Disclaimer: I do not own this world or any characters from the Inuyasha universe. Any characters that are not from the afore mentioned world are mine and mine alone. How anybody could own Feudal Japan is beyond my comprehension.
(Two figures can be seen outside of a town. Upon closer inspection, we can see that it is a boy and his father. The boy is holding a wooden staff, his father behind him, shouting instructions.)
"But I don't want to!"
"You will have to learn sooner or later, young one."
"Why do I have to do this now? All my friends are waiting for me by the bay! I can't keep them waiting!"
"Your friends can wait a few hours. Besides, it is still morning."
Everyday, the same thing. The boy would wake up, eat his breakfast and sit down for his lessons, given to him by his mother. The women would try everything to keep his son's attention, but to little avail. It was not that he despised these lessons, he knew that learning to read and write would help tremendously in the future, but did learning have to be so boring? After sitting for what seem like years in front of his mother, learning and relearning the alphabet, he then had to read several pages from a book of his mother's choosing. The boy grudgingly read through the book, never really paying attention to the words passing through his lips. Once his mother was sufficiently satisfied with his progress, the boy would then pass from the warm familiar comforts of his home to the fields of his father.
"Keep your feet wide enough so you don't lose balance, but close enough so that you can't be knocked over!"
"How am I supposed to do that and swing at the same time?"
"Right now, worry more about your stance. The time to perfect your swing will come."
After exercising his mind, the boy had to train his body. His father was not an unreasonable man, but he did demand a lot from his children. Already, his eldest daughter was married to a provincial governor and had bore her husband a son. When she was still at home, the potential suitors for her hand marriage were many and important. Not only was she beautiful, but her mind was equally as impressive. She was especially good at writing poetry. His youngest son was already showing promise as a gifted student and had recently joined his brother in his studies, though he was only five years old.
That left his second child, his oldest son. The father loved his eldest son the most. When the time came for the father to pass from this life to the next, it would be he that would be in charge of his mother and brother. Everything that the father had attained in this world would be left to him. The problem was that the son seemed to lack ambition. His wife was always complaining that her son knew how to read and write, but he did not want to use it. When he tried to teach his son the art of war, the father noticed that his son spent more time asking why he was here rather than trying to learn.
"Wider, Tetsumi! Don't look down at your feet! Keep your eyes on your adversary!"
"What adversary? There's nobody here!"
Frustrated, the father would release his son from these exercises, always wondering what would become of his son.
