Pet Shop Of Horrors Fan Fiction ❯ Heart of the Totetsu ❯ The tournament begins followed by a thankful save ( Chapter 6 )

Authors Note: Another review another chapter… Yay! :-D As for the names I've given some of the characters that are in the book pet shop of horrors… well I didn't know what they really were so I just made them up!:) Anyway… on to chapter 6!

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          &nbs p; Kiarina opened her eyes tiredly as blinked a few times to get the sleep out of her eyes. She stretched out on her bed before bringing her hand down dead weight on the snooze button with a smack. She smiled as she rolled over shutting her eyes for a moment before swinging her legs over the side of her bed and pushing herself off of it before she had a chance to lie back down again. She smiled as she walked over to the shower. Today was the day the sub tournaments took place, and she was eager with anticipation. She dried and dressed and checked her equipment and made sure she had everything she needed in her duffle bag before heading out. She needed to win three bouts today to make it through to the semi-finals, true this was only the preliminaries, but she knew it was easy to run into someone much better than her early on in the tournament, so she had no intention on thinking today was going to be easy. She had invited Leon and Count D to come watch if they wanted, she had also told the others at the shop that they could come to. She arrived half an hour early at the place where the tournaments were to be held. She signed in then walked over to the changing rooms. As she walked she looked about the room; there were only a few other people around besides those competing, though she knew the place would be fairly full once the semi-finals and finals came around. She grinned in anticipation as she walked into the changing rooms this will be fun she thought to herself between warm up stretches.

"Ok Count what the hell are you doing here?!" Leon yelled at D pointing at him accusingly as if he had done something wrong.

"My dear detective, you knew very well that your niece invited me to come and watch the preliminaries of the fencing tournament." He replied looking a little annoyed.

"Uhh…. Well yeah, but you run a pet shop, and I know you're not closed today…"

D gave a smug smile "I decided to take the day off, if there was a chance that you could not make or had forgotten about it I wanted to be sure Kiarina at least had some friends to watch her." D almost chuckled as Leon's skin color darkened slightly as he glowered at D. Rather than trying to make a come back on D's insult, he gestured a hand at the extra animals that accompanied D today. Usually Q-Chan was the only one who seemed to follow D everywhere he went. This time Q-Chan fluttered about the Counts head as he held T-Chan in his arms who looked at Leon with a warning glare. A raccoon was seated by his left foot and a Siamese cat was seated by the other.

          &nbs p; "But why did you have to bring them along?!?" Count D looked at Leon plainly as if wondering why he was yelling again. "A raccoon, a cat, and that mother fucking goat along with that rat-bat thing that's always following you… this isn't an animal show D you can't bring them in!" after he said that the animals all seemed to glare at Leon as if daring him to try and stop them. Aw shoot, Leon thought to himself.

          &nbs p; "Like I said Detective, your niece invited us and we plan to watch." D walked past Leon Q-Chan flying around him, the raccoon, Siamese girl followed along as T-Chan moved to look over D's shoulder in order to keep his eyes fixed on Leon. Once he reached the entrance D turned to look at Leon who was still standing where he was still muttering and fuming silently, he smiled "Come now or we won't get good seats." Shoving his hands into his pockets Leon growled as he followed D not sure he liked this.

          &nbs p; D chose the seats saying they would be able to see the stage best from there, though Leon was sure it would be the same where ever they sat. The animals took their own seats including T-Chan who usually sat on the Counts lap. A few moments after they were seated the announcer walked to the center stage.

          &nbs p; "Today we begin the first rounds of the fencing tournament" The man's voice ran clear through out the large room with the ease of practice "there will be seven bouts before we will take a short break before resuming for the other eight for a total of fifteen."

          &nbs p; "Holy shit Count" Leon whispered to D "How long do you think this is going to take?" D turned to Leon giving his usual casual smile,

          &nbs p; "Well my dear detective since this is the preliminaries the bouts are likely to be short, unless two expert fencers run into each other early on I doubt much of this will take more than five to ten minutes per round."

