Chapter V: Adjusting to The New World

Lantis' heavy eyelids slowly opened. A moment later he sat up. `Why…always that memory...' His body ached from being immobile for so long. He was shirtless, his long sleeved turtleneck nowhere to be found. Pulling back the warm blanket that lay over him, he stood up and slowly made his way through the Shidou's hallway and into their backyard where the sounds of a training session appeared to be held. He stood in the kitchen's threshold as he watched the many students shouting out in unison as they brought their Shinai downwards, then lifted them over their heads and slashed downwards again at their invisible targets. The eldest Shidou brother stood at the front, instructing his pupils as the two younger brothers circled around the students, observing them correcting their form.

"Lantis?!" He turned to see Hikaru running over to him from the other end of the yard, with a wooden sword in her hand and a relieved smile on her face.

His voice seemed caught in his parched throat, but he offered her a smile of his own.

Her speed refused to decrease as she neared him. "Lantis, I'm so happy to see you," She began. She tightly embraced him as he came into arms reach. "I missed you so much…" she said, then released him as he grunted slightly. "Are you all right? Shouldn't you be resting still? Come, let's get you a shirt before you catch a cold"

Wiping away a tear that ran down the Fire Knight's worried face he reassured her, "I'm fine," his voice was deep and strong yet gentle and loving at the same time. She happily rested her cheek against his hand."I missed you too…" Retracting his hand, he gazed down at the wooden sword in her right hand, "training?" he inquired.

"Yeah, hold on." she disappeared and came back having put away her training sword and offered him a top.

"Here It's Satoru's but I'm sure he won't mind. How's your arm? Does it still hurt?" He shrugged and lightly rubbed it. He carefully pulled the shirt over his head and they went back into the house.

"Unfortunately, we can't use Magic here on earth… but even if we could, I guess it wouldn't help. Fuu's not even in this country right now…" Looking up at him Hikaru noticed a slightly confused expression on his face and decided to briefly elaborate. When she finished her explanation he muttered a soft `hmmm,' as they stood in the middle of her hallway.

"So… exactly how long have I been sleeping for?" Lantis inquired.

"Just a few days. You woke up a couple of times to pick at the food we left by your bedside, but you seemed pretty out of it. So we decided to just leave you to rest. My brothers and I got a little worried at one point; you were running a pretty high fever, but luckily, it broke."

"So you and your brothers' were watching over me?"

"Yep!" she said with a nod, "It was mostly my elder brother Satoru and I. Masaru was already busy either studying or working at his part time job, and Kakeru with his apprenticeship kept him busy too."

He bowed his head, "Sorry for the inconvenience."

"No! Not at all." Hikaru protested. "In- In fact," she said quietly; suddenly finding her feet very interesting, "I… kinda liked taking care of you…"

He cupped her chin and had her look up at him. Her heart skipped a beat and her pulse sped under his gentle touch. "Hey, Lantis?" she asked thinking back to the scars she had seen on him. "How'd you get that scar?" her shaky fingers lightly traced its outline through his shirt.

He moved away from her slightly. "When I was younger; before I was taught Magic by Master Mage Clef, I encountered a monster much too strong for me to handle at the time, and far faster than I had anticipated. In an attempt to evade one its attacks, one of the monsters claws slashed my side. This scar on my shoulder," he said gesturing, "was received by that same monster, when it pinned me to the ground… Were it not for my elder brother Zagato, I don't believe that I would have survived…"

"Zagato…" Lantis caught her inflection. He knew what it meant. She backed further away from him.

His hand reached out and grasped her retracting one. "The man that died wasn't my dear brother. But a mad man, a puppet to his own demons…"

"But… he was still your brother, and I- I can't help but sometimes hate myself for what I did." She was shocked to feel Lantis' cool lips lightly press against hers.

