"When two flashing swords meet there is no place to escape;
Move coolly, like a lotus flower blooming in the midst of a
Roaring fire and forcefully pierce the Heavens!"
--Anonymous
"Check." Lavender eyes gleamed impishly up at Nokoru as he studied the chessboard, a small frown marring his features. Smirking, Sophie held up his newly captured queen, " I think I win, Rijichou." She grinned teasingly, setting the queen aside.
With a small bow of his head, Nokoru tipped over his King. "So desu." Then he smiled up at her. "You play very well." He stretched with an easy grace and began setting the board up again. "Another game?" the onre twinkle in his eyes promised great retribution for her earlier win.
In the many weeks that Sophie had been teaching at the University, she and Nokoru had begun meeting several times a week, for involved and often vicious bouts of chess, having discovered a mutual love for the game. To each other's utter delight, they found their skills equally matched as well, both possessing a keenly penetrating intellect and occasionally audacious wit and the chess games often degenerated into rapid fire discussions on everything from military history to the proper way to season vindaloo curry. Much to the dismay of the Head of Security, they were rapidly becoming fast friends and the president had taken to way-laying his newest professor after her morning classes.
The slender girl sitting across from him chuckled and cracked her knuckles with mock ferocity. "Sure. I'm not due back in class for a couple hours. I can best you again." Her voice teasing as her hands quickly arranged her pieces in the correct order.
Nokoru rolled his eyes and moved a knight out. "I've read your book, by the way. I found it fascinating. It was one of the reasons I sought you out for our school"
A look of surprise flickered across Sophie's features, "That was a tribute to my grandfather, though I'm sure he would have preferred I choose any other title than "Battousai." She chuckled ruefully. "But it seemed fitting." She contemplated the board a moment and made a strategically canny move, causing Nokoru's eyebrow to rise.
In response to her comment, the blond haired president merely nodded, "He was a remarkable man." His eyes narrowed as he studied the chessboard.
His opponent merely nodded once, " I know. I was quite blessed to have known him. I've been told that in many ways I am much like him but I think..." she smiled again, rather sadly, " that I lack his compassion."
Nokoru studied her silently for a long moment before deciding to change the subject, "You intrigue Takamura-kun."
Sophie snorted and leaned back in the chair, "Intrigue is not exactly the word I would use. He is suspicious of me...it's my weapons training, the way I move." She shrugged, though her eyes were dark. "My grandfather always used to tell me that the body does not lie. There's no way I can conceal the training."
He shrugged, "Perhaps you could teach me this Kamiya Kashin Ryu." He tilted his head up, favoring her with an angelic smile. "I promise to be a very apt pupil." That smile deepened.
She snorted again, stifling a burst of incredulous laughter, " And risk the wrath of the entire Takamura clan?" she shook her head. "I don't think so!" her eyes twinkled. "That headache, I do not need." Still chuckling she moved her queen out to threaten his position on the board.
"I'm serious!" he countered her attack, "Check."
"So am I." She moved a rook to protect her king. "I teach history, that is all. I'm too harsh to be a budo teacher, I'm brutal at training."
"I don't break easily." He studied her carefully, blue eyes locked with lavender. Sophie found herself at a loss for words as she fell into that penetrating cerulean gaze, her grip tightening ever so slightly on the delicately carved chess piece nestled between suddenly trembling fingers.
Their détente was broken by Suoh's arrival. "Rijichou, I..." he stopped and drew himself up, staring at Sophie. "I didn't realize you were occupied." His voice was terse as he moved to Nokoru's side protectively. Noting the ill-concealed antipathy between the two, the President merely sighed wearily.
Sophie rolled her eyes, "Perhaps we should continue this later." Her mouth thinned and she bowed her head to Nokoru, one hand gesturing to the chessboard.
The hostility and distrust radiating from Takamura Suoh was palpable, though for the most part the woman seemed unmoved. Nokoru looked from one warrior to the other and sighed, "Over dinner." He decided. "Seven o'clock?" He smiled sweetly.
Sophie blinked as Suoh opened his mouth to protest, and made a mental note to purchase stock in Excedrin. "That would be nice." She rose, cutting off Suoh's objection then paused, studying the ninja. "You could simply ask your questions, you know." The corner of her mouth twitched in what looked suspiciously like the beginnings of a grin.
