~Notes~
This is the first in a series of chapter-long character flashbacks. ..You guys expected a fight, didn’t you?

Episode 7 A Past That Had Been Shrouded In Mist

The soft light of a morning sun lays in dappled disarray among the humble wooden structures of many cabins built along a thin, winding river running out of the deep mountain valleys. The setting is another calm, peaceful day in a small village not far from the outskirts of Perion.

The sun maintains a bright glow overhead as a young boy of about seven or eight years hurries through the narrow alleys between buildings breathlessly. This boy has a heap of tangled dark hair on his head, partially held in place by a Black Headband. A large smile is on his face as he sprints past elderly neighbors, who turn to watch the boy run past in his haste.

“Is it that little troublemaker Kunai again?” an old man asks his wife with a chuckle from under a darkened patio. The old wife turns to him with a smile on her face as she sweeps the ground outside.

“Yes, I believe so.”

The young Kunai dashes about, heading rapidly for wherever his goal is, the sandals he is wearing making a loud clap at each footfall. About him is a plain black shirt and a matching pair of black trousers. Over that he wears a thin, ragged cape and hooked around his belt is a Meba and a small collection of Wolbis. This, apparently, is his usual uniform.

The child dashes into a nearby bar, its door thrown wide open to welcome the crisp spring air. Inside, the bartender and a rather scarred young man with a Dark Identity wrapped about his head sit together at a table, laughing merrily and taking large swigs of Warrior Potion.

The bartender glances at Kunai as he enters the pub, and the scarred man turns to see Kunai enter as well. Kunai stops, and bends over slightly, panting from the effort of running. “Uncle…Uncle!” Kunai shouts excitedly, “Has Sensei Ryuu returned yet?”

“I’m afraid not, little Kunai,” Kunai’s uncle the bartender replies with a faint smile, “You know that your teacher Ryuu is a very busy man, especially ever since he was admitted into the Joukai. At such a young age too… No denying it though, that kid’s a prodigy…”

Kunai beams proudly at his uncle’s praise of Ryuu. However, a trace of disappointment appears on his face at the mention of Ryuu not returning. “So Sensei Ryuu still hasn’t come back yet?”

“Now why are you looking so desperately for your sensei, young one?” the young man asks Kunai in a soft, deep, yet soothing voice.

“Ryuu promised that when he came back he would help me with my accuracy training,” Kunai mutters, pointing to the Meba on his belt and the stars by his side.

At that moment, a rather swift burst of wind blows into the bar, causing papers to flap into the air and land elsewhere out of place. Kunai’s headband flies into the air along with them, and falls on the floor, one end completely torn from top to bottom.

The scarred man picks up the torn headband and laughs loudly, slapping his thigh. “A hard worker this one is, no doubt about it. Look at these marks! I’d say a Wolbi shredded this headband through, and nothing else.”

“I’ve been meaning to ask Sensei Ryuu to buy me a new hat…” Kunai mutters apologetically.

The scarred man laughs merrily out loud again, and shakes his head, smiling broadly at Kunai. He reaches behind his head, and unties the Dark Identity wrapped around his forehead. “Now see here, little Kunai…when you get stronger, you can have my hat!”

And without another word, the scarred man places the Dark Identity into Kunai’s outstretched hands. Kunai gazes in awe at the hat. “Wow! I can really have this?”

“Sure,” the scarred man replies, “Just work hard and get stronger so you can wear that thing! Maybe one day we’ll all be able to look proudly on Kunai, the prodigy of our clan!”

Kunai grins happily as the scarred man places a callused hand on top of his head and ruffles his hair. However, within moments, a slight frown replaces Kunai’s smile again. “But still…Sensei Ryuu’s not back, so I can’t practice my aim…”

The bartender, Kunai’s uncle, sighs. “Tell you what, Kunai, I’ll teach you how to perfect your accuracy with stars! Come on! We can go practice right now, if you want.”

Kunai’s face lights up again at the mention of practice. “Really?! You really mean it?!”

“Of course!” his uncle replies, and takes Kunai’s hand, leading him out of the bar and toward the nearby hunting grounds of their clan.

In a largely forested area caged in on all four sides by a large thread of silky web, lies a clearing surrounded by many trees. Off in the distance, the yellow and orange canyons and mountain ridges of Perion can be seen.

Kunai and his uncle enter the clearing, where a soft rustling is currently stirring. Kunai peers about, but fails to locate the source of the rustling. His uncle steps aside, and draws a Steely from his pocket, and equips his Black Scarab.

“There!” he shouts, and spins about a hundred and ten degrees to his left, nailing a Stone Sentinel with his Steely. It collapses onto the floor with a soft shriek and falls apart into tiny pieces.

“Sentinels?” Kunai mutters perplexedly by his uncle’s side.

“Correct,” Kunai’s uncle answers, “Since they can float and move at the same time, it makes them great practice targets. Plus, they do a limited amount of damage, so beginners in our clan can really use them to get a grip of things. Try it! Not only does this practice technique help refine your accuracy, it helps you to train your senses to notice your entire surroundings, and find your prey, even when it can’t be seen.”

“Okay!” Kunai cries excitedly, putting on his Meba and stripping his belt of three Wolbis at once. He first sends one zipping through the air between two trees, but merely hears a dull clunk as it hits a tree trunk.

“Nothing?” Kunai mutters disappointedly.

