Arthur Notes: This is my first attempt at a fanfic and I figured I'd give
it a shot even if I am more of a reader then a writer. This along with any
fic I write in the near future will more then likely be fairly short (most
likely no more then a single chapter). I simply don't have the time or 1
idea to make a long-term fic at this time. R&R I could differently use
feedback on my writing and would like to improve. Thank You.
Disclaimer: I do not own Suikoden or any of the characters mentioned in this fic. All characters are property of Konami. Any similarities to real people or events are purely coincidences.
The grass was finally growing back on the lands of Budehuc Castle. Winter was finally releasing its icy grip and spring was in full bloom. The sun was a gold disc of warmth in the endless blue sky, warming the lands around the castle grounds. The grass looked like it was trying to reach for the sky as the wind pushed across the land causing each blade to raise itself to its full height.
And this was the sight that greeted Kathy as she checked on the horses. Making sure she had them all and none were missing: 1, 2, 3, 4. "Ah Emily!" Losing count as she waved to the fiery red haired girl that approached her.
"You are up early this morning Emily, are you and Juan holding a class this early?" She asked. "Juan, that good for nothing!" Emily said a little louder then she intended to seeing as Kathy jumped a little from the fierceness in her voice. "What's the matter?" "He was suppose to meet us there almost 45 minutes ago! I have been telling the students he would be there. Even though I knew he wouldn't. That lazy..I bet he is still sleeping."
Emily seemed more flustered then usual. Kathy thought she was used to Juan's general sleepiness and overall ability to do as little as possible. She was about to tell her she seen Juan lying down in the grass by Peggi, but she realized her audience was already gone, stamping down the path that would surely lead her to the sleeping Juan. Letting out a little giggle she sure wouldn't want to be in Juan's shoes right now!
Emily made her way down the path, she didn't need Kathy to tell her where to find the blonde dojo teacher, and she already knew where he would be. This was the 3rd day straight that Juan was suppose to meet her in the morning to train the other students and it was the 3rd day in a row he missed. She knew she would have to more then just talk to get it through his head.
And sure enough, there he was, lying in the grass with a small piece in his mouth, eyes shut and a soft snore coming from his direction. Even though she knew he would be there, seeing him there somehow enraged her even more to have it confirmed. She approached him stopping a couple feet from him, putting her hands on her hips she leaned in.
"JUAN!" she yelled.
This caused the blond young man to jump straight up and look around, as he rubbed sleep out of his eyes and let them adjust to the mid-morning sunlight. Then he seen Emily and knew that was the source of his alarm clock.
"Hey Emily." He said. "You sure gave me a start." "Don't 'Hey Emily' me! You missed the training exercise again Juan and I catch you napping of all things. Don't you ever get tired of sleeping!" Tired of sleeping? That was a positively scandalous thought to Juan although he caught the slight edge to her voice and knew she was madder then usual with his tardiness.
"Ah well, sorry Em, you know how this makes me tired." He said as he raised his right hand where the waking rune was attached. "Why don't you just get rid of that stupid thing?" She snapped. "Jeane can get rid of it and you can finally be on time for a change." "We talked about this Em, you know it's the rune my dad gave me before he left, it means a lot to me." He looked a little hurt by the suggestion of getting rid of it. She sighed. "I know Juan, but I am tired of holding on the lessons when we are both masters of this dojo."
By this time several people had stopped to see what the fuss was between the two they recognized as the trainers for anyone at the castle.
"Sorry Emily." Juan said, giving her a heartfelt apology. "I will make it tomorrow, I promise." "Not good enough Juan." She responded. She knew Juan well enough to know that even if he meant it, tomorrow it would be forgotten and he would miss training again to lay around in the grass and let the sun shine down on him. There were only 2 things Juan truly understood, and seeing as she didn't think she could beat him in a sleeping contest..
"I challenge you to spar me, Juan. If I win you have to attend every training exercise for the next week on time and for every day you are late I add on another week." "Hmmm.and if I win?" Juan responded. "You get 2 weeks off from the dojo to sleep away." Two weeks of nothing to do but sleep? The idea certainly had Juan intrigued. "I accept." He said almost instantly. He was wide-awake now, he knew that Emily wouldn't want to delay their spar he could swear he could see a red aura around her hair. "When do we start?" "Right now, unless you want to catch a few winks first." She answered with a grin as she slipped into a fighting stance. Hands forward and legs set. "As much as I want to, I think I'd sleep better knowing I had 2 weeks off." He smirked as he to stepped back, left leg forward as his hands raised up in his usual fighting stance.
