{Broken Sanctuary}
By {Darkened Winter}
A {Gosia Tournament} Fan Fiction
{Disclaimer} Jia-Li Bai (Shinchu), Hitori Ikasu (Shinwa), Sagira (Shinko), Ruby Belanqua, and Izumi Hayama (Oracle) were created by and belong to La Chibi Genrou. Mai Kellar was created and belongs to the owner of Team Kastashi. Asaki Hoshiko was created by and belongs to Zyanas. Tanomi Kageto and Arai Tarashi were created by and belong to Obsidian Eclipse. Roan was created by and belongs to Maz. Izunami and Izunagi Kariudo belong to Malice Angel. Any other characters are probably not mine either. {End}
{Summary} War has broken out between the reigning government in a land called 'Makai' and the rebels who oppose it. It will require the strengths of a former pirate, a shy bodyguard, a mischievous assassin, two small demons, a sword user and their friends to achieve peace in the time of bloodshed. {Alternate Universe}
{Chapter One}{Fallen and Still Falling}
The distinct smell of alcohol drifted through the crowded tavern's dimly lit space, though the many customers hardly seemed to notice as they laughed loudly and slammed their cups down upon the worn wooden tables. Such noises had always irritated the sensitive ears of Hitori Ikasu, and once upon a time, a shout from her would have quieted things down almost anywhere. Once, when she had been the legendary pirate captain, Shinwa. But, after grave miscalculations and a new law, her career had been reduced to ordering drinks and causing meager trouble; something that had not exactly been on her list of wanted achievements.
"Oiy! Don't see ya much these days in the Blue Moon, Cap'n."
The cheerful greeting of the violet-haired bartender turned the sky blue eyes of the pirate maiden upwards as she gave him a skeptical look from under matching blue bangs. She sat up a little straighter and pushed the brim of her large dark hat up before replying in a fairly annoyed voice.
"Well, unfortunately, I've got the time to be here now." Rolling her eyes slightly, Hitori continued, "Pour me a glass of scotch before I blow something up, Arai."
"Polite as usual, milady." Arai Tarashi replied with a wide grin, and despite the female's obvious rudeness, complying to this command after casually sweeping a wispy strand of naturally crimson-highlighted hair from his gold-flecked means of vision.
"I'm grumpy; sue me. The government has cut down pirates to a few dozen, my ship is not functioning, my crew is dead, and my bartender is telling me to be polite." She snapped, taking the drink from Arai's hand.
"You're welcome." He answered half-mockingly, busying himself with cleaning an already spotless glass. "It's a wonder you're single, 'Tori."
"That's Shinwa to you, boy." The blue-haired woman said before taking an unhealthily large gulp of her drink.
Arai shrugged and tucked the glass away carelessly, turning to an amazingly short figure, who had just taken a seat following some effort of climbing onto the stool. She was cloaked in an equally ... unique, bright pink cloak with matching locks of hair poking out from under it, emerald eyes watching from the shadows under the hood.
"Err… Ain'tcha a little young?"
Shinwa snorted at the question whose answer she thought was quite obvious. This newcomer had to be four feet at the maximum. The hue of the attire presented did not help this image much, either.
"I'm old enough to be your El-forsaken grandmother."
Tossing the pink hood back to reveal an immaturely stuck out tongue and childish face, the demoness, in a manner even ruder than that of Hitori, gave Arai a stunningly loud raspberry before continuing…
"Besides, I'm not here to talk to stupid people!"
At this comment, Hitori nearly choked on her drink and Arai blinked. After a moment, the bartender managed to look somewhat hurt, briefly wiping the counter.
"I'm not stupid. I'm just ignorant about some things." He protested in a mock-insulted voice, whipping out a glass for the small one. "Including what you'd like to drink."
A thoughtful pause. "Soda, mister."
As the dark-haired male turned to fetch the requested beverage, the pink-haired apparition turned to the pirate, whispering in a low-tone much more mature than the one previously used, "Meet me tomorrow night at six o'clock outside the abandoned church by the Red Rose. My name is Sagira Hoshiko [1], and you'd better not forget it."
With that last statement, the one introduced as Sagira hopped off the bar stool she was too short for and disappeared into the noisy crowd, leaving only a small silver coin to pay for her abandoned soda and two confused individuals holding drinks.
