Welcome to the revised version of Dealing With Life. No, I'm pretty sure the title reflects just
about *nothing* of the story, but I suck at coming up with titles. I hope this story is less
confusing than the first version. Enjoy! =^-^=
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The deeper the love, the more greed it has
Even wanting a grip on every sigh you made
It's unjust, but still ...
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The colony had ... exploded.
Right in front of his eyes, one minute it was there, the next ... gone. Only some debris
remained, floating in lazy patterns in the black, starry void that was known as space. He did
the only thing his numb mind could think of, scream his master's name in denial.
"CHAO LAOSHI!!!"
~"WuFei! Don't be confused WuFei. If you hesitate it affects your outcome in battles.
Fight on, WuFei! For the sake of justice in this universe!"~
Those had been his masters last words; keep fighting. And he would fight till the end, for he
knew of nothing else to do. He was the last of his colony; the last of his clan. His second
arranged marriage had ended only a few days before this, when Meiran was killed. His first had
never happened because of the sudden disappearance of the family whose daughter he had been
arranged to marry. The screen of the Shenlong Gundam, Gundam 05, flickered to life with the
image of a gentle, sliver haired woman.
She was Serenity-Ohi, queen of the Silver Millenium.
"Serenity-sama," the lone boy acknowledged the woman.
"WuFei," she replied, then paused, "I felt it. Something horrible has just happened to
your colony, hasn't it?"
" ... Hai. It just self-destructed."
"Gomen nasai."
"What do you want?"
"Always to the point," the queen sighed, with a sad smile, "I offer you my daughter's
hand in marriage, should you wish to continue your clan bloodline, and a home. I know she is not
of your race, but perhaps this will bridge the gap between races."
WuFei's brow scrunched together in scrutiny of the woman in front of him, another marriage? She
appeared honest in her intentions, but did he really want another bride? He mulled over her
offer for a minute and suddenly it dawned upon him that he really had nowhere left to turn.
At least there I will have somewhere to live the Chinese boy sighed, " ... Ryokai."
"Can you be at the Earth's moon by tomorrow?"
"At 1600 hours."
"Very good. I look forward to meeting you in person again, WuFei. It's been a long time."
The screen died away. WuFei altered the course of his gundam to the Moon, the home of the Silver
Millennium.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
"Selenity-hime! There you are, still slacking off of your studies."
The Moon Princess winced. Even though the voice was that of her guardian and friend Ami-hime,
Princess of Mercury and Sailor Mercury, she still marveled at how the girl be so worried about
studies.
"Anou ... Ami-chan! I was just looking for you ... I need help."
The blue haired girl sighed and would have sweatdropped and bonked the princess on the head, but
regulations around palace guards kept her from doing so. So she just sweatdropped.
"Iie, kimi masen deshita. I've been watching you prance about here for the last ten
minutes, looking for Heero-san. Kami-sama only knows where you were before that."
"She was in the kitchens trying to sneak off with one of Makoto-sempai's freshly made
cakes for tonight's welcoming party."
They looked in the direction of the new voice. Sailor Mars, another of the Princess' guards and
the Princess of Mars, Rei-hime, stepped out of the shadows that had concealed her.
"Welcoming party?"
"Hai, which reminds me why I am here. Your mother wishes to see you, Selenity-hime."
"Hontou ni? Then I suppose my study break can be taken with her. Sayonara."
With that, the silver clad girl rushed off to the main throne room of the Moon Palace. She knew
when she was in for a lecture, she was on the recieving end of them time after time, and yet
nothing could persuade her to actually pay attention to them.
"What welcoming party?" Mercury asked as soon as she was gone.
"You heard about the colony that blew up?"
"Aa. Sad, ne?"
"Hai. There was one survivor. Serenity-Ohi has arranged with him to marry Selenity-hime."
"Honto ni?! I do not think she will like that much."
