FSE

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Part two of four (one part will be a prologue) of the tale of Kai, the young black-furred, red-eyed vulpine assassin who's found himself outsmarted by the apparently immortal Master Shiro, who'd heard about the confident fox's reputation. What may happen next is, thus, up for him to decide.

Again, definitely having a lot of fun writing this series, even though I'm still not sure where the initial idea came from, and I know this series is still out of my usual category, but all the same, hope you enjoy =^.^=

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The fox woke up, grumbling, around sunrise, helped along by an impatient kick from Shura, Shiro's son and otherwise the only human among the four, or including Kai, five, people at the dojo.

"Come on, move it, it's time for the morning exercise," Shura demanded, attempting another swift kick to the fox's side and finding it blocked by his forearm.

"Gimme a moment, it's not easy sleeping on this deck..." Kai muttered, slowly lifting himself up to his feet, the memories of what happened last night quite clear in his mind, as with the question of why he was still there and, at that, what happened to all of his clothes. Glancing briefly down, he found that he was now wearing the same somewhat loose-fitting white outfit as the other three students, his own vest, pants, and especially his gloves with all his assassin tools hidden within them nowhere to be found.

"He won't be joining us in our morning exercises," the old, somewhat balding master of the dojo walked out after his son, his expression impassive as Kai had ever seen it as the old man looked in his direction, receiving a brief, mild glare in return. "Your room is the first to the right, you may prepare it as you see fit. Be sure to be done by midday," he told the fox as his other two students, a thin female dragonfly around Kai's age whose armor-like skin seemed to differ in shades of blue and green depending on the light, and a middle-aged brownish red hawk, similar in age and muscle tone to Shura, walked past him. That left the dragonfly, Myst as Kai had heard her called, and now Kai the only two in the dojo that weren't yet adults.

"Yes, Master Shiro," Kai said as the other three students passed him to their wide, stone-tiled training area, giving a polite, though stiff, bow. Wondering what he could possibly have to prepare in his new room as he walked inside and to the doors, he slid them apart to find the room a mess. The mat, blanket, and pillow he'd be using to sleep were scattered apart from each other as if tossed to the side, three drawers in the cabinet along the left wall were hanging out, the top, final drawer missing from the cabinet entirely, and the bookshelf along the right wall...Kai suspected from the state of some of the books piled at the bottom that some of them had been thrown at it. Forcefully.

Then there was the middle of the room, hints of a table seen under a pile of clothing and miscellaneous refuse.

There was no doubt whatsoever in the fox's mind that old Master Shiro had done this to him on purpose, and he supposed that the old man had kept him here in order to keep an eye on him. Oh, he would regret this, Kai would make sure of it. For now, however, he had his room to attend to.

"What's so special about that punk fox, anyway?" Shura complained as the three students began their morning jog, Master Shiro watching them from his usual spot seated with folded arms and legs on a pillow placed on the deck.

"You're just annoyed because he completely got the best of you," the hawk, Edgar, suggested.

"He got me by surprise. Once," the human retorted. "Put me in a sparring match with him and I'll bet anything I can easily beat him."

"What have I taught you, Shura?" his father said loudly, apparently hearing the younger human despite Shura having only been muttering, trying to keep his voice from reaching his father and master.

"Never underestimate my opponents," Shura replied automatically, glaring.

"One more lap once your two fellow students have finished," his father demanded, and Shura nodded grumpily, complying with the order after the three had finished their designated five laps, beginning to breathe somewhat heavily.

Little over an hour passed, the three students were training with practice dummies brought over from near one end of the deck and stood in their designated places, and the fox found himself at somewhat of a loss of what to do.

The drawers restored to the cabinet, including the missing drawer he found buried under the books by the bookshelf, the clothes he'd been given stashed neatly within it, the bookshelf itself, beyond his repair, left where it was with the books placed in stacks next to it, and his bed placed near the back of the room, mat, blanket, and all, anything he didn't need from the pile that had been on the table left in the middle of the room placed neatly enough in a back corner, it seemed his room was prepared as well as it could be.

Considering sneaking over to Shiro's room to set a trap or two, he determined that the strangely perceptive old man would be specifically looking now for anything out of place, and anyway his tools had been taken somewhere undoubtedly out of his reach, perhaps even buried somewhere in the forest. He could probably find something of use from one of the other rooms, but again there was the prying eyes of Master Shiro to deal with now. No matter...he still had his night-black fur and his natural claws that he knew quite well how to use.

Sitting on his bed and leaning back against the wall, he thought constantly through any possible way to end the old man, to determine what resources either of them still had and use anything to his advantage that he possibly could. A few more hours passed, and Kai had come up with no feasible options but another direct approach like last time, at least until he learned more about this place, his fellow students, and most importantly, the plants within that garden in the back. He also had, to his minor advantage, the fact that the old man didn't seem interested in killing the one that had been paid to assassinate him. It would be some time before the fox had the slightest idea why, but for the moment, it didn't really matter to him.

