A few opening words: Long time no see, eh? I have returned home from my cottage at last, and will now be able to put this up, after many delays. After this, I have like four pages of ideas to write into chapters for my newest fic, Ragnarok: Sword of Legends. I know I said it was an on-the-side thing, but the scenery was just right for the fic, and I got so many ideas! Anyway, less stalling, more chapter. Enjoy...
Sakaki couldn't sleep. In fact, she wasn't even tired. It had been this way since she woke up from her coma. She thought it might be because when in a coma, you're essentially sleeping, and after sleeping for two months, you aren't very tired anymore. Sakaki quickly dismissed that idea. She knew the reason. She would be forever restless until she had her revenge, until Shuji, leader of the Grey Men, lay dead at her feet, or the other way around. Another reason might be nightmares of that dreadful night, but that took second place. She clenched her teeth in anger, and stabbed one of her knives into the living room floor beside where she sat, leaned against the wall.
Sakaki and Chiyo had arrived back at their impromptu safe house without much grief; the shopping cart given to them by the one store helped greatly. After unpacking, and eating a large meal, they had set up the small T.V. to check the news. Luckily, the cable for the house still worked. There was nothing new, other than the dead body being found in Chiyo's house. The police had been tipped by an anonymous neighbor who had heard the gunshots, who, in reality, was Sakaki. No questions were asked about the Mihama family however, as they were all away on a trip, according to the information the news reporter had been given. Well, that'll certainly scare the gang, she had thought. Sakaki doubted it though; unsure if any of them would've actually watched the news.
Following the news, Sakaki had engaged Chiyo in some of the games they had bought, playing Chess, Crazy-8's, and Yahtzee. Sakaki won at both Chess and Crazy-8's, though Chiyo had a lucky streak during Yahtzee and had won the game in less than five rolls. They then proceeded to feed the animals, and set up their portable futons in one of the bedrooms. Chiyo fell quickly asleep, and Sakaki waited for a short while to confirm before leaving the bedroom. She made a quick stop in the kitchen for a bottle of water, then into the garage to grab the gun toolkit, or so she called it, taking the two pistols along as well. The knives were still in their sheathes strapped to the inside of her biceps. Sakaki didn't plan to remove them; she was getting used to them being there, and it was starting to get comfortable as well. Having gathered all she would need to keep occupied, she picked a place along the wall of the living room and slid down it into the position she was now in.
Sakaki sighed, and stabbed the second knife in beside the first. She opened the steel briefcase and pulled it up beside her. She took one of the two pistols and began to fiddle with it, slowly taking it apart piece-by-piece, memorizing where each one went so she could put it back together later. 10 minutes passed, then 20, then a full hour. Sakaki looked down in front of her crossed legs. She had laid out all the parts to the pistol and organized them, making it easy to find the one she would need. Reaching over into the briefcase, she took out a small can of oil and a cotton cloth. Sakaki methodically worked her way through each part; cleaning, oiling, and assembling them as she went. An hour later and she had the gun back in one piece, all cleaned and ready for use. Two more hours passed by, and the second silenced pistol was re-assembled and cleaned. Sakaki placed both in their slots in the case, and latched it shut. She finished off the bottle of water in one swig - there wasn't much left – and leaned back against the wall again, stretching her legs out in front of her. She still wasn't in the least bit tired, and it was already 3 am.
Sakaki looked around the room for something to do. She spotted the sniper rifle, and crawled over to the table. She picked it up, resting the stock against her shoulder in a firing position as she looked down the scope. It was light, very light, weighing as little as one of the MP5s, maybe even less. She looked it over, and quickly disassembled it, returning the pieces to their places in the large brief case. Now robbed of another activity, Sakaki stood and surveyed the room. Her eyes fell on the two knives, sticking up in the floor. She snatched them up and sheathed them, having decided what she would do. Sakaki made her way to the second bedroom, which was empty save for Mayaa and Tadakichi in the corner. Mayaa mewed softly and looked up at her drowsily. Sakaki half closed the door, and took off her nightshirt – the only thing she was wearing – and threw it into the corner. Since she was the only one up, it wouldn't matter anyway. Being naked allowed her to move freely, without anything constricting movement. Sakaki drew both knives in a flash, and instantly went into a complex series of exercises she either made up on the fly or half remembered from past training. Mayaa simply curled up into a ball on Tadakichi's back, silently watching Sakaki perform her deadly art.
