Hello again every body! Thank you so much for the reviews, it makes a writer happy to know others have thoughts and opinions about their writing and are willing to share. I would like to take a page from other writers and respond to some points brought up by two of you reviewers. First is that Lloyd will be Sheena's adopted brother, but I plan on having their relationship develop into Sheelloyd (if that's ok). Second is that I had no idea Lloyd was three at the time he lost his mother and was separated from Kratos, but yes I did know that Sheena is two years older then him. Third, I had completely forgotten the chief's name so thank you for reminding me that it was Igaguri. Fourth, I don't really want to make Lloyd have a "code name" like Orochi or Kuchinawa, but I suppose Lloyd could be his code name and only Sheena and Igaguri would know his secret name. Fifth, I took the liberty of assuming that since Sheena had been adopted by Igaguri as a child with no name that Igaguri must have named her himself. And finally, I agree that Anna's death dialogue does come across as a bit strange, now that I look at it. All right enough talking! ON TO THE SECOND CHAPTER!! (I do not own Tales of Symphonia and/or it's characters or scenarios).
Swordsman of Mizuho
Ch 2: Beginning
By: Taitachi
Sheena sat up in her bed groggily, hair askew. Light filtered in through her window, shadowy designs splayed out across her floor. After stretching and yawning she got up and headed towards her closet. Taking out her attire for the day, she quickly changed and groomed her hair into her customary bun-like thing. She was dressed conservatively in red robes today, even though she wanted to wear the nice ( and in her opinion, cute) pink and purple outfit she had gotten at Meltokio a year ago on her 18th birthday. However, when she first started wearing her purple garb Lloyd had followed her everywhere, claiming that he was making sure that none of the men didn't stare at her "assets". He eventually convinced her (via days on end of annoyance) to wear outfits much like the one she was wearing now. They were nice and durable and almost every ninja wore something similar, but they were to stuffy for her. Oh well, at least it keeps Lloyd from freaking out.
Leaving her room Sheena headed for the main room, but before entering she carefully peeked in to see who was up. Tiga sat there reading from a scroll, lost deep in thought. Lloyd of course wasn't up yet. Carefully she tiptoed in, trying to reach her spot before the dreaded words were spoken. If I just keep quiet enough...
"Sheena, it's your turn to wake up your brother." Damn.
"Ugh, are you sure?" Hey, he's been wrong before.
Without looking up and seemingly from nowhere, Tiga whipped out a chalkboard that had the calendar on it. Every other day was marked either by a "T" or an "S". Finding the date Sheena couldn't help but say aloud her thoughts.
"Double damn."
"Hurry up now, he can't sleep all day."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Man..."
Grumbling quietly to her self she headed towards he brothers room. Stopping just outside his door, she knocked.
"Lloyd time to get up."
Nothing happened.
"Grr.. Lloyd, time to get up!"
Again, nothing.
"Looks like I have to do it the hard way" she grumbled.
And with that, Sheena opened the door and stepped into Lloyd's room. The sight that greeted her would have been funny, if it didn't imply how deep in his sleep Lloyd was. Lloyd, the brown haired seventeen year old, lay sprawled out across his mattress, sheets every which way. But what made this sight most amusing is that Noishe, Lloyd's faithful green companion, was laying curled up against him. Lloyd, of course didn't seem to notice as he snored loudly. Oh for crying out loud. Sheena kneeled down and shook Lloyd.
"Lloyd... Hey! Lloyd! Time to get up, pumpkin head." Lloyd, of course, squirmed around and burrowed deeper into his covers.
"Not now Tiga... leave me alone...snore."
Anger, "Idiot! I'm not Tiga! Now wake up!"
And with that, Sheena pried Lloyd away from dream world with a well placed punch to the head. Meanwhile in the main room, Tiga sat quietly reading his scroll about who knows what, listening to the chaos brought on by the siblings in the morning.
"So peaceful.."
A minute later the Fujibayashi siblings were seated and eating their breakfast. Lloyd of course had neglected to get change out of his sleep wear, while Noishe ate from a dish in the corner. After breakfast Sheena headed out for her early morning practice with Kuchinawa.