"Iie. I can guarantee you she will not. He is very studious, a scholar like yourself -
which is not to say that she does not like you - but he is very strict and stubborn."
Mercury regarded Mars, a bit put off, then smiled and nodded. She knew that Rei was very
sensitive to her friends' feelings, and would never say something to intentionally hurt her
feelings.
"I agree. He does not sound like the kind Selenity-hime would enjoy to be wed to. I
wonder why Serenity-Ohi arranged the match."
Mars shrugged and began walking down the long hall to where the training rooms were.
"Come. Makoto-sempai should be training about now... I want to watch."
"As always."
The long haired Senshi didn't answer as she walked down the long marble hall to the back of the
wondrous palace.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The training rooms were well equipped for a pacifist palace, but they were *nothing* like the
ones on Jupiter in the Io Castle. They offered a standard set of training equipment; parallel
bars, vaults, balance beams, large floor mats of open space; mostly gymnastics equipment. There
were practice bokkens, but they were hardly adequate for a real practice session. They didn't
even have cross-bows or other real weapons for the guards, who depended on knives and short
swords if they had to kill. The training room was meant to be used mostly with hand-to-hand
combat, and to test powers and learn control, whereas Jovians were known for their fighting
abilities and their extensive army and training rooms.
Still ... Serenity-Ohi could get better equipment. We don't even have any metal katanas
to practice with ... it's much easier with them, Makoto-hime, Princess of Jupiter and Sailor
Jupiter, the third guardian of the Moon Princess, grumbled mentally.
She mentally ran through her list of moves as she performed them.
Thrust ... turn ... block ... parry ... lunge ... turn ... block ... side sweep ...
thrust ... parry ... block ... Nanto?!
Something made a shuffling noise on the floor in the shadows. Practiced, Makoto didn't freeze or
begin to look around, knowing that the enemy would be worse off if they thought she wasn't paying
attention to their presence. As she turned, Makoto got a look at a quick flash of red and blue
with human features.
Saa ... just Ami-chan and Rei-chan watching. No problem with that.
One of the ways to recognize the other princesses: they all wore their respective planets colors.
Always. She continued through the exercise, not acknowledging the other Senshi's presence until
she finished. She lowered the wooden sword and turned to face the onlookers.
"Konnichiwa Ami-chan, Rei-chan," she called, offering a slight bow as she wiped some
sweat off her forehead.
"Konnichiwa, Makoto-sempai," responded the two younger girls, bowing back.
"Ne, Rei-chan, are we still on for tonight's spiritual session?"
"Hai. And I've convinced Minako-chan and Selenity-hime to join us."
"Yoshi! Can't wait. ... Ne, do you want to spar? A favor for a favor?"
Rei thought it over. She would love the chance to get to know the older, more mysterious,
solitary Inner Senshi some more and during sparring sessions Makoto would often talk about her
home, but Michiru-hime, princess of Neptune and Sailor Neptune, had asked her to meet with Quatre
and Trowa to practice their music.
"Iie, gomen nasai. I can't, I have a music lesson with Michiru-san. Quatre-kun is going
to be there as well."
Makoto nodded and smiled a little. She knew a chance to be with the Outer Senshi was a rare
thing, they were more solitary than herself. With a another parting half wave, she bowed and
left the room.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
As Makoto approached the showers, she heard footsteps behind her. Two arms wrapped around her
waist and one hand was held over her mouth to prevent her from screaming.
Shimatta! Who now?
"Konnichiwa, Mako-chan," said a teasing voice.
The brunette let out a very un-lady like groan from behind the hand. She knew that voice, she
heard it every day and night for the boy who's voice that was, was very loud. She was released
and turned around to face two playful violet eyes.
"Mou ... Duo-chan! You *almost* scared me that time."
"Gomen, koi. You know how I like these games."
"Only too well, because you are certainly not supposed to be in the girls changing area.
I'm going to take a shower now, you can either wait for me or find Quatre-kun. I believe he and
Michiru-san should be in the music room. I know how you love to listen to them."
