Chapter Text
There used to be a creek outside a derelict corner of the city walls. It was a clear stream that bubbled shallowly over smooth, rounded pebbles, and if you were lucky, you would be able to catch a fish or two. It was situated at the edge of the woods that Kiyoshi’s grandmother always warn him never to venture too deep into, and as a child, Kiyoshi would always go there to play and relax; especially during the summertime, when the cover of the trees and the cool splashes of water provided relief from the punishing heat.Sometimes there would be frogs hopping along the banks that he could chase, or dragonflies that he could watch hover along the surface.
If you followed the creek far up enough, then you would come to a section of the city wall that the guards had neglected to repair for a long time. There were mossy gaps and holes in the ruined barrier, large enough for a child to crawl through. In retrospect, it was a stark indication of how peaceful that era had been, that such a gap in the city’s first line of defense had never been noticed.
Kiyoshi now finds it odd that even after playing around there for so many years, he never possessed the curiosity or adventurous spirit to even attempt clambering across the ruins and into the fortified capital city that had always been such a mystery to him. Perhaps he had been frightened by the tall spires of the towers and the stories of the thieves and orphans that eked out wretched existences in the alleyways and slums; or perhaps at the time, he had been so contently wrapped up in his idyllic countryside childhood that he hadn’t been able to look past the walls.
Kiyoshi knows that the wall is fully repaired now, otherwise the gap in the capital’s defenses surely would have been found and exploited. When the revolution took a violent turn and turmoil filled the land, Kiyoshi and his grandparents were herded into the walls of the capital city, and he had no longer had any opportunities for playing among reeds and bushes. He does not know whether the creek still runs, or whether it has disappeared along with the ravaged acres of woodland that had once surrounded the city walls. He has not cared to return to that place for a long time.
-
Kiyoshi clearly remembers the first time he saw the other boy at the creek. His grandparents had allowed him to take a break from tending to the livestock, and Kiyoshi had looked forward to dipping his feet into the water after the short walk along the dusty dirt path towards the woods. A few soft splashing noises alerted him to a presence other than his own.
Kiyoshi stalked through the undergrowth towards the source of sound, as quietly as his stealthy thirteen year old frame permitted. Peering out from behind a tree trunk, he spotted another boy crouching on a rock at the edge of the creek. The boy was thin and pale, a sign of either destitution or luxury. He showed a distinct contrast to Kiyoshi’s sturdy physique, a product of long days working beneath the sun instead of hidden away in the shadowy eaves of mansions, or curled up in filthy sewer tunnels. Immediately, Kiyoshi could tell that the boy was not from the countryside, but it was difficult to tell whether he was a prisoner of the city who’d crawled his way to freedom through the cracks in the wall, or a wild child denizen of the forest depths.
The boy’s eyebrows swam like tadpoles above the dark pools of his eyes, knitting into a bestial snarl as he caught sight of Kiyoshi. Before either of them could even say a word, the boy had already launched himself at Kiyoshi with a cry. He catapulted into the larger boy, and Kiyoshi was knocked back with surprising force, the both of them tumbling across the ground. Kiyoshi felt a pebble scrape past his cheek and squeezed his eyes shut out of instinct in an attempt to protect himself as the boy scratched at his face with sharp, raggedly-bitten nails.
However, despite the boy’s fearsome attempts, Kiyoshi was much larger and stronger; therefore, the boy ended up pinned to the ground by Kiyoshi’s larger frame. The boy hissed and struggled but to no avail, and finally snarls bitterly as he stilled.
Only when he was certain that his throat wasn’t going to be ripped out by the boy’s teeth did Kiyshi release his grip, and the smaller boy scrambled out from under him, glaring venomously all the while. “What was that for?” Kiyoshi asked, bewildered by the boy’s violent greeting. The boy directed his sullen eyes towards the ground, and although he didn’t speak, the corner of his lips twisted upwards suddenly and violently to reveal a smirk as thin as the edge of a knife.
Up till this point, Kiyoshi had thought that the boy, whether he be a street orphan or savage, may not have been able to speak. However, the boy stretched his hunched, narrow shoulders and cleared his throat before responding in a raspy voice. “State your name and intent,” He ordered imperiously, black eyes casting a piercing stare right at Kiyoshi.
“I’m Kiyoshi Teppei. I’ve come here to play,” Kiyoshi remembers responding blankly, the boy’s words reminding him of the city guards who came to collect tax. The boy looked Kiyoshi up and down, and sniffed the air, although Kiyoshi didn’t know whether it was to detect a smell or to show haughty disdain. With that, the boy turned heel and bounded back towards the cracks in the city wall, presumably to slither back into the crevasses he had emerged from.
-
It was several days before Kiyoshi returned to the creek, but when he did, the boy was there again. Dark bruises from their previous encounter had blossomed across the boy’s skin, and he seemed to looking at the flowers as he sat on the bank of the stream. As soon as he spotted Kiyoshi approaching, the boy sprang up into a defensive stance, baring his teeth like fangs. He seemed to relax slightly when Kiyoshi waved amiably at him, but still regarded Kiyoshi with a guarded expression when the larger boy took a seat next to him on the ground.
“What’re you looking at?” Kiyoshi asked, and although the boy shuffled away, slightly, he responded calmly.
“These berries,” he croaked, pointing at a few brightly colored berries nearly hidden among the grass along the riverbank. The boy had pressed his lips together contemplatively and trailed a finger gently along the stem of the plant, eyes wide with a sense of wonder. “They’re poisonous. I watched a cat eat some, and it died an hour later.”
Kiyoshi now wonders if the cat simply had the misfortune of choosing the wrong snack, or if the boy had fed the poison to some poor stray using it as a test subject. However, even then. just the tone of apathy with which the boy had commented on the plant’s poisonous properties had already signaled that something was off. The boy hadn’t been giving a warning, nor had he been scared.
“Do you intend to poison me?” Kiyoshi asked with a laugh, not entirely sure whether the boy would take his question seriously or not. Dark eyes narrowed slightly as they swept over Kiyoshi’s person, and the boy’s expression took a teasing quality.
“No, no I won’t,” The boy had said to both himself and Kiyoshi. He ripped the poisonous plant up by the roots instead of plucking each individual berry like Kiyoshi would have, and promptly stuffed it into his pocket.
For the rest of that day, the two boys had chatted, caught insects together, and chased frogs. There were many more of these days together at the stream, and Kiyoshi wondered if the boy had left the stream with poison in his pocket every single time.