Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Ginga Densetsu Weed or Ginga Nagareboshi Gin characters, I only own my OC's
Ginga Densetsu Corvus
Corvus' POV
As I neared my supposed Uncle's den, I couldn't help but feel hesitant to enter. Here was a relative that I had never known before, wanting to talk to me about a Dad that I never knew and didn't even knew existed until a few months ago. The only tales I knew were from the older dogs and in correct versions of his story by the younger dogs who simply heard it from gossip.
I was a little fearful at what remained in the broken down hut. Some of the dogs, I knew, had taken refuge in there. Mostly the dogs from Kai though, consisting of two dogs I already knew, Ken and Kagetora, as well as their families. It was a small and forgettable place to live. Obviously temporary, but it had a rather dark and broody feeling to it that I enjoyed.
My company on the other paw, did not.
"This place creeps me out" Drako complained, looking at the entrance, "It feels like someone died in there."
"Probably, it was abandoned when we first came here and then the dogs from Kai took it over, they were one of the few who weren't intimidated by this place and the fact that humans had once been here." Tesshin explained.
"You're sure you want to do this?" Caius asked, tilting his head.
I looked at Grey, hearing his whimper and seeing him with his worried expression and smiled at him assuringly.
"This is something I have to do, if I'm going to meet my Dad again, I have to find out the truth about who I am and where I came from" I answered, then turning again to the hut "Even if I don't believe in it"
"Okay, we'll be out here incase you need us" Gray assured, nodding at me and then kissing my cheek.
"I doubt I will, but thank you for the support, all of you" I thanked, looking at the four dogs who were here to encourage me.
With that, I walked in. The old floor boards squeaked with each step that I took and just added to the creepy aura that the old human domain offered. There wasn't much refulgence coming into the hut either, just some light leaking in through cracks from the wooden walls of the structure. At first, I assumed that no one was in and that either I was late, which was unlikely, or that my Uncle, for some reason hadn't shown up.
It wasn't until a voice eminated from the shadows of the dimly lite hut that I wasn't convinced that I was alone.
"Is that you Corvus?" The voice boomed with annoyance.
I assumed it was my supposed uncle "Kurotora." He wasn't known for being the nicest dog in Ohu but he wasn't making a very good impression on his nephew who he was, according to Akame, dying to meet.
"Y-yes"
""Yes" what?" He asked, telling me to adress him formally.
"Yes, Sir!"
"Good, come in kid, I want to have a good look at you" He continued.
I stepped forward, however, I wasn't sure how he was going to see me in such a dim lighting, other than the presence of his voice, I probably couldn't even tell if he was here. Then, I heard him slowly get up and start to wlak over to me, then he walked to the left of me where he proceeded to smash his paw througo a slightly boarded up window. The rotten wood was pretty easy to break. As the chips flew everywhere, the light followed and flowed through the window and illumintated the both of us.
I stared at his older appearence, bluish gray fur covered most of his body and his tiger stripes similiar to mine around most of his body. But there were hints of gray fur in his bluish coat which showed his age. However, the one thing that caught my eye was his own, a deep scar was over his right eye and looked like there wasn't anything behind it.
"Look at you," He gasped, a small smile appearing on his otherwise grumpy demeanour, "You look so much like your mother and my brother"
"Akatora? Right?" I asked, trying to confirm his name.
"Thats right, you've...never heard of him before now? Has Minazuki ever talked to you about him? Or me?" He asked, laying down where he was so the light could continue hitting him as I joined him in the radiance.
"Oh, I've heard of him from Akame-sensi and the others but I know practically nothing about him" I answered, "Please, just tell me one thing, was this male...this...Akatora, was he really my father?"
He stared at me a little while longer, smiling the whole time before coughing and sitting up.
"My brother and Minazuki, your mother, met each other on patrol. After that, they were practically inseperable" He started, yawning as if he had just woken up from a nap, which at his age, he probably did.
"They kept their relationship on the downlow. Not even I knew about it at first, I probably should've considering how weird he was acting, the idiot." He continued, "He took me and Chutora's, your other uncle's, shifts for patrol. Your mother did the same with his brother's, just so they could meet more"
"Did they love each other?" I asked, digging at the floor boards with my claws out of a way to occupy myself.