Suoh stared at her, his chocolate brown eyes narrowed in concentrated distrust. The only sound in the room was the ticking of an old grandfather clock, it's sound in discreet counterpoint to the battle of wills raging full force between the two fighters. Sophie cocked her head awaiting Suoh's reply and after a moment, when the ninja merely continued to stare at her coldly, shrugged and turned her back on him, striding lithely toward the door.
There was no sound of warning, only the faint brush of cloth against steel. Dimly, Sophie was aware of Nokoru yelling in shocked protest but the electric rush of adrenaline had already sounded a clarion call of warning throughout her body and she reacted instinctively, thanks to long years of training. Faster than the eye could follow she turned, swiftly parrying, deflecting and in one case, deftly catching the eight throwing knives that sped her way, courtesy of the ninja's hand.
After ascertaining that no further attack was forthcoming, she met Nokoru's aghast eyes, Suoh's satisfied ones and balanced the throwing blade on the edge of one finger, her eyebrow raised speculatively.
"You didn't learn that speed from Kamiya Kashin Ryu." Suoh said, quite conversationally.
She smiled coldly and tossed the blade to land in the floor at his feet. "I never said that was the only style I had mastered." With a small smile she bowed to the two men and strode out the door.
Nokoru turned to Suoh, completely nonplussed, " What did you think you were doing?" he grabbed the ninja by the shoulders. "You could have killed her!"
Suoh's eyes were riveted on the door through which the woman had passed, "No, I couldn't and I knew that before I threw the first blade. I wanted to see her reflexes in action." He paused and put a steadying hand on Nokoru's shoulder. "I knew she could dodge those blades." He assured his friend. "But I need to know exactly how well trained she is. I had my family run a check on her and their results were no more informative than the file we have on her here. I don't like surprises, especially not where your safety is concerned." His dark eyes locked on Nokoru's brooking no argument.
The president sighed wearily, "She's not a danger to me." He ran a hand through his hair and sat down in the chair Sophie had abandoned. "Suoh, I can't have this every time the two of you meet. I understand that you are concerned for my safety but she is not a threat."
Suoh looked completely unconvinced, knowing his friend's penchant for chivalry. "She has many secrets." He stated calmly. "And this alone is very worrisome to me." Suoh studied his friend intently. "It's my job to be paranoid." He pointed out with a wry smile.
Nokoru just groaned and buried his face in his hands.
Heedless of the ongoing exchange between the two men, Sophie strode into the courtyard, taking the stairs two at a time and heading directly for the practice salle, her face set in a dangerously calm expression. Gratified to find the practice hall deserted, she retrieved a practice blade and launched into a complex kata without preamble. Her movements were concentrated, stark, with blindingly fast precision and she let the exertion purge her of her irritation and tension.
"Tell me again, Yahiko-sensei, about the ryu tsui sen." The little girl gazed up at her teacher with wide, rapt eyes. "Was it like this?" she struggled to demonstrate.
The gray-haired man standing beside her chuckled in amusement and put a restraining hand on her shoulder. "No, Sophie-chan. You can't start there. There were basic fundamental kata you had to learn first." He rested the tip of his bokken on the ground and knelt down to look her right in the eyes.
The child blinked up at him fascinated. "Can you show me? Please, Yahiko-sensei. I want to learn."
Her teacher shook his head, " No, I only know some of them. Your grandfather is the only person who could teach that style and that's not something he'll ever do. Come on, let's continue our practice. I'll tell you another story later."
Frowning in concentration, the little girl gripped her bokken firmly and began her practice. Her teacher never noticed that her mind wasn't on the simple downward strikes she was repeating. 'I will learn.' She swore silently to herself. 'I will.'
"I was such a fool." Sophie muttered to herself. Unbidden the words of her grandfather echoed through her mind: You don't know the depths of hell for those who carry the hitokiri's sword. "I'm learning, Sofu. I'm learning." Her eyes narrowed as she leapt into the air, plunging downward allowing her body to torque into a brutal strike, before landing on her feet and sliding into a crouch.
She was about to continue the kata when a strangled gasp of fear broke her concentration. Pushing damp bangs out of her eyes, she straightened up to find three students, one from her own history class staring at her in shock and no small amount of fear.