As the small argument between the two went on quite a big crowd had gathered and since Budehuc wasn't the biggest castle, the news had spread pretty fast. Peggi put down his hammer and decided to check out what all the humans were crowding around to. Martha and Piccolo arrived just before Emily said she wanted to spar and Piccolo swore he could see the dollar signs replace Martha's usually dark pupils as she said she would take bets on who would win. He gave a little chuckle, some things don't change he thought.
Kathy having finished counting the horses, three times to be sure, headed over to Peggi's shop just to see if her knew saddle was ready. Seeing the crowd she ran over, but wasn't surprised at all by the two that looked at each other hands and legs ready to snap at a moments notice. Even Jeane came down out of her shop, much to the delight of the male half of the crowd, to watch just as things begun.
Emily was the first to move, she glided forward and took two quick jabs followed by a hard kick aimed at Juan's exposed side. Blocking both punches he read the kick long before it was even started and easily dodged back, he counter attacked immediately with two quick jabs toward her right shoulder, a hard punch to the center and a quick roundhouse kick.
She had seen Juan use this combo more then once and blocked each of his punches. As the kick spun around toward her face instead of backing off she ducked and stepped into a punch that caught Juan by surprise striking him in the right side of his chest and knocking him off balance. She knew she had a chance and took it, pressing an attack on him. Punches coming fast and hard, kicks aimed more at his legs to do no real damage but to keep him backing up and off balance as she knew given the chances she would break through his defenses.
He recognized his mistake soon as he did it. She could read him as well as he could read her, and now here he was backing off, desperately dodging and blocking as fast as he could move his hands. Every time he thought he could get back on the offensive she would throw a kick to his leg that if he didn't ready himself would knock him off balance giving her the time to keep pressing her attack to him.
Then he knew what to do and waited for her to move. Soon as he seen her right leg spin out to hit his, he hopped over it and swept her other leg out from underneath her and knocking her to the ground. She was to fast for Juan to actually take much advantage of her situation, however, it proved enough to break her offensive onslaught and gave him time to recover and position himself to attack.
And attack is what he did. He lashed out quickly aiming for any part that he thought he could land a hit to. She blocked 3 of his punches but miss read the last one, instead of aiming toward her chest like she thought he caught her on the shoulder. He spun around and aimed an elbow at the side of her face which she blocked, however, he extended his forearm and scored a quick hit to her face with the back of his hand.
It didn't hurt but it seemed to daze her for a moment, which was just what he was looking for. Spinning back around he scored another hit to her chest then she blocked 2 hard kicks aimed for her side. Unfortunately for her, Juan knew she was fast enough to block his kicks but they were merely for distraction purposes and then he let out his real attack.
Pressing both hands together they came in hard hit to Emily's stomach and knocking the air from her lungs. She was knocked back very quickly and Juan seen her almost helpless status as she sucked in air. He was going to win and he could end it right now. He spun his body around as he brought up his left leg in a spin kick that would end it.
He was expecting a lot of things. He thought it was slightly possible she could get a hand up and block it, but he didn't think so. He knew though more then likely it would connect and Emily would have a headache when she woke up. However, what he got wasn't what he expected. Emily's image shifted and dispersed and his leg swung around quickly connecting with nothing but air. Then she reappeared next to him and brought a hard knee up to his side. The force of his kick and the knee that connected to his side made Juan spin around before slipping in the grass and landing hard on his back.
Fortunately for him, Emily wasn't in too much better shape. Soon as her knee made contact with him she fell to her other knee and refilled her lungs finally recovering from the hard hit he gave her moments before.
Stupid haziness rune! He practically growled at himself. Of all things to completely forget about he forgot about the rune that he had heard her tell the story of how she got it 1000 times. He knew she never took it off, just like his Waking rune she was never without it.
