Chapter 46: Nerd vs. Jock
How did this happen?
He was entering the dining hall with Merle. She had met up with her family and sent her two boys off in search of Van and Hitomi. They then sat down with some guys. And somehow, that brought him here.
Here…with a sharp, very pointy blade in his hand, about to face off with a very strong and skilled opponent. Again, he wondered how this happened.
"So, best two out of three?" his opponent - Derek was his name? - asked.
"Sure," Mamoru answered, thinking that one round would be too much. The blade felt awkward in his hand, as he had never held one before now. He had taken lessons when he was a kid, but they didn't last long as they quickly found out that sports of any sort were not for him.
And yet, these guys seemed intent to test his skills... But for some reason, he too wanted to see how good he was against these guys.
XxXxXxX
"Ah, hello M'lady."
"Hello, Ori," Hitomi greeted as he walked passed her, exiting the dinning hall, followed by two maids.
The taller one giggled and asked the other, "Did you hear that Sir Derek has challenged Lord Kanzaki to a friendly duel? If we hurry to the training courts, we might be able to watch most of it."
"Really?" the shorter one asked in awe. "If Lord Kanzaki is anything like his sister, then Sir Derek will truly have a challenge."
"Oh god no," Hitomi whispered to herself, and took off towards the training courts.
"Oh my!" the taller maid exclaimed.
"Was that?" asked the shorter one.
"Yes, that was the Lady Hitomi," Ori answered.
"Do you think that she saw some thing?"
"I don't know. It happened very quickly," he replied.
"Oh, I hope it isn't anything to do with His Majesty," the taller one worried.
"Well, whatever the emergency is, we can count on her to set it right."
XxXxXxX
The two fighters faced each other, swords raised. Derek stood waiting for Mamoru to make the first move. He would make the new comer come to him, so he could assess the type of training Mamoru had. He wasn't going to underestimate his opponent or anyone else again…not after his humiliating spar with Lady Hitomi. He figured that if she was that good and had only a few years training, then her brother must be better, right? Though it was a little odd that Mamoru was mimicking him... but then again, it could be an advanced technique to make your opponent underestimate you.
They stood there, facing one another for a long while, neither one taking the initiative to charge at the other. In the end, Derek's patience wore out first. He shifted his stance just subtlety enough that Mamoru wouldn't notice, and was just about to charge when -
"STOP!" rang through the room.
All heads turned towards the voice. "M'lady?" asked Derek, straightening out of his stance.
"What…do…you…think…you're…doing?" she asked, through deep breaths, almost panting.
"We were just having a friendly spar, Sis. Nothing to get worked up about," Mamoru answered, slightly annoyed that she interrupted like that.
Hitomi turned to glare at him. "Do you have a death wish?"
"What?"
"These guys are trained since they were little boys on how to kill their opponent! Kill, Mamoru. Not disarm and put in a 'kill' position, like back on Earth."
"M'lad-"
"And you!" she rounded on Derek. "What were you thinking, live blades? When you don't even know if he knows which end to hold!"
"Sis, take a chill pill." She turned back to glare at her brother. "What are gonna do, huh? Ground me? Tell Mum?"
Hitomi closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "No, I'm not." She opened her eyes, calm now. "I guess you're a grown up and can decide things for yourself." This made Mamoru stand up straighter. "But if you really want to show these guys just how poor your hand-eye coordination is, do me a favor and use the wooden swords."
Mamoru snorted, "This is just so like you."
"What?"
"You always butt into other people's lives and tell them what to do…especially me."
"Well, excuse me, if I'm the only one who remembers that the only sports that you've ever come close to being good at are your video games."
"For your information I am a level 12 Paladin."
Hitomi stared at him in disbelief. "You do realize that has nothing to do with actually sword-fighting?"
Mamoru looked back at her with the same expression. "Obviously."
"I've also been playing games on the Wii."
"You are such a nerd."
"And you're such a jock: I mastered sword-fighting in two years. I learned the Quickstep in six months. I am possibly the fastest female athlete in Japan, but you're too pathetic to let yourself go to the Olympics.
"Everyone knows you threw that race, Hitomi."
They glared at each other for a long time. Eventually Hitomi's hunger won out, "Fine, do what you want." She turned to leave.
"Oh, struck a nerve, did I?" Mamoru called after her, but she didn't retaliate.
XxXxXxX
She made her way back to the dinning hall, hoping against all odds that there was still some food left. Otherwise, she would have to find the kitchen and ask one of the cooks to make something for her. After her fight with her brother, Hitomi really hoped that she wouldn't have to.
