Special Halloween #1

Today is a special day. It's the day when spooky ghosts and skeletons go from house to house in order to collect some sweets. It's Halloween.

Tian-Han is peacefully decorating the temple while Kazuki is asleep. He hangs black and orange garlands to the ceilings and the wall. He adds some bats and ghosts made out of paper. He puts on the walls some spider webs he crafted with some white strings. Some of them have a little spider sewn with black strings.

Carved pumpkins are placed all over the building. Their size varies, going from little ones which are put on furniture to very big ones in the corners of rooms with others less big on it. They illuminate the different rooms with their candles and add some color.

Tian-Han looks at the results, pretty fond of himself. He didn't celebrate this day until Kazuki was given to him, having no more students to take care of. He knows how this day always makes Kazuki smile and that it's one of the rare moments when the young boy can have sweets without any restriction.

Tian-Han goes to Kazuki's room, the only one not decorated yet. He starts to decorate the ceiling and the walls with the help of a stepladder. The sound of his kimono rustling slowly wakes up the young boy. Kazuki opens his eyes to see his master in a black kimono, putting little spooky monsters on the ceiling.

"M-master..?"

And then he realizes. He remembers what day it is. He rapidly gets out of his bed and starts jumping around.

"It's spooky day ! It's spooky day !"

Tian-Han tries to not keep the ladder still while the young boy keeps moving around the bedroom.

"Calm down Kazuki. Yeah, it's Halloween. Take your breakfast while I keep decorating your room. Let's disguise after you finish. We'll decorate the outside together."

The young boy runs out of the room, through the corridor and down the stairs, yelling of happiness. The old man sighs as he can calmly finish his task. He smiles, remembering the energy that only thinking about this day gave to his student. It's been rough recently. Things have been rough for the kid recently. A break could lighten the pressure bearing down on his shoulders, just for a day.

As the young boy sees the decoration on his ways to the kitchen, his eyes brighten up. He is excited for the day to come. Decorating the yard with his master is so much fun for him. And after that, the walk through the forest to Fánróng. The path will be covered with dead leaves to shoot in with his feets. But the cherry on the cake is the collection of candies through the village.

He runs to the kitchen and takes his breakfast there. With his haste, the young boy doesn't want to lose more time. There, some scrambled eggs looking like a pumpkin smiling and a glass of pumpkin juice awaits him. He eats and drinks rapidly, doing both at the same time. If Tian-Han saw him, he would have told him to slow down. Once his breakfast is finished, he runs back through the stairs and corridors to his room where Tian-Han is almost done with the decorations.

"Can we disguise ? Can we disguise ? Please Master !"

Tian-Han turns around and smiles at Kazuki.

"Of course. Help me finish with the decoration here first."

The Master and the Student put some carved pumpkins on the corners of the room and lit candles inside of them. They add cobwebs and ghosts on the walls. Kazuki put the last ghost, with the help of Tian-Han who carries him. Tian-Han puts him on the ground and the young boy starts to jump around his master, with sparkles in his eyes.

"The disguises ! The disguises !"

The old man is overwhelmed by Kazuki's energy. He sights and guides the young boy to his own room.

"Alright. They're here."

Kazuki enters the room and takes the small costume, which is obviously his. He runs back to his bedroom to try it. Tian-Han enters the room and changes himself. His costume is a skeleton. A very simple one, but he didn't want to spend too much effort on his own disguise. It's not something he really likes to celebrate himself. When he gets out of his room, he is surprised by a little monster.

"Boo !"

The old man mimics surprise. Kazuki is standing next to the door, wearing a demon disguise. He wears little horns, a tail and a black cape. He also took a black kimono to be more in harmony with the rest of the disguise.

"You're a little scary monster !"

Kazuki starts to laugh.

"Grrr"

 Tian-Han laughs too. But then he gives his hand to Kazuki.

"Come, my boy. It's time to decorate the yard if we don't want to be late for the collection at the village."

The young boy nods and takes the hand of the hold man. They both leave the temple and look at the yard. Dead leaves give to the ground an orange, brown and red taint. The Master and the Student head to a little hut, where training equipment such as armor and dummies are stored. It's there that the old man gathered the decoration for the outside. They get everything out of the hut. They have carved pumpkins, black and orange garlands, bats that they can hang, ghost statues and a giant web with a spider on it. 

They put the pumpkins a bit everywhere and the ghosts among the plants, like they are hiding. Well, it's more like Tian-Han carries them and Kazuki tells him where to put them. Tian-Han takes Kazuki on his shoulders to hang the bat and the garlands on the trees. The laughs of the young boy echo through the whole domain. 

After a nice meal, made with the inside of the carved pumpkin, they finish putting on the decorations. As a final touch, they hook the giant web to the hut and on the ground.

"Well, Kazuki, that's a great job ! Now, let's go to the village."

But in an act of silliness, Kazuki pulls out his tongue.

"Only if you can catch me !"

And then he starts to run, leading to a surprise hide and seek. The both of them kept running for a whole hour, laughing. Kazuki often tricks his master and surprises him by coming from behind, hiding himself from his master with a statue or a tree. Once they finally end their game, both of them lay on the grass and Tian-Han looks to the sky.

"- It might be late to go now..

- But I want to go to the village !

- You really want it that much ?

- Yes !

- Why ?

- Because it's empty there.. I could have candy but there is nobody to "trick or treat"

- I see. Well, alright. Let's go then or else it'll really be too late !

They get up and leave the domain. They walk through the forest. The atmosphere here is more humid due to the trees keeping it that way. As they walk, the wet dead leaves makes spongious sound under their feet. Kazuki often shoots into a little mountain of leaves and laughs as they fly everywhere around him.

After a while, they arrive in Fánróng. The night has already fallen on the village. A lot of kids are out, in different disguises. Skeletons, Ghosts, Zombies, Witches, Werewolves and other monsters or spooky figures roam in the village, going from door to door in order to collect some sweets. Kazuki starts to run and Tian-Han follows him.

"Wait, not so fast !"

Both of them blend into the crowd and together go from one house to another to collect candies and chocolates.

As the night begins its journey, the old man walks on the path to go back to the domain Yi. On his back, he carries a sleeping Kazuki. And in his hands, some bags full of sweats for the little boy. With a smile on his face, Tian-Han goes back home. He puts Kazuki on his bed and the bags on a chair next to him. He leaves the room and looks at the decoration in the corridor.

"Well, I guess that cleaning this will be added to the daily chores. Might be a bit more fun than the usual ones."