Hi! Just got back from my trip to the United States! Daaamn, you people have a lot more anime available than we do up here in Canada! Normally I have to drive like forty-five minutes to a larger city to hopefully find any videos and manga is basically like the impossible dream. While in the States, I picked up the Samurai X movie and something like six mangas.
So I lent them to neekabe.
Now she won't give them back. ;p (Hint, hint, kabe-chan!)
Anyhoo, this is what I did when I got home!
Enjoy! –Lady PhoenixDagger *//.^*
*****
Heero and the others opened their eyes. They were back on Walker's bed, cross-legged, sitting in a circle. The board stiffness in all their joints was nothing short of completely horrendous. In true Perfect Soldier fashion, Heero simply ignored it. Wearily, Walker and Darien rubbed their eyes and sighed, twisting around to crack their aching lower backs. Everything was done in perfect unintentional unison. They even yawned together.
Twins, thought Heero disinterestedly. He glanced out the window at the September scene outside. The sun was high up in the sky. Noon. So they had been on memory lane for three hours, then.
"I'd say that's enough sharing for today," Walker commented, cracking his stiffened wrists. "You can return to me to see more if you wish, but for now, I think that'll be enough."
Relena, indulging in a ladylike stretch, yawned. "What do we do now?"
"Dunno." Darien yawned back at her. "Take a look around? See the Keep? Meet and greet?"
"Sounds cool." Duo grinned lazily. "Meet up some of the locals, grab a bite to eat, see the local countryside… Hey, maybe Heero and I could pick up some new 'female friends' while we're at it; eh, Heero?"
Heero grunted and resisted the urge to throttle him.
Cathy grinned. "Like the Great Shinigami could actually bake himself a date."
"Shut up."
Pop. Walker cracked his neck and stood, sauntering easily off the bed and hopping to the floor. "We have several libraries, weapons rooms and a small tavern outside if you get hungry. Feel free to roam about, but don't leave the outer gates. Black Hood raided us recently, so it's still a bad idea to venture away from the Keep." He frowned. "Geez, I sound like a tourist guidebook, don't I?"
"Fine by me." Heero came off the bed, showing to outward signs of stiffness. Ignore it and it will eventually go away, that was the idea. If only it applied to Duo… "Where's the closest weapons room?"
"There are maps posted around," Quatre chirped. "I saw one on the way here."
"Correct," Belle smiled at them from her chair by the unlit fireplace. "Go where you will, but please meet me here at five o'clock. You are to live with my husband and I and I don't want to have to hunt you all down."
Trowa's hand clapped over Wufei's mouth before the Solitary Dragon could let go a stream of cursing. "Good enough for us," the Silencer said quickly. He nodded to the others. "Shall we go?"
The struggling Wufei was dragged by the others from the room by his ankles, kicking and screaming against Trowa's hand.
Belle pretended not to notice.
*****
"Ahhhh…" Misty sighed. She was sitting against the bole of a massive oak tree by Mandreg's tavern, which was quiet as a tomb, a usual arrangement for a little after midday. Still, as soon as night fell, she knew that the lanterns would be lit and wine, song and dance would soon rule the place.
The day just gets better and better. Misty grinned happily and put her hands behind her coppery-haired head. I finally get my flute fixed, the weather is absolutely wonderful and that dork with the braid hasn't come up to but me all d-
"Hi!"
If I can't see him, he's not there. Misty scrunched her eyes shut. He is not there.
"Waaakie, wakie!" Nudge, nudge on Misty's shoulder. "Waaaaakie, wakie!" Nudge, nudge.
Irritable green eyes popped open. "Stop that!"
"Hi!" The braided boy stuck out a hand. "I'm Duo. Duo Maxwell. I might run and hide but I never tell a lie. That's me in a nutshell. Duo Maxwell."
Misty looked at the hand, but didn't shake it. "What the hell kind of fruitcake are you?"
Duo snorted and plunked down next to Misty, accidentally sitting on her hand. "Geez, you try to be nice to a pretty lady and what does it get you? The cold shoulder! Talk about hostile."
Damn. He's right. Misty stuck out her right hand. "Misty Broman. Bard."
