Minato Arisato | Kojuro Katakura | 011

[messianic]

[Receiving a note from Kojuro was a little unexpected, but Minato had no qualms with going to meet with the older samurai; he'd enjoyed his company every time they'd spent time together, and getting to spend more time with him was hardly a chore.

And so Minato made his way over to see him, hands tucked into his pockets and expression calm and relaxed, despite the chaos they had survived. The kraken was quiet now, the banjo attempts having some effect on him by now.

When he reached the meeting place, he glanced around, looking for the older samurai.]

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[kagetsuna]

[Kojuro stays silent as Arisato accepts that this is a gift to him, quietly watching how he moves--but mostly his expression as he lifts the lid from it.

Inside the box, both lid and base lined with padded teal cloth, lays a katana and sheath, entirely handcrafted, deadly sharp, strong and shining. The length, shorter than Kojuro's own nodachi that Arisato had used before, is perfect for the boy's height, it's balance ideal for ease of use as well as power.

Upon closer inspection of the blade, polished to a mirror sheen, Arisato would be able to see, on the upward facing side, the kanji for life engraved delicately below the tsuba.

Meanwhile if he were to flip it over, he would find something much more special. Something one knowledgeable about history would recognize as the Katakura family crest, engraved as carefully as the kanji had been.

The final engraving, even had there been nothing else, would be clear enough indication of just how important to him Arisato had become.]

[messianic]

[It takes him a moment.

It takes him a very long moment to fully absorb what just happened, to truly understand what his eyes are telling him.

Kojuro made him a sword.

His sword had broken against those fish creatures so long ago and Kojuro had made him a new one. It takes him a moment--and then he slowly, as if in a daze, reaches forward and picks it up by the handle. The kanji for 'life' is unmistakable. He smiles faintly at that, even as the gleam of the sword in the underwater lighting reflects off of his face.

Life.

Ha. Perhaps a message. Perhaps a lesson. Life wasn't over--and Kojuro was right.

It was only then that he thought to turn it over.

Minato had always been a good student, when he wasn't sleeping in class; he'd only done some extra research and thinking with the samurai here in Vatheon.

So he recognized the crest immediately. And the implications.

For a moment, the boy honestly paused. The meaning--the extension, the invitation...he paused and he drew in a slow, quiet breath.

And when he looked up, his eyes were dry, though the impression remained that were he the sort to cry, he would be crying then. To be given a family. To be given a connection.

To be given this by Kojuro.

And he breathes in and his voice is quiet and a little shaky but ultimately audible.]

...Thank you.

K-Katakura-san...

[Another breath.]

Thank you.

[For this. For looking out for him.

For giving him a place to belong, which is so much more than he ever could have asked for.]