Chapter 2- the artisans
AN: NORMAL DISCLAIMER APPLIES!
Two days after the incident, everything came back to normal. Chiibi was in the classroom eating her lunch with her friends.
"Hmmm, this is really good stuff." Reimel said as she tasted Chiibi's lunch, which was sashimi, beef tonkatsu and rice. "whoever cooked this food must be a master!"
"Why thank you for that compliment," Chiibi replied. "My mom and I usually cook my lunch. But that is my dad's cooking."
"Really!" Reimel said. "Wow, your dad must be a great chef."
"Well, that is what retired businessmen do when they are retired."
"Say, do you still remember the incident two days before?" Kai asked.
"Yup, rumors have been told that a student here with magical powers has saved us." Shu replied.
"Hmm, who could it be?" Reimel wondered and so did Kai and Shu. Chiibi only giggled.
"How about you Chiibi, do you have any guesses?" Kai told Chiibi.
"Huh?" Chiibi replied. "Ahh ... umm ... I don't know."
Big sweat drops appeared behind Kai and Shu's heads.
"DING,DONG... WOULD Chiibi SAKAMONU PLEASE GO TO THE PRINCIPAL'S OFFICE... DING, DONG" the PA sounded.
" Ooohh, what have you done Chiibi?" Kai joked.
"Stop it, Kai!" Chiibi said, hotly, and went out of the room.
As she was walking to the office, Chiibi thought, "What would the principal want with me?"
As she entered the room of Mr. Ashikage, she noted the interiors of the room. It looks like an ordinary office, with file cabinets of both corners beside the Ashikage's table. But the feeling is like feudal japan, with matching large scrolls on both sides of the walls.
"So, Ms. Sakamonu." Ashikage started. "How are you today?"
"Um... I'm fine, sir." Chiibi replied.
"Good," He said and went closer. " How are you, Kuriefume?"
"I'm fine, Ashikage." Kuriefume said.
"Sir, you can hear Kuriefume?" Chiibi asked.
"Why yes, Chiibi. It is because I was once her owner." Asagi said.
"And I was once too" a voice suddenly spoke from the darkness. Chiibi turned and found Shira walking from the darkness.
"Then, how come you gave it to me?" Chiibi asked.
"Because my time has ended," Shira replied. "I have to find a successor to be the master of Kuriefume."
"And so I led her to you, young master." Kuriefume spoke. Shira nodded.
"Then why am I here?" Chiibi again asked.
"For your training, young artist." Asagi spoke. " Every Saturday, you will be at the Ashikage temple at exactly 10:00 in the morning. You will begin your training with the 'artisans'". Chiibi gave a questioning look.
"The artisans are the leaders of the clan who owned the necklaces of power." Shira said.
"So, there are more necklaces of power?" Chiibi asked.
"Yes," Asagi said. "In history, the clan has 5 necklaces of power. They are Kurokokuma, Shizuka, Harutomo, Hanketsu, and Kuriefume. One necklace for each master. Unfortunately, one master died in battle. The remaining masters still lived until now."
"Ok, I get it. But what about my parents?"
"Don't worry, I got it covered. I told them that every Saturday, you will study fine arts with me." Asagi said.
"Ok then, sir. I'll be going then." Chiibi said and went towards the door but suddenly stopped. "Um sir, where is the Ashikage temple?"
Asagi chuckled. "Don't worry about that, Chiibi. Kuriefume will lead you to Ashikage shrine."
"Oh, ok then sir. Um... see you on Saturday." And Chiibi walked out of the room.
"You know by the time she will one of them, we will be inferior to her." Shira said.
"I know," Asagi said. "It will be odd, but, I was once inferior to you, right?"
Shira smiled.
That night, Chiibi was lying there in her futon.
"What's bothering you, master?" Kuriefume said.
"Nothing, Kuriefume." Chiibi replied. "It's just... I was just wondering... I mean, I'm just nervous. When principal Asagi speak of the Artisans, he sounds as if they are like warlords or something."
Kuriefume chuckled. " Don't worry, master. In fact, I think you would be surprised rather than worried."
Chiibi smiled. " Whatever you say... good night, Kuriefume."
