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Author Topic: Re: The mask of soul//chapter 48/ 10/31  (Read 43296 times)

Offline MsSmigge

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Re: The mask of soul//chapter 48/ 10/31
« on: January 02, 2013, 10:18:11 AM »
For I have too much time at work, nothing has happened in a few days, I am bored and my imagination just got the better of me, I decided to write a longer story. Also, for the New year, I just wanted to try something I have never ever done before.  :P Let´s see if I have time in the future to write this XD Christmas and New year are very quiet times, so no wonder nothing happens, but soon, it might get more busy again... But I'll do my best with this story!

Anyway, here's the prologue of this story~ I'll give more details about some things in the future, because without some information it might be quite hard to follow this story...
Here we go~







"MOTHER!! Mother, father where are you??!!"

A voice echoed across all the screaming and whining, when a young girl ran through a burning village, desperately trying to find her family.

"Saori, Saori answer me!!"

Soon, the girl found a very familiar building, which was under a fire sea. The girl kept on screaming her family and she even went inside the building. Inside she could see a collapsed roof and under that, something she did not want to see; her whole family, father, mother and her little sister were under that pile of wood.

"No!"

The girl screamed. She ran to her family only to find them lifeless. Her father's head was bleeding heavily and he had a blank stare in his eyes. What was visible of her younger sister was only a hand and by the angle it was, the girl could guess she was not conciouss, because that would hurt as hell. But her little sister could still be alive...
Then, she heard a cough. It was her mother.

"Okaasan!" The girl cried and ran beside her mother. She did not look any better than the others but she was still alive. But the girl did not know how much she had left...

"Ri...Ri-sa.... Get ou of here..." Her mother whispered. Risa flinched. She could never leave her mother or her sister!

"But I have to get you two out of here! I cannot leave Saori and you..."

"Saori is gone..." Risa's mother whispered. Risa froze. No, this was a nightmare, this could not be true! Soon, she was going to wake up and everything would  be ok, everyone would be alive and... But Risa knew better. She could never lift those woods and even if she did, her mother would die in the smoke and fire. Tears flowing down her cheeks Risa reached for her mother hand and held it gently.

"Okaasan...." Risa cried quietly. Her mother smiled weakly till she started to cough.

"Go now... there is not much time. The soldiers are here soon and if you wont get away...." The older woman started to cough violently but managed to catch her breath for the last time.

"If the soldiers find you, they will kill you... Go my child... And remember that we have always fully and truly embrace and cherishd you... And.... always... will..." With that, the hand in Risa's went limb and she could see how life escaped her mothers body.

Risa froze, but she did not get much time for mourning, for there was a loud crack. Looking up, Risa could see how there was more wood coming down from the roof. Suddenly Risa was back on the earth again and she run out of the building. She would have looked back at her now old home but immediately when she came out she saw a soldier troop which was coming to her. Risa started to run for her life. She did not know where she got all the power to run but all she could think now was one word: survive.
Risa did not look back but she could hear how the soldiers got in a battle, probably with their enemy. Risa ran and ran, she ran so long that she could not see the light of fire anymore nor feel the heat of it. She just ran and ran and ran....


Risa clutched her fist shut. She was sitting under a huge tree and waited that the rain would stop. She was wearing some kind of old rag, which she had found on her way here. She did not have any shoes, since they had broken while she was walking on a road full of small sharp stones. Her shoes hadan't been the best for walking, so no wonder they broke. Her long brown hair was hanging wildly on her face and some water drops fell down from it. Risa had journeyed for a week now and she was still broken from earlier lost of hers. She was in a good shape, thanks to the friendly villagers she had seen on her way but mentally she was not. She grieved for her family, she wanted to see them again, but she knew that was impossible now.

While Risa was grieving, the rain slowly ended and the rays of the sun lazily came out behind the dark clouds. Risa noticed this and looked up to the sky. The rays warmed her face and the sight in front of her was something very beautiful; all the water drops on the trees, bushes and grPosterior were glistening like diamonds. For some reason, the scene impressed Risa. And soon, she found herself on her feet and walking forward. She did not know where she was going, but she knew that she could not stay. She had to move forward, or she would die. She had to move on and survive and she wanted that. She did not want to die here. She wanted to end this war and find peace for everyone. Though she did not know where to go or where to start, she kept going forward. Right now, that was the only thing she could do.

-------------

"My lord! There has been an attack in a southern village! The place is totally burned down and there are probably no survivors..." A dark haired young woman said as she was kneeling in front of another woman. The woman, who was facing a huge window, was silent for a while. She closed her eyes and thought about the situation. Then she turned around and faced the woman on her knees.

"Do we have troops out there?" She asked calmly.

"Yes, my lord. We have sent team Alfa out there with some reinforcement troops." The woman said, bowing her head as she spoke.

"Good. They should take care of that. And please, get up my friend. You do not have to bow in front of me." The older woman said gently.

"Yes, my lord." The dark haired woman answered her king and was soon on her feet, still facing the older one.

"Now go. Give me a report when you get some new information. And please, stay safe."

"Yes, my lord." And with that, the dark haired woman left her king and went for her mission. The older woman sighed a bit and stared outside, where the rain was just about to end. The sun rays peeked through the window and made funny illustrations on the floor and walls. The king sighed again and closed her eyes. She opened them after few minutes and now, she had a determined look on her face.

"Again a big lost... This must end now."

-----------

"Oi! Over here! there is someone alive!"

Soon, two brown haired women, with samurai warrior suits without helmet, ran to a black haired young woman, who was helping a young boy to stand up. The boy had been under a pile of burned wood and had somehow crawled out from under it. He was in a weak condition and he had several injuries all over his body.

"Oi, Kamei. Look, there is something under that pile. Go check that, we can handle this." The black haired woman said.

"You sure?" Kamei asked, as she watched the two woman in front of her.

"Yeah, we can handle this whit Sayu. Go check if those over there need help. Or if they can be helped...." The woman with light long brown hair said. She smiled warmly to Kamei, who finally nodded her head.

"Un. Okay Reina-chan." She said and went to the pile she was asked to.

When she reached der destination, Kamei could see some hands and legs under burned wood, but when she go closer she realized there was nothing she could do; The people under this pile were burned so badly that there was no way they had been alive in a while. Kamei was about to leave for a next pile, when something caught her eye. It was a small peace of paper which was under one of the dead bodies arm. Kamei went closer and somehow got the paper from under the arm. The paper had burned a bit but was in a surprisingly good shape, thinking it had probably been in a huge inferno. Kamei watched the picture she had in her hands: It was a beautiful drawing of a family of four. There was father, mother and two daughters and they all were smiling warmly. A sad smile crept on Kamei's face as she examined the picture. How could someone harm people like this family was? Who could destroy such happiness?

"Eri?" A gentle voice came behind her. Eri whipped her head around still holding the picture in her hand. Reina and Sayu had came to watch what was going on and soon they noticed the family under the pile.

"Oh gosh...." Sayu whispered. Eri's face saddened and she watched the picture in her hands again.

"Hey, what's that?" Reina asked curiously.

"This... This is probably that family under that pile..." Eri whispered quietly.

"Oh...." Was all that Reina could say. She looked around, until she watched her friends again.

"Ummm... Maybe we should keep on working...."

"What's going on here?" A different voice cut in. The trio turned around to see, how a fully armored samurai soldier approached them. She stopped few meters away from them and watched the trio. Her face was behind a mask and she was wearing a black helmet, which had two horns growing out of it. The samurai was silent for a long time, waiting for an answer, but no one dared to speak.

"Well?" A cold voice finally snapped behind the mask.

"Ano... We were just doing our job when I noticed this...." Eri said, as she handled the picture to the warrior.

"Wait, Eri...!!!" Sayu tried to stop, but it was too late, for the samurai had snapped the picture from Eri's hand and was now examining it.. After that the warrior glanced the pile and the bodies under it. There was a heavy silence till the warrior threw the picture to the ground and started to briskly walk away.

"Now is not the time for watching pictures! We have work here!" She yelled as she left the trio alone again. Eri went and picked the paper up. She folded it neatly and but it in a small pocket in her armor.

"she is right. Lets continue." Eri said and continued to search for survivors, leaving her friends behind. Sayu and Reina changed some concerned looks together, before they followed Eri.

"Of course she had to appear just now...." Sayu mumbled to Reina.

"mmmmm..." Reina mumbled back. As she walked forward, she turned to look behind her, where she could see the samurai walking away from them. The warrior stopped and gave orders to some troops which bowed and left immediately. Then the samurai stayed still and Reina could see how the warriors head moved a bit which revealed, that she was looking up to the sky, where the sun rays peeked behind the dark clouds.

"Yeah... Ai-chan indeed had a bad timing..."

----------

"Move your filthy Posterior!"

A roar boomed in a big dark hall. A person entered the hall and the people in there turned to watch as the newcomer was pushing some servants out of  her way, as she approached a big chair in the back of the hall..

"Damn it, always on my way...."

The newcomer, who had long dark brown hair and some dark clothes on, growled as she walked through the hall. There were three persons in front of her in a line. The new person stopped in front of them, crossed her hands and watched all of them darkly.

"Well?" She growled.

"My Master, the order you gave to us, is filled." A black haired woman in an armor said, bowing deeply.

"Yes, we burned the village and killed everyone who was on our way." The woman next to her said, who in turn had light brown hair said, also doing a deep bow. She was wearing armor too, a bit heavier than the other woman though. The third one. who was in a full armor with helmet and all, stayed silent for a while, till she took of her helmet and whipped her long light brown hair away from her face.

"There were some soldiers and we had to fight, but they got more damage than we did." She said, her voice emotionless and cold. The person in front of the three woman, who had just given some information, stayed silent for a while, before she cracked into an evil laugh.

"Excellent. Now we have done some big harm for them, and their energy is used to help the people in the village who were under attack. What a waste of time on energy." She said and started walking again, till she reached a big chair which had a huge golden decorations on it. The woman sat down and faced the trio again.

"Captain," The person, who had taken her helmt of a few seconds a go, turned her head towards the speaker. "send a new group out there. They may not recover from the last attack. Understood?" The captain just nodded her head and left the room. On her way, she put the helmet back on and kicked some servants out of her way.

"And you two,"

The two persons left, stiffened and waited for orders.

"Lead some groups to investigate what happens out there. Report me as soon as you can. Now, away from my sight!"

The two women left hurriedly, leaving their master sitting in the chair alone. When the soldiers were gone, the other persons in the room left as well, leaving the woman alone. But she was not alone for a long time. The lblack haired woman snapped her fingers once and in no time, a very skinny woman came with a glPosterior, which contained some kind of liquid. The clPosterior was taken from her and the skinny woman hurried back in the shadows, as fast as she could.

"Lets see how long it takes, before you and your filthy people fall under my command." She talked to herself while occPosteriorionally sipping some more liquid from the glPosterior. When the container was empty, she threw it in front of her on the ground. Again, there was immediately running noices and this time two servants came out from the shawods, to clean their master's glPosterior away. The woman watched the servants coldly, but soon, a very wicked smile crept on her face.

"Yes, very soon... Very soon, you'll be all under my control."


The mask of soul


Tadaaa~ This is how it starts XD And for the first information to you, this story is dated in 1180-1185 and the world is not our world but some other very same kind of... Kinda like Final fantasy but there is not so much magic, monsters and stuff like that. Magic exists, but it's not the main thing in this story and it's used/showed only once in a while.
And I wont tell you everything immediately  :twisted: I'll reveal the persons, relationships etc. bit by bit. And yes, the king is SHE. xD Laughing Out Loud, you'll found out more about it later~

Anyways, I hope you will enjoy this story! And happy New year everyone!

