“So you finally said something, huh?”
---What does he mean by that???
“He has been on the ground for a while.Seems like you hit him too hard.”
“Definitely not. It was just one hit.”
“One hit could kill a man.”
“Shirou..C’mon, we just started. Don’t tell me you can’t continue.”
“I’m…ready to continue.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah.”
“Normally you just nod your head. What’s gotten into you today?”
He swept Shirou off his feet and exploited his advantage with a series of kicks from all directions. His athletic ability was spectacular and his flexibility was like that of a monkey. All his kicks landed on Shirou’s arm, chest and even his face. Shirou had difficulty dodging the attacks and absorbed them like he was used to. However, this
wasn’t going to work on his opponent who was set on winning with ease.
---I can’t sit back and take in these attacks all day. My body has a limit.
Shirou segued onto the offensive, his counters were even more precise and with each exchange, his form became more and more refined. He could see the swings slow down in comparsion to that of each passing second. Now, he could fight on equal footing. Shirou also released his fists and closed his eyes. Everything was slowly coming back to him. He had no memory of this but it felt like his body could recognized the moves.
---Make your arms as light as possible. Don’t tense up.
He blocked and parried his opponent’s attacks and even struck back with a decent hit to the shoulder that pushed his opponent back.
“Time to get serious. You should do the same.”
With a mixture of light and heavy attacks, swift blows and kicks and even fast and slow movements, he was successful at overwhelming Shirou. He dealt multiple attacks while some were evaded but it was enough to claim the victory; Shirou fell to the ground, panting heavily. His opponent was not satisfied and prepared a final blow to the stomach but it was stopped by the one observing the spar.
“That’s enough, I told you to take it easy since it is his first time sparring in a while.”
“Uncle, it will be no use spoiling him. Even Yuuki is training hard. He’s the only one that hasn’t done much of anything in a while. I just wanted to show him how much work he needs to put in. You can call it motivation.”
---Yuuki?
“You just wanted to win.”
“That too..”
“Even if, I told you. That’s no way to conclude a spar. It’s unnecessary behaviour. Shirou, are you okay?”
He nodded his head slowly. He was surprised to hear that Yuuki was also in his dream.Was this a dream made from his curiosity or did it contain some deeper meaning? It wasn’t making any sense.
“You’ll surpass Shinji in no time if you pick up from where you left off.”
“Uncle, why are you telling him that?”
“His movement was sloppy, that’s why you won. Normally, you never win against him.”
“I know, I know. You don’t have to rub it in.”
His suspicious glare rested on Shirou and the tension rose like an erupting volcano.
“If you surpass me, I’ll just surpass you again. Got that?”
“Mum, are they finally done training??”
“Look who’s all fired up..I told you that you can rest up for today,right?”
---Yuuki??? Lisara??
“She just wanted to see what her brothers were up to so we finished ‘training’ early..”
She winked at Yuuki; she giggled and let go of Lisara’s hand, running over to Shirou.
“Big brother.. Why are you staring at me like that??”
“Nothing.”
---I forgot. I wasn’t supposed to speak. The size of her hands put me off guard. She’s so little.
She was 2 years younger than him so she was currently 8 years.
Her eyes lit up in extreme excitement as she heard Shirou speak and squeezed him tightly with a hug.
---Some things just don’t change.
“Hey let’s go play together..Shinji, you too..”
“Hey, hey.Hold up.These two are still in the middle of training..”
“Well, dinner is ready..”
Lisara sighed as their uncle,Yotsuba, began to salivate..
“Okay boys, let’s go have some dinner.”
“No way..I still want to continue training.”
“You’ll have lots of opportunities to train tomorrow..”
“What about the spar???”
“Well…”
With a frown, Shinji walked away.
“I’ll practice with the shurikens.”
“Let’s go, Shirou.”
Yuuki grabbed his hands firmly and dragged him away while Lisara followed, right behind them.
They all sat for dinner. There were no chairs so they sat on the floor; there was a long brown dining table with gold designs at the edges. A dragon was crafted at the middle with it’s tail spreading across it. It nearly contained the whole room in terms of length. It was so spacious that they didn’t help but feel lonely during meal time. Apart from the branch families which contained a total of five members, there were still two people absent.As they all enjoyed their meals in a seemingly awkward yet peaceful silence, Shinji stormed in, brimming with excitement.
“Uncle, I did it.”
“Did what?”
“I did the complex shuriken hit. They all deflected towards the target.”
“That’s impressive. How did you do it?”
“Hehe. It was one of those rare moments where I allowed the inner beast take over. And then, boom…Perfection.”
---What the hell is he talking about?
“That’s great, Shinji.”
“Thanks, Mum. I’m the son of Yatogami Kenjiro, the living legend, after all.”
He said this loudly and examined the table once more. The seat in front of him was empty, as usual. His grin disappeared in a matter of seconds. He sat on the floor and ate his meal in silence;the room was filled with even more awkwardness than before.
“He’ll be back in a few days. The meeting usually takes a while..I did stir up some trouble the last time so he told me to stay this time.”
“You want him to train you?”
Lisara took control of the conversation.
