One Of Us (Reader Found Family)

Curiosity Grows

You reach for the sickle-looking weapons, taking one blade in each hand. The weight of these weapons was a bit more than you expected but still manageable. The chain connecting the two sickles was over 6 feet long and seemed well-made and light.

"Ah, the kusarigama. A Japanese weapon made traditionally with a blade and weight rather than two blades. It suits you. You are much different than other humans, similar to this being much different from other kusarigama." Nightmare explains while putting the other weapons back in the cabinet.

"How do I use them?" You ask, turning the kusarigama in your hand to look at the old yet intact craftsmanship.

Nightmare turns to you with a small chuckle. "The exact way to use a kusarigama has been lost to time. In many mock battles, the style is different from what you will use. Your weapon is unique so it is all up to you. If you’d like, you can practice it. The training field is always open. If you’d like a partner, I’m sure one of the others will help you out.”

You nod in response, making your way out of his office with a half smile. You felt a feeling you’ve never felt before, power, protection, energy. This weapon felt like it was made for you. The overwhelming desire to try and understand the way it moved caused you to practically run out the door and to the empty field where you had trained before.

With one of the blades in your hand, you take part of the chain in the other. Slowly at first, you began to swing the other sickle around in a circle, holding it at a comfortable distance from yourself to avoid injury. The weapon barely scrapes the ground, leaving scores in the earth. The uncomfortable and unsure feeling of the motion soon became second nature. After a short while, you try to release the chain as it reached the top of the circle, sending it flying forward and landing in the dirt.

“A little bit more practice on that and you may start being a threat to someone.” Cross up next to you with a half smile.

You walk over to get your sickle from the ground, turning back to him once you had it back, “I doubt that. Attacking with this probably isn’t easy unless I'm close, in a danger zone. The chain is only so long."

Cross nods in understanding and draws his knife, “You wanna try an old-fashioned spar?” He had a half smile on his face, taking a few steps back from you. “I won’t use any magic unless you think you can handle it.”

“Sure. But… uh… won’t we hurt each other?” You ask, a slight concern in your voice.

Cross chuckles a little bit, “Spars work in a way that doesn’t cause damage. Two souls that are engaged in a friendly battle will not sustain damage from any magic items,” He holds his weapon up as an example, “Like my knife.”

You look at your kusarigama, still a little lost, “This isn’t like your knife. I also have no magic.”

“It’s been laced with magic. You may not have magic like me, but all souls are made of magic. Human souls have more dormant magic that is hard to master, unique to each individual.” Cross explains, struggling to find an accurate way to describe it.

You put your hands together, pressing them close to your lips, “So. We can spar without hurting each other because magic recognizes when it’s a friendly battle. Our souls don’t take damage because of the magic in our weapons?”

Cross puts his hands up in a half-shrug, “Yeah? It sounds weird to explain. Basically, souls can differentiate a fight and a spar, so can magic items, preventing damage to be taken from sparing.”

“Alright then, let’s spar. I wanna see if I can use these to break through some magic attacks.” You smirk, squeezing the handles of your kusarigama, your confusion set aside and replaced with a competitive spirit. Your actions made cross smirk as well while he also readied an attack.

Your spar went on for ages in a turn-based sequence. He would attack, you dodged and then you’d attack. As the battle went on, you managed to use Cross’ bone attacks to learn how to dodge and block with your kusarigama. The injury on your side began to ache as the battle wrapped up. Just like Cross explained before, neither of you was injured, even attacks landed. Whenever one of you was hit it left nothing more than a tingly feeling where the attack fell.

Attempting to catch your breath, you managed a breathy laugh, “That was fun. We should do that more often.” You wiped some sweat from your forehead and look up at the equally winded skeleton.

“Agreed. You fight well. Are you sure you’ve never spared before?” He pats your back in a friendly manner as he walks by you and into the castle. “Go get cleaned up and rest a bit. I can tell you're a little hurt still from when Dust and I found you. Does it bother you like this often?”

You nod slightly, “It’s been hurting a little after training. I know it’s still healing, so all this isn’t really helping much.”

"Take a break from stuff like this then. Use your resting period to know your weapon. Magic items can be similar to people in a way. They don't feel or anything like that but they can understand you like no other." Cross suggests as he puts his weapon across his back. "I gotta head out for a mission, have fun and rest up."

As Cross walks off, you stare at your kusarigama. What did he mean by getting to know your weapon? If you did bond with it, would it return to you like Cross' knife returns to him? Maybe you could summon it like how Horror summons his ax? Would that even be possible as a human?

You thought about when Cross was talking about magic being unique to each soul. Did that mean you had your own magic? How could you tap into it? What kind of magic did you have? Would you ever find out?

So many questions raced in your head as you went up to bed. The small sound of  shifting chains accompanied your kusarigama as you set it on your nightstand. Surely the answers will come in time, but then again you may have to work hard for a few of them.

The soft mattress cradles your back as you lay down with your gaze on the ceiling. All those questions will have to wait. For now, you must rest, all that other stuff can wait until you wake up.