Chapter 4

A week passed and Hinata had been discharged from the hospital and moved in with Kairi's family. She was going to begin attending school the following Monday and the weekend had just started. The four of them were hanging out on the paopu tree as Hinata looked over a paper with the school elective choices. This time Hinata and Kairi were sitting on the tree. While Sora leaned against it and Riku stood on the sand in front practicing his sword swings.

Hinata held up the paper and studied the options on it, "Which electives should I choose? We never had these at my school."

Kairi looked over her shoulder to see the page as well, "Whatever you have interests in and want to learn more about. How about joining the drama club?" She asked pointing at the option.

"Ha! Yeah, acting and singing is not my thing," Hinata snickered, "Unless it's a comedy show about embarrassing acts. Then I might be the right person." She looked up at Riku, who was ignoring them and focusing on his swinging. "You know, Riku, since we are going to be in the same grade you could help me out a little bit."

Riku stopped when he heard his name and looked over at his friends, "How about you take sparring? That's what I'm taking."

"Yeah, I don't think Hinata's interested in that Riku." Kairi objected, "I think you and Sora could just stick with that."

"Actually," Hinata started, "I took a few sparring lessons back in my world. Maybe that would be interesting."

"You know," Kairi said, "Now that you say that, it's not too hard to imagine."

"So it's decided," Sora concluded, "Hey you might get to fight me or Riku sometime!"

"Yeah," Riku said, getting his sword ready for a swing, "What type of weapons do you like to fight with anyways?"

"How about you two just wait until class to find out," She teased.

The sun was almost completely under the horizon and the stars were beginning to cover the sky. Kairi yawned and stretched her arms above her head, "Well I think it's time we headed home you guys. It's getting late and I have to get started on that five page essay Mrs. Hamasaki gave us as homework this weekend." As she hopped off the tree she playfully poked Sora's chest, "Don't procrastinate like you usually do, lazy bum."

Sora waved her hand away and laughed, "Yeah, yeah I promise. What was it supposed to be about again?"

She rolled her eyes and sighed as she shook her head and began to walk on the wooden bridge back home. Hinata jumped off the tree and said goodnight to Sora and Riku before catching up to Kairi. The two girls chatted until they reached their home. Once inside, Hana greeted both of them.

"Hinata," Hana started, "Shin and I were wondering if you would like to go clothes shopping tomorrow. Since all you have are the clothes the hospital gave you."

A smile spread on Hinata's face, "Thank you! If it wouldn't be any trouble, I would love to. I appreciate the clothes the hospital provided, but they are pretty plain."

"Well then," Shin said as he walked into the living room where the girls were, "I will leave some munny on the kitchen table for you before I leave for work tomorrow morning. Feel free to spend it on things you need."

Hinata thanked both of them as her and Kairi walked to their shared room. Their home was a small two bedroom. It was one of many homes that lined down the hill. On either side other homes were attached and looked almost exactly the same except for the color of the wood that made up each building. The living room was attached to a small kitchen and a hallway that had both of the bedrooms attached. It wasn't much, but was enough that it filled their family needs.

The weekend sped by as Sora, Kairi, and Riku took Hinata shopping and continued to show her around the island. She took in everything and was the biggest tourist they had ever seen. At first Riku thought it was strange how excited she got over every new thing, but then realized that he would most likely be similar if he ever got off the island. Soon the new week was upon them and school was about to begin. The four friends walked up the hill together in their uniforms, telling Hinata all about the classes and the teachers she was about to meet.

"You'll do fine," Kairi assured her, "Just stick with Riku, he'll help you out."

"I will?" Riku asked, not sure he appreciated being volunteered like that. It's not like he wasn't planning on helping Hinata; but he wanted to decide that without being told. Once he noticed Kairi's icy glare for his comment he resigned, "I mean, of course I will."

As they reached the front of the school, the four friends said their farewells and went to their respective classes. Riku led Hinata towards their first class and was relieved to find that the teacher was having the two of them sitting next to each other. The last thing Hinata needed was to have her first time at school being surrounded by strangers. Each class went by and Hinata had to continually stand up by the teacher's request and introduce herself. She didn't see the point of doing that every class; she had been saying it so much that even she was getting tired of hearing it. But eventually lunch came around and she followed Riku to the outside cafeteria to sit with Sora and Kairi.

As they sat down Sora asked, "So, how has your first day been?"

