Surprise

"Old-man, it's been a really long time." Kise greeted Raku's dad with a smile as the old man looked at him from head to toe.

"You've really grown, huh! It seems like it was only yesterday, you were still shorter than me." the old man sighed, "I have heard that you were living alone back in your father's place. So why not come live with us? We have plenty of rooms."

"I'd love to but I still have to stay there, at least, until father decides to show himself." Kise honestly answered.

"Well, you two can go enjoy and play. I have something I need to take care of." Raku's dad nodded, "I'll be home for dinner, so we can have a pleasant chat then."

"Sure thing." Kise nodded, "I also wanted to discuss something important with you."

"If it's about wanting to be a yakuza then the answer is no." Raku's dad shook his head remembering the young Kise following him around wanting to be a Yakuza.

"You're rejecting me before you even take my application, huh."

"We don't accept pretty boys here." The old man joked.

"Fine, but it's not about me wanting to join your Shuei clan." Kise seriously said, "I want to learn about the ways of the sword. I want to train."

"Why not go to your school's kendo club?"

"I would. But I want to learn the basics first." Kise said, "And besides, I want to appreciate the yakuza style of fighting. I mean the wild nature of it to be specific."

"Hahaha! Kise-sama has really grown up." Ryuu spoke for the first time as he nodded quite intently, "Master, please let me handle Kise-sama's training."

"Well since you want to help him and you want to learn then I have no objections." The old man said as he began walking away, "Just be careful."

-----------------------------

"What has gotten into him so suddenly," Raku complained as he watched both Ryuu and Kise training in his back yard, "He never really had an interest in fighting."

"Though learning kata's are essential for proper foundation but in a real fight fancy sword fighting would be useless. So though you want to absorb all the foundations properly, don't get too hung up on it. After all, yakuza's way is the way of freedom so there is a lot of room for any other techniques you want to add." Ryuu explained as he waved his katana around. "So did you understand the basics, Kise-sama?"

"I get it but can you show it to me for a better understanding."

"Sure thing." Ryuu began demonstrating different kata of his sword style one by one.

Kise carefully watched every single one of his movements learning it by heart. As he expected, a yakuza's sword style was really different. Instead of following a proper disciplined method, it relied more heavily on the number of attacks and their effectiveness, with a lot of jumping around.

As soon as Ryuu completed showing his kata, Kise quickly began repeating exactly what he did. To Ryuu's shock, Kise had really learned all his kata in an instant, even most of his forms were correct with only a few normal mistakes being made here and there.

"Don't be too impressed, Ryuu, that guy can copy pretty much any physical movement if his heart so desires," Raku explained.

"But young-master, this is still incredible, after all, it took me a few months just to remember all of it." Ryuu appreciated Kise's talent as he began fixing Kise's form now and then.

"It's not good enough as Raku said." Kise explained, "I am already tired of just repeating the routine one time. I can copy your forms well but getting strength in them is another matter."

"I suggest, Kise-sama to keep on training daily until you're confident enough in your own strength and then we can have duels for you to get more of a better understanding and experience in fighting."

"Thank you, Ryuu." Kise said as he waved the wooden katana, "Will it be alright if I borrow this?"

"Please, go ahead." Ryuu happily nodded, "If you want to ask me anything, you know where to find me."

Kise repeated the whole routine a couple of times until his hands started shaking and he couldn't even hold the wooden sword properly.

"Leave it for now." Raku said, "Doing it excessively won't help at all. Go take a bath and I'll go prepare dinner."

"Rakucchi weren't you telling me about a surprise or did you forget about it?"

"Go take a bath first." Raku repeated as he went towards the kitchen.

"Fine!" Kise rolled his eyes as he left for the bath as well. Kise looked at his hands which were still shaking from all the sword-swinging he had been doing. Though he was quite physically active and had the body type that had naturally more strength than normal people, Kise still felt tired none the less, after all, it was his first time actually holding a sword. Kise had already remembered all the techniques that Ryuu taught him, but knowing it and performing it on an actual fight were two different things. 'I must get strong.'

--------------------------------------------

Everyone had dinner together and Raku still hadn't bought up his surprise as Kise wondered what Raku was on about.

"Hey! are you still not going to tell me." Kise complained, "I am heading home now, you know."

"I'd prefer if you stayed over but since you won't agree, here it is." Raku said handing him a large bag.

"What is this?"

"You'll know when you open it." Raku said, "I've also added an extra surprise as well. Make sure to open it when you reach home."

"Sure." Kise nodded, "Thanks for the dinner, and tell Ryuu that I'll be coming over now and then to practice."

Kise rushed home as his house wasn't too far from Raku's. It would be a lie if Kise said, he wasn't excited about the surprise, after all, he was still a kid at heart. Looking through the bag, he could already tell what the first item was. Kise took out the katana that was wrapped in a cloth, as he unsheathed the sword. Kise gulped looking at the shine that the katana gave, as a smile formed on his face.

'Well maybe telling you about your promise girl, wouldn't be that bad, after all.'

Kise quite happy sheathed the sword again and kept it down, "I wonder what the next thing is."

Kise put his hands in the bag again as he pulled out a wooden box. Not sure as to what it was, he opened it only for a frown to form on his face. The box contained a key and a note.

'Wait! Wait! am I one of the promise girl.' Kise's lips twitched as he shivered with just a thought of it. Not sure whether he should read the note or not, wondering if he'd like what was written on it, Kise still decided to read it at the end, just because the curiosity was killing him.

The note read,

'You might have forgotten about this already, but here's the key you left back at my place. Sigh! last time you were so upset because you lost the key, talking about how you'll never be able to find your promised girl or whatever. I hope this jogs your memory now, after all, you still have to find the lock to your key. And do tell me if you remember something as I have to find the key to my lock as well.'

"Wait! so I have the key to someone's lock." Kise read the note again and again finally remembering a little about the weird promise he made that summer to that girl, "Isn't it the boy that's supposed to have the lock? Well, at least it's not Rakucchi, that would be really weird."

"I was making them out to be the idiot but now it seems I have been one as well." Kise played around with the key, "Damn! I can't remember her face."