He pressed his hands to the grass and sprung himself up. At the same moment Emily straightened herself up and got back in her fighting stance with a little smirk on her lips as she held her hands forward, Juan could clearly see the haziness rune attached there. The two fighters circled each other with mutual respect in their eyes then they each exchanged several more rounds of combat.
The slight heat from the sun, combined with the long duration of their match was starting to take a toll on the fighters. Both were breathing hard, Juan had spit the piece of grass out of his mouth and both fighters' faces were red from the heat.
Juan had trained and fought beside a lot of fighters. Many people now days depended on swords or magic or spears, but not nearly enough were dependant on there owns hands. Of all the people he met and trained that used their fist he had met very few that were his equal and none in a long time that were his better, he was slightly chagrined at the thought that Emily fell into one of these two categories.
Emily had been raised in a house of a strong woman. And had been trained a long time by her mother. She went out in the world, not only to see more of the world but also to test her strength, to improve where she could. That's part of why she decided to stay at Budehuc Castle, she thought she could learn a lot from Juan if she got the chance to fight with him. She was silently pleased to get that chance.
Both fighters knew that this couldn't go on forever. They would both eventually fall over from exhaustion, as it was they already both knew they would be sore and sporting some very colorful bruises tomorrow. So they forced themselves up and straight and both got ready to charge each other one more time.
Juan was the first to attack. His hand swung hard connecting to Emily's shoulder as she brought her leg up connecting to Juan's midsection knocking him back. She followed it up with three punches, two of which landed to Juan's side spinning him to the side. Recovering quickly he quickly attacked Emily with a hard kick, which she blocked, then 5 very quick jabs, 3 of which landed on her chest.
As the 5th punch landed Juan could see Emily's leg begin to come up quickly toward his face ready to catch him a glancing blow on the side of his head. Reading this he quickly ducked under her leg and with a swift kick to her side knocking her straight to the ground. This time he was ready and took the opportunity to jump on her pinning both hands to the ground and with his other free hand, he raised it.
"Give up?" Juan said looking down at Emily. Emily tried to roll a little to get out of Juan's grip but she knew she was too tired to break free. Then with a sigh she nodded and Juan hoped up off her and immediately stuck out a hand to help her up. Taking Juan's hand she pulled herself up and brushed off the grass and dirt that got on her legs.
The crowd cheered as the fight ended. Everyone took the moment to shout congratulations to both of the fighters, who put on a show even better then some of Nadir's plays. Martha was busy taking tickets and passing out money to those that had bet on Juan. Piccolo could be seen putting a small amount of money in his pocket nearby.
Peggi offered to repair any dents or rips in their armor or cloths for free and padded both of them on the shoulder, before deciding he spent too much time away from his forge and heading back. Kathy gave a grin to Emily before telling Juan good job and then chased after Peggi.
Juan looked over at Emily with a very exhausted smile, which was returned between breaths. Then with that Juan dropped to the ground, rolling on his side and supported his head with his hand as he slipped another piece of grass in his mouth and closed his eyes. Emily couldn't help but chuckle a little at Juan, but moments later she followed suit. Dropping to the grass and leaning back she looked up at the azure sky.
The crowd dispersed going about their business, several kids could be seen nearby mimicking Juan and Emily's fight earlier with some of their friends. Emily got up off the ground about 15 minutes later; the only sound was the soft snores from Juan. She headed back to her house to take a shower and relax for the rest of the day.
The next day she woke up early, the sun could be seen barely peeking over the horizon. She knew the night before she would be sore, and she could of found Jeane or anyone with a water rune to heal her but she decided she wanted to remember it. To remember that she still had more training to do.
Slipping out of her night cloths and putting on her usual attire, she noticed at least half a dozen bruises in different places and could feel several more on her backside that weren't visible in the mirror. She slipped on her shoes and headed out the door toward Kathy's track. She had a lesson to give to her students and she knew she'd have to do it alone so she didn't want to be late and keep the students waiting.
Passing Peggi's shop she headed down the path, passing the stables, she smiled at the horses as she kept going toward where they held training out in a clearing where it was peaceful and easy to concentrate. As she rounded around the pass, she stopped dead in her tracks.
The students were there, doing the usual warm up exercises and stretching and there ahead of them leading, was Juan. She grinned and headed toward Juan.
"Up a little early, aren't we?" "Never to early to train." He chuckled a little while she fell in next to him to train the students.
