A Samurai's Pledge
A/N: I've tried to keep everyone as close as possible to their characters in the anime though I'm sure there will be a few OOC moments. Comments and reviews are much appreciated. Enjoy!
For those of you who left unsigned reviews, see my replies below:
trumm12345 - Thanks for the review. ^^ I'm glad you like the story as much as you do. :) For now, updates will be on a monthly basis, but I'm hoping that will change later when my schedule frees up a bit. For now though, it will be updated monthly.
Love thus story - Thanks for the review. ^^ Torturing you, huh? XD I do my best. Hehe. I hope you enjoy this chapter. :)
Disclaimer: The characters and the worlds I write in do not belong to me. The stories that I write are intended for entertainment purposes. I do not make any money from them.
*** ~ Chapter 5: Distant Memory ~ ***
"Ah mou!"
Puppy Zafira yawned, watching as the Empress paced back and forth in her room, ignoring the mounds of parchments currently occupying her desk. Most of them were trivial requests from the city folk, about some thing or another, but that was beside the point.
The day had started off well enough, the Empress settling down for a quiet morning of filling out request forms and such. Then, out of the blue, Hayate shot up from her desk, exclaiming loudly about a certain two people, questioning just how dense they could be. And now they were here. Rein paced with the brunette, except in the air.
Puppy Zafira sighed. Just when he thought some normalcy had returned to regular life after the JS Incident, something else happened. That something else being the lack of progress in Signum's and Shamal's love life. Puppy Zafira sighed again.
The blue demon wolf was not the type to gossip. He could care less about all the hearsay floating around the Imperial Palace. It was unavoidable, of course, as all of the imperial attendants loved to talk. If it was not about the latest fashion from the west, it was about some handsome scholar in the noble court. Though, as of late, the general talk of the palace had shifted to a different topic: the love lives of the Empress and her inner circle.
To Zafira, all of the speculation was outrageously hilarious. Rumor had it that he, Zafira of the Wolkenritter, had an alternate form, one which looked human and had wolf ears and a wolf tail. Further to that rumor, it was said that he was secretly in love with the Empress' Head Attendant and Healer, Shamal, that being the main reason he was often in her company when not watching over the Empress. Totally preposterous, Zafira knew, but it still made him shake his head to hear such things. First off, if he did indeed have such a form, he certainly knew better than to go after a taken woman. Even if Shamal didn't know it yet. Of course, rumours didn't stop there.
There were also rumours involving the White Devil and Thunder Reaper out there, some about their illicit love affair (which was not so much a rumor, really), or about the White Devil and the newly promoted Infinite Head Librarian Scrya Yunno-san. Heck, there were even rumors of Signum and the Thunder Reaper floating around, something Signum vehemently denied and threatened bodily harm should such things be repeated. Zafira was certain that particular rumor was all Hayate's doing, the Empress being quite devious when she wanted to be.
Surprisingly, there was no mention of a Signum and Shamal love affair, something Zafira knew all of his close friends and family were rooting for. Perhaps that's why the Empress was in such a frizzle today. After Rein's regular report, Hayate had been up in arms and more than usual ever since.
"Zafira-san! Are you listening to me?"
Puppy Zafira blinked, only then realizing he was being spoken to. And looked at. By both Rein and Hayate.
"My apologies," Puppy Zafira said. "I must have dozed off. Can you repeat what you just said?"
"Ah mou!" Rein whined, flailing around, pulling a tantrum while floating in front of his face. Puppy Zafira couldn't but chuckle at how similar Rein and Hayate were to each other.
"I was asking you what we should do about Shamal-san and Signum-san," Rein said, quite evidently annoyed that she had to repeat herself. "Hayate didn't like my original suggestion."
Puppy Zafira raised an eyebrow when he caught sight of Hayate nodding fervently behind the silver haired guardian. "And what suggestion would that be?" Puppy Zafira knew he was going to regret asking that question, but he couldn't help be curious. Rein had such a creative mind sometimes.
"I was going to wait until Signum-san was using the imperial baths," Rein began. "And the moment she entered, I would rush over to Shamal-san and tell her that Signum-san had been injured, and headed straight to the baths to wash off the evidence. When Shamal-san dashed off to check on her, I would lock both of them in."
