Hiya, Hikari here today to bring you the newest chapter of Shadows of the Night.
*looks down at index card in hands*
For those of you readers here from Riku's cross-post on AO3, welcome impatient children.
And for those who haven't checked out Riku's and my other co-writes, Spun Through the Web of Time has been updated.
Fun fact for everyone who doesn't know, Chapter 1 of Shadows of the Night was simultaneously posted with Chapter 13 of Spun Through the Web of Time.
*tosses card over shoulder
Now that all of that nonsense is out of the way,
*opens a can of Stax and begins munching*
Enoy the shory, nhya~
Chapter 12
After Zexion had cleared off the kitchen table and gone off to bed, Saruhiko moved to lounge on the couch. He was thumbing through various books in order to pass the time until Zack returned home. There was already a pile of books forming on the floor as Saru grew bored from each book in a matter of moments.
Thankfully the sound of the lock on the door clicked and the door opened up. Zack walked through, carrying a few bags, and closed it behind him, noticing Saru right away. "Oh hey Saru, I didn't expect you to be up this early."
"Nightmare. Couldn't sleep." Saruhiko looked up at Zack, putting down the book. "Wanted to ask you something."
"Oh, it's that nightmare isn't it?" Zack said as he set down the bags he was carrying. "What did you want to ask though?"
"Would you teach me swordplay?" Saru asked
Zack raised an eyebrow. "Swordplay? Now why would you want to know something like that? Does it… have to do with what happened back then?"
"And if it does?"
Zack sighed a little as he made his way over to Saru. He looked at him with a sympathetic look before chuckling slightly. "I'm just wanting to know. Making sure it's for a good reason and not so you can have more ways of trying to attack any of us when you are grumpy."
Saruhiko didn't give a verbal response, but instead chucked a knife past Zack's head, clipping a few strands a hair.
Zack tensed up before glaring right at Saru. "Hey! Not funny… But I guess that's my fault for letting you choose knives as your self defense weapon."
Saru got up from the couch to go retrieve his knife. "Now I want to learn swordplay. So will you teach me?"
Zack ran a hand through his hair, making sure too much hadn't been cut off by the knife. Once he figured that he was fine he looked back at Saru. "Fine, I'll teach you. But you need to know you can't be careless about this. Swordplay is harder than just chucking knives around."
"Thank you, Zack." Saruhiko said as he picked up the knife he threw, before whipping his arm around, multiple knives arcing through the air before imbedding themselves down the hall in the shape of a wing. "Also, there's more to it than just 'chucking knives." He then turned and began walking towards his room.
"Yeah I know that! I was the one to teach you ya know! And you better collect them back now. I'm tired of having to fix knife holes in the walls."
Saru just waved him off, but did walk past his bedroom to collect the absurd amount of knives he had thrown, before retreating into his room.
"And I thought he wanted to learn swordplay… Maybe later then," Zack commented to himself as he went to pick up the bags again and headed into the kitchen to put items away.
Some time later, after the sun had begun to set, Saruhiko made his way out to the backyard in search of Zack for the first session of his swordplay training. Saru found his brother doing squats in the shadows of the house.
"Zack," Saruhiko called out to get his attention.
"Ah there you are, just was warming up as I waiting," Zack replied as he continued doing his squats.
"Have you been doing this since I asked about training earlier?"
"Yes," Zack replied in a dead serious tone with a big grin across his face.
Saruhiko rolled his eyes. "Weirdo."
He waited a moment before he laughed and stood up. "Nah, I'm joking. Can't you take a joke?"
"No," Saru deadpanned. "Are we gonna get started?"
"Yeah yeah, I know," Zack said before walking over to a small shed against the side of the house. He opened the door and took out two wooden swords. Both of the swords had several dents and nicks in it. Zack then walked over to Saru and held one out to him. Saruhiko looked on in curiosity before taking one with his right hand.
"We'll start with the basics and move out way up to the real things later. But first you need to know the best stances and positions," Zack explained. "There's many different ways to hold a sword, and many different types. But you always wanna make sure that you are holding the sword in a way that allows you to easily block with it. Understand?"
"Hn."
"I'll take that as a yes," Zack said as he positioned himself and held the sword out in front of him. "Now do you want to learn to attack first or defend?"
"...defend?" Saruhiko answered hesitantly.
Zack nodded as he switched his position into a offeienve one. "Okay, let's begin then."
Zack took a jump right towards Saru as he prepared to strike with his sword. As his eldest brother came at him, Saru turned at twisted the wooden blade in his hands so that he would both cross blades with Zack while the impact the flat side.
After the two had finished their session, Zack flopped comically to the ground. "You picked up pretty quick on things there Saru. Gotta say, I'm impressed."
Saruhiko's response was to collapse to the ground unconscious, the wooden sword still clutched in his hand.
"Oh, I guess you must have worn yourself out," Zack said as he pushed himself back up and walked over Saru. He took the sword out of his hand and placed it back in the shed. Zack then nudged him slightly to see if he would wake, but he just rested there peacefully.
"Ah well, let's get you inside," Zack commented before picking up Saru and holding him in his arms.
He carried Saru inside before headed down the hallways to the younger one's room. Once inside he placed him down gently on the bed to rest. He glanced at Saru for a moment before sighing and turing to leave. On his way towards the door, his eyes ended up noticing something across the room.
He stopped and looked over towards the dresser. Aside from a few different throwing knives and papers, there was a picture frame standing up with the drawer beneath it opened slightly. Zack walked over and inspected the photo and saw it was a older, faded photo from nearly thirty years ago.
The photo was of a young Saruhiko and his mother. Her arms were wrapped around Saru and both of them were smiling happily at the camera. Zack smiled half heartedly as he picked up the photo to look at it closer. He stared at the image of a younger, happier Saru before glancing at the older, colder, more distant Saru. Zack let out another sigh as he glanced at the picture one last time before putting back on the dresser and exiting the room.
*Turns can upside down. Only a few crumbs fall out*
Awww... I'm out of munchies...
Well, please follow/favorite/review.
And for those of you from AO3, that version of this story will hopefully be caught up in time for next week's update.
See ya next week, nya~ :3