When Yurito had left, Sushi got up from the floor to go back to Cookie. She climbed on top of his shoulders, "Okay then, why don't we play, Sushi?" the man said laughing as he jumped around the dojo like a rabbit.
“Do you have any idea why Sushi likes you so much, Cookie? I mean, she just met you yet she is already infatuated with you.” Amrita said, she wanted Sushi to like her just as much as she liked Cookie, and needed to know the key to her cute and adorable love.
“Oh, this is not the first time that I’ve seen Sushi.” Cookie said smiling as he continued to hop from tatami mat to tatami mat.
Eyes wide open, Amrita no longer held her arms crossed, “What!? You’ve met her before the accident?!”
He nodded, “While I did not visit you and Kirimaru, I had visited Acre and the rest of the Portorate family. Sushi was one of the children that I always played with during my stay in the Portorate compound.” he reached his left hand up to give the heiress a small tickle to her side, she made no sound but her small arms had tightened around his head.
Amrita stomped towards the blonde man and gave him a low kick causing him to fall down, “You decided to continue seeing the Portorate family except for me, Kirimaru, and the rest of the Gushita family members!? How dare you!” while he collapsed on the floor, Sushi was unharmed for just before Amrita had given Cookie that hit she had jumped off his shoulders and down to the ground with a front flip.
While Cookie was on the ground, Amrita gave him another kick directed at his stomach, "Acre was there... I just wanted to see her so much." he wheezed on the floor while hugging his belly.
At the mention of her name, Amrita gave Cookie another swift kick to his stomach, "Whatever..." she said and went away to sit on one of the benches far away from him.
It wasn’t long until Yurito came back with a balm in his hands, “Hey Sushi, I’m ba-“ he stopped at the sight of Sushi lying down on Cookie’s stomach, not at all making his pain lessen, “You pedophile! Why don’t you just stop touching Sushi already!” again he de-attached Sushi from the older man’s body and connected his foot to his belly in a very painful fashion.
Being hit in the same area again did not do anything to lift Cookie’s suffering, “W-why me?!”
Sushi was half a foot shorter than Yurito who was almost four feet tall, “Come on Sushi, let’s put this on your stomach.” with the heiress in his arms he brought her to a chair far away from Cookie, “This should be labeled as child abuse, Amrita should not put you in dangerous training.”
While on the other end of the dojo, Amrita found pleasure in Cookie’s pain and continued to press her palm into his already bruised stomach, “Y-Yurito…” said a soft whisper.
“Hm?” he looked up from his position on the floor to Sushi, “What is it?” he raised her shirt to apply the balm onto the wound.
Not a single emotion on her face she whispered again, “…R-read…”
Releasing a sound that of annoyance Yurito nodded with a frown, “Fine, after this training session you can pick any book you want… but why do you insist on having me read to you when you already know how to read?”
Yurito lowered her shirt and stood up, “I-I like it…” she gave her stomach a small poke then lied down on the bench.
The boy folded his arms, “I get it.” although outside it seemed that Yurito did not enjoy having to read to the young heiress, inside he had grown rather fond of it.
Amrita yelled from her place next to Cookie, who was still on the floor, “Okay now kiddos training is dismissed, go and play or something.” she placed her foot on top of his chest.
Sushi was the first one out of the dojo with Yurito coming in second, excited for their daily story reading. When they arrived in their playroom the little girl ran up to the book shelves, which have increased in stock over the years, and picked out a brand new book that was still covered in plastic.
“What book is this?” Yurito asked with an eyebrow raised, “Vivid Dreams?” he looked at her and tapped her nose, “This seems like a complicated book that you can’t understand, because it’s filled with psychology as so it says on the synopsis.”
When Yurito had attempted to return the book back into the bookshelves Sushi held is wrist, “I want.” she said firmly.
Unable to deny her demand he submitted to her desires, “Fine… but this is going to be a very long book, I’m going to need to drink some water after this.”
A year later, Sushi had turned eight and Yurito turned nine. Not much has changed in their appearance since the arrival of Sushi, but the small disappearance of baby fat.
Over the year since Cookie had arrived, he and Amrita had come up with the idea of constantly attacking their students at random times. It was a training regime used to enhance their reflexes and actions when faced with a sudden ambush, and they even attacked the duo in their sleep.
After a couple of months, the two children were not able to stand in a room without their senses alert and always expecting for an enemy attack to come at any time. They had become such light sleepers, that it seemed like they were not sleeping at all.
