Take Hold

 Assignments just weren't worth it, not anymore. Not with yakuza missions off the cards, and the busy days at the village left behind, leaving an empty hollow in his stomach with them.

They were right. He missed it. He hadn't missed it this badly even when he'd first left. But now, days spent on the sea and coming home to two bright voices clutched tight around his heart, refusing to let go.

He could've lost them. He could've lost it all.

His hands refused to stop trembling as he dragged himself out of the simulator, not that he could feel them that well past the pins-and-needles. Almost all the way to eight this time, before he started unravelling.

Bright red glitters flashed through his vision again without his permission, and he let out a shaky sigh, stumbling back to the floor and peeling his helmet off. Always the same thing, when he pushed into Spirit-state. Like it was mocking him.

"I thought you said it's a good idea to take breaks," a voice called across the room.

He blinked up, only now noticing he wasn't the only one here as Ariake looked at him from over by the wall, clearly on his way to the arena. Giving him a lopsided smile, he shrugged, half-stretching. "Making up for lost time. Higher notches are a bastard."

Ariake grunted emphatically, and he puffed a half-laugh. About summed it up, really.

"What happened?" The lad said abruptly, side-eyeing him. "With.... You said they took everything. Is that how..." He gestured vaguely to Lachlan's hands "...the scars?"

His eyebrows rose, and the teen actually flushed, scraping a hand through his hair aggressively and moving to turn away, waving dismissively— "Pretty much."

Ariake paused.

"I told you about the attack in Wilind, didn't I? The KoC." He shrugged, leaning against the edge of the wall. "Not much to it. I was there with my family, got in the way of a Ki blast. My family were cut down. Not sure if I got out luckier, but here we are."

"So you...." The lad didn't seem to know how to continue that question.

"I just want to make sure it doesn't happen again." He flicked the corner of his mouth up. "To borrow someone else's sentiment, I want to change the world for the better. Make sure nothing like that happens again, and kill a few oni while I'm at it."

Ariake searched his face for a moment, opened his mouth, and closed it again. Before finally getting out, "That's a noble goal."

"Maybe." Lachlan eyed him back, raising an eyebrow. "What about you?"

"I...." The lad turned away, heading for the arena, and Lachlan waited. "My parents are Samurai masters— they set me on this path. I want to make them proud."

"Mm." Couldn't say he was too surprised. He watched Ariake lift up the barrier, dipping into a little pouch on his waist and sketching out a tattoo on his bare arm. "Do you want to be a Samurai master?"

The lad turned to frown at him. "What kind of question is that? Of course I do. Just because my parents inspired me doesn't mean I don't want it."

He shrugged one shoulder. "Just sounds like you're focusing more on their goals for you than the ones you're trying to achieve."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Ariake turned back to his practice, summoning a sword and clenching the handle tight.

"You keep trying to be the best, and you're hellbent on making it to the top. But is that really your only goal, here? Is that all you're trying to achieve?"

"Why not? Goudon-san wants it, so does Umiko. If I don't try to be the best—" he swung out with his sword, the blade blurring from one move into another "—I won't get anywhere."

"That's all well and good," Lachlan said mildly, "but what're you trying to be the best for? Fame? Status?"

"I—" the sword's movements stopped abruptly, held perfectly still, aimed to stab.

"Wanting to be the best will only get you so far." He watched the lad's jaw clench. "I did well in school, was a rising star on the local hurling team, a crack shot on the range, and a little bastard about all of it, too. Look where I am now."

A muscle in Ariake's cheek twitched, his expression screwing tighter.

"I'm not saying this to make you doubt yourself, just to give you a chance to think. I'm not Kyubi-sama." He pushed off the wall. "You're a good lad, Ariake. I think you've got a good heart under there that wants to do something great. You just haven't grown into it yet."

Rolling out a kink in his shoulders, he headed for the doorway. "Anyway, best let you get back to it. Only a couple weeks left till we graduate."

_________________

Those couple weeks passed quickly, his and Hirano's teams flirting for the top spot, nagging homesickness pushed as far back as he could manage. Twelve and Seven couldn't catch up, both sitting at the back, juking it out, like the metaphorical two wolves inside him.

And so they approached the last exercise.

"Is it really another capture-the-flag exercise?" Drake wondered in Angaelic as the two of them walked down the corridor.

Lachlan shrugged. "From what Ariake says, it sounds more like a find-the-target exercise, with a twist thrown in. Well-guarded secret, too."

Speaking of Ariake, his voice caught Lachlan's ear from the little alcove outside the boys' bathrooms, rising over a very feminine one that had his eyebrows climbing up his forehead.

"—not going to. I'd never take you up on that. Only an idiot would."

"Just think about it—"

"No."

He shared a glance with Drake, the two of them casually slowing and peering in. Only for Ariake to nearly smack straight into them on his way marching out, scowl on his face and fists clenched. When he saw them, almost too late, he flinched badly.

"Girlfriend issues?" Lachlan raised an eyebrow, flicking a glance past him to see Umiko, the girl standing stiff as a board. "Hell, for your sake I hope not. That'd be awkward."

"What the hell are you even doing here?" The exasperation and tense leaky-balloon mix was an odd combination. "And no. She just cornered me."

Umiko bowed stiffly to them all and slipped past, fleeing back to One's rooms. Lachlan watched her go, wondering what all that was about. "She trying to ask for sword-fighting tips?"

"No, and not hentai, and not anything else you're going to ask." Ariake scrubbed a hand through his hair. "It's nothing. She's just being a sore loser."

He hummed, eyeing him. "She has been falling behind a bit lately."

"She just tries too hard."

That made him twitch a smile. "I could say the same about somebody else."

Ariake snorted, leading the way towards their own rooms. "I thought I was 'learning'. You keep dragging me away, how am I supposed to try too hard?"

"If I didn't, you'd run yourself into the ground." He smiled, patting the lad on the shoulder as they came in and he split off for the sink, snagging a glass from the cupboard. "And we can't have you in anything but tip-top shape for the end of the week."

Ariake grunted, oddly enough closing off at that and disappearing into his room, not meeting anyone's eyes. Strange.

Lachlan eyed the door, idly swirling the water in his cup and raising an eyebrow at Drake. "Wonder what that offer was?"

The big lad shrugged. "Beats me."

Vaguely, he wondered if Umiko'd tried to bribe him, though he couldn't see Hirano signing off on that. Ariake had clearly turned her down, in any case. Whatever else he could say about him, the teen was loyal, and Lachlan was decently sure he could say he'd earned that loyalty, rocky road it'd been and all.

Though, he reflected, taking a sip, he might still hold a grudge over the car.

_________________

The long-awaited day dawned bright and sunny.

The long-awaited part of said day, though, came at dusk, the almost-winter sun disappearing in an orange haze between pointy roofs and crumbling, ivy-consumed walls, fluttering birds diving through dead powerlines etched against the fading light, mirroring the ones that'd been building in his gut since morning.

The time had come.

"The target is located in a small, white building five kilometres north-east of your positions. If you enter Spirit-state, you should sense the aura of an akuma."

His hands flexed on the throttle grips, his Samurai perfectly still.

"The first team to eliminate the target wins."

Letting out a slow breath, he smiled. Had a few counting on him. Better not let them down.

"You may begin."

And the flag fell. He clicked the throttles forward, leaping off the top of the building with the rest of his team. "Alright lads. Time to take our place at the top."