/**

*This is pre-canon, so most of the canon characters only come in near the end. Just bear with my OCs until then, the closer to the end the closer to the canon it is.

*Also, when Gyousou is young he may seem a little OOC. Because this is a character development story the beginning character may be a bit, well, undeveloped. But if I'm successful by the end Gyousou will be completely and totally in character (I hope).

*Also, everything in here is platonic. Spell it with me: p-l-a-t-o-n-i-c. Definition: all relationships are completely non-romantic. To make it even clearer: there are NO pairings in here. No TaikixGyousou, GyousouxRisai, RisaixTaiki, GouranxSanshi, TaikixSanshi, TaikixGouran, CanonCharacterxOC, OCxOC, or any other pairing you could possibly come up with. I can't stop you from seeing what you want to but just know that I didn't put it in there.

**/

Ch1: First Rebellion

The wind howled loudly and whipped dry flurries of snow into a young boy's face but, without even flinching as it stung his numb cheeks and crusty eyes, he continued to solemnly swing his wooden practice sword in large sweeps and let out small "HA!"s that were meant to sound ferocious. Inside his house he could hear his parents talking, though he continued on as if he couldn't, his ears pealed.

"Surely you must be mistaken, even Wagai wouldn't…"

"He did! 'Instead of my just forking it over and starving to death nice and out of sight, if the king wants his freaking tax money so badly he can get his soldiers to take it from my dead body themselves, and hopefully he'll be struck by lightning for it too' were his exact words."

His mother groaned. "That man will ruin us all. But surely… the other townsfolk…?"

His father sighed. "Wagai was… persuasive. Everyone's saying that with the way the harvest turned out we'll all die anyways..."

His mother's voice shook slightly, but had an ironclad resolve in it as she said, "Then we must leave before the snow turns red. Leaving aside what happens when the king hears of this, Gyousou…"

The boy lowered his wooden sword, and a few minutes later the only sign of that he was there were two deep plowed trails leading to the bumpy, compact ice paths running parallel to the town road.

Eventually the one making those tracks came into the sight of a house with a group of five teen boys milled on an outside woodpile laughing rowdily and pushing each other off at the slightest opportunity. One of them, surveying his triumph lying sprawled in a deep snow drift, suddenly exclaimed and pointed off into the distance. The others followed his outstretched finger to the small figure stepping gingerly on the single path leading towards the house. As the smaller boy's leg slid slightly and he wildly flailed his arms to regain his balance the boys all let out a hoot of laughter and began calling out.

"Hey Gyousou. Yo! Pipsqueak! Sure your mommy is ok what with you out of arms reach? What if you scrap your knees and she ain't there to kiss it better? Careful of the ice there, wouldn't want widdle baby to get an ouchie!"

Gyousou pulled himself to his full seven-year-old height, squared his shoulders, and held his head high. "I'm here to see Wagai. I don't need my mother's permission."

"Oh, widdle baby's a big boy now, is he?" The tallest, a giant of a seventeen-year-old, jumped from the woodpile and leaned casually against the doorframe, blocking it was his body. He meant, of course, for this to look cool and intimidating, but the effect was ruined somewhat by him slipping on the compact snow that was virtually ice, and landing on his bottom with his legs sticking like a V in the air. Nonetheless, he haughtily picked himself up and continued as if he had never fallen, ignoring the unmuffled laughter around him.

"Big enough to not fall on my butt, you mean?"

This, of course, was not the right thing to say. Tai is a harsh country with bitterly cold and long winters, and has produced a race of sturdy people with pride thicker than the snow that blankets the nation for most of the year. In particular, the people of Tai are known for their drive to not be outdone by anyone.

"Listen, you snot-nosed brat," he began, "your father is nothing but a turnip farming coward. Do you know how much problems he caused at the town meeting today? And you mother is even worse, she didn't even show up!"

"My mother was nursing the six-month-old with bronchitis three blocks down. A doctor is a busy woman, you know. Unlike some people."

