Important Notice: The story that appears in the following posts is obsolete. Check the...
Legacy of the Forgotten (Fantasy NGE AU)
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Prologue
- Location
- Spain
Important Notice: The story that appears in the following posts is obsolete. Check the threadmarks for links to the updated and re-thought story.
Enjoy!
Prologue:
Asuka Sohryu was not a happy girl.
She was tired. She was hungry. She was nauseous. She was wet. Then again, being in an old transport ship that had seen better days and was caught in the middle of a very severe storm would do that to anyone.
"'Don't worry about the trip', they said. 'Smooth sailing on this season!', they said." Shivering from the cold, she pulled on the rope she held with all the strength she could muster. "Smooth sailing my ass!".
The storm had been throwing the old boat around for the last four hours. Four hours of constant exhausting and desperate work to keep the thing afloat. To make matters worse, their ship had gotten separated from the main fleet en route to Yamato, and Asuka didn't need to be a sailor to know that there were very few chances of them meeting up with the rest of the ships again.
But those were worries for a later time (and for someone else). Making it through this damn storm came first, and for that she needed to focus on what she and the rest of the crew and soldiers were doing.
Teeth clenched, she pulled again.
"If I make it through this I'm not getting on a ship ever again."
"That might make it hard to leave Yamato when the war is over." The soldier next to her responded with a weathered smirk. "Being an island and all that."
"Don't care. I'll think of something. We've been at war for fifteen years, the war's not going to end tomorrow. But I'm not getting on a ship. Ever. Again."
A heavy gust of wind passed through the ship and Asuka had to firmly plant herself in order not to be blown away. Losing her footing would end up with her falling overboard and into the sea, and she had no intention to join the poor bastards that had not been as lucky since the storm had started.
The soldier chuckled at her outburst. "Never said I disagreed. I think I've had enough ships to last me a lifetime too. Can you think of a way out of Yamato for two people?"
The ship shook around as a bigger wave than normal crashed into it. Asuka could make out the ship's whining and creaking sounds as the wood suffered under the strain.
It wasn't a comforting sound at all.
"Hell no. I'm not taking passengers. You can think of your very own way of getting out of that piece of rock."
Another chuckle. "You would abandon a fellow Imperial to their fate? You are so heartless."
"And I don't remember asking for your opinion."
Their bickering was cut short by the return of the ship's captain, hastily but safely moving from the stern of the transport to their position near the middle. The man had spent the entirety of the crisis barking orders around the boat and helping his crew where he deemed it necessary. The result of such efforts showed on his slightly tattered clothing, and some exposed wounds that (thankfully) looked shallow.
Frankly, Asuka thought, he looked like hell.
Then she remembered that she wasn't exactly looking her best herself.
"You two! If you have time to run your mouths, you have time to pull harder on those sails! So stop your yapping and get to it!
In any other situation, Asuka would have responded to such a blatant attack on her competence with a well-organised, albeit loud, string of arguments and an accompanying litany of curses. But with a dangerously close to sinking transport as her lifeline and the man keeping it afloat as the target of her fury, she decided to reign in her impulses.
'Don't antagonize the man that's keeping you alive, Asuka... Not yet anyway.'
"Aye aye." She heard her partner answer. "How is the rest of the ship holding up, Captain?"
"Well enough. This storm won't last for much longer, so all of you do your jobs and most of us will make it out of this one alive."
'Big words. I heard one of the sailors saying the same thing two hours ago, but you get points for trying, old man.'
Once more, just like he had done several times already during the storm, the Captain took his position on the bridge and shouted at the top of his lungs:
"Keep it up, men! Work those hands until not even the bone remains! Take the worst this world can throw at us and throw it right back at it! Show the world the Imperial mettle! Are we lesser men, cowering in the face of adversity? NO, I say! The Halyfast shall not fall while Imperial hands guide her, and we shall not fall while the Emperor and God watch over us! This enraged sea shall not keep us from our glorious destiny! TO VICTORY!"
A resounding cheer sounded through the entire ship and Asuka rolled her eyes. She had lost faith in the speeches after the third round, and wasn't feeling nearly as confident about their chances as the Captain seemed to be.
Her cynicism proved accurate the moment another strong wave hit the ship and she couldn't keep the rope she was holding from leaving her hands. The sound of wood breaking and screaming from above told her all she needed to know before she even looked.
The main mast had just broken at the middle.
'Oh shit.'
Almost as if answering a challenge, the storm picked up with a previously unseen strength and threw the ship around as if it was made of paper, and despite the Captain's claims to her invincibility, the Halyfast was anything but.
Taking hold of what was left of the mast, Asuka held on for dear life. She could hear the screams of the people around her as many fell overboard, and see the many parts of the Halyfast be unmade by the angry currents and winds that, after a long siege, were finally winning the battle.
Asuka could hear and see all of those things, but her blue eyes became locked on what was right in front of her, and coming steadily closer.
A wave that easily dwarfed any of the others that had come before it and would definitely end the existence of the Halyfast was about to reach its breaking point right above it. And in the few moments before death came for her, Asuka had enough time to think.
'I don't want to die!'
Just before the darkness took her.
Enjoy!
_________________________________________
Prologue:
Asuka Sohryu was not a happy girl.
She was tired. She was hungry. She was nauseous. She was wet. Then again, being in an old transport ship that had seen better days and was caught in the middle of a very severe storm would do that to anyone.
"'Don't worry about the trip', they said. 'Smooth sailing on this season!', they said." Shivering from the cold, she pulled on the rope she held with all the strength she could muster. "Smooth sailing my ass!".
The storm had been throwing the old boat around for the last four hours. Four hours of constant exhausting and desperate work to keep the thing afloat. To make matters worse, their ship had gotten separated from the main fleet en route to Yamato, and Asuka didn't need to be a sailor to know that there were very few chances of them meeting up with the rest of the ships again.
But those were worries for a later time (and for someone else). Making it through this damn storm came first, and for that she needed to focus on what she and the rest of the crew and soldiers were doing.
Teeth clenched, she pulled again.
"If I make it through this I'm not getting on a ship ever again."
"That might make it hard to leave Yamato when the war is over." The soldier next to her responded with a weathered smirk. "Being an island and all that."
"Don't care. I'll think of something. We've been at war for fifteen years, the war's not going to end tomorrow. But I'm not getting on a ship. Ever. Again."
A heavy gust of wind passed through the ship and Asuka had to firmly plant herself in order not to be blown away. Losing her footing would end up with her falling overboard and into the sea, and she had no intention to join the poor bastards that had not been as lucky since the storm had started.
The soldier chuckled at her outburst. "Never said I disagreed. I think I've had enough ships to last me a lifetime too. Can you think of a way out of Yamato for two people?"
The ship shook around as a bigger wave than normal crashed into it. Asuka could make out the ship's whining and creaking sounds as the wood suffered under the strain.
It wasn't a comforting sound at all.
"Hell no. I'm not taking passengers. You can think of your very own way of getting out of that piece of rock."
Another chuckle. "You would abandon a fellow Imperial to their fate? You are so heartless."
"And I don't remember asking for your opinion."
Their bickering was cut short by the return of the ship's captain, hastily but safely moving from the stern of the transport to their position near the middle. The man had spent the entirety of the crisis barking orders around the boat and helping his crew where he deemed it necessary. The result of such efforts showed on his slightly tattered clothing, and some exposed wounds that (thankfully) looked shallow.
Frankly, Asuka thought, he looked like hell.
Then she remembered that she wasn't exactly looking her best herself.
"You two! If you have time to run your mouths, you have time to pull harder on those sails! So stop your yapping and get to it!
In any other situation, Asuka would have responded to such a blatant attack on her competence with a well-organised, albeit loud, string of arguments and an accompanying litany of curses. But with a dangerously close to sinking transport as her lifeline and the man keeping it afloat as the target of her fury, she decided to reign in her impulses.
'Don't antagonize the man that's keeping you alive, Asuka... Not yet anyway.'
"Aye aye." She heard her partner answer. "How is the rest of the ship holding up, Captain?"
"Well enough. This storm won't last for much longer, so all of you do your jobs and most of us will make it out of this one alive."
'Big words. I heard one of the sailors saying the same thing two hours ago, but you get points for trying, old man.'
Once more, just like he had done several times already during the storm, the Captain took his position on the bridge and shouted at the top of his lungs:
"Keep it up, men! Work those hands until not even the bone remains! Take the worst this world can throw at us and throw it right back at it! Show the world the Imperial mettle! Are we lesser men, cowering in the face of adversity? NO, I say! The Halyfast shall not fall while Imperial hands guide her, and we shall not fall while the Emperor and God watch over us! This enraged sea shall not keep us from our glorious destiny! TO VICTORY!"
A resounding cheer sounded through the entire ship and Asuka rolled her eyes. She had lost faith in the speeches after the third round, and wasn't feeling nearly as confident about their chances as the Captain seemed to be.
Her cynicism proved accurate the moment another strong wave hit the ship and she couldn't keep the rope she was holding from leaving her hands. The sound of wood breaking and screaming from above told her all she needed to know before she even looked.
The main mast had just broken at the middle.
'Oh shit.'
Almost as if answering a challenge, the storm picked up with a previously unseen strength and threw the ship around as if it was made of paper, and despite the Captain's claims to her invincibility, the Halyfast was anything but.
Taking hold of what was left of the mast, Asuka held on for dear life. She could hear the screams of the people around her as many fell overboard, and see the many parts of the Halyfast be unmade by the angry currents and winds that, after a long siege, were finally winning the battle.
Asuka could hear and see all of those things, but her blue eyes became locked on what was right in front of her, and coming steadily closer.
A wave that easily dwarfed any of the others that had come before it and would definitely end the existence of the Halyfast was about to reach its breaking point right above it. And in the few moments before death came for her, Asuka had enough time to think.
'I don't want to die!'
Just before the darkness took her.
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Awakenings - 1
- Location
- Spain
Chapter 1: Awakenings
Is it a mist, or clouds?
Fragrant in the morning sun.
Cherry blossoms, cherry blossoms,
Flowers in full bloom.
Is it a mist, or clouds?
Fragrant in the air,
'No... I'm hearing someone sing so... I can't be...'
Come now, come,
Let's look, at last!
'That's the end of the song... Who are you singing to?'
Silence stretched as the singing came to an end. The girl lying on the floor could faintly make out the sound of two other people breathing, one of them much lighter than the other.
A quiet rustle, and the sound of something light being gently put down on whatever surface the girl was resting on. Soft footsteps followed, coming steadily closer before whoever made them quietly sat down, next to the lying girl.
Something warm on her forehead, and soothing words.
"You... awake? You can hear?"
The singer's voice spoke to her in broken Imperial Common. Young girl, by the sound of it.
"You no move. Rest good. I get food and water, be back quick."
The singer sounded happy and relieved. It was with those words that the laying girl felt a body move beside her and footsteps hastily leaving her immediate area.
She was now alone.
Groggily coming to her senses the girl cautiously opened her blue eyes, and squinted at the light that shone from what had to have been a window of some sort. Turning away from the offending shine, she rolled on her side and used her arms to clumsily sit up.
Asuka Sohryu was back in the land of the living. And a simple check of her surroundings told her that said land was unlike anything she could recognize.
For starters, she was sitting on a mattress extended on the floor. Sunlight streamed from a sliding door that gave way to the outside and illuminated a room floored in a material that felt like straw after touching it. Paper rolls with strange paintings on them hung from the walls and accompanied some very well crafted wooden furniture, and a low wooden table sat on the middle of the room.
