'Hmm... What have we here?"
Now, normally Ashram Higurashi was not given to looking for adventure or danger. However, growing up listening to the tales of his parent's adventures (and meeting the friends of his parents from the past) had convinced Ashram that he should be able to defend himself. He had trained with his father, Inu Yasha, in both swordfighting and brawling. While not able to call up special attacks like him, he had excellent reflexes and soon was able to spar with his father. He had become so good that he had become the kendo team captain his freshman year. The one thing he still could not do was beat his father in their sparring matches. No matter how good Ashram got his father always seemed one step ahead of him.
From his mother he picked up a good semblance of the social graces. While Ashram definitely had a wild side his mother, Kagome, worked with him to be able to fit into polite society if necessary. She also worked on his sense of honor and of right and wrong. So when he almost walked into the middle of a running fight between a dark-skinned woman and two girls in fukus he was torn between wanting to steer clear and wanting to stop the assault.
The decision was made easier by the almost subconcious idea that he knew the dark-skinned woman from somewhere. While that was filtering through his thought processes, he almost didn't dodge when he heard a cry of "Deep Submerge!" from behind him. Without thinking he lunged at the dark-haired girl, blocking her clear of the attack as he fell below the path of ball of magical water. Going to a handspring he vaulted himself back to his feet, drawing his bokken while in mid-spring. As he landed, he positioned himself between the girl in the blue-green fuku and the dark-skinned woman.
"Who are you, and why are you attacking this woman?" he asked.
"I am Sailor Neptune. Why are you seeking to defend this youma?"
"Youma? Why do you think she is a youma?" Ashram asked back.
Just then, Ashram saw a flash of motion out of the corner of his eye. As he turned to see what it the other Sailor Scout yelled "I am Sailor Uranus, and you must be in league with this youma. World Shaking!" Ashram brought his bokken up to a guard position in a futile gesture of defence. However, what he did not see was the dark-skinned woman chant something as her hands glowed a soft white color. Ashram's sword soon took on the same glow just before the fast-moving ball of energy hit his sword. Instead of incinerating the wooden sword and continuing into Ashram, the glowing sword split the enegy ball in two. The two halves of the ball of energy shot out past Ashram to either side, with Neptune dodging one of the bolts that happened to head towards her.
As Sailor Neptune got back up, Uranus drew a glowing scimitar-like sword out of seeming nowhere and charged at Ashram. Ashram blocked the attack easily, as the fight was now more to what he knew.
"Is that all you've got?" he asked as he easily parried the powerful but simple attack. As Uranus recovered, Ashram made series of quick slashes at her. She managed to parry some of the sttacks, but the last two caught her on the arms. While not as powerful as her won attacks, the enchantment the dark-skinned woman put on his blade made her grunt a bit in pain as she got clear of his reach.
"More than enough to handle trash like you!" she replied and attacked with a series of powerful slashes, trying to power past his defenses. However, Ashram was more than able to deflect each attack and reply with another stinging slash of his own.
While Ashram was fighting Uranus, the dark-skinned woman was able to recover as Sailor Neptune got back to her feet. Sailor Neptune cried out "Deep Submerge!" as shen launched another attack at the dark-skinned woman. The dark-skinned woman chanted something in a musical tounge, and some kind of energy field seemed to suddenly appear to stop the watery attack.
Before Sailor Neptune could launch another attack, a portal suddenly appeared and a scowling, green-haired woman in a fuku stepped out. Without saying anything she pinched Sailor Neptune's ear. "Hey! What are you d..." she was saying as she was dragged back into the portal. The portal closed and then re-opened next to Uranus. Before Ashram could attack again, the scowling, green-haired Sailor grabbed Uranus by the wrist. Before she could say mor than "What th..." she was dragged into the portal as well. The portal then dissappeared again.
Ashram and the woman both waited for another attack but none came. After about 20 seocnds he lowered his guards and walked over to the woman. "Who are you" he asked as he noticed something else about the dark-skinned woman he had been too busy before to notice. That being her long, pointed ears and relatively large, almond-shaped eyes. She replied in a musical voice that Ashram didn't understand. She realized this almost at once and then placed her hands on both sides of his head. He had time to say "What are..." before she chanted something in that same musical language. A hollow, roraring sound filled his mind for a second and then faded.
The woman stepped back a step and put her hand behind her. She then smiled up at him and said "My name, good warrior, is Pirotess. I would think it prudent, though, to continue this discussion somewhere safer." Ashram looked dumbfounded for a second, and then recovered his wits. "O-Of course. My home is close by here, and those who attacked you would not dare attack there." He was not entirely successful in the recovery of said wits. The feeling that he knew her from somewhere was too strong to ignore but he could not remember where. She thought and then said "That should be acceptable. I can contact my parents from there."
As they headed for the shrine...
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(Posted Thu, 28 Aug 2003 23:40)
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