"So nonchalant," as they say. In another world and in another village land different from the way Anadoria's ran it's fine business was a fellow who helped guard a caravan. Ronin at heart wandered the countryside and ninjas raided it in search of resources which was where Kagemiya came to decide to accept a mission from the missions office for a simple job for a merchant group. Honestly, he should have taken a higher level job on the board because a lower ranked one didn't really reward well enough but he was doing it to occupy his time instead. He was driven to do things his way anyway instead of trying to get involved in the riots of insanely strong folks like James Washington or Otoko who were of themselves rising legends of war. Instead of a frontier battlefield, there ran a small caravan and then suddenly they stopped to camp, rest, and gamble their ryo away. Since it near dark the camp arrangements were quickly sorted out in a fortified hovel. Watch set up it's own defensive arrays and traps as well but otherwise the shifts were picked by a mock fight. Which of course led to Kagemiya taking advantage of being able to lose whenever he wanted and win whenever he wanted since the guards with him were far below his status. He chose to take the midnight run simply to ensure that he was the most prepared for anything during the ambushing hours. This meant that someone else took the easiest shifts and were happy to keep the merchants company at the campfire at the setting sun. Kagemiya didn't join in the festivities directly but remained nearby in meditation form. He took it easy enough that he could hear a cricket fart through the night during his training. Much to Kagemiya's annoyance he did descover the chirping crickets indeed were full of flatulence that night and groaned each time he heard them getting gassy on the grasslands. With keen senses prepared for anything and a good meditation going on he unleashed his energy channels to ward off would-be threats with his predatory samurai aura. After a while Kagemiya heard and felt something drift from in between the fold around him and then without opening his physical eyes yet keeping his warrior's hidden sight open, he saw a girl flicker. The flicker seemed like it had geometric none linear source but he recognized the shape of the person. With a smile he knew from his inherited memories of his predecessor who this person was that seemed to border the edges of the pages of reality. It was only three masters ago that she had encountered ShadoClone yet to Kagemiya it was the first time ever meeting her. The girl from Sois' dream was prophecy that carried itself near 60 years later past the destination. After studying the type of manefestation of power the girl appeared in with his chakras, Kagemiya learned that she appeared not as a ghost but a form of fluctuating lightning type creation. The girl didn't seem to be aware of what she was causing and it was beginning to cause a bit of a distraction for his fellow guards. They could tell something was nearby but their eyes didn't pick up as much information as Kagemiya in his meditating state of mind. The samurai gathered his memory of a seal he knew of and collected his electric affinity and unleashed a current into a large pulse that it would transfer quickly from nearby metals in a magnetic barrage until it was pulled by the girl's body. He could hear an uproar outside his tent as he heard his fellows cry out, "Interloper!" Kagemiya smiled at the unusual choice of alarm instead of intruder which would be the normal thing to say. He stood up, grabbed his kimono with the words in his world's language, "Squad 1". Pushing aside his tent flap he stepped up as a merchant brandished a spoon in their defense as they were preparing breakfast for the crew before this happened. "Smells like it needs salt," Kagemiya commented and the girl took the dripping spoon and tasted the contents. "No, I disagree", Adilita said in response and looked around to see men brandishing unique or well made swords at her. "Hmm? I'm still crabby about meeting the twins and then just giving up like that with a tie." She curtsied politely at the merchant she'd commandeered the spoon from. "May I borrow this?" The merchant knew a lady when he saw one and nodded. Kagemiya rubbed the bridge of his nose in annoyance as he understood what she was about to do. "Jin do-sama go get your herbal medicine because you just gave a lethal weapon to an enemy."
"WHAT? It's just a spoon."
"In the hands of a grieved aristocrat."
"You understood what she said? She sounded like gibberish."
"No, that's Anadorian." Kagemiya clarified while watching Adilita adjust her dresses with some classy type of sewing skills in nearly a minute. Instead of a courting dress she now wore frilled bell bottoms more suitable for unrestricted movement.
"Hurry up while she's busy changing her outfit Jin do-sama." Kagemiya said with urgency in his voice.
"What's she doing?" Jin asked while Kagemiya decided to walk up to his alert comrades. "She's preparing her negotiation strategy with a practical lesson on life." Kagemiya said.
"Really?" Jin asked with a face that didn't believe the samurai.
