*Untamed Angel*
*Earth*
A teen was preparing for something. She had on a backpack, dark clothes,
and her light-chestnut, shoulder-length hair hid her face from view. She
would have looked normal if it wern't for the 3 and 1/2 foot sword hanging
from a belt strapped around her waist.
Once she felt she was ready, she held out a blood-red pendant and a bright light filled the room. When it lifted, the teen had vanished.
*Woods outside Fanalia, Gaea*
A male teen was sitting in a small clearing, staring into the flickering
flames of his campfire, the sparks reflecting in his deep amber eyes. He had
been out in the woods for 5 days and would return to his country tomorrow.
The teen landed and looked around. She grinned slyly when she realized
where she was.
"Gaea." was the only word that crossed her lips. She looked around, decided on a direction, and started exploring.
The boy was growing tired and was trying hard to stay awake when he
heard footsteps approaching.He turned and waited to see who was coming. Soon, a figure came into view. He thought it was a traveler, but noticed something gleaming at the stranger's waist. He realized it was a sword. He watched as the person walked with a slight limp and spotted a deep wound in their leg. The person stopped and got to their knees to examine the injury. He got up to see if he could be of some help.
The girl had just noticed a bad cut in her leg and was now looking it over
when she felt someone place thier hand on her shoulder. She turned and saw
a boy around the same age as her (17) telling her to follow him. He led her to
a camp site where he treated the wound. She thanked him and studied the
flames in the fire. *I can't stay here for very long. There's somewhere I have to be that's more important then sitting here with-hey!! That's a royal sword of Fanalia!!* She looked at the teen. *He's the king of Fanalia?! But he's only 17! Why is he a king at such a young age?* She then decided that she needed to keep going and stood up. The boy fixed his powerful gaze on her.
"Sit down." He ordered. *Even his voice sounds royal.* She thought,
smirking.
"Sorry your Highness, but there's somewhere else I have to be." And she turned and started to leave. She heard him getting up but didn't stop. He ran ahead and faced her, sword drawn.
"I don't like your attitude. Now go back." She smirked and drew her sword.
"You're going to have to do better then just ordering me around to get me to
do what you want." And she brushed her hair out of her face. The boy stared
at her in surprise.
"You're a woman?" She smirked.
"You men are all the same. You all think that you're the only ones who can fight, and are shocked when you find a woman who can handle a sword as
well." He bit his lip.
"I don't want to fight, but I will if I have to."
"Go ahead, I'm not worried. I would enjoy seeing your skill." The boy was surprised. It was almost as if she wanted to fight. He sighed and drove at the
girl, who stood her ground. Their swords met at the boy swore the girl was grinning.
She was. It had been a long time since she'd battled someone, and the king seemed to be a worthy opponet.
Suddenly, she sent his sword flying, embedding it into a near-by tree and
had her sword pressed to his throat. "Maybe next time you won't be foolish
enough to get into another battle that you can't handle." He didn't respond,
just stood there, breathing hard and glaring at her. She pulled
away, put away her sword and turned to leave. Suddenly she felt a sharp
strike of pain and fell to her knees. The last thing that ran through her head before blacking out was: Good move.
The boy walked over to the unconcious form and got down to his knees
beside her. *I hope I didn't kill her.* He felt guilty. He didn't like attacking opponets from behind, he felt it was cheating. But he had to stop her. If he
hadn't, she might have made the injury even worse. He turned her over and brushed the strands of hair out of her face and studied her in shock. *I still
can't believe I was beaten by a woman!*
He picked her up and carried her over to his fire. The boy layed her down, removed her sword and backpack, sat down beside her and placed her things
on the other side of him. He then studied the fire while waiting for her to wake up.
The girl came around and the first thing she noticed was the pain. It felt as
if someone was twisting a dagger in the middle of her neck. She then noticed
the fire and sat up, causing the pain to increase.
"You shouldn't try to sit up." A rich voice to her right said quietly. She turned and saw the boy she battled earlier staring at the fire. She ignored him and
sat all the way up.
"What did you do with my sword?!" She demanded.
"You'll get it back after I ask some questions." He said, not looking away
rom the fire. "What's your name? "
"Why do you care!?" He turned and glared at her.