"Duo Maxwell. Babe magnet." Duo stuck out his own hand, wondering at this girl's choice of clothing. She wore leather breeches and a white cotton shirt with colourful embroidery and a leather vest. Her feet were encased it knee-high doeskin boots and from where he stood, Duo could just make out the outlines of some sort of slender sheath inside each boot. A small dagger rested easily on her hip. Well, well, if it isn't merry old Robin Hood, Duo grinned to himself.
They shook hands.
"So whatcha doing?" Duo asked, stretching out to bask in the early fall sunshine. He grinned lazily at his new companion, breathing in the warm air duskily fragrant with the scent of distant wood smoke.
"I'm just sitting," Misty said. "They don't need anyone to help in the fields just yet, so it's just me sitting here doing nothing."
"Oh, okay." Duo risked a glance around. The ground around him was hard-packed dirt with a few scrabbly little tufts of grass scattered here and there. There were no fields to be seen. He tried another tack. "Sooo…what's a bard?"
Misty grinned and poked herself in the chest. "This is. A bard is someone who uses music to weave magical spells. Not to mention a mean rendition of Carmina Burana."
"Yeah?" Duo shifted himself off a particularly bumpy root. "Prove it. Sing me something."
"What? Now?" Misty blinked at this forward stranger. Did he not know it was bad etiquette to simply come out and ask a bard to belt out a tune? "It's rude just to ask me to sing at you for no reason, you know."
"I have a reason," Duo said brightly. "I want to hear your voice!"
Misty sighed. I can't believe I'm doing this, she moaned inwardly. "Fine. But only because I ran you into that wall yesterday."
"You didn't-"
"Shh! You want to hear me sing or not?" She sat back, satisfied. If this guy could be so forward with her, she could be just as forward back.
The Great Shinigami leaned back against the bole of the tree and scowled deeply at the tiny bard next to him. The effect was that of a very large, disappointed three-year-old. Misty suppressed the urge to laugh. "Yeah," he conceded at length. "But now you have to use magic, too. Make something fly or something."
"What?! Oohhh, you little rat! Fine." Misty cleared her throat and began, her voice rising in a clear soprano:
Are you going to Scarborough fair?
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme.
Remember me to one who lives there
He was once a true love of mine.
"That was pretty," Duo grinned.
"I'm not done!"
"Sorry, sorry."
Tell him to make me a cambric shirt,
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme.
Without no seams, nor needle work,
Then he'll be a true love of mine.
"Nice." Duo interrupted again, this time setting Misty's teeth on edge. "But I'm not seeing anything flying."
"Shut your eyes," instructed Misty.
"Why?"
"Because the song ends here if you don't."
Obediently, Duo shut his eyes. Misty smirked at him and added another soprano voice to hers and the swell of an unseen piano to compliment them both.
Tell him to find me an acre of land,
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme.
Between salt water and the sea strand
Then he'll be a true love of mine.
Duo's grin nearly took in his ears "Cool! Who's that other person singing with you?"
"What other person?" Misty said smugly. "I only see me."
"Oh…"
Tell him to reap it with a sickle of leather,
Duo's widely grinning face turned to one of puzzlement as he suddenly felt himself growing lighter.
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme.
Duo suddenly felt a lot lighter. In fact he didn't seem to have his full weight on the ground. Something in his head clicked as he felt his bottom begin to leave the cool ground beneath the massive oak tree. His eyes popped open. "Hey, hey, whoa, waitaminute!!"
Misty only sang louder, a saucy grin touching her elfin features. Duo was about a foot above her and still rising.
And gather it all in a bunch of heather,
Then he'll be a true love of mine.
"Hey!!!!!! Let me down!!!!!" screamed Duo. He stopped rising at about six feet and simply floated in place, looking indignantly down at the top of Misty's coppery head.
She sighed and relaxed again against the bole of her tree. "Now why would I go and do a silly thing like that after working so hard to get you up there in the first place? I think you'll just have to get used to being six feet up. It won't be too difficult once the initial thrill wears off." She shrugged and ran her fingers through her chin-length tresses. "Who knows? You might even get to like it up there."
"Put me down!" Duo hollered again, thrashing like a drowning man.
"You wanted me to make something fly, so I did." Grinning, the bard stood and regarded her prisoner, tiny hands on tiny hips. "Can I help it if you weren't specific?" There came a rather unladylike grunt as Misty quickly scaled the tree and arranged herself on a thick branch above Duo's head. "I'm not the bad guy in this matter, you know."
