Shameless fic written for self-enjoyment…

If the author knew I was writing this, he’d probably roll over in his grave. But I did try to keep the characters IC… oh wait. The author’s not dead!
Disclaimer: The Eagle-Shooting Heroes belongs to Louis Cha, Copyright 1957-2003. This non-profit, non-copyright infringing fanfic belongs to me…

Lance: So, stepping out of pokemon, eh?

Phantomness: It’s a great story, too bad there’s no slash in it, so my mind started ticking away. It’s nice the author left a bunch of glaring plot holes and time jumps.

Kairo: Oh…

 

Title: The way the river flows

Pairing: Evil x Red

 

            He had always liked Evil.

            They were the two oldest, even as children, running around in that dusty old temple with the steel spear glistening in the hand of the hero that had wielded it. How old had he been? Oh, he couldn’t remember, but they had been children. It had been fun, running around with the others, Jin and his little cousin Glow, the fat and clumsy Sheng, the quiet Ren, and Far, always calculating. Far would later become a businessman in life… so it was evident to see his early development.

            He had missed Evil when his parents had sent him off to school. Oh, he learned, and learned well, but being the poorest child in that class of elites from another village, all clasped in gold and dripping with jewelry, he had picked up another talent, per se. He soon discovered that if he was fast enough, he could, shall we say, borrow the money he needed from the others.

            Otherwise how else was he supposed to keep fed and clothed? Well, clothes weren’t that much of a problem as he cared not for appearances and just wore simple tan. But food was a necessity of life, no argument about that, besides, one of those fat silver pieces could provide a few week’s worth. And it was so easy…

            The best thing was, they never caught him. He figured it was natural talent, and applied himself to the art of thievery, but he did well learn his writing and reading. However, no matter what, how well he did in class… the rest of them, all those little princes, little lords, looked down on him. That was most likely when his hatred of the gold invaders appeared… children only mimic their parents after all, thinking themselves superior. So he robbed them without regret, and well, what could it hurt them? They were rich and could afford it. When he was nineteen, the master dismissed him and sent him home, sighing. He had learned all that he could by then, all the fancy poetry and writing…. So Red left.

            Everyone else had grown up too, in his absence. Evil was deadly with that spear he used, his brother the same type of weapon, only different, a weighty steel staff… He couldn’t remember Evil’s brother very well, he had never played with them. Evil’s brother Xie… Xie was quite a bit older than them.

            But since Evil’s family was poor, when he was little he had often gone out, balancing plates on chopsticks and doing other little tricks to earn money. Xie was too proud to beg though.

            He didn’t really like Xie. Evil was another story. Evil wasn’t arrogant, at least unless he had the skill to back it up, and that was different.

            When they grew up, or old enough, most of them had followed their parent’s trades. Sheng had gone into butchering, selling pork and beef, that took no brains, and perhaps it was from all the meat that he had gotten his wide girth, even at a young age. He helped his father out at their stand. Glow was still studying with her master, she was practicing the sword, a technique developed by a foreign woman, and she was doing well. Jin was very good with horses, which was unfortunately not a life skill, but it helped his family, when they weren’t fishing. Fishing kept them fed all right. Ren became a woodcutter like his father, and could often be seen walking home with the bundles of cordwood on his shoulders. Far went into business as predicted, and he was quite good with it. Very good… his stand never failed to turn a profit, and once, when an angry customer had accused him of cheating, he had proved that his scales were _not_ just for decoration. A grappling hook of minute size and a heavy ball also dangled from them.

            Red hadn’t been home for very long when the gold invaders attacked their village, claiming there were insurgents in hiding. Terrorists. It was just his bad luck that his parents got bumped off during that modicum of fakery. Well, so did Sheng’s and the Han family. They mourned, yes, and vowed revenge, but he was the one who actually _did_ something about it. Glow was still training, being only ten, and Jin wasn’t much of a fighter. He was excellent with horses, could ride through the whole village’s narrow lanes gallop speed with his eyes closed, but... what good was that? He began training with a golden dragon whip then, to actually learn some martial arts. Evil… well, he had to listen to his older brother, and Xie forbade him to attack until he got better. He wanted to laugh at that, Evil was _very_ good, but…

            He wasn’t going to wait.

 

            Red had been blessed with a naturally sensitive voice range. He could imitate other’s voices very easily, and for some reason, he had naturally high pitch. He was slender as well, although that could be attributed to the running and jumping exercises he did, trying to grow stronger... But he wasn’t powerful, no power at all, they often joked he was too weak to wring a chicken’s neck… Even so…

            This all helped.

            Invaders were men after all…

            He brushed the dirt out of his long, black hair and washed it thoroughly, before braiding it carefully into a complicated set of loops, using his dear deceased mother’s jade hair ornaments. His parents would disown him if they knew what he was doing now, but since they were dead, that wasn’t a problem. Slipping off the tan scholar’s clothes he had been wearing, he carefully slipped on the white pants, the under-tunic, also white, and then the wonderfully embroidered pink over robe that had only been worn once or twice. The long skirts fell to his ankles. Surveying his reflection in the mirror, he smiled wryly. Oh yes, there was one way to get into the palace to kill Wong, the man who had murdered his parents, and…

            Hold on.

