Of Assassins, Samurai, and Magic
A/N: And the first chapter is up! 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!
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 1: The Girl with Violet Eyes ~ ***
"Welcome to the Midori-ya Café!"
Blue eyes glanced at the door as the server with auburn hair in a side ponytail greeted new patrons that entered the café. Running a hand through her pink tresses, the samurai in the corner booth closest to the door continued to watch the bubbly girl, sipping her tea (which was the best in all of the districts by the way) as an elderly couple was shown to a small table just two rows down from her.
Unbeknownst to all in the café, this particular samurai was someone rather important. There was only one samurai in all the ranks with hair that matched the colour of the cherry blossoms. That same samurai was head of the Empress' personal body guard, the Wolkenritter, wielder of the mystical blade Levantine, and the captain and the leader of all the samurai ranks under the Empress. Perhaps this fact would have been more easily noticed had the said samurai not hidden her distinctive armor with a faded grey cloak. She didn't want to attract unwanted attention after all. It would be very bad for her and for the Empress if it happened.
"Signum-sama?"
The samurai looked up at the sound of her name. The server who had seated the elder couple just a few minutes ago, now stood next to her booth. Signum blinked once, realizing her thoughts had strayed. The server smiled at her happily.
"How's the tea?" Sparkling violet eyes moved from the samurai to the half filled clay mug in her hands.
"Ah. Delicious, thank you."
Signum was on a mission right now. If you could call it that. By orders of the Empress herself, the captain of the samurai was supposed to enjoy a day off. Hay – correction – the Empress, had said she was working much too hard and deserved a break. Signum objected of course, saying that it was her duty to protect her and the rest of the country's people. So it was expected that she would not get a break from things. But the Empress insisted and just short of being booted out of the imperial palace by her own lieutenants, Signum had ended up here in the Midori-ya Café in the middle district. Vita couldn't say enough good things about this place. So why not?
"Would you like a refill? They're on the house." The server held up a hot kettle of tea in her hands, another warm smile gracing her face.
"No need" Signum said, looking at her mug. "I shall be leaving shortly. But thank you anyway Takamachi-san."
"Call me Nanoha" Nanoha said, refilling Signum's cup despite the samurai's protests. "When you call me Takamachi-san, it makes me feel old. Nyahaha..."
Nanoha laughed, her cheeks turning a visible shade of pink. "I'm not that old yet." She then scratched her cheek with her finger, something she did when she was embarrassed.
Signum felt the ends of her mouth curve upwards into a small smile. It wasn't too often that happened. In fact, it didn't happen at all unless the Empress was around. The Empress had that effect on her. And on the rest of the Wolkenritter as well. Signum watched Nanoha as she giggled once more, having gotten past her moment of embarrassment. There was something about the girl which nagged at her. The captain of the samurai couldn't quite place it just yet, but she made a note to keep an eye on this Takamachi Nanoha.
CRASH!
Signum instinctively reached for her blade hidden under her cloak. Were they under attack? What was-
"SU-BA-RU!"
"I'm sorry Tea! It was an accident! I swear!"
Signum raised an eyebrow when, on the other end of the café, she caught sight of a short blue haired server on the floor, surrounded by spilled mugs of tea. Standing above the said server was another server with flaming orange hair tied up in two ponytails, one on either side of her head. The second of the two was dripping wet with what Signum could only assume was tea.
"Nyhaha…" Nanoha shook her head. This wasn't the first of such mishaps after all. "Those two certainly liven up the place, don't you think?"
Signum wasn't sure if Nanoha was asking a rhetorical question or not, so she answered. "Ah… You could say that…"
At this point, Subaru was on her hands and knees begging for Teana's forgiveness, much to the amusement of the customers around them. The samurai finally relinquished the tight grip on her weapon and sat back more comfortably in her chair.
"Ah mou! Subaru-chan, you can't be doing things like that" Nanoha said to her younger counterpart. "That's going to come out of your pay I'm afraid."
The younger girl could only hang her head in shame and embarrassment as Teana started to pick up the mugs off the floor. It was a miracle that none of them broke in the fall.
"I hope you enjoy the rest of your stay here Signum-sama" Nanoha said giving the samurai her signature smile. "Come again, ne?" And with a wave, Nanoha made her way across the café to help with the clean up.
Signum could only nod at the girl as she darted off. Turning back to her fully refilled mug, the pink haired samurai took another long sip and sighed happily to herself. Vita had good reason to like this place. The people were wonderful. The tea was great. And the café just had a very warm and welcoming atmosphere to it. It was not the largest of eateries around here, but it was certainly one worth returning to. And coming from the usually stoic Signum, that was high praise.
"Say hi to Otou-san and Okaa-san for me!"
"Hai!"
Blue eyes snapped up at movement. Nanoha had shrugged off her white apron and server attire, and now dressed in a flattering pink kimono with a white sash. Her hair was down, giving her a slightly older appearance, but that did nothing to take away from how breath taking she looked. Quite a few heads turned at the sight Signum noted. But while Signum couldn't deny the fact that Nanoha was very pretty, it was the girl's eyes that caught her attention. At the mention of Otou-san and Okaa-san by the girl behind the counter (maybe her sister as they resembled closely), the flicker in the brunette's eyes was unmistakable. Deep and horrible suffering.
Soon Nanoha was out the door, Subaru and Teana promising to take care of the place while she was gone. It was then that Signum rose from her seat, dropping coins on the table for payment of her tea. She left a substantial tip. Being captain of the guard paid well. And Signum, not being the type to spend money on fruitless things, didn't see any harm with dropping more than necessary for extremely good service. With a quick glance around the place, Signum pulled on her hood and left the café trailing being the girl in pink.
"Vita."
"Signum." The shorter girl turned to look at her companion. "What are you doing here?"
"I could ask you the same thing."
The pair stood in the local graveyard, close to the outer edge by one of the few trees that adorned the desolate place. Row upon row stood gravestones, big and small, tall and short, skinny and fat. Some gravestones were etched with highly stylized writings with precious metals like gold and silver lining the edges. Some gravestones had no markings at all, as if the deceased no longer carried a name worth mentioning and the stone was just a mere marker that some poor sap laid there.
Five rows up and about twenty gravestones to the left was the person of both of their interests. A pink kimono with a white sash sharply contrasted against the grey and brown scenery. The girl with the long copper hair kneeled in front of two specific gravestones, dusting them off and placing bouquets of white roses in front of both of them. Signum narrowed her eyes at the scene.
"Vita, is this-"
"Hai" Vita said making a fist. "It was Nanoha who saved my life two years ago. At the price of her parents."
A/N: In my research of the anime, I've found that Nanoha has violet coloured eyes. Yet in profile descriptions of her found all over the internet, she has blue eyes. For my fanfiction, I will keep her with violet coloured eyes as in the anime that is the colour of her eyes.
For those of you unfamiliar with the non-English words, I have translated them below.
Otou-san = Father
Okaa-san = Mother
Hai = Yes
Wolkenritter = Cloud Knights (German)
For an explanation of Japanese honorifics (eg. [name]-sama), please check out wikipedia, url ending in: .org/wiki/Japanese_honorifics