DISCLAMER!!! I don't own Soul Calibur 2 or any of its characters, but
characters created in this fic are solely my property and no one else may
use them.
:A/N: Hello again peoplez and here is the next chapter, I'm to lazy to
write anything more in this A/N so here is Kirby!
Chapter 4: Shards
Talim sat quietly on top of a large boulder. Three torches surrounded the large stone to that the young girl could see the surroundings. She came back to the spot frequently each day. The wind spoke to her everyday she sat upon that stone, but its message was all very fragmented though. The balance of nature was offset because of the eternal blackness. Talim tried to piece the message together. What she translated was that the wind spoke of three blades. The Soul Edge, the Soul Calibur, and there was now a third, fragmented sword. For a two week she sat and listened to the wind weave its broken lore, hopefully to gain some enlightenment on the eternal darkness. The third blade carried a different power than the other two swords. It harnessed the power of the earth, and its spirits rather than the soul of its wielder. Due to the untimely corruption of the Soul Calibur, this third blade would most likely be essential to restore the peace.
"Wind. . . How? Where can I find this blade you speak of? Guide me, so that I may restore the rightful balance. . ." Talim uttered lightly. In response the wind picked up, and whispered lightly for only Talim to hear.
"Scattered . . . find . . . demons . . . carry . . . shards . . . need . . . heroes . . . unite them . . . shards . . . into . . . the blade. . . . ." the wind trailed off once more.
"How though!? How do I unite the shards when I find them? How will this sword help! ANSWER ME! . . . "No response came from the wind. It was through with its lore and left it's chosen one to set off on her own.
O======I==================================================
A young Chinese woman sat down upon what she thought was an old log, for her companion with the lantern got distracted and walked off to go check if there was something in the bushes. She sighed and saw the light slowly growing brighter as it came closer.
"Well . . . what was it? An owl?" she mocked
"For your information, you're being hunted; I would be more edgy if I were you!" A young Japanese man snapped back. "You're too carefree. Don't blame me if you one day stumble into a trap because you're always skipping along with nothing else on your mind!" he continued a verbal assault on the Chinese woman.
"Oh shut up, I'm more aware than that, and for your information, I don't skip around, I prance!" She shouted back at him then sat back down with a snooty look on her face. The young man chuckled slightly to himself and sat down next to her.
"I think there's a small town nearby. . ." the girl tapped her chin while thinking out loud. "And I'm not tired yet. Want to keep going and see if we can find an inn? It beats sleeping on the ground in makeshift crap tents." "Hey! My tents are not makeshift, their reliable and sturdy!" The young man snapped.
"Then why does mine have a hole in it?" the girl retaliated.
"Because you didn't wrap your sword up right and the tip tore it." He snorted lightly.
"Oh be quiet Takaishi, wasn't my fault!"
"Who's was it then?"
"Come back to me on that once we get to an inn!" The Chinese girl winked as she suddenly jolted up and ran down the beaten path. "Xianghua! XIANGHUA GET BACK HERE!" he yelled and ran after her.
O======I==================================================
Talim pondered to herself upon her rock. The wind had not told her where to search. Finding these supposed shards would be quite difficult without any sort of hint of where they are. She sighed heavily and decided to try to consult the wind for the sixteenth time.
"Wind, guide me to my goal. Show me the path so that I may tread upon it as you have asked. . ." she waited, mind as part of the wind itself.
"Find the bearers . . . you shall know when you find one . . . "the wind gently whispered then dispersed.
". . . Find the bearers. . ." she silently repeated. As if in reaction to her words, one of her elbow blades spun around on top of the rock. It stopped spinning and pointed to the north.
"Is this the path? Am I to follow this guidance?" she softly asked once more.
" Yessssssss. . . . "the wind dolled off.
"Thank you wind. Empower me on my journey, for I shall do as you have asked!" Talim stated proudly. Then she slowly set about packing her belongings for the long roads ahead.
O======I==================================================
Xainghua collapsed onto one of the beds. All of her belongings carried in her bag were slung carelessly onto the floor. Takaishi, on the other hand. Lightly placed his shoulder-bag down and started taking out some of it's contents. He pulled out a rag and some unknown solution and placed it on a nightstand that had a small lantern lighting the room.