            It was good he wasn’t growing facial hair yet, very good. He tucked a folded fan, white, depicting a crane, into the skirt, and then picked up the kohl and cinnabar. It was a good thing he was pale from all that studying, no sunlight…

            Carefully brushed kohl around his eyes, and tinted cinnabar on his cheeks, adjusted the high collar to hide his throat, and then frowned. His posture was still off, they’d know instantly...

            He found his father’s old training weights and tied them onto his legs, then slipped his father’s chain mail around his chest, underneath the clothing, which forced him to stand straight and change position… yes, that was very good. Women weren’t supposed to show any hint of cleavage, so he wouldn’t have problems in that area…

            He spent two days by himself practicing walking, and then, well, it was good being adaptable.

           

            Three days later he was on his way to the capital. He hadn’t even told Evil. No, unless he succeeded, he wouldn’t tell.

            It was too embarrassing otherwise.

            The Emperor was quite pleased with his appearance and said reason for coming, and sent him into the residence, and he became a concubine. Fortunately, the old man was so busy he didn’t have _time_ to bed every single one of his women…. During those six months, Red perfected his feminine mannerisms. The fan was handy, he hid his face with it every time the situation seemed unstable, or his voice threatened to slip lower and he couldn’t talk anymore to fake the high notes, and so the rumors drifted out that she was very shy.

            It was lucky the palace library was not off-limits. Reading there, Red discovered the pressure points system. How to kill and paralyze and put to sleep without any trace… very handy…

            He practiced on the guards at night after the first two weeks of studying, always keeping his face hidden, always back in male dress, one outfit of black which he kept hidden underneath his bed, locked and sealed and…

            Well, even if his pressure points failed, he was still agile enough to escape. That was odd, considering he often forgot to take off the weights…

            The guards never told. It was too embarrassing.

            So he got good at it. Soon, he could identify the areas of weakness and subsequent attack from watching their movements.

            He practiced without fail as often as possible, just never, ever, when dressed in flowing skirts and jewelry. Still, it was a pain, especially when he had to pierce his ears… ah well, the dangling golden filigree were nice… he could sell them later, the only problem was having to remember to change out of all the cosmetics and such, and back in after nightly practice.

            Living in the palace had one other benefit. Free food, and all that gold everywhere… oh, his fingers itched, but he learned to steal when they weren’t around. They had horrible security, but they didn’t miss anything. He bribed a eunuch to send money to Glow and Jin, just in case they needed it…

            Said eunuch thought they were her family, which it was, in a sense… but they were just friends, really.

            Jin and Glow appreciated it at least, although whence did it come from?

            It paid off their debt to the landowner, who had taken their farm, and for Glow’s classes…

 

            The sleepless nights red-rimmed his eyes, despite his attempts to hide it with lead paint. That unfortunately drew the Emperor’s attention. Fortunately, the Emperor decided to give him to Wong, since he was too busy…

            How convenient.

            It was easy, really. He hid a dagger up a sleeve, and reached into the man’s robes, stabbed him silently.

            Two of them alone in the apartment, the eunuchs and maids sent out, it was easy to see what Wong had planned, but he had known since the beginning, and didn’t care. Not even when the man had tried to, well, he knew exactly what Wong had been thinking, but it was a pity he wasn’t a girl. Also, he still wore the chain mail underneath, and it had given Wong a shock upon that sight, so he had taken advantage of the moment of freezing.

            Then he escaped.

            After all, he had learned to light finger other people’s items without their notice, this was no different except he was holding a dagger, which stabbed into the man’s chest, and well, that was that.

            Then, with nothing else left to do, he left.

            By now, almost seven months had passed.

            He wondered how Evil was doing. He got rid of the weights, though, before he went home, and made sure he was dressed properly. Kept the chain just in case, he was used to its weight and who knew if he might be stabbed.

            The clothier he went to had outfitted him in black, to mourn his parent’s deaths, finally…

            Sure, he had buried them, but this was different.

 

            Evil was minding his own business, praying in the steel spear shrine. Suddenly, something crashed into him.

            He gripped his spear and turned, ready to attack, but all he saw was Red.

            “Red!”

            “Evil? Oh, thank you for stopping me… I don’t know how this happened…” Red flipped back to his feet and smiled.

            Evil stared in disbelief. “What happened? You just vanished, we all thought the soldiers had killed you…”

            “Promise you won’t tell?”

            Evil shrugged. “You went to avenge your parents, didn’t you?”

            “Ah, I could never pull the wool over your eyes. Yes I did, but on the way, I think I picked up something as well…”

            His new fan was lovely black paper, but the center was steel, excellent for hitting pressure points with. He had learned not to use his fingers, since… Well, that was just kind of stupid.

