Black & White

Chapter Eight: Small Steps

She found herself staring into a pitch black abyss, almost feeling it pulling her soul deep into the forever darkness that had seemed to have surround her. Hikari was caught in her partner's cold stare, which had sent a slight chill down her spine. Kira never gave her such a stare before. But she looked closely, she had seen a different look in his eyes. A new emotion she never seen from him, this cold, lifeless, and empty feeling that had rested at the bottom of his soul.

She watched him walk to down the stair's, finding the atmosphere of the room had changed once again. Hikari found it rather odd, she had only met the boy two moon's ago, but in a strange sense, she felt like she knew him forever.

"...Your technique is a bit off. It's ridged, try not to be so stiff."

Kira's voice, almost like icicles grinding against a chalk board, had made her tense up. She never knew he was rather cold in a different and un-expecting way from when they first met. Hikari didn't answer him, since she was rather interested in his explanation. The dark ,haired youth grabbed a wooden sword from the rack, getting into his initial stance. To her surprise, it was not like the stance he used when they dueled in the arena yesterday, which made her curiosity heighten. The boy's stance involved with his right foot forward, while his left foot was moved behind him. His left arm was posed in front of him, like he was blocking a surge of sand blowing into his face. As for his right hand that possessed the wooden sword, was moved to his right flank, the tip of the platinum oak pointed directly at the wall.

Just... what kind of stance is that...?

Hikari was taught rather differently than Kira was, her method of training was built on consecutive hits than a full on assault. She compared her stance with his, her stance had both of her hands on the swords hilt, her legs were spread apart by thirty five centimeter's. But the way he stood was rather simple, almost like a charge-type stance. She watched subconsciously, unaware of the boy's quick reaction time.

He kicked off the wooden floor, sending a shower of dust into the air. Hikari couldn't believe the tremendous power he had, he was able to cause a high powered-sonic boom while he rushed forward at the practice dummy. Kira narrowed in on it in a short amount of time, tightening the grip of the wooden handle. She watched him rear back the sword, posing it for a heavy strike. He swung it, leaving a *whoosing* sound, and was followed by a *clanking* sound.

The dummy wobbled back and forth, to side to side, splinter's from it and the wooden sword flew up into the air. Hikari stood a few meter's back, her eyes widened as the black haired youth swiped the wooden weapon to the right, and to the left. A bead of sweat dripped from her forehead, she knew that Kira had more experience than her, but-

...Speed and strength like that...? That would take years, maybe a life time to accomplish...

My father taught me something's, but it was only Light Training. ...So, Kira-san must've had...

She stopped herself from going any further, she knew it was forbidden to speak of.

"-In all of the noble families, even the Royal's. A dominate factor of the family is bound by one law, and if he or she were to break that law... their son or daughter will be able to enact the punishment for that dominate factor."

Hikari remembered her father telling her this when she was only eight, since the law's were the first thing the parents had to teach their children. But for the boy's of his/her's family, the Art of War was ALWAYS the first thing they taught them. She didn't know if Kira's family had taught him this, or if he, in fact was apart of the five noble families. In fact, she didn't even ask.

"-This act of sin is called..."

The final part of her father's word's sent a cold feeling to her heart, just before clenching it tightly. The words were in perfect Japanese, she could understand it rather clearly instead if someone tried speaking Arabic, or Spanish.