By Moonlight
A Suikoden fanfic, by Suzume.
Dedicated to Yuber and Albert of the SCB. They inspired this story ages ago, but I finished it on July 21, 2005.
There was only the sound of a soft splash, that was all.
The red-haired strategist was tempted to disregard the sound and continue his reading, pretending he had not heard, but the current absence of a certain demon stirred him forth from his room. Yuber's black bowler hung over the door handle. Albert carefully removed the hat and placed it on the bed before leaving the room. He walked down the stairs quietly, cautious not to awaken Sarah and Luc in the other room. There was no need for the demon's bizarre urges to disturb everyone's night.
Further down the staircase, Albert came across both of Yuber's black shoes, discarded haphazardly along with his black socks, which lay solemnly, still turned inside out.
"Honestly," he muttered, kicking the shoes out of the way, "Someone could trip over those and kill themself." The lights in the tavern were dimmed and no one else was in sight as the strategist left the inn. Outside in the dust where the market stands buzzed during the day lay both of the shirts the demon customarily wore: both the black one and the white one. Albert paused by them for a moment, wondering where exactly the source of the splash was located. He wandered around the back of the inn and put his ear to the weather-worn wooden fence. The sounds were coming from the other side of it. He reached up and put his hands on top of the fence in an attempt to pull himself up. It was too hard. The wood poked him and he knew he did not have the strength to go clean over the fence all at once.
"I'm a first-class strategist," he thought, "I have to be able to come up with something!" Albert glanced around in search of something useful until a barrel by the inn's door caught his eye. "Perfect!"
He pushed the wooden barrel over onto its side softly and rolled it over to the fence where he stood it back up. The red-haired man hopped onto the barrel and peeked over the fence. The rest of the demon's clothes lay just below the fence in a general state of disarray. Albert looked about the rest of the fenced in area. There were all sorts of weapons and other military equipment lined up against a wall in what appeared to be a miniature parade ground. It was obviously somewhere the men from Caleria's garrison engaged in training. A little way to the right of where he stood was the pool.
Albert could see the demon's sleek body sliding through the water. He stared for several minutes, his mouth hanging open. He was mesmerized. It took him a moment to get himself back together. He blinked several times and climbed over the fence.
"Hey there!" Yuber called.
"Honestly Yuber," Albert shook his head, "Couldn't you just stay inside at night and go to sleep like a normal person?"
"I am not a normal person, need I remind you, Silverberg?" the demon grinned.
The strategist approached the edge of the pool and glared down at Yuber, "You know that you're trespassing, right?"
"I don't care," the blond being replied, ducking back under the water and swimming a few strokes closer, until he too had reached the edge of the pool. "And I don't see why you should care either. Why don't you join me? You bothered to come out here and see what I was up to, so I suspect you'd like to have some fun as well."
Albert looked at Yuber's slim body, shining as moonlight drenched water ran over him. "It was not a matter of fun. I just wondered where you went, leaving your clothes all over this city."
"Come on, Silverberg," Yuber chuckled, "You'll enjoy it. Even you need to take a break from your work once in a while. No one will miss you."
The red-haired man glanced up at the buildings of the garrison. It seemed unlikely that anyone would come out. All the windows were dark. He weighed the options in his mind. Go back to the inn or go for a swim?
He looked down at Yuber. The strange-eyed gaze that might him was intoxicating. Oh well, he might as well do it.
"Fine Yuber."
The demon smirked, "Now that's more like it!"
It did not take Albert long to strip, taking off all of his clothes and folding them up in a neat pile far enough away from the pool to keep them from getting soaked. He took a step back, ran up, and jumped into the pool with a tremendous splash. Yuber threw back his dripping head and laughed.
They looked at each other in a mixture of pleasure, respect, and in Albert's case, embarrassment.
And then the voice reached them. A gate in the fence opened and two men with a little lantern peeked into the yard, "You're under arrest for trespassing on government property!"
Albert groaned. He could tell from the papers they carried exactly who they were: Caleria's inspectors.
Yuber looked at Albert, "Well, it was good while it lasted." The demon grinned, closed his eyes, and with the swish of a hand he had teleported away, leaving Albert to deal with the two dumbfounded enforcers of the law.
"You there!" the younger inspector shouted, "Get out of the pool!"
Albert did not respond. He was too busy cursing his lack of foresight, his bad luck, and most of all, Yuber.