            He’d break nails really easily that way; even with the fancy gold nail shields all the concubines wore. So for a few nights after in the palace, after realizing the damage done to his own body, he had used his folding fan with the crane, but it broke, and it would be too easily recognized.

            Then, he used chopsticks. Those went missing all the time, so it was nothing special. Got used to the feel of wood and metal to attack with, but he preferred the metal, so the clothier had also provided him with the fan, after all, a silver piece buys more than silence. Besides, guards wouldn’t admit being attacked by chopsticks, so they kept their silence.

            It wasn’t as if he had threatened the emperor or anything. They probably thought he was some impatient prince amusing himself, since he always fled into the concubine’s quarters the few times he had been spotted.

            He fanned himself idly, laughing. It was rather high, but then, he had been faking a girl and now his voice was used to it…

            Evil brought his spear up as Red suddenly attacked, but Red didn’t use anything, no visible weapon, except…

            His arm was suddenly numb.

            Still, he had inner strength, lots of it, although he kept the talent hidden. A minute later, his arm was back to normal.

            “So, you learned pressure points? Nice fan.”

            Red smiled. “Yes. But I still need someone to protect me. The only thing that improved was my speed.”

            “Oh?”

            Evil made several passes at Red with the spear, but sure enough, Red was agile and nimble and didn’t get hit once.

            He was almost flying inside. He had gotten exceptionally skilled in the art of agility and harm avoidance.

 

            During this time, the rest of the Seven had gathered and were watching, wide-eyed at the display.

            “You did well, Red!”

            “Thank you, Ren.”

            Red suddenly gasped, twisting aside to avoid three sharp stars that had shot at him. “Evil! You-.”

            “Hidden weapons, Red. If I can’t hit you with the spear… then we’ll just have to try something else!”

            They called it a truce. Evil had managed to hit Red in the arm and the leg with two of his stars, not enough to cripple him, but it still stung.

 

            Afterwards, they were sitting in the temple when Evil suddenly smiled. “Red… what say you we become blood brothers.”

            “I say it’s a great idea.”

            As it turned out, all the once-children did, so they became the Seven Stars of Jiang Nan. They drank the wine of brotherhood together, and that was that.

            Red and Evil were the second and eldest. That was just the way their ages were. They were older than the others.

            They left the village behind, and traveled around. Whenever an injustice passed their eyes, they strove to right it. Their name began to spread.

            They were always together, the Seven Stars. Then, barely two years later, Xie came to find Evil.

            There was another legend spreading, that of the black wind assassins. Xie thought he could take them on, but he wanted Evil’s support. Well, Evil _had_ to go with his real brother, so he did.

            Red snuck after them – just in case…

           

            As it turned out, it was a good thing he had. Evil now possessed throwing stars coated with poison, which only he could cure, but on the other hand, if he couldn’t _hit_ the enemy, what good was that?

            The black wind assassins were way too high above Xie’s level. He was dead within the first two or three minutes. That heavy staff of his was just too cumbersome to use against fast opponents. Evil managed to dodge the blow that would have taken his heart out, those White Bone claws, but instead, they raked out his eyes. The extreme pain made him black out. It was lucky the Black Wind assassins were still practicing – they had not perfected the White Bone Claws yet, so the stroke was much lighter than it could have been, and was not enough to kill.

            Still, they thought Evil was dead, so they left him.

 

            Red waited until they were far away before he ventured out. He bandaged up Evil’s eyes the best he could, but he knew it was too late. Evil would never see again. Nothing but white…

            It was a long journey back by horseback, but they found the rest of the Seven, and with six people taking care of one, within two weeks Evil was back on his feet. Just…

            Gods. Blind. Possibly insane as well… He adopted Xie’s staff, adapting to its weight to use as his own. It also served as a walking stick, because…

            Well, what else could they do?

           

            “Evil…”

            “Second brother, why? Why were we so ignorant as to think we could take them on?” The pain was making him dizzy…

            “I don’t know…”

            Eldest was silent.

            “I think you should get used to it.”

            “Get used to it?!”

            “Well, it’s not something you can change, is it? Besides, you can get used to anything… did I ever tell you how I killed Wong?”

            Evil looked in the direction of Red’s voice at this change of subject. “No.”

            Red sighed, taking Evil’s hands in his, and began to spill. By the time the confession was over, Evil had a shocked look plastered on his face. Of course, it wasn’t just… horror, at least not all of it.

            “You actually…”

            “Yes.”

            “Gods, that was dangerous! What if you’d been found out?”

            “Would I have been?”

            “…”

            Evil did not press farther, but Red knew that had gotten to him. Sure enough, the next day, Evil was talking to Far, working out a system of angles. Far was excellent at physics and math, so…

            They spent days practicing, throwing stars littered the ground, but his accuracy was improving and maybe his self-confidence as well.