Ps. Now I really understand why people, who have written fanfics, like to tease their readers with keeping them in dark/cliffhangers etc. Damn this is fun! XD OkLaughing Out Loud, please do not get me wrong....  :nervous
« Last Edit: October 31, 2014, 09:20:25 AM by MsSmigge »


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Offline rndmnwierd

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Re: The mask of soul//Prologue
« Reply #1 on: January 02, 2013, 01:57:49 PM »
Looks promising so far, although I am a bit confused as to who some of the characters are/might be.

Offline kuro808

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Re: The mask of soul//Prologue
« Reply #2 on: January 02, 2013, 07:26:24 PM »
Nice start :thumbup

I agree with rndy about the characters and as for the setting you might want to describe the location with something unusual so it doesn't seem historical :nervous
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Offline MsSmigge

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Re: The mask of soul//chapter 1/ 05/01
« Reply #3 on: January 04, 2013, 11:53:59 PM »
Chapter 1 -  The bad luck just kept haunting her


It was quite chilly, considering it was almost summer. Usually at this time it was so warm, that people could easily walk in lighter clothes,  but now, the temperature was very close to zero and the blowing wind didn't make things any better. Risa cursed in her mind as a new blow of wind hit her again. She didn't have very much clothes on and what she had, were very thin ones. Walking helped to keep her warm somehow, but she was freezing all the time. She was shivering so badly, that even her teeth were clattering. Damn this county's weather...

Risa had walked for so long now, that she had no idea where she was. She hadn't even met any villagers, who would have helped her, in a long time. Now, she was in some kind of a forest, which had small foodpaths here and there. Someone else had been here too, so maybe, if she followed these roads, she would meet someone or at least get to a village or something.

After five minutes more walking, Risa reached a small open where was a pond. The pond was surrounded by rocks and there were also some kind of small trees around it. Oh, how Risa would've loved to sit on one of those rocks and rest for a while. But she could not; if she stopped now, she would be so tired, that once she would sit on those rocks, she would not get up again. And if she couldn't move, she would really freeze to death, so she really had to keep on moving on.
Just when Risa was about to pass the rocks, bad luck liked to tease her; She tripped on something and fell.

"OUCH!" Risa cried out, when her knee hit something hard. This was so great! Everything was against her nowdays! 

The ground was cold and a bit wet, which caused Risa's clothes to get moist She tried to get up, but she slipped and fell face first back to the ground.

"Oh, this is just so great...." She mumbled and tried again, only to fail again. She was so tired, that she couldn't even get up! What was she going to do now? If
she stayed here, she was open for all kind of dangers, plus, with her clothes wet, she would get cold very soon.

"Excuse me lady, do you need help?" A voice asked.

Slowly, Risa lifted her head, which was covered in grass and mud, and watched who had talked.
Above her, Risa could see two young women. They had some kind of worker clothes on and on top of that, both had a long coat-like rag. The other one had crouched down and was looking Risa with concerned eyes.

"Yeah... Help would be... great.." Risa mumbled as her head fell heavily back on the ground. Soon, she felt how pair of arms lifted her up and she was guided to a nearby rock. Risa sat down and tried not to fall down, which was easier said than done, for she was so tired.

"Here, take this. It helps." The other woman said.
Risa looked what was in front of her and was surprised to see something candy like in the woman's hand.

"It's just pure sugar with some honey. I'm sorry, that I don't have anything else, but I bet this is better than nothing.." The woman encouraged Risa, smiling a bit.

For a while Risa just stared blankly ahead of her before she realized what she was offered. Like a wolf, she took the sugar and ate it. It was too sweet for her liking, but there was no other options now. She would eat and gain some energy back, or then she would probably faint. She needed energy, or she would not be able to move forward. The woman smiled at her and took something from her small backpack. Soon, Risa had more these candies in front of her. She took a few more, but not all she was offered to. These two probably needed these things too.

In no time, Risa felt much better, thanks to the sugar, but she was still kinda weak. She could walk and all, but she would rather just lie down and stay still. Risa didn't remember when she had last time had proper sleep at night. All the nights, she had just wandered around and when she had tried to sleep, her memories would keep her awake with the cold. The idea of sleeping on the rocks was very tempting, but she just couldn't.

"Feel any better?" The woman asked. Risa turned her head to her saver and smiled at her a bit.

"Yes, thank you. Although, I need to rest some more, but at least I got some energy now. Really, thank you." Risa said, and bowed her head a bit. The two woman smiled back at her, bowing as well. Only now, Risa started to examine the persons in front of her. They were both probably in their twenties and judging by their clothes, they didn't have much wealth. These two looked like they were wandering around, like Risa, looking for better place to stay, after their homes were destroyed. Risa couldn't see much of their faces, for both had a some kind of hood over their head.

"No problem, but I am afraid we can't stay here for long. We got to keep moving. But before we go, take this. It might not help much, but at least you have something dry with you."

With that, the woman gave Risa a small blanket. It really wasn't much, but it was better than nothing.
Risa reached out and took the blanket, smiling to her companion.

"Thank you so much. I really appriciate this!" She said warmly to the couple in front of her. Soon, the two women left and  Risa was once again alone. She decided to eat a bit more candies and then, she would continue her journey.

Risa hopped down from the rock and started to walk slowly. She felt a bit dizzy, but she could not fall down now! After getting used to walking for a few minutes, Risa could finally move on. Her walking was quite slow, but after the sugar would kick in, she would be able to walk faster.
However, Risa could walk only few meters, when she heard something nearby her.The sound came from the bushes behind her and at first Risa thought, that it was just some animal. But When she stopped, the noise stopped as well. Risa frowned, but kept on walking. The rustle sound was there again. Somebody was following her! 

Risa spun around and examined her surroundings. The opening was very quiet for few seconds, but then the rustling sounded again.

"Come out." Risa commanded calmly and to her surprise, someone came into her view from the bushes. But this person was not something Risa wanted to meet now, for she was a soldier. Risa didn't know much about the soldiers or about the war, but she would surely recognize, when a person was in this land's samurai uniform. And this warrior was not.

"Oh great..." Risa muttered, as she tried to think where she could escape or hide. The warrior, who Risa recognized to be a female, had a short sword in her hand and at least three more on her waist. Risa wasn't a fighter and she didn't have weapon, while her opponent fought for her living and seemed to have quite many weapons and probably had some more around her body.
Suddenly, the soldier lunged forward and tried to attack Risa. Of course, Risa tried to dodge and she was lucky, that fast movements made her fall down, for she would not have her head now, if she hadn't fallen down, while trying to dodge the attack.

But, now she was in a trouble; how would she get up? She was still quite weak and the warrior would not give her time to get on her feet again. The warrior came closer and smiled like a maniac. She knew Risa's condition and had seen how weak she was now. Risa realized, that she could not escape this, but she would not die easily; she kicked with her legs to keep the soldier away and always tried to turn so, that she saw her opponent and could defend herself. The samurai just laughed dryly and came closer, when Risa could see her chance to hit. She aimed and put all her power in one single kick, which was sent straight to the samurai's groin. The kick hit, and the warrior gasped in pain and shock, as she packed away, keeping one hand between her legs.

'Arrogant bastard, I'm not as easy prey as you think...'

But the soldier recovered quite soon and now, she was even more furious than earlier. She started to move so fast, that Risa could not follow her and every time, Risa could not see her opponent, she would be kicked hard. She got kicks in her ribs, legs and arms, but somehow, she managed to protect her head. If she would get kicked in there, she would be as good as dead immediately. But if Risa didn't figure out soon, how to get out of this, her enemy would kick her to dead. She already could feel, how her legs and arms went numb from all the kicking. Then the attacks suddenly stopped. Risa had curled in a fetal position in order to protect herself better and she stayed like this for a while, after the attacks had subsided. What was going on? 

Slowly, Risa moved her arms from in front of her head, only to be greeted by a foot that kicked her in face. For a second, Risa lost her consciousness and let her guard fall. She recovered quite quickly, but the world around her was spinning so wildly, that Risa had to close her eyes. Finally, her surroundings calmed and Risa could see, how the samurai was now standing above her, holding a longer katana in her hands. She was ready to give Risa a dead blow.

'This is so damn great...'

Risa thought, when her vision started to blur again.

'No... Not now...'

Risa fought. She would not die here! Summoning all the power she had left, Risa focused on keeping her eyes open and head up. But no, she ended up only making the headache worse than it had been, when her head crashed to the ground. Risa could hear the warrior's laughter, when she was watching her pray to struggle. With her last powers, Risa forced her eyes open, to meet the katana above her. The sword got slowly higer and higher, when it suddenly fell down, straight to Risa's face. That was the last thing Risa saw and then, everything was dark. It was very dark, but not very quiet...

------

Yay, I finished the second chapter!  :cow:
I have the next chapters (about 3 of them) also written, but I just have to check them and probably, do some changes in them.

Thank you for the comments and interest. I am too lazy to answer them now XD Sorry....

But for the characters, please don't bother your mind with the identities of enemies, for they are not "real persons". I have taken them from my very wild imagination...  :nervous I didn't want to make anyone from the hello project bad, cause I just can't! XD Also, I don't know other Japanese music groups or so. I should learn more about them...

Oh, almost forgot: I bought a laptop yesterday, so I might be able to update more often, even if I am not at home. Yay~


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Offline kuro808

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Re: The mask of soul//chapter 1/ 05/01
« Reply #4 on: January 05, 2013, 01:14:00 AM »
Risa is the main character in this story :)

This chapter I find it interesting with the setting... saying that I thought it would be more fantasy-based than reality :nervous

keep up the good work :thumbup
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Offline rndmnwierd

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Re: The mask of soul//chapter 1/ 05/01
« Reply #5 on: January 05, 2013, 01:52:02 AM »
Ah, cliffhanger! Risa!~!

Offline MsSmigge

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Re: The mask of soul//chapter 2 /06/01
« Reply #6 on: January 06, 2013, 02:04:13 PM »
Kurosawa: Yeah, she kind of is, though it was not my intention...  XD When I was planning this story, I just realized that I was writing all the time "Risa did... Then Risa would... And then Risa...." So I just decided that, what the heck, let's make her the main character!

rndmnwierd: Yes, cliffhanger~ Because I like them. But hate them, when I am the one reading story... XD

Thank you for your comments!
Here's chapter 2~

----------------------------------


Chapter 2 – But the dead just couldn't get her



What the....'. Risa thought, as she was still in this dark place. Was she dead? No, for if she was dead, there would be no way this horrible headache would torture her anymore. But the warrior had hit her with the sword, she saw it!
But, where was the pain from the hit? Risa only had the headache and other aches in her body, but nothing else. Right now, she should not be able to think things like this, because her head should be sliced in two. Also, she could hear voices around her and if she was dead, she should not be able to hear a thing. What was going on?
Slowly, Risa uttered her eyes open, only to be greeted by a leg in front of her. Risa blinked, staring the black boot, till she slowly tried to turn her head to see, who was above her. However, the person moved away and the sunlight hit Risa's eyes, blinding her. There were sounds of fighting, metal hitting metal and then, it sounded like someone was running. Risa felt how she was lifted up in a sitting position and someone was talking to her. The voices got more quiet as Risa started to lose her consciousness and this time, she was sure, she was going to faint. But before the lights in her head totally shut down, Risa remembered two faces, which were joined by the third and finally, just before she passed out, a fourth one came into her view. Then, it was dark again.
-------

"Can we please gallop a little bit?? Please, Eri..."

