Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction / Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction / Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Kyuketsuki Shishi ❯ Chapter 5 ( Chapter 5 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

"Talking"

`Thinking or thoughts'

Chapter 5

"The tournament will last two weeks. Many teams will enter but only seven will compete in the final event. There'll be seven judges to watch your performance. And I think you'll like the first prize. The members of the winner team will be given whatever they want."

Ryoga's head snapped up at that. "Whatever we want? Does that mean that if we win I can ask to be transformed back to a human? Can they concede that wish?"

"Ryoga!" shouted Shampoo.

"Shampoo, you know I hate being a vampire. I never wanted to be one in the first place, and I loathe the mere idea of drinking someone else's blood to live," said Ryoga angrily.

"Fine, if you want to be human so be it! But don't you dare ask them to change me back as well. I'm satisfied my new nature, and even if I became human again by any chance, the first thing I'd do would be to find Amnar and request him to make me a vampire once more I don't want to be a human! " Shampoo said hotly, turning her body away from Ryoga.

Ryoga looked shocked by Shampoo's words and was unable to speak. His only act was to lower his head, his bangs casting a shadow over his eyes.

"Transforming creatures from one species to another is within the judges' abilities, Ryoga. However, this particular request may take them a while since it'll be the first time a vampire wants to become human. I hope that's okay with you," explained Kiron.

"It is," Ryoga mumbled back.

"We're getting ahead of ourselves, though. To get such a prize, we must win; and to that end, all of you must train hard to defeat all your rivals. My friends will help you. Artemis will be teaching you how to handle swords and all kind of weapons. Lady Yomiko will test you to see if you have the gift to control paper, and teach those of you who have it to master it. I have called other trainers to help you with any other needs you may have, especially magic. They should arrive shortly."

Meilin open her mouth to argue at the word `magic', but Kiron silenced her with a glare that made his eyes look as feral as a demon's. Meilin was frozen at Kiron's now yellow irises and slitted pupils, and wisely chose to let the matter go.

"As I was saying, the teachers I've chosen will help you with everything, from tactics to hand-to-hand combat," continued the vampire.

"What? We don't need anyone to teach us hand-to-hand combat. I already have a lot of experience in that field and can teach the rest of the group myself. I know many techniques that could help in the tournament. Why don't you let me have the job?" asked Shampoo, with a hint of arrogance.

Kiron frowned questionably at Shampoo, obviously annoyed at being defied. The girl stared back at him, not once wavering from his glare. Apparently, she passed some kind of test, because the older vampire finally relented and nodded.

"Fine, you have the job, but you better show me some good results.” He then addressed the whole assembly. “The members of the team will begin training as soon as the other trainers get here, which may be tomorrow. And now that everything is settled, let's eat."

The sounds of plates and spoons were all that was heard after that. Mina had jumped off Kazuma's lap at last and had taken the seat next to Makoto. Yomiko spoke softly with Meilin in that foreign language Kazuma had finally identified as Chinese. The meal was a silent one with the sole exception of Yomiko and Meilin's talk. After dinner, Kazuma found out he wasn't the only one who would be staying in Kiron's home. Goku and Ryoga would sleep in the rooms flanking his, whereas Shampoo, Meilin, Makoto and Mina had taken some rooms at the other side of the hall. Kazuma, wanting to be alone for a while to digest the last complications in his life, went to sleep early, and for some reason his new comrades did the same.

Morning came all too quickly for them; at six in the morning Leih, another slave, had woken them up for breakfast. The other trainers had arrived late last night, but according to Leih they were ready to begin training the team once breakfast was over. Tiredness didn't seem a problem in any way.

There were two bathrooms, one for the girls and one for the boys. Of course, the girls got the larger one. Entering the bathroom, Kazuma found Ryoga in the middle of brushing his teeth.

"G'morning," said Kazuma politely. He didn't truly expect an answer from the moody, fanged boy, but surprisingly he got one.

"Morning." Ryoga put his toothbrush down and reached for the glass of water at his side. The door banged open loudly as a sleepy Goku walked in. He gave a mumble of good morning to the other two as he moved in between them to do his own washing routine. When he finished, he looked much more awake.

"So, do you guys know who's going to train us today?" asked Goku, sounding cheerful.

"Not a clue," answered Ryoga dryly.

"What about you, Kazuma?"