But honestly…did he really develop a death wish in the past few hours or days? Mamoru knew as well as she did that he was no good at sports. Their parents must have forced him to try every sports team and group offered at school before they finally gave up and let him play his games.
As she came closer to the dinning hall, she heard some voices arguing. She couldn't hear what they were arguing about, but for some reason, Hitomi felt that it would involve her when she came across them. She was so close to the hall too. She sighed internally, and rounded the corner separating her from the voices.
The voices stopped when she turned the corner. "Van, Merle."
"Hey, Hitomi." Merle greeted with a mischievous look. "Well, I have a few things that I need to finish up, so I'll catch up with you later, o.k. Hitomi?" She discreetly poked Van as she turned to leave, which earned her a glare.
There was a long pause between the two left standing by the doors to the dinning hall. Hitomi was the one to close the silence, "So, how did the meeting go with the councilors?"
"It went well. We went over details for the wedding and ceremonies. Also, Asturia will be arriving tomorrow in time for the mid-day meal and Freid will arrive just before the evening meal." The years of summarizing meetings for other dignitaries caused his answers to be short and generic. "How was your day with the seamstresses?"
"It went surprisingly better than what I thought that it would." Her eyes lit up as she recalled her day. "The dresses are amazing! But I was repeatedly told that due to tradition, I can't tell you more than that they are truly amazing, and they will make your jaw drop."
He smiled as she blushed, probably remembering something about one of the three dresses, which were all necessary for the completely traditional wedding, coronation, and festival.
Obviously trying to change the subject, Hitomi looked expectantly at the doors to the dinning hall, and sighed. "Do you think that there's any food left, or do you think that I'll have to go down to the kitchen?"
"I'm fairly certain that there's no food left."
She sighed again. "Then I guess that I'm off to the kitchen."
He hesitated. "Unless…" He swallowed. Why was it always hard to say these things? She looked at him with big, curious green eyes. "…you would like to join me, as Merle has probably told the cooks to make enough for two to be brought to my study."
Hitomi's face flamed red. A date? With Van? Oh good lord…The little butterflies in her stomach felt like they would burst out of her, and for some reason, reminded her that sharing a meal with Van wasn't the biggest thing that she would be sharing with him.
"I'd love to."
XxXxXxX
Hitomi was right, though he'd never admit to it. He was still hopeless when it came to any sort of sport. Video games had nothing on the real thing, and he was glad that Derek had insisted on switching to the wooden swords. Just standing there arguing with Hitomi, holding the weighty sword in his hand had started to wear him out. He was battered and bruised, and most of it was from himself.
Merle had shown up towards the end of the spar, and he was sure that if she had seen 'Kung Fu Panda', she would have been quoting it. After the spar, Merle showed him where his room was, and true to Norio's word, his clothing was there…and it seemed that one of the maids or someone had put them away in the dresser.
The room was amazing. It was like a six star hotel transported back to a time without electricity. The floor and walls were polished wood, with lighter wood furniture. Red and gold curtains hung on one wall, and a few painted landscapes tastefully accented the room.
When he pulled back the curtains, he was met with the most amazing landscape he had ever seen. His room apparently faced the mountains behind the castle. In the pale light from the moon-s, they looked like black alabaster. Above them were the stars! Mamoru had never seen so many stars. Not even in the country. No wonder people said that you could never count how many stars there were in the night sky.
After a while of staring at the sky, Mamoru turned back to the room and got ready to go to bed. As he slid under the covers of the oversized bed, he faintly wondered what tomorrow would bring. He had heard that some of Hitomi and Van's friends would be arriving soon, and he wondered what they'd be like.
XxXxXxX
Hey, everyone!
Yes I'm still alive and chipping away at this story. I'm sorry for the late update, but since school's started up again, my free time has greatly diminished, as is the case for most people. I will try to stick to my plan to update every month, but I cannot promise anything, except that I will get it out as soon as I can.
If anyone is interested at where I am on the next chapter, you can go to my profile page, where I tend to keep an updated status. Also I am apart of the Deviantart community, under the same pen name. You can also go to my profile page and click on the home page link.
A.Miles - I am seeing this story out to the end. And I have a few twists that need to be played, as well as some more 'Earth annaligies' from Mamoru to share with you.
serenityrain2233 - I know that there wasn't a lot of fluff but unfortunately Van and Hitomi are going to be busy these next few days.
thepinkmartini - Thank you.
Niffer - Thank you very much, and there are some really big things that are waiting just around the corner, so stay tuned. ;)
tear-drowned-angel - Yeah, the wedding is going to be pretty big. I shall try and update as fast as I can.
Dawn of Angels - Mamoru is a fish out of water, so let's hope that he can find a bucket.
trekker4life - lol
FalconStar - I hope that you're still here.