It's strange. All the hatred for my brother dissipated when I learned the truth, but no new hatred formed in its place. I wasn't sure what to feel. I was rather empty about it. I didn't have anywhere to put my emotions, so I channeled them into my tears as my brother talked to me, of course. I got to have one last conversation with my older brother, and there are stories that he told me, memories he shared that are too precious for me to divulge. But I will say this much. From my story and his story together, I learned about the weight of the world. I knew that sometimes, it's best to keep walking, and never look back. Don't hesitate, just keep going. Forge ahead to a bright new tomorrow, and carve your path through the world. And one day, you'll find that which you're looking for. That's what I know for sure. It's what I learned from my brother. And I remember what he said too. . .

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. . ."Keep up with school, Arlo. Finish it, get a good education, and then strive for your dreams." Arlo's eyes were teary as Kuuragi spoke to him for the last time, the two brothers watching the moon together as dried leaves drifted across the air. "I...I will. I've studied hard all these years too..." Arlo said, trying to wipe the tears from his eyes. Reunited with a brother he'd hated, and then torn apart again by fate. And yet, there was no hatred. Arlo didn't feel anything of the sort. Everything was so beautiful, but nothing was the way it should be. Arlo realized that, now. He saw that there was a lot to the world that he'd have to overcome still. He'd be strong for it, and these would be the last tears that he would let himself shed. He'd cried so much throughout his time, that he didn't think he could afford to let any more tears out.

He learned that the world was unfair and that it was cruel. He learned that there was corruption and evil everywhere in the world and that at heart mankind is full of darkness. The world that he witnessed was a world that was rotting, and there was nothing anyone could do about that other than destroy those that made it rot, humanity. However, there were good qualities too. Music, and song. Stories, and friends and family. The bonds and the fun times. Some things made life worth living and made the world a much better place. It was definitely a time when Arlo could finally mature, for he was realizing all of these things, now. He was ready to strive forwards toward a brighter and better tomorrow, one which he would help to forge. He probably wasn't strong enough to make it himself, and that was why he would back up the people that were.

A bell tolled in the distance off far away somewhere, and Kuuragi looked up at Arlo. "Happy birthday, Arlo. . ." he said with a smile, wishing his brother that good wish for the very last time. Arlo was not going to cry anymore, but he looked down with sad eyes as he turned 15. It had cost 5 years, this whole adventure. Now though, he was going to become mature and strong to do that which he wanted. He'd return to a normal life again, and he'd live it right. He was going to go to school and he was going to try for a future. Everything was telling him to do so. He had to be strong and mature, and have a flame of confidence to know that he really could do just about anything. If he could do these things, he could really make people and himself happy. That was how he'd make retribution for what he'd done in crime, and it was how he'd honor Kuuragi and the others dead.

Kuuragi smiled, and then his eyes shut. He closed them, and let his life drift away. Arlo buried his face in his brother's destroyed chest and waited there for around an hour. Even then, he waited a little while longer. Then he stood up and went into the house to get a shovel. Arlo returned and started to dig a large hole. It took him hours, and cost him much of his strength. The day was beginning to break by the time he had a large and deep enough hole for the two of them, John and Kuuragi. He gently dragged both of them into the hole, laying them in there. He then had to put all of the dirt back in and settle it, and this he did. He was covered in dirt and filth by this time, and his face was just dirty in general. Arlo's black hair was full of specs of brown as well. His demon rage had already turned off, and his eyes were accepting again.

Arlo walked back into the house, finding the one bathroom that was not destroyed, and he turned on the shower. Luckily, the water was still running in that house. He cleaned himself well, rinsing off the past, and cleansing himself for the future. Donning new clothes that he found laying around, leaving the house, and continuing to walk, Arlo pressed forwards. He didn't stop walking and continued on into the future.

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"Ah, damn, I broke another one..."

The remnants of the training dummy lay in bits on the floor. Perhaps he should have reigned in his strikes a little bit, but once he got started, it was hard to slow down. Besides, it did not even take that much, and it was barely even a quarter of his full power, quite frankly, he was disappointed that he didn't have better materials to work with. Arlo sighed as he used his boots to sweep the pieces into a pile as he looked around the south city dojo training grounds for a more sturdy target when his deep brown eyes caught sight of one of the dojo students. The blonde was significantly shorter than him and much quieter, but if he was looking for a challenge, then he needs look no further. Of course, this was only if he could provoke the usually neutral blonde into combat. Arlo was great at getting under people's skin, but the shorter blonde had managed to become nearly immune to the antagonizing provocations that he so often came up against. Nearly immune. He shoved his gloved hands deep into his pockets and did his best to look as innocent as a fifteen-year-old half demon half human fighting machine could, then leisurely began to saunter over to his new? friend, a Cheshire grin adorning his face. Briefly and unironically, Arlo wondered what the reason was that Vallar always looked at him with great trepidation and suspicion.