"Bye Lloyd!! Bye Tiga!! See ya later!!"
"Have a nice day," was Tiga's response while her brother's was some sort of muffled farewell coming from his room.
It was a cool morning and on the horizon the sun was rising in it's red and gold glory. The wind blew softly through the trees and the creek that ran through the middle of the village gurgled happily on it's way. As Sheena walked along the dirt path to the training fields on the outskirts of the village, she couldn't help but feel a sense of happiness.
When she did arrive to the training fields, little more than bare clearings, she found that Kuchinawa wasn't there yet.
Tensing, Sheena looked around, "This is odd..."
Suddenly a knife flew out of no where, sticking into the ground in front of her.
"RAIDEN!!"
With that a bolt of lighting struck the knife, causing Sheena to fly backward from the power of the attack. Up in the trees that surrounded her a male voice called out.
"You must be prepared for that Sheena! Or perhaps you aren't concentrating enough?"
Dusting herself off, she sat up.
"Hey, that wasn't fair, Kuchinawa!"
A red blur flew from the trees and landed in front of her. Sheena could tell that behind that shinobi mask he was wearing a cheshire grin.
"Maybe. But like I said, you have to be prepared. You don't want to die on a mission from some careless mistake, do you?"
Sheena groaned, "No."
"Good."
Kuchinawa walked over to her and helped her up with his armored arm. Stepping back a couple paces, he drew his knife.
"Are you ready?"
"Of course."
Drawing her charmed cards she got into stance. And with that they began.
Meanwhile our favorite swordsman was getting dressed for his day of training. Much like his sister, he too donned the custom shinobi attire, which had a faded red color to it. He strapped his two katanas to his waist and his shuriken holster to his mid thigh. Unlike his sister Lloyd preferred to use actual weapons instead of "pieces of flimsy paper", at least in his own words. Reaching the door with Noishe by his side he turned around to bid farewell to the rooms only conscious occupant.
"Hey Tiga, I'm headed out now!!"
"Have nice day Lloyd, don't do anything too reckless."
"Who, me? That's nonsense!" Closing the door behind him, Lloyd hurried to his training field which was on the opposite side of the village from his sister's.
"Man, I hope I'm not late! Otherwise Orochi-sensei will make me run laps around the village again! I guess I'd better pick up the pace, come on Noishe!"
Whine
Reaching the practice field out of breath but in record time Lloyd breathed a sigh of relief. Leaning against a tree, Lloyd took the time to catch his breath.
"Man..huff... that...huff... was... a close one."
"Your telling me, you nearly beat your record."
"Ack!!"
Lloyd quickly hopped away from the tree. From the shadow's cast by it's leaves a blue figure appeared.
"Oh Orochi-sensei, I didn't see you there. Heh...heh.."
"I figured as much. By the way... Lloyd..."
Lloyd slowly began backing up.
"Um... yes, sensei?"
As if he had teleportation powers, Orochi appeared in front of his student and dealt a lethal punch to the chin. Lloyd flew high up into the sky and vanished as a tiny dot. One minute later he came crashing back down to earth. Orochi leaned over the crater formed by his student's mediocre space flight.
"Your late."
Slowly, Lloyd crawled out of the crater. Rising he patted the dirt off his attire and out of his hair.
"Sorry sensei. It won't happen again."
Orochi crossed his arms.
"Right, and the sun won't rise in the morning."
Lloyd pointed accusingly.. "Hey, it could happen!"
Orochi rolled his eyes. 'That's doubtful. Have you been practicing?"
Lloyd quickly responded and stood to attention. "Hai!"
"Alright then, show it to me."
Orochi stepped to the side as his pupil moved to the center of the training field. Getting into stance, Lloyd took a deep calming breath, focusing on the movement of the attack. Then...
"HELL RUSH!!"
Moving forward, Lloyd let out a ferocious series of kicks, punches, jabs and slashes, finishing off the sequence with an upper cut from one of his blades. Breathing heavily from the effort of the task, Lloyd listened as his teacher critiqued his work.
"You did better Lloyd. Now try it again."
"Oh man."