"No, but she is going to school your boys in combat training. I think she said your cooking didn't need anymore salt so she might go easy on them so they can live to see breakfast." Kagemiya.
Adilita giggles at that as she tailored the final seams of her dressed and tapped the end of a katana after bowing respectfully to the guard.
The merchant ran quickly to find the medicine bag and began to set a stretcher for any guards. Adilita's boldness came from the fact she believed herself to be dreaming of something of a sort so her playfulness shone in her eyes. The guard she challenged to a dual bowed back then struck with a flick and a pulling motion that performed an experienced technique but the spoon merely tapped the rapid slash away. It was the cognitive program that played it's mathematical calculating in Adilita's eyes as she saw the movement coming and used it's weakest physics to crumple the incoming force with a touch. She after all had gotten enough data to be able to predict during her first battle. Cross'gunshots were the perfection of speed and precision that she now used to pinpoint the weakest amount of pounds per square inch of kinetic energy in her opponents strikes. It began with one tap and then the guard couldn't hold the insult of being taken lightly in front of his employer's eyes and amped up his strikes. The music of metal to metal ringing different octaves range throughout the range as he relentlessly sought the source of his opponents' strengths after learning about his weaknesses in comparison. Kagemiya even cheered on his comrade in arms against Adilita as she continues to lead in a predictable pattern yet oddly effective. She did not appear to tire nor heat up but her opponent did yet his eyes tempered by the heat of the battle as he seemed to minimize his movements which seemed large and grandiose in comparison to the keen sharp movements as he learned her patterns for spotting weaknesses. "Class dismissed? Right girl?" Kagemiya said as the guard now used the shown weaknesses and erased them from his stances, footing, and strikes to descover the true strength hidden inside them that now Adilita's casual spoon taps became harder and more brutal than before. In the last second before a strike did clear her defense she reached with her hand and snapped the tip of her blade since it would have caused a fatality on her. With a change in form she pivoted her heel and exploded with a full round house kick just as Kagemiya's sentence finished. The knock out was a surprise for anyone else watching since the speed instead was generated not by power by by fluid grace and form that had come out of nowhere from simply defending with a spoon to sending the guard face first into the nearby stretcher.
*Kagemiya! " Jin called out as he applied salve on a bruised chin. "I can't pay you if I have to spend all my ryo on getting them treated. Stop her class immediately!"
Kagemiya shrugged and picked up a fork and challenged Adilita to the next dual. Adilita still didn't realize that it wasn't a dream and Kagemiya's eyes held no sign of the wizened mischief he held up on her appearance. He transformed nearly immediately causing his body to alternate from a casually well dressed kimono to a black silk armor. The transformation caused an explosive crust of dust to rise. Adilita's scanner had no time as she tilted herself to the side like a flower in the wind and I'm doing so caught the heavy breeze of a spearman's stab through the tip of Kagemiya's fork. The arrogant spark glimmered in his eyes as microseconds countered in her system. Even as his body hurled forward through the compact force caught in mega joules of movement his eyes careful followed hers. This shocked the A.I. as his eyes locked into hers making her respond with lethal force by creating a vibration at the top of her spoon. The sonic wave pulsed and separated them from each other as Adilita realized the difference of her toying with the guard versus playing with a fellow who harnessed a power keen to a giant. The moves in return became more ridiculous as the noble samurai sliced the air with the fork causing a gash of three lines to appear with a formidable technique. Adilita's hand went for her holster and unchambered a few rounds undeath his footing causing the ground below his feet to crumble. It was enough to weaken the true force of the slices to a breeze in the simple counter. "I surrender." Adilita called out as her unique weapon compacted in size and she registered it back into her thigh compartment. The samurai smirked, "I don't take any prisoners." Adilita's eyes widened as she realized that her little moment of joy wasn't a dream nor did her holoworld allow her to transport out of the dream. ShadoClone whizzed with the speed of thunder as he placed the tip of his fork at her neck.
