Author Topic: A New Adventure - Kyu's Story (Read 3427 times)

AbeMelbs · « **on:** July 15, 2017, 00:15:52 »

1

A New
Adventure

Prologue

A stranger in a strange land; that’s what he was.

After coming to the Hidden snow from the Hidden dust, the stranger had found an Inn and settled there for two nights. Now here he was, crouched low on a rooftop engulfed by the darkness of the night.

He wasn’t used to this type of weather, the coldness. It seeped into his bones, making him cold to the core. He knew he couldn’t stay like this for much longer; he had to move, soon.

Just as he was about to leap from the rooftop, the doors of a nearby pub burst open. Laughter and chatter floated through the night air as people fanned out of the pub. Most people walked in little groups, few walked alone. He only needed one. He needed Shoda.

Jumping down from the roof the stranger landed softly, with practised ease. Standing up he began to follow him.

The oblivious Shoda, on his way home, went left through a nearby alleyway. The stranger, realising his chance, brought his hand to his chest, extending his index and middle finger. In mere seconds he closed the distance between the target and himself. His movements, no more than a blur.

Startled, the man leapt away landing awkwardly. Tripping over his own feet he sprawled across the floor. The stranger, from the dust, walked slowly and with purpose towards the cowering man.Pathetic, he thought.

Looming over the man, the stranger took him by the scruff of his jacket and brought his face close to his own. Their faces millimetres apart. The strong stench of beer and ale radiated off the man.

Giving the man a good look, the stranger could see that he was absolutely afraid, fear written all over his face. And so he should be the stranger thought. “I’m looking for a boy,” the stranger asked, his I voice gruff and deep. “Do you know where he is?

“I-I don’t k-know,” the man replied.

“You know who!” boomed the stranger

“P-please” stuttered the man “d-don’t kill me,”

“Then tell me where he is."

“I n-need a name, face s-something,”

“Kyuzaki, I need Kyuzaki”

Chapter One

Kyu’s arms felt like lead, and they hurt like hell.

He knew he couldn’t keep this up for much longer. “Higher Kyuzaki!” his instructor shouted. “Lockout those elbows,” doing so Kyu grimaced as a fresh wave of pain hit him.

Noting the strain on his face, the instructor whacked the back of Kyu’s legs with his stick. “And bend those knees!” Turning around the instructor went and sat on his usual stool and pick up his pipe.

He had been holding his bokken*¹ for over two hours now. “If you can’t control your own sword, you don’t deserve it,” his instructor always told him, he had been reciting it ever since.

Of course, he didn’t deserve the sword if he couldn’t control it. What would his father think of him then? Getting up slowly the instructor came over and walked slowly around Kyuzaki.

Doing his best Kyuzaki held up the bokken. Stopping in front of Kyuzaki, the instructor used his cane to lift up the tip of the bokken.

“Raise it,” he said. Straining Kyu tried to do so but failed. “Hmph, The Dojo, clean it before you leave,”

“Sensei…?” Kyu replied

“You heard me, now stop slacking! An hour more and raise that bokken!”

***

Kyuzaki hated his instructor, he absolutely resented him. He always picked on the little things about Kyu to pick on. Sighing, Kyu continued to clean the walls of the Dojo.

It wasn’t a large dojo, but he knew he wouldn’t be home until after midnight. He didn’t care though, anywhere, was better than home. That stupid orphanage. They expected so much of him; he didn’t want to be like his father. He just wanted to be himself. Father, how Kyu missed him.

Spinning around and preparing to leap back Kyu grabbed two shurikens. Getting ready to throw them, he stopped in his tracks. “It’s just me Kyuzaki,”

“Eiko,” he breathed. “You shouldn’t sneak up on me like that,”

“I didn’t, I thought you noticed,” she replied. Cursing himself for being so oblivious he stood up and wiped his hands on his shirt.

“What brings you here?” Kyu asked

“You didn’t go on your usual route home. I came to check on you,”

“I’m fine Eiko, you shouldn’t worry about me.”

“I know,” she replied quickly blushing. “It’s just…”

“Just..?”

“It’s okay never mind.”

“Mkay, you know what?”

“Hm?”

“Forget this Dojo, let’s go, have something to eat,”

“Yeah, sure!” she said beaming.

Walking down the street with Eiko beside him, Kyu noticed how the wind was just a pleasant breeze and not harsh against his face. It was rarely like this in the snow. Cherishing the moment he looked up and gazed at the stars. Eiko, following his gaze, did likewise.

“My mother always told me, that even the smallest stars shine in the darkness,” Kyu whispered, afraid that the slightness noise would take this moment away.

“Yeah,” Eiko agreed silently. Looking down at Eiko through the corner of his eyes, he noticed how much he envied her. Oblivious to the feelings he felt for her. He knew she thought he never liked her. He wanted to tell her so bad but he just couldn't.

“Listen, Eiko,” Kyu said. “I might be gone for a while, there is this organisation, Vongola, I heard about. I’m going to check it out ok?”

“Do you have to?” she replied.

“No I don’t, but I want to, it’s important to me.”