The braided bishounen wonder that was Duo smiled at his lover and blew her a kiss. She smiled
and blew one back, always amazed at how he made her feel so feminine yet powerful at the same
time. She watched him leave, then shed her clothes to take a quick shower before she headed back
to the kitchens. The new boy WuFei, Selenity-hime's arranged fiancee, would be arriving tonight,
and she had been put in charge of the food. Which was not to say that she minded, rather, she
enjoyed it and threw herself into it; a show of feminism on her part. Something clanged behind
her, and the white top she was about to put away was quickly put back on.
"Dare da?" she demanded, slipping into her pants in record time, "Show yourself!"
A Chinese boy came out, hands up in the air, and sniffed in her general direction.
"Ore wa, Chang WuFei."
NANI?! *That* is Sele-chan's fiancee? The one Duo talks about? she thought, amazed.
This was most definately *not* how she expected WuFei to be, though he was certainly as handsome
as Duo had described time and again. She wasn't going to tell him that, though, and she would
not let him get away with being rude.
"I am going to assume you are new to the palace, and that is why you are wandering about
in a female bathing area," Makoto hissed dangerously, not liking his attitude at all.
The boy glared at her, though he didn't answer. He was too busy taking in her apparel, noting
how similar she seemed to Meiran.
"You seem to be ready for a fight. Weaklings shouldn't fight," he intoned.
The Senshi of Jupiter narrowed her eyes. Anybody who knew her well knew this look meant trouble
for the poor soul who dared to insult her. Obviously he did not know her, for he kept a highly
snobbish air about him and continued glaring at her.
"It is true that weaklings shouldn't fight, but the only way to refrain from being a
weakling is to learn how to fight and become strong. Would you like to test me on that theory and
prove to me just how weak I am?" she bit out.
The boy lowered his hands, now looking just as disdainful, but a bit curious.
Another girl would dare fight me? Nataku ... she is just like you ... "Very well.
Ima. We fight. I assume you know where the gym is."
Biting down on her lip was all Makoto could do to keep herself from growling at him outright.
She stalked past him, silently, not trusting herself to talk too much, lest she punch him right
in his pretty jaw.
"Follow me."
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
WuFei and Makoto stood, swords at ready, body protectors on. Instead of kendo, WuFei had decided
to test her ability in an older style of fencing, French style, using a foil. Unfortuneatly for
him, that was one of Makoto's best styles, because her father insisted that she and her brother
learn them all.
"Best two out of three rounds. As soon as the sword comes into contact with any of this
area," Makoto paused, demonstrating the designated torso area with her sword, "wins the round.
Any other part of the body is out of bounds, the round goes to the other. Wakarimasu ka?"
"Hai. Wakatta."
"Did you hear the rules, Haruka-sempai?"
A blond that WuFei had not known was there stepped out of the shadows and grinned boyishly at her
younger comrade.
"Clear as a bell, Tora-chan. I'll keep watch over the match."
"Arigatou."
Haruka became serious, stepping closer to the two fighters, making sure her dress didn't get in
the way of her movement.
"Salute each other ... " a pause while the two made the traditional sweeping salute with
their swords, "Ready!"
The two teens took on en-guard positions.
"Round one. Begin!"
Makoto and WuFei watched each other warily, each waiting for the other to make their move. They
had marked a makeshift strip on one of the mats, so they knew where not to step. WuFei knew he
had endless patience on his side, but it seemed that the girl had the same advantage. She
grinned rather lazily at him, egging him on.
"I am not so easily moved by taunts," he warned her.
Her grin became more apparent.
"Neither am I. I also do not believe in underhanded tricks like that. I'll thank you not
to question my actions without good reason. There are many possible situations I might smile
about."
WuFei snorted. She was trying to confuse him. He would have to be aware of that --
*THWACK*
Somewhere in his musings, she had slipped through his defense and her sword was now connected
solidly with the middle of his chest.