Finding midday, when he'd presumably be joining the other three students in training, approaching, and realizing that he'd had nothing to eat since the previous morning, he risked walking out to the kitchen, glancing out the open doors to make sure nobody was paying him any mind. Tempted to try and act at the sight of Shiro and everyone else's backs turned to him, the fox thought better of it, not interested in alerting those three that he wasn't supposed to kill and aware that the old man would likely, somehow, notice him, a trick that wouldn't be bad to try and pick up on. Directing a fierce glare at the back of the old man's head for a brief moment, quite certain that he'd seen the slightest twitch from his right shoulder, he walked over to open the cabinet and see what he had to work with.

Some fruit, some meat, some cheese, some vegetables...everything apparently well-preserved within their wooden storage, perhaps the result of the occasional, strange-looking leaves he saw scattered about as he opened the doors. Another of the old man's unique plants bearing some special property, no doubt.

Feeling that he should probably use ingredients fairly sparingly, he grabbed two choice fish, a pineapple, a few apples, and a few particular herbs after taking a few sniffs of them to get a feel for what they may be, and went to the other side of the room, noting that a fifth pillow had apparently been placed by the low table, the other four shifted around so they were all still spaced evenly about it. Shrugging, he continued on to the wooden counter between the oven and the sink, spreading his ingredients apart, turning on the oven after scanning it over, and getting to work, occasional glances directed to Shiro, the only one he could see from that position, to see if the old man would do anything. Apparently not.

Midday apparently arrived with Master Shiro's loud announcement that everyone could take a break to relax and prepare lunch, and the three students that were training bowed politely to him, each taking their kendo sticks and balancing them against whichever of the three training dummies they'd been using, walking inside after their master to a surprise sight and smell.

Having just finished with the fish, carefully removing every last bone before he'd even begun to cook them, and finished with the apples and pineapple, Kai heard the announcement for lunch and sped up a little in his final preparations, sliding four dishes of apparent herb-roasted fish and a few de-skinned apple slices to rest before four of the pillows, a fifth dish of roasted pineapple and apple slices coming to rest at the final spot, certain enough that dragonflies wouldn't eat meat, fish or otherwise.

"What...what is this?" Shura demanded as he took in the sight, apparently a little annoyed as he glared directly at Kai after surveying the dishes.

"W...wow..." Myst muttered, somewhat breathless, met by a "Not too bad-looking" from Edgar. The only one that didn't react, to Kai's mild surprise, was Master Shiro, who took what was apparently his place at the table, waiting for the others as Kai gathered a fork and knife for each of them, tossing them skillfully from a spot next to the low wooden table to lie with the fork on one side of each plate and the knife on the other, each only somewhat uneven, his expression blank all the while, completely ignoring Shura in particular.

"Eat. You've nothing to fear from this food," Shiro spoke confidently, leaving Kai wishing he still had his gloves or vest where lied a few doses of quickly lethal poisons hidden within their secret depths.

Nodding, Shura took a final suspicious look at Kai and the food he'd prepared before taking a seat next to his father, while the fox was the third to sit down, placing himself between Myst and Edgar so that he'd be sitting by neither of the two humans.

Satisfied with their meals a short while later when everyone finished, Shiro allowed everyone to go their own way after they all cleaned their own plate and utensils, Shura and Edgar returning to their rooms, Myst heading back outside, and Shiro and Kai staying behind.

"You're wondering why you're still here," Shiro stated.

"So you can keep an eye on me, obviously," Kai replied.

"Should my reasons really be so shallow as that?"

"Alright, if not to hold on to your life, then what?"

"You'll come to see eventually, if you allow yourself," the old man answered, a certain tone of finality in his voice. Glaring for a moment, Kai shrugged and walked silently out the door, quickly finding Myst resuming her training with the training dummy, her back turned to him.

"Hey," he said when he was a short distance behind her, causing the dragonfly to jump in surprise, almost dropping her kendo stick.

"Kai! Don't sneak up on me like that, please, I didn't hear you at all," she grumbled, turning around to face the fox.

"I wasn't sneaking, I was just walking," Kai replied, shrugging and turning his attention to the training dummy. "What's the point of this thing anyway?" It was possibly the most bizarre thing he'd ever seen...a vertical pole with more wooden poles sticking out at seemingly random points, some of which were even able to rotate around the vertical pole they were attached to. (please note that I call it ‘training dummy' for lack of knowing what to actually call it)

"It's for sword training," Myst muttered, not particularly pleased that the fox didn't seem to care that he'd startled her.

"Right...whatever works, I suppose," Kai said, shrugging again and turning away from the dragonfly to return to his room, closing the sliding doors behind him and looking over some of the books he'd been left.

It wasn't long that Kai would determine that whenever Shiro allowed his students to ‘go their own way', that meant official training was over for the day. That particular night, however, it didn't matter to him and he hoped never to hear it again. Hoped, in the knowledge that he'd probably have no such luck.

Remaining awake and still into the late hours of the night after everyone gathered once more later in the day for dinner, prepared this time by the hawk, Edgar, Kai slowly rose himself to his feet from his position sitting within his room by one of the sliding doors at what seemed a suitable time to act. First, however, he changed from his white training outfit to a darker brown outfit he'd found within the pile that had been on the table. Not quite as good as his normal outfit, perhaps, but it would do.

