Fan Fiction ❯ Stars ❯ Spiffy ( Chapter 3 )

Spiffy

~*~



They made it back to Nori's house before they were asked to help with the cleanup. Though Michi did feel a bit guilty not helping, she had other more important matters to attend to. Like... who in fact did kill Masuyo sensei and why?

She had the boys put the scrolls and things on the floor in the main room; then she asked them to go make her some tea. Now she'd have time alone to search through everything and hopefully find something useful.

When Kiyoshi walked into the room again, he was worried about walking any further than the doorway. The now somewhat hyper girl had scrolls unrolled everywhere and paper everywhere marking certain words and sayings... etc…

"Michi san." He said in a low voice, she looked up at him with her piercing green eyes again. Then down to the tea. She got to her feet and walked over the scrolls and pulled the small cup from the tray in the boys' hands.

Bowing her head, she turned and went right back to work. There had to be something! She was getting close, but still understood nothing. She kept reading about a star and about hearts and other strange things that made no sense.

Too bad the scrolls weren't in order. Perhaps they would've made sense?

~*~

Nori walked back into the room and looked over to Kiyoshi. A small shake of his head indicated he had failed once again. The elder boy sighed.

"She's been at it for how long now?"

"About six hours straight."

"Nothing we can do to stop her for a while?"

"Nope."

Nori sighed and looked over to the velvet bag Michi had given him earlier. His eyes lit up a little and he looked over to the other boy in the room.

"Would you spar with me?" his young voice spoke in a hushed tone, he didn't want to disturb the determined girl on the other side of the door.

"Spar with you? You can put up a fight?"

Nori nodded his head and crawled over to the bag. The velvet felt so soft against his fingers.

"You see, my father has been training me for about seven years now. I'm rather good if I do say so myself. I haven't practiced in a while though."

"Well then, what are we waiting for. Let's get a move on it before the sun sets."

Kiyoshi got to his feet and walked out of the room. He hardly looked over to the girl who was busy writing down notes and memorizing phrases still. He saw a small pile of scrolls rudely thrown in the corner and figured they were the ones she was through with.

The young boy eagerly followed the teen out into the field behind his home, velvet bag still in hand. Once they found a good level part of the field Nori pulled out the contents of the bag.

"Spiffy." Was all Kiyoshi said.

~*~


Michi continued to scribble notes here and there until she was completely lost again. Deciding to be logical, she took a deep breath, gathered her notes and wrote them down on one piece of paper.

Once she did so, which couldn't of taken more that thirty minutes. She threw all her little notes to the side and started right where she left off. It wasn't until about an hour later, when it all started to piece together and she figured it out.

It was so complex that it was simple! She decided to leave out the nonsense jibber jabber and just grab what she knew. Once she realized what she had done, that she had cracked something major, she got to her feet and jumped up and down on the verge of squealing.

She sprinted over to the bedroom where the boys were and threw open the door. She looked around the room and was surprised to see they had left. How couldn't she of noticed?

She shrugged and turned to run outside and find them. She made an awesome and strange discovery; and if this had anything to do with her sensei's death. A lot of people were in danger.

~*~


Kiyoshi figured he hid his surprise very well when he saw the boys' weapon. Did everyone around here have interesting unique weapons? It seemed so. He decided to just use his left blade and not both. He tightened his arm guards and stood in a stance which gave the kid options for both a side and frontal attack.

He had to admit, he was a little worried. He didn't want the kid to hurt himself with those weapons. Weren't they a little too advanced for him? He'd have to just wait and see.

~*~

The delight Nori felt when he first saw the `Li Kwei' axes* in the bag was something he hadn't experienced since his mother was alive. He pulled the axes from the bag and held them, they radiated of power and a grin found its way to Nori's face.

He looked up at Kiyoshi; he knew the older boy had underestimated him. He had no idea how well he could wield these, he was just about to find out. He leaned forward a bit and spun both axes in his hands.

The handles were thin so they were easy to maneuver; Nori took a step forward then broke out into a run towards Kiyoshi. He swung the blade at him, no intention of hurting him, just needed to release some stress he'd been bottling up for a long time.

The blade made contact with the one in the others left hand. Nori nodded and then swung the other one. Had he meant to hit Kiyoshi, he would've certainly chopped his nose in two rather easily.