"Lesson 1: Never turn your attention away from the opponent. It's not a pretty sight
afterward."
The Chinese boy seethed, nearly seeing red. How dare she mock him ... how dare he let his guard
down? He drew back from the sword and got ready to fight again.
"First round goes to Makoto. Ready!" called Haruka.
Makoto answered his ready position with her own.
"Round two. Begin!"
This time WuFei vowed not to let anything get to him, or past him. He kept a wary eye on her
sword, while the other watched her face for any clues she might give up as to what move she would
make. Finally, she got impatient and lunged. He was ready this time with a block. Jump away.
Lunge. Block. Advance. Retreat. Swing. Block. Thrust. Parry.
She has some skill. Impressive. WuFei thought idly. "You are sloppy in your ways. Your
form is not proper."
"My form is fine, thank you."
Parry. Feint. Block. Thrust. Retreat. Swing. Shift. Duck. Jump.
"You are weak! You can't even swing well with that sword. Why don't you just give up?"
"I. Am. Not. Weak. Kisama!"
Emotions took control. Wild lunge. Makoto was blinded by the anger and missed the sword
sweeping down to slash a nice sized tear in her chest protector.
"Lesson 2: Never let your emotions get the best of you. Bad things happen as an outcome."
"Round two goes to Gaijin-san. Ready! Begin!" Haruka commanded.
This time WuFei just leapt into it, not giving Makoto a chance to breathe. He swung hard and
fast, and had to admit he was rather impressed when she blocked them all. Swing, connect, apart,
swing, connect, apart, swing, connect, apart. It was a continuous pattern until Makoto leapt
impossibly high into the air to jump over a low swing and came down.
*SNAP* *THUD*
A sword landed point down, sticking straight up in the air, in the mat about five feet away from
the dueling teens. They stood there, panting, Makoto gripping her sword like it was a safety
line. Sticking through WuFei's face protector and right above his heart.
~Owari, chapter 1~
about *nothing* of the story, but I suck at coming up with titles. I hope this story is less
confusing than the first version. Enjoy! =^-^=
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The deeper the love, the more greed it has
Even wanting a grip on every sigh you made
It's unjust, but still ...
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The colony had ... exploded.
Right in front of his eyes, one minute it was there, the next ... gone. Only some debris
remained, floating in lazy patterns in the black, starry void that was known as space. He did
the only thing his numb mind could think of, scream his master's name in denial.
"CHAO LAOSHI!!!"
~"WuFei! Don't be confused WuFei. If you hesitate it affects your outcome in battles.
Fight on, WuFei! For the sake of justice in this universe!"~
Those had been his masters last words; keep fighting. And he would fight till the end, for he
knew of nothing else to do. He was the last of his colony; the last of his clan. His second
arranged marriage had ended only a few days before this, when Meiran was killed. His first had
never happened because of the sudden disappearance of the family whose daughter he had been
arranged to marry. The screen of the Shenlong Gundam, Gundam 05, flickered to life with the
image of a gentle, sliver haired woman.
She was Serenity-Ohi, queen of the Silver Millenium.
"Serenity-sama," the lone boy acknowledged the woman.
"WuFei," she replied, then paused, "I felt it. Something horrible has just happened to
your colony, hasn't it?"
" ... Hai. It just self-destructed."
"Gomen nasai."
"What do you want?"
"Always to the point," the queen sighed, with a sad smile, "I offer you my daughter's
hand in marriage, should you wish to continue your clan bloodline, and a home. I know she is not
of your race, but perhaps this will bridge the gap between races."
WuFei's brow scrunched together in scrutiny of the woman in front of him, another marriage? She
appeared honest in her intentions, but did he really want another bride? He mulled over her
offer for a minute and suddenly it dawned upon him that he really had nowhere left to turn.
At least there I will have somewhere to live the Chinese boy sighed, " ... Ryokai."