She had heard of decoration like this from the tales of Yamato Mr. Kaji used to tell; Such a coincidence, coupled with whoever was here with her not speaking Common and knowing of the song her mother used to sing her left Asuka with only one option to consider:
She had somehow washed ashore on the island after the storm and been taken prisoner.
"And I'm too weak to do anything about it. Dammit!"
A low and heavy growl filled the room following the redhead's exclamation, so deep and menacing that it would have put a dragon to shame.
Asuka grabbed her stomach.
"Great. Weak and hungry. This keeps getting better and better…"
Pushing through the protests of her stomach, the redhead wobbled to her feet. Her arms felt like lead and her head was swimming, but she would be damned if she was just going to lay on the mattress and let her captors do as they wished with her.
She knew how it went, she had heard the stories. These barbarians treated their prisoners horribly enough if they were male, but if they were female?
She shuddered just thinking about it.
Unsteadily heading over to the sliding door to the outside, Asuka tried opening it.
Locked.
'Big surprise there. No point in taking prisoners if you are just going to let them merrily run away.' She turned away from the locked door and rested her head on it. 'I need something. A weapon.' She looked towards the only other door on the room. 'Maybe ambush the girl when she gets back? She could have a dagger on her.'
A soft sound caught Asuka's attention and made her look to one of the corners of the room, in an area to where her random wanderings had not taken her yet. Lying there was a little kid peacefully sleeping away and snoring slightly; Asuka mentally kicked herself.
'How the hell did I forget that there was someone else with that girl and me?'
Lifting herself from the door, the redhead slowly walked closer to the sleeping kid. Other than the fact that she had amazingly not woken up from Asuka's non-too-silent exploration of their quarters, there was nothing special about the kid in question. She was a little girl of around eight years of age, with shoulder length brown hair made into two pig-tails. The girl was dressed in a weird green dress decorated with simple drawings of different animals and she was clutching a toy bunny in her sleep.
Asuka found herself staring at the young girl's face as she slept with no worries whatsoever.
"Deep sleeper, huh?" she murmured. "Lucky you. Some of us are not as fortunate."
So absorbed she was in her staring, that she failed to notice the sound of harried footsteps coming closer until the door to the room was violently thrown open as an armed man made his way in.
("GET AWAY FROM HER, YOU DEVIL!")
Cherry blossoms, cherry blossoms,
Blanketing the countryside,
As far as you can see.
Blanketing the countryside,
As far as you can see.
'Who's... singing?'
Is it a mist, or clouds?
Fragrant in the morning sun.
'Mama?'
Cherry blossoms, cherry blossoms,
Flowers in full bloom.
'No... same song but... not mama...'
Cherry blossoms, cherry blossoms,
Across the Spring sky,
As far as you can see,
'What happened? Am I... dead?'Across the Spring sky,
As far as you can see,
Is it a mist, or clouds?
Fragrant in the air,
Come now, come,
Let's look, at last!
Silence stretched as the singing came to an end. The girl lying on the floor could faintly make out the sound of two other people breathing, one of them much lighter than the other.
A quiet rustle, and the sound of something light being gently put down on whatever surface the girl was resting on. Soft footsteps followed, coming steadily closer before whoever made them quietly sat down, next to the lying girl.
Something warm on her forehead, and soothing words.
"You... awake? You can hear?"
The singer's voice spoke to her in broken Imperial Common. Young girl, by the sound of it.
"You no move. Rest good. I get food and water, be back quick."
The singer sounded happy and relieved. It was with those words that the laying girl felt a body move beside her and footsteps hastily leaving her immediate area.
She was now alone.
Groggily coming to her senses the girl cautiously opened her blue eyes, and squinted at the light that shone from what had to have been a window of some sort. Turning away from the offending shine, she rolled on her side and used her arms to clumsily sit up.
Asuka Sohryu was back in the land of the living. And a simple check of her surroundings told her that said land was unlike anything she could recognize.
For starters, she was sitting on a mattress extended on the floor. Sunlight streamed from a sliding door that gave way to the outside and illuminated a room floored in a material that felt like straw after touching it. Paper rolls with strange paintings on them hung from the walls and accompanied some very well crafted wooden furniture, and a low wooden table sat on the middle of the room.
She had heard of decoration like this from the tales of Yamato Mr. Kaji used to tell; Such a coincidence, coupled with whoever was here with her not speaking Common and knowing of the song her mother used to sing her left Asuka with only one option to consider:
She had somehow washed ashore on the island after the storm and been taken prisoner.
"And I'm too weak to do anything about it. Dammit!"
A low and heavy growl filled the room following the redhead's exclamation, so deep and menacing that it would have put a dragon to shame.
Asuka grabbed her stomach.
"Great. Weak and hungry. This keeps getting better and better…"
Pushing through the protests of her stomach, the redhead wobbled to her feet. Her arms felt like lead and her head was swimming, but she would be damned if she was just going to lay on the mattress and let her captors do as they wished with her.
She knew how it went, she had heard the stories. These barbarians treated their prisoners horribly enough if they were male, but if they were female?
She shuddered just thinking about it.
Unsteadily heading over to the sliding door to the outside, Asuka tried opening it.
Locked.
'Big surprise there. No point in taking prisoners if you are just going to let them merrily run away.' She turned away from the locked door and rested her head on it. 'I need something. A weapon.' She looked towards the only other door on the room. 'Maybe ambush the girl when she gets back? She could have a dagger on her.'
A soft sound caught Asuka's attention and made her look to one of the corners of the room, in an area to where her random wanderings had not taken her yet. Lying there was a little kid peacefully sleeping away and snoring slightly; Asuka mentally kicked herself.
'How the hell did I forget that there was someone else with that girl and me?'
Lifting herself from the door, the redhead slowly walked closer to the sleeping kid. Other than the fact that she had amazingly not woken up from Asuka's non-too-silent exploration of their quarters, there was nothing special about the kid in question. She was a little girl of around eight years of age, with shoulder length brown hair made into two pig-tails. The girl was dressed in a weird green dress decorated with simple drawings of different animals and she was clutching a toy bunny in her sleep.
Asuka found herself staring at the young girl's face as she slept with no worries whatsoever.
"Deep sleeper, huh?" she murmured. "Lucky you. Some of us are not as fortunate."
So absorbed she was in her staring, that she failed to notice the sound of harried footsteps coming closer until the door to the room was violently thrown open as an armed man made his way in.
("GET AWAY FROM HER, YOU DEVIL!")
Last edited:
- Location
- Australia, mate
Uh oh, I sense some miscommunication about to happen!
Good to see you getting around to posting this, Gryphon. I look forward to the shenanigans that are sure to happen.
Good to see you getting around to posting this, Gryphon. I look forward to the shenanigans that are sure to happen.
- Location
- Spain
Glad you like it. Next part might take a bit of time sadly, unless I manage to scrape enough time this weekend to get it done. I'll be on an outing for most of next week, so no writing time for me.
Let's see if we manage to get some of those awesome literary critics around here. This thing is bound to have a metric crap-ton of things to impove on.
Let's see if we manage to get some of those awesome literary critics around here. This thing is bound to have a metric crap-ton of things to impove on.
Awakenings - 2
- Location
- Spain
Something I forgot to mention last time: Everything between parenthesis is being spoken in Yamese (name subject to change), Japanese essentially. Everything else is Imperial Common. It may be annoying to read for some but bear with me, It will only be for a few snippets.
Please drop a line with your thoughts if you have the time!
Chapter 1.2:
Asuka instinctively jumped backwards as far as her body allowed her to. In her prime, she would have been able to easily roll away from her position and into a ready stance to face any kind of incoming danger. Endless hours of training in the army had made sure of that.
But her body would just not listen today. She landed hard on her butt and used what momentum she had managed to make to clumsily get back up on her feet, moments before the blade of her attacker struck the place she had been kneeling on with a dull thud.
Right before the attacker's feet tripped and the rest of his body joined the sword on the floor with a startled yelp.
'Well, that was easy.' Asuka mused.
Her would-be attacker was a young man that couldn't have been older than herself. He was sweaty and dressed only in long baggy pants and a white headband around his short black hair. From his face-down position on the floor Asuka could see that he was fairly well-built, at least as far as his upper-body went. Not a terrible looker, by any means.
She could have appreciated that fact a bit more if said man had not just tried to murder her.
For all of his apparent clumsiness the man recovered quickly, and he was back on his feet before Asuka could rush to get the weapon off of him. He stood protectively in front of the (still) sleeping child and tried to make himself as imposing as possible as he levelled his sword at her.
His extremely dangerous wooden sword.
"What the hell..." Asuka muttered.
So maybe his weapon wasn't as dangerous as she had first thought. That thing would have still hurt though, so a proper beatdown was still in order.
If only her damn head would stop spinning.
("I'll get you next time, you-... you-") His eyes widened as he stopped his words short. He stood there, gaping at her with an open mouth and all the while Asuka could feel her patience running thin; This guy was really getting on her nerves.
And if there was one person whose nerves you didn't want to get on, that person was Asuka Sohryu.
"What the hell is your goddamn problem?! Did you hit your head or something?!" She shouted.
The man continued gaping at her, completely ignoring her outburst. Just when Asuka was considering grabbing the nearest heavy object and smashing it on his head, she noticed that the barbarian in front of her wasn't looking her in the eye.
He was looking at a spot just below her neck.
"What are you...?"
Asuka looked down at herself and her still muddled mind finally registered that she wasn't wearing the clothes she was used to. Instead, she wore a larger red and pink version of the dress she had seen on the sleeping girl earlier. Now that she had been forced to move faster than a walk, she could tell that the dress felt slightly too large for her. A fact that probably had something to do with the reaction of the idiot in front of her as the dress had moved out of position and she was now showing a bit more skin than she would have liked.
Thankfully, she still had her undergarments on.
"EEK!" Asuka crouched low and covered herself as best as she could. The man kept on staring at her, his mouth still not working. "What are you looking at you damn pervert?! Turn around already, or I'll kick your ass so hard you'll need an expedition to find it!"
The barbarian probably didn't understand a thing she had just said, but her yelling finally seemed to get him out of his trance. Speaking was apparently still hard though, because he kept on blubbering and cutting himself before making a full sentence. All of it in Yamese, Asuka recognized.
She glared at him as hard as she could. Maybe that would get the message to turn around across.
No such luck.
Footsteps sounded once more from outside of the door and the idiot turned to look at it. He looked at himself, then at Asuka, then to his 'weapon', and Asuka could almost hear the wheels grinding on his head before he let out something that she recognized as 'Oh, shit.'
The door opened, and a freckled and brown haired girl in pig-tails came into the room carrying a tray full of food; The girl that was with her earlier, Asuka assumed.
("What is all of this ruckus?")
She blinked. She looked at the man, then at Asuka, then to the 'weapon', and there was no grinding thought-noise before she left the tray in the floor. She glared at the man and took a piece of folded paper from the sleeve of her yellow dress.
The man looked nervously at it.
("Toji. Suzuhara.") She said in a dark voice. ("What. Are. You. Doing?")
("It- It's not what it looks like, Hikari!") The idiot (Toji, presumably) nervously answered.
("Then I hope you have a good explanation for coming half-naked in here and getting my ward in that position.)" The girl, Hikari, extended the piece of paper and it took the form of a paper fan. A Harisen, if Asuka remembered right. She made an experimental swipe with it and was rewarded with a loud 'whoosh'. Satisfied, she rested the tip on her left hand. ("Explain. Now.")