From then on the students of Budehuc Castles were never without both of their sensei's to teach them. Juan and Emily woke everyday with the sun, did their daily exercises and always practiced together daily.
Disclaimer: I do not own Suikoden or any of the characters mentioned in this fic. All characters are property of Konami. Any similarities to real people or events are purely coincidences.
The grass was finally growing back on the lands of Budehuc Castle. Winter was finally releasing its icy grip and spring was in full bloom. The sun was a gold disc of warmth in the endless blue sky, warming the lands around the castle grounds. The grass looked like it was trying to reach for the sky as the wind pushed across the land causing each blade to raise itself to its full height.
And this was the sight that greeted Kathy as she checked on the horses. Making sure she had them all and none were missing: 1, 2, 3, 4. "Ah Emily!" Losing count as she waved to the fiery red haired girl that approached her.
"You are up early this morning Emily, are you and Juan holding a class this early?" She asked. "Juan, that good for nothing!" Emily said a little louder then she intended to seeing as Kathy jumped a little from the fierceness in her voice. "What's the matter?" "He was suppose to meet us there almost 45 minutes ago! I have been telling the students he would be there. Even though I knew he wouldn't. That lazy..I bet he is still sleeping."
Emily seemed more flustered then usual. Kathy thought she was used to Juan's general sleepiness and overall ability to do as little as possible. She was about to tell her she seen Juan lying down in the grass by Peggi, but she realized her audience was already gone, stamping down the path that would surely lead her to the sleeping Juan. Letting out a little giggle she sure wouldn't want to be in Juan's shoes right now!
Emily made her way down the path, she didn't need Kathy to tell her where to find the blonde dojo teacher, and she already knew where he would be. This was the 3rd day straight that Juan was suppose to meet her in the morning to train the other students and it was the 3rd day in a row he missed. She knew she would have to more then just talk to get it through his head.
And sure enough, there he was, lying in the grass with a small piece in his mouth, eyes shut and a soft snore coming from his direction. Even though she knew he would be there, seeing him there somehow enraged her even more to have it confirmed. She approached him stopping a couple feet from him, putting her hands on her hips she leaned in.
"JUAN!" she yelled.
This caused the blond young man to jump straight up and look around, as he rubbed sleep out of his eyes and let them adjust to the mid-morning sunlight. Then he seen Emily and knew that was the source of his alarm clock.
"Hey Emily." He said. "You sure gave me a start." "Don't 'Hey Emily' me! You missed the training exercise again Juan and I catch you napping of all things. Don't you ever get tired of sleeping!" Tired of sleeping? That was a positively scandalous thought to Juan although he caught the slight edge to her voice and knew she was madder then usual with his tardiness.
"Ah well, sorry Em, you know how this makes me tired." He said as he raised his right hand where the waking rune was attached. "Why don't you just get rid of that stupid thing?" She snapped. "Jeane can get rid of it and you can finally be on time for a change." "We talked about this Em, you know it's the rune my dad gave me before he left, it means a lot to me." He looked a little hurt by the suggestion of getting rid of it. She sighed. "I know Juan, but I am tired of holding on the lessons when we are both masters of this dojo."
By this time several people had stopped to see what the fuss was between the two they recognized as the trainers for anyone at the castle.
"Sorry Emily." Juan said, giving her a heartfelt apology. "I will make it tomorrow, I promise." "Not good enough Juan." She responded. She knew Juan well enough to know that even if he meant it, tomorrow it would be forgotten and he would miss training again to lay around in the grass and let the sun shine down on him. There were only 2 things Juan truly understood, and seeing as she didn't think she could beat him in a sleeping contest..
"I challenge you to spar me, Juan. If I win you have to attend every training exercise for the next week on time and for every day you are late I add on another week." "Hmmm.and if I win?" Juan responded. "You get 2 weeks off from the dojo to sleep away." Two weeks of nothing to do but sleep? The idea certainly had Juan intrigued. "I accept." He said almost instantly. He was wide-awake now, he knew that Emily wouldn't want to delay their spar he could swear he could see a red aura around her hair. "When do we start?" "Right now, unless you want to catch a few winks first." She answered with a grin as she slipped into a fighting stance. Hands forward and legs set. "As much as I want to, I think I'd sleep better knowing I had 2 weeks off." He smirked as he to stepped back, left leg forward as his hands raised up in his usual fighting stance.