Rein was a sly one, the blue demon wolf had to give her that. Both of Puppy Zafira's eyebrows went up at the suggestion, the small blue demon wolf quickly finding his thoughts going in a direction he didn't want them to. He shook his head, trying to erase those vivid images only for Hayate to speak up, making things worse.
"Ile Rein!" Hayate scolded. "You can't do that!"
"But Haaayaaaate~!" Rein whined again.
"Unacceptable!" the Empress continued, unfazed. "If anyone was to walk in on Signum or Shamal bathing, it would be me!" Hayate cackled mischievously, making a grabbing motion with her hands.
If Puppy Zafira had hands, he would have face palmed.
"Wouldn't it be best if we left those two alone to figure out things on their own?" Puppy Zafira said, after recovering.
"But Zafira!" It was Hayate's turn to whine. "It's been over a year now and those two still haven't clued in! We have to help them!"
Puppy Zafira stared at the Empress, unblinking. "Um... why?"
Both Rein and Hayate sighed in exasperation.
"He's hopeless!" the Empress said, throwing up her hands in defeat. "Hopeless!"
Rein patted her mistress on the shoulder consolingly. "Don't worry, Hayate," the little sprite said. "We'll figure something out. And when we do, then we'll then hook Zafira-san up with a certain bright eyed, bushy tailed demon fox of the Harlaown family to show him just what he's missing."
Puppy Zafira nodded in agreement, wagging his tail happily now that the two in front of him had finally moved onto another subject, and ceased harassing him for love advice. Then his brain caught up with his ears.
"Wait, what?" he nearly squawked.
On the other side of the Imperial Palace, the two in question were in their rooms sorting through the latest mail. Seeing an unknown sender on one of the envelopes, Shamal tore open the packaging and unfolded the letter. Within seconds, violet eyes went wide with disbelief, tears of happiness pooling at the corners of her eyes. The letter was from a cousin of Shamal's, one she thought had died many years ago in the Garden of Time incident.
Victoria Dahlgrün was assumed dead, along with the rest of her family when their family estate collapsed upon their heads as fire rained from the sky. Yet, clearly this wasn't the case as the letter in Shamal's hands stated her well being and her wish to meet with her cousin again. Over joyed, Shamal immediately set out to reply back and arrange the fateful meeting.
Just a few corridors down from Shamal's room was Signum's, the samurai having also received a mysterious letter from an unknown sender. With curiosity getting the better of her, she chose to open that letter first, thinking it to be yet another one of her admirers. It wouldn't have been the first time a random citizen sent her a correspondence proclaiming their undying love for her. The Captain of the Samurai had yet to fathom why people took such fascination in her, but even if she was looking to court someone, it certainly wouldn't be a random stranger. Signum had already set her sights on someone else. Someone with blonde hair and who looked especially good in green robes.
Upon reading the note, the parchment was immediately crumpled in her fist and slammed against Signum's desk with a earthshaking boom. Agito, the little fire sprite napping at the time in the adjoining room, jolted awake at the sound and immediately came to investigate. Rubbing the sleep from her eyes as she entered Signum's office, Agito caught sight of the pinkette's back, the Captain of the Samurai storming out of her office in a rage. Noticing the crumpled parchment amongst the still unopened mail, Agito smoothed out the letter and read it.
You something that belongs to me.
This time your master will not be there to help you.
Levantine will be mine by the next full moon.
Cypha of Hückebein
A/N: Yes, this chapter wasn't Signum/Shamal specific, but even so, I know some of you have been wondering about Hayate and what she's been up to. And now you know. :P Poor Zafira, caught in the crossfire. XD
Victoria Dahlgrün is a character first introduced in the ViVid manga series. She has no real affiliation or relation to Shamal, but for the purposes of this story, I have made it seem so.
Cypha of Hückebein is a character first introduced in the Force manga series. She is known for her duel with Signum of which she wins, nearly killing Signum.
For those of you unfamiliar with the non-English words, I have translated them below.
Ile = No
Wolkenritter = Cloud Knights (German)
For an explanation of Japanese honorifics (eg. [name]-sama), please check out (take out the spaces): wiki / Japanese _ honorifics