"I am so beat. . ." Xianghau let out a loud yawn and stretched out on her bed while Takaishi unhooked a sheath from his sash and laid it upon the bed. He drew out an intricately designed blade with small lotus petals engraved down the flat sides. It was a beautiful sword, but was covered with some old blood that was never washed off properly.
"That's a first, the almighty Xianghua walker of thousand miles, beat after a once mile hike over a flat, beaten road." The young man smirked as he set about cleaning off old blood stains from one of his katanas.
"What's that supposed to mean!?" Suddenly Xianghua didn't feel all that exhausted.
"I don't know, what it is supposed to mean?" the young man replied
"Don't give me your mind game crap Takaishi! You just insulted me didn't you?!"
"Xianghua, you're not in the position to be questioning me." Takaishi put the tip of his sword under her chin and stuck his tongue out childishly. In response, she slapped the blade away and fell back onto her bed.
"Xianghua, do you know why I even bothered following you?" Takaishi asked as he sheathed the sword.
"Um.because you were so attracted by me, one of such stunning beauty?" she flourished her hand and smiled.
"Strike one, guess again." He stuck his tongue out playfully.
"Because you were afraid to leave your village without my expertise to guard you?"
"Wrong again, and for your information, I am as equally talented as you, so don't get so cocky." Takaishi said while pointing the tip of one sheathe at Xianghua.
". . . Because you got so sentimentally attached to me while I was in your village that you just had to tag along?" she asked in a rather bored voice.
"Well . . . at least it's partially right. I came along because once, I want revenge, two, because I was ordered by the village elder to come along on your quest, and three . . . umm . . . there is no three, never mind." The last part of his sentence came out quickly.
"You mean that old geezer told YOU to tag along?" she sat up and looked at him puzzled.
"Yes, I know how difficult your quest will be and you probably won't be able to face all the challenges alone." He replied as he propped his swords against one of the nightstands.
"That's just great, an old man doesn't trust I can do anything by myself so he sends an immature "swordsman" to tag along who hasn't even helped yet." Xianghua rolled her eyes and plopped back down.
"It's pointless to continue this conversation Xianghua, see you in the 'morning'." And with that, he laid down into his bed and closed his eyes. Xianghua looked at him from her bed, then blew out the lanterns and fell asleep as well.
O======I==================================================
Talim had found one shard. It was just a sliver, a bright yellow sliver. A long and excruciating battle with some strange, mutated were-boar just for a tiny glowing sliver. It could have been anything though, but something in the wind told her that it was a piece. After the fight she hiked, the wind told her too. The wind was relentlessly driving her onward. Soon she lost track of her surroundings, all she was aware of was the calling of the wind. Finally, Talim fell down exhausted. She took the time to survey her surroundings as best she could. It was grassland, for she heard the sound of the wind in grass. Tall grass, from what she could see with the light from her torch. She heard the trickling of a stream nearby. It seemed a good place to rest With her newfound awareness, she took time to survey herself as well. She was a mess. She was covered in blood and dirt. She was bruised and had many cuts along her body. Her clothes were in complete tatters, barely covering her. Talim sighed. She walked along silently following the sound of the stream. She had practically fallen into it once she found it, for there was a minor dip in the land. She set about making a camp. Using her elbow blades, she sheered some of the grass and dug a pit in the bank of the stream. Using flint from her bag, she started a fire in the pit with the grass she sheered. This would be her home for a few days while she rested, so it needed to be efficient and practical. After setting up her small tent and ate some travel rations she sat quietly looking at the glowing sliver. It was metallic; she found that out so far. One edge was extremely sharp, for she had cut herself on it. It was obviously a piece of a sword. She wrapped it up and put it away in her bag. She inspected herself again and sighed. "I need a bath." She said to herself. Her voice was hoarse, since she had not talked the entire journey. Talim went to the stream and shed off what remained of her clothes and ran her hands along her body, along her curves, seeking imperfections blotching her skin. She had grown, and she knew it. Finally she waded into the water. It was cool in the stream and it soothed her bruised skin. Silently, she set about trying to scrub away the blood and dirt with her hands.
