Once more, I, sadly, own only Solei and Amber.
Tasuki heard the fight before he saw it, the distinct sound of metal on metal. He was surprised when he also heard a young, female voice yelling sword commands, words he knew only because of the emperor.
'Thank you Hotohori.' He thought sarcastically. The clanging stopped and he heard the voice was panting heavily between words.
"You've improved Solei." Another, new, voice spoke.
"Grazi, constant training and lethal anger really are a good combination for prolonged fights, Amber." He heard a musical laughter that suddenly cut off. He stepped closer, curious. A knife imbedded itself in a tree, millimeters from his face. He looked up and saw a light-haired girl in a tight vest and pants, obviously just coming from training, judging by her sweaty features and tousled hair. Her lavender-blue eyes narrowed, and she accompanied her expression with a smirk too much like Nakago's for comfort.
"Enjoying the view?" She asked, her voice laced with venom as she idly rolled a knife blade over her fingers. Tasuki blushed, he hadn't realized he was staring. Nuriko shifted in the bushes behind, and an instant later the knife had pinned his braid to the nearest tree.
"It would appear we have another one." She said, her smirk increasing. "Whatever shall we do with you?"
Solei cut off Amber's laughter with a single thought.
'We've got company.' She explored further and her mouth gaped open. Tasuki shifted in the bushes, and Solei's reflexes fired her knife. She looked back at Amber. 'No chi! They can't know that we know them. Clear? That means no calling me Kamai.' All she got was a pout, but Solei supposed that it meant that Amber would comply. Solei walked out of her cover and upon spying Tasuki, covered her astonishment with a raised eyebrow and a smirk. She waited as his eyes traveled up and down her body before interrupting, barely avoiding the urge to sigh.
"Enjoying the view?" she asked, nonchalantly rolling a knife over her fingers. She heard Nuriko in the bushes and threw her knife, catching his braid and attaching it to the nearest tree.
"It would appear that we have another one." Solei allowed her smirk to increase as she found that it was Nuriko in the bushes. "Whatever shall we do with you?" Amber chose that time to bound out of the foliage behind Solei.
"HI!!" she said, her perky, excited demeanor, the exact opposite of Solei's cold, ice-like façade. Amber continued on, oblivious to practically everything except the fact that Tasuki was sitting in front of her. "Who are you?" she asked. Tasuki found his voice.
"I'm Tasuki, and if he's not dead from a knife wound," he said glaring daggers at Solei, who merely raised her eyebrows again, "Nuriko should be back in those bushes." Amber narrowed her eyes at Solei.
"Solei, if you killed him..." she trailed off menacingly. Nuriko called out from the bushes.
"I'm fine, my braid was caught by the knife and is now attached to a tree." She grinned smugly at Amber with a perfect, 'I told you so' look on her face. Amber's mouth twitched, but she quickly recovered.
"I'm Amber, this is Solei! Don't let her manner-" Solei interrupted.
"Why are you here at my grandfather's temple?" she inquired. Nuriko, having removed the knife from the tree and his hair answered before Tasuki.
"We have no place to stay and wondered if the temple could house us."
Amber tipped her head sideways, curious. "Why'd ya come through the
bushes at the back?"
Tasuki coughed, prompting Nuriko. "We...umm...thought this was the
entrance."
Solei's inner self cringed at the obvious lie, but accepted it anyway.
"Obviously it's not. However, we do have extra rooms if you don't mind sharing. We often get many unexpected guests, we like to keep a few rooms open at all times." She said. Nuriko stood, pulling Tasuki up with him and bowing.
"Thank you for your kindness." He said. Solei nodded in return and motioned for him to follow her.
"This way, gentlemen." Amber burst out laughing, unable to contain it any longer. Her words of apology came out in-between giggles.
"I'm not..." she sniggered, "...laughing..." chuckled, "...at YOU..." more laughter, "...I'm..." chortling, "...laughing at HER!" Amber burst out into hysterical laughter, doubling over. Solei simply stepped around her, completely ignoring the snickering maniac.