As the small argument between the two went on quite a big crowd had gathered and since Budehuc wasn't the biggest castle, the news had spread pretty fast. Peggi put down his hammer and decided to check out what all the humans were crowding around to. Martha and Piccolo arrived just before Emily said she wanted to spar and Piccolo swore he could see the dollar signs replace Martha's usually dark pupils as she said she would take bets on who would win. He gave a little chuckle, some things don't change he thought.
Kathy having finished counting the horses, three times to be sure, headed over to Peggi's shop just to see if her knew saddle was ready. Seeing the crowd she ran over, but wasn't surprised at all by the two that looked at each other hands and legs ready to snap at a moments notice. Even Jeane came down out of her shop, much to the delight of the male half of the crowd, to watch just as things begun.
Emily was the first to move, she glided forward and took two quick jabs followed by a hard kick aimed at Juan's exposed side. Blocking both punches he read the kick long before it was even started and easily dodged back, he counter attacked immediately with two quick jabs toward her right shoulder, a hard punch to the center and a quick roundhouse kick.
She had seen Juan use this combo more then once and blocked each of his punches. As the kick spun around toward her face instead of backing off she ducked and stepped into a punch that caught Juan by surprise striking him in the right side of his chest and knocking him off balance. She knew she had a chance and took it, pressing an attack on him. Punches coming fast and hard, kicks aimed more at his legs to do no real damage but to keep him backing up and off balance as she knew given the chances she would break through his defenses.
He recognized his mistake soon as he did it. She could read him as well as he could read her, and now here he was backing off, desperately dodging and blocking as fast as he could move his hands. Every time he thought he could get back on the offensive she would throw a kick to his leg that if he didn't ready himself would knock him off balance giving her the time to keep pressing her attack to him.
Then he knew what to do and waited for her to move. Soon as he seen her right leg spin out to hit his, he hopped over it and swept her other leg out from underneath her and knocking her to the ground. She was to fast for Juan to actually take much advantage of her situation, however, it proved enough to break her offensive onslaught and gave him time to recover and position himself to attack.
And attack is what he did. He lashed out quickly aiming for any part that he thought he could land a hit to. She blocked 3 of his punches but miss read the last one, instead of aiming toward her chest like she thought he caught her on the shoulder. He spun around and aimed an elbow at the side of her face which she blocked, however, he extended his forearm and scored a quick hit to her face with the back of his hand.
It didn't hurt but it seemed to daze her for a moment, which was just what he was looking for. Spinning back around he scored another hit to her chest then she blocked 2 hard kicks aimed for her side. Unfortunately for her, Juan knew she was fast enough to block his kicks but they were merely for distraction purposes and then he let out his real attack.
Pressing both hands together they came in hard hit to Emily's stomach and knocking the air from her lungs. She was knocked back very quickly and Juan seen her almost helpless status as she sucked in air. He was going to win and he could end it right now. He spun his body around as he brought up his left leg in a spin kick that would end it.
He was expecting a lot of things. He thought it was slightly possible she could get a hand up and block it, but he didn't think so. He knew though more then likely it would connect and Emily would have a headache when she woke up. However, what he got wasn't what he expected. Emily's image shifted and dispersed and his leg swung around quickly connecting with nothing but air. Then she reappeared next to him and brought a hard knee up to his side. The force of his kick and the knee that connected to his side made Juan spin around before slipping in the grass and landing hard on his back.
Fortunately for him, Emily wasn't in too much better shape. Soon as her knee made contact with him she fell to her other knee and refilled her lungs finally recovering from the hard hit he gave her moments before.
Stupid haziness rune! He practically growled at himself. Of all things to completely forget about he forgot about the rune that he had heard her tell the story of how she got it 1000 times. He knew she never took it off, just like his Waking rune she was never without it.
He pressed his hands to the grass and sprung himself up. At the same moment Emily straightened herself up and got back in her fighting stance with a little smirk on her lips as she held her hands forward, Juan could clearly see the haziness rune attached there. The two fighters circled each other with mutual respect in their eyes then they each exchanged several more rounds of combat.
