Chapter 6: Training
The next morning came slowly and silently like a gentle blanket. A knock at the door woke Alura in the early hours as the sun was beginning to rise. She groaned, slowly sitting up with her legs bent back along her side as she rubbed her eyes. “Come in.” She croaked groggy and not really awake. Her door opened and in walked Ginsu carrying a smile only a morning person could have.
“Good morning. Ready?” he asked, enjoying early morning workouts and training.
Alura sighed, groaning, turning, and flopped back down into bed, speaking with her voice muffled by the pillow her face was buried into. “It’s too early! Let me sleep!” When she agreed to early morning she meant when the sun was more up, not when it was just barely up.
He chuckled walking over and shook her softly. “Come on. It’ll be fun. If you go back to sleep now you’ll only be more tired later.” She swatted his hand away pulling up the blankets to cover her head, trying to drown him out. Ginsu sighed and reached out over her with one hand, getting a mischievous grin, and let cold water fall on top of her. Alura immediately screamed from the sudden shock and shot up out of bed like she’d been bitten. He laughed watching her panicked wide eyed look as she tried to catch her breath, and get the cold water out of her night clothes she’d found in a drawer in her room. “Now then, shall I leave you to get ready?” he asked grinning at her hateful glare. She could see past this Gods innocent act, wondering in the moment if he was a devil instead.
“Why’d you do that?! You could of given me a heart attack!” she snapped loudly only to be silenced by his finger to her lips.
“Shhh, you’ll wake Hiatsu.” Ginsu warned, whispering in a hushed voice. “He is even worse when woken up. Trust me. He can be a very horrible person when awakened this early…especially after working late.” He tried not to curse around the girl, not wanting her to pick it up and start speaking it around, afraid when she was back with her mother she’d get in trouble for swearing. Alura sighed around the warm flesh and nodded, slightly pouting with a shiver from the cold water as he removed his finger. “Good. Get dressed. I’ll be waiting outside your door for you.” With that said Ginsu straightened, turned and left her room for her to get ready.
Alura glared after him then huffed, walking over and started to pick out an outfit to train in. She didn’t want to ruin a dress so found some pants and a tan tunic. Once dressed, she looked at herself in the mirror and smiled. Slipping on a pair of boots and walking over to the door, she opened it and looked up to him as she stepped out into the hall. “Ready.”
“Good, follow me please.” He led the way down the corridor and another until they reached a glass door. Halting he waited a few short moments, glancing behind to Alura he felt sure she’d like what was on the other side of the snowy glass. He opened the doors and held one side for her, leading to a garden of exotic flowers and other plants with flowing water from a stream and a working fountain.
Alura stepped slowly forwards, jaw dropped in awe at the sight and smells before her. It was almost like she was back in Flora but this garden held flowers even she had never seen. “Wow, it’s beautiful.”
“Heh thanks. We try to keep it nice.” He said while stepping forwards, allowing the door to close and he stopped in a clearing like area. The only sound was the water flowing and a few birds in some of the trees, in this huge greenhouse like room. Reaching to his side he picked up a wooden sword from its stand and tossed it to her. “Catch.” Ginsu called, watching as she ran up and caught it, then he sighed a cleansing breath. “We’ll start out with wooden swords ‘til you’re ready to move up to the real thing. Then we’ll start training with real blades. Of course, I’ll place a spell on the blades to keep us from being cut.” He explained the general plan, drawing his own wooden blade from his hip ring.
Alura nodded accepting this and held the wooden hilt, feeling sure she was ready before frowning. Staring down now, she kept shifting her hands around, swapping which was on top until she found a grip that was comfortable for her. Her right hand over her left gripped the handle tightly as she waited, becoming tense as she wanted to begin.
Ginsu sighed shaking his head, holding his wooden sword to his left. “No, no. You’re too tense. Ease up. Relax. Listen to the water, wind, and sounds around you.” He tried to explain in a calm, easygoing voice. When he saw her shoulders remaining tense he repeated once more his instruction. “Just relax.” He breathed gently with his own body in a relaxed stance. She sighed, slowly easing up her grip so it was firm but not choking and, her body started to relax as she listened to the water, her eyes closing. Ginsu watched, nodding briefly. “Good, good. Very good Alura, just stay focused on the sounds around you. Don’t let yourself become tense. Just relax.” He spoke quietly and easy to her to keep her relaxed, as he watched her breathing steady and her grip with body became at ease, her grip was firm and was perfect.
