Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Written In the Stars ❯ Training ( Chapter 11 )

Written In the Stars

Chapter 11

The warm rays of the early morning sun and the chirping of the birds awoke Arella from her slumber. She tried to sit up, only to find Kurama's arm wrapped protectively around her waist. She couldn't help but smile as she looked over at his sleeping form. After their discovery that they were destined Soulmates, the two had spent a good part of the night talking. Kurama had called his mother and told her he would be spending the night at a friend's so that she would not worry. After the emotional roller coaster that Arella had been though that day, he wanted to be sure that nothing would happen to her. When she had laid down in her bed to go to sleep, he had laid down besides her so that he would be there if she needed him for anything.

Arella lay back down, about to let herself fall back asleep again, when she felt something climb up onto the bed and start affectionately licking her face. She smiled again and gently scratched Kin behind the ears, knowing full well this was one of the many ways of him telling her that he was hungry for breakfast. She sat up and carefully slipped out of Kurama's hold on her, not wanting to wake him from his sleep. The first thing she did was fill his water bowl up with cold water so that he wouldn't be thirsty. As Kin was about to start jumping around and barking with excitement, Arella smiled and put a finger over her mouth, nodding over to Kurama. The little fox looked over at him and simply nodded, walking over to the water bowl and drinking from that.

She then quickly washed up and changed into a pair of black pants, and a black Chinese shirt with elbow length white trimmed sleeves, a white trimmed mandarin collar, and white frog buttons. She quietly went down into the kitchen, surprised to see that Genkai was not awake yet. Perhaps she went to tell Yusuke and the others that I'm okay. She thought, realizing that the others still might not know where she was.

When she had finished filling up Kin's food bowl, she walked back over to her room and set it down next to the water bowl. When she looked up over at her bed, she resisted the urge to burst out laughing. At some point, Kurama had moved to lay on his back, because there was Kin, laying down right on Kurama's chest. Arella did smile at them though before she sat down at a corner of the room, needing to think.

She pulled her knees up to her chest and sighed, resting her chin onto of her knees. Morfran's words still echoed in her mind over and over again. The part about her mother and the part of her not being able to fight. She shut her eyes, trying to calm herself down at least somewhat. There was something that she hadn't told the others, mostly because she didn't think it would matter at the time. She had honestly thought she would never see them again after they had rescued her.

She knew how to fight. She had taken all sorts of martial arts and gymnastics classes when she was younger. Her mother had even trained her so that she could become more advanced. The problem was though, that despite all of the training, she had never been in a fight before and when she had seen the infamous Angel Hunter, before her very own eyes, she had not been able to remember a single move, not even something as simple as a kick. It was as though all of her training had disappeared. To be honest, she wasn't even sure she could remember how to punch properly. She had been tempted to practice some of her moves back at her old school on the bullies that had picked on her, but she would always remember the Angelic ways and beliefs that her mother had taught her so much about that she wanted to live up to.

God I'm so pathetic! You think I'd be able to at least throw a decent punch, but what happens?! I forget everything I ever learned and nearly end up getting Kurama killed. How am I going to explain to everyone that I know how to fight, but I don't know or remember how to use any of the moves I learned?! They'll probably laugh or worse, call me a coward. Then again, after how I ran off last night, I probably fit under the category of coward just perfectly.

Finally, there was a gentle tap at the door that caught Arella's attention. She pushed herself off the floor and moved forward to answer it. She opened it, and was surprised to see Hiei standing there. In his hand, he held a pair of wooden kendo sticks. His expression was as unfriendly as it always was, however he actually seemed annoyed about something.

"Let's get one thing perfectly clear," said Hiei. "I expect you to be present outside and ready to begin your training. Am I clear?" He then turned and started down the hall. Arella stood there fore a few moments and blinked, astonished by his comments. She then quickly put on a pair of black shoes and started after him.

"I'm... I'm really sorry, Hiei," said Arella. "It's just that I.…"

Hiei stuck up his hand to silence her as they continued to walk. "Listen, I am not interested in excuses... only execution. I do not care what you do with the little free time you will have while under my instruction... as long as your performance depicts my expectations," Hiei stopped and turned to face her. "Which means exceeding them."

Hiei turned and continued out the door, and was heading towards the field, Arella right behind him. When they reached the bottom, Hiei turned and tossed the kendo stick to her. "Now, we have thirty days to prepare you... I need to know, do you have any fighting experience at all? Because quite frankly, I haven't heard of many demons, tripping and impaling themselves in centuries."

"Well, actually, I was trained very well," she said. "I took martial arts and gymnastics... even my mother trained me, but... I... I can't remember any of it."

Hiei sighed. "You claim you were trained, but can't recall any of your knowledge? So, what should I do, hold your hand and help you learn to walk again?" He then turned away from her. "This will be a waste of my time. I suggest you find Morfran now and tell him to kill you and get it over with."