O======I==================================================
Xianghua awoke first. Silently, not wanting to disturb her counterpart, she lit a lantern and turned it low so that it barely lit the room. She presumed he was asleep so she took the liberty to change out of her imperial uniform and into her more comfortable noble clothes. But her presumption was wrong, Takaishi was awake and was watching. He couldn't let an opportunity like this one get away, after all, he was a guy. Out of the corner of her eye, Xianghua saw a glint off what was presumably and eye half open.
"TAKAISHI YOU PERVERT!" She shouted and started to relentlessly pound him over the head with a book she kept in one of her bags.
"What!? I'm only human." He responded quickly hoping it would stop the relentless pounding.
"Men, humph." Xianghua stopped her pounding and put the book away while Takaishi sat and rubbed his head. Xianghua pulled out some jerky and threw it at Takaishi. He took the food gladly and rummaged through his shoulder pack as well for his water flask.
"Well, where should we go now?" He asked between bites.
"Dunno." She responded with a full mouth stuffed with jerky and mochi.
"Well, what did the elder tell you to find?"
"I thought you were listening in . . ." Xianghua started to choke and quickly beat on her chest to try and force the food down. Once it was out of her throat she coughed.
"You okay there Xian?" he asked, a tiny hint of concern in his voice.
"I'm . . .*cough* . . . fine." she cleared her throat and took a sip of water and went back to eating. Takaishi wrapped up the rest of his food and put it away. He laid back on the bed and grabbed one of his blades, inspecting it.
"Anyway, I thought you were listening it."
"Nope, I wasn't there, I was stealing this sword." He grinned and went back to inspecting it. The elder called it the Muremasa; supposedly it had been in a samurai's collection for some time but had been stolen. After various trades and thefts, it had wound up in a small dojo of a tiny village out in the middle of nowhere, and now it was in the possession of Takaishi.
"That's the little rogue I know." Xianghua grinned back. "Anyway, supposedly I'm supposed to head to Spain, that elder guy said this darkness" she pointed out the window. "Stems from somewhere there."
"Sounds like a long hike, and we're where again?"
"Along the Chinese border. . ."
"Seriously!?" Takaishi had seen very few maps before, but he knew that it was a long way from China to Europe.
"Yep, we have a long hike ahead of us . . . of course, you could back down from this and try to live somewhere in peace." She replied casually.
"I already devoted myself Xian, I'm not going to back down. I want to prove myself as an Edgemaster, so I have to come along."
"Edgemaster? Pretty ambitious aren't you?"
"Ambitious but entirely possible." He snapped the Muremasa back into its sheath. Xianghua fed more oil into the lantern and the light grew. Faint lights from the lampposts outside shown through the window. In her crimson tunic, Xianghua looked downright eerie in dim lighting. Suddenly, a faint sound of armor clinking from outside the window broke the silence. Takaishi took a peek outside and immediately dropped to the ground.
"Legions! Get down! We don't want to be seen." He urgently whispered. Xianghua dove to the ground just as a torch passed by the window.
"Think they're looking for me?" she asked, not a hint of worry in her voice.
"Probably. . ." he took a peek out the window. "Looks to me that it's a small scouting company, around ten of them, all using short swords. They all have light leatherish armor on."
"We can easily take ten." She whispered eagerly as she pulled out her sword. "It's been so long since we fought something I think I might have forgotten how to fight." "You? Forget how to fight, doubt it." Takaishi crawled quietly to his side of the room and grabbed his katanas, strapping the Muremasa to his left hip and the Lotus blade to his back. "Shall we?" Xianghau nodded. "Yes, let's go!" and got up, bolting out the room heading for the exit, with Takaishi trailing after her.
The street was dim, some of the lampposts had been doused, but still there was enough light to see and fight. Sound of men shuffling through the streets grew louder. Takaishi sat silently in the shadows next to Xianghua. Silently he concentrated on the footsteps and realized he made a miscalculation.
