Gaga was walking along the edge of town looking for the caravan. He had decided to visit Niko-kun, 'Niko-san', he corrected himself, if he wasn't too busy. It was also a good idea to check up on Grenda. As he reached the caravan he saw Niko with his sword above his head and Grenda standing directly in that sword's path. Instinct took over. He hadn't seen Niko in fifty years, and his memory was of a little boy. He suddenly saw him as a man threatening the Princess whose duty it was for him to protect and care for. So he did the first thing that occurred to him. He jumped into the path of the sword, intending to block it from striking the princess.
Niko was shocked. He hadn't been expecting anyone to interfere with the practice, so he had narrowed his focus to himself, the sword, and Grenda. The sudden appearance of someone very much taller threw him off, and he wasn't able to stop himself in time. The sword passed right through Gaga's head and body, and he fell to the ground. Grenda screamed, and the members of the caravan, as well as the other four girls, came running.
"What happened?"
"Grenda, what's the matter?"
They stopped and stared at the sight of Gaga lying on the ground, with Niko standing over him with a drawn sword.
"Niko-san what happened? Did you kill Gaga?"
Niko looked over at Grenda, to his surprise, she was holding back tears. He softened and said kindly, "here's my handkerchief, you look like you'll need it. If he hadn't gotten in the way, I'd have sliced the apple in half without touching you."
She took it with trembling hands and blew her nose. Regaining her composure, she turned to him angrily, "Why did you kill him?"
Niko sighed, "He's not dead. This sword can't kill anybody." He hefted it.
"Huh?"
"It was forged by a pacifist during a war several hundred years ago. The king at the time ordered him to make a sword, but he didn't want to kill people. So he created this. It works perfectly well against unintelligent animals and objects, but on any sentient being it merely knocks them out for a while. Supposedly its effects differ between the five major peoples, but it won't kill any of them."
"What do you mean, its effect vary?"
"The length of time they're unconscious for one thing. Supposedly there were additional side-effects for demons, but I don't know what they were, only that they aren't fatal."
"So Gaga's just unconscious, good."
"Actually, now that I think on it, I could use the Sight to see what those side affects are."
"Well then, why don't you?"
"I will if you'll stop bothering me."
Grenda crossed her arms impatiently. She had been really worried, though she didn't want to show it. As much as she disliked how stuffy Gaga could be, she hadn't wanted him to be hurt.
Niko raised his sword to eye level and stared at it. As he did, his eyes grew even more green and piercing, and became slit-pupiled, like a hawk's. He blinked, and they were normal again. "Well, that's interesting."
"What is?"
"This doesn't just knock demons out, it turns them human."
"What?"
"It turns them human. Gaga will become human, and I can't tell by looking how to fix it."
"But Gaga's old. Humans don't live to be over 1000. How can he be human and live?"
"That's also interesting. The man who forged this thought of that, so he included a spell to automatically change any demon-turned-human into his prime."
"His prime?"
"That's right. Not only will Gaga be human, he'll be youthened to about 25."
"That's…amazing. And hard to believe."
"But true. Look, it's worked already, and he's starting to wake up."
Notes: Yay! An original idea! The sword is completely my own idea, so nyeh! If you think I'm mooching this one, I'm not, I swear. Sadly, the way Niko's eyes change isn't completely original. I got that from a combination of Naruto (Sasuke's Sharingan and Naruto's fox-eyes) and Tamora Pierce's Trickster's Choice (Aly's Sight, which is where the basic idea for the Sight came from.) So for those ideas, I apologize for mooching off them, but I don't own them, so I've officially disclaimerfied my fanfic. I also hereby disclaimerfy any future mooching, and apologize in advance. I'll probably mention where I got them though. Whew! Long note!
