Boar Stupidity: A RK Short Story
Title: Boar Stupidity
Author: Azuhra (Daughter of Chaos on FF.net)
Prompt: # 11) Brave
Rating: K+
Word Count: 719
Character(s): Sanosuke
Summary: Is it bravery or stupidity to prove yourself a man?
A/N: Okay, let me preface this by saying I do realize its hard to say if a traveling Sanosuke ever made it to Africa. Probably not, but my head!canon likes to think he did. So, this little fic relates to an adventure our world traveling Sano might have had.
Prompt: Brave -- For rk_challenge
Boar Stupidity
Sanosuke honestly could not have said for certain if it were bravery, stupidity, or desperation which had placed him in his current predicament. Really, it involved facets of all three points, but he was beginning to have the worrisome thought that stupidity and desperation were the larger motivators.
His world travels had found him now wandering through the depths of that hot and wild continent of Africa. He wasn't quite certain where in Africa he was right then. The Japanese native had found himself quite ill with something brutal and nasty some two months into his travels though the continent. It wasn't the first time his travels had seen him ill, one of Sanosuke's very first lessons in world wandering was that he was prone to catching about everything his body wasn't used to. It was a strange thing at first, as he had always been damned healthy in Japan. Now he was lucky to be healthy as often as he was sick.
Most of his ills had been, if not fun, not lethal either. He'd been sick to be sure, suffering with out doubt, but had always been reassured of recovery. This thing in Africa though, this brutal thing had dropped him like a brick. The writhing agony in his belly had been horrible enough and frightening when combined with puking up blood. What had really terrified him though was when he had begun to sweat and cry blood. Sanosuke was sure at that point he was a goner.
At some point during this process, some African witch doctor had picked him up off the plains before the hyenas had his bones and worked staidly for several weeks with a variety of horrible potions, pin pricks and other such voodoo to right the traveler. They didn't speak the same language, they didn't have the same culture, but Sanosuke knew as he passed the worst of this vile illness that he owed all his thanks to this man and the tribe he found himself staying with.
As such, during his recovery, Sanosuke set about learning the language and the ways of the people he was staying with. He'd found in his travels that he had a gift for picking up language pretty quickly. It was necessary when you found yourself all alone in foreign countries. It was shocking to see the tribe all running about naked at first. Men, woman and children alike. Sano had learned to be open minded about strange behaviors and soon rationalized that it made a certain sense - it was freakin' hot in Africa.
Much goading by his new friends among the tribe had Sanosuke eventually joining them in wearing nothing but his skin. Embarrassment aside at being both naked and wickedly picked on by the tribe for his snowy white flesh, this was not the brave and/or stupid moment that really pegged him.
No, that came when the tribesmen and women kept referring to him as a boy. Well, Sanosuke took some exception to this and finally bothered to ask why he couldn't be considered a man. The elders had laughed at this and patently explained that until he underwent the trial of manhood, he would always be considered a boy.
Sanosuke had come to a real understanding with these so-called uncivilized people in the short time he'd spent with them. He liked them and in many ways liked their way of life. What was more, he felt a desperate need to prove himself to them. As such, he volunteered to take the trial with the other boys the following week.
This was how Sanosuke found himself with the problem at hand. A real predicament if he'd ever faced one. He was expected to hunt down a wild boar, through the under bush with a bone knife and a spear and absolutely not a stitch of clothing on him. Lots of those bushes were thorny. And the boar he faced down across the small clearing had some wicked looking tusks.
Sano breathed a sigh and hefted the spear above his shoulder as he stalked closer to his adversary. Stupidity and desperation may have been driving him just then, but he knew if he ever shared the story with anyone else in the future, he would be sure to brag about his bravery instead.
Author: Azuhra (Daughter of Chaos on FF.net)
Prompt: # 11) Brave
Rating: K+
Word Count: 719
Character(s): Sanosuke
Summary: Is it bravery or stupidity to prove yourself a man?
A/N: Okay, let me preface this by saying I do realize its hard to say if a traveling Sanosuke ever made it to Africa. Probably not, but my head!canon likes to think he did. So, this little fic relates to an adventure our world traveling Sano might have had.
Prompt: Brave -- For rk_challenge
Boar Stupidity
Sanosuke honestly could not have said for certain if it were bravery, stupidity, or desperation which had placed him in his current predicament. Really, it involved facets of all three points, but he was beginning to have the worrisome thought that stupidity and desperation were the larger motivators.
His world travels had found him now wandering through the depths of that hot and wild continent of Africa. He wasn't quite certain where in Africa he was right then. The Japanese native had found himself quite ill with something brutal and nasty some two months into his travels though the continent. It wasn't the first time his travels had seen him ill, one of Sanosuke's very first lessons in world wandering was that he was prone to catching about everything his body wasn't used to. It was a strange thing at first, as he had always been damned healthy in Japan. Now he was lucky to be healthy as often as he was sick.
Most of his ills had been, if not fun, not lethal either. He'd been sick to be sure, suffering with out doubt, but had always been reassured of recovery. This thing in Africa though, this brutal thing had dropped him like a brick. The writhing agony in his belly had been horrible enough and frightening when combined with puking up blood. What had really terrified him though was when he had begun to sweat and cry blood. Sanosuke was sure at that point he was a goner.
At some point during this process, some African witch doctor had picked him up off the plains before the hyenas had his bones and worked staidly for several weeks with a variety of horrible potions, pin pricks and other such voodoo to right the traveler. They didn't speak the same language, they didn't have the same culture, but Sanosuke knew as he passed the worst of this vile illness that he owed all his thanks to this man and the tribe he found himself staying with.
As such, during his recovery, Sanosuke set about learning the language and the ways of the people he was staying with. He'd found in his travels that he had a gift for picking up language pretty quickly. It was necessary when you found yourself all alone in foreign countries. It was shocking to see the tribe all running about naked at first. Men, woman and children alike. Sano had learned to be open minded about strange behaviors and soon rationalized that it made a certain sense - it was freakin' hot in Africa.
Much goading by his new friends among the tribe had Sanosuke eventually joining them in wearing nothing but his skin. Embarrassment aside at being both naked and wickedly picked on by the tribe for his snowy white flesh, this was not the brave and/or stupid moment that really pegged him.
No, that came when the tribesmen and women kept referring to him as a boy. Well, Sanosuke took some exception to this and finally bothered to ask why he couldn't be considered a man. The elders had laughed at this and patently explained that until he underwent the trial of manhood, he would always be considered a boy.
Sanosuke had come to a real understanding with these so-called uncivilized people in the short time he'd spent with them. He liked them and in many ways liked their way of life. What was more, he felt a desperate need to prove himself to them. As such, he volunteered to take the trial with the other boys the following week.
This was how Sanosuke found himself with the problem at hand. A real predicament if he'd ever faced one. He was expected to hunt down a wild boar, through the under bush with a bone knife and a spear and absolutely not a stitch of clothing on him. Lots of those bushes were thorny. And the boar he faced down across the small clearing had some wicked looking tusks.
Sano breathed a sigh and hefted the spear above his shoulder as he stalked closer to his adversary. Stupidity and desperation may have been driving him just then, but he knew if he ever shared the story with anyone else in the future, he would be sure to brag about his bravery instead.