Saint Seiya: The Legend of Seiya

40 - The Twelve Gold Cloths

Seated at a low wooden table on a long bench. Lunch served with plenty of rice, spices and some fried chicken. The top floor of the tower was for the kitchen; a huge mess around a wood stove and a tub of water. The children joked that Master Mu built the kitchen at the top just to get everyone tired of going up stairs and replenish their energy right on the spot.

Shun served their pots and dishes. Lunara was beaming.

"Oh, finally. Real food!" she said. "Kiki sucks at cooking!"

"I make the worst dishes on purpose." he boasted.

"How long have you been here alone?" Shun asked.

"A few days. Master Mu sometimes travels around, don't worry. We are no longer children." said Kiki.

"He still wets the beds." denounced Lunara.

"I'll throw you down from here!"

The boy tried to cross the table to strangle the little one, but Shun intervened and promised sweets for both of them if they behaved during lunch. In fact, he didn't need to promise anything, because they were so hungry that as soon as the rice cooled a little, they devoured it in silence.

They ate so much that little Lunara was sweating. And, as she wiped her sweat off, she unintentionally smudged one of the two small marks on her forehead. Shun smiled.

"You smudged your little marks." he commented.

"Oh, shoot." She took a pink pencil out of her pocket and remade it crookedly without looking. "Done."

Shun smiled and asked the little girl for the pencil. He wiped off what she had just made and more gently drew the two little marks for her.

"Now it's better. Don't you think, Kiki?"

The boy shrugged.

"You're nice." said little Lunara, putting away her pencil. Shun smiled back. "Tell me, how was Master Ikki when she was a kid?"

The question caught Shun off guard, as he was used to being the little brother. It had never occurred to him to tell stories about Ikki when she was a kid. Shun smiled surprised but happy.

"She was a bully." he began. "But she fought with everyone to get everyone to do the right thing. Once she almost hit Seiya, because Seiya wanted everyone to skip geography class to play football."

"Really?" said Lunara.

"Yeah."

"What a nerd!" she added. "I arrived a few years after you guys were gone, I think. I loved the orphanage. There was so much cool stuff to play with. But the grow ups hated me."

"Why is that?"

"I was always causing short circuits, the Mansion was often without power because of me."

She smiled, and Shun loved that innocent energy of Lunara.

"And out here in Jamir, there's absolutely nothing to play with." she said. "Although Master Mu does keep a colection of some very cool tools! I'll get it to show you."

"No, you won't!" Kiki warned. "Are you crazy? Master Mu will kill you if you touch her hammers."

"She doesn't need to know, you pisser." said Lunara, when they heard a voice outside calling.

"Master Mu!"

Lunara jumped off the bench, mad with joy.

"I don't believe it! I'm gonna explode! Two visitors on the same day!" she said. "I never saw that happen."