Chapter 9 A Preliminary Test
"Mizu no Ryuu!"
"Aoi Tatsumaki!"
"Koori no Yaiba!"
No matter what Clef threw at her she found a way to stop it and retaliate. He found himself shielding himself from her attacks more than she was stopping his. She was not only destroying his attacks but fighting back with her own. Finally when it looked as if she was going to faint on the floor from the effort he stopped her.
"You have much anger," he said with a slight frown on his face. What had made the Magic Knight so ridden with this kind of pain?
"I should," she muttered thinking of the dark woman who had hurt her again and again, "I don't plan to loose," she gritted her teeth and clenched her fists almost to the point of drawing blood.
"If you fight like this I don't know how you can't; you're almost invincible Umi," Persea whispered in awe, "I don't understand how you've accomplished all this since last time we've seen you, but somehow your fighting skills have improved, drastically."
Caldina nodded in agreement.
Umi blushed, "Arigato," she muttered as the other four walked back into the room.
"I want to try something, Umi are you up for another fight?" Clef asked her, and she nodded.
"Always."
"Okay good, both of you attack her at once," he instructed, and they looked dumbstruck.
"That's taking this a bit far," Hikaru commented, and he smiled slightly.
"Not really, I know you had to have helped her train because you can't learn all this on your own. I'm sure you've fought her before," he knew them too well.
"But never both at the same time. We tried once and couldn't bring ourselves to do it, it's not fair," Hikaru protested.
"He's not going to fight fair, do as he says Hikaru," Umi ordered strictly, and they were surprised at the bit of anger in her voice, "Gomen, but I want to win that's all. After what he… never mind."
"Umi-san?" Fuu whispered, but Umi shook her head.
"Come on," she urged smiling a bit, and they nodded and got on her left and right sides and bowed.
As Hikaru attacked on the right and Fuu on the left Umi moved out of the way as the two almost ran into each other. Umi met Hikaru's sword as Fuu pulled hers down on Umi's vulnerable side. Everyone in the room closed their eyes but when they opened them again they saw that Umi was perfectly fine, and Fuu's sword was on the ground. Fuu picked it up and went after Umi once more as she finished ripping Hikaru's sword from her hands. Umi spun, and in a few slick moves both swords were on the ground, and their owners were panting as Umi smiled triumphantly.
"You're…really…good," Hikaru said between pants.
"You've gotten much better too," Umi commented, and they both smiled.
"We had good teachers," they said almost in unison, and Umi laughed.
"Fuu, Hikaru, both of you need to strengthen your magic…I think," Clef wasn't so sure after what he had seen with Umi, but then…what had gone on with Umi that she wouldn't speak of?
"How are we to do that Guru?" Fuu asked curiously.
"You are going to practice of course," he responded, and Hikaru groaned.
"No! No more!" she shouted, and they laughed as they began their extended training.
§§§~~~
"Dammit," he muttered slinking away from the practice yards, "She's good. I'll have to do something about that, can't have me being defeated by a mere girl especially not that one."
§§§~~~
"I'm looking forward to a long hot bath and then a good night sleep," Umi yawned, as Hikaru stretched. They were walking back to their rooms after all day training and a large supper.
"Me too," not even Fuu could stifle a yawn.
"Well I'll see you guys in the morning," Umi retreated to her room and found a bath already waiting for her, she smiled, Cephiro was a wonderful place. She slipped into it and sighed blissfully. After about an hour of soaking her sore muscles she got up and changed into her night clothes and curled up under the sheets.
§§§~~~
He crouched in the darkness watching her sleep listening to her deep breaths and waited. He watched her for about an hour falling for her more and more until he was sure that she wouldn't be awoken.
As stealthily as a cat he crept to her bed and put his hands on her arms gently. When he was sure she wouldn't hear he whispered a few words, and they were gone.
§§§~~~
Hikaru and Fuu walked out of their rooms simultaneously and walked down to breakfast together. When they reached the table they found everyone there except for Umi.
"Lazy bum," Fuu teased, and Hikaru laughed. They sat down, and breakfast was handed to them. After they finished they looked up and found Umi still missing. They both got a sinking feeling in their stomach.
"Where's Umi-chan?" Hikaru asked nervously, and suddenly everyone got that same feeling.
"She never came to breakfast," Persea said softly, and the Magic Knights stood and ran to her room never looking back.
When they reached her room they threw open the door and looked at the bed. It was unmade, and Umi was gone.
§§§~~~
Wondering lips caressed her neck and sought hers. When they found them it was like centuries of waiting had finally come to an end, and heat sprung into her body. She reached up and wrapped her hands around his neck as she closed her eyes and snuggled as close to his body as she could. Strong arms wrapped around her, and she felt tears come to her eyes though she didn't know why. The grip on her slender body tightened protectively as she heard herself whisper, "I'll come back. I promise I'll be back and then we'll finally be together, forever…"
She awoke on a feather bed with a blue comforter and looked around still blushing from the dream. Who was she dreaming about? It had been seconds before, but she couldn't seem to remember though she knew she should. She shrugged and looked around again.
