A Samurai's Pledge
A/N: Thank you all for your understanding and patience in the delay of this chapter. Things should be back on track now and I don't foresee any further delays in the regular posting schedule.
For those of you who've left unsigned reviews, see my replies below:
trumm12345 - Thanks for the comment. ^^ I was a bit surprised that there weren't more Signum x Shamal stories, so I'll definitely be posting to this one for a while. Hehe. As for the delay in this chapter, I had some family issues that had to be dealt with, which is why this chapter didn't come out on schedule. Always check on my profile if chapters don't get posted like normal. I post updates on there to keep my readers up to date.
Humble Anoymous - Thanks for the review! :) Yes, the action and drama is about to heat up! As for Zafira, well, that's anyone's guess. Lol.
Love thus story - Thanks for the comment. :) Fear not, you will be seeing Subaru and Tea again, shortly. Everyone will get their turn. ;)
For those of you who left unsigned reviews, see my replies below:
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 6: Skeleton in the Closet ~ ***
Signum walked briskly through the quiet streets of the capital city. It was night time now, most, if not all of the city folk at home and asleep in their beds. Midnight patrol was Signum's favorite time to patrol, it being the quietest of patrols in general. But tonight, the Captain of the Samurai found not the peace nor the quiet she usually got during this time of the day. Her mind was reeling, uncontrollably, and had been since she received that blasted letter just over a week ago.
Signum paused in her step. Looking up at the clear sky, the moon, halved in its essence, shone brightly above her.
Levantine will be mine by the next full moon.
The pinkette growled, Signum's jaw clenching as her white knuckled fist lashed out at the closest thing to her. Stone wall. Signum currently stood at a T-junction, between four houses, in one of the many back alleys in the Middle District. The blooming of pain in her hand slowly calmed the swordswoman, frustration and anxiety draining off of her like water running off of a duck's back. The samurai sighed in annoyance, mentally berating herself.
This was not knightly behaviour. But even so, Signum couldn't but feel edgy right now. She needed to talk to someone about her troubles. To get it all out. Or they would slowly eat her from the inside out.
Looking down at her now bruised fist, a certain blonde haired, green robed head attendant came to Signum's mind. The last couple of weeks had been most enlightening when it came to Shamal, somehow the two of them finding themselves in the most awkward of situations together. Signum smiled. She still remembered the feeling of holding the healer around the waist, in their tumble in the Imperial Cellar weeks ago. It was... nice.
Signum scowled. Too bad the interaction only went as far as that. Since then, both of them were a bit nervous around each other. A funny, yet not unpleasant nervousness in Signum's opinion. But still, Signum hoped they would soon get past that awkwardness and onto more... exciting things.
A shift in the air.
Levantine was unsheathed.
"Come out and face me," Signum said, her voice commanding like a sonic boom in the quiet night.
For a moment, all that answered her was silence. Then, from the alleyway to her left, emerged a hooded figure shrouded in shadow.
"You're as good as they say."
From the sound of the person's voice, Signum guessed them to be a woman. There was an edge, a dangerous edge, in the woman's tone which caused Signum to be on alert. The woman's voice was like a finely crafted blade, sharp and cutting. The hooded one stopped just out of slashing range from the samurai captain's sword.
Signum's narrowed her eyes. "It is rather late to be out for a walk."
A laugh.
"Your concern is misplaced," the woman said in amusement.
Signum couldn't yet make out the woman's face, but she could tell they were grinning.
"I can handle myself. It is you who should be worried."
The samurai squared herself to the other. "Why is that?"
That blasted grin again.
"You've received my letter?"
Signum lashed out in a rage instantly. The Captain of the Samurai roared as Levantine sliced through air, her original target having moved out of the way faster than any normal human should have been able to. Without skipping a beat, Signum darted after her opponent, slashing up and down, left and right any moment she got. Each and every time, she missed by a hair's breadth, something which only infuriated her more.
CLANK!
Swords crossed, Levantine screeching against a blade that Signum had ever seen before. Longer and thicker than any samurai sword should be, the grip was thinner than the width of the blade, and protected by a spiked knuckle guard in the shape of a crescent moon. Moonlight shone brightly upon both combatants, their dance of swords taking them out into the middle of the empty street without them noticing. It was here Signum caught sight of long blonde hair and an amber coloured eye. A brown leather eye patch stretched across her opponent's right eye.
