I said that I will update quickly~~~~ Did I? Maybe not . . .
So I will, if you have any suggestions, please post in the review, and I will answer them.
Pairing later in the story . . . . . maybe (I don't give definite answers ^.^)
By the way, the MC is definitely not a meek little girl, just saying. And this is a fictional Japan, you will soon see why.
Chapter 2
-Japan-
During her walk back to home, Astrid encountered a rape incident, and decided to solve it, no, not Astrid getting raped, someone else; a poor girl walking down Sakura Street who got sedated and then dragged into a spooky dark alleyway by a bunch of teenage delinquents.
This smelled fishy, so Astrid followed at a safe distance.
Astrid smiled to herself, I haven't kicked ass all week, you guys can be practice, and then she slipped off her bag and lightly touched the daggers tucked into her belt under her coat. They are not sharp enough to kill, but definitely good enough to maim, or seriously injure. Astrid stepped outside into the gang's full view, while they were busy spreading the girl's legs and getting out a camera.
"Hey! Who the hell are you?!" Thug no. 1 cried out in surprise as he notice the intruder, drawing in the attention of others.
"A girl on the way home passing by." Astrid shrugged, "Who the hell are you? You are blocking my way, so move already, or you will be sorry."
"You bitch!" thug no. 1 advanced on Astrid and grinned nastily, "Guess we won't mind another threat."
"Tch." Astrid sighed, "I said move out of my way, or you will be sorry, I will only repeat this once."
The thug didn't reply, instead, he quickened his pace and reached out to grab Astrid's wrist, "you are so screwed, ahhh!"
Astrid sidestepped and swung her backpack, catching the thug's face with a thud. Then she grabbed his hair and smashed her knee into the thug's face, sending him reeling back with a broken nose.
"Damn it, bitch!" The rest of the gang charged Astrid, and she smirked inwardly, that's it, let anger cloud your judgement, all the better for me.
She waited for them to get closer, and then casually selected two daggers from her belt, keeping them hidden until the last second, and she threw. One slugged a thug in the stomach and knocked him out, another reflected off a wall and swept sideways into a thug's head. Two down, the rest should be scared by now.
"Shit! Let's run!"
Just as expected, the thugs abandoned their fallen comrades and rook off like bugs. Astrid turned away from their fleeing silhouette, and walked over to the girl on the ground. Shaking her head, Astrid took out a bottle of smelling salts and woke the girl up, the poor girl immediately burst into tears.
"Th . . Thank you so . . .so much, hic, I thought I wa . . .was going to get . . . get."
"No, not thought, you were going to get raped, so, yeah, be careful." Astrid patted the girl, "By the way, keep this, you will need it." Astrid added as she took out one of her throwing daggers from her backpack, the sharpened kind.
"B . . . but." The girl stammered as Astrid shoved the lethal weapon into her hands.
"Better safe than to be sorry, next time someone jump you, stick them. It's self-defence, I didn't save you because I want you to get into this situation again." Astrid scratched her head and then joked, "I get jumped all the time because I am just so damned pretty."
That made the girl cracked a smile, she wiped her face, and gave Astrid a hug, "Thank you saviour-sama, I won't forget that." Then she left.
A few minutes of cleanup later, Astrid left as well, and went straight home. Flopping down on the sofa, she opened a bag of chips and started to munch on them.
Elm came in "How's life? Anything interesting happened?" He leaned against the sofa.
"Nothing much, just beat up a gang of thugs who wanted to rape a girl." Astrid mumbled through a mouthful of junk. "I'm meeting Monique and the gang later to say some good-byes, so yeah, I will make dinner before I go."
Elm nodded, "My dear, you are already 15, you are a sensible young women. Before you go though, take the short sword in the hall closet, it's late already.
Astrid smiled.
One hour later, Astrid ducked into a back alleyway, swerved through a labyrinth of roads and arrived at her sanctuary.
As soon as she stepped out of the alley onto the small clearing, Astrid ducked under the wide swing of a naginata. Astrid peered at her assailant and grinned, "Nice aim, Tomoe, you are so out of practice."
Astrid suddenly dropped and kicked Tomoe's legs out from under him. She stood over him, laughed and pointed at a chart pinned to the far wall, "time to chart up my 189th winning against Tomoe Sonako!"
"Sheesh, Shizune-Chan, go easy on me." Tomoe winced and picked himself up. "As if I will ever beat you . . ."
"Hey! Astrid!" Monique, June, and Miske jumped down from the top of the wall, "You are moving to Canada too?"
"WHAT?!" Tomoe cried, "WHAT?! WHAT, WHAT?!"
"I heard you the first time." Astrid grumbled, "Yeah, I'm moving, so this is good-bye, Tomoe-kun, Monique is moving too."
"WHAT?!" Tomoe wailed,
"But, you guys are like my best friends!" Miske and June yelled at the same time.
"I told you before, you should get better friends than me." Astrid replied calmly, "You should know better."
