Magic Knight Rayearth Fan Fiction ❯ Cross ❯ Chapter VI Part III ( Chapter 8 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Masaru had dashed off to work, and Hikaru had gone off to take Hikari for his daily walk. The little Shidou sister was also walking Umi home, so she'd probably take a longer time to get beck than usual. Which left only Kakeru to assist Satoru in the class he was currently teaching. It was the "kiddy class" so both brothers would need to pay close attention to them. Of all the classes taught, teaching young children the basics of kendo was the most difficult. The children tended to get easily distracted, and often flailed their training swords around with out thinking about the consequences. They were loud and very rude at times yet despite all of that, each and every one of them was ready and eager to be taught and loved their senseis.

Today they were all to spar. In pairs of two they would come up at a time and fight against each other.

"Yamato and Hiroshi." Satoru called out and the two boys stood up and headed over to him.

Yamato was six years old and had short mahogany coloured hair; his bangs hung over his light brown eyes in small locks, which would normally be easy to see except now he was decked in the necessary protective gear. He was a quiet little boy, who tended to shy away from crowds of people. His family was close friends with the Shidou family…

Hiroshi was much more out going than him. The center of attention, all the children looked up to him and cheered him as he walked up to Satoru. His eyes and hair were both jet black and came up to about the same height as Yamato. One of the better skilled students, he was expected to beat Yamato hands down.

Both boys bowed to their sensei then to each other, the class cheered at the sidelines and Kakeru quickly quieted them down as the match began.

Tears streamed down the brown haired boys face as he sat sobbing underneath one of the shady old trees. He looked up to see the match corresponding after the one he'd had with Hiroshi was well underway. Satoru called out a point as one of the attacks connected to the chest plate of children currently sparring.

"Big boys don't cry." Yamato told himself as he whipped the falling tears away only to have more take their place. It was weak to cry and he hated himself for not being able to restrain himself.

"So then why are you crying?" A deep voice unfamiliar to the young boy questioned.

The boy looked up to find a dark haired man lounging peacefully on one of the trees strong limbs. "W-who are you?"

The figure dropped down from where he'd been above and landed gracefully beside him. The boy took a step back, startled slightly. "I am a man familiar with sword play." He said simply.

The boy looked at him strangely for a moment, "I'm Yamato." The man smiled and Yamato whipped his eyes again he liked this man he decided. He seemed nice.

"Why are you crying?" the man asked gently.

"I lost…"

"Everyone loses sometimes."

"But I always lose! I don't want to lose anymore! I want to win. I want to be strong and compete in tournaments when I get older just like my daddy!" the young boy exclaimed. There was a sudden flame in his eyes, which quickly faded. "but… I'm not good enough…"

"You're too gentle. And you hesitate to attack when you see an opening." The man said as he patted the boy's head and stood up.

"Hey, Mister? Where are you going?" Yamato called out as he watched the figure walk off over to the rack of shinai and take two of them and head back.

He crouched and held one of the shinai's out for the little boy.

"Kakeru sensei?" A childlike voice called out and Kakeru looked down to see one of the boys tugging at his clothing as the boy desperately tried to get his attention.

"Huh?" Was all Kakeru said in response.

"Whose that man with Yamato-kun?"

Kakeru looked around then decided to follow the direction in which a few of the other boys were looking. There he saw Lantis standing by the young boy giving him instructions, and demonstrating appropriate ways to use the shinai. "Lantis…"

"Huh?"

Kakeru looked down at the boy. "Oh, he's a new friend who's going to be staying here for a while." He began as he watched the two and Kakeru was surprised to see that Yamato seemed to have improved. Though only slightly and it was barely even noticeable, but the boy-even from the distance apart that they were-seemed more confident… "Satoru." Kakeru whispered, as he kept his gaze on the two in the not too far off distance.

"What is it," Satoru asked after calling out another point. His attention had been focused on the two young boys sparring, just where his attention was supposed to be, and still was.

"Take a look see, it would seem as though the mysterious stranger is assisting you as well." Kakeru said almost absently.

Satoru's focus fell away from the two boys, his left eyebrow rose slightly, "Wha…" he found Kakeru pointing his index finger at something. Satoru's eyes followed to discover Lantis with the young Yamato.

The man straightened the boy's shinai into the appropriate position, said something to him then crouched down on the ground. He picked up a twig and drew what appeared to Satoru, to be a line. He uttered something and the boy motioned to attack Lantis. Almost effortlessly the man countered it. He said something and the boy went to strike again and again.

By now the whole class was watching the scene unfold. And it was only now that it dawned on Kakeru, "hey, they should be wearing-" he motioned to head over to Lantis when Satoru's hand firmly clamped down on his shoulder. "Satoru…?"

"Let them be." He said as he looked on.

"But if Lansit accidentally injures Yamato-" he was cut off again buy his elder brother.

"Kakeru," Satoru sighed. "His name is Lantis. Try to remember- and besides, he won't hurt Yamato. Can't you tell? He's in full control of the situation." He stated; his eyes were transfixed on the scene. `He's a very interesting person indeed…' Satoru thought. `He's good. Better than I thought.' He slowly headed over to the two. And Kakeru followed after him. `I thought he was merely relaxing up in that tree. But it seems as though he was watching the match between Hiroshi and Yamato and picked up on Yamato's hesitance to strike Hiroshi…' Satoru was originally going to have a brief talk about it with the young boy but it now seemed as though he might not need to now. It appeared as though the Shidou's guest had addressed it with the boy already.

"Woa!" Yamato cried out as he stumbled back and fell.

Lantis crouched down at eye level. "That's enough now," he said gently and a small bird suddenly perched on his shoulder. He held up his fingers for the bird to fly onto and the feathered creature took up the invitation. It chirped happily and the slight disappointed look on Yamato's face instantly faded away and was replaced with a smile.

"Class is almost over now Yamato." Satoru said as he approached from behind the boy.

"Satoru sensei… Kakeru sensei…" the boy stuttered.

"Why not go with my younger brother and tell the class that they have free time until it's time for them to go?" He asked kindly.

The boy nodded and ran a few steps then turned around, "Thank you for helping me…" Unsure of what to call him, the boy simply added, "Satoru sensei number two."

"Hey, I like that." Kakeru interjected. As he walked over to where Yamato stood. "He's a lot like Satoru. From now on Lance, I'm calling you Satoru number two." He called before heading over to where the other boys were with Yamato.

"Satoru number two?" Lantis repeated.

"Kakeru is horrible with names. Allow me to apologize on his behalf." Satoru said as he stood beside the black haired man and the bird flew from Lantis' finger onto his shoulder.

"I think I'd rather have him just call me Lance…"

Satoru smiled at that. "I think I would rather have him call you that as well. He probably will, when he gets tired of constantly calling you "Satoru number two"." He looked over to the other man to see him simply cross his arms.

"Well it's better than "Car name guy" and then him slapping me in my wounded arm," he stated as he rubbed the healing wound through his dress shirt. "May I assume that you are still standing here because you wished to speak with me?"

"Would you care to assist me while I'm instructing kendo classes?" he said cutting right to the point.

Lantis contemplated it for a moment. He would be staying in the Shidou household for at least a little while so he felt it necessary to do something other than simply lounge around all day. It would give him something to do at any rate. He smiled slightly, "Sure, why not?"