"Do you want your sword back or not?!" She sighed in defeat.
"It's Hitomi."
"Where do you come from?"
"I came from the Mystic Moon, but I originally lived in Fanalia." She saw
a look of surprise come over him, but it quickly disappeared. "You know my name, what's yours?
"It's Van." He muttered. "Any more questions?"
"Yes, when do I get my sword back?!"
"After this last question." He turned and grabbed her sword. Van pulled it
out slightly until the crest showed. "This is an Asturian sword. If you're from Fanalia, how'd you get ahold of it?"
"My father trained me when I was 5, and at one point he was serving the
King of Asturia, and the king rewarded him with that sword. He already had
a sword, so he gave that one to me when I was being trained. NOW can I
have my sword back?!" Van tossed her sword and backpack to her in
response.
"What are you doing in Gaea?"
"I'm seeking revenge for my family because Zaibach's Dilandau Albato
killed them 4 years ago." She said queitly, fire igniting in her eyes at her
mention of Dilandau.
"And how do you plan on doing that?"
"By joining Zaibach. That way I'll be closer to Dilandau and can attack
when he doesn't expect it. What are you doing out here alone?"
"I wanted some time away from the castle." he said quietly. She could see
he didn't want to talk about it, so she stopped talking and stared up at the sky
as she layed back.
The next morning, Van woke up to find Hitomi was missing. He looked
around and found her in a small clearing a few meters away. He stood up, walked over and leaned against a tree a ways away to watch her.
She was practicing with her sword and Van noticed that she was a lot better then she had let on. He watched as she slashed at the long grass at her feet, making a clean 4 foot cut through the thick weeds. She moved with fluid
motions, the sword slicing through the air. At one point, the blade moved fast enough that he couldn't see it. He could tell she had been practicing hard.
She was breathing hard and her clothes were slightly damp. He wondered
how far she would push herself. He noticed slashes in the tree he was leaning against and realized she had been practicing on it. He turned back towards Hitomi and saw she had stopped and was leaning against her sword, her
back to him. He walked over and touched her shoulder. She jumped and
whipped around, sword point resting directly on his heart.
"VAN!!!!! Don't ever do that!" she said, relief coming over her.
"Sorry." He said, barely breathing until she removed the sword.
"That's alright. Something you want?" she asked, putting her sword away.
"I want to know if you've already got plans on where you're going, because
if you don't, you could head back to Fanalia with me."
"Thanks, but I already have plans on where I'm headed."
With this, Van packed up and left, and Hitomi headed towards Zaibach's capital.
After she had been walking for 20 minutes, she heard horseshoes behind
her, but she ignored them and kept moving. There were two of them. Soon
they sounded like they were a few meters behind her. They quickened for a
few paces, then stopped. One called out for her to stop, but she ignored it and kept going. Suddenly, somebody grabbed her from behind. She ripped out her
sword, whipped around, and slashed the stranger on the shoulder in one swift movement. She saw his face and got down on her knees, head down. "Forgive me, Lord Dilandau, I did not know it was you." Dilandau glared at her, then studied his injured arm, his hand clamped over his shoulder, blood seeping
over it.
"Calm down, Dilandau. Can't you see she's sorry?"
"SHE ?! Are you saying a WOMAN injured me?!" Dilandau seemed even more angered at this. He looked down at her. "Who trained you?"
"My father, sir." she answered, not daring to look up for fear Dilandau
would see the anger burning in her eyes. Folken took Dilandau by the arm.
"Dilandau, this woman may be of use to us. She was able to injure you, so
she must have some skill." Dilandau jerked his arm out of Folken's grasp and looked back at Hitomi.
"Where are you headed?"
"I was on my way to Zaibach's capital to see if I could join your team of Dragon Slayers, sir." Dilandau eyed her suspiciously, then turned towards his horse.
"Follow me." he muttered as he mounted his horse and rode ahead. Hitomi started to follow on foot, but was surprised when she felt Folken's metal arm circle her waist and lift her up. He grinned at her shocked expression and said quietly,
"I't's quite a distance to the fortress, I don't think you want to walk all the
way there." She blushed and looked away as they followed Dilandau.