Foils
Hmm. Don't ask me where this sprung from. The original concept was
proposed several months ago by a friend as a joke, but it was after a
strange chat with an old friend and a long, boring train ride that the
idea began knocking itself around in my head.
Comments, criticisms, flames, all welcome. ^^
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She closed her eyes and the image flowed unbidden into her mind.
Brown, silken hair cut boyishly short. It was stylish and bold, with a
maturity that made herself feel childish in comparison. Bright eyes,
always smiling. That grin that would cheer her up even in the darkest
of times.
The darkest times... Yes. She winced a little at the memories. The
despair that she and her friends had gone through, the pain and regret
that washed over them when they realized the horror of their
handiwork. But even more so than that despair was her own fear. That
panic, that she would be trapped forever in an alien world, never to
return. Never to see _her_ again. Never get to tell her how she really
felt about...
"Umi! Hey Umi!"
Umi's eyes flew open at the voice. Buchou's face was several inches in
front of her own, a mischievous light behind the brown eyes.
"Bu-buchou!" she stammered as her heart skipped a few beats.
"Ha! Gotcha there!" That maddening grin widened. "You know, you really
shouldn't be sleeping on the job. Looks bad on the club." She waved to
the girls in the room practicing their strokes.
"Buchou!" she said with enough righteous indignation to cover up her
surprise and embarrassment. She stood up straight and folded her arms
defensively. "I wasn't asleep."
"Oh?" A delicate eyebrow arched questioningly.
"Of course not. I was just... thinking."
"Heh. Yeah right."
At Umi's pout, she gave a laugh and rapped Umi lightly on the head
with her knuckles. "Remember, you're captain now."
Umi nodded, a little chastened. Buchou started to walk away, then
turned back and gave her a knowing wink. "Must've been some dream.
Never seen you go that red."
"Oh!" Umi's hands flew to cover her burning cheeks.
"Ears too, even." She chuckled and walked away before Umi could think
of a retort.
Umi watched the tall girl round the corner and disappear from sight,
and felt a twinge in her chest. "Buchou," she said softly.
How old had she been? Around twelve, yes. She had just moved into
their lovely new house -- Papa and Mama wanted her to grow up into a
proper young lady. It was a wonderful neighborhood, and there was a
good girls' school within walking distance. She remembered being so
excited on her first day of school.
She smiled in memory. Her parents had been worried, but all she could
think of was making lots of new friends.
The first day of school. That was the day she met buchou. When she was
alone and confused after arriving at school, a pretty girl, older than
her, had appeared at her side with a bright smile...
"Hi! You must be new here. What's your name?" the girl said.
Umi smiled in return. "Umi. Ryuuzaki Umi. I'm looking for the
headmaster's office."
"The office? Hmm... Hey, tell you what, I'll take you there. It's too
hard to explain anyway." And she grabbed Umi's hand and led her to the
office, pointing out all the parts of the school for her along the
way.
"Okay, we're here. I gotta run. I'm late for practice."
Umi's face fell. "You're going to be late? I'm sorry... I didn't
know..."
The girl waved her off and grinned. "No problem, I'm the captain. Say,
do you fence?"
"Fence?" Umi blinked at the unexpected question. "A little... I'm not
very good."
The girl grabbed both her hands, and her face lit up. "That's great!
Drop by after school. We'll be in the gym. Oh shoot, I gotta run." And
she took off in a sprint before Umi could ask her name.
That day, Umi joined the fencing club, and Hasegawa-sempai, no,
buchou, introduced her to all the girls on the team. They treated her
like she had been there for years. It was one of the best days of her
life.
Umi shook herself out of her reverie. Buchou was right. She couldn't
afford the luxury of daydreaming now that she was captain. She glanced
around and was relieved to see that all the girls were too busy
practicing to notice her lapse.
She clapped her hands to get their attention. "All right everyone.
Break up into pairs and start sparring. I'll be coming around to check
your stance, so don't get lazy!" She added a smile so the new members
would not be intimidated, and nodded approvingly as they quickly
organized themselves.
The girls began to spar, and Umi walked around, giving words of
encouragement and advice. Everyone tried her best, and she couldn't
help but feel proud of them.
"Umi-buchou! Umi-buchou!" A pretty girl with tea-colored hair trotted
up.
"Suzu-chan... Is something wrong?"
The girl shook her head. "No, but I was wondering if you could be my
partner."
