Someone Different
Chapter 7
When the seven Leafe Knights and their Prétears had dragged Katana away from the library (she failed and before they could drag her away, she was already half-way in a book; Goh had fallen asleep), they told her that she was accepted. She grinned and said gleefully, "Now I can show you my real personality!" She then skipped off around the corner. After a moment, her silvery-black head popped back at them. "Oh, and you three," she pointed at the younger Knights, "you still want those cookies?" She disappeared quickly, so she wouldn't get run over.
"I'm starting to regret my decision," Hayate remarked as he stared at the place where Katana used to be.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A few days had passed since Katana had joined their little troupe and it had been a … interesting few days. Goh was relieved of his job as baby-sitter half of the time and was thankful. The children, well, Shin at least, viewed Katana as a mother and Goh as the father. Katana's cookies could be used to bribe Mannen easily; he was in love with them. Himeno and Katana got along very well, seeing that their personalities were very close knit. Takako could often find Katana in the library and they would talk a lot about books. Occasionally, Yayoi joined them. When that happened, Takako would count the minutes until the other two ladies would get into an argument about whether romantic books were better than fantasy/adventure books. Kei and Sasame didn't see much of her as she was usually always with the girls, at her job, or with the kids.
Thought Katana annoyed the Knight of Wind to no end, she still worked with him. However, Hayate would send her far, far away from him. But, despite his efforts, she would always finish quickly and come back to torment him with her chatter. She seemed to enjoy the fact that she could get him annoyed. She knew that he was annoyed when his shoulders became stiff and his movements' jerky. He couldn't get her angry like Himeno because he didn't yet know what made her angry. He already tried saying that she was fat but she just shrugged and said that she should work out more. She could also block any physical attack that he launched at her. If he had begun to regret his decision, he really regretted it now. He had tried to bribe her with books but all the books that she wanted were either too expensive or sold out at the book store. In the library, she had started at the beginning of the alphabet and now has had begun on the As's. She devoured them as quickly as Himeno ate her meals.
Now was one time that Hayate wanted Katana to disappear. He had set her a task that was supposed to take her all morning to do, yet here she was chattering non-stop. It wasn't Hayate she was yapping to, oh no, it was to a robin. And the bird didn't move at all during her monologue. Hayate was trying to ignore her and continue to waster the flowers but her constant talking drilled into his mind.
"Oh, did you see that? There was a butterfly on that petal. It was really pretty too. All yellow and red. Oh, I think that there might have been some brown in it too! That reminds me of you, Rob--" she cut herself off abruptly. Hayate couldn't contain the sigh of relief that escaped his lips. If he turned around, he would have seen Katana purse her own lips. But the Knight of Metal quickly switched her attention to the newest person in the clearing.
"It's time for me to take over already?" she asked, though without a hint of weariness. Goh nodded before flopping down on the soft grass and rubbing the back of his neck. "That Mannen," he groaned. Hayate started, he hadn't noticed the other Knight, to busy in rejoicing the peace and quiet. Katana noticed the slight movement and chuckled, both at Hayate and Goh's comment. Should I go and jet my cookie jar?" she asked, still chuckling. Goh smiled wryly, "Don't give one to Mannen and make sure that he doesn't bully Hajime or Shin into giving him one." Katana disappeared.
Goh turned to Hayate, "She's a nuisance?" Hayate closed his eyes, "She had been talking to that robin for 10 minutes at the most until you came. She would have continued for as long as the robin stayed. And then she would talk to herself." Hayate groaned, "I thought that I was going to go insane. I couldn't give her something else to do because there wasn't anything else to do!" Goh laughed and was about to leave when Kei appeared.
Kei was in his Knight uniform and his expression grave. "We have located a demon larva. It's taking in Leafe again but I can't find out who it's taking it for." Hayate and Goh swore before changing into their uniforms and following the Knight of Light.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Katana rummaged the cookie jar from her hiding place, under a loose floorboard. Well, it started out as a tight floorboard but every time she wanted to open it, she loosened the screws and pried off the wood. When she wanted to conceal it again, she screwed the screws in tight. She lifted the transparent jar up, counting the cookies inside. She needed to make more.
At that moment, Mannen popped into her room. "Mannen," she scolded, "You shouldn't pop in like that!" What f I was changing?" She moved the cookies out of his reach before noticing that he was in his uniform. "I take it that they found demon larvae," she said before taking out 15 cookies from the jar, empting it. She stowed the cookies away as she changed into her Knight uniform. When she was finished, Mannen grabbed her wrist, shooting up into the air.
After her initial surprise passed, she wrenched her arm from Mannen's grip and flew on her own. They passed a good half of the town before Mannen flew downwards and Katana felt the demon larva. As Katana got closer, she could see the demon larva writhing in a park, the Leafe in the trees around it dwindling. It's taking the Leafe again she noted, before sighing. The Knights had told her about Takako and the Princess of Disaster. But for whom this time?