Down an unknown road

[areasontohope]

Who; Nida skyward_eyes & Yuki areasontohope
What; Sword fighting
Where; Near the Gullwings office
When; Mid June?
Warnings; None



There had been an idea in the back of his mind for a month or so, probably for longer if he thought it over. And it really hit home when he saw Mono and thought of his younger cousins Kisa and Momiji. What if somehow they showed up here? It had bugged him and the thought stayed in the back of his mind that he couldn't be a casualty like Jacob had been or even Caelan if some demon should appear again. Of course the more he tumbled it around in his mind, the more he recalled Miss Yuna being out there fighting too that night. And he'd done nothing but stayed in his little apartment, hoping nothing bad happened.

But what if children had gotten hurt? While he certainly wasn't Miss Honda, he was sure she would've been out there too that night, trying to save as many kids as she possibly could while that demon thing roamed the streets. After all, she'd gone after Kyo when he'd transformed into that awful monstrosity after his bracelet had been taken off by Shishou. And while he could fight Kyo all day long and win, that wasn't the point here. Their little petty fights were child's play compared to this place.

He had to be more useful than just growing flowers and medicinal plants.

As he'd accused Kyo, saying 'maybe it's not like a hero's supernatural power' but to 'get a clue and realize that there's only things you can do.' Right. And that included wanting to keep the kids safe. Maybe not for himself, but for adults who couldn't fight at all. Maybe they couldn't protect their kids.

What if he'd been stronger and had been able to protect his friends that night from their cruel fates?

So this made him get dressed and head out to find the one person that knew Jacob too. The man he sought had trained his boyfriend and had always been so proud to display the moves he'd learned. So it couldn't hurt to at least ask. Standing in front of the Red apartment now, he raised his hand to knock on the door. But as he went to do so, a lady came by and told him that Mister Nomura had moved to the Green apartments.

Informing Yuki as to which particular unit Nida was currently occupying, the silver haired man felt his nerves gnawing at his insides. But he couldn't fail people anymore. He couldn't run away like he'd accused Kyo of doing when the orange haired boy had said he had 'failed to protect' Miss Honda. No, he had to do this.

He stood in front of the correct green door and sighed, looking at it with a stern face. He had to do this, so he raised his hand and knocked.

Comments

[skyward_eyes]

Well that really didn't explain anything so he doesn't push.

"Why did you take up a katana anyway?"

[areasontohope]

"It was what Shishou offered to teach us." Yuki replied, making sure he kept a gentle hold of Hibiscus. He was half afraid that the little bird would go whooshing off to who knew where, so he tried to do his best to keep a hold and yet not squish the creature.

For the bird's part, he seemed to be doing just fine really.

[skyward_eyes]

So only done because it was offered. Nida considered that. It was weird for him to consider that someone would learn only for that purpose.

"Well I find learning for the purpose of actually defending yourself a far greater motivator."

Hibiscus warbled then, as if in agreement.

[areasontohope]

Yuki shook his head at both the man and his bird. "We didn't have anything like this place to defend ourselves against." The only 'enemy' for the cursed Sohmas was someone of the opposite gender.

No one messed with an ancient wealthy family.

[skyward_eyes]

Well that's a point.

Nida began to slow down and turned into the wealthier district. This part isn't all in good condition, and Nida is relieved to see that. He's happy. He still has these moments, of missing the people who left.

"A bit further down the street. Come on."

[areasontohope]

Yuki slowed when Nida did and checked on Hibiscus who seemed pretty okay. If a bird could be said to look happy he would've sworn that was the expression the little chick wore. But he wasn't too familiar with them anyhow.

He then turned at the other's instruction and looked around as they jogged past, trying to take in a part of the city he didn't ever come to really. In some nicer parts he imagined the Sohmas could move in.

Not that he wanted any of them here though.

[skyward_eyes]

"Alright," Nida said, coming to a slow stop in front of a very tall, and less than amazingly maintained mansion. Nida pushes the gate open and nods for Yuki to join him.

"If no one has moved things, we're set up in the front right room."

[areasontohope]

Again Yuki checked on Hibiscus who seemed pretty content and held the baby chocobo out to Nida. "Do we want to walk him now?" Sure he'd keep carrying the little bird but maybe it wanted to go out for a walk or something.

Gray eyes inspected the mansion which was pretty massive and he couldn't help but look around at everything.

"You own this place?"

[skyward_eyes]

The chocobo being offered out earned a brief frown from Nida. He winced before taking the bird and it was immediately pecking at his hands. Hibiscus had learned rather quickly that pecking Nida would almost always get the little one put down. Which he did here now and he took the leash instead.

"No, I don't. We just found it."

[areasontohope]

Gray eyes looked at Nida when he said they just found it. But now his eyes were scanning around for trouble. "We're not trespassing or anything are we? That's illegal."

