Forgotten But Not Lost

11

Working with Rock's team and the Orion Clan was a very strange experience for Rin.

The Orion might have listened to one too many fairytales about knights in shining armor, but they did take things seriously. Maps, plans, tactics, they thought through every step of their encounter carefully, save for one rather glaring detail, team Typhoon Rocks.
Rocks team wasn't so much given a formation and part in the plan of how to best take down the Orcs, as they were just given a location to go wild in without fear of interfering with the rest of the group. Rock and his compatriots didn't come up with any plans of their own, and other than Shirou, Tsuga and herself, none of them even attended the prebattle meeting.
According to Tsuga, all of the individuals in Typhoon Rocks were actually frontline solo fighters, even Tsuga himself, making him one of the only solo Priests. They only partied together whenever they all happened to be in the same place at the same time, or if something big was coming up, they would seek each other out. Then after the fighting, they would each get distracted by something or other and break off from the group until they all bumped into each other again. Even when they were all together, they didn't work with each other, just all fought on the same battlefield. They only really worked together if the target was big enough to warrant it.
But even though the team was made up of cannons so loose that they flew straight through the side of the ship before the ship even left port, Shinohara was still betting on them handling around half of the Orc soldiers by themselves. A startling twenty Orcs each, if you didn't count Shirou or Rin, and there was another elite group of six members within Orion that was being counted on to handle a third of what remained.
After all was said and done with the traps, the typhoon, and Orion's honor guard, the remaining forty soldiers were only expected to be able to handle one soldier a piece on average.
Shinohara was genuinely surprised when Rin and Shirou, who were supposed to be a part of Typhoon Rocks, asked what position they were supposed to take on the battlefield.
After a short explanation of the spells Rin had to work with and an only slightly longer demonstration of Shirou's sword and archery skills, which had left the older soldiers in shock, they were told to take up a position with a group of other ranged support units which was composed of one other Mage, a young Hunter, two Priests, and a Warrior meant to protect them from charges. After that, they were requested to help in the setting up of traps. Shirou was put to work digging up pitfalls, while Rin was asked to help in the preparation of what would be an avalanche of chopped down trees.
"Jeeru mea gram fel kanon, [Freezing Blood]." Rin said as she held her hand to a particularly large tree. The water within the tree rapidly cooled and expanded, building up pressure until it burst. With a low cracking sound, the tree's trunk burst open near the base of the tree on the opposite side as where Rin had been standing. The tree then tipped and fell over, hitting the ground with a loud rustle of branches. Soon the Warriors would descend upon it with their hatches, cutting off the branches before dragging it off into position near the mud slide they had created. They wouldn't need to sharpen the end to a point. Rin's method of breaking down the tree had left the end plenty sharp.
It was a bit harder to perform [Freezing Blood] on the inside of a living thing rather than the surface, but the natural magic resistance of a tree wasn't nearly so great as that of an animal.
Rin was about to move on to the next tree that had been marked for chopping when a voice stopped her. "You should stop that." A girl with long dark blue hair and blue eyes said in a monotone voice. She was one of the Priests, dressed in the usual Priest colors of white and blue. It caused an unusual affect in the dark of the night, as her pale skin and the white of her clothes seemed to glow while the blue of her hair and the darker areas on her clothes were too dark to be seen properly.
"Excuse me?" Rin asked, not sure what the girl meant.
"You shouldn't waste your magic before a fight. If you use it all up now, then you won't have enough to cast your spells come time for battle." The girl said.
"Mary, don't go spreading that nonsense of your to others! It's bad enough that we have a Priest who won't heal us, I don't want to have a mage who won't cast spells either!" One of the Warriors shouted at the girl. Mary gave the man a withering look that caused him to shiver and shut his mouth.
Rin however was thinking carefully about what the girl said. "Conserve magic until it is the most useful. You have a point there." She admitted. "However, I can save the Warriors a lot of hassle if I expend my magic to do the worst of the labor for them. I think it would be better in our current circumstances to have a spent mage rather than Warriors who are physically exhausted and prawn to making mistakes that could cost their lives." Rin said before going back to the next tree. "Besides, if I finish quickly, then I can rest and regain most of my magic before the fight begins."
"Do whatever you wish." Mary said before joining the Warriors in chopping up the downed trees.