"What do you want?" Duo cried, feeling his breakfast rise. Flying in a Gundam was one thing. Flying by himself was another -significantly more nauseating- thing altogether.
Misty lounged lazily against her branch above Duo's head. "Well… as soon as you get your hands on some coin, maybe you could treat me to lunch at Mandreg's tavern over there." She pointed to the place.
"Fine! Just let me down!" A pause. "Slowly!!"
Misty grinned at him and began to hum a slow, calming tune. Gradually, Duo began to sink back down to earth and finally touched the ground. Immediately, he fell flat on his face and began slathering the ground with kisses. "Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou!!"
"No prob." Misty swung down from her perch and dropped lightly in front of the still-prostrated Duo. "You doing anything right now?"
"Not until five, no," Duo said, sitting up and spitting dirt.
A sudden tiny, pink blush crept up Misty's face. "We-ell, I figured that since you're new here, I could give you the fifty cent tour of the Keep. I promise I won't do anything too evil to you." The blush was replaced by a wide grin. "Unless you deserve it, of course."
Heaven help me. Ah, well. At least she's cute. "Okay," Duo sighed. "Lead on."
"Cool!" Misty's grin grew even wider. "Ahhh…where to begin? I guess the beginning is the best place, no?" She spread her arms out wide. "This, my new braided friend, is the Courtyard. What's so funny?"
"I didn't know it was possible to pronounce a capital 'C'."
"Ahem! The Courtyard is kinda like a tiny village marketplace. We do most of our buying and trading here, though just about everyone lives inside the Keep itself. The tavern is over there, the forge, bakery and dry goods store is over there and the stables are that way." Nodding, Duo noted the rich, earthy smell of horses wafting on the wind, mixed with the short, staccato sound of hammer striking anvil. "And the church is around the side of the Keep over there." They walked around the huge wall of the Keep to come upon a tiny chapel surrounded by a low white picket fence. "Don't be fooled by the size," Misty cautioned. "The place is bigger on the inside than it is on the outside, if you know what I mean. On the inside, it's probably about the size of a basilica or something like that. Father Coine is the priest here. A Bhaarliad man. He's very sweet."
"Yeah." Duo made a hasty mental note to come back to this place later on. The church was meticulously taken care of. The stained glass windows shone like jewels in the sun and the tall wooden doors gleamed, true testament to someone's loving hand. Even the stone itself looked like it had been scrubbed within an inch of its life. The faint sounds of singing came from within.
"Children's choir practice," Misty explained and caught Duo's hand, dragging him inside the Keep. "Come on!" she grinned. "There's still a lot more to see!"
*****
Wufei flipped the dagger over in his hand, studying its craftsmanship. Good balance. Well made. He sighted down the blade. Straight and true. Truly a weapon worthy of a warrior. He set it down on the rack and selected a Roman style short sword for inspection.
"And this is the armoury," a voice said from far off. Wufei cringed. A girl. Sounded like she was as excitable as Maxwell. Wonderful.
"We usually keep our own weapons, but any old ones or things we keep in reserve stay here." The voice was now a lot closer. Wufei growled to himself and put the sword back on the rack –which was another piece of masterful work, by the way.
"What kinds of weapons?" Wufei's face fell further. Maxwell. Lovely. They were rounding the corner.
"Oh, anything. Swords of all makes, dirks, studded whips, siege engines, Japanese weapons, African weapons, Indian weapons. Anything, really."
"Cool." They appeared around the corner. "Oh, hey, Wu-man."
"Don't call me Wu-man," Wufei recited, more out of habit than anything else. He turned to the girl, noting that she was even shorter than he was, only barely reaching to his shoulder. "Have you any Chinese weaponry here?"
Misty nodded. "Yep. Look all you like, but be sure not to touch the black-bladed sword with the gold tassels. It's the Black Dragon, my brother Darien's sword and he hates it when people play with it." She pointed. "Just past the catapult and hang a sharp right."
Wufei bowed curtly to her and departed, heels clicking smartly against the stone floor.
Selecting the dagger from the sheath at her waist, Misty began to flip it expertly into the air from one hand to the other. "Friendly guy."
"You don't know the half of it." Duo's eyes were riveted to the gleaming steel flipping in Misty's hands. "You should see him at parties."
The redhead glanced fleetingly at Wufei's retreating back. "He can party?"