And somehow he's almost reminded of Shigure here when Kyo had gone missing and Yuki had been hunting him down. He'd come across the cursed Dog and wanted to know why he wasn't acting more like their guardian which was what he was supposed to be.

[skyward_eyes]

"There's no one living here, and with how the city is broken, I doubt it. And since I'm a guard, I think I have a bit of leeway."

Once he had the leash in hand Nida moved them to the main door. He pushed the thing open and the place smelled old. Dry. Abandoned.

Once in he immediately turned into the room in the front that he used. The floors were still covered with plush rugs and cushions, and there were hand made wooden staffs piled near the walls.

[areasontohope]

Yuki didn't say anything further but followed inside. His eyes looked at everything they could as they pressed on inside and he figured if anyone would get into trouble, it would be Nida. Somehow not even that thought made him feel any better about being here though he was impressed by the wooden staves even if he tried hard not to notice the smell of the place.

"How long have you been here?"

[skyward_eyes]

"I arrived on the first day the Aspects brought people in," Nida answered, moving to the staves and considering the sizes there. He'd have to cut one down. "I found this not long after, to practice. And then he kept getting hurt, so I dragged him along too."

Saying Jacobs' name was probably not hte best choice.

[areasontohope]

Yuki's jaw clenched. Even though Nida wasn't saying Jacob's name, he knew who the other was talking about. Even if he had no other clue, the 'kept getting hurt' comment was a giveaway. That kid somehow managed to get himself killed here too, and it was through that and other things such as feeling helpless that he knew he had to help out somehow.

"He needed it."

[skyward_eyes]

"He did," Nida agreed, taking one staff and then turning to toss it to Yuki.

Hopefully the kid thought, and reacted, quickly. Nida would feel bad if the guy got injured because he didn't catch it.

[areasontohope]

He caught the staff easily enough. He'd learned early to have fast reflexes because of the stupid cat always trying to attack him. What the cat didn't realize that even if he beat Yuki he'd have been in an even bigger cage than the cottage he would've had to live his life out in.

"So we're starting now? What about Hibiscus?"

He didn't want the little red chocobo to get tangled underfoot.

[skyward_eyes]

Ah yes, the bird. Nida took the leash over to where an old lighting fixture was still on the wall. He tied the leash up and left Hibiscus to their own devices. Then he looked back to Yuki.

"There. The chick is fine. Now show me how you think you'd hold that."

[areasontohope]

Yuki couldn't help but smile at the red chick, but then held the staff in front of him. His right hand was under one side and over the other side with his thumb curled around. "I at least saw Shishou hold one once. But that was about all I got to do with it."

[skyward_eyes]

Well, it's about as much as Nida can expect. He considers and shakes his head.

"Need to spread the hands more, but it really depends on the strikes. We'll teach you that. Okay, know any battle dances, Yuki? I wanna see how you move."

[areasontohope]

He tried to set his feet apart and spread his hands though he was unsure as to how far apart they were supposed to be. But the last part had him confused. He had no idea what Nida was talking about here.

"No I don't."

[skyward_eyes]

Huh, maybe it was a language barrier. Nida picked up a staff of his own, moved to a clear part of the mat, and offered Yuki a brief bow before demonstrating. He went through a relatively simple practice kata he had been trained with at the Garden. But of course they hadn't called them that. When he was done with the quick and simple set of strikes and spins of the staff, he bowed to Yuki.

"Some thing like that?"

[areasontohope]

Yuki was half amused and half happy to see Nida bow to him and it made him wonder if he'd ever been to Japan. But he said nothing and watched the other with something of a smile on his face. "With a katana, yes. But this is a staff and I don't know how to move with it like you can sensei."

However, he was a fast learner.

[skyward_eyes]

Well, at least the guy knows some of what Nida means. He tosses the staff back toward the wall and then pushes up one of his sleeves to reveal the straps on his forearms. He unstrappled the single tambo there and held it out.

"I doubt it's strong enough, but show me anyway."

[areasontohope]

Taking the tanbo from Nida, he hadn't let on how impressed he was. It was interesting to learn that the man had been hiding his weapons all of this time while they were together.

But he took the tanbo and then bowed. Stepping back, he went through the motions as if he was drawing it, demonstrating with both of his hands at pulling the blade with his right and pulling the imaginary sheath back with his left. He then made a first cut by keeping the pretend blade a little lower than the handle, but keeping even with his shoulder. The tanbo then went slowly up over his head, pulled it back and went straight down with it.

His next move was to raise it to a forty five degree angle, then raising it up over his shoulder to bring it down. Then he made as if he was going to sheathe the weapon again.

[skyward_eyes]

Not bad. Clearly the kid was serious and disciplined to pull that much off, especially with something that would be balanced all wrong and unwieldy. Yes, this one would take to learning better than Jacob had.

Still, he gestures for Yuki to do it again.

"Faster this time."