Hi! I'm sorry it's been a little while between chapters. I have it written, it's just getting it edited and posted. Enjoy^^
A few days later Fai walked into Mangetsu's rooms, hoping to get a bite of cake and found in the middle of a brawl with at least ten of the palace guards. They were a panting, ragged circle and she was a white blur, spinning and twirling between them. They were all attacking her at once, armed with knives, swords, chain whips, staffs and even weaponless. Mangetsu was wielding a pair of beautiful silver broadswords encrusted with sapphires at the hilt. She spun and twirled effortlessly, first using her swords independently to deflect strikes, then delivering a series of nicks and cuts to her opponent's arms before giving a swift high kick to the head, sometimes with a jump or a spin.
He could see the huge grin on her face as she sent full grown, well trained soldiers stumbling back before falling, unconscious or otherwise incapacitated.
Fai was wondering why she was so obviously holding back while the soldier weren't when he realized he should probably be wondering what was going on in general. He turned to Sylvia, who watched it all passively from the sidelines.
"What's go-"
"The Maitresse was bored. She decided to ask a guard if they could fight."
Fai glanced over as Mangetsu back flipped over a swinging staff and brought the butt of her sword down on the soldier's head; while that sounded like her, it did not explain the ten person mêlée that she was currently winning. He turned back to Sylvia who, seeming to read his thoughts, continued.
"At first, they didn't realize that she had been trained to fight, they were just play-fighting. Then she snapped someone's arm… Now they just want to see if anyone can beat her."
"Huh."
He went back to watching Mangetsu. There were only two guards left conscious.
The older guard in his mid twenties, bowed, held out his staff and backed away, conceding defeat.
Mangetsu smiled, vicious and victorious. She turned to her second opponent, expecting him to bow out as well. He was young, only about thirteen, out of breath and spattered with the blood of the cuts that criss-crossed his entire body. Like most people in Seresu he had black hair. His eyes though, were what set him apart. They were a glowing yellow, and they seemed to be perpetually narrowed.
Or maybe, Fai thought, he just doesn't like the idea of being beat up by a girl.
He was remarkably well muscled for a boy his age and, true to Fai's own thoughts, he didn't seem particularly pleased with his situation. He was practically snarling, but he stood his ground.
Then, without straitening from his crouch, he dropped his sword to the floor with a clatter and cocked his head. Mangetsu in turn tossed her swords over her head where they disappeared in a shower of silver sparks that evaporated before they reached the floor. Her grin turned to a smirk and she narrowed her eyes as they began circling each other.
After ten seconds of the boy glaring and Mangetsu becoming visibly bored, he launched himself at her with a yell.
She didn't even flinch, just stood in place and let him come to her. Then, a split second before he crouched to take her down she wrapped her arms around his chest and jumped strait up in the air, taking him up with her before slamming him to the ground on his back and landing lightly beside him.
The soldier coughed and gasped for breath, but Mangetsu was unconcerned. She leaned over him, hands resting on her knees.
"You're fine; I just knocked the breath out of you."
Somehow, he did not find this comforting so she tried a different tactic.
"Think of it this way, if you feel the need to breathe, you're not dead."
He was practically writhing on the floor, but he managed to gasp out a pained, barely audible,
"Piss…off."
She shrugged and started walking towards Fai. Half way there, Natalia materialized beside her, little blue wisps of smoke drifting off of her as she fell in step with Mangetsu.
"You ready?"
"Excuse me?"
She rolled her eyes.
"You said you'd let me teach you to fight, get the lead out!"
Ten minutes later, having shooed everyone from the room aside from Sylvia, who was less than interested but insisted on staying, Mangetsu stood across from Fai shifting from foot to foot.
"So you've never done any sort of fighting before?"
Fai shook his head.
"How come?"
He shrugged.
"When I came here, King Ashura said I would never have to join the army."
"Ah," She nodded slowly, "didn't want you to be able to defend yourself."
Fai glanced nervously at Sylvia who was reading, oblivious.
"No," He corrected, "didn't want me to get hurt."
Mangetsu's hand darted out and pinched his arm. He yelped and moved to block her hand a second after she'd snapped it back. She grinned, but he could see a little bitterness behind it.
"Typically, people who have never gotten hurt don't learn to defend themselves."
He had to stop himself from telling her that he had been hurt. It almost scared him how easily he could have slipped up and lost the only friend he had. Instead, he decided to ask her something.
"If you can fight well enough to …beat your guards, how come you don't leave even though you want to?"
She twisted her mouth to the side.
"You don't think Ashura thought of that? Just like there are constraints on my magic, there are constraints on my body too. I can't walk down those stairs out front without an escort."
"So-"
"Ah!" She snapped, "No more questions or we'll never get started! Now, martial arts,"
Fai looked at her blankly.
"Umm…fighting?"
"Right!" Fai smiled nervously. There was no possible way for this to go well.
"Well, all the different styles of martial artsare divided into two categories: Hard and Soft styles-"
"Like magic?"
She huffed at being interrupted.
"What?"
"Well, the way magic is divided into Hot and Cold, Hard and Soft…" He trailed off.