“But Kaa-chan won’t allow it,”

“It doesn’t matter what she wants,”

“Kyuzaki pl-”

“I’m going,” Kyu said stopping and turning to look at her.

“Fine…” she whispered looking at her feet. “When will you be back?”

“About a fortnight,”

“Two weeks?!”

“Yes, don’t tell Kaa-chan where I’m going,”

“Ok,” she answered, twisting her thumbs together.

“Promise?”

“I can’t do th-”

“Promise me Eiko!” he cut her off, putting a hand on her shoulder.

“Ok, I promise.”

“Thank you, come here” Kyu whispered embracing Eiko in a hug. After a moment they pulled apart. “Where would you like to eat?”

“I heard of this new ramen shop in town,” she replied

“Mars’ Ramen?”

“Yeah that one, let’s go there.”

“Alrighty.”

_{*A bokken is a wooden sword used as a practice weapon}

Chapter Two

Opening his eyes, Kyu stared at the familiar ceiling he had known for almost four years. Yawning, he looked outside the window in his room. Dawn he thought I better hurry . Opening his wardrobe, he slipped on his usual clothes and grabbed his pouch on the way out of his room. He crept down the stairs silently, put on his boots and grabbed his bow and quiver beside the door.

Once outside, he slung the bow across his back. Bending down, Kyu took a handful of dirt from the ground. Straightening up he pushed it down in his quiver. “That should stop it from moving about” he muttered. Walking to the edge of the forest Kyu took a deep breath before entering.

After walking for almost an hour, Kyu sighed I did everything right. Checked I was downwind, followed the tracks and even check the surroundings... So why haven’t I found any game yet? . Kicking the leaves at his foot he sighed once again and slumped to the ground.

He knew there was good game in this forest. It was a common Kamakiri hunting ground. He’d seen his father hunt here before, just the two of them. Tightening the grip on his bow, Kyu set off again in search of new prey.

Not long after Kyu spotted his first prey. An elk, head down, looking for food.

Treading as soft as he could, Kyu took his first step towards the elk, but the damage was already done. Snapping its head up the elk stared Kyu straight into his eyes. It was as if the elk was looking straight into Kyu’s soul.

Everything around Kyu seemed to slow down, he knew it was his now, or he would mess up. Bringing up the bow, Kyu pulled on the string bringing it back until it touched his cheek.

The elk continued to stare, almost oblivious to its unlucky fate ahead of it. Breathing out slowly, Kyu let go of the string. Recoiling, it snapped against the bow sending the arrow flying piercing the neck of the elk. Lifting up its neck it made a whining sound, which soon turned into a gurgle.

Running over, Kyu took his blade from his belt and stuck it in the throat of the Elk before it could run off. Blood spurted out of the wound. Bringing the blade around he cut off the elk’s head off, grunting with effort.

Once off, he took the blade and skinned the elk. Standing up Kyu brushed himself off and grabbed the rope from his bag.

Tying the elk’s hooves together, he hoisted the elk on his shoulders and took off for the orphanage, leaving a blood trail behind him.

Returning to the orphanage, Kyu hoisted the elk to the hook by the legs. Walking inside he kicked off his boots. “Where have you been?” Kaa asked. Her full name was a very long one, but most people called her Kaa for short.

“I went hunting,” Kyu replied holding up his bow.

“Hunting? You don’t hunt Kyuzaki.” She said snatching his bow of him.

“Hey! Give it back!” he complained raising his voice. “I’ve done nothing wrong!”

“As long as you’re living under this roof you abide by my rules!” She said raising her tone to match his own. Out of the corner of his eyes, Kyu noticed Sophia silently creep down the stairs. Oblivious, Kaa-chan continued.
“You and that stupid girl Soapy-whatever keep on getting on my nerves!”

Looking up at Sophia Kyu looked for something to say, anything that could make things better. Of course, nothing ever did. Looking into to her eyes he could see the pain that she felt. The way she looked away whenever he met her eyes.

She wanted to do something too. Unfortunately, she, like Kyuzaki, could do nothing.
Turning his attention back to Kaa he screamed

“ Her name is Sophia and I HATE you! Ugh!” Spinning around he punched the wall “You’re not my family! And you never will be!” Grabbing his equipment by the door, he picked up his boots and left slamming the door behind him.

Walking outside Kyu slammed his palm into the wall of the orphanage. Anger and frustration vented out of him.
After seeing the hurtful look on Sophia’s face Kyu knew that it was a tough decision that he was making. “Kaio, I summon you.” Placing his hands on the ground, a symbol, in black ink began to spread out beneath his palm.

Reaching its full shape, a thick cloud of smoke appeared making Kyu walk back a couple of steps. Dispersing, the smoke revealed a wolf standing as tall as Kyu’s chest, with its shiny glass-like fur that flowed with the breeze of the approaching sun.

The muscles in the wolf’s legs rippled with strength as it walked towards Kyuzaki. Hopping on the wolf he said “Kaio just… Just take me out of here please.” Closing his eyes with exhaustion they took off.

Chapter Three

“Father?”

“Your arm, it needs to be straightened.”

