Ronin Strike

Chapter 6: A Panda's Parable

Previously...

"This town sure does remind me of better days," he says to himself before being interrupted by a rolling ball. "A Temari Ball?" the old man questioned. "Hey can you pass that over here?" a voice called out.

The old man looks up to see a young boy calling out to him with his waving hand in the air and his other hand on the side of his mouth. "HEY! OVER HERE!" The old man then looked down at the ball, picked it up, and threw it toward him. The boy then catches it, "THANKS!" he said as he turned around in the opposite direction. He dropped the ball on the floor, kicked it in his walking path with his hands in his pockets, and his head facing the ground. While he was walking and kicking the ball, someone stopped him in his tracks. The boy looks up and sees the old man staring down at him and getting close to his face. "GYAH! WHAT THE?" he shouted. "You're no fun kid" the old man scoffed with his arms crossed. "I don't have time for any games right now," he says as he walks around the old man. "I'm confused, you have a ball down by your feet," the elderly man said with his arms crossed and his eyebrow up in question. "Yeah well...it's not a ball I just let anyone play with". The boy said as he turned around with a slightly frustrated look on his face. "And also... you're looking at the best player with the Temari!". "I'm the best player in all of Jikan!". "I won't let just anyone play with it as long as it's safe in my hands". The old man then turns around and replies. "If you say so then," he said while walking off. The young boy then let out a big sigh while closing his eyes only to be interrupted by a great gust of wind rushing past him. He then looks at his hands to see his ball was missing. In front of him was the old man once again, this time with the ball in his hand. He proceeded to get out the Temari ball on the top of his foot, "What are you doing..." the boy hesitatingly asked while slowly walking forward. The man then smiles and kicks the ball high into the sky, to the point of no return. In disbelief of what just happened, the young boy rushes over to the old man and grabs him by his robe. "WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM" he shouted as he shook the old man. "Woah woah, now I know what I did looks bad, but please listen and trust me in what I have to say," the old man said with his hands behind his back. "YOU DONT GET IT, THAT BALL MEANT SOMETHING SPECIAL TO ME AND WAS GIVEN TO ME BY SOMEONE IMPORTANT IN MY LIFE" he cried out. "I see..." the old man said with a frowning look. "Why didn't you just leave me alone like I asked you to" the boy whimpered. "Just listen to me for one minute" the old man called out. "WHAT! WHAT COULD POSSIBLY BE SO IMPORTANT THAT YOU'D THROW AWAY MY STUFF!". "Gifts can easily be replaced, you on the other hand...cannot". "Well that one you just sent flying, can't either" the boy scoffed. "You have a gift in you like no other...the gift of nature, and that is the most truthful gift of all". "Like a Panda is to bamboo, the gift of nature is your bamboo... show value in your true nature," the old man said with his hand out again and a smile on his face. the boy then reaches his hand towards the old man to get up off the ground, but is stopped as the ball that flew into the sky came back down to earth onto the old man's hand. The old timer then placed the ball in the young boy's arms and walked off in the opposite direction. The boy then looks at the ball in his arms, wipes his tears, and hugs the ball. "Those are almost the same words she said", he whispered as he started to wipe the tears off his face and smile with his eyes closed.

"Sabisu": Voza. 2 years ago.

