The Zodiac Spirit Guardians

Haruka the Ram

She reads my moves easily and evades in a different direction.

Damnit. This is taking too long!

I run toward my dull sword, kicking it up off the ground and grabbing onto the hilt in a flash. I sprint toward her yet again, closing in on her defense. She halts her movements and stands straight up, no longer in defense. She brings her arms around in a circle in one swoop and breathes smoothly. She closes her eyes and shifts her body into a classic martial arts stance. Her eyes open the second I close in on her.

She smacks me hard in the arm, forcing the sword to fall from my grasp. I again kick and punch at her, growing more and more flustered. The emotions take over my mind and my body, moving my limbs for me. My speed increases at the same rate as hers. We dodge and punch at opposite times. She blocks each one of my attacks. Several of hers break through my blocking tactics.

I grow tired of the repetition and leap into the air, jumping over her. I kick myself off the wall behind her and transform into my Zodiac guardian body instantly.

I slide onto the ground in front of her, facing her direction. My toes skim the blood soaked wood. I position myself to run for her again, feeling completely anew. My hearing is clearer, and I listen for small movements in the air, indicating vibrations of planned defense my mother will use. I haven't grown used to this new body, with its ultra enhanced senses and out of this world power. I've only heard things about it, not having experienced them yet. I can only imagine what it is capable of.

I feel no pain now, only anger.

Using the momentum from sliding, I lunge for my opponent. I push myself off the ground with my hands and aim my heels for her head whilst in the air. I watch her relax her body and smile at me. In a blinking fast move, she roundhouse kicks me in the stomach. I drop to the ground with a thud. So much for the power and strength I'm supposed to have with this body.

"That was a perfect transformation, my darling!" She claps her hands together, still smiling. "I didn't even have to give you the signal!" Her happiness infuriates me.

"I can't even manage to touch you!" I can hear the ferocity in my voice. "I failed again!" I slam my fist into the wood, creating a new hole in the flooring.

"I must concede, that was quite impressive for a boy hardly fourteen hundred years old," a young woman's unfamiliar voice echos in the practice hall. I stand up, wiping the blood off my fist. I turn and look where the voice emanates. In the doorway stands a tall thin woman with long deep purple hair that thins out at the ends and fades into white. She wears a long grey robe similar to an ancient princess dress.

I stare blankly at her.

"Haruka, this young woman is Akira's mother, Isis Sheeno." I watch my mother bow to the purple haired woman. After not mimicking her, my mother stealthily hits my knee with the blunt part of one of her daggers. I hunch over in pain, but it sure looks like bowing.

After straightening back up, the young woman nods her head once and smiles, "It's very nice to meet you Haruka Rokisan. I've heard quite a bit about your abilities, and my dear Akira is dying to meet you." Her voice is light and airy like a goddess.

I hold back my vomit.

"We've gladly made the right accommodations for you two to stay here for the evening." My mother adds, all of a sudden sounding more proper. "I know, of course, that Akira will be waiting to join us tomorrow."

"But tomorrow's my birthday!" I retort in adolescent irritation.

"It is also Akira's birthday, so we shall celebrate them together." My mother replies, still smiling calmly at Isis. "Please allow me to show you the way to our guest quarters." She holds out her hand in the direction she wants Isis to turn, and the moment she does, my mother sends a chilling glare at me accompanied by one more dagger. I leap out of the way to dodge it, falling hard on my butt.

I watch them disappear from sight, and drag myself to start picking up the knives and dull sword that have scattered across the room. With the metal bucket of water and sponge my mother left, I begin scrubbing the floor with the wet sponge to rid the wood of blood. It's a tedious job due to the amount I've lost in my human and spirit guardian body.

I don't desire to meet Akira. I don't care if I was born to protect her, spent an entire thousand years training to devote my life to her, and have been waiting--since the day I was birthed--to meet her. I just don't care.

How is it that I feel a strong sense of obligation, now? Why now? The feeling isn't normal. Before today I wouldn't have cared as much about my birthday. My heart is undergoing some sort of tugging feeling. This pull makes me want to get better, grow stronger, and fight harder and not for my own good. It's been fourteen hundred years and I've never truly given thought to actually leaving my family for a girl.

Tomorrow it will be fifteen hundred years.

"So why am I just meeting her now?! Why the hell did I have to waste all this time training to protect someone I've never even met!" I abruptly stand up, throwing the sponge against the wall and kicking the bloody water bucket as hard as I can.

My foot sends it flying through the air and it slams against the wall furthest away from me. After creating a crater in the wood, it crashes to the floor, spilling the bloody water everywhere. "All of this is pointless!" I fall to my knees, covering my eyes with the red stained palms of my hands. "What's so special about her anyway..."

I collapse to the damp floor, exhausted from my own anger. I let memories of battling my mother and feeling the horrific pain of transforming the first several times, carry me into sleep. The flashbacks hurt to remember now, dragging out old feelings of pain that I could live a thousand years without. They use my anger to fill in the gaps of my emotions. Sleep can't even let me escape.