Conserving magic. It wasn't something that Rin had ever really put much thought into. With her elementary level spells, she could cast them around two hundred times in a day at their normal level without exhausting her rather large magic supplies. But what about when she started to use more powerful spells, and what about those spells that she had known in her past life. They had been far more taxing on her than the ones she had learned from the Mage's Guild. Perhaps she should start trying to learn best practices and not use magic when a nonmagical solution was available. The problem was, she wasn't very good at anything besides magic, or she had never tried anything other than magic in the two weeks since she had woken up in that god forsaken tower.
The problem with that was weapons. Elementals hated the touch of nearly all kinds of metal, which was the reason why Mages would neither wield proper weapons, or wear armor. She couldn't even wear trinkets that had metal in them. The twisted stick she was given to assist in her spells would do her a fat lot of good against steel blades.
After knocking down fifty trees, Rin moved back to camp and sat down to rest. She still hadn't burned through even half of her total magic reserves, but she had still been awake for a very long time, and the darkness, along with the warmth and humidity of the early summer, Rin felt like she would just take a bit of a nap. So, laying down underneath a tree in the area that the Typhoon Rocks had claimed for themselves, Rin closed her eyes and let herself drift to sleep.
When Rin finally woke up, the sun was peaking over the horizon and shining down through the gaps in the trees, and the birds were waking up and singing their songs in a beautiful chorus of a thousand voices.
It was at times like this that Rin truly understood just how much… she hated nature. Fuck the sun and birds for waking her up. Fuck the ground for being so damn hard. Her body felt so unbearably stiff from sleeping on such a hard surface. She growled her resentment of the world as she sat up, prepared to great the day with the darkest of frowns.
A blanket, that she hadn't remembered having before, fell off of her as she got up, though she was in such a sour mood that she barely noticed it. She just started towards the sounds of a small camping fire and what had better be breakfast.
Luckily for everyone involved, it was.
"Goodmorning, Rin." Shirou said politely as he started to pour her a cup of tea he had waiting in a pot for her.
She didn't even greet him. Just grabbed the cup of tea and a plateful of omelet, made from some kind of local monster bird's eggs and cut up bits of fruit, and a chunk of bread. The omelet and tea were to Shirou's usual, unusually high standards of cooking. She honestly had no idea how he managed to make anything given the little resources he had, but everything he made was always better than most of what they could buy around the city, even though he always insisted he could do better with the right ingratiates. The bread on the other hand was barely what she would call edible, tasting like a dry sponge. More than likely part of the rations provided by the Orion Clan.
Honestly, fuck that clan. They couldn't even provide real food for a one-day excursion.
"Looks like sleeping beauty finally decided to get out of her bed of flowers." Rock said sarcastically. "Here I was thinking you were going to sleep straight through the entire raid."
"Go fuck yourself, you brainless shit." Rin snapped at the man. Rock looked taken aback, not expecting such an aggressive response from the girl.
He glanced at Shirou, looking for an explanation. "She isn't a morning person." Shirou said simply, not at all surprised by Rin's behavior. "Let the stimulants from the tea work their magic and she will be back to normal in fifteen minutes or so."
Rin gave Shirou a dirty look for disclosing that information before going back to her meal. "Either way, it was good for her to get sleep while she could. Those of us who use magic need extended mental and physical rest in order to refuel our supplies. Moyugi and I also forced ourselves to rest for at least an hour will we had the chance." Tsuga said with a small nod.
"It's also a damn good excuse for you guys to stop helping out around here." Rock scoffed.
"Well, I don't have to heal you if you really don't want me to." Tsuga said with a smile that seemed a little too genuine. Rock didn't take the bait and only rolled his eyes. "Either way, Rin expended quite a bit of her magic during the night helping to set up the logs. It shouldn't come as any surprise that she was spent."
"I wasn't spent!" Rin snapped at the Priest. "As if someone like me could run out of magic after just a few dozen spells. I could have cast a hundred more if I had wanted to."
Tsuga's eyebrows went up and he glanced from Rin to Shirou. "Was that just a boast, or is she serious?"
Shirou shrugged. "She's a genius."
"And don't forget that." Rin said, flipping back her hair which she then realized hadn't even had her fingers drawn through it as a form of brushing. Just another reason to hate mornings.