            By three month’s time, he could hit targets with unerring accuracy, almost as if he could see again. He and Far worked out the code, stating different words to match with angles.

            So it was that way.

            They were once again exploring as the Seven Stars. Their break, hiatus period, mourning period, what have you, was over.

            Evil pushed Xie to the back of his mind. However, that very night, he received another shock.

 

            He hadn’t been able to tell darkness and light anymore, blindness made it all the same to him. However, from the comments, he assumed it was a night with a moon. Of course, said comments… er… that was different.

            Red didn’t mind sharing a room. He really didn’t. After all, Evil couldn’t see him anyways, and it wasn’t as if he was going to change or anything. Renting seven rooms for seven people seemed like a waste of money, though, so they were going two-two-three, with Jin and Glow in one room (Glow allowed Jin since he was her cousin and besides, if anyone was spying on her he’d beat their heads in), and the other three guys got another room. So!

            Since Evil was sleeping, Red decided not to bother him and stared out the window, looking at the moon outside.

            He wondered how Evil could take it. Not being able to see… but then again, Evil’s eyes were just blank white now, but it was a kind of a pretty white, like the moon…

            “Moonlight eyes…but they glow with inner light, inner strength, he hides it but we all know it’s there, and its what keeps us together, he needs no eyes to hold us, after all, what are brothers for…”

            He was talking softly, but he’d forgotten two things. Namely, Evil had sharp hearing, since his vision had fled he had worked on improving it, and secondly… since Evil kept his eyes closed all the time, he couldn’t really _tell_ if he were sleeping.

            Red snapped back to reality a few moments later, still looking up at the moon. * Did I really say that out loud? *

            “Silver, moon eyes… they’re nice…”

            Sighing he kicked off his black boots, climbed onto the second bed, and willed himself to fall asleep.

            He really, really hoped that no one had heard that embarrassing little spiel.

 

            Evil was trying to keep his breathing normal as he lay in bed, sightless eyes slightly open. Impossible!
            Maybe he had heard wrong…

            Right? Certainly, Red had been on the other side of the room by the window, and his hearing wasn’t that good. He must have heard wrong!

            Red couldn’t be thinking he was…

            Could he? He didn’t think so. No, he must have heard wrong. Red was just trying to write poetry, all scholars did that!
            It wasn’t very convincing…

            He couldn’t very well ask about it though. He suspected Red wouldn’t have said anything if he’d known he was awake. Ah, but…

            Evil took a few more deep breaths and tried hard to sleep. Neither of them slept well that night though…

 

            “Red? Red? Red!”

            Red jumped just in time to avoid the small dish of wine Jin had thrown at him. “What?”

            The wine splattered on the ground, the plate breaking. The innkeeper instantly began to puff up like an angry chicken. Red tossed a silver piece at him and motioned for him to shut up. Luckily, he did.

            “Did you sleep?”

            “No, I can honestly say I didn’t. Why?”

            “So you were spying on Glow! How could you?” Red shook his head, using his closed fan to deflect the pieces of tofu that Jin were now flinging at him, snapping it open when a particularly large chunk seemed intent on his face.

            “No, no. I couldn’t sleep because I was trying to write poetry!”

            “… Oh.”

            He stared in distaste as the tofu slid off his fan. He’d have to clean it later…

 

            Evil shook his hair out of his eyes. Yes. Poetry. Nothing to worry about, it was just _poetry_… he busied himself with the meal, using the chopsticks carefully. It had been hard learning how to eat after he couldn’t see, but he could usually rely on his plate being kept full thanks to the two sitting by his sides.

            Far was making little clicking sounds on his abacus, probably trying to figure out how much the meal had cost. The businessman in him was not to be denied.

            “Don’t bother, Far, I already paid.”

            Far glanced at Red. “Yes, I am aware of that. However, with that silver piece, how much longer can we stay here?”

            Sheng choked. * Some people are really misers…*

            “Hmm?” Glow looked across at him. “Are you all right?”

            “I will be…”

 

            Jin’s attention snapped to Sheng instantly. It was almost as if he had some kind of anti-flirt radar on. Maybe it was jealousy? Him being so short and stumpy really didn’t garner much female admiration…

            Still, Sheng hadn’t really been flirting with Glow… right?

            “I mean I’ll be fine.” Sheng quickly said. He had been planning to say ‘I’ll be fine with your help’, but considering Jin’s… expression, not a good idea.

            Ren was being silent again. Did he ever talk? Oh wait… most likely not…

            That day, they didn’t do much, just walked around the marketplace and kept an eye out. On the way, they spotted a gold soldier picking on a little girl, so they beat him up. Not all of them needed to fight; Glow was more than enough to knock him out, and in any case, the girl was free.

            Those parents that sold their children into slavery…

            Dinner was another quiet meal, and then they retired.

 

            “Eldest brother, are we going anywhere?” Red asked Evil.

