"Kindling the Winds"

By: Seinasu

Disclaimer: Yoroiden-Samurai Troopers is copyright © Sunrise.


Nasuti tapped a sequence of buttons on her video game controller and watched in delight as her monk performed a series of punches and kicks against the enemy boss on-screen. Despite having taken away over a thousand of its hit points, the boss performed a devastating attack upon the heroes, forcing each of them to lose all but one hit point.

"Seiji!" Nasuti cried. "Hurry!"

Wordlessly Seiji moved the directional button on his controller down to the list of white magic spells of the character he was controlling—in this case, a healer. After a few seconds, the healer on screen jumped up and down and green sparkles surrounded each of the heroes, replenishing their hit points and bringing them back into the game. Nasuti heaved a sigh of relief.

"That was close," she said as she offered Seiji a faint smile. "Any second and we would've been killed."

"You have so little faith in me," Seiji remarked with a hint of amusement in his lavender eyes. "I refuse to play the healer and let my team down."

"Yes but we have yet to beat this level." Nasuti controlled the swordsman in their party and had it perform a high-level attack upon a group of minions the enemy boss suddenly summoned. "We've been working on this level for at least a week. We've done all the leveling up we could and even did the side quests to gather up the magic treasures. I wonder what we're doing wrong if we still can't beat this."

"If I may remind you," Seiji began as he controlled a black magic user and used it to summon a series of thunderstorms upon the enemies, "that we tend to be out of sync in battle. You do most of the physical fighting while I'm in charge of the healing. In the beginning it was I who did most of the fighting while you did the healing."

"And it didn't last that long because you kept going off without my people," Nasuti rebuked as she tapped a few buttons rapidly. She winced as her character took a brutal hit from the enemy boss. "You insisted that it would be faster without having me tag along."

"Well..." Seiji paused as he healed Nasuti's wounded character. "It was a bit faster… but I admit, it wasn't necessarily the best way..."

"See?"

"But at the same time—"

"Don't try to win this argument, Seiji. You know it's impossible."

"Is that a challenge?"

"Hmph, you know I still don't understand how people can assume you're afraid of women when you can easily talk back to me."

"It's an image."

"No kidding! It's rather annoying too! I mean, should I feel honored that you and I sometimes argue like cats and dogs? Out of all of the guys, you and I seem to butt heads the most."

Suddenly the healer was stricken with a devastating blow and immediately knocked out. Nasuti sighed heavily as she did her best to fight against the enemy boss. Using the items in their inventory, she fought and healed when necessary. But it wasn't long before her warriors her wiped out and a GAME OVER message was shown on the middle of the screen. She placed her controller on the ground next to her feet and sulked.

"Again," she moaned at the screen before her. "That's how many times we've lost now? Ohhh, I sometimes wish Jun had never left this game in my house. It's so addicting!"

Seiji placed his controller on the couch beside him and sat back in his seat. "If you want to know the truth," he began as he glanced at her from the corner of his eyes, "it's that I talk to you the way I do because..."

"Because?" Nasuti sat upright and turned to her blonde companion.

"Because I feel comfortable around you." Seiji slowly sat forward and placed his elbows on top of his knees. He rested his chin on his folded hands and stared at Nasuti's reflection from the television screen before him. "We've been friends for quite some time and after all we've been through..."

His pale cheeks revealed a shade of pink. "You are the only person I feel I can trust and rely on. I know that we don't agree on a lot of things, yet at the same time, we have a lot in common. We think alike but when it comes to responding to a situation, our actions tend to differ."

"Seiji... That's very insightful," Nasuti replied with a smile upon her face. Suddenly she let out a small giggle as she reached out and placed a hand upon his shoulder. "Do you realize we have this argument every time we fight like this?"

Seiji smirked as he turned his head and faced her. "I know."

He took her hand that rested on his shoulder and used it to gently pull her forward. She crawled forward and wrapped her arms around his shoulders, hugging him.

"And this is how we always finish our fights," she remarked as she kissed the side of his neck. She lifted his head and stared into his loving gaze.

Seiji chuckled quietly. "I wouldn't necessarily call them 'fights.' More like..." He paused to think for a more appropriate word for their situation. "A light-hearted squabble between two people who care for one another."

"Squabble is just a synonym for argument," she pointed out as she gave him a feather-light tapped on his nose with the tip of her finger. "But it sounds more innocent and less hostile. So I'll accept that."

"Should we give the battle one more try?"

"Oh yes. Nasuti Yagyu is not ready to give up!"

She pulled herself away from his hold while he retrieved his controller from his side. "I think that's why a lot of our enemies wanted to capture you or kill you," he commented as he clicked on the "TRY AGAIN" option available on the screen. "You never seem to give up."

"That's right," she said matter-of-factly as she picked up her controller and joined him in their never ending battle against the computer. "I'm worse than a cockroach. I refuse to leave so easily!"

Seiji decided to keep his mouth shut and not tease her this time, as he easily recalled the many times she and Jun were used as bait against the Samurai Troopers. He enjoyed the fact that he could get Nasuti so riled up over the most ridiculous things. But it was just one of the many reasons why he loved her. He brought out every side of her, and she of him. She could get him easily miffed over something silly when he would normally appear to not care.

"SEIJI! You're not paying attention! You just died again!"

Ah well. There was always the "TRY AGAIN" option.


THE END