"For the last time Reina, no, we cannot." Eri said, annoyed.

"But whyy?? Just a little bit?" Reina whined back.

"No."

"Please?"

"No."

"Please, please?"

"No, no."

"Please, please ple...."

"For the love of God you two, stop!"

The voice of Michishige shut Reina and Eri up. They were on their way back home from the burned village and they had traveled for a few days now, for the village had been the most faraway place in this land from their own village, so it took time to travel from there. Luckily, they had horses, so they could get back home in one week.

It had been a heavy task to clean the whole village and look for the survivors and the tiredness was written all over the girls faces. There had been another attack in the north, but it was luckily taken care of by some other troops. These kind of attacks were always very hard to handle; the girls had seen how whole families were buried under ruins and how everything in that once lively village had been destroyed. Of course, it had been positive if someone had survived, but almost everything was dead in that place now. But somehow, they had to move on, though everyone was tired and haunted by the things they had seen.

On the way, Reina had tried to cheer up her friends a bit, by proposing a small race. But Eri, being a bit suspicious of how their leader would react to that, denied it from Reina, causing the younger one to pout and start whining.
Sayumi, Eri and Reina were riding together, while Ai was riding a good way ahead of them. For some reason, the leader of the group had been acting very weird after they had completed their mission in the village. Not that Ai would talk much often, but now, she had been even more quiet than normally and that worried the other girls.

"Please, try to behave. There's still a possibility to meet enemies, so now is not the time for playing." Sayumi said in a gentle but firm tone.

Reina and Eri both nodded and continued moving on in a heavy silent. It really was a good thing, that someone could still think positive things in times like this, but just now, it wasn't the time for this kind of things. Sayumi gazed ahead, where their leader was riding. She encouraged her horse to trot and rode beside Ai. The samurai's head was down and it seemed, like she was deep in thoughts. She didn't react at all, when Sayu came to her side.

"Ai." She called the leader.

Ai was silent for a while, before she slowly raised her head, facing her subordinate. She didn't have her helmet or mask anymore and Sayu could see her whole face. Short brown locks were drenched from sweat and dark bags decorated the leader's face under her deep brown colored eyes. She had few scratches on her face and neck, as well some bruises here and there. They had faced some enemies on their way and of course that had led to fights. Luckily, the enemy usually had only small groups wandering around, so they survived the battles without any bigger wounds. Team Alfa was not a big group either, but they had more skills and probably more will to fight than their opponents. Also, they were more familiar with the ground too, for this was their homeland, so they could use it better than the enemy.

When Sayu met Ai's eyes she could see only a blank stare in those chocolate eyes. Ai said nothing, she just stared Sayu with that blank expression. Sayu realized, that her leader was not going to say anything and if she said nothing, Ai would probably yell at her for interrupting for nothing. Sayu was just about to open her mouth, when they heard some sounds nearby. Immediately, Ai was back on earth and listening, where the sound came from. Both warriors listened for a while, before Ai stopped her horse, got off the saddle and started to sneak towards the sound. The road they had ridden, had led them to a thin forest, so they would have a good view, if they ran into some enemies again.

"Ai, wait up!" Sayu whispered and did the same as her leader.

They used the forest's bushes and trees as a cover when they moved on, all the time listening and being prepared for anything. Then, Ai stopped suddenly and hid behind a tree. Sayu did the same and looked ahead. In front of them was an open and a young girl on the ground and another person, who was kicking her mercilessly. Ai and Sayu recognized the person, who was kicking the girl, immediately and both stared her in fury. By now, Eri and Reina had also arrived to the scene. They had noticed Ai and Sayu's horses and came into conclusion, that the two had met enemies or something like that. They had done the same, and were now with Ai and Sayu, watching the scene in front of them.

"Oh gosh..."

Eri whispered, as she saw the enemy warrior raise her sword and get ready to kill the girl on the ground. Without thinking some good plans or anything else, all the girls rushed out of their hiding place, only to notice, that their leader was gone. Suddenly, a loud thump was heard with a clang of metal. The trio turned to watch and found their leader standing above the girl, who had almost got killed. Ai had gone first, leaving her group behind, in order to save this girl. Soon, the leader continued on and attacked the enemy's warrior, who in turn was quite confused of the sudden attack.

"Come on! We have help that person! Ai can take care of the enemy!" Sayu yelled and ran to the woman Ai had just saved.

Eri and Reina nodded as they ran after Sayu. When they reached the girl, Sayu lifted her in a sitting position and tried to talk to her.

"Oi! Are you ok? Are you hurt?"

The girl only stared them blankly and said nothing. There were some blood on her face and she had a lot of bruises around her body. Sayu tried to shake her gently, but the girl didn't respond. Instead, she closed her eyes and passed out, just when Ai came back to her team, after finishing her opponent.

"Is she alive?" The leader asked quietly.

"Yes, but she is in a very weak condition..." Sayu said as she examined the girl, if she had any fatal wounds or something else. Reina and Eri watched how Sayu treated the girl, but something bothered Eri; where had she seen this girl before?

"We'll leave her in the next village we reach. Lets go." Ai said and started to leave the small opening.

"But Ai! The next village is quite far away. It would be probably better if we..."

"If we take her with us to the Castle." Eri interrupted, causing all the others to turn look at her, like she had grown another head.

"To the Castle?" Reina repeated slowly.

"Yeah, you know, there's a village around the Castle too. She can be treated in there as well, can't she." Eri said nonchalantly.

She saw no problem with taking this girl to their own village plus, it would be easier to take her there than to the next village. The castle was probably quite close now and there was also a place where this girl could be treated.

Ai had stopped and now, she was walking back to her group. She stopped in front of Eri and stared her coldly.

"You do realize, that the castle and the village around it, has only samurais and their families in it? It's a rule, that civilians wont live there."

Ai said in a low voice, as she watched Eri with a dark gaze. Eri didn't shiver. She was determined to take this girl with them to the castle, though she wasn't sure, why she wanted to do it.

"I do, but if we take one civilian in there, it wont kill anyone, would it?" She asked, but was almost immediately interrupted by her now annoyed leader:

"But if you take one, you end up taking another, till you have an army of civilians in that village!" Ai hissed angrily. She looked the girl, who was still in Sayu's arms, before she turned to face Eri again.

"She is left to a village next to the Castle. She wont come to the Castle." With that, Ai turned to leave again, but this time, Eri interrupted her.

"She comes with us to the Castle!"

She said in a loud voice, but didn't quite yell. Ai spun immediately around an walked briskly to Eri. She brought her face very close to the younger one's and glared her furiously.

"Since when you became the leader of this group?"

Eri swallowed a bit, but didn't falter back. She stared deep in Ai's eyes and showed no fear to her leader.

"I'm at least the sub leader of this group, so can't I make sound decisions too? And aren't you supposed to listen what your other subordinates have to say in this?"

There was a long silence. Ai was still staring at Eri, but then, she moved to face her two other subordinates. Sayu and Reina watched their leaders with worried expressions on their face, for it was not very usual for them to quarrel like this. Fighting really had tired them out, since both of them had lost their cool quite quickly. Soon, also Eri turned her face to Reina and Sayu, waiting for their opinion about this thing. Sayu seemed to realize what everyone was waiting for and opened her mouth.

"In my opinion, it's easier to take this girl into the Castle at first. We can move her into another village after she has recovered."

"I think... I think the same." Reina said quietly.

Ai examined her group for a while, before her eyes fell on the wounded girl again. Then, she glared at Eri and with that, she started to walk away again.

"Do whatever you want then, but I wont carry her..." Ai growled, as she disappeared in the woods.

Eri sighed in relief and went to Sayu and Reina.

"Let's take her to horses. I can carry her." She said as she met Sayu's eyes, which had a concerned look in them.

"Eri are you..."

"I'm fine. You know, it's just Ai-chan." Eri said happily as she helped Sayu to lift the girl up.

Sayu nodded her head and lifted the girl up as well. When they reached their horses, they got the girl on Eri's horse and continued on their journey. Ai had went ahead again and the trio was riding in their own little group.

After a while, they came out of the forest and were greeted by a huge open. In the distance, they could see a small hill with a big shinto style castle on it. The hill was still quite far away, but the huge building on it could be seen in distances. The group's face lit up a bit; finally, they were back at home.

As the group continued on, Eri took the picture she had in her pocket. She examined the drawing and then the girl, who was hunched over the saddle in front of her. Then, she turned the picture around and examined the names, which were written there. Eri stared the girl, the names and the picture for a while, before she whispered quietly:

"So, we got one survivor more... We'll take care of you, Risa."

---------

Fast update, cause like I said, I have a few of the next chapters already written~ Also, I have nothing else to do right now, so I decided to write this story :P
Lol, I should get a life.... XD


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Offline rndmnwierd

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Re: The mask of soul//chapter 2/ 06/01
« Reply #7 on: January 06, 2013, 02:36:07 PM »
I wasn't worried!~! I knew Ai and company would heroically save the day.... Yeah, knew that all along... :sweatdrop:

And now Eri knows who she is...

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Re: The mask of soul//chapter 2/ 06/01
« Reply #8 on: January 06, 2013, 03:01:38 PM »
Well she is a good main character :thumbsup

it has been a great story so far
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Re: The mask of soul//chapter 3/ 08/01
« Reply #9 on: January 08, 2013, 06:49:12 PM »
rndmnweird: Yes, yes, you wasn't worried at all  :roll:

Kurosawa87: Yes, she is~ And thank you!

Yah, again a fast update. I had some plans for tonight at first, but then it got cancelled, plus I had a hard today at work, so I decided to cancel one other plan too.... No, I am not lazy, I am just damn tired XD

I wasn't planing to send this here today, but now because of some changes, I do. I just had to recheck this, because I had written this times ago.
So here we go~


Chapter 3 – She was the first one to be welcomed


A sound of fast steps were heard in a big dark hall, when a very skinny servant moved as fast as she could, with a wineglass in her hands. She was walking very fast, for she was too weak to run. Her skinny legs tapped against the cold stone floor and her breathing was very fast. When she saw a huge black door, her steps got faster and now it looked like she was running. The servant pushed the door open and ran in a smaller hall which was occupied by some persons. As fast as she could, she ran to a big chair, where a person was sitting, with her legs and arms crossed. Cold shivers ran through the skinny female's body, as she approached the person in the chair. Her mistress was not happy, for she had had to wait for her drink.

"Took you long enough...." The person in the chair snarled, as she torn the glass from the servant. After that, she took a big sip from the glass, but soon, spit the wine to the ground.

"What the hell is this?! I told you I wanted red wine, not white wine!!" She roared and threw the glass towards the servant.
Sharp pain traveled through the servants skinny and weak body as she was hit by the glass. The glass broke and it's shatters caused only more wounds to her. But the servant couldn't concentrate on that pain for long, for she was roughly pulled up by her hair.

"You go fetch me a new glass with RED WINE. You have 2 minutes." The female in the chair hissed as she treated the female roughly. After the weak servant had nodded her head, she was harshly thrown to the ground.

"Now get out of my sight!"

With that the servant ran away, or rather walked away. There was no way, those skinny legs would stand running, if walking already was painful as hell. The female with long, dark brown hair growled as she examined the persons left in the room.

"You better have good news, or I'll make you my slaves as well..."
A female with same looks as the woman in the chair laughed a bit as she walked beside the other woman.

