Chapter six

"Ok Shiro." Pidge braced her arms straight as she leaned forward, and tapped her feet on the floor. "Your turn." Shiro looked down, combing his memory for a good story to tell. The Paladins watched his patiently as he thought. Then finally, the Black Paladin's face turned grave, and even pain.

"This story may not be as easy to process as the others." Keith interpreted simply...

...Shiro's hair flopped against his sweaty face. His laugh echoed like a distant memory, as he ran through the field of dirt, dust and trees. The footsteps behind him egged him on. Coming onto the grass he ran around the tree and scurried up the tree house ladder. He huddled around the corner of the entrance, and muffled a giggle with his hand. When a hand reached around and dragged him down into firm arms. The man smiled down at him, and then, laying on the ground, tackled him playfully. The boy's hearty laugh made the man smile wider. Ending there tickle fight, they sat up and Shiro turned to his uncle and signed.

"I wish you could visit more often."

"I know, me too." His uncle returned, shaping his response. They hugged and Shiro continued.

"The Garrison is such a great place!" He motioned. "I can't wait til I'm big enough to go. Then I'll be just like mom." Uncle Kogane's chest jerked in a silent chuckle.

"I don't doubt it." He gestured back. "You always did take more after you mother." They exchanged a knowing grin. And glanced up toward the small house behind them. Peeking through the shades at them, Ms. Shirogane couldn't help but smile at seeing the two of them together.

"Why do you live so far away?" Shiro asked his uncle tentatively.

"Well kiddo," his uncle began. "It's cause, with my health issues, I can't live too far away from the city."

"But can't you live out in the country like us?" Shiro wondered, eyebrows furrowing together.

"'Fraid not son." His uncle shook his head as he signed this. "Not everyone is able to like you and and James. You and my other nephew aren't as... prohibited as I am."

"But you seem so able?" The boy continued. "Like you could be a Garrison pilot yourself." His uncle gave a silent chuckle.

"Kid, I wouldn't even be given the option if I wanted to." He gestured sadly.

"Why not?" Shiro asked innocently, standing up. His uncle gingerly heaved himself up again.

"After the war, I was in pretty bad shape. My military training was there but my physical ability wasn't quite up to par... the military is physically and mentally demanding... and my body just can't take it any longer." Shiro dropped his gaze to the floor, but was raised again by a firm hand on his shoulder.

"You have a dream to reach the stars." His uncle motioned him. "And I want you to enjoy every second of it. Cause one day it may be taken away from you." Shiro couldn't hide a frown, as he broke his uncle's gaze. He knelt down to the boy meeting his silvery grey eyes. "Hey, just promise me that; in all you do, remember that patience yields focus. And that you'll always keep a calm clear mind, to do what's right. Promise me that." The boy stared at him for a few minutes.

"I'll try." He signed finally.

"That's all I ask." His uncle's smile was contagious and he couldn't stop one from cracking across his own face. And his uncle drew him in for a big bear hug...

...Voices could be heard from his parents' room. But it wasn't his mother and father's. As he peeked through the could make out, his uncle standing in the far right corner nearest to the wall in which the door was on. He stood right next to the bed and Shiro's mother stood at the foot of the bed towards the left side. Her arms were crossed and her eyes narrowed into her brother's.

"What is wrong with you!!" She was saying, her voice full of hurt and disappointment.

"Nothing I-"

"Don't!" She cut him off, her fingers showing her agitation as she spoke. "Don't try to cover for yourself. You know that this will kill you!"

"Akari, I have to." Her brother told her.

"For who? Yourself?!" She returned coldly. "You have nothing to prove, other than how stupid you really are! I thought you were better than this!"

"I'm not trying to prove anything." He signed, also becoming increasingly upset. He drew in a deep breath, then continued. "It's just,... I don't know how much longer I can keep this up."

"So what? You're gonna go ahead and make it worse like it doesn't matter?" She questioned him with her eyes and her tone. "Michael this could kill you, and you know it."

"It's worth the risk!" He closed his eyes firmly.

"No it's not!" His sister insisted, her voice being heard with everything she signed. "Do you have any idea what this'll do to us? To Takashi?!"

"Don't do that, Akari, that's not fair!" Michael threatened gently.

"Neither is going back to war one last time!" Akari's eyes challenged her brother's. "We still care about you, and we don't want to see you get hurt!"

"What does it matter, I've only got a few more years to live so what's the point of prolonging the inevitable outcome!" Micheal motioned, his body tense and irritated. Akari's expression broke painfully, as though she had just received dooming news. "I'm sorry, Akari." Micheal continued, his body language softening a little. "But this is something I need to do... for myself. I'm going." Shiro accidentally stumbled forward and the door fell open. The two siblings turned to see the boy's terrified eyes.

"Takashi!" His mother gasped. "I-" But before she could say anything more, the boy turned and ran back out of the room and retreated out the door. Akari turned away and interlocked her fingers behind her head, frustration and regret overwhelming her. Micheal just stared after Shiro, the look of concern staining his face...

