Legacy
- Chapter One
By: Moments of Insanity
Summery: A/U
Generals/Senshi.
Disclaimer: Nope, Sailor Moon wasn't,
wouldn't, and will not be mine.
Thanks to Ice for cleaning my
grammar mess up -;.
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Snip.
Snip. Snip.
'Are you sure?' Her musical voice was tinged with
anxiety. Determined blue eyes met the dark green ones reflected in
the mirror.
'Yes. Michiru.'
Snip. Snip. Snip.
Tendril of dark blue hair fell to the ground, forming a pile
around the chair. ' I wish you didn't,' Michiru sighed, as she
continued to cut the hair.
'The hair will grow back.'
'You
know I'm not talking about the hair!' snapped Michiru. An
uncomfortable silence followed her outburst.
Snip. Snip.
Snip.
'Have you packed the things you need?'
'Haruka
collected it already.'
'I have no idea why she let you go,'
Michiru muttered darkly under her breath, 'so have you say good bye
to Usa?'
She nodded, 'told her not to tell mister Ryo.'
Michiru smiled at the hidden hint. 'He will definitely go
crazy when he can't find his fiancee.'
'But still a year is a long time; many things can happen. Just be careful, dear little sister of mine.'
'Don't worry. Haruka and Makoto taught me some basic defensive moves as well as offensive moves; also Makoto will be accompanying me, remember?'
'Be careful means getting out of fights.' admonished Michiru, using the handle of the scissor gently to tap the head of the girl.
'Yes, Michiru mama' she replied in a sing song tone.
Michiru said warningly, ' Stop joking around. Now stop slouching! Sit up. I'm getting the hair dye...stop fidgeting! Give me a few more minutes.' Soon Michiru stepped back to look at her handiwork and smiled. 'That will at least get you past the first stage,' she muttered under her breath.
'Ami, from now on, you'll be called I'ma, of the County Sarrinum1.'
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Ami looked at the city's gates that were silhouetted by the dawn light. Despite the warmth of the sun, she still shivered, as the city seemed to be a cold and uncaring place. Stonewalls that guarded the city extended the entire landscape like an unyielding mountain range. The large, gray granite blocks spoke of its untold strength to withstand even the force of a tsunami while arrow loop2 decorating the wall spoke of the city's military strength. She saw soldiers, silhouetted by the light blue sky, standing guard on the allure.3 She thought warily that if it was the time of wars, she would be shot without even being given the chance of proving her identity. Suddenly she wished to be back in her home town, sleeping in her own bed or having the daily hot bread that Michiru baked in her little shop before her daily pilgrimage to the bookstore down the road. She frowned and thought to herself, 'Shape up, Ami. This is what you want. You will not cower.' She looked at Makoto who was dozing in her saddle. 'Makoto,' she said softly.
'Ne?' Forest green eyes snapped open, eyeing her surroundings warily.
'We're there.'
'Oh, that's great. I can't wait to get out of these woods.' Makoto straightened up, stretching the aches out of her bones. 'I don't want to see another saddle for at least a month,' she muttered darkly, running her fingers through her auburn tresses before tying them in a low ponytail. Makoto refused to cut her hair, stating that she was boyish enough already; cutting her hair would have meant letting go of the only feminine side she ever known. Haruka, in frustration, had suggested a low ponytail rather then the high ponytail. Makoto gladly accepted that option.
'It's not really that bad.' Ami consoled.
'Yeah, because you didn't sleep on a piece of pebble jabbing your spine,' she snorted in response, as she looked at the surrounding. 'My, I didn't know Gaeria is a big town.' Forest green eyes widened with astonishment.
'Makoto, the word is city, not town. City.' Ami sighed. ' And if you had listened to Haruka, you would know that it is one of the biggest cities on this continent; it is, after all, the capital of the Elinae.' Makoto just rolled her eyes. 'Come on, let's ride through. We need to report soon.' Ami pushed her horse into a canter.
They were both stopped by a burly guard at the old wooden gate, who was trying very hard to stay on his feel. The guard at the gate eyed the two with thinly veiled disgust.' Good morning sir,' Ami said politely, trying very hard not to show her discomfort at the rancid smell given off by the drunken guard. 'We are here to join the army.''Authorization.' He snorted. Ami meekly fumble fumbled for the crumpled letter in her saddle back before handing it to him while Makoto had a look of growing anger and impatience, partly due to his attitude and well, it was morning. 'ti's all smudge an' unclear.' he accused in a rasping voice, 'you better show me somethin' else...' eyeing the purse tied on Ami's belt with undisguised greed.
'Look Mister,' cut in Makoto, 'if you noticed, you would have seen the royal seal, and if you could read, you would have read his majesty's name. You do know the consequences...' Makoto said to him in a deadly controlled voice, and she left the threat hanging.
The sergeant looked alarmed and frightened, not understanding how the advantage had suddenly slipped to the two strangers at the gate; he stammered, 'Of course sir.' The old wooden gates groaned protestingly as they opened sluggishly. The duo continued to move. The horses' hooves clattered on the slate stones, disturbing the serene peace of the still sleeping street. Makoto shifted in her saddle and whispered to Ami, 'We have to do something with that meek personality of yours soon.'
