Here we go again…

I do not own Tales of Symphonia, and if my plans fall through, I never will.

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After school the next day the boys walked home quietly. They were both still feeling a little awkward after their fight the day before, and neither of them knew exactly what to say. When they were once again back at their construction sight Kratos finally broke the silence.

" So Yuan. Are you going to tell me more about where you used to live?"

" Oh, um sure. Sure. Where was I?"

" You said something about an inn. And then we kind of got sidetracked…"

" Oh yeah I remember now," Yuan interrupted before Kratos could bring up their fight. " So anyway, because there was an inn our town we had a lot of people coming through. People were always telling us stories about the war. My brother was always really interested. He wanted more than anything to go help with the war. But he was stuck because he had to take care of me. Still everyday he'd practice his fighting skills. My brother was a really good fighter, you should have seen him. He learned how to use magic from a traveling fighter once. His specialty was lighting attacks. He was so good that soldiers passing through town would ask him to come join the war. That's all anyone talked about back home. We'd all been affected by it in some way but nothing really big. We were all scared that one day it would be brought really close, because once you're a slave there's no way out. Even if you find someway to get enough money, you have to be able to sign your name. No one I knew could do that.

" Well anyway, one day, maybe eight months ago, my brother decided I was old enough to take care of myself. So he went off to fight in the Kharlan war. He signed his X on the line and went off swinging his staff. I haven't heard from him since. So I kept up money by working and stuff, until one day the war did come right to our doorstep. We saw them before they came. A huge troop of humans was marching right towards out town. Every one was frightened, most people tried to hide, although they knew it was useless. Some people tried to fight, but all our strong ones had gone off to join the was so there was no one left. I even saw one guy who jumped off a roof, just to avoid being captured. Then your father and his men, swarmed over the town. They killed anyone who fought back, and captured the rest of us. Then they took as many supplies as they could carry and burned down the whole town. After that we were marched back into human territory. Some of us were sold of some of us were given away, but most of us came back here. You know what happened after that. Your Dad brought you down to where all us boys were and you picked me."

Kratos stared at Yuan the entire time in horrified attention. He could not imagine what any of that could possibly be like. He was obviously disturbed by how easily Yuan spoke of slaughter and suicide. Yuan looked up at Kratos as he finished his story, and suddenly felt uncomfortable. As if he was wrong for knowing all those things. He waited awkwardly to see how Kratos would reply.

" Hey Yuan come over here," Kratos said and Yuan walked over slowly. Kratos climbed out of the hole he had been standing in and got out some of his teaching supplies.

" Yuan, I'm going to teach you to write your name."

" My name…?" Yuan asked slightly confused but Kratos didn't answer, he simply began his lesson.

" Your name is spelled with four different letters. A Y, a U an A and a N. Now to write the letter Y you do this," Kratos began to draw a Y, showing Yuan each of the different strokes. But Yuan wasn't watching. He was staring at Kratos. Kratos's decision to teach this know could not possibly be random. It was as if Kratos was saying that he wanted Yuan to be free, but couldn't say so out loud.

" Now you try, Yuan. Um, Yuan? Are you paying attention?" Kratos asked, breaking Yuan from his train of thought.

" Oh, um yeah, yeah. But could you show me one more time?" This time Yuan watched as Kratos showed him the strokes for writing a Y. Then Kratos handed the pencil to Yuan. Carefully Yuan tried to copy what Kratos had done.

" I can't do it! This is to hard. What I did looks nothing like yours!" Yuan shouted throwing the pen to the ground.

" No Yuan it's not so bad besides, your holding the pencil wrong. Here you have to hold it between your thumb and pointer. Also support it on the next finger. Good, see that's the way!" Kratos said as he fixed Yuan's hand around the pencil. Yuan dropped the pencil and then tried to hold it correctly on his own.

" This feels weird," Yuan complained.

" Oh you'll get used to it. Trust me," Kratos smiled as he spoke. " Now try it again." Carefully Yuan tried to draw a Y.

" I did it! Look, Kratos, I did it!" Yuan shouted in excitement. For write next to Kratos's perfect Y was Yuan's own shaky one. But although it was messy, it was still obviously a Y.

" Good job, Yuan! Now here let me show you the A. Now the next three letters are lower case. You'll remember that we studied those last week. Here's how to make a lower case A."

Carefully the two boys went over how to write Yuan's name. Until just as it was getting dark, Yuan could write his name, almost straight, across the page.

" I think we'd better stop for today. My mother is going to wonder where I am,"

" Kratos do you think I can take this with me," Yuan said, he was looking at the paper on which he had written his name. Kratos was taken aback. Yuan always seemed so mature to him. He never seemed to get excited about anything. But here he was happy and excited all because he had written his name, Something Kratos took completely for granted. In fact he even disliked it sometimes, when he got bored of writing it at the top of papers.

" I guess you could keep it. But Yuan you've got to be careful, if anyone finds out you've got it…" Kratos trailed off. He knew he shouldn't let Yuan keep it, but he couldn't bare the thought of crushing this rare joy.

" Maybe it's better if you keep it Kratos. But you've got to promise not to throw it out ever!" Yuan said handing the paper over.

" I swear I won't do anything to it. I'll even bring it back tomorrow," Kratos answered as he took it. Then he helped Yuan up and the left their clearing. " We'll be able to get a lot more work done soon."

" Why is that Kratos?" Yuan asked still sort of out it.

" Well, you've noticed it's getting pretty hot. It's almost time for summer vacation. That means I won't have to go to school for months! We'll have a lot of time to get going on our clubhouse."

" That's good. Is that what were calling it now? The clubhouse?" Yuan said in response.

" Yep! Clubhouse!" Kratos said as they reached his front door.

" goodnight, Yuan. See you tomorrow!" Kratos waved.

" 'night," Yuan yawned as he said goodbye. He was tired but happy. He, Yuan, could right his own name. If that wasn't something to be proud of he didn't know what was.

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Sorry the chapter is so short. But I know where I want to go next and I couldn't just start it here. But hey, at least I updated quickly!