"To me, my brother died long before you and the other two Magic Knights appeared in Cephiro." Hikaru's arms wrapped around his waist as he stroked the crown of her hair; he hated seeing her angst over her war with Zagato and wished that if only for a moment he could make that pain completely leave her heart. "As I have told you Hikaru, I neither blame, nor hate you for what happened."

"Lantis…" The deepness of the blush on her face intensified when she heard her stomach growl, completely killing the moment. She stepped back.

"Hungry?" he asked, letting go of her.

The Magic Knight mentally kicked herself, `smooth Hikaru, real smooth…' she thought, sarcastically. "I- Uh… Yeah, I guess I am," she said, as her hand reached behind her head. "You want something to eat too? I'm not the best cook, but I'm sure I could make something…"

"Not the best is an understatement `Karu." Kakeru, her brother said. As he appeared at the end of the hallway, making his way down towards the duo.

"Kakeru! Where'd you come from? Shouldn't you be assisting Masaru with his class?" she asked directing her attention at her brother.

"I, a… kind of hit him in the back of the head with my shinai," Kakeru began. "He seemed a little upset, so I thought it best to take my leave…"

"Will he be okay?" his little sister asked.

"Well, he's okay enough to be chasing after me with blinded rage… So I would say yes."

Lantis stood there looking back and forth between the two siblings.

Kakeru then looked up at Lantis, "hey man. How are yah doing?" the energetic young man questioned as he playfully slapped Lantis in the arm.

A grunt escaped Lantis' lips as he clutched his arm, "Fine." He answered coldly.

"Kakeru! He's still recovering!" Hikaru scolded.

"Oh, jeez sorry. I forgot about your arm… Mr., uh, what was your name again?" though he couldn't remember for the life of him what the stranger's name was, his apology was in earnest. 'Idiot.' He thought, `first I hit the poor guy, and then I go and forget his name. Kakeru sarcastically thought.

"His name is Lantis." Hikaru snapped back.

`Yikes.' It wasn't like his baby sister to be snippy.

'Nearly one whole earth week has come to pass, and I'm no closer to finding her then I was when I arrived…' the youthful Sakuya speculated as he rested his back against the park bench. He pulled out a coin and fiddled with it in his hand. "Finding her will be like trying to find a needle in a hay stack…" Umi had told him that was a common simile used on this planet.

She'd told him that many people inhabited this planet; that many people lived in this `Tokyo'. But his mind obviously was unable to fully comprehend just how many people there really were until he'd arrived. `There's just too many damn people in this city!' he thought, frustration poisoning his mind.

`At this rate, I'll be an old man before I find her.' His shoulders slumped as he leaned over and stared at the ground while he dug his feet into the light brown dirt. 'It doesn't help any that in this world, magic seems to be unusable and I don't even know what she looks like. I'd have get close to her in order to sense her presence… Damn!'

"Hey mister, what's wrong?" a small boy looking to be about the age of four or five, asked him. He wore a pair of blue track pants and an orange, pullover sweater with a `Pocket Monsters' picture on it.

Sakuya glanced down at the kid who wasn't even half his size, eyes narrowing. "Get lost."

"Hey, that's mean!" the boy protested; his attention suddenly fell onto Sakuya's hair. "Hey, how do you get your hair so spiky? How'd you get that scar on your cheek? Why are you in a bad mood? Did you lose your favorite toy in the sand box? How"-

Before the boy could continue with his onslaught of questions, Sakuya cut him off, "didn't you here me before? I said get lost!" he stood up from his seat on the park's bench, his clenched fists raising in a threatening manor.

The poor lad didn't need to be told a third time. He stumbled back and tripped sending him harshly to the ground Scrambling quickly to his feet the boy ran as fast as he could to the other side of the path way and hid behind bushes.

Sakuya breathed a sigh, "Why do I keep coming here? Every time I do, annoying little brats come and start talking to me…" his hands found themselves sliding into the pockets of his recently bought, light blue jeans, as he headed towards his apartment.