Chiyo woke up and looked over at the alarm clock she had picked up the day before. It was 9:37am. She'd been asleep for a little over 11 hours; a lot longer than she normally did. Then again, I didn't get much sleep the night before... she thought. She counted herself lucky for not having nightmares about that night. Not wanting to dwell on the matter, she quickly pulled herself out of bed and changed out of her pajamas, noting that Sakaki was not there. She must've woken up earlier.
Chiyo yawned as she left the bedroom, and made her way to the kitchen. She filled the electric tea kettle and plugged it in, pulling the sugar and teabags out of the cupboard. The tea's going to taste good this morning! Chiyo sat in one if the small wooden chairs that were left in the house, and waited. She could hear muffled thumps - sounding like someone was dancing or something – coming from the second bedroom. It's probably Sakaki-san, she thought, I wonder what she's doing in there? Chiyo was about to go check, when the water came to a boil and the kettle began whistling.
"Ah! Tea's water's ready!" Chiyo jumped up, and pulled tow teacups and saucers out of the cupboard. She poured water in each and dropped in two teabags. Taking one in each hand, she made her way to the second bedroom to give one to Sakaki. Upon approaching the door, she heard the same shuffling and thumping footsteps as before, as well as some heavy breathing. She noticed the door was left half open, and peered inside. Peering through the half open door she was somewhat surprised at what she saw, for multiple reasons. In the center of the room was Sakaki – completely naked – performing what looked like a complex sword dance or something, only with the knives. She was breathing heavily and sweating. Could she have been up all night doing this? Chiyo was not only surprised at what she was doing, but the fact that she was naked as well. Sakaki had always been uncomfortable about her body, so this was out of the ordinary for her. taller girl a chance to change, Chiyo knocked on the half open door.
"Chiyo-chan?" Sakaki called out, between breaths. "Come in!"
Chiyo slowly opened the door, and as she did, Sakaki finished off her exercise with a complicated twirl, releasing both knives nigh simultaneously. The knives whizzed by Chiyo and embedded themselves in a bull's eye scratched into the far wall, less than an inch apart. Multiple vertical lines on the target suggested Sakaki had been practicing to get this good. Clearly exhausted, the tall girl picked up her nightshirt and toweled the sweat off her brow, quickly removing the knives from the wall and returning them to their sheathes as well.
"I brought you some tea…"
"Ah…thank you…"
Sakaki threw the shirt over her shoulder and accepted the tea, taking a long sip. "I think I'm going to have a shower." With that, she handed back the now empty teacup and left for the washroom, stopping in the bedroom for clothing on the way.
"So you were up all night, Sakaki-san?"
"Yeah. I couldn't sleep."
"Why not?"
"Well, I guess cause I wasn't tired."
"Really? But you haven't slept in three days! And you just came out of a coma!"
"Well, whatever the reason, I haven't been tired. And if I try to force myself to sleep, I get… nightmares."
"Nightmares? Oh, of the… of what happened?" Sakaki was quiet for a moment, pain showing in her face.
"…yeah."
"I see. Well…is there anything I can do to help?"
"I doubt it. Probably the best thing would be to keep my mind off it. Kinda hard to do when half the time all I can think about is revenge on that Shuji bastard."
"Sakaki-san…" Chiyo was taken aback by her friend's sudden little outburst. She seems to have gotten more aggressive since the incident as well. Must be due to her memory loss. "Um, alright then! I've been wondering, where did you learn to do that… dance thing with the knives?"