"Yeeaahh… anyway, Hard styles are about using your own strength to overpower someone, while Soft styles let you turn your opponent's strength against them. Now," She squared her shoulders and insinuated herself in front of Fai. "Make me move."
She looked at him expectantly and after a few second he realized she was serious.
"What, now?"
She rolled her eyes.
"No, tomorrow, what do you think?"
Fai hesitated, took a step closer and brought his hands up before freezing.
"Now what?"
"Where's Natalia? She's not going to attack me, is she?"
"Natalia!" She barked. The tiger sauntered over, pointedly ignoring Fai.
"вянуть; блёкнуть;затихать*" She commanded. The tiger dipped her head before dissolving into a few wisps of blue smoke. Mangetsu turned back to Fai and cocked her head.
"Anything else, princess?"
Fai ignored her and concentrated for a moment before giving her an experimental shove. He bounced off and the girl remained unmoved aside from the fact that she was now trying, unsuccessfully, to suppress a snicker.
"Care to try that again?"
Slightly annoyed, Fai pushed even harder and succeeded only in knocking himself back a few feet.
Mangetsu wasn't even trying not to laugh anymore. She looked like she was about to fall over.
"Alright," Fai started to walk away, "Let me know when you're done."
"No!" She called, still laughing, "I'm done." She took a few deep, shuddery breaths.
"That was…that was sad."
"I've never done it before!" Fai exclaimed, indignant.
She snorted.
"That in no excuse for the strength of a five year old girl."
"Hey, you're the one who wanted to do this." Fai could not recall ever feeling annoyed like this. He couldn't recall ever being annoyed at all. Nothing minor ever really bothered him. Of course, he usually picked things up on the first try.
"True," She thought, "Alright, we're definitely going to have to work on a Soft style. You're smart, figure out another way to move me back besides pushing me."
"Umm…" Fai was determined to give her just as hard a time as she was giving him, "Ask nicely?" He grinned at her glare.
"You're hysterical, really. No, if you want me to move backwards, you have to pull me forwards."
"What?"
"Think of it this way," She said, speaking fast and, much to Fai's amazement, taking it seriously. "Most people you fight, if you pull them one direction, their first instinct will be to try to go the other way. So if you want me to go back," She put his hands on her shoulders, "pull me forward," he did as he was told, "wait for me to resist,"
she gently pulled away, "then let go, or even give me a little push," He did and she stumbled back a few feet. "and they'll fly back under their own power. Here," She stepped forward, "Try a couple more times."
They worked on making her fall forward, backwards and even ending up behind him. After fifteen minutes, Mangetsu held up a hand.
"Alright, that wouldn't actually work on me because I know to expect it and I have to remind myself to actually let you do it. I think you're ready to do it on someone who's really resisting."
"Okay… who were you thinking-?"
"Sylvia! That last guard I fought, what was his name?"
Oh no.
"Damien I think, Maitresse."
"Call for him."
"Yes Maitresse."
"Um…" Fai wrung his hands. "Are you sure that's a good idea?"
"Yeah, why not?"
"He's a lot bigger than me…"
"So am I."
"Yeah, but you're a-"
"If you say girl, I will personally dismember you."
"A… umm… a moon goddess?"
She smirked before reaching out and giving a lock of his hair a yank.
"It'll be fine."
Just then Damien, in all his battered glory, strode in and treated Mangetsu to a vicious glare.
"Yes, my lady?"
"I need you to be Fai's training partner."
"Why me?"
"Well," She reasoned, "you seemed pretty upset about getting the smug beat out of you, so I figured it'd be better to harass you further than to make a whole knew enemy."
Okay, Fai thought, there's some logic in that. It's not particularly good logic, but at least it's there.
Damien bristled, but protocol prevented him from doing anything more.
"What do you want me to do?"
"Just stay put and don't let him move you."
He shrugged and plated his feet.
"Mang-mang, I-"
"Oh for shit's sake, if you can move me, you can sure a hell move him! Now go!"
Fai glanced nervously at Damien, who raised an eyebrow. He took a deep breath and did as Mangetsu taught him. Damien shot back, landing on his back with a surprised 'ughhh!'." Fai beamed at Mangetsu who rolled her eyes, but grinned all the same.
"Told'ya, now do it again."
Damien returned with a glower. Fai positioned himself in front of Damien, pulled and gave a strong push when he resisted. This time though, Damien grabbed his hand and used the momentum to whip him around so he was on the other side. In the same motion, he put him in a wrist-lock and flipped onto his back. There was a loud crack as his head hit the floor and then everything went black.
Oh no! Fai! Oh wells*shrugs* In case any of you are wondering, 'вянуть; блёкнуть;затихать' is Russian for 'fade'. My plan is to base all the different cultures in Seresu on ones from this dimension and then borrow the language. I f you want to see Damien, I'm posting a drawing of him on Deviant Art . com as soon as I finish posting this. Of coarse, you already know but I'll tell you again anyway, My username is still ShingetsuXMangetsu. Please review^^
ありがとう
ShingetsuXMangetsu