Umi had taken care of all his necessities, before he'd even gotten to Earth. Or perhaps Eagle? Either way didn't matter too much. He had found a note along with the money from the other day He knew had been written by Umi, explaining to him that he was Sakuya Tsukyo; a tenth grade high school student whom was living in an apartment complex in downtown Tokyo.

When he'd first entered his apartment, he found an envelope on the kitchen table containing yet another note; which gave further details and explained in depth, what he would need to do while on Earth; aside from hunting down his target that is. For such a sort span of time, he'd been able to adjust rather well to this foreign lifestyle. Complements to Umi, she'd prepared as best she could for life on Earth, while she trained him in fencing and controlling his magic.

He was brought back to current times as he heard his stomach grumble in hunger. Being that this was a very busy part of the city, he was able to come across a fast food restaurant fairly quickly. A large M was painted on the windowpane, which had the following letters spelling out McDonalds.

After paying for his meal and searching for a vacant table, he sat down and unwrapped the food. `This is meat…?' Sakuya wondered as he lifted the sesame seed bun off his burger. He stared at it a good few minutes before finally deciding to take a bite. The food itself was okay, however, he realized that he should have requested juice or just plain water. This "soft drink" of his was a tad too sweet for his liking. Further more, the fizz in the beverage created a slight burning sensation in the back of his throat. He didn't care for it one bit. He popped the remaining French fries in his mouth.

Grabbing a nearby newspaper that had been left on the table across from him, he folded it under his arm and pushed his way through the crowded McDonalds. Once outside, Sakuya unfolded the paper and began to read. There was an article about an electrical anomaly from a few days ago. Some buildings in the downtown Tokyo district had experienced some temporary blackouts since the strange occurrence, but other than that, the incident seemed benign. However, no one had any idea as to what had caused it, save for Sakuya. He knew that the disturbance had been caused by his crossing over from Cephiro to Earth. It was a mere side effect from tearing open the dimensional barrier, which would most likely fully close within another day or so. As he casually flipped to the next page, he accidentally shouldered someone.

"Hey watch it buddy! Damn punk teens, think they own everything!" The older man yelled; there was a faint smell of liquor around him.

Sakuya stopped and turned around; facing the man, "stupid people, they bug the hell out of he." The young blue haired man stated in monotone.

"What'd you just say?! Now I'm gonna have to teach you some respect by beating the crap out of you!" The stranger had wanted to pick a fight; however, no sooner had the words left his drunken lips, he was forced to cup his face in pain, "My- my nose! You broke my nose!" He called as blood dripped onto the slightly browned, dirty sidewalk.

"It's not broken," Sakuya stated as he retracted his fist.

"What the hell's your damage?" the man questioned as he attempted to tend to his injured face.

"You talk too much." Sakuya declared as he discarded the paper and continued home.

"I… wouldn't know General Drako, sir." The new lieutenant, whom was in charge of training new recruits, replied as he listened to the elder man.

"It's that damn Eagle! He thinks he can just waltz in here one day and do what ever he pleases?!" Drako spat, "and training children to do his dirty work!"

"I don't mean to over step my bounds sir, but in his defense, those `children' are very strong soldiers. Umi Ryuuzaku possesses very strong magic, as does the young Sakuya, whom also possesses the unique ability to open portals. Granted, his power is inferior to the few `dimension jumper's', that the Organization has; and his power isn't even strong enough to transport a small battle ship. But eventually, he'll be able to weaken that Planet's natural barriers and we'll be able to invade. At any rate, those two alone are rather formidable opponents and have proven to be useful. That said, it would not be wise for us to go making enemies with Eagle…"

"You are not incorrect," the general began, regaining his composure. "However, I still don't think that the Organization should allow him this much leeway…"

"Do you suspect Lord Eagle is doing something that the leaders would frown upon Sir?"

"I'm not sure. It's simply that I don't trust him." The general at this point seemed deep in thought.

"Sir?"

