"I would like to try and shoot one of your targets? Will you allow me to do this?" Natalie wonders with a serious expression on her face.

Master Canaan developed the feeling that she might ask him to do that since they spoke so highly of Archery.

"I don't see anything wrong with it at all. I'll have one of my servants set something up for you."

"Minato, aren't you curious to see if she would make it?" He purposely catechized the blonde, who just so happened to place the cup of tea near his lips.

The young man merely nodded his head a yes while the children finished with their proper stretches. They patiently wait for Master Canaan to inform them of their lesson for today.

"First of all good morning,"

"Today, you are going to practice your grip on your bows and arrows." He greets them first before he permits them to retrieve their bows.

"Ms. Natalie...you can pick up any one of them. It appears as if we don't have that many students here today." The older Noursaian instructed her.

The raven haired woman made her way over to pick up the bow that laid by itself.

"How do you think she will do?" His former teacher enquiringly gauges his belief on if she could handle a bow and arrow.

"I honestly wouldn't know. Sometimes, it comes natural for certain people." The male did not provide a straightforward answer.

His servant reported to confirm that the target was ready.

"Natalie, I would like for you to stand right here. The target should be within your sights." Canaan instructs her when he points in front of him.

The young woman stands a couple of inches in front of him until her green eyes focus in on the target. "I see the target."

"Good then take aim and fire whenever you are ready." He issues her, her last set of orders.

Unknown to the pair, Natalie's eyes closed and reopened with a black box in her lower right retina.

'Target distance: 15 feet from current location, Angle of bow: 65 degrees, Power: 40% to 42.5%, Direction of Wind: SE, Probability for bullseye: 99.9%.'

The captain confidently lifted the bow to the intended angle, pulled back on the string, released the grip on the arrow and a "twang" was heard.

"Good shot, Ms. Natalie!"

"It seems as if you're a natural at shooting." The elderly Noursaian genuinely compliments her. He even looked at the target while she brought the bow down to her leg.

"Isn't that a bulls eye?" Natalie curiously quizzes him after she faces to see him study the target.

'That's a nearly impossible shot!'

'Specifically for someone who didn't have any training nor prior knowledge on how to properly grip the arrow and bow. The result wouldn't be a direct hit on a bullseye.' Canaan and Minato determine the same thing.

"Yes, it is. Are you sure you never had any training with archery, whatsoever?" The teacher curiously probes after she hands him the bow.

"This is my very first time picking up a bow and arrow. Although, I have seen some of my soldiers practicing." She answered his question with sincere honesty.

"Well my dear you did an amazing job for your first time. You should come back whenever you want to shoot targets." He congratulates her while he places his hand on her shoulder.

"Thank you so very much for the offer, Master Canaan." The young woman expresses her gratitude for the wonderful opportunity.

'Could Natalie be one of those…' He was brought out of his thoughts by his master's voice.

"You should take really good care of this one. She may have the ability to surpass me one day." Canaan sternly advises him before she heads toward him.

"Oh no, I don't think so." The raven haired woman blushed once she received the compliment.

"We don't want to hold you up any longer from your lessons, it was nice to see you again, Master Canaan." The captain slightly bowed out from underneath his arm.

"Same here," The Noursaian said before waving them off with a content smile and amazement for what he just saw from Natalie.

0000

Rick heard someone knock at his door.

He then verbally commanded them to come in, "Ah, Aikka and Eva, what brings you two to my office?"

Aikka politely closed the door behind his wife before he pushed her in front of his desk while he took a seat as well.

"I would like to know more about Natalie?" Eva asked right off the bat as it demonstrated her straightforward personality.

"In more about Natalie, what exactly are you asking me to tell you?" He probes when he stealthily shifts another report out of the their sight.

"Since we're considering her to be our representative for Noursaia in the Oban races, we need to know a little about her past?" She answers his question with another one.

The raven haired male leaned forward until his elbows were on his desk when he picked at her brains, "Is that an excuse for your curiosity about Natalie?"

"It is both my concern and my curiosity. If it was neither then we wouldn't be having this conversation right now, now would we?" The pregnant woman was sounding more as if she was negotiating on her terms rather than his.

"Alright, little mouse, you win." The older man easily relents while he casually leans back in his chair and clears his throat.

"Natalie is my foster daughter but I treat her like my own. I adopted her when she was around eight years old."

"But before I got her, the orphanage informed me about her history and how she ended up there." Rick starts his story off.

"She was supposedly the daughter of the late Dame Juno Andros and his wife. When she was about to turn five years old on her birthday, a fire was rumored to have been started by one of his mistresses."

"The mistress grew visibly distraught at the sight of the happy family life without her in it. The fire spread rapidly throughout the house."

"However, a servant of the household managed to retrieve Natalie from the house." He continued with the story of Natalie's past.

"So what happened the next three years before you adopted her?" The raven haired woman with crimson tips pumped while she tracked the mental time line that Rick gave her.

"She was initially placed in an institute that worked alongside with the orphanage."

"When I went there, it ran very structurally and smoothly. Natalie was off somewhere in a corner writing something on a piece of paper while staring out of the window."

"So after that, nothing else strange happened to her?" The queen needles since her behavior around Jordan started to make sense to her now.

"It was a little hard for her to play with the other kids since she was so use to a strict schedule.

"Once I broke her out of that, she was like a regular teenage girl." The older man disclosed when a thought passed through his head.

