Fan Fiction ❯ Heart of a Thief ❯ Chapter One ( Chapter 1 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Shiro: Here it is! The long awaited-

Kaze: (snorts) Yeah right.

Shiro: (ignores Kaze) first true chapter for 'Heart of a Thief'. I had alot of fun writing this, dispite the fact it took so long to write.

Keitaro: (grins) Let's get on with the show!

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It’s a peaceful, sunny day. A day with a soft breeze and such a small amount of humidity that it makes you just want to curl up in the sun and go to sleep. However, for a group of five travelers, it’s not so peaceful.

“Kin! Get your lazy butt up!” Mai yells, kicking gently at her blonde-haired male companion.

Kin merely yawns in response. “Aw, put a sock in it, Mai. It’s too nice of a day to do work.”

Mai rolls her eyes. “Kin, for you it’s always too nice of a day to get up. It doesn’t matter whether it’s rainy, sunny, snowy, foggy, or if fire is falling from the sky, you’re always lazy.”

“Mmm hmm…” Kin yawns again and rolls over.

Takara shakes her head after watching her two friends. ‘Those two,’ She thinks fondly. ‘it’s hard to believe that they really like each other sometimes.’

Kisho sighs as he walks up to Takara’s side and stops. “Those two are at it again, huh?”

Yoshi chooses this time to drop down from a tree branch, his long black hair a tangled mess from him climbing and jumping through tree branches. “Of course they’re at it again!” He exclaims. “I can hear them way out in the forest from where I was at!”

Kin, Mai, Takara, Kisho, and Yoshi are all theives. They banded together when they were part of a larger group, and they haven’t broken up yet.

Kin has blonde hair that is almost always windswept or untidy, no matter what he does, and he has bright, cat-like green eyes. In the group, he’s the playful, perverted, lazy one who always manages to be one step ahead of the others.

Mai has rich grayish-brown hair with mahogany highlights that tumbles a little past her shoulders. Her eyes are almost like a wolf’s; amber with hints of light green. Mai has the worst temper of the group and is the most motherly one. This makes her the one who keeps Kin and Yoshi under control. Most of the time, anyway.

Takara has long black hair with red and brown pieces framing her pale skin, which she keeps pulled up in a ponytail most of the time. Her eyes are usually a clear sky-blue, but most claim that her eyes are icy blue. Takara has a mixed, unpredictable personality which makes it hard to figure out what she’s thinking.

Kisho has shaggy, chocolate brown hair that he ties back on raids. He has hazel eyes, but is blind in one of them. He’s the quiet, wise one of the group. He takes the information everyone has and is usually able to quickly format a plan.

Yoshi has long black hair that shines blue in sunlight, and shines silver in moonlight. His hair is long enough to go past his waist when braided, making it longer than Takara’s. His eyes are a strange violet-lilac color that shifts between those two shades. Yoshi is the rash, “rush in without thinking” one of the group. He’s the best tracker and hunter of them and is often sent out to gather information.

Together they may not be the best team ever, the numerous fights between them prove that, but they trust each other unconditionally. The trust keeps them together and this makes them one of the most well-known and formidable team of thieves.

“KIN! GET UP DAMMIT!”

Unsurprisinly, they have been caught before, but managed to slip out somehow. They usually get caught because Yoshi decides to do something stupid. That’s right, Yoshi; not Kin.

On the ground Yoshi fakes a snore, making Mai’s right eyes begin to twitch.

Yoshi starts outright laughing at the two of them, distracting Mai long enough for Kin to escape her wrath. Fortunately for the two boys, Takara interrupts Mai before she can start lecturing.

“Kin, come on out. We need to think up a new plan,” Takara says.

“New plan?” Kin repeats, dropping down from a tree branch nearby. “Why do we need a new one? The last one was confusing enough!”

Takara rolls her blue eyes. “Kin, the last plan was not confusing and this one won’t either. And we need to think of a new one because of the new information Yoshi most likely has for us,”

Kin grumbles something under his breath and then yelps when Mai smacks him in the back of his head.

Kisho shakes his head in exasperation at the two’s antics, Yoshi smirks, and Takara sighs.

“Hey love birds!” Yoshi calls, happily. “How about you two stop flirting and walk about ten feet over here so we can work out a new plan!”

Takara once again heavily sighs and brushes a few strands of red hair out of her face. “Yoshi,” She begins. “I know you absolutely adore causing trouble and mayhem wherever you go, but now is really not the time for it. The last thing I need is for Mai to be angry with you over a couple of words.”

“Okay, okay,” Yoshi says. “I’ll tone it down a little.” He grins and turns back to the other two. “Oi lover-boy!”

Takara immediately smacks her forehead with the palm of her hand. “Hey Kisho?” She murmurs.

“Yes Takara?” Kisho politely inquires, slightly surprised.

“Next time we stop for a while, remind me to tie Yoshi to a tree and gag him,” Takara says. “It may possibly prevent all of us from either killing him or getting a headache,”

Kisho chuckles. “Perhaps it will, but I highly doubt that would keep Yoshi quiet.”

“That’s true,” Takara replies thoughtfully, as the other two finally walk the ten feet over to them. “Alright,” She says, snapping into business mode. “Yoshi, what’s the report? Or are the rumors we heard true?”