The slight heat from the sun, combined with the long duration of their match was starting to take a toll on the fighters. Both were breathing hard, Juan had spit the piece of grass out of his mouth and both fighters' faces were red from the heat.
Juan had trained and fought beside a lot of fighters. Many people now days depended on swords or magic or spears, but not nearly enough were dependant on there owns hands. Of all the people he met and trained that used their fist he had met very few that were his equal and none in a long time that were his better, he was slightly chagrined at the thought that Emily fell into one of these two categories.
Emily had been raised in a house of a strong woman. And had been trained a long time by her mother. She went out in the world, not only to see more of the world but also to test her strength, to improve where she could. That's part of why she decided to stay at Budehuc Castle, she thought she could learn a lot from Juan if she got the chance to fight with him. She was silently pleased to get that chance.
Both fighters knew that this couldn't go on forever. They would both eventually fall over from exhaustion, as it was they already both knew they would be sore and sporting some very colorful bruises tomorrow. So they forced themselves up and straight and both got ready to charge each other one more time.
Juan was the first to attack. His hand swung hard connecting to Emily's shoulder as she brought her leg up connecting to Juan's midsection knocking him back. She followed it up with three punches, two of which landed to Juan's side spinning him to the side. Recovering quickly he quickly attacked Emily with a hard kick, which she blocked, then 5 very quick jabs, 3 of which landed on her chest.
As the 5th punch landed Juan could see Emily's leg begin to come up quickly toward his face ready to catch him a glancing blow on the side of his head. Reading this he quickly ducked under her leg and with a swift kick to her side knocking her straight to the ground. This time he was ready and took the opportunity to jump on her pinning both hands to the ground and with his other free hand, he raised it.
"Give up?" Juan said looking down at Emily. Emily tried to roll a little to get out of Juan's grip but she knew she was too tired to break free. Then with a sigh she nodded and Juan hoped up off her and immediately stuck out a hand to help her up. Taking Juan's hand she pulled herself up and brushed off the grass and dirt that got on her legs.
The crowd cheered as the fight ended. Everyone took the moment to shout congratulations to both of the fighters, who put on a show even better then some of Nadir's plays. Martha was busy taking tickets and passing out money to those that had bet on Juan. Piccolo could be seen putting a small amount of money in his pocket nearby.
Peggi offered to repair any dents or rips in their armor or cloths for free and padded both of them on the shoulder, before deciding he spent too much time away from his forge and heading back. Kathy gave a grin to Emily before telling Juan good job and then chased after Peggi.
Juan looked over at Emily with a very exhausted smile, which was returned between breaths. Then with that Juan dropped to the ground, rolling on his side and supported his head with his hand as he slipped another piece of grass in his mouth and closed his eyes. Emily couldn't help but chuckle a little at Juan, but moments later she followed suit. Dropping to the grass and leaning back she looked up at the azure sky.
The crowd dispersed going about their business, several kids could be seen nearby mimicking Juan and Emily's fight earlier with some of their friends. Emily got up off the ground about 15 minutes later; the only sound was the soft snores from Juan. She headed back to her house to take a shower and relax for the rest of the day.
The next day she woke up early, the sun could be seen barely peeking over the horizon. She knew the night before she would be sore, and she could of found Jeane or anyone with a water rune to heal her but she decided she wanted to remember it. To remember that she still had more training to do.
Slipping out of her night cloths and putting on her usual attire, she noticed at least half a dozen bruises in different places and could feel several more on her backside that weren't visible in the mirror. She slipped on her shoes and headed out the door toward Kathy's track. She had a lesson to give to her students and she knew she'd have to do it alone so she didn't want to be late and keep the students waiting.
Passing Peggi's shop she headed down the path, passing the stables, she smiled at the horses as she kept going toward where they held training out in a clearing where it was peaceful and easy to concentrate. As she rounded around the pass, she stopped dead in her tracks.
The students were there, doing the usual warm up exercises and stretching and there ahead of them leading, was Juan. She grinned and headed toward Juan.
"Up a little early, aren't we?" "Never to early to train." He chuckled a little while she fell in next to him to train the students.
From then on the students of Budehuc Castles were never without both of their sensei's to teach them. Juan and Emily woke everyday with the sun, did their daily exercises and always practiced together daily.