"She'll calm down eventually." She told them. " In the meantime, please, ignore her and follow me." They did so, eyeing Amber warily as they passed by. This only made her laugh harder. Solei shook her head sadly, allowing a genuine smile to spread across her lips as she chuckled slightly. Nuriko stared, amazed that the ice-queen had been so quickly replaced with a radiant goddess. She opened a door for them and they stepped into the sparsely decorated room furnished with two beds, a desk and two worn chairs.
"Make yourselves at home." She said. "Dinner's in an hour. Amber will come and find you."
Solei wished that she had stopped to change into something other than her thief attire, but it was best for maneuverability as she wandered in the woods to gather her knife from the tree. She became aware of two people in the woods flanking her. She stopped, to see what would happen, and the footsteps stopped as well.
'Figures.' she thought. "Who's there?" she asked keeping her voice calm and devoid of any and all emotion.
"Travelers." Came the response. "We're looking for shelter and heard that there was a temple nearby that would take us in." Solei sighed.
'Of course. More vagabonds. Who this time, Hotohori and Chichiri?' she silently asked. "Show yourselves." She commanded, making sure her voice was solid and allowed for no disobeying. They complied. Solei was shocked when she saw Nakago and Amiboshi walk out of the trees. Mentally she cursed Suzaku and Seiryu for sending the four of them. Then she reflected on Amber's reaction and amended her curse.
"Who are you?" she asked, feeling that strange deja vu that usually preceded something that would change her life. If it was for the better, she could not tell.
"Amiboshi." He said. Then he motioned to the cold figure beside him. Solei's breath caught in her throat and her heart beat faster when he caught her gaze. "This is Nakago." Solei nodded to both of them in turn, trying in vain to slow the quickening pace of her heart.
"My name is Solei. You were correctly informed, if you don't mind sharing a room with each other." She said. Nakago and Amiboshi exchanged looks and nodded.
"We don't mind at all." Amiboshi said. Solei calmed herself and led them to the room they would be sharing, telling them that dinner would be soon and that she would holler when it was ready.
She went quickly back to Amber, forgetting that she still had not retrieved her knife from the trees.
"Amber" she said, dragging her friend into the kitchen. "Nakago and Amiboshi are here, I put them in the room furthest from Tasuki and Nuriko." Amber's eyes grew wide, as she comprehended what Solei was saying.
"You're kidding right?" she asked. Solei shook her head no. Amber shuddered and then straightened.
"You'd better start cooking, since you have to feed seven people." Solei nodded and started a batch of fettuccini noodles before she began slicing vegetables.
Nuriko looked at the knife he had pulled from his hair. The blade was a pure white and smoother than silk. He carefully tested the blade. The rose had thorns. A trickle of blood ran down his palm, but he did not even feel the pain. Tasuki had flopped on one of the beds, also deep in thought. His thoughts rested on the brunette
'What was her name again?' he asked himself. 'Oh, Amber, right.' Her amber eyes gazed at him on the insides of his closed eyelids. A loud voice broke through his thoughts.
"DINNER!!" his eyes snapped open and he saw Amber standing in the open doorway. She started to walk out, obviously implying that they follow. She turned to Nuriko. "Nuriko, your hand is bleeding, did ya know?" then she continued out. Five feet past the doorway she spun around again. "Are you guys coming or what?" Nuriko and Tasuki stood and followed her out, Nuriko bandaging his hand with a ribbon until they got to the kitchen. Solei spotted him trying to wrap it, and called him over to her pot of noodles.
"How'd you cut it?" she asked, getting down bandages and disinfectant from a cabinet above.
"It caught on the edge of the table." He lied. She raised an eyebrow, but did not look up from his hand. She tied off the gauze and pronounced him good to go. Amber looked at her, asking if she had used chi to help.
'Only a little, Amber. Not enough to notice.' Came the curt reply. Then Tasuki, Nuriko, Amber, Amiboshi and Nakago's eardrums were shattered by one of Solei's trademark whistles. Amber turned on her.