"Can you be at the Earth's moon by tomorrow?"
"At 1600 hours."
"Very good. I look forward to meeting you in person again, WuFei. It's been a long time."
The screen died away. WuFei altered the course of his gundam to the Moon, the home of the Silver
Millennium.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
"Selenity-hime! There you are, still slacking off of your studies."
The Moon Princess winced. Even though the voice was that of her guardian and friend Ami-hime,
Princess of Mercury and Sailor Mercury, she still marveled at how the girl be so worried about
studies.
"Anou ... Ami-chan! I was just looking for you ... I need help."
The blue haired girl sighed and would have sweatdropped and bonked the princess on the head, but
regulations around palace guards kept her from doing so. So she just sweatdropped.
"Iie, kimi masen deshita. I've been watching you prance about here for the last ten
minutes, looking for Heero-san. Kami-sama only knows where you were before that."
"She was in the kitchens trying to sneak off with one of Makoto-sempai's freshly made
cakes for tonight's welcoming party."
They looked in the direction of the new voice. Sailor Mars, another of the Princess' guards and
the Princess of Mars, Rei-hime, stepped out of the shadows that had concealed her.
"Welcoming party?"
"Hai, which reminds me why I am here. Your mother wishes to see you, Selenity-hime."
"Hontou ni? Then I suppose my study break can be taken with her. Sayonara."
With that, the silver clad girl rushed off to the main throne room of the Moon Palace. She knew
when she was in for a lecture, she was on the recieving end of them time after time, and yet
nothing could persuade her to actually pay attention to them.
"What welcoming party?" Mercury asked as soon as she was gone.
"You heard about the colony that blew up?"
"Aa. Sad, ne?"
"Hai. There was one survivor. Serenity-Ohi has arranged with him to marry Selenity-hime."
"Honto ni?! I do not think she will like that much."
"Iie. I can guarantee you she will not. He is very studious, a scholar like yourself -
which is not to say that she does not like you - but he is very strict and stubborn."
Mercury regarded Mars, a bit put off, then smiled and nodded. She knew that Rei was very
sensitive to her friends' feelings, and would never say something to intentionally hurt her
feelings.
"I agree. He does not sound like the kind Selenity-hime would enjoy to be wed to. I
wonder why Serenity-Ohi arranged the match."
Mars shrugged and began walking down the long hall to where the training rooms were.
"Come. Makoto-sempai should be training about now... I want to watch."
"As always."
The long haired Senshi didn't answer as she walked down the long marble hall to the back of the
wondrous palace.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The training rooms were well equipped for a pacifist palace, but they were *nothing* like the
ones on Jupiter in the Io Castle. They offered a standard set of training equipment; parallel
bars, vaults, balance beams, large floor mats of open space; mostly gymnastics equipment. There
were practice bokkens, but they were hardly adequate for a real practice session. They didn't
even have cross-bows or other real weapons for the guards, who depended on knives and short
swords if they had to kill. The training room was meant to be used mostly with hand-to-hand
combat, and to test powers and learn control, whereas Jovians were known for their fighting
abilities and their extensive army and training rooms.
Still ... Serenity-Ohi could get better equipment. We don't even have any metal katanas
to practice with ... it's much easier with them, Makoto-hime, Princess of Jupiter and Sailor
Jupiter, the third guardian of the Moon Princess, grumbled mentally.
She mentally ran through her list of moves as she performed them.
Thrust ... turn ... block ... parry ... lunge ... turn ... block ... side sweep ...
thrust ... parry ... block ... Nanto?!
Something made a shuffling noise on the floor in the shadows. Practiced, Makoto didn't freeze or
begin to look around, knowing that the enemy would be worse off if they thought she wasn't paying
attention to their presence. As she turned, Makoto got a look at a quick flash of red and blue
with human features.
Saa ... just Ami-chan and Rei-chan watching. No problem with that.
