"Agh!" Yakeru falls flat on his back and lets out a groan.

"I've seen ten-year-olds better than you." Goemon sighs, looking up and finding Fuyuko glancing down at the fallen ninja in some concern from halfway up a tree.

"Well, I haven't been training since birth like Fuyu has." He hisses as he sat up, feeling his back spasm and pop back in its position.

"True. But tree climbing is a basic when it comes to ninja training. Not only am I working on your abilities, but also your skills to act like a ninja." Goemon stood over Yakeru, holding out his hand and waiting to help him up. "And from what I can tell, you still need a lot of work before going out into the field."

Yakeru stared at his hand before grabbing it. Being pulled up to his feet, he slouches forward and lets out another hiss in pain. He could already tell that he was gonna have a huge bruise on his back.

"I think that's enough for today," Goemon mutters under his breath, turning towards the tree and looking up to find Fuyuko grabbing the ribbon he tied at the top of it as a checkpoint. "Fuyuko, time to come down."

Fuyuko looks down, showing that she was able to get the ribbon before jumping from the top of the tree towards the two.

"Wait, Fuyuko!" Yakeru shouts in distress, anxiety going through the roof as he watches her fall from the tree,

Goemon barely moves a few inches before holding out both his arms and with a blank expression, softly catches the girl from the sky, making the stunt look effortlessly executed.

Yakeru watches with amazement, his adrenaline still spiked.

"I got it, Goemon!" Fuyuko shows the ninja the red silk ribbon in excitement.

"Good girl."

Goemon drops the girl to her feet, giving her a pat on her head before taking the ribbon from her and wrapping it around his sash.

"And you're going to need some ointment on that injury before it gets any worse."

Yakeru huffs as he begins to walk in the direction of the mansion.

"Is this an excuse to get out of going to that banquet tonight?"

"No. We'll just give you a shit ton of painkillers and you will just drink the pain away." Goemon slaps the kid's shoulder, chuckling a bit as he watches him wince away from him and letting out a painful hiss.

~PYRODYNASTY~

Yakeru let out a sigh, taking in the heat from the steaming water he sat in.

Taking the damp rag off his face, he looks over at Fuyuko who sat at the other end of the tub playing with the wooden pirate ship that floated; making imitation waves like it was in the middle of the ocean and riding the rough waters.

"Fuyu," Yakeru gently calls to the girl, catching her attention and watching her crimson orbs sparkle a bit as she looks up at the ninja. "Do you like Goemon-sensei?"

She nods her head.

"I like sensei. He's really nice! Like you!"

Yakeru blushes at her bold answer before giving her a small laugh. Of course, a young trainee doesn't understand the harshness that they will be going through with this new training regime and a different teacher. She was naive, but he liked her that way.

"Does Yakeru-kun not like Goemon-sensei?" Fuyuko asks, furrowing her brows a bit in concern.

"It's not that I don't like him…" Yakeru stares off in space, remembering the few times he has seen the playboy ninja when he was a child and his mother was still alive. Once he was old enough to understand what he was and who the ninja was to him, he held nothing but hate for him.

He wasn't sure what he was feeling now though.

A knock interrupts his thoughts and Kotaro's voice is heard through the door. Calling for him to come in, Fuyuko calls out to her father in excitement before jumping out of the tub and running towards him bare naked.

"Hold on there, hime. You need to put on a yukata before you catch a cold." Kotaro quickly throws a light blue yukata over the little girl, letting her cover herself and wrapping her wet hair with a towel.

"Looks like it's going to be a nasty bruise there." Kotaro points out, catching a glimpse of the purpling skin on his shoulder blades.

"Fell out of a tree," Yakeru answers with another sigh.

"You never were good at climbing." The albino laughs.

"I bet both of you were good when you were training." The redhead spits, almost out of spite.

Kotaro shook his head. "Goemon and I both started somewhere. He also started training way later than you, actually. Really the only thing he had going was his ability before some of the masters threatened his position unless he trained properly as a ninja."

Yakeru took in the information, almost not believing that the ninja training him actually refused to train in anything else. They really were similar.

Kotaro sees how quiet he got before deciding to leave the bath room.

"Banquet will be starting soon. I wouldn't be in for much longer." Picking up Fuyuko, Kotaro walks towards the exit before Yakeru stops him.

"See you there?"

"Not this time." He gives him a small smile. "You behave and have fun though."

As Kotaro left, Yakeru was left in the silence of the steaming bath room before he places the damp towel over his eyes again and let out another sigh.

"Man, I need to get laid."

