Love Hina: Aoyama Generation

Chapter 8: A Sword Speaks

Shadic yawned quietly, since he didn't want to be rude too early in the morning. He noticed Kitsune's glance at him and decided that something was up.

"So Shadic, is there a reason that you didn't practice your sword skills this morning?" asked the voice of Nyamo, who had recently returned from her visit to Pararakelse Island. "I figure, since you told everyone last night that you were going to, that you would have done so." Shadic thought about it for a while before speaking.

"I just decided that a break from this schedule would probably help out, since we just got Ananda here," was the only real response he could come up with. "After all, I have to get to work on the bathroom mirror after last night." The other denizens looked at each other in confusion.

"What do you mean?" asked Shinobu's voice, a look of fear in her eyes. After a deep breath, Shadic explained the nightmare, and what he did to the mirror. All eyes stared at him with shock, except Sakura, who looked at his wrapped hand, noticing the dry blood on it.

After a long moment of silence, the group went back to eating. Shadic made note of Sakura's worry, and saw that Ananda was almost done with her meal. 'Note to self, do not give her sugar, period,' Shadic thought.

+-+ Later in the day +-+

Shadic picked up the drill, putting the direction in reverse. After removing all the screws and placing them on the sink, he took down the broken mirror. After removing the frame, Shadic then proceeded to mount the new reflector at the same place. He screwed the frame into the wall and admired the work. He picked up the broken glass-metal board and threw the trash in its place.

Walking towards his room, Shadic looked in the direction of his room, and saw someone enter. The figure, however, ran inside so quiet that Shadic didn't hear her, a guess by Shadic. But no one else in the household owns a sword, nor owns an Aoyama Stealth Suit either. Shadic ran towards his room, unsheathing his swords.

'Where are you,' he thought, not seeing the figure anywhere. He knew she was in here, but 'where?' was the real question. He then heard movement behind him, and turned around quickly, sheathing the Sakura Sword. But, his intruder was not behind him, only Nariko was, scared for her life by the sight of Shadic holding a sword to her neck.

"Forgive me, Nariko," came Shadic's apology, but he became vulnerable. The figure jumped from the ceiling and slashed at Shadic. Her sword ended up around her neck, and the Hina Sword was at her stomach. "For someone who wants to kill me, you sure have a long way to go," Shadic, now behind her, joked badly. The figure flinched, but it didn't last long. All of a sudden, there was a dagger lodged between Shadic's 7th and 8th ribs, and the figure was on the ground, unconscious.

Shadic pulled the dagger out quickly, blood pouring onto his shirt. Nariko fainted on-the-spot, and Shadic ran to the bathroom with a needle and a few yards of metal wire.

Thirteen minutes later, Shadic, without his shirt so his wound could air out, ran back to the room where the perpetrator was still unconscious. He unmasked the attacker to discover a brown haired sixteen-year-old girl as his enemy. Not only was she too young to be a skilled assassin, but there are very few people could utilize a demonic sword like she did.

"Who are you?" Shadic asked her as she woke up. He still seemed cautious of if she had another secret weapon or two on her.

"You bastard! Why didn't you die!" yelled the girl. Her voice was definitely one of a young woman, but it was somewhat distorted by something. "I train thirteen years to protect my sister and I get beaten by some punk?" screamed the assassin.

'Sister?' Shadic thought to himself. He backed up to see if the young girl was going to leap up and try again. "You still didn't answer my question," he said to her. "I'll ask again, who are you?"

"If you think I'm going to answer that without a fight, you're surely mistaken," she said, leaping up off the ground. She lounged at him again with spiked brass knuckles, but Shadic evaded and had her locked so she couldn't attack nor defend. She gasped for dear life, thinking that he would kill her now.

Shadic only kept her held tight until he could locate all of the weapons that she had. She was grasping the last weapon in her fist: her brass knuckles. He grabbed those and put them in his pocket. Shadic released her and picked up her sword. 'Why did you hurt her?' asked a voice. Shadic heard this voice and responded in thought with, 'She attacked me. Which spirit are you?' The voice spoke again, saying, 'I am the spirit Pica, spirit of lightning and earth. You should probably return me to my owner.' 'And, who is that?' asked Shadic. 'The girl in front of you, Midori Urashima,' replied the sword spirit.

Shadic sheathed her sword and tossed it to her. Midori caught it with her thumb and middle finger quickly and stood for a while, staring off in the distance. After a few seconds, she looked at him with her black eyes and said, "Pica has told me not to kill you, even thought I have strict orders to do the opposite. You've gotten lucky this time."

"So, Urashima. No wonder I couldn't have figured out why you were so pissed. Are you really that perverse?" asked Shadic, still confused by the fact that he's dating Midori's sister.

"Believe it or not, no," was her reply. "I was send by my mother to kill you, since she believed that you were 'a perverted threat.'" Shadic shook his head in disappointment, since that was the so-called reason only months before. "So, you can also speak to the sword spirits?" Midori asked him, surprised by his ability to do so.

"It's a special skill passed down by the Aoyama clan, but not many of the clan can access this skill at such a young age," explained Shadic. "All I can say is this: Unless your father was from the Aoyama clan, then your ability must have come from your sword. Even so, the chances are very extreme that you could possess this ability." Shadic walked to the window and finally sheathed the Hina Sword, which he had strapped to his arm as a spear extension.

'Shadic, her father was from the Aoyama clan, but I do not know who he is nor where to find him,' spoke the spirit only to him, not letting Midori hear the conversation. 'If you can help us find him, maybe I could help you with your training.'

'Pica, my training is complete. Unless there is something else you could get me to learn, then I already finished the training of masters.'

'Actually, you still haven't learned to heal major wounds and change time,' Pica replied with a monotone voice. He joked about the time part, but he got Shadic interested. 'We should finish this conversation later,' Shadic said to Pica.

"Midori. Unless my guess is correct, your stealth suit is Aoyama," Shadic asked her, knowing already that it is one.

"Listen, you know what it is, but you have no idea what punishment I am going to have if you are not killed. If I returned to my mother without your head on a platter, figure of speech, then I am to be banished from her household, and any of my Aoyama relatives," Midori replied, her black eyes now crying tears of pure water. "I would have nowhere to go, and she would try to eliminate you herself."

Understanding all of her speech, Shadic hugged her to calm her down, and he devised an elaborate plan that could make those worries less of a hassle.