"No need to worry sis, we indeed have some good news. Captain, please."'
The woman with long, light brown hair, stepped a bit forward. She was quite tall, but she wasn't very skinny. She had a lot of muscles around her bones and that made her look even bigger than she already was. She faced the woman who was sitting in the chair and nodded with her head a bit.

"We have done as you asked, Heng-san. One village is destroyed and the other was damaged quite as well. What we don't know, is how much they are using their army to help their people, but I could guess...."

"Master! Master!" The woman was interrupted, as a soldier ran inside the hall. The soldier bowed deeply to the woman called Heng and even when he spoke, his face didn't raise.

"Master, I-I have news for you..." The man said shivering from fear.

"Spill it out, damn it!" Heng hissed, the other women watching the still bowing man with curiosity. What was going on now?

"We... We have found one of our bishops dead... She was patrolling alone and probably got ambushed or something..."

"You kidding me?" Heng interrupted angrily. The soldier raised his head and watched her mistress with confused eyes.

"What do you mean, my lord?" He asked slowly.
The woman leaned forward, which caused her pale face to come to the dim light. She stared that man with cold, dark eyes, but suddenly, a smile lit on her face.

"You're a new one, aren't you?" Heng asked sweetly, but somehow, her voice was very cold and evil.

"The man gulped once before he answered: "Y-yes my master...."

The evil smile only got wider after the man's answer and the woman looked like a maniac, who had just gotten a great idea.

"I see. Tell me, warrior, what's your name?"

"Me... My name... My name is Daisuke..." Daisuke answered, gulping once more.

Heng leaned a bit closer to the frightened man in front of her. She had still that evil grin on her face, as she examined the warrior, who was like he was talking to a ghost or something.

"You know, Daisuke," she said his name in a whisper, which caused Daisuke to tense even more, if it was possible. "you did well to inform me about things on the field, but"

Daisuke felt, how the woman pulled him closer to her, so he was now face to face with his Master.

"Delivering useless information, is a big mistake in this land..." With that, Heng pulled a small sword from somewhere and slashed the man in his throat. Daisuke could only gag few times, before his lifeless body hit the floor.

Heng just wiped the blood away from her sword and after that, she snapped her fingers once. Immediately, two servants came running into the hall and when they got beside their mistress, they bowed deeply.

"Get this out of here and clean this mess...." The woman said quite calmly. The servants did what they were ordered to and soon, the body was gone and the pool of blood was being taken care of too. The other women watched the whole scene like they were in a theater or something. Only thing what they would do, was to wipe the spilled blood away from their clothes.

"I can care less, what happens to a mere soldier on the field.... Idiot. I don't even care, what happens to a whole troop of men, as long as my orders are fulfilled and that damn land of Kibō, will be conquered and attached under my control!”

Heng yelled, as she sat back in her previous seat. The captain got closer, examining the place where the body had been a few minutes ago.

"Sayaka,"

The blonde raised her head showing, she was listening. Her lord rarely called her by her real name, but she couldn't care less. Maybe Heng got somehow in a good mood, when she got a chance to kill someone by her own hands and called her group leaders by their names, not by their ranks.

"Cather some men and do more strikes. And teach your men what kind of information I want to hear and what kind of information will grant them a ticket to hell."

The captain nodded once and turned around to leave. The two other women left in the room, went also with her, leaving their leader alone in the hall. The brunette sat for a long time in a silence, before she got up and went to a small window. She moved the curtains away and watched the scene in front of her.

"I'm coming for you. Soon, your land shall be under my control and your name will be vanished forever, as does everyone in your land.... As long, as my name is Heng, the name, that shall be remembered, while yours, shall disappear from this world.."


-----------------------------

"Ah, they have returned!"

A small girl shout out loud, as she saw the opening city gates and the arriving soldiers. Soon, the other villagers noticed the group too and everyone who could, came to watch. There was cheering, laughing and whispering as the group of four samurais passed by. When the unconscious girl was noticed, all the cheering changed into whispering; never ever before, had anyone, who returned from the field, brought back a person who wasn't recognized in this city. In other words, only soldiers came back and if they brought someone, they would bring only wounded soldiers. But now, there was a civilian carried inside this place's walls and it really caused confusion amongst the citizens.

 The group rode forwards through the village, till they reached a smaller gate. The gate was slowly opened and behind that came a woman, who was dressed in a red and gorgeous, kimono like dress. The woman was in her thirties, but she looked much younger. Her middle length hair had some beautiful flowers in it as a decoration and on top of her head, was a small golden throne. She had her hands behind her back and it looked like, she was waiting for something. And indeed she was; her soldiers had returned home and though her land had suffered from big lost, it always warmed the king's mind, when she saw someone of her own return home.

The group stopped in front of the woman and everyone landed. Ai walked in front, while the rest of the group followed her behind, Reina carrying the unconcsious Risa. All of them dropped on one knee and bowed to their king.

"My lord, we have returned and fulfilled our mission..." Ai reported to the king. The king shook her head slowly, before she raised her hands, palms upwards, like she was summoning something or someone.

"How many times I have to tell you, Takahashi, that you don't have to be so formal in front of me."

"But..." Ai tried to protest, but her king was already speaking again.

"I may be your king, but I am also a human like everyone else here. Leave the formalities for later and raise, all of you." The king said warmly to her soldiers in front of her.

With that said, the whole group got up immediately and faced their leader, who kept her warm smile up.

"Welcome home." She said softly, but then, suddenly, her smile dropped. The king moved forward and walked through the group, the soldiers giving way to their leader, and stopped in front of Reina, who had Risa still in her arms. The king examined the girl for a while, before she glanced Reina with curious expression.

"And who's this?" The king asked.

"Ano...." Reina said nervously, but Eri intrerrupted her:

"We found her from the village we were in! Or.... I mean, she's from the village, but we just found her nearby the Castle..."

All the group members raised their eyebrow's to the sub leader's answer. How did Eri know where this girl was from? Anyhow, no one got the change to question Eri, when their king was talking again.

"Hmmmm... she seems to be in a pretty bad condition... Please, take her to the nurse's place. She needs some treatment."

"My lord," Ai interrupted, which cause the king to turn around to face her.

"We are going to take her to a nearby village. She can be treated there." Ai said, as she glanced the girl in Reina's arms. The king had a confused expression on her face. She looked at Risa and then turned her back to Ai.

"Why would you do that?" She asked.

Ai frowned a bit, but kept on talking.

"What do you mean, my lord?" She asked.

"I mean, why should she be taken to a nearby village? She can be treated here as well." The king said quite nonchalantly.

Now Ai was very confused. What the hell was this?

"But my lord, the rule!" Ai said, a bit louder now as she tried to control her nerves. The group leader was not in a mood to talk about this kind of things. She had a lot of things to do and now, her precious time was wasted to this.

"What rule?" The king asked, after she had thought for a while, what Ai had meant.

"The rule, about only soldiers living in here??"

"Oh that one... Didn't I already cancel that one, did I?" The king asked and turned now to look at Eri, Reina and Sayu, who all had a confused expression on their face. There was a heavy silent, as the king waited for an answer, while Sayu, Eri and Reina waited for someone to speak and save them from this situation.

"My lord, you never did...."Ai started, only to be interrupted once again by her king.

"Well now I do!” The king exclaimed happily. “And for the love of God, Takahashi, stop that “my lord” thing.... You know I have a name too!" The king chirped happily, shocking the whole warrior group in front of her..

"But, but.... No one has never ever been taken to here from outside..."

“Well that's because you never brought anyone. If you had, I would have allowed them to stay here if needed." The king said. In truth, she had totally forgotten this kind of rule, but now it was mentioned, she recalled that she had heard of it somewhere. Well, after this, she would never ever hear it again.

"Yes, because of the rule my lord...." Ai said a bit annoyed now.

"Well, it's my bad, I din't inform you about that rule change. I never really understood why only soldiers should have been the only ones living in this city." The king said nonchalantly, causing Ai to lose her control of herself, little by little.

"My lord, it's..." The warrior began, now clearly annoyed, but her king was annoyed too, for her orders were not obeyed.

Takahashi, how many times do I have to tell you, to not say "my lord"? Really, I prefer my name. Please use that." The king said, but she didn't show her annoyance as much as Ai did.

"But my lord...."

"Oh my..... Takahashi I order you to use my name!" The king cried out. She faced the young samurai who had a deer in the headlights face now. Finally, the young warrior took a few steps back and bowed a bit.

"Yes.... Yoshizawa-san."

"Thaaat's much better, ne?" The king said happily, before she turned to the trio again.

“Ok, so let's get the things rolling on here!” Yoshizawa announced, clapping her hands together and scaring her warriors even more. The king was very nice and gentle, but sometimes, she just scared everyone despite that. Maybe it was, that every single warrior knew, what this gentle king of theirs was able to do, when annoyed or angry.

"Reina, take this newcomer to the nurse. Sayu, go check the troops and Eri, go treat the horses and equipment. Questions? No. Great. Go." Yoshizawa said. The trio saluted and went to their tasks, leaving the king and Ai alone.

"And you," Yoshizawa said, turning to Ai, who immediately snapped attention, when she heard her king talking. There was a long silence, when Yoshizawa suddenly started to think something. Ai waited, though she really wanted to leave already, for she had so much things to do. Finally, her king spoke again:

"Actually, you follow Reina to the nurse. You need to be treated as well."

"I'm fine..." Ai started, but Yoshizawa interrupted her by holding her hand up.

"No, you're not. Go rest. We have groups here and we need your's well rest and healthy. Go now."

With that, the king started to walk back to the castle behind them, leaving the confused group leader stand alone in the castle's yard. Ai did not need rest, she needed time and some alone time to get prepared for the next mission.
But that was what her king had said and though Ai really wanted to disobey it, she just couldn't, for she respected her leader so much. With that, The group leader headed to the nurse's place. And though, Ai would not say it out loud and she hardly admit it to herself, she was kind of happy, that she finally got some time to rest.

-------


“Poor girl, must have had a hard trip...” Reina said, as she flexed her arms, as she walked on with Sayu. They had just left Risa at the nurse's place and were now leaving for their own missions, which the king had given to them. Though Reina had quite much strength, it had been quite hard to carry Risa around, for she was so tired from their last mission. But Reina had fulfilled her mission till the end, without any negative word.

“Yeah, she seemed to be in a very bad condition... But I think she will recover, for she...”

“Sayu! Reina! Wait up!” Sayu was interrupted by Eri, who ran after them. She was breathing quite fast, when she caught the two soldiers and immediately, Sayu was beside her, a worried expression on her face.

“What now?” Sayu asked, but soon, Eri continued.

"Did... Did you recognize that... girl?” She puffed, for her breathing was still very unsteady because of all the running. Sayu and Reina Glanced each others, before they turned back to Eri again.

“Recognize her? What do yo...” Sayu was once again interrupted by the turtle, as Eri pushed the picture she had, in her face. Both Sayu and Reina examined the picture, till Reina whispered quietly.

“Oh my gosh... This is the same girl we saved today!” Se yelled, as she pointed Risa in the drawing. Now Sayu had also realized who this girl was and was shocked as well.

“What a coincidence, ne...” Eri said, smiling a bit, while the two other warriors just nodded. What a coincidence indeed.

“Did you... Did you recognize her immediately?” Reina asked, turning her head towards Eri.

“No. I had my a feeling, I have seen that girl in somewhere, but I recognized her after we were on our way again.”

The three of them fell in silence, as they were still examining the beautiful drawing of Risa and her family. All they had in mind, was just how horrible times this girl had had lately and how she would recover from all of this.


