Athena's eyes widened as she fell to her knees on the ledge. She looked up and then looked back at her wrist and the rot spreading from it. She took a deep breath then called up, "Someone help me!!! Karukai's done something to my wrist!!! Please someone help me get back up to where you all are!!!" Athena closed her eyes, she felt dizzy and queasy. She opened her eyes and tried to stand, a dumb move on her part, as she tilted and fell from the ledge just barely able to grab onto the same branch from earlier with her good hand.
Katsuke ran for Athena as fast as he could, barely making it in time. He grabbed her wrist and looked at it. "What the hell?" he thought. "What the hell isthat kid?". He grabbed a dagger from the back of his belt. But the dagger looked quite significant. A white dagger, a mysterious insignia. He slightly stabbed the infected area. "Whoops" he thought. He carried her from the wrist and took her where Kaiyon laid. He put her next to him and thought "Knock yourself out kid"....he just left them both there, unconcious....
Athena awoke to find herself next to the unconcious Kaiyon. She looked down at her wrist to see that the rot had begun to recede but she still felt numbness in that hand... she would have to work doubly hard now. She took a vial out of her pocket and put two drops of it on a finger on her good hand and gently wiped his temples and whispered, "Kaiyon...wake up... wake up Kaiyon-Chan..."
Tetsumiro cleaned off his dagger before putting it away, having not found anyway he could have possibly helped the situation any without getting in the way. The pup stood not too far from Athena and Kaiyon, waiting for them to gain consciousness again. Once Athena awoke, he moved closer, kneeling on the other side of Kaiyon. "...You allright, Athena-san?"
Karukai's body fell into the darkness away from the eyes of his fellow students. As the darkness grew to a pitch level Karukai's body was ensnared by several long vines that seemed to come from nowhere. In the dark of this abyss no student or demon could have seen what was conspiring and that was just the way Karukai's fellow shadowist wanted it. "Karukai...Karukai...Karukai...didn't I tell you before you transferred to this school that you'd have to keep a low profile at first until our fellows were able to transfer. You got chosen first to go but I knew you couldn't resist picking on those weaker then you. I find it to be one of your own weaknesses." A strange character appeared out of the shadows without making a sound. Slowly the shadowist walked towards Kurakai who was still entangled in the several long vines that had burst from various parts of the canyon walls. As he stepped closer Karukai's powerful vision was barely able to make out his old comrad and equal, it was Thorne, easily one of the shadowists' best and the only one with powers to rival his own. <check my profile for Thorne in the sister thread for appearance> "Why did you have to make so many enemies so soon Karukai?" "It doesn't matter now however, as I have just been transferred and decided to do a little spying on my fellow students before checking in just yet. I'll tell you what I've seen and heard once we get you back to the school and I patch up that act of arrogance on your face." With a wave of his hand Thorne caused the vines to drop Karukai at his feet where he put one of Karukai's arms over his shoulder and the two of them walked down the canyon's darkness toward the school.
ooc: Please remember to turn off your sigs. "I had everything under control, Thorne. I didn't need your help." Karukai's eye had stopped bleeding, but it was still a gruesome sight. Thorne laughed and said "Oh, like you were going to kill that one kid who cut your eye and knocked you off the cliff? Like you were going to land safely on your own? Ha!" Karukai only said, "No matter what you do, leave that 'Shinryu' kid for me. He's mine. But rather than go back to the school, what say we stick around here and see what we can do to these kids first." -------------- Meanwhile, Shinryu was in the middle of a 'conference' with Tai-Kami, about the recent occurence. "How can you accuse me of fighting? How am I in the wrong? You saw what was happening! If I hadn't done anything, Karukai would have killed me!" He wasn't very happy that Tai-Kami had decided to blame him for most of what had happened.
"I'm fine Tetsu-chan. The rot on my wrist only numbs my hand a bit. I should still be able to fight just as well with it." Athena said, then tears began to well in her eyes as she turned to look down at Kaiyon. "My remedy isn't working..... Kaiyon... wake up.... please." Athena whispered. Athena bent her head over Kaiyon and silently prayed, "Wake up Kaiyon... please you're strong...." Athena lightly kissed Kaiyon's lips as a tear dropped from her eyes onto his.