"On second thought, it was a tad bland. It needs more salt." She said in the language of Chan, her friend's city from the archives of data she held. ShadoClone's bloodlusted glee faded with a disappointed frown as he realized what she had done. "Damn aristocrats!" He said and walked away I'm a temper but Adilita curtsied in honor of her dual to his back. Jin Do put his bandages down from what his expression told others to be expected to be a catastrophic hospitalization of his merry band and picked up a salt shaker. His hands shook nervously as he stated in horror at the craters the two had made with each step and tipped the salt labeled, "Momma's boy". "W-w-welcome and pu-pu-puleeze join us for breakfast madame aristocrat." Adilita curtsied again and Kagemiya's face boiled as he found himself defeated by her political scheme. "How did you know how to speak our language? You don't seem like you're from-" Jin's merchant mind raced as he pictured his her body transformed to pocket a weapon, "- mortal place." He said in a strange politeness. "My friend's city speaks a similar language and no I'm not from here. I suppose it's customary not to fight your guests, correct?" Adilita said as Kagemiya continued to be a very gracious host and handed her a small lap table with proper dishware. Jin Do caught Kagemiya's eyes and coughed which made the Samurai temper his face and wilder combat urges to a diligent meditative expression as the emotional waters cleared. For the other guards, they too sheathed thier weapons and joined for breakfast. The interloper was much too interesting company on a long journey for them to hold a grudge and even a bruised guard joined them. "No, we consider meals to be honored with utmost dignity and a challenging dual of a chef's greatest prowess to dare mention salt or to look salty like my employee was a moment ago."
Kagemiya harrumphed and served Adilita a fresh course of food then picked up the salt for his own personal lap table. "Jin Do-sama this girl is someone of a different story but I appreciate your cooking and your payments.". Adilita was quite surprised at the samurai as his transformation slowly faded while he took a bite of his food. Curiously, Adilita asked, "What did you do to me?"
"I sealed you. You'll go back when I release your body from it." Kagemiya said honestly with a bit of mysterious knowledge. "I wanted to talk to you before you decided to hunt my comrades down in case you were a raider."
"Oh, I am not a raider. I'm just looking for my father?" Adilita said with a dear and wholesome expression "I just went to sleep and thought this world was a dream. I was just activated a few days ago and I found my father is missing but I also had a very bad day yesterday."
Jin Do and a few other merchants now crowded the circle of people since the noise had woken everyone up. A few were even touched to hear her story. "I'm sorry, I didn't know." The merchant said and his fellows agreed. "We're just traveling ourselves and you appeared here out of the 🔵 blue."
Kagemiya coughed and choked a bit as he lectured, "So you decided to take your frustrations out on innocent people?"
"Yes, I apologize for my behavior but I was excited to see strong humans. I also thought it was rude that I was being faced with armed men when I arrived."
Jin Do nodded, "All in the past. All in the past. Pleasure to meet you miss Aristocrat. Thank you for your teaching service and your cooking advice."
Adilita's laughter peeled the air with pleasurable giggles at how happy she was now that everyone acted civilized. Kagemiya sighed, "Look girl-"
"My name is Adilita del Kokoro." The android interrupted the samurai in clarifying her self respect. "Look miss Heart-"
"Adilita will do-", The android chimed in again.
"For folks sake Anadorian, let me speak." Kagemiya burst out which shocked Adilita once more because she realized he knew something about her even. It also occurred to her that she might not even be home at all if this stranger called her Anadorian in a tone that meant 'Outsider".
"Okay but aren't you Anadorian too?" She pried causing Jin Do to shake his head in disagreement. Kagemiya's impatient sigh rasped as he was tempted to release the girl back to the fold before he could explain anything.
"Look Adilita, where we come from if we share a meal with you then you're family." Kagemiya said slowly and pointedly. "Which means Jin Do-sama is not going to let me hurt or do anything to you that is against the love of our little family. I'm here to protect them and so were the men when you appeared here. I know it's great expectations to ask of you but it's the best way to tell you that from now on in my world I will treat you like a little sister every time you visit." Adilita's eyes welled up in tears and Jin smacked Kagemiya over the head, "Look at you you big bully. You made her cry!" Partly the tears were hologram but in her heart hearing him talk about love made her overdrive react to a new emotions that made her feel like she'd be safe here. She wiped away years from her eyes and sniffled for a second before laughing. "I'm sorry, I know you mean it and I was having a really rough time since I awoke. I'm still new and I don't know what I need to do to find my father. I was just born a few days ago and it was unbearable to feel that and it only got worse since I only just adjusted from feeling like the world didn't mean anything to me. To say that I can be treated so nicely even if it's not where I come from means a lot to me mister." Kagemiya sighed and patted Adilita's head and Jin Do nodded. "Welcome to the family Adilita del Kokoro. You seem to have a really deep story from a different place than ours. You said you thought you were sleeping so does that mean you're still sleeping in your world?"
