The Rising of the Shield Hero
The Shadow of the Shield
Chapter 21
The green cape flowed behind Kioka as she stood near the edge of the cliff, looking out at the sea. The water sparkling with the sun's light.
A pair of hands lightly rested on her shoulders.
She smiled slightly, turning her to head to look at Naofumi, "what's up?"
He chuckled, "I have tried to call you a couple of times now, you seemed to be daydreaming, so I had to make sure I wasn't losing you to your daydreams again."
She giggled slightly, "No, I was just thinking about a few things. The last time I stepped foot in this town was just before I died, well absorbed by the shield..." She bowed her head slightly.
Tilting his head, Naofumi smiled slightly, "If that hadn't have happened, we would have never met. If it wasn't for you, I probably wouldn't have been around for so long. You are a valued member of this team and I wouldn't have it any other way."
Her eyes widened slightly, staring up into Naofumi's eyes.
He stared back right into Kioka's eyes.
"Master Naofumi! Kioka! We are already over here!" Raphtalia waved from down the path to them.
Kioka gasped slightly, stepping back from Naofumi as they had been standing so close that they were almost touching. She made her way towards Raphtalia, avoiding eye contact with him.
Naofumi there for a moment, feeling slightly confused as to why she reacted like that. They had been close like that before, but she had never stepped back so abruptly before. Maybe it was something he said? Shaking his head, he started following her.
Once they made it back down the path and to the wagon, Kioka climbed up front, sitting down so there was plenty of space for Naofumi to sit, she looked down at her feet.
Raphtalia looked at Kioka and then at Naofumi, "Is she ok?"
Naofumi shrugged slightly, turning to Kioka, "How about you steer the wagon this time, I am going to lay down in the back."
She nodded, "Sure, you get some rest." Taking hold of the reigns, she sighed softly.
Raphtalia climbed onto the front, sitting next to Kioka, she smiled at her.
Kioka smiled slightly at her, an almost forced smile, it hid pain and sorrow. She looked at Filo in front of her, "Let's head out, Fitor-" she stopped, bowing her head.
After overhearing what she said, Naofumi's eyes widened. He finally realised what he had done. He forgot that something was very important to her and couldn't be here with her. Her party, her team and in some respects her family. If he couldn't be with his party he would... He shook his head, "Kioka I-"
"No, it's... It's fine. Sorry, Filo. Let's get going, can't miss that ship!"
Filo turned her head to look at Kioka, nodding, "Ok, Kioka!" She started running, pulling the wagon as she went.
Raphtalia looked at Kioka, "So, what are you looking forward to when we get to Cal Mira?"
Kioka looked up at the sky, "I guess it would be the warmth of the weather, always feels so nice there."
Raphtalia smiled, "It sounds like it will be really good there."
Naofumi listened to their conversation from inside the wagon, he sighed in frustration, laying down on the floor of the wagon.
...
Naofumi opened his eyes went he felt the wagon come to a stop.
"Master Naofumi, we have arrived." Raphtalia's voice could be heard just outside.
He sat up, "Thanks for letting me know." He opened the tarp that covered the wagon and stopped, seeing Kioka standing in front of him, he opened his mouth slightly to speak.
"Don't worry about it, Naofumi. I just miss them, that is all." she grabbed her bag from the wagon and walked towards the ship.
Naofumi jumped out of the wagon, grabbing his bag and ran up to her, "Kioka! Wait, Kioka?"
Kioka had frozen slightly looking at the ship, her face went ever so slightly pale.
Naofumi frowned, standing in front of her, placing his hand on her shoulder, "What's wrong?" He looked at the ship, then back at her.
She gasped and shook her head slightly, "No. It's nothing, everything is fine." She looked over at Raphtalia and Filo who ran towards the ship. She took a deep breath and walked over to the ship also.
Naofumi stood next to her, feeling concern for her.
Once they were on the ship, they were escorted to their room, "Unfortunately, the other Cardinal Heroes have taken the best rooms for their parties, the only space available is a room you will have to share with 2 other people."
Naofumi looked over at Kioka but then nodded to the captain, "That is fine. We will manage."
As the door to their room was opened, two people were stood there, the man with spikey red hair and eyes to match and woman with baby blue hair plaited to the left and beautiful eyes to match. They both looked over at Naofumi's party and smiled.
Kioka's eyes widened at the sight of the man with the red hair, slightly gasping.
Naofumi looked at her, frowning slightly.
The Man stepped forward, "Kiddo, Milady, good to see you both again."
Naofumi looked at him, "Kiddo?"
Kioka chuckled slightly, "Milady?"
He smiled slightly, "I say kiddo to everyone younger than me, that's all. But it looks like we are going to be roommates for the night, the name is L'Arc Berg."