He waved a gloved hand in the air from across the pit

"Whatever you have planned Arlo, I want no part of it, I'm busy"

The blonde cast a scathing look at his taller friend as he approached, but he was clearly not dissuaded.

"Ah c'mon buddy, these training dolls are too wimpy and I still haven't gotten used to this new technique yet"

Likely the reason he was destroying everything he touched when it came to his untempered strength was because of the lack of control he clearly displayed with it. Having been trained all through his childhood and assasin career to destroy in completion of everything that could challenge the might of the boy, he was having a hard time finding a good balance with it. It was especially difficult considering he had a lot of power to begin with, so oftentimes he was on the very furthest end of the spectrum when beginning with his training, and it just so happened that combining such fragile equipment with a massive piece of idiot often lead to results, but they were results in pieces.

"No Arlo, I'm not being a training dummy for you, especially not like that thing"

He gestured more aggressively than necessary at the scraps of the training dummy that lay in a pile at the feet of the Arlo.

"Oh pft, you're not doing anything, you're just scared"

He grabbed the blonde's extended hand before he could pull it back, hoisting him up into the air.

"Got no choice now, come on, let's practice.

The blonde sagged and allowed himself to be carted away. Arlo knew the smaller man could have resisted and fought his way out, but his protests had been wishy-washy anyway.

The demon dropped his friend back to his feet in the middle of one of the sparring squares and cracked his fingers loudly, shaking them loose, then bringing up his fighting guard, watching his companion draw his longsword from the sheath at his waist. The blonde was a very sharp fighter; incredibly skilled with the blade, and very quick on his feet. Arlo was not as technically skilled or as quick as the blonde, but he was no slouch, and the power behind his attacks, especially when he was at full power, was nothing to balk at. The gloves felt comfortable, though they had not always been so, as he recalled the difficulty he had in getting used to having them on like a second skin. When he had first laid eyes on them, he could not understand why anyone would bother to wear any, but after practicing with multiple training partners, especially the ones who worked with bladed weaponry, he soon became accustomed to having to wear them at all times when he was partnering up, as he would often have no way to counter without them.

He found the added weight of the gloves improved his power considerably. Well, he supposed that he was not the one who did, but those who were struck by the attacks who had felt the blows that rained down on them before. It was confirmed by most people who knew him, that getting struck while he was wearing those gloves meant quitting the battle, as he had proven a couple of times, that he could easily break bones if the metallic knuckles caught the right angle. Arlo had hit the right angle a couple of times, enough times to have been given shit by some of the sensei's who did not appreciate having to call in the medical team for a spar. But the members were also told that they had to participate with all of their energy, and then all of a sudden he was being told to ease up. He scoffed at the idea, but he wasn't out to put the blonde out of commission.

"I'm not holding back, so you better be good at dodging"

The blonde shook his head, eyes downcast, surely to prevent Arlo from seeing them roll, and his golden locks of hair waved gently in disappointment.

The demon moved, his fists held aloft in front of him, extending out and at eye level, but as he stepped forward, he twisted his body his right shoulder bringing him halfway across the distance between himself and the blonde, his arm extending with impressive speed aiming for the face of his opponent, who managed to move backward out of the way of the attack. A feral grin made its way to the face of the taller Arlo as he pulled his arm back, spinning his back and bringing his heel around in a dangerous reverse arc. Just because his opponent had a blade and his legs were unarmored, did not mean he could not attack directly. The blonde ducked and attempted to reach with his weapon, but was forced to roll back as allowed the momentum from his foot to bring his body around in a spin, his other foot striking the earth, bringing the two fighters to face to face again. The two stood ten feet apart once more, but that was well within the reach of the demon boy, and outside of the reach of his companion. Leaping forward, his fist raised high above his head, he struck downward in a massive blow, the falcon punch hitting the earth with such force that he could see some of the weapons racks wobbling as Vallar dodged to the side. As Arlo recovered from the miss, his opponent burst forward with great speed brandishing his weapon, and aiming for his chest. Bringing his fists together in an X shape, the armored plates facing the blade, he used it to block the sword strike as the two locked into a test of strength.

As Vallar broke from their clash, he slashed from the right side, Arlo slid his right hand down to capture the attack on the back of his gauntlet, turning his body, chin in his shoulder as his back turned to the blonde. He spun in a reverse manner, his left hand lashing out with great speed, like a pendulum aiming to knock someone's head off. The black haired demon didn't even feel when the strike broke the entire top five inches from the top of the longsword as he spun around.

As the blonde fell back onto his rear brandishing the rest of the sword and calling for the demon to stop, Arlo spun around a couple more times like a stop before letting the momentum finally die. The world spun for a moment as he tried to balance his equilibrium, and he grinned childishly at the realization that he won by submission. The smaller human did not look pleased with his antics though, but the cold stare did nothing to faze the taller, as that was simply his neutral look when it came to regarding Arlo.

