CLACK!
CLACK! CLACK!
As the light from the luminescent rock cliffs began to dim slightly, announcing the arrival of night time to the Kage Clan, one boy remained outside alone.
CLACK! CLACK! CLACK!
Behind Munisai’s estates, in a small humble stretch of land, the Sword Saint had created an outside Dojo. It served as an area where different kinds of training can take place, allowing for more freedom of movement and self exploration.
One of the training exercises was a simple sword swinging practice against a dummy made of straws.
“Hah… So annoying…” Stopping for a short break, Lawkey sighed and voiced his feelings.
Slashing and swinging at the straw dummy was quickly draining his patience. He was not used to attacking something with a sword without the intention to cut it.
However, since his mentor, Munisai, had forbidden him the use of his beloved blade at the end of their recent Sword Purifying Ceremony, Lawkey had no choice but to use a practice sword instead.
“Until you have made sufficient progress on the Shadow Sword Style Stances, and learned how to better cleanse your inner blade, you are to leave your sword in this room and only interact with it during the Sword Purifying Ceremony.”
The boy remembered Munisai’s words at the time, still feeling a tinge of annoyance at the fact of having to be apart from his sword for so long.
It made his body feel constantly on edge, and his nights longer, by extension.
He gripped the black Bokken he borrowed from the Dojo, and swung it again at the straw dummy as if it was the source of all his grief.
CLACK! CLACK! CLACK!
He hit it, again and again, barraging it with blows.
The head, the torso, the shoulders, he made sure to aim for spots that could throw an enemy off balance.
“Hah… hah…” Eventually, he stopped to take another breather.
He stepped back, and grabbed his water gourd. It was another thing Munisai had given him recently as well. It was oval shaped, with the Kage Clan Logo visible on its side. He held it by the end of the thin black rope wrapped around it, and took a couple of sips.
“Ah!”
As he wiped his mouth, he came face to face with Jun who stood watching him with a stack of towels in her arms.
She had been doing some late chores and before she knew it, she was standing there watching him without realizing it.
“U-um, you shouldn’t stay up late. Getting enough sleep is important to make sure your body recovers from training and has enough stamina for the next day.” Jun quickly went on a little lecture, repeating words she had heard from her father.
Lawkey slowly walked up to her as she stood on the wooden floor connecting to the main house.
“I don’t have time to be sleeping.” Lawkey said as he got in arm’s length, his eyes directed at Jun, “I can’t afford to waste time if I want to catch up, to you, to the old man.”
Jun was slightly taken aback, but she quickly recovered, slowly getting the hang of dealing with Lawkey’s behavior patterns.
“There is no need to rush, is there?” Jun said, hesitantly, “You can take your time and train for each stance, one day at a time.”
Even though she had heard Lawkey’s story by accident as he told her father, she had tried to act aloof around him. There were many things that could end up overwhelming him and making his stay miserable, she didn’t want to be one of them.
“What? You scared?” Lawkey suddenly swiped a towel from Jun’s stack, “I’ll be the top apprentice or whatever before you know it at this rate.”
“Hey! I just got those dried!” Jun shot back.
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“If you take it easy, it won’t be much of a win next time I take you on.”
“Heh, keep dreaming. You, win?” Jun held the stack of towels with one hand, and pointed the other at the boy in front of her, “With that kind of sloppy stance? Your swings were uncoordinated, you targeted all the wrong spots, and you still haven't adapted the very first Principles of the Shadow Sword Style!”
With every single comment from her, Lawkey felt invisible arrows impale his body. He knew she was right, that’s how he needed to train more than anyone.
“If you’re so great, how about you show me then, oh great top apprentice?”
“Why did you say it in such a mocking way?! Take it back and say it with more respect!”
“Yeah, yeah, is the little miss going to get her hands dirty or not?”
“Youuu! Fine! I’ll show you how it’s really done so you can cry about your incompetence all night!”
“Heh, now we’re talking!”
The two bantered back and forth, until Jun eventually caved in, putting the stack of towels down and pushing her sleeves up.
“Don’t blame me if you feel overwhelmed by the difference in skill!”
“Don’t get cocky, you only beat me once. It will never happen again.”
“We’ll see about that!”
With that the two trained together for a while, bantering back and forth the entire time.
Not too far from them, on the first floor, Munisai listened to them from his window, all the while sipping on his tea with a smile.
He worried his neighbors might complain, but he personally didn’t mind this kind of commotion.
“It sure has gotten lively around here, hasn’t it?”
**👑**
Before long, Jun had retired for the night and morning had come.
