Calamity

A R C I. | S C E N E II.

Scene II: Where the Crimson Cranes Flutter

One truly could admit; the realm of gods had nothing much in common with the Mortal lands of Earth. Compared to Earth, it was so… calm; soundless. Eerily soundless… As Kazuha paced in a room, gazing at his guardian, he felt unease creeping onto his shoulders like ricebags, weighing a tad. He watched the man organising their new home together. It took a while for the young swordsman to understand how that simple little house worked. It was warlock-made, all the items and rooms were appearing if one imagined them. If Vanitas wanted a spare room to have his office in, he just imagined and puff  like in some strange dream, the room appeared right before him. Vanitas looked over his shoulder to gaze at Kaz being in awe of the magic surrounding him. When the youngster caught him smiling at him, the man turned back to complete the house, in other words secure it from any type of harm imaginable.

The next time he looked over to his boy, the blonde was fast asleep on the futon, a book loosely hanging from his bandaged hand. The knight shook his head, smile not leaving his lips as he took the poetry book and placed it onto a nearby table, getting a blanket over his little soldier’s body. Judging from the looks of his arms, the scarring was all healed up. In a few days, he could start training him yet again.

Just when the knight was over with working, he paid a soundless visit to the neighbouring room to find the blonde somewhat awake, eyes hazily half-lidded, his lips parted slightly. He wasn’t trembling, thankfully, as he often did after bad dreams since the… incident.

“Is everything alright?” He hesitantly voiced, tone almost like a groan. The man nodded, crouching in front of him to brush the tangled blonde locks out of his eyes, smiling ever so gently at his little swordsman.

“I’m glad you're safe again,” he voiced before going back to his own room and trying to get to sleep. His restlessness while Kaz needed his care was really getting to him that night.

And just like that, many full moons later Kazuha was out in the wild, training with his mentor, katana in hand, both drenching in sweat, when a young lady came up to them. She was wearing some foreign clothing, resembling a bright green kimono here and there. Her black hair was tied up in a bun, flashing slit eyes gazing back at Kaz as he took her presence in.

When Vanitas noticed their newcomer, he beamed a bright smile, walking over to the girl who had a smile just as bright. “Ah, Kaikuo, what a pleasant surprise!”

“I haven’t seen Vanitas in ages! And who’s this?” The enthusiasm she radiated was almost suffocating to Kaz. His confused stare gave insight to his guardian to switch back to Japanese from the strange language she spoke.

“Oh, right. You haven’t met him yet. Well, this is Kazuha, and this young lady is Kaikuo, a good friend of mine.”

The blonde boy nodded, taking in the information, bowing down his head as a greeting. “Don’t worry, I may not know Japanese etiquette by the back of my hands but I know Japanese.” Kaikuo looked at him reassuringly before turning to the knight’s direction, her voice splitting into hopelessness as she spoke, “You're teaching him Latin, right? He needs to know that here.”

“What’s wrong? Aren’t you going to teach him?” A smug look was plastered onto the man’s face.

“Of course not, he's just a kid, and not mine,” she glared back playfully.

He asked, getting his onyx katana back into its sheath, curious gaze dug into her irises, “Kid? How old is Kaikuo-san?”

“Hm…” she tapped her chin as she counted in her head, “Around… What's the conversion rate again? A thousand?” Vanitas nodded as she made the math about it, “About a thousand and two hundred seventy-four years on earth. Here, that’s just one point two-seven-four, but we drop the last two digits.” She smiled fondly at his amazement.