

“It only happened two days ago, I was too busy calming the kids and Miho to phone you. Besides don't go busting anyone now, it would be hypocrite. No, they broke in at night, stole food and clothes. I have no clue who it was and it could've been anyone actually.”

 

“Means it can happen again any time as well, loads of potential thieves out there,” Hyoga noted. “What'll you do?”

 

“What can I do? I just try to make sure everything's closed up now and the elder kids said they'd keep watch in turns, so I joined.”

 

This kind of stories kept pouring out over dinner, many of their friends had been in the same deal, but at the end when everyone went home there was one general thought. If they succeeded, it would all be over.