Wind rushed through his golden locks as the storm raged through the sky and water. Little pellets of raindrops beat down ruthlessly on the merchant ship as if miniature sized hammers were being thrown down from heaven.

The raging storm had hit them with unexpected terror. Although everyone on board the ship knew of the coming storm, they never could have suspected how fiercely it would bare its long sharp fangs. Sailors threw things over board as others rushed around searching for more things to plunge into the dark deep depths of the ocean to lighten up the ship.

"Father! Father!" Quatre yelled through the confusion of the scurrying frantic sailors and the raging beast around them. "Where are you?"

"Quatre, my son, get below deck!" His father ran toward him as best he could on the rocking boat. When he reached him he pushed him toward the hatch that lead down below the deck of the ship. "It is not safe up here."

"But Father!"

"Don’t argue! Just go!" Quatre nodded and turned to go, but just before he took his first step toward the door, a huge wave surged toward the ship.

"Quatre!" John lunged for his son, knocking them both onto the deck. "Here," He said. "Hold on to the piece of rope for dear life. There’s no time to ge…" John Cabot’s words were cut off by the monstrous wave covering the ship. Quatre felt the weight of his father fall away from his own body.

Quatre held his breath, but soon his lungs began to burn, screaming for air. Finally, the water receded from the ship, and the blond haired boy took a long, deep gasp of air. His senses were disoriented and his vision blurry. There was a lot of bustling and shouts, but then all commotion ceased as one voice shouted those words no sailor longed to hear.

"Man over board!" the man on the crow’s nest shouted. "Man over board!"

Quatre suddenly felt two strong hands pull him off the planks of the deck and dazily drag him under the deck. The boat was still being tossed around fiercely by the raging storm out side.

The sailor sat Quatre down next to some beer barrels and turned to leave. "Wait," called Quatre, his senses just now slightly return to him. "Who, who got thrown over board.

The brown haired burly man got a pained expression on his face. Slowly he replied, "Don’t you know?" When Quatre shook his soaked head the sailor continued, "Your father, Captain Cabot." The young blond soaking and shivering man suddenly felt very faint, and felt the bile rise in his throat.

***

Night is dark and ominous without kindled fires and the moon and stars above. Fortunately these lights linger through out all of Japan. They create shadows that allow certain people to blend into their darkness.

The ground was damp from the downpour earlier that day. The air was wet and smelled musty. There were only sounds of cricket’s violins, the laughter of men merrily drinking in taverns, and of men in the shadows making equally dark deals.

Then there are the things or people who are not usually seen and are not usually heard. One in particular stealth fully leaped from one dark spot to another, her aqua blue eyes scathing the land and her ears listening to every word spoken.

Suddenly there was a soft rustle behind the darkly dressed character. She twirled around simultaneously drawing her samurai style sword. There, before her, stood a figure dressed similarly like herself. A person could not see the figure’s mouth smile but a person could blatantly see the sparkling dance of amusement in the figure’s eyes.

"Melodious Flute, you should be more careful." The figure stated. "You are not the only one who knows how to sneak through the night." Relena smirked slightly.

"Humph," she grunted "Are you saying I am losing my touch?" The other figure rolled her eyes and motioned with her hand for Relena to fallow her.

The pair slipped through narrow ally ways and shadowed corners until they finally reached a small inconspicuous hut just outside of the city. Before they entered the hut they made sure they weren’t followed. When they were satisfied they slipped into the small building and lit two homemade candles. Then they dripped some wax onto a table and stuck the candles into the wax. When the task was completed they took off their facial masks.

Sitting before Relena was a petite black haired girl who had a playful yet dangerous air about her. Relena had met her on one of her nightly outings two years before. She was careless then and didn’t notice the stranger following her. Once she was behind a building the stranger attacked her and pushed her to the ground effortlessly.

That night Relena found out that her stalker was from a ninja clan who lived up in the mountains. She had come down looking for some fun and found Relena. When she whipped the mask off of Relena’s face the stranger was surprised to find the supposed ninja was the daughter of a shogun.

The months to follow were interesting ones for the blond haired princess. She had told the ninja that she had found a scroll buried in the tea garden near her bedroom, which contained instructions for many different deadly martial art techniques. Relena self taught herself all of the techniques the scroll described, however, her training was still so full of gaps.

For unknown reasons to the princess this female ninja offered to train her properly and help her fill in the holes that interfered with the perfection of her training, like the lurking in the shadows at night fall. So for the past two years Relena and this girl, who calls herself Rhythmic Drum (or Drummer for short) have trained together strengthening both their skills and their friendship.

"Melodious Flute," (she calls Relena that so if any one over hears their conversations they won’t know who they really are) " Let’s begin tonight with your sword training. You are still a little weak in that area."

The two went out side and began to spare. They trained on various things that night until an hour before daybreak when they both had to return home.

Relena climbed the wall and crawled through the window to her bedroom, quickly changing into her sleeping cloths, hid her ninja out fit, fell on to her bed, and fell into a deep fitful sleep.

***

Dear Wufei Chang,

The seal was legitimate. If Wufie were to get to the palace by high noon tomorrow he would have to leave right away. Sighing, he got dressed into travel clothes and put a nice sum of money in a pouch around his waist. He then saddled a sturdy hoarse for the trip and road of toward the palace.

***

Hello everyone. Sorry this took me so long and that it so short and boring. I know I promised action, but this was a necessary chapter to get out before I could continue. Please review and write to me with your comments, criticism and or questions. Thank you.

~Titan~