"Good night, master."
So Saturday came... at the Ashikage temple.
"So, this is the place huh?" Chiibi asked.
"Yes, master." Kureifume replied. Then Chiibi looked at the surroundings of the temple. The temple itself looks like any other temple, only there is a sign hanging under the roof saying "Ashikage".
When Chiibi entered the temple, she was surprised. It was a dojo type room, with four small tables in the middle of the dojo. On those tables was a paintbrush, some paint, and some paper.
As she was strolling on the dojo,...
"Ah, so you're here." a voice said. Chiibi turned to find Shira on a rose kimono.
"Good morning, Ms. Kurisagi." Chiibi greeted and bowed.
Shira bowed back. "Good morning to you too. I see you found the training room."
"Training room?" Chiibi asked. "Then, why are these tables here?"
Shira giggled. "You'll see," she replied. "But now is not the time. You must come with me. You must meet the artisans."
Afterwards, they walked towards the west gate (Chiibi went through the south gate a while ago). There, they followed a cobbled road through a rather small forest.
"I wonder," Chiibi thought. "What would the artisans look like?"
"hee,hee" Kuriefume giggled. " You'll be surprised at what they look like."
When they got to the end of the forest, they were greeted by a small temple there.
"Here you will find the artisans," Shira said. "Be careful though, you might find them strange..."
So Chiibi advanced to the temple while Shira stayed where she was. When she got there, she was really surprised. In the temple were four teenagers, three boys and one girl, fighting with swords. WITH SWORDS! Real swords!
"Who are they?" Chiibi asked.
"hee,hee .Those are the artisans, master." Kuriefume replied.
Chiibi just stared at them. The boys have hair color of brown, greyish white and black. The girl had pink hair. One boy was kind of German, but has Japanese traits.
So they were fighting when one of them, the brown haired one, noticed Chiibi and stopped. He came towards her. The guy was pure Japanese, with brown eyes.
"So," he said. "You're Kureifume's new master, huh?"
"Um, yeah?" she replied.
"And so you seem," he said. "Hey, guys. here's the new master."
The other teenagers stopped fighting and went to them.
"Hi," the only girl among the four there said. "I'm Aki, the third artisan and Shizuka's master. What's your name?"
"You're the ARTISANS?" Chiibi shocked.
"Why yes," The black-haired boy said. "I'm Sunichi, the second artisan and Hanketsu's master."
"I'm Kail, the fourth artisan and Kurokokuma's master. Nice to meet you." the half-German teenager said.
"And I'm Yukimura, the first artisan and Harutomo's master." the guy who stopped first said. "And you are?"
"Um... Chiibi Sakamonu ..." Chiibi said.
"Chiibi, huh," Yukimura said. "Well, Chiibi, you will be trained to be an artisan. Period. Any questions?"
"Um...," Chiibi said. "How did you get so young? Principal Ashikage said that the artisans were ancients!"
"oh, that..." Aki said, then chuckled. "it's a secret that you can know as you grow older..."
"Older, huh..." Chiibi said, sarcastically.
"Oh, hehehe ..."
"Enough already with the meeting." Yuki (we'll now call him yuki for the records.) said and faced Chiibi. "Before we start your training, we must know what you are capable of. Follow me." Then, he went out of the temple. Chiibi and the others followed.
"Gee, what a sour puss." Chiibi said to Aki.
"Don't worry, he like that when he meets people for the first time." Aki said. "But he is friendly to those he knows."
So, the others followed Yuki to the dojo ("Sheesh", Chiibi thought.) and afterwards, Yuki positioned himself to one of the drawing table, putting a sketchpad to the table.
"Chiibi, please go there." he said, pointing to the table opposite him. Chiibi obliged and put her sketchpad to the table.
"Now, a duel will begin." Kail said. "Between Yukimura and Chiibi. May the best artisan win."
"Hey, wait a minute!" Chiibi said.
Too late. Yuki had taken his necklace and said, "Harutomo!". The necklace was then transformed into a rod. "You're turn." he said at Chiibi.
"Huh? What is this?" Chiibi asked.
"It's a duel," Aki said. "Call upon Kuriefume so that you can start."