-------


Yay, chapter three, with some new person's~ Or well, the bad guys are just from my imagination... Some random dudes XD
And just to clarify, Kibō is the land's name, where the good guys live in.

Hope you enjoyed this and thank you all for your interest! I really appreciate it!  :kneelbow:
« Last Edit: January 11, 2013, 11:05:32 PM by MsSmigge »


Knowing is not enough, we must apply. Willing is not enough, we must do.

Offline kuro808

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Re: The mask of soul//chapter 3/ 08/01
« Reply #10 on: January 08, 2013, 07:33:57 PM »
The bad guys are a serious group of people :lol:
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Offline rndmnwierd

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Re: The mask of soul//chapter 3/ 08/01
« Reply #11 on: January 08, 2013, 08:30:56 PM »
Bad guys are established, Lols set Yossie, and Risa sleeps through it all.

Offline MsSmigge

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Re: The mask of soul//chapter 4/ 12/01
« Reply #12 on: January 11, 2013, 11:04:00 PM »
A new chapter again, for I have nothing else to do now than write this fic~
Thank you so much for your interest and comments again! They really mean a lot to me.
Here we go again~



Chapter 4 – But not everyone was happy for her being here


'what the heck??'
Risa thought, as she was laying on her back. She was in her own bed, sleeping and having some nice dream, when something itched her eyes. As Risa opened them, the sunlight hit her, blinding her completely. Then she heard voices, which weren't familiar, and then...


"She's waking up!!"

Very slowly, Risa opened her eyes and examined her surroundings. She was in a small room, which was very bright and the white floor and walls made it look even more bright. She made a fast scanning of the room and soon realized, she was in  some kind of a hospital or nurse building.

Then, Risa turned her gaze to the persons in the room. There were two of them; one had about a shoulder length, brunette hair and a bright smile on her face, when the other had a bit longer, but same colored hair. The later one had also very happy expression on her face as she examined Risa. Risa blinked few times before she tried to speak. But all she could get out was some coughing. Gosh, her throat was dry!

"Hurry! Get some water for her!"

The other woman shouted. Soon, Risa was pulled into a sitting position and served some water. She drank greedily, the cold liquid caressing her sore throat. When the water was gone, Risa took few deep breaths and tried to gather her thoughts. Where was she? Why was she in this condition? What was going on?

"I bet you have a lot of questions, but please, for now try to rest. You don't look very well yet."

Risa turned her head towards the smaller woman, who had a smile, bright as the sun, on her face. The other woman beside her, nodded and smiled as well. Risa was confused; who the hell were these people and why were they helping her?

"Oh! I almost forgot to introduce myself! I'm Kameri Eri. You can call me just Eri."

"And I'm LinLin. The nurse of this village."

'Village...'

Some memories flashed in Risa's mind, as she tried to remember what had happened before.
She stared the two women in front of her, before she realized, that maybe she had to introduce herself too.

"I'm... I'm Niigaki Risa." Her voice was hoarse and weak, but somehow she managed to speak so loud, so that the others would hear what she said.

"Oh yeah, we already know that," Eri chirped happily, causing Risa to frown. How did she know who she was? "We will explain that later, but now we have to get you in a better condition. So please, rest now." With that said, Eri got up and was about to leave, when suddenly, Risa stopped her.

"Wait!"

Risa wheezed. She had also tried to jump off from the bed, but got stopped when she realized, that she had no energy left for that. Finally, everything got a bit more clear in her head. She remembered the attack, her journey and the fight she was in. She also remembered those faces she saw before passing out, though they were a bit blur. She wanted to know what had happened. But all Risa got as an answer, was the two woman pulling her back to bed.

"No no. You rest now! Don't worry, it will probably take only few days for you to recover, for you don't have any fatal wounds or something like that." Eri said, as she laid Risa back in the bed with LinLin.

"Eri's right. The more you rest, the sooner you get out of here." The nurse said warmly.

Risa watched the two women in confusion and tried to get up once more, only to be pushed back to bed. Finally, she gave up. She had no energy left for fighting plus, if what Eri said was true, she would rest and get sooner out of here. When Eri and LinLin noticed, that Risa had finally stopped trying to get up, they released the girl and smiled at her.

"Don't worry. You'll get out of here soon. You just need to rest a while and after that, we are going to show this place to you." Eri said, as she patted Risa's head a bit.

"Wait...." Risa said suddenly, causing the other women smiles to drop.

"Where am I?" She asked with in a quiet voice, for her throat started to hurt once again. Eri was quiet and just turned her head away from Risa. This girl had lost everything she had and now, she was going to have a whole new life in a strange place and very far away from her home village. Eri wondered, did Risa even remember what had happened to her or her hometown? A sad smile crept on her face, as she turned to face Risa again.

"We are in the Castle. This is going to be your home for a while. Please rest now. LinLin will take care of you. See you later!"

And with that, Eri got up and exited the nurse's room. Risa stared the spot, where Eri had been a while ago and said nothing. LinLin just smiled at her and put something on a table next to Risa's bed.

“Why don't you get some more rest? I bet you really want to get out of here, so you can get all the answers to your questions, which are bothering you right now.”

Risa frowned and turned to face the nurse, who was gathering something in her arms. She turned to smile at  Risa once more, before she left he girk alone in the room. Maybe it was quite presumable, that after this kind of experiences, people would have a lot of questions. And Risa indeed had, but she could not get any answers now, for she was stuck in here. So, she decided to do the next best thing, and lay down on the bed. She tried to get those horrible pictures away from her head, where her family was burned over and over again. Those pictures would probably haunt her for the rest of her life, but she would not let them weaken her. It was just the opposite; she would use this as her source of power to find the peace she grieved so much. She would not give in, she would fight on. With these thought in her mind, Risa turned on her side and closed her eyes, wondering what kind of place this Castle would be to live in.


------------------------------


After one week of spending her time in the nurse's room, Risa was finally allowed to get out. However, she wasn't allowed to move alone, for she was still in a quite weak condition. Or at least, that's what the others were saying, because Risa felt she was okay now. Maybe a bit tired, but damn, she would survive without help now. But it would have been rude to reject this kind of help she was offered to plus, if someone was with her all the time, she would get to know some people better.

At first, it had been a big question mark, who would watch after her and it had seemed like Risa would get some more time in the nurses's place. Luckily, Eri had had time, cause the team Alfa was not needed right now. There had been only small attacks which were taken care of by normal groups, so Eri had volunteered to take care of Risa, till she was needed again on the battlefield. Now, the two women were standing outside the nurse's house, getting ready to leave for some city tour. Risa had borrowed some clothes from LinLin and now she had some kind of big pants, which reminded her more of a skirt, and a grey coat like thing on. In her feet, she had zori shoes. Eri had quite the same costume, but her clothes were all black. She also had another coat on her, which was longer and had some splits in the hem, allowing Eri to move her legs freely. She also had two katanas and one shorter sword on her waist. All the weapons were black too, but they had some small golden decorations on them.

"You okay with walking?" Eri asked a bit concerned, but all she got as an answer was an annoyed huff and Risa's angry glare.

"I have been in bed for one week, though, I was able to walk after one day rest! I am very able to walk, thanks for your concern..."

Risa mumbled, as she started to walk forward, Eri at her heels. They walked through the village's market place, where people politely greeted Eri and some even said hello to Risa too. This village felt quite nice and it had some same things, as back at home. 'or rather, former home....'

"Hey, you ok?"

Risa heard a concerned voice and when she lifted her head up, she found Eri looking at her with concerned eyes. Risa had stared in empty space for a while, like she had been deep in thoughts and Eri of course, had gotten worried about it. Risa just shook her head a bit and smiled warmly to her companion.

"Yes, I am. Thank you. Where shall we go next?" She asked Eri.

"Um, ok then. Hey, I want to take you in one place! Come on!" Eri said cheerfully and dragged Risa with her, minding her wounds all the time. Soon, the two arrived at a small fenced area. It reminded Risa of a military building, maybe some kind of training building or something...

"Come on, lets get inside."

And with that, Eri took Risa with her inside the building, where they were immediately met by two warriors, who were chatting something. Both had same costume as Eri had, but the colors of the long coats were different, one wearing a dark blue while the other had a dark red coat. Also these two were carrying weapons. They both turned around to meet the newcomers and in no time, a huge smile lid on their face, as they saw who had entered the building.

"Eri!"

Both warriors exclaimed at the same time. Eri Waved a bit and went to greet her friends. She hugged both Reina and Sayu at the same time, laughing happily. Risa watched the scene in front of her, smiling a bit. It was a good thing there was happiness in times like this. Soon, Eri ended the bear hug, ran to Risa, caught her arm and pulled her in front of her friends.

"Meet my friends, my group mates and the best warriors in this place!" Eri chirped happily, which caused Reina and Sayu to roll their eyes.

"Yes, friends and group mates went right, but the last one was...."

"Correct!" Reina interrupted Sayu with a broad smile. Sayu looked the other warrior and ended up rolling her eyes again, before she turned back to Risa.

"Well, whatever... I am Michishige Sayumi, the brains of this group. It's a pleasure to meet you." She bowed a bit, Risa copying her actions. Then, Reina stepped forwards and bowed to Risa as well.

"Tanaka Reina, the power of this group. Nice to meet you, and welcome to the Castle!" She said with a big grin and she even winked to Risa, causing her to chuckle a bit.

"Niigaki Risa. Nice to meet you both." Risa said, smiling politely at these two warriors who seemed, at least by their first impression, to be very polite and nice persons.

"We form the group Team Alfa. I'm the sub leader of the group and Sayu and Reina are our subordinates. But in the end, we are all the same group... We are not so formal."

Eri explained eagerly. Risa nodded her head, but suddenly she remembered something. These face, she had a blurry memory of them, but she still remembered them somehow. And she also remembered, in which situation she had seen these faces. She would not be standing here, if these persons hadn't saved her when she had been attacked in the forest.

"Oh! I almost forgot!" She exclaimed and soon, she was bowing in front of the trio, causing all the members to look at her in confusion; what on earth was this girl doing?

"I haven't thanked you for saving my life." She said and raised her head a bit to look at the warriors in front of her. There was an awkward silence, which was broken by Eri laughing nervously.

"Well, we couldn't just leave you there, ne? We just did our job, right guys?"

Sayu nodded, agreeing with Eri, but Reina stepped a bit forward, smiling broadly.

"If you ever need someone to save you, you can always trust me! I am made to save people!"

She said to Risa, winking her eyes again. Risa raised her eye brown a bit, but ended up to chuckle again. Reina amused her somehow, but she didn't know why. Risa raised her head up and smiled to the group, who in return smiled too, mesmerized by the warm feeling they got, when they just looked in this girl's eyes. She had so gentle being and she was smiling almost all the time. They didn't even know this girl yet, but somehow, all the three thought, that they would like Risa and get well along with her in the future.

"Well, now that I have met most of this group, I would also like to meet the last member." Risa said happily. She remembered four faces and one was missing, which meant that she hadn't met the last person in this group. Or well Risa didn't know if that person was in this group, but so she assumed.

But what she got as an response, was something she didn't expect; All the three warriors in front of her were turning around nervously, as if trying to figure out, what to say.

"Ano... Maybe it's better, you'll meet her later because..." Eri started.

"Cause what?" Risa asked confused.

"Welll... cause..."

Reina kept on, till she was interrupted by a loud bang of a door. All four turned to watch, as a fully armored samurai entered the training area. She stopped for a while, before she walked to the group, taking her helmet off at the same time. Risa gasped a bit as she saw the warrior's face. This was the person, she saw last and for some reason, this face hat burned into her mind the best. That short brown hair, with small and beautiful face, but with a cold and dark eyes. This face was the most clear to Risa, but she didn't know why. The warrior had a bit sweat on her forehead, which revealed, that she had been training a while ago.

