Someone Different
Chapter 5
Katana blinked sleepily as the sunlight filtered in through her curtains. She sung off her bed and detected a movement at the edge of her room. She pretended she didn't notice and yawned widely, though her eyes were looking for the hidden person. She went to her closet, throwing open the sliding door and fiddled with the hangers, her ears tuned to any sound from behind her. When she caught the rustle of cloth, she immediately changed into her Knight's uniform and spun quickly, her foot snapping up. A thump told her that she had hit her mark.
Without glancing at her fallen comrade-to-be-hopefully, she crossed to her bureau. She took out a comb and brushed her hair carefully while questioning the injured person behind her. "Who sent you and why?" she asked while braiding her hair. She had not expected a female voice to answer her.
"Well, Hayate wanted me to find out how good you are at dealing with ambush," came the answer. Katana spun quickly around, her braid whipping around her with the movement. Himeno was in her prêt with the Knight of Fire and on the floor. Katana sighed but did not move from her battle stance. "Do you mind helping me up?" Himeno asked. "I don't mind but it could be a trick," Katana replied.
"Please?" Himeno asked again, pleadingly. Katana still looked skeptical but grabbed the outstretched hand. At that moment, Mannen and Hajime teleported into the room. Katana gritted her teeth. Fire, Ice and Water, all her weak spots. This Hayate was a great test maker. She quickly flew out the quickly opened window.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sasame had his eyes closed and his brows were furrowed in concentration. "She's out the window," he reported to the three Knights surrounding him. Hayate nodded, "She is a good strategist," he said, noting it in the back of his head. He continued to listen to Sasame as the younger Knight reported on the battle.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Katana flew above the window, high above the window, seeing if they would follow her. Mannen did stick out his head but quickly pulled it back in as a barrage of sharp metal spikes fell from above. Katana then positioned herself so that her back was shielded by the mansion and her head by her shield. She waited.
She wasn't disappointed as Hajime teleported a few meters away from her. She sent a power wave at the little Knight, not enough to kill him but enough to knock him out. However, it he was the Knight of anything but fire, ice or water, he would be killed. Her power was diminished if it was directed to either one of her opponents.
She gritted her teeth again as Mannen came around. By giving Hajime most of her attention, she had left the window unguarded. Though Hajime was on of her more weak spots. Water and Metal did not mix well. However, Hajime was unconscious at the moment. Katana carried him to land softly on the ground. She didn't want him to get a concussion.
Mannen used this opportunity to send his own wave of power towards her. Katana set up a shield just in time and her knees buckled with the effort to hold it up. Mannen was strong. Himeno had snuck up on her when Mannen attacked her and she wielded a much stronger weapon. Fire.
Katana dropped Hajime gently onto the grass, and then shot up into the air, like a bullet. Mannen followed quickly while Himeno disengaged from the prêt. It would be cheating to fight Katana with the Prétear because in order to defeat Himeno, Katana would have to kill Goh. Himeno knelt beside Hajime while Goh shot up after Katana and Mannen.
Katana now carried two swards of metal, her power making a haze around them. She circled Mannen, like a hawk, throwing one of her swords from the front and one from behind. She had made the swords so that if they hit, they would not cut flesh but knock Mannen out of the battle. The first sword Mannen caught but the second one hit him on the shoulder. He slumped in midair.
Katana caught the falling sword and Mannen, the metal molding into her. She disengaged Mannen's fingers from the other sword, making the other sword disappear in her hands. She gently left Mannen with Himeno, keeping her distance until a fireball whizzed past her head, frying a wisp of hair. Katana kicked off from the ground and used her metal to make her favorite weapon, the spear.
Holding the spear in one hand, she shot metal pellets at Goh with the other. One of them caught Goh in the arm, cutting a deep wound. She still sent a steady stream of pellets, feeling a fraction of remorse. When she thought that he was occupied, she teleported to right behind him. One of her own pellets caught her on her leg, but she didn't mind. Her spear came crashing down on Goh's head.
Goh toppled over, knocked out for the time being. Katana carried him to the other three people. Hajime was already stirring. She placed Goh in a clean patch of pavement and inspected his wound, her own wound forgotten. "Himeno, could you get me some linen from my medicine cabinet? It's really hard to miss; it has a big red cross on it. Oh, and also get me some tweezers, a needle and some string. Don't forget the alcohol too!" Katana called after Himeno as the Prétear dashed off. Katana moved Goh so that his head was on her lap, making him more comfortable. While she was gone, the other Knights appeared. "That was well done," Sasame complimented, while looking at Hayate, who still looked unconvinced. "However well that was done, you still need to go over some tests. How, do you know which Knight is of which element?"
Katana rolled her eyes. Since she didn't know their names, she pointed at them. First was Kei – "Light", then at the unconscious Goh – "Fire", at the spiky haired Mannen – "Ice", then at the now awake Hajime – "Water, then she studied Hayate, Sasame and Shin. After about a minute, she called Hayate, "Wind, and Sasame, "Sound". She searched her brain for the last element and smiled warmly at Shin, "Earth," she finished, before messing up little Shin's hair.
"You know, you hair color really gives you away," she continued after a moment. Himeno came running with the things that Katana requested. "See Fire here has reddish-brown hair and Light has golden hair. Ice has ice-like hair and Wind has navy hair. I have black-silvery-grey hair. So it's really quite easy." She quickly cleaned the wound, glad that the Knight of Fire was unconscious. She quickly stitched the wound closed; it would make it heal quickly and wrapped the linen around it. She finished just as Goh was stirring. Mannen crawled up to him and poked him awake.
"I don't know any of your names actually, except for Hayate and Himeno," Katana remembered, moving Goh's head off her lap. "Would you mind introducing me?" she asked standing up and stretching. Mannen was up for the challenge. "I'm Mannen," he said, "and this is Goh," he poked Goh, "The Water person is Hajime and Shin is the small one," Shin gave a small "Hey!" at that. "That's Sasame and that's Kei," the young Knight of Ice pointed to each of them. "Pleased to meet you," Katana said politely, and added, "I'm Katana." Goh woke up to hear the last sentence and said, "That fits you know. My head still hurts from that blow." She laughed and petted the top of Goh's head.
"Well, what's next?" she asked, turning to Hayate. The Knight of Wind gave her a bow and a quiver of arrows. "Accuracy and concentration," he said. Himeno huffed, "Why didn't you give that instead of that stupid kendama?" Hayate looked at her innocently, "I was afraid that you would hurt someone if you were off the mark." Himeno was getting more and more angry. Hayate took one look at her face and the steam coming out of her ears and ran for cover, his Prétear chasing him, shouting insults. "Um, are they always like that?" Katana asked eyebrows raised. "Yep," replied Goh, with a chuckle.