Childhood Memories, Shut Away
By SMYGO4EVA
It was nearing dusk.
A young warrior was near the edge of a forest that he always visited whenever he felt troubled. It was after he had had an extensive training session, and he was feeling pretty tired. His dark skin practically had dirt clinging onto him and upon his light and dark clothes, while his jet black hair was shining with perspiration from the long battle he had just recently, his burning red eyes seared with a mix of exhaustion and accomplishment, but those were marks that definitely showed that he has potential of becoming a great warrior.
The sun was setting, encompassing the sky with a beautiful orange and purple glow, melded together to make an even more abstract but lovely view before nightfall. The boy rolled his eyes at the sight; beauty didn't mean anything to him; it was just a façade to hide something that was ugly, and no matter how long it would stay in the eye of the beholder, it would disappear eventually, just like everything else did.
Just when the boy turned his heel to head back to the grand Shirosagi Castle, where he could call home but was never truly his real home, a rustling up in the tree branches made him stop him in his tracks, reaching for the sword held securely in his belt, and turned, looking up in the trees to see who was there and who dared to disturb the peace.
"Who's there?!"
The rustling in the trees stopped when the young warrior saw a small figure swoop down from the high tree branches, with such grace and agility, and land safely upon the grass.
That was when the young warrior saw someone who appeared to be from another world and had great power within a great promise.
The figure, a boy just about his age, stood right before the young warrior. His hair was flaxen blonde, a color that seemed to be heightened within the light of the dusk. The young warrior could tell that he wasn't from the place, not Nihon, but from somewhere far away. He was very pale; his eyes of sapphires were illuminating against the whiteness of the boy's skin. He also looked akin to royalty, though not from anywhere the young warrior was aware of, dressed in an expensive looking outfit of lavender regalia. It was clear that this boy was unlike anyone the young warrior had seen before, and he definitely had his doubts. Just as the solider-in-training reached for the hilt of his sword, the strange boy across from him smiled and said,
"Hi there." There was an apparent innocence to his voice, the young warrior noticed, but he could also sense a hint of sadness, almost as if the dew of melancholy was dripping from those two seemingly small words.
The small soldier arched an eyebrow, a mix of disbelief and suspicion taking over his system. What was this boy up to….
"What do you mean, 'Hi there'? Who are you? Where did you come from?"
The blonde-haired boy blushed, his smile still tacked onto his face. "How formal of you – my, you seem so grownup for a boy who's almost the same age as me. All right then – I come from a land far away from here."
In his following words, his smile gets smaller. "Why do you want to know so much? I can't walk in the woods by myself in this day and age?"
The young warrior snorts. "If you don't want to look suspicious you don't."
The other boy's smile gets wider again, with amusement this time. "All right then - tell you what – how about you tell me your name first, and then I'll tell you my name? Then you don't ever have to ask me again."
Like he'd even ask again…
Begrudgingly, the darker-skinned boy replies with, "Haganemaru."
The smile on the other boy's face doesn't change a bit. "Haganemaru….what an interesting name."
The boy named Haganemaru inhaled and exhaled deeply before looking up to the other boy again. "Now that I've told you my name, what's yours?"
The fair-skinned boy's smile almost faded upon that question, as if the question seemed to be too painful to answer, a bit of sadness reflected in the sapphires called eyes. But soon he smiled again.
"My name is Fai, Fai D. Fluorite." he replied.
To Haganemaru, the seemingly regal name the boy addressed himself as seemed utterly out of place in someone so young, but Haganemaru himself was too young to notice this. Instead he was impressed almost, but still, he sensed a bit of an untruth lying in the cracks of the one who called himself Fai's smile.
A fixed smile.
"Hmm. I'm not sure if that is your real name, Fai. That name is too regal, too pompous for someone like you, so if you don't want to waste my time and yours, then tell me your real name." The small warrior told the fair-skinned boy firmly, his eyes narrowed and his hand balled into fists, tightening at every word he said.
The boy still smiled as if what the small warrior just told hadn't affected him at all, apparently unafraid of the other boy's words. He opened his sapphire eyes once more and tilted his head to the side.
"That is my real name, my name and my birthright, Haganemaru. Now tell me, just curious, if you could have another name, any name at all, what would you call yourself?"
Haganemaru let out a small gasp at that proposition.
Who was this guy, and why would he ask such a question? Was he trying to trick him into something? Or was this just for fun?
He honestly didn't know.
But for some reason, the small warrior relaxed his shoulders and hands, letting out a deep breath before replying:
"All right then, Fai D. Fluorite, if that is your true name, if I would have another name, it would be one that let others know that it was of great power, honor, and respect."
The boy named Fai kept the smile upon his cherubic face, but his blue eyes sparkled with keen interest and curiosity.
The boy named Haganemaru stood firmly on the ground and looked directly into the blue ones before him, intent and honor reflected in his own red ones.
"I would be called by the name Kurogane."
"Wow! That's a great name, maybe you should go by that name from now on, it's so wonderful, so wonderful that I could call you that." Fai replied with great wonder and enthusiasm, clasping his hands together and smiling from ear to ear.
Haganemaru scoffed and folded his arms, really annoyed by Fai's giddiness of a hypothetical name. "Why would I change my name? If you have a name, a name given to you, you could at least keep it and that would be the end of it."
Fai parted his hands and his smile lessened a bit, apparently caught off guard by what the other boy just said.
"If you change your name, you would only become someone else and not you, you would only be living a lie." Haganemaru lifted his head and thinned his eyes. "Your name may not even be yours to begin with. I knew that the fancy title was fishy enough to let me know that you have a real name, that Fai is not it."
The fair-skinned boy's smile completely faded into a look of contemplation and sadness, pursing his lips whilst looking into the small warrior's eyes.
The red eyes showed determination to find the truth from the stranger that the boy obviously was.
Fine then.
If he wanted his real name…
Then so be it.
The fair skinned boy smiled his trademark smile and walked up to the small warrior, with only a small space separating them, they were that close.
"All right then. Haganemaru, or should I call you, Kurogane, if you want to know my real name, my real name, then I'll tell you, but you have to keep it a secret, ok?" The boy's voice still held the innocent tone, yet at the same time it held an edge of cryptic mystery that laced itself into every word he spoke.
The small warrior was taken aback by this, but he held himself together and stood in his place. "Yes. I'll keep it a secret."
"Good. Now I'll tell you."
With that, the boy who called himself Fai leaned into the small warrior who was named Haganemaru, placing his hands on the other's shoulders, leaning in a bit more so he would whisper into his ear.
"Haganemaru….My true name is Yuui…"
The small warrior choked back a gasp upon those words.
He knew it.
He just knew it.
Fai was not who he was.
His name, his true name was Yuui.
Similar to another name he bore.
You-oh.
As quick as he came, Fai was gone, the memory of him continuing to perplex the young warrior for a long time. So much of his past was a mystery, and yet it wasn't…how could that be? Haganemaru thought this many a time as he continued training throughout the years and became stronger, so strong that he bore a physical threat to anyone who dared to cross him in battle.
And that all childhood memories would be shut away.
He then adopted a new name, a new identity, yet knowing exactly who he was and who he would become: Kurogane.
FIN
(A/N: I have literally wanted to do this one-shot ever since I learned of both Kurogane and Fai's pasts, and I have always wondered what would happen if they had met as little kids, even after the tragic events they have been put through, and it would still be seen as fate bringing them together. And I thought it would be cute to write both of them as kids – too adorable by the way. For anyone who got confused by both names of Kurogane showing up here, I just used Haganemaru because it seemed to fit with his personality more.)
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