As he wandered over to what could rightfully be called the dining room, however, he found that the old man's scent seemed to be coming primarily from through the doors leading to the training area. His eyes narrowing slightly, he slowly slid the doors apart enough to slip through, spotting the old human sitting in his usual place and position on the deck, with the exception that he was facing the doors this time.

"So you're still at this, even without any of your tools," Shiro spoke, looking up into the fox's face.

"What did you expect?" Kai responded, directing a fierce glare to the old man, who didn't seem disturbed by it in the slightest.

"I'll give you credit for persistence, but you're wasting your efforts. I'm sure you know that."

"We'll see."

Sighing lightly, Shiro nodded. "Yes, I suppose we shall. For now, though, it would do you well to get some rest, you'll likely want your energy when you begin training with everyone tomorrow."

"And why should I bother doing that? We both know the only reason I'm here, and I will carry out my job whether or not I'm allowed to remain here. I've never failed to eliminate a target yet, and you can be sure that I'm not going to start now," Kai growled, returning to his room. Tonight the old man had been expecting him, as he likely would every night from this point on. That would still only protect him from the vulpine assassin for so long...

The next day, for lack of much else to do to pass the time before his next attempt at the life of old Master Shiro, Kai indeed joined the other three students in their training, receiving a kendo stick of his own from the old man's apparent stash once it came time for sword training after the morning jog after breakfast, prepared by Shura. Midday found Myst preparing lunch, the students apparently taking turns for meal duty. Formerly Shura had prepared breakfast, with Myst preparing lunch and Edgar preparing dinner, but with Kai added to their numbers, the schedule wouldn't be so even, and every day one of the four would thus be freed from meal duty.

Then, after lunch, Shura found a chance to test his earlier theory...

"For your afternoon training, two sparring matches," Master Shiro announced, his students lined up beside each other on the training ground to face him. "Myst, Edgar, you two will spar together at the back," he continued, and the dragonfly and hawk nodded and bowed to him, walking to the back of the training area to begin their match. "Kai, Shura, you two will spar at the front."

Bowing politely as well, the fox and human took positions not far from where they'd just been standing, facing each other and holding their kendo sticks before them in both hands. A small smirk appearing on his face, Shura made the first move, rushing swiftly toward Kai and swinging his kendo stick at the fox relentlessly, leaving Kai forced to continually parry the strikes, inexperience taking its toll with how ineffectively he could move around the kendo stick two-handed. Satisfied with the fact that he'd left the fox only able to block, the human swung his weapon hard to the side, deflecting Kai's intended parry and quickly following up for a hard thrust into the fox's left shoulder, sending him staggering back two steps.

Perhaps seeing that the assassin was near losing control from the onslaught and from taking a painful hit, Shiro shouted "Enough!" from his place still on the deck, jerking Kai out of his building rage. "You may all go your own way now," he concluded, standing and walking inside to take his seclusion within his room.

"Consider that payback for that first time," Shura glared at Kai, turning and walking inside, to his own room, Kai guessed. Edgar, meanwhile, seemed to make a specific effort to bump hard into Kai's left shoulder, seeming to speed up a little as he returned inside after receiving a low growl in response to the action. Sure, Shura had bested him with a kendo stick, but there was still something worrying about how close the fox had come to killing the human in their first encounter.

Holding his kendo stick down at his side in his left hand and rubbing lightly at that shoulder with his right hand, Kai came to the vague realization that Myst, whose light figure and near-lack of a scent made her quite near undetectable even to him, hadn't passed him, and glanced over to where she was standing practicing more of those vertical swings with the kendo stick, noticing her quickly look away and act as if she hadn't been looking at him.

"Why are you so persistent, anyway?" he asked, causing the dragonfly to jump in surprise and glance over to him.

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"You're always sticking around out here even after everyone else has left...why?"

"Because I'm dedicated to this," she said, directing a small glare at the fox. "Why are you here?"

"What's it to any of you?" Kai grumbled, currently annoyed at the fact that both father and son here were beginning to get the better of him, and trudged off to his own room, kicking the blanket furiously off his mat. How he'd love to end that foolish human Shura's life...but his target was Shiro, and he was sticking to that. He'd find some other, better way to get back at his ‘fellow student' in due time.

Days, and a few further, pointless assassination attempts passed, and during that time there were no more sparring matches, though even so the fox continued drifting further away from the other three students. He'd join them in their training, he'd cook a meal when it was his turn to, but he remained in his room all other times so far as anyone knew, never bothered, never bothering anyone.

It came to the point where the other students were apparently tired of it.

"What's your issue anyway, kid?" Edgar finally asked Kai during their morning jog. Seeing the hawk met with silence, Shura took the initiative to attempt to shove the fox off-balance, barely sure of what happened before he found himself landing on his back on the ground, grumbling as he turned over onto his hands and one knee.

"Don't try that again," Kai said, the hint of a growl in his voice as he looked down to the human, that fierce glare on his face, causing Shura to recoil quickly.

Glancing pleadingly over Master Shiro to stop this, Myst found that the old man was simply sitting there as impassively as ever, as if he didn't even see what was happening.

