a/n: okay new story… I had this pending over a month now and I would like to thank moonshadowz for beta-ing and giving me permission to also use the albhed language from ffx/x-2. Anyway I hope you guys like this… am gonna be busy for two weeks since thesis defense will be occupying my time.
-THIS IS SHIZNAT! Swear whatever I may update in later chapters, I'll assure you its ShizNat ^-^
As usual: I don't own Mai Otome/Mai Hime or Final Fantasy X/X-2…. (coz if I did… hahaha! All hell will beak loose!)
~FORBIDDEN GUARDIAN~
Chapter 1: Prologue
The port of Garderobe was quiet as the day slowly comes to an end. Waves clashed at the break water, splashing the salty sea water to the nearby dock. The setting sun gave way to the light-orange scenery of the sky. Squawks of seagulls echoed throughout the port.
At the edge of the boardwalk was a little girl. The girl was not more than seven years of age; she has a long, honey colored hair that cascaded down to her waist, her creamy white skin glistened in the setting sun's rays, and her serene closed eyes expression gave her a beautiful 'picture perfect' view.
She was seated at the edge of the boardwalk, legs hanging down near the waters surface, swaying back and forth while humming a tune with her lips curved up in a smile. The sea breeze caressed her face lightly and she took a deep breath of it, taking it as a soothing blanket. Her humming continued as she had been doing over and over again for the past hours she had been at the port.
But the girl was not alone at the boardwalk. A kid, younger than herself, stood just behind her wearing a black long sleeved hoodie that covered their hair completely, a pair of brown goggles that shadowed their eyes with black tinted lens, baggy pants that has a rip on the left knee, and a pair of red and black shoes partially hidden by the pants.
The kid is the girl's friend at Garderobe. Both of them had lived in different countries. Where she had lived in the religious country of Fuuka, the kid had lived in the Machina kingdom of Garderobe.
"When are you gonna stop humming that irritating hymn?" the kid said in an annoyed tone. Lips turned into a frown and the slender brows irritably knitted in annoyance.
The hymn the girl was humming is a prayer, passed down from one high meister to another in the Fuuka temples. Such hymn can calm an enraged heart, pray to the gods', or call for the temple's protectors. A hymn that only Fuukan meister class citizen can learn.
The girl turned around, opening her crimsoned colored eyes, and looked at her friend. She stopped her humming and gave them a sweet smile that made the kid blush. "Ara~ you know you could've stopped me from humming if you just answered my question earlier. And it had been three hours since I asked you." She said in a thick foreign accent.
"Hmph! You're question is just too lame Shizuru." The kid said with a pout.
Shizuru covered her lips with her little hand and giggled seeing her friend pouting like a puppy. "Does it bother you to think about it?" she said while stifling her amusement.
"Mou! Stop making fun of me! And I find it annoying to think of the future!" The kid bleated. The hood had been blown aback by the sudden sea breeze, revealing the kid's long, midnight blue hair that was tied up in a pony-tail style, showing a young girl that had been hidden beneath the clothing.
Shizuru stood up from where she'd been sitting and approached her friend. Reaching out her petite hands to comb her friend's disarrayed hair; she offered her the sweetest smile that made her friend blush. "Ara, Ara… Natsuki's hood hads been blown away. With that out of the way, I can see her beautiful hair clearly," She said sweetly.
The young girl, named Natsuki, stepped back to avoid Shizuru's lingering hand. She looked away from her friend's sweet smile that had been making her blush and she grunted. "Cdub daycehk sa!(1)" Natsuki said in a foreign language.
Shizuru giggled again and stared at Natsuki's blushing reaction. "Cu lida!(2)"she replied back in the same language but thicker than Natsuki's fluency.
Hearing the thick accented reply, it was now Natsuki's turn to laugh. "Haha! C'mon Shiz! Don't go using Albhed on me."