"Yeah? Well, how busy is she going to be now that nobody can buy her stinking medicine? What a scam, I bet it doesn't even work."

Gyousou glowered. "It does so."

"She's just out to make money; she won't even lower her prices even though we're all starving! You think someone like that makes high quality medicine? I-don't-think-so." As a matter of fact, these accusations were unfounded. Gyousou's mother did make perfectly fine remedies, however, she also had a husband and child to provide for, especially now the crops failed and they had no other income. Also, now it was winter, getting supplies became a whole lot more expensive since it had to be brought in on dog sled. Simply not raising her prices was cutting into her family expenses. However, this boy's younger sister had been in bed for two weeks now and their parents were letting the sickness "wear itself out" and couldn't even afford painkillers for her, so his bitterness is partly justified.

"Boys!" Came a sharp rebuke from inside. A large, sturdy man with bright green hair pushed the door open, whacking the boy blocking Gyousou from entering right across the face. "Don't you have better things to do? Go practice your swordsmanship!" The boys all slouched off grumbling and shooting piercing looks at Gyousou that promised trouble the next time they found him while an adult wasn't around.

"I've been practicing my swordsmanship, Wagai. Three times a day!" Gyousou declared proudly, looking up at the green haired man with undisguised admiration.

"Is that so?" Wagai ruffled Gyousou's snow white hair and chuckled. He didn't say anything, but he thought that Gyousou was unlikely to be anything other than average no matter how much he practiced, due to his average build.

Gyousou didn't notice his hero's lack of faith in him. "Is it true that you are going to fight against paying taxes?"

"That right," Wagai showed not even the slightest bit of fear at the mention of his rebellion from the mouth of a small child – a sure sign that everyone in the surrounding area must know about it. "That king just sits up on the clouds drinking and collecting 'gems'," here Gyousou pictured a hoard of sparkling diamonds, though that wasn't the kind of 'gem' Wagai meant, "while we slave away in the fields, then he wants us to pay him from our threadbare pockets? I don't think so."

Gyousou nodded sagely as if he completely understood the implications of what Wagai said and solemnly held out his practice sword, "I'll fight for you!"

Wagai smiled indulgently, "Don't want to waste a promising youngster like you fighting for me old taxes now. Tell you what, you go from practicing 'three times a day' to eight times a day and come back in a year all strapping and strong, and I'll be sitting on my hoard of unpaid taxes with the king's men in graves at my feet, and then we'll get together and be invincible. "

"A year!" Gyousou cried in horror. A year was like a whole lifetime!

"Unless, of course, you don't think you are up to…"

"Yes, sir!" Gyousou saluted and marched out the cabin, wooden sword tucked in his belt strap.

Wagai watch him leave and chuckled. "That toy'll be covered in dust within a year."

Gyousou's parents had already packed by the time he arrived home and his mother was furious with him. Gyousou was made to get in the wagon, and they drove through the night to Zui province, to his mother's sister's house and her family. Gyousou practiced his drills every day and sulked at his exile.

"I don't see why we had to leave." Gyousou grumbled as dumped the firewood in his arms beside his father. "Wagai'll take care of those old tax hounds."

"Wagai," his mother said crisply, "is a fool. It's not just his foolhardy actions that we ran away from, it's his disturbing influence on you."

Gyousou scowled. Wagai was the strongest, bravest, most wonderful man ever. He was also the one who showed Gyousou the sword moves the Gyousou now rigorously practiced eight times a day. His parents might have fled town fearing the brand of 'insurrectionist' coming across their shoulders, but Gyousou fully intended to return in 10 months, 3 weeks, and 4 days once his training period was over.

"Gyousou, if you keep scowling your face will be stuck like that!"

