krystalkatzficz | The Wall part 11

“So, what is meant to happen now?” Nino asked with some impatience in his voice as he looked around the crowd that had gathered around the closed door of the wall. He was sure that there were more people here than there had been at the selection and he was having a great deal of difficulty trying to not to flush with embarrassment. He could easily remember when his father had brought him and Masaki here and had spent most of the time berating those that were going through the selection. It was something that made his skin crawl now knowing just how disappointed their parents would be, maybe not their mother she was much more understanding of the choices and had sometimes tried to get their father to allow them to take part.

“Now we wait, if those from the selection wish to court us then the guard will summon us into the room within the wall…” Masaki answered his head jerking over to the metal door “We will be given ten minutes with each of the suitors where they will hand over the gifts…”

“And how long do we have to wait around?” Nino sighed wondering if he could sit down and rest again his side throbbing like it had been burnt even with the aid of his mother’s paste and he wanted nothing more than curl into a ball and cry.

“I think that it’s based on wealth? The wealth of those from the inside…But I’m not completely sure…” Masaki answered nibbling on his lips and looking at the door as it opened and the guard stepped out with a roll of paper. He cleared his throat loudly and Nino could feel the hum of excitement in the crowd which seemed to vanish when the guard read smoothly;

“Ninomiya Kazunari? Are you here?”

“Yeah…That’s me…” Nino said with a wave of the hand coming forward slowly. He wondered what that meant if Masaki was right about the lords being given their order based on wealth and he was more than certain that there was a fluttering inside his chest which was a little awkward. The guard looked him over slowly his top lip curling at the state of his clothes but Nino refused to be ashamed. The clothes of his back might not be the softest material but they were clean and they smelt better than anything else he owned.

“This way…” The guard turned sharply and then walked back into the wall. Nino followed as quickly as he could manage his chest fluttering with anticipation at being inside the wall. It wasn’t something that he had ever expected and he was mildly disappointed to see that it was almost the same as the apartments. Small dank looking hallways with hole like rooms that seemed to look more hovel like than his own home. His disappoint changed though as they stepped through an internal door and they found themselves in a more lavish collection of rooms which were carpeted with lush red wool and edged with gold. The walls were all painted in a blood red and paintings were hung carefully all in polished wooden frames. “You sit in here…Lord Ohno will be with you in a minute…” The guard said with a wave of the hand to the thick looking chairs “Don’t touch anything…”

“I wasn’t planning on it…” Nino grumbled hobbling thankfully to the chairs and sitting down in the first one he reached. They were thankfully softer than the wooden bench and it didn’t jostle at his side too much. There was a pitcher of water and two glasses beside him and he quickly poured himself a large glass unable to remember when he last had fresh and clean water. The first drop touched his tongue and he almost cried with the taste of it remembering that his father’s last request had been for water which they hadn’t been able to provide.

The door opened as he was savouring the water and he didn’t realise that Satoshi had entered the room until he was standing over him his hand touching his shoulder. “What the hell?”

“Sorry…I did call out to you but you were lost in thought…” Satoshi smiled and Nino found himself flushing and squirming around under the gaze. It had felt almost simple that night, agreeing to be courted and swayed into selling himself and he wanted to believe that Satoshi would keep in a no sex clause but that didn’t seem to be very likely. “…How have you been?”

“…Okay, I guess…” Nino shrugged still feeling uncomfortable as Satoshi sat down in the chair opposite him. He wasn’t dressed very differently to the way he had been when they first met but there was something different about the look it his eyes. It was hungry and more focused this time staring at him as though he had missed him “I had a fight…”

“What? Why? Is there some trouble?” Satoshi asked looking so worried that again Nino felt uncomfortable but he smiled and shook his head saying;

“Trouble? No…I just do it for the foreman…They pay me to fight and give me more if I win…I almost always win…”

“I see…Your father taught you to fight?” Satoshi hummed and Nino blinked slowly wondering how the insider could have possibly known that about him. His hand gripped the glass he was holding tightly as he asked;

“…How did you know that?”

“…My friend, Sho, his last sponsored grew up in the same apartment block as your family…I don’t know if you would remember him…Matsumoto Jun…”

“Matsumoto? I know the parents…Or rather I knew them…” Nino breathed remembering the surprise almost everyone had felt when the guards had come to the wall one day and the Matsumoto’s had been shipped out carrying all their worldly goods “They moved inside a few years ago, I didn’t really know the son…”

“He became quite rich from his deal with Sho, but he remembered you and your brother…” Satoshi told him with a smile “He told me that you were a small child and that your father trained you to help you survive…”

“…Yup…So Jun paid for his parents to go inside? Can’t all of the sponsored do that?” Nino asked wondering why many of those that went beyond the wall never fetched their family or friends.

“…It doesn’t always work like that, Sho gave Jun one of his companies…He signed it over to him completely and then he married extremely well…” Satoshi told him softly as Nino started to rub at his aching side wondering if there was a reason that the walls seemed to be growing dark “Most that go inside don’t end up quite so well off…Even on the inside there are those that serve…They…They’re just better off than those on the outside…Nino? Are you okay?”

“…I feel sick…”

TBC
A/N: Hmmm…I hope that this is okay >.<