~PYRODYNASTY~

Goemon headed straight to the bar, asking for a sake dish and tokkuri paired with a mild sake that he favors. Finding a corner of the room that wasn't busy, he sat and stared at all the somewhat familiar and newly unfamiliar faces in the crowd. Some he knew of, and some he believes are the replacements. But before he introduces himself, he needs a drink.

"Party barely started and you're already drowning yourself in sake." Yakeru's voice pulls him away from the crowd and he finds a nicely dressed redhead standing next to him.

Yakeru stared out into the crowd but felt Goemon's eyes staring at him.

"What is it?"

"I didn't think you knew how to dress yourself." Goemon gaps, eyeing the young trainee in surprise.

Yakeru wore his deep red with gold kimono on top of a modified pair of black hakama pants. His sleeves were loose as they fell off his shoulders and revealed the darkening bruise on his back. He could also smell some of the herbal ointment he gave him to help with the healing process and the pain. Getting a better look at his face, he saw the more dramatic wings of red eyeliner and eyeshadow makeup he wore; strangely complimenting his manly features instead of disfavoring them.

"I guess that was a benefit to growing up with a single mother. She always made me look my best, even when we really had nothing." Yakeru snaps, making Goemon feel a bit threatened before backing off and going back to his alcohol.

"Hey, Goemon!" Looking towards the crowd, Goemon spots the large ronin making his way through the people towards him with a smaller figure trailing behind with their head down.

"Musashi! You were able to make it!" Goemon felt sorta relieved that someone he was close with was able to make it. Finally, someone who didn't hate him to keep him company.

"I hope I am not too late." He laughs. "This is Kuraim."

The kid behind him bows to Goemon silently before sitting next to Musashi.

Goemon and Yakeru both scanned the new body. It was obvious that he wasn't Musashi's son by how he was a bit shorter and had jet black wavy hair; unlike Musashi who had the beautiful jade that he continued to grow. He even looked leaner bodied than the fully built ronin. The two swordsmen didn't dress as fancy as the others in the room, confirming to Goemon that both of them were still on the road; always training and fighting the best of the best in Japan.

"No need to be reserved, Kuraim. Enjoy some food and alcohol while you visit." Goemon invites, giving the kid a comforting smile as he sees him start to fiddle with the hem of his sleeve.

"Thank you, but you can just call me Kura…" Kuraim suggests, slightly bowing at the ninja's kindness.

"Isn't Kura a girl's name?" Yakeru expresses, tilting his head slightly and making it sound like the question was a taunt.

Kuraim reddens in embarrassment, looking down again and allowing his black hair to cover his face before murmuring a sorry.

"Yakeru," Goemon slaps the redhead's shoulder and listens to him cuss him out as he arches away from the pain. Musashi watches him nearly begin to cry before Goemon explains, "He fell out of a tree during training and has a bruise now."

"Ahhh… Neat."

"Hey, Kura, he didn't mean that. It's a nice name." Kuraim barely looks up before nodding and standing from his seat, making his way around the crowd towards the table displaying food on it.

"Sorry if he's a little standoffish. Kura has been keeping his head down ever since I met him and has trouble really getting comfortable with anyone." Musashi explains with a small sigh, taking a sip of the sake that Goemon was drinking.

"He was doing fine until this little bastard went and had to be an ass," Goemon says with a glare towards Yakeru.

"It was just a simple question. You didn't have to hit me like that!" Yakeru cries, breathing heavily to try to get through the heat.

"I'm going to hit you again if you don't go up and apologize to him."

Goemon and Yakeru glare at each other for a long minute before Yakeru turns again and scoffs, standing from his seat and heading towards the kid.

"So that's your son." Musashi finally brings up.

"It's hard to wrap around but yeah."

Goemon takes a deep gulp of the sake before letting out a sigh.

"I don't know. I can definitely see the resemblance. And you're both at each other's throats, but not in a rival way. More of a familiar way." The ronin explains, taking light sips of the sake.

"You sure have a way with words, don't you, ronin?" Goemon laughs.

Yakeru walked up next to the kid and felt a bit of awkwardness between them. He glanced at the assortment of fish and sweets that they had on plates and went for one of the nigiri sushi.

"Hey, sorry for calling you a girl." He states bluntly before popping the nigiri in his mouth.

"It's fine… I guess Kura is really a girl's name anyway." Kuraim mumbles as he keeps his eyes down at the dango sweets in front of him.

"It is a nice name. So I don't have a problem calling you that. Especially since it's your name." Yakeru replies, feeling a little embarrassed with the conversation.

Kuraim nods as he takes a dango and slowly begins to eat it in silence.

The two continued to stand next to each other in silence as they picked at the food before Kuraim spoke up only loud enough for Yakeru to hear.

"Want to get a room?"