Chapter 11

Gengaku

The day began as any other, with a good healthy breakfast for them all prepared by the chefs of the palace. The food smelled rather delicious as everyone sat down at the table that stretched almost all the way to each side of the room. On one side sat Tsukune, Moka, Kurumu, and Mizore while across from them sat Ryo and his friends and beside them at the end of the table sat the king, his lovely queen, and their daughter who wore the crystal egg around her neck like a piece of jewelry.

As they all started to dig into their plates of food Ryo's eyes were drawn to Minami who decided to sit a bit farther down from him. This wasn't like her, normally they sat together for meals but now she seemed to be avoiding him. Was this punishment for seeing her naked last night? He had to apologize if he wanted to clear it all up with her.

"Please let this work." He thought to himself.

But from where he was he would have had to interrupt both Salena and Oshira's meal in order to speak with her. He didn't want to leave the situation unresolved so instead of talking across from his friends he decided to get up from his seat and walk over to her. He could only hope that she would forgive him. His hand trembled a bit as he stepped up behind her and carefully he tapped her shoulder.

"Hey Minami, can we talk for a second?"

He only hoped and now his hope was crushed. Instead of answering her she just continued to eat without as so much as a glance back at him.

"Come on can't we just talk~"

But still there was no answer from her. He knew she hated perverts and yet he looked at her last night anyways. She must have thought he was a horrible person for that. His head hung down as he walked back to his seat, but when he was about to take a seat he noticed something was out of place, someone had stolen his smoked ham. His eyes scanned the people closest to him in an attempt to figure out just who stole it. Could it have been Salena, Gino, or Oshira? His answer came through when he looked up and saw a black hole open up above his plate, but when he couldn't see anything come from the hole he knew that whatever it was had to be invisible..

"Alright, let's see who you are my friend." He thought to himself as his eyes turned completely blue.

With this ability he could see the electricity inside someone's body and could in fact see the shape of the thief's. Without any warning he grabbed its arm and threw him against the wall.

"Aw man, I was so close to getting your eggs." The person said as the cloaking wore off.

"Damn it Magi, can't you get your own food?" Ryo asked as he helped him up from the ground.

Both hadn't noticed that everyone was looking at them including some of the butlers that had settled down for breakfast.

"Yeah, but food from the market doesn't compare with food from the palace."

While both had been talking Tali had gotten up and was now standing beside both of them.

"Magi…is that a hole in the ceiling?" she asked as she pointed at the large hole that had been carved into the stone ceiling.

"Why yes, it does look like that way."

"And did you do that?" she said as one of her eyebrows started to twitch.

"Well to be fair this card did everything." He replied as he showed her the card with a big black hole on it.

If there was one thing she didn't like it was damage to her palace, so to punish him she gave him a swift punch to the top of the head which sent him back to the ground.

"Ugh, fair enough. Oh yeah, I forgot I found this on the ground outside the temple yesterday." He said as he jumped back to his feet.

Once he dug his hand into his pocket he pulled out the sword hilt that Ryo had lost yesterday after the fight.

"Oh wow, thanks. Where did you find it?" he asked as he inspected it to make sure there hadn't been much damage.

"It was just lying in the grass, I'm surprised no one else picked it up."

"Huh, you know you could have stayed behind and helped with the fight you know." He said as he placed his gift back into his pocket.

"With the immense energy coming from those guys, no chance. Even my cards wouldn't have stood a chance. I can only take so much." Magi said as he picked up Ryo plate and started eating his food.

He had a point, no matter how much he wanted to deny it the fact was that while he fought against Destra she had this intense pressure of energy that seemed to radiate from her body. It was almost like that of Mokas except a bit more frightening. He remembered that during the fight it felt as if he couldn't win no matter how much he tried. Could his determination have been effected by her black blood?

"Now that's good eating, well are you ready to go check out the festival again?" Magi asked as he sat the plate down on the table.

"Father, is it ok?" Tali asked.

"Of course, but I am sending two guards with you just to be safe."

"Dad, I'm perfectly capable of protecting myself."

If there was one thing that never changed about her father it was that he was overly protective even when he knew she was more than capable of fending off any attackers.

"I know my darling, but I just want to make sure that you will be safe. With those criminals out there who knows when they could show up."

There was no point in arguing with him, even if he was her father he was still king. She still loved him though even if he if he had a few flaws.

