HSV: Truth Behind the Scar

IMPORTANT NOTE: This story takes place 10 years before the current time in HSV.

The young man slid down the hardwood floor in his socks, trying to run would have ended him up on the floor. He was late already; a fall would make him even later.

“Bye Mother! See you later!” the boy called as he slipped his shoes on and grabbed his bag.

“Remember to pick up your sister from the academy on your way home!” a woman’s voice yelled from another room.

“Yeah, I know. Bye!” the boy yelled back as he took off out of the house.

While the sixteen year old boy belonged to the Hanabira clan, he wasn’t really ninja material; so he decided to pursue the art of blacksmithing, something that fulfilled his pyromaniac needs.

After a short run into town, the boy opened the door to the blacksmith shop.

“You’re late Omasu!” an older man grumbled as the boy walking in.

“Sorry, I won’t happen again” Omasu promised, he knew that he was in trouble when his mentor called him by his full name instead of "boy".

“We’ll see about that, now you better get cutting that fire wood,” the man stated.

“Yes sir!”Omasu stated as he dropped his bag and headed out back to cut the wood that they would need for the day.

Once the wood was cut, the forge was started and the customers started to trickle in. Omasu’s main job was to keep the fire going and get whatever tools his mentor asked for.

Being a novice apprentice blacksmith, he could make small things and simple things, like nails and basic farming tools. It would still be some time till he mastered the making the tools for ninjas.

It was a normal day until his master got called out to refit some old weapons to new owners. He left Omasu in charge of completing the rest of the days order: nails.

It was a simple enough tasks, one that Omasu had done countless times before. But once he had gotten everything ready to go, he noticed that the forge was running low on wood.

He’d have to fill it up before he could start making the nails. Heading over to the forge, he started gathering the wood from the pile; getting ready to place it into the forge.

Once he had finished this job, he’d be able to head home; meaning the faster he got this done, the faster he could get home.

His master always instructed him to place the wood into the forge, a time consuming task. For Omasu, that was going to take too long; so he started to throw the wood into the forge.

Standing in front of the forge door, he grabbed one last log to fill the forge and threw it in. But as the wood in the burning pile, burning ash and coals were kicked back at him. Since his face was in front of the opening, the ash and coals were kicked into his face.

Omasu recoiled in pain as the right side of his face burned. He tried to splash cold water on his face but it didn’t help at all. He sat there in pain, not having a clue on what to do for nearly an hour.

His master returned to the shop to find his student severely burned and in great pain. The two rushed to the hospital, but it was too late for the damage had been done; leaving little for the medics to help with.

The right side of his face was badly burned, his right eye severely damaged; robbing him of most of his sight in that eye. The medic might have been able to save his eye if he was brought to them sooner; but it was too late now, the burn would forever leave a scar on his face.

The medics bandaged up his face and gave him some medicine to keep it from getting infected and sent him on his way.

“Omasu, go home and get some rest. Once you feel up to returning to work, come back. But rest until then,” his master spoke as he put a hand on the boy’s shoulder, the blame and guilt weight on both of them.

“Thank you sir,” Omasu stated before he turned and walked away. He wanted to head straight home, but he had promised his mother to pick up his sister from the academy and he wasn’t about to break that promise.

He stood in the shadow of a tree, waiting for the students’ school day to come to an end. How was he going to explain this to his family? The truth was embarrassing but making up excuses wouldn’t go over well.

“Omasu kun?” a girl’s voiced asked.

Omasu looked over to come face to face with his younger sister, “Hey Akira chan,” he stated, trying to hid the fear in his voice.

The eight year old looked up at her brother and saw the bandages that covered the right side of his face, “Omasu Kun. . . what happened?” she asked.

Omasu offered a faint smile to the girl, “I messed up and paid the price. I’ll be fine so don’t worry about it,” he stated, trying to act brave in front of his sister.

She looked at him for a moment before speaking again, “Do Mother and Father know?” she asked.

“Not yet,” he stated as he bit his lower lip.

Akira took his hand, “We’ll tell them together!” she stated.

Omasu couldn’t help but smile at Akira, she always seemed to believe in him not matter what.

“Let’s head home then, before mother thinks I forgot about picking you up,” Omasu stated as he let Akira jump on his back.