          &nbs p; "Really? Huh, that's interesting." Leon half muttered to himself before turning his attention back to the stage. The rest of what the announcer said basically flew over Leon's head as his short attention span started to take over he began looking around the room idly until the names of the first two dualists were called. Turning his attention back to the stage he noticed two people in white outfits wearing masks with what looked like mesh net covering their faces.

          &nbs p; "Hang on how are we supposed to know who we're cheering for if we can't see their faces to tell who they are?" Leon hissed under his breath.

          &nbs p; "My dear detective we will know when it is Kiarina's turn because the man will call her name and she will walk onto the stage in response to her name." D almost spelt it out to Leon feeling slightly irritated at Leon once again failed to see what was going on right in front of him.

The second match had just finished, Kiarina was standing off to the side with the others mask in one hand foil in the other. She took a deep breath as she walked up to the stage as the referee called her name. Walking to the center of the stage, she glanced over at the audience out of the corner of her eye. She almost stopped and grinned; D, Leon, T-Chan, Sai-Chan and Pon-Chan all seated in a row. They were all waving wildly in hopes of getting her attention to let her know they were there. All except for D who was giving a small wave with one hand while trying to stop the others from making such a big fuss. Biting the inside of her cheek gently she resisted the urge to burst out laughing at the sight of them all. Eyes forward again as she reached the referees side she stopped waiting for her opponent, as she did she gave a tiny wave by moving her fingers back and forth slightly to her friends and uncle in acknowledgement that she did see them. She donned her masked and placed her back foot horizontal while her front foot continued to point straight, placing one hand behind her back she raised her foil to touch the others in front of her. They both stood like that for a brief moment before she heard the ref shout: "BEGIN!" In almost perfect unison their foils moved apart the opponents swinging up and then down aiming for her upper left torso. She brought her foil up to block it then sliced it downward fast in hopes of catching them in the middle. He blocked her attack then tried to lunge at her right side. She side stepped just enough to let the foil pass her without touching before she brought her foil up in an almost horizontal strike. The man tried to step back and bring his foil around to block but the tip of her foil was already pressed against the padding of his suit.

          &nbs p; "ENOUGH!" The referee cried as the two of them stood back lowering their foils. "The winner of this bout is Kiarina!" everyone clapped while her friends and uncle applauded, whistled and cheered while drawing disapproving looks from D as he sat there and continued to simply clap while he seemed to be wondering why the others couldn't just do the same. He seemed to tolerate it for a few seconds more before he grabbed onto the front of Leon's shirt and pulled him gently but firmly back into his chair. She removed her mask and shook hands with her opponent smiling at him.

          &nbs p; "Great job, thanks for the bout." The man nodded and smiled shaking her hand.

          &nbs p; "Thank you too, and good luck." With that the two of them walked off the stage as the others got ready. As she sat on one of the seats put aside for the participants she watched the others intently, she tried to remember each name of the person who won with the style they had used during their bout and how she could do what the person who had lost to them could not. While she didn't have ether of her other bouts in the first set, she found out that she would be having her next two in a row in the second round. She gave a silent worried sigh as she placed her mask and foil to the side as she went to greet Leon and her friends. Leon picked her up hugging her tight he swung her around in a circle "That was so cool! I knew you could do it!" Kiarina smiled not caring too much that she was slightly too big to be swung around like a kid by her uncle. "Yes that was very well done Kiarina; you have two more to go correct?" D asked smiling at her kindly as T-Chan slapped her on the back in congratulations. She was grateful she still had her padded suit on to soften the blow otherwise she might've toppled forward. "Yes my next two are one right after the other, I'm a bit nervous about it actually…" she said looking down a bit at her feet.

          &nbs p; "Two in a row? How come, no one else has to do that right?" Sai-Chan asked curiously

          &nbs p; "No, no one else has to do that, guess I just got lucky heh heh." She said looking up giving a smile.