One of the ways to recognize the other princesses: they all wore their respective planets colors.
Always. She continued through the exercise, not acknowledging the other Senshi's presence until
she finished. She lowered the wooden sword and turned to face the onlookers.
"Konnichiwa Ami-chan, Rei-chan," she called, offering a slight bow as she wiped some
sweat off her forehead.
"Konnichiwa, Makoto-sempai," responded the two younger girls, bowing back.
"Ne, Rei-chan, are we still on for tonight's spiritual session?"
"Hai. And I've convinced Minako-chan and Selenity-hime to join us."
"Yoshi! Can't wait. ... Ne, do you want to spar? A favor for a favor?"
Rei thought it over. She would love the chance to get to know the older, more mysterious,
solitary Inner Senshi some more and during sparring sessions Makoto would often talk about her
home, but Michiru-hime, princess of Neptune and Sailor Neptune, had asked her to meet with Quatre
and Trowa to practice their music.
"Iie, gomen nasai. I can't, I have a music lesson with Michiru-san. Quatre-kun is going
to be there as well."
Makoto nodded and smiled a little. She knew a chance to be with the Outer Senshi was a rare
thing, they were more solitary than herself. With a another parting half wave, she bowed and
left the room.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
As Makoto approached the showers, she heard footsteps behind her. Two arms wrapped around her
waist and one hand was held over her mouth to prevent her from screaming.
Shimatta! Who now?
"Konnichiwa, Mako-chan," said a teasing voice.
The brunette let out a very un-lady like groan from behind the hand. She knew that voice, she
heard it every day and night for the boy who's voice that was, was very loud. She was released
and turned around to face two playful violet eyes.
"Mou ... Duo-chan! You *almost* scared me that time."
"Gomen, koi. You know how I like these games."
"Only too well, because you are certainly not supposed to be in the girls changing area.
I'm going to take a shower now, you can either wait for me or find Quatre-kun. I believe he and
Michiru-san should be in the music room. I know how you love to listen to them."
The braided bishounen wonder that was Duo smiled at his lover and blew her a kiss. She smiled
and blew one back, always amazed at how he made her feel so feminine yet powerful at the same
time. She watched him leave, then shed her clothes to take a quick shower before she headed back
to the kitchens. The new boy WuFei, Selenity-hime's arranged fiancee, would be arriving tonight,
and she had been put in charge of the food. Which was not to say that she minded, rather, she
enjoyed it and threw herself into it; a show of feminism on her part. Something clanged behind
her, and the white top she was about to put away was quickly put back on.
"Dare da?" she demanded, slipping into her pants in record time, "Show yourself!"
A Chinese boy came out, hands up in the air, and sniffed in her general direction.
"Ore wa, Chang WuFei."
NANI?! *That* is Sele-chan's fiancee? The one Duo talks about? she thought, amazed.
This was most definately *not* how she expected WuFei to be, though he was certainly as handsome
as Duo had described time and again. She wasn't going to tell him that, though, and she would
not let him get away with being rude.
"I am going to assume you are new to the palace, and that is why you are wandering about
in a female bathing area," Makoto hissed dangerously, not liking his attitude at all.
The boy glared at her, though he didn't answer. He was too busy taking in her apparel, noting
how similar she seemed to Meiran.
"You seem to be ready for a fight. Weaklings shouldn't fight," he intoned.
The Senshi of Jupiter narrowed her eyes. Anybody who knew her well knew this look meant trouble
for the poor soul who dared to insult her. Obviously he did not know her, for he kept a highly
snobbish air about him and continued glaring at her.
"It is true that weaklings shouldn't fight, but the only way to refrain from being a
weakling is to learn how to fight and become strong. Would you like to test me on that theory and
prove to me just how weak I am?" she bit out.
The boy lowered his hands, now looking just as disdainful, but a bit curious.
Another girl would dare fight me? Nataku ... she is just like you ... "Very well.