“You both have been doing great now a days and I could not be prouder than any other teacher!” Amrita said, “I know that you came into this dojo at nine in the morning expecting some training, but I believe that both of you deserve a break!” she pushed them out the dojo and waved them goodbye, “Now go on! I will see you the next time I ambush you both!”
Shocked, Yurito turned to bang on the dojo door, “What do you mean ‘break’!? Clan heirs cannot stop training for even a day! They need to train constantly to enhance their skills and senses in order to be able to become fine leaders when the time comes!”
Amrita opened the door and nudged him away, “Stop banging on the door you whiny brat, go and enjoy your tiny vacation, what could happen if you take a break for only one day?” she pointed at Cookie who was forced to clean up all the dummies in the dojo, “I mean Cookie has not been training for eleven years yet he can still do better than you.”
The heir fumed in his place, “You insufferable useless trainer! You have not the right to deny me and Sushi of training!”
She quirked an eyebrow, and said, “You know for a nine year old you have amazing vocabulary and amazing grammar.” and shut the door in front of his face.
Everywhere Yurito would go Sushi would follow, at first, this part of her was not one he enjoyed but after years of her stalking he had gotten used to it. As he strolled down the traditional Japanese halls, he looked for a place where he could spend his time productively.
His house was indeed inside the Gushita Compound but it was separate from other Gushita family members’ areas, it was bigger and wider preventing any person’s prying eyes. When Kirimaru said that he didn’t want anyone to see or touch Sushi he was serious and had taken the necessary precautions needed to keep off any human and animal off of his property.
Nobody, other than the nurses that had treated her upon her arrival, knew that there was a Portorate princess living among the Gushita and Kirimaru had made sure that they would not speak a word of her to anyone. He wanted Sushi safe, and safe she shall be.
Yurito stopped walking when he felt Sushi tug his shirt from behind, “What is it?” he asked and she did not say a word nor did she make a sound, all she did was look out into the gardens, “Fine then.” he had gotten used to communicating with her without using any languages, and had grown fond of calling it the Sushi Interaction.
They went into the garden, a pleasure that Sushi was not able to have due to drowning in the world of stories and lessons she had told Yurito to read. Most of the time she forgot that there was even a garden outside of the house because of the amount of time she spent in the dojo and playroom.
Sushi sat on the pure green grass, making little stains on her white shorts. As she gazed at the different types of flowers, Yurito watched un-entertained on one of the benches. He still could not understand the Portorate’s infatuation with anything related to spring, and that included plants.
A few minutes went by and Yurito was about to fall asleep, until he caught Sushi staring at him. When she brushed her red bangs away from her eyes, he knew what that meant. She wanted something. He waited a few more seconds for her next gesture and soon it came, she changed her position to her head resting on her palm. She wanted him to read a book in the garden. That pose was something she always used when he was reading her a story.
For some reason, Yurito was never able to refuse a single request from her, “Fine, stay here while I get a book.” it took him a few minutes to return with a book that had a white cover with the dark gloomy letters ‘Vivid Dreams’.
Before Yurito had the chance to sit on the bench he had previously tried to nap on, Sushi grabbed his hands and brought him to lie down on the grass with her.
He sighed and decided to just go with her antics, “Now where were we? Oh right…” he flipped the pages and stopped on one with a picture of a blonde boy in front of a beautiful woman, “The little boy said, ‘Thank you for naming me White, but I can’t introduce you to my brothers and sisters since they too never had names’.”
It continued on like this for hours, just the two children lying down in the middle of their garden surrounded by different colors coming from the plants. Both under the lovely soft rays of the sun, and reading a book.
“And so the woman jumped out of her car seat and ran through the streets in search for the slightest glimpse of blonde, but felt silly for trying to find a boy that came from her dreams…” Yurito stopped to swallow and gave Sushi a small glance, and he saw a smile on her face.
After all, how can she not smile? Sushi was experiencing three of her favorite things together; the flowers, a book, and Yurito.
It was nearing lunch but they were still in the garden, “No longer able to bear her life in the real world she had submitted herself into her dreams, and now that she was free from her tortures... Orphan was now able to live with the blonde boy and his brothers and sisters forever in her vivid dreams…” he closed the book, “The end.” he stood up from his place and began to walk away, “You stay here, I’m going to return the book.”
On his way back to the playroom, Yurito began to think about what Sushi was like before she had come to the Gushita compound. Was she still quiet? Did she still like books? Was she strong? If there was anyone that held any information about Sushi’s past that would be his father, he was sure that Sushi’s parents could have sent a photo or a video from before the massacre.
