Momentum

Kuroto's past life with his partner before death.

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Pre-Momentum

Ever since he could remember, his partner was always at his side. Oboro had long, delicate black hair he normally kept tied and the softest, amber eyes Kuroto ever saw. He was taller than him by a mere 6 centimeters so no matter what, Kuroto had to look up to him, physically and mentally.

The best thing he loved about Oboro was that he was the calm Kuroto always needed. Kuroto had the Feet of God. It was in his blood to keep moving fast, to avoid the details and keep moving, to have such a high amount of energy. Weapon practice was Kuroto's favorite activity; he got every excuse to use his speed and hyper reflexes to attack the dummy or another opponent. He had a black katana to top it off. He. Was. Amazing.

But then as soon as Kuroto's ego swelled, Oboro was right there, poking the side of his head and telling him to come back down to earth in that lighthearted way of his.

He called Kuroto using his former name. "You didn't do anything special today, Inochi," he said with a cheeky grin. "But that's okay. We'll still get some sweets together."

Kuroto would pout, de-summon his sword, and urge Oboro to hurry up and get to the garden so that they could eat the sweets. Oboro would bring sweets enough for both of them as they sat in the grass, under a tree during night. Kuroto opened his bag of sweets and ate them gleefully and quickly, barely savoring the flavor.

Oboro gets mad at me 'cause of this, he thought, waiting. No scolding came. He looked over to his partner who looked at something hidden with his kimono.

"Oboro, what're you looking at?"

Oboro took his time to reply, irritating the other. "They're seeds...from my favorite plant."

"Favorite plant?" How come he didn't know something like that? He wanted to know now. Know everything he could about the plant.

"Recently, I've been practicing gardening. It's so much fun, but you wouldn't like it much, Inochi. It's a slow process."

Kuroto wrinkled his nose. He didn't even know about his new hobby. It made sense that he was gardening; so often would Oboro leave in the middle of night with an enigmatic smile and how he would skip practice sometimes. He didn't like to keep Oboro's secret life a secret.

"I don't care. You're going to show me your plants - right after we eat."

"Ah, you really want to see? I'm really excited to show you them." Oboro had such a pleasant smile on his face. Kuroto would never forget it.

With that, Kuroto ate the rest of his food before a leaf could fall and touch the ground. He watched as Oboro finished eating his first sweet, really savoring the tang and texture, and talked about how it tasted. He only got halfway into the second treat when Kuroto grabbed his bag, inhaled his share of sweets, and urged the taller boy to show him the plants already.

Oboro's flowers were hidden under a slouched over tree with droopy branches. It was one of the more farther places from the Twilight Mansion. He pointed to green foliage and said, "There they are."

"That's not a flower. Those are leaves."

"No, not there." With a chuckle, Oboro guided Kuroto's head to the flowers. "There." Kuroto's eyes widened.

From the foliage were long, protruding stems. Hanging from off the stems were beautiful flowers. The almost bloomed flowers looked like pink hearts while the fully bloomed looked like split hearts curled at the ends with a white stem jutting out. Flowers that looked like hearts? They existed? Kuroto reached out to gingerly touch one, the slowest he had moved in a while. During his trance, Oboro pushed Kuroto's chin to shut his gaping mouth.

"Beautiful, aren't they?"

Kuroto nodded. "What's this called?"

"They go by lots of names, but I think this suits in the most: the bleeding heart flower. See, the pink petals make the heart, and it's split open. The stem can be seen as the heart bleeding out."

"...they're beautiful, but I hate that name." He started to feel as though the flowers were actually broken hearts.

"You do? There's always the other names. How about 'lady-in-a-bath flowers?'"

"Eh?"

Oboro took a flower and flipped it upside down without ripping it off the stem. "The stem becomes a lovely lady with milky-white skin. The petals are her bath." He looked at his partner with a wry grin. "You don't have a girl that you really like, do you?"

Kuroto made a choking noise. "I-I-I could care less about that stuff! What about you? Got some girl on your mind?"

"No, not at all."