"Very much, they walked together, ate together, hunted together, all discreetly of course." He replied, looking down at my claws and then smiling, almost as if he saw some trait that he liked, ""They just happened to be at the same place at the same time," Thats what my brother said when I asked him about it"
"They kept their relationship a secret from their brothers? Why?"
"Like I said, only at first. A relationship between two males wasn't as common back then as it is now, there were rules and skeptics. However, when both of their families were starting to get suspicious, myself included, they came out with their relationship" He answered, "It wasn't easy, but they did it together and to be blunt. I didn't like your mother at first."
"Why? Hasn't he always been how he is now?" I asked, not able to imagine my "mother" any other way than the way I knew him right now.
To be honest, it was hard to imagine that any of this was true. Even though everyone I knew was trying to get me to believe in it, I still couldn't. I grew up knowing that Minazuki was my father and that Amaya was my mother. I desperately wanted to talk to both of them, Minazuki was probably still a prisoner, if not dead. Amaya, I didn't even know, she nursed me, raised me, kept me warm. But did she ever truly love me like a son?
"If he is still a shy, quiet, and a good fighter? Then yes"
I was puzzled at how he didn't like these traits.
"Oh, so he still is, huh? Well then, I might as well explain myself. When Akatora told me he was in a relationship with a male, I requested to meet that male. He went and brought me Minazuki that same day, within an hour. My brother was determined to get us to like each other but he was too quiet. I tried talking to him but he always gave me single word answers and that fustrates me." He explained, looking at my eyes, "You have the same eyes as your mother"
"I know, would you have prefered that I shared my eyes with my father?"
"No, my brother had ugly eyes" He replied, "I was just noticing your features"
"Well...thank you, Sir"
"Don't call me that anymore. I'm your uncle now and you can call me just that"
"Okay...Uncle..." I replied, trying out the new name for Kurotora.
"Good boy, now where was I?"
"You were talking about why Minazuki fustrates you" I reminded, keeping my eyes lower than his as a sign of respect for the older dog.
"Ah yes, well, he kept up the single word answers for the majority of our first meeting until Akatora got him to lighten up and I asked him to fight me"
"To fight you? After just meeting him? Did you not like him that much?"
"No, you're mistaken. We Kai-dogs believe that the best way to figure out what kind of dog somebody really is or was, is to fight them" He replied, "When someone fights, you see who they really are, thats the Kai way"
There was some kind of logic in that, dogs like my "mother" put everything they had into fighting someone. When you put everything you had into fighting someone, you couldn't hide anything from them. In a fight, you show your true self.
"I like that, it seems barbaric, yet there is some sense in it" I commented to which he smirked when I did so.
"Then you are a true Kai-dog, and you are your father's son" He praised, smiling at me "Your father would be proud to see you right now"
My father...
"What happened to him? Dogs around here tell me he was a hero, especially Kage, but no one has actually told me what he did to be considered one" I asked, looking up at my uncle.
"Well I would hate to answer a question, with a question but...Have you ever heard of Akakabuto?"
"The bear? Of course! My da-...my mother used to tell me stories about the great bear when I was a pup, he said that he was the worst enemy to the dogs they had ever faced" I answered vaguely.
"Ah, but did your mother tell you that without Akatora, we might have all died that day?" He asked, leaning forward as if he was waiting for an answer he knew I didn't have.
I stayed quiet, Minazuki had never once mentioned anything to me about a red furred Kai-dog and that he my actually be my biological parent. He didn't mention anything about a red furred dog saving everyone either. Perhaps he was meaning to keep my father's existence a secret entirely. Perhaps he was never planning on telling me.
"We were beaten and broken when it happened. Ben, one of the generals who lead the fight against the bear, was down and Gin rushed to his aid. However, the damn bear didn't like that and my brother got in his way to protect Ben"
"But why? I mean I know that he's a loyal soilder and all but why did he do it for just one dog?"
Kurotora snarled at me and bared his fangs. Clearly, he was offended by something I said. I stepped back, hearing the floor boards creaking as I did so and my body was only partially illuminated by the light coming through the window. Outside, I heard the growls of my companions and I had to yell at them that I was alright to keep them from coming in.