"Aunty and Uncle's should stop paying taxes as well," Gyousou commented sourly. "Their tax rate just went up, right? If she had used her tax money to buy Kana mittens then she wouldn't have gotten frostb…"

"SAKU GYOUSOU, don't you DARE finish that sentence!" His mother threw his coat she was darning down and leapt to her feet, advanced on him shaking her fist, and the sewing needle it was gripping. Gyousou recoiled, alarmed. "One more word and I'll personally burn that dratted toy sword you love so much! Let me tell you something, Mister I-know-everything, if your aunt bought Kanan mittens with her tax money then somewhere else a little girl will die of hypothermia because her mother couldn't buy her a coat since the taxes increased! Why do you think the tax rate went up? It's because of the oh-so-wonderful Wagai-sama!"

Gyousou bristled. "It's because the king is a…"

His mother barked out a laugh, "The king? Forget the king. Taxes are what send you to school, boy, what feed us when an earthquake strikes, what pays for the snow plows to clear the roads. The government sets taxes to an amount that will pay for all these things, and whether or not it's a reasonable rate is beside the point. The money has to be paid, or else when Kanan slips into the ravine and her friends run screaming here for help they need to wade through a layer of snow here, and I need to wade through a layer of snow there, and by the time we wade carrying Kanan back she's already lost her whole hand! Do you know how much it costs to plow all the major roads? Burden like that are distributed to everyone, and if one town refuses to pay its share it's merely forcing its neighbours to pay for it!"

"If Wagai had forced ends to meet and paid his taxes like the rest of us, your cousin would have her mittens and more than nine fingers." This was by no means the end of this argument, nor of many others similar ones, but Gyousou's mother's words continued to haunt him late at night as six months passed.

Six months with his parents whispering in corners and shushing anyone who spoke of Wagai or the rebellion. Six months since Wagai had declared he wouldn't pay the king's taxes and convinced the others to do the same. Six months after his parents had fled town, his mother hauled him into a wagon one day and drove them all home grimly. Gyousou looked over the town he had spent his childhood, indeed his life, in and wondered at the change six months could make.

"Pass me that string, Gyousou." Gyousou obediently passed it to his mother and tried not to stare while she sewed rhythmically with a businesslike demeanor. The boy in front of him, the same one who had once blocked the door and made scathing remarks about his mother, whimpered softly even though he had been given anesthetics.

Six months ago the population had been 500 people living in warm, though simple, houses. Six months later all that was left was charred buildings and 167 survivors, including the boy nearing manhood his mother was now stitching back into one piece. Wagai wasn't one of them. Wagai was hanging in the public square at the nearest municipality, where his mother hadn't put her hand over his eyes in time to block the image.

Gyousou looked over the sight of his desolate home and solemnly vowed he'd never forget it.

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*I have no idea how to train to be a great swordsman, so just humour me. At the very least, 8 times a day shows how dedicated Gyousou is (I think. For all I know swordsmen train 50 times a day.)

*And… frostbite! My elementary school teachers watched all the kids like hawks and if anyone started to develop any signs of frostbite they got sent inside, and if it was below minus 20 C(-4 F) we got indoor recess. Technically if it goes below minus 55 C(-67 F) they're supposed to cancel school, but the one time it did they claimed it was only minus 54 C(-65.2 F). Figures. Also, my mom always nagged me about what the weather station said the time for developing frostbite was that day, especially if it was shorter than my walk to school. Anyhow, I've never had to deal with frostbite due to the vigilance of surrounding adults, so I'm working with vague impressions and hearsay. Anyone who knows more about frostbite, please share that knowledge so I can write a more accurate story!

*The frostbite bit is partly inspired by the clip of Taiki standing outside with his fingers, toes, and ears completely exposed while his mother and grandmother argue inside. When his grandma refuses to let him in I'm like "What a jerk!" and when his mom worries about him catching a cold I'm like "Forget a cold, he's going to get frostbite!" Even assuming it's about -5 to -10 C(23 - 14 F) he's been there, standing still and uncovered, for an hour! Plus the book says the snowflakes melt on him, so he's also wet! Sheesh, people in climates where it isn't winter half the year!

*The fahrenheit temperatures I took using google's celsuis to fahrenheit converter, since it occurred to me any Americans probably don't know what temperatures I'm talking about.

**/