The woman with him stepped forward, "My name is Therese Alexandrite."
Naofumi went to say something, but then Raphtalia stepped forward, "I am sorry, I don't understand you."
Therese gasped slightly, "Oh, sorry." she put her hand over the gem on L'Arc's weapon, it glowed red in her fingers, she placed the red glow to her throat, "How about now?"
Raphtalia smiled, "Yes, I understand now!"
Therese smiled, "I apologise, my name is Therese Alexandrite."
Raphtalia put her hand to her chest, "My name is Raphtalia, it's a pleasure to meet you."
Filo jumped forward slightly, "I am Filo!"
Kioka tilted her head slightly, looking at L'Arc when he turned to look at her, she gasped slightly, then looked at the floor, "my name is Kioka Tadashi.."
He smiled, "Pretty name." he turned to Naofumi, "So what about you, Kiddo?"
Naofumi nodded, "My name is Naofumi Iwatani."
Both L'Arc and Therese looked shocked, "There is no way you are the Devil of the Shield. You are too nice."
Naofumi sighed deeply.
Raphtalia and Filo smiled at each other.
Kioka looked at L'Arc once more, then turned to Naofumi, "Hey, can I speak to you for a moment.."
Just then a knock sounded on the door, as the door opened, the Captain of the Ship stood their, "Sorry to bother you, Sir, but I wanted to introduce you to the crew."
...
Naofumi took a deep breath, taking in the scent of the ocean as the party of four got up onto the deck. He heard a slight groan which made him look down to the side of the ship, he shook his head.
Motoyasu, Itsuki and Ren were all sitting on the floor, leaning against the bannister which stopped people from falling off the ship. Ren looked up at the four who pretty much stood above him, "How come you are not suffering?"
Motoyasu went to say something but then jumped to standing, leaning over the edge.
Naofumi shook his head once more, "Serves you right for keeping the nice rooms for yourselves." He walked over to the edge, standing well away from where Motoyasu was giving offerings to the Ocean and looked out at the water. Raphtalia and Filo followed him, Filo jumped into the Ocean in her Filolian form.
Naofumi smiled slightly, then turned to look at Kioka, who hadn't moved since they had gotten up on deck.
Raphtalia smiled at Naofumi, "This is amazing!"
Naofumi placed his hand on Raphtalia's head and smiled, "Yes it is." he walked over to Kioka, tilting his head, "Something wrong?" His eyes widened when Kioka gripped his arm with a shaky hand. "What's wrong?" He placed a free hand to her chin.
She looked up at him, her eyes showed worry, "I am not all that fond of water..."
Naofumi chuckled slightly, "It's ok, nothing is going to happen to you. Also, you wanted to talk to me about something?"
Nodding slowly, Kioka looked at him, "Probably not here though, with certain people being around."
Naofumi looked over at the sea-sick Heroes and nodded, leading her to the other side of the ship, overlooking the ocean, "We shouldn't be heard here."
Kioka nodded slowly, looking at the Ocean and then back at Naofumi, "I don't think I should show off that I can change my shields as you do."
Naofumi frowned, "How come?"
She sighed softly, "Most people would know how the Legendary Weapons change the form, so if I started doing that in front of everyone, there will probably be those who become suspicious about my identity. Then the whole validity of the Cardinal Heroes being special and one of a kind would be questioned. It's part of what we discussed with the Queen. I have caused enough trouble as it is, I don't need people questioning the Cardinal Heroes as a whole."
Naofumi put his hands on his waist, sighing softly, "I guess I understand where you are coming from, but if you were to choose a shield, which one would you go for?"
Kioka looked behind her, making sure no one was watching and then moved her shield to her right arm, she stared into the shield, checking the different forms that she had at her disposal. It changed to Mirror Shield, she placed it back on her back and looked at him, "That is probably the best shield to use in a situation like this, at least it will mean I can reflect the damage on it. Now I am going to limit myself on abilities as well, I won't use Airstrike shield unless I can pass it off as you have done it. I should be fine to use a dome shield. I won't be using anything that can be brought back to me as a Shield Hero. The Dome Shield is not well known so I should be fine."
Naofumi nodded, "I understand that, but if you find yourself in danger, I want you to use the abilities and shields that are at your disposal, if something happened to you I would never forgive myself if you were sworn to not use them. Got it?"
Her eyes widened and then she nodded slowly, "I promise that if I find myself in a situation where I need a little extra power, I will use them. Also, I want to tell you something, no Curse Series, we still haven't fully recovered from our last bought of it."
He nodded, "You got it."
She smiled slightly, but her face dropped when she thought about L'Arc, something in her made her think of someone else.