"You really need to get it together, that thing isn't a toy, and you're going to have to explain to the Quartermaster why I need ANOTHER sword replaced"

Arlo waved off his complaints.

"That's why I'm practicing, how am I supposed to "get it together" if I can't practice"

The insulting inflection in his quote of the blonde earned him another icy glare. He stood rooted on his right leg, bringing his left foot up to rest on the inside of his right knee, like an awkwardly tall and slightly less pink flamingo.

"Come on, grab another sword, I barely got to even try anything"

Vallar grumbled but agreed, marching over to the wall where the practice weapons were held. These weapons were the definition of serviceable; they probably couldn't cut butter, but they were a hell of a lot hard to break than normal weapons since they were just melted-down hunks of scrap hammered into a vaguely weapon-like shape. The Blonde grabbed one of the full blades, basically a girder with thinner edges than the center, and eyes of Arlo widened in hunger at the idea of a full-blade challenge. His compatriot was strong and was likely able to wield the weapon, hell, he was probably going to be proficient with it simply because he fought smarter, but Arlo was not going to lose in a battle of power, even if the blade did give his companion the advantage. The shorter boy huffed as he met in the center. It was barely visible, but his arms strained while holding the weapon, but the determined look on his face clearly outlined the fact that just because the sword was heavy, it did not mean he was going to let it get to him. The taller Arlo nodded to himself approvingly, the only way that he was going to get stronger was if the people around him were willing to grow stronger too. His right foot slid backward, and he positioned himself with the guard up. Vallar mirrored his movement, and the two stared each other down. The blonde with his icy, determined glare, the demon with his own bordering-on-manic. There was baited breath momentarily before they both burst into action.

The two fighters clashed with sparks as the two pushed against each other, trying to overpower one another. The weight of the practice weapon weighed heavily on his guard, but Arlo was stronger, and he managed to edge the blonde back a step during the clash. The weapons separated as the two moved back, but their feet didn't remain on the ground long as they moved in to strike again, the blade met fist in a horizontal slash this time. The resounding ringing of steel on steel echoed throughout the dojo now, as strike after strike met each other in a shower of sparks. The two blades crossed again, bringing them once more into a power struggle, though not even one. Vallar leaned back trying to hold on as Arlo, with his superior reach, weight, and strength pushed down harder and harder. Moving one of his hands from the hilt to the back side of the enormous blade, the blonde pushed back on the blade itself, giving him more breathing space. Arlo pressed harder until Vallar turned his body, forcing Arlo to lose his grip and bend his wrists to prevent the blade from cutting into him, Arlo widened his eyes in surprise as he fell forward, having put too much of his body against the weapon in defense. He hit the ground and rolled out of the way of the blonde's attack, which buried the blade into the earth.

"What is the point of all those muscles if you don't have a brain to guide them"

"Oh please, I'm taking it easy on you 'cause you're used to used to smaller equipment"

The flexing of his eyebrows insinuated that perhaps Arlo was not speaking of the weapon, but if the blonde had any feelings regarding the jibe, he did not show it, disappointing the taller male. The black-haired demon slapped his hands against the earth to psyche himself up and climbed to his feet. He briefly wondered if he should maybe expand his weapon arsenal if only to have something to lean on. He rolled his shoulders and loosened up his neck with a crack as he tilted it left, then right. His guard was once more held aloft in front of him as his intense brown eyes met his opponent's cold, calculating gaze. Both of them settled back into their stances and slowly worked their way around, circling one another.

His arms flexed as he thought of how he was going to go about this, the weapon that Vallar possessed now was just as good at defending as it was at attacking. A wicked grin flashed to his face as he burst forward, the two combatants meeting in the center of the training grounds, sparks bursting into existence as steel clashed against steel, but as the sound echoed through the yard, they were already moving, weapons flashing in the sunlight as they were drawn back and struck together over and over, showering the combatants in sparks, the powerful blows reverberating through their bones as the weaponry collided.

Arlo moved quickly, his footwork practiced and steady, to remain surefooted when the battleground had been torn up by their fight was an asset. As he moved backward from his opponent, his fist was brought around in a large arc, maintaining the momentum of the strike as he analyzed the current situation and thought about his next steps. Vallar was strong enough, though he could tell that with each hit they grew weaker; as did his own, but not at such a rate, the problem was that the blonde did not attack aggressively or waste energy. He was too damned efficient, and the taller of the two was going out of his way to do all this extra work on the offense. Before he lost the momentum of his charge, he leaped high into the air and brought an axe dropkick down in a massive overhead arc that came crashing down with a such force that even with his sword held aloft and supported by his hand on the flat of the blade, the blonde buckled to his knees and sank a couple of inches into the already chewed up earth as the incredible force of the blow forced him down. They stood, locked in that pose for a moment before Arlo kicked out with his other foot, striking his friend in the face and knocking him onto his rear, the sword still held upward to defend himself, but it was clear that he was out of the fight. Arlo grinned and flexed his fingers, leaning into that strange stance as he watched the blonde stand and dust himself off, his lips pursed and gaze unfocused, clearly, his mind was elsewhere.