            Evil was silent, now it was his turn to sit by the window. “I’m not sure.”

            “…?” This was odd. Evil was always confident, although touchy, as it were… he remembered the incident when some man had ordered shrimps, and…

            Syllables sound alike, and Evil did have sharp ears.

            Poor unfortunate gold soldier – what, why was he feeling pity for them? In any case, Evil stood up, slammed his steel staff into the floor, and asked him what was wrong with being blind.

            The soldier hadn’t been smart enough to dodge, or give a clear reply; he had just been…rude and annoying. That was not a good combination, when Evil was standing there with staff in hand. Those shrimps and he both hit the floor, but then again, the innkeeper looked away. Bribery’s rampant everywhere.

            They had learned never to order shrimp again though. The syllables sounded too close. The sounds were identical, so…

            It wasn’t as if they particularly liked seafood in any case.

            Lobster; well that was even worse. Deaf and blind, gods, lucky that wasn’t really true for Evil. But they didn’t even think about those foods now.

 

            “Red.”

            Red locked eyes with Evil, stepping so he was only a foot or so away in front. “Yes, eldest brother?”

            “Tell me, what is the sky like tonight? I miss not being able to see.” For once, he had cut the stern façade and sounded oddly wistful.

            Red slapped himself inwardly. Of course Evil would miss being able to see! Just because he could fight didn’t mean he didn’t mind being blind!
            “Well, the moon’s out… it’s not a full moon yet, but almost there, a nice moon, and all the stars are sparkling, the sky’s dark blue, do you remember that? It’s as pretty as your eyes are…”

            Gods! He’d said it again! And this time, right to Evil’s face! Oh, was he in for it now… he winced, trying to keep his breathing normal.

            “You think my eyes are nice, second brother… Red?” Evil asked, stunned. * But… * Flabbergasted.

            Well, no point in lying to his face, never mind he couldn’t see. Red nodded, then coughed lightly. “Yes?”

            “That’s thoughtful of you.” Evil said, letting him smile for a second.

            Red fidgeted uncomfortably, but Evil didn’t say anything else. After a pause, Evil frowned. “We can leave the inn tomorrow.”

            “I do not mind.”

            This night, sleep was better.

 

            Time passed swiftly. No real problems came to a head, so their group split for now. They were still the Seven Stars, but they weren’t always together. Some went back to their earlier trades, but he and Evil… well, they stayed together. It was safer that way. Evil needed eyes in any case.

            They had been doing research on the Black Wind Assassins, just the two of them. The news was not promising. Their source said the two of them had been the escaped students of the North Sea Peach Flower Island Master.

            He was way out of their league…

            They had set up residence in the town, Sheng became a butcher and sold raw meat daily, Far set up his own business stand and did some sort of accounting, although they weren’t quite sure what…

            The two Han children and Ren went off together, they lived across the lake. Fishing and woodcutting kept them fed.

            Evil spent much of his time practicing his weapons, and Red spent his time working on his agility.

            He really was fast, and Evil could hardly hit him now. Also, his light finger skills kept them fed and clothed, although he had switched back to his tan scholar’s clothes, by force of habit, with long hair framing his face. Evil still wore faded gray and blue, and Red had to drag him to the tailor whenever he was in need of clothing repair. He wouldn’t think of it himself…

            Red was convinced that he had developed feelings for Evil. He didn’t’ know _how_, but his Elder brother… ah! It was so confusing…

            It wasn’t as if Evil were rude or malicious, he stayed courteous but it was nothing more than friendship.

            How could he demand more? That would just be selfish…

            He shouldn’t take advantage of Evil’s eyes just to bend him to make him like him… that would just be evil of him.

 

            It was another day, he and Evil were working on a different system of throwing stars, just in case Far was unable to call the commands, Evil should still be able to use them.

            “Five steps! Now seven steps!” Six stars flew out with each call, and Red was impressed to see sure enough, they would have all hit a target at seven steps with considerable force. He picked them up carefully, and handed them back. They might not be poisoned, but even so, they were razor-sharp.

            Dangerous.

            “They hit, didn’t they?”

            Red looked surprised, before remembering how good Evil’s hearing was now. “Yes. They all hit…”

            Evil turned in the direction of his voice, leaning on his heavy staff. “Red? You sound disappointed. Was it that bad?”

            How can I say that? I’m disappointed because I think I’ve fallen in love with you but I can’t say it! Ahh… you’ll hate me now…

            It’s so selfish of me to think this.

            “No, no, you correctly positioned them all, I’m not lying. The flight path was perfect.” He clutched his fan tightly in the fingers of one hand.

            But you’re so much stronger than I am, and what if one day you won’t need me anymore? I don’t want to be left behind.

            To his horror, there was starting to be stifling, crushing pressure in his chest, if he continued this train of thought he’d cry, oh Gods, how unmanly of him!
            A choked gasp made its way past his lips, but that was all.

