Yua still couldn't believe it. Her faithful bodyguard in the future was right in front of her, and the white-haired lung didn't know how to react.
Shirayuki, however, was still as a statue, waiting for any command from her new charge...
After some time, Yua told the ninja that it was okay to stand up, and Shirayuki did just that; the ninja then said, "Is there anything you require, young madam?" The way Shirayuki had said young madam made the lung think that this was the exact Shirayuki she knew in the future.
Yua, however, knew that was impossible. Mostima had only enough power to send her back to the past...
That feat alone took years of research and development of both Mostima's power and the time machine that was built to send Yua back to the past.
"No, Shirayuki, i don't require anything." Yua replied. The lung quickly realized that she had said the ninja's name without Shirayuki informing her of her name; she internally cursed herself for her carelessness.
Shirayuki found it very suspicious that Yua somehow knew her name; she didn't know how or why. They hadn't met before, and the doctor couldn't have told his daughter her name yet.
The atmosphere between the two quickly become awkward; neither occupant in Yua's room knew what to say to each other at this moment.
Shirayuki eventually broke the silence by saying, "Understood, young madam. Should you need me, I will come." The ninja then vanished, leaving the white-haired lung alone to contemplate how she should interact with Shirayuki from now on, realizing that her carelessness had obviously made her suspicious...
The next day, the white-haired decided that she needed to get back into training now that she had recovered from her injuries.
Yua knew that she had to be ready, whether it was for rescuing her aunt or carrying on her fight against the seaborn; she couldn't afford to relax.
After Yua had completed the paperwork that her father wanted her to do, the lung headed to the training room, looking around Yua could'n't find anone else here, not even Hoshiguma or the abyssal hunters.
"Who can I train with?" she pondered to herself. Yua took some time to think, and after some time, she came up with someone who was perfect to train with...
"Of course! She said that if I call she will come! Shirayuki will be perfect!" Yua decided that her bodyguard would be a perfect person to train with right now. "Shirayuki! I require your assistance, please!" The lung shouted out in the training room.
A few seconds later, the ninja appeared before her out of nowhere. Shirayuki took a second to look at her charge before speaking. "What is it you require young madam?" The ninja asked Yua.
Yua simply replied, "Shirayuki, I want to train with you today. Would you grant me this request?" The ninja saw no problem with this; she knew from the information she had gathered that Yua had defeated Madam Ch'en in a sparring session some time ago.
Yua had also trained with Hoshiguma and the abyssal hunters, so she knew her current charge was certainly a capable fighter. Shirayuki nodded at Yua's request; this made Yua happy. The lung was happy training with someone she considered an old friend again.
Yua grabbed a training sword and asked Shirayuki to grab some wooden training shurikens; they weren't lethal, but if Yua were hit by one, it would certainly hurt.
Both participants went to each side of the training room and got into a fighting stance, ready for the other to make a move. Yua decided to take the initiative and charged at the ninja.
Shirayuki saw the lung charging at her, and just before the lung made contact with her, she vanished.
Yua looked around and waited for Shirayuki to reappear; she remembered the ninja's old techniques and knew not to panic.
The white-haired lung just had to be patient and wait...
All of a sudden, Yua could feel the air change behind her. "There you are, Shirayuki!" she realized how close the ninja was to her.
Yua quickly turned around and brought her sword up to block the incoming strike.
Shirayuki expected to catch Yua off guard. However, when she met the lung's blade, it caught her by surprise.
Shirayuki then jumped out of the way before the lung's blade made contact with her. The ninja then reset herself before deciding what to do next.
Shirayuki then came up with a plan of action; she threw one of her shurikens at Yua, then disappeared again. Yua blocked the incoming shuriken and saw her bodyguard disappear again.
Yua knew what her opponent would do; "Shirayuki is going to throw shurikens at me from a distance, then she will try to get up close again." Yua looked all around the room and waited for a projectile to come her way.
She kept searching until she saw one heading towards her. "There she is!" Yua knew where the ninja was. The lung blocked the incoming projectile, then another immediately followed afterwards, Yua got out of its way.
More kept coming, and Yua either blocked or dodged them. She knew Shirayuki would be within her range soon, and just had to be patient before striking.
Shirayuki was then within Yua's range, and Yua could sense it. She swung her sword, and Yua could feel it make a connection with Shirayuki. What sounded like an object hitting the ground was heard hitting the ground some distance away from Yua.
When she looked in that direction, the lung could see that the ninja had appeared again on the floor.
Yua was worried that she hit her bodyguard too hard, but Shirayuki managed to get to her feet rather quickly. Seeing Shirayuki stand up again, the lung got into a defensive position and waited to see what Shirayuki would do next.
So far, the lung had surprised the ninja; whatever she did, Yua found a way to counter it. "How does she do this?" Shirayuki thought to herself, "Madam Yua seems to know what I'm going to do before I do it. And she managed to find out that I was behind her. How does she do this? Has she fought someone like me before? You are certainly full of surprises, Madam Yua. It is no surprise you managed to defeat Madam Ch'en." Shirayuki pondered.