Toji pointed at Asuka. ("That was an accident! She fell to the ground and her clothes got like that! I had nothing to do with it! Honest!")
("She fell, just like that?") Hikari wasn't buying the excuse. ("Right. You'll have to try harder than that, Toji.") Asuka briefly considered butting into the conversation and saying what had happened, but decided against it.
'As much as I want to give this perverted idiot what he deserves, I better don't let them know I can understand them. Maybe they'll say something useful.'
("For starters, why do you have your sword here?") Continued Hikari ("Katsuragi-san clearly said that no weapons are allowed indoors, even practice ones.")
("I was in a rush so I forgot to leave it in the grounds!") Toji responded. He kept glancing at the paper fan, and Asuka could swear that he was starting to sweat heavily. ("Anyway, if we can't have weapons why do you carry that thing around?!")
Hikari smiled devilishly. ("It's worked well in the past for keeping you boys in line, so Katsuragi-san gave me special permission to keep it. Do you have anything else to say, Toji?")
("Wonderful.") He groaned. ("And I told you everything already! It was an accident and I was about to leave when you entered! End of story!") He moved to leave the room but found the paper fan blocking his way. The way he jumped backwards almost made Asuka break out in laughter.
("Hold it right there, I'm not done with you.") The brunette turned to Asuka and switched to Imperial Common. "You. What happened?"
'Common. Definitely the girl from before, then.' Asuka thought. "You understand me?"
Hikari nodded. "Yes. I no good at talking, but understand well."
Asuka glanced at Toji. It was obvious that the pervert had not expected Hikari to ask her about what had happened, and he was now panicking and pleading at her with his eyes.
She kept her face neutral, but Asuka was inwardly laughing. Justice would be imparted, and while she wouldn't get to beat up the idiot as she had hoped, she felt that leaving him to the mercy of this girl was a good enough second.
"I was watching that girl over there when this idiot came running in here and tried whacking me in the head with his toy sword. I rolled out of the way and my dress got like this." Hikari was attentively listening to her and gripping her fan tighter with every word. Toji looked resigned to his fate.
'Oh I'm not done with you yet, you damn pervert.' Asuka put on her best acting face and continued.
"He looked at me, and then he got this look in his eye." The eyes of her audience widened, for different reasons. "And then he... he..." Asuka made a grabbing motion with her hand and curled up into a ball, hiding her face. The results she expected didn't take long.
("YOU DID WHAT?") ("HELL NO!")
'So he understands me too, huh?' Asuka filed that bit for future reference.
She heard a loud smack and a pained yell and raised her head to admire her work.
("Ouch! That hurt, Hikari!")
("Good! It was meant to, you disgusting pervert!") The girl sounded positively livid. ("I could have expected something like this from Aida, but I thought you had grown up a bit already! Clearly I was wrong.")
Another smack, another howl of pain.
("Gah! I never touched her, Hikari! She's lying!") Smack! ("She's a demon! A demon! And she was going to eat Sakura!") Smack! ("I only tried to knock her out before she could kill her, dammit!")
No smack after that.
("So you admit it, then?") Asked Hikari.
("A-admit what?") Questioned Toji in a fearful voice.
("You attacked her without provocation.")
("Without provocation?! I told you, she was going to eat Sakura! She's a demon! Why did you bring her here anyway?!")
SMACK!
("She's not a demon, you idiot.") Hikari continued. ("None of the foreigners are, because demons don't exist. I thought Sensei had left that clear. Did you forget already?")
'Sensei?' Another tidbit for future reference.
("N-no... I haven't forgotten about what Sensei said...") Toji sounded dejected.
("Good; And I brought Sakura here because her brother isn't taking care of her.")
("But I'm busy training, I can't be with her all day!") Responded Toji indignantly.
("Oh? And I'm not busy, am I?")
("I-...I didn't mean it like that.")
("You better not.") Hikari finally left the stooge some breathing space. ("Anyway, your 'Demon' is our guest here until Ikari-sama says otherwise, and I expect you to treat her as such.")
'Ikari-sama, huh? Whoever that is, it sounds important; And I'm a guest? What the hell does that mean?' Being quiet was proving to be quite informative, Asuka found.
Touji snorted. ("Our guest. You can't think that this is a good idea.")
("It doesn't matter what I think.") Answered Hikari. ("That is what Ikari-sama wishes, and it is our duty to respect that.") She turned away from him. ("Get yourself dressed and go to him. Tell him everything that happened and ask him what it is you are to do. Tell him that the both of us will be there to see him soon, too.")
("Tch. Fine, I get it.") He turned to go for the door when Hikari spoke again.
("Oh, and Toji?") She waited until she was sure she had his attention. ("Don't think for a moment that I have forgotten about this.")
The stooge merely nodded his head and directed the dirtiest glare he could muster towards Asuka. She looked him in the eye and allowed herself a smirk for a job well done.
That would teach him.
He turned again and left without a word.
Hikari waited until he was out of hearing range before letting out a deep sigh. ("Just when I thought he was making progress...") She muttered.
Asuka hardly believed that the idiot she had just seen was capable of thought, let alone of progress of any kind, but she refrained from voicing her opinions. She wasn't supposed to understand what was being said after all.
A small rustle and a yawn brought the gazes of the two young women to the child in the corner of the room. Apparently, all the noise in the last few minutes had been enough to (finally) wake her.
("'s somethin' wrong?") She asked.
Hikari lightly shook her head in amusement and allowed herself a small smile before kneeling in front of the girl, much like Asuka had done minutes before. ("No, nothing's wrong Sakura-chan. Just your brother being a big idiot.")
Sakura rubbed her eyes and pouted. ("Big bro's always an idiot.")
("He really is, isn't he?") Hikari laughed lightly and ruffled Sakura's hair a bit. The little girl smiled brightly. ("You have been playing a lot Sakura-chan, so go back to sleep. I'll wake you up again when we go see Shinji-kun, okay?")
The girl nodded and laid in her mattress again. She was out like a light within seconds.
'Damn, I really have to find out how she does that.'
Hikari stood up again and motioned for Asuka to sit down at the low table in the middle of the room. She took the tray from the floor and presented its contents to her when she had made herself comfortable. A variety of vegetables and fish and a bowl of water greeted Asuka, and she had to control herself not to wolf it all down right then and there.
She barely controlled herself when Hikari gave her the go ahead, though.
The freckled girl only smiled and took it all in stride.
Please drop a line with your thoughts if you have the time!
Chapter 1.2:
Asuka instinctively jumped backwards as far as her body allowed her to. In her prime, she would have been able to easily roll away from her position and into a ready stance to face any kind of incoming danger. Endless hours of training in the army had made sure of that.
But her body would just not listen today. She landed hard on her butt and used what momentum she had managed to make to clumsily get back up on her feet, moments before the blade of her attacker struck the place she had been kneeling on with a dull thud.
Right before the attacker's feet tripped and the rest of his body joined the sword on the floor with a startled yelp.
'Well, that was easy.' Asuka mused.
Her would-be attacker was a young man that couldn't have been older than herself. He was sweaty and dressed only in long baggy pants and a white headband around his short black hair. From his face-down position on the floor Asuka could see that he was fairly well-built, at least as far as his upper-body went. Not a terrible looker, by any means.
She could have appreciated that fact a bit more if said man had not just tried to murder her.
For all of his apparent clumsiness the man recovered quickly, and he was back on his feet before Asuka could rush to get the weapon off of him. He stood protectively in front of the (still) sleeping child and tried to make himself as imposing as possible as he levelled his sword at her.
His extremely dangerous wooden sword.
"What the hell..." Asuka muttered.
So maybe his weapon wasn't as dangerous as she had first thought. That thing would have still hurt though, so a proper beatdown was still in order.
If only her damn head would stop spinning.
("I'll get you next time, you-... you-") His eyes widened as he stopped his words short. He stood there, gaping at her with an open mouth and all the while Asuka could feel her patience running thin; This guy was really getting on her nerves.
And if there was one person whose nerves you didn't want to get on, that person was Asuka Sohryu.
"What the hell is your goddamn problem?! Did you hit your head or something?!" She shouted.
The man continued gaping at her, completely ignoring her outburst. Just when Asuka was considering grabbing the nearest heavy object and smashing it on his head, she noticed that the barbarian in front of her wasn't looking her in the eye.
He was looking at a spot just below her neck.
"What are you...?"
Asuka looked down at herself and her still muddled mind finally registered that she wasn't wearing the clothes she was used to. Instead, she wore a larger red and pink version of the dress she had seen on the sleeping girl earlier. Now that she had been forced to move faster than a walk, she could tell that the dress felt slightly too large for her. A fact that probably had something to do with the reaction of the idiot in front of her as the dress had moved out of position and she was now showing a bit more skin than she would have liked.
Thankfully, she still had her undergarments on.
"EEK!" Asuka crouched low and covered herself as best as she could. The man kept on staring at her, his mouth still not working. "What are you looking at you damn pervert?! Turn around already, or I'll kick your ass so hard you'll need an expedition to find it!"
The barbarian probably didn't understand a thing she had just said, but her yelling finally seemed to get him out of his trance. Speaking was apparently still hard though, because he kept on blubbering and cutting himself before making a full sentence. All of it in Yamese, Asuka recognized.
She glared at him as hard as she could. Maybe that would get the message to turn around across.
No such luck.
Footsteps sounded once more from outside of the door and the idiot turned to look at it. He looked at himself, then at Asuka, then to his 'weapon', and Asuka could almost hear the wheels grinding on his head before he let out something that she recognized as 'Oh, shit.'
The door opened, and a freckled and brown haired girl in pig-tails came into the room carrying a tray full of food; The girl that was with her earlier, Asuka assumed.
("What is all of this ruckus?")
She blinked. She looked at the man, then at Asuka, then to the 'weapon', and there was no grinding thought-noise before she left the tray in the floor. She glared at the man and took a piece of folded paper from the sleeve of her yellow dress.
The man looked nervously at it.
("Toji. Suzuhara.") She said in a dark voice. ("What. Are. You. Doing?")
("It- It's not what it looks like, Hikari!") The idiot (Toji, presumably) nervously answered.
("Then I hope you have a good explanation for coming half-naked in here and getting my ward in that position.)" The girl, Hikari, extended the piece of paper and it took the form of a paper fan. A Harisen, if Asuka remembered right. She made an experimental swipe with it and was rewarded with a loud 'whoosh'. Satisfied, she rested the tip on her left hand. ("Explain. Now.")
Toji pointed at Asuka. ("That was an accident! She fell to the ground and her clothes got like that! I had nothing to do with it! Honest!")
("She fell, just like that?") Hikari wasn't buying the excuse. ("Right. You'll have to try harder than that, Toji.") Asuka briefly considered butting into the conversation and saying what had happened, but decided against it.
'As much as I want to give this perverted idiot what he deserves, I better don't let them know I can understand them. Maybe they'll say something useful.'
("For starters, why do you have your sword here?") Continued Hikari ("Katsuragi-san clearly said that no weapons are allowed indoors, even practice ones.")
("I was in a rush so I forgot to leave it in the grounds!") Toji responded. He kept glancing at the paper fan, and Asuka could swear that he was starting to sweat heavily. ("Anyway, if we can't have weapons why do you carry that thing around?!")
Hikari smiled devilishly. ("It's worked well in the past for keeping you boys in line, so Katsuragi-san gave me special permission to keep it. Do you have anything else to say, Toji?")