“No enemy there,” his uncle lectures, “You have to use your senses, and let them show you where they are. Right now, you’re just aiming for nothing in particular. A good assassin will know where his target is, and will be able to hit it even if he is deprived of sight.”

Kunai nods, considering his uncle’s comments and tips. He then proceeds to leap into the air again, straining his ears and listening intently to the silence, attempting to catch the movements of a Sentinel. He turns in the air, and launches two Wolbis, one after the other, towards a huddle of trees nearby.

However, the Wolbis merely bounce off each other, and land on the ground with a soft clink. Kunai lands just after his own stars, panting slightly from the effort. “My Wolbis!” he gasps in surprise.

“Haha!” his uncle laughs, patting Kunai’s shoulder. “Remember that the more you try to do, the more difficult something becomes.”

Kunai nods again, but does not reply with an answer. Instead, he narrows his eyes, as he turns to his right, and leaps into the air, blindly sending a Wolbi after a faint shadow in the trees.

A loud clink rings as the Wolbi makes contact with stone. The Stone Sentinel suddenly falls to the floor, shattered into pieces.

“Kunai!” Kunai’s uncle cries, “That was amazing! I think you’re finally beginning to master your technique with the claw at last.”

Kunai stops in his tracks, turning to stare proudly at his uncle. He leans over, resting his head against a tree as he pants heavily from the workout. A bead of sweat falls from his forehead.

As the tiny droplet of liquid falls to the ground, the Kunai reflected in it morphs into the present-time Kunai, standing not alone, but with a host of darkly clad Hermits in a black uniform.

Ryuu stand next to Kunai as well, armed with his flaming sword, illuminating the two pupils in his eyes. Around them hangs, like a mist, a faint blue aura, reflecting the ominous silence of the caves far below Victoria Island.

One of the nearby uniformed men turns to face Kunai, and rips off the hood that had been covering his face, revealing himself as Kunai’s uncle. However, he has now aged into his early fifties, and moves much slower.

“Kunai,” he whispers in a hoarse growl, “Are you ready for this?”

“Yeah,” Kunai answers, “Yes, I am.”

“Let’s do this then,” Ryuu growls softly, “We’ll have to work quickly. The Myougun will be aware of our actions very soon, most likely. We’ll have to dispose of this Triplicate and report back to Grendel as quickly as we can. Waste no time.”

“Right,” several of Kunai’s fellow clansmen reply as one.

“Open the door. Release the seal!” Kunai’s uncle cries out into the silence.

Several of the men up front suddenly twist their hands in strange, sequenced motions, and together they place an ancient looking parchment on the closed door before them.

Suddenly, at once, several blaring beams of red light explode throughout the chamber, and without warning, several of the men in front drop dead at once. The doors creak slowly open with a monstrous howl, and a dense, dark fog creeps out of the new opening.

Several flashes of lightning part the gathered host as several Taurospears exit from within the previously sealed chamber. They utter their loud, eerie cries, and bring their staffs crashing down upon the ground.

Many of the men on the frontlines quickly recover, but are struck down by the thunderbolts of lightning. The few that do survive quickly attack the Taurospears, fighting even as the fog stretches further outwards and begins to hover over the battlefield.

Through the midst of the dense fog and commotion, Ryuu’s sword blazes alight, as he dashes from Taurospear to Taurospear, cutting each one down.

Ryuu turns to Kunai, who is standing still, frozen by shock. “Kunai! What are you doing?! Get the hell out of here! Take all the survivors into the chamber and take out the Triplicate! I’ll hold these Taurospears off as long as I can!”

Kunai nods, calling out to everyone else in the vicinity. Together, the huddle of them marches through the ancient doors, which had been previously closed shut by the magic of the Myougun.

Kunai turns from side to side blindly, as the mist envelopes him. Suddenly a loud shriek rises in the air, and many of his companions cry out loud in mortal fear. Kunai trips over someone’s body, and he lands roughly on the smooth stone floor, coughing violently.

He stretches his arms outwards, feeling his way around the ground. He waves his arms as he does so, attempting vainly to push away the fog.

At once, the fog disappears as abruptly as it had appeared, and Kunai finds himself lying on the ground, bodies strewn across the floor around him. Kunai’s eyes slowly widen as he realizes they are the bodies of his family members and fellow clansmen.

Behind him, Kunai turns, and sees the body he had fallen over—his uncle. Kunai gasps out loud, real tears beginning to brim at his eyes, as he struggles to comprehend this sudden change.

He crawls over to his uncle, sniffling loudly, and peers at his uncle’s softened face, free of all worry, yet also free of all life. “Uncle…what has happened? You…everyone…they’ve all been robbed of life!”

Kunai sobs again, brushing away the tears with the sleeves of his Scorpio. He stares at his hands, which are shaking violently. “How…how could I not protect you all? In one day I’ve lost all the family I’ve ever known! How…how can I ever love again… I’ve let everyone down.”

Kunai opens his eyes, a fire lit within them that hadn’t been there previously, causing Azuria to start in surprise. “And that is why…I can’t afford to let anyone down again!”

Next Time: Episode 8 The Dagger and Claw Clash!

Azuria: You speak big words for someone who has yet to prove their strength…

Kunai: I don’t care what you have to say…I’ve already won this. My friends needed me to stop you from stopping them, and that’s exactly what I’ve done!

Azuria: I shall make you eat those words… Feel the pain of my daggers!

Episode 8 The Dagger and Claw Clash! coming soon!