Destiny's Marked: Chosen (Book 1)

The Soldier: Found

     A groggy groan escaped the brunet's lips as he folded closer to himself to delve deeper into the fabrics that covered him. When that didn't lull him back into sleep, he squinted his eyes open to find dark blue but bright eyes and a nose .5 inches from his face. The person smiled and yelled loudly as if he wasn't a step away from her, "Hiya!" He jerked up, all sleepiness gone, and knocked his head into the headboard, causing him to groan and hold the back of his head to soothe the pain. Kai's face was directed towards his lap, face scowling at the shocking wake-up call. A soft female voice scolded, "Yuffie! Don't scare him!"

     Kai looked up, flinching, and his eyes widened at the sight before him; the surprise almost completely dulled the throbs from his head. A short almost-teen with her black hair cut short and choppy, reflecting her spunkiness, was almost jumping on the spot with enough energy to power the building. Her outfit was colorful, with variances of green, tan, and yellow and a crop-top showing her stomach. Her white socks were pulled all the way up to her mid thigh a couple of inches from her khaki shorts. The ravenette had a yellow scarf loosely around her neck, trailing after her everytime she moved.

     "But he's finally awake!" The Wutai ninja exclaimed, then changed her voice to be slightly deeper as she continued, "How can I not be excited!" Kai just gaped, head bobbing along with her jumping.

     "That does not mean personal space doesn't exist, Yuffie." The redhead female crossed her arms in a motherly way as she approached Kai's bedside. Her outfit consisted mostly of pink and white, her shirt in a tank-top style and her slightly ruffled skirt reaching about mid-calf we're her brown ankle boots started, tied neatly. With a smile she asked the brunet male, "How are you feeling? You were out for a while."

     It took a second for that sentence to click and it caused his shocked state to disappear as he blurted, "A while? How long?"

     "A couple of months!" Yuffie replied with a roll of her eyes, "We were wondering if you were ever going to wake up!" Kai looked down in thought, an image of Ryoko coming to mind. Yuffie noticed the mixture of sadness and worry in his eyes that was actually difficult to see behind his blank mask and chirped, "Don't worry! We managed to keep your little device safe!"

     Kai gave her a confused glance, Device?

     The ravenette continued, "How does it work anyway? It keeps banging on the glass every once in awhile. I think poor ol' Cid has had about enough of it..." Kai pulled his covers off of him, much to his body's complaints and the girls' surprise.

     "Where is it?" He stretched as Aerith rushed to his side, "You shouldn't be getting up so quickly!" Kai felt his feet hit a pair of boots as he pulled his legs over the side of the bed, recognizing them from his dream. Ignoring Aerith's insistence to lay back down, he bent over and put the shoes on, tying them tightly.

     "I'm fine. Just a bit sore." He stood up, kicking each toe against the wood floor as a habit to make sure his heels went into the shoe. "See?"

     Aerith gave a defeated sigh and crossed her arms, "Fine. But any dizziness- any at all- and Yuffie gets to drag you here." Yuffie perked up, "Yay!" Kai blanched but nodded. Isn't the point to help me get better and not get worse?

     "The device is downstairs in the store's back office." Aerith continued, "Yuffie can show you." As Kai approached the door, Aerith gave off a small smile, "By the way, my name is Aerith. And as you may have already figured out-"

     "My name is Yuffie, the greatest Wutai ninja!" The ravenette posed heroically. Kai chuckled and introduced himself, "My name is Kai." He was about to continue with a question that had been on his mind when he hesitated, "Do you... Have you seen two blondes- one girl, the other a boy- or a ravenette?" Aerith looked down in thought and hummed, "Well... I don't know. What else can you tell us about them?"