Chapter 18
After a small moment of silence, Rin nodded her head and let out a long sigh and said, "We'll be training from now until dinner, you will become my Lady in Waiting/guardian for the duration of your trainings and once you have been accepted into the army you will me my personal general."
"Why are you certain that I will be allowed and that I will be the cause of change within the army of the East?" Miku could not help but to ask.
With a grin on her face, Rin offered her new friend a small smile and answered, "Because you have me as your master and I learned from the best after all."
Before Miku could say a word or try to ask her a thing about her statement, she took in a deep breath and realized that she would get no more information from the Lady that was now her mistress, Miku let out a long sigh as she followed after the second Princess of the East. Just as they had reached the back side of the castle, Miku took in a deep breath and tried to calm her nervous as best as she could when she recognized her some of the males in the group that were being trained by the Lord General himself. Before any of them could call out to her and tease her about her lack of ability Hiei had announced the princess which forced them all to drop to one knee with their heads down. Noticing the strange look on the young dragon's face, Rin narrowed her eyes at the men before her and growled out, "Stand."
"My Princess, to what do I owe the pleasure of your presences?" Hiei growled out in a tight and angry filled voice.
"I've come to collect a few spear weapons you and your men might not be using. This is Miku and as of today she is my Lady in waiting as well as my guardian. She will be my spearing partner while I train myself to the proper level that I should be at and so that she may be the first female dragoness to join the ranks of the army of the East." Rin explained as he kept her eyes trained on the demons that were bowed before her only to note that there were at least three that had tensed at the mention of Miku and her title.
"If you will but wait Princess Aya, I may assist you since we are close to finishing up here." Hiei stated as he locked his gaze on the three that had seemed to catch Rin's eye.
"That will not be…alright you three step forward." Rin growled out in anger as she noticed their glares they had been throwing at her friend.
"Princess Aya?" Miku called out in a confused filled voice as she took a step forward to stand slightly forward and so that she was standing in front of the Princess.
"Princess Aya what are you doing?" Hiei growled out in a worried filled voice. He had already seen what her temper made her capable of doing and since she was still emotionally unstable he needed to make sure that she would not start something and not finish it.
"You said that you would be aiding me and I have decided that you and your man will be able to help me with my first lesson to Miku." She began to explain as she kept her voice free of anger, rage and confusion while only allowing a sense of calm in her tone of voice. "Therefore they will help me test her so that I can see what it is that she is truly capable of."
Already knowing better than to talk back or to question her mistress's motives, Miku did a more formal and ancient bow for her princess as asked, "Hands or weapons?"
"Princess Aya, if you would please, we, neither one of us would feel it fair to fight a female that has not had training that would aid her in her sparing against us." Hiei's more seasoned warrior was heard growl out as he dared to look up and lock eyes with the princess that had just been welcomed back to their lands.
"Amon." Hiei growled out in anger for speaking without being spoken to.
"I assume that the three that I chose feel otherwise, tell me Amon," Princess Aya spoke as he kept the names that Hiei was using in mind, "if I were to tell you that this female has not only trained herself but has shown great promise to not only myself but my mother and father as well would you spar her?"
"I would, I'm sure that other would as well but only by hand, we would not trust ourselves not to harm her should weapons be involved." Amon answered honestly while trying to not look at his commanding officer in the face.
With a grin on her face, Aya turned to face Miku and as if they had already spoken about what weapons they would be covering first, Aya growled out, "Hiei, give her your sword, they will fight with weapons."
"Princess Aya it is the first day that she is under your care, I would advise against this so that you have at least spent some time with her training." Hiei growled out as he reluctantly handed his sword over to the dragoness that stayed bowed before her mistress.
"How am I to train her when I know nothing of her skills? Is this not what you do with your man as well Hiei?" Aya replied with a grin on her face as she took hold of the sword before motioning her guardian to rise to her feet.
"It is but…"
"But nothing, the three that I chose will be the ones to help me test Miku." Aya growled out as her power began to shine through into her eyes. 'I'm not sure what the bastards did to her but she will have her turn now…she best not fail me.'
Before Hiei could suggest any of his more seasoned warriors, all eyes turned to watch as the male Amon stood on his feet and faced the princess as he said, "If I may, I would be honored to aid you Princess Aya, they had not had enough time and would not know how to hold back."
"Tell me Amon, what is your gift?" Aya asked as she stepped away from her guardian to face the rest of Hiei's men.