"Oh, that? It's not really a dance, though it may look like one. It's kind of a training thing I cooked up on my own. But from the beginning, I dunno. I must've had training a while back in martial arts or something. Not that I can remember of course."
"Well, it looks very professional. You were pretty accurate throwing them as well."
"Thanks. That was sort of a spur-of-the-moment thing, until I realized it would be good to have ranged ability when fighting with knives. Now, on the subject of weaponry, we need to figure out something you could use to defend yourself, in the event that I'm not there."
"Me? Defend myself?" Chiyo was bewildered. How would she be able to hurt someone? How would she be able to bring herself to do it, mentally and physically? She wasn't the most athletic girl you've ever seen.
"Wait here, Chiyo-chan." Sakaki stood up and went into the garage. She opened the unlocked BMW's passenger side door, and looked around the interior. I know I saw it here somewhere… She checked under the seats, and all around, before finally remembering the glove compartment. "Ah!" The object she was looking for fell right into her hand. Objective in hand, she jogged back into the living room and set it down on the table.
"Sakaki-san… what's that?"
"This," she said, picking up the object. It looked like the handle of a small knife. "Is a switchblade." Sakaki pulled the two halves of the handle apart and folded them back onto themselves, producing a small 3 inch blade that was previously encased in the handle. "Instead of a sheath, the handle is cut in half and hinged, making the handle itself the sheath. It's very portable." Sakaki folded it back up again and tossed it back onto the table in front of Chiyo.
"Um… I don't know how to use one of these…"
"Well, I can sort of train you, with what little I know. I don't want you to have to use it, but it would be a good idea to learn."
"You mean you'll teach me to do what I saw you do in the bedroom this morning?" Chiyo was both excited and a little scared about this. At the moment though, she relished the fact that she'd learn to do something cool, like Sakaki-san!
"Yes. Well, first of all, you know how to work it right?" Chiyo flipped out the blade, almost cutting herself. Sakaki gave her a stern look.
"It's ok to be enthusiastic, but it is a knife, so be careful. Now, I guess I'll ask you where you want to start?" Chiyo thought for a moment. With her small stature, she'd probably be quick and nimble enough to manage close quarters fighting, but she wasn't confident she would be able to overpower anyone or beat anyone who was trained, like the Grey Men. She settled on her choice.
"Teach me to throw it, like you do!" Sakaki-san let out a small chuckle, and in one quick, fluid movement she drew and threw one of her knives. It thudded dead center the tip buried in the wall up to a half an inch deep, into one of the few old paintings the house's previous owners left behind. Ironically, the painting was of a mean looking man giving whoever the viewer was a mean look. The knife had hit him right between the eyes.
Chiyo gasped. Wow! She didn't even pause before throwing! She's so cool!
"Like that?" She said, with a small smile on her face. Chiyo answered excitedly.
"Yeah! Like that! I wanna do that!"
"Alright then! But it's not easy. We have until tomorrow at noon to train you, at least partly, because that is when we are meeting the others in the park, remember?" Chiyo had almost forgot. "Now, I hope you slept well, cause this may drag on into the night." Sakaki thought for a moment. "Also… I did notice a First Aid kit under the front seat of the car, should we need it."
Author's notes: Phew! There we go! A little into their minds, about what's happened, how they feel, and their changing/changed personalities! Wowee!
Alright, I know I said this'll be pretty violent/action packed, and it will! But it's still early on, so just wait. I promise, the next chapter will have some action in it. And no, that was not innuendo. You're a sick person if you think it was. Seriously.
I mean I couldn't write that stuff even if I tried. I might do a one off sometime before I try anything, but don't get your hopes up, cause it won't be for a long while if anything!
Now about the action. Yes there will be action. And I'm talking Die Hard style. Yeah, that awesome.
Alright, that's enough self-inflation for tonight. Hope you're enjoying the story!
Till next time!