Albhed, a language created in Garderobe. It is a substitution cipher that the Garderobe machine engineers had created to prevent information from leaking out to enemy countries, namely Fuuka kingdom.
"Ikezu Natsuki! She's the one who taught me Albhed and now she's insulting me on how I use it." Shizuru quickly covered her eyes and started to fake a cry. She even added her shoulder-shaking effect to make it more realistic.
Natsuki saw her friend start to cry and she stopped her laughing and panicked. She hated her crimson eyed friend crying. It's her weakness. She looked around to find something that could calm her friend, but seeing nothing, she closed the gap between her and her friend by hugging the brunette and stroke the older girl's back.
"Shh… I'm sorry Shizuru… I know you just wanted to understand my language and you taught me your own language in return…" she apologized.
True to Natsuki's words, it was Shizuru who had taught the blunette how to speak like everyone. The blunette had been raised at the Garderobe research facility dome, where her mother, the head researcher, had been working at. It was when she met the brunette whose parents had visited her mother for some advice that she learned from the brunette to speak like anyone outside the facility just to understand each other.
Natsuki held onto her friend and took a deep sigh. "I… I don't know what I want to do when I grow up."
Shizuru removed her hands away from her face and looked at her friend with tearless eyes. "Ara? Why is that my Nat-su-ki?" she playfully asked.
Natsuki blinked a few times and realized that she had just been tricked by the crimson eyed brunette. "WHAT?! YOU TRCKED ME AGAIN!" she whined, knowing that she had been tricked by Shizuru's crocodile tears.
The brunette chuckled and cupped Natsuki's cheek. "kannin na Natsuki." She apologized and just showed a soft smile.
Natsuki scratched the back of her head and blushed at the contact of Shizuru's hand onto her cheek. "I-it's okay…"
The sky had turned completely dark, leaving small specks of light filling the night sky. Shizuru looked up and admired the twinkling stars that graced the sky. Her friend had looked up as well and silently watched the blanket of darkness and twinkling lights.
"I want to be a singer…" the brunette said, breaking the silence that filled the atmosphere. A small smile graced her face, her sight wandering towards the dark horizon of the sea.
The goggled blunette faced her friend with a wide smile on her face. "That's great Shizuru! You'll be a great singer!" she said in glee. She pumped up her arm, encouraging her friend. "When that comes I'll be your number one fan! I'll even ask those old men at the sphere dome to host your concert!" she added in delight with a wide toothy smile. She knew her friend can sing and she loves hearing her sing except for the humming of the prayer awhile ago. But Shizuru sighed and raised her hand, hoping to take hold of one of the twinkling stars in the sky. Seeing this made Natsuki question her friend's action. "Shizuru?"
"I'm destined to be a Summoner." The brunette said flatly.
This caught the blunette surprised, making her childish smile falter and her brows furrow. She pulled her goggles down and revealed her emerald eyes with spiral irises that shone brightly under the moon's light. Her spiral irises are proofs that she's a Garderobe citizen who has the same type of eyes as her but none shone like clear emeralds like hers. Her emerald eyes that shows both anger and concern. "The heck?! That's absurd Shizuru!" she yelled.
"But-"
"Hu pidc Shizuru!(3)" Natsuki snapped. She closed her eyes and clenched her fists tightly. "That's unfair! I may be a child and know nothing of your family but I know that Summoners are being sent to fight!" she said in anger.
Shizuru sighed and looked up to the sky. She knew that Natsuki wasn't wrong. Summoners in her country, Fuuka Kingdom, are used as fighters to protect people from the enemies and monsters that lurk around the world they live in. They can control mythical beasts that are called Elementals and use them to defeat their foes.
"Natsuki… this is my fate and you know full well that I have to abide." She said in a saddened tone. She faced her blunette friend and showed a weak smile. "Aren't you the same Natsuki? You're a fated to be a Garderobe mechanic and it is your duty to protect the people you care about with those machines you call Machinas as I wanted to protect the people I love with the Elementals."