("Wonderful.") He groaned. ("And I told you everything already! It was an accident and I was about to leave when you entered! End of story!") He moved to leave the room but found the paper fan blocking his way. The way he jumped backwards almost made Asuka break out in laughter.
("Hold it right there, I'm not done with you.") The brunette turned to Asuka and switched to Imperial Common. "You. What happened?"
'Common. Definitely the girl from before, then.' Asuka thought. "You understand me?"
Hikari nodded. "Yes. I no good at talking, but understand well."
Asuka glanced at Toji. It was obvious that the pervert had not expected Hikari to ask her about what had happened, and he was now panicking and pleading at her with his eyes.
She kept her face neutral, but Asuka was inwardly laughing. Justice would be imparted, and while she wouldn't get to beat up the idiot as she had hoped, she felt that leaving him to the mercy of this girl was a good enough second.
"I was watching that girl over there when this idiot came running in here and tried whacking me in the head with his toy sword. I rolled out of the way and my dress got like this." Hikari was attentively listening to her and gripping her fan tighter with every word. Toji looked resigned to his fate.
'Oh I'm not done with you yet, you damn pervert.' Asuka put on her best acting face and continued.
"He looked at me, and then he got this look in his eye." The eyes of her audience widened, for different reasons. "And then he... he..." Asuka made a grabbing motion with her hand and curled up into a ball, hiding her face. The results she expected didn't take long.
("YOU DID WHAT?") ("HELL NO!")
'So he understands me too, huh?' Asuka filed that bit for future reference.
She heard a loud smack and a pained yell and raised her head to admire her work.
("Ouch! That hurt, Hikari!")
("Good! It was meant to, you disgusting pervert!") The girl sounded positively livid. ("I could have expected something like this from Aida, but I thought you had grown up a bit already! Clearly I was wrong.")
Another smack, another howl of pain.
("Gah! I never touched her, Hikari! She's lying!") Smack! ("She's a demon! A demon! And she was going to eat Sakura!") Smack! ("I only tried to knock her out before she could kill her, dammit!")
No smack after that.
("So you admit it, then?") Asked Hikari.
("A-admit what?") Questioned Toji in a fearful voice.
("You attacked her without provocation.")
("Without provocation?! I told you, she was going to eat Sakura! She's a demon! Why did you bring her here anyway?!")
SMACK!
("She's not a demon, you idiot.") Hikari continued. ("None of the foreigners are, because demons don't exist. I thought Sensei had left that clear. Did you forget already?")
'Sensei?' Another tidbit for future reference.
("N-no... I haven't forgotten about what Sensei said...") Toji sounded dejected.
("Good; And I brought Sakura here because her brother isn't taking care of her.")
("But I'm busy training, I can't be with her all day!") Responded Toji indignantly.
("Oh? And I'm not busy, am I?")
("I-...I didn't mean it like that.")
("You better not.") Hikari finally left the stooge some breathing space. ("Anyway, your 'Demon' is our guest here until Ikari-sama says otherwise, and I expect you to treat her as such.")
'Ikari-sama, huh? Whoever that is, it sounds important; And I'm a guest? What the hell does that mean?' Being quiet was proving to be quite informative, Asuka found.
Touji snorted. ("Our guest. You can't think that this is a good idea.")
("It doesn't matter what I think.") Answered Hikari. ("That is what Ikari-sama wishes, and it is our duty to respect that.") She turned away from him. ("Get yourself dressed and go to him. Tell him everything that happened and ask him what it is you are to do. Tell him that the both of us will be there to see him soon, too.")
("Tch. Fine, I get it.") He turned to go for the door when Hikari spoke again.
("Oh, and Toji?") She waited until she was sure she had his attention. ("Don't think for a moment that I have forgotten about this.")
The stooge merely nodded his head and directed the dirtiest glare he could muster towards Asuka. She looked him in the eye and allowed herself a smirk for a job well done.
That would teach him.
He turned again and left without a word.
Hikari waited until he was out of hearing range before letting out a deep sigh. ("Just when I thought he was making progress...") She muttered.
Asuka hardly believed that the idiot she had just seen was capable of thought, let alone of progress of any kind, but she refrained from voicing her opinions. She wasn't supposed to understand what was being said after all.
A small rustle and a yawn brought the gazes of the two young women to the child in the corner of the room. Apparently, all the noise in the last few minutes had been enough to (finally) wake her.
("'s somethin' wrong?") She asked.
Hikari lightly shook her head in amusement and allowed herself a small smile before kneeling in front of the girl, much like Asuka had done minutes before. ("No, nothing's wrong Sakura-chan. Just your brother being a big idiot.")
Sakura rubbed her eyes and pouted. ("Big bro's always an idiot.")
("He really is, isn't he?") Hikari laughed lightly and ruffled Sakura's hair a bit. The little girl smiled brightly. ("You have been playing a lot Sakura-chan, so go back to sleep. I'll wake you up again when we go see Shinji-kun, okay?")
The girl nodded and laid in her mattress again. She was out like a light within seconds.
'Damn, I really have to find out how she does that.'
Hikari stood up again and motioned for Asuka to sit down at the low table in the middle of the room. She took the tray from the floor and presented its contents to her when she had made herself comfortable. A variety of vegetables and fish and a bowl of water greeted Asuka, and she had to control herself not to wolf it all down right then and there.
She barely controlled herself when Hikari gave her the go ahead, though.
The freckled girl only smiled and took it all in stride.
Last edited:
- Location
- Australia, mate
Hehe, nice to see that even in another universe, Toji's a jock through and through.
- Location
- Spain
Yeah, I wanted to keep his entrance similar to the series and give Asuka something to base their future opposition on. You'll tell me how well that went.
This snippet was initially meant to have the conversation that comes next between Asuka and Hikari too, but the scene with Toji evolved a bit more than I expected and it ended up like this; Still, I think that this scene flows a bit too quickly. I've been trying to move away from long exposition because that is something that I have been told I did wrong in the past, but I cannot help but think that the scene seems a bit barebones at places.
Any thoughts on that?
Stargrave
Wine-drinking evil
- Location
- The White City
If long exposition is a problem, put in a short one.
I don't think exposition is necessarily bad, just don't overdo it and don't make it come out of nowhere. I don't know what exactly you had in mind, but, for example, Asuka waking up in a strange place and then recounting just what exactly she came to Yamato for in the first place in a few sentences wouldn't look out of place to my mind.
EDIT: Also, watched.
I don't think exposition is necessarily bad, just don't overdo it and don't make it come out of nowhere. I don't know what exactly you had in mind, but, for example, Asuka waking up in a strange place and then recounting just what exactly she came to Yamato for in the first place in a few sentences wouldn't look out of place to my mind.
EDIT: Also, watched.
- Location
- Spain
If long exposition is a problem, put in a short one.
I don't think exposition is necessarily bad, just don't overdo it and don't make it come out of nowhere. I don't know what exactly you had in mind, but, for example, Asuka waking up in a strange place and then recounting just what exactly she came to Yamato for in the first place in a few sentences wouldn't look out of place to my mind.
Glad you like it.
The reason why Asuka's in Yamato will come up in the next few snippets. The superficial one at least, and the one that is not really groundbreaking.
The real reason is more tied to her backstory and I think it will be a ways on until it's formally introduced.
- Location
- Spain
Halfway through the next snippet, but I'm going to have to delay it for a bit; Evaluations in my school are starting next week, and that means teacher meetings I have to prepare for, and parent meeting after that, quite likely. I'll see if I can finish and post it around Wednesday or so, but I'm not making any promises.
Good news is I should have much more time on my hands once June hits. Let's see if I can make the most out of it.
Good news is I should have much more time on my hands once June hits. Let's see if I can make the most out of it.
Ranma-sensei
Sorcerer
- Location
- Citrix Receiver
- Pronouns
- Weatherdependent
This story definitely needs some hugs, because it is a fresh and interesting AU for NGE.
I am looking forward to more of it.
I am looking forward to more of it.
- Location
- Spain
This story definitely needs some hugs, because it is a fresh and interesting AU for NGE.
I am looking forward to more of it.
Thanks for the support! Update coming soontm.
On another note, I had initially planned to keep the whole of Chapter 1 in Asuka's POV in order to use her learning experience in a foreign land as a medium to present said land to the reader. The problem is that the next snippet starts with what amounts to 'And they finished eating', and that sounds pretty lame, I think.
So I've been thinking about foregoing that single POV plan and paying Misato a visit for a while in order to separate those two scenes, have her talk to Toji about his first impressions while he's on the way to delivering Hikari's message.
Thoughts on that?
Ranma-sensei
Sorcerer
- Location
- Citrix Receiver
- Pronouns
- Weatherdependent
Wouldn't do for me, frankly.
If you need to, feel free to bounce ideas off me or somebody else; your readers are usually the best source to go in such a case.
- Location
- Spain
So stick with Asuka for now, as I originally planned? Fair enough.
Awakenings - 3
- Location
- Spain
Once more unto the breach. Sorry for the delay, as they say: "Those with responsibilities have to be responsible."
Being a responsible adult is a pain in the ass sometimes, though.
Leave a comment with what you think if it suits you, dear reader.
--------------------------
Chapter 1.3
The sound of voracious eating filled the small room for the next few minutes, and Asuka felt much better afterwards. She missed some meat on the menu, but she had to admit that her meal had been delicious. Granted, it could have been the hunger speaking, but she still felt that she would have to give her compliments to the chef; Getting used to the sticks these people used to eat had been somewhat confusing too, but Hikari had swiftly come to her rescue. That girl was a pretty good teacher.
It also helped that Asuka herself was a very able learner.
Hikari had excused herself once again after her little lesson claiming that she needed to fetch a few things, and left Asuka to finish her meal alone. The redhead did not mind, the other girl's absence would give her time to ponder her current situation once she had finished eating.
And that time was now.
Leaving the sticks on the now empty plate, Asuka sat down on the mattress she had woken up on roughly an hour ago and started to recall what she knew about Yamato. Small historical tidbits passed to her by Mr. Kaji and some things she had read in books, mostly.
'Yamato is an island nation far to the east of the Imperial mainland.' recalled Asuka. 'It stands past the silk-producing lands currently in revolt, and the Oriental Sea. It is an ancient land that long ago used to be ruled by a single monarch, but that fell into infighting and independently ruled territories after a string of weak rulers. Said infighting for power has kept most of the country isolated from the rest of the world for centuries, something that was only broken with the arrival of Imperial explorers to the island fifty-four years ago.
They were not received warmly.
The Empire decided to ignore the barbarians living in Yamato for the next four decades while it focused its efforts on conquering the rest of the eastern lands to the Oriental Sea, but many scholars and religious men were drawn to the island in the search of knowledge. Many of them never made it back to Imperial soil, but some would live to write their findings.
The people of Yamato are proud warriors with centuries of tradition. They value Honour, Discipline and Loyalty, and look down on anyone who doesn't share their views. They are a technologically backwards nation very centred in the spiritual, with a cult to a being they call 'Lillith'. Said cult has its own church, based in one of the largest cities in the island, Tokyo. The church has mostly remained neutral in the various small conflicts that have sparked throughout the centuries, but has been known to pick sides from time to time, mostly to increase its own powerbase. The cult of Lillith is very influential in Yamato.