The group nodded a bit to their leader, as she stopped in front of them. Ai didn't respond. She only stared them for a while before she turned her gaze to Risa. They glanced each others for a long while, when a heavy silence filled the whole training area. Then, Risa decided to greet this person; she smiled warmly and bowed a bit tot he warrior in front of her.

"Hello, you must be the last member of this group. I'm Nii...."

Suddenly, Ai just turned around and walked to a small table. Risa was shocked; why did she do that? Had she do something wrong? At the same time, the rest of the group shook their heads with a sad expressions on their face. They had feared something like this would happen and had planned to avoid this meeting as long as possible, but seemed like the good luck didn't want to help them today.

Risa stood stunned for a while, watching as the warrior took of her helmet and some training clothes, leaving her clad in a white shirt and black shorts. Risa could see all the scars around her muscular hands and legs. This woman really had trained a lot. If Risa had only seen this person's body, she would have thought that she was a male, for she had so well built body.

Soon, Risa found herself marching towards the leader; she was going to try introduce herself again. She stopped beside the samurai and surprisingly saw that they were the same height. Risa smiled again and tried to make eye contact whit the person next to her.

"Ano, I didn't get to introduce myself. My name is Niigaki Risa. Nice to meet you."

Again, a deep silence followed her introducion. Ai just kept putting her equipment away and was like Risa wasn't there. Risa frowned and tried again,this time, speaking a bit louder.

"Excuse me but...."

"What does it take to you to understand "I don't care who the hell are you"?

Suddenly, the samurai had spun around and growled at Risa. Risa took few steps back and looked confused. She had just tried to be polite, for God's sake! What had she done wrong and why was this woman so angry?
Ai glared Risa for a while, before she put her last equipment away and disappeared in a nearby room, shutting the door behind her with a loud bang. It was silent again, the only sound being the fading thump from Ai's steps. Risa stared the door Ai had just went with shocked expression, but soon her face turned into a frown. Then, she suddenly spun around and faced the trio behind her, who all had a worried expression on their faces.

"What's her problem?" Risa asked, her voice a bit irritated now. The three warriors stayed silent for a moment, before Sayu opened her mouth.

"Ai-Chan... She's just... How could I say it..." Sayu muttered, scratching her head as she tried to think how to explain this.

"She... She has changed during the years..." Eri whispered..
"
Changed? What do you mean?" Risa almost shouted now, for her annoyance had raised a lot after that small encounter with the warrior. She usually was very calm, but now for some reason, she got frustrated quite quickly. Somehow, this person had really ticked her of and Risa had difficulties with controlling her emotions.

"She hasn't been like that all the time." Reina said in turn. All in the room turned to stare at her, Sayu and Eri with a bit surprised expression, while Risa, in turn, had still her frown on. Reina faced Risa and spoke again:

"Ai-chan changed when she was 15, but we really don't know..." Reina was about to start, but then a loud bang interrupted her. Everyone turned to look at the door, where Ai was standing. She stared her team with furious expression and soon, she walked in front of the three, making them all to back up a bit and Risa could see some kinf of  fear in their eyes.

"Who are you to tell about my life? What have I told you about this thing?" Ai said in a very cold tone, which caused everyone, even Risa, to flinch. Reina lifted her head up to meet with her leaders gaze, before she spoke.

"To not talk about it." She said quietly, allowing her gaze to drop to the ground.

"I believe and truly hope, we don't have to talk about this anymore, never again." The leader growled, looking all of her teammates, who in turn nodded in approval. Then, Ai pivoted around and walked to Risa. She stopped in front of her and pointed her with her index finger.

"And you. Stay away from here. This is a place for warriors, not for some weak persons." Ai hissed to Risa and with that, she was gone again. Risa stared after Ai in disbelief and then turned once again her gaze to the trio, who still looked quite scared.

"Who the hell she think she is? Is she some kind of..." Risa stopped, as she counted 1+1 in her head, realizing, that the woman was this group's leader. “No way....”

"Please, don't get her wrong... This is not the real her and Ai is a good leader, but she just has had... Some hard times." Eri said quietly and looked away. Risa couldn't believe this. This just wasn't right! That warrior had wonderful persons in her team and all she did was acting like an arse towards them! This wasn't how leader should treat her group.

"Everyone experiences some hard times in war! I understand if she is sad and all, shocked or something but..."

Risa took few deep breaths before she continued on. Somehow, Ai's rude actions had gotten her very pissed of. It wasn't very usual of her to open up like this, but now she did.

"but that's not an excuse to act like she did." The last of the sentence came in a more gentle tone. The trio looked at Risa, who was glaring the ground. She had calmed herself down very quickly, for she didn't want to dissolve her frustration to these girls. It wasn't their problem if she was angry. Was the leader's name Ai? Well, anyways, it was her problem, for she had been so rude. After her small rant, Risa faced the trio again and smiled sheepishly at them.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to yell at you..."

"It's quite ok. But really, don't get Ai wrong. She's a good person, but she just isn't very good at showing it." Sayu said with a smile, leaving her leaders rough past out of this conversation, because she didn't want to anger her leader anymore. If she said that no one should talk about it, then they really should not.

"She's a jerk..." Risa huffed, as she glared at the door, where Ai had walked a while ago. usually, Risa would think thinks like, “She must have something good in her too”, but now, she was very irritated and could think only negative things. And the most weird thing was, that she didn't know, why she was acting like this, for she usually kept her negative emotions in a good control.

"Yeah, she may be a jerk, but she's our leader and we wouldn't be following her, if she hadn't done some right things sometimes." Reina said, smiling as well.

"But I wonder, why she acted so rude towards Risa..."

Eri said, deep in thoughts. Sayu just shook her head and walked besides Eri, wrapping one of her arms around her middle and pulling her closer. Eri was a bit surprised but didn't reject the other woman's embrace.

"Don't mind Ai, she's just like soldiers are, a bit rude and cold. She will get used to you in no time." Sayu assured as she kept embracing Eri, who was still thinking this small incident that happened few minutes ago.

"Well I really hope that... I wont watch that kind of behaviour for long..." Risa huffed and crossed her arms in front of her.

Sayu chuckled a bit. Well, at least Risa got guts, when she reacted like that to Ai's behaviour. Someone weaker would have taken it quite seriously and even get scared, but Risa more likely answered back. If  Aihad stayed longer, Sayu was quite sure, that those two would have began to argue in no time.

Suddenly, Sayu started to push Eri a bit forwards, intimating her to move. The turtle took the hint an started walking, with a confused look on her face. She didn't get the chance to ask Sayu, what was she doing, for the other girl spoke firts.

"But if you'll excuse us now, we must leave for training. We'll see you around. Reina let's go!"

Sayu said happily and waved her hand to get Reina's attention. The other warrior nodded smiling and followed the couple outside. Risa watched the trio go away, smiling softly. They were just so nice people and even her anger subsided a bit when she just watched them. Risa herself started to leave the room too, but when she got to the door, she pumped into someone. When she looked up, Risa found Eri huffing in front of her, her cheeks a bit red.

"I almost forgot!" She said as she breathed quite fast, but continued soon. "Don't mind what Ai said. You're always welcome to come over here. If she has something to say to that, just tell her that you're my friend and she will drop it." Eri said smiling, making Risa watch her with a questioning look.

"Friends are allowed here and well... We are kinda friends or at least we will be, ne?" Eri said smiling, her breathing now calmed. Risa smiled as well at the turtle in front of her. She nodded her head in approval and the smile on Eri's face got even bigger, but it dropped soon, when she saw Risa's expression change.

"But there's just one thing..." Risa started, frowning a bit "Why are you so out of breath suddenly? And you look kinda red too, is everything ok?" Risa asked the turtle.

"Oh, it's nothing, Sayu just got a bit eager and...."

It seemed like Eri realized who she was talking to and what she was just about to say. Risa raised her eye brown  in surprise, but soon she had a mischievous grin on her face. But, before she could say anything, Eri was already running away.

"Forget what I said! You're free to go anywhere you want, but please be careful!"

Eri shouted as she disappeared behind the corner. Risa chuckled a bit to the Turtle's behaviour. That girl seemed to be very close with Sayu. Risa left the training area, musing the words Eri had said to her, in her head.

'Friends huh... I indeed hope I'll be friends with these people...'

Then, a certain person's face popped in Risa's mind, which caused a frown to appear on her face. She huffed and started to walk faster, as if trying to get the picture of this person out of her head.

'But SHE.... I'd rather not talk with that person again...'


-----------------------------------------


First, I am sorry if this chapter is a bit confusing... I had written this a long time ago, then I made some changes in that and of course my computer had to do some funny things and it didn't save that version... I had to do the changes and reread it again quite many times, before I got even close to the version I wanted. I tried my best with checking the mistakes, but I am quite tired again, so... Well you can guess the rest.

So there might be some funny incongruities. If you notice some, please inform me and I'll fix it XD
And yes, Sayu is quite wise in this fic, that's not an incongruity, lol! XD

Hope you like this chapter~


Knowing is not enough, we must apply. Willing is not enough, we must do.

Offline kuro808

  • Konkon + HKT + JPH!P= <3 and Happiness
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    • Kurosawa87
Re: The mask of soul//chapter 4/ 12/01
« Reply #13 on: January 11, 2013, 11:29:12 PM »
Ai is caught up in the battles happening around them.  Weird introduction to Ai though :sweatdrop:

Interesting :thumbsup
Random Thought:

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R.I.P. Jab!  Dad/friend

Offline rndmnwierd

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Re: The mask of soul//chapter 4/ 12/01
« Reply #14 on: January 12, 2013, 06:10:43 AM »
Ah, I know it will be Takagaki later, but after Reina's intro, I kind of want some Tanagaki... :sweatdrop:

Offline MsSmigge

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Re: The mask of soul//chapter 5/ 17/01
« Reply #15 on: January 17, 2013, 10:37:56 PM »
Kurosawa87: Well, you'll find out more about her later  8)

rndmnweird: What? Me writing a Takagaki fic? No way, where did you get that? And I wont say a thing about that Tanagaki........ XD



Yah, This is a bit shorter update, but I'll probably update another chapter in few days.
And this chapter might have A LOT OF MISTAKES, because guess who didn't get any sleep last night, but still wanted to update this now.  :doh:

Here we go~



Chapter 5 – And then, the king wanted to see her


It had been about three weeks, when Risa had talked with the Team Alfa and met Ai for the first time face to face. During those weeks, Risa had lived in the nurse's place, for she didn't have any other place where she could stay. She had helped LinLin and she came to notice that the nurse was very alike she was; a very positive and happy person, who always treated everyone very gently. She was very skilled nurse, though she was so young and knew a lot about her profession. Risa could think she had done this job for years, but she was shocked, when LinLin revealed that she had been working only for two years. She had studied nursing for her whole life, for she was very interested in biology and stuff and she also wanted to help people as much as she could. Risa was very taken by this person and she was also very thankful, that she let her to stay with her. But what kept bothering, was the way how LinLin seemed to know all the time, what she was thinking about or what she wanted. Once, they had been eating and Risa had decided to take some more rice but before she could have moved an inch, LinLin had put some more rice in her bowl. The girl just did that and said nothing, just smiled. It was very polite and all, but in the end it was also kinda scary. Those kind of things happened once in a while, but Risa just decided to ignore them, for it was nothing negative in the end, just a bit weird.