"C'mon, c'mon. PICK UP!"
Sitting in a secluded room in the Blue Moon that night, Shinwa growled to herself as she adjusted her headset for what seemed like the hundredth time in the last minute, waiting for the other end of the line to receive her impatient call. She flopped onto the bed, staring at the ceiling with a vicious scowl upon her features.
"Hello?"
Finally, the familiar cold tones reached the pirate's eager ear.
"Hey, Kageto!" She greeted quickly before the other had hardly finished speaking, "Nice to hear from you and such crap. Now there's this person…"
"Slow down, Ikasu." Tanomi Kageto interrupted in a calm voice, sighing before continuing, "Start from the beginning slowly, and tell me what you want. Slowly."
After a few seconds of incomprehensible muttering and grumbling, Hitori took a deep breath and began again, trying to resist the urge to blow something up or bite some innocent inanimate object, "I met someone in the Blue Moon tonight…"
"Did you see Arai…?" Another interruption in a casual, off-hand tone.
"Yes. I did." Shinwa gritted out, feeling a twitch or something of the sort coming on as she continued after another deep breath, "As I was saying… I met a little demon girl in the Blue Moon. She wanted me to meet her at the old church next to the Red Rose… And…"
"You want me to find out who she is." Tanomi completed as though this scenario was highly predictable, "Name?"
"I was getting to that!" Snapped Hitori, running a hand through her light blue hair, "It's Sagira Hoshiko!"
"I'll see what I can do, Ikasu."
With that serving at his farewell, the other hung up, leaving a rather irritated, but successful Shinwa, who removed her headset unceremoniously and crawled down into a warm sanctuary of blankets and pillows to relieve her newly arriving headache.
"OHA~YO! OHA~YO!" [2]
"GAH!"
With a loud yell, Hitori poked her messy-haired head out from under the covers, slapping around at the spot on the beside stand where she expected the alarm clock to be. After some failure and the continuation of the noisy Japanese phrase, the female pirate reluctantly sat up with plenty of grumbling and cursing under her breath. Not bothering to fix her hair or rumbled clothing, she looked around groggily with one blue eye whilst she rubbed the other and yawned.
"Bloody little…" She muttered, looking about for the time telling device.
"You look awful." A voice commented with a rare chuckle as the repeated 'ohayo' abruptly ceased.
She turned to face the doorway slowly, already recognizing the familiar voice as she looked pointedly at the owner, who returned the gaze, blue to blue. 'Lo and behold, Tanomi stood there leaning against the wall, tossing the clock up and catching it in his hand, seemingly pleased, if only slightly, that he had managed to awaken her.
"I bet Arai put you up to this!" She accused, getting off the bed and wagging her index finger at him like an angry mother chiding her child, "It's ALWAYS him! Baka Arai [3]…"
The insult earned her a dark glare as he replied in an icy tone, "I have something on your mysterious 'Sagira Hoshiko', if you care."
"WHERE?!"
With the explosive demand, the former captain practically flew through the space between the two and tackled the pale blue-haired apparition, grabbing him by his white-hued collar. He gave her hand a subtly reproachful look, but otherwise remained for the most part… calm.
"Stop touching me, Ikasu."
At the softly dangerous command, Hitori complied and released him, despite herself, inquiring in an impatient voice, "What've you got?"
Clearing his throat purposely and dusting at his shirt before producing a sheet of paper, Tanomi replied in a clipped intonation, "This is what I got when I searched for 'Sagira Hoshiko.'"
Shinwa's sky-colored eyes flicked over the page, slowly growing wider and wider as they traveled to the bottom of the paper. Over and over… The words 'El-forsaken grandmother' filled the entire length in bold red letters as though taunting the Tanomi's search, despite his experience.
"What in El-sama's name…" She began, pausing a moment to collect herself before continuing, "This… is all you got…?"
A quirked eyebrow.
"You underestimate my abilities, Ikasu." Tano answered coolly, brushing a long lock of icy blue hair away from his eyes, "After getting that little glitch, I ran a search for 'Hoshiko'."
"And…?" Shinwa tapped her foot against the ground, tossing the useless sheet of paper away in favor of hearing this newly released information.
"I found this." As the ice and wind apparition spoke, he handed the pirate a sheet of paper with two photos of excellent quality.