This wasn't her room in the palace. Where was she? Was this a dream? She stood and found that she was still wearing her nightclothes. There was an outfit laid out on the bed for her, and she looked at it curiously. Who had laid out an outfit for her? Then her mind drifted back, where was she again?
Horrible realization dawned on her as she sunk to the ground…this couldn't be right…
§§§~~~
"You treat her as if she's royalty," she muttered to her brother who was obviously love struck.
"She is," he muttered, and she rolled her eyes.
"I'm not going to say anything because you made my job a lot easier, but you know eventually we'll have to kill her."
"No we won't," he shook his head, "She'll give us her stone, don't worry about it, I've got it all under control."
She muttered again but didn't make any objections, as long as it didn't come between her work she wouldn't stop him from having his fun.
§§§~~~
"Where's Umi?" Ascot demanded as everyone came up behind them and saw the empty room.
"We don't know," Fuu said softly, and they winced.
"What do you mean you don't know?" Persea whispered.
"We don't know, she's just…gone," Hikaru responded trying to keep the tears in.
"Why would she leave?" Lafarga persisted.
"She wouldn't, she has no reason to want to leave," Fuu answered.
"Then what…?" Caldina couldn't finish.
"More like who," Clef interrupted.
"You're not implying…?" Persea was choked.
Fuu and Hikaru looked into his eyes as he answered;
"The enemy."
§§§~~~
"Umi," she spun at the all-too-familiar voice, "Get changed and have dinner with me, all will be explained."
"Why should I trust you?" she shouted, and he winced.
"Because…" he stopped, "I have to start from the beginning, please."
"Do I have a choice?" she scowled.
He nodded, "I can let you go, but you must hear this first, so please don't be difficult," he was awed by her.
She saw the way he looked at her and began to get nervous. She nodded afraid of what he could do, and he turned and left telling her he'd be back in half an hour.
She closed her eyes slowly and took a deep breath as she looked back to the outfit on the bed. She changed into it and found she was in a body fitting dark blue dress with light blue flowers on it that came just above her knees and had a small triangular slit on the right with only two spaghetti straps on each side. It was silky and comfortable, but Umi was nervous in it. Why did he put her in something like this? She didn't have time to figure it out as she slipped on the matching dark blue heeled sandals when he knocked on her door. She opened it, and he smiled at her offering his arm. She took it while looking around for an escape. There were no doors only a never-ending hallway until he snapped, and a room appeared in front of them. It was lit only by a few candles on the table and on the walls, and the table was set elegantly with fine silverware.
So he controls the exits, Umi thought grimly as she sat, and he took a spot on the opposite end of the table.
"You must be hungry, you've been in there all day. I'm sorry I didn't attend you earlier, but my sister, she needed my presence," he told her, and she nodded weakly not quite hearing.
A man scurried in and set dinner in front of the two stopping briefly to admire the beautiful girl that dined with his young master then turned and scampered away.
Umi was in no mood to eat as she tried to figure out what was going on. She simply moved her food around her plate and waited for him to begin. She found no other choice, there was no way out without summoning it first, and she knew that she would not be able to convince him of that. She had no armor and wasn't sure if she could summon it. She was helpless, and it drove her insane.
When he looked up and saw her waiting intently he decided to begin, "A long time ago when Emeraude was just being named pillar there were three Magic Knights to watch her coronation. A Knight of Fire, a Knight of Wind, and a Knight of Water. The Knight of Fire called herself Hikaru, the Knight of Wind called herself Fuu and the Knight of Water called herself Umi. For many years the Knights watched over the pillar of Cephiro and took care of her. In those years they grew closer and closer to the people in the palace. The Knight of Wind fell in love with the Princess Emeraude's brother, Prince Ferio. They shared their love and were planning to be married. The Knight of Fire fell in love with the Head Priest Zagato's brother, Lantis, a master swordsman. In all this time of love and happiness the Magic Knight of Water was lonely and cold. She hated feeling self pity and forced herself to encourage her friends and shared in their joy for a time. Then one day she was walking along the shore when she ran into a blue haired stranger. That stranger was me."
§§§~~~
Clef's eyes clouded with worry. The enemy knew her story. They could distort it and use it to their advantage. They could make her hate life, hate herself. If she hated herself he knew all would be lost, for a Magic Knight could never feel that kind of hate or the world would come tumbling down upon them.
"Clef we'll find her," Persea assured him, and he looked up. Everyone was looking at him strangely, and he nodded.
"I need to look for her," he turned and headed toward his study to look for the missing Knight.
"Why does he look like that Persea?" Hikaru asked softly, and Persea shook her head.
"He knows something about you three that we don't, something that maybe the enemy knows. Something that Umi certainly shouldn't hear from them," Persea responded.
"They could make Umi believe anything," Fuu whispered looking back to where Clef had come from.