Emireth.

As he watched the last of the students leave, chatting away, a smile grew across Emireth's face. He was putting away all of the used and unused equipment and sighed softly. There was a soft tapping at the front door, making him look up from his duties. Emireth's smile dissapeared when he saw it was a man in a fancy suit.

Not one of these again... his thoughts groaned and echoed through his head. He finished putting away the heaviest of the three punching bags and walked over to the door. "Yes?" he asked, not even trying to hide his annoyed tone.

The man looked up. "Are you Mr. Higetsu...?" he questioned. His body stayed still and tense, but his eyes showed he was intimidated by Emireth's sheer muscle that showed through the open shirt he wore.

Emireth nodded cautiously. "And if I am...?" he said, a smirk playing upon his lips. He couldn't help it after seeing the look in the other man's eyes.

The man fumbled with a box and handed it to him as if it burned his hands. "This is for you. Don't open it until you are by yourself."

Emireth snorted as he looked down at the box. "Why should I... what if its some kind of..." he looked up, and the man was gone. "...bomb." Emireth finished and sighed, quite annoyed. He tossed the box onto one of the dojo's benches and walked to his back office. He sat at the desk and looked at the old picture of his parents together on the beachside. Another smile came across his face as he did this, but something caught his attention from the corner of his eye.

He looked over at the small box, surprised to find that it was glowing. He groaned softly, and after a few moments of debating with himself, got up slowly. He walked over to the box and picked it up. He shook it obnoxiously and sighed when it didn't make any noise. He sat butterfly style on the floor and opened it slowly. He looked in to see a pretty decent size stone, stuffed into the box with a note. Just by looking at it, he could tell it was an opal stone.

When he shook it out of it's prison and let it drop to the floor with a loud thud, he realised it was as big as his fist. "What the hell...?" he muttered, picking it up. He looked at it curiously, as if it would explode right there in his hand. Deciding it wouldn't, he stood up and put it back into its box, bringing it to his desk.

After setting it down, a little more gently this time, he changed from his uniform to a pair of blue jeans, the kind he always loved to wear when he was training, and switched to his special family shirt. He smiled softly as the warm cloth caressed his skin. He looked back at the box, and though he couldn't see the stone, he was feeling like it was watching him. A shiver ran up his spine, but not out of fear. Something was registering in his brain that this gem was important, but why?

He would just have to find out, later in time as it would be revealed.

_{Back to: The 12
or
And so it began}