He opened the grey door to the play room and looked around inside, soon he would be too big to play in this area. What would they do with it when it is no longer of use? Will they remodel it into another room? If he had his way he would change this room to a small library and give away all the toys to his cousins.
Putting the book back on the shelf, Yurito went outside and when he came back Sushi was lying on her back taking a nap; her ruby hair scattered across the green grass creating such a sight. Looking up the sky, he noticed some clouds gathering, “Better get you out of here before you catch a cold.” he picked up her lithe body and took her to their room.
During breakfast in next morning, Yurito made some sandwiches for the both of them, cheese for Yurito and peanut butter for Sushi, “Here you go, Sushi.”
He watched Sushi raise the bread to take a look at the spreading and was surprised when she flinched, Sushi walked back into the kitchen and came back with a knife. Yurito was curious, Sushi sat in front of her sandwich and started stabbing it. Repeatedly.
“Wow, wow! Sushi what are you doing!?”
Yurito ran to her and took the knife from her small little hands, Sushi tried to reach up to the knife, “I will kill it…” she whispered.
Back flipping to the top of the table, Yurito held the knife in his hands, “Why would you want to kill the peanut butter sandwich I made you!?” he accidentally knocked the place containing said sandwich, which spilled to the floor along with its contents.
Sushi covered her mouth in a silent scream although her face expression bit cracked with horror, “Sushi kill…” she jumped onto the table with Yurito and continued attempting to grab the knife from his clutches.
Using special dodge moves he had learned from Amrita, he used tai chi to prevent her arms from reaching the knife which was placed in his left land, “You know there’s no need to go this far just to murder a piece of peanut butter sandwich! I can always just give it to someone else and make another for you!”
Shaking her head rapidly she gave up in trying to retrieve the weapon and stomped away from the kitchen, Yurito took it as a sign that she would not be eating breakfast this morning.
After five years, Sushi had become thirteen years old and Yurito fourteen years old.
Sushi’s beauty no longer ranged from adorable, but had reached up to beautiful. Her ruby hair brushed upon her shoulders with her bangs still blocking her lemon colored eyes. Her skin had grown paler after years of spending her time inside the small mansion, and her womanly curves had started to show.
Yurito did not lose to Sushi in terms of beauty and had become a very handsome boy. His silky brown hair was kept in a short low ponytail with strands falling upon his face and enhancing his features, and dark cold eyes came upon any person that would have the pleasure of receiving his gaze. Any girl would love his mature ways and cold demeanor.
Spinning around his work chair, Kirimaru said, “I’ve been giving this some thought for eight years now and because Lanora had told me to consider it, I now give you both permission to go outside, you are all already old enough and with Yurito’s guidance Sushi would be safe and sound.” although the man looked calm with his decision inside he was planning multiple ways on tending to the possibility of anyone spotting the Portorate heiress.
Yurito looked at Sushi and saw that in her eyes was delight, although nobody else can tell, “Father, I don’t think that this is a wise decision!” he yelled, Yurito did not take the idea of anyone else having the pleasure of gazing upon Sushi very well.
Inside Sushi’s mind was her wonder for what the outside world feel like in person, she had seen pictures in the computer but had always wondered what it would feel like to experience it. Of course she had gone outside the mansion for short whiles to wander around the garden with Yurito, but she felt it was never close as feeling the real thing.
Kirimaru stopped spinning to take something out of his drawer, “You both have been staying inside this house for far too long, and although I know that Yurito had gone outside the mansion many times, Sushi needs to learn what the outside world looked like to be able to apply the skills that she has gained over the years of her training.” he held a cell phone and a hair clip in his hands.
Yurito went to block Sushi from his father, “I oppose this idea! It is simply irrational! You have to rethink this, do you not remember the consequences?”
Sushi had gained a strange fashion sense with the love for the color white, for she was always wearing a very big white hoodie everywhere even though she was inside the house. White shorts, and white sneakers accompanied her.
“You are to accompany Sushi every time she goes outside, Yurito, I remember everything very well and that is why you have to protect her if ever the time comes… We don’t want anyone that from the Russian military to find out that the Portorate heiress is still alive, it would create chaos in the Gushita clan.” he handed Yurito the cell phone in his hands, “You have to carry this cell phone at all times, it’s for Sushi since you already have one but hold on to it for me just in case.” he handed sushi the white clip, “Wear this, it’s a tracking device just in case you get kidnapped or anything like that.”