Walking out of her room and sliding the corridor door open, she was met with a bum passed out in front of her.
Wait, it's not a bum, just an annoying freeloader… Jun thought, identifying the culprit on a closer look.
How long was he out training for that he couldn’t make it back to his room? Seriously… passing out here of all places…
“Hngh… ungh…”
Jun watched him as he grunted in his sleep, sweating more than the night before.
That’s right… When I tried to lower his fever last time, it seemed like he was having a nightmare too. Jun remembered.
“...”
She crouched down next to him, her eyes narrow as she stole a closer look.
Then…
“Aghhh!”
He woke up suddenly, immediately sitting up.
“Hahh… hah…” He panted as he reached for his neck with his left hand.
A cold shiver ran through his entire body, he noticed his teeth chattering as sweat ran down his face.
“...”
Then he turned to his right, coming face to face with Jun crouching down next to him.
They both looked down, seeing their hands joint together.
“!!”
No matter how hard one tried, eyes could never be stretched wide enough to touch the forehead, but in that instance, theirs came very close.
“W-wait, I didn’t mean to do that, sorry!” Lawkey removed his hand as he quickly sat up and tried to step away from Jun.
However, still not having recovered himself completely, he tripped and fell on one knee, quickly catching himself from tasting the floor.
“A-are you okay?” Jun, although red in the face, quickly reached out her hand to him.
“I’m fine… I probably just need some water…” Lawkey forced his body to get up.
“You… in your sleep… what kind of-”
“I’m fine! Let’s just go to practice! I need to train more…”
Jun hesitantly tried to put a question together, but was quickly cut off.
She had seen the expression on his face the second after he woke up, in that split moment, it would be difficult for anyone to put on a mask of any kind. Jun realized it.
Is that… How you look beneath it all? Jun kept that question to herself.
She had seen a similar expression on his face when he first woke up from his short coma, but this time the look in his eyes, the shaking of his pupils… It was all too familiar to her.
What can I do…? She asked herself.
Before she could come to an answer, Lawkey had already slid the other door open and was rushing toward the Dojo.
“H-hey! Wait! Let’s at least have breakfast first!” Jun shouted as she ran after him.
When she caught up, however, she found him standing still in the hallway to the entrance. Her father had just walked in.
“Old man, you’re kidding right?” Lawkey asked, “What do you mean we’re not training again today?”
“Sorry kid, you’ll have to practice without me.” Munisai narrowed his eyes, “I’m canceling today’s training session, I’m being summoned by the Shadow Queen for urgent business.”
“Tsk, seriously?”
Unlike Lawkey, hearing that, Jun knew what it really meant.
“Dad, did something happen?” She asked.
“Don’t worry about it, Jun. Just some clan business.” Munisai turned around, facing the entrance, “Kid, for now, work on what we talked about yesterday. Let’s try and pick it up again tomorrow.”
“Yeah, fine. I’ll do that.”
It’s not like Lawkey didn’t understand his situation. Munisai had already told him it would take years, but still, none of that helped with everything that was making him feel so impatient.
He had experienced one of them just a moment ago, and the longer he took to get stronger, the worse things would get…
Especially being away from his sword, Eclipsed Dawn.
Jun watched him squint his eyes from behind. She didn’t know how to comfort him, so she tried changing the subject.
“We can practice together, all right?” She said, “but let’s have some breakfast first. Any requests?”
“...”
Jun waited for a response as Lawkey took a second to ignore the thoughts welling up inside him.
“Then… pancakes.” He paused, “I want Pancakes, you got any?”
“Are you really going to ask me that every morning?! I don’t even know what that is!”
“Hah… kids these days… so ignorant…”
“Huh?! You’re a kid too! Why are you talking like an old man?!”
As their banter once again reached the actual old man stepping out of his estates, he smiled, glad that they were able to recover quickly.
“Ah, Sensei! Good morning!”
Suddenly a student blocked the Sword Saint’s path.
“Oh, Kojiro. Good morning.” Munisai returned the greeting, then remembered something, “do you have some time, Kojiro?”
“Sensei?”
“This is actually good timing, let’s walk and have a chat, kiddo.” Munisai paused, “I’ve been meaning to talk to you alone for a bit. It’s about your mother.”
Although his hair still hid his face with light brown bangs, hearing that name, Kojiro narrowed his hidden blood-red eyes at the teacher leaning on his crutch in front of him.
He was finally going to learn more about this woman he had heard so much about.
About the mother that everyone had called a rascal girl in her early years.
About Sasaki Kage.
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image [https://i.imgur.com/KQmIY8F.png]