Nothing changed Taiyo’s mood quicker than hearing some combination of “self-defense lesson” and “Father.” He visibly deflated by the time they reached the side garden where they practiced; Sorai already stood there with three knives and a scowl.

He looked up and tried to flash a smile.

“Did you two have fun in town?” he asked, trying to be friendly.

Arguing against the session would just make it drag on for longer, so Rei entered the clearing first. Taiyo hesitated at the entrance as per usual.

“We helped out a few people,” Rei replied in Taiyo’s stead. His younger brother folded his arms and watched the clouds above him. “Sir Eidayu asked after you and the Fujita family.”

“That doesn’t surprise me. How’s he been?”

“Good. He wanted us to give some condolences about Grandfather Masaru.”

Sora’s smile shifted into something a little sadder. “Did you thank him?”

“We did,” Taiyo murmured.

Their father nodded in response. With the starting conversation over, he went straight to the hard part.

Sorai passed Rei one knife—sheathed and probably dull, per this family’s tendencies with bladed things—and held out the other to Taiyo.

“Are you going to be difficult again today?” Sorai asked, his patience already gone. Even years with annoying siblings couldn’t prepare him for Taiyo’s stubbornness.

“...It makes me sick,” Taiyo spat. He briefly glanced at Sorai. “Why can’t I just…not have any weapons? Why can’t I have someone nearby to defend me?”

“We can’t guarantee you’ll always be with a soldier,” Sorai argued. “And I’m still not comfortable leaving Rei alone with a knife.”

“So Rei always gets a guard or someone nearby, but I don’t?”

“Rei has a reason.”

“And I don’t? What’s different—a few darker days?”

Sorai didn’t have an immediate answer. Rei went over to the corner of the garden to wait for the bickering to end.

They always did this—once a week, every week, for the past two years. It used to be every day before Kyoumi decided it didn’t do any favors. They tried not to argue too much, but they got lost in it sometimes. Taiyo had a tendency to catch himself before Sorai did.

Sorai paused because he didn’t want to upset Rei, but the deed had already been done and he just hadn’t bothered to look over yet.

“...That isn’t the issue,” Sorai eventually said. “Both of you need to be familiar with how to protect yourselves—I’m just doing what I can to make sure you don’t get killed.”

Rei winced, but Taiyo maintained his stance.

“I know how to use a knife,” Taiyo argued. “Otherwise I would be okay with getting lessons.”

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

“Can you prove it?”

Taiyo bit his lip. “Not comfortably, no.”

“I’ll keep hounding you until you step in here for at least five minutes,” Sorai pointed out.

The younger prince sighed and finally entered the clearing.

“...Fine.” He came up and snatched one of the knives from Sorai. “But I’m leaving after this.”

“As long as you put on a good fight,” Sorai reasoned, readjusting his knife to a position he was more comfortable with, “You’re free to do whatever you want for the rest of the afternoon.”

Rei sat up and watched, despite preferring not to; he knew Sorai would use it as a basis for Rei’s lesson later. Taiyo normally just left after a certain point.

Sorai took a few steps back. “All right. Begin.”

Taiyo lunged forward with little to no expression to speak of. Sorai stepped out of the way easily, twisting around to nick Taiyo’s shoulder. The younger stumbled a second, earning some brief remorse from Sorai, before Taiyo swung to hit Sorai’s side. He didn’t cut his father, but he came close.

Sorai moved back, frowning, then stepped forward again to attempt another hit. Taiyo waited until the knife came closer and retaliated by moving away and slashing down Sorai’s arm in response. Sorai grimaced and dropped his knife with a curse.

Taiyo blinked a few times before emotion returned—even if he just sheathed his own knife and backed away in response, setting his weapon on the ground.

“Are both of you okay?” Rei asked in his stead.

“Yeah,” Sorai replied after a second. He picked both knives up and looked at Taiyo. “I’ll keep due on what I said; feel free to head out. I’ll see you at dinner.”

“A-all right,” Taiyo said, more shaken than Sorai. He gave a quick bow in respect. “Thank you.”

He gave a little wave to Rei and promptly jogged back out of the garden. Sorai held his injured arm up and observed it.

“It’s bad?” Rei guessed, shoving off the ground but leaving his knife there.

“Not the worst I’ve gotten,” Sorai admitted. He tried to give Rei a smile. “It’ll be fine, just let me clean it up so your mother doesn’t panic. Are you still up for something?”

“Depends on how much you’re bleeding.”

Sorai shifted away so Rei couldn’t see the injury up close. He sighed and went to the little shed to get out the medicine kit instead; a mismatch of bandages and rags meant to cover up little scratches until they could get it officially checked. Not like anyone in the family did.

Sorai murmured thanks when Rei brought bandages back, exchanging them for the knives; Sorai wiped off the blood, then wrapped the injury one-handed despite Rei being right there to help.

“...This is partly on you for aggravating Taiyo when he’s already on edge,” Rei pointed out quietly. He went back to the edge to sit down now that his duty to try was done.

“I know,” Sorai conceded. “I need to ask who taught him that—no one in the Fujita family uses knives, and we have a reason for concern if he learned it on his own.”

“In his defense, disabling your opponent is a self-defense strategy,” Rei noted.

“It is, but at this rate I’ll need to switch him back to wooden weapons. I swear some days he’s trying to kill me.”

Rei shuffled back a little towards a tree and closed his eyes.

“He’s a different person in here,” Rei murmured. He held up his hand to visually count the list, “First of all, this time of year he’s always a little off. Second, he hates fighting. Third, he’s not even completely wrong—it wouldn’t take that long to get him a guard, especially since he’s a lot more amicable than me. You’re the only one putting him on the spot.”

Sorai tied off his bandage and looked in the opposite direction.

“I’ll bring it up with your mother,” Sorai promised. “I doubt it’ll convince her, though—guards didn’t save Utaka and Erize.”

“It saved them the trouble of constantly watching over their shoulders. I think it would help if you didn’t pressure him.”

“...I’ll see what I can do.” He turned back towards Rei. “But for now, let’s see how well you can hold up. You have the advantage of being left-handed when they’ll expect attacks from the right, but after that wears off you need actual tactics.”

Rei nodded and stood up, taking two of the knives with him back to the center of the clearing to begin his side of things.