Oboro had a lingering smile and spoke as if he wanted to continue his sentence.

Kuroto felt anxiety at his unnatural pause, but if Oboro was in pain somehow, Kuroto wasn't going to let him linger in it. So he said, "What if we picked a few and decorated the table with the flowers? Everyone could enjoy their beauty."

"Then we'll gather a different kind of flower. I only want to enjoy them with you."

His voice was sharp, hushed. Not natural.

"Oboro - "

"Wait, I'm serious. I want to show you more flowers. Come on, Inochi, before they realize we're gone." He grabbed Kuroto's hand and took him futher into the garden. Before long, he stopped and knelt. Kuroto copied him.

Oboro pointed to tiny flowers with white petals and a yellow inside. "This is a neat little flower I found. Want to know why it's so special?"

"It's really tiny?"

"Good guess." With a goofy grin, Oboro set up a hallowed bamboo tube to run water through it and rained down a steady stream on the small flowers below.

"Oboro, you'll drown the flowers...!"

"Watch. It stimulates rainwater."

He watched as told and...had to refocus his eyes. The white seemed to turn into a glassy gray into transparency. Oboro stopped the water so Kuroto could see it better. The once white and yellow flowers are now clear and yellow. He can see the white color slowly come back.

"What did you do? Is that normal water?"

Oboro nodded. "This is the skeleton flower. I don't know why, but when it rains, it grows clear like a mirror. These flowers mesmerize me. If you want to put a flower on the table, chose these. They make great tricks," he added with a smile.

"You're really good at this gardening stuff..."

"I'm nothing special. This just takes time, patience, and love. This isn't a fast sport, after all."

Honestly, Kuroto didn't want to do something as slow as planting or farming, but, darn it, there was nothing more amazing than seeing Oboro's passion on his face. Whenever the two of them finished training at night and ate sweets outside, Oboro showed Kuroto more and more of his unique flowers, but he showed the bleeding heart flower first without fail. With his permission, Kuroto left flowers of different kinds everywhere a Zweilt usually hung out, using his speed to get away. Every guardian received their own, anonymous flower.

But despite his kind actions, Kuroto never really cared about the others. No, it's more like he never felt the need to familiarize himself with the others, not while he could become closer to Oboro. The others did the same. But for every subsequent dinner, he saw more and more Zweilt open up to the others in hopes of finding the culprit and thank them. The girls wore their flowers in their hair or outfits. The boys stuck their flowers close to their rings. Both seemed bright with joy.

"Kuroto, put your flower here." Oboro touched the clothing over Kuroto's heart that night.

"But...this is the bleeding heart. It's special - "

"It is. But with your scheme, if we're the only two without flowers, then the mystery's already solved, eh?"

"I see..." Truth be told, he was thrilled to have such a loved flower close to his heart. "What's your flower?"

Oboro took his time pulling his flower out. He showed Kuroto the palm on which the flower was placed. It had five petals jutting out like a lion's mane and were pitch black. In the center was a fading pink color. It looked rotten to Kuroto. If the flower didn't have a smell, he would've questioned why Oboro chose a dead flower.

Instead, Kuroto said, "Why'd you pick this?"

Oboro smelled the flower before responding. "This is the cymbidium orchid, also know as the boat orchid. I chose it because of what it stands for. The Chinese prize this flower for fertility, charm, thoughtfulness, and for love."

Kuroto watched his partner place the flower above his heart. "Fertility? In case you haven't noticed, you're a guy. Guys don't get pregnant," he teased.

"Fertility isn't just about carrying babies. Like they say, it takes two to make a baby."

"Yuuuck, cut that gross stuff out! I'm not ready to grow up and have my own children yet."

"Then I'll just wait until you're ready. And then I'll support you, Inochi."

His warm smiles made Kuroto look away. "Well...what if I don't ever want children?" he mumbled under his breath like a toddler.

"Huh?"

"...what if I don't ever want children?"

"Ah...um...we're running low on members. You'll likely be forced to marry some girl and populate. So will I. Why would you say that?"