"It's nothing Harris. Dismissed." Drako said as he sat down at his desk to further contemplate.

`Lantis,' the young red headed girl thought happily. `It's still hard to believe he's actually here…' she was currently staring blankly out at the beautiful, green leaved trees surrounding the Shidou house through the room's window. She was lying on the cool wooden floor; her hands under her head, with one leg crossed over the other. Unladylike a position as it was, she found it most comfortable.

"Hmmm…" she mumbled as she listened to the gentle breeze outside. `Pretty soon, it'll be too cold to have the windows open…' she suddenly bolted upright. "Hey, I never got around to asking him how he got here." she would have to find out when were brothers weren't around.

She couldn't imagine what her brothers would think if they ever over heard her talking about to another world, being a legendary protector of its land and becoming the one who possesses the power to ultimately decide that world's fate… They'd probably think she was nuts or applaud her for having such a creative imagination.

Hikaru closed her eyes. "Cephiro…" she spoke aloud. That world had become a second home to her. Granted the two times she'd been there, she wasn't there for a vacation. Quite the opposite, during Zagato's war, there were monsters constantly attacking, her life as well as her comrades had been put in danger on numerous occasions. The villagers had kept their distance from them and some had even hated them without even knowing whom they were. When Umi, Fuu and herself had returned for a second time, they'd gotten the chance to get to know Cephiro's residents, made friends with them. Despite all the bad, painful memories Hikaru held, there were good ones too that she would always cherish. In fact she would have never become friends with Fuu or Umi had they not been summoned. She took pride in being Cephiro's guardian even if it meant pain. To wield a sword with a purpose to fight had given her life a sense of meaning and fulfillment. It was easy to see that she had a warrior's heart… "It'd be nice to visit the rest of them one day."

"Visit who?" A low, friendly, familiar voice questioned.

She looked up to meet the eyes of the person who stood mere feet away from her.

"Lantis…" she breathed his name, as she looked him up and down. While he had gone to get a shower, Kakeru and Hikaru went off in search of additional clothing for him to wear.

Hikaru looked him up and down a second time; resting her eyes on his well shaped easily visible through the green turtleneck he wore. "Nice…" suddenly realizing that she was blatantly eying him she quickly averted her gaze and vainly tried to hide the blush on her face. "I…I mean you look nice."

He found himself unable to hold back the grin forming on his lips. Her interest in his body was not lost to him. The attention was not unwanted. They had a mutual attraction and the thought that they might be able to explore it was going to be difficult to push to the back of his mind.

"Who do you wish to visit?" Lantis inquired, covering the distance between them.

"I was just thinking it would be nice to go back to Cephiro to see everyone when we sort this all out." Hikaru answered, her cheeks still red.

"I see."

A knock sounded at the door and she was a little to hasty to answer it. "Excuse me,"

"Hey Hikaru!" Umi enthusiastically said as she stood in the doorway.

The youngest Shidou stood there, a blank expression on her face, until it suddenly dawned on her. "Oh, shoot! We were supposed to go out today weren't we?"

"You mean you forgot? That doesn't sound like you, are you all right, Hikaru? Do you feel sick?" Umi questioned.

"No, I'm not sick, it's just that Lantis"-

"Oh! No wonder you forgot." Hikaru's light blue haired friend said with a sly smile as she nudged the Fire Knight in her side.

"Stop it," Hikaru whined. When Umi obeyed she moved aside to allow her in.

"Did you find out why he's here?" Umi questioned as she became serious.

Closing the door, Hikaru shook her head, "no. I haven't gotten the chance to ask him yet. I don't really want to be talking about that stuff in front of my brothers. For obvious reasons… Hey, is that a bag of sweets I see in your hand?" Umi followed Hikaru into the room where Lantis was. He was looking at a framed photograph of the Shidou family, from when Hikaru was but a small child. When he heard the two girls enter the room, he quickly placed it down on the end table where he'd picked it up.

"Yeah, they're my special homemade pastries."