He started to softly walk up to her and stealthily moved a hand towards her shoulder, as his blade moved to hit her side. He wished to see if she could counter his advance or if she wouldn’t notice the changes in the sounds around her. As he was hoping she moved the sword quickly over, blocking his sword and slowly opened her eyes, watching him closely. “Very good for your first try.” He praised. “You are very wise to notice the change. Your ears are amazing to hear the difference on the first test.”
“Thank you. My father was very strong.” Alura answered quietly, her voice holding a very small change to its tone, as did her brown blue eyes.
“Who was your father?” Ginsu inquired, keeping eye contact with the girl. Something felt different but he couldn’t place it exactly. It was small so hoped that meant it was nothing to worry about, for now that was.
“Nate Syta.”
“Hm? Syta you say?”
“Yes, did you know my father?” She asked watching Ginsu hesitate, thinking.
After some moments he had an answer, shaking his head sadly, lying smoothly. “No, I didn’t. Sorry.” He felt bad lying to her but he couldn’t tell her the truth that it was he, and his brothers who took her father away from her. Alura sighed at hearing this and looked down then up at him.
“Can we continue?” Alura asked with the slight tone change still there but Ginsu nodded and leaped back from her, landing softly on the stones below their feet, which formed the circle in the center of the gardens. He took his stance, lowering some and watched her as she copied his stance, not sure of how hers should be. Both stayed still before he dashed forwards, running at her and brought up his sword from his side. Quickly she countered the first strike and countered each hit after but was pushed back. The repeated force causing her to skid across the ground, losing her footing and when she stopped she glared at him as he chuckled.
Ginsu found her glare amusing instead of threatening, his eyes dancing with humor. “Not bad. You do have skill but I’ve seen a rock with more talent.” He taunted examining his nails. This brought more rage to Alura as she stood motionless. Deciding she would end his taunting tone she ran forwards yelling, and slashed her sword at him quickly. He easily dodged and countered the attacks with one hand holding his weapon. He kept blocking before fluidly sliding his blade against hers, he twisted and pushed the blade down to the side, trapping it with his wooden sword.
He lowered his head some to meet her glaring eyes. He saw the small flicker had started to spread, bringing a displeased frown to straighten his lips and lower his tone. “Don’t let emotions get in the way of your fighting. If you were in a real battle you’d of been dead. Don’t let rage consume you and blind you from seeing what your opponent’s weakness is. Remember to watch each movement that is made by the one you face. There are rules that could save your life if learnt and placed into your battle strategy.” His tone was firm and serious, that of an instructor to his student.
Alura growled then slowly started to calm as his words began sinking in. Slowly she sighed, closing her eyes she listened to the water that filled the room with sound when the talking had stopped. “I understand. Sorry. I’ll get the hang of it.” She looked up with eyes opening, grinning and quickly pushed his blade off hers. In a blink she had put her blade to his neck smirking. “Gotcha!”
His serious face fell to shock then inspection when he caught the slight changes to her voice, sounding as if the lower tone was retreating. The shock returned with widening eyes when he felt wood at his neck. It happened so quick he didn’t have time to respond before the wooden weapon was pressing against his flesh. Ginsu slowly smirked then chuckled, hearing her voice had returned to normal and seeing her eyes had as well. That was something he was glad for, a sincere smile taking its place on his youthful face, not one to be a sore loser. “Seems so,” Ginsu commented, agreeing with her.
He didn’t plan to mention the change to her, not yet anyway, but would keep a close eye for triggers. If she was starting to wake to Nate’s blood then he would need to get her to understand how to separate emotion from fighting. She would need to learn to keep her awareness of self in battle if this was the case. He didn’t want to see her lose herself to the same force that brought her father to be sealed. “Seems I’m the one who’s dead this round. How about another round? More you train, the better you’ll be and the quicker you’ll be to using a real sword.” He pointed out smoothly, almost a singsong wave to his words like he was teasing her. Those words brought a smile to her lips and she nodded, removing her blade and both retook their places to continue the practice session.
Five hours later it would end with Alura laying on her back panting and Ginsu breathing calmly, having not broken a sweat, watching the exhausted girl for a bit he walked up and offered his hand to her. “Come now, it’s been a long training session. Let’s get something to eat and I’ll go train the men outside.” Alura who was now sitting on the floor looked up and took his hand, allowing him to help her up.
“Thanks. That was fun. Even if it was freaking early,” She said out of breath and sighed as he smiled warmly, ignoring her last muttered statement.