Kazuma blinked, then shook his head. "I don't know either."

As the boys left the bathroom, they ran into Yomiko. "Good morning. Ready for today's training?" she asked.

"I guess," said Goku while Kazuma and Ryoga nodded.

"Oh, well. You'll head for the backyard after breakfast. Artemis, Shampoo and I will take care of the morning training. After lunch, Master Felc and Kiron himself will take over. There was another trainer, buck Kiron sent him back after Shampoo's appliance for the job. I already informed the girls of this schedule, so don't worry about that," said Yomiko.

Having delivered her message, the woman turned away and vanished down the corridor. The boys made their own way to the dinning room, where they found Meilin and Makoto already having breakfast. Mina and Shampoo were nowhere in sight. Makoto looked up as Kazuma, Ryoga and Goku entered.

"Good morning. Did you guys sleep well?" asked the female wolf.

"Great! The bed I had was really soft!" said Goku happily.

Makoto smiled kindly at the shape-shifter. It was no wonder they felt at ease with each other. Relationships between werepeople and shape-shifters were strong and peaceful. Their clans had traded, mixed and inter-married for 2,000 years. She then turned to Kazuma and stared at him for a moment. She seemed to be trying to decide something. Finally, she stood up and walked to him.

"Kazuma, right?" she said, her emerald-green eyes boring into his blue ones.

Kazuma nodded, doing his best to relax. Humans, on the other hand, weren't much appreciated among the supernatural races, except as slaves. The ancient wars between humankind and other sentient species had left deep scars that still hadn't healed for many. Luckily, Makoto didn't seem to share the same prejudices many of her kind had.

"I want to thank you for taking care of Mina. You saved her life," said Makoto, bowing.

"Huh, what are you talking about? I only met Mina last night. How could I save the life of someone I've never even seen?"

She blinked at him. "You... you don't know?" she stammered.

"Know what?" Kazuma asked, confused but intrigued.

He watched as her emerald-green eyes widened in surprise, "Oh, nothing. Look... forget I said anything."

Kazuma was very suspicious, but he knew Makoto would tell him nothing if he pressed the issue now, therefore he pretended to drop the matter. He'd keep his ears very attentive, though, and would wait for a chance to discover what the she-wolf, and probably Mina too, were hiding from him. As he sat down to eat, Kazuma thought over what Makoto had said. He took care of Mina and saved her life? When did that happen? And how? He was sure he'd remember something like that. However, as much as he racked his brains, he couldn't recall even catching the slightest peek of the humanimal cat ever in his life. He did have to admit, though, that Mina hadn't behaved last night as if they had just become acquainted, but Artemis had explained that away, hadn't he?

His thoughts were cut off as the very girl that filled his mind came in along with Shampoo. Mina smiled brightly at him, and Kazuma couldn't help but smile back, but before either of them could say a word Makoto grabbed her blonde friend by the ear and dragged her out of the room.

`What was that about?' thought a perplexed Kazuma.

"You better eat. The training's going to be tough, really tough."

Kazuma's eyes snapped up to meet Shampoo's, who was staring down at him. Today she wore a chinese martial arts outfit that was dyed blue with a white dragon and a red phoenix decorating its front. Her clothes clung to her curves so snugly that Kazuma had to look away, his face hot.

"Right," was all the orange-haired boy could say before he dug into the food with more gusto than usual to keep his imagination away from dangerous waters. Ryoga sat next to him but he didn't speak; he merely grabbed a plate, filled it, and began to eat in silence. Shampoo frowned at the dark-haired boy but then just walked out without saying a word to him. Kazuma wasn't sure whether Ryoga noticed this but choose to ignore her, or simply didn't notice at all.

Meanwhile, Goku had paused in his breakfast and had been staring curiously at Ryoga for a while. So far, the young vampire had been ignoring the shape-shifter as well, but suddenly he snapped.

"WHAT!" Ryoga shouted, making everybody in the room jump. Goku smiled uneasily at him, raising his hands in a placating gesture.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to stare at you. It's just... you're the first vampire I've met that would rather eat normal food than-"

"I only drank blood once and that was it. I will never drink blood again as long as I stay like this," Ryoga interrupted Goku with a voice cold enough to freeze Hell itself in place, and a glare to match.

Goku blinked. "But... if you want to make it to the tournament, you have to drink-"

"SHUT UP!"

