Once he had returned to the polis, Kurogane decided to look around. Most of the citizens were in their homes asleep, but a few determined people traveled the streets. He swam along, not really planning on ending up anywhere, just to explore. The pain in his chest was gone, finally, and he was happy. Kurogane actually liked being down here; when the fish freaks weren't trying to kill him, that is.
"Kurogane?" A curious voice asked. Kurogane turned to face Subaru, who smiled.
"The next meeting is tonight." He whispered. A crash and yell of rage erupted from inside a store. Subaru was instantly alert, and quickly said his goodbyes before darting into the store.
After coming to the conclusion that there was nothing worth seeing at the moment after the brief encounter with Subaru, Kurogane yawned softly and returned to Maecenas's home. There were only two bedrooms: Maecenas's and Fai's. A bed to sleep in was out of the question then. He trudged into Fai's room and dug through the chest at the foot of his bed until he found a robe that fit him. He pulled it on and went to sleep on the floor. He wasn't going to give the Royal Bitch another chance to use any of her magic. Fai was hard enough to put up with alone as it was.
"Mmph…" Fai muttered, twitching in his sleep. Without opening an eye to the man, Kurogane muttered, "I swear Fai; if you leave I'm going to kill you."
Fai made another noise, but it came out muffled due to the fact that his face was in the pillow. Kurogane relaxed and went back to sleep.
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Moonlight streamed in through the window, splashing across the back of Fai's head. He woke an hour later, yawning and stretching.
Blinking, he slithered out of his bed and went to search for Kurogane. He hoped that the ninja hadn't left for the surface.
Kurogane was in the main room, cleaning his sword.
"I think that you should get that charmed so it will keep better in the water." Fai said.
"Are you offering to use your magic or something?"
"Nope." Fai laughed at Kurogane's scowl. "There's bound to be someone here who will though. The people here can all use magic." He swam to the door.
"Come on, Kuro-rin!"
Kurogane growled, following him out the door and to the market.
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After an hour of searching, they came across the perfect man for the job.
"Hey, he's the old man who sold me my sword." Kurogane thought. The old man grumbled something, snatching the sword away and examining it.
"He'd like a water- sealing charm to be put on this sword." Fai asked, "Can you do it?"
"Life is like a swift current." The old man stated, nodding. Fai blinked, looking to Kurogane with an amused expression as if to get him to say something.
"Uh, yeah." The ninja said. The old man nodded again, and set the spell.
"That'll be one drachma." Kurogane produced a small bag out of nowhere and pulled six oboloi out to equal the amount.
"Is this enough?" He asked. The old man nodded and took the money. He eyed Fai through his eyebrows.
"You look like one who would wield a Qiang. Try this." He thrust a long spear at him. It had a leaf shaped blade, and a red tassel of hair tied just below that. Fai smiled, weighing it in his hands.
"You will be needing it soon, so I won't ask for a price." Fai looked at him, shocked.
"Are you sure?" Kurogane asked, just as surprised.
"Yes. Now go." The old man of the sea smiled, waving them away.
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"A free weapon!" Fai raved to Kurogane as they left the store. Kurogane sighed.
"You can show it off in a bit; another meeting is about to start." Fai blinked and smiled awkwardly.
"Great! Lets go then."
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"Hello, Hokuto." Fai greeted, swimming up to her. The girl beamed, hugging him.
"I like your spear! Is it new?" She asked. Fai nodded.
"Hokuto," Subaru interrupted.
"What?"
"The meeting is beginning."
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Fai floated by Kurogane at the front as Subaru and Kamui gave a joint speech, giving their opinions on the current state of government. He noticed how Subaru had bruises on his arms and chest, and he leaned over to Kurogane.
"Kuro-puu, what happened to him?" He whispered. The ninja scoffed.
"He stopped a member of the Royal Guard from robbing someone of their profits earlier in the market. Why don't you listen?" Kurogane hissed lightly.
Kamui and Subaru finished their speech, and returned to their seats. Hokuto nudged Fai.
"Your turn!" She grinned. Fai smiled back and swam up to the podium. He took a breath in before speaking. His voice was soft at first, but then it grew, flowing to convey emotion to his audience.
"As Kuro-puu pointed out last time, you need to know the enemy to be able to defeat them. But you can't just shoot into a fight and start killing left and right. You need to think: Why is this person a foe?" He stopped to gather his thoughts, and the crowd shifted in their seats. Kurogane's eyes narrowed as Fai began again.
"Keep that thought in your mind on the battlefield." He said strongly, and swam back to his seat.
For the remainder of the meeting, other members of the group spoke and gave their views.
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"Oh, Fai, Kurogane!" Kamui called, stopping them from leaving. Same as the last time, most of the group was already out and swimming back to their homes.
"Hmm, what is it?" Fai asked.
"Since you missed your first meeting, on the night you came here Fai, no one ever told you: We're planning to attack the Queen on the lunar eclipse."
"That's tomorrow!"
"Yes. Will both of you be ready? There will be a ceremony, which Ashura will be attending. That's when we'll strike."
Fai looked doubtful, the complete opposite of Kurogane, who looked like he couldn't wait. Kamui sighed.
"Even with your magic severed Fai, you will still be fine. Your other skills will be more than enough."
Fai gaped at him, he had only let his guard down a little, but it was enough. Kamui could be trusted though. He smiled at him and received one in return.
"Be sure to keep your hands in secret until the absolute proper moment, ok?"
"Sure."