Sushi took the clip from Kirimaru’s awaiting hands and stared at it, Yurito knew that she had no idea how to put it on, “Give it to me.” not touching her bangs, he attached it at the back of her hair, “There.”
“When you all come home I have some big news to tell you, so have fun outside and come home very fast! You don’t want me to worry do you?” Kirimaru said grinning and feeling a tad bit nervous.
Yurito glared at his father and took Sushi by the hand, “Fine… come on Sushi, we’re going to make this as fast as possible!” and both of them left.
Yurito brought Sushi to his room grumbling, “My oblivious father doesn’t know what he is saying, nobody deserves to even look at you! You are too high class to have anyone from down the ladder to even breath the same air as you!” he forced her to sit down on his black sheeted bed and went to open a closet, it was filled with various types of combat knifes, “Does he not know that risks of putting you outside for the whole world to see!?” grumpy, he brought two knifes to hide in his black jacket and another two knives, smaller than the last, to hide in his shoes.
Sushi sat on his bed watching him rant and complain about his father, she had gotten used to being dragged and forced to sit by Yurito and thought of it as a natural thing. Sushi could not remember what the world was like before she had come to the Gushita compound, because all she could think of was fire and the screams of her lost brethren.
He took another pair of mini knives and hid them in his fingerless black gloves, “Whatever big news he’s got in store for us it better be good because right now I’m in a horrible mood! I thought that he thought of you as a daughter, if you were his daughter he would keep you safe from all harm!”
Fully equipped and ready to murder anyone who even dared to touch Sushi, he continued to drag the girl into her room. It was right in front of his, but instead of a black door it was a white one. He pushed her in front of her own closet and sat on her bed.
Slowly Sushi opened her closet to reveal small mini pistols with real bullets, “The nerve of him to allow you to go outside! What if you get hurt or something?! It will all land on his head to pay for!” her jacket was baggy and nobody would suspect a gun to be hidden inside, so she hid two guns inside her hoodie.
When they had turned a decade old, they were allowed to train with weapons and it was Cookie who had trained them. Of course he had done a swell job and after years, they had made their own collection of their favorite weapons. Sushi’s favorite were small pistols because they were easy and less messy but Yurito loved knives and everything sharp due to his sadistic pleasure of making large scars on his opponents.
Done picking out her favorite weaponry, she tugged Yurito’s shirt, who was still mumbling death threats to his father, “Done? Okay let’s go…” he was not at all excited. Although no one but Yurito could tell, Sushi had a slight skip to her steps.
Why would Sushi be excited? After all, the city that his family was hiding in was nothing special. It was just like any other city in the world.
Yurito watched as Sushi stared at a trashcan, “Sushi, why are you so interested in something so normal?” he asked, but all Sushi did was move another normal thing, “Stop wandering around, I’m supposed to be your guide, remember?” Sushi did not listen but continued walking forwards, and before they knew it they ended up in a shady part of the city.
Litter was everywhere they walked, and the walls were covered with graffiti. It seemed like the exact place where you could get ambushed or cornered by a bunch of men from the mafia. Yurito’s hands got ready to reach into his black jacket for the knives he had stored in earlier, who knows when someone can come out.
“Be careful, Sushi, this place isn’t safe.”
Unlike Sushi, Yurito was allowed to go outside the city whenever he wanted, but he didn’t do it as much as a normal kid and Lanora had never allowed him to go into the city’s bad areas; she was afraid that he would get hurt. He was quite offended when Lanora had instructed him to avoid such places, how could a fourteen year old such as him get hurt by a couple of mongrels who did not even know how to hold a butter knife properly? If he had lost to such people, his reputation as a perfect Gushita heir would be broken into millions of pieces.
They continued walking forward until both of them heard a rough voice, “Well hello there.” there were a group of boys seemingly around their age, “A skinny boy… and a girl?”
Yurito grabbed Sushi and brought her behind him, but this action caused Sushi to feel slightly offended for she could take care of herself just fine. She was as strong as Yurito because they had trained together over the years and had even sparred together.
The boy with spiky brown hair, seemingly the leader of the gang, said, “My name is Cale, what about you two?”
Amrita and Cookie had made them practice various types of scenes if they ever had gone out to the real world, and one of these scenes were getting surrounded by a bunch of weak men, “What do you want.” Yurito asked coldly as Sushi proceeded with clutching his arm as an act of weakness to throw off the enemy.