          &nbs p; "Well it seems like they've put out some kind of food and drink on the tables over there, let's go grab a bite." T-Chan suggested jerking a thumb over at the tables where people were laying out plates of sandwiches and fruit along with pitches of water and juice for the competitors and the small audience. Kiarina smiled giving a small nod "Yeah, food sounds good right about now." She hadn't eaten since around seven that morning and it was now twelve thirty. They all walked over and got a plate and some food and something to drink before going back over to the chairs arranging them in a slight circle so they could all face each other and talk while they ate.

          &nbs p; "Thanks for coming everyone, its nice to have someone cheer me on." Kiarina said smiling at all of them.

          &nbs p; "Do you mean to say that people don't usually come to watch you?" D asked sounding slightly surprised.

Kiarina gave a small shake of her head. "No, not really... I do a lot of traveling, so usually it's just me in a new place and no one I know. That's why I'm really happy you were all able to come, it's nice to have friends and family along."

          &nbs p; "How come you travel so much?" T-Chan asked looking at her with mild curiosity "of all the places you've been to, haven't you found a place you want to stay?" Kiarina looked at T-Chan contemplating his question as Leon got up to grab some more to eat.

          &nbs p; "Well… no, not really. I've just always gone where ever my tournaments take me."

          &nbs p; "Don't you ever get homesick? Or wish that you had someplace to always come home to?" It was D that spoke this time. Kiarina looked at him; he seemed to look at her as if his eyes could see though hers and into her mind. It was true what he had said, she did wish she had someplace to always come back to, true it was fun always going someplace new and seeing new people and all of that… but sometimes she just felt so tired of it all. But in response Kiarina simply gave a small shrug and smiled "Well I guess it's just because I haven't found any place I'd like to come back to just yet." D looked like he was about to say something more but the announcer cut in over the speakers.

          &nbs p; "Attention all competitors, five minutes remain till we resume the tournament." Kiarina polished off the rest of her food and drink while trying not to choke on it from eating it so fast. As she stood she smiled at everyone, including Leon who had just returned with another helping of snacks, "Wish me luck"

          &nbs p; "Good luck!" they all chorused. Kiarina grinned and trotted back over to where the contenders where supposed to wait. As she walked, her mind went over what T-Chan and Count D had said to her. Her eyes fixed on the floor in front of her feet she began to wonder as she did sometimes why she had been constantly moving for the past five years almost. It had been tough on her first few trips away, but back in the beginning it had been with her other friends in the fencing club back at home. So she hadn't really been by herself in her travels till she was eighteen. She shook her head knowing that now was not the time to start thinking about things like this, if she didn't keep her focus she might loose in the next two bouts…and she had no intention of loosing so early on in the tournament.

          &nbs p; With the feeling of friends and family watching, and the sound of their cheers for her at the beginning at the end of each bout seemed to give her an extra boost of energy. It almost seemed like she flew through both her matches with speed she hadn't felt before. Her foil swung and sliced through the air almost seemed to sing with speed as it moved with a speed she'd never felt herself have behind the cup before, it felt as if there was another's strength along with hers… placing their hands on top of her hand that held the hilt and adding their strength to hers. Kiarina didn't resist the feeling; it felt weird… but slightly familiar.

"ENOUGH!" Her mind seemed to buzz slightly as the announcer called an end to her second match. It almost felt like her mind was being released from a cloud smoke as the extra feeling of force left her. She removed her mask and smiled at the woman and shook her hand.

          &nbs p; "Great job, thanks for the bout."

          &nbs p; "No, thank you" the woman said smiling at her "That was magnificent, I could almost feel the strength you were keeping back, good luck in the finals." Kiarina smiled and thanked the woman and sat back down as she watched the rest of the competitors. The moment it was over she left her things where she had been sitting and ran over to the others.

          &nbs p; "Congratulations!" Leon exclaimed as he hugged her tight and spun her around. "That was amazing!"

          &nbs p; "Indeed it was Kiarina, but Leon I do think you need to put your niece down now I think she's a little big for that." D said with a small amused smile on his face.

          &nbs p; "Oh right, sorry." Leon said as he placed her back down.

          &nbs p; "No worries." Kiarina said smiling up at him as the others voiced their congratulations while T-Chan congratulated her with one of his usual 'pats' on the back. Grinning she managed to keep her balance and gave him a small shove in response.