Kuroto bit his tongue, urging for the guts to voice his thoughts. His guts failed him. He looked up to Oboro once again, knowing the older boy wouldn't be afraid to voice his thoughts. Disappointed, he replied, "You think the girls will be jealous of of my flower?"

"...I hope so."

"Wh-What do you mean 'I hope so?'"

Oboro smirked. "There's nothing more I love than being reminded how lucky I am to be your partner."

Kuroto turned away, feeling his ears go hot. "Quit saying those weird things. I'm bored now. Let's go train or do something where I can burn some energy."

"Burning energy," his partner mumbled. "You actually want me to work..."

They spent a few hours sparring one another until dawn was imminent. Kuroto was fast and Oboro was slower. Kuroto liked his quick sword movements and Oboro preferred to stay back, think, and strike with his naginata. Where Kuroto preferred force, Oboro preferred to parry and redirect. As as result, Kuroto failed to win, even though he managed to hit his partner several times. His stamina just isn't as good as Oboro's.

The very next day, Kuroto had to function with little amounts of sleep and sore muscles. Forgetting about the flower on his chest, several girls freaked out at his pretty flower and got jealous like Oboro predicted.

•

Kuroto had his suspicions when Oboro requested a horse as transportation instead of walking. But Oboro's new hat that dipped over his eyes ticked him off.

"You're definitely sleeping!" Oboro didn't stir. "Oboro!"

He yawned. "You called?"

"Quit sleeping! I hate seeing people sleep while there's things to do."

"It's in my nature to rest, Inochi. Are we there yet?"

"Yes, we are. Nagano Village. AKA, the vampire village."

Homes with only two or three people were raided during the night and by day, everyone in the house was slaughtered and their blood removed. The two of them were to find out the cause - likely a Duras's work.

Oboro sniffed. "You can already smell that metallic blood."

"I can't."

"I think that's because you aren't tall enough."

Kuroto pulled out his paper fan for moments like these and whacked the boy's head. "Height jokes are off limits." Namely because if one person joked about his height, everyone would think it to be okay.

The two got off their animals and got to work on solving the mystery. Oboro was perfect at looking at all the minor details and could handle long pieces of information - he rarely forgot anything. Kuroto was great at getting short pieces in information and connected small pieces together. He couldn't handle paperwork, but he had a great intuition for mysteries. He could make great leaps in logic and have them actually be accurate, though he could never explain himself.

They went around the town asking for anything. There were contradictions, helpful statements, witnesses, and plenty of paperwork. The two worked together to connect the dots, Oboro sipping jasmine tea and Kuroto pacing non-stop.

"It has to be a General Class at least," Kuroto was saying. "The intense energy surges, the outright ease the humans died, remnants of a silencing barrier around every house, the complete lack of Grimoire in this place - but who? Who could it be? You don't think...Zess did all this, do you? What if he betrayed us already?"

Oboro sipped his tea, enjoyed the sweet taste, and swallowed, exhaling loudly. "This scent is simply heavenly. It's even better while the tea is still hot. Maybe it's just me, but I feel as though I can smell the heat, the sweetness of honey, and the jasmine petals. It reminds me of your hugs - sweet and warm."

"Are you even listening to me?! This is serious business! We have to solve this before more people are turned into bloodless corpses!"

"I'm aware," his partner replied with a strained voice. "I'm also aware that my partner can't stop and smell the roses. Let's not jump to conclusions just yet."

"If we don't, nothing will get done! We'll sit here until we're seventy, taking our precious time solving this thing!"

Oboro set his cup down and offered Kuroto the other cup. "Have some tea. I used sugar instead of honey, just how you like it. It will calm you down, and - "

"This isn't the time for tea!" Faster than even he could recognize, Kuroto swiped the teacup out his hand and watched it shatter on the ground. "...wait...I didn't mean to..."

Oboro stared at the mess with a slightly ajar mouth. "You know, I grew the jasmine flowers for this tea. The flowers are the easy part. It's creating the tea that took the most time and care. And I'm really proud of the result, too. I hope the ground and all its critters enjoy the tea."