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Fai left the cave with butterflies in his stomach. This wasn't just some normal battle; they were expecting him to use magic!
He had used a little before, and nothing had happened yet; but each time he cast a spell, the strength of his magic grew. It was hard enough to find the one who would activate his curse as it was. But, he had his vampire abilities.
Those would help.
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Ashura rubbed her chin, smirking. A servant stood before her, presenting a new weapon to her. She nodded.
"That will do. Now, leave me, for I am tired and with to rest."
The small mermaid nodded and left, shutting the door behind her. Ashura yawned, smirking as she gracefully swam into her bed. She had to sit on her the throne the entire next morning and listen to her people drone on as the told her of the parade and celebration. It wasn't a big deal to her if she fell asleep in front of them, she hoped they'd get the message and go away, but she had to show at least a little dignity.
After all, she could have all the fun that she wanted during the celebration.
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The humans awoke with the sun, and began going about in their normal duties. None of them were able to detect the raw charge of pre-battle euphoria below in the waters.
But as they prepared for the night, the steady force grew, and they became uneasy.
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Kurogane had chosen to sleep in the living room that day, and Fai once again slept soundly in his bed. The dark haired man was surprised; the mage usually didn't sleep that soundly, he would always cry out like he was in a bad dream. Throughout the whole time they had spent together down in the water, he hadn't been plagued by a single one.
When the moon was shining again, Fai swam out of his room and over to Kurogane. Both knew that the other was anxious of the outcome of the later attack. Kurogane spoke first
"I'm going to find some place to practice. See you later."
"Fine." Fai sighed.
Kurogane nodded, and swam off to practice. Fai went back to bed; he was still tired. Before crawling back under the covers, he pulled his robe back on.
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At the rate and speed Kurogane was practicing, Kurogane should have broken a little sweat. He frowned. The tail that had replaced his legs made it strange to do some moves, and he knew that he needed to fix this problem before the eclipse. He concentration was broken when someone began clapping.
"Marvelous!" An old woman called. "You have a gift with the blade!"
Kurogane turned to face her and tried to hide his annoyance at being interrupted.
"Thank you."
"Oh, yes! A gift indeed!"
"…Yeah."
"You're such a strong man; could you help me carry some packages into my store for me? I wounded my arm years ago, and I've never fully recovered. Old age doesn't help either." She asked with big pleading eyes. Kurogane sighed. There was something weird about this, but for the moment he could at least help her with one package.
"Sure." He sheathed his sword and followed her.
It didn't take long to reach a cart lead by two enormous seahorses. Kurogane picked up two large sacks in each arm and followed her into her shop.
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Kurogane ended up unloading the entire cart for her. In the end, his back was sore, but he felt that he had quickly grown more adept to swimming with his tail. They said their goodbyes, Kurogane just grunted, and parted ways.
On his way back to his temporary home, he passed through the back roads of the market. Another old woman called out to him.
"Boy!" She cried out "Do you know of the eclipse ceremony?"
Kurogane sighed. "Yes."
The woman nodded solemnly.
"The rays of the moon cause weakness to some young men."
Kurogane nodded slowly. He didn't buy a single word the woman said. She knew this, and decided to cut to the chase.
"You deserve a talisman to aid you." She thrust a bag into his arms. "Fluorite. The stones flux power will help melt the rays' powers away, while building your strength up at the same time. That's what you want, isn't it? To become stronger? Just open it."
Kurogane couldn't help keeping the shocked expression off of his face. But at the same time…
He tossed the bag away with a look of disgust. The old woman snatched it away before it could hit the ground, cradling it. True, the fluorite's flux would do as she told the man, but it would also severely weaken the bearers' mental strength in order to make them physically stronger. It was one of the quickest ways to make someone a zombie-like slave. If this man were like that, she would be able to get any information out of him and use him as a pawn to get to her human.
"Do I look like an idiot?" He growled, holding his sword at her throat. "I know who you are. I can sense you aura."
The woman smirked. "Then there's no need for my façade. Where is my human?"
"Safe from you."
"Ha!"
Kurogane really wanted to run his sword through her, end the madness before it had a chance to bloom any further. This wasn't his fight though, and he knew that.
Ashura darted around the sword, grabbing Kurogane by the neck and pinning him to the ground.
"If I can't get an answer out of you, I'll just kill you and be done with it!"
Kurogane easily slid out of her grasp and set his sword up to block her.
"Let me guess! You thought that you could use me to get to him? You really think I'd ever serve under you?" Kurogane laughed humorlessly.
"There's only one person that I'll ever serve under!"
AN: How was it??
I really was going to make the encounter between Kurogane and Ashura bloodier; but in the end it really didn't work out. I began to think that he'd know that it 'wasn't his fight' and such, and switch to just defending himself. That sounds kind of dull though…
I almost had Fai appear at the last moment and be like "La la la, minding my own business, hmmhmm, WOAH. MY BAD." ;D
Thanks to everyone who has read and reviewed!!
EDIT: Sorry about not putting this in!
Qiang is Chinese for "spear" I'd Wikipedia it for more info
The name drachma is derived from the verb "δράττω" (dráttō, "to grasp").[1] Initially a drachma was a fistful (a "grasp") of six oboloi (metal sticks), which were used as a form of currency as early as 1100 BC. It was the standard unit of silver coinage at most ancient Greek mints, and the name 'obol' was used to describe a coin that was one-sixth of a drachma (the Greek money info was taken from Wikipedia, so this info is NOT MINE!)