"Only if we drag him," laughed Duo. Quick as a cat, he snatched Misty's flying dagger in mid toss and began flicking it into the air himself. "He usually just stands there, arms folded, scowling at all the other guests. Occasionally he even socialises."
"How's that?" Misty grabbed her dagger from him in mid spin and began again to flip it into the air.
"You know, regular Wu-man behaviour:" Duo made his voice harsh and mean, a parody of Wufei's own smooth diction. 'Dancing is for weaklings!' and 'dammit, quit winking at me, woman! Is there something wrong with your eyes?!' and the inevitable 'bring it on, weakling!'"
"Usually followed by mortal combat?"
"Yuh huh." He made another grab at the knife, but this time Misty was too quick, slipping it into her belt. She glanced at her watch. "It's getting close to five. I'll show you to the music hall next."
*****
The final bars of "The Rose" hung beautiful and shivering in the air a moment before dissolving into silence. Trowa lowered the flute from his lips and slowly began to take it apart to clean it. Behind him, he could hear Quatre testing out the E string of a violin nearby.
"This is my absolute favourite room." Trowa looked up to see Misty and Duo standing in the doorway. "We're all very musical here at the Keep. Even my big brothers play instruments."
"What do they play?" Quatre asked politely, his arms all but hugging the violin in a familiar embrace.
"Well, Darien plays the piano and watching his hands is like seeing a pair of insane hummingbirds on speed running up and down the keyboard. And Walker plays the violin like he was born with it in his hands, like you do." Misty seemed to burst with pride while she said this. "It's Quatre, right?"
The blond boy nodded, his sweet eyes sparkling in light streaming in from the huge bay windows of the music hall.
"Flip that violin over." The tiny bard's lips were pursed. "I want to check something out."
"What?"
"Just turn it over." Misty's eyes now sparkled with the pleasure of secrecy.
Carefully, so as not to put the strings out of tune, Quatre turned the violin, back facing out. Against the dark cherry stain was a small rune chalked in white. Misty grinned.
"I knew it! A spare. If you rub off the chalk mark, you can keep the violin. It's all played in and everything. That is, if you want it." She turned to Trowa. "Same to you…Trowa, is it? Find a spare flute and it's yours. The chalk should be somewhere on the case."
"Oh, thank you!" Quatre's aquamarine orbs were huge as he hugged his new prize. "You're so kind!"
Trowa simply smiled.
Tired of just watching, Duo flipped the dagger from Misty's belt. "C'mere. I can carve your name in that fiddle for you." He tapped his fingertip carefully on the point. "Should be sharp enough for the job."
Looking up, however, Duo's brilliant idea quickly rolled over and died. Th other three were staring at him with looks of pure horror.
"Are you quite insane?" Misty inquired witheringly. "A good musician can always identify his own instrument."
"You could even ruin the sound!" Quatre looked petrified, backing away with his arms curled tightly around his new violin.
Trowa simply looked at Duo like he had proposed putting the dagger to a litter of helpless kittens.
Duo smiled uneasily and handed the dagger back. "Ah, never mind," he said quickly.
Misty's face flashed again into a quick grin. "Let's go to the stables now. It's nearly five." She sauntered to the door, Duo in tow. "Besides," she continued, "it takes a bit more work to insult a horse."
*****
"He's huge!" Duo stared up at the enormous grey hind quarters of a shire horse. "How do you ride something that big?"
"He's a workhorse, silly." Misty affectionately patted the fuzzy rump. "We don't normally ride them."
"Oh." Violet eyes scanned over the muscular rump and hind legs. "Good."
"He's a good boy, too." Misty's tiny hand roved over the beast's back, scratching hard. "Aren't you, Sunny?"
"Sunny!? A horse the size of a house and you call him Sunny!?"
"Keep your voice down. You'll spook the other horses." Heero's muted voice floated in from a stall a short distance away. He sniffed. "Baka."
"Huh. A bit high and mighty now, aren't we?" Duo sniffed back. "What if I decided to yell right here and now?"
Misty's head appeared from inside another stall. "You'd probably end up going through life with a giant horseshoe-print stamped on your forehead."
"Oh."