It was about midday when Sheena returned to the house. Tiga was out doing his duties and Lloyd wouldn't be back for much later. This was the only time during the day when she could spend some quiet time with her grandfather. She removed her shoes at the front door and entered the main room. Across the room from the door was a area partition off by a curtain, this was her destination. She walked over to the partition and sat down, slowly she drew back the curtain and examined the worn face of her unconscious grandfather. Strong and weathered, her Grandfather had remained a pillar of strength during her childhood. Sheena heaved a sigh, it had been nine years since that incident.
"If only I had been able...you wouldn't..." Sheena spoke quietly to him, though it was mostly to herself. She had long ago accepted the blame for her grandfather's current condition and the deaths of the ninja who had accompanied her to that place. Everyone told her differently, but the pain of knowing that her inability caused the death of some of the villagers, and her grandfather to fall into a catatonic state caused her to blame herself. She still remembered the day...
Flash back
She was ten then. She had been learning the summoning arts since age six and that day was supposed to be the day that she formed a pact with the Summon Spirit of Lightning. Her grandfather, some of the villagers and her waited outside the Tower of Lighting as some of the other ninja cleared out the tower of monsters and disabled the traps. Sheena was nervous, very nervous. She sat near the entrance, going over the pact making steps and the steps to summoning. She wished Lloyd were here to help keep her mind off this gargantuan task, however her younger brother had been left home at Mizuho. Twiddling her thumbs, she didn't notice as her grandfather snuck up behind her and clapped his hands gently over her eyes.
"Guess who?"
"Silly, its you grandpa."
Chuckling her grandfather crouched down to her level.
"Very good, little kunoichi."
Igaguri paused as he noticed the apprehensive look on his granddaughter's face.
"Come now, little kunoichi, what's the matter."
Sheena looked anywhere but at her grandfather as she bit her lip.
"I...I'm...I'm scared grandpa."
Igaguri laughed and put an arm around his granddaughter.
"Is that all, little kunoichi? Listen to what this old man has to say. Don't let fear enter your mind. You can feel it, yes, but don't let it control you. Don't worry I know you will do fine."
Sheena moved closer into her grandfather's embrace.
"But what if I get a part wrong! Or the summon spirit doesn't like me."
"Ha, ha, ha! Again you worry too much, kunoichi, everything will turn out fine."
At that moment, the ninja returned from the temple.
"Sir, we have cleared the temple and disarmed the traps."
Standing up, Igaguri addressed the group that had remained outside the tower.
"All right then. Tiga, your group stays here, I shall take Sheena and the temple team."
"Yes sir."
Igaguri looked down at Sheena.
"Ready?"
"Hai."
Stepping forward they entered the dark confines of the tower.
End Flashback
Sheena was broken from her thoughts by a sound at the door. Turing around she saw Tiga standing in the doorway.
"You know, as a shinobi you should know to never let your guard down."
"So I'm told."
Rising, Sheena studied her grandfather's face a moment longer before closing the curtain.
"You shouldn't grieve so much. When Igaguri wakes up and sees that you are miserable he'll have my head."
"Don't you mean 'if'?" Sheena said dourly.
Tiga sighed. Sheena could become really depressed about this sometimes and he knew he could help her when she was like this. But he knew who could.
"Why don't you go look for your brother? He should be done with training for today."
Wordlessly and with an air of gloom Sheena headed out.
"Where is that idiot?" Sheena grumbled to herself.
She had spent the better part of the early afternoon looking for her brother around the village. Deciding that he must have gone on one of his excursions, she headed toward Gaggorachia. She didn't understand why her brother liked it there, it was dark and it was infested with every sort of monster. He had offered an explanation once, he had said that the dark confines were misunderstood. While it presented a image of gloom and haunting to most, for those who knew it Gaggorachi was a beautiful place. One hour after entering the dark woods Sheena could still not find her brother.
"Where the hell is he? Oh forget this."
Putting her hands together Sheena gathered some of her mana and summoned her faithful companion.
"I summon you, come! Corrine!"
With a puff of smoke Corrine appeared, a small golden, brown rodent like thing with three blue colored tails.
"Hey Corrine, could you go find Lloyd?"