            Evil was starting to get anxious. Those four-point, tiny shuriken had been smeared with a strong poison he had concocted himself. Before his eyesight had fled, he had spent long days in the forests, experimenting with poisons and cures. He hurriedly reached into his robes and pulled out two packets of medicine, the cure for his poison. “Did I hit you? Second brother…”

            “No.” Red said, suddenly uncomfortable.  He walked up to Evil and let Evil lean on him, as they began walking out of the courtyard into the shade. “No…”

            My heart hurts…

            I can’t tell him! Why am I so foolish!

            His hands shook slightly as he poured tea for both of them. Evil sipped, and then tried to figure out what was going on.

            Red was acting so strange today…

 

            Red carried his own hidden weapons, little triangular razors hidden in his jacket, but he didn’t use them much. Didn’t need to.

            Almost everyone on their team except Sheng and Glow had some sort of hidden weapons. Just in case…

            Sometimes you needed distance fighting to win.

            Did that apply to life as well?

            He couldn’t leave Evil alone! So leaving was not an option. He sipped his tea carefully, trying not to scald his tongue.

            That tea tasted nasty…

            A sudden pain made him abruptly drop the cup. The delicate china scattered on the ground blow.

            Evil was in front of him in an instant, staff at the ready. “Red! What is it?”

            “I- there’s poison in the tea!”

            Evil couldn’t feel the poison, but since he had immunized himself to a variety of poisons purely by accident, he nodded. “Red! We’re going upstairs!”

            They went back up to the room they were renting, and then Red managed to fill a bowl with water. By this time, his sight was fuzzing over, but the last he saw was Evil mixing some sort of medicine, a reddish paste.

            When he came to the next evening, he could only assume it had worked. His tongue was swollen, but otherwise, he felt fine, no more fuzziness.

            “Eldest brother…”

            “Brother Red, you nearly didn’t make it.” Evil stated. His voice sounded strained. “How do you feel?”

            “Fine. Thank you.”

            “What are brothers for?” Red didn’t move as Evil carefully held a bowl of water to his lips. He sipped, it tasted slightly odd, but that was probably because of the herbs floating around in it, and swallowed.

            The pain in his tongue was a dull ache. It made talking slightly difficult, but he tried. He carefully wrote ‘Hard to talk’ in characters on Evil’s palm.

            Evil nodded his head, he understood.

            Red gratefully sank back to sleep again, as Evil pulled the blankets over his form.

 

            Evil felt slightly guilty as he watched Red sleep. Red had unwillingly confessed his feelings, wracked by fever under the effects of the venom. He had needed other herbs, but paying the innkeeper to get them, he had managed to make the necessary medicine to lower Red’s fever…

            He was still weak and needed rest nonetheless.

            Evil smoothed Red’s sweat-dampened hair out of his eyes, and tipped another half bowl of medicine down his throat as he slept. Then, he allowed himself a few hours sleep as well.

            It took a week before Red was back on his feet again, but it was not as bad as it could have been. They went back to work.

            Evil was not quite sure how to respond to Red’s confession. It was not as if he did not like Red, Red was his favorite out of all the brothers, but…

            Confusing….

            So confusing.

            It was the worst part when Red thrashed during his nightmares and called for him, and he was too cowardly to go over and comfort him. He could only wait for him to calm and then change the cool cloths on his forehead.

            Coward.

            What else could he do though?

 

            Red was jumping around, avoiding Evil’s darts. The point of this exercise was to sharpen Evil’s hearing, just in case there were no callers, he should be able to hit the opponent.

            Red was rather silent, but the slight wind changes were enough. Lucky these darts were blunt… and un-poisoned…

            “One!” Evil said, as Red was hit in the right thigh. Red watched the blunt instrument piece bounce off his leg, and then continued dodging.

            They stopped when Evil ran out of shuriken. Even so, he had about a hundred secreted in his clothes, hopefully enough…

            Red had been hit eight times despite his efforts. Well, hopefully whomever Evil fought would be less agile, so they would have more chance. But Evil was throwing darts singly right now. If he did pairs or sixes or triads, then…

            That would definitely increase chance of strike.

 

            Red had no idea that he had unwittingly blurted out his feelings while feverish, and Evil wasn’t exactly going to enlighten him just yet. After all, he first had to sort through his _own_, and how long would that take?

            “Four!”

            Red yelped, his distraction had proved dangerous; four shuriken had all caught him in the chest. He really shouldn’t be looking at Evil’s _hair_ during battle. Okay. So it was nice hair, so what if it was already streaked with gray, it still looked kind of pretty, and in any case, he wasn’t _old_…

            Evil didn’t wait as he sent another two spinning towards Red. Red began evading again. It did help his weightlessness skills…

            Afterwards, they had dinner. This time, Evil made _sure_ the tea was drinkable. No wine, since that could cause a relapse.

            Thank the Gods; he was so glad Red was better… he sipped slowly, and they ate slowly as well, and everything was fine, except the next morning he woke up and his entire body ached.