“You aren’t half bad. I thought you’d be worse than that and quit long before now. Guess I once again miss judged you.” Ginsu bowed making Alura blush some, not used to having men bow to her.
“You don’t have to do that.” She shifted her eyes away from him, scratching the side of her face with her finger lightly, not looking at him and trying to hide her blushing.
“Oh but I must. It is who I am after all.” He grinned and picked her up, quickly throwing her over his shoulder. She screamed and kicked him hard as she could, dropping her wooden sword to the ground where it clanked then laid in silence.
“Hey! Put me down! This isn’t nice!” she snapped kicking and punching him. He simply laughed it off, walking out of the gardens and towards the kitchen with her struggling hard to get free from him.
“Calm down. Man you’re worse than a baby.”
“What?! A baby?! How dare you?! That’s insulting!”
“Yes but true, right?” When they would reach the kitchen he would put her down, smiling at her glaring eyes and scowling face. “Aw come on, don’t be like that. Please? Pretty please?” he said, pouting his lips and giving her the puppy dog eyes.
She groaned and slapped her face letting her hand slide down and looked at him. “Fine, ugh, I don’t know why I’m a softy with you.” She quoted him the best she could remember and he grinned as did she. The two laughed and he prepared breakfast for them both: eggs, bacon, toast, and a glass of milk for her and water for him. “Wow, looks great. Thanks.” She said starting to eat once he handed her a knife and fork, loving his cooking. He smiled and started to join her with his own plate as the men were training by themselves outside in the front.
Hiatsu watched the men from his balcony sighing and pinching the bridge of his nose, his eyes closed. He was frustrated as he feared the men wouldn’t be ready in time. “Why must Ginsu be such a slacker? He is too carefree. If he gets them ready in time I’ll be amazed.” He mumbled lowly, his voice rough. Releasing a sigh the redhead turned around and walked back in, wearing a red sleeveless shirt and pants with red and gold armored boots that were comfortable yet strong. His hair was pulled up and held in place by four long pins, along with fabric tied tight. Decorating some sections of his red locks were some beads, resting near the end of the cluster of strains, any movement if enough caused a soft clicking sound. To him it was almost like zen yet Ginsu had made it clear the beads sounded more like a brook, or similar to bamboo.
It was another hot day that he never seemed to mind though his two brothers did. Looking at a small stack of papers his rage started to grow with a growl coming from his throat. His steps once slow had quickened, his body tensed and he yelled while swinging his arm so the back of it hit the papers, scattering them everywhere in the room. Standing still he was panting, his eyes still narrowed in rage upon one paper that remain face up on his desk, showing a black and white picture of a man. Hiatsu bent down and picked it up, looking over the words then the name: Nate Syta. Sighing he crumpled the paper in his fist, tightly closing his eyes.
Tightening his jaw he slammed his fists into the thick wood, causing it to crack outwards from the force his fists. These kids shared his blood, they have been without that monster in their lives and yet it continued to irritate him that he, had yet to come up with a set sentencing time for the demon Nate. This technicality had left Nate’s time for imprisonment in limbo with no exact time set for release so, for all the sleeping man knew, he could be there for ten years or a hundred if not more. Slowly the Fire God stood straight and tossed the paper behind him to the floor. Stepping away from the work space he walked out to get some air to calm himself, or that was what he hoped to do.
Alura was walking down the halls humming, her hands behind her back admiring the works of art. Passing her brother’s room she paused, looking in and smirked seeing the maids had taken a liking to her speechless brother. She watched them for a minute or so before turning away and walking on down the hall humming. Birds chirped outside the open windows in the trees bringing her smirk to fall, into a relaxed smile on her lips the more she listened to their song and started humming with them.
“Keep it up! You’re doing great! Come on! Yea! That’s it!” Ginsu’s voice boomed below her, drawing her attention and body to a window to look out. Her head tilted down as she gazed out at the field where the men trained under Ginsu’s watch. She giggled behind closed lips, finding it amusing how well they listened to him and that they trusted him like herself. “Aw come on! That’s easy, watch.” The Water God said with a sigh when one soldier had messed up the technique they were learning. She watched as he took a low stance and swung the blade across, cutting through the air then sliced upward with a jump, and brought it down at an angle as if cutting an item into pieces. The men clapped and watched their leader land low, almost kneeling with the blade down to his right side.