Adilita smiled faintly with wistful eyes. "I feel like I'm stuck inside my holoworld or something similar to a place between worlds. I was just recharging from my fight during the day and I think I am going through some repairs. I am not human and this is the second time since -". Adilita looked at Kagemiya in a curious gaze and her memory banks replayed the members she has met in Convergence. "You-you're ShadoClone!" Kagemiya coughed a fork full of a ramen as she recognized him from somewhere but a confused look ran across her face since the difference in persons was apparent. Jin Do gave Kagemiya the hiemlick maneuver causing him to survive asphyxiation from ramen. Just for good measure Jin Do also slapped him across the face causing Adilita to giggle at her most favorite sight. Kagemiya breathed a sigh.
"I'm ShadoClone in title. I'm not sure if we met Adilita because I lived here all my life and I never visited Anadoria. My predecessor however did meet you and it seems you're sixty years too late since I've inherited his title."
Adilita's mouth opened into an O shape for a moment as she took in the information. It had been practically yesterday to her when she met ShadoClone and was invited to see him but to him there were sixty years. She ran a diagnostic on her system quickly to see if the time traveler had done something to her and found nothing. "So, I missed the person who I was fated to meet?" Adilita concluded aloud.
Jin spoke for Kagemiya instead since the the wick witted merchant picked up the context clues easily from her appearance to the connection she had to his employee. "Not exactly, no. My samurai here is indeed Kagemiya but he's a different kind."
Kagemiya looked at Jin Do with alarm in his expression. "You knew all this time you didn't say anything? I thought it was interesting that you asked for me personally for this low ranked mission."
Jin Do shrugged and waved his hand off to express that it wasn't that important. "My grandfather was saved by your master before. I could use some of the same luck as my grandfather so I took you on as a lucky token on guard duty. You're usually not very easy to charm into doing work with how successful you are in your line of expertise." Adilita listened to the exchange in wonder if the world she was in and the people she now interacted with. "Jin Do-sama, it seems like you know what's going on." Kagemiya stated the obvious.
"Well, let's just say it's an old urban legend just like your title. I grew up a tavern owner's son long before I became a merchant and you know how ridiculous the role play fights get in there. It's always ninja this or ninja that." Adilita's expression was blank but Kagemiya nodded. "It fills in the time between the raids, wars, and fighting but what do that have to do with my little sister?"
Adilita looked very pleased to hear that.
"Your master was bored one day after visiting my village and told me a story one of his predecessors had about another world that had magic. Instead of chakra for power there were all kinds of warriors with multitudes of energies. He also said that was how he was trapped there by an evil man as to be his general for an army. He'd managed to find his way back to our home world somehow. Now that I think of it, it's just lore but it does mean that fate knows about how you got your name Kagemiya."
"I'm just here to find my father and I only met ShadoClone through a vision so I know you're not him." Adilita said.
"Noooo no no-no. ShadoClone is like a soul transfer from master to student and eventually the memories are awoken as we grow stronger. It's was supposed to be a power to make the original one immortal but it only worked halfway. I am ShadoClone and I am Kagemiya too." The samurai explained.
"Very confusing." Jin Do commented, "But that's how it is in the Shinobi world and there are other secrets here too that the shinobi hide."
Adilita finished her food during the time she listened nonchalantly to the people she was getting involved with. The sun would be rising soon as well judging by much lighter the sky was starting to become. "You knew that I was appearing tonight? How?"
"My title remembers things even if I never met you, the name still remembers who my friends are and who my enemies were. I don't exactly know what my grandmaster's thoughts were but I feel like I should help my new little sister however I can."
Jin Do-sama chuckled, "You bond pretty easily. and you didn't even know her name earlier."
"You wish! She's just too cute and too strong let the world corrupt her into a monster like me. I'm not like my master who only cared about himself.", Kagemiya refuted back.
"Excuse me!" Adilita raised her hand slightly; if only very politely so as not interrupt again after last time. "You called this place the Shinobi world so what's it about and do you know what it has to do with with anything other that oni-san here?"