"I think I might have made a bad estimate, form the sounds made by the enemy, it sound like twenty, either that, or someone is stupid enough to be out walking with demons wandering the street." Xianghua tapped her chin lightly and said, "I doubt that, twenty may be slightly riskier. . ." Suddenly a loud grunt sounded from their left. A torch flew threw the air and landed near the two's hiding spot, casting away the shadow and putting them in plain view. The Legion let out a loud war cry and soon all of its comrades came crowding into the street with weapons out. Takaishi's new estimate was more accurate, there were about twenty demon soldiers. One of the demons, obviously the company's leader, with a large hornlike spike protruding from its helmet, pointed to Xianghua and let out a loud grunt. One smaller legion came forward and attempted to grab Xianghua's leg. It was met with the Krita-Yuga's tip in its skull. It let out a long dying squeal that aggravated the rest of its companions, who then let out another war cry and ran forward at the two assailants.
O======I==================================================
Both of his katanas were out as he stood in a combat position. Xianghua was equally prepared with the Kritta-Yuga out. She nodded to him and he started his attack. Like lightning, Takaishi leapt from his position, slamming the Muremasa into the back of the legion's skull in mid- air. The next fell when he landed, its throat expertly sliced open with the second blade. Xianghua leapt into the air as well, landing next to a legion and gracefully slashing its belly open as she moved onto her next victim. Takaishi skewered two more with each blade as they tried to surround him. Xianghua was gracefully dodging and parrying her way towards him. He felled three more with quick slashes from both blades before Xianghua arrived and killed off the last four. Wiping off their blade, both fighters let out a sigh of relief. None of the attackers had made it out alive to report their locations.
"That was a nice break in the peace." Takaishi said while stretching. He only sustained one cut, but it was a minor graze. Xianghua, on the other hand, wasn't even touched.
"You got a nice nick on your arm there." She playfully pointed out.
"I got it after I killed one of those things. The bastards still want to fight even when they're dead." He kicked one of the bloody heads of a fallen legion. "Real persistent bastards. . ." he trailed off, noticing a yellow glint from the inside half-helm of one of the legions that's head was into two.
"Xianghua, look at this." He knelt down and picked up the piece from inside the creature's cleaved head. It was rather large, looking to be like the tip of a sword. . .
"Where did you find that Takaishi?" she asked, kneeling down beside him.
"Where do you think?" he replied sarcastically. In response, Xianghua snatched the shard out of his hand and inspected it.
"Well, it's glowing with a yellow aura, maybe it's a piece of something important. Looks like sword shard to me, like the ones from Soul Edge a long while back . . . No way, there's no way this can be a shard to another sword, you think?" she turned to face him.
"Think? Think what? What use is a sword if it's broken into little bits?" he responded.
"Well . . . I don't know. If it is like the Soul Edge, there must be a good reason why it's broken into little bits . . . if it isn't, well, then it's just a sliver of metal, I guess."
"What makes you think it has to be a sword, for all you know it could be a dagger, or a halberd blade."
"Don't suddenly start to know what you're talking about Takaishi, I think it's best we leave this matter for another day, we should tend to that wound of yours." She smiled at him, which, for that moment, was quite uncharacteristic of her, then wrapped the shard up in a piece of cloth.
"Xiaghua, it's just a little scrape! There is nothing to worry about!" He exclaimed. "I don't need you to take care of me like I'm a little kid, we're the same damn age!"
"Takaishi, it could be infected, or the enemy could have poisoned their blades, ever think of that? I don't want you to just suddenly drop dead when we're hiking." Takaishi sighed, she was right. The enemy would go to virtually every length to kill an up riser. Poisons were just a little trick in a long growing list of foul deeds. Silently the pair walked back to the tiny inn, leaving behind a litter of corpses lying in the street. In his mind, Takaishi couldn't take his mind off Xianghua, or her sudden change in character. As hard as he tried, her image was stuck in his mind. He recalled words of his previous masters, though they were all from different sword schools, they all said the same thing. Keep all emotions but rage in. Rage and anger must flow freely. Most of all, stay away from any sort of relationship, as they cloud quick judgement.
"I'm not in a relationship, she's just a friend our feelings are mutual. . ." he mumbled as the words echoed in the depth of his mind.