"Don't worry sir, we will protect her as best as we can too." Said Magi.

Ryo didn't like that look on the king's face, it kind of spelt out "Great she's doomed."." After Tali had finished up her plate she asked if anyone else had wanted to go with them, but most of them just wanted to stay at the palace and wash up before they headed out so it was just her and her two best friends. As they walked out she noticed that Minami wouldn't even speak to Ryo or even look in his general direction as he left.

Well there was some good news, at least the sun was out and the sky was clear of any rain clouds and from the looks of it all people were still enjoying the festival even though there was a criminal out and about. To ensure everyone's safety though guards had been stationed all around and inside the festival grounds, they couldn't walk a foot without seeing another guard.

"Ryo, did something happen between you and Minami last night? She seems a bit upset." Tali asked as they grabbed a seat to relax on as they thought of what they wanted to do.

"It's probably best if I don't tell you."

That was the worst thing he could say because now she had her fingers pinching his skin as hard as she could and it didn't help that she had sharp fingernails. If there was one thing she hated more than her father being overly protective it was friends keeping secrets from her.

"Owe, alright I'll tell you!"

There was only one problem, Magi was sitting right beside him and if he told her he would hear it so he whispered what happened as close to her right ear as possible.

"What?! How did you see her like that again?!"

"I told you that it was kind of an accident." He replied.

"No, no, you said you watched her as she came in. That is no accident."

But suddenly they were interrupted by two unfamiliar voices.

"Princess, we have arrived."

When they turned around they saw both a man and a woman, the woman wore a set of light palace armor that greatly outlined her feminine form, but what was stranger was that she looked eerily similar to Naomi, but the man was the most interesting, he wore a set of armor as well, but instead of standing on two feet he sat in a wheelchair. His hair was a dark blue and he wore a pair of thin glasses.

"Greeting, you two must be some of her friends correct? I'm Issac and this is Ramina, and you are?" Issac asked as he motioned towards Ryo.

"I'm Ryo."

"Oh, my daughters friend. It's a pleasure to meet you." Ramina replied with as she offered him a hand.

Yep, she certainly was her mother, she gave off that same exact distinct chill that only ones related to Naomi could give off.

"Although I didn't imagine you would have that bright purple hair, it doesn't really suit you darling."

He had given up, what was so wrong with his hair? That thought was interrupted however when they heard an outburst start just a few stands down from them.

"You call this shit good sake?! Return with all you have and it better be good!" one of them scowled as he threw the bottle against the back wall of the stand.

They saw two men and one woman standing at the stand as guards began to surround them.

"That is quite enough, you will have to come with us." One of the guards commanded.

As the guards closed in the noticed that the tallest and strongest looking one just smirked at them. In a flash they found themselves down on the ground as the man grabbed one of the guards by his neck with his huge clawed hand as he lifted him up.

"Got something you want to saw?"

The man was absolutely hideous, his body had expanded as his mouth stretched out while sharp fangs outlined it, his stomach grew larger as his legs extended while his toenails turned into sharp claws and they couldn't forget the horrid stench that came from his slimy body.

"Now, now Grunt don't play with your food." The woman said.

Once its eyes met back with the guard it opened up its large mouth and began to move the man towards his hungry mouth when he felt a great force propel him backwards through the stand before he lost his grip on his meal.

"Who the hell….?"

But when he looked up he saw a boy with brown hair and tan skin and a girl with long flowing white hair and red eyes looking over towards him.

"Now, is that any way to treat someone?"

"Oshira, did you follow us again?" Ryo asked with a bit of a smile.

"You know it, plus it looked like the situation was getting a bit violent so I stepped in. Hope you don't mind." He replied with as he looked back at his friends.

All Ryo had to do was exchange a simple grin to tell him it was alright. The fight wasn't over though as Grunt rose back to his feet and walked out from the destroyed stand.

"Damn it we don't have time for this, princess, give us the Gengaku." He grunted as he pointed directly at the crystal egg that hung around her neck.

"Gengaku…?"
Instead of doing what they asked she instead held the jewel close to her body as Ryo and the others stepped in front of her.

"Well then if you want this Gengaku thing you're going to have to go through us." Ryo proclaimed as he transformed.

In return all they heard was laughter come from Grunt as he and his goons separated to take them out one at a time.