"I know a few veteran mages who would have been out like a light after casting that spell within a living plant fifty times." Tsuga mumbled, scratching his chin. "Her total magical energy must be at least twice my own."
Kuro let out a low whistle to show that he was impressed.
"Well, it isn't the size that matters, its what you do with it." Rock said, trying to pretend like it wasn't a big deal.
"Keep telling yourself that short stack." Rin said as she finished off her omelet and took a bite out of the lousy bread.
"You want to die, brat!?" Rock shouted, having to be restrained by Kajita.
"Though I suppose he has a point." Rin admitted with a sigh. "Even if I have a lot of magical energy, there will always be a finite number of spells I can cast before I am basically useless. Not to mention the time required to cast my spells. If an enemy gets too close I can only defend myself with a useless piece of wood or hope I pull a spell out of my ass before they stab me though the hea…"
A pulse of magic flicked through Rin's body, temporarily stunning her into silence. A gasp escaped her lips as the way the magic had moved through her brought along with it a sharp stinging sensation. The pain only lasted a moment and the magical energy lasted only a moment longer than that, but in that moment Rin had them a second time. The formulas. So many magical formulas. But before she could try to memorize any of them, they were gone again, along with the pulse of magic.
"That is the inherent weakness of mages." Tsuga said with a nod. "There isn't much in the way of armor or weaponry that they can use to defend themselves, due to the Elementals' hatred of metal, which is why they have to rely on other to protect them. There are a few spells that can be used to block enemy attacks, but they are costly and the amount of damage they can absorb is rather small."
Rin was hardly listening to him, she was trying to wrap her mind around what had just happened. She had draw on that old knowledge again, but she didn't know how she had just done it. She tried to trace back the feeling she had in her body at the time, but she couldn't think of anything that might have been a trigger. Last time it had been in a high stress situation, while as now she had been sitting down finishing her breakfast.
"A weapon huh." Shirou said thoughtfully, his hand going down to his belt. He frowned for a second before shrugging and undoing his belt, removing the short sword he had gotten from the commander from it. Rin was surprised when he held it out to her. "Here. Take it."
"…Archer, weren't you listening. I can't use magic if I am holding metal." Rin said as she looked down at the sword. The extremely expensive sword. The one that Shirou himself didn't use in battle because he thought it would be a waste.
"This sword has an Elemental Coating. You'll still be able to use magic with it." Shirou explained, still holding the weapon out to her.
Rin hesitated before talking the sword from Shirou, holding it gingerly in her hands. She could feel the elemental energy pulsating through the blade's handle. Being able to cast magic with it? It would act as an amplifier and make her magic even more powerful.
"Giving the girl a valuable sword like that. That counts as an engagement gift, right?" Kuro said, adding his commentary over the moment.
"I hope not." Rin said with a smirk. "After all, he was given it by 'Bri-chan'." The surrounding men all made gagging sounds. "As much as I enjoy holding your sword, I don't exactly know how to use it. I can't recall ever using a sword before."
"I'll just have to teach you then." Shirou said, before scratching his head. "Though I have never taught anything before."
"Are you sure about this? I thought you consider this sword too valuable to use?" Rin questioned him.
"To valuable to use? It's a sword?" Shirou said as if genuinely confused by her statement. "The only reason I haven't used it before was because I had other alternatives at hand. Use causes wear and tear. Unless properly cared for, you can usually only get a few dozen good uses out of a sword before it either breaks or will no long hold an edge. So, if a lesser sword will do the job, why use my best one?"
"And why give your best sword to someone who doesn't know how to use it?" Rin countered.
"Because, for you, no other sword will do." Shirou said before giving her a smile. "Just be glad you are worth more to me than a sword. A sword can always be replaced. You can't be." Rin blushed a bit at his words and looked down at the sword in her hands.
"…You two sure you ain't dating?" Rock commented. Rin throw what was left of her stale bread at the man's head.
"You're moving your center of gravity too far forward. This form requires you to be more loose in your movements." Shirou said as he put a hand on Rin's shoulder, correcting her stance ever so slightly. "A forward center of gravity is good for hard blocks, but with your lighter weight, you shouldn't try to stop anything save for as a last resort. Parry or absorb the momentum whenever possible."