"Warn us before you break our eardrums, Solei!" she yelled. "What did you do that for anyways?" Nakago and Amiboshi walked into the kitchen, Amiboshi grumbling something about blasted eardrums under his breath. Tasuki and Nuriko's eyes narrowed at the sight of the Seiryu warriors even as theirs narrowed at the firebirds'. Solei was quick to play the dumb blond role, a role she detested, but one that came in handy in awkward moments such as this.
"Do you know eachother?" she asked, planting a falsely idiotic look on her face. "Nuriko, Tasuki, these two are-" Tasuki cut her off.
"Nakago and Amiboshi. Yes we know." His voice was cold and curt. Solei let her smile fall.
"Oh..." she trailed off before realizing she had to introduce Amber. "Nakago, Amiboshi, this is Amber." They nodded to her then sat down across the table from the Suzaku seishi. Solei walked around the table, spooning out pasta and vegetables to everyone. Amber, meanwhile, was pouring drinks for everyone, apple juice for Tasuki and milk for everyone else. Solei's inner self smiled 'Isa fun time' she thought to herself.
"Amber, why are you pouring apple juice for Tasuki?" she carefully pasted an innocent look on her face. Amber looked like a deer caught in the headlights and Solei burst out laughing and collapsed into her chair. Tasuki and Amber looked embarrassed and even Nakago and Amiboshi's mouths were twitching. Tasuki broke the uncomfortable silence accented by Solei's giggles.
"I don't like milk anyways, its fine." Solei doubled over in laughter again, almost choking on her pasta. Nuriko, being just to her left, slapped her back hard, and her mouthful of pasta landed on Amber's face, sending Solei back into gales of laughter. Eventually everyone was able to have a decent, if somewhat distant, conversation over dinner before they went to bed.
MidnightShade: Well? What do u think?
Amber: It's focusing WAY to much on Solei.
Solei: whatev. So far so good. Nakago's really hot, dija know?
MidnightShade: DUH! Of course I did. Anyway. Hit that nice button beneath this and REVIEW!!!!
Tasuki heard the fight before he saw it, the distinct sound of metal on metal. He was surprised when he also heard a young, female voice yelling sword commands, words he knew only because of the emperor.
'Thank you Hotohori.' He thought sarcastically. The clanging stopped and he heard the voice was panting heavily between words.
"You've improved Solei." Another, new, voice spoke.
"Grazi, constant training and lethal anger really are a good combination for prolonged fights, Amber." He heard a musical laughter that suddenly cut off. He stepped closer, curious. A knife imbedded itself in a tree, millimeters from his face. He looked up and saw a light-haired girl in a tight vest and pants, obviously just coming from training, judging by her sweaty features and tousled hair. Her lavender-blue eyes narrowed, and she accompanied her expression with a smirk too much like Nakago's for comfort.
"Enjoying the view?" She asked, her voice laced with venom as she idly rolled a knife blade over her fingers. Tasuki blushed, he hadn't realized he was staring. Nuriko shifted in the bushes behind, and an instant later the knife had pinned his braid to the nearest tree.
"It would appear we have another one." She said, her smirk increasing. "Whatever shall we do with you?"
Solei cut off Amber's laughter with a single thought.
'We've got company.' She explored further and her mouth gaped open. Tasuki shifted in the bushes, and Solei's reflexes fired her knife. She looked back at Amber. 'No chi! They can't know that we know them. Clear? That means no calling me Kamai.' All she got was a pout, but Solei supposed that it meant that Amber would comply. Solei walked out of her cover and upon spying Tasuki, covered her astonishment with a raised eyebrow and a smirk. She waited as his eyes traveled up and down her body before interrupting, barely avoiding the urge to sigh.
"Enjoying the view?" she asked, nonchalantly rolling a knife over her fingers. She heard Nuriko in the bushes and threw her knife, catching his braid and attaching it to the nearest tree.
"It would appear that we have another one." Solei allowed her smirk to increase as she found that it was Nuriko in the bushes. "Whatever shall we do with you?" Amber chose that time to bound out of the foliage behind Solei.