"Hey, easy off! He's just pointing a valid concern. And if you feel offended, you can say so without shouting," said Kazuma, trying to defuse the situation before Ryoga did something rash.

Ryoga turned to Kazuma, giving him the same icy glare he had given to Goku. Kazuma withstood it, showing Ryoga that he wasn't afraid of him. He had been on the receiving end of Hiei's death glares often enough to be immunized to this kind of thing.

"Damn straight I feel offended!” Ryoga blurted at last. “His kind lives alongside vampires. I'd think he'd understand why I don't want to drink blood."

Kazuma's eyes darted to Goku, who looked at the floor in shame.`Not even a day and we're already fighting.' Kazuma sighed deeply at this thought. "Look, Goku a shape-shifter, right?" he said.

"Right," Ryoga answered.

"I'm sure Goku's been told about what vampires eat, right?"

"Right."

"Perhaps then... nobody has ever told him that humans changed into vampires sometimes fight against their natural instinct to drink blood?"

"Rig-" Ryoga stopped short. He remained silent for a minute then turned towards Goku.

"Goku... hasn't anyone told you about humans who are changed into vampires? How they sometimes fight the vampiric nature?"

"No, not really. I'm sorry if I offended you," said Goku in an apologetic tone.

"No, you should forgive me for being an idiot. I assumed you would know about vampires and the ones that are changed," said Ryoga

"It's my fault as well. I never asked anyone about humans that become vampires and how they would react to... it. I just assumed it was the same as a vampire being born."

"B-b-born?" Ryoga stuttered.

"You don't know? A vampire can be born like a living person but I think the vampiress has to eat twice as much to what a normal vampire eats. I can't really remember but I could look it up," said Goku.

"Ryoga, man, are you all right?" Kazuma asked the black-haired vampire after he remained frozen.

"Y-y-yeah, just-just"

"Shocked? Something like that happened to me when I found out," commented Kazuma.

"Found out?"

"I did say I was a former slave to this world. I have a few scars from being beaten if you want proof."

"No! I mean... no, thanks, I believe you." Ryoga looked away; perhaps afraid he would become such a monster.

"Ryoga, what's wrong?" said Shampoo who had just returned, accompanied by Makoto.

"Nothing. Hey, where's that other Chinese girl?" said Ryoga, changing the subject. Goku and Kazuma looked around, realizing Meilin's absence for the first time as well. None of the guys had noticed when she had gone.

"Outside. She's talking to that Master Felc guy," said Makoto.

Goku, Kazuma and Ryoga quickly finished eating. Afterwards, the girls guided them to the backyard, which turned out to be a long and wide space good enough for them to train. Goku blinked as he spotted a red glow in the distance. He jabbed his elbow into Shampoo's side to get her attention.

"What?" asked the girl.

"Look." Goku pointed to the red glow, catching the others' attention.

"What's that?" Ryoga wanted to know.

"I don't know, but let's find out," said Shampoo, walking towards it.

As they got closer, the strange red glow began to take a shape. Meilin turned out to be its source. She was sitting with her legs crossed and her arms on her lap. Her eyes were closed and her breathing was shallow.

"What the...?" exclaimed Goku, walking up to Meilin.

"Don't touch her," said a voice form behind them.

They turned around, looking for the person who spoke to them. At first they saw nobody, but then a cough made them look downwards and see a little man with greyish-blue eyes and violet hair held by a headband. He wore a long-sleeved robe and white matching pants. In his right hand he carried a wooden staff, tipped with a claw like a bird's which clutched a crystal glowing the same color as Meilin.

"Who are you?" asked Makoto

"I'm Master Felc."

Their reaction to the short man's announcement was exactly as Master Felc was expecting.

"Ah, great! Another shrimp!" said Kazuma.

"You can't be! You're too young! I figured you'd be..." Goku stopped talking as he looked at the mage in confusion.

"Old?" smiled Felc.

"You look weak to me," said Shampoo while she scrutinized Master Felc.

Felc just chuckled. "You don't know how to look, then.” He then addressed the whole group. “You all may call me Mage Felc or Master Felc or just Felc, I don't really care."

"I don't mean to be rude or anything, but how old are you? You look about our age," said Makoto, her ears twitching slightly.

"857 years old. Now, enough chit-chat. Line up. Your training begins now," said Master Felc.