"Watch it, kid," the hawk went to grab the fox's shoulder, quickly pulling his hand back as that fierce, red-eyed glare was directed toward him.

"You may all go your separate ways," Shiro announced to everyone's surprise, retreating once again to his room. Glaring at Kai but turning away from the fox quickly, Shura followed suit, Edgar, standing and considering things but thinking better of trying to stand up to that glare, soon joining him.

That left only Kai and Myst, the dragonfly standing there awkwardly, not quite sure what to do.

"What is your problem, anyway?" she asked timidly, not wishing to find that glare directed at her.

"What's it to any of you?" Kai snapped, his eyes on the entrance to the building.

"You know..."

"I'm going into town," Kai grumbled, cutting her off and ignoring anything else she may have had to say.

The trip through town proved mostly uneventful, but at least it gave him the chance to get away from that dojo and the people in it for a time. He kept hearing something about some kind of festival as he aimlessly wandered the streets, but that was the only thing of note that he heard at all. Such a small town as this, it was a wonder they even had such an event, but it became readily apparent that this wasn't a town that had its darker side. Shame...that would certainly give him a real chance to take a break, in his own way.

Giving up on finding anything further of interest to him, not a single metalsmith or herbalist to be found to possibly make something of use, the fox sighed and made his way to the dojo, finding near the entrance of the path through the forest that a small scene had developed. Mildly interested in what had drawn a small crowd, he made his way quickly over, slipping between two people to get a perfect view of the event.

"You really call what that old man is teaching you swordfighting?" a man at the head of a group of three mocked, holding in his hands before him a sharpened steel sword. The man was a dragonfly of similar coloration to Myst, who, as it turned out, was the one he was mocking, standing before him with kendo stick held at the ready in her hands. What she expected to do with it against that sword save for perhaps get herself injured, Kai couldn't be sure.

The man's two companions were a wolf and a tall buck, a sword each sheathed at their sides, and they were all wearing black, somewhat loose-fitting vests and pants, the vests held closed with a thin red sash around their waists, their appearances obviously intended to be imposing, particularly with the fact that the left hand of both the wolf and the buck lay on the hilt of their swords.

"Yes, I do, actually," Myst spoke defiantly, glaring at the other dragonfly. "And we're not learning it to be able to fight or anything like that, but to learn discipline and how to defend ourselves."

"Discipline? Ha! Strength is what you really need, and how do you expect to defend yourself with those sticks against real blades, anyway?" the man laughed as if at a joke.

"I'll...I'll show you..." Myst protested, showing as much conviction as she currently could in the face of that blade.

"Yeah...I'm sure you will," the older dragonfly said quietly, smirking as he quickly rushed in to close the distance, swinging his sword to the side as Myst flinched, leaving herself open, catching the kendo stick against the flat of his sword and knocking it out of her hands, off to the side. "You see? You say he's teaching you to defend yourself, but you couldn't even..."

"Gren!" one of the dragonfly's companions cut him off with a warning shout, but too late. Before he could finish his sentence, the male dragonfly apparently known as Gren found himself staggering backwards a few steps at a sudden blow on the forehead from the very kendo stick he'd just knocked out of Myst's hands.

"You're her brother, I'm guessing?" he heard someone ask as he held a hand against his forehead, trying to rid himself of the throbbing pain in it, slowly lowering it to eye the younger dragonfly's apparent guardian, finding himself staring into the red eyes of a black-furred young fox, eyes he hated to admit made him rather uncomfortable.

"You stupid little punk...you must really want to die, still standing in front of me with just that stupid stick after a stunt like that..." Gren growled, though the fox continued to stare at him with the expression of someone who simply didn't care.

Finding what seemed a good way to let off some steam, the only lingering fact that bothered Kai was his apparent inability to wield a kendo stick two-handed like everyone else. One-handed, however...thinking it over briefly, he removed his right hand from the weapon, twisting it around in his left handed and holding it in a strange upside-down, one-handed grip, his index and middle finger gripping the hilt properly while his other two fingers and his thumb rested beneath it.

Smirking at the boy's apparent foolishness in not even knowing how to hold a weapon properly, Gren made a quick, short dash toward the fox, swinging his sword up above his head and quickly back down, expecting this to be the one, and only, strike.

He would have been half right, at least.

Seeing the reaction he'd hoped for, that the dragonfly likely expected this to be the only attack he would need to make, that allowed Kai to make his planned move, stepping slightly to the side and spinning quickly, catching the top of Gren's blade between the hilt and guard of the kendo stick, the very reason he didn't have his two fingers wrapped around that particular area, and driving it forcibly down with his momentum. Lifting his kendo stick slightly off of the sword when he felt he pushed it far enough, he continued his rapid spin, catching Gren forcefully on the cheek and knocking him staggering to the ground. Allowing Gren no time to recover, Kai kicked off on one foot, following the dragonfly even as he was still staggering and swinging the kendo stick, still in that odd grip, toward his neck, pointedly ending the short fight.

Backing Gren's companions off with a fierce glare, ignoring the fact that he'd received a small cut on the side of his middle finger, Kai simply said "come on" to Myst, who nodded and quickly jogged up to walk in front of him through the path to the dojo, not risking a single glance back to Gren or his two companions.

