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“I was wondering what Lord Kamui’s latest pity project was up to.”
The man slouching over the kitchen table twitched in a repressed jump; Zero had taken care to enter silently.
Lord Kamui’s latest acquisition was a strange man. Ex-shinobi, former retainer to the royal family of Hoshido, part-time kidnapper, full-time scoundrel, with a vested interest in egging on a war–and yet he had sworn himself to Kamui and Aqua so easily. An outlaw couldn’t have reached his age by being a complete pushover.
Did he have so little loyalty to his own interests, or had he submitted to Kamui to further his own plans? Lord Leon had regretted giving Kamui the choice of what to do with him, but threw up his hands at his brother’s idealism. Between the Hoshido peasant refugee, the hermit mage child, the ninja defector, and now this, their army was getting quite ragtag. Kamui’s bleeding heart was going to open to someone thorny sooner rather than later.
“…you’re Zero, aren’t you?” It was a slow reply, buying time to think.
Ashura’s thoughts were written on his face with delicious clarity – how much could he risk saying to the retainer of a prince who could decide his life? Lord Kamui had spared him, but it was hardly set in stone. Things could still go very badly for him if he became troublesome. His eyes flickered around the room, looking for an exit other than the doorway Zero was leaning casually against.
Trapped.
“Ah, so you paid attention while you were skulking about in disguise. Looking for something to steal?”
Ashura bit back a more aggressive reply. “No,” he said, barely polite. “I was hungry and someone was getting rid of these.” He gestured to a platter of…something…in front of him.
Felicia’s handiwork was obvious. The useless maid had been practicing again, with as much success as usual. Zero couldn’t identify the dozen or so hors d'oeuvres, or even whether they’d been cooked or not (the darkened edges could have been from burning, mold, or ill-advised experimentation with soy sauce), but it was clear they had been destined for the garbage with good reason. The animals wouldn’t touch any feed they tried to mix it into.
“You must be doing this to see ecstasy on her face. Nobody would eat that maid’s cooking without a more…fruitful goal in mind.”
“It’s nothing like that,” snapped Ashura. “All I told her was that she shouldn’t throw them away.”
“Eating from the trash like a dog? You’ve lived the life of an animal for so long you’ve forgotten how to be a man.” How satisfying, to picture a former retainer to Hoshido's royal family rooting through the garbage of Windham for his dinner.
Ashura’s jaw tightened. “It’s here. I’m not gonna waste it. Unless you want some, I don’t see what you’re sticking around for.”
“Lord Kamui is…most trusting. Lord Leon is more realistic. Your story is very tragic, but there’s no sympathy in me for someone who fell into this life from grace.” He grinned. “It brings me pleasure, actually, that you know how much you’ve lost. I know what you are.” Misleading like that was the oldest trick in the book, but Ashura was already defensive. Zero didn’t even need to enter the kitchen to box him in.
And the barely noticeable pause before Ashura folded his arms told all.
“You don’t exactly look like the reputable type, either,” he ground through clenched teeth. “I almost thought Prince Leon recruiting a thief was an urban legend.”
“We’re talking about you,” Zero said breezily. “I didn’t try to hijack Lord Kamui’s ship two days ago.”
“Do you really think the ‘step out of line and you’re dead’ talk is necessary? I know what my situation is. Lady Camilla didn’t even have to open her mouth to get the message across, and she was scarier than you.” He was doing an admirable job of collecting himself, but exploiting weaknesses was Zero’s specialty. The fingers digging into his own biceps, the narrowed eyes of a rat in a corner – lovely.
“Lady Camilla and I are different. She wants to protect her family, I enjoy the despair on someone’s face when they realize exactly what their destiny is.”
“Look, would you –” Ashura broke away from his gaze and scrubbed a hand through his hair. “I’m just hungry. I don’t want trouble.”
“You’d better learn to like my trouble.” That got the eyetwitch he was looking for. So suggestive comments bothered Ashura the most, did they? Oh, Zero was going to enjoy this.
Ashura squared his jaw, looking down like he could pretend Zero wasn’t there. “Then excuse my rudeness, but I may as well eat.”
He grabbed one of the things on the platter and stuffed it into his mouth. Zero found an echo of distasteful familiarity in the gesture; he was trying to get it past his tongue so he wouldn’t have to experience the flavor. No gagging in spite of shoving it to the back of his throat – something he was obviously used to doing. He grimaced as he swallowed, needing a moment to collect himself from the taste and texture.
It brought back persistent memories – Zero could practically taste the moldy bread and spoiled meat himself. When you didn’t have money for food, the garbage was the first place you went. If you were lucky, the affluent would throw away meals that were unfinished or only a little past freshness. If you weren’t, you chose between the pain of hunger and the pain of illness. His stomach curdled. “This is pathetic.”
Ashura shrugged, reaching for another sandwich (Zero was almost sure they were partly bread, at least). “You can leave.” He ate it with the forcibly blank expression of one focusing on anything other than his present.
Watching Ashura steadily choke down his food through visible queasiness bothered Zero far more than he wanted to admit. It was insulting to eat garbage in a perfectly good kitchen, wasn’t it? What kind of disgusting disaster of a person was so inured to trash he preferred it over real food? Zero wouldn’t touch stale bread, or cold soup, or soft fruit. Not anymore.
Ashura shoved another bite in his mouth, swallowing it practically whole. If you avoided chewing, you could keep something particularly disgusting from leaking any juices into your mouth. He could almost smell the refuse piles of the alleyways, hear the buzzing of the flies –
His face dark as a thundercloud, Zero shoved the tray off the counter with a clatter.
“Hey, what the hell was that for?!” Ashura jumped up to avoid flying remnants of what was technically food.
“A favor. I’ll give you that one for free, but if you owe me I’ll take it out of your body.” Ashura was too frustrated and disturbed to notice the wooden cast to his smile, Zero was sure of it.
“What is wrong with you?” he hissed.
Zero turned, waving a hand over his shoulder. “I’ll be seeing you around,” he said, with promise. Without looking back, he knew what Ashura was doing. He was too weak-willed to leave someone else’s mess around, especially when his future was so precarious.
His lip curled. What an easy target.
If Lord Kamui had to keep picking up strays, hopefully they could all be people who were so deserving of his attention.