Ima. We fight. I assume you know where the gym is."
Biting down on her lip was all Makoto could do to keep herself from growling at him outright.
She stalked past him, silently, not trusting herself to talk too much, lest she punch him right
in his pretty jaw.
"Follow me."
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
WuFei and Makoto stood, swords at ready, body protectors on. Instead of kendo, WuFei had decided
to test her ability in an older style of fencing, French style, using a foil. Unfortuneatly for
him, that was one of Makoto's best styles, because her father insisted that she and her brother
learn them all.
"Best two out of three rounds. As soon as the sword comes into contact with any of this
area," Makoto paused, demonstrating the designated torso area with her sword, "wins the round.
Any other part of the body is out of bounds, the round goes to the other. Wakarimasu ka?"
"Hai. Wakatta."
"Did you hear the rules, Haruka-sempai?"
A blond that WuFei had not known was there stepped out of the shadows and grinned boyishly at her
younger comrade.
"Clear as a bell, Tora-chan. I'll keep watch over the match."
"Arigatou."
Haruka became serious, stepping closer to the two fighters, making sure her dress didn't get in
the way of her movement.
"Salute each other ... " a pause while the two made the traditional sweeping salute with
their swords, "Ready!"
The two teens took on en-guard positions.
"Round one. Begin!"
Makoto and WuFei watched each other warily, each waiting for the other to make their move. They
had marked a makeshift strip on one of the mats, so they knew where not to step. WuFei knew he
had endless patience on his side, but it seemed that the girl had the same advantage. She
grinned rather lazily at him, egging him on.
"I am not so easily moved by taunts," he warned her.
Her grin became more apparent.
"Neither am I. I also do not believe in underhanded tricks like that. I'll thank you not
to question my actions without good reason. There are many possible situations I might smile
about."
WuFei snorted. She was trying to confuse him. He would have to be aware of that --
*THWACK*
Somewhere in his musings, she had slipped through his defense and her sword was now connected
solidly with the middle of his chest.
"Lesson 1: Never turn your attention away from the opponent. It's not a pretty sight
afterward."
The Chinese boy seethed, nearly seeing red. How dare she mock him ... how dare he let his guard
down? He drew back from the sword and got ready to fight again.
"First round goes to Makoto. Ready!" called Haruka.
Makoto answered his ready position with her own.
"Round two. Begin!"
This time WuFei vowed not to let anything get to him, or past him. He kept a wary eye on her
sword, while the other watched her face for any clues she might give up as to what move she would
make. Finally, she got impatient and lunged. He was ready this time with a block. Jump away.
Lunge. Block. Advance. Retreat. Swing. Block. Thrust. Parry.
She has some skill. Impressive. WuFei thought idly. "You are sloppy in your ways. Your
form is not proper."
"My form is fine, thank you."
Parry. Feint. Block. Thrust. Retreat. Swing. Shift. Duck. Jump.
"You are weak! You can't even swing well with that sword. Why don't you just give up?"
"I. Am. Not. Weak. Kisama!"
Emotions took control. Wild lunge. Makoto was blinded by the anger and missed the sword
sweeping down to slash a nice sized tear in her chest protector.
"Lesson 2: Never let your emotions get the best of you. Bad things happen as an outcome."
"Round two goes to Gaijin-san. Ready! Begin!" Haruka commanded.
This time WuFei just leapt into it, not giving Makoto a chance to breathe. He swung hard and
fast, and had to admit he was rather impressed when she blocked them all. Swing, connect, apart,
swing, connect, apart, swing, connect, apart. It was a continuous pattern until Makoto leapt
impossibly high into the air to jump over a low swing and came down.
*SNAP* *THUD*
A sword landed point down, sticking straight up in the air, in the mat about five feet away from
the dueling teens. They stood there, panting, Makoto gripping her sword like it was a safety
line. Sticking through WuFei's face protector and right above his heart.
~Owari, chapter 1~
