Marjaani was given a wooden sword, after Sinbad had won the long debate about whether she should be able to use a real sword. Sharrkan had run off to get "something" from town so Alibaba was taking Marjaani through the lesson. Teaching her to lunge and block, although when she lunged out, her bruised body wavered and tilted over. Sinbad sat at his chair and watched as she continued to practice. His hand gripped the arm of the chair, to the point of breaking, leaving several indents and a crack down the side. He growled at how badly she was hurting, and how much she liked Alibaba and Sharrkan and Masrur and Ja'far, more than she liked him. He cast his eyes downward only to see him reflection in the gold he wore. He redirected his eyes on Marjaani again, and when he did, she looked back at him and smiled. Sinbad nodded back, as if to symbolize that she was doing a good job. She giggled and continued to strike and block. Sharrkan came running back, Aladdin following close behind.
"Alright now. This is Aladdin, and he'll be your partner." Sharrkan smiled at the two.
"Ala-san." she smiled at him and ran up to him with joy.
"Imouto!" he laughed and ran over to her. "It's very nice to meet you. I'm Aladdin." he stuck out his hand and Marjaani's hand met his. They giggled at each other and stepped back when Sharrkan began to laugh.
"I'm Mari." she smiled, sticking her tongue out at Sharrkan. It seemed that she'd already taking a liking to him, and placed him as the teasing big brother type.
"Mari-pyon." Aladdin smiled. Mari giggled.
"Alright, alright. We're here to duel, not make friends...although it's a good thing you're getting along." Sharrkan rubbed the back of his head when Mari began to glare at him.
"Now, you'll stand here...and you stand here...and" Sharrkan began placing Mari and Aladdin where they should begin the duel. The two small children stood there holding their wooden sword and teetering about.
"Alright." Sharrkan clapped his hands. "Now when I say begin, you guys start...ya know...fight. Don't worry about technique. I just want to see what you already probably know."
Mari and Aladdin nodded and took a stance...well a partial stance.
"Alright. Begin!" he laughed, walking over to where a rather shocked Sinbad was sitting, biting his lip.
"She'll be fine." he placed a hand on Sinbad's shoulder and he seemed to relax some. Masrur and Ja'far were sitting around too, just watching as Mari and Aladdin began to circle each other, not a smidgen of anger or even evilness in their gazes. It was odd to see two people, who were completely happy, dueling each other.
"I don't think this is a good idea." Sinbad grimaced at the scene and pleaded at Sharrkan with his eyes.
"No no, my king. You're not using that trick on me. If there's one thing I know, it's that a bit of fight never hurt anyone." he smiled and watched as the two children began to lunge.
Aladdin charged first, wielding his wooden weapon very well, it surprised Mari, and scared the living daylight's out of Sinbad.
Mari blocked at the last second, the two wooden pieces sliding along each other easily.
Next, it was Mari's turn to give an attack. She lunged and hit the edge of Aladdin's wooden blade, making pieces of wood fly off. Aladdin stumbled back in surprise, struggling to keep his footing and his sword from falling.
Before Aladdin could strike back, Mari struck at his sword again, this time taking a large swing upward to create a rather powerful uppercut. Aladdin stumbled back, completely off balance. Another hit was given. This time it sent Aladdin's sword flying off into the courtyard.
Every man in the courtyard seemed to stand silently, bewildered as if to say they hadn't seen that coming. Mari giggled a bit at the astonished faces of those around her.
"Well, well. Whatdya know." Sharrkan smiled walking over to Mari. "The squirts got potential." he ruffled her sweet purple lock, laughing as she gave him a playful shove.
"You're telling me." Aladdin rubbed his shoulder in embarrassment, seeing as he had been defeated by a girl, who probably hadn't the slightest foul thought in her mind.
"Ala-san!" she ran right up to him, which surprised him greatly. She threw her arms around him, spinning them both around. Aladdin let a smile cross his lips.
"I'm so sorry, onii-chan." she snuggled her head under his chin and hugged him closer. "I did not mean to...offend..." she began, but Aladdin just laughed and hugged her back.
"It's alright. Because you'll get better and be able to take care of yourself and protect yourself. And in the end, that's what matters most."
When Mari looked around, she saw all the people she had met, and even some she hadn't yet. There was Ja-kun and Mas-chan and Sha-sama and Yamu-chan and Ala-san and many others. And amongst them all was a rather worried father, his golden eyes searching her to see if she had been hurt. She smiled.
"Tousan!" she giggled, running at Sinbad. He was quite startled by this action, but when Mari reached out for him, he quickly picked her up and swung her around, snuggling her close to his chest.
"My dear Marjaani." he kissed her softly on her forehead and held her there. He really really didn't want to let her go. She kissed him back , equally as sweet and caring as he had, making him blush once more. He tried to shake the embarrassment away, but it lingered as her fingers laced into his hair. He was preparing for her to begin tugging at his hair, and as expected, she did, kissing him on the nose every so often.
"It seems that Sinbad is quite occupied right now, so let us go an prepare lunch." Ja'far smiled. Seeing people like Masrur and Sinbad blush so much was quite entertaining, but he knew that if he didn't take care of things around here, than no one would.