“Yeah, maybe I’ll be able to learn a thing or two from him.”
“Gotten tired of your uncle already?”
“No..Maybe learning something different would help.”
“But your Dad told you that you can’t learn anything from him unless you pass through Yotsuba’s training first.”
“I know..But…I am strong enough.”
“No you aren’t…You have improved quite a bit and you have the potential, sure but you are not close to the level required…I’m a lenient teacher, that’s why he asked me to train the three of you. At this point, if you do move up and train with him, you wouldn’t even last a single day.”
“I’ll like to see that for myself.”
“Guys,let’s just enjoy the food.”
“You want us to be strong but you aren’t even doing anything useful..”
“I’ve told you a million times…Learning magic from the get go doesn’t necessarily make you stronger..”
“That’s a load of bull--”
“Shinji…..That’s no way to talk to your uncle..Apologize right now…”
“You’re taking his side too?I knew it…Everyone’s always against me.”
“That’s not true.”
“I’m sorry for what I said..”
“Don’t be sorry..Be less reckless. You never skip steps. Never!!!”
“I’m going to get some sleep now..”
As he left,the dreary atmosphere drowned out every other thing and until dinner was done, no word was uttered. In the midst of the argument, Yuuki held on to Shirou’s hand with a gloomy look on her face.
“Good night.Big brother..”
Yuuki clung to Shirou and gave him a hug,before holding on to Lisara who whispered in his ears before leaving.
“Please,try to cheer him up, okay?? I know this is probably something only you can do..”
Shirou nodded and entered the room they shared. Shinji frowned at the light coming from outside the room. The dark orb floating majestically on his right hand disappeared. As Shirou proceeded to close the door, his shadow split in two.
“That was quite early..”
“Yeah..”
“If you tell uncle about this, I would definitely kill you…Got that??”
He nodded his head and shut the door.The overwhelming presence of the shadow consumed him. He stood from his chair and approached Shirou with a monstrous aura emanating from him. Shirou could sense this in great detail.
“What’s so wrong with using our magic at a young age??Wouldn’t we get used to it faster?? Everyone does that..It’s common practice but for some reason,the Yatogami clan, one of the strongest clans in existence, decide to use an odd approach..That wouldn’t work..It’s nothing but a disgrace..I wonder why he has to impose such reckless methods on us and his lie is something anybody can see through..Are we just supposed to stay quiet and not question it??Because they think ‘it’s for our own good’??I’m sick of it..They are hiding something.”
Their eyes met for a couple of seconds and he took a deep breath and continued.
“But I’m sure you would be fine with anything he says. After all you don’t have a mind of your own.You are just like a dumb puppet.”
“That’s…”
“No need to waste your words on me..You were always a better listener. Perhaps it’s because you never said anything..You wouldn’t be able to piss me off by saying exactly what I want to hear or by disagreeing with me either.”
“Then what is it you want?”
“What I want????”
He lit a fire and the shadow it created held Shirou, pinning him to the door.
“What did you think you could do?Talk to me and make me feel better?”
“N-No..”
“Shut up already..If your ears are still functioning then listen well. As long as I can prove my usefulness to Father,nothing else matters..I don’t care if you and Yuuki get behind in training..You could even stop and become as useless as the members of the branch families..As long as I get what I want..I don’t care. And one last thing….”
Shirou froze as he gazed at his eyes, filled with hatred. The cold expression on Shinji’s face..It was emotionless yet filled with traces of anger..An expression that he recognized all too well.
“I hate you…”
The boy released him and got on his bed. Shirou stood there, motionless. He slowly walked over to his bed, falling flat on it and suddenly found himself sitting in a shallow lake.Two fishes beside him swam in harmony, making circles.A black and a white one. He noticed this slight detail and turned his attention to the wooden bridge that went across the lake.
“Jeez, Mom said no pushing each other off the bridge.”
“Relax, okay? I’ll go help him.”
“No, I’ll be the one to do it.”
She jumped in and pulled him out while Shinji watched from above.
“Big brother, what games do you wanna play???”
“I don’t want to play any games.”
Yuuki tilted her head slightly to the left and grinned.
“What are you talking about, big brother?”
“Yuuki???”
“Why don’t you want to play??
Play…
Play…..Play
Play……Play…..Play…..
Play…….Play…….Play……..Play……”
Those words kept echoing in his mind, like a broken record.Everything around him continued to slow down. He took a look around him and the lake was filled with blood, his two siblings laid in the lake, motionless with blood surrounding them. At the corner of his eye was the white fish that had thicker blood pouring from it’s sides.His eyes trembled upon seeing this ugly sight and he screamed in fear but the image did not go away.The reflection in the lake brought out Shirou’s true ugliness.. His face smeared with blood and a disturbing smile…A sardonic smile…He covered his face and closed his eyes, hoping by the time he opened his eyes, he would be somewhere else. He kept hearing the words “Raijin” over and over. His ears could tell the distance apart and it became closer and closer until it vanished. He then heard a different voice.. A soothing voice with a bit of desperation blended in.
“Yato.Please wake up..”
---This voice..It’s……
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