Then, one day, when Risa had just woken up, there was another person in the nurse's office. At first Risa thought she was just a customer, but soon noticed the person's clothes. The person had dark blue Hakama pants, which Risa had learnt, was the name of these skirt like pants, and a black coat on. She had also a funny square hat on her head, which had golden robes hanging from it. This costume gave an image, that this person was in a some kind of high position.

When Risa entered the room, the woman in front of LinLin turned towards her, smiled and bowed a bit.

"Good morning, Niigaki-san, or should I say, good day."

Risa blinked in surprise. First of all, this person talked to her in a respectful tone, bowed to her and.... Good day?

"Huh? OMG I overslept!!??" Risa screamed in panicked as she Glanced outside. Indeed, the sun was high up in the sky, which meant it was already midday. Suddenly, something else came to her mind. She had just woken up and she came straight to here...

"Oh my... J-just a second!! I'll be right back!!"

Risa shout as she ran back in her room. She was in her night suit, which was one kind of white shorts and a white top. Also, her hair was like she had had an electric shock and she had just walked in front of someone quite high ranking person. Or at least she thought so, how could she know.

Risa quickly changed her clothes, this time wearing a bit better clothes than few weeks ago. LinLin had given her the same piece of clothes as before, but they were in a better condition and looked more neat. Now, Risa had grey Hakama pants, whit white stripes and a dark green coat, which reached her middle-thighs and under that, she had a white shirt. Her hair was also arranged better, tied in a loose bun behind her head. After this all was done, Risa returned to the room, where the two other persons were still chatting something together.

"There's our sunshine!"

LinLin chirped happily, causing the other woman to turn around to face the younger girl. Risa blushed a bit and smiled nervously. How awkward was this. She had so gotten used to live with LinLin now, that she sometimes forgot to change her clothes before she emerged from her room. Well, after this morning, she would not do the same mistake again.

"Yeah, Hi.... Ano, sorry about that... I was just surprised and kinda... unprepared."

Risa said nervously to the woman who had talked to her earlier. The woman just chuckled a bit and she seemed like she didn't mind this at all.

"No worries. It's nothing. Anyways, Niigaki-san, I am the king's personal counselor, JunJun, and I am here to fetch you to the King's palace."

"EEH?" Risa said shocked. Why would the king want her to be fetched in her palace? What was going on?

"It's nothing to worry about. My lord just wants to meet you properly and talk to you about some things." JunJun assured Risa, chuckling a bit. Risa Glanced at LinLin, who only smiled at her. Well, the people in here took care of her plus, this JunJun didn't seem any creepy so maybe she could go without doubts, though it wasn't everyday you were fetched to meet the king...

"Umm... Okay. When do we leave then?" Risa asked.

"As soon as possible. If you're ready now, we can go." Junjun said smiling. "This way please, Niigaki san." She continued and held the door open for Risa.

"Okay..." Risa said, stepping out of the door, which was held open for her. "Bye Lin! See ya later!" She shouted to the nurse, who waved after her.

"Bye! Have fun!"

With that, the two left the nurse's place. Outside were two horses waiting, One being a chestnut colored, with white socks and a white star in it's forehead while the other one was totally black, with a very long mane. JunJun walked to the brown horse and turned to Risa.

"Ano, Niigaki-San.."

"Okay, chotto!" Risa shouted, stunning the counselor.

"I really appreciate your respectful way of talking but please, call me Risa. I'm... more comfortable with that..."

JunJun blinked few times, before she smiled at the other woman.

"As you wish, Risa. Anyway, I was just going to ask you, if you knew how to ride?"

Now, it was Risa's turn to blink as she looked at the horses and then she turned her face towards JunJun.

"Ride? Who could not?! It's one of the  basic skills you learn first! Like walking!"

She boomed, walking to the black horse. Soon, she had mounted and encouraged the horse to trot. Instead, the horse had a lot of will to go, so it started happily to gallop. Risa didn't get surprised by this; instead she just encouraged the horse to go faster and soon, JunJun lost a sight of her as the black animal turned behind a corner with it's rider.

"Oh my...."

She cursed under her breath as she mounted as well. Just when she was about to go after Risa, she heard some noises behind her. Turning around, JunJun could see Risa galloping towards her. The girl had rode around one big building and JunJun bet the streets were very crowded at this time.
How did she... I hope she didn't hurt anyone...

When she got closer, Risa pulled the reins gently and the horse slowed to trot and then to walk. Risa rode besides JunJun, who had a bit shocked expression on her face. She just smiled happily at the counselor and pet the horse, which was happily tossing it's head up and down. It was like it wanted to say, that they should go for another round.

"See, I can Ride" She said happily to the counselor. JunJun was silent for a while but soon she burst into laughter. This really was something she hadn't expected.

"Well that was something I dind't see coming!" She said. She pressed her legs gently in the horse's sides and the animal under her started to walk, Risa following suit with her own horse.

"Well you indeed can ride. That's one of our hardest horse to ride, for it is so stubborn. But it was the only one free in the stables, so I had to take it. I had in mind, that I would ride ahead and you would just follow me. Fuego usually follows other horses, but it doesn't listen to it's rider very often..."

JunJun laughed as they walked on the street. Risa just smiled and patted the horse again, which caused it to happily toss it's head up and down.

"Well, I have had a horse since I was a kid. I really love riding and my father taught me well..." A sad smile crept on Risa's face, as she remembered the times, when she and her father did long riding trips. It was very fun and Risa would give anything, that she could go back to that time. But those trips were over now and there was just a memory of them.

"Well I can see, since you handle Fuego so well." JunJun said smiling softly. They chatted all kind of things during their travel to the castle, but then Risa got curious about this king she was going to meet soon.

"Ano, can I ask few questions about the king?" Risa asked carefully. Sometimes, kings, rulers etc, were very secret thing to talk about in public, so it might have been a good thing to check first, if it was okay to talk about the ruler of this place.

"Sure, go ahead." JunJun answered smiling.

"Well... What kind of is she? I mean by nature?" Risa continued.

"Well, our king is kind of a special person. She really cares for everyone in her land and she is really doing her everything to end this war." JunJun smiled and turned her gaze to Risa, who was listening very carefully, what the councelor said to her.

"She's also very free minded and I have never seen my lord to yell at anyone. She also doesn't like to be called king..." JunJun said, scratching her head a bit.

"Eh, why?" Risa asked, surprised.

"Well... No one knows. She just likes to be close to her people and she propapbly things that being the leader, she only gets more away from us. You know with all the formalities when talking to the king and things... She never really requires them." JunJun laughed.

"Well, that's kind of a good thing. Now I don't have to worry about the formalities so much. Not that I wont act properly in front of her though." Risa said. JunJun nodded in approval till she spoke again.
"We are here."

Risa looked up to see, how a huge castle raised in front of her. It was like a Japanese styled shinto church and it had a garden around it and a lot of statues. The two women rode in the castle's gates and entered a huge, open yard. They rode through it and stopped in front of stairs. Soon, a servant ran from somewhere, bowed to JunJun and took hold of the horse's reins. Both Risa and JunJun got down and started to walk the stairs. Before that JunJun thanked the servant and gave him some advice before she left with Risa. When they got to the end of the stairs, JunJun stopped suddenly and stiffened. Risa stopped as well and watched the other woman in confusion. What now?

"Ano JunJun..." But the councilor just watched ahead, as if she had seen a ghost. Risa turned as well, only to gasp and falter back a little bit.

In front of them, about 10 meters away, was a person with a mask and a bow, which was pointed towards them. It seemed like one of those silly guys Risa had seen in her village when they had small theaters during some festival time. Different was, those in her past were friendly and stupid, but this one looked very ominous. The bow in mask person's hands was strained and if the person let go, Risa or JunJun would get hit by an arrow.

"What the heck is th...." Risa couldn't get her sentence in the end, when the weird person suddenly launched the bow and the arrow hit her.


-------

Muahahah, there's your cliffhanger~ As I said earlier, I will update more very soon.

Thank you everyone for your interest and comments and I hope you will follow my story in the future too~


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Offline kuro808

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Re: The mask of soul//chapter 5/ 17/01
« Reply #16 on: January 18, 2013, 09:50:45 AM »
Surprise attack
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Offline MsSmigge

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Re: The mask of soul//chapter 6/ 19/01
« Reply #17 on: January 18, 2013, 11:01:43 PM »
As I said earlier, this is going to be a very fast update.
Here we go~


Chapter 6 – There's never a good reason for war




The arrow flew through the air, landing in the middle of Risa's chest. Risa gasped, shocked by the sudden attack. But something wasn't just right. She was supposed to feel pain, but all she had felt was just a small thud on her chest and then nothing. Risa opened her eyes, which she had closed when the arrow had hit, and looked down to her chest. The arrow was still there, but it was hanging very loosely from her clothes. Raising an eyebrow, Risa took hold of the arrow and teared it off from her clothes. She examined the head of it and noticed, but found nothing unusual from it. It was like a real weapon but it was extremely light. It looked like a real one, but it wasn't for it should have had killed Risa. Just when the girl was about to ask the person who had shot her, what the hell was this, she was surprised by an unfamiliar voice.

"Got scared?"

Risa looked up and saw the mask man or what ever just in front of her. The mask was green and it had a huge grin. There were holes, so that the person wearing it, could see and talk freely, when the mask was on the face.

"UWAAH!!"

 Risa screamed and fell, for the mask had surprised her. She was lucky enough she hadn't stopped just tat the end of the stairs, or she would be about 15 meters lower than she was now. The person with mask just howled in laughter, as she took the arrow from Risa and removed her mask.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to make any harm, but I just couldn't resist when I noticed you two coming this way." The person, who revealed to be a woman, said still laughing. Then suddenly, JunJun gasped and got up, snapping an attention and bowing deeply.

"My lord!" She yelled as she bowed.

"EH? You got to be kidding with me...." Risa said shocked. This was the king? The person, who had just made her visitor and subordinate a tirck and shocked them both to dead by shooting a toy arrow towards them?! JunJun said she was quite informal, but Risa could never have imagined she could be THIS informal and childish. Finally, the king stopped laughing as she put the mask and the toy weapon away.

"Really, I am sorry about this, but I just couldn't resist. And JunJun, for God's sake get your head up! You don't have to bow in front of me..."

The king said, as she waved her hands to get her councilor up. JunJun nodded and stood up quickly facing her lord, who in turn turned to face Risa, who was still sitting on the ground. The king extended her hand to Risa, who accepted it, not really realizing, that the king of this land just helped her up. But she didn't feel like she was interacting with a king now, for it felt she had met a young child instead. When she was on her feet again, Risa was about to let go of the king's hand, but it was held tightly by the ruler. Risa raised her face to meet the king, who had a very gentle smile on her face, as she spoke to Risa.

"Welcome to the Castle, Niigaki Risa. It's a pleasure to have you here. My name is Yoshizawa Hitomi and as you might already know, I'm the ruler of this land and so on."

Yoshizawa said the end nonchalantly and finally let go of Risa's hand. Risa was amazed. She had always thought, that the kings and the queens were very formal and required strict behaviour from others and would never talk normally to average people. But Yoshizawa was different. Heck, who would ever have guessed that the king did tricks to her subordinates and people?

"Well, now that we know each others and you two have recovered from the shock, I suggest we go inside." The king said, smiling like the sun, and started to walk inside. Risa and JunJun soon followed after Hitomi, both still a bit shocked from this king's trick.