"Ah, okay." Chiibi's snapped and taken her necklace. " I call upon you Kureifume, release thy power and bring freedom on your master!" Afterwards, her clothes changed to the kimono again and the necklace turned to a rod. (POSE!)
"Okay," Kail said. "Now, BEGIN!"
"SQUALL LIONHEART!" Yuki said as he struck his sketchpad. Then, a replica of Squall appeared in front of Yuki. Squall had the gunblade with him.
"Ok, then." Chiibi thought as she turned the pages. "Haru Glory!" Then, a replica of Haru with the Ten Commandments appeared in front of Chiibi.
"What shall I do, Chiibi?" Haru said.
"Squall will use his summons and his gunblade to finish you." Chiibi told Haru. "Use your Explodia to fend of his attacks, and use Rune-save to absorb his spells."
"Gotcha" Haru said and charged at the idle Squall, making his sword the Explodia.
"Explosion!" Haru cried. The sword clashed with Squall's gunblade, resulting to a explosion (well duh, his sword's name is Explodia!).
"Ah, gotcha!" Chiibi said. Then... "What the-"
"What the" was right. For when the smoke cleared, Squall just stood there, unscathed.
"How did it happen?" Chiibi said. Then, she saw a purplish dome surrounding Squall.
"Hehehe, I had him cast Protect on the last minute." Yuki said. "Now it's my turn. Squall!"
"Yes, sir!" Squall replied. Then, he charged at Haru. At a few feet apart from Haru, he prepared himself to slash. And as he did the slash, a BANG was heard, sending Haru a few feet from where he stood.
"AHH," Haru said.
"Oh on, he already released the gunblade's power. Got to think." Chiibi said as he saw Haru panting. "I got it!" she snapped. "Haru, use the Rune-save then use the Silfarion."
"Got it, Chiibi." Haru said as he did exactly what he was told. He shifted to Rune-save, which absorbed the shield that Squall predictably casted. Then, he shifted to Silfarion, sending strong sonic slashes towards Squall. And then... well, it resulted to an air-borne Squall who was about to fall face first when suddenly...
"Stop!" a voice shouted. Afterwards, before he even touch the floor, Squall's figure turned to a yellow watery substance and went back to Yuki's sketchbook. Haru did the same and went back to Chiibi's sketchbook. Chiibi then looked at the source of the voice. It was Kail.
"Well, we can see that she's capable of being an artisan." Aki said and smiled. "She's worthy to fight."
"Yeah," Sunichi said. "And besides, I like her style."
"Well, ok." Yuki said then looked at Chiibi. "But you have much to learn about being an artisan." Then he smiled. "But don't worry, you got good stuff. You have her spirit."
"Huh? Who? Kureifume?" Chiibi asked.
"No, her first owner." Yuki said and left the dojo.
"Oh well, it's already afternoon. You can rest now and go home." Kail told Chiibi. "Be back here same time next week."
"Oh, ok." Chiibi said, bowed to all of them, and left.
As she left, Yuki was looking at the scenery of the city. It was windy, so Yuki's hair was like flying away.
"You remembered her, didn't you?" a voice said. He looked around to find Aki going towards him.
"Yeah, she has her spirit." Yuki replied.
"Well, you have a second chance..." Aki said.
"What? What are you talking about?"
"Well, you said she has her spirit."
Yuki tried to keep his face. But then tiny patches of red came from his face.
"Well,... I..."
Aki chuckled. "It's your call." Then, she walked away.
Yuki continued to look at the scenery.
"Kio," he said. "Why did you have to go?"
While Yuki was doing that, at a dark warehouse...
"Sir, we failed." A hooded figure said, bowing to a dark figure seated to a throne-like chair.
"I can see," the figure replied. "Also I can see that we have a new enemy. A very powerful one at that. Be prepared, we're going to launch an attack."
"To where?"
"At the Ashikage Temple."
Who are these people? What are they going to do to Chiibi and her new found friends? And why am I speaking again to the readers? Find out on the next chapter of Chiibi, the cartoon creator. Got to avoid speaking to the readers!
Go Chiibi, release thy power and bring freedom!