“Like this father?”

“Yes, like that. Now release.” With that Kyu let go of the string letting the arrow rip through the air narrowly missing the target board. Looking at his feet Kyu avoided his father’s eyes.

“I’m sorry father. I… I’ll get it next time.”

“Let’s do some shuriken practice son.” His father, Yashiro was tall and lean. He was a very talented shinobi that Kyuzaki looked up to.

Grabbing 6 shuriken – 3 in either hand - Yashiro leapt into the air and flicked his right hand out. Leaning back he spun in a one hundred and eighty-degree turn flicking out his left hand.

Gawping, Kyu stood and watched his father hit all 6 targets. Landing softly he stood up and addressed Kyuzaki. “Now, your turn.” Grabbing 6 shurikens out of his own pouch Kyu took a deep breath and leapt. Flicking his right hand out, he spun and flicked the other.

Wincing he knew he messed up. Opening his eyes as he landed he saw two of his shuriken collide. Landing hard he muttered.

“Dang. I almost had it father...”

“Almost,” his father replied. “But in this shinobi world, ‘Almost’ is not good enough. ‘Almost’ will get you killed Kyuzaki.”

“I know father,” Kyu said looking at his feet. As if they would make everything alright.

“Come here son.” His father called embracing Kyu into a hug when he came over. Breathing out his father whisper. “You need to be strong. Do you hear me?”

“Yes, father. I will be.” Turning around Kyu’s father turned to leave. “Father don’t go yet.”

“Don’t go? I was never here Kyu…” With that, his father disappeared and the environment changed. It was raining. Looking up Kyu saw that the clouds had covered the night sky.

“Don’t do it Kyuzaki!” Someone shouted. He knew that voice. “Please!” The voice was coming from a distance. Dropping off a roof he never knew he was on, he saw two other people running beside him.

Only then did he realise, they were him. Running along with them he took out his ninjato. What am I doing? he thought. Having no control over his body he soon found where the voice was coming from.

“I didn’t want to do it! Kyuzaki please.” The voice continued to shout. Drawing near he saw that it was someone slightly older than him, a girl. Creating a water clone he used the body flicker technique and landed on a nearby roof.

Looking down he saw the girl, along with an older man fighting off his clones. Flicking his wrist a blade popped out. When did I get this?Dropping off the roof he plummeted towards the man.

No, what am I doing?! “Move!” he tried to shout, but nothing came from his mouth. “Run!” Looking up, the man widened his eyes, but of course, it was too late.

Bolting up Kyu looked around. He was still on the wolf which was bounding along a path panting. Rubbing his eyes Kyu scanned the surrounding area. He was near the docks.

Upon reaching the docks, the first thing that Kyu observed was how busy it was. He never usually came down to the docks. Boats, large and small, were littered along the shore.

He took the poster from out of his small backpack. The paper was more creased from the amount of times he opened and closed the paper. Kyu ran his finger along the page, stopping when he found what he was looking for. Hidden Thunder.

Looking up he scanned the docks. Smiling, he stopped as he caught sight of the ship. It was enormous. The words Andromeda was written on the side of the ship.

Kyu noted a man by the ship waving his arms at no one in particular. “The boats about to leave!” he was shouting. The smile instantly left Kyu’s face. Cursing, he took off running towards the boat. There's no way i'll make it in time. Jumping off the docks he landed on the water.

Falling through the waves he panicked. Oh no! Closing his eyes he willed the water to propel him up. Feeling the familiar twist in his gut, he shot upwards and out of the water. Splaying his hands he shot forward. The water stung his eyes but he could just make out the boat.

Concentrating, he dropped the water and used the wind to push himself up. He was still fairly new to this, so when he shot up he landed face first on the deck. Groaning he stood up. “Phew,” he muttered. Looking around he saw a man walking in their direction. He stopped, took a slip of paper, then gave it back. Crap,

Scanning the area he found a large basket. Taking the lid off he hopped in without a second glance. It was musty inside the basket. For a few moments, all he heard was his own breathing. Except… it sounded like more than one person. He held his breath, but the breathing continued. Confused, he opened his mouth to speak but someone cut him off.

“Hey,” a voice whispered.

“Whoa! What are you doing here?” Kyu asked

“I could say the same for you, eh?”

“So you're going to the Hidden Thunder?"

“Ye, im looking for info… about my dad.”

“Why, what happened to him?”

“He… it's… he died. A few years back.”

“Oh.. i didn't-”

“It's fine but… i heared of this Jutsu, that could… you know..”

“What?” Kyu asked, but something told him he already knew the answer to that.

“Resurrection.” He whispered

“No way, that's crazy. It wouldn’t work.”

“That's what i thought, but my uncle said this organisation… Van.. ven something,”

“Vongola?”

“Ye, thats the one. How did you know?”

“‘Cause thats where im heading.”

“Awesome, we can be friends!”

“Yeh, i guess. I think the ticket guy passed.”

“Ye, let's get out of here.” The person said standing up. Suddenly he stopped as he stood up and held his hand
out. “Im Rai.”

“Kyuzaki,” kyu replied taking his hand.