"HE SHOOTS..." a young boy grunts as he kicks a ball across a line. "HE SCORES!!!". "Yeah Yeah...you win again Sean," a local boy from the area said in slight annoyance. "Alright I'll see you guys tomorrow, take care!" Sean says as he waves goodbye. on his way back home Sean remembers it's that time of the month again... the time when he realized he had to do what he had to do. "BĀNAI!" "BĀNAI!", said Sean as he burst through a door with a sack in his hand and a smile on his face. "I got your medicine for the month," he said leaning over a sick old woman in bed. "Thank you, Sean, I don't know what I'd do without you." she muttered. "You're my grandma, there's no need to thank me at all," he said with a smile on his face. "You took care of me for all of my life, I honestly should be the one thanking you". "I couldn't have asked for a greater grandson in return" she smiled back. "How are you doing right now, Is everything ok?" he questioned her. "Everything is g- *COUGH COUGH*". Sean looks at her in slight sadness. "Everything is good" she replied. "That's good to know," he said softly. They then had a moment of silence with each other, "Sean, can I ask you something". "Sure" He replied. "How do you get enough money to buy me medicine," she asks. "I have... a friend, who's helping me and you out" he mutters. "That's good to hear you're meeting such good people". "Yeah... good people" he chuckles. "Enough about me now, let me go fix something for you to eat," said Sean as he got up to go to the kitchen. Just as he turned his back around, his grandma called out to him. "Sean..." his grandma called out. "Yeah Bānai?" he replied. "did I ever tell you about my time back then" his grandma uttered carefully. Sean turns his back around and responds to her. "Yeah, you said you worked for an empress in your younger days but then retired and moved to Jikan to have my mom". "Well there's something I didn't tell you about me that I feel like you should probably know," she said. "What is it?" Sean questioned. "I was born here in Jikan and raised by my parents like any other local girl, but moved to Xiēzi to raise a family with your grandfather". "Oh yeah that's right you and grandpa met while he was in Jikan on a spiritual journey". "That's true however while I was on my travel there we had entered his house so I could meet his parents, yet they had disapproved of our relationship and kicked your grandfather and me out of the house". "We were poor and didn't have enough money to sustain ourselves and ended up looking for jobs, your grandfather started working at a local sewing shop to provide for us, and I-". *COUGH COUGH* "excuse me," she said with her elbow covering her mouth. "I later then had raised your mother but end up making a big decision in my life by going back to Jikan. I had then enrolled in the military where I was able to earn enough money to sustain myself and your grandfather back home". "During my time in the military I had met a lot of amazing people I had told you about not too long ago". "Oh yeah, there's 'Greatfist' Miyamoto, 'Silverscar' Takeshi,  'Overseer' Otori, 'Sentinel' Ryo. "My favorite one though has the be... 'Wildcrest' Honoka. "Hahaha!" his grandma chuckled. "you know I never really liked that nickname" she smiled. "cmon, stop lying to yourself, 'Wildcrest" Sean teased. "Oh hush now," she said as she waved her hand away at him while laughing and smiling. "Anyways like I was saying... the reason I had left was that I had fallen Ill". "The doctor had said there was no cure for what I had, and I asked if there was the medication I could take to slow down the process, which there was". "But... If I hadn't been so cursed all my life". "If I could have a stable relationship with his parents If I hadn't gotten sick... If I had a cure... I could've been there for them when they needed me most", she said as she gripped her blanket as tears shed from the side of her face while laying down. "Nobody ever asks to get sick" said Sean. "It's not your fault at all so don't beat yourself up about it ok?" he says as he leans in to hug her. "you're right", she says as she wipes her tears away from her face. "Maybe I just need to lie back down for a second and get some shut-eye". "I'll fix you something to eat just in case you wake up ok?" Sean said as he got up to walk off into the other room. "Thank you sweetheart" his grandma says as she flips over in her bed to go to sleep. Sean then walks into the kitchen and begins to prepare his grandma a bowl of miso soup. he then walks back into the room with the dish, places it down on a table beside his grandma's bed, and heads off to his room to go to sleep. as he's lying down, he begins to question his future in the house with grandma. "I don't know how much longer she has, her condition is getting worse by the day and I don't know what I will do by then". "But you already understand that right Yubba?" he says as he looks down at his toy panda. "Anyways...I'll see if I can do more for her tomorrow, goodnight Yubba". Morning finally rises and Sean gets ready to go out but before he leaves he makes his grandma breakfast and grabs her a cup of water. He then leaves his house and is on his way to the nearby school's playground to play with some friends there. "Can't wait to show the guys the new move I've been practicing these past couple of days", he said while walking with it under his arm. "Then again... it wouldn't hurt to practice it before I got there, just to be safe and all". Sean then drops the ball on the floor and lunges in to kick it, but then slips and barely kicks the ball. "OOOF!" he grunts as he falls on his behind.