As Hitori glanced over the two faces, both fairly youthful, one being pale with a high gray pony tail consisting of colorful streaks and red eyes. The other she quickly recognized as the small, pink-haired girl from the Blue Moon bar the previous night with slight surprise. Not bad, she mused, turning her gaze up to meet Tanomi's.
"Asaki Hoshiko." Tano recited as she looked up, "The last of royal blood line supposedly destined to rule Makai after the death of Makyra and Adonis Hoshiko, who were both assassinated, after which their only son vanished at the land fell into the hands of the new government."
"So… If they both have the last name Hoshiko…" The blue-eyed female continued, a thoughtful look on her usual violent-looking countenance.
"And Hoshiko is a rare last name…" Added the male.
Both spoke in unison.
"They must be ..."
"Feng Long Zhang style! Yun Suo Kou![4]"
In a blur of pastel green hair and pristine white clothing, the young bodyguard known as Jia-Li Bai lunged at her blonde sparring partner with fair speed and grace, crouching low at the last second and leaping over the taller girl. The young woman turned her body mid-air and swung her long, thin sword in an arch at her opponent's neck as she landed, slicing through the air like a knife through butter.
With amazing swiftness of her own, the other, one called Ruby Belanqua, ducked, spinning around as she did so, causing her long golden braid to swing around and rest draped across her shoulders. She paused briefly to smirk, showing off a tiny fang, before swinging her own blade at Jia-Li's feet.
The emerald-haired fighter began to jump to avoid the assault, but hardly had started before the blunt sword made contact with her feet, causing her to fall backwards onto her the tiled floor with a resounding 'thud', amethyst eyes wide with surprise.
"Ouch! Ruby…" She said in a complaining tone, dropping her weapon to gingerly poke the wounded area, "That really hurt, you know!"
"Whoops! Sorry, Jay. Maybe you would've liked it better if I had tried to take off your head." With a hint of good-natured sarcasm, Ruby replied with a grin, emerald eyes shining with warm amusement, "If it makes you feel better, that Yu—whatever it's called—is a pretty good move."
"Yun Suo Kou." Jia-Li corrected politely, glancing up at the other as she rubbed lightly at her foot.
"Yeah, that." The blonde continued, waving her hand a bit as though to say the name of the technique didn't matter at all, "But, anyways, you still need to improve your speed. Nice spar though. Our improving skill should keep Lord Jian Ling [5] happy, at least."
"I really don't understand it at all. Lord Jian is just a boy. He really doesn't need us to guar—"
The defeated was cut off by the soft slosh of water from one of the near by pools imbedded into the floor and the cheerful chirp of a small yellow finch, sitting on the sill of a window, the only one open among the rows of them. The two fighters breathed tensely in silence, as though their bodies already knew what was going on even if their minds had not registered it.
"I know it sounds like one of those corny questions from old Ningen [5] horror movies, but …" Ruby paused a moment, her gaze turning slowly to the shadows created by the large, vine adorned pillars, "Wasn't that closed when we started practice?"
"There!" Jia-Li squeaked, pointing at a pristine statue of a feline of sorts.
The fair-haired of the two hardly had time to turn, barely catching a fleeting glimpse of a passing form.
"And that is why there's us bodyguards!" She exclaimed, tossing her sparring sword into the air, upon which it vanished.
She broke into a run for the nearest exit, a pair of large wooden doors framed with silver, her furry ears catching the light sounds of the occasional soft splash or whisper of air caused by the intruder, who was impressively remaining hidden. Ruby hardly heard her friend call for her to wait, a glimmering crimson staff made of her ki [6] appearing silently in her gloved hand. Behind her, the noise of Jia-Li rising to her feet was absently noted.
"Ruby, wait for me!"
The emerald-haired girl hastily de-summoned her own sparring weapon in favor of a pair of twin sickles, which glimmered briefly in the sun light as she passed the open window in an attempt to catch up with her partner, who had suddenly paused ahead of her.
"Ruby… !"
She trailed off as she abruptly noticed trespasser's frame leaning against a pillar, barely showing off his attire. Though the figure had originally been sensed in the dark shadows of the training room, seeing him in the light had a strange effect upon her. Jia-Li felt strangely anxious, as though she had never fought a battle in her life, though the fact was quite contrary.