End chapter 4
A/N : So ends the chapter I spent a month working on a little bit every night at 1 am. FF keeps messing with my format, once gain I say skrew this after hours of editing my fic trying to get each quote on it's own separate line to make the dialogue easier on the eyes. Hope you enjoy, plz r&r, blah blah blah. . . really tired, I'll be asleep when you read this. . . now
Chapter 4: Shards
Talim sat quietly on top of a large boulder. Three torches surrounded the large stone to that the young girl could see the surroundings. She came back to the spot frequently each day. The wind spoke to her everyday she sat upon that stone, but its message was all very fragmented though. The balance of nature was offset because of the eternal blackness. Talim tried to piece the message together. What she translated was that the wind spoke of three blades. The Soul Edge, the Soul Calibur, and there was now a third, fragmented sword. For a two week she sat and listened to the wind weave its broken lore, hopefully to gain some enlightenment on the eternal darkness. The third blade carried a different power than the other two swords. It harnessed the power of the earth, and its spirits rather than the soul of its wielder. Due to the untimely corruption of the Soul Calibur, this third blade would most likely be essential to restore the peace.
"Wind. . . How? Where can I find this blade you speak of? Guide me, so that I may restore the rightful balance. . ." Talim uttered lightly. In response the wind picked up, and whispered lightly for only Talim to hear.
"Scattered . . . find . . . demons . . . carry . . . shards . . . need . . . heroes . . . unite them . . . shards . . . into . . . the blade. . . . ." the wind trailed off once more.
"How though!? How do I unite the shards when I find them? How will this sword help! ANSWER ME! . . . "No response came from the wind. It was through with its lore and left it's chosen one to set off on her own.
O======I==================================================
A young Chinese woman sat down upon what she thought was an old log, for her companion with the lantern got distracted and walked off to go check if there was something in the bushes. She sighed and saw the light slowly growing brighter as it came closer.
"Well . . . what was it? An owl?" she mocked
"For your information, you're being hunted; I would be more edgy if I were you!" A young Japanese man snapped back. "You're too carefree. Don't blame me if you one day stumble into a trap because you're always skipping along with nothing else on your mind!" he continued a verbal assault on the Chinese woman.
"Oh shut up, I'm more aware than that, and for your information, I don't skip around, I prance!" She shouted back at him then sat back down with a snooty look on her face. The young man chuckled slightly to himself and sat down next to her.
"I think there's a small town nearby. . ." the girl tapped her chin while thinking out loud. "And I'm not tired yet. Want to keep going and see if we can find an inn? It beats sleeping on the ground in makeshift crap tents." "Hey! My tents are not makeshift, their reliable and sturdy!" The young man snapped.
"Then why does mine have a hole in it?" the girl retaliated.
"Because you didn't wrap your sword up right and the tip tore it." He snorted lightly.
"Oh be quiet Takaishi, wasn't my fault!"
"Who's was it then?"
"Come back to me on that once we get to an inn!" The Chinese girl winked as she suddenly jolted up and ran down the beaten path. "Xianghua! XIANGHUA GET BACK HERE!" he yelled and ran after her.
O======I==================================================
Talim pondered to herself upon her rock. The wind had not told her where to search. Finding these supposed shards would be quite difficult without any sort of hint of where they are. She sighed heavily and decided to try to consult the wind for the sixteenth time.
"Wind, guide me to my goal. Show me the path so that I may tread upon it as you have asked. . ." she waited, mind as part of the wind itself.
"Find the bearers . . . you shall know when you find one . . . "the wind gently whispered then dispersed.
". . . Find the bearers. . ." she silently repeated. As if in reaction to her words, one of her elbow blades spun around on top of the rock. It stopped spinning and pointed to the north.
"Is this the path? Am I to follow this guidance?" she softly asked once more.
" Yessssssss. . . . "the wind dolled off.
"Thank you wind. Empower me on my journey, for I shall do as you have asked!" Talim stated proudly. Then she slowly set about packing her belongings for the long roads ahead.
O======I==================================================
Xainghua collapsed onto one of the beds. All of her belongings carried in her bag were slung carelessly onto the floor. Takaishi, on the other hand. Lightly placed his shoulder-bag down and started taking out some of it's contents. He pulled out a rag and some unknown solution and placed it on a nightstand that had a small lantern lighting the room.