Well, it's true, in a bad part of town, and bad as in killings occur every week kind of bad. Everyone had to know how to survive, everyone know at least one type of weapon. Astrid knows how to use katanas, naginatas, throwing daggers, swords, her own body, and she knows at least 20 different ways to kill. That's why she had survived until today; or she would have been killed in a brawl long ago. In her mind, Astrid could still see Monique threatening the thug with a butcher knife, so yeah; life's pretty chaotic around here.
"I'm sorry, but I will keep in touch." Astrid looked at her friends.
"I will really miss all of you." She blinked back a tear, and tackled her friends in a flying hug. "I really will."
"That aside, wanna go down and get some ramen?" Miske broke in and tried to smile, "I still own you a bowl."
"Make it three." June and Monique piped in, and they all laughed.
Astrid sat in the car, looking out the window blankly; the truth is finally sinking in. She might never see this place again. The good and the bad of this place, it's all a part of her now, and moving away is tearing bloodied chunks out of her. It hurts, it burns.
Ever since she was small, Astrid was fiercely protective of anything that was hers, be it her dolls, her weapons, her connections, her friends. She protects them, and she never hesitated to obliterate anything that tries to take away what's hers. There was always a tug in her heart and mind, like as if she had let something slip away before, never to be returned. There was always this shard, in her heart, that hurted whenever something was taken from her, only one thought occurred in her mind, I cannot lose anything anymore.
Astrid's sad, oh yeah, her heart's bleeding, but she had learned how to bury her emotions under layers of masks. She can read people's expressions because she is so damned good at faking and hiding her own.
-Canada-
Monique and Astrid's family arrived in Canada shortly after midnight. By then, the two girls were quite tired, but they managed to drag themselves into the duplex that's their new home.
"*yawn* I'm so *yawn* tired . . . ." Astrid moaned.
"Yeah, same *yawn* here, *yawn* see you tomorrow *yawn*." Monique waved and disappeared down the corridor that connected the two houses.
Astrid dumped her suitcase in the living room and stumbled up the stairs. She then collapsed on the bed without even bothering to take her clothes off.
A minute later, she was asleep.
Next morning, Astrid was all fired up and ready to go.
"So, we are in Burnaby." Astrid stated.
"Yes dear, I will be working in Metrotown, the mall a bit far away." Elm spoke in heavily accented English. "You and Monique will be going to Burnaby West Secondary in two days when we are all sorted out with the school board."
"Ugh, school." Astrid deflated, and mentally accounted the number of ways to mass destruct her new school like the way she did to her old one.
"But please, don't destroy anything." Elm sweat dropped as he noticed the signature Astrid dangerous face, "This is different from Japan."
"How so?" Astrid looked at him.
Elm explained, "First of all, you are not allowed to carry weapons around, I had a hard time convincing the customs at the airport. This is a pacifist-centric country, they try to solve thing the diplomatic way, by no violent means." He directed a meaningful eye at the golden girl beside him.
Astrid gasped, "But that means I can't carry my daggers around anymore? What if someone jumps me?"
"None is going to jump you here, you are pretty safe." Elm rubbed his eyes, "Whatever, here is a map of the area, go with Monique and take some time exploring." He jammed a map into Astrid's hand and shoved her towards the corridor connecting the duplex.
"Well, that was disheartening." Monique grumbled, "No weapons? Sheesh!"
The duo walked down a sunlit path, each with 60 times sunscreen on, apparently, you will get cooked if you don't wear sunscreen here.
"Yeah, no kidding, apparently here, bringing swords into the cafeteria is ILLEGAL now." Astrid picked at a stray strand in her hair, "Nasty rule."
"Well, whatever, the teachers at Burnaby West is going to get laid if they are mean, MA style." Monique giggled and raised her hand for a high-five, "Anyways, where are the igloos? Don't all Canadians live in igloos?"
"Stereotypical much? There are no igloos in this part of Canada. Amy ways, let's go explore and take some pictures." Astrid said peevishly.
"Why not." Monique shrugged and skipped ahead.
A whole day of hiking and exploring yielded twenty-five precious new pictures. Astrid had carefully laid out all the blueprints and had already washed out a favourite by the late that picture,
Monique and Astrid stood in the middle of a street, counting the number of sakura petals falling around them. Astrid fell asleep that night with the picture clutched in her hand. It's the proof of their friendship.
This Chapter introduced Astrid's character a bit more, as the story progresses, you will learn more and more about her.
And, no, there is no Oz appearance in this chapter, disappointed? Keep on reading and I will gladly grant you a teeny tiny glimpse . . . MUAHAHAHAHAH!
Also, don't drop this story yet, the good part's coming, I promise, in the next chapter or two . . . at least I think so . . . .
There is a Burnaby North Secondary school in Burnaby, but definitely no Burnaby West, just in case any of the teachers are on this site too . . . .
Anyways, please REVIEW! And tell me your suggestions and questions. Look forward to the next chappie.