"You had the audacity to invade the dwelling of Lord Jian Ling in what is assumed an attempt at harm. Thus, you will be aptly punished. If you do not resist, it will be swift." Ruby recited calmly, the slight breeze from the window tousling her blonde braid and bangs, her emerald eyes solemn as they met the dark gaze of the intruder.
"Yes, yes. Very intimidating to the amateur, I'm sure." The male finally spoke as he stepped forward casually, giving the two girls a teasingly skeptical look from behind gold-hued bangs, ebony eyes glinting with amusement, "Now, if you ladies don't mind, I really have to be off killing someone, now…"
"Yes, actually, I do mind!" Ruby said in a voice that betrayed slight surprise, though she was the first of the two to recover, slowly stepping into an offensive fighting stance, left foot back.
"I suppose that's a challenge. Who am I to refuse a lady, hm?" The dark-eyed of the three flashed a charming smile as he spoke, though, just as casually as his last motion, reaching for his weapon, which hung at his side.
"Sure as hell, boy, you better rethink the lady thing!"
With a growl, the swifter of the two body guards charged an attack, swinging her ki staff as though to take the assumed assassin's head right off. She hardly could suppress a gasp of surprise as her energy weapon cleaved through not flesh, but the cold marble of the pillar.
"You really need to improve your speed." A taunting tone. "Nice try, though."
Behind her, Jia-Li had recovered her wits, dashing at something behind her, which Ruby could only assume was the blonde trespasser as she whirled around just in time to catch the green-haired girl leaping with her weapons crossed for an attack.
"Feng Long Zhang style! Min Fen Wa![7]"
The result was a wet bodyguard. The assassin had re-located himself once more, and Jia-Li apparently missed, having gone head first into a formerly tranquil pool of water. Had the situation not been so serious, Ruby would have laughed. But, of course, the bodyguard found their was a time for everything.
"And now, it's time for me to totally trash you…" She murmured, glancing about, her brown tail waving behind her steadily.
A flicker of movement near the double doors was caught in the corner Ruby's emerald gaze. Without so much as brief hesitation, the blonde female turned and held her palm out at the general area and with the chant of, 'ki blast', she quickly blew something up, shrouding the area in smoke.
"If you keep looking at the clock that way, 'Tori, you might scare it into saying six o'clock eventually." Arai's cheerful tones were absently registered as Shinwa stared at the said clock, which defiantly and clearly read as twelve o'clock.
After her brief meeting with Tanomi, who's health had been inquired of her by the bartender as usual, the pirate had found herself wandering back down to the bar, for lack of anything better to do. Perhaps someone with more sense of preparation would not have been so bored, but…
"Hitori. Hi~tori!" The dark-haired male called in a sing-song voice at the spacing woman, waving his hand at her blue eyes, "Hi~tori… Your mother was a sissy, and you are to~o!"
"Yeah, nice weather." She finally replied, continuing to look dully at the clock which slowly ticked to a minute after the hour.
"Hopeless…" He sighed, jabbing at her shoulder with a finger and getting absolutely no reaction outside of a monotonous, 'no rain.'
{TBC}
{1} Sagira is the newly released name of everyone's favorite Akuma-ko, Shinko. According to me (ha!), Asaki and Sagira are married. So, there. Bow! Bwa. *attempt at evil laughter*
{2} 'Ohayo' is a casual 'good morning' in Japanese.
{3} 'Baka' means 'stupid' or 'idiot' in Japanese. But, we really do love Arai, don't we? Don't we? Huh, huh, huh? *prod*
{4} Wind Dragon Weapon style! Cloud Dance Strike! Chinese, by the way.
{5} 'Jian Ling' is a character I made up. You're not going to see much of him, but his name refers to the wing or feather of an uber-spiffy mythical beast that has only one wing. Chinese, of course.
{6} *cough* For those of you who don't know, ki is body energy. Ruby doesn't use spirit energy, but her body energy instead. It's about the same thing.
{7} HA! Last one. *clears throat* Wind Dragon Weapon style! Agile Air Cut!
{Dark's Notes} Hm. Okay, so it was a little rushed, I admit it. But, I'm pretty pleased with the way it turned out. For a bit, it's going to follow the lovely and talented Miss Shinwa, but eventually it'll spread out among the characters more. Because, you know, that somewhere in the black hole that I call a heart, I love you all. Really.