The various small holdings of the island banded together in an uneasy alliance following the invasion of Yamato at the hands of the Empire fifteen years ago. Emboldened by the easy conquest of the East up until that point, the Empire landed a relatively small army on the southern beaches of Yamato expecting their firearms and superior tactics to bring them a swift victory. But they were caught off-guard by the tenacity of the warriors of Yamato and their initial push was eventually halted and sent back to the fortifications in the south of the island, at a high cost in lives to the Yamese; One of the Imperial warships would be captured around this time too by much inferior Yamese ships, its cargo hold full of weaponry and cannons paving the way for the modernization of the Yamese military.
What followed would be thirteen years of stalemate, with the Empire unable to commit a huge army to the Yamato campaign due to uprisings in the conquered territories and the Yamese military incapable of dislodging the Imperials from their fortresses in the south. Land would frequently change hands along the border but no side would be able to hold it.
It is only a matter of time until matters in the Empire resolve themselves and more power can be devoted to ending this stupid war, though.'
Asuka let out a deep sigh and threw herself on the mattress again.
"That is all well and good, but it doesn't really help me." She muttered. "Good news is these people are not outright hostile to me for God knows what reason." She sighed again. "Bad news is I don't know their damn reasons for acting this way."
Asuka let out a frustrated groan and sat back up. She was feeling much better now than she was before, but that didn't stop her from feeling completely helpless about her situation. And if there was one thing Asuka Sohryu hated, it was not being in control of the situation.
It didn't help that the actions of her hosts so far had been completely nonsensical. The Yamese were infamous for their treatment of prisoners after all (or so the stories went), and while Asuka appreciated keeping her head attached to her shoulders she was dreading the drop of the other shoe, and what that could entail.
'You don't give your enemy food and shelter if you don't expect to get something out of it, after all.'
Thankfully for Asuka, Hikari came back into the room before she could dwell too much into that, a basket with a few bottles and some towels in her hand. She looked at the empty plate and then at her, and smiled.
"Feel better?" asked Hikari.
"Yeah, thanks for the food. That really hit the spot." responded Asuka. She sent the freckled girl the best smile she could muster. It was probably a good idea to keep on this girl's good side, after all.
"That is good." Hikari then put her palms together and raised her hands between her closed eyes, the tip of her fingers in front of her forehead. "(Praise be to Lillith)".
A religious gesture, Asuka guessed.
'Right. I'm sure the typical non-corporeal almighty entity full of benevolence from this corner of the world played a major part in me being alive right now.' Asuka mentally scoffed and had to fight hard not to roll her eyes.
Hikari opened her eyes again and knelt in front of the redhead, hands on her lap.
"Your name?" asked Hikari.
'Oh yeah, I know her name but I haven't introduced myself yet. Well... this should surprise her a bit.' Asuka thought. "Asuka." She continued. "Asuka Sohryu."
"Asuka?" Asked Hikari with a raised eyebrow. "But that's..."
"Yeah, I know." Interrupted Asuka. "It's one of your names. That's because I was born here, as far as I know." She shrugged. "Not that I remember ever living here though, so that's a moot point."
Hikari nodded in understanding and started to pick up the now empty tray of food, before leaving it outside of the door. "You lived in Empire?"
"All of my life, yes. Imperial city of Ulm, one of the main trade centres of the Imperial mainland, home to some of the most important people in the Empire and one of its most renowned universities." She chuckled. "It was a pretty great place."
Hikari turned to her, looking awed-struck. "You live in one of big cities?! Wow! Your family must be powerful!"
Asuka's expression darkened, and she felt her good mood leaving her. "That's none of your business."
Her words probably came out more harshly than she had meant them to, because the Yamese girl looked taken aback and ashamed. "Sorry. I was out of line."
The girl went silent after that, looking everywhere but at Asuka and obviously not knowing what to do or say.
Asuka mentally sighed and kicked herself. 'Good going, Asuka. Why don't you bite her head off too, while you are at it? So much for staying on her good side."
Her family (or lack thereof) was a sore subject to Asuka, but there was also no way Hikari could have possibly known about that. It fell to her to clear the bad air then, and she looked for something that could get the conversation back on track. Her eyes fell on the basket Hikari had brought in.
"What's that basket for?"
"Bath." Responded Hikari, but still not looking at her. "We go see Ikari-sama soon, but it do you good to clean up before."
Asuka passed her hand through her long hair and cringed. It was an absolute mess, rough and full of knots and out of place strands of hair. She almost expected it to go the way of the mythical Medusa and spring into a life of its own.
It was that bad.
"You're right, I could use a bath."
Hikari smiled, took the basket with the bath products and motioned for Asuka to follow her. "Come with me. I show way."
The redhead wasn't ready to leave yet, though. The temptation to put her beautiful hair back in its rightful place was strong, but she still had questions to ask she had been procrastinating on. And since Hikari seemed to have gotten over her previous blunder, this seemed like as good a time as any.
"Wait!" She called to Hikari, and the girl turned back to her. "Before we go, I have some things I want to ask you about... well... how I got here, I guess. Do we have time for that?"
Hikari looked outside for a bit before nodding and walking back in front of Asuka. "Okay. Ask."
'Start with the basics, Asuka. Maybe you'll learn something new.' Asuka thought. "Where are we?"
"Yamato." Responded Hikari. At the redhead's expectant gaze she elaborated a bit more, while struggling with her words. "North... peninsula. Akuro."
Asuka did a double-take at that. 'The north?! How the hell did we get so off-course?!'
"You alright?" Asuka's reaction was not missed by Hikari, if her concerned look was any indication.
"Yeah, just great." That question would have to wait. The redhead continued before Hikari could ask anymore. "Anyway, I guess this 'Akuro' is this place?"
"Yes." Confirmed Hikari. "Akuro province. Ikari-sama's domain."
'There's another important bit.' Thought Asuka. "Who's this Ikari-sama?"
"Your host. Lord of Akuro."
"Host?" Pressed Asuka. "I'm not a prisoner?"
Hikari looked conflicted at that and shook her head. "Yes and no. Ikari-sama explain. He better talker than me."
'I guess that falls in line with me being a 'Guest'. Whatever the hell that means.' Asuka would have to wait for confirmation on that one, it seemed. "Who are you?"
"Hikari, of the Horaki family. Retainer to Ikari-sama."
"And the pervert from before?"
Hikari grimaced and looked away. "Toji Suzuhara. Retainer to Ikari-sama too."
Asuka mentally scoffed at that. 'Hope he is not supposed to be this Ikari-sama's bodyguard or something. A midget with no arms would be a better fighter.' She forced herself back to the topic at hand, and what was probably the most important question she had to ask. "Why did you help me? And where did you find me?"
Hikari merely shook her head again after a bit of thought. "Not my place to say. Ikari-sama explain."
'Well, that was helpful.'
Hikari looked outside once more and continued. "We should go. You can ask Ikari-sama other questions you have later."
A part of Asuka wanted to protest and keep on questioning, but she figured that there was no point in continuing this if the important questions she wanted to ask would just get deflected to this girl's lord; Her girly side was also close to rioting, demanding that she stop this stupid waste of time and get on with the truly important stuff, mainly making herself presentable. Now.
The redhead sighed and gave in to her base impulses. "Fine, let's go. I really want that bath anyway."
Hikari smiled and led the way out of the room, Asuka closely behind.
The battle was long and gruelling, the combatants determined to fight to the bitter end no matter the cost. Unfortunately for Asuka's hair, the victor of the contest had been a foregone conclusion from the very start. It was impossible to derail one Asuka Sohryu from her objective once she set her mind to something, after all.
And so the redhead walked out of the bathroom, feeling better than she had in weeks and with her mane and body in pristine and radiant condition. She felt so good that the smile on her face would have surely made all the men back in her training camp swoon after her.
Or run away as far as possible, depending on the situation.
She found Hikari waiting for her in the corridor, the kid that had been sleeping in the room earlier at her side. The freckled girl looked at Asuka and smiled appreciatively.
"You look better now." She said.
Asuka passed a hand through her hair and threw a loose strand over her shoulder. Silky, smooth and shiny, just like she liked it. She also loved the way the eyes of her audience followed her motions.
"Thanks." replied Asuka. "I really needed that."
Hikari nodded and gave the child beside her a gentle push forward.
"Come on, Sakura-chan. Say hello to Shinji-kun's guest."
The kid looked up at her with wide eyes and muttered something resembling a 'Hello' before scurrying behind Hikari. The other girl just laughed softly and ruffled her hair.
"Forgive her. She is shy to new people."
Asuka didn't particularly mind, the girl could get comfortable whenever she wanted. She wasn't any good with kids anyway.
Hikari took the young girl's hand and led the both of them through the building. The two older girls kept a light conversation going about the different places and ornaments Asuka would see while on their way. Meanwhile, Sakura would ask Hikari questions in Yamese about the newcomer from time to time. Those questions were mostly about Asuka's hair colour, and whether that made the redhead a demon, because her Big Brother had said that demons were always red.
Hikari would sigh and try to assure the little kid that what Toji said was just the idiot staying true to his nature and trying to scare her, and that demons only existed in the old tales. She mostly succeeded, but Asuka could still see Sakura looking at her distrustfully. She saw trouble on the horizon from that front.
Kids could be a pain sometimes.
Finally the group arrived at a big beautifully ornamented door with guards in front of it. The main chambers, Asuka guessed. Hikari stepped to the front and spoke clearly to the two men.
("I bring Ikari-sama's guest for an audience. He is expecting us.")
The two guards nodded and gave a small bow to Hikari, before retreating to the sides of the corridor. The girl turned to Asuka.
"We go see Ikari-sama now. When inside, please do what I tell you."
She waited for the redhead's confirmation before opening the door and stepping inside, Sakura in hand; Asuka took a deep breath and mentally focused herself for what was to come. Her answers for the behaviour of these people were inside that room and she was determined to get them, one way or another. She only hoped that the end result of all of this would be a positive one.
She took a step forward and passed the door's threshold.
'Let's go, Asuka.'
Being a responsible adult is a pain in the ass sometimes, though.
Leave a comment with what you think if it suits you, dear reader.
--------------------------
Chapter 1.3
The sound of voracious eating filled the small room for the next few minutes, and Asuka felt much better afterwards. She missed some meat on the menu, but she had to admit that her meal had been delicious. Granted, it could have been the hunger speaking, but she still felt that she would have to give her compliments to the chef; Getting used to the sticks these people used to eat had been somewhat confusing too, but Hikari had swiftly come to her rescue. That girl was a pretty good teacher.
It also helped that Asuka herself was a very able learner.
Hikari had excused herself once again after her little lesson claiming that she needed to fetch a few things, and left Asuka to finish her meal alone. The redhead did not mind, the other girl's absence would give her time to ponder her current situation once she had finished eating.
And that time was now.
Leaving the sticks on the now empty plate, Asuka sat down on the mattress she had woken up on roughly an hour ago and started to recall what she knew about Yamato. Small historical tidbits passed to her by Mr. Kaji and some things she had read in books, mostly.
'Yamato is an island nation far to the east of the Imperial mainland.' recalled Asuka. 'It stands past the silk-producing lands currently in revolt, and the Oriental Sea. It is an ancient land that long ago used to be ruled by a single monarch, but that fell into infighting and independently ruled territories after a string of weak rulers. Said infighting for power has kept most of the country isolated from the rest of the world for centuries, something that was only broken with the arrival of Imperial explorers to the island fifty-four years ago.
They were not received warmly.
The Empire decided to ignore the barbarians living in Yamato for the next four decades while it focused its efforts on conquering the rest of the eastern lands to the Oriental Sea, but many scholars and religious men were drawn to the island in the search of knowledge. Many of them never made it back to Imperial soil, but some would live to write their findings.