"Oboro, I didn't mean to! It was an accident!"

"You move too fast. There's not enough time to think or process things. Sometimes it's useful, sometimes it's not. You need to learn when it's not."

"It's not just my fault here. You're too slow! Could you try to move a bit faster, just this once? After all, you need to learn when your slowness is useful or not."

Oboro looked down on Kuroto with hard, amber eyes. "I already know when it's useful or not. I have solved many, many solo cases just being my usual self. This is no different. Without my help, Inochi, how many cases have you solved being fast?" He waited for a response. "Exactly. You're going too fast. I know you can solve this mystery if you just slow your mind."

Kuroto averted his eyes. He hated disappointing Oboro because he never forgot. He rarely brought up his mistakes, but he knew that he still remembered some form of it. He hated being talked down upon as well. It made his insecurity come to light and in order to hide that raw emotion, Kuroto resorted to anger.

"Maybe it's not because I'm too fast - maybe you're just better than me! Maybe I'm holding you back from your potential!"

"That's not true at all. You're my life, Inochi. I enjoy your presence, no matter what."

Darn his stupid smile, trying to cool down Kuroto's anger. "Let's take a break. I'll work on my own, and so will you. Argument solved." He turned and opened the tent flap.

"Argument not solved. Argument avoided sounds more likely."

He ignored his voice and left the safety of his partner. For three days more, he gathered more clues and avoided Oboro. He had little confidence he was going to solve it before his partner, but his ego forced him to try. He couldn't wait for Oboro to prove him wrong and welcome him back, always forgiving him. Then they'd eat more Japanese sweets together.

Whenever Kuroto saw him, he didn't seem angry at all. He seemed almost lonely, mostly neutral, and continued to roam around the village in his usual, slow way.

On the eve of one night, a sudden energy surge knocked him out of the tree he slept in and into wakefulness. He was able to quickly focus himself and saw where it came from: just over the hill on the outskirts. He summoned his sword and turned around in Oboro's direction. Even if he could easily run to his tent and get him, Oboro was too slow to make it in time. Plus, Kuroto was about to win their little fight.

He crossed the distance within seconds. He stopped when he saw the Duras needlessly slaughtering farm animals with some kind of twisted smile. That's why he hated the monsters. Judging by the uniform the man wears, it's a General Class. He never fought one before; he had no idea how strong one was.

"Oi, you think I'm gonna let you keep murdering these people?" Kuroto growled, katana ready.

The other turned to face the boy, looked him over, and his blood-red eyes sparkled. "Zweilt of the Giou. I'm glad you're here. It was getting boring killing weak normals. Killing you will be fun."

His hands started to sweat. "What makes you think I'm the one dying here?!"

"Simple logic? You don't have a partner and I'm no ordinary Opast." He sneered, his untamed hair falling over one eye making the remaining eye so much more intense. "I do have one request, though. If you entertain me enough, I'll let you live. Sound fun?"

"Die you disgusting freak," he hissed.

"You're already losing points. You can't imagine how many times I've heard that before." He even rolled his eyes with a shrug. "I'll give you the first hit. I want to see what God blessed you with."

Stupid arrogance; like he's that weak. He trained everyday. He was not weak. Kuroto dashed forward, using most of his speed, to strike the Duras in the heart. The enemy was fast enough to step back and have the sword graze the air, but Kuroto used a burst of speed to send his elbow into the man's chest.

The General Class staggered. "Your talent is speed. Offensive blessings are to come by, you know. One Zweilt had the ability to manipulate minds. Didn't fair well in battle, though."

Kuroto knew who he referenced, but to mask the hurt he felt, he resorted to anger. He attacked and attacked with quick thrusts, and the man parried them all with his hands. Having enough, he used his purplish-red magic to push Kuroto away, crashing on his back hard.

"I'm already bored with you. You just don't have enough incentive to fight me." He shrugged helplessly. "I get the feeling you don't understand how strong I am. That, or I chose a weak prey."

Kuroto got to his knees and clutched his aching sides.

