•|| Arjun~ Becoming the Peerless One ||• (II) ✔

𝙲𝙷𝙰𝙿𝚃𝙴𝚁 𝟸𝟹

Hastinapur, Guru Dron's ashram

Arjun's POV

"I am obeying Acharya's orders, Mahoday." I calmly responded to him, and at once my eyes fell at his feet making my lips part slightly. My brows crossed inadvertently, as those feet appeared familiar to me for some reason and another glance at his face made me hooked upon his features.

Odd, very odd. At a quick glance, a few of them resembled Kunti Maa—Kunti Maa? But how? How? No this, this cannot be.

Am I being mistaken for some reason?

"Obeying? You do not realize you're being fooled out, Arjun." His hoarse voice had a sense of demeaning tinge, as if I was some enemy of him since ages. Really? How am I being assessed so fast by someone who doesn't even know me nor do I know him?

"He is a fool, Vasusen. What else can you expect?" Bhrata Dushassan wrapped an arm around his shoulder, he appeared to have befriended the man who recognized himself as Vasusen, perhaps. Now it was visible why he had such a prolonged sense of dislike for me, and maybe for my brothers as well. I shook my head silently, I had no interest in inserting myself in their business but what was concerning was the distinctive features that closely resembled Maata Kunti for some reason.

Everytime I stole a glance at him, how can so many glances betray?

I chose to ignore their snickers, it was simply no use in involving myself in a verbal argument with them. It was always fruitless, and a disruption of peace.

"Stay Arjun! Let us see if you succeed in pestering Gurudev!" They laughed and strode away, leaving me alone to ponder and wait.

It was growing in the afternoon, and I was still without any source of food and water. Gurudev's words resonated in my mind, "You can give up when you want, Arjun."

Give up? Should I? But Gurudev yet wasn't satisfied nor had he himself asked me to get up, then what shall be the use of it? How else shall I prove my worth to him? No, I can't. I shall definitely wait for Acharya to arrive, he can never be wrong in his stance or do something that shall be harming me instead. All I needed was to focus and concentrate, without being distracted by my rumbling stomach or the dried tongue of mine.

I kept my palms on my knees, sighing deeply and trying to with-hold my patience and resistance. But deep inside, I knew I was getting aptly distracted wondering about Gurudev, and always keeping an eye on him.

No, this—this cannot work. There are sages who can go without food and water for years, and for me it's just two prahars, and I cannot be complaining. It was clear, I needed to find some other ways to shift my concentration. Till Gurudev doesn't come, I shall not deviate an inch from here, by hook or by crook.

I shut my eyes, inhaling a deep breath to soothe myself down. Straightening my posture, I recalled how I used to concentrate my senses whenever I had a target fixed, and my arrow needed to be shot. At that moment, my entire focus used to be on the tiny target, and how I would be unaware of anything else but my aim.

Aim. Yes, I needed that concentration at the moment—

But how shall I? I glanced around, and soon my eyes landed upon the trail of red ants that were swiftly pacing up in a line, just a little distance away from me.

There, my aim. I breathed in deeply, focusing on myself and my vision, and concentrated upon the moving trail, who were mingling in their own business of gathering eatables and carrying it up towards their ant hill.

The motion of the ants caused my senses to temporarily be epoxied upon it, and very soon my other bodily urges began to evaporate steadily.

"Arjun?" The familiar voice all of a sudden drew me away from whatever I was formulating right now. For a moment, I had even forgotten that I was sitting on the floor and just doing nothing. I quickly turned my head around to spot an amused Acharya, who was striding towards me with his arms locked behind.

"You're still sitting here?" He sauntered towards me, his eyes taking my features at a single glance.

I had no idea how much time had elapsed, staring up I noticed it was dusk, with the birds flying and returning back to their fellow quarters and at once I began to feel what was going on in my surroundings.

"How shall I disobey you, Gurudev?" A smile escaped my lips, joining my palms as I was yet waiting for his order to get up.

"You aren't feeling hungry or thirsty? Seriously?" Gurudev's eyes lingered upon me, his tonality mingled with a sense of amusement and shock, "How can you keep sitting constantly for more than two prahars without food and water? That too all of sudden and without any previous training?"

"Do not lie Arjun, you cheated, didn't you?"

I instantly shook my head, cheating Gurudev and me? Never! I would rather be satisfied not learning arms than cheating my preceptor!

"He didn't Pitashree!" The voice in my defense appeared from behind and I at once recognized it to be Guruputra's. He was strolling around the area for some distance, maybe endeavoring himself not to be visible but his movements had alerted me from far away and I was quick enough to figure out that maybe Gurudev had appointed him to keep an eye upon me, "I was witnessing him since then."

"He hasn't even moved an inch from his place!"

Ashwatthama strode towards Gurudev, and his hollered figure had a curvy smile dancing on his lips, "And perhaps Arjun had spotted me, didn't you boy?"

I nodded at him with a humble smile.

"Pitashree, by now I can assure you that whatever he had claimed to you can never be a lie. Arjun is true to his words, and so is his deeds. He proved himself worthy, didn't he?" His eyes swept over towards me, the Sunrays directly falling upon his coppery appearance and the gem studded upon his forehead shone without a bash.

"Worthy, definitely yes." Hope flickered in my heart as those slow words escaped Gurudev's lips after a while and as a sense of relief washed over me, I glanced at him with longing eyes, "Get up, Arjun! I am not aware of your weaponry skills, but—"

He himself held my shoulders and lifted me up, as I humbly folded my palms and stared at him convincingly, "You indeed have the knack of a true warrior!" And there was again the sense of pride in his voice that I had sensed that day, when he had embraced me in front of the Kuru clan. And for some reason, my heart fluttered to establish myself worthy in front of the one I revere the most.

"Tell me, Arjun? How did you manage to keep yourself steady yet? Looks like you have a knack for controlling your senses boy!" Drauni stared at me wonderstruck, glancing at his father who nodded at his stance.

"Very true, it seems like this boy is going to break all the shackles someday!"

 ★★★★★★★

A/N

Chah gaye mere sher Arjun chah gaye 😍😍😍😍✨✨✨✨

Waise, "You know Who" ka real naam was Vasusen-dusra nam bahut baad me padha to hum Vasusen se hi "You know Who" ko sambhodit karenge U_U

Was this info necessary? *shrugs* Idk humlog to Corn bulate hai so yeah~

Signing off for today!

Kiritija Nushkie