            Getting up was a challenge, and when Red checked, he was definitely feverish. So Red sent Evil back to bed, and tried to figure out exactly what to do next. Finally, he decided the best course of action would just be to keep him in bed and liquidated. That was exactly what he did, but by the time four or five hours had passed, Evil was deep in the fever stage. He slept for most of it, but there were a few instances where he would grope around blindly and call for Red. So Red, being the good, obedient ‘younger brother’ he was, stayed.

            As it turned it, he could tell, and by the time the gale blew over two days later, he was… well, twitchy. He wasn’t quite sure what to say to Evil, and there was no way in the nine stages of hell that he would tell Evil what he had found out.

            So, to recap, neither knew of the other’s feelings or that they actually _knew_ they knew…

            How confusing.

 

            Routines are comforting things. Since that was the way, they kept to them. There was absolutely no talk to even imply romance in the vaguest sense of form. And so, another year and a half passed.

 

            Evil had gone to wait on the pier for Ren and Glow. Red was scouting out an inn, trying to figure out if it was safe to stay in. Just then, a richly dressed man and a pale looking, quite pretty woman walked out of a carriage. Not one to pass up an opportunity, he began teasing the woman, but the man interfered after only a word or two. From his haughty air, the man _had_ to be some government official, so Red felt nothing about stealing all his money. Good haul, that was. Two gold pieces and eight silver pieces… However, he wouldn’t stay in the same inn with one of those gold invaders, so he decided to look for lodging later and headed to the public wine house.

            Han the third was already there, with his horse, so he decided to inform Sheng that he was needed. Monk Charcoal had mysteriously called them for assistance, so, since they were friends (when had that happened?), he had to go.

            In any case, he caught up with the crowd (All of the brothers except three and five), and they had just been seated at the table on the top floor when Charcoal came in and so, they had to stand up. The food did look good, but unfortunately, they wouldn’t be able to enjoy it, as the events later proved. Barely had Charcoal come in when a longhaired guy carrying a sword and a humongous cauldron brimming with wine came up the stairs. He glared at everyone and then proceeded to gulp the wine.

            “…?”

            “Um… this is Sage Cho.” Charcoal seemed to be really, really scared so he quickly did all the introductions, titles and everything.

            Within five minutes, Sage Cho had managed to accuse Charcoal of a variety of bizarre crimes, none of which he had actual _proof_ for. All of them were looking rather confused, when Sage Cho suddenly flung the wine at Charcoal. Charcoal, despite his name, was a truly _awful_ fighter. He nearly got squashed, but Sheng was there and grabbed the wine, balancing it on top of his head.

            “Fine!” Cho yelled. “Let’s fight later! First, we’ll drink all this wine! There you go!” With a hurtling motion, the cauldron shot out again.

            “I’ll get it!” Sheng yelled. He did catch it, that much can be said, however, he also managed to land on the table, sending all the food flying, and quite possibly, Evil would have been squashed under his immense bulk had he not slapped him in the back to stop his movement. Sheng took a large gulp of wine and threw the cauldron right back.

            “Hmm, it looks like the rumors of the Seven Star’s prowess are true.” Cho declared. “All right! Ke-san, this one’s for you!”

            Evil did not move as the wine came a-hurtling. With a quick movement, he kicked his staff into his hands, and began balancing the wine on top, spinning, and spinning, and then the wine tipped and sent a steady stream into his mouth, unfortunately also soaking his clothes. Then, he flipped his staff and sent the wine flying back at Sage Cho.

            “Then, I’ll toast Brother Nan!”

            Ren sighed, before hooking his own staff – used to carry wood – through the loops on the cauldron, before taking a few gulps himself.

            “I’m not wasting my energy on this,” Far said, and as Ren threw the cauldron into the air, he scooped out a handful, drank it all, and then somersaulted into the air, kicking the cauldron away back to Sage Cho.

            Red fanned himself idly. “Magnificent, magnificent.”

            “Magnificent indeed! Then this one’s for you! Cheers!”

            “Ah! No, no! I don’t even have enough strength to strangle a chicken, and I’m no great drinker! If I don’t get crushed I’ll drown in the wine!” With this said, Red suddenly swept his fan through the wine, sending some into his mouth, before he snapped his fan closed again, ricocheted the cauldron off it, creating a hole right below his feet, while the wine shot back in Sage Cho’s direction. “Help, help!” He called, as he fell to the floor below.

            Several of the Seven looked amused. They knew he was just teasing. Noting the direction, and knowing she had no strength either, Glow kicked the wine up, before flying over it and sucking out a mouthful. The wine landed by Cho again.

            “Hm. Seems like all of you have a good appetite for wine.” Cho smiled. “Then shall we try something else?”

            Within moments, bowls were set out, and they were all chugging. Three bowls later, and twenty-one for Cho, Ren noticed something and whispered to Red, “He’s using his inner strength to get rid of the wine.”