“Whoa that’s amazing. Such skill and grace, it’s no wonder Gods are so looked up to.” She whispered softly, watching captivated by how magical and handsome Ginsu looked in the sunlight. Sweat was sparkling from the heat in the air and on his face, feeling like she was looking at a scene from a storybook. And the way his hair flowed to lay softly on his back from being so long, even pulled up it came close to his waist, the slow motion of his blue locks felt like a dream. Feeling heat come to her cheeks as she stared at Ginsu, watching him stand and turn back to the trainees, she put her hands up to try and hide her blush while closing her eyes tightly. What was she thinking? He was a freaking God! There was no way that would work. He was to be respected not fawned over with thoughts of the attractive man holding her hand!
“Now then let’s keep it up men!” He shouted, clapping his hand to his raised knee, standing straight and in the blink of an eye his blade returned to its sheath, and his hands were on his hips while he watched the men spar.
Slowly she started to lift up from the windowsill she was leaning against and turned, taking a few steps she was glad to have gotten her blushing to cease, before halting when she bumped into a hard body. Her eyes had closed reflexively upon contact for a few short moments before opening slowly to see who or what she hit. She stared at a black armored chest, blinking a couple times before her eyes slowly trailed up, gazing up at a man with cold red eyes. Slowly she stepped back once. Gulping nervous she heard a low threatening growl, resulting in a small squeak from her as a reply then quickly jumping back, allowing more distance between them and bowed her head with her body to him. “Sorry sir. I didn’t mean to bump into you. Can you forgive me?” she asked meekly, looking up slowly through her brown bangs, afraid he was mad.
Marizu eyed her coldly and grunted, his head jerking some upwards to the side before returning down as he spat in front of her, stepping closer and pushed her aside. “Whatever, girl. Stay out of my way, understand human?” he snapped sharply, glaring at her. She winced and nodded, feeling small and pitiful under his hard stare.
Carefully lifting her head and turned it from where she stood, she watched him leave. Seeing him farther down, she turned fully and watched his back disappear down the hall. “Who…was that? Man…he’s scary.” Alura spoke softly to herself gulping and took one step back then another, before turning on her heel to run down the hall. She wanted to put as much distance as she could between her and Marizu.
A knock sounded at Hiatsu’s door then was roughly opened by Marizu, not waiting for an answer. Glancing around the room he released a sigh, putting his hand on forehead. “Stupid brother, how dumb is he? He asks me to come here and yet he’s not here. Damn it.” The Earth God muttered darkly, his voice rough. Setting his red eyes on the chair behind his elder brother’s desk, he spoke quietly to himself, getting an idea to occupy his time. “Well…guess I’ll just wait around ‘til he decides to bring his sorry ruling ass back here.” With that said he walked over and sat down behind Hiatsu’s desk, putting up his feet and leaning back in the chair, smirking since he knew it would piss him off.
The sun would be setting by the time Hiatsu would return, passing by Alura who sat in one of the small libraries reading. The sound of footsteps coming then continuing on drew her attention, bringing her to look up and out the open door, watching him pass. Curious, she closed the book, laying it down and followed behind him. She wouldn’t near too close until he went into his room. Once he passed through his doors and closed them, she neared closer to see the door had remained cracked open though he thought it was closed.
“Get out of my chair, Marizu. Now, report how it went.” Ordered Hiatsu in a booming voice, outraged when he found Marizu with his feet on his desk and sitting in his chair. Marizu smirked, leisurely moving his feet to the floor and sat upright, standing in one fluid motion and stepped away from Hiatsu’s chair.
“All yours, dear brother.” Marizu spoke in a mocking tone, giving a taunting grin as well. Hiatsu growled, glaring at Marizu. He was not in the mood for jokes, using flames to clean the dirt and blood off his chair. He listened to his middle brother while taking a seat, using flames on his desk to burn away the crud knocked off from Marizu’s shoes. “As for the mission it was successful. The human died quickly without a sound. No one saw me so don’t fret over that.” The middle brother said almost sounding bored, as he stepped to stand in front of Hiatsu’s desk.
Marizu’s tone was not impressing Hiatsu, nor was the fact it felt more was being hidden. Narrowing his yellow eyes his frown started to turn into a small snarl. “I smell other blood on you. Did you not control yourself?” it was hard for Hiatsu to not throw and engulf this God in flames for going off track.
Marizu didn’t pay any mind to his brother’s deadly glare, rolling his eyes with a small huff, folding his arms in front of his armored chest. “That. Well others came to fight so I killed them. It was boring really. Why must you send me after the humans? They are corrupted and will forever always been that way. They will never change.”