But since he didn't want to hurt him, he made sure he missed. Kiyoshi on the other hand wasn't so sure; did the kid want to hurt him or something?

They continued to spar, both knowing they could've easily injured each other if they had wanted to. Nori had two things against Kiyoshi. He was younger, usually meaning more energy and he was smaller. He had a thin body structure and was kind of shot for his age.

The fight went on until they heard Michi's voice shouting their names. The both stopped, mid fight, to look at the girl. She was waving a piece of paper in the air as she ran towards them.

~*~

Michi ran up the field, the cold clean grass tickling her feet every step of the way. She had been in such a rush that she had forgotten her shoes. Not that it mattered, what mattered now was the information on the paper in her hand.

She had the boys sit down with her in the grass before she began to explain what was going on. Once she had finished the boys were just staring at her.

"And you got that, from those scrolls we took?" asked Kiyoshi.

Michi nodded.

"That's all you found out?"

Michi looked down, she did try her hardest.

"Its not like I found out nothing ok! Those stupid scrolls are really hard to decipher if you don't know the language they're written in!"

"Wait," said the youngest of the three trying to keep up. "This star has a... heart?"

"Well, it wasn't alive or anything, it's just a special part of this particular star. It says, if you were to take the heart of this star, the Fey star. Then use it to make,' let's say, a sword or weapon of some sort. It'd be a evil weapon of mass death and destruction."

"Why are you so sure this 'Fey' thing has anything to do with you and your sensei?" asked Kiyoshi

"Cause of this."

~*~

Nanashi made it to the shrine. It blended in well with the trees and if you weren't looking for it, you probably wouldn't of noticed it. He made his way slowly up the stairs and pulled on the handle to the door.

It stung his hand.

He reached back quickly and looked at his hand and he glared at the door, it had just ruined one of his favourite sets of gloves. Still glaring he took a step back and jumped up and kicked the door.

The door sent a jolt through his foot, up his leg, and around his body. He ended up not being able to land on both feet and fell down the stairs he had just climbed. Once he had reached the bottom of the stairs and stopped rolling, he pressed his hands against the ground and got up.

His mood was worse and now he was more determined than ever to get in that stupid shrine. Now on his feet he clicked his tongue looking around. There was only one small window in the center of the top of the building.

Knowing he couldn't fit through it he walked around the shrine taking in every detail with his keen crystal blue eyes. It looked like the shrine had been abandoned for a long time. The `yard' was unkempt and vines were growing along the entire structure.

He walked close to the wall making sure he didn't miss any secret passages. He knew there had to be another entrance somewhere that wasn't charmed or whatever. His heavy boots snapped the twigs on the ground easily.

snap... crunch... snap... thud... thud...crunch...

Nanashi stopped and walked backwards

thud... thud... crunch

There was something in the ground. A door perhaps. He smirked and crouched down, he ran his hand over the strange sounding dirt and found the edge. He ran his finger around the edge completely figuring out how big the door was.

The door was like a cellar, two thin doors that were the entrance to the stairs that led beneath the building. He grasped the handles and yanked the doors open as he stood up. A wave of dust filled the air, he kept his eyes and mouth shut until it had settled.

~*~

"That doesn't prove anything!" Shouted Kiyoshi, Michi and him had been in an argument about the star and the papers for a while now. Nori just sat back and watched, slightly amused. They both had good points.

"How could it not! Masuyo had to be the one who knew exactly how to destroy the thing, so that's why he was killed. Whoever wants the Heart of Fey wanted to be sure Masuyo sensei couldn't get his hands on it and destroy it!"

Kiyoshi sighed, she had a good point but it didn't make sense. The paper had also said the person who could destroy the heart was the one person who could find it when it crashed, or if it became lost.

"Why wouldn't whoever do this just kidnap him and use him?"

"Ha! I'd love to see someone try to kidnap Masuyo sensei and live to tell about it!"

"It makes no sense to kill the person who could find it though!"

"Maybe whoever killed him had already found it!"

Kiyoshi hadn't thought of that before. Of course if someone had already found the heart, they'd kill off the old man to be sure he wouldn't interfere and try to destroy the heart.