            “If that’s the case, no matter how much more we drink, we’ll never win.”

            The others were starting to feel the effects of alcohol. Red winked, before he fell through the hole he had made earlier, with a cry of ‘I’m drunk!” He popped right up a minute later, and turned to smile at Sage Cho.

            “?”

            “Sage Cho, don’t you think its unfair, all of us against you? I challenge you one-on-one!”

            With that said, Red took another swallow of wine.

            Evil smiled to himself. Oh, Sage Cho might be good at his inner strength, but he’d never be able to beat Red. Red wasn’t known as the ‘light-fingered scholar’ for nothing…

            Sage Cho shrugged and they began drinking, trying to empty the cauldron. However, he was quite perplexed. From what he saw, Red wasn’t using inner strength to get rid of the wine. Was he actually drinking it all? Red fanned himself, talking crazily about contests against elephants and water buffalo, all the more urging Cho to drink faster. Cho decided he was already dead drunk and continued, but soon enough, the cauldron was empty.

            “He couldn’t have drunk it all!” Cho thought to himself. “That’s impossible! His stomach would have exploded!”

            With a smile and a little flourish of a somersault, Red had a bucket half-full of wine in his hands, which he presented. “So! You’re using inner strength to win this drinking contest. Well, I’m just using nothing of that sort. But since we both ‘cheated’… shall we call it a draw?”

            He walked by Cho, and suddenly slipped in the puddle of wine by the man’s feet and went tumbling. Cho helped him up, but suddenly, Red recited the poem he had written last year perfectly. As it turned out, he had already pilfered Cho’s writing paper, and… well…

            That gave Cho a rather unpleasant surprise. Still, he admitted his loss and took off. They didn’t trust him, though, so they went to the Flower shrine anyways. Just in case… Besides, those stupid gold invader soldiers had come up at just the wrong moment and they had been wrongly accused. So he felt no guilt in robbing the man again, after all, he had framed them!

 

            Well, that cauldron hurtling over overhead was an unpleasant surprise. Still, they had to fight, so they did.

            Sheng looked dead, and Far looked… almost dead. That was not good. But Far called the commands, and then Cho was clutching his right shoulder with a poison dart lodged in it, so that evened the odds a bit. Of course, Evil had hit Glow as well, so she was out of action for the time being, while he still had to figure out how Jin had wound up underneath a giant bell, but…

            Now was no time for that! He whipped his fan closed and began hitting pressure points, making sure to direct his own chi to attack. His eyes turned red with anger as Evil went down, slashes on both legs. That arrogant Sage…

            Well, those two blows to the head certainly served him right! Much to his shock, though, when he was about to finish Cho off with a blow to the right side of the chest, he went flying and hit a statue and then everything after that was kind of black…

            “Monk Charcoal! You’ve killed us all! You did have a woman hidden in your shrine!” Evil cried.

            Unfortunately, none of them was… er, in the condition to go chasing after Daniel, and besides, Monk Charcoal was dead so they couldn’t exactly take it out on him…

            Internal wounds were the worst. Those you couldn’t _see_, so it hurt for the week it took to heal.

            Still, that awfully close brush with death kind of drove the point home that he’d better tell Evil before he really _was_ dead…

 

            Red was feeling twitchy.

            He was secretly trying to broadcast telepathy so everyone else would go out so he could talk to Evil but apparently he wasn’t a psychic because it wasn’t working!

            But then, everyone else went for dinner in the main room of the inn so he went over to Evil, let him take his arm, took a deep breath, and spilled.

            “I’m in love with you.”

            “…” Evil blinked at him vaguely. “Did I just hear you say that?”

            Red nodded, but then remembered yet again that Evil was kind of blind… “I love you.” There! It was out! Now, he could wait for a reaction.

            Evil’s grip on his arm became slightly tighter. “I…I…”

            “Yes?”

            “I…I think I… may have feelings for you too.” Evil finally managed to get out. He loosened his hold on Red’s arm. “You wouldn’t lie to me, right?”

            “Not about something this important!”

            “Just checking.”

            “?”

            Red felt the wind and the feeling of being spun around, before Evil kissed him... right smack on the lips. Well, that was accurate at least…

            “… … …” Shock reigned.

            Just then, Jin came running in, wondering why they were late. “Will you two hurry up – oh. Er… maybe I’ll leave now…”

            There was a scramble, a curse, and the sound of someone tripping and falling down the stairs in his haste to escape.

            “… … … …” Red was… well, still in shock. Evil released him, and poked him.

            “Ow!”

            “Oh good, you’re not dead.”

            “Dead? I can’t possibly be dead! I’m too happy to be dead! I’m-!”

            “As I said, just checking. Shall we go?”

            “…” He didn’t know how to respond to that, but at least the feelings were reciprocated. They could deal with the complications later. And so they did.

 

THE END

Completed 9/7/04, started 9/5/04