Emerald Earrings
a Soul Calibur fanfic by Somenosuke.
Disclaimer: All characters here are the respectful properties of Namco. Man, if I owned them, do you think I'd be writing fanfics!?
A/N: Thoughts are in italics. But so are stressed words. I think you can figure which is which when reading the story..
Part One
In the corner of a room illuminated solely by the bright rays of sunlight forcing their way in through the cracks of a closed window, a mouse happily ate niblets of cheese from a human's palm.
"There ya go, little fella," the human, a young man, murmured, as if the gray rodent could understand him.
And if the mouse could comprehend, it wouldn't have heard him what with the snoring emanating from the opposite side of the room. And if that wasn't bad enough, the snoring one also spoke in his sleep.
"Uhn, yeah, Ro-May, mmhm," the man rolled over onto his side, revealing a stupidly grinning but sleeping visage. "You know what Maxi-chan likes."
The young man rolled his eyes in disgust. And though he remained tolerant the entire morning, he hoped something would wake that mumbling fool up.
His prayers couldn't have been answered any sooner.
A petite Chinese girl burst into their room, beaming from ear to ear, her short chocolate strands bouncing. "Kilik! Maxi!"
That alone scared off the mouse and woke up the sleeping one, named Maxi.
"Xianghua, what's wrong?" a worried Kilik asked, getting to his feet.
"Let's do something today!" Xianghua opened the wooden window panel, brightening the shady room with powerful sunlight. Now Maxi had no choice but to remain awake.
"Okay Xianghua," he muttered, crawling out of the bed, "let's SHUT UP and let Maxi sleep!"
Xianghua didn't seem to be affected by Maxi, in fact, she simply regarded him with a flat stare. "Sorry, but you sleep too much," she stated, "and because of that, we hardly make progress in our so-called journey! I'm so bored of this place!"
The olive-skinned man shrugged his broad shoulders; obviously, early mornings weren't his bag. "So go off by yourself. It's not like Kilik and I need you," Maxi glanced over to Kilik, "isn't that right, man?"
"Oh no," Kilik shook his outstretched palms defensively, "I'm not siding on this one." He knew better than to side with either companion during their many arguments.
"Well, I'm going to check out the open-air markets. Hopefully, when I come back, this yolk-brained dolt would actually consider advancing in our trip instead of dreaming about some girl!"
"Whatever," Maxi mumbled, turning over and dropping back onto the bed, burying his face into the sheets. "Damn broads. Always naggin' and gettin' in the way..."
Kilik watched Xianghua stomp out of the inn room. Though he knew Maxi was cranky about the interruption of his slumber and that he didn't mean what he had said, Kilik could see the hurt in Xianghua's brown eyes. He thought of going after her.
"Go," Maxi mumbled, "she seems to listen to you."
"I thought she was a nag?"
"Just go!"
Kilik sighed and began to head out of the inn with his weapon, the long rod named Kali-Yuga. Before he departed, though, he paused and turned to Maxi. "Tell Ro-May that Maxi-chan snores too loud."
Laughing to himself, Kilik finally left, ducking a thrown boot.
Xianghua forgot all about that dumb Maxi as she gazed at the gorgeous display of rich and colorful silk scarves and sahris, veils, and footwear. Her favorites were the assortments of precious jewelry. Bracelets, rings, pendants, earrings--everything she loved was there, ripe for the picking.
Now if I can move easily through here.... The crowds at the gathered bazaar were what kept her from labeling the Mediterranean city as Utopia.
Xianghua squeezed her way through several people as she shimmied sideways, hoping to reach a pair of beautiful emerald earrings that had caught her eye from afar. If not for a robust woman rudely brushing past her, she could have grabbed both earrings. Instead, her delicate digits only grasped one of them.
Someone else snagged the other.
Xianghua glanced at the one with similar taste: a young woman about her own age, slightly taller, with almond-shaped brown eyes and russet hair held in a long braid.