"But…"
"Shizuru! Time to go!" a woman who looked like Shizuru said from the other end of the boardwalk.
"Well I better go. I will see you tomorrow at Fuuka right?" Shizuru said as she starts to go to her mother, not waiting for her friend's answer.
Natsuki watched her friend walk towards the older brunette. Her mind worked like the propellers of a machine airship, thinking of a way to prevent her friend from having a dangerous ambition. Then it hit her. The only way for her to prevent any harm be inflicted to her friend is the most common yet hardest solution for her.
"I'LL BE YOUR GUARDIAN!" Natsuki shouted making the brunette stop on her tracks and turn around to see her with a determined look. "I decided that when I grow up I'll be the greatest guardian of yours Shizuru Viola!"
Shizuru was taken by surprise in her friend's future goal. Guardians are the protectors of Fuuka Summoners as they journey all over the world to help those who are in need. But her friend is a Garderobe citizen and an aspiring first class mechanic in their own country. It is one of the forbidden rules that have fearful punishments in the Fuuka temples to have a guardian that's outside their kingdom. It is next to the rule of having any intimate relationship between the same genders.
"Natsuki…" she whispered.
The blunette ran to her friend and held her friend's hands. "I promise you Shizuru… no matter what happens; I'll be your guardian even if those geezers at your temple forbid it!" Natsuki said with determination.
"But Natsuki… It's forbidden to have a guardian outside the Fuuka temple. The meisters will be mad." Shizuru said in concern. Her crimson eyes filled with fear of her friend being punished by the meisters of the temple.
But being a stubborn child, Natsuki shook her head to show she's determined in her decision. She held on tighter to Shizuru's hand and flashed a childish grin. "I don't care! I'll be your guardian… I'll protect you no matter what! You're my most important person ever since mama died therefore I'll protect you!"
Flattered by her friend's resolve, she just smiled at the younger girl and hugged her gently. "Ookini my Natsuki…" she whispered. She couldn't have the heart to argue with her best friend and break the blunette's determination. She decided to let it pass since she know that it was a child's goal and would be one day be replaced.
"Shizuru let's go before the meisters found out were here." Shizuru's mother called again. And with that, Shizuru gave her friend a kiss in the cheeks and left to go to her mother's side.
Natsuki watch her friend go while her hand touched the part where Shizuru kissed her. She felt her heart skip a beat when she replayed the incident again in her head. That feeling had given her more determination in becoming the guardian of grand meister's daughter. "I'll protect you… I'll protect you Shizuru and I won't let anyone stop me from doing so." She said to herself, looking at the dark sky as a shooting star passed by.
"Mutt!" yelled by a child with red hair and lime green spiral irises eyes. The child appeared to be younger than Natsuki and was running towards the blunette at great speed.
When the red head came to a stop infront of Nastuki, the blunette raised a brow and crossed her arms. "What's the matter spider?" she asked.
The red head panted and tried to regain her breath before looking at Natsuki with a coy smile. She nudges the older child's sides and winked at her. "Shizuru fyc rana?(4)" she asked coyly.
Natsuki's face blushed and she hit the red head in the shoulders. "Crid ib Nao!(5) So what if Shizuru was here? Her mother visited the facility so she's here as well." She said with an annoyed expression.
"Oh? Oui sicd mega ran cu silr dryd oui ica outsider's myhkiyka cra dyikrd oui.(6)" Nao teased. She is Natsuki's cousin and knows how to speak both Albhed and normal language but prefer Albhed since she thinks its cooler.
Natsuki snarled at her cousin and hit her again in the shoulder. "Not another word spider! Let's go before Midori hits us with the wrench." Nastuki said coldly. She walked past her cousin and put her goggles back on as they went on their way back to the research facility dome.
"Oh wait mutt…" Nao said, using the normal language. She grabbed her elder cousin's arm and stopped her from going inside the dome.