"Thanks...I guess I owe you," Myst finally spoke as the pair exited the forest and walked toward the training area.

"Forget it. Literally," Kai said, barely looking at the dragonfly as he offered her her kendo stick back. "I'm here for my own reasons, not to ‘help' or get along with any of you. I figured you already noticed that by now."

"And what reasons would those be?" Myst asked, hoping to get anywhere beneath the surface of the isolated fox.

"None of any of your business. Ask the old man if you really want to know for all I care, though I doubt he'll tell you," Kai answered, speeding up a little as he walked to the building they lived in, clearly to return to his room for the rest of the day but for dinner, having missed lunch during his time in town, though fortunately it hadn't been his turn to make it.

Ignoring the fox for now, Myst experimentally held the kendo stick in only her right hand, weighing it in her hand and seeing how well she could swing it around. Not as much power as with both hands, perhaps, but there was something to be said for how much more easily she could move it around. She'd have to test it out the next time she ended up in a situation like that, or the next time Master Shiro called for a sparring match.

Walking over to the other edge of the building to retrieve her training dummy and put it in its place in the training area, the dragonfly decided to test out now how well she might be able to wield the kendo stick one-handed. It felt radically different than what she was used to, but paired with the two-handed style she'd been taught in the four years she'd been training under Master Shiro, it definitely felt like something she could make fair use of. Shame the one that had showed her was such a cold-hearted, solitary jerk...

The next day started as normal with breakfast followed by a morning jog, during which it was clear to both Myst and Edgar that Shura was keeping a little distance between himself and Kai. Not that he could really be blamed, after the previous day.

With the morning jog this time completed without incident, the four students...well, three students and a determined assassin...gathered before the old man seated on the deck to hear what the morning's training would be, to find that there would be none.

"It hardly seems fair making you stay here when there's a festival starting soon over in town," Shiro spoke, even seeming to give a small smile. "Now go, have fun," he concluded, waving an arm in the direction of the town.

Nodding and giving a polite bow, the three actual students began to chat about what they could expect to see at the festival as they walked in the direction of the path that led through the forest, while Kai made his way to his room, where he'd clearly have peace and quiet, perhaps even a chance at the old man since everyone else was gone.

"You, too," Shiro ordered as Kai neared him, standing up to make himself clear that he meant it. "It will do you well to see more of life than shadows and death."

"Again with this...what do you expect me to do, suddenly repent and turn to your beliefs?" Kai growled.

"No, but it's clear to me that you've never had a chance to live before now. Take it, you might be surprised."

"Hmph...yeah, at how boring it'll be...but fine, since like most assassins I don't like trying a direct, open approach anyway, I'll go," he muttered, trudging off in the direction of the town. Giving a small sigh as he watched the fox grudgingly leave, sure from a small twitch in Kai's ears that he'd heard it, Shiro stood where he was for a few moments after Kai was out of sight, returning to seclusion in his room once he seemed sure that the fox wouldn't be returning for some time.

Considering at this point simply leaving this town to return to the city where he'd been hired and silence that panther that had hired him, effectively shoving that old man and his students out of his life, Kai thought better of it, at least for now. He'd never failed yet, like he'd said...and he wasn't going to now. He'd eliminate that old man, he was sure of it. For now, though, he'd play his little games while he came up with a good way to strike.

Leaving the forest path and arriving in town, Kai found it quite different than he'd left it yesterday. There were plenty more people around, and it was definitely lively. Maybe a little too much for his tastes.

Leaving the bustle of the carnival games and various other events of the seemingly main street, the fox instead wandered quickly off to the side, where his path would be much less impeded, growling a little as he glared over briefly to the crowd that even he had had a somewhat difficult time making his way through, walking a few steps forward before he turned his gaze to whatever he may have been walking toward, met quickly with an unexpected sight.

While on the main, eventful street of the town there were crowded a fair number of adults, over here it seemed a small crowd of children had gathered for a little event of their own, though they weren't participating in it, only watching with some awe.

Careful, flowing movements, a definite lightness of the feet, and obvious practiced skill met together in a graceful, rhythmic dance, an occasional small flap of clear, mostly see-through wings helping to keep the dancer balanced where others without such an advantage would have stumbled or even fallen.

Needless to say, it was something the assassin, who'd spent most of the life he could remember in the shadows of society, had never seen, the only ‘dances' he had seen of a more...intimate nature.

Interested despite himself, Kai stayed where he was well enough away from the dancer and the small crowd of children she'd attracted, unintentionally causing the dancer to stumble and fall onto her rear as she briefly caught sight of the fox during a spin, the children innocently taking it as humor and laughing, which the dancer soon joined in on for a few moments, turning a little to cast a curious gaze to Kai, the children in turn looking somewhat expectantly to the strange-looking fox.

The first thing Kai really came to notice now that the show was over for the moment was that the dragonfly had apparently taken some time and opportunity in the short time since he'd seen her to change. Now she was wearing a dark turquoise, sleeveless shirt that somewhat hugged her form, part of her back left uncovered so her wings could slip through easily enough. A similarly-colored dress was the only other article of clothing Kai could see, the outfit seeming to do a fairly good job at complementing her own shifting color. That and that dancing almost made her...no, never mind.