"Sensei...." The young man from her own class managed to stammer, eyes wide and stunned. The other two teenagers had taken a step behind him, looking for all the world like cornered rabbits.
Sophie merely glared at the interlopers for a long moment, pulled herself into a rigid stance of attention, saluted once with her blade and stalked out of the Salle. The three students watched her depart, torn between relief and absolute shock.
"My gods......" one of the young men breathed. " THAT is your teacher, Akihiro???" He turned to stare at his friend whose gaze was still fixed on the door through which his teacher had stalked.
He nodded once. "Hai....." gulping spasmodically. "She's a good teacher..." his voice trailed off.
"I've never seen anything like that!" the second boy clapped Akihiro on the shoulder. "If she's your teacher, I don't envy you." He whistled. " I don't think I could survive a class with a battle ax like that."
"She's really a very good teacher...strict but..." Akihiro's mouth worked silently for a few breaths, "I don't know what that was."
"I certainly wouldn't want to get on her bad side." The first one teased, attempting to conceal the fear her movements had inexplicably caused in him. It was her eyes, the boy decided. She had the eyes of a killer.
His friend merely laughed in response. In the shadows, Suoh studied the scene before him intently, noting well that the boy's laugh was one of fear. Eyes dark, the ninja retreated to his meditations.
After the exertion of her practice and its unexpected interruption, Sophie had decided on a leisurely walk home, allowing her much abused muscles a chance to cool down. She had always been a night person, finding the chill breeze and silent darkness invigorating. She was almost at her apartment when she felt the hair on the back of her neck rise and the piercing force of a hunter's eyes boring into her back.
She stopped, still holding the katana she had practiced with, its tip brushing the hard concrete and bowed her head before turning to scan the silent expanse of trees lining the walkway. There was no one there. The path was utterly deserted. Looking up into the trees, her eyes focusing on a spot concealed within the shadows above and to her left, she saluted again with her blade, her mouth stretching out into a hard, thin line. "So you have come." She whispered to the darkness, expecting no answer and receiving none. "You have come at last."
End of chapter 2
Move coolly, like a lotus flower blooming in the midst of a
Roaring fire and forcefully pierce the Heavens!"
--Anonymous
"Check." Lavender eyes gleamed impishly up at Nokoru as he studied the chessboard, a small frown marring his features. Smirking, Sophie held up his newly captured queen, " I think I win, Rijichou." She grinned teasingly, setting the queen aside.
With a small bow of his head, Nokoru tipped over his King. "So desu." Then he smiled up at her. "You play very well." He stretched with an easy grace and began setting the board up again. "Another game?" the onre twinkle in his eyes promised great retribution for her earlier win.
In the many weeks that Sophie had been teaching at the University, she and Nokoru had begun meeting several times a week, for involved and often vicious bouts of chess, having discovered a mutual love for the game. To each other's utter delight, they found their skills equally matched as well, both possessing a keenly penetrating intellect and occasionally audacious wit and the chess games often degenerated into rapid fire discussions on everything from military history to the proper way to season vindaloo curry. Much to the dismay of the Head of Security, they were rapidly becoming fast friends and the president had taken to way-laying his newest professor after her morning classes.
The slender girl sitting across from him chuckled and cracked her knuckles with mock ferocity. "Sure. I'm not due back in class for a couple hours. I can best you again." Her voice teasing as her hands quickly arranged her pieces in the correct order.
Nokoru rolled his eyes and moved a knight out. "I've read your book, by the way. I found it fascinating. It was one of the reasons I sought you out for our school"
A look of surprise flickered across Sophie's features, "That was a tribute to my grandfather, though I'm sure he would have preferred I choose any other title than "Battousai." She chuckled ruefully. "But it seemed fitting." She contemplated the board a moment and made a strategically canny move, causing Nokoru's eyebrow to rise.
In response to her comment, the blond haired president merely nodded, "He was a remarkable man." His eyes narrowed as he studied the chessboard.
His opponent merely nodded once, " I know. I was quite blessed to have known him. I've been told that in many ways I am much like him but I think..." she smiled again, rather sadly, " that I lack his compassion."