"Sure thing."
And with that Corrine was off and away through the underbrush. Sheena wasn't worried about him being eaten, he was small but she knew he could hold his own. A couple minutes latter Corrine came scampering back.
"Sheena, he is at the Mother Shrine."
"Doy, I should have known he would be there."
Reaching the clearing Sheena spied her brother standing before the said shrine. She understood why he came here, after all this is where his mother died. Shortly after Lloyd had been taken into Mizuho, Igaguri had commissioned the construction of shrine over the sight, to honor the woman's departed spirit. A statue of a woman carrying a child was carved and placed over the spot, and around it was built a simple wooden structure. Skeptics thought that the shrine would be destroyed by monsters, however it seemed that somehow it was actually repelling the monsters, creating a small island of safety within the haunted forest.
Lloyd himself had not visited the shrine that often until recently, he hadn't had a reason to. Sheena believed it had to do with his birthday (if it really was his actual birth date no one knew) that was two months ago. Tiga had decided that it was a good time to tell Lloyd what had happened on the day he came to Mizuho. After Tiga was finished Lloyd became enraged, ready to hunt down the ones responsible for his mothers death. Tiga managed to defuse the situation by telling Lloyd the last bit of information they had gathered that day. They didn't know who did it, only that they looked somewhat like the organization 'Renegades' but operated outside that organizations parameters. Since then Lloyd had been coming to the shrine nearly every single day.
Finally Sheena stepped out from under the trees into the clearing, making her way over to her brother's side. The air around the shrine was still and calm, interrupted only by the occasional bird. Sheena looked at her brother from the corner of her eye. Lloyd was oblivious to her presence, so intent was his focus on the shrine. Sheena finally spoke.
"Tiga sent me to get you."
"I know." Sheena was startled. ''Well, I guess he wasn't totally zoned out after all.'
Lloyd turned to his sister. His face frowned having noticed his sisters dour mood.
"Hey, are you ok?"
Sheena glanced away, she didn't want Lloyd to know she was upset.
"Nothing."
"Liar. Come on, tell me what's the matter."
Sheena remained silent, her gloom only worsening. Lloyd knew only one thing made her like this. He took a step forward and wrapped his arms around her, gently embracing her.
"How many times have I told you to stop blaming yourself? You know it was Volt's fault, not yours."
Sheena closed her eyes and leaned into her brothers warm embrace.
'That still doesn't help. If only I had been braver, stronger. Then-"
"Ifs don't matter, now does. Besides, what do you think Gramps would say if he saw you like this?"
Sheen knew but it had become part of this routine to answer otherwise.
"What?"
Lloyd answered in his best imitation of their grandfather's voice.
"Quit worrying ya little ankle biter!"
Sheena laughed. Despite how many times Lloyd had done this for her, since that day, it always made her feel better.
"He'd also say you grew into a big idiot."
Sheena stepped away from her brother, spirits restored.
"Good to see that your humor is back."
Lloyd noticed the dimming light of the sun. He guessed that it must be setting now, creating a portrait of purple, red, orange and pink on the horizon. Bowing in a mock elegant fashion, he gestured toward the trail that lead back to Mizuho through the forest.
"Shall we depart, madam?"
Sheena chuckled and answered in turn.
"Of course, good sir."
Linking arms they walked along the path, continuing their mock 'sophisticated' conversation.
End of Ch. Two
Sorry it took so long getting the second chapter out, I got addicted to Fire Emblem 6 and couldn't pry myself away. I have also discovered that I am a hypocrite, I hate it when authors don't update for months and yet here I am updating 2 months later. Sigh.
I originally intended this chapter to be longer, but I think it would be to long then and would not be consistent with future chapter size. Also the 'Hell Rush' move Lloyd used is stolen from Suzu, the female ninja from Tales of Phantasia. I hope for Lloyd to use most of her moves in the future. Also, I think 'Raiden' is one of Kuchinawa's moves but I am not 100 sure. I don't think I will have chapter three out for at least two to three weeks due to a trip I am taking to Atlanta which will take up my whole break, sorry. So until then please review and forgive me for being such a lazy ass.