"Kai? What are you doing out here? I figured you'd just stick around in your room..." Myst inquired, steadily picking herself up to her feet.

"Thought I'd check things out, at least for a bit...what's all this, anyway?" Kai asked as he walked closer, taking a sweeping glance over the children that had gathered, a fair variety of species between them.

"I was just...doing what I like doing, and I guess some people came to watch..." Myst timidly replied, blushing lightly.

"Come on, win us one of the prizes, please," one of the children pleaded, standing up and giving the dragonfly's dress a small tug.

Giggling, she smiled and nodded down to the child. "Sure, I'll certainly see what I can do. Come on," she said, the fox apparently ignored as she directed the small crowd of children around the town to a less crowded area where a few games of skill were set up for small, stuffed prizes. Left with nothing currently better to do, Kai himself shrugged and followed along at a small distance.

The first game Myst tried was one where she was required to throw a ball and knock down a small pyramid of three bottles. Her aim was good, but the bottles themselves were clearly heavier than they looked, and she couldn't manage enough power even after eight tries, left to her final ball her third time through.

"Come on, throw it hard!" "You can do this!" the children cheered her on as she brought her arm back, preparing to throw the ball, then swung her arm forward, throwing herself a little off-balance as she quickly realized she'd failed to throw the ball, since it had at some point disappeared from her hand.

Thinking that she had accidentally let it slip out of her fingers without her realizing it, she blinked in surprise as it appeared in front of her knocking down those three bottles without too much apparent difficulty.

"Winner!" the one running this particular game shouted, ignoring the fact that the last person who threw the ball wasn't the one that paid for them. His job was just to take the money and give out the balls, and occasionally prizes...who threw the balls was up to everyone else.

"More! More!" the children pleaded as a small stuffed animal was handed down to one of the children. Grumbling a little, Kai shrugged, taking some money from the pouch he always kept hidden against his bushy tail and handing it to the one that was running this game, a somewhat small, gray-furred male mouse. Taking his balls from the mouse as the man went to set the three bottles back up, Kai made his first throw, knocking down, to the rodent's surprise, the set of bottles furthest from him of the three.

"Win...hey, wait!" the mouse began to announce him as the winner only to find that the fox wasn't done yet. A ball in each hand, he flung them one after the other to knock down the final two stacks of bottles.

"Alright, kid, you wanna play it that way...let's see how you handle this," the mouse spoke, smirking as he picked up the bottles to stack them in a different manner. With nine bottles to use, he steadily stacked them with four on the bottom, then three atop those, then the final two atop those. "Knock these down, with one ball, and all your little kids get a prize. Fail, and you're not getting any more prizes from this stand. Deal?"

"Kai, don..."

"Alright, fine," Kai said, ignoring Myst's protest. Receiving the ball, he gave a small smirk of his own, thinking quickly through the best possible way to break the entire stack down. The best part was, it didn't even involve striking a single one of the bottles with his ball.

Use the surroundings to your advantage. That was one of the lessons repeatedly beat into him by his old, fallen assassin master. That, and ‘find the weak point in your target' were the two points of skill that he was set to use for this little challenge. Drawing his arm back, he threw the ball as hard as he could, striking the back wall for the ball to ricochet hard into the back of the wooden plank that was keeping the tables that held the bottles level against the wall, and was already strained from the weight that was being put on it. Shifted further outward from the force of the impact from the ball, it slowly slid further out until finally falling, sending the board and bottles it formerly held up crashing to the ground.

"That...that wasn't fair..." the mouse protested quietly.

"I used one ball and knocked the bottles down...since you never actually said I had to hit any of the bottles, then it looks like I won fairly," Kai said, that light smirk still etched on his face but no longer on the face of the distraught mouse.

"Fine, here...just get outta here..." the mouse grumbled, not once letting his eyes pass over the fox as he handed stuffed prizes down to all of the children save for the one that had already received one, afterward muttering to himself as he worked to reset two of the three sets of bottles, the board that had held the third unfortunately broken off its hinges. If he ever saw another person like that, it would be way too soon...

With that done, Kai, Myst, and their gathering of children returned to the open area where the dragonfly had been dancing earlier, the fox inwardly fuming as the children pelted him with ‘thank you's and various praise at outsmarting that mouse and quickly winning prizes for all of them, running around happily with stuffed toys in hand.

"Why did you do that?" Myst asked, stepping up next to Kai.

"Because I like challenges sometimes," Kai said, clearly hoping to leave it at that.

"That's it? That can't be your only reason."

"Why not? You might remember that you wouldn't have been able to get any more prizes from that stand if I'd failed, then I could've left you to try and win some elsewhere."

"But you didn't."

"You got lucky. I won."

"You knew you would from the start. I don't know how, but you knew. And you could've just left it be after winning once with my ball, too, but you paid for another one."

"So what?" Kai snapped, giving a low growl, though the dragonfly, perhaps believing that he wouldn't try anything with these children around, didn't back down.