"I owe that "one dog" my life! Akatora's too! Same with Chutora's! I would gladly give up my life for Ben if I could" My uncle bellowed, glaring at me.
"I-I'm sorry Uncle, I didn't mean to offend you..."
He snarled for a while longer before calming down and with his calm the others outside did so too. He seemed angry for a little while before taking in a deep breath and exhaling it to calm himself down further.
"I'm sorry," He muttered an apology.
"It's okay, you didn't know, I shouldn't have snapped at you like that" He apologized "It's just...Ben is the reason I'm alive, that my brothers were alive. When we were pups, we were left in a box to just wait and die. Ben found us, saved us from death and I'm alive today because of that male. I owe him my life and so did Akatora"
"But didn't he love my mom? Not to insult your dedication or his, but if he truly loved my mom so much then why did he go through with it and die?! Why did he leave me alone?!" I asked, my argument slowly turning from a controlled voice to a sobbing one.
"He loved your mother, that is true, but when he risked his life to save Ben he did one other thing. Akakabuto only had one eye, his other was taken by a human hunter who shot him. My brother, your father and Minazuki's mate took what was left of his sight and gave us all a fighting chance. The bear had his claws through my brother's neck in the air and he pulled himself off of the bear's claws, went straight for his left eye and tore it out before he was slammed down the ground by the monster's paw" My uncle told, making it sound like some legend where the hero lives in the end. Unfortunately, I already knew the ending to the tale.
"He died there, blood was coming out of his wounds too fast and there was no hope for him" He sounded like he was on the verge of tears, his voice was shakey "A-and then I watched my brother die...in front of me!"
He cried and I let him. He seemed like one of those manly times who tried to conceal their feelings all the time and not show them to anyone. But, right here in front of me, he was crying and not holding back his tears. I let him do so, deciding it was best to just let him get it out of his system.
It was a while before he regained his composure and a while sense he was able to start talking again. I watched him, staying completely quiet as I didn't want to seem rude.
"Are you okay, Uncle?" I asked, still keeping my head lower than his.
"Of course, stop looking at me like that!" He ordered, growling.
I stopped looking at him entirely, giving him some time to get himself under control. I was already starting to like this guy, my Uncle. Sure, he was a hard ass, but for some reason I like it. His angry attitude was somehow easy to be around.
"Your father..." He started again, wiping away the left over tears he had, "...he died before he should have, your mother wasn't even allowed to see him when he died...his brothers held him back while he died and it wasn't until after when he had the chance to see him. He didn't leave your father's body for days"
"Days?" I asked, thinking about my father laying there with another male, crying his eyes out. I couldn't imagine what it would be like to see your one and only true love lying there dead.
"Yes, we let him. He didn't eat, barely slept, didn't drink...We only pulled him away when he needed to eat and then we burried his body, with Minazuki right there, watching him until he was completely burried." He answered, looking at his paws "Then, a week later, he started to show signs...signs that he was pregnant"
"Pregnant...with me..." I sighed looking out the window and wondering what was happening with my Dad right now.
"Yeah, we didn't know at first, we just thought he was sick. But as time went by, he started to show more and more signs and, as much as we didn't believe it, we knew that he was pregnant." he started, looking at me now as if he was seeing the results of the events in his story. "He himself didn't even believe it, not until his stomach started to show. But once he believed it, he left. Chutora and I wanted to be there when you were born, as did Minazuki's brothers, but he left and wanted to be alone. So we let him."
"But he never told you about me? Not even after I was born?"
He shook his head, looking me over once again.
"I had no idea when you were born, I wanted to see you, but I couldn't find Minazuki anywhere and I had my own children to take care of" He answered, looking sad "I'm sorry, I really would have liked to get to know you more before this meeting."
"Thats fine, Uncle" I replied, giving him a smile in return, "Now, you can ask me anything you want"
"So, you believe me? That Akatora, my brother, is your father?" He asked, noticing the tone that I was using when I reffered to him as my Uncle.
"I have an eyewitness in front of me and multiple dogs before have told me that he is. He must be. I just wish I knew him, or more about him at least" I retorted, looking down at my paws and wondering if my father had stripes like mine.