Yua had certainly earned her respect; Shirayuki wanted to find out how the lung managed to counter all of her techniques so far, but she would ask after this spar; this was quite enjoyable for the ninja.
Shirayuki threw several shurikens at Yua in an attempt to throw her off guard, but Yua managed to avoid them. Shirayuki then disappeared again.
Yua knew the ninja had one more technique in her arsenal; something impressive and worrying every time she saw it. The lung had a feeling this was what Shirayuki was going to use, and Yua knew she had to be careful and react quickly.
Yua kept looking around, waiting for Shirayuki to use her most powerful technique. Eventually, a shuriken was flying in her direction, and it was spinning towards her at a very rapid speed.
The lung realised she couldn't avoid it in time; she tried to block it with her blade, but Yua could see the projectile still spinning, and it was chipping away at her sword. The lung knew it would break her blade if it continued.
Yua always struggled with dealing with this technique Shirayuki used; she never found a way to counter it, and she could only ever avoid it if she managed to see it in time.
The shuriken eventually broke Yua's sword, and she was defenceless. The shuriken hit Yua's chest with full force, and she was knocked to the floor. The shuriken continued until it eventually came to a stop when it got stuck deep within the wall behind where Yua had fallen to the floor.
Shirayuki then appeared above Yua with a shuriken pointed at her neck, asking, "Do you yield, Madam Yua?" The lung knew she was defeated; the skill of the ninja was too much for her to deal with. This is why her father and her mother in the future made Shirayuki her bodyguard. "I yield, Shirayuki," Yua declared to the ninja.
While she may have lost, the lung found this spar incredibly enjoyable; it was fun sparring with an old friend again, even if it wasn't the exact Shirayuki she knew from the future.
The ninja accepted the lung's declaration and offered her hand out to help Yua from the floor; Yua accepted Shirayuki's hand and was helped back to her feet. "Thank you for doing this for me, Shirayuki," the lung said. "I enjoyed that." The lung told the ninja.
Shirayuki replied, "The pleasure was all mine, madam Yua. You are certainly a skilled fighter. Your father, the doctor, must be proud of you." Yua let out a small chuckle when the ninja told her this. However, Shirayuki wasn't finished talking. The ninja needed to ask Yua something that she noticed during their spar. "Madam Yua, forgive me for talking out of turn, but I need to ask you something. The way you fought against me, you seemed to guess my techniques. Have you ever fought against someone like me before?"
This question caught Yua by surprise; however, she knew she couldn't admit the truth that she sparred against Shirayuki in the future.
Yua struggled to think of a way to explain how she countered Shirayuki's techniques. Before Shirayuki could press further, however, an unlikely saviour came to Yua's aid and called out to her, "Yua, I need to talk to you! It's urgent!" When both people saw who called out to Yua, they could see it was a sarkaz woman. It was W.
The sarkaz walked up to Yua and could see Shirayuki next to her. The sarkaz looked the ninja up and down before turning to ask Yua what she was doing there. Yua responded, "W, this is Shirayuki, my new bodyguard. She has been assigned to me by my father."
Hearing this, W saw this as an opportunity. With what she was about to tell Yua, she realized that this new bodyguard of hers could give them extra help. W then spoke to Yua, "That's helpful, Yua. We need all the help we can get. I've come to tell you that I've been told where Talulah is; she has been found in the tundra of Ursus. We need to go as soon as possible. If I know where she is, there is a good chance Nine knows where she is as well and will be taking Reunion there to kill her." Yua's eyes widened.
Hearing this, she knew that time was of the essence; she couldn't afford to wait around while her aunt's life was in danger. Yua turned to Shirayuki, who simply nodded and spoke, "I'm yours to command, madam Yua. Whatever it is you need, I will help."
Hearing this, Yua then looked at W, who was smiling. She said to him, "Let me sort myself out, then me and Shirayuki will meet you at the entrance to leave." W replied, "Fine, but don't take too long. Talulah doesn't have that much time. We have to get there before Nine does." W left to head to the entrance while Yua ran towards her room to sort herself out, and Shirayuki disappeared.
While running to her room, Yua knew this was her only chance to save her aunt; she didn't want her mother to lose her again...At the top of the Rhodes Island landship, an individual was looking down. This individual could see three people get into a vehicle and drive off.
This person was Doctor Kal'tsit. Red had informed her that Yua, W, and now Yua's new bodyguard Shirayuki were leaving to head off to Ursus. "So they are moving, now is the time to act. There is no need for the doctor, Amiya, or Ch'en to get involved in this. I can deal with this myself." Kal'tsit told herself.
Kal'tsit had been waiting for Yua and W to make their move, now Kal'tsit could enact her own plan. She had a secret meeting with Rhodes Island's elite operators not too long ago. They would be heading to Ursus as well to confront the pair on what was going on, and finally get the truth from Yua.
Seeing the vehicle driving off in the distance Kal'tsit knew that she had best gather everyone and follow them where they were going. "Your lies end now, Yua, you will tell me everything when all of this is over." Kal'tsit thought as she headed to gather everybody to leave, this game that Yua was playing would soon be coming to an end...