"Well, you do have a point, but if someone had already found it, and its capable of what you say it is... don't we have a problem on our hands?"

So far her only concern had been to kill the bastard who killed Masuyo. Now realizing how deep the situation is it had a whole new level. She had a lot more to do than seek revenge.

"Yea, you're right. Now I have to kill the bastard and find some way to destroy that thing."

~*~

Nori was glad the argument had settled and they were speaking in normal voices again. He set a tray in front of each of the teens and then grabbed one for himself. He sat on the floor next to Michi and began to eat quickly. After all he hadn't eaten much in the past two days.

Michi's head was filled with so many thoughts she was sure she would implode before dinner was finished. She was not only worried about where the Fey heart was, but also if someone could kill her master in his own home without having a huge battle was either amazingly strong or a coward.

She hoped the latter; she knew she wasn't weak, but she certainly wasn't extremely strong either. She poked at her rice and her fish for a long while before actually finishing her supper.

Everyone went to bed thinking about the Fey Heart. It wouldn't stop nagging them. Knowing what destruction it could bring they each slept uneasily. Michi got fed up with tossing on the futon, so she got up and looked out of the window.

The heavens were so calm the stars twinkled and the moon was new so it was just a sliver of light amongst the dancing orbs around it. Michi slid the window open and climbed onto the edge. She poked her head outside and looked up. The edge of the roof was in reaching distance.

She gripped the edge and pulled herself out the window, using both hands now she easily got on the roof. She crawled to the highest point which wasn't steep so she wasn't worried about falling.

She couldn't take her eyes from the sky; and eventually they became heavy. She lay on her back with her hands behind her head, without realizing it she slipped into a comforting sleep.

~*~

Nanashi couldn't see anything, there wasn't any light coming from the cracks in the floor above; the trees were blocking any light entering the doors he had found. He walked around carefully with one arm out in front of him and the other on the hilt of his katana.

He didn't really like his katana, it seemed overused. He noticed it when he traveled that everyone had one. Even villagers who could hardly swing it right, let alone put up a fight. Now it seemed like he was going along with the clique.

He was pulled from is thoughts once his hand touched what had to of been a door. It felt like rotting wood as far as he could tell and the building was made of stone. It had to be a door.

He groped around for a handle of some sort, his hand brushed against something hairy. He instantly retracted his precious hand not wanting it to be bitten by some worthless gutter rat or some skinny cat.

He snorted and now his patience was wearing thin, rice paper thing. He felt along the wood once more to make sure it was a door and not a beam. Once satisfied he balled his fist, reached back and then sent it flying through the door. The wood splintered and cracked, giving way to his fist.

He felt the wood slice his exposed skin, now that he had his hand through the door he realized that may not of been the smartest move. He figured with how old the wood was it would've crumbled under such force, but apparently since it was so damp down there the wood was too mushy to crumble.

"This is just fantastic!" he said to no one in particular. He patted his waist looking for something useful to cut the wood so he could pull his hand out freely without damaging it more.

He stood still when he heard the main door to the shrine open and shut with a mild slam. Then footsteps were heard, someone was rummaging around in the shrine. Why couldn't of that someone of been up there when he needed to get in?

He heard the doors behind him slam shut, so suddenly that he jumped and gasped at the same time. The footsteps above him had stopped and now all there was was the whistling of the wind through the cracks in the stone.

Nanashi looked over his shoulder again. He could hear someone or something breathing behind him, but damn it all he couldn't see anything. A few footsteps were hear above before the main door opened and shut again.

He figured whoever was upstairs was going to inspect the slamming back doors and come down here to find him. He waited with is breath held for a few minutes and figured they had just left.

But the breathing behind him didn't slow or cease. Something else was in the room now and he was still stuck through the door. Nanashi didn't panic he just stayed as still as he could and kept his free hand on the hilt of his sword.

~*~

Li Kwei axes* Two small battle axes designed by Li Kwei over 2,000 years ago.

~*~

Wow I'm on a roll xD 3rd chapter is all done and I'll be getting to work on the fourth one asap :D

*can hear Ansem in the distance shouting "Wan!"*

Oh shut up! >.<

... inside joke >.> lol I'm weird o.o;

-Edited and Proofread by Ansem over there ... go poke him!