Nokoru studied her silently for a long moment before deciding to change the subject, "You intrigue Takamura-kun."
Sophie snorted and leaned back in the chair, "Intrigue is not exactly the word I would use. He is suspicious of me...it's my weapons training, the way I move." She shrugged, though her eyes were dark. "My grandfather always used to tell me that the body does not lie. There's no way I can conceal the training."
He shrugged, "Perhaps you could teach me this Kamiya Kashin Ryu." He tilted his head up, favoring her with an angelic smile. "I promise to be a very apt pupil." That smile deepened.
She snorted again, stifling a burst of incredulous laughter, " And risk the wrath of the entire Takamura clan?" she shook her head. "I don't think so!" her eyes twinkled. "That headache, I do not need." Still chuckling she moved her queen out to threaten his position on the board.
"I'm serious!" he countered her attack, "Check."
"So am I." She moved a rook to protect her king. "I teach history, that is all. I'm too harsh to be a budo teacher, I'm brutal at training."
"I don't break easily." He studied her carefully, blue eyes locked with lavender. Sophie found herself at a loss for words as she fell into that penetrating cerulean gaze, her grip tightening ever so slightly on the delicately carved chess piece nestled between suddenly trembling fingers.
Their détente was broken by Suoh's arrival. "Rijichou, I..." he stopped and drew himself up, staring at Sophie. "I didn't realize you were occupied." His voice was terse as he moved to Nokoru's side protectively. Noting the ill-concealed antipathy between the two, the President merely sighed wearily.
Sophie rolled her eyes, "Perhaps we should continue this later." Her mouth thinned and she bowed her head to Nokoru, one hand gesturing to the chessboard.
The hostility and distrust radiating from Takamura Suoh was palpable, though for the most part the woman seemed unmoved. Nokoru looked from one warrior to the other and sighed, "Over dinner." He decided. "Seven o'clock?" He smiled sweetly.
Sophie blinked as Suoh opened his mouth to protest, and made a mental note to purchase stock in Excedrin. "That would be nice." She rose, cutting off Suoh's objection then paused, studying the ninja. "You could simply ask your questions, you know." The corner of her mouth twitched in what looked suspiciously like the beginnings of a grin.
Suoh stared at her, his chocolate brown eyes narrowed in concentrated distrust. The only sound in the room was the ticking of an old grandfather clock, it's sound in discreet counterpoint to the battle of wills raging full force between the two fighters. Sophie cocked her head awaiting Suoh's reply and after a moment, when the ninja merely continued to stare at her coldly, shrugged and turned her back on him, striding lithely toward the door.
There was no sound of warning, only the faint brush of cloth against steel. Dimly, Sophie was aware of Nokoru yelling in shocked protest but the electric rush of adrenaline had already sounded a clarion call of warning throughout her body and she reacted instinctively, thanks to long years of training. Faster than the eye could follow she turned, swiftly parrying, deflecting and in one case, deftly catching the eight throwing knives that sped her way, courtesy of the ninja's hand.
After ascertaining that no further attack was forthcoming, she met Nokoru's aghast eyes, Suoh's satisfied ones and balanced the throwing blade on the edge of one finger, her eyebrow raised speculatively.
"You didn't learn that speed from Kamiya Kashin Ryu." Suoh said, quite conversationally.
She smiled coldly and tossed the blade to land in the floor at his feet. "I never said that was the only style I had mastered." With a small smile she bowed to the two men and strode out the door.
Nokoru turned to Suoh, completely nonplussed, " What did you think you were doing?" he grabbed the ninja by the shoulders. "You could have killed her!"
Suoh's eyes were riveted on the door through which the woman had passed, "No, I couldn't and I knew that before I threw the first blade. I wanted to see her reflexes in action." He paused and put a steadying hand on Nokoru's shoulder. "I knew she could dodge those blades." He assured his friend. "But I need to know exactly how well trained she is. I had my family run a check on her and their results were no more informative than the file we have on her here. I don't like surprises, especially not where your safety is concerned." His dark eyes locked on Nokoru's brooking no argument.
The president sighed wearily, "She's not a danger to me." He ran a hand through his hair and sat down in the chair Sophie had abandoned. "Suoh, I can't have this every time the two of you meet. I understand that you are concerned for my safety but she is not a threat."
