Chapter 6: Omen of destiny
Kuro rubbed his ears and awaited his scold.
"Kuro, you're still quite young…" The boy sharpened his ears, that didn't sound like a scold?
"But regardless you're right clever and strong… and tall." He heard that from all the people he met, so what did his father want from him?
"I think it's time, that you learn how to defend yourself… and that with a weapon!" Kuro twitched; beside of the games he played with his friends, he was actually quite pacifist. Arkas leaded him out to behind the house, where he already had prepared some things.
Targets, handguns, a wooden dummy and a short-sword. He took the sword in his hands and showed the boy how to hold and strike with it, than he demonstrated how one had to attack one's opponent.
"Well now you try it on this burglar here!" He pointed at the dummy and remembered the boy on what he just had taught him. Kuro closed his eyes and concentrated on his opponent´´. He breathed deeply and felt his heart beating in a regular rhythm. He putted one foot before the other…and then did something quite different from what Arkas had told him…
He dashed on pushed away from the ground, twirled the upper part of his body aside elegantly and let the blade glide through the wood. Smooth he landed on the tips of his toes and dropped onto his bottom by dismay as the dummy's head rolled in front of his feet. Arkas shoved his glasses up.
°That had been a perfect strike! What a talent! Aimed implemented like a sword master! Lad, you executed him. What's there in you?° The boy shivered and let fall down the sword.
"Wha… What did I do currently, Daddy?" Arkas calmed him, pressed a pistol into his hand and placed him in front of the target. It was around 10 m away from them, he explained the handling.
"Lay your forefinger around the trigger, like this and your thumb on the cock. It's this thing here. So you focus the target, then cock the gun. And when you're ready, pull the trigger. C'mon try it!" Kuro's hand shook, he shot and hit the middle, Arkas placed the target 10m more far. The boy slowly began to calm, this was much easier than the thing with the sword… he seized and again hit exactly straight.
"Hey you're good! Shall I put it even more away?" Kuro nodded, put on and made a clear shot just before Arkas had really posed the disc. "Whoa! You're quite a natural talent! But can you do it when the target's moving!" The boy coldly shrugged, Arkas noticed that there was an enormous difference between this perfect shots and the perfect sword strike before… but he could not tell what…
"Ok, lad! Propose a target!" Kuro looked round a while, then he seemed to have found something.
"How about that blackbird there?" He pointed somewhere to the village, Arkas couldn't see a bird…
"Well there! At the market place! It's just one blackbird there flying round the fountain! The others are sparrows!" Arkas was slightly confused, did the boy wanted to kid him?
"You don't really want to tell me that you can see a blackbird from here to the marketplace! That's nearly 900 Yards!" Without answering Arkas, Kuro aimed, completely composed, without any emotion… That's it!
The shoots had been cold, insensitive, as if he wouldn't really be aware of so… soulless. And the sword strike before… ok… he didn't really knew what he did, but it was incredibly fervid, with his whole heart… he shot, from the village birds flew away, scared up.
"Come Daddy!" Arkas followed him, though he doubted the boy had even hit something.
"You see! Nothing! Would have been quite impossible as well!" Kuro went around the fountain and stooped for somewhat.
"Was already trying to fly away, I nearly stroke the sparrow next to it." He laid the dead creature into his father's hands, who couldn't believe his own eyes. ° A nape shot… a straight nape shot… on this distance, with such a small bird! °
Kuro strolled back, hands in his pocket, kicking pebbles in front of his feet.
o-
They walked home and Kuro gave back the pistol. He sat beside the sword and regarded it.
"Well Kuro, pretty clear what weapon fit's to you. On this distance! You're a born marksman!" Arkas putted the target and stowed the pistol away in its case.
"…No…" Arkas turned around, Kuro did not look up he still was regarding the sword.
"What no? What'd you mean?" Kuro took the sword and let his wrist gyrate. He stood up and looked Arkas straight in the eyes.
"I don't want to shoot, I wanna fight!" Arkas did not quite understand, where was the difference?
"That's the same, Kuro!" The boy raised the sword, shook his head and did a round and round strike.
"No… Shooting's something else… shooting is…cowardly! I mean… fighting is honourable! I mean where's the nobility, if one… guns down someone out of miles from a save hidey-hole? No matter how brilliant it may be to hit from such a distance… The other one has anyway not a damn chance to defy… That's lazy an cowardly! I don't wanna be that in any case!" Disgusted he shook his head.
"I wanna look into my opponents eyes and prove to him, that I'm the superior in a fair fight! … I don't wanna see him just topple down…I wanna…" he glided with his fingers over the blade and cut himself, blood dripped onto the ground. Arkas wasn't quite sure, whether this happened to be a random accident.
"What'd you want to?" Kuro put the bleeding finger into his mouth and licked it off. He closed his eyes and let the sword rotate.
"I wanna… be connected with my opponent… I wanna… feel him dying!" He opened his eyes and within them Arkas could see a fire blazing so much passionately; he nearly forgot that the boy standing in front of him was hardly seven years old.