With a grunt, Misty pulled herself over the low wall of the stall. "We have all sorts of horses here. Work horses, ponies, cart horses, war horses, gentle old nags to train new riders with." She jerked her thumb in the direction of a huge black head busily excavating the contents of a nosebag. "That stallion there is Walker's war horse."
Heero meandered over to the huge black monster. "Has he a name?" He reached out a hand.
"Don't! He'll tear you hand o-" The huge horse whickered and let his cheek be stroked by the skinny young man. Misty shrugged and sighed. Strange boys. "His name is Arid."
"Mmm. Would I be able to ride here?" Heero's hand moved to behind Arid's ear.
Misty nodded, "Of course. If you help out in the stables, you can ride. That's the rule. You can, too, Duo."
Duo, his widened eyes showing the whites all around stared up at the huge rump of Sunny the shire. "Uhm, no thanks. I think I'll stick to walking."
Beep, beep!
Misty glanced at her watch. "Five on the dot. Time to go."
*****
The five boys and two girls met balk in Walker's apartments at 5:15. Belle was there at five precisely, of course, sitting with that damnable smile on her face. Walker was nowhere to be seen. She was not alone, however. With her were an old man and a girl no older than Relena or any of the boys. The old man wore long, plain grey robe and had his long white hair clubbed back into a tight ponytail. His beard, however, tumbled freely down his front. He watched with merry brown eyes as the group made itself comfortable in the room. Presently, the old man put an arm around Belle's waist. She looked up at him briefly and –still smiling- then back at the group before her.
"Did you enjoy yourselves?" she asked.
Mumblemumbleyesmumblemumble.
"Good." The smile never faltered. "This gentleman by my side here is my husband Gil Ichara." The psionicist paused a moment to listen to words only she could hear. "No, dear, it's not cradle robbing. I'm only a five centuries older than he. Not that much in the grand scheme of things, really."
Cathy gawked at her. Belle's smile turned briefly into a smirk. "We magical types have a longer shelf life than most. We can last for centuries."
Gil chuckled softly into his wife's chestnut hair. "We may, though it tends to be the women who do it gracefully."
The other girl laughed silently, her exquisitely shaped shoulders shaking. Looking at her, Trowa found himself drawing in every little detail. She was slightly smaller than he, with a body that boasted a woman's figure that made even Wufei sit up and take notice. Strength radiated from every pore. She wore plain –and thankfully modern- clothing which covered her almost completely, leaving only her head, hands and a small part of her throat bare. Her long blonde hair was braided and coiled into a thick bun at the nape of her swan's neck. Her most striking feature, however, was a wide, black cloth band she wore across her eyes.
She's blind. Trowa licked his lips. Since when did they get so dry? Belle was still talking.
"-and this is our ward Kari." She put a loving arm around the blonde girl's slender waist. Kari's full lips curved into a small smile. In seeing this, Trowa's heart almost stopped in mid-beat.
A snort to his left tore Trowa's attention from Kari. Wufei was leaning against the bedpost, arms folded in his usual defiant fashion. "So we are to live with you then? Fine. But what's to stop me from leaving whenever I want?"
"Good sense, I should hope," Gil quipped. "It's not like you're a prisoner."
Satisfied with this answer, Wufei nodded, his eyes closed.
"However…"
The almond eyes opened.
"However, you know nothing of this place outside Alaryan's Keep." Gil sat on the bed, his long, white beard brushing at his stomach. "It would be much better to actually know the battlefield before you go charging out there." A grin played over the old man's lined face. "Besides, I had to drag seven bloody beds into the house with three other old bags. If I had to listen to two hours of 'why don't we just levitate it?' and "it has legs, dammit, so just make it walk!' then the least you could do is have the courtesy to sleep in the damn things once."
Quatre murmured something polite along the lines of "We will." The others didn't bother.
Duo grinned back Gil. "When were you born?"
Cathy smacked him in the back of the head. "Owwww! What!?" he whined.
"It's okay, it's okay," Gil chuckled. "Hmm, I'd have to say…oh, 1500 or so. I'm a little over five hundred."
Heero did some quick mental math. He turned to Belle. "You told me that this is the year 2001. That makes you over a thousand years old."
Kari's smile widened as her surrogate mother nodded.
Pretty, Trowa mused.
"Come. We will go home." Belle smiled again that small smile and left the room.
The group followed after her, wondering.
*****
More to follow! Keep reading! And don't forget to review!!
Ja! –L.P.D