Suoh looked completely unconvinced, knowing his friend's penchant for chivalry. "She has many secrets." He stated calmly. "And this alone is very worrisome to me." Suoh studied his friend intently. "It's my job to be paranoid." He pointed out with a wry smile.
Nokoru just groaned and buried his face in his hands.
Heedless of the ongoing exchange between the two men, Sophie strode into the courtyard, taking the stairs two at a time and heading directly for the practice salle, her face set in a dangerously calm expression. Gratified to find the practice hall deserted, she retrieved a practice blade and launched into a complex kata without preamble. Her movements were concentrated, stark, with blindingly fast precision and she let the exertion purge her of her irritation and tension.
"Tell me again, Yahiko-sensei, about the ryu tsui sen." The little girl gazed up at her teacher with wide, rapt eyes. "Was it like this?" she struggled to demonstrate.
The gray-haired man standing beside her chuckled in amusement and put a restraining hand on her shoulder. "No, Sophie-chan. You can't start there. There were basic fundamental kata you had to learn first." He rested the tip of his bokken on the ground and knelt down to look her right in the eyes.
The child blinked up at him fascinated. "Can you show me? Please, Yahiko-sensei. I want to learn."
Her teacher shook his head, " No, I only know some of them. Your grandfather is the only person who could teach that style and that's not something he'll ever do. Come on, let's continue our practice. I'll tell you another story later."
Frowning in concentration, the little girl gripped her bokken firmly and began her practice. Her teacher never noticed that her mind wasn't on the simple downward strikes she was repeating. 'I will learn.' She swore silently to herself. 'I will.'
"I was such a fool." Sophie muttered to herself. Unbidden the words of her grandfather echoed through her mind: You don't know the depths of hell for those who carry the hitokiri's sword. "I'm learning, Sofu. I'm learning." Her eyes narrowed as she leapt into the air, plunging downward allowing her body to torque into a brutal strike, before landing on her feet and sliding into a crouch.
She was about to continue the kata when a strangled gasp of fear broke her concentration. Pushing damp bangs out of her eyes, she straightened up to find three students, one from her own history class staring at her in shock and no small amount of fear.
"Sensei...." The young man from her own class managed to stammer, eyes wide and stunned. The other two teenagers had taken a step behind him, looking for all the world like cornered rabbits.
Sophie merely glared at the interlopers for a long moment, pulled herself into a rigid stance of attention, saluted once with her blade and stalked out of the Salle. The three students watched her depart, torn between relief and absolute shock.
"My gods......" one of the young men breathed. " THAT is your teacher, Akihiro???" He turned to stare at his friend whose gaze was still fixed on the door through which his teacher had stalked.
He nodded once. "Hai....." gulping spasmodically. "She's a good teacher..." his voice trailed off.
"I've never seen anything like that!" the second boy clapped Akihiro on the shoulder. "If she's your teacher, I don't envy you." He whistled. " I don't think I could survive a class with a battle ax like that."
"She's really a very good teacher...strict but..." Akihiro's mouth worked silently for a few breaths, "I don't know what that was."
"I certainly wouldn't want to get on her bad side." The first one teased, attempting to conceal the fear her movements had inexplicably caused in him. It was her eyes, the boy decided. She had the eyes of a killer.
His friend merely laughed in response. In the shadows, Suoh studied the scene before him intently, noting well that the boy's laugh was one of fear. Eyes dark, the ninja retreated to his meditations.
After the exertion of her practice and its unexpected interruption, Sophie had decided on a leisurely walk home, allowing her much abused muscles a chance to cool down. She had always been a night person, finding the chill breeze and silent darkness invigorating. She was almost at her apartment when she felt the hair on the back of her neck rise and the piercing force of a hunter's eyes boring into her back.
She stopped, still holding the katana she had practiced with, its tip brushing the hard concrete and bowed her head before turning to scan the silent expanse of trees lining the walkway. There was no one there. The path was utterly deserted. Looking up into the trees, her eyes focusing on a spot concealed within the shadows above and to her left, she saluted again with her blade, her mouth stretching out into a hard, thin line. "So you have come." She whispered to the darkness, expecting no answer and receiving none. "You have come at last."
End of chapter 2