"It's just...never seemed like you've cared about anything..."

"So why do you care, then?" he asked, glancing over to her, almost seeming interested.

"Why shouldn't I?" she asked in turn, glancing briefly over to him before meeting those cold eyes, quickly looking back to the children playing a short ways from them.

Not sure how to respond to that, Kai gave a small grunt, turning his eyes as well to the children, playing freely without much of a care, without a strict watch, the knowledge that they could die at any time, anywhere, in any way clearly withheld from their young, inquisitive minds. Lucky them...

Glaring slightly and looking away, Kai felt he found this ‘life' that Shiro was trying to push him toward, and he resented it greatly. Why should things be allowed to be so easy for everyone else...

These thoughts continued as he was dragged unwittingly along with Myst and the children that now seemed fully attached to them for the day, watching some people as they attempted some of the games set up around the area, watching a few performances, even enjoying a lunch that the fox was pushed to prepare in the place of the normal cook at the festival food court they went to, on the excuse that it would've been his turn to prepare it at the dojo. Well since giving up trying to argue with Myst and those children, Kai somewhat grudgingly prepared the meals for all of them, surprising the cook with his obvious skill with knives.

Finally it began getting late, with the sun beginning to set and the children steadily drifting off to return to their homes or parents, waving a cheerful goodbye to the dragonfly dancer and the fox that had won them all a prize. Looking forward to finally getting some time to himself as the last of the group of children left, Kai began to turn to leave himself, quickly stopped by one of his hands being taken in one of Myst's.

"Sorry for dragging you along all over the place like this, but...just one more place. Please?" she asked somewhat quietly, her expression strangely hopeful.

"I'm sure you can find Edgar or Shura easily enough, why don't you ask them?" Kai said, grumbling a little as he mentioned the human.

"Because I don't want to," Myst said, smiling a little. "So are you coming or not?"

"Hmph...fine..." Kai muttered, following the unnaturally cheery dragonfly to wherever it was she'd had in mind. A short while later found him on a 50-some-foot climb up what could only be described as a thin, pillar-like mountain overlooking the town and the plains surrounding it, even giving a view of a mountain range some distance off to the west where the sun was setting.

It was, he had to admit, an impressive view.

"So, what do you think?" Myst asked, twirling elegantly dangerously close to the edge before facing him, losing her balance slightly in the act and beginning to fall backwards. Acting on instinct, Kai moved forward to catch her by one of her hands, pulling her back onto stable ground...

...only for her to bump lightly into him, her hands near his shoulders in an automatic reaction to try and stop herself too late, Kai's hands hovering awkwardly close to her hips, also directed by an automatic reaction a little too late.

"U-um, sorry...I should've been more careful..." Myst said quietly, backing slowly away from the fox as she finally broke herself free of those awkward few moments spent staring timidly into the fox's eyes from a close distance, seeing more hidden within them than just his outward coldness.

"Yeah, suppose so," Kai said, turning his gaze to the mountains where the last slivers of light from the sun were slowly falling in shades of red and purple and acting as if that hadn't even happened. "I'm gonna get going, I could use some rest after this long day," he said after those last remnants of sunlight had passed, not even waiting for Myst to respond as he turned to walk down the path, once again finding his hand caught in the dragonfly's.

"Um...I can't entirely see all that well in the dark, so...would you mind?" she asked somewhat pleadingly.

"Fine..." the fox sighed, grudgingly leading their way back down the mountain path and to the dojo, the dragonfly's hand clasping his forcing the memory of those few moments of silence, of how close she had been, to stick to the forefront of his mind.

Forced to take a somewhat slower pace than what he usually would so that Myst could stay with him effectively, Kai released her hand as they reached their training area, ignoring a ‘good night' from the dragonfly as he sat down in the middle of the stone-tiled space, gazing thoughtfully up to the sky.

"It looks like young Myst enjoyed her time today," a voice spoke behind him, the fox not moving in the slightest, not surprised at all by the old man's appearance.

"Good for her," Kai grumbled, turning his gaze downward to the forest before him.

"And what about you?"

Met with silence for a short while, Shiro decided to proceed. "This is...the first you've seen of such a life, isn't it?"

More silence. It was clear the fox didn't want to talk about it, but like it or not, the old human intended to make him. "Are you jealous?" he asked, attempting to pry into the fox's feelings in a more direct fashion.

"It isn't fair, alright?" Kai half-shouted, glaring furiously at the forest that was held unflinchingly within his gaze, oblivious to the fact that it wasn't only Shiro that would hear what he had to say. Myst, having noticed her master walk outside, had decided to stick around, peering around the edge of the door to watch the fox and old man's encounter. "This is all I've ever known, and now you decide to thrust this impossible to obtain ‘life' in my face..."

"So why not reach out and claim it?"

"We both know the answer to that, don't we?"

"No, I don't believe I do," Shiro said calmly, his words met with a low growl from the fox. "Unless you're worried about..."

"Why should I worry about them? They can take care of themselves for all I care," Kai retorted.

"So a boy like you is worried about being pursued? You surprise me," Shiro responded, still calm as ever.