"But … one sword… that's… I dunno… it's somehow disproportionate…" Arkas nodded, he knew what the boy meant, he drew his daggers out of their sheaths and gave them to him. Kuro balanced their weight in his hands, lightly embraced the hilt and leaped lissom like a cat onto the wooden dummy… did he even hit it? It seemed to be still intact but as a soft breeze touched it, it fell into pieces.
"… Better … but not well… The blades ought to be longer… the wounds would be more heavy… and it ought to be more blades!" Arkas rubbed his forehead. °More? How the lad wants to do this? ° He took the daggers back from him.
"More! You probably can fight with three swords if you take one between the teeth. But that's maximum!" Kuro regarded his hands he turned them around several times and looked at his fingernails.
"That has to work in an other way, too… if I didn't had to hold the swords… perhaps, if they were directly connected to me…" Arkas laughed and skimmed over the boy's head.
"You can let ya nails grow! But before that come eating supper first!" Kuro stood still he didn't thought this to be funny, that stuff really bothered him!
"Actually it's not that athwart, from the main idea…" Slowly it went too much for Arkas, he turned round and did something he hadn't for a long time… He simply clamped Kuro under his arm and carried him into the house.
"You're clever yet, little boy! Something will occur to you! But you're just seven those things shouldn't fret you now!"
o-
"That doesn't have to, does it?" Kuro went backwards step-by-step and defied with hands and feet against Kira, who was in the deep conviction to have to put a pink bow tie around him.
"You bet! Nevertheless you'll be nine today, that's something really special!" She tried to pelt on him but he crouched trough under her arm. But then crashed into Kagami who captured him.
"Stay I say! You're namely quite grown up, but not yet such an old one like we are!" Kuro jolted his head here and there but it didn't help, two minutes later he was wearing an enormous pink bow tie round his neck.
"You're so inane… Hey what the… What you got in mind!" Kagami had grabbed him and was carrying him together with Kira to the beach; the sand was hot under their feet.
"Wait! You don't wanna! Na! You know I dun like--- Aaaaahhhh!" They lifted him high above their heads and SPLASH´´ threw him into the water. Coughing he emerged, seized for Kira's legs and drew her in, too. She wanted to hold on to Kagami but this one dropped with her into the sea.
Laughing they all frolicked in the water, chased each other, pushed each other under water and made dives from the cliffs. Suddenly Kuro listened up.
"Shish be quiet!" He looked at the waves it seemed as if his ears would twitch then he jumped into the water. He stayed down quite a while, emerged and had a fish in every hand, between his teeth a third one. Fighting for breath he mumbled.
"Someone hungry?"
Slowly the sun began to sink the three sat on the beach around a campfire and grilled their fishes.
"How'd ya do that, Kuro!" This one just shrugged and picked an eye out of the fish head. "You're gonna teach me when you know it?" Kagami grinned and nibbled on a fin.
"Yeah I do but don't hope for that in a short time!" Kira carefully took her fish from the skewer and puffed for it to cool down.
"An' what'd you got from your dad?" Kuro laid onto his back and sucked in the delicious smell at first.
"Some book…" With played surprise and unambiguous sarcasm in her voice Kira called out loud:
"Whoa! Coooool! An' what kind of book?" He swallowed his mouthful and sat up again, eating while lying was much too uncomfortable.
"Dunno… its title is wisdom´´ but I've not yet even opened it." The sunset painted the sea in a gentle red, thoughtful he regarded it. Kagami peered for Kuro's fish.
"Hey mate, you're eating that?" He had to repeat his question 'cause Kuro seemed not to have heard it the first time. He startled up from his thoughts.
"Hm?… Wha?… Yeah… nope… erm… just eat it Kagami." Shaking his head he looked onto the sea again and became really quiet. While Kagami captured his extra portion Kira slid a bit closer to Kuro. "What's wrong with you?" His eyes followed the soft backwash he didn't look at her when he answered.
"Hm?… nutin… everything's fine." She sighed and leaned against his shoulder. Hardly believable that he was two years younger than her and yet a whole head taller.
"Nutin' s not very much… It's your birthday lad! Shouldn't you fool around with us instead of staring onto the water?" He smiled out of his large black eyes and nodded.
"You're right… it's just… I've got this strange feeling, as if something still will happen today…" She assured herself that Kagami was still occupied, than slid even closer to him and whispered.
"Me, too… It's like you sense a day before that'll give a thunderstorm, right?" Surprised he looked down to her, that's exactly what he wanted to express.
"Yes… somehow. But this is something… worse…!" She nodded and scrubbed through his hair to cheer him up.
"You're thinking to much, Kuro! You got enough time for that when you're an adult. C'mon let's dig in Kagami in the sand!" She wouldn't have to plead him twice for this and scared away the sorrows from his thoughts.
"And did it please to my favourite son?" It was already dark outside when Kuro came home Arkas awaited him.
"Yeah it was damn funny I'm really dead beat." After they had unearthed Kagami after an hour they started a swimming competition. Though Kuro won it he was dragging himself into his room now, completely exhausted.
"Than off you go! It's late enough! Kid's need their sleep!" Arkas stood inside the door and smiled at him. Kuro yawned and let himself fall onto the bed.
"Night Daddy…" He snuggled into his blanket and slowly nods off.
"Good night, Kuro." Carefully not to wake him up Arkas closed the door and shoved up his glasses.