The people of Yamato are proud warriors with centuries of tradition. They value Honour, Discipline and Loyalty, and look down on anyone who doesn't share their views. They are a technologically backwards nation very centred in the spiritual, with a cult to a being they call 'Lillith'. Said cult has its own church, based in one of the largest cities in the island, Tokyo. The church has mostly remained neutral in the various small conflicts that have sparked throughout the centuries, but has been known to pick sides from time to time, mostly to increase its own powerbase. The cult of Lillith is very influential in Yamato.
The various small holdings of the island banded together in an uneasy alliance following the invasion of Yamato at the hands of the Empire fifteen years ago. Emboldened by the easy conquest of the East up until that point, the Empire landed a relatively small army on the southern beaches of Yamato expecting their firearms and superior tactics to bring them a swift victory. But they were caught off-guard by the tenacity of the warriors of Yamato and their initial push was eventually halted and sent back to the fortifications in the south of the island, at a high cost in lives to the Yamese; One of the Imperial warships would be captured around this time too by much inferior Yamese ships, its cargo hold full of weaponry and cannons paving the way for the modernization of the Yamese military.
What followed would be thirteen years of stalemate, with the Empire unable to commit a huge army to the Yamato campaign due to uprisings in the conquered territories and the Yamese military incapable of dislodging the Imperials from their fortresses in the south. Land would frequently change hands along the border but no side would be able to hold it.
It is only a matter of time until matters in the Empire resolve themselves and more power can be devoted to ending this stupid war, though.'
Asuka let out a deep sigh and threw herself on the mattress again.
"That is all well and good, but it doesn't really help me." She muttered. "Good news is these people are not outright hostile to me for God knows what reason." She sighed again. "Bad news is I don't know their damn reasons for acting this way."
Asuka let out a frustrated groan and sat back up. She was feeling much better now than she was before, but that didn't stop her from feeling completely helpless about her situation. And if there was one thing Asuka Sohryu hated, it was not being in control of the situation.
It didn't help that the actions of her hosts so far had been completely nonsensical. The Yamese were infamous for their treatment of prisoners after all (or so the stories went), and while Asuka appreciated keeping her head attached to her shoulders she was dreading the drop of the other shoe, and what that could entail.
'You don't give your enemy food and shelter if you don't expect to get something out of it, after all.'
Thankfully for Asuka, Hikari came back into the room before she could dwell too much into that, a basket with a few bottles and some towels in her hand. She looked at the empty plate and then at her, and smiled.
"Feel better?" asked Hikari.
"Yeah, thanks for the food. That really hit the spot." responded Asuka. She sent the freckled girl the best smile she could muster. It was probably a good idea to keep on this girl's good side, after all.
"That is good." Hikari then put her palms together and raised her hands between her closed eyes, the tip of her fingers in front of her forehead. "(Praise be to Lillith)".
A religious gesture, Asuka guessed.
'Right. I'm sure the typical non-corporeal almighty entity full of benevolence from this corner of the world played a major part in me being alive right now.' Asuka mentally scoffed and had to fight hard not to roll her eyes.
Hikari opened her eyes again and knelt in front of the redhead, hands on her lap.
"Your name?" asked Hikari.
'Oh yeah, I know her name but I haven't introduced myself yet. Well... this should surprise her a bit.' Asuka thought. "Asuka." She continued. "Asuka Sohryu."
"Asuka?" Asked Hikari with a raised eyebrow. "But that's..."
"Yeah, I know." Interrupted Asuka. "It's one of your names. That's because I was born here, as far as I know." She shrugged. "Not that I remember ever living here though, so that's a moot point."
Hikari nodded in understanding and started to pick up the now empty tray of food, before leaving it outside of the door. "You lived in Empire?"
"All of my life, yes. Imperial city of Ulm, one of the main trade centres of the Imperial mainland, home to some of the most important people in the Empire and one of its most renowned universities." She chuckled. "It was a pretty great place."
Hikari turned to her, looking awed-struck. "You live in one of big cities?! Wow! Your family must be powerful!"
Asuka's expression darkened, and she felt her good mood leaving her. "That's none of your business."
Her words probably came out more harshly than she had meant them to, because the Yamese girl looked taken aback and ashamed. "Sorry. I was out of line."
The girl went silent after that, looking everywhere but at Asuka and obviously not knowing what to do or say.
Asuka mentally sighed and kicked herself. 'Good going, Asuka. Why don't you bite her head off too, while you are at it? So much for staying on her good side."
Her family (or lack thereof) was a sore subject to Asuka, but there was also no way Hikari could have possibly known about that. It fell to her to clear the bad air then, and she looked for something that could get the conversation back on track. Her eyes fell on the basket Hikari had brought in.
"What's that basket for?"
"Bath." Responded Hikari, but still not looking at her. "We go see Ikari-sama soon, but it do you good to clean up before."
Asuka passed her hand through her long hair and cringed. It was an absolute mess, rough and full of knots and out of place strands of hair. She almost expected it to go the way of the mythical Medusa and spring into a life of its own.
It was that bad.
"You're right, I could use a bath."
Hikari smiled, took the basket with the bath products and motioned for Asuka to follow her. "Come with me. I show way."
The redhead wasn't ready to leave yet, though. The temptation to put her beautiful hair back in its rightful place was strong, but she still had questions to ask she had been procrastinating on. And since Hikari seemed to have gotten over her previous blunder, this seemed like as good a time as any.
"Wait!" She called to Hikari, and the girl turned back to her. "Before we go, I have some things I want to ask you about... well... how I got here, I guess. Do we have time for that?"
Hikari looked outside for a bit before nodding and walking back in front of Asuka. "Okay. Ask."
'Start with the basics, Asuka. Maybe you'll learn something new.' Asuka thought. "Where are we?"
"Yamato." Responded Hikari. At the redhead's expectant gaze she elaborated a bit more, while struggling with her words. "North... peninsula. Akuro."
Asuka did a double-take at that. 'The north?! How the hell did we get so off-course?!'
"You alright?" Asuka's reaction was not missed by Hikari, if her concerned look was any indication.
"Yeah, just great." That question would have to wait. The redhead continued before Hikari could ask anymore. "Anyway, I guess this 'Akuro' is this place?"
"Yes." Confirmed Hikari. "Akuro province. Ikari-sama's domain."
'There's another important bit.' Thought Asuka. "Who's this Ikari-sama?"
"Your host. Lord of Akuro."
"Host?" Pressed Asuka. "I'm not a prisoner?"
Hikari looked conflicted at that and shook her head. "Yes and no. Ikari-sama explain. He better talker than me."
'I guess that falls in line with me being a 'Guest'. Whatever the hell that means.' Asuka would have to wait for confirmation on that one, it seemed. "Who are you?"
"Hikari, of the Horaki family. Retainer to Ikari-sama."
"And the pervert from before?"
Hikari grimaced and looked away. "Toji Suzuhara. Retainer to Ikari-sama too."
Asuka mentally scoffed at that. 'Hope he is not supposed to be this Ikari-sama's bodyguard or something. A midget with no arms would be a better fighter.' She forced herself back to the topic at hand, and what was probably the most important question she had to ask. "Why did you help me? And where did you find me?"
Hikari merely shook her head again after a bit of thought. "Not my place to say. Ikari-sama explain."
'Well, that was helpful.'
Hikari looked outside once more and continued. "We should go. You can ask Ikari-sama other questions you have later."
A part of Asuka wanted to protest and keep on questioning, but she figured that there was no point in continuing this if the important questions she wanted to ask would just get deflected to this girl's lord; Her girly side was also close to rioting, demanding that she stop this stupid waste of time and get on with the truly important stuff, mainly making herself presentable. Now.
The redhead sighed and gave in to her base impulses. "Fine, let's go. I really want that bath anyway."
Hikari smiled and led the way out of the room, Asuka closely behind.
>-]LotF[-<
The battle was long and gruelling, the combatants determined to fight to the bitter end no matter the cost. Unfortunately for Asuka's hair, the victor of the contest had been a foregone conclusion from the very start. It was impossible to derail one Asuka Sohryu from her objective once she set her mind to something, after all.
And so the redhead walked out of the bathroom, feeling better than she had in weeks and with her mane and body in pristine and radiant condition. She felt so good that the smile on her face would have surely made all the men back in her training camp swoon after her.
Or run away as far as possible, depending on the situation.
She found Hikari waiting for her in the corridor, the kid that had been sleeping in the room earlier at her side. The freckled girl looked at Asuka and smiled appreciatively.
"You look better now." She said.
Asuka passed a hand through her hair and threw a loose strand over her shoulder. Silky, smooth and shiny, just like she liked it. She also loved the way the eyes of her audience followed her motions.
"Thanks." replied Asuka. "I really needed that."
Hikari nodded and gave the child beside her a gentle push forward.
"Come on, Sakura-chan. Say hello to Shinji-kun's guest."
The kid looked up at her with wide eyes and muttered something resembling a 'Hello' before scurrying behind Hikari. The other girl just laughed softly and ruffled her hair.
"Forgive her. She is shy to new people."
Asuka didn't particularly mind, the girl could get comfortable whenever she wanted. She wasn't any good with kids anyway.
Hikari took the young girl's hand and led the both of them through the building. The two older girls kept a light conversation going about the different places and ornaments Asuka would see while on their way. Meanwhile, Sakura would ask Hikari questions in Yamese about the newcomer from time to time. Those questions were mostly about Asuka's hair colour, and whether that made the redhead a demon, because her Big Brother had said that demons were always red.
Hikari would sigh and try to assure the little kid that what Toji said was just the idiot staying true to his nature and trying to scare her, and that demons only existed in the old tales. She mostly succeeded, but Asuka could still see Sakura looking at her distrustfully. She saw trouble on the horizon from that front.
Kids could be a pain sometimes.
Finally the group arrived at a big beautifully ornamented door with guards in front of it. The main chambers, Asuka guessed. Hikari stepped to the front and spoke clearly to the two men.
("I bring Ikari-sama's guest for an audience. He is expecting us.")
The two guards nodded and gave a small bow to Hikari, before retreating to the sides of the corridor. The girl turned to Asuka.
"We go see Ikari-sama now. When inside, please do what I tell you."
She waited for the redhead's confirmation before opening the door and stepping inside, Sakura in hand; Asuka took a deep breath and mentally focused herself for what was to come. Her answers for the behaviour of these people were inside that room and she was determined to get them, one way or another. She only hoped that the end result of all of this would be a positive one.
She took a step forward and passed the door's threshold.
'Let's go, Asuka.'
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Ranma-sensei
Sorcerer
- Location
- Citrix Receiver
- Pronouns
- Weatherdependent
in
recalled
centuries, but
Possibly 'throughout the centuries'...? It can be said either way.
asked
asked
than she had meant
One too many descriptors.
'did not go amiss to Hikari'? Okay, my grammar is leaving me there, since I'd build the sentence completely differently.
'replied' I'd de-activate the auto-correct function, because it gets tiring.
on
And now for something completely different:
"Run! Run! Run for your lives!!"
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- Location
- Australia, mate
So... wait... the lord of the area is not Gendo? Sure sounded like it from the 'Ikari-sama'.
Ranma-sensei
Sorcerer
- Location
- Citrix Receiver
- Pronouns
- Weatherdependent
From what I gathered, all the characters are in their early twenties at the least.
Notes: On the ages of the Cast
- Location
- Spain
Nope, not Gendo. He's busy somewhere else, and chances are it's going to be quite a while before we see him.