Realizing what the pinkette was staring at, the cloaked figure smirked. "Recognize me now?"
The woman, in a mighty show of strength, shoved Signum hard, the samurai stumbling backwards on her heels, barely managing to stay upright.
"I owe you for this one," Cypha of Hückebein said, referring to her eye. "That and my master's death."
Signum gritted her teeth, her grip on Levantine going even tighter.
"Or maybe I should be thanking you for that?"
By now, nearby patrolling samurai had heard the scuffle and were running in their direction. It wasn't hard to make out the clashing of weaponry, especially at this hour, the streets being almost as quiet as a graveyard.
"Consider this your only warning," Cypha said in all arrogance.
To Signum, Cypha's words were like corrupted taint, the more she spouted, the more Signum wanting nothing more than to wipe that smug smile off the woman's face. Or cut it off. Preferably cutting it off.
"Things will only get worse from here."
Signum darted forward again, at the same time Cypha pulled her cloak off her back and tossed it at the samurai captain like a net. By the time Signum's samurai caught up to her, Cypha was long gone, the only evidence she was actually here at all being the scowl on Signum's angered face, the shredded cloak, and the small crack in Levantine's blade.
Shamal was ecstatic. It was the dawn of a new day, one she had been looking forward to for over a week. After replying back to the message from her cousin, she was delighted to get another response back, confirming their meeting a week later. That time being now, here she was, in the Midori-ya Cafe sitting at her regular table, all the while nibbling on breakfast delicacies as she awaited the arrival of her long lost cousin.
"Is that the White Devil?" came a hushed whisper from the table behind Shamal.
Shamal's gaze rose from her plate to the door to the Cafe. There she spotted two familiar assassins in the doorway.
"Look! It's the Thunder Reaper!"
The Empress' Head Attendant stifled a giggle behind her hand as the two said assassins nonchalantly walked through Midori-ya's doors as if they were regular customers. Well, the White Devil walked in like that. The Thunder Reaper on the other hand, looked a tad bit uncomfortable with all the attention they were getting.
"Maybe this wasn't such a good idea," the Thunder Reaper said quietly, pulling at her collar. She was starting to sweat with the amount of eyes on them right now. Her partner chuckled.
"You said you were hungry," the White Devil said, grinning. "And I couldn't think of any other place nearby which had great food." Violet eyes were filled with mirth.
"When I said I was hungry, I didn't mean to come here to eat!" the Thunder Reaper hissed to her companion. Looking back to everyone staring at them, she bowed politely in acknowledgement. The Thunder Reaper almost squeaked when an arm wrapped around her shoulder and pulled her flush against a body she knew very well.
"You're so cute Thunder Reaper-sama."
The flush on the black assassin's face was very noticeable, even with the amount of black covering her up. Shamal could only giggle more. Those two were so precious like that.
"Is this seat taken?"
The healer's attention snapped back from her silly friends to the person now standing next to her table. It took but a moment for Shamal to register blonde hair, tears instantly filling her vision as she sprang to her feet and tackled her guest.
"Victoria-chan!" Shamal exclaimed, hugging her long lost relative tightly.
Strong arms wrapped around her shoulders and hugged back. "It's been a while Shamal-san. You look good."
For the next few moments, nothing understandable came out of Shamal's mouth, the Empress' Head Attendant overcome by emotions she never realized she had. Victoria was patient though, rubbing her shoulders soothingly, telling her it was alright. By the time Shamal calmed down enough to talk, and they sat down, the healer immediately frowned upon sight of a brown leather eye patch covering her cousin's right eye.
"Oh this?" Victoria said, a hand raising to touch the eye patch. An amber eye blinked. "Many things have happened since we last saw each other ten years ago. This among other things." Victoria smiled sadly.
Shamal reached across the table to hold her cousin's hand. She smiled encouragingly. "That's alright," Shamal said. "We've got time to catch up. How about you start at the beginning?"
A/N: Despite having read the Force manga a bit (just for the Signum and Cypha fight), I still don't have a comfortable feel of Cypha's personality. As such, I've taken some liberties with her character, so expect Cypha to be OOC for this story.
For an explanation of Japanese honorifics (eg. [name]-sama), please check out (take out the extra spaces and brackets): ( h t t (p) ) : / / en . (w)(i)(k)(i)(p)edia . (o) r g / wiki / Japanese_honorifics