          &nbs p; "Well now why don't we all go back to my shop and have a little tea and cake in celebration hm?" D said smiling at Kiarina.

          &nbs p; "Yeah yeah come on lets go celebrate!" Sai-Chan said excitedly and began to tug on Kiarina's arm. Kiarina laughed as she tried to stay standing where she was.

          &nbs p; "Alright but hang on a second, those who qualified have to stay behind for a bit… why don't you all go on ahead and I'll catch up as soon as I can alright?" Count D gave an understanding nod. "Well then we shall see you shortly." He said before walking towards the exit with the others as Kiarina walked back over to where the other qualifying fencers were sitting waiting for the announcer who was going to be giving them the information on the next match.

          &nbs p; Kiarina smiled as she walked outside and stretched slightly, she didn't carry any of her equipment with her as she decided to leave it in one of the lockers and come by tomorrow when some of the other competitors had decided to have a practice session. Smiling she turned to start walking towards the Count's shop.

          &nbs p; "Hey! Hey Kiarina!" a male voice shouted from behind her. She turned to look at the speaker without taking a moment to wonder who it was, although when a pair of arms wrapped around her and hugged her tight she almost let out a groan of despair.

          &nbs p; "Hi James…" Kiarina managed to say simply while resisting the urge to shove the man away. This close she could almost smell everything he had been smoking… though she knew she didn't want to know, but whatever it was it was making it hard for her to breathe. Luckily he let her go and she took an instant step back.

"James… what a surprise, what are you doing here?"

"Well I found out from a friend of mine where the fencing tournaments were being held. It seems he was right about the location, but wrong about the time. So how did it go? Did you win?' he asked grinning at her.

"Um… yes I did…"

"Well congratulations!" he said cutting her off "To treat I'll take you out for ice-cream" he said as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders and began to nearly pull her along.

"That would be nice but I have to go somewhere…"

"Nonsense, you're with me now there's no where else you need to be."

Oh gods, she thought to herself, how the hell am I going to get out of this one???

          &nbs p; "Kiarina! Hey come on we're going to be late!" the voice cut though her thoughts as she spun her head around to see her rescuer. A hand adorned with a few golden bracelets and nails that looked almost like claws took her arm and gently pulled her out of James hold with ease.

          &nbs p; "Hey now who are you to…" James turned to come face to face with a man slightly taller than him, his golden yellow cat like eyes looking down on him for a brief moment before he turned to lead Kiarina away from him.

          &nbs p; "Sorry James like I said there's somewhere I need to be! Bye!" she called out to him before turning around and picking up her own pace to keep up with T-Chan's. The moment she knew they were out of hearing she looked up at him.

          &nbs p; "Oh you have no idea how much I owe you for saving me just now" T-Chan turned his head slightly to look at her from the corner of one eye.

          &nbs p; "I take it that was the 'weed' man James you spoke of before?" Kiarina nodded as they continued to walk fast paced to D's shop. T-Chan lifted his head now and then almost as if he was checking for something. It was then that Kiarina noticed he was still holding on to her arm. She blushed slightly but didn't pull her arm away, not wanting to seem rude, so she pretended to ignore it and simply left it to him to realize instead.

          &nbs p; "Thank you so much for coming to my rescue T-Chan, but why were you still there? I thought you had left ahead with the others?" she asked looking up at him a bit confused.

          &nbs p; "Umm… well…" he muttered slightly, but before he was able to say any more he let go of her arm and opened the door to Count D's shop.

          &nbs p; "Come on, let's celebrate your victories. I made a soufflé the other day…"

          &nbs p; "You bake?" Kiarina asked looking up at him with slight surprise and a large amount of interest in this new found information. She giggled slightly as she followed T-Chan inside wondering if she had just seen him blush.

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Wow OO;;; that has got to be the longest chapter so far… ah well what can you do about it :) Well as for any more chapters, there will be more… but college is beginning once more. So please read and review, and be patient for chapter seven… Thanks for reading!