"Who says I'm..." Kai grumbled, giving up and rising up to a standing position. "Whatever, I'm done with this. I'm going to sleep," he said, not catching Myst as she quickly disappeared to her room when she saw the fox about to look in that direction.

"Tomorrow is the deciding day," Shiro called out after the fox, who paused for a moment, grumbled, and continued on to his room.

Indeed, everyone but Shiro and Kai had apparently forgotten about it, but the next morning, after breakfast and the morning jog were completed, the old man had an announcement to make before training would begin.

"You may have forgotten, but I told you all that you'd each have your input on whether or not Kai should remain once his trial time here expires, which is now. So, if you would, Shura, Edgar, and Myst, I'd like each of you to speak your minds in turn," he said, turning his attention then to his son, Shura.

"I'm sick of him and his little attitude. I wouldn't mind not having him around any more," the human said, keeping his eyes on his father and away from the fox.

"I agree with Shura. I don't know why he's here to start with, but unless he can start getting along with anyone, there doesn't seem to be any point in him staying," Edgar spoke next.

"Unfortunately, I must agree. These last two weeks haven't been the most pleasant with you being around and closing yourself off to everything, so with that said and three words against you, it's time for you to leave, Kai. You'll find everything you came with in the possession of a doe by the name of Selena in town," Shura said with a certain tone of finality, and the fox gave a small smirk.

"Ha...looks like I'll have something to do after I leave, but I'm only too happy to leave this place behind, and especially the lot of you," he said, half-glancing at Edgar, directing a small glare toward Shura, and failing to even look at Myst. Finally, the end of it...so he thought as he walked toward the path that would lead through the forest and into town, but apparently Shiro wasn't quite finished with him.

"One last explanation you should all receive for Kai's behavior is that he's an assassin," the old man continued, and Kai froze, "trained from a young age to believe that his only purpose in life is others' deaths."

"So what's he doing here, then? And why are none of us dead?" Shura asked, glaring over to the vulpine assassin.

"He came to kill me and failed...persistent as he is, I allowed him to stay in the hopes of showing him a different life, but apparently in that I failed," Shiro sighed, still never moving from his place seated on the pillow placed on the deck.

"Yeah, whatever...I don't care anything about changing myself, got that? I'm doing what I'm good at, what I've been doing for most of my life, so you can all keep your ‘different life' to show someone that cares," Kai growled, trudging onward to the forest path to leave the events of the past two weeks behind him, ignoring Myst when she tried once to call out to him.

His things proved easy to get to when he said that Shiro told the doe to hand them over. Allowed some time in one of the rooms inside to change, he walked out in his old, almost unfamiliar after so long. outfit, leaving those white training clothes behind, regardless of what the doe would have to say about it.

"Kai!" he heard someone call out to him when he came back outside, and glanced over to the human walking up to him.

"What do you want, Shura?" Kai growled, meeting the eyes of the human he'd gotten along the least with...well, perhaps even in terms of anyone he'd known his entire life. The human had hated him from that first moment they met, and Kai was no fan of Shura's constant attempts at getting back at the fox. What surprised him, however, was what the human held in his hands.

A pair of kendo sticks, one of which Kai recognized as Shura's, and the other he recognized as his own.

"Do you really think I have time for this?"

"Do you really think I care?" Shura retorted, tossing Kai's kendo stick to him, and the fox caught it easily in one of his hands. "I got back at you for that first time, but not the last time you flipped me onto my back. Now I intend to."

"So...you intend to face an armed assassin, directly?" Kai asked, glancing curiously over the persistent, determined human's expression. He didn't seem to have any fear for the fact that Kai had all of his things back and in their place, and could likely kill him without much of a problem.

"If you really need any of that stuff to beat me, then that'll be something," Shura smirked, and Kai let out a low growl. Both of these humans really had a way of getting under his fur...

"Hmph...I don't need much to beat a punk like you," Kai said, holding his kendo stick in both hands before him, at the ready.

"Yeah? Look who's talking, punk," Shura responded, rushing forward as usual to attack.

How long this match lasted, or how it even managed to last that long, neither of the two knew or cared. All that mattered to them right now was striking the other down, and they were using every maneuver they had to attempt to do so, Shura with his much greater level of experience and Kai with his ability to shift at will between one-handed and two-handed grips, favoring his left hand when he wielded the kendo stick in one hand.

When it finally came down to the apparent final strike, both combatants exhausted from going on that long and the blows they'd each taken around their bodies, both managed to get their strikes through, hardly caring at this time about defense or evasion, only of making their strike harder. Struck with a hard thrust into the chest, Kai stumbled and finally fell onto his back. Caught with a painful strike across the side of his head, Kai at that time wielding his kendo stick one-handed, Shura quickly fell to the ground as well.

"You're done...don't come back..." Shura muttered, his breaths heavy in his chest.

"Hmph...as if I'd ever want to..." Kai grumbled.

Both of the two warriors stayed there for some time, catching their breath, relaxing their limbs, before they slowly got up, going their own separate ways. Hardly able to help himself, Kai took one glance back to his kendo stick where he left it on the ground, then gave a low growl and turned away from it and the town, continuing on to return to the life he'd been missing during these two excessively long weeks.