The other girl noticed their grab and looked to her with a polite smile. Xianghua returned the smile though she had no intention of letting go of the earring. And from the looks of it, neither did this girl.
"Pretty earrings, huh?" Xianghua commented off-handedly.
"They sure are," the other girl said; and if not for the brilliant sun beating down on her vision with powerful sunlight, Xianghua could have sworn she saw the girl's grip on the emerald tighten.
That wasn't a good sign...
Xianghua then turned to the copper-skinned vendor. "How much?"
"I'm starting at four dinars," he replied, obviously using that merchant tongue Xianghua learned during her travels towards the West.
"'Four dinars'?" the other girl repeated in disbelief. "You're practically giving them away! What's say I buy 'em for five?"
To that the vendor smiled.
And Xianghua's nose scrunched.
She wasn't about to let some girl wearing a dress outbid her. "Uh, six!" she piped up.
"Seven!"
"Eight!"
The Chinese began to worry. She had only a total of ten dinars with her, which were intended to last her for a good few more weeks, or until she, Kilik, and that fool Maxi made it to the next trading post, whichever came first.
Were the earrings really worth going hungry for? No, she answered herself in her thoughts. She gazed at the sparkling green gem and gold hoop in her tiny palms. They were so beautiful... So tempting...
"Mm. I'll bet ten," the strange girl stated hastily, before Xianghua could reconsider her decision to no longer bid.
The vendor's grin practically reached his ears. "Sold!"
As the vendor and girl exchanged money, jewelry, and gratitude, Xianghua couldn't help but scowl at the victor. "You knew I wanted those. That's why you decided to buy them, didn't you?"
"No," the girl replied boldly, "I bought them because I wanted them."
"Oh come off it!"
"Look, I don't even know you so I'm not going to even bother arguing with you."
The girl's seemingly patronizing attitude angered the ill-tempered Xianghua even more. "Are you mocking me?"
"Mocking you? You're not--"
"Yo! Xianghua!" an exhausted Kilik called out to the Chinese as he jogged his way through the crowds of merchants and shoppers. "I've been looking all over for you!"
"Why?" Xianghua took her steel-cold gaze off of the girl and focused them on her tawny haired friend.
Kilik, already not used to seeing Xianghua so angered at anything, couldn't help but wonder if she was still upset about the situation that took place at the inn. "N-nothing. Maxi says he's sorry," he saw her bristle. "Did I miss something here?" he asked, noticing the exchanges of glares between Xianghua and a very pretty Asian girl with long hair.
"Nothing worth mentioning," Xianghua replied coolly.
Assuming Xianghua knew this girl, Kilik smiled to the stranger and introduced himself. "I'm Kilik. How do you do?"
His sharp, hazel eyes followed her every move. First, she gave him a dulcet smile and opened her mouth, to introduce herself; however, her eyes fell on Kilik's Kali-Yuga, and she froze, her smile fading instantly.
Suddenly and without a word, the young woman turned tail and ran as fast as she could into the opposite direction. A dumbfounded Kilik was left silent with a hand extended to no one in particular.
Xianghua, relieved to see the girl gone, shrugged. "Oh well," she said dryly, "guess she didn't like you. I'm going sight-seeing. See you later."
Kilik waved the departing Xianghua off though his thoughts remained on that beautiful girl. Did he do something wrong? Or did she know him? Or...
Kilik exhaled his breath onto his palm and sniffed it. It didn't smell bad. "What gives?"
A/N: As I've said, this is my first fanfic on fanfiction.net... ^^;; A few notes on the story: first, if you're a Xianghua fan and you feel offended by the way I portrayed her in my story, I apologize. I didn't mean to offend her/you in anyway--it's just my writing. I couldn't think of a Mediterranean city to put as the story's setting, but since I used the dinar currency, you can assume the story takes place in Greece, perhaps? Sorry if that may have confused you. ^^;; Ro-May is--well, she'll be on a fanfic I may post if you's like this story. Part two to this is on its way.
Please read and review! Believe it or not, your opinion matters!