"Did I hear someone say pastries?" Kakeru called as he dashed into the room, "why Umi, it's so nice to see you! Haven't seen you around lately." He politely added. His attention fell onto her bag.

She pulled the bag away from his grasp, "Number one, NO! Number two, I was here just a few weeks ago, and number three, and flattery will get you no pastry."

"Less talking, more giving me food."

"I wont give you a pastry, however, I'd be more than happy to give you a knuckle sandwich," Umi said as she rolled up her sleeve, and held up a fist.

Kakeru's hands flew up in defeat, "No, that's okay. Uh… will you be joining us for lunch." He asked. `If she say's yes, I'll at least have another shot at getting a pastry.'

"I guess"

"Yes! Uh, I mean, very good. After you," One by one they each continued into the kitchen. Kakeru was about to head in when he spied the up right photo. Glancing at it briefly, he then placed it face down onto the table and made his way into the kitchen as well.

"Hey aren't those Satoru's clothes?" Umi questioned as she looked over what Lantis was wearing.

Hikaru swallowed a mouthful of food and answered, "yeah they are. His clothes are in the wash. And his shirt has yet to be mended." That said biting into her rice ball.

"Yeah, but that's weird…" Kakeru began, directing his attention towards Lantis whom had been really silent. "I mean; you show up unconscious, with only one outfit of clothing, a sword hilt and a cloak. Who are you? What do you do? For all we know, you're a homicidal maniac who wants to steal all our family's belongings and-"

Smack.

He tightly held the back of his head, rubbing the forming bruise that was quickly growing. "Don't be stupid." Umi ordered, slightly irritated as she retracted her arm.

"Ouw…"

Hikaru giggled and explained to Lantis about Kakeru's imagination.

"So what do you do then?" Kakeru asked again.

Hikaru choked on her food. `Shoot what are we supposed to say? He's a magic swordsman from another world whom was transported here for god only knows why?' An omission of truth was one thing but an out and out lie was something she had no talent for.

"Hikaru, you okay?"

"Fine!" she squeaked.

Luckily it was Umi to the rescue. "Oh, Lantis was just telling us that he's a traveling swordsmen whom challenges the Shihan of dojo's and that he's come here to the Shidou school of Kendo to hone his skills."

"I have?" Lantis whispered to Umi, who roughly kicked him in his shin.

"Shut up, work with it." Umi whispered back.

"Really? Wow! That's so cool. Are you going to challenge Satoru? I bet that would be a wicked match."

"I wasn't planning on it," he replied. Suddenly wishing for everyone's attention to fall on something else.

Sensing this, Hikaru stood up from the table. "Hey Kakeru? Shouldn't Masaru's class be over now?"

"Oh, crap! He's gonna kill me!"

"Why not give him one of Umi's pastries as a peace offering?" Hikaru suggested.

"Great idea!" he said, grabbing two; one for himself, the other for Masaru and ran off but then quickly came back and took another.

"Hey! She said one!" Umi yelled. Looking down at the box containing the remaining pastries she whined, "My pastries!" there was only three left from the original six, then let out a sigh of resignation. "Well I knew that was going to happen one way or another, but I was planning on catching him this time…"

There was a temporary silence as the three looked in the direction Kakeru had gone.

"Okay, here's what we're going to do today!" Umi suddenly beamed.

Both Hikaru and Lantis stared at her blankly; "huh?" seeming to be the only words either were able to say.

"Well originally, Hikaru and I were going to have a picnic at the park." She then suddenly pointed her index finger at Lantis, "but since you're up and walking about, I have a better idea of what we should do today." The blue haired girl explained as a sly smile formed on her face.

"What's that?" Hikaru innocently asked, curious to know what her friend had in mind.

"We're going to take Lantis shopping!"

"Lantis? Shopping?" Hikaru repeated that got her excited.

"Shopping?" Lantis looked between the two Knights. He had an ominous feeling.

TBC