Love of Swords

The sun isn't even showing in the horizon, that Tian-Han comes into Kazuki's bedroom and gently shakes his shoulders. 

"Kazuki, wake up. It's time for your training."

The young boy lazily opens his eyes. The room is dark. Fearing to dream again, he starts to panic. He tries to run away from the room but Tian-Han grabs him. The old man holds the young boy against him. With a warm and calm voice, he chases the fear away.

"Kazuki, calm down. Calm down. It's fine, it's only me. Sorry if I scared you."

Kazuki looks up at his master. He doesn't clearly see his face in the dark. He turns his gaze to the window. Sun just started rising, turning the line between the trees and the sky from black to a mix of pink and orange. Kazuki looks again to his master.

"- Why do you wake me up so early, Master ? It's not even the morning.

- Because your training requires getting up early and working throughout the day."

Tian-Han takes the sleepy Kazuki on his back and goes down the stairs. He puts Kazuki in front of the table in the main room, where the breakfast is already waiting for him.

"I already took mine. Don't eat too fast but don't be too long either. I'm going to prepare the training ground. Meet me there once you'll be ready. I left training equipment next to the table with a spare kimono, so you won't have to soil one of yours."

As the old man leaves the room, Kazuki loses interest in the breakfast. The only thing he wants is to sleep peacefully. A lot of things have changed since the incident. Tian-Han and him got closer as a family. But there is all this training. The young boy asks himself multiple questions about it. Is it really necessary ? Those two people he saw that night never showed up again. He hasn't had any nightmares nor dreams either. And why does it happen to him anyway ? He had done nothing to deserve it. What does Tian-Han knows about them ?So many questions, yet no answers. If the old man wanted, he could tell him everything.

Kazuki sight. If Tian-Han didn't tell him everything yet, there must be a reason. He trusts his master. After all, the old man took care of him like Kazuki is his own son. The young boy finally decides to start eating and drinking. Once done, he starts putting on the kimono and looks at the protections. He saw them in the hut once. They were next to the swords.. swords.

As this word rings in the kid's head, he realizes what the old man will show him today. Swords. Like in the books he reads. The weapons that the hero carries. Excited, he tries to figure out how to put on the protections. Not finding how, he runs outside to join Tian-Han on the training ground.

The old man is finishing putting on some dummies. He wears the same protections as Kazuki. The master sees the students approaching with the protection in his hands.

"You didn't figure out how to put them ? Alright, I'll help you. I'll show you how to put them on later."

Tian-Han helps the young boy to put the protection on him. Once done, he grabs a long object and gives it to Kazuki. It's a wooden sword. A bokken. Despites the times which have passed since its last use, it still is in pretty good shape. The surprises that the quality of the object triggered in Kazuki must have been shown on his face, because Tian-Han answers to his thoughts.

"- Even without any students, I still took care of the materials present here. It's not because I stopped fighting and I dissolved the clan that I can't teach to someone who wants to learn. And since you are in a position in which learning how to fight is an obligation, it's up to you to use them.

- I'll learn how to use a sword ? Really ?"

The old man nods, with a serious expression on his face.

"Yes. And you'll be able to manipulate many weapons. But yet you also need to learn how to fight while your hands hold nothing."

Stars appear in Kazuki's eyes. He clearly ignored the part about the training. In his head, he'll be like the heroes of his books. He starts swiping his sword right and left while screaming whatever comes to his mind about swords.

"That's so cool ! I love swords ! Oh, maybe I'll have a giant black sword when I get older ! I'll fight for justice ! And I'll be feared by my enemies ! Boum boum ! Or maybe I could make a lot of swords appear in the sky ! I'll say something like "I am the bone of my sword !" and then I'll just have a thousand blades around me ! Or like I'll get a cool blade with superpowers ! Maybe Art can do this ? Slashing fires storms or transforms everything I touch into ice ! And it would have a cool name, like.. Slaying moon ! I'll send Art attacks on the bad guys ! Boum ! Boum !"

Tian-Han laughs as he watches Kazuki having fun. In reality, he had planned it. He knows that the young boy loves his stories with a hero wielding a sword to fight bad guys. That's why he woke him up early. The time for him to have fun around with the bokken, they would have lost too much time if he had woken up at the usual hour. 

"... I have created many weapons…"

And after an hour, Kazuki suddenly stops. He turns to his master. The kid's face is red but still full of energy. With a big smile, he runs to his master. He grabs the old man and shakes him while making a praying face.

"When do we start ? When do we start ? Please please please, I want to learn it !"

The old man smiles and laughs.

"You're energetic all of a sudden ! Alright, let's go !"