Hinata groaned and laid her head on the table. Kairi and Sora exchanged looks, "That bad huh?" Kairi asked.

Hinata lifted her head off the table, "It's not the classes per say that are bad; it's the fact that the teachers keep having me introduce myself. I mean what am I supposed to say?" She looked past her friends and pretended that she was giving her intro, "Hi I'm Hinata. Yeah, I'm that girl that fell from the sky two weeks ago. Oh you don't remember? Just look at any newspaper around the island, I'm all over it." She leaned her head on her hand that was propped up by her elbow and continued, "Since everyone knows how I got here, none of the students are treating me normal. They all just keep staring at me. And having to keep rehashing my introduction isn't helping anything."

"Hey it's only your first day," Kairi encouraged, "Of course people are going to look at you. They would whether or not you fell from the sky. This isn't a big school, so new students can cause a lot of commotion."

"Plus," Riku added, "Sparring class is next. You can get out your frustration there."

"Oh yeah," Sora chimed in, "I've been wondering about what weapon you are going to use. Everyone here has their own choice."

Hinata sat up, obviously interested, "Really? What are some of their weapon choices?"

Riku turned and started pointing out people, "See that kid with the blue bandana over his orange hair?" She turned to see who he was pointing at and nodded her head before he continued, "That's Wakka, and he uses something called a Blitz Ball."

"Yeah," Sora continued rubbing the back of his neck, "It looks harmless but it really hurts if he hits you right."

Hinata nodded trying to retain the information. Riku continued to scan the students when he came up on a girl about Kairi's age, "That girl, with the long flipped out brown hair, her name is Selphie. Outside of class she fights with a normal jump-rope. But in class she uses long chained nun chucks."

"She really doesn't look like a fighter," Hinata noted.

"That's what I thought when I first met her," Sora told her, "But I learned quickly that looks don't mean everything."

The four of them laughed together and Riku returned to his food. "I'll tell you about the rest later," he assured her, "But I'm sure you will find out once class starts."

"Thank you," Hinata said, eating silently for a few minutes before asking, "So, who's the one to beat?"

Both Sora and Riku claimed it was them. That kicked off a competitive argument between the two of them. Kairi chuckled and looked at Hinata, "Now you've done it. These two are always competing against each other, trying to prove whose better."

Hinata raised her hands is surrender and laughed, "I did that completely unintentionally!"

Soon the first bell for class rang and the four friends cleared off their table and went to class. Hinata grabbed a white cotton vest and pants from her backpack that were given to her by the school when she signed up for the sparring elective. After going to the locker room and changing she followed Riku and Sora to the fighting mat where class was going to start. Only about a hand full of people were there. Hinata guessed about fifteen from scanning the room. The room was full of chatter and commotion as they waited for their teacher to enter. Looking around the room Hinata could see weapons racks that lined across the wall. There was a large fighting mat in the center surrounded by large pillows, that she figured was where she would sit to watch the matches. She wished the class was held outside, as a musky stuffy smell filled her senses.

Hinata walked up to one of the weapons racks and began analyzing the objects. All of the weapons were dulled to help prevent injury when the students fought. There were so many different types and she gave attention to each one. She hadn't told her new friends, since she didn't want to scare them off, that she had spent a lot of her time in her world studying weapons and their form. Something her grandmother often scolded her for; claiming that it was unladylike to be so interested in weapons and warfare. But right now she didn't care what her grandmother had to say about it, given that she was nowhere to be seen.

As Hinata continued looking a certain weapon caught her eye and her breath, twin dao swords. A 28 inch long single edged blade was straight on one side but then curved beautifully on the other. The guard that separated the blade from the hilt was flat on one side so the two swords could be put together. The canted wooden hilt had a red braided cord wrapped around it and was curved the opposite way of the blade, as to create a better grip for the holder. Hinata placed a sword in each hand. These were her weapon of choice back where she came from. Finally something was feeling familiar to her. Instinctively she began a routine she had practiced hundreds of times back home. She placed one sword on either shoulder and slightly bent her knees. Within an instant she began swinging the swords around as if they were an extension of her. All of the surrounding noise went silent and Hinata thought she was drowning it out. She flowed with the blades as if she was dancing, swinging one from behind her head and the other in her hand around her waist. Then slicing the one overhead in front and matching the flow of the other as she struck to her left. Spinning around on one leg and thrusting both swords to her side as she lunged one leg besides her bending her knee while keeping the other one straight. Once finished, Hinata stood up straight and made the swords face each other, making them clasp together to look like one weapon.