Jin Do shook his head and so did Kagemiya and the rest of the merry band surrounding them. There wasn't an answer on much else. "It's not for an aristocrats ear to hear about it but this land is filled with war. Only the strong survive here and your big brother is a strong fellow amongst them. I'd gather that his ancestry is the only reason you're drawn here today or otherwise you'd have appeared next to someone stronger than him. You know how to fight very well and in this world powerful beings exist just for that reason." Another merchant answered her questions. Adilita looked concerned about her situation now. "I'm not certain that I understand yet but I have met some very strong people so far and I couldn't win because I wasn't strong enough. Kagemiya, can you teach me how to fight like you?"
Kagemiya sighed and looked at the skylight rising in the morning and Jin Do saw the sad look on his face.
"I can't hold the seal any longer new little sister. You have to go back to your world soon and find out more about your father. I think he's the missing link in our meeting today. I'm out of chakra now because of our fight and it's been hours since I was able to seal enough lightning chakra into you so it's not going to last much longer to hold you in my world."
Adilita's confused face appeared disappointed so Kagemiya patted her head. "It's okay, you look like you're having a fun journey so if you make it back here then I can teach you everything I know."
Adilita's wilted eyes peeled up quickly making Jin Do chuckle at the pretty sight. "Come back anytime and teach my men again. I'm sure I'll get a a better deal out of them if I promise them a good aristocratic instructor will magically appear in my camp someday soon." Jin Do's eyes twinkled happily as he tossed her the salt shaker with 'Momma's boy' scratched out and instead 'Daddy's girl' carved into it. 'Thank you for not killing my men and I."
"Oh no, absolutely no murdering. That's one of the rules I have to follow in order to learn more about love."
Kagemiya's sharp ears picked up the strange explanation and memorized it. "So you're called Kokoro because you're on a journey to learn about love, yes?"
Adilita blushed in surprise that she was being understood for once compared to how the feline twins decided to ignore her wishes altogether.
"Yes, I picked it myself. Nobody I'm Anadoria knows what it means because of the language difference."
"Well, I understand what it means." Kagemiya said with a gentle smile that beamed pride for her name picking skills.
"It's time to go back." Kagemiya said and prepared his hands together to make a single sign as a focused expression of stern appearance crossed his handsomely rugged face.
"Thank you onee San." Adilita said as the lightning that held her body released into the seat and then into the earth the moment he released the seal. Her body began to lose density then mass in a rapid succession but she heard something else before she woke up in her bed at the in.
"ShadoClone has two more adopted sisters so try not fight at them too." Jin Do said mysteriously.
Adilita's retina cores opened wide with her eyes to see Calico leaning over her holding her hand on the android's forehead with concern. "Oh you're awake? I was worried you'd shut down on us. Get up and get dressed. You have a big day today Adilita." Adilita heard a knock at the door. "That must be Gypsy wondering why you've nonchalantly overslept breakfast." Calico chimed cheerfully.
"I'm not hungry and I already ate." Adilita responded as she say up in bed.
Calico's feline ears perked up since she'd been watching the android sleep for a while. "That's odd... Well get dressed and hurry up. I don't want to wait longer for my husband than I already have so we've got to meet Carrow Corrow quickly."
"Alright but get out of my room." Adilita said making Calico jolt up and leave slightly miffed at the rude treatment since she'd only been concerned about the android in the first place.
Adilita would apologize later on the way to meet the leviathan but for now she got out of bed and dressed into one of the other beautiful designs by the queen's seamstresses. Something that didn't require too much restrictions to fighting since she'd learned her purpose was to do so with great powers. At least the dream about Kagemiya's fight together helped her figure out that she was made to fight strong forces but not as the reasons why. Those questions were for her maker and father or for the king's son to answer.
As she took one last look in the mirror after making sure her hair looked well groomed she saw something familiar on the vanity.
Adilita picked it up and saw a salt shaker with the words, 'Daddy's girl'. She stared at it for a while before putting it in her secret compartment inside her clothes. On her way out she seemed shocked but there wasn't much she could do. The day had started and she needed to get more clues about her existence so she smiled to herself before meeting up the twins downstairs in the entrance of the inn.
"Are you ready?" Gypsy asked huskily which made Adilita unnerved after remembering yesterday's hostility and then seeing today's friendliness. She answered back.
"Yes."