Yoshi chuckles. “Oh, you’re going to love this. The party we heard about and decided to crash? I found out why the Eastern Kingdom is throwing the party.”

“Are you going to tell us, or are we going to have to guess?” Mai asks, slightly angry at the black haired boy.

A sense of foreboding washes over Takara as Yoshi’s ever-present grin grows.

“Apparently the little prince has to choose a wife soon, but that’s not the main reason,” Yoshi says. “There’s some soldier named Hiroshi being promoted to general. That’s the most I got though.”

Takara’s heart skips a beat. “That complete and total ass?! How is he- How-?!” With a fierce growl, Takara turns around and slams her fist into the nearest tree, sending bark flying.

The others stare at their friend in shock, never having seen her upset over something seemingly so simple.

“Takara, what’s wrong?” Mai asks. “Did you have a run in with this Hiroshi person or something?”

“Or something…” Takara grumbles. “Lets go over the plan before Kin decides to take a nap.” She says, trying to change the subject.

“Hey!” Kin protests. “I was just joking around, Vix.”

Takara relaxes at the use of her nickname and Mai smiles at Kin, thankful he got their ‘leader’ to relax.

Yoshi sighs. “Are we going to get to work on this or not? We still have to get a room in town.” He reminds everyone.

“And with our luck all the rooms will have already been taken.” Mai grumbles, running a hand through her hair.

“And if that’s the case, then we can camp outside like we usually do.” Yoshi retorts as he sits down on a mossy log.

The others follow suit and sit down as well, making sure the grass isn’t wet before doing so. Then they all begin discussing any new finds and the changes to the original plan.

“So we’re basically going to this party, mingle a bit, and then carefully slip off to the king’s vault?” Mai asks. “If we are going to pull this off, let me pick out our clothes. None of you have any sense of style.” She says, eyeing Yoshi’s ripped t-shirt and holey jeans.

“I happen to like my style, thank you very much.” Yoshi snaps, obviously miffed.

“And if we get caught?” Kisho asks.

Yoshi frowns, his lilac eyes loosing their sparkle and turning dark violet. “The jail cells here are really tough. No one has ever escaped from them before. We’ll have to stick to our usual plan and hope Takara’s intuition can get us out if we do get caught. And remember, from here on out we use our nicknames.”

“The same ones we always use.” Kin says, looking us as he picks up a smooth gray stone. “Per usual, I’m Keitaro, Yoshi is Sotaro, Kisho is Ryuu, Mai is Aiko, and Takara is Dai.”

The others nod in understanding.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0

After discussing everything for a while longer, the group gets up and begins packing the little that they do have. Then they head into the usually calm village- now hectic because of the upcoming party. Much to Mai’s relief, they are able to find a decent hotel room. Unfortunately, the room only has two beds, meaning they have to share the beds and someone sleeps on the couch. Or, they don’t share the beds, someone sleeps on the couch, and the other two sleep on the floor. The group decides to play Paper-Rock-Scissors for it.

After playing three rounds, it was decided who gets what. Mai and Yoshi both get a bed, Kin gets the couch, and Takara and Kisho get to sleep on the floor.

After settling in and finding out that there’s no food, the boys go out to get some food and Mai drags Takara off to get their clothes for the party. Takara, preferring food over clothes, complains about the whole way there, but quiets down when Mai threatens to gag her with either Kin or Yoshi’s socks.

Takara yawns while Mai excitedly examines a mint green and blue dress. “Are we almost done?” She asks, obviously annoyed. “Picking out our dresses shouldn’t be as hard as finding something for the guys.”

Mai whirls around to face Takara, frustration etched on her face. “Dai please! You really need to take this more seriously!”

“Why?”

“Because appearance is very important!” Mai replies, pulling out a pale blue dress. “Dai, this would look perfect on you!”

“It has lace,” Takara grumbles, crossing her arms over her chest. “And tiny blue flowers.”

Mai frowns and hangs it back up. “At least tell me what color you want.”

Takara sighs, uncrosses her arms, and steps forward and begins going through all the dresses. “Here,” She grumbles, practically shoving a mint-forest green dress with lace trim and spaghetti straps.

Mai blinks comically before happily studying the dress. Takara continues flipping through all the dresses.

“I like this.” Mai happily comments, looking up from the dress. “Have you found something yet?”

Takara doesn’t answer her friend. Instead she pulls a bright red dress with white trim off of the rack.

“Is that white leather?” Mai asks curiously, poking the white trim.

Takara shrugs. “Aiko, I don’t know and don’t care. We have our dresses, so can we please leave now?”

Mai sighs for what seems like the billionth time. “We really should try them on…”

“We’ll do it later!” Takara impatiently says. “Now lets go already! Ryu, Sotaro, and Keitaro are waiting for us.”

Mai looks at the rack of dresses one last time and sighs. “Okay, okay. Lets go find out what junk the guys bought us to eat.”
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Shir o: Mou... it seemed longer in my notebook.... oh well, at least I got it out.

Bast: Please tell Shiro how she's doing. Even though she insists she doesn't need reviews-

Shiro: It's the truth!

Bast: - she really loves them dearly-

Kyle: (finishes) -and they do keep her going.

Keitaro: So in other words...

Kyle, Bast, and Keitaro: PLEASE REVIEW!