Umi smiled and nodded. "Of course." Suzu-chan was a good kid, probably
the best aside from buchou and herself. Ever since buchou started high
school, she had had less and less time for the club. Umi knew it would
be that way, but she still missed all those times they would practice,
just the two of them. And coming back after those long weeks in
Cefiro, and not being able to spend more than a few minutes with
buchou... It hurt.
In any case, Suzu-chan was her regular fencing partner now. Umi
slipped her mask on and picked up her foil. Suzu-chan was waiting
patiently on the mat. Umi struck an en garde, the foil strange and
alien in her hand. So unlike her sword. The sword that she had used to
kill Zagato and... She tried to push thoughts of Cefiro from her mind.
Suzu-chan struck her own pose. "Don't go easy on me, okay?"
Umi laughed. "As long as you don't complain afterwards. Ready?"
"Ready!"
By the time she had closed up the gym and gotten changed, all the
other girls had gone home. She was packing up her clothes when she
felt a tap on the shoulder. She turned around to find buchou standing
there, a somber expression on her face.
"Practice went okay?"
"Buchou..."
"You're not yourself today. Suzu-chan was really shocked at the way
you came at her. It's a good thing she wasn't hurt."
Umi hung her head guiltily. "I'm sorry... I didn't mean to scare her.
I guess, I guess my mind was just wandering."
"Is that all?" Buchou cocked her head. "You might fool the other
girls, but I can tell something is wrong."
"Buchou..." Umi began, but couldn't find the courage to continue.
"Buchou, I..."
The other girl folded her arms and stared out the window. The silence
stretched out for several moments before she finally spoke. "You know,
Umi, you're my best friend. And you don't know how glad I am that you
feel the same way. And that you always came to me first whenever you
had a problem."
She turned back to look at Umi. "But ever since that trip to Tokyo
Tower, you've been moping around and looking like your world just
ended. And today at club, you didn't have an ounce of concentration."
Buchou paused again before continuing. "What I'm trying to say is, I'm
a little hurt that you didn't even say two words to me about whatever
it is that's bothering you."
Umi shuffled her feet and avoided buchou's gaze. How could she
possibly explain the real reason for her misery? Cefiro would seem
like some stupid fairy tale. And she couldn't even imagine how buchou
would react if she told her what her real feelings were. She felt like
a traitor to their friendship.
She felt a hand on her shoulder, fingers under her chin slowly pushing
her face up. No... Stop... She couldn't deal with buchou right now...
Not when she felt this way, not when all she wanted to do was fly into
her arms and cry out all the ache and guilt in her heart.
"Umi. Umi. Look at me." Buchou's voice was kind but firm. "I'm really
worried about you. I've never seen you this way before."
Umi tried to reply, to say she was sorry, but all that came out was a
sob. Her eyes met buchou's, pleadingly. "I wish... I wish..." she
said, as the tears started to flow.
Then suddenly strong arms wrapped around her and she was in buchou's
warm embrace.
"It's all right, Umi. It's all right."
Fingers stroked her hair, lightly, comfortingly. Her own hands
clutched at buchou's jacket as she buried her face in buchou's
shoulder.
"You don't have to tell me. I'm sorry, Umi." Buchou's voice was sad.
"Please don't cry. I didn't mean to make you cry."
But she couldn't stop crying. All those weeks of missing buchou, of
being afraid that she would never see buchou again. And just when she
thought they had rescued Princess Emeraude and fulfilled her wish, the
awful truth had been revealed. Her heart wrenched at the memory of
what she had done.
"I couldn't do anything! None of us could do anything. I never thought
it would turn out that way, that we had to..." she sobbed out. "To
have it end that way..." She tightened her grip on buchou as grief
overcame her.
"It hurts. It hurts so bad..."
"Umi..."
"I'm just a coward."
She felt buchou tense a little in surprise. "Wha..?" buchou said.
Umi smiled bitterly to herself. Yes, that's what she was. A weak
coward. She was a Magic Knight, and she hadn't even been able to save
the lives of one little girl and her love. Princess Emeraude, I'm so
sorry. If only I was stronger. If only I could go back to Cefiro, this
time I will find the courage to make things right.
She took a deep breath and inhaled buchou's scent. She smelled nice.
No, it wasn't over yet.
"It's not over yet. I'll go back. This time, I'll fight for myself.
This time, I'll protect Cefiro."
"Urh?" went buchou, more than a little confused.
"And when I come back, I'll tell you everything. Everything." Umi
hugged her tightly. "Thank you, buchou."
I'm so happy to see you again.
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