Cale smirked, “Me and my friends here, “He said gesturing to the group of boys behind him, “Were just going to wander around for a bit until we saw you two, are you lost?”
He nodded, “Yes we kind of are, can you show us the way out of here?” Yurito wanted to be rid of these people as fast as possible, because their low class ways was starting to make him feel nauseated.
Cale watched as Sushi buried her face in Yurito’s arm, her hoodie falling back, “Hey, your girlfriend over there looks a little scared" He walked towards her and reached out to trouch her arm, “Maybe I should show her that we are nothing to be afraid of.”
Yurito grabbed his arm and gave him a harsh glare, “Just show us the way out of here, okay?”
The boy released a small laugh, “Okay then, but at least let us do this,” not heeding Yurito’s very obvious warning, he touch Sushi’s arm. Sushi did not take this well and took his arm, twisted it to his back, knocked over his knees, and slammed him to the ground with a resounding crack in his arm. This made Cale release a very loud scream of pain.
Anger filled Yurito’s very veins, “You just touched Sushi… I’m going to kill you all.” he stopped himself from reaching in from his knives, they did not deserve to feel his weapons to be cutting their veins and scarring their skin. He decided to use his bare fists, and fight like a man.
A boy approached him and tried to hit him with a horribly aimed fist, it was easily dodged by him. Yurito turned his body to hit his spine with his elbow, landing on a place that rendered him temporarily paralyzed. One foolish one ran headed directly at his direction. All Yurito had to do was side step and trip him, it was an unsavory tactic but it was enough for scum like him.
Others had tried to attack Sushi, but they were easily defeated with a dodge and a hit to their backs. The rest of the remaining of those who did not attack, had decided to run away.
Sushi went to Cale who was still on the floor withering in pain, and gave him one last hard kick to the back, “Nice…” Yurito said smirking, and with that word he held her hand and started to pull her to the direction they had came from.
After a long time of walking they had finally got out of the rundown neighborhood, and found proper civilization. Yurito was complaining about the group of boys led by Cale, but he was interrupted when he heard Sushi's stomach growl, "Okay fain, let's get something to eat."
Yurito led her to a very nicely decorated restaurant and brought her to a table, “This place is quite nice and cheap, they serve free drinks… and they also have very delicious desserts.” he ordered a steak for himself and ice cream cake for Sushi.
After a good fifteen minutes their food finally arrived, Sushi dug in her dessert happily while Yurito took calm small bites. After fully satisfying their stomachs, Yurito said, “This time I’m going to be the one leading you around the city, follow me, we’re going to go to an amusement park.”
But on their way to the park they passed by an alleyway, where Sushi heard a woman’s voice yell, “Stay away!” she peaked inside and saw a well dressed woman holding her purse in front of her face, surrounded by men.
When Yurito looked inside to see what had piqued Sushi's curiosity, the first thing he saw were rusty knives being held by ruffians. It nearly gave him a heart attack due to their condition, and he wondered what horrors those could've-been-beautiful weapons had to go through in their lives. Sushi had went inside the alleyway, but it took Yurito a few seconds to notice.
The woman had started crying tears, “please, just take the money and leave me alone!” fear had fogged her mind and all she just wanted to do was go home.
They took her purse, “Don’t mind if we do!” and as the dirty man held the expensive wallet he was suddenly hit by a kick to his wrist, “W-what was that!?” he kneeled on the floor holding his injury.
In a flash, Sushi had dismembered all of the men who were holding knives with quick hits to their wrists; causing them to drop their knives. Yurito continued her work and chopped their necks making them fall down unconscious, a trick he learned from Amrita who used it on Cookie whenever she felt like it.
After their job was done Yurito looked at the shaken woman who had picked up her purse, who ran to them to shook both of their hands, “That was amazing! Thank you very much, can I repay you?”
Yurito brushed the imaginary dust from his shoulders and said, “No need to repay us…”
The woman shook her heads and shoved wads of bills into his hands, “I’ll just pay you anyway!” after patting their head she walked away, “Thank you very much!”
Grunting in annoyance, Yurito walked out the alleyway and gave the bills to a random homeless person, he had no need for money since he had loads of it coming from Kirimaru. He took Sushi by the hand once again and they began to walk home, “Let’s go Sushi, I don’t want to get in anymore fuss than we already are...”
Sushi was regretting her actions, because now she was not able to get into the amusement park that Yurito was about to take her. Maybe if she had not rescued that woman she would be enjoying sweet cotton candy.
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