"I can do it! I know I can," said Arella. "Just give me a chance! Please Hiei!"

Without warning, Hiei threw his Kendo stick at Arella. She caught it, and quickly turned to see Hiei coming towards her with his actual sword drawn. His blade came slicing through the air at her. Arella lifted the stick to block the blow. She then duck as the blade came flying back towards her. His next move forced her to do a backwards flip, and come about in a defensive stance.

It took a few seconds, but Arella finally saw Hiei simply standing there looking at her. He had put his sword away and was staring at her. It was then she realized what she had done. "You must harness your skills beyond instinct... had I desired... you would have been dead before you knew what hit you. We'll work on it... become conscious of all your movements. Everything from walking to chewing to breathing."

Hiei continued to instruct Arella, and eventually moved on to sword-fighting techniques. He nodded with approval at how quickly she caught on. He worked with her for most of the morning, and had awakened many latent skills during that time, but still she had a long way to go before facing Morfran.

**********

Kurama woke to the sensation of something warm on his chest. He opened his eyes to see that Kin was now sitting on his chest, staring at him. He looked around the room, and saw that they were alone. He then turned his attention back to Kin. "I take it you enjoyed yourself up there?" he asked.

Kin replied with a simple bark. Kurama smiled slightly as he reached up and took Kin into his arms. He sat up and slid off the bed. He walked towards the window, hearing the clangs and grunts of training. He stroked Kin's furry head as he watched Hiei and Arella spar. "Look at her," Kurama said softly to Kin, who barked again at seeing his master hard at work. "She's doing a good job, isn't she?" Kurama smiled as he watched her. "Yes, she's doing just fine."

**********

As the morning slowly slipped into afternoon, Yusuke and Kuwabara arrived at the temple, glad to see that Arella was safe to say the least. Arella had been right in her assumption about Genkai going to tell them that she was safe.

During lunch, Yusuke brought up the subject of teaching her how to fight. She flinched slightly, before she quietly admitted she had known how to fight, but had forgotten how until that day.

"What?!" Yusuke screamed, "You mean to tell me you knew how to fight all this freaking time and you never said anything! How the hell could you forget?!"

"Well, for starters, I've never been in a fight before. I don't have any experience like you and the others do. I was never attacked on the street or anything," Arella explained.

"What about those stupid cousins and aunt of yours?! All that crap they put you though and you never once fought back to protect yourself?!"

"That was different!" Arella snapped, glaring at him, "I'm sure you figured out by now that Angels are stronger then most people! If I had fought back, I might have accidentally killed them and even if I hadn't, you can guess what their like! Lets say I did fight back and I didn't accidentally kill anyone, you know what my aunt would have done once she had figured out I was different?! She would have sent me over to some lab somewhere to be experimented on! I had no other choice then to not fight back! I couldn't chance it!"

Yusuke sighed. "Well if you look at it like that.…" Yusuke rolled his eyes. "Okay fine... whatever. So you know how to fight... the question is can you beat Morfran or not?" Arella opened her mouth, but didn't say anything. Yusuke groaned. "Yeah, that's what I was thought."

"She will be ready when the time comes," said Hiei. He stepped into view. "But in order for that to happen, she must train," Hiei looked down at Arella. "And the time to train... is now."

"Now?" asked Arella. "As in right now? I... I just sat down to lunch."

"Lunch began almost half an hour ago. You have socialized during that time, and now the break is over. You must be able to use the skills you posses to act... not only react. Otherwise, you will be at Morfran's mercy, and the rest of the world will suffer right along with you."

Arella sighed and pushed back from the table. "You're right. I'm coming," Arella stood up, and began to march behind Hiei back to the training field.

"Well, at least Hiei isn't training me," said Yusuke. "The guy's obviously a slave driver."

"What the hell do you think you're doing, boy?" Genkai asked Yusuke. "Just in case you haven't figured it out, if Arella fails, then you're humanity's last hope. Now, even thought we'd all be screwed if that happened, I'd like for you to at least be able to put up a decent fight."

"Wait a minute, Grandma," said Yusuke. "What are you saying?"

"I'm saying get your ass in gear and train with them. For once you may learn something useful!" said Genkai.

"You've got to be kidding!" said Yusuke.

"Of course I'm kidding. Your sorry ass should have started yesterday. Now, move!" Kuwabara began to laugh as Yusuke mumbled a few words and started towards the field. Kurama had already gotten up to follow Arella and Hiei to the field. "And just what the hell are you still doing here?" Genkai asked him. "Call me democratic, but I believe in equal opportunities, and that includes morons too. Now, move it!"

"Hey lady, you can't boss me around like that!" said Kuwabara. He then grimaced as he realized that he'd said that out loud instead of thinking it. He then broke into a dash after the others. "Hey, Urameshi! Wait up!"

Genkai watched as they all moved towards the field, shaking her head as she watched, "Only time will tell if we actually stand a chance against Morfran. And if we don't... then nothing will be able to stop him."