"I know everything there is to know about my brother, I was with him from the beginning. Anything you want to know about my brother, I can tell you"
I smiled at him as he did to me. The first relative from my Dad's side and the first relative that I had met in a long time. As I thought about what a big chance for me this was, I couldn't help but wonder why Minazuki, my apparent mother, would want to keep my Dad a secret. From all of the stories that I heard, he sounded like an amazing male, so why would he keep me in the dark about my father?
Tesshin's POV
"What is taking him so long?" Grey groaned, rolling onto his back and staring at the entrance of the shack.
Until now, we all had been waiting patiently with the exception of the loud snarl we had heard earlier. When that happened, we all jumped up and were prepared to go to Corvus' aid but we were stopped. I knew Kurotora could be hard, but I was hoping he take it easy on his nephew.
"They're just talking, stop being so impatient" I answered, rolling my eyes.
"But I want to talk to him too! I want to know if Akatora really is his father!" Grey answered, looking at me.
"Of course he is! Everyone knows that, we're just here for him to get confirmation" Drako replied, looking at the complaining dog.
"It's not a 100% sure!" Grey argued, rolling his eyes then turning them to the quiet Caius who had barely muttered a word since we arrived, "Caius? You okay? You haven't said anything in a while"
We all turned to him as he was looking away and then suddenly he turned to us and smiled.
"Oh, yeah, I was just thinking about Clous, he's been acting weird lately" Caius answered.
"How so?" asked Drako in response, tilting his head slightly.
"He's been taking a lot of border watches lately and he always seems to be out wandering around somewhere, it's weird, he never goes out alone and suddenly he has this burst of courage enough to the point where he is out there by himself" Caius admited, "He won't tell me where he's going either"
"Well why don't you just follow him?" Grey asked, rolling back up and just laying down on the floor.
"What? I can't do that!" Caius answered, his eyes widening.
"Fine! I'm bored so lets go spy on him!" Grey offered, jumping up and grabbing Caius by the scruff before starting to walk away.
"Wait! I thought you were going to wait for Corvus!" Drako yelled as they began to walk away.
"That kid can talk for hours!" Grey replied, looking back at us with Caius struggling under him, trying to resist getting taken away. "I'll find him later once I find out what Clous has been doing! See you two in a bit and keep away from Corvus!"
I smirked, thinking about the attractive Husky-Kai mix and the events that happened when I was training him. I knew that Grey would be pissed if he were to find out what we did. I told him that lie about not being able to do anything with him and seemed to have bought it. Not that Corvus knows it was a bad thing. As I thought about it, Drako stared at me with utter suspicion.
"What are you smirking about?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Oh, nothing, just thinking about some things that happened recently" I answered, keeping the dirty memories to myself.
"Whatever you say" Drako replied, then turning his attention back to the shed.
Casting a glance at him, I could see that he was deeply concerned, esspecially since we heard that loud growl from inside. He must've cared deeply for this dog. Thats saying something too since I can't remember the last time Drako cared about anyone other than himself.
"You really love him don't you?" I asked, staring at him.
His ears perked up at the question and a light blush came onto his cheeks as he turned to face me, obviously taken back by the question. It was amusing to see Drako, the biggest hard ass I know, become embarrased. It was a once in a life time thing that I was enjoying immensly.
"Why do you keep insisting that I'm in love with him?"
"Because its obvious you have feelings for the guy" replied I, standing firm in my accusation. "His well being seems to be the only thing you care about"
"I...just need him! He's taking me to Mutsu after all of this is said and done, I have to make sure he's okay" Drako retorted, making it sound almost like he snarled in response.
"Thats the only reason? The only reason that you've been watching him so carefully?" I asked, raising an eyebrow at him just like he did to me earlier.
He stayed quiet and turned completely around, his blush being evident on his face as he turned his back towards me. Chuckling lightly, I turned my attention to the sky where some dark clouds were gathering in the distance, below them, I could see the dark rays that meant snow was coming. A blizzard from the looks of it.
Sure it was spring, but it wasn't uncommon for an early spring blizzard to happen at such a high altitude as we were now. Normally, it wouldn't be a big deal but as the storm slowly made it's approach I couldn't help but feel as if something else was coming with it.
Cecil's POV
Looking out into the vast wilderness, I was suddenly given a sense of accomplishment as I found myself looking out at Ohu. The place that I've been traveling so long to come to was finally in front of me.