Hikari is going to ask Asuka her age when she gets a bit more comfortable around her, but it's not really a big deal so I'll just say it now.
The Children are all eighteen except for Kensuke, Asuka and Toji, who are still seventeen. The Horaki and Suzuhara families have their ages changed accordingly, even if Sakura doesn't act her age yet. Everyone else is the same age as in canon unless the story says otherwise.
Funfact: Origins of the Empire
- Location
- Spain
Bow before Shogun Shinji, bitches.
The history lesson was a bit too long I think, but that's the only issue I have.
Nah, he's only a provincial lord so he would be a Daimyo, if that.
On the history lesson I pretty much found myself going: 'I have to explain this, but then I have to reason that, and I will need background for that other thing!'. Needless to say, it wasn't initially planned to be that long. Especially considering that the Empire started pretty much as just an excuse to get Asuka out and back in of Yamato, so hopefully the background I provided in this snippet will need few future additions.
Fun fact: The Empire in its current incarnation is based on a Crusader Kings 2 game I played as the Holy Roman Empire, which I then ported to Europa Universalis 4. In that game I went on a world-conquering spree and ended up uniting much of the known world under my banner; I lost the screenshot I saved of how the game ended, but this image is a pretty accurate representation of how it was:
Just add North America to the HRE too.
Also, on a totally unrelated note: EMIYA 2015 HYPE!!
Stargrave
Wine-drinking evil
- Location
- The White City
Yeah, but that doesn't sound as good.Nah, he's only a provincial lord so he would be a Daimyo, if that.
Framing it somewhat differently would have worked better. For example, breaking it up into chunks and integrating it into the story itself. The first would be Asuka just recalling the stalemate between Yamato and the Empire. Then Hikari comes in and makes the religious gesture and Asuka recalls the cult of Lilith and its significance. Then Ikari-Sama is mentioned and oh yes, he must be one of the local lords who constantly fight amongst themselves for power and authority. Stuff like that.
JEEEESUUUS
You think you got enough clay there? Haven't seen the latest episode yet actually.Also, on a totally unrelated note: EMIYA 2015 HYPE!!
- Location
- Spain
Noted. Thanks for the advice!
JEEEESUUUS
NEVER! You can never blob too hard.
Oh, days when I had a lot more free time. How I miss ye...
Haven't seen the latest episode yet actually.
Me neither. I'll watch it tomorrow after work, let's see how well they pull the fight off.
Considering the rest of the show I'm not really worried, though.
Awakenings - 4
- Location
- Spain
Update time, sorry it took this long. Work got in the way and I ended up scrapping about 1k words of the first draft too because I didn't like the way it turned out.
I'm currently debating ending Chapter 1 here, as it's closing 8k words already. I had initially intended to end the chapter at the end of Asuka's day, and start doing POV swapping starting with Chapter 2. But considering that there may still be quite a few scenes before the end of the day it might be better to split the original plan for Chap 1 into two.
Let me know what you think.
------------
Chapter 1.4
The room that Asuka had been led to was quite similar to the room in which she had woken up, with the same flooring and style of decoration but of much better quality from what she could tell. The room was also much more spacious than anything Asuka had seen so far and clearly meant to hold a lot of people, something that suggested that this was the main room in the building.
Was this place their idea of a throne room?
As she took her place beside Hikari, Asuka took notice of the four other people in the room that had been obviously waiting for them: two women and two young men. One of the men was sitting in a very formal way in the middle of the congregation, and judging by how well-crafted and expensive his clothing seemed to be he was definitely important in this place; That only left one conclusion in Asuka's mind.
'You must be the famous Ikari-sama, then.' she thought. Asuka took a closer look at the boy in question and mentally delivered her first impressions. 'Pff. He doesn't look like much.'
Ikari-sama was another boy around her age. A boy that barely filled the white and black robes he was wearing and who looked like he had just started going through the changes of manhood. Hell, Asuka doubted that the guy had even started to shave; He was trying to make himself as imposing and authoritative as possible, his boyish countenance solemn and his admittedly thin frame taking as much space as it could.
Try he did, but the boy must not have been used to holding court since he was failing spectacularly at it. Clearly nervous, he couldn't keep his folded hands from drumming into his lap, or hold her gaze whenever their eyes crossed; Asuka couldn't quite make it from her position, but she also bet that her esteemed host was sweating buckets.
This was going to be a fun audience.
Off to the side of the group was Toji Suzuhara in all of his stupid glory, still angry at Asuka for her previously dealt swift retribution and giving her the evil eye, which she promptly ignored.
Not worthy of her consideration.
Ikari himself was flanked by the two women. To his right, a purple haired one that had to be older than Asuka by at least ten years, clad in light armor on the vital parts of her body sans helmet and carrying a sword. A real one this time, one of those thin and long blades that the Yamese seemed to love so much. She was casually eyeing Asuka with an inviting smile on her face and the redhead could tell that the other woman was measuring her, trying to find out whether she was a threat or not.
Clearly this woman was Ikari's bodyguard. It was good to know that the flailing idiot that was Toji Suzuhara had nothing to do with that, not that Asuka ever doubted that fact; It was also safe to assume that this woman was that Katsuragi that Hikari had mentioned earlier then, since she was carrying a weapon indoors when Hikari had explicitly mentioned it being banned before.
The other woman was yet another person close to Asuka's age group, and one that honestly gave the redhead the creeps just by looking at her: A blue haired and red eyed albino dressed in a dark blue coloured version of the same dress all of the women in this place with the exception of Katsuragi seemed to have. Just like Katsuragi the girl was judging the new arrival, but unlike the bodyguard she didn't bother with hiding it under a mask, going instead with narrowed eyes and a wary, if not outright hostile, demeanor.
Asuka would just have to respond in kind, then.
Whispered words to her side made her pay attention to Hikari. "Do what I do. Get down on knees. Bow."
Hikari did as she herself instructed and gracefully dropped on both knees before touching her hands and forehead to the floor, slowly sitting back up in a kneeling position afterwards, hands on her lap, and staring straight ahead.
Only then did she notice that the redhead was not following her instructions. "What are you doing?!"
Hikari's whispered words carried a hint of panic that wasn't lost to Asuka, but the redhead wouldn't be deterred. She was Asuka Sohryu after all, and she would be damned if she allowed herself to be looked down on by anyone, Imperial or otherwise.
'And I'm not going to willingly bow to such a shrimp.' thought Asuka. Nevertheless, and in the spirit of not completely butchering the diplomatic option (the guy had apparently saved her life, after all), the redhead allowed a slight inclination of her head to her so-called 'host'.
The reactions her actions caused in the room were mixed: Katsuragi raised an eyebrow and lost the smile, before shifting her body slightly in Asuka's direction and letting her right hand lazily drop on her sheathed sword's pommel. Blue, on the other hand, further narrowed her eyes and imitated her older counterpart even though she apparently had no weapons to speak of. Hikari kept pleading for her to stop doing whatever it was she was doing and listen to her.
To say that the tension in the room could be cut with a knife would be an understatement.
Several tense seconds passed without anyone speaking and Asuka took the time to check on Ikari-sama: The boy was alternating rapid looks between the two women and herself, his previous mask completely forgotten and obviously worried about the situation unfolding before him. He seemed to want to speak up, but clearly the right words were not coming to him.
Instead, Blue was the first to express her displeasure in perfectly spoken Imperial common, her speech clear and politely cutting.
"You disrespect the lord of this land. I assume you do not know this." she gestured towards Hikari. "Please do as your caretaker tells you, so it does not happen again." even if Blue had phrased her line as a request, Asuka could tell that it was anything but.
"You assume wrong, I know that what I'm doing can be seen as disrespectful." responded Asuka taking special care to look the albino straight in the eye, something that Blue didn't seem to like in the slightest. "But I have never bowed down to anyone in my life, and I'm not going to start now."
"Not even when the one you are disrespecting is directly responsible for saving your life?" She scoffed in disgust. "And you people call us barbarians. What an ingrate you are."
"You have that backwards." clarified the redhead. "I am grateful for what your lord has done." she broke eye contact with the albino to look at Ikari for a moment. "Thanks for that, by the way." she added, and went back to her verbal sparring with Blue before the boy could respond. "But me being grateful and me kissing the ground for anyone are two very different things. I already thanked him and did a small standing bow, that's more than anyone has ever gotten out of me."
Asuka's opponent was clearly not satisfied with that, her already cutting words now laced with venom. "You are thankful but will not show the proper honours to the one you are thanking? Call it what you may, but that doesn't change the fact that your arrogance is gravely insulting to your host." her red eyes narrowed even more. "Many in Yamato have been punished for less."
Asuka matched the glare thrown at her with one of her own "And you throwing a fit doesn't change the fact that I'm not going to bow down. You want to cut my head off for that? Go right ahead. Prove just how much of a barbarian you are."
Deadly silence covered the room once again as the wills of the two parties quietly clashed against each other. Asuka had no doubt in her mind that Blue was very seriously considering her offer, and a small part of her was lamenting not swallowing her pride and going with Hikari's instructions. The better part of her just wanted an excuse to jump on this blue-haired bitch and rip her a new one though, and to hell with the consequences.
Hikari was just quietly watching the proceedings, pale-faced and wondering how a simple meeting could have gone so terribly wrong, and whether she had had anything to do with it.
Then a soft chuckle filled the room and the tense atmosphere was completely dispelled, all gazes going to the only armed woman in the room. Katsuragi relaxed her expression and went back to the placid stance she had been in at the start of the meeting, clearly amused. Her dark eyes never left Asuka though, still alert, still ready, but the redhead could see a measure of respect for her on them now.
Katsuragi twisted her head slightly towards Ikari and spoke to him in a jovial manner.
("You sure know how to pick them, Shinji!")
Asuka barely stopped herself from exploding in rage.
'What the hell does she mean by that?!'
The boy only closed his eyes and let out a deep, tired sigh.
("This is no joking matter, Katsuragi.") came the answer from the albino.
("And I'm taking this seriously, don't worry.") assured Katsuragi. ("You are the one that should let go a little bit, Rei-chan.") She winked at Rei. ("Let's not start making the heads roll, ne?")
That only seemed to infuriate Blue even further. ("Are you telling me to ignore her blatant disrespect for my brother?")
("Not at all, I actually agree with you on that. I'm just telling you to let him be the one to deal with it.") Katsuragi took her eyes off of Asuka to focus on Rei for a moment. ("I mean, you being so protective of your brother was cute when you were five, and it still is, but you have to learn to let him be sometimes.")
That had to have hit fairly close to home, Asuka thought, because Blue's face took on a heavy blush and she almost choked on her next response.
("Bwa...?! Wh-what does that have to do with anything?!")
Misato just shrugged and went back to her vigil while Rei made to continue defending her point. She never got to though, and the interruption came from the boy between them this time.
("Rei, thank you. But that's enough.")
Ikari-sama stood up from his position and addressed his sister with a small smile, and Asuka felt she had to amend her initial assessment: While the build of the boy in front of her was still unimpressive, he was actually quite tall. Easily half a head taller than her, and she was by no means short herself. She was that much taller than most everyone she had met in Yamato so far (with the exception of Katsuragi and Suzuhara, who matched her), so Ikari's height was actually kind of impressive for a Yamese man.
Blue's answer to her brother's request was cut off by Ikari's raised hand.
("I know you are just looking out for me Rei, but I think Misato is right this time. Let me handle this one, okay?")
