By the sword

Chapter 3: Break of equilibrium

Chapter 3

- Mainland -

A little boy crying...

He made a promise with someone...

But who?

Heat overwhelmed him...He was standing in front of a burning house. A figure was standing inside. Eyes snapped open from within the flames, full of malice and rage...

Takashi awoke with a start, and ran a hand through his hair with a grimace. He hated the way it felt, so slimy and greasy, it didn't feel normal at all. With a sigh he sat up in his bed and wiped the sweat from his brow. He looked to his right and saw the morning light just showing through the shoji. He looked to his left and noticed the unopened tonic laying next to his folded clothes for the day and cursed. He had forgotten to take it the night before.

The first night he had the nightmare, he told his uncle about it and the man had frowned and told him not to worry about it. The next night, his uncle's right hand man, Rei, had approached him before bed with a tonic to help him sleep better. Which he accepted warily. But it worked, the nightmares didn't come again. Until now.

He was trying so desperately to avoid his uncle that he had retired early to his room and promptly fallen asleep. Surprisingly his uncle didn't send for him so either his uncle had chosen to let the matter go or his cousin had kept his mouth closed about what happened in town...he was leaning more towards the latter. But what he couldn't fathom was why? His cousin made no effort to hide his hatred of him. Deciding he didn't care for the reason, he pushed the issue aside and got up, finding himself excited for the day's events. It had finally come; today was his first sword lesson.

-*-

Takashi ran excitedly through the armies training ground behind the house, ignoring the grunts of the Samurai he dodged and brushed past to get to the other side where his teacher would be waiting for him. The further he got from the house, the more deserted the area became until it was only surrounded by 6 people that the young boy immediately noticed were different from the Samurai he had passed moments ago. It was something in the way they held themselves that just screamed 'dangerous.' There was even a woman amongst them. But he doubted that it made her any weaker than the rest.

It seemed that they were just about to start training. They all reached for their swords in unison as they stared each other down. The hairs on Takashi's arms tingled at the raw power that was being gathered. It was an all out brawl. He didn't know whether to stay and watch or flee, knowing that if he was caught in the middle of their fight, he would probably be killed without notice. They were just about to begin when one of them flicked his head in his direction and they relaxed their stances. Suddenly a hand dropped on his shoulder and he jumped and span round. It was Rei.

"It seems...you have met Nakuma-sama's personal guard." Resisting the urge to shrug of his hand the boy glanced back at the warriors gathered who were currently eyeing him up curiously but silently. When they looked at the white-haired man beside him there was a hidden begrudging respect lying in their gaze and Takashi didn't doubt that he was also part of this personal guard, if not the leader. "Come, young heir, we will train over here." It was then that he realised who his teacher was and didn't know whether or not to be relieved at having such a skilled trainer or disappointed.

He lead him a little away from the group that had started their training and to a clearing away from the trees that allowed the soft breeze through, cooling their bodies that were overheating amongst the trainers. Standing a few meters before him, Rei tossed him a wooden sword. Takashi caught it with a frown and sent a questioning gaze at his teacher. "This is called a bokken, this is what you will use to learn the ways of the sword"