Natsuki stopped and looked back to her cousin with a questioning look. "What is it Nao? It's quite unlike you to use that language." She asked.
Nao snorted and punched her cousin in the gut. "Shut up! Aunt Rena was here awhile ago… saying she'll adopt us so that we can continue with our studies in Machina engineering." Nao stated happily.
But as happy as it may sound, Natsuki was already determined to be Shizuru's guardian. And to do that, she's willing to undergo extreme combat training and she has no time for engineering. "Nao… i-"
"Natsuki don't go telling me you're going to stop with Machinas? You love tampering with it!"
"But Nao…"
"No buts mutt! You'll train with Machinas just like aunt Saeko wanted us."
"But Nao! Shizuru will become Summoner at Fuuka and I want to be her guardian!" Natsuki argued.
"Guardian? But aren't those lame-os mei-whatchamacallit forbid non-Fuukan guardians?" Nao asked.
Natsuki gave her cousin a nod of a reply and slumped her shoulders down in grief. "Yeah... Oldies make such weird rules."
"Well you're a Kruger and the Kruger family don't actually follow rules so break them." Nao said nonchalantly.
"Yeah but how can I do that spider? Aunt Rena won't allow it and I definitely can't compete against those Fuukan guardians who train almost their lives to become one." Natsuki said in a hopeless tone. She was feeling pressured in what she wanted to be and she don't know how to start that goal.
Nao laughed seeing her cousin looking so hopeless. "oui'na vihho oui ghuf dryd (7) mutt?" she laughed.
"drec ec y caneuic syddan cu cdub sygehk vih uv sa!(8)" Natsuki roared, glaring at her cousin which made Nao shiver.
"H-hey easy cousin… Why don't you just be unique? Be a Machina Guardian or something? That is where you're expertise lies.." Nao said in fear of her cousin's glare.
The blunette stopped her glaring and gave her cousin a curious look. "Machina guardian?"
Nao regained her cocky composure and grinned. "Come inside my cousin and we'll plan this until that Viola is a full-pledge Summoner."
Meanwhile, an airship that's headed for Fuuka carried the daughter and wife of the grand meister. Both of them were in the cabin, resting at the grand suite that's specially made for important people.
"Ne okaa-san, what would happen if a guardian of a Summoner is an outsider?"
"The guardian would be punished of course." Her mother answered immediately as if she had predicted the question.
"What punishment would that be okaa-san?"
Shizuru's mother remained silent for a few minutes and looked at her with cold, ruby eyes. "They are to be persecuted by the Elemetals of their own Summoners." Her mother said that made her sweat coldly.
She felt her heart had been crushed upon hearing the dreaded punishment. "I-is that so okaa-san?" she asked in confirmation. Fear was now evident in her face hearing such dreadful punishment that might be placed upon her friend.
Her mother could only nod and look outside the window where the moon could be seen. "I believe that's the harsh truth my dear. I heard Kruger's daughter saying she'll be your guardian, I advise you to stop her insane idea before you two get hurt." Her mother said in a worried tone. She cares for the Kruger child since the child's mother was a good friend of hers.
"I will okaa-san... I'll definitely will." She said calmly. 'I don't want Natsuki to end up like that…'
a/n: whew! There I posted it… hmm let me know what you think guys if I should continue this or not. Oh and about the albhed, honestly I don't like to put a translation to it and it would be nice if you guys were to decode it yourselves to make it more exciting XD ahaha yeah I know I'm bad… anyway, the translations are here, let me know if I should still translate it or I'll give ya the site where to translate it yourselves ^-^
1- stop teasing me
2- so cute
3- No buts
4- was here
5- shut up
6- You must like her so much that you use outsider's language she taught you
7- you're funny you know that
8- this is a serious matter so stop making fun of me
so anyway... please review... please... oh and i know i suck in my grammar and sentence construction ^-^
~zaki-kun~