Chapter 4

The training sessions that Yu took with Guren had to be conducted in an indoor training 'field' of sorts for a very specific reason: the weather outside was frigid with winter. So far, the black-haired boy had been improving on his skills with the wooden sword. When he came in to the training room today, however, it was a very stark contrast to what he was used to seeing.

"What the…?" Yu let the soft exclamation leave him in confusion as he stared at the floor of the training facility. Normally, the floor had been comprised of dirt, or even concrete. Now, the ground beneath him was mushy and slick with mud. And, standing in the middle of the field of mud, was Guren.

After several moments of simply standing and staring, the older man seemed to get impatient. "What's wrong?! Can't handle a little mud on your clothes?!" the taunts were clearly meant to get him annoyed and, like usual, it worked.

"Stupid Guren," the boy muttered as he made his way through the mud field, having to practically rip his feet from the stickier pools of liquid dirt. Guren had another smug expression on his face when the boy finally reached him.

"Since you've somewhat improved over the past few days, I thought we could start making things a bit more difficult."

"Did you try a horrible attempt at gardening, or…?" Yu commented back, motioning to the ground beneath them. Guren's expression became serious, not at all like the boy was expecting.

"This training facility can be modified to imitate real weather circumstances that you could encounter," the colonel explained, turning away from him. "Since you can finally keep your own balance on normal flooring, this could be considered the next step."

The fact that Guren was admitting to Yu making progress was already a great start to the day. Finally, he realizes that, but…

"Why mud? It's practically like running on dirt except that it's sticky," the black-haired boy unclogged his shoe again when it stuck, following after the other man. Guren held out his hand, a signal for him to stop, before he walked to a respectable distance away from the dark-haired boy.

"You really think it's that easy?" His words were taunting again as he tossed Yu a wooden sword. The boy caught it easily, knowing that they would start a mock battle soon. That seemed to be the way Guren taught; by doing, not explaining.

"Of course! I'll show just how well I've improved and then you can teach me something new!" Yu couldn't help the bit of pride that he felt as he slipped into a fighting stance, seeing Guren do the same across from him. The orphan had dealt with slippery streets when it had rained back at the orphanage, so this was going to be nothing compared to that.

Then I can start learning what really matters; the thought caused him to smile, but the older man still looked smug, causing confusion to run through him. Does he really think that I've learned nothing?

"I'll hold you to that then," Guren motioned with his hand. "You can make the first move and show me how much of an 'expert' you are."

The older man's eyes already seemed to be scanning him for errors and, coupled with the mocking tone he had used, it made the boy annoyed. Of course Guren thought the orphan wasn't capable of beating him!

Yu rushed forward, feeling as though his pace was slowed by the mud. He angled his sword at a forward thrust, the attack being easily deflected by Guren's sword. The black-haired boy had to quickly block the older man's much more powerful attack, but he had since learned to withstand the blows.

During the boy's further attacks, Guren simply sidestepped and dodged them, causing frustration to run through him. "You aren't even fighting for real!" the black-haired boy shouted as the older man moved to the right, evading another one of Yu's strikes.

"Well, if you would actually start trying, then maybe I would." Guren taunted as he smacked the hilt of his sword into Yu's back, causing the boy to stumble.

If the slip up hadn't been bad enough, then what happened next made everything worse. Yu had been ready to counterattack when the most unexpected thing happened: his shoe got stuck in the mud. A surprised shout left the boy's mouth as he felt his foot slip out of the stuck shoe, causing him to land face first in the mud.

Yu looked up at the colonel as he came over, frowning in disgust at the feeling of the wet mud. "That certainly was a show of your skills," the boy groaned as Guren pointed the sword at his throat, forcing him to hold his hands up in defeat. Of course, it was a strange sight considering the fact that mud had been splattered all over the boy's outfit.

"I hate you, Itchy-nose." The mumbled insult caused Guren to stare at him for a moment before the older man laughed.

"Your insults need more work."

"S-shut up!" Yu stammered as he tried to get up from off the ground, hissing as the coldness seeped through his sock. His shoe was still stuck in the mud a few feet away, but all the boy wanted to do was get away with the small amount of pride that he had left.

"Go get cleaned up," Guren ordered as he helped the boy up from the ground. "You're making too many rookie mistakes for this part of training."

"I can't be perfect when I've only just started," Yu answered bitterly, finding that he felt the exact opposite of what he had thought at the beginning of the battle. It was a major contradiction to what he had been feeling, which made it only worse.

The boy started to stalk off the field, not even caring if he left a shoe behind. Right then, he wanted to get away as soon as possible. Guren was silent, not saying anything, and the boy silently wondered if he might have messed up so badly that-

Something smacked harshly into his already injured back, causing him to turn around with a hurt shout. "Ow!" Guren was staring at him. The boy's discarded shoe was now in the mud in front of him. "What was that for?!"

"When you're done, come back here. I'll go over what you did wrong and then we can try it again."

The answer caused the boy's green eyes to widen. He picked up the shoe, not quite sure of what to say. He was pretty sure his face was red with embarrassment, so he figured he would show some sort of respect. "A-alright."

As Yu continued towards the showers, he glanced back at Guren. The lieutenant's gaze wasn't on him and, instead, it was directed at something far beyond him, something on the other side of the field. Yu recognized the look: it was one that meant you were lost in the past. What possibly could he be thinking about though?

So, as promised, here is another Guren and Yu interaction. It's really fun to write these circumstances, even though I don't have much to go off of. If you've been reading the other Grains of Sand entries, then you might recognize the concept of a 'changing' training field from Guren's part. I'm not entirely sure if the idea was in the light novels, considering the fact that they aren't released in English yet and that we are essentially providing original backstories, but the concept seemed interesting enough to include. I'll be mentioning some of the other weather changes to the training area in later chapters if I can, so look forward to that! Next chapter is another interaction with Guren and Yu, although a bit more on a different subject. Also, I'm really sorry that this was later than expected; I had a lot going on over the weekend so I couldn't find time to update. I hope you enjoyed the chapter nonetheless!

-AnimeWolfGirl9