"I see why she was so upset when Jordan saw those images after he touched her. Maybe she forced herself to forget about it…oh he is so going to die now!" The young woman surmises with a new resolve when she directs her sights to her husband.

"Eva…no you can't kill Jordan, the universe needs him…unfortunately." The orange haired male attempts to calm his wife down but his irritation for the Avatar was very apparent.

"I'm not surprised that it has gotten worse. He always had a knack for being like that." Rick knew he had to calm the situation down or the king and queen might have blood on their hands.

"Well thank you for telling us about Natalie, we appreciate it greatly. Aikka, let's go back." Eva ordered her husband, who complied to her request.

"No problem, just don't show it too much. She hates sympathy about her past with a passion." He forewarned them since he knew all to well how Natalie acted when it came to her past.

"Will do." Aikka and Eva agees right before he pushes his wife out of the room.

'So those are the images I saw when I touch her…it's starting to make sense.' Jordan concludes to himself after he overhears just the part of Natalie's past and not Rick's warning.

'I will finally have you to myself instead of whoever that guy is.' He was envisioning while making his way on the other side of the castle.

0000

"Are you alright, you look a little tired?" Minato pops the question after he hears her sigh for the umpteenth time. They trekked over toward the front gate.

"I'm fine! I just have a lot on my plate at the moment."

"Now, if you will excuse me," Natalie excused herself just before they stepped onto the stone walkway of the castle, turned and walked away from him.

'I wonder what's been bothering her lately?' He wondered when he decided that he needed to talk to Rick.

"Hey, have you seen where Natalie went off to?" The Avatar pries for information about the location of Natalie.

The blonde had nearly collided into him once he rounded the corner.

The young man instinctively raised his guard whenever he was around him. Especially, after he witnessed him upset Natalie to the point where she had punched a boulder in half.

"No, she just left." The taller male slightly alters the truth.

Minato simply pushes his way pass him so he could avoid any of his other persistent questions about Natalie's location.

'If you won't tell me then I will have to find her myself.' Jordan asserted as he made his way down the same hall that Natalie had previously walked on.

0000

'I should've asked the little mouse, why was she suddenly so interested about her past.' Rick thinks.

After the king and queen left his office, he was lacing the binding to the papers after skimming through its contents.

Another knock came at his door when Minato popped his head in until the raven haired male waved his hand for him to come in.

"What is it that you want to talk about?" The older male inquired about his visit once he took a seat in front of him.

"Do you recall that project where they used human kids and tried to mold them into tiny toy soldiers?" He probes about his knowledge on the subject.

"I am actually. They put those kids through intense and rigorous military militia programs." His superior officer confirms that heis familiar with the topic.

The blonde nodded his head a yes when he asked, "What did you find out about their programs? Did they try and turn kids into super soldiers?"

"They aren't quite super soldiers. However, it's more as if there's a chip in their head to control their movements."

"So it's like they suddenly have an increase capacity after injecting all of the codes necessary to unlock their five senses." Rick divulges his information about the project when the young man produced a piece of paper.

"It sounds as if the higher ups have assigned you to another mission, along with the investigation of the strange excursions that surrounded a possible stalker for King Aikka and Queen Eva."

"However, you may find this mission a little more personal." His subordinate informed as well as warned him before his eyes fell on the paper.

"So there are five suspects in this matter?!"

"How are we going to secretly test to see if they are positive for the chip? The only way that's possible is if there's a war going on." He remarks after he read the orders.

"There are claims that there are others ways of finding out, but this mission is coming along with your previous mission and can be withheld as long as you need it…but it has to be done." Minato replied.

"It looks as if I have no other choice but to accept this but our first mission is our primary concern. If needs or clues of this matter pops up, we will take it into consideration." The raven haired male conveys in an authoritive tone.

0000

Natalie was directly staring at the sky before realizing that there was barely a cloud in the sky. 'Maybe I need to take a break…'

She was so lost in thought that she did not sense Jordan had approached her until, "Natalie,"

The young woman heard someone call her name so she turned to her right to see that the Avatar stood over her.

"What do you want?!" The solider solemnly demands.

The raven haired woman wonders why he would even try and attempt to have a cordial conversation with her.

'The better question is how come I didn't see, hear or sense him around me?'

"You know, I always wondered why people act the way they do? You have helped me find the answer." He begins as his face remains unreadable.

The captain crossed her arms since she felt like they had this conversation already. She eventually decided to participate since she felt there was no need to argue.

"So are you going to tell me how I helped you find the answer to your question or not?" Natalie grilled with irritation present in her tone.

Her green eyes observe him wags his index finger at her, "Not yet. After all, this is the longest that we've ever had a civil conversation with each other."

'What does he have up his sleeves?' The young woman regarded as the conversation started to become pointless.

"I learned that people put up a wall because of something that has happened to them in their past." The golden figure divulges.

"And?"

"I believe that applies to you." The intergalactic dignitary replies to her question when he feels her glare a hole in him now, "Explain?"

"When children are at the age of innocence and they see certain things...let's just use for an explain a fire."

"People who they care about are hurt and don't come back is extremely painful. So painful that for the next odd number of years, they refuse to speak to anyone all while they robotically follow other people's guidelines and instructions."

He was feeling a stinging sensation across his cheek when he was watching her storming away and out of the castle.

2222

Author's Notes:

11.30.16 Major editing revision

06.24.17 Major cleaning edits