"HI!!" she said, her perky, excited demeanor, the exact opposite of Solei's cold, ice-like façade. Amber continued on, oblivious to practically everything except the fact that Tasuki was sitting in front of her. "Who are you?" she asked. Tasuki found his voice.
"I'm Tasuki, and if he's not dead from a knife wound," he said glaring daggers at Solei, who merely raised her eyebrows again, "Nuriko should be back in those bushes." Amber narrowed her eyes at Solei.
"Solei, if you killed him..." she trailed off menacingly. Nuriko called out from the bushes.
"I'm fine, my braid was caught by the knife and is now attached to a tree." She grinned smugly at Amber with a perfect, 'I told you so' look on her face. Amber's mouth twitched, but she quickly recovered.
"I'm Amber, this is Solei! Don't let her manner-" Solei interrupted.
"Why are you here at my grandfather's temple?" she inquired. Nuriko, having removed the knife from the tree and his hair answered before Tasuki.
"We have no place to stay and wondered if the temple could house us."
Amber tipped her head sideways, curious. "Why'd ya come through the
bushes at the back?"
Tasuki coughed, prompting Nuriko. "We...umm...thought this was the
entrance."
Solei's inner self cringed at the obvious lie, but accepted it anyway.
"Obviously it's not. However, we do have extra rooms if you don't mind sharing. We often get many unexpected guests, we like to keep a few rooms open at all times." She said. Nuriko stood, pulling Tasuki up with him and bowing.
"Thank you for your kindness." He said. Solei nodded in return and motioned for him to follow her.
"This way, gentlemen." Amber burst out laughing, unable to contain it any longer. Her words of apology came out in-between giggles.
"I'm not..." she sniggered, "...laughing..." chuckled, "...at YOU..." more laughter, "...I'm..." chortling, "...laughing at HER!" Amber burst out into hysterical laughter, doubling over. Solei simply stepped around her, completely ignoring the snickering maniac.
"She'll calm down eventually." She told them. " In the meantime, please, ignore her and follow me." They did so, eyeing Amber warily as they passed by. This only made her laugh harder. Solei shook her head sadly, allowing a genuine smile to spread across her lips as she chuckled slightly. Nuriko stared, amazed that the ice-queen had been so quickly replaced with a radiant goddess. She opened a door for them and they stepped into the sparsely decorated room furnished with two beds, a desk and two worn chairs.
"Make yourselves at home." She said. "Dinner's in an hour. Amber will come and find you."
Solei wished that she had stopped to change into something other than her thief attire, but it was best for maneuverability as she wandered in the woods to gather her knife from the tree. She became aware of two people in the woods flanking her. She stopped, to see what would happen, and the footsteps stopped as well.
'Figures.' she thought. "Who's there?" she asked keeping her voice calm and devoid of any and all emotion.
"Travelers." Came the response. "We're looking for shelter and heard that there was a temple nearby that would take us in." Solei sighed.
'Of course. More vagabonds. Who this time, Hotohori and Chichiri?' she silently asked. "Show yourselves." She commanded, making sure her voice was solid and allowed for no disobeying. They complied. Solei was shocked when she saw Nakago and Amiboshi walk out of the trees. Mentally she cursed Suzaku and Seiryu for sending the four of them. Then she reflected on Amber's reaction and amended her curse.
"Who are you?" she asked, feeling that strange deja vu that usually preceded something that would change her life. If it was for the better, she could not tell.
"Amiboshi." He said. Then he motioned to the cold figure beside him. Solei's breath caught in her throat and her heart beat faster when he caught her gaze. "This is Nakago." Solei nodded to both of them in turn, trying in vain to slow the quickening pace of her heart.
"My name is Solei. You were correctly informed, if you don't mind sharing a room with each other." She said. Nakago and Amiboshi exchanged looks and nodded.
"We don't mind at all." Amiboshi said. Solei calmed herself and led them to the room they would be sharing, telling them that dinner would be soon and that she would holler when it was ready.