"I am so beat. . ." Xianghau let out a loud yawn and stretched out on her bed while Takaishi unhooked a sheath from his sash and laid it upon the bed. He drew out an intricately designed blade with small lotus petals engraved down the flat sides. It was a beautiful sword, but was covered with some old blood that was never washed off properly.
"That's a first, the almighty Xianghua walker of thousand miles, beat after a once mile hike over a flat, beaten road." The young man smirked as he set about cleaning off old blood stains from one of his katanas.
"What's that supposed to mean!?" Suddenly Xianghua didn't feel all that exhausted.
"I don't know, what it is supposed to mean?" the young man replied
"Don't give me your mind game crap Takaishi! You just insulted me didn't you?!"
"Xianghua, you're not in the position to be questioning me." Takaishi put the tip of his sword under her chin and stuck his tongue out childishly. In response, she slapped the blade away and fell back onto her bed.
"Xianghua, do you know why I even bothered following you?" Takaishi asked as he sheathed the sword.
"Um.because you were so attracted by me, one of such stunning beauty?" she flourished her hand and smiled.
"Strike one, guess again." He stuck his tongue out playfully.
"Because you were afraid to leave your village without my expertise to guard you?"
"Wrong again, and for your information, I am as equally talented as you, so don't get so cocky." Takaishi said while pointing the tip of one sheathe at Xianghua.
". . . Because you got so sentimentally attached to me while I was in your village that you just had to tag along?" she asked in a rather bored voice.
"Well . . . at least it's partially right. I came along because once, I want revenge, two, because I was ordered by the village elder to come along on your quest, and three . . . umm . . . there is no three, never mind." The last part of his sentence came out quickly.
"You mean that old geezer told YOU to tag along?" she sat up and looked at him puzzled.
"Yes, I know how difficult your quest will be and you probably won't be able to face all the challenges alone." He replied as he propped his swords against one of the nightstands.
"That's just great, an old man doesn't trust I can do anything by myself so he sends an immature "swordsman" to tag along who hasn't even helped yet." Xianghua rolled her eyes and plopped back down.
"It's pointless to continue this conversation Xianghua, see you in the 'morning'." And with that, he laid down into his bed and closed his eyes. Xianghua looked at him from her bed, then blew out the lanterns and fell asleep as well.
O======I==================================================
Talim had found one shard. It was just a sliver, a bright yellow sliver. A long and excruciating battle with some strange, mutated were-boar just for a tiny glowing sliver. It could have been anything though, but something in the wind told her that it was a piece. After the fight she hiked, the wind told her too. The wind was relentlessly driving her onward. Soon she lost track of her surroundings, all she was aware of was the calling of the wind. Finally, Talim fell down exhausted. She took the time to survey her surroundings as best she could. It was grassland, for she heard the sound of the wind in grass. Tall grass, from what she could see with the light from her torch. She heard the trickling of a stream nearby. It seemed a good place to rest With her newfound awareness, she took time to survey herself as well. She was a mess. She was covered in blood and dirt. She was bruised and had many cuts along her body. Her clothes were in complete tatters, barely covering her. Talim sighed. She walked along silently following the sound of the stream. She had practically fallen into it once she found it, for there was a minor dip in the land. She set about making a camp. Using her elbow blades, she sheered some of the grass and dug a pit in the bank of the stream. Using flint from her bag, she started a fire in the pit with the grass she sheered. This would be her home for a few days while she rested, so it needed to be efficient and practical. After setting up her small tent and ate some travel rations she sat quietly looking at the glowing sliver. It was metallic; she found that out so far. One edge was extremely sharp, for she had cut herself on it. It was obviously a piece of a sword. She wrapped it up and put it away in her bag. She inspected herself again and sighed. "I need a bath." She said to herself. Her voice was hoarse, since she had not talked the entire journey. Talim went to the stream and shed off what remained of her clothes and ran her hands along her body, along her curves, seeking imperfections blotching her skin. She had grown, and she knew it. Finally she waded into the water. It was cool in the stream and it soothed her bruised skin. Silently, she set about trying to scrub away the blood and dirt with her hands.
