Author's Note: All thoughts are in italics on the same line of speech for the speaker, and are uniformly in my common English, no matter who's thinking it.
Shun Finds the White Boy of Seventh Sense
There's a cosmo around here. I should check it out. Virgo Shun found a hill to land on. His years exploding his cosmo to the 7th sense, coupled with his gold cloth, allowed him true flight. All gold saints, when experienced enough, were capable of this feat. It's close, almost in plain sight. I can't tell who it is. This was the northern end of Scotland, so Shun didn't know what to expect in this unfamiliar place. It's best if I hide the cloth, to avoid attention. He willed the Virgo cloth to its box. It did not matter where the box was, since it always intercepted its cloth when summoned. Once down to his typical white, suspendered pants with his green shirt, he walked through the fair countryside.
He came upon a farm when he felt the cosmo greatest. He heard the whine of a horse, so peered around a barn to see the horse. It wasn't anything like he's seen before. A boy was pulling horses around. The horses seemed to be at their limit, seriously tugging against the boy, who only laughed like it was a game. Shun couldn't believe it when the kid changed the game to lifting the steeds around. One horse kicked him in the jaw, sending him back onto one arm. He wiped his cheek and tried again. By now Shun just gawked from out in the open. He forgot he was the one who walked in on the spectacle when the boy saw him.
"Hey mister, I haven't seen you before." His English caught Shun unprepared. More than that, his English was almost unintelligible to the Virgo saint.
"Oh, don't mind me." The boy looked at him funny.
"Whoa, what are you saying?"
That's right, I need to speak English. But my English isn't so good. I haven't spoken it in 3 years. "Uh, I have known English a little."
"Hey, your eyes are slanted! That means you're Chinese or Japanese, right?"
"Uh... yes?"
"So are you Chinese or Japanese?"
I think he said Japan, but I'm not used to the English word. "Um, Japan?"
"Oh wow! I get to meet a samurai! Actually, you look more like a ninja."
Samurai? Ninja? He thinks I'm a ninja? They don't know about Japan out here, I guess. He realized the kid was white. Pure white. The sunlight had originally reflected off of him such that Shun averted his gaze until now. What is this? I've never seen anyone like this. He's perfectly white! His sight sharpened. This cosmo... it's surrounding him, like a bubble! He has awakened such a level of cosmo already?
"Mr. Ninja? Are you alright?"
Shun forgot his place. "Oh... apology."
"It's time for breakfast. Want to come along?"
"Oh..." Shun still had a hard time deciphering what words the kid even said.
"Here, come on!" He grabbed Shun's hand and pulled him toward a barn. Shun was thrown off balance and just followed out of sheer shock at the boy's strength.
"As for... breakfast in this time... there is this barn?" Shun was used to the idea of the wild outdoors or an urban environment. He only saw a farm once before.
"Yeah, right here." The boy shuffled through some crates. He broke one open and took out a large bottle of whisky. With no hesitation, the kid quaffed the bottle. The gold saint, of course, could only watch in awe. He never even so much as had a drop of alcohol in his life, and this boy just drank it like water. "Now for the main course." He quickly climbed up the loft, and took some basket. He jumped onto a bale of hay and sat there. "Want one?" He held the egg out, but Shun politely refused. "Oh well, more for me." He squeezed the egg, and its contents gushed up in a single stream. The boy wormed about enough to catch all of it in his mouth. He heartily swallowed in one gulp. He repeated this two dozen times, then set the basket down and ran for another bottle of whisky. Again, the kid just inhaled the beverage. Not satisfied, he took a third one, but stopped halfway. "Whew, this one's for the road." He left the barn, so Shun gathered to just follow the kid to whatever was next on his laid back itinerary. They stopped at a tree. The boy finished the rest of his drink as he sat down against the trunk.
"What which it--you... has done and... is?"
"Uh, it's naptime." Shun understood this.
"Uh...that in the... afternoon is?"
"I know." He reclined and closed his eyes. It was obvious that Shun wasn't going to be leaving this country anytime soon. He had to learn more about the boy, and possibly find a future saint in him. He left in search of an adult, possibly the owner of the farm.
Shun had indeed found the farmer, a middle-aged man with his own thick English. He spoke slower for Shun, a courtesy the kid wouldn't have been able to provide. "Sure that kid works here. I'll have you know he does the work of 5 men. And he eats like 5 men, sometimes." He sighed. "Can't win them all. But he only eats. Anyone else would want money."
"There is that boy whom... it is related with you?"
"Ha, good one. No, the kid's an orphan. I don't know where he's from, but I found him two years ago. Rather sick on the side of road, but Nessa took care of him as our own, and in no time the kid was on his feet and hauling feed. Since then, he's been working here. What's with the interest in the boy?"
"I curiosity am... strong." He couldn't just take the boy as his student. The kid was already in a niche here, almost like a son to the farmer. "I ...when me it is the... teacher to the boy, think of that it is."
"You're a teacher?"
"Uh... yes."
"Ah, good. I was starting to get worried we'd have to send the kid to school soon. He's a wonder on the field, but he needs some letters. If you're going to tutor, I'm not sure where you'll stay unless you'd work the farm too."
Shun took a moment to understand. "Uh, I... work in order to be... restricted to your barn. As for me while I uh... teach, it is possible... to work here."
"You're awfully young and dainty-looking, though."
"Ah, that is not... problem. Uh, what where is... name of the boy?"
"When he was walking again, a trader came by and called him Albion. He said it was because of his paleness. I still don't get how the kid can be outside all the time and not suffer a burn."
Of course, that cosmo! It was shielding him from sunburn! He's able to use cosmo that well already! That could only mean he has natural talent! With.. the seventh sense? "Ah, thank you Mr. Beatty."
Getting back to the boy was important, so Shun waited by the kid when he woke up. "Oh, you're still around, Mr. Ninja?"
Shun smiled. "Albion, yes?"
"Yeah. How'd you learn that?"
"Uh, I spoke... person and Mr. Beatty. I am... your teacher."
"Whoa, I get to learn from a ninja!"
We're going to have to do something about this "ninja" business. And I agreed to teach you letters. But the only letters I know are Japanese and Greek
Four Years Later, at Sanctuary
The trainer named Griffith peered over the very white boy's shoulder. "The hell is this crap?" He pulled the letter away from Albion.
"That's not crap. That's my letter to my old home." The young trainer was proud of it.
"I can't read this at all! What is this chicken scribble?"
"It's Japanese."
"Is that what it is? Hey, aren't you from Scotland? Why don't you write in English?"
"Write in English?"
"Yeah, the language we're speaking now."
"Oh... I don't know how to write English."
The darkening below Griffith's eyes weren't out of anger, but a slightly amused frustration. "You're telling me you're illiterate to your own language? And yet you can write in Japanese?"
"Y-yes?"
"Who taught you Japanese-- wait--" Griffith realized the answer already.
"Master Shun."
Don't smile like that... it's embarrassing "Shun is terrible at English, you know that?" Albion blushed with embarrassment.
