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When he was seven, he was kidnapped.
Despite his age, Fuyuhiko was a very bright child, he had already an understanding of how important his family and his name were. Obviously he didn’t fully grasp on what exactly his family did to be so important. But he knew they were pretty rich and pretty… dangerous. He knew and understood well that his family had a handful of enemies, and that he was to be careful, someone might try to hurt him. His parents weren’t wrong when they taught him that, and that day, when he was only seven, he learned that. You couldn’t be too careful. So the last thing he remembered when he was forced into the van together with Peko, were exactly his parents warning words.
After driving for about an hour, the van stopped. It was dark outside, and Peko and him were tied up, little hands forced together in a tight rope knot. And were gagged, with what seemed like a dirty rag that made him want to gag at, wrapped around his head, covering his mouth.
He was scared, he was so scared, even thought he tried his hardest not to show it, not to let Peko specially know he was scared out of his mind. He was a smart child after all, he knew those guys outside the van had guns and his end wouldn’t be good if they stayed in that van for much longer. But he was small, he was weak, he was only seven years old.
Peko was quiet, probably so scared she couldn’t even bat an eye. Her legs were wrapped in her tiny kimono, the only thing one could see were her little feet bound together as well, her hair was tied in two little braids but her eyes were hidden by her fringe with how low her head was. Poor Peko, he had to save her, he couldn’t bend now. He was taught to be brave as well, he was taught that some day he would be the leader of his family. So he had to save his dear friend.
The young and now brave Fuyuhiko shifted his body in Peko’s direction, worming his way through the dirty floor of the van until he could lean it against the girl. Wary, she suddenly looked up, letting her big and round eyes observe her young master. It hypnotized him for a second, her eyes were alluring. He noticed a little change on her expression, her big eyes were now sharp, and her brows knitting. She looked in the direction of the door on the back of the van as if she was trying to figure out something, then up at the front seat where one of the men was still inside, keeping a watch on them.
Fuyuhiko tried to speak her name, it came out a muffle, but what made things worse for him, was that he managed to get the man’s attention, who slowly looked behind, not even bothering to look for a long time, just enough to make sure they were still tied up. “Keep it quiet you two. I don’t wanna have to kill ya.” His voice sounded threatening to him, a little of a slack off, but still threatening.
Peko looked at him and gave him a reassuring nod, making no sound whatsoever and wriggling her body around. Suddenly he realized something was poking out of her kimono. Was that a…? Yeah…it was…it was a knife. Why was she holding a knife inside her kimono. Girls like Peko weren’t supposed to have that hidden in their clothes. Besides…she was practicing kendo, her weapon was a sword, not… that…
When he looked again she was already masterfully cutting the ropes. Her wrists were now free and his eyes widen in surprise. Peko was…incredible.
She was incredible and she was saving him as well. No, this isn’t what was supposed to happen, he was supposed to save them, not the opposite! He wriggled in his place now, squinting his eyes shut and trying to undo the ties around his wrists. He would save them on his own way, it wouldn’t be Peko whom he was supposed to protect.
“A Kuzuryu protects his family that is the lesson number one, Fuyuhiko. And one day, you’ll be the one protecting the family.” His father’s voice played in his head as he tried harder and harder to break lose. It was only when he felt Peko’s touch on his shoulder that he stopped, she was staring at him, already without her gag, trying to smile at him. Reassuring through her gestures and through her eyes that “Everything will be fine, young Master.”
Fuyuhiko was hypnotized again, didn’t even realized Peko was cutting him lose, wrists and feet, pulling the disgusting cloth from his mouth. She pulled a tiny finger to her lips, gesturing for him to keep silent. What he didn’t expect was her next move.
There was a different aura about Peko, a dark feeling, something he never felt ever in her presence. Slowly she stood up behind the driver, knife in one hand, the other twitching. She didn’t like the knife, it was cheap, it had no class or beauty, but it would have to do this time. With one arm wrapping quickly around the driver’s neck, she made him scream just enough to alert the other men, just a little bit, a cry of surprise, before she stabbed him three times on the chest, three quick strokes right at the heart.
He fell silent, but the men outside heard him well. Fuyuhiko was in shock. He couldn’t move. He just saw with his own eyes, Peko stabbing a man to death. Peko…his childhood friend, the girl who would always follow him around whom he shoved away many times, but secretly loved her company. They played together ever since he could remember, and now with the same hands that once played games with him, she murdered someone.
“Worry not, young master. We’ll leave here.” Her Kimono was covered in blood, even though it was a dark colored Kimono, splatters of red were staining its sleeves and her hands, a few drops of it on her face. She didn’t even realize it, her body was filled with rush and need to protect her young master. That wasn’t her first kill, but it still made her heart race incredibly fast. She wasn’t used to it yet… she shouldn’t get used to it….