When they entered the palace, Risa could not hold back a gasp; They had arrived to a big hall and it indeed was HUGE. There was a lot of expensive looking things inside, like a golden dresser, with golden chairs around it, small statues and some other decorations, all covered in some kind of noble metal. There were some servants walking around, everyone nodding to JunJun and smiling politely at Risa. They walked through the hall and in the end of it was a doorway, which reminded the gate, which lead to this palace. It had black frames, which were formed by two dragons, climbing the doorway up and meeting each other on top of it. Both dragons had a red flame coming out of their mouth. Behind the dragons, Risa could recognize the frame of a torii.

The three of them walked through the doorway and came in a room, which had two statues in it. One was a big, golden dragon statue and the other was a golden tiger statue. Beside the dragon statue was a door, which Yoshizawa slid open and went inside, JunJun and Risa following behind. They entered a wide but not very long corridor, which had a lot of doors in it. Yoshizawa continued to the end of the corridor and opened a door which lead to another huge room, but not nearly as huge as the hall they had entered first. Risa was about to follow the king, but JunJun stopped her suddenly, causing Risa to frown.

"That's the King's room, and no one else than the king herself, her family and some servants are allowed to enter that room." JunJun explained to the frowning female in front of her, who just nodded and waited for the king to return. After about 5 minutes, Yoshizawa was back again, wearing a kimono like dress, which was light blue with black dragon and flower figures on it. When she noticed the two in the corridor, the king frowned and looked them, like she was about to scold them from something.

"Why are you here? I tought you would have come along." She asked the two and caused JunJun to almost fall down.

"But my lord! It's only allowed to...." She was cut of by Yoshizawa waving her hand furiously. She had had enough of these formalities a long time ago and she really didn't want to hear it anymore.

"Oh, JunJun, why must you be so formal! It's a room like any other room! Everyone is welcome! Is this again some law thing I have to take care of?" Yoshizawa cried out as she dashed out to the statue room, JunJun and Risa once again behind her.

"Mmm, well yes, it is..." JunJun murmured to the king, causing Yoshizawa to sigh deeply.

"Damn those ancestors... Soon I have to write the whole law book again!" The king groaned and glared the pictures on the wall. Only now, did Risa notice that there were pictures on the wall in this room. When she examined them closer, she noticed that every picture had a name and some kind of year written under it. Every person's in the pictures had gorgeous clothes and they looked very noble. Then it hit Risa; these were the old kings and queens of this land! Risa checked all the pictures, till she faced an empty wall. She turned her gaze to the last picture, which had Yoshizawa's name and the year, she become the leader of this land. In the picture, Yoshizawa was way younger than she was now, probably in her teens.

'They must have taken the picture when she was chosen to be the next ruler or something... ' Risa thought as she continued to examine the pictures.

“Having fun watching my ancestors?”

Suddenly, a voice spoke beside Risa's ear and once again, she got scared so badly, that she fell. But this time she was caught by the king who was chuckling, because of Risa's reaction.

“Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you again.”

The king laughed as she walked to a small, Japanese style table nearby a window, after helping Risa to stand up again. The table was next to the tiger statue and it had four cushions around it. Yoshizawa sat down on one cushion and encouraged her visitors to sit as well. Immediately, when they were seated, Yoshizawa had that cheerful expression on again as she started to ask questions from her visitor:

"So, Gaki-san... Is that okay, if I call you that?"

Yoshizawa asked Risa, who nodded in response, still a bit aware of what the king would do next. She wasn't afraid or something like that, just prepared, for the king seemed to like surprise people around her.

"So, how have you been in here? Everything's fine? You got any new friends? Have my men treated you well?"

The king asked so many questions in so little time, that Risa, in her still a bit confused state, couldn't answer any of them.

"...What?" That was all she could get out and now she probably looked like an idiot, acting like this in front of the king. But Yoshizawa just laughed and friendly patted Risa on her shoulder.

"Sorry, it's just that I got a bit exited about, how we got a new person here. Also, you're from a very far away place and we don't have much information about you guys there, so it's nice to meet people from there too." The king explained, her friendly behaviour calming Risa down a bit. This king truly was something else. She talked to Risa like they had known for a long time and she even patted her shoulder! Usually, leaders and such would never touch people under them, but Yoshizawa was something else and Risa could truly understand, why she was liked so much. Though she hoped she didn't trick people like she had tricked her and JunJun today.

"So, lets start with one question. How have you been here?" Yoshizawa asked much calmer now.

"I have been very fine, thank you. Especially thanks to your nurse, LinLin, for she has let me stay at her place all this time." Risa said smiling gently.

"Ah, LinLin. She's just a good girl. I'm lucky to have a nurse like she is." Yoshizawa said and kept a small pause. Just when Risa was about to answer, the king slapped her hands together, startling Risa, but not JunJun. She was kinda used to this already.

"And talking about staying, we have to arange a place for you to stay in here!" She shouted happily, causing Risa to laugh nervously. This was like talking to a child...

"With all due respect, Yoshizawa-san, I think I need to leave soon. I can't bother..."

"Nonsense! You'll stay here with us! And bothering us? Pst, child, you're everything else but bothering us." Yoshizawa interrupted Risa, who just stared the king in disbelief.
Did this king really have this big heart, or was she just acting something else she was? But the sincere look in Yoshizawa's eyes made Risa banish all the bad thoughts from her head. Slowly, Risa bowed her head a bit towards the king, who just kept smiling at her.

"Thank you... Thank you so much. After I lost everything I had..." Risa sniffed a bit, but didn't let herself cry. Not now, she would be strong. "I... I don't know where to go. But if you truly are willing to give me a place to stay here, I am forever thankful to you."

A silence followed after Risa's words. Then, Risa felt how a hand made contact with her chin and lifted it up, to meet the king's face. Yoshizawa had a very gentle smile on her face, as she smiled to the younger girl, who was still bowing in front of her.

"Of course, I am willing to give you a place to stay. What kind of king would I be, if I turned my people in problems and such, away from me?" She gently lifted Risa's upper body so, that the young girl was sitting now straight. Risa had still a confused look on her face when Yoshizawa took her hand away, her expression turning now serious.

"Now, I am very sorry for the lost of your hometown and family. It was a surprise attack and we weren't prepared very well plus, your village was very unlike place for the enemy to attack. I am truly sorry, for we could not do anything faster than we did."

The king said the sadness clear in her voice. Risa turned her gaze to the floor, memories filling her mind again. Memories of her family, her home, everything. But soon, her head rose again and she faced the king, who still had a sorrowful look on her face.

"Do you... Do you know who did this?" Risa asked quietly, getting the king's attention to her.

"It was the Heng clans army." Yoshizawa said sternly and when she gained a confused look from Risa, the king decided to explain a bit more about the things going on.

"In this land, there are two Samurai clan's, one being Heng's clan, the other being Yoshizawa's clan. Both clans are named by their founder and the first leader, the bloodline continuing to this day. I'm the 25th leader of this clan and I have ruled for 13 years now."

The king spoke, as she rose from her cushion and walked a bit around, but all the time moving so, that Risa could hear her.

"There has always been some kind of tension between these two lands, but it has only once escalated to war. Now, it has done it twice...." There was a brief pause again, before the King continued.

"The first war started with a murder when my mother, the former leader of our clan, was killed by the Heng's new leader. My mother went to make peace with the other clan, where the King had been murdered by her own daughter and they didn't inform us about this, at all. It was an ambush and we went straight to it. The daughter played her father and just, when she was dealing the peace with my mother.... She killed her, instead." The king took another break. She was now standing in front of a huge window and watched the village outside.

"We were attacked, but luckily, we had troops with us. My mother had said that morning, that she had a bad feeling about this, so she took her warriors with her. They were all saved by Takahashi sensei, who was the army general then. We pushed the Heng's clan back and after that, there was a war which lasted for 3 years. After those 3 years, the Heng just disappeared and didn't show it's face in a long time. We sent some investigation teams and got information, that their leader had some problems with her people. Someone, who turned out to be her relative, charged her for a murder and gathered some people against the current leader. There were a lot of riots, so Heng could not focus on fighting anymore. I also assume, that her relative was somehow powerful, for it took so long time to get rid of her enemy. Now, after 10 years of unsteadiness it seems, that she has settled those problems, for she is attacking us again..."

Yoshizawa turned back to her companion, facing them with a serious face. Risa was still quite confused and she had a lot of questions about this war and all.

"But.. Why?"

"Apparently, the Heng's current leader has something against our land, plus she is a very greedy person. She wishes to own this whole land and we stand in front of her. She is said to be mentally ill and well... You can only imagine what happens when people like that are put into a leading position..."

"But... That's just... Stupid." Risa whispered, causing Yoshizawa and JunJun to turn their attention towards her.

"That's not a reason to get in war. Just because you don't like someone isn't a reason to get thousands of people killed!" Risa shouted desperately, while the king just stood calm and watched her.

"How many people are going to die just because someone doesn't like someone else? How many innocent lives are sacrificed for just some stupid... That's just not good enough for a reason to fight!"

"When there's a good reason for war?" Yoshizawa said gently. She walked to Risa and placed her hands on her shoulders.

"I have tried to avoid this war, as well, as I am able. But the last attack in your village just showed me, that the war is the only way to end this. If I stay inside and pray for peace, I may as well pray for all my people, that they will get to the heaven, when they are all killed one by one." The king paused again. She had that gentle smile on her face again, as she watched the younger girl below her.

"But in here, we are going to bring the war as little as we can. This is a place where people are supposed to live happily and in peace. So, maybe this is enough for the information about this war for you." With that Yoshizawa patted Risa's shoulders and walked to JunJun, who again got up like a flash and snapped in attention.

"At ease. JunJun, Get me the papers about empty places in this village. We are going to arrange Gaki-san here a home."

The goofy grin and that childish glistening in the king's eyes, was back and Risa was a bit confused again. For a second, the king was cheerful as a kid and in a moment, she was the responsible leader, who everyone trusted.

"Yes my..." Yoshizawa turned to glare JunJun, who immediately shut up.

"Yes..." JunJun said and disappeared to find the papers she was ordered to bring. Yoshizawa smiled and turned back to Risa.

"Come now. When JunJun searches for those papers, why don't we have something to eat. You must be very hungry." The king said, but soon continued: "And I wont take no as an answer."

She grinned at Risa and winked her to follow her. Risa got up immediately and followed the king. She was going to get a home here, after she lost everything and just because this king was so generous. And now, she was even going to have a dinner with the king! This leader truly was something else, but Risa was very grateful that she was. She was going to have a home and she could start to look the way to find the peace between these two lands again. Also, it was a good thing Yoshizawa was for the peace too, for she could help Risa with this thing.

"Too bad Rika and Akira are not here... I bet they would have been pleased to meet you"

With that the king turned to look her companion, only to be met by a confused young woman staring at her. Yoshizawa realized soon, why she was so confused and chuckled a bit.

"My wife and son."

Yoshizawa told Risa, who finally got what the king was talking about. With Yoshizawa talking all kind of things ans asking Risa questions, the two of them exited the room, leaving the statues guard it silently.

------------------

There you go~

Thank you again for your interest guys!  :)


Knowing is not enough, we must apply. Willing is not enough, we must do.

Offline kuro808

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Re: The mask of soul//chapter 6/ 19/01
« Reply #18 on: January 18, 2013, 11:32:55 PM »
Yossie as a king and Jun is too funny :lol:
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Offline rndmnwierd

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Re: The mask of soul//chapter 6/ 19/01
« Reply #19 on: January 19, 2013, 03:14:37 AM »
Ishiyoshi!~~!~!

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