“We must keep order. You know that just as well as I do. We can’t let anyone who harbors corruption to live too long. This is especially if that corruption has power and seeks to use it for inhuman deeds. If we don’t, that shall cause panic and unbalance in the world of our domain. How the other Gods handle their areas is their own business but here it is mine, as shall be followed. Do you understand me Marizu?” Hiatsu hissed leaning forwards now, with his hands open on his freshly fire cleaned desk, keeping his eyes locked on Marizu.
“Crystal clear, my lord,” Marizu spoke slyly like a fox while grinning like a wolf, who had just spied his next meal.
This did not bother or faze him, Hiatsu, one bit or that’s what he told him-self. He sat down as he sent a flaming fireball at Marizu’s head, just barely missing as it vanished into many embers upon hitting the wall, looking like a mini explosion. “Now, you are free to do as you wish until further orders. Don’t kill any of my men or the children here.”
Being told not to kill anyone brought Marizu to roll his eyes, stepping over and leaned back against the wall, watching his elder brother in charge closely. “Why are they here? Simple humans are meant to live among humans. They shouldn’t even be here. You wouldn’t allow me to escort a mortal woman here without her being sentenced to death upon arrival.”
Hiatsu heaved a heavy breath, pinching the bridge of his nose as his eyes closed. Why did that have to come back up? He could just swear Marizu was more twisted than one or two of the other Gods. He wasn’t about to repeat himself the rule of no wenches allowed for a good time. Taking a deep breath then releasing it he lowered his hand, reopening his eyes to lock sight with the Earth God. “They are of importance to us and need to be protected. The mother is a loss as is the father. The father was the one who lost his heart to the demon, remember? The mother I have no new news about her whereabouts, or if she even still breaths. The two children who harbor his blood must not grow up around corruption, fore it will simply bring out the demon within them and that I do not wish to see happen. They will be great allies and of great use to us within the upcoming battle. You alone would be enough but if we allow ourselves to be seen too soon, all is for naught. We cannot step in too much with mortals unless it is a last resort, do not forget that. Now, leave. I’ll summon you upon further orders.”
The Earth God frowned, narrowing his eyes as he pushed away from the wall. “Very well, my lord.” Marizu spoke with spite, bowing and left the room. A dark brown almost black aura surrounded him, formed from the anger towards his older brother and the power he held over them, simply for being the eldest.
Alura gasped, seeing him near and quickly darted away, hiding behind a pillar and stayed put. She had her eyes closed tightly, praying she wouldn’t be seen by him. Her prayers were answered as Marizu passed right by her without so-much as a glance or a grunt. Slowly her eyes opened to watch him, lips parting to release a relived breath. Slowly her body moved out of hiding towards Hiatsu’s door quietly and stopped just outside it, peeking in through the crack to see what he was doing.
He was pacing around his room with his head in one hand, anger and pain reflecting on his face. Thoughts of worry swarmed in Alura’s mind, wondering what was wrong and hurting him. Suddenly he stopped removing his hand from his face. His arm extended with his palm open in one fluid motion. This action confused Alura, not sure why he’d do that towards the door. She blinked a couple so times before her eyes widened, getting her answer. The pair of doors shot open with a powerful burst of hot wind. Alura screamed, flying back and slammed into the wall behind her, nearly cracking her spine it felt like but there was not enough force used to do such harm.
Groaning she sat still on the floor her head resting forwards with her chin on her chest. Slowly she lifted her half open eyes looking at him with blurry vision as he neared closer, step by slow step. Getting her bearings and her vision clearing her eyes widened in fear on Hiatsu. “Please don’t kill me or Talon! I didn’t mean to peek in on you!” The words spilled from her lips quickly in pleading to save her life. She couldn’t read his face and had no idea what he might do to her for eavesdropping. She didn’t want to die that was a given. She tried to scoot away but was stopped by the solid stone wall behind her.
Hiatsu said nothing as he came to her, stopping and reached down, gripping her shirt collar and lifted her with ease. He turned and walked back into his room stone faced with her terrified, shaking body dangling in front of him. She stared at him with wide horrified eyes, gulping hard to wet her tight and dry throat. Alura could feel droplets of sweat slid down her face from fear, panic and the heat that had slammed into her originally. Her palms were moist with sweat as well, no matter how many times she tried to dry them on her pants. On top of that her heart wouldn’t stop racing. This was bad, this was very bad.
As they entered his room she watched in horror as his free hand moved out to the thick structures behind him, sweeping forwards as he allowed her to watch the heavy constructions start to move. The doors closed behind them with a loud thud and locked with a deafening click, sealing them both inside the room until he thought otherwise.
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