O======I==================================================
Xianghua awoke first. Silently, not wanting to disturb her counterpart, she lit a lantern and turned it low so that it barely lit the room. She presumed he was asleep so she took the liberty to change out of her imperial uniform and into her more comfortable noble clothes. But her presumption was wrong, Takaishi was awake and was watching. He couldn't let an opportunity like this one get away, after all, he was a guy. Out of the corner of her eye, Xianghua saw a glint off what was presumably and eye half open.
"TAKAISHI YOU PERVERT!" She shouted and started to relentlessly pound him over the head with a book she kept in one of her bags.
"What!? I'm only human." He responded quickly hoping it would stop the relentless pounding.
"Men, humph." Xianghua stopped her pounding and put the book away while Takaishi sat and rubbed his head. Xianghua pulled out some jerky and threw it at Takaishi. He took the food gladly and rummaged through his shoulder pack as well for his water flask.
"Well, where should we go now?" He asked between bites.
"Dunno." She responded with a full mouth stuffed with jerky and mochi.
"Well, what did the elder tell you to find?"
"I thought you were listening in . . ." Xianghua started to choke and quickly beat on her chest to try and force the food down. Once it was out of her throat she coughed.
"You okay there Xian?" he asked, a tiny hint of concern in his voice.
"I'm . . .*cough* . . . fine." she cleared her throat and took a sip of water and went back to eating. Takaishi wrapped up the rest of his food and put it away. He laid back on the bed and grabbed one of his blades, inspecting it.
"Anyway, I thought you were listening it."
"Nope, I wasn't there, I was stealing this sword." He grinned and went back to inspecting it. The elder called it the Muremasa; supposedly it had been in a samurai's collection for some time but had been stolen. After various trades and thefts, it had wound up in a small dojo of a tiny village out in the middle of nowhere, and now it was in the possession of Takaishi.
"That's the little rogue I know." Xianghua grinned back. "Anyway, supposedly I'm supposed to head to Spain, that elder guy said this darkness" she pointed out the window. "Stems from somewhere there."
"Sounds like a long hike, and we're where again?"
"Along the Chinese border. . ."
"Seriously!?" Takaishi had seen very few maps before, but he knew that it was a long way from China to Europe.
"Yep, we have a long hike ahead of us . . . of course, you could back down from this and try to live somewhere in peace." She replied casually.
"I already devoted myself Xian, I'm not going to back down. I want to prove myself as an Edgemaster, so I have to come along."
"Edgemaster? Pretty ambitious aren't you?"
"Ambitious but entirely possible." He snapped the Muremasa back into its sheath. Xianghua fed more oil into the lantern and the light grew. Faint lights from the lampposts outside shown through the window. In her crimson tunic, Xianghua looked downright eerie in dim lighting. Suddenly, a faint sound of armor clinking from outside the window broke the silence. Takaishi took a peek outside and immediately dropped to the ground.
"Legions! Get down! We don't want to be seen." He urgently whispered. Xianghua dove to the ground just as a torch passed by the window.
"Think they're looking for me?" she asked, not a hint of worry in her voice.
"Probably. . ." he took a peek out the window. "Looks to me that it's a small scouting company, around ten of them, all using short swords. They all have light leatherish armor on."
"We can easily take ten." She whispered eagerly as she pulled out her sword. "It's been so long since we fought something I think I might have forgotten how to fight." "You? Forget how to fight, doubt it." Takaishi crawled quietly to his side of the room and grabbed his katanas, strapping the Muremasa to his left hip and the Lotus blade to his back. "Shall we?" Xianghau nodded. "Yes, let's go!" and got up, bolting out the room heading for the exit, with Takaishi trailing after her.
The street was dim, some of the lampposts had been doused, but still there was enough light to see and fight. Sound of men shuffling through the streets grew louder. Takaishi sat silently in the shadows next to Xianghua. Silently he concentrated on the footsteps and realized he made a miscalculation.