...Tears streamed down his face, his sobs were muffled into his sleeves. His knees were pulled up against his chest and his back against the treehouse wall. His arms covered his face. A knock on the wood entrance made him look up, his tear-stained eyes staring blankly forward. Slowly he turned and crawled over the the ladder, he peered down to see his uncle standing there. His eyes showed his regret, and looked misty with emotion.

"Can we talk?" He signed simply. The tearful twelve-year-old hesitantly made his way down the ladder and, turning to face his uncle, wiped away another tear.

"I'm sorry about-.. what you saw." His uncle began. "I never meant for you to see that." Shiro stared at the ground.

"So are you really leaving?" He asked, looking up.

"I don't know." Micheal signed tenderly. "But I just want you to know that, if I do go,... I will return."

"On a stretcher maybe." The boy's response and sarcastic expression showed his doubt, as he looked away. Micheal's eyes widened and his eyebrows scrunched together.

"Why do you say that?" He motioned, surprised by what his nephew had just said.

"Mom said that going back could kill you." Shiro's eyes teared up again, as they stared into Micheal's. "So why do you still want to go?" The boy's eyes bore into the older man's soul, it felt, to him, like knives being thrust into his chest.

"I may not have another chance." His uncle answered finally.

"But if you're going to die soon..." Shiro continued. "Don't you want to spend what little time you have with us?"

"Of course I do." Micheal gestured, taking step closer.

"Then don't go!!" Shiro cried aloud as he signed this, then wrapped his arms tightly around his uncle. Micheal hesitated before wrapping him in the hug that was given to him. As they finally drew away, Micheal extended his arm fully from the boy's shoulders before removing them to gesture:

"Ok, I'll think about it some more, before I decide." He told him.

"Please decide to stay." Shiro signed back. Micheal held him close by his shoulder as they turned to head back into the house. But after taking a step Micheal grunted and his knee buckled under him and he hit the ground.

"Uncle Kogane!!" Shiro's voice screamed, in horror. As Micheal attempted to get up his arms shook and he fell flat against the ground. Tears flooded to the boy's eyes as his uncle lay there coughing and wheezing trying to get up. As he stood up he screamed with all his strength... "Mama!!!"...

...Micheal gave a slight cough and cleared his throat, oxygen not lending his lungs any aid. His body ached and his breath was becoming hard to draw in. The pins and needles feeling felt like many bee stings and then numbness would follow, crawling up his legs. His body failed him, and his mind was slipping away. Shiro squeezed his eyes shut, trying to block out the noise.

"Takashi." Micheal's indistinct groggy voice cut through his mental torment. Hurrying to his uncle's side, he clasped his hand gently. He hadn't realized that his uncle had a voice, other his fingers that acted as his voice. This was the first word he'd ever heard him utter vocally. His uncle's weak eyes opened to display the pain he, no doubt, felt. Lifting his hand shakily up, he began to slowly sign something.

"Takashi, do you remember what I always told you?" He asked.

"That patience yields focus?" Shiro wondered.

"No. About what I said along with that."

"Um you said to enjoy every moment of my dream, before it's taken from me. That I should continue til I can't anymore."

"Good." Michael nodded contentedly. "I just have one more thing to add to that."

"What?" Shiro motioned.

"I want you to grow up to be a man of integrity." Micheal coughed weakly. "Someone everyone can look up to. To do your best no matter what. And to fight for what you believe, even when others tell you otherwise. I want you to do what is asked of you... unless you absolutely know it's wrong. And most importantly, grow up to be the best pilot you can be. Live you dream, and never take it for granted. And never lose your incredible leadership skills, I have a feeling they're gonna come in handy someday." Michael managed a weak smile, his eyes validated the depth of his words...

...the church bells rang, but they sounded distant to the young man in Black. He sat in the pew, unable to look up. He refused to look up, for fear that the sight of the box containing the life he'd lost just a few weeks earlier, would break him. He had promised himself to be strong saying to himself that he could feel it later, when no one was around. His eyes were fixed on his hands fighting back the tears and the lump in his throat. The pressure in his heart threatened to burst through his chest, but he fought that as well. His mother had already been crying, and his other relatives listened sorrowfully to the preacher's message. At the end of the service friends and family gather around him and his mother and grandparents. Shiro felt numb to their condolences, like nothing could shake him from this trance that seemed to surround him. All he heard was his uncle's dying gasps, and the silence that soon followed.

"Let's go Takashi." His mother's voice sounded distant, as everything else did, as she took him by the hand and led him to the car. And as the sun slipped away and the light of day faded, so did the memory to which he was recalling...

...Shiro brushed away a tear before it could slip down his cheek. Trying desperately not to crumble right then and there. The room was silent, no one knowing what to say. Nothing but pain and loss dripped from the Black Paladin's face. They wanted to say something, but just when one of the them would open their mouth to speak; the words died in their throat. Keith placed a firm hand on Shiro's shoulder and gave it a tender squeeze, knowing nothing else he could do.

Hey what's up Shiro fans!!! So Shiro's story took a while to think of because I had so many things I could do. But ultimately I felt that this was the best fit and most of this was written as I went but I think I turned out great. Idk, let me know, hope you enjoyed it. Thx!!!!