'It's not my fault,' she protested softly, keeping her eyes to on the castle in the distance.
'If we want to sneak in, you'll have to put some backbone in you then; no boys would act like what you did there. And why are we whispering?'
'You started it.' She snorted in response.
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Jadeite, the prank-loving squire of Gaeria, eyed the small crowd outside in the courtyard with a bemused expression. 'I wonder how many will stay this time?' he asked softly to his companion who was reading beside him.
' How would I know?' Zoisite shrugged. 'Sometimes I honestly do believe we have to persuade Lord Kunzite the idea is to recruit soldiers, not to scare them away.'' But you have to admit most of them don't even have a backbone in them. Most of them can't even hold a sword probably,' Jadeite mused, thinking back to the disastrous training sessions.
His companion snorted, 'even if Lord Kunzite haven't chased them away, you would probably have scared them away.'
'Now why would I want to do that?' Jadeite grinned cheekily. Humor danced in his sky blue eyes. 'We would be knighted at the end of the year; I honestly want to have a squire to clean my armor.'
'You're just lazy.' Leaf green eyes filled with mirth looked up. ' Though I must admit your pranks are certainly most entertaining.' Jadeite bowed mockingly.
'I try my best. Though you, my dear comrade, are also no amateur.'
The door opened, showing the page who told the two squires to report at the courtyard.
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Nephrite looked at the small crowd, which consisted of mostly the sons of nobles and some lower class boys. It was obvious who was who, the way the nobles always had their noses up the air and the flashy doublets that they wore. Nephrite never had the patience for nobles, for he was also from the lower class, but his friend, Kunzite, who also shared his sentiment, would always tell him to put up with them.
'I don't suppose we'll have to wait until dusk, will we?' A tall, seedy-looking boy with short-cropped strawberry blond hair and brown eyes asked haughtily, addressing the other nobles in the crowd. He wore a strawberry red doublet that made him look like a beacon for target practice. 'I do hope we get a decent room. My father, Lord Mainair, would certainly be very appalled if I had to sleep with those. Of course he would be enraged if I have to do any drudgery; after all, these are the jobs of the servants.' A murmur of agreement rose among the nobles.
Nephrite rolled his eyes in disgust and hoped that idiot would be the first that Jadeite scared away. He scanned the names on the parchment and found the boy's name, Maxin Mainair, of the county Naron. That boy would be trouble, he thought glumly. He looked up when a hand clasped his shoulder and relaxed when he saw Jadeite and Zoisite.
'How is this year's recruit?' Zoisite asked after he bowed to his lord, 'bad?' when he saw Nephrite rolled his eyes and sighed.
'Real bad. Many brats. Way too many.'
Jadeite studied the group. 'That is nothing new. Anyone you want us to scare away?''Don't bother, you won't even have to play pranks; I think most of them would will automatically drop out.'
'So another bunch of wimps?' Jadeite said disgustedly as he continued to scan the group. His eyes rested on a tall lanky boy with long wavy brown hair, it was a tone lighter than Nephrite's hair, his arms crossed and stood in a confident bearing. A shorter, thin boy with short black hair stood next to him, unlike the brown hair boy, he kept looking around like a timid animal, he stood slightly behind the taller boy, as if to hid from the crowd, 'Those two look really out of place.'
'Which two?' Zoisite followed Jadeite's direction of look. 'The short one kinda looks like Endy did before his adolescent spurt.' he commented.
Jadeite nodded and grins cheekily. 'Doesn't that make you want to bully him?'
'I'ma of Sarrinum. The boy beside him is Makoto of Sarrinum as well,' Nephrite said. Jadeite and Zoisite gave him a blank stare. Nephrite explained 'I'ma and Makoto are their name, the shorter one is I'ma, Makoto is the taller one. They more or less keep to themselves. They may be the only two who are not from this area or not of noble class.'
'Faith and Sincere?' This time Nephrite gave him a blank stare. 'The meanings of their name, my Lord,' Zoisite explained.
'Your brain is filled with useless information!'' Jadeite complained, smacking Zoisite's back, 'are they the ones that Earl Tenoh recommended to the King? They don't look strong at all!'
Nephrite nodded, 'His majesty replied immediately when he received the letter and made the arrangement necessary for them to enter the academy. This is the first case when the royalty intervened.' He trailed off, bafflement shown on his face. What made them special? He wondered.
'What, are you three still waiting?' a deep voice asked them, startling the three men.
'Kunzite,' Nephrite greeted his friend, who nodded back while Jadeite and Zoisite quickly bowed, murmuring 'my Lord'. Kunzite looked at the group of boys, who seemed to be no more than fourteen summers, sixteen at most, and sighed wearily. Automatically he raised his voice and began his speech.
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1 County Sarrinum was governed by the mysterious Tenoh family. It is situated at the eastern part of the Country Elinae.
2 A narrow vertical slit cut into a wall through which arrows could be fired from inside
3
passage behind the parapet of a castle wall
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