"I am the dragon of water; I am flexible and am able to move about as needed in order to disarm my opponents instead of killings them." Amon quickly answered.
"Well as much as I would have liked to see, it is better to put her with those that are at her skill level…but perhaps you and I can train in a few days." Aya replied with a grin on her face before turning to her father's advisor and asking, "Now, where should we do this?"
Realizing that there was no way for him to convince her to do anything but what she had already deiced on, Hiei let out a low growl before turning to his men and ordering them to create their usual sparing square. Trusting him to get things ready, Rin turned to face her new friend and offered her a small smile and whispered, "I have no idea what the fools did to you but I will be killing two birds with one stone here. You will get your chance to show them why they should have left you be while at the same time proving to me that you really have the speed mastered to the point that at the last moment you can allow your enemy to live instead of killing them."
With a determined look in her eyes, Miku gave a single nod of her head before asking, "Will I be fighting them one on one or three to one?"
"That will be left up to you; I have no care in how you chose to go about this. But once we are done here we will start on what I feel you need the most work on. There will be no breaks, no chances to catch your breath. Do you understand me?"
"Of course Mistress." Miku stated as she griped the weapon that had been handed to her before making her way toward large sparing area that had been created using the rest of the dragons around her gift to keep any attacks from raging out and toward the village or castle.
Once they were left alone, Hiei let out a long sigh and said, "You do know that you have just thrown her against the three males that all fought to court her only to fail."
"They did more than that…you can trust me when I say that they got back, and it is time that she got her revenge for their actions as well." Aya growled back as she began to walk back toward group that had already taken their places.
Before he could try to reason with her or even ask what it was that she was talking about, Hiei once again let out a low growl as he watched her enter the sparing area to join Miku's side. Once she had stopped walking and trusting that Amon would prevent them from being heard, Hiei turned to his senior warrior and growled out, "You will protect them both should the need arise, you have my permission to do whatever needs to be done to keep them both safe."
"Of course sir…but shouldn't you have ordered them to leave? You know as well as I that they are already being closing watched by the first Heir of the East." Amon replied in a worried filled voice.
"I am but I trust the Princess to know what she is doing and that she had already read them for what they are. She was after all trained by the best demon killers and hanyou's in Japan." Hiei explained as he began to focus on what it was that Rin was saying.
"Alright since Miku has chosen to, this battle will be three to one, there will be no time and the first one to draw blood will win. Shallow cuts only, once you have been cut you are to drop out of the fight. I will not allow for any breaking of the rules, do I make myself clear?" Aya growled out as she turned and locked eyes with the three males that looked ready to cum at the thought of fighting the dragoness that held the weapon of their commanding officer.
"Of course Princess," they all answered at the same time.
"Alright, now before we get started I would like the name of you three and the gifts that you were born with." She ordered as she made sure to take note so that if she should ever need to she would already know what to focus on in a battle between the three.
"Their names are Ichiya, Hibiki and lastly Yuka," Miku answered her mistresses before any of the three males could say a word. "They are brothers and have all been raised together. Ichiya is the dragon with no gift, his brother Hibiki is the same however Yamato, Yamato is known as the dragon of light."
"They have just been given to me to care for my princess so they do not have much practice." Hiei called out from the outside of the barrier that all the dragons had worked on placing up.
"Alright, start whenever you are ready, I will be staying at the edge of the field. I would like to keep my eye on the fight so that I know what it is that I must work on first." Rin stated as she turned to her back to the group that she was sure was about to get their butts handed to them. 'If she can't even beat these fools then she is not the fighter I first thought her to be.'
As she made her way to stand in front of Hiei Rin took note of the sounds of battle as the three men had wasted in no time in attacking the girl that was only a few years younger than she was. 'Now that I think about it…if I do my math right like Kagome-Oka-san taught me, I'm just a few years younger than he is…I wonder if he will be pleased that I'm almost as old as he is.' Rin couldn't help but think with a small smile on her face at the thought of her lord once he knew and realized that it really was her. Just as she turned to watch the fight, Aya glanced over her shoulder when she heard Hiei ask, "What will you do after you have tested her?"
"I'll take her back to the castle and explain to her what we will be starting on and where I want to be at by the night of my ball." She explained in a board filled voice as she focused on the fight, "And I'll probably have her share my quarters for now."
"Do you not trust her my Princess? I can assure you that she is loyal and she is honorable." Amon spoke before realizing what he was doing. While he had seen the child that was Miku grow to the young woman that she was now, he was still unsure if she would find him worthy enough to be her mate. However this did not mean that he would stop coming to her defense.
