//------------------------------// // So I guess there is a higher power? // Story: Kingdom of Stars // by Nakadesu Hiromi //------------------------------// Naka wakes up in his dorm bed feeling groggy and a bit congested. A smaller, more dainty body laid right next to him. Shifting his head over he sees a beautiful pale face girl with long golden hair, breathing softly as she sleeps. Raising an eyebrow he looks at the ceiling. It has been 4 weeks since Naka began school and aside from the training he receives at gym, the rest is just regular curriculum, nothing special has happened, aside from this girl. Naka turns to look at the beautiful young face, brushing his hand across it, waking her up gently "Naro." Naka spoke softly "It's time to get up." He arose stretching his arms out. Naro lifted herself up, the blanket sliding slowly down her body revealing her smooth bare chest "Good Morning Naka!" She said rubbing her eyes. "You should start wearing a shirt to bed more often." Naka said resisting the erg to stare at her "People might get the wrong idea when they burst in here unannounced." The girl stretched scoffing at Naka's claim "Who would just burst into someones room with out knocking?" "Robbers, police, a blood thirsty murderer." He paused looking at her and grinning "Need I go on?" Naro crossed her arms and huffed in annoyance "I ment someone friendly." Naka cupped his chin with a coy look on his face "So our friends." He shook his head and chuckled "Never mind about that, let's get ready." Naka left the bed dressed in nothing, but his boxers "I'ma take a shower first, could you get coffee started in the mean time?" Naro nodded walking over to the corner where a coffee machine and a fridge reside, grabbing the coffee grinds and lifting the lid to the coffee pot, mixing the grinds and water in the filter, then pressed on. She turned looking at the clock 'Breakfast is almost ready...' She thought raising a brow. Naka yawned in the bath getting her attention, hearing the squeaking of the nobs as he turned on the shower 'He takes a while in the shower. By the time it's my turn breakfast will be almost over...' She crossed her arms in disapproval 'Hmm maybe. What if we just... shared a shower?' She questioned, determining whether that would be appropriate or not 'I mean we are pretty comfortable sleeping together half naked... So why would he have a problem taking a shower completely naked?' She began to blush and covering her face 'I mean we're just cleaning our bodies- SEPARATE! Our bodies separate! And I mean it would save a load of time!' Naro started to creep towards the bathroom door taking off her only piece of clothing. Near the door she opened it just a crack peeking through. She saw the form of Naka's body behind the shower curtains slowly washing himself in his still groggy state. Opening the door further, the hinges make a light creaking noise causing her to wince. The shower managed to drown out the noise 'Phew!' She thanked the sound of white noise keeping Naka half asleep. She crept up to the shower and slide in... 15 Minutes later[/hr] "What the hell happened? You two look like you saw a video of cows giving birth!" Flogo questioned jokingly, lifting a slice of fried egg and plopped it into his mouth. Naka and Naro looked away from each other blushing, this made Louise ever more curious "Oh? My my! What sort of dastardly sin have doth two committed!?" He began to smirk cupping a hand around his chin, chuckling evilly. "Oh Stop it you cod fish! If they don't wanna tell then it's their business!" Marina chided putting a hand over Naro's "Though I am curious to where you have been sleeping. I haven't seen you anywhere in the girls dorm or where your room even is." Naro bit her lip looking at Naka for help, to which he just nodded his head. Looking back to Marina, she took a deep breath "I live with Naka, have been for the past two weeks I've been here." Flogo's eyes bulged, spit taking his orange juice "WHAT!?" He shouted in surprise catching the attention of the other students in the cafeteria "HOW IS THAT EVEN ALLOWED!?" "Keep your voice down!" Naka scolded "Arthor told us to not speak of this or else it would cause unwanted attention from the big dudes at the desks." Naka sighed pinching the bridge of his nose "Okay. Arthor told me that Naro can't be left alone in the night. When I questioned him why he replied with 'Do you want to see our school become a grave?' After that I decided to not question it further, but here's the kicker, I found out why I can't leave her be." He looks over to Naro "Do I have permission to tell them?" He asked, she nodded in reply "Naro is an orphan. Her family died by a mysterious fire in her home to which she is the only survivor... She lived homeless from then on, but she is stalked by a demon that I think caused the fire. Arthor found her and took her in as his own child and since then learned of this creature following her. The creature is a grief demon, it looks for a person with the most happiness in life and causes tremendous grief to feed off of. He is aggressive at night, but more or less docile in the day, but now it's getting to the point where he needs to kill her as the final part of his ritual to create another grief demon." "So what is it about another person being there that is keeping it from doing so?" Flogo questioned. " Well it can't be any person. It has to be a person with lots of passion and spiritual energy, because the demon cant hurt us physically it has to damage and destroy our soul, so if said person is there with her he/she would be like a protective shield." Naka shrugged leaning back in his chair "And so he asked me. So until Arthor finds a way to kill the demon she is going to be cuddling with me." "Glad to hear that you are treating our secret with respect!" Arthor soothed, seeming to appear from no where! Flailing in shock Naka fell back in his chair "A-A-Arthor!" Naka stammered "Dude don't sneak up on me like that!" Arthor smirked "Sorry force of habit." He chuckled to himself helping the fallen teen up and patting him on the head "Anyway I came to tell you guys that we aren't going to be in class today, but instead work on your combat." He leaned in and whispered "This is just between us, but I had a meeting yesterday night. The Head Master talked about a large growth of darkness appearing in many parts of the universe so there is going to be a contest of sorts two weeks from now." "Are there not enough Paragons or Renegades out in our world to help?" Flogo asked spreading his hand. Arthor slumped his head ominously "That's