Fuyuhiko was scared and his face was showing it. Was that really Peko? The tiny fragile girl who always followed him behind? The girl who once teared up because he decided to steal away her favorite doll? His mouth was hanging open, and he couldn’t move a muscle. Peko noticed, she feared this would happen, but there was no time to think about that now, the rest of the men were coming, she could hear them yelling outside and the footsteps growing closer.
A hand was at the door of the back of the van, she pulled on her kimono only to make room for her legs to flex a little, she was ready for them. She counted three with the driver, so only two of them were missing, only two more kills.
The first kill came to her, she didn’t try that hard, the man didn’t expect the small girl to jump out at him as soon as he opened the door and was stabbed under his chin. Blood spilled, staining her hands even further when she pulled the knife out from the man, there was a rain of blood and the body fell. Only one man missing and he was in a state of shock, staring at the little girl covered in blood at the door of the van, holding the eyes of a killer.
He tried to reach for his gun, yelping, terrified. His boss told him it would be an easy job, to kidnap a couple of brats from the Kuzuryu family. No one told him one of those brats was an assassin. When he felt the cold metal of the gun on his hand, Peko was already on him, kicking his knee to force him to fall down to her height. She was silent and fast. Shit, this wasn’t an easy job at all. Peko sliced his throat, ceasing his scared whimpering.
She took a deep breath, closing her eyes for a moment. The smell of blood was intense of her nostrils, she wanted to throw up, she wanted to cry, fall down and cry. But she heard a noise coming from the van, the feet of a little scared boy who shyly looked out the door. Peko rushed towards him, if anything, he made her feel better, he always did on his own way. “Young mast—“
“Ahh!!” He yelped suddenly, when he realized the amount of dead bodies and blood there was around. So much blood, on the floor, on her. His stomach felt nauseous, his face distorted in a pained expression, and just like that, in a sudden impulse, he threw up.
She wiped her hands the best she could to a little handkerchief she had, hiding the knife away in her robes again, and reaching out for him, holding his arm, and pressing another hand of his back. She felt him shudder under her touch, and was now unsure to be touching him. Her hands were only lightly against him, as he finished to throw up.
There were tears rolling down his cheeks, partially from his conflicted feelings inside, and partially from throwing up so much. He was still convulsing and feeling Peko’s hand against him made him even more nauseous. He wiped his mouth on his sleeve, slowly trying to take a peak around him again. Peko’s face was obviously pained and worried, but he didn’t bother to look at her for much longer, he shifted his gaze on the rest of the sight. So this was what his father tried to tell him about? This was his life, death and blood, fear and confusion. He didn’t want any of it!
Tripping on his feet he walked a little, now away from Peko’s touch, her hands scared him. She was obviously hurt when he pushed away, but it was scary that someone like Peko, his childhood friend, who was always there, was able to do something as scary as this. They were both seven years old, he wasn’t even old enough to wrap all this around his head, leave alone what Peko was feeling.
“…Young master? We have to go, we have to run away before anyone else comes for us.” He cried, he wasn’t brave enough, not strong enough, he was simply not enough. Why was he crying? Was it because the situation was scary….or because he felt useless?
She noticed he was crying and she was desperate to try to make him feel better. She knew it was her fault, he was scared of her now, but she had to save him, she had to take him away from that place.
Decided, Peko held his hand and tugged him behind her and into the mountains.
They walked and walked, clothes ripped by the oaks and sticks in the forest, tired breaths and a young Fuyuhiko, frustrated and angry at this point, tired of following her nowhere. He stopped in his track, falling down to the floor, crying his eyes out. It was night, it was dark and scary and they were lost. Even Peko had to admit defeat at that point. She didn’t know what to do anymore and she was tired. She stopped walking just a few feet in front of him, analyzing at her best the situation. Nothing came to her, now she wanted to cry as well, especially because her most important person was crying, scared and who knows what else.
Peko turned her little frame towards him and kneeled down right next to him. Slowly and gently not to scare him away again, she leaned her head against his shoulder and held his hands. “Please don’t cry…” She started in a very sweet and familiar voice to him. He was still crying, not even moving from his place or flinching away from her, using his hand to rub at his watery eyes. “I’m scared too. I’m scared and tired and…” Her last words fell on a whimper, tearing up along with him.
Fuyuhiko noticed the dramatic change in her voice and looked at her, his vision was blurry but he could still see a single little tear roll down her cheek. That’s when he squeezed her hands back, accepted her warmth. That’s the Peko he knew, she was still there, this night he’d just seen another side of her he didn’t know yet, the side of her that was being trained and ordered to protect him.
A few minutes have passed by and they were now surrounded by familiar faces, the guards from his family, they were found and saved, returned to their home, back in a warm bed with a belly full of warm food.