Before Hiei could say a word to his solider about speaking out of turn and for forgetting himself before the princess, Hiei was shocked to say the least when he watched his dear friend turn to offer Amon a warm smile before quickly explaining, "It is because of her loyalty and her honor that I chose to keep her so close to me. I must say that should she be asked or pursued by a male that is not to my liking I might just kill the poor bastard before he has a chance to convince her otherwise."
After a few moments of hearing nothing but the clashing of swords within the field, Amon narrowed his eyes at the girl that claimed to be the princess and asked, "Are you sure you only just met Miku today?"
"I am, I was taught how to be a very good judge of character from my father and mother, which is why I know that you'll have to explain to my mother and father later today Lord Hiei as to why I was forced to kill three of your men." Rin growled out as she began to note the very small changes and under hand attacks that the three men were starting to aim at her guardian / lady in waiting.
Before Hiei or Amon could ask what it was that she meant, they, along with the rest of the group, watched with open mouths as the three males had all at the same time pulled out hidden daggers and dug deeply into the dragoness leg just as she was about to best them all. Before they could even try to hide their hidden weapons they had all dropped down to the floor in pure agony as the princess electrified them. When Aya was certain that the three male dragons would not be able up anytime soon, she looked over her shoulder as she called out, "Alright that is enough! Lord Hiei I suggest you send your men on their way. Amon, I will require you to tend to Miku while I tend to these fools."
When his men made no move to leave and only continued to watch as their second princess began to electrify the three corrupt men that had fought against the female dragoness so underhandedly, Hiei growled out as he ignored the pain filled cries of the three soon to be dead males and growled out, "Are you all hard of hearing or do you all think that it is wise to ignore the orders that the second Princess has given you? MOVE!"
While the order did as they were told and cleared out, Amon had quickly gotten to Miku's side and began to tend to her wound, even as she struggled with him and fought him. Just as she had managed to toss him away from her, Miku began to stand on her own as she heard the enraged princess's voice ask her, "What would you have me do with them? They did you wrong and while I would love nothing more than to kill them, it is you that they wronged. Thus, you will have to choose what happens to these fools."
As she had spoken Aya had pulled her power back and had allowed them rest knowing that if they so much as thought about running away from what they had down her power and the darkness that she had placed under them would make sure to keep them in place. 'While I'm glad that I'm still mostly myself…its surprises me that I have such a sense and want for blood…does this mean that I'm changing? If I don't leave soon will I no longer want to see my family? Am I losing myself…no! I will never lose myself or my memories! I can't, I won't!' Rin screamed at herself as she tried to adjust to her new demon feelings and instincts.
"I won't drop to their level, while I would like to see them killed for all the wrongs they had done to me I feel like that would only taint me. And I will not allow them to taint me in anyway." Miku explained herself in a strong and sure filled voice. "All that I wish for my mistress is that they be taken to court and for them to be judged by the king and queen."
Holding a new found respect for her lady in waiting and thankful that she had chosen someone that would remind her of her mother, Aya smiled brightly at Miku and showed her just how proud she was of her in that single look before looking over at the three fools and growling out, "While you live now only because of her wishes and her strong sense of what is right, I look forward to when my father and mother inform me that Hiei or myself will be able to kill you for your crimes."
"We've done nothing that would warrant our deaths Princess." The youngest of the three growled out in fear and pain.
Turning her back to the three so that they may be detained by Hiei, Aya offered her arm to Miku as she said, "Come, we'll retire to my room where we'll speak of what we need to work on first and of what you'll be needing to learn as my lady in waiting."
"Of course Mistress," Miku answered as she turned to face Amon and added, "Thank you for trying to help me but as you can see I am fine and able to move freely."
Amon nodded before turning to look at the princess and saying, "It would honor me greatly if you would allow me to escort you and Miku to your rooms my Princess."
"Allow him to do so in my stead; I'll be busy for a while with these fools." Hiei's low and stern growl was heard.
Wanting to get to her room as quickly as possible, Aya gave a single nod and began to lead the way with Miku at her right and Amon close behind them with his weapons sheathed at his side. After all, the sooner she got to her, their room, the soon she would be able to explain to Miku the reason behind the long hours that they would be training for the next two days and her silence about her plans to leave and in the direction that she was planning on leaving in. 'If it turns out that she will not keep her word and stay silent I will have to bring her with me…as much as I would not wish it, she would have to travel with me to the west.'