She went quickly back to Amber, forgetting that she still had not retrieved her knife from the trees.
"Amber" she said, dragging her friend into the kitchen. "Nakago and Amiboshi are here, I put them in the room furthest from Tasuki and Nuriko." Amber's eyes grew wide, as she comprehended what Solei was saying.
"You're kidding right?" she asked. Solei shook her head no. Amber shuddered and then straightened.
"You'd better start cooking, since you have to feed seven people." Solei nodded and started a batch of fettuccini noodles before she began slicing vegetables.
Nuriko looked at the knife he had pulled from his hair. The blade was a pure white and smoother than silk. He carefully tested the blade. The rose had thorns. A trickle of blood ran down his palm, but he did not even feel the pain. Tasuki had flopped on one of the beds, also deep in thought. His thoughts rested on the brunette
'What was her name again?' he asked himself. 'Oh, Amber, right.' Her amber eyes gazed at him on the insides of his closed eyelids. A loud voice broke through his thoughts.
"DINNER!!" his eyes snapped open and he saw Amber standing in the open doorway. She started to walk out, obviously implying that they follow. She turned to Nuriko. "Nuriko, your hand is bleeding, did ya know?" then she continued out. Five feet past the doorway she spun around again. "Are you guys coming or what?" Nuriko and Tasuki stood and followed her out, Nuriko bandaging his hand with a ribbon until they got to the kitchen. Solei spotted him trying to wrap it, and called him over to her pot of noodles.
"How'd you cut it?" she asked, getting down bandages and disinfectant from a cabinet above.
"It caught on the edge of the table." He lied. She raised an eyebrow, but did not look up from his hand. She tied off the gauze and pronounced him good to go. Amber looked at her, asking if she had used chi to help.
'Only a little, Amber. Not enough to notice.' Came the curt reply. Then Tasuki, Nuriko, Amber, Amiboshi and Nakago's eardrums were shattered by one of Solei's trademark whistles. Amber turned on her.
"Warn us before you break our eardrums, Solei!" she yelled. "What did you do that for anyways?" Nakago and Amiboshi walked into the kitchen, Amiboshi grumbling something about blasted eardrums under his breath. Tasuki and Nuriko's eyes narrowed at the sight of the Seiryu warriors even as theirs narrowed at the firebirds'. Solei was quick to play the dumb blond role, a role she detested, but one that came in handy in awkward moments such as this.
"Do you know eachother?" she asked, planting a falsely idiotic look on her face. "Nuriko, Tasuki, these two are-" Tasuki cut her off.
"Nakago and Amiboshi. Yes we know." His voice was cold and curt. Solei let her smile fall.
"Oh..." she trailed off before realizing she had to introduce Amber. "Nakago, Amiboshi, this is Amber." They nodded to her then sat down across the table from the Suzaku seishi. Solei walked around the table, spooning out pasta and vegetables to everyone. Amber, meanwhile, was pouring drinks for everyone, apple juice for Tasuki and milk for everyone else. Solei's inner self smiled 'Isa fun time' she thought to herself.
"Amber, why are you pouring apple juice for Tasuki?" she carefully pasted an innocent look on her face. Amber looked like a deer caught in the headlights and Solei burst out laughing and collapsed into her chair. Tasuki and Amber looked embarrassed and even Nakago and Amiboshi's mouths were twitching. Tasuki broke the uncomfortable silence accented by Solei's giggles.
"I don't like milk anyways, its fine." Solei doubled over in laughter again, almost choking on her pasta. Nuriko, being just to her left, slapped her back hard, and her mouthful of pasta landed on Amber's face, sending Solei back into gales of laughter. Eventually everyone was able to have a decent, if somewhat distant, conversation over dinner before they went to bed.
MidnightShade: Well? What do u think?
Amber: It's focusing WAY to much on Solei.
Solei: whatev. So far so good. Nakago's really hot, dija know?
MidnightShade: DUH! Of course I did. Anyway. Hit that nice button beneath this and REVIEW!!!!