"What's the point of all those brains if you don't have the strength to back it up"

The blonde gave him an unimpressed side eye, and hoisted the blade back up, ready to fight, though with the tremors clearly visible in his arms from the strain of the weapon in the uninitiated, Arlo did not think it would be a fair fight, but was not about to damage the pride of his friend in saying so or even treating this like any other fight. If Vallar believed he was able to continue using the unwieldy weapon, who was he to throw away an easy win? Arlo settled back into a stance, but not the same boxing stance he had stood in earlier, but something more comfortable, arms down and more of a stance that one could see on an untrained street fighter. Not the most practical of stances to take, especially since it was exhausting, but it was the fastest way to cover all angles with his massive reach, though by intrigue that was clearly visible in his friend's eyes, he did not understand why Arlo would excise the energy to hold his position like this. He would see. For once, Arlo was going to be patient and let his opponent come to him, he had a plan, and it was basically a whim since he had not practiced anything to do with this at all. The practice blade came at him in a horizontal slash which he stepped back from and then burst forward in a powerful rear-spinning kick, unrestrained and uncontrolled. His boot smashed into the ribcage of his friend, sending him flying sideways, but not stopping his attack as he slipped and hit the floor just as hard as the blonde, eyes feeling like they were rolling around his head and his skin torn from the momentum of his spin continuing on the rough, chewed up the earth.

"Ah, fuck, that smarts"

"What the hell were you even trying to do?"

"Uh, I'm not sure, but I'll let you know when I figure it out"

Arlo sat up, hands behind him supporting his weight, and watched his friend get up, he rubbed the back of his head and grinned and the blonde, as close to an apology as the shorter of the two would be getting about this escapade. He could still feel the urge to fight coursing through his arms, his fingers ached from the force he had been exerting the to remain in control when the two combatants' weapons had clashed. Fighting with this bare hands against such a weapon was a fool's errand, which was reason enough for the boy to reasonably want to do so. There were always ways for him to heighten his strength, and even swinging this thing was a workout, for him to continuously be using it as his primary weapon was a hell of a challenge. He wiped the sweat off his forehead and looked up as the sun was blocked, the blonde was standing over him, holding a hand out to help him up. Arlo took it and brushed his pants off, reaching up as high as he could stretch his back out, after hearing three satisfying cracks, he stretched his arms in front, loosening his tight shoulders that the training had quickly worn down. It had only been a few minutes since they started training, it definitely did not feel like long enough to justify making as much noise as they had, if he wanted to maintain that air of being a tough guy, he'd have to keep training.

"Hey, what do you reckon, think you can handle me in hand-to-hand combat?"

The practice sword was stabbed into the earth, and though he was sore, he still had the energy to burn. He cracked his knuckles and stared hungrily at the blonde, who would normally be able to brush off the stupid challenges of his comrade, but today, something had lit a fire under ass, and he seemed significantly more receptive to the mocking energy that Arlo was exuding. He saw the gloved hand of his companion clench for a moment before relaxing, as though he was trying to shake off the challenge, but it did not appear to be working. He grimaced before snapping his head up to the side, staring the taller Arlo down, raising a fist.

"You wouldn't let me say no anyway"

It was true, had the blonde just walked away, Arlo would have tackled him from behind or called him a chicken at the top of his lungs, drawing the attention and ire of everyone in the training area. It was probably safer for them both if Vallar simply accepted the fighting and took his beating like a man. The two settled into a boxer's stance and circled each other. Well, the blonde did, the black-haired Arlo shook like a dog getting out of the water, then proceeded to bounce on the balls of his feet, bringing his hands up in a loose approximation of a boxer's stance, looking far more like a drunken patron of a bar than a martial artist raised to beat the shit out of people. Vallar was efficient, closing in tight, using short, powerful bursting attacks, attacking the trunk of the taller combatant, keeping inside his reach so that Arlo could not use his long reach and power efficiently, always being forced on the back foot.

That would be how the fight would play out if the demon was a man of self-preservation as opposed to impulse wrapped in muscle and charm, and he allowed the smaller man into his guard where he attempted to enclose him in an enormous bear hug, taking the shots to his core, his muscles like a stone as the fists struck. Another advantage he had over his friend, was the fact that he knew nearly nothing about Ki, and one hundred percent of his abilities were focused entirely on hardening and strengthening his body.

To Be Continued