Shirou spent the next two hours of that morning instructing Rin on how to properly draw and wield a sword, and despite his claims as to known nothing about teacher, his vast in-depth knowledge of weapons made him a natural teacher. That, along with Rin's ability to quickly pick up concepts made it so that training proceeded quickly. In fact, the members of Typhoon Rocks were also surprised by the girl's mastery over her own body, leading them to suspect that she knew more about close-quarters combat than she was letting on, or perhaps more than she remembered.
As the Volunteer Soldiers were a military force, there was open mockery of the Rookies training before a real battle, as well as a 'tiny' Mage trying to learn to wield a sword. Most of the remarks came from the recruited teams that Orion had brought along as the Clan members were far too 'gallant' to be making such remarks, they just smirked and shook their heads at the display.
However, the more veteran members of the group weren't laughing. None of the member of Typhoon Rocks made a single condescending remark. They were all too busy watching and trying to make sense of it.
"Where the hell did this kid learn so much about swords?" Rock said around a piece of grass he had been chewing on. "He might just know more about them than I do."
"He certainly knows more than I do." Shinohara said as he approached the savage team's leader. "I was hoping you could tell me what you knew about that style he's teaching her. It isn't one that I know of."
Rock was about to mouth off to the man when he saw the young beauty standing behind him. Silvery blue hair, pale skin, and bright green eyes, she was dressed in shapely armor that showed off her figure very well. Twenty years old, she was right in the middle of Rock's strike range. Hinata was as beautiful as ever, and just her presence was enough to make Rock change his mind about decking Shinohara. At least at that very moment.
"It's a spell sword style, or a modified form of one." Rock said keeping his tone disinterested as he tried his best to look cool and casual. "You can see how she is holding her hand parallel to the earth to the side and how her steps and breaths all have a timing to them. It's to help weave a spell into her form. It's a common enough style among veteran Dread Knights, though a few of the most elite Paladins also practice it, once they start hunting things that a shield is worthless against."
"The footing is reversed." Hinata observed simply. Being a Paladin herself, she would have seen a spell sword style before.
"Right you are. The foot work is closer to that of the Thief's guild and the Dread Knights or Paladin's. At least from what I can tell, though the posture of the upper body has been changed from the standard form of a thief in order to compensate for the larger weapon and how she is holding her arm out." Rock said, giving the girl one of his most charming smiles. It wasn't all that charming, but she didn't see it anyways. She was watching Shirou and Rin, the boy performing a slow-motion attack at the girl and letting her practice redirecting its momentum to help her dodge.
"He's supposed to be a Rookie and a Hunter, isn't he? Where did he learn this mixture of Paladin and Thief fighting styles?" Shinohara said.
"Boy is just naturally talented. They both are. That's the reason why Typhoon Rocks is looking out for them after all. We watch out for our juniors, rather than making them learn everything for themselves. Even if some of our juniors don't seem to appreciate our overwhelming generosity." Rock said. He couldn't help smirking at Shinohara as he said it. Shinohara was known to follow the idea that the Rookies should learn things for themselves rather than being taught how to survive by their senors. One of the many things that he and Rock didn't see eye to eye on.
Shinohara smiled back. "Well, I for one always knew you were a good guy underneath your rough exterior." He said cheerfully. Rock's eye twitched, Shinohara knew damn well that Rock hated being called a 'good guy'. He was trying to get a reaction out of the guy that would embarrass him in front of Hinata.
He might just have gotten it, if it wasn't for one of Orion's men running up next to him to give a report. "Captain Shinohara, the Orcs have been spotted by our scouts. Their transport will be here in twenty minutes."
Shinohara nodded to the man and shouted out to get everyone's attention. The time for waiting was over. The battle was about to begin.
No the names aren't based on Naruto. Rock and Shinohara are both canon characters, and Hinata is just an extremely common name that I pulled from a hat. Even if the names were from Naruto, the characters really can't cameos.
Same goes for Itsuki. I wasn't thinking of bleach, I just looked up a list of common Japanese names and it was number 11 or something and had a rather self-centered meaning like 'one path' or something implying that he did things his way and didn't care about others opinions.
Even Sara is from that least, as it is apparently a popular name in Japan. (Should mention, Hinata was a common name under the male category list rather than female, so it seems to be gender neutral.)
If everyone seems to be kind of a dick towards the rookie teams and the less fortunate in general, these are army men in a very nonstrict army. Of course they are dicks who make fun of people.