It was clear that Blue didn't agree with Ikari's assessment in the slightest, but in the end she relented. ("As you wish, Brother.") she said with a small bow.
Ikari whispered a soft thanks to his sister and paused to take a deep breath. Letting go of it, he turned towards Asuka and started to slowly walk towards her, eyes closed and muttering something under his breath, something that Asuka couldn't quite make out.
The muttering stopped when he was about three steps away from her, and at that moment Asuka felt something. Both over her skin and beneath it and covering her entire body, a momentary itch that was gone as quickly as it had come.
'What the hell was that?'
Never before had she felt anything like that, and that fact alone seriously unnerved the redhead. And it was at that time, with Asuka's fight-or-flight instinct taking hold of her, that the boy in front of her raised his head and opened his eyes.
Asuka felt her words escape her and her heart skip a beat.
Gone was the nervous boy that couldn't hold her gaze and had been strung along by everyone else for the entirety of the meeting, replaced instead with another boy that calmly looked her in the eye and let out an aura of confidence and control.
He also had very pretty blue eyes, noted an errant part of Asuka's brain.
While Asuka was scrambling to make sense of the situation and what the hell had just happened, Ikari took another step forward, mimicked the same kind of short bow Asuka had given him and spoke in a clear and confident voice that he sure as hell had not used before.
"I am Shinji Ikari, Lord of Akuro. Can I please have your name?"
I'm currently debating ending Chapter 1 here, as it's closing 8k words already. I had initially intended to end the chapter at the end of Asuka's day, and start doing POV swapping starting with Chapter 2. But considering that there may still be quite a few scenes before the end of the day it might be better to split the original plan for Chap 1 into two.
Let me know what you think.
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Chapter 1.4
The room that Asuka had been led to was quite similar to the room in which she had woken up, with the same flooring and style of decoration but of much better quality from what she could tell. The room was also much more spacious than anything Asuka had seen so far and clearly meant to hold a lot of people, something that suggested that this was the main room in the building.
Was this place their idea of a throne room?
As she took her place beside Hikari, Asuka took notice of the four other people in the room that had been obviously waiting for them: two women and two young men. One of the men was sitting in a very formal way in the middle of the congregation, and judging by how well-crafted and expensive his clothing seemed to be he was definitely important in this place; That only left one conclusion in Asuka's mind.
'You must be the famous Ikari-sama, then.' she thought. Asuka took a closer look at the boy in question and mentally delivered her first impressions. 'Pff. He doesn't look like much.'
Ikari-sama was another boy around her age. A boy that barely filled the white and black robes he was wearing and who looked like he had just started going through the changes of manhood. Hell, Asuka doubted that the guy had even started to shave; He was trying to make himself as imposing and authoritative as possible, his boyish countenance solemn and his admittedly thin frame taking as much space as it could.
Try he did, but the boy must not have been used to holding court since he was failing spectacularly at it. Clearly nervous, he couldn't keep his folded hands from drumming into his lap, or hold her gaze whenever their eyes crossed; Asuka couldn't quite make it from her position, but she also bet that her esteemed host was sweating buckets.
This was going to be a fun audience.
Off to the side of the group was Toji Suzuhara in all of his stupid glory, still angry at Asuka for her previously dealt swift retribution and giving her the evil eye, which she promptly ignored.
Not worthy of her consideration.
Ikari himself was flanked by the two women. To his right, a purple haired one that had to be older than Asuka by at least ten years, clad in light armor on the vital parts of her body sans helmet and carrying a sword. A real one this time, one of those thin and long blades that the Yamese seemed to love so much. She was casually eyeing Asuka with an inviting smile on her face and the redhead could tell that the other woman was measuring her, trying to find out whether she was a threat or not.
Clearly this woman was Ikari's bodyguard. It was good to know that the flailing idiot that was Toji Suzuhara had nothing to do with that, not that Asuka ever doubted that fact; It was also safe to assume that this woman was that Katsuragi that Hikari had mentioned earlier then, since she was carrying a weapon indoors when Hikari had explicitly mentioned it being banned before.
The other woman was yet another person close to Asuka's age group, and one that honestly gave the redhead the creeps just by looking at her: A blue haired and red eyed albino dressed in a dark blue coloured version of the same dress all of the women in this place with the exception of Katsuragi seemed to have. Just like Katsuragi the girl was judging the new arrival, but unlike the bodyguard she didn't bother with hiding it under a mask, going instead with narrowed eyes and a wary, if not outright hostile, demeanor.
Asuka would just have to respond in kind, then.
Whispered words to her side made her pay attention to Hikari. "Do what I do. Get down on knees. Bow."
Hikari did as she herself instructed and gracefully dropped on both knees before touching her hands and forehead to the floor, slowly sitting back up in a kneeling position afterwards, hands on her lap, and staring straight ahead.
Only then did she notice that the redhead was not following her instructions. "What are you doing?!"
Hikari's whispered words carried a hint of panic that wasn't lost to Asuka, but the redhead wouldn't be deterred. She was Asuka Sohryu after all, and she would be damned if she allowed herself to be looked down on by anyone, Imperial or otherwise.
'And I'm not going to willingly bow to such a shrimp.' thought Asuka. Nevertheless, and in the spirit of not completely butchering the diplomatic option (the guy had apparently saved her life, after all), the redhead allowed a slight inclination of her head to her so-called 'host'.
The reactions her actions caused in the room were mixed: Katsuragi raised an eyebrow and lost the smile, before shifting her body slightly in Asuka's direction and letting her right hand lazily drop on her sheathed sword's pommel. Blue, on the other hand, further narrowed her eyes and imitated her older counterpart even though she apparently had no weapons to speak of. Hikari kept pleading for her to stop doing whatever it was she was doing and listen to her.
To say that the tension in the room could be cut with a knife would be an understatement.
Several tense seconds passed without anyone speaking and Asuka took the time to check on Ikari-sama: The boy was alternating rapid looks between the two women and herself, his previous mask completely forgotten and obviously worried about the situation unfolding before him. He seemed to want to speak up, but clearly the right words were not coming to him.
Instead, Blue was the first to express her displeasure in perfectly spoken Imperial common, her speech clear and politely cutting.
"You disrespect the lord of this land. I assume you do not know this." she gestured towards Hikari. "Please do as your caretaker tells you, so it does not happen again." even if Blue had phrased her line as a request, Asuka could tell that it was anything but.
"You assume wrong, I know that what I'm doing can be seen as disrespectful." responded Asuka taking special care to look the albino straight in the eye, something that Blue didn't seem to like in the slightest. "But I have never bowed down to anyone in my life, and I'm not going to start now."
"Not even when the one you are disrespecting is directly responsible for saving your life?" She scoffed in disgust. "And you people call us barbarians. What an ingrate you are."
"You have that backwards." clarified the redhead. "I am grateful for what your lord has done." she broke eye contact with the albino to look at Ikari for a moment. "Thanks for that, by the way." she added, and went back to her verbal sparring with Blue before the boy could respond. "But me being grateful and me kissing the ground for anyone are two very different things. I already thanked him and did a small standing bow, that's more than anyone has ever gotten out of me."
Asuka's opponent was clearly not satisfied with that, her already cutting words now laced with venom. "You are thankful but will not show the proper honours to the one you are thanking? Call it what you may, but that doesn't change the fact that your arrogance is gravely insulting to your host." her red eyes narrowed even more. "Many in Yamato have been punished for less."
Asuka matched the glare thrown at her with one of her own "And you throwing a fit doesn't change the fact that I'm not going to bow down. You want to cut my head off for that? Go right ahead. Prove just how much of a barbarian you are."
Deadly silence covered the room once again as the wills of the two parties quietly clashed against each other. Asuka had no doubt in her mind that Blue was very seriously considering her offer, and a small part of her was lamenting not swallowing her pride and going with Hikari's instructions. The better part of her just wanted an excuse to jump on this blue-haired bitch and rip her a new one though, and to hell with the consequences.
Hikari was just quietly watching the proceedings, pale-faced and wondering how a simple meeting could have gone so terribly wrong, and whether she had had anything to do with it.
Then a soft chuckle filled the room and the tense atmosphere was completely dispelled, all gazes going to the only armed woman in the room. Katsuragi relaxed her expression and went back to the placid stance she had been in at the start of the meeting, clearly amused. Her dark eyes never left Asuka though, still alert, still ready, but the redhead could see a measure of respect for her on them now.
Katsuragi twisted her head slightly towards Ikari and spoke to him in a jovial manner.
("You sure know how to pick them, Shinji!")
Asuka barely stopped herself from exploding in rage.
'What the hell does she mean by that?!'
The boy only closed his eyes and let out a deep, tired sigh.
("This is no joking matter, Katsuragi.") came the answer from the albino.
("And I'm taking this seriously, don't worry.") assured Katsuragi. ("You are the one that should let go a little bit, Rei-chan.") She winked at Rei. ("Let's not start making the heads roll, ne?")
That only seemed to infuriate Blue even further. ("Are you telling me to ignore her blatant disrespect for my brother?")
("Not at all, I actually agree with you on that. I'm just telling you to let him be the one to deal with it.") Katsuragi took her eyes off of Asuka to focus on Rei for a moment. ("I mean, you being so protective of your brother was cute when you were five, and it still is, but you have to learn to let him be sometimes.")
That had to have hit fairly close to home, Asuka thought, because Blue's face took on a heavy blush and she almost choked on her next response.
("Bwa...?! Wh-what does that have to do with anything?!")
Misato just shrugged and went back to her vigil while Rei made to continue defending her point. She never got to though, and the interruption came from the boy between them this time.
("Rei, thank you. But that's enough.")
Ikari-sama stood up from his position and addressed his sister with a small smile, and Asuka felt she had to amend her initial assessment: While the build of the boy in front of her was still unimpressive, he was actually quite tall. Easily half a head taller than her, and she was by no means short herself. She was that much taller than most everyone she had met in Yamato so far (with the exception of Katsuragi and Suzuhara, who matched her), so Ikari's height was actually kind of impressive for a Yamese man.
Blue's answer to her brother's request was cut off by Ikari's raised hand.
("I know you are just looking out for me Rei, but I think Misato is right this time. Let me handle this one, okay?")
It was clear that Blue didn't agree with Ikari's assessment in the slightest, but in the end she relented. ("As you wish, Brother.") she said with a small bow.
Ikari whispered a soft thanks to his sister and paused to take a deep breath. Letting go of it, he turned towards Asuka and started to slowly walk towards her, eyes closed and muttering something under his breath, something that Asuka couldn't quite make out.
The muttering stopped when he was about three steps away from her, and at that moment Asuka felt something. Both over her skin and beneath it and covering her entire body, a momentary itch that was gone as quickly as it had come.
'What the hell was that?'
Never before had she felt anything like that, and that fact alone seriously unnerved the redhead. And it was at that time, with Asuka's fight-or-flight instinct taking hold of her, that the boy in front of her raised his head and opened his eyes.
Asuka felt her words escape her and her heart skip a beat.
Gone was the nervous boy that couldn't hold her gaze and had been strung along by everyone else for the entirety of the meeting, replaced instead with another boy that calmly looked her in the eye and let out an aura of confidence and control.
He also had very pretty blue eyes, noted an errant part of Asuka's brain.
While Asuka was scrambling to make sense of the situation and what the hell had just happened, Ikari took another step forward, mimicked the same kind of short bow Asuka had given him and spoke in a clear and confident voice that he sure as hell had not used before.
"I am Shinji Ikari, Lord of Akuro. Can I please have your name?"
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