"Here we are" Izou said, inhaling the fresh air. "Been a while since I've been in Ohu"
"Its my first time...its amazing!" I commented, looking out at the green trees and huge mountains. I had always heard of stories about Ohu and their amazing soilders. Kain often talked about them with respect and that we should look up to them. That is, before he decided to try and take it over.
"You're so cute when you're excited!" Izou commended, smiling at me before giving me a kiss on the cheek to which his brothers stared at me for.
I blushed, his brothers had gotten even more clingy, each one of them in their own way. I tried avoiding them but it was getting harder and harder with each passing day.
I turned to Shigure for support but he was just staring out at the field of green with a sad expression. His eyes were half open and seemed glassy in appearence as he stared out into the distance without blinking. I was about to ask him what was wrong when all of a sudden I remembered the story that he told Minazuki and I concerning his last visit here. The last time he was here, was when his brothers died.
Sneaking my way out of Izou's grip, I walked over silently to Shigure and sat down right next to him, putting on a smile to see if a little positivity would work for him.
"Hey, so we're finally here" I said, my tail wagging with happiness.
"Yeah, it's been a while since I was here, it wasn't a very good experience last time I was here either" He commented.
I was about to try and comfort him when Izou told us all to quiet down, his ears perked at attention as they moved back and forth, listening in all directions. He then held his paw up and slowly put it down, a sigh that we all recognized as an order to get down and stay quiet. Peaking over the cliff, we could see a group of figures walking across the small valley bellow us.
"Who are they?" Shinsaku asked, looking down at the dogs "They don't look like Ohu soilders"
"Definately not, I don't recongnize a single one of them" Izou said, then turning to Shigure "What about you Shigure? Do you recognize them?"
Turning to the dog at my side, I was surprised to see him glaring down at the group. His eyes were fixated on the head of the pack and a growl was coming from his muzzle, fangs bared.
"Thats him!" He growled, not caring that we were supposed to be whispering.
"Who's him, Shigure? Who are you talking about?" I asked, looking down at the group and trying to follow his eyes.
"The Great Dane up front! He's the one who killed them!" Shigure roared, his eyes filled with rage.
Looking at the front of the group, I saw a huge Great Dane, bigger than any other dog I've seen, leading his followers. His white fur was covered in black spots and his head was constanly moving from side to side, scanning the area.
"Shigure, calm down! Killed who?" Izou asked, keep his head low.
"My brothers!" He roared once more before getting up and leaving the cliff, heading straight down the slope towards the group.
"Shigure! Don't go out there alone! You can't fight them all!" I yelled after him, standing up myself.
Izou and his brothers then got up and started to follow Shigure, having no intention of stopping him but rather joining him in his assault. I was about to get up and follow them myself, hoping to help out in some way even though I wasn't much of a fighter, but Izou stopped and looked back at me.
"Cecil! Stay out of this!" He ordered, "Go find the dogs of Ohu!'
"No!" I objected, standing firm. "I want to help you!"
"And I don't want you to get hurt! So go and find the Ohu soilders! They will help us a lot more than one more dog can" Izou replied.
Usually, I would have taken that as an insult. But, seeing as how I agreed with him because I could hardly fight, I decided to obey and look for the dogs of Ohu.
"Fine, but don't go dying on me, Izou" I ordered, smiling at him. "You better make it back"
"I will, I promise! Good luck...Cecil..." Izou encouraged before running off after his brothers into battle.
I looked out at all of them, giving them all a silent "good luck" before running off to find anyone from Ohu that I could as fast as my legs could carry me. The only problem was that I had no idea where they could be and there was always the possibility that I could run into one of the enemies as well. But I had to do it, I had to find help otherwise Shigure, Izou and the others weren't going to last five minutes against a group that size.
"Hang on you guys, just please be ok, please just stay alive" I said, looking forward and scanning for anyone that could possibly help.
Update! Okay! I took a while typing this one up but on purpose for once! I wanted to get a lot of wording in this for the whole conversation between Corvus and Kurotora. Please tell me how that turned out, I was really eager to type that one out and I want to know how I did and if you guys think I should have put something else in there. But anyway thank you all for reading and as I always say...
UNTIL NEXT TIME!