Thorne had no intention of harming any of the students, at least not yet. If Karukai was going to dig his hole of trouble deeper still, Thorne wasn't going to bail him out. At the moment he was content to sit and study his future advesaries; their weapons, their styles, and their auras. Auras...they were something that Thorne disliked. He had always considered them a liability unlike his friend Karukai who considered them a tool for intimidation. It gives away ones position to anyone who can sense it he had always thought, so he had developed a technique to completely hide his own aura and shield him from the damaging auras of others. The Demon Soul Catcher is a very dangerous plant that when approached can suck the very life out of either a demon or human. Thorne, however, because of his powers of plant manipulation could control what the plant tried to absorb which allowed him to pick its seeds without any risk to himself. The seeds were very special in that when he combined his powers with them he could dictate them to absorb certain kinds of auras, including his own. With only a couple seeds he could eliminate his aura from the surrounding air before it got a foot from his body. This allowed him to avoid all detection even by the skilled faculty of the school. He had always used these seeds constantly after he had learned to perfect their uses. To be honest he had already gathered a great deal of information on these students over the last two days. His Soul Catcher seeds had rendered him invisible to the faculty and students as he used his Ninja agility to travel around the school's trees watching and listening. He had seen all that had conspired from the incident in the hallway between Karukai and Taiyoko as well as the clashing of their auras later that day, to the light trap that was triggered while waiting for the bus, to Kurakai's recent mishap. Luckily for Karukai he had leapt into the ravine and used his abilities to sprout several large vines from the cliff walls in order to catch him. Now Thorne sat motionless in a large tree overlooking the clearing and ravine that Karukai had fallen from. He sat quietly letting his clothes and powers blend him into the shadows of the tree's branches. <They will not know of my presence until I want them to> Thorne told himself mentally, <Right now I must simply watch and learn>.
Tetsu almost looked like he'd been stabbed in the chest for a moment when Athena kissed Kaiyon. The expression didn't last long before returning back to his more normal, serious, confident look. He smiled softly after a moment and placed a gentle hand on Athena's shoulder. "I'm sure he'll come around soon, Athena-san. Don't worry too much..." He said in a quiet tone.
Kaiyon's had awakened, and he slightly opened his eyes to find that Athena had been kissing him. He relaxed a bit from the hit he had taken to the head and thought...."maybe...maybe this scholl cant be all that bad..". He waited for Athena to finish her kiss and he raised his head. He awoke and said "Huh?...Athena? Why are you crying?"... Tai Kami looked at Athena's reaction to Kaiyon and finished her argument with Shinryu. "Enough...I expect you do better, got it?" she said strictly. She walked towards Katsuke and said "Do you think she's just overreacting?" Katsuke smiled and said "Not really! I accidently went to far. I had to give in a little strenght, otherwise he would have survived the hit, and who knows what would have happened had he reached Kurakai" Tai Kami looked at him and muttered to herself "jackass..." Katsuke lightened up and said "Relax! At least he didn't end up in a coma, and not even a concusion. Plus he got to kiss the girl...or the other way around...i guess". He looked at Tai Kami and though "Maybe you'll give me one of those too. Too bad you're a little heartless!"
Athena had looked up at Tetsu-chan and felt reassured. When Kaiyon spoke to her she couldn't help but smile and she felt herself bury her face into his chest as she let the tears flow uninhibated and whispered, "I thought you wouldn't wake up ever again."
<Good grief> thought Thorne, <The kid takes a sword hilt to the side of the head and suddenly his life is in danger>. Either way Thorne thought it was rather interesting to see some possible weaknesses being brought to the surface of his opponents. Athena appeared to have feelings for this Kaiyon while at the same time Tetsu and Kaiyon both seemed to have feelings for Athena. Such triangles were amusing for it gave leverage in Thorne's favor if he ever needed it. He was rather amused at Kaiyon's reaction to being kissed. Athena may not have noticed it but Thorne saw Kaiyon regain conciousness while she was kissing him. Thorne couldn't help but smile at Kaiyon giving away such a deadly weakness by letting her continue to kiss him after he had already awakened, <now I have a possible bargaining tool against you Kaiyon, should I ever need it>. Shinryu had not displayed any feelings for anyone but he had shown himself to be just as arrogant as Karukai and Thorne knew all too well how to exploit arrogance, those who were arrogant were often easily angered into making mistakes (this just so happened to be one of Karukai's weaknesses as well and Thorne knew it). If he was going to let Karukai deal with Shinryu later on he was going to have find a way of exploiting Shinryu's arrogance while maintaining control over Karukai's (no easy task). Thorne repositioned himself in the branches of the large tree and using his powers slowly moved some of the branches to shadow his body further. The full moon had just come out from behind some clouds and Thorne wasn't taking any chances at being detected, even from moonlight.
Tetsu stilled smiled as Kaiyon awoke again, though this smile had a sad tinge to it. He felt a little like a fool just sitting there yearning like that, but there wasn't much he could do, and he was happy just being friends. The pup brought his hand back to his lap, resting it on his knee as he looked down to Kaiyon. "How's your head, Kaiyon-san?" Tetsu asked softly.