"I know how to make you fight," the man said after a lightbulb moment. "I'll just massacre that nearby village. Humans really hate death."

"Don't you dare! Your battle is with me! Fight me!"

"I gave you a caveat not to bore me. You already failed. Goodnight to you, Zweilt of the Black Sword." He mocked a bow and teleported to the village.

This was way beyond his fight with Oboro. He needed his help now. But the villagers will stand no chance. He gritted his teeth and settled for racing to Oboro's tent, throwing the flap open, and rousing his partner awake.

"Inochi? What wrong?" he murmured.

"I solved the mystery. I think," he added, realizing he didn't know if the red-haired man actually killed those people. "There's a General Class out there. A sadistic one. He wants to attack the village!"

Oboro sat up so fast, it knocked Kuroto in the head, but Oboro didn't falter. He tied his long hair with a white ribbon, got his shoes on, summoned his naginata, and nodded to Kuroto. "Let's do battle."

By the time they find the Duras, the town is in flames, most of the buildings shattered, and the number of dead bodies was increasing. The Duras noticed them first, seeing the newcomer second.

"So that's your partner." He pointed his sword at Oboro, a black sword like Kuroto's, only thicker and razor sharp. "Do you want to entertain me next, Zweilt? I want to see what God blessed you with."

"Sorry, lucked out." Oboro kept his voice light. "Have you been killing people recently?"

"In this village? Of course."

"Oh, 'kay."

The Duras arched a brow. "Aren't you curious?"

"I didn't want to say anything, but now that the elephant's addressed, it should really be answered," Oboro said while Kuroto glared at him. "Just know that any creepy responses should just be saved. Like, bathing in the blood of the innocent."

"I did that once. Great for the skin."

"Mm-hm, wonderful. Creepy responses are banned."

Their enemy chuckled. "This human's already far more interesting you, Black Sword! To honor you, my name is Cadenza. I was sent to the human realm to retrieve blood to feed the others. The quality of normal humans are terrible. I had to keep coming back. But your blood will last longer. Shall we fight, Zweilt?"

Kuroto readied himself; Oboro, sweating, readied himself slowly.

"Oboro?"

"We're outclassed, Inochi. Are you prepared to die?" he whispered.

"Wha - this isn't the end! We can do this together!"

"There's a limit to our strength. He surpasses it. Maybe if his personality wasn't all axe-crazy, we might stand a chance. We are going to die here." He looked at his partner. "Don't forget this: I love you."

Their enemy, Cadenza, decided to launch an attack aiming for Kuroto. Oboro stepped in and redirected the hit. Kuroto then stood in front of his partner. He was the offense, Oboro was mostly defense.

The two of them fought against Cadenza; Kuroto making most of the hits and Oboro doing his best to redirect and counter hits. Neither of them could make a significant scratch whereas Cadenza had no trouble at all.

Both of them forgot to deploy a barrier, but it was too late. The Nagano Village was a pile of ash, debris, and the blood of two partners who knew it was the end of their lives.

That's why they could continue to get up over and over again. It would prolong their deaths, as well as them giving it their all for the finale. But it didn't seem like they were doing anything.

It takes four Zweilt and a Necromancer to fight one General Class. Fortunately members of that calibre were hard to make. They had to be pure, breed to fight from a young age, and if they didn't reach a certain quota, were killed. That's what Zess told them in his eerily impassive voice, not understanding how horrible that was.

Oboro and Kuroto were like the Murasame siblings. They weren't made to be a high-damage team. That was usually the gloomy brunette and the loud blonde's job for high damage. Like the siblings, they were a pair that could easily dispatch multiple, weak enemies in the shortest time possible. A hoard of fifteen dozen puppets could be cut down effortlessly.

Kuroto understood just why Oboro realized they were going to die. Cadenza was their antithesis. They were fighting a losing battle. No matter how many times they get up and fight, they will get knocked back down and not get up eventually.

Just wanted to write a few headcanons about Kuroto and Oboro; I don't think there's many fics about the two. I'll edit this up after school and will continue the story. Oh, and those flowers really do exist! Look 'em up!