How To Polish A Pearl

Chapter 104 - The Runaway (1)

Author's Notes:

You all strapped into your seats and holding on to your handlebars? It's time to go back to when they first met. Back to the beginning of our two soulmates.

⊂ (▀▿▀) つ

The image before him is branded into his soul. He can see Zhou Zi Shu, Ah-Xiang and the hall. He can even smell the death from the battle. Then—everything goes dark. 'Ah-Xing', 'AH-XING', 'Ah-Xing~' echoes in his mind, all with different tones—happy, teasing, soft, lazy, irritated, sleepy, excited. The one thing that his name has in common, is that they are all spoken by the same voice—his voice. The voice that is like water when his mind is like a desert.

Images of a young Zhou Zi Shu at around fifteen years of age, just a year older than himself, flickered through his mind. That hazy image of the boy who fed him during the snowstorm and then stayed the entire night to hold him close, sharing his own body heat. The boy who kept coming back to give him clothes and food. He sees the boy who later sparred with him a few times a week. The boy who would run next to him through the orchards. The boy who one evening decided to hold his hand whilst they watched the moonrise. The boy who fell into the river and died.

It had taken Wen Ke Xing three weeks before he had even spoken one word to the boy. And even then, it had been a weak 'thank you' when the boy had walked out the door. Wen Ke Xing wasn't even sure if he had heard him. Even from the start, the boy had told him that his name was Zhou Zi Shu. He had even said it a few times, since he seemed unsure if Wen Ke Xing remembered or not, likely due to the high fever he had been spiking during those days of the snowstorm.

Zhou Zi Shu had told him that he was the first disciple of Qin Huaizhang, the leader of Four Seasons Manor. Not that Wen Ke Xing had any clue what Four Seasons Manor was, but he had been too scared to ask. It had taken him another few weeks before he had given the boy his own name.

"I promise. I have not told anyone that you are here and I won't tell anyone either if you don't want me to. I don't know what you are running from, but you can trust me. I am not going to hurt you. If you don't want to give me your real name, then give me a fake name—any name. I just want a name to call you by. If you don't give me one soon, I will make one up for you."

Wen Ke Xing had stared at him with wide eyes. He wasn't huddled in the corner anymore, like he had been those first weeks. Back then, he had been scared of everything that moved or even made a sound. He had flinched under the touch when he was cleaned, dressed and fed. Every. Single. Time. He might even have screamed and tried to fight off the hands trying to help him.

He was sitting on a patched chair by the fire that Zhou Zi Shu had set in the chimney. They had both been surprised that the chimney had been functioning, well—for the most part. The smoke that leaked into the room was bearable and wouldn't kill them in their sleep.

He was staring down at his hands and biting his lower lip. It was when he was looking at his hands that were warm thanks to this boy, that he had made the decision and finally answered, "Wen—Wen Ke Xing."

Not knowing if the name was real or fake, Zhou Zi Shu had just tilted his head, smiled and then punched him brotherly on the arm, "Wen Ke Xing! I like it!"

He had only been Wen Ke Xing for a week before Zhou Zi Shu had shortened it to 'Ah‑Xing'. And after he had revealed his name—and confirmed it was his actual name—the rest had kind of started coming out as well. They had walked along the smaller streams in the orchards and talked, sometimes for hours. Most of the time about absolutely nothing and other times about the few things that he had wanted to share about his past.