That's when she realized that the room was completely silent. She looked up from the swords and felt her cheeks flush bright red when she saw every student staring at her. Smiling rather uneasily she quickly put the swords back on the rack and scurried over to Riku and Sora. Once by their side Sora leaned over and whispered, "Only taken a few lessons?" Referring to her comment she made when they were trying to decide which elective she should take.

She grunted and replied, "Well I had to surprise you guys somehow didn't I?"

Riku quietly laughed and replied, "That's basically all you ever do."

Hinata shrugged and nodded her head; making the three of them laugh among themselves before Mr. Zhoa, their sparring teacher came in. At first Hinata was floored by the fact that her and Riku's history professor was also their sparring teacher, but once she considered his muscular appearance it made more sense.

"Welcome to sparring class," Mr. Zhoa said as he entered the room looking right at Hinata. "Since this is your first day I want you to sit and watch the today."

Hinata looked disappointed but nodded her head and went to one of the pillows to sit down.

"Okay everyone," Mr. Zhoa looked over the entire group of students, "You know how this works, since it's a Monday I want each of you to choose a sparring partner and your weapon to practice! Remember the rules, no striking the face and control the force of your swings."

Sora and Riku chose each other as partners as they usually did; trying to prove which one was a better fighter. Hinata decided to watch them fight, to see if she could decide. Riku chose to fight with a single-handed double edged sword, while Sora chose a two handed long sword. As they fought, Hinata noted that both seemed to be equal when it came to technique and skill. They would switch off winning every round. Sora had a fantastic strike, where he would plunge forward with his longsword, putting Riku potentially off balance so he could pull off a three hit combo. Then if Riku would fall on his back, he would spring back up by pushing his arms off the ground, being able to kick Sora back. At that point, if Sora was stunned, he would jump towards him spinning his sword completely around him. Hinata was completely enraptured watching them. Yet she was also taking mental notes on things to watch out for when she was going to battle them. She took time to watch the other students as well, but Sora and Riku were the most intriguing to watch by far.

After about an hour of practice, Mr. Zhoa blew a whistle and ended class. Everyone put away their gear and changed back into the school uniform before heading to the next class. The next two classes went by quickly for Hinata as all she could think about was the sparring. She couldn't wait to be able to participate tomorrow and to hold the dao swords in her hands again.

Soon school was officially let out for the day and Riku and Hinata walked outside to wait for Sora and Kairi. Once the two of them were outside Hinata admired the beautiful view.

"This is so beautiful!" Hinata exclaimed, "I don't think I could ever get used to seeing this sight every day."

Riku rolled his eyes at her excitement, "You would be surprised. Give it a couple weeks; it's just another reminder of how small this place is."

Surprised by his reaction, Hinata turned to look at Riku, "You're really tired of being on this island aren't you?"

Crossing his arms he replied, "This place is just so boring. I have been training with fighting since I was eight years old, and for what? Nothing is ever going to happen here that would need me to fight."

"You should be glad that there isn't!" Hinata pointed out, "Fighting isn't as glorious as you may think."

"That's weird coming from you," Riku observed, "With the way you were acting with those swords in class, I thought you would enjoy a good fight."

Hinata sighed and put her hands on her hips, "I'll admit that I admire the art of swordplay and the history of warfare. But when I learned how to fight my teacher told me a lot of war stories that really changed the way I viewed it."

Riku sensed that there was more behind her distaste for battle but decided that it wasn't the right time to ask about it. Instead the two of them stood in silence until Sora and Kairi came out of the school and joined them. Then the four of them spent the rest of the day together, talking about their day and what was to come.

***Author's Note- I wanted to share something silly with all of you. My husband was editing my story as I was making dinner last night, and when I came back to read over his corrections he added a nice little tid-bit for me. I don't know if you all will appreciate it like I did, but I thought it was hilarious:

"Okay everyone," Mr. Zhao looked over the entire group of students, "You know how this works, since it's a Monday I want each of you to choose a sparring partner and your weapon and practice! Remember, today is rocket day! Each of you grab a launcher, and do your best not to get blown to bits! Anyone who explodes gets an F!"

Riku nodded, he was well familiar with rocket day and had been patiently awaiting its arrival. Today, Sora was getting an F.

Thanks for reading! ***