just it. No there is not enough." He looks back up to his students with a grim smile "I'm sorry you kids have to get into this..." He stood motionless for a few moments, staring blankly into space. "Uh Arthor?" Naka waved his hand in front of his face. The spaced out instructor shook his head returning to reality "Oh... Sorry I sorta spaced out there." He grinned trying to reassure his students "Anyway so from today on we will be training, you will also be acquiring your Fate weapons today as well. Usually we do this when it's your third year, but you know why we are making an exception." The group nodded understanding the situation. Nodding back to them Arthor stood up straight and turned to leave "See you kids in an hour!" He walked off waving. The group continued eating, finishing their food then leaving to the auditorium. Twenty minutes have passed since the arrival of all the first year students in the auditorium, the Head Master has waited patiently since. Once he was sure everyone is there he cleared his throat "May I have your attention! Students of Valend Academy! I have brought you here to announce that time is not at our side. I have found out that Darkness has started appear and grow at an alarming rate! I wish to tell you all that even though you are only first years we have decided to begin your training in Fate weapons and Shadow Conquest missions. The second years already know of this and the third and fourth years are already doing the missions." He rose his hand showing a ring on his on his finger "This ring is a Fate weapon." He flicked his wrist summoning a cane "Every Fate weapon has its own unique and special ability." He tapped the cane on the ground summoning two air born cannons. "This one of the things my cane can do. Fate can have one or more abilities so don't be surprised if it does only one thing." Flicking his wrist again he returned the cane back to its original state "With in two weeks we are going to be administrating a competition to prove that you are ready for the Shadow Conquest or that you need more practice. Please follow our dean to the destiny room so you can obtain your Fate weapons." Sometime later. "Just a row of metal detectors?" Louise asked scratching the top of his head. Arthor grinned in amusement "Yes I do see the resemblance, but no these are the portals to your Fate." He gazed around seeing the students line up at the terminals "You kids get in line. I'll be waiting for you all when you return from the other side." He said walking off into the hallway disappearing behind the crowd. Naka whistled in amazement taking in the massive lines in the room "It's like the park rides at Disney land!" He said turning to his brother Brace "What do you think your Fate weapon is going to be?" He then asked excitedly. Brace shrugged seeming uninterested with the notion of guessing what it could be "To be honest I just want to find out now rather than guess. I mean we're almost there, just a couple more people and there we are!" He gazed at the terminal for a second then snapped back to Naka "Hey do you know where we are going to end up after we walk through?" Naka shook his head no not knowing of what lies beyond "We're about to find out. It's our turn now." Stepping up they where met with a man of middle age "Sup?" Naka greeted getting his attention as the old man continued putting data into machine's computer. "Name, birth, and zodiac?" He asked in a monotone voice, uninterested with the cherry boy in front of him. "Oh uhh! Names Nakadesu Hiromi, Birth date 4/28/97, my zodiac is the Taurus." When finished the portal flashed open, sucking him in and closing right behind as he drifted in this new realm. Meeting Fate. Naka drifted in sleep waking suddenly in a flailing fit "WOAH! Where the hell am I!?" He question looking around, but all he saw was a vast plane of space, dots of light spread around him, and a giant cloud of purple and green shifted and moved "Are you the thing I'm supposed to be talking to?" He asked the shifting cloud, expecting an answer. "Well hello there boy." The cloud greeted in a soft and light male voice "How are you this morning? Waking up next a half naked 15 year old girl is certainly a unique way to start a morning routine!" The cloud giggled playfully. "Hey how did you know that! AND I'M SIXTEEN IT'S PERFECTLY LEGAL!" He shouted in embarrassment. The cloud continued to giggle for a while then began to answer "I'm basically god, but I like to be called Fate or the Universe." "Huh. So I guess that explains it... Weird..." "More than you believe. Naka you know why you are here, so I need to tell you that with every person who gets one of my weapons I tell them a fortune." With in the cloud tiny lights sped towards Naka "This will hurt a bit." With that final word the lights plunged deep into the teen's floating body causing him to scream in agony. He continued to swing and scratch at his chest as the lights burned and spread through out his body, eventually causing him to passed out. Later~ Naka awoke again after, to what seemed like an hour. Panicking he searched himself to see that he was still alright except the new adornments on his right and left hands. A pair of matching white and grey gloves with a red S and W Squished together. He rotated his hand, getting the accessory from different views. He felt stronger, his muscles have grown slightly larger and more taught, his body lighter and mind more reflexive "I... I'm stronger. Do these gloves just make me more formidable, or is there more to them?" He asked in wonder. To what Naka believed to be a smile Fate spoke with joy "No those gloves are not enhancing you, they are showing you what you are supposed to be, or better yet making you become your true self. These gloves aren't just some random object, no these are what defines you, what you yourself is." It said with passion in its voice "This body you see is the form of self forgiveness. Your mind has forgave you and this is what happened." The boy gazed at his own self, amazed to what he has become and feels happier "Thank you." He said, staring blankly. "My boy I need to now tell you of your fortune before you go. In a riddle, The end of the first will not be an end, but the beginning to the second, but in this alone..." Fate finished slowly beginning to vanish "Good luck Naka. Be good." It disappeared leaving an uneasy Teen flying through a portal into a large room. "Where am I now?" He questioned in irritation. "Back in school." Flogo replied lending him a hand "Boy do we have a story to tell you." He said turning to the rest of the group.