"I think I might have made a bad estimate, form the sounds made by the enemy, it sound like twenty, either that, or someone is stupid enough to be out walking with demons wandering the street." Xianghua tapped her chin lightly and said, "I doubt that, twenty may be slightly riskier. . ." Suddenly a loud grunt sounded from their left. A torch flew threw the air and landed near the two's hiding spot, casting away the shadow and putting them in plain view. The Legion let out a loud war cry and soon all of its comrades came crowding into the street with weapons out. Takaishi's new estimate was more accurate, there were about twenty demon soldiers. One of the demons, obviously the company's leader, with a large hornlike spike protruding from its helmet, pointed to Xianghua and let out a loud grunt. One smaller legion came forward and attempted to grab Xianghua's leg. It was met with the Krita-Yuga's tip in its skull. It let out a long dying squeal that aggravated the rest of its companions, who then let out another war cry and ran forward at the two assailants.
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Both of his katanas were out as he stood in a combat position. Xianghua was equally prepared with the Kritta-Yuga out. She nodded to him and he started his attack. Like lightning, Takaishi leapt from his position, slamming the Muremasa into the back of the legion's skull in mid- air. The next fell when he landed, its throat expertly sliced open with the second blade. Xianghua leapt into the air as well, landing next to a legion and gracefully slashing its belly open as she moved onto her next victim. Takaishi skewered two more with each blade as they tried to surround him. Xianghua was gracefully dodging and parrying her way towards him. He felled three more with quick slashes from both blades before Xianghua arrived and killed off the last four. Wiping off their blade, both fighters let out a sigh of relief. None of the attackers had made it out alive to report their locations.
"That was a nice break in the peace." Takaishi said while stretching. He only sustained one cut, but it was a minor graze. Xianghua, on the other hand, wasn't even touched.
"You got a nice nick on your arm there." She playfully pointed out.
"I got it after I killed one of those things. The bastards still want to fight even when they're dead." He kicked one of the bloody heads of a fallen legion. "Real persistent bastards. . ." he trailed off, noticing a yellow glint from the inside half-helm of one of the legions that's head was into two.
"Xianghua, look at this." He knelt down and picked up the piece from inside the creature's cleaved head. It was rather large, looking to be like the tip of a sword. . .
"Where did you find that Takaishi?" she asked, kneeling down beside him.
"Where do you think?" he replied sarcastically. In response, Xianghua snatched the shard out of his hand and inspected it.
"Well, it's glowing with a yellow aura, maybe it's a piece of something important. Looks like sword shard to me, like the ones from Soul Edge a long while back . . . No way, there's no way this can be a shard to another sword, you think?" she turned to face him.
"Think? Think what? What use is a sword if it's broken into little bits?" he responded.
"Well . . . I don't know. If it is like the Soul Edge, there must be a good reason why it's broken into little bits . . . if it isn't, well, then it's just a sliver of metal, I guess."
"What makes you think it has to be a sword, for all you know it could be a dagger, or a halberd blade."
"Don't suddenly start to know what you're talking about Takaishi, I think it's best we leave this matter for another day, we should tend to that wound of yours." She smiled at him, which, for that moment, was quite uncharacteristic of her, then wrapped the shard up in a piece of cloth.
"Xiaghua, it's just a little scrape! There is nothing to worry about!" He exclaimed. "I don't need you to take care of me like I'm a little kid, we're the same damn age!"
"Takaishi, it could be infected, or the enemy could have poisoned their blades, ever think of that? I don't want you to just suddenly drop dead when we're hiking." Takaishi sighed, she was right. The enemy would go to virtually every length to kill an up riser. Poisons were just a little trick in a long growing list of foul deeds. Silently the pair walked back to the tiny inn, leaving behind a litter of corpses lying in the street. In his mind, Takaishi couldn't take his mind off Xianghua, or her sudden change in character. As hard as he tried, her image was stuck in his mind. He recalled words of his previous masters, though they were all from different sword schools, they all said the same thing. Keep all emotions but rage in. Rage and anger must flow freely. Most of all, stay away from any sort of relationship, as they cloud quick judgement.
"I'm not in a relationship, she's just a friend our feelings are mutual. . ." he mumbled as the words echoed in the depth of his mind.
End chapter 4
A/N : So ends the chapter I spent a month working on a little bit every night at 1 am. FF keeps messing with my format, once gain I say skrew this after hours of editing my fic trying to get each quote on it's own separate line to make the dialogue easier on the eyes. Hope you enjoy, plz r&r, blah blah blah. . . really tired, I'll be asleep when you read this. . . now