Kaiyon regarded Athena first and said to her "Its okay...dont worry!". He looked at Tetsu as he spoke to him and felt the way that he felt about Athena as well. He looked at Tetsu, pretending he wasn't aware of the kiss he had recieved and said "Its okay...dont worry!". He touched the spot where he had been hit and groaned a bit. He didn't feel the pain before, but now it was devastating. He didn't want to alarm Athena any more than she already was so he ignored the pain. He looked at Athena and said "Don't cry anymore....its okay!". He smiled and chuckled.
Athena dried her tears and whispered, "You must have a ringing headache. Here, let me see if i brought anything with me for that." Athena began to busy herself with looking through her bag. She had just found a potion of sorts that should do the trick when full relization of what she'd just done hit her. She blushed slightly but then shook it off. She turned to Kaiyon and handed him the potion and said, "This should help... I'd stay here with you but Tetsu-Chan and I should propably go find the rest of our group. I'll see you at the top Kaiyon." Athena then slung her bag back over her shoulder and without a second glance began to head back to where their remaining group members waited.
A look of longing spread across Shinryu's face as he viewed this scene. 'God, how I miss her.' He thought. He hid the expression quickly, but not before a certain -someone- had seen it. 'I only wish we could be together, but I have to get stronger. I have to be able to protect her, to save her, where I was unable to save my family.' A single tear rolled down Shinryu's cheek at this, and his eyes seemed sad to all observers. --------------- Karukai had already returned to the top of the cliff, and was watching the scene unfold. 'If she gets this worried about him when he's just knocked out, what will she do when he dies?' Karukai was already certain he'd win, and had thought up the perfect trap to set. He teleported further up the mountain before anyone saw him, and began to prepare.
Thorne had caught the expression but it had only lasted for a few seconds on Shinryu's face. <That was sadness!> Thorne leaned forward being sure to remain concealed by the shadows of his tree. Yes, there was no doubt that Shinryu had just remembered someone or something at the sight of Athena and Kaiyon showing care for each other. That sight had hit a soft spot in Shinryu and that could mean another potential leverage point for the Shadowists. <I have to find out what his weak spot is> Thorne thought to himself. Just then Thorne could sense a faint ripple of energy from the bushes off to the right of his tree and caught sight of Karukai vanishing in a small wisp of smoke. <Blast it, I knew he couldn't let his humiliation go, even for just a little bit>. Thorne slipped down the tree about halfway and then proceeded to jump from tree to tree at incredible speeds without a sound. <If he is going to try to screw up their test again he is going to get himself expelled and we've tried to hard to get here to let his temper ruin everything>. <At the very least I need to see what he is doing and make sure that nobody knows it is him>. As Thorne leapt from tree to tree up the mountain following his companion's aura as a guide he couldn't help but wonder what tasks the students were going to have to endure besides that pathetic batch of gryphons and his vengeful teammate Karukai before reaching the shrine at the top of the mountain. Even as these thoughts crossed his mind however he traveled quickly and silently in a strange pattern through the trees holding two Soul Catcher seeds in his left hand and with them absorbing as much of Karukai's aura from the surrounding area as possible. <Karukai may be willing to risk our presence here with his aura toitering but I am not>. <I'd better get up there and see what my arrogant friend is up to>.
Tetsumiro nodded in agreement with Athena before getting up to follow her. He turned slightly to look back at Kaiyon, looking serious again. "See you at the top, Kaiyon-san. Just don't get yourself killed, all right?" His smile was completely gone now, and he felt a little down, but he knew he'd need to focus on the upcoming obsticals that would be to come. The pup caught up with Athena, one hand resting on his Katana as he walked, his furry black ears listening to everything around him.
Athena continued up the mountain, certain that the rest of her group would catch up with her like Tetsu-chan did, in deep contemplation. She had never fallen for anyone before and she hadn't planned on it. She needed to get stronger so that she could avenge her village's death. But... wouldn't her village want her to follow her heart.
Kaiyon stood up as the rest were leaving for the top of the mountain and could still feel his head ringing from the hit. He tried not to touch the spot because he knew the medicine had not yet taken effect. Katsuke walked up to him and looked down at him..."Do you realize what you've done? She may not have seen you awake, but I did....and Im sure your teacher did as well" Kaiyon looked at him and said "What else could I do? If I would have shown what I truly felt, perhaps more distrust would have been formed with the others...especially Tetsumiro-san. You saw him...." "Its true the boy does have some feelings for her as well, but I wonder if yours are stronger. Whatever your feelings are, keep them to yourself for now. You have a mission, and you'll stick to it" said Katsuke. "Sure....as long as you quit flirting with the teacher..." said Kaiyon in a more sarcastic tone. Katsuke still had feelings for his old teacher and Kaiyon knew. He widened his eyes and smaked him near his injury and said "You shut up you little prick!" Tai Kami heard it all and knew it all. She sighed and yelled to all the groups "Allright slackers! Back to the mission!"
